#Paul Nelson Band

[thaern]

One of the many reasons to why George is my favourite musician and artist is the fact that even when he was raised in a small town with many closed thoughts he didn't let that or even the fame construct a image of him as utterly masculine and stereotypical, with his friends (different from Paul) for him showing love to everyone being physically close to them or hugging them no matter the gender, was something normal, a simple act of love.

Just like Olivia once said, George had romantic relationships with all of his friends because he was so full of it that it didn't scared him to show it, being making presents or just giving a hug, he did not let the fragile masculinity and conservative speech stop him from being himself.

And that, for a man raised in the late 50s is something to admire

[leonardcohenofficial]

as is tradition here are my top nine new-to-me watches of the year—in no particular order (l-r, top row to bottom row):

the african desperate (martine syms, 2022) not a pretty picture (martha coolidge, 1975) anatomy of a fall (justine triet, 2023) the girls (mai zetterling, 1968) network (sidney lumet, 1976) the year of the cannibals (liliana cavani, 1970) all the beauty and the bloodshed (laura poitras, 2022) straight on till morning (peter collinson, 1972) microhabitat (jeon go-woon, 2017)

i hit 150 total films and my continual goal of half of the films by women and nonbinary filmmakers, and still definitely need to keep up with deliberately seeking out films by directors of color! feel free to tell me your faves if you’ve seen any of these 🖤👀🎬🍿🎥

i'll tag @privatejoker / @wanlittlehusk / @majorbaby / @edwardalbee / @draftdodgerag / @lesbiancolumbo / @frmulcahy / @nelson-riddle-me-this / @firewalkwithmedvd and anyone else who'd like to share their top watches of the year!

full list of films for the year is included below, favorites are bolded in red:

Farewell Amor (Ekwa Msangi, 2020)

Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare (Liza Williams, 2023)

Blacks Britannica (David Koff, 1978)

New Year, New You (Sophia Takal, 2023)

Family Band: The Cowsills Story (Louise Palanker and Bill Filipiak, 2011)

The Color Purple (Blitz Bazawule, 2023)

The Apology (Alison Star Locke, 2022)

Close (Lukas Dhont, 2022)

Unintended (Anja Murmann, 2018)

Other People’s Children (Liz Hinlein, 2015)

Omega Rising Women of Rastafari (D. Elmina Davis, 1988)

The Gypsy Moths (John Frankenheimer, 1969)

Be My Cat: A Film for Anne (Adrian Țofei, 2015)

Insomnia (Christopher Nolan, 2002)

Chowchilla (Paul Solet, 2023)

Intimate Relations (Philip Goodhew, 1996)

Monument (Jagoda Szelc, 2018)

After Sherman (Jon Sesrie Goff, 2022)

Remnants of the Watts Festival (Ulysses Jenkins, 1980)

Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent, 1974)

Down Low (Rightor Doyle, 2023)

Our Father, the Devil (Ellie Foumbi, 2021)

The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer, 2023)

Youngblood (Noel Nosseck, 1978)

Joy Division - Under Review (Christian Davies, 2006)

Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story (Steve Sullivan, 2018)

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise (Robert Mugge, 1980)

Fanny: The Right To Rock (Bobbi Jo Hart, 2021)

Depeche Mode: The Dark Progression (Alec Lindsell, 2009)

Kraftwerk And The Electronic Revolution (Thomas Arnold, 2008)

Blank City (Celine Danhier, 2010)

Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (Ric Burns, 2019)

Monster (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2023)

Black Is Beltza (Fermín Muguruza, 2018)

Werewolf (Ashley McKenzie, 2016)

The Humans (Stephen Karam, 2021)

Relative (Tracey Arcabasso Smith, 2022)

The Believer (Henry Bean, 2001)

Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill (Brian Lindstrom and Andy Brown, 2022) 

Animals (Collin Schiffli, 2014)

Scott Walker: 30 Century Man (Stephen Kijak, 2006)

Novitiate (Maggie Betts, 2017)

Hunger (Henning Carlsen, 1966)

Late Night With The Devil (Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes, 2023)

The Stunt Man (Richard Rush, 1980)

New York Doll (Greg Whiteley, 2005)

The Iron Claw (Sean Durkin, 2023)

Your Fat Friend (Jeanie Finlay, 2023)

Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968 (Bestor Cram and Judy Richardson, 2008)

Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968)

Uptight (Jules Dassin, 1968)

Messiah of Evil (Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, 1973)

Plastic Paradise (Brett O’Bourke, 2013)

You Hurt My Feelings (Nicole Holofcener, 2023)

Pretty Poison (Noel Black, 1968)

The Shout (Jerzy Skolimowski, 1978)

Shakedown (Leilah Weinraub, 2018)

Class of 1984 (Mark L. Lester, 1982)

Betty: They Say I’m Different (Philip Cox, 2017)

Beautiful Boy (Felix van Groeningen, 2018)

Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet, 2023)

Gimme Shelter (Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin, 1970)

The Beach Boys (Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny, 2024)

High and Low (Kevin Macdonald, 2023)

Brats (Andrew McCarthy, 2024)

I Saw The TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun, 2023)

The Talented Mr. Ripley (Anthony Minghella, 1999)

Altered States (Ken Russell, 1980)

This Closeness (Kit Zauhar, 2023)

How To Have Sex (Molly Manning Walker, 2023)

American Commune (Rena Mundo Croshere and Nadine Mundo, 2013)

Look In Any Window (William Alland, 1961)

Private Property (Leslie Stevens, 1960)

We’re Still Here: Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited (Antonino D’Ambrosio, 2015)

The Wobblies (Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer, 1979)

Last Summer Won’t Happen (Tom Hurwitz and Peter Gessner, 1968)

Goodbye Gemini (Alan Gibson, 1970)

Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story (Posy Dixon, 2019)

The Most Beautiful Boy in the World (Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri, 2021)

The Passenger (Carter Smith, 2023)

The Boys Who Said No (Judith Ehrlich, 2020)

Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)

Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection (Randy Martin, 2023)

...And Justice For All (Norm Jewison, 1978)

I Used To Be Funny (Ally Pankiw, 2023)

Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973)

Straight On Till Morning (Peter Collinson, 1972)

The Same Difference: Gender Roles in the Black Lesbian Community (Nneka Onuorah, 2015)

Thanksgiving (Eli Roth, 2023)

Sorry/Not Sorry (Caroline Suh and Cara Mones, 2023)

Am I OK? (Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne, 2022)

Joan Baez: I Am a Noise (Maeve O’Boyle, Miri Navasky, and Karen O’Connor, 2023)

No Direction Home (Martin Scorsese, 2005)

Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010)

Water Lilies (Céline Sciamma, 2007)

The Strings (Ryan Glover, 2020)

The Crucible (Nicholas Hytner, 1996)

Woman of the Hour (Anna Kendrick, 2024)

The Platform (Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, 2019)

Tabloid (Errol Mark Morris, 2010)

Will & Harper (Josh Greenbaum, 2024)

Miller’s Girl (Jade Halley Bartlett, 2024)

Give Me Pity! (Amanda Kramer, 2022)

Landlocked (Paul Owens, 2021)

Perfect Love (Catherine Breillat, 1996)

Not a Pretty Picture (Martha Coolidge, 1975)

Seeking Mavis Beacon (Jazmin Jones, 2024)

Renfield (Chris McKay, 2023)

Compulsion (Richard Fleischer, 1959)

An Angel At My Table (Jane Campion, 1990)

Longlegs (Oz Perkins, 2024)

Rare Beasts (Billie Piper, 2019)

Nightman (Mélanie Delloye-Betancourt, 2023)

The Changin’ Times of Ike White (Daniel Vernon, 2020)

The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024)

The Year of the Cannibals (Liliana Cavani, 1970)

Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara (Erin Lee Carr, 2024)

The Loneliest Planet (Julia Loktev, 2011)

Marjoe (Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan, 1972)

Witches (Elizabeth Sankey, 2024)

Angela (Rebecca Miller, 1995)

The Morning After (Richard T. Heffron, 1974)

Beach Rats (Eliza Hittman, 2017)

Last Summer (Catherine Breillat, 2023)

The Fits (Anna Rose Holmer, 2015)

Hold Your Breath (Karrie Crouse and Will Joines, 2024)

What Comes Around (Amy Redford, 2022)

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (Kurt Kuenne, 2008)

Priscilla (Sofia Coppola, 2023)

The Girls (Mai Zetterling, 1968)

Sweetie (Jane Campion, 1989)

Victim/Suspect (Nancy Schwartzman, 2023)

The African Desperate (Martine Syms, 2022)

Les Nôtres (Jeanne Leblanc, 2020)

A Sacrifice (Jordan Scott, 2024)

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras, 2022)

My Name is Not Ali (Viola Shafik, 2011)

Committed (Sheila McLaughlin and Lynne Tillman, 1984)

Chained (Jennifer Lynch, 2012)

The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived (Heiny Srour, 1974)

All Power To The People! (Lee Lew-Lee, 1997)

Night Moves (Kelly Reichardt, 2013)

Destroyer (Karyn Kusama, 2018)

Late Night (Nisha Ganatra, 2023)

The Year Between (Alex Heller, 2022)

Loved (Erin Dignam, 1997)

Girl In The Picture (Skye Borgman, 2022)

Microhabitat (Jeon Go-Woon, 2017)

Dear Ex (Mag Hsu and Chih-yen Hsu, 2018)

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Heading into the 50th season of Saturday Night Live, fans of the show and its original cast may feel they already know all of the lore surrounding them and their iconic characters, such as how Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi took two white guys in black suits and rocketed The Blues Brothers to the top of the charts with a multi-platinum album in 1978 and a subsequent movie in 1980 that co-starred Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and James Brown—and in doing so, revitalized the careers of those music legends. And yet, somehow, there are revelations aplenty in a new two-hour oral history, Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gratitude, debuting Thursday exclusively on Audible.

