"The JammyBastard Predicament"

First book done! (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:25:39 -0600

First book done! (Taken with instagram)

First Lesson (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:23:26 -0600

First Lesson (Taken with instagram)

Cleaning out the files #2 (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:35:18 -0600

Cleaning out the files #2 (Taken with instagram)

Breaking down The Grammy Awards 2012.

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:29:51 -0600

To many music fans the annual Grammy Awards garner a love/hate reaction.
The show often features the best and the worst trends of the music industry.

To the cultured eye they can also reveal which artists are actually building/sustaining careers vs. those who are, as David Lee Roth is fond of saying, “here today, gone later today”.

This year’s Grammys had a bit of both. As someone who plays music, buys music, and works within the industry I thought I’d share my observations on this years show.

Disclaimer: By no means do I present myself as an expert, or some authority figure on what is “good” music and what “bad” music is. That’s up to you to decide. These are my observations on the show, and all that it entailed.

1. Bruce has too many ppl onstage. I want a “lean, rocking” EStreet, not the “Up With People” EStreet, especially for this song.

2. Bruno Mars. Ok, we’re doing the updated Motown throwback right? So it’s cool but very safe. The kid’s got spunk, swagger and does a good approximation of Jackie Robinson in his prime. Could be worse I guess.
BTW - in the “retro/throwback” category I prefer Janelle Monae and her take on Motown & James Brown. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzFHYbQqdM0)

3. The Foos. Rock’s last great hope? Good on Dave for selling the merits of people writing and playing music, recording to analog, recording in your garage, etc…makes me want to bust out my Tascam 424, plug in an SM57 and turn the amps up to “11”.
Best part of the Foos records & live was that they ditched the Mesa Boogie backline. Vox & Fender all the way.
How abut Butch “fucking” Vig. How many top 10 rock albums & Grammy winners has he produced the past 5-10 years. He’s the stealth bomber of producers. No ego, no bs, just does his thing and delivers.

4. True Story! My 6 yr. old daughter is getting ready for school this AM. I’m watching the Grammy’s and Rhianna comes on. My daughter starts singing “We Found Love” along with her at the top of her lungs while getting her snowpants on . She knows every word. My wife asks her, “how do you know that?” My daughter says, “oh I heard it on the bus, the driver has the radio on sometimes.”
Boom! New marketing idea! Paying school districts money to pump top 40 playlists into buses & create a whole new genration of pop music buyers in the process.

5. Coldplay needs to take a break.

6. The Beach Boys segment was awkward, espec. the Ryan Seacrest interruption to wheel Brian out.
a) I give Maroon 5 a pass because Adam can sing.
b) Foster the People were way out of place on that stage. Funny to watch them play while there’s a whole band of pro’s behind them singing and playing. Which do you think we really heard in the mix?
c) looks like it’s Brian’s touring band is backing the “Boys” now?
d) Overall the one band I don’t want to see return is The Beach Boys. Part of that is my dislike of Mike Love and all he represents. The other part is based on the fact that
Brian’s work in the past 5 years really capped their career in a very appropriate way.
He toured with a band that recreated the albums perfectly and without all drama of the past.
Add to that they release of the original “Smile” and there’s nothing left to say.

7. Macca can do whatever the fuck he wants. He’s a Beatle, and that means he gets a pass…ok, maybe not for “Say, Say, Say”.

8. Gil Scott Heron won a lifetime Grammy. Couldn’t fucking believe it. Better late than never eh? But the revolution is still not being televised. It’s being webcast, or posted on YouTube, at least until the gov’t silences that as well with SOPA/PIPA.

9. Taylor Swift. Voice sounds better. Fine song, bizarre looking set though and that dance/lean thing at the bridge was awkward. The constant closeups are aesthetically painful to watch.
I’d tell her that if you want to tell someone to “fuck off”? Don’t mug for the camera. Makes you look like more of a kid than you are.
It would have been nice to see her do that song the way they presented Adele. Black dress, muted background, etc…
Guitar nerd point: she’s playing banjo with open guitar chords and that banjo is not in the mix.

