Moods for Moderns. Keep the lighthouse in sight when you stray from your music. When you find it again, it's a new kind of happiness. Re-appraising Apple Music. Plus, two great music Substacks.
Off-topic, but relevant to anyone who's been concerned about the potential of another strike in Hollywood: a tentative deal has been reached between the producers and unions. It'll have to be ratified by the rank and file before we can relax, so we'll see -- but this is the first good news on this issue in a while.
Truth be told, it's the first good news of ANY sort in a while...
This is great, Tim! I am also a dual subscriber to Spotify/Apple Music. I use them differently. I would argue it's probably smart to create two personalities for each service! I haven't hit my station, though. I will check it out. But basically I use Apple Music to listen to soundtrack music and to peruse their non-algorithmic playlists to see what's going on. Like the big alternative playlist ALT CTRL (I think it's called) which tells you what is new in that genre. But like you, I have a vast iTunes library made from ripping CDs and that is probably a lot different from what I listen to now. Metric!! Love them.
Apple Music has some advantages. You can turn on Lossless to get a better quality stream and there is the Classical Music app which I really enjoy (it kind of hooks into my soundtrack listening as well.)
Okay, playing the station. You're right! It's a tad dated, which is nice!
This is the feedback I've been getting -- dated but in a nice way that grows into a great thing (with a few misses where you're thinking, WHAT, I never listened to them). It's definitely a dual personality thing.
Yes, it's got a good selection, makes interesting recommendations, and it is much easier to find music based on composer than in the main Apple Music app.
Well, Tim, you struck a chord (gulp!) with this one. Like Rick above, your music tastes align about 75% with mine. I was the original obsessive, completist, fanatic, but then, completely unbidden, a half decade ago I stopped listening altogether. I have my old “albums” in my iTunes library on my desktop but never listen. I have Spotify and admire it in some sense, and I do listen occasionally, but I think it killed my love of music. Part of the pleasure used to be in discovery and sourcing and collecting … Spotify renders all that moot.
I hear you, Andres. I think you can use the Apple Music app to access your stored iTunes stuff and then experience what I did. That might be fun. And one area where I will say that I have discovered a lot of new music is just picking three or four closely associated genres (Spotify kinda overdoes it with indie this, indie that, etc. and has a lot of "mood" based playlists) and then just listen essentially to like 50+ songs I've never heard as I walk. I try to make it through all but invariably skip some of those but I have discovered LOTS of new artists that I really love. And it usually happens the same way -- on the walk, I'll hear a song and look down at my phone to see the band and song name, then keep walking, then invariably the next walk, listening to the same list, I'll look down at the same song. That's when I I know I want to hear more from that artist. This is why so many of my new bands are pretty young.
Anyway, a perfect example is Middle Kids. Just started loving everything I heard. On different playlists I'd stop and look down and it was Middle Kids again. Then I could hear them every time. Now a big fave. It's also how I discovered Sun June, who I recommend listening to on late nights with your favorite beverage trying to conjure up some creativity and good vibes; or on a Sunday morning when you're just hanging out and want some great lo-fi vibes. Excellent singer. Excellent lyrics.
This really hit home on a personal note and is a wonderful post. For me it's reconnecting with loved music that I eschew during really depressive episodes because I can't embrace the meanings associated with it at times. This weekend I was able to reconnect with a lot of the jackson browne and julien baker music that I dearly love.
From my perspective as a cranky geezer (yes, I've got my very own pair of designer Cranky Pants), the thing I hate most about Apple is that they came up with Something Very Good -- iTunes, which allowed us to buy individual songs from the Wayback Machine, and the iPod, which allowed us to store and play those tunes wherever we went -- then shit-canned both in favor of streaming Apple Music, which does not interest me in the least. With over 400 CDs, I've got all the music I need at home and thus have no use for internet streaming -- what I need is the ability to listen to what I want on the road where there's no access to the internet. Thank Dog for my ancient 16 gig iPod, which got me through a pair of long drives to and from LA recently. I don't know what I'll do if and when that old iPod finally dies... probably take my cane outside and shake it at the passing clouds while cursing a blue streak at the top of my lungs.
