Just a quick note to any Ken Stringfellow fans (Posies, Big Star, R.E.M.) that he will be appearing on the always excellent Three Chord Monte today at 12:00 noon EST on WFMU.
Later.

Share This

On April 28, 1969 Columbia Records initiated their brief and ill-fated “The Man Can’t Bust our Music” campaign which was suppose to somehow ingratiate the label with the hippies at the time but instead just went to prove how out of the loop the mainstream record labels were at the time. Is history repeating itself? According to Warner’s tryst with bloggers hits sour note, Warner Brothers Records attempted to build interest around the excellent debut album by The Secret Machines by enlisting the help of some prominent MP3 blogs. That in itself is not much of a problem, at least to me personally. If a record company offers me access to a song or CD I will listen and decide for myself if it is worth posting about. No problem there. The problem with Warner’s campaign is that the company apparently posted pro-Warners messages to one of the MP3 blogs that featured the Secret Machines track but did so in a manner suggesting that they were ordinary music fans commenting on the music and not some Warners hack trying to generate an artificial “buzz.” The irony of all this is twofold. First, Warners didn’t have to bother with the messages, as the album is quite good. Second, they should have realized that in this day and age the ruse would be easily uncovered. MP3 blogs are a great resource for music fans and record labels should work with them as another outlet to spread their marketing word but really, cheap shenanigans like this only sour the public on the majors even more, something that I hope they are trying desperately to avoid. Try it again, this time with feeling. And if you doubt the potential of these MP3 blogs, check out Blogs Build Buzz, Raise Copyright Questions for some insight into what’s at stake. Believe it or not I was planning a feature on the Killers in the near future. Geez, I don’t want to sound like a hack now!
Later.

Share This

In more sad health news, it has been confirmed that rock and roll legend Dave Davies has been partially paralyzed on his right side due to his recent stroke. Let’s hope that he will fully recover to play the guitar again.
Later.

Share This

DROOGS: Atomic Garage When you hear singer Ric Albin, you still hear the MC5, the Yardbirds, Howling Wolf, the Seeds, the Kingsmen, Pebbles/Nuggets groups, and everyone else whose every lyric meant no-nonsense (yet cool) business. Psychedelic Garage Rock.

Share This

“It was a wonderful mess” was the way Newsday described the festival capping performance of Iggy Pop but perhaps that is an apt description of the incredible rock and roll marathon that was Little Steven’s Underground Garage Festival. Typically the press were all over the place with their reviews. Reuters and Newsday thought it was great, the New York Times thought it wasn’t so great. The NME thought that the Strokes were wonderful, a lot of the fans posting to the ‘Net thought that they were a little bit less so but all in all this hopefully to be annual event to me signifies much more than “nostalgia” or “revivalism.” Granted I am personally more interested in the newer bands on the bill like the High Dials and The Charms but I think that Iggy Pop and Bo Diddley showed that they weren’t ready for the retirement home just yet thank you very much. Rock and roll is an art form that must be performed regularly for it to matter. Who performs it will always change but the very fact that this festival exists and draws in fans from young and old is both important and vital (12 hours of rock and roll for 20 bucks!). Complain all you want about the artificiality of music these days but sample even just a handful of the bands that performed Saturday and you come to the realization that not only is real, live off the floor rock and roll still being performed with reckless abandon but it is out there and available for your listening pleasure right now. For a lot of us, rock and roll does indeed still matter. It is still fun, fast and not always pretty but it adds a neccessary spice to our musical diets and we cannot get enough of it. Obviously neither can Little Steven and his cohorts and hopefully neither can you. Just a taste of real, honest to goodness rock and roll is all that you will need. If you went to this festival. you would have gotten drunk on the music alone. What better way can there possibly be to spend a day?
UPDATE! Battle of the Bands winners Muck and the Mires have posted some video of their performance at the Festival on their website.
Later.

Share This

I just read the news that Charlie Watts, hands down one the classiest men in rock and roll, is being treated for throat cancer. It is shocking and sad but it appears that he will make a full recovery. My thoughts and prayers are with one of the best drummers in rock and roll.
Later.

Share This

Just a quick note that despite the fact The Rock and Roll Report is currently publishing on our summer schedule, I wanted to post 2 quick articles before they became too stale.
Later.

