So, both of my feature documentaries are streaming on the exciting PBS App!
You may watch my latest doc, Feast Your Ears: The Story of WHFS 102.3 FM, about one of the last progressive radio stations in the country, as well as my Emmy-nominated PBS doc The Bayou: DC’s Killer Joint, which charts nearly half a century of music and popular culture through a waterfront nightclub. Both films were years in the making but a joy to work on. Click each link to watch.
Category Archives: Music
Dan Pasley, R.I.P.
Dan Pasley, the Shakespeare of advertising.
Another dear friend gone. Dan Pasley was a character in all the meanings of that word. He was an ad man, of the type that Don Draper would have become if he kept writing ad campaigns into the ’70s. Dan was kind enough to include me on many of his jingles, and other projects. I not only got to play drums, but I was sometimes a voice actor. Dan would show up at the studio with a briefcase, which he would open to reveal a bottle of alcohol and a yellow legal pad. The next several hours would be spent trying to make art. Or advertising. Or something. Dan was really a songwriter, a playwright, a provocateur. Which was not always what the client wanted but the work sure stood out from the usual tripe. (For instance, a 60-second radio jingle for Britches Western doesn’t mention the clothing store until 31 seconds into the song.)
While I have copies of many of the songs I worked on (Penguin Feather, Jerry’s Subs, Clydes), I don’t have a copy of Don’t Buy Books By Crooks, the theme song for the Committee to Boycott Nixon’s Memoirs–an attempt to stop the disgraced president from cashing in on his infamy. Dan’s ad agency handled all the promotion. Here’s a New York Times editorial turning up the paper’s nose at the very idea.
Despite what the Times said, Dan got a T-shirt to Dan Aykroyd, who promptly wore it on Saturday Night Live.
I still remember the song’s opening lines:
If the hero of San Clemente
Sells his books he’s gonna rake in plenty
And I don’t think that he should make a dime
I took the portrait above at a Bicentennial party in Arlington. Dan Pasley was definitely the Shakespeare of advertising. And so much more. Will miss him greatly.
I Wanna Go Fast, by the Yachtsmen
Presenting the latest music video from America’s premier purveyors of Dock & Roll, The Yachtsmen. The band consists of John Penovich (guitar), Ben Holmes (drums), and Mark Noone (bass). Mr. Noone wrote the song and sings lead.
The video was edited by Brad Dismukes, who also provided the special special effects, with cinematography by Rich West. Quasi-direction by Yours Truly. Recorded on location at the Palisades Hub Cap Center in Washington, D.C. Enjoy.
Brooks Tegler in the Studio
I recorded this interview with drummer and Gene Krupa authority Brooks Tegler on July 6, 2007, at Bias Recording Studios in Springfield, Va. I had recently been anointed as New Media Editor at Washington City Paper, mostly because I had a newfangled minDV camera and went around bothering people with it. I covered the first Capital Fringe Fest and first DC Shorts Festival. Those videos are on Youtube somewhere, but this one never got posted. Because shortly after, my father died, City Paper was sold and the new owners laid off two thirds of the staff, including me, then my mother died, then the economy died in 2008 and I had other things to worry about.
So, sorry, Brooks. But here it finally is. There is more, including an interview with vocalist Jim Stephanson and a lengthy talk about Gene Krupa’s cymbals and gear. Those will be posted soon.
Bill Holland takes the Blindfold Test
Around 2009, I went over to Bill Holland‘s house with the idea of recording him taking the famous Downbeat Magazine Blindfold Test, or my version of it. Originated by famed jazz critic Leonard Feather in the ’40s, the idea was to get prominent musician’s reactions to records of the day.
Like Feather, Bill Holland is one of the most knowledgeable musicians around. He was the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for Billboard, as well as the leader of one of D.C.’s finest bands, Rent’s Due.
I planned to do a series of blindfold tests, but with music from my collection, or songs that resemble music.
But…
After I got the tape home I discovered that the image had the time code visible. Annoyed at myself, I put the tape away and never did another blindfold test.
Of course, I could have just put an ID graphic covering the time code, as I have now done. Sigh.
Anyway, I finally transferred the tape and you can see Mr. Holland’s exquisite knowledge and wit on display. Enjoy.
Side note: This includes a track from Tina Louise, of Gilligan’s Island fame. I did another video about a reel-to-reel tape of her album, not remembering that I had featured her in this video. Crazy.
Dave Nuttycombe’s Almost Book Report
Because no one asked me, I offer this urgent update on my recent purchases from the beloved Politics and Prose book store.
Drumsville, by Robert Catalioti, examines how the beat that got everyone moving started in New Orleans. Dan Leroy‘s Dancing to the Drum Machine looks at what some thought to be the end of human percussion. The Foreword by Duran Duran‘s Nick Rhodes is worth the price of the book.
