Exclusive: 47west63rd attends Peace Rally in Washington DC!

ok i will admit i do not look too PUMPED UP in this picture!!..i've been quite tired lately and unwell... but i was real glad to be there taking a stand for peace and against this ill advised and ill fated adventure in irak!....it felt real good... it felt particularly good to see a lot of other people that felt the same way..

Cindy Sheehan in her camp tent following her speech to those rallying for peace... those that malign this woman for speaking her mind- particularly after having lost a son to this loony business the bush administration has foisted on an all too willing to be duped public (an ignorant and stupid people can be made to believe anything in the name of flag)- are sinking to the level of pond scum.. in any case, it was nice seeing her up close!.. did not want to be just another guy thanking her.. but it was nice seeing her.. at someone's request i took a picture of her with him...so i guess i did make some sorta personal contact with her!...

Dick Cheney, George W Bush and Donald Rumsfeld on a weekend pass from the Federal Penitentiary- where they are serving 20 years for treason- where at the rally for peace earlier today here in Washington DC... notice Dick Cheney holding some blood money from his former employees at Halliburton...

one of my favorite signs from earlier today at the anti-war rally on the national mall! there were many good ones!

Charlie Watts on vinyl

from a september inverview in a french magazine.......(for those unaware charlie is the drummer for the rolling stones)..........

"...I'll tell you what has really changed: the first record I have ever bought was a French import jazz album, on Vogue... very classy with that red and black label... I still own it, and I still admire the cover lovingly... I don't think anyone can look at a CD cover with these eyes today..."

Iris Dement "Living in the wasteland of the free"

I've listened to a lot of songs....and i have to say none moves me more than iris dement's 1996 "living in the wasteland of the free" which gives me mega-loads of goosebumps...it represents so much what i believe...i think thats why it moves me so much.. because someone made a beautiful song with my feelings.... recorded during the clinton years its become particularly fitting- sadly- in the bush presidency....its an unbelievable song.. curiously enough after this album, "the way i should", was released- an album that remains an underrated classic- iris dropped from sight.. i did catch her on tour with john prine a few years ago (at the birchmere).. i also saw her briefly in memphis way back when.. i know i talked to her manager by a pool table but can't remember if i actually talked to iris..... well iris is back after 8 or 9 years with a new album of cover songs.. i'll have to check it out.. she is an absolute phenomenal interpreter, performer and songwriter... she is up there with lucinda williams in my book..


Living in the wasteland of the free


We got preachers dealin' in politics and diamond mines
And their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ's disciples --They don't look like Jesus to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got politicians runnin' races on corporate cash
Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass
You may call me old fashioned --That don't fit my picture of a true democracy
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got CEOs makin' 200 times the worker's pay
And they fight like hell against raisin' the minimum wage
If you don't like it, mister,They'll ship your job to some Third World country 'cross the sea
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
Where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our problems on the weak ones -- Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got kids fighting inner-city wars
And what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
And they say we're the advanced civilization --That sounds like crap to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got high-school kids wearin' Calvin Klein and Guess
Who cannot pass a fifth grade written test
But if you ask them, they can tell you
The name of every crotch on MTV
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We kill for oil, then throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight and we call that the sin
He's standing up for what he believes in --That sounds pretty damned American to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

While we stand gloating in our greatness
Justice is sinking towards the bottom of the sea
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free

Now playing: Blue Note 84125- Lou Donaldson's "Good Gracious!" What an album cover! In typical ebay fashion the seller did not disclose a sizable warp which makes the first few minutes of each side unplayable and distorts the sound for a few minutes more.. we'll see how the thing turns out..

but what a session.. donaldson with john patton and grant green.. this is one very enjoyable soul jazz album! and the album cover cracks me up every time... lou donaldson by the way was responsible for bringing grant green to new york city after seeing him play in saint louis..and how fittin given the heavy influence of charlie parker on lou that donaldson would be impressed by grant green whose note for note soloing guitar style was essentially taken from bird too...lou donaldson then introduced grant green to blue note impressario and all around genius alfred lion and the rest is as they say history..

Summer recess over! 47west63rd back in bizness!

like any dc fortunate one i took august off... but congress is back in session.. bush is back in the white house and i'm back in front of my keyboard...

The Poster from the Spankers Iota show!

The Set List from the Asylum Street Spankers concert at Iota's in Arlington, Virginia on July 28. The encore was "Beer".

thank goodness for media mail shipping!

frank black interviews ray bradbury!!!!!!!!!!

check it out.. frank black of the pixies interviews his main man! click here

anyone who has heard the pixies masterpiece "trompe le monde" or black's early solo work can perceive frank's fascination with ray bradbury's sci-fi universe

Factory Records 40- Joy Division's "Still"

now raging: joy division's "still"

i've written before about how much i like joy division/new order and how important i think they are to modern rock music...

since that time i've

1) listened some more to joy division's two albums- both acknowledged masterpieces- "uknown pleasures" and "closer".... this has done nothing but confirm and strengthen my conviction that joy division was light years ahead of the rest....their music to these ears sounds like it could be recorded today and it would still sound fresh... what can i say? they had a distinct sound and its still that way today..

