GMVW # 37: "Mojo (and lack-thereof)"

Gem Music Video of the Week # 37:  Mojo (and lack-thereof)

Song:  Blue Jean by David Bowie

(Songwriter: David Bowie)

September 18, 2008

Foxboro Stadium, 1983: Part 2 of 3

The 2nd show to come rolling into Foxboro in the late summer/early fall of 1983 was David Bowie.  Bowie was on his ‘Serious Moonlight’ tour.  It was a tremendous show.  Bowie had all his ducks in a row in those days.  Over the 10 previous years, it seemed he was on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine every other month.  Bowie was intelligent and intellectual, traits the magazine loved for a cover article.  On top of that he had a boat load of talent. Like Mick

Jagger, Bowie also had the rare charismatic personality to pull off a big stage event (unlike Jagger, he did not need to be in a permanent band to pull it off).   

A major reason why David Bowie is so successful is that he is constantly morphing his music and stage act. His stage personas have included Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke and others.  Tour after tour, including the Serious Moonlight tour, his evolution as a musician and stage presence was flawless. 

However, this is a tale of not one, but 2 concert tours.  Four years after Serious Moonlight, Bowie embarked on his ’87 Glass Spider Tour.  To say the tour was over the top and grandiose would be an understatement.  It was the Titanic movie of concert tours (or better yet, Waterworld), complete with an 80 foot tall giant glass spider.  It made little sense, and proved to be Bowie’s <temporary> downfall.

There can be a number of reasons why a show (or tour) does not connect with an audience but it all comes down to the musician, the ticket holder, or a combination of both.  For whatever reason, the musician could be off:  After years of success, they could find themselves in the predicament of having their priorities flipped.  The audience can usually sense this. As for the individuals in attendance, they could be off too.  People get cynical:  “What is he/she trying to prove up there anyway?”   “He’s only in it for the money!”  Other amazing concert memories fade away.  People move on.

Nancy and I attended the ’87 Glass Spider tour (also in Foxboro) and we left with a sense of disappointment.  For Nancy, it was the first step to shunning large shows, favoring the intimacy of smaller night clubs and festivals.  For me, it had me scratching my head at first….was it the end of the road for enjoying big concert events (I didn’t want it to be)?  Was this show supposed to be good (i.e. was Bowie enjoying it)?  Was I getting too old and cynical?!?  I’d seen it happen to many others my age.  What made me any different?

Not much can tear a performer like David Bowie down.  Unlike many Rock n Roll musicians, he appears to have a tremendous amount of self control.  For others, life on the road can take its toll (as chronicled in earlier gems).  Eventually for Bowie, however, it came down to the Icarus effect (and, no, I don’t mean Bec & Dave’s aptly named pet cockatail).  Bowie tried to soar too high.  He got burned.  He admitted this after the tour.  In an interview with Rolling Stone in '88, he divulged a conversation he had had with a close friend during the tour who asked him: “What are you doing?”  Bowie’s response: “I don’t know!”

Thank goodness for David Bowie’s honesty. If not for reading that interview, I may have missed out on some tremendous big events down the road.  Nancy is right, however.  It’s so hard for audience and artist to connect at a large event.  Bruce Springsteen and many others have lamented that fact.  It takes a lot to pull it off.  Fortunately, I’ve seen it work more often than not.  As for Bowie, he soon did a total about face, and proceeded to scale down big time.  He formed the band, Tin Machine (which included two of Soupy Sales sons), and took his name out as the headline.  Tin Machine toured at much, much smaller venues, and Bowie eventually found himself again.

Gem Music Video “Blue Jean” shows Bowie before the fall, not long after the Serious Moonlight Tour.   Thankfully, of the two sides of David Bowie I’ve seen, it’s this confident, priorities-in-order side that sticks with me.

Speaking of big shows, Mac and I are going to see the Who on October 24 and Mac has 2 spare tickets.  Is anyone game?

 “One day, I’m going to write a poem in a letter.

