Everybody Must Get Stoned

81 - An Overdue Catchup

2011-08-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

We may have been out of touch with you here for a while but we are far from idle. Various travels about the UK and the US, both solo and en famille, while Underground Garaging ultra-remotely made blogging difficult. We continue to concentrate on maintaining and improving our health aided by some excellent physicians in New York.

BREAKING NEWS: The Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra is back! You will recall "The Andrew Oldham Orchestra & Friends Play the Rolling Stones Songbook Volume 1," after many years out of print was finally reissued on CD in 1996. Our arrangement of "The Last Time" found its way into the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" and the global soundtrack of our lives. Its success whetted my appetite to make music under my own moniker for the first time in a long while.

So...a couple of years ago I got together with old mate and wunderbar guitarist Gary Lucas in Bogota to lay down tracks for "She's a Rainbow," "Play with Fire," and a versions of "Bitter Sweet Symphony" I'm more than chuffed with. "The Andrew Oldham Orchestra & Friends Play the Rolling Stones Songbook Volume 2" was born ! Gary and I go back to the days I lived in Connecticut and he and Jon Tiven were the young upstart sprouts around town. His work since then with the avant garde and experimental , with Captain Beefheart and Jeff Buckley has placed him on a solo road that only he drives upon.

Having cast our bread upon the waters, so to speak, a cast of talented friends came along to lend a hand: Elliot Easton, Christine Ohlman, Vashti, Rafael Atijas, Wyckham Porteous, Johnny Marr, Juan Galeano, Pablo Memi, Brett Smiley, The Chesterfield Kings, and Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals have made this a delightful excursion back to musicland. Oh, and Jerry Shirley took time out from his turn as Humble Pie memoirist to beat it out for me once again as he has so many times before.

MORE NEWS: I have edited the first two volumes of my autobiography, "Stoned" and "2Stoned," into one volume that is currently available in South America via Spanish translation. For those of you who read Spanish here are some links to the rather flattering coverage "Rolling Stoned" is getting in the Southern Hemisphere.

http://is.gd/3uRWTa

http://is.gd/CrgLsJ

http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/suplementos/radar/9-7111-2011-06-12.html

EVEN MORE NEWS:

For English readers I have completed an updated Rolling Stoned and it is available from the following sites:

Gegensatz Press

Amazon

Mobi Pocket

Smash Words

I am more than pleased with this edition. It is an updated version of my first two books, Stoned and 2Stoned - ten years is a long time and so much has happened to the participants of those books.

Wellness,
ALO

80-Reet Petite Tweet Song of the Week: Jackie Wilson - No Pity (In the Naked City)

2011-01-31T14:25:00.001-08:00

reet petit tweet song of the week: jackie wilson "no pity (in the naked city"

and here's a live version of the song which i found on youtube:

enjoy!

79 - Reet Petit Tweet Song of the Week -Mick Jagger with Jeff Beck-Gangster's Moll

2011-01-17T14:51:00.000-08:00

this is from a 1979 jam session featuring Jeff Beck doing an unfinished, unreleased Stones song...

Mick Jagger-Gangster's Moll by industryofhumanhappiness

78 - Reet Petit Tweet Song of the Week - Rod Stewart - Just Like I Treat You

2011-01-10T08:13:00.001-08:00

Reet Petit Tweet Song of the Week: Rod Stewart during his Long John Baldry days doing "Just Like I Treat You"

Today is Rod's 66th birthday, and still working. Happy birthday Rod. In the video above, keep your eyes out for Kenny Jones dancing around a minute and a half in.

77- Reet Petit Tweet Song of the Week: Bob Dylan-Brown Sugar

2011-01-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

Reet Petit Tweet Song of the Week: Bob Dylan doing his version of Brown Sugar live with his band in 2002.

Bob Dylan-Brown Sugar by industryofhumanhappiness

76 - Tweet Song of the Week: The Drifters - I Don't Want to Go On Without You

2010-12-20T09:17:00.001-08:00

This weekend i will be doing a tribute to Bert Berns on my radio show. I thought it would be good to share one of the songs that I discovered on the new compilation "Sloopy Music 2 Presents the Songs of Bert Berns" as my Tweet Song of the Week.

This song is The Drifters doing "I Don't Want To Go On Without You" written by Bert Berns and Jerry Wexler in 1964.

One of the better Stereo Mixes that I've heard from the time.

Drifters-I Don't Want To Go On Without You by industryofhumanhappiness

75 - Tweet Song of the Week: Brian Wilson, Phil Everly and Bill Medley - In My Room

2010-12-13T11:42:00.000-08:00

bill medley, phil everly & brian wilson doing a stunning version of the beach boy's "in my room"

74 - Tweet Song of the Week: Wild Horses

2010-12-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

Tweet Song of the Week is the Rolling Stones doing Wild Horses. This was recorded during a soundcheck at the Tokyo Dome on March 22, 2006 on the Smaller Bang Tour.

RS-Wild Horses(Tokyo SoundCheck) by industryofhumanhappiness

Here's a version of the same song recorded for "Stripped", their 1995 unplugged album.

73-Tweet Song of the Week: Too Many Cooks

2010-11-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

The Tweet song of the week for this week is "Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)" by Mick Jagger. This version was produced by John Lennon and first came to me when May Pang shared with us in 2007.

The backing musicians were the Hollywood Vampires, which was a rotating cast of people hanging out in LA. This song features Danny Kortchmar and Jimmy Ed Davis on guitar, Al Kooper on keyboards, Jack Bruce on bass, Jim Keltner on drums, and backing vocals by "original Hollywood Vampire,” Harry Nilsson.

Too Many Cooks by industryofhumanhappiness

72-tweet song of the week and inducting al kooper

2010-11-22T11:01:00.000-08:00

Tweet Song of the Week: Beware Of Darkness from the demos George Harrison cut for Phil Spector for "All Things Must Pass". This year its the 40th anniversary of "All Things Must Pass" so we figured we'd feature George this week.

Beware Of Darkness by industryofhumanhappiness

On November 16th Al Kooper was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. I had the honor of inducting Al from a jungle away. Here's my induction video:

71 - Tweet Song of the Week

2010-11-15T10:27:00.000-08:00

the andrew oldham orchestra featuring gary lucas - the rolling stones songbook volume 2 - " you can't get no (satisfaction)"

Andrew Oldham Orchestra-(You Can't Get No) Satisfaction by industryofhumanhappiness

70-Tweet Song of the Week: Sometimes Happy, Sometimes Blue

2010-11-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

the prequel to "dandelion" with keith on lead voice minus the manicure

RS - Sometimes Happy, Sometimes Blue by industryofhumanhappiness

69 - Tweet song of the week

2010-10-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

Tweet song of the week: The Beach Boys during a 1967 rehearsal doing their version of The Box Tops' "The Letter"

05 The Letter by industryofhumanhappiness

and here's the original version by the boxtops

and to get you guys in the halloween spirit, here's brian wilson doing "the monster mash"

68-tony curtis and arthur penn

2010-10-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

i’m sure you now know but tony curtis and arthur penn have passed…

here’s some audio of me giving my thoughts on tony curtis…

Tony Curtis by industryofhumanhappiness

tony curtis ... thankyou

here’s a link to see more pictures of tony curtis
click here

one of the last interviews with one of the last stars standing, tony curtis
click here

arthur penn, the director of " bonnie & clyde " and " little big man " has passed. a joyous career

click here for paris match article on arthur penn

67- terry o'neill, jerry hall, tom jones, and tragedy in france

2010-09-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

rod and my first real crush, audrey hepburn plus a lot of great terry o'neill snaps.

click here for more pics.

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the odd puff with robert fraser , or keith, for sure, but a habit ? for nuns perhaps...

click here for article.

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tom jones’ luscious locks….from his arse or his armpits ?

click here for more about.

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tragedy de rock en francais

click here for the paris match article

66 - song of the week

2010-09-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

Dion - King of the New York Streets

great lyric, great dion, feel the city in his shoulders and verve

King of the NY Streets by industryofhumanhappiness

65-odds and ends

2010-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

what a groupie.....

click here for article

and keith's wife patti got a clean bill of health after bladder cancer...

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simon; love the martha reeves piece, she gave us satisfaction and meat on the bone...

click here for simon harper from clash magazine's interview with martha...

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the feisty godfather of punk - doing it until the end. mom and son are $OK so why not give it to his lady.

click here for the article in the daily mail.

64-mick in solitude

2010-09-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

hope for us all....

Click Here

63-august recap

2010-09-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

i have been meaning to post a bunch of stuff i wanted to share from august.

i have been doing a song of the week on my twitter account (which you can see to the right.

most recently we featured french old guard rocker eddy mitchell with a slightly otis take on dylan...

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the masters do the master

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adios to a great british radio man, bernie andrews

click here

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Also I had a bit on me on NPR...you can hear it below:

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Last but not least...there were a couple pieces on me in the press:

Washington Post - click here

Globe and Mail - click here

62 - mel senior

2010-08-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

we disagree with mel snr about the holocaust but agree on the pope who is after all, still hiding cardinal lowe of boston in the Vatican...

click here for daily mail article

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also a new feature, but you can now see my twitter feed on the right. you can see my twitter feed by going click here

61-born to be wild

2010-07-21T14:50:00.001-07:00

here's the article i will be discussing on my upcoming weekend show. my show airs on sirius xm saturday 4 pm-8 ET, and sunday from noon-4pm ET.

this article is by David Flusfeder and is on the new statesman.

here's the picture i will be speaking about:

click here to read

60 - christopher hitchens on mel

2010-07-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

from christopher hitchens ... getting rid of the nonesense about mel gibson...

click here for article

59-nico, sting's symphonicities, joan jett picture book

2010-07-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

nico....one of the big boys

click here for tickets

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still intereSTING after all these years...

click here for an interview with sting from the telegraph about "symphonicities".

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booktime, remember them? our joan by todd oldham (no relo of yours truly). a todd on his own...

click here for a write up from the telegraph.

58-mick gone fifa

2010-07-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

whatever happened to lady jane ?

i guess mick still has to have a bill in his life.......

click here for more mick and bill pictures

57-die at the right time and music museum of new england

2010-06-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

many of you have asked for the data on the book we have been reading from on recent shows. it's a must have. best, o

buy "die at the right time" here

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i've also been featured in the music museum of new england. you can check that out here

56-the last interview?

2010-06-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

malcolm mclaren's last interview?

click here to read

55-say it isn't so

2010-06-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

say it isn't so

54-dennis hopper remembered

2010-06-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

DENNIS HOPPER - A MAN WHO CHANGED HOW MOVIES WERE MADE FOR AN IMPORTANT WHILE, AND HOW MUSIC WOULD BE USED IN MOVIES FOREVER.

check out the paris match write up on dennis here

born to be wild

flashback

apocalypse now

true romance

blue velvet

speed

crash

dennis get's his star

53 - flight 505

2010-05-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

i have been on the road quite a while hence an absence of contact with you folks. started off at the beatles fest in secaucus, NJ with chris montez,billy j. kramer, denny laine, the hudson brothers, martin lewis and denny seiwill and ended up in a conversation in glasgow, scotland with john cavanagh. plz enjoy some of the footage whilst i re-adjust to the altitude here in bogota. best, o

52 - win tickets to come to beatle fest in NJ

2010-03-08T10:56:00.000-08:00

as i previously mentioned, i'll be speaking at beatle fest in secaucus, nj - march 26th-28th.

if you happen to be in the greater new york area and are interested in attending, sirius xm is doing a giveaway this week, giving away a few pairs of tickets for the festival on saturday, march 27th.

HOW TO ENTER:
-send an email to: rsvp@siriusxm.com;
-include "The Fest" in the subject line of your message or it will not be considered;
-include your full name, valid email and cell phone number.

click here to read the official rules.

contest ends march 12th at 5 pm so get your e-mails in today.

click here to read more about the beatle fest.

hope to see you there!

51 - mick and may

2010-03-07T17:21:00.000-08:00

two of our recent subjects of my irregular weekend feature "conversations with..." are may pang and mick rock.

here is an accurate piece on the world of john lennon & may pang and a redaction of my conversations with mick rock, the latter in response to all those of you who e'd me asking for some clarification as to what on earth we were talking about.

here's a link to an interview with may: click here

and here's a link to mick: click here

enjoy the both and the day. best, o

50 - i got you babe

2010-03-06T23:11:00.000-08:00

we have been blogless for about a month. busy times.

my birthday on january 29th put me finally on route 66.

on february 14th my wife esther and i celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary. finally a long play record! we zoomed off for ten days in paris.

the above photo was taken by my eldest son sean, who lives in london and flew over to paris to assist in our celebration.

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this month i'll be guesting at the beatles fest in NJ. the festival takes place march 26th-28th in east rutherford.

click here for more info. hope to see some of you there.

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these past couple of weeks we have had to say adios to a couple of pals.

doug feiger, who wrote "my sharona" and founded the knack passed from cancer after a long, long fight.

i reunited with doug some eight years ago when i visited LA and attended the same "friend's of bill" meetings.

he will be missed, his music, courage and way with the world. he was a great example to his fans, friends and family.

john zambetti informed me today that another pal, eric greenberg , passed yesterday in LA. for the past ten years whenever i have visited malibu in california i have always taken the time to stop and chat with eric whilst he worked at radio shack in the colony. sir anthony hopkins used to do the same, so did rod steiger whilst he was alive.

eric had a lot of fans in our business. he was a bright spark, always enthused about a broad range of music and entertainment. his love of the arts and crafts was a tonic to all those who knew him and were sensible enough to drop in for a catch-up.

eric will be missed but his joy remains with us.

take care of each other, be careful of the careless word, be sure to have gratitude and masticate. best, o

49 - happy birthday rodney!

2010-01-14T14:34:00.000-08:00

happy birthday rodney! (aka rod stewart)

48- spliffing with mariah

2010-01-06T13:34:00.000-08:00

enjoy, o.

