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Hunter S. Thompson: Champion of Breakfast (two orders of excess and a side of Hot Damn!)
I got an email from a guy high atop my honor roll today. He chimed in with a quote from a natural born spark striker and main influence, the Good Doctor himself, Hunter S. Thompson. My cracked cohort and I have shared many a near Hunter experiences in the past. We've bought tickets and taken rides.
Fortunately we never went over that vaunted edge that HST used to speak of (hence we are still living)...but we came close a few times. Somedays you need a little edge to jumpstart the engines. Today the old pipes got a bit of a rattlin' when I received this in an email:
"Breakfast is the only meal of the day that I tend to view with the same kind of traditionalized reverence that most people associate with Lunch and Dinner. I like to eat breakfast alone, and almost never before noon; anybody with a terminally jangled lifestyle needs at least one psychic anchor every twenty-four hours, and mine is breakfast.
In Hong Kong, Dallas or at home — and regardless of whether or not I have been to bed — breakfast is a personal ritual that can only be properly observed alone, and in a spirit of genuine excess. The food factor should always be massive: four Bloody Marys, two grapefruits, a pot of coffee, Rangoon crepes, a half-pound of either sausage, bacon, or corned beef hash with diced chiles, a Spanish omelette or eggs Benedict, a quart of milk, a chopped lemon for random seasoning, and something like a slice of Key lime pie, two margaritas, and six lines of the best cocaine for dessert.
Right, and there should also be two or three newspapers, all mail and messages, a telephone, a notebook for planning the next twenty-four hours and at least one source of good music…. All of which should be dealt with outside, in the warmth of a hot sun, and preferably stone naked."
- Hunter S. Thompson
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Give this bit of audio a listen. It is a reading from the 25th anniversary of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. While listening to this, my advice to you is to start drinking...heavily.
Wishing all Those Old Things Were New: "First-Feelings"
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I was standing out infront of my old apartment in Boston yesterday. I last lived there in that specific spot in 2000. "Wishing all these old things were new" is a song by Merle Haggard. It is off his 2000 album, "If I Could Only Fly". The song is less of a lament than it is a reflection on those "first" feelings. I was thinking about this song while standing out infront of my old Boston place. My time in Boston was chock full of first-feelings.
It is Monday morning. I spent the weekend in Boston on a journey through my past. I ran into the ghost of many first-feeling while I was there. I caught up with old friends and retraced some steps that I took when I was Beantown bachelor. One of my fave first-feelings I tried to recapture was attending a Red Sox game. When I lived in Boston I went to dozens of games. I love taking a Sunday Boston Globe sports section to my seat, sipping on a ice cold beer and watching the Sox "Play Ball!". I remember the first Sox game I went to when I was a kid. I might as well have gone to Jupiter to meet aliens. Everything about it was awe-inspiring, overwhelming and flat-out thrilling.
Of course, I couldn't hit that same raw nerve again yesterday, but it was still a great feeling to be out there in the stands backing the hometown team. In between innings at games they play random songs. They played a lot of country songs yesterday. I was surprised, but maybe I shouldn't have been. Country is a consistent seller these days. Today's country is a lowest common denominator play: BBQs, Gap influenced cowboy and cowgirl garb, cheesy lyrics and a pop sound. It's not my thing, but then again, I am not part of the lowest common denominator crowd.
One song that came blaring out of the speakers was the Stones, "Jumping Jack Flash". I hadn't heard it in a long time. I have heard it countless times. Hearing it yesterday was jarring and exciting. It sounded fresh. You here old songs that you have listened to so much that you build up a callous to them. You forget how damn good they are and how much you like them. They don't hit bone like they used to. Yesterday's serendipitous Stones song surprise felt like a first-feeling.
Music, unlike other media (movies, books, magazine articles, photo books, etc.) has repeat use. You play certain songs to invoke memories, to fuel a workout, to send a message to a lover, to kick-off a Saturday night's partying...you fave tune is always a play button or needle dropping away. You can't replicate the first feelings of a first listen. You can try and conjure them up when you fire-up that fave song.
