REMAKE

In the fall of ’74, living on my sister’s couch, I was going through music withdrawal.  Sure, I had the radio, there were more stations in L.A. than any place I’d ever been.  Five rock stations!  Even more than New York!

But that didn’t fully feed my addiction.  Listening on the radio was only part of the equation.  I had to buy some records.  Even though I had no record player, even though in a matter of weeks I was going to hit the road for Utah.

One Sunday night we went to Licorice Pizza on Wilshire, just this side of Santa Monica.  We bought Linda Ronstadt’s breakthrough album, the one with "You’re No Good".  Loggins & Messina.  ELO.  Hell, there were six or seven albums in all.  Including Average White Band.

Why did I buy it?  I can’t remember.  I didn’t love "Pick Up The Pieces".  Maybe my sister wanted it, hell, she was still in graduate school, we were using our dad’s credit card.  Anyway…

I broke my leg, my college buddy John showed up in L.A. after he was laid off from his job in K.C.  And over New Year’s weekend, we used the tape deck he’d schlepped in the back of his Chevy to make cassettes, for the road, we both had Blaupunkts in the dash.

That’s how I ended up with a Maxell of AWB’s second album, which most people believed was their first.

Finally I had new road music!  I’d burned out my old cassettes driving cross-country.  So I played these six or seven new albums all the way from L.A. to Salt Lake, and everywhere I drove thereafter.  I became intimately involved with every note.  I came to love the Average White Band.

I still can’t listen to "Pick Up The Pieces".

But when the horns flare at the beginning of "Work To Do", I start shimmying and shaking, in a way you’ll never see otherwise, I’m normally too self-conscious to dance.  But when the right song comes over the stereo, I can’t resist!

There’s a sexiness, an intimacy in "Person To Person".  Like you’re inside the bedroom.  And not getting any in Utah, there being twenty or thirty guys for every girl, it fueled my mental movies.

Then there’s "Got The Love"…  Which is like stumbling into a party from some blaxploitation pic, smoke in the air, bodies sweating and bumping.

So when someone linked me to "Live At Daryl’s House" to hear Todd Rundgren’s "Can We Still Be Friends", my adrenaline pumped when I saw "You Got It".  Was this the song Bonnie Raitt remade for that movie soundtrack or…could it be the AWB song, the one that opens the album on a tear?

When I heard the organ and rhythm guitar 2:30 into the clip, I was back in ’74.  Older and wiser, it was not nostalgia. A great song allows you to feel reinvigorated, you hear it and live in the present, but are informed by all the episodes of the past.
If a bunch of supposed has-beens can get together and play music like this, we truly have hope.  Hell, this clip is more alive than any of that tripe up for awards on the VMAs!

ORIGINAL:

Either you’re part of the problem, or part of the solution.

That’s what they said back in the sixties.  Ironically, that aphorism works in the present.  Whereas in the sixties we were subservient to FM radio, today we’re beholden to techies, who’ve created all this great technology, allowing us to fulfill our dreams.  Obliterating the past in the process.

What’s a musician to do?  Who never learned to program in C++, who used to depend on the fat cats at the label to deliver just enough money to record and eat.  PLAY MUSIC!

You remember music, don’t you?

It’s time to party like it’s 2009.

There’s an ulterior motive in "Live From Daryl’s House", you know he’s angling for some kind of distribution deal.  But right now, other than a bit of merch, there’s no cash involved, he’s doing it for the love of music.  What a concept!

And with today’s tools he could single-handedly replicate the great hits of the past, instead he’s rounded up a bunch of players and guest stars to play not only their hits, but their favorites.

And it’s these favorites that are blowing my mind.

Do you own that Average White Band album?  The one with the black and white cover?  Oh, there was a hit, the instrumental, "Pick Up The Pieces", but between the cover, in the grooves, was the best white soul record of all time.  The more you played it, the more you loved it.  My favorite cut is the first side closer, "Work To Do", be sure to check out "Person To Person" and "Got The Love", but the record starts off swinging, with "You Got It".

On this episode of "Live From Daryl’s House", Daryl and Todd Rundgren play this song.  I couldn’t believe it!

I fired up the site because I wanted to hear "Can We Still Be Friends", I’m a Todd freak.  But I couldn’t find it.  But I did see…"You Got It"?

No, can’t be.

This is an album I played in snowstorms, as I drove the flatlands of Idaho, through northern Utah.  Shit, I vividly remember listening to it descending from Snowbird, a road that hugs a cliff and descends 1,000 feet every mile.  Scary in snow?  Shit, this was way before everybody had four wheel drive.  You put on the brakes and your car started to skid, so you had to accelerate, but then you were closer to the other sliding cars.

And the one show I went to that winter was in a ballroom, on the second floor of some building south of downtown.  It was Average White Band.

So I’m scrolling, pushing the slider on this video, waiting to see if this is the right song, and 2:30 in, the combination of the organ and rhythm guitar is exactly right!

