Who the Fuck Are YOU?
Been going through a bit of a Who jag lately, especially Who’s Next. Great album. Very spiritual if you’re listening for that kind of thing. Finally put together a fairly good road tape though I only have three albums: The Who Sell Out, Live at Leeds [first expanded remaster, not the one with all of Tommy] and Who’s Next. Also have the last [but not latest, more on that in a second] 2 CD ‘Best of.’ That’s the one that covers the majority of the old Meaty Beatty Big and Bouncy set of pre-Next stuff and has just enough of Tommy to make it palatable. I still think Tommy is over-rated because it is a ‘deep’ album. There’s a lot of good musicianship on it and it’s a pretty far idea, a rock opera, but I think it’s an album a lot of people like because they are supposed to like it because it is a classic, not because they truly ‘get it’ or appreciate the depth of the musical work. That goes for Quadrophenia, too. [Okay, soap box back under the desk for now.] But having said that, I do think Pete Townshend is vastly under-rated as a guitar player. I still think the Who should have quit after the death of Keith Moon following Who Are You but I must say You Better You Bet is one of the catchiest records Townshend ever wrote. [Contemplate the line “I’ve drunk myself blind to the sound of old T Rex / And who’s next.” Is Towshend referencing his own album or asking who is next on the rock and roll casualty list, with both Moon and Marc Bolan having recently passed?]
Anyway, I heard word that there is YET ANOTHER bloody Who ‘Best of’ collection coming, albeit this one with two new songs. It’s probably a bad idea; they are using Ringo’s boy Zack Starkey on drums and Greg Lake of ELP and King Crimson on bass, and one of the songs is titled something like Beautiful Young Boy, a title that Townshend should probably have stayed away from given recent troubles on the Internet. So that is what, the 6th or 7th ‘Best of’? [MBB&B, one Best of (Union Jack cover), Hooligans, Millennium Collection and the 2CD one I have, along with TWO box sets?] This is EXACTLY what drives me nuts about record companies, they just keep repackaging the same shit over and over and over. How many Lynyrd Skynyrd collections are there, and that band only MADE 6 albums!
Anyway, like I said, I have been grooving to what I have and contemplating where it all went wrong. I can still say there has never been and probably never will be a band that sounds like the Who. That was a magical combination. Moon’s manic drumming and Entwhistle’s busy bass playing, Townshend’s great power chording and great songs… I asked myself “Just what is THE quintessential Who song?” As far as I can tell, I have three. The first defines their early sound: no not the over-rated My Generation, but one that reflects a little more of their R&B roots: Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere. It has the driving bass and manic drums that define all Who records, but you can feel some swing… it’s a pretty danceable record [runner up: I Can’t Explain]. I have noticed a lot of piano hidden in the tracks [and hand claps, but these remain pretty constant throughout the years], products of Shel Talmy’s [or is it Mickey Most? Mickey did the Yardbirds and Donovan, I know… I think Shel did the Who and the Kinks early records. Slightly ironic considering the Who OR the Kinks could have pulled off the cheeky I’m A Boy.] production. And yes, Jimmy Page did play on a lot of those early singles. You know that also brings into focus a lot of growth that was going on in rock and roll… in a mere three years they jumped from this R&B band to a harder edged [and LOUDER] rock and roll band. The record that best exemplifies this period is the brilliant I Can See for Miles. The leaps and bounds from I Can’t Explain to I Can See for Miles, I don’t think is as much technical, though time is allowing Townshend to concentrate on writing AND sounds, but one of confidence, both in Townshend’s writing and confidence as a band. The last truly great Who song is Bargain. One can hear all the elements come together there, Moon’s unique drumming, Townnshend’s great guitar work [note the acoustic that hangs in the lower right hand corner of the whole song] and inspired use of the synthesizer. The only thing missing on this are the great harmonies and background vocals the Who used to achieve, not quite the ‘angelixc choirs’ the Beatles used to get, but pretty dern good none-the-less. See 515 from Quadrophenia, or the title track to Who Are You for good examples.
Probably the best legacy of the Who I have seen is the concert film Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 [same set as Live at Leeds basically] that shows the band at it’s full peak. If you get the chance to check it out, DO. If you’re not hooked at the end of the opener, Entwhistle’s Heaven and Hell, then the Who is not a band for you.
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Victory for the Consumer (Sort Of) [OR: Didja Get Ya Check?]
Finally stopped raining yesterday, so I went down to get my mail after three days and I was surprised to find a little envelope/check from CD MAP Anti Trust Legislation. [Well, technically, when you open it up, it's from the Attorney General of Texas.] Remember last May when you signed up on line for having bought anywhere from 1 to EVERY CD made between 1995 and 2000? Well, they finally settled. For my troubles and the collusion of the 'Music Industry' I got my whopping $ 13.86. That's right, 13 George Washington dollars [or two Lincolns and three Georges, or maybe one Hamilton and three Georges] and three quarters a dime and a penny [NO I am not going to do all the combinations of change].
