Lynnster’s Music Zone

babbling since february 1997

Wow. Just Wow.

Posted by Lynnster on June 26, 2009

I wasn’t planning to write about this (of course) like I had other things planned for my personal blog all week – not that I’ve had a chance to get to those either – but then yesterday happened and whoa, so Michael Jackson is dead. I don’t know, there’s been a lot of talk, of course, on Twitter the last 24 hours, and someone brought up that they couldn’t understand why people kept saying “gone too soon”.

No, I don’t suppose I expected he’d live forever, or even to necessarily be really old at 70 or 80 or 90 or anything… but 50, that’s kind of a shock. Especially when one (me) pretty much grew up my whole life keenly aware of Michael Jackson being out there in the entertainment world and not all that much older than me. You just don’t really expect someone like that to go that early unless it’s a suicide (Kurt Cobain), drug overdose (Brad Nowell of Sublime, Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon), or some horrible tragic accident like a drowning (Jeff Buckley). (Although as we all know, rumors of chronic morphine use in Jackson’s case are starting to swirl and whether that’s true or not, who knows yet.)

Granted, I’m at an age where it’s become disturbing to see how many people I went to school with are passing away at ages much younger than 50, even though in my case and my graduating class’ case, it’s something we’ve been dealing with since we were all 17 years old. Still, in the last couple of years there have been a disturbing and growing number of cancer deaths and other deaths, as well as former classmates winding up with severe and terminal illnesses of all kinds.

But none of us are the biggest pop stars in the world, and you probably noticed those I namechecked a couple of paragraphs above are from a completely different sphere of the music world than Jackson’s pop-kingness was. Those and others were losses that affected me more, whether a little or a lot, because that realm is where I have been rooted for most of my adult life musically, and was starting to seed even before.

And, too, those losses in the music world were a little different from me – in a way, losing some of those people was like losing “one of us” in a way where Michael Jackson could never be compared to the average person. I personally know many from that scene who were never as big as, say, Cobain, but close. My longtime boyfriend went to school with and grew up with a couple of the most influential people in all of “alternative” music, including a Grammy winner. I am thankful that pretty much everyone we are acquainted with pretty much made it through the Eighties, Nineties, and Aughts (for lack of a better word), but any of those passed above could have been almost anyone we know, at one time or another.

So now, Michael Jackson. An unexpected death, and as Kat Coble stated earlier today on Twitter, all deaths are “sudden”; his was “unexpected”. Ten years from now when I’m 53 instead of 43, and if Michael Jackson had died at 60, it just wouldn’t have been as shocking as it was to me yesterday. It’s all relative but I think a lot of the difference is in how old you are yourself, and which era(s) you grew up in.

Sure, people much younger than me knew who Michael Jackson was and experienced him being out there as the “King of Pop” for many years muscially, as well as his ongoing legal and financial troubles the last almost-couple of decades. But most of them weren’t even born when Michael Jackson wasn’t really MICHAEL JACKSON yet. He was always there, almost as long as I’ve been alive, but first he was just Michael Jackson of The Jackson 5, and pretty much almost ever since I’ve been alive, either The Jackson 5, The Jacksons, or Michael solo have all been on the radio, somewhere, sometime, all the time. I have very clear memories of several Jacksons-related episodes, probably the earliest being when I couldn’t have been more than three or four, accompanying my grandparents on the trip to Memphis either to pick my eldest aunt up at nursing school or bring her back home, being in the car with “ABC” playing on the radio.

The Jackson 5 or, later, The Jacksons’ singles were always being spun on Fridays during recess at my elementary school, Friday being the day they brought the record player out and everyone was allowed to bring the 45 RPM singles they wanted to hear be played over the schoolyard PA system at recess – and dance, if you so desired to. Countless of their singles being played on those Fridays - “Dancing Machine”, “Enjoy Yourself”, and Michael’s early solo, “Ben”.

And Michael, and usually with his brothers, was always on TV – awards shows, all the millions of variety shows there were on television during the Seventies, music shows like American Bandstand and Soul Train. I can’t imagine there were many weeks from 1969-1979 that there was not a Jackson-related single on the charts, or many weeks that Michael or all of the Jacksons were on TV somewhere, sometime.

I was in the seventh grade when “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” came out, and had been spending much of my time long before I got into a double digit age listening to stuff like The Beatles, the Stones, The Who – a lot of even then-classic rock but also more “out there” stuff for a young kid like the Jefferson Airplane and T. Rex, and was just starting on my lifelong Cheap Trick fetish and interestedly watching bands like the Ramones and The Clash on TV by the time I was a seventh grader, but still – Michael Jackson was there, though in Jackson 5/The Jacksons form before he really went from being Michael Jackson to MICHAEL JACKSON – and all my rock & roll and punk rock seeds being planted and tended to aside, I still listened to a lot of AM radio and pop radio at that point – mainly because if you were going to listen to the radio in Northwest Tennessee, rather than playing your own records, you really didn’t have a whole lot of choice most of the time. It was pop or nothing, for the most part. But even then, I still was buying things that were mainstream and popular at the time – The Jacksons’ Destiny album from 1978 is the only Jackson-related album I ever owned. I never even, later, bought Thriller - probably because I didn’t feel like I needed to. It was everywhere and all over ANYWAY.

All those songs and videos were everywhere all the time anyway. I was in the eighth grade when Michael Jackson became MICHAEL JACKSON, when the Off the Wall album was released. In fact, the record was released the week before my eighth grade year started. I kind of think if you were not around and old enough and alive back then, it’s probably a little impossible to get a grip on what I just said in that sentence: when Michael Jackson became MICHAEL JACKSON. If you were alive at the time, and old enough – you already know. I can’t really explain it other than to say it just happened, the minute that first single hit the radio airwaves.

