Baseball, Music, and Real Life

May 11 haiku

2011-05-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

A plastic flower
Won't ever die--then again,
It won't ever live.

April 27 haiku

2011-04-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

Dead mouse in the road
Caught my eye in the spring rain.
That's what I've come to.

Closed

2010-12-08T13:13:00.001-08:00

The time has come to put this blog out to pasture.

Over the years, I've come to realize that this "gift" of writing I've been given is really a gift horse, and one that looks worse the more you look at it. Writing has been a glorious waste of many years, but a waste nonetheless.

I no longer have the desire to spout off about things. Who really cares what I think about this or that? No longer does it appeal to me to write about douchebag ballplayers who don't give a shit about the people who pay to see them. I've written enough about the same old rock bands to last three lifetimes. I've written enough books to see the electronic writing on the fourth wall.

All I've done for the last year up here is write haiku anyway...mostly angry, depressed haiku that at least costs less than therapy. But the desire to communicate is basically gone, and so this blog passes into history.

Thanks to all of you who read, chimed in, argued, or whatever. I do love and appreciate you. But it's time to close up shop.

For Jack

2010-12-03T08:40:00.000-08:00

It's warm in Texas,
A fine place for winter's rest.
No more must you roam.

December 1 Haiku

2010-12-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

Resentments float down...
Like snowflakes, each one different
And the sky is gray.

October 15 haiku

2010-10-15T06:29:00.000-07:00

The autumn oak sways
Turning color, limbs broken--
Is this the way home?

October 12 haiku

2010-10-12T16:05:00.001-07:00

Paradise exists
First, and possibly only,
In your heart and mind.

October 5 haiku

2010-10-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

Under God's sun: Hope
For all, even when shone on
By a plastic moon.

September 18 haiku

2010-09-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

September drizzle...
Flowers in decay smell sweet--
Oh, to be so blessed.

August 17 haiku

2010-08-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

Cicadas drone on,
Days flee from the calendar--
I just sleep away.

July 28 haiku

2010-07-28T10:42:00.001-07:00

For all of my "smarts"
I never even noticed
when the spring ended.

July 26 haiku

2010-07-26T21:04:00.001-07:00

Even cicadas
Become silent at the sight
Of tonight's full moon.

July 21 haiku

2010-07-21T17:55:00.001-07:00

Everything will wilt
In this heat: offerings, blooms,
All that we hold dear.

July 15 haiku

2010-07-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

Bus ride: Fat loud girl,
Slurpee, disfiguring burn--
Who the hell am I?

July 12 haiku

2010-07-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

Diving in, tasting,
Twisting, panicking, dying--
The fruit flies we drowned.

My Publishing Career Comes to Its End

2010-07-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

Final signature
July wind tears the last page
No Royalty here!

July 7 haiku

2010-07-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

Spiders all around,
Traces of their helpless prey
Snared in the system.

July 4 Haiku

2010-07-04T09:51:00.001-07:00

Every moment is--
Sunset is wrapped in sunrise,
Dawn swaddled in night.

July 1 Haiku

2010-07-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

Seen through a window,
And only between branches--
Waxing golden moon.

Haiku 6/23/10

2010-06-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

Shattered Robin's egg,
Blue as the bright morning sky
Which looks down on it.

Haiku 6/17/10

2010-06-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

Warm breeze, allergies,
Death, sunshine, and anger,
The June equinox.

Haiku 5/28/10

2010-05-28T18:12:00.001-07:00

The night has a start
And a sprawling deep middle
But it has no end.

Haiku 5/24/10

2010-05-24T15:06:00.000-07:00

Young female robin
Picks at, then discards a worm.
There will be others.

Haiku 5/19/10

2010-05-19T08:50:00.001-07:00

Finding more gray hairs
In the last few days of the
Sweet lilac bushes.

Haiku 5/16/10

2010-05-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

The day's first robin.
Is he, too, worried about
A broken friendship?

Haiku 5/11/10

2010-05-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

Wet May alleyway
Amid bird calls, shrieks, and cries
Lies a dead squirrel.

Haiku 5/5/10

2010-05-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

Fragrant lilac bush
Perfumes dozens of black ants
Eating half a worm.

Haiku 4/25/10

2010-04-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

What can we give God?
Bad songs meant to glorify.
Cut tulips. Jihads.

Haiku 4/22/10

2010-04-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

On a branch, flirting
Cardinals, unheeding all
Except this moment.

Phyllis Barbour Nesmith, R.I.P.

2010-02-18T22:55:00.000-08:00

Phyllis Barbour Nesmith, who was married to Michael Nesmith from 1964 through 1972 and gave birth to two children with him, passed away recently due to ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). She inspired some of Nesmith's greatest solo songs, such as "Continuing," "Lazy Lady," and "Conversations," and sang background on "Auntie's Municipal Court" from The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees.

Ms. Barbour/Nesmith was also a frequent subject of teen-magazine articles and held up as an ideal "celebrity wife" due to her moral standards (she was a devout Christian Scientist) and pleasant personality. I can see no evidence that this perception was wrong.

She had a terrible car accident in 1968, and during this time, Michael Nesmith had an affair (and a child) with another woman. It's said that the gulf created there never really healed. After the breakup, she continued to raise her children and eventually got into politics, working on energy issues from a liberal Democratic perspective. That's just one more thing to respect about her.

RIP. Love is only sleeping. Behind that wall, we're all still here.

Er, 31 More Singers

2009-10-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I knew I couldn't stop at just 31. So here are 31 more. I'm sure that your favorite is probably omitted! For some of these, I've included links to videos. Hope they're helpful, and, as always, thanks for reading.

Andy Partridge (XTC): "This is Pop," "25 O'Clock," "Green Man"

Pete Seeger: "Russian Folk Themes and Yodel," "Tenting Tonight," "Times are Gettin' Hard"

Amy Winehouse: "Love is a Losing Game" (Demo), "You Sent Me Flying," "Just Friends"

Mamas & the Papas: "I Saw Her Again (Last Night)," "Got a Feelin'," "Words of Love"

Bob Dylan: "Subterranean Homesick Blues," "Just Like a Woman," Baby, Let Me Follow You Down"

Otis Redding: "I've Been Loving You Too Long," "Dock of the Bay," "Day Tripper"

Hank Williams: "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Lovesick Blues," "Hey, Good Lookin'"

Bob DePugh (Trizo 50): "Live Like You Wanna Live," "Dream Girl" (version two), "Graveyard"

John Lydon: "Home is Where the Heart Is," "Pretty Vacant," "Holidays in the Sun"

John McCormack: "Macushla," "I Hear You Calling Me," "She Moved Through the Fair"

Diana Ross: "Love is Like an Itching in My Heart," "Love Hangover," "He's All I Got"

Roy Orbison: "There Won't Be Many Coming Home," "It's Over,""Oh, Pretty Woman"

Buddy Holly: "Peggy Sue Got Married," "Rave On," "True Love Ways"

Dionne Warwick: "Alfie," "Anyone Who Had a Heart," "I Say a Little Prayer"

Pete Ham (Badfinger): "Baby Blue," "Take it All," "We're For the Dark"

Tom Jones: "It's Not Unusual," "The Lonely One," "Promise Her Anything"

Michael Stipe: "Southern Central Rain (I'm Sorry)," "Perfect Circle," "Good Advices"

Gram Parsons: "Brass Buttons," "Return of the Grievous Angel," "To Love Somebody"

Sandy Denny: "You Never Wanted Me," "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" "I Don't Know Where I Stand"

Micky Dolenz: "As We Go Along," "Daily Nightly," "Girl I Knew Somewhere"

George Harrison: "The Inner Light," "Long Long Long," "Love Comes to Everyone"

Elvis Costello: "Tiny Steps," "Lipstick Vogue," "Baby Plays Around"

David Gilmour: "Dogs," "Breathe," "Fearless"

Mark Lindsay: "Too Much Talk," "Just Like Me," "Louie, Go Home"

Morrissey: "William, it Was Really Nothing," "Asleep," "Back to the Old House" (acoustic)

Steve Martin (The Left Banke): "Pretty Ballerina," "Walk Away Renee," "She May Call You Up Tonight"

Donovan: "Catch the Wind," "Lady of the Lamp," "The Summers Day Reflection Song"

Pete Shelley (The Buzzcocks): "Everybody's Happy Nowadays," "I Believe," "Ever Fallen In Love?"

Mick Jagger: "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Under My Thumb," "Backstreet Girl"

Astrud Gilberto: "The Girl from Ipanema," "Look to the Rainbow," "Who Needs Forever?"

Curtis Mayfield: "Move on Up," "Freddie's Dead," "Choice of Colors"

Missing in action: Roger Daltrey...Stevie Wonder...Jeff Buckley...Alex Chilton...Gladys Knight...Levi Stubbs...Terry Hall...Mick Jagger...Nina Simone...Edwyn Collins...Mike Smith...Pete Townshend...Bing Crosby...David Crosby...Roger McGuinn...Jeff Lescher...Martha Reeves...and so many more.

Thirty or Thirty-One Great Singers and Some of their Greatest Moments

2009-10-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

Here are 31 great singers and some of the moments that I thank them for. There were originally 30.

I know that this is a fool's errand. You will probably, and rightfully, say, "How did you miss Sam Cooke/Delroy Wilson/Andy Partridge/Emmylou Harris/Hank Williams/John Lydon/Sandy Denny/Buddy Holly/Rob Tyner/Sam Phillips/Martha Reeves/Bing Crosby/Kurt Cobain? What are you smoking?" Guess it just shows how many truly great singers there are.

I suppose that I could have done artists who had just one great thing and did it fantastically well, like Little Anne, or the guy from the Castaways who sang "Liar, Liar," but I wanted artists who did more than one fantastic thing. So here they are, mostly long-term artists, and thankfully, not a Celine Dion, Bruce Hornsby, or Jon Bon Jovi among 'em.

These artists aren't really listed in order, except maybe for the first few.

Why are there 31 and not 30? Because I refuse to leave out Gene Clark.

John Lennon, “God,” “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” “All I’ve Got to Do”

Paul McCartney, “Long Tall Sally,” ”Got to Get You Into My Life,” “For No One”

Carl Wilson, “Long Promised Road,” “I Can Hear Music,” “God Only Knows”

Sheila Chandra, “ABoneCroneDrone 5,” “Om Namaha Shiva,” “Dhyana and Donalogue”

Sade Adu, “Is it a Crime,” “It’s Only Love That Gets You Through,” “Like a Tattoo”

Arthur Lee, “Maybe the People Would be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale,” “Nothing,” “Seven and Seven Is”

Dusty Springfield, “I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten,” “Just a Little Lovin’,” “The Windmills of Your Mind”

Aretha Franklin, “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You),” “Spanish Harlem,” “I Say a Little Prayer”

Ray Charles, “Mess Around,” “Night Time is the Right Time,” “Busted”

Smokey Robinson, “The Tears of a Clown,” “Ooh Baby Baby,” “The Tracks of My Tears”

The Bee Gees, “Nights on Broadway,” “Blue Island,” “In My Own Time”

The Everly Brothers, “Sleepless Nights,” “Cathy’s Clown,” “Devoted to You”

Nick Drake, “Which Will,” “Time Has Told Me,” “Clothes of Sand”

Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean,” “I Want You Back,” “I Am Love”

John Fogerty, “Bad Moon Rising,” “Lodi,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain”

Marvin Gaye, “Can I Get a Witness,” “What’s Going On,” “I’ll Be Doggone”

Colin Blunstone (The Zombies), “The Way I Feel Inside,” “Time of the Season,” “She’s Not There”

Bill Withers, “Grandma’s Hands,” “Use Me,” “You”

Brian Wilson, “Please Let Me Wonder,” “You Still Believe in Me,” “The Warmth of the Sun”

Art Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” ‘For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her,” “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright”

Michael Nesmith, “What Am I Doin’ Hangin’ Round?,” “Grand Ennui,” “Silver Moon”

Steve Winwood, “I’m a Man,” “Empty Pages,” “No Face No Name No Number”

Glenn Tilbrook (Squeeze), “Pulling Mussels,” “Woman’s World,” “Satisfied”

Elvis Presley, “Love Me,” “Hound Dog,” “Burning Love”

Ella Fitzgerald, “Angel Eyes,” “Let’s Do It,” “Black Coffee”

Syd Barrett, “See Emily Play,” “Golden Hair,” “Lucifer Sam”

Frank Sinatra, “I Get Along Without You Very Well,” “That’s Life,” “In the Wee Small Hours”

Little Richard, “Keep a Knockin’,” “Tutti-Frutti,” “Good Golly Miss Molly"

Rodd Keith, “Atomic Wise,” “I Died Today,” “Ecstasy to Frenzy”

Juanes, “La Camisa Negra,” “A Dios Le Pido,” “Suenos”

Gene Clark (The Byrds), "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," "From a Silver Phial," "If You're Gone"

Comments welcome!

Top Five Album Covers of the Rock Era

2009-09-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

Following my last four posts of album covers which I consider the top of the art form, here are my five favorites of all. Each of these images has the power to pull me in no matter how many times I look at them. They can either make me laugh, impress me, beguile me, or even freak me out. Hope that they're at least interesting to some of you!

With the Beatles, 1963

Robert Freeman's cover photograph wasn't planned. He caught up with the band in a hotel on a British tour, constructed a makeshift background, and shot them in the black clothing they were wearing off-stage at the time. Shot in August 1963, just into Beatlemania and only a few months prior to their U.S. breakthrough, this cover captures them in what one could consider their last stage of innocence.

The stark black-and-white image is, of course, iconic--it's been parodied by many artists--and, in its shockingly high quality, mirrors the Beatles' growth as artists from their first album (Please Please Me) to the second. The group had several great photographers, including Robert whitaker, Iain MacMillan, and Ethan Russell, shoot their covers, but did any of them have such great source material to work with?

And dig the lettering...lovely 60s lower-case type, but jumbled and off-center. How groovy is that?

As for the boys themselves, they look fantastic--young and confident, sexy and cool, and Ringo even a little sad and silly--but they're not smiling, not light-hearted, not interested in playing your game.

That the Rolling Stones and Pretty Things were able to convince people that they were somehow "cooler" than the Fabs because they were "tougher"...well, the evidence doesn't really point that out. It's a retrofit at best. As has been written elsewhere, the Beatles had to create the center before anyone else could go left (or right).

This image is so great that even tinted funny (and given a truly ugly banner) for the U.S. market's Meet the Beatles, it was still an amazing introduction to the world's best band.

The Supremes A' Go-Go, 1966

Whaaaat? A Supremes album?

While much credit is given (and deserved) to Atlantic and Stax for their fine album covers of the 1960s and early 1970s, Motown sleeves don't usually get a lot of kudos. But there are some terrific ones; the Supremes always looked good, the Temptations had some great images, and of course the Jackson Five were cartoon-beautiful even before they were cartoons.

This sleeve is simply the happiest, bounciest invitation to dance, sing, and laugh that I've ever seen. Horace Junior designed it; Frank Dandridge, an accomplished magazine photographer, shot it. But the sassy "check me out" of Mary Wilson on the right? The beguiling but shy swinging of the lovely, tragic Florence Ballard in the center? The spirited boogie of Diana Ross on the left? Nobody could have created that but the girls themselves.

The typography is brilliant--the arrows on the two "G"s means action, and the blue background goes great with the pink cover. It's feminine, as are the girls' up to-the-minute fashions, but ripples with pure energy. And indeed, this album is full of foot-tappers and booty-shakers. This ain't no set of Broadway tunes.

Forever Changes, Love, 1967

Love's first two albums featured nearly identical front covers of the moody, frankly unpleasant group hanging around their Los Angeles hangout, a big house with a castle-like design.

For their third album, a grand statement from Arthur Lee (who believed he would soon be dead) about his adopted Los Angeles in the alternately glorious and gloomy psychedelic summer of 1967, Elektra hired Bob Pepper to illustrate the band as a five-headed organism.

Ironically, this was the album where the group began deteriorating due to the anomie, hard-drug abuse, and assorted mental anguish afflicting its members. But never did a collapsing group sound so together...and never did a cover better epitomize the color, vivacity, and beauty of the best music of its time.

This is simply a gorgeous piece of art, laid simply on a stark white background, with the band's inimitable logo--maybe the coolest band logo ever?--just large enough to serve as an effective inducement. Pure genius all the way around.

Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd, 1973

While this is a terrific album, I almost wish that the cover image wasn't such a ubiquitous hot-button for classic rock. DSOTM's sleeve is almost a victim of its own effectiveness; these days it's tough to see with fresh eyes what an amazing image this is.

Dark Side's cover's beautiful use of color AND black, and utterly simple delivery of a complex (and, in fact, physically impossible) image could befit any number of artists.

Experimental ambient guitar groups, sunshine pop combos, progressive house DJs, modern folk revivalists, etc. etc., all do music that could fit an image like this very well. But who did it? Pink Floyd, who were in 1973 a fully established, popular rock group which had already topped the charts in England and established a strong following in the states.

Only Floyd, among contemporary groups, were egoless enough--or smart enough--to consistently keep themselves off their album covers. The Floyd, not sharp dressers or great lookers (David Gilmour aside), hadn't appeared on a sleeve since 1969, and that's the way the quartet wanted it. As a unit, they were uninterested in rock stardom but very interested in creating entire packages that fit together, from music to album covers to tour visuals.

Groups that followed in Floyd's wake never quite got it, and even Hipgnosis, who designed this cover and others by the band, never duplicated the magic with other artists, because Pink Floyd's music worked in a special way that strongly affected what it touched.

You Can't Hide Your Love Forever, Orange Juice, 1982

I suppose this one will be somewhat polarizing. Some people will get it immediately, while others will say, "what's the big deal?"

But from the moment I saw it, I knew I had to have this album without having even heard the band.

First off, the image of the dolphins was extremely unusual. Let me put it into context.

1982 was a weird time in music. Punk was over. Post-punk, with its rough industrial images, was in vogue in Britain. In America, the corpses of stadium rock bands, and sappy MOR drivel, littered the charts. What was new and interesting generally had a new wave or punk-oriented sensibility. The fluffy groups featured silly retro-futuristic images or prettified portraiture to accompany their insubstantial songs. The "relevant" groups were usually self-consciously arty.

An album cover with an optimistic image--a playful, bright, splashy image rooted in nature--was highly unusual among the Dexys and Loverboys of the time. That's why I wanted to hear what this band sounded like.

And I wasn't disappointed. Glasgow's Orange Juice delivered on everything that could have been promised by people who had enough space in their hearts for the Buzzcocks, Al Green, the Velvets, Chic, and the Beatles.

While big-mouth leader Edwyn Collins blabbed about how 'tunnel vision' was good, his own music belied his brave punk-inspired words, evoking the angularity of early Talking Heads as well as the lovely melodies of a McCartney, the harshness of Nico and the bounce of Motown. Love songs for skeptics; funk songs for the Scottish; pop for punks.

Anyway, I love this sleeve, right down to the obviously faked water splash on the bottom, the understated graphics, and the brilliant use of the 'infinity' symbol instead of an "a" in the word "can't." Pure genius, alternately smooth and amateurish, done in a way that beguiles rather than bludgeons. And I'd rather be seduced than brutalized any day of the week.

I wish that the quality of this particular image were better.

As always, thanks for reading!!

Favorite Album Covers, Part 4

2009-09-13T15:41:00.000-07:00

Here are my favorite album covers from the past 20 years or so...

Crashing Dream, Rain Parade, 1985
I always found the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind quite disturbing. I don't particularly need to see a child's penis, OK? But water can make for a fascinating surface through which to view a subject. Here, the members of this underrated LA band are seen at the bottom of a very nice swimming pool. The idea of being drowned in west-coast culture is a central theme to the album.

Recurring, Spacemen 3, 1991
What does it mean? I dunno. But it looks amazing under a black light. Its druggy simplicity perfectly matches the music inside.

Girlfriend, Matthew Sweet, 1991
This album was originally going to be called Nothing Lasts, but Tuesday Weld (that's her) didn't want her photo to be associated with such a negative title. So it became Girlfriend, which is far more appropriate anyway.

Every Man and Woman is a Star, Ultramarine, 1991
A breezy, surprisingly organic-sounding album of techno, house, and even prog-rock influences, Every Man could have had a cold, crisp cover like other electronic music of the early 90s. But instead, this Canterbury duo showcased a cornfield under blue skies rather than a cartoony spaceship or computer graphics or some other trite image like most digital acts used at the time. Much of the music here reflects the sounds of camping, hiking, and swimming in nature, making the cover a natural fit.

Love Deluxe, Sade, 1992
Sade's covers have always been immaculately done, which puts some people off. I guess her detractors want to see Ms. Adu in jackboots, or sneezing, or something. But here, she's literally a bronze goddess, frozen in place or cast in metal in a passionate but oddly constricted pose. It's their best album, too.

The Decline and Fall of Heavenly, 1994
This cover image for a nice, but somewhat twee, pop band--albeit one beset ultimately by the tragic suicide of its drummer--is almost too cute for words. Almost. (Sorry about the size of this one.)

Ray of Light, Madonna, 1998
While no expense is ever spared on Madonna's covers, many of the resulting images are just transient, meant only to show off her newest persona. Here, she's wearing clothes and hair that she might be expected to wear on an everyday basis, but the image is interesting enough to keep you looking. Why is she to the left? Why is she dissheveled? The graphics are understated and simple and add rather than detract.

Salt Rain, Susheela Raman, 2001
This is Ms. Raman's first album. While many beauty queens are splashed all over CD covers in close-up, rarely is a woman not "conventionally" beautiful (in a white Anglo-Saxon context, anyway) shot so intimately. Of Indian ancestry and raised in England, she has hair vibrant enough to push the very boundaries of the frame, and in addition she is showing off what is either an un-made-up skin-color variance, a shadow, or a black eye.

American Idiot, Green Day, 2004
Here is one of the few releases on these lists o'mine that features a drawing. A band trying to break out of the punk-pop ghetto and do something they felt was more lasting needed a great cover image, and this is it: a man ready to toss a heart-shaped grenade.

We'll Never Turn Back, Mavis Staples, 2007
As if anyone needed a reminder of the struggles of the civil rights movement...this is a perfectly realized concept, with superb typography that announces but does not overpower the image.

Thanks for reading...next come the top five of all.

Favorite Album Covers, Part 3

2009-09-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

In which I look at my fave LP sleeves of pop/rock history. This is part 3, going from 1975 through 1981. Part four will cover the 80s through the present, then I will present my all-time top five, making 45 total covers in all. As always, thanks for reading.

Relatively Clean Rivers, 1975. A psychedelically-inspired 70s album that only sold a few dozen copies, at best, RCR's recent rediscovery is our gain, not least for its stony, well-structured California rock as for its funny and extremely eye-catching and eye-popping sleeve. Who is this guy? What river is this? I want to know!

Ricochet, Tangerine Dream, 1975. Just a lovely photo.

Blondie, 1976. The standard "pretty girl in front" tactic gets an interesting spin: Debbie Harry is not only in front, she's almost blocking the rest of the band! You can see bassist Gary Valentine--soon to be an EX-Blondie--shifting his head, trying hard to be seen, while the other fellas seem to accept their fate with some resignation. Each album, Blondie changed its typeface, and never had a distinct logo; this is my favorite lettering of theirs and overall my favorite American new-wave cover.

This Year's Model, Elvis Costello, 1978. I prefer the British image of the album, where you can see him speaking to you as if you are the object. Having him interacting with you, photographing you, while he's being photographed is, I think, the very point of the exercise. One of the most effective and, to me, inviting shots ever on an album. The four-color bar on the right, simulating a photo proof sheet, is a nice little piece of detail.

Jesus of Cool, Nick Lowe, 1978. Nick Lowe, for many years rock's resident wit, decided to take the piss out of his contemporaries for his first solo album. The American version (retitled 'Pure Pop for Now People' to save our virgin ears, perhaps) had a few different shots.

One Step Beyond, Madness, 1979. This is among the best images to come out of the punk and postpunk movements. It sums up this fine pop band's indomitable spirit of fun.

Wild Planet, the B-52s, 1980. I like this even more than the shot from their debut album. The electrifying red, which makes everything pop out at the viewer, is appropriate for an album including songs about the Devil, strobe lights, wild parties, nuclear energy, and being lost in space. All five of the '52s look primo, half-real and half-cartoon. The inner bag, of a leopard print on green, is cool too.

Get Happy!!, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, 1980. For a long time I thought this was the best album cover ever. It still holds up extremely well for its perfectly executed palate of bright pop colors and its almost crass triple-portrait of Costello. The ringwear on the British album cover is almost too cute, but it works here because it's all of a piece.

Pretenders, 1980. While the basic leather/black/white/red color scheme wasn't especially new, the quality of the band's faces and poses was jarring enough to be eye-catching, and the art deco lettering kept it from being either too "New Wave" or too retro-60s. Most of the Pretenders' sleeves feature faboo no-bullshit portraits.

The Flowers of Romance, Public Image Ltd., 1981. What is this woman doing with a pestle? Is she going to bash my brains in with it? Don't those thorns hurt? Whatever...I'm intrigued. While it has little to do with the content, this cover image dovetails perfectly with the sometimes amateurish, sometimes aggressive, but very beautiful music inside.

Album Covers, Part 2

2009-08-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here is the second installment of 40 of my favorite album covers. These next ten (of 40) cover the years from 1967-1975. (My all-time top five will be discussed in a separate post.)

Once again, my excitement in sharing these with you is tempered by the teensy size of these photos, which in several circumstances keep from properly conveying the majesty of these sleeves. Nonetheless, hope you enjoy!

Mr. Fantasy, Traffic, 1967
I find this one of the few psychedelic covers to really capture the mystical, druggy bent of the time as well as the sense of adventure of "getting it together in the country." This was shot in Traffic's communal house in the Berkshire countryside, where the album's music was written and created, minds were blown, and lives were altered.

The Beatles, 1968
Things are seldom what they seem, in the words of W.S. Gilbert. "It's just a white sleeve!" some whined at the time. Well, no. First off, coming out of the splashy psychedelic age, a return to simplicity was a masterstroke. Plus, "The Beatles" is raised in relief on the cover. The original pressings were numbered (starting at #0000001). And the typography on the back is stunning in its deco simplicity. Once you got inside, there were pictures and a foldout poster with lyrics and candid shots. It's a triumph for British pop-artist extraordinaire Richard Hamilton.

Abbey Road, The Beatles, 1969
Including Beatles sleeves here is almost too easy, but objectivity forced me to remove some which are either too busy (Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour) or just not that appealing in the long run (Rubber Soul, Revolver). This has the advantage of being an arresting, crisply executed image of a moment in time that has often been imitated, usually poorly. Are you listening, Paul is Live?

Space, Modern Jazz Quartet, 1969
The veteran jazz group's second and last album on the Beatles' Apple label features a harsh, almost orgasmic abstract painting of fiery reds, purples, and black and white slashes. The painting also has inlaid metal balls, the largest of which reflects the photographer shooting it. Genius. I wish I had a better copy to show you. The only negative is the inclusion of the apple in the upper right.

Live Peace in Toronto, The Plastic Ono Band, 1969
Maybe it's a simple image, but it's a gorgeous simple image, one that contrasts markedly with the often chaotic music inside.

The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby, 1970
Chess Records of Chicago (and associated labels Cadet and Checker) put out a lot of great soul, jazz, and funk albums (with superb covers) around this time. This one features Ms. Ashby, a hard-partying funk-inspired singer/harpist, playing a Japanese koto on a huge oriental rug. Putting the artist in the upper left corner and giving most of the shot to the rug itself couldn't be much cooler. The album itself, a series of songs inspired by the poetry of Omar Khayyam, is rather amazing.

Abraxas, Santana, 1970
Many late 60s/early 70s album covers just look like technicolor vomit. But this one is special. Artist Mati Klarwein, a brilliant "primitive" before the term had been defined, painted 'Annunciation' back in 1961, when Carlos Santana was still playing with tinkertoys. Like the gorgeously textured and lovely music inside, the cover is almost an embarrassment of riches both sacred and profane. Mati himself is shown wearing a straw hat on the left. Wish this picture was bigger. Seeing it on a foldout LP is tremendous; on a CD, not so much.

Talking Book, Stevie Wonder, 1972
When my mom got this album in the early 70s, I didn't even know that Stevie Wonder was blind. I just thought it was cool that he was wearing this great robe and sitting playing in the dirt. Knowing that this was just his second album free from the Motown machine, a journey of self-discovery made public, it takes on extra resonance for me...I love that he is searching for answers and information in the earth.

Late for the Sky, Jackson Browne, 1974
Many 70s L.A. album covers exude an unearned sense of terminal coolness. This Magritte-inspired image, however, perfectly balances surrealism and ultra-realism. The daytime sky, night street scene, and perfectly appointed vintage car fuse into an unreal tableau of beauty and uncertainty. Placing this scene in a fashionable neighborhood is necessary to maintain the altered reality of the situation.

Bob Marley and the Wailers Live!, 1975
Reggae covers aren't always the most interesting in the record racks. But this one bursts with energy. The use of the red, green, and yellow is not particulary groundbreaking, but Marley's exuberance is palpable and the entire package just explodes.

Next time, we move into the new wave.

Album Covers, Part 1

2009-08-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

After all these years, I figured it was time to talk about album covers. Vinyl records have never really gone away, and now the younger generation seems to be discovering the joy of vintage music packaging. I'm glad.

So I've been sorting through my own faves and decided to come up with a list, which will (one hopes) invoke discussion.

Everyone has different tastes in what they like in album covers. The choices on this list are informed by interests in mid-century modern art, minimalism, and pop.

As a result, you'll see no Yes albums featuring Roger Dean's adolescent space fantasies. No hair-metal pretty-boy-in-makeup shots. No silly wet dreams of priests drowning in thunderstorm-swollen rivers, leering skeletons, fly girls in lingerie, rappers in mall gear, or three-breasted vixens eating alien hedgehogs. Sorry.

In addition, most of these sleeves hold records that I love. That's probably because of shared sensibilities. Of course, plenty of albums high on my musical list have covers I consider unsightly (Buffalo Springfield Again, most of REM's and the Velvets' oeuvre, all of Juanes' LPs, and the Beach Boys' Friends are particularly egregious offenders).

Many new groups' releases feature cartoons or "naive" drawings, which as album cover art generally aren't my cup of tea.

In addition, I can't claim to know much about LPs from around the world, so these selections are limited to North America and the U.K.

So what makes a good album cover? It's not just an arresting image, although that's critical. For me, it's the way the cover works with the music inside; whether it's a cool image that I'd want to look at repeatedly; and the circumstances from which it came. Yes, I'm one of those annoying history geeks.

So, anyhoo, I compiled 40 great ones, and then five others that I considered my all-time favorites. To drag out the suspense interminably, I'll list the first 40 of them chronologically. Once I've gone through the 40, the all-time top five will then follow.

Off we go.

In the Wee Small Hours, Frank Sinatra, 1955
Most of Sinatra's drama came from the sense that it was just he and you alone in a room, him singing his heart out for a woman who's gone away. The loneliness of the music in this great album is even more palpable than the utter desolation of the cover.

Elvis Presley, 1957
Some people prefer the Clash's London Calling to this. I think that this shot of Elvis, from his first album (not second--thanks Bob), is FAR more interesting than one of Paul Simonon smashing a perfectly good bass guitar. And shouldn't originality count for something? This has inspired dozens of parodies.

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, 1963
Many Dylan covers lend themselves to parody because the images are as strong as the music inside. This is my favorite. Suze Rotolo and her guy are walking confidently not on the sidewalk, but rather through the middle of a slushy street. There's a message there, no?

Please Please Me, The Beatles, 1963
What a punch in the gut! Here's an incredibly charismatic bunch of young men--none older than 22--looking down with total confidence from a modern British office building. Far above what other pop performers were doing at the time, and still shocking today.

Getz-a-Go-Go, Stan Getz, 1964
The smoky, sexy music inside this foldout cover is perfectly complemented by the pictures and graphics. Getz, directing the band, was a master of his instrument, and it really is his show. The colors, type, and images are just perfect.

I Like God's Style, Isabel Baker, 1965?
An album that even most music freaks haven't heard, and one that even fewer people could stand to listen to. Isabel Baker, a gravel-voiced teenage girl from Orange County, did this devotional album in the mid-60s to show her love for Jesus. That's fine, but just bathe me in gold and purple and tell me more about the mod-dressed blonde playing that guitar!

