Southland Punk Bands Help Goldenvoice Celebrate Its 30th Anniversary

At Los Angeles Times, "Live review: X, Social Distortion at GV30."

I'll look for some X clips later. Meanwhile, here's Mike Ness and Social Distortion with some "Lude Boy" for all my drug decrim readers:

I'm on the 714, cause I got a brand new jar, 
Lemons put some light in my life, keep me happy through the night 
I'm a lude boy, I don't care if I ever get home. 

Getting ready to jump on the train, give me more to rack my brain. Sudden alteration in my point of view, tables turn when I got the ludes. 

I'm a lude boy, I don't care if I ever get home.

Britney Spears Engagement Party Photos

At London's Daily Mail, "A bit too much revelry? Britney Spears emerges from engagement celebration looking a little worse for wear."

Let the lady have some fun, sheesh.

'Police Oppression'

More Angelic Upstarts:

I just cant take much more of this oppression
I’m going out of my head and its getting that impression
I’m gunna go out for a walk
I’m gunna sit down and have talk
There asking me how, and they’re asking me why, have you ever seen grown men cry?

police police police oppression, police police police oppression

really find it hard even walking round the streets
hey i know u son ill knock u off ur feet
same number a million times before,
shut ur mouth son or ill knock u on the floor

police police police oppression, police police police oppression

I just cant take much more of this oppression
I’m going out of my head and its getting that impression
I’m gunna go out for a walk
I’m gunna sit down and have talk
There asking me how, and they’re asking me why, have you ever seen grown men cry?

police police oppression police police oppression

Lying in the cells is really no fun
Cutting the bricks learning some tricks
Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies
Is being different really a crime?

police police police oppression
police police police oppression
police police police police police...

Britney Spears Engaged

Good for her.

She excited!

See MTV: "Britney Spears Is Engaged."

Also, at London's Daily Mail, "Vegas, baby! Delighted Britney Spears and Jason Trawick head to Sin City to celebrate engagement."

John Lennon's Death 31 Years Ago Today

At Vancouver Sun, "John Lennon’s spirit still soars, Yoko Ono declares." And Telegraph UK, "Yoko Ono pays tribute to John Lennon on the 31st annivesary of his death."

And notes Sherri Donovan at The Sound L.A.:

John Lennon was killed 31 years ago today and, shortly afterwards, Roxy Music added his song "Jealous Guy" to their set while on tour in Germany, as a tribute. They recorded and released it a few months later... just a beautiful remembrance of John.

'Listening to the Doors'

From Camille Paglia, at New York Times, a review of Greil Marcus', The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years:

Within an electrifying few years during the 1960s, rock ’n’ roll was transformed from a brash diversion of antsy teenagers into a serious genre that threatened to rival the traditional fine arts. Instrumental in this swift development was a Los Angeles band, the Doors, whose charismatic but tormented and self-­destructive lead singer, Jim Morrison, attained cultlike status after his mysterious death at age 27 in Paris in 1971, only four years after the release of their first album.

Whether rock ever completely fulfilled its early promise is arguable. What seems incontrovertible, however, is that rock’s fabulous commercial success could be ruin­ous to young bands, which were pushed by record companies into the artificial environment of punishing tours in cavernous arenas designed for sports. The gifted Doors were among the first victims of this still near-universal corporate strategy.

Continue reading.

HAT TIP: Kathy Shaidle.

'Misty Mountain Hop'

Led Zeppelin:

Walkin' in the park just the other day, baby,
What do you, what do you think I saw?
Crowds of people sittin' on the grass with flowers in their hair said,
"Hey, Boy, do you wanna score?"
And you know how it is.
I really don't know what time it was, woh, oh,oh
so I asked them if I could stay a while.

I didn't notice but it had got very dark and I was really
Really out of my mind.
Just then a policeman stepped up to me and asked us, said, "Please,hey,
would we care to all get in line, Get in line."
Well, you know, they asked us to stay for tea and have some fun; Oh, oh,oh.
he said that his friends would all drop by, ooh.

Why don't you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see,
and baby, baby, baby, do you like it?
There you sit, sitting spare like a book on a shelf rustin',
ah, not trying to fight it.
You really don't care if they're comin'; oh, oh,
I know that it's all a state of mind.

If you go down in the streets today, baby, you better,
you better open your eyes. WOAH WOAH YEAH
Folk down there really don't care, really don't care, don't care , really don't , which, which way the pressure lies,
so I've decided what I'm gonna do now.
So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains
where the spirits go now,
over the hills where the spirits fly.
I really don't know.

