Book Review - Ronnie

On the heels of the Clapton autobiography, I dove right in to “Ronnie,” by Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. What a contrast.

Where Clapton had a fairly negative childhood experience that led him to have relationship and addiction issues throughout his life, Wood had a really positive, nurturing childhood that led to him having addiction issues his whole life.

And whereas I felt like Clapton got smarter over the course of his life (even though he remained stupid - or at least, addicted - for a really, really long time), Wood made the same damn mistakes again and again – mostly financial. I mean, the guy gets so overstretched financially that he has to ask the Stones for advances of millions of dollars before tours, just to get out of debt.

Self-admittedly, he just can’t say no. So when someone comes to him with a harebrained investment idea – hey, run your own spa, it’ll only cost you 30 million dollars – he takes the bait again and again. It’s actually very frustrating to see him mess up over and over. He’s like the multi-millionaire version of the guy who goes out on the crabbing boat for months, makes tons of money, comes home, spends all of it quickly, and has to go back out again to make more.

The best part of the book for me, actually, is the part before he joins the Stones. His formative years are really entertaining, and you get a good sense for his virtuosity as a musician. The guy really can play anything, given the right amount of time. He has a great attitude as well. Very happy go lucky and generous, (whereas Clapton was always kind of a dick). His stories about how he got started in the early 60s, all the bands he played with, and his time with Rod Stewart and The Faces, are good segments.

Also in contrast to Clapton, I don’t get the sense that he has completely kicked the junk. As with every other rocker in the 70s, there are loads of stories of excess and drugs. Once he joins the Stones, it goes off the charts. He was even a freebase addict for five years in the 80s, but he never says why or how he kicked it. The number of dangerous scumbag drug dealers and enablers that were around his family and especially his kids is pretty shocking and pathetic.

Anyone who follows the Stones knows that the recent Bigger Bang tour was his first tour sober. Meaning, the first time the guy, who is now 60, ever played onstage without a buzz. Mick and Keith actually toyed with not bringing Wood on the tour, he was so bad off - so, he cleaned up. It is amazing that he pulled it off for such a long tour without full relapse, but you also get the impression that he still parties. After reading the Clapton book, I am not sure how well that bodes for his future sobriety.

The other great part about the book is how in depth he goes into his artwork. People may not know this, but Wood has always been a fantastic artist. Given financial discipline, he could make a living off of just his drawings and paintings. His work is excellent – some samples here. He talks about how he got started, and how he sketches his band mates in rehearsal and uses art to fill the plentiful down time on the road.

I’d recommend this book to any Stones fan, as it’s a pretty insightful look into how the band operates – Wood says they travel on tour in a “golden prison” where every luxury is provided, but they don’t have the freedom to actually get out and be in the real world. It’s busses, planes, five star hotel rooms, studios, concerts and repeat – for more than a year at a time. Would drive any lesser man nuts, but obviously they have the passion and with every tour, move into new territory as the world’s biggest and oldest touring band.

And even though he’s still the “new guy,” having just joined the Stones in 1975, I’d say it would be pretty tough to justify a version of the Stones without him. This book gives great insight into the man and his life and times.

Private Lesson from Alex Lifeson

A new company called iVideosongs aims to offer virtual music lessons online, featuring video downloads of guitar pros demonstrating their playing techniques. In many cases, these are private instructors giving lessons. But in some cases, they have signed up the original artists.

One of which is none other than Alex Lifeson from Rush. Yes, for $9.99, Alex will show you how to play Limelight, Spirit of Radio or Tom Sawyer in a 35-45 minute video lesson. Check out some short clips here, here and here. This is really cool, and I just might pony up some dough to get these.

Where was this service when I was wearing down tape machines rewinding these songs in the mid 80s, trying to figure them out for myself? Now, I can get a lesson from the famous guy who wrote the thing! Killer!

Book Review - Clapton

Santa was very good to me this year, spoiling me with CDs, DVDs and books I am too lazy to go out and get myself.

One of the books I got was Eric Clapton’s autobiography, Clapton, which I plowed through in just a few days. It’s organized well and moves at a good clip.

I really wanted to read this book despite the fact that I am still an emerging fan of Clapton. I have always been a fan of his when he sits in with other people or does one off jams. For example, his work on Roger Waters’ The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, or his blazing rendition of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” from the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary concert.

But I find his solo work spotty and totally overrated for the most part. My faves are things like the RUSH soundtrack, 24 Nights and the album he did with B.B. King, Riding With The King. I find most of his 70s and 80s work pretty forgettable.

