Jan 062009
Dec 092008
This popped up on my Google Reader shortly after firing up my computer this morning. What a great way to start the day; Christmas comes early for Anglophiles!
Dec 012008
One of my favorite elements of the classic Motown sound has always been the baritone saxophone. The man responsible for those distinct, swinging lines, Mike Terry, has died.
It was in 1963, with Heatwave and You Lost the Sweetest Boy, that the sound of Terry’s baritone started bursting out of young America’s transistor radios. Restricted by the production team of Lamont Dozier and Eddie and Brian Holland to short interludes before the final chorus, usually no more than eight bars long, he made the most of his opportunity with a heated approach that was short on melodic invention but long on rhythmic drive.
Incidentally, the Guardian obit says he died Oct. 30, which I assume is a typo and should read “November 30.”
Nov 262008
“It will vanish and shrink We’re more popular than Jesus now – I don’t know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was alright, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.” – John Lennon, 1966
After 40 years, the Vatican has forgiven John Lennon for his “bigger than Jesus” remark. In a piece celebrating the 40th anniversary of “The White Album,” L’Osservatore Romano also stated its preference for the single version of “Revolution” and cited a 1973 radio appearance in which he sang along to Beatles songs, making up nonsensical lyrics, as evidence of the solo Lennon’s ability to poke fun at his time in the Beatles.
The Vatican would not budge on one issue, however:
John Lennon’s 1975 album of pre-Beatles covers, Rock ‘n Roll, continues to disappoint.
Nov 122008
He was…a great man.
Seriously, Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell was one of rock’s coolest drummers. He was found dead in a Portland, OR hotel after wrapping up an all-star Jimi Hendrix Experience-themed supergroup tour. Like Keith Moon, he played in a free and nimble style that most drummers shouldn’t attempt to duplicate. Don’t try this at home, kids.
How he wasn’t snatched up and used to maximum effect by other musicians after Hendrix dumped him is beyond me. At least you can’t say the Experience left anything on the table.
(Thanks to Townsman Telewacker for directing us to this story.)
Nov 082008
Where have I been, too busy with the Phillies’ World Series run and then an historic Presidential Election to have caught Joaquin Phoenix‘s announcement that he was retiring from acting to concentrate on music?
Don’t bother, Joaquin! We know you won an Academy Award for your reduction of Johnny Cash to a slobbering, life-sized punk who could only be saved by the love of a Strong Woman in a film that most moviegoers will never think about again in 2 years time, unless you don’t get your act together by then and that’s all the clips we have to run alongside your obit, but you’re not only no Johnny Cash. You’re not even River.
Your best acting role was the one that required the least amount of acting, the hopped-up halfwit kid Nicole Kidman‘s character seduces into killing her husband in the excellent To Die For. Get your act together. Enjoy your fate as a high-class Jim Belushi and keep finding movie roles that allow you to mumble and look hurt. You’re not completely talentless…as an ACTOR. The world’s got enough second-rate rock musicians. We don’t need you hogging precious space on Tuesday night gigs. You can make records on the side, just like JIm does.
There are worse fates, my friend.
Oct 172008
What’d I tell you about our friend, Links Linkerson? At the end of a busy day I just got notice from the basement that Four Tops lead vocalist Levi Stubbs has died.
I’m sure some of you are sick to death of the band’s oldies but goodies (greaties, in most cases), so here’s a hit from the ’70s that you may not be as sick of hearing and that was key to the formative musical years of myself and a young Townsman Andyr!!