Aykroyd, now 72, narrates and presides over the retrospective, which features previously unheard audio from Belushi (who died in 1982), some of the last testimony of his widow, Judith Belushi Pisano (who died earlier this month), as well as anecdotes from Blues Brothers musical director Paul Shaffer, band members Lou Marini and Steve Jordan, plus drummer Willie Hall, Belushi’s real-life inspiration Curtis Salgado, filmmaker John Landis, and his wife, costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis.

As Belushi’s widow explains, the real origin story of The Blues Brothers involved a lot more than what we saw on screen.

“They were characters. No doubt about it,” Pisano recalls. “They were somewhat alter-egos, as well. They were sort of characters on the stage of life. It wasn’t a bit, exactly, that they ended up doing. I know that it’s often referred to The Blues Brothers as developed from a skit on Saturday Night Live, and you know, that’s really just not true. It’s not how it happened.”

From road trips to roadhouses to 30 Rock

While the Aykroyd-Belushi partnership officially began on stage in Toronto at The Second City—after which they did listen to a live blues band that very first night and share their common tastes in music—the idea for them to perform music in addition to comedy came a bit later when the duo drove cross-country. “They sort of jokingly said, let’s do a band,” Pisano recalls. Belushi, then already a star of The National Lampoon’s off-Broadway musical, Lemmings, as well as The National Lampoon Radio Hour, had recruited Aykroyd from Toronto, and he was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of the studio apartment Belushi shared with Pisano on Bleecker Street.

Belushi would get up onstage with bands in NYC or on road trips and sing the old Robert Johnson tune, “Sweet Home Chicago,” which Pisano says “was a well-known, popular, easy to play song.” Lorne Michaels saw one of Belushi’s performances and suggested he do it to warm up the studio audience at Saturday Night Live. Belushi got Aykroyd involved. Willie Nelson gave Jake and Elwood their first big break

Belushi already had befriended Willie Nelson, according to Aykroyd, and they laid out their initial concept for a blues band to Nelson backstage during his residency at The Lone Star Cafe, a former nightclub on Fifth Avenue. “Within a few minutes, Willie had agreed to lend us his band as a backup for a trial show in which Jake and Elwood would open for him,” Aykroyd says. He and Belushi learned a few songs for the gig. “The reaction was favorable, although clear that neither John nor I were conservatory-trained artists, we had a good feel for the music, and we knew how to feature an all-star band.”

Comedian Lenny Bruce helped inspire their signature look

“The wardrobe was inspired by Lenny Bruce, who always wore a dark suit, black string tie and white shirt,” Aykroyd says. “The hat and shades were meant to emulate John Lee Hooker from the photo on the cover of his album House of the Blues. It delighted us that we were compared to IRS agents, Men in Black, and the reference in the movie when Aretha Franklin says that we resemble Hasidic diamond merchants.”

“They found the stuff in thrift shops,” Pisano adds, “and then once the movie hit, they were on—you got yourself a designer, and custom-made suits before you know it.”

Enter Landis’s wife, costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis, who had outfitted Belushi’s “COLLEGE” sweatshirt for National Lampoon’s Animal House, and later picked out the fedora and jacket for Indiana Jones, as well as Michael Jackson’s red Thriller jacket. She recalls how haphazard their early outfits looked as Jake and Elwood: “They were using any jacket and any pair of black trousers, usually didn’t match. So they were not in suits, they were unsuited. And any hat, and any tie, and any shirt, and any glasses that looked OK.”

Lorne Michaels was initially skeptical the idea would work

That their first blues song onscreen happened in their SNL “Killer Bee” costumes? Not part of the plan. “Which John hated,” Landis alleges. “And I think it was Lorne sticking it to him.” But after that performance of “I’m a King Bee” on the Jan. 17, 1976, episode, SNL’s musical director Howard Shore dubbed Aykroyd and Belushi The Blues Brothers, and they were off and running.

Belushi tasked Paul Shaffer, an original SNL house band member (and later longtime band leader for David Letterman’s late-night reign), to hire the rest of The Blues Brothers band, which originally included Shaffer on keys, Marini on sax, Al Rubin on trumpet, Tom Malone on trombone, and Steve Jordan on percussion. “I just knew I was having a better time than I ever thought I would have in my whole life,” Shaffer recalls. “Everybody was having so much fun.” And of Aykroyd and Belushi, Shaffer says: “They were explosive individually,” but together, “like a tornado, that’s what the two were like.”

Malone suggested getting Otis Redding’s guys, Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn on lead guitar and bass to fill out the rhythm section, and then they added another guitarist, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, after seeing him perform elsewhere in the city.

“An odd mixture of people, but man, it worked,” Marini says. “But Lorne didn’t dig it. And then one of the shows late in the season, they were short, and he said, you guys want to do your silly song? Go ahead and do it. And so we did it on the show. And it was a tremendous hit. People just went crazy for it.”

Belushi was furious at anyone who dared criticize the band When The Blues Brothers scored a #1 hit with their debut album, 1978’s Briefcase Full of Blues, Belushi found himself that fall with the top album, along with a box-office smash in Animal House, to go with his fame on SNL. But he was not without his critics.

In a previously unheard interview conducted with journalist Steve Bloom for a 1979 profile in the Soho Weekly News, we hear Belushi brushing back criticism of The Blues Brothers as a novelty act or appropriating black culture.

“It’s just weird, you know. Why would I do these things?” he says. “First of all, it has nothing to do with ego. It has nothing to do with money. Or the need to be loved by an audience. I don’t have any of those feelings. What the fuck do these people think I am, anyway? I can’t fucking understand why they would attack—see when they attack me, they attack the band. And I hate when they attack the band, because then it makes them look like schmucks for doing what they did for me.” One famous scene from ‘The Blues Brothers’ film was inspired by real life

Aykroyd reveals that one scene in their 1980 film is a nod to their actual record deal: “Where we are about to escape from the Palace Ballroom and commence the final run for Chicago. A 350-pound, 6-foot-4-inch man resembling a Turkish spa attendant lunges out from the wings to offer a record deal. This scene is a direct reprise of what happened when John and I left the stage as The Blues Brothers that first night. In the dressing room halls of 8H, at the page stand, Michael Klenfner, who played the guy in the film and was an acquaintance of John’s, grabbed us and said, ‘You guys should do a record. I’m Michael Klenfner from Atlantic Records. Ahmet (Ertegun) will love this.’” Klenfner died at 62 in 2009.

Film distributors didn’t think Southern audiences could handle the film’s ‘Black’ music

Landis says he intended to make a 70mm “road movie” complete with an intermission, but he and Universal couldn’t even convince cinema distributors to roll out the film nationwide. He and Aykroyd claim exhibitors—Landis singled out Ted Mann of Mann Theatres, who’d bought the Fox Theater chain—worried that audiences in the South and elsewhere would object to a film filled with predominantly “Black” music and performers. So they only debuted in 600 cinemas instead of 1,400, and tried to mount a live concert tour to promote it.

Aykroyd saw none of the film’s massive box office profits

Even though the movie brought in more than $115 million at the box office, Aykroyd saw none of it. He says he received a $225,000 salary for writing and performing in the movie, “for which I was grateful then and am now, as I was only a net points participant in the proceeds, this is all the fee and money I have ever received from The Blues Brothers movie. Universal’s position is that due to the high costs at the time, my net points remain worthless.”

The Belushis fared a bit better, as Pisano said John Belushi used $150,000 he’d received as a bonus from Animal House’s success to subsidize the 1978 album recordings, which took place live at Universal Amphitheatre while they served as Steve Martin’s opening act. “We weren’t repaid [by Atlantic] until well after we recorded everything and they’d heard it, so I think we were probably a little naive to assume we were getting that money back,” Pisano says. “But: Best investment I ever made.”

