Aug 222010
Aug 222010
“No, Ringo Sitar.”
Here’s your chance to tell us what you really mean.
Aug 202010
Close your eyes.
Following some recent comments regarding a couple of Townspeople’s distaste for Cheap Trick, BigSteve suggested the following advice:
It’s too late for y’all to get Cheap Trick, but, as with Herman’s Hermits, they’re a great example of the ‘listen but don’t look’ principle.
The listen but don’t look principle should be of assistance for Townspeople who can’t get past a variety of visual beefs: from silly stage wear and goofy antics to the vagaries of aging and genetics. Think of all the artists whose music might benefit from the application of this principle in your own listening life. Certainly this principle has its limits, but BigSteve may be onto something. This may be why some of us find rock ‘n roll most enjoyable when holed up in a dark room, alone and listening to recorded music.
Aug 202010
Hrrundivbakshi,
Your feelings are important to us. Although typically think of you as our moral compass and expert on the teachings of the Holy Trinity of Rock and all matters regarding guitar tone, we care about how you feel. We know that hippies typically don’t make you feel good about yourself or the state of humanity. I suspect that the following videos might make you feel worse. My aim is not so much to see if I can annoy you, but to provide us with an opportunity to empathize with your reactions to the following “interviews.” How do the things being said make you feel? How does the fact that someone filmed these “interviews” make you feel? Our feelings are important. Sometimes it only takes the expressed feelings of one Townsperson to open the rest of us up to our own feelings. I look forward to empathizing with your feelings and, possibly, sharing some of my own. I or some other Townsperson may even determine who a certain “Vito” is and share nerdy facts about his existence or the circumstances surrounding these important video findings.
I thank you in advance for the depth of feeling you are likely to share with us. Here goes!
First, an off-camera David Byrne (?) “interviews” Chris Frantz.
Then, David “interviews” someone only identified (as far as I can tell) as “Vito.”
Continue reading »
Aug 202010
The fallout over the dissolution of the Paul McCartney-Hamish Stuart partnership has reached settlement. In a tersely worded statement by Mr. McCartney’s attorneys, the former Wings legend has agreed to pay Mr. Stuart an “undisclosed amount of cash and grant visitation rights” for the Hofner bass that the two used to trade on stage between songs during Mr. McCartney’s Flowers in the Dirt tour. The McCartney camp had no comment on Mr. Stuart’s 2007 accusations.
Hamish Stuart (second from left), in better times.
“I’m just thankful this long nightmare is over,” said Mr. Stuart, when reached at his home studio, “and I wish Paul nothing but the best.”
Aug 192010
Clearly the harmonics that open the Yes classic “Roundabout” represent the most definitive use of harmonics in a rock song, but what’s the second-most definitive use of this device? There are a couple of instances of what sounds like an arpeggio of harmonics in my favorite Fleetwood Mac song, “Over My Head,” but I wouldn’t call this the second-most definitive use of harmonics in a rock song. One especially distinctive and definitive use of harmonics in a rock song comes to mind, but let’s see if you suggest it as rock’s second-most definitive use of said device…once and for all.
Aug 192010
Dave Navarro, the judge of our recent Tom Petty Cook-Off Contest, is a good guy – really – who regrets those moments when he’s less of his usual good-guy self. From his Facebook page:
Once in a while, a Jane’s Addiction fan will approach me when I am hungry or tired on just in a bad mood. The interaction can feel a little tense, simply cause of how I feel, nothing to do with them. However, they take it personally and I can actually see the disappointment in their eyes as they realize this guy in a band they like is kind of a dick!
