tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57096797792482721332024-03-13T13:10:13.481-07:00Pop Goes The BabbleDaniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-5538146340153297712019-01-30T14:46:00.002-08:002019-01-30T20:09:50.984-08:00The Return of Pokey the Puppy™<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">W</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">hen
I was a kid, I wanted to be a cartoonist. So I wrote and drew a comic strip
about my dog, Pokey (1978-1992). Just recently a box of personal items was
recovered from the last house I had lived in. It was full of scrapbooks,
photos, and tons of drawings including many of the Pokey the Puppy<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;">™</span> <span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;">comics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;">Now, when I say many, I mean a lot – hundreds of
strips, random drawings of Pokey</span><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;">™</span> <span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;">and other characters, and even full comic books like <i>Pokey</i></span><i><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;">™</span> </i><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;"><i>Goes to Ocracoke</i>, <i>Pokey™</i></span><i>
Goes to Egypt</i>, and a unfinished western one that has no title. I had forgotten
about most of this stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Like any aspiring cartoonist, I dreamed of
getting my comics into the newspaper. Well, one of the strips did make print,
but not the funny pages (click on image to get a larger look):<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">You can click on image to get a larger look, but here's a bigger image of the strip:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So yeah, the strip appeared in a <i>Pet of the Week </i>feature in the Chapel Hill Newspaper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;">Some people may say that Pokey™</span> was a
Snoopy knock-off. Those people would be right. Snoopy indeed was the model for
the character, despite the fact she was based on my dog. Hey, I was a kid and
influence of <i>Peanuts</i> was huge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I’ve decided that, starting tomorrow, to share
the comics, one strip or page of one of the comic books every weekday until I
run out. Some are sketchy and unfinished so I</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">’</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">m going to clean up and ink in some so they</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">’</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">ll be more readable (revisionism?). But I'm going to leave the grammatical errors intact to keep their integrity (or something like that).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So I hope you’ll join me on this trip down
memory lane and get to know this sometimes very crudely drawn puppy and her
outlook on life (not really). I'll leave you with this (apparently I wanted Pokey</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">™</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> to be a rock star).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">You see? The sunglasses and all does look a bit like Snoopy<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">’</span>s Joe Cool persona. Original I was not. Still, some of the strips make attempts for Pokey to grow beyond that. Stay tuned to see how.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">More later...</span></div>
Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-4789147673910430122016-10-27T21:55:00.003-07:002016-10-28T22:46:54.155-07:00Why The Myth Of Black Cats Being Bad Luck Is An Outdated And Silly Concept<div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This piece was originally published in Heart 2 Home: The Triangle Pet Adoption Magazine in October 2011 under the title “The Myth of the Black Cat.” My re-posting it now, with some editing and slight re-writes, was inspired by the N.C. Museum of Art's screening of Edgar G. Ulmer’s THE BLACK CAT on Friday night here in my area (which I highlighted in <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/movies-news-reviews/article110145862.html">this week's Film Picks in the Raleigh N & O</a>), and also by the fact that this black cat being evil nonsense has got to end.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">W</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">hen I was in the third grade, my class took a walk on a path near our school. I was the first in line, even ahead of the teacher, and it felt good to take the lead for once. That is, until a black cat ran across the path right in front of me. One of my schoolmates behind me yelled “Ooh, you have bad luck! You have bad luck!</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">”</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> As the entire class laughed at my predicament, I felt I had been cursed by this random occurrence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />The myth of the unlucky black cat was ingrained in my schoolmates’ minds, as it is in most people’s, but few of us question where it came from.<br /><br />Many feel it can be traced back to the pilgrims, not long after they landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. The myth was wrapped up in the Christians’ fear of witchcraft, where black cats were considered a symbol of evil – part devil and part sorcery.<br /><br />It’s not been widely reported that many black cats suffered the same fate as the many women wrongly accused of being witches, because it was believed that witches often transmuted themselves into black cats to avoid death.<br /><br />The myth of the black cat is also linked to the Middle Ages. Fear of black cats caused many of them to be killed which tragically caused the bubonic plague to spread. With a shortage of cats, the rat population got incredibly out of hand. <br /><br />Another fascinating factor that enhanced the myth was Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” The short story, written in 1843, concerns a man who murders his wife and is haunted by a black cat named Pluto, who he had previously killed by hanging.<br /><br />Several film and television adaptations have been made of the story, with one of the most notable produced by Bela Lugosi and Boris Karlov in 1934. <br /><br />We’ve all seen movies with black cats mysteriously slinking through scenes. In many fantasy films, black cats have various supernatural powers and can often morph into humans. There have been so many examples of this kind of imagery that they have become part of the fabric of spooky celebrations.<br /><br />The myth continued to grow through countless retellings of these tales, references in pop culture, and sayings passed down by folks from generation to generation. Much like the superstition that breaking a mirror causes seven years of bad luck, or that it’s unlucky to open an umbrella indoors, the unlucky black cat is a myth that has stuck.<br /><br />In contrast, there are many cultures where black cats are seen as a symbol of good luck. The British, the Irish, the Scottish, and the Japanese all count the inclusion of a black cat in one’s life as a symbol of prosperity. <br /><br />To cat lovers, black cats are beautiful creatures with shiny coats just as lovable as tabbies or white cats. To non-cat people, they can come across as eerie, shadowy creatures to be fearful of. It’s no wonder such a legacy of black cat bashing has built up over the centuries. <br /><br />One part of the black cat legend that was not known to me when that cat crossed my path in the third grade was that for Germans black cats crossing your path from right to left is a bad omen, but from left to right is a good one. I can’t remember from what side the cat in question crossed in front of me, but I doubt it would’ve mattered. The myth is powerful enough without that detail.<br /><br />I bet that there are more people that have good experiences with black cats than those that have a fear of them. But perhaps there is still a negative association which is the reason black cats (and black dogs) have the most difficult time getting adopted.<br /><br />To this day there are a number of animal shelters that suspend the adoption of black cats because of the fear that they will be used in dangerous pranks or rituals. Many websites even warn owners to keep black cats inside during late October.<br /><br />What should we gather from all this? I think that it is that the myth is an outdated and silly one, and that we should respect black cats whether they cross our paths or we cross theirs. It’s their world as much as it is ours, and our often violent ways have meant worse luck for them than us. <br /><br />So let’s wish the best of luck to all black cats this Halloween season, especially the ones waiting to be adopted. </span><br />
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Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-87554374081698236142016-09-07T18:08:00.000-07:002016-09-07T20:46:35.758-07:00Notes On Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band @ Va Beach 9/5/16<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">nitially, my third time seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band was going to be on April 10th, 2016 at the Greensboro Coliseum but that show was cancelled two days beforehand in protest of North Carolina’s controversial House Bill 2.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I was proud of The Boss for taking a stand against the law that he said in a statement that “dictates which bathrooms transgender people are permitted to use,” and “attacks the rights of LGBT citizens to sue when their human rights are violated in the workplace,” but selfishly was unhappy that I wasn’t going to be able to see the man and his mighty band perform their classic fifth album <i>The River</i> in full.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Thankfully, the tour was extended and a date was added for a show at the Veterans Home Loan United Amphitheater in Virginia Beach on September 3rd. It was still </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The River Tour 2016</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> but Springsteen and Co. had stopped played the full album during the tour's second leg and the shows evolved into epic career retrospectives that sometimes only featured a few songs from the 1980 double record. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />But that didn't matter much as with Springsteen performing three and a half, sometimes four hour concerts full of rarities, deep cuts, and many fans’ requests via homemade signs, I was sure my wife and I would be witnessing a wonderful event, and I was lucky enough to score GA pit tickets so we’d be up close.<br /><br />Several weeks before the show, a fellow Bruce fan (William Fonvielle of the blog <a href="http://filmvielle.blogspot.com/">Filmvielle</a>) asked me if I was going to make a sign to request a song, and I hadn’t given that notion a thought until then. In the days before the show, I saw that Springsteen was playing several songs off of his 1973 debut <i>Greetings From Asbury Park</i> so I got to thinking that I’d love to see him do “For You” from that album at Va Beach.<br /><br />It was the song that first got me into Springsteen</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">’s music</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> over two decades ago fittingly on a road trip through New Jersey. I also liked that it was a short title that would be easy to put snugly on a piece of poster board. With magic markers and Sharpies I made thick block letters of the two words, and because there was a storm a brewing, my wife laminated it so it wouldn’t be ruined by rain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />On the Saturday morning of the show, it announced that the concert was going to be postponed until Monday, September 5th, because of that tropical storm which was named Hurricane Hermine. First HB2 and now Hermine! Happy that at least the show wasn’t cancelled, my wife and I went ahead with our trip to the area and enjoyed a nice day at Busch Gardens in nearby Williamsburg, Virginia.<br /><br />Monday afternoon, we arrived at the Amphitheatre and took part in the lottery for our place in the pit. We had a primo spot only behind a few people on the left side of the stage (“right in front of Nils! *” said Ellyn, another Bruce fan on my Facebook chat), and after hours of waiting, The Boss walked out on stage alone approximately 10 minutes before 8 pm. He proceeded to play “For You” on the </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">E Streeter Roy Bittan</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">’s </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">white grand piano. So I had made a sign for nuthin’! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />Of course, I can’t really complain about getting the song I wanted to hear, especially since the sign didn’t take long to make and rolled up easily in my pocket so it really hadn’t put me out. But most importantly, it was a gorgeous solo performance of one of my favorite Springsteen tracks which you can see <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNFukyncXxM">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The next five songs were also from <i>Greetings From Asbury Park</i>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7cs53Fog5U">“Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?,”</a> (click on the title to see my video) “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City,” “Growin’ Up,” “Spirit in the Night,” and “Lost in the Flood,” and they were all amazing full band performances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I was hoping they’d keep it up and play the entire <i>Greetings</i> album, but they went on to Springsteen’s second album, <i>The Wild, The Incident, & the E Street Shuffle</i>, for invigorating renditions of four of that albums seven cuts including the tour premiere of “E Street Shuffle,” which I captured on my iPhone:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">After that there was a mesmerizing mixture of material from the rest of his catalog which included several sign requests being honored. Springsteen picked out a big sign that said in all caps: “THIS JERSEY GUY WILL PROPOSE TO THIS JERSEY GIRL DURING A FULL BAND THUNDER ROAD.” So Bruce obliged and we got a great version of the longtime staple. