Sunday evening, and finally some time for a short update from this end. The reshaping of HQ is (so far) a surprisingly smooth affair, so much so, that over the past couple o' weeks I've frequently wondered "hey, where's the catch?". Still far from finished, but we're gettin' there. While typin' this I'm enjoyin' the luxury of central heating for the third night in a row !. Downside has been the movin' about of my records 'n books, you hardly ever consider the sheer weight of the stuff until you have to carry it around !. I almost considered dumpin' it all and gettin' one of those handy dandy modern iPod thingies for a while!, heck, it would've saved us the trouble of gettin' an extra floor in the first place... Oh well, truth is I'm too old to ever consider down sizing the collection and walk around with all my records stuffed in a matchbox, it just wouldn't be the same.
OK, on to more important things; more new records 'n books !.
First off: Ramones' tourmanager Monte Melnick's new book on his time with the band is a must read, no two ways about it. 'On The Road With The Ramones' is a bizarre rollercoasterride thru' what must be one of the most twisted stories in r'n'r. Even for know-it-alls like myself, this throws up plenty o' new details to keep you glued to its pages from the git-go. Couple that with a plethora of previously unseen pics 'n memorabilia and you've got the ultimate Ramones bible in your hands.
It almost feels like it was a previous lifetime when I first picked up those French 70's re-prints of the original Gene Vincent footlongs in a local supermarket and got my first taste of Gene's "sweet Virginia whisper". Not sure if Norton's issues of these discs will reach your local 7-11, but by all means try to nail these platters ASAP if you're still un-acquainted to 'em, 'cause they contain information you desperately need !. 50's rockabilly hardly comes better than this.
Gearhead has a solid collection of loose ends 'n stray tunes by the New Bomb Turks available. 'Switchblade Tongues, Butterknife Brains' offers truckloads of unreleased goodies includin' no less then two Devil Dogs' covers. A DVD is in the works.
Rhino's No Thanks! 70's punk rock box-set is easily the equal of their Nuggets and/or the Loud, Fast and Out Of Control sets. A solid collection put together w/ the original focus in mind. Meanin' that you also get to hear tunes by the likes of Mink DeVille and Eddie & The Hot Rods, stuff that'll have your average Good Charlotte fan screamin' in dismay.
As for me, I could happily spend the rest of my life without ever wantin' to hear stuff like the Stranglers again, and even with some of my all-time favorite bands I'm often too familiar w/ the tunes included to still really enjoy 'em. But as a launchin pad for those lookin' for a guide into this stuff, this is really hard to fault on any level. Tho' the purist in me is somewhat infuriated 'bout the inclusion of several laterday "remixes"....
OK, there you have it. I'd better go catch some sleep before those construction workers start knockin' on our door again at 6:30 in the morning...
Sunday, November 16, 2003
My buddy in SF, Brother Don Ciccone's gig reports are a wonderful thing (babies!) and I'd like to share his Simon & Garfunkel number with y'all right here...
"just got back from san jose for simon and garfunkel. sold out arena. show was ruined by idiots behind us who talked from beginning to end despite our asking them repeatedly to shut up. even when they weren't talking i couldn't get into it because i kept waiting for them to start up again. i wanted to beat their heads in. anyways...the show started with a video collage...shots of young paul & artie and all kinds of americana (including reagan!) with an instrumental version of "america" (from bookends) playing. this ended with a map showing san jose. then they came on - at about 8:30PM. simon in red long sleeve t-shirt, baggy cords and brown suede shoes and no hat. art wore jeans and t-shirt under an open shirt. and his big hair. he looked the same as ever. right off the bat they scored points for dressing as simon and garfunkel. they opened with "old friends". acoustic. beautiful.
at least what i could hear of it over the chatter going on all around. at the mcartney shows nobody - i mean nobody - said a word the whole night. this crowd was stupid from the get go. okay, then they continued on with the bookends theme ("time it was...") and then the band was there -- 7 piece, including jim keltner on drums! they had 2 guitarists - one had a white falcon and the other had a new fender electric 12 going into a blackface fender amp -- a super reverb i think. there was also a guy on fender bass, sitting on his amp. and a percussionist and a keyboard guy. they kicked ass on "hazy shade of winter". then came "i am a rock". then simon took off his acoustic 12 string (i think he played mostly maritns all night but i'm not sure). and next came "america" which was really great. garfunkel was incredible. simon seemed to enjoy himself on "at the zoo" next. then "baby driver". then garfunkel talked about their busking days in london and their friend kathy and so they did "kathy's song" which art says is simon's "most beautiful love song ever". and it really is. i forgot to mention they stopped the show for a minute to say happy birthday to garfunkel (62 i think). okay, then garf talked about how they've been friends since they were 11 yrs old. "and we started arguing when we turned 12", said simon. and they did "hey schoolgirl", their tom and jerry song from the '50's. i'd never heard it before. very everly bros. and... then..... who comes out????? THE EVERLY BROTHERS!! S & G introduce them and then clear off. they were kinda unrecognizable. don looked different and phil's gotten rather portly. but there they were -- all in black - with their black j-200's. and from the second the strummed those things -- WOW!! i mean - unmistakable!! they did "wake up little suzie". and the guitarist now had a dano baritone!! it sounded sooo great. it's obviously the sound you hear on so many country records. next they did "all i have to do is dream" and "let it be me". it was just so stunning and exciting -- i couldn't really take it in. you just wanted to hit pause and get your bearings! then simon and garfunkel came back-- (oh yeah, that's right, it's a simon and garfunkel show) and they ALL sang "bye bye love" which was phenomenal because it really sounded like doubled tracked everlys. that was something. then phil and don were off. people went nuts.