'No More I Love You's'

Annie Lennox:

Lady Gaga 'Marry the Night'

At Mirror UK, "Lady Gaga topless and eating cereal in shocking Marry The Night video set in a psychiatric ward."

The video, all 14:00 minutes of it, is at Los Angeles Times, "Lady Gaga's 'Marry the Night' video: five delicious moments."

Happy Birthday Britney!

She's 30!

At LAT, "Britney Spears turns 30: A timeline of the singer's life in video."

'Love The Way You Lie'

And, ICYMI, the interview with Eminem, at GQ's, "Survivors Music Portfolio":

The current Mathers narrative revolves around his triumph over a nasty addiction to prescription meds. It's not a touchy subject: Within minutes, he introduces the topic, explaining how he used to drink and pop pills to get through his concerts. "I'm very much a creature of habit," he says, picking up his Red Bull. "If I'm used to waking up in the morning and having one of these, I could do it every morning for the next ten years straight until I find something else to move on to. So if I'm used to taking a Vicodin when I wake up in the morning because I'm hungover from ­drinking or taking pills..." He trails off. "The bigger the crowd, the bigger my habit got."

Mathers says you can trace the arc of his addiction by listening to his albums: He was more or less sober writing the white-trash party that was The Slim Shady LP (1999); he credits experimentation with drugs for taking his music to unexpected places on The Marshall Mathers LP (2000); with The Eminem Show (2002), he struck the perfect balance—a potent mix of punch-line raps and intensely biographical material. Then the balance tipped: His fourth album, Encore, was his weakest, and it took him two years to complete because of his addiction to pills. "Five or six songs leaked from the original version of Encore," he says. "So I had to go in and make new songs to replace them. In my head I was pissed off: 'Oh well. Songs leaked. Fuck it. I'm just going to take a bunch of fucking pills and go in there and have a party with myself.' I'm sure the more pills I took, the goofier I got."

He's a little hazy about that time, when he was taking, by his own account, somewhere between sixty and ninety pills a day, including Valium, Vicodin, Ambien, and Seroquel (used to treat schizophrenia). "Ambien," he says, "ate a hole through my brain." He thinks he went to rehab in 2005, but don't hold him to that. Like I said, it's a little hazy.

Rehab was not a safe space for Eminem. "Look," he says, "every addict in rehab feels like everyone's staring at them. With me? Everyone was staring at me. I could never be comfortable. There were people there that treated me normal. Then there were a bunch of fucking idiots who aren't even concentrating on their own sobriety because they're so worried about mine. They're stealing my hats, my books—it was chaos. Everything was drama in there. And at the time, I didn't really want to get clean. Everybody else wanted me to. And anyone will tell you: If you're not ready, nothing is going to change you. Love, nothing."

He left rehab pissed off and heavily burdened with what he calls "woe is me"—and started popping pills again. It nearly killed him. "I came to in the hospital and I didn't know what the fuck happened," he says. "Tubes in me and shit, fuckin' needles in my arms. I didn't realize I had [overdosed]. I wanted my drugs—get me the fuck outta there! I think I was clean for two weeks. I was trying so hard—I was trying to do it for my kids—but I just wasn't ready."

What finally got him clean after a second relapse wasn't his kids or his coma or even hip-hop. This time he really thought he was going to die. "I had a feeling in my arm that was weird, man," he says. "Like, it really freaked me out. So I went to some people I trust and said, 'Look, I know I need help. I'm ready now.' I got a room in the same hospital where I overdosed, and I detoxed."

More here: "The Survivors: Eminem."

The Rolling Stones at 50

At LAT, "The Rolling Stones' Ageless Rock":

Los Vazquez Sounds

The conservative blogosphere is erupting over this video, featuring singer Angie, 10, of Los Vazquez Sounds. Via The Other McCain, "Incredible 10-Year-Old Mexican Singer Rocks the World With Music Video," and "Vasquez Sounds: El Talento Musical de Mexicali Lanzó a la Fama por el Video."

Also at Pop Crush, "WATCH 10-YEAR-OLD ANGIE VAZQUEZ COVER ADELE’S ‘ROLLING IN THE DEEP’."