 One day, I’m going to get that faculty together”

- Pete

Gem Music Video: Blue Jean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTgxGKWqISs

Speaking of blue jean(s), does anyone remember this commercial?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YZSG12-3Vg

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About the video: Blue Jean (Alternate version for MTV) 1984 / Rest of World – Jones Music America/RZO Music Ltd.  Directed by Julien Temple

Video Rating: 1

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Best Feedback: Fred

Glass Spider was THE concert that soured me on big concerts.....you hit the nail on the head.  AGAIN

GMVW # 36: "Homeless"

Gem Music Video of the Week # 36:  Homeless

Song:  The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel

(Songwriter: Paul Simon)

September 11, 2008

Foxboro Stadium, 1983: Part 1 of 3

The year before Chuck Sullivan lost his shirt as concert promoter for the Jackson Victory Tour in 1984, he and his family actually hosted 3 great shows at the old Foxboro Stadium.  From August thru October of 1983, Simon and Garfunkel, David Bowie, and The Police (in that order) rolled into Foxboro.  Everyone I’ve talked to who attended these shows considered them great events. I attended all 3 and have to agree, so on this, the 25th anniversary of that triple-shot extravaganza, I will re-visit each of them, starting this week with Simon and Garfunkel.  Interestingly, this first show was a reunion tour and the last show (The Police) turned out to be a break up tour.  Sandwiched in the middle was Bowie, and he had his own thing going, but more on him next week. 

1983…by this time Baby Boomers were several years into the realization that we were never going to see a Beatles reunion… and so, Simon and Garfunkel was the next best thing.  They had broken up 11 years earlier, which in those days seemed like an eternity.  In many ways it was. 

Simon and Garfunkel were childhood friends but polar opposites, which made a reunion all the more intriguing.  It was one of the few shows I’ve attended where I felt as if I were witnessing a piece of history.  It also had a time-capsule feel to it.  The reunion actually began a year earlier in Central Park, NY, NY, their “Neighborhood Concert” which was attended by half a million people. The reception and success of that show launched a world tour, which included the Foxboro show.  Most all the songs played on the tour were the same ones played at Central Park. 

Central Park….I was there earlier that year in 1983, around mid-February (during Canada’s winter break). It was one moment of many which added up to one of the greatest road trips of my life.  The trip started in Ottawa, Canada (where I was going to school at the time) and aside from me, included college chum’s Steve Vance, Bob Mainguy, and Tom Murphy, all Canucks (although calling Bob a Canuck is stretching it, but he always liked that distinction, so I will oblige).  After hitting Winooski, Vermont (St Michael’s College, Mac and ‘Winterfest’), Cape Cod, Boston, and Franklin (the last 3 thanks to Mom and Dad who hosted 4 grubs for 3 nights) we rolled into the Big Apple to hook up with another group of Canadians who had holed up there for the entire week at the Milford Plaza Hotel on W 45th Street.  We had all planned on the 4 of us crashing on the floors in their hotel rooms that night, and with that in mind the entire group of us went out for a night on the town, catching some great comedy at a night club. 

When we got back to the hotel to spend the night however, a bouncer at the elevators had other ideas.  Checking for reservations, he refused to let us room-crashers go up the elevator.  We pleaded our case, emphasizing that we had no money or credit cards on us (these were the days when bank machines were few and far between) and that our car was locked up in a garage for the night.  Our plea went for naught.  We wandered out into the streets at 2 am.  The lone guy in the Milford Plaza Hotel crowd we hooked up with, “Chicago Jim”, came down to the alley where we were regrouping and handed us a bottle of Canadian Rye to help keep us warm in the winter air.  The bottle was housed in a brown paper bag.  We were now officially nomadic denizens of the city streets.  Someone yelled at us from a 3rd story window.  A prostitute passed by and made a proposition.  Tom asked for her student rates.

The all-nighter ended in a bus terminal on

42nd Street

.  I spent most of the time there talking to a homeless guy.  A fireside chat with Donald Trump down the road at the top of the Trump Towers would have paled in comparison.  We greeted the morning along with the other downtrodden souls in our midst.  Something about the experience, however, immediately resonated with me.  We wandered into Central Park and eventually headed toward ‘The Lake’ on the West side. This was by the Dakota Apartments where John Lennon lived and where he had been shot and killed a little over 2 years earlier (this area in the park has since been named Strawberry Fields in Lennon’s honor, and is where he had done several videos with Yoko for songs on their ‘Double Fantasy’ album).  There, in front of the Dakota, we found an old abandoned row boat with a hole in it, which we discovered could be temporarily plugged up with a tight fitting glove (if the glove don’t fit, you must jump ship!). Three of us rowed that boat across The Lake.  The 4th among us, Steve, took a picture from a foot bridge using Bob’s camera.  It’s a picture that captures an amazing memory for me.