47-christmas

2010-01-06T10:27:00.000-08:00

i never got to make a christmas album like uncle phil , but i did get to make an unreleased christmas single in 1966. of, course recording it at the end of november did not help. happy christmas, o

46-kennedy center honors

2010-01-06T09:54:00.000-08:00

a musical night from washington via bob lefsetz. enjoy, o

Start with Jon Stewart's introduction. It's worth it:

Then go the following clip, which starts off with Eddie Vedder's performance and goes into Sting at the 2:20 mark.

These clips are data-intensive. Which means they can take a very long time to load. But the benefit is they're of an extremely high quality. If you've got a good connection, click on the HD button and then the icon right next to it to blow the image up full screen.

45-Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Selections

2009-12-18T17:04:00.000-08:00

nice piece on the ROCK'N ROLL HALL OF FAME choices this year from good mate jim bessman. enjoy the HOLLIES video of " stop, stop, stop!"

i'm so pleased about the hollies being inducted. as for ABBA they keep a lot of old rock farts at the writing table, and JIMMY CLIFF, i could care less. he was an embittered runt when i worked with him in '75 and i doubt the boy has changed. best, o

CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE

44-paul mcguinness and the stones on red skelton

2009-12-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

manager of the last 20 years (along with jon landau and danny goldberg...) U2's paul mcguinness...of course the model's remain albert grossman and shep gordon. enjoy, o

CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE

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and thanks to ron "somerset" ross for this one on the stones...

43-eric woolfson

2009-12-08T07:35:00.000-08:00

eric woolfson was known to a lot of the world for creating the alan parsons project, known to UG listeners as the co-writer of chris farlowe's, mick jagger produced, "baby make it soon."

eric passed last week. he will be missed. a great, great pop ear and a lovely fellow...

CLICK HERE for a link to Eric's homepage

CLICK HERE for his obituary

42-reasons to be cheerful

2009-12-04T09:57:00.000-08:00

a very nice riff from michael sigman, one of the early runners with the LA WEEKLY. nice to see the guv'nor SVZ and the work he does get a very fine nod. enjoy, o

3. Andrew Loog Oldham. XM Sirius Satellite Radio has become a kind of rock-and-roll heaven on earth, with iconic artists turning us on to their favorite tracks and telling stories we'd never hear otherwise. Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour is the godhead of the form, and Steve Van Zandt (creator of Little Steven's Underground Garage, one of the greatest rock stations of all time), Steve Earle, Graham Parker, Tom Petty and others also have -- or have had -- their own shows. I especially love Andrew Loog Oldham's daily broadcasts on Underground Garage. Oldham managed and produced the Rolling Stones from 1963-1967 (Marianne Faithful too!). From his virtual headquarters in Bogota, he spins sets that might begin with a little-known Who or Kinks track, progress to Kate Winslet by the Silver Brazilians and Del Shannon's Little Town Flirt and end by swinging from the Ronettes to the Noisettes, whose lead singer, Shingai Shoniwa, he describes as "the voice, the voice...Diana Ross meets Eartha Kitt today." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnxQMAmv3gU
Oldham's eclectic sensibility and droll philosophizing make his shows that much more fun. When he calls us "darlings" or "luv" while giving his current take on Beatles ("They never had to look over their shoulders") vs. Stones, he transports us to a special world in which the British Invasion co-exists with Sarah Palin, whom he describes as a "feral idiot."

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL ARTICLE

41-altamont

2009-12-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

aah the sixties, adieu to the 60's...

The Rolling Stones at Altamont: the day the music died

by Ethan A Russell

The Rolling Stones’ 1969 US Tour was a remarkable tour at a remarkable time. Some say Altamont – the free concert tacked on to the end – ended the Sixties. Since I was the photographer for the tour I had an inside view of the sometimes ecstatic experiences of the 16 shows and the nightmare that was Altamont.

The idea for a so-called Concert in the Park (San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park) was first broached in 1968. But Golden Gate Park wasn’t available. San Francisco wouldn’t issue permits. No problem.

Marvin Belli, a flamboyant San Francisco lawyer, produced a last-minute saviour: Dick Carter, owner of something called the Altamont Speedway. 'Altamont was going to be Woodstock West,’ said Michael Lydon, a writer who covered the tour. 'Everybody was talking about it.’

But it was a dull, lifeless landscape. There was no hint of green, not a tree, not a blade of grass. When we arrived there was no palpable feeling of joy or even happiness. It slowly dawned on me that this concert might not turn out to be what I expected.

Mick Jagger had no such luck. His realisation came instantly. Stanley Booth, another writer, saw it happen: 'Mick got off the first helicopter with Ronnie [Schneider, the tour manager] when a kid comes running up to Mick and says: “I hate you,” or something, and punches Mick right in the mouth.’

Ronnie recalls: 'I remember Mick screaming: “Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him!” Me, I wanted to kill the guy right away. That set the tone.’

Jo Bergman, the Stones’ office manager, saw it too: 'On the day of the show there were these ugly people all around. Then I went into the tent with the Hells Angels. These people were very spooky.’ Hells Angels always scared me. I knew, of course, about their new peaceful reputation in the San Francisco scene. I’d read how Ken Kesey invited them to participate and how they would stand next to the stage at concerts in San Francisco, a kind of unofficial security presence.

'Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas came,’ says Booth, 'bearing tales of how the Angels were fighting with civilians, women, and each other, bouncing full cans of beer off people’s heads.’

During the Jefferson Airplane set, a Hells Angel had beaten Marty Balin, the lead singer, unconscious. Charlie Watts, the Stones’ drummer: 'I was talking to a couple of the Angels when the tent flap wobbled and one of them whacked it with a billiard cue – there was probably some kid’s head behind it. When it came time for us to go on, the Angels made a line for us to pass through. I felt very worried as we walked to the stage.’

Bill Wyman, bassist: 'We could be halfway through a song and suddenly there was some commotion, and the Angels were just beating the s--- out of some guy. The crowd would open and you would see six Angels just whacking them with pool cues, and you thought: “What’s going on?”’

I expected Mick to stop it. I naively believed he had the power, and was disappointed he seemed so timid. Keith Richards, much bolder, tried to put a stop to it – and then was told someone in the audience had a gun and was shooting at the stage. That someone was Meredith Hunter.

Wave after wave of violence swept through the crowd, causing people to be jammed up against each other. There were swarms of people on the stage, including many Hells Angels. Sam Cutler announced that the Rolling Stones would not perform until the stage had cleared.

Hunter got involved in trying to get people off the speaker boxes in front of the stage. The next thing Hunter was arguing with six or seven Hells Angels. He tried to get away to the right of the stage but was hemmed in by the crowd. He turned and pulled his gun. Alan Pasarro, a Hells Angel standing near the stage, saw the gun. He pulled a five-inch knife and stabbed it deep into Hunter’s back.

Bill Wyman: 'Mick Taylor and I were the ones nearest to it. We saw the crowd open up and the guy chase the other guy right in front of us. We both saw the commotion when the guy got stabbed. We saw the whole thing, and my heart skipped a beat.’

Mick finally spoke up: 'You know, this could be the most beautiful evening we’ve had this winter if we are all one, let’s show we’re all one!’

After his plea Mick continued, 'Now there’s one thing we need, Sam. We need an ambulance.’ But it was too late.

Bergman: 'We were taken to the helicopter and I had this feeling that it was like you were the last person on the last chopper out of ’Nam.’

Astrid Lundstrom, Bill’s girlfriend, escaped on the helicopter: 'I don’t remember anyone talking about it. I remember them being more like in shock. There was none of that usual bravado.’

Bill: 'It must seem strange that no one has talked about it.The chaos of the earlier tours was fun. But no one really talked about Altamont because there was nothing to laugh about. No good memories.’

In an interview shortly afterwards Mick remarked: 'I thought the scene in San Francisco was supposed to be so groovy. It was terrible. If Jesus had been there he would have been crucified.’

CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK

40 - kim fowley release and marilyn smoked cannabis

2009-12-02T06:54:00.000-08:00

my underground garage label-mate, kim fowley, goes all arts & leisure in the new york times. wonderful recognition for a man of our time and then some...

"music by the unknown for the unloved"...pure rock'n roll proust. enjoy, o

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES - MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30TH

KIM FOWLEY
“One Man’s Garbage: Lost Treasures From the Vaults 1959-69, Volume One”

“Another Man’s Gold: Lost Treasures From the Vaults 1959-69, Volume Two”
(Norton)

Many have made profound records with a heavy hand and dumb records with a light hand. But making dumb records with a heavy hand: that is for the true hot-doggers, those who truly love their own scent and know that immortality in the arts is both a construct and the desired thing.

During rock’s middleweight years Kim Fowley turned out this sort of record by the dozen: doo-wop, surf, girl-group, novelty, psychedelia. A song about undercover cops posing as surfers. A song about yo-yos. Who is Kim Fowley? He’s a recording-studio lizard still living and working in Los Angeles, an old-fashioned producer, promo man and Svengali who eagerly sang or talked over the band when necessary. You may know him from his work with the Runaways, Joan Jett and Lita Ford’s mid-’70s band. It’s possible you know him as a producer of “Alley Oop,” by the Hollywood Argyles, from 1960; or as a writer of “Nut Rocker,” the 1962 instrumental that swiped the “March of the Wooden Soldiers” melody from “The Nutcracker.” Maybe, if you’re good at this, you know him as a credit line on lesser tunes by Kiss or Cat Stevens. Beyond that you might be in trouble.

An anthology of Mr. Fowley’s work, “Impossible but True,” totes up his successes, and another, “Underground Animal,” is dedicated to his obscurities, with a greater quotient of greatness. But here, in two volumes, are his abject failures, mostly small-batch 45s, some never let out of the can. This music is in certain parts nearly unjudgeable by musical standards. But it qualifies as West Coast social history, conceptual art and, possibly, a form of fiction

A few songs are great (“Bodacious” by the U.S. Rockets). Some are deeply inept (“Bounty Hunter” by Donnie and the Outcasts). Outside of their three minutes or less on vinyl, most of these bands existed mainly in Mr. Fowley’s head; he had a concept for each one. Rock ’n’ roll, he writes in his loud, profane and insightful liner notes, is “music by the unknown for the unloved.” Further, he writes, it’s “about the sun beating down on you and lemonade in your hand. It’s atmospheric.” That may be his credo or just a rationalization, but it’s very good.

In his early days there was no album-length work to undertake, and as he imagined his one-off happenings, Mr. Fowley jumped on meager opportunities with a brio beyond what they deserved. He took unused instrumental tracks made by bands with unpaid studio bills and rendered new songs upon them. He corralled misfits into studios and dreamed up band names in short order. He created his own labels: Kimco, Last Chance, Rubbish.

Here are a bad Shirelles (Althea and the Memories), a bad white Shirelles (Bonnie and the Treasures), a good California-beach “Susie Q” (the Renegades’ “Geronimo”), a corny satire about hippies (“Long Hair, Unsquare Dude Called Jack”). There’s a great creative wiliness behind it all. You can’t condescend to Kim Fowley as an outsider artist: he’s too mercenary, too self-conscious about the aesthetics of pop and too much of a thrill seeker.

BEN RATLIFF

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO ARTICLE

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it's been a big year for marilyn monroe. first she joins me in singing "happy birthday" to little steven, now she's busted for going up in pot. is she or isn't she? smudge for yourself. best, o

CLICK HERE TO READ

and here's me and marilyn singing happy birthday

39-morrissey and the germans

2009-11-24T19:11:00.000-08:00

no explo needed here, morrissey gets the germans to follow orders again. read the NME, see the farce. enjoy, o

CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE

38 - sarah palin

2009-11-23T15:09:00.000-08:00

it's only rock'n roll...alas. sarah palin on FOX looked like a feral idiot. if she looks bad on FOX never mind the rest. what is left for her? a country album? here is deepak chopra's take on the dame. enjoy, o

CLICK HERE

37 - christopher walken does lady gaga

2009-11-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

our fave tapper and nutter, christopher walken does a lady gaga turn on jonathan ross's UK TV show. enjoy, o

36 - ronnie wins rock gong

2009-11-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

ronnie wood wins something on his own; iggy feels more secure and slash is slash.

CLICK HERE

35 - woodstock, lenny, r&r HOF MSG, hopper, gore

2009-11-03T08:15:00.000-08:00

this weekend i'll be looking at woodstock again. the reason? mr. james parker's article on the 40th anniversary and celluloidsalesshmeer from the september issue of THE ATLANTIC. here is that article for you to enjoy in your own time as opposed to ours. best, o

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LENNY KRAVITZ LOST IN BORGATA, NEW JERSEY. NOT COLOMBIA. DEFINITELY ONE OF HIS BEST SHOWS...

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PARIS MATCH gets the best pictures, here is their take on the recent AARP ball at MSG.....

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

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Dennis Hopper has prostate cancer. a prayer said and a candle lit for the man. get better, stay better and brussels sprout on!

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT

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gore vidal....an american treasure....love him or loathe him (and i love him) you will at least gain some recharged brain cells as a result of the man's power and direction of words. the kennedys, the clintons and roman polanski. gore with gore.....

CLICK HERE

34 - harvey kubernik's "canyon of dreams"

2009-10-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

Harvey Kubernik appears on pgs 140-44 and 250-51 of the second part of my autobiographies, 2STONED. He does so because in 2000 i was sitting with mr. and mrs. Lou Adler (Page my dear) in the Hollywood Bowl. we were awaiting the only (as opposed to lonely) Beach Boy, Brian Wilson to waltz us through the very first performance of "Pet Sounds." this performance was with the Wondermints, baton waver Van Dyke Parks and a 60 piece orchestra.

it was a night to remember, as well as the night Harvey Kubernik came up and introduced himself to Lou and I.

I am so glad he did. I was almost past the age where one makes friends easily, and with Harvey thatz what happened, and my life (at least)and perhaps his, has been the better for knowing him.

His knowledge of our game makes him one of the rare birds left one can have an unedited conversation with. He knows that Russ Titleman played guitar on the Phil Spector, Paris Sisters cut, "I Love How You Love Me", that Mo Ostin called Jack Nitzsche in to arrange a Soupy Sales record date( R.I.P and thanks for the body of fun ). Also which wall, in which cafe, in Venice my favorite actor Laurence Harvey sat and scribed his name on the wall.

