A Zeppelin Over Dallas...

Crash

Peter Wolf (with Shelby Lynne) - Tragedy (live)

Heard this song on KXT 91.7 last week. That sent me to the internet to find more information about the album and Peter Wolf's career. On YouTube I stumbled on the Jimmy Fallon performance performance: breathtaking. Too bad NBC didn't post the video. That Shelby Lynne can sing. She should turn her career over to Peter Wolf. Thank you, KXT for turning my ears on to this song.

Happy Birthday, Pete!

Birthday regards to a rock favorite of mine: Mr. Pete Townshend of The Who. He's turning 64 today. I was a regular reader of his fantastic website (PeteTownshend.com) for many years when he would post regular "diary" updates and MP3's of songs he was working on, lead tracks that he would record before the band, etc. To my disappointment, Roger Daltrey had him put a stop to that and focus on a Who website that charges a yearly $50 fee for "premium" membership. So the little snippets of Pete genius are no longer featured as they once were on PeteTownshend.co.uk. (Although there is a Pete's Blog portion of thewho.com website. He just doesn't update it as regularly...something I actually have no place to really complain about on Pablo's Point of late.) I harbor no hard feelings toward Roger for ending the PeteTownshend.com presence. After all, without Roger, we might only have Pete as a Susan Boyle-style American Idol contestant. (See this awkward video of Pete on VH1 some years ago singing along to the backtrack of the Jerry Maguire version of "Let My Love Open the Door". It's not far off from American Idol or Britain's Got Talent. Thanks for still being in The Who, Roger!

Also on the old PeteTownshend.co.uk site there were videos of him in the studio preparing songs, track by track, that were brilliant snippets of the work behind the genius songwriter. Pete's terrifically honest in these little "behind the scenes" peeks. I thought about featuring one in particular on this post. But opted for this video from a 1996 Late Night with Conan O'Brien in which Pete's promoting his solo greatest hits collection. With Conan about to take over The Tonight Show spot from Jay Leno, this video serves as a reminder of how much of a music fan Conan is and how good a raconteur Pete is. (And with Pearl Jam just announced as playing on Conan's first night, it's clear that he will continue to spotlight music.)

Pete Townshend on Conan 1996
Uploaded by IvorTheEngineDriver. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Tom Petty - Runnin' Down A Dream DVD Trailer

In my daydreams, the movie megaplex down the interstate would be featuring this kind of movie in a festival atmosphere once or twice a week.

From Rolling Stone:

Peter Bogdanovich’s documentary Runnin’ Down a Dream, which tells the story of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ thirty-year journey and explores Petty’s own wanderings as a member of Traveling Wilburys and a solo performer. The film — which features testimonials from Eddie Vedder, Rick Rubin, Stevie Nicks, Johnny Depp and Dave Grohl, and footage of Petty playing alongside Bob Dylan, Vedder and many other artists — will screen October 14th at the 2007 New York Film Festival and in select cities the following day, and will then air on Sundance October 29th. A deluxe DVD release will hit Best Buy stores on the 16th.

The Police Reunion Tour Rumors

Day four after the initial Police reunion rumors began and no official denial has surfaced from either Sting, Andy or Stewart. Recently I read Andy Summers' career memoir, "One Train Later". Andy Summers had a career before The Police? I didn't expect to learn about how poor he was at certain points in his career.

I've had Stewart's Police home movie DVD "Everyone Stares" on my Blockbuster queue for months now. (I guess Blockbuster wants me to have the impression that they DO have a copy somewhere - but only one copy worldwide.) So, yes, I'm a fan. And yes, I'm delighted at the rumors. Sting's last few records have been dull. And in all fairness, I've never listened to any Stewart Copeland projects or Andy Summers' records. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't imagine I'm missing a whole lot. Point being - we need these 3 back together making music & playing great shows. The Police were THE band for us back in the early 80's.

