On the road...

Rich Hall's Continental Drifters

Comedian Rich Hall hits the road as he takes us on his personal journey through the road movie, which, from the earliest days of American cinema has been synonymous with American culture. With his customary wit and intelligence, Rich takes us through films such as Bonnie and Clyde, The Grapes of Wrath, Thelma and Louise, Vanishing Point, Five Easy Pieces and even The Wizard of Oz. He explores what makes a road movie and how the American social, economic and political landscape has defined the genre.

Filmed on location in South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, the film incorporates interviews, archive footage and clips of some of cinemas best-loved films as it gives us another of Rich Hall's unique insights into American culture.

You can catch it before Tuesday 29 November on BBC iPLayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b017grqt/

Bruce Johnston interviewed...

Bruce Johnston: From Pet Sounds to Pink Floyd and having time to SMiLE

If Bruce Johnston decided to retire right now, his music career would be one of the most impressive around. Luckily, retiring is pretty far from his mind. You can hear the excitement in his voice when he talks about the future and the music he's yet to discover. We recently got a chance to talk about his early influences and what it means to be a part of a band like The Beach Boys. His career is far from being limited to that iconic band though. He's been involved with songwriting, producing and arranging of some pretty impressive projects. His talents can be heard on songs from Elton John to Pink Floyd to Barry Manilow to The Rip Chords. A lot is being written about The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary and the release of SMiLE which proves they are still a relevant force in the music industry. Bruce is excited about what he's been able to be a part of in the past but may very well be more excited about what is yet to come!

You had a pretty famous group of friends from University High School in West Los Angeles with Jan Berry, Dean Torrence, James Brolin, Ryan O’Neal and others.

The great thing is that everybody starts young. It’s kind of fun that I knew all these people.

What were your influences during this high school time?
Growing up in the 50’s, when we were conscious of music in Jr. High School and all that, the radio was a mixture of Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Peggy Lee, Little Richard…you know there was a lot of yin and yang because you couldn’t stop these unusual rock records and rockabilly records like Gene Vincent. Rockabilly was absolutely fabulous. Rockabilly broke through. Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues”…we even play that now….a lot of cool stuff. As a guy who’s 69 ½… I was listening to my parents records from the 40’s like Glenn Miller. Glenn Miller was huge. You have to understand the roots of the world down in the south. You’re getting a lot of blues stuff coming in over the years. From Ireland, Scotland and England you’ve got all that Appalachian stuff when they brought the guitars over here. The music in life we hear goes into a blender…comes out of a blender…processed to something else. You kind of wind up hearing everything…so lucky me…I heard a lot. And I’ve got more to hear. I will say honestly, I like to go over my Sinatra stuff but currently I kind of got hooked on the "not-so-complicated sound, but beautifully written songs" in Country music for the last 30 years. So I love that. Every morning when I get up and take a shower, I’ve got a great radio in the bathroom that is on the Country station in Santa Barbara. The Country music keeps me sane.

My 11-year-old son always gets to ask a question and this one fits perfectly for the high school topic and time period for you. Did you want to be in a band?
Never. Just high school band at the time. High school band was plenty because I met all the girls. I was also a cashier in the cafeteria and met all the girls and got a free lunch. What I was able to do was be in a band that sounded like the radio and girls loved that!



You were in a band with Sandy Nelson around this time, weren’t you?
He was like a recording studio mentor when I was 15 years old. He was like 18. I was in the band with him and we had Phil Spector in the band, and he was 18. Boy, did it sound like the radio or what?! Shortly thereafter, Sandy plays on this hit “To Know Him Is To Love Him” that Phil Spector wrote. I don’t want to say this is rock & roll….it was all pop…but pop music back then would be considered Sinatra so I don’t know what the hell they called it. I went on to backing up people. I remember Duane Eddy having a show. Dick Dale opened. There was a few more on and we backed them up. Dick Dale was a greaser, rockabilly guy before his surf thing. I started surfing around then. Guys started making surfing movies. We had an east coast jazz and west coast jazz thing. Pacific Jazz Records had Chico Hamilton and Bud Shank. They started making surfing movies and started putting the Pacific Jazz albums to the soundtrack. A surf film producer in the late 50’s would have a recorder he’d project a surf movie on. He’d narrate it live and play this very cool jazz. Well, somehow in the mix somebody started putting The Ventures to the soundtrack and that really struck a chord with the young surfers. That got all the guitar guys going. Surf guitar that you hear today sounds the same as it did a million years ago.