Speaking of LA, I paid a visit to my old home lot at CBS in Studio City a couple of weeks ago, where figurative tumbleweeds were rolling down the alleys between sound stages. Out of 18 stages, only two are working, one with the reboot of "Dexter," and the other with the apparently eternal "Big Brother." In the Good Old Days when broadcast television ruled the airwaves, May and June were always slow for the studios -- not much beyond an occasional feature film was shot between the end of pilot season in late Apri and the gear-up for the new fall season in mid-July -- but cable networks and the streamers changed all that. With shorter ten to twelve episode seasons, cable networks were cranking out shows year 'round, and there were usually several chugging away at all times ... but not this year. Whether this is due to the still-looming threat of an IA strike -- the producers afraid of committing to any project that might be frozen in amber should a strike happen -- or just a pre-emptive work stoppage by the money men to starve out and scare the craft unions into settling for yet another shitty three-year contract is unclear. Probably a bit of both. From what I hear, negotiations are ongoing, but not particularly well, and the deadline is rapidly approaching. If a deal isn't struck by July, a strike may be inevitable ... which would be a disaster. During my brief visit there, I talked to several friends still in the biz who are hanging on by their fingernails. One 20+ year juicer told me that he was on the verge of becoming homeless, another 16 year veteran said he was actively seeking another career, and yet another 40 year veteran gaffer had just worked two days the week before -- his first job in over a year.
Things are not good in Tinsel Town.
But hey, the martinis were still great at Musso and Franks, so all is not lost.
That's one thing an exuberantly misspent youth is good for, stories...
While I've never been immune to a Gibson and a rare steak at Museo & Franks, I'll always love Barneys.
I can never remember the name of the place but when I lived in West LA with a bunch of friends who were working in the "industry" there was this place on Pico that I always think of as "The Apple Pie Shack". It was basically a square log cabin looking place with a counter that took up most of the floor space and one guy working there (who looked like he'd been there since electricity and flush toilets became fashionable). Their apple pie was sublime, the burgers were mediocre. I'd always confuse the guy behind the counter by asking if they could melt cheddar cheese on top. Always loved that funky place...
Barneys has its own unique charm, and is certainly a lot more affordable than Mussos. A martini, Caesar salad, filet mignon, and a glass of nice Malbec set me back $175 during my recent sojourn to LA ... but it was worth it. Hadn't been there in five years.
Sounds like you're talking about The Apple Pan -- and a fun diner it is.
Did you ever go to The Batrack out on 26th and Wilshire? A wonderful bar/restaurant with a bevy of gorgeous waitresses who wore little tuxedo outfits ... oh, those halcyon days of youth. I practically lived there between jobs for a couple of years, until the owner sold and it turned into something much less.
There were so many weird and great places down there then. My friends and room mates were obsessed with this dive strip bar out by LAX that had a big billboard up advertising "Naked Lunch"...
I remember that place -- I think it was called "The New Jet Strip." When in the mood for such things back in the day, I'd head for one of the two "Kit Kat Clubs" in Hollywood. All gone now ... like much of what was good about LA.
You might consider iTunes Match. It's a bear to use at first. But once it's set up it puts all your music in the cloud which you can stream or download to your phone. It costs $25 a year.
Welp - just read your second paragraph. I'm in Georgia and the guy next door who was a camera operator for TV switched to pest control during the strike. My husband talked to him and he isn't going back. There isn't work. The pest control gig is not bad. Then he sprayed our yard for mosquitoes gratis. Nice guy.
I'm surprised to hear things are so slow in Georgia. So many big shows -- a lot of Marvel stuff -- are done in and around Atlanta these days, but I guess the slowdown hit everybody. Your neighbor is probably better off in pest control. Movies have always been a boom and bust industry in which carving out a remotely stable/normal life is very difficult. Believe me, the "glamour" wears off fast ... like maybe ten minutes. It's not all bad -- I went to a lot of jaw-dropping locations and had my fun in the biz -- but it's not what it used to be, and never will be again.
Michael, many thanks for your great "Hollywood Juicer" blog, which I read for many years. I now also read the Crew Stories group at Facebook. Mostly IATSE members. Stories from last years' strikes were heartbreaking. I really hope there's agreement without more strikes. Best wishes. (Apologies for non-Tim content.)
