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"Up and Coming like an elevator...later": Rock & Roll's Future is now
"I saw rock and roll future and it's name is..."
Ah, famous words from a famous man, John Landau. Who was he talking about? None other than Bruce Springsteen. Landau used those words the first time he saw Bruce play live. That was a different time. Rock and Roll, having recently emerged from it's nacent phase, was, by all accounts, beginning to calcify. Bruce, and Tom [Petty] for that matter, were R&R's future whether they knew it or not. The future was still bright then.
Today? The future isn't so bright...and we've certainly stopped wearing shades. The music industry is in a state of confusion. The role of the big record labels is up for grabs, the fucked up concert/touring scene and the true effectiveness that long tail has on the industry...all of these factors are having impact on the fragile infrastructure. Who is losing here? Big labels and touring conglomerates. Who is winning here? The fans...free music and bargain basement convert ticket prices are becoming the norm. Who is still not sure if they are winning or losing? The artists.
The balance of power has shifted to the artists. The rise of the DIY artists is at it's peak. Anyone can make music, connect through social media and use online distribution tools to sell their stuff. Yes, the power has shifted to the artists...but is that a good thing? Power comes at a cost. While this was, well, empowering at first, it just isn't easy to do it all. Still though, in spite of all of the industry confusion, power-shifts and pounds of flesh...new artists are still having a go at it.
The other night I saw Leon Russell play a gig a the Jazz Cafe in London, England. Leon is no newbie. No sir, he has paid his dues and played his ass for many a year. He's part of Rock and Roll's past. The opener for Leon that night was a young English kid by the name of Ed Sheeran. I am certainly not going to go so far as to make a Landauian statement about Ed Sheeran, but I will say that young guys like Ed are small part of what Rock and Roll's future needs to be about.
He sang this one the other night. He left home and moved from Surrey to London on his own. He wrote this on his first night in London...
Ed came on the stage solo with just his guitar and foot pedal loop gizmo. He had presence. He was comfortable in his skin and was extremely affable and gracious. He rattled off six or seven songs, each one his own work. He told stories in between each song about the songs or his experiences when he wrote them. He told of one he wrote when he was in L.A. he made mention of the fact that he could not drink due to his age while in the States. "Oh shit", I thought...this guy is quite young. Actually, Ed is still a teenager...19 years old.
Ed is young, but he doesn't sing and play like a kid. What he lacks in total experience he makes up for with exuberance. He is a product of DIY band culture. He creates loops on stage and plays to them to create a much more full sound for his songs to settle in to. Ed says that at an early age [!?] that he was "deeply effected by everything". Well, I guess we all are, aren't we? At only 19, Ed still has many experiences out in front of him to write stories about. It was refreshing to see someone 'going for it' and not getting caught up in it. He seemed grounded and took all the hype around him with tongue firmly planted in cheek. In one of his songs, he shrugs off the hype with a bit of indifference, "They say I'm up and coming like an elevator...later". Ed's future is bright.
There are lots of Ed's out there. Always have been. We can only hope that with all of the bullshit that prevents Ed's from enduring the already tough road of living out a rock and roll fantasy, that they still keep trying. Rock and Roll was never really about the future anyhow. It is and was about impulse, passion and self-expression. Those are the characteristics of now not later. As any Ed can tell you, you can dream big, but the future is now.
Check out a couple more vids from Ed:
A very cool program that shows Ed performing in London's St. Pancras Station
Ed sang this one as well.
Sample in Jar: Drop in, Drop off and Drop out (TMI Alert)
Click here to download:
sample-in-jar-drop-in-drop-off-and-drop-out-tmi-alert-rtnfgkhtdDAdryrkpwcD.zip (3550 KB)
A few years ago my wife an I were traveling in India. We were at the start of a three week jaunt from a visit up north to the very touristy "Golden Triangle" that would lead us down through Mumbai, Hampi and much further south to Kerala. One of the cities in the Golden Triangle is, Jaipur. There is much to see in do and In Jaipur: the Pink City itself, the Nahargarh Fort and, if you are so inclined as my wife, the many, many jewelry stores.
That part of India is widely knows for the fantastic gems, stones and ornate jewelry that is mined and produced there. We walked up and down the street until my wife felt the right vibe from the right store. No sooner did she find her shop were we inside, shoes off, drinking aromatic teas, incense swirling all around us and staring at a fantastic pile of gold and gems laid out on the desk before us.
