There are but a few concerts that can even dare to claim the titles, “Best Concert Ever” and/or “Most Important Concert Ever.”
It’s clear to me that the T.A.M.I. Show was both. It was staged on two nights in Santa Monica in October, 1964, and released on film soon thereafter. The name stands for Teen Age Music International. It sits nearly alone in the throne of the pantheon of live rock & roll performances. (To hack up a metaphor.)
Beach Boys. Chuck Berry. The Barbarians. Marvin Gaye. Lesley Gore. The Supremes. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. (You know, the more I think about it, even Woodstock can’t stand up to this lineup.)
And the Stones, full of themselves, insisted they headline the deal. Which is why I feel compelled to present 11 minutes plus of evidence why Jagger’s the pretender and James Brown the champ. As the Godfather of Soul is said to have proclaimed, “Nobody follows James Brown.” Here’s why:
I am a professional. I take my work seriously. And, despite my bluster on occasion, I am a sensitive man, who picks up litter when it is along my path.
Thus, I’m not sure why I continue week after week to endure the brickbats and demeaning manner of my WFPK host James Bickers. Is the big bucks? Is it my low self esteem? Is it the need to hear my dulcet tones on the radio no matter what?
I frankly am at a loss.
My hope is that you, my loyal audience, shall continue to return for more salient reviews. Here’s this week’s addition.
It’s obvious from all the hits to the site here in the last week, from all the acclaim strewn like digital asteroid dust across the cybergalaxy, that you, my loyal readers, have been anxiously awaiting this week’s installment of Culture Maven’s History Warp.
Exhale, ye history buffs, you needn’t wait another nanosecond for more fascinating nuggetoids of historitude moment of scintillation from the days of yesteryear.
So, without undue ado, let’s get this party started.
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I’ve had the good fortune to visit friends, who have taken to wintering Down Under. Sydney in January is significantly more pleasant than, say, Chicago. (Don’t ask about flying through O’Hare during a snow storm.)
During the visit, we took a cab on one occasion. A real cab as we know it, not one of those way nifty water taxis criss-crossing Sydney Harbor, which we used a lot. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m advised that available for purchase and consumption at least at one state fair — Iowa perhaps? — is this delicacy, Fried Butter.
Um, how cholesteriffic!!! You’d think they’d have the common sense to stuff that butter with a hard boiled egg, before coating it with sugared batter and dropping it in boiling oil. Then you’d have a real American treat.
While the Film Babe and I did not traverse the entirety of the fairgrounds last night, I don’t believe that particular menu item is available.
We did see a new perennial, the bacon cheeseburger with 2 Krispy Kreme® donuts replacing the usual bun. We did peruse a vendor’s stand, offering Fried Derby Pie®, along side a big ol’ tray of Fried Kool-Aid™. We scurried past quickly, our thinking that even inhaling the air around such foodstuffs might add avoirdupois and increase cholesterol readings. Read the rest of this entry »
This morning’s interaction with my WFPK 91.9 Radio Louisville host James Bickers was especially disturbing.
Rather than engage in some meaningful and nurturing dialog about a project of which I’m most proud, James simply sat there, with a silent microphone. No feedback. No encouragement. Not attaboy, good work.
Nothing.
Okay, he did want to spend a bunch of time talking about Kyle Meredith, who didn’t even show up for work today. How’s that supposed to make a guy feel?
That said, my reviews of three worthy films are as insightful and precise as always. Well worth the listen, I would opine.
Well, history buffs, it’s time we got back to where we once belonged.
Welcome to the anxiously-awaited return of the Culture Maven’s History Warp. This weekly exercise will feature offbeat but reasonably accurate historical factoids from the days of yesteryear.
You asked for it. You got it. Enjoy.
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Of all the fellows who have resided through the decades in the White House, Theodore Roosevelt has always seemed the most adventurous.
Stalking game in in the Transvaal. Riding the badlands of the Dakotas on his trusty steed. That’s the kind of stuff Teddy did for fun and frolic. Read the rest of this entry »
The blown up black and white photo on the front of Donald Fagen’s keyboard told the story.
Sir Duke Ellington and his band.
It was a booming, brassy, big band-ish incarnation of Fagen and Walter Becker’s group — 11 strong + the 2 — that landed at the Palace, during this, their “Shuffle Diplomacy” tour. It was a good thing.
Frankly, it was not what I expected. Much to my delight.
Plus, the performance gave insight why the band took almost a score of years off from touring.
The thin, almost clipped arrangements and recorded versions of their songs — the ones we all identify as being uniquely Steely Dan — are but outlines for the duo’s final vision, penciled sketches for a later masterwork in oil, skeletons without flesh and sinew and muscle. With the addition of horns, added guitar and keyboard and crack back up singers, the songs have evolved as they were meant to. They are fleshed out, fuller, more complete, mature. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, James just got back from vacation, so he was full of himself. Which caused me to spend more time than necessary dodging his barbs.
Kyle was back from Denver, where he won Music Director of the Year. For which he deserves significant props. On the other hand, he supped in an intimate group with Jeff Bridges, so I asked him to do me a little favor. Ask Bridges about the filming of the Tom McGuane-penned cult classic, “Rancho Deluxe.” Of course, he came home with a trophy for himself, but nary a nuggetoid of inside info on one of my favorite movies.
Sigh.
And, oh yes, I considered “The Help,” one of the few mainstream summer movies, devoid of explosions, car chases, gratuitous strippers in a titty bar and Jason Bateman.
If only I could run as fast as I can read the entire morning Courier-Journal?
It’s getting thinner and thinner by the week. Some days, there’s not enough to cover the bottom of a regulation sized bird cage.
And curioser and curioser are the decisions being made by those in charge down at 6th & Broadway.
Apparently, they’ve gotten a clue that readers want expanded TV listings. So The Once Great Newspaper is going TV Guide. A new expanded “TV Week” will be available with your Sunday edition, starting mid September. Read the rest of this entry »
In the initial gauge of the nation’s mindset in advance of next year’s presidential election, approximately 4760 Iowans, a plurality of those participating in a straw poll, have stated Michelle Bachmann’s their woman.
Clear thinking, intelligent citizens of every political persuasion should be concerned, should hope this is not a harbinger.
I am not among those Democratic stalwarts, who desire that Ms. Bachmann nab the GOP nomination, based on the thinking that it would insure an Obama W. I care about my country. I believe it best to have two worthy candidates facing off to see who domiciles in the Oval Office. Read the rest of this entry »
There are but a few concerts that can even dare to claim the titles, “Best Concert Ever” and/or “Most Important Concert Ever.”