After the game I went back to my hotel room and trolled through my itunes library and played some other old faves. The difference this time is that I listened to them. I listened for those bits that struck sparks with me so many listens ago. It felt good. Do that this week. Go find old faves and actually listen to them as if you've never heard them before. It is a refreshing and exciting.
I thought back to my old Boston apartment again. It was amazing to me to think about what I've done since I lived there. In eight short years, I got married in the Dominican Republic. I moved to Florida. I moved to Australia and lived and worked in Sydney for five years. I moved to London where I live today. I have traveled to many cool places around the world. There are lots of first-feelings mixed in there. I'm not big on living out my past over and over again. The past is just a record of where you've come from. I'm most interested where I am going next...looking for more firsts.
Lightening in a Bottle: One Fan's Story About Catching a Live Peter Parcek Gig
My friend, Peter Parcek is releasing a new album on Tuesday May 18th. I wrote a piece over on his facebook fan page notes blog. Peter is a phenomenal guitarist. He hails from the Boston area and has been blowing the roofs off joints in live performances there for near four decades. If you are lucky enough to be in the area when he is playing...GO! I have seen him 50+ times and he always gives me a case of the chicken skin.
The album hits street on Tuesday the 18th. You can sample the the tunes here on Amazon "The Mathematics of Love" (not an affiliate link).
Here is a video of Peter absolutely dismantling and rebuilding a Lucinda Williams cover and rebuilding it into a explosive display. Peter works up Lucinda's country, hop-step-y, jaunt into a sinewy, muscular, guitar romp...without bruising it or sacrificing the root of the song at the guitar-hero alter.
Before you watch/listen to Peter's version, have alisten to Lu's original. Peter's version is a country mile a part; true vision.
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Here is the piece I wrote for Peter's blog:
Lightening in a Bottle: One Fan's Story About Catching a Live Peter Parcek Gig
Hello, my name is Judd and I am a friend and fan of Peter’s. I have enjoyed his friendship and his music for close to twenty years. There was a period, when I lived in Boston and New Hampshire, that I would see Peter play at least once every couple of week…if not more. Those were the days.
I live in London, England now. I haven’t heard Peter play live since I left Boston back in 2002. I am crawling walls for some live Peter Parcek. Or at least I was until I heard his new album, "The Mathematics of Love”. As soon as I listened to the opening track, “Showbiz Blues”, I could tell that this album was going to bring me as close to those special live moments we shared…as a musician and fan do…way back when I was clapping and whistling for one more song so many, many times before. Peter and his band mates Steve and Marc, along with his producer Ted Drozdowski and everyone else who had a hand in this masterwork, should be extremely proud of this album. I could wax on with layers of superlatives and adjectives about it, but I think Peter describes it best: "My first album was called Evolution, but this album really is an evolution for me. It’s the most focused, emotionally complex and complete artistic statement I’ve made under my own name.Well said, well played and well done, Peter. I am not a musician. I am a fan. As a fan it is my role to inspire and support the musician to do what they do best…make the music. One way to do this is to attend the gigs. As I said, I have attended many of Peter’s live gigs. There was one in particular that has always rang true for me, and I’d like to share it with you… ---LIGHTENING IN A BOTTLE…I was already exhausted. I didn't play a lick, but I gave that three-plus hour performance everything I had. I cheered at all the right spots. I cajoled the band with standing-o's, foot stomps and fist pumps. I clapped for every searing solo and storming crescendo they played. When the time came for the customary call for the encore...I led the charge. As a fan...a true fan...a heart on his sleeve, lost in the moment, sign on the dotted-line-fan...this...this,...was my end of the bargain. Little did I know, I was about to get more than I bargained for…The band came back up onto the stage floor and the place up and erupted at the first sight of the geetar-man pulling his axe up over his shoulder. Could he actually have more juice left in the tips of those fingers?!? Could he...the band...have any more guts left to spill on the floor? Hell, yes.I was twenty-one, then. That was seventeen years ago. When I think about that exact moment, I still get the chicken skin. Moments like that are never lost. They get bottled up in a time capsule and with every year that passes, that memory, like the finest of reds, gets better with age. Don't get me wrong; my memory of that exact moment has not been diluted by time and hyperbole. What I felt then and what I feel now are as true as tomorrow's sunrise. I am a music fan. I am a fan not just because of the sounds...but, also, because of the stories behind it and the significance that a single note or extended solo can have. As a student of music lore, I have read of many of these stories and moments: Dylan "going electric", Hendrix's Woodstock Star Spangled salute or Keith and Crew closing out the '60's at the Speedway in Altamont. These are all moments that will live on for an eternity...and if you were there, you were lucky enough to catch lightning in a bottle. I have always wanted to be part of a "moment"...to catch my own lightning. Little did I know that my moment would come as close to home and as close to the bone as it did.Talking Old Soldiers...(Neil and Crosby strike an "old" pose)
When I saw this pic, I thought of the Bettye Lavette cover of the Elton John song, "Talking Old Soldiers". Bettye sings the shit out of this song. She sings the shit out of every song she sings. She sticks her soul-finger into emotion's open wound and wiggles it around until emotions got nothing left in the tank to give. She's no steeler though...she's a natural born sender.
