Pirate Radio

I saw "Pirate Radio" (or as it was known by its terrible UK title "The Boat That Rocked") here in Davis and it was the kind of light-weight fare that I could have waited to see on video. I love the era, the music,and the subject matter, but the treatment was sort of like a late 60's comedic "romp" with a stellar cast of actors playing one dimensional characters. There are a couple of plot twists I found to be quite hokey and predictable. Some of the humor played out like a bad sit-com.



Great cast. Phillip Seymour Hoffman gets a couple of good scenes. Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh,Rhys Ifans-- all shine, as to be expected. Rhys Ifans looks dead on Liam Gallagher; he even shouts "I'm going to live forever" at one point. The soundtrack was cool, though a touch predictable. Then again, I'm sure it was fairly accurate as to what was being played on these stations, considering that the BBC allowed so few hours in a week for any pop music to be played. Of course I was playing amateur music supervisor and it did bother me when I saw them cue up an A&M record with the late 70's logo in what was supposedly 1967 or 68'. There were, no doubt, some other anachronisms, but probably only the kind that geeks like me would care about.



It was written and directed by the same guy (Richard Curtis) who created (either as screenwriter and/or director) "Notting Hill", "Four Weddings and a Funeral" ,"Love Actually" and "Bridget Jones Diary". All of those films are as superficial and cutesy as any Hollywood rom-com, though they are not without their charms if one is in the mood for that. He is also the guy who wrote for all the "Black Adder" and "Mr. Bean" shows with Rowan Atkinson, so he certainly has a great track record.



I just wish the film was a bit more grounded in reality and had believable situations and characters. My mother says there was a pirate radio station that pre-dates the British ones called Radio Nord (North) that she listened to in Sweden in 1961' and 62'. The boat was stationed somewhere offshore from Sweden in the Baltic Sea and was only operational for less than a year. I would love to hear more about that tale and of the British ships like Radio Caroline.



I'm sure there is a great story to be told, unfortunately, this fictional account ain't it.

Xmas in October: Bob Dylan's "Christmas In The Heart"

I can handle Christmas songs for approximately one week, that being the week of Christmas itself. There are some nice, comforting songs that evoke the holiday spirit, even if one lives in an environment lacking snow or much change of season--like Davis, Sac or LA. These songs are part of an annual tradition and therefore can give one a Proustian link to Christmases and times past. I'm down with that.Give me Bing doing "White Christmas", "I'll Be Home For Christmas" or "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy" (with David Bowie);Nat doing "The Christmas Song";Elvis doing "Blue Christmas" or Charles Brown crooning "Please Come Home For Christmas" once or twice during that week and I'm a happy guy. Hey, I can even handle a version or two of "Silent Night", or if I have dipped into the eggnog, even a little "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".



The rock era has given us some gems like Chuck Berry's "Run Run Rudolph", John & Yoko's "Happy Xmas (War is Over) ( which usually gets me,except when Yoko starts her warbling), The Pretenders "2000 Miles", and of course what might be my favorite Xmas song of all, The Pogues "Fairytale of New York"--best opening line ever: "It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank...".



Unfortunately, the Christmas season also means I have to endure the sheer torture of such yuletide classics as "Frosty the Snowman", "The Chipmunk Song", "Feliz Navidad","Jingle Bell Rock", "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and "Winter Wonderland". The modern rock era is responsible for The Waitresses "Christmas Wrapping", which can irritate the hell out of me,too. I know this makes me sound Scrooge-like, but no amount of yearly repetition or the spirit of the season can make me appreciate this treacly crap. Let us not forget that most of these beloved classics are forms of 20th century pop music--tin pan alley stuff written to cash in on the holiday market.



The Christmas market being so potentially lucrative, and frankly, so easy to try and capitalize on--sing 10 or 12 trad Christmas tunes and you got yourself an album--that seemingly everyone has tried their hand at a Christmas album. Even being Jewish does not necessarily exclude one from the rush for Xmas bucks: Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand, Mel Torme, Barry Manilow. Even more interesting is that every one of the following Christmas songs have Jewish authors:

The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Santa Baby
Holly Jolly Christmas
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
I'll Be Home for Christmas
Silver Bells
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Sleigh Ride
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
White Christmas






Some great stuff here, as well as some of the songs I can't stand. Point being, professional songwriters such as Sammy Cahn, Irving Berlin and Johnny Marks knew an opportunity when they saw it. Not to say they couldn't genuinely get into the holiday spirit themselves, but bottom line is that they were composing songs for a Christian holiday.



Which I suppose brings us finally to Bob. Bob's faith is of no relevance to me. His Bobness (or anyone else for that matter) can record an album of Koranic chants for all I care. It is, after all, allegedly a free country. I don't buy into the theory that it is a sly joke on Bob's part either. There is a segment of Bob obsessives who are always trying to second-guess their hero. They are of the belief that Bob is always just putting us on, that his god-like powers would naturally prevent him from unintentional blundering and that all of these bizarre moves he has made over the years are just Bob's way of amusing himself. I disagree, I believe that the he really does sing like sh*t these days, has made bad albums,chosen dreadful movies to be involved with,done Victoria's Secret ads for the money and not the irony and generally does things because he wants to do them (or maybe goes along with something his management cooked up) with total disregard for his so-called mystique or what his fans might think.



Now he puts out this Christmas record. What can you say? It is being done for charity and will most certainly generate a lot of cash and awareness for the Feeding America organization, which I'm sure is a worthy cause.The music? Almost beside the point. In recent years Bob has become increasingly fascinated with music of the first half of the 20th century; you heard this on his radio show every week. Growing up in Minnesota in the 40s and 50s he would have heard most of the songs he covers here with regularity.Yes, this also includes some traditional songs which may be a couple hundred years old and not artifacts of the 20th century. Maybe as an act of nostalgia he has elected to record some of these and I can only see it as an act of genuine affection for songs that remind him of his youth. He is not suited to sing these songs, that's for sure. The arrangements are pretty standard, which when you consider this is a Bob Dylan record, make it sound totally incongruous. Anything with those female backing vocalists sounds ridiculous and laughable to my ears. Other selections, like "The Christmas Blues" work better--Bob being more in his element and his band lending sympathetic backing.



I like a lot of unconventional vocalists: Bob, Tom Waits, Marianne Faithful, Edwyn Collins, Shane MacGowan, etc. I don't need technical perfection, I will take feel and passion over it most of the time. However, I generally don't expect these and other oddball vocalists to tackle holiday classics as earnestly as Bob does. I tend to think of those kind of singers being a little too cool to tackle that kind of material anyway. The "Very Special Christmas" compilation series (also for charity) has spotlighted all manner of pop, rock, R&B and even rap artists tackling Christmas standards and no one is the worse off for it. They are also albums I would never dream of owning or playing. Why on earth would I ever want to hear Michael Bolton sing "White Christmas" or Sheryl Crow do "Blue Christmas"?



All I can say is that if there was ever a superfluous addition to the Dylan catalogue, this is it. And I'm even taking "Dylan and the Dead", "Dylan" (1973 revenge-exploitation release by Columbia for Bob's defection to Asylum for two albums), "MTV Unplugged" and "Under the Red Sky" into account here. But who cares what I think. Bob freaks own everything else anyway and will certainly pick this up to be completists. I have to wonder how much this disc will ever actually be played,though.

Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame Nominees 2010

The usual R&R Hall o' Fame nominee nonsense begins again. Another list of obvious and questionable contenders. Never know what the 500 person voting committee will do.



There are certain folks past and present (Seymour Stein, Amhet Ertegun) who have held a lot of influence and have gotten perhaps some less deserving people in while other, seminal artists remain shut out. Alice Cooper, The Stooges, The New York Dolls not in Hall, but Percy Sledge and Ritchie Valens are? I am always baffled by exactly what the criteria is to get into this goofy museum. It seems having the right lobbyists helps.



Would love to see such cult-ish types as Love and The Zombies in there, but I am probably dreaming.



The list:



KISS-- Love em' or hate em', they should have been in there long ago.



Genesis-- Same as above.



Stooges-- The godfathers of punk not in Hall, but Sex Pistols and Ramones (both directly influnenced by Iggy and co.) are? C'mon, dummies!



Laura Nyro-- Great songwriter. Cult-ish type artist who is certainly worthy, but not exactly rock and roll. If she makes it, then where is Harry Nilsson?



The Chantels-- Output is pretty slight, even by girl group standards, though they are credited with being R&R's first great female group.



The Hollies-- Great and underappreciated 60's pop group who had tons of hits. If they make it, well deserved.



Donna Summer-- This is disco or R&B, but the "Rock and Roll" moniker hardly seems to apply for this organisation. Miles Davis is in there, for god sakes! Miss Summer certainly sold a ton of disco records in her time.



ABBA-- Again, not what one would call Rock and Roll, but considering they have sold more records than anyone but the Beatles and the fact they cranked out a string of pop classics that for better and worse continue to influence pop music, they should be a shoo-in. If Madonna is in there, then ABBA should definitely be in there.