I realize as part of a class action suit I am not going to get much after the lawyers get paid... basically what I got is one free mid-line catalog CD for free.
But my question is this: The price of CDs isn't coming DOWN [or still HASN'T come down]... what's keeping the cost of the CD at $ 14-17?
With the business in decline, in both dollars and units, AND the current consumer's attitude that "I'm paying too much for what amounts to two or three good songs and ten tracks of shit,"wouldn't it make sense to entice the consumer BACK into the record store by LOWERING the price of pre-recorded music? The Industry may argue that consumers get their "Low Price Fix" at retail giants who sell at below list prices to get consumers in the stores [i.e. Best Buy], but that doesn't stop the once mighty music store cahin [i.e. Wherehouse, Sam Goody] from raping the consumers for list price OR WORSE.
Take this for example: two years ago [?] Pete Yorn's debut CD appeared in music stores at a new level CBS was trying: Introductory. The thought being this: market new artists you're trying to break for a couple dollars less [i.e 11.99 - 12.99], a level the consumer might feel a little more comfortable taking a chance on an unknown artitst. Hey, that makes sense. But has this caught on? Not to the best of my knowledge. If it DID, the industry might have to adnit [AGAIN] that they're taking the end consumer to the cleaners on a product that packed, printed and shipped and royalties paid is still only costing them three bucks [at most] to manufacture. And with they way the endlessly repackage established artists material [Lynyrd Skynyrd, Who, Doors, Pink Floyd, next up: Prince] to keep their coffers up and pay the guys who are stuck in the 80s millions of dollars to run the industry into the ground....
I asked if it was time to quit watching the millionaire crybabies of the NHL earlier. Is it time to quit supporting an industry that refuses to grow and change with the times? As I said, they're still stuck in the 80s when the CD was a hot new thing and people would buy the back catalogs to have them on the new medium. Now it's time to jointhe new revolution, music via the Internet and they're balking like crazy. One would think they would LOVE something like the MP3 Warehouse or whatever the old MP3 sire was where I would type in bands I liked and be directed to something similar. Put three songs up there and direct market a CD-5 or a 9.99 album to get the word out, and if it picks up there, MOVE IT INTO THE MARKETPLACE! It's called Research and Devolopment [R&D] or Artist and Reportoir [A&R]... but the labels want to sign every Britney copy and pretty boy band and 50 Cent and make a zillion dollars [and not worry about them when the second album flops]. Record labels USED to do this, but somewhere in the 70s it disappeared, then the indies started breaking bands in the 80s and the Majors scooped them up [REM], then there were no good bands anymore so the labels started devouring each other and getting devooured by Corporate Conglomerates whose SOLE INTEREST is BOTTOM LINE. [Hence, "Re-package it again, we need a twelfth re-issue of the same Rolling Stones hits!"]
Here's an interesting bit according to Walk This Way: Aerosmith should have been dropped after their first album. [Remember, Dream On was not a 'hit' until 1976, AFTER Toys in the Attic and Rocks]. But because Aerosmith's management, Leiber-Krebs bullshitted the label by 'extending their option,' they were able to get the second album made, which sold much better... Frank Zappa recorded for or had distribution deals with almost EVERY major label [remember, he sued Warner Brothers for NOT releasing Lather as he wished; they cut it up into 5 records [one the double LP Live In New York] with no approval from Zappa, and he WON]. Zappa was only able to do as he wished because he had a couple of strong selling records in the early 70s and he moved to BECOME autonomous from the machine. Would a true label have even touched something as far out as Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar? But because Frank was just being distributed, he was able to do thing like that. I recently re-read an article from the late80s about artists like Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine and Arlo Guthrie setting up their own labels and doing it just for themselves and making more money than they ever had selling less units because they cut out all the people with their fingers in the pie!
Who is out there for the MUSIC LOVER anymore? Who represents the guy who is looking for something new or interesting, not just the flavor of the week? Is there still a musical underground of people who just love MUSIC? WHERE DO I SIGN UP?
Finally stopped raining yesterday, so I went down to get my mail after three days and I was surprised to find a little envelope/check from CD MAP Anti Trust Legislation. [Well, technically, when you open it up, it's from the Attorney General of Texas.] Remember last May when you signed up on line for having bought anywhere from 1 to EVERY CD made between 1995 and 2000? Well, they finally settled. For my troubles and the collusion of the 'Music Industry' I got my whopping $ 13.86. That's right, 13 George Washington dollars [or two Lincolns and three Georges, or maybe one Hamilton and three Georges] and three quarters a dime and a penny [NO I am not going to do all the combinations of change].
I realize as part of a class action suit I am not going to get much after the lawyers get paid... basically what I got is one free mid-line catalog CD for free.
But my question is this: The price of CDs isn't coming DOWN [or still HASN'T come down]... what's keeping the cost of the CD at $ 14-17?
