Ramblin' with Roger

Music Meme

Pete Seeger, Justin Bieber, Bobby Goldsboro, John Sebastian, Joe Jackson, Seals & Crofts, Boz Scaggs, Bobby McFerrin, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Droge, Randy Newman and Blotto are all mentioned in this post, at least one of them for no good reason.

An odd series of circumstances has gotten me writing about music far more than usual. I’d picked this meme for Monday, then needed a Q for Tuesday. I realized that I wanted to do birthday things for Billy Joel, Bono/U2, and tomorrow’s topic. I once said that sometimes the blog pieces write themselves; well, occasionally, the blog ORDER does likewise.

Here’s a meme from SamuraiFrog, also done by Scott and Jaquandor.

1. What are you listening to right now?
The Beatles Mono Box. Specifically the Past Masters, the singles, B-sides, etc.

2. What song(s) make(s) you sad?
Goodness, LOTS of songs make me sad. There are whole categories: requiems (requia?) from Mozart to Faure; certain romantic songs – such as Stay With Me by Lorraine Ellison or Gone Away by Roberta Flack. Sometimes, songs that I love that I hadn’t heard lately make me cry, such as the Blue Moon solo on Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love.

3. What is the most annoying song in the world?
Honey by Bobby Goldsboro. Wait, it’s Dominick the Donkey.

4. Your all-time favorite band?
Beatles (all time)

5. Your newly discovered band is?
I don’t know that there is one. The new music I get tends to be the same artists I’ve been buying. For instance, Levon Helm from the Band. indeed, anyone I DO discover tends to be a solo artist, such as Corrinne Bailey Rae, whose album The Sea I recommend.

6. Best female voice?
Julie Andrews. Or maybe Judy Collins.

7. Best male voice?
Nat King Cole.

8. Music type you find yourself listening to most?
Fairly eclectic, but rock mostly.

9. What do you listen to, to hype you up?
Anything with an insistent baseline, such as The Spencer Davis Group’s Keep On Running.

10. What do you listen to when you want to calm down?
Classical music, probably Bach.

11. Last gig/concert you went to?
Springsteen, last year.

12. Band you find yourself listening to the most right now?
Well, RIGHT now, I tend to listen to people whose birthday is in this week in May: Bono (U2), Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, David Byrne (Talking Heads).

13. Most hated band?
I don’t think about bands I dislike. They tend to slip out of my mind.

14. Song that makes you think?
LOTS of songs make me think. Lenten songs, for one group.

15. Band that you think the world should love as much as you do?
I don’t care what other people like; they can do what they want.

16. Coolest music video?
Ever? “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel. But I haven’t watched them in forever.

17. Music video with the most babe watch?
Robert Palmer’s? Have no idea.

18. What do you play/would you play in the bedroom to spice things up?
Mozart.

19. Can you play a musical instrument?
Kazoo.

20. Ever been in a mosh pit?
No.

21. Are you in a band?
No, but I’m in a choir. But in junior high, we tried to form a band called Ralphie’s Moonies. Had a hit song called “Pool Shark” that I still remember?

23. Ever dated a musician?
Yes. My wife played the clarinet in high school. Also, I went out with a singer for a time.

28. Do you wish yourself that you were a musician?
Some days. Or maybe I am.

29. Best chick band you know of?
The Dixie Chicks, I guess.

31. Last song that you heard on the radio/cd…etc…?
When Love Comes to Town by U2 and B.B. King

32. What do you think of Classical music?
I love it. Back in the brief period I was collecting cassettes, it was 90% classical. I don’t understand people who don’t like it, to be honest.

33. What do you think of Country music?
I like most of it. I used to listen to it as a kid. It seems, though, that more of the current commercial stuff is lite pop, and thus a bit boring.

34. What do you think of Death metal?
I don’t know what that is.

35. Last BIG band that you saw live?
Springsteen. Or does this mean Big Band, in which case it a Count Basie band. Or was it Duke Ellington’s?

