My friend Tara joins me to talk about rock, boba balls and fighting the man. She also tells a couple funny stripper stories. Music by American Heartbreak and The 75s.
Go to Podbean or iTunes to stream, download or subscribe. Bull Pit skull artwork by Mike Dyson, Guerrilla808 Studios (guerrilla808@gmail.com). Music provided, in part, by MusicAlley from MEVIO.
Get the American Heartbreak song I played for free when you buy the Rock and Roll Geek iPhone App.
To me there is no one more punk rock than Howard Stern. He is the devil to so many, but not only does he make me laugh, he sticks it to the man harder than anyone I’ve ever heard and is a true virtuoso at his craft. Non-listeners like to paint him as nothing more than a shock jock, but the truth is that he’s a brilliant comic talent in the classic tradition of Groucho Marx, and also happens to be extremely gifted at his chosen medium, a medium that is too often overlooked as something that’s easy to do: Talk radio.
When Stern left terrestrial talk radio he destroyed it. The two biggest markets, NY and LA, stations that became talk stations only after Stern proved the format financially lucrative, crumbled in his absence and were forced to return back to all-music formats. Now he is on the verge of doing the same to satellite radio, the medium he saved by making the switch, unless they pay close attention to what he wants. If there is one entertainer who needs no corporate entity in 2010, it is Howard Stern.
I was a casual listener back in the terrestrial radio days, but when the show was ramping up to the Sirius launch toward the end of 2005, I couldn’t wait to hear this groundbreaking radio he said he was going to be able to do once he was free of FCC censorship. I was inspired by the fact that he knew he’d have only a fraction of his audience but was willing to give it up for creative freedom. I was listening to the first notes of his historical opening broadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006 when Will the Farter farted the 2001 theme. What a brilliant way to start this new revolution.
Once I had my Sirius radio plugged in, I never went back to terrestrial radio. There was no need to. Anything musical that I may have been interested in hearing was available on Sirius, sans commercials. And there was Stern, NPR, all sorts of political shows, etc.
There are problems with satellite radio however. There have been countless times when my radio wasn’t working due to worn or broken cables, and I have spent a lot of money replacing accessories or radios when the accessories are more expensive than the radios themselves (or simply not available anymore).
Another problem with the Stern show on Sirius is that I miss a lot of it. Even though it loops throughout the day, I seem to always be in my car during the same segments (morning, noon and night). Luckily there is Howard TV (On-Demand) where I actually get to watch a lot of the interviews and show segments that I miss. I wish the entire show were available On-Demand. In this day and age I don’t think there is an excuse for that not being an option when we are paying good money for the service (I pay close to $30 per month for Sirius and Howard TV). And it wouldn’t be difficult…
There are Sirius radios that record, but after talking with a friend who has one, I’ve learned that he is always missing shows or parts of shows. Plus he can’t record the entire show as it is listed as being a four hour program, and usually goes over. There is also a space issue as the radio cannot hold much more than a few hours of content.
But I have the answer: Podcasting. Podcasting is Radio On-Demand. And there are no reception issues; no cables required other than the one connecting an iPod to a car radio’s auxiliary jack. No need to program anything or schedule recording on a proprietary device. All that’s required is a download which just takes a few minutes.
I first read about podcasting back in 2005 or so, when I got my first iPod. I was curious about it but never looked into it until a couple years ago. There seemed to be a big dark cloud of a learning curve. I forced myself to learn about it when I was stuck at work listening to the same music day after day on my iTunes. I was desperate for new content. The first show I found was Michael Butler’s Rock and Roll Geek Show and from there I’ve found many other great ones. Now, aside from doing my own weekly rock podcast, I love to check out new ones and keep up with my favorites.
Howard Stern is threatening to not re-sign with Sirius after his five-year contract runs out at the end of this year. I believe that unless Sirius comes up with solutions to the issues I’ve brought up; they are going to fail when he leaves to produce his own show online. The technology is antiquated. Stern used to say that Satellite Radio is the future. He doesn’t say that as often anymore. He also seems a bit fed up with how comfortable they seem to be there, as if when he leaves they’ll still be able to continue. But we know, and Howard knows, that will not be the case, whether or not he admits it publicly. According to this article (which Stern read on the air yesterday), Sirius is barely hanging on even with The Howard Stern Show still on their channels.
