Considering the artist, too bad it’s not an ICEE cup.
The above image was provided by Townsman Tvox, who found it on some social media site. It’s hard even for a man of my age to remember that Edgar Winter once qualified as a memorabilia-worthy rock artist, but I found this piece of memorabilia especially surprising. Is there a more unlikely piece of rock memorabilia? If so, please post a link to visual evidence.
We would be remiss not to recognize what must be rock’s greatest twofer birthday, January 8, the day that gave us both Elvis Presley and David Bowie. Last year the Gibson guitar site posted the following tribute, which nicely plays into our way of seeing things: http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/birthday-elvis-bowie-0107-2011.aspx
Enjoy.
We here in the Halls of Rock Town are sometimes taken to task for being overly negative, snarky, hyper-critical, and all too often, just downright rude. As part of our collective efforts to bring a bit of sunshine and light to the world wide web, we occasionally make an extra effort effort to find something good to say about, you know, stuff that is clearly godawful.
It is in that spirit that we embark on yet another effort to bring some positivity to our proceedings. Please spend some quality time with the video above, then—if you can—please find something nice to say about it. You’ll feel a whole lot better, I promise you.
I look forward to your comments. Just remember, if you can’t say anything nice about this video… please don’t say anything at all.
QUICK: Do you know who Randy “Xeno” Hogan is? No Googling; you might land on his Wikipedia page. Continue reading »
Tell us what’s on your mind.
Every New Year’s Eve my wife and I have our set of oldtime friends and their kids over for dinner and chatter. A few of my oldtime friends are your fellow Townspeople, including andyr, E. Pluribus Gergely, machinery, chickenfrank, and Sethro. Another longtime lurker and confidante and his lovely family also joined us this year. The same women who give us the spousal eye roll as we proudly wander the Halls of Rock can talk rock smack with the best of them in a live setting. Somehow a discussion of Rush broke out, led by machinery’s better half. It turns out she was a teenage Rush fan. A few questions arose from this discussion that require your gut responses. Let’s get it on, shall we?
Is Rush a “chick’s band” among prog bands?
Beside “Tom Sawyer,” can you confidently identify the title of any Rush song within 8 measures when it comes on the radio, and are you constantly anticipating Geddy Lee to yell “Salesmen!”
What is “Geddy” short for, anyhow?
QUICK: What’s the title of the Rush song with the reggae breakdown?
I propose that Rush is rock’s greatest modular band: any one of the half dozen movements within one of their songs can be swapped into the middle of another Rush song without interrupting the listener’s experience of listening to the song. Who is rock’s first modular band or artist: James Brown, King Crimson, someone else?
After the point in the song at which Geddy Lee yells “Salesman!” what’s your next-most anticipated moment in a Rush song? If you’re actually a Rush fan, is the “lighter-raising moment” the point in the song at which Geddy yells “Salesman!”?
In 25 words or less, help us envision the moment at which Rush decided to make records that sounded like The Police.
What’s made a greater impression on you through the years, the music of 2112 or the tight butt cheeks of the guy on the cover?
I look forward to your comments.
A little after the 23-minute mark of our recent Most Polite Performance in Rock post drummer Bev Bevan comes out from behind his drumkit to the fore of the stage to announce something to the audience. Some may see this as a generous form of “giving the drummer some.” I can’t stand when bands let drummers leave their kit to have a word with the audience. A drummer’s got all the power, dignity, and status one musician can ask for on his or her throne. (And remember: no other musician gets to play on a THRONE.) They need to maintain their special place in the order of a band. I get similarly annoying seeing Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sitting courtside in a long-sleeve t-shirt (or worse) at one of his team’s games. It goes beyond former Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner‘s Man of the People move of sitting in a field-level box for his team’s games. Turner still looked like he could buy everyone in the stadium: fans as well as players. Cuban’s behavior is beneath the class and pomp and circumstance I expect from a multi-millionaire sports franchise owner, and likewise a showboating drummer who rushes to the front of the stage is doing a disservice to the hard-earned privileges of fellow drummers.
I saw a band last month that let the drummer come out from behind his kit practically every other song to lead cheers for the audience. Many in the audience seemed delighted by his clowning, but I bet most of you here would agree that multiple trips to the fore of the stage are too many for any drummer. How do you feel about the drummer making even one appearance from behind his kit? Most importantly, how do the drummers in the house feel about this practice?
I look forward to your thoughts.
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