One of my favorite live albums is that fun project you did in 1963 called Surfer’s Pajama Party. Can you tell me a little bit about making that album?
That literally was at a fraternity party. I went to UCLA. Did you ever see Animal House? I swear to God when I saw that I thought it was a documentary of the time I recorded that album and the toga parties. I never saw drugs to tell you the truth. I’ve still never participated in it. But Animal House was so accurate for the times of that album. That album is like listening in to any band playing a college party. There’s no depth to the album…there’s not supposed to be. It’s just kind of cool.



So in 1965 you joined The Beach Boys after Glen Campbell left to pursue a solo career. How did that come about?
I was on staff at Columbia Records as a producer with Terry Melcher. We had a band called The Rip Chords that we signed. They couldn’t sing in the style of The Beach Boys so we became their voices on a song called “Hey Little Cobra” that was top 10 and sold a million copies. Jan & Dean were across the street from our studio. Across another little street were The Beach Boys. I was consulted to find someone to take Glen Campbell’s place, who took Brian’s place, and I couldn’t find anybody. So I said I could come for the weekend and that’s how it started.

Wasn’t the first song you sang on in the studio with The Beach Boys “California Girls”?
That whole ablum…Summer Days Summer Nights. I had never sung harmony in a group before. I had used a little multi-tracking with Terry Melcher. I had never been around a mic with people. It was just unbelievable to have that experience. Your feet are right to the fire. “Ok, come on sing a part”. I was too nervous to say no.

Pet Sounds is certainly one of the greatest rock albums of all time. “God Only Knows” is still a masterpiece today. Originally, weren’t all the Beach Boys singing on that song along with Terry Melcher?
Yeah…and Brian’s wife and his sister in law.

Then Brian pulled it back to just you, Carl and himself.
Yeah that’s right

After the album was finished you went to England and played this for people like Keith Moon, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. What was that like?
Keith Moon kind of introduced me to John and Paul. I played the Pet Sounds album twice. They were in the middle of Revolver. From their point of view, the spirit of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” went in to “Here, There & Everywhere”. Brian takes a bow for everything. You know what I mean? He gets it. I just happened to be the lucky “fed-ex” guy.



Besides being a member of The Beach Boys, you have also been successful as a songwriter, with songs like “I Write The Songs”, which became a huge hit for Barry Manilow in 1975.
When Clive Davis played the recording over the phone, they held back the drums until after the bridge. It waited so long to explode. I said “Clive, I don’t know if it’s a hit. It’s just so sophisticated for most of the recording.”

Didn’t you win a Song Of The Year Grammy for that?
Yeah a real Grammy. You can’t fix that…it’s the real deal.



How did your involvement with Pink Floyd’s The Wall come about?
They wanted the Beach Boys. We were in Dallas the day they were available. The producer was going to fly down. We lined up a recording studio that was part of a film studio…really a fantastic studio. They had to change their schedule and we didn’t have time to reconnect with them. Roger Waters called me and said “can you get some singers to sing on it if the band’s not available”. The one I would really have loved to have done was “Another Brick In The Wall” with the young boys choir. Anyway, so I lined up some great studio singers…Toni Tennille…you know “Love Will Keep Us Together”…I don’t think she even had a hit then…well maybe she did. I used her on Elton John’s “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”. I did the vocal arrangements for that. When you look at the credits, they shrink it for CD’s. Now maybe my credit will come back larger when we look on the web (laughs). Toni went to a sports arena performance of The Wall 3 years ago. Some “too heavy, too cool for his own body” guy said “what are you doing here?” She said “I sang on the recording!” (laughs)

You did a fun disco version of “Pipeline” for your Going Public album in 1977. How did that come about?
That was the first disco 12 inch Columbia ever had. We were just jamming in the studio and I said “hey let’s play this” and that’s how it came out.

It seems like every 10 years there is a renewed interest in the Beach Boys, with a new generation discovering you guys. The 80’s were a huge time for this including the smash hit “Kokomo” in 1988. Was that the band’s biggest hit?
Impact-wise, no…but as far as pure sales, yes. It sold 12 million albums. It’s a wonderful song but hats off to “I Get Around”, “Good Vibrations” and all that other stuff. That’s more important songwriting for the band.

In 1996 The Beach Boys did a great duets project with Country artists like Willie Nelson, Toby Keith, Sawyer Brown, and others (Stars and Stripes Vol. 1). Was it a surprise that the country audience accepted it?
No, not really. Country guys love rock & roll. They’ve listened to everything. I knew that. The first song we recorded was “The Warmth of the Sun”. All the Beach Boy’s songs live are in the original keys. We had to move it up because Willie had to sing it low so we had to sing it high and it’s a really good recording. The whole thing was great.