You might notice if you read this blog that I promote a lot of other podcasts than just my own. I do this because I want podcasting to succeed. I believe IT is the future. I believe that radio can go no further than this. Sure, nothing can replace a live show, and nothing should, but once that show is recorded it should be available for download so that we can take it with us wherever we go, and never miss a minute. We have busy lives; we can’t always be by a radio when things are on that we want to hear. When we miss our favorite TV shows we have On Demand and Tivo, but who has time, or the means to record an entire 4-5 hour daily morning radio show? We should just be able to download it and listen to it when we want. Especially if we are paying for it!
Stern could copyright-protect his show and make each episode available as a podcast as soon as it was done. He could even put each hour up as they are created. Anyone wanting to distribute illegal copies would have to record it in real time, which is as equally possible to do now from a Sirius radio. I haven’t heard that pirating is a problem for Sirius. I don’t think that making the show available as a copyright-protected download for subscribers would lose revenue for the company. I think quite the opposite is the case. The dependence on this proprietary hardware is annoying and keeps a lot of people from subscribing. The live show is already available via iPhone, so a podcast version would be the next step.
For those of you who are as intimidated as I used to be about podcasting, the following is an easy-to-use guide that I think if you follow, will help you fall in love with this medium as deeply as I have. Join the podcasting revolution and let’s put terrestrial radio out of commission forever, and force Sirius/XM to get with the program!
PODCAST GUIDE
FIND A SHOW The first thing you should do is search in the iTunes Music Store for a show you’d like to listen to. This is how I found the Rock and Roll Geek Show.
SUBSCRIBE When you find the show you want to check out, click the Subscribe button. This is not a permanent thing, it is easy to undo. You don’t need to send an email to anyone or fill anything out to unsubscribe. Subscribing simply downloads the latest episode of the podcast into your Podcast Folder in iTunes. If you decide that you don’t like the show, you can unsubscribe with three clicks.
FIND YOUR PODCAST FOLDER On the left of your iTunes browser, you will see the following folders under LIBRARY: Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts and Radio. This is all your downloaded content (except for Radio which is what you think it might be, live internet radio channeled through iTunes). Click on Podcasts. You should see the show you subscribed to in the main window.
HEADERS In the main window you will see the following headers: Podcast, Time, Release Date and Description.
VIEW ARCHIVES To the left of the show title (which is under the header Podcast) there will be an arrow pointing to the right. Click this arrow, and you will see all the show’s archives open up (click it again to close the archives). They will be grayed out, meaning that they haven’t been downloaded yet. The headers will make more sense from this view. Time is the length of each episode, Release Date is the date the podcaster made the episode available and Description tells you what the episode is about (guests, artists, songs, topics, etc.).
LISTEN TO YOUR PODCAST To listen to the show you subscribed to, double-click on the episode. To stop listening, you can click the pause button, much like a CD player. The podcast episode will behave in iTunes exactly like a song, the only difference being if you come back to it later, you can double-click and it will start from where you last stopped rather than starting over.
DRAG TO YOUR iPOD Just like songs, you can drag podcast episodes to your iPod to take with you. They will end up in an automatically created Podcasts folder.
DOWNLOAD AN EARLIER EPISODE Scroll down to view the archives. Look at the Podcast and Description columns for info on what the various episodes are about. If you see one that stands out for you, click the GET button to the right of the Podcast field. The episode will automatically download and once complete, the text will darken, looking similar to the latest episode you downloaded when subscribing.
REFRESH Podcasts are updated regularly and you won’t know exactly when this will happen. So when you go back into your iTunes folder, click the REFRESH button to have all your subscriptions updated. This means all the new episodes will automatically download. Sometimes this happens automatically when you open iTunes, but if not you can click the button.
UNSUBSCRIBE If you decide that a podcast is taking up too much space, or you don’t like it, you can unsubscribe by simply right-clicking on the top line and deleting. You will get messages asking if you want to also delete the content from your computer. Say yes, then empty your recycle bin to be sure the space is freed up.