Most of us go to New York City to broaden our horizons.  Still others go there chasing a dream.  Some succeed (Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie), others fail (John Voight’s character in Midnight Cowboy is emblematic of many).  Most struggle along the way, including the character Paul Simon writes about in this week’s Gem Video, “The Boxer”.  At the concert later that year, I’m quite sure I thought of that day in Manhattan as I listened to the verse “Seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go, Lookin’ for the places only they would know”.  Although our own experience was condensed into 24 hours, it contained the up and down swings of many who had traversed the city streets before us, like “The Boxer”, and it gave me a better understanding of the challenges they faced.

The road trip into New York made the entire Simon and Garfunkel concert more palpable than it would have been otherwise.  Below the Gem Video are some other songs from the Central Park concert and an explanation of how they connected with that surreal road trip in the winter of ‘83.

“I am just a poor boy, though my story is seldom told

 I have squandered my resistance,

 For a pocketful of mumbles such are promises.

 All lies and jest.

 Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest”

Gem Video, “The Boxer”  (this link has been temporarily lost *Dec, 09*)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWUCoJJS2DU

“America”, which is also about a road trip in the States.  Simon’s comments before the song (which was near the beginning of the show) are classic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCbOEZ8c8dM&feature=related

“Kodachrome” (aside from the boat photo, Bob had other classic shots of that night/day, including the Canadian Rye photo op in the alley, and a great shot of us entering Central Park at sunrise)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UL_1RcJ9ys

“Late in the Evening” (the high-life before the elevator bouncer bounced us). 

Simon and Garfunkel enjoyed playing this one so much in Foxboro they played it twice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7k7KcRKZiA

Simon and Garfunkel closed the Foxboro concert with their song ‘Old Friends’:  Quite appropriate for a reunion event to say the least.  They were about my current age at the time.  Looking back, I think I have a better sense now of where they were in their lives.  Despite their differences, they realized that an old friendship never dies.  It may get a bit frayed on the edges every so often, but it doesn’t fade away.  I’m pretty convinced the Beatles, particularly Lennon and McCartney, would have eventually come to that realization themselves. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB0nt22Sgi8

Finally, here’s “American Tune” to recognize 7 years ago today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsmEfWPvWWw

- Pete

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About the video: Off the official Central Park video

Video Rating: 1

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Best Feedback: Becca

Pete...that was the summer that our family hit concerts en masse. For the S&G concert at Sullivan it was me, Mom, Jim, Rachel, Naomi, Vern, Spencer,and Jess. Yes....Mom was really into concerts that summer (I think it was her way of staying connected with us in the months since Dad had passed...keeping the pulse on how we were doing). I left for France just a few weeks later. That was a strange summer for us all...first one without Dad... but I remember that concert as a highlight.

I hope all is well....keep these coming.

love Bec

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Also: Amy

Ahhhh Simon and Garfunkel - like a favorite pair of jeans.
I sure would love to see those pictures.  You've led a much more colorful life than I ever knew.

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And: Tina

oh, my, student rates...

still humming,

tina

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And: Mom

Hi Pete!

This is probably one of my favorites.....I have always enjoyed Simon & Garfunkel so much. Thank-you for this "gem of the Week" and for your exquisite writing...I so look forward to it ...XOXO Mum

GMVW # 36: "Raw Emotion"

Gem Music Video of the Week # 35:  Raw Emotion

Song:  Everyday Clothes by Jonathan Richman

(Songwriter: Jonathan Richman)

September 4, 2008

I’ve been asked on occasion what live act I’ve seen the most.  My response is always the Who and Neil Young…. and then I remember Jonathan Richman.  How could I forget Jonathan?  In fact, Jonathan Richman is the only musician I’ve seen in 3 different countries (and 2 languages).  As is evident at his shows, Jonathan appeals to all walks of life.  His act can be best defined as captivating, hypnotic, and uplifting.  When Jonathan is on his game, either everyone is joining in or you can hear a pin drop.  There's not much in between.  He’s a performer I would recommend to anyone.