It is more than his knowledge - it is his love, and with his new book, "Canyon of Dreams" love has come back in spades and given us what surely must be, the Music Book of the Year.

Plz get it and decide for yourself. This is our time, our John Adams, our Thomas Paine. The love has finally come together with the skill and the times portrayed. This book is a must.

In addition I have to thank Harvey for introducing me to Steven Van Zandt . For that I am forever grateful as a few years after we met at the late Mayflower Hotel overlooking NY's Central Park. Steven invited me to find my voice on his Underground Garage where I have been privileged to serve for nigh on five years.

Harvey has served the game for 40 years, with the power and glory of " Canyon of Dreams " the game looks as if it's finally serving Harvey.

BUY "CANYON OF DREAMS" BY CLICKING HERE

here are some photos, harvey was kind enough to allow us to share from his book:

Buffalo Springfield @ Hollywood Bowl-April 29, 1967

photo by: Henry Diltz

Donovan KHJ @ Hollywood Bowl-April 1966

photo by: Henry Diltz

Doors @ Hollywood Bowl-July 5, 1968

photo by: Henry Diltz

Sky Saxon (Seeds) @ Hollywood Bowl-April 29, 1967-1

photo by: Henry Diltz

Michelle Phillips & Mama Cass (Mamas & Papas) @ KHJ Hollywood Bowl-April 2, 1966

photo by: Henry Diltz

Lou Adler w- dog in Laurel Canyon-May 1967-Nurit Wilde

photo by: Nurit Wild

REVIEWS FOR "CANYON OF DREAMS: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon appearing in September and October, include:"

Glass House Presents.com (October 2009). Review by George DeLoro
http://glasshouse\presents.com
“A must-have for fans of the L.A. music scene. From Sterling Publishing.”

Friday Morning Quarterback. Review by Ken Sharp.
http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=115421

Goldmine. Review and interview by Peter Lindblad
http://blog.goldminemag.com/forgottenboy/2009/10/07/Uncovered+A+History+Lesson+On+Laurel+Canyon.aspx

Los Angeles Weekly (September 23, 2009). Review by Randall Roberts.
http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/off-the-record/canyon-dreams-book-kubernik-la/

Huffington Post. Review by Holly Cara Price. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/holly-cara-price/icanyon-of-dreams-the-mag_b_316865.html

Child of the Moon blog (October 16, 2009). Review by Love Luna.
http://iamthechildofthemoon.blogspot.com/2009/10/canyon-of-dreams.html

Canadian Christianity (October 2009). Review by John Cody (coupled with L.A. Nuggets box).
http://www.canadianchristianity.com/bc/bccn/1009/20looking.html

MusicAngle.com (October 22, 2009). Review by Michael Fremer.
http://www.musicangle.com/feat.php?id=171

33 - sex on tv

2009-10-05T14:48:00.000-07:00

the two events of last week as regards the ludicrous end of show biz have to be the roman polanski arrest in switzerland and the mackenzie phillips "consensual incest" with papa john phillips (revelations just in time to promote her book.)

she did OPRAH

she did everything and did her father in. geraldo rivera this past weekend showed clips of some of his earlier interviews with miss phillips; in one, she held a 3 year old kiddie and said the kiddie (hers) had straightened her up.

in the next clip she admitted she'd lied to get on television.

now we were not there but papa john was a heroin addict (and god knows what else) and my experience of heroin is that, heroin is sex itself and actual sex is not really necessary.

we were not there, and i know and papa john danced with many devils. however, given what books do not sell, was it worth it?

all the leaves are no longer brown.... they are shit....

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as for roman polanski...yes he had sex with a 13 year old girl (according to some published sources). this was at the time california was already undressed.

ok...he broke the law and skipped the US before sentencing, however the "13 year old girl" already had sex with her boyfriend that morning (and the girl's mother was the next best thing to a pimp and would have fucked anybody to get on the right side of the hills.)

CLICK HERE FOR LA TIMES ARTICLE

the LA times has it right and has it wrong. if a crime is a crime how come they didn't arrest ted kennedy before he passed? the lady in that dunking died, did she not?

anyway the swiss are throwing the US a polish bone, hoping to get some leniency on the UBS bank scams.....

and then there is the other side of the polanski story, and perhaps this is it....

CLICK HERE

32 - mick taylor

2009-09-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

we had been wondering how mick taylor is (we often do), but more so after he canceled a recent stream of US dates "due to illness."

so here's an update mostly from the lad himself from the UK DAILY MAIL.

must say the house looks okay, i once saw a railway station for sale near where mick lives and they wanted 200K for that. hope he's healthy.

it might be a little late to get wealthy unless he's stronger than methinks. the law is a strange mistress and the stones may be a whore. and why not? whatz not in the article is that mick signed off when he left for 30K or 3K, but, according to all the villains and likely lads, he signed off.....

31 - 2000 light years from home

2009-09-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

here's a labor day goodie from those lads of labour, fun and strife, the rolling stones. enjoy and huge thanks to otto von ruggins for flying it in. a wunderbar, family filled labor day best to you all. - ALO

this text was taken from http://www.dangerousminds.net/

"Call me disputatious—or not, it’s entirely up to you—my favorite Stones album is Their Satanic Majesties Request. It’s the only one I play all the way through anymore. It sounds great as one great big, trippy chunk. It’s a great headphones album, too. Most Stones fans hate it and see it was a weak attempt to out weird the Beatles after they’d unleashed Sgt Pepper on the world, but to me, it’s just a thing of beauty, with the normal Blues-based Stones sound thrown out the door, and replaced with a colorful sonic palette the likes of which they would never return to. I’m not saying that it IS the best Stones album, I’m just saying it’s MY favorite. (My favorite Stones song, is Monkey Man, followed by Stray Cat Blues, then (Doo Doo Doo Doo) Heartbreaker, dark horses, all, I grant you. I’m also partial to Don’t Know Why I Love You, but the Glimmer Twins didn’t write that one, so it doesn’t count).

If you ask me, the Stones “demonic” phase, inaugurated, if you will, by their association with the Magus of Cinema, Kenneth Anger, was when the Stones were truly on fire. Mick was still quite into his Satan/Lucifer thing well into the Let It Bleed/Gimme Shelter era, but after Altamont, Jagger was often seen wearing a crucifix around his neck, perhaps seeking to put down all the hoodoo Age of Horus energy he’d raised? Have sympathy for the poor devil. Jagger had a current running through his body during the Sixties that killed quite a few of his contemporaries. Today, like a rock and roll Dorian Gray, he hardly looks any worse for the wear.

Here is a seldom seem pop video—so heavily influenced by Kenneth Anger that I always assumed that he’d directed it, but it seems more likely to be the work of photographer Michael Cooper, who not only shot the cover for the Satanic Majesties album jacket (which was originally issued with a fantastic 3-D lenticular cover (I have one!), but Kenneth Anger’s Lucifer Rising film as well. I had a copy of this on a Japanese laser disc, comically followed by a clip of Pete Townsend in full Mod drag sternly criticizing the Stones for their then recent marijuana busts. (It’s always the bluenoses who have the really outrageous vices, isn’ it?). Other than that, I’d never seen it anywhere, but here in the YouTube era (we’re living in the YouTube era, didn’t anyone tell you this?) some kind soul has liberated it for our viewing pleasure. Take a look, it’s great"

"

30 - hitler an oasis fan

2009-09-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

oasis have finally split. love or loathe them, they kept the very idea of iconic pop on the move. i loved them even if i didn't always enjoy them. so did adolf..... enjoy, o

29 - stoned hbo

2009-08-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

i am just so pleased to share this one with you. it's something i've been working on all my life, and most recently with lou adler, my pal. lou brought you (amongst others) johnny rivers, carole king, spirit, the mamas & papas, jan & dean, cheech & chong, "the rocky horror show" and the monterey pop festival.

no, mick will not be playing me, though i might ask him to play my mum .....

"HBO rolling with 'Stoned'
Network options rights to Oldham biography
By CYNTHIA LITTLETON

HBO is developing a comedy loosely inspired by the memoirs of former Rolling Stones producer and manager Andrew Loog Oldham.

The pay cabler has optioned the rights to two volumes of Oldham's biography, "Stoned" and "2Stoned."

Feature scribe Wesley Strick is penning the script. Oldham and Lou Adler, another music impresario, will exec produce along with Strick.

Project is described as a fictional account of a young man living the high life with artists and hipsters in London's vibrant Soho scene in the early 1960s.

Oldham worked as a pop music press agent in London before he befriended the up-and-coming Stones in 1963. He produced the band's early recordings, including signature hits "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Get Off of My Cloud" and "Ruby Tuesday," and he served as the group's co-manager until 1967.

In 1965, Oldham founded the indie record label Immediate, which was home to early recordings of the Small Faces, Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac and Humble Pie.

Strick's credits include the upcoming reboot of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" franchise for New Line Cinema."

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL ARTICLE

28 - buffy saint-marie and malcolm mclaren

2009-08-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

i just love buffy sainte-marie, i hope you do. from the UK Financial Times .....

CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE

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i could never resist malcolm mclaren (sex pistols, bow wow wow, new york dolls and himself) probably because I have never met him.

marianne faithfull sent me a message about malcolm a few years ago saying "it's all right, andrew, he's one of us."

i am not exactly sure about that, however i did enjoy his latest ramblings. if you are in edinburgh in august do say hallo for me if you see him.

CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE

27-alan mcgee on the faces

2009-07-31T13:58:00.000-07:00

and more from the major domo of whatz not and what iz in the isles of late britania, the man with the four-eyed tifter, mr. alan mcgee railing forth on why rod & the faces should give it another go.

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL ARTICLE

"ZANI - We Need a Reunion

Being a Rod Stewart fan these days is tough. If you mention his name in company then the odds are you're going to get at least one guffaw and a "blues traitor" comment. Why so serious about Rod the Mod? This is a man who was one of the main influences on the Sex Pistols (in his Faces days) and therefore helped instigate punk rock.

The problems people have with Stewart's career seem to start around the late 70s (his Blondes Have More Fun era), when he was making commercial bids into disco crossovers and soft pop (moves that prompted rockists to label Stewart a joke). Joke? Hardly. I can easily mention some classics from this period: Young Turks, Baby Jane and Downtown Train.

The anti-Stewart arguments are tired and scurrilous. From mod urchin to international playboy, Stewart has always been the essence of rock'n'roll by following his own instincts. His early days saw some of the heaviest players in UK music working with him: Joe Meek, Ray Davies, Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger, Fleetwood Mac and Jeff Beck. Impressive. However, it was when he joined the Faces and started his solo career that he began his iconic white-blues phase (1969-1974), releasing one commercial and critical smash after another.

A career highlight for me was discovering Stewart was a fan of Creation Records (he went on to cover the Primals and Oasis for his When We Were the New Boys album)

Being a fan, I'm surprised by the lack of hoopla for a Faces reunion. And the possibility of the Black Keys reworking Stewart?! This is news! Big news! The potential for a Black Keys and Stewart collaboration is exciting, and I have been tracking developments since I first heard the rumours. The Black Keys have been in collaboration heaven for the past few years, from their almost-there work with Ike Turner to Rick Rubin bringing them in for his ZZ Top project. Yet when I heard the Akron-based psychedelic blues boys were teaming up with Stewart? That tops the lot.

I mean, was there ever a better rock'n'roll band than the Faces? Drunken, likable and out for the good times – they have had a huge musical impact on myself, the Black Crowes, Wilco, the Sex Pistols, the Replacements, Oasis and many others. Which is why I think a Faces reunion will mean a return to the halcyon days of yore, where Stewart had critical and commercial success. Not that Stewart probably cares either way. The magic of Rod is that he does what he wants, when he wants, and hey, if he wants to work with the Black Keys and reunite the Faces, then that's fine with me."

26 - vatman and alan mcgee

2009-07-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

please enjoy a blog from scottish impresario, pop-mavan on new jersey's second finest and a rare picture of our vatman doing his thing for the pope...

vatman

alan mcgee blog (CLICK HERE TO GO TO ORIGINAL POSTING)

"Alan McGee on music: Why Bon Jovi are mythic New Jersey artists

I feel Bon Jovi have received a bad rap from people with who believe themselves to have rather superior musical tastes. Last month, I was hanging out with my friend Jerry Jaffe, an all-round legend in the music industry who was head of Creation Records in the US, managed the Jesus and Mary Chain and Saint Etienne, and signed iconic bands like Motörhead and the Jam. Whenever I introduce Jaffe to friends by listing his achievements, he always adds, "Yes, but I also signed Bon Jovi – harass me now". But, you know, signing Bon Jovi isn't that bad.

Bon Jovi. I guarantee that once you've heard these words, you suddenly have one of their songs in your head: Have a Nice Day, Livin' On a Prayer and You Give Love a Bad Name. Their name also makes me think of New Jersey.

Bon Jovi form part of a mythic pop-culture trilogy that has emerged from New Jersey. Alongside Bruce Springsteen and David Chase (creator of The Sopranos), they form an almost perfect triptych representing the inner workings of New Jersey's Italian American experience. What about Frank Sinatra? Born in Hoboken, Sinatra seems to represent the ideal of escape, whereas Chase, Bon Jovi and Springsteen have continually looked back to New Jersey for inspiration. Without these artists, New Jersey would certainly have been painted in different colours for the world, if thought of at all. These singers have helped give the state its own identity to such a degree that it often feels like an additional character in their narratives.

David Chase's Sopranos has had enormous pop-culture ramifications, influencing the way people view New Jersey. The opening credits make it immediately clear that the landscape is integral to the story. A Jersey native and only child of Italian immigrants, The Sopranos is based on both Chase's psychology and knowledge of Newark, transposed on to a specific criminal environment. Chase illustrates the daily lives of people living within New Jersey's mafia culture – whether it be the nature of violence, emotional brutality, and working-class men made good through mafia connections. Through violence, Chase explores significant ideas about redemption.

