"You'll puke watching Dave Grohl talk his way through nostalgia, who made this guy the keeper of the flame? If Kurt Cobain were still alive today he'd want nothing to do with him."
Amen. I used to love seeing anything Dave was in. The funny youtube videos, short interviews where he talked passionately about the music of yester-year.
And then he showed up on more TV shows. More youtube videos. More Dave Grohl.
ENOUGH. I'm tired of all this Dave-Grohl business. I"m all stocked up.
Dave & co. have a new album out? I wouldn't know.
All I hear and see, is, "Dave talks about what happened to Rock", or "Dave Gives his two cents on Justin Beiber" or "Dave yells at some teens to go pick up some guitars off his lawn".
Do you realize how many times a day that I have to see Dave Grohl memes on facebook, posted by musician hacks & has-beens, who do nothing but bitch about the present music industry?
Dave's an enabler now. He enables & waves the flag for the has-beens.
If Dave Grohl wants teens to listen to what he has to say.... he should pay someone with a hit record to say it. Cause kids ain't buying his records.
Love the legacy work, Mr. Grohl. Now stop talking and do some walking.
Bill Seipel
__________________________________________
Bob
Give it a rest.
Kurt Cobain, if he were alive, wouldn't want anything to do with Dave Grohl? Who fucking cares? Last time I checked, Kurt Cobain didn't want anything to do with Kurt Cobain.
Grohl and Cobain played together for what....three years? Four?
Surely by now whether you like/respect Foo Fighters or not, you can judge Grohl on his own merits.
For a guy who laments the days when music mattered as much as you do, ("but all we cared about was music") I would've imagined you seeing Grohl as a kindred spirit.
Dig what he does or not, that guy testifies and speaks to the power of rock music on a daily basis.
Steve Gorman
__________________________________________
haha that is the truest shit i've ever heard someone say about dave or kurt
Stephen Feigenbaum
__________________________________________
"You'll puke watching Dave Grohl talk his way through nostalgia, who made this guy the keeper of the flame? If Kurt Cobain were still alive today he'd want nothing to do with him."
Completely agree- I've been wondering this for a while. Thanks for putting it to words in print. Well said.
Bob Kalill
__________________________________________
"You'll puke watching Dave Grohl talk his way through nostalgia, who made this guy the keeper of the flame? If Kurt Cobain were still alive today he'd want nothing to do with him."
Well said, Bob! I've been wondering about this guy for years!
McNamara in Toronto
__________________________________________
So glad someone else pukes at the sight of Grohl.
One great song. Over. Especially the personality that stopped growing at 10.
Alex
__________________________________________
Bob... I love your blog, but why are you always hating on Dave Grohl? Is this some kind of personality thing? So he's not the drummer of Nirvana anymore. He's grown up. He's positive. A better musician. He's become a good songwriter (subjective opinion, I know) who knows how to produce his band, wins Grammys (the horror), rock his fans and is very successful. He's not a kid anymore trying to perpetuate the grunge image. He's enthusiastic about the people and things that he loves. You may not like the Foo Fighters, but most rock fans do. I'd love to hang with Dave Grohl. He seems like a great guy. Believe it or not, I'd probably enjoy hanging with you too. We agree on a lot, your usually pretty informative and I'd bet we'd have a great discussion on a lot of subjects. But some days you seem to wake up with a stick up your ass. It doesn't make you hip, clever or insightful. That just makes you a drag…
Charlie Imes
__________________________________________
What you say about Dave Grohl could not be more true. Who made him the "king of rock"? There is no documentary I watch nowadays without Dave's input.
Francia Buitrago
__________________________________________
about time someone finally said it...You'll puke watching Dave Grohl talk his way through nostalgia, who made this guy the keeper of the flame?
Bob G.
__________________________________________
Hi Bob,
I just want to thank you for calling out Dave Grohl. Someone had to say it! He survives by inhaling the fumes emitted by the rotting golden age of rock.
-Scott Korchinski
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Friday 23 October 2015
Rhinofy-Jackson Browne Playlist
DOCTOR MY EYES
The first time you probably heard him.
But I discovered him at the Fillmore East, opening for Laura Nyro in December 1970, during her annual Christmas spectacular, they were both managed by David Geffen, ergo Jackson's appearance. Very few people impress you the first time out, especially if you're completely unfamiliar with their material, but I was enraptured by Jackson and waited with bated breath for his debut LP, which didn't come out until early '72.
"Doctor My Eyes" was not my favorite cut on the album, it was somehow too obvious, but hearing it a decade later waiting to check out at Fedco I realized the magic was in the piano part, and I now love it. It stands the test of time.
ROCK ME ON THE WATER
The first cut to enrapture me on the debut LP, it ended up with a big skip in the middle which I used to wait to hear on the CD, but it was gone.
There have been a number of covers, but no one sings it as well as Jackson.
SOMETHING FINE
My favorite song on the album. It opened side two and was quiet and meaningful and was the soundtrack to that bleak Vermont winter.
"Now you say 'Morocco' and that makes me smile
I haven't seen Morocco in a long, long while"
Never underestimate the ability of a song to paint a picture and take you away to a place you've never been before.
SONG FOR ADAM
Who was he? How did Jackson know him?
Death. It's something barely understood in your late teens, when I first heard this. But it wasn't long thereafter that my roommate's brother was killed in a car crash.
Some never get to fulfill their promise. While we waste time and spin our tales squandering our futures.
JAMAICA SAY YOU WILL
The opener. With that majestic piano part. Once again, there are many covers but Jackson owns it. You'll find yourself singing along with the chorus, you won't be able to help yourself.
UNDER THE FALLING SKY
Can I say I prefer Bonnie Raitt's take, on her definitive album "Give It Up"? (Actually, Bonnie equaled it twenty years later with "Luck Of The Draw," how many people return to the pinnacle...ALMOST NOBODY!)
A CHILD IN THESE HILLS
Everybody acts so grown up today. Am I the only one who still feels like a child?
TAKE IT EASY
Yes, Jackson cowrote it, many argue he was mostly responsible for the Eagles' breakthrough hit, he released his iteration in 1973, a year after theirs. It was quieter and less majestic, more intimate, and its greatness was in the way it segued into "Our Lady Of The Well" on the album.
I THOUGHT I WAS A CHILD
Once again, Bonnie Raitt did a killer cover, on her third album, "Takin My Time," but that LP is a bit slicker than "Give It Up," and "I Thought I Was A Child" suffers for it.
"It's such a clever innocence with which you do your sorcery"
Whew! Who writes this stuff? One Jackson Browne, the bard of the seventies, the king of the California sound. Hipsters knew him, he had a place in the firmament, but he was not ubiquitous, his true fame was years off, but his greatness was evidenced early. "For Everyman" was not quite as good as the initial LP, it moved the ball forward ever so slightly, but that does not mean it's not excellent, even better in retrospect, after decades of substandard albums by pretenders.
THESE DAYS
At this point Jackson was not famous for writing this, as he is today. "For Everyman" pre-dated Gregg Allman's solo LP by a smidge, but when the southern rock icon released "Laid Back" Jackson's fame grew. Funny, as time marches forward the wisdom and greatness of this song is being forgotten, we thought our music was forever... Well, it is for us!
READY OR NOT
"And the next thing I remember, she was all moved in
And I was buying her a washing machine"
The story of Jackson meeting and marrying his first wife, if this song doesn't make you want to move to SoCal and partake...you have no dreams.
THE LATE SHOW
My number one album of all time.
Go ahead and judge me, but there's more insight and wisdom in 1974's "Late For The Sky" than anything released in the twenty first century.
This is the closing song on side one of the LP, and it's full of couplets that deserve to be framed.
My favorite is:
"Now to see things clear it's hard enough I know
While you're waiting for reality to show
Without dreaming of the perfect love
And holding it so far above
That if you stumbled on to someone real you'd never know"
There it is. We're so busy looking in the distance that we don't see what's right in front of us.
"Maybe people only ask you how you're doing
'Cause that's easier than letting on how little they could care"
Whew! Ain't that the truth. If someone is truly listening, make them your friend, you're gonna need 'em, life is rough.
"Afraid that all these words might scare you away"
If you meet the right person you can't shut up, you want to share everything.
If you've got more questions than answers, if you feel damaged and alone, with no direction home, spin "The Late Show." No one ever talks about it, you never hear it on the radio, but it's my favorite song on the LP. Join the club.
LATE FOR THE SKY
"Now the words had all been spoken
And somehow the feeling still wasn't right
And still we continued on through the night"
You've said everything but you're still yearning to connect, to make your point, so you soldier on, even though it's way past midnight.
"Tracing our steps from the beginning
Until they vanished into the air
Trying to understand how our lives had let us there"
Breakups, they're hard. Today you ghost, just disconnect, maybe text your exit. But when you live together, when you're invested, it's so hard. We used to review everything that once was, reminiscing as we knew there was no future. You've come this far, but you can go no further.
"You never knew what I loved in you
I don't know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be"
As close as we are in relationships, we're still alone. We never really know what bonds others to us. What we think are our flaws are our attractions.
"Awake again I can't pretend
And I know I'm alone
And close to the end
Of the feeling we've known"
It's so scary. Part of you is dying to march forward, into the universe.
Another part of you just wants to stay put.
"How long have I been sleeping
How long have I been drifting alone through the night"
You could see the end coming, if you were looking.
And now you're here.
FOUNTAIN OF SORROW
As depressing as the opening cut might be, as heavy as "Late For The Sky" is, the piano bangs and then you're off and running, on the album's opus.
Listen for the truth.
I'll just quote one line, which I use on a regular basis:
"I'm just one or two years and a couple of changes behind you"
We're all going through this life at our own speed. And it's rare that we're on the exact same page. We've got so much to learn, and opportunities are lost when we can't connect because we're in different places.
FOR A DANCER
"Keep a fire burnin' in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be comin' down"
You learn this as you age, the best plans are ruined. Life is about the unexpected. Like death.
"I don't know what happens when people die
I can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try"
I said these words at my father's funeral, and I'm gonna say them at yours. He had terminal cancer, but his death was still a shock. The finality. They're gone.
"Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own"
So many never do this, they never grow up, they never make decisions for themselves, they still worry about what their parents and society have to say.
Don't.
WALKING SLOW
With Freebo on tuba. This tack is upbeat, the kind you sing to yourself when you're walking down the avenue feeling good and not exactly sure why.
THE PRETENDER
It's 1976, two years after "Late For The Sky," Jackson is reaching critical mass and Jon Landau produces an album if not quite as good as what came before results in much deeper cultural impact.
This was a staple on the radio, along with Hall & Oates's "Rich Girl" and eventually "Hotel California," it was a magical time, the fall of '76.
YOUR BRIGHT BABY BLUES
The best song on "The Pretender."
"Everybody's going somewhere
Riding just as fast as they can ride
I guess they've got a lot to do
Before they can rest assured
Their lives are justified"
As true today as it was back then. Everybody's fakin' it, trying to prove something to someone who is not them.
"I can't help feeling I'm just a day away from where I want to be"
My mantra.
Well, it used to be. When I believed in the power of the individual, when I thought I could make it on sheer will.
I haven't, but I've still got this record.
"Baby if you need me
Like I know I need you
There's just one thing
I'll ask you to do
Take my hand and lead me
To the hole in your garden wall
And pull me through"
Please.
HERE COME THOSE TEARS AGAIN
"Here come those tears again
Just when I was getting over you"
Oh, your twenties. When so many relationships end in dead ends.
You can't live with 'em, and you can't live without 'em.
This song is a tear, with backup vocals by Bonnie Raitt, it will empower you to hang on.
RUNNING ON EMPTY
Made Jackson Browne a star.
Only a year later, much sooner than ever before, Jackson released this 1977 album cut on the road and ended up a giant. This was the opening track, and if not quite as famous is as much a part of the culture as the Eagles' "Life In The Fast Lane," you should know that your baby boomer predecessors uttered these words all the time...
They were RUNNING ON EMPTY!
THE ROAD
Written by one Danny O'Keefe, it feels like being on the road. Check it out.
THE LOAD OUT/STAY
The first of its kind, where many people first learned about life on the road, this epic production was an FM staple.
DISCO APOCALYPSE
Now it's two and a half years later. The eighties have begun, disco killed corporate rock and then the whole enterprise imploded. There's just something magical in the sound of this track, I've come to love it more with each year that's gone by.
OF MISSING PERSONS
The story of Lowell George, who most didn't know then and still don't know now.
LAWYERS IN LOVE
The eighties were in full swing, yuppies were coming into prominence, but despite the dash for cash Jackson Browne didn't cast aside his role as commentator. You were either with us or against us. But the truth is most had given up and switched sides, the revolution was in the rearview mirror.
CUT IT AWAY
The best song on "Lawyers In Love," it's about when your brain says yes but your heart says no. Jonathan Franzen details this eloquently in "Purity," but not as well as Jackson does here. You've got everything you thought you wanted, you fought hard for it, and then you find out...it doesn't make you happy. Why does life has to be so strange? You think you've reached the mountaintop, but the truth is you've got to journey back down into the valley in search of a destination you can only feel and may never find.
DOWNTOWN
Supposedly the album was concocted in a loft downtown, when L.A.'s titular epicenter was a true wasteland, before its renaissance.
FOR A ROCKER
"I'm gonna tell you something I found out
Whatever you think life is about
Whatever life may hold in store
Things will happen that you won't be ready for"
It's 1983, MTV's got traction, Jackson's on the losing side of distance, yet he's still got it!
I used to say to play this at my funeral, when I was still a rocker, when I still felt that music could save your life.