The book helped me appreciate his work much more, however, because I got the impression that Clapton would agree with me about the spotty nature of his career! I mean, I always knew he had addiction issues – heroin in the 70s and booze later on. But I had no clue the guy was a full blown raging, pathetic alcoholic for more than 20 years. Even when he was riding high in the 80s, with all those bogus (but successful) albums with Phil Collins producing, he was growing worse and worse in his addictions.

The first thing my friend Al and I agreed on about Clapton’s book was what a total pile this guy was. He stole his friends’ women, totally corrupted a minor who eventually overdosed, fired his bandmates and managers left and right, and had zero loyalty, breaking up every successful group he ever played in. Of course, when you spend most of your childhood raised by your grandparents, who tell you your mother is your sister when it’s really your mother, you’re bound to have issues.

The book is a fascinating and sobering (no pun intended) look at addiction. For example, at one point Clapton has a bottle of booze and a shotgun and is going to kill himself because he has hit bottom. But he doesn’t do it because he thinks, “If I am dead, I won’t be able to drink anymore.” Wow. That is serious addiction. I can’t even fathom that level of addiction and it made me reel out a mile more rope with which to cut Clapton some slack.

But somewhere in the late 80s, when he finally kicks his addictions and his unhealthy relationship patterns, he turns into a pretty good guy. And miraculously, he stays clean (and has been for more than 20 years), even when his son dies tragically by falling out a 40 story window in downtown New York.

Now, Clapton helps people beat addiction through his Crossroads facility in Antigua, is a caring father and husband and by all accounts has his shit fully together and is the happiest he’s ever been in his life. Not the ending I would have predicted.

The books reminds the reader that life is a journey and it’s never over. Yeah, you may be an addict – and a total prick to boot – but you can always change. You can always turn it around and there is always hope. And now, I want to go and re-visit all of the albums I looked over, now that I feel that I know the man a bit better.

Triumphant Return

Remember Triumph? Those Canadian dudes that always got compared unfavorably to Rush? Seems that guitarist Rik Emmett, who has been very vocal about never playing with the other two guys again, had a change of heart when his brother passed away from cancer. His brother said, “Dude, reunite the band” or something to that effect.

So they are playing the Sweden Rock Festival in Norje, Switzerland in June and Emmett says they may tour in 2009. Hmm. The other two guys, bassist/keyboardist Mike Levine and drummer/vocalist Gil Moore, have been inactive for years, so they are going to need to dust off their chops to share the bill with the likes of Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Blue Oyster Cult, and Joe Satriani, who have all been touring, well forever.

I saw Triumph on a total whim in the mid 80s. In the days when I would get concert tickets months in advance and get progressively more geeked up as the weeks flew by, it was a total anomaly to get tickets mere hours before a concert. But that’s what my buddies and I did for Triumph. Even still, we were able to stand right in front of Emmett and I remember thinking that they were great.

Go to iTunes and revisit the catalog: Fight the Good Fight. Magic Power. Never Surrender. When The Lights Go Down. A World of Fantasy.

They were pretty good. Pretty overlooked. We’ll see if they can dust the cobwebs off of their legacy.

Stolen Items

So, I am slowly getting caught up from my few days off and HAVE to re-post two items from friends' blogs that other folks may not see.

The first is a captivating tale right out of Scooby Doo - The Mystery of the Garbage Can Arranger. Get the first-hand here and then here.

The second is a YouTube of this sick drummer named Marco Minnemann. In this clip, he is playing along to samples of voices from tv and movies (Futurama, Monty Python, etc), which of course are in all sorts of odd times. This guy is truly ill and needs too be attended to...

Thanks to Voxmoose and Dr. John for these.

Floydian Slips NYE Rehearsal Video and Portland Review

While lounging around in Mexico, I put together a montage (sing it like on Team America - it's a montage!) of clips from The Floydian Slips rehearsal on December 30, 2007.

We were prepping for the New Years Eve show, and doing sound check to boot. The clips were filmed by a friend of the band and I just stitched them together.

Also, we had a nice review of the Portland show from Glide Magazine here.

Enjoy.

Hola from Mexico

Just got back at 2 AM today from Mexico - nice Cancun vacation with no kids and no agenda.

Time to troll through a gabillion work emails. Yay!

PS - I took the photo. It was really nice there! Got a lot of reading done so reviews are a-comin'. Stay tuned...

Look Out World - Vinyl is Coming Back!