I never was a huge fan so I didn’t pay all that much attention to him, but still, Michael Jackson was a HUGE part of the background soundtrack to most of my junior high and all of my high school years. School dances – Michael Jackson tunes. I (and everyone else trying out) tried out for cheerleading with a routine to Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”. And then Thriller came out and it was the biggest thing ever.

Granted, the stuff we as a collective group were listening to mostly throughout high school was very much NOT Michael Jackson, though probably almost everyone (but me) had a copy of Thriller anyway – but if you pooled everyone’s 8-tracks and cassette tapes together to see what the youth of Northwest Tennessee was listening to in 1982 and 1983, Jackson (or much of any R&B for that matter) was far outweighed by artists like John Cougar Mellencamp, Van Halen, Loverboy, .38 Special, Journey, Bryan Adams, Joan Jett and many more of all different kinds of styles, ranging from old Foghat to New Wavers like Adam Ant. I took a lot of crap back then for my major Duran Duran fandom, and was likely the only person in the county (maybe two) also spending my money on new bands and artists that intrigued me late weekend TV nights on Night Tracks out of Atlanta – bands like U2, General Public, The Cramps, and a host of others nobody much down where I was was ever listening to.

But Michael Jackson – or by then, MICHAEL JACKSON – was just always there, especially after Thriller hit. “Beat It” was cool because Eddie Van Halen played on it. There was a cheerleading routine at Homecoming that year, in 1982, that incorporated “Beat It”, “Billie Jean”, and “Thriller”. I remember summer evenings in 1983, riding around back roads and down to the river beach in a friend’s MG convertible with the top down, three of us squeezed into it with a huge thermos full of pink lemonade and vodka with “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” just blaring, all of us singing at the top of our lungs. There were several songs on that album I don’t care for at all, but the ones I’ve mentioned I’ve probably heard a million times, as well as the others – and I never even owned the album.

By the time Bad came out, I was away at college and off on musical journeys and adventures where few even my age dared to tread, until Nirvana hit and made weird off-the-wall music cool and trendy, so I don’t really have any memories of Bad-era Jackson. I was never in places that his music would get played, and although Julie and I watched prodigious amounts of MTV then in the mid-Eighties, if I saw a Jackson video, it was usually something from Thriller.

So at that point in my life, Jackson wasn’t part of the ongoing soundtrack playing behind my life like he had so often been until then. But until then – he was just always there. And even as an adult – as I’ve become an adult – he’s always been there, albeit mostly newsy bits in articles of magazines and newspapers I’d pick up here and there. I remember seeing him walk out with Lisa Marie Presley shortly after they married, on some awards show on MTV, and thinking as much ridicule as there’d been, he was acting pretty cool in the face of all that. I remember sometime around the same time seeing a video he and sister Janet did that looked pretty cool, and kind of liking the song at the time. Musically, that was really my only Jackson moment as an adult.

But still, Michael Jackson was always out there. Somewhere. And now he’s not, and I think that’s what’s weird for many of us of this age, even those like me who really weren’t big fans at all. When I was young, he was really one of the few “big music stars” and “big pop stars” that, while older than me, was really pretty close to my age – him, Donny Osmond, and a handful of others. Most of the rest were lots older.

And when it comes down to it, I just never would have guessed that a time when I’m older, but still relatively young, and certainly not what one would call “really old”… I never would have guessed that Michael Jackson, who was once Michael Jackson but then became MICHAEL JACKSON – the biggest pop star and maybe even arguably the biggest celebrity in the world ever other than Elvis and The Beatles – would be gone this early in the game. It’s just weird.

Had it happened ten more years down the road, I probably wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow at the news. Today, it’s just a little disturbing, and yet another reminder to me that life is short. I may be 43 and some days I may feel 83, but in a lot of ways I don’t feel that much different than I did ten, twenty years ago, and people are still arguing with me sometimes that I can’t be over 30.

But I can guarantee you twenty years will pass in the blink of an eye, and you’ll wonder where the time went so fast, and how it can be that someone you just always figured it would be there – whether it’s the most famous pop star in the world like Michael Jackson, or a dear friend you loved – is just suddenly not. It’s weird, and life is short.

Posted in ancient history, celebrity other crap, in memory of..., michael jackson, music, pop muzik, radio radio, west tennessee | Leave a Comment »

Perfection

Posted by Lynnster on June 3, 2009

I’m still here. Just trying to keep from drowning, really. Apologies – I’ll get my writing groove back eventually.

In the meantime, I recommend you go read this absolutely wonderful post my friend John H. wrote last month. It’s one of the most spot-on personal blog posts about music I’ve read, when it comes to trying to put in words what music means to those of us who are more or less addicted.  It’s lovely, and it touched me truly. I think it will you, too.

Posted in blogfolks, music, music junkie stuff | 1 Comment »

Merry Christmas, Mr. Westerberg

Posted by Lynnster on December 25, 2008

Paul Westerberg’s done it again – three tracks for 74 cents, plus cover art.  Get ‘em here from Tunecore while they’re still available.

And did you know that “Alex Chilton” is in the new Rock Band 2?  Here’s a really cool interview about it I listened to this morning (HT: PaulWesterberg.com) – click here for the interview.  Besides talking about how the song came to be in Rock Band 2, Paul also basically confirmed that 49:00 was pulled due to copyright complaints on the medley song snippets and he lost a fair amount of money due to that, but loved doing it anyway.

Hope everyone that celebrates it is having a Merry Christmas, and for those who don’t, have a great weekend!