Below is a list of my favorite podcasts and links to them in the iTunes Music Store:
The Rock and Roll Geek Show Hosted by Michael Butler, the show consists of punk and classic rock interviews, concert/album reviews and analysis. It is an interactive show as the audience contributes much of its content via emails read on the air and audio comments. Butler was one of the first podcasters. Read more about him on Wikipedia here.
The Rock and Roll Geek Indie Cast The “mostly music companion to the Rock and Roll Geek Show”, this is my favorite podcast. Recently expanded to an hour, it’s basically non-stop hard rock, and Butler has good taste. You’ll discover tons of new bands.
Coverville Brian Ibbott hosts this mostly-music covers show. It’s eclectic to say the least, and always entertaining. The show alternates between episodes focused on one artist, usually coinciding with a birthday or anniversary, and all-request episodes. Lately Brian has integrated new ideas where listeners can vote on their favorite versions of songs on his website. If you like covers, this show will be your crack cocaine.
The Good Clean Fun Show “Another Rock and Roll Geek train wreck” of a show, hosted by Michael Butler and his friend Jasper. Lots of rock talk, and whatever else comes up in between occasional songs. It’s recorded live with listeners online via UStream, and although I usually listen to the recorded podcast version, the one time I logged into the chat, it was pretty fun.
One Step Beyond This podcast is a spin-off of One Step Beyond Radio, which is broadcast live every Saturday night from 6-9 Pacific. If you live in Goshen, IN, you can hear the radio show on The Globe 91.1 FM, or stream it from their site here. Host Jeremiah has become a friend and played drums for a band called Sad Tropics who I have played on The Bull Pit. I also interviewed Jeremiah on episode 47. His taste in music is extremely eclectic, the songs are good and the shows are always entertaining.
From the Burro This one is hosted by another friend named Dave who plays good rock and punk. Dave plays in a band called Tokyo Pop Stars and does his show out of Nashville, TN.
Smodcast Writer/director Kevin Smith’s podcast that he hosts with his long time producer partner Scott Mosier. Great stories. A highlight was when Smith talked about his Southwest Airlines controversy. Check out 106 and 107 for that.
The Boiling Frogs Sibel Edmunds is an FBI whistleblower who has an amazing story to tell. Read her story in Vanity Fair for some background. She uncovered some incredible horrors happening in the FBI and when she brought it to the attention of her superiors, she was fired. What she learned was that this was standard practice in the FBI and CIA. This podcast is mostly interviews with fellow whistleblowers with amazing stories to tell. Her co-host is Peter B. Collins. If you want the truth about what has and is happening in America, this is the first place you should go to get it. Completely non-partisan, this isn’t what anyone wants to hear, but it’s what we need to learn to move forward. I can’t recommend this one higher. Subscribe today!
KCRW’s Left, Right and Center This one has something for everyone if you like political commentary. During the stealing of the 2004 election I was a bit annoyed by them as they refused to discuss it, yet had no problem talking about the Ukraine election that was happening at the same time. Now it’s pretty much common knowledge that the election was stolen, but they’ve never talked about it. You can at least hear semi-intelligent opinions from all sides of the political spectrum. It’s only 30 minutes so it goes by fast.
Sound Opinions Based in Chicago, Sound Opinions is hosted by Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot, two of the finest and best-recognized pop music writers in the nation. In addition, they are the top music critics and dedicated competitors at Chicago’s two daily newspapers, the Chicago Sun-Times (Jim) and the Chicago Tribune (Greg). They call it the only music talk radio show, but that’s not true if you include podcasts.
The CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast This is good for anyone interested in the future of music and technology. The basic premise is that labels are dead, it’s DIY from here on out, and all aspects of it are discussed.
The Paranoid Squirrel This UK podcast, hosted by Armitage, brings you music that you should hear on the radio but don’t. Mostly hard rock, classic rock, punk and metal. Some bootleg live recordings that are interesting.
Harmony in My Head Not a podcast, but I found an illegal site that has all the archives available as mp3s. I always miss Henry Rollins’ Saturday night radio show here in LA on KCRW. But all the episodes are there. You don’t get the subscribe feature, but you can grab what you want as the playlists are all there as well. There are months of great content, it’s all you need. I <3 Henry Rollins if you don’t know that about me already, and I’ve not even begun to delve into these archives.
