Monstrously Good Photos

We've got some new photos here at Wannabes HQ, and as you can see, we had a one-of-a kind show this past Saturday night (Halloween). We had a great time at Abigail's Cafe in Linden, but let me tell you, gluing something to your forehead, then going out and performing for 3 hours is, well, brain dead.

Even more impressive was the care taken by a group of fans who channelled the Beatles even better than we usually do. Kudos to the fabulous Frankie, who not only makes a great George (or was it John?), but sings the Boxtops pretty well too!

We also have some photos are from a show at McLynn's this past August, which you can access by clicking on the link (to the right) and viewing the slide show. All photos were taken by our friend Daniel--thank you for the fine work behind the lens.

All You Need is Love...and an AK-47

On Tuesday, I read a story in the New York Times from a reporter who had been kidnapped by the Taliban in Pakistan, and was held for 7 months. It's a scary tale, and it's a reminder of how high the stakes are in this international world we live in today.

But the story is also surprising too, and funny, at least at the part when we realize once again how truly international the world is. Read this excerpt from the end.

I realized that my guards, too, might have needed a break from our grim existence. But I felt like a performing monkey when they told me to sing for visiting commanders. I knew they were simply laughing at me.

I intentionally avoided American love songs, trying to dispel their belief that all Americans were hedonists. Despite my efforts, romantic songs — whatever their language — were the guards’ favorites.

The Beatles song “She Loves You,” which popped into my head soon after I
received my wife’s letter from the Red Cross, was the most popular.

For reasons that baffled me, the guards relished singing it with me. I began by singing its first verse. My three Taliban guards, along with Tahir and Asad, then joined me in the chorus.

“She loves you — yeah, yeah, yeah,” we sang, with Kalashnikovs lying on the floor around us.

Once again, the Beatles prove inescapable, even in this very remote corner of the world, among a society that shuns western decadence, music in and of itself, and especially rock and roll. I'm very happy this reporter made it out alive, and I'm heartened by the musical message that continues to resonate among people everywhere. I feel very fortunate to be able to relay that message occasionally here in my own little corner of the world. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/world/asia/20hostage.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Rocking for a Cause

We played an interesting show last night, a benefit organized by the mayor of East Brunswick. The event was dubbed Dining for a Cause, and it was a fundraiser for East Brunswick community programs, including the food bank. Even in a relatively affluent community like this, demand for services like food pantries is on the rise, and it was great to see a nice turnout for the event.

Part of the fun was playing on a big stage. The new East Brunswick community center is a great venue, and we had the space to stretch out and not get in each other's way. Plus, we're going to be TV stars!!! That's right, if you live in East Brunswick, you can access EBTV (who knew they have their own network?) and catch an interview with the band and perhaps some of the performance as well. We haven't seen this yet, but we're told it will be aired this coming Thursday, October 22. As they say, check local listings... We'll also try to get this posted on our web site or YouTube as well.

So as we head into Thanksgiving and the holidays during the rest of the year, please keep the less fortunate in mind. We do have a lot to be thankful for.

Blog Takes a Holiday

But death, no, that never does. Today I was interested to read about a contemporary's passing. Lucy Vodden was a contemporary in chronological terms, but that is where the similarity ends--I certainly haven't been memorialized in one of the most iconic songs in music history.

And if I were to be, what would that song be titled? Colin in the Car with Road Rage? I suspect a more wistful approach, along the lines of She's Leaving Home, might be more apropos.

Full details on Lucy's life and its bejeweled beginnings can be found at the obituary in The New York Times.

The Injustice Makes me Pale

I just heard tonight about the Procol Harum keyboardist being awarded future royalties to A Whiter Shade of Pale. You often hear about rock and roll artists saying they did not receive royalties to their earlier works--ask many people who dealt with Colonel Tom Parker--so it's nice to hear that even though the past 40 years, and all the plays on the radio, are not counted, Matthew Fisher will get royalties going forward.

Matthew Fisher (right) in the days of Procol Harum, 1967.

Matthew Fisher, according to The Vancouver Sun, I'm not sure when.

Matthew Fisher today.

Fisher claims it's not about money--it never is--but about the recognition. Good lord--the man was 20 when the song was released, and I certainly did not have my wits about me at that age. It's entirely understandable that discussions about songwriting credit never happened. (And I'm not sure that my wits are all that much with me now! Plus, I hope no one does an age progression on me, if I ever achieve fame or notoriety!)

The recognition is certainly important, but the money is too. For all those songwriters who--whether ignorantly or through financial necessity--signed away their publishing rights, this is a victory. For those who were misled by bandmates on the niceties of songwriting credit, this too is an important step. Congratulations to Matthew Fisher on this legal victory. Justice delayed is not justice denied, after all!

To bring this up to the present day, this is a song that this band has considered doing. If we can get Ed to agree to do the keyboards, and more importantly, if we can work out financial arrangements in advance, perhaps you'll see it at a Wannabes show in the near future!

Patriotic rocker passes away--when else?--July 4th

I haven't been on this in a while, so it's a little like I'm the one who's passed away. But no, another rocker bites the dust. I missed at least one important one along the way--Sky Saxon of the Seeds, who "passed over to be with YaHoWha" on June 25. Today I read about the loss of the rocking guitarist for Paul Revere and the Raiders, Drake Levin.

