R.I.P. Dennis Hopper, Gary Coleman, and Art Linkletter
It’s one of those weird coincidences that celebrity deaths seem to come in threes. Last year Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon passed within two days of each other – Michael and Farrah on the same day. Now, over the past four days, we’ve lost Art Linkletter, Gary Coleman, and, today, Dennis Hopper.
Hopper, 74, died of prostate cancer; Coleman, 42, after suffering an intracranial hemorrhage; no specific cause has been given for Linkletter, who was 97 years old.
The idea that death comes is threes is an old superstition, extending to the idea that death in a family or community comes in threes and that bad luck in general comes in threes. A book titled
“How Did It Begin” explains that the superstition of three may have started with British troops in the Boer War who thought it bad luck to light three cigarettes from one match.
Some miscellaneous thoughts on the latest three stars:
Inverting a famous line of dialogue spoken by Peter Fonda in “Easy Rider,”
Manohla Dargis wrote of Dennis Hopper in
The New York Times:
Dennis Hopper – actor, filmmaker, photographer, art collector, world-class burnout, first-rate survivor – never blew it. Unlike the villains and freaks he has played over the decades – the psycho with the mommy complex in “Blue Velvet,” the mad bomber with the grudge in “Speed” – he has made it through the good, the bad and some spectacularly terrible times. He rode out the golden age of Hollywood by roaring into a new movie era with “Easy Rider.” He hung out with James Dean, played Elizabeth Taylor’s son, acted for Quentin Tarantino. He has been rich and infamous, lost and found, the next big thing, the last man standing.
~~~~~
Number One on
ChartAttack.com’s “Ten Reasons Gary Coleman Was Cool” list:
Coleman made cameo appearances in several music videos going back to the early '90s. Some notable ones include Raging Slab’s “Anywhere But Here,” Kid Rock’s “Cowboy,” and Moby’s “We Are All Made Of Stars.”
~~~~~
Art Linkletter’s biggest successes came mostly before my time, but I’m familiar with “Kids Say the Darndest Things,” the Bill Cosby-hosted TV series based on Linkletter’s books. Linkletter was also a passionate anti-drug activist – his daughter, Diane, jumped to her death in 1969, an act Linkletter said was caused by her LSD usage.
Today’s music is a seeming bizarre mix of things, but trust me when I tell you I will relate it all back to our topic: “Born to Be Wild,” of course, was made famous in Easy Rider; “Cowboy” I explained above. (That video is
here); “We Love You; Call Collect” is an appeal to an erring daughter to return home. Linkletter recorded the song with Diane, ironically, just a few months before her death.
Born to Be Wild.mp3 ~ Steppenwolf
Cowboy.mp3 ~ Kid Rock
We Love You; Call Collect.mp3 ~ Art and Diane Linkletter
Labels: classic rock, current events, hard rock, rap, Uncategorizable
Ronnie James Dio: 1942 - 2010
I had no sooner finished yesterday’s post than I went to one of the forums where I hang out and read about the passing of Ronnie James Dio. His death had been mentioned the previous day in the same forum, so I wasn’t sure if this was another rumor or if it were, in fact, true.
Sadly, it was true. His wife, Wendy, posted the following message on the Ronnie James Dio
Website:
“Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45am 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever.”
No cause was given in the announcement, but Dio had been suffering from stomach cancer, and recently his band Heaven and Hell canceled its summer tour because of his health.
By way of tribute, I found a couple of tracks spanning Dio’s career. This version of “Man on the Silver Mountain” is an epic, 14-minute version, showcasing Richie Blackmore’s guitar prowess as well as Dio’s vocals. It comes from an album called
Rainbow: Live in Munich 1977. The recording is from a show taped for the German TV show Rockpalast, and was heavily bootlegged, eventually seeing commercial release in 2006.
“Neon Knights,” of course comes from
Heaven and Hell, Dio’s 1980 debut with Black Sabbath.
The last song, “Rainbow in the Dark,” is from Dio’s classic 1983 album,
Holy Diver. In October 2005 he performed the album live in its entirety and, the following year, released the show as the
Holy Diver Live album. You can hear the strain in Dio’s 63-year-old voice, but he still delivers a performance the youngsters can only hope to match.
Throw some metal today in memory of one of metal’s greatest front men, Ronnie James Dio.
Man on the Silver Mountain (live).mp3 Neon Knights.mp3 Rainbow in the Dark (live).mp3 Labels: current events, guitar heroes, metal
Frank Frazetta: 1928 - 2010
I heard this morning about the death yesterday of artist Frank Frazetta. If you’re a comic book aficionado, you might know Frazetta from his work in that field. I learned about him from seeing his art on the cover of Conan the Barbarian paperbacks, then later, on the cover of Molly Hatchet albums.
