The Big Chill is on...

It's got me thinking about this class reunion that's coming up. Really, what's the point? Just another mile marker, another excuse to get together and see who 'made it,' who got plastic surgery, get drunk and talk about the things we used to do. And show off pictures and brag on our kids and talk about how much better they have it than we did or about how weird their music is.

A trusted source told me the 10 year reunion is the one all about who's made it and bragging, the 20 is the one no one gives a shit about that stuff anymore. I'll have to trust my source on this one.

But it's got me thinking again. I'm not doing what I thought I'd be doing. I just wanted to be working in the record store. I managed that for a few years... not much money in it. But I remember that I loved being around the MUSIC. I still do, but I am finding myself more and more like my parents and locked into an era and not understanding the new stuff. And right now I'm not even getting a charge out of the music like I used to.

Come on down, crooked man Step on up, broken man
It's okay to cry, troubled man
Just ease your worried mind and rest a while

Do you remember when it started?
You had a dream
Now you never talk about it
Your fame and riches everything, no matter what the cost
Now you wish you hadn't blown it
Lay it all on me [2x]

Come on down, crooked man
Step on up, broken man
It's okay to cry, troubled man
Just ease your worried mind and rest a while

I came to see how you were doing
It's been a while
Looking back over your shoulder
You were restless, you were wild
Always running away
Once was young, now you're older
Lay it all on me [2x]

Come on down, crooked man
Step on up, broken man
It's okay to cry, troubled man
Just ease you worried mind and rest a while

-Lay It All On Me; The Black Crowes
- playing right now, the Lions CD

Just thinking back to graduation. Back then my movie was American Graffiti. Or I liked to imagine I was in a gang like that. The Breakfast Club made an impact. I found it very true. My group split to the winds after high school. I guess everyone's did. That's the point of this thing then.

I used to have a sentimental streak for this shit, but I guess it's diminished over time as I've developed [and destroyed] new relationships and let others lapse. One of the people I know threw out all their yearbooks. At one time that appalled me, but I can see it now. Of course I hocked my class ring YEARS ago.

I am no success in a traditional sense of the word, but work an honest day, pay my bills and I don't hurt anyone or steal to do it. I don't have four kids scattered across the metroplex and I have held jobs for years at a time. I am relatively stable. I still worry about being alone and I still hate being alone. But I go to sleep at night with a pretty clear conscience. I guess that says something.

Jeremy Roeneck inserts whole leg into mouth: Medical community stunned

PRESTO, Pa. (AP) -- Philadelphia Flyers center Jeremy Roenick has some advice for hockey fans who blame the NHL lockout on players' greed: Once it's finally settled, stay home.

``We're going to try to make it better for everybody, period, end of subject. And if you don't realize that, then don't come,'' said Roenick, who spoke at a charity golf event he played in over the weekend.
``We don't want you at the rink, we don't want you in the stadium, we don't want you to watch hockey,'' he said Saturday at the Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational in suburban Pittsburgh.

The NHL and the players' association have been in almost daily negotiations to get a new collective bargaining agreement after the lockout that canceled the 2004-05 season.

``I say personally, to everybody who called us 'spoiled,' you guys are just jealous ... we have tried so, so hard to get this game back on the ice,'' Roenick said.

Like New York Rangers right wing Jaromir Jagr, who came out last week and admitted that the union's gamble didn't pay off, Roenick said he doesn't think the players can get a good deal at this point.

``I know we are going to give up probably more than any union has ever given up in the history of (professional) sports and, to me, I think that's enough to bring the fans back -- to know what their players are going to give up as much as they have in the last year,'' Roenick said. ``If people are going to chastise professional athletes who are making a lot of money they need to look at the deal we are probably going to end up signing in the next three weeks.''

I saw the end of this clip on Sportscenter last night, but this is the whole quote. Now normally I have a lot of respect for JR for calling it the way it is, but this time he's screwed up. How can anyone who makes millions of dollars playing a kids game tell the fans to stay away? SO WHAT if you lost a year's play and pay to stand up as a group. You were so convinced [as is every sports player] that ownership will just bend over and give in. THIS TIME ownership said 'Enough Is Enough' AND STOOD TOGETHER. AND GOOD FOR THEM!!! Anytime outgoing surpasses income to force owners to work in a deficit, something's going to give, unless you're a government and can print money. It's time professional athletes leatned the basics of Economics they were supposed to learn in school.

JR is never going to have to work a $ 10 an hour job, he's never going to miss a credit card payment or have to plan his check writing around payday every two weeks. He's made millions and will continue to make millions, just FEWER millions than before. It's just like Latrell Spreewell complaining last year about ONLY making $ 14 Million a season and saying 'I got to feed my familiy.' OH PLEASE. So yeah, I am jealous there. Tell me you're not going to get a good deal, though? Blame those people who told you 'ownership will cave, they always have.' And didn't JR get paid for part of the season becuase he was injured with a concussion? Maybe you'd better see that specialist again JR or get your money back,

JR doesn't want me watching? Fine. I will boycott all the sponsors of the NHL TV deal... OH, that's right, THERE ISN'T AN NHL TV DEAL. Giving up part of your salary is nowhere near enough to bring the fans back. Maybe we will all read JR's comments and NOT come back and JR WILL be worrying about kiting checks and selling his mansion in Phoenix and his cars. I'm not holding my breath on it, though.

Is This My Fault?


From Friday's FWST:
By Malcolm Mayhew

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals [Preview]

Forever will North Texas fondly remember the Ryan Adams of yesterday, when he used to fight with his band onstage and get in beer-bottle-tossing matches with the crowd. Back when the North Carolinian was fronting alt-country stalwarts Whiskeytown, there was always a chance you'd leave one of his shows covered with beer or blood. Adams, now a half-dozen records deep into a prolific solo career, has mellowed out some, as you can hear on his latest double-disc snoozer, Cold Roses, which easily could have been trimmed to one disc, and maybe even an EP. Bring back the fights, man; those were more exciting.

