hoyt axton

Flop Eared Mule has mentioned Tom Russell Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs (Hightone Records) several times now. Amanda's latest review has convinced me to get the album.

Its great to see her mention picking up a cheap CD of of Hoyt Axton.


Composer of Heartbreak Hotel with composer of Joy to The World

On first hearing Steppenwolf I was smitten and I think I first saw the name Hoyt Axton on a 4 track Steppenwolf EP with “Pusherman” (Axton) "Sookie Sookie" (Steve Cropper and Don Covay) and two other tracks, one of which I assume was “Born to Be Wild” . I have no idea of the other track just now. (I still have the EP but its "packed away").

When I saw the writer as Hoyt Axton I was sure it was one of those made up names like Nanker Phelge. At some stage in my hep cat geekery it occurred to me that that Axton might be related to the composer of Heartbreak Hotel also called Axton.

One of my many joyous discoveries was to find that Hoyt Axton was real and it was his mum who wrote that most radical pop song of all time Heartbreak Hotel. The story goes that Tommy Durden wrote the lyrics as a ballad but then Mae Axton wrote the music with Elvis in mind.

Hoyt wrote huge hits in Greenback Dollar taken to No1 by The Kingston Trio (who also recorded Blowin' in The Wind) and Joy To The World also taken to No1 by Three Dog Night. For a long time my favourite album of his was Less Than The Song from around 1973. There wouldnt be many people of a certain age who couldn't remember and sing along with Greenback Dollar and Joy to the World.

Now, as is common after reading Flop Eared Mule, I have many things to do:

Buy the Tom Russell CD
Get out the Steppenwolf EP and whack it in the jukebox
Slap the Hoyt Axton LP on the turntable
Listen to Elvis doing Heartbreak Hotel yet again and marvel

The Axtons - what a great mother and son.

i got george jones on the jukebox and you on my mind...

Amanda over at the country music in Sydney blog Flop Eared Mule highlights a piece by Oz music writer Iain Shedden in praise and defence of country music.

Amanda makes an important point about narrative:

“People laugh, but I like country music for the same reason I like opera. I am a narrative junkie. Classical music I can appreciate, but opera I love and opera is classical music with a story. ......  And the stories trotted out in opera are no less corny than in any twang-soaked tears-in-my-beers number.”
 
Amanda goes on to make a few more points and take issue with some of Shedden’s sniffier hipster dismissal of some more popular artists such as "overnight success" The Dixie Chicks who first appeared on Prairie Home Companion in 1991. She also neatly corrects him on the Hank wasn’t appreciated line.

Both Shedden and Flop Eared Mule refer to an article on country by Polly Coufus at Real Country blog titled Proud of my country in a down-to-earth way.

Polly is the Editor of X-Press Magazine. Which bills itself as:  Australia's first and largest street press. The magazine is available for FREE at over 1000 outlets throughout WA every Thursday and X-Press has been on WA streets for more than 18 years.

rock 'n' roll robert johnson greil marcus

Irant over at Immanuel Rant takes Greil Marcus to task for the hero worship of Robert Johnson in the quotes I used here a while back.

Irant says:

"... Johnson's music was refinements. Amazing refinements at that but he built on an existing tradition to be sure. In addition, Marcus' comments ultimately denigrate the recordings made in the '60s during the great blues revival. In this age with the technology available at the time some definitive recordings were made. Son House's recording of "Death Letter" in 1964 ranks as one of the greatest blues performances ever. It is not perfunctory. It is not a footnote. It is not a refinement. It is a living, breathing testament to grief and loss. Marcus be damned in his hero worship of Johnson.
As for Johnson being the first rock'n'roller, he wasn't. If Johnson had lived and formed a band he would of been a protean vision of Chicago blues at best (and Chicago blues was heavily dependant on a interesting mix of musicians). Of course that was left up to one McKinley Morganfield a student of both Son House and Johnson to discover the heady brew (and rock'n'roll didn't really get going to it discovered Chicago blues). " [..more..]

It was at the Immanuel page that I discovered this link to a piece about Jimi and Johnson based on Marcus's writings.