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Other sign requests that were played were “Pink Cadillac,” “Mary’s Place,” and “Save My Love,” a <i>Darkness on the Edge of Town</i> outtake (available on the box set <i>The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story</i>) that’s only been played a handful of times since it’s live debut in 2010.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Another tour debut, “Factory,” which could be heard during the sound check hours before the show, was played for the occasion of Labor Day, and a rousing cover of the Isley Brothers’ classic “Shout!” (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZiwwCNH1wE">watch the video I shot of it</a>) appeared in the hits heavy encore. One of the only songs that has a permanent place in Springsteen’s setlists, his 1975 warhorse “Born To Run,” was also broken out during the encore to reconfirm its standing as one of the greatest rock songs ever, and one of the greatest concert crowd pleasers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Dancing in the Dark,” which followed, isn’t one of my favorite of Springsteen’s but it’s always fun to watch the women get picked by Bruce to play the Courtney Cox role in a stage dance with Bruce.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It was the second Bruce show for my wife, Jill, and since her first and last show was 7 years ago it was her first time seeing how well Jake Clemons nails his late, great uncle Clarence’s saxophone parts. She took a great photo of Bruce and Jake which is at the top of this post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The exhaustingly entertaining show had many highlights, one of which was Bruce’s not so smooth crowd surfing during “Hungry Heart,” which was one of the two songs that he played from <i>The River </i>(the other was </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Out on the Street”)</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">. I took video of the hilarious event – watch for The Boss pointing the people below him to move him towards the stage at 4:48:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Monday night’s Va Beach concert didn’t break any records for length (it was roughly 20 minutes shorter than the longest U.S. show to date at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on August 30th), but I’m not complaining about a show stuffed with so many satisfying musical moments. It’s definitely the best of the three shows I’ve been too – I was pretty late to the live party as my first Springsteen show was only in 2009 – and I can’t wait for the download of the recording of the show to drop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">My aforementioned friend Fonvielle said that he wondered if Bruce was “trying to create a full sense of history with these final shows to push his book” (Springsteen’s long awaited autobiography Born To Run comes out on September 27th). I bet that’s true, and I believe it’s a beautiful thing. Even though it wasn’t really a <i>River</i> show, it was a dream setlist in many respects, and it more than made up for the Greensboro cancellation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">One of the best signs that I saw a fan holding (and many others did too as it was captured by cameras a bunch of times on the jumbo screens) said “North Carolina Sez Thanks.” We sure do, Bruce. Now please come and visit after we got that bathroom bill mess cleaned up (i.e. after we get McCrory voted out of office).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">* Guitarist Nils Lofgren </span></div>
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Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-87739326978406644692015-09-09T00:03:00.000-07:002016-08-11T22:57:50.518-07:00A Year Ago Today, The Replacements Wholeheartedly Whored Their Past On Fallon <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">A</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> year ago today, on what was my 45th birthday, I received one of my favorite birthday gifts ever: my favorite band, The Replacements, made their first TV appearance in over two decades when they appeared as the musical guest on </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Previously, the acclaimed Minneapolis rock band’s last time on the tube was on the short-lived “International Rock Awards” in 1989 playing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5CaagwSYGk">a somewhat censored version of their song “Talent Show”</a> (ABC had issues with the line “feeling good from the pills we took”) from their new at the time album <i>Don’t Tell a Soul</i>. <br /><br />After a decade of being on the brink of success (or </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“suck-cess” as they put it in a song we'll get to in a few paragraphs), </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Replacements, or ‘The Mats’ as fans call them, broke up in 1991, but their cult grew larger over the years as their influence spread to new generations of fans, and other bands.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">When they re-grouped in 2013 for a trio of headline slots on North American alt-rock road-show Riot Fest, with founding members rhythm guitarist/principal song-writer Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson joined by replacement Replacements drummer Josh Freese and guitarist Dave Minehan, it seemed like it may just be a temporary reunion. You know - play the hits, cash-in, get out. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />But the response to the three concerts was ginormous, with the biggest audiences in the Mats’ entire career so why not extend it, and add a bunch more festivals into the next year? Many fans, like me, had never seen them live before, so it was a major treat to get this chance again.<br /><br />It was also a lot of fun to follow the coverage, watch the YouTube clips, and bask in the band’s renewed glory as they played to enthusiastic (for the most part) crowds at such fests as Coachella, Shaky Knees, Forecastle, Osheaga, Bumbershoot, and Boston Calling (whew, That’s a lot of fests!) way into 2014.<br /><br />Then the news came that the band was going to appear on </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Tonight Show</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> on Tuesday September 9th. This promo dropped several days before the broadcast:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This promo calls attention to the last time the Mats performed at 30 Rock on NBC, their infamous two-song appearance on “Saturday Night Live” during their tour promoting their 1985 album <i>Tim</i> that got them in trouble with the network brass back in February, 1986. The Replacements, as scruffy as can be, were introduced by an equally scruffy Harry Dean Stanton, to perform <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6yi30_what-a-mess_music">this ferocious version of “Bastards of Young.”</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">This, in my book or blog, was great rock ‘n roll TV, but because the Mats trashed both their hotel and dressing rooms, and were obviously very drunk on live television – Westerberg yells “C’mon, fucker!” to then guitarist Bob Stinson at one point – producer Lorne Michaels was reportedly extremely unhappy with the band.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Their second song later in the show, <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6yi55_that-s-where-we-re-riding_music">“Kiss Me on the Bus,”</a> was also controversial as the band members had switched clothing with each other for an even sloppier look, and it suspiciously sounds like Westerberg sings “Kiss Me on the Butt” for the song's chorus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /> Michaels considered this crude lyric change to be a “cheap shot” (according to an interview with Bob Stinson), and the angry producer banned the Replacements from ever appearing on SNL</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> again. Years later, when Westerberg appeared on the show to promote his first solo album </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">14 Songs</span></i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> in 1993, it was said that Michaels didn’t make the connection that his musical guest had been in the banned band until it was too late. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />Longtime SNL mogul Michaels is now also the Executive producer of </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Tonight Show </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">with Jimmy Fallon,</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> but by this point either he’s let bygones be bygones or he’s simply forgotten. Anyway, the news last year that the Mats were going to grace the Peacock’s airwaves was sweetened somewhat surreally by the announcement that Keith Richards, legendary guitarist for the Rolling Stones, was going to be on the show that night too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Replacements had opened for Richards, on his birthday (December 18th) incidentally, back in 1988 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, and Richards and the Stones’ music was a big influence on the band (Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, and former Mats guitarist Slim Dunlap’s solo music also all has shades of Keef’s dirty brand of rhythm and blues), but despite these connections, and many fanatics’ wishes, the two forces didn’t collaborate on this occasion – Richards was there only to promote his new children’s book “Gus and Me.” They did, however, pose for this picture in the studio’s hallway:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fallon, only 8 months after taking over as the host of “The Tonight Show,” joked in his monologue when listing the night</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">’</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">s guests that “they couldn't clear the rights for any Replacements songs, so they</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">’</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">ll be singing ‘All-Star’ by Smashmouth.”</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />Later in the show, after actress Debra Messing and Richards’ visits, the host displayed a limited edition poster print for one of the Replacements’ upcoming shows, and, with his trademark enthusiasm, told the audience that his next guests are “a massively beloved and influential rock band in the midst of their first tour since 1991,” plugged their Forest Hills gig on September 19th, and introduced the band to thunderous applause:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">As you can see, The Mats, older but still somewhat scruffy, bashed out an incredibly rousing rendition of one of their best songs, “Alex Chilton,” from their 1986 classic <i>Pleased To Meet Me</i>. The choice was perfect as the song dreams about a world in which the late, great Box Tops and Big Star front man Alex Chilton is as big as the Beatles (“Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes ‘round”); a place where the power pop legend was actually hugely popular.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The song’s invested, clever lyricism, gusto and intense tempo is such that one can believe this world is possible, maybe even within reach. In this moment playing </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Alex Chilton”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> on national TV, it felt like The Mats </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">themselves were finally the Big Stars that they long deserved to be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">For the Mats to be having this moment, long after the flame was supposedly extinguished, and use it to both pay homage to the man who Westerberg claimed was his mentor in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5CaagwSYGk">his 2010 eulogy for Chilton in the New York Times</a>, and prove that this old band has still got the goods helped make their performance as infectiously invigorating as rock music on TV can get. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />The band wholeheartedly </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">nails the song in a version that's largely faithful to the original, but since Westerberg has to always screw around with something, he changed the location of Memphis to New York in one stanza, and in the line “I’m in love with that song” he replaced “with that song” with “Daff-o-dil” for some reason. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />Nine months later, after a sold-out spring tour of the U.S. dubbed the “Back by Unpopular Demand” tour, and some celebrated stops in Europe, The Replacements broke up again. Westerberg made the announcement onstage during their performance at the NOS Primavera Sound festival in Porto, Portugal on June 15th. The news wasn’t a complete surprise as throughout the tour, Westerberg had hinted at it by wearing T-shirts with a different letter on both front and back every night. When put together, the shirts spelled out: “I have always loved you</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">” on one side, </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Now I must whore my past” on the other.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />He may have had a point about whoring his past since, because except for one throwaway half-assed novelty tune called “Whole Food Blues,” the reunion produced no new music. There were reports that the band had attempted laying down new material in the studio, but couldn’t quite get it together. <br /><br />If The Replacements had stayed together I had fears that they might become like The Pixies, who re-united in 2004 to play the same songs at live shows for a decade, and when they finally put out some new stuff it wasn’t very good, so maybe this was for the best.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Drummer Freese may have put it best when he posted this on Facebook right after the news: </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 19.32px;">Who would want The Replacements to hang around too long anyways? I sure wouldn't.</span>”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Still, I had been hoping that the Mats would strike while the iron was hot and crank out a new record before getting into that rut, but in the end I was happy enough that I got to see them twice - in Chicago in 2013, and Washington D.C. earlier this year - during their two-year, 33-show reunion run. Both shows were among the best live rock shows I’ve ever attended. <br /><br />The Replacements' appearance on Fallon was a undeniable highlight of their time back in the spotlight. It helped make more folks into fans, while it highly pleased the hardcore. Yet again, it felt like children by the millions were singing for their heroes as they came around, possibly for one last hurrah. If this was indeed simply a case of whoring their past – consider me a satisfied customer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">More later...</span></div>
