Mr. Moderator

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

Has Any Rocker Gotten More Mileage Out of His or Her Hair Than Brian Jones?

Sep 012009

“We must find the killer of those silken locks!”

There’s no hidden objective in this question: has any rocker gotten more mileage out of his or her hair than Brian Jones? Forty years after his death London police are reopening the case surrounding what had originally been ruled an accidental drug overdose. From the little I’ve gleaned in various reports on these new developments, this has something to do with a supposed confession by a gardener on his deathbed about 16 years ago! I guess news travels slow in the gardening community. I mean no disrespect to Jones’ legacy of cool and his 40-plus illegitimate adult children, but how many cases of non-singing or -songwriting rhythm guitar player deaths by accidental overdose would be reopened 40 years after the fact if not for those silken locks?

You know I love Brian Jones and the era of the Stones that featured his propulsive rhythm playing and, yes, his hair. However, is there anything to suggest that he was some great cat, some humanitarian whose life was cut short? Is there anything to suggest that his work with the Master Musicians of Joujouka was about to turn the rock world on its ear? I think not. I’m not saying that his death should not be judged fairly, even 40 years after the fact, but thank god for that head of hair! In a field crowded with follicularly blessed participants, I’m stumped to find another rocker whose legacy is so rooted, if you’ll excuse the pun, in his or her hair.

Stop Your Sobbing

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Aug 312009

Driving home from Maine in the middle of the night a couple of weeks ago, with my boys asleep in the back, my wife half out of it, and the iPod plugged into my car stereo and set to SHUFFLE, The Jam‘s “That’s Entertainment” came on. I had the volume down on the stereo so I wouldn’t wake anyone, but I started to get annoyed that I couldn’t follow the lyrics to this old favorite. I’m not married to lyrics – and I’m definitely not one of those people who search for a lyric sheet as soon as I buy a new album – but I’ve always like Paul Weller’s lyrics and will eventually pore over his latest set of words. I’ve always liked the lyrics to “That’s Entertainment,” but on this night, with the volume turned down, I couldn’t make out what he was singing. I had to stir my wife.
Continue reading »

Battle Royale: What Rock Song Is Most Closely Identified With a Particular Movie?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Aug 302009

To begin the effort to answer this important question – and see that there is a victor in our Battle Royale – I’m gonna say “Everybody’s Talking” from Midnight Cowboy. Have you heard heard or thought of this song without immediately thinking of the movie? Have you ever thought of the movie without hearing the song in your head?

Hear Factor, deux: Turning Congolese

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Aug 292009

If there’s one thing we know about a number of us, there’s nothing we like better than being turned onto music from a foreign culture (and I don’t mean Canada or England, Townsmen mockcarr, andyr, chickenfrank, et al). If there’s something I’m even more sure of, there’s a larger number of us who shy away from anything that’s not rock ‘n roll, sung in English, etc. (And none of you is off the hook for your soft spot for show tunes!) Our latest Hear Factor collection is entitled Turning Congolese. I think the title is self-explanatory. I encourage you to download this zipped file, unzip it, and spend the next 3 days living with it. It may do you good. It may cause you psychic unrest. Whatever effect it has on you, we want to hear about it.

Turning Congolese (~74 MB)

In particular, for this challenging mix, I summon mockcarr to listen to this disc, which was artfully designed to offend his sensibilities.

What’s Hear Factor?

Townspeople: May Your Haughty Comments on The Beatles Rock Band Commence!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Aug 282009

A friend passed along this promo video for the upcoming Beatles edition of Rock Band. The daddy long legs aspect of the band members’ animated characters freaked me out a bit, but this looks like it will be fun to play with my boys.

For our purposes, I thought I’d run this clip to allow you to begin sniffing at historical/chronological inaccuracies and other things that promise to bug the likes of us rock nerds. I found myself watching McCartney closely, to see if his animated character would be as self-concious and scene-deflating as the real Paul usually was in Beatles movies. There was not enough evidence to tell if the animators were able to get around this limitation, but I’m sure you’ll be watching this with your own set of expectations. Let’s start working through what will surely be some difficult adjustments. Thanks.

Dugout Chatter

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Aug 272009

It’s that time again, time to gauge your gut responses to some age-old questions. Are you ready for a little Dugout Chatter? Veterans, show the newcomers how it’s done!

What’s the last (ie, most recent) Elton John single that gives you any small degree of joy these days?
What 2nd-rate Jagger is most likely to rank higher for you, a 2nd-rate Brian Jones-era Jagger or a 2nd-rate Exile on Main Street-era Jagger?
Given the choice right now, would you rather see The Who in their present configuration in an arena or Roger Daltrey solo backed by a young, enthusiastic band and covering Who songs in a large club of about 1000 capacity?
Why didn’t I like Bright Eyes when I first heard “them” a couple of years ago and now, whenever I hear a new Conor Oberst song I think it’s pretty good?
What’s more hopeless, the hope for a Kinks reunion or the hope for a great solo Ray Davies album?
Name a band you enjoy reading about much more than hearing any of their music.

I look forward to your responses.

Your Wait for a New Joe Perry Project Album Is About to End

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Aug 262009

Sarcastic title for this post, but in the middle of a busy day, let me get a few things off my mind.

I hope Steven Tyler gets himself some help and gets back to living clean and sober. For all his effort, his role as a wasted, 3rd-rate Mick Jagger in his ’70s prime wasn’t doing anyone much good. I know I’m in the minority of rock fans for preferring the finely crafted hits of post-sobriety Aerosmith, but better yet was the story of that entire 2nd-rate band growing up and actually working to craft tolerable music for washed-up dudes in their late-40s and beyond. Hopefully the band’s second life inspired a few other wasted, washed-up, middle age dudes to start getting their acts together. The last year or so, reports of Tyler returning to his party boy ways and falling off stages are way more pathetic than his wardrobe, which sadly never sobered up.

I saw something about Pete Townshend working on a new rock opera called Floss. A new Who album is to result from this work. The rock opera, which it seems is scheduled to go right to Broadway (with the Who album headed directly for the cutout bin), is about aging. Pete explained that the world needed to hear the author of the greatest ageist song in history expound on old age. Or something like that. Perhaps Pete can seek treatment for his addiction to rock operas.

Finally, I saw that two behind-the-scenes greats of ’60s pop died, Wrecking Crew/Bread/etc bassist Larry Knechtel and Brill Building songwriter Ellie Greenwich. I don’t think I’d ever seen even a photo of Knechtel until I saw him on stage with Elvis Costello during his Mighty Like a Turd tour. He had awesome golden locks.

Older Entries Newer Entries