Mar 082021
 

Ok, I may be in a minority here, never having heard, or heard of, the late, great John Russell before today. I just read his obituary in The Guardian, and thought he sounded like a bit of a character.

Like, who couldn’t love a guy who built his own record deck out of wood and an old radio so he could listen to The Rock Machine Turns You On and We’re Only in it for the Money?

The comments on the article also piqued my interest.

I don’t know what it’s like over there, but here, apart from axe murderers and TV personalities who disappeared after being caught doing something dreadful, everyone speaks well of the deceased and raises either a real or rhetorical glass to speed them on their way. I’ve even done it myself, on occasion. It helps pass the time during lockdown.

I was interested, therefore, to find them ranging from “what the…” to “what the actual…” and “interesting, but not for me”

Then I spotted the link to the video.

I watched the first two and a half minutes, which, at the length of a Freddie and the Dreamers or Buzzcocks single always feels like the right length of time to formulate an opinion. Nine minutes, in my opinion, is a little on the long side, but I’m probably out of practice.

So, ladies and gentlemen of the Hall, I would love to hear what you think of this, and possibly learn what I’m missing.

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Jan 182021
 

Go ahead find something positive to say about this. I double-dog dare you!

I will start. At least for me, it was followed by a pro-shot (Apple FiIms) T. Rex concert at Wembley, 18 Mar 1972.

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May 252020
 

I’ve long had the pleasure in knowing Townsman Hrrundivbakshi in real life. He’s got the sort of whiz-bang mind I imagine it would take to work in a presidential administration. An even remotely functioning one with an even remotely empathetic leader, that is. He’s a great musician, one who combines chop, theoretical knowledge, and balls. And he’s nice. Like “bring him home to meet your folks” nice.

A few people have written me offline since the start of our pandemic-relief resumption of activities in the Halls of Rock to ask why we haven’t seen more of our beloved HVB, one of the undeniable white hats around here. Well, the man’s been hunkered down in Dallas churning out a dozen (and counting) new songs. His latest one, “The Niceness of Rock,” dropped just the other day, as I was finishing up my own new song. I waited until I was done with my work to watch it, because I feared I’d get intimidated by my friend’s latest work, no matter how nice he is. Well, I finally listened to it, and the first thing I thought was, “That sounds like the new theme song for Rock Town Hall!”

The next thing I thought, ignoring the graphic he posted with the track, was “That’s mighty presumptuous of me! Why would he have been thinking about Rock Town Hall why writing about the niceness of rock?”

What do you know, about 30 minutes later, I got an e-mail from my friend with the subject line “New RTH Theme Song for a New Decade!” He did have us in mind! That, my friends, is nice!

Without further ado, here’s “The Niceness of Rock.”

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May 132020
 

We here in the Halls of Rock Town are sometimes taken to task for being overly negative, snarky, hyper-critical, and all too often, just downright rude. As part of our collective efforts to bring a bit of sunshine and light to the world wide web, we occasionally make an extra effort effort to find something good to say about, you know, stuff that is clearly godawful. To some people.

It is in that spirit that we embark on yet another effort to bring some positivity to our proceedings. Please spend some quality time with music written by the band above, then—if you can—please find something nice to say about them. You’ll feel a whole lot better, I promise you.

I look forward to your comments. Just remember, if you can’t say anything nice about this “Arrow Through Me” video…please don’t say anything at all.

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Dec 052014
 

One of my brothers sent me this video yesterday. WTHeck!?

We here in the Halls of Rock Town are sometimes taken to task for being overly negative, snarky, hyper-critical, and all too often, just downright rude. As part of our collective efforts to bring a bit of sunshine and light to the world wide web, we occasionally make an extra effort effort to find something good to say about, you know, stuff that is clearly godawful.

It is in that spirit that we embark on yet another effort to bring some positivity to our proceedings. Please spend some quality time with the video above, then — if you can — please find something nice to say about it. You’ll feel a whole lot better, I promise you.

I look forward to your comments. Just remember, if you can’t say anything nice about this video… please don’t say anything at all.

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Feb 102014
 

All you need is love.

All you need is love.

We here in the Halls of Rock Town are sometimes taken to task for being overly negative, snarky, hyper-critical, and all too often, just downright rude. As part of our collective efforts to bring a bit of sunshine and light to the world wide web, we occasionally make an extra effort effort to find something good to say about, you know, stuff that is clearly godawful. To some people.

It is in that spirit that we embark on yet another effort to bring some positivity to our proceedings. Please spend some quality time with music written by the band above, then — if you can — please find something nice to say about them. You’ll feel a whole lot better, I promise you.

I look forward to your comments. Just remember, if you can’t say anything nice about the Beatles… please don’t say anything at all.

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Oct 172013
 

Does this this performance by Eric Charden suggest feelings of hope or hopelessness? I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that this performance is lacking something, but with a little guidance from the taste-makers at Rock Town Hall, can it be worked into something worthwhile?

I look forward to your thoughts.

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