Good News for Zappa Fans

Dave White has this article over on his site: 

"It seems fitting somehow that the box set commemorating the 40th anniversary of the release of two early Frank Zappa albums was about a year late. I mean, the guy lived in a log cabin with a bowling alley in the basement, so what's a year, give or take, among friends?"  read the rest here

Bob Gruen - Rock Photographer

Bob Gruen is well known for his photos of musicians, especially rock and rollers. He's probably the best out there. I took these from his site. Do you recognize them?  (i tried to number them but it wouldn't work)

Memories....

This is a bit personal, but what the hey.  I am listening to a Zeppelin song right now that always rushes me  back to a very specific place in time:

It was 1980.  I had been living in Oregon for year.  I was there because I had fallen “in love at first site” with a bass player named Bob and he asked me to live with him and be in the band.  How could I resist?  He looked like a cross between one of the Ramones (tall, thin, wild black hair) and David Cassidy – cute baby face).  ANYHOW I had been dating the same guy for four years and dumped him for this rock n roller.

After a year of Bob, our relationship was starting to fizzle out. – I think the novelty of if (he was the hot rock star, I was the blonde girl from California) simply wore off. 

So, I am sitting there on the floor one day looking out the window at the rain and my ex bf calls from California.  He says something like “hold on and listen, you're on the radio and they are going to play a song for you.”  So I stayed on the line and a KMET disc jockey announces that he is dedicating the next song from Jon in California to Layla in Oregon.  Even though the words of the song may seem insulting to some, it really got to me.  A week later Jon drove up and brought me “home”.  I think we stayed together for two weeks and finally broke up for good (then he stalked me for a year, but that’s a story for another time!)

Here are some facts about the song….can you guess what it was based on this:

 Until it was released on their boxed set in 1990, this could only be found in America on the B-side of "Immigrant Song" and in England on an Atlantic Records record sampler.

Intended for release as a single. This was odd because Zeppelin put out very few singles in order to put a premium on albums.

Never performed live by Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant played it on their 1995 tour.

(taken from Songfacts)

Happy Birthday to George Harrison

George would have been 66 years old today.

Here are some quotes I found attributed to him:

The Beatles will exist without us.

 

All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.

 

   As long as you hate, there will be people to hate.

 

I think people who can truly live a life in music are telling the world, "You can have my love, you can have my smiles. Forget the bad parts, you don't need them. Just take the music, the goodness, because it's the very best, and it's the part I give most willingly.

 

I wanted to be successful, not famous.

 

The Beatles saved the world from boredom.

 

When you've seen beyond yourself, then you may find, peace of mind is waiting there.

 

With our love, we could save the world.

 

The Beatles exist apart from my Self. I am not really Beatle George. Beatle George is like a suit or shirt that I once wore on occasion and until the end of my life people may see that shirt and mistake it for me.

 

I began to write more songs when I had more time, especially when we began to stop touring. Having Indian things so much in my head it was bound to come out.

Recognize These Lyrics:

I haven't done this in a while.  I heard a few of these songs today, can you guess what they are by these lines from they lyrics?


1.  "Mama told me not to look into the eyes of the sun, but Mama, that's where the fun is."

2.  "Alvin Tostig has a son today"

3.  "Now me and my mate were back at the shack, we had Spike Jones on the box
She said, I can't take the way he sings, but I love to hear him talk."

4.  "To find a queen without a king
They say she plays guitar and cries and sings."

5.  "How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget  ."

Bonus points:  Song 2 has a connection to something about song 3, do you know what it is?

Why I am Boycotting the Oscars Tomorrow Night:

My favorite part of the Oscar ceremonies is the red carpet - seeing who wears what and who makes a fool out of themselves by being an arrogant twerp and who seems like a sincerely nice person. But I won't be watching any of it tomorrow night because, as my friend, Pete, over at Blogness on the Edge of Town says so eloquently: this year the Oscar nominating committee really F'd Up.

Why? By leaving off what is CLEARLY one of the best movie track songs of the year. It deserved a nomination (I believe it deserved to win, but I am trying to keep my personal bias out of this as much as humanly possible).

Bruce wrote the theme song to "The Wrestler" after Mickey Rourke talked with him on the phone and told him about the movie. Bruce came through with a song that fits the movie like a glove, its perfect. Why then would the Academy not nominate it? I am not the only one who thinks this was a blatant snub, Rolling Stone agrees with me as do countless others who have seen the film and or heard the song.

