healing

What’s the Hunter Pence Bobblehead Night of Rock?

Aug 242012

Mixed emotions.

Last July the Philadelphia Phillies acquired talented, quirky outfielder Hunter Pence from the Houston Astros. His arrival was hailed with all the promise Phillies fans had become accustomed to since the franchise’s revival, which first showed signs of rebirth with the 2004 signing of Jim Thome and fully arrived during the team’s 2008 championship season. Pence was yet another reason for fans to buy Phillies merchandise and hold in going to the bathroom while the home team was at-bat.

The 2012 schedule announced a Hunter Pence Bobblehead Night. What better player to commemorate in bobblehead form than the animated Pence, right?

The only problem with this grand giveaway is that Pence spent the first half of the 2012 season choking on the bit before getting traded to the San Francisco Giants 3 weeks before his bobblehead night. Attendees received their bobblehead with mixed emotions. I was a little bugged that night by having to lug around my box holding a Phailed Phormer Phillies player. I complained about this the other day, while feeling severely frustrated by a recent Beach Boys thread.

Sensing my frustration, Townsman alexmagic offered a recipe for lemonade that I will share with you:

Mod, your earlier comment about going to last night’s game made me wonder if there’s a “Hunter Pence Bobblehead Night” of rock. As in, tours/albums/songs/album covers heavily featuring the image or input of a departed band member (though I think we’d have to rule out recently deceased band members, since they would be kept on in tribute, not weird shame).

I suspect you will agree that this is an important topic to explore. I look forward to your thoughts.

Townspeople Helping Townspeople Cease Feeling Like Idiots About Rock-Related Things They Should Know

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Aug 232012

On a recent episode of the best show on WFMU, The Best Show on WFMU, host Tom Scharpling made an aside about all the years he’s spent feeling like an idiot for not knowing how to pronounce the last word in The Clash song “White Man (in Hammersmith Palais).” I knew exactly where he was coming from. I’ve loved that song for 33 years, yet despite my pride in knowing just enough French to get myself in trouble by trying to use it when I’m over there, I’ve always resisted pronouncing it “pal-ay.” It’s an actual concert hall in London, I presume, so for all I know the Brits butcher the word, as they seem to do with most French words, and comfortably pronounce it “palace.”

To avoid sounding pretentious I’ve always referred to the song, when it comes up in conversation with friends, as “White Man in Hammersmith Palace—or whatever it’s called.” Folks, I’m tired of feeling like an idiot. Can someone assure me of the proper pronunciation?

If you’ve been hiding your ignorance of some rock-related thing you really should know by now, we’re offering a judgment-free window to pose your deep-seated point of ignorance and stop feeling like an idiot around your rock-nerd friends once and for all.

I Want to ♥ Los Lobos

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Aug 062012

I want to ♥ Los Lobos.

I want to ♥ Los Lobos. For years I was happy to have no interest in them. I didn’t care for the movie La Bamba and quickly tired of hearing the band’s cover of Ritchie Valens‘ big hit, a song that had already worn out its welcome through its near-“novelty song” status since childhood. I didn’t tune into the roots-rock thing. I associated them with The Blasters and that album cover of the first Blasters record, the one with the cartoon image of the big, sweaty face. Phil Alvin’s voice gave me the willies. Somehow his voice colored my initial ability to ♥ Los Lobos.

After the band had been around for years I finally heard 2 songs that first made me appreciate the band: “Kiko and the Lavender Moon,” off the Mitchell Froom (of all producers!)-produced Kiko (1992) and a cover of the Grateful Dead (of all bands!) song “Bertha.” I’ve always had a soft spot for “Bertha.”

Years passed and I kept trying to get into Los Lobos. They were musicians’ musicians, the kind of musicians my uncle might have turned me onto back in my childhood, when he let me paint Day-Glo designs on his bedroom wall while listening to 8-tracks of Traffic, Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, et al… I bought Kiko and a 2-CD collection of Los Lobos in the late-90s. The former was OK; the collection had a live version of “Bertha” but too much of that jangly stuff from the early albums and live blooz jams, the sort of thing Stevie Ray Vaughn might do, the sort of thing fat guys with ponytails and soul patches might dig.

Last Man Standing: All Right!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 072012

I’ve long counted on rock ‘n roll’s ability to provide comfort, to make me feel all right. Think about how many songs there are that involve a lyrical hook around the idea of feeling all right. (Whoops, I just gave away an entry!) Two of my Top 5 favorite songs of the 20th century contain segments that drive home this phrase and feeling.

Think about it. Then—one entry at a time—submit rock ‘n roll songs that involve a lyrical hook involving repeated use of the phrase “all right” (or, “alright,” in the case of a song associated with logging onto Rock Town Hall’s home page—Damn, just gave away another entry!)

To be clear: the song must contain a key refrain, coda, or verse with repeated use of the phrase “all right.” I’m not looking for any old song that just happens to use the phrase one time.

I’ll kick things off with one of the 2 songs among my Top 5 ever that bring home this feeling: The Velvet Underground’s “Rock ‘n Roll.”

Shrink Me!

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Mar 072012

Fellow Townspeople, I come before you again with an aching pain deep in my soul, and I fear I am in desperate need of rock counseling. My problem is a simple one: for the last 24 hours, I have not been able to get Boston‘s “Don’t Look Back” out of my head. My question is why?

I have no serious regrets about lost youthful opportunities, I don’t “see myself in a brand new way” except in a normal, healthy, grown-up fashion. I don’t envy Sib Hashian his astonishing, rock hair category-winning giant Afro. So why? Why is this song stuck in my head?

Clearly, I need your help, people. And so I say, with more earnest longing than I might otherwise mean:

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In: The Moderator’s Big Brother, Gary, Drops in to Spin Records

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 252012

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

In this week’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In your host, Mr. Moderator, is joined by an unexpected guest, his big brother, Gary. Four years your Moderator’s senior, Gary spins records his kid brother rejected when they were boys. With the passing of time nothing short of healing is expected.

[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/RTH-Saturday-Night-Shut-In-68.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 68]

[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.]

Songs You Intially Liked as a Kid Only to Severely Regret a Few Years Later

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Nov 172011

The first few times I heard “Signs” by Five Man Electrical Band as a kid I thought it was really cool. It seemed to come on the radio no more than 3 times a year. It was An Event, loaded with the hippie credibility I got turned onto as a young boy. A few years later, well before some Hair Metal band covered it in the 1980s, the song had worn out its welcome. It was emblamatic of the embarrassing sides of hippiedom. I severely regretted ever liking it.

You may consider the type of song I’m looking for in this thread the opposite of a guilty pleasure. What’s a once-pleasurable song that you now feel ashamed for ever having liked—and leave your favorite Sesame Street songs out of it, OK? We’re talking rock ‘n roll.

I look forward to your airings of shame.

Older Entries Newer Entries