As a subscriber for over 40 years of the Post I’ve read many asinine opinions, but not many as asinine as Mr. Moyer’s The Beatles:Let Them Be.
Mr. Moyer must be too young to remember the great music critic Lester Bangs or has never read any of Greil Marcus’ work to have the connection as popular music as art. Mr. Moyer seems to be caught in the celebrity aspect of music or the next thing, nothing wrong with that, nothing unless you dismiss the past. Imagine an art critic dismissing Leonardo or Raphael as old hat and unworthy of attention or a film critic writing about Citizen Kane as unworthy and not worth a view, not with Iron Man 3 in the theatre.
The Beatles are as important to popular music as Beethoven is to classical, imagine the guffaws a critic would bear if they dismissed that master’s work. If we prattle on about dismissing the great works of the past, the seminal pieces that the foundation of that art is built upon, we lose the context of what art is and become purveyors of marketing. By dismissing the past Mr. Moyer makes the future inconsequential.
That or he believes pop music and rock and roll are not art forms but merely commodities, if that is the case, he should start working AR for a record label.
The Beatles are as relevant today as they ever have been, that is if you consider music art and the makers of it artists. Forty five years from now The Fab Four will still be treasured and honored and their art only enriched by new ears, groups such as fun. and The Lumineers will be but trivia answers.
When you reach a certain age, say 55, there are some things that you just shouldn’t do. I am that age and over, so I know of what I speak.
Here’s the list of “don’t do’s” over 55.
1. Karaoke – trust me
2. Tequila shots
3. Tequila shots AND karaoke together.
4. Twister
5. White Belt Personal aside, my wife knows that if we are ever walking through a department store and I stop to admire white belts in the Men’s section, she has permission to kick me in the shin just as hard as she can.
6. Play air guitar in public You just don’t.
7. Knee high socks with shorts
8. Plaid
9. Buy a bright yellow car
10. Send Christmas cards out in October, just to be sure they arrive on time
11. Neck tattoo
12. Collect garden gnomes and stone frogs One each is enough
13. Eat gummy worms alone in public
14. Fall asleep on a public bench
15. Planking
So, there’s some of mine. There are some others, like never give up and never forget.
Imagine you have to choose twenty songs that represent who you are, not just your favorite songs but songs that are you. Twenty songs that make up your life’s playlist as you stand right now. Twenty songs that friends would reflect upon you, but more importantly, twenty songs that a stranger would hear and form a glimpse of the person you are. Well, here’s mine.
1. When You Wish Upon A Star – Jiminy Cricket
2. Jailhouse Rock – Elvis
3. Old Wooden Cross – Johnny Cash
4. I Want To Hold Your Hand – The Beatles
5. A Change Is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke
6. Country Comfort – Elton John
7. Every Picture Tells A Story – Rod Stewart
8. Willie The Wandering Gypsy and Me – Waylon Jennings
9. Kentucky Avenue – Tom Waits
10. Gimme Shelter – Rolling Stones
11. Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight – Bob Dylan
12. Daniel And The Sacred Harp- The Band
13. Real Love – John Lennon
14. Wonderful Remark – Van Morrison
15. When Johnny Strikes Up The Band – Warren Zevon
16. Buffalo River Home – John Hiatt
17. Alien Love Song – Todd Wright
18. Here (A Song For Tammy) – Stilson Greene
19. The Weight – The Band
20. In My Life – The Beatles
So as of today, there’s mine, it could change tomorrow. I’d love to hear yours, so post on……
John’s solo releases are a fascinating look inside an artist at a particular time and space in his life. I think it’s hard for some listeners to hear and connect with an artist’s personal outlook, demos and all, if that outlook doesn’t relate or seems out of touch with their sensibilities. John’s solo albums fall into that pit.
1. Plastic Ono Band – December 1970 – John was undergoing primal scream therapy and the work reflects it. The songs are raw and emotional, stripped to basics, and deeply personal. Starting with Mother, a heart wrenching plea of John’s inner child lamenting his Mother’s early death and his father’s abandonment. Working Class Hero’s lyrics of society and its expected results of us is as relevant today as then. Love is a beautiful song to the aspects of romantic love as a physical manifestation. The work Godtakes his therapy and throws down the gauntlet to kings and kingmakers, including himself. It is one of Lennon’s greatest vocals on one of rock’s seminal albums. POB gets better with age as we look back on the end of the Sixties’ dream, but at solo Lennon on a tightrope without a net.