There are many more podcast options out there. That’s the great thing about it. Few are making money on podcasting, but us listeners have never had more options. It makes me kind of wish Howard Stern would go off the air or do a shorter show so I could take in more of what’s available.
If you have any questions about podcasts, don’t hesitate to contact me at johndissed@hotmail.com.
I was in high school when I first discovered the music of Hanoi Rocks. It was probably their tragic association with Motley Crue that prompted me to check them out, but once I did, I knew they were a superior band to most of what was rock in the ‘80s. They had a new wave thing happening with their rhythm section, a glam look, a tinge of The Rolling Stones in their sound and catchy-as-fuck songs with quirky titles like “Mental Beat” and “Lick Summer Love”. Vince Neil killed their drummer before most of us got a chance to see them live. When I heard that their former lead singer, Michael Monroe, was coming to The Viper Room for his first LA show in 20 years, with Ginger of The Wildhearts on guitar, I bought a ticket the day they went on sale. I think it was $17.
I got there early enough to stand in line for 30 minutes, buy a Corona at the bar and get a decent spot near the front, on which I hoped was Ginger’s side of the stage. I wanted to test out my new camera. I overheard the door guy say the show was sold out. I had no concept of how packed the place got until later.
Vains of Jenna opened and they were great. Singer/guitarist Lizzy DeVine has a perfect voice for rock n’ roll. They were tight and the only down-side to their set was that they didn’t play their Tom Petty cover. Most of the songs were from the new album, The Art of Telling Lies, which I really like. They played a couple older songs I didn’t know.
The crowd was moving in at this point. I finished my beer and stuck the bottle in my back pocket as there was nowhere else to put it. I should have known better than to even bother getting a beer. It was crowded and I don’t like crowds, but it wasn’t bad as most of the people around me were pretty girls. The murderous thoughts didn’t come until later in the night (a beer bottle in my back pocket didn’t help those thoughts).
I saw a guy make his way from a back room to the stage with guitars, then another with Michael Monroe’s saxophone. Many minutes later I finally saw the band members moving through the crowd. When the curtain came up, I was glad Ginger was on the same side as I had chosen to stand.
They opened up with “Nothin’s Alright” and then “Hammersmith Palais” from the Demolition 23 album. Those were the highlights of the set for me. I had only heard the album a few weeks ago for the first time on Michael Butler’s Rock and Roll Geek Show podcast. I found a copy online and have listened to it a few times since, and those are my two favorite songs on the record.
When Monroe did his first harmonica solo, it was so loud, all I could hear was distortion. No pitches at all. But the distortion was not coming from the PA, it was in my head. Something had burst in my left ear, not sure what, hopefully it wasn’t my eardrum. I suffered through a few more songs and snapped as many photos as I could, then decided to move back to the bar where I thought I’d get some breathing room, and give my ears a break as the PA was only a few feet away from my left ear which at this point was completely shot.
As I made my way back, I realized how jam-packed the Viper Room was. I had to fight my way back, and as I got to the bar I found there was less room to breathe there than up in front. I found myself in an extremely awkward spot, surrounded by dudes with very bad breath and body odor. I was a few hundred degrees less comfortable than I had been next to the girls up front. But my ears felt a bit better.
The guy behind me was fucking with everyone that passed by, tugging at their hats, pulling their hair, shit like that. He was trying to impress some girl and it seemed to be working. Dumb, 40-something, drunk, rawk dude, leaning against the bar. Everytime he’d flick someone’s hair, he and the girl would laugh hysterically. I felt something a few times, I’m sure he was doing it to me too. It was all I could do to keep from taking that bottle out of my pocket and breaking it over his fucking empty head. I also entertained the idea of holding it against him like a gun and making him think that I’d blow a hole in him if he didn’t chill the fuck out. But I maintained calm and waited for a space to open up against the bar where I could at least lean back and have some breathing room. That didn’t stop a drunk woman from dumping her entire drink on my camera while attempting to say something to me, I have no idea what.