now it quieted down nicely with "scarborough fair". then "homeward bound" - a jazzy version of it, with a vince guaraldi kind of piano solo. a half-acoustic version of "sound of silence" was next (starting out acoustic and then the band kicked in). after that the lights went down and they showed clips from the graduate on the video screens and you knew what was coming, they all stood for "mrs. robinson". simon really got into playing the main riff and also that little bend he does in the middle. this one was the show stopper.
simon introduced the next one by saying that some of his '70's stuff would've made great simon and garfunkel songs. and they did "slip sliding away". nice swingin' version of it. much better than simon's. just shows you how much better those songs would've been with garfunkel.
"el condor pasa" followed and the rhythm guitarist looked like he had a tiny little 12 string on this. i thought it was a mandolin but it looked like a 12 string ukelele! sounded great. also i think this is they one they had theremin on. wow. that was a blast. i don't think i've ever actually heard a theremin on stage before. "keep the customer satisfied" was next. i hadn't heard that one since i bought the album (on 8-track!). simon then told how he wrote "only living boy in new york" when art had left for mexico to act in "catch 22". and he did a nice version of that. then garfunkel was back and he said he wished he stayed with paul long enough to be on the next one "american tune" (?) -- that stupid song from rhymin' simon that sounds like a hymn. i used to call it the benediction song. i never liked that one - altho garfunkel's choir boy voice did match it perfectly.. then they did a sprited version of "in my little town" - another one that's never been one of my favorites. but people loved it. as of course they did the next one... they traded verses on "bridge over troubled water", joining up on the "sail on silvergirl" verse. garfunkel was not as awesome on this as he's been in the past. i think maybe they lost a little tonight because they added another show the night before. i hate when they do that. you know your show is going to suffer when that happens. but it was alright. then they went off. and for the encore: "cecilia" and "the boxer". they smiled as they backed off the microphones in the "lie la lie" parts as the crowd was singing it. they went off again. came back and did a superb rendition of one of my all time faves: "the leaves that are green" at the end of which simon sang, "that's all there is". but it wasn't...there was one more: "the 59th street bridge song". and that got everyone up and... well... feeling groovy! nice show. -- dc
"just got back from san jose for simon and garfunkel. sold out arena. show was ruined by idiots behind us who talked from beginning to end despite our asking them repeatedly to shut up. even when they weren't talking i couldn't get into it because i kept waiting for them to start up again. i wanted to beat their heads in. anyways...the show started with a video collage...shots of young paul & artie and all kinds of americana (including reagan!) with an instrumental version of "america" (from bookends) playing. this ended with a map showing san jose. then they came on - at about 8:30PM. simon in red long sleeve t-shirt, baggy cords and brown suede shoes and no hat. art wore jeans and t-shirt under an open shirt. and his big hair. he looked the same as ever. right off the bat they scored points for dressing as simon and garfunkel. they opened with "old friends". acoustic. beautiful.
at least what i could hear of it over the chatter going on all around. at the mcartney shows nobody - i mean nobody - said a word the whole night. this crowd was stupid from the get go. okay, then they continued on with the bookends theme ("time it was...") and then the band was there -- 7 piece, including jim keltner on drums! they had 2 guitarists - one had a white falcon and the other had a new fender electric 12 going into a blackface fender amp -- a super reverb i think. there was also a guy on fender bass, sitting on his amp. and a percussionist and a keyboard guy. they kicked ass on "hazy shade of winter". then came "i am a rock". then simon took off his acoustic 12 string (i think he played mostly maritns all night but i'm not sure). and next came "america" which was really great. garfunkel was incredible. simon seemed to enjoy himself on "at the zoo" next. then "baby driver". then garfunkel talked about their busking days in london and their friend kathy and so they did "kathy's song" which art says is simon's "most beautiful love song ever". and it really is. i forgot to mention they stopped the show for a minute to say happy birthday to garfunkel (62 i think). okay, then garf talked about how they've been friends since they were 11 yrs old. "and we started arguing when we turned 12", said simon. and they did "hey schoolgirl", their tom and jerry song from the '50's. i'd never heard it before. very everly bros. and... then..... who comes out????? THE EVERLY BROTHERS!! S & G introduce them and then clear off. they were kinda unrecognizable. don looked different and phil's gotten rather portly. but there they were -- all in black - with their black j-200's. and from the second the strummed those things -- WOW!! i mean - unmistakable!! they did "wake up little suzie". and the guitarist now had a dano baritone!! it sounded sooo great. it's obviously the sound you hear on so many country records. next they did "all i have to do is dream" and "let it be me". it was just so stunning and exciting -- i couldn't really take it in. you just wanted to hit pause and get your bearings! then simon and garfunkel came back-- (oh yeah, that's right, it's a simon and garfunkel show) and they ALL sang "bye bye love" which was phenomenal because it really sounded like doubled tracked everlys. that was something. then phil and don were off. people went nuts.
