Old Man Music

I went to the record store over the weekend.  I always love going in and browsing around.  One artist will remind me of another and then I'll stumble across something else.  There is nothing like going to the record store to remind you that you're old though.  First off, I buy CDs.  The act of buying any physical medium of music is a bit of an anachronism these days, but buy CDs is one step above buying 8 track tapes.  All the cool kids are buying vinyl and laughing at the ironic old stuff.  Well, I remember when some of that stuff was new, so I'll just shake my fist at them and tell them to get off of my lawn.

When it comes to what I purchased, it cries out old man.  Here is what I brought home:
Captain Beyond Live
New York Dolls
Alice Cooper (when that was a band)
Bo Diddly
Dean Martin
Jason and the Scorchers
A blues compilation of Rolling Stones songs
Junior Brown
Warren Zevon
The fact that I got Zevon's final album before he died is the only thing keeping me completely out of the 20th century.  I have to give credit to the guys behind the counter at Reckless Records though.  They manage to keep their snickering to a minimum while I buy my old man music.

Best Thing Ever?

At the Hideout Monday night, Robbie Fulks and band reprised this.  It may be the best thing I'll see this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slaAGS7f0LU

Genius in Our Midst

I'm hoping to make it to the Hideout tonight to see Robbie Fulk's latest Monday night show.  These shows are truly hidden gems in Chicago.  He is consistently funny, interesting, and beyond talented.  The theme tonight is Lou and Jerry Reed.  Seriously, how does he come up with this stuff?  These shows never disappoint in either talent or humor.  If you're in Chicago and you haven't checked out Mondays with Robbie, do yourself a favor.  It's also great to watch amazing musical talents enjoying themselves so much.  The shows are loose, fun, and all the musicians really get to show off by playing unfamiliar material with minimal preparation.  If you're unsure of their immense talent, just watch as they navigate the waters based on some minimal practice and pure talent.  All this for $10?  Sign me up!

I Think That the Beatles Are Just Ok

Does this make me a bad person?  Sure they have some nice songs, but they seem a bit forgettable to me overall.  Now the Rolling Stones, well, that's a topic for another time, but please don't hate me.

When Jamming Doesn't Suck

I actually like a decent number of Grateful Dead songs.  As they are recorded on albums.  Last year, in anticipation of the reunion show at Soldier Field, I tried to listen to a live Dead show.  That's the way to do it, right?  I googled "best Grateful Dead live show" and found one that is pretty much consensus among the best.  I couldn't make it halfway through.  I like country rock and I don't doubt the musicianship, but I just kept waiting for it to go somewhere.  They noodled on and on and I grew impatient.  It had no oomph and meandered about and I couldn't take it.

Enter one of my favorite bands, Earthless.  They have long, instrumental songs and the genre would probably fall under the metal umbrella, but is more accurately stoner rock, a label I discovered from my brother, who definitely has better musical tastes than I.  The songs are long and take their time, but they go somewhere.  They build.  At points, they straight up rock and you're glad that you took the trip to get there.   To me, it sounds like a metal jam band and I love it.  Go figure that the metal stoners would be more focused than the hippies!

The One Man Drinking Contest

Sometimes the only answer in life is to set up a bottle of brown liquor, a glass, and some music.  The beauty of the one man drinking contest is that you always win.  You always lose too, but such is life.  I don't do this often (nor would I endorse doing it often since no one needs to open those wounds more than necessary), but sometimes it's the only solution.  So what's the playlist?  Some favorites:

Rolling Stones - Angie - Maybe the ultimate drunk song for me and a requirement for one man drinking contests.
Rod Stewart - I've Been Drinking - Great early stuff from him, before he became one of the great squandered talents, but that's a conversation for another day
George Jones - The King Is Gone (and So Are You) - It took me way too many listens to figure out what was going on (I'm a little slow), but then it's no brainer.  Maybe the best song about one man drinking contests.
GG Allin - Carmelita - sure he's a lunatic, but this Warren Zevon cover captures a feeling
Wheels - Flying Burrito Brothers - Gram Parsons is the man
Jeff Bridges - Fallin' & Flyin' - from the movie Crazyheart.  A fantastic song that you could see his character writing a million times over.
Jerry Jeff Walker - Desperados Waiting on a Train - If this song doesn't hit you thinking about people getting older and leaving you, nothing will.
Modern Lovers - Hospital - Oh, the longing.
Warren Zevon - Accindentally Like a Martyr - "The hurt gets worse and heart gets harder."  You'll eventually get there if you're doing the one man drinking contest right.

The ultimate beauty of the one man drinking contest is that you never know where you might end up.  There will probably be some rage at some point and definitely some nostalgia, but letting the alcohol and the mood of the music take hold are a wonderful release from time to time.

"Angie, you can't say we never tried"

Do the Demons Make the Man?

In the past few weeks, addiction seems to be a recurring theme in my life.  Between the show I'm binge watching for January and a death in a close friend's family, it seems to keep popping up.  Most notably in my conscious though is the oral biography of Warren Zevon that I just finished.  Warren Zevon is an artist who was on the periphery of my consciousness for a long time, but I've recently gotten more into his work.  His music is literate and heartfelt and often heartbreaking.  Reading about his life, the songs take on even more meaning.  Warren Zevon was an alcoholic.  I mean a real deal, can't stop, hurt everyone you love alcoholic.  When he got clean, his eccentricities took over.  He was OCD and generally kind of an asshole.  But in the end, he wrote and performed some great music.  His peers and friends held him in high regard, even knowing his issues as a person.

So how did his demons, both with addiction and mental issues, shape the music he wrote?  Would he have had the vision to create such great songs if he was just a normal, run of the mill guy?  I've been kicking this around in my head and I can't see how his trials and tribulations couldn't have contributed to the man and his music.  While it must have hurt both himself and those around him, Warren Zevon wouldn't have been Warren Zevon if he didn't struggle with what he did and put those around him through the tribulations he did.  He was undoubtedly a smart person, maybe a genius.  How can a genius deal with the real world and rest of us, knowing how much more is inside him?  Some find the way, but some don't.  You can't excuse some excesses, but in the end, we have to be grateful for what we got out of the deal.  The world would be a lesser place without Muhammad's Radio.