Sean L. McCarthy @thecomicscomic

[slackville-records]

Oliver Nelson - Stolen Moments

As Oliver Nelson is known primarily as a big band leader and arranger, he is lesser known as a saxophonist and organizer of small ensembles. Blues and the Abstract Truth is his triumph as a musician for the aspects of not only defining the sound of an era with his all-time classic “Stolen Moments,” but on this recording, assembling one of the most potent modern jazz sextets ever. Lead trumpeter Freddie Hubbard is at his peak of performance, while alto saxophonists Nelson and Eric Dolphy (Nelson doubling on tenor) team to form an unlikely union that was simmered to perfection. Bill Evans (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Roy Haynes (drums) can do no wrong as a rhythm section. “Stolen Moments” really needs no comments, as its undisputable beauty shines through in a three-part horn harmony fronting Hubbard’s lead melody. It’s a thing of beauty that is more timeless as the years pass.

[littlequeenies]

A STARR’S NEW PLANET

1991, July - People magazine (US)

Ringo Starr’s 20-year-old daughter, Lee Starkey, celebrates the styles of her pop’s generation in her new Hollywood shop.

A STARR’S NEW PLANET

Ringo’s daughter, Lee Starkey, slips back into the ‘60s at her transplanted L.A. store, Planet Alice

Lee Starkey was born in 1970 – the year The Beatles split up. She didn’t see the swooning fans on The Ed Sullivan show and never questioned whether Paul was dead. As far as she was concerned, her father, Ringo Starr, was just another guy in a rock group. “It wasn’t like a really big thing,” she says. “I went to school with lots of people whose parents were in bands. I knew one of the Hollies’ daughters.”

Even now, when other rock legend’s children – Chynna Phillips, Carnie and Wendy Wilson and Gunnar and Matthew Nelson – are building megacareers with their parents’ names, Starkey, 20, doesn’t call attention to her roots. “I generally don’t tell anyone who my father is,” says Lee, who was raised in London by her mother, Maureen, after her parents’ 1975 divorce. “I didn’t know that much about the Beatles, so I kept my mouth shut.”

Lee communes with Ringo at the boutique's opening bash. "When there's something going on, we're all there," she says of her family.

Starkey is more comfortable talking about her own burgeoning career as co-owner of Planet Alice, a psychedelic boutique she opened last month with partner Christian Paris on L.A.’s trendy Melrose Avenue. Though it is stocked with what she describes as “’90s interpretations of ‘60s styles,” Starkey says, “I didn’t consciously do this because it’s what the Beatles wore in their heyday, but it must have had something to do with it.”

For his part, Ringo is glad that Lee, who didn’t ask him for financial help, “finally found something to put herself into,” he says. “She tried acting school and decided she didn’t like that. She got her diploma from makeup school and wasn’t really enthusiastic about that.” She even tried the drums. “But I wasn’t too good at it,” Starkey admits. Older brothers Zak, 25, and Jason, 23, became the drummers in the family, while Lee persuaded her pal Paris to relocate his Planet Alice shop from London’s Portobello Road to Hollywood. Waiting for her on these shores was her mother, who moved to L.A. last year after marrying Isaac Tigrett, cofounder of the Hard Rock Cafe empire. (The couple have a 4-year-old daughter, Augusta) Lee and Paris, who say their partnership is platonic, are living chez Tigrett until they find places of their own.

"I've never read a book about The Beatles," says Starkey (sketching at home). "If there's anything I want to know, I can just ask my dad".

“We’ve always been very family oriented,” says Lee, who spent childhood summers with her father at his estate at Ascot, where she occasionally encountered the other Beatles. Her parents remain on friendly terms, and Ringo and wife Barbara Bach, as well as Maureen and Tigrett, were on hand for the Planet Alice opening.

For now, Lee is concentrating on running the shop. She has even arm-twisted Mom into helping out one day a week. Dad hasn’t made that commitment, but his presence will surely be felt every time the cash register goes ring-o. 

"I feel I'm very lucky at age 20 to find what I want to do in life," says Lee, at Planet Alice,where everything old is new again.

Photographs by Roger Dong.

[ourshadowstallerthanoursoul]

An audience with... John Paul Jones

(from Uncut, April 2010 - link)

You’re stuck on a deserted island, you have one instrument you can bring. It is: a) piano, b) bass or c) mandolin? (Gary Attersley, Ontario, Canada)

Oh… that’s horrible! I’ll probably get Hugh Manson – the guy who builds all my bass guitars – to build me some monstrous instrument that encapsulated all three! Hugh and his brother Andy Manson once actually designed me a triple-necked guitar with 12-string guitar, six-string guitar and mandolin on it! Andy also designed a triple-necked mandolin. But I guess if it really came down to it on a desert island, it would have to be the piano, because you can do so much on it. You’re a whole band. The bass is not much fun on your own.

John, it’s so good to see you so engaged with today. Any advice for old farts who can’t move on? (Andrew Loog Oldham)

Who are you calling an old fart? I dunno, Andy, you tell me! Ha ha. He’s done a good job of staying up to date. Andrew, of course, gave me the name John Paul Jones. I was John Baldwin, until Andrew saw a poster for the French film version of John Paul Jones. I thought it ’d look great in CinemaScope, as I wanted to do music for films. I imagined it saying “Music By John Paul Jones”, over the whole screen. I never realised then that he was the Horatio Nelson of America!

I know that you’ve been getting heavily into bluegrass lately – who are some of your favourite bluegrass artists of all time? (Ryan Godek, Wilmington, Delaware)

Apart from Bill Monroe, you mean? Oh, there’s loads. I’m friends with the Del McCoury band, I love that style of classic bluegrass. I love Sam Bush’s Newgrass stuff. And of course there’s Nickel Creek, Chris Feely, Mike Marshall. I love it all, really. One thing I like about bluegrass is that you don’t require amplifiers, drums and trucks. You can pull an instrument out of a box and get on with some instant music making. I carry a mandolin around wherever I go. I also like the fact bluegrass musicians play more than one instrument. There’s a tradition of them swapping instruments. In bluegrass bands I swap between double bass, fiddle and banjo.

One Butthole Surfers anecdote, please? (Dave Grohl)

Ha! I was brought in to produce the Butthole Surfers’ 1993 album, Independent Worm Saloon. I guess it was to give it a heavy rock vibe, but it didn’t work like that. They were actually incredibly hard-working in the studio, but I do recall running up a phenomenal bar-bill at the San Rafael studio. And then there was Gibby [Haynes, Butthole Surfers’ frontman] and his… eccentric studio behaviour. Gibby did one vocal take shouting into his guitar. He held it out in front of his face and screamed at it. Ha! He was trying to find out if it picked up through the pick-ups, which it kind of did. And that was pretty good.

How’s the violin coming along? (Sean, Berkshire)

I started about three years ago. With the guitar, or the piano, you can sound OK quite quickly. With the violin, it takes much longer. Once you get past the first six months of scraping, of muttering to yourself, “What is this fucking horrible noise on my shoulder?” you get the odd musical bit, and you think, ‘Oh, this is starting to get good.’ And you continue with it for a while. I’m getting into country fiddle playing, Celtic folk songs, a bit of swing. Basic stuff, but very satisfying.

Why not record a second ‘Automatic For The People’ with REM? (Franz Greul, Austria)

They haven’t asked me! But doing the string arrangements for that album was a great experience, actually. They sent me the demos of their songs, and we went into a studio in Atlanta, with members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. They were great songs, something you can really get your teeth into as an arranger. And I’ve been good friends with them ever since.

How did you first meet Josh Homme? And is he still a notorious party monster? (Rob Hirst, Kippax, Leeds)

Well, I think we’ve all calmed down rather a lot. Dave introduced me to Josh at his 40th birthday party. It was a ridiculous themed place where they have jousting with knights. As Dave said, it was like somewhere you’d have your 14th birthday party. Or maybe even your 4th. Anyway, Dave sat Josh and I together for a blind date. Which was reasonably embarrassing for both of us, surrounded by people going “prithee this” and challenging each other to duels. But we survived the trauma and went into the studio the next day, and just started jamming. And I knew immediately it was going to be something special.

If Them Crooked Vultures had Spice Girls-like nicknames what would they be? (Paul Jones, Liverpool)

Dave would be Smiley Vulture. He can’t stop grinning. Josh would be Slinky Vulture. He’s a slinky kinda guy. And I’d be Speedy, I guess. Or Jumpy. So there you go. Smiley, Slinky and Speedy. Or does that sound more like the dwarfs?

