Why Radio Sucks Now
The horrible state of commercial radio never ceases to amaze me.
I had a small change to my work situation so, now, instead of spending time in a car with my satellite radio, I’m working indoors. I don’t yet have a portable adaptor for my satellite receiver, so lately I’ve been listening to a lot of government radio. Specifically, the local “active rock” station. Their playlist seems to consist mainly of a mix of old Pearl Jam, old Black Sabbath, old Motley Crue, and way too much Nickleback and bands who sound like Nickleback.
I mention this (yet again) by way of transitioning to today’s post. Granted it was a long time ago, but when I was growing up, commercial radio was
the source for new music. And they actually played new music. During that weird period between early 1970’s freeform FM and the homogenization of your FM dial, there was a time when radio stations would actually play things you hadn't heard 10,000 times.
One of the artists introduced to my expanding taste was Robert Gordon. Rockabilly music and the guy playing it immediately enthralled me. He looked like the Stray Cats, but
before the Stray Cats. Gordon’s voice sounded like the old Elvis records my dad listened to, but he had found a plugged-in Scotty Moore in the form of Chris Spedding.
The album that introduced me to Gordon was
Rock Billy Boogie, which he released on RCA in 1979. There was no rockabilly revival fad and Gordon wasn't following trends; just a guy making the music he loved.
Rock Billy Boogie.mp3 Black Slacks.mp3 Labels: rockabilly
Music from My Mailbox
Could I just copy the words to The Sun Also Rises, throw in some fresh adjectives and updated references and get it published as the remixed version? Honestly, I’m so tired of remixes. I go through my inbox and see remix after remix after remix. Are you serious? Make your own damned music if you’re so talented. And not to be hateful, but I don’t even care if you disagree.
So, that said, here’s what I found that wasn’t just someone else’s music with a couple of echo effects and a drum loop thrown in: While this mailbox purge is short on my beloved garage punk, there are still a few interesting things here. The first I want to mention is The Emotron. I’m not sure what’s up with this guy. He lights his pubic hair on fire during live performances and claims to be some kind of synth-punk G.G. Allin, a feat I’m sure no one could really pull off. This song, “Drink A Beer for Me,” sounds more like a novelty song than it does anything from G.G.’s catalogue. See what you think.
There are a couple of reggae-type bands represented: 10ft. Tall Ganja Plant (ha! Like you wouldn’t have guess
they were reggae!) and Indofin. Both are great for a relaxing on a summer evening.
“Neon for You” comes from My First Earthquake’s just released EP
Crush. The disk hearkens back to 80’s pop and is very enjoyable. In a wide-open field, this track is one of my favorites.
As always, follow the links for more information.
My First EarthquakeIndie / Electro / Rock
From: San Francisco, Calif.
Band
MySpaceNeon for You.mp3
10ft. Ganja PlantReggae / Dub / Roots Music
From: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Band
MySpaceBonny & Clyde.mp3 Love Crushed VelvetRock / Alternative / Pop
From: New York, N.Y.
Band
MySpaceLove Crushed Velvet.mp3 Electric Tickle MachineIndie / Alternative
From: East Village, N.Y.
Band
MySpaceHonest Injun.mp3 
Joy IkeIndie / Soul / Pop
From: Pittsburgh, Penn.
Band
MySpaceSweeter.mp3 IndofinReggae / Ska / Punk
From: Austin, Texas
Band
MySpaceBluelight.mp3 Imagine DragonsIndie / Pop / Rock
From: Las Vegas, Nev.