Mr. Tambourine Man, The Byrds, 1965
Oddly enough for such a groundbreaking band, most of the Byrds' sleeves are conventional and, ultimately, disposable. For their first album, though, the distortion of the fisheye lens puts the band, which explored the tension between distance and passion in its music, at the forefront of 1965 rock design. Making the photographic technique part of the cover itself inspired ensuing sleeves by the Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Pink Floyd, and Captain Beefheart, to name just a few. It's ineffably cool.

My Generation, The Who, 1965
The Who may not have been qualified to win beauty contests, but this shot from their debut album spells out exactly what they were: sharp-dressed, aggressive, uncompromising, and a perfect mix of street smarts and art school hip. Bands still try to look like this.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, The Pink Floyd, 1967
Interesting looking band + great clothes + good pose + interesting photographic effect = one of the signature sleeves of its decade.

Between the Buttons, The Rolling Stones, 1967
Of all the Stones' "company front" covers, I like this one the best. It's a harsh image, borrowing the worn-down star look from 'Beatles For sale' and bringing it one step further, deep into the Stones' hard-partying world of winter 66/spring 67 and the effect that the lifestyle was having on most members of the group.

British minimalism, Chicago jazz funk, and eight more coming in my next post! Thanks for coming by.

ANNOUNCING...

2009-08-09T22:02:00.000-07:00

...available now in stores and on the web. Thanks.

A Reminder of Why I Love Baseball

2009-07-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

Congrats, Mark Buehrle! And WHAT A PLAY.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090723&content_id=6021466&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Let's Fix Our Language

2009-07-19T23:23:00.001-07:00

Every so often, the English language needs to go through some sort of purifying ceremony. Happily, nobody says "Neo-Geo," "Fresh frozen," "Humanitarian aid for the Contras," "that shit is wack," or "barf me out" anymore.

So what tired words or phrases can we get rid of, starting now? Here are five nominees:

*Stimulus package
*Tweeting
*The Greatest Generation
*"Deets"
*Babydaddy

What are yours?

"She's Gone"

2009-07-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

This is a cool little record done in 1966 by a man named Jerry Ghan, known professionally as Jerry G. Bishop.

Many of you may not know him. But if you lived in Chicago in the late 60s and early 70s, you might have an idea of his work.

Jerry G. Bishop was a good Top 40 disc jockey who he came to WCFL in early '67. By 1970 he had left radio and instead graduated to hosting the "Screaming Yellow Theater" comedy-cum-horror-movie show on Channel 32. Bishop's "Sven Goolie" character was a dizzy hippie who told terrible jokes and introduced low-budget "scary" films. Bishop also played other characters on the show, sang wacky songs, etc. The show was popular enough that celebrities came down to Channel 32's studios to hang out. I thought he was great, even though a lot of the material went over my nine-year-old head.

After WFLD cancelled the show in 1973, Bishop went to Channel 5 in Chicago, then out to the west and back to radio. Out of the business now, he currently lives in San Diego, where he and his wife run a couple of restaurants.

(The current MeTV show Sven Goolie features Rich Koz, a writer for Bishop's show who has been playing the role now for nearly 30 years. Koz, a legend in this town in his own right, plays SG as a more campy fake-horror guy, almost like a real-life Count Floyd.) Bring on the rubber chickens!

But I digress. (REALLY digress.) This single, made in Cleveland, where Bishop was a popular DJ on WKYC before coming to Chicago, has a foundation in Northern Soul, with aggressive on-the-one drumming, high-mixed horns, and a strong vocal chorus.

But while it's been a favorite at times in Britain's notorious Northern Soul scene, it's not prototypical, being perhaps too poppy. It also has some production that's perhaps too esoteric for the Northern genre, including what sounds like a tack piano on the bridge.

My old friend Clark Besch played this for me some 20 years ago, and I've been looking for my own copy ever since. I recently snagged one on eBay. Hurray!

Hope you enjoy. "Life is made for loving," indeed.

The Bardball Bardcast!

2009-07-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

Baseball lovers...poetry lovers...and anyone else...

Click here to listen to Bardball.com's second baseball poetry podcast, featuring poems by Todd Herges, Tom Djya, and James Finn Garner, among others.

Best,

Stu

He Was Love

2009-06-25T16:27:00.000-07:00

The news of Michael Jackson's passing is shocking, but perhaps not surprising.

Many of Jackson's troubles--and there were a lot--were self-created. He was said to be capricous in his relationships, prone to erratic, druggy behavior, and, worst of all, apparently abusive to children. If half of what his detractors say about him is true, then he was often a terrible person.

But extenuating circumstances exist which help explain, if not forgive, his dysfunctionality. How could his life have ever been normal, what with an abusive father, a childhood spent performing rather than playing, and the misfortune to grow up in the public eye?

The books will be written about his life, his death, and his troubles. I don't plan on reading them. But what I will do is remember the music he and his family made that transcends the worst of human behavior.

"I Am Love" is not a commonly known Jackson 5 track these days. The reference books state that it was a #15 single in early 1975. From their second-to-last album on Motown, Dancing Machine, its seven-minute length make it difficult to program on oldies radio (even though an AM-friendly mix was made at the time).

But I remember this song so well...in those long-ago days, when I was approaching 12 years of age, and trying to figure out what this world, and its people, and relationships, and music, were all about, this song sounded like the Godhead itself.

Beginning slowly, almost mournfully, with Jermaine Jackson's pleading vocal, "I Am Love" is rooted by a lovely, gauzy electric piano. The spare instrumentation establishes a lovely, lush, and almost trippy feel, while the short chorus phrase gets all odd and psychedelic.

Soon, the tempo builds, first to a crawl, with funky bass and clavinet underpinning the arrangement. Michael takes the mic and sings powerfully, doing a masterful job singing good, but difficult to scan, lyrics.

Then the band kicks into double-time! Congas join the party, and fuzzy guitar and synthesizers take solos before all five Jacksons come back to the arrangement, trading phrases and never sounding more together than on this desperate, but uplifting and driving, hymn to the power of love.

It's their great psychedelic funk masterwork, one that never fails to inspire me with its passion.

And that's how I choose to remember Michael Jackson.

Uneasy Ride

2009-06-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

Here's my song of the moment. "Easy Ride" is by a 1970s California band called Relatively Clean Rivers, headed by a fellow named Phil Pearlman, known to 1960s psychedelic obsessives for a project called Beat of the Earth.

While this song, the first on the band's only LP, has been compared to the Grateful Dead for its loping tempo, the constrained and close-ended feel make it a bit too dark for the Dead (who, frankly, I don't really dig).

The occasionally Dylanesque delivery doesn't really fit the lyrics; the guitars are crystalline and the harmonies have enough blue notes to feel a bit unsettling. Like most songs on these self-pressed records, it seems more than slightly out of time, existing in its own world. It certainly doesn't sound as if it were released in 1975.

Great album cover, too, huh? I love this song. Hope you dig it too.

More on Relatively Clean Rivers.

In Memory of Paul D'Alton

2009-05-27T16:33:00.000-07:00

Word has reached this outpost that Paul D'Alton, drummer with the Patron Saints in 1969, has passed away.

Mr. D'Alton was behind the drum kit for the Patron Saints' incomparable album Fohhoh Bohob, a record made by three excited and motivated teenagers at the D'Alton's house in July 1969, right around the time of the first moon landing.

Fohhoh Bohob travels in its own independent, self-created universe, with a sort of folk-psychedelic style which Eric Bergman, PS bass player and composer, notes was somewhat influenced by British R&B, Love's Forever Changes, and The Who Sell Out.

Multicolored bees carrying traces of folk, vaudeville, straight pop, and acid rock swoop down at various points to pollinate the album's nine songs, which have an astounding lyrical maturity in their explorations of love, loss, the beauty of nature, and the joy of being high...high in many different ways.

Composers Bergman and the late Jonathan Tuttle, and D'Alton, captured a timeless feeling with this album, and Fohhoh Bohob always gives me a sense of what it must have felt like to be 17 in the summer of 1969, when men were about to walk on the moon, the formerly pathetic New York Mets (!) were winning, men wore flowered shirts, and the Beatles still seemed, to most of the world, to be completely together.

That doesn't mean everything was candy and balloons. Some of the album's songs confronted emotional instability head-on, and the teenage love affairs the band lived were often painful. The war and racial issues were never far from anyone's mind at the time, and the recent death of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones had hit the Patron Saints hard.

The album itself, balancing gloom and joy, folk and rock, electric guitars and autoharps, is completely singular. That Fohhoh Bohob, pressed by the band itself in just 100 copies, gained no notoriety at the time is sad. But the whole world can hear it now. Remaining in thrall to the ever-thrilling power of music, I point you humbly to Eric Bergman's site if you wish to learn more.

This song, Eric Bergman's "White Light," ends side one of Bohob. It is posted in memory of both Paul D'Alton and Jonathan Tuttle.

Larry Epke, Whom I Miss So Much

2009-05-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

My friend Larry Epke died a couple of weeks ago at age 57 of a sudden, massive heart attack while visiting family in St. Louis. I’ve been carrying him around in my mind ever since.

Larry and I met about 20 years ago through a baseball project for which we both volunteered. We soon found out that while we both loved baseball, we had more in common, including politics, alternative culture, music, and food.

Back then, Larry was a grain inspector for General Mills. He’d gone to Bowling Green University, where they had a great popular culture department and library, and had graduated from high school in 1969. He’d traveled around the country, working in New Orleans and in the Pacific Northwest, and I was amazed by how much he knew about so many things. He was a pack rat, though a very organized one.

I came to see Larry as a mentor. He remembered things; he processed history and understood it and he was savvy. He introduced me to so much: Terry Riley, Stephen Scott, Brian Eno, the MC5, Sun Ra, Pogo, Jack Kerouac…he was a huge fan of the Velvet Underground, Howlin’ Wolf, beatnik jazz and early-1900s hillbilly music, alternative comics, baseball history, 78 RPM records, and 60s garage-punk. He went to the first WOMAD festival and told me all about a great singer he’d seen named Sheila Chandra.

We shared Indian buffet, Chinese dinners (he found the good restaurants in Chinatown), took the occasional road trip, saw concerts, and went to ballgames, baseball research conferences, and record and book sales. In short, we hung around, although never as often as I would have liked; he lived in the far south suburbs and I way up north by Evanston.

Larry also taught me that you could have a wide set of interests and still be amazingly normal. He was fairly quiet, a wine drinker rather than a beer drinker, almost radical politically but with smarts, empathy, and a great sense of humor. He still loved the Cleveland Indians after all these years.

Many times he came to see bands I played with. We met downtown for lunch. He often commented in this blog, and he read the books I wrote and shared feedback on them. His friendship was precious in so many ways.

Given the depth and breadth of his somewhat unusual interests—alternative culture, music, politics, food, baseball ephemera—it’s surprising to note just how normal he was. Larry was the most well adjusted guy I have ever met; he worked for the CHA, where his colleagues adored him. Kids liked him; even my wife, sometimes a tough sell (especially when music geeks are concerned), thought that he was pretty damn cool. There were no skeletons in his closet…there were, however, plenty of CDs and magazines stuffed in there.

He and his wife Diane lived in a lovely split-level house in Richton Park. Diane had been married before the two of them met, and had three children. Larry was very proud of his stepchildren and talked about them often. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting his stepson Micah and his wife Laura. They’re great people, and Diane is a sweetheart. It hurts that they’ve lost someone who was so important to them. Larry was way too young to go.

Two nights ago, I dreamed that Larry was alive. He had written a successful book and was starring in a reality TV series (and for Larry, that would have been the most ridiculous notion in the world). My reaction in the dream is that I was angry that he hadn’t told me about all these wild things he was doing. Plus, I said, annoyed, “I thought you were gone. How can you still be here when you’re dead?”

“I’m not gone. I’m still here,” he said, with the beatific, kind smile that he always shared whenever he saw the humor in something.

The way I’m getting through him being gone is by believing that he’s still here. And I guess that keeping someone who you cared about in your thoughts, memories, and dreams is the best that a person can do.

We all have regrets. One of mine is not seeing Uncle Lar for the last couple of months of his life. I sent a CD to him that didn’t reach him until a few days after he had passed, and even that little thing hurts terribly.

I never told you how much I loved and admired you, Larry, but I did. I do. Hang loose up there; maybe you’re hanging out with some of the people you admired: Abbie Hoffman, Sterling Morrison, Lester Bangs, Jack Kerouac, Bessie Smith, Walt Kelly, Lennon, Janis, Larry Doby…

They’re all lucky. We miss you terribly down here. I miss you terribly down here.

Peace, brother. Thank you for so much...

Some Sort of Placeholder

2009-05-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

Haven't written much lately. But to possibly start some conversation, here's a list I did awhile ago of my 40 favorite albums.

There are a few missing plates from this dinette set--The Cryan' Shames' A Scratch in the Sky, Pet Sounds, Repercussion by the dB's, Dylan's Bringing it All Back Home, Skylarking by XTC--but I'm pretty comfortable with this list.

In alphabetical order:

*The Beach Boys, Friends, 1968. Anyone who doubts the healing power of music can start here.

*With the Beatles, 1963. Awe-inspring in its energy, songcraft, and performance.

*The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, 1964. Sees them at some sort of peak; 13 fabulous original songs, not a clunker among 'em.

*The Beatles, Revolver, 1966. Just the greatest record by the greatest band.

*The Beatles (White Album), 1968. Sprawling and flawed as hell, but amazing nonetheless.

*Bee Gees 1st, 1967. Baroque pop perfection. The confidence and vision are still astounding.

*Big Star, #1 Record, 1972. A nearly perfect pop-rock album.

*The Byrds, Younger Than Yesterday, 1967. In early 1967 the Byrds were the only act that could look the Beatles in the eye without having to blink.

*The Byrds, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, 1968. While crumbling, the band left one last magical artifact.

*Can, Soundtracks, 1970. It has "Mother Sky," and the rest of it is almost as great.

*Sheila Chandra, ABoneCroneDrone, 1996. Nobody has ever figured out how to make a more psychedelic sound than Sheila Chandra and Steve Coe.

*Charlatans UK, Some Friendly, 1990. Takes familiar ingredients and makes something new and vital.

*Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Get Happy!! 1980. Nothing has ever sounded like this.

*Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Imperial Bedroom, 1982. Some of his best songs are here, and certainly his best production and arrangement.

*Miles Davis, In a Silent Way, 1969. The sound of great musicians exploring the very concepts they hold so dear.

*Nick Drake, Bryter Layter, 1970. Any one of his three albums could have gone on this list; tomorrow my pick might change.

*Green (1st album), 1985. The best album to come from my favorite city in the world. All hail Jeff Lescher.

*Herbie Hancock, Blow-Up (soundtrack), 1967. Sure, it's swinging and cool, but it also features lovely shards of melody and great playing by musicians stretching themselves into all directions.

*Juanes, Mi Sangre, 2004. He's the last rock star the world will ever need. Witty, talented, and a hell of a musician.

*John Lennon, Imagine, 1971. The groom stripped bare by his bachelors, even. As harrowing in its own way as Plastic Ono Band.

*The Kinks, Face to Face, 1966. I wish they'd have had better production, but that's my only regret.

*Love, Forever Changes, 1967. As a last will and testament, it's pretty damn convincing. Some of the most beautiful arrangements ever.

*Orange Juice, You Can't Hide Your Love Forever, 1982. If punk had only led to this one album, it would have been worth it.

*The Patron Saints, Fohhoh Bohob, 1969. Homemade folk-psych that exists in its own glorious universe.

*Pink Floyd, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 1967. Syd Barrett laid it all out for us, going so far out he couldn’t come back.

*Pink Floyd, Meddle, 1971. Could be the best album of the 1970s. “Echoes” is beyond words.

*Public Image Limited, The Flowers of Romance, 1981. Nobody else I know likes this album, but I don't give a damn.

*R.E.M., Murmur, 1983. This is the American post-punk album; it has a mood all its own and continues to beguile.

*Terry Riley, A Rainbow in Curved Air, 1969. Swirling, adventurous, mind bending, full-on psychedelic. Somewhere between rock and roll, Indian music, and modern classical.

*Sade, Love Deluxe, 1992. Nothing has ever sounded like this, part II.

*Santana, Abraxas, 1970. The template by which all future genre-bending experiments should be matched.

*Seefeel, Quique, 1993. As weird as My Bloody Valentine and, for my money, more interesting.