Hugh -- thanks! It's always gratifying to hear from those who resonated with the blog. It's still going, but I only post on the first Sunday of every month now. Being retired, I'm no longer working on set and getting new ideas for posts, so it's mostly reviews of film books and musing on current trends in the industry. "Crew Stories" is great - lots of wonderful tales on that site, along with sobering reflections on the reality of the biz in these troubled times. I'm trying to keep the blog alive until the long-in-the-works blog book is finally done and in print. I've almost finished the first draft, and hope to have it ready for print by the end of the year. Fingers crossed.
Yeah, it's ugly. On a brighter note - this week my union sent an e-mail indicating that they've seen signs things will pick up soon, so who knows? If the IA and producers come to an agreement in the next two weeks, the worm may have turned towards better times. Fingers crossed.
I'm down with about 75% of the artists you mentioned, so obviously you have excellent taste.
Curious about a name unmentioned, a guy who is clearly one of EC's heroes: His Bobness. I'm a few years older than you, so while EC has since day one been one of my touchstones, the title of Greatest Living Songwriter (I normally hate GOAT designations, but willing to make this one exception) still goes to Dylan. He doesn't figure into your rotations?
On the subject of musicians who are also great music writers/critics, I would add Elizabeth Nelson. Her band The Paranoid Style is also first rate. She has a Substack, but posts infrequently. She's a more frequent poster on Twitter.
I have neither Spotify nor Apple Music (or any other streamer), so no comment on that subject. I back up all of my music on a hard drive, and from time to time add albums to my phone. That's where I make rediscoveries. As you said, just because you haven't listened for some years doesn't mean you don't love it. Right now I'm going through all of The Go-Betweens, sparked by seeing Robert Forster live last month.
Last September I saw the Costello/Nieve show at the beautiful Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. On the final encore, which I think was Couldn't Call It Unexpected, he came down from the stage and walked down the aisle, mere steps from where I was sitting. I captured some of it on video. The camera veers off him towards the end as I wanted to be in the moment and not be looking at my phone. It was really something, and you can see it here, along with a few photos:
Love it! The Costello/Nieve thing I saw way back when they did that live album series. Didn’t know they were doing it again.
I know this is odd because others have told me — but I’m just an “average” fan of Dylan. I love certain things and appreciate others but was never a thing I latched onto?
Thanks for sharing the EC photos. Calculated a while ago that I have seen him over 50 times live. Ha.
One of the most chilling and exciting moments I ever had at a live show (and Elvis has given me more than a few of those) was at the Warfield in SF, it was one of the Attractions reunion tours and at one point during the set, everybody left the stage but EC and Steve Nieve. Two songs I remember from that moment were Elvis singing Alison solo with an acoustic guitar with Neive in the shadows behind him, sitting silently — and then the big gun came out, Elvis standing alone with Steve Nieve playing a grand piano: My Funny Valentine.
BTW, I'm pretty sure that you and I are running roughly the same total on EC shows...
Sitting next to Tom Waits, that’s a helluva memory. Saw him in the audience once at the Berkeley Community Theater, but from many rows away.
More than 50 shows? Wow. I probably clock in around 20. I think I only get near that number with Chuck Prophet, thanks to living in the Bay Area up until six years ago, and being old. Next crooked number belongs to the Mekons.
Only an average Dylan fan? Well, nobody’s perfect.
I always loved the old Sweetwater in Mill Valley (not that excrescence that's using the name now) and one of the best thing about that bar was that people would just drop in. I saw Tom Waits there quite a few times in the late afternoon when it was just me and the bartender and Waits playing whatever the hell he wanted to on the beat up upright and singing. That fucking place was magic.
That's a fantastic story. And yes, the original Sweetwater was magic. I saw Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve there on an invite only gig after watching them play in SF for 2.5 hours (that whole tour of just them); at the Swetwater they played another 2 hours and only repeated one song.
I was waiting to get into the Sweetwater to see Harry Dean Stanton when a limo pulled up and out stepped EC and Cait. EC joined Harry Dean for the encore of “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down.” Unforgettable evening.
Small world that it is, I was at the I Beam on many of those Monday nights. So many great shows.
So many great shows there. Professor Longhair, Chuck Prophet and Penelope Houston acoustic, etc etc etc...
...and there was this one private event, well Tim knows about that one...
The I-Beam was kind of a magical place and one that I'm not sure could've happened at any other time. One of the DJs and I were the only two major staff members that weren't gay and didn't show up on weekends...
