How did I miss this when it aired, on April 26, 1978?
Mar 082013
Mr. Moderator
Mar 072013
I think I’ve got it: the Hall’s shortest Last Man Standing topic ever! I happened upon a Cowsills documentary while flipping channels last night. I knew almost nothing about that band. It turns out I knew a couple of their songs, but I’d never put the song titles and tunes together. I knew they were somehow the inspiration for The Partridge Family. It wasn’t covered in the two thirds of the doc that I saw, but I’m pretty sure I knew that sister Susan Cowsill was once married to The dB’s’ Peter Holsapple. That’s correct, right? Although that fact likely means something to us, I’m sure it was not deemed important for regular people who might be watching the documentary.
Anyhow, I tuned in just when the band’s lead brother pissed off the dad and got fired from both the band and the family. Pops Cowsill sounded like a complete asshole. The oldest brother, the “Brian Wilson” of the group, as one of the brothers described him, got a raw deal. The band’s career quickly went down the tubes. Pops Cowsill sounds like he was an even worse person than Murray Wilson. The family crap that followed was horrendous. Somehow Mama Cowsill, in classic tyrannical father/dysfunctional family lore, was almost completely glossed over. It bugs me when mothers are glossed over in these screwed-up family tales, even though I’m sure the message was that Mama Cowsill was as brutalized as the kids were. This from a guy who grew up with a Mom fond of letting me know that “Everyone’s guilty…of something.” But I digress…
I got to thinking: are there ANY family bands that were not driven by a tyrannical dad and/or a fundamentalist religious background, in which God, it might be argued, serves as the stern father? I’m not trying to beat up on all family bands and all family bands with religious backgrounds, mind you. I hope Pops Staples and his clan, for instance, lived as functional lives as any of us might reasonably expect. And if it doesn’t already exist the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame should create a special “rock ‘n roll chapel” to pay tribute to the essential roll the church has played in the devil’s music.
For the purposes of this Last Man Standing, I’m hoping we can cite family bands that, to our knowledge, were not driven by a tyrannical dad or were not rooted in a fundamentalist religion. Can’t families just sing and play music together? Can’t they all just get along more often than not?
Also for the purposes of this thread, we shall define “family bands” as bands containing at least 3 family members. Family duos and bands containing only 2 family members will NOT count. Sorry, Kinks. Sorry, highly dysfunctional Everly Brothers, assuming you grew up in a relatively stress-free family.
I can think of at least 3 possible entrants, but probably no more…unless you spoil my quest for The Hall’s Shortest Last Man Standing Ever!
Mar 072013
I received the following message from a close personal friend and Townsperson who just joined a Dead cover band. He asked me to pass along his note in hopes of getting advice from the Hall on how to best handle this new challenge
I just joined a Dead cover band to help out a friend from our synagogue They do Dead, Stones, The Band, “Into the Mystic,” “Breathe” by Floyd, and some other classic rock. What was I thinking? Now what do I do? Can any drummers in the Hall give advice on how to play Dead-style drums? I’ve been listening to the band’s set recordings and it’s all bad habits and bad fills.
Mar 062013
I didn’t know Paul Revere & The Raiders were allowed to be seen in public in anything but those stupid Revolutionary War outfits they’re known for wearing. Those things always bummed me out, even when I was a kid who couldn’t get enough of The Band‘s practically Civil War get-up. To this day, when I hear the music of Paul Revere & The Raiders I bob my head and think, These guys were good! These guys were underrated! As soon as I see them in costume, however, I discount their musical achievements.
Townsman diskojoe passed along this YouTube clip, two thirds of which is a 1969 televised lip-syncing performance from Where the Action Is. For the first time ever I get to see the band in groovy civilian clothing, and their music is so much more enjoyable to not only hear but watch. Better yet, as diskojoe pointed out, midway through “Out on the Road” (3:07 mark), Dan Ackroyd‘s Tom Snyder, Catherine O’Hara‘s Lola Heatherton, and an unidentified third go-go dancer storm the stage as if they were beamed in from that space hippie planet from Star Trek.
Watch this clip carefully and you won’t be disappointed in its wealth of intra-band knowing glances and grins. Those of you who know Townsman sethro, my close personal friend, longtime drummer, AND dentist, will recognize his patriotic father banging the skins!
Mar 062013
Provided the snow that’s expected to fall in Delaware and points south of Philadelphia doesn’t blow up to New York tomorrow I am planning on seeing director Michel Gondry introduce and discuss the influence of the 1963 film British kitchen-sink film Billy Liar at the IFC Center.
I really like Gondry’s movies and rock videos. I simply like his all-around style, which is why I’m most interested in hearing him talk about this movie I saw years ago and liked well enough (but not as much as some other movies from that period). I didn’t realize until reading up on him, though, that he was also a drummer in a French band, Oui Oui, and that he directed a certain favorite video with obvious debts to this Oui Oui video…after the jump!
Mar 062013
This it over. Then get back to us with your decision.
Mar 062013
Someone wasn’t paying attention to the man’s wishes…
I heard an old Jerry Wexler interview over the weekend that Nick Spitzer did for American Routes. I loved hearing interviews with Wexler. What a cat! My close personal friend and bandmate Sethro met him not too long before he died. Of all the musical experiences Sethro had without me, in his other bands, that may be the experience about which I’m most jealous. Spitzer wrapped up the rebroadcast of that interview with a story I’d heard once before: when Wexler was asked what he’d like his tombstone to read he said, “More bass!”
What musical epitaph would you like to have engraved on your tombstone (or urn or whatever)?
I look forward to your responses—and hope it’s ages before your wishes are put into practice!
