The Music Thread

I googled Crank, I thought that song came out when I was in college (late 80's). At any rate, we used to (ahem) crank that song. Guilty pleasure, kinda like Anything, Anything by Dramarama...
 
ZenMode said:
My two favorite alternative/rock bands to binge are Foo Fighters and Catherine Wheel. Most everyone has heard of Foo. Few have heard of Catherine Wheel.







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It's funny. Catherine Wheel got to American pop radio before Radiohead. I always thought Creep was a total ripoff of their sound and I was going to post that Radiohead stole all their ideas from Catherine Wheel. Turns out, though, that Radiohead formed several years before CW. Still, Creep absolutely could be a track on Chrome.-- a wildly underrated LP. Pain is just a great song. Probably the apogee of emo.

A friend of mine from college radio loved to arrange interviews with bands and then sleep with them. She f'd every single member of Catherine Wheel. They were apparently really great, or so she said anyway.
 
In re: Great full Dead. I saw the Greatful Dead at Camerom Indoor in the Fall of 1973. It was everything I expected and wanted and more. During breaks, beautiful girls would dance to the recorded music being played on the PA system and the spotlight operators would highlight them. I was in the balcony, the dancing girls were down in the floor seats.

Related note: The summer of 1973 I worked for Southwestern Book Company selling Bibles door to door in Texas City, TX and adjoining areas. I was beyond awful at it. I couldn't sell a swamp to a thristy frog. Just an all around horrible experience. Only redeeming quality was that I found out fairly early in life that I was NOT a salesman. Anyway, the Fall of 1973, my Southerwestern supervisor, also a student at UNC tracked me down and said that there was going to be a get together to plan out the following summer and recruit more salesman. I looked at him like he had lost his mind and reminded him I had been TERRIBLE! His response, "Oh, that's OK, everyone is terrible their first summer, you'll be much better next summer and you will get a cut of the sales the people you recruit make." I was completely dumbfounded, but I knew this turd was completely serious. So I tried another tact by telling him I couldn't go because because that was the same night as the Greatful Dead concert in Cameron and I had tickets. He replied, "Not a problem. I heard that concert is sold out. Not only will you be able to sell the ticket, but you can sell it at a profit!" That was when it finally dawned on me: The Southwestern Book Company was a cult. And the only reason I was not a member of the cult was that I was such an awful salesman. I slowly backed away saying I was going to the Dead concert and would not be going to Bible Saleman Reunion. He said OK, gave me the time and place and asked if I needed a ride. I literally turned and ran away.
 
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Anybody local going to Hopscotch in a couple weeks? The Saturday lineup looks pretty solid.

DB’s
Durand Jones
Wednesday
Jesus Lizard
Indigo de Souza
Guided by Voices
St. Vincent
 
Remember the Art Center when it hosted iconic performers like:

Leon Russell
Dr. John
Johnny Winter
Rickie Lee Jones
John Mayall
Mavis Staples
Joan Osborne

and my favorite return guest...Dar Williams !
 
I’m old. And I’ve already weighed in, and admittedly a musician myself. But I’ll go another round and simply list genres/styles - in no particular order, other than alpha:

  • Americana
  • Bluegrass (sort of Americana anyway, and I like old school as well as New Grass, Dawg music etc.)
  • Blues (pretty much all styles, Memphis, Piedmont, KC, Keb Mo’ to Stevie Ray, etc.)
  • Classical (again most all eras: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc)
  • Folk (see Americana/Bluegrass)
  • Indy (but 80’s Indy mainly)
  • Jazz (most all styles, but mainly West Coast Cool, Bop, Hard Bop, Latin and old school Tony Bennett, Ella, Frank, And the Louie’s - Armstrong and Prima)
  • Latin (See Jazz: Bossa, Samba, Afro-Cubano, Brazilian, etc)
  • Rock n Roll - mainly 1965-1975 with some 1980’s thrown in
Some styles/genres which I don’t really care for:
Country (old school is ok Bakersville, Willie, Waylon, Kris, JohnnyC, HankSr. - but anything outta Nashville since 1972 can suck it)
Rap, hip hop, Death Metal/Heavy metal, Opera, Electronica, New Age, Most any Rock past 1990 (so-called Rock), Disco, Grunge, Today’s pop music, Techno, Raggae (some old school stuff, but not too much), Twee pop.