You produced the fun Symphonic Sounds: Music of the Beach Boys project in 1998. I know you were particularly happy with the way Tammy Trent’s “God Only Knows” came out on that.
Now that to me is the best recording outside of The Beach Boys recording. The arrangements are absolutely stunning. The 85 musicians were playing those arrangements over at Abby Road were absolutely fabulous. That’s just a great unknown recording (laughs).

I understand that you, Mike Love, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine got together to re-record “Do It Again” this summer?
You know when you go up to a mic and you go “test 1,2,3,4” when you do a soundcheck? I think that’s what “Do It Again” was. “Hi boys, I know you haven’t recorded together in 3,000 years…test 1,2,3,4…Do It Again”. (laughs)

This year marks the end of the 44 year wait for the release of SMiLE. Did you ever think that would come out?
I actually never thought about it to tell you the truth. From my point of view, Brian chose not to finish it. I think the SMiLE he finished might be more interesting to him than the SMiLE that’s been released now. In other words, Brian Wilson the solo artist (see info here), with the support of the musicians in his band that are fabulously, ridiculously cool, emotionally finished the SMiLE songs he composed over there and not here because it’s not finished…and it’s absolutely brilliant. Have you heard the project?

Oh yeah. I had to get a copy immediately.
How many copies? (laughs) Which one did you buy? There are so many versions. I picked up the double vinyl disc version! I do have Brian’s version from a few years ago on CD as well.

So with the 50 year anniversary and the SMiLE release, there have been lots of rumors of a reunion tour. Is there anything you can talk about?
Nothing has been booked. I know there have been offers in Japan. There are offers out there. You have to sort out how they translate back to you in terms of business. I’m just going to stand by.

Do you still like to surf?
I’m looking out my window right now. I live 150 feet from the beach at high tide. My surf spot when I was a young boy is to my left and my beach club that I belong to is on the right. The water is always cold. You always have to wear a wet suit here in Santa Barbara. So don’t think when you come out here you’re going to run in to the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, or Dick Dale and jump in the ocean and be warm. It’s not like the weather below you there…It’s cold.



Which website do you recommend to get all the news about the band?
Beach Boys Britain. Go to google and type in “BBB message board” and that will get you to all the people chattering and that’s really interesting.

What are some songs that you never get tired of playing live?
The one that is not in the set enough is “Warmth Of The Sun”. Oh my God…that’s killer. Another that’s not in the set hardly at all is “Please Let Me Wonder”. That was the back side of “Do You Wanna Dance?”. I like playing “California Girls”. I think Mike’s lyrics are so on the money. I told Mike the other day that you start like a garage band and you instantly get on the radio. You’re struggling but you have stuff on the radio. You have a Christmas album and have “Little Saint Nick” as a hit. When you turn that hit over, you have an a capella version of “The Lord’s Prayer” with very modern harmony. For me if the career ended right there and I was the age I’m right now, I would be so proud and satisfied that I had some great hits, a seasonal hit and to top it off with the most difficult vocal arranging of my career with “The Lord’s Prayer”. It was so incredible.

Do you ever step back and take a look at all the great projects you’ve been a part of…both solo and with the band?
Well people do these things and if they live long enough they get interviewed constantly about what happened. You never probably think people have more to offer but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. What I decided to do was enjoy these brilliant reruns because we go all the way up to playing with a ton of symphonies. Although I, Bruce Johnston, may wrinkle quite naturally like Paul McCartney but my writing doesn’t. I decided I’m going for writing for tv and movies. I always torture Mike about writing because he’s so good. I told him the other day that nothing happens until you write it…whether it’s a book, screenplay or words in music. That’s always been my whole thing. I never thought I’d be in a band.

You seem to keep a lot of stuff going.
I do 140-170 concerts a year. It’s really all cool. I’m thinking about “what’s next?” I’m not thinking about when I’m going to retire. By thinking “what’s next”, you still feel like you’re still contributing your talent. You’re contributing your talent by reassembling night after night even though the set list changes every night. That’s one way to look at it. As I love the writing talent better, I’m kind of doing the Clint Eastwood move. Instead of just staying in front of the camera, he got on the back of it and the side of it by writing. That’s what I want to do. I kind of peeled back on my writing and raised 4 children. The last one is in grad school. So instead of retiring I have time to focus.

http://rockabillynblues.blogspot.com/2011/11/bruce-johnston-from-pet-sounds-to-pink.html

Jackie Leven RIP

Jackie Leven

Jackie Leven, who has died of cancer aged 61, was one of rock and folk music’s most colourful and individual talents, though he never achieved the wide success and recognition that his performances undoubtedly merited.