As an aspiring artist, I was intrigued by not just the detail in Frazetta’s work, but the figures he portrayed: Vikings, warriors, barbarians – the lot of them seemingly coming from post-apocalyptic times despite their own ancientness. It was not just
what he drew, but the
way he drew it that I wanted to emulate.
I’ve moved on from my aspirations, but I see Frank Frazetta’s influence in any number of contemporary artists, particularly in the science fiction / fantasy genres. Artists such as Boris Vallejo, who has also done illustrations for Conan novels; and Ken Kelly, who, along with Conan art, did the covers for Kiss’
Destroyer and
Love Gun albums, are keeping alive Frazetta’s larger-than-life fantasy ideals.
For more information about Frank Frazetta’s life and career, you can click over to the
N.Y. Times obit, or to Frazetta’s
Wiki page.
Tonight’s music has really nothing to do with Frank Frazetta other than it was his painting “The Death Dealer” that graced the cover of Molly Hatchet’s 1978 debut disk. The Death Dealer is arguably one of Frazetta’s most well known pieces, spawning all manner of merchandising, including action figures, novels, and comic books. But for me it’s always the cover of
Molly Hatchet and the door that opened up a new world of art to me.
Bounty Hunter.mp3 Labels: classic rock, current events
Malcolm McLaren: 1946 - 2010
I just heard this afternoon about Malcolm McLaren’s death from mesothelioma at the age of 64. The following is a repost from November 2006.~~~~~~
Malcolm McLaren: Clothing designer, impresario, rock ‘n’ roll swindler, and manager of some of the most unique musical acts ever to grace a stage.
He began his career as a rock and roll manager by attempting to resurrect the fading New York Dolls. He brought to this – and his other efforts – the philosophies of the French Situationist movement, which advocated provocative, even absurd, actions as political statement and performance art. Following the Dolls, he of course introduced the Sex Pistols to the world. After the Pistols’ crash landing, he launched the careers of Adam Ant, Bow Wow Wow, and Boy George.
Always moving forward, McLaren began his own musical career in the early 1980s, with the single “Buffalo Gals,” which combined traditional folk music with hip-hop. The single was credited to McLaren and the World Famous Supreme Team, and became a Top Ten hit in the U.K. The remix mini-LP “D’Ya Like Scratchin’” gave McLaren his first American album chart entry in February 1984.
Which leads us to today’s music: A sampling from that EP, which was released in 1983. There’s a long, but interesting story about McLaren titled
“The Unlikely Origins of UK Hip Hop” posted on a message board. In it, the author writes about McLaren’s discovery of hip hop while in New York: “It was extraordinary cos the sound coming out was totally inarticulate; it was a load of rough noises, noises that sounded a little like guitar, but had a sort of concrete chisel sound and the sound I realised was actually coming from the way they were messing around with their hands on the decks, moving records backwards and forwards [
sic ].”
The posting goes on to talk about how the British initially dismissed scratching and other sonic experimentation (particularly from McLaren, a white man, of all things!). Ultimately it was the video for “Buffalo Gals” that changed the minds of the British youth and opened the floodgates for the British B-Boys.
D’ya Like Scratchin’.mp3 She’s Looking Like a Hobo.mp3 Buffalo Gals.mp3 Labels: current events, hip-hop, repost
Doug Fieger: 1952-2010
I read this morning that Doug Fieger, lead singer for the Knack, had died Sunday at his Woodland Hills, Calif., home after a battle with cancer. He was 57.
In 2006 Fieger had two tumors removed from his brain. He began undergoing chemotherapy in March of 2007 after a PET scan found a possible cancerous growth in his brain. He remained optimistic, saying, “You can't lie down. You can't stop your life.”
The Knack is often maligned as “one-hit wonders” for their phenomenal success with “My Sharona.” Although “My Sharona” was an insane hit, spending six weeks in 1979 as Billboard’s number one song,
Get the Knack itself also became a huge success. The album went platinum in just two months and spent five weeks as number one, going on to worldwide sales of 6 million. It also spawned three other hit singles, although of course, none of them matched "Sharona's" success.
I think the Knack happened to come along at an opportune time in music history. They had the classic “two guitars, bass, and drum” line-up and made poppy, new wave music just as that style started to break. But they leaned enough on rock that they didn’t alienate fans who wouldn’t listen to the electronic new wave music that was waiting in the wings. Ultimately, the Knack would become
so popular, they were hit with a backlash in the form of a “Knuke the Knack” campaign. Whether as a result of that backlash or because of weak material, none of the Knack’s five successive studio albums would come near the success of
Get the Knack.