36. Are you a groupie?
No.

37. Do you listen to music in foreign languages?
Sure.

38. What famous musician would you like to f***!?
Well, none, if only because the reality would never match the fantasy.

39. Worst concert moment?
Thu, 27 July 1989 Albany, NY, Palace Theatre
Joe Jackson, who I like, was performing on his BLAZE OF GLORY TOUR. After playing one, maybe two familiar songs, he played the entire first half of Blaze of Glory. Then after a couple more songs we knew, the entire second half. He felt they were complete suites with the songs segued together, but they were unfamiliar, and him playing six unknown songs in a row, especially a second time, ticked off people enough that they just got up and went to the concession stand, or, worse, just talked through the performance. They did not give the new music a chance, but I blame that largely on Jackson. At the end, more familiar tunes, but a better mix of the very same songs would have created a much better experience, for the audience, and I expect, for him.

40. Funny concert moment?
As recently mentioned, Bobby McFerrin leading an orchestra in SINGING the Lone Ranger portion of the William Tell Overture in 1999.

41. Sad concert moment?
Besides the WORST story: I saw Seals & Crofts Philharmonic (Avery Fisher) Hall, in NYC on November 12, 1971. The opening band, Boz Scaggs, was quite good, but the audience was impatient for the Baha’i duo. Being an opening act must not be a great gig sometimes.

42. Best local act you can think of?
Last local band I actually saw was probably Blotto. No that’s not true; I’ve seen local cover bands such as the Refrigerators. saw Hair of the Dog a few years back.

43. If you were a musical instrument what would you be?
A bass guitar. I feel the bass line.

44. Do you listen to the radio?
Generally wake up to a classical station.

45. Do you watch music TV?
I did from about 1982 to 1986.

46. Do you follow the music charts, like the top 40?
I did religiously until the early 1990s. Even had a subscription to Billboard, and it wasn’t cheap. But now I don’t even know most of it. When I read that Justin Bieber was the youngest solo male artist in 40 years to reach #1, I KNEW instantly that the previous artist HAD to be Donny Osmond doing Go away Little Girl, even younger than Michael Jackson when he sang Ben. I mean, I KNEW this, without looking it up. Scary.

47. Have you met any famous musicians?
Define famous. Talked a bit with Pete Seeger at an anti-apartheid demonstration. Spoke with John Sebastian very briefly. I’ve eaten at an Italian restaurant with Pete Droge and his band a couple times. I was introduced to Anita Baker. Knew the guys in Blotto.
Then there’s the Randy Newman story.

48. Are any of your friends/family/etc. musicians?
Why yes. My niece is in a singer in a band called Siren’s Crush that sings around San Diego, CA. My sister Leslie performed in Puerto Rico as a singer for six years. And my late father was well-known locally (Binghamton, NY) as a singer of folk songs.

49. Song that best describes your feelings right now?
“Daydream” by the Lovin’ Spoonful.

50. Song that describes your life?
“I’m Lucky” by Joan Armatrading.

51. Do you know the names of all the band members that you listen to?
No, but I listen to a LOT of different groups.

52. Does a musician’s physical attractiveness play a role in the music that you listen to?
Not consciously.

53. What famous musician do you want to marry?
Assuming I wasn’t married, Chaka Khan was the first name to come to mind.

53. Favourite movie soundtrack?
West Side Story. Or a Hard Day’s Night. Or Rain Man.

55. Any musician pet hates?
Vocalists who caterwaul.

56. What do your parents listen to?
My mom liked Nat Cole, and musicals such as Carousel, South Pacific, and West Side Story. My father was a fan of folk music (Harry Belafonte, Odetta, Pete Seeger), and gospel.

57. What are you listening to right NOW?
Good Night by the Beatles.

58. Do you wear band etc T-shirts?
I have a Beatles T-shirt someone gave me for my birthday a couple of years ago.

59. Do you cook to music?
I don’t cook as much as I should, but if I’m going to be a while, I’ll put on some music.

60. Do you sing in the toilet?
In the shower, yes. All the time. On the toilet, not usually.

My No Doubt story.