“The greatest band you’ve never heard of,” was how a Daily Telegraph critic described Doll By Doll, the idiosyncratic band Leven led in compelling fashion through the late 1970s and early 1980s. The group’s psychedelic-flavoured style may have been out of step with the times, preventing it from achieving anything more than cult status, but Leven’s rampant imagination rewarded fans’ fascination. Doll By Doll’s 1979 album Gypsy Blood was hailed, retrospectively, as one of British rock’s masterpieces.

Usually described as a maverick, or an outsider who swam constantly against the tide, Leven survived not only the split of Doll By Doll in 1982, but also an attempt to murder him, as well as debilitating drug addiction. He re-emerged in the 1990s as a darkly witty and unusually perceptive singer-songwriter operating on the fringes of the folk scene. After a 40-year career and 400 original songs, he was still at the top of his game when he collaborated with the multi-instrumentalist Michael Cosgrave on his final album Wayside Shrines and the Code of the Travelling Man – released to enthusiastic reviews earlier this year.

Leven had an unusual background. He was born to a gypsy family in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, on June 19 1950, with a London Irish father and a Northumbrian mother. He was a loner in childhood and had a sketchy education, constantly playing truant from school. Instead he preferred to spend his time wandering alone in the hills near Kirkcaldy, an environment which subsequently featured heavily in his songwriting. On the rare days he did attend, one of his schoolmates was the future Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and the pair were even on Kirkcaldy High School’s debating society together. As a Labour backbencher, Brown occasionally attended Leven’s solo gigs.

One thing Leven did learn, however, was his mother’s love of the blues, and as a teenager he spent much of his time playing in local folk clubs. Having definitively left school he hitchhiked around Britain and parts of Europe, often sleeping rough, and then wound up busking in London. Initially adopting the name John St Field, he released his eccentric, psychedelic first record, Control, in 1971 (reissued by Cooking Vinyl in 1997), before forming Doll By Doll during the height of the punk movement in the late 1970s.

Leven’s weirdly disquieting songs — often confronting such difficult issues as mental illness and homelessness — sharply distinguished Doll By Doll from the more usual bands of the punk era and their simplistic anger. After challenging but failing to dent the dogmatic attitudes of the day, the band disintegrated following four albums that were critically well-received but sold sparsely.
While working on a solo album in 1983 Leven became the victim of a vicious random attack in the street by a group of strangers who tried to strangle him as he walked home from a recording session in North London. “One guy was strangling me and some others were giving me a serious kicking,” Leven recalled. “I remember thinking, quite clearly: 'I’m going to die here.’” He was saved by his producer, who, Leven said, “jumped in a Range Rover and came surging up the street, horn blaring, hurtling onto the pavement in great grandstanding style.”

Nonetheless, Leven’s larynx was badly damaged and in the aftermath of the assault he was unable to sing or play guitar. He was plunged further into gloom when he separated from his girlfriend, and he soon became a recluse, taking solace in heroin.

Two years later he emerged – fully recovered – after undergoing a course of alternative Chinese treatment and psychic healing. Such was his praise for these remedies over more traditional rehabilitation treatments that he went on to co-found the Core Trust, an organisation in Marylebone which promotes a “holistic” approach to helping people with alcohol and drug addictions. As a patron of the Core Trust, he once met Diana, Princess of Wales, responding to her request to sing something with the traditional Scottish ballad The Bonnie Earl Of Moray, which he had previously used as the basis for one of Doll By Doll’s most popular songs, Main Travelled Roads.

Leven subsequently left London to live in Oban on the west coast of Scotland, where he involved himself in the local community and wrote the material that provided the basis of his dramatic and expansive comeback album, The Mystery Of Love Is Greater Than The Mystery Of Death (1994). This was ranked by Q magazine as one of the “100 Best Albums of All Time” and included one of his finest songs, Call Mother.

His ambitious follow-up solo album, Forbidden Songs Of The Dying West (1995), included a 60-voice male choir, guest artists such as the songwriters Eddi Reader and Andy White, and one of his most remarkable songs, Young Male Suicide Blessed By Invisible Woman. The mystical Fairy Tales For Hard Man album (1997), confirmed his evolution into both a soulful, almost spiritual singer and a broody, intriguing songwriter.

Leven continued to experiment and explore different styles on the eclectic Night Lilies (1998) and Defending Ancient Springs (2000). This album, in part inspired by the poet Kathleen Raine, includes sound effects, industrial samples, and a duet with David Thomas (of the experimental rock music group Pere Ubu) on a bold cover of the old Righteous Brothers’ hit You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling.

