Punk is my favorite genre of music, and I’ve also always liked the punk aesthetic in terms of graphic design. The graphic art that graced the covers of albums and singles was colorful and creative. The collages, the ransom-note lettering, stencils, logos, and the whole do-it-yourself ethos were brilliant and exciting and were an important part of the entire punk…
This is a very cool book that describes in excellent detail some mythical musical gems that for whatever reason never got to see the light of day. The author covers all genres, and has done some impressive research. At the end of each album description, he gives a rating on the odds that the record will ever be released. The…
I was never a huge fan of Blondie, although I did buy their first album (on Private Stock records, before they were signed to the big label Chrysalis. Not worth much on eBay, though.) I’ve always thought Debbie Harry was cool and she’s certainly led an interesting enough life to make for a good memoir. This book leads you through…
On this date in 2013…Lou Reed died. A few years ago, the New York Times sponsored a silent auction to benefit the Actors Fund. One of the items on auction was a leather jacket given to Lou Reed by President Bill Clinton, as a thank you for playing at the Clinton/Gore inauguration. Inside the jacket is an embroidered presidential seal,…
ART + AWARENESS = ACTIVISM! Many of you know that I’ve been friends with Brad for 27 years, since he was a little boy. Brad is 41 now, and I have gotten to see him jump into many unique and creative projects using his talents: computer whiz (his company, Ravelong, has been providing growth-hack outside-the-box digital marketing since 2006.). He’s…
I breezed through this very enjoyable, very readable book. Chris Frantz takes you back to the art school origins of Talking Heads, the heady, exciting early days of New York punk (lots of cool stories about CBGBs), the exhilarating early European tours where they toured with bands like the Ramones and XTC. He describes the creative process that gave rise…
Just about 40 years ago, on a hot summer Saturday, I attended one of the best concerts ever. Despite the incredible lineup of performers, it still remains relatively obscure. In the early summer of 1980, I was told about an outdoor concert that was to take place in Toronto in August. Billed as a “Punk Woodstock”, “New Wave Woodstock”, or…
I read a lot of these rock and roll books, the ones that focus on one particular year or era. I tend to like the ones that evaluate the music within the context of the culture at the time. This book doesn’t do that as well as others that I’ve read, and when it does, I couldn’t relate as much…
In an issue of the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery there was a pretty interesting article about the effect of various genres of music on a few parameters of feline anesthesia. Being a big music fan myself, I was intrigued. The aim of the study was to determine if cats were able to process auditory stimuli even though they…
I’m a huge music fan, but I’ve never thought much about the music industry and how it actually works: who makes the money, how they make it, and how much they actually make. This book was loaded with interesting facts about the music business and how it has radically changed over the past few years. Rock musicians used to make…
Two years ago, I read “Waiting for The Man”, Jerry Reed’s biography of Lou Reed. The book covered Lou’s life pretty well, with the focus mainly on his albums. Last year, I read Anthony DeCurtis’s biography, “Lou Reed: A Life”, which some people think is the definitive biography. It was an excellent balance of music analysis as well as interesting…
The 60s are my favorite decade. I was born in 1960, however, so I was too young to really understand a lot of what the country was experiencing at that time. As I grew older, I came to appreciate the 60’s much more. I’m drawn to books about the 60’s – the music, the politics, the culture – and I…
Today marked the end of the first week. I woke up this morning with my bite wound looking great. There was no oozing overnight, no swelling, no pain, nothing. I shaved and showered, and put on a band-aid, and that was that. Tomorrow I don’t think I’ll even need a bandage on it. This morning at our base, we stocked…
One of the things I had to get used to when I retired was not having a regular routine. My workday used to be pretty structured. When I retired, it took me a while to formulate a new routine. The fact that Mark had to still wake up every morning at 5:20 a.m. dictated the start of my day. I…
A well-written and detailed account of the intertwined lives of four prominent, larger-than-life fixtures of the folk music scene of the early 60s. The book very effectively transports you back to those heady, exciting days of the Greenwich Village music clubs and cafes. I really knew nothing about Joan Baez’s sister Mimi, nor anything about her enigmatic, fascinating husband, Richard…