I remember you being a pretty funky bass genius back in the day! What memories do you have of those sessions? (Donovan)

The sessions with Don and Mickie Most were great, because we were given a free hand. I usually got leeway, because I was the sort of Motown/Stax specialist, so producers in the mid ’60s would get me in for cover versions of American records, and none of them could write bass parts convincingly enough, so I was London’s answer to James Jamerson, I guess! And I was certainly encouraged to get kinda… funky when I worked with Donovan.

How did it feel to see Jimmy Page and Robert Plant venture off in their own project in the ‘90s without mentioning a word of it to you? (Danny Luscombe, Hull)

Oh yeah, I was pissed off about it. The surprise was in not being told. It’s ancient history now, but it was a bit annoying to find out about it while reading the papers. It came just after Robert and I had been discussing the idea of doing an Unplugged project. Then I’m on tour in Germany with Diamanda Galás, I turn on the TV and see Robert and Jimmy doing it, with someone else playing all my parts! I was pissed off at the time. You would be, woudn’t you? But… it’s all in the past, isn’t it?

Did you listen to much work by Josh Homme or Dave Grohl before you were contacted in relation to joining Them Crooked Vultures, and if so, how did you honestly rate it? (Ralph Ryan, Lisronagh, County Tipperary)

I did like the Foo Fighters and Queens Of The Stone Age, before I’d met either of them. There’s a tendency for people – especially musicians from my generation – to say that there has been this terrible decline in musicianship, that today’s bands haven’t got the chops, blah blah blah. But that’s not true at all. There’s always some people for whom technique on an instrument isn’t necessary. They can get their ideas across without being able to have the chops. But Josh really does have the chops, he just doesn’t feel the need to flash them about all the time. In fact, there were a few riffs he gave me that I had to simplify, because they were bloody difficult to play. I really had to work at it, where he could just flick it off. He is an astonishing musician.

Were you serious when you told Peter Grant that you wanted to jack it in to become choirmaster at Winchester Cathedral? (Brian Fisher, Manchester)

Ha! That was a tongue-in-cheek joke, although I was serious about leaving Led Zeppelin in 1973 unless things changed. But Peter did sort things out pretty quickly. What kind of choirmaster would I have made? A bloody good one! Listen, any way that they’ll pay you for making music is just the best situation in the world. I’d do it for nothing. I don’t care what music it is. I just love it all. The rubbing of notes together. I love it all. I would be very passionate about whatever I decided to do.

What was the worst session you ever did as a jobbing session player? (Adam Burns, Castleford, West Yorkshire)

I generally have fun memories of that time. I’d criss-cross London playing two or three sessions a day, going between Trident and Olympic and Abbey Road and Philips in Marble Arch, you know. You’d be backing Shirley Bassey, Cat Stevens, Lulu, whoever was paying you. The worst experience was a Muzak session. With Muzak sessions, the music was deliberately boring. I distinctly remember one session where I embellished the bass part a little bit, just so that it wasn’t so boring for me to play. They said, “No, you can’t do that. Any interest in the music will distract people’s attention from when they’re meant to be eating.” Or standing in a fucking lift. For fuck’s sake! So I was like, “OK, thanks, bye!”

[thisisyourdriverspeaking]

Summer break and I'm kinda sorta missing F1 so here are the UK number one songs when drivers got their first Grand Prix win. Enjoy 😊

Giuseppe Farina (1950 British GP - 13th May), Juan Manuel Fangio (1950 Monaco GP - 21st May) & Johnnie Parsons (1950 Indy 500 - 30th May) - Billy Eckstine - My Foolish Heart

Lee Wallard (1951 Indy 500 - 30th May) - Les Paul & Mary Ford - Mockin' Bird Hill

Luigi Fagioli (1951 French GP - 1st July) & Jose Froilan Gonzalez (1951 British GP - 14th July) - Nelson Eddy & Jo Stafford - With These Hands

Alberto Ascari (1951 German GP - 29th July) - Hoagy Carmichael - My Resistance Is Low

Piero Taruffi (1952 Swiss GP - 18th May) - Nat 'King' Cole - Unforgettable

Troy Ruttman (1952 Indy 500 - 30th May) - Jo Stafford - Ay-Round The Corner

Bill Vukovich (1953 Indy 500 - 30th May) & Mike Hawthorn (1953 French GP - 5th July) - Frankie Laine - I Believe

Maurice Trintignant (1955 Monaco GP - 22nd May) - Tony Bennett - Stranger In Paradise

Bob Sweikert (1955 Indy 500 - 30th May) - Eddie Calvert - Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White

Stirling Moss (1955 British GP - 16th July) - Alma Cogan - Dreamboat

Luigi Musso (1956 Argentine GP - 22nd January) - Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons

Pat Flaherty (1956 Indy 500 - 30th May) & Peter Collins (1956 Belgian GP - 3rd June) - Ronnie Hilton - No Other Love

Sam Hanks (1957 Indy 500 - 30th May) - Andy Williams - Butterfly

Tony Brooks (1957 British GP - 20th July) - Elvis Presley - All Shook Up

Jimmy Bryan (1958 Indy 500 - 30th May) - Connie Francis - Who's Sorry Now

Jack Brabham (1959 Monaco GP - 10th May) - Buddy Holly - It Doesn't Matter Anymore

Rodger Ward (1959 Indy 500 - 30th May) & Jo Bonnier (1959 Dutch GP - 31st May) - Elvis Presley - A Fool Such As I

Bruce McLaren (1959 US GP - 12th December) - Adam Faith - What Do You Want?

Jim Rathmann (1960 Indy 500 - 30th May) - The Everly Brothers - Cathy's Clown

Phil Hill (1960 Italian GP - 4th September) - The Shadows - Apache

Wolfgang Von Trips (1961 Dutch GP - 22nd May) - Floyd Cramer - On The Rebound

Giancarlo Baghetti (1961 French GP - 2nd July) - Del Shannon - Runaway

Innes Ireland (1961 US GP - 8th October) - The Shadows - Kon-Tiki

Graham Hill (1962 Dutch GP - 20th May) - B Bumble & The Stingers - Nut Rocker

Jim Clark (1962 Belgian GP - 17th June) - Elvis Presley - Good Luck Charm

Dan Gurney (1962 French GP - 8th July) - Mike Sarne & Wendy Richard - Come Outside

John Surtees (1963 German GP - 4th August) - Elvis Presley - Devil In Disguise

Lorenzo Bandini (1964 Austrian GP - 23rd August) - Manfred Man - Do Wah Diddy Diddy

Jackie Stewart (1965 Italian GP - 12th September) - The Rolling Stones - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

Richie Ginther (1965 Mexican GP - 24th October) - Ken Dodd - Tears

Ludovico Scarfiotti (1966 Italian GP - 4th September) - The Beatles - Yellow Submarine

Pedro Rodriguez (1967 South African GP - 2nd January) - Tom Jones - Green Green Grass Of Home

Denny Hulme (1967 Monaco GP - 7th May) - Sandie Shaw - Puppet On A String

Jacky Ickx (1968 French GP - 7th July) & Jo Siffert (1968 British GP - 20th July) - Equals - Baby Come Back

Jochen Rindt (1969 US GP - 5th October) - Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg - Je T'aime... Mon Non Plus

Clay Regazzoni (1970 Italian GP - 6th September) - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Tears Of A Clown

Emerson Fittipaldi (1970 US GP - 4th October) - Freda Payne - Band Of Gold

Mario Andretti (1971 South African GP - 6th March) - Mungo Jerry - Baby Jump

Peter Gethin (1971 Italian GP - 5th September) - Diana Ross - I'm Still Waiting

Francois Cevert (1971 US GP - 3rd October) - Rod Stewart - Maggie May

Jean-Pierre Beltoise (1972 Monaco GP - 14th May) - T-Rex - Metal Guru

Ronnie Peterson (1973 French GP - 1st July) - Donny Osmond - Young Love

Peter Revson (1973 British GP - 14th July) - Slade - Skweeze Me Pleeze Me

Carlos Reutemann (1974 South African GP - 30th March) - Paper Lace - Billy Don't Be A Hero

Niki Lauda (1974 Spanish GP - 28th April) - Abba - Waterloo

Jody Scheckter (1974 Swedish GP - 9th June) - Ray Stevens - The Streak

Jose Carlos Pace (1975 Brazilian GP - 26th January) - Pilot - January

Jochen Mass - (1975 Spanish GP - 27th April) - Mud - Oh Boy

James Hunt (1975 Dutch GP - 22nd June) - 10CC - I'm Not In Love

Vittorio Brambilla (1975 Austrian GP - 17th August) - The Stylistics - I Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)

John Watson (1976 Austrian GP - 15th August) - Elton John & Kiki Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Gunnar Nilsson (1977 Belgian GP - 5th June) - Rod Stewart - I Don't Want To Talk About It

Jacques Laffite (1977 Swedish GP - 19th June) - The Jacksons - Show You The Way To Go

Alan Jones (1977 Austrian GP - 14th August) - Brotherhood Of Man - Angelo

Patrick Depailler (1978 Monaco GP - 7th May) - Boney M - Rivers Of Babylon

Gilles Villeneuve (1978 Canadian GP - 8th October) - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - Summer Nights

Jean-Pierre Jabouille (1979 French GP - 1st July) - Tubeway Army - Are 'Friends' Electric?

