26.01.11
Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe photographed by Gerard Malanga
Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. Serious Badasses.
Read Patti’s National Book Award winning memoir “Just Kids” if you haven’t. It covers their amazing relationship/friendship from obscurity to fame.
05.02.11
Bo Diddley. Serious Badass.
Don’t believe me? Click here or here. And watch this clip from Taylor Hackford’s “Hail! Hail! Rock N Roll!” at the 6:45 min mark to hear Bo Diddley, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry tell it like it was for them back in the day. Classic.
24.03.11
Life by Keith Richards.
Finished this over the weekend and I have to say kudos to Mr. Richards for a well written memoir with loads of great stories, behind the scenes info, guitar tuning theory, interesting life advice, and a harrowing insight into what it’s like to be a “junkie”…
I highly recommend it if you are into the Stones or rock history.
28.03.11
Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen & Blondie’s Debbie Harry circa 1980 at the premier of “Roadie.”
01.04.11
David Bowie. Serious Badass.
The Museum of Arts & Design in NYC is presenting “David Bowie, Artist:”
“a multi-platform retrospective re-framing Bowie’s daring, multi-discipline career as that of an artist working primarily in performance. From his roots in such performance-based practices as cabaret, mime, and avant-garde theater, to Ziggy Stardust, his revolutionary tour that synthesized theater, music, and contemporary art into a rock spectacle, as well as his innovative video collaborations, and his work in cinema and theater, David Bowie, Artist presents Bowie as one of the most iconoclastic cultural producers of the 20th century.”
And my head exploded! Guess I know where I’ll be spending my June nights this Summer as they’re screening most of the movies he’s appeared in. “The Hunger”, “Basquiat”, and “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” are faves.
Who’s your favorite Bowie? Andro Hippie Bowie? Ziggy Stardust? Aladdin Sane?Diamond Dogs Bowie? Thin White Duke? Berlin Bowie? Scary Monsters Bowie? Let’s Dance Bowie? Tin Machine Bowie?
My personal fave is Berlin Bowie (“Heroes”).
Hat tip to @mikemonello.
13.04.11
David Bowie - Station to Station
This is some of the most oddly comforting music for me as it reminds me of the 70s and my pre-adolescence/teenage years and my crazy cool step brother who was always introducing me to the most cutting edge music available in the hinterlands where I grew up.
So this “LP” along with Bowie’s “Berlin Trilogy” of Low, Heroes, & Lodger is what I’ve been listening to this week. And it’s fit with the grumpy, rain-soaked NYC vibe going on.
#ComfortMusic
120 plays
17.05.11
David Bowie - A New Career in a New Town - Low
Part one of “The Berlin Trilogy.” This is pure synthesizer bliss. On Low, this track is followed by Warszawa, Art Decade, Weeping Wall, and Subterraneans, some of the most influential ambient music pieces ever created. This four song “suite” always soothes.
#ComfortMusic
38 plays
17.05.11
David Bowie - Heroes
Part two of “The Berlin Trilogy.” There’s so much to write about this song yet it’s all inadequate as “Heroes” has a million layers (The Cold War, Love, The Berlin Wall, Hope, Loss, Desperation, etc.). This iconic song and video are just perfection.
“I…I wish I could swim…like the dolphins…like dolphins can swim…”
#ComfortMusic
17.05.11
David Bowie - Boys Keep Swinging - Lodger
Part three of “The Berlin Trilogy.” This song and the video for “Boys Keep Swinging” still crack me up from the obviously ironically sexist lyrics to the video’s Bowie in drag as a brunette, redhead, and blonde…a matronly blonde with a cane who blows a kiss to the camera at the end. Brilliantly subversive for U.S. sensibilities at the time.
The Lodger “LP” was interesting as “Berlin Bowie” incorporated a lot of Turkish melodies throughout while Germany was (still is) coming to grips with Turkish immigration (via “guest workers”) and Germans of Turkish decent.
#ComfortMusic
51 plays
17.05.11
Chrissie Hynde. Serious Badass.
I remember seeing The Pretenders open up for The Who and thinking, “Whoa, what a badass. She’s a girl, right?” (I was a stupid teen.) And there’s the always wonderful “Brass In Pocket,” plus “Kid,” ”Stop Sobbing Now,” “Message of Love,” etc.
Major hat tip to Jennifer Villany for the suggestion.
17.05.11
19.05.11
02.06.11