Q is for Queen

When I first heard the songs of the rock group Queen in the mid-1970s, I thought it was a very good group with songs such as:
*Killer Queen (#12 on the Billboard charts in the United States in 1975)
*You’re My Best Friend (#9 in 1976)
*Bicycle Race (#24 in 1978) – hey, I ride sometimes
*the rockabilly sensibilities of Crazy Little Thing Called Love (the group’s first #1, in 1980)
*Play The Game (#42 in 1980)
*the bass line-insistent Another One Bites The Dust (another #1, in 1980)
*the goofy fun of Flash (as in Gordon) (#42 in 1981)

Then Freddie Mercury died of AIDS in 1991, coincidentally the same year my friend Vito died of the same disease, and I thought the legacy of the band was over. Well, except for that annoying Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby in 1990 (#1), which swiped the instrumentation and the tune of the 1981 Queen/David Bowie performance Under Pressure (#29).

But not only did the band continue to play with other vocalists, but many of their original songs lived on.

We Are The Champions has inspired re-releases (1991 Gulf War, 1994 & 1998 World Cup, e.g.) and cover versions by various winning teams in sports around the world, usually performed very badly. The other side of that 1977 #4 single, We Will Rock You has become one of those songs that get played a great deal at US sporting events. The songs were re-released in 1992 and went to #52.

The performance of Somebody to Love on the soundtrack to the new US TV show Glee has created interest in the original (#13 in 1977) and the George Michael and Queen version (#30 in 1993), recorded for the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.

The title of Radio Ga Ga (#16 in 1984) was the inspiration for the name of the currently popular phenomenon known as Lady Gaga.

Is this…

But almost certainly, the most significant song in Queen’s oeuvre is the tiny rock opera Bohemian Rhapsody. Charting in the US in early 1976 (#9), it gained new life when it appeared in the 1992 movie Wayne’s World, when it got all the way to #2. Arguably, the best cover version is by the Muppets. (alternate location).

This is Calvin’s Canadian Cave of Cool’s favorite band, and after re-examining their music, I can better appreciate why.

So what are the rest of the members of Queen doing now?

Bassist John Deacon is retired from the music business. Drummer Roger Taylor is touring with vocalist Paul Rodgers.

The brilliant Brian May is also touring with Rodgers and Taylor. When I say brilliant, I don’t just mean his extraordinary guitar licks. In 2008, he completed “his Doctoral Thesis in Astrophysics…successfully submitted the new version of his thesis on Interplanetary Dust.” A story about him recently appeared on the front page of the Wall Street Journal: Queen Guitarist Brian May Digs Badgers Even If the Farmers Loathe Them.

Of course, the story of Freddie Mercury is told. I did enjoy reading a comic book trade story from the past couple of years called Freddie & Me, which I discussed briefly. Unfortunately, the direct link to Coverville #496, which features the rare Michael Jackson/Freddie Mercury demo to the Jacksons’ hit “State of Shock” doesn’t work; look for it on iTunes.

QUEEN lives on through its music.

ABC Wednesday

Hey, enter my giveaway contest; details on the sidebar.

Island Album

Writing about U2, writers from Kill Your Idols noted that “…those tuning in to the globally broadcast Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985, could be forgiven for thinking Christ had suddenly return in the form of a po’-faced Irish rocker.”

The fact that it’s Bono’s 50th birthday today reminded me of a conversation I had in 1988 with a friend of mine, who, as it turns out, I saw last month for the first time in months. I was making my list of maybe 20 island albums, and I placed on the roster on the list Joshua Tree by U2. My friend was practically incensed. “You can’t put that album on! It’s only a year old!”

OK, fair enough. It’s 2010. It’s still on the list.

In the past week or so, I’ve listened to all the U2 CDs I have on CD, only about nine of them, and it continues to be the one that is solid throughout.

As the Wikipedia article notes, this is both one of the best-selling and best-reviewed albums in recorded music history. Released on March 9, 1987, it was also “the first new release to be made immediately available on the compact disc, vinyl record, and cassette tape formats on the same date.”

Opposing view

So naturally, I pulled out Kill Your Idols this weekend. It’s a book, edited by Jim DeRogatis and Carmel Carrillo that trashes albums generally considered to be classics. from the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds to Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks to Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run AND Born in the U.S.A. Naturally, Joshua Tree is here too, In the essay by Eric Waggoner and Bob Mehr, the writers complain as much about the band, and especially its lead singer, as about the album itself:

“…those tuning in to the globally broadcast Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985, could be forgiven for thinking Christ had suddenly return in the form of a po’-faced Irish rocker.” Noting the way he worked the crowd, they accuse him of “acting out what appeared to be a twisted messianic fantasy…”

As for the album itself: “a wonky, ill-fitting marriage of high-minded piety and humorless determination…[it] takes no risks, rolls no dice and couches every one of its supposedly deep insights in the broadest, most hackneyed terms possible.”

