birthday Archives - Page 48 of 50

Woody Guthrie would have been 100

The centennial of Woody Guthrie’s birth has turned out to be more significant to me than I would have thought 20 or 30 years ago.

As I have noted, my father was a singer of folk songs when I was growing up in Binghamton, NY. I did not usually know the source of the tunes that he performed, though I have subsequently have been discovered some of this information.

Back around 2002 or 2003, The Wife and I went to see Woody Guthrie’s American Song at Capital Rep Theatre, when this brace of songs, Worried Man and Ain’t Gonna Be Treated This Way came up. Both of them were in my father’s repertoire, especially the former. This was a couple of years after my father died, and I just lost it. The Car Song was also a Woody tune my dad sang, I’ve come to realize.

Of course, I was a big fan of This Land Is Your Land, mostly the versions by Guthrie’s good friend Pete Seeger. But it wasn’t until later when I learned all those great verses that one didn’t usually hear, such as those about No Trespassing, and the relief office.

But in the 1960s and 1970s, I was probably more a fan of Woody’s son Arlo, of Alice’s Restaurant fame. Woody had died in 1967 and was a remote figure to me.

Woody came alive again for me, though, because of a pair of albums that came out at the end of the last century, Mermaid Avenue, volumes 1 and 2, where Billy Bragg and the band Wilco completed song fragments by Woody. The albums have been re-released with additional material.

The centennial of Woody Guthrie’s birth has turned out to be more significant to me than I would have thought 20 or 30 years ago.

Woody singing:
Jesus Christ
Do Re Mi
This Land Is Your Land

Coverville 884: The Woody Guthrie Cover Story

Michael Eck’s Top 10 Woody Guthrie Collaborations

Woody Guthrie at 100 by Jim Hightower

Woody Guthrie at 100: The Return of a Pariah by Billy Bragg. “Woody Guthrie was shunned by his home state. Now Oklahoma can finally embrace the singer-songwriter’s work.”

Where’s Woody when we need him? He’s right there, inside each of us.

Roger McGuinn is 70

In those early days, the “Beatles were vocal in their support of The Byrds, publicly acknowledging them as creative competitors and naming them as their favorite American group. “

The Byrds, as this video makes clear, were a group of ex-folkies who were under the influence of the Beatles. They took a Bob Dylan song, processed it with a touch of Beach Boys!, which led to a number one single in the US and the UK, Mr. Tambourine Man (listen) in 1965. McGuinn’s “jangly” twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar also is featured on the US #1, Pete Seeger’s take on the book of Ecclesiastes, Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a Season) (listen).

As Wikipedia notes, the Byrds “were pivotal in originating the musical styles of folk-rock, psychedelic rock, raga rock, and country-rock. The band underwent several line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member of the group until their disbandment in 1973.” And I followed them through the many sometimes stormy permutations. When David Crosby left the group just before the release of The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968), he was pictured on the album cover as the backside of an equine.

In those early days, the “Beatles were vocal in their support of The Byrds, publicly acknowledging them as creative competitors and naming them as their favorite American group. A number of authors…have noted The Byrds influence on The Beatles’ late 1965 album Rubber Soul, most notably on the songs Nowhere Man and If I Needed Someone (listen), the latter of which utilizes the same guitar riff as The Byrds’ cover of The Bells of Rhymney (listen).”

Other hits by the Byrds – with musical links:
Eight Miles High (1966), one of the first examples of psychedelic rock
Mr. Spaceman (1966)
So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star (1967)
My Back Pages (1967) – another Dylan cover
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (1968) – from the classic country-rock album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo

And though the group broke up back in 1973, Roger McGuinn has kept busy in the music business, as one can read on his website. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

But my favorite factoid about the leader of the group is this:
James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III), known professionally as Roger McGuinn…When he originally started with The Byrds, he used the name Jim, which he thought to be too plain. During 1965 McGuinn briefly explored the Subud spiritual association… McGuinn changed his name in 1967 after Subud’s founder Bapak told him it would better “vibrate with the universe.” Bapak sent Jim the letter “R” and asked him to send back ten names starting with that letter. Owing to a fascination with airplanes, gadgets and science fiction, he sent names like “Rocket”, “Retro”, “Ramjet”, and “Roger”, the latter a term used in signaling protocol over two-way radios, military and civil aviation. Roger was the only “real” name in the bunch and Bapak chose it.

