Remember 9/11

Remember

2,998 deaths

6,291 injured

No other song encapsulates my feelings about September 11 as this Who classic. A few weeks after the attacks, The Who performed “Won’t Get Fooled Again” along with three other songs at the Concert for New York City, which was a star-studded event at Madison Square Garden honoring the first responders of September 11, 2001.

Alice in Chains "Squeezebox"

Bands covering other bands' songs is something that can be a tricky thing, because quite honestly, it doesn't always work so well. But this one is pretty cool. Alice in Chains covers The Who's "Squeezebox," which is the correct title of the song and not what it says on the video screen.

Pete Townshend Working On New Musical

Pete Townshend wrote on his official blog that he is working on a new project. He writes:

FLOSS is an ambitious new project for me, in the style of TOMMY and QUADROPHENIA. In this case the songs are interspersed with surround-sound 'soundscapes' featuring complex sound-effects and musical montages. Several of the more conventional songs from FLOSS will be featured on a forthcoming Who recording for release in 2010. FLOSS will be heard in concert for the first time in 2011, at a venue and date yet to be established. I am already having talks with producers in New York.

The collected music and sound for FLOSS convey the story of a married couple whose relationship gets into difficulty. Walter, a straight-cut pub rock musician, is able to retire when one of his songs becomes the TV anthem of a big car company. He becomes a house-husband while his wife Floss devotes herself to a riding stables and stud. When he tries to return to music after a fifteen year hiatus, he finds that what he hears and what he composes evoke the ecologically rooted, apocalyptic mindset of his generation. Shaken by this and torn by personal difficulties, he and Floss become estranged. A series of dramatic events in a hospital emergency ward bring them both to their senses.

While Roger Daltrey exercises his ageing vocal chords by embarking on a two month USE OR LOSE IT solo tour, my focus is on FLOSS, which touches on the current issues faced by the Boomer generation. It also addresses their uneasy relationship with their parents, children and grandchildren. As a 19 year old - with My Generation - I wrote the most explicitly ageist song in rock. At 64, I now want to take on ageing and mortality, using the powerfully angry context of rock 'n' roll."

Courtesy of http://www.thewho.com.

Pete Townshend & Dire Straits

Once in a while I find a gem on YouTube, this is one of them. Pete Townshend getting together with Dire Straits in the early 1980's to rehearse for a benefit performance.

There's some cool shots in the video of Townshend meeting Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana.

Led Zeppelin "Baby Come On Home" and Other ZOSO (or Zep news)

A few items worth nothing about Led Zeppelin:

First, Robert Plant survived a serious accident earlier this month in London. Apparently and ironically, Plant’s vehicle collided with a car driven by a drug counselor. Plant currently is working with Alison Krauss on a followup to their debut album, Raising Sand.

Second, Jimmy Page has said that Led Zeppelin’s music will not be a part of games such as Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Basically he says that wannabe musicians should try the real thing, which I get, but I think that a whole new generation of fans would be introduced to the music of Led Zeppelin which would undoubtedly be a good thing.

Also, Cream bassist Jack Bruce claims he received death threats as a result of his dissing the Led Zeppelin reunion at the 02 arena last year. Bruce said at the time that Cream was 10 times the band Zeppelin ever was. Funny, 'cause I remember Keith Richards also taking a shot at Zeppelin when told they had a reunion:

“They had one? Well, well done Jimmy (Page) and Robert (Plant) ... ‘Stairway To Heaven don't make it for me, baby.”

I really think these guys say these things tongue-in-cheek and just to get people's goat.

Finally, this song by Led Zeppelin gets virtually no airplay: "Baby Come On Home," was recorded for Zeppelin's first album but wasn't released until their second boxed set in 1993.

The song is a tribute to songwriter Bert Berns.

Good Music For A Good Cause

I picked up the DVD, TCT at the Royal Albert Hall, recently and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw and heard. The DVD is a compilation of some of the artists that performed in 2007 at the annual Teenage Cancer Trust Concerts at the legendary venue. The shows are organized by Roger Daltrey for the charity which raises money for kids suffering from cancer. Proceeds from the sale of the DVD go to the charity.

Below is the setlist and although I bought the DVD for The Who's performance and Noel Gallagher, I really liked everyone, particularly A Band of Bees and the really eccentric performance of Gruff Rhys. Oh yes and there is a Pete Townshend interview included, which the front cover of the DVD describes as being "emotional." I didn't see it as such, but rather informative. For example, Pete says that he and Eric Clapton were summoned by Beatles' manager Brian Epstein to have dinner with the band and to be the first ones to listen to "Strawberry Fields" and to give their feedback - which was that essentially it was the best thing they had ever heard.

1) The Who - The Seeker
2) Noel Gallagher - Don't Look Back In Anger
3) Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller - The Butterfly Collector
4) Kaiser Chiefs - Take My Temperature
5) The Coral - Dreaming Of You
6) The Cure - The Kiss
7) Razorlight and Roger Daltrey - Summertime Blues
8) The View - Face For The Radio
9) Bloc Party - Like Eating Glass
10) A Band Of Bees - Got To Let Go
11) Gruff Rhys - Gwn Mi Wn
12) Judas Priest - Hell Bent For Leather
13) Kasabian - L.S.F.
14) The Who - Baba O'Riley
15) The Who - Tea And Theatre

Martha Wainwright, Pete Townshend and Rachel Fuller Sing "Factory"

Three of my favorite singers got together during Rachel Fuller’s In The Attic show a couple of years ago and produced this video. Pete Townshend, Rachel Fuller and Martha Wainwright sung Martha’s song, “Factory.” Although I have no idea what the song is about, it’s one of Martha’s better songs. Seems like there are many people out there that have these types of informal gatherings in which they play music. Fuller, though, put out a whole CD and DVD last month that was a compilation of her In The Attic gatherings. Some of the artists that appeared were Tenacious D, Lou Reed, Rachel Yamagata, Pete Townshend and others.