Today is the birthday of Glenn Tilbrook, born this day in 1957 in South East London.
I fell in love with Glenn's band Squeeze when I saw them open for their A&M labelmates The Tubes in 1979 at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, PA. The band had recently released their second LP Cool for Cats, but the audience was there to see the main act and they were having nothing of this group of new wave Brits. Each song they performed ended with a Rowan and Martin-style smattering of applause. They were dying out there.
Finally, at the end of their set, Glenn announced that this would be their last song which prompted the hardiest cheer of the evening. As the group began the song he tried valiantly to get the crowd clapping, but it was no go. Then, he hit upon a brilliant idea. He said something like "I know you don't like us, so those of you in the audience who don't, stand up and punch your fist like this!" He proceeded to demonstrate, punching his fist above his head into his other hand. Soon, he had the entire audience on their feet following his lead. By the end of the song, he had won over the crowd and the band left the stage to a nice ovation. It remains to this day one of the funniest stage moves I have ever seen.
Besides Glenn's stage antics, it goes without saying that the music was pretty great too. Here's the band performing the wonderful Another Nail For My Heart on Top of the Pops in 1980. Geez, has it been that long?
Happy Birthday Glenn! Cheers Mate!
Friday, August 31, 2007
Weekend Listomania (Like a Virgin Edition)
Well, it's Friday, and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental valet Hop-Sing and I are off to some airport in Minnesota, where we will be checking out the facilities at one of the popular public restrooms. It's some kind of trendy tourist spot, apparently -- can't imagine why. In any case, posting by moi will necessarily be sporadic until our return.
Meantime, here's a fun project for you all:
Your First Rock Show/Concert Ever!!!!!
Be it horribly uncool, be it sublime, be it whatever -- as long it's the first one you ever personally experienced.
Okay, mine would be -- and no "he's so old that" jokes, please --
The Beach Boys. Asbury Park Convention Center, June or July 1965.
(If there's a Beach Boys scholar out there, I'd love to know the exact date)
An amazing day. My friend Ritchie Brenner and I drove from Teaneck to Asbury Park with the top down on his MG convertible on a glorious summer afternoon with history's best ever Top 40 blasting from the AM radio. When we got to the Boardwalk, we made it over to the Convention Center to see where the show was going to be, and suddenly up on the roof there were the Beach Boys themselves, turning the letters over on their name on the marquee. The fan in me went absolutely mental, especially at seeing Carl Wilson, who was 17 like me, and thus my favorite guy in the band.
As for the show itself, it was pretty amazing. I didn't know it at the time, but the guy subbing for Brian Wilson was Glenn Campbell, and they played a great hour or so set pretty much like the one on the "Beach Boys Concert" album, but with more hits. They were really loud, but the vocals were crystal clear, and Carl and Dennis played brilliantly.The big surprise was a song we hadn't heard before -- the premier of "California Girls," which would be released to radio as a single a week later. Blew us away (I recall Carl switched to a Rickenbacker twelve-string for it, which was the first time I had ever heard one live).
Incidentally, the girls in the audience were already going bonkers an hour before the show even started. Total raving Beatlemania style hysterics when the band hit the stage, of course. It was the only Teen Scream concert I ever actually attended, and it was a weird marvel to behold.
On the ride back, I think I felt high for the first time in my life. Unforgettable.
Okay -- enough of my yakking. What's your story?
[h/t Gummo!]
Meantime, here's a fun project for you all:
Your First Rock Show/Concert Ever!!!!!
Be it horribly uncool, be it sublime, be it whatever -- as long it's the first one you ever personally experienced.
Okay, mine would be -- and no "he's so old that" jokes, please --
The Beach Boys. Asbury Park Convention Center, June or July 1965.
(If there's a Beach Boys scholar out there, I'd love to know the exact date)
An amazing day. My friend Ritchie Brenner and I drove from Teaneck to Asbury Park with the top down on his MG convertible on a glorious summer afternoon with history's best ever Top 40 blasting from the AM radio. When we got to the Boardwalk, we made it over to the Convention Center to see where the show was going to be, and suddenly up on the roof there were the Beach Boys themselves, turning the letters over on their name on the marquee. The fan in me went absolutely mental, especially at seeing Carl Wilson, who was 17 like me, and thus my favorite guy in the band.
As for the show itself, it was pretty amazing. I didn't know it at the time, but the guy subbing for Brian Wilson was Glenn Campbell, and they played a great hour or so set pretty much like the one on the "Beach Boys Concert" album, but with more hits. They were really loud, but the vocals were crystal clear, and Carl and Dennis played brilliantly.The big surprise was a song we hadn't heard before -- the premier of "California Girls," which would be released to radio as a single a week later. Blew us away (I recall Carl switched to a Rickenbacker twelve-string for it, which was the first time I had ever heard one live).
