Category Archives: lawr

Afternoon Snack: Shawn Colvin “Viva Las Vegas”

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Lots of activity here the past few days, so I have a lot with which to catch up.

My last 72 hours have largely been at the point of some form of distraction at the Fantasy Sports Trade Association Winter Convention, which is always held in the strange city in the midst of the Nevada Desert.

It is always a lot of fun going, even though Las Vegas just seems stupid to me (on the money you spend to go to Las Vegas New York, and maybe lose gambling, you could just go to New York?) especially since I neither gamble nor drink.

This year was particularly great as our good friend Jeff Erickson was inducted into the Fantasy Writers Hall of Fame, and there is always a trip to the truly miraculous “Lotus of Siam” restaurant with Jeff and his Rotowire colleagues, Chris Liss, Derek Van Riper, and Tim Schuler.

As we were on route to one of the meals we had, I noted how the casino at the Bellagio seemed kind of dead compared to past years, and Jeff noted that Vegas was indeed hurting. He said that the next generation of adults coming up were all weaned on video games and the idea of paying to visit a place to play Black Jack or Craps when at worst you could do that online. And, at best there are any other number of games to play, for profit, or not.

So, in  honor of the palate of the human spectacle the three days wrought–friendship, food, congratulations, potential economic meltdown, desperation–I tried to think of a Vegas-based tune to represent the time.

Obviously Elvis’ rendition Viva Las Vegas  came to mind first, but I played some Elvis on his birthday. Then, there is Sheryl Crow’s Leaving Las Vegas. Crow’s song is actually pretty good, as is she, though it took a while for her to win me over. But, Sheryl Crow is a pretty good singer/songwriter, and even pretty strong musician.

But then I remembered the fine Shawn Colvin treatment of Viva, which was Written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, from the movie The Big Lewbowski,  and that nailed it.

This version abides.

Lunch Break: Devo, “Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy”

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Another nugget that popped up for me while assembling Lindsay’s holiday disc was this absolute gem from Devo.

In fact, it is such a great cut, that I was sure someone (maybe even me?) had written about the band or song before, so I was surprised to see only indirect references to Devo within the Remnants archives.

I think history will prove Devo–particularly Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry (Gerald) Casale, the band’s driving forces–vastly underated, as a band, as songwriters, and as artists. For, what Devo did was much closer to rock and roll (I guess actually New Wave) theater than most bands. But, they were also very tight musically, as you shall see.

I found these two live versions of the ever intense Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy while looking for a good representation of the song, and they are both great, and interesting.

The first is from 1977, when the band was still pretty new on the forefront of Devolution. The film is rugged and jumpy, but the sound is ok, and the opening bass solo from Casale–who adds the great stage look of having a lefty player–is really great.  You can see Mothersbaugh, as a singer/performer/front definitely has some chops.

But, check out how much tighter and polished the whole thing was three years later, after a serious cult following and a couple of discs and big time touring. By then Mothersbaugh was pretty well realized with this really mesmerizing performance.

Killer.

Night Music: The Clash, “Stay Free”

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Though Complete Control is my favorite song by The Clash, Give Em Enough Rope is by far my favorite album by the band, as well as my favorite phase of theirs.

Rope was followed by London Calling, but by then the rawness of Complete Control became a little too polished for my taste. London Calling was ok, but for me Rope was the perfect mix of attitude and sonics and rawness.

I saw The Clash a couple of times when they toured behind Rope, and I still remember them opening once with Safe European Home, and the first chords just blasting out, and just grinning from ear-to-ear because it was soooo fucking good.

Well, when I was making Lindsay’s holiday disc, this Clash tune is another I stuck on the playlist. I had not heard it for a while, but Stay Free is just great, just like the album. Rope is now on my car’s computer, and also on my iPhone.

BTW, check out Strummer’s furious rhythm playing on this live track.

 

Classic Nuggets: Della Reese, “Don’t You Know?”

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Somehow Peter invoking Dinah Washington triggered Della Reese and this terrific song for me.

The melody is taken directly from Puccini’s La Boheme (which became Rent on Broadway), specifically Musetta’s Waltz.

If you are curious about opera–which is an incredible spectacle and the best mélange of acting, singing, music, and stage production within the arts–La Boheme is a great place to start. Good story, lovely music, pretty accessible (I have seen it a couple of times, and remember, full tilt symphony was the rock’n’ roll of its day and technology).

Anyway, this song, penned by Bobby Worth is killer. I remember hearing it on the radio and being dazzled as a seven-year old.

Breakfast Blend: Happy Birthday, January 8 (Elvis and Ziggy)

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“Lindsay With an A” on KTKE noted this morning that today was her birthday.

More important, she shared the date with some pretty good names, like Stephen Hawking, who is an amazing 73 years old today.

Today Elvis would have been 80, so I thought I would drop in a favorite of mine by the King. Though I must say among the work of Presley, the stuff I like the best are the Sun Sessions. Still this one shows I was a rocker at 10 years old.

The fun does not stop there as January 8 is also the nativity commemoration for David Bowie, who is 68 today.