Posted in music, new releases, paul westerberg, the replacements | Leave a Comment »

Expanded Replacements: Trials, Tribulations & Thoughts

Posted by Lynnster on December 23, 2008

In the last couple of years, my two favorite bands of all time, The Replacements and the Hoodoo Gurus, have released remastered and expanded versions of all their major CD releases; in the case of the former, the final sector of the catalog released fairly recently.  I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I have sort of steadfastly avoided the new releases because for the last little over a year I’ve been (A) too busy and (B) too poor.

Not really that big a deal in the case of the Gurus since I already own everything that was “extra” on the new CDs on various anthologies and other import CDs – been there, done that, heard them.  Although I was looking forward to hearing the newly remastered tracks because anyone who has been a fan for a long time knows the really early original CDs (and tapes and records) – particularly the first two Gurus albums – kind of had a low volume level problem that was a little annoying whenever you listened to your entire Hoodoo Gurus collection on shuffle.

In the case of The Replacements, however, there’s a veritable motherlode of previously unreleased demos and outtakes – some of which I may actually have on various traded CDs and tapes I have collected over the years, there’s just too many of them and I don’t know.  In any case, I tried not to think about that motherlode too much as the new versions started coming out because, well, I’ve been so broke.

Then I remembered just the other day that I don’t buy CDs anymore anyway.  Ever since I discovered that some of my older ones (you know, that previously absolutely amazing new technology of compact discs that were supposed to be practically indestructible, or so they said in 1986 or so) are disintegrating/have disintegrated – and even though I know the ones made after 1991 or 1992 are supposed to be “different” and “better” – I just pretty much said to heck with it, I’m “renting” most of my music from now on.  My mom and I share a Napster to Go account (which is a whole ‘nother interesting blog post in itself), and I just don’t buy anything on CD anymore unless that’s the only way I can get it.  Although I would still like to acquire the Gurus set someday ‘cos they came with extra non-recorded stuffies I kinda want.

So anyway, I remembered that, which kicked off practically an entire day of listening to ‘Mats tracks I’d never heard before and enjoying them immensely.  And downloading pretty much the entire new expanded version catalog, which took forever, and then trying to decide what to do about my MP3 player and how to reorganize all my new Replacements acquisitions.  Which eventually led to me deleting every ‘Mats track off my player and starting all over from scratch with transferring and blah, blah, blah… which just took even more forever.

Random thoughts I had during all this Westerberg-induced trial and tribulation:

It was really nice to hear such a blissfully clear and clean “If Only You Were Lonely”, which for many years was like the ‘Mats Holy Grail – something so many had heard about, but never seen or heard.  Much better than my poor scratchy old 45.  I remember when my special order arrived in the record store in 1986; before handing that precious little piece of vinyl to me, the clerk at the register held it in his hands and stared at it like it was made of gold for a minute.

It was super disappointing to me that the new and supposedly improved Pleased to Meet Me, which was recorded here in Midtown Memphis, still sounds like the microphones were set up miles away across the river in Arkansas.  (See comment about the first two Hoodoo Gurus albums above.)  It appears I will still be having to fool with the volume button when I’m listening to all my ‘Mats on shuffle.

I’m about to try and turn my mother into at least a borderline medium Westerberg fan.  I’ve been selective about which ones – no way she can handle the entire oeuvre - but judging by what she’s been streaming in our shared Napster account lately, I think it’s time.  I think she might be able to handle my carefully selected introductory package.

The Sh*t Hits the Fans.  That’s probably the only wish I have left, a nice new pristine set of SHTF tracks.  Yes, I know that recording itself is a mess.  I still want it.  In the meantime, they will pry my original cassette (also bought in 1986 from the same record store mentioned above) out of my cold, dead hands only.

Speaking of SHTF - even though there’s countless versions of it floating around (including the four on the new releases), that version of “Can’t Hardly Wait” is still my favorite of them all.

And last but not least – I miss Bob.  Sometimes, I hear that guitar and I’m just immobilized.  Paralyzed.  Awed.

I wish I’d met him.  I met Tommy a little over a decade ago, when he was down here with Perfect cutting that album, and he was such a genuinely nice guy.  I wish I’d met Bob too, though.

Anyway, now I feel sorta caught up.  I’ve stayed so behind everyone and everything else the last year or two, by the time I get around to writing about some things, everyone else is waaaaaaay on past whatever.

But it was new to me this week, and that was kinda nice.  Anything new ‘Mats-wise these days is just a great big bonus, even when it’s old.

Posted in aussie music, favorite things, hoodoo gurus, music, music junkie stuff, new releases, paul westerberg, the replacements | 2 Comments »

Belated Westerberg: Bored of Edukation

Posted by Lynnster on December 18, 2008

I guess I missed it (not surprising, the way this fall has been) when it came out, but I discovered there was another Paul Westerberg MP3 released back in September that I hadn’t grabbed.  You can still get Bored of Edukation at Amazon MP3 for 89 cents – click here.

So not a “real” new release, but still new to me.  Thankfully, I didn’t have my head under a rock and did manage to grab 49:00, 5:05, and the other one while they were still available – I guess they are not available anywhere now?  Dunno, I’m a little behind on Paul news right now (should go remedy that).

Speaking of 49:00, my pal Joyce Raskin of Scarce managed to grab it too when I gave her the heads up on it before it disappeared from the market, and recently informed me that it’s still the top played track at her house for her AND her kids – her kids love it.  That’s so awesome.

God knows if I had kids, I would be heartbroken if they didn’t love the ‘Mats and the Hoodoo Gurus… though that would be my usual luck if they turned out to be rap/hip-hop lovers or Britney fans.  Eek.

Posted in music, music junkie stuff, new releases, paul westerberg, scarce, the replacements | Leave a Comment »

Last.fm: Who Else Is Listening to Who You’re Listening To?

