For those of you who may have lost track of the rock calendar today is The Day the Music Died, a rock-oliday in which we commemorate and celebrate the legacies of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and especially the Big Bopper.
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We all know Townsman Hrrundivbakshi‘s most-coveted, would-be “signature” piece of gear is the “harlequin” Gibson Firebird played by Adrian Gurvitz, of Baker-Gurvitz Army fame. (See video.) What piece of musical gear that you own or covet could be (or would be) considered your “signature” piece of gear?
It’s not something I could carry around and impress folks with, but mine is my “Coltrane box,” a Maestro Parametric Filter. If I had the energy to buy a signature axe and really learn to play the way I wish I could play I think I’d get a Fender Jazzmaster, like Tom Verlaine‘s.
Take it from me, you don’t have to be much of a musician (or a musician at all) to have an entry in this thread!
Color me anything but red and white!
The fact that this is new today is news to me: The White Stripes have broken up.
Beside making appearances on Conan I thought The White Stripes broke up a year or two ago. I mean, wasn’t that pretentious film of their tour of Canada supposed to be their swan song, or was that just increasingly wishful thinking the more I watched of that turd?
The band left the following touching statement on their website:
The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. The White Stripes belong to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful.
To celebrate our inheritance of their Jack and Meg’s legacy, I invite you to do any of the following—and whatever else appropriate strikes your fancy:
Thank you, Jack and Meg, for providing a surefire hot-button focal point for old, bass-obsessed farts and relatively younger, hipper Townspeople; some great guitar sounds; the confidence to learn the drums; the opportunity for some to giggle over terms like “rack toms”; and so much more.
Sweet!
Musicians and music lovers, is there a “sweet spot” you can identify on an instrument you play? For instance, I love the G chord in barre position on the third fret. I spend a lot of time there. If I come over to your house and check out your guitar I’ll be sure to settle in on that fret. I love the third fret on a guitar, but better yet is the eighth fret on a guitar neck, a position I don’t get as many opportunities to play around as I should, but when I do it’s sweeeeeeeeet!
I am betting that drummers have a sweet spot on their kit, keyboardists have a sweet spot on a keyboard, etc. Let’s hear from you—and if talk of your instrument’s sweet spot gets a little steamy…heh, so it goes.
Who says female-fronted bands can’t tap into the Power & Glory? As one of the YouTube commentators wrote:
how can you listen to todays fucked up shit after watching this clip…
Blame it on Samberg!
I’ve made a pledge for 2011 to listen to and comment on more NEW MUSIC. It’s important to listen to NEW MUSIC and see if any of it’s good, if any of it makes me want to continue to seek out more NEW MUSIC. Right? Without further ado, here are some very quick hits, to see if I can’t kickstart a year of NEW MUSIC reviews!
Destroyer, “Kaputt”
Destroyer, the band led by New Pornographer Dan Bejar, has a new album out called Kaputt. It’s getting a lot of feature reviews, all of which focus on synths, sax, and—one potential saving grace—late-period Roxy Music. I like Roxy Music enough to have dug their later period almost as much as their middle period (but not half as much as their first 3 albums). I associate Bejar’s typical sound as being “Bowie-esque,” so that should be close enough to make a venture into late-period Roxy Music gelatinous funk-lite worth checking out. Let’s see… Here’s the title track from Destroyer’s latest.
Analysis: This video is funny and ridiculous, but is this guy concerned with anything but outdoing the telegraphed video smarm of Andy Samberg? The lyrics are really stupid (and stupid for trying to be funny), and there’s little of musical value. And the song is over 6 minutes long! Ha, ha. This is a decent joke. Fuck you, Samberg. Continue reading »
The other night I finally got around to seeing director Noah Baumbach‘s latest film, Greenberg, starring Ben Stiller, as the title character, a depressed 40-year-old former musician who’s house sitting for his successful brother in LA, scene of Greenberg’s dashed music dreams. I liked it, and Stiller was surprisingly restrained in playing the sort of pathetic dick I’ve known too well and verged on being myself. Greta Gerwig co-stars a the cute, goofy, young love interest and Rhys Ifans plays Greenberg’s old band buddy, who sucks it up and manages to help occupy his old friend’s time in hopes of moving past the dick he was and still is.
As in his previous two movies, The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding, the film is populated by the sort of liberal arts educated, 100% natural cotton-clad types who tend to dig the daily proceedings in the Halls of Rock. With characters who were former bandmates this movie is especially rock oriented, and the Greenberg character can’t help but see the world through his rock nerd–glasses. The soundtrack was compiled and scored by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. Whether you’ve seen the movie or not, I thought Greenberg touched on some good topics for today’s round of Dugout Chatter. Remember, it’s your gut answers that count!
What’s the best song you’ve heard in a Starbucks?
The first time Greenberg meets Gerwig’s he plays her “It Never Rains in California” and asks her if she remembers the days when LA radio stations played that song whenever it rained. What weather-related song do you most associate with radio stations of your youth?
SPOILER ALERT… Continue reading »