2. Imagine – September 1971 – You cannot escape the title cut, Imagine has become the world’s anthem. It is ubiquitous and deservedly so, but the album is pretty damn good, too. John was still in the process of discovering who he was post-Beatles, but unlike POB, Imagine is a gentler journey. Not to say he was beyond petty foibles, listen to How Do You Sleep, his send-off to Paul McCartney for a perceived slight from Paul’s solo album, Ram. Therapy wasn’t softening his strong jealous streak either. John always professed that jealousy was the biggest motivator of his art, but in typical John fashion, he takes that trait and writes one his greatest songs, the lush and lovely Jealous Guy. The Imagine album was an embrace, not only to the public, most of who thought POB cold and harsh, but an embracing of John himself. He was accepting the Beatles as past and looking forward to John.
3. Some Time In New York City – June 1972 – The less said about this album the better. It is a perfect snapshot of the time, John was caught up in New York’s radical political movement. It was a short lasting fling and the quality of the songs reflect it. It is John’s greatest stumble, a big, bold, ass-over-teacups stumble. The only shining moment was the Chuck Berryish cut, New York City. Que pasa New York?
4. Mind Games – November 1973 – Mind Games would hopefully take away some of the grime of the New York fiasco from our ears, but it only washed some of it away. John was reeling from his very first commercial and critical failure and the continuing crumbling of his marriage to Yoko. Mind Games’ title cut was a minor hit and over the years has grown in stature but the album as a whole contains some of Lennon’s most limpid writing. The exceptions being the title cut, One Day At A Time, Only People and the beautiful Out Of The Blue. Mind Games is a work of an artist who for the first time in his career faces a deep look inside his creative well and sees it draining.
5. Walls And Bridges – November 1974 – I won’t go into the whole Lost Weekend era of John’s life, but the Yoko-less months of debauchery did produce a welcome back to statis work from John. WAB is a good album, lavishly produced with confident songwriting and vocals. Its snapshot is of an artist finding his footing, emerging from a cloud of self inflicted smoke and haze while pining for his true love. The album is not bitter though, it is as life affirming as John has ever been up to this point. It contains his only number 1 hit, Whatever Gets You Through The Night, but the masterwork here is #9 Dream.
6. Rock N Roll – February 1975- Recorded between Mind Games and Walls And Bridges, Rock N Roll was a contract resolution recording and it shows. Produced by the ever-mad Phil Spector and using the best LA musicians, the album is a mish mash of old rock covers played without any heart or urgency. John gives it his best vocally but the whole retro vibe falls flat, fun but flat. He was years ahead of the rockabilly renaissance but he missed the midnight train. The album remains a inconsequential member of the Lennon Canon. Slippin’ And Slidin‘ is the best of the lot.
7. Double Fantasy – November 1980 – The sad irony of the album was the great happiness and joy surrounding its release and the murdering of its creator only a month later. After a 5 year self-imposed absence John returned with songs of domestic bliss, fatherhood, love and hope. He was happy, really happy for the first time in his life and the art sings it. Starting Over signals his arrival with an Elvis wink, Woman wraps Yoko and all women in a fabric of love and respect, Beautiful Boy is a lullaby to his son and fatherhood while Watching The Wheels accounts to the naysayers and the critics that there is more to life than art, there is life. Douuble Fantasy won the Grammy in 1981 as Best Album. It deserved the award on its own right, as I grow older its songs have become part of the litany of adulthood, being a husband and fatherhood. There is grace in there somewhere, I just haven’t figured out where yet. (Note: The original release and even the remastered CD are really hard to find, what is readily available is the “stripped down” remastered version released in 2010)
8. Milk And Honey – November 1984 – A release of produced demos and songs recorded during and after the Double Fantasy sessions. The songs continue John’s winning streak of happy introspection but with a little more salt, as in Nobody Told Me and I’m Stepping Out. The ironic and poignant Borrowed Time is hard to listen to but remains a beautiful tune. Grow Old With Me was John’s last masterpiece. A touching love letter to enduring love not only for our partners, our family and friends, but our relationship with John. Grow Old With Me deserves the pinnacle of Imagine, I doubt that it will ever reach that, it may be too precious and personal for that mass ritual. It is a fitting close to John Lennon’s work, career and life.