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Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-83244631244022313022015-08-06T13:41:00.001-07:002016-09-07T18:24:51.874-07:00The 6 Times That I've Seen Elvis Costello<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">onight, I am seeing my seventh show by one of my musical heroes, Elvis Costello, and it’s at the same venue that I saw my first concert of his – Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in Raleigh, N.C. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />But this time is different as he’s not the headliner - Steely Dan is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />That’s right, a billing that would’ve never gone down before back in either band's heyday is a thing now: Costello with the Imposters, which is basically his classic band the Attractions, but with bassist Bruce Thomas replaced with Davey Faragher (Cracker, John Hiatt), paired with the ‘70s jazz pop fusion duo of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen for a summer jaunt through the states which for some reason is dubbed the “Rockabye Gollie Angel” tour.<br /><br />This will be my first Steely Dan show. I have liked a few songs of theirs throughout the years but have mostly been extremely indifferent to their output. I believe that I am not alone in being a Costello fan who was a bit miffed at first hearing about this tour, but I am determined to give “The Dan” or “The Dan of Steel” as I heard Elvis called them at one of their recent shows a chance. In the meantime, I wanted to take a look back at the six Costello shows I’ve seen over the last 20 years. So Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to 1994:<br /><br /><b>Hardee’s Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, Raleigh, NC June 18, 1994:</b><br /><br />Most folks have an artist or band that they were a casual fan of but then saw them live and become a hardcore fan. This show was that for me. I had his first several records on vinyl, and a “best of” on CD, but this show, supporting his excellent album <i>Brutal Youth</i> (released in early '94) really made me into one of those rabid fanatics who must own every single note available. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Brutal Youth</i> was a welcome return to rock after a foray into classical music with The Brodsky String Quartet (“The Juliet Letters”) and a return to his old look after what folks would refer to as “the beard years.” Many fans thought of <i>Brutal Youth</i> as <i>This Year’s Model ’94</i> – an updated version of Costello and the Attractions’ classic 1978 album – and it certainly felt that way when he opened the show with “No Action,” the first cut from that record. <br /><br />Costello played a healthy helping of the new album – 11 songs worth – and they worked well surrounded by his Attractions hits. “13 Steps Lead Down,” the first single off of “Brutal Youth” seemed like it was born to be sandwiched between “You Belong To Me” and “Radio Radio.” “13 Steps” was also significant to my friends and I because we were in the 13th row - I remember that making the chorus sing-a-long all the more powerful. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">One of the many highlights of the concert was when Costello segued his standard “Alison” dramatically into two different songs by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, “The Tracks of My Tears” and “The Tears of a Clown” – this is something he’s done a lot over the years, but it was the first time I’d heard it and it was glorious. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So glad I got to see at least one show with the full original Attractions line-up (they broke up in 1996, or more accurately – Thomas left then).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The real icing on the cake is that I met the man after show. Somehow I had scored a backstage pass and was able to chat with him for a few minutes about Johnny Cash and Sonic Youth. He signed my ticket, which I now have framed (with the backstage pass and a picture from the N & O's review) on my office wall:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Oh yeah, the opening band was Crash Test Dummies – remember their 1993 hit “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”? That’s the only song of theirs that I remember from their set.<br /><br /><b>Wolf Trap, Vienna VA 6/23/99</b><br /><br />It was five years between Costello shows because he didn’t return to North Carolina for over a decade so I drove with a friend up to Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia to catch one of the man’s shows on what was called the “Lonely World Tour.” Costello shared equal billing with his long-time keyboardist Steve Nieve, and the duo played a lengthy set - 35 songs – touching on many favorites but mostly highlighting Costello’s 1989 <i>Painted From Memory</i> collaboration with Burt Bacharach. Costello also covered Bacharach’s “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” which he had performed with him in the Austin Powers sequel “The Spy Who Shagged Me,” which was out that summer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The most memorable moment had to be when Costello was playing the show’s final song, “Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4” from his often overlooked 1991 album <i>Mighty Like a Rose</i> (from the beard years). Costello would end each show with this song, singing it without his microphone, with Nieve playing an un-amplified piano. We sat in silence listening to Costello’s voice impressively filling the amphitheatre on its own until a helicopter flew over and drowned him out briefly. Costello shrugged and we all laughed at this instance of bad timing. It left and he finished the song and the show. It was definitely worth the trip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary 9/13/07</b><br /><br />This show also consisted of Costello and Nieve, but this time backed by the North Carolina Symphony conducted by Alan Broadbent. They opened with a suite off of <i>Il Sogno</i>, his latest classical release, also worked in one of his songs off of “The Juliet Letters,” but the rest of the show was mostly Costello crowd pleasers given the added orchestral sweep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I remember it being a beautiful evening, with the music sweetly yet powerfully filling the park. Among his hits, and a few songs from his 2004 album “The Delivery Man,” Costello mixed in a bit of John Lennon’s “I Don’t’ Want To Be a Soldier” to “The River in Reverse” from his 2006 collaboration with Allen Toussaint, again added the Smokey Robinson quotes to the end of “Alison,” and finished up with the “Couldn’t Call It Unexpected No. 4” sans mike show stopper. There was no helicopter interruption this time, thankfully.<br /><br /><b>Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary 6/14/09</b><br /><br />Another show at Koka Booth but this was quite different as Costello was backed by his new acoustic band, The Sugarcanes, consisting of Jim Lauderdale, Jerry Douglas, Mike Compton, Stuart Duncan, Dennis Crouch, and Jeff Taylor. They set the tone for the evening perfectly by opening with a cover of Junior Walker’s “Mystery Train,” which was also famously covered by the other Elvis. They then knocked out a rollicking set of tracks from the just released <i>Secret, Profane & Sugarcane</i>, deep cuts like “Our Little Angel,” and “Blame in on Cain, and a number of well received covers like “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down,” “Friend of the Devil,” and oddly “Femme Fatale.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">This time “Alison” segued into “He’ll Have to Go,” a song by Joe and Audrey Allison (how apt) that Costello covered on his first attempt at country music, <i>Almost Blue</i> back in ’81. The last song of the show was “Five Small Words” which wouldn’t be released until his 2010 album <i>National Ransom</i>, also featuring the Sugarcanes. These forays into country/bluegrass have some wonderful moments, but they're not what I usually reach for when I want to hear primo Costello - something the next few shows on this list delivered in spades.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">These last 2 shows, in which Costello was backed by The Imposters, were on what was also dubbed “The Revolver Tour: The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook,” which resurrected a gimmick Costello used on a mid ‘80s tour: a large game show style wheel containing the titles of 40 songs was featured on stage. Fans were brought on stage to spin the wheel, and could dance in a go-go cage, or lounge at the “society bar” stage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">From <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/elvis-costello-setlist-belk-theater-charlotte-n-c-7-16-11">my write-up of the Charlotte show</a>: “Elvis cheated a few times when dealing with the towering game show device (‘If I can't cheat in Charlotte, where can I cheat?’ he quipped) because the huge wheel kept landing on previous selections and maybe one obscurity too many - ‘Turpentine’ for instance got passed up.” </span><div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I also tweeted at the time that it was “3 hours of power ditties, ballads, covers, and a lot of guitar shredding.” Highlights included covers of The Who’s “Substitute,” Bob Dylan’s “This Wheel’s on Fire,” and the Rolling Stones’ “Out of Time.” “Alison” again segued into “The Tracks of My Tears” but also included snatches of Jimi Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary,” and E.Y. Harburg & Harold Arlen’s “Over The Rainbow.”<br /><br />The Durham show at DPAC was more of the same but in the best possible way. It was originally scheduled for September of 2011 but was postponed until the following April because Costello’s father, Ross MacManus was sick and dying (he passed away in November 2011).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The show was again a rousing mix of Costello favorites and covers, including Johnny Cash’s “Cry! Cry! Cry!,” and a really rocking take on The Beatles’ “Please Please Me” which concluded the concert. <br /><br />I’ll have to remember that the last few times I saw Costello were these extensive three hour marathons tonight when I’m seeing him as an opener doing roughly an hour set made up of less than 15 songs. However, I bet he’ll make the most of his time on Steely Dan’s stage. Like I said before, I fully plan to give the headliners a chance, although it’s looking a lot like rain this evening and we have lawn seats, so we'll see how that goes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">More later...</span></div>
Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-84971271205704669782015-05-07T14:19:00.001-07:002017-02-23T20:53:54.178-08:00Notes on The Replacements’ unironic cover of Kiss’s “Black Diamond”<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">As I’m travelling to Washington D.C. on Friday to see my favorite band ever, <a href="http://thereplacementsofficial.com/pages/home">The Replacements</a>, who are currently on what they are calling the “Back by Unpopular Demand” tour, I’ve been re-acquainting myself with their glorious catalog - re-listening to their albums, live bootleg recordings, B-sides, etc. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">All of which reinforced that I consider them that '80s band that got me through the '90s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Some may be skeptical that it's just Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson from the original line-up, but I really like the replacement Replacements - guitarist David Minehan and drummer Josh Freese - and loved the bejesus out of them at Riot Fest in Chicago in 2013, so I'm really game for more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">A friend who is also going to the sold-out show, which unless it's postponed (the last two shows in Pittsburgh and Columbus were called off due to illness) is happening at a place called Echostage – billed as DC's newest and largest nightlife concert venue - mentioned the other day that a song he’d love to see them play is their cover of Kiss’s “Black Diamond” that appeared on their 1984 classic <i>Let it Be</i>. Man, I sure would too – the Mats (as fans call 'em - short for the nickname Placemats) really rocked that one, and to my ears gave it a little more of an edge than the original.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I thought of this when reading yet another piece about the Replacements online today, you know there are so many these days what with their reunion tour ‘n all, and it mentioned that “Black Diamond” wasn’t credited as a cover on the album.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So I went to my CD, and also grabbed my vinyl copy, and sure enough, there was no writing credit for the song on either. There’s no “all songs by” credit either, but it’s funny that there’s no mention of Kiss or specifically the songs' writer, Paul Stanley, anywhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Ed Condran, in the piece that mentioned this for <a href="http://theintell.com/">theintell.com</a>, <a href="http://www.theintell.com/life-style/to-do/the-replacements-offer-a-slice-of-musical-history/article_d4aff2cc-6c12-52f2-bbbc-ead842c2dc10.html">“The Replacements offer a slice of musical history,”</a> wrote: “The Mats failed to credit Kiss. Nobody else would do that. I always forget to inform Gene Simmons that the Replacements were punk rock enough to appropriate from the most business-oriented rocker in the business.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Doing some further Google research, I can’t find any comment about the cover by any member of Kiss. Simmons, or one of his people, posted a video of “Black Diamond” as covered by Pearl Jam on his Facebook page, but no mention of the Mats’ version anywhere. Makes me think that Simmons is like Jon Bon Jovi (or Axl Rose) and has never heard of the Replacements, and if he has would probably not be impressed and loop them in with the bands that he says look like “pizza delivery boys.