According to TIME Magazine, vinyl records are making a comeback with younger listeners who are not pleased with the tinny quality of MP3s and enjoy the large format artwork and overall experience offered by the ole Big 10 Inch format. From the article:

Like the comeback of Puma sneakers or vintage T shirts, vinyl's resurgence has benefited from its retro-rock aura. Many young listeners discovered LPs after they rifled through their parents' collections looking for oldies and found that they liked the warmer sound quality of records, the more elaborate album covers and liner notes that come with them, and the experience of putting one on and sharing it with friends, as opposed to plugging in some earbuds and listening alone...

The article continues to state the obvious:

Large album covers with imaginative graphics, pullout photos (some even have full-size posters tucked in the sleeve) and liner notes are a big draw for young fans. "Alternative rock used to have 16-page booklets and album sleeves, but with iTunes there isn't anything collectible to show I own a piece of this artist," says Dreese of Newbury Comics. In a nod to modern technology, albums known as picture discs come with an image of the band or artist printed on the vinyl. "People who are used to CDs see the artwork and the colored vinyl, and they think it's really cool," says Jordan Yates, 15, a Nashville-based vinyl enthusiast. Some LP releases even come with bonus tracks not on the CD version, giving customers added value.

It's great to have 13,000 songs on something the size of a pile of business cards, but it's also nice to see that young folks are starting to get hip to the way that many of us grew up listening to music on a turntable.

Floydian Slips Videos from Seattle

Had two great shows (same night) at The Triple Door in Seattle last Saturday. That place is the bomb. It's basically a supper club that holds 300 people and serves awesome food and beverage.

The room was acoustically very good and the sound was consequently pretty awesome. The first show was sold out and the second had about 175, which was great for our first trip up there.

It was challenging to have to prove ourselves to an audience who has never seen us before. We are so spoiled with the Eugene audiences who hang on every note. These Seattle folks were not as easy to turn. But in the end, we got a great response and the club wants us back. We're thinking summer time.

In the meanwhile, here are a couple of vids:

Time


Have A Cigar

Geddy Lee and the Joys of Winter

Catching up on some blog reading, I found this video on Voxmoose's blog so appealing that I had to pillage and re-post it here. Some good advice, kiddies. Enjoy.

Dave Grohl Good - Alaska Airlines Bad

As I rot in the San Jose Airport because Alaska Airlines just cancelled my flight home to Portland (I came down here today for a meeting if you can believe it), I am catching up on my mail. See Alaska Airlines Sucks for some chuckles I am especially appreciating just now.

My buddy Bruce sent me a cool article today with drummer Dave Grohl's tips for living a happy life. They are rock star appropriate but also show how cool of a dude he is. See the whole list here, but below are a couple of my fav's:

3. Moderation in all things.

I'm nearly 40. The last thing I want to do is wake up with a raging hangover and have to listen to Elmo songs with my daughter. I might be able to drink longer now; I just don't drink as often. If I get a night out with some friends and Jägermeister, it's going to be a long night, and somebody's going home with cracked ribs.

4. An audience is an audience.

To me, music was an escape from working in a furniture warehouse. It still feels like that. And at the end of the day, does it matter how many people are standing in front of you when you play a song? You're still going to play music. I'd be just as happy as I am now if I was at the sh**hole down the street playing Creedence covers for six people.

Neil Peart Writes to Isorski...

...23 years ago.

Back in the 80s, word got out that Rush's drummer Neil Peart would personally answer his fan mail. Being such a Rush-head back then, I wound up writing him a letter in response to an interview I read with Neil in Modern Drummer Magazine.

I was in high school, in a band called Osiris at the time, that covered some Rush - we did Limelight, La Villa, Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions, as well as farting through things like 2112, YYZ, Spirit of Radio etc. The drummer and I learned Grace Under Pressure end to end and used to play it (just guitar and drums) for a lark.

Anyway, I got a response postcard from Neil one day during a break from band practice. Needless to say, it was pretty inspiring!

Today, there is a guy named Andy Olson who is gathering Neil postcards to a special Web site. He posted my card over the weekend. There aren't a ton of them posted yet, but it's pretty cool to click through the few he has there.

Voxmoose, I know you got one about a year after I did. Send it to Andy if you still have it around!

Floydian Slips Video - Brick Part Two

The Pink Floyd cover band I am in, The Floydian Slips, rang in the new year in Eugene, Oregon Monday night to a sold out house of 1,200 raving lunatics. We had a blast! Below is a video I managed to pop onto YouTube today in between getting my head back into work and tackling a million things.

We play Saturday in Seattle and next Saturday the 12th here in Portland. That'll give me my Floyd fix for a few months.