*Spacemen 3, Recurring, 1991. An aural trip. Believe me, I know.

*Squeeze, East Side Story, 1980. At this time, they were the best songwriters with the best songs, best singing, and best playing.

*Steely Dan, Countdown to Ecstasy, 1973. For various reasons, their most human record; the songs and performance are stunners.

*Thievery Corporation, The Outernational Sound, 2004. They're great DJs because they care about songs more than they care about beat-matching or other such b.s. They could have had at least one more CD on this list.

*Trizo 50, 1974. Incomparable American power-pop/glam/60s-inspired homemade rock.

*Various Artists, Excursions in Ambience, Volume 1, 1993. This nearly flawless album opened my mind to new ways of hearing music.

*The Velvet Underground (3rd album), 1969. Either mix of this superb album works its magic.

*Zeitgeist, Translate Slowly, 1995. Lo-fi production, hi-quality songs, superb band dynamic.

Way to Go!

2009-04-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

My great friend Mark Caro made The New York Times! Here's a NYT book review section containing a capsule discussing his fun and funny new book, The Foie Gras Wars. Congrats!

You can learn more about the book here.

Just One Song, Part 5

2009-03-22T20:17:00.000-07:00

The winner of the Just One Song Part 4 contest is....Larry Epke! As a prize for sharing his opinions on this blog, he will receive, by U.S. Postal Service, a specially recorded compilation CD.

This time around, for part five, I'm going to pick artists who have a very large body of work from which to select. It's going to be a little torturous for me to choose just one song by these artists, but maybe that's the point.

Here are our four artists for Just One Song, Part 5:

*Elvis Costello, with or without the Attractions

*The Supremes, with or without Diana Ross

*The Who

*James Brown

So before we recess so that you can consider your votes, I'll give you my choices for "just one song," at least the just one song I'd choose today, at this hour, on this computer.

Elvis Costello & the Attractions: There are so many possibilities here, but I'm going to go with I feel is the single most astonishing song Costello ever did: "Beyond Belief."

The leadoff track on 1982's Imperial Bedroom has a sonic universe entirely its own; a dramatic, foreboding lyric; a riveting, unwinding melodic progression that never repeats; and a spectacular performance by both singer and backing musicians. Pete Thomas' drumming, in particular, is amazing...It apparently came on a first magical take after a long night out.

The track doesn't sound like anything Elvis ever recorded, and in fact doesn't sound like anything anyone has ever recorded.

For those of you who don't know it, here it is.

Let's see...

Picking a song by the Supremes is really an interesting exercise. Like other Motown acts in the 1960s, many of their album tracks were simply covers of other Motown artists' hits. But there are occasional great Supremes songs that aren't often heard. "He's All I Got," the b-side to 1966's "Love is Like an Itching in My Heart," is superb, a bright shiny melody, interesting backing, and excellent trio performance.

But I'll go with "You Keep Me Hangin' On," a rapid-fire bolt of lightning also from 1966. Its unique Morse Code-like guitar intro sets an immediate sense of danger and impending terror, and the rushed, almost breathless pace and amazing on-the-one beat lend an emotional impact to the song. The Supremes themselves are also outstanding on this record.

Moving on to The Who...it's almost like they were a different band every album, so picking their best song could be seen as a referendum on which iteration of the Who one likes the best.

But although my favorite album of the band's is Sell Out, my favorite Who joint is "Bargain," from Who's Next. Roger Daltrey is a star here, and the band is hot, mastering both the heavy and quiet sections; Townshend's vocal on the bridge is one of his best ever. There's a lot of competition for the best Who song, and some other faves would include "Out in the Street," "Run Run Run," "The Kids are Alright," "Sunrise," "Summertime Blues," and "Glow Girl."

It's not quite so hard for me to pick a favorite James Brown song. While "Sexy Sexy Sexy," "Hot Pants," and "Cold Sweat" are great, the one I like the best, by a good margin, is "Licking Stick--Licking Stick" from 1968. There's something about his interaction with Maceo Parker that just shines, and the beat is fearsome. My friends Carlos and Andie had it played at their wedding, and that's good enough for me.

So...looking forward to hearing your opinions! Peace. In a couple weeks, I'll select a lucky winner from all the responses.

Hallooo

2009-03-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone. Just wanted to drop by and sit a spell.

For those of you who watch the FOX TV series "House," you may be interested in this weekly blog by my good friend Laura Enright. She's an Assistant Editor at Pioneer Local and also wrote Chicago's Most Wanted, which you can still find in the bookstores and is a great book about the best city in the world.

I will be awarding a winner in the previous "Just One Song" contest in a day or so as well as beginning a new contest!

Now, for some things that I believe.

I believe that the best pizza in the world is not as good as the worst sex in the world.

I believe that the best sex in the world is on a pizza.

I believe that when one lectures Peter Cetera for his David Gates-ish tendencies, one is doing so as a compliment.

I believe that the best thing about America is that our laws make it expressly clear that it would be WRONG to take Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Dick Chaney, tie them together with a rusty, greasy bicycle chain, strip them naked, cover them in Elmer’s glue, roll them in pencil shavings and sawdust, strap jalapeno peppers across the bottoms of their noses, coat their lips with peanut butter and let the flies in, make them do half-knee bends and stay that way, dip their hands in warm water, and shovel very warm coals around their feet.

Yes, that would be WRONG.

Just One Song, Part 4

2009-02-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

Hello again, everybody!

It's time for part four of the Just One Song game. Choose, if you will, your one song by each of the following artists. And please feel free to write as much as you like about your choices!

Sometime soon I'll mix up the names of everyone who contributed a choice to parts three or four and award one hand-selected winner a special mix CD.

So...if you could only pick one song by each of the four following acts...what would that song be? Don't be shy, now! Step right up.

*The Cars

*The Jefferson Airplane/Starship thingy

*The Guess Who

*The Marvelettes

Larry has requested the Who once or twice...but I almost feel like it'd be too much to ask most people to take one Who song. What do y'all think? Should we do The Who in a later part of this game?

Looking forward to your picks! Thanks for playing and thanks, as always, for your support!

Here are my choices for each of the four.

The Cars. This was a surprisingly difficult decision.

Like most people of my profile and age, I liked the Cars a lot in the late 1970s. I thought they ran out of gas, ha ha, in the early 1980s. But the good stuff was very good: hooky, catchy pop, Roy Thomas Baker's slick production echoing Queen and Roxy Music. Add to that Ric Ocasek's 60s fixation, an odd mix of low and high tech, and the influence of oddballs like Suicide and the Velvets, and you have one of the odder bands ever to craft Top 40 material.

So let's go, or rather touch and go, down the magic memory lane of hits. There are several ones I could pick...but I'm gonna go with the incandescent "Shake It Up," the title track from their fourth album, which barely noses out "You're All I've Got Tonight," "Touch and Go," "I'm Not the One," "Drive," and "Good Times Roll."

*The Jefferson Airplane/Starship amalgamation. Despite plenty of good competition, it's got to be "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds" off their second album, Surrealistic Pillow.

Side two opens with "3/5 of a Mile," a phrase that Marty Balin picked out of a newspaper sports section. The guitars are great, the drumming punchy from the opening fill, and the three-part harmony both plangent and transporting. Marty Balin's lead vocal, alienated and pissed off, brims with the simple need to be loved, while Grace Slick and Paul Kantner's harmonies were never better.

*The Guess Who. Their early period, which produced timeless radio fodder like "Undun," "No Sugar Tonight," "No Time," and "American Woman" as well as more obscure stuff like "When Friends Fall Out," gave away to a pretty fallow period from 1971-73, but then again during those years a lot of good bands were falling apart.

But late in 1973, the rollicking, joyful "Star Baby" reasserted the GW as a first-rate singles band. From the cold opening Burton Cummings' voice and piano are out front, and the sea of guitars, slide and otherwise, propel a witty lyric and winning melody into pop heaven. And as good as some of their other material was from this time ("Clap for the Wolfman," "Road Food,") nothing the band ever did before or after neared the pop perfection of "Star Baby." It only reached #39 nationally, but in Chicago it was in the top three. Which says something for the way this city an appreciate great rock and roll.

*The Marvelettes. I've always had a soft spot for these bratty youngsters from Detroit, all the way from "Please Mr. Postman" and "Playboy" through the remarkably tough "Don't Mess With Bill" and "Too Many Fish in the Sea," which took the female empowerment message of "Playboy" and wedded it to an evergreen Holland-Dozier-Holland melody.

But my favorite of this group's has to be the Smokey Robinson composition "The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game" from 1967. It's almost an art song, with its morose harmonica melody. The backing is fairly standard Motown--reedy electric organ, aggressive drums, and a loping bass line--but the midtempo pace and the almost Asian melody are unusual for Berry Gordy's company, at least on a 45 rpm release.

Wanda Young handles the difficult lyrics with aplomb, stylishly conveying the unpredictability of love: you think you're in control, and you're the one on top...but the situation can change in an instant. If you haven't heard this one, here it is. Peace.

Fine Dining in Chicago!

2009-01-29T21:24:00.000-08:00

A great rundown of the restaurants of Lincoln Square, courtesy of Jim Garner, Leo Ford, Lauren Elkin, and others.

Yum!

Just One Song, Part 3

2009-01-22T16:03:00.001-08:00

Hi, again, everyone. Happy New Government!

The theme for this edition of "Just One Song" is slightly different. My great friend Frank Kras suggested that each of us choose a song that we love that nobody else seems to have heard.

To start off, I'll post his song, which I'd never heard OF, much less heard. "Scottish Rite Temple Stomp" is by a band called Ninian Hawick. I'll let him provide the rest of the background on a later post. Here's the song, which is a real cracker!

I kicked around several ideas for my song that I love which nobody else seems to have heard. The one I chose is a bit of a cheat, because someone else I know has heard it.

The Things were a three-piece mid-1980s band from California who took their inspiration from sounds 20 years before. Their first waxing, Coloured Heaven, is stuffed full of gems, one of which--"All the Time"--is my choice.

I could have just as easily picked three or four other terrific tunes from this utterly forgotten album, which came out on the Voxx label in 1984 and has never been issued on CD. I've never even seen a copy of the record.

So how did I hear it? An old friend, Tony P., hipped me to it in the 1980s, taping the album for me on a Maxell II cassette. But since Tony and I have unfortunately lost touch, it almost counts as nobody having heard it. Thanks, Tony. Wish I knew where you are.

Please turn this up, as the file I uploaded is very weak.

Hope you enjoyed at least one of these songs, and hopefully both. What are your picks? If you can't post them in a comment, you could email them to me and I could post 'em for you.

Peace.

We Have a Winner

2009-01-16T14:35:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Amy DeFalco, winner of the first Just One Song mix CD giveaway. I'll be shipping Amy, in the next few days, a special mix CD of hidden pop gems, soulful anthems, and utter hogwash.

Just for further edification, today's lucky (!) recipient was selected using real science. The name of every respondent for parts 1 and 2 was entered into a list; if you responded twice, you were listed twice, increasing your chance of winning. A random number generator was then utilized to choose the winner.

I'll be returning with a new Just One Song in the next few days, and hope that you'll check in again!

Peace.

The Sum of US

2009-01-15T21:44:00.000-08:00

A local production of "The Sum of US," opens today at the Evanston Arts Depot, 500 Main Street (adjacent to the Main St. Metra).

Set near Melbourne, Australia in 1990, this somewhat twisted but funny and sweet modern-day family drama centers on a widower and his gay son and their various romantic and interpersonal entanglements.

David Stevens' play was adapted for film in 1994, with Russell Crowe starring. Here, the direction is by Robert D. Estrin.

My friend Ted Harris recorded the incidental music for the production; one piece is a new version of "Sweet Boy," a song written by Shannon Saunders, Ted, and myself and recorded, several times, by our various pop groups.

Here's a short video preview of what's going on here. I'm looking forward to catching this show. It runs Friday nights and Saturday nights at 7:30 and Sunday afternoons at 2:30 through February 7.
See you there.

Be Seeing You

2009-01-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

A toast to the late Patrick McGoohan, one of the greatest actors of all. I think The Prisoner is among the best shows ever to air on American television.

Just One Song, Part 2

2009-01-11T20:45:00.000-08:00

Hey, folks. Well, Just One Song part 1 was fun, wasn't it?

Seems like the secret to this is to find artists who have done a lot of music, are known enough to evince opinions, but may not be as hard to pick just one song from. Of course, it really is impossible to choose just one song from a great artist, because our minds change so much that tomorrow's favorite may not be even in your mind today.

But it can be fun to do the exercise anyway!

So let's make it a semi-regular feature. Every two or three times I do this game, I'll put every respondent's name in a hat, pick out a name, and send the lucky one a custom mix CD. So here's part two...

If you could only have one song from each of the following acts, what song would it be?

*Simon & Garfunkel
*The Platters
*Paul Revere & the Raiders
*The Clash

Below, should you wish to peruse, are my selections...thanks for reading and checking in!

Peace.

Simon & Garfunkel: Extremely tough choice; I often like their album tracks better than their singles. "Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall," from 1966, has everything I love about S&G in spades.

The Platters: "Only You," one of my mother's favorite songs.

Paul Revere & the Raiders: Surprisingly tough; so many A-1 singles. I'll go with "The Great Airplane Strike," one of the great guitar 45s of the 1960s.

The Clash: "Brand New Cadillac."

Ron Asheton, R.I.P.

2009-01-07T15:07:00.000-08:00

Ron Asheton, guitarist of the Stooges, passed away on New Year's Day at age 60.

Some people think the Stooges were about their singer, Iggy Pop. Perhaps they were. But looking back and listening back 40 years later, I think the Stooges were about Ron Asheton's fiery, unleashed, manic weed-and-speed guitar playing.

This cut, "1969"--the first track from their first album, The Stooges--makes my case better than anything else I could write. Turn up, if your speakers can handle it.

R.I.P., Mr. Asheton, or if you prefer, rest in a cacophonous haze of wah-wah, distortion, and feedback.

Just One Song, Part 1

2009-01-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

What would you do if you had to choose just one song by some of your favorite acts? For some groups, it's easy. How many people are going to take anything by the Syndicate of Sound besides "Little Girl"? Can anyone rate a Dionne Farriss song higher than "I Know"? You get my point.

Well, let's have a game. I'll propose a few acts, and you can fill in your "only one song." I'll stay away from what I consider impossible ones, like The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Elvises Costello or Presley, The Beach Boys, XTC, or The Velvet Underground.

So what would your one song be from...

*Tommy James & the Shondells?

*Nirvana?

*The Hollies?

*Ray Charles?

I've got my choices, as difficult as they are, and I'll post 'em in a few days. Let me know yours!

On a complete tangent, I hope you enjoy this next song, a nutritious chunk of power-pop goodness from 1978 by a group called Fotomaker.

Before learning about this song, I'd always wondered what happened to the Young Rascals after they broke up in the early 1970s. Two of them--drummer Dino Dannelli and guitarist/bassist Gene Cornish--started Fotomaker, a New Jersey-based power-pop project with guitarist Wally Bryson, who'd been in Ohio's Raspberries, and two local musicians, Frank Vinci and Lex Marchesi.

None of their three albums bothered the charts, but this single, "Where Have You Been All My Life," reached #81 on the Billboard singles lists in spring 1978. It's a timeless power-pop creation, containing all the genre's signature elements: tons of guitars, both chiming and crunchy; a lovely melody; glossy harmonies; and an imaginative arrangement. Fotomaker then ice the cake with a somewhat overwrought string arrangement.

Unfortunately, the power-pop explosion was short-lived, and many great groups of the time were left clutching excellent singles and albums that wilted commercially in the wakes of the disco craze and the onrushing punk movement. At least we can now enjoy Fotomaker's music, from 30 years in the rearview mirror, without having to be too embarrassed by their awful name.

Christmas Time

2008-12-22T22:36:00.000-08:00

My favorite rock and roll Christmas song of all time, by Chris Stamey. "Christmas Time," from 1985, features the dB's, a great pop band from Winston-Salem North Carolina that Stamey had helped found before leaving in 1983.

This song was originally issued on the 1985 mini-album Christmas Time. The remainder of the tracks feature Mary Mac, Kathy Harrington, and Ted Lyons, who comprised Stamey's regular band at the time. The remainder of the LP veers from ambient meditations to girl-group fizz and inspired lunacy. It's definitely worth picking up; a CD reissue added several bonus cuts.