From Saturday's FWST:
Review By Stefan Stevenson

Star-Telegram Staff Writer


DALLAS _ Ryan Adams' Friday night show at the Gypsy Tea Room showcased the often brilliant songwriter's tortured-artist syndrome. Throughout his two-hour show with his band, the Cardinals, he complained about his fans, fidgeted with his guitar or did some bizarre comedic shtick that no one in the packed crowd seemed to understand.

All this might be forgiven if it hadn't affected his songs. But the nonsense did, more often than not, bleed into the music. He ruined a piano- driven version of `Rescue Blues' with improv lyrics and a sloppy finish that could only be blamed on a lack of focus.

When he immersed himself in a song, his talented four- piece band was always there to supplement his whims and provide a steady backbone. How the Cardinals tour with Adams and remain together, or sane, is beyond comprehension. One guess is the fact that Adams is an intelligent songwriter and musician. He's fearlessly prolific, tackling and nailing several genres. He released a double CD, Cold Roses, in May, will release an album in August and another this fall.

For the first 20 minutes, it seemed that we'd get a head- down, no-nonsense rock show. Adams and band tore through `Love Is Hell,' a raunchy `New York, New York,' a tight `To Be Young' and two songs from Roses: `Magnolia Mountain' and `Easy Plateau.'

Then the wheels came off.

Adams berated a fan for yelling a request. "I heard you, and guess what? We're not going to play it now."

Twenty minutes later, after blistering versions of `What Sin Replaces Love' and `Shakedown on 9th Street' and beautiful takes on `Dear Chicago' and `When the Stars Go Blue,' Adams abruptly announced that he was taking an early break.

"If you guys want to pay $30 and waste your time, that's fine. I won't fight the audience. Hopefully, these [ jerks] will leave."

Okay, a while back, like 2001, I was hailing this guy as the New Whiz Kid, the New Springsteen, the Promising Future of Rock and Roll.... well, I could be wrong.

While I STILL believe Gold was/is Ryan's best work [everything else SEEMS like he's only half interested, even the much praised (by some) Heartbreaker], it seems the boy is slipping into a Syd Barrett/Brian Wilson manic schizophrenia from which his career may never recover. Has Ryan been reading his own clippings? Does he want to be a Rock God so but that he's willing to let any semblance of Artistic Intergrity or dignity he has left slide down the tubes?

No, I haven't sat down with Cold Roses.. I have sampled it in the store though and I didn't hear anything that grabbed me and said "You have to have this record!!!" And I understand at 79 minutes for 2 CDs something could have been trimmed to make it 1 CD. But the Record Corporation seems to be okay with a double CD so they can charge a couple extra bucks and for that "Oh So Cool" faux leather cover... which Waylon did first anyway.

And I almost blew my dinner when I saw Dennis Leary push the CD on Letterman along with his 15 DVDs of failed shows. [I love Dennis, but he couldn't pick a hit show with the broad side of a barn. And anyone who thinks Cam Neely is Hall of Fame worthy needs his head examined. Even John Buccigross. Cam may be a great guy, but he was no Bobby Orr and he doesn't belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Only 726 games played, 395 goals, 299 assists?] "I just put it in there because I love it." P-U.

So I ask again: Is it the fault of the Adoring, Praise Heaping Masses [SELF INCLUDED] for giving this guy a swelled head? Should this be a lesson in tempering one's opinion until there is a clear track record? Was the guy just lucky hitting on all cylinders for a couple really good records [Whiskeytown's Stranger's Almanac and Gold]?

Speaking of Hockey

The Chicago Blackhawks, hockey's worst run franchise in the last 10 seasons, fired coach Brian Sutter today. Sutter was NOT the reaons the Hawks are losing: look at who the Hawks have traded or let go by free agency in the last decade: Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios, Tony Amonte, Alexei Zhamnov, Ed Belfour, Dominick Hasek, Gary Suter... the Bill Wirz Fan Club now meets in Philadelphia, featuring Zhamnoz, Roenick and Amonte. They've had to play their best asset goaltender Jocelyn Thibault into the ground, big Eric Daze has been hurt the last two seasons, and their best defenseman has been near blind in one eyed Bryan Berard!

Why Brian got the boot? He said the team needed help and the Wirz family refuses to part with any money to help the team. They got a nice new building a few years ago but they can't generate any intrest with a losing club and their games are NOT shown on local TV or cable. Is it any wonder the Hawk haven't been close to the Stanley Cup since the team that played the Penguins in 92-93 was dismantled piece by piece?

Sutter will pop up somewhere... like brother Daryl, coach of the 'This Close' Calgary Flames, he's a taskmaster and not a player friendly coach, but all that will pay off in a very disciplined team. Hello, anyone listening in St Louis? Can Wayne Gretzky forget aboout coaching with this guy available?

UPDATE: 6/22 7:15 PM:

The Blues, rather than hire a coach who can whip a team into a Team, have re-signed unknown quantity Mike Kitchen as head coach. How many coaches are shaking in their boots right now? Ed Olcyk in Pittsburgh? Dave Tippett in Dallas? Who IS coaching the Mighty Ducks of Anahiem?

Behind the Music Redux:

We [my small group of rock and roll purists] have been discussing VH1's Behind the Music recently, specifically the 'Subtitled' Oasis episode and how funny it was you can't understand the Gallagher Brothers when they talk - sober or not. I just happened to have VH1 on last night [Sunday night television being the PITS] and who should be on but the Backstreet Boys. Isn't that a coincidence, a one hour special promoting the release of their new album!

Can we just get it over with and announce that VH1/MTV et al is only interested in you if your record company is willing to pay big bucks to promote you? Just like music 'journalism' today, we promise not to say anything bad or controversial about you and help you promote your latest 'Product' so you don't cut your advertising revenue.

