Date: 2008-10-19 15:20 Subject: Walk Away, Levi Security: Public Mood: thoughtful Music: Four Tops, "Walk Away, Renee"

By now I'm sure most of you have heard that Levi Stubbs, lead singer of The Four Tops, died last week. Bob Lefsetz has a nice remembrance of him.

And I have one, too.

Like Lefsetz, I was not into the Motown thing at first. I tolerated The Supremes, but I wasn't into The Temptations. I wanted boys with guitars and dreams I felt connected to, not guys in tuxes doing silly/funky dance moves.

But it was hard to resist The Four Tops.( Read more... )

Date: 2008-10-14 15:09 Subject: Ringo Sings the "No No Song" to Fans... Security: Public Mood: amused Music: "It Don't Come Easy," Ringo Starr

This just in - Ringo Starr, otherwise known as Richard Starkey, would be hairdresser and luckiest man in rock history, has decided that he will accept no more fan mail and give no more autographs.

I'm not sure how  feel about this. Ringo is 68 now, and we're a long way from Beatlemania - or from Ringo's solo career. Sure, he does the All-Starr band thing, but that just a glorified "oldies" tour with Ringo and other aging Boomer rockers playing to adoring audiences who are there to remember when they were all young and not dependent on Viagra, Retin-A, or - Depends. ( Read more... )

Date: 2008-10-05 16:10 Subject: A Bit More About Covers Security: Public Mood: amused Music: The Who, "Summertime Blues"

Been thinking a little more about covers and the idea crossed my mind" "What about bad covers?"

My great and good friend acrosticunivers got me to thinking about this with his comment mention of Vanilla Fudge's epic psychedelic treatment of The Supremes' hit "You Keep Me Hangin' On." I remembered The Fudge's version of Junior Walker's "Shotgun," a much less successful re-thinking of a soul classic.

I've thought about covers that were huge hits that have always given me that "fingernails on a chalkboard" feeling - The Happenings' treatment of the Gershwin classic "I Got Rhythm."  And Louis Armstrong's "Hello Dolly," much loved - but not by me.

And that brings us to the cover that has always made me cringe the most.... ( Read more... )

Date: 2008-10-02 13:47 Subject: Covers as Windows into Musicians' Psyches... Security: Public Mood: artistic Music: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Feel a Whole Lot Better"

Bob Lefsetz, that erstwhile critic of the music scene (whose musical talent is, by his own admission, mastery of playing - the radio, cd player, iPod, etc.) has recently savaged James Taylor for releasing a new album of cover songs. While Lefsetz makes a salient point (as usual) in accusing Taylor of doing the "covers" album for the money (which seems as good a reason to do an album as any in these times), he misses something that maybe one such as I, an actual musician, can enlighten all you lovely readers about - why musicians like to play covers even if they write their own material.

Lefsetz takes Taylor to task, for example, for the obviousness of some of his covers - particularly for covering "Summertime Blues," "Not Fade Away," "Hound Dog," "Wichita Lineman," and "On Broadway." Lefsetz's point that these seem too obvious and motivated more by Taylor's knowledge of what a Boomer audience might want has merit, but it ignores something - these are songs that Taylor probably admired and played for himself over his decades long career. ( Read more... )

Date: 2008-09-24 14:36 Subject: Dead Rock Stars Shine Again... Security: Public Mood: amused Music: George Harrison, "All Those Years Ago"

A British tabloid recently conducted a survey to find out which dead rock star the public would most like to see brought back for "one show, one show only."  Here are the results: ( Read more... )

Date: 2008-08-21 15:08 Subject: Baby, It's You Security: Public Mood: crazy Music: Smith, "Baby, It's You"

I heard Smith's version of "Baby, It's You" today while driving back from taking the dogs for a long walk at a local park. You probably don't remember Smith. They were a "one hit wonder," with only the above mentioned song, a hit during the summer of 1969. That was the summer before my senior year in high school.  I had just joined my first serious band - and I went through my first case of being "serious" about a girl.( Read more... )

Date: 2008-07-28 12:02 Subject: Everybody Sounds Better on the Record..... Security: Public Mood: quixotic Music: Alice Cooper, "Billion Dollar Babies"

The way that the vast majority of people experience pop music (unfortunately -and btw, you should get your lazy asses out to see live music 3-4 times a month at the minimum - that way you can find good local artists and support them and quit complaining about the crappy stuff the major music industry outlets shove at you - which reminds me, still digging that American Idol compilation cd you impulse bought?) is via recordings.