Springsteen fan or not - does anyone think this song was not worthy of a nomination?  Did you see what WAS nominated?  Two songs from  Slumdog Millionaire tracks and Peter Gabriel’s “Down To Earth” from Wall-E.  (BTW Peter Gabriel is boycotting the Oscars too for his own reasons - you can read that over at Blogness).  Obviously once again its all about  power and politics in Hollywood and nothing to do with who deserves to win.  I wonder if the people who win these awards feel that way?  It must be as obvious to them as it is to us, right?

So....therefore, there will be one less person watching their silly show that obviously does not use talent and excellence as a criteria for their nominating process.

This Day in Music...

On 2/20/80 Bon Scott died of alcohol overdose.

Kurt Cobain was born on 2/20/67

Happy Birthday, Tony Ionni

I can remember listening to "Paranoid" for the first time (on an 8 Track tape!!) and thinking "who is this guy playing guitar???".   Truly one of the great rock guitarists.

I wish him a happy birthday 

Also, good news for his fans:  

HEAVEN & HELL SET TO REVEAL THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

Highly Anticipated New Album From Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice To Be Released April 28 From Rhino.

LOS ANGELES —Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice returned to the stage after 15 years in 2007, launching a triumphant world tour as Heaven & Hell. Revitalized and inspired by its time on the road, the quartet recently returned to the studio, recording the band’s first album since 1992’s Dehumanizer. The highly anticipated album, THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, will be available from Rhino on April 28.

photo by John McMurtie

New Classic Rock Blog to Check Out!

There's a new classic rock blog authored by an 18 year old college student.  Check out her blog!  She just started it, I hope she keeps it up.  Love to see a young person with excellent taste in music :)

Classic Rock for the Soul

Speaking of Dee Snider

Several of you mentioned Dee in the comments of my last post.  I remember when he appeared before Congress to speak out against Tipper Gore's Censoring campaign.  It was quite impressive.  I've never been a huge fan of Twisted Sister (although who can't like "We're Not Gonna Take It", its just a fun song!) but I am a fan of Dee.  Here is an excerpt from his address to Congress and here is the entire transcript if you care to read it.

My name is Dee Snider. That is S-n-i-d-e-r. I have been asked to come here to present my views on "the subject of the content of certain sound recordings and suggestions that recording packages be labeled to provide a warning to prospective purchasers of sexually explicit or other potentially offensive content."

Before I get into that, I would like to tell the committee a little bit about myself. I am 30 years old, I am married, I have a 3-year-old son. I was born and raised a Christian and I still adhere to those principles. Believe it or not, I do not smoke, I do not drink, and I do not do drugs.

I do play in and write the songs for a rock and roll band named Twisted Sister that is classified as heavy metal, and I pride myself on writing songs that are consistent with my above-mentioned beliefs.

There are many facets to this complex issue and time does not permit me to address all of them. However, my feelings are expressed for the most part by the August 5, 1985, letter¹ to the Parents Music Resource Center from Mr. Stanley Gortikov, president of the Recording Industry Association of America.

This letter was a formal response to the PMRC petition of the RIAA. The only part of this document I do not support is Mr. Gortikov's unnecessary and unfortunate decision to agree to a so-called generic label on some selected records. In my opinion this should be retracted.

Since I seem to be the only person addressing this committee today who has been a direct target of accusations from the presumably responsible PMRC, I would like to use this occasion to speak on a more personal note and show just how unfair the whole concept of lyrical interpretation and judgment can be and how many times this can amount to little more than character assassination.

Songs About Transvestites

Just heard "Lola" as I was driving in my car.  What a fun song to sing along to.  It got me thinking about other songs about men who dress up as women...I can think of a few and there ares some that are rumored to on that topic - but who knows for sure.

Can you think of some others?

1.  Lola, The Kinks
2.  Take a Walk on the Wild Side, Lou Reed
3.  Dude Looks Like a Lady, Aerosmith
4.  Obla di Obla da, The Beatles
5.  I Want to Break Free, Queen
6.  Sweet Transvestite (not sure who it's by)

A Quote about the 60's

Image by dbking via Flickr

"The 60's are gone, dope will never be as cheap, sex never as free and the rock and roll never as great."
Abbie Hoffman

Do you agree with this quote? 