I know, I fail a lot of tests. You should see my wine friends trying to understand that I'm not that into white wine. Their disappointment is revealing and I know what it's saying about me.
My first concert in SF (or so I thought -- we were actually picking up a friend's GF in SF and heading over the Greek in Berkeley -- was Elvis Costello I can't even remember how long ago and wouldn't say it out loud if I did. I do remember pushing all the way to the front so I think that's going to put my age way low. First time I saw him. From there, it all took off and it doesn't hurt that I was a music critic for so many years.
My excuse was that I worked in places like the I-Beam running lights (and yes, I did the Monday Night shows there for several years), The DNA and on and off for Paradise Lounge. Tickets had a way of finding their way to me. Having Howie Klein as a longtime friend probably didn't hurt either...
Yeah, among other shows, Howie got me 4th Row center in the "Purple Circle" at the Cow Palace for Prince's Purple Rain tour...
...and, yeah, those were really the days, there was so much great music in SF both homegrown and touring acts that HAD to play SF and many wanted to play smaller venues. I had the Ramones booked for the DNA Lounge (they contacted me, wanting to play there) but the Fire Marshall nixed it because we didn't have an exit at the rear of the building. I had to hold my nose and arrange for them to play at Echo Beach that night. Or the time I booked Digital Underground and their manager forced us to take the (vastly inferior) Consolidated as the headliner. Or people playing sets late night after playing bigger venues, Prince comes immediately to mind...
I am reminded of when we had first gotten iPods and the promise was when you put the setting on random, no skipping allowed. Just take it as it comes -- if it's on there, we liked it at SOME point, so you have to listen. (I'll skip the weird obsession I had with actually getting an iPod.)
I love my old iPod -- it's like the best radio station ever, with nothing but good tunes. They'll have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers ... until it finally dies.
I haven't found a way to do it other than to go into my old iTunes folder>Music and drag them into playlists in the Apple Music app. The problem for is that my old iTunes library was/is heavily curated and my listening was almost exclusively on the playlists. If you drag the songs in, it's basically a ginormous list of not organized songs — and I'd have to completely recreate the playlists from scratch.
I had a catastrophic system crash (in conjunction with a Time Machine drive failing) that meant that there was no way to get my music library to Apple Music on the Mac — Unless Apple would allow me to sync the iPhone and have it populate Apple Music.
So, I use air play to my HomePod 2 stereo pair or my HomePod mini stereo pair. Not the solution I'd prefer, but there it is.
I have two of those 32 (or 64?) gig ones that stored movies and shit and both work still. I know people kept buying those until the end. Not sure it's findable on Google (haven't tried) but there's a famous story about how they used to put the movie edit and long day's shots of "Lord of the Rings" on there and transport them between editing areas (via intern) and someone got wind of this and tried to steal the iPod from the intern but he raced like a boss through the streets and evaded capture.
My last one was the "Video iPod" which was the classic iPod form factor, not the phone less iPhone version. It was called "Video iPod" because you could watch movies and tv shows on the tiny classic iPod screen — IN COLOR! I forget the capacity but it was the biggest one they had made (and that's why I bought it, never once watched video on it).
Off-topic, but relevant to anyone who's been concerned about the potential of another strike in Hollywood: a tentative deal has been reached between the producers and unions. It'll have to be ratified by the rank and file before we can relax, so we'll see -- but this is the first good news on this issue in a while.
Truth be told, it's the first good news of ANY sort in a while...
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/iatse-tentative-agreement-studios-streamers-1235932608/
This is great, Tim! I am also a dual subscriber to Spotify/Apple Music. I use them differently. I would argue it's probably smart to create two personalities for each service! I haven't hit my station, though. I will check it out. But basically I use Apple Music to listen to soundtrack music and to peruse their non-algorithmic playlists to see what's going on. Like the big alternative playlist ALT CTRL (I think it's called) which tells you what is new in that genre. But like you, I have a vast iTunes library made from ripping CDs and that is probably a lot different from what I listen to now. Metric!! Love them.
Apple Music has some advantages. You can turn on Lossless to get a better quality stream and there is the Classical Music app which I really enjoy (it kind of hooks into my soundtrack listening as well.)
