This week’s Mystery Date was submitted by Townsman misterioso.
Let’s review the ground rules here. The Mystery Date song is not necessarily something I believe to be good. So feel free to rip it or praise it. Rather the song is something of interest due to the artist, influences, time period… Your job is to decipher as much as you can about the artist without research. Who do you think it is? Or, Who do you think it sounds like? When do you think it was recorded? Etc…
If you know who it is, don’t spoil it for the rest. Anyone who knows it can play the “mockcarr option.” (And I’ve got a hunch at least one of you know this one.) This option is for those of you who just can’t hold your tongue and must let everyone know just how in-the-know you are by calling it. So if you know who it is and want everyone else to know that you know, email Mr. Moderator at mrmoderator [at] rocktownhall [dot] com. If correct we will post how brilliant you are in the Comments section.
The real test of strength though is to guess as close as possible without knowing. Ready, steady, go!
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Mystery-Date-090911.mp3|titles=Mystery Date 090911]
Back in the listserv days of Rock Town Hall, a Townsman once asked us to consider the best decade in American music.
I’d love to get an update on this, and to hear from some of the folks who have joined since then, such as tonyola, ladymisskirroyale, and the members of the Beantown Rock Mafia. I’m not sure if the Townsman who originally posted this is still an active participant, so I suggest that we forego giving points for the strength of the argument. [Mod – It wasn’t Al? It was mwall.] Perhaps the Mod could create a corresponding poll. [Mod – Why of course!]
In short time he wrote me back, saying he’d be happy to chat. “Sounds like fun,” he wrote. “Went to the link, seems everybody has different ideas on what actually is Nuggets…” I was psyched.
A week later we were on the phone, waiting for the near-hurricane that swept through the northeast to hit. Lenny was as cool and friendly as his work and stage demeanor would suggest. His enthusiasm for his work in compiling this landmark collection of oddball psych-pop singles 40 years ago was impressive. Nuggets wasn’t some youthful fling for Lenny Kaye; the experience was clearly a springboard to and, to this day, a guiding light in his work with Patti Smith and beyond.
On our best days, as I see it, much of what we work to culture and share in the Halls of Rock is our initial, personal sense of love for music and the role it’s played in our lives. I couldn’t help thinking, while talking to Lenny Kaye, of my initial experiences with Nuggets in my late teens, how the album helped validate my childhood take on music and give me and my like-minded rock friends a toehold in developing our musical identities. My childhood friend and musical partner in crime Townsman andyr and I knew the significance of his old Disco Teen ’66 hits collection, which we used to analyze as yon’ teens. By freshman year in college, however, a thousand miles away from my blood brother, that album meant nothing to the new rock nerds I was befriending. Nuggets spoke to all of us, regardless of shared experiences and regional differences. The hyper kid from North Jersey, the wiseass from the suburbs of Chicago, and the long, lanky, laconic kid from Colorado all found this collection as stimulating and inspiring as I did. It was a happening.
As for my silly Annie Hall fantasy, fear not: Lenny’s not the type to put down any of us. I hope you’ll enjoy this chat at least half as much as I did. Read on!
Hang on to the flavor: this is YOUR Rock Town Hall!
If you’ve already got Back Office privileges and can initiate threads, by all means use your privileges! If you’d like to acquire such privileges, let us know. If you’ve got a comment that needs to be made, what are you waiting for? If you’re just dropping in and find yourself feeling the need to scat, don’t hesitate to register and post your thoughts. The world of intelligent rock discussion benefits from your participation. If nothing else, your own Mr. Moderator gets a day off from himself. It’s a good thing for you as well as me!
The new Wild Flag single, “Romance,” is pretty cool, especially the verses. I liked Sleater-Kinney, from which two thirds of Wild Flag was sewn, and as I first heard this song I was pretty psyched up. Then the chorus kicked in and made me think of another song and artist, which really bummed me out:
Townsman BigSteve has passed along the news that New Orleans arranger Wardell Quezergue has died at 81. Not being that knowledgeable about New Orleans music, I had never heard of Quezergue. I sure as hell grew up, however, digging the syncopated arrangements for songs like “Mr. Big Stuff” and “Groove Me,” two smash songs (as I just read) that he arranged on the same day! In my high school and college years I was tormented by the chestnut “Iko, Iko,” but that’s because I’d only suffered through hearing it played by the Grateful Dead. The Dixie Cups’ version that Quezergue arranged is pretty cool.
Who remembers that guy Paul Harvey? He used to do that radio series The Rest of the Story. He’d give the story behind the story, often in an O’Henry kind of way.
There seem to be lots of rock & roll stories where it would be good to have Paul Harvey give us the rest of the story.
Consider John Lennon & May Pang.
So, John was acting…something…and Yoko sent him off with May Pang to…something. And then John came back after his lost weekend…cured.
Anyone want to speculate on the real story here (real or fictional)? What other rock & roll stories are there of which you wish you knew the “rest of the story?”