The owner of the store saw the that my wife had the "I'm here to buy" look in her eye; he had his "A" game on for sure. While my wife was looking through all of the earrings, rings and bangles, our friendly shopkeep set his sights on me: the money man. He started to ask us how long we had been married (at that point: 6.5 years). He then asked us if we had kids: "No", was my reply. As soon as I said that, you could see his suit coat start to bulge out due to the his large, growing shark fin that was beginning to emerge from his back.
Him: "No children, you say...how come?"
Me: "We just aren't ready yet."
Him: "Well not to worry...not to worry at all, my friend.
Me: (chuckling) "Now why would you say that...my friend"
Him: "Because(!), I can tell just by looking at you that you will have no problem having children. You...YOU...have GREAAAAT Power. Yes, you have great power in you and your first child will be a son".
Me: Oh really? How can you tell?
Him: I know things my friend, I know things...and I know that your wife admires those earrings she is trying on. They look stunning on her".
Ah...the nature of the shmooze and sell. Like I said, he had his "A" game on. What he didn't know is that my wife was hell-bent on walking out of there with something stunning. After a couple hours of her having the time of her life, she nabbed her booty.
I was thinking of our Indian jeweler friend today as I was on my way to the women's clinic to give a semen analysis (yes, you read that correctly). I hope that guy was right. Yep, the wife and I are officially ready to have that kiddo he was asking about. We have been giving it the old college try, but we haven't graduated to the next level yet. We have the books and the calendars and the will and the planets and stars on the ready...but, thus far, no dice.
Better safe then sorry as they say...we both decided it would be a good idea to see if all the plumbing worked. The wife checked out AOK...supreme health and all systems go. My turn. Today I went in and proudly procalimed that I was there to do what I spent the better part of my early puberty years trying to hide from others. It is a funny thing to do actually. You show up, stare the nurse right in the eye and tell her, I am ready for my cup: drop in, drop off and then drop out.
I got in there and there was an array of, ahem, material to assist me in my efforts. Just in case, I had my ipad and a strong 3G connection at the ready. I was looking at the stack of magazines they had in there thinking, "where the hell is the hazmat suit"! I started laughing at myself until I turned around to see a second, but smaller, collection of mags hanging on the wall (see pics). I stopped laughing. Hey, desperate times can call for desperate measures, I guess.
Enough said. I think you are with me at this point...and if you are, I suggest you might want to leave the room.
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OK. That wasn't so bad. Cheap thrills come easy...but, this one wasn't that cheap, actually. It cost me quite a few pounds for that sample; I had no idea I was worth that much on the open market. Hmmm, "great power", indeed...
I find out my results in the next couple of days. Hopefully they are more careful with the lab work then they were with the handling of the sample. The woman behind the desk dropped mine on the floor and almost stepped on it. Again, nothing left to do but laugh.
I walked out of there singing this song:
Hopefully tomorrow I will be singing this one:
p.s. how about that sign on the front door of the clinic?! Can you imagine the poor bastard who was a walk up and had not received the email? Yep...he's on his lunch break, he's not too hungry and he figures, "hey, I might as well go earn a few bucks, check out some free porn (that IT blocks at work) and score a cheap thrill. And what about that "extensive" inventory audit. Did they mix up some samples? Have to color code them? Is the freezer on the fritz? Whew...that must be a real humdinger of an after hours party.
p.p.s. That last photo is not my assistant at the clinic...that is our friend from India. I hope you are right, buddy, or I'm returning that stuff my wife bought.
10th row center at The Royal Albert Hall for Jackson Browne & David Lindley. Lindley was amazing.
I knew Jackson Browne. I had heard of David Lindley, but I had never heard David Lindley. Wow, that guys is talented. Yeah, there are a bunch of you saying, "no shit, thanks for showing up". See, this is what I love about music discovery. Now I have someone else to learn about...backstory. songs, connections to lore and legend, etc. There are many handfuls of Lindley's out there. I'm going to put a list together.
Am I man enough to take on Bettye LaVette Twice In One Night? Yes I am.
The High Preistess of emotionally drenched, gut-punch, way-down-deep-inside soul and R&B singing, Bettye LaVette is playing The Purcell Room in London on Thursday night. Actually, Bettye is playng two shows: one at 8pm and 10pm. I'm pulling double duty and going to both. There is no way that I could allow myself to leave the venue knowing that Bettye was coming out to deliver the (more) goods.