With the business in decline, in both dollars and units, AND the current consumer's attitude that "I'm paying too much for what amounts to two or three good songs and ten tracks of shit,"wouldn't it make sense to entice the consumer BACK into the record store by LOWERING the price of pre-recorded music? The Industry may argue that consumers get their "Low Price Fix" at retail giants who sell at below list prices to get consumers in the stores [i.e. Best Buy], but that doesn't stop the once mighty music store cahin [i.e. Wherehouse, Sam Goody] from raping the consumers for list price OR WORSE.
Take this for example: two years ago [?] Pete Yorn's debut CD appeared in music stores at a new level CBS was trying: Introductory. The thought being this: market new artists you're trying to break for a couple dollars less [i.e 11.99 - 12.99], a level the consumer might feel a little more comfortable taking a chance on an unknown artitst. Hey, that makes sense. But has this caught on? Not to the best of my knowledge. If it DID, the industry might have to adnit [AGAIN] that they're taking the end consumer to the cleaners on a product that packed, printed and shipped and royalties paid is still only costing them three bucks [at most] to manufacture. And with they way the endlessly repackage established artists material [Lynyrd Skynyrd, Who, Doors, Pink Floyd, next up: Prince] to keep their coffers up and pay the guys who are stuck in the 80s millions of dollars to run the industry into the ground....
I asked if it was time to quit watching the millionaire crybabies of the NHL earlier. Is it time to quit supporting an industry that refuses to grow and change with the times? As I said, they're still stuck in the 80s when the CD was a hot new thing and people would buy the back catalogs to have them on the new medium. Now it's time to jointhe new revolution, music via the Internet and they're balking like crazy. One would think they would LOVE something like the MP3 Warehouse or whatever the old MP3 sire was where I would type in bands I liked and be directed to something similar. Put three songs up there and direct market a CD-5 or a 9.99 album to get the word out, and if it picks up there, MOVE IT INTO THE MARKETPLACE! It's called Research and Devolopment [R&D] or Artist and Reportoir [A&R]... but the labels want to sign every Britney copy and pretty boy band and 50 Cent and make a zillion dollars [and not worry about them when the second album flops]. Record labels USED to do this, but somewhere in the 70s it disappeared, then the indies started breaking bands in the 80s and the Majors scooped them up [REM], then there were no good bands anymore so the labels started devouring each other and getting devooured by Corporate Conglomerates whose SOLE INTEREST is BOTTOM LINE. [Hence, "Re-package it again, we need a twelfth re-issue of the same Rolling Stones hits!"]
Here's an interesting bit according to Walk This Way: Aerosmith should have been dropped after their first album. [Remember, Dream On was not a 'hit' until 1976, AFTER Toys in the Attic and Rocks]. But because Aerosmith's management, Leiber-Krebs bullshitted the label by 'extending their option,' they were able to get the second album made, which sold much better... Frank Zappa recorded for or had distribution deals with almost EVERY major label [remember, he sued Warner Brothers for NOT releasing Lather as he wished; they cut it up into 5 records [one the double LP Live In New York] with no approval from Zappa, and he WON]. Zappa was only able to do as he wished because he had a couple of strong selling records in the early 70s and he moved to BECOME autonomous from the machine. Would a true label have even touched something as far out as Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar? But because Frank was just being distributed, he was able to do thing like that. I recently re-read an article from the late80s about artists like Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine and Arlo Guthrie setting up their own labels and doing it just for themselves and making more money than they ever had selling less units because they cut out all the people with their fingers in the pie!
Who is out there for the MUSIC LOVER anymore? Who represents the guy who is looking for something new or interesting, not just the flavor of the week? Is there still a musical underground of people who just love MUSIC? WHERE DO I SIGN UP?
Sunday, February 22, 2004
Who Wants to Be A Millionaire Crybaby & What the Fuck Is Wrong with Kids Today?
FIRST: The NHL: Shut Up All Ready!
If you’re not following the NHL’s pending labor problem [and I doubt you are], The Contract [CBA] expires in September and it looks like a long standoff is brewing. The owners are crying ‘Poor’ and the players are crying ‘Liar’ and the players are all ready saying ‘No Salary Cap, No Way, No How.’
I understand that for years and years and years that NHL players were underpaid [probably up until the late 80s] but for the last decade salaries have grown exponentially. Now the game is being spared to death by the overpaid average player. Its time for the players to give a little back.
Look at this way: the NHL is like 6 or 7 for TV money [NFL, NBA, MLB, golf, college football and college basketball] and their contract is up. ESPN/ABC has made it clear that hockey will remain priority number 6 or 7 in the great ranking [see above] and they will probably get 500-600 million again for a 4 year deal. The NHL also had TWO teams in bankruptcy last year and the Pens always seem on the verge… what leg are the players standing on?
