Pretty self explanatory. The band’s namesake does not have to be a real person.
For Bonus Points, please include a few words describing who the namesake is. I’ll start things off:
Lynyrd Skynyrd: The band members’ high school gym teacher.
Nov 232009
Nov 222009
Do your own thing…
Nov 212009
Sometimes I come up with the germ of an idea for discussion here in the Halls of Rock without knowing exactly where I expect things to go. This is one of those times. I think a lot about the notion of hippies and wish there was some kind of true neo-hippie vibe that I could be swept up in. I’m going to share a few thoughts on the matter and see if any of you have your own thoughts on the subject.
A few of you may have heard me say this story before, but when I was about 6 or 7 years old my parents, who were not hippies in any way but were pretty liberal in terms of the pop culture they’d expose me to, took me to a drive-in double-feature of Easy Rider and Hell’s Angels on Wheels. We went with another family and their young boy. I still remember the other boy and I sitting atop the roof of our old station wagon, and I still remember the thrill I got from all the hippie stuff on screen that night: Dennis Hopper’s mustache, the football helmet, the choppers, Steppenwolf, the bad biker in Hell’s Angels on Wheels getting shot right between the nose bridge of his rectangular Roger McGuinn glasses… From that night forward I wanted to be a hippie.
Maybe a year or two later, I recall an older girl in my grandparents’ neighborhood taking a bunch of us little kids to see to see the movie Willard. (Good god! As a parent of two preteen boys myself, what was going on in the late-60s/early-70s, with my not-normal-but-not-progressive, middle class family, taking me to a double-feature of hippie biker flicks and trusting a 12-year-old girl to take a group of 8 year olds to see another flick about a young man who loves rats?) The girl asked us what we wanted to be, and the other kids wanted to be butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers – the usual stuff. The girl got a real kick out of my wanting to be a hippie, but I recall walking her through my thought process – you know, getting to have long sideburns, a ‘stache, a chopper, a cool helmet, shooting bad bikers right between the eyes… Honestly, to this day I still want to be a hippie, in the rebellious, searching, cowboy sense Easy Rider, and that’s why I’m asking for your help in rebuilding Team Hippie for the Modern Age.
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Nov 202009
Hey, Townspeople!
Last night the G-friend and I curled up on the sofa to watch a movie and wolf down some primo home-cooked chow. She was in the mood for something highbrow, but I was curious about a flick I’d had in the “not sure about this movie” drawer for a couple of weeks. Because she’s such a sweetheart, she let me watch my movie of choice, even though it gave off the distinct limburger pong of idiocy. The movie in question? Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
Like the rest of you (I assume), when the trailers for this faux rock biopic came out, I assumed the worst: a couple of decent gags sandwiched between really stupid Legend of Ricky Bobby-caliber scripting. Boy, was I wrong!
Walk Hard ain’t no Citizen Kane, and it would probably fail the Dr. John Elbow Patch Sniff Test — but it’s not a stupid movie at all. The gags (and there are lots of good ones) are scripted and delivered well, the faux rock is actually good, period-correct, and frequently belly-laugh funny, and it’s clever, pretty much from one end to the other. Even the ass/tits/underpants/drugs/poop jokes are funny.
Plus, the writers clearly know their rock, and know just the right way to skewer it. (Wait’ll you see Dewey Cox go through his Dylan and Crazy Brian Wilson periods.)
In short, Townspeople, I strongly recommend this film…for real. It’s a hoot, and I bet it would even tickle the unusually sensitive rock funnybones we seem to have ’round these parts.
Glad to be of service,
HVB
Nov 202009
For those of you relatively new to the Halls of Rock, Townsman 2000 Man (aka 2K) is our self-proclaimed Stones Expert. My discovery of this Leon Russell performance got me thinking about the late, great director, Robert Altman, who was never quite able to capture on film a rock ‘n roll performance this chock full ‘o characters. Could this be the template for many of the performance scenes in Nashville and that trainwreck of a late-70s film of his centering around a Broadway version of The Doobie Brothers?
Then I wondered, What would 2K say about this clip?
Then I summoned him…
Nov 192009
Have you ever wished a favorite artist could do-over a particular album, song, or period in its career? I’ve always wished that The Beatles could have finished their final 3 albums in a more satisfying, more unifying way. I believe I speak for most Beatles fans in saying that there’s a lot to be gained by our shared experiences with the band. In a world where there is little consensus, Beatles fans are pretty much in step with each other over the first two periods of the band’s career:
- After acknowledging the greatness of the band’s entire output, Beatles fans states their preference for “Early Beatles” (ie, everything up to and usually including Rubber Soul, which few Beatles fans criticize in any way) or “pot-smoking Beatles” (ie, the period beginning with Rubber Soul and Revolver, when they became known for crafting albums).
- Next Beatles fans take a moment to state that Sgt. Pepper’s is “overrated,” only pausing to differentiate whether it’s “grossly overrated” (a sign that something slightly less than a true Beatles devotee is among our ranks) or “still a remarkable achievement, despite the fact that we’re all a little sick of having had it jammed down our throats for 40 years!”
- A brief discussion among Beatles fans is likely to ensue over the band’s worst and most underrated song ever.
- We’ve all got a favorite Beatle, but no true Beatles fan dislikes any one member, not even Paul.
- We may have a laugh over the issue of the Fifth Beatle.
For all there is to discuss concerning our love for The Beatles, there aren’t too many issues over which we have great differences. These days, only those who’ve been living under a rock the last 30 years may have an issue with Yoko “breaking up” the band. One area over which Beatles fans can divide, sometimes painfully so, is over their last three studio releases: The White Album, Let It Be, and Abbey Road. I don’t have to tell you all the points of contention, do I?
In my do-over, The White Album‘s best songs would have been the band’s straightforward, stripped down release – not to mention a single album.
This morning, for the first time, I listened to Volume 3 of the old Anthology series of releases. I bought the first two volumes when they came out and was mostly disappointed with what I found after having peeked behind the Wizard’s curtain. I’m one of those Beatles fans who’s always wished that The White Album could have been a single album – maybe even an EP – and I’ve also got problems with large chunks of Abbey Road and its influence on one of my close personal friends. On the other hand, I actually love Let It Be.
Listening to the outtakes, demos, and raw tracks of these albums on Anthology, Volume 3, I had a revelation. I wish I could call for a do-over of the band’s final leg. Dig.
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Nov 182009
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Phil’s 1978 solo release, K-Scope, was recorded in the home studio of Chris Squier and featured Tim Finn on most lead vocals, Neil on on at least one backup and Split Enz/Crowded House keyboardest Eddie Rayner. John Wetton and Bill MacCormick were all over it as well. I think if I had played the above track, Cuban Crises, folks would’ve gotten the Finn part but not the Manzanera part?
Here’s my favorite track from this fun but hit or miss album:
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If you dig ’70 era Roxy, Eno, Ferry then I’d suggest Phil’s first solo album Diamond Head. I’m sure there are other opinions out there.
alexmagic is clearly The Man here and those of you thinking Squeeze and The Specials were definitely in the stadium.