Band
MySpaceSelene.mp3 UpstationPop / Indie
From: Moscow, Russian Federation
Band
MySpaceNo More Promises.mp3 
The EmotronPunk / Rock / New Wave
From: West Fuckin’ Philly/Georgia/Pennsylvania
Band
MySpaceDrink a Beer for Me.mp3
Eagle Winged PalaceAcoustic / Indie / Classical
From: The Deepest Darkest Corners of California
Band
MySpaceMovin’ on to Avalon.mp3 ~~~~~
(pictures, top-to-bottom: My First Earthquake, Joy Ike, The Emotron)
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As a reminder, there is a little less than two weeks left on my host, so if there is anything you want to hear, you need to act quickly.Labels: "alternative", acousticness, indie, new wave, pop muzik, punk, reggae, rock, ska, soul
Rolling Stones: SNL, 1978
I mentioned the other day I was involved in watching season four of Saturday Night Live. Somehow there was a mix-up down at Blockbuster and they sent disk two before they sent disk one. Eventually disk one arrived and I was able to look at that season's opening episode, which featured the Rolling Stones.
American music in 1978 was on the precipice between the punk rock and disco eras. The Stones had just released
Some Girls with “Miss You,” a strongly danceable track, opening the album. This SNL appearance would throw all disco pretense out the window as they took the stage for a classically ragged performance.
“Get out of my life / Don’t fuck my wife.” Did that really make it past the censors? Keef, reportedly so drunk at dress rehearsal that he was dropped from a sketch, makes it onstage to play (he’s a trained professional, kids). Mick’s voice blown into ragged hoarseness. The band a mesmorizing mess. This is the Stones in boiled down, punk rock mode. Barely even recognizable as the band we’ll see three decades later in Shine A Light.
These tracks were unofficially released as part of a boot titled
Sucking Don on SNL. Along with the SNL appearance, the disk includes performances from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, as well as the SNL rehearsals. I owe big, big thanks to Dino over at
D&P’s Bootleg Tunz World for finding this for me. I had spent quite a bit of time looking for
Sucking Don before I reached out to Dino. Within a few hours, one of his readers had located it and passed it along. His site is great and I want to encourage you to visit it early and often.
Beast of Burden.mp3 Respectable.mp3 Shattered.mp3 Labels: classic rock, live music, Rolling Stones, TV
Cyndi Lauper's Blues
Cyndi Lauper dropped by the
Howard Stern show this morning to promote her brand new album,
Memphis Blues, a collection of old standard blues songs. She brought with her a collection of ace musicians, including hotshot blues guitarist Jonny Lang, and jammed a very credible version of “Crossroads.”
I use the word “credible” because Delta blues isn’t really the first thing that comes to mind when you think Cyndi Lauper. Like it’s hard to picture B.B. King doing “She Bop.” It just don’t fit. But like Cyndi told Howard, her music is based in the blues anyway. Which, technically, I suppose it all is. So, if you can ignore Cyndi’s Queens accent that leaks through at times, you can say she has done a credible job on her
Memphis Blues album.
Along with Lang,
Memphis Blues also has guest appearances from legends such as Allen Toussaint, Charlie Musselwhite, and the aforementioned Mr. King himself. She recorded the disk in Memphis, where she says they played a lot of it live: “It was a very big priority that we walk in and play live,” she told
Yahoo news. “This album was all about the moment and what happens when the groove is exact and the key is right.”
Memphis Blues isn’t
Pearl, but it’s an interesting and, yes,
credible, homage to the genre by an artist you maybe wouldn’t have expected to go that way.
Crossroads.mp3 *
edited for error corrections...
Labels: blues, covers, new stuff
The Blues Brothers
I spent some time yesterday watching part of Saturday Night Live’s fourth season, which was, I think, the last year with the original cast. It aired during the 1978-79 television season. What’s great is going back and seeing so much stuff and so many characters that have become part of pop culture: John Belushi’s samurai; Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin as the swinging Czech brothers; and Garrett Morris’ Chico Escuela, just to name a couple.
One absolute classic that appeared that season was the Blues Brothers. They opened the Nov. 18, 1978, show with a manic version of “Soul Man.” I couldn’t help but smile at Danny Aykroyd’s spastic dancing and Belushi’s cartwheels as I watched this yesterday.