This is a long overdue move from all parties. Get back in the rehearsal lot, work through the rough spots and hit the road. Bliss us out again with your white-English-guys-cop-Afro-Caribbean-rhythms. Let the drummer play too fast & see where it leads. (Trust me Sting, Stewart will wear himself out more quickly now that he's older!)

Ideally the rehearsals go so well that the guys put together some rough mixes for a new record before setting off on tour this summer. Assuming the tour doesn't implode amidst inter-trio bickering, the fans get to enjoy the ensuing product - great extended jams from a musical force too long overlooked. Then MTV & VH1 will dump reality-show programming and start programming music again. The stars will align. We find Osama. You get the picture.

Sting's career needs this badly. Dominic Miller has been his mainstay guitarist since 1990. He may be technically very talented- but he's still a hired studio hand. Sting needs a proper collaborator. Sting's performance at Live 8 demonstrates even more so than the lackluster solo records how much he needs his old mates. He played nothing but Police songs (admittedly the songs are Sting compositions - but at least the music is best played by The Police - not by his antiseptic solo band.) Whatever happened to the Blue Turtles?

They're probably discussing the appropriate venue-size, tour length & tour stops. Do they play stadiums, enormous European Music Festivals (Glastonbury) & "Big Day Out" down under? Should they lean towards mid size sports arenas? Or should they play exclusive gigs at intimate, small-size places like Nokia Live (max 3,000-5,000 seats)?

Maybe they can play the next Us Festival.

Bring it on.

Header photo courtesy of VH1.com

Window in the Skies - Video

A very clever video for U2's "Window in the Skies" just came out a couple of days ago. It was directed by Gary Koepke (thanks to Calvin in Spain). It recalls the masterful Mark Romanek video for "Hurt" by Johnny Cash. It shares the same fancy editing chops - splicing together video, documentary film & concert footage. The visual & emotional effect is one of tweaked nostalgia mixed with discovery. Perhaps you've never thought of Frank Zappa & Joe Strummer as musical brethren. "Window in the Skies" poses many of these possibilities - Mary J. Blige & Elvis Presley, Beck & Frank Sinatra, Keith Moon & David Byrne. It gets your head thinking about what these artists have in common. But it also intrigues because it must have taken the director a lot of time & effort to sync the singing footage with the new song's lyrics.



U2, by the way, has its own official YouTube page.

The two Rick Rubin/U2 collaborations - "The Saints Are Coming" & "Window in the Skies" are nice appetizers for the next U2 record. Rick Rubin had never worked with U2 before. Apparently he was made aware of this through an interview with U2 in which they mention him as an artist with which they'd like to work. This coupled with the fact that Bono is learning how to play piano - maybe for the sole purpose of using the instrument as a songwriting tool - is a clue to possible new musical directions. That they recorded these songs at Abbey Road is trivial when you listen to them. They are bursting with the energy of much younger bands. Makes you wonder what keeps them so engaged.

John Lennon Remembered

The Dallas Morning News Interactive division remembers John Lennon's death - December 8th, 1980 - 26 years ago today. This is a snippet of pop-culture before CNN, MTV & the Internet.

John Lennon's death is one of the first big events that I remember as a kid. I had the commemorative issue of Newsweek. And I remember going through my older brother's Beatles book: "The Beatles Forever" by Nicholas Schaffner, and marveling at the pictures. All those places they went - the colors, the phases they went through. It was all too much!



Even at that young age, you could feel the vacuum that Lennon's death left music & popular culture. We had a hard time getting our heads around it all - especially the sudden nature of it . "Why would someone shoot a Beatle? Why does it sound & feel like he's still here? He's all over the radio still. For such a character - who was so full of life, how can he really be gone?"

One good product of all this was the wave of Beatlemania that came in the years after his death. I remember recording the Beatles A-Z marathons on the radio. I would get the 10-packs of 90 minute Maxell blank cassettes to record them on. I would carefully pause the recording during the commercials and wait carefully for the DJ to come back on. I would cringe when the end of the side would approach in the middle of a song. Then I'd flip the cassette over as quickly as possible to continue recording the sequence on Side B.