Listening on headphones right now...maybe it still can.
IN THE SHAPE OF A HEART
Jackson's last single with any real traction. 1986's "Lives In The Balance" is not good, it just wasn't timely, "Thriller" had and the SoCal sound seemed quaint. You can listen to more of the album, check out "Candy," but you don't have to, not if you're not a fan.
I AM A PATRIOT
Written by Little Steven, when he was on EMI America and trying to make it as a solo act, when he thought politics were important, before he became Silvio Dante and retreated to the E Street Band with his tail between his legs.
Jackson still plays this live.
As for the rest of 1989's "World In Motion"... A true disappointment.
And then came...
I'M ALIVE
A complete return to form. Four years later. Completely unexpected.
Suddenly Jackson retreated to the sound that made him, cast aside the electricity and went for that intimate sound.
This is the post Daryl Hannah album. And maybe it was less than successful because his female fans were now judging him, but this album is nearly as big an accomplishment as the aforementioned Bonnie Raitt album "Luck Of The Draw," a high point decades later when it was least expected.
You're deep into it.
Then you escape.
Then you're...ALIVE!
MY PROBLEM IS YOU
"But to go on attempting to break into the prison
You'd have to be me"
Perseverance. Or maybe myopia. You're not ready to give up.
EVERYWHERE I GO
Great white reggae. Infectious.
I'LL DO ANYTHING
The haunting sound that sold JB in the first instance.
MILES AWAY
It rocks, all of "I'm Alive" is not a downer, you can groove to the sound, even if the story is less than optimistic.
TOO MANY ANGELS
For those of you who thought Jackson burned out, that he couldn't do it anymore, check this out.
SKY BLUE AND BLACK
"I'm Alive"'s epic. Which had some word of mouth and some traction, but ultimately "I'm Alive" did not fulfill expectations, so Jackson backed away from this intimate sound, to his detriment, he was on to something. "I'm Alive" is a hidden gem, check it out.
LOOKING EAST
It's three years later, 1996, and Jackson's rocking out again, the title track of the LP is infectious in the same way as "Disco Apocalypse," the hooks will grab you.
THE BARRICADES OF HEAVEN
This survives. Jackson plays it regularly today. The story of growing up in California, the story behind the exuberance of "Running On Empty."
"No, I couldn't tell you what the hell those brakes were for
I was just trying to hear my song"
And the song remains the same, the youth run head first into the future with little wisdom but plenty of drive. The only difference was back then you did it anonymously.
SOME BRIDGES
Almost yacht rock, a modernized "Walking Slow," the magic is in the change into the chorus.
I'M THE CAT
Come on, sometimes you feel good, you feel powerful, and you sing a song like this in your head. At least I did. Yup, I waver, but sometimes...I'M THE CAT!
CULVER MOON
That's Culver City. Before it became gentrified, when the Lakers still played just south of there. If you're a basin resident, you'll crack up and smile.
BABY HOW LONG
Totally different from the sound of "I'm Alive," the essence is in the electric guitar, but it feels so good here!
THE NIGHT INSIDE ME
And then all hell broke loose. Napster eviscerated the recording industry and suddenly the baby boomers no longer counted. Jackson didn't return to his acoustic sound of yore, he was stuck in band mode, but there's some magic on 2002's "Naked Right Home."
"I caught a ride into the city every chance I got
I wasn't sure there was a name for the life I sought
Now I'm a long way gone down the life I got
I don't know how I believed some of the things I thought"
It's too late to start over. Suddenly, we are what we've become. Oh, what a long strange trip it's been.
ABOUT MY IMAGINATION
There are two killers on "The Naked Ride Home," two unforgettable tracks that will get inside you and won't let go.
This is one of them.
It's about the changes. Supported by the organ, the sound.
And the magical chorus.
NEVER STOP
And this is the other. Not only my favorite track on the album, but the best thing Jackson Browne has cut in the twenty first century.
"And never stop coming up with all that love for me
Never stop coming with your faith in what a love can be"
Be there for me, PLEASE!
THE BARRICADES OF HEAVEN-LIVE
And then Jackson gave up, stopped recording new music and went on a victory lap, recorded two double live albums of greatest hits and sold them himself.
If you don't know these "Solo Acoustic" albums you're in for a treat, especially when you hear the stories, like when the audience asks Jackson to sing a SoCal song he didn't write.
This is that 1996 song from "Looking East," which gains gravitas in this solo acoustic rendition.
LOOKING EAST-LIVE
A complete reworking, the same song, yet different. This is my favorite of the solo acoustic redos. Check it out, it'll get under your skin. The kind of music you used to treasure, you know, when you were alone, at home, behind the wheel...it sets your mind free, you can see the past and the future and you're aware of your place in the landscape of life.
NEVER STOP-LIVE
From the second "Solo Acoustic" set. A great song works in all formats, fully produced and stripped down. This is so intimate and so great. It's stuff like this that keeps me going.
LOOKING EAST-LIVE
And then Jackson reunited with his old partner David Lindley for a tour and live album. I saw it, hope you did, I'm not sure it will ever happen again.
But Jackson does go out solo with his eighteen guitars. If he shows up in your neighborhood RUN to see him!
Once again, this is a slowed-down, reworked rendition of this song, nearly as infectious as the iteration on the solo acoustic album above.
WHICH SIDE
I prefer the acoustic YouTube version with Dawes at the Occupy site downtown. It has an energy the studio take does not. Yet, this has got a great electric guitar sound and maintains its lyrical insight.
Which side are you on?
Do you think music is a sideshow, something casual that pairs with wine?
Or do you believe it can save your life, can move mountains, can exact change.
Used to be musicians used their power to right wrongs, to fight for not only themselves, but you. Back before the best and the brightest all went into tech and everybody became so narcissistic and most concerned with self-preservation. Jackson Browne has a long history of standing up for what's right, and still does, few have done as many benefits, he still believes.
And when you listen to his music, you still do too.
Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/1OLyiCe
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The first time you probably heard him.
But I discovered him at the Fillmore East, opening for Laura Nyro in December 1970, during her annual Christmas spectacular, they were both managed by David Geffen, ergo Jackson's appearance. Very few people impress you the first time out, especially if you're completely unfamiliar with their material, but I was enraptured by Jackson and waited with bated breath for his debut LP, which didn't come out until early '72.
"Doctor My Eyes" was not my favorite cut on the album, it was somehow too obvious, but hearing it a decade later waiting to check out at Fedco I realized the magic was in the piano part, and I now love it. It stands the test of time.
ROCK ME ON THE WATER
The first cut to enrapture me on the debut LP, it ended up with a big skip in the middle which I used to wait to hear on the CD, but it was gone.
There have been a number of covers, but no one sings it as well as Jackson.
SOMETHING FINE
My favorite song on the album. It opened side two and was quiet and meaningful and was the soundtrack to that bleak Vermont winter.
"Now you say 'Morocco' and that makes me smile
I haven't seen Morocco in a long, long while"
Never underestimate the ability of a song to paint a picture and take you away to a place you've never been before.
SONG FOR ADAM
Who was he? How did Jackson know him?
Death. It's something barely understood in your late teens, when I first heard this. But it wasn't long thereafter that my roommate's brother was killed in a car crash.
Some never get to fulfill their promise. While we waste time and spin our tales squandering our futures.
JAMAICA SAY YOU WILL
The opener. With that majestic piano part. Once again, there are many covers but Jackson owns it. You'll find yourself singing along with the chorus, you won't be able to help yourself.
UNDER THE FALLING SKY
Can I say I prefer Bonnie Raitt's take, on her definitive album "Give It Up"? (Actually, Bonnie equaled it twenty years later with "Luck Of The Draw," how many people return to the pinnacle...ALMOST NOBODY!)
A CHILD IN THESE HILLS
Everybody acts so grown up today. Am I the only one who still feels like a child?
TAKE IT EASY
Yes, Jackson cowrote it, many argue he was mostly responsible for the Eagles' breakthrough hit, he released his iteration in 1973, a year after theirs. It was quieter and less majestic, more intimate, and its greatness was in the way it segued into "Our Lady Of The Well" on the album.
I THOUGHT I WAS A CHILD
Once again, Bonnie Raitt did a killer cover, on her third album, "Takin My Time," but that LP is a bit slicker than "Give It Up," and "I Thought I Was A Child" suffers for it.
"It's such a clever innocence with which you do your sorcery"
Whew! Who writes this stuff? One Jackson Browne, the bard of the seventies, the king of the California sound. Hipsters knew him, he had a place in the firmament, but he was not ubiquitous, his true fame was years off, but his greatness was evidenced early. "For Everyman" was not quite as good as the initial LP, it moved the ball forward ever so slightly, but that does not mean it's not excellent, even better in retrospect, after decades of substandard albums by pretenders.
THESE DAYS
At this point Jackson was not famous for writing this, as he is today. "For Everyman" pre-dated Gregg Allman's solo LP by a smidge, but when the southern rock icon released "Laid Back" Jackson's fame grew. Funny, as time marches forward the wisdom and greatness of this song is being forgotten, we thought our music was forever... Well, it is for us!
READY OR NOT
"And the next thing I remember, she was all moved in
And I was buying her a washing machine"
The story of Jackson meeting and marrying his first wife, if this song doesn't make you want to move to SoCal and partake...you have no dreams.
THE LATE SHOW
My number one album of all time.
Go ahead and judge me, but there's more insight and wisdom in 1974's "Late For The Sky" than anything released in the twenty first century.
This is the closing song on side one of the LP, and it's full of couplets that deserve to be framed.
My favorite is:
"Now to see things clear it's hard enough I know
While you're waiting for reality to show
Without dreaming of the perfect love
And holding it so far above
That if you stumbled on to someone real you'd never know"
There it is. We're so busy looking in the distance that we don't see what's right in front of us.
"Maybe people only ask you how you're doing
'Cause that's easier than letting on how little they could care"
Whew! Ain't that the truth. If someone is truly listening, make them your friend, you're gonna need 'em, life is rough.
"Afraid that all these words might scare you away"
If you meet the right person you can't shut up, you want to share everything.
If you've got more questions than answers, if you feel damaged and alone, with no direction home, spin "The Late Show." No one ever talks about it, you never hear it on the radio, but it's my favorite song on the LP. Join the club.
LATE FOR THE SKY
"Now the words had all been spoken
And somehow the feeling still wasn't right
And still we continued on through the night"
You've said everything but you're still yearning to connect, to make your point, so you soldier on, even though it's way past midnight.
"Tracing our steps from the beginning
Until they vanished into the air
Trying to understand how our lives had let us there"
Breakups, they're hard. Today you ghost, just disconnect, maybe text your exit. But when you live together, when you're invested, it's so hard. We used to review everything that once was, reminiscing as we knew there was no future. You've come this far, but you can go no further.
"You never knew what I loved in you
I don't know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be"
As close as we are in relationships, we're still alone. We never really know what bonds others to us. What we think are our flaws are our attractions.
"Awake again I can't pretend
And I know I'm alone
And close to the end
Of the feeling we've known"
It's so scary. Part of you is dying to march forward, into the universe.
Another part of you just wants to stay put.
"How long have I been sleeping
How long have I been drifting alone through the night"
You could see the end coming, if you were looking.
And now you're here.
FOUNTAIN OF SORROW
As depressing as the opening cut might be, as heavy as "Late For The Sky" is, the piano bangs and then you're off and running, on the album's opus.
Listen for the truth.
I'll just quote one line, which I use on a regular basis:
"I'm just one or two years and a couple of changes behind you"
We're all going through this life at our own speed. And it's rare that we're on the exact same page. We've got so much to learn, and opportunities are lost when we can't connect because we're in different places.
FOR A DANCER
"Keep a fire burnin' in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be comin' down"
You learn this as you age, the best plans are ruined. Life is about the unexpected. Like death.
"I don't know what happens when people die
I can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try"
I said these words at my father's funeral, and I'm gonna say them at yours. He had terminal cancer, but his death was still a shock. The finality. They're gone.
"Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own"
So many never do this, they never grow up, they never make decisions for themselves, they still worry about what their parents and society have to say.
Don't.
WALKING SLOW
With Freebo on tuba. This tack is upbeat, the kind you sing to yourself when you're walking down the avenue feeling good and not exactly sure why.
THE PRETENDER
It's 1976, two years after "Late For The Sky," Jackson is reaching critical mass and Jon Landau produces an album if not quite as good as what came before results in much deeper cultural impact.
This was a staple on the radio, along with Hall & Oates's "Rich Girl" and eventually "Hotel California," it was a magical time, the fall of '76.
YOUR BRIGHT BABY BLUES
The best song on "The Pretender."
"Everybody's going somewhere
Riding just as fast as they can ride
I guess they've got a lot to do
Before they can rest assured
Their lives are justified"
As true today as it was back then. Everybody's fakin' it, trying to prove something to someone who is not them.
"I can't help feeling I'm just a day away from where I want to be"
My mantra.
Well, it used to be. When I believed in the power of the individual, when I thought I could make it on sheer will.
I haven't, but I've still got this record.
"Baby if you need me
Like I know I need you
There's just one thing
I'll ask you to do
Take my hand and lead me
To the hole in your garden wall
And pull me through"
Please.
HERE COME THOSE TEARS AGAIN
"Here come those tears again
Just when I was getting over you"
Oh, your twenties. When so many relationships end in dead ends.
You can't live with 'em, and you can't live without 'em.
This song is a tear, with backup vocals by Bonnie Raitt, it will empower you to hang on.
RUNNING ON EMPTY
Made Jackson Browne a star.