My love affair with Bettye started when my good friend, The Kingfish, turned me on to her album, "Child of the 70's". After that I latched on to "I've Got My Own Hell to Raise" (check our her version of Lucinda William's "Joy") and "Scene of the Crime". This last album was recorded with the Drive-By Truckers and Spooner Oldham backing her up. Patterson worked with Bettye to write the song, "Before the Money Came: The Battle of Bettye LaVette". Are you unfamiliar with Bettye's story? Do you want to find out about her in under five minutes? Just hit play, brothers and sisters. (all those album links I gave you are to reviews...worth the read)
Here are the songs I mentioned plus a few others that make my water boil:
Now, I am flat out hooked on her new album, "Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook". To everyone of the artists that she covers on this set...sorry, Bettye owns these songs now. This video is her rendition of The Who's, "Love Reign O'er Me", performed at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2008. Surely you have seen this, right? If not...buckle up.
I'll post my review of the night's two shows. Bettye is my fave female singer of all time. I won't sacrifice her at the Alter of Unmet Expectations (assuming I set them too high)...I am just happy to get the chance to see her...twice.
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My concert going is about to pick up a mighty head of steam. I have already seen Winwood/Clapton and Willie Nelson...and now, Bettye on Thursday. After that I take off in an all out sprint until I hit the Wilco gig in September. Here is what is on the menu (for now):
- The Hold Steady
- The Black Keys
- Stevie Wonder / Alejandro Escovedo / Carinne Bailey Rae / Florence Rawlings (festival)
- Jackson Browne
- Jeff Tweedy (solo gig)
- Buddy Guy
- Leon Russell
- Kris Kristofferson
- Wilco
Yeah...LOTS of concert reviews coming up.
Talking Old Trees, Squeezed Juice & Willie Nelson: Thoughts on Willie's London Gig from June 11th, 2010
If you chop down an old tree at it's base and have a good look at the stump, you should see many rings on it. The more rings a tree has, the older, the stronger and sturdy the tree is/was. Some trees live for hundreds of years; the strongest living for centuries. These trees weather storms. These trees comfort those who sit in it's shade. These trees are landmarks or touchstones that communities rally 'round. These tree's roots run deep...very deep.
Willie Nelson...is one of these trees.
Them old trees and Willie Nelson...they are a lot alike. Willie must have many rings on his innards. Not that we want to go chopping Willie in two pieces, but you can imagine that all the miles he's logged and roads he's traveled have left impressive marks. Willie's latest road he's a travelin' came through London the other night.
Grown men don't cry...unless they go to a Willie Nelson concert. I saw Willie Nelson at the Hammersmith a few nights ago and for the first dozen songs he and his Family Band played, I fought back tears. I see a lot of shows, but I was not prepared for the impact Willie would have on me.
I know the man's work and I understand his deep contribution to music...not just country music. What I didn't know, or expect, was effect that the combined weight of the two has when you see and hear him in the live setting. If you read this blog and know me, you'll know that when music matters most to me, I tend to dig deeper than surface level. So...take this post with a grain of salt because, I'm about to go half-way to China.
Way, way back when (late 1,800's/early1900's)...a musician played his songs in one spot; the piano was the instrument of the day. When the musician got the urge to roam, carrying a piano from town to town was not an option; hence, the emergence of the guitar. The guitar was portable...easy to carry and carry a tune with. (One of my fave authors, Peter Gurlanick, calls this urge, "the lure of going around". I just got the chicken-skin...)
Have guitar, will travel.
Songwriters don't write for themselves, they write to share. To share, you must take your songs to the people. The image is indelible: he is walking down an old dirt road, guitar slung across his back. He strides into town and finds a busy, hectic street corner. He takes of his hat and lays it at his feet and he begins to play. He plays his songs for the people. He looks for their reaction; he feeds off of it. People clap, drop a few coins in appreciation and they move along. So does the musician. He moves along...this is the life of the traveling singer-song writer. Few, if any, have done it better than Willie Nelson.
Last Friday, Willie played out this image for a sold-out London crowd. Seventy-six years old and he is still walking that road and playing his songs...and, oh MAN, does he have songs.
That is what really hit me. Willie has not just written songs, he's written SONGS. Many of his songs run the gambit of genre, experience and time(lessness). Maybe Willie's songs are his "tree rings"? Maybe his songs are what makes him so accountable and lasting? Either way, his songs are what blew me away the other night.