Gem Music Video of the Week, ‘Everyday Clothes’, shows Jonathan on his game, playing on the Conan O'Brien show (who is a big fan).  The crowd is stone silent until Jonathan gets them to join in half way thru the song.  He has the end-of-song, guitar-as-a-drum dance going.  He’s captivating the crowd with the honesty of his lyrics.  He’s narrating in between the lines (and mentions himself in the 1st person at one point, which he often does).

Finally, he’s got the wide eyed nod going in this video.  If there is anything that sticks with me from a Jonathan show, it’s his wide eyed nods to the crowd.  Often it seems as if he’s staring right at you when he does it. The meaning of the nods generally fall into one of 3 categories:

> You know what I mean

> Heed my warning

> What I’m saying is indisputable

Jonathan Richman is a native New Englander and has often referenced New England locales in his songs (as he does in this week Gem).  However, Jonathan has an international feel to his music.  There’s a Spanish flamenco influence, a punk roots feel, a Velvet Underground inspiration, and in this song, he’s got the Venice gondola thing going. 

I’ve done my best to explain his act, but nothing’s like seeing it (a cd purchase does not do his shows justice).  So, I’ll stop here and let Jonathan Richman and the video do the talking.

-              Pete

Gem Music Video: Everyday Clothes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFwJMdeWqlw

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About the video: Shot live on the Conan O’Brien show

Video Rating: 1 (a big, fat 1)

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Best Feedback: Ruth

Good one, Pete!  Thanks for giving me a little fun in between my work tonight!

Ruth

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Also: Amy “yeah, yeah, yeah!”

and Jen “That was great”

GMVW # 34: "The Written Word"

Gem Music Video of the Week # 34:  The Written Word

Song:  Success Story by The Who

(Songwriter: John Entwistle)

August 28, 2008

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a desk drawer in or near the kitchen for quick-access to personal belongings.  Going back to my teen years in Franklin, the routine was; come in from a night on the town; keys, Swiss Army knife and wallet into the drawer; a conversation with old faithful Nicky by the wood stove; and off to bed.  I still have a drawer near the kitchen.  Occasionally I clean it out, throwing away some stuff, putting other stuff in storage (i.e. concert ticket stubs, letters, homemade cards from the kids).  Yet some things remain in that drawer year after year after year:  There’s an old watch I will probably never wear; a pair of John Lennon style sunglasses; a harmonica; a few cigars; a key to my first car; an old license; a Globe article on the team by team growth of the NHL (good trivia); Charlotte’s Baptism candle; an address list of all Smith-side cousins; a guitar pick; and, relative to this week Gem, a web-site print-out of the lyrics to all the songs on the Who’s 1976 album ‘Who By Numbers’. 

Albums often come without written lyrics.  When this was the case in the days before the WEB (as it was with ‘Who By Numbers’), one was left to his/her own devices when it came to interpretation.  This often resulted in hopeless or hilarious translations.  Cousin Jack may recall ‘Gypsy’s Tramps and Thieves’ lyrics “We’d hear it from the people of the town, they’d call us…” translated by me to “We are here for the people of the town named Cole”.   ** No worries, this is not this weeks Gem. **.  Yet, I was not the only one that struggled to understand a musician’s lyrics.  Ron Wood stated that when he prepared the first time to tour with the Rolling Stones, he got to read lyrics to many of their songs on a TelePrompTer as Mick and the boys broke him in.  Wood got a hoot out of the lyrics, many of which were completely different than what he had assumed for years.

Now it’s as simple as typing the song name in Google to get the lyrics to anything.  A few bands lamented this (R.E.M.), but I found it fantastic.  Before finding the words on the WEB, I had known that the ‘Who By Numbers’ must have had intriguing lyrics, the music was too solid to expect anything less, and when I finally got to read them in their entirety, I was not disappointed (I mostly had to fill in the gaps to what I already knew, or in ‘By Numbers’ case, connect the dots!). 

