posted by aikin @ 7:06 PM 4 Comments

Auf Wiedersehen

Well, it looks like this is the end of the ride. I’m not much for long goodbyes, so I want to mention a few things and then I guess we’ll call it a day.

First, a month or so ago I went over a half-million hits to my little blog. I had meant to mention it at the time, but the moment slipped away. I want to thank those of you who were faithful readers and checked in regularly. And thanks to anyone who even occasionally dropped by. Special thanks to the 25 people who “follow” my blog and to those of you who left comments so I would know I wasn’t doing this solely to entertain myself.

Thanks in particular to two blogs: I Am Fuel, You Are Friends and Aquarium Drunkard. These are two of the very first music-related blogs I found and they served as inspiration for starting my own. Thanks also to everyone else who exchanged links with me and added me to your blogrolls or linked something I had posted. Although I’ve never met any of you, I nonetheless feel like we’re a bit of a community.

Big thanks to every band or artist’s rep that sent me music. I especially want to mention Amber and Clinno from BugGiRL, who not only sent me music, but also stayed in touch. And when I saw them play live and met them, they were very cool and decent people. Also, thanks to every band that didn’t ask me to take down any of their music I had posted.

Never say never. I may decide in the future I miss this and start up the blog again. We’ll see....

Rock and Roll Music.mp3

Labels: Beatles, see you later

posted by aikin @ 7:00 AM 9 Comments

Dead Weather: Bonnaroo, 2010

This will probably be my last major post before I cease operations here at the Licorice Pizza blog. That should happen at the end of this week. As such, I wanted to share something really decent I got hold of not long ago.

The Dead Weather played Day 3 (June 12) of this year’s Bonnaroo Festival, sandwiched on the “What” stage between Big Sam's Funky Nation and Jimmy Cliff on one side and Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z on the other. Kind of an unlikely, yet appropriate, slot for this unholy gothic blues quartet.

I’ve made no secret of mentioning that I really liked Sea of Cowards. I think the band and album are a natural progression for Jack White, moving forward from the basic blues stomp of the White Stripes. My only issue is that I would rather hear Jack on guitar than drums. Fans at Bonnaroo got a chance to see him do just that during their set: White stepped out to play lead guitar on “Will There Be Enough Water?” launching into an extended solo to end the set. When the band returned for its encore, Jack again took lead guitar for “I Can’t Hear You.”

Like every other year and every other festival, needless to say I couldn’t attend Bonnaroo. It sounds as if Dead Weather was phenomenal. Rolling Stone wrote, “Their set was a nasty reconfiguration of classic blues, ripping out everything but the floorboards and rebuilding a rickety, menacing house on top of them.”

I’m not sure of the original source for this recording, but the sound quality is as suitably great as the band. Again, my host is expiring in a couple of days and the individual tracks are likely not going to be available after that. The RapidShare file should be around a bit longer.

Forever My Queen.mp3
60 Feet Tall.mp3
Hang You from the Heavens.mp3
You Just Can’t Win.mp3
So Far from Your Weapon.mp3
I Cut Like a Buffalo.mp3
No Horse.mp3
A Child of a Few Hours is Burning to Death.mp3
The Difference Between Us / I’m Mad.mp3
Hustle & Cuss.mp3
Die by the Drop.mp3
New Pony.mp3
Will There Be Enough Water.mp3

encore
Blue Blood Blues.mp3
I Can’t Hear You.mp3
Treat Me Like Your Mother.mp3

Zipfile linkage

Labels: blues, Jack White, live music

posted by aikin @ 10:00 PM 1 Comments

Some Quick Thoughts On Peter Ivers

A few days ago I started reading “In Heaven Everything is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre,” by Josh Frank and Charlie Buckholtz (Free Press, $25). I had read something a couple of weeks ago that piqued my interest about Ivers and this book, although admittedly, I really knew nothing about him other than being peripherally aware of New Wave Theatre.

There are a couple of things that so far have really made an impression on me: First is the incredible wealth of talent that came Harvard during that era (the late 1960’s). Ivers’ classmates and friends included Harold Ramis, Stockard Channing. Doug Kenney, and Tommy Lee Jones. And those are just the bigger names that I was immediately familiar with.

The other thing that absolutely stunned me was a title bestowed on Ivers by none other than Muddy Waters. One night in 1968, Ivers and then-girlfriend Channing were at the Cambridge Blues Club in Boston, watching Waters perform. “At one point between songs, Muddy Waters gestured to Peter and began to speak about him,” the authors write. Waters tells the crowd about his previous encounters with Ivers, including times the two had played together. “Looking out over the small but devoted audience in the smoky room, Waters referred to Peter as ‘the greatest harp player alive.’”

A white kid from Harvard was “the greatest harp player alive”? No doubt about it, I wanted to hear this. Ivers’ music is sort of hard to find, even on the Internet. eMusic has a couple of his later albums, but they’re mistitled as being by “Pete Rivers.” After some digging, though, I managed to find a couple of things I wanted to share here. Both of Ivers’ songs here display his harmonica talent, which is quite amazing.

The other two songs are versions of “In Heaven (Everything is Fine),” the song that lent its name to the book I’m reading. David Lynch asked Ivers to write a song for the 1977 movie Eraserhead and “In Heaven” was what he came up with. The first version is the original from the movie; the other is the Pixie’s version, from a BBC broadcast.