Only a year later, much sooner than ever before, Jackson released this 1977 album cut on the road and ended up a giant. This was the opening track, and if not quite as famous is as much a part of the culture as the Eagles' "Life In The Fast Lane," you should know that your baby boomer predecessors uttered these words all the time...
They were RUNNING ON EMPTY!
THE ROAD
Written by one Danny O'Keefe, it feels like being on the road. Check it out.
THE LOAD OUT/STAY
The first of its kind, where many people first learned about life on the road, this epic production was an FM staple.
DISCO APOCALYPSE
Now it's two and a half years later. The eighties have begun, disco killed corporate rock and then the whole enterprise imploded. There's just something magical in the sound of this track, I've come to love it more with each year that's gone by.
OF MISSING PERSONS
The story of Lowell George, who most didn't know then and still don't know now.
LAWYERS IN LOVE
The eighties were in full swing, yuppies were coming into prominence, but despite the dash for cash Jackson Browne didn't cast aside his role as commentator. You were either with us or against us. But the truth is most had given up and switched sides, the revolution was in the rearview mirror.
CUT IT AWAY
The best song on "Lawyers In Love," it's about when your brain says yes but your heart says no. Jonathan Franzen details this eloquently in "Purity," but not as well as Jackson does here. You've got everything you thought you wanted, you fought hard for it, and then you find out...it doesn't make you happy. Why does life has to be so strange? You think you've reached the mountaintop, but the truth is you've got to journey back down into the valley in search of a destination you can only feel and may never find.
DOWNTOWN
Supposedly the album was concocted in a loft downtown, when L.A.'s titular epicenter was a true wasteland, before its renaissance.
FOR A ROCKER
"I'm gonna tell you something I found out
Whatever you think life is about
Whatever life may hold in store
Things will happen that you won't be ready for"
It's 1983, MTV's got traction, Jackson's on the losing side of distance, yet he's still got it!
I used to say to play this at my funeral, when I was still a rocker, when I still felt that music could save your life.
Listening on headphones right now...maybe it still can.
IN THE SHAPE OF A HEART
Jackson's last single with any real traction. 1986's "Lives In The Balance" is not good, it just wasn't timely, "Thriller" had and the SoCal sound seemed quaint. You can listen to more of the album, check out "Candy," but you don't have to, not if you're not a fan.
I AM A PATRIOT
Written by Little Steven, when he was on EMI America and trying to make it as a solo act, when he thought politics were important, before he became Silvio Dante and retreated to the E Street Band with his tail between his legs.
Jackson still plays this live.
As for the rest of 1989's "World In Motion"... A true disappointment.
And then came...
I'M ALIVE
A complete return to form. Four years later. Completely unexpected.
Suddenly Jackson retreated to the sound that made him, cast aside the electricity and went for that intimate sound.
This is the post Daryl Hannah album. And maybe it was less than successful because his female fans were now judging him, but this album is nearly as big an accomplishment as the aforementioned Bonnie Raitt album "Luck Of The Draw," a high point decades later when it was least expected.
You're deep into it.
Then you escape.
Then you're...ALIVE!
MY PROBLEM IS YOU
"But to go on attempting to break into the prison
You'd have to be me"
Perseverance. Or maybe myopia. You're not ready to give up.
EVERYWHERE I GO
Great white reggae. Infectious.
I'LL DO ANYTHING
The haunting sound that sold JB in the first instance.
MILES AWAY
It rocks, all of "I'm Alive" is not a downer, you can groove to the sound, even if the story is less than optimistic.
TOO MANY ANGELS
For those of you who thought Jackson burned out, that he couldn't do it anymore, check this out.
SKY BLUE AND BLACK
"I'm Alive"'s epic. Which had some word of mouth and some traction, but ultimately "I'm Alive" did not fulfill expectations, so Jackson backed away from this intimate sound, to his detriment, he was on to something. "I'm Alive" is a hidden gem, check it out.
LOOKING EAST
It's three years later, 1996, and Jackson's rocking out again, the title track of the LP is infectious in the same way as "Disco Apocalypse," the hooks will grab you.
THE BARRICADES OF HEAVEN
This survives. Jackson plays it regularly today. The story of growing up in California, the story behind the exuberance of "Running On Empty."
"No, I couldn't tell you what the hell those brakes were for
I was just trying to hear my song"
And the song remains the same, the youth run head first into the future with little wisdom but plenty of drive. The only difference was back then you did it anonymously.
SOME BRIDGES
Almost yacht rock, a modernized "Walking Slow," the magic is in the change into the chorus.
I'M THE CAT
Come on, sometimes you feel good, you feel powerful, and you sing a song like this in your head. At least I did. Yup, I waver, but sometimes...I'M THE CAT!
CULVER MOON
That's Culver City. Before it became gentrified, when the Lakers still played just south of there. If you're a basin resident, you'll crack up and smile.
BABY HOW LONG
Totally different from the sound of "I'm Alive," the essence is in the electric guitar, but it feels so good here!
THE NIGHT INSIDE ME
And then all hell broke loose. Napster eviscerated the recording industry and suddenly the baby boomers no longer counted. Jackson didn't return to his acoustic sound of yore, he was stuck in band mode, but there's some magic on 2002's "Naked Right Home."
"I caught a ride into the city every chance I got
I wasn't sure there was a name for the life I sought
Now I'm a long way gone down the life I got
I don't know how I believed some of the things I thought"
It's too late to start over. Suddenly, we are what we've become. Oh, what a long strange trip it's been.
ABOUT MY IMAGINATION
There are two killers on "The Naked Ride Home," two unforgettable tracks that will get inside you and won't let go.
This is one of them.
It's about the changes. Supported by the organ, the sound.
And the magical chorus.
NEVER STOP
And this is the other. Not only my favorite track on the album, but the best thing Jackson Browne has cut in the twenty first century.
"And never stop coming up with all that love for me
Never stop coming with your faith in what a love can be"
Be there for me, PLEASE!
THE BARRICADES OF HEAVEN-LIVE
And then Jackson gave up, stopped recording new music and went on a victory lap, recorded two double live albums of greatest hits and sold them himself.
If you don't know these "Solo Acoustic" albums you're in for a treat, especially when you hear the stories, like when the audience asks Jackson to sing a SoCal song he didn't write.
This is that 1996 song from "Looking East," which gains gravitas in this solo acoustic rendition.
LOOKING EAST-LIVE
A complete reworking, the same song, yet different. This is my favorite of the solo acoustic redos. Check it out, it'll get under your skin. The kind of music you used to treasure, you know, when you were alone, at home, behind the wheel...it sets your mind free, you can see the past and the future and you're aware of your place in the landscape of life.
NEVER STOP-LIVE
From the second "Solo Acoustic" set. A great song works in all formats, fully produced and stripped down. This is so intimate and so great. It's stuff like this that keeps me going.
LOOKING EAST-LIVE
And then Jackson reunited with his old partner David Lindley for a tour and live album. I saw it, hope you did, I'm not sure it will ever happen again.
But Jackson does go out solo with his eighteen guitars. If he shows up in your neighborhood RUN to see him!
Once again, this is a slowed-down, reworked rendition of this song, nearly as infectious as the iteration on the solo acoustic album above.
WHICH SIDE
I prefer the acoustic YouTube version with Dawes at the Occupy site downtown. It has an energy the studio take does not. Yet, this has got a great electric guitar sound and maintains its lyrical insight.
Which side are you on?
Do you think music is a sideshow, something casual that pairs with wine?
Or do you believe it can save your life, can move mountains, can exact change.
Used to be musicians used their power to right wrongs, to fight for not only themselves, but you. Back before the best and the brightest all went into tech and everybody became so narcissistic and most concerned with self-preservation. Jackson Browne has a long history of standing up for what's right, and still does, few have done as many benefits, he still believes.
And when you listen to his music, you still do too.
Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/1OLyiCe
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Thursday 22 October 2015
The Tower Records Documentary
This is not the movie you wanted it to be.
This is a business story. About the power of individuals, with big dreams and the ability and desire to make them come true.
No Russ Solomon, no Tower Records.
Your heart will pitter-patter when you see Elton John combing the aisles in a tracksuit before opening, hoovering up LPs as Tower's best customer.
You'll puke watching Dave Grohl talk his way through nostalgia, who made this guy the keeper of the flame? If Kurt Cobain were still alive today he'd want nothing to do with him.
That's what's wrong with today's music business, the incredible yearning for what once was. But even Russ knows it's never coming back.
Russ. He took a risk his own dad did not want to. He opened up a record shop and then another and another. And along the way he hired his family and then the longhairs no one else would. No ties and you could wear your street clothes. Oh, how far we've come, today what you wear is more important than who you are, and that's just plain sad.
But the paradigm remains the same, it's about scale. Being able to replicate an item at low cost and sell it to everybody. That's what music was. It was the cultural grease of an entire generation. It was the radio and the stereo and the concerts, it was the iPhone of its day.
With a lot fewer zeros.
We're never going back to the past, just like the industrial revolution looks quaint compared with the 1960s. Wal-Mart leveled the corner store and then Amazon leveled Wal-Mart. The customer is inured to top shelf products at the lowest price delivered nearly instantly. If anything, costs are gonna come down and delivery is gonna speed up. You mean you want them to go to a retail shop, you mean you want them to stand in line for tickets?
Starting at the bottom. Everybody began as a clerk. That's why they hated Mike, Russ's son, he didn't pay his dues, he got no respect.
Whereas today the badge of honor is dropping out of Harvard and running a tech company. We revere the intelligent, and some become rich upon the scraps thrown away. And those outside try to play in this tech sphere laughingly. No one is good at everything. Own what you do. But how can you feel good about yourself when there's a cadre of people making so much money!
It's a financial nuclear bomb. It was exploded a couple of decades back, and we're just feeling the effects now. Not only did they kill physical retail, they took our jobs too. We might get free music, but we're paying for it with our attention, with our postings on social media. The only thing that doesn't scale is us. We keep clicking, looking for attention, but fewer care. Otherwise why would YouTube start to charge? There's just not enough money in placing advertisements against your home videos. No one cares.
But we all cared about music.
So Russ kept saying yes. Primarily to expansion. If you had a good idea he'd let you run with it. And he had a financial wizard to keep him in place. And when the CFO left the company...
The truth is the tide turned. No one could have saved Tower Records.
But the story of how it was built is a lesson those with MBAs should study, instead of self-satisfyingly writing their business plans and perusing their spreadsheets.
Money comes last.
The idea is first.
Then comes execution.
Not all ideas take hold. But those that do...
Tower was not the only record chain. But it won by doing things differently. Refusing to overcharge and carrying a staggering amount of inventory. Tower had it. Kind of like Amazon today. But instead of visiting online, you went in person.
And it was all about the Sunset store. When Tower closed down, the Strip faded, it's nearly history, rock is gone and condos are rising.
Because Tower was a mecca. A shrine. Where all the music was. The Apple Store on steroids.
But unlike at Steve Jobs's creation, the help at Tower was rude and barely existed. The store was a paragon of hip. And if you weren't, you didn't belong. Or you could start studying. And many did, because they wanted to be involved.
We knew about the acts, the players, the information was our manna. It was not about us, but them, the stars, those ruling our universe. Today everybody believes that they individually rule, but that can't be.
So you need a visionary.
Who empowers his troops.
Who creates a work culture. Where people are loved as opposed to threatened.
You'll be stunned at the ragtag group of employees. From Sacramento, for godssakes. Without college degrees on the fast track to nowhere. But they got the job done, on pure passion and hard work. Pay was crappy, but you could live on five bucks an hour.
You can't any longer.
We need music. It's part of life.
But once upon a time it was the only thing.
We don't need more Tower Records. We don't need more vinyl. We don't need higher prices. WE NEED MORE RUSS SOLOMONS! A guy just like you and me, but different. Who knew work was supposed to be fun. Who operated with a gleam in his eye. Who knew you didn't have to have all of the money, just some.
So write your app.
Post your selfie.
Try to make it through the sieve of modern life.
But some of us have lived long enough to know how it once was. When it was more decentralized and not only music, but information was scarce. And back then there were business titans just like today. And stunningly, none of them wore suits. And none of them reported to higher-ups. They had to do it their way, and they won.
For a while anyway.
P.S. This phony-baloney movie is so wrongheaded that it shows the triumph of Tower Japan at the end as evidence that Russ's vision still rings true. But Japan is the last standing physical market, where not only streaming doesn't rule, but neither does files. It's all going to crater soon, along with Tower Records. Proving that timing is everything. Which was a big point in Gladwell's book. Just because you put in 10,000 hours, that does not mean you're gonna be rich, timing is everything.
P.P.S. The star of the show is one Jim Urie, the recently retired Universal sales majordomo. Who tears up while telling the story of Russ inviting him to dinner after he'd been fired. Humanity is everything, that's what we've lost in this digital age.
P.P.P.S. Documentaries have it right, music has it wrong. Although "All Things Must Pass" is playing in theatres, its true life will be on Netflix and other digital outlets, where people will stream it. Those who believe it's about the initial impact, getting in and out fast, are lost in the modern economy. You've got to last. Streaming pays...if people keep streaming your tunes.
P.P.P.P.S. Speaking of pay, tickets used to be four, five and six dollars. Musicians were not that much more wealthy than we were, their pay scale was reachable, unlike that of the billionaire techies. When you're complaining that you can't make bank know that the enemy is society at large. You don't scale. If everybody was listening to your music you'd be a lot richer. But never as rich as the tech CEO.
