Tag: musicians

David Crosby is 70…

…and somehow, I think the person most surprised by that fact may be David Crosby.

When he got kicked out of the Byrds in the late 1960s, he joined up with Stephen Stills, formerly of Buffalo Springfield, and Graham Nash, who had left the Hollies, to form what was generally considered to be the first “supergroup.” If I could remember the name of the group, I’d tell you. At least one of their first two albums, the latter with Neil Young, also formerly of Springfield, was in every dorm room at college. I saw CSN at some point in the 1980s at Albany’s Palace Theater.

Crosby was known for his left-leaning politics, and his excessive use of drugs and alcohol, which resulted in numerous arrests, multiple rehabs, and a liver transplant.

My sister Leslie gave me this album about a decade ago called CPR: Live at the Wiltern. Usually, she gives me religious material, but this was a 2-CD set, with the first album jazzy/noodly. The second album featured songs I knew: Long Time Gone, Deja Vu, Eight Miles High, Ohio, and Almost Cut My Hair. Turns out CPR stands for Crosby, Jeff Pevar, and keyboardist/vocalist James Raymond, who is the son Crosby never knew he had until years later.

My favorite David Crosby performances, though, were on the first season of The John Larroquette Show (1993-1994), where Crosby played Chester, sponsor to Larroquette’s John Hemingway, “a recovering alcoholic who becomes the manager of a big city bus station”. Crosby appeared in about a half dozen episodes of this “comedy noir”, then they got rid of the character Chester when the show lightened up in subsequent seasons; wish I could find those episodes online somewhere.

Here’s the title song from the CSNY album Déjà Vu.

Sherwood, Betty and Rob

Amish Paradise, a parody of Coolio’s Gangsta Paradise, which in turn was a remake of Stevie Wonder’s Pastime Paradise.

The great thing about Sherwood Schwartz, who died earlier this month, is not just that he created two popular TV shows. He also wrote or co-wrote their iconic themes.

I never, not once, did I see The Brady Bunch, during its initial run. But I knew exactly what it was about, just by watching the theme. It was the story about two widowed people, each with three kids, each the same gender as the parent, who, along with the housekeeper, became a blended family.

The theme to Gilligan’s Island, a show I admit to watching in my callow youth, also let us know the entire plot, though it changed somewhat from the first season to subsequent ones.

The show was name-checked several times by Weird Al Yankovic and others. From Al’s Couch Potato, “…And there’s “Gilligan” and “SpongeBob”, plus there’s “MacGyver”…” Stop Draggin’ My Car Around, a takeoff of the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song, also namechecks the show.

But Isle Thing, a parody of Tone Loc’s Wild Thing, is all about “watchin’ that Gilligan’s Isle thing”. And Amish Paradise, a parody of Coolio’s Gangsta Paradise, which in turn was a remake of Stevie Wonder’s Pastime Paradise, appropriates a whole section of the closing theme:
No phone, no lights, no motor cars,
not a single luxury.
Like Robinson Crusoe,
it’s primitive as can be.
In live shows and on radio shows, Weird Al has been known to do other Gilligan takeoffs.

Others have taken different music and attached it to the theme, none more notably than Little Roger and the Goosebumps merging the lyrics to the music of Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin to create Stairway to Gilligan’s Island.
***

I always thought that Betty Ford, the former dancer Betty Bloomer, was cool. She dealt with her private difficulties, from her breast cancer surgery to her pain medication addiction, in a very public way, helping countless people, women, and men. Not to mention her forthright comments about equal rights, sexuality, and abortion, not always in lockstep with her husband, even when he was President.

The long-time lead singer for The Grass Roots named Rob Grill died this month. Reportedly he was listening to a recording of Let’s Live for Today when he passed away.

Ken Levine on Amy Winehouse.

 

Robert Johnson QUESTION

Eric Clapton, formerly of the aforementioned Cream, recorded a whole 2004 album of Robert Johnson songs.


I recently noticed that tomorrow would have been the 100th birthday of Robert Johnson. Don’t think you know him? I suspect that, if you listen to music, you probably do. He’s the guy who over a reasonably short period wrote and recorded a number of songs that became staples of rock and blues artists.

Probably the first Johnson song I heard was Crossroads by Cream a song a/k/a Crossroads Blues.