I knew he was rocking, because those smooth pop records had a pretty wild guitar sound for mainstream radio in 1965 (Just Like Me got to number 11 nationally). But I could not have told you the name of the person scorching that fretboard and smokin' them amplifiers!

We do a pretty fair impression of this tune, so come down and see us sometime. In the meantime, bone up on your Paul Revere history with this NY Times obit.

New Photos, Old Cars

We played a few weeks back at the Hot Rods and Harleys in Rahway, and while the weather probably kept a few folks away, we did have a lot of fun. And we did get a bit of sun, too.

We also have some great photos, thanks to Debbie. Click the link over on the right to see the slideshow.

Phil Spector found guilty

I'll give it away in the first sentence--it's sad. It's sad when anyone with a talent throws it away. It's sad when one's inner demons get the upper hand and life spirals out of control. It's sad that the life of an innocent was lost this way.

It's also an occasion for anger. That Spector was allowed to behave this way for so long, that he was not called on his behavior previously and perhaps prevented from creating this tragic tale. (Although confronting a gun-toting man may not be the brightest course, now that I think of it.) It angers me that guns are so readily available in this country--few or no questions asked, no well-regulated militia on the scene, and automatic weapons flooding so high in this country that they overflow our border and encrimson the lives of our Mexican neighbors.

Guns in rap culture is a common if tired trope, but guns and rock and roll have a well-established pedigree as well, as the case of Spector demonstrates. Ted Nugent in the 70s (and probably even now, I haven't been keeping tabs on the Nuge) was a vociferous advocate of guns. (But he was always about hunting, wasn't he?) And, famously, from the Stax/Southern soul world, there was the instance of Wilson Pickett, who was reputed to have had a gun battle with the Isley Brothers, pulled a gun in the Stax studio, and was fined for carrying a loaded shotgun in his car in 1987.

The demons, failings, and tragedies are regretable. The music is the thing we should remember, and we do, mostly--save for when our prurient natures get the better of us, and we wonder about what would drive someone to do such a crazy or despicable thing. But "Be My Baby" and "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," in the case of Phil Spector, or "Land of 1000 Dances" in the case of Wilson Pickett, have a way of moving us beyond those thoughts, and into a reverie of what music means and how good it can make you feel.

Music producer Phil Spector, center, surrounded by his defense team during closing arguments at the retrial murder case in Los Angeles in March, courtesy of the New York Times. And, as an aside, would you really want the guy on the right on your defense team?

For more information on the Phil Spector story, see this objective take from the UK.

Death and Dylan

OK, OK, I know this getting habitual, and I seem to becoming lazier by the day. And what does it say about me when I tell you that the obituaries are the first place I turn to in the paper. (The online paper, by the way, a concept with which I'm still having trouble getting my head around.)

But yes, the obituaries it is, and there you're never quite sure what you'll find. So as I moused my way through the paper this morning, I enountered the attached obituary recounting the life of William Zantzinger, the real-life inspiration behind Dylan's song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.

Now I was never really a Dylan guy--he's a little before my time, and I never could get past his voice to want to spend time with his lyrics. But after reading this narative, and the seemingly inevitable and horrifying arc of the evening of February 8, 1963, I have a new appreciation of why Dylan spoke so powerfully to his generation. And I have to dust through the LPs, and see whether I have a copy of this laying around. It may be a long, snowy day today, and a cup of tea and a little music might be just the thing. Ah, there are the first flakes now...

Raw Power, Extinguished

Ron Asheton, the guitarist for The Stooges, who unleashed a whole new sound in electric guitar, and then kept at it for the next three decades, passed away January 6. Read more in the NY Times obituary.

New year, no resolutions

So...another year has bitten the dust, and another steps forward on tottering, baby steps. Welcome, little fella, and let's hope that 2009 is a good one. We lost a lot of good rock and rollers this past year, as readers of this blog (all 2 of you) know. Yes, for a while I could do nothing else but link to obituaries and keep a not-quite accurate toll of just who had died. Hopefully, in 2009, I'll move beyond that lazy-man's way of filling blog postings.

In addition to these musicians, much else was lost in the US financial system. Despite the unfathomability of losses in the trillions of dollars, and that fact that I have zero connection with hedge funds, those losses are no longer just abstractions--in the past year, 3 people I know (including myself) have lost jobs. It's a new, cruel world out there, and if it has to get worse before it gets better, let's hope it's not bad for too long.

But before I go too far afield of music, and before this gets too grim, there is also good going on. We have a new president, and by his election I feel more hopeful than I've been in some time. And the band continues, and continues to be a whole lot of fun, thanks to a great bunch of guys and wonderful fans who enjoy what we do. We don't have a whole lot of shows so far this year, but we're working on that and we'll keep you posted as new opportunities arise.

And I've been busy posting photos from a recent show. I had previously posted photos from the Oxford Furnace (thanks to Sung for those photos), and now, thanks to Debbie, we have photos from a November 2008 show at Cryan's. If you click on either of those items on this site, you should be magically transported to the Picasa site, which will allow you to see larger images and to read my sometimes snarky comments.

We hope to see you all once again in 2009. Please let us know if there are songs we should work on, clubs to approach, or matters of personal hygiene that we really should pay attention to. We are listening.