Rene Arnoux (1980 Brazilian GP - 27th January) - The Specials - Too Much Too Young

Nelson Piquet (1980 US GP - March 30) - The Jam - Going Underground

Didier Pironi (1980 Belgian GP - 4th May) - Dexy's Midnight Runners - Geno

Alain Prost (1981 French GP - 5th July) - The Specials - Ghost Town

Riccardo Patrese (1982 Monaco GP - 23rd May) - Madness - House Of Fun

Patrick Tambay (1982 German GP - 8th August) & Elio De Angelis (1982 Austrian GP) - Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen

Keke Rosberg (1982 Swiss GP - 29th August) & Michele Alboreto (1982 Caesers Palace GP) - Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger

Ayrton Senna (1985 Portuguese GP - 21st April) - USA For Africa - We Are The World

Nigel Mansell (1985 European GP - 6th October) - Jennifer Rush - The Power Of Love

Gerhard Berger (1986 Mexican GP - 12th October) - Nick Berry - Every Loser Wins

Thierry Boutsen (1989 Canadian GP - 18th June) - Soul II Soul - Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)

Alessandro Nannini (1989 Japanese GP - 22nd October) - Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers - That's What I Like

Michael Schumacher (1992 Belgian GP - 30th August) - Snap! - Rhythm Is A Dancer

Damon Hill (1993 Hungarian GP - 15th August) - Freddie Mercury - Living On My Own

Jean Alesi (1995 Canadian GP - 11th June) - Robson & Jerome - Unchained Melody

Johnny Herbert (1995 British GP - 16th July) - Outhere Brothers - Boom Boom Boom

David Coulthard (1995 Portuguese GP - 24th September) - Simply Red - Fairground

Olivier Panis (1996 Monaco GP - 19th May) - Gina G - Ooh Ahh... Just A Little Bit

Jacques Villeneuve (1996 European GP - 28th April) - George Michael - Fastlove

Heinz-Harald Frentzen (1997 San Marino GP) - Michael Jackson - Blood On The Dance Floor

Mika Hakkinen (1997 European GP - 26th October) - Aqua - Barbie Girl

Eddie Irvine (1999 Australian GP - 7th March) - Boyzone - When The Going Gets Tough

Ruben Barrichello (2000 German GP - 30th July) - Craig David - 7 Days

Ralf Schumacher (2001 San Marino GP - 15th April) - Emma Bunton - What Took You So Long?

Juan Pablo Montoya (2001 Italian GP - 16th September) - DJ Otzi - Hey Baby

Kimi Raikkonen (2003 Malaysian GP - 23rd March) - Gareth Gates ft The Kumars - Spirit In The Sky

Giancarlo Fisichella (2003 Brazilian GP - 6th April) - Room 5 ft Oliver Cheatham - Make Luv

Fernando Alonso (2003 Hungarian GP - 24th August) - Blu Cantrell ft Sean Paul - Breathe

Jarno Trulli (2004 Monaco GP - 23rd May) - Frankee - F.U.R.B (F U Right Back

Jenson Button (2006 Hungarian GP - 6th August) - Shakira ft Wyclef Jean - Hips Don't Lie

Felipe Massa (2006 Turkish GP - 27th August) - Beyonce ft Jay-Z - Deja Vu

Lewis Hamilton (2007 Canadian GP - 10th June) - Rihanna ft Jay-Z - Umbrella

Robert Kubica (2008 Canadian GP - 8th June) - Mint Royale - Singin' In The Rain

Heikki Kovalainen (2008 Hungarian GP - 3rd August) - Dizzee Rascal ft Calvin Harris & Chrome - Dance Wiv Me

Sebastian Vettel (2008 Italian GP - 14th September) - Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire

Mark Webber (2009 German GP - 12th July) - Cascada - Evacuate The Dancefloor

Nico Rosberg (2012 Chinese GP - 15th April) - Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe

Pastor Maldonado (2012 Spanish GP - 13th May) - Rita Ora ft Tinie Tempah - R.I.P.

Daniel Ricciardo (2014 Canadian GP - 8th June) - Ed Sheeran - Sing

Max Verstappen (2016 Spanish GP - 15th May) - Drake ft Wizkid & Kyla - One Dance

Valtteri Bottas (2017 Russian GP - 30th April) - Clean Bandit ft Zara Larsson - Symphony

Charles Leclerc (2019 Belgian GP - 1st September) - Ed Sheeran ft Stormzy - Take Me Back To London

Pierre Gasly (2020 Italian GP - 6th September) - Cardi B ft Megan Thee Stallion - WAP

Sergio Perez (2020 Sakhir GP - 6th December) - Ariana Grande - Positions

Esteban Ocon (2021 Hungarian GP - 1st August) - Ed Sheeran - Bad Habits

Carlos Sainz Jr (2022 British GP - 3rd July) - Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill

George Russell (2022 Brazilian GP - 13th November) - Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero

Lando Norris (2024 Miami GP - 5th May) & Oscar Piastri (2024 Hungarian GP - 21st July) - Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso

And yes, I've created a Spotify playlist for these tunes 😊😊

[ometochtli2rabbit]

13.0.12.4.14

junlajun[11] IX/B'ALAM[jaguar] - wuklajun[17] MUWAN

galactic tone: resolution/ dissonant structure

sun sign: jaguar/white/north

commune and give thanks to Mother Nature - MAYA

mahtlactli-once[11] - OCELOTL

Chalmecatecuhtli | Tlazolteotl

alo[scarlet macaw] | warriors of Tezcatlipoca

lord of the night: Xiuhtecuhtli

trecena[11]: Itzlacoliuhqui

x: mahtlactli-once[11] - toxcatl - NAHUA

As today's Maya advice is to commune and give thanks to Mother Nature, here are some songs that feature the word NATURE:

Dolly Parton: Sounds of Nature & Love is Out Tonight

Björk: Nature is Ancient & Cetacea

Chappell Roan: The Giver

John Mayall: Nature's Disappearing

PJ Harvey: On Battleship Hill

Jonathan Richman: I'm Nature's Mosquito

Alabama: Tennesse River

Gorillaz: Some Kind of Nature

Tammy Wynette: They Call It Making Love

Nat King Cole: Mother Nature and Father Time

Kraftwerk: Expo 2000

Dionne Warwick: The Balance of Nature

Dexy's Midnight Runners: Because of You

Adele: Strangers By Nature

Earth, Wind & Fire: Earth, Wind & Fire

Willie Nelson: Bloody Mary Morning

Sonic Youth: Making the Nature Scene & Blood on Brighton Beach

The Four Tops: Catfish & (It's the Way) Nature Planned It

"Weird Al" Yankovic: Nature Trail to Hell

Napalm Death: Hierarchies

Silversun Pickups: Cradle (Better Nature)

Louis Armstrong: The Bare Necessities

Neil Young: After the Gold Rush

Laurie Anderson: Monkey's Paw

Steppenwolf: Born to Be Wild

Temptations: Mother Nature

Oasis: The Nature of Reality

Liam Gallagher: Mother Nature's Song

Styx: Mother Nature's Matinee

Steve Miller Band: My Dark Hour

This Mortal Coil: Nature's Way

The Guess Who: Guns, Guns, Guns

Santana: Lightning in the Sky

Steely Dan: Two Against Nature

Talking Heads: Totally Nude

Elvis Presley: Whistling Tune

Johnny Cash: Seasons of My Heart

Howlin' Wolf: Nature

Michael Jackson: Human Nature

Billie Holiday: Here It Is Tomorrow Again

Madonna: Human Nature

Paul McCartney: Magic

The Beatles: Mother Nature's Son & Child of Nature

[alienelvisobsession]

The Led Zeppelin Connection

When Robert Plant was about 10 years old, in 1958, he used to do an Elvis impersonation behind the curtains in his living room, arguably looking for a certain ambience that Elvis’ early records had. He used to have a quiff and spent hours in front of the mirror trying to emulate Elvis’ moves. Both him and Jimmy Page used to listen to Radio Luxembourg, a foreign radio station that at the time was the only way to listen to rock ‘n’ roll music in the UK. It couldn’t always be tuned in and it was staticky, but in their homes with ears to the speakers they would pick up fragments of Fats Domino, Buddy Holly or Elvis Presley. Robert’s parents were worried about the influence rock ‘n’ roll had on their son and one day, while he was listening to his favorite music, even pulled the plug off the radio. He didn’t desist of course and it was through Elvis that he learned about the Delta Blues. Rock ‘n’ roll and R&B records were only found in second-hand shops in the UK back then, left behind by Americans or discarded from jukeboxes, so that’s what Page and Plant focused on separately while Elvis was drafted into the army.