All of that notwithstanding, the album immediately spoke to me on a visceral level. I didn’t dissect it, as I did with Beatles albums 20 years earlier. I just let myself feel the experience. Prone as I am to overthinking, that is not the level at which I enjoyed this particular album.

LINKS to each song:
Where the Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
With or Without You
Bullet the Blue Sky
Running to Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
In God’s Country
Trip Through Your Wires
One Tree Hill
Exit
Mothers of the Disappeared

Though I suppose the Two Americas theme resonated at some level, the country it is and the one it strives to be.
Whatever the reason, Joshua Tree is one of my 25 island records. Which is appropriate since it appears on Island Records.

Mother’s Day 2010

I saw, with my wife and daughter, my mother last month. This is a good thing; she lives in North Carolina, so it is a sometimes thing. The previous time was June 2009, with the Daughter, not my favorite visit, let’s say.

She is doing reasonably well. All her vital signs are good. Her cholesterol is in a good range, and we wonder if she still needs her medications.

She’s losing weight, about 9 or 10 pounds, and she can afford to do so, per the Body Weight Index, but it makes her look a little gaunt to me. She’s a little dehydrated, common among people of her vintage. She was 5’7″ when I was growing up, but she looks about 5’5″ now. It’s strange.

I must say that Carol is a very good mother to Lydia. These are pictures I took on the first day of school back in September. As I probably mentioned, Lydia felt ill-prepared for kindergarten, even after having been in daycare for three years. This was a self-imposed pressure, and Carol handled the situation well.

I hear some children try to pit one parent against another, and perhaps Lydia tried that when she was about four. but we’re old/WISE enough to present a united front on most issues.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, Lydia’s mom, Carol’s mom, Rebecca’s mom, Alex’s mom (the latter two would be my sisters) and all the moms out there.

The Lawn Mower QUESTION

I returned the lawn mower. You have no idea how rare that is for me to return items to a store.

I received a postcard recently telling me that I may be entitled to a $35 rebate if:
1. You purchased a lawn mower, for your own use, containing an engine with up to 30 horsepower in the United States or Puerto Rico and between January 1, 1994 and April 12, 2010.
2. Either the lawn mower or the engine of the lawn mower was manufactured or sold by a Company listed below.
3. You submit a claim.

It’s some class action lawsuit that “does not concern the safety of these lawn mowers.”

I did, in fact, purchase a lawn mower. It was 2002, give or take a year, after we moved here in 2000 and before the daughter was born in 2004. Not only did I have to mow our lawn, but the lawn of the rental property six blocks away. It was difficult to keep up with both lawns with a reel mower, which is what you call those old-fashioned machines that require only human power, not gasoline or electricity. The new machine was purchased from one of the companies listed on the website. To have a good start, you could just leave the job to the experts at King Green to take care of your lawn.

It was gas-powered, which troubled me from an environment POV, but the grass was getting long at the rental property. After mowing our lawn, which went reasonably well, I took it to the rental property, where it quickly became jammed. I unjammed it, and used it again when the grass was shorter, but I had the same problem.

So I returned it. You have no idea how rare that is. I HATE returning stuff; it’s just a hassle. But this was also a couple hundred bucks. The salesman did those things that were supposed to make me feel like scum – more attitude than actual words – but I was not to be talked out of it.

When the postcard came in the mail, the Wife said, “Should I just toss it?” After all, I had the machine for less than two weeks. I think not; let me mull it over. Am I even eligible? It requires having the serial number of the machine, which suggests current ownership. I am pretty sure that we probably DO have the serial number somewhere.

Now I’m not going to file; it seems unethical. But it was VERY tempting.

The QUESTION: Do you ever have such ethical dilemmas? Are they worse when they involve impersonal entities? Bad service?
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