Sunday, December 28, 2008

The other night I dreamed that

someone gave me some clothes of famous musicians to take to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum (and what's up with the plus sign?), but I didn't, and ended up walking around town in a pair of pants once belonging to Dave Davies, and a long leather jacket worn by Stu Sutcliffe...



Tuesday, December 23, 2008

"Time"



When I met Hell, it was in a kitchen in SF; we were there for the wedding party for a mutual friend. I had just had a tooth removed, and between the extraction, the antibiotics, the painkillers, the plane flight, and a couple of sips of Jim Beam and cola, I was flat out on the floor in minutes. I stumbled across town to my other SF friend's apartment in the morning. ("Time" is a song that the Minutemen covered; click on the title for their version.)

Friday, December 19, 2008

Last year I was 21...



The Stooges, with future Scarcity of Tanks member Mike Watt on bass, live in Helsinki last year. (That year, Iggy wasn't 22; he was 60.) When I met Watt,
it was in the front room bar at Folk City in NYC (where Bob Dylan, the guy who
wrote propaganda songs, used to play). Among other things, he was enthusing
about the music of Richard Hell, esp. his bass-playing. (When I first saw
D. Boon, he was sleeping on a little couch in the basement of Folk City.)

Eighteen



Alice Cooper, "I'm Eighteen"

Seventeen



Sex Pistols, "17"

Their singer, Johnny "John Lydon" Rotten, famously got the job by miming to the next tune being played on a jukebox in the clothing store run by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren.

Sixteen



Buzzcocks, "Sixteen Again"

Thirteen



Big Star, "Thirteen" live

Seven and Seven Is...

When I started this wheeze (bands, practicing, playing out, recording) some thirty years ago, I was briefly in a band with some elders who, besides playing a lot of songs that they had written, also played a number of cover songs from the 60s. This, along with "Can't Stand It" and "Too Much to Dream Last Night," was always one of my favorites to play...




Arthur Lee and Baby Lemonade performing "Seven and Seven Is"