Red Hot Chili Peppers-- This one may ruffle a few feathers too, but they have had a 25 year career of critical and commercial success. I know, there are those who hate them with a passion, but I have liked some of their stuff and the musicianship from Flea, John Frusciante and Chad Smith is phenomenal. Now if the voting committee can just forget about the socks on cocks episodes or some of Anthony Kiedis' raps, they should be in there.



LL Cool J-- WTF. Another example of the East Coast bias of this organisation. How many rap acts are you going to include in this thing? And if I had to pick 5 or 10 of them for inclusion, I don't think Ladies Love (who has had his moments) would be one of them. Grandmaster Flash and Run DMC are in. Wouldn't The Beastie Boys or Public Enemy be the most obvious next choice?



Darlene Love-- Great girl group singer. Not sure she has accomplished enough to get in, but you never know.



Jimmy Cliff-- This would make reggae artist number two in the hall behind you-know-who. If called upon to induct another reggae artist,would not be my next logical pick. That would probably be Toots & the Maytals. He had a few gems in the early 70's and helped to popularize reggae on an international level, but I just don't think his work warrants inclusion here.



Why should we care? Isn't this just a tourist trap that honors a very populist history of, well if not exactly rock and roll, at least popular music of the last 50-odd years. At least the Hall serves the functions of taking this music seriously and commemorates some of the old-timers. You and I know who Little Richard, Chuck Berry,Jerry Lee Lewis and so on are, but future generations may need some gudiance.

Will these future generations care about these artists or will they be relevant years from now or will they be like those old Baseball Hall of Fame players like Pie Traynor and Tris Speaker whom fewer and fewer people remember seeing and whose careers are only important to historians? At least these Hall of Fame members have something that can always be experienced in the here and now: their music.

Someday We'll Look Back And Laugh: Warped Tour 2009

Today I am writing from the Sleep Train Amphitheatre, a venue that is located in the middle of a field outside the northern California farming community of Marysville, some 35 miles north of Sacramento.



The heat today is absolutely staggering, at least a hundred degrees. Having recently relocated from Los Angeles back to the Sacramento Valley, I had forgotten how punishingly hot the summers could be here. I am quickly remembering why I left the valley in the first place. I have brought plenty of water and sunscreen, yet I worry constantly about getting sunburned or suffering heat stroke. Hollywood's usually more balmy climes never seemed more appealing than right now.



I am here today for the 15th annual Vans Warped Tour, a punk rock festival that travels the U.S. each summer touring various outdoor venues, particularly the amphitheaters, or "sheds" as they are referred to in the biz, mostly owned by concert giants Live Nation. Though nominally a punk festival, perhaps it is more apt to say that it is "punk-ish", with a number of bands on the bill who might actually fall into the category of emo-rock or metalcore. There is also a smattering of ska-punk, alternative hip-hop and even a bluegrass band (with attitude) for some much welcomed variety.



The show itself takes place over ten different stages with up to a hundred bands playing in one day. There are two large main stages, but there are a number of smaller ones scattered throughout the festival grounds. The bands start playing at 11am and the music continues until about 9pm. Every band plays approximately thirty minutes with several bands playing at once, though in the case where there are two stages right next to one another, they have it timed with military-like precision for one band to start up their set as another band is finishing.



How odd it is that punk rock has its own corporate sponsored festival. Punk, or at least some of the stylistic trappings of punk, long ago was absorbed into the mainstream of American teen youth culture. Maybe it was Nirvana with "Nevermind" or maybe it was Green Day and their mega-platinum "Dookie" record ,or maybe it was the fashion world who co-opted ideas from punk and repackaged them for the teen market, or maybe punk was helped along by the rise in popularity of skateboarding and other extreme sports for which it often serves as the soundtrack to and also informs the dress sense of its participants. Or perhaps maybe, just maybe, over time enough older brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and even mothers and fathers had adopted aspects of punk culture and had paved the way for the fashion, music, attitude, and sometimes the ideals of punk to become more commonplace and thus more acceptable.



Nowadays punk is not viewed with the same fear and derision it once held. In fact, punk is almost passe, an all too common instant identity for confused teenagers in search of one. This wasn't always the case. I was no punk myself, but I had friends who were or at least those that flirted with it at some point during high school. To be a punk back in the early to mid 80s was to really open oneself up to ridicule and persecution by just about everyone. Whether is was jocks, parents, school officials, law enforcement officers,local business owners, everybody seemed to have a problem with punker kids and all wanted a piece of them. Back in high school I had enough problems without inviting that kind of additional hassle into the life. The irony is not lost on me that those punk rockers who were followed and often trespassed from the property by shopping mall security now have their own "lifestyle" boutique chain store, the cheesy put popular Hot Topic. Yes indeed, times have changed.



Anyway, now on to the bands that I was able to take in during my eight plus hours roasting in the hot August sunshine:



12:45 pm , Hurley.Com Stage: Westbound Train


Was not familiar with this band, but a band named after a Dennis Brown reggae classic could only be a ska band on this bill. This stage is located withing the Sleep Train amphitheater itself: most of the other stages are actually located in part of what would normally be the Sleep Train parking lot.



7 piece band, including horn players, Westbound Train play a genial mix of ska-reggae,mixed with a bit of soul. They are a solid outfit. They do conform to one hard fast rule: the nerdiest looking guys will be in the ska band. Must be all those years in the high school marching band.



They finish off with a ska version of "I Fought The Law". We are off to a good start. I make my way through the festival's main area, which is lined with small band tents. These tents are set up to sell merch and are a place for band members to come to either hang out or participate in a pre-arranged signings. I see some signings already under way. In some cases these lines are 100 to 200 people deep. A lot of teenage girls await with posters, albums and camera phones for a chance to meet and interact with their favorite tattooed love boy. Some things will never change.



1:15, Vans Main Stage: Underoath


This Florida based screamo (or is it post-hardcore?) group specialize in a brand of rock that just leaves me cold. Bellowed verses by one guy, anthemic choruses from another high tenor-ed guy who is straining to reach the top of his register, and metal textures just make this a real chore to watch. A good 700 or so people don't agree and are totally into it. Another indication that I am out of touch with what "the kids" are into these days. The band are kicking much ass, I'm the one with the problem.



My attention is much more focused on the half-pipe skate ramp erected just to the left of this main stage. I am amazed by what looks like seven year olds flying back and forth with ease on this thing. I nearly do a double-take when I see a couple of guys who are riding without any board at all--just the wheels! They ride on top of them without any attachments. Perhaps people have been doing this for year, but this is the first time I've witnessed it.




1:45, Punk Rock Legends Stage: Channel 3


Now finally a band I came here to see. In fact I was enticed to come sweat out my fluids in this brutal heat because of this band and about half a dozen other "old school" punk bands who are on the tour. Warped Tour usually includes a couple of these heritage acts, but this is the first time I have seen this many scheduled. I'm not sure if its to attract older folks like myself (precious few of those around) or to add some legitimacy to the proceedings. Conveniently, the Warped Tour have gathered all these band together on their own stage.



Anyway, Channel 3 are an L.A, punk band that were around in the early to mid 80s. Original members Mike Magrann (guitar and vocal) and Kim Gardener (guitar) and two new recruits make up the band now. Only a couple old punks in sight and a handful of true "old school" looking punk types. By this I mean young guys, some with mohawks, wearing jean jackets with mostly vintage punk band t-shirts cut out and stitched to the jacket. The total number of audience members at this stage is maybe 30.



The band are pretty good and they tear into their set with the conviction of guys 20 years younger. During the mid-80s these guys took a right turn and tried to become Replacments-like roots rockers. They lost a lot of fans by doing this, but I happened to love 1985's "Last Time I Drank..." album. They do the title track and "Hanging Around" and I'm pleased. They conclude with their one true punk classic, "I've Got A Gun".



Did I mention how freaking hot it is? I make my way to the main entrance area where there are these twenty foot high towers with what looks like a mushroom cap. The saucer like lids spray out water in streams of varying strengths. This is a place to get wet and cool down. The sweat has been pouring off of me in buckets. I'm trying desperately to not get heat stroke. I douse myself and then go seek shelter in the nearly empty beer tent. Nearly empty because there are so few people who are of age to actually buy a beer.



2:45 pm, Punk Rock Legends Stage: DOA


DOA are a hardcore band from Vancouver, Canada who have been around since 1978. Led this entire time by Joe Keithley, aka Joey Sh*thead, DOA have been a stalwart punk band with a political edge for over three decades. Mr. Sh*thead fronts the band, runs his own indie label and has even run for public office in Canada.



This festival is surprisingly apolitical. There are no political organizations with booths to be seen here. This event seems to be about presenting non-confrontational punk music and eschewing any real message, other than to buy stuff.



DOA are an exception and these guys mean business in all their sloppy glory. There might be a hundred kids checking them out now. I see a fifty year old man in the circle pit! The band reel off classics like "Police Brutality" and "F*ck You". Joey Sh*thead advises the crowd to always speak out and question authority; well, I'm paraphrasing here. This is invigorating. Finally some songs sticking a middle finger up to the establishment; some songs that actually mean something. Damn, I think its time to head to the beer tent again.



3:10 pm, Hurley Stage: Gallows


Gallows are a buzz band from the UK fronted by Frank Carter, a pint-sized lead vocalist with a lot of charisma. I guess someone forgot to inform the crowd of this band's buzz because there are maybe 200 kids watching but not being particularly receptive to Gallows brand of UK hardcore.