Enjoy.
I MADE A SONG!
The Exciting Backstory: So I decided to update my WAV editing software, Sound Forge, which I bought as discs from a computer software store when that was a thing you could do. Over the years, the original program was bought and sold, became Sony SoundForge, and finally is part of the Magix family of whatever. That’s where I found the upgrade.
But with the upgrade came something I didn’t ask for, a music-making program called Music Maker. (Of course!)
Music Maker seems like Garage Band with pretensions to Logic Pro. When I opened it up there was a sample tune ready to go, which was stupid, but enticing enough that I clicked around and managed to create this sick little ditty. It took almost no time. That there was even a vocal track available is proof that nothing matters anymore.
The bad news is that now I’m one of those music-illiterate people who can use a computer to create sounds that put actual musicians out of work.
The good news is that I can’t figure out how to make another song with the program. Guess it was just magix!
Enjoy this greatest song ever produced.
The Lure of folklore
Yes, I’m on record as being a huge fan of Taylor Swift‘s new album, folklore. Not normally any kind of Swiftie, I discovered the music thanks to the kind algo-bots on Youtube (Hi!), who blessed my feed with the lyric videos when the album first “dropped,” as the kids and marketers say. Intrigued, then hooked, I quickly bought both the digital files and physical CD, and I’ve been listening nonstop since. It’s a good record to do the dishes by.
But then a new Youtube rabbit hole appeared: Insistent, ardent folklore cover versions. As with the 300-plus fan versions of Shallow that I found shortly after A Star Is Born was released, there is no shortage of reverential performances by happy Taylor fans. More intriguing are the many, many rewrites and answer songs. These are not attempts at Weird Al japery, these are deeply felt, sincere efforts to make Swift’s music even more resonant than it already is.
Most are based on the “teenage love triangle” of tunes on the album, cardigan, august, and betty, a mysterious triptych of angst, regret, and remembrance, which Ms. Swift is known for and excels at.
So here’s some of the more interesting videos I found. As usual, they come from people with thousands of subscribers and views to those who barely register double digits. But numbers belie talent; so many of these ladies could be the next Taylor Swift. All of their efforts are heartbreakingly wonderful.
Betty seemed to provoke the most response, with many gals leaping to provide Betty’s point of view:
And a ukulele version, but gender-swapped:
Speaking of gender-swapping, there’s a fair amount of reworking Swift’s songs to be explicitly LGBT-centric. Here’s betty, again, reworked to that effect:
And illicit affairs:
august from Jame’s POV:
This mashup combines the trilogy into one:
As does this:
This person seems to be rewriting the whole album!
cardigan
the 1
this is me trying:
Finally, here’s an amazingly deep analysis about the whole Betty/James relationship that is positively Sherlockian!
Going Deep With “Shallow”
Would you like 300 cover versions of the song Shallow from the film A Star Is Born? Of course you would. After exhaustive and exhausting research, I’m proud to present this list of some — repeat, some — of the too many cover versions of this Oscar-worthy tune, performed in the film by the Oscar-worthy Bradley Cooper and the Oscar-worthy Lady Gaga. Many of these renditions rival the quality and emotional resonance of the film version. Many do not. Some have thousands of views; others low single digits. Some are just inexplicable. Enjoy this time-suck. You’re welcome.
Soul Man: Larry Kidwell, 1947-2017
Larry Kidwell has passed. Larry was the singer/piano player for the legendary D.C. band Lawrence & the Arabians. (That’s him in Jesus pose behind his bandmates, circa 1967.) Before the term blue-eyed soul, he was its embodiment. As Michael Dolan wrote about the band in Washingtonian in 1988, “They were the original soul rebels, white kids who grew up on black music and in turn played black music for other white kids to grow up on.” One of those kids was me.
Larry and the band get their own section in Mark Opsasnick‘s essential book, Capitol Rock, deservedly so. In the era of teen clubs and dances at the fire hall, before there was such a thing as a concert industry and professional music venues outside of classical halls, the band routinely drew 1,500 or more kids every weekend.
Of course, there were no Arabians in the band. As with many band names of the time, it was a play on something current, in this case the film. Yes, it was a more innocent time; please put your comments about “appropriation” aside, especially if you never heard the man sing. The few recordings that Larry and the band made don’t really do him justice. As with so much about music, you really have to hear it live.
Larry generously gifted me with the original photo of the band after I interviewed him for City Paper. He wrote on the back:
“If this picture means anything good to you, please keep it that it would give me pleasure, too.”
Larry, this picture means the world to me. And I hope I thanked you enough.
Condolences to his family. This town lost a bit of its soul.
