It's 12:28am when I hear the first shot. It's loud. It's close. It echoes around in my head for a second. Of course, my first thought is "What the fuck was that?" but I knew. It's close and it sounds like a big gun, somewhere off to the left, which is east from whee I am sitting watching the tube. I look through the blinds but the street is empty; no cars, no pedestrians, no one running like they've just shot somebody. It's probably on the block behind me. I make sure both locks are done on the door and go hit the head and into the kitchen for another glass of water. I am just walking back into the living room when I hear the second shot - 12:32. It's not as loud and it sounds a little to the right, but really who can tell?

I've been in this house a little over a year. Occasionally over that year you'll hear a few pops like gunfire off in the distance. Sometimes they sound like firecrackers, but I know they're gunshots. I am waiting this time for the familiar sound of the cops tearing through the neighborhood - the street I live on is a semi major thoroughfare and every couple of weeks you get the sirens and the sound of really speeding [as opposed to the normal idiots speeding] through. There's a fire station about a mile down, too, so I often get the fire truck or ambulance going by. But tonight there's no sirens.

It's about 2:45 when the next shot breaks through the neighborhood. It's the big gun again, off to the left. There's no reply this time. My neighbor two doors down told me last week someone took his aluminum ladder off his garage from inside his fenced yard. He only paid about $ 15 at a pawn shop for it, but it's the principle. Are you going to get $ 10 at the pawn shop again for an 8 foot used aluminum ladder? But then Danny tells me you can get better money at the metal scrapyard for them. Aluminum, copper wire scraps - I gave Danny some old aluminum framed windows that were in the garage to take to the scrapyard earlier this year. Is someone defending their property or just a drunk who likes to shoot his gun?

I am dog tired, but I can't get comfortable when the last shots of the night ring out. It's about 4:30 and again, one big bag off to the left - this time a few seconds later, there's a string of about four shots reply from the right - Pop! pause... Pop! Pop! Pop! I wonder if I should call the cops. But I don't know where the shots are coming from or anything. I wonder for a second about a stray bullet plowing in through a window, through the back of the couch and into me. I suppose it could happen. What do I want to do, put up plywood to protect the back of the couch? Put a defensive array of strategically placed bricks in my living room window to protect my back? It's just one of those crazy thoughts - worry about it when it happens.

Forgotten Band of the Month

After seeing the Classic Albums - Machine Head for about the 25th time, I finally broke down and bought the remastered Very Best of Deep Purple [ON SALE for 9.99] which is kind of like the old Deepest Purple best of, one of the quietest but longest vinyl records I ever had. It has those 12 tracks plus the pre- Gillan/ Glover [Mark II, best known version] Kentucky Woman and Hush and the Mark II reunion 'hit' Knockin' At Your Back Door.

Now Machine Head is a fine album, probably the only other Purple to own besides a good hits album. The group is really really tight and at the peak of their power here, especially the non-radio songs like Maybe I'm A Leo, Pictures of Home and Lazy, and of course the trio of AOR staples, Smoke on the Water, Space Truckin' and Highway Star. But the 'Best of' reminds that this was not a band to be taken lightly. How can one forget the drawn out majesty of the sections of Child In Time, the rapid fire fun of Speed King, the heavy riffing of Strange Kind of Woman and Fireball. Then there's the Mark III killer [David Coverdale / Glenn Hughes] Burn. Okay, Stormbringer sounds like Coverdale doing Ronnie James Dio, with whom Blackmore would form Rainbow shortly after Stormbringer's release. Okay, I lied, Burn [the album] is also worth having, or the Mark III live release Live In London, for that version's smoking songs Burn, Might Just Take Your Life, Lay Down, Stay Down and Mistreated. Why a second song from the release wasn't added, I do not know. Well, I do; so they could add the Mark II reunion hit. Now that I think about it, Perfect Strangers WAS a good album.

Purple though is a band that refuses to just go away, long after they probably should - they've lost Richie Blackmore and Ian Gillan again, replacing them with ex-Rainbow vocalist Joe Lyn Turner and ex-Dixie Dreg and Kansas guitarist Steve Morse. And now the brilliant under-rated keyboardist Jon Lord has retired from the road. *sigh*

Still, Deep Purple was one of those bands famed for loud and long concerts in the 70s - and probably one of those bands that slides under the radar - almost a one hit wonder for only having one really huge album. Much more interesting than other 'Progressive Rock' bands like Yes, Genesis, ELP and sometimes King Crimson, it's a little bit of a shame that people don't know what a great drummer Ian Paice is or what a fantastic keyboardist Jon Lord is. But that's the way it goes sometimes, I guess.