Frank Carter, all 5 feet of him, is covered neck to toe in tattoos. His first words to us are "How the f*ck do you people live here?", no doubt in reference to the unbelievable heat. He also goes on a rant about how many "sh*t bands are on this tour" and then name checks most of the Punk Rock Legends Stage acts as those that are worthy of our time.



In a real missionary zeal type of a moment, Frank jumps off the stage, wades into the crowd with two of the band's guitar players and proceeds to try and convert this bunch of confused, overheated kids. He commands everyone to make "the biggest circle pit you've ever seen around this tent", this tent being the sound man's. Many kids comply and they begin running furiously around the tent, Frank joining in during instrumental breaks. Gallows brand of hardcore is nothing new, but they are tight, fast and have a true star in their lead singer. By the end of their set they have won over just about everybody there.



3:45, Punk Rock Legends Stage: Thelonious Monster


Another big reason I came today, actually perhaps the main reason I came today was to see these guys. Why they are part of this thing at all is a complete mystery to me. This band was not punk, but more of a Replacements type drunk rock band with three guitar players and a lead singer, Bob Forrest, who specialized in the kind of blunt, introspective and heartfelt lyrics that had him on par with Paul Westerberg's best work. They were pretty big in their native Los Angeles in the mid 80s to the beginning of the 90s. They made some waves on college radio but were never going to be the type of band to break out big. They were also tight with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, with whom they played many shows together. I saw both of them play together at the Roxy in Los Angeles, circa 1988. They were a pretty big band for me from 1987 until their dissolution in about 1992.



Lead singer Bob Forrest became know as a notorious L.A. music scene drink and drug casualty. In the last decade he has turned his life around and now might be better known as a substance abuse counselor at the Las Encinas rehab center in Pasadena headed by Dr. Drew Pinsky. He has been widely seen in episodes of VH1's "Celebrity Rehab".



Here I am 21 years later and I am just ecstatic to see this band again. They play a great set featuring such songs as "Look Into the West", "Sammy Hagar Weekend", "Walk On Water" and "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". They seriously rock the Legends stage and me and about 10 puzzled kids are there to witness it. I am at the front with my body hanging over the crowd barricade; of course I am the only one to do so and sing along with the band. It begins to dawn on me that I have suddenly become Mel from Flight of the Conchords, but I'm too jacked up by seeing my old heroes to care. Bob is also being affected by the heat. "How can you f*cking stand this?" he says at one point. I am too excited by their performance to care about the heat now.




4:15, SkullCandy Stage: Millionaires


I was warned about this act. Apparently they are the most divisive act on the tour. It is a girl trio with huge hair performing catty electro rap songs. They came out and performed to backing tapes. They are just awful. That said, there are many high school age girls singing along to their hit "Alcohol", which has lines such as "Come get f*cked up. Give me my alcohol." Time to move along.




4:45, Punk Rock Legends Stage: UK Subs


Talk about legends. Lead vocalist Charlie Harper is by far the oldest punk here, if not in the world. He is 65 years old! He started his first band in 1964. He has led the UK Subs since 1976. Considered part of UK punk's second wave of punk bands. the Subs had their heyday from 1979 to 1981. During this time they racked up half a dozen Top 40 singles and a few charting albums as well. They were and are a pretty straight forward three chord punk act, with a Clash-like approach and attitude.



They perform a great set of Subs standards, including "Warhead", "Emotional Blackmail", "New York State Police" and "CID". Harper rasps his way through his umpteenth gig. Still the consummate front man after all these years and a true punk legend.


The heat is oppressive. Time for another beer and a mushroom tower shower.




5:15, Vans Main Stage: NOFX


NOFX were one of the preeminent punk bands of the 90s. They have released at least fifteen albums since 1989, many of them on leader Fat Mike's Fat Wreck Records. Their 1994 release "Punk in Drublic" even went gold.



I have never really listened to these guys much. Their show on Van Main Stage is full of bad on-stage jokes and unimpressive songs. The kind of pop punk that made punk rock very formulaic and predictable by the 90s. Really I think that punk said all it was going to say musically in its first ten years, which is to say that it was done by the mid-80s. Or perhaps that is just me being out of touch again. Still, the appeal of this group mystifies me.



The heat is really getting to people. Kids are taking shelter where ever they can on these grounds, which are few and far between. Heat exhaustion and dehydration must be a problem. And what is this? I think I have seen my first stretcher of the day.




5:45, Punk Rock Legends Stage: Fishbone


Here is an act that should be much bigger than they are. Fishbone are an all African-American six piece act that play a fusion of punk, funk, ska and metal. They have been around since the early-80s and had their commercial and critical heyday in the late 80s and early 90s, though they never really broke through like they should have. They appeared on the third Lollapalooza festival in 1993. I saw them play the UCD Coffee House in 1987.



They are working hard up there to a crowd of maybe one hundred kids. They should be gods, but now they are perhaps of more curio interest. They do a cover of Sublime's "Date Rape", which seems a little odd. They conclude with the chestnut "Party At Ground Zero" , which I believe is prominently featured in one of the late John Hughes teen flicks. Good set from a criminally under appreciated band.



6:15, Vans Main Stage: 3 Oh! 3


This is a Colorado-based band sure has drawn a lot of fans today judging by the number of t-shirts I see. They are currently enjoying a big pop hit with the song "Don't Trust Me". There is nothing remotely punk rock about these guys. They play a sort of alternative rap mixed with the kind of generic "Alternative Rock" that gets played on stations with that format. Lots of keyboards and a heavily processed guitar that doesn't even sound like a guitar.



The crowd is digging it though. Must be 4,000 people with their hands in the air and getting really into it. I seriously don't get it. The end of day is almost here and I think I am ready for it. Just one last thing to do.





6:45, Punk Rock Legends Stage: The Adicts


Yes, and for the final act of the day, it is the UK's Adicts, a veteran punk band, also of the UK's second wave. This band is all about the gimmicks. The lead singer, Monkey, dresses like an evil clown, Ala the Joker from Batman. The backing band dress like the Droog gang members from "A Clockwork Orange". Their music is pretty standard fare with chanted choruses and your usual chords and song structures.



Somehow these guys have become quite renowned in the punk rock world of today. I see the Adicts logo on many a jacket and wonder how they have achieved this. They were practically a non-entity back in the 80s. Perhaps the fact they have never broken up and continue to tour the U.S. has elevated their profile.



They also turn out to be one hell of a fun time. Monkey bombards the audience with streamers, confetti, glitter and joker playing cards as the band tear through their biggest songs: "Joker in the Pack", "Viva La Revolution" and "Chinese Take-away". For their final song, roadies fling all sizes of beach balls from behind the amps into the crowd of 150 or so. Simple but enjoyable pleasures.



So, that is about it. There is still another hour or so of this festival, but there is no one that I would want to stick around for, and besides, I am pretty fried and want to get a jump on the traffic.



Is this an accurate representation of the punk rock revolution that has now gone mainstream or is it just another rock show? The crowd was predominantly a mainstream one of high school kids who seemed most interested in the bands that seemed, to these ears, the least punk rock. I think punk rock lost its ability to shock a long time ago. Nowadays a kid with a mohawk hardly gets a second look. Hip hop usurped punk back in the late 80s, early 90s a the subculture of choice for rebellious teens to piss off their parents. Now even hip hop has grown tame and predictable. Where is the next youth culture revolution? Whatever it is or whenever that will be, I am sure it will be a grass roots movement that will be hated and misunderstood by adults and it sure won't have a corporate sponsored music festival supporting it. At least not yet.

Dad Rock

In the waning days of the Virgin Megastore Hollywood, just days before we shut our doors for good, I was given a promo by one of our managers. It was one of those UK import compilations, always chock full of hits and usually centered around some sort of loose theme. This particular collection was called, "Heroes: The Anthems" and featured 36 tracks of UK rock from the 60's to the 90's. One might say it is a UK approximation of what in the U.S. we call "classic rock". This set includes a lineage of acts that might fall under the umbrella of punk/alternative/indie (UK definition, meaning punk inspired and guitar based) or at least progenitors of such: The Kinks, The Specials, The Jam, The Undertones, David Bowie, Oasis, Primal Scream, The Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Small Faces, The Stones Roses and even Underworld were all featured.

Now I had all of these tracks, but was thrilled to have them all packaged together. It was very thoughtful of said manager to think of me and to know that this music suited me best. But then it occurred to me that perhaps what I thought was so hip was no longer considered such to my predominantly twenty-something fellow employees. What I thought of as the epitome of cool was in fact now considered old guy music or what is referred to in England, usually perjoratively, as "Dad Rock". Had I now slipped into unhip and out of touch status? I am...Dad Rock? How can I be Dad Rock when I'm not even a dad?