See, this is the fascination with celebrity I am talking about. When IS the last time you read a negative review in a National Music Magazine? Jeez, Rolling Stone wouldn't run a negative review of an Art Garfunkel record because he's a friend of the publisher. The Publisher also ran second [more complimentary] reviews of Bob Dylan records when the first reviews weren't lauding enough and/or 'failed to expound on Mr. D's genius as the poet laureate of His Generation.' And let me tell you, some of those late 70s Dylan albums STINK.

No, you only see negative reviews in newspapers or local underground papers [like the Dallas Observer or FW Weekly here], which are not beholden to the Record Corporation Teet for advertising dollars.

One of my favorite stories about Wenner and Co at Rolling Stone is the one of their Non Opinion of Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage, which is basically a three Lp swipe at the Record Corporations. They called it 'Frank's Apocalypse Now,' but never said if that was a bad thing or good thing, knowing if they pissed Frank off [again], he would not be afraid to launch a broadside at them.

Again, I don't know why I care, but I do.

Home Taping Redux: iPod and file sharing

from Yahoo News:
Article by Anjali Athavaley, Washington Post

Ben Freedland did two things that his fellow college students have been doing routinely for the past several years: First, he bought a new music CD by campus fave the Dave Matthews Band, then he tried to upload it onto his Apple iPod.

Then something went wrong.

The screen went blank, then a copyright agreement popped up. The music wasn't going anywhere. Freedland could play the CD on his laptop, but he couldn't transfer it, and he couldn't copy it to share the mellow grooves with friends or family.

Freedland deemed the CD "worthless."

The Duke University student had had his first run-in with a technology that record companies are using to limit the number of times users can burn, or make extra copies of, CDs. The new content-protected disc, which is not yet compatible with the iPod, is the recording industry's latest strategy to curb the illegal spread of music. This time, the crackdown is on the CD purchased at your local music shop -- the last bastion consumers held in freely sharing legally bought music.

It's one thing for record companies to file suit against people who share music files illegally on the Internet, or to pursue criminal charges against those who make pirated copies of CDs and sell them on street corners. But this is different. Generations have grown up with the notion that if you buy an album at the store, the songs are yours to show off to your friends.

In the 1970s and '80s, people made mix tapes without thinking twice. The tapes were an expression of personality. "A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do," Nick Hornby wrote in "High Fidelity," a novel in which mix tapes served as the very definition of identity and the currency of relationships.

With the death of the cassette tape, that same mentality transferred to the mix CD. It became a birthday gift, a wedding compilation, a way to say "sorry" or "I love you." In college dorms, students started exchanging CD albums so that a hardcore Nirvana fan could try a little Garth Brooks without having to pay for the whole CD.

But the technology got too good. Copies of CDs sound just as clear as the originals -- unlike cassette tapes, which always had some level of hiss. And with the rise of the Internet and online file-sharing, suddenly it became possible to share with several thousand "friends" at a time.

Such behavior is being blamed by the industry for a dramatic drop in sales of CDs and other forms of recorded music. Over the past five years, shipments of music to retailers have dropped by 21 percent, according to the RIAA [Recording Industry Assosciation of America].

"There is no question that piracy -- in its various, ugly forms -- is the primary reason for that decline," said Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive officer of the association, in a written statement. "In the face of such devastating and ongoing harm, it is appropriate that record companies find ways to facilitate the continued investment in new art."

So in a move that risks alienating a dwindling customer base, the major record labels are tightening up restrictions on CDs.

A growing number of newly released CDs are equipped with software that limits users from burning copies more than three times. On CDs released by record company Sony BMG Music Entertainment, individual songs can be used in compilations only three times.

But CD loyalists are divided on that issue. Greg Shadley, who works in the campus ministry office at Georgetown University, takes two buses and a train to get to his job every day. His iPod and his jumbo headphones accompany him every step of the way, he said.

Shadley, 49, even listens to his playlists at work. He prefers classical music, but he also rocks out to bands like the Grateful Dead and the Doors. He hates downloading music off the Internet unless it's absolutely necessary.

The content-protection technology would not keep him from buying an album, Shadley said, because he doesn't like to share music out of respect for the artists, who stand to lose royalties every time someone copies a tune instead of paying for it. Shadley used to work at a Tower Records downtown and hated watching kids buy the latest pop CD to lend to all their friends.

A newer generation of music lover views things somewhat differently. Around the George Washington University campus, students said they understand the record industry's reasons for combating music piracy. But they also acknowledged that it wouldn't stop them from sharing CDs with their friends or downloading free music.

Emily Mannie teaches a spinning class and likes to sample music online before deciding if it's worthy enough for her music mixes. She says she respects artists' rights and understands why the recording industry is setting boundaries. But she still downloads illegally because, well, it's free. The average college student pocketbook isn't very full of money.

"It's like speeding," said Mannie, a 28-year-old graduate student. "I know I shouldn't speed, but I have to get there."

First, let me say this: Yes, I understand copyrights. But I also understand that as a purchaser of a product I should be free to use it as I please. Making a compilation tape or CD for traveling, i.e. my personal use, does not violate copyright law. If I make A copy or two for friends, I may actually be doing the record company a favor by generating interest in a band, even though it is technically illegal.

Having said that, I also understand the need for anti-piracy software, having seen/known/ worked with/ lived with the people who download all this stuff off the internet and sell pirate copies. The broadband/ cable internet has made all of this so much easier.

But understand that the corporations [i.e. Record Company Corporations, now just divisions of huge 'Conglomerates like Seagrams [Phillips-Polygram-Universal] and Time Warner [Warners- Atlantic -Rhino]] are so behind the curve on the whole Internet music revolution... they're still thinking in the 1980s: People want product with pictures and lyrics and they will buy CDs with two good songs and ten tracks of crap. And that thinking is FAR FAR outdated. But that's what happens when music became Big Business in the 70s and 80s.

The smaller companies are in a far better position to reach the New Music consumer [of which I am not: I got a nasty virus from Kazzaa and I have never shared a fgile on the Internet since.] It's kind of like your Granparents hearing your parents Rock and Roll and going "What IS that?" The Record Corporations don't understand that people are not wowwed by product anymore; they want SUBSTANCE for their dollar. And AGAIN, I also bring up the fact that the price of mainline new CDs has remained around $15.00. For 15 bucks I can get a whole spindle of 50 blank CDs. What's keeping the price so high? Oh, couldn't be a bottom line of the parent corporation, could it?