I remember loyally listening to the Lost Lennon Tapes with Elliot Mintz and hearing about his 1970's post-Beatles wanderings. And who hasn't listened to Breakfast with the Beatles?

Photo of The Beatles Forever bookjacket courtesy of London Collectibles eBay account.

We Got A Hit

Great night at the American Airlines Center with The Who &
special guests The Pretenders last Friday.

Pretenders came on at 7:32pm. Really glad to be on time for this. A lot
of concert-goers missed it - probably stuck in traffic or finishing up
their chicken wings. The chicken wings on the table would disappoint
Chrissie Hynde - I had forgotten that she's a vegetarian. She thanked
the crowd for stopping by the PETA tables in the lobby. And she teased
the meat-eaters in the crowd by flaunting her great body. (She looks
fantastic - like a strutting Madame Tussaud's version of herself
preserved from 1980.) They played an hour - Martin Chambers flailing
away behind plexiglass and their very able guitarist Adam Seymour &
youthful bassist Andy Hobson. Chrissie is sassy & sweet. After "My City
Was Gone" she recognized the guitarist for his searing solos. "Don't
you all wish that you wouldn't have hidden away your guitar in your
closet in favor of a workaday life? You could have lived this life!"
She reveled in that.

Approximation of their setlist:

Up The Neck (? - I'm forgetting a song in here somewhere - and the song
order's not exact either)
Message of Love
Don't Get Me Wrong
Day After Day
I'll Stand By You
My City Was Gone (Way to go, Ohio)
Back in the Chain Gang
Room Full of Mirrors

I would have liked an encore from them - they have so much material
from which to choose - but they played a solid, hour-long set. Any more
and it would've shortened The Who set. Needless to say - the Pretenders
were an inspired choice for an opening act. FAR better than Unamerican
were anyway. Anyone from Dallas remember that? What were they thinking
there? Dreadful.










I've read both the Dallas & Fort Worth papers' reviews. No big
disagreements with either of the mostly positive reviews (Although I
prefer the Star-Telegram's review). Other than to explain to the rest
of the world how much a grump the Dallas Morning News' Thor Christensen
can be from time to time. He complains about Rog's vocal performance on
some songs. But no one came to this show expecting Steve Perry - we
don't need or want that. Who cares? It's ROCK AND ROLL - not an
Oratorio! And in complaining about Rog's voice on some songs, he
neglects to recognize its strength on some of the other songs - Mike
Post Theme in particular. He roared like a lion on that one - and the
crowd took notice.

Highlights: There were a couple of kids with their Dad in the row in
front of us. The little boy was no more than 4 or 5 years old. The girl
was maybe 6 or 7 tops. And they were singing along to the Who songs!
They knew all of the words - standing on their folding chairs! They
were really wonderful to watch - they were every bit as enthusiastic as
their dad was.

There were some young twenty-something hipster dudes a couple of rows
behind us - they were having a blast. Never without a beer in hand,
they parried to and fro in the aisle - teasing the ushers & dancing
their buns off. Between the Pretenders & The Who set - one of them, a
tall guy who happened to be a dead ringer for the Dwight Shrute
character on NBC's version of The Office, shimmied his way into the
crowd's heart - so much so that the lighting guys found him & put the
spotlight on him - very fun - we all cheered. I have to say, it's
refreshing to have a few rabble-rousers at one of these big arena shows
- this is what rock's supposed to be all about after all!

The band were tight on all the songs - surprises: "Real Good Looking
Boy" was a revelation - very sharp guitar from Pete - harder-edged than
the Then & Now version. Rog's voice was terrific - much better than the
last visit through Big D - where California's drought left his voice
bone-dry. Simon has really filled out the sound of the band - kudos to
him - his vocals were essential to the success of the evening - and I
really enjoyed the mandolin during "Endless Wire". "They Made My Dreams
Come True" is a real grower - it was one of my favorites of the new
songs - Pete & Simon harmonized beautifully to that one.