Now before I go laying blame solely on greedy players, let me also say the owners have a big part to play in this. Just like baseball [attention Stars and Rangers owner Tom Hicks] owners have overpaid for their talent. Few players in the league are worth what they are paid. Peter Forsberg, Nick Lidstrom, Chris Pronger, Joe Sakic and a handful of true superstars deserve to be paid for what they do. But the current state of the NHL has players signing obese deals and having production tail off… see Bill Guerin, Pierre Turgeon, Doug Weight… about half of the New York Rangers. Jaromir Jagr was worth ten million a year with Mario Lemieux and Ron Francis setting his table in Pittsburgh, what has he done lately? Anyway, the owners got caught in the ”If I don’t pay someone else will” trap.What if someone finally said ‘ENOUGH?’
I decry and cringe that the Pens have traded anyone making $12/hr, but they are at least living within their budget. They're begging the city, county and state to build them a new arena [and that’s another gripe: let the owners get financing and pay for their own fucking buildings and make the $10 a pop in the parking lot and the $ 5 each for the chili dogs and beer. Why hold up a city? “Oh, a sports team gives a city an IDENTITY.” Fuck that. Pay your taxes like everyone else.] but if they won’t build it, let them move. Or go bankrupt AGAIN [third time’s the charm]. Look at Nashville, a team built from within who are now adding a couple veterans for a great push, ala the NY Islanders of the early 80s.
Anyway, just shut up all ready. The Hockey News recently had a poll and I said the NHL would ‘probably not’ lose me as a viewer if there’s an extended stoppage, but now I am not sure. What is the difference between 8 mil and 9 mil a year? It’s an unbelievable amount of money and yes, I understand you will live with pain and probably have to have a hip or knee or both replaced soon. But you’re never going to have to flip burgers or be a greeter at Wal Mart. You’ll never have to work a real job in your life. Is that going to keep you from living the life of luxury you’ve come to love and expect? You’re so out of touch with reality it’s not funny anymore.
25 mil/year for baseball players and 9, 10, 11 mil/ year for hockey players? Is it time to turn off the tube and get a real life?
SECOND: WHAT’S WRONG with Kids Today [or ‘The Kids Are NOT Alright’]
Today’s Fort Worth Star Telegram has a nice upsetting article about lip-synching. Surprisingly, no one is upset by Britney, Janet Jackson, Christina, et al lip-synching. They want to see the production with dancing ‘just like the videos.’ Why does this upset me? It just reinforces my suspicion that it’s all about the style now, not about substance. It’s all about flash, not the pan.
Call me stupid, but fine, if you want to go pay $ 75 a head to see Britney dance, then why not just cancel the trying to sing/ lip synch all together and just have her dancing around up there. Call it a show, not a concert.
Don’t get me wrong, a sample of an orchestral section of a song is one thing, but this is a complete rip off of the audience, except the moment in the show where she says “Hi Dallas, nice to see you.”
SHOW ALERT!!!
The Barley House approx 11pm, Friday Feb 27th: Nope is playing. This may be your last chance to see Nope for a while; they boys are going to NYC and record a new platter with ex-Television guitarist Richard Lloyd. Come see if they have any more copies of their great Gettin' Up the Rent, a great collection of catchy songs; come on out if ya can!
FIRST: The NHL: Shut Up All Ready!
If you’re not following the NHL’s pending labor problem [and I doubt you are], The Contract [CBA] expires in September and it looks like a long standoff is brewing. The owners are crying ‘Poor’ and the players are crying ‘Liar’ and the players are all ready saying ‘No Salary Cap, No Way, No How.’
I understand that for years and years and years that NHL players were underpaid [probably up until the late 80s] but for the last decade salaries have grown exponentially. Now the game is being spared to death by the overpaid average player. Its time for the players to give a little back.
Look at this way: the NHL is like 6 or 7 for TV money [NFL, NBA, MLB, golf, college football and college basketball] and their contract is up. ESPN/ABC has made it clear that hockey will remain priority number 6 or 7 in the great ranking [see above] and they will probably get 500-600 million again for a 4 year deal. The NHL also had TWO teams in bankruptcy last year and the Pens always seem on the verge… what leg are the players standing on?
Now before I go laying blame solely on greedy players, let me also say the owners have a big part to play in this. Just like baseball [attention Stars and Rangers owner Tom Hicks] owners have overpaid for their talent. Few players in the league are worth what they are paid. Peter Forsberg, Nick Lidstrom, Chris Pronger, Joe Sakic and a handful of true superstars deserve to be paid for what they do. But the current state of the NHL has players signing obese deals and having production tail off… see Bill Guerin, Pierre Turgeon, Doug Weight… about half of the New York Rangers. Jaromir Jagr was worth ten million a year with Mario Lemieux and Ron Francis setting his table in Pittsburgh, what has he done lately? Anyway, the owners got caught in the ”If I don’t pay someone else will” trap.What if someone finally said ‘ENOUGH?’
I decry and cringe that the Pens have traded anyone making $12/hr, but they are at least living within their budget. They're begging the city, county and state to build them a new arena [and that’s another gripe: let the owners get financing and pay for their own fucking buildings and make the $10 a pop in the parking lot and the $ 5 each for the chili dogs and beer. Why hold up a city? “Oh, a sports team gives a city an IDENTITY.” Fuck that. Pay your taxes like everyone else.] but if they won’t build it, let them move. Or go bankrupt AGAIN [third time’s the charm]. Look at Nashville, a team built from within who are now adding a couple veterans for a great push, ala the NY Islanders of the early 80s.