Oh, by the way, I changed my template - did you notice? Is it too girly? I like it...I am, after all, a girl.

The Comeback of Vinyl

I know many of you (Pope, Racer and Jeff come to mind....) have been adding to their vinyl collection this year.  If you listened to this week's episode of The Ripple Effect radio show you heard about Pope and Racer practically buying out a record store near San Fransisco each walking away with over 80 albums a piece!

Dave over at About Classic Rock shared this on his blog today:

2008 was a boom year for vinyl records. Sales totaled 1,880,00 units -- nearly double the 2007 numbers, and more than in any year since Nielsen SoundScan started compiling data in 1991.

1. 'In Rainbows' - Radiohead

ATO Records

Units sold: 25,800
The biggest selling LP was also one of Radiohead's newest, originally released in 2007. It was initially distributed as a digital download, then on CD, then on vinyl, in January 2008.

2. 'Abbey Road' - The Beatles

Capitol Records

Units sold: 16,500
Originally released in 1969, it was the last album recorded by The Beatles, although not the last one released. The famous cover of Abbey Road was shot outside the studio where the album was recorded. It was one of The Beatles' most successful albums, spending 17 weeks at #1 in the U.K. and 11 weeks in the top spot in the U.S.

3. 'Chinese Democracy' - Guns N' Roses

Geffen Records

Units sold: 13,600
Released in 2008, work on the album actually started in 1994, and by 2005, production costs totaled $13-million, according to an article in New York Times. The double album LP release also included an MP3 download of the album. It was GNR's sixth studio album.

4. 'Funplex' - B-52's

Astralwerks

Unit sold: 12,800
In 2008, B-52's ended a self-imposed 16 year exile from recording with this release. The album, whose cover featured band members in "retro futuristic" garb, peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200.

Buy LP

5. 'Third' - Portishead

Mercury Records

Units sold: 12,300
Portishead's electronic music lends itself to the superior sound reproduction qualities of the LP. The Brit group's 2008 release peaked at #2 in the U.K. and #7 in the U.S.

6. 'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea' - Neutral Milk Hotel

Merge Records

Units sold: 10,200
Originally released in 1998, this album is considered something of an alt rock classic, more a critical than a commercial success. It was only the band's second album, but was its last, adding to its appeal to collectors.

7. 'Dark Side Of The Moon' - Pink Floyd

Capitol Records

Units sold: 10,200
In the first 25 years after its release, Pink Floyd's 1973 concept album sold more than 15,000,000 copies (it was certified 15x Platinum in 1998) and became the band's defining work. The 180-gram vinyl re-release in 2003 continues to sell steadily.

8. 'Fleet Foxes' - Fleet Foxes

Sub Pop

Units sold: 9,600
Seattle-based folk rockers Fleet Foxes released this, their debut album, in 2008, making them the newest act on the LP list. Rolling Stone characterized their sound as reminiscent of Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Beach Boys.

Buy LPRead Review

9. 'Death Magnetic' - Metallica

Warner Bros.

Units sold: 9,400
This record set a record, as Metallica became the first band to have five consecutive albums debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Another "new" entry on the list, it was released (LP, CD, MP3) in 2008.

10. 'OK Computer' - Radiohead

Capitol Records

Units sold: 9,300
Radiohead was the only band to place two albums on the Top 10 LP list. This one was originally released in 1997, the group's third. It has been certified 2x Platinum in the U.S. and 3x Platinum in the U.K. even though the band's U.S. label was skeptical about its sales potential prior to releasing it.

U2 on Letterman - FIVE NIGHTS IN A ROW!?

Hmmm, that's a tad odd, don't you think? But am I complaining? Heck no. But it will be hard to stay up that late to watch it.

Here's something more about it that I snagged from the U2 Exit Blog:

U2’s newly announced Late Night With David Letterman residency — they’re playing the show every weeknight from March 2 through March 6 — is “unprecedented,” according to the press release I just got. It also seems a tiny bit, well, desperate. Does a band of U2’s stature really need to work that hard to drum up interest in their new album? (No Line on the Horizon comes out March 3, a fact you will no doubt be hearing frequently if you watch Letterman that week.)