Share This

I came across an excellent article in the New York Times (free registration required) on Little Steven and his rock and roll mission called Little Steven’s Big Crusade by Ben Sisario which offers a good insight into the man and his musical tastes. My favourite quote is when he talks about radio formats: “How could our culture have gotten to the point where we have a format for everything except rock ‘n’ roll?” Ridiculous but true.
By the way, here is the schedule for his big Underground Garage Festival on Saturday:

10:30 The Sexy Magazines
10:45 Davie Allan and the Arrows
11:00 The Chains
11:10 Star Spangles
11:20 Gore Gore Girls
11:30 The Swingin Neckbreakers
11:40 The Fuzztones
11:50 Caesars
12:00 The High Dials
12:10 The Fondas
12:20 The Contrast
12:30 The Singles
12:40 The Fleshtones
12:50 Jarvis Humby
01:00 The Blackouts
01:10 Muck and the Mires
01:20 Richard and the Young Lions
01:30 The Flaming Sideburns
01:40 The Boss Martians
01:50 The Charms
02:00 The Cynics
02:10 Lyres
02:20 The Stems
02:35 The Woggles
02:45 The Chocolate Watchband
03:00 The Shazam
03:10 The Electric Prunes
03:25 The Cocktail Slippers
03:35 The Creation
03:50 The Chesterfield Kings
04:00 The Mooney Suzuki
04:15 The Paybacks
04:25 The Pete Best Band
04:40 The Forty Fives
04:50 The D4
05:05 The Romantics
05:25 Nancy Sinatra
05:45 The Dictators
06:05 Big Star
06:25 Bo Diddley
06:55 Raveonettes
07:15 The Pretty Things
07:50 The New York Dolls
08:35 The Strokes
09:35 Iggy Pop & The Stooges

Later.

Share This

I realize that Rhino Records are now part of the evil 4 major record labels but I still have a soft spot for them and they still put out some very good stuff. One very cool looking upcoming release is “Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the ‘80s Underground.” Due out October 5th, Left of the Dial features tracks from the bands that you didn’t hear on the radio (at least not outside campus) in the ‘80s, bands like the Dead Kennedys, Prefab Sprout, The Replacements and The dB’s. This four CD box set looks to be fantastic with 82 tracks, cool liner notes, the works. It is stuff like this that I still say digital downloading just can’t replicate. Call me old fashioned I suppose.
Later.

Share This

If you are looking for a respite from the usual “classic rock” radio, check out the incredible Lost and Found radio show broadcast every weekday from Noon to 2:00 PM on WMBR, the MIT campus radio station. Broadcasting ‘60s and early ‘70s music “no longer heard (or never heard) on “classic rock” and “oldies” stations” and “played without regard to baby-boomer demographic marketing potential”, Lost and Found is a really fun rock and roll radio show that is a real treat, and often a surprise to the ears. Since they stream over the ‘Net you too can enjoy Lost and Found and the other great rock and roll programming on WMBR. Great stuff.
Later.

Share This

I recently came across an article on a company that offers a service that is so logical, I wished that I had thought of it. Called Loadpod, what they do is take your CD collection and load it onto your iPod for a small fee. The great thing about the service is that it is performed by a local Loadpod rep so you don’t have to send your iPod and valuable CD collection through the mail or by FedEx with the potential of losing them. I was actually so impressed with the idea that I signed on to be the LoadPod rep for Montreal! Check it out. It is finally time to transfer all those great power pop compilations to your iPod that you have been just too lazy to do until now.
Later.

Share This

If you long for some cool rock and roll television, Little Steven has got you covered. After mastering radio with his wonderful Little Steven’s Underground Garage as well as his Sirius Radio programming gig, Little Steven has brought some very cool rock and roll fun to the boob tube with Little Steven’s Underground Garage A-Go-Go on MTV and MTV2. Underground A-Go-Go follows the music and mayhem of the finals for his Battle of the Bands competition at the Irving Plaza in New York City this past July. The prize was a bunch of music gear and a spot on the bill at his massive Underground Garage Festival. With judging by Little Steven, Kim Fowley and a host of others, Underground Garage A-Go-Go is a perfect antidote to American Idol. Just the thing to get you primed for the big festival this weekend. The broadcast schedule is as follows:

AUGUST 11 WEDNESDAY 12am (MTV2) EST
AUGUST 12 THURSDAY 5pm (MTV2) EST
AUGUST 12 THURSDAY 11:30pm (MTV) EST
AUGUST 13 FRIDAY 8AM & 2AM (MTV2) EST

Later.

Share This

If you are ever in Memphis you better make sure that you visit “The birthplace of Rock n’ Roll”, Sun Studios. If for whatever reason you can’t make it to Memphis (and this year would be the time to go as it is the 50th anniversary of Elvis recording “That’s All Right”) the Sun Studio website has a great virtual tour you can take. It’s almost like being there. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Later.

