Mr. Moderator

When not blogging Mr. Moderator enjoys baseball, cooking, and falconry.

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In: Seeing the Blessed Mother in a Forkful of Cavatelli

Apr 302011

Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!

In this week’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In Mr. Moderator talks sausages, spins records, and introduces the exclusive worldwide premiere of a long-awaited mini-documentary on the making of The Four Seasons‘ overlooked 1969 psychedelic gem The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette. It’s an Italian-American rock fan’s dream episode. As you listen, read up on the album’s surprise collaborator, Jake Holmes. (And whaddayouknow, our old Holmes piece was written by mrclean, whose drumming graces this episode’s playlist!)

See also: here and here.

[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/RTH-Saturday-Night-Shut-In-26.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 26]

[Note: The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player. In fact, you can even set your iTunes to search for an automatic download of each week’s podcast.]

New Wave Skinny Tie Poseurs

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 292011

Who among the following New Wave–era skinny tie wearers were Skinny Tie Poseurs and who were the Real Deal, Stylish Hepcats?

Real Deal, Stylish Hepcat or Opportunist?

If you don’t recall or are too young to have lived through it, the New Wave era of the late-1970s was when skinny ties were first brought back into hipster vogue by a generation of forward-thinking, backward-dressing musicians who weren’t comfortable with the wide ties of the late-1960s through mid-1970s. While The Clash sang about phony Beatlemania having beaten the dust, a number of their music-scene peers were embracing the skinny ties and suits that Brian Epstein and his tailor pushed as de rigueur among original British Invasion bands.

Goin' skinny!

It’s funny, to me, that The Beatles’ skinny tie beginnings carried so much stylistic clout because they were not skinny tie purists. Through the 1960s they would ride the vanguard of rock tie fashion: from skinny to bow to wide ties and eventually the cravat. Not that it really matters to this discussion, but as a boy I modeled my fashion sense along with each new development in the Fab Four’s Look, which explains why I’ve never moved past a deep preference for wide ties let alone developed much of a Look beyond what the band left me following their breakup. Continue reading »

Songs That Can’t Be Screwed Up, Revisited, Retracted

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 282011

Neither shorts nor too-short skirts nor headbands nor questionable harmonies nor pointy guitars can completely ruin John Fogerty‘s infectious “Almost Saturday Night” for me.

You may recall my feelings on the brilliance of this hopeful song, which I once declared as being impossible to screw up. I may need to retract that statement, and not because of this pedestrian version by Candystore. It’s the following version that’s turned my head—and stomach:

Practice Makes Perfect: Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Possible Roots of Fogerty Syndrome

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 282011

One of my long-unfulfilled rock performance dreams is to have a gig in which my band sets up and “performs” in rehearsal mode: that is, facing each other, playing for each other, having the right to stop songs in midstream, adjust part of an arrangement, and criticize each other. We would completely block out the crowd and just do our thing, the way our thing is meant to be done.

Every once in a while I stumble across a video of an artist rehearsing for a gig or studio recording. I LOVE THIS STUFF! As a music lover, I’m as interested in experiencing what goes on behind closed doors as I am listening to or making music myself, also behind closed doors. Don’t get me wrong, the thrill of playing out or seeing a band out in the wild can be tremendous, but there are less opportunities for catching knowing glances, intimate gestures, and tossed-off asides and fills.

Here’s a mellower look at Creedence Clearwater Revival in rehearsal than I would have expected. John Fogerty has some constructive criticism for drummer Doug Clifford, but he doesn’t throw daggers his way. What is it that Clifford says around the 1:21 mark, before he says, “You make my day a lot better!” All the band members freely crack smiles. Later, though, beginning at the 2:28 mark, John shares some brutally candid insights on the possible roots of Fogerty Syndrome. Pride abounds. Enjoy!

DEAL WITH IT! (Pt. 2)

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 272011

Although this is nowhere near as much to deal with as what we dealt with last time, I found this clip a bit…challenging. Maybe part of it has to do with being a fan of The Band and never considering “It Makes No Difference” to lend itself to a solo dance performance. I eventually came to terms with it. How about you?

All-Star Jam

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 272011

Contributing to Rock Town Hall doesn’t need to feel like torture. Every comment counts.

Last Man Standing: Songs That Are Based Around the Chord Progression and Rhythm of “Sweet Jane”

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 262011

I love “Sweet Jane.” Although its chord progression and rhythm are probably part of the extended rock ‘n roll lineage of 3-chord classics like “Louie Louie,” “Wild Thing,” and “Gloria,” I would argue that its distinctive rhythmic hitch established the song as its own dynastic chord progression.

Last night, while watching the John Hughes “classic” Pretty in Pink for the first time in my life I kept waiting for the title track to play, hoping against hope that it would inject a little excitement into this simplistic, overly nice film that I felt justified for having been “too cool for school” to see when it was all the rage in my college years. Maybe the song plays at the beginning of the movie, the first 15 minutes or so of which I missed, but let me tell you, I was pretty pissed when… [SPOILER ALERT!] Continue reading »

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