Hey, maybe they do. Nobody can count on guaranteed album sales these days, obviously, and I can’t really begrudge Bono & Co. for doing everything they can to remind their fans of their latest project. I bet I’ll end up tuning in for at least a couple of nights that week just to see how U2 is sounding, anyway. How about you? Is five nights in a row overkill, or are you thrilled to be getting so much U2 in a single week? What songs do you hope they’ll perform, once they get current single “Get On Your Boots” out of the way?

- Simon Vozick-Levinson, EW.com

Happy Birthday, Carole

I didn't know it was her birthday yesterday till I saw it on one of my favorite music blogs:
The Rock and Roll Guru. Check it out, much more elequent than my post here.

Carole turned 67 yesterday. She's written so many songs - for herself and others, that are known the world over. One of the first albums I owned as a kid was Tapestry and I memorized every word to every song....

"Natural Woman" is my all time favorite song to sing in the shower.

Happy Birthday Carole and THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the music!

An Open Letter to Mr. Plant

Dear Bob, Congrats on the huge sweep of wins at the Grammy's tonight. I'd heard you had already pounded the last nail in the coffin of any possible reunion tour, but this seals the coffin and buries it. You've moved on. I am happy for you because you look so happy. But dang it...I'm still very disappointed that one of my life long dreams will never come true!

Love ya always,

Layla

Happy Brithday Rockin Goth Chick! *

*aka as Starr from "Here Comes a Storm in the Form of a Girl". It's a very significant birthday for her so drop by and tell her an HB! (Note to Starr - been listening to Duffy all afternoon and have to agree, she totally deserves the Grammy, I hope she gets it!)

a few photos hand picked for the birthday girl:

2009 Grammy Awards - Ho Hum

I am not a fan of music awards, they are silly. I like it when REAL PEOPLE vote for who they like or other musicians vote for their PEERS but all other music shows are just for show. Its all very corporate and politically correct and biased. YET, I still enjoy watching and this year there are going to be a few good performances including U2 and Radiohead!
If I were voting here are my choices: I left most of the categories off my list because I just don’t care about country, pop, rap, etc.

BEST NEW ARTIST – the only one I listen is Adele so I guess that’s my vote.

Adele
Duffy
The Jonas Brothers
Lady Antebellum
Jazmine Sullivan

ALBUM OF THE YEAR – Radiohead hands down, for some reason the AK RP duo has always creeped me out and Chris Martin turned me off to his band and the others – don’t listen to them.

Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, Raising Sand
Coldplay, Viva La Vida
Ne-Yo, Year Of The Gentleman
Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
Radiohead, In Rainbows BEST ALTERNATIVE ALBUM – DCforC
Beck, Modern Guilt
Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs
Gnarls Barkley, The Odd Couple
My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges

BEST HARD ROCK PERFORMANCE – All I can say here is I love Nikki Sixx so let my reputation for being a hardcore rock critic be tainted, but I will vote for him for anything at anytime anywhere no matter what it sounds like….

Disturbed, "Inside The Fire"
Judas Priest, "Visions"
The Mars Volta, "Wax Simulacra"
Motley Crue, "Saints Of Los Angeles"
Rob Zombie, "Lords Of Salem"

BEST POP PERFORMANCE, MALE – Jason

Kid Rock, "All Summer Long"
John Mayer, "Say"
Paul McCartney, "That Was Me"
Jason Mraz, "I'm Yours"
Ne-Yo, "Closer"
James Taylor, "Wichita Lineman"

BEST POP PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP WITH VOCALS – Love me some Marroon 5

Coldplay, "Viva La Vida"
Eagles, "Waiting In The Weeds"
Gnarls Barkle, "Going On"
Maroon 5, "Won't Go Home Without You"
OneRepublic, "Apologize"

BEST ROCK SONG – If you’ve read my blog longer than five minutes you know the answer here, BUT I would vote that way even if I wasn’t “me” ya know what I mean?

