CB

Buddy Holly

Reading Greil Marcus’ The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs. I’ve read most of his books over the years (starting with the indispensable Mystery Train), and what I find thrilling about his writing is the way he seamlessly combines deep knowledge with unbridled imagination.

The chapter on Buddy Holly (“Crying, Waiting, Hoping: 1959/1969”) is the best thing I’ve ever read on that artist. “1969” alludes to the Beatles’ attempt, in the studio, at playing the Holly songs that inspired them to start a band in the first place — as their band was falling apart. “A Day in the Life” has a big part in the chapter too. The whole ten-year story, as Marcus tells it, is heartbreaking.

ABKCO Records

Great interview in the new Tape Op (#129) with Teri Landi, curator of the huge ABKCO Records tape archives. Especially the info about Cameo-Parkway recordings, like how there was often gobs of reverb on the tapes that almost disappeared in the transition to 45s.

Presonus Eris 3.5

Presonus Eris 3.5

Wanted a decent, inexpensive pair of powered monitors for everyday listening, so I got these Presonus Eris 3.5s. Very pleased! They’ll be useful for mix-checking, too.

Fleetwood Mac, “Rhiannon,” OGWT 1976

Every time I watch this video from the Old Grey Whistle Test (and I’ve watched it many times over the years) it has the same effect — it just floors me. The band’s in total command, yet at the same time they seem possessed by the music — as is Stevie, for sure. The only word I can think of to describe her performance is “electrifying.”

The sad part is — I can’t imagine anything like this taking place today.

watch “Rhiannon” on YouTube

Schaun Tozer

Listening to Schaun Tozer’s OST for Mighty Jerome. A lot of his stuff is jazzy, but this (like Intelligence) has an electronic edginess to it that I love.

Enigma

But now I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
the narrator of Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco

Steely Dan, “Here At The Western World”

Some song lyrics are cryptic, but we don’t need to “figure out” the meaning. We can suspend disbelief and just live in the mood or the world they create.

“Here At The Western World” is certainly an oblique lyric (like those of most Steely Dan songs), but it’s one of those where the details are so specific, and hang together so well, that it’s hard to resist trying to sleuth out the story.

The music is laid back, smooth, almost innocuous (but this is SD, so the lyrics scratch the surface to reveal the darkness underneath). There’s an implied bossa nova rhythm (similar to “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”/“Song for My Father”), which brings us to… South America.

No way could I pin down this song’s meaning on my own, so I googled a few times over the years, and found that the most coherent explication was this: it’s about Nazi war criminals who found refuge in South America after the war. The narrative zeros in on one character, who happens to be a junkie, a heroin addict in search of a fix.

Down at the Lido (Italian for a beach resort, but here probably a night club/restaurant) there’s sausage and beer, a German tipoff right off the bat. Search Wikipedia for “Klaus,” and Gestapo mass murderer Klaus Barbie — “The Butcher of Lyon” — is in the top five. He ended up living and thriving in Bolivia, hobnobbing with fellow fascists in high places, including dictator Hugo Banzer Suárez. Suárez was part German (the Banzer part), and has been called “a bantam rooster in uniform.” Klaus and the Rooster.

Our character, though he’s welcome at the fancy spots — he’s one of the boys — is headed for a seedier joint, a place where the mayor, not the president, hangs out, and where you might find a sailor “blacked out on the stairs.”… Continue reading

Amateur

The professional blogging sites (and courses, and books) say the savvy blogger should become an expert at something. No, more precisely, you should be perceived to be an expert. I’m not an expert at anything, even the things I love. I love = amateur.

Experts (the real ones, not the “perceived as” types) burrow as deeply as possible into a topic, whether it’s early punk music, or JFK conspiracy theories, or vintage motorcycles… they know the whole history, the tiniest details — and we need these people; they write the histories. And don’t get me wrong, they love their subjects; they all started out as amateurs.

I’ve just never had the inclination to be an expert on any one topic, or a “critic" for that matter. I hope that my writing here (especially about music) comes across more as appreciation, from the heart of an amateur.

Steely Dan cast of characters

For no particular reason, here’s a list of named characters who appear in Steely Dan songs:

Felonius (my old friend)
Cathy Berberian
Dr. Warren Kruger
Kid Clean
Ann de Siècle
Pixeleen
Charlie Freak
Kid Charlemagne
Lonnie
Lady Bayside
Deacon Blues
Buzz
Abu
Peg
Josie
Gina
Yvonne
Rikki
Abbie
Pepe
Aja (? a woman or a drug ?)
Doctor Wu
‘Retha Franklin
Jill St. John
Marilyn 4.0
Katy
Rudy
Carlo
(oh) Michael (oh Jesus)
(the corpse of) William Wright
Good King Richard and Good King John
(my) Louise
the Queen of Spain
Napoleon
Hoops McCann
Jive Miguel
Miss Fugazi
Dave from Acquisitions
Franny from NYU
Bobby Dakine
Mr. Parker (Bird)
Little Eva
Klaus (Barbie?)
The Rooster (Hugo Banzer Suarez?)
Ruthie
Mr. LaPage
Babs and Clean Willie
Papa (Doc Duvalier)
T-Bone Angie
Madame Erzulie
Brother Lou Garue and the Jerry Garry
Chino and Daddy G (Gordon Liddy)
Rose Darling
Snake Mary
Janie Runaway (and her friend Melanie)
Binky
Daddy
Lucy (still loves her Coke & Rum)
Dupree