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Jason Heller’s in the A.V. Club’s 2013 primer <a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/a-beginners-guide-to-paul-westerberg-and-the-repla-102761">“A beginner’s guide to Paul Westerberg and the Replacements”</a> wrote that that the cover “refuses to acknowledge the existence of irony.” It’s an apt description as most folks, particularly rock snob hipsters, would think covering Kiss would be a tongue-in-cheek gag but what makes it soar is how seriously straight the Mats play it. Even live, where the band could be at their drunk sloppiest, they never mocked the song.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In Jim Walsh’s book “The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting: An Oral History,” Craig Finn of The Hold Steady put it this way: “I had grown up on Kiss, but I understood them to be so square. And I was so blown away to hear them covering ‘Black Diamond.’ Because I didn’t have the perspective that of course they liked Kiss. I was still figuring it out. They were certainly embraced by critics and elitist people, but not for being elitist.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Yes, of course they liked Kiss. That’s the feeling you get from listening to them tackle the 1973 track – they were sinking their teeth into delicious riffs and intense lines about street hookers doing smack, because they were genuinely down with it. They wouldn’t have put it on <i>Let it Be</i>, right before “Unsatisfied” mind you, if that wasn't the case. That album’s “Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out" and “Gary’s Got a Boner” were the joke tracks, not “Black Diamond.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">According to <a href="http://www.setlist.fm/setlists/the-replacements-33d6a425.html">The Replacements setlist wiki</a>, they haven’t played the Kiss cover since 1989. I’ll be very surprised if the re-united band will break it out at tomorrow night’s show at Echostage in D.C. but I bet if they did, the response would be tremendous without a trace of irony in the house. And that’s definitely no joke.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Correction: On closer inspection of my vinyl copy of <i>Let it Be</i> (a French pressing btw), on the actual record the name Stanley is credited in tiny print. I don't have a copy of the U.S. version on vinyl, but I bet the upcoming re-issue will have it credited. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">For the record, here's Kiss's original:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And the Mats':</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Which do you prefer?</span></div>
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Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-38564101428690716102015-05-06T15:57:00.001-07:002017-08-22T12:36:07.808-07:00This Blog is Back in Town: 2015 Live Music Mania<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">After a two year break, <b>Pop Goes The Babble</b> is back! As I've been going to a lot of concerts lately, and have more coming up, I thought I'd update this long neglected blog by babblin' about them. <br /><br />2015 is shaping up to be one hell of a rich year of live music by some of my favorite artists. However, at first I wasn't planning on attending The Who's 50 anniversary tour, as it was at a venue I don't care for - Raleigh's PNC Arena - and I had seen them not long ago (in 2012 in Greensboro). But as the April 21st concert date approached last month, I felt the lure of one last go around with the iconic British band.<br /><br />Now, they’ve been billing tours as their swan songs for decades (they appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone with the caption: “The Who: The End” in 1982!), so I take all the farewell tour hype with a grain of salt. <br /><br />I also toss aside the complaint that it hasn’t really been The Who since drummer Keith Moon died in 1978, and that since bassist John Entwhistle’s death in 2002, guitarist /songwriter Pete Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey have even less right to carry on under the name.<br /><br />So they are really “The Two” as many fans call them, but when Roger screams and swings his mike, while Pete shreds and does his windmill thing, they can still satisfying summon the power of old. It helps that they have a killer backing band with Ringo’s son Zak Starkey channeling Moon on drums, Pino Palladino, who’s been brilliantly bringing the bass since Entwhistle’s passing, Townshend’s brother Simon on rhythm guitar, and Loren Gold, Frank Simes, and John Corey on various keyboard, percussion, and backing vocal duties.<br /><br />This was my fourth Who show - my first was on July 27th, 1989 at Carter Finley Stadium in Raleigh (very close to PNC), during a tour that Townshend has referred to as “The Who on ice.” The next two I attended were performances of their 1973 rock opera masterpiece “Quadrophenia” in 1997 and 2012, which were dream shows as that’s one of my all-time favorite albums.<br /><br />This show though was an all hits affair as its title stated: “The Who Hits 50” (This is also the name of a new compilation album that was on sale at the show). Daltrey and Townshend bashed their way through 22 songs touching on a batch of their ‘60s singles, tracks from “Tommy” and “Quadrophenia,” and even a couple of songs from their post Moon ‘80s period. The setlist:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“I Can’t Explain” / “The Seeker” / “Who Are You” / “The Kids Are Alright” / “I Can See for Miles” / “Pictures of Lily” / “My Generation” / “Magic Bus” / “Behind Blue Eyes” / “Squeeze Box” / “Join Together” / “You Better You Bet” / “I’m One” / “Love, Reign O’er Me” / “Eminence Front” / “A Quick One (While He’s Away)” / “Amazing Journey” / “Sparks” / “Pinball Wizard” / “See Me, Feel Me” / “Baba O'Riley” /“Won’t Get Fooled Again”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“A Quick One (While He’s Away)” was the rarest song performed, and, despite it feeling a bit rushed, was a delight. It was funny to hear Townshend suggest that folks look up the version of it on “The Rolling Stones Rock ‘N Roll Circus”on YouTube in his intro.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The closer, “Who Get Fooled Again” was a little thrown off by Daltrey flubbing a line but I disagree with Raleigh News & Observer music critic David Menconi, who wrote that it was “a blow from which it never quite recovered.”<br /><br />All in all, a great, and extremely worthwhile show. Joan Jett and the Blackheart’s 45 minute opening set was a lot of fun too. Jett had just been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two nights previous and was apparently still on a major high. She and her band, the current lineup of which includes Thommy Price (drums), Dougie Needles (guitar), Enzo Penzzotto (bass), and Kenny Laguna (keyboards), tore through these songs:<br /><br />“Bad Reputation” / “Cherry Bomb” / “Do You Wanna Touch Me” / “You Drive Me Wild” / “Light of Day” / “Love Is Pain” / “Fragile” / “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” / “Crimson & Clover” / “I Hate Myself for Loving You”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Jett has been called “the original riot grrl,” so it was fitting that the next night, Wednesday, April 22nd, I saw the torchbearers of the feminist hardcore punk movement that started in the ‘90s: Sleater-Kinney. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It was my first time seeing the trio, made up of Corin Tucker, </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Janet Weiss, and </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Carrie Brownstein, who have re-united after an absence of a decade to put out a great new album, “No Cities To Love,” and to once again tour America and Europe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It was also my first time visiting the Ritz since it had been re-modeled, but it looked pretty much how I remembered it. Seattle hip hop duo THEEsatisfaction comprised of rapper Stasia “Stas” Irons and singer Catherine “Cat” Harris-White opened the show. They were a little offbeat and quirky but their passion was endearing and the audience responded well. Not as well as when Sleater-Kinney hit the stage, but that was expected. <br /><br />With fiery energy, the three 40something-aged ladies blazed through the following songs:<br /><br />“Price Tag” / “Fangless” / “Oh!” / “Words and Guitar” / “No Cities to Love” / “The Fox” / “Youth Decay” / “Surface Envy” / “A New Wave” / “Get Up” / “All Hands on the Bad One” / “Hey Darling” / “Light Rail Coyote” / “One Beat” / “Bury Our Friends” / “Entertain” / “Jumpers”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Encore: “Gimme Love” / “Call the Doctor”/ “Dig Me Out”/ “Let’s Call It Love” / “Modern Girl” /“Turn it On”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">One of the highlights of the show was when Tucker mentioned the cover story of the previous week’s Independent written by Sleater-Kinney superfan and Nice Price Books and Records’ owner Brian Shaw. Shaw’s piece ran under the title <a href="http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/what-its-like-to-be-a-grown-man-whose-favorite-band-is-three-women/Content?oid=4374935">“What it's like to be a grown man whose favorite band is three women,”</a> so it got a sizable response when Tucker asked: “Why wouldn’t we be his favorite band?”<br /><br />Okay, that’s all for now. Coming soon: I discuss my 22nd time seeing Bob Dylan, and I fret about whether or not I’ll actually be seeing the Replacements on May 8th (they’ve cancelled a couple of shows due to illness so there’s some concern).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">More later…</span></div>
Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-9313192999055421942013-09-08T18:36:00.001-07:002013-09-08T21:10:41.130-07:00My One Day Of Hopscotch 2013<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">In previous years, I’ve usually attended at least 2 days of the <b>Hopscotch Music Festival</b> in downtown Raleigh, but this year I only made it out for one day, the third and final day of the event, Saturday the 7th.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">My brother Dave and I headed to Hopscotch around 2 PM. We got to the art gallery and frame shop, Rebus Works, which was one of the venues hosting Shopscotch day parties featuring venders, food trucks, and all kinds of arts 'n crafts. Raleigh band <b>Goner</b>, one of my local faves, performed on an outside stage and rocked hard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">During their set, Goner, made up of Scott Phillips, Chris Dalton and Greg Eyman, were joined on a few individual songs by Dan Phillips (Scott’s brother) from the band Zapruder Point, and Sam Madison from the local rockers The Bleeding Hearts. It was a fine start to our day of live music.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">After that, we went to Lincoln Theatre with the hopes of catching <b>Chris Stamey and the Fellow Travelers</b>. We got there in time to see the last several songs of their set. Stamey (pictured below) and his band, which included Skylar Gudasz, Brett Harris, Django Haskins, and Matt McMichaels, did lush arrangements of songs off of Stamey’s strong new solo album, <i>Lovesick Blues</i>. “Now this is orchestral pop!” I said to Dave at one point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We wandered around a bit afterwards then found our way to City Plaza for the headliners at the main stage that night. We didn’t see any of the set by <b>the Lollipops</b>, another Raleigh band, but we caught <b>the Breeders</b> who are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their classic album <i>Last Splash</i>. After they finished performing the entire track listing of their best known LP, the Breeders encored with songs from a few of their other discs, including their cover of the Beatles’ “Happiness is a Warm Gun” that originally appeared on their 1990 debut disc <i>Pod</i>. Check out my shaky iPhone video of them doing “Cannonball” from earlier in their show:</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/xaxV-iwznBU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: center;">A large part of the crowd scattered after the Breeders left the stage, which I guess shows that there aren't a lot of fans of the space rock music of the headlining British band Spiritualized 'round these parts, who took the stage around 8:45. But maybe their appeal is becoming more selective as Spinal Tap's manager Ian Faith would say.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I don’t know their music very well, but I agree with Raleigh News & Observer music critic David Menconi who wrote “Spiritualized followed with a series of crescendos that dazzled but never quite seemed to achieve resolution. It was plenty impressive while it lasted but still did not leave much of an impression afterward.” Read Menconi’s <a href="http://blogs.newsobserver.com/beat/hopscotch-2013-day-three">full review of Day Three for the N & O</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We then went to Slim's Downtown Distillery, which was packed, and saw a chunk (2-3 songs) of Broken Prayer's set. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It was getting late so my brother went home, but I was determined to get to Memorial Auditorium at midnight to see the great <b>John Cale</b> (pictured below), one of the founders of the seminal '60s band The Velvet Underground and creator of over 40 years of influential solo material. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I wasn’t familiar with his newest stuff, like his 2012 album <i>Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood</i>, but after witnessing him power through such tracks as “I Wanna Talk 2 U” (what a Prince-like title!), and “Scotland Yard,” I definitely aim to check out the new LP and further explore his canon (I only own <i>Paris 1919!</i>). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Whew! It was a tiring but satisfying day of good tunes and some good food and indie beer. I’m considering it a warm up for next weekend in which I travel to Chicago to attend Riot Fest for the sole purpose of seeing one of my all-time favorites, the newly re-united band <b>The Replacements</b>, play their second show in 22 years (the first was in Toronto last month). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Check back at this space to read all about it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">More later…</span></span></div>
