We got her October the 4th and she was 7 months old March 18, 2020. She is like a teenager right now….a big body with a toddler’s mind. She loves grabbing a shoe…not both but one…taking off with it. Many mornings I’ve had to search for my other shoe because of her shenanigans. She is getting much better about chewing…she doesn’t do it much if any now.
She wants to play 24 hours a day though. Our other Saints were much calmer when they were her age but she is starting to slowly calm down just a little bit. Sometimes though when she is full of energy you brace yourself and get ready for the adventure. She still has a lot of growing to do and so far so good.
I will update again when she is a year old.
Martha at 2 months old…Oct 4
Martha at 3 Months old
Martha at 4 Months old
Martha at 7 months and 8 days in our driveway…March 26, 2020
Well, this post isn’t about pop culture…but come to think of it… in time, this will be part of it. In years to come, anniversary articles of the coronavirus of 2020 will be posted. We are living in a time that will be in history books one day.
You sure learn a lot about human nature in times like this. Go into a grocery store and if someone coughs… it’s like the old EF Hutton commercials…everyone stops and looks. In the south where I live…I can see people wanting to be nice and expressive…but they stop themselves and move on. It’s like we are living in a TV Movie of the Week right now.
Who would think that going shopping would take a tactical military movement? I guess at this time we do have future pop-culture items like Lysol, wipes, and toilet paper (if you’re lucky) that will remind us of the spring of 2020…hopefully the memory will stop there.
We have learned… Don’t touch your face (that can be hard), be sure to cough in the bend of your arm… not your hand (really hard), and you need to wash your hands before you…do anything…we are learning all sorts of new things.
How long will this go on? Will we learn to appreciate things? Like going to a movie, baseball game, concert, or even a…I don’t know…a simple trip to a store without avoiding everyone.
This is allergy season for some people like me. Itchy eyes, runny nose, sore throat equals instant paranoia…hmmm is this a symptom? Is that a symptom? This makes you long for the old days… uh…about 3 weeks ago. Traveling without a worry. When this ends…what is the first thing you will do?
Right now…I’m breaking out my 1970s tv shows, movies, books, music, and…washing my hands.
I’ll leave you with the Steelers – Cowboys Superbowl from 1979… Why? Because it was one of the great Superbowls and just to see people gathered together again without that other phrase we have learned… social distancing.
I was driving to work this morning oblivious to the world around me listening to an audiobook. I got a call from the Mother In Law asking if I was ok. I was confused but she then told me about tornadoes on the ground in Nashville last night.
I live around 20 miles outside of Nashville in a small county. We had bad weather last night but nothing like that. I started to run into traffic and I saw huge tree branches on the interstate.
I got to work this morning and found out they touched down around 2-3 miles from where I work. I’ve seen a few buildings destroyed and it is heartbreaking to witness this. Over 40,000 are out of power and right now the death toll is 22 on the last report that I heard. In 1998 a tornado went through downtown Nashville.
This is the worst damage Nashville has had since the 2010 flood.
It’s unbelievable how close this famous movie prop came to being lost.
The model used in the film along with some other props were thought to be garbage after the movie finished filming.
Many of the props were kept in a facility called Dollar Moving and Storage. The storage unit was rented by the studio and upon completion of postproduction, the studio decided they no longer wanted to pay rent and ordered everything in storage to be discarded. An employee named Doug W. rescued many of the props from the garbage including the Death Star. In a world before ebay…who knows what was lost.
Doug displayed the Death Star in his home in California for about a decade. Around 1988, Doug moved to Missouri and stored the Death Star at his mother’s antique shop (Sutter’s Mill Antiques, later renamed The Mexican Hillbilly) in Missouri.
Todd Franklin, a Star Wars collector living in the area, drove by the antique shop and was immediately convinced it had to be the original Death Star model. Todd wondered how and why the original Death Star was in Missouri. He made some calls and was convinced it was the one. He was going to buy it but before he got back it was sold to another person named Mark who was the owner of a country and western music show called Star World. Mark displayed the Death Star in the lobby.
In 1994 Todd, his brother Pat, and friend Tim Williams traveled to Star World who was going out of business. The Death Star was being used as a trash can in the corner! Todd made an offer and bought it on the spot. All three owned it and contacted Lucasfilm but they did not want to buy it back.