He only became more prolific in the new millennium, releasing further imaginative collections such as Elegy For Johnny Cash (2005) – which includes the entertainingly-titled Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier Than Students Of Zen – as well as Lovers At The Gun Club (2008). His final record – subtitled Songs Written In German Hotel Rooms — was full of characteristically dark but funny numbers such as Swine Flu Fever Blues; To Live and Die In Levenland; and Townes At The Borderline, and incorporated references to Captain Beefheart, John Coltrane and Leslie Phillips along the way.

“All I can do is make records that I would like and want to listen to and hope others agree,” Jackie Leven said earlier this year. “That is my fate.”

He was twice married and is survived by his partner, Deborah Greenwood, and by a son of an earlier relationship.

Jackie Leven, born June 19 1950, died November 15 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8894950/Jackie-Leven.html

Last night's set lists

At The Habit, York: -

First set with Ron: -

All I Have To Do Is Dream
Let It Be Me
Raining In My Heart
Medley: Devoted To You; Ebony Eyes; Love Hurts

2nd set (and last turn of the night) with Mark Wynn: -

There Stands The Glass*
Baby What You Want Me To Do

* a request from the floor

Art of America Part One

William Penn bilks the Delaware Indians out of their land in Benjamin West's Treaty of Penn (1772)

1. Looking for Paradise

In the first episode of a series exploring the history of American art, Andrew Graham-Dixon embarks on an epic journey from east to west, following in the footsteps of the pioneers who built the foundations of modern America.

During his journey, he travels to Massachusetts to see the earliest portraits in America depicting the Puritan settlers and visits Pennsylvania to uncover the dark truth behind Benjamin West's most famous painting, the spectacular Treaty of Penn with the Indians. In Philadelphia, he turns the pages of one of the world's most expensive books - John James Audubon's exquisite Birds of America, and explores the wilderness that inspired America's greatest landscape painter, Thomas Cole.

He also uncovers the paradox at the heart of America: that progress and innovation have come at a tragic price, the destruction of the unique cultural heritage of Native Americans by European settlers.

Andrew's journey takes us to the end of the 19th century and the announcement that the era of westward expansion was officially over.

On BBC iPLayer until 5 December 2011: http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b017755r/

Mississippi

Bob looking cool this week.

Who could heed the words of Charlie Darwin?

Bob Dylan - John Brown

FRIDAY NIGHT BOY COOL #131

Bob, Steve, John and Kris.

The Day Bob Dylan Played "George Jackson" Live

Bob Dylan didn't perform at any dates of his own in 1971. He played short sets at the two Bangla Desh benefit concerts, went almost unrecognized as a sideman for an Allen Ginsberg TV performance, and dropped in at the Band's New Year's show at year's end (probably after midnight). But he also played informally on a few other occasions, mostly unnoticed (or misreported) in the standard Dylan chronicles.

Two of these apparently took place on November 4, 1971, the day Dylan went into Columbia's Studio B in Manhattan and recorded his just-written "George Jackson." One of these, a short harmonica-and-backing-vocals walk-on with John Prine is fairly well-known, but usually (and quite inaccurately) reported as taking place a year or two later. Both Clinton Heylin and Michael Gray report it as a September 9, 1972 performance; Robert Shelton had it in 1973; and none of them could identify the first of the three songs Dylan played on. Let's clear that up now.

Prine and his fellow Chicago singer-songwriter Steve Goodman came to Manhattan in the fall of 1971 for a showcase gig at the Bitter End, opening on November 3. Prine's debut album was about to hit the stores, while Goodman's had appeared a few months earlier. Billboard reviewed the stint in its November 20, 1971 issue, with comments that they might have applied to Dylan a decade earlier: "Prine is an essentially functional singer who throws away his songs in a deceptively offhand, head-scratching manner. His songs though are exceptional, enabling him to put across some strong ideas in a simple format often taking refuge in humor." (Unfortunately, the anonymous reviewer identified him as "Tom" Prine.) The New York Times review on November 5 noted a heavy Dylan influence, and declared him "a cut above the new generation of folksingers." It got his name right, too.

"I played my first gig ever outside of Chicago," Prine remembered in 1981. "I needed a harmonica player. I asked if there was anyone around. Now, this is only my second night, and Dylan comes up. He had brought a harmonica and learned the words to all the choruses of my songs. I introduced Dylan and about two people were clapping. No one believed it. They thought Dylan was either dead or on Mount Fuji." Dylan played harp and sang backing vocals on three Prine compositions: "Far From Me," "Donald and Lydia." and "Sam Stone."