Anyway, just shut up all ready. The Hockey News recently had a poll and I said the NHL would ‘probably not’ lose me as a viewer if there’s an extended stoppage, but now I am not sure. What is the difference between 8 mil and 9 mil a year? It’s an unbelievable amount of money and yes, I understand you will live with pain and probably have to have a hip or knee or both replaced soon. But you’re never going to have to flip burgers or be a greeter at Wal Mart. You’ll never have to work a real job in your life. Is that going to keep you from living the life of luxury you’ve come to love and expect? You’re so out of touch with reality it’s not funny anymore.
25 mil/year for baseball players and 9, 10, 11 mil/ year for hockey players? Is it time to turn off the tube and get a real life?
SECOND: WHAT’S WRONG with Kids Today [or ‘The Kids Are NOT Alright’]
Today’s Fort Worth Star Telegram has a nice upsetting article about lip-synching. Surprisingly, no one is upset by Britney, Janet Jackson, Christina, et al lip-synching. They want to see the production with dancing ‘just like the videos.’ Why does this upset me? It just reinforces my suspicion that it’s all about the style now, not about substance. It’s all about flash, not the pan.
Call me stupid, but fine, if you want to go pay $ 75 a head to see Britney dance, then why not just cancel the trying to sing/ lip synch all together and just have her dancing around up there. Call it a show, not a concert.
Don’t get me wrong, a sample of an orchestral section of a song is one thing, but this is a complete rip off of the audience, except the moment in the show where she says “Hi Dallas, nice to see you.”
SHOW ALERT!!!
The Barley House approx 11pm, Friday Feb 27th: Nope is playing. This may be your last chance to see Nope for a while; they boys are going to NYC and record a new platter with ex-Television guitarist Richard Lloyd. Come see if they have any more copies of their great Gettin' Up the Rent, a great collection of catchy songs; come on out if ya can!
Saturday, February 14, 2004
From the Archives: Joey
I had always said if I did my book, this is the piece I wanted to start with… then [I thought] I lost it in the great hard drive crash [number 2, I think]… I found some papers in my desk and lo and behold, I found a hard copy! So remember, print anything you want to keep forever, one day it may come back to you! This dates from April 2001, arounf the time of my 34th birthday
What Does It All Mean [OR: Have We Just Become Our Parents?]
I can’t mourn John Lennon, I didn’t know the guy.
Lester Bangs said that [and a lot more that was spot on] about John Lennon’s untimely demise, and I think it applies today. I heard of Joey Ramone’s death on MTV, a channel that would play a Ramones video about as often as they played a Frank Zappa video. I con’t mourn Joey Ramone, but I can think back on the hours spent listening, drinking, puking, laughing, living and feeling alive to his music. I think I can speak for most us in this little circle of dysfunctionals when I say the loss of an interesting character like Joey Ramone makes the world a little sadder today. Okay, you were EXPECTING Keith Richards or maybe David Crosby or Jimmy Page or even the hard living Iggy. You probably all ready thought ‘Papa John’ Phillips was dead years ago. Paul McCartney’s music careeer may be on the decline, but he is painting and he has the Wings set and the 70s, 80s and 90s to write his memoirs on yet… But not Joey. Hell, he was one of US, wasn’t he, still young, loud and snotty? Oh, sorry, that was Stiv Bators [from Steubenville, Ohio, a place that needs to be gotten away from] and he’s all ready dead, too.
Wow, one of the icons from MY youth [no more birthday comments puh-leese] has died from an old person disease. Not an OD, not a drink and drown ala Dennis Wilson, no east coast/west coast gang wars… the Big C. That’s like Mellencamp and his heart attack, man, it puts the fear of death in me. Well, it puts the thought of death in me after feeling as alive Saturday and I did today.
No, it’s not as big as John Lennon or Elvis. It has none of the tragedy and ‘Coming soon to a VH1 Behind the Music’ of Buddy Holly, Marc Bolan, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin or Keith Moon. It doesn’t have the ‘great talent gone too soon’ of an Eddie Cochrane or Otis Redding or Jimi Hendrix story line. The Ramones never sold enough recods for that. But it’s one of those that the musicians and the real fans of the music will feel. I rememebr hearing of Hilel Slovak’s [Red Hot Chilli Peppers] death and wondering about Nate’s state of mind. I remember one of my friends just being devastated when D. Boon of the Minutemen was killed. Hell, I remember hearing about Jerry Garcia’s death on the G. Gordon Liddy show… some people were telling him to quit kidding around and he was adamant that he was for real, “I am not making this up!” Christ, I saw part of the Billy Idol Behind the Music last night… who do we have to thank for Billy Idol? Bill Acoin, the man who got rich marketing Kiss. What did Billy Idol ever do anyway beside crash his motorcycle and not marry Peri Lester [?]?
