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Carl

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Everything posted by Carl

  1. Wow. Sounds like a love quadrangle. Check out "Love Stinks" by the J. Geils Band: You love her But she loves him And he loves somebody else You just can't win
  2. When I prepped to interview Dolores O'Riordan last year, I learned that she had been through some horrors, and often retreated from public view. This 2013 piece in the Ireland Independent is particularly troubling, as she reveals years of abuse from ages 8-12. In the magazine archives, a pattern emerged where the British press, once smitten with her, became harshly critical when The Cranberries took more of a political turn on their 1994 album No Need To Argue - the one with "Zombie." At the end of the decade, she suffered debilitating panic attacks, forcing her out of action. She spent much of the '00s raising her three children; after making a Cranberries album in 2001 (Wake Up And Smell The Coffee), they didn't make another until 2012 (Roses). It was great to see her emerge with another project last year - a Cranberries album called Something Else recorded with the Irish Chamber Orchestra. When I spoke with her in April, it seemed she was mired in melancholy. She was polite, but it was clear she did not want to talk - even about her songs. I asked one question after another, every time getting an answer that would last seconds, with no further explanation. She felt no need to fill the silences. In fact, that's when she seemed most comfortable. Knowing her history, I simply tried to remind her how much her songs mean to so many people. Nothing seemed to move her. That May, she set out on tour with The Cranberries, but it was cancelled after a few shows, with management citing her back problems. She made some appearances at the end of last year, including a corporate party for Billboard in December, which sadly appears to be her last performance.
  3. There is a movie out called Proud Mary, but it's not about a riverboat. It stars Taraji P. Henson as Mary the hitwoman. You can't copyright a title, so all John Fogerty could do is kvetch on Twitter. His statement reads: There is a movie in current release called "Proud Mary." I don't know much about it other than this. The main character is a black woman who is also an assassin. And apparently, her name is Mary. I wrote the song "Proud Mary" 50 years ago, and I was very excited to have written such a good song. In fact, it was my very first good song. My songs are special to me. Precious. So it irks me when people seek to capitalize on the popularity of my music and the good will it has earned with the public for their own financial gain. Over the years, I have often found myself directly opposed to these uses. This movie has nothing to do with me, or my song. They simply picked the title and wrote a completely fictitious story around it. Back in the day, I had decided that I needed to become more professional, more organized about my songwriting efforts. I bought a little notebook and after few days, I wrote down the words Proud Mary. It was the very first entry in this book. At first, I didn't even know what those words meant. No one ever asked me about using my song this way, or even about the meaning of Proud Mary. The movie poster has my lyrics changed to read, "killing for the Man every night and day" There are number of storylines here. First of all, this isn't the first time a movie has blatantly appropriated a famous song title. The 1999 movie American Pie and lesser-known 2012 flick Jack And Diane both did it, but they didn't use the songs in the movies. Tina Turner's version of "Proud Mary" appears in both the film and the trailer. Fogerty lost the rights to "Proud Mary" and his other CCR songs back in 1972 in a disastrous deal that kept him from recording for about a decade and made him very reluctant to play those songs for fear that one of his sworn enemies will profit. But even if an artist gives up rights to a song, very often they can still control its use in a movie, since synching it to pictures is another kettle of fish. But there is another version of "Proud Mary" that is equally famous, and more appropriate for the film - the one by Ike & Tina Turner. So Fogerty had no say in the matter. A trick of the trade it recording new versions of songs for movies to get better control of the royalties. That's what Tina Turner did back in 1993 when she did her own version of "Proud Mary" for her movie What's Love Got To Do With It? Had she just used the famous version she recorded with Ike, he could have profited from the film. The best we can tell, this is the version used in the Proud Mary movie, so Tina is likely earning some royalties along with the song's publisher. Not surprisingly, Proud Mary isn't getting very good reviews, with a 24 rating on Rotten Tomatoes last we checked.
  4. Glad I’m not the only one who has to cleanse the aural palate after hearing a terrible song.
  5. Here's Earth, Wind & Fire playing from Los Angeles Forum float at the Rose Parade. They look like figurines on a cake.
  6. Courtesy of our friends at Forgotten Hits, a list of those we lost in 2017: Gregg Allman Tommy Allsup Richard Anderson Chuck Barris Jimmy Beaumont Walter Becker Shelley Berman Chuck Berry Billy Bland Powers Booth Glen Campbell Valerie Carter Bernie Casey David Cassidy Wayne Cochran Mike Connors Chris Cornell Bill Dana Gary DeCarlo Jonathan Demme Fats Domino Bobby Freeman Stephen Furst J. Geils Sonny Geraci Cuba Gooding, Sr. Dick Gregory Robert Guillaume Barbara Hale Monty Hall Rosie Hamlin Skip Haynes Glenne Headly Hugh Hefner John Hurt Clifton James Al Jarreau Michael Johnson Robert Knight Jake LaMotta Martin Landau Jerry Lewis Mitch Margo Mary Tyler Moore Roger Moore Erin Moran Dick Orkin Michael Parks Bill Paxton Tom Petty Joey Powers Della Reese Don Rickles George Romero Sam Shepard Bunny Sigler Barbara Sinatra Joni Sledge Keely Smith Roger Smith Harry Dean Stanton Bobby Taylor Jay Thomas Judge Wapner Adam West John Wetton Don WIlliams
  7. Approved. Love these guitarists who can multiply their sounds.
  8. "Anna (Go To Him)" by The Beatles. This is courtesy of Tom Petty, who left behind many of his "buried treasure" shows on satellite radio. He played a lot of Beatles, but not the obvious stuff.