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Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-1521299025324922862013-05-01T20:23:00.003-07:002013-05-01T20:25:37.096-07:00Son Volt, Bob Dylan, Postmodcast and the coming summer movie season<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I haven't posted in months because I've been so busy over at <a href="http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/"><b>Film Babble Blog</b></a> with coverage of Awards season, <a href="http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/2013/04/full-frame-documentary-film-festival_8.html"><b>the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival</b></a>, and, of course, the regular routine of reviewing current films, but I'm back and hope I can get back here more often.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">First up, the last show I saw was <b>Son Volt</b> at the Cat's Cradle and it was a great one. Jay Farrar and crew mostly played material from the new album, <i>Honky Tonk</i>, but a few of their alt country classics popped up in their set including “Tear Stained Eye” (from 1995's <i>Trace</i>), which I captured crudely on video:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Tomorrow night (May 2nd), the legendary <b>Bob Dylan</b> performs at Red Hat Amphitheatre in downtown Raleigh. This is going to be my 20th show of Dylan's (yep, big big fan), so I'm psyched. I don't care that he's pretty much been playing the same setlist this tour, I just want to hear his raggedy vocals take on some of the songs from his latest masterpiece, <i>Tempest</i> (particularly </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“Pay in Blood”).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I made another appearance on my friend Kevin Brewer's podcast, postmodcast (<a href="http://postmodcast.blogspot.com/2013/04/49-daniel-and-kevin-and-movies.html">Episode 49: Daniel and Kevin and the Movies</a>). Click on the highlighted title in the previous sentence to hear it.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BAw_n2sggNE/UYHa58V-WFI/AAAAAAAAJM8/-OH4beY_v8w/s1600/Iron-Man-3-IMAX-poster1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BAw_n2sggNE/UYHa58V-WFI/AAAAAAAAJM8/-OH4beY_v8w/s320/Iron-Man-3-IMAX-poster1.jpg" width="216" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Lastly, another call back to Film Babble Blog as I'm gearing up for the summer super hero sequel season. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1300854/"><b>IRON MAN 3</b></a>, opening on Friday, kicks off the season, so let's take a look back at my reviews of the first two films in the franchise, plus last summer's smash <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848228/"><b>THE AVENGERS</b></a>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/2008/05/iron-man-awesome-and-some-other-random.html">IRON MAN = AWESOME And Other Random Babble</a></b> </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>(5/4/08)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/2010/05/iron-man-2-film-babble-blog-review.html"><b><span style="font-size: large;">IRON MAN 2: The Film Babble Blog Review</span></b></a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><b>(5/10/10)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/2012/05/avengers-starts-summer-movie-season-off.html"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE AVENGERS Starts The Summer Movie Season Off Right</span></b></a> <b>(5/4/12)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Be sure to check back on Film Babble Blog on Friday for a review of IRON MAN 3, and a report here on Pop Goes The Babble about how Dylan went down. That is, if I don't lame out and neglect this blog again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">More later...</span></div>
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Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-45240521888496716142013-02-04T13:44:00.001-08:002020-09-23T13:34:17.482-07:00Ray Charles Plaza in Albany, Georgia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">his
last weekend, my wife and I went to Albany, Georgia for a family reunion
celebrating my Grandmother’s 98th Birthday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Albany
is a small town, pretty much seems like Anytown, USA located out in the middle of nowhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Not
a lot to see there, but there is the <b>Ray Charles Plaza</b> which features a very
cool statue of the legendary musician. As my Grandmother told me when I was a
kid, Charles was born in Albany on September 23, 1930, and although his
family moved from there to Greenville, Florida when he was still a baby, it’s one of the
town’s claims to fame.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On
our way out of town on Sunday we stopped by the Plaza, <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">located on the banks of the Flint River in downtown Albany</span>,
to check it out. Ray Charles' music, mostly live recordings it sounded like, coming from a bunch of small speakers placed
around the statue greets you when you enter the small park.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">There
are giant <em><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-style: normal;">piano keys</span></em></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">and treble clefts carved in the concrete, and the statue
itself, a life-sized recreation of the “Genius of Soul” singing while playing his
baby grand piano captures the iconic image of the man quite nicely.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Here's a few shots to show you what I mean:</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gfTpllc1u6Y/URLUwmuuJUI/AAAAAAAAIIA/t016aUIyQ58/s1600/ray.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gfTpllc1u6Y/URLUwmuuJUI/AAAAAAAAIIA/t016aUIyQ58/w400-h276/ray.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And here's one of the piano key walkways:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">All in all, a pretty cool tourist attraction.</span></div>
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Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-75520487521556502022013-02-01T13:12:00.000-08:002013-02-06T13:43:26.840-08:007-inch Picture Sleeve of the Week: David Bowie: “Ashes To Ashes”<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I've been neglecting this blog (only posted <a href="http://popgoesthebabble.blogspot.com/2013/01/serious-series-addiction-part-4-west.html">once</a> in January) lately because it's a busy season for <a href="http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/">Film Babble Blog</a> but I'm going to try to remedy that this month. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Last month, on his 66<sup>th</sup> Birthday (January
8<sup>th</sup>), <b>David Bowie</b> announced that he had secretly recorded a new
album entitled <i>The Next Day</i> that would be releasing in March. To whet our
appetites for the release, a video dropped online for the album’s
single “We Are We Now?” The video was posted everywhere, and the single entered the UK charts at #6. It's official: the world still wants new Bowie music.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333;">This flurry of Bowie activity inspired me to highlight the
picture sleeve for one of my favorites from his catalog: “Ashes To Ashes” from
his superb 1980 album </span><b><i><span style="background-color: white;">Scary Monsters (and
Super Creeps.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">The sleeve features Bowie as Pierrott the clown/mime with white makeup
and sinister expression. The image is framed by Warholian-colored squares each
featuring a different pose by Bowie in the same costume. The concept and art
for this cover was </span>designed
by specialist Richard<span style="background-color: #e3e3e3; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333;"> </span>Sharah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This
character, one of Bowie’s many personas over the years, appears in the video
for “Ashes To Ashes,” as much a favorite of mine as the song itself:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This is another 7-inch that I don't own, but since there are copies that aren't too expensive available on Ebay, I bet it'll find its way to my collection soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">More later...</span></div>
Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-29694807245887816912013-01-17T17:16:00.000-08:002013-01-17T17:30:26.098-08:00Serious Series Addiction Part 4: The West Wing, The X-Files, Girls, Life’s Too Short, & Enlightened<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">This is the continuation of a series of posts that started at Film Babble Blog (Read parts <a href="http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/2010/01/serious-series-addiction-wire-lost.html">1</a>, <a href="http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/2010/02/serious-series-addiction-part-2.html">2</a>, and <a href="http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/2010/05/serious-series-addiction-part-3.html">3</a>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Since I babble about TV shows here now, this will be its new home. When not seeing and writing about movies, I, like many others, am plowing through many TV series at a time. I use the time watching these shows to exercise on our (my wife and I’s) good ole stationary bike which is aimed at the television in our living room.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Recently, all 7 seasons of the presidential drama <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200276/">The West Wing</a></i> showed up on Netflix Instant. I missed a lot of them in its 1999-2006 run so I jumped right into it. With its ‘walks and talks,’ snappy dialogue, and idealistic energy it’s a great one to pedal to, even if it can get very cheesy, preachy, and downright Aaron Sorkiny.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When I look back to the political landscape of a decade ago, I prefer thinking that Jed Barlet, as embodied by the mighty Martin Sheen, was really our president as well he seemed more plausible and definitely more presidential than who he actually had in the Oval Office. The liberal democrat fantasyland version of the early to mid aughts, in which wit flows through the hallways via the arguing of vaulted staff members like Leo McGarry (John Spencer), Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe), and C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) over every issue imaginable, is insanely more preferable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I’m up to season 5 now so the characters of Matt Santos and Arnold Vinick, who will run against each other for President in the 7th season have yet to be introduced, but I’m trying not to rush through the series, by watching only 2 at a time. That usually makes for a good West Wing Workout. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sUbo8luxRVY/UPigVoCARGI/AAAAAAAAH_M/Fh3HBYNDlN0/s1600/70136138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sUbo8luxRVY/UPigVoCARGI/AAAAAAAAH_M/Fh3HBYNDlN0/s320/70136138.jpg" width="224" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The other major older show I’ve been peddling through is <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106179/">The X-Files</a></i>. Or as I call it to annoy my wife: X-Files-ercising. <br /><br />I was not a regular watcher of <i>The X-Files</i> during its 9 season run (1993-2002), but I saw it here and there and got the gist of its arc and ongoing themes. This is another show that I’m happy is available on Netflix Instant. I would hate having to deal with all the individual discs in the mail – when I was addicted to The Wire, a few years back, I was driving discs to the post office so I wouldn’t have to wait as long to get more. <br /><br />Anyway, Chris Carter’s <i>The X-Files</i> is about FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigating paranormal activity that the government denies knowledge of, but they know that the truth is out there. You can get all of this from the opening credits which has the words “paranormal activity,” “government denies knowledge,” and “the truth is out there” in big white lettering appearing through all the dark imagery serenaded by Mark Snow’s eerie theme music. <br /><br />The show consists of two types of episodes: “Monster of the Week” episodes and government conspiracy episodes. In other words sometimes the show is like an ‘80s horror movie with a supernatural entity, other times it’s like a sleek ‘90s thriller with Oliver Stone-overtones. It can be the most interesting at the beginnings and endings of seasons. I just finished season 5 which led up to the movie, “The X-Files: Fight the Future” (annoyingly not available on Instant), which I had to re-watch – not too bad a task though as the film is pretty good (not so the 2008 sequel “I Want To Believe). So that I can move on to season 6. This has been post-poned because of the West Wing Workout sessions of late however. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Two HBO shows about flawed female protagonists that just began their second seasons have also been on my viewing lists lately: Lena Dunham’s breakthrough </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723816/">Girls</a></i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">, and Laura Dern and Mike White’s Enlightened. Both the program’s 1st seasons are available on Blu ray/DVD as well, which is how I caught up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />I didn’t know what to make of <i>Girls</i> at first but it and its characters grew on me. Dunham stars as Hannah, an aspiring writer living in New York, who can’t quite get her life together. Her friends, (Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, and Zosia Mamet) are in the same boat, her boyfriend Adam (Adam Driver) “treats her heart like money meat” (her words), and her parents (Becky Ann Baker and Peter Scolari) have decided that they will no longer support her financially. <br /><br />It can seem like a lowbrow, way less fashionable version of Sex and the City, but <i>Girls</i> has its own groove that makes it a lot hipper. Dunham’s Hannah, who we often see nude, is a self absorbed, neurotic, pile of insecurities that can irk people, particularly her friends, but she feels real and fully realized in a way that many TV personas could only wish to be. Compare her to Zooey Deschanel’s Jess on the empty sitcom <i>New Girl</i>, or Mindy Kaling’s character on <i>The Mindy Project</i> for that matter. Hannah’s damaged but endearing multi-dimensions certainly win out. </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P6QuZptQh0U/UPig5pcZr_I/AAAAAAAAH_c/_O-2TJjUvT8/s1600/enlightenedsea1artpic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P6QuZptQh0U/UPig5pcZr_I/AAAAAAAAH_c/_O-2TJjUvT8/s320/enlightenedsea1artpic1.jpg" width="236" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Same goes for Laura Dern in her highly amusing half hour comedy <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1509004/">Enlightened</a></i>. Dern, plays a once successful career woman who had a mental breakdown and had to go a treatment facility. Now back at work, but demoted to a basement office position, she dreams of ways to truly change her life – exposing the corruption and corporate abuse of her workplace seems to be what she’s counting on. Mike White, who co-created the show with Dern and wrote many of the episodes, plays one of her co-workers who appears to have a crush on Dern, but is also aware that she’s a bit looney. Enlightened also features Dern’s mother Diane Ladd, and Luke Wilson as her ex-husband in juicy supporting roles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Finally, the least engaging show I’ve seen lately is an HBO comedy that doesn’t look like it will be granted a second season: </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1641247/">Life’s Too Short</a></i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">. Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Warwick Davis, the little person who played an Ewok in “Return of the Jedi” and starred in the Ron Howard fantasy film “Willow,” all take the blame for this show that posits Davis as an exaggerated full-of-himself celebrity star of his own reality show.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The process of watching Davis set himself up as the butt of every lame joke, especially when it comes to shots of him standing in a toilet or in a cheap bear costume, is painful through every episode.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This kind of humor is supposed to be cringe-inducing but it would help if it induced a few more laughs along the way. The only things that comes close to laugh getting here are cameos by the likes of Johnny Depp, Sting, and Liam Neeson, otherwise this is a drag. I hear they’ll wrap up the show with a one-hour special sometime this year. Oh, good. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">More later…</span></div>
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Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-738745822469589552012-12-27T23:49:00.000-08:002012-12-29T18:06:07.046-08:007-inch Picture Sleeve of the Week: Spinal Tap: "Christmas With The Devil"<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Although it’s a few days after Christmas, I still wanted to highlight the heavy metal satire of Spinal Tap in their 1984 seasonal offering “Christmas With the Devil,” which appeared with the sleeve above the same year their classic film “This is Spinal Tap” was released. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The track doesn’t appear in the movie, but the band – including Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean - performed it as the musical guest on the May 5th, 1984 episode of <i>Saturday Night Live</i>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unlike last week’s entry, The Velvet Underground’s “Head Held High,” Spinal Tap’s “Christmas With the Devil” is a 7-inch that I have in my collection. The B-side features a “scratch mix” of the song which, in perfect Tap fashion, is way scratchier than it needs to be.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The sleeve itself isn't that attractive - it looks like heavy metal clip art, but, again, that's fitting. The back cover features a photo of the Guest, Shearer, and McKean as their Tap characters (Derek Smalls, Nigel Tufnel, and David St. Hubbins), and the lyrics of the song with the same bright green background as the front cover.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Spinal Tap has rev-visited the song throughout their career, including a spirited rendition on <i>The Arsenio Hall Show</i> in ’92 during one of their many reunion tours (supporting their album that year – “Break Like the Wind”).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">You can watch them perform it on the ’92 tour – from “The Return of Spinal Tap,” recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall, London below:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So as the band says in unison as the song fades on the single: “This is Spinal Tap, wishing you and yours the most joyous of holiday seasons.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Ditto, from me here at <b>Pop Goes The Culture</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">More later…</span></span></div>
Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-40349217037694626572012-12-26T16:25:00.002-08:002022-11-25T12:07:59.267-08:00Celebrating the 45th Anniversary of The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /> It was 45 years ago today…that the Beatles presented to the world their first critical flop: the TV special <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061937/">Magical Mystery Tour</a></i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">On what the British call “Boxing Day,” December 26, 1967, BBC1 broadcast the 53 minute color musical special at 8:35 PM in black and white, and reaction was mixed to say the least. It was shown a few days later in color, but it was still given bad reviews. The program has gathered a better reputation over the years, because of the quality of the music and its capturing of the fab four in their psychedelic prime, but it still remains an oddity in their canon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Since I received the <i>Magical Mystery Tour</i> Deluxe Box Set for Christmas, and today is the 45th anniversary, I decided to give the spiffy new Blu ray a whirl. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched the full film, so I don’t remember a lot of it. I remember first seeing it on a VHS release in the ‘80s, and making fun of it with a Beatle-maniac friend of mine. As a kid I had loved </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">A Hard Day's Night,</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Help!,</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> and </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Yellow Submarine</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> (and still do), but this was just weird.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">One of the things I remember most from it was a grotesque scene in which John Lennon played a grinning waiter, who used a shovel to pile spaghetti onto a fat woman's plate. That's an image that certainly stands out in the color booklet that came with the original EP, and the U.S. album and is reprinted in this edition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I later came to appreciate its psychedelic significance (i.e. it’s great if you’re stoned), but it was still weird. Let’s start with its flimsy premise - the Beatles join a odd assortment of people on a bus ride to an unknown destination. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">As Malcolm McDowell put it in his narration in the drab 1982 documentary </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Compleat Beatles</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">: “Largely a project of Paul’s, the idea was to travel the English countryside in a bus filled with friends, actors and </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">circus freaks,</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> and to film whatever happened. Unfortunately, nothing did.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It opens promisingly with a bouncy montage set to the Paul-sung song “Magical Mystery Tour,” and introduces us to Ringo, still sporting his </span><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sgt. Pepper</span></i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> mustache, as the main character (as he was in previous Beatles movies) buying tickets for the bus tour. John Lennon’s narration tells us that Ringo and his Aunt Jessie (Jessie Robbins), who he’s taking on the trip, are “always arguing about one thing or another.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />They bicker throughout the film, never about anything specific, as it’s all improv. This was the biggest problem with <i>Magical Mystery Tour</i> - its famous lack of a script. There was some pie-chart-like break down of idea sections (reprinted in the slick book that comes with the box set), but no dialogue was written, so this makes the non-song parts formless and un-engaging. <br /><br />Ringo and Aunt Jessie board the bus and we meet more characters including tour director Jolly Jimmy (Derek Royle, who in a featurette on the disc tells us once played a corpse on <i>Fawlty Towers</i>), Hostess Wendy Winters (Miranda Forbes), Mr. Bloodvessel (Ivor Cutler), a little person photographer (George Claydon – later an Oompa-Loompa in </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">), a bunch of folks just credited as passengers on the bus, and the rest of the Beatles themselves, who are never properly identified or given much to do. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />The Beatles don’t even give themselves anything to do when dressed as wizards in groovy red robes and hats (their roadie Mal Evans appears as a fifth wizard), who are overseeing the bus tour from someplace up in the sky. Lennon tells us that they spend their days casting “wonderful spells,” but they don’t do anything that has any effect the entire film. Nor do they make us laugh. <br /><br />Another unfortunately unfunny element is Victor Spinetti as a indecipherable motormouth Army Sergeant. At least, since he was in </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">A Hard Day's Night</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> and </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Help!,</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> Spinetti, who died last June, offers some sort of continuity to their first three film projects. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />A lame love montage sequence between Aunt Jessie and Mr. Bloodvessel comes along to test viewer’s patience and make us wonder how could the Beatles at the height of their power think their fans would be into this? <br /><br />The best parts are, of course, the songs. Like the musical bits in their other films, the song scenes have been called precursors to modern music videos, and they’ve even been extracted and played as music videos by MTV and VH1. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Fool on the Hill” mainly features Paul McCartney walking around the countryside looking introspective, “Blue Jay Way” has George Harrison sitting looking bored lip-syching while his fingers move on a piano keyboard drawn on the floor with chalk (there’s a better version of this with George smiling and seeming more engaged in the bonus features), but the show stopper is the “I Am The Walrus” sequence, featuring the Beatles miming the song amid the towering concrete structures at the West Malling Airbase while superimposed</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> imagery and trippy visual trickery surrounds them</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">. The “Your Mother Should Know” closer with the moptops in white tuxedos dancing in formation is pretty cool too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />Surprisingly, despite these Beatles classics, the most interesting music number comes from the obscure comical rock band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band doing the lounge lizard showcase of a song “Death Cab For Cutie.” Neil Innes, who would later embody the Lennon caricature in Eric Idle’s Beatles parody “The Rutles,” can be seen plunking away on the piano. The song also features a censored strip-tease by Jan Carson for no real reason at all. <br /><br />In his <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/bonfire-of-the-vanity-projects-case-file-16-give-m,75525/">“My World of Flops” entry on </a><i><a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/bonfire-of-the-vanity-projects-case-file-16-give-m,75525/">Magical Mystery Tour</a> </i>(its combined with a take-down of Paul's 1984 dud </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Give My Regards To Broad Street</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”),</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> the A.V. Club’s Nathan Rabin wrote that <i>Magical Mystery Tour</i> “anticipates both MTV’s early days, when it seemed like anything was possible and the cost of entry was exhilaratingly low, and the gleeful absurdism of Monty Python.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Indeed, several of the segments seem like dry runs for later Python premises – Victor Spinetti’s absurd military man is echoed in Graham Chapman’s Colonel character, a marathon involving the passengers that turns into a car chase heavily resembles the “Twit of the Year” competition sketch, Lennon’s snotty waiter from the aforementioned restaurant scene is a recognizable Python archetype (see John Cleese in </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">“</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Monty Python's The Meaning of Life</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> dealing with the surreally obese Terry Jones), and even the footage of a large crowds’ reaction that’s interspersed throughout is reminiscent of the film of old ladies clapping that appeared to be in every episode of <i>Monty Python’s Flying Circus</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">This new re-mastered version of <i>Magical Mystery Tour</i> boasts a bevy of special features including a 20 minute “Making of” documentary, featurettes concerning “Ringo the Actor” and the supporting cast, an interesting “Hello Goodbye” promo, and a few cut scenes including a song by Traffic (“Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush”). The best bonus feature is the commentary by Paul McCartney, but that’s more because it’s often unintentionally funny than it is insightful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Sample quotes: “I was surprised, years later, to hear, I think it was Steven Spielberg say that they’ve shown this and taught him about it in film school as an example of a different approach to film making” and “In a way, it's sort of a disgusting scene” (guess which scene).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So there you have it, The Beatles’ <i>Magical Mystery Tour</i> TV special, still weird after all these years, finally gets a spot on my shelf. It’s a fun film to re-visit, even with its frustrating flaws. The folks at Capitol did a good job with this deluxe package. Now, please, release </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">LET IT BE</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">! Maybe next Christmas?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">More later...</span></span></div>
Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-56906034695528978672012-12-19T20:41:00.000-08:002012-12-20T10:02:55.235-08:007-inch Picture Sleeve of the Week: The Velvet Underground: “Head Held High”/”Train Round The Bend”<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>7-inch Picture Sleeve of the Week:</b> The Velvet Underground: “Head Held High” / </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Train Round The Bend”</span></div>
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This is the first installment of <b>Pop Goes The Babble's</b> <b>7-inch Picture Sleeve of the Week</b>. One of the many geeky, and hipster-ish, things about me is that I collect 7-inch vinyl singles. Not sure how many I have (need to do an inventory some day), but I have a lot of cool 45s with picture sleeves that I’ll be featuring on this blog over time. This first one, however, is not one I own – just one I like: a French pressing of The Velvet Undergound’s “Head Held High”/”Train Round The Bend.”<br />
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Despite the typo - “Bend” is printed as “Bond” – the picture sleeve is a snazzy re-purposing of Stanislaw Zagorskiof’s cover art from the LP of V.U.’s 1970 album <i>Loaded</i> with a yellow background.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The subway entrance illustration stands out more – pops, more aptly, as it’s a great example of the era’s pop art.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Obtaining an original pressing of this 7-inch will be very costly – a vintage copy lists on Ebay for $169.99. Nevertheless, one day, mark my words, it will be mine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">More later…</span></span></div>
Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-63222995576880266802012-12-19T12:42:00.000-08:002012-12-20T18:13:39.611-08:00A Couple Of HBO Comedy Series Now Out On DVD<div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">These 2 HBO comedy series drop on DVD this week:</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nT6uYm19hdw/UNImKvbtpII/AAAAAAAAHvs/rUv3RLbSS-o/s1600/funny-or-die-presents-270x400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nT6uYm19hdw/UNImKvbtpII/AAAAAAAAHvs/rUv3RLbSS-o/s320/funny-or-die-presents-270x400.jpg" width="216" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1556078/">Funny or Die Presents</a></i>: The Complete Second Season</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The huge amount of professionally funny people
involved with this half hour sketch comedy show, including co-creators / executive
producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, sadly does not equal a huge amount of
laughs in this second, and probably last season (no new episodes have been
announced) of HBO’s <i>Funny or Die Presents</i>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">For every good idea, like “Juggalo News” - the news source specifically for fans of the Insane Clown Posse, or “Brick Novak’s Diary” (a clever noir parody made with shots of action figures and models), there’s a plethora of bad ones like the smarmy Rob Huebel’s “Do You Want To See A Dead Body?” running segments, the potty-mouth and minded Police Dept. sketches (which seem to be about how many times they can say the word “butthole”), and the awkwardly unfunny “Welcome To My Study” bits with the laconic Mitch Magee. The wrap-around bits with host Ed Halligan (Steve Tom) that try to give the program a retro vibe are pretty laugh-less affairs too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Still, with appearances by <i>SNL</i> folks like Ferrell (who only appears in one stupid skit with John C. Reilly) Kristen Wiig, Rob Riggle, Bill Hader, Chris Parnell, and Rachel Dratch, along with veteran comic performers like Thomas Lennon (appearing with his <i>Reno 911</i> co-star Ben Garrant in one of the better movie satires here - “Terrorists on Flight 77”), Romany Malco (whose “Tijuana Jackson: Life Coach” shorts aren’t bad either), Rachael Harris, Fred Willard, and Ben Stiller among many recognizable others (those Tim & Eric guys are here too, but I confess I don’t “get” their stuff), hardcore comedy nerds, especially really young ones, may get their fair share of gags out of the 300 minutes (that’s the running time of all 10 episodes - there are no bonus features) available on this new 2 DVD set. For oldster comedy fans like me, the bulk of the <i>Funny or Die</i> stuff mostly dies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0950701/">The Life & Times of Tim</a></i>: The Complete Third Season</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">This is for sure the final season of this little-known animated show (well, it was little known by me) as it was cancelled by HBO last summer, so this 2 DVD set is the series’ last hurrah. With its crude animation and even cruder humor, I’m surprised it made it to its third season.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Don’t get me wrong, creator/writer/director/star Steve Dildarian’s show about New York slacker Tim can be pretty amusing, but its loose tossed-off and incredibly disposable nature didn’t suggest a long running hit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When season 3 begins, Dildarian’s Tim, who has a deadpan Ray Romano-ish delivery, is constantly lying to his girlfriend Amy (Mary Jane Otto) about his place of employment (and just about everything else), but by the end of the season, he’s back at his previous job at Omnicorp, in a lofty position as spokesperson. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Along the way Tim has a bunch of wacky adventures, usually involving embarrassing sexual mishaps, with his friends Stu (Nick Kroll), and Rodney (Matt Johnson), as well as his boss (Peter Giles), that usually have our hapless anti-hero (I guess) reacting in his sarcastically laidback manner, which I have to admit equals a bunch of genuine laughs (especially in the episode “Action-Packed Heist/Fall Foliage”).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Much like <i>Funny or Die Presents</i>, the number of comic talents involved may outnumber the number of legitimately funny moments, but <i>The Life & Times of Tim</i> has a likable and consistently amusing vibe that </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">with this 3rd season set s</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">hould add a few more members to its mini cult. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Also like the </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Funny or Die</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> DVDs, Tim contains no special features - its just the 10 episode season spread over two discs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">More later...</span></span></div>
Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-77177607323579236422012-12-18T08:25:00.000-08:002012-12-18T21:41:56.730-08:00The Flaming Lips’ “Waitin’ For a Superman” now with Superman!<div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In the mid-‘90s, before the term “mash-ups” went mainstream, somebody had the idea to sync the movie “The Wizard of Oz” with the Pink Floyd album <i>The Dark Side of the Moon</i>. The myth goes that if you hit play on <i>Dark Side</i> right on the MGM lion’s third roar, the movie and the album go together perfectly - the lyrics, music, action, and cutting all fall in line, as if it was originally planned that way by the band.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Of course, it wasn’t, but the idea of synching music to movies is appealing to me even if I’ve rarely found any examples that really work. One I think that does, I thought up sometime in the last 15 years – synch The Flaming Lips’s “Waiting For Superman” with the scene in the 1978 Richard Donner movie “Superman” in which the Man of Steel (Christopher Reeve) takes Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) on a romantic nighttime flight. If you can forgive the crappy VHS quality of the movie clip, the song fits the scene quite well, I think - check it out:</span><br />
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Nice, huh? At one time I played around with syncing a scene from Oliver Stone’s “JFK” to the overture from <i>Jesus Christ Superstar</i>, but I’m not sure I want to unveil that just yet. Maybe next year for the Kennedy assassination’s 50th anniversary! Yeah, that’d be classy.</span><br />
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Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-12755225556458721662012-12-13T13:44:00.001-08:002012-12-13T19:31:14.427-08:00Babblin’ about the rocking but exhausting 12.12.12 Concert <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Whew! The six-hour <a href="http://www.121212concert.org/">12.12.12 concert</a>, which I watched last night on VH1 Classic, wore me out. The mammoth rock star-packed concert at Madison Square Garden to raise money for the <a href="http://www.robinhood.org/rhsandy">Robin Hood Relief Fund </a>benefiting victims of Hurricane Sandy started at 7:30 with a rollicking mini-set by <b>Bruce Springsteen</b> and ended a half hour after midnight with a concluding song by <b>Alicia Keys,</b> who at 31 was the youngest performer present.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">After a opening montage of hurricane footage reminding us of all the devastating damage, the always-up-to-the task <b>Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band</b> kicked off the show with “Land of Hope and Dreams,” giving it all their trademark energy and power. “Wrecking Ball” from his most recent record of the same name followed, then an also appropriate gospel-tinged “My City of Ruins” from Springsteen’s 2002 9/11-themed album “The Rising.” In the intro to the last song, Springsteen spoke about Asbury park, getting a big crowd response when thanking “the arts community and the gay community” for the town’s recent renaissance. <br /><br />Bruce brought up<b> Jon Bon Jovi </b>to duet with him on “Born To Run” which brought on more applause, but Bon Jovi’s voice wasn’t well suited to the song – it was too clean, not enough of the grit the anthem needs. But then I’m not a fan of the man, when Springsteen said that Bon Jovi has done a lot of great things for New Jersey, I couldn’t help thinking ‘yeah, his brand of strip club rock music does a lot of good for the state’s image.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">’</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /><b>Billy Crystal</b>, who’s on the promo circuit for his new awful-looking movie “Parental Guidance,” came on to make a few quips (like “you can feel the electricity in the building which means that Long Island Power was not involved”), do his impression of De Niro from “Raging Bull,” and make pleas for donations, something he’s very experienced at from all those Comic Relief telethons. <br /><br />Susan Sarandon came on also asking for money, then introduced Pink Floyd’s <b>Roger Waters</b> to do several songs from his tour production of “The Wall” (“In The Flesh,” “The Happiest Days of Our Lives,” “Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2,”) which didn’t really seem to address the concert’s theme but the audience who largely sang along didn’t seem to care. It was great that he was joined by what I presume were the “Fear Builds Walls” dancers during “Another Brick.” <br /><br />Then Waters said it was time for some “stuff from “Dark Side” and performed “Money,” and a way too long (but then it always was) “Us and Them,” he was aided in singing by session vocalist <b>Robbie Wyckoff</b>, who looked like a blend of Daryl Hall and Eddie Vedder. Vedder was there for real, as everyone knew in advance, to do the David Gilmore vocal on the set closer “Comfortably Numb.” Vedder was well suited for the job making it a stellar version of the FM radio staple. <br /><br />Rolling Stone and Vibe writer Alan Light recently wrote a book about the legacy of the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah” (“The Holy or the Broken”), but the song may not be powerful enough to withstand <b>Adam Sandler</b>’s lame but performed with gusto satire of the song, with lines like “Hallelujah, Sandy screw you.” <b>Paul Shaffer</b> provided the piano backing, and some back-up singing, and, as usual, pulled it off without any embarrassment. <br /><br />NBC anchor <b>Brian Williams</b>, who wondered out loud if Cohen was asked permission of their “for the ages” version of “Hallelujah,” chatted with Ben Stiller at the phone bank, and then without any warning Kristen Stewart was on stage talking about Hurricane Sandy. Some mini-featurette with Bon Jovi shot like he’s in an infomercial talking up a storm about the storm is shown. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This sets up Bon Jovi’s set in which the band performed “It’s My Life,” “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” and then thankfully brought Springsteen back up onstage to duet on “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,” a song that despite that it was a huge hit, I’ve never heard before. Then the inevitable set closer “Living On A Prayer” did its best to stink up the place. <br /><br />Boy, did this make <b>Eric Clapton</b> look like God in comparison! After some fun in the phone bank with Brian Williams (hey –there’s Tony Danza!), and some Jon Stewart silliness (“When Roger Waters was out here singing, how many of you remembered where you hid your pot in ninth grade?) onstage, Clapton came out and sat down with his trusty acoustic guitar to do a tender “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.” He switched to Stratocaster to do “Got To Get Better In A Little While,” and finished up with “Crossroads.