Good Girls Don’t.mp3 I Knew the Bride (Dave Edmunds cover).mp3 My Sharona (demo).mp3 Labels: covers, current events, demos, new wave
'Who Put the Boot In'
Counting down to the Super Bowl and The Who’s halftime show. I’m pretty stoked to see them play even though I have a feeling I’ll be disappointed in the end. The last couple of years have brought some outstanding performances from Bruce Springsteen and Prince and I’m halfway dreading seeing The Who get up there and mash 40-odd years of music into a 15-minute medley of greatest hits. Or worse, something that sounds like a collection of TV theme songs and beer commercials. But hey, that’s just me – ever the optimist.
In an
interview with
Billboard, Pete Townshend says the band plans on “kinda doing a mashup of stuff: A bit of ‘Baba O’Riley,’ a bit of ‘Pinball Wizard,’ a bit of the close of ‘Tommy,’ a bit of ‘Who Are You,’ and a bit of ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again.’
As a sort of blogging tailgate party, I’ve dug up an old live Who show. This comes from a June 12, 1976, performance at the Swansea City Football Club in Swansea, Wales.
According to
The Who Concert Guide, there are about seven songs the band played that didn’t make it onto this recording. The recording here opens with a set of “Tommy” material, whereas the actual show opened with older stuff and put “Tommy” in the middle. Some other songs here were also moved around a bit from their actual order in the show. Seeing as this clocks in at exactly an hour, maybe it was meant for radio broadcast or summat and was edited for that. But don’t let all these details bog you down. This is a typically powerful performance from The Who and the sound quality is very good and we’ll be damn lucky if they turn in half as good a performance tonight.
Amazing Journey.mp3 Sparks.mp3 Acid Queen.mp3 Fiddle About.mp3 Pinball Wizard.mp3 I’m Free / How Can We Follow.mp3 Baba O’Riley.mp3 Squeeze Box.mp3 Behind Blue Eyes.mp3 Dreaming from the Waist.mp3 Summertime Blues.mp3 My Generation.mp3 Won’t Get Fooled Again.mp3Labels: classic rock, current events, live music
Scorpions Calling It Quits
After more than 40 years, German metal-meisters the Scorpions are calling it quits.
The Scorpions, which Rudolf Schenker formed in Hanover, Germany, in 1965, posted a message on their
Website today announcing the end of the band following their upcoming world tour:
“We are extremely grateful for the fact that we still have the same passion for music we’ve always had since the beginning. This is why, especially now, we agree we have reached the end of the road.”
The Scorpions are wrapping up their eighteenth and final studio album,
Sting In the Tail, which is due out March 19. Their farewell tour kicks off in Moscow on the 15th. Tour dates and streaming snippets from a couple of new songs are on the band’s
MySpace.
I
wrote not long ago about my history as a Scorpions fan, so I won’t bore you again with details. Suffice to say they deserve their place near the top of the metal pantheon.
For today’s music, I’m going to reach all the way back to the Scorpions debut album, 1972’s
Lonesome Crow. This version of “I’m Going Mad” is an alternate take from a German re-release of that disk. Although the Scorps seem to be headed in a Black Sabbath direction, you can hear traces of what would later become their signature sound.
I’m Going Mad (alt version).mp3 It All Depends.mp3 Labels: current events, metal, outtakes
Artie Lange....
It’s a weird thing with celebrities. Some of them you see or hear so much of that you could almost regard them as someone you know.
That’s kind of the way I think of the members of the Howard Stern show. The Stern show is unique in that, while they are celebrities of sorts, they also have five hours of airtime to fill each day. To fill the time around the guests, it seems little is off limits for discussion. I know Howard’s new cat is named Apple. I know about JD’s huge pimple. I know everyone thinks Benji fingered his date at the office Christmas party. I know more about the Stern show staffers than I know about some of the people
I work with.
Still, it was a shock this morning to turn the radio on and hear that Artie Lange had been hospitalized. Artie has been on indefinite leave from the show since mid-December, with Howard being uncustomarily tight-lipped about the reason for Artie’s absence. I assumed Artie’s absence had to do with his mental health. Last year he took several days off as he dealt with depression over having lived past the age at which his father died.
When I heard Artie had been hospitalized this past weekend, I assumed it was drug-related. I never would have imagined it was because he had
tried to take his own life. But the
New York Post, citing unnamed sources, reported that Artie had “landed in the hospital after stabbing himself nine times in an apparent suicide attempt.”
It’s a weird thing with celebrities. I don’t know Artie Lange at all, but I’ve heard him talk about so much of his life that I could almost regard him as someone I know. My thoughts are with Artie and his family.
Darkness on the Edge of Town.mp3
*Picture note: This was taken at Artie’s book signing just after “Too Fat to Fish” was released last year. Neither of us are looking particularly spectacular....Labels: classic rock, current events, Springsteen
Steven Tyler Done With Aerosmith?
