Your Monday Moment of Word's Fail Me

From 2012, please enjoy you-know-who's hell-spawn and an absolutely jaw-droppingly good (and essentially unplugged) version of Dolly Parton's classic "Jolene."

Talk about torpedoing your preconceptions -- it would never have occurred to me that anybody who grew up on the Mean Streets of The Mickey Mouse Club could actually have any talent. And in my defense, I actually once sat through a Hannah Montana movie in a local Hell Octaplex.

In any event, I take back every nasty thing I've ever said or thought about this kid. Damn, that's just freaking terrific.

[h/t Ollie Sakhno]

Your Friday Moment of "There Were Giants in the Earth"...

So for the last couple of days I've been thinking about the late great Scott Miller -- partly because I'm reading my old colleague Brett Milano's splendid 2015 biography...

...and partly because I just shnorred a copy of Miller's 1987 album (with Game Theory) Lolita Nation...

...which I'm ashamed to admit I hadn't heard till earlier this week.

In any case, I'll have more to say about both of those down the line, but in the meanwhile, and by way of wishing everybody a great weekend, here's one of my favorite Miller songs, from one of my absolute all-time favorite 90s albums, The Loud Family's Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things.

Jeebus H. Christ on a piece of challah french toast, that's some brilliant shit. Even more incredibly, they could play it live (and that's another subject for future discussion).

In any case, you can -- and very definitely should -- buy Brett's book over at Amazon HERE.

Attention, Lousy Stinking Francophonic Bacon-Eating Bastards...

...i.e., Canadians.

Friend of PowerPop Marc Platt will be hosting another episode of his syndicated Radio Candy show today and it will be beaming into the ether at Q108 FM in Kingston.

The rest of the world can listen to it streaming HERE, but in either case we are delighted that Marc will be playing -- for the second week in a row!-- "You'll Come Aroud," from the fabulous Floor Models (featuring some guy whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels) great album Floor Your Love.

The show airs at 3pm and 8pm (EST) -- be there or be square!!!

Closed Due to the Vulgar Talking Yam

No, I didn't forget to post yesterday -- I wanted to leave up Monday's fund-raiser for my pal's Velvet Underground movie for an extra 24 hours.

Today, however, I am just disgusted with my fellow countrymen and I'm taking a day off.

Regular -- apolitical and peppy -- posting resumes on the morrow.

So You Want to Be a Patron of the Arts?!?!

My old college chum Tony Jannelli -- filmmaker, musician, and all around cool guy -- is making a movie about the time in 1965 that the Velvet Underground, in their first paying gig, played a show at his New Jersey high school. An experience that, as you can imagine, changed a bunch of lives.



But enough of my yakking -- here's Tony to tell you more about the project.

I was there...as a 10th grader sitting in the 3rd row, this was one of the first concerts I had ever been to. It was also my first concert where I witnessed booing, shock, horror, and bewilderment. I’ve always enjoyed telling my story about seeing the Velvet Underground at their, in some minds, disastrous first public performance, so we’re making a short film about it (yes, it will include the part about the audience storming out in disbelief). Sincerely.

While on stage for merely 20 minutes, The Velvet Underground performed three songs, "There She Goes," "Venus in Furs," and "Heroin." The Summit High School audience responded with, as one of the band recalled in 1983, a “murmur of surprise that greeted our appearance” that “increased to a roar of disbelief as we started to play" which"swelled to a mighty howl of outrage and bewilderment…” Half the audience walked out.

Using eyewitness accounts, we will put you there... in the middle of the first Velvet Underground concert. This short animated documentary film will combine hand-drawn and 2D computer animation techniques in a simple, graphic, and graffiti-like style (or zine-style) that reflects the texture of the period -- mid 1960's.

Whether you are a Velvet Underground fan, a Lou Reed fan, a fan of animation, or a fan of indie film, your contribution can help bring this rock and roll legend to life. Help us share this anomalous and fun story with the music loving world. Every dollar raised will go directly towards production costs.

For more info, go to the film's Kickstarter page over HERE. Needless to say, give generously.

Your Friday Moment of Words Fail Me

From 1966 (on local Chicago teevee) -- it's The Gary Lewis Experience!



Okay, actually Gary Lewis and the Playboys. A real nice buncha guys.

