Rock Town Hall • Rock Music Discussion

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Soul-In

Posted by Slim Jade

Apr 132013

Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!

For this mix, I really didn’t feel like speaking over the tracks, or putting down bed music in order to list songs with my tinny laptop microphone. I’ll let the list below suffice, and happy listening!

SNSISoul

Sly & The Family Stone – Thank You For Talkin’ To Me Africa (snippet)
Malcom Catto – Guitar Edit
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – How Long Do I Have To Wait?
Richard Groove Holmes – Down Home Funk
Tommy Guerrero – B.W.’s Blues
José James – Black Magic
Binky Griptite & The Mellomatics – The Stroll pt.2
The Mighty Imperials – The Matador
Jesse Boykins III – Amorous
The Dap-Kings – Nervous Like Me (beats)
Charles Bradley – Victim of Love
Cymande – One More
Menahan Street Band – Lights Out
Sugarman Three – Solid Funk
Baby Charles – I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor
Red Snapper – Hot Flush
The Budos Band – Ghostwalk
Skull Snaps – It’s a New Day
Dam-Funk – Hood Pass Intact

[Note: You can add Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your iTunes by clicking here. The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player.]

All-Star Jam

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 122013

Is the older woman next to Patti Smith carrying a picture of Sinead O’Connor?

The All-Star Jam is the place to do your thing.

I’ve Been Waiting

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 122013

Is there a particular part in a song that you like enough to wait through all the boring (or worse) bits? While flipping stations this morning I landed on a song I’ve never warmed up to, except for one part: U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” I have always liked the “How long, how long must we sing our song?” break enough to wait through the song’s annoying elements. (And I know I’m probably in a tiny minority of people who find this song annoying for the reasons I find it annoying.)

That song and the War album mark my initial drifting from my high school U2 fandom. The song is not terrible and there are always elements I like, but the open martial snare beat, swishy hi-hats, and the Celtic violins that punctuate the song always bugged me. I don’t like the production of War; to my ears it exposes the things I like least about the band’s rhythm section. For some reason, too, the production of Bono’s voice on “Sunday Bloody Sunday” made me feel for the first time that he was trying too hard to transcend his band’s humble music. These days, the wiser, kinder, gentler me has come to appreciate Bono’s abundance of pomp, but I still get the sense he’s milking me a little too hard on that song, at least until the “How long, how long must we sing our song?” break kicks in. That break delivers the goods in ways I was accustomed to the goods having been delivered on U2’s first 2 albums.

This morning, like most times that song has come on the radio, I stuck with “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in all its swishy, high-end hollowness so I could enjoy that break. How about you, what song has a specific part you like so much that you’ll tolerate the rest of the song for a few measures of glory?

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

Posted by cdm

Apr 112013

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

It Was 43 Years Ago Yesterday: The Beatles’ Mortiversary

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 112013

Quitter!

It was 43 years ago yesterday that Paul McCartney‘s self-interview that accompanied the release of his first solo album effectively announced the beginning of the end of The Beatles.

Q: Do you foresee a time when Lennon-McCartney becomes an active songwriting partnership again?
A: No.

That was some way to announce the end of a band! Did Paul Weller make some self-important splash when he decided to end The Jam? Didn’t they put out an EP announcing the break up and coming farewell tour? A few songs into The Gift I’d already broken up with them.

I recall Little Richard and David Bowie each broke up with themselves in dramatic, once-and-for-all fashion a few times. What other artists staged memorable break ups?

A Cool, Cruel Summer

Posted by trigmogigmo

Apr 102013

The Look of the Beach Boardwalk?

At theme parks and casinos around the country, former hit-making — and now aging — rockers are bringing their nostalgic hits to smaller audiences. On one hand I think it’s cool that bands like this continue to work and (hopefully) have fun doing their thing. On the other hand, does a barely-noticed local band like Y&T need to keep playing, and merit being on the same summer line-up as globally recognized bands like Blue Öyster Cult and ABC? Well, I suppose I’d say, “more power to ’em” if they’re having fun and making a living.

Here is the summer line-up at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Free Friday Night concert series:

http://www.beachboardwalk.com/concerts/

I find some of the descriptions, airbrushing, soft focus, and band-as-logo graphics, pretty funny. Good to know that “ABC’s Martin Fry is a revelation, an ageless soul man belting out Vegas glitter pop and uptown House in his electric blue lounge suit.” Nice (by which I mean “creepy”) to see old guys like Gregg Rolie and Eddie Money with lots of youthful stage makeup/airbrushing and hairdressing. Interesting graphic choice for WAR and Foghat to photoshop their stage photos into strange cartoon logos.

If I happened to be down at the boardwalk on a Friday this summer, I would actually stick around to watch maybe half of these groups. Any interesting tidbits you notice in these promos and bios? Who would you stay around to hear? (LMK CVB, obviously!)

Unwelcome Second Acts

Posted by funoka

Apr 092013

With all the crap that gets released every week, I should be beyond being shocked, but it floors me that Big Country is back with a new studio album. If Queen and INXS can do it — why not trot out good old Mike Peters from The Alarm, cut some songs, and hit the road as “Big Country.” Never mind that the face and voice of the band hanged himself 12 years ago!

And then there’s this — a Molly Ringwald album. Didn’t you know that acting was just a distraction for her and it’s time for get “back to the music.” Of course you did.

What strange albums have you come across lately?

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