I’ve been meaning to write this love letter for awhile, the passing of Andy Griffith pushed me to the keyboard. I grew up watching The Andy Griffith Show (TAGS). It was a must see in our house. We all loved the antics of that Mayberry crowd and it remains a favorite of my Mom’s today.
If you know me, then you know that the show is ingrained in my humor, hell I can recite most episodes by heart. Note here: My love for TAGS is deep, but the color episodes do not resonate with me. And it’s not just the loss of Don Knotts and Barney, it is the loss of authenticity. I think the characters moved into caricatures of themselves and became stereotypical urbanite visions of small town folk.
This deep love did not manifest itself until college. Every weekday at 5pm a few of us met in my room to watch TAGS. The few became almost 20 people by year’s end. I smile now to think what the other residents of the dorm thought was going on in that room, with the laughter and noise emanating out from it like clockwork daily. If they only knew that we were reveling in the antics of Ange, Barn, Otis, Floyd, Rafe Hollister, Ernest T. Bass…well I don’t know what they would think, but I bet our cool factor would’ve taken on a little heat.
My wife and daughter were forced to watch TAGS. We had one TV and every night at 6pm on WTTG channel 5, no matter what the news, we watched Andy. When we finally had cable, Super Station WTBS made their early bones on TAGS and I was an orthopedist of grand scale. Today both my wife and Morgan know almost as much about the show as I do, and can recite a line when an opportunity for it presents itself. Hell, Tammy traveled with me to Mt. Airy, North Carolina to a TAGS convention. There I met many of the actors, writers and producers. We toured the downtown and ate a pork sandwich at The Snappy Lunch, visited the original Floyd’s Barbershop, nope I did not partake of any of their services, and had an unforgettable weekend with my favorite characters and places come to life. My wife may not agree with that assessment but she allows me to include her in my wonderment.
TAGS rings true to me because I grew up in a Mayberry. Leesburg Virginia in the 1960’s and early 70’s had a lot in common with that fictional town. Neighbors knew and loved their neighbors. There wasn’t a door I could not have knocked on for help or comfort. Pleasures were parades and bike riding, playing in the dirt, grabbing a soda at Edwards Drugstore or a grape “tiny” from Whitmore’s Store, a frozen Snickers from Atwell’s store and a comic book at Drug Fair. We didn’t have Floyd the Barber but we had Big Jim Fitzgerald (bowl 1, 2 or 3). We didn’t have Ernest T. but we had Welby. As I grow older I recapture those moments of small town life in the black and white images flickering on the screen and it makes me feel connected to my past, and it reminds me of the loved ones here and too soon gone.
TAGS also taught me about the real art of fiction and great writing, that the beauty of the work is in the details. One episode Andy and Barney are sitting on the front porch talking about Barney’s parents’ upcoming anniversary. Andy asks him what is he going to get them. Barney replies that he’s going all out this year, he’s getting them a new septic tank, to which Andy says “You’re a good son, Barney.” That small exchange doesn’t push the plot forward, it just deepens the characters and deepens your love for them. By today standards that small dialogue would not make it into the script. I don’t know Jerry or George or Kramer, I laugh at them but I don’t know them. I know Barney and Andy, their richness was written into the matrix of the show along with all the characters.
I’ll close this rambling with my favorite vignette from TAGS, it is from the episode “The Loaded Goat”. Hudge has come to Mayberry for some shopping, this time he decided to bring his pet goat Jimmy with him, Jimmy doesn’t get to town much. Unbeknown to Hudge, Jimmy has put the whole town in danger by eating a whole bunch of dynamite which he found in a shed in the back of the dry goods store. Upon hearing from Andy and Barney about Jimmy’s endeavor, Hudge looks at the goat, shakes his head and says: “Aint that just like him, come to Town and try to do everything.”
Look, there are a lot of things I love that people don’t get: fedoras, Crocs, Tom Waits, peach jelly on a bacon and egg sandwich, Buckaroo Banzai and way too many more to mention. The following list I’m sure will contain many things you like or love, hopefully a few you will agree with me. Ready?