All of the artists on this compilation were once considered quite modern and cutting edge. The punk bands were once considered a threat to the very status quo of the music industry itself. Of course that was a long time ago and now punk acts are used to sell consumer products,played at sporting events or used to soundtrack Hollywood movies. What was once considered outside the mainstream (though it must be said it always had commercial potential) was now accepted as part of the mainstream. This reminds me of my last trip to London back in 2006. I was in a tube station (not at midnight) when I spied a billboard for a greatest hits cd by the punk-ish band from the 70's and 80's, The Stranglers. The tag line of the ad said "Perfect for Father's Day!" Huh? Unless that was a deliberately sarcastic line (which I don't believe it was) then I couldn't imagine a more inappropriate selling point for this record. I mean The Stranglers were notorious for their sleazy and downright misogynistic lyrics. I mean, had the marketing department for The Stranglers cd actually heard the likes of "Peaches"? Sample lyric:

"strolling along minding my own business
well there goes a girl and a half
she's got me going up and down
she's got me going up and down

will you just take a look over there (where?) there
is she tryin' to get outta that clitares?
liberation for women
thats what i preach
preacher man"

In a side note, the line about "is she trying to get outta that clitares" has often been mis-heard as clitoris. Clitares is French for bathing suit apparently. Though the word clitoris would make no sense in this context, no doubt the band took delight in this double entendre. A re-recorded version of the song for UK radio substituted "bikini" for "clitares".

Anyway, with songs like this and "Bring On the Nubiles" and "Nice and Sleazy" it somehow doesn't seem such an appropriate gift for dear old dad. However, this reinforces my point that what was once considered so outre is now boring music your weird old dad listens to. After all, no teen wants to have the same tastes as their parents. They are trying to rebel and gain their own independence from their folks. They want their music to be as annoying and alienating as possible. Now it seems that you have to try harder to make music that is more extreme than what your parents listened to. Unless you go the other way and you take up classical music or Broadway show tunes.

I love the Stranglers, as I love all of the bands on this compilation. Some of the acts were contemporaneous to my teenage years, others were not,but were discovered during those formative years. My musical tastes have moved on with the times. I am not perpetually stuck in the 80's. Yet one thing these acts have in common is that their music has endured and they have that elusive quality that all the best music has--songs. They are memorable songs, with choruses,bridges, hooks. Not all music then or now can claim this. They also are durable enough that they do not sound dated and "of their time" due to whatever the prevailing trend or technology was. They have achieved a certain classic status that can be an anathema to people who are forward looking when it comes to art, even if that art is pop music.

Who remembers the hipster bands of the 80's and 90's? I could list a thousand bands from the 80's who were underground-alternative-college bands who are now nothing but a footnote, all but forgotten. That is not to say they were bad or insignificant. I have tons of records and memories of acts from that time: Christmas? Wild Seeds? Naked Prey? Let's Active? Dumptruck? The Long Ryders? Translator? Once again let me say that I like all these bands,but how many of them left behind great songs? How many left behind songs that are well known and are influential on succeeding generations of musicians? Perhaps many of them did not have the luck or record company promotional budget that would allow for their work to seep into our collective consciousness. I guess what I am trying to say is that they were once considered the hip up-and -comers, the darlings of the underground, but within a few years they had been super-ceded by the next hip and happening band. Now, it is worth noting that some college-indie type acts influence and popularity has endured: The Pixies, Pavement and Sonic Youth certainly fall into that category.

I suppose it comes down to what you might call Shiny New Toy Syndrome. A band is only new for a limited time. Its sound only fresh for a short while. These days (and here is where I really start to show my Dad Rock-ness) there are so many people making music. Not only making music, but via the Internet there is now an outlet for this music, a chance for the whole world to hear it. That is, if you can somehow be noticed from amongst the onslaught of music vying for the World Wide Web's attention. The Internet now provides the kind of word of mouth, the kind of dissemination of music and information about said music that was unheard of back in my day (thank you, Dad Rock, or maybe Grand-Dad Rock!). Word of mouth was always critical. Friends were influential. Some could even be construed as taste makers, people whose opinions you valued above all others.

This still exists today, but now it is on a massive global scale. Everyone has an opinion and many of them want to share that opinion in blogs like this one.The cycle of hype and its inevitable backlash is now faster and faster. Careers that once lasted a few years can now be made and unmade in a matter of months, maybe even weeks. I feel overwhelmed by the amount of music and unsure of where to start or which filters (information sources) to trust. There are times I feel my Dad Rock-ness and begin to feel out of touch. And there are those who would say that I certainly should, that it is the natural process of growing up. Some of my friends still listen to new music and can still be influential. Others gave up on new music years ago and now their valuable word of mouth may be parenting advice, like how much to pay babysitters these days, that kind of thing.

One thing I know after all of these years is that the pop music (and I use this as a catch all term for the music that most young people listen to) is incredibly ephemeral. Ephemeral literally means "lasting only one day". Sometimes it seems that is how long careers last these days. So much of what I hear, especially from indie music, does not do too much for me (Dad Rock!) As you get older and especially if you have spent many, many hours listening to music, it gets harder to be impressed by something new. Often it does not sound truly new to you, but derivative of something older that you like better.

And these kids today (Dad Rock) often do not have an historical context of where this new music comes from; nor do they care. Why should they? They are interested in what is happening NOW, something they can call their own and relate to their youth. They don't want to hear some boring old fart go on about "Yeah, well if only you could have seen The Replacements. Now that was a band!" In fact, as much as I still love that particular group, they now seem like the epitome of Dad Rock (lots of 70's rock influence, some punk, and a whole lot of sensitive singer-songwriter vibe) and hardly the type of group that today's youth would consider in the least bit radical or cutting edge. In fact it is hard to keep up with "these kids" in many ways. They have the passion for the music that I had at their age but can't possibly maintain now. They devour music ravenously and are not a jaded middle-aged guy who has heard it all before. They also have the social networks in which they are sharing music like never before. We used to borrow albums or make our friends compilation tapes (Dad Rock again). We used to hang around in records stores and spend hours trying to track down elusive imports or rare releases by artists whom we only knew of their reputations. You used to have to really work at it. Now files are shared and the entire output of recorded music is available at a few clicks of a mouse, often not paid for at all.

As far as keeping up what is going on in new music, I often feel that if I am not tuned in for a couple of weeks that I am hopelessly out of touch. However, as a dj friend of mine stated, you can be away for a long time and then hop back into the scene and be up to speed pretty quickly. After all, many of the bands you were unaware of for the last couple of years are probably totally irrelevant now anyway.

I suppose I have come to terms with my Dad Rock status. If legendary acts like David Bowie,The Jam and The Clash are considered Dad Rock, then I am more than ok with it. In fact, I have to believe that eventually many youngsters will discover these acts and appreciate them one day. But then maybe that is what our parents or grandparents said about Elvis or Sinatra or The Beatles or...Perry Como?

To conclude this piece in a way that puts some perspective on things, I recall seeing a Billy Bragg show in London a few years back. Billy had this monologue bit between songs (no doubt repeated at all of his shows around this period) in which he acknowledged that himself (an old lefty punker) was getting older, as was his audience. This crowd was definitely a 35 and up group of people with only a few youngsters in attendance; in fact, some of them were the children of some of the attendees. Anyway, Mr. Bragg made the telling comment that it was going to be amusing in the future when our grand kids would gather round conspiratorially and say, "Watch what happens to grandpa when I put on this old ska record!" Inevitably time makes fools of us all.

I Am The Sea: Listening to Quadrophenia

I am definitely a fan of lists. I love reading other people's top whatever lists of things. I am not so good at actually compiling them myself. When it comes to music, it can be downright impossible to rank what my favorites are. I have maybe a hundred or so albums that would conceivably make a top 100 list, but actually putting them in order would be a painful undertaking. What I do know is that for years I have known what my top two albums are on this hypothetical list and have always instinctively mentioned them when put on the spot: The Who's "Quadrophenia" and The Clash's "London Calling".

Both of these albums I did not discover at their time of release (though I was only a couple years late for "London Calling"), but both had a major impact on me some time between the fall of 1981 and the spring of 1982, or between my 14th and 15th years. "London Calling" I will save for another time. This essay is all about "Quadrophenia" and whether I should still be calling it my favorite album of all time, considering the 27 years that have passed since I embraced it as "the one" and the thousands of albums I have heard and discovered since. Why "Quadrophenia"? Does it still hold up? Seems like it is high time for a reassessment of this hallowed record.

First off, there many who don't consider this record even the best Who album ever. Now, I must emphasize that I claim this as my personal favorite album of all time, a very subjective view that does not try and make a case for this double album as the most significant pop recording ever made. So, please Beatles, Bob Dylan and even Radiohead fans, calm down. The populist, conventional choice for best Who record is "Who's Next", the 1971 collection that was salvaged from the "Lifehouse" project. It is inarguably a masterful bunch of songs and contains some of their most popular tracks ever. 1969' "Tommy" is embraced by many a critic as the definitive concept album. This is the record that really put The Who on the map on an international scale. Its allegorical story of a deaf, dumb, and blind boy who becomes a cult leader until he is turned on and deposed is very prescient for its time of the late 60's and all the gurus and cults that were arising. It is also an album whose narrative can be a bit confusing and whose production could have been better. The mid-60s era rock fan and the choice of many a hipster is 1967's "The Who Sell Out", a concept record in the presentation of songs linked by radio commercials both real and fake ones recorded by the band. It is also a brilliant work.