In 1999 Gus Lopez contacted Todd, Pat, and Tim and negotiated a price. Now, Gus owns the famous Death Star.
Since then, Lopez has had the original Death Star on display in a custom-made case in his home, and he even loaned it to the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle (though Lopez refers to it by its former name: the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum) for a five-year stint.
Gus Lopez: “The EMP gave it top billing in the museum with a prominent spot at the center of one of the main rooms. I got a kick out of reading about the Death Star in local tourist literature and walking by the Death Star on display at the museum to hear conversations from people telling their stories about what Star Wars meant to them. And now the Death Star is back home, where I see it every day. And when I look at it, I am still amazed it survived its long journey and is sitting right in front of me.”
Peter Jackson combed through 55 hours of video footage to give a broader picture of the Let It Be sessions. A short preview was shown and it showed the Beatles in good spirits…against what we have read about. There was drama, but from what is being said…there was more good than not.
It will be interesting to get more of a broader picture of that time in the Beatles career…right before they made Abbey Road.
I will be there when it’s released. Here are a couple of articles.
Mac Davis and Billy Strange wrote this for the 1968 Elvis movie Live A Little, Love A Little.
A remix of this song drove it up the UK charts in 2002
This was a fairly obscure Elvis song until it was remixed and released as a single in 2002. The new version went to #1 in the UK, giving Elvis 18 #1 hits there, the most of any artist. Previously, he was tied with The Beatles at 17. Because of rereleases he now has 21 number ones in the UK. The original release went to #69 in the Billboard 100 in 1968. In 2002 the remix version peaked higher at #50 in the Billboard 100.
I usually don’t like remixes like this but I do like this one somewhat.
The distinctive drum part on this song was played by Hal Blaine, who along with Earl Palmer was the top session drummer on the West Coast at the time.
The remix was released shortly before the 25th anniversary of Elvis’ death. It was added as a bonus track to Hits, an album of 30 #1 hits released on the 25th anniversary of his death. The record company was hoping to attract a new generation of Elvis fans the same way The Beatles did when they released their album of #1 hits in 2000.
From Songfacts Davis wrote the original version for Aretha Franklin, but when Billy Strange, who was handling music for the film, approached Davis about contributing a song, he realized that “A Little Less Conversation” fit the scene perfectly, so he reworked it with strange and Elvis sang it for the film.
The remix gained popularity in England when it was used in a Nike World Cup commercial featuring British soccer player Eric Cantona. The remix was done by Dutch DJ Tom Holkenburg, a member of the group Junkie XL. For the remix, the name of the group was changed to JXL because Presley’s estate did not welcome the drug reference. This was the first time an Elvis song was allowed to be remixed.
The official title of the remix is “Elvis vs. JXL – A Little Less Conversation.” Presley’s vocals were left intact.
The original version was used in the 2001 remake of the movie Ocean’s Eleven, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts.
Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, was born the year this was released.
The remix helped introduce Elvis to a younger generation. The memory of Elvis also got a boost when 8 of his songs were used in the Disney movie Lilo And Stitch around the same time.
Former Vermont governor Howard Dean used this as his campaign song when he ran for the Democratic nomination in 2003. His message was that he was a man of action, not words. Another candidate considered the song, but decided it had too much sexual innuendo.
This is used as the theme song to the television show Las Vegas.
Mitt Romney used this as his campaign song when he ran for president of the United States in 2008. According to Romney staffer Alex Burgos, this song “Underscores Governor Romney’s promise to bring change to a broken Washington. He believes there needs to be more action to address our nation’s challenges, with less talk and partisan bickering.”