Funnily enough, Chase employed Springsteen's guitarist Little Stevie, aka Steve Van Zandt, as gangster Silvio Dante. Springsteen, of course, is well known for his interpretations of New Jersey life in song. Significantly, he also explores redemption in his songs, which are a tribute to the working class. His reincarnation as a stadium-rock Woody Guthrie expertly captures the tragedies of lives gone wrong and the compelling struggle for hope and salvation.

Bon Jovi entered the arena with the 1986 hit Livin' On a Prayer from the album Slippery When Wet. This classic song shares a similar backdrop to Springsteen's Born in the USA, both anthems offering hope during a time of economic struggle and recession. Bon Jovi sing about two working-class characters, Gina and Tommy, who struggle to make ends meet but decide that "it doesn't matter if we make it or not/we've got love and that's a lot". Bon Jovi have returned repeatedly to these fictional characters, following their lives in the songs 99 in the Shade, Fear, Lie to Me, It's My Life and Novocaine.

You may scoff, but even Springsteen recognises Bon Jovi's talent. They often share a stage and the vibe is very much about working-class Jersey Boys done good. I truly believe Jon Bon Jovi deserves critical recognition for his abilities as a world-class songwriter, but instead people focus on the
poppy hair-metal genre in which he previously worked. Bon Jovi are easily one of the three creators who have made New Jersey a place of inspiration, creation and expression for those seeking universal salvation and hope."

25 - al kooper & dr. john,

2009-07-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

a show we should all have caught. lucky albany...

July 25th, 2009 - Albany, NY
Al Kooper on organ, Dr. John on piano and in a rare appearance Ziggy, the drummer from The Meters tear it up for an appreciative audience.

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bill nighy is a terrific actor. from the time i saw him in 1998's STILL CRAZY with billy connolly and all his other great stuff, i fell in love with the geezer. he is also a super fan of the stones and conducts himself well. he also gives a funny and informative interview so i thought i'd share it with you. enjoy, o

CLICK HERE for interview with bill.

clip from STILL CRAZY:

24 - the sweet sweat of success

2009-07-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

and something from back in 65 when a couple of beatles tried to jam in austria.....

here's the story compliments of Harvey Kubernik:

"When the Fabs were in Austria filming "Help!"
John and Paul decided to sit in
with the band in their hotel one night.

They got thru two songs
before the bar manager asked them to get off stage
and threatened to fire the band
if they ever let them up again ;-)

AMAZING that there happened to be a camera present
during those ten minutes:

We take it for granted in this age of cellphones
that Anything and EVERYTHING can be preserved for posterity;

but not so in the least
in '65.....

in the Alps....."

23 - get back, johnny burnette and head to body size ratio

2009-07-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

my dear pal and magno performer Al Kooper (fellow Aquarian, born just five days after moi) sent this writing and video. it's from a very special moment in our shared (that's all of us) of our shared musical pleasure and history. the beatles and billy preston and "get back", plus a few guests.... enjoy and thanks al. best, o

from al:

"Hope you all enjoy this as much as I did. The history of the song
made it even more interesting.

________________________________

Here's a clip you likely have never seen. The recording of 'Get Back'
for the 'Let It Be' album.
In their early days, The Beatles played in clubs for hours most
nights, but by 1967, they stopped touring. This single was advertised
as "The Beatles as nature intended."

McCartney: "We were sitting in the studio and we made it up out of
thin air... we started to write words there and then... when we
finished it, we recorded it at Apple Studios and made it into a song
to roller coast by."

The character "JoJo" was based on Joseph Melville See Jr., Linda
McCartney's first husband. He was from Tucson, Arizona, and killed
himself there in 2000.

The missing verse from Get Back: "Meanwhile back at home there's
nineteen Pakistanis, Living in a council flat/Candidate for Labour
tells them what the plan is/Then he tells them where its at".
("Council flat" is the British equivalent for "housing project").
Early versions include the line "I dig no Pakistanis." The song began
as a commentary about immigration, telling people to "Get Back" to
their own countries. It was meant to mock Britain's anti-immigrant
proponents. Paul McCartney thought better of it and made the lyrics
more obscure.

Paul looked at Yoko in the studio when he sang the line "get back to
where you once belong." John thought he was disrespecting her. There
was a rare quote by Paul that said "I don't take any notice of her.
She's John's wife so I have to respect her for that, but I don't think
she's the brightest of buttons. She's said some particularly daft
things in her time. Her life is dedicated to putting me down but I
attempt very strongly not to put her down." They eventually became
friends even if it did have to be after John was murdered. Ringo was
the only one who would accept Yoko in the beginning when she first
came in picture, during and after The Beatles.

Billy Preston played piano and became the only guest artist to get a
credit on a Beatles single - "The Beatles with Billy Preston." George
Harrison had left the recording session one day and saw Preston in
concert with Ray Charles. The Beatles had met Preston back in 1962
when they were both playing in Germany, but they hadn't seen each
other since. Harrison asked Preston to come by the studio the next
day. Having him in the studio eased the tension and made it easier for
The Beatles to put personal conflicts aside and record the album.

On the clip you can briefly see a young Mick Jagger & Charlie Watts
from the Rolling Stones in the booth. Phil Spector was the guy with
the glasses."

_____________________________________________________________________________

and thanks to jason mcphail, the trainspotting bestest sammy glick of a manager from glasgow this side of wee alan mcgee, for reminding us how great the johnny burnette rock and roll trio, rip into " honey hush".

_________________________________________________________________________________

and here's another hip tip from jason.....

"Her head to body size ratio will have Gered doing cartwheels. As Kenny pointed out 'We're talking Bruce Springsteen ratios here'"

22-keith l'uomo vogue and korea

2009-03-30T07:29:00.000-07:00

i picked this up on the corner of the hotel alvear in uptown buenos aires, where i saw tommy hilfiger in the lobby, wearing all his own gear. he looked like a breathing yacht. anyway, the pictures of keith are superb, the light shines on and through and i just wanted to share it with all of you who live more than just a little bit in keefville.

and here's a few more photos from inside of the issue

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and finally for now....just had to share this whacky korean band and drummer with you. i'll be on the road...in delaware, upstate NY and other splendid american locales but will check in with you soon. i gave my word to brucie. enjoy the korean. abrazo, o

blog 22-there is life after motown

2009-03-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

hallo folks, i spoke of on my radio show, this article with martha reeves of martha & the vandellas. this women's music changed my, and i would think, the lives of at least two of the rolling stones. it's so good to see how the lady moved on and into life, so i wanted to share this piece with you.
wellness, o

CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE

21-blogs, bruce, lefsetz, ratones paranoicos

2009-03-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

a couple of weeks ago the champion blogger bob lefsetz drew his fans, of which i am one, to a bruce springsteen blog about getting ready for his and the e street band's recent half-time performance at the super bowl.

i clicked onto bruce's blog and i was very impressed for many reasons; here was the john garfield of american music sharing with his fans the difficult choices he had to make about wearing new-ish boots or old faithful round toe'd boots, describing his dilemma with relish and detail that for sure would have elton john curling up on a las vegas couch calling out, "david, see, bruce has the same problem i have," or perhaps have sharon osbourne yelling lovingly to ozzy across the mansion, “see i told you to stuff the boots, to stop you falling over, you daft c___," or some other midland english term of endearment.

i was also impressed with the fact that bruce wrote this blog and that he continues to do so consistently. mr. lefsetz pointed out that the duty of the blogger is to write continually. this is something i have not been doing, and i apologize to both you and my work ethic.

*******************************************************************************

i could tell you that i have been traveling to buenos aires and recording the ratones paranoicos. here are some pictures from those sessions:

also here are a couple pictures that were on the wall of the studio i was recording at with the ratones. they are of the rolling stones having a night off being silly the last time they were in south america:

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i have also been to los angeles to see if my two books, stoned and 2stoned, might make it to a screen in your cabled home.

i’ve been wrapping up the umpteenth edit on my third book; walking my dogs and spending a whole lot of time in my new internet-less jungle abode; recording a fine young colombian writer named juan galeano here in bogota; being with you daily on my shows for little steven's underground garage sirius xm; reading every book written by gay talese ; reading "the women" by t.c. boyle and danny goldberg's terrific book on his life in our biz called "bumping into geniuses" ; and finally, working on the rough sketches of a latin-influenced rolling stones songbook with master guitarist gary lucas.

but even all that will not set the record straight. i think bruce works harder, yet he still manages to bring his sleigh to blogsville on a regular basis.

i'm thus inclined to resign, because if you ain't hacking it you should have the decency to fess up and let thy people go.

perhaps it's because of the growing level of communication this recent sirius/xm merger has brought to everybody who works at the underground garage; perhaps my blogging was just a one night stand. we'll see....

in the meanwhile, candles lit and prayers said for the souls of two great dames of music who passed in recent weeks: estelle bennett of the ronettes, and the jazz diva blossom dearie.

hopefully this little spurt will get me hooked again. if not, over to the boss......

20-ITC, London, Oasis, Liverpool, Dave Clark

2008-11-19T08:20:00.000-08:00

long time no write, but here we are with a bit of news and views from our recent travels and musical rumbles. madame and i landed in london at the front of october en route to Manchester, where i was hosting ITC (In The City). ITC is an event founded, launched, dreamt and executed 17 years ago by tony wilson and his partner yvette livesey.

more about tony:
tony wilson bio
factory records
obituary
the hacienda club

tony wilson was a pimpressario/hustler extroadanaire. alas he passed just over a year ago and due to that and the ITC folks wanting to continue the In The City vision, i was asked to co-host the festival (and i say co-host because i always felt that mr. wilson was standing in spirit right next to me)

this was the first ITC without mr. w. there are not many folks the likes of alan mcgee and seymour stein that will turn out for these kinds of events.

this being said, tony was a guvner. tony was the guvner of all things manchester, mancurian, musical, visual , outrageous and magic.

steve coogan played him in 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE and played him well. some say it was the last thing coogan did well.

tony had many gifts apart from flying on a wing and a prayer and the one that comes to mind immediately is that tony made it always about home. christopher columbus, napoloeon, adolf hitler, mary quant, the beatles, the stones and all the rest had to travel away from home to truly make their mark. tony wilson made a castle of his own back yard, manchester, and i hope that manchester is as proud of their lad as everybody who attends ITC.

here’s the letter I wrote for the ITC program:

“A Letter From Bogotá…
I'm in Vancouver, just got here from the Toronto Film Festival, with Toronto famous this past weekend for a Gallagher getting attacked on stage, Mickey Rourke making a great comeback in The Wrestler and the great reviews on the Jimmy Page /Jack White /Edge seminarmovie and my thanking Toronto for it being the place I could have a catch-up with jimmy page and talk about Soho. Speaking of a Gallagher and Oasis I've been thinking about Tony Wilson and the same. In a couple of weeks I'll be in Manchester for the honor of dancing in Mr. Wilson's shoes at ITC. I'll be hosting Seymour Stein and Richard Gottherer and I hope a few more things. I had better learn to dance before October; Johnny Marr has promised to show me the Salford crawl.
In his lifetime Tony got to see a movie made about his own accomplishments, 24 Hour Party People, starring Steve Coogan as Tony and directed by Michael Winterbottom. It is one of the best pop music films I’ve seen. I wonder how Tony felt about it. Was he chuffed, irked, or a mixture of all that and more? Did it have finality to it and did he have any idea of his at the time?
I would find it disconcerting. These film things usually only appear when you are dead. Brian Epstein and John Lennon in Carry On Torquay.... or that other bit of crap about an imaginary meeting between John & Paul at the Dakota. Speaking of crap, the only time, (as far as I know) that I've been portrayed on screen was in that awful, 'never-mind-DVD, straight-to-Ryanair' stinker, the Steve Wooley flic on Rolling Stone Brian Jones - which went as low as to steal the title of my biography. I came off all right in the film, I was only in three scenes and the actor who played me, the Perrier 2004 award-winning comedian Will Adamsdale at least danced a bit and I guess I was not libeled (as it's known that on occasion I like to sue, and/or carry a huge Zen baseball bat). The rest of the movie was awful, the detail and the director did them in, never mind the subject matter.
I had read so many good things about Control, the story of Ian Curtis and Joy Division as directed by Anton Corbijn that I bought it. Waste of 38 bucks (I have yet to watch the accompanying joy division documentary, perhaps that makes it worth the price of admission). Pure dross.
I do not know why Anton went so coy on us; perhaps he was restrained by the widow Curtis? Perhaps ordinariness got in the way of breaking out? Who the fuck knows? In the ‘60s it would have starred Rita Tushingham or Tom Courteney and, to quote another Manchester lad, Peter Noone, would have been 'a-must-to-avoid.'
As much as Tony Wilson might have been chuffed by having Steve Coogan (before Steve became Owen Wilson's playmate and sat next to the God that green lights movies), I don't know what he would think of his portrayal in Control. I must ask Yvette...
There are a few scenes that work in the movie, and one of them involves Tony as he introduces Joy Division and other acts on his Granada TV show. That scene has the Wilson urgency and smacks and feels right. The rest. I’m afraid, is all a bit Peter Sellers in I’m All Right Jack for me, and I would think Mr. Wilson would have concurred.
So there we are. October is around the corner.
We'll be at The Midland Hotel. I hope the weather holds and I can bring linen.
As you can tell I'm a little bit nervous. Of all the managers and lads I followed and those that followed me, Tony Wilson was the strong one, the true runt, the leader. The one who made his pitch, led it and bled with it - and that, Alfie, is what it was all about....
Best from Bogotá,
Andrew Loog Oldham”

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this year, a dear and talented pal, the artist sidney maurer, did a spectacular rendition of tony which went into silent auction on the ITC tree. one-off lithos are also available at sidney’s website: http://www.sidmaurer.com

you can bid on the painting here. it benefits the teenage cancer trust fund, a very good cause.

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before we hit Manchester, madam and i hit a razorlight gig in a kentish town in north west london. the gig was to support the band's third album, slipway fires.

mr. johnny borrell was in super fettle. the song "america" from their 2nd record, should have made it in America. it's a super song and performance, in rock terms, it’s up there with anything paul simon wrote in folk terms about the wunderpaiz.

on stage borrell teased, flirted and delivered to his fans. at times he looked uncannily like a ' 65 third tour of america mick jagger.