Posted by Lynnster on December 18, 2008

This may not be new (it’s probably not) – I am horribly unobservant sometimes and my Internet-induced ADD just makes it worse – but I just happened to notice that now at Last.fm, you can see who else is listening to the same artist you are when you’re listening to something.  Now that’s a kinda cool little treat and one of the neater extras they’ve tossed on there in a while, in my opinion.

Some of my friends and acquaintances have moved on to using other services more actively but I still like Last.fm the best.  I had to make an emergency move to another computer yesterday (something I’d been planning for a while but wasn’t quite prepared to do it yet, unfortunately it became a necessity in a hurry), and in the process of installing Last.fm on the new one noticed a lot of cool plug-ins I hadn’t added before.

Now I’ve got virtually all my online music listening synced up together, got my playlist running in my Messenger for the first time ever now, and I also discovered the plug-ins for Napster and my MP3 player (it’s a Trekstor Vibez) – if I can ever figure out how exactly to get ‘em working, my listening history will be a lot more correct for the first time ever.  I have been put out for a while that all of these services have had iPod plug-ins forever but nothing for anything else, so this will be really cool if I can get my MP3 player listening list in here too.

Anyway, just some coolness there.  I know Last.fm has become old hat for many, but I still love the extras and the ability to publish my playlist most anywhere, plus a lot of bands these days are using it as another place to touch base with their fans and listeners.  You also can’t beat their subscription for the price – I’m not currently subscribing (but will be again eventually), but it’s dead cheap.

Sign up if you never have, it’s totally worthwhile if you’re into music at all.

Posted in last.fm, music, music junkie stuff | 2 Comments »

My Old Music Pages: Temporarily Kaput

Posted by Lynnster on December 15, 2008

So I discovered today that my old music pages at AOL, that were there forever, are now gone.

This comes as no real surprise, since I’ve been expecting them to disappear for months and kept being shocked over and over again that they were still there, as I quit AOL for good months ago after having spent years on the “cheap” plan just to keep those pages up and hold onto the voluminous FTP space they (used to) give you.

So no shocker there.  What did come as a surprise, though, was discovering that not only were my old pages gone but apparently AOL cut off EVERYBODY’S web space without notice in early November – poof, all gone.  I found an announcement that they were ceasing operation of AOL Hometown, and about a thousand outraged comments in response from AOL users incensed that they couldn’t retrieve not only their pages, but their FTP files.  Since I was a “minimal” user and still had about 7 screen names’ worth of FTP space 100% full of files (pretty much all of which I have stored elsewhere), I can only imagine how much active users lost, and probably didn’t have stuff stored somewhere else.  But that’s a whole other post in itself, and if you had stuff stored and on the Web from AOL and haven’t checked it in a while – well, I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but there ya go.

But the reason I’m really posting about it is because I do indeed have the most recent versions of all those music pages on my hard drive, so I will toss them up somewhere else when I have time to do so – the Gurus page, the Replacements page, the Persian Rugs page, the old Monarchs site, and my Paul Westerberg quotes page.

They’re really nothing all that special, especially in this present Internet day and age – I mean, come on, they’re all over ten years old now for the most part – but a lot of other music sites on the ‘Net have been linking to them for years, so I want to put them back up somewhere and maybe some of them will find them again.

As for AOL, seems like they’re shooting themselves in the foot killing thousands of people’s web pages and regressing and going backwards instead of progressing, as far as Internet technology goes, but whatever.  It lost its charm for me about 15 years ago and I’m always surprised when I run across people that still use it.

Posted in hoodoo gurus, music, paul westerberg, the internet is..., the monarchs, the replacements, updates to the zone | Leave a Comment »

Chinese Democracy: So?

Posted by Lynnster on November 21, 2008

So, Chinese Democracy – good point.  And good point, too.

When I was syncing up my MP3 player with Napster while getting ready to split town for a day last weekend, I noticed Chinese Democracy was the #1 pick, or #1 review, or some such like that.

And my immediate thought was, “Someone still cares?”

The album may be “all right”.  I’ve already heard it’s okay, mediocre, nothing to write home about.

I’m also not sure that releasing it at a time when artists are now getting their work in stores within a month or two of recording – and even within a WEEK of recording – well, it just might have seemed a little less of a not-so-good idea two years ago, or the year before that, I’m just saying.

Somehow I think it might have been more interesting to just continue carrying on the ruse and perpetuating the myth that yeah, it would get released someday.

Because the fact that it’s out there now just doesn’t seem brilliant or genius or anything.  Just kind of sad.  Overhyped.

And entirely too late in the way that showing up to your senior prom twenty years after the fact, only to find that the Elks Lodge where it was held has been turned into a Wendy’s or McDonald’s, would.

Posted in a little too late, music, new releases, rock | 2 Comments »

Scarce: Tattoos and Parades, and Yesterdays

Posted by Lynnster on November 4, 2008

I could sum up the 411 on Scarce’s new CD release of Tattoos and Parades, and Yesterdays in four words, easy:

It’s awesome.  Get it.

As mentioned previously, you have two choices with this release.  You can get the full-length CD here at Kunaki and get not only the five brand new tracks, but ten more re-released older tracks (all fantastic picks for this CD).

Or you can just download the five-song EP Tattoos and Parades from iTunes, Amazon, etc., and just get the new tracks.  Either way, you win, ‘cos this is a fine, fine release in either format.

A few words about the new tracks -

The opening cut, “Imagining It”, is a slow ballad that is just so Scarce-like and is wonderful.  I actually have (what I think is) an alternate early take Joyce sent me a while back so it wasn’t new to me, but it’s lovely, as is track 2, “The Long Goodbye”.