Bruce Springsteen, "Girls In Their Summer Clothes"
Radiohead, "House Of Cards"
Death Cab For Cutie, "I Will Possess Your Heart"
Kings Of Leon, "Sex On Fire"
Coldplay, "Violet Hill"

BEST SONG FOR A MOTION PICTURE, TV SHOW, OR OTHER VISUAL MEDIA
"Down To Earth" (Wall-E)
"Ever Ever After" (Enchanted)
"Say" (The Bucket List)
"That's How You Know" (Enchanted)
"Walk Hard" (Walk Hard—The Dewey Cox Story) SONG OF THE YEAR – None of the below
"American Boy," William Adams, Keith Harris, Josh Lopez, Caleb Speir, John Stephens, Estelle Swaray & Kanye West, songwriters (Estelle Featuring Kanye West, artist)
"Chasing Pavements," Adele Adkins & Eg White, songwriters (Adele, artist)
"I'm Yours," Jason Mraz, songwriter (Jason Mraz, artist)
"Love Song," Sara Bareilles, songwriter (Sara Bareilles, artist)
"Viva La Vida," Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion & Chris Martin, songwriters (Coldplay, artist)

RECORD OF THE YEAR - I swear this is why I hate these stupid shows. My pick is Back Door Slam, "Come Home"
Adele, "Chasing Pavements"
Coldplay, "Viva La Vida"
Leona Lewis, "Bleeding Love"
M.I.A., "Paper Planes"
Robert Plant and Alison Kraus, "Please Read The Letter"

one last word on the ticketmaster BS

Bruce and his team have written a letter in response to the Ticketmaster fiasco. You can read it here if you like.

UPDATE: An excellent point was brought up in the comments and I would like to make a clarification, something that is pointed out in the attached article.

THE VENUES ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE THE CONTRACTS WITH THE TICKET SALES PEOPLE NOT THE BANDS WHO PERFORM.

But I do think that, like Pearl Jam, they all need to get together and form an independent company that will fairly handle ticket sales for their fans and puts an end to ticket scalping once and for all.

In fact....if they want to hire me I'll get on it tomorrow, you can do anything if you're resourceful enough.

A Huge Thank You to Representative Bill Pascrell of New Jersey!

And thank you to my friend Mike for sending this! I am thrilled that someone is checking into the obscenely unethical practices of Ticketmaster on Monday. I've already written to thank him.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - A New Jersey congressman is demanding an investigation after Bruce Springsteen fans were unable to buy tickets from Ticketmaster's Web site — which then promptly offered them more expensive tickets from a subsidiary.

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell of Paterson wants the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to investigate possible conflicts of interest involving Ticketmaster and a ticket reseller it owns, TicketsNow.

When tickets for Springsteen's Meadowlands show went on sale Monday, some fans got an error message on their computer screen that shut them out from buying tickets. A TicketsNow ad offered tickets for hundreds of dollars more than face value.

A Ticketmaster spokesman says only a few fans reported problems.

My sidebar looks weird

Image by just.K via Flickr

Does my blog look weird to any of you?

On my laptop the sidebar is so far to the left it's hanging off the screen but I didn't change anything.

I don't know what happened!

(Zemanta suggests photos based on the words in a post....this popped up, I like it)

How Do We Put An End to Ticket Scalping Once and For All?

Tickets for Bruce went on sale at 10:00 am this morning. I was on Ticketbastard's Ticketmaster's website at 10:00 am and had a two minute wait.

A pair of sweet tickets popped up, I was thrilled. I went through the steps, hit "purchase" and waited for a confirmation. It seemed to be taking longer than it should. I started to get nervous and opened a new window and started a separate purchase just in case something went wrong with these "too good to be true" seats. Sure as shit, up popped a notice saying something about a problem with the purchase and to try again.

By this time there was a 9 minute wait to get tickets! When my next set of tickets came up they were literally the worst seats in the house - literally I am not exaggerating here, top row furthest from the stage. But alongside the option to buy these sad seats was the option to buy some EXCELLENT seats from a company called "Ticket Now" for THREE TO TEN TIMES - YES

THREE TO TEN TIMES

MORE

than the face value of Ticketmaster. And guess who owns Ticket Now? Right. Ticketmaster.

How can this be legal?

WILL SOMEONE TELL ME HOW THE F*CK THIS CAN BE LEGAL?

I purchased the crap@ass seats and will sit in them if I have to but damn it I am pissed. This happens to me every time. There are only two bands I go to see (you know who they are) and I want GOOD SEATS. I am even willing to pay a couple hundred bucks for good seats, that's not the point. The point is they don't give us a fair chance to buy them. Its bullshit.

My Review of Bruce's Halftime Performance: