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From the treehouse to the stage
Jan. 29th, 2021 09:30 amBecoming John Mayall [Guardian]
Christmas confession
Dec. 5th, 2017 07:06 amI am the musical equivalent of Tom Lehrer’s old mess sergeant, the one whose taste buds were shot off in the war. For instance, I love “MacArthur Park,” particularly the version by Waylon Jennings & the Kimberleys. And for this season I like “Little Drummer Boy.” Yes, I know that having someone play the drums to welcome a newborn baby is really dumb, but I like it anyway. I liked it by what I thought of as the Hairy Simian Chorale; I liked it when Johnny Cash, of all people, covered it; and I love the doo-wop version by the Tokens.
Facebook, in its continuing program of “Stir it some more; the folks in back can’t smell it yet,” suggested that we make lists of 10 unpopular nonpolitical opinions. The only one I could think of is one that I assume everyone who knows me has heard already: The music died somewhere around 1970. But in my more lucid moments I realize that there are still people making music that sounds like rock & roll; I’ve even heard some on occasion. One person who does that sort of thing, quite well, is Bruce Springsteen. I recently read and enjoyed his memoir, Born to Run, and now he’s done a Desert Island Discs list, none of which makes me want to puke and at least half of which I really like.
Thanx to Metafilter
Thanx to Metafilter
Stoned on Rosetta
Dec. 5th, 2015 06:18 amBefore Hendrix, Elvis, and Chuck Berry, there was Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Kicked out of jail
Jul. 17th, 2013 06:15 am![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
nellorat just went to Cleveland on family business, and she bought me a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame T-shirt, which I am now wearing. I feel a bit funny about that because I am one of those cranky old farts who believe the music died around their thirtieth birthday, and here I am displaying the names of a lot of postmusical losers who make that noise the kids like.One sign that the music was dying (this was around 1970) is that singers and groups who didn't yet have an album's worth of good new material decided to do a double album. I believe the Beatles started it, but the worst example was Bob Dylan's Self-Portrait, based on the ludicrous idea that people would want to hear Dylan singing other people's songs. ( offensive image ) If I'd wanted to do an ultimate musical insult, I hope I would have managed to come up with "like the stuff that was rejected from Self-Portrait."
Inspiration
Dec. 18th, 2012 07:22 amAs an old white person, I would have thought "People inspired to learn by listening to rap" came from a gag list of one-page book titles. Shows you what I know. To wit: The Wu Tang Clan
Thanx to A Building Roam
Thanx to A Building Roam
Cranky history of rock & roll
Apr. 25th, 2012 05:47 amThe music died in 1968, but the Band and Creedence kept the corpse animated for four years. Jon Carroll remembers.
Performance standards
Jan. 2nd, 2012 11:11 amIndiana legislator wants a law that would punish bad singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" (which everyone knows cannot be sung well). H.P. Lovecraft, with his love of tradition, would sing "To Anacreon in Heav'n" when everyone else was singing the new version. I imagine the elected moron would favor a law against that as well.