The band played some new songs that I look forward to hearing on the next album. I don’t do well with new songs most of the time. I’ve learned my lesson about judging them on first hearing, so I won’t comment. But they did play some of my favorite Hanoi songs: “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, “Back to Mystery City”, “Malibu Beach Nightmare” and my third favorite song of the night “Taxi Driver” (which was the encore).
I was curious how Ginger would be onstage playing guitar for someone else’s band. He is one of the greatest living songwriters. Since discovering his music, and that of The Wildhearts, I’ve gotten my hands on almost all of what he’s done over the years and it’s been a life-changing experience. I haven’t heard a more perfect blend of rock n’ roll and pop since Nirvana. I was pleased to see him having a good time, and I had the most fun watching him rock out. I missed his singing and great sense of humor between songs.
I saw Ginger play two solo shows last year at the Viper Room (the second I reviewed here), and I must say, those were far superior to this. I wasn’t feeling all that much last night. The Hanoi tunes sounded ok. The best ones were the Demolition 23 songs. I think it’s partially because of the pain I was in.
At one point I realized that Michael had made his way to the bar and was standing on it, rocking out right behind me. He’s pretty good at walking the tables (I think Ginger called it the “monkey walk” when addressing the audience before the encore. Monroe had done the “monkey walk” off stage, and the band stayed on). I tried to get a shot of him on the bar but there wasn’t enough light and I wasn’t quick enough with the new camera to turn the flash on in time. After the last song, I thought for sure he did a stage dive into the crowd, but I blinked and he was back onstage. Not sure what really happened.
Michael Monroe is a rock veteran and virtuoso front-man. I’m happy he never stopped and that I got a chance to see him do his thing live. I am hoping to catch them again at SXSW next week. His solo albums that I’ve heard are almost as good as Hanoi Rocks. They rock harder but the new wave element is gone, which I kinda miss.
I especially enjoyed watching the positive onstage vibe between Ginger, Sami Yaffa, Michael and guitarist Todd Youth (I couldn’t really see drummer, Jimmy Clark, but he sounded great). It felt like they are a band who get along, and are having a good time. If the sound situation hadn’t fucked me, maybe I’d have a different feeling about the music. There is loud, and there is abuse. This was the latter. I would go to tomorrow’s show in Redondo, but I have a gig on Wednesday and am already afraid I won’t have my hearing back by then. I’m the last guy to wear earplugs, there is nothing less rock n’ roll than that. But if everyone in the room has earplugs, the sound needs to be louder, and a guy like me ends up deaf. I hope not. I was pretty worried last night as I drove home. My own voice was distorting in my head when I talked. I’ve never had that happen before.
I uploaded all the photos I took here if you’re interested. Here are the Vains of Jenna pics.
UPDATE: I am listening to Michael Butler’s review of the San Fransicso show and he says that Todd Youth is already out of the band, replaced by Steve Conte of the NY Dolls (Sami Yaffa was also in the NY Dolls, as well as Hanoi Rocks). Also, drummer Jimmy Clark has too been replaced already, by the drummer of The Chelsea Smiles… To hear Michael’s review and a re-play of an interview he did with Michael Monroe back in 2007, check out Rock and Roll Geek Show #393. Thanks Butler for setting me straight!
I logged onto Twitter this morning and saw that Ginger had posted a link to something called The Haiti Project. To my surprise, the brand new download-only album from Round Records, features “Mystery Number”, which is the song Rock and Roll Geek Show host, Michael Butler (bass) recorded with Ginger, Billy Morrison and drummer Scott Lipps in August of ‘09 after the second Ginger Viper Room show.
The band now has a name, The Sonic Graffiti, and the song is amazing. There are plenty of other good ones here too, by Electric Six, Sorry and the Sinatras (I bought their album after hearing their contribution), The Wildhearts and more.
1. The Sonic Graffiti – Mystery Number (Exclusive)
2. Eureka Machines – Being Good Is Ok, But Being Betters Better
3. Electric Six – Newark Airport Boogie
4. Jackdaw 4 – Jesus Wants My Soul Back
5. The Loyalties – Sofa Surfin’ UK (Acoustic)
6. Antiproduct – When We Find Love
7. The Organ Beats – Happy Birthday/Come On Home
8. The Wildhearts – Unbroken
9. Tragedy:All Metal Tribute To The Bee Gees – Nights On Broadway
10. Radio Dead Ones – Take It On Trust
11. Ricky Warwick – Love Owes
12. Brijitte West (Feat. Jesse Malin) – How To Be Good
13. Moi? – This Is All That I Wanted
14. Laika Dog – Piano Song
15. Sorry & The Sinatras – Riverside
16. Children of The Unicorn – Nightshark
16 songs for £5, and all of the money will be donated directly to the ongoing relief efforts. Get yours and spread the word.