  9. In this short-but-meaty interview with Rolling Stone, Eric Clapton talks about the most uncomfortable part of watching his documentary, Life in 12 Bars. There was one scene that I was really uncertain about, which was the semi-racial thing that went down during my worst period. I made remarks onstage about foreigners [at a show in Birmingham, England in 1976]. Being the drunk that I was, I just went on a rant. He goes on to explain how drugs made him unbearable, with only one person in his life that would stand up to him. Haven't seen the film, but I have heard some audio from that famous rant, where he said awful things about the "foreigners" in Britain. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/eric-clapton-on-addiction-cream-the-future-of-the-guitar-w512759
  10. This is how they sell inflatable sleds these days. Look at this poor kid, wearing a helmet while his mom leers over him. They can't even force a smile out of him for the shoot. In these cold climates, snow days are the best of times. Back in the day, we would instinctively show up at the hill and stay there all day. We would have been horrified by adult supervision.
  11. Wreck-it Ralph was a palatable movie. After that, film of this ilk got really hyperkinetic (see: Lego Movie).
  12. That’s a really tough song to cover because the original is mostly sound effects. The disco arrangement doesn’t really hold up but love that VP did the song.
  13. It’s no good unless you have to take it to Motophoto for developing.
  14. Guess you don't have to be loud and fast to command a crowd. Stripped to the bone, the song is even more delicious. Love how Stevie stays out of the way... respect.
  15. Just as Viagra came along at the perfect time for Hugh Hefner, Photoshop was invented right around the time many rockers started needing it. As a result, some of them never age in their photos. The most glaring example might be the B-52s. They've looked the same age in every photo from the last 25 years.
  16. Aren't music and math the two things that are common to all cultures? The stuff we send into space so the ETs will know what we're about? It's innate. Here's Bobby McFerrin making the case: https://www.ted.com/talks/bobby_mcferrin_hacks_your_brain_with_music
  17. His tour came through my parts a few months ago. The next morning, I saw some young people in T-shirts from the show as I was getting my bagel. I asked them how it was, and they went on for quite a while about how amazing it was. Artists like Springsteen and The Rolling Stones have plenty of young fans, but the older ones take all the oxygen. Petty was accessible, constantly moving forward while honoring the past in a way that didn't feel like nostalgia. Here's what I posted on our Facebook page this morning. Almost hit send on it yesterday when the story first broke, but got the news that he was still on life support. Petty wrote from personal experience, but made it our experience. "Refugee" is about feeling trapped, which is how his record company made him feel at the time; "American Girl" is about longing for something more out of life, with his hometown of Gainesville, Florida as the backdrop. After someone burned his house down in 1987, he wrote one of his most personal songs, "I Won't Back Down," which he thought was "too obvious" when he wrote it. What's obvious now is that it's a powerful and sincere anthem of resilience. He was known for his integrity in standing up for the artists and fans against the corporate money grabbers. When his label, MCA, tried to make Hard Promises the first major album priced at $9.98 (going rate was $8.98), Petty dug in his heels, threatening to name the album "$8.98" if they tried. Tom Petty used his powers for good. He hosted a fantastic show on Sirius/XM called "Tom Petty's Buried Treasure," which he curated with hidden gems, making for some very satisfying discovery in a way no algorithm could. He championed the human element in music, which is especially acute in his 2002 song "The Last DJ." Released at a time when corporate radio was shushing local voices so they could save money by piping the same transmission to multiple stations, the song made it clear to those voices (this writer included) that someone still cared. His music videos were groundbreaking, and they still hold up. Often surreal ("Don't Come Around Here No More") and always entertaining, they earned him an MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1994. Many of his videos started with him opening a book to reveal the story. He and the Heartbreakers recently wrapped up their 40th (!) anniversary tour. It was triumphant, with an audience that crossed generations, united by the music. Millennials aren't all into EDM and the squiggly sounds of today's hits - many love classic rock. Petty was one the last really accessible rockers on the top tier. You'll see many young people with T-shirts from that tour because they could afford to go with money left over for the merch tent. Petty had both personal genius and the ability to find and nurture top talent. The Heartbreakers are an incredible band, with two members, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, around from the start (actually, even earlier - they with Petty in Mudcrutch). When Petty was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, it was with his band. Outside of the Heartbreakers, Petty also collaborated with the best and brightest. Along with Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and George Harrison, he was in the Traveling Wilburys. Dave Stewart of Eurythmics co-wrote "Don't Come Around Here No More"; Stevie Nicks wanted to BE a Heartbreaker. Expect a deluge of well-deserved tributes.
  18. Shawna got some first-hand suggestions on this one: http://www.songfacts.com/blog/writing/the_soundtracks_of_the_soldiers/
  19. This looks like the DAT of the '70s. Or maybe the mini-disk.
  20. For me, this is the best version of the song. Cassidy had a classic sound that put her on the same level with the Dinah Washington types that could deliver these standards.
  21. This is a tough one, since most artists who can still make music are still making music (didya know Petula Clark is still at it?). But a guy who is still out and about but hasn't done any original material for a while is Smokey Robinson. Someone give that guy a pen and an analog studio, then see what happens.
  22. I love Ireland and the Irish, but their taste buds are adapted from the potato famine when they had to subsist on mildew and tree bark, which is what most of their food tastes like. The "Irish Breakfast" is foul indeed. Great beer though.
  23. This is what happens if you combine "Layla," "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant," and "Chelsea Dagger" by the Fratellis.
  24. I remember the Commodore 64, which you could program in Basic - early training for HTML. I wrote a few "choose your own adventure" stories using the If>Then commands. You could hook a cassette player to these things and use the tape as a drive. Still not sure how that worked, but I swear it happened. Remember playing a very rudimentary skiing game with it.
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