May 062020
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time again: the RTH speed round known as Dugout Chatter. All we ask is that you provide gut answers to the following would-be burning questions. If you’re new to these parts, this is a great time to jump in and get your feet wet. If you’ve been around forever, your voice must be heard. Who knows, maybe one of our old friends like Mwall or The Great 48 will resurface?
- During this global pandemic, as many workers have been able to work from home, we can be sure that Andy Partridge isn’t suffering. But what musician may be most challenged by working from home?
- When we can get back to gathering for concerts, which artist is most likely to feature branded masks at their merch table?
- Is there a musician, even Ozzy Osbourne, who could do a worse job at keeping the public informed and on point than our blessed President Trump?
- There’s not much in the way of music media for hardcore fans like ourselves as there is for hardcore sports fans, which I also happen to be. In lieu of actual sports, sports media outlets have dug deep into “What if” pieces, Top 10 lists, and deep-dive statistical analyses. With the live music world pretty much at a standstill, beside Zoom and Facebook Live performances, is there an RTH-worthy deep dive we’ve long toyed with but never undertaken?
- With all that’s going on – social distancing, previously unimagined anxieties, desperately seeking toilet paper – have your listening habits changed in any ways?
- All joking aside, what will it take for you to feel comfortable going out to see a show again?
Stay healthy. Stay relatively sane.
1) The Boss. I wonder if he just shouts “1-2-3-4!” at home to stay sane.
2) KISS
3) Not possible. Even Wesley Willis could’ve done a better job.
4) Don’t know if this counts, but I have long toyed with debunking The Charlie Watts Hoax. My central theory is that, barring outliers that are common knowledge (like “You Can’t Always Get…”) , Charlie Watts plays drums on nearly all Stones songs during whatever you may consider the peak era.
5) I have been trying to take advantage of Bandcamp’s monthly events where 100% of profit goes to the artists to buy more from that site in general, even if it’s a band or genre I’m unfamiliar with.
6) Too complicated to get into here. I very much doubt there will be live music at any point before 2021.
1. David Lee Roth, he finally had the big KISS tour and now he is back home like it’s 1998.
2. KISS
3. David Lee Roth, again I wish he was doing the daily briefings.
4. Here’s one: Are we allowed to still like Ryan Adams? If you say “no” does this apply to Whiskeytown as well?
5. John Wesley Harding’s Coronation Covers Project turned me on to some artists that I know who they are but not their catalog. Also read Listen Up! and The Beautiful Ones. Listening to Willie Nelson and Prince on my long evening walks.
6. I am in the concert biz, so I will be (hopefully) working events soon. For now we are doing live broadcasts from our warehouse with full production, lights, video LED and sound.
4. One of my cable channels showed Quadrophenia recently. I was pleased to see that it really held up for me as a well-made movie. I played the original album later, and kept having mixed emotions as to whether the whole concept was brilliant or silly. Where does it fit among all their albums in terms of quality? Is it better than Tommy? Does it have too may forgettable songs? Is the remixed movie soundtrack better or worse, and even necessary? Just curious how others react to the 3 different available Quadrophenia products. I have a sneaky feeling this topic might have been beaten to death already on RTH, but too many years ago for me to remember!
1. Bob Dylan, does he actually have a home these days?
2. When I saw Smoke Fairies they had their own line of candles, so I wouldn’t put it past them, they get away with it by being ditsy and adorable. Pet Shop Boys, possibly, or somebody with designers in the family, like McCartney.
3. Mrs H keeps me to to date with your president’s idiosyncrasies, I find our own great leader bad enough. I would love to see Robyn Hitchcock having a go at it, his briefings would involve spaceships, bugs and home fixtures and fittings, but still make more sense, probably
4. Our three guiltiest pleasures. Or just the guiltiest of all. My love of Terry Jacks has been well documented here in the past and I still believe I’m right. Possibly doesn’t count as I refuse to feel even the slightest discomfort from submitting it.
5. I’ve not listened to nearly as much stuff full stop as before the lockdown. Mainly the birds in the garden. It feels to me like a time to be quiet.
6. When the theatre I volunteer at reopens I’ll be there. I don’t think anybody really expects it to happen before next year, though. A couple of festivals we were s supposed to be going to later in the year haven’t been cancelled yet. I expect they will be, although one of them is being headlined by bloody UB40 (and no, Mr Mod, I’ve not forgotten I owe you my reasons for disliking them so, but fear you might be disappointed as it amounts to little more than “they’re smarmy and get on my nerves”) so cancellation would feel like getting off lightly.
Oats, the imagined Springsteen count off and your “debunking The Charlie Watts Hoax” answers, in particular, are inspired!
jungleland 2, I was wondering if KISS and David Lee Roth would show up as answers to some of these questions. Loved how DLR applied twice. Also, I’m glad you mentioned your business. I thought of you as I wrote that question. Let us know how that goes; you may be poised to be ahead of the curve on future concert experiences.
chickenfrank, believe it or not I don’t think we’ve ever done the “triophonic” analysis you’ve proposed. I’ll check to make sure, but good one! If it’s not yet been explored, let’s make it so, as the Bald Kirk would say.
Happiness Stan, I’m onboard with your plan for Robyn Hitchcock!
