My Cross To Bear

I know the hits by the Allman Brothers Band.  I haven’t listened to Live at the Fillmore all the way through. I always felt like I should.  After reading My Cross To Bear, I need to make it to the Beacon in March. 

Gregg Allman’s style is conversational.  You know this is coming from him.  There is humor.  His southern descriptions of incidents are amusing and I found myself laughing out loud a few times.  This is not a kiss and tell scandal book, which adds to its greatness.  

The message of the book:  do something you love and make it happen.  Once Gregg picked up a guitar, (he taught Duane how to play) he never wanted to do anything else.  He did originally toy with the idea of being a dental surgeon.  He didn’t care how many people he played in front of as long as he was playing.  It was all about the music.  His brother bullied him into the band and staying with it.  His brother bullied him about a lot of things, but was also his biggest defender.

There is no whining in this book. No blame to pass around. Gregg doesn’t rely on demons to justify his well-documented drug and alcohol abuse.  He opens the book with the murder of his father.  He was two when it happened; Duane was three. He thinks the reason he was married so many times (he‘s engaged to the 7^th future Mrs Allman) is that he was looking for a friend.  He hates being lonely. The title of the book, My Cross To Bear is a bit misleading. I know it’s a play on the song It's Not My Cross To Bear from their first album.  I thought it might be full of self-loathing. Thankfully it’s not. 

The brothers started out in cover bands.  In one of their earlier incarnations, The Escorts, they opened for the Beach Boys in 1965 in Florida.   Duane and Gregg played in several bands before The Allman Brothers Band came to be.  Gregg started writing songs and it gelled.  They didn’t look or sound like any other band out there.  They loved the blues.  Gregg has a snide disdain for the “British Blues”. 

This autobiography has mass appeal. For music lovers it’s a must read.  I knew the basics about the Allmans (although I did think that Duane was killed by a peach truck, which is rumor and not fact) and didn’t listen to them growing up. I still loved this book. What resonated the most was the dedication, time and practice that went into the music.  If anyone wants to make it as a musician today, read this book, follow their music regiment (skip the drug/alcohol phases).  How many rookie musicians can you think of today that would just set up shop in a park and play just so they can play? 

Yes, he touches on his marriage to Cher. No he doesn’t malign her. Did you hear Chaz on Howard Stern tell the story of Gregg picking her up from school one day and not bringing her home until 11pm because he couldn’t remember how to get there?  This was before cell phones and I’m sure Cher was freaking out. 

The heart of the book is the music and it’s that love that makes this book work.  

Do you have a 1979 ticket to see the Who? It's still good

The Who announced that the last stop on their upcoming tour will be Providence RI.  The last time they were suppose to play there was 1979. That show was cancelled by the mayor who feared a similar stampede as the one in Ohio that left 11 people dead. 

If you still have your ticket and didn't get a refund, you can use that ticket to see The Who on February 26th.  In 1979, the highest ticket price was $14.  For the February show you're looking at a bit higher pricing at $57.50 to $127.50.  Holding on to that ticket for 34 years garnered a $113.50 in value.  If you redeem that 1979 ticket you will also be helping out a cause, as money will be donated to the Special Olympics of Rhode Island.  I wonder how many people actually have those tickets and will anyone bother to redeem it?

In case you were wondering, for this North American tour, Roger, Pete and the gang are revisiting Quadrophenia.   There is also a boxed set coming. 

Who's Got Dylan's Guitar?

July 25th, 1965 The day Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival.  Who owns the Fender Stratocaster he was playing?

History Detectives (airing July 17th on PBS) thinks Dawn Peterson, a pilot's daughter has it.  According to the Huffington Post, her father flew many musicians in the 1960's.  Dylan allegedly left the guitar behind on a flight.  The pilot contacted Dylan's people and no one claimed the guitar so now it's in Dawn's possession. Her father died when she was 8.

Guitar expert Andy Babiuk was hired by the show to authenticate the guitar and he is 99.9% certain it's one and the same.  Dylan's lawyer Orin Snyder says Bob still has the guitar.   "He did own several other Stratocaster guitars that were stolen from him around that time, as were some handwritten lyrics. In addition, Bob recalls driving to the Newport Folk Festival, along with two of his friends, not flying."

I haven't found anything that states when the guitar was actually left behind.  Dylan may have been using it at another show, flew with the pilot and left it behind.  Unless Dylan finds the guitar and produces it, we may never know, but it will be fun to watch the process reveal itself on History Detectives.  

Here is a video of Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman talking about the significance of Dylan's electric performance. 

Sitting At The Cat's Table

 The cat’s table is far from the coveted captain’s table.  Or as Miss Lasqueti says, “We’re in the least privileged place.”  You can only guess who’s coming to dinner. 

Can you imagine being 11 years old and told to board a ship by yourself for 21 days?  Your mother will be waiting for you in England when you arrive from Colombo, Ceylon You’ll have an older woman/friend of the family to “watch over you”, but she’ll be in first class and maybe you’ll have a few encounters with her.   You will be in steerage.  You will unexpectedly find out your cousin Emily is also on the ship, but she isn’t assigned to the cat’s table. 

This is the story of Michael (nickname Mynah), who narrates his journey from an 11-year-old boy in the early 1950's to adult.  The Cat’s Table is penned by Michael Ondaatge, who also wrote the English Patient.   

Michael has two partners in crime that are the same age and together the three of them have a lot more substance than their labels would assume.  Nobody is really what he/she seems.  People’s personalities and purposes unfold over time.  Being confined to a ship allows for intimacy and an unveiling of a person’s history.  There is plenty of unveiling that goes on which forms the life of Michael.  A whole world is open to him as some of the assorted adults he meets are a thief, a prisoner, a tailor and a spinster or at least that’s their introduction.   

Nicely paced and wonderfully written, The Cat’s Table is a worthy read. 

NPR's interview with Ondaatge who says that his goal in writing The Cat's Table wasn't to rediscover the boy he was; it was to write a fictional version of something that had been forgotten.

