Rock Town Hall • Rock Music Discussion

Sony Records Plant Closes, or Why Can’t I Touch It?

Jan 132011

More than Tyco products!

It’s yet one more blip on the radar, but I just read that the Sony (originally Columbia) pressing plant in Pitman, NJ is being shut down. Digital downloads of CDs, DVDs, video games, and—inevitably—bread, milk, and eggs have decreased the need for the plant, meaning the remaining 300 workers, following a layoff of 150 last year, will lose their jobs. My guess is most of them do not have the coding skills necessary to get new jobs in the digital distribution business.

Technology is great. Progress is necessary. Digital downloads have become a welcome addition to my enjoyment and exploration of music. I’m not about to fight any of these things, but I am entitled to a few minutes of reflection on what it meant to me to have had actual record pressing plants in my extended neck of the woods.

Consult the Orockle: What Are the Most Archetypal Songs of All Time?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 132011

The wisdom of The Hall continues to amaze me. For as many knowledgeable individuals who dazzle with their rock knowledge, it is the collective wisdom of our participants that I find most dazzling.

It is in this spirit that I want to allow for further amazement—not only for the people but by the people. Rather than turn this into my own original post, maybe even do a few minutes of research on the Web, I thought better of it. Instead, I’d like to pose a question on behalf of a fellow Townsperson to the collective wisdom of The Orockle.

Townsman cherguevarra has a question he’d like to pose—and one that he hopes will inspire other questions we’d like to have asked when we had more time to find the answers ourselves. Read on, please. Continue reading »

Sh*t You’ve Heard in Music Stores

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 132011

[Setting: Two young musicians are discussing a possible significant recording equipment purchase with Italian-born owner of long-running music store. Music Store Owner discusses his competition in relation to his quoted price.]

Music Store Owner: You know, everyone’s going to give you this: [makes crude gesture by inserting and removing forefinger on right hand through circle made with forefinger and thumb on left hand]. But I use Vaseline.

What’s the most memorable thing you’ve heard in a music store?

A Soothing Balm for Mod’s Tortured Soul

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Jan 122011

Am I the only Townsman who suspects Mr. Moderator has been feeling a bit blue lately? Recent posts, while thoughtful and enlightening as always, have just seemed a little… well, maybe a little too thoughtful. Bottom line: he needs to get back to where he once belonged. Towards that end, I offer the following as a soothing balm for his tortured soul.

Enjoy, friend.

HVB

Was It Regional or Was It Syndicated?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 122011

I just learned from General Slocum, whose band Baby Flamehead did this killer version of the Action News theme, that this legendary theme song WE (ie, Philadelphians) grew up with was actually the theme for the syndicated Action News crew. In other words, what we thought was OUR MUSIC was, in fact, not. And same went for those in other Action News markets when Baby Flamehead toured and played that long-considered “regional” favorite in other regions! Shocking!

This reminds me, when I was a kid I thought all those Breakfast With The Beatles-type shows were cooked up by some huge Beatles fan in my backyard. A few years later I would learn this was not the case. The same went for all those Creature Double Feature-type shows on Saturday morning UHF television stations, right? On the other hand, I always knew Dr. Demento’s show was syndicated.

What musical treasures of your past actually were regional treasures and what treasures, did you later learn, were syndicated?

Last Man Standing: Songs That May Help Someone Stop and Think About Our Gun Control Laws

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 112011

The recent shooting rampage in Arizona has me tuned in more than most current events stories tend to do. The fact that the 9-year-old granddaughter (same age as my youngest boy) of one of the most iconic figures in Philadelphia Phillies history, 1980 World Series manager Dallas Green, was shot and killed by this sick, young man especially brought the story home for me, but I’d already found too much troubling regarding our lax handgun laws and stores like Walmart, which are cool selling ammunition for semi-automatic handguns but won’t sell Eminem CDs with the dirty bits left in, not to mention those who choose to use handguns for reasons other than official police and military business.

My goal with this potentially inflammatory Last Man Standing is not to get on my soapbox and pound my fist over my particular opinions on gun laws and usage but to share songs and lyrics—from any angle of this debate—that might at least help someone think about these issues. Likewise, this is not the space to get on your soapbox and pound your fist. I am confident we can let the songs do the talking and let the tunes carry whatever messages they may for any of us as we eventually mount our particular soapboxes in venues that encourage such activities. There’s room for the full spectrum of views on these issues, but I also encourage you to stick to songs that resonate on some meaningful level. Resist, if at all possible, being a wiseass and simply posting songs and song lyrics that justify gun laws based on the need to rid the world of Don Henley, you know what I mean?

I’ll start with Neil Young’s impressionistic “Powderfinger.” I’m never sure exactly what’s going on in this song, but this verse in particular gives me a sense of what it might feel like to shoot a gun for the first time.

Daddy’s rifle in my hand
felt reassurin’
He told me,
Red means run, son,
numbers add up to nothin’
But when the first shot
hit the docks I saw it comin’
Raised my rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why.
Then I saw black,
And my face splashed in the sky.

Apollo Run: Craft Triumphs Over Personal Taste

Posted by KingEd

Jan 112011

I went to see an old friend’s band last week and ended up staying through the end of the night to see not only my friend’s band but the stylishly suited opener and the final band on the bill, a young Brooklyn outfit called Apollo Run. No offense to the first two bands, who delivered the kind of fine, traditionally rocking sets I’ve come to expect of them, but I want to focus on Apollo Run.

As they started their set with some mellow songs along the lines of the first YouTube clip here, loaded with rug harmonies, I was both impressed by the band members’ ability to harmonize on nonsense syllables and a bit bugged by the fact that some of the songs reminded me of that Fleet Foxes appearance on Saturday Night Live last fall. As with Fleet Foxes, I was impressed by how deftly and specifically Apollo Run bugged me that way I was bugged by rug pioneers like Crosby, Stills & Nash. I thought there was a point when I would live long enough to never have to hear a certain type of music again, but I was wrong. Rug harmonies are back.

Then the band began to loosen up a bit. Their opening song’s promise of some Police-like dynamics resurfaced along with more rocking dramatics along the lines of Queen and poppier late-period prog bands, like Asia or something (super-cute, engaging singer/keyboardist/guitarist/trumpeter John McGrew would have killed leading a progressive arena band from the late-’70s). More modern influences, surely, came to the fore, influences I could not identify if my life depended on it. They were so anthemic and “1980s,” at times, that I had visions of young, buzz-cutted Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer high-fiving over their soaring harmonies. It was terrifying, but it made me regret some of what I might have missed out on during my too-cool-for-school youth. Continue reading »

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