10. Katy Perry is over. You heard it here first.

11. Adele. Again, the Brits steal our music (blues, gospel, jazz) because we are too busy pushing low hanging fruit like Katy Perry & Taylor Swift.
Compare the US/UK top selling female artists from the past few years:
Winehouse, Duffy, Adele.
vs.
Swift, Perry, Gaga, etc…

See the difference?
The Brits make soul music for all ages.
The Americans make pop music for tweens.

Which leads me to…

We always hear, “Where’s the next great artist that’s going to save the industry?”
What I think we really should be asking is, “Where’s the next great A&R/executive/label pres./producer that’s going to save the industry?”
Wheres’s the next Jac Holzman? Where’s the next Ahmet Ertegun?
Where’s the generation of guys and gals who know how to support and guide artists?
Who have great ears, patience and aren’t afraid to make great music that may seem out of the norm but is still rooted in the traditions of blue/jazz/country/rock music?
Without them the artists & the business cannot grow and flourish.

12. I love Glen Campbell. Member of the Wrecking Crew. Solo star. Crazy drug addict. Rhinestone Cowboy. “as he slowly walked by, a weeping willow would cry”. ‘nuff said. (who’s the hot blonde on the banjo behind Blake Shelton? woof!)

13. Bon Iver bigs up Eau Claire, WI! Take that Silver Lake and the Palisades!

14. Jennifer Hudson made me cry. She got her start singing at funerals and I’m sorry to see her drafted in to do it one more time.

15. EDM mashup? Looks like every night in the tents at Coachella. The Foos again? WTF? Oh yeah, the Deadmau5 remix of “Rope”. Ok, that sort of worked.
One thing is for sure, the crowd in that tent is way more excited to be there than the crowd in the Staples.

16. Minaj trying to be Madonna, circa ‘91. Fail.

17. Adele wins Album of the Year.
Did anyone notice who stood behind her during her speech?
Dan Wilson. He’s from Minneapolis.
He wrote “Rolling in the Deep” with her.
If you’ve been around awhile you might know his previous work.
Trip Shakespeare?
How about Semisonic’s “Closing Time”.
Yeah, he was the lead singer of Semisonic.
Amazing huh?
What a journey he is on.
Well done Dan.

18. Macca encore. Again, he’s a Beatle. Straight up OG. Can do no wrong, but I think we’re going to have to start realizing he’s not going to to be with us forever.
See him while you still can.

Peace

BTW - you’ll notice I didn’t link to any audio or video in this post. That was on purpose, to highlight the fact that if internet censorship laws like SOPA & PIPA ever pass you will never see a YouTube video or audio file linked to on a blog like this again.

Dynamic Duo (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:42:25 -0600

Dynamic Duo (Taken with instagram)

Her Hawtness! (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:39:59 -0600

Her Hawtness! (Taken with instagram)

Bug girl! (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:36:24 -0600

Bug girl! (Taken with instagram)

My three girls (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:35:06 -0600

My three girls (Taken with instagram)

Staring Contest (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:33:19 -0600

Staring Contest (Taken with instagram)

Guzel y Irisee (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:07:48 -0600

Guzel y Irisee (Taken with instagram)

The Wedding Crashers Redux (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:45:58 -0600

The Wedding Crashers Redux (Taken with instagram)

Pre-wedding confab (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:42:20 -0600

Pre-wedding confab (Taken with instagram)

“Rowr” (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:40:20 -0600

“Rowr” (Taken with instagram)

Well Worn Saddle (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:53:40 -0600

Well Worn Saddle (Taken with instagram)

Rosie & I at the busstop (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:47:28 -0600

Rosie & I at the busstop (Taken with instagram)

The Atomic Punks are BACK!!!!!

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:39:29 -0600

It’s leaked. Yes, I downloaded it and IMHO it’s actually worth buying. I was worried it would be shit. It’s not. It rocks.