Time does stand still at Christmas, and hooky pop/rock with punchy, jangly guitars and vocal harmonies is one of my favorite ways to enjoy it.

Several more favorites:
John Lennon & Yoko Ono, "Happy Xmas (War is Over)"
The Beach Boys, "Christmas Day"
Tish Hinojosa, "Arbolito"
The Monkees, "Riu Chiu"
XTC, "Thanks for Christmas"
Vince Guaraldi, "Skating"
Big Star, "Jesus Christ"
The Crystals, "White Christmas"
The Beach Boys, "Little Saint Nick"
Jose Feliciano, "Feliz Navidad"
Jill Sobule, "Merry Christmas from the Family"
The Jackson Five, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"
Roy Orbison, "Pretty Paper"
Chris Stamey Group, "You're What I Want (for Christmas)"

Jumping off the Obama Express

2008-12-18T21:54:00.000-08:00

It's only been six weeks, but I think I'm going to leave this train at the next station.

Inviting Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the inauguration isn't Change I Can Believe In (C).

I assume that Obama is trying to appear magnanimous and statesmanlike by inviting this extremely visible, famous conservative preacher to bless him and his presidency. All of that might be reasonable if Warren wasn't a self-serving jerk.

Does our new president really think he can make change in this country, real change, with this kind of act? How is cozying up to the right going to fix all the harm that the right has done to this coutnry in the last eight years?

Does Obama really believe that the toxic far right will hate those of us the reality-based community, any less?

If he does, he's wrong.

Obama has made a calculation that I find reprehensible--that it's okay to stick a middle finger out at the people who believed in him, financed him, and elected him in order to suck up to one of the spokesmen for the fanatical part of the right wing that hates gay people and doesn't believe in evolution.

Does Obama really think that inviting Rick Warren to pray over him at the inaugural is going to erase the hateful things that Warren has said and done in the past? Why does he feel that it's important to reach out the olive branch to people who do not and will not ever play fair?

I've heard all sorts of people saying that this is "politically smart" for Obama to do. If it's politically smart for Obama to sell out gay people and believers in science--two constituencies who were among his strongest supporters--to cozy up to the religious right, then maybe Obama is as shallow and devious as some people have said.

The hell with it.

Thoughts?

What I'm Up To

2008-12-17T21:39:00.000-08:00

For the last few days I've been working on an interesting project for the National Hockey League's website, NHL.com. Each year, the league holds an outdoor game (!) on January 1, and this year it's in Chicago. And it'll be held at Wrigley Field.

I'll be writing for the next week or so about the process of turning Wrigley Field into an ice rink...you can catch my newest articles here and here...and, if you like hockey--and, really, who doesn't--be sure to check every day for updates through next Tuesday.

Cheers! G'day.

Saturday's Children: "Deck Five"

2008-12-10T15:39:00.001-08:00

Here's a sweet little slice of Chicago-produced holiday music from 42 years ago.

Saturday's Children, a five-piece band on the local Dunwich label (which also sported excellent local garage groups The Shadows of Knight, The Del-Vettes, and The Rovin' Kind, among others), released three singles in 1966-67.

Their first single, the superior "You Don't Know Better," released in fall 1966, garnered a lot of airplay on big top 40 stations WLS and WCFL, and even charted on suburban station WNWC. Popular at teen clubs like the Cellar and at city nightclubs as well, the Children had a dynamic singer/songwriter team in Geoff Boyan (who often used the last name 'Bryan' professionally) and Ron Holder. Their playing was flawless, their accents a perfect mix of Midwestern Mersey, and Rick Goettler's Farfisa organ added just enough grit under the nails to keep everything from getting too sweet.

Today's featured song, "Deck Five," was part of their two-sided Christmas 1966 single. I prefer this side to the flip, "Christmas Sounds," because it's not just a catchy midtempo pop number but also a neat little parody/homage to a certain famous jazz tune--and a clever inversion on a holiday favorite as well!

After a third 45 in 1967 (a stab at a Randy Newman song, "Leave That Baby Alone,"), the Children eventually drifted apart. Sundazed has an eight-song double-45 RPM package which I highly recommend. Unfortunately, despite placing a song with Chicago cohorts the Cryan Shames on their 1968 album Synthesis, Boyan and Holder fell from sight and have never received the credit they deserve.

Boyan, who had been in Dalek: The Blackstones (with future Shadow of Knight Jerry McGeorge and, according to some rumors, drummer Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick) and later played guitar with H.P. Lovecraft, still lives around here, but according to a friend of mine is not doing so well. Here's a glass of cheer to you, Mr. Boyan, with hopes that 2009 brings better things.

The King of Psychedelic Bubblegum

2008-12-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

Tommy James: It's Good to be King

Few American singers were as popular in the late 1960s as Tommy James. Some of his big hits are remembered well today ("I Think We're Alone Now," "Crimson and Clover," "Hanky Panky," "Crystal Blue Persuasion," "Draggin' the Line," "Mony Mony") while others, just as good and just as popular at the time, have mysteriously fallen from favor, such as "Mirage," "Ball of Fire," and "Sweet Cherry Wine."

Every few months from 1966 through 1970, Tommy and his backing group, the Shondells, would release another single that became a huge hit, and even some of the less successful singles, like "Out of the Blue," "I Like the Way," and "It's Only Love," are catchy pop creations of the highest order, evergreen blends of harmonies, exotic percussion, ringing guitars, keyboards, and insistent rhythms. With only one or two exceptions, each hummable TJ hit sounded completely unlike the last.

His ability to blend experimentation with pop smarts leads me to consider him a sort of psychedelic bubblegum artist--the best one, in fact.

Since Tommy James and the Shondells were constantly on tour in the mid-to-late sixties, many of the band's records were done in New York with session musicians such as legendary guitarist Vinnie Bell. But by 1968, Tommy and the group--Mike Vale, Pete Lucia, Ronnie Rosman, and Eddie Gray--were elbowing producer/songwriters Bo Gentry and Ritchie Cordell out of the way and writing a lot of their own songs.

The track featured here, "Gingerbread Man," was recorded for the 1968 Mony Mony album, and in fact was one of the first tracks the band did behind Gentry and Cordell's backs.

Roulette Records loved "Gingerbread" and placed it on the flip side of the "Do Something to Me" single, giving the band the confidence it needed to move ahead and record two excellent 1969 albums, Crimson and Clover and Cellophane Symphony.

"Gingerbread Man" is one of my all-time favorite tracks from the band. A catchy song is set off by about 300,000 guitar overdubs, a great late-60s organ part playing sixth notes, all sorts of exotic percussion during the "bridge," and that insistent beat. When the tambourine comes in for the third verse, it's pop heaven, and I still can't tell where Tommy's voice ends during the fadeout and the fuzz guitar begins!

This is the mono mix, which I find much punchier than the stereo. This version was burned from a German issue of the 45 that Mark Caro so courteously brought back from a trip across the sea last year. Hope you all enjoy this dose of pop perfection.

Amy Amy Amy

2008-12-03T09:40:00.000-08:00

I'll admit I was skeptical when Amy Winehouse emerged as a ferociously popular singer. Her too-skinny drugged-out persona pissed me off, and I didn't get the point of "Rehab" the first couple of times I heard it.

Thanks to my pal Phillip, I began to listen a little more closely to her second album, Back to Black, and soon realized that this was a singer and songwriter of no little depth and intensity. The girl-group charm of the sorrowful title song, the heartbreaking adultery narrative "Just Friends," and the skank of "You Know I'm No Good" are absolutely riveting.

Here's a bonus track from a special CD edition of the album. It's her acoustic demo of "Love is a Losing Game." While the LP cut is terrif, it's this spare version that pierces my heart.

I'm still not comfortable with the idea of my dollars helping fuel her self-destructive habits, but art and artists have ever been thus so. My fingers are crossed that she can keep herself together and find happiness...or at least keep sharing her gift.

A Song I'm Thankful For

2008-11-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

The song-poem industry, in which unwitting amateur poets paid to have their lyrics made into actual songs, which were then recorded and pressed onto vinyl in tiny quantities, produced great works of art almost by accident.

One of the top song-poem companies was Sterling, which operated out of Boston. Label owner Lew Tobin, a jazz pianist with a warbling wife named Shelley Stuart, always seemed to ensure that his products were decent musically--and given some of the amateur lyrics the musicians had to work with, this was no easy feat.

Exhibit #1 in my case is this 1974 Sterling recording, "Do You Know the Difference Between Big Wood and Brush," by Gary Roberts & the Satellites.

Louise I. Oliver's lyric tells, sort of, the story of a man who leaves his wife for another and returns, having realized that the "brushfire" of illicit pleasures is no match for the "big wood" of a lasting relationship.

The metaphor is great, but the lyric is so convoluted that poor Gary can barely get through one line before having to start the next. (The words even mention Thanksgiving, which is why I'm posting it today!) I'm thankful to be able to share music like this with all of you.

Jan Bradley - Your Kind of Lovin'

2008-11-20T23:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a Chicago soul track by Jan Bradley, a talented singer mostly forgotten today despite enjoying a big hit ("Mama Didn't Lie") in 1963.

Ms. Bradley, from the south suburbs of Chicago, hooked up with local powerhouse Chess Records at age 19 in the early sixties. Working with Curtis Mayfield, who was already building a stable of talented local singers and groups, she had access to good material and excellent backing musicians.

"Mama Didn't Lie," a sprightly slice of poppy rhythm and blues, took off in 1963, racing up the charts, eventually made the national pop top 20 and the R&B top 10.

Unfortunately, Mayfield and Leonard Chess fell out over a royalties dispute concerning the song, and Jan Bradley was denied the ability to again work with Mayfield. Her manager, Don Talty, took over as producer. Never again would Jan Bradley enjoy a major hit.

She did, however, write many of her own singles from this point forward, ensuring that she at least picked up a few extra bucks in royalties.

My favorite Jan Bradley recording of all is "Your Kind of Lovin'," an unsuccessful 1967 single release on Chess. It was her second-to-last outing for the label.

Soul expert Robert Pruter, in his book Chicago Soul, doesn't even note this song; it may be too strange and indebted to rock for his tastes. (He does mention the pleasant but inconsequential flip, "It's Just Your Way.")

From the very opening--stomping drums and guitar with blaring horns--"Your Kind of Lovin'" has that classic Northern dance beat typical of so much Chicago soul of the period. Vibes, piano, and congas add to the sonic palette.

The song itself, co-written by Bradley and Talty, is very unusual, with a snaky, almost Eastern, melody that Ms. Bradley works around in a sultry, playful fashion. The lyrics are tough and imaginative, conveying quite clearly that this affair is over.

While a strong soul underpinning is present, this 45 also sports quite a few odd touches. Following an odd, choppy guitar solo (I wonder if Chess session ace Phil Upchurch played it), Talty brings a melodica into the arrangement. And instead of resolving to a major chord out of the last chorus, "Your Kind of Lovin'" fades on a repeating, almost trance-inducing minor-key phrase. The effect is dizzying.

This works well both as uptempo, danceable urban pop and as a sort of psychedelic soul, but it's certainly understandable why the 45 didn't sell at the time. It's not particularly commercial, but the whole 2:32 package impresses the heck out of me. It doesn't remind me of anything else ever recorded.

Jan Bradley quit the music-go-round in the 70s and moved into social work. One assumes she's better compensated for her hard work.

Hope you enjoy this.

The D.C. Playboys

2008-11-18T15:59:00.000-08:00

Van McCoy is famous these days for "The Hustle," a fun chunk of Latin disco from 1975. But for 15 years up to that left-field hit, he'd been at the helm of some of the best soul music ever made.

McCoy was soul music's triple threat: a terrific producer, songwriter, and singer. He wrote and produced "Baby I'm Yours" for Barbara Lewis (and sang the backup vocals), "Getting Mighty Crowded" for Betty Everett (ditto), Chris Bartley's "The Sweetest Thing This Side of Heaven," David Ruffin's "Walk Away From Love," and "Right on The Tip of My Tongue," an especially sweet joint from Brenda & the Tabulations.

He also ran several record labels of his own, including Vando, Maxx, Share, and Arock. On the last-named label he recorded The Diplomats' "Here's a Heart" as well as today's selection, The D.C. Playboys' "You Were All I Needed."

This lovely little teen R&B 45 most likely dates from 1965 or 1966. It is believed that most, if not all, the voices on this record are McCoy's.

Not only is this a terrific piece of 60s black pop, it's also one of the first, if not the first, bubblegum records ever.

Some state that Jay & the Techniques' "Keep the Ball Rolling," from 1967, deserves this honor. Others have argued in favor of The Monkees or The Music Explosion.

But McCoy's product here predates them all, and the imaginative use of handclaps, tinkling celeste, and interweaving backing vocals spells bubblegum to me. See what you think.

This record is well known to big-time soul obsessives, but the rest of us ought to hear it, too. Thanks to Ben Pirani for turning me on to it.

Tim Lincecum, Totally Rad NL Cy Young Award Winner

2008-11-11T18:28:00.000-08:00

Lincecum, who captured 18 games for the moribund San Francisco Giants this year, has apparently become the first indie-rock musician to ever win the award.

And Still More Non-Beatles Beatles

2008-11-10T21:22:00.001-08:00

I gotta get off this Beatle-ish record thing!

But not until I share another one. Milwaukee's The Ricochetts recorded "Losing You" for the Chicago-based Quill label. This early 1966 single was the group's second of three 45s.

Penned by Ricochetts singer/guitarist Ar Kriegel (now known as Ar J. Stevens), "Losing You" far outclasses the Brian Hyland tune placed on the disc's A-side. Combining sweet, simple lyrics and a gorgeous melody, it's worthy of any American Beatle-influenced combo. The jangly 12-string guitar and British-styled harmonies are de rigeur for the times, while the tambourine, careful drumming, and aggressive guitar attack point at a polished, more American approach.

Seemingly within weeks of this record's release, times would change, rendering faux Merseybeat as hip as The Twist. The Ricochetts' record apparently sold 10,000 copies in the Wisconsin-Illinois area, but did nothing nationally. Too bad.

Ar J. Stevens, however, is still playing music today with his "new" band, Ar Stevens & the Ricochettes. This combo has seen far more success than the 60s version; the new band has backed up many "legacy" artists and toured for several years with Bobby Vee. Nice to see that a rock and roll story sometimes works out!!

You can get a CD of the group's new material, plus all three of the original Ricochetts' 1960s singles and b-sides (!), by visiting this site.

I just love records like "Losing You"; hope you enjoy this one too.

Another Page

2008-11-09T20:46:00.001-08:00

The doorway is open...

Here stands history, waiting for us to catch up.

I haven't written since the election.

Which me would show up here? Would the pissed-off version of me, still not okay with what I saw as unforgivable tactics from the Republicans, gloat in victory? Or could I let that passion wear off?

Things are better now. I feel, mostly, a sense of relief that the whole process is over.

This was a painful and emotional election campaign, and despite Obama's monumental victory, which came with an uncommonly wide margin both in popular and electoral votes, we still live in a bitterly divided country.

Optimistic as I am about President-Elect Barack Obama--and it still feels nice to type that--I am also conscious that this isn't an overwhelming victory for the left.

Look at how much went wrong on Election Day. Creepy, discriminatory anti-gay marriage propositions passed in three states. Republican senator Ted Stevens, convicted on seven felony counts by a federal grand jury, may win re-election in Alaska. Al Franken, one of the more progressive people running for Senate, is hoping to win by recount after garnering fewer than 45% of Minnesota's popular vote in the election. Darcy Burner, running for Congress in a swing district in Washington that went 60% for Obama, lost another close race to Dave Reichert.

It seems to me that Obama's overwhelming victory came because he was seen as a moderate option to the failed policies of the Bush era, which, like it or not, stuck like Superglue to John McCain. That so many people were able to get past prejudice and vote for a black man is great; that so many people were not is pathetic.

Remember the "Reagan Democrats" that pushed old Ron-Ron into office for two terms in the 1980s? People were sick of the perceived weakness of Jimmy Carter--who, as it turns out, has been perhaps the greatest ex-president we've ever had--and were glad to cross party lines and vote for someone they felt at least to be likable. (Some of my best friends voted for Reagan, at least in 1980. I don't pretend to understand it.)