4th of July 1980 DC

If Maroon 5 Had A Sense of Humor They'd Be The Musgraves

If Maroon 5 had a sense of humor and didn't take themselves so seriously, they'd be The Musgraves.  The Musgraves are too much fun.  How much do you love the line She Got The Last Of Me?



They are based in Birmingham England where another one of my all-time favorites (English Beat) hails from. Must be something in the water there.  It doesn't look like they've graced our shores yet, but their performance on So Graham Norton points to a great live show.  That show was performed with borrowed instruments as their stuff was stolen just prior to the show.  I think it's a right of passage that every band has some equipment stolen in their early career. 

The Wonderful World of Nora Ephron

For the words of When Harry Met Sally, I thank you.  Nora Ephron left a legacy of great movies and writings.  She had a witty way of looking at well everything including her neck. 

I've seen When Harry Met Sally about 15 times. It never gets stale, it always works.  I remember briefly meeting Rob Reiner who came to a performance at the Bottom Line.  John Hiatt, who I was working with at the time was performing.  Rob came with his new girlfriend who I think is the woman he later married.  At that point he had directed one wonderful movie after another:  Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing ("We speak each others unspoken language"), Stand By Me and The Princess Bride.  At that time, he was filming a movie in NY with Meg Ryan (who I remembered as Betsy from As The World Turns) and Billy Crystal. I thought it was interesting that Billy was staring in a romantic comedy.  The basis was that a man and a woman can't just be friends without wanting to have sex.

When the movie finally came out I was so excited to see it.  Nora's screenplay had everything. It was heartwarming, sassy, witty, brash and ugly.  It had it all.  Sally, "Are you saying I am the dog?"  It's still one of my top 5 movies.

Nora wrote for the Huffington Post which has a front page tribute to her.  She wrote, directed and above all it seems she was a great friend to many.  Nora Ephron died at age 71. 

Brian WIlson's Sense of Humor

Robin Roberts read the fan question to the Beach Boys:  "How has touring changed in 50 years?"

Brian Wilson:  "We've had a lot of practice"

Mike Love:  "We've advanced from a station wagon and a U-Haul." 

Beach Boys Chart at #3

According to Billboard Biz:

• The Beach Boys notch their highest-charting album since 1974 as That's Why God Made the Radio debuts with 61,000. It's the group's highest debut ever and best rank since 1974's Endless Summer greatest-hits set hit No. 1. In terms of studio albums, That's Why God Made the Radio is its highest-ranked since 1965's Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) reached No. 2. That's Why God Made the Radio is the group's 14th top 10 album overall and first since 1976's Big Ones (No. 8).

The Beach Boys Set For Highest Charting Album in 37 Years That's Why God Made the Radio is the band's 29th studio album and was released as part of the group's 50th anniversary celebration. Its 61,000 sales start also includes nearly 20,000 copies that were pre-ordered during the band's concert appearance on the QVC shopping network on May 16.

When you think about The Beach Boys albums that have had an enormous impact on people such as Pet Sounds and you realize  the small number of charting albums they've had, it doesn't seem to make sense. If you looked at the total sales over the life of the albums, it might fit the picture better. 

The Beach Boys are set to play Good Morning America on Friday.

Your Old CD's Can Help Autism Research

@RosanneCash brought to my attention CD Sweep.  According to Billboard Biz, CD Sweep founder Jason Roth got an idea from iPodmeister, which sends you an iPod, iPhone, etc in return for your old CD's.  His son was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome last year, leading Roth to come up with idea to donate the proceeds of old CD's to The Autism Science Foundation, which conducts innovative autism research and supports the needs of people with autism and their families.

It's almost too simple.  You let CD Sweep know how many CD's you want to send them.  They send you a prepaid Fed Ex shipping label.  He's the cherry on the sundae: they will also digitized your CD's and send them back on a DVD as MP3s for free.  Whew.  What a wonderful idea come to life.  Start packing up those old CD's this weekend.

Ex-Fleetwood Mac Dies

I bought French Kiss.  The Bob Welch album contained the hits Sentimental Lady and Ebony Eyes. It's cover was pink and red.  He replaced Peter Green in Fleetwood Mac. He was later replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.  After his Mac departure, he had a big solo hit with the French Kiss album.

It appears that Welch died of a self inflicted bullet wound in Nashville where he lived. 

This Is Too Groovy

Boyce and Hart do an acoustic two song medley of hits they wrote for the Monkees (unfortunately they start with I Wanna Be Free).

The always debonair Herb Alpert interrupts to introduce them.

They join the band for I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight.

Their velvet suits and white boots are too cool for school.

The boys do a badly choreographed dance  to the musical interlude of the song.

The band consists of three cowboys.

There are horns all over the song, but no one pretends to play one.

You Can't Judge A Band's Music By It's Publicity Shot

Here is a clear case of looking at a band's photos and immediately forming an opinion of what they sound like. Point in case: The Struts.

Ok what comes to mind?  They probably listened to a lot of 70's, 80's music.  They are The Ramones meets the Rubinoos.  Well I was totally off the mark. It sounds like they got into their parents Led Zeppelin and Marc Bolan.  First, watch the video for I Just Know without the sound and you'll think not another one of these punk/new wave/indie wannabees.   Someone shot a lot of black and white footage, made it look vintage as if it were shot in a rundown and ramshackle era (which could actually be present day).   




Of Note: Apparently there are quite a few bands around the globe named The Struts. These Struts are from Derby. 

Stickers!

Apparently I liked the stickers that were affixed to albums (yes vinyl albums).  I found about 25 of them I had saved.  I guess the record labels thought that pushing the British in the band was a good way to sell albums in the States.  Here are 4 of the 25 stickers which are all championing the Englishness of the artist.

The Jam, ?, Adam & The Ants, Heaven 17

These are all from the 1980's.   One stickers doesn't even mention the band or a song, but there are 16 of 'em and they are from England.  This points to my collection of albums, which in the 80's was probably half British.  I know I killed the Heaven 17 record.  My friends and I used to play Let Me Go ad nauseum.  We still can't pass up the opportunity to dance to it.  