Thirty-one songs in ninety minutes. Eeeeeh, doogeee! That is insane. I guess the old quality / quantity argument rears it's head here. Fair enough. Yes, he did blaze through most of them. Yes, I would have liked a few of them stretched out a bit more in places. What I can't argue with was the chance to hear all of these classics. The mind's eye...or in this case, ear...does not have perfect recall. I (we) tend to remember snippets of what we see and hear, wrap that up in the emotions we felt and then call that our "memory". So whether I heard three or thirty-one songs, I wasn't going to remember every bit and nuance of what I heard.
The 31 song set Willie played was like one big ninety-minute medley; which is just how I remember it. Chunks of this medley I remember better than others. The three song mini-medley of "Crazy>Time>Nightlife" had me shielding my face which was revealing that I was getting seriously choked up. These are three tall and towering songs in music. They have been and will be covered by many artists. Willie wrote them. When I heard Willie play them, it knocked me back.
There was Willie, 76 years old and still playing these songs for the people. We have all heard them by many an artists...but this was Willie singing them. He may have played shorten versions of them, but he didn't mail them in. In my view, he consolidated them down their pulp. He squeezed their juice and we still got a full glass. To hear these three played back-to-back-to-back was a treat.
What else was a treat was Willie's fine form. He was the only performer with a guitar and the only performer to give voice all night. No back-up singers to handle notes he can't reach and no second guitar player standing in the shadows playing fills and leads that Willie's fingers can't pick. Nope...Willie pulled his own weight. At seventy-six, you can't expect a performer to give it like he did when he was twenty-six. Did Willie? I don't know, but what I do know is that he showed us that he is still the fucking boss.
His guitar picking is so damn clean. It is a big stew of equal parts BB King, Django Reinhardt, Chuck Berry (think, stops & starts) and Bob Wills. It is what he doesn't play that makes what he does play, resonate. You would also expect his vocals to be strained from age, wear and tear and his longstanding membership in the 4:20 club. At times they may have been, but most all of the night his voice was strong and clear and hit bone in all the right places.
All up, at the end of the show...I was a happy Willie fan. I was even happier as a music fan. I have been asking myself, "who has taken it farther and cut deeper, wider swath than Willie...in American music or music in general?". I'm not sure of the answer. Can you tell me someone else who has? There are many examples of moments in time where history freezes high-water marks (Hank Williams, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, etc.), but who has walked this road as long, and as well, as Willie has?
As soon as I walked out of the theatre and reflected on what I just experienced, I thought of those trees and their rings. Those trees are symbols of survival, examples of the extreme and powerful portrayals of persistence. Just like Willie.
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Here is the set list from the show. Yeah...31 songs in a blaze of glory: one big Willie medley. My highlights are in bold.
- Whiskey River
- Still Is Still Moving To Me
- Beer For My Horses
- Shoeshine Man
- Funny How Time Slips Away
- Crazy
- Nightlife
- Me And Paul
- If You've Got The Money I've Got The Time
- Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
- Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys
- Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground (this one had the water-works starting, too)
- On The Road Again
- Always On My Mind
- Man With The Blues
- Nobody's Fault But Mine
- Milk Cow Blues
- Good Hearted Woman
- Georgia On My Mind
- Jambalaya on the Bayou (this Hank WIlliams three song medley was treat)
- Hey, Good Lookin'
- Move It On Over
- Instrumental
- Sad Songs And Waltzes (is anyone writing songs like this one anymore?!)
- Healing Hands Of Time
- Pretend I Never Happened
- Pick Up The Tempo
- City Of New Orleans
- To All The Girls I've Loved Before
- I'll Fly Away
- The Party's Over (Fitting, right? Good thing Willie's party ain't over yet)
Also noted:
Willie's sister Bobbi plays a MEAN piano. Shit, she pounded those horse teeth like it was forty years ago. Great to see/hear Paul English play drums and percussion, too. His younger brother did the heavy lifting, but it ain't a Willie show with out (he and) Paul. Mickey Raphael's harp playing was expert. He never got to too loud or played too much...all the solos and fills were spot on.
The only hokey part of the night was when Willie pulled of his black Stetson and donned some pre-tied red bandannas. he had a half a dozen of these suckers ready to wear and toss into the crowd.
I attached some less than stellar pics from my iphone. Here is a link to another attendees snaps. He took some real-deal shots.