I was wondering on the way home from Mom’s tonight why smells like fresh cut grass and leaves burning in the fall and wood smoke on crisp winter nights evoke such sentimentality in people [well, me anyway].I wondered why I couldn’t call someone to go for a drink after we left Heddary’s. I realized as soon as I was in the truck I wasn’t ready to go home, first time in a long time. Maybe it was being back on my old stomping grounds… when I graduated Camp Bowie Boulevard was THE place to be, much like Cooper Street in Arlington was for a while. Where do the kids cruise now? Do kids cruise anymore? Am I showing my age?
I have some answers. Some are ‘just because,’ some have a little more that goes with that, some that I don’t like and I just refuse to hear [no nore birthday comments please] and some things that will remain a mystery. I don’t know. I keep going on about a sentence burning down deep inside me and maybe this is just one of those manifestations. Maybe I’ll start writing the story I’m living instead of the one I wish I had or vice-versa… is that the same as making your dreams come alive?
Anyway, I have rambled enough for now. Thanks, as always, for listening. Sing a chorus of I Wanna Be Sedated for Joey. Goodbye, baby, and amen.
I had always said if I did my book, this is the piece I wanted to start with… then [I thought] I lost it in the great hard drive crash [number 2, I think]… I found some papers in my desk and lo and behold, I found a hard copy! So remember, print anything you want to keep forever, one day it may come back to you! This dates from April 2001, arounf the time of my 34th birthday
What Does It All Mean [OR: Have We Just Become Our Parents?]
I can’t mourn John Lennon, I didn’t know the guy.
Lester Bangs said that [and a lot more that was spot on] about John Lennon’s untimely demise, and I think it applies today. I heard of Joey Ramone’s death on MTV, a channel that would play a Ramones video about as often as they played a Frank Zappa video. I con’t mourn Joey Ramone, but I can think back on the hours spent listening, drinking, puking, laughing, living and feeling alive to his music. I think I can speak for most us in this little circle of dysfunctionals when I say the loss of an interesting character like Joey Ramone makes the world a little sadder today. Okay, you were EXPECTING Keith Richards or maybe David Crosby or Jimmy Page or even the hard living Iggy. You probably all ready thought ‘Papa John’ Phillips was dead years ago. Paul McCartney’s music careeer may be on the decline, but he is painting and he has the Wings set and the 70s, 80s and 90s to write his memoirs on yet… But not Joey. Hell, he was one of US, wasn’t he, still young, loud and snotty? Oh, sorry, that was Stiv Bators [from Steubenville, Ohio, a place that needs to be gotten away from] and he’s all ready dead, too.
Wow, one of the icons from MY youth [no more birthday comments puh-leese] has died from an old person disease. Not an OD, not a drink and drown ala Dennis Wilson, no east coast/west coast gang wars… the Big C. That’s like Mellencamp and his heart attack, man, it puts the fear of death in me. Well, it puts the thought of death in me after feeling as alive Saturday and I did today.
No, it’s not as big as John Lennon or Elvis. It has none of the tragedy and ‘Coming soon to a VH1 Behind the Music’ of Buddy Holly, Marc Bolan, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin or Keith Moon. It doesn’t have the ‘great talent gone too soon’ of an Eddie Cochrane or Otis Redding or Jimi Hendrix story line. The Ramones never sold enough recods for that. But it’s one of those that the musicians and the real fans of the music will feel. I rememebr hearing of Hilel Slovak’s [Red Hot Chilli Peppers] death and wondering about Nate’s state of mind. I remember one of my friends just being devastated when D. Boon of the Minutemen was killed. Hell, I remember hearing about Jerry Garcia’s death on the G. Gordon Liddy show… some people were telling him to quit kidding around and he was adamant that he was for real, “I am not making this up!” Christ, I saw part of the Billy Idol Behind the Music last night… who do we have to thank for Billy Idol? Bill Acoin, the man who got rich marketing Kiss. What did Billy Idol ever do anyway beside crash his motorcycle and not marry Peri Lester [?]?
I was wondering on the way home from Mom’s tonight why smells like fresh cut grass and leaves burning in the fall and wood smoke on crisp winter nights evoke such sentimentality in people [well, me anyway].I wondered why I couldn’t call someone to go for a drink after we left Heddary’s. I realized as soon as I was in the truck I wasn’t ready to go home, first time in a long time. Maybe it was being back on my old stomping grounds… when I graduated Camp Bowie Boulevard was THE place to be, much like Cooper Street in Arlington was for a while. Where do the kids cruise now? Do kids cruise anymore? Am I showing my age?
I have some answers. Some are ‘just because,’ some have a little more that goes with that, some that I don’t like and I just refuse to hear [no nore birthday comments please] and some things that will remain a mystery. I don’t know. I keep going on about a sentence burning down deep inside me and maybe this is just one of those manifestations. Maybe I’ll start writing the story I’m living instead of the one I wish I had or vice-versa… is that the same as making your dreams come alive?