MICK JAGGER 1965

JOHNNY BORRELL

a word of thanks to roger morton, razorlight manager, for taking care of esther and moi. i've loved the band since my son, maximillian, and i saw them in mexico city a couple of years ago. i hope that america takes to them and that they crack the wunderpaiz soon. both of them, the usa and razorlight deserve it.

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we took the train from london's euston station to manchester. and had a wonderful time hosting and participating in ITC.

many regulars showed up to support the event. seymour stein, richard gottherer, lyor cohen of the WMG, mike smith of COLUMBIA/UK, alan mcghee, johnny marr’s manager and manchester legend joe moss, geoff travis of ROUGH TRADE, jarvis cocker, verve and soup dragons manager jazz summers and the artists.....the artists...what it's really all about. the ITC slogan said it best as it screamed "it's all about the music, stupid"

standouts for me were BLESS BEATS (a truly inspiring 22 year old producer/creator from bow in SE London) and THE PARIS RIOTS, a manchester band who really have it and i hope get it. Also the THE DETROIT SOCIAL CLUB, THE JESSIE ROSE TRIP, and ARTHUR DELANEY

i’d like to thank the whole ITC team, yvette, jon-paul, tom, james, llianne, stephen (even tho' he's a solicitor), all of the ITC staff and interns who made our journey so rewarding, enjoyable and edutaining. and an extra word of thanks to seymour stein for suggesting me to ITC in the first place.

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next we popped over to liverpool to see OASIS on the second night of their two-night stand at the new liverpool echo arena. OASIS are truly amazing (but you already knew that). whether you like ' em or not. to take the swagger, as liam does, that goes with the off stage attitude lunatic aura of yer rock star and make that the job, the work on stage is truly mad and inspirational. and the songs, dear, it's always about the songs, ain't it and OASIS sure have the body of songs.

the concert was a tribal event. it was exhilarating and it was nice to visit back stage and have liam ask me if i'd bought any writs ( a sly nod to either his mate richard ashcroft's dillema with mick and keith and my orchestra over "BITTER SWEET SYMPHONY" and "THE LAST TIME " or a subliminal thought about the gallaghers more than wonderful degree from the COLLEGE OF KONSTRUCTIV PLAGARISM).

anyway nice chats were had all around, noel was a prince charming, liam a little john ("ROBIN HOOD" ref folka) and andy bell was as nice as nice about his affection for LITTLE STEVEN and the UNDERGROUND GARAGE.

lawdy, i intended to write so much more.

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i had a great tea with dave clark, leader of the DC5. i had been wanting to say hallo to him ever since his oh so elegant acceptance speech at this years ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME.

he truly is a survivor and remains the innovative spirit whom the BEATLES saw, during that first 18 months of the british invasion, everytime they looked over their shoulders. it was not the STONERS, yet, or the KINKS or WHO. it was the DAVE CLARK FIVE.

gotta pack for buenos aires. off to record THE RATONES PARANOICOS. more schpater. much love america, abrazo a todo, ALO.

19-canada, film producers, norman whitfield and bill

2008-09-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

long time no hear, no speak, no see.

apols on that. have been on the road (mainly canada) trying to appraise how i fancy, or am fancied, for my books, STONED & 2STONED and how they might fare as a movie or a min-series on cable.

had a great time at the TIFF where mickey rourke took home all the money for "the wrestler"

i also bumped into jimmy page. why not,the party was for jimmy, jack white and "the edge" and the film "it might get loud". they were plugging the film at the TIFF.

jimmy and i chatted about soho. what else are two london lads
supposed to chat about when they meet up in toronto ?

sorry this one is short but i'm about to undergo three days of dental work, then it's off to the UK and manchester for In The City. we'll be reporting to you from there.

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so adios norman whitfield. he was probably after phil spector my forever favourite
producer. he gave me hope and courage at a time when my lights were low, by the way he enlarged the canvas. when most folks were going "tea for the tillerman" and dressing down in denim, norman whitfield was painting the ghetto, war & the world at the end of the very turbulant 60's.

my mate harvey kubernik caught this from berry gordy, jr in a piece in his book "THIS IS REBEL MUSIC".

"norman to me was probably the most underrated of all the producers, because he was producing by himself. and he would deal with different sounds, different beats, change with the times and write his stuff, and also barrett strong would work with him as a writer on many of his things. norman was innovative and he had fire. and he had a different kind of style. his beat was different and could go from “cloud nine,” “psychedelic shack,” “papa was a rolling stone,” to “just my imagination.” he was sensitive and I think he could do so many different types of things. Then he’d come right back with “war” and then “ain’t to proud to beg.”

he could take one chord, like on “papa was a rolling stone,” and play the same chord and do all these different beautiful melodies and things that many people could not really imagine this guy doin’. and I would watch him and he did it all by himself as a producer. He would work with five guys in the temps and he would change leads on each one. he would pick the right lead for the right song, ya know, and he’d utilize all five of those leads in a song that was just incredible.

when I listen to ‘em today, now that I have time to listen to ‘em, I’m saying, “wow! this guy was probably the most underrated producer we had.”

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bill wyman just sent me this snap of myself and charlie watts in the summer of '65. i may still have the jacket, or be wearing one damned similar. i know i have the shades. PS whilst in toronto we saw an immaculately fit donald sutherland biking around the park. he gave us a wink when we said "could it be ?" remarkable worker. nice to see him out & about.

gotta go walk the dogs....peace & stay away from the bathrooms, george......

blog 18-rebroadcasting alo's weekday shows!!!

2008-07-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

NEW BROADCAST SCHEDULE BRINGS SIRIUS UNDERGROUND GARAGE DJ
TO LATE NIGHTS ON WEST COAST

ANDREW LOOG OLDHAM PROGRAM NOW RE-AIRS WEEKNIGHTS AT 9PM PACIFIC

SIRIUS Satellite Radio’s Underground Garage/ 25, an extension of the critically acclaimed syndicated radio show Little Steven’s Underground Garage, will now cater to those crazy California teenagers as “The Andrew Loog Oldham Program” will air from 9pm until midnight PT on the west coast starting immediately.

For the first time since Little Steven’s Underground Garage started broadcasting on Sirius in 2004, there will be a DJ heard after 9 PM on the West Coast. Andrew Loog Oldham, the legendary manager and producer of the Rolling Stones from 1963-1967and one of the original Underground Garage DJs at Sirius, has held the weekday morning spot on the East Coast (Monday through Friday; 8 AM – 11 AM Eastern Time) since February of 2007. Now his daily show is being rebroadcast so Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and all points west will hear his often hilarious candid observations, first-person insights, and musical expertise in the evening.

“I love all of our DJ’s but Andrew is the Govn’er,” says Little Steven. “We have him on every day because I simply cannot imagine getting through the day without him. It occurred to me recently (I have no excuse really) that the only time the west coast could hear him was 5 to 8 in the morning which is fine if you’re an actor but if you’re a relatively normal human being it might be a bit early, so here you go."

blog 17-koop soup and ronnie

2008-07-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

long time no write. let's have a little catch-up. our mate, mr. al kooper, went on stage with brian wilson recently to sub for a missing jimmy webb. "made a dream come true", said al, when i spoke to him from bogota to somerville late last week. "one of the highlights of my guesting career." and al has done some guesting in his time.... bob dylan, the rolling stones, george harrison and a whole power more.

let us never forget his blood, sweat and tears debut LP. it's a case of you had to be there...there as in america when the LP came out. it was a new day in vinyland and the concept of artist and recording, kooper was the kingmaker that day. he was to the disc and our music what tim burton would later be to film. i can tell you, we were stopped in the tracks of our fears (yes, as a pal told me i could never resist embracing a cliche, pun of flay on words...there i did it again, meds must be working....natural ones that is...) with BS&T...

not unlike in the UK a couple of years earlier the move, produced by denny cordell and later jimmy miller, and managed by the true joker of rock'n roll, tony secunda.
a birmingham band led by the ever so talented dude, mr. roy wood. one of the greatest imaginations our brit-pop world ever reared. their records were amazing, a warning flag just as the first BS&T LP was that it was time to go back to the drawing board...the goalposts had been moved and there was a new game to be played.

the length and breadth of whatever is possible had just been tape, and i mean tape, tape measured into something new. we also got to salute al for his lynyrd skynyrd LP's; that is really when he was the tim burton of rock.

so al goes on stage and does the bridge of "don't worry baby" with brian. a classic moment in west coat national anthems. he also tooted the keyboards on "help me, rhonda".

al has a big honor coming up in october in nashville. he's going to be in great company. here's a link musician's hall of fame. he and i were born five days apart, four and one half if you knock off the distance from the US to the UK. he is an american treasure and like the best of american treasures he knows who he is and who you are. oh, yes, and he's also played with the who.....

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we spoke of roy wood above. let's give a moment to the pathetic shenanigans of ronnie wood.

his dad was an alcoholic, so is ronnie. he has been slippin' and slidin' for so long it's time for him to stop this week long or whatever, checkin' into rich peoples detox centres. as soon as he is fit enough for a drink, he'll leave and start the whole loop again.

whatever your faith or your following let's have a prayer said or a moment of silent knowing, said wishing, ronnie wings of strength and the determination to beat this fuckin' disease. i was at an AA meeting in LA a few weeks ago, and one of our hosts, when it came to his time to speak said, "i'm doing great but every day I remember this disease is just looking for ways and the opportunity to to kill me. whilst it's doing so, take me back to hell."

ronnie. wishing you strength and the brain to get it together. for your family, for the other one, the three chord wonders known as the rolling stones, but most of all, buddy, for yourself....

if you cannot get up in the morning and love yourself, who else are you gonna be able to love ?

maybe ronnie hawkins......

get well, babe, get proper.... DAILY MAIL

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i just want to thank all those who wrote to say how much they were enjoying our new alternative 9 PM WST west coast slot. covering both ends of the day on steven's underground garage is a privilege and honor.

be well, be fare. best from bogota, o

blog 16-4th of July

2008-07-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

for the 4th, i've posted youtube videos of the 10 american artists i chose to honor this holiday. make sure you listen in on the 4th from 8am-11am eastern time, where i'll play songs by these artists and speak about my interactions with them.

happy 4th of july america...

elvis presley-baby, let's play house

eddie cochran-summertime blues

johnny otis-willie and the hand jive

the ronettes-be my baby

alejandro escovedo-always a friend (with bruce springsteen and the e-street band)

ricky nelson-poor little fool

little richard

robert gordon with link wray-the way i walk

fats domino-ain't that a shame

the beach boys

blog 15-show 200!!!

2008-06-26T15:46:00.000-07:00

13-sid maurer memorial day contest

2008-05-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

happy memorial day.

here is a contest, complements of my old friend, sid maurer.

simply shoot me an e-mail at: loog@undergroundgarage.com and i'll pick 10 random winners to receive a copy of the below litho. the litho was done by sid and if you'd like to win, e-mail me with the name of the muscian in the print. its also his birthday this monday, on memorial day.

just send an e-mail, again to: loog@undergroundgarage.com, make sure to include your address and i'll randomly select 10 winners. the litho usually goes for 1,000 plus dollars (thanks sid). just tell me the artist in the litho.

here's an excerpt of what sid wrote in my book 2stoned:

Sid Maurer, Artist/Entrepeneur: When I was 17 or 18, I got a job as assistant art director for Columbia Records. At that time, they were in Bridgeport, Connecticut, so I traveled two hours to get to work each day. Little by little, I got known as the guy in New York who did album covers. One of my big accounts at that time was Epic Records, a division of Columbia. They were now in New York City, and a good friend of mine became head of Epic, and he called me one day and asked me to come down and see him. He wanted to know if I wanted to do all of the album covers for the label—if I did them all, could I do them for $1,000 a piece. So I took on all of that work, and became the big studio in New York. I did all of the Epic covers, and that’s where I met Donovan. Donovan came in one day, and I was told to meet with him, and we became friends, and eventually became his manager. The guys who ran Decca Records, Jubilee, Roulette all of these labels that started in the mid-to-late forties and on through the fifites, all of these guys came out of the garment district. They weren’t record men, they were schmata guys! They didn’t know a fuckin’ thing about music; they could care less. What they did do was they hired good producers, guys like Bob Thiele. These guys brought in the acts like Buddy Holly and the McGuire Sisters, Teresa Brewer, the Hi-Lo’s As the business grew, and these guys slowly sold out, the independent guys like Jerry Blaine from Jubilee stayed in it. Of course, so did Morris Levy.

In about 1968 I met Donovan. The guys in the fifites were guys like Fred Frank, Len Levy. They were still working for Columbia. They hadn’t yet switched over to the time where executives were wearing jeans; it was still suits. One of the reasons that Don and I became friends was that I didn’t wear a suit. When I first met Don, he looked like Jesus Christ. He was wearing a long white robe that went down to the ground, with bare feet. Which is why they said, “You’ve gotta come over right away and meet this guy.” We went back to my suite, smoked a couple of joints and got comfortable. We spent about three days together, just working on his album cover. Meanwhile, Freddie Frank noticed me and we became pals. Freddie was a promotion man at Epic, and he was one of the few guys who knew how to reach the deejays quietly. He drove a lot of records, Freddie. Freddie and I finally hooked up, and we went into the record business together, we started a company called Roadshow. We went into the R&B business, the black business. See, Freddie grew up in South Philadelphia, and he knew all the brothers anyway, and Freddie could take care of the brothers. They wouldn’t take money from a white man. Freddie was almost black.