Okay, playing the station. You're right! It's a tad dated, which is nice!
"it's probably smart to create two personalities"
That way lies schizophrenia, my friend. Watch out, you're just a hair from Dementia Præcox...
Ah, I think it's safe to have a few music personalities. ;) For example, I am equal parts cool and cringe.
This is the feedback I've been getting -- dated but in a nice way that grows into a great thing (with a few misses where you're thinking, WHAT, I never listened to them). It's definitely a dual personality thing.
I keep loving what pops up.
I held out for a long, long time before finally breaking down and paying the monthly for Apple Music, and now I use Apple's Classical Music app a lot.
I have the app and was thinking about giving it a try, as a neophyte. You like?
Yes, it's got a good selection, makes interesting recommendations, and it is much easier to find music based on composer than in the main Apple Music app.
Well, Tim, you struck a chord (gulp!) with this one. Like Rick above, your music tastes align about 75% with mine. I was the original obsessive, completist, fanatic, but then, completely unbidden, a half decade ago I stopped listening altogether. I have my old “albums” in my iTunes library on my desktop but never listen. I have Spotify and admire it in some sense, and I do listen occasionally, but I think it killed my love of music. Part of the pleasure used to be in discovery and sourcing and collecting … Spotify renders all that moot.
I hear you, Andres. I think you can use the Apple Music app to access your stored iTunes stuff and then experience what I did. That might be fun. And one area where I will say that I have discovered a lot of new music is just picking three or four closely associated genres (Spotify kinda overdoes it with indie this, indie that, etc. and has a lot of "mood" based playlists) and then just listen essentially to like 50+ songs I've never heard as I walk. I try to make it through all but invariably skip some of those but I have discovered LOTS of new artists that I really love. And it usually happens the same way -- on the walk, I'll hear a song and look down at my phone to see the band and song name, then keep walking, then invariably the next walk, listening to the same list, I'll look down at the same song. That's when I I know I want to hear more from that artist. This is why so many of my new bands are pretty young.
Anyway, a perfect example is Middle Kids. Just started loving everything I heard. On different playlists I'd stop and look down and it was Middle Kids again. Then I could hear them every time. Now a big fave. It's also how I discovered Sun June, who I recommend listening to on late nights with your favorite beverage trying to conjure up some creativity and good vibes; or on a Sunday morning when you're just hanging out and want some great lo-fi vibes. Excellent singer. Excellent lyrics.
King of America. He earned the crown for that album alone...
Game changer. First time I heard it was, oh, wow, OK, let's do this. Has never ever grown old.
That may actually be my favorite of all of his albums. I bought it right when it came out and I love it as much now as I did then...
...but with Dec, it's really impossible to choose a favorite...
This really hit home on a personal note and is a wonderful post. For me it's reconnecting with loved music that I eschew during really depressive episodes because I can't embrace the meanings associated with it at times. This weekend I was able to reconnect with a lot of the jackson browne and julien baker music that I dearly love.
Nice! And this as well. Glad it connected
From my perspective as a cranky geezer (yes, I've got my very own pair of designer Cranky Pants), the thing I hate most about Apple is that they came up with Something Very Good -- iTunes, which allowed us to buy individual songs from the Wayback Machine, and the iPod, which allowed us to store and play those tunes wherever we went -- then shit-canned both in favor of streaming Apple Music, which does not interest me in the least. With over 400 CDs, I've got all the music I need at home and thus have no use for internet streaming -- what I need is the ability to listen to what I want on the road where there's no access to the internet. Thank Dog for my ancient 16 gig iPod, which got me through a pair of long drives to and from LA recently. I don't know what I'll do if and when that old iPod finally dies... probably take my cane outside and shake it at the passing clouds while cursing a blue streak at the top of my lungs.