A Little Less Conversation
A little less conversation, a little more action, please All this aggravation ain’t satisfactioning me A little more bite and a little less bark A little less fight and a little more spark Close your mouth and open up your heart and, baby, satisfy me Satisfy me, baby
Baby, close your eyes and listen to the music Drifting through a summer breeze It’s a groovy night and I can show you how to use it Come along with me and put your mind at ease A little less conversation, a little more action, please All this aggravation ain’t satisfactioning me A little more bite and a little less bark A little less fight and a little more spark
Close your mouth and open up your heart and, baby, satisfy me (Satisfy me) Satisfy me baby (satisfy me) Come on, baby, I’m tired of talking Grab your coat and let’s start walking Come on, come on (come on, come on) Come on, come on (come on, come on) Come on, come on (come on, come on)
Don’t procrastinate, don’t articulate Girl, it’s getting late, gettin’ upset waitin’ around A little less conversation, a little more action, please All this aggravation ain’t satisfactioning me A little more bite and a little less bark A little less fight and a little more spark Close your mouth and open up your heart and, baby, satisfy me (Satisfy me) Satisfy me baby (satisfy me)
Come on, baby, I’m tired of talking Grab your coat and let’s start walking Come on, come on (come on, come on) Come on, come on (come on, come on) Come on, come on (come on, come on)
Don’t procrastinate, don’t articulate Girl, it’s getting late, gettin’ upset waitin’ around A little less conversation, a little more action, please All this aggravation ain’t satisfactioning me A little more bite and a little less bark A little less fight and a little more spark Close your mouth and open up your heart and, baby, satisfy me (Satisfy me) Satisfy me (satisfy me)
I could write pages on this show but I’ll keep it short.
I’ve covered a lot of cartoons but this one is special. This Simpsons is probably my favorite of all time. It has influenced countless TV shows. This show appealed to young and older audiences alike.
The Simpsons was created by Matt Groening, who thought of the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks’s office. He named the characters after his own family members, substituting “Bart” for his own name. The family debuted as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. In 1989, the shorts were spun off into the series The Simpsons which debuted on December 17, 1989.
The family members’ animated bodies have changed shape a bit since, but they have not aged much, aside from shows that looked into characters’ futures. In fact, most people would agree that Matt Groening’s goofy humor hasn’t gotten old either.
The town of Springfield has a cast of characters that really made the show. You get to know them weekly from Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Disco Stu, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Moe Szyslak, Marge, Lisa, and the list goes on.
Other shows such as Family Guy, American Dad, and South Park were influenced by The Simpsons but they are cruder and use more shock value. Nothing wrong with that but I always thought the Simpsons was more clever. The two cartoons that I have really liked since the Simpsons started are King of the Hill and Futurama, the later also created by Groening.
In the early stages, the show revolved around the young Bart Simpson’s trouble-causing antics, making it appeal to a younger crowd. Over the years, however, the writers, which have included Conan O’Brien, found viewers responded more to the father figure Homer Simpson, and he became the show’s main character.
In 2007, the family finally made its way to theaters in the Simpsons Movie.
The Simpsons have ran for 31 seasons and nearly 700 episodes (676 as of this writing). The show is the longest-running scripted series in TV history.
A few of the Catchphrases that have worked into our everyday life.
I was reading Jeremy in Hong Kong’s post about Negative Visualisation which was really interesting. It made me think of a line in this song “It’s not having what you want It’s wanting what you’ve got.” Check out the post if you can…
The song peaked at #15 in the Billboard 100, #24 in Canada, #19 in New Zealand, and #16 in the UK in 2002.
The song was on the C’mon, C’mon album that peaked at #2 in the Billbord Album Charts. During the Glastonbury Festival in June 2019, Sheryl Crow dedicated the song to Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
In the video, Sheryl Crow showed off more skin than she ever had before. She also posed provocatively for the cover of Stuff magazine around the time this was released. She said she did it to prove that women over the age of 40 could still be sexy.
Songfacts
Crow’s co-writer, Jeff Trott, came up with the idea for this on a flight from Portland, Oregon, to New York. He told Songfacts: “I’m thinking this is really ironic that I’m leaving Portland being soaked in rain, and I’m actually going to New York to soak up some sun. I’m going to New York to soak up some sun. That’s got a ring to it. That’s kind of cool.
Then I started thinking about the sun, and I started thinking of these Beach Boys-style harmonies. On that five-hour flight, I had come up with the whole song completely in my head, not all the lyrics necessarily. I had a good chunk of the chorus of ‘Soak Up The Sun,’ but I had harmonies and everything all in my head, and I’m just having to scratch it down on a piece of paper.”
As Trott and Crow started working on the song together, they started talking about the then-recent Columbine shootings, where two students went on a killing spree at their high school before committing suicide.