P.P.P.P.P.S. Once again, if you're watching this movie to feel all warm and fuzzy, remembering what once was, you're gonna be disappointed. Because the truth is Tower Records was a retail joint. A business. The soul was the music, and that's not what this film is about. Then again, there's a lot of money to be made on the penumbra of the action. Like cell phone bumpers. People gravitate to what's hot, they find a way to make it pay. But music is no longer hot, sorry.
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This is a business story. About the power of individuals, with big dreams and the ability and desire to make them come true.
No Russ Solomon, no Tower Records.
Your heart will pitter-patter when you see Elton John combing the aisles in a tracksuit before opening, hoovering up LPs as Tower's best customer.
You'll puke watching Dave Grohl talk his way through nostalgia, who made this guy the keeper of the flame? If Kurt Cobain were still alive today he'd want nothing to do with him.
That's what's wrong with today's music business, the incredible yearning for what once was. But even Russ knows it's never coming back.
Russ. He took a risk his own dad did not want to. He opened up a record shop and then another and another. And along the way he hired his family and then the longhairs no one else would. No ties and you could wear your street clothes. Oh, how far we've come, today what you wear is more important than who you are, and that's just plain sad.
But the paradigm remains the same, it's about scale. Being able to replicate an item at low cost and sell it to everybody. That's what music was. It was the cultural grease of an entire generation. It was the radio and the stereo and the concerts, it was the iPhone of its day.
With a lot fewer zeros.
We're never going back to the past, just like the industrial revolution looks quaint compared with the 1960s. Wal-Mart leveled the corner store and then Amazon leveled Wal-Mart. The customer is inured to top shelf products at the lowest price delivered nearly instantly. If anything, costs are gonna come down and delivery is gonna speed up. You mean you want them to go to a retail shop, you mean you want them to stand in line for tickets?
Starting at the bottom. Everybody began as a clerk. That's why they hated Mike, Russ's son, he didn't pay his dues, he got no respect.
Whereas today the badge of honor is dropping out of Harvard and running a tech company. We revere the intelligent, and some become rich upon the scraps thrown away. And those outside try to play in this tech sphere laughingly. No one is good at everything. Own what you do. But how can you feel good about yourself when there's a cadre of people making so much money!
It's a financial nuclear bomb. It was exploded a couple of decades back, and we're just feeling the effects now. Not only did they kill physical retail, they took our jobs too. We might get free music, but we're paying for it with our attention, with our postings on social media. The only thing that doesn't scale is us. We keep clicking, looking for attention, but fewer care. Otherwise why would YouTube start to charge? There's just not enough money in placing advertisements against your home videos. No one cares.
But we all cared about music.
So Russ kept saying yes. Primarily to expansion. If you had a good idea he'd let you run with it. And he had a financial wizard to keep him in place. And when the CFO left the company...
The truth is the tide turned. No one could have saved Tower Records.
But the story of how it was built is a lesson those with MBAs should study, instead of self-satisfyingly writing their business plans and perusing their spreadsheets.
Money comes last.
The idea is first.
Then comes execution.
Not all ideas take hold. But those that do...
Tower was not the only record chain. But it won by doing things differently. Refusing to overcharge and carrying a staggering amount of inventory. Tower had it. Kind of like Amazon today. But instead of visiting online, you went in person.
And it was all about the Sunset store. When Tower closed down, the Strip faded, it's nearly history, rock is gone and condos are rising.
Because Tower was a mecca. A shrine. Where all the music was. The Apple Store on steroids.
But unlike at Steve Jobs's creation, the help at Tower was rude and barely existed. The store was a paragon of hip. And if you weren't, you didn't belong. Or you could start studying. And many did, because they wanted to be involved.
We knew about the acts, the players, the information was our manna. It was not about us, but them, the stars, those ruling our universe. Today everybody believes that they individually rule, but that can't be.
So you need a visionary.
Who empowers his troops.
Who creates a work culture. Where people are loved as opposed to threatened.
You'll be stunned at the ragtag group of employees. From Sacramento, for godssakes. Without college degrees on the fast track to nowhere. But they got the job done, on pure passion and hard work. Pay was crappy, but you could live on five bucks an hour.
You can't any longer.
We need music. It's part of life.
But once upon a time it was the only thing.
We don't need more Tower Records. We don't need more vinyl. We don't need higher prices. WE NEED MORE RUSS SOLOMONS! A guy just like you and me, but different. Who knew work was supposed to be fun. Who operated with a gleam in his eye. Who knew you didn't have to have all of the money, just some.
So write your app.
Post your selfie.
Try to make it through the sieve of modern life.
But some of us have lived long enough to know how it once was. When it was more decentralized and not only music, but information was scarce. And back then there were business titans just like today. And stunningly, none of them wore suits. And none of them reported to higher-ups. They had to do it their way, and they won.
For a while anyway.
P.S. This phony-baloney movie is so wrongheaded that it shows the triumph of Tower Japan at the end as evidence that Russ's vision still rings true. But Japan is the last standing physical market, where not only streaming doesn't rule, but neither does files. It's all going to crater soon, along with Tower Records. Proving that timing is everything. Which was a big point in Gladwell's book. Just because you put in 10,000 hours, that does not mean you're gonna be rich, timing is everything.
P.P.S. The star of the show is one Jim Urie, the recently retired Universal sales majordomo. Who tears up while telling the story of Russ inviting him to dinner after he'd been fired. Humanity is everything, that's what we've lost in this digital age.
P.P.P.S. Documentaries have it right, music has it wrong. Although "All Things Must Pass" is playing in theatres, its true life will be on Netflix and other digital outlets, where people will stream it. Those who believe it's about the initial impact, getting in and out fast, are lost in the modern economy. You've got to last. Streaming pays...if people keep streaming your tunes.
P.P.P.P.S. Speaking of pay, tickets used to be four, five and six dollars. Musicians were not that much more wealthy than we were, their pay scale was reachable, unlike that of the billionaire techies. When you're complaining that you can't make bank know that the enemy is society at large. You don't scale. If everybody was listening to your music you'd be a lot richer. But never as rich as the tech CEO.
P.P.P.P.P.S. Once again, if you're watching this movie to feel all warm and fuzzy, remembering what once was, you're gonna be disappointed. Because the truth is Tower Records was a retail joint. A business. The soul was the music, and that's not what this film is about. Then again, there's a lot of money to be made on the penumbra of the action. Like cell phone bumpers. People gravitate to what's hot, they find a way to make it pay. But music is no longer hot, sorry.
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Tuesday 20 October 2015
The Desperate Decade-final resend
The switch flipped back in 1980, maybe the beginning of '81, it coincided with the election of Reagan, but what really happened back then, what started in the late seventies, was a focus on money.
Baby boomers didn't care about money. They'd grown up with enough of it. And those who hadn't didn't know any better. Flyover country was thus, assuming you ever got in an airplane to begin with. Unless you moved to New York or L.A. you were clueless as to how the other half lived. Sure, there were glamour-pusses on television, but you lived in an Archie/Betty world where the metaphor was high school. You graduated and grew up but everything remained the same, you were tarred with not only your moniker but the impression you made years before, this was you...a bumpkin in the greatest country on earth, where gasoline was cheap, sex was free and happiness reigned.
Until inflation hit double digits and the economy tanked and everybody was wondering what came next. They decided to put their faith in an old man with gravitas but little more behind the facade and then everything truly changed.
1981... An era of CNN and MTV, cable television ruled. We could now see what was going on everywhere else, and sitting at home in the hinterlands we decided we wanted some of that. Suddenly, having a tricked-out Chevy didn't mean that much, you were now competing against everybody, and it didn't feel good.
And since competition was now the norm, you might as well win. And we know that rules are just meant to be bent, not only by Michael Milken and his troops at Drexel Burnham Lambert, our first exposure to the riches of finance, but everyone, in order to become wealthy, in order to get ahead.
Taxes were lowered, inflation was under control, the bubble known as the baby boomers had obligations, they needed to feed and house their progeny and this required cash. The sixties went out the window instantly. It was no longer love your brother but screw your neighbor and sleep with one eye open, while you're snorting Colombia's finest and parading down the boulevard in German iron, which suddenly replaced Cadillac as the symbol of success.
And we know that ultimately we all prayed at the altar of Apple, except those needing to maintain a renegade identity, seen mostly as a rearguard identity, but it was in the eighties that the populace became stratified, that winners pulled away from the losers, and kicked dust in their eyes while they were at it.
And there was a war, but no draft, and the end result was a baby boomer President who reigned over a prosperity so glorious, we all felt entitled. The deficit got wiped out, Wall Street was burgeoning, and then it all went to hell.
Credit Napster.
Well, Napster was the harbinger. Wherein everything we thought we knew turned out to be wrong. That you got ahead by paying your dues and sure, sharp elbows helped, but you knew your place in the firmament, how did Shawn Fanning decide he was king, never mind take all that property that wasn't his?
And Shawn had the backing of Silicon Valley. An entity heretofore unknown by the masses, who still didn't have smartphones, but those who thought they were winning suddenly found out they weren't, for story after story told them the new tech titans were rich!
Richer than ballplayers.
Richer than bankers.
Even richer than musicians.
And the seeds of desperation were sown.
Now he not busy moving forward was busy falling behind.
But we had an ace in the hole, the internet. It favored merit. If you had the right stuff you could go viral. Happened to PSY, right? He might have been Korean, but he muddled his way through Berklee and had the last laugh and if you were sitting at home with the new tools you too could win, right?
Wrong.
Internet cacophony came along and stole your chance. There was no way to get ahead. You could rant about income inequality, but those with the cash felt entitled to it, they worked hard, they were the job creators, and the fact that you were an honest bloke just didn't matter in this new winner take all society, which so many titans of yore still don't understand, the truth is one enterprise gets all the lucre online, it's just a constant battle, a winnowing-down, until we learn who the victor is.
So children are either on the right track or wrong at age five. I'd say you have to go to the right kindergarten, but the truth is you have to go to the right pre-school. City parents understand this, the desperation starts early. As for those too ignorant to know the game, their fate is sealed soon. Elite colleges are need-blind, be smart enough and you get a free ride. But the valedictorians in the hinterlands don't know this and go to the state school, where they're left behind. Oh, you don't get a better education at the Ivys, you just hang with a better class of PEOPLE! Harvard owns comedy. How do you think Conan O'Brien got there? Although he's losing today, if you're just part of the pack, you might as well not exist. And you want a degree from Kellogg, or you can get your MBA from Stanford, where you'll make connections, establish relationships, which will make sure you don't fall behind.
While everybody else struggles to impress.
That's what social media has become. It's no longer about bonding but impressing. Surf Facebook and Instagram and you'll feel inadequate. But the truth is those two-dimensional icons known as people are not winning, they're just on the treadmill of desperation, they got screwed in ways they can't comprehend and they now want a piece of the rock. And if they can't get that, they don't want to fall behind.
And you have so many opportunities to fall behind.
Used to be it was about finding yourself, taking some time off after college to enrich your experience and plot a new direction.
Now everybody starts climbing the ladder immediately. Because if you don't, your resume has a hole in it. And your LinkedIn profile must be perfect, otherwise you won't get a job. And a job is everything these days, it's your entire identity. Unemployment is not only unenjoyment, you're a pariah, invitations dry up, depression sets in, you grasp for a life preserver but no one's throwing one, everybody's too busy protecting their own interest, trying to get ahead.
And then there are those who deny the above. It's a badge of honor, they're good people with good values and that's what it's all about, right?
Wrong. You can't get a seat at the restaurant, the winners buy all the tickets on StubHub and you're left behind with like-minded people wondering how this all happened, how you got screwed without knowing it.
It permeates all walks of life. The internet is riddled with networking shenanigans. You've got to have a lot of friends, a lot of likes, if you don't you're a loser, you're never going to get ahead. Everything is quantified, everything can be counted, data rules, if it's fuzzy, we don't care.
So complaining rules.
That's the story in music. The enemy is Daniel Ek. Or maybe the public. Because it used to be you could survive but now you can't. You're living with your parents, you're living off your spouse, you're desperate.
As are those who bought the mantra that ownership was king. If you had your own home, you ruled. Until the banks failed, you lost your job and it was all taken away from you.
And the CEOs are desperate too. That's why they insist on making so much dough. Because it could end at any time, and they want to be prepared. Or maybe we should blame the corporate boards, who desperately believe they have to have a winner at the helm, to promote from within is anathema. Better to poach talent and brag about compensation, then you're immune to criticism.
We all believe paying top dollar generates a get out of jail free card. A BMW won't break. Louis Vuitton is better than the no-name brands. And if you brandish an iPhone, you're a winner.
Yup, that changed too. Used to be you were proud of your Galaxy, now it just illustrates you haven't gotten the memo, Samsung is so 2013, before Apple ended up with all the profits and if you don't iMessage you're nobody.
We're all hopping from island to island, as the Whac-A-Mole hammer comes down hard in pursuit. We look for someone to blame. The easiest target is the government, which wastes the money which would make us whole, that we worked so hard for. And the corporations are the enemy.
But the truth is the enemy is us. We've lost all perspective. We've thrown our values out the window. The baby boomers lost touch with everything they believed in, they no longer remember Jesse Colin Young, never mind getting together. And they imparted these dash for cash and status values to their progeny, who are throwing the tech long ball like an inner city denizen lobs a basketball in pursuit of an NBA career, despite odds being so low. I mean somebody wins, it might as well be me, right?
Wrong. The game is rigged. But you can't stop playing. You're addicted to free, not knowing that you're the product, you're being bought and sold to advertisers. And that few are paying attention to you.
And every couple of years they wipe the slate clean. MySpace gave way to Facebook. Twitter is fading. And it always happens the same way, when the old site is riddled with self-promotion, desperation in camouflage, people gravitate to a new platform believing it will be different.