The gossip around the Internet is that Steven Tyler is leaving Aerosmith. That move, which would for all intents and purposes break up the legendary band, seemed to be confirmed in an interview Joe Perry gave the
Las Vegas Sun newspaper.
“Steven quit as far as I can tell,” Perry told the paper in an interview published Friday. “I don’t know anymore than you do about it. I got off the plane two nights ago. I saw online that Steven said that he was going to leave the band. I don’t know for how long, indefinitely or whatever. Other than that, I don’t know.”
Most of Aerosmith’s recent world tour was canceled in August after Tyler fell from the stage at a Sturgis, S.D., concert and broke his shoulder. The band members were unhappy with Tyler over the incident. However, Aerosmith salvaged the final leg of the tour, including two shows in Hawaii and one at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix before more than 50,000 fans.
Perry told the
Sun he hopes to keep Aerosmith together, with or without Tyler, but he was so stunned by recent developments he doesn’t know what’s going to happen.
Meanwhile, talk on the
AeroForceOne message boards was mostly about Tyler’s selfishness and the idea that “he's not Rod Stewart that split from the Faces while still in his 30's and had a whole career ahead of him.”
There’s no confirmation or denial from Steven Tyler at this point, other than a statement he made in an interview with
Classic Rock magazine regarding his future plans: “It's definitely going to be something Steven Tyler, working on the brand of myself — Brand Tyler.”
In my opinion, Aerosmith is past their prime and would do well to call it a day. They haven’t been able to keep it together like the Stones have and they haven’t been able to consistently turn out rock music on a par with their earlier successes. The slick pop of albums like
Just Push Play is an embarrassment to the band and to those of us who used to be fans.
Here are a couple of things from the 1991
Pandora’s Box compilation.
Lord of the Thighs (live-1978).mp3 I Wanna Know Why (live-1978).mp3 Chip Away the Stone (alt version).mp3 Helter Skelter.mp3 Labels: Aerosmith, classic rock, covers, current events, live albums, outtakes
9/11
Wish You Were Here.mp3 Limp Bizkit Feat. John Rzeznik ~
from
America: A Tribute to HeroesLabels: covers, current events
Stuck on 17B - Day Three-and-a-half
Woodstock organizer Michael Lang: “Jimi Hendrix wanted to close the show because the headliner does close the show. [Jimi’s] manager, Michael Jeffery, insisted. I said, ‘Listen, it’s not like that. They’re all headliners. Why don’t you go on around midnight?’
“Jeffery said no. Hendrix has to close the show. So I said, ‘OK. You got it,’ even though I knew it was not really a great spot to have, waiting up all night and knowing many of the people would have left already. On Monday morning, Hendrix did play an incredible set, but by the time he got to the stage there were only about 60,000 people left.”
Impatience became anticipation as everyone warmed to the first rays of the new rising sun. Melting rainbow watercolors seeped through the sunrise sky and inspired a new title for Jimi’s band. He walked out in to the dawn of a Gypsy Sun, with multicolor streaks stretched across the sky.
A blissful afterglow radiated over the site as his Gypsy Sun & Rainbows Band took positions on stage. It wasn’t until this moment that history could claim Woodstock as the apex of the decade.
“I see that we meet again....”from the liner notes,
Jimi Hendrix: WoodstockVoodoo Chile (Slight Return).mp3 Star Spangled Banner.mp3 Purple Haze.mp3 Labels: classic rock, current events, guitar heroes, hard rock, live albums
Stuck on 17B - Day Three
Days Two and Three at Woodstock seem to kind of blur together, with no real separation: Although technically part of Saturday, The Who didn’t go onstage until about 4 a.m. Sunday morning. Jefferson Airplane, also technically scheduled for Saturday, finally went on at around 8 a.m. Sunday.
Day Three of Woodstock officially started at 2 p.m. when Joe Cocker took the stage. The fuzziness of each days’ borders would continue – aided by the rains, which would periodically bring everything to a standstill – through to the
next morning, when Jimi Hendrix would finally close the festival at about 11 a.m.
As the Airplane took the stage, Grace Slick introduced the band with the words, “All right friends, you have seen the heavy groups, now you’ll see morning maniac music, believe me....”
