Mr. Moderator

When not blogging Mr. Moderator enjoys baseball, cooking, and falconry.

Heart of Dark Star

Apr 102020

My wife and I went out for a quick pickup the other day. We took her car. Bluetooth picked up a random Grateful Dead mix from her phone. One of my favorite 11 Dead songs, from a Dead Dozen mix that I curated and shared with friends on Facebook a couple of months ago, played. Then some others I didn’t know so well. I’ve come a long way through the years in appreciating the Grateful Dead. Even when we left off with Rock Town Hall in 2016, I would have been hard pressed to compile a mix of 11 Dead songs I actually liked – and not for strictly humorous purposes. A couple of weeks ago, I got some deeply upsetting, if expected, personal news, and I immediately turned to my Dead Dozen mix for comfort, letting myself shed some tears during “Ripple.”

Anyhow, while we made our quick run to the liquor store, something called “Dark Star (single version)” popped up on my wife’s random list. I had no idea there was such a thing. “Dark Star” is a song I can’t identify to save my life. The one time I saw the Dead they played it live, and the 19,997 Deadheads around me and my other 2 Dead-hater friends went wild. I furiously sucked on a bowl for the next half hour, but I didn’t get it then. I try to listen to recordings of that song every couple of years, to see if anything sticks. Nothing ever does. It’s like that kid back in your early school days: “I remember the name, but I can’t see his face!”

I thought this single version of “Dark Star” might help me see the heart of “Dark Star.” You know what I concluded?

Let’s Get Real: ABBA

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 092020

Here’s a time when I truly wish that The Great 48 was back among us to go all “Jane, you ignorant slut” on my ass. We can only hope to get him back in the Halls of Rock. Meanwhile…

This May Be the Wrong Place to Ask, but…

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 092020

One thing I’ve been trying to do while working from home, isolated in a spare bedroom that now serves as my office, is to be more patient and open in my listening habits. I listen to albums I play in the background all the way through – no needle lifting! I have been listening to lots of artists I normally don’t listen to, including albums released past 1983. I’ve been listening to genres of music I normally don’t make much time for, especially classical music. My wife walked in on me listening to a Mahler symphony the other day and exclaimed, “I never thought I’d walk in on you listening to classical music,” as if I’d been watching bestiality videos…

Disappointing

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 092020

Our old friend mikeydread got in touch to pass along this piece on a disappointing album. I think this is a nicely balanced expression of disappointment, not the kind of thing we’d hear from smack-talking E. Pluribus Gergely.

You’ve all had enough time to reflect on Nashville Skyline, and I really don’t think Bob Dylan is a Townsperson, so you won’t need to worry about missing out on advance copies of his next Bootleg Series: On a scale of Bad to Meh to Great, how do you rate this album?

Cutting-Room Floor Classics

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 072020

Recent mentions of magical finds of Bob Dylan and Beatles outtakes via vinyl’s bootleg golden age and legitimate releases of previously unreleased outtakes that became a staple in the all-but-dead CD age got me wondering what your Top 3 cutting-room floor classics might be.

As a kid, I never had enough money to justify the low ROI from buying bootlegs, so I got out of that game early. My close personal friend Townsman Andyr sunk more money into Beatles bootlegs than I was willing to sink, and whenever I’d check them out, I was amazed at how little worthwhile material they left on the cutting-room floor. Those cats were efficient!

Producer Hal Willner Dies

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 072020

Remember when we used to have a little morbid fun over rock ‘n roll deaths with celebrations featuring the “He was a great…man” tag and clip from Alex Cox’s Straight to Hell? Those were the days.

Now, a COVID-19 tag has come into existence. I don’t like this tag. It’s not funny at all. Today, producer Hal Willner, who I first knew of as a musical director for Saturday Night Live and then the brains behind a series of underground star-studded tribute albums in the early 1980s, died from coronovirus. He was 64, right about the age for someone to feel more fondly over a Delaney & Bonnie trifle than anyone from another generation might feel. Terrible.

The Streets of Rock ‘n Roll

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 072020

In a comment on another thread this week, Townsman al said he had some shots he took from an AC/DC Lane in Melbourne, Australia. These are too good to embed in the comments from a post that hasn’t caught fire. I’m posting them on the Main Stage, instead, and asking you to share your experiences walking any of the Streets of Rock ‘n Roll (or related 20th century and beyond music genres).

Older Entries Newer Entries