Also not new to me, but may be to others, were “Dead Bleaux” and “Dust” – I’ve had these as solo versions of Chick’s on my MP3 player for quite a long time now – these are two really great, fabulous songs.

But here’s the surprise – not so much so with “Dead Bleaux” because I’d heard the Scarce version on their MySpace profile, though it is way different than Chick’s solo-ish version he did with Rodney Cash as The Skinwalkers – the BIG and very pleasant surprise on this CD, if you’ve followed Chick’s career the last few years, is “Dust”.  What was a slow ballad in its earlier version has now turned into almost a whole different tune as the Scarce version – some whopping thumping bass and guitar licks that weren’t there before and it just turned into a rocker.  This was a big thrill and surprise and one of those things that just tickles me.  I love both these songs in all their versions, but for these two to be SO different than previously – ah, it was just like Christmas playing the CD for the first time.

I’ve saved the best for last, though.  This was another pleasant surprise to me, but my absolute favorite track on the CD is Joyce’s fabulously bluesy and sexy “Ocean Blue” – I’m just crazy about it.  It was again, a surprise to me that it was my favorite – not because I don’t like Joyce (I love Joyce and she knows it, ha!) but if something new was going to just blow me away and slay me, I expected it to be something more like “All Sideways” or “Freakshadow”, with Chick on lead vocals.  Then again, one of my favorite old Scarce tracks of all time is “Dozen” (another Joyce vocal), so I guess that shouldn’t have been much of a surprise.

So “Dust” blew me away because it’s just such a vastly different take on the tune than its previous incarnation (again, like opening a present on Christmas!) – but “Ocean Blue”, that’s the big keeper on this new release to me and the one absolute, definitely must-hear.

If you are not an “old” Scarce fan and already have all or most of the old tracks, I’d really recommend going ahead and springing for the new CD instead of the EP.  The picks of old stuff put on this CD were excellent: “Hope”, “Days Like This”, “Scorpion Tray”, “It Was Dry”, “All Sideways”, “Crimea River”, the aforementioned “Dozen”, “Sudden Downtown Polo Club”, “Race Car Gasoline”, and “Wide” – just great choices and several of my very very favorites.  I think the only one missing that I might like to have seen on it and would have fit in as well, I think, would be “Bottomfeeder” – but I was super pleased with the selections that were chosen.  (And I need to verify this with Joyce but I think some may have been re-recorded anew – though it may just be the difference in quality between this CD and my MP3 player and the MP3s I have – I may just be hearing things!)

In any case, gosh – it’s just great, and I am just recommending it to every music fan I know.  You should have this in your collection.

And if you’re interested in seeing them live and are in or around New England, don’t forget the upcoming CD release party, and there’s also another live date coming up -

Friday, November 14th, Scarce plays the Weathervane Music Hall in Brattleboro, Vermont.

And Saturday, November 15th is the Scarce CD release party at T.T. the Bear’s in Boston.  Also playing will be Triple Thick (featuring Jim Seery from the Plough and Stars, Joyce says they rock) and Wheat (reunion gig, and they rock too says Joyce).

So go!  I wish I could, but I’m unfortunately stuck in Memphis with the Boston blues again… heh.  As usual, just my luck.

Posted in boston, boston music, concerts & shows, knoxville, knoxville music, music, new releases, scarce | Leave a Comment »

Scarce on Tour

Posted by Lynnster on October 23, 2008

I will write some more tomorrow or next week about my own thoughts about Tattoos & Parades & Yesterdays (which is great, great, great!!).

Scarce has just finished up their brief tour of Europe and are now back on this side of the planet, but depending on where you are you can catch them live over the next few weeks.

If you’re in Halifax, Nova Scotia – they are playing at the Seahorse TONIGHT (Thursday, October 23rd).

On Friday, November 14th, they’ll be at the Weathervane Music Hall in Brattleboro, Vermont.

And Saturday, November 15th is the CD release party at T.T. the Bear’s in Boston.

So if you’re in or near either of the three – go, go, go!

For now, go here to check out this little gem that Joyce hipped me to about a month or so ago – it’s an alternate video of “All Sideways” that appeared on MTV’s 120 Minutes in 1994.

The 5-song EP of Tattoos & Parades is available now at iTunes, Amazon, and all the usual digital outlets, so get it now – it’s fantastic!  Or check out the 15-song CD Tattoos & Parades & Yesterdays, it’s fabulous too (and you might see a familiar name in the liner notes, BTW).

More later from moi…

Posted in boston, boston music, concerts & shows, knoxville, knoxville music, music, new releases, scarce, video music faves | Leave a Comment »

Scarce: Tattoos & Parades, Tattoos & Parades & Yesterdays Now Released

Posted by Lynnster on October 23, 2008

I’ve been pushing this elsewhere so it’s about time I posted it over here, I’m sooo behind.

Here’s the official press release*:

SCARCE RELEASES TATTOOS & PARADES and TATTOOS & PARADES & YESTERDAYS

Band is: Chick Graning: vox, guitars| Joyce Raskin: bass, vox |Joe Propatier: drums and trees

Track Listing: Imagining It | Long Goodbye | Dead Bleux | Ocean Blue | Dust

“Tattoos And Parades” is the debut 5-song collection of the first songs written and recorded by Scarce since their mid-2007 reunion. Self-produced and mostly recorded in bassist Joyce Raskin’s basement, recording began late last year and was finished this summer; highlights include the melodically surrealistic pop waltz “Imagining It” and “Dust”, a moving and jarring eulogy to their friend and highly regarded guitarist/songwriter Chris Whitely. Joyce Raskin’s “The Long Goodbye” (with all due respects to Raymond Chandler) starts as a slowly grinding meditation on loss and yearning, and powered by Chick Graning’s well-placed guitar licks, grows into a screaming reflection on what has been.

