( 12:30 AM )
Coney Island Surfin'
So it's official. Spitball has reformed and is in rehearsals to play their first gig together in 8 years.
Spitball was the band I was in from the beginning of 1993 to the end of 1996. We started as a 3 piece, played our first gig at Mike Walls' place on Long Island, played some more at some shit holes in New York City, added a sax player (Marco), dropped the sax player, broke up because Yvan (our singer/guitar player/songwriter) fired Marco without consulting us (Chris Orcutt and I), got back together a few months or weeks later with Vince on lead & rhythm guitar (after Yvan posed as Spitball with Vince and some other dudes), got good, played a lot of shows and became somewhat popular by New York standards, started attracting the attention of record label folks, and then broke up after playing CBGBs sometime in November '96.
It was a hell of a rollercoaster ride, but if I may say, we were a pretty damn good band. And now we've kissed and made up (literally and figuratively) and we're planning on gigging again. It's a little strange being my age and playing in a band, but fuck it - we made good music together and still seem to have a little magic. It's weird not having Vince back with us, and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to explain it to him, but what's being in a band if there's no drama.
So I'll fill in some details as we go along, and hopefully Mike Walls will let us post some music (or some links) so that you can slam us like we've slammed some of the demos we've received here at 2Walls.
To quote Jane's Addiction, "Here we go...."
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( 1:34 PM )
Blah Blah Blah (Blog Blog Blog mix)
Um, I guess it's been a while since I've blogged, so it's weird to just come out of nowhere and post a note about Queen. But the whole blogging phenomenon is weird to me and I've never settled on what it is I want to use this blog for.
I mean I could probably do several politcal rants a week, but frankly, there are a lot more people out there who do them better than me. And I could use it as a chronicle of my life, but I'm just not THAT open and you shouldn't be THAT interested. So I've been trying to find an angle that I can approach blogging from, and I just haven't thought of it yet, so I've been keeping my distance.
I'm not sure if any of us at 2Walls have a good handle on blogging either. However, I think Craig's blog is entertaining. And I'm always interested in what Mike Walls has to say (although I have to say that blogging about fantasy baseball is probably a bad idea because it's so inside. Of course, as a competitor of his, I'm happy to see what's going on inside his head - especially since I'm one of the guys kicking his ass because I've got great closers!). And I'm actually sorry about Spinney's failed campaign, but interested in his upcoming entrepreneurial chronicle.
Scrivner may have the best handle on blogging of all of us because whatever he's writing about, it's readable and it seems like it's in the moment - a thought out rant. So I don't feel like I'm just passing the time when I'm reading his stuff.
But I think a blog should be a spot that a reader has to check a few times a week because they're going to get something they can't get elsewhere - be it good writing, insightful political analysis, a good laugh, prurient thoughts, or whatever. And if I'm gonna have a spot to stand on to shout at the world, then I damn well better have something to say.
And I'm just not sure that I do. And thus, I've been staying away from Blogger. But I have been trying. I bought a book of columns by one of my favorite columnists - Mike Royko - thinking that he might inspire me (or that I could copy him!). But Royko does a lot of reporting in his columns, and I'm way too busy (and underpaid by 2Walls!) to start making phone calls to get quotes from people or to do actual research.
I also tried writing about whatever was on my mind, but seeing that I work at a politcal magazine and that it was the primary season and that politics has been a burning passion in me, that just wasn't the best way to go. Plus, as I increasing become aware that politicians rarely bring about real change, and that it's the passionate people on the street who do the real work that moves us to the public tipping point of change - it just seems a little pointless.
So I'm a little lost, and a lot trying too hard. But nothing beats a try but a can't - so I'll keep coming back....
( 12:08 PM )
I'm In Love With My Car
I can't believe it took this long to happen. But just a minute ago, I saw a commercial for Jaguar which used Queen's "I'm In Love With My Car." Certainly it's a pretty obvious choice, but I bet Queen got more $$$ for it than Zeppelin got for selling "Rock & Roll" to Cadillac, simply because it's more appropo to the product being sold.
Anyway, I point this out because I've been in Queen mode for the past couple of weeks. Queen is one of my all time favorite groups. They were amazing musicians. They were original in sound, approach, performance and execution. They wrote songs that were so ambitious that none could dare to imitate. Best of all, Queen was exploding with talent, with each member having been responsible for some of their greatest work (Roger Taylor's "Sheer Heart Attack", all of Brian May's News Of The World contributions - "We Will Rock You, All Dead, and It's Late", John Deacon's "You're My Best Friend", and Freddie Mercury's "Bohemian" precursor "Killer Queen" or "Somebody To Love."). And they had a great sense of humor (hence "I'm In Love With My Car" or "Fat Bottomed Girls").
But the two things I love most about Queen are, first, that they never limited themselves to one genre. Queen expertly pulled off punk, funk and metal before Korn got out of their footsie pajamas. But they also did perfect pop, ballads, anthems, glam, and operatic rock. Many bands' eyes are bigger than their stomachs, but Queens reach rarely exceeded their grasp and I've always been grateful.
And secondly, for the first 7 albums they released, they always bragged "no synthesizers were used in making this album." When they finally bit the bullet and used one on their The Game album they created a masterpiece with nary a bad note or song.
Great is a term that is much overused. However, when used to describe Queen, it's a royal understatement.
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