I’d like to say the same thing about Daryl’s vocal, but alas, that’s not the case.  Yet Todd’s one of the great imitators.  But what truly resonates here is the joy of the players!

If you grew up with the Beatles, you picked up a guitar, maybe the drums, you formed a band.  You set up in one person’s basement, and generated this awful noise, that made you feel positively alive!

Maybe that’s why the baby boomers still go to the gig.  It’s in their DNA.  We tried, we weren’t good enough, but we respected those who were. We knew and still know the joy of music.  Playing, listening, dancing!

Yes, you can’t help but move listening to "You Got It".  Hell, I’m shimmying at the computer right now!

You got it, any way you want
Any way you want it to be

Yes, you can pick up an instrument.  You’ve got GarageBand, all the rudimentary tools.  You can make this joyous noise.  Even better, we can see our heroes recreate the hits of the past, the ones we all loved, free online.

This is a band.  Maybe an impromptu one, playing new material, just this one day.  But this is exactly what hooked us way back when.  This is what’s missing.  Music played by people who had to.  Who’d do it even if they never got on TV, never made a fucking nickel.

Go to: Live From Daryl’s House Episode 23

Under "Individual Songs" on the right-hand side, scroll down to the sixth one…  Shit, I just found "Can We Still Be Friends", it’s number five!  But "You Got It" is number six.

"Can We Still Be Friends" kills.  It’s much better than "You Got It".  But it’s one of Todd’s classics.  We’re used to this.  But it’s the rougher cover of AWB’s "You Got It" that inspired me here.

The Internet didn’t kill music.  Don’t believe the hype!

Obama Calls Kanye a ‘Jackass’ — The Audio

Wow, how often is reality better than the story?

I know this is on TMZ, but not everybody surfs over there, and this is worth listening to.  We can lament that nothing ever seems to be off the record anymore, but here Mr. Obama comes off as what all those jackasses in D.C. do not, a real person, with real thoughts.  Wow.  It’s as if we had a real conversation taped in Jimmy Iovine’s office.  Oh, that could never happen, the leaker would disappear!  Better to break rules in politics than the music industry.

It’s just that this Kanye story keeps twisting and turning.

Be sure to read this too:

Kanye vs. Taylor Swift: Dumbest beef of all time

Who knows the veracity of this, but one thing’s for sure, the truth will out.

I want you to watch this video.

Danish woman’s one-night stand ‘a hoax’

Unfortunately, you’ll see right atop the page that this clip has been revealed as a hoax.  But before it was removed from YouTube, the first time I saw it I thought it was real.  Almost.  Before forwarding it to anybody, I did some Googling and came up with this page:

Danish Mother Seeking – Could It Be..??

And now, you can see, from the original link, that yes, this is a complete fabrication.

The question arises, was Kanye’s interruption of Taylor Swift at the VMAs planned, was it a stunt concocted by MTV and Kanye to boost ratings and the artist’s profile?

I don’t think so.  First of all, Kanye apologized, which he never ever does, and he seemed to evidence true remorse on Jay Leno.

But my inbox says otherwise.

The public has been manipulated so many times, that when something extraordinary happens, that becomes instantly viral in our networked world, many people cross their arms and say not fucking real.

Who’d blame them?  What with Borat and Eminem at the previous MTV awards show.

Sure, the ratings for the VMAs were comparatively good, up from last year.  But isn’t focusing on the immediate bottom line, going for instant results, what fucked up not only the music industry, but the whole economy?

You can’t have it now.  Maybe at McDonald’s, but not in music.  An act has to suck before it gets good.  Unless it’s not really an act, and there are professionals behind the scene pulling the strings.  Ever since J. Lo, no one believes you need to have talent to make it.  J. Lo couln’t sing.  Now Jay-Z raps about auto-tune and there’s even an iPhone app.  So the public might like the actual track, but has no belief the underlying act has any merit.  As proven with Ms. Lopez.  After her moment, driven by expensive, sexy videos, her career fell off a cliff, she couldn’t sell a record and couldn’t perform live.  Oh, that’s right, she couldn’t really perform live to begin with!

They say that the public is cynical…  But not as cynical as the string-pullers.  Manipulating ad infinitum to the point where the public just isn’t buying.  They’ll purchase that Shaggy tune, but Universal couldn’t see it was a novelty, that there were no Shaggy fans.  There are no fans of almost any of those charting singles.

In order to truly make it today, you’ve got to be honest, you’ve got to have the goods, which have been honed over years.  Otherwise, you’re just another scammer trying to make a buck.  And the public knows.  Major media companies are complaining about the audience, the mistrust involved.  Well, if you were manipulated so many times would you still play along?

Reality TV is no longer about reality, but seeing how misfits behave in the midst of other misfits or money-whores.  If you think reality TV has a long shelf life left, you believe Miley Cyrus instantly sells out every gig. Networks manipulated reality, to make it even more palatable, more sexy, killing the essence in the process.