I am a dinosuar, but I'd rather the Record Industry was back in the hands of the Ahmet Erteguns and Jac Holzmans who wanted to make a dollar, but also weren't afraid to take a risk and who loved MUSIC. Bands like Aerosmith and the Allman Brothers wouldn't exist in todays music business because they didn't have huge sales on their first records.

The other problem the Recording Corporations have today [and according to a thing I saw in Trio today, the same problem the Movie Corporations have] is that they're aiming for a teen audience whose tastes change with the sunrise. Who is putting out music for people our age, who have the most interest in MUSIC, not the look good band of the week?

And I thought Garth Brooks said it was reselling [i.e. the Used CD business] that was killing the recording industry.

Forgive me, it's the Rockist in me coming out again. By the way, Happy Birthday {Again] Amy: I will not post your age becuase I am a nice person, but I say again: Damn kids!!!!

Addendum to Music Can Take You Places

Ever since I was typing about summer songs I have that gawd awful Summer Nights from Grease in my head. I can still picture us at the Snow Mass address entertaining ourselves when my parents and Rich and Donna went out, Sherri, Jenni and Dana doing that song with a spotlight lamp on them. Ugh! That and Sean Cassidy....

Mass Media Hysteria

I finally realized today what I hate about all this Cable News and Mas Media: Every damn little story becomes a National thing. This is NOT GOOD!!!

It seems every time there is a car chase on an LA freeway it's on Fox News. Who cares if you're not in LA? I mean OJ was maybe a special case... if they were chasing Osama Bin Laden down I-5, okay, but I don't need every little local thing.

Are there really more kids being kidnapped and killed or are we just more aware of it in the mass hysteria age? Runaway brides? Missing wives? Or is it just our obsession with instant information and the National Media trying to beat the other guy to a story? Stuff that was only local news ten years ago is splashed all over Cable Mass Media and I am getting tired of it.

Earthquake today, instantly Fox has three local reporters from San Diego, LA and wherever "Yep, that was an earthquake, no reports of casualties or much damage." "Ditto." "Ditto." Okay now to our earthquake expert... now back to our guys in the field who we just spoke to ten seconds ago..." "Nothing new here Bob..." "Ditto."

Just like this Michael Jackson thing. God, am I glad this is over with. Of course now the CMM has to fill that time we spent analyzing Michael's arm bands and pajamas and what does it all mean with something else. Not anything meaningful, but something. Did Russell Crowe get arrested again? Cameron Crowe? Cameron Diaz do anything today?

As a society, we're not interested in news, we're interested in Celebrity. Frankly, I am burned out on celebrity. We're obsessed with people we think are living better, or at least more interesting lives than we are. P-U.

The other thing I hope we are burning out on is turning on TV to watch 'Reality.' You know what? My life could be pretty intresting if yuou melted down a weeks worth of stuff into a 40 minute TV show. Maybe. People living 30 days on minum wage? People living 30 days as another religion? People living off only McDonalds? Putting people on an island for however long and not allowing them to bash each other on the head and discouraging cannibalism? Where's the reality there? We want out reality in Andy Griffth/Gillligan's Island reality. Kind of sort of, but not really. Entertain me, don't depress me.

And maybe that's it. News isn't NEWS anymore, it's entertainment. We used to look to people we trusted to give us news, now we look for the best looking guy.

Still, just like Bruce said: 57 Channels and Nothin' On...

Summertime

Two recent posts on the RNR Report, one on the return of the summer posting schedule [ah, I do wish I had summers off again] and the mix tapes got me thinking about summer songs. And there are a ton that have the word summer in them [proved by a search on Amazon]... a few off the top being Summer in the City by the Lovin' Spoonful [sorry, still do no think they are RNR Hall of Fame worthy], lots of people doing Summertime from Porgy and Bess, the best rock version being Big Brother and the Holding Company's version on Cheap Thrills, Summer by War [more on that in a minute], Summer Nights from Grease, Sly and the Family Stone's Hot Fun in the Summertime... just to name a few.

Anyway, it put me in the reflective mood thinking about how certain songs get associated with summers, especially your summers as a kid. For example, certain songs remind me of summers spent in the state parks of West Virginia when we lived there: Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings, Miracles by Jefferson Starship and Grand Funk doing The Locomotion. And there's certain songs I associate with summers with my grandparents when I was much younger like Do It Again [remember AM radio?] by Steely Dan, Dead Skunk by Louden Wainwright, Tie A Yellow Ribbon by Tony Orlando and Dawn, Hooked on A Feeling by Blue Suede and a terrible song called Playground in My Mind by Clint Holmes that was an AM hit in Pittsburgh one summer...

There's also been some stinkers that get played every summer like Summertime, Summertime by the Jamies {I think, you know the onewhere they sing 'Summer time, summer time, sum sum summer time' with some thick East Coast acccent} and In The Summertime by Mungo Jerry. Geez what schlock!

Then of course there are the standards for summer like the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean and all those beach and car songs. I submit that a good War 'Best of' collection should be essential summer gear. All those great songs that just seem to be a soundtrack to the 1970s summers: Why Can't We Be Friends, Cisco Kid, Low Rider, Summer, Spill the Wine, All Day Music, City,Country,City... talk about old school jams!

My high school years [1982-1985] are also dotted with classic summer songs like Magic by the Cars, Photograph by Def Leppard, Centerfold [and Love Stinks from the previous summer] by the J Geils Band, Who Can It Be Now by Men at Work, Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield, Cheap Sunglasses by ZZ Top, Tom Sawyer by Rush, Whitesnake's Slow and Easy, Van Halen's cover of Pretty Woman, Knocking at Your Back Door by Deep Purple ... but those days we were getting into albums. We'd pile into someones car and go running around blasting Van Halen, Sammy Hagar [pre-Van Hagar: remember Three Lock Box and Standing Hampton?], Led Zeppelin, ZZ, Whitesnake's Slide It In, Don't Say No by Billy Squier, the whole Pyromania record, Rebel Yell. Judas Priest's Defenders of the Faith [Freewheel Burning still gets the old blood pumping!]...