“We kind of carried that over into the song as the voice of Sheryl as a young teenager with a lot of oddball friends who can’t really quite make out why people are the way they are,” Trott told us. “There’s a reference to ‘I’ve got my 45 on so I can rock on.’ The 45 on was like a kid with a gun, originally, and then we thought that’s a little scary.
We were talking about Columbine and we’re like okay I’ve got my 45 on, so I can rock on, like I can blast you guys. I’m going to blast all the people that are bugging me. That’s kind of where we were at with it, and then we said that’s just a little too… over the top.”
The video was part of a promotional deal with American Express. During the shoot, footage was also collected for an American Express commercial, which came out looking very similar to Crow’s video. American Express helped pay the production costs, hoping that viewers would remember their product every time they saw the video, since it looked so much like the commercial. MTV does not allow sponsors to pay for videos, but because the card never appeared in the video, they didn’t know about the deal and gave it plenty of airplay. Sting had a similar deal with Jaguar in his video for “Desert Rose.”
Crow had some high-profile help with the backing vocals on C’mon C’mon. Liz Phair sang backup on this track, and Stevie Nicks sang on the title track and “Diamond Road.” In 2001, Sheryl helped Stevie write and produce some of her album Trouble In Shangri-La.
This casual song about enjoying the simple things in life was very marketable for Crow, as it enjoyed success on pop radio and was a #1 on the Adult Top 40 chart.
Trott was shocked when he first saw the music video, which completely dulled the song’s edge and transformed it into a fun-in-the-sun surf song. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, Sheryl’s surfing. What the hell is that? It’s not even close to what it’s about.’
I think having Sheryl on a surfboard, being at the beach, is probably more palatable then having her in a trench coat shooting people in a lunch cafeteria. Not that I thought that that’s what the song was, but my impression from writing it was that it was much edgier than what came across. The video of course is like, hey, we’re having a holiday. We’re surfing. We’re catching some sun. Everything’s cool. Strum acoustic guitar. Like, wow! That’s not even close to what we thought it was about.”
Best Buy used this song in television commercials to pitch their electronic consumer goods, conveniently ignoring the song’s message of enjoying the simple things in life:
I don’t have digital
I don’t have diddly squat
It’s not having what you want
It’s wanting what you’ve got
Crow performed a kid-friendly version on Sesame Street in 2003, joining Elmo and the gang to sing about the adventures of the letter I in “I Soaks Up The Sun.”
Soak Up The Sun
My friend the communist Holds meetings in his RV I can’t afford his gas So I’m stuck here watching tv
I don’t have digital I don’t have diddly squat It’s not having what you want It’s wanting what you’ve got
I’m gonna soak up the sun I’m gonna tell everyone To lighten up, I’m gonna tell ’em that I’ve got no one to blame For every time I feel lame I’m looking up
I’m gonna soak up the sun I’m gonna soak up the sun
I’ve got a crummy job It don’t pay near enough To buy the things it takes To win me some of your love
Every time I turn around I’m looking up, you’re looking down Maybe something’s wrong with you That makes you act the way you do
I’m gonna soak up the sun I’m gonna tell everyone To lighten up, I’m gonna tell ’em that I’ve got no one to blame For every time I feel lame I’m looking up
I’m gonna soak up the sun While it’s still free I’m gonna soak up the sun Before it goes out on me
Don’t have no master suite But I’m still the king of me You have a fancy ride, but baby I’m the one who has the key
Every time I turn around I’m looking up, you’re looking down Maybe something’s wrong with you That makes you act the way you do Maybe I am crazy too
I’m gonna soak up the sun I’m gonna tell everyone To lighten up, I’m gonna tell ’em that I’ve got no one to blame For every time I feel lame I’m looking up
I’m gonna soak up the sun Got my 45 on So I can rock on
Unlike the Partridge Family Bus, I had better luck on this one. The story on the mechanical sharks they used…approximately 25 feet long is clear.
Everyone knows the great 1975 movie Jaws that made people think twice about going into the water. The movie stands up today. They had no CGI back then and had to use a mechanical shark for the scenes. All together they used 3 of them. All of them malfunctioned but they called all three of them “Bruce” after Steven Spielberg’s lawyer, Bruce Ramer.
When the movie was over they dumped all three fake sharks on the backlot and let them rot away…however they kept the mold and made a fourth Bruce out of fiberglass and hung him up at Universal Studios in 1976. It stayed there until 1990, that is when Universal cut him down and sent him away to the junkyard.
