Hixter

Why the fuck does Pete Townshend have a blog is a better question.

Actually, he has two! One is "Chronicles, excerpts and fragments from an evolving biography" and the other is "excerpts from my forthcoming memoirs. Book One - 1945-1969; and current matters including occasional fictions."

Pete's an excellent writer and has a lot to say. His recollections of LSD trips and early Pink Floyd concerts gives the reader an interesting view of the 1966-7 London rock and roll scene.

From Pete Townshend's blog:

Live Earth

There are still a few news sources suggesting that The Who are playing a part in the Live Earth Festival. We are not, but this should not be taken as a rebuff, we know what the organizers are trying to achieve. We were not invited. We are playing at Roskilde in Denmark, and so have not had to do what most participants must have done, which is to work out how to balance the Ying against the Yang of the whole thing. Festivals are energy consuming, but at least they involve gatherings of large numbers of real people coming together in a common cause, with joy, humour and optimism.

In London change has been forced on us. Traffic Congestion charging is an extreme way to get people to travel on trains and buses. It seems to be working. Many more people are riding push-bikes to work as well. I am not soft. I can ride a bike with little effort, even at 62 years old. I do love my car, but I don't mind walking or riding a bike. Roger and the band have made several long journeys on this European tour by train. I often use the train from my home town to central London. Once, when I mentioned the wonder of our local train service to Mick Jagger in a documentary, the British press took the piss. Better I buy a Hybrid car? Better I keep my old one and use it less I think.

But you don't need Pop Stars telling you how to save the planet. Neither do you need news services telling you the uncaring, selfish Pete Townshend travels with seventy guitar cases. (I carry about fifteen). Exaggeration has always been my weakness. Seventy does sound better. It's just not true. But when the Live Earth events are cited in the same news services as producing as much carbon as Afghanistan, you can see how lazy web-'journalism' creates hysteria, anger and pointless jealousy. Someone else suggested we travel with 1,000 tons of equipment (this extrapolated from the earlier report that we had 1,000 cases). I think 1,000 tons might be the weight of a small aircraft carrier you chumps. We all want to do our bit. What about next tour we don't take the surface to air missiles?

posted by Pete Townshend at 12:57 PM

I love that Scarnella album, it's all over the place in it's greatness.

I just came across this photo that I took with an early digital camera at the very first Scarnella show in Portland, OR, on June 4th, 1998. They recorded the album a few days later in Seattle. I agree - it's a great one.

$40 each. After the mandatory fees etc., I paid $98 total for a pair.

I paid $525 (face value) for a single ticket to see The Who at the Greek a few years ago. I chose "best available" and told myself that I wouldn't consider it unless I drew a front row center ticket. Guess what came up the morning tickets went on sale?

I sat next to zillionaire Steve Bing and his Baywatch date. Down the row were Cusacks and Chili Peppers and other assorted celebrities. It was a little surreal, but I got a chance to see Pete and Roger up close for a change.

and the guy in the bunny suit.

The great Bobb Bruno (minus the bunny costume) played with Carla Bozulich when she opened for a chunk of the recent European tour.

i thought it was great that they played the sky blue sky songs in the order of the album. a different approach.

I noticed the same thing in Amsterdam.

Barring The Who, I'll go with Freebird.

It would have been cooler if they didnt do it.

 

Its kind of like some folks think Wilco's art is sacred and Im one of them.

 

Wasnt my call and wont change my love for the band but it would have been cooler not to do it.

D.eja vu from Wikipedia:

"Love Dance" was licensed by Volvo for a commercial in 2001. Watt, as administrator of the Minutemen's copyrights, authorized the use solely because, since it was a D. Boon composition, the royalties were going directly to D. Boon's father, who was suffering from emphysema. Watt simply and humbly rationalized the business move as a way for D. Boon to "help his pop" from beyond the grave.

Another Jens Lekman song, "Maple Leaves," name drops Mark E. Smith

"Fuck you, Mark E. , nothing makes you happy anyway."

Death by Northwest by Scarnella (Nels Cline and Carla Bozulich)

Carla Bozulich

Any reports on Carla Bozulich's sets over the last few days? Setlists, guest appearances, highlights?

There is a show that circulates, Nels & Thurston Moore. If you like far-out stuff, that show is a great one!

The CD is called "In Store." It was recorded the same day that Nels and Thurston recorded "Pillow Wand."

I forgot to mention "New Monastery" (it's great) but technically it's a Nels Cline Singers album. Sort of.

Does anyone have a suggestion where I should start? I would like to hear some Nels Cline without Wilco...what album is a good introduction to the his world of avante-garde guitar music?