The last summer I remember 'summer music' was the summer of 87: working in a record store and still young enough to not give a hoot. There were a few hot records that year: Faster Pussycat's debut, Whitesnake [the one where Coverdale fired John Sykes and hired Adrian Vandenberg and Viv Campbell and they'd do all the Tawny Kitaen videos], Aerosmith's Permanent Vacation, Metallica's 5.98 EP of covers, Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet [I still hate it because I heard it so many times], the Cars under-rated Door to Door, Prince's Sign O the Times, GNR's Appetite, REM Document, Def Leppard Hysteria, U2 Joshua Tree, Replacements Pleased to Meet Me, Dwight Yoakum's Hillbilly Deluxe.... what did I do that summer besides drink beer, play sand volleyball and listen to music? Oh, and go to work and listen to more music...

In the years since, sense of summer, other than the hot of Texas, has lost its meaning. There's very few albums I still associate with summer since: the Smithereens Green Thoughts, Los Lobos Colossal Head, Superchunk's Foolish... a few years ago I made a Summer Tape; actually I made all the Four Seasons in honor of Vivaldi's Four Seasons... I just dug it out again to review and there's not bad stuff: the War, Big Brother, Car Jamming by the Clash, Pulling Mussels from a Shell by Squeeze, White Lies by Jason and the Scorchers, Rockaway Beach by the Ramones, Iggy's Lust for Life, Pretenders' Night in My Veins, The Kings great from the summer of 1980 The Beat Goes On/Switching to Glide, Jimmy Buffet's Livingston Saturday Night, AM Radio by Everclear...

Is there still something about summer we can all remember, days when you had absolutely nothing to do and had all day to do it? Summer days you'd play sandlot ball and hang out and ride bikes and play and play and play and not have a care in the world?

So next time you catch yourself staring into space in your cubicle or you're driving home by some kids playing ball or riding bikes that are out for the summer, just kind of ask yourself how long the tape of your summertime memories would have to be and what songs you'd have to put on there...

This article titled Remember Mix Tapes? Just Hit Rewind by Stephanie Earls recently hightlighted on The Rock and Roll Report.

Potentials were piled on the turntable, but you also had a play list, songs scratched out, wild cards considered, rearranged: Insert Peter Murphy (after Op Ivy? No way), reconsider The Tubes altogether.

OK. Rewind. Hit "play" and "record." Wait... wait...

This was going to be a killer mix.

Before the making of a mix tape became a dying art, it was many, many things: an isometric exercise for the soul, a celebration, a project.

It usually started with a trip to the downtown record store, because back then there were no Wal-Marts and, more importantly, you didn't have a car. You chose your brand -- TDK, SONY, Maxell. OK, well, first you counted your money. Because if you really, really wanted it to last you knew you were going to have to go for something fancy, like TDK's high bias IECII.

Durability, unfortunately, did not guarantee timelessness.

Today, IECII and the like have fallen from places of honor to basement boxes wilted from water damage. Mix cassette cases are lost or cracked or melted, entombed under spare tires in car trunks. They go unsold for 25 cents at yard sales. The equipment to play them is considered vintage. Boom boxes broke and became impromptu stepladders. Fresh generations of pre-teens began to point at dashboard tape decks and ask, "What's that?"

Let the mix tape homages begin.

By the book

"While preparing this book, almost every person I solicited had a tale to tell about the mix tapes they had made for themselves or others, and ones they received in return," writes Thurston Moore, of the band Sonic Youth, in the introduction to the new book "Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture" (Universe Publishing; $22.50; 95 pages), a collection of homemade cassette cover art, play lists and comments from more than 50 contributors in and beyond the music world. "And almost every person bemoaned the fact that their beloved tapes had vanished."

Croons Butch Walker on the 2005 radio hit "Mixtape": "Cause you gave me the best mixtape I have; and even all the bad songs ain't so bad; I only wish there was more than that; About me and you."

The making of a mix tape was no easy job, especially before the era of CD-to-tape recording, but that was what gave it intrinsic worth. Making a mix tape was a commitment. A whole evening or longer, especially if you picked one of those long-play tapes.

"I would make a stack of stuff I wanted to hear, depending on what the tape was for," said Willobee, program director and DJ at WEQX in Manchester. "It was about creating a mood. And you can't listen to records in your car."

Paying attention

To make a good tape-to-tape or vinyl-to-tape mix you had to pay very close attention. You could maybe dash to the bathroom or to get a drink while a song taped, but you had to be back to push the pause button at the exact right time.

It wasn't just about supervision, though. Taping required finesse. You had to know if a song faded out at the end, if it stopped abruptly or bled into the next song, a mixer's nightmare. You had to have quick fingers and a good sense of timing to know when to hit pause (wait, wait ... now!) and then let up so a few seconds of white noise could leak in to create an appropriate break between songs.

You had to do the math, figure out exactly how many songs could fit onto Side A, so the last song didn't cut off abruptly. Unless, of course, that's what you wanted.

"I kind of made (mix tapes) for attention deficit disorder patients. I'd cut them off halfway through, or run them into one another. I liked the hard juxtaposition," said John Brodeur, a 29-year-old music critic and musician in Albany who leads the Albany pop band The Suggestions. (The band's most recent EP is, incidentally, titled "Mix tape.")

People could gain a limited -- but supremely cool -- notoriety for their mix tape skills. The really good ones would add their own, signature flourishes, like, say, inserting a snippet of dialogue from Blue Velvet or Repo Man between songs. How did they get it? Who knew. It was part of the mystery. Some made cool cover art. Others simply didn't label at all.

