BDE Lou Reed RIP: Our Lives Were Saved by Rock n Roll

The rock music world lost one of its icons this weekend.  Lou Reed was 71 and passed away from complications of liver disease.  He was famously the lead singer of the Velvet Underground.  I knew his tune "Walk on the Wild Side" just as much as any other high school kid in the '80s who listened to classic rock radio.  But it was only later in life that one tune of his in particular spoke to me.

Ask any Phish head and they will likely agree that their cover of Reed's "Rock and Roll" is a winner.  My family didn't precisely live out the suburban caricature he depicts in the song, but we were supposed to.  We had one Cadillac car which I never liked.  I didn't turn on the radio when I was 5 years old, but later in life I danced to plenty of rock n roll stations.   When I was five I was dancing in the living room to "A Chorus Line" soundtrack with my friend Julie from up the street.

There is nothing finer than experiencing this tune live, and I'm so grateful for it.

Here's Phish covering the tune at their "It" festival in Limestone, Maine in Summer of 2003

As I told Bob Lefsetz this morning, Lou was also a Yid, so when a Jewish person passes away we say Baruch Dayan haEmet:  blessed is the ruler of truth.   The Jewish way of saying rest in peace.  May his soul journey from this world to the next in the most peaceful and blessed way.  I read that Lou didn't consider himself Jewish, but that rock n roll was his religion.  I hear where he's coming from:  my guess is he never found a way to converge the two worlds.  But that's where we must be headed, folks, because there is no other way than going towards the light.  Gleaning the good from both worlds.  Just ask the Nunever in this year's upcoming Blues for Challah and he can tell you all about it!

Thank you Lou Reed for your words, your music, your soul.

Now, if Phish would only play this again tomorrow night in Reading when I attend my only show of Fall Tour!  Doubtful...

Had To Cry Today, Yep I Got the Faith!

Looking at that subject heading, you thought I cried today?  Had a g'shrai?

I'm talking Steve Winwood sang the life-changing "Had To Cry Today,"  the other night at The Greek.

It's already written that today will be one to remember
The feeling's the same as being outside of the law
Had to cry today
Well, I saw your sign and I missed you there

-Blind Faith

Many thanks to Mr. Bob Lefsetz who continually informs about the music industry.  He heard Steve belt this one out the other day.  About it, Bob says: 

"it connected in a way regular life never did...so as to believe that everything truly could be right with the world, that someone got it, and if we could just go on the road with the band our lives would be perfect."     -Bob Lefsetz

These are pretty powerful words.  Bob knew the scene back in '60s and, from my layperson's perspective, knows the commercialized music scene today.  Music wasn't just a magic carpet ride to an imaginary place, but the young music fans believed wholeheartedly that the music would transform their existence, their country, their planet.  The messages found in music like Winwood's are still fresh and powerful.  Maybe we're not roadies, but we can still apply these words to our daily lives.  Anyway, I like my flannel sheets from the Company Store.  They don't have those on tour.

Do you see or not see someone's sign and ever "miss you there"?

I wonder if Jason Flom, a music industry executive whose daughter I had the pleasure of teaching in the late '90s, respects Bob's insights.  I mean, I  think they're good.  I think historically Jason has been a successful outside-of-the-box thinker in the music biz.   

But, Jason was there, too, well, at least in the 70s. He gets the spirit of the '60s, for sure.  Just don't have peanuts on your breath if you ever have the chance to meet him because he's got a severe peanut allergy.  You'd know that, too, if you kept up with your New Yorker readings.

Here's an incredible preservation of Blind Faith's only live recording of "Had to Cry Today," and their first gig, to boot!

This is an important video for all peoples to view in its entirety.

 

Note Steve's purple shirt.
If you can groove along to this tune, we have stuff to talk about.

Know Your Zosos from Your Ziljians

Everyone from Bob Lefsetz to your brother has lamented how bad the new music is today.  It doesn't take a rock star to come to this realization.

Ah, spin class, the trusty go-to for exposure to new music.  Spinning today to LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem," which hit #1 on charts last year throughout Europe, the UK, the US, New Zealand and Australia, got me wondering:

What the heck is up this dreck?

The lyrics:  empty, offensive and below fraternity house antics.
The electronic beat:   catchy but gets annoying.
And the chutzpah to make a Zeppelin reference.
Where, exactly, is the skilled musicianship?
Nary a drum kit to be heard.
Oh, right, that is the definition of electronica.
And, shouldn't everyone in this tune be doing the Hollywood Shuffle instead?  Now, that is quality shufflin'.
The part that bothers me is the thought of the millions of kids listening to this as their early exposure to music.
Oy.


I don't even want to watch this video.
But for pure illustration purposes, here it is.




Ok, I do like to focus on the positive.  I appreciate the club kid influence as evident in some of the outfits in the video and the dude with the big fro's huge white glasses, reminiscent of Laura Biogottis from the 80s.  I like the acting in the beginning.  And, nice fancy steps at the end of the video.   That's about it.

Still, I continue to lobby for real music like Kashmir in spin class.
Robert Plant.  Now there's a rock star.




Then I can envision myself as Jennifer Jason Leigh in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and rock it out on the spin bike like it's 1982.

(they cut out at 2:00 when Kashmir comes on the scene.)
This scene is the reason why I bought Led Zeppelin IV on tape, one of my earliest music purchases.

And we all know that Kashmir ain't to be found on that album!
Oh, Cameron Crowe, the film's screenwriter, is a genius culture maker of my generation.




Good thing the Allmans let him tag along as a teenager.

It sounds so cliche to think it was all better when you were a teenager, but I do think that when it comes to music and popular culture, I was better off without the acronym and certainly the band LMFAO.