A number of new Townspeople have registered in the past week. That’s awesome. I bet I’m not alone in wanting to get a sense of what makes them tick, and I bet they’re looking for any opportunity to show off their rock wisdom and wit. In that case, it’s time for a rapid-fire round of Dugout Chatter. If you don’t know the drill it’s easy: provide your gut answers to the following questions. There’s no wrong answer and probably no right one. Just your answer. Long-time Townspeople, how ’bout you lead by example?
Which lead singer do you least enjoy seeing dance on stage?
What’s the most impressive percussion feat in rock?
What’s the most played-out PR angle in rock:
- The keee-raaay-zeeee genius bandleader.
- “Is he/she or isn’t he/she” (ie, gay, bisexual, a drug addict, etc)?
- “[Artist] sucked so much on Saturday Night Live that you’ve got to check them out!”
- [Artist] is “classically trained.”
- Other?
If Little Feat is best appreciated hungover, what artist might skeptics best-appreciate after eating too much?
Yesterday both Etta James and Johnny Otis died. They were undoubtedly great men. What do you believe is the reason the Hall has not yet provided a distinct obituary?
- The Moderator is sincerely ignorant of their music and no one else has yet written up their deaths.
- The Moderator never saw that movie in which Beyoncé played James.
- The Moderator saw that movie in which Beyoncé played James.
- Their brand of “race music” fell just outside the strict bounds of Rock Town Hall discussion.
- I hadn’t heard they died. Thank you, Rock Town Hall, my relatively timely one-stop for all rock ‘n roll-related news!
What treasured and celebrated regional style of music is actually most difficult to grasp for folks outside that region?
- Zydeco.
- The Sound of Philadelphia.
- Heartland Rock.
- The zip code-specific soundtrack music selected for use in Garden State.
- Other.
I look forward to your responses.
…least enjoy seeing dance on stage? Anthony Kiedis…geez, the music is embarrassing enough.
…most impressive percussion feat in rock? Concertgoer Scott Halpin for having the nerve to get onstage with The Who after Keith Moon passed out.
…the most played out PR Angle is “plucked out of obscurity or poverty”.
Regarding Etta and Johnny the answer is 1,2,4,5
Regarding regional music I thought you would have included Bluegrass. For those who don’t appreciated Zydeco you’re just not drunk enough. Heartland Rock is in serious need of a revival. Time to dust off my old Bodeans records.
…I’m sorry to say this but the worst dancer has to be Jagger boy’s and girl’s I’m affraid. Irrespective of the man’s talent, the spasmodic girations and freakish facial expressions may hold interest for an anthropologist but as a stage routine it “blows-chunks” as they say over the pond.
…I honestly can’t think of an outstanding piece of percussion in Rock history so I look forward to hearing from others on the matter
…Probably the Kee Raaay Zee genius band leader is the most played out PR angle followed closely by the “I had it ruff as a kid” narrative which seems to be all the rage now days.
…Music best appreciated by a skeptic after eting too much, hmmmm? Captain Beefheart. Your sober enough to not get freaked out by the weirder stuff and too full to make it to the stereo and end your suffering (if that’s how you feel about the Cap’n). Yes, definately Beefheart
… Why didn’t you write up Etta and Johnny’s death’s? no offence but probbly just “1” and “4”.
…I would say that the hardest regional type of music to appreciate for an outsider has to be Heartland. In response Cliff’s comments I suppose Bluegrass and Country styles of music could be included in that very broad spectrum. You may be pleases to know that over here in good old blighty Southern styles of music are alive and well and doing a great job of reviving our abismal live music scene. i am happy to say I’m a part of this movement. My Band (The Honk) play nothing but Little Feat,The Band, Stephen Stills, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, Black Crowes, Allman Brothers etc. and people who aren’t even familiar with the genre react positively to the music. There are Southern themed DJ night’s at great venues around London and Manchester; a musical friend of mine makes a living just playing good old Country music with a pedal steele who’s name is (and you won’t believe this!) Chris Hillman and the band is called “The Bleeding Heart Allstars” if anyone care to check them out. I owe a large thank you to the music of America and the South in particular so lets all do our best to keep the dream alive! So here’s to The Robert E.Lee, Virgil Kane and Tennessee Jed. Here’s to being “On The Hunt” and getting back your bullits. Hat’s off to Spotcheck Billy and getting “Arrested For Driving While Blind”. With a YeeHaw here and God Damn there, everybody Honk Till Tou Drop!
