Does a typewriter qualify as a musical instrument? To Lester Bangs, it did. The brilliant, outrageous rock journalist, who died on this date in 1982 from a cocktail of Darvon, Valium, and NyQuil, once joined the J. Geils Band on stage and proceeded to write/perform a live concert review on his "miked" Smith Corona typewriter.
Today, as I give thanks for all the people, events and opportunities that have enriched my life, I would also like to acknowledge my gratitude for the cosmic forces that came together in the 20th century to create the music that saved my soul: rock and roll. I am thankful...
Way back in drab, post-war England, teenaged boys with bad teeth and sun-starved skin - bored to tears with BBC Radio's unflinching policy of airing nothing but show tunes and classical music - were stringing wires around their small, government-built "council houses" so they could tune in to the one radio station that gave them a reason to live. What they found - from across the English channel - was the infamous "pirate station," Radio Luxembourg. What they heard was a black-sounding white man named Elvis Presley. And what changed their lives was a moody little tune called "Heartbreak Hotel." Here's a tribute to Elvis, on what would have been his 80th birthday.
What a treat for a Scorpio girl born in the Season of the Witch! On August 12, 2011, I experienced Alice Cooper live in concert for the first time - just five months after his induction into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. It’s no surprise that my childhood love of all things ghoulish - from Vincent Price and Peter Lorre to Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi - would lead to an inevitable attraction to Alice Cooper and his spooky stage show.
Devolution. devəˈlo͞oSHən. The descent or degeneration to a lower or worse state. My personal example: "The human race appears to be in a state of devolution - evolving backwards toward an earlier Neanderthal period - as evidenced by the barbaric killing of four unarmed college students by troops with M1 rifles." I'm referring, of course, to the Kent State University killings of May 4, 1970. The most famous song to emerge from the tragedy was Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Ohio," which was released one month after the slaughter. Through the years artists have released at least 30 lesser-known songs about the massacre. Here are a few.