Scarce has also just made available “Tattoos And Parades & Yesterdays”, a 15-song CD anthology  compilation that includes all the material on “Tattoos & Parades” and song highlights from their previous time together. It can be purchased for $10.00 at Kuanki.com.

“Tattoos And Parades”, along with all previous Scarce recordings, is now available on all digital outlets. You can preview these selections and see/hear other Scarce music & videos at www.myspace.com/scarcetheband.

BAND/STORY IN BRIEF: Scarce was one of the more highly acclaimed and promising young bands to emerge from the burgeoning 90’s indie-rock scene. Formed in 1993 in Providence, the band very quickly made a name for themselves in both the Northeast United States and overseas with their exhausting and exhilarating live shows. While most bands of the time performed in whatever clothes they were wearing that day (that was why it was called grunge, after all), Scarce performed with Raskin in a prom dress and Graning in a black suit or gold lame tuxedo, both energetically bounding across the stage.

Scarce released their major label debut, Deadsexy, on A&M Records in 1996 in followup to US & international indie releases, great press (includng a 3.5 star review in Rolling Stone) & extensive international & US touring, culminating with an opening slot on Hole’s ‘96 tour.

Scarce was poised for a national breakthrough when Graning sustained a brain injury a week before Deadsexy’s US release. The release of the album was postponed, and Graning then spent the next nine months re-learning how to walk, how to talk, and then how to play his guitar and sing his songs. After his injury, however Graning found that he and Raskin had drifted apart both musically and emotionally, and, shortly after the US release of Deadsexy the band broke up. Bassist Joyce Raskin wrote ACHING TO BE, a book about the experience that resulted in the band re-forming and playing their first-and sold out show in 11 years in Boston last year.

* (courtesy of the absolutely fabulous Teresa Ensenat)

Posted in boston, boston music, knoxville, knoxville music, music, new releases, scarce | Leave a Comment »

Oops

Posted by Lynnster on October 23, 2008

Wow, I seriously didn’t realize how long I’d left things stagnant here.  Sorry about that.

Onto more stuff…

Posted in updates to the zone | Leave a Comment »

Amos Moses Was a Cajun – RIP Jerry Reed

Posted by Lynnster on September 4, 2008

I have had my head under a rock for about a week now with work, attempted work, thought about work, and all kinds of manner of work (going to be that way for a little while longer, I’m afraid), so when I poked my head out tonight to see what was going on elsewhere, I was so saddened and shocked to learn of the death of Nashville legend Jerry Reed.

I was aware of Jerry Reed from a very young age and long, long before the Smokey and the Bandit films started coming out.  I remember when “Amos Moses” was on top of both the pop and country charts (uh huh, I’m that old), we used to watch his variety show on TV (I had no idea until reading it tonight that Sista Smiff’s dad Biff was the emcee, though not surprised), my dad had all his records for years and years – all long before the movie thang started.  Turned out he was a pretty good actor too, though.

There are fifty thousand posts throughout this blog about my father’s influence on me with music, and his Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed (together) records were by far some of his favorites to listen to.  They (and the dozens of tracks on the reel-to-reel tapes my parents recorded) were frequently heard in my house while growing up.

Dad had a habit of stopping and saying, during those listening sprees, “Listen to that guitar”, or “Listen to those drums”, and made you really pay attention for a while.  When listening to the Chet & Jerry records, of course, it would be “Listen to that guitar” - or “that guitar” – and so I did.  As a very small child, I knew which one playing was Atkins and which one was Reed.

And Jerry Reed was funny, so funny.  Not a surprise years later when he was such a hit in the Smokey and the Bandit films.

No matter what your favorite flavor of music generally is, you’d be hard pressed to find many with favorite flavors of all kinds who don’t have some appreciation of what a great Jerry Reed was.  The music world, all of it, harbors one less true legend this week.

Read more thoughts and writing in the wake of Jerry Reed’s passing by Newscoma, GingerSnaps, Sharon Cobb, Sadcox, Thunder Jones, Blowing Smoke, Churlita, and at The Tennessean.

Posted in in memory of..., middle tennessee, music, music education 101, music legends, nashville, sad stuff | 4 Comments »

Our Man Westerberg Does It Again

Posted by Lynnster on August 27, 2008

Yep, I can hardly believe it either, but today TuneCore released yet ANOTHER Paul Westerberg recording for (basically) a handful of pennies.

This time it’s a two-fer, the 20-minute long “3oclockreep” and “Finally Here Once”, which clocks in at 3:27. You can buy and download both for $3.99 or get them separately for $3 and 99 cents respectively (why anyone would want to do that, I’m not sure, but hey, whatever). Payment by Google Checkout or PayPal.

I’m listening to the first right now and it seems to be a mishmash of stuff once again kinda like with 49:00, and I read a rumor that there’s a snip of “If Only You Were Lonely” in there but haven’t gotten there yet. I think I’ve recognized bars and bits from other old ‘Mats tunes too but I haven’t quite identified them yet.

Ah, just hit “If Only You Were Lonely”. Sounds like an old outtake and Paul sounds trashed, and I hear Tommy in the background. Haha… this is funny. There is a conversation with Tom Waits in here too, apparently. OK, now Tom Waits and Paul are doing a duet of sorts. Holy heck. This is like some gem pulled out of the vault.

Anyway, it’s out and here at TuneCore so go get it. In a way, I tend to agree with Jodi at PaulWesterberg.net that it’s almost as if Uncle Paul’s trying to nickel and dime us to death – but on the other hand, you know what? If he wants to release little tidbits like these every week or two for 99 cents or whatever, I got no problem with that and I’ll buy happily. This is fun and these have been awesome little surprises, I wonder if it’s going to stop or not? I guess we’ll see.