Enjoy the vid.

Concert Hits and Misses of 2007

Everyone busts out their best-of lists this time of year, so why not me? I realized I actually saw enough concerts in 2007 to warrant one. So, enjoy:

Best Concert – Heaven and Hell
This one could have been pretty lame, a la Spinal Tap. However, it was pummeling. With all of the Zeppelin hype right now, I am reminded that people say Sabbath and Zeppelin ‘co-created’ heavy metal. Well, the difference is, if you go through all of Zeppelin’s albums, there is not ONE bad song in the lot. Ozzy era Sabbath? Tons of crap songs, especially in the late 70s. The Dio era was when Sabbath hit homer after homer. This show basically melted my face and was so good it was ridiculous.

Most Overrated – The Police
OK, so I gave this one a multi-star rating the day after the show. Looking back, it was mostly due to the excitement of this reunion even happening at all. The show was great, mind you, but they were awfully loose and the changes to the song arrangements were not always the best. Our show was the third or fourth of the tour, so I am still inclined to cut a load of slack. They are still on the road and I bet they are pretty tight by this point.

Biggest Surprise – Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Loved the movie “Once,” bought tickets to the live show of the main characters playing the music. Thought it might be too mellow/boring. Was surprised at how funny Hansard was and how he kept 1,200 people at the Crystal Ballroom quiet so he could do the first song without any P.A. and hold everyone’s attention regardless. John Mayer at the New Orleans Jazz Fest was a close second here. His blistering guitaring and great attitude onstage ensures that I see him next time he’s in town.

Biggest Bummer Cancellation – Asia
Had tickets to see the original Asia at the Aladdin Theater, which hold less than 700 people. Just to get that close to Steve Howe and Carl Palmer was enticing, much less hearing all of those classic tunes live. But singer John Wetton had to go and have open heart surgery. Damn him. 2008 dates are scheduled worldwide but alas no Portland yet.

The One That Got Away – Van Halen
The reviews of this tour have been stellar. Roth is especially shining – in fine voice and just the right amount of “Diamond Dave” and Eddie is focused again. I had an available ticket and decided not to go. They may be back next year and if so, I’ll be there, just to say that I saw this one. Honorable mentions to ones I could have seen but missed – Genesis (really good prog-focused set list was surprising) and Tool (just could not make this one but really should have).

Honorable Mentions – Rush (set list included seven new songs, loads of unearthed classics. You can never go wrong with live Rush). Roger Waters (show vacillated between brilliance and boredom. Not impressed with guitarist). Jesus Christ Superstar (Incredible. I just wish the drummer in the pit had a real drum set, not an electric kit).

Happy New Year, everyone!

Shameless Self Promotion Part Three

A couple of personal vids to post. One is from a loose, acoustic appearance at Macadam's in Portland with my pal Bruce Kracke. I met Bruce this year at a Matt Vrba show and we found a mutual appreciation for all things Neil Young. Our first one of these Macadam's Thursday gigs was to do 30 minutes of Neil tunes. Great if you like Neil. Not so great if not. We had a blast!

Anyway, we've played a few times since then, usually trading off taking the lead vocal on a song we both know. For this one, our bass buddy Chris Chard joined for his first ever run through of Won't Get Fooled Again. It's loose but fun, and I commend Bruce's playful pseudo-windmills at the start of the song!

The other video is from one of last years' Floydian Slips shows. Once you get past the first minute or so of the Blair Witch shaky camera, you get a sense for how our show rolls out.

We have four Slips appearances coming up in the next two weeks. New Years Eve at the McDonald Theater in Eugene, two shows (same night) at the Triple Door in Seattle and one performance at the Aladdin Theater in Portland. We've never done a string like this, so I am looking forward to eating, sleeping and breathing Floyd for the next two weeks. Enjoy!

Won't Get Fooled Again


Run Like Hell

Chris Squire's Swiss Choir

Yes’ Chris Squire has issued a Christmas CD called “Chris Squire’s Swiss Choir.” Say that ten times fast!

You can get it from Squire’s Web site, and Amazon and probably iTunes. It’s basically a modern take on some old English classic holiday songs (no Jingle Bells thank God) and from the couple of very quick audio previews, it does not sound half bad (or all bad)! Very nice choir, fairly rocking. I would have been more interested in this just before Christmas, however.

In an interview with Notes From The Edge, Squire talks about how he lined up Steve Hackett to play guitar on the project. Seems that before Hackett, he hoped to line up Jeff Beck or Brian May for the project because he “keeps running into them at awards shows.”