The junkyard (U Pick Parts) owner Sam Adlen didn’t consider Bruce junk and mounted him on poles until 2016 at his junkyard. Sam had died but his son Nathan Adlen sold the business and donated Bruce to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
Bruce mounted at the junkyard
Greg Nicotero had been a Jaws fan since the day he watched the movie with his mom in 1975. He had his picture taken with “Bruce” at Universal Studios in 1976 before Bruce’s journey to the Junkyard. He had been inspired to be a special effects person because of it. He took the job of restoring Bruce to his former glory.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures plans to unveil Bruce to the public soon. Although this Bruce wasn’t in the movie he was the last made of the original mold.
I would never bet against Bob doing anything. When one of my friends told me at the time that Dylan released a Christmas album…I thought he was kidding. Nope…and I liked it when I heard it.
“Must Be Santa” was written by Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks. The song was first released in 1960 by Mitch Miller. In 2009, Bob Dylan covered Brave Combo’s arrangement as part of his holiday album, Christmas in the Heart.
All of the profits from this album went towards Feeding America, Crisis and the World Food Program. In 2009, Dylan told Bill Flanagan that he had intended to make a Christmas record for sometime: “Yeah, every so often it has crossed my mind. The idea was first brought to me by Walter Yetnikoff, back when he was President of Columbia Records.”
Bob Dylan: “This version comes from a band called Brave Combo. Somebody sent their record to us for our radio show [Theme Time Radio Hour]. They’re a regional band out of Texas that takes regular songs and changes the way you think about them. You oughta hear their version of ‘Hey Jude.'”
From Songfacts
This song is reportedly based on a German drinking game, with the lyrics taking on a ‘call and answer’ structure: “Who’s got a beard/That’s long and white?/Santa’s got a beard/That’s long and white.” Dylan’s version intersperses the names of former US presidents into the list of Santa’s reindeers: “Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen/Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon/Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen/Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.”
The official video for this was directed by Nash Edgerto and features Dylan singing in a gray wig in the midst of a rather raucous Christmas house party.
Even though Dylan is Jewish, he told Flanagan he never felt left out at Christmastime: “…it’s so worldwide and everybody can relate to it in their own kind of way.” Dylan added his ideal Christmas dinner would consist of “Mashed potatoes and gravy, roast turkey and collard greens, turnip greens, biscuit dressing, corn bread and cranberry sauce.”
Bob Dylan – Must Be Santa
Who’s got a beard that’s long and white? Santa’s got a beard that’s long and white Who comes around on a special night? Santa comes around on a special night
Special Night, beard that’s white
Must be Santa Must be Santa Must be Santa, Santa Claus
Who wears boots and a suit of red? Santa wears boots and a suit of red
Who wears a long cap on his head? Santa wears a long cap on his head
Cap on head, suit that’s red Special night, beard that’s white
Must be Santa Must be Santa Must be Santa, Santa Claus
Who’s got a big red cherry nose? Santa’s got a big red cherry nose
Who laughs this way: “HO HO HO”? Santa laughs this way: “HO HO HO”
HO HO HO, cherry nose Cap on head, suit that’s red Special night, beard that’s white
Must be Santa Must be Santa Must be Santa, Santa Claus
Who very soon will come our way? Santa very soon will come our way
Eight little reindeer pull his sleigh? Santa’s little reindeer pull his sleigh
Reindeer sleigh, come our way HO HO HO, cherry nose Cap on head, suit that’s red Special night, beard that’s white
Must be Santa Must be Santa Must be Santa, Santa Claus
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton
Reindeer sleigh, come our way HO HO HO, cherry nose Cap on head, suit that’s red Special night, beard that’s white
Must be Santa Must be Santa Must be Santa, Santa Claus Must be Santa Must be Santa Must be Santa, Santa Claus
I’m not writing this to put down CD’s/Mp3’s or Vinyl…just wanted to know your opinion. There is room for both in today’s world. When we are on the go so much…the answer is easy…digital. When I take a walk every day I have my iPhone with my music and audiobooks. When I’m at home…I’m starting to more and more listen to vinyl.
