( 9:05 PM )
Nowhere Man
Excuse me for being cynical about Newsweek's retraction of the Qu'ran in the toilet story, but we've seen and heard about the US doing so many stupid things in the nowhere land of Guantanamo that I would be more surprised if it didn't happen than if it did. But MSNBC's Keith Olbermann has the best take on it, so if you're interested, check him out here.
And while I'm at it, I may as well give props to Keef because I've been a fan of his since he was a sportscaster in LA. He moved on to SportsCenter and I moved right along with him. Then things got a bit murky for him, but now he's back with an entertaining show called Countdown that counts down the top 5 stories of the day - backwards. Of course, the fifth story opens the show and is the most sensational (like Michael Jackson) and gets maybe 10 minutes of coverage. And the number one story closes the show and gets about 2-3 minutes. So it's not conventional news, but it's generally interesting, there's a decent chance you'll walk away from the show with information you didn't know before, and you might have a laugh in-between. And with the sad state of the government right now, we need all the intentional laughs we can get.
Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man, please listen,
You don't know what you're missing,
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.
He's as blind as he can be,
Just sees what he wants to see,
Nowhere Man can you see me at all?
--Beatles
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( 10:18 PM )
The Rain Song
A couple of months ago a woman named Clare McKenzie wrote to me and asked me to share some stories about Jeff Buckley with her. I started to reply to her email, but didn't know what I wanted to say, so I told her I'd send a note within a week. Five weeks later....
But on my way home tonight, iPoddy McMusic brought up Led Zep's "The Rain Song" and I finally remembered one of my favorite Jeff Buckley stories.
So the president of Columbia Records (Don Ienner) threw an annual party for the employees at his farm in upstate New York (actually, it was Harry Belafonte's former Day-O farm, but I digress). Since he had a captive audience of his employees, he would also invite the next big thing artists to come out and play at the shindig. To get there, we had to get up early, and hop on a bus for the long ride to wherever the hell it was, and all I remember thinking that morning was, "I don't want to work on Donnie's farm no more..." (sung to Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm"). I should have known something was up when a beautiful co-worker started singing those lyrics to me while we were on our way to the party.
When we got there, it was cloudy and overcast. Hip-hop/dancehall artist Jamal-ski was also scheduled to play, but since it had begun to lightly rain, he was cancelled or postponed and we were moved under a tent Donnie & Co set up just in case the precipitation gods rained on his parade. So there we are - a couple hundred people basically stuck under a big white tent, staring at ferris wheels, games, barbeques, and beer getting wet. So someone suggested we move the entertainment from the big stage to the tent, and Jeff Buckley seemed like the right guy for the improvised plan.
So Jeff suddenly appeared in a blue, hooded sweat jacket, looking confused and disheveled. Since the situation wasn't really set up for him to play, he had to improvise. He tuned up, tuned into the vibes of the crowd (seriously - the guy was an atmospheric sponge) and he started playing "Maggie's Farm" sung as "I ain't gonna work on Ienner's farm no more...". Ok - same idea, different path to the prize.
Jeff made it threw the song and then began trying to get the amp sound right. Then he fiddled around some more. Then you could see him thinking 'what should I play....what should I play.' Now it's not right for me to include what I was thinking here, but the truth of the situation is that "The Rain Song" immediately popped into my mind - I mean, it was raining for chrissakes. If you've ever seen Jeff (especially solo), he lived in the moment. Whatever was going on around him, was incorporated into the show. And solo or with the band, he would simmer his songs before he began to play them (check out "Mojo Pin" live at Wetlands or "Dream Brother" live in Hamburg or somewhere in Europe to get what I'm talking about). When the moment came to him, he would dive in - fearlessly, head first, ready to experience the joy.