now it quieted down nicely with "scarborough fair". then "homeward bound" - a jazzy version of it, with a vince guaraldi kind of piano solo. a half-acoustic version of "sound of silence" was next (starting out acoustic and then the band kicked in). after that the lights went down and they showed clips from the graduate on the video screens and you knew what was coming, they all stood for "mrs. robinson". simon really got into playing the main riff and also that little bend he does in the middle. this one was the show stopper.
simon introduced the next one by saying that some of his '70's stuff would've made great simon and garfunkel songs. and they did "slip sliding away". nice swingin' version of it. much better than simon's. just shows you how much better those songs would've been with garfunkel.
"el condor pasa" followed and the rhythm guitarist looked like he had a tiny little 12 string on this. i thought it was a mandolin but it looked like a 12 string ukelele! sounded great. also i think this is they one they had theremin on. wow. that was a blast. i don't think i've ever actually heard a theremin on stage before. "keep the customer satisfied" was next. i hadn't heard that one since i bought the album (on 8-track!). simon then told how he wrote "only living boy in new york" when art had left for mexico to act in "catch 22". and he did a nice version of that. then garfunkel was back and he said he wished he stayed with paul long enough to be on the next one "american tune" (?) -- that stupid song from rhymin' simon that sounds like a hymn. i used to call it the benediction song. i never liked that one - altho garfunkel's choir boy voice did match it perfectly.. then they did a sprited version of "in my little town" - another one that's never been one of my favorites. but people loved it. as of course they did the next one... they traded verses on "bridge over troubled water", joining up on the "sail on silvergirl" verse. garfunkel was not as awesome on this as he's been in the past. i think maybe they lost a little tonight because they added another show the night before. i hate when they do that. you know your show is going to suffer when that happens. but it was alright. then they went off. and for the encore: "cecilia" and "the boxer". they smiled as they backed off the microphones in the "lie la lie" parts as the crowd was singing it. they went off again. came back and did a superb rendition of one of my all time faves: "the leaves that are green" at the end of which simon sang, "that's all there is". but it wasn't...there was one more: "the 59th street bridge song". and that got everyone up and... well... feeling groovy! nice show. -- dc
"Beatsville" visits the way-out world of the beatnik, circa 1959. It's a world of coffeehouses and bohemian pads, alive with poetry and jazz, populated with goatee sporting daddy-os and raven haired leotard wearing beatnik chicks, and all backed with a bongo beat guaranteed to send you into orbit. Beatsville is the first pop culture history of the beatnik. You'll be hipped to it all with an extensive visual tour of the era with record covers, books, comics, ceramics and more. Skirting around the more serious and philosophical tenants of the Beat Generation. Beatsville explores the above-ground pop culture manifestations of the beatnik... Maynard G. Krebs and Sheldon Epps, A Bucket of Blood and The Rebel Set, Like Crazy, Man and My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village, The Cool Scene and Grimm's Hip Fairy Tales. The visual tour continues with abstract splashes of paint and surreal cra-zee perspectives as we delve into the kooky and far-out world of vintage beatnik art... and then coming out in contemporary times with beatnik inspired art by today's coolest artists including JD King, Shag, Coop, Mark Ryden, The Pizz, Jeff Raglus, Sunny Buick, Tim Biskup, Charles Schneider, Bosko, Lynne Naylor, Munktiki, Dave Burke, Frank Kozik, Bob Moss, Alan Forbes, Miles Thompson, Larry Wessel, Anthony Macknay, Gemma Jones, Mitch O'Connell, Cass Carnaby, Seonna Hong, Todd Schorr, XnO and Van. Beatsville is your ticket from squaresville to the world of the cool, the way-out and the offbeat. Click here GO! to view the works. Bookstore distribution is by Last Gasp, crash their website here GO Like again! Available in stores late December, this is "The first pop culture history of the beatnik". Edited by Martin McIntosh, essay by Domenic Priore. ISBN 0-9751078-0-1 Outré Gallery Press. 144 pages, full color US $26.95.
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