When Dylan leaves the Bitter End, he returns to Columbia Studio B for a post-midnight session to finish work on "George Jackson," which required more than a dozen takes to complete. It's often reported that he also recorded a cover of Prine's "Donald and Lydia" at one of the day's sessions.

Dylan turned up for Prine's second set of the evening. There's a pretty nice tape floating around of Prine's first set. The late show apparently went unrecorded.

How did Dylan know Prine's songs? Prine had been signed to Atlantic Records by Jerry Wexler, driven by a strong recommendation by Kris Kristofferson. The enthusiastic Wexler sent Dylan an advance copy of Prine's first LP earlier in the fall.

But there was a second, quite informal, live performance by Dylan that day. Earlier in the day, at the rather unDylanesque hour of 10am, he went into the Columbia studios and recorded "Wallflower" and his first efforts at "George Jackson." That session broke around lunchtime, and, it seems, Dylan left for . . . Carly Simon's Greenwich Village apartment.

Simon wasn't there, but Kris Kristofferson was. Kristofferson had invited Prine and Goodman over for the afternoon, promising "a surprise for you guys." As Prine remembered things a few years ago, "There’s a knock on the door and in walks Bob Dylan." The four soon begin passing Kristofferson's (or perhaps Simon's) guitar around, playing their recent songs. When it reaches Dylan, he plays "George Jackson." When he finishes, in Prine's words, "Goodman looked him dead in the eye and took the guitar from him," saying "That’s great, Bob. It’s no 'Masters of War,' though. Man, I’ll tell you. It’s no 'Masters of War.'"

Dylan was "taken aback," but receives Goodman's jibe in good humor. He surprises Prine by singing along as Prine plays "Far From Me." When the guitar comes back to him, he plays "Wallflower." The quartet soon turns to running through Hank Williams songs. When they finish, as the sun sets in the late afternoon, Goodman needs to visit a nearby guitar shop, and Dylan takes him there on his motorcycle.

So, to put the day in more chronological order: 10 am - 1pm, 1st George Jackson session. Afternoon, informal musicmaking with Prine, Goodman, and Kristofferson. Night, guest spot with Prine at the Bitter End. 2-6am, 2nd George Jackson session. A rather interesting 20-hour stretch.

Martin Scorsese's George Harrison documentary

Arena - George Harrison: Living in the Material World - Part 1

Arena broadcasts the UK television premiere of Martin Scorsese's portrait of the late George Harrison.

Scorsese traces Harrison's life from his beginnings in Liverpool to becoming a world-famous musician, philanthropist and filmmaker, weaving together interviews with George and his closest friends, photographs and archive footage including live performances - much of it previously unseen. The result is a rare glimpse into the mind of one of the most talented artists of his generation. Part one looks at George's early years in The Beatles - from their first gigs in Hamburg and the beginning of Beatlemania, through to his psychedelic phase and involvement in religion and Indian music.

The programme includes contributions from Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Sir George Martin and Phil Spector.

See it on BBC iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b017lbh4/

Arena - George Harrison: Living in the Material World - Part 2

Arena broadcasts the second and concluding part of Martin Scorsese's portrait of George Harrison.

Part two looks at Harrison's post-Beatles days - as a member of the Travelling Wilburys and a solo artist, as well as looking at his non-musical ventures, including his work as a movie producer and his family life with wife Olivia and son Dhani.

Racing legend Jackie Stewart tells of George's love of motor racing, Monty Python's Eric Idle recounts how George saved the Life of Brian from catastrophe by re-mortgaging his mansion to help finance it, and there are contributions from Travelling Wilbury bandmates including Tom Petty.

Harrison's widow Olivia Harrison gives a poignant account of her life with the Beatle, including the harrowing tale of the night when a violent intruder attacked them at home one evening in 1999. Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Olivia and Dhani Harrison, among many others, talk openly about George's many gifts and contradictions and reveal the lives they shared together.

On BBC iPLayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b017lbr0/

On Armistice Day...

Grotesque

These are the damned circles Dante trod,
Terrible in hopelessness,
But even skulls have their humour,
An eyeless and sardonic mockery:
And we,
Sitting with streaming eyes in the acrid smoke,
That murks our foul, damp billet,
Chant bitterly, with raucous voices
As a choir of frogs
In hideous irony, our patriotic songs.

Frederic Manning

John Tenniel

DYLAN Live: A Discussion.