- Posted from Hammersmith, United Kingdom
Poorman's Podcast: "Its the stories not the song, that makes the music move along..." (Jeff Beck & Johnny Marr spin tunes & yarns)
Click here to download:
poorman-s-podcast-its-the-stories-not-the-song-that-makes-the-music-move-along-AcvfkFzagxhrJqFcdrvd.zip (57 KB)
via AudioBoo
Links from this Poorman's Podcast:
Here is a link to the Jeff Beck/Johnny Marr iTunes Celebrity Playlist Podcast. You can listen to it there or download it via iTunes. While there, be sure to check out he Mick Fleetwood, Ringo Starr & Tom Jones versions. All of them are bow-down, R&R, story-teller goodness.
The pics on the post are: Jeff Beck in a studio (in Japan on tour) recording the podcast, Earl Palmer, Cliff Gallup
NOW: Chaos, Karma & Choice all rolled up into one big Neil Young mule kick... (Part 1)
I'm not big on holidays and birthdays or anniversaries. I just turned thirty-eight last month, but honestly I might as well have turned zero. I am much more concerned with "now". Right now, I am banging out my 200th post on this blog. Is that something to celebrate? No, not really. What it does tell me is that right now, the last 199 posts were worth the effort.
Damn straight.
I like to live life for the now. I'm not taking all that "live today like its your last", bullshit. That is an excuse for not taking responsibilities for your choices. If I'm twenty-one or thirty-eight, I'm still now. I like that perspective. It is liberating and motivating.
Chaos, karma and making choices...that's my gig (now). This, my 200th post on The 6149, is about a collision of chaos, karma and choice.
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"Through libraries and museums, galaxies and stars".
Fuck me. I can't tell you how many times I have listened to that lyric before. These words are hidden gems in an treasure chest of symbolism, hidden meanings and stone-cold truths found within Neil Young's, "Thrasher"
Thrasher. Ohhh, Thrasher. How many times have we seen the sunrise together? How many times has your lonely harmonica coda trailed off only to reveal the even lonely sound ice cubes clanging off one another after the whiskey's run dry? How many times have I asked you tough, life questions? How many times have we shared tears and beers until we shrugged shoulders and flashed knowing smiles?
Many.
Why then...why have you held out on me?! Was it for my own good? Or was it to remind me to always keep my nose to the ground? Ok: same difference.
"Through libraries and museums, galaxies and stars". Now I get it.
(you might want to listen to "Thrasher" before reading any further)
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I didn't want to go to work last Thursday. I wouldn't have except for the fact that I couldn't think of a lie believable enough to tell. Not a lie that my boss wouldn't believe, but one that I couldn't. I am not a liar; the truth is easier (thank you, HST). So instead of an aimless lie, I opted for a truth: Thrasher.
As I got ready for work, I dropped the needle on "Thrasher" off of a used vinyl copy of Neil's "Live Rust". I wasn't paying attention to the lyrics; I had heard them so many times before.
This is right up there for me...it jockeys for the coveted position of my fave song of all time. Neil has always been on a solo trip. Even when he has led bands or stood in the shadows of them...Neil knows where his North Star points. Thrasher is a song about Neil...turning in his keys to the museum and walking out towards galaxies. He has always his own hoe to row...
You listen to a song so many times that sometimes words and the meanings walk past you like people in a grocery store; not until you stumble upon what you are looking for does the object come into focus and you grab it. Hearing a song for the umpteenth time causes a knee-jerk, sing-a-long reaction in all the right places...and then...WHAM! Like a mule-kick to the temple, you get knocked sense-full....not senseless.
"Thrasher" has been prodded for meaning and symbolism by many, many, many a Neil fan over the decades. If you haven't given it the once over before, have a read of the lyrics and couch-session over on my fave Neil site, Thrasher's Wheat. They do a great job of picking it's bones.
"Through libraries and museums, galaxies and stars"
Where the vulture glides descending
On an asphalt highway bending
Thru libraries and museums, galaxies and stars
Down the windy halls of friendship
To the rose clipped by the bullwhip
The motel of lost companions
Waits with heated pool and bar.
On an asphalt highway bending
Thru libraries and museums, galaxies and stars
Down the windy halls of friendship
To the rose clipped by the bullwhip
The motel of lost companions
Waits with heated pool and bar.
