he was a great man

New Orleans Arranger Wardell Quezergue Dead

Sep 062011

Townsman BigSteve has passed along the news that New Orleans arranger Wardell Quezergue has died at 81. Not being that knowledgeable about New Orleans music, I had never heard of Quezergue. I sure as hell grew up, however, digging the syncopated arrangements for songs like “Mr. Big Stuff” and “Groove Me,” two smash songs (as I just read) that he arranged on the same day! In my high school and college years I was tormented by the chestnut “Iko, Iko,” but that’s because I’d only suffered through hearing it played by the Grateful Dead. The Dixie Cups’ version that Quezergue arranged is pretty cool.

Rock ‘n Roll Lyricist Jerry Lieber Dead

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Aug 222011

This is probably not news to any rock ‘n roll lover who didn’t spend the day frollicking in the wilds of Maine until 10:30 pm today, but I just read that rock ‘n roll lyricist extraordinaire Jerry Lieber died at 78. If you don’t know the works of Lieber and Stoller, it’s time you do. The New York Times‘ piece I just read has a good recap of their highpoints. Check out The Drifters’ “Spanish Harlem,” which stopped me in my chewing of a bean burrito when I heard it playing over the speakers in a healthy, hippified diner set in an old-time pharmacy in Camden, Maine. Like Lenny Bruce says in my favorite bit of his, “Equality”: “It’s so pretty, man…” I had to stop and simply cherish the beauty of that song. That’s the Sound of the City that I so miss in too much rock ‘n roll from the ’70s forward, with rare exceptions like some regional punk rock from my high school days.

Why Rock Town Hall Has Not Provided Dedicated Coverage on the Death of Amy Winehouse

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 252011

This morning we received the following e-mail from a concerned Townsperson:

Yo, Mod:

Why is Rock Town Hall not providing dedicated coverage to the death of Amy Winehouse? Shouldn’t there be a thread on her legacy by now? I bet a lot of readers are coming to the Hall expecting our take on her untimely passing.

I thought I’d share my response to our anonymous Townsperson with you. Continue reading »

RIP Rob Grill of The Grass Roots

Posted by misterioso

Jul 152011

Rob Grill: He was a Great Man...

Earlier this week I saw the obit for the main singer for perhaps my favorite B-level ’60s-early ’70s band, Rob Grill of The Grass Roots. I don’t think The Grass Roots get a lot of respect in rock snob circles: they were a semi-manufactured outfit (Sloan and Barri), they were a little too conspicuously handsome, they didn’t write their big hits, in short, they were not Serious Rock. All true enough. They are, for my money, a great argument for the Greatest Hits collection, and the only Grass Roots albums I own are a greatest hits lp (Golden Grass) and the better still Best of the Grass Roots CD. Not a box set; not a double cd. Just 12 songs, all top 40 hits between 1966 and 1971. That is sufficient. As Top 40 pop of the era, for my money it’s hard to beat “Let’s Live for Today,” “Midnight Confessions,” “Wait a Million Years,” “Temptation Eyes,” etc. Rob Grill, we salute you!

And from Playboy After Dark.

Last Man Standing: Betty Ford’s Favorite Rockers

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 082011

In honor of a First Lady who knew it took more than just saying No, say Yes to rockers who’ve sobered the hell up for what seems to be the long run. (Straight-edge rockers who weren’t addicts in the first place do not count.)

Sacred Sites

Posted by BigSteve

Jul 052011

When Mr.Mod mentioned recently that he was making a trip to France, people wondered whether he would be taking the opportunity to visit Jim Morrison’s grave in Paris.

Jim Morrison's gravesite

I don’t believe he did, but I was wondering if any other Townsperson had ever made that pilgrimage. I can’t imagine doing that myself, not being a big Morrison fan, though I imagine it might be an interesting sociological experiment to see what kind of people would be there.

How about visits to other sacred rock sites? I wrote about by visit to the Experience Music Project and to Jimi Hendrix’s gravesite a few years ago.

RIP Jane Scott

Posted by 2000 Man

Jul 052011

Every Rock nerd in Cleveland (let’s make that northeast Ohio) knows who Jane Scott was. Jane was the Rock Music critic for The Plain Dealer. She was at the first shows in Cleveland by The Beatles and The Stones and I swear she was at every show that ever mattered here in Cleveland, or at the major US festivals. I saw her all the time, and she was always fun to talk to at a show. The trick was to catch her between acts or right before showtime, when she wasn’t talking to the bands and the music hadn’t started. She wore white go go boots a lot of times, and she was the oldest person in the room by the time my concert attending part of life came along. She was 92.

She wrote in a very enthusiastic style, and she tried to find out why people liked every band. She was no Rock Snob, and I really don’t remember her ever writing a really negative review. She used really funny words, like “kicky” and she would never be confused with some Rock Critic that thinks they are enlightening us to some heretofore unknown truth. Jane was writing about having fun, and her weekly column, The Happening, outlived almost every underground weekly entertainment magazine by decades. The Cleveland music scene was made better by Jane’s 50 or so years of going to concerts, and performers big and small, as well as fans, are all going to miss her.

Older Entries Newer Entries