I was prompted to review "Quadrophenia" again after purchasing a re-issued vinyl copy--a beautiful, 180 gram vinyl ,Polydor pressing that replicates the original artwork, including a 40 page photo booklet illustrating the story that was not included in later re-pressings of the album, including the MCA label version I bought back in the 80's. I then hunkered down with some beers and began to listen once again to all 4 sides of vinyl. It had been a while since I had listened to it from start to finish. This is one of those albums that positively demands that it be heard all the way through. To listen to it in bits and pieces seems a crime. So anyway I listened, drank and furiously scribbled voluminous notes about the story, the sound, etc. I looked at my notes two days later and tried to make sense of my chicken scratches. Good lord, I wasn't sure I would have much to say, but it looks like I got drawn into the magic of this work again. I then decided I needed to listen to it again sober and then give my opinion.

"Quadrophenia" was released in October 1973 and rose to number 2 in both the UK and US. It was the first album by the Who since "Who's Next" and was highly anticipated. It was produced by Pete Townshend, with the mighty Glynn Johns listed as Associate Producer and Engineer. It is a concept record, another "Rock Opera" in the vein of "Tommy" or the abandoned "Lifehouse".

The album tells the tale of Jimmy Cooper, a teenage mod who lives in London, circa 1964 or 5. Townshend wanted to write another concept record that dealt with The Who's early fans, the mods. This protagonist was given the affliction of having a multiple personality disorder and each personality would be represented by a musical theme and each theme also represents a member of the band. 'Bell Boy' is Keith Moon, 'Helpless Dancer' is Roger Daltrey, 'Is It Me' is John Entwhistle, and 'Love Regin O'er Me' is Pete Townshend. All four of these themes are weaved in and out of various songs on the record. Townshend also had the bright idea of extending this idea of Quads a bit further and recorded the album in the fleeting trend of quadrophonic sound, sort of a 5.1 concept for the early 70's. I have always thought the title character only thought he had multiple personalities, seeing as he represents every confused teen. I am more inclined to think that it is, as suggested by another song on the album, 'Is It In My Head?', that his personality crisis is an imaginary one.

Side One

1) I Am The Sea: The track begins with the sound of waves crashing against the shore and the wind howling. Very moody stuff, kids. We hear snatches of the four themes as they drift in and out of the mix. We hear mournful, piano chords. We hear...a cat's meow? What is a cat doing on the beach? Anyway, this is the perfect setting to begin the album's journey. One could say that it is beginning at the end. All of a sudden we hear a very distinctive Daltery vocal, "Can you see the real me? Can ya?"

2) The Real Me: Bang! We are off into the album proper as this loud, crunching rocker introduces our main protagonist and presents his general state of mind. He goes to his doctor, his mother and his preacher trying to get answers to why he feels the way he does. He says to his mother, "I'm crazy ma, help me". Her only reply is "I know how it feels son, 'cause it runs in the family." Later in the lyrics we discover that the girl he used to love is now ignoring him and "doesn't want to know me now." Yes, young Jim is pretty messed up. He keeps asking "Can you see the real me?" This is a prototypical teenager who is in doubt about his true self and identity. And yes, this album is going to be one raging ride into teen angst of the highest order.

Meanwhile the music that sets the template for this album is muscular 70's hard rock, the kind that has nothing in common with the 60's R&B that mods worshipped but is certainly an extension of the sound the band was honing post "Tommy". Crash chords from Pete's guitar, thundering drum rolls from Keith, and John's stunning and melodic bass work will set the tone for all the rockers on the album. Many tracks will also include brass parts dubbed by Entwhistle. The Who were probably at the top of their game for this album.

3) Quadrophenia: This is an instrumental that incorporates the four main themes. This and the 'The Rock' were reportedly the most difficult things the band has ever attempted in their quasi-classical complexity. There are beautiful, clean guitar solos and orchestral synthesiser swells that really draw you into the (melo) drama of the piece.

4) Cut My Hair: Very expositional song that describes Jimmy's day-to-day existence. It is a quiet song,sung by Pete and tells of how Jimmy feels he must "move with the fashions or be outcast". It is certainly the eternal dilemma of a teen wanting to fit in and thinking he has to conform to exactly what other kids are doing to achieve it. This song goes a long way to articulating the universality of the Jimmy character. It doesn't matter that he is a mod in mid-60s Britain. His story is the story of millions of teenagers since and to be. Jimmy says he is "still living at home,even though it won't last." The mid-section of the song has Daltrey and band kicking in as Jimmy fantasizes about looking like the perfect mod and achieving a sense of belonging and freedom--

"Zoot suit, white jackets with side vents,five inches long (Who as the High Numbers song reference)
I'm out on the street again, and I'm leaping (reference to speed or "leapers", by the way) along
I'm dressed right for beach fight, but I just can't explain (Who song reference)
Why that uncertain feeling is still here in my brain"

That uncertain feeling is his doubts that he can be that cool and fit in, and perhaps he is wondering if this is something worthwhile to begin with. Jimmy, even at this stage, has the makings of a free thinker and individualist. Another narrative link is introduced as we hear a radio report at the tail end of the song that talks of gangs of mods and rockers rioting at the seaside resort town of Brighton. The Jimmy monologue included in the booklet to help with the story states that Jimmy is supposedly a participant in the disturbances.

One of the brilliant touches on this album is the extensive use of sound effects to convey certain moods and plot points. The BBC radio report is just one such example. I also love the concluding verse with it's "I'm coming down, got home on the very first train from town...my fried egg makes me sick first thing in the morning."

5) Punk and the Godfather (US title, Punk Meets the Godfather): This is a somewhat confusing song to follow, but it is supposed to be about Jimmy waiting to meet the leader of his favorite band (Pete? The Who?) and being thoroughly disappointed that they don't live up to his expectations. The song quotes "My Generation". One confusing element of the song is that it is supposed to be a dialogue between Jimmy (the punk) and the rock star (the godfather), yet both parts are sung by Daltrey. This is now more cleared up since I have the lyrics in the booklet. This also a story of one kid's gradual disillusionment with all the things he believed in and held dear. Finding out his favorite rock band are not heroes but real people who cannot help him either is one of these.

Side Two

1) I'm One: We gently land on side two and witness Jimmy sulk and feel sorry for himself. Pete handles the vocal and plays acoustic guitar.

" I'm a loser, no chance to win
Leaves start falling, comedown is calling
Loneliness starts sinking in"

He then starts to feel a resilience (or is it bitter resolve) to, you know, show em'

"But I'm One, I'm One.
And I can see that this is me
And I will be, you'll all see I'm the One"

It is either a determination to become something or at least a declaration that he is an individual.

The full band crashes in and Jimmy then reverts to worrying about fitting in.

"Where do get those blue blue jeans
Faded patch secret so tight
Where do you get that walk oh so lean
Your shoes and yer shirts all just right"

He later laments that he, on the other hand, has "ill fitting clothes and I blend in the crowd, fingers so clumsy, voice too loud." Our protagonist seems uncertain what he wants. To be simultaneously part of the crowd yet separate from it?

2) The Dirty Jobs: This song is supposed to be about Jimmy's humiliating job as a "dustman" or janitor. He is getting "put down and pushed round". It also details other working men's grim tasks. This song, as well as the next one, I always felt were minor songs that almost don't seem to belong to this piece, like perhaps Pete wrote them separately and then decided to incorporate them into the story.

One misheard lyric now corrected with the help of my lyric sheet:

Actual lyric: "My karma tells me, you've been screwed again"

I heard: "My father tells me, you've missed school again"

I think mine was more relevant to me at the time.

3) Helpless Dancer: The most theatrical number on the album and also the least compelling. This is supposedly Roger's theme and it is a song that is supposed to illustrate Jimmy's social conscience. Like I said about the last song, it seems out of place and superfluous to the story.

4) Is It In My Head?: Another more low key number where Jimmy is in a reflective mood. Song about uncertainty regarding his mental state. "Is it in my head?" he asks over and over. There is also intimations of possibly drug fueled dislocation and paranoia, "I feel I'm being followed, my head is empty". Young Jim is starting to crack and this reveals itself on the next song.

5) I've Had Enough: One of the key, epic rockers on the album and a welcome relief after a side of low key-ness and at times unfocused narrative. This is the track where Jimmy loses it and articulates his contempt for everything and his desire to escape and return to his glorious days as a mod.

Its opening salvo is:

"You were under the impression, that when you were walking forwards
You'd end up further onward, but things ain't quite that simple"

Jimmy concludes that he has been under the mistaken impression that work hard and forward progress would actually get you somewhere.

He then begins to fantasize about having the mod identity again. This idea of obtaining identity through conformity. It is a romanticized vision.

"My jacket's gonna be cut slim and checked
Maybe a touch of seersucker and and open neck
I ride a GS scooter with my hair cut neat
I wear my war time coat in the wind and sleet"

We then hear a recurrence of the "Love Reign O'er Me" theme/refrain. Next is a break down section, underscored by a killer banjo part from Pete, where Jimmy goes about rejecting everything in his life.

"I've had enough of.....living...dying....smiling....crying"

and then

"I've had enough of....dance halls...pills...street fights...fashions"

He then concludes with the line "I'm bored with hate and passion, I've had enough of trying to love". This last word is shouted and gradually fades away as if Jimmy has jumped off a building. This is followed by a police siren and the cheers of a football crowd. I always thought that last word was "cope" not "love". I stand corrected again.