Pete recognized the missing Texan in the band - keyboardist Rabbit &
asked that we pray for his wife Sue. He introduced Rabbit's keyboard
tech (he emphasized that he's really only a technician!) - Brian Kehew
- and praised him for coming to their rescue. Then he introduced Pino
by saying that he came to their rescue when John died back in 2002 -
filled his boots & then, thankfully, took them off - to which the crowd
cheered. And then introduced Zak - monster applause.

Between Mike Post Theme and You Better You Bet, Pete had a pointed
exchange with some of the front-row crowd. Apparently they had been
bugging him to sign some poster & give them some guitar picks. He
really sounded peeved - his body language said it all - exasperation -
as if to say "How am I supposed to play this show AND sign your
bleeding posters & toss out picks?!?" And he called them out for
spending a ton on front row seats then acting like beggars for a stupid
pick or an autograph. "Fucking savages? What do you expect me to do?!"
But before he got too severe with them, he turned his attitude around
180 degrees & said how much he loves us - and that the next song is
about them loving us. He was clearly keeping his temper in check. It
was almost "It's not a fucking tea party!" time - but he showed great
self-control.

The new songs were fantastic. I miss Quadrophenia, yes - but I'm so
grateful for the new material. Not everyone was - a lot of people sat
during the mini-opera. They clicked away at blackberries until Baba
O'Riley - then they all stood up in unison. Pretty funny to observe -
like a school of fish.

They then played feverishly through the rest of the regular set - big
riffs, guitars & drums blazing. Pete seemed to be using "Won't Get Fooled Again" to
exorcise whatever misgivings he had about the pesky goldfish in the
front row. After a short break - they came back for an encore with the
Tommy suite - and it was inspired. The songs felt brand new - Rog
sounded great and was twirling away like a dervish with the mic cord.
Pete seemed to be channeling an old blues man fused together with an
ornery pirate during the Captain Walker part of Amazing Journey &
Sparks.

Setlist courtesy of the German site: The Complete The Who Concert Guide

http://tinyurl.com/y7s5r4
The Who
Fri, 17. November 2006:
Dallas, TX, American Airlines Center

Lineup | Go back
Setlist

I Can't Explain, The Seeker, Substitute, Fragments, Who Are You, Behind
Blue Eyes, Real Good Looking Boy, Sound Round, Pick Up The Peace,
Endless Wire, We Got A Hit, They Made My Dreams Come True, Mirror Door,
Baba O'Riley, Eminence Front, A Man In A Purple Dress, Mike Post Theme,
You Better You Bet, My Generation, Cry If You Want, Won't Get Fooled
Again, (Encore) Pinball Wizard, Amazing Journey, Sparks, See Me Feel
Me, Tea And Theatre

Lineup:
Roger Daltrey
Harmonica, Vocals, Guitar
Pete Townshend
Guitar, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Pino Palladino
Bass
Zak Starkey
Drums
Simon Townshend
Acoustic Guitar, Guitar, Backing Vocal
Brian Kehew
Keyboards

Set list not confirmed

Last update: 2006-11-18 13:55:36 - # 62

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Review

Dallas Morning News Review

Top photo courtesy of Dallas Morning News Special Contributor Jason Janik

Bottom photo courtesy of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Special Contributor Mike Fuentes

The Who in Dallas Friday!

Friday night is the big concert of the week: The Who with special guests, The Pretenders. I'm a huge Who fan - have been for years. (I regularly lurk about the alt.music.who site). This will be their 9th show in our fair city. Saw them in '89, 2000, & 2002. (Here's a gig guide list of their Dallas shows with details such as setlists, local paper reviews, copies of ticket stubs & fan reports - very neat.) I'm excited that I'll be there for another great evening of rock and roll.

I'm particularly excited that they're touring with new material. My brother won't be happy about this. He'll protest a little too loudly for our comfort. "Stick to the classics. Yawn!" Then he'll look our way for a nod or some sort of approval. And he won't get any. You see, I prefer my favorite artists to sport new material when they come to visit. They don't need an album or single to be for sale. They just need to play the new stuff along with the classics.