Speaking of LA, I paid a visit to my old home lot at CBS in Studio City a couple of weeks ago, where figurative tumbleweeds were rolling down the alleys between sound stages. Out of 18 stages, only two are working, one with the reboot of "Dexter," and the other with the apparently eternal "Big Brother." In the Good Old Days when broadcast television ruled the airwaves, May and June were always slow for the studios -- not much beyond an occasional feature film was shot between the end of pilot season in late Apri and the gear-up for the new fall season in mid-July -- but cable networks and the streamers changed all that. With shorter ten to twelve episode seasons, cable networks were cranking out shows year 'round, and there were usually several chugging away at all times ... but not this year. Whether this is due to the still-looming threat of an IA strike -- the producers afraid of committing to any project that might be frozen in amber should a strike happen -- or just a pre-emptive work stoppage by the money men to starve out and scare the craft unions into settling for yet another shitty three-year contract is unclear. Probably a bit of both. From what I hear, negotiations are ongoing, but not particularly well, and the deadline is rapidly approaching. If a deal isn't struck by July, a strike may be inevitable ... which would be a disaster. During my brief visit there, I talked to several friends still in the biz who are hanging on by their fingernails. One 20+ year juicer told me that he was on the verge of becoming homeless, another 16 year veteran said he was actively seeking another career, and yet another 40 year veteran gaffer had just worked two days the week before -- his first job in over a year.
Things are not good in Tinsel Town.
But hey, the martinis were still great at Musso and Franks, so all is not lost.
Onward, toward the abyss...
Ahhhhh, Musso & Franks, love those old LA haunts...
...reminds me of a late night in Barney's Beanery with Brian Setzer and an inordinate amount of cocaine...
Sounds like you've got a good story to tell!
Mussos is my favorite place in LA.
That's one thing an exuberantly misspent youth is good for, stories...
While I've never been immune to a Gibson and a rare steak at Museo & Franks, I'll always love Barneys.
I can never remember the name of the place but when I lived in West LA with a bunch of friends who were working in the "industry" there was this place on Pico that I always think of as "The Apple Pie Shack". It was basically a square log cabin looking place with a counter that took up most of the floor space and one guy working there (who looked like he'd been there since electricity and flush toilets became fashionable). Their apple pie was sublime, the burgers were mediocre. I'd always confuse the guy behind the counter by asking if they could melt cheddar cheese on top. Always loved that funky place...
Barneys has its own unique charm, and is certainly a lot more affordable than Mussos. A martini, Caesar salad, filet mignon, and a glass of nice Malbec set me back $175 during my recent sojourn to LA ... but it was worth it. Hadn't been there in five years.
Sounds like you're talking about The Apple Pan -- and a fun diner it is.
Did you ever go to The Batrack out on 26th and Wilshire? A wonderful bar/restaurant with a bevy of gorgeous waitresses who wore little tuxedo outfits ... oh, those halcyon days of youth. I practically lived there between jobs for a couple of years, until the owner sold and it turned into something much less.
Sounds vaguely familiar but not sure.
There were so many weird and great places down there then. My friends and room mates were obsessed with this dive strip bar out by LAX that had a big billboard up advertising "Naked Lunch"...
I remember that place -- I think it was called "The New Jet Strip." When in the mood for such things back in the day, I'd head for one of the two "Kit Kat Clubs" in Hollywood. All gone now ... like much of what was good about LA.
You might consider iTunes Match. It's a bear to use at first. But once it's set up it puts all your music in the cloud which you can stream or download to your phone. It costs $25 a year.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/108935
Welp - just read your second paragraph. I'm in Georgia and the guy next door who was a camera operator for TV switched to pest control during the strike. My husband talked to him and he isn't going back. There isn't work. The pest control gig is not bad. Then he sprayed our yard for mosquitoes gratis. Nice guy.
Thanks, Lynn - I might have to give that a try.
I'm surprised to hear things are so slow in Georgia. So many big shows -- a lot of Marvel stuff -- are done in and around Atlanta these days, but I guess the slowdown hit everybody. Your neighbor is probably better off in pest control. Movies have always been a boom and bust industry in which carving out a remotely stable/normal life is very difficult. Believe me, the "glamour" wears off fast ... like maybe ten minutes. It's not all bad -- I went to a lot of jaw-dropping locations and had my fun in the biz -- but it's not what it used to be, and never will be again.
This is the wildest circle back response I've seen in a long time, Lynn. Loved it.
Michael, many thanks for your great "Hollywood Juicer" blog, which I read for many years. I now also read the Crew Stories group at Facebook. Mostly IATSE members. Stories from last years' strikes were heartbreaking. I really hope there's agreement without more strikes. Best wishes. (Apologies for non-Tim content.)