According to Townshend this song is supposed to represent Jimmy's rejection of his current reality. He breaks up with his girlfriend, accidentally destroys a his scooter and makes the decision to hop on the train to Brighton to recapture the glory he had with his friends fighting rockers on the holiday weekend we hear about on the radio at the end of "Cut My Hair".

Side Three

1) 5:15: The second half of the album all takes place on Jimmy's ill-fated return trip to Brighton. "5:15" details pilled up Jimmy's train ride from London to Brighton. This is one of the more well known songs from the album and one of the most direct and rocking. Song is punctuated with multiple brass overdubs from Entwhistle.

"Inside, outside, leave me alone
Inside, outside, nowhere is home
Inside, outside, where have I been?
Out of my brain on the 5:15"

Fairly explanatory.

2) Sea and Sand: Jimmy returns to the beach at Brighton and tries to relive the most recent past. Only now he is alone and those glory days seem and eternity away.This is another great exposition song and an overlooked gem.

" They finally threw me out, my mom got drunk on stout
My dad couldn't stand on two feet, as he lectured about morality"

Jimmy fantasizes about being with his girlfriend just a few weeks earlier. Now everything has changed and he is on his own.

"I'm wet and I'm cold, but thank god I ain't old"

"Nothing is planned by the sea and the sand"

The High Numbers (early Who) song "I'm the Face" is quoted on the fade out.

3) Drowned: Townshend refers to this as being a stand alone track, very spiritual in nature. The ocean is a metaphor for God and all of us are just drops in his ocean. Pretty heavy,Pete.

I must take time out to mention the spectacular piano playing on this track and throughout the album by Chris Stainton, ex-member of Joe Cocker's Grease Band. I always thought it was Pete playing or maybe that session mainstay Nicky Hopkins, but it is Stainton who handles the tricky keys work here.

This song is Jimmy desiring a spiritual release or redemption via the ocean, which may also be interpreted as a highly romanticized death wish.

It is a spectacular number that just bursts with joy and instrumental improvisation.

4) Bell Boy: Jimmy sees Ace Face, his mod leader hero from the mods/rockers battle and it turns out he a bell hop at the same seaside hotel that the mods wrecked. Far from being the enviable and liberated star of the mod scene, this guy has a menial job where he rather meekly says "I wander in early to work, spend my days licking boots for my perks."

This wonderfully conveys how one can idealize people we hardly know and then one day we discover they are far from the exalted heroes we imagined. Another of Jimmy's illusions is smashed.

Side Four

1) Dr. Jimmy: Begins with storm noises, including thunder and lightning.

Pete Townshend says: " Dr. Jimmy was meant to be a song which somehow gets across the explosive, abandoned wildness side of his character. Like a bull run amok in a china shop. He's damaging himself so badly that he can get to the point where he is so desperate that he'll take a closer look at himself.

One can infer from this song that Jimmy gets extremely drunk and his thoughts and judgement run wild and completely out of control. " Doctor Jimmy and Mister Jim" is the Jekyll and Hyde that drunks can become.

The "Is It Me" theme is repeated in this song. Jimmy is still trying to figure out who he is, questioning if this "Dr. Jimmy" persona really is him.

2) The Rock: Supposedly meant to convey Jimmy stealing a boat and riding it out to sea only to stop off at a huge rock in the ocean and then have the boat drift away, stranding him.

It is another complex instrumental piece which again introduces the four main themes.

The rock is a very obvious metaphor for Jimmy's emotional isolation and alienation from the rest of the world.

3) Love Reign O'er Me: Thematically similar to "Drowned" in its use of water as a metaphor representing God or at least some spiritual infiniteness that the protagonist is seeking or desiring to "get back to" or surrender to.

Epic power ballad with Roger Daltrey at the top of his game--shouting, bellowing his desire, no, his insistence, that love (spiritual, God's love) wash down upon him and envelop him. Song ends with the simultaneous sounds of both waves crashing and instruments, particularly Moon's drums, crashing down and bringing this 82 minute drama to an appropriate climax.

So concludes this mammoth record. Hearing it for the first time in a few years I am immediately transported into that world of Jimmy's. It is a small story really, told on an epic scale. How appropriate that the story of a troubled teen would be given such a large canvass. Teens have a heightend sense of drama about their own lives and feelings. They have a level of self-involvement that can magnify things to the level of the operatic. It is also so brilliantly executed at every level. It certainly is the the ultimate teen angst tale. I have not been a teen in a long time, but the album still resonates with me in many ways. The story is no longer relevant to me, but the emotional core of songs like "Drowned" still do. And by the way, it rocks like hell. It is an album that I am sure will continue to be discovered by new generations of teens due to the fact the feelings and scenarios are universal and eternal.


Pete Townshend states that it is The Who's "towering achievement". I certainly wouldn't disagree. Is is still my all-time favorite album? Well, it is of epic length, a cohesive piece and just about every song is brilliant. It is truly an album, in that it is designed to be listened to from start-to-finish in one sitting and the songs all go together in the order they have been sequenced and could not be altered. They say that the album as an art form in dying, that we are now in the ala carte era of downloadable tracks. "Quadrophenia" is a testament to the power of the album. For that and for the fact I can't think of any other record that has come close to surpassing it in my own personal experiences, it still remains number one.

Anvil: The Story of Anvil Review

You might have heard of this new documentary called "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" and thought that a film about an obscure metal band from the 80's would be of zero interest to you. I thought the same way, but let me tell you, it would be a mistake to let this film pass you by. It is one of the finest rock documentaries that you will ever see. After being a big hit on the film festival circuit last year, this movie has already set a box office record as the highest grossing rock doc of all time in the UK. The hard luck tale of the two founders and leaders of the group, Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb Reiner is a surprisingly powerful and emotional ride that you don't want to miss.

Anvil is a metal band from Toronto, Canada, formed in 1978, who made some waves in the early 80's as a band that were among the earliest progenitors of speed and thrash metal. They are considered a group who laid the ground work for the thrash movement and were an influence on bands like Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. At the outset of the movie, members of all three bands testify to the band's significance. Robb Reiner's jazz-trained drum style in particular is singled out for its excellence. The band's first three albums on a small Canadian label called Attic are considered significant artifacts of the era, a time when thrash style metal was in its early days and was just as underground and indie as punk. Their output had a small following ,they did play on the same bill as metal titans such as Iron Maiden and Motorhead, and footage at the beginning of the film shows them playing a metal festival in Japan on the same bill as Bon Jovi and Whitesnake.Lips was a distinctive front man whose big gimic was to play his guitar with a vibrator. He was also the lyricist behind such Anvil gems as, "Metal on Metal", "Show Me Your Tits", "Mattress Mambo"and "Five Knuckle Shuffle". However, by the late 80's they had been left in the dust by the bands who were influenced by them, missing out on the fame and fortune that those bands achieved as this kind of music went mainstream.

And that, really should have been that. But the band refused to pack it in and just soldiered on year after year and album after album to nothing more than a small cult of followers. Director Sacha Gervasi, who once roadied for the band in the 80's and who has gone on to become a successful screenwriter, picks up their story in 2006 as Lips and Robb are now in their early 50s, married, and working menial 9 to 5 jobs in construction and school lunch delivery. Yet they still have a version of Anvil that they perform with in whatever sports bar or small club will have them and have long-time fans with names like Cut Loose who like to drink beer through their nostril. Despite their current status, Lips and Robb still cling to the dream that they are going to make it and become rock stars.

The heart of the film is the symbiotic relationship between Lips and Robb, two guys who have been playing music together since junior high school, in all over 30 years together in bands. Lips is outgoing, frenetic and emotional, while Robb is stoic and level-headed. While they are far from dumb guys, they are regular Joe kind of guys who, because they are still in a rock and roll band, live in that state of mind where at least part of them is forever a teenager. You immediately get the sense that the pursuit of the dream is the only thing that brings any sense, meaning or joy to their lives.

This film is being promoted as sort of a real life "This is Spinal Tap", the 1984 comedy directed by Rob Reiner about a buffoonish English metal band who go on a disastrous US tour. This is certainly a valid comparison as the similarities between Anvil and the fictitious Spinal Tap are numerous and uncanny. Such as:

They embark on a disastrous, shoe-string budget European tour, organised incompetently by the girlfriend of one of the other band members. The bookings are bad, the travel plans are screwed up and they find out they are not even scheduled to perform at some shows and at others the promoter refuses to pay. They play many shows in Eastern Europe, including something called the Transylvanian Metal Festival where a 10,000 seat hockey arena is booked and only 175 people show up.

They meet up with former contemporaries from the 80's ( like Michael Shenker and members of Whitesnake) at a Swedish Metal Festival who don't seem to remember them.

The ridiculous and ridiculously literal album cover art, every one featuring an anvil.

Stupid, sexist songs like "Hair Pie" and "Tease Me, Please Me".

They visit Stonehenge!

The falling out and eventual reconciliation between Lips and Robb.

They are offered a gig in Japan and make a triumphant return there.


