Any rock ‘n roll nightmares you want to share? A new record that makes you want to scream? The patented RTH All-Star Jam is the place where YOU set the scene.
Oct 242011
Oct 242011
It’s Monday morning. Perhaps you don’t feel like going to work today. Think you got it bad? Think about the quartet in this video? Think someone in rock has or has had it even worse than them? I bet someone does. Who might that be? What job is worse than that of the quartet introducing Saturday morning cartoons?
I look forward to your answers.
Oct 222011
Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!
In this week’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In Mr. Moderator broadcasts “LIVE” from the Coast of Loving, “Frisco,” as the natives call it, specifically! The Moderator is calling all Peace Warriors to tune in, turn on, and drop whatever it is you were doing. As an added bonus, for those curious to learn more about Eric Burdon & The (Then-)New Animals, you’ve come to the right episode.
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/RTH-Saturday-Night-Shut-In-50.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 50][Note: The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player. In fact, you can even set your iTunes to search for an automatic download of each week’s podcast.]
Oct 212011
Listen, Max Weinberg wouldn’t crack my Top 100 drummers list, but what so bad about his work with The Boss? I know he’s a bit stiff, maybe to say the least, but doesn’t he offset some of his stiffness with powerful kick and snare work and some fierce martial rolls at all the big points The Boss needs ’em? Was it when he dropped his stick at that big concert? Do any Springsteen fans prefer him to the orginal E-Street drummer, David Sancious Vinnie Mad Dog Lopez? Are his limitations magnified because of the large stage he plays?
Is there a drummer in the house (our a would-be drummer)? What’s so bad about Max Weinberg?
Oct 212011
We all had a good laugh on May 21, 2011, when the long-promised Apocalypse did not happen. However, if you weren’t paying attention, that day was only the beginning of the end. The actual end of the world as we know it is due for today, October 21. (Now the timing of REM’s break-up is making sense…)
[NOTE: The following video is NSFW, but after Saturday, will it matter?]
Well, I’m here to tell you that Friend of the Hall Andy Shernoff did not let our temporary sense of relief on May 22nd cloud his mission to keep the world abreast of its impending doom. If you’re over 18 (or at least say you are), you can view his video for his smash hit “Are You Ready to Rapture?” here.
Finally, as we await tomorrow’s likely canceled broadcast of Saturday Night Shut-In, broadcast “LIVE” from San Francisco, you may want to revisit our May 21st episode, one of your Moderator’s personal faves.
Oct 202011
Please explain how in the world the cast of the original Bob Newhart is beating Welcome Back Kotter in the “Who Would Have Made the Best Band” poll?
First let me acknowledge that the original Bob Newhart show is a stone cold classic and the second one had its moments as well, while Welcome Back Kotter wasn’t even funny in a turd-in-the-urinal kind of way.
But what kind of band is going to come out of either Newhart show? All I can envision for the first one might is a Steely Dan meets Kraftwerk scenario with Mr Carlin and Bob on the synths and Jerry and the receptionist on drums and bass. As for the second, maybe some condescending, too-smart-for-its-own-good, purposefully trashy send up of hillbilly music, like a third-rate Southern Culture on the Skids. And those are the best case scenarios as I see it.
On the other hand, it doesn’t require much imagination to see Vinnie Barbarino as Joey, Arnold Horshack as Dee Dee, Juan Epstein as Johnny, and Freddy “Boom Boom” Washington as that other guy.
Seriously, I love Bob Newhart. I have two of his albums. I’m a big fan of the Grace L Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Company. But for a band? Explain yourselves, Newhart supporters, or stop voting with your hearts and use you heads.
Oct 202011
I was listening earlier to some early Springsteen and thought, not for the first time, that I wish Bruce had never gotten involved with Jon Landau.
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/07-Thundercrack.mp3|titles=Bruce Springsteen, “Thundercrack” @ The Main Point, April 24, 1973]I have been a fan of Bruce since the first album and loved the second album and have always thought that it was all downhill (as far as recordings go) from there. The next few albums were still great but nothing matches the looseness and the freewheeling musical aspects of The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle. After that it became increasingly codified & repetitive.
And that started when Landau got his clutches into Bruce. Coincidence? I think not.
Not that I think Landau was Col. Parker to a compliant Elvis. Bruce certainly was complicit in it. But it’s hard for me not to think that Bruce would have been a lot better if Landau didn’t sand off the edges, give Bruce a mentor for that politicization he underwent (and I’m not one of those who thinks artists shouldn’t be political—it’s fine with me and I agree by & large with Bruce’s politics—I just don’t like what it did to his music), & prime him for mega-stardom.
Agree? Disagree?
And what other pivotal events in rock & roll history do you wish never occurred?