I spent Christmas in Borrego Springs with my parents. They rented a house on the edge of town right next to the mountains. The view was stunning.
I lived in Albuquerque for a little over 2 years while studying music at the University of New Mexico. Borrego, with its enchanting desert landscape and Southwestern style art and architecture, is the place in CA that comes closest to a NM vibe. The only thing missing is the food. If you are ever in Albuquerque, be sure to stop by the student ghetto’s El Patio on Harvard, for a vegetarian burrito plate. I recommend the green chili.
It was cool spending a few days chilling out and hiking around the desert with my family. They got me a camera for Christmas and I spent a lot of time taking photos trying to learn how to use it. Other than my cheap cell phone camera, I’ve never owned a digital one.
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My dad and I watched The Godfather and a handful of noir films at night. He collects them and has an extensive library of DVDs. He always has great insight into the films too, as he’s read a lot about them. The connection between the two is that the legendary badass, Sterling Hayden was in one of the noirs we watched, Crime Wave, as well as Godfather.
Driving back to LA last night, I was overcome with a wave of depression thinking about my life, music, etc. I think about things like that during this season. It’s the time of year that the “what the hell am I doing?” moments hit the hardest. I had Michael Butler’s Christmas episode of his Rock and Roll Geek Indie Cast on the iPod. I had emailed him and his daughter, Martina (who was looking for Xmas music to play on her Emo Girl Talk podcast) an mp3 of my acoustic Spinal Tap Christmas with the Devil cover. I didn’t think they’d play it as it’s neither very rock or emo, but I figured I’d do my best to promote the Unhenged Spinal Tap tribute CD that Brian Ibbott of the Coverville podcast was kind enough to include me on.
At the very end of the show, three songs from the end, Michael said he was going to play something by his “good friend John Dissed” and played the song. I was instantly overwhelmed with gratitude and my depression was lifted.
THEN the next two songs were Hanoi Rocks “Dead by Christmas” and The Ramones “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)”! Not bad, getting played on my favorite rock podcast preceding two of my favorite bands of all time. Nothing beats that, no radio airplay on any show in the world, nothing.
Michael just got back from the UK where he played bass on seven songs for his hero Ginger of The Wildhearts‘ Birthday Gig. Fans of the Rock and Roll Geek Show donated over $1,400 to get him there. I have to say that some highlights of 2009 for me were meeting Butler at the Viper Room this summer after seeing him rock out with Ginger (who I’ve since become a huge fan of), being turned on to some great music from his show that I never would have heard otherwise, and hearing this song, and my band Bull Lee, on the Indie Cast.
Ginger got Michael into The Secret and he talks about it a lot on his various podcasts. I watched about 5 minutes of the film on YouTube and had to turn it off. It has a little too much pseudo-science for my taste (I refuse to believe, for example, that thoughts can radiate through the air and convince a stranger, completely out of sight, not to steal something). But the positive vibes Michael puts out and has had returned to him by his listeners is contagious, so maybe there’s something there that I missed. I definitely feel grateful to be considered his friend, and a once-in-a-while-contributor to his shows.
Check out Butler’s Ginger Birthday Gig recap on The Rock and Roll Geek Show, Episode 383 on iTunes or on his website.
Oh, and The Wildhearts are giving away a free song, “Zeen Requiem” here. It’s currently my favorite song of all time.
Post-Thanksgiving work day. Here at the J.O.B. doing my best as usual to drown out the douchbag co-worker with podcasts. After you check out The Bull Pit Thanksgiving Special, here are some other good ones for the week:
Rock and Roll Geek Show #380 – Host, Michael Butler plays excerpts from a KISS bootleg he bought at the Oakland KISS show. The sound quality of the music is great, and Butler’s play-by-play is hilarious. Paul Stanley has some awesome stage raps. Makes me wish I went to the show last week. If they come back, I’m going.