I’m a purist in that I prefer real, old school acoustic instruments:
  • Grand piano instead of electric keyboards
  • Upright bass instead of electric bass
  • Real drums instead of drum machines
  • Real brass and woodwinds instead of computer generated
  • Real strings, violin, viola, cello instead of computerized
 
05C40 said:
In re: Great full Dead. I saw the Greatful Dead at Camerom Indoor in the Fall of 1973. It was everything I expected and wanted and more. During breaks, beautiful girls would dance to the recorded music being played on the PA system and the spotlight operators would highlight them. I was in the balcony, the dancing girls were down in the floor seats.
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Man, you guys are killing me with these tales of seeing the Dead in '73. Actually I'm happy for y'all (of course), but for us younger (!!) heads, seeing them in the late 60's-70's is the Holy Grail. Good on ya, mates...
 
Fun fact: Greg Ginn, founder of Black Flag and SST Records was (and probably still is) a huge Deadhead. Pretty sure Rollins was too. There's more similarity b/w the culture and ethos of the Dead and punk/hardcore than at first meets the eye...
 
EyeballKid said:
Anybody local going to Hopscotch in a couple weeks? The Saturday lineup looks pretty solid.

DB’s
Durand Jones
Wednesday
Jesus Lizard
Indigo de Souza
Guided by Voices
St. Vincent
Click to expand...
Jesus Lizard? They're still around?

I produced a show of their when in college, in conjunction with the radio station's awareness/fund-raising week. The station was full alternative -- the DJs were students with 2 hour shows, and we could play whatever we wanted so long as it wasn't played anywhere on commercial radio or MTV. So we championed a lot of obscure bands, some of which became less than obscure. Our music director, for instance, became friends with Uncle Tupelo, before anyone really knew who they were.

Anyway, back to Jesus Lizard. OMG. The contract riders instructed us to have a keg and a case. The keg was for the band, and the case was for David Yow (the singer) because he doesn't drink off a keg. Anyway, dude is just slamming beers and then calls me over to ask if I can get him a fifth of SoCo. This was, actually, not the easiest task for me at the time, given that I was 18 (I went to college at a young age), but I found someone to do it. And he started slamming it.

By the end of the night, the case and the fifth were gone, and reports were that the vast majority ended up in David Yow's stomach. So if you think Jesus Lizard sounds like a tight band fronted by a dude who just gets wasted and warbles -- that's exactly what they are! I don't know how he could consume that much alcohol. Guy's total body mass must have been like 20% liver.

I also did a John Zorn concert that week. That one was even weirder. It was an ensemble performance, and there were like 10-12 avant-garde/experimental performers along with Zorn. And I guess his thing is to make fun of the concert promoter because, you know, the promoters are corporate stiffs and a cool musician. Finally, I got sick of it. At the time, I looked like Thurston Moore and dressed grunge-adjacent. I went up to him and I said, "Mr. Zorn, I appreciate that you're getting in character for what will surely be a legendary performance tonight. However, I'd just like you to know that I'm 18 years old, I do this for fun, and I am getting paid precisely zero. I don't really care if you actually do what you committed to in the contract, but I do want our radio station to get funding for this sort of event next year. The university isn't likely to do that if the facilities get trashed or the internal policies aren't followed."

He was sort of embarrassed and he stopped making fun of me. But during the concert, he took a moment while tuning up to address the crowd and said, "I'd like to thank superrific (he actually knew my real name) for helping set this up. He's getting paid precisely zero." Then, everyone went for dinner. Since we had to shell out for 14 hotel rooms and a significant booking fee, I had negotiated that we would provide dinner without having to commit to a restaurant of a price tag. I had a Sephardic Jewish guy at the station who idolized Zorn. He spent all day preparing an elaborate Sephardic meal, with couscous, lamb kebabs, and I don't remember exactly what else but it was a tremendous effort and it was, in fact, really good (I suspect he was on the phone with his mom much of the day). And Zorn never said a word. Instead, he made fun of the Mingus that the guy was playing (a choice I'm sure the guy put days of thought into when he learned that Zorn was going to be having dinner in his apartment).

IOW, John Zorn is an asshole. Or at least he was in my experience with him. Great musician, though I've always preferred Peter Brotzmann, who was never an asshole to me. I've only met him briefly: I was waiting in line at the post office in downtown Brooklyn to mail a package when I noticed Peter Brotzmann was behind me. I said, "Peter Brotzmann! I saw you with Milford Graves at the [no longer remember the club name] last year. It was great." And Peter said, "Thank you. I remember that show. Milford was great." Then it was my turn at the counter, which was fine because I didn't know what else to say to Peter Brotzmann.
 
hedge said:
Fun fact: Greg Ginn, founder of Black Flag and SST Records was (and probably still is) a huge Deadhead. Pretty sure Rollins was too. There's more similarity b/w the culture and ethos of the Dead and punk/hardcore than at first meets the eye...
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Did not know that, but google confirms it.

jitneybooks.com

Where Does Jerry Garcia and Punk Rock Cross the Road? - The Jitney

Jerry Garcia was and always will be on the same level as Tony Iommi…just at the opposite end of the bookshelf.
jitneybooks.com jitneybooks.com
 
Centerpiece said:
I’m old. And I’ve already weighed in, and admittedly a musician myself. But I’ll go another round and simply list genres/styles - in no particular order, other than alpha:

  • Americana
  • Bluegrass (sort of Americana anyway, and I like old school as well as New Grass, Dawg music etc.)
  • Blues (pretty much all styles, Memphis, Piedmont, KC, Keb Mo’ to Stevie Ray, etc.)
  • Classical (again most all eras: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc)
  • Folk (see Americana/Bluegrass)
  • Indy (but 80’s Indy mainly)
  • Jazz (most all styles, but mainly West Coast Cool, Bop, Hard Bop, Latin and old school Tony Bennett, Ella, Frank, And the Louie’s - Armstrong and Prima)
  • Latin (See Jazz: Bossa, Samba, Afro-Cubano, Brazilian, etc)
  • Rock n Roll - mainly 1965-1975 with some 1980’s thrown in
Some styles/genres which I don’t really care for:
Country (old school is ok Bakersville, Willie, Waylon, Kris, JohnnyC, HankSr. - but anything outta Nashville since 1972 can suck it)
Rap, hip hop, Death Metal/Heavy metal, Opera, Electronica, New Age, Most any Rock past 1990 (so-called Rock), Disco, Grunge, Today’s pop music, Techno, Raggae (some old school stuff, but not too much), Twee pop.

I’m a purist in that I prefer real, old school acoustic instruments:
  • Grand piano instead of electric keyboards
  • Upright bass instead of electric bass
  • Real drums instead of drum machines
  • Real brass and woodwinds instead of computer generated
  • Real strings, violin, viola, cello instead of computerized
Click to expand...
I hear you on the upright bass, but it's really limited in what it can do compared to the electric. I mean, given your tastes, most of that additional functionality for the electric doesn't appeal to you. But still, you can't play Stones with an upright and you definitely can't play Metallica or 80s Indie with it.

Personally, my favorite type of piano is the prepared piano. For instance


 
Lately, I’ve been listening to a Pandora station called, “Subculture: 80s Alternative Radio.” It plays a lot of songs I haven’t heard in a while.
 
superrific said:
I hear you on the upright bass, but it's really limited in what it can do compared to the electric. I mean, given your tastes, most of that additional functionality for the electric doesn't appeal to you. But still, you can't play Stones with an upright and you definitely can't play Metallica or 80s Indie with it.

Personally, my favorite type of piano is the prepared piano. For instance


Click to expand...

Obviously all a matter of preference and personal tastes. I never said electric bass - and any of it’s “additional functionality” - has no appeal to me. And actually one can play The Rolling Stones, or any kind of music, on the double bass... it would just be a unique interpretation is all.

But back to personal preferences, especially the grand piano…
Steinway grand, ideally, should be tuned and voiced down – something to be requested by the venue before the show takes place. The voicing ensures that all keys respond with the same loudness level at all times and diminished and/or eliminates the brightness/harshness associated with the hardened felt, wrapped around the hammers.

As far as putting screws to the piano? Nah. Not my personal preference.
 
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