Incidentally, the girls in the audience were already going bonkers an hour before the show even started. Total raving Beatlemania style hysterics when the band hit the stage, of course. It was the only Teen Scream concert I ever actually attended, and it was a weird marvel to behold.
On the ride back, I think I felt high for the first time in my life. Unforgettable.
Okay -- enough of my yakking. What's your story?
[h/t Gummo!]
Thursday, August 30, 2007
The Present Day Hodad Refuses to Die
The classic Beach Boys line up, from a closed-circuit concert circa late 1964.
A coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded the first astute reader to divine the clip's relevance to the subject of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.
And no, it's not Top Ten Reasons Mike Love is a Dick.
BTW -- congratulate me. This is the first time I've actually posted a YouTube video without having to make Kid Charlemagne or NYMary do it for me.
[h/t watertiger]
A coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded the first astute reader to divine the clip's relevance to the subject of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.
And no, it's not Top Ten Reasons Mike Love is a Dick.
BTW -- congratulate me. This is the first time I've actually posted a YouTube video without having to make Kid Charlemagne or NYMary do it for me.
[h/t watertiger]
Rodger Dodger!
Here's a fave tune of mine by Artful Dodger. They were a staple on the live music scene in Northeastern Ohio in the mid to late 70's and they had a pretty large following in cities like Cleveland and Pittsburgh at the time. I remember them being a perennial opening act for bigger groups and for this reason I must have seen them live at least 6 or 7 times during the era. Unfortunately, at the time I was a punk rocker and they really didn't leave that much of an impression on me.
Later, when I caught the powerpop bug, I kept seeing their name mentioned as prime practitioners of the genre and I was curious to check them out again because I honestly couldn't remember anything about them. It turns out they released three records on Columbia and a fourth on Ariola between 1975-1980. It also appears that the CD reish of their second LP, Honor Among Thieves , is now out of print and changing hands for a princely sum. Wayside is the song that is most frequently anthologized on comps and here they are performing that tune, appropriately enough, at a reunion gig at the Cleveland Agora in 2006. In Cleveland, Wayside still makes the song rotation of classic rock stations. BTW, there are better vids of this tune and other Artful Dodger songs on YouTube, but unfortunately they don't allow embedding.
All in all, the band's records can be a bit uneven, but each has at least four or five stellar tracks that make them keepers in my collection. It's not surprising that they were big in Clevo because they remind me a lot of the Raspberries, although they generally tended to take a more straight-ahead rock and roll approach. They certainly are prime candidates for a thoughtful career anthology that I am certain would be a must-have for fans of 70's era powerpop. Rave On!
Later, when I caught the powerpop bug, I kept seeing their name mentioned as prime practitioners of the genre and I was curious to check them out again because I honestly couldn't remember anything about them. It turns out they released three records on Columbia and a fourth on Ariola between 1975-1980. It also appears that the CD reish of their second LP, Honor Among Thieves , is now out of print and changing hands for a princely sum. Wayside is the song that is most frequently anthologized on comps and here they are performing that tune, appropriately enough, at a reunion gig at the Cleveland Agora in 2006. In Cleveland, Wayside still makes the song rotation of classic rock stations. BTW, there are better vids of this tune and other Artful Dodger songs on YouTube, but unfortunately they don't allow embedding.
All in all, the band's records can be a bit uneven, but each has at least four or five stellar tracks that make them keepers in my collection. It's not surprising that they were big in Clevo because they remind me a lot of the Raspberries, although they generally tended to take a more straight-ahead rock and roll approach. They certainly are prime candidates for a thoughtful career anthology that I am certain would be a must-have for fans of 70's era powerpop. Rave On!
They Say It's Your Birthday
Those who know me best -- by which I mean several contributors to Eschaton who I have never met personally -- are aware that I have been known to opine that the most beautiful sound on God's green earth is that of a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar well played . My old friend Tony Forte is the proud owner of one that's just turned forty (sort of). And he plays it like a master.
"The Rick I bought in spring '67 from a penthouse atop a luxury high rise in
Fort Lee. It was made in April '66.
Originally a 360 deluxe, I sent it to the plant in the early 70's for factory
modification -- pickup #3 and new guts, including master volume.
Roger McGuinn personally advised me on the transition, which included
changing machine heads to Grovers and Schaller mini's.
Remember when i asked him what made him pick the one with 3 pickups (ie, the SOUND!!!)and he said- "i dunno, it looked cool."