Happy Long Weekend.

Lip syncing is left to the last line.

A Dark Life At The Top Of The Charts

You cannot be far from a dog or life is meaningless.      

  -Rick Springfield

The title of Late, Late At Night warns us it’s dark once you open the book.  The cover photo is in graying tones.  Rick Springfield’s sporting an El Diablo look.  The memoir opens with the lyrics to My Depression.  Whew. Do not think this is a book written by Noah Drake. This is dark stuff.

Mr D, Rick Springfield’s name for his lurking depression is a constant in the book as I’m sure it is in his life.  He puts in more than his 10,000 hours. Rick finally has success as an actor and musician and meets and marries the woman of his dreams.  He’s miserable with moments of enjoying himself sporadically sprinkled in.  The success hits when he’s 29. You would think he’d be prepared to accept and enjoy it, especially after playing in a cover band in a restaurant just months prior to the release of Working Class Dog.  Depression takes a hold and doesn’t let go.

Gomer & Rick, Animal Fair Magazine 2006

Rick said in an interview that the only time he feels completely free of depression is when he’s on medication or having an orgasm, which may explain his infidelity.  I think he overlooked when he’s in the company of dogs. Rick contemplated staying with a girlfriend because he is way more attached to her dog.  He writes so lovingly about his two dogs.  Ron is the famous for appearing on Rick's album covers. The dog he rescued after Ron passed was Gomer, a constant companion in the studio and in life.  

This is a very candid memoir which I’m guessing was written without a ghostwriter.  It’s very conversational.   He confronts the missteps in his career (turning down a role in The Right Stuff to star in his own movie Hard To Hold) and his life (numerous, numerous, numerous infidelity scenes). Being a fan of his music, I would have loved to hear more about the music. He does address it, but there is more of the sensational stuff, which I’m sure his editor was keen on getting.

I wasn’t drawn to Rick’s cartoon or his first hit single Speak To The Sky, but Jessie’s Girl struck a chord (pun intended).  It’s one of the most recognizable guitar openings.  I’ve always loved Rick’s songwriting. On the flip side of that, poor career choices may have undermined his talent as a songwriter and his talent as an actor. As an armchair quarterback, it doesn’t matter what I think.  He still has a career and does well performing.  Do we need to see one more rose-destroying windmill on his guitar?  I don’t, which is why I’d love to see him perform as a songwriter in the round.  Rick, let’s hear your songs stripped down without the 80’s production. Sit next to some other contemporaries (John Hiatt, Rick Nielsen, Rosanne Cash-that’s a show I would pay good money to see!) and let them all playoff one another.  The keyboards in Rick’s recordings date them. It screams 80’s. Let’s hear the songs for what they are. 

When I managed Vertical Horizon Matt Scannel and I would talk about what a great songwriter Rick is.  Ironically, VH were on RCA Records, the same label where Rick had his hits.  We mentioned to then president of RCA, Bob Jamieson that VH was interested in covering State Of The Heart.  He gave us a look that signaled we’re not going there. As far as I know, Rick and Matt have never written together. There’s no time like the present. 

An NPR Remembrance Of Duck Dunn

Duck Dunn was the bassist for Booker T. and The MG's.  He also played on numerous Stax recordings that are a permanent part of our culture.

This NPR piece by Andria Lisle is a nice tribute to a music legend.

John Irving: One Person At The 92Y

John Irving does not have the patience to be politically correct.  He tells it like he feels it.  At the 92Y last night he read excerpts from his just released novel, In One Person and spoke about the characters, his career, politics and of course as it was mother’s day, his mother. 

Irving’s reading of In One Person illuminated the character of town librarian Ms Frost.  You don’t know her until you’ve heard John read her.  (John Benjamin Hickey narrates the audio version of the book, which I’m sure it’s a treat.)  When I was reading the novel, I had an image of a bigger and broader version of the actress Wendy Malick.  Ms Frost becomes one of the many “wrong crushes” for narrator Billy Abbott.  She was the highly regarded wrestling champion of the town, when she was a he.  Billy’s grandmother has only contempt for her. Ms Frost becomes a key figure in shaping the course of Billy’s life. 

Being bisexual, Billy is a true outsider. He is not to be believed by either men or women. He does not belong to any party. 

If you were, like me, at an all-boys’ boarding school in the fall of 1960, you felt utterly alone—you trusted no one, least of all another boy your age—and you loathed yourself. I’d always been lonely, but self-hatred is worse than loneliness.    –Billy Abbott

I’ve seen John speak, read and answer questions probably 5 or 6 times. Each time something else is revealed to me.  Here’s is what I learned at the Y last night:

On his mother: The time period of his life that he thinks made his mother the happiest was when he was wrestling.  He started at 14, which coincided with the beginning of his writing career.  His mother was a prompter in the theater as is Billy’s mother in the novel.  He said that’s where the similarities end, as his mother was the most un-homophobic person he has ever known.  He read the passage from the book that really got to me as I read it.  It references the daily laying out of the clothes by Billy’s mother for him.  When Billy turns 13, she stops the ritual and that is when he believes his mother lost interest in him.  It seemed to me that maybe John lived through something similar in his life. He started off the evening by saying, “If you brought your mother here tonight (pause), I hope you bought her something else.”  His mother would not be happy to be brought to one of his readings for Mother’s Day.

The advantage of writing with hindsight:  In One Person’s narrator Billy Abbott is in his late 60’s looking back.  It starts in the 50’s and then brings him into the 1980’s AIDS epidemic. Irving wrote about the Viet Nam War in 1989’s A Prayer For Owen Meany.  The war ended in 1975.   