But it's not.
Snapchat is just a way for another twentysomething to become a billionaire.
Nothing lasts. Your BlackBerry sits in a drawer, with your iPods and maybe an old laptop or two. You're desperate for something to hold on to, to believe in, so you pay for experiences, which don't count unless you document them online. With selfies. Selfie stick? That's right, another manufacturer profiting off your narcissism, which is just desperation in disguise.
Some have opted out. But since they're not bragging about it, not employing the online microphone to tell you they're right and you're wrong, they garner little attention. Because the media is desperate too, it's been disrupted by the same twentysomething techies and all it knows is gossip sells, isn't Kim Kardashian rich?
Of course.
Used to be she was ridiculed for being famous for nothing. Now she's seen as a phenomenal businessperson. Because that's all the matters today, your business. Identity and values are irrelevant, unless they can be distilled to money and image, what we truly pay fealty to in America.
That's right, religion is dying. Forget the blowhards yelling loudly, statistics tell us millennials don't have a God complex, unless it involves themselves. Their parents told them they were deities and they're entitled to win and if that means steamrolling over you, so be it, because it's a dog eat dog world and no one likes to be eaten.
So build that resume, post away. Count your likes. Buy your followers. Be a denizen of the twenty first century, wherein we all desperately play online roulette but the game is rigged, only a tiny core of usual suspects can win, oftentimes by putting their thumb on the wheel.
We want out, we want someone to believe in, but everywhere we turn we find false idols. Musicians selling out to corporations who can't be trusted. If Volkswagen cheats on emissions tests why should you walk the line? No one got arrested after the banks crashed and no one's giving back their salary at VW.
So it's back to the salt mines. Where you toil away on your mobile, playing the game of life, wherein you constantly seek status.
Desperately.
--
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Baby boomers didn't care about money. They'd grown up with enough of it. And those who hadn't didn't know any better. Flyover country was thus, assuming you ever got in an airplane to begin with. Unless you moved to New York or L.A. you were clueless as to how the other half lived. Sure, there were glamour-pusses on television, but you lived in an Archie/Betty world where the metaphor was high school. You graduated and grew up but everything remained the same, you were tarred with not only your moniker but the impression you made years before, this was you...a bumpkin in the greatest country on earth, where gasoline was cheap, sex was free and happiness reigned.
Until inflation hit double digits and the economy tanked and everybody was wondering what came next. They decided to put their faith in an old man with gravitas but little more behind the facade and then everything truly changed.
1981... An era of CNN and MTV, cable television ruled. We could now see what was going on everywhere else, and sitting at home in the hinterlands we decided we wanted some of that. Suddenly, having a tricked-out Chevy didn't mean that much, you were now competing against everybody, and it didn't feel good.
And since competition was now the norm, you might as well win. And we know that rules are just meant to be bent, not only by Michael Milken and his troops at Drexel Burnham Lambert, our first exposure to the riches of finance, but everyone, in order to become wealthy, in order to get ahead.
Taxes were lowered, inflation was under control, the bubble known as the baby boomers had obligations, they needed to feed and house their progeny and this required cash. The sixties went out the window instantly. It was no longer love your brother but screw your neighbor and sleep with one eye open, while you're snorting Colombia's finest and parading down the boulevard in German iron, which suddenly replaced Cadillac as the symbol of success.
And we know that ultimately we all prayed at the altar of Apple, except those needing to maintain a renegade identity, seen mostly as a rearguard identity, but it was in the eighties that the populace became stratified, that winners pulled away from the losers, and kicked dust in their eyes while they were at it.
And there was a war, but no draft, and the end result was a baby boomer President who reigned over a prosperity so glorious, we all felt entitled. The deficit got wiped out, Wall Street was burgeoning, and then it all went to hell.
Credit Napster.
Well, Napster was the harbinger. Wherein everything we thought we knew turned out to be wrong. That you got ahead by paying your dues and sure, sharp elbows helped, but you knew your place in the firmament, how did Shawn Fanning decide he was king, never mind take all that property that wasn't his?
And Shawn had the backing of Silicon Valley. An entity heretofore unknown by the masses, who still didn't have smartphones, but those who thought they were winning suddenly found out they weren't, for story after story told them the new tech titans were rich!
Richer than ballplayers.
Richer than bankers.
Even richer than musicians.
And the seeds of desperation were sown.
Now he not busy moving forward was busy falling behind.
But we had an ace in the hole, the internet. It favored merit. If you had the right stuff you could go viral. Happened to PSY, right? He might have been Korean, but he muddled his way through Berklee and had the last laugh and if you were sitting at home with the new tools you too could win, right?
Wrong.
Internet cacophony came along and stole your chance. There was no way to get ahead. You could rant about income inequality, but those with the cash felt entitled to it, they worked hard, they were the job creators, and the fact that you were an honest bloke just didn't matter in this new winner take all society, which so many titans of yore still don't understand, the truth is one enterprise gets all the lucre online, it's just a constant battle, a winnowing-down, until we learn who the victor is.
So children are either on the right track or wrong at age five. I'd say you have to go to the right kindergarten, but the truth is you have to go to the right pre-school. City parents understand this, the desperation starts early. As for those too ignorant to know the game, their fate is sealed soon. Elite colleges are need-blind, be smart enough and you get a free ride. But the valedictorians in the hinterlands don't know this and go to the state school, where they're left behind. Oh, you don't get a better education at the Ivys, you just hang with a better class of PEOPLE! Harvard owns comedy. How do you think Conan O'Brien got there? Although he's losing today, if you're just part of the pack, you might as well not exist. And you want a degree from Kellogg, or you can get your MBA from Stanford, where you'll make connections, establish relationships, which will make sure you don't fall behind.
While everybody else struggles to impress.
That's what social media has become. It's no longer about bonding but impressing. Surf Facebook and Instagram and you'll feel inadequate. But the truth is those two-dimensional icons known as people are not winning, they're just on the treadmill of desperation, they got screwed in ways they can't comprehend and they now want a piece of the rock. And if they can't get that, they don't want to fall behind.
And you have so many opportunities to fall behind.
Used to be it was about finding yourself, taking some time off after college to enrich your experience and plot a new direction.
Now everybody starts climbing the ladder immediately. Because if you don't, your resume has a hole in it. And your LinkedIn profile must be perfect, otherwise you won't get a job. And a job is everything these days, it's your entire identity. Unemployment is not only unenjoyment, you're a pariah, invitations dry up, depression sets in, you grasp for a life preserver but no one's throwing one, everybody's too busy protecting their own interest, trying to get ahead.
And then there are those who deny the above. It's a badge of honor, they're good people with good values and that's what it's all about, right?
Wrong. You can't get a seat at the restaurant, the winners buy all the tickets on StubHub and you're left behind with like-minded people wondering how this all happened, how you got screwed without knowing it.
It permeates all walks of life. The internet is riddled with networking shenanigans. You've got to have a lot of friends, a lot of likes, if you don't you're a loser, you're never going to get ahead. Everything is quantified, everything can be counted, data rules, if it's fuzzy, we don't care.
So complaining rules.
That's the story in music. The enemy is Daniel Ek. Or maybe the public. Because it used to be you could survive but now you can't. You're living with your parents, you're living off your spouse, you're desperate.
As are those who bought the mantra that ownership was king. If you had your own home, you ruled. Until the banks failed, you lost your job and it was all taken away from you.
And the CEOs are desperate too. That's why they insist on making so much dough. Because it could end at any time, and they want to be prepared. Or maybe we should blame the corporate boards, who desperately believe they have to have a winner at the helm, to promote from within is anathema. Better to poach talent and brag about compensation, then you're immune to criticism.
We all believe paying top dollar generates a get out of jail free card. A BMW won't break. Louis Vuitton is better than the no-name brands. And if you brandish an iPhone, you're a winner.
Yup, that changed too. Used to be you were proud of your Galaxy, now it just illustrates you haven't gotten the memo, Samsung is so 2013, before Apple ended up with all the profits and if you don't iMessage you're nobody.
We're all hopping from island to island, as the Whac-A-Mole hammer comes down hard in pursuit. We look for someone to blame. The easiest target is the government, which wastes the money which would make us whole, that we worked so hard for. And the corporations are the enemy.
But the truth is the enemy is us. We've lost all perspective. We've thrown our values out the window. The baby boomers lost touch with everything they believed in, they no longer remember Jesse Colin Young, never mind getting together. And they imparted these dash for cash and status values to their progeny, who are throwing the tech long ball like an inner city denizen lobs a basketball in pursuit of an NBA career, despite odds being so low. I mean somebody wins, it might as well be me, right?
Wrong. The game is rigged. But you can't stop playing. You're addicted to free, not knowing that you're the product, you're being bought and sold to advertisers. And that few are paying attention to you.
And every couple of years they wipe the slate clean. MySpace gave way to Facebook. Twitter is fading. And it always happens the same way, when the old site is riddled with self-promotion, desperation in camouflage, people gravitate to a new platform believing it will be different.
But it's not.
Snapchat is just a way for another twentysomething to become a billionaire.
Nothing lasts. Your BlackBerry sits in a drawer, with your iPods and maybe an old laptop or two. You're desperate for something to hold on to, to believe in, so you pay for experiences, which don't count unless you document them online. With selfies. Selfie stick? That's right, another manufacturer profiting off your narcissism, which is just desperation in disguise.
Some have opted out. But since they're not bragging about it, not employing the online microphone to tell you they're right and you're wrong, they garner little attention. Because the media is desperate too, it's been disrupted by the same twentysomething techies and all it knows is gossip sells, isn't Kim Kardashian rich?
Of course.
Used to be she was ridiculed for being famous for nothing. Now she's seen as a phenomenal businessperson. Because that's all the matters today, your business. Identity and values are irrelevant, unless they can be distilled to money and image, what we truly pay fealty to in America.
That's right, religion is dying. Forget the blowhards yelling loudly, statistics tell us millennials don't have a God complex, unless it involves themselves. Their parents told them they were deities and they're entitled to win and if that means steamrolling over you, so be it, because it's a dog eat dog world and no one likes to be eaten.
So build that resume, post away. Count your likes. Buy your followers. Be a denizen of the twenty first century, wherein we all desperately play online roulette but the game is rigged, only a tiny core of usual suspects can win, oftentimes by putting their thumb on the wheel.
We want out, we want someone to believe in, but everywhere we turn we find false idols. Musicians selling out to corporations who can't be trusted. If Volkswagen cheats on emissions tests why should you walk the line? No one got arrested after the banks crashed and no one's giving back their salary at VW.
So it's back to the salt mines. Where you toil away on your mobile, playing the game of life, wherein you constantly seek status.
Desperately.
--
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--
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School Of Rock Convention-resend
They're doing God's work.
While the rest of America is dashing for cash, while wannabe musicians keep complaining about Spotify, as if they could hold back the future, as if they were owed a living in music, a ragtag band of musicians and entrepreneurs is birthing the next generation of rock and rollers for the sheer joy of it. I'm not saying they're not getting paid, I'm just saying they're not getting rich. In cash, that is.
Greetings from Las Vegas, where it's gray and the season is turning but it's always the same. A place where people come to let loose and forget who they are, served by an underclass happy to have a job. When it's 24 hour everything you can get a gig working the graveyard shift, it may not pay well, but no one's paying attention. That's the luxury of Vegas, what happens here no one cares about. Except if you're rich and famous.
But most people are not.
The dynamo of the School of Rock is a dentist. Who's not a player. He got infected when he saw the people his daughter was interacting with, so different from the usual suspects at her private Philadelphia school. Musicians have been the same since the dawn of time. They're outsiders, who are about sharing and caring as opposed to dividing lines. When society pooh-poohs you, you come together.
And there's a surgeon who owns a couple of franchises. He may save lives on the operating table, but what really gets him off is the smiles of the young 'uns who get up on stage and wail on the classics that soothed his youth.
That's right, music used to be different. Before the whole world changed, before it was us versus them and those with the money didn't want to part with it and those left behind kept complaining that someone stole their cheese. We were all in it together, and what kept us together, was the music.
A rock nation. Under Gods like Jimi Hendrix and Alice Cooper and even Gene Simmons. All of whom filled up your bedroom with a sound so glorious you couldn't help but smile. Their music made life worth living. And it's making life worth living for a whole new generation.
Sure, some of the students want to play the modern stuff.
But the School of Rock says you start with the basics. Kinda like regular school. But the Who is so much more enticing than Camus, never mind algebra.
So you've got housewives and retirees and barely twentysomethings all opening emporia to teach rock. And sure, there are lessons, but the essence is performance. It's when the kids get on stage with others and crank it that they smile. And it's these smiles that keep the owners going. They're doing it for the naches. Look it up, it's Yiddish. In our narcissistic culture it's all about pride in the self, puffing yourself up, on Instagram, showing what you've got. But the truth is you feel best when you midwife the happiness of others, that's what the School of Rock does.
And either you know about it or you don't.
It was started by Paul Green. But thereafter, franchises were sold and every year or so the troops get together to learn.
Especially from the CEO Dzana, who immigrated from war-torn Sarajevo. It's people like this who make our country great. How did we get so screwed up that we believed the immigrants were here to steal our jobs. Yes, they want what we've got, an opportunity to be their best selves, to have a family, to excel. You too have that right as an American, better to stop complaining that someone stole your chance and make the most of yours.