I vaguely remember seeing this when it originally aired and I remember not being sure if it were real or shtick. No doubt there’s plenty of shtick behind the act, but there’s also some real love of the blues, especially on Aykroyd’s part. Enjoy some delicious copy-pasta from the Blues Brothers’
Wiki:
Following tapings of SNL, it was popular among cast members and the weekly hosts to attend Aykroyd’s Holland Tunnel Blues bar, which he had rented not long after joining the cast.... It was here that Dan and Ron Gwynne wrote and developed the original story that Dan turned into the initial story draft of the Blues Brothers movie.... It was also at the bar that Aykroyd introduced Belushi to the blues. An interest soon became a fascination and it wasn't long before the two began singing with local blues bands.
The article goes on to talk about Aykroyd growing up in Canada and attending blues shows at Ottawa's Le Hibou Coffee House and other influences on him personally and on the Blues Brothers act.
After John Belushi’s 1982 death, Aykroyd would occasionally join up with John’s little brother James and/or John Goodman to perform as the Blues Brothers, but, in my opinion, that original spark was gone. It’s also been diluted through various tribute acts and bad movie sequels.
“
You know, so much of the music we hear these days is pre-programmed electronic disco we never get a chance to hear master bluesmen practicing their craft anymore. By the year 2006, the music known today as the blues will exist only in the classical records department of your local public library.” ~ Elwood Blues, from the opening of
Briefcase Full of Blues Soul Man.mp3 (I Got Everything I Need) Almost.mp3 Labels: blues, movies, TV
A Shower with Norman Bates
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I read earlier that today is the 50th anniversary of the release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and I thought it might be appropriate to make mention of that before I go shower.
Psycho is now, of course, considered a classic, but I was surprised to learn that it opened to not-so-great reviews: “There is not an abundance of subtlety or the lately familiar Hitchcock bent toward significant and colorful scenery in this obviously low-budget job,” Bosley Crowther wrote in a June 17, 1960,
New York Times review.
Like now, though, even bad reviews didn’t keep the public away; the film broke box office records all over the world and would ultimately become Hitchcock’s most successful movie.
Some random Psycho trivia:
Anthony Perkins was paid $40,000 for his role, which is exactly the same amount of money that Marion Crane embezzles.
Marion’s white 1957 Ford sedan is the same car (owned by Universal) that the Cleaver family drove on “Leave It to Beaver”
Psycho was the first American film ever to show a toilet flushing on screen.
In the murder scene in the shower, there are only two split second frames of the knife actually touching the body.
And some random music about Norman Bates:
Norman Bates.mp3 ~ Utopians
Norman Bates.mp3 ~ Bright Light Fever
Norman Bates.mp3 ~ The Tailgators
Norman Bates.mp3 ~ from a German electronica collection titled
Cyberworld IIA Shower with Norman Bates.mp3 ~ Etienne & Moi
Labels: "alternative", electronic, movies, rockabilly
Can You Go a Little Deeper: UFO
In a catalogue of songs with abstract meaning and near-indecipherable lyrics, UFO’s “Dance Your Life Away,” from their 1975 album
Force It, has to be one of the strangest.
The track, ostensibly about a dance contest (“In a dance band competition / Fox-trotting with my girl”), sits hidden among songs about blackmail (“Shoot Shoot”) and washed up groupies (“Love Lost Love”). But as it hits the bridge, the song’s meaning becomes clearer: “You try your hand at anything you know / Just to try to earn a dollar.” At the risk of turning a rock song into an English class, that’s where we see the protagonist as a loser who fits more appropriately alongside the whores and misfits that populate the rest of the album.
Force It was UFO’s fourth release and the one that set the band on an upward spiral in popularity, setting the stage for the classic
Lights Out album two years later. “Heavy metal that's not hard to take? wrote Robert Christgau, the “Dean of American Rock Critics.” “What? Well, the whole first side moves to smartly you could almost mistake it for rock and roll.”