One of the highlights for me of the 2002 show at American Airlines Center was the end of "My Generation" when they played a potent snippet of the Thunderfingers homage "Old Red Wine". It rocked more than any other part of the evening. (Roger complained about his voice being dry - but he always delivers.)

Pete's a contemporary of my father-in-law. And I suppose you could call him a sage. But he's a lot more accessible than Dylan. He's every bit as inspired as he was in the late 60's. I have been reading his website since at least 2000. I keep going back - I suppose to keep up with him - thrilled that such a rock legend would bother with such an immediate type of communication. Last year he used a blogspot.com blog to post a serial called "The Boy Who Heard Music". I was so excited that he was posting chapters & seeking input from fans. I didn't understand the serial but I posted a comment - nothing particularly helpful to him, I'm sure - just another "good on ya" like many others who posted. Certainly it wasn't anything helpful input-wise. But Pete managed to use the serial to crank out the mini-opera Wire And Glass. And now it's very pleasing to have the new Who album out as well. I hope it leads to more creative product from them on a regular basis.

He's one of my favorite rockers - he's always a sharp, literate interviewee. He isn't afraid to voice unpopular opinions. He's honest. He can be arty & difficult, cranky and cantankerous. But occasionally he's very sweet and reveals so much of his process with readers. (I hope to hear "How Can I Help You, Sir" on a B-side or something soon!) It's oddly reassuring to see him piddle about procrastinating at his studio. And it's refreshing to see him genuinely excited about his craft.

I'll let my brother make his impatient remarks about new Who songs. I do have fond memories of him driving us both to Sunday mass - listening to "Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy" on cassette. His clunky '76 Mercury Monarch seemed a heckuva lot cooler while listening to "I Can See For Miles" and crossing the Dallas County line over the railroad tracks. Knowing that "Pinball Wizard" awaited us after church made it easier to sit through the homily. And I couldn't wait to get my own driver's license.

Last night they played Denver. Hope Roger gets to rest his voice tonight & tomorrow!

Photos of "Pete Leap" & "Birdman" courtesy of photographer William Snyder. Found in the News section of PeteTownshend.com. It's from the show they just did Indian Wells, CA.

Battle of the Album Covers

My buddy Chris sent me this little montage. Some graphic design kid has a lot of time on his hands. But God bless him!

It's a Legal Matter, Baby

Turns out that Roger Daltrey was spot-on about Miss Heather - months before the big separation between Beatle Paul McCartney & Heather Mills McCartney. She's been Macca's worst nightmare since Yoko. Shortly after the big Live 8 Concert in London's Hyde Park in the summer of 2005, Roger had these things to say about Heather Mills McCartney to the English paper, the Sunday Mirror :

"She was at Live 8 with a camera...scary. I looked down the barrel and saw her face - and I thought: 'This is the coldest human being I have met in my whole life.'

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"She was one cold fish."

Mind you, this was well before anyone knew of any marital problems between Paul McCartney & Heather Mills McCartney. I thought at the time that Roger was being pretty harsh on Heather. She seemed very direct, yes - but we had no overt reason to dislike her. "Roger must be one cantankerous fellow," I thought. But I have to give credit to the Who's lead singer - knowing how many other rock stars that were backstage at Live 8, it's interesting that he was the only one to note Heather's bad behaviour. What can I say besides that the man is a damn fine judge of character.

And now we see the divorce proceedings between Sir Paul & Heather get very confrontational.

In other music news, listen to the new U2/Green Day single of "The Saints Are Coming" at U2.com. This track will be on their upcoming Best Of set entitled "U218 Singles". It's a rousing version of the Skids 1978 single. Never had heard of The Skids - but I do know now that their lead singer was later to become Big Country's Stuart Adamson. Stuart took his own life in Honolulu 2001.

