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Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms, yearning to breathe free.
Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms, yearning to breathe free.
the
Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms, yearning to breathe free.
After seeing Marvin Gaye's large collection of pornography, Rolling Stone critic David Ritz suggested that the soul man needed some "sexual healing." This comment inspired the title of one of Marvin's biggest hits.
According to Bruce Springsteen's security man, Jim McDuffie, here are some of the items thrown onstage at The Boss's Madison Square Garden concert on December 18, 1980. McDuffie reported that a dozen pairs of women's panties were thrown onto the stage at Bruce's Pittsburgh show that month. I was there, but kept my undies on.
When it comes to music, I've waved the U.K. Rock Team flag my entire life. Okay, I realize those skinny boys stole a lot of riffs and rhythms from their American R&B heroes of the '50s. But there was something about their electric British sound and haughty, mod style that turned me into a Union Jack junkie from my earliest Beatle-loving days. So, in honor of London hosting the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, here is Part One of my series on British rock medal winners: The 1960s Style Icon Competition.
Ask me where I would love to have lived in the 1960s, and I'll say LONDON in a Big Ben minute. The fashions, the music, the clubs! Imagine the chance to sit in on the drug trials of Mick and Keith! Or being able to crawl through Paul McCartney's bathroom window, as fans once did. Blimey, the bobbies didn't even carry guns (and still don't, except for special circumstances). Alas, the swinging times came to an end in the 1970s, as inflation, unemployment, high taxes and strikes eventually made for a very unmerry old England. But when times get rocky, rockers liven things up. And nowhere was this more evident than in London, where artists helped quell the chaos with new sounds and provocative fashion. Here, then, is Part Two of my take on London's 2012 Olympic games: The 1970s' British Style Icon Competition.
When tickets went on sale this past spring for the Rod Stewart/Stevie Nicks July 28 "Heart and Soul" show at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center, I took pause. I've adored Rod since his earliest days in the music biz, when he sang his heart out with Brit bands like Long John Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men, The Jeff Beck Group and The Faces. But as much as I love Rod The Former Mod, was I really willing to fork over $150 to sit half a mile from the stage of a 19,000-seat arena to hear him sing "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" from his sad disco days, or croon old standards with faded gypsy queen, Stevie Nicks? No, I decided to spend my concert cash to see another vocally endowed white boy who also performed here last night: "Southside" Johnny Lyon. Johnny brought his 7-piece Asbury Jukes band to the Palace Theater in the small town of Greensburg, PA, and delivered his usual rousing show. He's been performing since the mid-1970s and is considered a pioneer of the famous Jersey Shore sound that emerged when Bruce Springsteen put Asbury Park on the musical map 40 years ago.I've long considered Johnny Lyon to be the finest white rock-soul singer in America.