Day Three performancesJefferson Airplane
Plastic Fantastic Lover.mp3White Rabbit.mp3Joe Cocker
Let’s Go Get Stoned.mp3Ten Years After
I’m Going Home.mp3The Band
The Weight.mp3Blood Sweat And Tears
Johnny Winter
Tobacco Road (w/Edgar Winter).mp3Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.mp3Sea of Madness.mp3Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Love March.mp3Sha-Na-Na
Labels: classic rock, current events, live albums, live music, Neil Young
Stuck on 17B - Day Two
I left home with friends; told my mother “I was going to a concert.” By Sunday, she had me reported as a missing person. I was one of the “mud sliders.” Oh what a feelin’. I just wanted to see Janis J. She was sooo great. We survived on the “grub” we took with us. We found people who didn't mind sharing food for some tent space to sleep and get out of the rain for a little while. I love seeing the look on peoples faces when I say, “I was at Woodstock.” Good people, good music, good memories. ~ Joni, Philadelphia, Penn.
I got pneumonia, and I got knocked up at 15. But it was the best high of my life! ~ Karen, Memphis, Tenn.
Born in New York, my sister got her license and off we went. Got stuck in the mud in some field. She kept covering my eyes with her hands because of the naked people. Boy, were our parents mad because they had to come pull us out of the mud. ~ Judy, Little Chute, Wis.
One of the most terrifying things was the predominant sound of helicopters. When you’re on acid, right in the middle of Vietnam, it was really bone chilling. We thought they were going to start dropping napalm – and of course, we believed the Government was quite capable of that shit as well. ~ David Dalton, former Rolling Stone writer.
Saturday on Yasgur’s farm started just after noon with Quill and ended sometime early Sunday morning following The Who’s set. In between were several of the greatest bands of not only that era, but of decades to come: CCR, Janis Joplin, Santana, and the Grateful Dead.
The Dead’s appearance has become notable as one of their worst performances ever, due to technical and substance problems. They turned in a five-song set, hour-and-a-half set, including a 50-minute version of “Turn On Your Lovelight”.
What’s referred to as “The Abbie Hoffman incident” is maybe the most memorable from a performance that Roger Daltrey has called “The worst gig we ever played.”
Hoffman attempted to go on stage just after the band played “Pinball Wizard.” He grabbed the mic and began to yell, “I think this is a pile of shit! While John Sinclair rots in prison....”
Already annoyed with the presence of the camera crews on stage, Pete Townshend cut Hoffman off: “Fuck off ... fuck off my stage!”
Accounts vary as to whether Townshend hit Hoffman with his guitar or merely bumped into him; regardless, he quickly ended Hoffman’s attempt at a revolutionary statement to the Woodstock Nation. Townshend said, “I can dig it,” but moments later added, “The next fucking person that walks across this stage is gonna get fucking killed!”
Day Two performancesQuill
Keef Hartley Band
Country Joe McDonald
Fish Cheer / Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag.mp3John Sebastian
I Had a Dream.mp3Santana
Jingo.mp3Canned Heat
Going Up the Country.mp3Mountain
Theme for an Imaginary Western.mp3Grateful Dead
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Born on the Bayou.mp3Bad Moon Rising.mp3Janis Joplin with The Kozmic Blues Band
Work Me, Lord.mp3Piece of My Heart.mp3Sly & the Family Stone
I Want to Take You Higher.mp3The Who
We’re Not Gonna Take It.mp3Abbie Hoffman Incident.mp3Underture.mp3Labels: classic rock, current events, folk, hard rock, live albums, live music, rock
Stuck on 17B - Day One
Like the rest of the free world, I’m spending this weekend nostalgizing about Woodstock. Never mind that I was five years old at the time and lived at the opposite end of the country. I’m sure that, had I known about Woodstock, I would have said to my parents something along the line of, “Look, you know that bicycle I’ve been saying I wanted for my birthday? Well, I’ve got a different idea....”
Growing up in a time where there is a Fest this and a Fest that, it’s hard sometimes to understand the cultural significance of Woodstock. I’m not going to get into a whole dissertation, because that would be well beyond the realm of this blog. In 2001, Dr. Michael Doyle, at the time an assistant professor in the history department at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, published a 12-page paper titled “Statement on the Historical and Cultural Significance of the 1969 Woodstock Festival Site.” In that paper he wrote:
The myth of Woodstock is that in a time of military conflict abroad, racial and ethnic strife at home, when a deep social division known as the “generation gap” separated parents from children, a half a million mostly young people removed themselves from proximity to these conflicts and went “back to the garden” to “try and set [their] soul[s] free.” Attracted by the largest lineup of popular music talent ever showcased at one venue, these young people endured inclement weather, and critical shortages of food, water, shelter, dry clothing, and sanitation facilities; in sum, most of the basic necessities of life. Despite these hardships, for three days they lived peaceably in a state of harmony and love, sharing what limited resources they had with one another (my emphasis).
The sharing, the community, the peace, the love; if anything, that would be the significance and the legacy of Woodstock. That people
could come together and be together and get along. In a country reeling from an unpopular war and a generation gap never before seen, that was a powerful statement.