It reminded me of a recent post by Ross Halfin where Ross says that at a recent awards event, a very drunk Squire kept trying to corner Jimmy Page into working on some project with him and kept trying to stick his business card into Page’s front short pocket. Except that Page didn’t have a pocket on his shirt…

Musical Review - Jesus Christ Superstar

Saw Jesus Christ Superstar last night – with Ted Neeley, the Jesus from the 1974 film in the lead role. I had seen this show about 15 years ago in Cupertino (the Flint Center) with him and Carl Anderson (also from the film) as Judas, and that performance was incredible.

Last night was pretty stellar as well.

Ted’s voice was raggy in general, and it was honestly a bit tough to stomach a 64-year-old Jesus who looked more like Willie Nelson, but it didn’t really matter. For a lot of people, Neeley is so good at this role that he IS Jesus.

You have to give the guy props for playing this role for the last 35 years. (When he sings the line “after all, I’ve tried for 3 years – seems like 30,” I wanted to say, “dude it HAS been 30).

I was wondering if he’d be able to hit those screaming highs and indeed had some trouble here and there. But in general he can still hit ‘em and I had hair standing up on my arms in a number of spots.

Of course, it didn’t help that my wife wrecked the moment for me in Neeley’s big song Gethsemane by leaning over to say that it looked like Jesus had ‘party tits.’ But actually, with his shirt off in the crucifixion scene, he looks great for his age. If I look half that good at 64, I will be a very happy older guy. This dude is very fit.

The guy who really stood out was Cory Glover of Living Color fame (Cult of Personality) who absolutely KILLED in the Judas role (no pun intended). He sang his ass off and his acting was great too. In the scene where he is remorseful about the betrayal and then hangs himself, the dude really ACTED. It was captivating.

The guys who played Pilate (Craig Sculli), Herod (Aaron Fuksa) and Simon (Matthew G. Myers) were also fantastic. The Herod scene, which is really campy in the movie, was played up in a big way and got the night’s only laughs. Craig Sculli as Pilate showed more compassion than any Pilate I have ever seen in JCS. That role for me is the most powerful, and they cast it really well.

Overall, every time I see the show, watch the movie or crank the soundtrack, I am reminded of how good a job Lloyd-Webber and Rice did on this. There is so much character development in this play. With just a very well-written line or two, you get deep insight into how a character is feeling or what kind of context the scene is running in.

I generally hate musicals, by the way, and I have checked out many other Lloyd-Webber/Rice soundtracks (Cats, Evita, Phantom of the Opera) and I am not a big fan. It’s just all too campy and Broadway for me. I guess I like JCS because it’s so rock and roll, and the music alone is worth a listen. I actually know every word to this thing, after listening to it non stop in high school and watching the film countless times.

(A buddy and I actually re-wrote the whole script in high school to apply to some a-hole administrators. I still have the typed draft – called “Mike Speckman Superstar.”)

By the way, count all the different time signatures in the music. You get 4/4, 3/4, 5/4, 7/8 etc. It’s all over the map and it’s really interesting.

Anyway, it was good seeing Neeley again in this role, but next time I might actually seek out an all-new cast to see what kind of twist they can put into it. Long live Ted Neeley!

Rush Returns in 2008

From Rush.com today:

After a hugely successful 2007 run, Rush are pleased to announce they will extend their Snakes & Arrows World Tour into 2008. The band will begin rehearsals in March to revamp the set list before kicking off the tour with their first ever appearance in San Juan, Puerto Rico in April.

2008 will see Rush tour in over 40 cities throughout the United States and Canada making stops in many where they haven’t performed in well over a decade including: Orlando, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Austin, Jacksonville and Winnipeg to name a few. Along the way, Rush will play new venues in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and Seattle and will revisit some familiar ones in Boston, Washington and Charlotte amongst others. Rush fans can look forward to a complete tour announcement in mid January.

Very cool. I may be on my way up to Seattle for this one, especially if they add some new gems to the set list (Camera Eye? Please oh please!)

Zep Rumor Mill & Videos

Looks like YouTube is starting to pull the reunion videos so watch that Kashmir one while you still can - it's the best one I have see so far, by far.

A couple of rumors buzzing around today:

1) The O2 show will be released on DVD
2) The band was talking backstage after the gig about doing some nights at Madison Square Garden

More Zep Vids - Holy Crap

OK, Plant didn't sound this good in 1978. What the hell? WOW

Kashmir (in its original key mind you)


And this short low quality treat (also in the original key):

Since I’ve Been loving You