Alexander

Hey, did I ever mention my high school friend who was severely brain damaged in an accident while riding a motorcycle? Or the ER doc I met who told me that the only difference between a helmet and no helmet in whether you have an open or closed casket funeral? Not telling you what to do, but you'll never see me on one of those things...

No, she certainly wasn't "unattractive," but you'll agree that she's no Beyonce!

I heard this for the first time today, having avoided it for the past week or so. It's certainly nice to see someone do well on these kind of shows, where a big part of it is humilating the untalented. The problem is that so much emphasis is now placed on physical appearence nowadays. I was watching a DVD of the old Johnny Cash TV show a few days ago and I was marvelling at the fact that it was the VOICE that was important, not the way the singers looked. Conway Twitty, Roy Orbison, even Loretta Lynn...all of them would have a very hard time getting noticed today, which is a shame. Imagine a young Roy Orbison going on American Idol today!

Last night's show was amazingly successful! The house was quite full (65 seats in a 100 seat house...not too shabby, considering the economic pinch) and we absolutely killed! The improvised musical was called "Narcissists Anonymous," set in a health spa in modern day L.A. in which a group of self-obsessed celebrities learn about loving themselves a little less... Very funny stuff, although (as with most improv) it's one of those, "You had to be there" things. If you're in the Captial Region tonight, come on down! It's a completely different show every night!

My Improv Troupe is starting a run of Spontaneous Broadway TONIGHT, April 17, 2009 at Proctors Upstairs in beautiful Schenectady, NY! Here's how it breaks down... The audience is at a "backer's audition" where Mick Treadwell (troupe founder Michael Burns, the dude with the cigar in the pic) is presenting a series of potential new musicals for consideration. Based on audience suggestions, the cast improvises eight or nine songs from these new shows. At the end of the first act, the audience votes for the song they liked best. Based on that song, we then improvise a 45-minute musical in the second act, including costumes, sets, and even choreography! We do absolutely no planning during the intermission, other than reviewing what the improviser said when he or she set up the original song (which is also reprised in the second act), deciding on the setting of the opening number, and choosing an improviser to set and lead the chorus. That's it. That's all we plan. We don't assign roles, lay out the plot or anything. It's incredibly challenging and delightful! If you live in the Capital Region, or will be visiting during the run of the show, please come down! It's great fun! Visit Mopco.org for more info...

An African take on an American classic: Snake bites man? That's not news. Man bites snake? Now THAT'S news!

She's no Andrea True...

Say it ain't so, Chris!

I know it has a bad reputation, but I just love "Death of a Ladies Man" more and more each time I listen to it. I listened last night, and it was wonderful! The problem is that the CD sound is CRAP. This REALLY needs a decent reissue...

She was in a class by herself. One of the few porn stars you could actually imagine meeting and having a conversation with, you know? About fifteen years ago, my wife and I decided that it would be fun to watch some of the "classics" of the genre ("Deep Throat," "The Devil in Miss Jones," "Debbie Does Dallas", etc). "Behind the Green Door" was striking because of Chambers' performance. She was more than just a body doing bodily things...

Here's my question: Is it all right to continue to admire his genius, even though he's a convicted killer? I love the "Back to Mono" box. It's one of my musical treasures. I don't want to have to stop listening to it just because the guy's a nut job! I think I'm going to go sulk and listen to "Death of a Ladies Man" now...

Soooooo.... Looks like we've got some time to kill until September. Um... Anyone catch "House" the other night? That Kumar guy's dead! And he's going to work for Obama! That's weird, right?

I just want to know: How damn much are these boxed sets?!

Under 50 here (actually, still under 40 as well). I own a functioning turntable AND have most of the US versions of the Beatles LPs. Just sayin'...

Absolutely. At present, the only way to hear these albums on CD in mono (barring the two Capitol sets) is to download the Purple Chick reissues. I actually burned my nine-year-old daughter (who has just discovered the Beatles herself) a complete set of Beatles albums from the Purple Chick version. I did all of the albums up to Magical Mystery Tour in mono, and then everything in stereo from that point on. It'll be a while before she listens to them all!

I wish Capitol would do a third box set of the U.S. issues. Yes, I've been hoping that one is forthcoming...

Ok. I've regained my composure. I wish that they had opted to release them the way Costello does his reissues (or at least the way he did it on Rhino and Rykodisc): Three or four at a time spaced a few months apart, because frankly buying fourteen new discs all on the same day is going to be expensive!

Ok. Two thoughts: One... Finally!!!! Two... The whole mono/stereo thing really does suck. But guess what I'm asking for for Christmas (after I buy all the stereo albums on September 9th)? Huzza!!! :party: :party: :party: :party:

Is this the Bill Black that sang with Krupa and made one album of heartbreaking ballads? What a singer. Jonathan Schwartz is always playing that CD on his show, mostly Spring is Here. Great guitar, and I'd love to know who it is. Hope I got the right guy........ Nope...bassist...started the Bill Black Combo after his split with Elvis in the late 50s. Died in the mid-60s. Paul McCartney owns his double bass today. Black was one of the first pop bassists to embrace the Fender Electric Bass!