I think someone may have mentioned this earlier, but Netflix has an extension that allows a group to watch a movie simultaneously as a group and post comments in the margin. Similarly, Zoom allows you to share your screen so we could show Quadrophenia (or whatever) and either make comments or type them in using the Chat feature.
Good idea, cdm! Most likely, Netflix doesn’t have Quadrophenia, but I’ll check. If not, maybe I see if I can get it on Amazon and then we do the Zoom chat throughout. Stay tuned!
What about The Rock Town Hall Workout?
A Zoom where everyone gets to pick a jamming song and we dance until we are fit with 6 packs?
My wife is downstairs right now listening to horrible workout music and I am jamming to OLD 97s!
1. There was a time I’d have said Keith Richards, but he seems more comfortable with home life. I think I’ll go with a band, and that would be Lucero. They play over 200 shows a year. The break was probably nice for a bit, but I’d think they’re going nuts now.
2. I won’t go back until I get a vaccination. All bands will have masks within a month.
3. No. Without getting political, Trump is a stupid, lousy liar and has proven incompetent with everything he’s ever tried.
4. No. I don’t have any more time now than normal. I’m still working.
5. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I still can buy some records but less new music and more older stuff. It’s kind of weird.
6. A vaccine. Other people are proving to be too stupid to trust to even wash their hands or believe it’s anything worse than a cold and democratic plot. I need to know I can be among them with some kind of protection from them.
I saw some ‘classic rock’ masks website, and on a whim I ordered a mask with the Stones lips&tongue logo on it. I thought it would be amusing with the lips appearing over my mouth. As it turns out, the thing sits higher on my face than i thought, and the rather small lip logo is basically covering my nasal area. I have not had the nerve to wear it in public yet. Maybe I’ll wear it if I ever go out to a rock&roll show again.
“As it turns out, the thing sits higher on my face than i thought, and the rather small lip logo is basically covering my nasal area.”
I mean this sincerely: I’m sorry it wasn’t what you were expecting, but thank you for the laugh. 🙂
After I bought some masks online, of course a bunch of my social media accounts starting blasting me with ads for other masks, including a Clash mask.
I should have known there were already branded masks. The Clash, of course, were ahead of the curve with the social distancing practiced on that alternate cover of Combat Rock that’s been making the meme rounds.
1. Richard Butler/Psychedelic Furs. They have released new music for the first time in eons, so there is the loss of the opportunity to play those songs live. But that aside, I sense that Butler thrives on a diet of adoration. Without it, he might wither and become sad, like a wilting flower that used to smoke three packs a day. He might blast music in his home and make a grand entrance every morning, arms outstretched, gazing towards the heavens aka the ceiling. I came across him on FB at some point, interacting with his mother, who is still with us and is lovingly proud of her boys. Very cute.
2. Branded masks… Laibach?
3. Nobody could do a worse job than Drumpf. You’d have to find a musician who combines complete lack of knowledge with an inability to focus on anything for more than one minute (so far, not too difficult) and then a complete lack of humanity and compassion and utter focus on benefitting oneself in terms of power and money.
4. A deep dive… Not sure. I was thinking it might be cool to have a thread where we only discuss music from the last 5-10 years. Who are today’s keepers of the rock flame? Is it possible to re-map rock tropes onto the younger generation of musicians? Who are the innovators and creators of original ideas today, not just Greta Van Fleet imitators? Or is rock music moribund? This would be a challenge for me, maybe for others too.
5. Yes, my music listening has changed. I would listen to a lot of music during my multi-stage commute. Often times that is classical music when I’m on the subway or walking, usually something that I’d been working on at night. So that’s “study time” that I don’t have now. Sometimes I’d set my book aside on the train and “DJ” a set of tunes. My work moved last Fall, and I’d been trying to create a very calm space in my office. To that end, I’d often play very chill music. Alice Coltrane. Toru Takemitsu. Arvo Part. Fripp, Eno. A record called FFWD which is Fripp and the guy from the Orb (not a big Orb fan, but this album is very groovy). But I’m glad RTH is back, I’ve been listening to things inspired by this group, trying to be more accepting of Led Zep, ACDC, etc. I also have been listening to things I’ve never heard, trying to fill gaps. Last week I listened to Motorhead for a while, because I never really have. The other day, I listened to Astral Weeks, which (I know, I know) I’d never heard before.
6. Not sure. I am great at not going to shows, so I’m feeling good about all the tickets I didn’t buy for shows this spring. I’d probably attend an outdoor show before venturing into a small club or theater.
Re: Is it ok to listen to Ryan Adams. Cancel culture is weird, I’ve heard arguments for and against. If I am listening to music and all I can think about is that the person is an asshole, that gets in the way of my enjoyment. This has happened to me with the Smiths (never found Morrissey compelling solo, Marr either, sorry Johnny). This is not happened to me with Andy Partridge, who stepped into some hot water and quit social media as a result. The Ryan Adams songs that I find most compelling have a big dose of vulnerability and hurt in them, and I do find it hard to click with that, realizing that he (allegedly) behaved like a monster.
I’m in the middle of a busy day, but don’t think I’m not taking notes on suggested topics. There are some stone-cold winners being suggested, thanks!
Dr. Fink not having his own branded masks out – which could just be regular surgical masks, no actual branding needed – is the biggest missed opportunity of this entire pandemic.