he was a great man

Don Covay Has Left the Building

Feb 032015

I’ll need to get some time and write out my thoughts in some detail after hearing the news that Don Covay has died. I’ve loved Covay since discovering the man behind so many songs I first knew by other artists, thanks to a collection put out by the record label owned by a friend’s brother. My friend E. Pluribus Gergely and I, with whom I argued over who was better, Covay or Joe Tex (he was on Team Tex), went to a soul revue in Atlantic City about 10 to 15 years ago. Lloyd Price took a moment, at one point, to note his friend Don Covay in the audience. He made Don stand up and take a bow. A big guy in a white suit did as instructed. He was about 5 seats down from us. We so wanted to leap over the people beside us and hang with Covay!

Covay was probably the most rocking of R&B guys (see “Sookie Sookie” among songs rockers covered with ease and success) – not in an over-the-top “white” way but in terms of playing guitar-based rhythms that perfectly bridged the slight gap in the ’60s of “white” and “black” music. Graham Parker & the Rumour‘s live cover of “Chain of Fools” comes to mind. His knack for out-Stonesing the Stones continued into the early ’70s, with the amazing song “Hot Blood.” I can’t find it on YouTube just now, but it could easily pass for the best song on Black and Blue. So much great stuff that overcame a degree of hokiness, such as “I Was Checking Out (While She Was Checking In)”. I wish I could crank up “We Can’t Make It No More” right now. Hey, maybe I just took the time I needed to write down my thoughts.

Kick Out the Jams, Joe Cocker!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Dec 222014

Sad to hear of Joe Cocker’s death. Thanks to my Uncle Joe, he was one of my first Rock Superheroes. Uncle Joe bought me the early Cocker albums, including the mind-blowing The Mad Dogs & The Englishman live album, in which the band members were given little sobriquets, like Leon Russell’s (I believe) unattainable title of “Master of Space and Time.” My uncle saw a tour after that album at the Spectrum and brought me home a huge button with the cover shot and a cardboard cutout of Cocker’s wild face on a stick. I wish I still have that face on a stick. I loved the way Cocker and his band simply KICKED IT OUT. Even his ballads were delivered with force. He will be missed in this age of the navel-gazing artists who sing like Confederate soldiers taking their last breath while holding their newborn sons. Cocker, who was not a songwriter, made the most of so many other artists’ works. Here’s my favorite by him, “Delta Lady.”

Bobby Keys Is Dead

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Dec 022014

Bobby Keys, best known for his sax work on The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street and Stones concert tours of that era, has died at 70 of cirrhosis. My favorite Keys memories involve countless rants from my close personal friend and founding Townsman E. Pluribus Gergely. Somewhere in the archives there’s probably an entire thread built around one of EPG’s Keys rants, but a taste of his thoughts on the man are available in this old thread. Track 5, specifically, cites Keys’ work. What’s your favorite Bobby Keys moment?

R.I.P. Jack Bruce

Posted by funoka

Oct 262014

I can only imagine what is was like to drop a needle on Fresh Cream in 1966.

RIP Dick Wagner

Posted by cdm

Aug 012014

By playing guitar for Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, KISS, and most especially on Lou Reed’s Rock ‘n Roll Animal, this guy had an immeasurable yet under-the-radar impact on me during my musically formative years. He was a GREAT man.

RIP Gerry Goffin

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 202014

Gerry Goffin.

As you surely know by now, lyricist Gerry Goffin, half of the legendary Brill Building songwriting team with ex-wife Carole King, died yesterday at 75 years old. I’ve got nothing profound to say other than the obvious things: he wrote many excellent songs, 75 is too young to die, he was a great…man. I especially love “Up on the Roof,” which captures the sound of the city the way rock ‘n roll songs rarely do these days.

Honestly, Beside His Work at the Voice of Shaggy, Did Casey Kasem Add Anything Positive to Your Life?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 162014

Before we get started here, the audio from this video is NOT SAFE FOR WORK, unless you work as a fishmonger or a truck driver. Also, it’s not meant as a commentary on the man’s work. I wish these bloopers had been aired rather than what was thought acceptable for his regular Top 40 countdown broadcasts. Had that been the case, my “appreciation” of Casey Kasem would have been more glowing.

Yesterday, my son said to me, “Did you hear that the voice of Shaggy died today?”

Funny, I never thought of Casey Kasem by that role first, but it might be his most worthwhile piece of work. Even as a little kid I found his Top 40 countdown show to be the nadir of music business hack activities. It was a drag when regular broadcasting on my favorite AM station was interrupted by that guy and his info-babble. His show was the human supermarket CNN scroll of rock, long before there were monitors in public places running a constant stream of obvious and useless information.

I don’t mean to detract from Casey Kasem’s achievements as a human being, because he was likely a fantastic person to those who loved him, but I question whether his loss was in any way a significant loss to rock ‘n roll. Honestly, beside his work as the voice of Shaggy on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, did Casey Kasem add anything positive to your life? As a music lover was Kasem anything more than a corny guy you tolerated until regular programming resumed?

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