12-bill o'reilly, media, media, media

2008-05-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

the media overwhemeth and the media suppresses us, what ever the agenda,
whatever the cause, especially in this time of pre-election heat. there is no
news as news, unless you count, as i do the IHT, UK FT and BBC online.

what there is, post-dan i'd rather not, is an entertaining quicksand of talking
heads, who, since the advent of news as entertainment, appear in front of us
with less qualifications than ed sullivan and without the humor of tex antoine.
i'd like to thank steve belgard at the STARZ network for sending me these to posts
that, in regards to bill o'reilly bring the crap simmering to the frothy top.
enjoy......

dance remix.

blog 11-atlanta, bruce springsteen, athens, BRMC

2008-05-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

we just had a wonderful time in america, north america. we always do. this time
my family and i flew up from bogota to atlanta to get together with SVZ and catch the april 25th phillips arena, bruce springsteen & the E street band show. this was bound to be a moving experience, as it would be the first time that bruce and the Estreeters would be in concert since the passing, burying, and paying of respect to founding keyboard, zane gray and maven, maestro danny federici.

before the concert....food. we met SVZ in the lobby of the four seasons hotel
and SUV'd around the corner to a local wop-hop eatery. the food was wunderbar, the host and service very cage de follies. the host was so graceful that when we'd finished chopping, noshing, dishing and wishing ray davies waterloo sunsets and pete townshend a great now that he's old,SVZ WAS TOLD THAT HIS MONEY WAS NO GOOD AT THE INN BUT THAT HIS THOUGHTS AND SIGNATURE ON A RESTURANT plate would be more than appropriate for the food consumed.

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the evening before the atlanta bruce concert, we drove down to athens, ga to
catch BRMC at the 40 WATT venue. i'm interested in any town that produced REM. BRMC are a group i've loved for a long time. their records are great, i just
wondered what was it? the group, the management, the vibe, the timing, record company... that had stopped them breaking on through.

i had thought it might be the record company as to how could the big machine stay on top of, stay on the street with, and support BRMC as they hoe'd the road. they are terrific on stage, really, but they take so damn long abut it. Their audience is faithful and full of bravo, but if they ever want to appeal to those of us who 9 to 5 they had better get the chops down and moments up. do not get me wrong, i loved them, as did the audience, they are awesome. but to tease us with the high end of their collective talents only once, and on the very last song, is impudent to say the least.

on their very last song of their show you heard the totality of their power,
instrumentally and vocally. you heard the national anthem they could
become, but after two hours, or what seemed like two hours it's just not enough.
it's just a subjective opinion, no one else seemed to object, but when i like
something, i want it for the world.

a big hail to BRMC member robert who said a nice hi, glenn was a charmng
host and robert's dad, mike, who said hi after manning he lights for the band.
athens...nice pizza town. all of you lucky enough to be schooling in athens are
blessed. use it well.

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had breakfast the next morn with my old new york pal, sid maurer. after years in
the art and music trade in new york, sid has settled in atlanta to attend to his
first love (after barbara) and that is to paint. we had not caught up for nigh
on 15 years and brekky was great. we'll have more news about sid in the next
blog.

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bruce was magic. i have not seen him since the bottom line in ' 75 (thanks jon
tiven for taking me there back then) and then an amnesty international MSG gig at the end of the 70's with jackson browne (thanks bob krasnow for that one).

the atlanta show kicked off with some great halibut and broccli backstage with the
crew; thanks to the lady-in-charge for super duper food. said hallo to max
weinberg. after charlie watts there’s ringo, jim keltner, jim gordon and max..... and hal blaine and is it gary chester that was the drummer on gene pitney's "every breath i take" ?

SVZ did his wunderbar meet and greet with the UG people and fans and that was quite a cirque du soleil with good vibes. then it was showtime....

it started with a moving video tribute to danny federici then just went slam dunk, slam run, we ran all the way home and out in the streets, the shore, the life, the movement, the reason, the angst, and the spirit and joy. it is an american
heartfelt experience. i could call it a religious experience, it's not, it's a
social experience with soul on. clarence, steven, max all the E street loonies
just keep laying out those tunes and pouring out those magical charts with so much heart and knowing.

10-Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

2008-04-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

i had decided that lou reed wasn’t so difficult after seeing him in the Q & A at SXSW. then i received a "care package" from steve belgard at the STARZ network. (steve often sends a box of goodies down to colombia to make sure i'm up to date on stuff) this time it was the "ROCK' AND ROLL HALL OF FAME 2008" show which had been misbroadcast earlier on VH1 , a channel i do not get here in bogota.

the opening inductees were kenny gamble & leon huff. the duo are the first recipients of "the ahmet ertegun award". they were graceful and cool in their acceptance speech. they have an incredible body of work, the artists they have written and produced include the o'jays, the soul survivors, harold melvin and the bluenotes, archie drell and the drells, bunny sigler, diana ross, jerry butler, the jacksons, billy paul and dusty springfield…

and the songs...let's get lost in the songs! "if you don't know me by now", "me & mrs jones", "love train", "i'm gonna make you love me" and so many more!

then on rolled patti la belle to “murderiah carey” her way through "if you don't know me by now". i hated it! there is nothing worse than a bunch of rich white folk acting up as if they are in church and patti, you led 'em there. the original record by mr. melvin & the bluenotes just sat there and kept you grounded, it progressed meticulously slow, it was taking it's time, it incrementally took over your heart with it's sound and story. simply red later homogenized it into a sorta hit, but patti la belle threw it away with tricks. good tricks, but nonetheless tricks. hard not to do, but an easy meal at the waldorf astoria ballroom where the audience are gonna get off just to justify the price of the meal. however, it can be done…done without the vocal juggling and box of tricks.

i remember a few year ago going to the awful MOTOWN 45th or 50th anniversary in hollywood. it was saved by beyonce (or was it kelly rowland) doing diana ross and the supremes featuring mary wilson. amazing. sexy. the works. she was diana ross and it was a throwback to magic. the other thrill was gladys knight and the pips who did the sexiest, low key, low roller version of "i heard it through the grapevine" just like the record.... no tricks... no extra unneeded bonbons, just the record, ma' am and it was sublime.

lou reed was a disgrace, he seemed unprepared, although that could have been part of his preparation, he quoted lyrics and rambled, he made it about himself as opposed to the artist he was inducting, leonard cohen, who may have no place being in the RRHoF anyway. but cohen did show up and the least he could have done was sing one of his songs instead of leaving to damien rice to sweat and pine his way through "hallejujah". it needs a fellow to sing that song, not a young fop.

the ventures, all geezers as old as cohen at least picked up their instruments and played and gave us an example of why they had been inducted. the best act of the night was john mellencamp, that's how bad it was. he was inducted semi-hilariously by billy joel who, from his anti-music business rant either has a very secure recording deal, or is not looking for a new one. the best spark of the night was joan jett, she looked and played feisty in a tribute to the dave clark five. there was a moment when, and no, i'm not quoting the shangri-la's, there was a moment when she had a glint in her eye that was pure rock'n roll magic ---- which she is.

tom hanks went on too long in his induction of dthe dave clark five but it was nice of him to do so. the kathleen turner award from yours truly goes to madonna who, regardless of all the lame protests and shrill attempts to justify her induction has as much business being in the RRHoF as leonard cohen. gent of the evening was dave clark. his acceptance speech was hearfelt, the right length, graceful, eloquent and he spoke on behalf of himself, his five and us all.

so basically this years RRHoF was schlebville with a few highlights. perhaps they'll make up for it by inducting next year the hollies, donovan, manfred mann and a list of should-be's that rocks on forever.....i had decided that lou reed was not so difficult after seeing him in the Q & A at SXSW then i received a "care package" from steve belgard at the STARZ network, steve often sends a box of goodies down to colombia to make sure i'm up to date on stuff. this time it was the "ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME 2008" show which had been misbroadcast earlier on VH1, a channel i do not get here in bogota.

09-SXSW, Glen Falls

2008-04-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

i finally returned to bogota yesterday after nearly two weeks in both austin,
TX and upstate NY. i was in austin attending the 22nd SXSW music festival the and in the glens falls area, attending to my families health at the natural health improvement center.

in glens falls and we were taking care of some of my wife's wellness issues at our friend lenny chiriboga's biosync and healthQuest location in the same town. the
weather was march snows so my son max and i headed over to west mountain and took some snowboarding lessons with aaron. by the second day max was at the top of the mountain snowboarding down and i was on my second lesson. it was an exhilarating way to follow the exhausting wonderful SXSW.

we arrived home to more bleatings from equador against colombia, a
continuence of the three week ago crisis between colombia, venezuela and
equador. the crisis was over colombia having killed a FARC leader and 18 followers who were entrenched just inside the equadorian border. life is never dull here and it will be even less so later in the day when i go to the dog resort and pick up our dog gruff.

SXSW was very successful. it has been for 22 years. this year the new york
times reported an attendence of 1700 bands ( which is more than SXSW
reported but if you include all the street buskers and " nearly performed"
brigade it might be so). in 2001 only 700 people registered, this year the
number was 12,500. the suppressive ones love heaping, " it's over" at SXSW,
they've been at it a good dozen years. it's not, in fact…it's just getting it's second or third wind.

the biggest reason sxsw has been freed up is how rapidly the record companies have sealed their own tombs over the past two years. they just seem hell bent on burying themselves dead. of course, they can still serve some acts, but for fresh young bands it is now as though the record companies invented the wheel. the record companies still think they are the same giant, while the rest of the world has wings. this factor, the not needing to bother factor, has freed young
bands of the luggage of even looking into record companies. unless you bleat
in way that would attract mark ronson or clive davis your route is the internet... and vinyl.

the keynote speaker was lou reed, interviewed in a Q & A by producer hal
willmer (with whom i've had the honor of sharing marianne faithfull). lou was
blunt and fun and was an example of obsessing on yourself as a brand and a
career when all the other obsessions have been said goodbye to before they
killed you. the couple of clips we were allowed to see from the julian
schnabel directed "BERLIN" (lou reed’s) were rivetting and magno. I hope the
rolling stones " SHINE A LIGHT" does the same for me.

well, just wanted to let you know i survived my reunion with kim fowley, (seriously it was a great catch-up) , but now i've got to go get the dog. be back later in the week with the rest of my SXSW news.

PS it was a simple pleasure of grace to be back in the kindness and
hospitality of america. nobody does it better!

08-america, al kooper, russ titelman, and jerry ragavoy

2008-02-28T07:28:00.000-08:00

i just came back from a tremendous time in america…north america, our land of music, land of the free.

the most heartfelt moment (of many) came while watching the grammys; all four hours of it with the ear bleeding commercials seeming to rise in volume every hour. the kick-off, as was a lot of the show, was just plain awful. the "duet" between alicia keys with frank sinatra even had ole' blue eyes looking embarrassed. that is no mean feat considering that mr. s. recorded his contribution of "learning the blues" in the early 60's.

i loved the foo fighters with the orchestra conducted by my old mate, led zep bassist, john paul jones. i loved vince gill accepting an award from ringo starr, i also loved george martin accepting an award from ringo. george showed the mannered deferential correctness the beatle deserved. however vince gill…that was the heartfelt moment.

when vince said (and here i paraphrase), "music…where democracy lives, where every note is equal". i got that pop lump in my throat and i nearly teared up. gill was graceful.

i suppose the shambled success of the show was amy winehouse. gotta hand it to the girl. she brings back to america and the world american 40's and 50's chops that america don't serve up no more with relish and style. shame about the crack, girl.

the UK sunday times weighed in with mick, keith and my take on the subject. click here

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another highlight of my trip to america was catching the al kooper "when i'm 64" birthday concert at BB King's (west 42nd street in NY).

what a lovely show, all of al's milestones. national anthems, humor and recall, swung and sung by one of america's maestros (more than the brooklyn bridge). i also enjoyed the chance to hang with top daddy super producer russ titelman

also i got the chance to hang with my old mate songwriter/producer jerry ragavoy:

jerry gave us: "piece of my heart", "stay with me, baby", “cry baby”, “try (just a little bit harder)”, “get it while you can”. jerry gave the stones and us "time is on my side"

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another treasure was just driving over connecticut and upstate NY and listening to the underground garage. it helps a lot to hear more of the music and all of my fellow DJ's. nothing like being at the wheel in america listening to channel 25.

07-bill wyman and eric clapton

2008-01-21T10:30:00.000-08:00

the finest article i've read in a while is the bill wyman interview in the UK daily telegraph conducted by robert sandall. i have attached the article here for your enjoyment.

mr. sandall is not your usual journo.

he is a former punk and post punk musician and a member of bands that "have never gone down in history". he's a former ski-bum, he’s worked at Q magazine and the UK sunday times…and was a good choice for bill wyman.

whilst at the UK times he wrote what must have been the last, or almost last, piece on the revered champ of brit DJ's, the late john peel. (you can read here)

peel spoke with robert just before he left for his last holiday in peru, which is where he died. sandall was actually editing the piece when the news broke that peel had died. tiz a moving piece, it was as much a friendly, concerned diagnosis as anything else the article contained.

i may have met sandall in the mid-90's. it was the oddest of occasions. i was in london and to have dinner with my barrister. (a barrister is the legal person who stands up for you in court and wears a white wig and black robes and
addresses the judge as "m' lud"). my barrister was a very accomplished
lady named margaret puxon. in the UK high court system they are known as QC's. you may be familiar with them from a myriad of tele and/or filmed efforts. these efforts range range from "witness for the prosecution" to TV's "rumpole of the bailey". anyway it was an odd place to meet robert but my QC liked to "keep in touch with what youth was up to".

i like the bill wyman article because mr. sandall has allowed bill to skate over the sensitive area of his relationship, both personal and professional (with the rolling stones), without having bill fall through the ice (the hole determined by sandall's pen). in addition the sub-editors (those who determine the headline) have gone gentle on both the subject and topic which is a rarity in the UK and almost anywhere.

we live in an era where pro-tools have both improved and debased our music
and it's potential to affect our daily lives. at the same time the computer has both improved communication and debased the meaning and standard of
journalism, via the "everybody is a star" blog-ville in which we all reside.

of course it's more than computer, it's a whole social discourse ranging
from rupert murdoch to the decaying of the family unit by economical and
egoic wants and needs. also its our affection for schadenfreuden and the
belittling of others seemingly more fortunate than we may be. this article
is from the old school about the old school and it works. it's a rarity.....but so is bill.