What I never hear people talk about when we talk about our favorite recordings - I guess, because even music aficionados don't know or think about it - is how much records are "fixed" - how many mistakes are cleaned up, how many "happy accidents" occur and are allowed to stand - in truth, how inauthentic records might be considered (to borrow a term that still has great resonance for music writers and critics) are as documents of musicians' work. Let me offer a couple of examples from classic rock - the stuff we've all listened to many, many times.( Read more... )

Date: 2008-07-23 10:57 Subject: More Improvements to The Backyard Tea/Would Be Kings site... Security: Public Mood: accomplished Music: Backyard Tea, "Mary Laine"

We've added a new music player (courtesy of our friends Doco) with two new songs, "Something Someone Said" and "Dream About You." The latter is significant - it's the only recording we have of a song written by our rhythm guitarist Mike Leffew. You'll note that in the new player the sound quality has been enhanced with digital expansion of our old analog recordings. Thanks to son Josh and the magic of Cool Edit for that....

Our slide show has been revised, too, to include captions. We'll be adding more pictures shortly. In the meantime, hope you enjoy the new improvements. We'll be posting show dates for The Would Be Kings shortly.

Date: 2008-07-21 21:38 Subject: Guitars for musicians are like cars for most guys... Security: Public Mood: chipper Music: Bert Jansch, "Blackwaterside"

I love guitars and basses. I've owned bunches of them in all the major brands - Gibson, Fender, Vox, Rickenbacker, Epiphone, Ovation. My guitars and basses have been on my mind lately because I've just given away some favorites of mine - a couple of Epiphone acoustics that I've had a long while and that have wonderful tone (those solid spruce tops age beautifully). And I bought a new acoustic-electric (a Gibson Songwriter a in Rosewood that is as sweet a sounding instrument as I've owned and with Fishman electronics on board which I like a lot)  I'll talk about my current line-up in a bit (my wife thinks, of course, that I still own too many). But first I want to talk about a couple I let get away...( Read more... )

Date: 2008-07-17 13:05 Subject: A couple of new songs posted at the Tea web site... Security: Public Mood: artistic Music: Backyard Tea, "Like Russian Winter"

For those who might care:

I've posted two new songs at the Backyard Tea web site: 

Now a few words of explanation about these tracks...( Read more... )

Date: 2008-07-10 14:27 Subject: New song from Tea Security: Public Mood: artistic Music: Backyard Tea, "Sweet Dreams"

For those who might give a hoot:

I posted a new song at the Backyard Tea site. Happy listening....

Date: 2008-07-10 14:22 Subject: My Literary Debt to Jesse Helms Security: Public Mood: contemplative Music: Jets Overhead, "All the People"

Jesse Helms is dead. He is, as somewhere in the ether a greater mind than his may be noting with some glee , consigned to “the dust bin of history.” And I, a native North Carolinian, say with the same sense of satisfaction Montressor had after walling his enemy Fortunato inside the catacombs, “in pace requiescat.”

But I owe Jesse Helms a debt of the literary variety - and today I repay it.
( Read more... )

Date: 2008-07-07 12:47 Subject: Beta testing - music you can giggle at... Security: Public Mood: crazy Music: Backyard Tea, "Salad Days"

Here's the myspace site for the old band:

http://www.myspace.com/backyardtea

The site's still in beta form and I've got savvy accomplices working on improving the sound of the tracks (going from analog to digital has its complications). We'll also be adding slide shows with more pictures as they trickle in from here and there.

Have fun. And try not to guffaw too much in your comments.

Date: 2008-07-04 13:06 Subject: The Hits Just Keep Coming... Security: Public Mood: contemplative Music: Backyard Tea, "The Rock and Roll Ideal"

I realize that I've been a piss poor correspondent of late. I'd apologize except...well, I don't know what to apologize for.

Lots of personal stuff has been happening and I'm not one to share all that much. Some bloggers feel the need to use their posts to share lots of themselves - their hopes, fears, daily lives, etc.

I'm not that guy. I tend to back into the cave and get quiet when there's lots of heavy stuff coming down.

