Category: Music

  • Personal Review: McCartney 3,2,1

    I’m a huge Beatle fan. I have listened to every album, bootleg, and out take that I could get my hands on. I have read books on the band, on their recording techniques, and individual biographies. Once in college, I spent a day in the library reading old magazine articles from the 60’s about them. I even played George Harrison in a play, not that that has anything to do with this, but I thought I would just add it.

    I had known about the HULU McCartney 3,2,1 for some time, but I just never got around to it. Not that I wasn’t interested in it, but Summer was Summer, and things got away from me. But, now that life is calmer, I was able to dedicate some time, and I wanted to dedicate time and focus on this.

    The show is just Rick Rubin asking Paul McCartney questions about his songs – Beatles and solo work – and then listen to the songs as the two guys break down the different tracks on each song. This didn’t strike me as a show for casual Beatles fans, but more like a deep dive for those of us who know about the Beatles process of using a four-track, and how they were excited to get an eight-track at Abbey Road, and all the crazy wizardry they, and the engineers like Geoff Emerick, and producer George Martin, could come up with. So, on that level, it was pretty in-depth. Also, Rubin’s producer’s ear, as well as clearly being a huge fan, helped in bringing up question about the dualistic sound the Beatles loved to play with.

    I enjoyed it greatly, but I was reminded about one very clear fact; the last guy standing gets to tell the story. (I am aware that Ringo could chime in, but what I get from him is that he’s happy with his version of the story. Nothing to add.) I’m not saying Paul was lying in the show, but I think he was clearly smoothing over some edges. No stories of disagreements, or late-night sessions that ended in frustration, only to be picked up again the next day with new and different ideas. But on the flip side of that, I do think Paul was the most complementary and honest in saying that many of his songs were influenced and made better by the other three.

    And in the end, isn’t that what happens to everyone as they age and look back; We remember the good parts and start to forget about the bad stuff. Luckily, there are tons of good songs to remember.

  • Woodstock ’99: A Remembrance

    On Saturday night, the wife and I watched on HBO, Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage. I thought the doc was good, worth watching, maybe I’ll review it later. What I thought the doc did well, was reminding me about the world I lived in around 1999, and that Summer.

    What I remember, (And that’s key here. This isn’t fact, this is an emotional response and memory from me, so it has the very high likelihood of being exceedingly inaccurate…) was that Woodstock ’99 was bullshit from the beginning.

    I was living in Arlington, TX at that time, and it wasn’t really surprising that no one I knew was going to the concert which was 1,500 miles away. In fact, I knew no one who wanted to shell out the money for the Pay-Per-View of the concerts. It was the first time that I remember that everyone my age thought of Babyboomers as sellouts who were only interested in taking as much money off Gen-X as possible. Example, the first Woodstock cost $18 to attend all three days. In 1999 dollars that would be $81. The promoters charged $180. Then there were the $4 waters, $7 sandwiches, and $12 pizza. I remember it being called Corporatestock.

    Then there were the bands, which for me were pretty much all shit. At that time, I think the only people I would have wanted to see were Live, Rage Against the Machine, Willie Nelson, Red Hot Chili Peppers. All the other headliners were Metal-rap cockrock bands. It was frat boy, cargo shorts, no shirt, backwards baseball cap garbage music that played to the worst instincts of young dudes that wanted to fight and get laid. But at the same time, that was the only rock music left. All the big grunge bands were no more by 1999, except for Pearl Jam, who was at a low point. The other half of music was taken over by pop and boybands. If you just wanted a rock band, it was a wasteland then.

    And when the riot, fires and craziness went down, my first impression was, yes, burn the that fake corporate thing to the ground. But I also remember the news coverage that came after; of the fighting, deaths, sexual assaults, lack of security, water and just basic sanitation. In my mind, it became a preventable bomb, or should have never happened in the first place. There were a lot of dirty hands in that mess

    The 90’s ended on a sour note just like the 60’s did with Altamont. And what also died that weekend was the nostalgia that the 60’s were worth replicating.

  • Revisiting Paul Simon’s “One-Trick Pony” – Film and Album

    I had trouble sleeping the other night, and thought it would be fun to revisit an old movie that I hadn’t seen in years; One-Trick Pony, staring and written by Paul Simon from 1980. The reason the movie popped into my head was that one of the songs from the soundtrack popped up on a playlist the other day. (The soundtrack, made up of original Paul Simon songs for the movie, is excellent, but more on that in a bit.)  Though I love this movie, it’s not a particularly good movie.