I hadn't thought of this one line in this way before: "libraries and museums"...the past, stored knowledge, the finish line: "galaxies and stars"...the future, discovery, the starter's pistol. Yes! This makes sense! You see...I have an itchy trigger finger.
Long story short, my now is "this close" to happening. Through a mix of chaos, karma and choice, I am this close to galaxies and stars. Fuck me. I don't want to jump the gun (the starter's pistol), but I feel ALIVE.
It is a fucked up thing to feel all of your passions and loves colliding, crashing and cajoling one-another into a lightening strike now. My passion has always been about music, music, music, people, connections, friends and the love for my woman and the music we make. Passion does not sit on the shelves of libraries and museums. It is a living and breathing and blood-pumping now.
Chaos, Karma, Choice...this is The 6149 in living color. I'm in no mood to strike deals with the devil, but I am walking up to a crossroads. It is here I will make my bones...make a bona fide decision that, good or bad, I will own up to. On the other side of this crossroad cum decision will be my own row...
I'll be honest...it is 2:24 am on Sunday morning here in the UK. I'm haIf-drunk and full-on...and drowning the early morning hours in a goblet of red and earfuls of song. I am on the edge of my seat for tomorrow. Tomorrow...the breeding ground for now..."galaxies and stars".
Should I go to bed or should wait to greet the sun? HA HA! Does it matter? No...it does not. Not when now is in the room.
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This ends part one of this post. Now is over, for now...
Soon enough, now will happen again. When it does...I'll get full-frontal, full disclosure, guts-spilled, galaxies and stars...and tell you all about it then...which, will be now, then...
Ok, time to put he cork back in the bottle...
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In the meantime, here is Neil performing "Thrasher":
Lunch Break Lacquer: The Fatman and The Ragmag (I found my thrill with some Fats Domino vinyl and vintage Rolling Stone mags)
Click here to download:
lunch-break-lacquer-the-fatman-and-ragmag-i-found-my-thrill-with-some-fats-domino-and-vintage-rolling-stone-mags-b4lRQxUxR4jd6VqVYzLt.zip (13002 KB)
Scroll through the gallery to see pics of the mag with Gregg & the Boys
Another beautiful day in London meant getting out of the office on my lunch break to claw through record bins in the eternal search for bow-down vinyl. I stopped into "On The Beat" records to see if anything jumped out at me. Something did...but it wasn't a piece of vinyl. Actually, it was a pile of old papers that got my big toe to shoot up in my boot.
In "On the Beat", aside from the crates of vinyl and other memorabilia, there are handfuls of New Music Express, Melody Maker and old Rolling Stone magazines hanging from the walls. The Rolling Stone mags are the coolest; most of them are in their original tabloid style, paper format.
There two that jumped out at me. One had an article from Hunter S. Thomson (see the post below for details and pics). The other I recognised straight away due to the image (illustration) of Gregg Allman on the cover. HA! YES! I found it!
I always have a list of "finds" when I go out looking for nuggets of buried treasure in shops like this. The list includes pictures, books, vinyl, DVDs and yes, particular copies of Rolling Stone magazine. One of the items on my "List of Finds" was Rolling Stone, issue 149 from 3rd December, 1973.
This issue is important to me because of the cover story on the Allmans. Why? This was Cameron Crowes first "cover" that he wrote for the magazine...at 16 years of age! This is his "Almost Famous" based on a true story experience. I am a massive fan of the movie and admirer of Crowe. He was the right kid, at the right place, at the right time...(envious). This one is going to go up on the shelf right next to my CC signed copy of the Almost Famous script.
I took some pics of the mag and the article.
- Check out that full page spread of Gregg and the band in the middle of the article (reminded me of the scene in Almost Famous where Stillwater got their first t-shirt: Jeff Bebe, "How can you tell? I'm just one of the out-of-focus guys.").
- Gotta love that pic of Dickey getting a tattoo
- On the inside cover of the mag, there was a blurb on how the illustration of Gregg that graces the front came to be
- And then there is last pic in the set from the mag. This appears at the end of the article. Wow. 16!
If you can get your hands on any of these "old 'Stones", do so. It is a trip to read through and get a feel for the times and happenings.
Oh yeah! I almost forgot. I did pick up a new slab of vinyl. I found me a good fats Domino album to help round out the collection: "Getaway with Fats Domino". This is not the Fats album that is on my "List of Finds", but I couldn't help myself.
p.s. the very last picture in this set is from the actual "On the Beat" shop.