You didn't have to be really into music, or own a record store, or be in a band, or be a boy, to make a mix tape. You just needed equipment, and desire.

Mail and gifts

Los Angeles-based performer Jade Gordon maintains ties with her long-distance best friend via mix tapes: "We've always sent mixed tapes back and forth to keep each other up to date on what we're listening to," Gordon writes in Moore's book.

The gift mix tape (See, also: Birthday Mix, Breakup Mix, Enlightenment Mix, Update Mix) is what you gave when you really wanted something in return, like respect, attention, or a date. A mix tape said: Here is a portion of the soundtrack of my life. Can you dig it?

Sometimes they couldn't dig it.

"The first time I made a mix tape for anybody I was 18, and it was for a girl I had a crush on in high school," said 27-year-old Hans Leibold of Cohoes, who made his first mix compilation tape from his parents' record collection when he was 13. "I was really into heavy metal, but I would also listen to Rod Stewart and Don Henley. In retrospect it was probably the worst mix tape in history. I don't think she ever talked to me again.

"I guess if you ever want to get rid of someone, make them a bad mix tape."

Sometimes a mix was just strange.

"A guy I was in a band with once made me a tape. It had a heavy metal tune followed by a 10-minute-long Bob Dylan song, followed by Ween, then five Rolling Stones songs, like he put on the record and left the room. Which he had," said Brodeur.

Today's mix

Today there are CD-Rs and MP3s. Entire catalogs of music live inside laptops, in cyberspace or on iPods. With new equipment, compiling a list of songs and burning them onto a disc is as easy as clicking a few icons and finding something on The WB to kill the 10 minutes it takes your computer to finish the job. Play is flawless. There is no clarity sacrificed with each generation of reproduction.

Outside of song choice, the human fingerprint is virtually absent from the mix CD.

"Over the course of 10 to 12 years, I probably made 40 different mix tapes for different girlfriends or wannabe girlfriends," Brodeur said. "I can't say that I've made more than three mix CDs for people. It's just boring."

Leibold defected to CDs in college, but got back into cassette mixes after his CD collection was stolen from his Albany apartment. He got a job at Last Vestige Music Shop in Albany, and started his new collection from scratch -- on cassette tapes.

"I figured I might as well go back to basics," said Leibold. "Now I only mix tapes from vinyl. I have a CD player I hardly ever use."

Like many music purists, Leibold says he now prefers analog. As in records and tapes.

"Digital is what you hear today on the radio. That melted butter sound. It's so sterile," Leibold said. "Analog is just warmer. If you listen close enough you can hear bracelets jingling."

And, for a man once burned by thieves, analog is simply less risky these days.

"I'm pretty sure no one but me wants them," Leibold said.

Now I myself have a soft, soft spot for mix tapes, have for years. I hope any recipient of a Chaz mix tape realized how much thought and care goes into making a good mix. And patience. And sometimes complete deep six of a tape and starting over. I rarely used lists or anything, I'd just fly by the seat of my pants, though sometimes I'd have a quick list of two or three songs that had been the genesis of the tape.

I still have lots of my mix tapes, some remade, some carefully rarely played because they're irreplacable like Laurinda's Phantasma Muzik, made from Vadek's singles collection. I just made a collection of Jim songs I would hate to lose from the five tapes he's made for me. I have one tape from 1987 [remade about 1997] of songs from that period that I was listening to and that remind me of someone... the key songs: Pete Townshend's Crashing By Design, Wendy and Lisa's Waterfall, Tom Petty's Runaway Trains, Robbie Robertson's Broken Arrow, Bob Dylan's Simple Twist of Fate, Meat Loaf's Two Out of Three Ain't Bad and Billy Joel's Laura. [And no, I have never dated anyone named Laura.] I have tapes I have made from Scott Downey's and Wichita Deb's collections. I have tapes of Old Blues [50s-60s] and New Fangled Electrical Blues [60s- Allmans, Johnny Winter, John Mayall] and Motown and Stax tapes made for playing to kill Saturday afternoons at Forever Young. I have piles of road tapes, including the OKC 98 tape that reminds me of hitting that stupid curve in Moore and blasting Keith Richards, a series of 'classic rock' that have to have the Doors and Traffic and Cream in a row because it makes me smile and a tape of only driving songs like Hot Rod Lincolin, Rockin Down the Highway, The Ballad of Uneasy Rider and Jesus Built My Hotrod. I have tapes that just show what I had acquired during a period, be it a year or six months. I have tapes made for sitting on the balcony sipping martinis or for a dinner party [Best of Blue Note jazz] and driving in season, which I attempted to send out on CD to friends, but I didn't have the stuff from CD to do Summer justice [notably as War 'Best of' CD]. The latest I was proud of were three challenge tapes: First Cuts [skipping obvious like Brown Sugar, Black Dog],The End [lots of good songs end albums] and Side Winders [A side all songs that ended side 1, B side all 1st cuts on side 2].

The problem with doing a CD of MP3s is that they are put on the list by song title or band and it would be so much work to juggle and program and rename and store elsewhere that it would be a hassle... I have made music CDs, last one being Airplane Music for my last flight into Pittsburgh in 2003. But it's not quite the same. I don't have all the titles I want on CD and I don't really want to spend $ 8-10 to replace my ELO A New World Record just so I can have Rockaria or Do Ya for making a mix CD. I know we can record LPs now into MP3 [Tracey does it all the time] but I would need a dedicated phonograph and my backup has a broken drive belt and I neen my regular unit tuned up first anyway.

Anyway, if you have comments or a rant on a mix tape I made for you send it to chazg66@netzero.net And heads up Marty, I still have the Name the Band Challenge tape sent from Belmont that you cheated by including someone's class project song of King of the Road. I'll play it for ya when your here for the class reunion, whenever that is.

