I’ll honor the great Mr. Zappa on Friday (on what would have been his 72nd birthday) with an all-Franky Beyond Beyond is Beyond show on East Village Radio. Come freak out, Suzy!
Beyond Beyond is Beyond on East Village Radio, Friday, December 21st, 2-4pm ET
UPDATE: Freak out to the archive…
Beyond Beyond is Beyond will celebrate its 100th show on East Village Radio this Thursday! And it’s also pretty much the 2-year mark for the show.
So other than celebrating by rubbing bbibirthday cake all over my chest, which will probably be lost on radio listeners, I will be spinning all kinds of music that I played on my first 3 shows. Stuff from the likes of CCR, Hawkwind, Bubble Puppy, Bryan Scary, Yes, Wishbone Ash, Aphrodite’s Child, Juicy Lucy, Syd Barrett, Ween and Agitation Free.
And not only that, on a sad note, I will pay tribute to the late great legendary blues-rock guitarist, Gary Moore who just passed away on Sunday, February 6th. I’ll play stuff from his bands Skid Row, Colosseum II, solo and his absolute best guitar work with Thin Lizzy. Do you know what Lizzy song that appears on? Let’s listen to it on Thursday together (noon to 2pm ET)…and celebrate the 100th BBiB show on EVR!
I’m a music lover and I’ve always stolen music. I’ve always bought music too, but when you crave music the way that I do, you’ve got to do some stealing. It’s a balance.
Well, I guess the earliest form of stealing came from holding the tape recorder up to the radio to record songs. Then it moved on to recording albums onto cassette from either records or factory cassettes. Then on to actually stealing cassettes from fine retailers, such as Sears. Then on to CD burning, then on to file-sharing and downloading full albums via the internet. One could even argue that buying used vinyl is a glorified way of stealing. Hey, the record company doesn’t get paid when I buy an album for $1 at a street fair or in a shop.
Anyway, the point is…the balance. The good and the bad. The evil and divine. The heaven and hell. The dualities of which Ronnie James Dio always sang.
One of the cassettes that I stole from Sears when I was a 12-year old newbie rocker was a classic duality. It contained the full Ozzy-led Paranoid album on one side and on the other side, the full Dio-led Heaven and Hell album. Well, Paranoid is the obvious classic there, but it was the then-surprise other side that knocked me out…and that I played over and over. It was a time when I was just learning about Dio. Shit, I was just learning about everybody! But I was just putting the pieces together that this guy who I knew was currently in a killer band called Dio was named Ronnie James Dio and actually took over for Ozzy in Black Sabbath! So that’s what this is! Whoa!
Fucking mind-blowing.
Well, the stealing of cassettes didn’t last too long, as a friend and I were busted at Sears the first time that the friend tried to make off with some jams. Our first lesson in crime and punishment. But not before I put some classic music in my library and my soul.
And Ronnie has now completed life’s biggest duality. Death. But not before putting some classic music in all of our souls. If anyone can make peace with the afterlife, it’s got to be Ronnie. And his music will always go on to be cherished by lovers of the best duality in the world…rock & roll! …Or is that just a hendiadys? Well, it’s close enough for rock & roll!
Cheers to you, Ronnie, may you rest in peace. Thanks for all the great music and magic that you put into the world. You rock! And, more importantly, WE ROCK!
This Thursday on the ol’ East Village Radio show that I like to call Beyond Beyond is Beyond, I will be talking to the gold-throated ‘god of hellfire’ himself, the amazing Arthur Brown. As seen here, freaking the fuck out…
Esoteric Recordings is reissuing much of Arthur’s works, including the groundbreaking, earth-shaking Crazy World of Arthur Brown album, as well as Arthur Brown’s Kingdom Come albums.
I will also be paying tribute to MAN‘s fantastic guitarist/vocalist/songwriter, Micky Jones, who just passed away on March 10th, losing the battle to a brain tumor that he had been fighting for years. Micky will live on for many through the fine, fine music that he leaves behind. R.I.P. Micky…and thank you for the jams.
Coincidentally, Esoteric Recordings also did the superb remastering job with the MAN catalog as well, so this Thursday will be Esoteric Fest on Beyond Beyond is Beyond. So listen live at noon eastern, Thursday, March 18th to East Village Radio and let’s celebrate jams together! Sound good?
UPDATE: HERE’S THE ARCHIVE OF THIS SHOW! (…and the Playlist)
Hi, it’s me, Mike…sitting on the other side of your computer. Come BEYOND this week and listen for your chance to win a new CD from a new BBiB-approved band called Rubblebucket! I’ve been listening to it all week and man, it’s a mesmerizing blend of afrobeat, reggae, funk, soul and of course ROCK! And their chick singer kicks serious ass! So tune in to East Village Radio at noon Thursday to hear how to win it…
And stay tuned in for some songs from a couple amazing BLUE bands who are extra blue now, as both Blue Cheer and Blue Ash both lost original members this month. Rest In Peace, Dickie Peterson…
…and Bill Bartolin of Blue Ash…
AND, thanks to the good rockers over at Anthology Recordings, I’ve also got some great EXMAGMA music in ‘Anthology is Also Beyond’. You gotta hear it all on Beyond Beyond is Beyond, Thursday at noon eastern at East Village Radio dot freakin’ com!
CHEERS!