We can similarly define "Obama Republicans" as people who would have voted for a reasonable candidate from the right had one been available. Including Sarah Palin on the ticket proved a polarizing choice, and I think that even if it energized the conservative base of the Republican party, the furor around Ms. Palin distracted John McCain's message from getting through. Not that his message was clear or well-expressed anyway.

So while I'm glad that Obama is our president--very glad--I am also conscious that the next four years are going to be full of anger, mistrust, lies, and outright racism from some of the 57 million people who voted for John McCain.

What the rest of us need to do is respond not with barbs but with strength and vision. It's our chance now. We hoped for this opportunity, so now we have to lead.

The first thing I'm doing is really trying to think of new ways to save energy around our place. My 12-year-old nephew reminded me last week that when you're away for a period of time, you should pull plugs from their outlets to save energy. It's not a big step, but it's a step. What ideas do you have to help make change on a daily basis?

The song I chose for this post is one of my all-time favorites, and applies to how I feel about America. Big Star's first album, #1 Record, is full of great acoustic songs, and "Give Me Another Chance" hits home every time I consider my own anger and the human capacity for forgiveness. It's one of the few songs that can make me tear up every time I hear it.

I want another chance. Let's fix America.

Just a Quick Question...

2008-11-03T21:35:00.001-08:00

...for the sneering voice-over lady on these last-minute Obama Loves Hateful Preacher Jeremiah Wright ads.

Will your newly-earned money be good enough to get you, and the other folks who put this ad together, out of hell?

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T08:42:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the day, please enjoy "Vampire Husband," a classic from the Boston, MA Sterling Records song-poem factory.

This one is credited to Shelley Stuart and the Five Stars. The lovely Shelley delivers the lyrics, with her husband Lew Tobin playing the swingin' piano fills and (probably) Norm Burns kicking in a swinging drumbeat.

This hot little rocker sounds like it dates from the early or mid 1960s. It should be no surprise, therefore, to anyone familiar with song-poems that it dates from 1972.

Sorry, but I've had it

2008-10-29T00:16:00.000-07:00

Enough with the smears, the ugliness, the race-baiting, the endless cycle of outright lies from the cynical, the racist, and the terrified.

Sure, I have doubts about Barack Obama. He's a bit centrist for my liking, and I'm not overjoyed that he's not serving out his Senate term; I voted for him to be a Senator, not run for President.

But the notion of John McCain being President (and Sarah Palin being within 3,000 miles of the Presidency) not only scares me but makes me literally sick to my stomach.

What is wrong with these people? Why are they so intent on destroying everything good about this country--its diversity, its freedom of speech, its natural beauty, its middle class?

America is not a rehearsal for the end times, or for any other pseudo-Christian strategy. If God is so great, she doesn't need our help to move the end of the world along. Leave the rest of us who don't believe in the end times out of your death wish.

It is not written in stone that rich people should be bailed out by the rest of us.

America is not a Monarchy where the President gets to decide what is legal and what isn't.

It is not a police state where Americans should be scared to voice their opinions lest they be castigated as "Anti-Americans."

America does not arrest reporters and protestors without cause. America does not keep people in prisons without cause. America does not adopt the human rights policies of fascists.

Barack Obama is not a Marxist, and you all know he isn't. Lowering taxes on the working poor and raising them on the rich is NOT Marxism, and you all know it isn't. If you say it is, you're either misinformed or you're not telling the truth.

America should not use tax money from populous cities to prop up rural areas if country residents want to spend their time haranguing we city folk about our evil culture and our lost souls.

This is not a country in which those of us living in integrated areas will be lectured about race and racial matters by hypocrites who live in all-white suburbs and small towns where the only black people are on painted lawn decorations. What would you know about it?

America does not need to be "saved" by selfish, insecure God-botherers.

This is not a country where a shrill minority of ignorant, mean-spirited morons have the right to deny Constitutional rights to gay people.

America is a great country. But it's great not because of, but in spite of the people who are running it. America is a great country because of the freedoms to ALL promised in our great documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

This is not about "politics." I could give a damn about politics. This is about how you see the world.

The left wing didn't declare this culture war, but hell if I'll live in a country where I am condemned for believing in the principles set out in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

You want to go back to back-alley abortions? You want further military aggression and torture? You want dead American soldiers and a growing deficit for a war enabled by a curtain of lies? More Wall Street corruption? No way. We've had enough.

This is a fight, all right. It's a fight between the optimism of the future-no matter how naïve it may be-versus the cynicism, fear, mistrust, greed, racism, class warfare, and bitter, pinched-face hatred represented by ignorant conspiracy theorists, white-power mental midgets, blowhard radio hosts, and do-nothing losers looking for someone to blame for their own self-created problems.

Now that I’ve gone through this rant, it’s time for the obvious truth: Peace is the only solution.

All of us need to find peace in our hearts. And I put myself at the top of the list. Those of us on the left who are angry at this crap need to find ways to process our anger without hurting others or ourselves. For me, one way I do this is by writing. And I feel that sharing these words is honest. Maybe it doesn’t make me look very good, but it’s real and here it is.

Most of us just want to be allowed to live our lives without someone we don’t even know lecturing us, yelling at us, cheating us, lying to us…why is that so much to ask? Why is it so much to ask that people in power play honestly, that people try to move past their greed or their racist fears, that people try to put themselves in the shoes of those less fortunate?

Decision time is coming. What kind of country do we live in?

Even More Non-Beatles Beatles

2008-10-26T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a charming 45 in the early Beatles mode by United Nations, a completely obscure group most likely hailing either from Illinois or Indiana. I'm guessing that this record, released on the Chicago area Cha Cha label, dates from 1966.

"In My Dreams" has a melody similar to that of a certain McCartney composition from side one of Rubber Soul, but the arrangement, using nylon-stringed guitar, bass, and drums, is just as reminiscent of Beatles For Sale.

This is spare but affecting. I dig the wavering harmony vocals on the chorus, and the sparse backing lends a bit more of a chill to the already grim lyrics. The rhyming of "forest," "chorus," and "porous" is a genius moment.

You might notice, on playing this, that the recording is in stereo, which in this case is extremely strange. Rarely were singles released in stereo before 1969, and small labels rarely put them out in stereo at all.

Also enjoyable is that the label lists the song's time as "2:30." It actually lasts 3:41. Sometimes record companies would intentionally shorten the timing of a song to increase the chances of airplay, but I'd be surprised if this record was ever played on any station existing outside the group's immediate neighborhood, or indeed its collective imagination.

The flip side is nothing, but that's no surprise; an awful lot of groups only have one good song. The writers of "In My Dreams" and its b-side are two folks named Economous and Archbold.

Or so it seems. Doing some research today I decided to "misspell" Archbold and...land ho! I got some results!

Turns out that a Bob Economous and a Bill Archibald (note the spelling) were in bands (The Palace Combo, The Tornados) on the south shore of Chicago in the 60s. Economous, who was said to be a great guitar player, has apparently passed away from lung cancer.

I salute thee, United Nations. Hope someone who knows more about these guys than I checks in!

Early Non-Beatles Beatles #2

2008-10-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hello again everybody. Here's another lovely hunk of American faux-Merseybeat, post-65 division.

Many of you pop fans know something written and recorded by the Merry-Go-Round, even if you don't know the band. Maybe you've clamped your ears to "Live," which the Bangles covered on their first album, or "Time Will Show the Wiser," recorded by Fairport Convention.

The four-piece M-G-R, featuring singer/songwriter/guitarist Emitt Rhodes, had two #1s in their native Los Angeles in 1966 ("Live" and "You're a Very Lovely Woman"), necessities both to a well-rounded mid-60s American pop-rock collection.

Unfortunately despite matinee-idol looks, TV appearances, and decent distribution from A&M Records, the band couldn't follow up their initial two-hit punch, and soon fragmented, leaving Rhodes, still a teenager, to embark on an abortive (but good) solo career and 40 years of obscurity.

Rev-ola released the Merry-Go-Round's entire output on one CD a couple of years ago. It's a Don't Miss, as they used to say.

Here's a more obscure track, "Missing You," from one of the band's later, unsuccessful 45s. Hard to tell here if Emitt Rhodes is more effectively channeling Lennon or McCartney; he's sort of in the middle. The treated piano and chugging chorus tempo are right out of the Fabs' 1966 program, while the lovely melody is sweeter than fresh apples.

I hope you enjoy. More info here.

Early Non-Beatles Beatles

2008-10-17T17:44:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I wrote about non-Beatles Beatles songs, those lovely creations of Fab worshippers/bandwagon jumpers of all stripes. I thought I'd go a bit more in-depth and examine three early faux-Beatles records in some length.

The Chartbusters were, according to Billboard, a Washington D.C.-area combo. Their sole top 40 hit, indeed busting the charts beginning in July 1964, was this aggressive slice of Mersey Lite (or, rather, Mersey Heavy) entitled "She's the One."

Sure, there are some great Fabish moments (the "whoos" are especially funny) here, but also nice, slightly plangent harmonies and a rock-solid guitar attack that owes as much to early rock and roll and even the harsher tones of The Kingsmen or Dick Dale. I believe, but can't confirm, this was the first American hit record to openly steal stylistically from the Fabs.

Apparently this group, whose lead guitarist went on to play with Roy Clark (!) for a long period, was an inspiration for the fictional garage band in the film "That Thing You Do!" starring Tom Hanks.

For those of you familiar with Hit records (a label that released 39-cent 45s of current hits done by studio musicians), "She's the One" reminds me of their productions of early Beatles material. And that is high praise in my book.

Another one tomorrow! Dig.

A Public Service

2008-10-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

In honor of the McCain/Palin campaign's frequent use of distortion, lies, cynical fear-mongering, and overall mean-spirited bullshit, I'd like to show you a current photograph of Sarah Palin before seeing her handlers and makeup people.

Truly as gorgeous outside as she is in.

My New Single!

2008-10-08T21:06:00.001-07:00

Here's my new single, "Let It Be Hard." This is the third piece in a series, all posted on this blog (the first two were "The New Monkees Single" and "Rubber Solo").

Enjoy. List of sources, etc. on request! Peace.

THIS ISN'T THE YEAR!!!

2008-10-07T10:05:00.001-07:00

Well, now that the White Sox have perfectly executed a full gainer into the empty swimming pool, it's time to consider who of the Pale Hose won't be around when spring training 2009 starts in...in...in whatever municipality the Sox are scamming into building them a new training camp these days...Tucson? Surprise? Las Cruces? Petaluma?

We can start with left-handed reliever Boone Logan and right-handed reliever Mike MacDougal, both of whom departed Tampa in a huff before game one of the ALDS after being informed that they were left off the playoff roster. I think the right term for the speed of their departures will be "like shit through a goose."

Next let's consider the veteran free agents. Orlando Cabrera, he of the unearned "I'm a leader" tagline and the mediocre .334 OBP in the leadoff spot, won't be back; Alexei Ramirez will most likely move to shortstop, with either prospect Chris Getz or a low-priced veteran (Tadahito Iguchi?) filling in at second.

Ken Griffey, Jr., who several years ago was a good baseball player, shouldn't be re-signed and won't be. The Sox will search for a full-time center fielder this off-season, which would leave Brian Anderson and DeWayne Wise as fill-ins.

What about first base? With Jim Thome set to return to the DH slot, either Paul Konerko or Nick Swisher will probably have to go. Neither player is at top value; both played badly in 2008. Swisher is more versatile, is even at this level a better player, and has the advantages of being much cheaper and four years younger...but Konerko is signed through 2010 and his contract would be a lot harder to move. Plus, if cutie pie Paulie were traded, a full-on Trixie Revolt would ensue, leaving GM Kenny Williams with his eyeballs scratched out.

Third base is a trouble spot. Joe Crede is probably finished due to back problems, but he could get a courtesy deal. Juan Uribe filled in admirably at third when Crede went down, and might earn a new contract if he'll accept a utility role. (But only if he gets rid of that ugly-ass goatee.) With Josh Fields appearing unready in his brief trial, the White Sox are in the market for a full-timer at the position.

The pitching staff needs a bit of work. Besides Logan and MacDougal, we're likely to wave goodbye to free-agent relievers D.J. Carrasco and Horacio Ramirez. Right-handed starter Javier Vazquez is signed through 2010, but he has quite obviously worn out his welcome with Ozzie Guillen. It should be interesting to see what Kenny Williams can get in trade for the talented Vazquez, who has plenty of ability but neither the consistent command nor the killer instinct that great pitchers possess.

Could be a fascinating winter, if anyone cares about the Sox or Cubs anymore...

They Gone. He Gone! He Gone!! HE Gone!!...

2008-10-05T10:26:00.001-07:00

Sitting in the stands during Thursday night's interminable NLDS Game Two 10-3 loss to the visiting Dodgers, I did a little exercise. Thought it might be interesting to predict who, of the current Cubs, won't be on the team in 2009. Here is my list, in order of probability of their departure.

Ronny Cedeno: contract up
Bobby Howry: contract up
Jon Lieber: contract up
Felix Pie: contract up
Michael Wuertz: contract up
Neal Cotts: contract up
Ryan Dempster: contract up
Jim Edmonds: contract up
Derrek Lee: signed through 2010
Kosuke Fukudome: signed through infinity
Kerry Wood: contract up

Cedeno's departure is a near certainty, as is that of Howry, unless the superannuated reliever wants to sign a Triple-A contract for $1.25 and a box of Carr's Water Crackers. Lieber is fat, old, and in the way.

Pie won't ever be a regular for Lou Piniella, and GM Jim Hendry just might elect to dump him while he still has a smidgen of trade value. Wuertz has never been one of Piniella's favorites, even though he has that fine slider; he just can't control his fastball.

Cotts, despite occasional strong performances, isn't any sure thing; I'd expect to see the team upgrade. Dempster, a free agent, might simply ask for too much, and his poor playoff performance will leave a bad taste all winter. If I were the Cubs, I'd weigh the decision to bring him back for three or four years--at top dollar--very heavily.

D-Lee, you say? D-Lee? How could they dump him? Well, let's look at the record. He has hit 22 and 20 homers over the last two years, which ain't enough for a first baseman in Wrigley Field. He hit .317 in 2007, but fell to .291 this year. His .823 OPS is okay, but not great for a first baseman. And he's 33.

Several teams are looking for quality first sackers this winter, and the Cubs' best hitting prospect right now is Micah Hoffpauir, who plays the outfield like a blind warthog in ballet slippers. I'm just sayin' that trading Lee this winter wouldn't surprise me.

Also unsurprising to me is the notion of letting Jim Edmonds walk, but I don't think Jim Hendry will have the guts to do it. Sometimes veteran players come to a new team and give them a boost, a sort of last flicker of the flame, and Edmonds--as well as he hit at times in 2008--seems like the Gary Gaetti of this current Cubs team. For God's sake don't repeat the Cubs' mistake of keeping Gaetti in 1994...if you must keep Edmonds, reduce his workload; he hit very poorly after early August.

As much as most of us would like to see Kosuke Fukudome hung by his thumbs from the tallest flagpole at Wrigley, he probably can't be moved this winter, because he has three years and $36 million left on his contract. What's in store for him? A trip to AAA to sample Des Moines' finest food? Another shot at claiming a full-time job?

I fear that despite the deals to acquire Aramis Ramirez, D-Lee, Harden, etc., Jim Hendry's GM tenure in Chicago may ultimately be judged by the crippling, unnecessary long-term deals he gave to Fukudome, certified mediocrity Jason Marquis, and highly overrated Alfonso Soriano.

Finally, there's Woody. As much as I admire the guy for coming back from his injuries, he really wasn't the best reliever the Cubs had in 2008. Not even close. Will the Cubs pursue Wood and keep Carlos Marmol as a setup guy? And if I were Kerry Wood, would I come back to the team if I wasn't guaranteed the top bullpen job?

Feedback, please...my head is still spinning.

Flowers on the Wall

2008-09-29T11:48:00.001-07:00

The Statler Brothers, a country music quartet featuring a vocal approach based on gospel music, enjoyed a huge off-the-wall pop hit in 1966 with "Flowers on the Wall," a classic lonely-guy lament with a sprightly backing and comic lyrics.

(None of them were brothers, and none named 'Statler'; originally known as the Kingsmen, they were forced to change that when "Louie Louie" by Seattle's Kingsmen hit big in 1963. As a result, the vocal quartet named themselves after a brand of facial tissue!)