Good pick. Happy birthday, Roger McGuinn.

Shafted into Soaps: Richard Roundtree is 70

Richard Roundtree turns 70 today.

In 1990, I was a Census enumerator, which meant I wold go door to door to count people. I used to watch the noon news, then started viewing whatever was after it. There was a soap opera featuring Richard Roundtree. Yes, Shaft himself! It was called Generations, and I ended up watching it at 12:30 pm until it died in 1991. (It had started in 1989). It was the first soap, reportedly, where about half the cast was black. Roundtree played Dr. Daniel Reubens, implicated for a crime he did not commit.

I never actually saw any of the Shaft movies, though I did see an episode or two of the short-lived (1973-1974) TV series based on them, but I was intrigued that this semi-famous movie actor was in this daytime TV show I had never heard of. The bad thing about watching it is that, eventually, I started watching Days of Our Lives at 1, and got sucked into that until some over-the-top plot line drove me away. Subsequently, I started watching Another World at 2, and I viewed it until two weeks before the end in 1999, when I got married and went on my honeymoon. But I’ve read the synopses.

My grandmother and great-aunt used to watch the CBS soaps (Guiding Light, Edge of Night, Secret Storm, and others) when I was a kid, and I’d see them quite a bit, especially the latter two (on at 3:30-4:30). As you probably know, lots of actors moved from the soap to prime time TV. I saw Henry Simmons on AW and then he spent the last 6 years on N.Y.P.D. Blue. AW’s Amy Carlson was on Third Watch, then the 4th Law & Order show.

Anyway, Richard Roundtree, who developed breast cancer in 1993 and had a double mastectomy and chemotherapy, is still a working actor. I remember him well in his guest appearance on the television series The Closer as the retired Marine colonel who was the father of a sniper.

He turns 70 today, and I wish him well, and forgive him for being my gateway drug to soap operas, an addiction I’ve now overcome.

Brian Wilson is 70: my favorite Beach Boys songs

Time to pick my Top 20 Beach Boys songs, which is sometimes changeable, though #1 has been rather consistent. Happy 70th birthday, Brian Wilson!

L-R: Wilson, Marks, Johnston, Jardine, Love

I’m watching the Grammys maybe four weeks after it aired, fast-forwarding through the stuff that didn’t interest me. Then what to my wondering eyes should appear but the Beach Boys – the REAL Beach Boys! It wasn’t a tremendous performance, with lots of “guest stars”, but it was genuine. Brian Wilson has toured occasionally, notably performing the SMiLE album. Al Jardine played with various friends and relatives. Mike Love has toured as the Beach Boys with longtime group participant Bruce Johnston. David Marks, an early Beach Boy, was also there.

Dennis Wilson drowned in 1983, and Carl Wilson died of cancer in 1998; I visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 1998 and saw nice tributes to the Carls, Perkins, and Wilson. So for me, without Jardine, and the oft-feudin’ cousins, Love and Brian Wilson, it can’t really be the Beach Boys.

The five are touring now, a 50th-anniversary summit; hear an hour of highlights from several of The Beach Boys’ recent shows. And with their new album, the Beach Boys Surpass the Beatles for Billboard 200 Record.

Time to pick my Top 20 Beach Boys songs, with links, a roster which is sometimes changeable, though #1 has been rather consistent.

20. California Girls. LOVE the intro – it is so lush. Then a geography lesson.
19. Friends. It’s a waltz. It’s about friendship.
18. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man). I was a sucker for the count-up. “14, 15, 16, 17…”
17. Transcendental Meditation. What a juxtaposition – an out-of-tune sax against the title theme. It makes me laugh.
16. Wouldn’t It Be Nice. In my freshman year in college, this was THE song for me.
15. Breakaway. This was released as a single and got all the way to #63, which I always thought was a shame.
14. Help Me, Rhonda. There are at least a couple of versions of this song; I need it to be the one with the bow-bow-bow bit.
13. Do It Again. A reiteration of the Beach Boys mission, it felt. And here’s the 50th-anniversary edition.
12. Barbara Ann. As a kid, this was so much fun to sing along with. Apparently, the song has been repopularized by the movie Despicable Me 2.
11. Darlin’. Just because it gets to the point, without a long intro.