Oh, no question. Moore and Black support Elvis perfectly on those recordings. Hail to Sam Phillips for hooking those guys up in the first place!

Jimi's another one of those artists who benefitted from a completely serendipidous turn of events. He was "discovered" by former Animals bassist Chas Chandler who took Jimi back to Blighty and kick-started Jimi's career. Imagine what might have happened if Chandler hadn't gone to the Cafe Wha? that night? As Allen rightly pointed out, Jimi had been roundly rejected by the R&B/Blues audience (not to mention the various artists who had fired Jimi for being too weird). What would have become of Jimi? Would he have kicked around NYC for a few more years before heading back to Seattle? Would he have found his audience? For that matter, what would have happened to Richie Valens if the coin toss had gone the other way?

I don't doubt that Moore (however much one might enjoy his sound on those Elvis Sun records) would have remained in obscurity if he hadn't had the great good fortune to be with Elvis when Elvis broke through (Bill Black is another matter). If we're going to talk about Elvis's guitar players, however, let's talk about James Burton! THAT guy lives up to his hype, no question.

And I don't mean to dismiss Cash. He's also one of my all-time favorites. When I first began exploring country, I started with him.

Elvis may have been naïve in the beginning and pretty much a follower in terms of his personality, but I don't think the guy was dumb. On the contrary, he always seemed like he was inwardly laughing at his "Tennessee Truck Driver" image. I think his biggest problem was that he was a follower, not a leader, and that he allowed himself to be led by a man who screwed him six ways from Sunday. Elvis's best body of work, in my opinion, is the stuff he did in the late 60s and early 70s, right after his comeback and right before his Vegas period. That, to me, sounds like a guy who FINALLY knew what he wanted to do and got to do it. Once he was free of the soundtrack material and the custom written stuff (much of which was very good), Elvis was able to choose the songs that allowed him to express himself. One of my all time favorite recordings of that period is "Long Black Limousine." To me, it sounds like Elvis is singing his own epitaph...

Bear in mind that Elvis on Sun was just out of high school and no real significant musical experience (outside of church and his activities as a fan of R&B). He had barely EVER even performed in public at that point! I'm sure you've heard the tale...how young Elvis showed up at Sun to make a 78 of himself singing "My Happiness" to give his mother for her birthday. How Marion Keisker decided to make a copy to play for Sam Phillips. By the time he finally got around to "That's All Right," Elvis was still a piece of uncut marble. All Phillips knew was that this kid had SOMETHING, but neither he nor Elvis (not to mention Scotty Moore and Bill Black, who played on that session) knew exactly what it was. "That's All Right" was an accident. Phillips overheard Elvis goofing around with the musicians during a break. That sense of serendipidy, THAT is part of what makes those Sun recordings so remarkable. It might not have happened at all. It very nearly DIDN'T happen. In a parallel universe, Elvis never got up the nerve to make that demo recording of "My Happiness" or Marion Keisker didn't make a copy for Phillips. Or perhaps Elvis never gelled with Moore and Black and everybody went home disappointed, Elvis went back to driving a truck and music history was forever changed. It's one of those moments where everything falls into place and you know, "This is a BIG deal." It's the musical equivilent of the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. It's also what Elvis represented to his earliest listeners. There was a sense of transgression, of boundaries weakening. Elvis was a poor white kid from the South who, like many of his peers at that time, was wild about black music. That in itself was transgressive. There was a very deliberate code in the way Elvis dressed (his pompadour and sideburns mimicking the "process" popular among blacks at the time) and the way he performed on stage. Yet he was also clearly self-conscious in those early days. You can hear it in live recordings where he would mock the lyrics of his own songs (singing "Heartbreak Hotel" as "Heartburn Motel"). He obviously didn't really understand what was happening to him. I would imagine that most of us having our fondest wishes suddenly granted beyond our wildest imaginings would feel the same. And yes, he really never did have his own way. The worst thing that ever happened to him was Tom Parker. Parker's gamesmanship with Elvis's career, refusing to let Elvis record during most of the 60s in order to give him leverage with RCA, is primarily responsible for Elvis's eventual slide into drug addiction and eccentricity. Isolated from the world, surrounded by yes-men and hangers-on, and denied his only form of vocation or release, Elvis had no choice but to construct his own increasingly bizarre world. No wonder he suddenly rose from the ashes in a blaze of glory when he was finally allowed to perform and record again! It was too little, too late by then, however. The rot had set in and it was only a matter of time before the pills and the food claimed him. There's not a little bit of Shakespeare in the tragedy of Elvis Presley.