Etta James was a great man?
Lead singer dance – I saw Leslie West “dancing” once. The horror…
PR angle – “The Next Bob Dylan”. Works with other artists too – “Next Beatles” and so forth.
Best music on a full stomach – Anything that inspires a nap. Spandau Ballet, Celine Dion, and Lionel Richie are contenders.
Etta and Johnny – It’s still early for a thoughtful obituary. I’d volunteer but frankly I’m not all that familiar with the artists.
Regional style – Latino pop is a huge industry in the US but gets little notice outside of Spanish-speaking areas. Breakouts like Ricky Martin and Gloria Estefan were almost flukes.
Which lead singer do you least enjoy seeing dance on stage?
Henry Rollins
What’s the most impressive percussion feat in rock?
That the guy that plays tambourine for Elton John doesn’t have to work at a car wash, too.
What’s the most played-out PR angle in rock:
That some puny Rocker that got his ass kicked his whole life is now some kind of bad ass that never takes any shit from anyone because he’s a successful guitar player with a 300 lb. bodyguard behind him.
If Little Feat is best appreciated hungover, what artist might skeptics best-appreciate after eating too much?
James Taylor. I say, “embrace your food coma and enjoy it!”
Yesterday both Etta James and Johnny Otis died. They were undoubtedly great men. What do you believe is the reason the Hall has not yet provided a distinct obituary?
We’re only prepared for the death of one legend a day. We don’t have enough resources for more than that.
What treasured and celebrated regional style of music is actually most difficult to grasp for folks outside that region?
Other: What’s that Florida Death Metal stuff? I think your brain needs a sunburn to appreciate that.
I’ve got to disagree with your assessment of Jagger’s dancing, Deek. The purpose of it is to attract women. Men may not like it, but I have always felt that the men that didn’t like it don’t like it mainly because they know it’s working and the girl they brought to see The Stones would rather have sex with the guy doing the spazz dance onstage than the guy that brought them to the show.
Although I love Cliff’s shot at the RHCPs, I think that the guy from Stone Temple Pilots has some really douchey dance moves.
And 2kman is dead on: the fact that Ray Cooper has sustained a career as the Tambourine Shaker to the Stars is amazing. Has he ever sat behind a contraption kit?
How could this thread have been active for over 5 hours and here in Rock Town Hall, no one has offered the obvious number one most played out PR angle – Lou Reed’s music the way it was always meant to sound!
Hey, I’m pretty sure that’s Ray Cooper banging the gong in the RTH sizzle reel, at the end of Brian May’s “God Save the Queen.” Don’t bite the hand that fees us.
Yes!
Dancer I can’t stand? Mick Jagger, who jumps around like a frog that has been incompletely pithed. On the other hand, it distracts from his preposterous affected bloozman accent.
Percussive feat? This:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG5lhcSoPfM which is done without the benefit of livestock.
Played out PR Angle? An artist’s return to their roots
Was that Chris Farley on drums?
That’s exactly what I thought the first time I saw it.
All that and with a gold jacket on.
Haven’t filled out one of these in years…
Which lead singer do you least enjoy seeing dance…
Jagger
What’s the most impressive percussion…
Keith Moon’s drumming on ‘Cobwebs & Strange’
What’s the most played-out PR angle…
4
Little Feat is best appreciated hungover, what artist might skeptics best-appreciate after eating…
Kenny G, it will help you enpty your smomach
Yesterday both Etta James and Johnny Otis died…
2 & 3
What treasured and celebrated regional style of music…
Southern gospel
Which lead singer do you least enjoy seeing dance on stage?
Celine Dion doing ACDC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULmC8JTTVy0
What’s the most impressive percussion feat in rock?
The Rolling Stones, Brown Sugar, when the maracas kick in after the sax solo and create liftoff.
What’s the most played-out PR angle in rock?
Hyphenated punk, i.e., folk-punk, country-punk, techno-punk, pop-punk, funk-punk, etc.
If Little Feat is best appreciated hungover, what artist might skeptics best-appreciate after eating too much?
Canned Heat.
Yesterday both Etta James and Johnny Otis died. They were undoubtedly great men. What do you believe is the reason the Hall has not yet provided a distinct obituary?
The Moderator saw that movie in which Beyoncé played James.
What treasured and celebrated regional style of music is actually most difficult to grasp for folks outside that region?
The True Sound of Philadelphia, in other words, mummers’ music.
1. Upside down drum kit. (Buddy Rich?)
2. “classically trained”
3. Cowboy Junkies. Seems good for sloth following gluttony.
4. Sincere ignorance? I first heard about Johnny Otis via Stan Ridgway’s fb post.
5. Zydeco. Makes me think of wedding receptions and that chicken dance thing, though that is probably wrong in several ways.
BigSteve wrote:
Good answer. At least in my family a big part of one’s interest in the Mummers had to do with neighborhood and ethnic allegiances. Our family always backs Polish-American, a string band from the – you guessed it – predominantly Polish-American neighborhood/parish where my Mom’s side of the family settled. As a kid it was fun hearing my family root against other neighborhood string bands, letting out all their weird, Old World prejudices. For instance, although Italian-American, my family always rooted against the string bands from the Italian-American neighborhoods of South Philadelphia. The South Philly Italians were mocked by my family for being “spaccones,” the more stereotypically flashy Italians, more likely of Southern Italian descent. Although Catholic, my family rooted against the string bands from Irish-Catholic neighborhoods, especially the one adjoining their neighborhood. I know all that stuff is wrong and that we should love one another and treat each other fairly, but it was fun hearing those weird old neighborhood grudges hashed up each New Year’s Day. What a thoughtful way to kick off the New Year in the City of Brotherly Love.
Regarding The Percussion question, I think The Grateful Dead may be a contender for that accolade simply for going around the world to collect a vast array of instruments, the gargantuan double drum solo’s that last for eons and the fact that their percussionist recently turned the solar system into and instrument!
See the link below
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2010/01/25/music-of-the-universe/
1. Whoever the lead singer was for Dead or Alive.
2. Squeeze drummer Gilson Lavis’ water on the drum trick he used in the 80s — I had never seen it before or since. Maybe others have used it — splish splash!
3. Return to roots . . . or return to form.
4. Probably something like Mazzy Star — snoozy time — Cowboy Junkies was a good pick too!
5. 1? Hmmm — opening for the Stones is kind of rockish,
6. Heartland Rock — nobody wants to listen to Head East or Black Oak on the coasts. And Mellencamp is always a poor-man’s Springsteen — but I listen to Mellencamp more.
I notice you didn’t try to make an argument for the music itself. The subcultural stuff is interesting, but when I finally heard the music it hurt my ears.
I don’t know that many people in Philadelphia choose to listen to that music the other 364 days of the year. It’s all about the neighborhood stuff and the spectacle of drunken, macho city guys in feathers and sparkles.
1. *stumped on this one*
2. “Tusk”
3. Bostonhistorian got it. Artist goes back to their roots. Hell, U2 tries that every 5-6 years.
4. Something sleek and hard, like Wire
5. #1. I heard Johnny Meister do a bit on them on this weeks’ “Blues Show”. Good enough for me.
6. Heartland rock (as distinct from Alt-country). As for the Mummer’s sound, I can listen to a little Marah anytime. http://www.amazon.com/Kids-Philly-Marah/dp/B00004RDJI
True, Marah actually incorporated some of that Mummers’ sound – and it was fine!
Good call on “Tusk” – The USC marching band augmented Mick Fleetwood’s bashing very well.
Which lead singer do you least enjoy seeing dance on stage?
Steven Tyler
What’s the most impressive percussion feat in rock?
Sheila E’s high heel boot cymbal hits
What’s the most played-out PR angle in rock:
. The keee-raaay-zeeee genius bandleader.
If Little Feat is best appreciated hungover, what artist might skeptics best-appreciate after eating too much?
Codeine
Yesterday both Etta James and Johnny Otis died. They were undoubtedly great men. What do you believe is the reason the Hall has not yet provided a distinct obituary?
4. Their brand of “race music” fell just outside the strict bounds of Rock Town Hall discussion.
What treasured and celebrated regional style of music is actually most difficult to grasp for folks outside that region?
Bluegrass