Hugh -- thanks! It's always gratifying to hear from those who resonated with the blog. It's still going, but I only post on the first Sunday of every month now. Being retired, I'm no longer working on set and getting new ideas for posts, so it's mostly reviews of film books and musing on current trends in the industry. "Crew Stories" is great - lots of wonderful tales on that site, along with sobering reflections on the reality of the biz in these troubled times. I'm trying to keep the blog alive until the long-in-the-works blog book is finally done and in print. I've almost finished the first draft, and hope to have it ready for print by the end of the year. Fingers crossed.
The like button is the wrong choice for something so bleak. Wow. And yes all the stories I hear are depressing
Yeah, it's ugly. On a brighter note - this week my union sent an e-mail indicating that they've seen signs things will pick up soon, so who knows? If the IA and producers come to an agreement in the next two weeks, the worm may have turned towards better times. Fingers crossed.
Thanks so much for the shout and the kind words Tim! Glad you're enjoying the playlists.
Nobody is more dedicated to playlists than you. I bow down.
I'm down with about 75% of the artists you mentioned, so obviously you have excellent taste.
Curious about a name unmentioned, a guy who is clearly one of EC's heroes: His Bobness. I'm a few years older than you, so while EC has since day one been one of my touchstones, the title of Greatest Living Songwriter (I normally hate GOAT designations, but willing to make this one exception) still goes to Dylan. He doesn't figure into your rotations?
On the subject of musicians who are also great music writers/critics, I would add Elizabeth Nelson. Her band The Paranoid Style is also first rate. She has a Substack, but posts infrequently. She's a more frequent poster on Twitter.
I have neither Spotify nor Apple Music (or any other streamer), so no comment on that subject. I back up all of my music on a hard drive, and from time to time add albums to my phone. That's where I make rediscoveries. As you said, just because you haven't listened for some years doesn't mean you don't love it. Right now I'm going through all of The Go-Betweens, sparked by seeing Robert Forster live last month.
Last September I saw the Costello/Nieve show at the beautiful Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. On the final encore, which I think was Couldn't Call It Unexpected, he came down from the stage and walked down the aisle, mere steps from where I was sitting. I captured some of it on video. The camera veers off him towards the end as I wanted to be in the moment and not be looking at my phone. It was really something, and you can see it here, along with a few photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/eULQbMzrVQRKnrFM8
Thanks for a great piece!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbRYAoqq2FE
(it will all make sense when you get to the first chorus)
Ha, all these years I never knew the Concertgebouw was mentioned in that line. Thanks
Wings Over America was one helluva tour...
Btw Rick, when Elvis did that very song (and no mic) at Luther Burbank, the guy next to me was Tom Waits.
Also Go-Betweens! Nice
Love it! The Costello/Nieve thing I saw way back when they did that live album series. Didn’t know they were doing it again.
I know this is odd because others have told me — but I’m just an “average” fan of Dylan. I love certain things and appreciate others but was never a thing I latched onto?
Thanks for sharing the EC photos. Calculated a while ago that I have seen him over 50 times live. Ha.
One of the most chilling and exciting moments I ever had at a live show (and Elvis has given me more than a few of those) was at the Warfield in SF, it was one of the Attractions reunion tours and at one point during the set, everybody left the stage but EC and Steve Nieve. Two songs I remember from that moment were Elvis singing Alison solo with an acoustic guitar with Neive in the shadows behind him, sitting silently — and then the big gun came out, Elvis standing alone with Steve Nieve playing a grand piano: My Funny Valentine.
BTW, I'm pretty sure that you and I are running roughly the same total on EC shows...
Sitting next to Tom Waits, that’s a helluva memory. Saw him in the audience once at the Berkeley Community Theater, but from many rows away.
More than 50 shows? Wow. I probably clock in around 20. I think I only get near that number with Chuck Prophet, thanks to living in the Bay Area up until six years ago, and being old. Next crooked number belongs to the Mekons.
Only an average Dylan fan? Well, nobody’s perfect.
I always loved the old Sweetwater in Mill Valley (not that excrescence that's using the name now) and one of the best thing about that bar was that people would just drop in. I saw Tom Waits there quite a few times in the late afternoon when it was just me and the bartender and Waits playing whatever the hell he wanted to on the beat up upright and singing. That fucking place was magic.