Rock and Roll Geek Indie Cast #117 – Michael’s all-music companion to the Rock and Roll Geek Show this week features songs by The Devin Townsend Project, Pete Way, American Heartbreak, Replacements, Celebrity Skin, Material Issue, Cheap Trick, Poison Arrows, UFO and more.
The Good Clean Fun Show – I’m catching up on the last two episodes of this as I write. Good drama about Butler’s day job (which I can relate to as I’m sure you can), and the boys getting kicked off of UStream for showing a film called The Sinful Dwarf. This is an awesome train-wreck style shit-talking podcast which is always entertaining. Some good rock talk as well.
Coverville #630 The 6th Annual Thanksgiving Double-Shot Beatles Cover Story – Beatles covers by Mark Mulcahy, Paul Weller, The Smithereens, Eton Road, Nina Simone, Shawn Colvin and more.
Sound Opinions #209 – Annual Turkey Shot. Hosts Greg and Jim are both music journalists for Chicago newspapers. They are kind of the Siskel and Ebert of music podcasting. It’s an NPR thing, pretty cool.
CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast #76 – Corey Smith made headlines when his independent music career slowly grew into a multi-million dollar business, selling out large venues… That’s this week’s description of this DIY tips show for musicians. Some good info for anyone who does online DIY marketing, music or not. I haven’t listened to this week’s episode yet but will do after GCF.
The Rock and Roll Geek Forums are ablaze with talk about the latest Good Clean Fun episode, Some Kind of Jetboy. Hosted by Michael Butler (bassist for the band Jetboy) and Jasper, this was a last minute “emergency” episode, with the band’s guitarist Fernie Rod in the hot seat.
If you are a rock fan, and especially enjoy VH1 Behind the Music-type drama, you’ve got to check this out. Get it on iTunes here. I won’t give away what happens, but you won’t be disappointed.
Last night I learned an important lesson about programming a set list: Familiarity breeds contempt in many areas, but not in the live music department. I don’t think I will back off from this point of view ever again, no matter what pressure I get from future band members. New songs are good to introduce to keep things fresh from a band’s perspective, but they do next-to-nothing for an audience when compared to songs they know and love.
I saw Ginger play on July 16th at the Viper Room. His band was the same as last night: Billy Morrison (guitar), Michael Butler (bass), Scott Lipps and a guy named Beans traded off playing drums. I was new to the music of Ginger/The Wildhearts. The show was good, and I blogged about it from the standpoint of not knowing the songs, which wasn’t very informative (probably because I didn’t feel very much about it one way or the other). Most bands can play, that doesn’t mean much to me, really, unless the songs are strong.
A couple weeks after that gig, Michael announced on his Rock and Roll Geek Show podcast that he’d be playing bass for a follow-up August 26th Viper Room Ginger performance. I decided to familiarize myself with the set list (Butler announced the songs) so I could post a more appropriate review this time around. I had a feeling that there was something special about this music. Ginger is one of Michael’s favorite songwriters and as an avid listener of his various podcasts, I had confidence in Butler’s taste.
I typed out the list of songs, bought all the ones I could find on iTunes and got a little help on the albums that seem to be out of print. Then I programmed a playlist in the order of the July 16th set (I got the order of the songs from a TwitPic Michael posted of the set list). I tagged three additional songs Michael mentioned were being added to the end (“Nita Nitro”, “Suckerpunch” and an 8’ 14” hook-laden masterpiece called “Schizophonic”). I dragged the playlist to my iPod and played it loud every day, on repeat, during my hour commute to work and back for three weeks.
My feeling now about Ginger’s songs is that like all the best music, they’re not as much like crack cocaine (not that I have ever smoked crack, mind you), as nicotine. At first you don’t feel the need to have it, but after a few repeat visits, you just can’t stop. It is amazing how once a song becomes part of us, our entire perspective changes. I’ll never understand how people can evaluate songs upon first listen, because the songs that grow the most seem often to be the ones we don’t like so much at first.