I’ve Got a Sex Crush.mp3
Harmonica Solo.mp3
In Heaven (Everything is Fine).mp3
In Heaven (The Lady in the Radiator Song).mp3

Labels: "alternative", books, covers, movies, new wave

posted by aikin @ 9:15 PM 0 Comments

Happy Independence Day

It was kind of a tough call deciding what would be an appropriate Fourth of July post. The most obvious call was the Beach Boys – why, I don’t know, but the Beach Boys always seem right. At some point last night I woke up and thought the Rolling Stones, but in the clear light of day I realized that was an obviously delusional idea.

While looking through music this morning, I found what seems to be perfect: Bob Dylan and Tom Petty playing a July 4 concert in New York. I mean, what’s more American than that? I suppose I could upload some hotdogs for you.

While this is a great show and I would have loved to see any stop on the True Confessions tour, the sound quality here is about a C-. That being the case, I'm posting only a handful of songs – just something to get your morning moving. Enjoy your Fourth.

Masters of War.mp3 ~ Bob Dylan with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Breakdown.mp3 ~ Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall.mp3 ~ Bob Dylan (acoustic)
Ballad of a Thin Man.mp3 ~ Bob Dylan with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Johnny B. Goode.mp3 ~ Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Refugee.mp3 ~ Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.mp3 ~ Bob Dylan with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

This recording is from the July 4, 1986, show at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, N.Y. It may or may not show up as July 14 when downloaded. According to the Gone Gator Website, there was no July 14 show on that tour, so I take that as a typo and assume this is the July 4 show.

Labels: acousticness, classic rock, holiday, live music

posted by aikin @ 12:45 PM 0 Comments

Hole: Live 1995

I realized last night that I’ve been going to concerts longer probably than some of you have been alive – my first show was KISS, on the 1979 Dynasty tour.

This realization came to me while I was waiting for Hole to take the stage at the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach. What brought this realization is watching everyone around me busy with their cell phones: texting, tweeting, taking pictures, and generally doing everything to remember this experience other than actually experiencing it. It made me feel old and annoyed thinking about how much the concert-going experience has changed over the years.

I remember when I saw Iggy in 1980 or '81, I was scared! The crowd was ugly. I later learned that it’s mostly in fun, but it’s rare these days to see a band and worry about your safety. Everything is very sanitized these days, which I guess makes venue owners sleep better at night. I compare that Iggy experience with the Hole show because the theaters are probably more or less the same size (I saw Iggy at the Hollywood Palladium in California) and Courtney, being Courtney, always brings the potential for some kind of disorder. There were no surging crowds last night; no one spit at Courtney; no one crowd-surfed or stage-dived; and there was no mosh pit full of sweaty, shirtless fat guys. Hmm, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

So how was the show?

Courtney Love released Nobody’s Daughter and is touring under the name “Hole.” Regardless, this is the Courtney Love show: She’s such a personality that, at his point, it doesn’t much matter whether it’s Eric Erlandson or Micko Larkin alongside her; it’s still gonna be the Courtney show. The current band has been together long enough that there’s some form of chemistry, but it’s really not “Hole” per se. And apparently, use of the name is still being discussed.

Regardless, this version of Hole opened with an appropriate cover of “Sympathy for the Devil.” They ripped through about an hour-and-a-half worth of material, mostly from Nobody’s Daughter and 1994’s Live Through This, going deep into the latter for songs such as “Plump.” As advertised, Courtney stayed clear of material from America’s Sweetheart. Also, regrettably, they didn’t play anything from Hole’s debut, Pretty On the Inside.

So, the band has changed. The concert-going experience has changed. Has anything stayed the same? Well, due to a DUI roadblock (Thank God and $12 beers I wasn’t drinking) it still took two hours to get home, just like the old days driving back from Los Angeles.

This recording goes back to the original Hole band; it was recorded February 1995 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. I also added in “Loser Dust,” one of my favorites from the new album, but a song they did not play last night.

Plump.mp3
My Beautiful Son.mp3
Miss World.mp3
Asking for It.mp3
Hungry Like the Wolf.mp3
Gutless.mp3
I Think That I Would Die.mp3
Credit in the Straight World.mp3
Teenage Whore.mp3
Violet.mp3

Loser Dust.mp3

Labels: grunge, live music, rock

posted by aikin @ 12:36 PM 2 Comments

‘All Night Long’

I heard this Rainbow song, “All Night Long,” yesterday afternoon. I can’t even tell you how long it’s been since I’ve heard that sleazy paean to “band aides.”

“All Night Long” is great in its unapologetic portrayal of the girls who love the bands: “Your mind is dirty but your hands are clean / You’re short on class but your legs are long.” How awesome are those lyrics? And they’re certainly not the typical Ritchie Blackmore fare.

This was actually my introduction to Rainbow, coming by way of the first Monsters of Rock album, recorded at Castle Donnington in 1980. Dio sang that version, though, whereas Graham Bonnet handled original vocal duties. It was only after I heard this song that I became more interested in Rainbow and Ritchie Blackmore. Actually, I take that back. Castle Donnington was my introduction to Rainbow, but it was a video clip of the performance that I had seen on TV that made me seek them out and, ultimately, led me to the Castle Donnington album and “All Night Long.”

Still with me? Good.

I was looking for a little information about this song and came up with the following: “All Night Long” – surprisingly – came in for some criticism from feminists. However, in a 1980 Sounds magazine article, Roger Glover was quoted to the effect that the song was “supposed to be funny.”

I also found an interesting Website called Groupie Dirt, which I’ll let you explore on your own.

All Night Long.mp3

Labels: classic rock, guitar heroes

posted by aikin @ 7:57 PM 1 Comments