What sparked Jimmy Page musically, however, even before discovering Chuck Berry in 1956, was Elvis’ rockabilly classic “Baby, Let’s Play House”, which he heard first on that staticky radio. Even though the allusion in the lyrics about living in sin didn’t hit him until years later, that song, he confessed in an interview, turned him on and sent shivers up his spine, so much so that he decided to take up a guitar left behind at his house and learn to play it. Soon enough, he formed a skiffle band and started to emulate solos from guitarists he liked, especially James Burton (who played guitar in Ricky Nelson’s hits and would later play his famous pink Telecaster in Elvis’ TCB band). Like Elvis, Jimmy would bring his guitar to school and sometimes it got confiscated for the day. He bought a record player in 1960 and got the early Elvis records he liked, such as “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” and “Tryin’ to Get to You”. “That music was refreshing”, observed Page many years later, “when all you heard before was Rosemary Clooney”.

It was only in 1968 however that Page and Plant joined forces and with John Bonham and John Paul Jones formed Led Zeppelin. Rock music had evolved a lot from ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll to 70s hard rock, but Elvis’ influence can be heard everywhere in Robert Plant’s delivery, in some of his stage moves and in the lyrics too (“It's been a long time, been a long time / Been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time” - “Rock and Roll” from Led Zeppelin IV). Having watched Elvis for years, Led Zeppelin also learned how to use their bodies on stage to emphasize the feel of the music – striking poses, shaking their hips, thrusting their pelvis and so on. In order to pay homage to how it all started for them, they semi-regularly included Elvis songs in their sets, especially in the long “Whole Lotta Love” medley. It included “That’s Alright, Mama”, “Heartbreak Hotel”, “A Mess of Blues” and others.

The members of Led Zeppelin went to see Elvis live several times over the years, including in 1972 at Madison Square Garden, but it was only in May 1974 that Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham were invited to meet him after a concert. Elvis was not a fan of hard rock, but he knew about Led Zeppelin, as they were topping the charts at the time. He would say to his own entourage, “Well, I may not be Led Zeppelin but I can still pack 'em in”. He was actually amused that his step-brother Ricky was really excited that they were in the audience. During the concert that night in Los Angeles he acknowledged them before launching into “Funny How Time Slips Away” with his signature self-deprecating humor, stopping his TCB band and saying that they should all play as if they knew what they were doing because Led Zeppelin was in the audience.

After the concert they were invited to see Elvis and led into a room full of girls – all copies of Ann Margret, as Robert Plant humorously recalls. They were told by Elvis’ entourage not to discuss music with him, so initially they were starstruck and tongue tied. Elvis, who apparently only knew one of their songs, Stairway to Heaven, didn’t talk to them for a little while, until his interest was sparked by Bonzo mentioning his classic car collection. Elvis knew the band members were famous for the groupies and their libertine behavior on tour, so he asked about that and they hilariously denied everything. Jimmy joked that they rarely did sound checks, but if they did all Robert wanted to sing was Elvis’ songs. Elvis was amused by that and asked him which songs he liked and Robert said that he liked the ones with all the moods, like “Love Me”: “Treat me like a fool / Treat me mean and cruel / But love me”. When they were about to leave, Elvis swung around the door frame, looking quite pleased with himself, and started singing that song to them: “Treat me like a fool…” and Robert promptly replied “Treat me mean and cruel…But love me”. They actually talked and had fun for about 90 minutes together. Members of his Memphis Mafia even checked with him several times because Elvis usually saw people for only 10 minutes.

Another memorable meeting took place in his Monovale house, also in LA, this time involving John Paul Jones, the bassist of the band, and Richard Cole, the band’s tour manager, who was a friend of Jerry Schilling. When the two arrived with a bottle of Dom Pérignon, they were surprised to find Elvis in his pajamas and slippers watching TV with the MM. Cole, apparently a bit drunk, started to swear in front of everyone and Elvis didn’t approve, especially since his girlfriend Sheila Ryan was present. Accounts differ but one story says that Elvis jumped up in a karate stance and knocked off his watch and another that Elvis simply asked to see Cole’s expensive watch. What happened for sure is that they all started to swap watches, John getting a jewel-encrusted watch from Elvis in exchange for his Mickey Mouse wristwatch. The evening went on pleasantly, with Elvis quoting several Monty Python routines to his new English friends. Towards the end of the evening, Elvis suggested another exchange. He eyed John, who had been the quiet one all night, lowered his pajama pants beneath his robe and in perfect Monty Python fashion said “Let’s swap pants!”. According to Jerry, the more eccentric Cole was shocked into silence, while John and Sheila bursted into laughter.

The last time Elvis Presley and Led Zep crossed paths is bittersweet, as it happened shortly before Elvis’ death in 1977 when their jets met on the runway at the airport. His other step brother, David Stanley, asked Elvis if he could go with the band that night for their concert. Elvis just looked at him and said, “No.” When he asked Elvis why, he said, “Look at the bottom of your paycheck.” As he entered the limo with Elvis David said they sure have a nice jet. Elvis leaned over and reminded him, “They lease their jet from Caesar’s Palace, I own mine.”

Robert Plant kept singing Elvis’ songs on stage throughout his career. Here he’s singing “Little Sister” in 1979 with Rockpile.

Here he’s sitting on the floor with some records. Note Elvis’ first album is there (thanks Lucy for this).

You can find my other posts on Elvis connections with artists who followed him at this link. So far I’ve written about Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan/Andy Warhol, the Clash, Jim Morrison and Quentin Tarantino.

[therecordchanger62279]

My Favorite Records of the 21st Century

     This century is already a quarter of the way over. I think twenty-five years is long enough to wait to make my first list of favorite albums of this century. So, I thought I’d go ahead since I’m not sure I’ll be around long enough to do a half century list. It’s been a pretty good first quarter musically – at least good enough to bother making a list of the best 40 records. Given how wretched the 1990s were, I couldn’t be more surprised. The list reflects my diversity of taste, and my attachment to artists that debuted last century. But a few “new kids” were able to break through. All of these albums were new releases, and the year of release follows each artist’s name.

  1. Doll Revolution – The Bangles (2003)

  2. That’s Why God Made the Radio – Beach Boys (2012)

  3. Blue & Lonesome – The Rolling Stones (2016)

  4. The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology – Taylor Swift (2024)

  5. No Pier Pressure – Brian Wilson (2015)

  6. Liars – Todd Rundgren (2004)

  7. 3X4 (Paisley Underground Tribute) – The Bangles, The Three O'Clock, The Dream Syndicate, and Rain Parade (2018)

  8. Say You Will – Fleetwood Mac (2003)

  9. Trilogy 2 – Chick Corea Trio (2019)

10. TexiCali – Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore (2024)

11. Norman Fucking Rockwell – Lana Del Rey (2019)

12. Folklore – Taylor Swift (2020)

13. World Without Tears – Lucinda Williams (2003)

14. Let England Shake – PJ Harvey (2011)

15. Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day? – Galen & Paul (2023)

16. Born to Die: The Paradise Edition – Lana Del Rey (2012)

17. The American Project – Yuja Wang and The Louisville Philharmonic (2023)

18. Sound Grammar – Ornette Coleman (2006)

19. Analog Man – Joe Walsh (2012)

20. Rachmaninoff: The Piano Concertos and Paganini Rhapsody – Yuja Wang & The Los Angeles Philharmonic (2023)

21. Downey to Lubbock – Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore (2018)

22. Songs in Red and Grey – Suzanne Vega (2001)

23. John Adams: Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes – Yuja Wang with The Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel (2020)

24. Resist - Midnight Oil (2022)

25. Rockferry – Duffy (2008)

26. Holy Ground – Dead Daisies (2021)

27. Ruby’s Torch – Nanci Griffith (2006)

28. Take A Good Look – The Fleshtones (2008)

29. Thirstier – Torres (2021)

30. Hackney Diamonds – Rolling Stones (2023)

31. Red (Taylor’s Version) – Taylor Swift (2021/2012)

32. This Mess is a Place – Tacocat (2019)

33. Brainwashed – George Harrison (2002)

34. Charlie Watts Meets the Danish Radio Big Band (2017)

35. The Border – Willie Nelson (2024)

36. That Lucky Old Sun – Brian Wilson (2008)

37. Whoosh – Deep Purple (2020)

38. Alphabetland – X (2020)

39. Beauty & Crime – Suzanne Vega (2008)

40. Pinky’s Blues – Sue Foley (2021)

[protoslacker]

We be dancing.