Some trivia about the album cover: Hipgnosis designed the cover, as they had several other UFO covers of the era. (They also, of course, did
Dark Side of the Moon). On both the vinyl and CD versions I have of
Force It, the couple on the cover are almost transparent, something done for the U.S. market and our virginal eyes and morals. Eventually the album was released as intended, with the pair fully visible. The models, by the way, were Genesis P. Orridge and his girlfriend Cosey Fanni Tutti, both later of the band Throbbing Gristle.
Dance Your Life Away.mp3 ~~~~~
(
Can You Go a Little Deeper is an irregularly recurring feature here wherein I resurrect old favorites, lost songs, and other things you maybe haven’t heard in a while)
Labels: classic rock, deep tracks, hard rock
Music from My Mailbox and Other Important News
OK. Important things going on, so please don’t skip the first part of this post. I have slightly less than a month left on my web host. When that time is over, I am not planning to renew. What that means to you is, in all likelihood, I will bring this blog to an end. I’ve learned to never say never, but I’d say there is about a 99.9% chance Licorice Pizza will cease operations in about a month.
The reason for this decision is two-fold: First, while Dreamhost is an excellent host, I do pay quite a bit for that service. Quite frankly, I have never donated to anyone else’s blog fund and don’t feel you need to contribute to mine. This is something I do for fun and if you’re going to pay for my fun, well, there are other things you can buy me. But understand it’s not just about the cost of the host, which brings me to my second point:
I have been at this for four years and my interest has waned a bit, although I still go on posting jags once in a while (see last month). I can tell by the quality of some of the posts I’ve made recently that I’m forcing them and I don’t want to continue doing that.
Although this post has been on my mind for some time, it makes me a bit sad to actually write it. I may at some point decide I miss doing this and I’ll start up again. In the meantime, I assume that once my host expires, so does access to anything on that host. I encourage you to look back over the past couple of years for anything you wanted to hear but put off listening to. If you find something that is no longer available, drop me a note and I’ll do my best to re-up it.
I’ve started a
Tumblr page, in case I feel like there’s something I need to say. You can up music on those pages, but you can’t share it, which is a disadvantage of sorts. Feel free to check it out if you care to; there’s not much there now but I may get more active with it in the future.
As always, follow the links for more information....
Grace Potter and the NocturnalsIndie / Alternative
From: Vermont, USA
Band
MySpaceThings I Never Needed (acoustic).mp3
Soft TagsIndie / Shoegaze
From: Portland, Ore.
Band
MySpaceThe Pine Barrens.mp3 22-20sAlternative
From: United Kingdom
Band
MySpaceLatest Heartbreak.mp3 Ashton NyteAlternative / Folk / Indie
From: Johannesburg, South Africa
Band
MySpaceJennifer.mp3 
HorrorfallElectronica / Industrial / Shoegaze
From: Los Angeles, Calif.
Band
MySpaceNecroplasm Fix.mp3 Nada SurfRock / Indie / Pop
From: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Band
MySpaceElectrocution.mp3 The ConstellationsPsychedelic / Ghettotech / Showtunes
From: Atlanta, Ga.
Band
MySpaceSetback.mp3
Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio)Acoustic / Indie
From: United States
Band
MySpaceFrog Went a-Courtin’.mp3 
Nadia KazmiPop / Rock / Soul
From: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Band
MySpaceMother.mp3 Burnt OnesMinimalist / Psychedelic / Thrash
From: Indianapolis, Ind.
Band
MySpaceGonna Listen to T. Rex (All Night Long).mp3 The Public GoodRock / Powerpop / Indie
From: Washington, D.C.