There are reams and reams of books, articles, Web pages, etc., on Woodstock, so I won’t go on any more about the history or whatever its significance was. For the next three or so days, I’m going to post some music from the bands and artists that performed at the festival. I won’t be able to post stuff from everyone, because I couldn’t find music from all of the bands. I drew from various sources, so in some instances the sound quality won’t be so great, but overall it’s mostly pretty good.
Day one kicked off at 5:07 p.m., with Richie Havens taking the stage. Sweetwater were supposed to be the opening act – and were supposed to have gone on at about 3:00 – but got waylaid in traffic. A very pregnant Joan Baez was the last act of the night, taking the stage at about 1 a.m.
Day One performances:Richie Havens ~
Freedom.mp3Swami Satchidananda ~ gave the invocation for the festival
Sweetwater
The Incredible String Band
Bert Sommer
Tim Hardin ~
If I Were a Carpenter.mp3Ravi Shankar
Melanie ~
Beautiful People.mp3Arlo Guthrie ~
Coming into Los Angeles.mp3Joan Baez (w/Jeffrey Shurtleff) ~
Drug Store Drivin’ Man.mp3Labels: classic rock, current events, folk, live albums, rock
Les Paul: 1915 – 2009
I was going to post something else before I jump on the Woodstock anniversary bandwagon this weekend (oh yeah – you think I’m missing that?), but I just heard this afternoon about
the passing of Les Paul.
I’m pretty old, but not quite so old as to know much about the Les Paul and Mary Ford records or the music Les Paul made as a younger man. But I can attest to the influence Les had on the rock ‘n’ roll that I know and love. You would be hard pressed to find a rock guitarist who hasn’t played a Gibson Les Paul at some point. Even me – and I’m not a musician by any stretch – the first guitar I bought that I never learned to play was a Les Paul copy.
To sum up his achievements in a paragraph seems almost blasphemy, but Les Paul created the solid-body electric guitar. Called “The Log,” it was the precursor to his Gibson Les Paul guitar. He then began working on new studio techniques: putting microphones close to individual instruments to reduce noise and help separate specific sounds, playing and recording along with other recordings to create multiple tracks. By the late 50’s, he had invented an eight-track recording machine that would pave the way for producers like George Martin, who created much of the Beatles’ mid-Sixties works using Paul’s multitrack technology.
I wanted to somehow pay tribute to Les Paul’s genius and I guess the best way to do that is post something by a guitarist I admire and that Paul had so much influence on. After much casting about, I decided on Slash and a track from the 1992 Guns N’ Roses album
Use Your Illusion I.
Guitar World magazine dubbed Slash’s “November Rain” solo as the
sixth greatest rock guitar solo of all time. “When it came time to do the record,” Slash told
Guitar World, “I just went into the studio, played the solo through a Les Paul Standard and a Marshall and said, ‘I think that sounds right. It was as simple as that.”
November Rain.mp3 Labels: current events, hard rock
Michael and Farrah...
In the past hour, my childhood has passed in front of my eyes. Busy at work all day, I had no idea Farrah Fawcett had died until I got home this evening. I turned on the TV and saw that on the ticker while CNN was reporting first that Michael Jackson had been hospitalized, then that he had died. As of now (7 p.m. EST), the
L.A. Times is reporting Michael has died, although that has not yet been officially confirmed.
Neither star was in the best of health recently: Michael’s overall health was questionable, although he was reportedly in training for his planned tour; and Farrah had been battling cancer since 2006. While their deaths don’t come as a surprise necessarily, it is still shocking that two such iconic people have passed.
I remember watching the Jackson Five cartoons on Saturday mornings when I was maybe eight or nine years old. Some of the early Jackson’s singles were among the first records I ever got: “ABC,” “I’ll Be There,” all that old stuff. And of course,
Thriller, the biggest selling album ever. Even though by the time the album came out, I was hardly the Michael Jackson fan I had been as a kid, there was no way I could deny the impact of the record. I’ve never owned the album, but there is not a song on it I don’t know. That’s how influential and how much of a phenomenon the album was and, frankly, still is.
And Farrah, too. Wow – this is nearly overwhelming. You find me a male who was a teenager in the late 70’s and didn’t own the Farrah poster, and I’ll show you... well, whatever. That poster – in its way – was every bit the phenomenon
Thriller was. Sales estimates range from five million to eight million. Farrah said at one point she earned more in royalties from poster sales than from her salary for appearing in “Charlie's Angels.”
This is truly a sad day.
Billie Jean.mp3 Theme from Charlie’s Angels.mp3 Charlie’s Angels.mp3 ~ Mary Shelley Overdrive
~~~~~~
update: The L.A. County coroner has just confirmed Michael is dead.