BTW, I looked exactly like Lewis when I was in high school. You can imagine how thrilled I was about that.

Have a great weekend, everybody!!!!

Radio Free Canuckistan

Hey Canadians -- friend of PowerPop Marc Platt will be hosting another episode of his syndicated Radio Candy show today and it will be beaming into the ether at Q108 FM in Kingston.

The rest of the world can listen to it streaming HERE, but in either case we are delighted that Marc will be playing -- in more or less its terrestrial radio debut -- "You'll Come Aroud," from the fabulous Floor Models (featuring some guy whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels) great album Floor Your Love.

The show airs at 3pm and 8pm (EST) -- be there or be square!!!

Gerry Rafferty is God (An Occasional Series)

From 1973, please enjoy Stealer's Wheel and "Everyone's Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine," their fabulous followup to that song in the Tarantino movie whose name now escapes me. The single version, in stereo.

The short version: As I said, this was the followup to "Stuck in the Middle," and it flopped, inexplicably. The band then re-recorded it, hideously, for their second album, and that's the only version that has ever appeared on LP or CD since. Why they re-recorded it I have no idea, as the original is as close to perfection as any record ever gets; as you've heard by now, if "Stuck in the Middle" was the band channeling Dylan, this one is them channeling Revolver and late 60s pop psych in general. Simply gorgeous.

In any case -- enjoy the damn thing.

I should that I originally posted this about a decade ago, but as long-time readers are aware, just about every audio clip I've ever put up over the years no longer works, because Divshare has apparently gone bye bye. So from time to time, I'll be re-posting songs that behoove behearing. This one, I think, eminently deserved to be restored to the intertubes.

You're welcome very much.

Closed for Monkey Business

Regular postings -- i.e., puckish satires on contemporary mores -- resume on the morrow.

...Put On Your Party Dress

From 2016 and her just released debut CD Debutante...

...please enjoy the haunting voice of Cait Brennan and -- what is perhaps my favorite track from the album -- her splendidly sort of folk-rock-ish "Underworld."



Trust me when I tell you that the entire album -- which is rather more stylistically wide-ranging than the song above might lead you to believe -- is every bit as insinuating. I've been trying to find a way to characterize it overall, but fortunately another reviewer -- Melissa Bratcher, at Popshifter -- did it for me.

Cait Brennan has an instantly recognizable voice, and, paired with her sugary power pop proclivities, makes the kind of music that stops me in my tracks. With an undeniable gift for writing hooky delights, she’s an heir to the throne of the greats: ELO, Nilsson, the Sweet, Rundgren. Her influences are all over her songs and Debutante is a sparkly kaleidoscope of AM Radio, 1970s pop, and confessional lyrics. It’s delightful.

Couldn't agree more, although I would add Big Star and Glam Era Mott the Hoople and David Bowie to the list of influences Cait wears on her sleeve (albeit not on the CD cover, where she's sleveeless). And I would be remiss if I didn't note that the record is beautifully produced, with plenty of sonic sheen but with a charming rough-hewn quality as well, by Fernando Perdomo (who was also involved with the new Emitt Rhodes album).

Meanwhile, I should add that -- besides being a terrific singer/songwriter -- Cait has a pretty amazing backstory. Which I knew nothing about until several weeks after I first fell in love with her record.

You can read about it over at her official website HERE, but suffice it to say she's quite a gal.

Meanwhile,you can -- and very definitely should -- order "Debutante" over at Amazon.

Seriously -- I know it's only February, but so far this is my candidate for Album of the Year.

Non-Power Pop Song of the Week (An Occasional Series)

From his 2015 EP Hell Hole Swamp...

...please enjoy L.A. based Americana/alt-country kind of guy RJ Comer and his quite stunningly beautiful "Losing What You're Losing."



I had never heard this song -- or any of Comer's work for that matter -- until yesterday, when friend of PowerPop Marc Platt programmed it on his syndicated radio show up in Canada (along with some other tune featuring a bass player whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels). Obviously, in terms of genre, it's not exactly the sort of thing that generally justifies the mission statement of this here blog, but I think it's riveting nonetheless and I thought I'd share. You're welcome very much.

Meanwhile, you can and should order Mr. Comer's EP over at Amazon HERE.

