Category Archives: Shorties

Shorties

New Mike Skill video: ’67 Riot ft. Wayne Kramer

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Video: Mike Skill – “’67 Riot” (ft. Wayne Kramer)

Single out now.

Mike Skill was a founding member and prinicpal songwriter of the Romantics. It might be hard for people who only know the Romantics in blouses on MTV in 1983 to think of them as a Detroit punk band, but that’s what they were.

Casual music fans might not realize that Detroit continued to foster powerhouse rock and roll bands even after the Grande Ballroom closed its doors in 1972. Bookie’s was a gay disco that eventually became the home for Detroit punk. Destroy All Monsters, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, and the Romantics played there all the time in the late 70s and early 80s.

And now, all these years later, Mike Skill has teamed up with brother Wayne Kramer who lends his Detroit guitar pyrotechnics to something of a sequel to the MC5’s “Motor City Is Burning.”

See the workin’ folks doin’ their best
Risin’ up when they’re hard pressed
They’ll take matters in their hands
Don’t be surprised by the flames you fan.

The time has come for each and every one of us to decide whether we are going to be the problem or whether we are going to be the solution. Are you ready to testify?

Mike Skill: web, twitter, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

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Dollars, Sense and Soundtracks

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A word or several about the reported $300-million+ that Bob Dylan reportedly will be getting from Universal Music Publishing Group for his catalog of 600+ songs, songs written from 1962 until now. That is $500,000 per song. Yes, some of them—“Blown’ In the Wind,” “The Times They Are a Changin’,”“Like a Rolling Stone,” “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”—are certainly well known. One assumes that there are many, many, many others whom only the most dedicated Dylan fan would know or even be aware of (as I am not the most dedicated Dylan fan, I’ll not name any).

While it does make one wonder whether he’d gotten a few more dollars were he to have used the “g” rather than the “’” in the title of some of his tunes, we’ll let that go. Dylan has sold some 125-million records during his career. If we look at this as being a 58-year career (starting in 1962), this would mean that Dylan has sold an average 2.1-million records per year.

The times certainly are changing. For example, according to numbers from Billboard, Taylor Swift’s Folklore has become the first—and only—album to sell more than a million times in 2020.

Since her self-titled album of 2006, there have been nine Swift albums that have sold more than a million copies.

These are:

Taylor Swift: 5.75 million
The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection: 1.08 million
Fearless: 7.21 million
Speak Now: 4.71 million
Red: 4.49 million
1989: 6.25 million
Reputation: 2.28 million
Lover: 1.22 million
Folklore: 1.04 million

That is a total 34.03-million albums during a 14-year period. Which means that Swift has sold an average of 2.4-million per year, just edging Dylan out.

To be fair to Ms. Swift, she is 30 years old. Dylan is 79. She, presumably, has a whole lot more music in her to come than he does. [Correction: Swift turned 31 yesterday. -ed.]

This might lead some of you to think that I am making a comparison between the two musicians, causing a certain level of apoplexy among you. Yes, while I am making a comparison, this is not a comparison of talent.

Rather, it is a comparison of numbers.

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New Phoebe Bridgers video: Savior Complex

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Video: Phoebe Bridgers – “Savior Complex”

Directed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. From Punisher, out now on Dead Oceans.

In a humorous yet not entirely unexpected move, indie darling Phoebe Bridgers has tapped the similarly named creator of the BBC hit series “Fleabag” to direct a music video. Phoebe Waller-Bridge directs Phoebe Bridgers. Get it? Ha ha.

I love this song. I love Elliott Smith. Phoebe Bridgers certainly doesn’t attempt to hide her love of Elliott Smith. On 2017’s Stranger in the Alps as soon as I heard the chorus of “Demi Moore” I was like, oh, this person loves Elliott Smith as much as I do. I was not wrong.

Bridgers has gone on the record as saying that Smith’s music is “like The Beatles to me, and I mean that in every way. If someone doesn’t like his music, I actually feel like I’m not going to agree with them about anything. It informs everything I like.”

The title track of her latest album features an imaginary conversation with Smith: “What if I told you I feel like I know you / But we never met?”

I get that.

It also contains the lines “Hear so many stories of you at the bar / Most times alone, and some looking your worst / But never not sweet to the trust funds and punishers.” If you’ve ever met one of your heroes and shamelessly gushed to them how much they mean to you until their eyes glazed over, you know what it’s like to be a punisher. We all try to be cool but it’s hard to shut off that valve once you start pouring your guts out.

