Peter Gabriel and The Soft Pack

Two current releases that I am really into.



1) Peter Gabriel :"Scratch My Back" is Gabriel's covers record. It has twelve tracks performed without drums or guitars, but plenty of piano and orchestra. Really lovely interpretations of older tracks/artists like Paul Simon ("Boy In The Bubble"), the Talking Heads ("Listening Wind") and Randy Newman ("I Think Its Going To Rain Today"), as well as Gabriel tackling such younger/newer tracks and artists as Bon Iver ("Flume"), Elbow ("Mirrorball") and Arcade Fire ("My Body Is A Cage").



Mood is very somber, though " The Book Of Love" (Magnetic Fields song) and "Power Of The Heart" (Lou Reed song I was unfamiliar with) provide some uplift and are both very powerful. This is not what I would call a sunny day record. The tone is very hushed throughout, the vocals at times so conversational that it seems like Pete is not having to exert himself too hard to actually sing. On the whole, it is a subtle and restrained work that I am really digging and I highly recommend it.



2) The Soft Pack: The self-titled album by this San Diego band formerly known as the Muslims is a real grab bag of influences from 60's garage rock, 70's punk and 80's alternative. I suppose one might rate them as a Strokes-ish type band, but I have to say that this debut is short and too the point with no excess filler. All the songs are catchy as hell and it is rare for me to come away from listening to an indie rock release where I can say that the whole thing was good to great.



This band has been buzzed about since late 2008. Last year I read about them in the LA Weekly as the "Pick of the Week" for their show at the Echo (in Echo Park). I went to check them out, though for such a supposedly buzzed about band they attracted maybe 50 people. It was a Wednesday, but still, out of population of 12.9 in the LA Metro area it is kind of surprising. This would hardly be the first time I experienced this in LA. If you were not the hipster band of the moment, often bands could look forward to the kind of apathy and low attendance that I have experienced so many times in Sacramento. The band was good, especially the rhythm section--really tight. Not the most dynamic performers in the world, but then again the audience was small and not too fired up.







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nZGv8VTBVE This is a fan video for Peter Gabriel's "The Book Of Love". As soon as I heard it I thought there must be a music supervisor scrambling to get this included in a TV show. Turns out I was right: I read that it was included in the final episode of "Scrubs", not a show I have ever watched or was too keen on.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgU2NhcoqWg This is video for The Soft Pack's "C'Mon".

Bomp #20-- January 79'--Penultimate Issue

These five photos are taken from the January 1979 issue Bomp! magazine. I found a copy in a local Davis comic book and hobby store the other day. It is a document of what was an exciting time in popular music.



Published by Greg Shaw, Bomp! specialized in punk, power-pop, new wave and 60's garage and Brit Invasion influenced guitar rock. There was also a record label called Bomp! that released similar fare. It documents an time in which the 45, at least for this type of music, became king again and three minute manic pop thrills of guitar, melody and energy came to stimulate a soporific music scene dominated by the Bostons, Eagles and Yeses of the day. You of course know all this.



Publication of Bomp! began in 1970 and ran until Bomp! number 21 in 1979. That make this the second to last issue they ever published. That's a shame as it looks pretty jam-packed with cool stuff to me, including a very detailed discograghy of British Beat groups. This issue covers the letter F (Tony Fabian) to Fi (First Gear); it's a shame they were not able to complete it.



#1: Nick Lowe adorns the cover and the headline reads, "Nick Lowe Insults Everybody. An Outrageous Interview". The article doesn't quite live up to that hype, but Nick is definitely opinionated. These were booze and what have you days for him.



He does say that his favorite bands as a teen were the Small Faces and the Move. He also liked the Creation and the Who. He says "I used to go see the Small Faces in the mod era, and I had a scooter and spikey haircut and the kids used to go and dress up in the new clothes. That's the thing with the New Wave, that's part of the fun of it, the clothes."



Another quote: "Oh, Jimmy Page, wanker. He hasn't played a good solo for f-ing years. He's just a wanker"



On the Damned: "When I first met the Damned, I hated their group. I thought they were terrible but it was the fact that other musicians I knew hated them as well. They just didn't think they were a shitty group, they hated them. I thought, well, any group that can stir that emotion up in people must have something going for them so I started going around with them and going to see a few gigs and I changed my mind about them."



Praise for Cheap Trick: "Cheap Trick are the best group I've seen in years. They're great because they've got a sense of humor. There's so many people who take themselves seriously. Cheap Trick are tight. They got it all covered. They've got two pretty boys and two bozos. It works perfectly...I'd really like to work with them."



#2: The Human Being Record Chart-- a chart compiled from fan votes. The Ramones are all over the singles chart. Many punk and new wave gems mixed in with Cheap Trick, the Cars and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Nice to see the Jam on there at #34. I have most of these gems, though I don't know the Pleasers and the Zones, both Arista acts. Nick Gilder's "Hot Child In The City" looks out of place here.That album chart is loaded with classics.



Such a great time for music back then. This is from a period that I wouldn't discover for another 3 to 5 years. Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, the Clash, the Jam and Nick Lowe came first, around 1982 or 83'. I see no Joe Jackson on this chart: his first two albums were popular, accessible and favorites of mine.They were all among the more commercially successful of the "New Wave" and college student staples of the time, Davis being no exception. The Buzzcocks, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and some of the more abrasive stuff was more 1984 and 85' for me. The Cars, Cheap Trick and Tom Petty would actually get played on true commercial rock stations. They kind of had their feet in different camps. I was always aware of them, knew the radio hits and liked them I suppose; I wouldn't truly appreciate them until years later.



#3,4,5: Full page adds from the era. The add proclaiming "Take No Prisoners" the best live album of 1978 seems very funny now. That album was notorious for Lou telling bad jokes and harassing rock critic Robert Christgau, who was in the audience.



Anyway, thought you might dig it.

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.