I wonder what else he’s got stored away in that vault?!?!

ADDENDUM: Listening to “Finally Here Once” right now – thumbs up!

Posted in music, music junkie stuff, new releases, paul westerberg, the internet is..., the replacements, thumbs up | Leave a Comment »

RIP Steve Foley

Posted by Lynnster on August 27, 2008

Sad news this week about the death of the second drummer for The Replacements, Steve Foley.  (HT and thanks to KathyP, or lord only knows when I would have seen the news since I’ve had my head buried in the ground under forty thousand tons of work the past couple of weeks).

Many times on the blog I have lamented the fact I only got to see the ‘Mats live once, and since it was on the last tour before they split up, Steve was the drummer at the time.  I never got to see the ‘Mats with Chris, although what I am sorriest about really is not having been able to see them with Bob on guitar.  Talk about more tragic deaths.

More here on Steve’s passing from the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Posted in in memory of..., music, the replacements | Leave a Comment »

Good to Be Listening to the Tim Lee 3

Posted by Lynnster on August 12, 2008

Tim Lee really never needed to win me over much, as his Concrete Dog CD has been one of my favorites of this decade, but when he mentioned to me a few years ago that he’d shared a NYC stage in the Eighties with the Hoodoo Gurus while he was touring as guitarist with Let’s Active, that of course immediately won me over for life bigtime (naturally). Originally from my neighboring state of Mississippi, Tim’s got a hefty and nice resume behind him as a guitarist, singer and songwriter; besides the Mitch Easter connection, it includes having been one-half of American underground legends The Windbreakers.

Nowadays Tim and his wife and bassist, the ever-awesome and cool Susan Bauer Lee, call Knoxville home. In 2006, they teamed up with Knoxville drummer Rodney Cash to form the Tim Lee 3, and earlier this year put out yet another awesome CD in Good2b3. “Saving Gracie” is my fave track on the album and I’ve played it about a billion times since the record came out in May.

The TL3 also contributed a track to the recent benefit CD for WUTK (the University of Tennessee’s self-funded college radio station), Redistilled: 25 Years of Knoxville Rock, which features 17 Knoxville artists covering songs by other Knoxville artists (and also includes – either covering or being covered or both – Scott Miller, The Judybats, The V-Roys, Superdrag, and a whole bunch of others). Redistilled also features former Judybats singer Jeff Heiskell covering Tim and Susan’s “Dead Guy Story”. The Redistilled disc is worth a pick-up as well (and proceeds go to a great cause).

If you’re in or near southern Ohio, Kentucky, East Tennessee, or Georgia, you can catch the Tim Lee 3 on these upcoming dates:

  • August 15th: Surly Girl Saloon, Columbus OH
  • August 16th: Summit City, Whitesburg KY
  • August 29th: Pilot Light (with the Tenderhooks), Knoxville TN
  • Sept. 6th: Animal Shelter Benefit/Bike Rally, Morristown TN
  • Sept. 12th: Hummingbird Stage & Taproom, Macon GA
  • October 11th: Brewer’s Jam at World’s Fair Park, Knoxville TN
  • October 24th: The Downtown, Morristown TN

You can pick up Good2b3 via iTunes or order it here at Paisley Pop.

You can pick up Redistilled: 25 Years of Knoxville Rock here at CDBaby.

The Tim Lee 3 on the WWW: HERE

The Tim Lee 3 on MySpace: HERE

Posted in east tennessee, knoxville, knoxville music, music | Leave a Comment »

One of These Days

Posted by Lynnster on August 11, 2008

It was on the top of the charts the week I was born.  I dig the hair and the makeup and the clothes and think, “Oh, that woulda been great,” but then I think about how long it takes to do hair and makeup like that and the fact that if I can’t get fixed up and out of the house in 30 minutes, it ain’t gonna get done, so it was probably a good thing I wasn’t a young lady back then (she says totally ignoring the fact that hair and makeup and clothes in the Eighties probably took even longer and oh, all that neon…).

But I got nothing else today so I give you this.  For some reason it just seemed like a good day for this one.

Posted in ancient history, music, music education 101, video music faves | Leave a Comment »

Sunday Blasts from the Past

Posted by Lynnster on August 10, 2008

Cluttered Brain (also known as Mrs. Natural Deficiency of Moral Fiber) has started a new regular Sunday post that is kinda fun, picking a random year to review the top ten on American Top 40 with Casey Kasem.

I too used to listen to American Top 40 on Sunday afternoons back in the Seventies, and the AM station in my little hometown ran a couple of hours of Alison “The Nightbird” Steele’s syndicated show after that, so most Sunday afternoons from probably around 1973 until 1979, I was usually listening.  By 1979, the AM stations weren’t really playing what I wanted to hear anymore – Cheap Trick, Devo, the Ramones, The B-52s, etc. – so I moved on from making a point of listening to the weekly American Top 40 around that time, though of course anything after that won’t be stuff I didn’t ever listen to.

This week, CB picked 1974 and said she recognized about 50% of the songs in the Top Ten – I unfortunately remember all of them, except for the #10 song (“Sideshow” by Blue Magic), but then again we weren’t exposed to a lot of R&B and Philly Soul on AM radio in West Tennessee in the Seventies.

