Here’s Van Morrison doing “Wavelength” on Saturday Night Live. Check out this video while it lasts, because the rights holders to musical performances on SNL are obsessed with wiping this stuff clean off the Web.
This is the last Van Morrison song I love, and one of the things I love about it is how corny it is, throwing around that mood ring-worthy “wavelength” jive just a few years past its due date. It was perfect for me, a kid coming of age on the tail end of hippiedom and free love. To this day it still makes me feel like that era saved a morsel of peace, love, and understanding for my own enjoyment.
Can you think of other songs that unironically debuted with outdated catchphrases?
Your feelings are important to us. Although typically think of you as our moral compass and expert on the teachings of the Holy Trinity of Rock and all matters regarding guitar tone, we care about how you feel. We know that hippies typically don’t make you feel good about yourself or the state of humanity. I suspect that the following videos might make you feel worse. My aim is not so much to see if I can annoy you, but to provide us with an opportunity to empathize with your reactions to the following “interviews.” How do the things being said make you feel? How does the fact that someone filmed these “interviews” make you feel? Our feelings are important. Sometimes it only takes the expressed feelings of one Townsperson to open the rest of us up to our own feelings. I look forward to empathizing with your feelings and, possibly, sharing some of my own. I or some other Townsperson may even determine who a certain “Vito” is and share nerdy facts about his existence or the circumstances surrounding these important video findings.
I thank you in advance for the depth of feeling you are likely to share with us. Here goes!
First, an off-camera David Byrne (?) “interviews” Chris Frantz.
Then, David “interviews” someone only identified (as far as I can tell) as “Vito.” Continue reading »
Years ago, when my wife and I were first dating, we ran into one of my old musician friends on a street corner. His long hair and slacker Shaggy Rogers facade hid the fact that he was a gentle, thoughtful guy whose only vice was sweets. After continuing on our way, she said something like, “Band members have this reputation for being tough and cool, but whenever I meet them they’re usually the nicest people in the club.” From 1978 through the 1980s, Penny Rush-Valladares interacted with rock stars galore while running Backstage Cafe, a concert catering company in Kansas City, Missouri. In the process, Penny became a member of the Kansas City rock scene herself. From both the tales on her website, Rock and Roll Stories, and our conversations about her her experiences, it quickly became clear that Penny was among the many nice ones in the rock scene, super nice.
But this hard-working, rock ‘n roll-loving hippie (in the best sense of the term) isn’t beyond dishing more than her patented turkey dinners. In the course of our talk we gain some shocking insights about the likes of Roger Waters, Neil Diamond, and Bob Dylan – not to mention a story about Van Halen that’s more disgusting than I would have thought possible. A key detail about a diminutive purple presence in the ’80s rock scene explains so much, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. In the true spirit of the Halls of Rock, Penny brings a cheerful attitude, a bruised-but-not-beaten sense of idealism, and the willingness to let it all hang out. You won’t run into a Penny on any old street corner.
Penny’s website chronicles some of her earliest rock ‘n roll stories, including her night with The Beatles; we start with her entry into rock ‘n roll catering.
RTH: Can you summarize your work as a rock ‘n roll caterer? How did you get started as a caterer for touring musicians? You were initially based out of a certain venue, right?
Penny: Well, yes and no. I worked out of the Uptown Theatre in the beginning, helping another woman and learning the ropes. But it soon extended out into other venues. It was in its infant stages and we made it up as we went along. Basically we had to come up with a little dressing room food for the artists and some crew dinner for 20 or so guys. The reason I got involved was because I loved going to concerts and wanted to be backstage, so I soon realized there was a need for food and I knew that was something I could do.
It just kept evolving and demands from the artists kept getting more involved and official. A contract “rider” came along, which listed all the particular needs of each act and their food requirements were included. So it didn’t take long for me to start specializing in concert catering. I never wanted to do other kinds of catering, because I was only doing it to be backstage.
Some of you may be following my ongoing efforts to rebuild Team Hippie for the modern age. The time is right for long hair, free (or at least inexpensive) love, and dancing in the streets, but I’m looking for a few good Peace Warriors to lead us out of our current cultural doldrums. As I interview prospective Peace Warriors, one question must be answered: Do you care enough about peace and love to fight for it? Continue reading »
Has an interview with a musician ever changed the way you hear that musician’s music, for better or worse? I recently caught the tail end of a little piece on Janis Joplin on NPR that reminded me of this. Joplin’s appearances on Dick Cavett, excerpts of which, when I first saw them as part of some documentary on her that already began to turn my head on an artist I once despised, sealed the deal in helping me like her and even her music! As rock experts, we usually pride ourselves in not falling prey to the Sincerity Fallacy and issues of Look and the like and, instead, focus directly on the music, man. But sometimes the human side of an artist, as seen in an interview, is too powerful to overlook – and so powerful that it informs the artist’s work.
The quote that NPR used, which reminded me of all this, begins at the 25-second mark, but any clip I’ve seen of her few Cavett appearances since that documentary contains a raw, open, feisty, sexy spirit that, for me, is one of the payoffs in dealing with people, let alone the arts. Most folks really need some scratching to show this side of themselves, but Janis is overflowing with what makes her tick. I know, that’s a trait that can wear thin in a hurry, and to this day you won’t find me listening to more than three Janis Joplin songs in a row, but these interviews helped me see this overweight, ance-scarred freak as beautiful – and that’s not meant as a knock on overweight, acne-scarred freaks. I hope we all have moments when our inner beauty shines through.
The 5:35 mark of the following clip is also pretty cool in building empathy for this artist, not to mention her guitarist’s sloppy fuzztone in the partial clip that closes this segment.Continue reading »
