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Kid Rock: Man of the People or Cynical Yet Canny Businessman?

 Posted by
Apr 112013
 

KidRock20

Kid Rock recently announced his plans for his summer tour with ZZ Top. All tickets will be $20 and the first 2 rows will not be for sale because, in a move originally pioneered by Jesus “the last shall be first and the first shall be last” Christ, Kid Rock wants to be able to surprise those folks of humble means in the back of the crowd with an upgrade to the best seats in the house.

The Kid said the reason for these prices is because “Athletes and musicians make astronomical amounts of money… People get paid $100 million to throw a baseball! Shouldn’t we all take less and pass some of that money onto others? Think about firefighters, teachers and policemen. We should celebrate people that are intellectually smart and trying to make this world a better place.”

First, let’s dispense with a few elephants in the room:

  • Kid Rock’s music bites it.
  • Kid Rock is perhaps the highest (or second highest if you count Ted Nugent) profile Republican rocker, but he is also pro-choice and supports gay rights, and in the article he comes off like a right leaning moderate. I’m sure his political views rub many people the wrong way; many of them bug me too. But let’s keep the focus of this discussion on the economics issues here, and the motivation behind them.

Kid Rock’s persona has always been of the incorrigible Budweiser-drinking, high school delinquent with a heart of gold. Is he actually putting his money where his mouth is? Or is this just a clever yet well worn business move in which he gets to use the carefully crafted brand that he has developed over the years to increase sales through volume? I think it’s probably a little of both and even if he is doing this for the most cynical reasons, the fact remains that Kid Rock fans get to see him for what I consider to be a very fair ticket price. If this works, do you think it might cause others to lower their ticket prices as well? I asked this a while ago, but who would you shell out the most to see live? Who seems like a good value at $20?

http://m.rollingstone.com/?redirurl=%2Fmusic%2Fnews%2Fkid-rock-on-his-20-tour-and-dumbass-republicans-20130410

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RIP Andy Johns

 Posted by
Apr 082013
 

Andy-Johns

He was a Great Man who engineered Exile on Main Street, The Greatest Record Ever Made.

http://www.noise11.com/news/breaking-andy-johns-led-zeppelin-and-rolling-stones-engineer-and-producer-dies-20130408

On coming to America, from an interview on uaudio.com:

I came over here in 1970, because I was working with Jimmy Miller and he was an American who had a production company out here. The studios were a little behind the times, though. When I was mixing “Stairway to Heaven” over at Sunset Sound and I wanted to pan something, I said, “You don’t have pan pots on the channels.” They responded, “We have a pan pot. Bring on the pan pot!” They bring out this guy on a gurney, you know? A big box with a huge knob, a pan pot man. Christ, the Americans sent someone to the moon, but they only had one pan pot. It was like having one meatball. You can have all the bread you want, but only with one meatball.

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Last Man Standing: Good Gods!

 Posted by
Jan 242013
 

My son has been reading a book that has a lot of references to Greek Mythology. This got me wondering how many songs contain lyrical references to specific Greek or Roman gods (or goddesses).

The rules:

  1. To keep this from turning into a Venus-centric list, only three songs per god, please.
  2. You may, however, list the Roman counterpart to a Greek god, even if the Greek god has already been listed three times. So for instance, you could list a song with Poseidon in the lyrics, even if three “Neptune” songs have already been mentioned.
  3. One entry per post.

I expect someone with a working knowledge of mythology will poke holes in this contest, but until that happens, I’ll lead off with “Venus” by Shocking Blue.

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RIP R. B. Greaves

 Posted by
Oct 032012
 

I noticed a post by Townsman Buskirk that R. B. Greaves has gone on to his ultimate reward. I honestly don’t know anything by him except the most excellent “Take a Letter Maria,” a song covered by RTH All-Stars Nixon’s Head (whose version, by the way, is preferred by my 5 year old, no disrespect to the recently departed intended). Based on that one song alone, I suggest that he was a GREAT man.

NEXT: Rock Town Hall’s Official Eulogy…
Continue reading »

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Uniform Rock

 Posted by
Aug 102012
 

Here’s an old topic I would have thought, when it was first posted, would have stoked the fires of the Hall’s collective fashion sense. But it did not. Perhaps we were distracted by John Lennon’s birthday. Or John Entwistle’s. Or Jackson Browne’s. Or Chickenfrank’s. Today is Distraction-Free Friday. Let’s give it another try, shall we? (And whatever happened to Townsman eh?)

This post initially appeared 10/9/08.


Here’s a question that’s probably too encompassing and open to discussion to fit in a poll:

Which uniform/costume of a non-rock group has been most successfully co-opted by a band as their Look?

  • Cowboys (The Band/The Charlatans)
  • 18th Century fops (The Upper Crust)
  • Pirates! (Adam and the Ants)
  • Soldiers/Paramilitary guys (the Clash, circa Combat Rock)
  • Other (please specify)

Looks that don’t count:

  • Angus Young- the Look was not incorporated by the entire band
  • Devo – the Look is entirely made up
  • Village People – various different Looks
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Last Man Standing: Contact Info

 Posted by
Jun 162012
 

I’m looking for a phone number or address in the lyrics of a song. Double points for anyone who comes up with lyrics containing an email address.

The address must contain at least a street name and house number to be valid.

I’ll lead off with “634-5789,” by Wilson Pickett

As always, one entry per post please.

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