I had a huge collection of albums and singles when I was younger. Unfortunately, many were lost during my early twenties moves from apartment to apartment. In the late nineties, I started to work in the IT field, so I drifted to CD/ digital for convenience if anything.
Slowly in the 2000s, I started to pull out the albums I still had and bought a turntable. Yes, I heard some scratches but some were immaculate. I noticed a difference right away and I then realized what warmth I had been missing with CD’s/mp3’s. I’ve heard some people say Digital serves the music. Vinyl serves the romantics…I don’t really agree with that. Yes, digital is clear…so clear you can hear things that weren’t meant to be heard…some sounds (tambourine, handclaps etc…) were meant to be lower in the mix to be felt more than heard.
One song that I noticed a lot of difference was “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles. The vinyl single when played, jumps out at you. When I heard it on CD it was flat and sterile. It’s hard to describe it in words but there was a sharpness and a rawness that was missing on the CD.
Earlier CD’s were heavily compressed…they have come a long way but it’s still a difference. The below video is quite long but he does mention that the record companies are making CDs more about high-end quality now than “loudness.”
I know MP3’s are not the ideal format for quality. Flac is one of the best formats I have found.
I am not an Audiophile nor do I play one on TV…I can listen to either format but I do know what vinyl lovers are talking about…what about you?
The Red Button is the collaboration between singer-songwriters Seth Swirsky and Mike Ruekberg. Their original songs have catchy hooks of the pop music of the ’60s and ’70s, yet still sound modern. They have released two albums – She’s About to Cross My Mind (2007) and As Far As Yesterday Goes (2011).
Cruel Girl has a sixties sound. charted at #1 on Little Steven’s Underground Garage radio show for the week of July 22, 2007, and was named the 2nd Best Song of 2007 by Popbang Radio
The two met in 2005 and hit it off immediately; both of them admiring each other’s songs and sharing a taste for vintage pop.
Cruel Girl
Cruel Girl why you gotta treat me like a fool girl Bring me down with everything you do girl Break my faithful little heart in two girl, cruel girl
I know that I should go I should walk away But when I think of how things were only yesterday It makes me stay You were so sweet when we first met Now you’re so bad to me I just can’t forget
You’re a cruel girl I’ll do anything you want to do girl I’ll believe that every lie is true girl I could never settle for a new girl, cruel girl
What keeps me standing here staying by your side When the way you treat me girl only hurts my pride I can’t lie I can’t forget the words you said You used to hold me now you hurt me instead
Everytime I walk away I end up running back to you It’s true Other girls would treat me better Why you gotta be so cruel. So cruel
You were so sweet when we first met But then your pretty face went straight to your head
Oh you’re a cruel girl No one else can hurt me like you do girl But you know I’ll always be your fool girl I could never settle for a new girl cruel girl You’re so cruel, you’re so cruel Just don’t ever tell me that we’re through Oh, you’re so cruel
This is more of a question than a post…just curious what you think.
I was commenting on A Sound Day and I asked Dave a question on a post about Michael Hutchinson of INXS. Who was the last Rock Star? Since Kurt Cobain died has there really been a rock star like we knew in the 60s and 70s to come along? Not counting older ones still around.
When I say rock star…I mean one comparable to the legends that we know… Between 1955 and 1994 there were plenty to pick from…Elvis, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Elton John, Sly Stone, Roger Waters, Prince, and the list could go on…These artists spoke to generations.
So no… Nickleback’s lead singer would not count.
The only two names I could think of was Dave Grohl and Jack White of the White Stripes. Someone who is known outside the world of Rock and Roll. I’m not sure Grohl and White would count either.
I read this book about Led Zeppelin over a year ago…and recently while waiting for a Beatles book to get released I went through it again. The book is much better than The Hammer Of The Gods released in the 80s. There are many things in this book that I didn’t know. Overall I liked it…but..
Mick Wall would do these interludes that are supposed to be some kind of interior monologue by the protagonists (but in second person). The book is well researched and he would be going along great and then all of a sudden he would try to get into each member’s head and have a monologue (in cockney many times) on what they were thinking at that moment…I don’t care how much you researched someone you do not know what they were thinking at that time.
He would sprinkle these monologues out so it’s not like they are the entire book but it was totally unnecessary to me…and it was annoying.