My all-time favorite “Elliott Smith being nice to strangers” story comes from Buddyhead’s Travis Keller:

In the summer of 1999 I talked my friend Marko Shafer into driving 1,000 miles with me from Los Angeles to Olympia, WA last minute to attend a DIY festival he knew little to nothing about called Yo Yo A Go Go. I was excited to see The Make Up, Thrones, Sleater-Kinney, Dead Moon but the main attraction was without a doubt Elliott Smith. But when we arrived at The Capitol Theater we learned that the show was sold out. Determined to get in despite the odds, I walked down the side alley of the theater and saw Elliott Smith standing by the back door. I shit you not. He was wearing a trucker hat that said “WHO’S THE BOSS?” and pulling from a cigarette as you’d expect him to be. I explained to him that my friend and I had drove all the way from Los Angeles to see him play but couldn’t buy tickets, in a way only a fan-dorking 19 year old could. To which he replied with something along the lines of “Well I’ve got two guest passes and no friends, wanna be my friend?” And like that he finished his smoke and led us in the back door. We walked past several bands who were setting up their gear, and Elliott asked “Who’s the boss” which immediately got the response as if on cue “you are Elliott!” Elliott then led us to the side of the stage where I sat for the entirety of his performance and shot this photo. You could hear a fuckin’ pin drop in that sold out theatre of 1500 people. Afterwards, we went to a bar with Elliott and chatted. I think it was my second time in a bar ever. He was beyond sweet, seemed generally interested in what I had to say. He was funny, intelligent and charming. One of the realest people I ever met and I feel lucky to have gotten a chance to be around him while he was here.

“Savior Complex” is Bridgers’ most Elliott Smith sounding song since “Demi Moore,” especially the way she sings “But I’m too tired to have a pissing contest…” It’s classic. And it’s great.

The video is cute too. Spoiler: The dog’s the protagonist.

Phoebe Bridgers: web, twitter, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

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New X video: Goodbye Year, Goodbye

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Video: X – “Goodbye Year, Goodbye”

Directed by Keith Ross. From Alphabetland, out now on Fat Possum.

How great is it that original L.A. punks X are still at it?

John Doe told Apple Music, “That was the last song we worked on. I took the lead, and Exene did some editing and additional lyrics. The music is just straight-up punk rock, because I thought the record needed a good old-fashioned punk rock song. Originally, it sounded too much like [1980’s] ‘Your Phone’s Off the Hook,’ so we added a few different things. I was inspired by reading the book Midnight Cowboy. Exene gave it to me for my birthday, and the lyric ‘Brother and sister pretend to be lovers’ is from a moment in the book where Joe Buck goes to an Andy Warhol-type party. The first verse, ‘Beats keep beating my brains in,’ means there’s just too much going on. Everybody is so overscheduled, and there’s so much noise.”

I think we’re all looking forward to saying goodbye to this year. Good riddance.

X: web, twitter, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

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New Diet Cig video: Who Are You

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Video: Diet Cig – “Who Are You”

Directed by Alex Luciano and Noah Bowman. From Do You Wonder About Me?, out now on Frenchkiss.

How can you not love this band?

Like a bunch of other new albums released in this wretched year, Diet Cig’s follow-up to 2017’s excellent Swear I’m Good At This didn’t get the attention it deserved. “Who Are You” is the third single released off Do You Wonder About Me? but it’s the first one to receive the full video treatment. Everybody’s been understandably preoccupied with quarantining and doomscrolling.

Alex Luciano and Noah Bowman have a history of making great videos, so it’s a shame that lockdowns prevented them from practicing their visual craft until now. Here’s how they pulled it off:

We made this in a park down the street from our house! we had such a fun time dancing on a stage again ? we put this together with the people in our pod, just a bunch of friends who were so down to help us dance like freaks in the park ?

Glad they did. We all need the boost to our spirits.

Diet Cig: web, twitter, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

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Shorties

John Lennon: Forty Years

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Video: John Lennon – “Watching the Wheels”

From Double Fantasy (Geffen, 1980).

Forty years.

John Lennon was forty years old when he was gunned down outside his home in New York. That used to seem old. Old enough, anyway. A full life.

Not so much anymore.

I was nine years old. Unlike a lot of people my age I have no recollection of where I was when I heard that John Lennon was dead. My dad was in the hospital having surgery to try to remove malignant tumors in his belly. I recently found his paperwork and hadn’t realized these events had overlapped, but yeah. He was admitted on November 25 and discharged on December 17. My mom stayed at my dad’s bedside but I was home with an older cousin who got me off to school, fed me dinner, and tucked me in. I was in fourth grade. I have some hazy memories of visiting the hospital but not a lot. The red and green of the elevator up and down buttons have stuck with me more than anything else.

