Mr. Moderator

Mr. Moderator

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

“One apology at a time,” says Vatican, “OK?”

 Posted by
Apr 132010
 

At a time when they surely have bigger things to think about, the Vatican’s official newspaper has published a glowing appraisal of the Beatles, calling their music “beautiful” and dismissing their years of drug use and excessive living. On the front page of the L’Osservatore Romano, the paper admits that the band once “said they were bigger than Jesus and put out mysterious messages, that were possibly even Satanic”, but also asks: “what would pop music have been like without the Beatles?” Read more…

The Pope stressed that this apology only extened to The Beatles, that he was not planning to overstep the Church’s jurisdiction regarding Rock Crimes.

It’s the thought that counts.

Previously…

Share

When You’re a Little Strange

 Posted by
Apr 112010
 

This past Friday night I got to see most of the new Tom DiCillo documentary on The Doors, When You’re Strange. I say “most” because the DVD being used to project this film in Philadelphia’s cool, hip outdoor Piazza at Schmidt‘s condo gathering space crapped out twice for long stretches. It was a pretty cold and windy night, and after the second run of technical difficulties, with just the fat, bearded period of Jim Morrison and The Doors’ life left to tell, my son and I felt like we’d had enough of a great night out, talking music and life and all that good stuff. We listened to – and talked about – Pink Floyd and Yes on the ride home. It was a beautiful time, man, and although I regret not seeing my favorite period of The Doors covered, we’d gotten more than our money’s worth.
Continue reading »

Share

I Dig Your Wig: The Outsiders Collectively Sport the Worst Hair in Rock Prior to the 1980s

 Posted by
Apr 092010
 

Despite the fact that I’ve loved The Outsiders‘ “Time Won’t Let Me” since I was a kid, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo of the band before today, let alone a clip on YouTube of the band in action. I can’t say I ever sought one, but now I know why images of the band aren’t flooding the web and showing up unexpected when I’m searching for topics like cool bands from the 1960s.

Prior to the 1980s, when bad hair suddenly was in style, has any band collectively sported worse hairdos than The Outsiders? In rock ‘n roll terms, there’s something wrong about every hairdo in that band.

The lead singer’s ‘do is obviously the inspiration for sports journalist/inspirational memoirist Mitch Albom‘s mannequin’s feathered rug Look.

The guitarist who first appears at the 16-second mark has the least-objectionable hair in the band. His hair simply grants him the anonymity of whichever rhythm section member of The Undertones whose name you most frequently forget.

What the hell is the guitarist who first appears at the 22-second mark aiming for? This is what I’d imagine Ray Liotta‘s character in Hannibal would like like if you tried to stick a wig over his leveled-off head.

At the 28-second mark we’re introduced to my favorite failed hairdo in The Outsiders, that of the bassist. You can be assured that the day actor Michael J. Pollard decided he should never grow a pompadour was the day he saw The Outsiders on whatever show broadcast this performance.

The producer of this television performance knew what he or she was doing by making the audience wait until a minute into the song to show a close-up of the most puzzling of all the hairdos in The Outsiders. It’s bad enough that the drummer has the beefy, bemused visage of Buddy Hackett, but he tops it off with the broken-bowl haircut of Jerry Lewis’ Nutty Professor.

The Supreme Court of Rock will hear no arguments as to why the makers of this brilliant single were not better known for their efforts.

Share

Songs You Play in Music Stores to Test Out Instruments (and, let’s face it, impress other customers)

 Posted by
Apr 092010
 

Here’s a personal favorite from a few years back. I’d never heard this song before it was mentioned by a Townsman. The resulting video that I uncovered is astounding on at least 25 levels. Plus I’m still fascinated – and intimidated – by the practice of playing a flashy song on an instrument in a music store. I’m way too clumsy and way too self-conscious to ever pull this off. I don’t even know what I’d play if I could play anything substantial and flashy. As it is I’m most likely to play the riff to The Kinks’ “Gotta Get the First Plane Home.” That’s easy, and it’s a good test of the low strings, which I favor.

This post initially appeared 3/29/07.

Very simple set up: Yesterday General Slocum mentioned a Stanley Clarke tune called “School Days” and the theme from Barney Miller than any bassist of a certain age felt compelled to play when testing out a bass in a music store. He likened this to guitarists playing the intro to “Stairway to Heaven”. What songs to you play on your instrument of choice when giving an instrument a test run in a music store? What do you play in hopes of turning on the other customers?

And while you’re at it, please see if you can’t help me list 25 things that are so wrong they’re right in this video.

I look forward to your responses.

Share

The Music of Lester Bangs

 Posted by
Apr 082010
 


From what I’ve read music critic Lester Bangs was a frustrated musician. I believe this is not an uncommon phenomenon. For every Patti Smith, David Thomas, and Chrissie Hynde who’s graduated from writing record reviews to writing records that get reviewed there must be a thousand frustrated rock critics. I’ve been told this even extends to music bloggers.

It had been years since I checked out the music of Lester Bangs. In fact, I’d forgotten that recordings of his music existed until I read the Joey Ramone memoir, I Slept With Joey Ramone, written by Joey’s brother, Mickey Leigh, who is a bit of a frustrated musician himself and who played in Bangs’ band for a while. I believe Leigh is the guitarist on this track. [NOTE: I was wrong about this belief.]

I found this track surprisingly strong. I still haven’t gone back to check out his other recordings, but had this been better recorded it would sit nicely alongside some of the jazz-poetry workouts of Patti Smith and a side 2 track from Pere Ubu‘s Dub Housing.

What do you think? Yourself excluded, who’s your favorite critic/frustrated musician?

Share
 Older Entries  Newer Entries

Lost Password?

 
twitter facebook youtube