I'm Sick Y'all

The title of this post heralds a return to non-political rantings - yay! It's a reference to an Otis Redding song, and also unfortunately a declaration of my health at the moment. And I'm leaving for Hawaii in 5 days! More meds!!

I was reading some miscellaneous stuff about Pittsburgh DJ Mad Mike Metro, guitarist supreme Robert Quine (both dead btw), and James "Hound" Marshall who used to dj on my fave WFMU long before I was hip to it (back in the late 70s). Anyway, I came across some useless information (my favorite kind) that got me to thinking...

What was the first record I bought with my own money? This is a toss-up: it was either Jackie Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops" album (unless my sister bought it for me, or the money was given to her by my mother, but I do know it was hand delivered by my sister, who had actually been instructed to buy Jackie's "He's So Fine" lp, but at the time I didn't know the more recent L. T. was out - hell, I was like 5. So she made the right choice.). OR - it was "Fingertips". In the course of my younger days, this seems rather late (9 or 10 years old), because I had a lot of records. Maybe it was just that they were all bought for me, but this one was definitely with my own money, on my own trek to the record shop. Did "Twist & Shout" by The Isley Brothers come out before that one? Because I definitely remember having that one, but I can't remember if I paid for it myself.

My all-time favorite album: "Highway 61 Revisited" by Bob Dylan, I was 12. I remember this vividly, I bought it at Sears (?!) at Macomb Mall. My friend Duane had a sister 2 years older than me (who saw both Detroit Beatle concerts, 64 & 65? she did) & on that same day she bought The Byrds' "Turn Turn Turn". We swapped albums for one day, and I kinda liked hers better for a short while, because it was more commercially pop and like I said, I was 12. But in the end, the man won out, 43 years & holding.

First concert: The Motortown Revue, Fox Theater, December 1963, 10 years old. No Beatles yet, Motown was the thing. Marvin Gaye, Smokey, Mary Wells, The Marvelettes. No Supremes or Stevie. First "rock" concert: SRC, East Detroit High School, March 1970, 16 years old.

And in the same vein, major acts (in my world) that I've seen: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Sinatra, Bill Haley, Bo Diddley, Lennon, McCartney, Dylan, Stones, Velvet Underground, Ike & Tina Turner, John Lee Hooker, Peter Tosh, MC5, Stooges, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash, Dolls, Bowie, Kraftwerk, Stevie Wonder, Aretha, Brian Wilson, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Dr. John, The Who, The Fall, Ray Davies, The Faces, Sonny Rollins, Archie Shepp, Dave Brubeck, King Sunny Ade, Wynton Marsalis, James Brown, Neil Young, and then there are the tons of flavors-of-the-week and 2nd and 3rd stringers.

Who did I miss just because I was lazy & didn't want to get in the car & go & now I could kick myself: Monk. And Diz. And Sun Ra.

First real kiss: summer of 1966. First "wow" experience that didn't seem handed down from earlier times: Haight Ashbury and Golden Gate Park, December 1967 - just after the Summer Of Love. First pair of bell bottom jeans: 1968, 10th grade.

First legal beer: Lums, Roseville. First new car: 1975 Chevy Monza. First "totalled" accident: 1975 Chevy Monza, less than a year later.

Where does this end?

Here. I'm sick. y'all.

Hanal To The Chief

WOW!!! Thanx for the comments, all 3 of you (it seemed like so many many more)!! Check the previous post for some top comments -including a quite legendary reply from yours truly!

But here's something that came to mind: why indeed hasn't John Waters run for president? Isn't he actually what we all want to be? Or is that just me? He lives out his twisted fantasies by having someone else act them out on film for all to see, & he can just sit back & stay clean? And in the end the common man love those fantasies & make him a multi-millionaire!! I mean, if someone's gonna manipulate me, it might as well be him. Imagine, living in a world filled with depraved lunatics & obese drag queens. Gee, how I miss going to see his work in grimy art houses half-full of questionable reprobates. The good old days.

Recently at a DC insider cocktail party it was suggested that the Democrats would be happy with the likes of Rip Taylor for president. What was really meant by that statement is that the Dems would take any fruity ol' pisser because that is their wont. Nothing could be further from the truth, I say! Rip is old & boring, and we've already had that. Plus he's messy, what with that confetti all over the place. And he's just not funny. An unfunny queen? Breeder, please. But if he's part of a nine-member cast of leaders who sit three-by-three in a box trimmed in flashing lights, we'd take him in a heartbeat. Considering the Pushing Daisies guy brings Paul Linde back, too.