While all of this is great fun, a strange shift happens about half the way through the movie--aided by the back story about their upbringing-- in that you begin to really care for these guys and hope that they can perhaps make it. After the ill-fated tour, the action shifts to the guys wanting to record their 13th album, to be entitled most brilliantly "This is Thirteen". They are currently without a label deal, yet they have secured the interest of one of their old 80's record producers, the famous metal producer Chris Tsangarides. The band then must try and raise the money it will cost to record the album with Tsangarides in England. After failed attempts at earning money with second jobs, Lips older sister fronts the money for the album to be recorded.

Not only has the world seemingly passed the band by, but the world they are trying to be a part of is almost a thing of the past. In their mind they are going to be signed by a major label, get some radio play, have a video on 'Headbanger's Ball' and the kids will rush to the record store and buy their album. Does anything sound wrong here? Anything just slightly outdated? These days it is all about DIY and the internet.

They even naively believe that a record company A&R man might come to one of their European shows and sign them. Once you see the sh*tholes they are playing in places like Croatia, you will understand how foolish a notion that is. However, even this band begins to "get it" that they won't be signed because they are old and seen as has-beens and it might make more sense to self -release their album and sell directly to fans, cutting out the record label middle man.

Ultimately you admire their sheer pluck and determination in the face of a world,that for the most part, is indifferent. This film really shows what drives people to create--even if we may find that expression not to our taste--and to doggedly pursue a dream despite the seemingly insurmountable odds. My only quibbles with the film is that it really tries hard to pluck the sentimental heartstrings towards the end, though it sure is effective at it. I also question if the finale in Japan in 100% legit, but I wasn't there so I guess I just have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

At the end of the film I didn't find myself liking Anvil's music any better than I did at the start of the film, in fact, I pretty much hate it. However, I definitely love these slightly dopey guys and I am inspired by their story of perseverance. I am sure anyone who sees it will come out of the theater feeling the same way.

Star For George

This blog posting was written about April 14, 2009 in Los Angeles, CA.

Today I am standing at 1750 Vine Street, site of the Capitol Records building. This, the world's first circular office building, was completed in 1956. It stands thirteen stories high and many believe the myth that it was designed to look like a stack of records. Atop the building is a spire and at the tip of the spire is a little light that at night blinks out the words "Hollywood" in morse code.

The reason I am here today is for the George Harrison Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. Beatle George is receiving a star today from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. The Hollywood Walk of Fame was established in 1958 as a way to spruce up the image of this main drag of Hollywood. The two thousand plus stars are located on Hollywood Boulevard from Gower Avenue to La Brea Avenue and north to south on Vine Street between Yucca Street and Sunset Boulevard. The first star was awarded to Joanne Woodward (actress and wife of the late Paul Newman) in 1960 you trivia buffs out there.

In order to receive a star, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's Walk of Fame committee is usually solicited by a sponsor (movie studio or record label) but sometimes by the star themselves. If the committee approves the celebrity,then $25,000 must be paid and there is usually a proviso that the celebrity, if living, must show up to attend the ceremony. Well, no chance of that happening today, but Capitol Records (the sponsor for George) no doubt promises to wheel out a cavalcade of celebs and near-celebs to honor the quiet Beatle.

A crowd somewhere near a thousand people have gathered in the area just outside the barricades set up at the edge of the sidewalk and another set about half way into the Vine Street. I would describe this mass of humanity to be comprised of many Beatle fanatics, some might say nerds. Yes, Beatle nerds. Beatle nerds belong to a special sub-category of music nerds. Nerd-dom can take on so many forms: Comedy nerds, movie nerds, Star Wars nerds, Dungeon and Dragons nerds, (video) Gamer nerds, Monty Python nerds (often in tandem with Beatle nerds I find--perhaps they belong to the larger school of Anglophile nerds), and science nerds are the ones I can think of right off the bat.

Nerdiness is a form of obsession adopted by people in their formative years as a way with coping with the world. What better way to combat your social awkwardness than to obsess over something and at the same time find like-minded individuals to bond with over said obsession. Nothing wrong with being nerdy: it demonstrates you are really serious about something and often it shows you can really devote yourself to the pursuit of that something and master it. Some nerdy pursuits can really get you ahead in life. For instance, computer nerds now run the world. Beatle nerds, on the other hand, show up outside an office building at 10 am on a Tuesday. To be fair, I'm sure some of them have jobs.

My Beatle nerd-dom began in 1979 when my mother purchased the Beatle compilation albums "63-66" and "67-70" (aka the Red and Blue albums) on cassette and indoctrinated me to the world of the Beatles' music. To say my life has never been the same would be an understatement. Prior to this, I had dabbled in music, mostly the John Denver,Waylon Jennings and Simon and Garfunkel albums my dad would play on car trips and soundtracks such as "Saturday Night Fever", "Grease" and, god help me, "Thank God It's Friday". I also joined a record club (RCA Record Club - 8 albums for a penny) back in 78' maybe, but was mostly indifferent to the motley assortment of albums I selected. Not sure what my methodology was, but I do remember receiving Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive", Bob Seger's "Night Moves", Steve Miller Band's "Greatest Hits 74-78" and maybe a James Taylor record. Of course I never sent back the monthly form to reject that month's selection, so our house was inundated with such gems as Fogat's "Rock and Roll" (cover sported a picture of a small stone and a dinner roll) until my mother called the RCA Record Club and pitched a fit about how young I was and they agreed to cancel my membership.

The Beatles was a whole other story. I was initially captivated by the music, but it became a full-time obsession soon after the death of John Lennon. I heard about Lennon's murder like many American males did--from Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football. I ran to tell my mother,who I was staying with on that particular evening, this during the early stages of my parent's separation. She shrieked "What !!" and was no doubt more stunned by the news than I was. My mother, though by no means a Beatle fanatic, had actually seen the group live in Stockholm in 1963 during their Scandinavian tour, several months before they even came to American for the first time in February 1964.

Soon after my whole world was Beatles. I bought all the albums. I bought most of the solo records up to that point. I bought books and old Life magazine covers. I started buying picture sleeve singles and bootlegs. I became a regular customer at the hole-in-the-wall used record store downtown (what was the name of that place, Morgan?) that traded in such contraband. I went to these shoe string budget Beatle "Film Festivals" at places like the Davis Veteran's Memorial so I could see old grainy clips of Beatle press conferences, Ed Sullivan and other television appearances, promo films such as "Hello, Goodbye" and "Strawberry Fields" and maybe that amateur filmmaker disaster, "Magical Mystery Tour". I went to a midnight screening of "Let It Be" at the Varsity Theater in downtown Davis and even persuaded someone to drive me to a showing of "Wings Over America" at the dome shaped (where I saw "Star Wars" in 77') Century Theaters in Sacramento. I think I was bored to tears by those last two films, but such was my mania for all things Beatle that I could not pass them up.

At one point I was even looking into attending a Beatles convention in Los Angeles. If you are attending a convention of any fan-worshipping kind, you have most certainly graduated into another realm of nerd-dom.This period of insanity lasted from approximately 1980 until some time in 1982 when I began to discover other music and my obsession was redirected and soon mutated into so many other directions that I soon lost count. I think my buddy Morgan's obsession with the Who soon sent me down that road and into all things mod-related, though I never did adopt a mod fashion identity.

So, this must be why I am standing out here on this overcast Los Angeles morning waiting for the dignitaries to show up for this questionable dedication to a music great. A public address system has been set up and George Harrison solo music plays from the speakers placed atop stands. As the song 'All Things Must Pass' plays from the speakers, it is not lost on many folks in the audience that the producer of this song (Phil Spector) sits in a Los Angeles jail cell waiting to be sentenced for second degree murder. And wouldn't you it, as the "Concert For Bangladesh" version of 'Here Comes The Sun' plays, the sun begins to peak through the clouds and shower us in sunshine. I would claim divine intervention, but perhaps it is just a well-timed case of typical Los Angeles marine layer being burned off by the sun as we approach noon.

There are two platforms set up outside of Capitol Records. One is for the assembled press, who take their places as the 11:30 start time approaches. The other is situated a few feet in front of them--a dais with a podium for today's speakers. And at the appointed hour the VIPs file out of the front doors of Capitol Records, I'm thinking by order of importance. We are all straining our necks to see who has come and I immediately start recognizing and checking off in my head who is there. Tom Petty ( major rock star and a Travelling Wilbury), Mike Campbell (a member of Petty's band), Jeff Lynne ( ELO leader,produced George's "Cloud Nine" and also a Travelling Wilbury, Jim Keltner (drumming god who has played with everybody, including George), T-Bone Burnett (producer and solo artist extraordinaire), David Foster (big-time producer and writer of mostly MOR music), Joe Walsh (James Gang, The Eagles, solo artist), Ray Cooper (session percussionist who played on many George albums), Gary Wright (Spooky Tooth and solo artist-'Dream Weaver'-who played on some George albums), Ed Begley Jr. (???--actor and environmental activist), Tom Hanks (???--2 time Academy Award winning actor), Eric Idle (founding member of Monthy Python, actor/comedian) and Olivia (the wife) and Dhani ( the son, musician in his own right, and spitting image of his father) Harrison. What? No Beatles are here? Then Sir Paul McCartney is the last to emerge from the foyer of Capitol Records and the assembled Beatle fans really lose their sht*t.

