I don't have an ipod yet (hint, hint to the failing students...), but I love my Rhapsody, a subscription service -- for ten bucks a month I can listen to almost anything I want. I can't take it on the road with me, but since I am pretty much always at or near my computer, I don't really mind. The best part is that as soon as I reached my office I was able to pull up Wilson Pickett's Greatest Hits, which is what I am listening to right now.
There are definite problems with Rhapsody. Not all artists are available (nothing or little from classic rock stalwarts like Zeppelin, Marshall Tucker or Jethro Tull), and the selection from obscure old punk labels is mighty thin, but I assume this is mostly a licensing thing that will inevitably be solved. But if I get a jones for Sly Stone or the Everly Brothers or surf music or 60s garage rock (but no Sonics!!!), I can just set up a playlist. For my Culture of the Thirties course I found: Billie Holiday, Paul Robeson, Carter Family, Charlie Christian, Robert Johnson, Duke Ellington and tons of famous and obscure country, blues and jazz.
On my playlist right now: 50 Foot Wave, Von Bondies, Rocket from the Crypt, PJ Harvey, Tanya Donelly, Tiger Army....
Before I went with the family to Little Steven's Underground Garage Festival this summer, I was able to find about half the bands (almost all of them obscure) on Rhapsody. Belated review of that day:
first off, take the nytimes review with a grain of salt. only if you dont really like the stuff did the strokes feel like the freshest voice of the day. to me they came off as drunken petulant poseurs who were miffed that people didnt cheer enough for them. (at one point the singer said, okay I see you are saving your love for iggy... or something like that; but they were actually too well received, I thought). I like them for about half a song. and I was particularly annoyed at having to listen to them while the storm threatened to come before iggy got to play.
I thought the day was great. we took the kids (4 and 11) and the vibe was perfect. the bands were mostly great (loved the lyres esp, tho they were the sloppiest of all). because the rotating stage broke early in the day, they had to change the equipment between sets; they did an extraordinary job (about 5 mintuutes each) but for some reason felt they had to fill up ALL the time with sound. but they didnt have a dj (not having planned for any time between sets) so their emcees (including the normally foulmouthed Kim Fowley) filled the time with inane blather, coaxing the go-go dancers to scream and intone ROCKANDROLL!!! loudly over and over. just awful. but I am a sucker for the stream of fuzztones and farfisa bands.
nancy sinatra was botoxed and strange, but I kinda liked her. her band was very professional, but she went on too long. most of the bands did 2 or 3 songs, but the last bunch got to do near-full sets. bo diddley was great, but a coupla songs from him was all I needed (and his rap was embarrassing). raveonettes did only a couple of songs and didnt sound great, which is too bad because they are one of my faves these days.
dictators did their thing, never really my bag; the dolls sounded really fantastic, and I am not a huge fan of them either. johanson and iggy obviously have the same personal trainer and dietician. both freakishly wiry and stringy.
iggy came out shirtless, very lowcut tight jeans and long blond hair and was on fire from the start. then he got pissed because security wouldnt let him crowdsurf. so he forced them to let people up on stage. so during one song (no fun, I think) he had about 75 people filling up the stage. great fun and simulated chaos. they didnt do seach and destroy, but did 1969, 1970 and I wanna be your dog TWICE!!! the second was with a sax player. I loved it. I missed them last year and have been kicking myself. They sounded awesome. just wish they had played for a couple more hours.
so that's it. lots of stuff to quibble about (pretty corporate affair, too many sopranos making guest appearances, all the invocations of how rocknroll saved my life, werent selling any hats in the merch booth...). but I ran into some friends, hung out, the rain only briefly and lightly visited, and I had a fantastic day with my family.
final rock'n'roll note for the day: for those interested in garage and punk, I highly recommend Agony Shorthand. The guy writes well, knows his stuff, and named his blog for an old Flesh Eaters song; can't be all bad....
No comments:
Post a Comment