I was intrigued by the notes to Esperanza Spalding and Milton Nascimeto's collaboration. In the notes there's a story of how Spalding first heard Milton Nacimento in the early 2000s when a visiting musician played Wayne Shorter's album Native Dancer. She wonders: “How could I have not known about this before?”

Last month I wrote about how a local radio station is celebrating fifty years on the air by encouraging listeners to send in up to 20 songs between 1974 and now. It's a fun excess. So I thought I'd try to put together 20 songs through a loosely defined notion of World Music. I cheated and added "Funky Kingston" from 1973 to make the list 21 songs.

As in my previous playlist i selected a bunch of songs and ordered them chronologically and then choose 4 songs for each of the 5 decades. I mixed up the songs from the decades in the previous playlist, but in this one kept the chronological order.

Here's the playlist at Youtube.

50 Years World Music

1974 1984

Funky Kingston ~Toots and the Maytals (1973) Water Get No Enemy ~Fela Kuti and Africa 70 Band (1975) Redemption Song ~Bob Marley and the Wailers (1979) Stimela ~Hugh Masekela (1980) Biko Peter ~Gabriel (1980)

1984 1994

Free Nelson Mandela ~The Specials (1984) Sun City ~Artists Against Apartheid (1985) Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes ~Paul Simon (1986) Sidi h'bibi ~Mano Negra Live (1992)

!994 2004

Maracatu Atômico ~Chico Science e Nação Zumbi (1996) Chan Chan ~Buena Vista Social Club (1997) Clandestino ~Mano Chao (1998) La Negra Tiene Tumbao ~Celia Cruz (2001)

2004 2014

Panic in Babylon ~Lee Scratch Perry & The White Belly Rats (2004) Fuego ~Bomba Estéreo (2008) No Parking ~Fat Freddy'd Drop (2009) Ave Cesaria ~Stromae (2013)

2014 2024

Christopher ~Nakhane (2014) Siran Fen ~Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba (2015) "Vini Wè" ~Leyla McCalla (2022) O Baba ~Natascha Rogers (2024)

[bothkindsofmusic]

Is this thing on? Been a lonnnnnng while, but I want to test the waters to see if there's an audience for country music on Tumblr 2023.

I've been making a weekly playlist in lieu of a radio show for a couple months now. Figure that'd be a good place to start.

If you like country music that's outside the mainstream, check out this playlist. It's full of new and recent releases. I kick it off with a classic country song and send it off with Willie Nelson. In between you'll find music from artists making country music in their own way with their own style. While the music changes every week, the playlist stays in the same spot. Plus, there's an archive where I retire the old playlists.

If you find something you like, let me know and give the artists a follow on instagram.

Track list:

Ray Charles - Georgia on My Mind

The Waymores - Greener Pastures

Christopher Seymore, South Texas Tweek - I Can Get off on You

Amanda Donald - Get in Line

Marty Bush - Turn Down the Lights

Nora Kelly Band - Rodeo Clown

David Quinn - Down Home

Zach Bryan, Sierra Ferrell - Holy Roller

Turnpike Troubadours - A Cat in the Rain

Sarah Jane Scouten - Wanderlust

Nick Shoulders - All Bad

The Two Tracks - In the Morning

Jim Lauderdale, The Po' Ramblin' Boys, Del McCoury - Long And Lonesome Letting Go

Sentimental Family Band - Never Love Again

Willy Tea Taylor, The Fellership - National Treasure

David Garnham and the Reasons to Live, Gleny Rae Virus - Long Way Round

Nathan Mongol Wells - Honest Drinking

Lola Kirke, First Aid Kit - All My Exes Live in L.A.

Abbigale Dawn - Ex Boyfriend Blues

Christian Parker, Earl Poole Ball, JayDee Maness - You Ain't Going Nowhere

Miss Georgia Peach - Silver Threads and Gold Needles

Vince Gill, Paul Franklin - Walkin' Show and Thinkin' About Her

Madeline Hawthorne - Neon Wasteland

The Howdies - Buddies

Katie Mae & the Lubrication - Hard Livin'

The Deslondes, Sam Doores - Howl at the Moon

Brit Taylor - If You Don't Wanna Love Me

Izaak Opatz - Shampoo

Ruby Oland - Life Without Love

Lucas Hudgins - All in My Head

S.G. Goodman - Space And Time

Woody Woodworth & The Piners - When Them Dogwoods Bloom

Zara Alexandra - Greasy Spoon

Televisionaries, Les Greene - Airbound

Megg Farrell - Damaged Goods

Willie Nelson - I Never Cared for You

[thebowerypresents]

Phosphorescent Say(s) Goodbye to Summer

Phosphorescent – Webster Hall – September 20, 2024

Numerous cities have great live-music scenes, some of which, with self-branded monikers like “Music City,” “Live Music Capital of the World” or “Chicago,” claim to be No. 1. But nowhere in this country — and I’d wager the world — is a better place for live music than New York City. There’s always something terrific going on that you can’t get to because of something else terrific that you can. So, it’s understandable if you weren’t in the East Village on the last Friday of summer, but on that night, the very best live music in the very best city for it was Phosphorescent at Webster Hall.

Touring behind the eighth Phosphorescent studio offering, this year’s Revelator — the first in six years and just the second since 2013’s universally acclaimed Muchacho, one of that decade’s defining albums — former Brooklynite Matthew Houck opened the show with a solo acoustic Phosphorescent set, beneath 12 muted blue lights and with smoke billowing behind him, like a campfire conjuring paying tribute to the last vestiges of summer.

With a guitar and a simple “Let’s just get into it,” he played nine songs from across his catalog, beginning with C’est La Vie’s “C’est La Vie No. 2” and closing with Aw Come Aw Wry’s rarely played “Endless, Pt. 1” and “Endless, Pt. 2” — happily chatting along the way. After mentioning that the upcoming Paul Schrader movie he’d scored comes out next year, the acclaimed screenwriter and director, a noted fan of the band, shouted down from the balcony that it arrives “on December 6th.” And before playing Pride’s “My Dove, My Lamb,” Houck offered, “Just a few more and then Phosphorescent are coming out, and they’re really good.”

The full-band set launched with the new LP’s title track, its opening lines — “I got tired of sadness / I got tired of all the madness / I got tired of being a badass all the time” — earning an enthusiastic crowd response. It was Phosphorescent backed by Phosphorescent: Dominic Billett (drums), Jack Lawrence (bass), Jo Schornikow (keys), Ricky Ray Jackson (guitar/pedal steel) and Scott Stapleton (keys), with a fiddler and saxophonist liberally subbing in and out. (“We got some extra folks tonight because it’s New York City.”)

C’est La Vie earworm “New Birth in New England” was a highlight, the band several times feverishly working the song toward a crescendo just to back off and return to the chorus, taking a turn toward what seemed like would be a metal finish only to — again — retreat to the chorus and then fully jamming away the tune’s conclusion. Stapleton, who’d unleashed his headbanging-worthy mane from beneath a white cowboy hat, let his hair fly in tandem with the music's increasing intensity, like some sort of a follicular metronome (#fakejambands).

They closed the set with a cover of “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” made famous by Willie Nelson, and a pair of Muchacho standouts, the driving “The Quotidian Beasts” and the ethereal “Song for Zula,” Houck, his voice a raw nerve, stalking the stage and pointing out enthusiastic concertgoers.

The increasingly boisterous audience cheered for more and Phosphorescent returned for the cosmic-country “Ride On/Right On” (Muchacho), “Los Angeles” (Here’s to Taking It Easy) — shouted out from the crowd and emphatically punctuated with “I came to Los Angeles to goddamn die” — and then finishing with “Down to Go” (Muchacho), the line “The kids of summer, don’t we glow” particularly resonating with autumn swiftly approaching. —R. Zizmor | @hand_dog

Photos courtesy of Toby Tenenbaum | @tobytenenbaum

[dollarbin]

Dollar Bin at 150

Well, it happened again: you wasted more than a few perfectly good hours in my dumpster bin of a record collection. We've arrived at post #150 so let's recap the nonsense that's occurred since we hit 100 back in early summer:

There was some serious Shakey action. We spent six different posts on Neil Young's incomparable Zuma, ranging from the record's sonic relationship with my parents' antique vacuum, to its most bleak, altered, brutal, kaleidoscopic and yearning moments.

Young's Trans merited nearly as deep a dive. We started with an epic teenage tale before declaring it the best of all midlife crisis records. I took a pause to vent my fury regarding Neil's current doings and then went fairly deeply into the record's thematic implications for my own biography, and for Neil's.

What's more, I complained about everything on the Archives 3 sampler that does not sound like a demo by The Cure, identified Hitchhiker as a core part of Young's incredible legacy, cursed Stephen Stills yet again, waxed poetic and personal about Silver and Gold, recommended Prairie Wind for laxative adverts, voted against Cranky, Silly and Nasty's American Dream, got tipsy and blissful while listening to Tuscaloosa in paradise and demanded answers about my missing copy of Hawks and Doves.