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a couple of months ago i raved both on my shows and on this page about the
eric clapton biography. i had read an extract that was published in VANITY FAIR. a few days ago i popped into my english book
carrying shop here in bogota and picked up a copy of the actual book.

i was concerned about it from the moment of purchase. it was thinner in pages than i'd thought it might be, it was lacking in photographic amities to the written
proceedings and the cover was brasher than i'd imagined. the cover was more Rosanne barr or farrah fawcett than gore vidal or gay talese. i sorta ignored this as i cancelled my nightly meet with " law & order" and set into eric. i was
disappointed.

vanity fair had done a superb job of presenting the best aspects of the book. the rest did not stand up to that standard. i have written two volumes of biography and am hard at work on a third. it is a very thin line, like the one tightroped by bill wyman, chez robert sandall in the above telling the truth without going tabloid. with ronnie wood there is no danger, he does not even notice it. regarding eric, had my life been changed and futured by seeing God in it's forms as cream and/or blind faith and had that treasured moment trampled on by eric talking about the gig or tour that had improved my lot as something he was " not there for"…i'd feel like whacking him. honesty has to be respectful to another fellow's recall.

another vomit moment is eric's naff betrayal of his "best friend" , the late beatle george harrison. by betrayal, i do not mean it was back in the day. i refer to the way it is written up now. eric has given both God and musos a bad name with his self-serving agenda of dismissal and moving on.

sorry eric, but this God can move to the judus section of the table.

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staying in the realm of the musical holy we have some great VATICAN PICKS
coming up on the UNDERGROUND GARAGE. our "vat-man" has come up with a slew of goodies for the upcoming weeks.

this week it's the stones and "get yourself together", recorded in november of '66 at olympic studios in london. i do not actually remember this session. the times they were a-straining and some six months later i would be leaving the band. this track is hitherto unreleased. glyn johns was the engineer. ian stewart is tentatively playing piano holding back whilst wondering whether
his little three chord wonders are going to pull it off. they don't, otherwise it would have been finished, mixed and released. the human riff (keith)
has the figure down, the bottom end is starting to swing and mick is gamely
trying to secure a song. tiz a gem.

we have quite a few more gems coming up from VAT-MAN in the coming weeks so please listen in.

6-the last of the great svengalis

2007-12-11T16:15:00.000-08:00

you may have read below about my wee to-do with the uk sunday times. it seems it always goes and comes round in circles. the same newspaper asked me to write something about ahmet ertegun, the art of svengaliism and the recent tribute concert. this concert featured led zeppelin, pete townshend, bill wyman and the rhythm kings, foreigner and paolo nutini and happened at the o2 arena in london to honor the life of mr. e. special thanks to mr. martin lewis for the superb dede allen/robert towne editing job. plz enjoy . saludos de bogota, o

CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE

4-csw, ug, vf, and prince's trust

2007-11-05T08:13:00.000-08:00

most of the underground garage CSW’s (coolest songs in the world) are worthy of the note, the reward, and the airplay. but on certain lucky weeks along comes a recording that sums up the parts of the best of our game. "baby du jour" is one such ditty. the artist is roy loney & the longshots and "baby du jour" is culled from their september 18th, MM7 outing,"shake it or leave it" on career records. this record is real and off the floor. it has swamp, slide, shimmy and glimmer and it is oh so pro and relaxed and in the pocket of groove; i feel like a pointer sister. in as many words, “i'm so excited”. you can hear the room and the camaraderie of a nod, a wink and friendly persuasion. huge loog congrats to the writers - mr. loney and larry rea; the producers, mr L and the multi-accomplished living specie, deniz tek; and the band on this track: loney - vocals, guitar, jim sangster – guitar, deniz tek – guitar, scott mccaughey – bass, and graham black on drums.

the cut is so darn evocative of huey smith, specialty records, eddie cochran and as said, it's so off the floor and live. i have nothing against machines, although i prefer them when they are giving power to tape. given the less than sexy recent efforts of tom petty and bob seger both those gents and their producers should lend an ear to mr. loney. he shows it can still be done. i wish it well.

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steven van zandt is in the biz of entertainment. UG fans will be pleased to note that the UG will be entertaining and live again every wednesday following halloween at the hawaiian tropic zone, just north of new york's times square at 49th and 7th avenue. stay tuned to the UG and www.undergroundgarage.com for shows and acts coming up.

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an unlikely pairing would seem to be paul mccartney and the wayward straw, pete doherty...not so. have a read of this meeting of the two rockers: click here.

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whilst on the subject of reading check out this month's VANITY FAIR. the cover is off-putting, a less than live B &W shot of former president, john f. kennedy and his wife jacqueline the o. however, the inside has a lot of good reads. there’s an extract from the new eric clapton biography that is direct and compelling.

( i saw eric last night on larry king. it's a must for clapton fans. larry pushes the envelope of taste as to how much he dwelt on the death of clapton's son conor, but clapton dealt with it well. he has a maturity that he's taking to the road the way sinatra did in the late 70's). it would seem that daily we recover from what we've done, what we have done unto others and what has and what we perceive was done unto us. eric deals with it all first hand and on track. he does so from the point of view of being in recovery every day. i share that disease (alcoholism and addiction), with eric and so many others. clapton handles it like a man.

you might think, why not? well, read the extract, and perhaps buy the book. you'll read how clapton has handled his gift, his "being god", his tempestuous relationships with himself and " les dames" , various band mates, his triads of fame, the tragedy of loss like a well-spoken, under-spoken man of enough and occasional steel. i applaud him for his john ford-ness. if his music has ever ouched you, if you cannot touch booze or aspirin without losing it, if you've lived a charmed life this book's for you. there's also an accompanying 2 disc set called complete clapton.

in the same VANITY FAIR issue there is a great tom stoppard piece on syd barrett; dominick dunne on the latest on the phil spector murder trial; the incredible story of the fall from grace of boy band manager lou pearlman (though some might say just managing the acts he did was a fall from grace) who milked the bands, bilked the public and is about to have a day in court. the issue has the usual articles on the middle east excesses of haliburton; the bush government and KBR that you can read at your own peril and/or disgust and a very moving piece by christopher hitchens about a young enlisted american army officer, 21 year old mark daily, who was killed this past new year.

also in the VF issue is a piece on serge gainsbourg. the french elf-like-gremlin with a way with words and women. a fascinating lyricist and painter of sounds extraordinaire. he was an institution in france...like a tom waits who had become as big as clint black...underground mainstream. there are similarities with clapton; gainsbourg could not give up the drink and died at the age of 62. of all the french composers and singers gainsbourg is the one who brought the rhythm and cultures of the world unto france. he added his own way with words and gave france a musical canvas so brilliant, dark, and bright; the likes of which it will not see again. he only "pooped" in the rest of the world once. in 66 when he recorded " je t' aime... moi non plus", first with brigitte bardot, then with jane birkin.

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finally, for today, i was watching prince charles and his two sons on an A & E repeat of this summer’s London, "prince's trust concert"; a charitable venture by the prince that does amazingly good things for the ghettokiddies of the UK by providing work and entrepreneurial opportunities. these come via grants, as in cash, that the country itself no longer provides. the interview was coming to an end and the subject of music came up when suddenly out of nowhere prince charles chimes in with "have you heard of this chappie leonard cohen ? amazing poet, lovely songs, wonderful voice." his two sons looked at him as if he were daft , or perhaps they had no idea who leonard cohen was. i love leonard cohen and i warms the cockles of my musical heart to know that his mood and solace has cheered the man who may not be king.

3-buenos aires

2007-10-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

i'm just back from buenos aires , in argentina. it remains one of the most beautiful, musically inviting cities in the world. i had been invited to participate in a DVD about the effect of the rolling stones on argentina and the extra special relationship that exists between the group and the nation. special it is…

when the stones are in buenos aires the city is their's. i've seen the raves, the excitement in many parts of the world , but in buenos aires there is something more - an extention that has the whole city belonging to the stones. when they are in town they could run for office and get voted in. mind you, this is a country where the current president has put his wife up to replace him..... (sound familiar?)

as i said it's a musical town and it’s #1 of the latin american countries that "get" our music; they have the ability to be successful with it in a form that is not embarrassing. i've been privilaged to work with two of the most popular argentinean acts ; los ratones paranoicos (translates to “the paranoid mice”) and charly garcia. i had a tremendous time, and many hits, with the ratones from 1990 to 1996. after that, the economic crash got in the way of future work. i'm happy to say i'll be producing the band next year in march.

when i was in B.A. in 1994, the stones came to town for five nights; 88,000 people per night in the plata football stadium. to see the full moon just sit above the stadium, to see the stones in the third world is a different trip. the band were amazing, as they nearly always are, but there was a special amazing aspect to this meeting of the first rock n’ roll band and the third world. an event such as five stones nights in argentina brings the addition of hope. if you are up for seeing the band again may I suggest you pick a foreign venue and have a totally different experience. i realize that this thought is totally devoid of economic reasoning, but in an optimistic world the local cost of the tickets may help with the fare.

anyway to walk through a city that belonged to the stones was amazing. Like "blade runner" re-done with more a parting-of-the-waters than the taking of lives. the director francis ford coppola has set up shop in B.A. and is prepping a film, also to be recorded in march, with matt dillon. alas, somebody read the press announcement and decided to rob the director's house. so, if you get there look for an italian eatery called guido's, write to me for other tips and remember they have only been driving on the "right" side of the road since 1945.

when i was there to see the stones in '94; so were alan parker, madonna and everyone involved in filming " evita". outside the hyatt hotell scrawled on a wall (in spanish alas) was the statement "madonna go home - we have our own whores".

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program note ; interesting bill if you are east, and another op to catch mr. al
kooper..... speaking about al kooper has me thinking of the scorsese "no direction home" and noting that tom petty has issued his equivalent, " running down a dream" , a film by peter bogdanovich, a 4 disc set including 2 DVD's... five hours of never seen before etc.... and elsewhere ... a book. is this a trend, the only way to work for the senior crooners? i hope it's great, but the mind boggles at what could be next.....

I'm Not There: In Concert
November 07, 2007 at Beacon Theatre
A Celebration of Todd Haynes' Dylan Film
In Todd Haynes' biographical Bob Dylan film, "I'm Not There," Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Whitshaw all portray the legendary singer-songwriter.

The talent lineup for I'm Not There: In Concert, a live celebration of Haynes' Bob Dylan film, consists of:
Calexico
Cat Power
The Roots
My Morning Jacket
J Mascis
Yo La Tengo with Buckwheat Zydeco
Mason Jennings
Joe Henry
John Doe
Michelle Shocked & Jimmy LaFave
Mark Lanegan
Terry Adams Rock & Roll Quartet
Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Al Kooper & Funky Faculty
Ian Ball & Olly Peacock (Of Gomez)
Lee Ranaldo & the Million Dollar Bashers

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johnny marr, guitarist extraordinaire; writer and co-founder of the smiths (the group that defined and rescued british musical art and statement in the 80's) and more recently co-writer, co-producer and guitarist in the wonderful modest mouse. johnny has a new gig.

he's now a professor at the university of salford in manchester, england. johnny is a gent and a mate. when i had returned from my "out to lunch" period and published my first volume of biography he wrote me an e-note welcoming me back into the world and asking me to call him next time i was in the UK. i did, we lunched, we mated and still do. i've seen modest mouse recently in mexico city and vancouver. they are an amazing live band. the two drummers would make dennis wilson wanna come back to life. in fact the band evokes everything the beach boys might have become had they followed the path of " holland"; " sail on sailor"; 20/20 as opposed to the unzen vegas whims and wishes of mike love.

read about johnny in the guardian.

2-mick and bruce.....

2007-10-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

mick jagger is promoting his "very best of mick jagger". i will not get into whether the very best of mick jagger is with the rolling stones. suffice to say that it's better the boy is a workaholic as opposed to a winehouse or alcoholic. and, with the stones off the road "sir laddie" obviously still needs to get up in the morning and go to work. so he's got this solo adventure out. as way of promotion mick did a thing with the BBC whereby fans or foils could write in and ask mick questions. the answers popped up on the BBC website a few days ago. i thought a lot of the answers were a bit naff - dorian grey without the picture. i also thought he was a tad dismissive of both pete townshend and led zep. then i realized that the text was from a filmed BBC interview with some worn out old BBC troll. it's still mick and it's much better with picture. less naff, almost actual so here it is.

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bruce springsteen is magic already in europe. here are a couple of great pieces with and on bruce from two UK rags. sometimes the awe that america and it's music are held in from the UK and europe lend themselves to a fuller bite of the springsteen apple. we get to hear of the wonders of america as opposed to just the blight. here's a piece from the UK times and another from the guardian. enjoy bruce and philip roth......

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one of the great press ladies i've met is elise brown, who was until recently, PR at sirius. she has moved on to new pastures and i have not (as of now), had the pleasure of meeting her replacement. in the spirit of the best jobs lingering on and the contacts made; elise knew of a rock writer, mr. jonathan valania , who was heading to colombia to meet our country and his relatives. she put us in touch and attached is the beginning of our exchange.

My Motorcycle Diary: Tea And Sympathy for the Devil

BY JONATHAN VALANIA

SOUTH AMERICA CORRESPONDENT

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — Today I saw Andrew Loog Oldham standing in his kitchen making me a lovely cup of tea, high above the streets of Bogota’s ritzy financial district in his tastefully upscale bi-level condominium, where he has lived on and off since 1975. If you have to ask who Andrew Loog Oldham is, you’ll never know — unless you click here, go on, we’ll wait. Psych! OK, now that we lost the dorks, let’s back up: A couple days before leaving for Colombia, it was brought to my attention that ALO currently resides in Bogota and broadcasts his daily Sirius show from there. Calling in a favor from friends in high places, I secured his email address and wrote him that I was a music journalist and I would be in “Bogata” in a couple of days and would love to do an interview. He wrote back “Fine, but you better learn how to spell Bogota before you get down here.” So much for first impressions.