30 years of punks

As I was grabbing the latest issue of Mojo last week I also managed to pick up the latest issue of Spin, with Sid [Vicious] on the cover [Mojo having the late Syd Barrett on their cover]. The head line screams out BOLLOCKS TURNS 30.

Since I lambasted U2 on the 20th anniversary of The Joshua Tree, I feel okay making a few remarks about Rotten & company's 30th anniversary.

First of all, I never heard Bollocks until 1988.And I only heard it because Chris Cottrell [?] brought in his copy one Sunday. I was shift managing at Sound Warehouse at the time and though Sundays were short days [1200pm - 600pm], no one wanted to work them. So, since they were slow days that we caught a lot of our inventory sheets up. I made them a little brighter by allowing people to bring in their own CDs.

Understand, that your usual 'Play Stack' at the time was a lot of stuff from the last 6 months and you hear a lot of the same things over and over and over.... and over. AND over. Did I say over and over? It kind of becomes second nature to tune it all out after a couple of weeks - even great stuff like the Smithereens and R.E.M. and all. And I figured we sold all kinds of music, so why not bring in something a little older or a little off the wall, trying to remember that it's a FAMILY STORE. So I might bring Toys in the Attic or Rocks, someone would bring Kate Bush or the Cure- Chris brought the Pistols and the Ramones.

Now by this time, I was well into the Clash's London Calling, and I am sure I would have eventually found or forced into hearing the Pistols. I recall I liked Holiday in the Sun, Anarchy and Queen [of course], Bodies and Pretty Vacant but overall, I was 'It's okay.' But I bought it.

In the 20 years since, I've had times where I like the record more than others, and I am not about to start knocking the Pistols for the influence they had - but I still think it's 'okay.' I'd usually much rather hear the Clash or the Jam or X or Buzzcocks or Dead Boys or Damned or the Ramones or something else when I feel 'punk.' The No, Thanks box doesn't have a note of the Pistols on it, which is okay by me.

VH1 Classic has run their Classic Albums on the Pistols and I've seen it a few times after 1am - Steve Jones talking about how Glen Matlock had all these songs with 'Beatles chords,' "and I kept telling him 'I can't play Beatles chords.'" ranks right up there with Joe Strummer's Behind the Music claim that [after they fired Mick Jones] "It would never have that BUUURRRRRN again."

So, I found the Pistols at age 21 - probably a good age if I hadn't been working in the record store tracking down the Stooges, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Winter, Rolling Stones, Clash, Aerosmith, Fishbone, Smithereens, R.E.M., Replacements, etc. I was too young when it hit the racks and that stuff didn't get played - except on George Gimarc's Rock and Roll Alternative between 1030 and midnight on Sunday night [on the late great KZEW] - but I was listening to Doctor Demento [on Z-97, later The Eagle] at that time in 1977 - well, 78-79. And besides, can you make the jump from Kiss right to the Pistols? [Maybe.]

I draw distinctions though. I see Blondie and Television and Talking Heads as part of Seymore Stein's NEW WAVE. The Cars could have been considered New Wave. Because they could play more than barre chords and used synthesizers? Maybe. But I think the Pretenders fit in there, too and they didn't use synths... but I don't think the Replacements were 'punks,' either, not Husker Du nor Minutemen nor Cramps... Dead Kennedys, you betcha. Flipper - YES! Fear, yeah. But a lot of those bands took that 'Those idiots are doing it? I can do THAT...' and really DID it. And ultimately, that's what makes the Sex Pistols one of the most influential bands ever.

I think Johnny Rotten / John Lydon did some great stuff with Public Image, Ltd. - especially their mid 80s run of Album, Happy? and 9.

So go gobb on yer old vinyl copy of Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols in celebration of 30 years of Johnny Rotten asking "Do you ever get the feeling that you've been cheated? Ha ha." Well... do ya, punk?

Breakdown

Did anybody else catch a glimpse of this? Sundance this evening ran a 4 hour Peter Bagdonovich directed documentary on... Tom Petty and the fucking Heartbreakers. I caught about 45 minutes of the first hour before flipping over to the hockey game and went back on commercials and stuff, but 4 fucking hours?

Okay, this was not VH1 Behind the Music boiling down your career and the low points and almost breakups and firing and hirings and death [Howie Epstien, R.I.P.] into a 50 minute feel good story. And there was a LOT of footage from the early years [BBC and German or Swedish TV] but 4 hours? The Heartbreakers are a good band and all and Petty's somehow walked the line between popularity and relevance for a lot of years [something that eludes Neil Young, Jackson Browne, et al] - but I mean 4 hours?

Dylan, Beatles, hell they did the first 25 years of the Rolling Stones in 2 - 2.5! Elvis. Maybe Neil because he has a decade more in the biz than Petty... of course, Neil has all that archival footage locked up in a vault in his front yard... but I don't think TP & H are worthy of a 4 hour documentary. Cut it 2 or 2.5 and then give us the 4 hour director's cut on DVD.