Programming Notes from the Great White North

Hey Canadians -- friend of PowerPop Marc Platt will be hosting another episode of his syndicated Radio Candy show today and it will be beaming into the ether at Q108 FM in Kingston.

The rest of the world can listen to it streaming at www.q108kingston.com, but in either case we are delighted that Marc will be playing -- in more or less its terrestrial radio debut -- "Letter From Liverpool," the fabulous "new" old song by the fabulous Floor Models (featuring some guy whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels).

The show airs at 3pm and 8pm (EST) -- be there or be square!!!

Closed Due to a Bad Case of the Blahs

Regular -- and much more upbeat -- posting resumes on the morrow.

Bummed Out Tuesday: Special Beatlemania! Edition

On this day in 1964, The Beatles made their American TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show.

And now it can be told -- I am the only Baby Boomer in America who didn't actually see it. In point of fact, I was in my bedroom with a 102 degree fever, and my parents forebade me to get up even momentarily. So I had to content myself with hearing the show, which was playing on the 17 inch RCA teevee in our living room down the hall from me.

So fuck the rest of you. With a rusty chainsaw.

Dan Hicks 1941-2016

I must confess that I never paid much attention to Hicks during the Hot Licks days, although I grew to appreciate him and them years later.

But what really blew my mind was discovering his original band The Charlatans via a 2004 best-of anthology on the British Big Beat label.

That's Hicks, second from the right, on the album cover for those of you playing at home.

And here's a representative song from the album.



Those guys pretty much kick-started the entire San Francisco scene of the late 60s -- Jerry Garcia famously said that the Charlatans' Mike Wilhelm was his favorite guitarist -- and, as you can see, although they didn't have the commercial success of the Dead/Airplane/Quicksilve/Grape etc., they were by far the snazziest dressers of the bunch.

Meanwhile, you can -- and definitely should -- order that Charlatans compilation over at Amazon HERE.

Have I mentioned that this death shit is really starting to piss me off?

And Speaking of Gorgeous...

Emitt Rhodes -- the power pop genius who wrote and sang these wonderful songs when he was a freaking kid ..



...has just released his first new solo album in 43 years.

I'll review it next week, but in the meantime, here's a track from his first solo album that should tell you exactly why expectations for the new one are running so high.



Have a great weekend, everybody!

Bob Elliot 1923 - 2016

The hilarious Bob and Ray, doing to that stupid Rod Stewart song what always deserved to be done to it.



Incidentally, although I've been a fan of those guys since I was a kid, my first exposure to them -- odd, given that they were primarily radio comedians -- was in the pages of MAD Magazine, as witness this splash page from a piece (drawn by the great Mort Drucker) from 1957.

In any case, with Elliot's passing, the world is now, officially, a much duller place.

Which One's the Stewardess?

From sometime in late March or early April 1967, please enjoy the incomparable Jefferson Airplane -- making their New York City debut, to an audience that may have included some guy whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels...

...and a terrific live performance, with remarkably good sound, of "She Has Funny Cars," perhaps my favorite song from the then just released Surrealistic Pillow.



I was at one of the Au Go Go shows, although I can't say for sure it was the one in the clip. In any case, I remember the band was overwhelming on every level, including the visual -- they were without question the coolest bunch I had ever witnessed at that point in my young life.

Signe Anderson 1941-2016

She just may have been the unluckiest woman on the planet -- not only did she quit Jefferson Airplane just before they became gazillionaires, but she had the misfortune to die on the very same day as Paul Kantner.

She had the pipes, though, as you can hear all over the first Airplane album.



In the meantime, a friend writes:

"At this sad time, our thoughts and prayers go out to the Jefferson family...

...and the entire airline industry."

Okay, I'm going to hell for quoting that joke.

It Came From Jersey!!!

Saw The Smithereens last night at B.B. King's. Together 36 years, and they still kick major ass.

A real treat: they did their first album, the transplendent Especially for You, from start to finish. An even bigger treat (at least for me): I got a shout out from frontman Pat DiNizio during the set, and there was a brief flash of a photo of moi and 'Reens drummer Dennis Diken in the video montage/scrapbook that was shown during the performance.

And later they did this song, from their third album, which I'm ashamed to admit I'd forgotten.



I think the word for that one is -- WOW!!!

In any case, just a great rock-and-roll night. Brought a tear to my ancient eyes.