Down the bottom, in a footnote, writer Nicholas Taylor makes this interesting statement about Marcus:
 
(Note: Greil Marcus's writings on the blues and Robert Johnson are a necessity for any lover of blues and rock. In addition to his incisive critical abilities, putting these artists in the grand pantheon of American thinkers along with Emerson, Whitman, Melville, and Twain, his writing matches the music he writes about in its passion and inventiveness. To check out his work, see Mystery Train (New York: Dutton, 1975), and "When You Walk In The Room", in *The Dustbin Of History* (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996).

los lobos - the ride

Do yourself a favour.
 Los Lobos  The Ride is the best of 2004 so far, although I've yet to get my own copy of Dr John's latest  "N'Awlinz: Dis Dat or d'Udda.

For various reasons I was listening to Los Lobos on my Koss TD70 Headphones tonight and its even more alive than listening through the Yamaha NS10's in my office. (You can buy a pair of NS10's on e-bay for usa$690 atm). Plugged into a vintage Luxman R1040 by way of a Pioneer PD 104.

Enough of the audio geeking.
This Los Lobos album gets better each listening. Usually I cringe when I see the addition of famous "guest artists" on an album. However the east angelenos pull it off with a diverse range of talent such as Elvis Costello, Mavis Staples, Bobby Womack, Tom Waits, Rueben Blades and Richard Thompson. It still sounds like a good Los Lobos album despite all these powerful voices, who matched with any other band could have stolen the show by making each song the singer's not the band's and detracting from the Los Lobos feel.

sudan - darfur: another ruwanda

It was about time to do some reading and link gathering on Sudan - Darfur where I fear the Ruwanda we weren't going to let happen again is about to happen again.
However I moused on over to Robert Corr at Kick & Scream and I find he has pulled together a better lot of information, with maps and background, than I could. So my advice is to do what I did and pop over to his site and read about Sudan - Darfur. Thanks Robert.

9-11 commission report

Currently reading: 
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission).

The whole 7.4mb is available as a .pdf here.      It is also available in smaller sections.

Its a great read and gave me a better insight into al-qida, the USA and what we need to do about the big picture, Wahibists and fundamentalists terrorists.

nowhere woman

Found this at Arts & Letters Daily.

If women want men to do their fair share, they have to insist on it. No use to make other women do the work.... more»

Its a Review by Zelda Bronstein of: Global Woman : Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy, edited by Arlie Russell Hochschild,and Barbara Ehrenreich.

not just that clark kiwi lady

"You're an anti-Semite, a racist and a clown".

Now who could have said that? And to whom? A candidate for Blogger comment of the year? Nope.

How about Justice Minister Yosef Lapid and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. Both  hurled insults at each other during a June 2004  cabinet meeting, with Lapid calling Shalom an anti-Semite and Shalom calling Lapid a racist. [..more..]

its all so normal

Ever wondered what happened to Jim Rose and the Circus. Hes retired in  Maui in Hawaii and playing poker. The last ever Jim Rose Circus performance was in New York in December 2002. After that his ever-changing troupe of performers slid silently away:  
 
“Torture King went off and started another show. It bombed. Lifto and I are still good friends, but I can’t get a hold of him. The Tube is a pharmacist in Seattle and designs furniture. The Enigma is doing tattoo work in some town somewhere in Texas. The Mexican transvestite wrestlers went back to Tijuana and I think they are still wrestling there. And the contortionist is in a rock and roll band somewhere.” [..more..]

comments completely ceased crafting

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog on the advice of Chris Sheil as it is  "more user friendly".
Not this user.
Haloscan has disappeared all my comments.

As we all know a blog without comments is like a condom without a filling.  A lot of potential but no substance.
Feel free to re comment.

rock 'n' roll redundo

Chris Sheil successfully pours scorn on the notion that the 5th of July 1954 was the beginning of rock. Given that I am somewhat responsible for triggering his current inspirational rant about the rash of articles about the 50th anniversary of rock and roll I thought that I should add to the general confusion.

In the mass awareness and influence stakes, Stanley Booth, in Rhythm Oil- A Journey Through the Music of the American South, claims that Carl Perkins Blue Suede Shoes, in 1956, was the first record to reach the top of the pop, rhythm and blues, and country charts. Greil Marcus backs him up saying " ..Blue Suede Shoes momentarily suggested that all sectors of American society could sing the same song - suggested it because, for a moment, they did"

Carl Belz, makes the rarely quoted claim that the first rock record in the above mentioned mass stakes is really the Chords original 1954 version of “Sh-Boom” making the top ten of the pop charts, after earlier charting on R&B charts. Belz acknowledges the Crows with “Gee” achieved the same crossover effort a bit earlier but never climbed the heights or reached as far geographically and demographically as the Chords.