The downside of that is that I just go silent without explanation and everybody either forgets about me or thinks I just don't care about writing anymore.
 
( Let's review: )

Date: 2008-06-10 15:17 Subject: Rock Musicians Have Too Much Sex and Make Weird Faces While They Play... Security: Public Mood: chipper Music: AC/DC, "You Shook Me..."

For those of you who’ve fallen behind on your reading about the peccadilloes and peculiarities of musicians, here are a couple of articles (don’t worry - they consist mostly of pictures) to get you up to speed on the all important areas in which our musical heroes excel - having lots of casual sex and making weird faces on stage.

First, from Blender Magazine comes a list of the most oversexed musicians (don’t worry - both Mick Jagger and R Kelly made the cut) And of course we all have some idea who might be #1 in the “having more sex than anyone should” category:

Yup. Leave it to Mr. Yuck Gene Simmons to have the dubious honor of being the most oversexed musician in the music business.

Date: 2008-05-25 17:09 Subject: Godard Says "Everything is Cinema" - Except When It's Politics, Perhaps... Security: Public Mood: artistic Music: The Rolling Stones, "Sympathy for the Devil" Tags: cinema, culture

Jean Luc Godard’s 1968 epic WeekEnd closes with the following end title:

END OF CINEMA

Leonard Lopate of WNYC has a terrific interview with Richard Brody, film critic for The New Yorker and author of a new book on the cinema icon - Everything is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean Luc Godard. You can hear the interview below.

Date: 2008-03-24 16:52 Subject: Neil Aspinall - just one of the "mad lads..." Security: Public Mood: contemplative Music: The Beatles, "In My Life"

I guess I could make my friend Denny the journalist happy and begin this way - with a lede:

Neil Aspinall, friend of Paul, then George, then John, then Ringo, then The Beatles’ road manager and personal assistant, then chief executive for Apple Corps for nearly 4 decades has died. He was 66.

But since I’m a storyteller, let me begin somewhere else:

My first encounter with George was behind the school’s air-raid shelters.This great mass of shaggy hair loomed up and an out-of-breath voice requested a quick drag of my Woodbine. It was one of the first cigarettes either of us had smoked. We spluttered our way through it bravely but gleefully. After that the three of us did lots of ridiculous things together (Aspinall, McCartney and Harrison). By the time we were ready to take the GCE exams we’d added John Lennon to our ‘Mad Lad’ gang. He was doing his first term at Liverpool College of Art which overlooks the Liverpool Institute playground and we all got together in a students coffee bar at lunchtime…. - Neil Aspinall in The Beatles’ Anthology DVD

I’ve long held a hypothesis that my musician and music writer friends argue with me about from time to time. I believe that the best bands form from childhood or school friends who discover in each other a deep love and understanding of music and who somehow galvanize around that love. That’s certainly true about The Beatles - and Steely Dan - and U2 - and Nirvana. You are brothers in music. This gives you some sort of synergistic power that you might never have had…and sometimes, as in the above cited cases, it makes you rich and famous….

(Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans)

There’s a corollary to my hypothesis. In the old days, when you formed a band, you had your brothers in music who were your fellow musicians, but you also had your friends outside the band. If or when the band got more serious, those in the latter group either became friends with your band mates and then took on roles as the band needed them to (roles ranging from roadie to business manager to understudy) or gradually drifted out of your orbit.

The relationships you had with these friends who followed you into the music were trust relationships based on loyalty and friendship built from childhood and only strengthened by what you and they did together. These were the guys who helped you carry your equipment - the guys who traveled and ate and drank with you. You loved the music - and they loved you and you loved them - because you made the music and they helped you to make it. And if you were smart and/or lucky, you remembered to tell them.

That’s a far cry from most of the relationships musicians have with record company executives, booking agents, and other figures in the “music business” as lovingly described by Hunter Thompson:

The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.

Only yesterday Paul McCartney was at Aspinall’s bedside. Trust me when I say that most musicians think about their business managers’ health rather differently than Paul’s demonstration of care suggests….

Neil Aspinall worked with his fellow “mad lads” who became music legends as only their friend could do.

That’s why Paul and Ringo grieve today.

So maybe Denny will allow me to revise my lede to reflect what musicians everywhere would want written about their own “Neils”:

Neil Aspinall, friend of Paul, George, John, and Ringo for more than 4 decades, has died. He was 66.