hrrundivbakshi

Battle Royale: RTH Member Fun Facts

Dec 262008

Looking back over this fun, chatty thread from 2007, I took time to remember some names of Townspeople who’ve moved on from regular participation in the Halls of Rock. I also wondered what RTH Member Fun Facts we may not know about those of you who’ve been participating since this thread first ran. Let your fun facts rip! Let this Battle Royale resume!

This post initially appeared 7/25/07.

Townsman Trolleyvox says:

Fun fact: my dad’s old painting teacher taught Peter Wolf at the MFA’s Museum School.

I say:

Fun fact: my grandmother taught Frank Gorshin how to act.

Hand over the belt!

Rock Town Hall and the J. Geils Band Wish You a Happy Hannukah!

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Dec 222008

We’ve been talking a lot about Jesus’ birthday ’round these parts, and I thought it only fair to bring some Jewish Rock to the table, in celebration of everything rock-tacular that that fine culture has brought us. Official emissaries of this holiday message: the band with the highest quotients of both rock and Jewishness I can think of (though David Lee Roth has a big set of boots to fill): Seth Justman, Peter Wolf, Stephen Jo Bladd, Danny Klein, Magic Dick, and J. Geils — the J. Geils Band.

Happy Hannukah!

A Wonderful Christmas Life Story… OF ROCK!

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Dec 192008

So my business partner has a somewhat bookish uncle who, when asked what he might like for Christmas, replied: “I dunno… has there been any good music since the sixties?” My business partner has decided he’s going to take on the holiday challenge of educating his beloved uncle, over the span of one 20-track CD, on the crucial high points of rock and roll, from 1970 until today. Naturally, this wacky challenge made me think of all my nerdy friends at RTH — and so it is that I turn to you for guidance on his behalf. Here are the ground rules:

1. We’ve got 20 tracks to fill.

2. Each decade has to be represented by at least three tracks.

3. No single band gets more than two tracks (sorry, 2000Man!)

4. Nominate one track at a time, then wait for a “second” on your motion. Seconded nominations will move to the official track list, but may be bumped by a veto of more than three specific counter-votes.

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

Join Together: RTH Gets Serious About ’70s Who

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Dec 052008

HVB made a great point when this post first ran: The Who don’t get dragged through the ringer of Rock Town Hall with half the frequency of some other titans of rock around here. Maybe it’s because we’re mostly dudes and because The Who was so vital to our sense of budding dudeness as teenagers. Could there be Rock Town Hall without the rite of passage that was the Stages of Who? Rather than get too heavy, I say we revisit HVB’s hard-hitting questions on ’70s-era Who AND go one step further: add our own previously unasked question about this band.

This post initially appeared 10/17/07.

Ah, that lovely little band from Shepherd’s Bush: The ‘Oo. I’ve long been puzzled by the lack of pissing contests, name-calling and prissy, fists-thumping-on-your opponent’s-chest nerd-fights on the topic of this band. Sure, all the closet prockists in this Hall can agree that there’s something perfect and inviolate about pre-Tommy Who, but — after that? There’s loads of stuff we haven’t come to blows over. Yet.

In order to start the healing process even before the conflict has begun, I suggest you all take a moment out of your busy day to answer at least a few of the following questions. As always, feel free to take any one of these issues and really get serious with your answer.

1. Show of hands: let’s leave aside the issue of lip-synch’ing for a moment: rate the Who’s BBC “Join Together” clip as a source of rock entertainment. Scale of 1 to 10: how much do you enjoy watching it?

2. Our Moderator has said he finds Who By Numbers disappointing. I think that’s a mealy-mouthed way of ducking his responsibility to declare the thing a “turd” or a “treasure.” Where do you come down on this album?

3. Name the worst — and the best — album covers in the 1970s Who canon.

4. ‘Fess up: how many times have you actually listened to Live At Leeds from start to finish? Speaking for myself, I can barely make it through one track of that album at a time.

5. Once again, I ask: should the band have called it quits when Moonie died?

6. SHOWDOWN! Who’s Next or Quadrophenia?

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

Analyze THIS!

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Nov 242008

[dm]x29c6p_guns-n-roses-november-rain_music[/dm]

In an effort to jump-start the critically important deconstruction of Guns N’ Roses’ late-period video output, I’ve taken the liberty of posting the mini-film that provides visual accompaniment to their hit, “Cold November Rain.” It is Rock Town Hall’s hope that willing Townspeople will step forward with insightful observations and analyses, so that we may better understand what exactly is going on here.

Specific questions that deserve answers include, but are not limited to:

1. In the opening minute alone, Axl is transported thrice while playing piano: from a concert hall, to the inside of the church where he is to be married, to the barren wasteland of the American West. In considering this metaphorical statement about the vagaries of fame, the emptiness of love, and the meaninglessness of existence, I ask: why is he wearing a bandana when he isn’t actually bald? Isn’t that why rock stars usually turn to the bandana?

2. “It’s hard to hold a candle in the cold November rain.” Compare and contrast with the statement “Every rose has its thorn,” making, if you wish, specific reference to life-changing events in your personal history.

3. The cigarette dangling precariously from the lip: explain its role in rock imagery in general, and as a specific counterpoint to Axl’s pussy-ass power balladeering.

4. How many weddings were celebrated after this video was released, in which slightly paunchy, balding men stuffed themselves into Edwardian military waistcoats, and waggled pinky fingers newly adorned with adamantine elven-rings? I’m just askin’.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

HVB

If You Can’t Say Anything Nice… About Buckethead

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Nov 192008

You know the drill. Review this performance, then comment. But remember, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all!

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

There Is Nothing Wrong With This Song!

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Nov 172008

When I was college, I experienced the wonderful realization that — with a little effort — I could actually write songs. Not great ones, but songs that were occasionally not half bad. Catalyzed by my encounters with The Jam’s All Mod Cons, Townsmen kcills, Mod, and a few other personal and professional icons of the pop/punk ideal, I began doing this in my spare time, forming a band as so many around me were doing.

One of the groups that convinced me it was possible for mere mortals to write pleasing, interesting music was the dB’s. Their Repercussions album is still on my short list of “One Day the World Will Wake Up and Celebrate This LP and the Band That Made It” discs — and it’s one of the reasons why, when I met Chris Stamey a few years ago, the first thing I blurted out was, “you’re a National Cultural Treasure.”

Anyhow, as a hopeful collegiate songwriter, the one song that rose to the top for me — across all the Great Bands I was soaking up in those impressionable years — was “Neverland” by the dB’s. I thought then, and continue to think today, that it’s the Perfect Pop Song. And the spot (at 2:27 in this newly discovered video) when Gene Holder shoots up the neck to the tonic is one of those shudder-inducing “wait for it” moments that make musical life worth living.

I defy you to find anything wrong with this song. I even dare you to tell me this 26-year-old song sounds dated. You can’t. You just can’t.

HVB

p.s.: per Mod’s request, I add — do you agree, or ARE YOU AN ASSHOLE?

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