Because of shrinking playlists and the lack of imagination on the part of radio programmers, you aren't likely to hear the catchy "Flowers on the Wall" these days, even though filmmaker Quentin Tarantino brought the song back several years ago. The version used in Pulp Fiction and generally available now is a stereo cut that is NOT the same performance that buyers heard and purchased on mono 45s back in early '66.

I have noticed that some sixties 45s on the Columbia label--thinking, just off the top of my head, of Simon & Garfunkel and Byrds records--feature totally different performances than the ones heard now on stereo CDs and on the radio.

It's not clear to me why this is the case, but as a historian, it both intrigues me and annoys me that what people heard and purchased in the old days is NOT what you hear now.

Here's the original Statler Brothers 45. If you know the song, listen for variations in the drumming (especially in the chorus) and in the vocal mix. If you're not yet familiar with the song, enjoy its period references and all-around charm!

Peace.

The All-Time Good-Time Bad Time

2008-09-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

When I wrote recently about 20s-style 1960s social commentary music, I omitted perhaps the best one of all. Unfortunately, Country Joe & the Fish's "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" is just as lyrically spot-on today as it was in 1967.

Once Upon Eternity

2008-09-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

Though I believe in God, I am not a Christian. But, as my friend Larry Epke has said, the existence of really great spiritual music is a strong argument for its own validity.

Here is an example of such beauty, the first song off the album Come Alive! With the Sacred Heart Singers. This album, dating from sometime in the early 1970s, features a choir of girls and young women from a small town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula singing songs written by members of the choir.

This charming ensemble of 20-odd young ladies recorded at least three albums, and were apparently a big deal up north--they sold their music on album, cassette, and 8-track! I'd love to know what happened to the various members, or whether any of them continued in music. (An internet search shows that the lyricist for several of the best songs, Paulette Niemi, is involved in the school system of a town in the UP.)

Some of the lyrics on the album are more, er, doctrinaire than I'm comfortable with ("Make this a Christian generation!"), but the more open-ended material here features lyrics wishing peace to the listener and a mass of harmonious voices brimming with simple sincerity.

The simple blend of singers and guitars on this track, "Once Upon Eternity," is special. It's as affecting as anything I've heard in a long time.

Big Z!

2008-09-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Congratulations, Carlos!

In my years of watching baseball, I've never seen any pitcher better than Carlos Zambrano was tonight. He was better than Kerry Wood in his 20K game, better than Jack Morris in the 1991 World Series...is it the best performance you've ever seen?

Rodd Keith: "I Died Today"

2008-09-14T16:43:00.001-07:00

Herewith is the greatest-ever film noir song-poem about insurance fraud. What a fantastic piece of work.

Root-a-Toot Social Commentary

2008-09-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

The mid-1960s saw an interesting trend in pop/rock music, one in which bands began to invoke sounds of the 1920s and 1930s.

The British music-hall tradition was bedrock, for example, to Herman's Hermits; "Mrs. Brown,You've Got a Lovely Daughter," "I'm Henry VIII, I Am," and "My Old Dutch" are just three of their songs informed by music from twenty years before their birth. The magnificent Kinks, of course, combined R&B and George Formby in such top stuff as "Mr. Pleasant," "Dedicated Follower of Fashion," and "Victoria."

Americans went way back, too; the "Bald-Headed Lena" and "Fishin' Blues" good-time sound of The Lovin' Spoonful was wildly influential. Michael Nesmith did several great wacka-do-wacka-do songs with the Monkees, while Harry Nilsson's entire approach owed much to the old school. Then there's always Tiny Tim's ukelele-led stroll through the tulips...

Weirder even than Tiny Tim was the wedding of such vo-de-o-do-do sounds to intelligent social commentary. Here are two "root-a-toot" songs by singer/songwriters who, for some reason, thought that their message was best delivered with ukeleles, kazoos, and tin pans.

Many of you have probably heard Phil Ochs, a great topical singer and songwriter who released a handful of great albums in the 1960s. Here's the closest thing he ever had to a hit single: "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends," from Pleasures of the Harbor.

Ray Repp is a recent discovery around here. He has spent most of his long career as a Christian artist, but the more non-sectarian "Apple Pie," a real charmer in its humor and its almost overwrought good-sense liberalism, comes from his 1969 release (which I think was recorded in 1966) The Time Has Not Come True.

Enjoy! Are there other songs in this category?

This is a Jam

2008-08-24T22:33:00.000-07:00

You may know "Tighter and Tighter," released by Brooklyn group Alive and Kicking in 1970. It was a Tommy James song that Tommy James suddenly decided he'd rather have someone else sing; A&K's two vocalists just went in and taped their voices over a TJ backing track.

When "Tighter and Tighter" was a hit, Roulette Records decided that the word needed more Alive and Kicking material. So here was their follow-up single, "Just Let it Come," done by the whole band and not Tommy James'.

It stalled at #63 on the charts and killed their career flat.

Too bad. It's a total corker, with the drums and bass totally rocking during the verse and a plangent harmony in the chorus.

Here's "Just Let it Come." Have a great day.

Keith Olbermann's latest Special Commentary on John McCain

2008-08-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

Four times in just two days, Senator McCain’s campaign managers have, simply, hung him out to dry.

First, trying to scapegoat the media, in the exact way that has spelled doom for other presidential candidates already watching from the sidelines.

Second, doing so with a petulant statement so full of holes that it virtually **confirms** that which was reported, and which set off this pointless temper tantrum in the first place.

Third, sending the candidate out to speak before the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, even as the millstones of a series of disastrous, anti-veteran votes, still figuratively dangled from around his neck.

And fourth, encouraging Senator McCain, while there, to address his opponent in the language of unseemly contempt, undignified calumny, and holier-than-thou persiflage unsupported by reality… near-nonsensical bluster that — at best — makes the speaker look like a dyspeptic grouchy neighbor shouting “Hey you kids, get out of my yard.”

“Though victory in Iraq is finally in sight,” you told the V-F-W today, Senator McCain, “a great deal still depends on the decisions and good judgment of the next president. The hard-won gains of our troops hang in the balance. The lasting advantage of a peaceful and democratic ally in the heart of the Middle East could still be squandered by hasty withdrawal and arbitrary timelines. And this is one of many problems in the shifting positions of my opponent, Senator Obama.”

The shifting positions of Senator **Obama**?

Senator McCain — on the 22nd of May, 2003.. you said, of Iraq, **on** the Senate floor, quote:

“We won a massive victory in a few weeks, and we did so with very limited loss of American and allied lives. We were able to end aggression with minimum overall loss of life, and we were even able to greatly reduce the civilian casualties of Afghani and Iraqi citizens.

Senator — you declared victory in Iraq, **five years and nearly three months ago**.

**Today** you say: “victory in Iraq is finally in sight”?

The victory you already proclaimed five years ago?

Are we going back in **time**, Sir?

If that had not been enough, in **June** of 2003, with even **Fox News** noting “many argue the conflict (in Iraq) isn’t over,” you answered:

“Well, then why was there a banner that said ‘Mission Accomplished’ on the aircraft carrier? Look, the — I have said a long time that reconstruction of Iraq would be a long, long, difficult process, but the conflict — the major conflict is over, the regime change has been accomplished, and it’s very appropriate.”

In 2003, your war was won, because somebody was putting up a… banner.

In 2008, your war might finally **be** won, because **you** are putting up… a campaign based on the mirage that Iraq **is** winnable.

And yet it is **Obama** shifting positions on Iraq?

Even if this country were to forget, Senator, the victory lap you and President Bush took five years ago — just on their face, your remarks today at the V-F-W, Senator, are nonsensical.

“Senator Obama commits the greater error of insisting that even in hindsight, he would oppose the surge. Even in retrospect, he would choose the path of retreat and failure for America over the path of success and victory.”

This construction, Senator, is extremely simple.

If your surge worked, the troops would be home from Iraq.

Or **most** of them, would be.

Or all of them who **were** surged, would be.

Or at least we’d have the same number of troops in Iraq now, as we did then.

Or… maybe one or two guys would be out of harm’s way.

Please, Senator McCain, stop!

This is **embarrassing**.

Whether on his own impetus or an advisor’s…

The Senator also foolishly invoked his **opponent** in that speech today.

Previous political **careers** have foundered on the rocks of the V-F-W Convention:

The Republican majority in Congress and the Senate — the very viability of Secretary of Defense **Rumsfeld** — began to unravel at this convention two years ago — that was the venue for the first of Rumsfeld’s two references to Bush critics as Nazi Appeasers.

Prudence and judgement, demanded that Senator McCain tred lightly.

Instead he told the convention, quote:

“I suppose from my opponent’s vantage point, veterans concerns are just one more issue to be spun or worked to advantage. This would explain why he has also taken liberties with my position on the GI Bill…. As a political proposition, it would have much easier for me to have just signed on to what I considered flawed legislation. But the people of Arizona, and of all America, expect more from their representatives than that, and instead I sought a better bill. I’m proud to say that the result is a law that better serves our military, better serves military families, and better serves the interests of our country.”

Senator McCain spoke out **against** that very bill last May — on the asinine premise that the rewards to our heroes were so good that it didn’t encourage them to stay in the service.

Or perhaps **force** them.

More over, Senator McCain missed 10 of the 14 Senate votes on Iraq up to the middle of last year.

This year, he has missed them **all** — including one to honor the sacrifice of the fallen.

He has voted to table or oppose:

20 million dollars for veteran’s health care facilities.

322 million dollars for safety equipment for our troops in Iraq.

430 million dollars for veterans outpatient care.

One billion dollars in new equipment for the National Guard.

And, in separate votes: One billion, 500 million dollars in additional Veterans’ medical care, to be created by closing tax loopholes.

And one billion, **800** million dollars in additional Veterans’ medical care, to be created by closing tax loopholes.

And yet, Sir, you have the audacity to stand in front of the very Veterans you repeatedly and consistently **sell out**, and claim it is your **opponent** who has put politics first, and country second.

“Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president,” you said — with a straight face — today. “What’s less apparent is the judgment to be commander in chief. And in matters of national security, good judgment will be at a premium in the term of the next president — as we were all reminded ten days ago by events in the nation of Georgia.”

Senator, three points:

One — is your increasingly extremist and reactionary language towards Senator Obama **really** the method by which you want to try to achieve the Presidency — or perhaps split the country if you succeed?

Two — criticizing a man for having quote “the ambition to be president”? Seriously? You **do** realize you are **currently** running for president, as well, right? That either you also have “ambition to be president” or, what?, somebody’s **blackmailing** you into it?

And three — you might want to ask somebody — somebody other than say, your Foreign Policy Advisor, Randy Scheunemann — whether or not you are making a jackass out of yourself every time you bring up the conflict between Georgia and Russia.

The Georgians have paid Mr. Scheunemann and his companies 800-thousand dollars over the last several years to **lobby** for them.

It’s pretty clear the Georgians have **bought** Mr. Scheunemann.

And, Senator McCain, it sure as hell looks like the Georgians thought they had bought **you**.

When you had the tastelessness to paraphrase the rallying cry of 9/11 and say that we are now all Georgians, that nation’s President **called you out**…

He said that your words were very nice, but he needed action — not a verbal receipt from a lobbyist and his pet Senator!

Going back to the beginning of this sad 48 hours of paranoia from the McCain Campaign…

We have manager Rick Davis’s unfortunate letter to NBC News, about Andrea Mitchell’s reporting on the possibility that Senator McCain violated the so-called “Cone of Silence” for the Rick Warren Presidential Forum over the weekend.

The coverage of this detail, and that forum in general, is, to start with, overwrought.

But Mr. Davis has elevated them to the ridiculous.

As Nate Silver at the website ‘Five-Thirty-Eight-dot-com’ noted, Andrea’s reporting — reporting of what the Obama camp claimed — included two essential observations:

“McCain may not have been in the cone of silence”… and that he

“May have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama”.

Rick Davis writes to NBC: “The fact is that during Senator Obama’s segment at Saddleback last night, Senator McCain was in a motorcade to the event and then held in a green room with no broadcast feed.”

As Silver astutely notes, for roughly the first half of Obama’s participation, his own campaign manager places McCain in a **car** — where he could have been made aware of the questions to Senator Obama. “In a motor vehicle,” Silver writes, “one may use the radio, a cellphone, a Blackberry, Bluetooth Wireless, a Slingbox, and perhaps a satellite TV feed. Whether McCain actually used any of those devices, we have no idea. But he absolutely had the ability to use them, which is all that Mitchell had reported.”

Silver also tripped over Mr. Davis’s strange observation that for roughly the second half of Obama’s participation, his own campaign places McCain, quote, “in a green room with no broadcast feed.”

Not a green room without cell service or internet, nor without a closed-circuit feed, nor, for that matter, without a guy running back from the audience with notes, written in crayon.

Rick Davis’s argument is, in short, illegitimate.

It is an attempt to pick a fight with the media, over the journalistic equivalent of chewing gum in class.

“This is irresponsible journalism and sadly, indicative of the level of objectivity we have witnessed at NBC News this election cycle,” he writes.

“We are concerned that your News Division is following MSNBC’s lead in abandoning non-partisan coverage of the Presidential race. We would like to request a meeting with you as soon as possible to discuss our deep concerns about the news standards and level of objectivity at NBC.”

What Davis is **really** saying here, of course, is that he wants **no** level of objectivity, that the only campaign he wants questioned is Obama, and that “partisan coverage” consists of questioning whether McCain or his campaign support the stage whispers branding Obama as somehow ‘foreign,’ or whether McCain is to be inoculated from all criticism by dint of his military service.

Senator McCain — did you pay **any** attention to the **Democratic** primaries?

Did you notice the hair-pulling frenzy of some of Senator Clinton’s supporters who could not face the possibility that her loss might have been **her** fault — or **theirs** — and thus it must be **ours**?

Do you remember the apoplexy of a washed up Republican operative named Ed Gillespie, writing a furious letter to NBC on behalf of President Bush?

Mr. Bush’s support has since dropped.

And **Senator Clinton’s** supporters have now relocated to such a degree that her “eighteen million voices” first re-counted themselves as “two million” and were then unable to get even 250 people to show up at a meeting.

The public sees through this nonsense, Senator — they see through it quickly.

NBC and MSNBC do not have the power to seriously impact an election.

If we **did** — Senator Pat Buchanan would already be serving **with** you.

Besides which, Senator, who in your camp thought it was a good idea to take a shot at NBC and MSNBC… **during the Olympics **on** NBC and MSNBC?!?

**During** the Olympics, Senator McCain, on which you have already run millions of dollars’ worth of McCain Campaign **commercials**… on NBC and MSNBC!?!

Senator, let me wrap this up.

You — and your campaign — need a serious and immediate attitude adjustment.

Despite what you may think, Senator McCain, this is not a coronation.

Despite how you have acted, Senator McCain, you have no automatic excuse to politicize anything you want.

Despite how you have whined, Senator McCain, you have no entitlement to only sycophantic, deceptive, **air-brushed** coverage in the media.

And despite how you have strutted, Senator McCain, you have no God-given right to the Presidency.

Let’s have an adult campaign here, in other words — and I am embarrassed to have to say this to a man who turns 72 at the end of this month — Senator, grow up!

More Non-Beatles Beatles

2008-08-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

This one, "Try Not to Listen," is by an utterly obscure American band named Felix Harp. This was recorded in the early 70s, and came out on a totally lost album (The First of Felix Harp), then re-released in the late 70s as part of a tax-scam record label project, almost certainly without the band's knowledge.

One could argue it's really an entry in the "wish that we were Badfinger" derby, but it has lots of Beatlesque elements as well.

Next we have a nearly indescribable one, recorded by Jim Dandy and the Sugar Beets in the early 1970s. This "band" was actually Richard Wisniewski (a returned Vietnam vet), his dad, and some other family members. Their three 45s were released on their own self-financed label and never went anywhere...until the Internet; they were recently featured on WFMU's Beware of the Blog series. This one is called "Dust to Dust." It bears more than little resemblance to one particular late-period Beatles song, down to the attempt at the solo, but is, frankly, crazy. (Thanks to Bob for recommending this one to me last year.)

More later. Peace.

Non-Beatles Beatles

2008-08-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite types of rock and roll is the "Beatles song not done by the Beatles."

Here are a couple of examples, one obvious (since it's a parody, really, but is also a simply great pop song) and one not so...

What are yours?

Peace.