2) finally, and after the strong recommendations of friends saw the movie 24 hour party people which is a movie about tony wilson the founder of factory records... i found the first half of the movie interesting.. and some segments of the second half also.. but overall i found it to be a pretty lame hollywoodized version of things.. the best thing about the movie was the whole new order/joy division/ian curtis/martis hannett (Producer)/rob gretton(new order manager) angle.. the story behind the founding of the factory club itself, even the first part of the hacienda... what emerges from the movie and i have little reason to doubt its veracity is a story of a band upon whose back tony wilson built his own empire... albeit with a nice utopian sociliastic bent.. but the reality is that for all the "we will all take the profits equally" etc its clear that tony wilson's salary and the recording sessions of lesser factory bands (i think a certain ratio is mocked to the hilt... i think its acr) and artists and even the happy mondays excursion to the carribbean to record were financed by new order.. my main problem with the film i guess is the way it does not ask the tough questions about what tony wilson was doing with the finances.. rather it seemingly explains it away with a single line about how the hacienda club couldn't make money because they did not sell drugs and the kids taking ecstacy would not consume drinks cause ecstacy and drinking alcohol don't go together.... what about water?.. in any case, eventually the factory empire collapses... of course certain things about factory are nice: the anti corporate bent.. the lack of contracts. the fact the artists control their own masters etc... but in the case of my favorite band new order it really does seem a case of them being paying for the livelihoods of undistinguished peers such as crispy ambulance.... finally, the second half of the movie devolves into the typical rock film with the happy mondays being kings of excess and drugs and naked woman and all that jive which once you've been around the block becomes a bit boring.. the madchester scene is not described effectively. there is only one view of stone roses.. true they were not on factory but they were the bigger band..far bigger than happy mondays.. and even primal scream's screamadelica which was critical for the rave scene gets nary a mention....(peter hook of new order by the way produced the stone roses elephant stone i believe).... anyways, to make a long story short: interesting movie but falls a part a bit in my eyes and ends up being a cliched movie about rock excess as if in a last minute attempt to conform to the formula..

3) i bought the original factory 40 release of joy division's still..a double lp with one lp featuring largely outtakes and unreleased tracks (plus sister ray with the humorous ian curtis line at the end "you should hear us do louie louie" or some such)... but the other lp is the goods for me.. a show by joy division on may 2 recorded at birmingham university or some such... it begins with the only recorded version of joy division performing the soon to be masterpiece by new order "ceremony"..one of my favorite joy division/new order songs.oh there are so many.. the whole concert in my opinion (and i differ with the allmusic guide which argues some of the performances take away from the joy division legacy) kicks it.. the rumbling peter hook bass and angular jagged bernard albrecht nay sumner guitar lines (far more primal on the live recording here of say transmission than on the studio version).. the monochromatic drums (i love the part in the 24 hour party people were they show how martin hannett had morris play the drums on the roof for hours and recorded him that way to get the strange sound which i see posters around dc of bands hoping to ape in 2005 "band seeeks drummer influences joy division/new order"...but back to the story: and above it all ian curtis' about as urgent as they get vocals... the concert was may 2 1980.. may 18 1980 ian curtis was dead.... just about a quarter of a century has gone by but joy division are STILL on top

Gone to South Beach!

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How timely! It was 50 years ago today

yes, july 5, 1955 rock around the clock reached the number one position in the US music charts..it lasted 8 weeks in the top spot!

check out this site for the full tribute here

Decca DL 8225 Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" LP from 1956. One of the first rock and roll lp's.

the great forgotten advance scout for rock and roll

it has to be bill haley (and his comets)...

when i was a kid i remember hearing "rock around the clock" on the title credits of happy days day after day.. i remember my parents knowing who bill haley was... but in the 20-25 years since there is little doubt that bill haley has been almost forgotten... no one talks about him anymore.... people still talk about elvis chuck berry and bo diddley but no one mentions bill haley who came before them all... there is no doubt at all for example that bill haley was the first, and for a while only, white person performing and creating rock and roll... you can trace him back to 1951!!!!! which is a full four years before elvis or even chuck berry...

there is a great essay piece on bill haley in the all music guide..stronlgy recommended... check it here

Now playing: recorded in 1969 and released in February 1970... Black Sabbath's eponymously titled first album.. some hold the first heavy metal album....this is the original Warner Brothers 1871 green label release....Ozzy was still going as "Ossie Osborne" on this record...This LP was released in the UK on Friday the 13th (of course!) and the record sleeve featured an inverted cross on the inside cover with an apocalyptic poem... this was done without the bands input and sealed their fate as satanic agents in the eyes of the media... My american copy, unfortunately, does not have the poem and i'm unclear about wether it ever did..