The weekend after Lennon was murdered, family friends took me skiing at Pando Park (where, incidentally, Jake Burton Carpenter won the first competitive snowboard race ever run in 1979). It was my first time and I spent the whole day going up and down the bunny hill. Pando had big speakers that were blaring a local radio station broadcasting non-stop Beatles songs. This was my immersion into the deeper cuts. By the end of the day I was still a lousy skier (still am!), but I had become a major Beatles fan. Still am.

That was forty years ago.

My dad died the next year on the day before Thanksgiving. He was thirty-eight.

People asking questions, lost in confusion
Well, I tell them there’s no problem, only solutions
Well, they shake their heads and look at me as if I’ve lost my mind
I tell them there’s no hurry, I’m just sitting here doing time

There’s a lot about getting old that sucks, but it’s a privilege.

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Of Residencies, Air Fryers & Gibson Guitars

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I haven’t been to Las Vegas since January 2020. Was there for CES, not the tables. Things were still normal then. At least as “normal” as Vegas can be. Although the massive influx of the rabid technology enthusiasts who go to the city for that event—so many people that the only amount of social distancing that occurs would be measured in millimeters, not feet—change the dynamic. Because the Uber and Lyft networks are crushed, cabs are sometimes necessary. The cabbies are not particularly happy with the tipping that doesn’t happen—or happens at an infinitesimal rate—from those who can’t wait to see the latest from Samsung or Qualcomm or companies that essentially only the employees have heard of.

I was staying at The Delano. A hotel within a hotel. A means by which the proprietor can jack the rates disproportionately by providing a modicum of upped amenities. And a separation from the gaming floor. But in order to get an extraordinarily expensive cup of coffee it is necessary to go through to Mandalay Bay, where the shops and restaurants are found.

It was necessary to pass the theatre hosting “Michael Jackson ONE by Cirque du Soleil.” Given what came out about Jackson’s proclivities it seems like a strange show. Yes, there is the music. There is the man. But somehow the sale of jeweled gloves seemed strange. And the pre-show gift shop was always jammed.

But that’s Las Vegas.

One of the things that Las Vegas has become known for regarding concert performances is the “residency.” As in the individual musician or group plays at one of the multitudinous theaters night after night. Presumably they also stay at said hotel casino. But probably in a place like The Delano.
During the past few years there have been seemingly endless runs by people like Celine Dion, and shorter ones for the likes of Van Morrison (five dates at the Colosseum at Caesars). Other performers have included Lady Gaga, Janet Jackson, Cardi B, Britney Spears, Elton John, Cher, Mariah Carey, Billy Idol, Aerosmith, Bruno Mars, Bryan Adams Christina Aguilera, Chicago, Santana, David Lee Roth, the Doobie Brothers, Foreigner, Sting, Gwen Stefani, and, of course, Rod Stewart.

(I once met Donny Osmond in the jetway of a flight going from SLC to LAS. We chatted a bit. Yes, he was going back to perform at the Flamingo with his sister. He was (a) not surprisingly, nice and (b) taller than I would have expected.)

Know that residencies is not a new phenomenon by any extent.

Elvis rocked the Las Vegas Hilton from July 1969 to December 1976. Six-hundred and thirty-six nights of “Burning Love.”

Turns out he was a slouch compared with Donny & Marie: they had a run of 11 years, doing 1,730 shows. And Donny was still nice to some stranger on a Delta flight.

One of the other interesting things—and this is more of a new(ish) phenomenon—is that it has gone from a place where you could find lavish buffets for under ten bucks to a place where you’re going to pay dearly for a meal at a restaurant that is owned and possibly operated by a celebrity chef.

Among them are Wolfgang Puck, Guy Fieri, Gordon Ramsey, Bobby Flay, and Emeril Lagasse. To name but a few.

Which brings me to the Emeril Lagasse Power Air Fryer 360, the device you can buy for about $200 that allows you to bake, broil, toast, slow cook, air fry, and more.

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How to Write an Earworm

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In the days of AM radio, when songs were under three minutes long, there were a variety of sequences of songs played—repeatedly—which were generally described by the disc jockey as being the “top 10.” It was never entirely clear what the number described (i.e., top 10 of what?).

But it should be noted that while there was undoubtedly the whiff of something shady (to mix a couple of metaphors), radio station managers knew that they had to be exceedingly careful because of Congressional investigations into so-called “payola” in 1960, which even caused comment by then-president Dwight Eisenhower, who considered this to be an issue of public morality.

Which seems a bit too far.

But be that as it may, the FCC established a law that says, in part, “When a broadcast station transmits any matter for which money, service, or other valuable consideration is paid or promised to, or charged or accepted by such station, the station, at the time of the broadcast, must announce: (1) that such matter is sponsored, paid for, or furnished, either in whole or in part; and (2) by whom or on whose behalf such consideration was supplied.”