There’s also The Rolling Stones’ Love in Vain and Travelling Riverside Blues by Led Zeppelin. One standard is Sweet Home Chicago, here performed by Robert Lockwood Jr. Here’s a list of Johnson songs. My favorite may be Walkin’ Blues by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band; unfortunately, I can’t find a direct link, though if you follow this link, you can join some website for free for a week, which will let you hear it.

Eric Clapton, formerly of the aforementioned Cream, recorded a whole 2004 album of Robert Johnson songs called Me and Mr. Johnson. A version of a song from that album, They’re Red Hot.

This week’s cover story edition on Coverville features the songs of Robert Johnson, including a couple I’ve mentioned.

What are your favorite Robert Johnson recordings or covers?

Wicked Macca

Sometimes, I’ll giggle aloud over a turn of a phrase I’ve just written and wait for the adulation of my adoring fans, which never comes.


Wednesday Wickedness is “like other memes in that we will ask you ten questions each and every Wednesday. But our little ‘twist’ is that each week we will pick a famous person and pick ten of their quotes. Each of our questions will be based on the quotes.” The one from September I decided to pick, in honor of him receiving the Kennedy Center Honors in December, is Sir Paul McCartney.

1. “George wrote Taxman, and I played guitar on it. He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did. He had never known before then what could happen to your money.”
No one likes paying taxes. But do you think the tax system is fair?

Well, no. It is well-documented that the so-called middle class’s wages have been basically stagnant over the past 3 decades, while the richest Americans have become super-rich. In Washington state, they were having a fight over having an income tax only on the richest folks; Bill Gates supported it, but most of the other wealthy folks opposed it. Thing is that I’d be willing to pay MORE for human need (i.e., universal health care), but LESS for military expenditures that even the Secretary of Defense suggests can be cut.

2. “I definitely did look up to John. We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader; he was the quickest wit and the smartest.”
What did you think of John Lennon?

As often stated in this blog, John was my favorite Beatle. When we charged the neighborhood kids to watch us lipsynch to Beatles VI, I played John. He could be prickly, he was a terrible father to his elder son, and not a great husband to Cynthia. But like most of us, he was figuring it out, and he was doing it in public.

3. “I saw that Meryl Streep said, I just want to do my job well. And really, that’s all I’m ever trying to do.”
How do you approach your job whether in the workplace or at home?

An interesting question is that I have had a shift in my mind about this in the last year. My job description talks mostly about doing reference for our counselor’s client. My attitude, though, has been to try to do what is best for the organization. So, if no one is answering the main phone, I answer the phone. If no one is blogging at our blog, I’ll write an extra piece, or solicit others to participate. It may not be my WRITTEN job, but after this long, I feel my job is to help the organization operate as best it can.

4. “I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird.”
Have you found that you have more tolerance for unusual people as you get older?

Probably, though my tolerance is probably higher than most. The State Museum was doing its annual display of the AIDS quilt, and a few years ago, some transgendered person was having a difficult emotional time. I could just tell that the other workers on the floor, who were geographically closer to him – I was also volunteering – were uncomfortable, but this person and I had a nice chat, which seemed to be helpful. I say this not because I think I’m wonderful – I’m not – but because SOMEONE needed help, and SOMEONE needed to help. This reminds me, the AIDS quilt will be on display today through Wednesday at the Egg.

5. “I don’t take me seriously. If we get some giggles, I don’t mind.”
How seriously do you take yourself?

I used to take myself far more seriously than I do now. It’s like that line from Dylan’s My Back Pages: “I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.” When I was a kid, I didn’t understand that line. At all. I thought it was a poetic affectation. Now I GET it.

6. “I think people who create and write, it actually does flow-just flows from into their head, into their hand, and they write it down. It’s simple.”
Does your blog writing just flow from your head, or is it a lot of effort?

It depends. Arthur, that American transplant in Kiwiland, once wrote about the blog writing itself. Or maybe I wrote it, and he commented. Regardless, sometimes the thing writes itself, and sometimes, it wants to be ornery. If it gets TOO cranky, though, I’ll abandon the post. And as I know I said before, often, it will take me in a direction that I had not anticipated, which is usually a joy, but occasionally a little scary.

7. “Think globally, act locally.”
Do you do anything to help your local community?

I’m on the board of the Friends of the Albany Public Library. I joined the PTA. My church is one of the FOCUS churches involved with a food pantry, among other activities. I used to be much more involved with FOCUS, doing its online community page on the local newspaper’s website. There have been other activities I’ve done over the years, but I’m quite fond of one-off activities.