Lazy Smoke--There Was a Time (1968)

The Rutles-I Must Be in Love (1977)

Ebony and Irony

2008-07-22T21:27:00.000-07:00

The recent New Yorker cover featuring Barry Blitt’s illustration of Barack and Michelle Obama dressed up as flag-burning Muslim terrorists has kicked up quite the controversy among the left.

The first to complain were those who felt an immediate, visceral nausea from the picture, which from the view of content alone could have been produced by somebody on the right; the image represents the worst of the misconceptions and lies about the Obamas, the kind of b.s. that the Fox News Channel, that fat drug addict talk show host, or even the National Review cynically spread to their audiences.

These Obama supporters were then quickly pilloried by the intellectual left for their knee-jerk response. The lefties held that the New Yorker cover was satire, a comment on the misconceptions of the Obamas propagated by right-wingers.

There’s so much wrongness here I don’t know where to begin.

First of all, the more sensitive lefties clearly overreacted. It’s a magazine cover, a drawing, a lousy cartoon by a mediocre illustrator on the cover of a magazine that hasn’t been must-read material for years.

Since the Reagan era, there has existed in this country a meanness toward the disenfranchised, toward those who have been victims. Barack Obama, as a black man, can be assumed to speak for many such people, and to kick a symbol of black success feels out of bounds. That the ugly image—and not an original one in the first place—has been “repurposed” by the New Yorker doesn’t make it any better, and in fact the intellectual dishonesty and vapidity of the intellectual left’s defense of same is not only embarrassing, it is offensive.

But freedom of speech means freedom of speech; we can’t lose that. The best thing to do with dislikable stuff like this is to ignore it, because raising a stink is the best way to draw more attention to it. Remember Dread Scott Tyler’s stupid painting of Harold Washington? Remember Piss Christ? Yeah, only because people screamed so loudly that others had to pay attention.

Tthe majority of my anger about this is reserved for the political cartoonists, professional irony merchants, and self-proclaimed smartest guys in the room who are busily excoriating us saps and dummies who just don’t understand satire.

I think it’s a crock.

First of all, I always assumed that one critical component of satire is that it’s funny. The Barry Blitt drawing is only a knee-slapper if your favorite activity is to sit around and engage in endless intellectual tail-chasing…or if you think that making fun of black people and Muslims is a regular riot.

The satirical drawing, we are told, is funny not because of its content, but its context—because of where it was printed. It would be offensive if it were on the cover of the National Review, because the editors of said rag hate Democrats; on the New Yorker, it’s obviously satirical, and therefore okay, because the editors of said rag are clearly East Coast intellectuals who, one should then assume, would disagree with guys like that fat drug addict talk show host.

Who has time for that? If someone can’t just look at an image and react, instead having to spend their time and intellectual capital deciphering the layers of Barry Blitt’s ironic detachment, then why should anyone care?

What has this post-modern over-intellectual satire, this snarky ironic posturing, brought us? A world where the simple statement is no longer acceptable. It now has to be parsed, chopped, remixed, and deemed acceptable by the brainy elite, because obviously we’re all too stupid to understand art.

This era of irony has given us a world where the president can screw us, screw the constitution, screw anyone he doesn’t agree with, and the intellectual left, the Tom Tomorrows of the world, who know much more about both politics and art than the rest of us, make fun of him in nationally distributed cartoons and write best-selling books, propagating and benefiting from the whole process, instead of calling for his head on a pike! Just to get the “point” of a political cartoon, we have to wade through the deserted minds of the benighted, self-important wankers running the printing presses.

A bad cartoon is a bad cartoon, and an offensive message is an offensive message. You make a joke and we don’t think it’s funny, and you blame US?

Well, I blame you guys. I blame you for an overinflated sense of self-importance. I blame you for forcing us to accept a mean-spirited image as some sort of intellectual “statement” because you think you’re smarter than the rest of us.

And I blame you for not being funny!

To hell with irony.

GUEST POST: BOBBY REED

2008-07-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

My good friend Bobby Reed, music writer of no little pedigree, has graciously contributed a post on Tuesday night's All-Star Game...or, at least, about part of the festivities. Thanks, Bobby!!!

This is the final season for the “House That Ruth Built,” so it was fitting that Yankee Stadium would be the site for this year’s All-Star Game. Tuesday night in the Bronx, prior to the 79th Annual All-Star Game, the national anthem was sung by…a Missouri native…and a multiple Grammy winner…wait for it…Sheryl Crow.

In the past, I have enjoyed some of Sheryl Crow’s music, for sure. But for this event? Really, MLB? That’s the best you could do? Was Michael Bolton not available? Did you misplace Taylor Hicks’s phone number? Sheryl Crow is okay, but I can think of at least 20 acts that would have been more appropriate for this historic occasion. See below.

--Bobby Reed

The 2008 All-Star Game National Anthem:

20 ACTS THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE APPROPRIATE THAN SHERYL CROW

1) Paul Simon—a Yankees fan; attended Queens College; an American icon

2) Bruce Springsteen—beloved by New Yorkers; wrote “Glory Days”; an American icon

3) Billy Joel—native New Yorker; Yankees fan; also playing a farewell gig for Shea Stadium

4) Bernie Williams—former Yankee; World Series hero; jazz guitarist

5) Jon Bon Jovi—arena football team owner, Jersey guy; played a Central Park concert for MLB last weekend

6) Meatloaf—known to play softball now and then

7) Gretchen Wilson—country singer recently recorded “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” for ESPN

8) Simon & Garfunkel —What the heck, let’s get Artie out there, too.

9) Frankie Valli—Jersey Boy

10) Brooke Shields—native New Yorker; veteran of Broadway musicals

11) Sean Hayes—former “Will & Grace” star currently on Broadway in “Damn Yankees”

12) Hank Aaron—was in attendance; probably does everything well, including singing

13) Madonna & Alex Rodriguez—both need some publicity

14) Woody Allen—native New Yorker; American icon; badass clarinetist

15) Gwyneth Paltrow—sang alongside Huey Lewis in “Duets”; married to a musician; friend of Madonna

16) Michael Bolton—has been photographed wearing a baseball cap

17) Taylor Hicks—rabid fan base known as the Soul Patrol could have bolstered the TV ratings

18) Willie Nelson—brings a sweet aroma of gravitas with him everywhere he goes

19) John Fogerty—wrote “Centerfield; wears a bandana; American icon

20) My Mother—has attended more baseball games than Sheryl Crow, and Mom wouldn’t have made the mistake of bringing an acoustic guitar with her

Proto-Disco

2008-06-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

My pal Carlos and I are DJing a disco party on June 19--to which you are all invited to attend--and I've been thinking a lot about dance music--mostly what I'd call "proto-disco," stuff from 1973 and 1974 that really helped kick-start the movement toward a new form of dance music but hadn't yet been branded with the dreaded D-word.

The records of this kind that really stick out for me are The Hues Corporation's "Rock the Boat," George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby," Gloria Gaynor's "Never Can Say Goodbye," MFSB's "TSOP," and The Jackson Five's "Dancing Machine." These records, some spare and some very complex, can boast elements of Latin music, acid rock, Philly soul, and even electronic music, and are among my favorite singles of the 1970s.

Got some favorite disco tracks? Let me know. Maybe I'll add 'em to the set list.

Here's a hilarious video of the Hues Corporation. I love the lead singer's almost manic toe-tapping and the far-out dance moves of the backup singers, who look like veteran soul singers who've been around the block once or twice before finally getting their chance to hit it big!

Peace and Love.

Wrapping Up England

2008-05-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

...and taking it home. At least that's what we wanted to do. We had such a good time, and met so many good people, that we're still feeling a buzz.

Sunday night, I traveled to Hertfordshire, via train, for my last radio interview. John Blaney picked me up from the Knebworth station and we drove to a lovely little cottage in the woods, where we found Robbie Owen and his majordomo, Mike Grant, of Hertbeat FM in the middle of Robbie's superb Sunday evening vintage rock show, listened to on the Internet everywhere from Scunthorpe to Southern California!

Talking to guys like Robbie and Mike, who truly love the music they play, is what made this trip so much fun despite the crazy travel schedule. I'm so glad to have them, and Spencer Leigh, Keith Warmington, John Blaney, and Jon Mills...what a blessing. Blaney and I had fun talking Beatles with Robbie and Mike, who were funny, polite, and knowledgeable. The trifecta.

Taking the last train back to London at 11:45 on a Sunday night was also cool, in sort of a spooky way. (Of course, I had to take the last train because Robbie and Mike took John and I down the pub after the radio interview! This IS England, after all.) Meeting Cecilia back at the ultra-cool Hoxton Hotel for a last-night drink? Priceless.

Now for a few goofy things that we found on the trip. First: British pharmacy chain, or venerated Chicago frankfurter establishment?

Second: Yes, this is a REAL category of books at Waterstone's in Bristol, England. No lie.

Third: Britain is chock-full of excellent charity shops with great secondhand goods of all sorts. As I was happy to find out!

Fourth: Cecilia spent part of this trip working--which in her case involves visiting various museums--and at the Victoria & Albert, saw an exhibition on the Supremes, including a lot of gowns from Mary Wilson 's collection. Here's one scarcely-believable item from those years.

Fifth: Note to self--Drinks at the Hoxton Hotel are always better with lovely wife there. Check.

Sixth: John Blaney's 1992 Nissan Figaro really is a tremendously cool automobile.

The Song She Was Singing

2008-05-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

The last portion of our trip to England featured a Friday night reading from Fab Four FAQ at Waterstone’s near Goodge Street in London. This event, attentively attended by an attentive group of attendees, featured some interesting back-and-forth about Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and Yoko.

Following that, Fiona from Waterstone’s invited Cecilia and I to the pub for a drink, where we met several of her co-workers and had some nice conversation about Syd Barrett, MPL Productions, Madness, and the quality of British crisps. Later, we joined our good friend Andre McLean and his family for dinner up in Camden Town. Yum.

The next day—my only truly work-free day in England—we decided to hit some art galleries. First on the agenda was the Linda McCartney photo exhibit at 5 Savile Row, just next door to the original Apple offices.

I always knew that Linda was a quality photographer of musicians; her Linda’s Sixties book is excellent, particularly the empathetic portraits of Janis Joplin, Traffic, and, yes, the Fabs. But I was not prepared for what I’d feel seeing this exhibit. Not only did Paul put together a fine memorial to Linda’s talent, he, his daughter Mary, and gallery owner James Hyman also created—over a nearly three-year period—a poignant tribute to her heart.

Some of the photos here are familiar, but many are previously unseen, either family portraits (Heather dashing off as Paul laughs, little James jumping from a truck on the family farm, Paul rolling a joint in Jamaica in 1972) or still-lifes. You get from these photos a good sense of Linda’s perspective, feel for the natural order of things, and excellent timing. She knew how to plan a shot and when to press the shutter.

One photo in particular nearly reduced me to tears. In 1997, not long before her death, she went to artist Francis Bacon’s studio and set up a self-portrait. Ghostly thin and shorn of most of her hair, she photographed herself, blurred, in the reflection of a broken mirror. This photo is almost inexpressibly beautiful; it left me once again amazed at the sheer power of art.

Linda McCartney was a great woman. Not only was she an accomplished photographer, animal rights activist, and entrepreneur, she also brought peace and stability to one of the world’s great musicians and became a decent enough musician in her own right--along with perhaps her most important achievement: raising what appears to be a remarkably functional show-biz family. How many people can live in the constant eye of celebrity and claim that?

We’ll wrap up the trip in my next post. Peace.

It's Back!!!

2008-05-21T14:30:00.001-07:00

Mark Caro's Pop Machine!!!

This Green and Pleasant Land

2008-05-17T02:18:00.000-07:00

Cecilia and I began this week back in London. I did several more satellite BBC interviews, and found some time for record shopping and pints in pubs. My guide on Monday and Tuesday was the super-friendly music savant Jon “Mojo” Mills, editor of Shindig!, which has almost instantly become my favorite music magazine in the world. John kindly squired fellow author John Blaney and I to and fro in our interviewing process.

John Blaney, taking a week off his day job at the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Museum of Technology, came down both Monday and Tuesday for interviews and lager. A prolific writer of Beatles books, a font of rock knowledge, a fellow vegetarian, and an all-around ace guy, he struck me immediately as a kindred spirit.

Aside from the joys of the ale shandy, Sister Ray Records, and the restaurants of Notting Hill, our week was marked by nearly witnessing a murder on Oxford Street. John and I were headed to the Oxford Circus tube station when we noticed a huge commotion and police cordoning off the area. We just turned around and walked toward Tottenham Court Road station instead, only finding out the next day what had transpired.

Wednesday and Thursday, John, Cecilia, and I traveled to Bristol and Gloucester for interviews with Beeb affiliates in those locales as well as for BBC South West.

John met us in Reading (about 30 minutes from London by train) and drove us out to Bristol. He’s got a terrific little car—a Nissan Figaro, from 1992—of which just 25,000 were made. They’ve become big collector’s items, particularly in Britain.

Bristol is an interesting town, one of Britain’s largest with a population of around 410,000. Only in the last decade has it begun to attract folks from London, two hours away, to its hilly streets and lush surroundings. The amazing Clifton Suspension Bridge is here, along with several museums and some fine shops, and we really enjoyed kicking around the town’s high street on a surprisingly warm spring day.

Our interview with Keith Warmington (late night BBC Bristol DJ) was extremely pleasant—John and I found we do well when interviewed as a team, even though we’re promoting different books. We can bounce ideas off each other and crack jokes. When the interviewer is as enthusiastic and as well prepared as Keith, it’s a bonus.

Following another good interview with BBC South West (by ISDN line), we headed off to see the city. Dinner by the docks was followed by a bed-down at a fine (vegetarian) B&B at which, the next morning, we had pakoras for breakfast—a first for us.

Thursday morning we drove in the rain to Gloucester, a city of around 123,000 in the southwest of England, but east of Bristol. After a decent enough interview, John and I picked up Cecilia at the local library and found a restaurant (The New Inn) that had been standing since the early 15th century. Some locals believe that Lady Jane Grey was crowned there in 1553 for her reluctantly-accepted nine days’ reign.

On the way back to Reading, we chose to stop at Avebury to see the standing stones, a series of stone circles from some 2,000 years ago. Walking in this ancient place felt pretty fantastic—there was a certain energy going on there for sure, although I didn’t run up and touch the stones like a few folks did. I just walked through the stone circles and amused myself trying to avoid the piles of dolma-like sheep shit.

This thousand-year-old, gothic, much-decorated Catholic Church just down the way from the standing stones was also beautiful, and provided much evidence that even the most organized religions felt pretty damn pagan a long time ago.

Rooks, magpies, blackbirds, sparrows, and the inevitable pigeons dotted the landscape and filled the cool, grey air with their cries. It was the kind of cloudy British day that must have contributed to the melancholy of Joyce, Donne, Sandy Denny, and Nick Drake. Being a Yank, I just thought it was cool.

We then traversed to Silbury Hill, a man-made hill near Avebury that was constructed some 4,400 years ago. That's right, sports fans. 4,400. It's currently being strengthened, which means we couldn't access it. No matter--the thing was still amazing even from behind a wire fence.

John drove us to Reading (his home town) and let us off at the station, where we took a train back to London and collapsed at our new hotel in Hoxton (our fifth accommodation so far during this trip). With a Friday reading scheduled for Waterstone’s, there was no rest for this wicked rocker.

As if I have reason to complain. I’m in London!

Brief Nephew/Niece Interlude

2008-05-13T12:56:00.001-07:00

I have among the coolest nephews and coolest nieces in the world. One's on YouTube and the other's in Times Square!

Carolina's latest piano performance is here.

Marco, for his part, was photographed for a "Take Your Kid to Work Day" promo at his mom's company (Radio Flyer)...and the resulting photo was used in a PR Newswire announcement in a giant video board in Times Square.

Liverpool Diary

2008-05-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

Now that we've been in England for a few days, I can begin to process our experiences and give you some idea of why we're here.

Having nailed down a relationship with a new distributor (PGUK), my publisher (Hal Leonard) has released Fab Four FAQ in the United Kingdom. This is an exciting development for us, and I chose to travel to England for the purposes of promoting the book on English radio.

Cecilia and I arrived in London late last week, and on Saturday morning (May 10) traveled by train from London to Liverpool for my first promotional gig: A radio appearance with Spencer Leigh on BBC Merseyside.

For the rest of the story, go here. Peace and love.