As to who started it musically. Marcus clearly believes "a good musical case can be made for Johnson as the first rock n roller". Robert Johnson recorded in 1936 -37. Suggesting that Johnson had put together a band with drums and electric pickup on his guitar just before his death in 1938 Marcus goes on to say that Johnson “ would have been making music recognisable as rock n roll – full blown, not protean rock n roll- at least by 1938.”

Because he is one of my listening favourites and also because of the sax sound and placement I sometimes like to argue that Louis Jordan was the main man. Caldonia was a crossover from No 1 R&B to top ten pop charts in 1945.

The truth is, as Chris Sheil says, that the beginnings are lost in the mists of time. In fact I believe that is really the point of the best of the Greil Marcus writings. That it really is not possible or desirable to pick one beginning. Rock and roll is a convergence of overlapping and crossovers, black, white, creole, country, blues, big band, jump, pop and more. The only ingredient that I can be sure was essential to rock and roll is electricity.

On the other hand – if I can just find that Buddy Bolden recording maybe I’ll be the one to nail it.

tony abbott - the challenge

Heres a challenge I'll bet Tony Abbott isn't game to take up.

One day when former Australian Union of Students official Julia Gillard is talking in the house I challenge Abbott to walk over and grab her on the arse. Just like he did to Helen Wilson, when she was an Australian Union of Students official, as described in the court case some years ago. Lets see if hes still game. Double dare.
..

big breast battalions to beat brigands

Bigger breasts offered as perk to soldiers

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The U.S. Army has long lured recruits with the slogan "Be All You Can Be," but now soldiers and their families can receive plastic surgery, including breast enlargements, on the taxpayers' dime.

The New Yorker magazine reports in its July 26th edition that members of all four branches of the U.S. military can get face-lifts, breast enlargements, liposuction and nose jobs for free -- something the military says helps surgeons practice their skills.

"Anyone wearing a uniform is eligible," Dr. Bob Lyons, chief of plastic surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio told the magazine, which said soldiers needed the approval of their commanding officers to get the time off.

Between 2000 and 2003, military doctors performed 496 breast enlargements and 1,361 liposuction surgeries on soldiers and their dependents, the magazine said.

The magazine quoted an Army spokeswoman as saying, "the surgeons have to have someone to practice on."

garlic

Cooking one of my special winter recipes, baked or roasted capsicums and onions and garlic and olive oil and tomatoe topped with fetta,  I notice, yet again, that the garlic is from China and has gone all soft and squishy. What happened to the good old Australian garlic that stayed sharp and tasty and hard for a long time just like the me? The new bunch in the net bag is SINGLE CLOVE.  WTF? I've never heard of single clove garlic until now. Its like a small shallot and seems firm enough now. But they all do when fresh. I've hung the bag on the hook near the stove and I'll see how it lasts. I might pop over to Anthony's page and ask his opinion.

dating and dancing - objectively

The 70's rock trio Rush are still on the road. Influenced by Ayn Rand they adapted the storyline from Rand's novelette Anthem for the title track on their album 2112. Perhaps this explains Rush's music.
 
Need to know more about "Prog" rock?   Mike McLatchey has A Guide to the Progressive Rock Genres. That will tell you more than anyone ever wanted to know about genres within genres within a genre. 
 
This below is enough to make one laugh or at least smirk immaturely.  Capitalists par excellence, the Objectivists didn't secure copyright, one of their holy grails, for Anthem. Consequently it is available freely in full text and as a Palm download on the net. Don't bother. 
   
"To Whom it May Concern:
The copyright on _Anthem_, by Ayn Rand, was inadvertently not renewed in the United States during her lifetime.  However, _Anthem_ is still protected by the Berne Convention, which protects the work for the life of the author plus seventy-five years internationally.

By its nature the internet is an international medium.  The posting of _Anthem_ on the internet is therefore a violation of copyright, if done without the permission of the Estate.  In accordance with Ayn Rand's express wishes before her death, we cannot grant any such permission.

We would like you to remove this work from your site immediately.