Labels: current events, funk, industrial, TV
"How can one Chandra be so Levy"
I’m assuming most of you by now have heard that police are
close to charging someone in the unsolved murder eight years ago of Washington, D.C., intern Chandra Levy.
It’s a sad case and I’m glad the family will finally be able to get closure.
With that in mind, here goes my un-PC post of the month. How many of you remember Eminem’s 2002 album
The Eminem Show? How about the single, “Business”? Well, since the resurfacing this past week of Chandra Levy’s name, there’s a line from “Business” that is stuck in my head: “How can shit be so easy? / How can one Chandra be so Levy?”
It’s a tossed-off line that doesn’t seem to mean much, just getting attention in its timeliness: Levy’s body was found four days before
The Eminem Show’s U.S. release.
Just after the album’s release, a member at one discussion board (who admitted he has too much time on his hands) analyzed the line as such: “It could mean that, since her disappearance has been such a big deal, her ‘leaving’ could have been tweaked by Eminem (i.e.) ‘How could one Chandra be so ‘leav-y’,’ as in ‘how can one person cause such a commotion for disappearing, or be so allusive [
sic ]?’” As far as I know, Em himself never commented further on the lyric.
However you figure it, the song is what Eminem does/did best: A smooth flow, interesting rhymes, and a badass beat.
file removed Labels: current events, rap
Lux Interior, 1946-2009
How in the
hell did I not learn about this until yesterday?
Lux Interior, the legendary – LEGENDARY – front man of the legendary – LEGENDARY – Cramps, died February 4. It’s a shame and a sin that his passing seemingly slipped by. Without Lux, Poison Ivy, and the Cramps, there would have been no pyschobilly and countless bands we take for granted today would have been lost in the wilderness with no guiding light.
My introduction to the Cramps came through the movie Urgh: A Music War and their frenetic version of Johnny Burnette’s “Tear It Up.” I’ll never forget Lux caroming around the stage in skintight leather pants that seemed to defy gravity as they clung (barely) to his hips. Then shoving the mic into his mouth and grunting lewdly. It was just fucking amazing to watch.
A few years later, I had the opportunity to see the Cramps play live at the Hollywood Palladium. I wish my memories of that show were as vivid as my initial impression of the Urgh performance. All I can really bring to mind right now is that the show did not disappoint.
In Lux’s
obit, the
New York Times related the following anecdote, which took place in 1979 while the Cramps were guest D.J.’ing on WPIX-FM in New York. One of the station personalities asked Lux about the music. He replied, “Rock ’n’ roll has absolutely nothing to do with music. It’s much more than music. Rock ’n’ roll is who you are. You can’t call the Cramps music. It’s noise, rockin’ noise.”
Lux Interior was one of punk’s – nah, one of
rock’s – greatest front men. There is and will be a lot of imitators, but he was a true original and he will be sorely missed.
Today’s music comes from the 2004 compilation
How to Make a Monster. The two-disk set included tons of unreleased demos and rehearsals, as well as two historic live performances, both from very early in the Cramps’ career: One at Max's Kansas City and the other at CBGB's. Note that the sound quality isn’t always that great, but it’s nonetheless all worth hearing.
Domino.mp3 ~ Summer 1976 rehearsal
I Was a Teenage Werewolf.mp3 ~ October 1976 rehearsal
Lonesome Town.mp3 ~ 1981 rehearsal
Hanky Panky.mp3 ~ 1982 A&M Studio
All Women are Bad.mp3 ~ 1988 Home Demo
I Was a Teenage Werewolf.mp3 ~ Live at Max's Kansas City, 1/14/77
The Way I Walk.mp3 ~ Live at CBGB, 1/13/78
Human Fly.mp3 ~ Live at CBGB, 1/13/78
Baby Blue Rock.mp3 ~ Live at CBGB, 1/13/78
TV Set.mp3 ~ Live at CBGB, 1/13/78
Click
here to check out the aforementioned Urgh performance of “Tear It Up."
Labels: current events, psychobilly, punk
The Day the Music Died, 50 years on
"But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn’t take one more step."
... Don McLean, "American Pie"
The story of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson is one of those rock ‘n’ roll legends that it seems like I’ve always known about: At about 1:00 a.m., on Feb. 3, 1959, a single-engine, four-seat Beechnut aircraft took off in a snow storm from the Mason City Airport in Iowa. Within minutes the plane went down, killing all three passengers and pilot Roger Peterson.
As the fiftieth anniversary of the crash has approached, there naturally have been a lot of stories about that tragic day. “The Day the Music Died” has, for me, gone from being an abstract idea to something more real, more concrete. It’s been sad this past week to read about the crash and the events leading up to it. Even more tragic is the fact that these musicians were taken at their prime.