    To sum up, the movie is about a fictional one-hit-wonder singer/songwriter, Jonah Levin, in the late 70’s dealing with divorce, career disappointment, and general male midlife crisis where things didn’t work out the way he thought. I wouldn’t say this movie is autobiographical, though Simon in real life was dealing with a divorce, and switching record labels. For me, I see Jonah Levin to Paul Simon the same as Kilgore Trout to Kurt Vonnegut; a reflection by the artist as to who they would have been if they weren’t successful artists in real life.

    When watching One-Trick Pony again, I was struck by how tired everyone in the movie is, and feels. In context, the film was released in 1980, but was filmed in 1979, and most likely was written in 1977/78, which means America was coming out of the end of the Vietnam War, Watergate, the energy crisis, economic downturn, and the Iran Hostage Crisis. In the 1970’s, America went from crisis to crisis, and by the end of the decade, I think people just wanted normalcy and stability. This is what I see reflected in the movie, even to the point of having an unhealthy nostalgia for the 60’s.

    The reason I would say that you should check out the movie is the music. The scenes of Jonah’s band playing are the highlight of the film, as these are the musicians who actually did record and tour with Simon in real life. One of the songs from the movie “Late in the Evening” was a hit for Simon, and has appeared on several greatest hits compilations, but the rest of the songs on the soundtrack are rarely heard today. It’s too bad as “One-Trick Pony” and “Ace in the Hole” are truly great songs. Also, when looking at Simon’s catalogue of music, the One-Trick Pony album does mark the end of his 70’s sound, as his next album Hearts and Bones went in a new, more modern synthesizer sound that would dominate the 80’s.

    I still find One-Trick Pony as an entertaining movie, though it has a few inconsistencies. Some of the acting can come off as wooden, and all the female characters seem to only exist to support the male characters, which does make the narrative feel very dated. Yet, I found myself identifying with the themes of the movie; the onset of middle age, wondering if the best years are behind you, and learning that the way you have been living just can continue forever. All thoughts I have been contemplating while in lockdown.

  • Enablers

    I was nervous that Harvey Weinstein wouldn’t get convicted. I hadn’t been following the case closely, as I felt that it was only a 50/50 shot, he would be found guilty, and I had already decided that I believed the survivors. I didn’t need a jury to justify my stance.

    But Harvey is going to jail, and I hope that this brings about the beginning of the end of the idea that there are “untouchable” men in any industry that take advantage of their position.

    Now, it’s time that we start addressing the enablers that helped Harvey. The agents who sent women to his hotel room, and office. The directors who were ordered to put women in, or take them out of their movies, the assistants who heard what was happening and did.

    I know that there are people out there that want to punish all of these enablers, and I understand where they are coming from. And that may or should happen.

    From my experience, and I have spent some time in theatre education, it needs to start in all theatre classes, and be reiterated again, and again, all the way up to grad school, and supported by all the unions in the entertainment industry. There needs to be an ethical standard that everyone needs to understand and follow. And I’m talking about simple things like no more one on one meetings between actors and producers or directors. Actors/artist have the right to have an advocate present at all times.

    Harvey didn’t create this world of casting couches, and treating women as if they are disposable. And it is wrong for us to believe that even if these few men that have been outed by #MeToo all go to jail that this issue will go away. We have to start building the new acceptable culture of the entertainment industry today.

  • Thanks, Alex

    I think I need to take a break from the news. I could talk about South Carolina, or that Harvey Weinstein was just found guilty on two counts.

    But what I really want to talk about is listening to Parliament.

    What has brought this about recently is that we showed the kid “Guardians of the Galaxy, and Vol. 2” this weekend, and she completely latched on to the movies, the characters, and the music. (She’s been running around the playground telling the other kids that she’s Gamora.) We added both soundtracks to a playlist for her, which means we have been listening to it pretty much non-stop. That’s not a complaint.

    Vol. 2’s soundtrack has Parliament’s “Flash Light” on it, and this is how we get all of this tied together.

    I have some time for myself this day to work in the home office, and this would make a great time to start listening to Parliament again.

    I know the first time I heard/saw them, and that was on Saturday Night Live in 1986. (I know this only because I can look it up, not that the date was seared into my brain.) Watching George Clinton, Parliament-Funkadelic did leave me a little confused, as I knew it was a band, but the music and attitude on display was not like anything I had seen before.

    Jump ahead five years, and being in 9th grade I make that friend who loves Parliament, and my music horizons are broadened in a most needed way. The Mothership Connection, and Bootsy Collins, and the funk, and for a little white kid growing up in the suburbs, it was like getting invited to the party with the cool kids.

    I mean, I want funk uncut.