From there I dashed over to Borders to get a copy of his Stoned, a 1998 total recall of his early days in pre-Swinging London grooming the stylized thug mythos of the motherfucking Rolling Stones. Turns out the book is out of print and the only copy I knew I could get my hands on before my flight belonged to none other than Philebrity Jones himself, Joey Sweeney. Back before our partnership/friendship went south, Sweeney lent me Stoned with the proviso that I must ABSOLUTELY return it because not only was it one of his favorite books but Andrew Loog Oldham was the coolest thing on two legs to ever walk the Earth, or something along those lines. So I rang him up and, knowing it was me, he answered with a tentative ‘Hello’ delivered in that wary Is This A Trap? tone you might expect, given the circumstances. I told him I had a modest proposal for him:

ME: Loan me your copy of Stoned and I will get it signed by Andrew Loog Oldham.
SWEENEY: What?!?
ME: I know this sounds like I am putting you on, but I am serious as cancer, Jack. I’m leaving for Bogota, Colombia in the morning and have made arrangements to interview him.
SWEENEY: What? Colombia? Are you serious?

I was going to counter with “Obviously you are not keeping up with your daily Phawker,” but decided getting the goddamn book was more important than winning the latest round of our ongoing snark war.

So fast forward to this morning and I am standing outside ALO’s apartment building trying to figure out how to tell my cab driver to wait for me and that I will be back down in an hour. He speaks no English, and my rudimentary Spanish does not encompass such a relatively complicated exchange. The two door men are laughing at our communication breakdown and I ask them ‘tu habla ingles?’ to which they nod their heads no and go back to laughing. I feel like a fool with a paper ass, coming to somebody else’s country and expecting them to speak my language. How arrogant and intellectually-lazy, such imperial hubris. Thankfully ALO knows enough Spanish to get my point across, and five minutes later I am standing in his kitchen while he boils water for tea. Since the interview will, god willing, be published elsewhere, I can only give you a teaser of our conversation. Topics covered: heroin, Scientology, cocaine, shock treatment, Her Satanic Majesty’s Request, Sirius, Monterey Pop, Catholicism, mod sex, clinical depression, Martin Scorsese and whether or not his friend Phil Spector is innocent. An exchange:

ME: So is it true that you and Jagger don’t speak to each other?
ALO: We speak. When I last saw him [in 1994] he said ‘Hello, Andrew’ and I said ‘Hello, Mick’ and then he walked away. See, we talk.
ME: When did you last speak to him prior to that?
ALO: 1968.
ME: What do you make of Keith Richards snorting his dad’s ashes?
ALO: Hey, back in the 60’s I used to say I wanted my friends to smoke me when I’m dead.
ME: Phil Spector, innocent or guilty.
ALO: I have no earthly idea, but I must say upfront that Phil wrote me a lovely postcard when my mother died a few years ago. However, 67-year-old men in high heels and wigs should not be out drinking after midnight, especially when they are heavily armed.

Suffice it to say, we got on thick as thieves, in no small part because of the truth in the old maxim that you cannot bullshit a bullshitter — and today that cut both ways.

1-general malaise

2007-10-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

i first met little steven about six years ago. a mutual LA pal knew i used
to fly up to NYC on occasion from my home in bogota, colombia and he
suggested i meet steven; he said we'd get on. that's the half of it. i was
staying in the mickey rourke suite in the now-demolished mayflower hotel on
central park south. some would say demolished was the condition of mickey
rourke. i would not. he is one of my american heroes. we all remember mister
schenectady, the charismatic, softly tough leading man who burst onto the
screen in 1981's body heat the way jack nicholson did in easy rider,
and brad pitt did in thelma & louise. of all of them mr. nicholson is
the only one that continued to always burst, splutter and amaze. brad pitt
is george peppard and mickey rourke was a rock star and although a baby, he
amazed. he bit off his own hand and the hand that fed him and suddenly, after
"the pope of greenwich village" ; "barfly" and "angel heart" he was
working less than michael keaton. i saw matt damon recently on that A & E
thingee about actors and "the actors studio" hosted by that awful and
awfully good james lipton (and how come they've had non-"actors studio" thespians and trolls like michael caine, tom cruise, penelope cruz, selma hayek and never had the master class.... bruce dern ? ) he remarked that when he was young he used to have a poster of mickey rourke on his wall ; i thought that was quite a brave admission. that is the clout and cred that rourke had. matt damon met rourke on some john grisham/ coppola thing and rourke basically told damon, " do not do what I did... return calls, make nice, be professional". of course, professional is the key. whether we be mickey rourke or a hod carrier. mickey is dynamite in the recent tony scott flick about the bounty hunter domino harvey, "domino". at least he is back above the title doing more than a week's work. give him some of the roles clive owen does not have time for, mickey will bring them home.

so back in the mickey rourke suite in the late mayflower hotel i get a call, "mr. van zandt is in the lobby". i waltz on down , walk past a cheech and gongless tommy chong looking like a x zoned out tommy bahama and sitting in the lobby and step out into a gloroius september new york billy joel-less day to meet mr. SVZ. he was standing in the shadow of a gleaming two door jag. we rock hugged and headed off to do what most rock folk do these days...eat. and catch up on all the mutual breeze we had never shot. we eat at an italian eatery on 7th avenue and 56th. they had precious cheese as we had a precious chat about keith richards and those we love and share the what's it all about with. the next night had us eating at rao's (in the once upon a time very Italian neighborhood of east harlem). we were eating there one week after a disgruntled fan of a lady who had been singing had shot at a couple of folks who were not paying enough attention to the lady singing the blues. as mentioned i live in colombia and had to wonder whether this was steven trying to make me feel at home.

at home is what i felt with steven. a total share of our respective musical landscapes. his enthusiam is refreshing, his knowledge and interest keeps his sparks flying and his basic love of our basic musical game was heartfelt and cheer leading. i would continue to meet my new chum in NYC, florida and as far west as vancouver, and a couple of years later he called me and told me that he was starting up his UNDERGROUND GARAGE on the SIRIUS satellite endeavor and would i consider the idea of being a DJ for him.

now, in england we used to laugh at DJ's, because pre- the john peel era, most could not stand the music we made, the way we looked and the success we had doing it. they hoped we would all be blown away and their jobs would return to playing " real music". In the america we knew when the beatles, the stones, the kinks, herman's hermits, the who and everybody brit first came over in the mid-60's we met some of the same, plus the insults about our sexual orientation and the usual " you look like a girl" kind of crap. a lot of the time it was pure larry craig and wishful thinking. but we also met some american DJ guv' ners. gentlemen who had a love of our rock n’ roll music; that brought to the yank airwaves passion and verve and it was an amazing pleasure to know some of these fellows for whom our music had no shame - just passion and pleasure (plus a little thing called payola). murray the K (who gave me and the stones the valentinos 45 RPM " it's all over now" and said, " andy, if you cut this with the boys you'll have a hit." he was spot-on. "it's all over now" was, along with "time is on our side", the first of our vinyl steps towards "satisfaction".) scott muni; tom donahue and b. mitchell reed. they were the models- the fervour that had me say an immediate yes to steven's idea that i DJ for his new SIRIUS channel. i'd be joining a whole load of his pals and fellow adventurers. the george burns and gracie allen of pop punk, joan jett and kenny laguna (whom i am pleased to see have re-housed on SIRIUS faction (channel 28); bill kelly; handsome dick manitoba ; the mighty manfred; the lovely ko melina and the howard hughes of garageeze , mr. kim fowley. all of us amateur pros, save mr. kelly who is total pro, are uncled and managed by SVZ's consigliere at arms, the legendary cleveland man of the airwaves, kid leo. he does the job at SIRIUS on behalf of the UNDERGROUND GARAGE , that keeps the little steven machine well oiled and running smooth and bringing you our music. we've been doing this a few years now, but it's still early days as we become part of the new ways of bringing you your music. my late mum loves steven, this gig is the first i've had since i was 16 years old and dressed shop windows for the fashion designer mary quant that could be called a regular job- something my mother always thought my life would be better for having. it is, although it is hardly regular... just special.

after i had stopped managing and producing the stones and my immediate
records went under in 1970 i went "out-to-lunch" for 25 years. during that
time i was amiss in keeping up with new music; i had stopped growing,
stopped being interested. thus my musical canvas was filled with talented
safety. folks i knew and i felt comfortable with - john lennon, nilsson,
leonard cohen ... you've got it in one, the happy fellows..... and thus
doing this thing for little steven has, in so many ways, given me back some
of that musical time i missed. i am grateful.

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a couple of october's ago i popped up from bogota to the seminole hard rock
cafe in hollywood, FL to catch the underground garage rock'n roll tour
featuring the buzzcocks, the shadows of knight, and the chesterfield
kings.

i had been a fan of this band and they'd been a fan of my work with
the stones. none of us, as far as i know, stayed in the anna nicole smith
suite. but we did rock n’ roll. i met a lot of the underground garage fans
who followed this tour and a swell road time was had by all. the new
chesterfield kings album PSYCHEDELIC SUNRISE is now out on Wicked Cool Records. here is a review which just appeared in All Music Guide. ( oh, and i wrote some line approval for the band and their new recording )

Review by Mark Deming

“The Chesterfield Kings have been chasing the ghost of the Rolling
Stones in one way or another since they released their first album in
1983 (in all fairness, they're also clearly obsessed with a few
hundred other bands who made cool records between 1963 and 1967), so
the group's belated embrace of psychedelia asks the question -- can
the Chesterfield Kings make a better "trippy" album than Their
Satanic Majesty's Request? To a certain degree, it's an "apples and
oranges" argument, since the Kings have tossed in a few examples of
tried and true garage rock raunch to leaven the more lysergic accents
on Psychedelic Sunrise, such as the wickedly fuzzy "Outtasite!," and
"Elevator Ride" is such a clear (and well-executed) Who lift that
Pete Townshend will either feel honored or call his lawyer. But the
strings and harpsichord arrangement on "Inside Looking Out," the
epochal antiwar screed "Rise and Fall," the black-painted percussion
accents of "Spanish Sun," and the rhythmic push and pull of
"Yesterday's Sorrows" at least achieve their sonic goals with greater
clarity and concision than Mick and Keef's grand experiment in mind
expansion. Along the way, the Chesterfield Kings also manage to quote
the Louvin Brothers and Exile on Main St. at the same time on "Stayed
Too Long" (somewhere Gram Parsons is smiling) and to divvy up some
rich organ-based psych-blues on "Gone," while "Streaks and Flashes"
is one impressive salute to visual disturbance. The production on
Psychedelic Sunrise is terrific, capturing a wealth of period details
with commendable accuracy, and the Kings' obsession with the mid-'60s
is matched only by the skill and enthusiasm with which they can re-
create the sounds of the era. Contemporary garage-psych albums don't
get much more "grand scale" than this -- or much better.”

i agree. plz check it out.

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the new bruce springstreet & the e street band album magic is out october the 2nd, the same day their world tour begins in connecticut. we've had the pleasure of playing some cuts here on the UG. bruce is now in that other-worldly realm again and this gets you some media toasting and roasting. it's not unlike when the stones are off the road. the media (especially in the UK ) says they are withered, past it, too old, just in it for the money and should stay off the road and give it up. then, of course, they go back on the road and the road is their's. they put fresh meaning into the roger miller song. the same with shades of difference is true of bruce. he's hardly withered, or past it, or just in it for the money. our music, for both fan and performer, is a disease. but unlike so many of the actual diseases that surround the potential of our lives this one has a cure; the road, a show. a reminder of our national anthems, the songs and sounds that shaped our beings, told our parents, our peers, our girl friends, boy friends who and what we had decided to be. the stones do that; the beatles still manage to do so from , save paul, off the road; bruce does that too. he's done with the folk tour, the shopping tour, the john kerry bitz and now he's going back out with that john garfield american heart - the e street band. enjoy.

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i was in liverpool , england during july. A friend of mine, adrian millar , had died from the # 8 UK killer - hospitals. adrian had been a manager ( black sabbath; the babys etc) and a great pal. we had met in 1970 when he'd been sent by some former partners in immediate records to beat me up and all that kind of nonsense. adrian did not beat me up and we became strong pals. he was about to come out to colombia just before this past christmas when i got a call from his family saying he'd passed. his family decided to donate his incredible guitar collection and sponsor a " management & entrepreneurial" scholaship in his name at the paul mccartney sponsored Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. so my wife esther, and sons sean and maximillian went over to support adrian's family on the LIPA graduation day and help give the award. natch, paul mccartney was there.

the graduation day at LIPA has been a big day for him these past 11 years or so. i had not seen paul since a "rock n’ roll hall of fame" event he attended with linda many years ago. i know that those of you that have seen him on the road, or (as i did) marveled at his incredible re-do of "drive my car" on the super bowl he did a few years ago, know full well that he is still baby, i'm amazed. not a sloppy moment around him. he's still chipper, bright, engaged and a proud beatle. it was good to see him again. he spoke spanish to my wife which was charming. that had been a subject he'd been taught in school, the very school he'd attended that had been turned into the LIPA. further south in england i'd been taught german. some in the south, well.... anyway, back to paul and LIPA. if any of you out there are of the age, or have kids of the age and are thinking of a musical future, if it involves actual training as opposed to the training of the road then add the LIPA to your shopping cart. it's more than just musical, it's the performing arts, the ability to reach the circle and the stalls, the roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd.

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some of our listeners may be aware of my "vatican pick of the week" feature where we feature what we deem worthy stuff from the past, present and future. we've had soundchecks from the last stones tour in tokyo featuring a drop-dead version of " wild horses”; the john lennon produced unreleased mick jagger 1974 cut “too many cooks (spoil the soup)” featuring bobby keyes, jim keltner and al kooper , and a lot of new things we think deserve your consideration. we are playing a great new band this week, they are from ann arbor, mi and are called Saturday Looks Good to Me. the track we are playing is "Make a Plan". record is called "Fill Up the Room" on K Records comes out October 23.

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well, that's it for now , an experimental journey into more communication with you. this will be an occasional spin from all your DJ's .... kim fowley will be up next. in the meanwhile please remember to stop putting gel in your hair; remember to clean your teeth after every meal or semi-meal as the mouth is the gateway to disease... and looked what happened in new orleans.... and there is always good music; it is our job to find it. thanks for your help.

best, ALO