It’s just come to my attention that Martin Scorsese is directing a biopic about the Grateful Dead. In the spirit of the casting call that we had for Downtown Abbey a while back (https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/meet-the-cast-of-downtown-abbey/2/), I propose we help Marty out by providing some casting suggestions. Jonah Hill has already signed on as Jerry. I’m leaning toward Seth Rogan as Pigpen. Let’s hear your ideas!

I sometimes feel like it’s a failing of mine that I don’t “get” some Rock Nerd sacred cows such as Pet Sounds, Nina Simon, and most of Joni Mitchell’s catalog. These are but a few examples of art/artists held in high regard by a lot of friends with excellent and generally comparable musical tastes to mine. Why don’t I get it? Am I too musically unsophisticated? Am I shallow? Maybe, just maybe, could this be a difference of opinion and taste instead of some shameful personality deficiency?

I will revisit some of this stuff every few years to see if my tastes have evolved in a way that will allow me, for instance, to appreciate the bittersweet, openheartedness of Tony Asher’s lyrics, but for now they still sound like a Hallmark greeting card. So far, Raw Power has been the only one to break through.

I will, however, read a bio or watch a documentary about almost anyone, even if I despise their music (Twisted Sister), despise them as a person (David Crosby), or both (Papa John Phillips). And so, I ended up watching The Sparks Brothers on Netflix last night, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I first heard of them when they appeared in the mid-70s disaster movie Rollercoaster. Similar to when I saw Devo on SNL for the first time, I couldn’t tell if Sparks was a real band or a joke. Over the years, I’ve taken an occasional stab at listening to some of their stuff. I definitely do not like their music. But this documentary is great. I found their relationship with each other and their relentless pursuit of a shape-shifting muse to be really endearing. Even though I can’t find any musical common ground with them, I’m glad that I live in a world where they exist. Much like Rush, I like everything about them except for their music.

I highly recommend the movie. There have been Sparks posts on RTH in the past and our staunchest Sparks defenders are AWOL, so that leaves it to me, a non-Sparks fans to try and convince you to check it out. There will almost certainly be some moments that will annoy some of you, but I encourage you to power through to the end. It’s worth it. Come on, these guys have been at it for 50 years, can’t you spare them 2 hours?

If we are connected on social media, some of you are already aware of this so feel free to skip to the next post.

As a side project for the past few years, I have been writing songs in French, despite the fact that I don’t speak the language. I wrote the lyrics using Google translate and a French rhyming dictionary. The music is an attempt at French Pop by a guy who just read a Wikipedia entry about it without actually hearing what it sounded like.

I recorded them them with some friends in Philadelphia who play in such diverse groups as Philadelphia Ukulele Orchestra, the actual Philadelphia Orchestra, John Train, Magnolia Electric Company, Candy Volcano, Marah, Nixon’s Head, Rome 56, Baby Flamehead, the Low Road, Slo-Mo, the Silence, etc.
Long dormant Townsman General Slocum and Chicken Frank’s better half both made excellent contributions.

I finally got 4 of them mixed (three originals and an Ramones cover) at Studio 1935, and put them out as an EP. I plan to put at least one more EP out once I get them mixed too.

These will be up on Spotify and Bandcamp soon but for now, they are on Soundcloud and Bandcamp. There’s also a video on YouTube.

Here are the links. Profitez!

Bandcamp:
https://therodins.bandcamp.com/album/jeu-prolong-extended-play

Soundcloud:

Video: