Mar 082013
 

How did I miss this when it aired, on April 26, 1978?

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  35 Responses to “Ringo’s All-Star Jam”

  1. Suburban kid

    I was in London for work this week and went to see one of Wilko Johnson’s farewell gigs. I’m glad I did because as much as I love multinational London and the way you hear every language and see every nationality on every street in the West End, it was great to be able to participate in a British event while I was there. What’s more English than a gig by a 65 year old pub rocker in the same venue that used to be the Camden Palace, home of the New Romantics?

    I didn’t know the Feelgoods at all before I saw Oil City Confidential. It didn’t convert me, but I certainly appreciated what they were and I’m certain that if I knew of them at the time I would have been a fan. And Wilko Johnson was clearly a great character with a huge amount of style. That proved to still be the case. For a guy his age and with his medical condition (inoperable pancreatic cancer), he rocked pretty hard. He did all his patented stage moves, didn’t really talk much but he smiled a lot, and didn’t get emotional or address his situation (although his encore of Chuck Berry’s Bye Bye Johnny with the “bye bye” chorus seemed to be his parting message). I like his choppy and clangy guitar sound, and he plays a cool black and red telecaster. Norman Watt-Roy is his bass player, and he brought out a very svelte Alison Moyet for a couple of songs (I would not have ever thought of these two in the same context–despite both appearing in the Donwtown Abbey thread last week–but he introduced her as “someone we’re all very proud of in Essex”, so I guess they are from the same ‘hood.)

    Oh, I also saw Bobby Gillespie come in late and spend a few minutes at the bar before leaving again. As for the audience as a whole, talk about an old boys club. It was strange to be one of the younger people at a rock gig (I am 50). Not that I was much younger, but still. It was also like 25 old geezers to every lady, although I stood at the back where the guys who came with their wives were standing.

  2. OK, which of you local Philly guys can help me with this? I’ve got an unlabeled cassette of garage-punk bands from the Northeast circa 1985. I know the names of 2 bands: The Impossible Years (from UPenn) “Attraction Gear” and The Seen (from State College, PA) with “Hey Jealous Girl!”. What is it and what are the names of the other bands? I specifically love “Come To Where It’s At”, very succinct.

  3. That’s really cool you got to see that show. Thanks for the report!

  4. I’ll see that 2 friends who should be regulars here see your note. They were old friends/managers of the Impossible Years. They know just about everything from that era.

  5. One of my old friends got back to me. He writes:

    Sounds like he has a copy of Voxx’s Battle Of The Garage’s, Vol.2. The song he likes is by Boston’s Prime Movers. By the way no one from the Impossible Years ever went to or had anything to do with Penn.

  6. Thanks, Mod. Maybe I saw the Impossible Years in U. City and associated the two.
    Where else could you get that question answered so quickly?

  7. The latest record by Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby “A Working Museum” is a delight. A search of the RTH archive produced an interview where the pair told of how they got together. “Do You Remember That” is the song re-telling that story & the video is a charm.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPtCbL3Uyl0

  8. misterioso

    Mod, Holy Moses, that Ringo special was totally unknown to me. Did it air on network tv? April 1978! A mere 6 months removed from the triumph of Ringo the 4th and a scant 2 months shy of the juggernaut Bad Boy! Wow.

  9. Loosehandlebars. Yes that video of Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby is a charm. I see its a very recent video. 2/4/13. I don’t remember the Ringo Starr all star jam. And no it wasn’t before my time for that matter. Maybe I’m repressing. Well maybe.

  10. Man, that Ringo special is…something. Dunno how I could have missed that back in ’78 (when I’d eat up any Beatles-related product), though I have a feeling I would have reacted to it only slightly more positively than I did to that horrifying “Sgt. Pepper’s” movie with Frampton and The Bee Gees. At least this was free and featured two actual Beatles. Still…what a stinker!

    I’ll second a thumbs up for that new Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby album. Also, the new Palmyra Delran record, “You Are What You Absorb”, is pretty darn fantastic – tuneful, well crafted, hook-laden, and rockin’.

  11. Here are a couple of tunes from Palmyra’s rekkid:

    http://youtu.be/xW97b6lg6yM

    http://youtu.be/6-arPdoThOI

    (Obviously, it took awhile longer for the album to be finished than the dates on these YT posts would lead one to believe.)

  12. ladymisskirroyale

    You may recall that I am a tried and true Abba fan, but this had me in shock: a solo album, now!?!

    http://www.agnetha.co.uk

  13. jeangray

    Interesting, but a little Bubblegum for my tastes.

  14. It’s hardly “bubblegum”…unless you’re a hardcore Swans fan, or something.

  15. Usually I appreciate Grantland’s efforts at Rock Town Hall-style discourse, but sometimes they get pretty far up their collective ass without noticing a little dingleberry that’s dropped from their shorts. See if you can get far enough into this overly clever “Nobituary” on David Bowie to spot the point at which at least one of the writers lost all credibility and I felt getting back to drafting contracts for work was more interesting than reading the piece:

    http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9019434/chuck-klosterman-alex-pappademas-david-bowie-career

    Trust me, to find the point where all credibility was lost (for me) does not take much reading.

