What do you take personally when you’re in Mill Valley?
Feel free to take this space personally and post the musically relevant thoughts inside your head that need to come out.
Apr 082010
Mr. Moderator
Apr 062010
I’m excited to see the new documentary on The Doors, When You’re Strange, which is playing for free in Philadelphia this Friday night, April 9. My excitement is for a range of reasons, from the fact that it’s directed by Tom DiCillo, who’s first three movies (Living in Oblivion, Box of Moonlight, Johnny Suede) were indie joys for me in the ’90s, to the fact that I like my share of Doors music as well as get a great deal of laughs out of the band’s pretensions and their even more incredibly pretentious diehard fans. I’m sure this film’s narrator, Johnny Depp, for instance, is going to match Ray Manzarek for jive-ass references to “shamen” and other mystical “native” nonsense that no white man who’s not a professor of anthropology should be caught dead talking about.
I’m suspect this film will only perpetrate the mythology around The Doors and Jim Morrison, but I wish more people could see The Door for what they really were, not for what most of their fans wish they could be. For instance:
- The Doors were a solid psych-pop group with tight production, not groundbreaking avant-garde visionaries!
- The Doors were a tough, little blues-rock combo, not the house band for the Weimar Republic.
- Jim Morrison’s lyrics were usually pretty funny and only worked in the context of his committed approach to desiring transcendence within the confines of his solid, little psych-pop/blues-rock combo. He was no American Poet!
- Jim Morrison’s not alive; he’s dead.
I’m not trying to degrade the work of The Doors. There’s so much to like over the course of their brief career that reasonable rock ‘n roll fans can’t be bothered to hear for what it is for the risk of letting any of the wacko cult-worshipping leak into their lives. I’m trying to uncover the true and meaningful legacy of The Doors. For those Doors fans who use the band as a means for compensating for their empty spiritual lives, get a practicing shaman to guide you!
Is there an artist you wish people could see for what they are, not for what most of their fans wish they could be?
Apr 062010
Please explain.
I dig The Jam as much as most of you. Sure, I’ve got my beefs with drummer Rick Buckler, but I have given him props for his running skills. I can’t stand The Style Council, but that doesn’t color my views on The Jam or Paul Weller’s solo career. I’m not a fan of bassist Bruce Foxton’s bass tone, and that does factor into what I’m about to say.
Continue reading »
Apr 062010
Please keep “my people” far, far away from rock ‘n roll!
Apr 052010
In honor of the opening of baseball season (yeah, I know, a couple of teams that fly under the radar opened their seasons last night, but the season really begins at 1:05 EST, when the Nationals’ John Lannan throws his first pitch to Jimmy Rollins, shortstop for the repeat-defending NL champion PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES), let’s open a baseball-themed thread for discussion.
One of the simple joys of reviewing the schedule for the upcoming baseball season is seeing if your team is going to have a throwback uniform day, that is, a day when an old-style uniform is brought back into use for one game. I read that the Houston Astros are planning a 1965 throwback-uniform day, complete with the grounds crew reviving the astronaut suits they originally wore when the Houston franchise first switched its name from the Colt 45s. When the home team wears throwback unis the road team gets to wear them too. The Phillies will be wearing their own ’65 road throwbacks when they face the Astros in this game. Better yet, when facing the Brewers in their ’70s throwback uniforms later this season the Phils get to revive their polyester road blues!
So what’s this have to do with ROCK Town Hall, you ask? Imagine the following artists were going to tour in a Throwback Look. Which Look would you choose for them to bring back? Please be as specific and nerdy as your heart desires. Please feel free to cap off your choices with an artist of your own choosing in a desired Throwback Look.
- The Beatles
- Devo
- Elvis Presley
- Roy Wood
- Madonna
- The Rolling Stones
- David Bowie
The Ramones, Chrissie Hynde, AC/DC, and other slaves to a single Look will not be scheduled to perform on this day.
Apr 052010
As uncool as it now seems for knowledgeable, passionate music lovers like ourselves, I think we can all agree that The Who produced one masterpiece of an album, Who’s Next. After that, I don’t know that they produced a second great album. Some of us Who fans will go to the mats for Sell Out, but in all fairness it does get bogged down in gimmickry for a so-called great album and contains more delicate Townshend lead vocals than some Who fans prefer to hear on one album.
What else comes close to Who’s Next? I love Quadrophenia for its epic celebration of The Power and Glory of Rock, but at this stage in my life can I listen to it more than once every couple of years? No.
We’re all too in the know to claim Tommy is a great album. The first two Who albums, which I bought in high school as a twofer, have their obvious high points but they’ve also got a ton of filler. Then there are long stretches in the band’s prime years that are devoid of a contender. Someone’s likely to suggest that Live at Leeds is the band’s second great album, but we’re not about to reach consensus on that one.
Among bands who blossomed during the album era, is The Who the most highly regarded band that lacks a second great album?
Apr 032010
In honor of Easter Sunday, it’s only right that Rock Town Hall reserve some time and space to discuss issues of rock ‘n roll martyrdom, resurrection, and communion.
Who are rock ‘n roll’s martyrs? What constitutes rock ‘n roll resurrection? Who makes up your rock ‘n roll ministry? Mine begins with Patti Smith and Joe Strummer, with the self-excommunicated John Lennon working in the wings. Let’s roll away the stone this weekend, shall we, and enjoy the festivities in whatever way seems right.