What follows is a twenty-odd minute ceremony that sees a member of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce read, verbatim, the press release bio of George's life that was posted on his web site. Then we get another member of the Hollywood CoC who gives a speech where he repeatedly says that George is "with the angels now" and then, bizarrely, presents George's wife, Olivia, with some b.s. certificate from the city and a loaf of bread he says was the last loaf baked by a group of locals nuns whose ovens have broken down and they are now trying to raise money for. He also introduces representatives of the British and Bangladeshi embassies and his whole appearance basically makes for the one truly awkward moment of the day.

Next up is Tom Hanks, top notch actor and seemingly good guy, but why on earth is he up here stumping for George? Perhaps he was a close friend of his, I don't know. Hanks gives a brief, blustery, over-the-top kind of speech that sounds like he was making it up on the spot. Perhaps he was. His speech is very specific to the impact the Beatles had on America and how trans-formative they were to popular culture. He then gestures to the Capitol building and says "They built this!"--not quite, but he meant well.He signs off with "All things must pass, this this true, but George Harrison will live forever".

Eric Idle is next.He was a close friend of George (George was a Python nut and went on to almost single-handedly finance "Life of Brian" and then through his Hand Made Films production company, finance several other Python-related films) and he proceeds to give a comic speech that is by turns ribald, funny, not funny,crass and inappropriate.One thinks that George would have probably approved. Idle pondered what George would have thought of a star on the Walk of Fame and then says George would have said "What a load of old bollocks". No doubt this is true. Idle then solemnly recounts how Paul McCartney was there for George in his final days when he was ailing from the throat cancer that killed him on November 29, 2001 in Los Angeles at the age of 58. Idle stated the often rumored fact that Harrison died in (one of ) Paul McCartney's homes. This turns out to set up a joke: "George died in Paul's house, which is why I won't go stay with John Cleese"--they both live in the L.A. area.

Olivia Harrison, who was a secretary at A&M Records when George met her in the mid 70's, then gave a brief speech thanking all those who came out and those who spoke and saying of George, "...he was a mystical man living in a material world, funny as the day was long and just as perplexing." His son, Dhani, followed by just saying "Hare Krishna" and then it was on to unveiling the star. A wood panel was lifted to reveal the freshly-minted new star and Olivia, Dhani, Idle, Hanks and McCartney posed for a photo. Tom Petty and a few others also came down for a photo op and that was pretty much that. McCartney, who was bombarded with cries of "Paul ! Paul !" (one can only wonder what a life of hearing that for 46 years can do to a person) tried to mount the podium and say thanks, but it had already been shut off. He mouthed the words, placed his hands over his heart and then was gone.

Alas, no sign of Ringo.

Deep Hit of Morning Sun:Primal Scream @ Club Nokia

Tonight's show is by two leading exponents of what you might call modern psychedelia, psych-punk or late 60's rock revivalism.Call it what you will, but Primal Scream and The Brian Jonestown Massacre are both now long tenured acts that have carved out a notable career by borrowing heavily from rock's past and trying to give it a modern spin.

This evening's venue is the rather sterile and way-too-modern, theater-sized, Club Nokia, situated in the new-ish L.A. Live complex in downtown Los Angeles, adjacent to the Staples Center. The 2,400 capacity club is on the third floor of this entertainment behemoth. As I cross the Nokia plaza with it's giant digital display of "Nokia" taking up one side of a building, I see Anderson Cooper bathed in intense white lights and surrounded by a film crew and bystanders. That's L.A. for ya.

This venue has all the charm of a hotel convention hall. That and the fact that the prices for everything are sky-high ($20 to park, $10 beers, $9 for a pre-made sandwich or salad) do not put me in a great mood for a night of wild rock and roll. The sound and lighting are top-notch, and the back bar looks like it has the same art direction as a Stanley Kubrick film, but this place feels cold and empty. Welcome to the 21st century, I guess.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre are up first. This band has been led by the mercurial Anton Newcombe since 1990. They specialize in a sort of droning, psychedelic guitar music that draws on such influences as The Velvet Underground, Rolling Stones circa 1967, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Spacemen 3 and a touch of shoe-gazer acts like Ride.

BJM are probably best known for the 2005 documentary, "Dig"--a must-see rock-doc about two friendly and similar bands (BJM and The Dandy Warhols) who get caught up in classic music industry hype. We witness how this affects their relationship and how they go about dealing with it. It is a fascinating study of how the two band leaders (Newcombe and Courtney Taylor-Taylor) cope with the prospect of imminent fame and success. Both are portrayed as being maniacal control freaks, but while Taylor-Taylor is seen as an ambitious opportunist, Newcombe comes off as someone who shys away from the attention and seems hell bent on self-destruction and self-sabotage. They both to battle to a draw in who can come off as being the more self-involved jerk. Nevertheless, it is an essential document of how art and commerce often exist uncomfortably together, as well as the corrupting effects of money, media and fame on smart and creative individuals.

This evenings opening slot sees Anton Newcombe and his seven cohorts plow through a 45 minute set that covers a wide range of material from throughout their career. Suprising to see erstwhile members Matt Hollywood (guitar and vocals) and Joel Gion (tambourine shaker extraordinaire, comic relief and used buyer at Amoeba in SF) back in this ever-shifting line-up after having been out of the band the last time I checked. Newcombe is situated stage right all the way at the end, with his mic and body turned sideways facing the band. Either he suffers from some stage fright or else he wants to keep a close eye on his charges. He is looking pretty haggard, but then that is usually par for the course with him and it doesn't seem to affect his performance at all.

Their reverb-heavy, druggy and hypnotic sound is mesmerizing, however it is performed with such cool detachment and at times lacks really memorable tunes, that often you feel that it is a bit of a studied pose. Hard to believe these guys were once being hyped as a potential big mainstream cross-over act. They would seem most at home in some small, low-down club and appear out of place in this sterile and cavernous corporate venue.

Primal Scream, meanwhile, are perhaps too big for this hall. They are practically an institution in the UK and have been filling arenas and playing huge European festivals for close to 20 years now. They were formed in 1984 in Glasgow, Scotland by former Jesus and Mary Chain drummer Bobby Gillespie (lead vocals), Andrew Innes (lead guitar) and Martin Duffy (keyboards) who remain the core of the group,but are now supplemented with former Stones Roses member Mani (bass), Darren Mooney (drums) and a second touring guitarist.

The Scream have had a long and distinguished career that has seen many changes in their sound. This has led to criticism in some quarters that they are musical magpies--hopping on whatever musical bandwagon is trendy and then hopping off and onto the next passing trend. Perhaps this notion has been overstated, but it is true that their career has seen time for 60's psych-revivalism in a Byrds and Love mode (not too successfully I might add), MC5 style hard rock (again, kinda of iffy), indie rock/dance ( on the landmark "Screamadelica" album that brought Acid House and rock music to the masses, at least everywhere but the U.S.), early 70's Rolling Stones clones (a sound they embraced wholly on "Screamadelica's" follow-up "Give Out But Don't Give Up" and have been returning to as sort of a default setting, especially 06's "Riot City Blues" ), electronica (1997's "Vanishing Point"), and noisy Krautrock (2000's brilliant "XTRMNTR" and 02's "Evil Heat"). This schizophrenic approach to their music has made them a most eclectic band who now can draw upon all these influences and put on one hell of a rock show. I have never seen them before and they don't play the U.S. too often (last time being in 2001 I believe), so I was very primed for this show.

So it was that they took to the stage at Club Nokia and proceeded to just about take the audiences heads off with the volume and propulsive attack of their music, aided and abetted by a truly disorienting light show filled with relentless flashing strobes and a laser beam that I haven't seen since The Who's "The Kids Are Alright" film. The first five songs, beginning with 'Kill All Hippies' and concluding with 'Jailbird' was about as breathtaking an opening salvo as I've seen from any band ever. Andrew Innes' Gibson Les Paul played through a Marshall stack amplifier was absolutely lethal.

They then slowed things down to take on some of their more trippy, psychedelic songs, where the two guitarists made ample use of their effects pedals and keyboardist Duffy provided spooky textures and strange loops. The high point of this middle section was 'Higher Than The Sun' from "Screamadelica" and 'Deep Hit of Morning Sun' . Lead singer Gillespie is a stick figure with a Phil May circa 1965 haircut. He is not the most powerful vocalist out there, but he gets the job done and is a charismatic front man.

They then shifted back to an uptempo mode and ripped through seven high octane rockers that began with 'Exterminator' and finished off with their heavy Stones-referencing, 'Movin On Up' and 'Rocks'. A four song encore followed, highlighted by Stonesy-stomp of 'Country Girl' and capped off with the mind-bending (and ear-splitting) tour-de-force that is 'Accelerator' a feedback spattered bit of noise rock that is a fitting farewell from this band.

I am stunned by how good this show was and how powerful this band is. I am completely worn out! They have spent 25 years of developing into a first rate rock band with enough stylistic detours to keep it interesting and a somewhat dark and mysterious image that serves them well too. I'm hoping that they will be back sooner next time and when I see them I plan to bring ear plugs and sunglasses.