Dzana had such great insight. That the bane of the School of Rock was laziness and fear. The belief that you just can't get there so you're better off not trying. Her solution is to hook up the top 10% with the bottom 10%. The winners help lift up those who are challenged. Why do the winners do it? BECAUSE IT MAKES THEM FEEL SO GOOD! You know, like when someone gives you tech help, when they solve your problem. People love to demonstrate their expertise, they love to help others. You think it's about ME, ME, ME, when the truth is it's about YOU, YOU, YOU!
And you buy a franchise and then you become part of this wonderful crazy family, that's what an owner said on stage last night. As she belted...
Yes, after learning all day, they cleared the stage for performances.
First were the All Stars. Teenagers who'd earned the right to not only perform in Vegas, but go on tour. They caravan to such places as Chicago, to grace the stage at Lollapalooza. And even Bridgeport, Connecticut, for the Gathering of the Vibes. They even send a contingent to the Zappanale, over in Europe, to not only soak up Frank's music, but play it.
And the Sydney school flies over for performances too. Not everyone, just the greats. And the kids are incentivized to be great, because they want to go on tour. And sure, some make it to the big time, graduates pepper the professional ranks, Colbert has got a School of Rock alumnus in his band, but most don't. But they have an experience of a lifetime.
As did the owners and the general managers and the instructors, who got up and played the legendary hits for hours last night.
I heard a brilliant version of "Highway to Hell," it had me standing up, thrusting my arms in the air.
Jaw-dropping was the rendition of "Cosmik Debris," you know, the Zappa track. I certainly do, I played it as an alienated youth, I felt that Frank understood me, that's the power of music.
And "Under Pressure" and "Baba O'Riley" and "Rock of Ages"...
"All right
I got something to say
Yeah, it's better to burn out
Yeah, than fade away"
They give musicians a second chance. When they're between gigs, when their touring and live careers have dried up. They teach at the School of Rock. Which doesn't start until 2, so they can get there on time. And they can still perform on weekends.
"Rise up, gather 'round
Rock this place to the ground
Burn it up let's go for broke
Watch the night go up in smoke"
Actually, it is Vegas, one of the few places you can still puff away indoors. But long after midnight, when most people are tuckered out and trundle for bed, this crowd was out in full-force. Cheering on their brethren, slaying the axe, tickling the ivories, pounding the skins. They danced, they sang along, they cheered. You know, like at a rock and roll show.
"What do you want, what do you want
I want rock 'n' roll, yes I do
Long live rock 'n' roll"
I'm over sixty. I own no real estate. My future is uncertain. But I've got this sound, that I studied like the Bible. I know who played what and have followed the tree of life known as music all over the globe, and as I was standing in the Lounge last night I realized these were my people, these players, these instructors, these owners, who know that rock and roll can save your life, if you just let it.
"Rock of ages, rock of ages
Still rollin', keep a-rollin'
We got the power, got the glory
Just say you need it and if you need it
Say yeah"
YEAH!
Ain't that the truth.
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While the rest of America is dashing for cash, while wannabe musicians keep complaining about Spotify, as if they could hold back the future, as if they were owed a living in music, a ragtag band of musicians and entrepreneurs is birthing the next generation of rock and rollers for the sheer joy of it. I'm not saying they're not getting paid, I'm just saying they're not getting rich. In cash, that is.
Greetings from Las Vegas, where it's gray and the season is turning but it's always the same. A place where people come to let loose and forget who they are, served by an underclass happy to have a job. When it's 24 hour everything you can get a gig working the graveyard shift, it may not pay well, but no one's paying attention. That's the luxury of Vegas, what happens here no one cares about. Except if you're rich and famous.
But most people are not.
The dynamo of the School of Rock is a dentist. Who's not a player. He got infected when he saw the people his daughter was interacting with, so different from the usual suspects at her private Philadelphia school. Musicians have been the same since the dawn of time. They're outsiders, who are about sharing and caring as opposed to dividing lines. When society pooh-poohs you, you come together.
And there's a surgeon who owns a couple of franchises. He may save lives on the operating table, but what really gets him off is the smiles of the young 'uns who get up on stage and wail on the classics that soothed his youth.
That's right, music used to be different. Before the whole world changed, before it was us versus them and those with the money didn't want to part with it and those left behind kept complaining that someone stole their cheese. We were all in it together, and what kept us together, was the music.
A rock nation. Under Gods like Jimi Hendrix and Alice Cooper and even Gene Simmons. All of whom filled up your bedroom with a sound so glorious you couldn't help but smile. Their music made life worth living. And it's making life worth living for a whole new generation.
Sure, some of the students want to play the modern stuff.
But the School of Rock says you start with the basics. Kinda like regular school. But the Who is so much more enticing than Camus, never mind algebra.
So you've got housewives and retirees and barely twentysomethings all opening emporia to teach rock. And sure, there are lessons, but the essence is performance. It's when the kids get on stage with others and crank it that they smile. And it's these smiles that keep the owners going. They're doing it for the naches. Look it up, it's Yiddish. In our narcissistic culture it's all about pride in the self, puffing yourself up, on Instagram, showing what you've got. But the truth is you feel best when you midwife the happiness of others, that's what the School of Rock does.
And either you know about it or you don't.
It was started by Paul Green. But thereafter, franchises were sold and every year or so the troops get together to learn.
Especially from the CEO Dzana, who immigrated from war-torn Sarajevo. It's people like this who make our country great. How did we get so screwed up that we believed the immigrants were here to steal our jobs. Yes, they want what we've got, an opportunity to be their best selves, to have a family, to excel. You too have that right as an American, better to stop complaining that someone stole your chance and make the most of yours.
Dzana had such great insight. That the bane of the School of Rock was laziness and fear. The belief that you just can't get there so you're better off not trying. Her solution is to hook up the top 10% with the bottom 10%. The winners help lift up those who are challenged. Why do the winners do it? BECAUSE IT MAKES THEM FEEL SO GOOD! You know, like when someone gives you tech help, when they solve your problem. People love to demonstrate their expertise, they love to help others. You think it's about ME, ME, ME, when the truth is it's about YOU, YOU, YOU!
And you buy a franchise and then you become part of this wonderful crazy family, that's what an owner said on stage last night. As she belted...
Yes, after learning all day, they cleared the stage for performances.
First were the All Stars. Teenagers who'd earned the right to not only perform in Vegas, but go on tour. They caravan to such places as Chicago, to grace the stage at Lollapalooza. And even Bridgeport, Connecticut, for the Gathering of the Vibes. They even send a contingent to the Zappanale, over in Europe, to not only soak up Frank's music, but play it.
And the Sydney school flies over for performances too. Not everyone, just the greats. And the kids are incentivized to be great, because they want to go on tour. And sure, some make it to the big time, graduates pepper the professional ranks, Colbert has got a School of Rock alumnus in his band, but most don't. But they have an experience of a lifetime.
As did the owners and the general managers and the instructors, who got up and played the legendary hits for hours last night.
I heard a brilliant version of "Highway to Hell," it had me standing up, thrusting my arms in the air.
Jaw-dropping was the rendition of "Cosmik Debris," you know, the Zappa track. I certainly do, I played it as an alienated youth, I felt that Frank understood me, that's the power of music.
And "Under Pressure" and "Baba O'Riley" and "Rock of Ages"...
"All right
I got something to say
Yeah, it's better to burn out
Yeah, than fade away"
They give musicians a second chance. When they're between gigs, when their touring and live careers have dried up. They teach at the School of Rock. Which doesn't start until 2, so they can get there on time. And they can still perform on weekends.
"Rise up, gather 'round
Rock this place to the ground
Burn it up let's go for broke
Watch the night go up in smoke"
Actually, it is Vegas, one of the few places you can still puff away indoors. But long after midnight, when most people are tuckered out and trundle for bed, this crowd was out in full-force. Cheering on their brethren, slaying the axe, tickling the ivories, pounding the skins. They danced, they sang along, they cheered. You know, like at a rock and roll show.
"What do you want, what do you want
I want rock 'n' roll, yes I do
Long live rock 'n' roll"
I'm over sixty. I own no real estate. My future is uncertain. But I've got this sound, that I studied like the Bible. I know who played what and have followed the tree of life known as music all over the globe, and as I was standing in the Lounge last night I realized these were my people, these players, these instructors, these owners, who know that rock and roll can save your life, if you just let it.
"Rock of ages, rock of ages
Still rollin', keep a-rollin'
We got the power, got the glory
Just say you need it and if you need it
Say yeah"
YEAH!
Ain't that the truth.
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The Tsar of Love and Techno
http://amzn.to/1OFGDaJ
Marketing is a start.
But it's word of mouth that rules this world.
And I'm telling you to read Anthony Marra's new book, "The Tsar of Love and Techno." Not because it has music in the title, but because it will make you forget about your little life and its everyday troubles and will take you away to a world so horrible you'll be thankful you live on the underside of this great nation of ours.
Maybe you read Marra's previous book, "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena." Probably not, because it's about war in Chechnya, which most Americans can't pick out on a map, certainly not me, all I know is the Russians got their ass kicked there. Kinda the way Apple's getting its ass kicked in streaming music. The big kahuna doesn't always win. That's a myth we believe in in order to make order in this world. If the Yankees spend a fortune they should be World Champions, right? But no, little KC and St. Louis are the powerhouses.
Not that I would have bought "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena," it was a gift from Daniel Glass. Who sends items on a regular basis, because he cares. Kinda strange in today's dog eat dog world where everybody's out for themselves. But Daniel learned from the masters decades back, before life got coarse, and he's passionate about music, but nearly equally as passionate about books.
As am I.
Didn't used to be. It was the Kindle that got me. Felice bought me one for my birthday back in 2009 and I've been on a reading tear ever since. I was intrigued by not only the new technology, but the low price of books, I felt I was on the leading edge of a revolution, which I was until the publishing industry and its compliant authors took back the power from the Seattle giant and killed the business. You see they wanted it for themselves. Which is kinda why novels are stagnant. Because it's a club and you're not a member, they don't want you. You think record execs are bad, publishers are much worse, kinda like movie executives on steroids, people who believe they're better than us. And I'm not going to laud the uneducated, but the publishing world is everything I hate about New York, where your pedigree rules and it's all about keeping everybody else down. Come on, have you seen Donald Trump's act?
Books are so passe it's laughable. And so many are written by graduates of writing workshops where the standard is unreadability. It's like they pack their tomes with words you have to look up to make them feel better about themselves. Whereas the first criterion of a book is readability.
And I'd be lying if I told you "The Tsar of Love and Techno" cuts like butter. I'm the kind of reader who has to get everything, who can't skim, who wants to be able to picture it in my mind. But I advise you to run roughshod and go for the plot, and then you'll get into the rhythm of this book.
Of short stories.
No, wait a minute, hold on, they're linked!
Yes, it's really one big book. Well, kinda slim actually. But the characters reappear and when they do it's like finding out the clue to a crossword you didn't know you were doing, the satisfaction is palpable.
As is the wisdom.
That's why I read novels, for the wisdom.
"People who have it easy are always telling you how hard it is."
EUREKA! BINGO! THAT'S IT!
People who are truly working hard don't complain, they believe the results of their efforts are sufficient. But dilettantes, those who need us to admire them, they keep telling us how hard their lives are...as they go nowhere.
"Wealth announces itself with what's easy to break and impossible to clean."
Ever see a white rug in a poor person's house? Where you find plastic plates and linoleum flooring?
"You know I hate stories."
I live for them. I want to hear yours. Where you came from, how you got here, where you want to go, how you feel about it all. Especially the loss, the one who got away, the time you got fired...I want to experience your humanity. But someone close to me does not. If it's more than sentence, she tells you to stop. I thought she was the only one, but now I've read this book.
"...but the obvious is only obvious when it happens to someone else. We've all ended up with men we'd pity others for marrying."
Everybody is not a winner, everybody can't be married to a movie star. Life is about compromise, about seeing the good, which ultimately transcends the mediocre, the less than you hoped for. If you're not willing to roll with the changes, you're not going to get anywhere. Kinda like the people I know who never married, no one was ever good enough. And you don't have to be that good, you just have to stop judging and stop worrying about what other people think. Because so many people have a heart of gold if you'd just start mining for it.
"It takes nothing less than the whole might of the state to erase a person, but only the error of one individual - if that is what memory is now called - to preserve her."
I guess you've got to read the book to get that one. About the artist whose job it is to paint people out of history, the one who turns his brother into the government.
This all happens in Russia. From the revolution to now. What's it like to be right and still be wrong. Just ask the people who plead guilty to get out of jail...we've got that problem in modern America, those who didn't do it who say they did so they can get back to their regular lives sooner.
And then there are those exiled to Siberia. Where the mines will kill you and you can kiss ass but you're still not getting back to Moscow.
Unless you're beautiful.
But then you're haunted by where you came from...until you screw up and return. It's as if Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie lost all their money and cred and had to return to where they grew up, and you rubbed elbows with them at the grocery store, what would that feel like? Read this book and you'll find out.
We're in this together.
But we don't know it. I'd say those in power want to keep us divided but the truth is they can't shoot straight, and life is so difficult that if we just stopped trying to climb the greased pole, if we were just nicer to each other, if we just realized we were the same...
We'd be so much happier.
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Marketing is a start.
But it's word of mouth that rules this world.
And I'm telling you to read Anthony Marra's new book, "The Tsar of Love and Techno." Not because it has music in the title, but because it will make you forget about your little life and its everyday troubles and will take you away to a world so horrible you'll be thankful you live on the underside of this great nation of ours.
Maybe you read Marra's previous book, "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena." Probably not, because it's about war in Chechnya, which most Americans can't pick out on a map, certainly not me, all I know is the Russians got their ass kicked there. Kinda the way Apple's getting its ass kicked in streaming music. The big kahuna doesn't always win. That's a myth we believe in in order to make order in this world. If the Yankees spend a fortune they should be World Champions, right? But no, little KC and St. Louis are the powerhouses.