"If you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit all your friends..." 17th April - Support Record Store Day
In honor of Record Store Day, which occurs this Saturday the 17th April, I am reposting a blog entry that I wrote almost one year ago.
This post was about one of my fave places in all the world..."my" record shop in Sydney Australia, Mojo Music. I wrote this a ffew days before Record Store Day '09. Mojo is a special place, full of special people, sounds and stories...as all good local record shops should be.
I am also linking to a few other record store related posts that I have written in the past:
"If you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit all your friends..." (posted 12th April, 2009)
The first record I ever owned as 45 called, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by the Tokens. I was a young kid of about seven or eight years old and I played that record until the needle wore through its grooves. It was the sweeping falsettos that hooked me. But what I loved even more was the loping, rhythmic, tribal beat that drove the song. I feel strongly that my love of the blues was spawned from repeated listenings of this infamous song. One of the other records of my formative-music fan years that used to get a lot of spins was the Best of the Monkees. "Last Train to Clarksville" and "Papa Gene's Blues" were faves.
________ In the movie, Almost Famous, Kate Hudson's "Penny Lane" character said, "If you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit all your friends". So true... This weekend 17 different countries will celebrate Record Store Day. RSD was created by a handful of record store fans as a "...celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally". Have a look at the website to check out all the happenings. I agree with the idea around celebrating the "unique culture" that inhabits the independent record store. I have a record shop. It is called Mojo Records and it is located on York St. in downtown Sydney. Mojo, the self-proclaimed "Kings of the Back Catalogue", is more than just a record shop. It is a place where people are "regulars" on Thursdays and Friday nights. It is a place where people come to share music and stories about music for hours on end. It is a place where a common bond found in music brings together disparate groups of strangers and friends and turns them into "family". And, it is a place where a blues lick can draw you off the street and into the shop and never let you go. When I first found Mojo, I was walking down York and I heard the unmistakable tremble of Muddy Water's slide action boucing off the buildings on both side of the street. I looked around for the shop and saw that it sat below the street at basement level...subterranean...buried treasure. The front shop window stretched from the footpath up to my waist and ran close to fifteen feet in length. I hovered over it and paced back and forth, all the while staring down at the collection of records, people, cds and posters inside. I was locked in. Once inside, I saw a few people leaning on the counter, beers in hands, talking just loud enough so they could hear each other over Muddy's "Long Distance Call". There were a few more people flipping through the record and CD racks. The owner, Nev, came over to introduce himself to me. Within 15 minutes, he had me holding five albums, five "bow-down" albums, that were a money back guarantee promise of hidden gem goodness. Nev is a man of his word. Fast forward two years later, my wife organised a surprise birthday party in the shop. I am a Friday regular. I stop down after work with a couple six-packs of beer (always Cooper's Red) and stay until closing time...which is whenever we decide we want to close up. That particular Friday was my birthday. Little did I know my wife talked with Nev and his right-hand man Uncle Frank and set up the festivities. It was Mojo's first birthday party. By 6:30pm, the place was packed with twenty odd people listening to music, swapping stories, having a few beers and eating a record shaped cake.
We kept on until about midnight and when we were just about to leave, Nev called out "one more song"! Nev put some Jimmy Dawkins on...a dozen songs, a bunch of stories and a few more beers later, we called it a night. Now that's Mojo; happy birthday indeed.
________ Just yesterday I was at Mojo. I went to see Booker T and the Drive-By Truckers perform last night and needed to get the "feel" going before the gig. Nev and I talked about what we were doing for RSD. There is going to be a two-piece band and a book signing by a local artist. People are going to start coming by around 3:00pm. Nev is going to have some vinyl specials going. I already put three aside to get when I go in: Derek & the Dominoes, "Layla", The Allmans, "Live at the Fillmore" and Otis Redding's, "Otis Blue". My wife gave me a turntable for Christmas and I need to get some vinly and give it a spin. My music collection is 1,300+ albums strong (98% fat free). I can't replace it all, but I am going to pick out some choice sets worthy of the black stuff. Have a look at the collection if you like: Judd's Juke Joint. If you want to see Mojo in person, come on down next Saturday. It is sure to be a bow-down event. Oh yeah, bring a rack of beer if youlike...Cooper's Red. p.s. That 45 I was talking about? I still have it. My mom framed it for me and gave it to me as a gift a couple years ago. Records don't have to spun on a turn table to tell great stories.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE! BUY VINYL!