Links in this post:

image of Roger: http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=412&zone=prI

Details of Heather's abuse claims: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-23371201-details/article.do

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Adamson

U2.com

Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out

While recently on vacation in lovely Maui, I picked up the new Andy Summers' memoir, "One Train Later". It got a nice write-up in Entertainment Weekly (compared favorably over U2's new coffee-table book, U2 X U2 - not to mention more travel-friendly). And being on vacation, I splurged and picked it up at the Kahului Borders. (Despite the fact that I already had 3 books that I hadn't touched on the 9 hour plane ride over from Dallas!) The Police are one of those music acts that I come back to every blue moon and rediscover. They were my first concert in 1983 back in the brand-spanking-new Reunion Arena.

We got the tickets for the 2nd and final night's show from our 8th grade pal, Jimmy Farrell. He had extras and they were on the floor! But they were $15 tickets. Wow. That's cost a few lawn mowings. UB40 opened up the show for them. Sting had the flu. Stewart played the drums really fast. They tore through their set.

I'm 3/4 of the way through the book. Andy just got to the early days of the Police (by page 155 or so). Surprisingly, he had a long music career before the advent of punk music. He played with the Animals. He pal'd around with Eric Clapton. He makes it very clear how tough a musician's life can be. I'm going to have to dig up my old Police cds and listen to them all over again. It's always nice to hear them for a fresh listen after a few more years life experience. They are still very fresh sounding. There's an exuberance there throughout the albums that reminds me of the EE OOO EEE YAY, EEE YAY OOOH chants that kept me up past my bedtime back that night in '83.

I remember driving around Plano in Leo's Suzuki Samurai listening to Regatta de Blanc on the tape deck. Was Leo at the '83 show too? Can't remember. Leo?

The Police were huge back then. Hard to compare to today's standards of course. This was before the wide acceptance of the compact disc - at the beginning of MTV - way before the internet, YouTube and MP3s. I recall a junior high talent show where some classmates of ours put together their own power trio - played spot-on Police covers - a triple shot that had the hall jumpin' - in spite of their amps being plugged into the school's crappy PA system. It was Dave Barton on drums, Kevin McKinney on guitar and - who was on bass? Anyone? Regardless - it was exhilarating to see our buddies rock like that. But at the same time, it was devastating to see them up there instead of us. We had to stick to air guitar and clock radio shower vocals.

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians on World Café

Back in the late 80's, my friends Mitch & Matt would always venture down from the 'burbs to Deep Ellum to catch dark, brooding, clad-in-black local bands like Shallow Reign, Three on a Hill, Course of Empire, etc. Occasionally they'd convince me to take in a show. I remember being impressed with the intensity of a small-venue show. But I was not into the dark, brooding stuff. I guess I didn't identify with it very much - happy, bucolic childhood & all.

Mitch tried to lure me a few times to go and see Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. He would say, "Come out & see this band - I think you'll like them." - knowing very well my reservations about the then dangerous Deep Ellum (yes - I know - it's deja-vu all over again!). I never did get a chance to see them - partly because I was certain that it would be another too loud & too heavy gig. Then the New Bo's had their big "Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars" album & the cat was out of the bag.

Well, I finally saw them - back in late June at Club DaDa - their old late 80's haunt. It was a Saturday night show of a two-night stand. The show started around 10:30 or so - after Dead Thing. The Dead Thing played inside in the cool AC. But the New Bo's played the patio - and it was hot something fierce. It was the kind of hot Texas summer night where the air doesn't flow a bit. But the band was great - very much enjoying the show & the moment. We were just a row back from the stage - so I got to see them up close. Kenny Withrow's a really fun guitarist - very inventive licks - great rhythm. And the band played very well - clearly well-rehearsed. (As you can hear for yourselves on NPR's World Café.)

I didn't want to stare too much at Edie. I know how the band felt about the lasting image most fans kept of them - that of Edie's mug: pretty & quirky. But it started to feel like she was staring at me. She does make eye contact with a lot of the fans - no doubt. But this was weird. I was starting to get embarrassed. My wife later pointed out to me that her kid was right next to me during the show. So much for all the attention!

I really enjoyed the new music they played for us from their then upcoming CD - "Stranger Things". It's really terrific. Grab a copy & enjoy!