'Round Here'

Amazing how time flies. I saw these dudes in Santa Barbara in the 1990s, when they hit the big time:

'Nights in White Satin'

Check out Jonathan Sanders piece at PJ Media, "So You Think You Hate Punk Rock: The Five Bands That Will Change Your Mind." It's interesting, and a bit strange. Punk was indeed unusual at the time (1970s) but's it's mainstream now --- looked back on today as a period of innovation and rejuvenation in the history of rock and roll. I don't know if you can find folks who truly "hate" punk, since if they like The Clash or Green Day they're punked out. The other thing is that Sanders lists five bands for those new to the genre, but he doesn't mention any Los Angeles bands. I used to hang out with musicians back in the day --- like Annette Zilinskas, the original bassist with The Bangles --- who pretty much refused to accord any superiority to British punk bands, to say nothing of bands from New York.

In any case, may I suggest The Dickies, a Los Angeles mainstay, formed in 1977. They routinely opened for The Ramones and it looks like they're still going strong. Enjoy:

Rihanna's Videos Present Challenges

At LAT, "Pespective: Rihanna's videos present challenging issues":

The runaway success of the melancholic retro-rave "We Found Love" certifies Rihanna as one of the most successful pop singers of all time, according to Billboard magazine. It's her 20th Top 20 hit, amassed faster than any other solo artist in chart history. But it's the video that really dazzles. On Oct. 20, film director Dennis Dortch ("A Good Day to be Black & Sexy") tweeted the clip along with the comments, "Wow. I believe this to be flyest music video ever by a major (black) recording artist." He later added, "I wish someone would cast her in an indie film."

Directed by Melina Matsoukas, who also directed videos for Rihanna's "S&M," "Hard," "Rude Boy" and "Rock Star 101" and whose résumé includes videos for Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, the "Love" clip centers on a modern-day, melanin-infused Sid and Nancy, played by Rihanna and boxer-turned-model Dudley O'Shaughnessy. We see the drug-addled couple at a skate park, outdoor rave, fish-and-chips spot, rampaging through a convenience store, and passed out on sidewalks. While filming the video in Ireland, Rihanna tweeted, "This is probably one of the deepest videos I've ever done. Its all about love and love being like a drug."

BONUS: "Album review: Rihanna's 'Talk That Talk'."

'Without You'

A pick from my kids' favorites. I like it:

Nowe Maestro w Indianapolis

As long as I already broke my hiatus earlier today, I might as well do it again to say how impressed I am by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's new musical director,  the 28-year-old prodigy from Poland, Krzysztof Urbanski. He has not even officially taken the reins yet, and already the orchestra is sounding better than it ever did under previous director, Mario Venzago.

Today's concert featured two pieces by Mendelssohn, surrounding an absolutely brilliant performance of Scriabin's extraordinary violin concerto by Hungarian virtuouso (and former winner of the Indianapolis International Violin Competition), Barnabas Kelemen.

At the post-concert reception, hosted by the Polish Cultural Society of Indiana, a story was told about Maestro Urbanski's ability not just to conduct without a score, but to actually rehearse complex pieces, ranging from Dvorak to Lutoslawski, completely from memory. That's impressive, but no more so than his apparent musicianship. The ISO has done brilliantly in hiring its new music director. The orchestra and its audience should benefit greatly for the next several years.

RIP Milton Babbitt (1916-2011)

One of the greatest and consistently experimental American composers of the 20th century, Babbitt's early  work was heavily influenced by Anton Webern and other members of the Second Viennese School. Later, he composed music for synthesizers. With his background in mathematics, Babbitt is widely thought of as a composer who was more interested in appealing to the intellect than the heart. His music certainly possesses a cerebral quality, but it is no less interesting for that. The New York Times has an obituary here.

Below is a performance of Babbitt's 1947 composition, "Three Pieces for Piano."

Happy 64th Birthday Rick Nielson

The legendary song-writer and guitarist for Cheap Trick. Anyone who was a teenager in the 1970s on the North Shore of Chicago and had an interest in music followed the trajectory of Cheap Trick's career from the clubs in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin all the way to the world's biggest concert venues.

Instead of showing a  video of a Cheap Trick performance (I highly recommend the series of videos from their Music for Hangovers DVD, available on YouTube), the video below is a little more personal for me. It shows Rick sitting in and playing his song "Downed" with a band led by a guy I knew growing up, Nick Tremulus. At the start of the video, Nick tells a story about one of the best friends I ever had, the late-lamented Kevin Kelly, who was also friends with the guys in Cheap Trick. Nick joined Kevin's band, Rock Service, just after John Osmon and I had left it (John for the Navy, me for college in LA).