Anyway, I have rambled enough for now. Thanks, as always, for listening. Sing a chorus of I Wanna Be Sedated for Joey. Goodbye, baby, and amen.
Sunday, February 01, 2004
Discovery and rediscovery
In another unofficial meeting of the Rock and Roll Discussion group [voting members present: J Michael Leone, Richard P Zottola, myself and Bill Horne with my Mom and Dad and Rich’s wife Donna as non-voting guest consultants] they [I dissented, awaiting further clarification] decided that whatever music is being made today can no longer be called ‘rock and roll.”
Michael’s argument begins and ends with the amount of players that came out of England’s trad-jazz into rock and merged that with American rhythm and blues and early rockabilly into what has become known as rock and roll: the Beatles, Stones, Cream, Who, Led Zeppelin [barely I think]… and all that died out sometime in the 70’s. I argued for the dissolution of the Beatles, with the last gasps coming in the early 70s and having died off by about 1974; all agreed that the first disco record killed rock and roll. Bill, being the ever-obstinate redneck [though I say that with much love and respect] argued it was the day Buddy Holly died.
The rub is, they don’t CARE what we call whatever is being made after 1972, we can’t call it rock or rock and roll anymore… Bill suggested just calling it roll and rock to piss them off, but I don’t think that’ll work. Now granted I agree there was a changing of the guard [necessary] about 1972-3 as the originals and the spirit of rock and roll was gone; when it became about money. So I would probably say that the [first] era of rock and roll, the golden age of the original era would have to be about 1972 when the Fillmores closed. I harken back to the great biography Bill Graham Presents:
Frank Barsolona: “Bill called me up and said ‘I can’t take the business anymore. It’s not the business I got into. With Alice Cooper headliningand all.’… I told him, you’re wrong it’s only going to get bigger. From here it’s going to go into the arenas and the arenas, it’ll probably go into the stadiums.”
John Ford Noonan: “There were no new groups. It was not like when the Allman Brothers or Santana came on the first time and they did not even have an album out yet… we couldn’t wait for the audience to hear them… then the agencies started to package shows and the same groups kept coming in. Somehow the spirit of the place changed. It became reds and wine and Grand Funk Railroad. Everyone was mean.”
Bill: “The audience at the Fillmore East was also changing. They were becoming demanding rather than appreciative.”
So, just as Dylan and John Lennon had warned us against, we followed leaders and didn’t watch the parking meters and killed what we loved.
SO: I agree what’s being made today [or back in 76 or 85 or 92] isn’t really rock and roll. It’s [as Frank Zappa once quipped] The Idiot Bastard Son. I still want to know where they want to draw the line. Is Aerosmith a ‘rock and roll’ band? I mean, they took the influence of the second coming [Stones, Yardbirds] but that doesn’t make them, by the new definition, a ‘rock and roll’ band. Humble Pie? The Faces?
Where I think they’re going wrong is the same mistake Jann Wenner tries to make: WE invented it, you fucking whippersnappers and we’re not letting you have it. Johnny Rotten and the Clash were right to tell all the Lames Taylor and Carly Simon loving “sensative rockers” and the old farts that were still trying to hang onto their youth to FUCK OFF! I am so tired of the Baby Boomers saying “OUR generation is the best. We invented rock and roll and sat in for human rights and equal rights and blah blah blah…” Yeah, you got stoned at Altamont, too and killed John Lennon for not letting you keep your rainbow eyed pie in the sky Peter Pan never grow old dreams, too. Need I point out that you elected Reagan twice in a landslide?
Anyway, it was really great to see everyone and hear tales from beyond my youth about bad trips in the Partymobile [and RV Richard and Donna had for a few years] and all the 40th birthday parties…
I Got the Blues
Listening to John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton; it’s okay, but they did NOT need to cover Ray Charles’ What’d I Say, during which I heard a lick that sounded suspiciously like the Beatles Day Tripper riff a full year before it came out [about 25 seconds from the end. And they do not need all the horns on there. But Mayall doing Parchman Farm is pretty damn good.
But I still think Eric Clapton is perhaps the most over-rated guitarist in history. Cream was about masturbation with the guitar. [Well, drums and bass, too.] That great Layla riff? He didn’t write it, Daune Allman did. AND he can’t sing and play it at the same time [read it in Musician, don’t want to go find the date right this second]. I think Robbie Robertson is a better player for knowing what NOT to play.
Rediscovery Pt 2
Anyomne seen this Bands Reunited on VH1? Yeah, I programmed it off my TV but occasionally I fip back by. Reuniting Berlin might have been a mistake, but they got the four original guys from the Alarm to play again. Now I like the Alarm. Strength is a great record, Rain in the Summertime, if you listen to it independantly of say Sixty-Eight Guns and The Spirit of 76 is a good mature record [kind of their Unforgettable Fire]. Nice to see a band like that come up and just play again. They've also gotten Dramarama, whom I have been singing their quasi-hit Last Cigarette to myself the last few days... no endorsement of watching VH1, but not bad if it happens to be on...