Fair Warning: The worst song on it is the single “Tattoo” so don’t judge a album by it’s single.

PRO:

1. The good thing about it is that it’s pretty punk, as in the “Atomic” variety. It’s fast, it’s got energy. It never coasts. Remember “I’m the One” and “Mean Streets”? That kind of energy. It demands to be played loud.

2. It’s got swagger, sass, ridiculous guitar playing, even more ridiculous lyrics, and plenty of DLR whoopin’ an hollering. (minus the DLR camp though) Yes, DLR’s range is limited but they do a great job with it and don’t make him sound like Kanye or T-Pain.

3. There’s some seriously great grooves on it. It doesn’t sound “Pro Tooled” to death. It swings in spots like old VH did. At least 2 of the songs are from the 70’s, demo’d but never released, and they have that “classic” sound down to the background vocals.

4.The guitar playing is outstanding as is the bass playing.

This is a big deal if you’ve been following VH and EVH since ‘80 like I have.
The past few years have not been good for VH fans.

Like many I thought Ed was dead, had nothing left to say. Most guys like him don’t come back with something fresh, new, and still sounding aggro like they did in ‘77. He does. It’s actually a relief to hear him play this well.

5. Alex Van Halen hits the bell of a ride cymbal like no-one else. I fucking love that sound and especially the snare which sounds deep but pitched up with a nice, full crack to it.

6. It’s sounds like VH. They aren’t trend hopping, trying to cop to the latest whatever, etc…it’s classic VH. At no point on this album do they sound like they hate being over 50 or that it’s a hinderance.

Yeah, it’s not as irreverent or playfully lewd as the old days, but it also doesn’t sound like a bunch of singles written for AOR radio like the Hagar-era did. It’s got a bit of a the “party rock” thing, but with maturity. It doesn’t insult or pander to radio except for “Tattoo” which is why it sounds so out of place.

As a old VH fan some songs of the Hagar-era, like “Summer Nights” on 5150, really grated. Hagar, late 30’s in ‘86, was trying to sound like a 16 yo kid which I found disingenuous. Contrast that to “Blood and Fire” on the new album which is about all the shit they’ve seen and lived to tell about it.

CON:

1. Ed’s tone is over processed. There’s a bit of his mid-late 80s sound in there when he ditched his Marshalls and went rack with a Harmonizer in tow. Ugh. Hated it then, hate it now.

2. The bass playing is unbelievable, which makes me wonder who played it. If it is indeed Ed’s son Wolfie then the kid a virtuoso on the Billy Sheehan/Stu Hamm level. There are some crazy runs the bass does within the grooves on a number of songs that sound like the vocabulary of an old school session guy and not a young kid.

3. No Michael Anthony bg vocals. While there are songs with stacked bg vocals it’s DLR that has to carry the weight and that’s not good. Without Michael Anthony’s voice on the tracks you realize how much he carried DLR in the past and was integral to the classic VH sound.

The Verdict?

Overall I’d give it an 8 out of 10. .5 of that is sentimental, the rest they earn. Fave tracks after 3 listens: “Chinatown” & “Bullethead’ (which may be VH’s first shot at a political song.)

Hopefully they’ll play alot of these songs on their upcoming tour!

Check out this vid of them playing “You Really Got Me” acoustic in their rehearsal space.

http://vimeo.com/35143278

My smile was missing, luckily Lucinda made up for it. (Taken...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:50:00 -0600

My smile was missing, luckily Lucinda made up for it. (Taken with Instagram at The Kohl Center)

Scoreboard Ops (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:46:38 -0600

Scoreboard Ops (Taken with instagram)

Lucy & EZCanCam! Wonder Twin Powers Activate! (Taken with...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:59:52 -0600

Lucy & EZCanCam! Wonder Twin Powers Activate! (Taken with Instagram at The Kohl Center)

Tigger! (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:10:03 -0600

Tigger! (Taken with instagram)