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Clapton’s never really been one of my guitar heroes, but he’s a solid presence at shows like this (though I thought he overplayed his solo on “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration at the Garden back in ’92). <br /><br /><b>Chelsea Clinton</b>, looking a little nervous, spoke for a bit about the benefit, they showed another bit of video with storm footage, and one of the evening’s most anticipated acts was introduced by the world’s biggest rock fanboy <b>Jimmy Fallon</b> (“I’ve got to tweet this, this is unbelievable”): <b>The Rolling Stones</b>, currently celebrating their 50th anniversary. <br /><br />The Stones only did two songs “You Got Me Rocking,” (from 1994’s Voodoo Lounge) and their 1968 single “Jumping Jack Flash,” but they made the most of them. Still don’t think I’ll shell out $40 to watch their pay-per-view show on Saturday night though. <br /><br /><b>Stephen Colbert</b> did his over-confident pitch for pledges, and brought out <b>Kanye West</b> who introduced <b>Alicia Keys</b>. Alone at a grand piano, Keys played “Brand New Me,” and “No One” which the audience seemed to really appreciate - with her prompting they held up their cell phones for a sea of lights effect. This surprisingly didn’t annoy me like when it does when I go to concerts in person. <br /><br />After a great shot of cast members from <i>The Sopranos </i>manning the phone banks, it was time for one of my all-time favorite bands: <b>The Who</b>. Of all people, <b>Steve Buscemi</b> introduced them, and joked about the Stones cutting their set short and of course gabbed about Sandy and some more video was shown of Robin Hood Relief Fund folks. <br /><br />It was a typical set for the Who, who I saw do <i>Quadrophenia </i>last month in Greensboro, but a fine one with by the numbers versions of “Who Are You,” “Bell Boy,” “Pinball Wizard,” “See Me Feel Me,” “Baba O’Riley,” the show-stopping “Love Reign O’er Me,” and the new, well from 2006, “Tea and Theatre,” which they also closed with when I saw them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Lead singer <b>Roger Daltrey</b>’s voice was pretty rough at times, and I wish he’d keep his shirt closed, but <b>Pete Townshend</b> did more damage to his hearing with blazing solos, and Ringo Starr’s kid Zak filled <b>Keith Moon</b>’s shoes with great pounding timing. Moon appeared via large video screens (from footage shot in ’74) to sing his part on “Bell Boy,” something that was cool to see again. <br /><br />Dapper host Williams joked about Daltrey taking his shirt off back at the phone bank and we got a better look at all the <i>Sopranos </i>people (James Gandofini got the biggest crowd reaction). After this I kinda spaced out when Crystal came back and threw it to newscaster <b>Della Crews</b>, but <b>Chris Rock</b> got my attention back. <br /><br />Rock introduced <b>Kanye West</b> who performed his set that came off like one long song in a leather skirt. With no breaks “Clique” went into “Mercy” which went into “Power” into “Jesus Walks” into “All Of The Lights” into “Run This Town” into “Diamonds From Sierra Leone” into “Diamonds.” I had to look those all up since I don’t know West’s catalog very well. More recognizable were the songs he ended his set with: “Touch The Sky,” “Gold Digger,” “Good Life,” “Runaway,” and “Stronger.” Kanye’s set didn’t make me any more of a fan, but I can’t say it wasn’t entertaining.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />Back to Williams who talked with <i>30 Rock</i>’s <b>Jack McBrayer</b>, and put up with some more tomfoolery from Fallon, then <i>SNL</i>’s <b>Seth Myers </b>and <b>Bobby Moynihan</b> doing his Drunk Uncle character. Drunk Uncle is usually pretty reliably funny on the show but here it kind of fell flat. <br /><br />After <b>Jake Gyllenhall</b> did more pitching for pledges, <b>Billy Joel</b> was up to do a lengthy (or maybe it just felt that way) set that consisted of “Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway),” “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” “New York State Of Mind,” “River Of Dreams,” and “You May Be Right, Only The Good Die Young.” Jesus, why did Joel get this many songs? <br /><br />Next, after <b>Blake Lively</b> said some stuff, the surprise in <b>Chris Martin </b>of Coldplay’s set was that <b>Michael Stipe</b> of R.E.M. showed up to duet on “Losing My Religion.” The other songs in his short set – “Viva La Vida,” and “Us Against The World” were less interesting, of course, but still crowd pleasers, even if they weren’t me-pleasers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">More phone bank fun followed, and <i>SNL</i>’s <b>Jason Sudekis </b>and the ex-Mrs. Tom Cruise <b>Katie Holmes</b> put in their two cents for why you should donate your two cents presented some more video (no disrespect, but yawn), and then Leonardo DiCaprio (not there but onscreen) introduced <b>Quentin Tarantino, Jamie Fox, </b>and<b> Christoph Waltz</b>, all from the upcoming “Django Unchained” who introduced the headliner everyone’s been waiting for: <b>Sir Paul McCartney.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Over the last day rumors have been spreading that McCartney’s set would feature a Nirvana reunion with <b>Dave Grohl, Pat Smear </b>and<b> Krist Novoselic</b> joining the ex-Beatle onstage. Well that happened, with a new song called </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“C</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">ut Me Some Slack,” which wasn’t bad but nobody is going to mistake it for either band’s classic material. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">With his tight touring band McCartney also played “Helter Skelter,” “Let Me Roll It,” “1985,” “My Valentine” (with a guest appearance by Diana Krall), “Blackbird,” “I’ve Got A Feeling,” and “Live and Let Die.” McCartney is one of those rich celebrities that refuses to age. I won’t speculate about plastic surgery, but he sure as Hell doesn’t look 70. The fact that most of his music refuses to age too balances it out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Alicia Keys came back out after Macca's set and closed the show with a poignant and fitting “Empire State of Mind Pt. 2.” </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Again, whew! After all that music, celebrities, and hurricane talk, I’m exhausted. Time to call it a blog and get some rest. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">More later...</span></span></div>
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Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709679779248272133.post-9118536200906679952012-12-12T15:13:00.000-08:002013-05-01T21:37:21.891-07:00Pop Goes The Babble’s Favorite Album of 2012: Bob Dylan’s Tempest<div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Welcome to Pop Goes The Babble!</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WegX0V9eX7Y/UMkMVmDCAsI/AAAAAAAAHqA/U55VvkUvapw/s1600/35540_409966207102_489567_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WegX0V9eX7Y/UMkMVmDCAsI/AAAAAAAAHqA/U55VvkUvapw/s200/35540_409966207102_489567_n.jpg" width="196" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">This is a new sister site to <a href="http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/">Film Babble Blog</a>, that will be mostly focused on pop culture other than movies - television shows, music, books, whatever. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">This blog will be more indulgent than Film Babble as I’ll be posting on stuff I’m into at the moment - like classic and indie rock ‘n roll, and TV series I’m currently making my way through (I’m exercise-biking through the <i>X-Files</i> right now, but you’ll hear more about that later).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">For this first post, which I believe will set the tone for the babblin' to come, here’s an essay about my favorite album of the last year:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Bob Dylan’s <i>Tempest</i>: Songs about love, death, the Titanic, and John Lennon</b></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-urGwgKKqfgA/UMkLrIbeNsI/AAAAAAAAHp4/SmuQ-mwkojo/s1600/Bob_Dylan-Tempestcolor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-urGwgKKqfgA/UMkLrIbeNsI/AAAAAAAAHp4/SmuQ-mwkojo/s320/Bob_Dylan-Tempestcolor.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Bob Dylan has one of the most divisive voices in all of pop culture. It’s a raspy croak of a voice, that’s gotten raspier and croakier throughout the years - to the point, at times, of extreme indecipherability, especially in the realm of stage performance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When Dylan last played the Triangle here in N.C., at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park three years ago, a lot of people left during his set, simply because they could not understand what the Hell he was singing. Even much loved Dylan (and rock) standards such as “Like a Rolling Stone” and “All Along the Watchtower” were unrecognizable to a large part of the audience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">However, there are folks, like me, who speak fluent Dylanese, that actually enjoy the man’s particular brand of ever-changing phrasing, no matter how hoarse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I’m part of what author Jonathan Lethem dubbed “the Biograph generation,” that is, the wave of fans that, because of their age, came to Dylan twenty years after his prime ‘60s period, around the time his career-spanning box set <i>Biograph</i> was released in 1985. Bob’s voice was considerably shot even by then, but the power of his back catalog, and the fact he still had stellar work like <i>Infidels</i> (1983) and <i>Oh Mercy</i> (1989) in him, that blunt instrument sounded pretty damn good to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Sure, Dylan’s voice has deteriorated much more since, but on a strong run of studio albums starting with 1997’s <i>Time Out of Mind</i>, he’s delivered critically acclaimed, award-winning, and, most surprisingly, chart topping music - very vital stuff that’s proved that that oh-so difficult voice is largely beside the point. </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />The 71-year old Dylan’s newest release, his 35th studio album Tempest, should further cement that position. It’s a stirring collection of songs about love, death, the Titanic, and John Lennon, that’s maybe the man’s best since 2001’s <i>Love and Theft</i>. <br /><br /><i>Tempest</i>, which was recorded with Dylan’s touring band Tony Garnier, George G. Receli, Donnie Herron, Charlie Sexton, and Stu Kimball, shares some of <i>Love and Theft</i>’s atmosphere and love of old timey blues and rockabilly (as well as a 9/11 release date), but much of it seems set in much more savage terrain. <br /><br />Take for instance, “Pay in Blood,” a stand-out rocker, with stinging Stones-like chords, that muddies up the melody from Love and Theft’s “Mississippi” to a great gravelly effect. <br /><br />When Dylan growls such lines as “You’ve got the same eyes that your Mama does, if only you’d could prove who your father was,” “this is how I spend my days, I came to bury, not to praise,” and the chorus’ “I’ll pay in blood, but not my own” we know we’re in the midst of a severely different psyche than the one who sang “I've got nothing but affection for all those who've sailed with me” a decade ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In appraising the other songs, the moon-lit ballad “Soon After Midnight,” sounds like a sequel to <i>Time Out of Mind</i>’s “Standing in the Doorway,” or a spiritual descendant of <i>Oh Mercy</i>’s “Where Teardrops Fall,” in the tradition of Dylan’s late-night laments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“Scarlet Town” channels “Ain’t Talkin’” from Dylan’s Modern Times, likewise the opener “Duquesne Whistle” has a “Thunder On The Mountain”-thing going on, but it doesn’t come across like Bob repeating himself. More like, he’s refining a style he’s been pursuing since his first album fifty years ago. </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />The dark brooding nine minute “Tin Angel” is probably the darkest and bloodiest song here, as it tells a love triangle suicide story, which gets more menacing with each verse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Of course, with Bob, you’ve got to expect a few blues shuffles and they’re there in “Narrow Way,” and the “Mannish Boy”-ish “Early Roman Kings” (featuring David Hidalgo on accordion). Some may complain about how obvious and done-to-death these swampy rhythms are, but if you’re not a fan of Bob churning out cutting couplets over deep blues progressions, then you’re just not into Bob. </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />In his fourth self-produced disc in a row, Dylan shifts through a variety of genres including ragtime, vaudeville, Chess Records R & B, swing, cocktail-lounge crooning, and, his old standby folk, which, intertwined with an Irish waltz ambience, rules on the epic Titanic-themed title song. <br /><br />“Tempest,” an almost 14-minute track about the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, makes me envision Bob sitting on his couch with his guitar watching “Titanic” on TBS, and riffing on what’s happening onscreen. How else do you explain the name dropping of “Leo” (DiCaprio), and the line about a woman telling “a sad, sad story of the great ship that went down”? <br /><br />As pivotal and engaging as the track “Tempest” is, and it does immediately join the pantheon of essential long-form Dylan songs like “Desolation Row,” "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,” “Joey,” “Brownsville Girl,” and “Highlands” (still the longest Dylan song at 16:31), Dylan’s John Lennon tribute “Roll on John,” the album’s fitting closer, is definitely more affecting. <br /><br />In what could be considered another late-night lament, Bob quotes from Beatles’ songs, and utters the epitaph: “From the Liverpool docks to the Hamburg Red-light streets, down in the quarry with the Quarrymen, playing to the big crowds, playing to the cheap seats.” A few years back, Dylan visited Lennon’s childhood home in Liverpool, and that can be felt in the affectionate reverence of “Roll on John.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Dylan’s previous album, 2009’s <i>Together Through Life</i>, had its off-the-cuff, live-in-the-studio charms, but <i>Tempest</i> is a vast improvement in arrangement, production, and songwriting, with lyrics that are as sharp as the singing is raggedy. It makes a compelling case that Bob’s voice, even at this late date, still has a mighty place in our present culture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">More later...</span></div>
Daniel Cook Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10429877492305095834noreply@blogger.com0