And then my Cousin Kris died. I did what I could to celebrate his passing and his incomparable legacy by offering up my own essential songs list and through an appreciation of his best work with Rita.

(Now that Kris is heavenward, busy guffawing with Leonard Cohen, two perfectly reformed drunks in a heavenly choir, Prairewolf has vaulted to the pinnacle of my family's current musical achievement.)

While we're at it, here's a wonderful slice of Kris's second best work with Rita. Why isn't this song being covered by all our current divas from Adele to Chappell Roan as we speak?

Maybe it's because no one could ever sing anything like Kris and Rita...

(J.D. Souther's passing was noted as well. But comparing Souther to Kristofferson is like... well, it's not even worthy of a metaphor.)

What else happened on our way to 150?

I initiated yet to be consummated renassainces for Edie Brickell, Carly Simon, Jerry Jeff Walker, Ry Cooder and Michael Penn. Indeed, Carly Simon merited two posts. That's right, Carly Simon!

Also, the ladies' fierce penchant for Paul Simon merited wonder.

Linda Thompson was feted as well as Tom Waits' 70's persona. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings' most obscure track was deemed equal to their latest weeper. Willie Nelson's 615th buddy record garnered praise, as did Lucinda William's Tom Petty tribute. Both records are good, but neither holds a candle to Dogs on the Run or the Woods Bands' long lost and churning pop nugget.

Sandy Denny remained a Dollar Bin fixation, of course. She sang the hell out of a few murder ballads, as well as her own greatest hit and a few Jackson C. Frank tunes, Plus she was way over my head in 1993 and put Led Zeppelin to shame.

What lies ahead, you ask? Well, for one thing, we've got to get serious and dedicate ourselves to a whole bunch more Joni Mitchell Mondays.

But before we begin the quest to 200 let's revel for a moment in my Dodgers' stirring pennant victory; Randy Newman sings everything, and this song most especially, ironically. But for the next week or so I'm just gonna act like everyone at Dodger Stadium and pretend that I don't know any better...

P.S. Stephen Stills Really Sucks.

P.P.S. Please vote! And if you can't vote for Kamala, write in Woody Guthrie.

[thislovintime]

Photo by Michael Ventura.

“The Peter Tork Project [also featuring Phil Simon, Nelson Bogart, Vince Barranco, and Paul Ill] Tork likes to emphasize, is not a revival, although the band members do play some Monkees songs ‘better than the first time,’ says manager Carol Gore. 'Peter will never get the Monkee off his back,’ she adds.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 6, 1983 “[Tork] says The Peter Tork Project plays music ‘sort of on the heavy end’ of album-oriented rock radio. ‘We’re not heavy metal per say, but we’re just on the pop side of that,’ adds the affable performer.” - The Daily Oklahoman, November 7, 1983 "I would like to have a viable career and enjoy the prerequisites of royalty (again) but if it does not happen I won’t be disappointed. Basically I’m pretty content." - Peter Tork, Evening Standard, July 26, 1983

[shefanispeculator]

10 Children of Famous Musicians Who Became Famous Musicians (americansongwriter.com)

10 Children of Famous Musicians Who Became Famous Musicians

By

Cillea Houghton

Updated: May 16, 2023 1:00 pm

Though not scientifically proven, it’s possible that music is passed down through generations, as evidenced by these famous musicians whose children also became artists.

For decades, icons like Elvis Presley, Lenny Kravitz and Eddie Van Halen have had children who followed in their footsteps to make a name for themselves in music. You’ll see two descendants of the Beatles on this list, along with a duo related to Motown Records’ Berry Gordy. Check out 10 children of famous musicians.

1. Miley Cyrus – Daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus

It’s all in the family when it comes to the Cyruses. Billy Ray Cyrus was a country superstar throughout the 1990s with hits like “Achy Breaky Heart” and “Could’ve Been Me.” This paved the way for his eldest daughter, Miley Cyrus, to become one of the biggest names in pop music. The father and daughter co-starred together in the hit Disney show, Hannah Montana before the younger Cyrus became a pop megastar who’s known to blend genres. Her hits range from “Party in the U.S.A.” and “The Climb” to “Wrecking Ball” and her most recent smash, “Flowers.”

2. Lisa Marie Presley – Daughter of Elvis Presley

As the only child of Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie Presley was born into stardom. She took her time going into the music industry though. Presley released her debut album, To Whom It May Concern, in 2003 at the age of 35. It debuted at No. 5 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and produced the single “Lights Out,” which made mention of her family, including her famous father. Presley released three studio albums before her untimely death in 2023 at the age of 54 from a heart attack.

3. Zoe Kravitz – Daughter of Lenny Kravitz

Zoe Kravitz is a descendant of Hollywood royalty as the daughter of rock star Lenny Kravitz and The Cosby Show star Lisa Bonet. The young Kravitz adopted both of her parents’ talents and blended them into a successful career as both a musician and actress. On the music side, Kravitz has released two studio albums and two EPs. She’s also been a guest vocalist on Drake’s song “Passionfruit” and co-writer and background singer on Taylor Swift’s hit, “Lavender Haze,” off Midnights.

4. Julian Lennon – Son of John Lennon

You know you come from music royalty when Paul McCartney writes you a song. This is true for John Lennon’s son, Julian Lennon, who was the subject of a comfort song called “Hey Jules” that McCartney wrote for him when his parents were going through a divorce. The song evolved into one of the Beatles’ biggest hits, “Hey Jude.”

Lennon later followed in the musical footsteps of his famous father, beginning with his debut studio album, Valotte, in 1984, four years after his father’s tragic murder. He’s since released seven total studio albums, the most recent being Jude in 2022. Over the years, he’s had a string of hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart including “Valoette,” “Stick Around” and “Now You’re in Heaven.”

5. Natalie Cole – Daughter of Nat King Cole

When you’re the daughter of one of the most poignant vocalists of all time, it’s nearly impossible not to carry on the tradition. With a voice as crisp as her father’s, Natalie Cole carved a career path of her own with hits including “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” and “Inseparable.” She made Grammy Award history by being the first Black artist to win Best New Artist in 1976 and the first Black woman to win Album of the Year for her tribute album to her father, Unforgettable… with Love, in 1992.

6. Lukas & Micah Nelson – Sons of Willie Nelson

Music is in the bloodline of the Nelson family. Country giant Willie Nelson passed his songwriting prowess on to his sons Lukas and Micah Nelson, both of whom are musicians. Lukas is the frontman of Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real that’s released eight studio albums. The band also stars as the backing band for Bradley Cooper’s character in the 2018 edition of A Star is Born, with Lukas also co-writing and co-producing songs for the film. Meanwhile, brother Micah goes by the stage name Particle Kid with the goal of presenting “music, visual art and curious quantum creations.”

7. Ziggy Marley – Son of Bob Marley

Bob Marley introduced reggae music to mainstream audiences, a tradition his son Ziggy Marley is carrying on. Marley’s son spent more than a decade as frontman of Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, which included the Grammy-winning album, Conscious Party, one of three times the band won a Grammy. Marley departed the Melody Makers in 2002 and launched a solo career in 2003 with his debut solo album, Dragonfly. Marley has been a mainstay in the Best Reggae Album category at the Grammys, having won it a total of five times thus far.

8. LMFAO – Son and Grandson of Motown Records’ Founder Berry Gordy

Though Berry Gordy wasn’t a musician, he was a rock star in his own right. As founder of Motown Records, Gordy is responsible for introducing Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and more to mass audiences. He passed this musical gene onto his youngest son, Stefan Kendal Gordy. Operating under the stage name Redfoo, he’s one half of the duo LMFAO alongside his nephew and Gordy’s grandson, Skyler Austen Gordy (aka Sky Blu). The duo rose to the top of the charts in the mid-2000s with hits like “Party Rock Anthem” and “Shots.” LMFAO went on an indefinite hiatus in 2012.

9. Wolfgang Van Halen – Son of Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang Van Halen got his start in the way any aspiring rock star would dream: by being a guitarist for Van Halen. He spent four years as bassist for the legendary band before his father’s passing in 2020, which led to the band’s demise. Over the years, Wolfgang has played guitar for other artists including Tremonti and Clint Lowery. He released his solo debut album, Mammoth WVH, in 2021.

10. Zak Starkey – Son of Ringo Starr

Since the day he was born, Zak Starkey has been surrounded by rock and roll royalty. As the son of the Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr, Starkey followed in his dad’s footsteps and became a drummer himself. He’s performed with The Who, Oasis and spent part of the 1990s touring in his father’s band. He’s also played on albums by The Who, Oasis, The Semantics, Broken English and many others.

Photo by Jaime Nogales/Medios y Media/Getty Images