Whiny Sports Guy of the Week:

While we are on the verge of a deal in the NHL [with salary cap and floor and probably a slightly bigger net and smaller goalie pads and no redline... ALL OF WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN DONE WITHOUT A WORK STOPPAGE] I read this about poor Terrell Owens of the Philadelphia Eagles:

By DAN GELSTON, AP Sports Writer June 9, 2005

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Philadelphia Eagles still don't know if Terrell Owens will show up for training camp after he held out of offseason minicamps because he wants to renegotiate the seven-year deal worth almost $49 million he signed in March 2004.

Coach and general manager Andy Reid said Thursday it's been a few weeks since he talked to Drew Rosenhaus, Owens' agent, but the Eagles stance hasn't changed. They're not willing to renegotiate a new deal for the receiver who helped lead them to the Super Bowl.

Owens says he simply wants to be paid like one of the top players in the game.

Now I don't know about you, but averaging $ 7 mil a year seems like pretty good scratch. I could probably live very comfortably on that. But I am not flying up in front of 260 lb. linebackers to catch a football. And the NFL isn't hurting for money. But YOU SIGNED A DEAL LESS THAN 1 YEAR AGO.

Yeah, you had a good year, played hurt to try and give your team an extra boost for the Super Bowl [and coming off that injury probably need the work in camp to get your timing back]... but you have a signed deal.

I am sure Terell's new agent, hired after the season and who didn't get a dime on your deal, is telling you the team owes you the respect and you deserve to be paid good for what you do. I want them to show you the money [ so I can get some, too]!!!

Someone needs to remind you both that 1. NFL contracts are not guaranteed and 2. You can be shipped someplace worse than Philadelphia [Green Bay, Oakland, Arizona] where you can be a big fish in the small pond. SHUT UP TERRELL AND GET TO CAMP ON TIME.

And that goes for anyone who has a signed contract. Shut up and play !!!

What is Up with This?

So, tomorrow being payday, I decide to sky a check and get a Papa John's for dinner because I happened to get a pack of coupons today. So I get the Pick 3 for $ 10.99 [pepperoni, ham, extra cheese]. Imagine my surprise when I am quoted 12.99 with tax and all. So I get the box and I check it: They're charging me a $ 1.00 delivery charge.

Now I am, having filled up my car today, totally up on the price of gas and everything, and I realize they're probably paying these guys minimum + .75/ delivery, but instead of just making the pizza 11.99 and saying 'times are tough', they're going to sneak it on by you by charging a delivery charge.

Now now way in hell am I going to use a buck's worth of gas [even in my AM radio armed Gremlin... heh heh - Rave Ups reference y'all!] going over to Papa Johns over at 121 and Harwood, but am I willing to take 20-25 minutes to go get it or do I pay the $ 1.00 convenience charge?

I have heard rumors that this was going to be the next big wave, and make no mistake, these companies don't want you hangning outn in their tiny lobbies waiting for a pie. All things being the same, I think I will take my business over to Big Joe's here in Euless if I have to pick one up, where I can at least watch ESPN news while waiting.

From Marty:

So three minor occurances aligned in my universe that made me realize how insightful Chaz really was, or is I guess.

I'm sitting on my new back deck, that my wife made me build (that no one uses by the way) contemplating the fact that we, BHS class of '85, are probably not having a 20th class reunion. My mind drifts off to the music we listened to the summer we graduated - thanks to the really cheap, yet good wine coming out of Argentina these days. Then I recalled some rant Chaz had going on where he made the point that music takes you to some previous "place and time". Well, I happen to be in a Kenny Chesney mode for some odd reason these days (I do country about every five years or so cuz I ain't no music Nazi). Man, Kenny's making millions off of your prose Chaz. Listen to "I go back" and tell me you didn't write that first. Makes me cry like them old codgers in Tootsies Orchid Lounge on Broadway here in Nashville when they hear an old George Jones song.

BTW - anybody notice that Kenny Chesney songs ARE '80's power ballads sung with a Dwight Yokum nasally voice.

Anyway, in case you live under a rock and have not heard the tune the lyrics follow or you can see the video on demand at http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/chesney_kenny/artist.jhtml. If you go to CMT check out Cowboy Troy - now that's a country freak show in good sort of way. Part of the whole Music Mafia freak show, Big and Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Jon Nicholson, James Otto thingy. http://www.musicmafia.com/

"Jack and Diane" painted a picture of my life and my dreams,
Suddenly this crazy world made more sense to me
Well I heard it today and I couldn't help but sing along
Cause everytime I hear that song...

I go back to a two-toned short bed Chevy
Drivin my first love out to the levy
Livin life with no sense of time
And I go back to the feel of a fifty yard line
A blanket, a girl, some raspberry wine
Wishin time would stop right in its tracks
Every time I hear that song, I go back, I go back

I used to rock all night long to "Keep On Rockin Me Baby"
Frat parties, college bars, just tryin to impress the ladies
I heard it today and I couldn't help but sing along
Cause every time I hear that song....


I go back to the smell of an old gym floor
The taste of salt on the Carolina shore
After graduation and drinkin goodbye to friends
And I go back to watchin summer fade to fall
Growin up too fast and I do recall
Wishin time would stop right in its tracks
Every time I hear that song, I go back, I go back

We all have a song that somehow stamped our lives
Takes us to another place and time

So I go back to a pew,preacher, and a choir
Singin bout God, brimstone, and fire
And the smell of Sunday chicken after church
And I go back to the loss of a real good friend
And the sixteen summers I shared with him
Now "Only The Good Die Young" stops me in my tracks
Every time I hear that song, I go back, I go back

To the feel of a fifty yard line
A blanket, a girl, some raspberry wine, I go back
I go back

To watchin summer fade to fall
Growin up too fast and I do recall, I go back
I go back

To the loss of a real good friend
And the sixteen summers I shared with him, I go back

First of all, let me say Marty has a GREAT deck. It looks out over his goldfish pond and a small grove of trees behind his house and it's fantastic in the morning to stand on the deck and have your coffee or espresso there. DON'T let Marty make your espresso unless you want to be wired ALL DAY.

As for music taking you places, I can only relate to MY experiences, though I am sure we ALL have similar stories. Certain songs like Steve Miller's Jungle Love and Ted Nugent's Dog Eat Dog remind me of roller skating at Big Wheel in Arlington, some like the Ohio Players Love Rollercoaster and Bad Company's Can't Get Enough remind me of West Virginia... hell sometimes I hear things I know are crap, but they strike you in the right mood and you remember a time, like Brian Adams Summer of 69 reminding me of going out to the old Sound Warehouse on Camp Bowie through the west side neighborhood where Marty's friend Lauren lived. Or songs from the Van Halen 5150 album riding around to Hulen Mall with Hawkins in his silver Mustang that smelled like something died in the air condtioner vent...

The other thing now is VH1 Classic... I watch some of those 80's videos and go "What were we thinking?" But sometimes you'll see something that takes you back to a good night, either the song or the video, like one of those post Burleson Debate tourney parties at Sharp's house where you got kissed or Smuggler's Blues reminding you of Miami Vice talk on Mondays...

Little things remind us of old days, like this email reminding me of the home taping industry me and Marty had set up in high school to make some extra scratch. We'd go buy cheap 90 minute tapes and tape two albums on them and sell them for five bucks so we could get good tapes for ourselves and expand the music collections. I remember one of us had to get Deep Purple's Perfect Strangers to fill a request and I would up getting it. [See, the music industry was right, home taping was killing their sales, at least at Burleson High School] And Marty would type up the labels because he was a pretty good typer and we'd mark them with CGT or CGMT or something... wonder if any of our old classmates still have those hanging around in boxes eh?

$ 44.00 Experiment - Brinsley Schwarz

This double Lp set is Capitol re-issuing their thier 1970 records Brinsley Schwarz and Despite It All.

As far as playing connect the dots from Brinsley Schwarz to the 'punk' of Graham Parker and the Rumour [featuring guitarist Schwarz and keyboardist Bob Anderson] and Nick Lowe [and the Lowe produced Elvis Costello and Lowe's other project, the 50's throwback of Rockpile with Dave Edmunds]... good luck. Brinsley Schwarz sounds so far removed from England circa 1978, but of course, they were. Being 1970, they sound a lot like other bands of that era, the two most crossing my notes being the Byrds and CSN&Y. Shining Brightly layered with Latin influence and great harmonies ala So You Want to Be A Rack and Roll Star. What Do You Suggest a blast of Faces inspired rock and roll, a rarity on this set. Mayfly is a Stand Up era Jethro Tull heavy rocker. Ballad of A Has Been Beauty Queen is weighed down by a Jethro Tull lead in, but develops into a very good Rod Stewart/ Gram Parsons type character observation. Country Girl is another Gram Parsons era Byrds copy, almost quoting You Ain't Going Nowhere. The Slow One is a very good take on the Band, down to a very Rick Danko-ish vocal; think It Makes No Difference meets Tupelo Honey meets Tears of Rage. Great keyboards from Anderson and tasteful Robbie Robertson style guitar work by Schwarz. Piece of Home is a good Elton John/ Leon Russell meets Free song. Love Song is typical CSNY meets American Beauty era Grateful Dead. Ebury Down is a nice little folk song.

It's okay for its time, but not hard to see why it didn't burn up the charts. 3.0 stars

Suthun Comfort

Did anyone else see the history of Southern Rock on CMT? Go figure the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd played the prominent parts. Now I can't listen to the Allman's 30 minute jams anymore [nor the Dead for that matter- sold those records] but it got me to thinking, because I also saw something on of the channels about 30's bluesman Robert Johnson and his poisoning. For those who don't know, it was rumored that Johnson sold his soul to the Devil at a crossroads in Mississippi for his way before his time playing style. Just thinking about the deaths in all of those southern bands: the plane crash of Skynyrd taking the great Ronnie Van Zandt and Steve Gaines and crippling Allen Collins; the twin motorcycle crashes of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley of the Allmans; the car crash that killed Marshall Tucker bassist and singer Tommy Caldwell... it just leads one to think it can't be coincidence, but of course it has to be.

As for Skynyrd, I was again reminded how powerful that bad was. I may rag [well, we all may] on Free Bird, but forgetting that for a second, Second Helping is a brilliant album of tight tight rock and roll and they were touring on their very powerful Street Survivors. One must have a good Skynyrd collection [I find my vinyl Gold and Platinum suffices] to have a legitimate rock and roll record collection. Just review the songs: Gimme Three Steps, Simple Man, Saturday Night Special, Gimme Back My Bullets, Tuesday's Gone, What's Your Name, That Smell, You Got That Right... and sometimes, usually late at night out on a freeway or driving home from Burleson, I'll even listen to Free Bird. And Second Helping has, in addition to some song about Alabama, Workin for MCA, The Ballad of Curtis Leow, Swamp Music, The Needle and the Spoon and that great cover of JJ Cale's Call Me the Breeze.

If you've got cable and this thing comes on, check it out.

Weekend with Old Friends [or: Prelude to a Class Reunion]

So Sunday night, the friends and MOST of the family [ not the Godfather...] of Sidney Horn gathered to celebrate her graduation from high school.

Occasions like this make me feel old to start with, but I actually remember going to the hospital the day she was born. She's a pretty good kid with one of those Kelly Osborne haircut and she's set to take her cosmotogly test in two weeks, so she's got something on the ball.

I wish The Godfather had been there when I got called an old fart though. Her mom, Lisa had been mentioning she was listening to 'punk rock' and I asked for some names, about five were rattled off at me and I just shook my head at all of them. Sid rolled her eyes at me and said 'God, don't you know anything?!?' [Yes, there will be MP3 discs there shortly full of 'Old School i.e. REAL punk' soon, including Suicidal Tendencies. And no, the irony was not lost... I remember trying to describe the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone and Primus to Mike and Rich.]

The rest of the night was spent catching up with the same old faces. We sat on the back porch and talked about the parties we USED to have, the drinking we USED to be able to do... Is THIS what I can look forward to sometime this year when I have my class reunion?