In other words, the issue was (and conceivably still is) that the station (or more likely the DJ who was getting swag and whatnot from the A&R man repping the label and musician) would play a given cut over and over and over again. The effect would,  presumably, be one of an excessive number of listeners buying into the ad populum fallacy: if it is being played that much it must be good.

Or there is another thing that could have come into play: the Ohrwurm phenomenon. The earworm. The hearing a song “in your head.” A song “stuck” in your head.

///

Googling “how to write a hit song” results in 386,000,000 results.

According to Robin Frederick, who operates mysoundcoach.com,

“Here’s the simple skeleton structure on which most hits are built

  • VERSE / CHORUS
  • VERSE / CHORUS
  • BRIDGE / CHORUS”

Ms. Frederick goes on to explain, “Those monster radio hits often add a section between the verse and chorus called the pre-chorus. It’s used to build anticipation and excitement leading up to those huge hooky choruses. Pop/Dance hits will sometimes have a section after the chorus called a post-chorus. This is where the music producer gets to show off his or her chops.”

Got it?

The chorus counts.

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New Fiona Apple video: Shameika

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Video: Fiona Apple – “Shameika”

Directed by Matthias Brown. From Fetch the Bolt Cutters, out now on Epic.

Great song, cool video, but the “making of” video is even cooler.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters was released on April 17 when we were all in full-on freakout mode about the coronavirus. Here in Michigan we were three and a half weeks into our stay-at-home order, and the album came out on the same day that our orange fuhrer tweeted “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” in response to Governor Whitmer’s executive orders.

To keep myself sane I was immersing myself in yardwork. Specifically, I was cutting up fallen trees and branches in the woods behind my house with a chainsaw. I would put on my 3M Worktunes bluetooth headphones, play an album from my phone, and go pretend I was a lumberjack until I was exhausted.

A surprise release from Fiona Apple seemed like it would be exactly what the doctor ordered, but for me it was a little more intense than what I needed. It’s rawness and dissonance and rhythmic weirdness was exhausting. When you’re wielding a tool that is capable of chopping off your leg if you’re not paying attention (or massacring your neighborhood if you really lose control), it’s best to have a more calming soundtrack.

In the months since then, as we’ve learned to live with the pandemic, I’ve started to hear things in Fetch the Bolt Cutters that I didn’t hear when it was competing for my attention with the muffled screaming of a chainsaw engine and the unmufflable screaming of existential doom. There are hooks and melodies in there that are as beautiful and engaging as anything Apple has released.

“Shameika” is a story song about being bullied in school and having a cool kid stick up for you. “Shameika said I had potential.” Sometimes that’s all you need to hear to help you make it through to the other side. It gets better, right?

Back then I didn’t know what potential meant and
Shameika wasn’t gentle and she wasn’t my friend
But she got through to me and I’ll never see her again.

Well, as it turns out, that prediction proved to be incorrect. It’s a great story but the short version is that Fiona and Shameika’s third grade teacher heard about the song via a New Yorker profile and reached out. Ultimately, the two former classmates collaborated on a sequel of sorts.

And in the meantime the United States denied a second term to the worst president in its history and approved at least two vaccines to immunize its population from Covid-19!

It’s a feel good story with a happy ending! Who doesn’t love that? What a country!

God bless America, and have a healthy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Fiona Apple: web, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

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New White Stripes video: Apple Blossom

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Video: The White Stripes – “Apple Blossom”

From The White Stripes Greatest Hits, out December 4 on Third Man.

Hey look it’s a new animated video for “Apple Blossom” to promote the upcoming White Stripes Greatest Hits collection. And why not?

Originally released twenty years ago on De Stijl, “Apple Blossom” is a fan favorite that was performed on all the White Stripes tours following its release. When the band made its television debut on Detroit’s “Backstage Pass” in 2000, they played “Apple Blossom” and not the album’s single, “Hello Operator.” Jack has even dusted it off for some of his solo shows.

I’m not the intended audience for a White Stripes hits comp, but I’m all for them reissuing stuff to appeal to a new generation of fans. I remember being 18 and getting some silly new Velvet Underground collection that totally opened the doors for my impending fanaticism.

So I’m never going to criticize a kid for starting with a “best of” or slam a label for issuing one.

And The White Stripes Greatest Hits track list looks pretty cool. At least it contains a somewhat rare b-side (“Jolene”)… Although in the streaming era can something that is already available for streaming be consider rare? Probably not. So while this collection could just as easily be built as a playlist, I’m sure a bunch of folks will pick it up on vinyl and have a great listening experience with it. Plus, I’m sure Third Man will include some trappings in the physical release that will make it fun to own. And if that drives some people to dig deeper into the catalog? Better for everybody.

The White Stripes: web, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

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