Any of his Nels Cline Singers albums. Also there's Destroy All Nels Cline, the Scarnella album and The Inkling. Interstellar Space if you'd like to check out Nels' take on Coltrane.

The Geraldine Fibbers' Butch and Mike Watt's first 2 solo albums are more rock 'n' roll, but still brilliant.

Nels' site has MP3 samples from most of his projects.

Guitarist Rod Poole pushed the envelope on music

In the wake of his tragic death, friends remember 'a true artist' who loved to explore new sounds.

By Greg Burk, Special to The Times

May 19, 2007

Guitarist Jim McAuley had no trouble this week recalling his first meeting with fellow guitarist Rod Poole. It was at the home of Nels Cline, well before the three recorded their "Acoustic Guitar Trio" album.

"I was standing in Nels' kitchen, sipping coffee, when these amazing crystalline tones emerged from the living room," McAuley said. "Rod Poole was just tuning up, and already I was mesmerized by his sound."

Cline, a key player in L.A.'s experimental music scene and now a member of Wilco, described Poole as "a true artist, probably a genius" in a note on his website, posted after Poole was stabbed to death on Sunday in the parking lot of Mel's Drive-In.

His wife, Lisa Ladaw-Poole, was there when it happened.

The couple was walking toward the restaurant, after attending a concert at the Dangerous Curve art gallery downtown, when a car nearly struck them and other pedestrians. The musician spoke up; the vehicle's driver and passenger both got out, the latter allegedly with a knife, according to police. A half hour later, Poole died.

A security camera provided images that led to the quick arrest of Michael and Angela Sheridan. They were arraigned Wednesday.

Ladaw-Poole fielded a lot of phone calls this week, many of them from the parents of Poole's guitar students who hadn't gotten the news and were wondering why he didn't show up for their children's guitar lessons.

"These children loved Rod," Ladaw-Poole said Wednesday. "He was really kind with them."

Poole was a highly unusual guitarist, equally drawn to the distorted sound bombs of Jimi Hendrix and the spontaneous microcosmic tracings of Derek Bailey.

"I never could quite figure out how one man with one guitar could generate such an all-enveloping aural space," said Devin Sarno, an electronic drone artist who recorded Poole twice for Sarno's W.I.N. label.

Having left his native England in 1989 to find a more exploratory climate, Poole fell in with a devoted cloister of Los Angeles pathfinders that included Kraig Grady, Brad Laner and Motor Totemist Guild.

Grady, who composes in microtonal scales that employ the frequencies between Western music's traditional 12 tones, introduced Poole to his own mentor, Erv Wilson. Wilson is a pioneer in microtonal music and "just" intonation, which tunes to vibrations' natural mathematical ratios rather than the tempered scales used in orchestras.

Never one to take halfway measures, Poole lived in Wilson's house for more than five years and emerged with his own way of hearing.

He had a Martin guitar re-fretted to 17 tones and, using his already precise, shaded finger-picking technique, began improvising trance-bound variations on spacious arpeggios that could extend until time vanished.

Poole's solo, group and bowed-guitar recordings have appeared on the W.I.N., Transparency and Incus labels (the last being Bailey's imprint).

Poole's music was the first and last thing heard Wednesday on KXLU-FM's (88.9) "Trilogy" show, this night hosted by old Motor Totemist friends Emily Hay and Lynn Johnston.

Pinging and plucking, gently contracting and expanding, with "just" harmonies fluttering their intangible physicality throughout, the improvisation exuded an uncanny sense of peace. In contrast to its quiet beauty, it was titled "The Death Adder."

Earlier in the day, Johnston described Poole as "a low-key guy

Naming a greatest hits collection is essentially cheating when it comes to making a list of favorite albums.

Nels is "better" suited for the Wilco of today, but I don't think he can hang with the Alt. Country twang of JB's playing.

Yeah, it's not like Nels ever played with an Alt. Country band or covered an entire Willie Nelson album.

Nels' Myspace page is streaming the first song off the upcoming Nels Cline Singers album.

My latest Macbook arrived on Friday. I always order them from Amazon because they offer a rebate and they don't charge sales tax. The $200-ish I save gives me a new Mac for the price of a refurbished or educational discount machine from an Apple store.

Sorry if this has already been mentioned.

Got the album, its out today in Ireland.

I'm curious about the writing credits on the album. Who are the songs credited to?

Wilco really is the best bands out there to us (the fans), I pre-ordered mine and hopefully it will come next week. Thanks Wilco!

I just received the tracking number for my pre-ordered CD. Looks like it shipped today.

The Who Sell Out

Tommy

Live at Leeds

Who's Next

Quadrophenia

Beggars Banquet

Let it Bleed

Sticky Fingers

Exile on Main St. (Double album, so I cheated a little because I don't like Goats Head Soup all that much.)