  16. jeangray

    Dude! That first video was total “My Green Tamborine” goodness. One man’s Power-PoP is another man’s Archies.

  17. jeangray

    Somethang’s going on!

  18. An electric sitar doesn’t automatically equal “My Green Tambourine”, but I’m not gonna argue the point. This may equal bubblegum to you (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in my book, but you were obviously using the term as some kind of slight), but from what I’ve gathered from many of your previous posts, your breadth of knowledge is fairly constricted.

    And don’t call me, “dude”.

  19. “‘Dude,’ like in ‘dude ranch’?” – Jack Nicholson’s character in Easy Rider, after hearing Billy or Wyatt refer to someone as “dude.”

    [I wrapped up watching Easy Rider for probably the 50th time yesterday!)

  20. Ugh! Klosterman is one of the worst things to happen in the last twenty years to the already iffy world of “rock journalism”. I barely made it through his first fake email. What a prat.

  21. You’ve got a higher tolerance for druggy boredom than I, Mod. Once Jack’s gone from the scene, I have no interest anymore in the rest of that movie.

    I just never liked, “Dude!”, especially with the de rigueur So. CA. surfer-type articulation it’s usually given when spoken.

  22. ladymisskirroyale

    Bobby, you just made my day. I thought I was the only one who couldn’t stand his angst vs. testosterone-powered writing (little tear here). I don’t get rid of a lot of books, but I read his book about riding around finding the scenes where various rock legends bit the dust, and found it so lacking that I gave it away. Blech.

  23. ladymisskirroyale

    Well, we can tell some money for the cosmetic surgery has been exchanged.

  24. jeangray

    Bobby Bittman:

    WoWsa!

    So, since I did not enjoy somethang that you posted on here my “…breadth of knowledge is fairly constricted.”??? I won’t even begin to argue with you about how completely wrong-headed that statement is, but I will say that I have listened to just about everythang that you have posted on here for the last five years. Ima not sure who shit in your coffee this morning DUDE! but please don’t blame your poor tase in music on me.

    Sincerely,
    jeangray

  25. Sorry, jeangray. I read, then wrote, while distracted. Poor choice of words. I apologize for offending you. It was out of line.

    BB

  26. jeangray

    Woah. And now don’t I feel like a shmuck? My apologies as well. I got a little too fired up for my own good. Should not have let that rattle me.

    Oh, and I was born in California. That might have somethang to do with it.

    I was out of line also, but at least we got an interesting RTH poll out of it.

  27. I’m glad you two are back in business, not that we don’t come back a little stronger for the occasional scuffle. Here’s a healing Swans performance to celebrate this occasion. As the poster of the video writes, “Really, for a few openminded listeners.”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHES9YAGGkU

  28. trigmogigmo

    Boy, you are right. That was tiresome. Why did I keep reading? Or should I say, “skimming quickly past”.

  29. Yeah, I was posting in an annoying environment, with too much caffeine and too little food in my system, and I took the whole thing the wrong way and snapped. When I reread what I’d written, I even thought, “Jeez, what an asshole!”, and was about to post an apology anyway, when I scrolled down and saw jeangray’s rightfully p-oed response. Again, I’m sorry I went off the rails on ya, jeangray, and I am also sorry to *anyone* who bothered to read that pointless screed.

    Thanks, Mod, but after seeing those mopes, The Swans, in the 80s, I made up my mind to not waste another second on their spew, though, I actually broke down and listened to the new one all the way through when the whole thing was posted on some site….I guess dirge rock just ain’t my thing. I’m a Fleers®™ man, myself.

  30. I like the Palmyra Delran stuff! But I know how controversial that opinion can be. Sethro said she’s getting a big push on Little Steven’s Underground Garage.

    In a completely unrelated New Jersey topic: Mumford and Sons are getting props for filming their latest video in the hellhole that is Camden N.J. Haven’t seen it, but it’s probably the one thing they could have done that would make me even the slightest bit interested in seeing it. So, well played if they are trying to draw fans in 1 person at a time.

  31. Those two Palmyra tunes aren’t even indicative of the entire album’s sound, as she covers a lot of stylistic territory – they were just the first two I found that had videos w/non-distorted sound (there are a bunch of live clips, but they’re all lousy iPhone type recordings). I’d recommend checking out the other album tracks on iTunes, at least for fans of rough around the edges pop, like her old band, The Friggs, Rockpile, Stiff Records…that kinda stuff. Yeah, Little Steven is a big supporter of her stuff…I think at least one of the tracks was voted “Best Song in the World”, or whatever that thing he does with listeners is called.

    The only way Mumford and Sons will get me to watch one of there videos is if it’s cast entirely with famous, beautiful and completely naked, actresses…and even then….But Camden’s not a big enough draw for me…unless there’s footage of them being mugged and beaten.

  32. ladymisskirroyale

    Just please don’t tell me your spew about Klosterman was part of that over caffeinated moment.

  33. ladymisskirroyale

    Palmyra is sounding a lot like Barbara Manning.

  34. No, I’ve been disliking that clown for years.

  35. *”their videos”, I meant.

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