the rix mix

I don't know if Carrie likes Laura, but this is  one of my fave "being alive" songs. for her recent birthday.

Labels: birthday, music, video

Congratulations to me, passed 1000 music uploads & 1000 subscribers for the Rixarcade You Tube Channel. I wanted the channel in the spirit of my WFMU shows, open to following wherever it took me. This was my first upload, Sept. 16, 2010.

Labels: music, video, WFMU

I read a review of a new Beck album by a young friend, a very good writer, she linked in Facebook.   She gave the album three stars, but it was for me a four star review. It's titled "An Ethereal Collection Of Honest Tracks."  She wrote "Morning Phase is a delightfully multi-layered album that flows wonderfully..." This got me thinking. I pointed out I thought it was a four star review. Separately, on my own FB page, I posted this:

When I was writing oodles of mostly brief Amazon reviews 14 years ago (Amazon was much smaller than now), fans of a band or artist disliked my three star reviews. Three stars meant an LP was competent, a few really worthwhile songs, probably nothing outright awful, but probably nothing that would interest someone not already a fan of the group or artist, or a "completist" for versions of a classical work. You'd feel the lack of enthusiasm in my writing. Neil Young, whom I love even in his weirdest failures, got some three star reviews from me. Four Stars was an LP I liked, worth having if I were a fan, might interest others, more than half good, a few exceptional cuts or a praiseworthy concept sincerely attempted, lower your expectations a little & you won't be disappointed. I couldn't give half-stars, so if I had any doubts at all about five stars, it became four. Four was a good review. I only wanted people to stop & think before they spent their money. That is the bottom line: Who should or should not spend their money! Sometimes it's difficult to draw that line, but it's the only way you do the reader a real favor.

Labels: about writing, music

The one giving the most may be the one practicing the least.

Labels: music

From the album "Ingenuity in Sound" (1962). Buddy Cole on dual Hammond Organs.

Labels: music, video

Album enlivened by a classy rhythm section including the great Jack "Mr. Bongo" Costanzo, still around & who was performing well into the new century.

From the album "Swing Fever" (1960). Hammond Organ -- Buddy Cole; Bass -- Red Callender; Bongos -- Jack Costanzo; Guitar -- Vince Terry; Percussion -- Al Stoller, Lou Singer, Milt Holland

Labels: music, video

We knew The Beatles were coming months before they arrived here.  I was suspicious. I liked rock & roll.   I liked many kinds of music. I didn't have a great cultural or emotional investment in rock & roll.  Those early Beatles singles & the LPs Meet the Beatles & Beatles Second were enjoyable, but they didn't bowl me over.   The Beatles' music seemed too slight to support the madness.  & then there was the marketing: authorized merchandise, Beatles wigs, lunchboxes, dolls, pinup magazines etc. etc. aimed at 10-12 year old girl demographic. Manager Brian Epstein wanted his band innocent enough that parents would buy the crap Beatles merchandise for  the little girls. What happened in high school was a bit different. I was 15, a sophomore.  The 14 & 15 & 16 year old girls I knew who fell in love with one or another of the Beatles did so with self-aware & barely disguised lust. All Epstein needed to sell them were the records & record jackets & some glossy photos of the boys. Their photos were in all the magazines.

My favorite single of 1963 was  Candy Girl b/w Marlena,  by The Four Seasons.  two sided hit bigger in Philly & Atlantic City than NYC.  I had been impressed by some of the songs, vocal harmonies,  on Surfer Girl album.  I thought the Beach Boys & Seasons could cover each other's songs. My favorite LP of '63 was either a movie soundtrack or Stan Kenton's Adventures in Jazz." I was fond of Martha & the Vandellas.

Some kids in my high school detested  The Beatles. There was a serious Fifties hangover   teen culture in my h.s.,  plus leftovers of the folkie hootnanny, which continued to move songs into the top 40, neither of which I much appreciated. The Fifties influence had become parody. The Beatles broke over those like a tidal wave.  That's why I liked The Beatles. As a little kid immersed in the malt shop world of Archie Comics &  Ozzie & Harriet, I had envied teen culture of the mid-Fifties because it had Elvis, plus doo wop & Buddy Holly.  Elvis was a transformer. I must confess to also liking Bob Denver's gentle teen beatnik Maynard G Krebs from Dobie Gillis.     But Elvis meant almost nothing to us in 1964, beatniks were disappearing, there were vestiges of doo wop in the top 40 but lacking the purity & ethereal qualities  of the music that had enchanted me in grammar school. Occasionally a decent song popped out an Elvis Movie. The Beatles were our Elvis. I recognized that much & embraced the change. Soon enough more  music flowed from England, like The Animals' great "House of the Rising Sun." Had to put up with Gerry & Pacemakers & Freddy & The Dreamers &  other forms of mindless profiteering inspired by The Beatles.  Bobby Vee compared to Buddy Holly. The first Beatles LP I bought was the soundtrack to A Hard day's Night with the George Martin instrumentals.

The Beatles in California smoking pot with with who?