In another unofficial meeting of the Rock and Roll Discussion group [voting members present: J Michael Leone, Richard P Zottola, myself and Bill Horne with my Mom and Dad and Rich’s wife Donna as non-voting guest consultants] they [I dissented, awaiting further clarification] decided that whatever music is being made today can no longer be called ‘rock and roll.”
Michael’s argument begins and ends with the amount of players that came out of England’s trad-jazz into rock and merged that with American rhythm and blues and early rockabilly into what has become known as rock and roll: the Beatles, Stones, Cream, Who, Led Zeppelin [barely I think]… and all that died out sometime in the 70’s. I argued for the dissolution of the Beatles, with the last gasps coming in the early 70s and having died off by about 1974; all agreed that the first disco record killed rock and roll. Bill, being the ever-obstinate redneck [though I say that with much love and respect] argued it was the day Buddy Holly died.
The rub is, they don’t CARE what we call whatever is being made after 1972, we can’t call it rock or rock and roll anymore… Bill suggested just calling it roll and rock to piss them off, but I don’t think that’ll work. Now granted I agree there was a changing of the guard [necessary] about 1972-3 as the originals and the spirit of rock and roll was gone; when it became about money. So I would probably say that the [first] era of rock and roll, the golden age of the original era would have to be about 1972 when the Fillmores closed. I harken back to the great biography Bill Graham Presents:
Frank Barsolona: “Bill called me up and said ‘I can’t take the business anymore. It’s not the business I got into. With Alice Cooper headliningand all.’… I told him, you’re wrong it’s only going to get bigger. From here it’s going to go into the arenas and the arenas, it’ll probably go into the stadiums.”
John Ford Noonan: “There were no new groups. It was not like when the Allman Brothers or Santana came on the first time and they did not even have an album out yet… we couldn’t wait for the audience to hear them… then the agencies started to package shows and the same groups kept coming in. Somehow the spirit of the place changed. It became reds and wine and Grand Funk Railroad. Everyone was mean.”
Bill: “The audience at the Fillmore East was also changing. They were becoming demanding rather than appreciative.”
So, just as Dylan and John Lennon had warned us against, we followed leaders and didn’t watch the parking meters and killed what we loved.
SO: I agree what’s being made today [or back in 76 or 85 or 92] isn’t really rock and roll. It’s [as Frank Zappa once quipped] The Idiot Bastard Son. I still want to know where they want to draw the line. Is Aerosmith a ‘rock and roll’ band? I mean, they took the influence of the second coming [Stones, Yardbirds] but that doesn’t make them, by the new definition, a ‘rock and roll’ band. Humble Pie? The Faces?
Where I think they’re going wrong is the same mistake Jann Wenner tries to make: WE invented it, you fucking whippersnappers and we’re not letting you have it. Johnny Rotten and the Clash were right to tell all the Lames Taylor and Carly Simon loving “sensative rockers” and the old farts that were still trying to hang onto their youth to FUCK OFF! I am so tired of the Baby Boomers saying “OUR generation is the best. We invented rock and roll and sat in for human rights and equal rights and blah blah blah…” Yeah, you got stoned at Altamont, too and killed John Lennon for not letting you keep your rainbow eyed pie in the sky Peter Pan never grow old dreams, too. Need I point out that you elected Reagan twice in a landslide?
Anyway, it was really great to see everyone and hear tales from beyond my youth about bad trips in the Partymobile [and RV Richard and Donna had for a few years] and all the 40th birthday parties…
I Got the Blues
Listening to John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton; it’s okay, but they did NOT need to cover Ray Charles’ What’d I Say, during which I heard a lick that sounded suspiciously like the Beatles Day Tripper riff a full year before it came out [about 25 seconds from the end. And they do not need all the horns on there. But Mayall doing Parchman Farm is pretty damn good.
But I still think Eric Clapton is perhaps the most over-rated guitarist in history. Cream was about masturbation with the guitar. [Well, drums and bass, too.] That great Layla riff? He didn’t write it, Daune Allman did. AND he can’t sing and play it at the same time [read it in Musician, don’t want to go find the date right this second]. I think Robbie Robertson is a better player for knowing what NOT to play.
Rediscovery Pt 2
Anyomne seen this Bands Reunited on VH1? Yeah, I programmed it off my TV but occasionally I fip back by. Reuniting Berlin might have been a mistake, but they got the four original guys from the Alarm to play again. Now I like the Alarm. Strength is a great record, Rain in the Summertime, if you listen to it independantly of say Sixty-Eight Guns and The Spirit of 76 is a good mature record [kind of their Unforgettable Fire]. Nice to see a band like that come up and just play again. They've also gotten Dramarama, whom I have been singing their quasi-hit Last Cigarette to myself the last few days... no endorsement of watching VH1, but not bad if it happens to be on...