8. “When you first get money, you buy all these things so no one thinks you’re mean, and you spread it around. You get a chauffeur and you find yourself thrown around the back of this car and you think, I was happier when I had my own little car! I could drive myself!”
Have you ever had a period where you felt that you were set financially?

No, although I’m probably closer to that now than at any time in my life. I mean, if we were SET, the bathroom and kitchen would have been remodeled years ago. But I have no debt other than mortgage debt, and that wasn’t true in the past. My credit score is very good. I blame my wife, who now makes more than I do.

9. “Lyricists play with words.”
Do you think what you write on your blog is clever or just ordinary and why?

Depends. It’s like jazz; it is where the muse takes me. Sometimes, I’ll giggle aloud over a turn of a phrase I’ve just written and wait for the adulation of my adoring fans, which never comes. And sometimes, I’ll plod out something, only to find out that it was more affecting that I could have possibly imagined.

10. “Where I come from, you don’t really talk about how much you’re earning. Those things are private. My dad never told my mum how much he was earning. I’m certainly not going to tell the world. I’m doing well.”
Who in your circle knows how much money your family makes?

A timely question, actually. There is an entity called See Through NY that has posted the salaries of several New York government entities – state employees, e.g., some, but not all of the people in my office, are considered. So I know the salaries of my bosses. And my wife’s salary, as a teacher, is out there too. Currently, my salary, as a quasi-governmental Research Foundation employee, is NOT there. However, the Hearst newspapers, owners of the Times Union newspaper in Albany, sued under the Freedom of Information law to force the RF to reveal this info, and, I believe, won, though the RF is appealing this. Frankly, I don’t care one way or the other; if it’s revealed, people will just know how LITTLE I make. 😉

Y is for YES!

It occurred to me that one of the most famous uses of the word “yes” in film replicates a lie.

Sometimes, it feels like such a NO world. Things go wrong: from natural and man-made disasters to personal crises, such as illness, accidents and economic problems. Stress and strain, stress and strain. And “the power of positive thought” can’t always fix it.

Yet, today, I’m saying YES anyway! And what says YES more to me than music?!

So, I started by looking at the pop charts for songs that start with the word Yes. The first one is oxymoronic, Yes, We Have No Bananas, which charted no fewer than five times in 1923. The first version to chart went to #1. Click on HERE to hear Billy Jones with Arthur Hall & Irving Kaufman. Ben Selvin’s version ALSO went to #1. (This is sonically interesting: George Wilton Ballard on a 1927 Edisonic Beethoven Diamond Disc Phonograph.)

Also charting five times in one year is 1925’s Yes, Sir! That’s My Baby! Gene Austin’s #1 version can be heard HERE. It was also recorded by everyone from FRANK SINATRA to Ricky Nelson (#34 in 1960) and the Baja Marimba Band (#109 in 1968). A couple of non-charting 1925 versions: Dajos Bela Tanzorchester and, perhaps my favorite, Lee Morse.

A couple of YES songs charted in 1941: Yes, Indeed! by Tommy Dorsey and Yes, My Darling Daughter, by both Glenn Miller and Dinah Shore.

There are a lot more YES songs in the modern era of rock, including Yes! by Chad Brock (#22 in 2000) and Yes by Merry Clayton (#45 in 1988). But the biggest hit was Yes I’m Ready, which Barbara Mason took to #5 in 1965, only to be bested in the charts by the version from Teri DeSario w/ K.C., #2 in 1980.

Possibly my favorite YES song is Yes We Can Can, a minor hit for Lee Dorsey in 1970, as Yes We Can. Here’s the studio version, which went to #11 in 1973, and also, a Live 1974 version, featuring the composer of the song, Allen Touissant.

Oh, and there’s a GROUP called YES. Here’s Roundabout, the first song on the first YES album I owned, FRAGILE; I bought The Yes Album subsequently.

It occurred to me that one of the most famous uses of the word “yes” in film replicates a lie.

Still, I’m saying Yes. Say “yes” in your own language, be it Arabic or Bengali or Bulgarian or French or Hebrew or Italian or Japanese or Mandarin Chinese or Portuguese or Vietnamese or any other tongue you wish.

To pretty much negate a former First Lady, Just Say Yes!

ABC Wednesday

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial