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The surviving members of The Grateful Dead will reunite for a show to support the Barack Obama campaign for President. Then they will most likely schedule a full tour to cash in on this opportunity.
After having failed to rally the support of Thin White Duke-era Bowie and further establish his credibility as a cokehead, his campaign staffers decided to field repeated calls from Phil Lesh. “If I’m going to be the agent of change,” Obama is reported to have told campaign manager David Axelrod, “what better than gaining the full support of the poster band for mind expansion?”
Axelrod, a longtime Deadhead, concurred, and reached out to former Jimmy Carter supporters, The Allman Brothers, to open the show.


John McCain, meanwhile, has been discussing with running mate Sarah Palin the possibility of gaining the backing of The Doobie Brothers. “I’m more of a Steppenwolf fan myself,” said McCain, “but I worry that voters may read the lyrics of ‘The Pusher’ the wrong way.”
Multi-untalented singer-songwriter-actor Jerry Reed, best known for pickin’ and grinnin’ his way through some kitschy country-rock singles and trucker movies of the 1970s–frequently riding shotgun with Burt Reynolds–of died of complications from emphysema at age 71.
Among the things I’ll remember most about Reed are his awesome jawline (damn, that guy could grin) and the way his crumpled cowboy hat was always perched on his head just so.
Has anyone in movie history ever ridden shotgun with as much aplomb as Jerry Reed? To avoid confusion and give the man the respect his work was due, let’s be clear that in American Graffiti it’s not Reed who befriends/terrorizes Richard Dreyfus’ character as a member of the Pharoahs but Bo Hopkins, a one-dimensionally limited character actor who looked a bit like Reed and probably battled him for grinnin’ good ole boy roles.
A typical Reed novelty number.
On Scooby Doo.
With recent RTH hero Glen Campbell–perhaps there’s hope for restoring Jerry’s legacy.
We’ve squabbled over nominees, definitions and “ethos” but now is the time to vote. The following albums have all been nominated and seconded. They are all listed on the poll to the right.
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We’ve long touted the Comments on Rock Town Hall as the distinctive quality of our collective activities. The key to any Main Stage contribution is its ability to generate discussion. Sometimes the most humble thread results in unexpectedly intelligent, witty, or otherwise insightful comments. We’ve long made reference to a Comment of the Month, but now it’s a reality. Following the jump, our first official Rock Town Hall Comment of the Month winner–and a recap of the award-winning comment.
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(Couldn’t find the “New phonebooks are here!” clip from The Jerk, but imagine it if you will.)
We’ve got two hot new tees fo’ y’all. Classic Logo and Ye Olde.
Available here.
My first exposure to Robert Fripp was via Eno which quickly led to a love affair with King Crimson’s Discipline.
KC in turn led to exposure of Exposure his first proper solo album (his two previous releases were credited to Fripp & Eno).
Chris Stein directed this 1979 promo.
The UK music mag, WIRE said that Exposure is
the Sergeant Pepper of avant punk.
That is certainly debatable but it would for sure be a part of that debate. (In fact it is. See the Avant Punk nomination thread below.)
Exposure is chock full o’ the who’s-who of the late ’70s intellectual, stool-sitting, headless guitar and tapeloop set; Barry Andrews, Phil Collins, Eno, Peter Gabriel, Tony Levin and Daryl Hall. Yes, that Daryl Hall.
SIDEBAR: Then current Fripp girlfriend, Joanna Walton, wrote most of the lyrics. Joanna died in 1993 as a passenger of Pan Am Flight 103.
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