Mike
Another Skynyrd original, and rock original, passed…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PENBU3lrpE]
First, this year we lost the amazing Buddy Miles of Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsies, now we must mourn the loss of another fantastic and truly original Hendrix drummer from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Mitch Mitchell. R.I.P. Mitch! Your killer snare fills will live on forever!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiMu_ZSbKn4]
We lose yet another great this year, Pink Floyd’s pioneering keyboardist, Rick Wright, who it has been announced today, has lost his a battle to cancer at the age of 65. Wright pioneered the use of synthesizers in rock music and is considered one of the greats, up there with Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. I didn’t even realize until doing some research today, that Wright sang lead vocals on a few Floyd songs, including “Time”, “Astronomy Domine”, and “Matilda Mother”. Wright performed on every Pink Floyd tour in the band’s history. Oddly enough, I was just listening to The Wall all the way through yesterday, for the first time in probably like 15 years!
Addition: And Red David has just informed me that Wright passed away 33 years to the day, after the release of Wish You Were Here.
Here’s some more on him from Wikipedia…
Wright was educated at the Haberdashers’ Aske’s School and the Regent Street Polytechnic College of Architecture, where he met fellow band members Roger Waters and Nick Mason. He was a founding member of The Pink Floyd Sound (as they were then called) in 1965, and also participated in its previous incarnations, Sigma 6 and The (Screaming) Abdabs.
In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright was seen as a dominant musical force in the group (though not as much of one as Syd Barrett, the band’s chief songwriter and front man at the time) and he wrote and sang several songs of his own during 1967–68. While not credited as a singer on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, he sung lead on Barrett-penned songs like “Astronomy Domine” and “Matilda Mother,” as well as notable harmonies on “Scarecrow” and “Chapter 24.” Examples of his early compositions include “Remember a Day”, “Paintbox” and “It Would Be So Nice”. As the sound and the goals of the band evolved, Wright became less interested in songwriting and focused primarily on contributing his distinctive style to extended instrumental compositions such as “Interstellar Overdrive“, “A Saucerful of Secrets“, “Careful with That Axe, Eugene“, “One Of These Days” and to musical themes for film scores (More, Zabriskie Point and Obscured by Clouds). He also made essential contributions to Pink Floyd’s long, epic compositions such as “Atom Heart Mother“, “Echoes” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond“. His most commercially popular compositions are “The Great Gig in the Sky” and “Us and Them” from 1973‘s The Dark Side of the Moon. He also contributed significantly to other mid-period Floyd classics like “Breathe” and “Time”.
Wright recorded his first solo project, Wet Dream, and released it in September 1978 with little fanfare. However, the album is regarded with some acclaim among Pink Floyd fans. Battling both personal problems and an increasingly rocky relationship with Roger Waters, he was forced to resign from Pink Floyd during The Wall sessions by Roger Waters, who threatened to pull the plug on the album’s tapes if Wright did not leave the band. However, he was retained as a salaried session musician during the subsequent live concerts to promote that album in 1980 and 1981. Ironically, Wright became the only member of Pink Floyd to profit from those hugely spectacular shows, since the net financial loss had to be borne by the three remaining “full-time” members. He was the only member of the band not to attend the 1982 première of the film version of The Wall. In 1983, Pink Floyd released the only album on which Wright does not appear with The Final Cut.
During 1984, Wright formed a new musical duo with Dave Harris (from the band Fashion) called Zee. They signed a record deal with Atlantic Records and released only one album, Identity, which was a commercial and critical flop. Wright rejoined Pink Floyd following Waters’ departure. Because of legal and contractual issues from his “hired gun” status during The Wall world tour, Wright’s photo was not included in the 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason and his name was listed in smaller letters than Mason and Gilmour. By the time of the Momentary Lapse world tour and the 1988 live album The Delicate Sound of Thunder, Wright was contractually a member of Pink Floyd once again. In 1994, he co-wrote five songs and sang lead vocals on one song (“Wearing the Inside Out“) for the next Pink Floyd album, The Division Bell. This recording provided material for the double live album and video release P*U*L*S*E in 1995. Wright, like Nick Mason, has performed on every Pink Floyd tour.
And here’s a great song from his solo album, Wet Dream, from 1978. Rest In Peace, Rick…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZflRAcPOSbk&hl=en&fs=1]
Listen to some great Wright tracks here.
I posted this last year, and I got some great stories and memories from readers. Talking about things and sharing helps us all cope and helps us all stop to remember the innocent people who lost their lives that day. Has the U.S. reaction to 9/11 made any sense to you? Maybe that’s something to keep in mind when you head to the voting booth in November. Let’s put some heart back in the White House!
I found a few old pics that I took a few hours after the attacks, from the Promenade. My thoughts are with those lives that were lost that day and their loved ones. One day, may all beings live in happiness and peace…
Where were you?
Like Ahmet Ertegun, with whom he worked hand-in-hand, Jerry Wexler loved music and worked with and signed many of the greats that we still listen to today. Jerry and Ahmet represent the goodness and talent and love that the record industry veered away from when it became a big business. Ain’t that America, though? Wexler set the bar high. Maybe the new movers and shakers in the recording industry will be more like the Wexlers and Erteguns that revolutionized music, and less like the profiteers and crooked capitalists that had the industry hijacked for the last few decades. The future is open, and it could learn from the greats of the past. R.I.P. Jerry Wexler, may your love of music live on!
Go take a listen to these classic Wexler productions…you’ll be glad you did!