Politics in his writing:  He views a political novel as one where the writer is taking a side.  A novel can be a form of advocacy.  He cited The Cider House Rules, Owen Meany, The World According To Garp and In One Person as his 4 political novels.  His most recent goal in writing this book was to broaden our tolerance for sexual differences.  He thought it would be much easier to relate to Billy for having sex with both genders, as opposed to Johnny Wheelwright (Owen Meany) who goes through his whole life never having sex.  It is thought that Johnny was in love with Owen, but never acted on it.

After writing Garp he thought he was done with sexual outcasts. He felt the need to revisit, as we’re still battling sexual discrimination.  Irving’s thoughts:  Shakespeare was more at ease with this than we are today. 

The writing process:  Many submitted questions about his writing ritual, which is to conceive the ending first and then create the backwards road map for the rest of the story.  He said it is a process and nothing that he’s married to, but it works for him.  It wasn’t until after his fourth novel, Garp that he was able to quit his other jobs and concentrate solely on writing.  His mother was not impressed when he told her of his excitement in committing to full-time writing.  Once he had the freedom to write, he struggled with it.  He said he couldn’t work for more than three hours a day on The Hotel New Hampshire.  It was a much more difficult road that he thought it would be.   His next novel, Cider House, was the first of the constructed books.  He had a method that worked for him. 

His advice to writers:  Don’t always write what you know.  How boring!  The thought exasperated him, as did the idea of Mitt Romney as president.

John Irving:  writer, wrestler and forthright.  

Listen to John on the Brian Lehrer show.

Beatles Shocker

I just watch Mad Men.  As I've been reading, I was not the only one who was shocked to hear an original Beatles recording, Tomorrow Never Knows played on Mad Men.  According to the Wall St Journal, Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner has been trying to license the Beatles for a few years.  Original recordings are rarely, if ever heard in films or TV.  When Megan gave Don a copy of Revolver and told him to start listening with this track, I thought for sure they would reference the song title and that was it.

The WSJ also goes on to talk about the alleged money paid by Lionsgate to license the track:  a whopping $250,00, yes a quarter of a million dollars.  

Two very smart song placements have been heard on the show. Of course the Beatles, which was a coup and the Beach Boys' I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, which played during Roger's mushroom trip.

Adam Yauch

Even though I knew he was ill, the news from Rolling Stone today of his passing has hit me hard.  I peripherally worked with them. I managed Luscious Jackson, they were on the Beastie Boys' label. 

I thought Adam would rebound.  He is a Beastie Boy.  He was suppose to be around a lot longer.

The Stick Figures of Nina Nesbitt

Glue by Nina Nesbitt is a clever video.  There couldn't have been much of a budget, but it conveys the song so well in it's simplicity.  As she says on her website:  Got bored made a video for myself.  The song is catchy. It's a little bit of a bunch of music you've heard before, which is great. Who wants to reinvent the wheel anyway?



 

Nina is a seventeen year old Swedish/Scottish singer songwriter from Edinburgh. I don't think she has graced our shores yet.

Pete Fornatale A Radio Legend

The news of Pete Fornatale's passing today affected me the same way when I heard Joe Strummer died.  It was out of the blue, they both had so much more to give and were instrumental in my love of music. 

Pete was a big part of my days growing up. I was a faithful listener of WNEW.  I rode my bike in their Central Park Bike-A-Thons, got the calendar every year and of course faithfully listened to Pete Fornatale.  I wrote to Pete on several occasions about the Beach Boys (this was in the 70's when it wasn't cool to like them) and he responded with hand written letters.  I have a memory of one Easter, Pete playing the whole Pet Sounds album. His love and knowledge of the Beach Boys encouraged my love of their music. 

Pete and I both went to Fordham. We both worked at WFUV.  He of course was a pioneering rock dj during his college days in the 60's. I heard myself on the radio once and decided I would be much better as a producer.  

I saw him at the World Financial Center with Rosanne Cash not that long ago celebrating the Bottom Line. He was vibrant and his usual musical powerhouse of knowledge.  It's hard to think of radio without Pete. He was a New York institution.  I was just listening to him three weeks ago and enjoying his show Mixed Bag. 

Thanks Pete for sharing your love of music.

Red Beans And Vice

Louie Perez is an unsung modern Renaissance man.  He's a musician, songwriter, artist, writer, the list could go on.  He's talked about having a web presence that would be a hub for up and coming artists and this week he's launched Playpix with a gallery of his own artwork:  The Red Beans and Rice series. 

The six prints are ironic takes on Red Beans and Rice. I just bought two.  Who could resist Red Beans and Vice?

Here's Louie's take on the drawings: We found a great printer in Austin, TX., who did a fantastic job of laser printing on Strathmore 400 80lb acid free paper (laser printing incidentally is quickly becoming a legit printing method amongst fine artists).  Each drawing is hand signed and numbered. When the initial run of 450 prints runs out, he will not reissue. 

The drawings are beyond reasonable at $25 a piece.  How wonderful to own a piece of art that touches your artistic soul and makes you smile.  Anyone can have it.

Good Advice For The Weekend

My Favorite Vampire Is Dead

Jonathan Frid, the actor who played Barnabas Collins died, ironically on Friday the 13th.  He has a cameo in the soon-to-be-released Tim Burton remake of Dark Shadows, the show that made Frid forever Barnabas, although Johnny Depp has stepped into the role. 

I religiously watched the TV show  after school.  The background music heightened every scene as is evident in this clip of Barnabas' debut in Dark Shadows.  The acting was over the top/campy and I loved it.

Frid was 87. 

Another luminary has left us. RIP Levon Helm. 

America's Oldest Teenager Is Gone

RIP Dick Clark.  

Just yesterday I was reading one of my old diaries from 1976 and on Saturday May 29th I had this entry:  Watched American Bandstand. Jim Stafford has a cocker spaniel named Joe Cocker, which I'm guessing he mentioned on the show and I found it interesting enough to write about it.

Rate a Record was my favorite part of American Bandstand.  Every week I got to hear one of the dancers say some variation of it's got a good beat and I like to dance to it. 

Dick Clark had the beat. 