Look, we gotta crawl before we walk. This election has gotten more people talking about (and acting as if they care about) this country than any time since Woodstock (the one without arson). Even though their reasons may be superficial, and they may just be extremely lucky that the guy they're (probably) backing is (probably) the best guy in recent years who's gonna step up & go for the job, at least we're (probably) not talking about Miley Cyrus or Lezbey Lohan. Let's all just pray this thing goes well because we MUST bring an end to this right-wing, bible-based, fear-nurturing regime. It (probably) WON'T stop under McCain.

ONE MO' THING: I usually never recommend anything from Rolling Stone (what a total piece of crap), but their cover story on the early days of John McCain is quite entertaining, although at times it seems like they wanted to shock but just pulled an "aw". His early days sound like another assholes. His latter days can't be much different. Use the link to read it online.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

Now, go rent The John Waters Collection. It's no "Bonzo" anthology, but then what is?

Commenting On The Debate I Didn't Watch: Patriotic!

No, I didn't watch it.

I have cultivated such a strong dislike for her that I didn't want to see her possibly do a good job, because I get a perverse pleasure from hating her & that whole whale blubber clan of the cave bear circus she's part of. If she held her own, then bully for her. If not, bully for me.

I did a fair share of Thursday night quarterbacking, and it appears she was really rocking that Cowgirl-At-A-Themepark bullshit: y'all, yah know, gonna, droppin' her "g"s, ... Can't we have someone who's eloquent & can talk to people intelligently? Oh wait, we already have that: it's called the Obama/Biden ticket. And just because I'm educated and can understand big words does that make me pretentious? (I well may be, but not for that reason.)

I'm tired of folksy. Truly. And just because she drove a van to a

f#%king soccer game doesn't mean she's cornered the market on real life.

This country is supposed to be the place where any US citizen could ideally be president. But honestly, she needs to get wise. She's like some character in a second rate comedy chock full of SNL & SCTV hasbeens where they pull some poor unsuspecting "Joe Six-Pack" (another Palinism) out of nowhere to take the place of some world leader who's been shot.

I wonder if the GOP thought, "hey, this one's a spittin' image of Tina Fey. We pick her and there'll be an uptick on SNL coverage!" "But wait, Fey's not on the show anymore." "Shoot, she'll come back to the show just for this, you watch!"

Hurry, November 4, and be good to me. I'm tired of feeling compelled to post politically.

...Line?

We'll get right back to "Grrrandpapa Knows Best", but for just a mo', let me go off topic and discuss my favorite train wreck, Sarah "I Can See Russia From My Toilet" Palin.

That Couric interview. I get so uncomfortable when someone so embarrasses themself that I can barely look them in the eye, electronically or otherwise. What a clueless corpse! Sure, I couldn't answer those questions, but I'm not running for Veep of the world, either.

Dig this:

"It was like I had to make up every answer," said Palin in a statement written for her by someone other than herself. "If I knew that my responses to Katie's questions were not going to be provided to me before hand, I wouldn't have done the interview in the first place."

Double WTF??!!???

86 that bitch fast!!!

But here's the scary part: who's that in the on-deck circle? Probably Mitt Romney. Talk about striking fear in the hearts of men. What about Giuliani? Nah, he can't see past "9/11". Lieberman? Hyuk, you don't really think they'd go with a jew, do you? Palin was their Angela Davis or Jane Fonda as far as they're concerned.

Have a nice trip back home. Is "Men In Trees" still on TV? Maybe she can do a walk-on.

At least it's not improv.

The World Is A Better Place

The other day I became a grandfather for the first time. This was an exciting experience, because I saw the little tyke when he was an hour old. His eyes were open for most of that first visit, quite a lot more than they were over the next 48 hours or so. He probably saw all he could take, & thought, "Y'know what - I'm going back to sleep; wake me when the new Dylan box comes out (Oct 7, btw)". Yeah, the modern world makes you jaded real fast.