Share This

If you can’t make it to Venice, Italy then how about Sacramento California for the Wasted Weekend August 13th to the 15th? This “three-day crap rock car crash extravaganza” features “ten raging garage bands”, a demolition derby, beer, a record swap meet and more! Sounds like a fall down great time!
Later.

Share This

If you are into obscure sixties trash garage rock and roll (guilty!) then you should definitely check out Break A Way Records. This German label has all kinds of obscure, demented rock and roll from the sixties with releases like “Psychotic Reaction” by a cool German garage band of the same name and a CD (and vinyl record) from the extremely obscure LA garage band The Ringers. Some of these records are great, and some are crap but after all, isn’t that part of the fun of hunting down and listening to this stuff? Very cool.
Later.

Share This

In keeping with the political theme for today, The Rock and Roll Report is attempting to do its small part in encouraging the democratic process by prominently featuring a link to the Rock the Vote organization. Click on the link in the upper left corner of this site and it will fast-track you through the process of registering to vote for the U.S. presidential elections this November 2nd. Please do your part. Thanks.
Later.

Share This

Editors Note: This post was originally written August 5th in longhand on the porch at the cottage while on vacation overlooking beautiful Christie Lake near Perth, Ontario. A great way to write, guaranteed.

It is somewhat ironic that after just finishing an article on John Lennon’s political activities of the early seventies in the May issue of Mojo magazine that I read in the local paper about the big anti-Bush “Vote for Change” concerts planned for this fall. The irony lies in the fact that as I read about the aborted tour that Lennon was supposed to embark on in the election year of 1972, haunting Richard Nixon from campaign stop to campaign stop, I thought to myself that in this day and age in the United States why hasn’t anybody stepped forward and done something similar for this election? Has rock and roll lost its radical edge I thought? Now I am the first to admit that rock and roll and politics sometimes make strange bedfellows and often times political rock and roll gets real dated real fast but it is nice to see Bruce Springsteen and friends getting up off their collective celebrity asses and doing something constructive. I mean, what the hell can you expect Ben Afleck to bring to the table? No matter what side of the fence you find yourself sitting on (or perhaps you are straddling the middle of the fence or even worse you have no idea what the fence is all about) the current political landscape in the United States is so polarized that it is difficult to actually debate the issues. When Springsteen was asked whether people were tired of celebrities “telling them who to vote for” he simply stated that they are all citizens just trying to do their part to build awareness. After all, healthy debate is the lifeblood of democracy and no mater whether you are Republican or Democrat, Green or Libertarian, understanding what an election is about and participating in the process is important now more than ever. Ya these are a bunch or rich rock stars, so what. Just as they mount their soapbox so can you. Reasoned political debate seems to be dying in North America. Maybe this will breath some life into it. Hope springs eternal.
Later.

Share This

If you have always wondered about the great rock and roll musical orgy called the International Pop Overthrow then check out the article Angels, Osmonds & Bosoms from OC Weekly for a glowing review. Fantastic stuff and an absolutely great bargain in this day of Clear Channel excess. Excellent.
Later.

Share This

I am a bit late with this one because of my holidays but if you happen to be in Venice Italy right now or are planning on going within the next few days you might want to check out the Venice Airport Festival. This “Independant Rock Festival” is taking place right now, having started August 6th and continuing on to the 14th at Forte Bazzera. Cool bands, great DJs and Venice. Now that definitely sounds like an amazing rock and roll experience!
Later.

Share This

Well The Rock and Roll Report is back in business. After a week at the cottage soaking up some rays (and a bit of rain) with my family, fishing, swimming and eating BBQ I am ready to rock and roll again. On my week off the closest I got to rock and roll were the two issues of Magnet magazine and the May issue of Mojo that I dragged down to the beach every day. I ended up mostly reading instead a cheesy murder-mystery called “The Rock Critic Murders” that I found in the marina library which passed the time quite nicely. I probably should have brought some music with me since I have about an iPod’s worth of rock and roll to listen to but since I don’t have an iPod, and since my family wouldn’t appreciate me walking around with headphones on the whole week I wisely decided to forego the music. Anyhow it was a nice break. We’ll be sticking to the summer schedule for the remainder of August then go back to five days a week in September. As always, your comments and e-mails are appreciated.
Thanks for reading and let’s get back to that music we like to call rock and roll.
Later.

Share This

The Rock and Roll Report is taking its annual “get the hell out of town and go to the country” trip so there will be no Rock and Roll Report this week as I battle both a canoe and a fishing rod out on a secluded lake in Ontario. We’ll be back on August 10th for more rock and roll fun.
Later.

Share This