10. Good Vibrations. Yes, it was overplayed and overrepresented in collections of 1960s music. Still, it’s a classic piece, with a difficult theremin segment.
9. Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder). I COULD put a half dozen songs from Pet Sounds on this list. There’s a great Linda Ronstadt cover of this tune.
8. In My Room. I had the tiniest bedroom in the country when I grew up, a wall carved out of a hallway. But it was my sanctuary, where I read and looked at my baseball cards.
7. Our Prayer. Short, but beautiful.
6. Don’t Worry Baby. One of the very first albums I ever owned via the Capitol Records Club was this odd compilation called Big Hits Hits from England and U.S.A. Two songs each from the Beatles, Peter & Gordon, Nat Cole, Cilla Black, plus one by Al Martino. This beautiful song was one from the Beach Boys.
5. Feel Flows. One of my college albums was Surf’s Up, much of which I could add to this list. I rediscovered this song on the end credits of the movie Almost Famous.
4. I Get Around. The other BB song from Big Hits.
3. Sail On, Sailor. Such a rugged, muscular vocal. And the guitar line kicks.
2. Til I Die. Makes me almost overwhelmingly sad.
1. God Only Knows.
“I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I’ll make you so sure about it”
I find this terribly romantic. I’m taken by the story of Brian and Carl praying before recording it, and Carl is angelic here.

Happy 70th birthday to Brian Wilson.

Paul McCartney is 70: 12 songs

When I first heard this song about John Lennon, I thought it was too cloying. Moreover, I thought Lennon would think so too.

The thing about Paul McCartney that I appreciate is that, these days, he’s still trying. Oh sure, he’s doing legacy stuff such as reissues of some of his old albums, including recently, Ram. But he’s showing up on the TV show 30 Rock and touring in Latin America, even reimagining old songs. He keeps putting out new music at a reasonable pace, even if that last album had a bunch of old songs; the less familiar I was with a song, the more I liked it. He has played for his queen and will perform at the London Olympics opening ceremonies.

Here’s my Top 12 Macca songs, with links, at least this week. I could have picked a dozen more. I’ve stayed away from live songs, and re-recordings of Beatles songs.

12. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five – the last song on the extraordinary Band on the Run album.

11. Let Me Roll It – another song from Band on the Run. I especially like the guitar line and the somewhat disconnected vocal.

10. My Valentine – a sweet song for his bride Nancy from the mostly cover album Kisses on the Bottom. Apparently, Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp used incorrect sign language in the promo.

9. Oo You – from that first McCartney solo album. Love the quality of the vocal, and the fact that it’s all Paul.

8. Jenny Wren from the 2005 album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. It does remind me of the Beatles song Blackbird a bit, but it is lovely. Here’s a shorter version.

7. Every Night – again, from the first album.

6. Here Today – from Tug of War. When I first heard this song about John Lennon, I thought it was too cloying. Moreover, I thought Lennon would think so too. But after seeing Macca perform it in a live concert (on TV), I changed my mind.

5. Band On The Run. The title cut, of course.

4. What’s That You’re Doing? The OTHER Stevie Wonder collaboration from the Tug of War album. By this point, Stevie was doing MOR stuff such as I Called to Say I Love You, so I was happy that he and Paul got a bit funky. And I’m always a sucker for a Beatles reprise.

3. My Brave Face – from the Flowers in the Dirt album. As I recall reading, Elvis Costello gave Macca permission to play Beatle Paul bass lines.

2. Jet – from Band on the Run. Again.

1. Maybe I’m Amazed – from McCartney. I remember hearing that Paul was going to be on The Ed Sullivan Show, and then being sorely disappointed that his “appearance” was actually this video. The strength of the song, though, won me over.

I have about half of Paul’s solo output, but I ended up gravitating to two or three albums for these cuts.
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Apparently, Macca saved Mark Ronson from drowning, when Ronson was a kid.

A live webcam trained on the crosswalk on Abbey Road in London where a certain Beatles cover photo was shot.