We’ve got a hot new t-shirt for you, the long-awaited German True Stereoshirt. While your rock-nerd friends are content to experience the world in regular old stereo or, at best, Japanese gold, remastered 5-D surround sound, you can proudly let them know where you’re coming from. The German True Stereo shirt is available here.
Also new to the Rock Town Hall store is the Pince Nez mug. What better way to start your day in the Halls of Rock but with a cup of coffee and a humbling reminder of the limits of our rock expertise? The Pince Nez mug is available here.
On a related note the RTH Booooooks link has been updated with many of the rock bios discussed earlier this week. Check ’em out and fill your head with new bits of, outside this place, useless information!
What’s right and what’s wrong about this live-in-studio New Order clip? For instance, I would say Bernard Sumner‘s angrily ripping off the windscreen is RIGHT, while his shorts are totally WRONG.
You’ll have to excuse me for raising this odious question, but in the interest of complete honesty and for the good of rock ‘n roll, here goes:Continue reading »
For god knows what reason a recent issue of Rolling Stone has a cobbled together piece on The Clash. I love The Clash and for years read everything I could on them, but there came a point when I could no longer stomach another hashed-over exercise in myth-making. Tell me something I don’t know already, maybe even some details on how particular records were made. Instead, as this Rolling Stone article does, it’s more of the same-old, same-old: band members from broken homes, The 101’ers, Keith Levene and the London SS, the dawn of Thatcherism, idealism of The Clash contrasted with the nihilism of the Sex Pistols, Bernie Rhodes, the sprawling blah blah blah of London Calling, etc. Enough! The same goes for another one of my favorite bands, The Beatles.
I’m finishing a biography of Elvis Presley, written by one of his Memphis Mafia cronies. I think this is the first Memphis Mafia memoir I’ve read. His close personal friends shed new light on the man. Last night I read about the time he smoked pot. For me, at least, there may be plenty more to learn about the King. I feel the same way about Bob Dylan. Until I see a police report and photos from his motorcycle accident, I hold out hope for learning new details about this great artist.
For what favorite artist would you like to see a moratorium placed on new biographies? Is there anything new you may learn about one of these artists? Perhaps a fellow Townsperson can revive your interest in reading a new biography on said artist. For instance, if anyone can tell me a single new thing about The Clash that I don’t know already, I’ll promise to finish reading this boring Rolling Stone article.
In this week’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In Mr. Moderator goes on location at Urges, Atlantic City, New Jersey’s newest hotspot for our first-ever dance party. Tune in and join the good times—or better yet, if you’re in the area, drop in and bust a move with your fellow Townspeople!
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[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.]
I knew these facts distinctly, but until watching this 1977 live clip of Bryan Ferry it hadn’t occurred to me that we’ve interviewed two members of his touring band from this period. Who do we go after next?