Tony's a brilliant musician and songwriter and if there's anybody alive who can do the whole jingle-jangle guitar thing better than him I've never encountered them (full disclosure: I played in a succession of bands with him back in the day).
He also rants very entertainingly; check out his podcasts at Oh, Don't Get Me Started.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Hilly Kristal, RIP
From the NYTimes today:
Hilly Kristal, a Rock Midwife, Is Dead at 75
By BEN SISARIO
Hilly Kristal, who founded CBGB, the Bowery bar that became the cradle of punk and art-rock in New York in the 1970s and served as the inspiration for musician-friendly rock dives throughout the world, died in Manhattan on Tuesday. He was 75.
His son, Mark Dana Kristal, told The Associated Press that the cause was complications from lung cancer.
From its opening in late 1973, when Mr. Kristal, a lover of acoustic music, gave the club its name, an abbreviation of the kinds of music he originally intended to feature there — country, bluegrass and blues — until a dispute with its landlord forced the club to close last October, CBGB presented thousands of bands within its eternally crumbling, flyer-encrusted walls.
Most famously, it served as the incubator for the diverse underground scene of New York in the 1970s and early ’80s, with acts like the Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, Television, Talking Heads and Sonic Youth playing some of their earliest and most important concerts there, at a time when there were few outlets in the city for innovative rock music.
“There was no real venue in 1973 for people like us,” Ms. Smith said today. “We didn’t fit into the cabarets or the folk clubs. Hilly wanted the people that nobody else wanted. He wanted us.”
Besides his son, Mr. Kristal is survived by a daughter, Lisa Kristal Burgman, and two grandchildren.
This is very sad news indeed.
Hilly was a genuinely great guy. Hell, he'd have to be to have let my lame-ass band play there on multiple occasions in the 70s.
Boy, do I feel old today....
Owner of a Lonely Heart
First generation rocker and all around mensch Bo Diddley suffered a heart attack yesterday while undergoing a medical check-up at a Florida hospital. The 78-year-old is now reported to be in a stable condition after undergoing surgery to help the flow of blood to his heart.
My thoughts are with him and his family, but actually I'm not too worried -- as the above video (from the great 1966 film The Big T.N.T. Show) clearly demonstrates, Bo is a force of nature and will probably live forever.
BTW -- that's the Duchess, usually billed as "Bo's gorgeous sister," on the the second guitar. And no, the damn movie has never been on DVD, a cultural crime of monstrous proportions -- check out the original trailer here.
My thoughts are with him and his family, but actually I'm not too worried -- as the above video (from the great 1966 film The Big T.N.T. Show) clearly demonstrates, Bo is a force of nature and will probably live forever.
BTW -- that's the Duchess, usually billed as "Bo's gorgeous sister," on the the second guitar. And no, the damn movie has never been on DVD, a cultural crime of monstrous proportions -- check out the original trailer here.
Midweek Funny
Figwit gets some of his own back....
We on Liberal Mountain were not at all surprised to learn that Mel spoke Elvish.
We on Liberal Mountain were not at all surprised to learn that Mel spoke Elvish.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Downloads Killed the Video Star
"Radio Nowhere," the new single from Bruce Springsteen's forthcoming album Magic, is available for free this week at ITunes.
On a slightly lower esthetic level, we're told the entire Apple Ringo Starr catalog is now available as well. Gotta pay for it, of course.
On a slightly lower esthetic level, we're told the entire Apple Ringo Starr catalog is now available as well. Gotta pay for it, of course.
Journey to the Center of the Stupid
Pathetic has-been never-that-good-to-begin-with rocker Ted Nugent, via Media Matters:
On the August 24 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity aired video footage of musician and right-wing activist Ted Nugent at an August 21 concert calling Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) a "piece of shit" and referring to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as a "worthless bitch." In the video clip, Nugent holds up what appear to be two assault rifles and says he told Obama "to suck on my machine gun" and says he told Clinton "you might want to ride one of these into the sunset."
The Nuge will attempt to justify this crap on Glen Beck's show on Headline News tonight at 7pm. Two idiots for the price of one, in other words.
On the August 24 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity aired video footage of musician and right-wing activist Ted Nugent at an August 21 concert calling Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) a "piece of shit" and referring to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as a "worthless bitch." In the video clip, Nugent holds up what appear to be two assault rifles and says he told Obama "to suck on my machine gun" and says he told Clinton "you might want to ride one of these into the sunset."
The Nuge will attempt to justify this crap on Glen Beck's show on Headline News tonight at 7pm. Two idiots for the price of one, in other words.
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