Most of the songs on ‘Who By Numbers’, like most of the songs in the Who’s entire catalog, were Pete Townshend songs.  This week’s Gem, however, was the sole John Entwistle contribution to the album, ‘Success Story’.  Entwistle (the Ox) always struggled to connect with the feel of a Who album with his one or two song contributions.  Sometimes he succeeded (his songs on ‘Who Are You’ fit perfectly with the rest of that album), and others he did not (he stayed clear of contributing anything to ‘Quadrophenia’).  ‘Success Story’ fit the rest of ‘Who By Numbers’ more lyrically than musically, as Entwistle, much like Townshend , wrote about the down side of fame and fortune. 

A few other comments on Entwistle….aside from John Lennon, The Ox’s passing was probably the hardest blow for me in the context of the loss of someone I never knew personally (the closest I came was a hand shake, eye contact, and a nod of mutual understanding).  The night of the news, I went out with Mac and Kurt. We convinced the bartender in one Boston pub to play ‘Live at Leeds’ loudly from beginning to end.  The next night I went out with Mac again and we caught a tribute event at a night club.  A number of bands played Who music thru the night.  

Mac and I also caught the Who on their first tour without Entwistle.  Townshend stated one of the hardest things he ever went through was looking over to an empty space when the Who played live for the first time without Entwistle (his ‘replacement’, Pino Palladino stands back in the mix and does an admirable, self-styled job).  Aside from being the best rock bass guitar player of all time, Entwistle was the anchor for the Who on stage (everyone else was a tattered sail flailing in the wind).  He was also a great backup singer (along with Towshend, which is a highly underrated aspect of the Who’s performances), brass instrument player, and when the Who needed a high vocal (‘The Punk and the Godfather’ refrain) or low (Boris the Spider), Entwistle was the one to do it.  I had a chance to see John Entwistle solo at least 5 times.  One of these shows, at Mama Kin in Boston, remains the best club show I ever saw.

The video is a goof, but gives a bit of insight into the Ox’s persona.  I’ve also included several other Enwistle-centric videos.  Below the videos are the full lyrics to ‘Success Story’ as accessed off the WEB.  Though not quite as profound as the lyrics of Towshend’s songs from the same album, nonetheless, they were equally as captivating to me when I read them the first time.  The video, which was made for the ‘Kids Are Alright’ movie, doesn’t quite make it through the entire song…. too many other songs to fit into the movie I guess.

- Pete

Gem of the week: Success Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRCk7M3O2Es

The Who at Woodstock:  A clip which showcases Entwistle's backing vocals (in this case high notes).  Don't confuse with Townshend's backing vocals, as he and Daltrey get more camera time than the Ox:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc4REpJ9FsE&feature=related

Entwistle's isolated bass during 'Wont Get Fooled Again':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfDE-ZvfOwU

The Who wrote this song, 'Old Red Wine, in rememberance of the Ox:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtQ05FDCk5Q

Lyrics to Success Story

Friday night, I'm on my way home

They oughta make work a crime

I'm home for the weekend

I'm gonna make the most of my time

There's a rock and roll singer on the television

Giving up his music, gonna take up religion

Deserted rock and roll

To try to save his soul

Saturday night, gotta gig with the band

Playing the electric guitar

Someday I'm gonna make it

Gonna be a super-duper-star

Get a flashy car

And a house for my Ma

The big break better happen soon

'Cause I'm pushing twenty-one

Just like Cinderella

When she couldn't go to the ball

A voice said, "I'm your fairy manager

You shall play the Carnegie Hall"

I gotta give up my day job

To become a heartthrob

I may go far if I smash my guitar

Away for the weekend

I've gotta play some one-night stands

Six for the tax man, and one for the band

Back in the studio to make our latest number one

Take two-hundred-and-seventy-six

You know, this used to be fun

Monday morning, I just got home

Six and the birds are singing

I need a drink and my clothes are wet

Ooh, and my ears are still ringing

There's a rock and roll singer boppin' on the TV

He used to be a preacher, but now he sings in a major key

Amended his decision to the new religion

Old Red Wine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfDE-ZvfOwU

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About the Video: From the ‘Kid’s Are Alright’ movie.

Video Rating: 1