Three of Life's Greatest Pleasures

Baseball, music and art:  three of life's greatest pleasures.  Friday night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, all were celebrated.  Breaking the Color Barrier in Major League Baseball a current baseball card exhibit at the MET through June 17th.  The cards are part of the extensive collection bequeathed to the museum by Jefferson Burdick, a lifelong collector who we were told never went to a baseball game. 

Today Major League Baseball celebrates Jackie Robinson.

The Baseball Project sang us through a history of baseball.  

Linda, Scott, Peter, Mike (Steve was too far to the left)

As to be expected, the melodies were catchy, the lyrics ironic, smart, funny and poignant.   Harvey Haddix is a tribute to those who have pitched perfect games (they name all of them) and the one who didn't get the credit.  Why don't we add Harvey to that list they lament.

10th inning down, 11th inning down, he moved on to the 12th
3 straight outs and the fans were pinching themselves
The best game ever pitched and still a scoreless tie
Poor Harvey had to carry on and give it one more try

13's never lucky so you can guess the rest
Harv gave up a hit and then he lost the whole contest
I wonder how he slept that night knowing how close he came
To a most exclusive club that should include his name

There were other tributes such as the one for the 1986 World Series (Buckner's Bolero) , which elicited a yell of "Let's Go Mets" from the audience.  Satchel Page, Ted Freakin' Williams, Willie and Jackie were all honored. 

The performance was a quasi REM reunion.  The Baseball Project consists of , Scott McCaughey  who has been part of REM since 1994, Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), Peter Buck  and Linda Pitmon.  Mike Mills joined the band for this show and I believe I saw  Michael Stipe siting in the audience.

The evening opened with a panel discussion about cards and baseball's part in breaking the color barrier. Sharon Robinson, educational consultant to Major League Baseball and daughter of Brooklyn Dodgers pioneer Jackie Robinson, talked about her parents fleeing a house in Florida as a lynch mob was headed for her father.  The locals did not want a black man playing with a white team in their backyard.  Jackie was playing with a minor league team at the time and was one year away from joining the Dodgers.

The consummate baseball player Dale Murphy talked about his dad bringing him Willie Mays' glove.  A 9 year old Murphy was skeptical about it actually being Willie's glove.  When he got Willie's baseball card, he counted the stitches on the glove in the card and it was the same amount as on his glove.  The glove was a replica, but it was the same model.  New York Times sportswriter and author William Rhoden talked about practicing Willie's basket catch over and over.  Bill could not believe how easy Willie made the game look.  Sean Kirst, sports columnist for the Syracuse Post-Standard and author had a geographical link to two stories.  The collector Burdick came from Syracuse and Jackie Robinson had said "In Syracuse they got on me pretty good, but that didn't bother me."  He mentioned it as the one place that was hard on him.

As The Baseball Project sang (with a nod to Simon & Garfunkel), And here's to you Mr Robinson. 

Olympic Organizers Want Keith Moon To Play At The Closing Ceremonies

Keith Moon died in 1978.  It seems the organizers of the 2012 London Olympics think he's alive and kicking. 

The Sunday Times quoted The Who's longtime manager Bill Curbishley who said he got an inquiry if Keith would be available to play at the Olympics. 

I emailed back saying Keith now resides in Golders Green crematorium, having lived up to the Who's anthemic line I hope I die before I get old.  If they have a round table, some glasses and candles, we might contact him. 


In other Olympic related news, the Times reported that the Sex Pistols have turned down the organizers.  No word on whether they specifically asked for Sid Vicious.  

Do Female Artists Have A Better Sense Of Humor Than Their Male Counterparts?

I'd have to say yes.  I'll point to two recent examples. 

1.  The Cindy Sherman exhibit at MOMA. Cindy likes working by herself.  She's her own best model. 

Cindy Sherman from the WSJ:
For me, a great portrait is something that combines the familiar with the unfamiliar—something seductive but also repulsive. I want to go "Ew," but then can't stop looking. So there's a push-pull thing to it. I also see the humorous aspect, not just the horrible. It's exciting in its gruesomeness.









2.  Nina Katchadourian's Seat Assignment.  What do most people do on a 14 hour flight?  My guess is sleep.  Nina makes art using only the materials at hand.  She recreated 15th century portraits in the airplane bathroom.  There was probably more time to do this as most of the passengers were sleeping.  The Mail has an article with her photos. Scott Tissue, here's the ultimate sponsorship opportunity!

Nina challenges herself and travels, a lot.  Over 2500 photographs and video were created on more than 70 different flights.  Seat Assignment was first exhibited at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in New Zealand.  She had a 22 hours to get there from New York.  She created 2 galleries of work on the flight there. 

From Nina's website:
I often make art motivated by the mundane, but Seat Assignment has become a vehicle for me to put many of my deeply-held premises to the test. Is there always more than meets the eye? Is there really something to make out of nothing? Is it truly a matter of paying attention, of staying alert and optimistic about the potential that something interesting could evolve when challenged by boredom? Furthermore, what are the limits of my ability to think on my feet (or from my seat)? When will my creativity hit a wall, either from physical and mental fatigue, or simply because I can't care any more at that moment? How far will my own sense of decorum allow me to go in a public situation?

Happy Opening Day!

Music Legend Earl Scruggs Dies At 88

My first introduction to Earl Scruggs was the theme from the Beverly Hillbillies, The Ballad of Jed Clampett.  That was a time when TV theme songs laid out the premise of the show. We all remember black gold/Texas tea.  Scruggs performed the song along with Lester Flatt; it was sung by Jerry Scoggins. 

Steve Martin called him ''the most important banjo player who ever lived." Scruggs passed away at age 88 of natural causes.  His importance to music cannot be overstated. 

Zoe Keating Asks ASCAP To Show Her The Money

Whenever I hear about artists (those that are not in the top 200 grossing artists of the year) not getting their fair share of their performance/songwriting royalties, it points back to ASCAP.  I don't read about too much injustice from BMI or SESAC.