I included Elton's version here as well. I figured you need to hear how his floor gets mopped up...even though he does it justice it...Bettye wears the Blue Ribbon.
This pic also reminded me of a Neil and Willie tune. You'll be tappin' a toe and slappin' a knee before you can say, "Trans".
Fucking Neil...
The Drive-By Truckers play the pimp AND prostitute: how to sell your new album and stay off your knees
If the Drive-By Truckers sold an album of nursery rhymes interpreted through the sounds of armpit farting noises...I would buy it. I would...on CD and Vinyl.
Seriously, I would buy that. It is not because I am a big fan of old timey armpit harmonies (I think Smithsonian Folkways sells a box set of this stuff from the early 1900's). I would buy it for the simple fact that the Drive-By Truckers are chock-full of integrity. In fact, I would argue that they have the most integrity of any band traveling the highways and byways of the Good Ol' USofA today.
"Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor...and we'll sing about 'em". That is the fundamental ethos that underpins the DBTs music. Their songs are filled with the stories of the American underbelly. They sing with an "I've been there" tone that makes believers of the music and them as an integral part of it.
Their latest album, "The Big To-Do" doesn't stray from the (dirt) path either. This is their "critical mass" album. This has been brewing for sometime. In 1998 they released their first album that was full of guts-balls, piss and gasoline rock. Since then they have been one-upping themselves with each album release. In the process, they have been positioning themselves to be a big deal with "The Big To-Do". How they got here:
- "Gangstabilly" & "Pizza Deliverance": building the rabid fan base
- "Southern Rock Opera": critic's darlin's
- "Decoration Day" & "The Dirty South": flexing muscles
- "A Blessing and a Curse": the transition album
- "Brighter Than Creation's Dark": looking inward
- "The Big To-Do": critical mass
- They also backed Booker T. and Bettye Lavette on their respective albums: building artist cred
Why do I think that The Trucker's have moved on to the "critical mass" phase? The push behind this new album, that's why. They are going all in on this one. Yes, I am a fan so I have been on the lookout for this album. I am also signed up to their newsletter, facebook fan page and twitter account. So, yes, I am where they are broadcasting their message, but it is how they are using those channels that has my antennae buzzing.
Why such a push? The Truckers have a new label, ATO. This has got to be it. New West Records put all the blood and sweat into the band during their "muscle flexing, transition and introspective" works. Now ATO is throwing the party and they are whooping it up.
What have they been doing:
- Free downloads of new songs
- The new webisodes
- Streaming the entire album on their site
- Deluxe pre-order packages (I bought the vinyl one)
- Appearance on Letterman
- Live in-store record store performance
- Live video streaming on iClips.net
- Massive push through their social media outposts (facebook, especially)
- an iPhone app (!)
- The traditional PR...but on human growth hormone
Like I said, critical mass. ATO is smart. They have a band on the apex of going BIG. Here is why I think the Truckers can pull this push off without looking like street corner whores: the "slow build" and that they are still the same ol' same ol'.