All throughout the waiting period (I think it's called pregnancy) I was wondering how this was going to affect my normal everyday lifestyle, i.e., I hate people, of which kids are a subset, and how I don't like to be infringed upon by stuff I can't be arsed with. Well, as the big day grew closer, I started thinking about the cool & crazy things I could do with the little brussel sprout, all the info and data and stuff I would pass on. Y'see, I'm pretty sure I'm the most unorthodox grandparent this kid has. The most abnormal one. The one who's closest to his age, spirit-wise if not mentality-wise. Fact is, I really kinda like kids - in their place - when they're being cool 'n all, not bratty & obnoxious & messing up your shit. I really dig a child's sensibility. I like their purity & innocence & honesty. Until grownups get their stinking hands on them.

This is a tough world in which to grow up. I don't envy him, but I will certainly help him. Right after I empty my drool cup & change my diaper. I'll live vicariously through this boy while that's still an attractive concept. I'm always grousing over the fact that at my age I can't pull off a lot of the things I see in mens shops, all these variations on themes from bygone eras. So I'll just take the kid shopping & make him a 21st century me.

But no f$%king athletic shoes or hoodies.

Heaven's Gonna Swing Now

Earl Palmer was one of the greatest drummers on the planet. People talk about this drummer, that drummer. Jump back, Jack. My man Earl played with everyone from the King of Rock & Roll - that's Little Richard - to Neil Young to Ringo to Elvis Costello to (hold on to your hats) Frank Sinatra.

My favorite Earl sides are naturally the Little Richard sessions on Specialty Records. This was the greatest rock & roll band in the world, not only was Earl there, but the mighty duo of Lee Allen and Red Tyler on sax, Frank Field on the bass, and Edgard Blanchard on guitar. Oh yeah, and Richard Penniman on piano. This band was primarily on every Nawlins record from the fifties, give or take a cat or two - Fats, Huey Smith, Fess, Shirley & Lee et al. But I'm getting off on a tangent, this ain't about Nawlins, just it's greatest drummer.

"Tutti Fruitti". "I Hear You Knockin'". "I'm Walkin'". "Rockin' Robin". "La Bamba". "River Deep - Mountain High"!! (can you imagine that session??) "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling. (or that one??) "Dance With Me Henry". The theme songs from "77 Sunset Strip" and "The Odd Couple"!! The Flintstones theme song!!!! Green Acres!! I Dream Of Jeannie!! The Frikkin Brady Bunch!! The film scores to "Judgement at Nuremberg", "Mad Mad World", "A Patch Of Blue", "Robin & The Seven Hoods" and "How To Stuff A Wild Bikini" to name a few.

And he was a charter member of the legendary "Wrecking Crew" in LA. (look it up)

And there's more and more, trust me.

How great does a guy have to be to play on Lucille and the score to Judgement At Nuremberg?That's talented, to be sure. Gifted.

Sometime in the early/mid 90s, Earl appeared in a video with Alt-crap band Cracker. Leader David Lowery asked Palmer if he would be able to play along with the songs, Earl gave Lowery a look and said,

"I invented this shit."

Another Rick In The Wall

Yeah, I know, that was a pitiful pun. But what can I say, here I am acknowledging the passing of Rick Wright, Keyboardist for Pink Floyd for 42 years. Cancer, wouldn't ya know.

I don't like Pink Floyd. Actually, I should clarify that; I like the first Pink Floyd album "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" a whole lot. It's very English, very experimental, and at the time Floyd was led by Syd Barrett, a true visionary, an avatar, and very quickly a psychedelic casualty. After that first album, a couple singles and a couple tracks from the second album A Saucerful Of Secrets, Barrett moved onto his own planet, never to return, and he died in 2006.

Anyway, back to the Rickster. I seem to remember reading somewhere, though I can't for the life of me recall where, probably some UK monthly, that Wright did not think very highly of Syd Barrett. But I can't find any proof of that on the web. I believe I read that he more than any other of his Floydian cohorts held that opinion. So I have to be honest, when I heard that Rick Wright died, I was a little "what goes around comes around, mutha". Because post-Barrett Floyd suck the big one.

Was Wright a bad seed? Seems he also had a problem with bassist/vocalist Roger Waters, who played a major part in the composition and execution of Floyd's overblown musical wanking. He even "quit" the band in the 80s (big deal, they were dormant for 20 years). But he came back when they reformed for a few shows and a couple albums in the noughts.

SO - no more Floyd reunion tours, or albums. Guess you'll have to settle for the laser shows at the planetarium.