Not that I would have bought "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena," it was a gift from Daniel Glass. Who sends items on a regular basis, because he cares. Kinda strange in today's dog eat dog world where everybody's out for themselves. But Daniel learned from the masters decades back, before life got coarse, and he's passionate about music, but nearly equally as passionate about books.
As am I.
Didn't used to be. It was the Kindle that got me. Felice bought me one for my birthday back in 2009 and I've been on a reading tear ever since. I was intrigued by not only the new technology, but the low price of books, I felt I was on the leading edge of a revolution, which I was until the publishing industry and its compliant authors took back the power from the Seattle giant and killed the business. You see they wanted it for themselves. Which is kinda why novels are stagnant. Because it's a club and you're not a member, they don't want you. You think record execs are bad, publishers are much worse, kinda like movie executives on steroids, people who believe they're better than us. And I'm not going to laud the uneducated, but the publishing world is everything I hate about New York, where your pedigree rules and it's all about keeping everybody else down. Come on, have you seen Donald Trump's act?
Books are so passe it's laughable. And so many are written by graduates of writing workshops where the standard is unreadability. It's like they pack their tomes with words you have to look up to make them feel better about themselves. Whereas the first criterion of a book is readability.
And I'd be lying if I told you "The Tsar of Love and Techno" cuts like butter. I'm the kind of reader who has to get everything, who can't skim, who wants to be able to picture it in my mind. But I advise you to run roughshod and go for the plot, and then you'll get into the rhythm of this book.
Of short stories.
No, wait a minute, hold on, they're linked!
Yes, it's really one big book. Well, kinda slim actually. But the characters reappear and when they do it's like finding out the clue to a crossword you didn't know you were doing, the satisfaction is palpable.
As is the wisdom.
That's why I read novels, for the wisdom.
"People who have it easy are always telling you how hard it is."
EUREKA! BINGO! THAT'S IT!
People who are truly working hard don't complain, they believe the results of their efforts are sufficient. But dilettantes, those who need us to admire them, they keep telling us how hard their lives are...as they go nowhere.
"Wealth announces itself with what's easy to break and impossible to clean."
Ever see a white rug in a poor person's house? Where you find plastic plates and linoleum flooring?
"You know I hate stories."
I live for them. I want to hear yours. Where you came from, how you got here, where you want to go, how you feel about it all. Especially the loss, the one who got away, the time you got fired...I want to experience your humanity. But someone close to me does not. If it's more than sentence, she tells you to stop. I thought she was the only one, but now I've read this book.
"...but the obvious is only obvious when it happens to someone else. We've all ended up with men we'd pity others for marrying."
Everybody is not a winner, everybody can't be married to a movie star. Life is about compromise, about seeing the good, which ultimately transcends the mediocre, the less than you hoped for. If you're not willing to roll with the changes, you're not going to get anywhere. Kinda like the people I know who never married, no one was ever good enough. And you don't have to be that good, you just have to stop judging and stop worrying about what other people think. Because so many people have a heart of gold if you'd just start mining for it.
"It takes nothing less than the whole might of the state to erase a person, but only the error of one individual - if that is what memory is now called - to preserve her."
I guess you've got to read the book to get that one. About the artist whose job it is to paint people out of history, the one who turns his brother into the government.
This all happens in Russia. From the revolution to now. What's it like to be right and still be wrong. Just ask the people who plead guilty to get out of jail...we've got that problem in modern America, those who didn't do it who say they did so they can get back to their regular lives sooner.
And then there are those exiled to Siberia. Where the mines will kill you and you can kiss ass but you're still not getting back to Moscow.
Unless you're beautiful.
But then you're haunted by where you came from...until you screw up and return. It's as if Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie lost all their money and cred and had to return to where they grew up, and you rubbed elbows with them at the grocery store, what would that feel like? Read this book and you'll find out.
We're in this together.
But we don't know it. I'd say those in power want to keep us divided but the truth is they can't shoot straight, and life is so difficult that if we just stopped trying to climb the greased pole, if we were just nicer to each other, if we just realized we were the same...
We'd be so much happier.
--
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Monday 19 October 2015
Rhinofy Resend
It's not you, it's me.
My inbox is filling up with messages from people who did not get the last three missives. Turns out it was a blacklist problem... Sending e-mail is nearly impossible these days, because of the spammers. The only way to find out if the problem is truly fixed is to try again, so...
No missives were sent after October 9th's "New World" until October 16th's "Rhinofy-Joni Mitchell Playlist," on Friday October 16th.
Let's see if this works...
RHINOFY-JONI MITCHELL PLAYLIST
NATHAN LA FRANEER
If you bought "Joni Mitchell," aka "Song To A Seagull," when it came out, you're a member of a very exclusive club or you're lying. There were no famous covers, no big media campaign, the record barely made a noise. Yet, when you discovered it sometime thereafter, which you did if you were a big Joni Mitchell fan, you became enraptured, because of the sound. This is my favorite cut on the LP, the story of a ride to the airport. Exquisitely recorded by Art Cryst and produced by David Crosby this is the sound of enough money to get it right, it's evidence of a lost art. Hearing the album is akin to viewing ancient relics of the Mayans and the Greeks.
MICHAEL FROM MOUNTAINS
Probably the most well-known song from the first album, you'll get this on the very first listen.
CACTUS TREE
Oh, that guitar!
You can't help but get hooked by the lyrics, I'll let you listen...
CHELSEA MORNING
By this time many knew who Joni Mitchell was, she was the woman who'd written Judy Collins's big hit "Both Sides Now."
This song, the second on Joni's second album, "Clouds," is the reason Chelsea Clinton sports that moniker, although the Clintons knew the tune from Collins's cover.
TIN ANGEL
This is the opener of "Clouds," from back when you didn't have to hit them right between the eyes to get their attention, when an album was a relatively brief statement we devoured. This was produced by Paul Rothchild, of Doors fame.
"I found someone to love today"
It sounds like she did.
Love is private, you smile on the inside, "Tin Angel" sounds like that inner glow.
I DON'T KNOW WHERE I STAND
My second favorite cut on "Clouds"...
This is the opposite of today's paradigm, wherein everybody evidences an indomitable confidence, even women. But if you've ever risked love, you know...that sometimes you don't know.
Whew!
THAT SONG ABOUT THE MIDWAY
My favorite cut on "Clouds," I completely missed it until I heard Bonnie Raitt's cover years later. Bonnie's rendition is better, but there's something haunting about Joni's original, like she's sitting in your living room singing, but not to you, but to a distant rogue you've never encountered that she's obsessing over.
SONGS TO AGING CHILDREN COME
Featured in the 1969 film of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," it's in the funeral/cemetery scene, in the snow. I saw it and never forgot it.
BOTH SIDES NOW
Yes, Joni includes her most famous song on her second album. It's the same, yet different, sans the production and the twinkly, hooky riff.
FOR FREE
The debut was good, the follow-up was excellent, but "Ladies Of The Canyon" was TRANSCENDENT! This level of greatness was not infrequent back then, we didn't expect it to become so elusive in the future.
"And I play if you have the money
Or if you're a friend to me"
Ditto. I'll do loads of favors for friends, I'll put my fingers to keyboard for you, everybody else pays...always.
CONVERSATION
The best track on "Ladies Of The Canyon," it's the story of having a better relationship with someone than they do with their significant other, at least in your eyes.
Conversation is everything. Doesn't matter how you look, how rich you might be, if you've got the gift of gab, if you can not only persuade but empathize, you're gonna win in the lottery of life.
"She removes him like a ring
To wash her hands
She only brings him out to show her friends
I want to free him"
But you can't, he's got to free himself.
THE ARRANGEMENT
"You could have been more
Than a name on the door
On the thirty-third floor in the air"
Do you wonder whether all those Ivy League graduates in finance are gonna wake up and realize they've taken the wrong path?
OF COURSE!
Life was different in the boomer era, personal fulfillment superseded remuneration, it wasn't until Reagan took office that we all started to dash for cash. And we counted on artists like Joni Mitchell to keep us honest.
RAINY NIGHT HOUSE
Supposedly about Leonard Cohen, this does not affect your appreciation of the track, which sounds like a rainy night, you know, just the two of you in the house, finding out who each other are.
THE PRIEST
A magical elixir of words and sounds, it'll penetrate your soul.
BIG YELLOW TAXI
I only include it because it's one of Joni's most famous tracks. It's been overplayed and over-covered, but her take still sounds fresh, it has not suffered from the passage of time.
"Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone"
Every baby boomer knows this lyric and verbalizes it and plays it through his brain constantly. Is change good or bad? Should you hold on or let go? I DON'T KNOW!
"They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot"
This was just at the advent of the Back To The Land movement, when we realized America's unchecked development might have a cost. Now we know it does.
WOODSTOCK
Released subsequent to the famous Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young version, it doesn't sport the iconic riff, but it does evidence loads more meaning.
THE CIRCLE GAME
Already a famous song, Joni put her personal stamp upon it.
ALL I WANT
The piece-de-resistance, "Blue" is one of the best albums ever cut. Not huge upon its release, it has stood the test of time, it's there waiting to be discovered by future generations. Taylor Swift was clueless as to its existence until I told her about it on the phone, she listened and subsequently titled her next album "Red."
"I am on a lonely road and I am traveling"
That's what we used to do, go on road trips. Before flights were cheap and we traveled to distant locations on a whim.
"I want to be strong I want to laugh along
I want to belong to the living"
My credo. I sing "All I Want" whenever I'm extremely happy, when I'm newly in love, after meeting Felice.
CALIFORNIA
"I'm going to see the folks I dig
I'll even kiss a Sunset pig
California I'm coming home"
Either you get it or you don't, either you need to live in the Golden State or you don't.
There are many tracks about my adopted homeland, but this one is definitive.
A CASE OF YOU
My favorite song on "Blue," "A Case Of You" was an album track buried on the second side which has been plucked free by generations, covered by everyone from Tori Amos to Prince, it evidences humanity and truth and has got that astounding metaphor.
"Oh I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
Oh I would still be on my feet"
THE LAST TIME I SAW RICHARD
Exes. You were in love once, the memory fades, but never ever goes away, you're bonded forever, you share something personal that no one else does, but you can never ever recreate what you once had.
What a conundrum.
YOU TURN ME ON I'M A RADIO
Joni finally had a hit! You could hear her on the radio!
There's a bit of pandering to the format, the track is slick, but it's so infectious!
"I know you don't like weak women
You get bored so quick
And you don't like strong women
'Cause they're hip to your tricks"
I feel for the other sex, we make it tough. We want to be understood and coddled, we want to be treated just right, we keep sending messages that you're overbearing or inadequate. Joni understands.
Meanwhile, I've used the below lines in romantic encounters numerous times, they always seem to kill the deal, the opposite of my desire.
"Call me at the station
The lines are open"
BLONDE IN THE BLEACHERS
Male rock stars are pursuing something that can't be found, they believe if they become rich and famous their lives will work. Alas, this is not true.
WOMAN OF HEART AND MIND
Shocking because of the inclusion of the f-word, a no-no back in '72, "Woman Of Heart And Mind" is the best track on "For The Roses," it's the one I play most today.
"You know the times you impress me most
Are the times when you don't try
When you don't even try"
Heed this. The harder you work it, the more you turn us off. You appear desperate, you need to be loved, and that's unappealing to everybody. Just try to be yourself, it will work...with some.
LESSON IN SURVIVAL
"I get so damn timid
Not at all the spirit
That's inside of me
Oh baby I can't seem to make it
With you socially"
We want to be our best selves, but somehow we cannot. Even though we might have been able to once.
This is just a smidge of the plethora of truth in this track.
BARANGRILL
Hooky. I used to hear this in my head before the mallization of America, before you saw the same restaurants everywhere.
THE SAME SITUATION
Despite a mild radio hit, "For The Roses" underperformed, it was darker than "Blue," it ended up being for fans only, which is why it was such a surprise that "Court And Spark" was so gigantic.
"Caught in my struggle for higher achievements
And my search for love
That don't seem to cease"
I'd rather listen to Joni Mitchell on women's issues than Sheryl Sandberg any day of the week. Joni delineates the issues more clearly, she evidences the frustration, the questions, she makes males understand.
This is my favorite track on the album. Laden with insecurity, which everyone can identify with.
FREE MAN IN PARIS
"There's a lot of people asking for my time
They're trying to get ahead
They're trying to be a good friend of mine"
The best description of business I've ever encountered, it's the story of my life, it's why I no longer talk on the phone, they want to chew up my time just to serve themselves.
Supposedly about David Geffen, this was a hit despite being so personal, proving that platitudes are not necessary for mainstream success.
HELP ME
Seemingly every woman got the message that spring of '74, they all went out and bought "Court And Spark," they wanted to be escorted on their journey to love, "Help Me" was ubiquitous, played by everyone who'd fallen...in love that is.
PEOPLE'S PARTIES
Genius. This is Hollywood. Still. I sing this in my head all the time, especially when I'm at an affair which everybody would die to be at while I'm wondering what I'm doing there.
"Saying laughing and crying
You know it's the same release"
Where this expression became famous. Truly.
DOWN TO YOU
Intimate, quiet, more like what came before as opposed to the rest of "Court And Spark," "Down To You" would fit perfectly on "Ladies Of The Canyon."
"Everything comes and goes
Marked by lovers and styles of clothes"
I knew it then, I know it more now, that's the power of the artist, making truth self-evident.