Techdirt points us to a blog by Zoe Keating.  She, as an informed musician, actually broke down her settlement from a live performance. The promoter deducted $86 as an ASCAP payment.  She never sees that money in her ASCAP statements.  She called ASCAP to find out how she can claim that money and was told, "there was nothing for me to claim. He informed me that ASCAP pays out performing royalties only to the 200 top-grossing concert tours, as determined by Pollstar."  How do they determine what to pay the songwriter if he/she doesn't tour?  Does your song have to be performed by one of those top 200 grossing artists?

In some venues, even if you are not registered with ASCAP, the venue is and they still deduct the money.   Why is ASCAP set up this way?

According to ASCAP's website:

A music creator is like a small business, and ASCAP exists to ensure that music creators are paid promptly when their works are performed publicly.  ... ASCAP is committed to nurturing music makers throughout their careers.

It does not specifically state that you have to gross X amount of money before they will consider making a prompt payment.  If you add up all those $86 contributions day in and day out, over thousands of venues, there is a lot of money going to ASCAP.  It seems like in 2012 there should be a legitimate tracking system that could be put in place to pay out royalties properly, especially if the artist is being diligent about submitting song lists, etc as Zoe has. 

If anyone has the answer, let me and the thousands of musicians who'd love to get their piece of their pie, in on the royalty payment secret.

The Emotional Punch of Keith Haring

If you lived in or visited New York City in the early 80's, Keith Haring had an impact on you.  He was beyond ahead of his time.  Now it's all about musicians giving away their music to get heard.  Keith was giving away his art when no one else was doing that. He believed in having art accessible to everyone.  This is something he got chastised for when he opened the Pop Shop on Lafayette St.

Keith saw an opening.  There were big black canvases all over the city subway system.  Where there wasn't an ad, Keith saw a canvas.  His atomic babies, spaceships and barking dogs were everywhere. How could you not smile when you saw them?  His art also had a message.  There was lots of love and lots of social awareness to his work. 

The Brooklyn Museum is currently exhibiting his earlier works in drawings, paintings, journals and video.  The Keith Haring Foundation (which he established to carry on his legacy of working with children and AIDS awareness) has created a tumblr account, which posts a different page from his journal for everyday of the exhibit.  Being a New Yorker, I love the poem The Smog Frog. 

I'm sure this exhibit will not only delight, but educate.  Can't wait to see it.

From The Reservation To The Runway

I've mentioned Sparkle Beauty Studio before.  It's a wonderful place to get a great haircut, be pampered and listen to a well-curated mix of music.  Gabriel Trujillo and his business partner/spouse Jeffrey Fernandez have created a unique space for beauty.

Jeffrey and Gabriel in The Green Room at a Letterman Taping

Gabriel and I met when I was managing Luscious Jackson (as an aside, LJ are recording a new record).  Jill heard about Gabriel and got a haircut which led to him becoming an integral part of their look.  I have fond memories of he and Jeffrey keeping it together on the shoot of the Naked Eye video.  The days ran way longer than they should have.  The guys were doing hair and makeup for the Luscious ladies as well as at least 20 extras.  Part of the video was filmed in the lobby of the World Trade Center.  There we were at 1am bleary eyed and losing our minds. At least I was losing my mind, the guys did not.  They continued to make everyone look good at that hour.

Gabriel and Jeffrey have a "Be Beautiful" column in a new magazine called Reality Weekly, which  is available at Walmart, Target and other stores.  Gabriel is profiled in The Minot Daily News.  He grew up on a reservation in North Dakota and lucky for us New Yorkers, he made his way here.

Gabriel has directed music videos (check out Jill Cunniff's Lazy Girls) and taken most of the photos  on the Sparkle website, which he built.  Gabriel is an amazing hair and makeup artist.  It doesn't stop there, add to that writer, director, webmaster and photographer. 

A Loving Tribute To An Irish Father

The assassination of John Kennedy, the Billie Jean King/Bobby Riggs match, a carpenter/baby sitter named Sue and protesters at the St Patrick's Day Parade all had a deep impact on the life of Kate Conroy. 

In an intimate, endearing and entertaining one woman show at Dixon Place, Kate recounted her Irish Catholic upbringing and the role her now deceased father played in it.  The show was a tribute to him titled:  To Dad With Love.  She wove her biographical tales with a set of not so traditional Irish folk songs: the tunes her dad liked to sing.

She was born the same year President Kennedy was shot.  To her family and millions of Irish Americans, his presidency validated their existence.  They no longer felt like outsiders in this country.  Her family gatherings used to be held in public parks.  Midway through the gathering, a relative would bring out the bagpipes, everyone would gather and Eddie Conroy would take the lead vocal on Moses Ri-Toorah-li-ay.  Kate said it was her favorite of her father's songs and she sang it for us. 

As a person of the same generation as Kate, I loved her memories of the Billie Jean tennis match. The mention of her parents going to a marriage encounter on the same night of the match, which meant hiring the carpenter to babysit, put me right back into the 70's.  Things were happening all around us in the late 60's and 70's, which affected us in small ways at the time, but had big implications in the long run.  Billie Jean was one of the first to physically and mentally prove to all that a woman can do anything, especially when going after a hustler like Riggs.

In bringing this around to a St Patrick's Day post she also told of her sadness and rejection of her Irish background when she saw a group of gay protesters try to join the parade after being told they couldn't because they were gay.  She saw the protesters beaten by the police from her office window.  With some archaic thinking, it looks like LGBT groups are still being banned from both New York and Boston parades this year.  

She started the show off with a sing along, Mountain Dew and ended with a lullaby, Will Ye Go Lassie Go.  If you're a child of the 60's, come from an Irish and/or Catholic background or have strong ties with your family, you will appreciate and enjoy To Dad With Love.  This was her debut and I'm hoping she brings the show back for an encore. 

Davy Jones Dead At 66

Just yesterday my friends and I were engaged in a conversation about David Cassidy, which lead to talking about Bobby Sherman and his TV sidekick Wes Stern.  Today we learn that another singing idol of ours, Davy Jones has died of a heart attack in Florida.