U.K. music critic Philip Norman, in an
article originally posted online last week, called Buddy Holly “the father of rock.” Norman acknowledges Elvis’ contribution, but says of Holly that he was “a pioneer and a revolutionary.”
“Unlike Presley and other guitar-toting idols of the mid-Fifties, Holly was a gifted instrumentalist who had grown up playing country music in his native West Texas,” Norman writes. “As a songwriter, performer and musician, Holly is the progenitor of virtually every world-class talent to emerge in the Sixties and Seventies.”
There are literally pages and pages of information about Buddy Holly and about the plane crash. As jumping off points, I can recommend Holly’s
Wiki page, as well as
The Day the Music Died Wikipedia page. Both of those sites have links to more information and suggestions for further reading.
In memoriam of Buddy Holly (but with no slight to the Big Bopper or Richie Valens), I’ve got a few songs that come from a Purple Chick collection titled
The Complete Buddy Holly – Volume One. Like all Purple Chick releases, there are tons of alternates, demos, home recordings, and live performances that were left off the commercial releases. Volume one of this 10-disk set reaches back to a 1949 home recording and goes through the April 1956 sessions at the Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, NM., just before Buddy Holly and the Crickets recorded their debut album. The notes came along with the file, so I can’t necessarily vouch for their accuracy. I just plays 'em like they deals 'em.
My Two Timin’ Woman.mp3 ~
c.1949: Home Recording, 3315 36th St., Lubbock, Texas.
Buddy Holly: vocal, acoustic guitarI’ll Just Pretend.mp3 ~
c. 1952: Home Recording, 3315 36th St., Lubbock, Texas.
Bob Montgomery (poss. Jack Neal): lead vocal, guitar; Buddy Holly: second vocal, mandolinI Gambled My Heart.mp3 ~
c. late 1954/April 1955: Nesman Recording Studio - Wichita Falls, Texas. Bob Montgomery: lead vocal, acoustic guitar; Buddy Holly: duet vocal, electric lead guitar; Sonny Curtis: fiddle; Don Guess: bassBaby Let’s Play House.mp3 ~
mid-1955: Nesman Recording Studio - Wichita Falls, Texas.
Buddy Holly: lead vocal, acoustic guitar; Sonny Curtis: lead guitar; Larry Welborn: bass; Jerry Allison: drumsLove Me.mp3 Midnight Shift.mp3 ~
Jan. 26, 1956: Bradley's Barn Studio - Music Row, Nashville, Tenn. (Owen Bradley: producer)
Buddy Holly: vocal; Sonny Curtis: lead guitar; Grady Martin: rhythm guitar; Don Guess: bass; Doug Kirkham: percussionI’m Gonna Set My Foot Down.mp3 ~
February-April, 1956: Norman Petty Studios - 1313 W. 7th St. Clovis, NM. Buddy Holly: vocal, guitar; Sonny Curtis: guitar, lead guitar; Don Guess: bass; Jerry Allison: drumsLabels: current events, demos, oldies
Billy Powell, 1952 - 2009
I just learned this evening that Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboard player William Norris “Billy” Powell died earlier today at his home in Orange Park, Fla., of an apparent heart attack. Powell, one of Skynyrd’s original members, as well as a survivor of the band’s tragic 1977 place crash, was 56.
For more information, Jacksonville’s newspaper,
The Florida Times-Union, has a good obit, along with some other Skynyrd-related links.
In tribute to the passing of Billy Powell, I thought tonight would be an appropriate time to share this old Lynyrd Skynyrd show I’ve had on my hard drive forever. The recording comes – as I understand, anyway – from an unreleased King Biscuit Flower Hour show recorded Nov. 6, 1975, in Cardiff, Wales.
This would also be an appropriate time to raise a shot of whiskey.
So, Mr. Powell – salute.
Double Trouble.mp3 Ain’t the One.mp3 The Needle & the Spoon.mp3 Saturday Night Special.mp3 Gimme Three Steps.mp3 I Got the Same Old Blues.mp3 Simple Man.mp3 Whiskey Rock & Roller.mp3 Call Me the Breeze.mp3 T for Texas.mp3 Sweet Home Alabama.mp3 Freebird.mp3Labels: classic rock, current events, live music
Number One on ChartAttack.com’s “Ten Reasons Gary Coleman Was Cool” list:
Art Linkletter’s biggest successes came mostly before my time, but I’m familiar with “Kids Say the Darndest Things,” the Bill Cosby-hosted TV series based on Linkletter’s books. Linkletter was also a passionate anti-drug activist – his daughter, Diane, jumped to her death in 1969, an act Linkletter said was caused by her LSD usage. 