Here is a small example of a Jimmy Page interlude…and “G” is Led Zeppelin’s manager Peter Grant. Now it’s down to just the two of you, Jimmy and G. And of course, the name, for what it’s still worth: the Yardbirds. Or maybe the New Yardbirds – G’s suggestion. That way, at least, it won’t be like starting again from scratch, he says. Not entirely, anyway. And you can still get paying gigs. Keep the wolf from the door until you can come up with something better. That’s the plan anyway, this long, rainy summer of 1968…
From 1968 to 1980 Led Zeppelin were together and left a giant legacy and myth behind. The book is solid and I found out many things I didn’t already know. I am a fan of some of their music…the less indulgent side of them anyway. I’m not the person who wants to listen to a 25-minute live version of No Quarter.
The author does go in-depth about Page’s infatuation of black magic and the dark image of the band. He also goes into the songwriting and about how they got the sound they did…so he covers the personalities, the music, and events that happened.
Things were going great for them until 1975 when Robert Plant was in a car wreck with his family and from that point on everything started to go downhill. This book covers everything you would want and it covers what happened after John Bonham died. They did think about regrouping many times through the decades but it was always Robert who had doubts…and after what he went through I cannot blame him. His wife was almost killed in the car wreck and Plant’s leg was badly hurt…then when he recovered his young son (Karac) died of a stomach virus and 3 years later Bonham died.
After Zeppelin unlike Plant and Jones, Jimmy Page didn’t adjust as well to life without the band. The book was written in 2009 and he does cover the O2 Arena reunion.
If you are a Led Zeppelin fan or a fan of classic rock through the seventies…this is a good book. Out of five stars, I would give it 3.75 out of 5 for the information it gives…without the monologues, I would consider a 5.
The Regrettes are a band from Los Angeles. They have been described as “girl-group power-pop-punk.”
They are worth checking out. They do have typical older teenage rebellion lyrics but they have some punch. They are having some success in California and are about to tour Europe. I do like the way they handled this cover of the classic Sweet song. The Regrettes released their second studio album, How Do You Love? in August of this year.
From Allmusic by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Led by singer/songwriter Lydia Night, the Regrettes were all in their teens when they released their first singles in 2016. All three singles — “A Living Human Girl,” “Hey Now,” and “Hot” — show the Los Angeles-based quartet demonstrate a pop sense so keen, it could be called classicist if it weren’t for the nervy, punky energy and teenage rebellion that keep this music fresh.
Night formed the Regrettes with guitarist Genessa Gariano, bassist Sage Nicole, and drummer Maxx Morando in 2015. Night started playing guitar and writing songs when she was six, picking up pointers from classic rock and punk played around the house. She wound up enrolling in Los Angeles’ School of Rock program around the age of 12, which is when she first met Gariano and Nicole, but the Regrettes weren’t formed until late 2015. By that point, Night had several originals under her belt, all of which helped get the band signed to Warner Bros. “A Living Human Girl” appeared in the summer of 2016, followed by “Hey Now” and “Hot,” all teasers for their full-length debut, Feel Your Feelings Fool!, released by Warner in early 2017.
Early in 2018, the Regrettes released the EP Attention Seeker. A handful of singles followed that year, including “California Friends” and “Poor Boy,” continuing into 2019 with a cover of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Throughout the first half of the year, they issued several singles previewing their sophomore full-length, including “Pumpkin,” “Dress Up,” and “I Dare You.” Titled How Do You Love?, the album was released by Warner that August.
Regrettes cover Sweet’s Fox On The Run on the A.V Undercover Web Series
Fox on the Run
I don’t wanna know your name ‘Cause you don’t look the same The way you did before Okay, you think you got a pretty face But the rest of you is out of place You looked alright before
Fox on the run You scream and everybody comes a running Take a run and hide yourself away Foxy on the run F-foxy Fox on the run And hide away
You, you talk about just every band But the names you drop are second hand (second hand) I’ve heard it all before I don’t wanna know your name ‘Cause you don’t look the same The way you did before
Fox on the run You scream and everybody comes a running Take a run and hide yourself away Foxy on the run F-foxy Fox on the run And hide away
F-foxy Fox on the run You scream and everybody comes a running Take a run and hide yourself away Foxy is on the run F-foxy Fox on the run And hide away (Fox on the run) (Fox on the run) (Fox on the run) (Fox on the run)