1. The Geico gecko speaks in an English, nah Cockney, accent? WTF!
2. The Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon and My Morning Jacket. There are too many bands to name that I don’t get, but these three are liked or loved by many people I respect and usually agree with as far as music goes. I’ve tried, I don’t get.
3. Guacamole. Pea diarrhea.
4. Good manners seen as a sign of weakness. In reality nothing makes you stronger.
5. Political hate speech. The way politicians, media pundits and officials spout hateful and bigoted views is just harmless and expected rhetoric, right? Wait a minute, Germany, January 30, 1933.
6. Why we celebrate and idolize the reality stars on Jersey Shore, Real Housewives and their ilk. When did this behavior become something to be cherished and worse, valued?
7. Ketchup on a Hot Dog. Dude, that’s just wrong.
8. Self entitlement. I was at a restaurant yesterday, it was 88 degrees outside. A woman and her friend came in and asked for the heat to be turned on, she is chilly at anything over 74 degrees. At first the waiter thought she was kidding, she wasn’t. When he said he could not turn it on, she became irritated. She could’ve cared less about anyone else dining, just herself. And people, our educational system puts up with these jerks everyday… and their children, see #4.
9. Car advertisements that highlight the speed of a car that can go to 120 miles per hour. Where in America can you drive 120 miles an hour on a public road?
10. Ringo Starr is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an individual artist, yet all the other Fabs are. He has had more “hits” than John and is the most famous drummer in the history of the friggin’ world. (Poco should be in there , too.)
I saw The Band over 30 times. They were my first concert way back when as a sophomore in high school. That night they tore up Merriwether Post Pavilion. In 1974 from January 15th through the 22nd, I saw The Dylan/Band: Before The Flood Tour six times in four cities. The last time I saw them was at Wolf Trap opening for John Prine. I took my daughter Morgan for her first ever concert. As much as I loved it, I think she was too young to appreciate the music, but she liked the tie-died Life Is A Carnival tee shirt I bought her.
One visit to New York City in 1981 at a small club I was fortunate to see an impromptu show by Steve Forbert. He was joined by Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Levon Helm. As great as the music was, it was made fantastic because during the break and after the show all four artists sat at our table. It remains a memory that has become almost surreal. All I can say is that they were down to earth, friendly, and gracious. They were cats you could hang with at the local bar or pool room. The clearest moment I have is that every time the waitress (her name was Rhonda and she was from Virginia and is the reason why we were so well seated and treated) brought the table drinks Levon would say in that beautiful soft southern drawl “thank you m’am”.
Every member of The Band, except Richard Manuel, would tell you Richard was their lead singer. But for me the voice of The Band was Levon. My first introduction to their music was his line “I pulled into Nazareth…” Hell, I never pulled out. He is considered by many as one of the best drummers of his and any generation, I cannot attest to that but I know the cat could play, and as he played he sang his ass off.
Over the past days so many appreciations of Levon have been written and read. They tell of his days as a boy in Arkansas, his stay as a teenager drummer in Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, Dylan years, The Band, the Last Waltz, acting, The Band’s reemergence, the illness, Midnight Rambles, revived solo career and Grammy awards. I urge you to take time to read about this remarkable artist, man, friend, father and grandfather.
This is what I know. The following are links to what I consider are his greatest vocal performances, and they are what I want people to hear as a tribute to this American troubadour, this music legend.
When I Paint My Masterpiece – A Bob Dylan song that The Band and especially Levon added the masterstroke to.
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – This is the live Last Waltz rendition and it’s revelatory. Levon sings as if a gun is held to his head and his life depended on this particular take. It’s one of the greatest vocals of all time.
Atlantic City – Bruce Springsteen may have written it, but The Band and especially Levon own it.
Tennessee Jed – From his last solo album, Electric Dirt. His voice, ravaged by time and illness, still conveys his power and the innate good natured inflection I love about his voice. And his pitch, as always, perfect.
So rest easy Levon, we here know the drum stool is now taken in Heaven, you and Rick and Richard can start a band.
