La Fin de La Semaine Essay Question: Special "Insert Penis Joke Here" Edition

So there was a very droll little profile in last week's New Yorker on Ken Caillat, the great recording engineeer/producer who did four Fleetwood Mac albums including Rumours.

In any case, it turns out that the current award-winning/smash Broadway hit musical Stereophonic is, shall we say, liberally plaigarized from Caillat's autobiography of a few years ago. And that there may be some lawsuits in the future as a result.

But my favorite bit is this:

Caillat said that he had watched the play in a daze. “I feel like kind of a numbnuts,” he said. “But, yeah, now I feel ripped off!” He did note a few discrepancies between his book and the play: “Lindsey [Buckingham]’s a dick, but he’s not that big of a dick.”

Heh.

Which, of course, leads us to the weekend's discussion. To wit:

...and the biggest all-time dick in what we refer to as the rock-and-roll field -- of any gender -- indisputably was/is...???

Oh -- and in case you were wondering about my nominee, it should come as no surprise to long-time readers that it's the guy singing lead on the verses here.

I mean, not for nothing is he inevitably referred to in these precincts as "the colossal dickitude that IS Mike Love."

Okay -- who would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

POSTSCRIPT: I just have to say, as much as I respect the above-mentioned Ken Caillat, I cannot in good conscience excuse him for having spawned -- quite literally -- this crap.

Really. I hate to attribute the sins of the daughter to the father, but wow -- that song is completely inexcusably disgustingly awful. 😎

Capt. Al's 21st Century (Part V): Special "It Takes Two, Baby" Edition

[As attentive readers will recall, our old friend (and more important, Friend of PowerPop©) Allan Rosenberg, aka Capt. Al, has been toiling on a series about his fave recent artists for a while now. The fourth installment of these musical musings -- dedicated to Rhiannon Giddons -- appeared here on Sept. 12. Now, as promised, here's episode Le Cinquième! Take it away, you old sea doggie!!! -- S.S.]

Welcome to the “Best Rock 'n' Roll Music of the 21st Century, Part 5”, by Captain Al

Shovels & Rope are an example of the 21st Century trend of 2-member bands (think of The White Stripes as an example of how this works). Me, personally, I think S&R are the best current example of this configuration.

Both Cary [Ann Hearst] and and Michael [Trent] are multi-instrumentalists; live, they switch off to the needed instruments throughout their performances, creating a continually varied musical palette way beyond what you would expect from merely two performers. Even cooler, their songwriting is topflight and their vocal blend is simply wonderful.

The short version -- when they create their music together, the combination of the two of them creates a third entity, i.e. “Shovels & Rope”. Which is its own unique thing, taking the music far beyond what you would expect just the two of them to be able to create.

PS: In the studio, of course, they multitrack, which gives the results a totally different flavor than their live work. They’ve created quite a few top studio albums, including their brand new Something is Working Up Above My Head.

But live? They totally kick ass. And if you don’t believe me, check these clips out.

BTW, While researching this piece, I remembered a favorite Lovin Spoonful song -- “Bes’ Friends,” from their masterpiece Hums...

I swear it sounds like a sixty year old prototype for Shovels & Rope.

Hey -- everything is new & everything is old.

Okay, Al -- here's the Spoonful song in question.

You know, I think you're right on the money about this, but our readers can make the call.

In any event, Shovels & Rope -- who I knew nothing about prior to you hipping me to them -- are indeed terrific.

So thanks for the music, pal, and I'm looking forward to future episodes at your leisure!!!

My New Favorite Band (An Occasional Series): Special "How Do You Say 'What a Piece of Pastry!' in Yiddish?” Edition

From the land of ice and snow -- no, actually Toronto, Ontario -- in 2024, please enjoy twang-cuties The Surfrajettes and their thoughly adorable "Easy as Pie".

That's the title track from their recently released second waxing, BTW. You can find out more about them, and purchase their music, over at their official website HERE.

I should add that a friend described the rock genre those gals essay as "No-Dick Dale!"

And yes, I'm going to hell for repeating that joke.

Have I Mentioned This Death Shit is Really Starting to Piss Me Off?

So as you may have heard, singer/songwriter/actor Kris Kristofferson passed away over the weekend at the age of 88.

Here's my favorite thing he ever did -- a really cool song he performed live on the soundtrack to Celebration at Big Sur, an otherwise not so wonderful concert film from 1970.

Apart from just being a great lyrical narrative (almost a short story in song, actually), the thing that really gets me about that (and has since I first heard it on a free promo copy at my college newspaper, courtesy of the easily duped people at Ode Records), is the lead guitar work.

If those licks sounds familiar to you, it's because they should -- they're the distinctive and easily recognizable work of the Lovin' Spoonful's great Zal Yanovsky, who was then toiling in Kristofferson's touring band.

Oh, and I know this is perhaps not the way Kris would have liked his cinematic career to be remembered, but here's a very good -- complete -- print of him in Millenium (co-starring Cheryl Ladd!), which is my all-time favorite cheesy sci-fi flick of the '80s.

Trust me, you'll enjoy it.