HOW DYLAN CONCERT EXPECTATIONS HAVE CHANGED

I was listening, the other day, to 'Sugar Baby' from Hanover - and it was terrible: just terrible. So bad I felt almost bereft. And then I said so, in private, to the estimable Rainer Vesely of Vienna, and he sent me this response, which seemed to me so admirably expressed that I asked (and obtained) his permission to reprint it here. He wrote this:

Back from Innsbruck and all the way on the road I was thinking about how to describe for you why I really liked the concert. Even more: why I was deeply impressed... I think what he is doing now, and maybe since 2010 - since he crawled out from his hiding place behind the keyboard, where he ducked away from 2005-2009 - is staging a 90-100 minute drama, in which he puts much, much more emphasis on his physical presence than ever before. He really acts(!) and recites, gestures, mimicks, uses – very consciously!! – his weird way of walking, knee-bending, staring, half-closing or wide-opening his eyes etc. and not only when being center stage but also behind the keyboards. And this presence is so overwhelming, especially since he looks so trim and fit again, that you (well, me and many others) just don’t mind the bellowing and raspy sounds coming out of his mouth.
I understand very well that just listening to a CD or mp3 of the concert can make one shiver with embarrassment. The thing is: where in years long gone the singing, real singing, has been the main attraction, the recitation now is just part of the whole experience. There’s no use any more in recording it: you have to see it, have to be there. Also, the moments that stick in one's mind after the show, and that are exchanged with friends, have shifted from “Oh, when he stretched those vowels over five bars …” to “ Oh, when he pressed both fists to his chest when singing ‘Don’t get up gentlemen’ and then opened his arms and eyes wide for ‘I’m only passing through’”. I dare say, Michael, that even you would have loved it if you haad been with us in the front.
So I guess we really (once again) have to change our expectations and our views of what a Bob Dylan concert is.





posted by Michael Gray | 6:13 PM

8 Comments:
Anonymous said...
My feelings exactly. Also, his band is terrific. Not *The Band* but a great band nonetheless. It's still a wonderful show and tell me anybody of stature who doesn't just play the hits. I'm a Geordie, nigh on 46. Wish I'd seen him in 65/66, 69, 74, 78. Missed them, too young. But saw him in 81 and many times since. Just one show I hated, the rest a dream. Like going to a corrida, part of the thrill is you don't know if you're going to get a slaughter or a profound dance.

6:35 PM
Singing Bear said...
Is there any other artist who would be forgiven for singing like a rabid dog and praised because he now makes funny gestures and wiggles a bit? This is simply ridiculous. Let me state clearly now that I am a Bob Dylan fanatic. No artist means as much to me or has given me so much pleasure and food for thought since I first encountered his work in the 70's. Also, I've seen him live many times and, on the whole, had a fun time. Having said that, let's call it as is: he now sounds pretty dreadful (and being a musical artist, how he SOUNDS is what really counts). His voice, as least in the live context, is shot to pieces and the constant touring doesn't seem to have done his muse too many favours judging by the quality of the songs on 'Together Through Life'. I find it ever so slightly disturbing that so many Dylan fans don't seem to accept what is happening (here) - the great man is grinding his art into dust. Also, take a look at the set lists for the recent tour - how many times do we want to hear these songs? How many times does he want to play them? It's the same old thing, night after night. This is a crying shame bordering on artistic tragedy and it's high time we admitted it. Still, I know I will be a lone voice: the Boblings will never admit he's now wearing the king's new clothes. Bob, do yourself a favour, get off the road, write some songs and enjoy life a little.

9:57 AM
Glenn said...
Well, I loved that Sugar Baby ... But yes, being there is so much better.

9:57 AM
Anonymous said...
I have always thought his records were about the words and his concerts were about the music. Not too much anymore. Concerts are now about seeing Dylan live and acting out his songs. The band is good but seems to sleep walk thru many songs. His singing is barely tolerable. But the entire package of his performances are still remarkable.

11:18 AM
Anonymous said...
Does this: "I dare say, Michael, that even you would have loved it if you had been with us in the front."

suggest that if one is further back one does not or cannot enjoy it?

11:34 AM
Rajan Mahadevan said...
Dylan still lives through the words he wrote at any time when he sings them anytime on stage. The emphasizing may differ, but the dramatic effect is there for him to feel, for others to see. Already knowing the words by heart, most in the audience hardly complain when Dylan is incomprehensible, they follow the words nonetheless. At this rate, songman Dylan stands to end up one day like dance-man Mr Bojangles, about whom no attention is paid these days.

11:59 AM
Anonymous said...
Its great that Dylan is still doing it. Dylan was never really great live. Even though his years with The BAND were his best live. Now its rather pathetic at times. His voice is just horrible his arrangements are rather poor. But his ego many times stands in the way too. I heard one song he wouldn t even let Mark Knoffer do a lead. If Dylan was really brilliant he change it though. Talk his song rather than try and sing them and play them less loud maybe more accoustically.