If I was King of the friggin’ World the following are the the first things that I would implement. Yea, there are the most important things like World Peace, the environment, poverty, medical research, new economic systems, The Fab Four as Universal Ambassadors of Intergalactic Friendship and so on; but I would have the best and brightest minds as my Court working on that shit, these are the King’s personal get ‘er done list starting Day one.
1. The complete eradication of all snakes. That includes eels and long skinny lizards with real tiny legs. I know lots of people would bitch and complain that snakes do good, killing vermin and… well other snaky crap. Well, those people will have their asses exiled to a large ark-like boat that will forever sail the seas unable to set harbor on land. And on that boat will be every photo, sculpture or painting ever created with an image of a snake. See ya!
2. Fat Gyms. These are gyms that are only for fat people, where you can wear workout clothes that are clearly designed for thin people no matter what Xlarge size they may be. Where you can work out without thinking that every toned person running, biking, lifting or spinning (what the hell is that, when I first hear spinning class I think of blue-hairs with yarn and wooden wheels) is judging you. And once you get to a certain weight you’re OUT! If you don’t think this edict is worthwhile, you can probably wear bike shorts. Believe me I’ll get to bike shorts eventually.
3. Beginners Golf Courses. Just like fat gyms’ hierarchy these golf courses are designed in the same mold. Golfers hate beginners on THEIR golf course, and a beginner cannot enjoy or learn the game due to the nature of this system. This would bring the Putt Putt mentality to the real greens, and it would be a self-reliant system of moving on to another course because nobody wants to play with a beginning golfer.
4. The King’s Movie Theater. Certain movie theaters would be labeled as The King’s. These theaters would not allow talking, and that includes from the second the trailers start to the last credit rolls, no cell phones, no hand-held video games and no babes in arms. Of course there will be regular movie houses for the masses but the King’s theaters will be available, too. If you talk, text or play during the movie your seat will sink into the security floor where you will be barcoded by an invisible tattoo laser and from that moment on forever banned from a King’s Theater. Yeah, that’s right, one time. This edict will become known as The King’s Revenge Edict. Yeah, I’m talking to you, the couple with the 4 screaming kids all with cell phones and video games who incessantly misbehaved as you talked about an upcoming wine tasting event while ruining my first screening of The Dark Knight.
5. The words “Lindsay” and “Lohan” would never appear together in a newspaper, news program or magazine again. They would be allowed on the one and only trash TV channel and in certain publications found in Dentists’ offices only.
Note: The King hopes that all The Real Housewives, Mafia Wives and Jersey Shore cats are snake lovers.
In Loudoun County, Virginia the courthouse lawn has exploded into an arena for freedom of speech versus religious expression. This past Christmas season the lawn was host to two manger displays, a skeleton in a Santa suit crucified on a cross and a large billboard portraying the birth of Christ as the birth of the Giant Flying Spaghetti Monster or some such nonsense. Atheists, and others, use the lawn throughout the year to promote their views or non-views. First of all, everyone is entitled to their belief or non-belief and I do respect their point of view, especially when it comes to religion. I do not respect it when someone ridicules a religion, or wraps their view in hateful and disrespectful imagery; and, say what you will, but on this lawn, Christianity is the most frequent target of tasteless assaults.
My other point is the Atheists wrong-headed use of John Lennon as a visual icon of atheism. Every year a large image of John Lennon with the lyrics “Imagine there’s no heaven…” is erected on the courthouse lawn promoting their tenet of “No God.” Admittedly, John questioned many things in his short life, and his songs “God” and the oft-quoted utopian anthem “Imagine” are full of his searching and questioning. They are full of love and hope, too.
In the middle 1970’s John had an spiritual awakening on a fateful sailing trip and not only made his peace with his God but with his own creativity.
Of course there isn’t any empirical proof to this except in one of John’s songs entitled “Grow Old With Me”. It is one of his most personal works and one of the last songs he wrote. It only takes a listen or a look at the chorus to determine if John was an atheist and an icon worthy of atheistic beautification:
Grow old along with me
The best is yet to be
When our time has come
We will be as one
God bless our love
God bless our love
I don’t think those lyrics, again, some of his last, give any indication to his atheism but actually defy that view.
So if you do want to be taken seriously with your public displays of Atheism I suggest you dial down the venom and use an appropriate visual spokesman; John Lennon certainly is not one of them.