I love Ziggy, and all the stuff Bowie did with Mick Ronson for sure, but I also loved his Man Who Fell to Earth Heroes/Low phase. But, this song, from Diamond Dogs, remains my favorite Bowie cut.

Night Music: Dave Davies/The Kinks, “Strangers”

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Timing is such an odd thing.

A few weeks back, my friend Les Ogilby, who has chimed in on the site and also contributed Top 10 Beatles and Stones lists, was up in the Bay Area.

Part of the reason is that Les, who is a killer blues harmonica player, agreed to come up north (Les and his wife Janet live in Seal Beach, Ca.) and join the BileTones when we played our holiday set at our fave dive bar, Roosters Roadhouse.

A couple of evenings before the gig Les, and his long time bud (and mine for a shorter time) Mike Volk came over to play some music and eat some pizza and play some records and have some fun together.

Well, the last album to take a spin on the turntable was the very same Lola versus Powerman and the Money-Go-Round (Part 1), the very same album that Peter grabbed the Powerman track from last night.

The spin here is Les wanted to hear the cut written by Ray’s brother, Dave, Strangers, which is indeed a lovely song.

Not to mention Dave, lead guitar player for the band, is largely credited with inventing feedback and the power chord. Go Dave!

The clip I copped is actually the album track, but it is also on the soundtrack of Anderson’s film, The Darjeeling Limited.

Afternoon Snack: For Squirrels, “8:02 P.M.”

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I bought For Squirrels big label debut album after reading a pretty good Rollingstone review that noted the band had ceased due to a fatal auto accident that involved the group’s van. As part of that crash three members of For Squirrels were killed, along with the band’s manager.

Example, that disc, is pretty strong across the board. Nothing sensational, but none-the-less listenable from start to finish, and a solid first attempt. Unfortunately Example was released a month after the holocaust.

My understanding is the band was pretty good live (there were playback issues with YouTube share of the live performances, so I stuck with the album track). As for the band’s name, the apocryphal story is the band would play anywhere, anytime for anyone. They would even play “for squirrels.”

Would have been good to see how they might have developed. Gotta love a band with Rickenbackers at bass and guitar.

Night Music: Cheap Trick, “I Know What I Want (and I Know How to Get it)”

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I always have regretted not having seen Cheap Trick during their hey days in the late 70’s.

There were a couple of opportunities, particularly in 1978 at a Day on the Green, when AC/DC came around for the first time.

Also on the bill were Ted Nugent, whom I hated almost as much then as I do now, Journey, whom I hated almost as much as Ted Nugent, and Blue Oyster Cult who I couldn’t take seriously. For which I am now sorry.

But, AC/DC and Cheap Trick–the opening acts–were of major interest. And, I had a hard time justifying buying a ticket to just leave after two bands.

During their three-disc run of In Color and Black and White, Heaven Tonight, and Dream Police, the band totally kicked it for me, with driving pop-rock tunes peppered with clever lyrics, and a collection of players who seemed to have a shitload of fun doing what they were doing and being who they were being.

A side note about those three albums is, if you look closely at the album jackets, you will see a shot of the cover art of the previous album hidden. I always loved that.

By the time Budokan hit, and the band broke through, I was mostly done with them. Not that Budokan was not a hot set, or that Cheap Trick had done anything wrong. They just got too popular for me, I guess. They also lost air play time.

I was reunited with them when I started playing guitar for real, a little because they use simple major chords, and a little because my teacher and friend, Steve Gibson, was also a fan. And, then I met another friend and musician, Steve Chattler, who is a big “Trick,” as he calls them, fan as well.

Not to mention Diane grew up not so far from Rockford, home of the quartet, so somehow Cheap Trick wanted to be part of my existence, thus little point in resisting.

The song I picked for your bedtime listening is a fave. I Know What I Want has all kinds of Beatlesque stuff to it, especially the wonderful Eight Days a Week sus chords during the bridge.

I think the album version would be a lot cleaner than this live track from that very Budokan set, but since Steve (as in Moyer) is such a gearhead, I thought he would like what appears to be 30 strings among three guitar players.

Afternoon Snack: Toad the Wet Sprocket, “Hold Her Down”

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Lindsay and I burn CD’s for one another on birthdays and XMAS.

I think these are what we would call “mix-tapes” in the “cassette High Fidelity” vernacular.

The whole process is fun: she digs for stuff she thinks I would like and not know (like Neutral Milk Hotel and Atmosphere, whom I shall comment on soon) and I try to do the same, digging for Billie Holiday and Dylan bootlegs along with odds and sods from hither and yon.

So, part of the process for me is simply staring at the wall of CDs in the music room, and trying to pluck out some nuggets accordingly. This time through, the great Toad the Wet Sprocket song Hold Her Down jumped out at me, and made it.

Aside from I love where the band got their name (Monty Python), Toad is a pretty good and versatile band (I saw them at a BFD many years back) and Hold Her Down is a great driving and lyrically powerful cut (listen carefully: it is a vehemently anti-rape song).

So, for my first entry of the new year, rock out.