Tag: music

It was the best of bands, it was the worst of bands

So, Muriel Spark died after a long and illustrious career. I was reminded that the band Public Image Ltd. named themselves after a novel of hers, which then made me think about literary-rock connections. I started to make a list in my head of Musical Groups Named After Things Literary. Add any you can think of! Note: I cheated and used Wikipedia for some of these. I’m not quite that smart!

Public Image
The Soft Machine
Steely Dan
The Boo Radleys
The Velvet Underground
Pere Ubu
The Thompson Twins
Aerosmith (disputed)
Steppenwolf
The Grifters
Heaven 17
Love and Rockets
Eyeless in Gaza (double Huxley/Milton score as pointed out by someone else)
As I Lay Dying
Veruca Salt
The Grapes of Wrath
Collective Soul
The Doors (double Huxley/Blake score)
The Fall
Hot Water Music
Moby

O tempura! O morays!

  1. Old school artpunk/noise/guitar band Mission of Burma has a site for their next album, The Obliterati that includes a wiki, a song-by-song revelation of the new record, and links to Matador’s subscription setup. Snazzy!
  2. Surprise! If the drug company funds the story, they get the result they want a lot of the time. Meanwhile the more effective medication is out of patent and not used. Oops.
  3. When a person becomes a millionaire, some things just have to change. The shoes. The house. The car. The spouse. And, of course, the email service. I wonder how much they’ll charge for the list of 10,000 people who paid $400 a month for webmail? Talk about an ultimate sucker list.
  4. Watch Hugo Chavez bitch out Dubbya in broken English (.wmv video). Streaming quicktime mirror on my site as well.
  5. As jwz said, if you are a compulsive knot untier, this game will eat you. You’re welcome!

Arthur Lee needs your Love

This was received from Mike Watt:

Arthur Lee from Love has recently been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and has undergone 3 weeks of aggressive chemotherapy. Doctors are hopeful for a full recovery, but Arthur still faces more chemo, extensive hospital stays, and a possible bone marrow transplant. Arthur Lee has no health insurance to cover his growing (over $100,000+) medical bills.

Arthur Lee (Love) is a man larger than life. A flamboyant artist with a trail of myth and mythology that follows him like a purple feathered boa. His band Love was the first rock band signed to Electra, and Arthur is responsible for talking Jac Holtzman into signing the Doors. Before all this, in 1964, Arthur gave his friend, an unknown Jimi Hendrix, his first appearance on record (the Arthur penned My Diary, by Rosa Lee Brooks). Love’s third recording, “Forever Changes”, is still widely considered to be one of the great rock n roll discs of all time. Love were true artists, but not “careerist”. They preferred living together in “the castle” near Griffith Park, to life on the road. Arthur even turned down invitations to perform at the Monterrey Pop Festival and Woodstock.

In the 90’s Arthur spent eight years behind bars for “allegedly” shooting off a gun in his apartment. When he was released, he wasted no time getting back to the road and his music. During the past four years, Arthur has performed “Forever Changes” to sold out audiences and fantastic reviews throughout Europe and the United States, backed by the local group Baby Lemonade, and a string and horn section. Just when he thought his bad times were finally over, he learned he was sick.

To help cover his medical expenses, Spaceland Productions, Bruce Solar from The Agency Group, and Mark Linn from Delmore Recording Society are producing a benefit concert / tribute for Arthur. We would like to extend a warm invitation to those bands and performers who want to be part of this benefit to honor one of the greatest singer / songwriters of our time.

The concert will be held in late May / early June; we are looking at venues of all sizes: The Avalon, El Rey, Disney Hall, or Greek Theatre with the line up determining the location. Artists we are currently speaking with include X, Calexico, and Cake. Baby Lemonade is available to back up any singer and there will be a string section as well.

We are looking for artists to perform a few of Arthur’s songs that capture the spirit and magic of Arthur Lee & Love. All proceeds will go to Arthur’s medical expenses.

For further information please contact:

Mitchell Frank or Liz Garo: 323 662 7728
Bruce Solar: 310 385 2800
Mark Linn: 615 480 6923

Thank you.

Stuart Saves Rock ‘n’ Roll

changeng has been a hero to me for some time, because he does music exactly how he wants and is a superstar. Also because he can do the weirdest versions of songs with the funniest and most unlikely instrumentation and do them really well, not just the tacked-together way a novelty artist would.

Monkey, toy piano, xylophone, slinky, whatever it takes, Stuart will use it.

So anyway he’s saving rock ‘n’ roll, and I urge you to read this account of his gig at the Lords of Chaos tour. This is a NuMetal/pop punk tour for The Kids These Days: Atreyu, Deftones, Thrice, Story of the Year. Not what you’d recommend for a guy who plays “When Doves Cry” on a hurdy-gurdy. But this is Stuart and he’s magic.

Looks like he wins! Damn. Maybe there’s hope after all.