PS: Just when you think the ugly can't get any uglier, Mike Campbell [lead guitar] grows DREADS and a beard, now putting himself at the top of the list for Ugliest Man in Rock and Roll - yes, uglier than Neil Young!

Wilco Revisited

It has been pointed out to my by someone in the industry [Hi Amanda] that I was being a music snob and a fuddy duddy about the Wilco thing. This [probably] wasn't Tweedy making a money grab as

a) some Wilco fans trying to get some more people to listen;
and / or b) Tweedy making a marketing decision since he can't get his stuff played on the radio.

So I am an old fart who over-reacted. Bad me. No pudding for me.

Volkswagen and Wilco

For the last week or so I've noticed [which means it may have been longer, but I don't really pay attention] these Volkswagen commercials using new songs I was vaguely familiar with. It hit me a couple of days ago that it's Wilco - not OLD Wilco [A.M., Being There] but the songs of Wilco's new album - Sky Blue Sky - released at the start of the summer.

Okay, most commercials use off the wall semi obscure songs [Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, T.Rex's 20th Century Boy] or old washed up acts [Bob Seger, John 'Cougar' Mellencamp], but I am disturbed a little by this sell out by Wilco / Jeff Tweedy.

I know, being a critic's darling band and trying to get by selling a mere 500,00 units [one of which you got paid for twice - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot] is a tough life. But I am sure Tweedy and Co. make that money up by doing the touring thing and selling videos of Jeff's solo tour and I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. And yes, Jeff did have to pay for rehab out of his meager songwriting royalties [hard to get big bucks if radio won't play you, but that's another rant]. But selling out your brand new disc less than a year into the cycle smacks of ... desperation?

I don't know what it took - maybe VW just offered a wad of cash that would choke a horse. Maybe Jeff said "Five mil" as a joke and VW said "All right." Maybe the album stalled after a couple of months and some suit talked Jeff into this and he's been kicking himself ever since. Maybe Jeff's back on drugs [though I sincerely hope not].

Maybe it will bring some more people around to the most accessible [less weird] Wilco album since Being There. I think it's a good record, not as great as Being or Yankee. It has some really good moments but it's WAAAYYYY more laid back than I think necessary. It doesn't have a really great pop moment like Heavy Metal Drummer or I'm Always In Love. But that's just me. It's a slightly better than average album for me - like 3.75 stars out of five. But I could see how a lot of people would dig it, especially out of the wall of noises that A Ghost Is Born was [or "Music to Enhance Your Codeine / Vicodin / Soma Buzz"], although I thought that record has some great moments like That's What You Said and Spiders [Kidsmoke].

But, to sell out your art so soon after torturing yourself through it for 2 years? I don't think Jeff is Ryan Adams [5th album in two years now in stores near you!] or a hack like Randy Newman who writes music by the yard. Maybe I am wrong and Jeff is rivaling Prince, Frank Zappa and Neil Young in the "In the Vault"category and he can just drop album after album on the market. I just don't get that part of it. That's all.

First Flash of Fall

The humidity is finally gone and it's a crystal clear night and the temperature is dropping by the minute - supposed to be in the low 50s tonight. Good weather for hunkering down under a blanket [with the windows open] and sleeping like a log. Driving past closed barbecue placed, the aroma of mesquite smoke and cooking meats fill the nose and ignite the taste buds and then they're lost on the crisp night air.

I get into the car and start down the highway - with the window down even a quarter of the way, it's chilly. I crank up the heat just to make sure it's still working [it is] and then turn it back down. I'm playing The Flasher Backer CD I am sending to Marty, probably a waste of CD because Marty refuses to play the Nostalgia Trip, but I'm sending it anyway. Suddenly, there is Heart - quick runs and staccato bursts of chords from Nancy Wilson's acoustic guitar and the roundness of Ann singing about keeping our love alive... then it's the fat golden chords of Jeff Lynne and ELO, double tracked attacks on a Les Paul gold top and Jeff is gravelling on about his Belle... whooooo!

This is the kind of night I like sometimes - me and the car and the radio in harmony, a nip in the air and 3/4 of a tank of gas. This is the kind of night I could stay on the road and just drive. Let the road and music and the cool night air erase the cobwebs and troubles from my head. Just stay on the interstate for an hour or two, just run out to Eastland [Tx] or up to Ardmore or Paul's Valley in Oklahoma, just to get some miles under my wheels...

Am I the only one?

Hour after hour
Night after night
This cathode ray babysitter
Blessed by its noise and light
Not quite alone
Not quite