That’s one reason why I think songwriting contests are such bullshit. Judges don’t have time to truly evaluate the entries (songwriters take heed; don’t throw your money away on songwriting contests! The winners are likely picked in advance or are fucking someone in charge anyway).
The exhilarating experience of internalizing this music wasn’t like anything I’ve experienced very many times in my adult life. In the ‘00s, only Velvet Revolver’s Contraband and John Frusciante’s Shadows Collide with People albums have had this kind of impact on me. You know the kind of thing where you repeat a record over and over for weeks and weeks and only like it more as a result. It becomes your soundtrack, you can’t wait to get back to the car to put it on, and you’ll take extra trips around the block to finish a song. At least I do that…
I couldn’t wait to hear these songs again live with my newfound perspective. I was excited about the show and tried to get friends to come with me to share the experience (if I had Wildhearts fans for friends I’d surely have been made a fan years ago). I got no takers and in true Rock and Roll Geek fashion, I went to the show alone.
The ‘80s Sunset Strip staple, San Francisco’s Jetboy (who Michael Butler regularly plays bass for) opened. They are a great live band. Song-wise, I thought the first and last songs were their best. Everyone did their job on the stage. Lead singer Mickey Finn’s mohawk stood up straight, they rocked out like they meant it and hit all their marks. It was a tiring set for me, but you know, I am not familiar with the songs. Someone behind me commented that they wished they could fastforward their set (I laughed because this is something Michael always says about his podcast “You can always fastforward my friends”).
Waiting for Ginger to come on seemed like forever. I don’t do well standing for hours, and was starting to wish I could just sit down somewhere.
But when that curtain opened I was glad I hung in there. From the opening chords of “I Wanna Go Where the People Go”, I was energized like I haven’t been since the original Rollins Band 2006 reunion show (which I usually cite as my favorite concert experience of all time). I could have easily stood up for the entire Wildhearts and Ginger solo catalogues. That’s the power of live music, man. It’s healing like nothing else in the world. I clapped along, sang along (which I almost never do at shows) and must admit that a few tears were shed.
The guitars were crisp and loud, the mix was perfect. This did not feel like a hired gun situation at all. As far as I’m concerned, these guys should be The Wildhearts.
There was a small group of Wildhearts fanatics next to me. When Ginger announced “Nita Nitro”, a song he never thought he’d play again because he thought it was “absolute rubbish”, they flipped out in a way that rivaled the front-row Springsteen fans at the Jersey, Meadowlands show I attended in May.
That’s when it hit me. This guy is a hard rock Springsteen. He’s that good. He should be headlining stadiums. I know he’s much closer to that in Europe, but here in America, I couldn’t even give away a ticket to see him in a club. This illustrates how clueless and mediocre the bean-counter major labels are. I’m not saying this from the perspective that Ginger deserves to be a rock star. The more important point is that the world would be a better place if he were. These songs would heal as many wounded souls and broken hearts as The Boss if given half the chance.
Standout tracks for me were “My Baby is a Headfuck”, “29 x The Pain”, “Loveshit” (featuring a heartwarming performance by Ginger’s childhood hero, Michael Lee Smith of the band Starz on lead vocals) , “Vanilla Radio” and the country-tinged ballad “This is Only a Problem” (Ginger said he’d never played “Schizophonic” live before and it may have been the best song of the night, as well as a rock history moment to remember).
They did not play my favorite song, “Sick of Drugs”, which really bummed me out, but you know, they had to make room in the set for “Rebel Yell” with Steve Stevens guesting on lead guitar. It’s a good song. A hit. I saw Billy Idol a few years ago and I fuckin’ rocked out hard to “Rebel Yell”, but it was the worst song of the night compared to Ginger’s. The audience, however, went wild (which further substantiates my point about the live music experience being exponentially better when you know the songs). I think many in the crowd didn’t know too much of Ginger’s music, at least compared to the classic “Rebel Yell”. They should have been supplied with a copy of my playlist…
I think I’d have had another opinion of “Rebel Yell” if they’d have played it at the July show alongside the set of songs I wasn’t yet in love with. Familiarity breeds fans when it comes to live shows. Play your hits, people! Give the people what they want! We can’t help it, don’t be offended, it’s only biology!
(check out video of the gig here)