SCHLOCK, THE MONKEY - cultural claptrap: Dec 18, 2010

What You'll Find Here: Music, Movies and Me

Since May 1976, I have written in journals. When I have nothing particularly resonant to say about my own inner turmoil, philosophic ramblings, sexual peccadillos or whining on about the state of the world around me...I have always fallen back on reporting the cultural time consumption that takes up in inordinate portion of my daily goings on.

In the 40+ years since my first concerts seeing Children's Symphony presentations on Sundays at the Pasadena Civic or The Hot Jazz Society's monthly Dixieland romps in an old meeting hall on the edge of the L.A. "River" across from Griffith Park, I have been sold heavily on the magic of live music. As Neil Young so aptly put it, "Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued."

Growing up a few orange groves and canyons length away from Hollywood also contributed greatly to my family's addiction to movie going. From the time I was a small there were weekly trips to the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape, or the local Temple theater for the Saturday matinees. Once in a while we'd drive the 12 miles into Hollywood and see something in one of the magnificent old movie palaces like Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian, The Pantages or later the Cinerama Dome. My dad loved Westerns and War movies, as if he didn't get enough shoot-'em-up as an L.A. County Sheriff in his day gig, my mom adored musicals and comedies. My brother and I loved them all.

At SDSU, I played in my first gigging band and began booking concerts on campus as part of the well-funded Cultural Arts Board, kindling for my future life in and around music.

So it's not surprising that my first jobs out of college were working in local video rental places (which were all the rage) or managing a couple of Sam Goody record stores in Mall's on the East Coast where we marveled at the new CD format and sold the first home computers and video games (yes Commodore and Pong and Atari).

So these are really just extensions of all of those journal entries talking about the great new movies I was seeing and LPs/CDs I was listening to.

Though iPODS/iPADs, apps, smart phones and downloads now make music and movies accessible in your own pocket, there is still nothing like sitting in front of a stack of speakers with a room full of people swaying to music created before your eyes. Nor is there anything that works quite so well for me to escape the real world and all of it's pressures just outside than two hours in a dark theater, absorbing the stories flickering across that wide screen as they pull you into their world.

But a really good taco runs a close third...

Saturday, December 18, 2010

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART – R.I.P.

“…you see, I don't think I do music, think I do spells." - 1980

FURTHER THAN WE’VE GONE

Associated Press obit

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/17/don-van-vliet-aka-captain-beefheart-dead-at-69/

DON VAN VLIET aka CAPTAIN BEEFHEART

Died December 17^th 2010 at the age of 69

Avant-garde rock musician and abstract expressionist painter and sculptor

Back in 1972, every night before I went to sleep I put on my big black head phones and listened to Captain Beefheart’s latest album, TROUT MASK REPLICA…in my dark bedroom, lying on a faux zebra patterned pillow, a double album of bluesy avant-garde, surrealistic gibberish and scrambled noise. I had literally no words to describe what I heard. The singer sounded a bit like Howlin’ Wolf who I had just recently dug into by way of his London Sessions LP. But the angular rhythms and strange aural hijinx and indecipherable lyrics...what the hell was this?...I remember noticing for the first time that my dreams were in color when I woke one morning after closing the previous day with TROUT MASKlll I’m not sure if I’d heard his semi-hit ‘Diddy Wah Diddy” in 1966 which was a distorted and loud recording of a pop/blues tune. Sort of Stonesy but filthier. The album SAFE AS MILK was Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band’s first album. I didn't catch that one til years later either.

I missed this early blues band type stuff, I jumped on the Beef wagon with the Zappa produced TROUT MASK and I’m sure it was because Zappa’s name was attached to this that had some credibility with me. Other than the Beatles “Revolution No. 9” and some of the Yoko stuff on her solo albums with John, I hadn’t heard ANY avant-garde music at all. I was hooked. From that point on anything slightly dissonant, complex or just plain weird would catch my attention over and over again.

When he went "softer" in the mid-70s, a lot of his fan base bailed but I dug them change. Soon, though with punk (and many of the punks claimed influenced by Beefheart) and the singer/songwriter boom as well as my new, real discovery of jazz I was ready. I snatched up Hot Rats in my "anything Zappa" phase and by the time Ice Cream For Crow came out I was versed in Beef legend. It's like a pallette cleanser for me. When all the music in life starts buncing up it's bloomers and sounding predictable and the same, I go back to Beefheart and though he hasn't made a record since 1982, his spirit will surely be missed.

Here’s a quick collection of major BEEF…hold on…

I'd highly recommend this great 6 part documentary. There are some spectacular shots of his later art work as well....

JOHN PEEL’S CAPT. BEEFHEART DOCUMENTARY (PT. 1 OF 6)

“THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS CAPTAIN BEEFHEART”