At the end of 1964, The Beatles released Beatles '65,  an LP I loved,  initiating a period of about two years when The Beatles recorded & released the finest series of now classic records ever from a band or artist, from "No Reply" & "I Feel Fine"  to "Help!" & "Paperback Writer," "Drive My Car," "Rain,"  "And Your Bird Can Sing" all the way through Rubber Soul & Revolver.  Beatles 65 made me a real fan \of the band.  It was when rock & roll became rock.  Even the lp cover pix were cool, with the umbrellas. The speed of The Beatles' musical evolution, while under  the incredible pressure  of  needing to produce more "hits,"  touring,  & making two movies, was proof of their genius. Because of The Beatles,  The Four Seasons  made better records, The Beach Boys made wonderful records. The Beatles inspired the creation of The Byrds,  making folk music palatable & hip.   & The Beatles turned Bob Dylan from a rock dabbler into the greatest white American rocker since Elvis.  The Stones would be along as soon as they finished urinating on the gas station attendant, or so the story went.  The Stones or maybe their fan club passed out buttons that said, "Let's Lock Loins."  It became getting more & more difficult for the profiteers to keep a handle on the teenybopper market. Ultimately it lead to the The Monkees. & even they became too uppity. But that was a long way ahead.

At the end of August 1964 I missed my one chance to see The Beatles live. Wasn't a sure thing, but it was a chance.  Another story.
I don't paint a clearly enough picture of the the "Kairos" of the cultural moment, the "right time", a "coming together" (a German theology termI learned three years later in a college religion class), which included John Coltrane; movies A Fistful of Dollars, Pink Panther, Goldfinger, Dr. Strangelove, The Masque of the Red Death; Cassius Clay Vs. Sonny Liston; debut of Terry Riley's "in C" (not released on LP until 1968); the 1965 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City; plus my dad's only political campaign, won against the Johnson landslide.

Labels: culture, growing up, music, Roselle Park, TV

 Even a non-fan of folkies,  like meeself who never much went for the  earnest, sing-a-along message songs finally had to concede Pete Seeger was a Great American Musical Institution. If he leaned on his vast repertoire of old songs, well, he was always placing them in the service of change in the present, of  contemporary causes,  good causes. The right detested him from start to finish, what better endorsement than that?  They couldn't shut the guy up no matter how they tried to silence him. Pete was 94. His beloved wife Toshi, his rock,  died  last summer.

Labels: music, obituary, video

The meaning of their gifts was
the tenderness with which they gave.
They gave their sadness also,
knowing his short life,
yet they traveled so far.

Their hearts were filled in return
with wonder, astonishment, love!
They were more than satisfied.
So they led their camels over the hills
by another way, back to the stars.

Everything about the Three Kings or Magi beyond what is mentioned in Matthew's account is fiction, including their number. Matthew's story may be a recounting, a distillation, of a popular fiction (what I'm inclined to believe, but there's still a "truth" to be found). Innumerable legends & stories grew around them, stories still being written. They are the most "oriental" feature of the Christmas narrative. I think this aspect, that they "came from the East," is very important. One can decide for oneself who they are, why they undertook the journey & what the gifts mean.

Labels: Christmas, music, poem

Labels: Christmas, music, video

The astonishing double negative of "God Don't Never Change," with its existential contradiction, sums up why this collection should be in the home of every gospel music lover in the world. Johnson's songs encompass the entire spectrum of spiritual experience from despair to hope to acceptance to mystical transcendence. & he leaves no doubt that he's been through all of it. Inspired by God's love, these songs, the singing, the guitar playing, are absolutely revelatory. Of course, Blind Willie Johnson is listened to mostly in the spirit of dispassionate appreciation by blues afficionados. Believers will have that plus the added pleasure of knowing what's really going on here. "Everybody Ought To Treat a Stranger Right" takes sound Gospel advice & makes it a request for spare change. "John the Revelator" kicks like rock & roll. "God moves on the water," indeed!

Labels: music

Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his (childhood) friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?

Labels: holidays, music, TV

Labels: growing up, music, obituary, video

From the album "East to West" (1961). Recorded at Oasis Club, Honolulu. Paul Mark - organ, piano; Tomo Fukui- guitar; Benny Lagrimas - percussionist; Samisen Toyosumi - shamisen; Kay Mikami - koto; Joe Mullan - double bass, bongos; Midori Kawaji - vocals.

Labels: music

Labels: music, video

Labels: music

When my band played a club on Staten Island in the late Sixties, a drunk customer went outside & threw cinder blocks through the windows of cars in the lot, including our band van. We made a report to the police.

A few days later, one of our fans, an Italian-American kid who barely cracked 5' came to my house. His '58 Caddy had taken a hit. He said he'd give me $50 if I got the name of the perp. I said if I got the name he could have it for free.

Labels: growing up, music, poem

Todd Rundgren's Philadelphia supergroup, 1968. The few people I've met who saw Nazz live said they were terrific. Todd quit Nazz owing the world a third Nazz album & he owed me a Nazz concert at Asbury Park Convention Hall. Apparently, they didn't come north of Wildwood on the Jersey shore & to my knowledge never played NYC. What they refer to as "looking like 1953" included motels in the "doo wop" style, now considered classics & being demolished, like my beloved Lurae & the older motor court type  Kismet across the street.  But even in the Nineties I found Wildwood's music scene to be a bit ... lagging.

Labels: boardwalks, music, Wildwoods NJ

Never a song so good Dean couldn't find a way to trash it. But not with Frank on the podium.

Labels: music

Every mountain
Every sea
A thousand miles
You & me 

This is our love
Our ring of gold
We're not too young
They're just too old

Labels: music, poem