This is an All-Star Jam. For those new to Rock Town Hall, this is the free-form area in which you are encouraged to toot your own harp.
Apr 062012
Mr. Moderator
Apr 052012
Jim Marshall, creator of the famed Marshall amp (Marshall stack!), has died at 88. Fans of former Minnesota Vikings great Jim Marshall, the defensive lineman whose sterling career is only marked by the time he picked up a fumble and returned it the wrong way—to his own team’s endzone (ie, resulting in a 2-point “safety,” the closest thing in American football to an “own goal,” as our ex-US, soccer-loving readers call it)—need not worry. As of this writing the former “Purple People Eater” is alive and well.
May your recollections of the legendary Marshall amp creator and his creation commence!
Apr 032012
UPDATED: Proof that it “happens to the best of them”: your Moderator forgot that he already included ELO in an earlier 1-2 Punch! For this offense, Mr. Moderator will spend the next 2 minutes in the Penalty Box. Mad props to tonyola for his pince nez. Feel free to leave your 2 selections for Fleetwood Mac.
Let’s try another 1-2 Punch, shall we? Top 10 lists are too much; Top 5 lists invite too many opportunities for throwing in a hipster, obscuro choice to distinguish oneself from the raging masses. What I’d like to know is what TWO (2) songs you would choose from an artist’s catalog to say as much about that artist that you believe represents said artist’s core as possible? In other words, if you could only use TWO (2) songs from an artist’s catalog to explain all that said artist is about to a Venusian, what TWO (2) songs would you pick to represent said artist’s place in rock ‘n roll?
I’ll pose two artists and you—love ’em or leave ’em—give me each artist’s representative 1-2 Punch. Dig? Here goes! Continue reading »
Apr 022012
It’s been said by old farts like yours truly that modern-day bands composed of people in their 20s and early 30s have a lot to learn. For instance, I see bands with bassists playing with their ankles close to each other. Not cool, man! But what happening band is going to listen to my advice on issues like proper bass player stance and soloing hair? Maybe it’s time the real kidz teach the so-called kidz a thing or two?
Check out the following video from Haunted by Heroes, “The World’s Youngest Rock Band.” What lessons might these musical mighty mites teach their parents, aunts, uncles, and older cousins—and the bands these adults dig?
Need more?
Apr 022012
This one goes to zero!
Rock Town Hall has a long and honored tradition of rock video analysis, with Townspeople often incorporating the distinctive technique of commenting on videos with the sound off. In honor of alexmagic‘s recent analysis of a video of Tom Jones performing with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, we are instituting a new feature, Sound Off!
The way a Sound Off! thread works is simple:
- A video is posted for us to view with the sound off.
- We comment on what we’re seeing with the sound off.
- We most likely share in the sense of wonder that there’s much to learn about music with the sound off.
You will be entrusted to view the following video with the sound off. If we could disable the video’s sound we would, but something tells me the copyright holder of the video might object to that. Trust us, for the purposes of this thread the sound will get in the way. Beside, you may be viewing this at work, in which case coworkers will only be distbured by your giggles; you won’t have to worry about the artist’s music leaking into their cube.
After the jump, why don’t you turn the sound off and watch the following video!
Mar 312012
Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!
In this week’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In Mr. Moderator returns from a trip to St. Louis, Missouri, where he met up with his RTH partner in crime sammymaudlin and another old college friend and musical mentor. It was the first time the 3 of them were in the same place in nearly 30 years. It was a tremendous time. Your moderator will use tonight’s episode to continue processing all that went down.
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/RTH-Saturday-Night-Shut-In-73.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 73][Note: You can add Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your iTunes by clicking here. The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player.]
Mar 282012
While sammymaudlin and Mr. Moderator are en route to a meeting of epic proportions, why don’t you come and join Buddy Miles and his band in dancing to the music? Just feel like you want to, and don’t feel shy! It’s all right.