 

 Davy was the Brit. He sang Daydream Believer and Valerie. He also sang On The Day We Fall In Love (There'll be birds singin' everywhere And the wind will be blowin' through your hair), but we won't hold that against him.  He made Marcia Brady a very happy girl.  He got a kiss "on the flip side" and sang at her dance.  I saw Davy in a performance of The Real Live Brady Bunch at the Village Gate. They reenacted that episode (I think Jane Lynch played Carol Brady).

Davy had a groovy way of moving and shuffling his feet while playing the tambourine or maracas. I remember him in his cap on the black and white backing of the Monkees first album.  The one where they listed their birth dates, places of birth and height. Davy was the small one.  I saw the band on their first reunion tour.

I was five years old when the Monkees TV show debuted.  I still listen to them today and they hold a very special musical place in my heart.  When I was in first grade I had to go to the hospital for emergency ear surgery.  The nurse wanted lights out and shut the TV off, but the mother of the girl next to me said they have to watch the Monkees and the TV was left on.  I did have to watch the Monkees!   Just out of college as an audience member of David Letterman's show, my friend Kerri and I were chosen to compete for a date with Peter Tork.  Our faces appeared in hearts before the show opening.  A grandmotherly type woman won and had pizza in the green room with Peter.  We got the Monkees greatest hits album. 

Davy and the Monkees will always be ingrained in my music DNA.  Thanks Davy.

Mike Nesmith on Facebook:  David’s spirit and soul live well in my heart, among all the lovely people, who remember with me the good times, and the healing times, that were created for so many, including us.  I have fond memories. I wish him safe travels.

Peter Tork:  It is with great sadness that I reflect on the sudden passing of my long-time friend and fellow-adventurer, David Jones.   His talent will be much missed; his gifts will be with us always. My deepest sympathy to Jessica and the rest of his family.  Adios, to the Manchester Cowboy.

Mickey Dolenz:  Can't believe it...Still in shock...had bad dreams all night long. My love and prayers go out to Davy's girls and family right now.

Tennille & Travolta

Words are not needed.

Don Draper As Hugh Hefner

Mad Men comes back to life on March 25th, the start of the 5th season.  Does anyone even remember what happened in season 4?  I'm really digging into my memory bank to pull something out.




The show's creator Matthew Weiner has said he hopes to give viewers a reward for sticking with the show.

The new poster has gotten plenty of attention.  Weiner in describing the poster said it is “a nonverbal representation of where my head is at and where the show will be.  By the end of the season, I guarantee you’ll know what it is about.”

Don is looking in a store window. His image is part of the scene.  He is part of this scene.  From the looks of the male mannequin my prediction is:  by the end of Season 5, Don becomes Hugh Hefner.  Of note, the Playboy TV series that debuted last year was short lived.

Kenny Rogers Caught In A Joe Vs The Volcano Audit

Kenny Rogers has sued Capitol Records for failing to pay him his owed royalties. TechDirt has a piece on the ordeal.

Rogers originally performed an audit, which took more than a year to get going with Capitol. On many levels he found royalties that weren't paid, some put into a "suspended file", over-charges for a music video, etc. When his negotiations to get paid, went nowhere (in the middle of the ordeal, he found out that people he was working had left the label) and he felt he was being led down a black hole, he sued the label.

He was also questioning where all the money the label received in the settlement suits with companies such as Napster, Kazaa, AudioGalaxy and Grokster went. That money was suppose to be shared with the artists. No one would let him in on where the money was stashed.

The sad thing about this whole process is that Rogers is probably doling out tons of money to accountants and lawyers to get him what should be rightfully his. Unfortunately this "accounting" has been going on since the beginning of the legacy labels. Transparency has never been part of their business practices. I'm in the Gambler's corner. I hope this one pays off.

The Kid is Gone

It's not like it wasn't expected. He had a brain tumor, but that doesn't make it any less sad.

Gary Carter passed away this afternoon. His daughter shared the news on the family website. He will always be known as The Kid to us Mets fans. His upbeat attitude was a counterpoint to the bad boy image that saddled the '86 Mets.

I remember hearing Gary say there is no way I am making the last out of this game. The game he was referring to was Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. His hit kept the team alive and allowed them to win it on that more than frequently played error by Bill Buckner. His enthusiasm should have been bottled and sold.

We will miss the Hall of Fame Kid.

Dory Previn, Composer of The Songs From Valley of the Dolls Dies

Dory Previn, who is best known to me for co-writing the songs for the movie Valley of the Dolls passed away at age 86. She will forever be attached to her ex-husband Andre, although he, like Frank Sinatra left his wife for Mia Farrow.

(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls and the movie were big hits in 1967. It's one of my top ten movies of all time. The theme song's lyrics and music greatly portrayed the melancholy, confusion, disgust and yearning for a different life that the main character Ann Welles goes through in the course of the story. The phrasing and unfinished thoughts were a very different take from most pop songs at that time.

Gotta get off, gonna get
Have to get off from this ride
Gotta get hold, gonna get
Need to get hold of my pride

I'm not sure if the song was written that way, or it's the way Dionne Warwick performed it. Judy Garland was originally cast in the film and I think expected to sing the song. Dory has said that the lyrics were inspired by her own struggles with pills.

The highlight of the songs has to be Come Live With Me which is sung by Tony Scotti, who later went on to found Scotti Bros Records. Here is the second performance of the song during the movie which is a duet with Patty Duke. It takes place in a sanitarium and brings the Tony Polar character to life.



John Williams who composed the score for the movie has a interesting post on his site about the music.

Dory Previn went on to release several solo albums, which included her intense lyrics as on the song Beware Of Young Girls. It was written about Mia Farrow.

Whitney Was Barely Cold When Sony Raised Price of The Ultimate Collection

This post on Hypebot reported that the wholesale price of Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection was increased by Sony in the early morning hours on Sunday. The record company argues that it was incorrectly priced and therefore they were just correcting an error.

Even if that's the case, the timing is bad and it seems like it's really in poor taste. If they can't break new acts, they raise the prices on the acts who gave their lives strengthening the record company.

Remaining Beach Boys at the Grammys

Just added: The Beach Boys are performing at the Grammys. The lineup includes surviving members Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks and Bruce Johnston. They are scheduled to perform with Foster the People and Maroon 5. Does this make me want to watch the Grammys?

Congratulations Giants!

I don't think my palms have sweat that much since game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

BORING

Madonna Halftime = Boring Performance

Kudos to the staging. That was amazing.

Peace Love And Soul

Don Cornelius apparently he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. I remember watching Soul Train on Saturday mornings. Don created and hosted the show. It was a sort of ritual to watch Soul Train and American Bandstand. I think musicians lip synched on both shows and got minimal amount of time to speak. There were always people dancing.

Do you remember the SNL skit Samurai Hitman? There are two cabbages which represent Don Cornelius (red cabbage) and Don Kirshner (green cabbage). Samurai John Belushi is being hired to kill them both at a Benihana Restaurant downtown. He demonstrates on the cabbages.

Baseball Is A Wonderful Thing

Going to Tuesday's Bat For BAT (Baseball Assistance Team) benefit dinner was a dream for a Mets fan. The organization's objective is to aid those members of the "baseball family" most in need. They were celebrating 50 years of the Mets.

That's Ed Kranpool with the mic.

It's all about timing and luck. That's me talking about getting Sandy Koufax's autograph, not a player talking about winning a World Series. I was standing at the table and had just gotten Ron Swoboda and Ed Kranpool's autographs, when Sandy Koufax sat down at the end of the table. I handed him my ball and he signed it. Any player will tell you it's all about the timing.


Loved talking to the Glider, Ed Charles. He was the Mets third baseball in '69. We talked about how wonderful that team was and how it was all about pitching and defense. He also told me how much he loved Joan Payson. How many players can say they love their owner? He's a regular at Citi Field.

I seemed to have had a few culinary conversations last night. Keith Hernandez and I talked about Armand's Restaurant and Rusty Staub described the transportation to and from Shea in the 80's, which was the meat van that was used for his restaurant. Players who wanted a ride to Shea met at the restaurant at a designated time. If a player was late, he was on his own to get to the stadium. After about two years of traveling in the "meat van", Le Grand Orange bought a new van with a TV.

Other highlights were talking to Steve Garvey, Jim Palmer, Davey Johnson, Tim Teufel and seeing Randy Myers in a camouflage sports jacket.

Photos courtesy of Al Sartorius

Etta James R.I.P.

Etta James died from leukemia. Best known for the song At Last, James was 73 years old.

The New Goo Goo Dolls

Daniel and the Scandals are from outside of Brighton England. Their first single, I Love You (There You Go I Said It) is reminiscent of The Goo Dolls: great hook, lots of jangly guitars and pop vocals with a touch of rasp. I listened to the song before watching the video.




After watching the video, the song became much more of pop song and reminded me more of a song by PoP, the Hugh Grant fronted band in Music and Lyrics.

Who says visuals don't alter the audio?

Has Bruce Been Listening To New Order?

Maybe I'm crazy, but listening to Springsteen's latest We Take Care of Our Own, I kept hearing the chorus of New Order's Love Vigilantes.

Say No To Congress and Put An End To SOPA

Google, Craigslist, Archive.org, Wordpress, Wikipedia, Peter Gabriel, Reddit and have been blacked out to protest the censorship bill known as SOPA. Google as have other sites, make it easy. Click on their blacked out logo and it leads to a petition to sign. I did it. I've also written many times to my lawmakers, even though the senators from New York were endorsing the bill.

A few months ago, it looked like the entertainment moguls had this one in their pocket. The web and people like us have fought back. It looks like our President has reconsidered, as have others in Congress. They could revisit it and I'm sure they will, but what looked insurmountable could now be a reality.

A Modern Marriage Plot

College wasn’t like the real world. In the real world people dropped names based on their renown. In college, people dropped names based on their obscurity.

That sums up my college years. I graduated a year after the characters in this book. Instead of dropping the names of obscure authors as they do (probably my only criticism of the book), we were citing bands like Protex and The Beat. To further that, Jeffrey Eugenides doesn’t mention much music, but when he does it’s obscure: there was a guy wearing a Plasmatics T-shirt.

The marriage plot was the framework for the novels of Jane Austen and writers of her time. In most cases it would involve a very smart woman, usually too smart for most men, a love interest who maybe all wrong for the character although he/she is in love with that person, madness, the search for spirituality and some family secret that changes a person(s).

Eugenides hits the mark on his modern Marriage Plot. In this case the heroine is actually Mitchell. He’s the one with the most sense, whose heart is longing for Madeleine. She of course is in love with Leonard, the womanizing member of her semiotics class. Leonard has a past that haunts him. Jane would be proud.

The Marriage Plot is a joy as it’s so well written. I don’t know first hand what it’s like to deal with a manic-depressive person but Eugenides uses language that put me in the head and heart of his character.

The solitude was extreme because it wasn’t physical. It was extreme because you felt it while in the company of the person you loved. It was extreme because it was in your head, that most solitary of places.

After reading that I felt a sense of isolation and the struggle of swimming against the tide. The author gets you there. Authors of most of the current fiction I have been reading do not take the time to develop their characters. Plots are lacking and novels are more situation driven. I was thrilled that this book did not go there.

As much as I wanted to shake some sense into Madeleine at times, Leonard is not a complete bad guy. In an interview with Leonard Lopate, Eugenides said originally Leonard Bankhead was the bad boy and then he started sympathizing with him.

It’s amazing to me how well Eugenides got the early 80’s college experience so right. There is a lot of searching and a lot of questioning. For me there was a lot more music, good friends and trips off campus also.

As in a good marriage plot, his characters flirt, fall in love, are in denial and then there’s a revelation. That’s why I liked them so much.