So I was spooked and freaked out when I heard Jeff Buckley mutter, "I got it." He immediatley started re-tuning his guitar and he played was the opening G chord of "The Rain Song." Now if you're familiar with "The Rain Song", you might understand how I feel it's the most exquisite Led Zeppelin song ever recorded. Perfect - just perfect. A gentle love song, a hippy-dippy treastie about nothing, or a song about the weather, it moves me. Soft keyboards underneath. Quiet drums that "like the winds, they rise and fall." And the electric and acoustic guitars intermingle - sometimes doubling each other and sometimes playing independently. And even at 7:39, it's not nearly long enough.
My point being, nobody but nobody just gets the idea to play "The Rain Song" and achieves it. You get the idea to play "Smoke On The Water," but not "The Rain Song." And of course it was a note/vocal perfect version. All the emotion and beautiful sound of the original. And I don't remember how the crowd reacted, but I was just blown away (again). I was so blown away that I really don't remember anything else about what he played or the rest of that day. But for me - who's seen a LOT of live shows - it was one of the most incredible musical moments I've ever witnessed.
"It is the summer of my smiles-
Flee from me keepers of the gloom.
Speak to me only with your eyes
It is to you I give this tune.
Ain’t so hard to recognize-
These things are clear to all from
Time to time. ooooh..."
--Led Zeppelin
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( 3:48 PM )
I'm The Man (Mike Walls that is)
So a very sad thing happened while I was away on vacation last week. Dedicated music head, business impressario/capitalist, parttime Yankees & Red Sox fan, and 2Walls/Armchair Reviews creator-mentor-publisher-editor Mike Walls decided to put his beloved website on hiatus.
I was really bummed to read his email about temporarily shutting down the site. I remember way back in 1999 when he hatched the idea of starting a website for his friends to write about and share what music they were listening to. He wasn't hearing enough good new music, so he took some steps to do something about it. The next thing you know, there's a big, fluffy, red armchair posted on a website with maybe 20 or so music reviews. I wouldn't call my early reviews well-written or anything (in fact, I would call VERY few of my reviews "well-written"), but it got a community of writers/friends to try and hip each other to the good musical vibrations floating through the universe.
And as if the saying, "if you build it, they will come" was meant for Mike Walls, sure enough people started visiting the site. So Mike thought, hmmmm, we must give these desperate readers more. More info on sports, politics, inane pop culture, and whatever else we can think of, and he morphed Armchair Reviews into 2Walls Webzine. Then, in late 2002, he offered us all some space to shout from the mountaintop in his newly created blog section. And month after month, people continued to flock to 2Walls.com (with an average of 1000 visitors a day). Zero to one thousand in a few short years. Pretty remarkable for a site with no advertising or real promotion - just good content.
Even though I started slacking off in my contributions the last couple of years, it was always nice to know that I had a magazine, err, webzine, that would publish my diatribes. So what if we weren't paid, record companies were dumb enough to start sending us free promo CDs, books and tickets to movies, and I was glad to be a part of it. And then new writers kept coming and asking to contribute and the website kept growing. It had to be a labor of love for Mikey because he put so much heart, soul, time and energy into publishing this beast (website content and images don't just post themselves).
So it's sad to see this site taking a rest. But I hope the bloggers will help keep it alive. There's some good reading here at 2Walls, and we should all do our best to post bits as regularly as we can to keep people coming back. Maybe it will inspire Mr. Walls to get back in the game. But even if it doesn't, I and I know the entire 2Walls staff (except for those who resigned in protest or were "fired"), tip our hat to you. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.
Pretty soon now
Y’know I’m gonna make a comeback
And like the birds and the bees in the trees
It’s a sure-fire smash
I’ll speak
To the masses throughout the media
And if you got anything to say to me
You can say it with cash
’cause I got the trash and you got the cash
So baby we should get along fine
So give me all your money ’cause I know you think I’m funny
Can’t you hear me laughing
Can’t you see me smile
I’m the man
I’m the man that gave you the hula-hoop
I’m the man
I’m the man that gave you the yo-yo
--Joe Jackson
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