We ain't never gonna change
We ain't doin' nothin' wrong.
We ain't never gonna change
So shut your mouth and move along
...Well I ain't much different than the man I wanna be and the man that I already am"
Those are lyrics from one fo their earlier songs, "We Ain't Never Gonna Change"...and they haven't. Integrity
They have been working hard for a long time. They have experienced all the time-tested up's and down's that all bands that are in it for the long haul go through. They never sold out and sacrificed who they were. They are still here...better than ever...the same as ever. Integrity.
Sometimes, when you see a fave band go from "yours" to "every one's", you feel let down. "Let down", because they start to get all tarted up and homogenised, ready for a safe coming out party ("carrying a bucket of wealthy man's paint"). Here is why I think the Truckers have earned the right to play pimp and prostitute.
They aren't pushing any bullshit. What you are seeing is what has been all along. They aren't saying anything new about themselves, just talking a bit louder is all. ATO is doing a good job of keeping it real...and I'm sure that is the law that the Truckers laid down. If you just let your label pimp you out like a blue light special, people will see through that. The stench of bullshit is stronger than it has ever been. People are more empowered and keen on how to spot a fraud...and most often there isn't a trial by peers.
The kicker is that the Truckers can walk the talk. They know they have a winner here; it is a winner because the content is damn good.
This is a Rock record through and through. My first thoughts were: guitars, guitars, GUITARS and drums...lots of them. There isn't a clunker on here. It is full of that muscular, passionate, soulful ruckus that is the DBTs sound. It also has their signature storytelling in each and every song. The storytelling: my fave part.
Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley are natural born storytellers. The artful illustrations of rough-hewn characters and hard-luck cases are full-frontal on this set of thirteen tall tales. What I love about their storytelling is that that both come at it from different angles.
Hood gets right down in the muck and mire with excellent first person narratives. He tells you like it is from where he is at...smack dab in the middle of the story. Cooley, on the other hand, most of his stories are told from the third person. He is the ultimate voice-over in rock and roll today. The new story, "Birthday Boy" is told so well.
He's inside the head of a hired hooker here:
Working for the money like you got eight hands
Flat on your back under a mean old man
just thinking happy thoughts and breathing deep
Between your mama's drive and daddy's belt
It don't take smarts to learn to tune out what hurts more than helps
Flat on your back under a mean old man
just thinking happy thoughts and breathing deep
Between your mama's drive and daddy's belt
It don't take smarts to learn to tune out what hurts more than helps
Hot Damn! You get it all there: the back story (is she a single mother that needs to keep her kids fed), the characters (the nasty son of a bitch, who payin' for it and probably cheating on his wife...who hates him anyway), the martyr's resolve (she ain't no dummy, she's doing it for her kids).
This is my favorite song on the album. Cooley only has three vocals "TheBig To-Do", but that's OK. Keith only got one or two per album for a while, too. Here is the first in a series of webisodes from the DBTs. They talk about the songs and stories behind them. This one focuses on "Birthday Boy":
This is the audio for the entire "Birthday Boy Song"
There is so much on this record. I hear some Chuck Berry. I hear some Neil Young & Crazy Horse circa "Ragged Glory". There are great vocal performances...check out Hood's on "Fourth Night of My Drinking". There is a fist-pumping anthem, too..."This Fucking Job". There are tender moments..."You Got Another".
This whole record is bow-down material. It ain't armpit sounds...but it's damn good.
Stream the new album here
Download the free MP3 of "Birthday Boy"
- Posted from Kensington and Woking, United Kingdom
"Any minute any hour, we're waiting on a call from you..." - My Keefified iPhone
The first tix of my Spring Gigs have arrived! Clapton & Winwood, 21st May @ Wembley Arena
Ah...Clapton & Winwood. I've seen Clapton twice and once was on his Blues tour supporting the "From the Cradle" album.
I have the recent Clapton/Winwood MSG live set. I was surprised how good it was. Actually, I was surprised how good Clapton was. In my opinion, Clapton now needs someone to push him...push him to play to his abilities...not God-like, but guitar-hero like. In recent years, the "push" has brought him to Claptonian peaks: Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary, Clapton & Jeff Beck, Clapton & Winwood, Clapton & The Allman Brothers, Clapton and Derek Trucks, Clapton and Buddy Guy...
Looking forward to this go-round with Winwood. Winwood knows Clapton and what buttons to push and knobs to turn. He does it from behind the organ and from behind the guitar. Winwood can play, dammit. His six string work is phenomenal. I ask you, if you are unfamiliar with Winwood's guitar playing, to watch this eight minute Traffic vid from 1972. Hot Damn!
My good mate, The Kingfish (owner of Mojo Music in Sydney...my fave record shop), sold me this entire set on DVD. We watched it three times straight over a couple dozen beers. This isn't the beers talking...Winwood takes flight.
Speaking of Clapton needing a push...here are two songs from Clapton's guest spot with the Allman's at last year's Beacon run. Little Wing is jaw-drop material and wait until you hear him solo'ing in the middle of a Trucks/Haynes Fret Sandwich. Extra mustard, please.
Go to this link and download them. Oh what fun it is to be triple-whammied by the Clapton/Trucks/Haynes Trilogy...picking out who's who is the fun part. Tell me what you think:
Here is the entire Clapton part of the set list from that show:
- Key to the Highway (Clapton vox)
- Stormy Monday
- Dreams
- Why Does Love Have to be so Sad
- Little Wing
- Elizabeth Reed (you will be paralytic after this)
- Layla (Clapton vox)
If you want the set, let me know and I will upload it.
- Posted from Kensington, United Kingdom
The Devil Made Me Do it ("big-box record stores are such a drag...")
As a rule, I can't stand giving my money to the big-box record store chains. There is no feel there, no personality and certainly no charm. Its all profits and loss and debits and credits. This is not to say that our independent record store friends aren't in the game to make some bread...they are. It is just that these guys aren't afraid to leave a little blood on the tracks.
When I was living in Sydney Australia, I only bought my music from one shop and one shop only...Mojo Music (see pic for a snap of the shop). The owner (I calls him The Kingfish) runs a bow-down operation. Check out this post to learn a bit about the most down-right, damn-straight, hot shit record shop south of the sun: "If you ever get lonely, you go to the record shop and visit all of your friends...".
All that being said...I'm a fucking rat-fink. I went to the dark-side the other day...the HMV on Oxford St. in London. I wanted to pick up the latest/last release from my ol' pal Johnny Cash. I figured I would pick this up in a quick dash and grab to get a new release. Usually I love to hunt for buried treasure only found in used vinyl shop. Anyhow, this newbie is the last in the American Recording series from Rick Rubin & Johnny: "American Recordings VI: Ain't No Grave". It is a stellar swan-gsong from a lost legend. This record is still riding towards the setting sun...I miss Johnny Cash.
I went down the bottom floor of the HMV and saw two things that knocked me out: a full on dedicated display to ACE Records and a country music section that was, well, a country-mile wide.
ACE Records' HQ is here in London, so I wasn't surprised to see the display...but sho' nuff if it didn't look impressive.
I found me a blue ribbon prize in the country section, too...black gold. I picked up my fave Willie Nelson album...on a shinny new piece of vinyl, no less. This is my favorite Willie period. During this time he made the records he wanted and had a full-on, all-out ball doing it with his Family Band.
Here are three ditties from Ol' Willie from that chestnut of an album: "Shotgun Willie", "Devil in a Sleepin' Bag" & "Stay All Night". The last song is a live version of the song...listen to Willie riff on Trigger (that's his trusty old guitar for those of you who don't know).
p.s. Hey Kingfish...sorry about going into HMV. It won't happen again...
- Posted from London, United Kingdom and NSW, Australia
10 lbs. of Shit in an 8 lbs. Bag: A request for keeping music simple in 2010
"Too much of anything is too much for me. Too much and everything gets too much for me". - The Who
That is a line from the chorus of the song of the same name, "Too Much of Anything". Strangely enough, this was a bonus track off the 1995 reissue of the always-delivers Who album, "Who's Next". I say "strangely" for two reasons: one, the original version of this album was nine songs of bow-down material and two, the fact that this song was a bonus track is fucking ironic.
