Another foray into ornithology and again featuring excerpts from Barney Hoskyns‘ Waiting For The Sun: A Rock ‘n’ Roll History of Los Angeles. Overall, it’s a solid reference book, but the first 50 or so pages are my favorite. Not enough is written about LA’s postwar music scene, so respect to Hoskyns for addressing not […]
Read More…there’d be a whole lot of dead copycats.” —Charles Mingus Charlie Parker & Coleman Hawkins – Improvisation (1950) http://youtu.be/Ta_UByyi4Z0 Charlie Parker – alto sax Coleman Hawkins – tenor sax Hank Jones – piano Ray Brown – bass Buddy Rich – drums Super-rare video of one of the 20th century’s greatest musicians, Charlie Parker. Coleman […]
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Alex Chilton fans are probably familiar with these stories, but I wanted to collect them in one place. They address what I call his “missing years,” a 20-year span bookended by Big Star‘s dissolution in the mid-’70s and their re-emergence as indie gods in the mid-’90s. Those two decades are critical in understanding Chilton’s iconoclasm, […]
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Tom Waits – Heartattack And Vine Heartattack And Vine, 1980 Amazon Tom Waits – Heartattack And Vine “Whenever I hear ‘Heartattack And Vine,’ the bruising title track of one of Tom Waits‘ best albums, it reminds me of arriving in Los Angeles for the first time thirty years ago. The sheer force of the […]
Read Morehttp://youtu.be/IjGLKg5SvC8&w=560 How beautiful is this song? Bassist John Dalton brings the lowdown fat bottom, while Dave Davies proves for the everythingth time why he was so critical to the genius and longevity of The Kinks. He was the Carl Perkins to Ray Davies‘ Johnny Cash. Great harmonies and stinging, chugging guitar. Also great is this […]
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