12:09 PM
Anonymous said...
the trouble is all that gesticulating only plays to those very close. when he starts playing venues the size of my living room, i'll start going to watch.

Simon and Garfunkel, 1969

Songs of America 1969

A vintage programme from a turbulent time in America's past. Considered controversial at the time, it features footage of Simon and Garfunkel on stage, in the studio and on tour. It also integrates video montages of key events of the era, including news clips of Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, activist Cesar Chavez and the Poor People's March on Washington. Songs include America, So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright, Bridge over Troubled Water, Scarborough Fair, El Condor Pasa (If I Could), Punky's Dilemma, Mrs Robinson, Mystery Train, The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy), The Boxer, Homeward Bound, The Sound of Silence and several others.

Catch it on BBC iPlayer until 16 November: http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01770d9/

Simon and Garfunkel - The Harmony Game

In Jennifer Lebeau's film, Simon and Garfunkel: The Harmony Game, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel talk openly and eloquently about an extraordinarily creative period in their career - the making of Bridge Over Troubled Water. The story behind what was to become their final album has long been shrouded in rock and roll mythology and is told in gripping detail in these rare interviews. Archive footage is used to reveal technical breakthroughs and the emotional feelings the two artists had for each other.

On BBC iPlayer until Tuesday 27 December: http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b0171r6x/

Last night's set list

At The Habit, York: -

There Stands The Glass
Things We Said Today
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Mind Your Own Business

Very much the worse for drink, but who cares? Not me.

FRIDAY NIGHT BOY COOL #130

John Mayall in Concert plus special guest Oli Brown Band - The Sage, Gateshead

Signed by the man himself.

Oli Brown Band

Here was a young band, but very much steeped in the history of UK blues:  a cross between Taste, Ten Years After and The Groundhogs. Oh, and with a bit of Mountain and Cream here and there. Excellent guitar playing from Mr Brown. A blues reworking of Blackstreet’s hip-hop No Diggity was a surprise. Their song Mister Wilson featured a (maybe unintentional) quote from George Harrison’s I Dig Love. An enjoyable opening set which finished with I Feel On Top Of The World.

John Mayall
Looking sprightly for a guy who celebrated his 70^th birthday in 2003, John Mayall commenced his set with a solo performance of the Sonny Boy Williamson influenced Another Man. He then introduced the band: Greg Rzab – bass; Jay Davenport – drums and Rocky Athas – guitar.

They tore into All Your Love, one of several songs played on the night from 1966’s ‘Beano’ album and followed up with J B Lenoir’s Talk To Your Daughter which featured John on one of his custom guitars. The standards Have You Heard and Parchman Farm were joined by Albert King’s Oh Pretty Woman from 1967’s Crusade album, which featured some interesting musical duelling between organ and guitar.

Two new songs followed: the first featuring ‘scat’ singing and the last a lament to present woes called Tough Times Ahead. Then it was heads down for the finale Room To Move, an extended workout featuring a harmonica tour de force from John and lengthy bass and drum solos.

The nearly full Sage audience brought back the band for an encore and were treated to an excellent Hideaway featuring Oli Brown on 2^nd guitar. It seemed to this reviewer that there was a little reticence on the part of Rocky Athas who watched Oli like a hawk throughout and tried unsuccessfully to outplay him. Such is the magic of live music.

IR

DEVIOUS DA SECURES THE SIGNING OF TWO NEW FBs.

Seaton Delaval Hall

Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, 1719-1732

Rowan Moore
The Observer
Sunday 6 November 2011

Seaton Delaval Hall, built between 1719 and 1732, is the last of Sir John Vanbrugh's houses and the most satisfying. Recently acquired by the National Trust, it is a punchy, pithy work, less verbose than Blenheim Palace, more daring than Castle Howard, the architect's most famous works. It is stony both inside and out, stands on an exposed spot, designed so that its owner, an admiral, could look out to sea. In theory it's classical, but the former playwright Vanbrugh gave it a drama of advancing and receding forms that can best be called romantic, long before the romantic movement had been invented. Both admiral and architect died before it was completed and it was later damaged by fire. It was never completely restored, leaving it partly blackened and with some of the aspect of a ruin. The ceiling in the hall never returned, leaving a view into the rafters, and some statues are limbless – in keeping with the brooding, elemental atmosphere of the original design.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/nov/06/panoramic-image-seaton-delaval

360 degree panoramic view of the hall: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/interactive/2011/nov/06/360-degree-image-seaton-delaval-hall