Too much of anything, indeed.
Why the hell did we need bonus tracks for this masterstroke? We didn't. Pete & The Who made a brilliant, time-tested album that consisted of nine crowd pleasing, beer hoisting tunes. Nine. Here we go again...gorging ourselves on a great meal; bloated and reaching for the bicarbonates. Too much.
I am fed up with "too much". This year I am bringing it all back home: keeping everything as clean and simple as I need it to be. Near the end of 2009 I started to think about clarity: eliminating variables; reducing clutter; focusing on less to enjoy more.
I am not preaching purely simplicity for simple's sake. I am talking about clarity. Clarity doesn't sacrifice depth at simple's alter. "Focusing on less to enjoy more" is about clarity; lucidity. It is a concept that I am (forever forward) latching on to and enveloping myself in...including my music listening habits.
I find myself gravitating to music that is much more lucid and clean of complexities...but, not lacking depth. Case in point: the Black Keys' "Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough".
I am a Black Keys fan. They aren't always on my playlist, but I enjoy them from time to time. I did not own this album prior to my hearing it. Recently I was in a crowed and very loud bar. Nothing on the juke box was cutting through the din until I heard this album being played. Whoever was at the controls, decided that they need to play this album in its entirety. The groove was so pronounced and clear, it drowned out the noise in the room and filled all the spaces like a welcome mist. It felt calming and clean to me (even amongst all the clutter in the bar). I went out and bought it the next day.
Lucidity, clarity and depth are full frontal on this set of six songs. The straightforward, two-fisted, Corsican Brother drum and guitar approach of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney lends itself to the clarity/simplicity + depth credo. There is no gratuitous flutes or overdubs or 16 track recordings...just two dudes, two instruments and a half a dozen of a simple bluesman's simple blues songs. By simple I mean uncomplicated, not simpleton or unsophisticated or naive. No, these songs have depth and sagacity.
Junior Kimbrough didn't make it on the blues scene until the 1990's, but he'd been cutting tracks as early as 1968. Junior was a Mississippi Hill Country native and legend. His blues is a hypnotic, sauntering groove that preaches a knowing simplicity and bares warts, proudly. This blues holds you in it's vibe and makes it hard to pull away. Every time I put it on, I know it is going to be a happening. I know I need to dedicate at least 20-30 minutes to it's gravity.
Here is a clip from Robert Palmer's brilliant expose on the raw, country blues: "Deep Blues". If you have not seen this, you MUST do so soon. More-so, read the book that preceded the movie. It is widely thought of as a classic in the genre; a career high for Robert Palmer in career filled with tall peaks.
(Junior also had the coolest album titles: "God Knows I Tried" & "Most Things Haven't Worked Out")
The Black Keys decided they needed to have a go at Junior's music. They gave it a richer, thicker sound...while keeping the ethos of it intact. They added to it without complicating it: less is more. This is my fave track of the set:
What do you think? Does that feel like less is more to you?
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Nine songs. I like that. "Who's Next" wasn't the only great album with nine songs: "Let It Bleed" had nine songs, too. That is my favorite album of all-time (a post for another day). Conversely, the Stone's 2005 Masterplunk, "A Bigger Bang", had 16(!) songs. Too much.
I'd like to make a request of all music makers in 2010: please, don't try to cram ten pounds of shit in an eight pound bag. Focus on reducing the clutter on your albums. Just because you can crowd16 songs on a CD doesn't mean you have to. I don't want more from you, I want less...and I want depth.
Excuse me while I go off to listen to some Charlie Patton...
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Regarding my personal thoughts on "too much":
Too much of my time was being wasted worrying about things I manufactured or labeled as important. Whether they were tasks or audacious (unattainable) goals or simply over thinking decisions or situations, the importance that I gave these things, put undue emphasis on them; one more thing I had to worry about.
Here is a bit, from a larger mindmap (on my 2010 thoughts), on "reducing the clutter"