Sincerely,
Jenniffer Woodson Estate of Ayn Rand "

ayn rand dating service

At last an online dating service for the intellectually superior, confident, non-altruistic, self interested, self assured, successful, thrusting, rational, wealthy, architects and railroad tycoons. The Altlasphere's  Online dating Service. No mixed economy wusses, skeptical waverers, tax urging collectivists, mystical god believers, Kantian nihilists or those weak of intellect need apply.  A Melbourne meet of online Rand(y) daters will be held next Friday. Come empty handed and take somone elses plate home.

keith richards short info

After wondering how many honeymoons Keith had I dug up this information. Clears up the birthday /recording / wedding dates too.
 
Full name: Keith Richards
Birthdate: December 18, 1943 at Dartford, Kent
Parents: Bert, an electrical engineer, Doris
Hair: Black  Eyes: Hazel  Tall: 5'9"
Education: Westhill Infant's School, Wentworth County Primary School, Dartford Grammar School, Sidcup Art School
Wives: Anita Pallenberg, a German actress (common law), and Patti Hansen (married December 18, 1983).
Musical background: Keith had a beautiful soprano voice, good enough to be heard in Westminster Abbey where he appeard in the choir. Little Boy Blue & The Blue Boys. First stage appearance with a country & western band (while in art school)
Activities: Was a childhood friend of Mick Jagger. During Christmas of 1961 he worked 4 days as a postman.

checkmate

The madness of Bobby Fischer had registered a few years ago when someone told me they had a tape of him on Manila Sports Radio DZSR  playing USA soul and R&B music and spouting forth anti-semetic and conspiracy rants.  This Atlantic Monthly 2002 article spelt it out in gory detail and now local blogger Barista has updated the story with his arrest in Japan.  Barista manages to nicely weave the story in with that of  Charles Jenkins, the 64 year old US Army deserter who lived in North Korea.

things i learnt this week without trying

Pablo Neruda was originally called Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. This will be useful in a trivia competition at my local pub. That is if I had a local pub and if I went to trivia competitions. I'll be ready if it comes up on Tony Delroy's radio quiz. That is if I can ever get through on the phone. I know many Australians who wonder how the same lot of nerds always get through when others have tried for 2 years without ever getting on. This is the real issue that Flint should have been investigating. You can complain to the ABA here.
 
Series of dotty  quotes from Flint on the Republic issue. "Professor Flint reminded the Australian tourists and enlightened bemused British supporters of how Australia came very close to becoming a 'Cane Toad Republic' and why it was important for ACM to continue its role as an educator and political lobby group to protect our world renown constitutional monarchy" 
 
Keith Richards marked his 40th birthday in  December  or  October 1983 by marrying model Patti Hansen and spent his honeymoon at Cabo San Lucas Mexico. I have no idea how many honeymoons Keith has had.  At the Finisterra Hotel in his (their?) room he recorded a bunch of Buddy Holly songs.
 
Tony Abbott is multi talented.  In addition to exiting the seminary early, and being a deadbeat father who impregnated a woman then left her to fend for herself and kid, he is now revealed to be sleazebag arse grabber of females. He doesn't know his ABC.

ABC stands for  "abstinence, be faithful, and use condoms."  ABC is the Ugandan AIDS policy now adopted by the United States and promoted through its foreign aid program, USAID.   It seems Conservative groups such as Focus on the Family have used the case study of Uganda to advocate their single-focused ideology, claiming that it was an increase in abstinence until marriage that accounted for the turnaround in HIV rates.    
 
Janet Fleischman writes: In the worst-affected regions of sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls account for 58 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS, and girls age 15-19 are infected at rates four to seven times higher than boys, a disparity linked to sexual abuse, coercion, discrimination, and impoverishment.

digital death rattle

Who can resist a title like this: The Digital Death Rattle of the American Middle Class: A Cautionary Tale. by Dion Dennis.

It's about the twin spectres of increasing University fees and outsourcing / offshoring of knowledge workers.

"....large tuition increases are often bundled with escalations in class size, reduced course availability, and shrinking financial and infrastructural resources. [4] Combined with the concurrent neo-liberal political redefinition of higher education as a private rather than a public good, "sticker shock" one-year increases.."

.."....may well signify that elites are no longer willing to subsidize American public higher education, once they have gained global access, via digital communication networks, to cheap and competent intellectual labor.."
.."...Inexpensive global communication networks, combined with a younger, talented and low-cost global workforce will reduce the demand for native U.S. intellectual labor..."
"...If so, we are witnessing the digital death rattle of the American middle class, and an escalating and intensive restratification of the American class system. [read more]