If you want to make it today, focus on marketing last.  And know that online, greatness spreads.  Could take a while to catch fire, but if you’re great on a sustained basis, you’ll make it.  Although making it might mean being known by a coterie, not everybody, and having one house, not three, still…who’s entitled to all that?  The days of more, more, more are over.  It’s just that those in the media haven’t realized it yet.

WINNERS

MTV

It happened on MTV.  It burnishes the brand’s image, that it still happens there.  The fact that an artist was sacrificed in the process?  WHO GIVES A FUCK!  This is what MTV has been doing for eons.  Like some "Twilight Zone" aliens with a book entitled "To Serve Acts", MTV has convinced "artists" that brief television exposure is good for them, when we all know it burns out careers, uses up performers even quicker than sitcoms.

Jay Leno

That’s why you’ve got to stay in the game.  You never know when serendipity will deal you a ratings bonanza on your most important date, in this case, the debut of your show.  Everybody’s making a big deal re Jay’s question about what Kanye’s mother would say.  Who would ask such a question?  I’d say who’d answer it, but Kanye didn’t.  Not that Kanye didn’t ask for it…  He’s living his life in the media, he gets no time off, he fucks up, he apologizes, it’s endless grist for the mill.  As for it affecting his career…  There’s a dearth of hip-hop superstars, and no pop or rock stars to fill the void.  So, expect Kanye to come back bigger and better than ever, Kanye 2.0, who is humble, who apologizes, and makes music that doesn’t sound radically different from what he made previously.  We love resurrection stories more than destruction stories.  Look at Whitney Houston.

Kanye West On Jay Leno: Apologizes To Taylor Swift

Twitter

Without the microblogging service, would we know that Obama called Kanye a "jackass"?  As for it being off the record and Terry Moran tweeting it anyway…  In a "me" society, who can expect anybody to behave properly, with humility.  Isn’t that how we got Kanye to begin with?

Obama’s Kanye Jackass Comment Continues Wave of Gaffes

Obama

You mean you watch the VMAs?  You mean you know what’s going on in the world?  After legions of old farts in the White House, this is positively stunning.  But even though the media and the Republicans may use this expletive against him, it does more for the President in the minds of young voters than any speech to Congress or appearance on "60 Minutes".  Makes you think if you ran into him you could have a conversation, he’d know what you were talking about.

Taylor Swift

Yes, Kanye did hand the mic back to her, but like the 19 year old she is, she was so overwhelmed, she couldn’t speak. Cementing her status as the teenage naif with the singing diary.  What happens when she grows up?  Well, I guess she’s listening to Joni Mitchell records right now.

Vince Romanelli

I’d never heard of him either, but his parody of Taylor Swift’s "You Belong With Me", remade as "You Don’t Belong On MTV", displays creativity unheard on Top Forty.  We don’t get humor, any analysis in music, just endless pap parading as important so fat cats can get rich.

You Don’t Belong on MTV

LOSERS

The American Public

A real story can no longer get traction.  Health care is too complex.  It’s like studying in class as opposed to flirting in the cafeteria.  We’ve become a nation of gossip, and misinformation.

Furthermore, who didn’t know Kanye’d been acting like a jackass previously?  It’s like his jackassness was a musical career, waiting for the tipping point for everyone to celebrate.  He acted poorly at this awards show, said bad things at Bonnaroo, now, finally, when so many were watching, he fucked up one more time.  Now he truly is a superstar!

But he was already.  And most people piling on weren’t paying attention to begin with.  Then again, I must admit the music community and fans are piling on too.  Because they like to.  Like the above-referenced high school society, exacting its own justice.

I’m not saying frivolity has no place, I’m just saying that we revere in popular culture almost nothing of value. Everything’s grist for the mill.  Either you’re smart, starting Facebook, writing an iPhone app, or you dropped out of high school and became a lowest common denominator twit like Paris Hilton, focusing eyes on you.

Everybody wants to be rich and famous, everybody wants the attention.  Doesn’t matter how many "Behind The Music" shows are aired, people think stardom will solve all their issues.  So, the inherent fabric of our country becomes ripped and torn, dilapidated.

I know you think I’m on overkill here, but…

People go into finance to get rich, even though this finance doesn’t build our country, only tears it apart.

People can’t get high tech jobs because they’re not educated enough.

People who do go to college study business, those dreamy liberal arts majors who used to create the culture we reveled in are seen as pussies.  It’s about cash, baby.

We spend our money living like rappers, going to the Palms in Vegas to splash in the pool while consuming overpriced liquor.

I’m just saying we need a readjustment here.  Gossip must be the underbelly, not the primary.  We seem to carom from one celebrity event to another, from Michael Jackson’s death to Kanye, and since the news media sees itself as stars, they throw logs on the fire.  Twenty four hours on kidnappings, not twenty four hours on explaining bills in Congress, or Supreme Court decisions.  But they need the ratings!

That’s what Kanye is, ratings.  For everybody and anybody who’s got something to sell.  And we’re buying it.  So the laugh’s on us.