Band
MySpaceMy Pre-existing Conditions.mp3 ~~~~~
(
pictures, top-to-bottom: Grace Potter, Horrorfall, Nadia Kazmi)
Labels: "alternative", acousticness, electronic, folk, indie, pop muzik, rock
Hendrix in Miami(!?!): live 1968
Here’s what I like about the Internet: Last night I read something about the 1968 Miami Pop Festival (more about what I read in a sec), and within the half hour I had located a recording of Jimi Hendrix’s appearance and was listening to it. Not all that long ago, I probably never would even have heard about the festival, let alone been able to so quickly find a recording from one of the artists playing there.
Some quick background info on the Miami Pop Festival, then I’m going to link you to the site that got this whole post going. “Woodstock was born at Miami Pop” is the retrospective tagline attached to the event. Michael Lang, who would go on to be one of the brains behind Woodstock, was the Miami event promoter.
The two-day festival took place May 18 and 19 at the Gulfstream Park horse racing track in Hallandale Beach, which is actually just north of Miami. Featured acts included Hendrix, Steppenwolf, the Mothers of Invention, and Blue Cheer. The weather was typical Miami for that time of year – rain, rain, and more rain. Hendrix’s “Rainy Day, Dream Away” was supposedly written in response to the rain cancellation of the Sunday show. Rock legend also has it that rain and technical difficulties plagued Hendrix’s short set and resulted in Jimi tossing his guitar into the audience, only to be claimed by Frank Zappa.
The article I read was posted yesterday on a site called REV Miami. The site basically covers music, art, and similar happenings from around this area. One of the site’s creators, Ric Delgado, managed to land an interview with Ken Davidoff, a rock photog of some renown. The Miami Pop Festival the first major event Davidoff covered, and he shared his memories of that with REV Miami, including a run in with Hendrix: “My first night time shot was a beautiful full length pic of Jimi in these blue crushed velvet pants that practically glowed,” Davidoff said. “For the second shot I moved closer. As the strobe went off for the second time, I was stunned to hear Jimi stop, look directly at me, and say, ‘There will be no more flash photography.’”
The rest of the interview, including Davidoff’s memories of shooting other rock greats and some outstanding examples of his work, can all be found at the
REV Miami Website. I cannot encourage you enough to go there when you’re finished here.
This is a soundboard recording of very good quality and, as far as I know, has never been officially released, although obviously it’s been bootlegged aplenty.
Intro.mp3 Foxy Lady.mp3 Fire.mp3 Hear My Train a Comin’.mp3 Purple Haze.mp3 Outro.mp3 Labels: classic rock, guitar heroes, live music, rock
Hank III's Rebel is Still Within
I toss out the phrase “not reinventing the wheel” pretty freely here. I don’t mean nothing by it; all I’m saying is that a band has found something that works for them and their fans and they stick with it. You don’t want to pick up, say, a Metallica record only to find out they’ve decided to have a try at some Lady Gaga sounds. No, you sure don’t.
Take it as an endorsement, then, when I tell you Hank III ain’t reinventing nothing on
Rebel Within, his new album. “I’m drunk (again), and stoned (again), let’s fuck (again) ‘til dawn (again),” goes the title track. So it should come as no surprise to fans that III is still drifting, stoned, lonesome, and everything else he’s been for the past decade.
As someone said on the Hank III message board: “I think he's gonna do whatever the fuck he wants to anyway...no matter how many people pick it apart.” So if you haven’t liked his previous albums, you won’t like this one. But if you, like me, are a fan, then you’re going to want to get yourself a copy of
Rebel Within.
Rebel Within.mp3 Labels: alt.country, psychobilly
Motley Crue: Live 1982
I was at a friend’s house this weekend when he put on a DVD of some stuff he had recorded from a TV channel called
Palladia. Now, I’ve got low-end cable, so of course I’d never heard of the channel. What it is, is “a 1080i high definition music television network that shows music-related content from its owner, MTV Networks.” In layman’s terms, we watched a couple of cool-ass concerts.