I remember very well that, back then, the Pop chart and the R&B chart were always separated and it was very rare you’d see the same artist on both, with a few exceptions (The Jackson 5, for instance).  My local record store had a printed sheet every week (I guess it was the Billboard charts) printed by the distributor out of Memphis, with the Pop chart on one side and R&B on the other, and their stock of 45 RPM records behind the counter was numbered in accordance with that week’s Pop chart, and that’s what you had a choice of buying.  Those little pieces of vinyl were about 50 cents each for years, and then by the time I was winding down from buying 45s anymore they had risen to about 99 cents.

It hasn’t been that way in a long time and will never be that way again.  Kids today’s heads would explode under those circumstances of having to get and play your music.

Anyway, be sure and check out Cluttered Brain’s blast from the past every Sunday looking back on random years of the Top Ten in American music.  I sure will be!

Posted in ancient history, blogfolks, music, radio radio | 2 Comments »

Westerberg, Redux

Posted by Lynnster on August 8, 2008

I added a couple of edits and comments to the post below, but let me just make this clear again -

If you are one of the artists who may or may not be considering suing Paul Westerberg over one or two lines of your song being included on 49:00, then yes – unless you are Ray Davies (and in that case I’d just say, ahhhh, c’mon Ray, you’re breaking my heart!!) – I’ll say it again:

Your HAS BEEN music that hardly anybody cares about anymore except old hippies and grandmothers (and artists with good taste like Westerberg) got smacked with a great big dose of cool it didn’t have anymore a month ago and got introduced to potentially a huge number of young music listeners who could have cared less who you were before because of its inclusion on that MP3, and you better be APPRECIATING it instead of picking up the phone and calling your lawyers.

(No, I can’t bring myself to berate Ray Davies. Now, Alice Cooper, Steppenwolf, David Cassidy or anyone else who might be on the list? Yeah.)

Posted in copyright crybabies, music, music junkie stuff, paul westerberg, the internet is..., the replacements | Leave a Comment »

About the Chump(s) Who MIGHT Have Tried to Sue Paul Westerberg

Posted by Lynnster on August 8, 2008

And the Westerberg controversy just gets groovier and groovier.

I’m a couple of days late on this because (as noted on my other blog) I had to run out of town for a couple of days, but as you will recall, Paul Westerberg’s 49-cent full-length one-track album release 49:00 was mysteriously pulled from purchase availability from Amazon and TuneCore the other day.

There has been no official explanation as yet, though there has been much speculation that the album was pulled due to potential copyright infringement issues over the medley of songs on one part of 49:00 that included one-liners from gems such as Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”, The Kinks’ “Dandy”, and many more, plus a little bit more than one line of The Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You” (something Paul’s been performing live on stage for eons).

Well, now what has appeared but 5:05, which appears to maybe be a response to 49:00’s disappearance and, after listening to it, I’d say the speculation about copyright infringement issues is probably right since it includes wonderful lines such as“if you wanna sue me…” and “bring on the lawsuit…” ** I love it and I laughed my ass off (in fact I’m laughing right now as I type). There’s also an absolutely tongue-in-cheek snippet of, um, something else at the end that’s obviously there on purpose. And a few “f*** you”s at the end, hehe. I’m not trying to fuel any rumors further here (yes, I am) but copyright infringement threats would very much appear to be the mostly explanation for all this weirdness lately.

Well, good for Paul! I wish in my lifetime that artists worldwide would basically mutually agree to chill out over the whole copyright thing when it comes to lines and snippets. It’s one thing to take a whole song and do it, and it’s probably always going to be a necessity in rap and hip-hop, which so often is totally or near-totally based on other people’s music. If you have an ENTIRE album that’s woven around somebody else’s stuff, then yeah, okay.

But something like this, where one single solitary big deal of a line from your song was obviously beloved enough to be included in a few seconds of tape by such a legendary artist as Westerberg? You oughta be proud and pleased and thrilled, not calling your lawyers, you greedy little #$@&%(s). Whichever greedy little #$@*&%(s) you are, acting like a crying wimp on the playground or the sniveling little tattletale that everybody in school hates and makes fun of because you’re always crying and whining about something stupid. Yep, that’s pretty much about how I feel about the whole issue.

Most of you artists have stolen from each other at one time or another ANYWAY, whether outright or in passing. Why not just agree that there’s a limit and stop being big crybabies suing each other over every little measure or note?

Think of it this way, you litigious money-grubbing morons out there. Your song, which possibly few people care about anymore but old hippies or grandmothers (or artists with good taste like Westerberg), just got smacked with a whole bunch of cool it really no longer had before 49:00 was released, and possibly because of that one single solitary line being included in Westerberg’s song, your has-been music just got introduced to a whole sea of young music listeners who a month ago probably could have cared less who you were because of its inclusion on that MP3. *** (Okay, if Ray Davies is one of the potential litigants I’m going to regret saying “has-been music”, but most any of the rest – pfft.)

And really, of all the people to threaten to sue. Paul Westerberg is undoubtedly one of the most respected and adored artists of the last three decades, beloved by critics, fans, and other musicians alike.

I would hate, hate, hate to be the person(s) who may soon become known as “the chump(s) who sued Paul Westerberg”.

In any case, pick up your copy of 5:05 here, and hurry in case it disappears too – you can pay by Google Checkout or Paypal. Go, go, go!!! I know there’s an army of us out here breathing a sigh of relief that we grabbed 49:00 when we could, don’t wait to grab this one. You can buy 5:05 for either 99 cents or $5.05, whichever you choose – it’s the same track.

On another note, I sure could get used to this new Westerberg release every couple of weeks deal. Woohoo!

** edited – after a few listens I think it’s “bring on the lawsuit” as opposed to what was reported elsewhere as “they got a lawsuit”

*** yeah, I’m editing again – sue me.

Posted in copyright crybabies, music, music junkie stuff, new releases, paul westerberg, the internet is..., the replacements | 4 Comments »

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