I’ve been greatly enjoying this performance since discovering it a few days ago. I like it better than the version on Harvest. Hot shit band here, especially that fiddle player, Rufus Thibodeaux. Do you know anything about him, BigSteve? It’s been a while since I’ve read Shakey, so I don’t remember reading if the Old Ways tour was particularly musical memorable. But now I kinda want to hear more.
This next clip features “Field of Opportunity” and a very entertaining interview with Neil.
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Once more, let me reiterate: Mr. Moderator, Hrrundi, BigSteve, Jungleland2, mwall, yes, you, Alexmagic, and everyone else: Are You Ready for the Country?
At Mr. Mod’s request, Rock Town Hall’s self-proclaimed Official Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Correspondent, NorthVanCoveMan, is on the scene, bringing you the rocking news from north of the border an attempting to fashion it into a rock-related discussion..with yet to be determined results.
Yesterday I had some dumb luck. As many of you may be aware, and some of you may be avoiding completely, the 2010 Winter Olympics are happening in my fair city. I have made a point of pushing aside any misgivings or general grumpiness and really trying to get out and enjoy the whole thing. It has not been hard to do; the town is electric right now! And there’s alcohol!
Tonight is the first night I have nothing on tap (literally and figuratively) but I will be back in the swing of things Wednesday and Thursday with a trip to see some speed skating and hockey. The corporate pavilions, such as the ones set up by Molson and Heineken (50-75,000 sq. foot beer palaces) are at least as much of a draw.
But back to yesterday. A friend from back east who is in town for the games called with an extra ticket to the men’s moguls event up on Cypress Mountain. Turns out, the first Olympic event I have ever attended would be the one to break Canada’s gold medal drought on home soil (We were shut out in Calgary ’88 and Montreal ’76). Anyway, It is a really big deal up here. A virtual unknown, a young man from Quebec named Alexandre Bilodeau, took the gold. He seems to have been ordered from Central Casting under “Modest and Respectful Canadian Hero.” They gave him the gold tonight in front of a football stadium full of people. Twenty thousand more were singing “Oh, Canada” outside.
Now I’ll be the first to admit I don’t give a shit about moguls. And like most Canadians I didn’t know Bilodeau from Bordeaux at the beginning of this past weekend. But being there in the moment makes me feel different about it, I am drawn in. I’m hooked on the feeling.
Has a charismatic person or unexpected electric moment ever gotten you out of your comfort zone? Find yourself listening to reggae or jazz when you hate reggae and jazz? Who in music came out of nowhere and rocked your world and had you listening to stuff you normally wouldn’t?
This exercise is simple: Identify the woman whose image you see above. Note that this photograph has relevance to one of the discussions we’re undertaking today.
The following questions are meant to elicit a sense of your rock ‘n roll values and experiences. This set is particularly geared toward assessing your abilities as a rock ‘n roll lover. Don’t worry, we won’t get too personal – unless you want to go there. Your candid answers will likely warm the heart of a fellow rock nerd if not a romantic partner. Let’s get it on!
Do you tend to prefer songs of love or songs of unrequited love?
What’s the Whitman’s Sampler of rock albums?
As a lover, what love song by The Rolling Stones might you use to transmit your romantic intentions?
What’s the jelly-filled chocolate, quickly shoved back in the box after someone’s stuck their thumb through the bottom to determine what’s inside it, of rock songs?
What purported love song makes you want to go a lifetime without love?
Honestly, has music ever played a positive role in your love life? Please share.
I look forward to your responses, and take it from me, dudes: women prefer cut flowers to plants on this day. They find the ephemeral nature of the cut flowers to be more romantic than the hearty, long-lasting qualities of the living plant. I guess this is the role we already serve for our mates.
Here’s an old thread that I thought would get more play on its initial release. Guess I overestimated the anticipation Townspeople had for this topic. Or maybe it would have helped if I had introduced the piece with my tale of buying Elvis Costello’s Imperial Bedroom with a friend in New York on the day of its release and returning to his hometown of East Orange, NJ before breaking into his friend’s house through a basement window his friend once showed him how to open. There, while the kid and his parents were out doing productive things, we could fire up this new album in all its highly anticipated majesty. The statuate of limitations has passed on this youthful indescretion, right?
This post initially appeared 2/8/08.
Real simple: Here’s an opportunity to discuss at least two issues related to today’s poll.
What’s the last album you recall so greatly anticipating the release of to the degree that you made sure to buy it the day it came out?
Can you share a particularly memorable story about a highly anticipated album release and first-day purchase?
I look forward to – no, I eagerly anticipate your responses!
Among the many joys of moderating Rock Town Hall is getting turned onto musical perspectives new participants who stumble into our hallowed halls feel comfortable putting on display and then possibly getting to know a bit about the people themselves. There’s so much an opinionated rock nerd like myself can assume and so many opportunities for those assumptions to make an ass of you and me. The outrageous assumptions we make can be an ongoing source of fun, provided they allow for some true dialog.
A recent thread by Townsman BigSteve on the reissue extravaganza surrounding RTH icon Lou Reed‘s Metal Machine Music gave me yet another chance to have a giggle, in part, to cover my ignorance on the subject at hand. To my surprise and delight, however, the topic attracted a new Townsperson to our ranks who goes by the RTH handle armyofquad. His personal tale in the Comments (read here and here and here) of helping to instigate the reissue of this controversial album in many of the formats in which Lou intended his work to be heard was both inspiring and too interesting to let slide with nothing more than our beloved giggles. I contacted armyofquad offlist to ask if he’d be willing to field some questions from a music lover who’s gone 46 years being completely ignorant of quadraphonic sound and newer surround-sound media.
Talk about assumptions, I assumed armyofquad was at least my age and possibly even one of those “audiophile asshole” guys I dreaded from my youth, you know, the kind of guys who were more interested in Japanese imports of some godawful fusion band because it highlighted the highs and lows of their kick-ass hi-fi system. It turns out, he’s 30 years old, a musician himself, and a lover of music itself before the technology. As is so often the case, I was happy to learn that I am an idiot who still can’t get past a few teenage scars!
BigSteve, another intelligent Townsman who’s less likely to make broad assumptions and who’s also managed to learn little to nothing about quadraphonic sound in his years in front of stereo speakers, contributed to the following questions. Townsman armyofquad provded answers that he hopes will not get too technical for our fellow neophytes. I hope you enjoy this chat with a fellow Townsman over a musical niche as much as I did. As a takeaway message, as long as we keep an open mind to new perspectives, our ribbing is doing its job to “tenderize” ourselves to true rock dialog rather than simply hardening our armor with snark. Let’s get it on, shall we?
RTH: Thanks for agreeing to discuss your interest and experiences in quadraphonic sound. As a guy who’s challenged by all audiophile issues, some of these questions are likely to be “dumb.” But as a math teacher once told me, “There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers.”
Because we met you through the recent Metal Machine Music thread, let’s start with Lou Reed in quadraphonic sound. Did Lou release anything else in quad? Is there a non-quad Lou Reed album you’d most love to hear in that format?
armyofquad:Metal Machine Music is the only Lou Reed album to have been released in quad. I would love to hear more Lou Reed in quad or surround. I think Transformer, Rock ‘n Roll Animal, and Berlin would be great in surround.
RTH: You said in our MMM thread that someone gave you a quadraphonic system and that you got into the format that way. Did you have an interest in any other high fidelity systems prior to that, or was quadraphonic sound your
first foray into a deeper level of appreciating recorded music?
armyofquad: By the time I had gotten that first quad system when I was in high school, I had already gone through a few different older stereo systems that were handed down to me by family members. When I got into college and got on the internet, that allowed me to start more research into quadraphonic, and sound systems in general. So, I certainly already had an interest, but while I was getting into quad I also at the same time got more into high fidelity, and picking up better stereo equipment to try a piece together a better system. My current system continues to be a work in process.
RTH: What is the rationale for quadraphonic sound and current-day formats, like Dolby 5.1 sound? We only have two ears, so isn’t stereo sound natural
and ideal?
armyofquad: The “2 ears” argument is a common argument from some. There are still those that will claim mono is better than stereo. But, in the real world, sound surrounds us. We have the capability of detecting whether sound comes from in front of us or behind us with our 2 ears. Surround sound offers someone more freedom when creating an album in the studio.
