Admit it, Diana Ross haters, “special guest star Larry Hagman” was all you needed to give this television extravaganza a chance.
At this point I’d like to invite all of you on stage for an All-Star Jam. Here’s Duff McKagan with some healing words! What nuggets of wisdom or rock arcana are you packing?
I love the musical device of an artist overdubbing cheering crowd noises in the middle of a clearly studio track. I love the device so much that I’d like to see how many we can cite—one entry at a time, of course.
Tracks from fake-live records, like Steppenwolf Live or that Rare Earth fake-live version of “Get Ready,” do not count. Ambient “party” noises do not count. The crowd noise has to be a blatant device, not an attempt to fool people into thinking they’re actually hearing Johnny Rivers live. (He did a lot of that stuff, didn’t he?) I’ll kick things off with probably the first example of this device that dazzled me as a kid: Continue reading »
My daughter, Kate, is in the final year of her 5-year architecture program at Syracuse University. I won’t brag about her except to say that this semester she is taking a fantastic course; here’s the outline:
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Course Description
The Beatles changed the face of music, culture, business and technology forever. This course examines how these changes came about, with an eye to anticipating further/future changes on these fronts.
Our guest lecturers will offer a comprehensive look at the Beatles including:
Tentative Topics and Speakers by Week:
1/24/11: Peter Asher with Rupert Perry—The British Invasion. A McCartney song becomes a hit for Peter and Gordon. Apple Corps-A&R reflections. Life after Apple: managing and producing the Pantheon.
1/31/11: Martin Bandier and Rupert Perry—How important can one band be? Contextualizing the impact of the Fab Four on music, business, culture and society during the last fifty years. Continue reading »
The Rock Town Hall Mailbag has been left unattended for too long, but following are a few messages of particular interest.
Josh Wilker, author of Cardboard Gods, who recently took time to chat with us about baseball cards and rock ‘n roll, took to heart a Townsperson’s subsequent pince nez regarding a reference to “the first album by the Band” when Wilker obviously meant to refer to their second album! He wrote me offlist and asked that I share his mea culpa.
Man, I cannot believe I referred in the interview to the Band’s second album as “the first album by the Band.” I deserve to be, to quote a line from the actual first album, “tarred and feathered.” It is a deeply troubling comment on my frazzled mental state and deteriorating cognitive faculties that I would make this mistake. I don’t know why it happened. I must be turning much sooner than scheduled into a version of my beloved grandfather near his end, when he walked into rooms carrying his oxygen tank and, with widening eyes, said, “Now, damnit, why in the Sam Hill did I come in here?” I am a huge fan of The Band, who have been an intimate part of my life since even before I collected baseball cards. I’ve leaned on their music all my life, read whatever I can get my hands on about them (“Across the Great Divide” and “This Wheel’s on Fire” and “Invisible Republic”), had the luck to see Garth Hudson play at the Bottom Line, detoured on a rare trip back east to try to see Levon in his Midnight Ramble (it got cancelled at the last minute, unfortunately), blah blah blah—and now I realize I’m sounding even more like some blowhard poser trying to defend his legitimacy. Fuck! It is as if I misspelled Yastrzemski. I can’t believe I did that. I may need to go away for awhile to “rest.” If you see fit to share this moaning with the Rock Town Hall community, that’d be okay with me—maybe it’d even convince a fellow Band fan or two that I’m a fumbling dolt rather than a dispassionately superficial douche.
Anyway, thanks for listening, and thanks again for the interview!
– Josh
Don’t sweat it, Josh. This happens to the most obsessive of us. You are a better man for this experience.
Townsman chergeuvara sent in the following links for my enjoyment and education. These may be of interest to you, as well, but caution punk rockers: some myths are about to be exploded. Continue reading »
As Late Night With Jimmy Fallon host Jimmy Fallon mentioned in his introduction of Wire, it was the band’s first appearance on American tv in 25 years. This got me thinking: Where the heck did Wire appear on American television 25 years ago?
It turns out it was on an episode of The Late Show, hosted by Suzanne Somers. For the only time I can imagine, I would like to have been in Suzanne Somers’ mind rather than any of the usual areas.
Kramer prepares to check out Jerry's 20 records.
I was watching an early Seinfeld episode and there was a scene in his apartment in which a stack of about 20 lps were visible. I never thought of Jerry listening to music before; in fact, even after catching a glimpe of his collection I have trouble imagining what records he might have owned. Elaine displayed a knowledge of Eagles‘ hits in one episode, but did Jerry ever make a music reference? Maybe. I’m not one of those people who can remember every episode of a beloved show…
Anyhow, I was thinking: What 20 records would Jerry Seinfeld—the character—have owned?
Lotus, the song by REM. The Lotus Eaters, a song by Dead Can Dance. Lotus, the American jam band. Flying Lotus, the dj. The Lotus Eaters, British band from the ’80s. Lotus Eaters, another ’80s band. Plenty of lotus to go around.
But Radiohead’s latest single, Lotus Flower, was the song that became the target of a whole lotta dissing. I’ve been thinking about the comments that were generated and still puzzling them over.
The video seems to flaunt a lack of the rock and roll ethos. There is a flagrant disregard for lip synching. There are no other band members depicted. There is dancing in a non-white man’s-overbite kind of way.
Maybe that’s the point.