The channel broadcasts a lot of the stuff that MTV and VH1 used to, but they also have what looks like a fair amount of original and live performance content, such as a Lily Allen concert playing this week. Palladia appears to be available mostly via satellite TV providers, but after some searching, I found that iTunes makes some of the station’s programming available for streaming or purchase.
How does this all relate to what we’re doing here today? One of the concerts we watched was a Motley Crue show from last year. During the show we were talking about all the
serious shit Motley Crue has done during their nearly 30-year career; from Vince Neil’s car crash that killed Razzle from Hanoi Rocks to filming anti-drug commercials while wasted off their asses. These guys were the epitome of out-of-control rock ‘n’ rollers. Presumably they’ve cleaned up a bit, but they can still bring a sleazy rock show complete with strippers and a crowd of breast-baring women. Musically the band sounded as good as they ever have, with Vince Neil’s voice still standing up to the hair metal falsettos of the Crue’s first album.
I went back and forth on whether to post an old or new Motley Crue show. In the end I went with the former because I’ve had this on my drive forever. It was recorded Nov. 19, 1982, at Perkin’s Palace in Los Angeles and originally broadcast on the
"mighty MET." Take Me to the Top.mp3 Looks That Kill.mp3 Public Enemy #1.mp3 Red Hot.mp3 Starry Eyes.mp3 Piece of Your Action.mp3 Shout at the Devil.mp3 Merry-Go-Round.mp3 Running Wild in the Night.mp3 Hotter than Hell.mp3 Live Wire.mp3 Labels: glam, hair metal, live music
OST OCD: Colors
If you’ll do me the favor of thinking back a couple of weeks, you’ll recollect I
posted up a remixed cover version of Ice-T’s classic “Colors.” At that time I mentioned I would consider a post of the original if I still had the soundtrack. Well, friends, guess what?
This is actually sort of a relevant time to post from this soundtrack, with the death last week of Dennis Hopper. Hopper, in case you’ve forgotten, directed the 1988 flick, which starred Robert Duvall and Sean Penn.
Your basic plot summary, from
IMDB:
Colors stars Robert Duvall and Sean Penn as partners on the LAPD’s gang crime division. Duvall had hoped to spend more time with his family, but he's pulled back into active service because of a step-up in gang activity. He makes no secret of his contempt for his novice partner Penn, but eventually comes to rely on the younger man as a valuable street contact. The central crisis is the battle for supremacy between the Crips and the Bloods, with every effort to call a truce stymied by the gang members themselves and by undue police intervention.
The soundtrack itself did pretty well, chart-wise. It went as high as number 31 on the Billboard charts, and helped launch the career of the future Detective “Fin” Tutuola. Before Colors, Ice-T was doing OK, releasing 12-inch singles and the moderately successful
Rhyme Pays. But it would be “Colors” that put Ice-T on the map as a “gangsta rapper” as well as a commentator on that lifestyle. From that point, Ice’s lyrics would become sharper and more incisive, putting him in the role as “OG” of west coast rap.
Along with “Colors,” I’ve also got for you the classic Cold Cut remix of Eric B. & Rakim’s “Paid in Full,” another old-school, not-to-be-missed hip hop track.
Colors.mp3 Paid in Full - 7 Minutes of Madness (The Cold Cut remix).mp3 Labels: hip-hop, movies, soundtracks
I had a small change to my work situation so, now, instead of spending time in a car with my satellite radio, I’m working indoors. I don’t yet have a portable adaptor for my satellite receiver, so lately I’ve been listening to a lot of government radio. Specifically, the local “active rock” station. Their playlist seems to consist mainly of a mix of old Pearl Jam, old Black Sabbath, old Motley Crue, and way too much Nickleback and bands who sound like Nickleback. 
The album that introduced me to Gordon was Rock Billy Boogie, which he released on RCA in 1979. There was no rockabilly revival fad and Gordon wasn't following trends; just a guy making the music he loved. 
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