TWISTED
A cover, Joni rescued the song from obscurity, made it famous for the ages.
COLD BLUE STEEL AND SWEET FIRE
1974's double live album was a bit too slick, but some songs shone, like this.
WOMAN OF HEARD AND MIND
A bit slower, this live iteration has even more meaning than the original, if that's possible.
IN FRANCE THEY KISS ON MAIN STREET
I'd be lying if I told you I loved 1975's jazz-influenced "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns." This track is the most famous and most palatable to old fans.
SONG FOR SHARON
"Hejira" is a revelation. It did not restore Joni Mitchell's sales success, casual fans moved on, but the hard core who bought and digested the LP were absolutely stunned, there was a new level of insight, the album is incredible.
This eight and a half minute epic is the centerpiece. Just listen.
However, I must point out the words I hear in my head too much, when those frustrated by modern life can no longer endure it:
"A woman I knew just drowned herself
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
Or punishing somebody
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions
It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction"
When "Hejira" came out I was close to that line, I'm much further away today, I've got to give credit to "Song For Sharon" for keeping me here.
REFUGE OF THE ROADS
With the legendary Jaco Pastorius on bass, "Refuge Of The Roads" was about a road trip, it closed the LP, it set your mind free.
The road used to set you free, before modern technology, before cell phones, before Instagram, when life was interior as opposed to exterior, when you were so often alone, in your own mind, with the tunes as your only companion.
FURRY SINGS THE BLUES
Handy is cast in bronze, I saw him when I went to Beale Street, I looked for him, I couldn't leave Memphis without seeing him. Joni brought W.C. back from the dead, he's fading into the woodwork again.
AMELIA
An incredible sound, the track is about Amelia Earhart, from back before most baby boomers knew who she was.
THE THREE GREAT STIMULANTS
I saw Joni at the Troubadour, a special guest, she was unannounced, there were few in the venue, she played this accompanied only by herself, the performance was indelible, as great as anything I've ever seen.
"I saw a little lawyer on the tube
He said 'It's so easy now anyone can sue'"
It was 1985, lawyers were in love, yuppies ruled, what once was was now gone.
But the music remains.
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/1LuHKHH
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My inbox is filling up with messages from people who did not get the last three missives. Turns out it was a blacklist problem... Sending e-mail is nearly impossible these days, because of the spammers. The only way to find out if the problem is truly fixed is to try again, so...
No missives were sent after October 9th's "New World" until October 16th's "Rhinofy-Joni Mitchell Playlist," on Friday October 16th.
Let's see if this works...
RHINOFY-JONI MITCHELL PLAYLIST
NATHAN LA FRANEER
If you bought "Joni Mitchell," aka "Song To A Seagull," when it came out, you're a member of a very exclusive club or you're lying. There were no famous covers, no big media campaign, the record barely made a noise. Yet, when you discovered it sometime thereafter, which you did if you were a big Joni Mitchell fan, you became enraptured, because of the sound. This is my favorite cut on the LP, the story of a ride to the airport. Exquisitely recorded by Art Cryst and produced by David Crosby this is the sound of enough money to get it right, it's evidence of a lost art. Hearing the album is akin to viewing ancient relics of the Mayans and the Greeks.
MICHAEL FROM MOUNTAINS
Probably the most well-known song from the first album, you'll get this on the very first listen.
CACTUS TREE
Oh, that guitar!
You can't help but get hooked by the lyrics, I'll let you listen...
CHELSEA MORNING
By this time many knew who Joni Mitchell was, she was the woman who'd written Judy Collins's big hit "Both Sides Now."
This song, the second on Joni's second album, "Clouds," is the reason Chelsea Clinton sports that moniker, although the Clintons knew the tune from Collins's cover.
TIN ANGEL
This is the opener of "Clouds," from back when you didn't have to hit them right between the eyes to get their attention, when an album was a relatively brief statement we devoured. This was produced by Paul Rothchild, of Doors fame.
"I found someone to love today"
It sounds like she did.
Love is private, you smile on the inside, "Tin Angel" sounds like that inner glow.
I DON'T KNOW WHERE I STAND
My second favorite cut on "Clouds"...
This is the opposite of today's paradigm, wherein everybody evidences an indomitable confidence, even women. But if you've ever risked love, you know...that sometimes you don't know.
Whew!
THAT SONG ABOUT THE MIDWAY
My favorite cut on "Clouds," I completely missed it until I heard Bonnie Raitt's cover years later. Bonnie's rendition is better, but there's something haunting about Joni's original, like she's sitting in your living room singing, but not to you, but to a distant rogue you've never encountered that she's obsessing over.
SONGS TO AGING CHILDREN COME
Featured in the 1969 film of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," it's in the funeral/cemetery scene, in the snow. I saw it and never forgot it.
BOTH SIDES NOW
Yes, Joni includes her most famous song on her second album. It's the same, yet different, sans the production and the twinkly, hooky riff.
FOR FREE
The debut was good, the follow-up was excellent, but "Ladies Of The Canyon" was TRANSCENDENT! This level of greatness was not infrequent back then, we didn't expect it to become so elusive in the future.
"And I play if you have the money
Or if you're a friend to me"
Ditto. I'll do loads of favors for friends, I'll put my fingers to keyboard for you, everybody else pays...always.
CONVERSATION
The best track on "Ladies Of The Canyon," it's the story of having a better relationship with someone than they do with their significant other, at least in your eyes.
Conversation is everything. Doesn't matter how you look, how rich you might be, if you've got the gift of gab, if you can not only persuade but empathize, you're gonna win in the lottery of life.
"She removes him like a ring
To wash her hands
She only brings him out to show her friends
I want to free him"
But you can't, he's got to free himself.
THE ARRANGEMENT
"You could have been more
Than a name on the door
On the thirty-third floor in the air"
Do you wonder whether all those Ivy League graduates in finance are gonna wake up and realize they've taken the wrong path?
OF COURSE!
Life was different in the boomer era, personal fulfillment superseded remuneration, it wasn't until Reagan took office that we all started to dash for cash. And we counted on artists like Joni Mitchell to keep us honest.
RAINY NIGHT HOUSE
Supposedly about Leonard Cohen, this does not affect your appreciation of the track, which sounds like a rainy night, you know, just the two of you in the house, finding out who each other are.
THE PRIEST
A magical elixir of words and sounds, it'll penetrate your soul.
BIG YELLOW TAXI
I only include it because it's one of Joni's most famous tracks. It's been overplayed and over-covered, but her take still sounds fresh, it has not suffered from the passage of time.
"Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone"
Every baby boomer knows this lyric and verbalizes it and plays it through his brain constantly. Is change good or bad? Should you hold on or let go? I DON'T KNOW!
"They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot"
This was just at the advent of the Back To The Land movement, when we realized America's unchecked development might have a cost. Now we know it does.
WOODSTOCK
Released subsequent to the famous Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young version, it doesn't sport the iconic riff, but it does evidence loads more meaning.
THE CIRCLE GAME
Already a famous song, Joni put her personal stamp upon it.
ALL I WANT
The piece-de-resistance, "Blue" is one of the best albums ever cut. Not huge upon its release, it has stood the test of time, it's there waiting to be discovered by future generations. Taylor Swift was clueless as to its existence until I told her about it on the phone, she listened and subsequently titled her next album "Red."
"I am on a lonely road and I am traveling"
That's what we used to do, go on road trips. Before flights were cheap and we traveled to distant locations on a whim.
"I want to be strong I want to laugh along
I want to belong to the living"
My credo. I sing "All I Want" whenever I'm extremely happy, when I'm newly in love, after meeting Felice.
CALIFORNIA
"I'm going to see the folks I dig
I'll even kiss a Sunset pig
California I'm coming home"
Either you get it or you don't, either you need to live in the Golden State or you don't.
There are many tracks about my adopted homeland, but this one is definitive.
A CASE OF YOU
My favorite song on "Blue," "A Case Of You" was an album track buried on the second side which has been plucked free by generations, covered by everyone from Tori Amos to Prince, it evidences humanity and truth and has got that astounding metaphor.
"Oh I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
Oh I would still be on my feet"
THE LAST TIME I SAW RICHARD
Exes. You were in love once, the memory fades, but never ever goes away, you're bonded forever, you share something personal that no one else does, but you can never ever recreate what you once had.
What a conundrum.
YOU TURN ME ON I'M A RADIO
Joni finally had a hit! You could hear her on the radio!
There's a bit of pandering to the format, the track is slick, but it's so infectious!
"I know you don't like weak women
You get bored so quick
And you don't like strong women
'Cause they're hip to your tricks"
I feel for the other sex, we make it tough. We want to be understood and coddled, we want to be treated just right, we keep sending messages that you're overbearing or inadequate. Joni understands.
Meanwhile, I've used the below lines in romantic encounters numerous times, they always seem to kill the deal, the opposite of my desire.
"Call me at the station
The lines are open"
BLONDE IN THE BLEACHERS
Male rock stars are pursuing something that can't be found, they believe if they become rich and famous their lives will work. Alas, this is not true.
WOMAN OF HEART AND MIND
Shocking because of the inclusion of the f-word, a no-no back in '72, "Woman Of Heart And Mind" is the best track on "For The Roses," it's the one I play most today.
"You know the times you impress me most
Are the times when you don't try
When you don't even try"
Heed this. The harder you work it, the more you turn us off. You appear desperate, you need to be loved, and that's unappealing to everybody. Just try to be yourself, it will work...with some.
LESSON IN SURVIVAL
"I get so damn timid
Not at all the spirit
That's inside of me
Oh baby I can't seem to make it
With you socially"
We want to be our best selves, but somehow we cannot. Even though we might have been able to once.
This is just a smidge of the plethora of truth in this track.
BARANGRILL
Hooky. I used to hear this in my head before the mallization of America, before you saw the same restaurants everywhere.
THE SAME SITUATION
Despite a mild radio hit, "For The Roses" underperformed, it was darker than "Blue," it ended up being for fans only, which is why it was such a surprise that "Court And Spark" was so gigantic.
"Caught in my struggle for higher achievements
And my search for love
That don't seem to cease"
I'd rather listen to Joni Mitchell on women's issues than Sheryl Sandberg any day of the week. Joni delineates the issues more clearly, she evidences the frustration, the questions, she makes males understand.
This is my favorite track on the album. Laden with insecurity, which everyone can identify with.
FREE MAN IN PARIS
"There's a lot of people asking for my time
They're trying to get ahead
They're trying to be a good friend of mine"
The best description of business I've ever encountered, it's the story of my life, it's why I no longer talk on the phone, they want to chew up my time just to serve themselves.
Supposedly about David Geffen, this was a hit despite being so personal, proving that platitudes are not necessary for mainstream success.
HELP ME
Seemingly every woman got the message that spring of '74, they all went out and bought "Court And Spark," they wanted to be escorted on their journey to love, "Help Me" was ubiquitous, played by everyone who'd fallen...in love that is.
PEOPLE'S PARTIES
Genius. This is Hollywood. Still. I sing this in my head all the time, especially when I'm at an affair which everybody would die to be at while I'm wondering what I'm doing there.
"Saying laughing and crying
You know it's the same release"
Where this expression became famous. Truly.
DOWN TO YOU
Intimate, quiet, more like what came before as opposed to the rest of "Court And Spark," "Down To You" would fit perfectly on "Ladies Of The Canyon."
"Everything comes and goes
Marked by lovers and styles of clothes"
I knew it then, I know it more now, that's the power of the artist, making truth self-evident.
TWISTED
A cover, Joni rescued the song from obscurity, made it famous for the ages.
COLD BLUE STEEL AND SWEET FIRE
1974's double live album was a bit too slick, but some songs shone, like this.
WOMAN OF HEARD AND MIND
A bit slower, this live iteration has even more meaning than the original, if that's possible.
IN FRANCE THEY KISS ON MAIN STREET
I'd be lying if I told you I loved 1975's jazz-influenced "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns." This track is the most famous and most palatable to old fans.
SONG FOR SHARON
"Hejira" is a revelation. It did not restore Joni Mitchell's sales success, casual fans moved on, but the hard core who bought and digested the LP were absolutely stunned, there was a new level of insight, the album is incredible.
This eight and a half minute epic is the centerpiece. Just listen.
However, I must point out the words I hear in my head too much, when those frustrated by modern life can no longer endure it:
"A woman I knew just drowned herself
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
Or punishing somebody
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions
It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction"
When "Hejira" came out I was close to that line, I'm much further away today, I've got to give credit to "Song For Sharon" for keeping me here.
REFUGE OF THE ROADS
With the legendary Jaco Pastorius on bass, "Refuge Of The Roads" was about a road trip, it closed the LP, it set your mind free.
The road used to set you free, before modern technology, before cell phones, before Instagram, when life was interior as opposed to exterior, when you were so often alone, in your own mind, with the tunes as your only companion.
FURRY SINGS THE BLUES
Handy is cast in bronze, I saw him when I went to Beale Street, I looked for him, I couldn't leave Memphis without seeing him. Joni brought W.C. back from the dead, he's fading into the woodwork again.
AMELIA
An incredible sound, the track is about Amelia Earhart, from back before most baby boomers knew who she was.
THE THREE GREAT STIMULANTS
I saw Joni at the Troubadour, a special guest, she was unannounced, there were few in the venue, she played this accompanied only by herself, the performance was indelible, as great as anything I've ever seen.
"I saw a little lawyer on the tube
He said 'It's so easy now anyone can sue'"
It was 1985, lawyers were in love, yuppies ruled, what once was was now gone.
But the music remains.
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/1LuHKHH
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