That's a fantastic story. And yes, the original Sweetwater was magic. I saw Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve there on an invite only gig after watching them play in SF for 2.5 hours (that whole tour of just them); at the Swetwater they played another 2 hours and only repeated one song.
I was waiting to get into the Sweetwater to see Harry Dean Stanton when a limo pulled up and out stepped EC and Cait. EC joined Harry Dean for the encore of “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down.” Unforgettable evening.
Small world that it is, I was at the I Beam on many of those Monday nights. So many great shows.
So many great shows there. Professor Longhair, Chuck Prophet and Penelope Houston acoustic, etc etc etc...
...and there was this one private event, well Tim knows about that one...
The I-Beam was kind of a magical place and one that I'm not sure could've happened at any other time. One of the DJs and I were the only two major staff members that weren't gay and didn't show up on weekends...
I know, I fail a lot of tests. You should see my wine friends trying to understand that I'm not that into white wine. Their disappointment is revealing and I know what it's saying about me.
My first concert in SF (or so I thought -- we were actually picking up a friend's GF in SF and heading over the Greek in Berkeley -- was Elvis Costello I can't even remember how long ago and wouldn't say it out loud if I did. I do remember pushing all the way to the front so I think that's going to put my age way low. First time I saw him. From there, it all took off and it doesn't hurt that I was a music critic for so many years.
I'll just sit here sipping my 2018 Roederer l'Hermitage and say, well, this is white wine, right?
Count me as another with no interest in white wine. So, once again, I’d say you have excellent taste.
My excuse was that I worked in places like the I-Beam running lights (and yes, I did the Monday Night shows there for several years), The DNA and on and off for Paradise Lounge. Tickets had a way of finding their way to me. Having Howie Klein as a longtime friend probably didn't hurt either...
One can see a LOT of shows with that connect. Also, man, those were the days in SF.
Yeah, among other shows, Howie got me 4th Row center in the "Purple Circle" at the Cow Palace for Prince's Purple Rain tour...
...and, yeah, those were really the days, there was so much great music in SF both homegrown and touring acts that HAD to play SF and many wanted to play smaller venues. I had the Ramones booked for the DNA Lounge (they contacted me, wanting to play there) but the Fire Marshall nixed it because we didn't have an exit at the rear of the building. I had to hold my nose and arrange for them to play at Echo Beach that night. Or the time I booked Digital Underground and their manager forced us to take the (vastly inferior) Consolidated as the headliner. Or people playing sets late night after playing bigger venues, Prince comes immediately to mind...
I am reminded of when we had first gotten iPods and the promise was when you put the setting on random, no skipping allowed. Just take it as it comes -- if it's on there, we liked it at SOME point, so you have to listen. (I'll skip the weird obsession I had with actually getting an iPod.)
Probably had a lot of Steely Dan on there.
ROTFL!!! You didn't need to go there, Tim. That was just cruel...
I love my old iPod -- it's like the best radio station ever, with nothing but good tunes. They'll have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers ... until it finally dies.
Then what? I have no idea.
Unfortunately, mine finally died — but, before the demise of iTunes, I synced it all to my iPhone!
You were smart -- now I'm wondering if there's any way to transfer the music on my old Ipod to my Macbook Pro or iPhone ...
I haven't found a way to do it other than to go into my old iTunes folder>Music and drag them into playlists in the Apple Music app. The problem for is that my old iTunes library was/is heavily curated and my listening was almost exclusively on the playlists. If you drag the songs in, it's basically a ginormous list of not organized songs — and I'd have to completely recreate the playlists from scratch.
I had a catastrophic system crash (in conjunction with a Time Machine drive failing) that meant that there was no way to get my music library to Apple Music on the Mac — Unless Apple would allow me to sync the iPhone and have it populate Apple Music.
So, I use air play to my HomePod 2 stereo pair or my HomePod mini stereo pair. Not the solution I'd prefer, but there it is.
I have two of those 32 (or 64?) gig ones that stored movies and shit and both work still. I know people kept buying those until the end. Not sure it's findable on Google (haven't tried) but there's a famous story about how they used to put the movie edit and long day's shots of "Lord of the Rings" on there and transport them between editing areas (via intern) and someone got wind of this and tried to steal the iPod from the intern but he raced like a boss through the streets and evaded capture.
This may be the greatest tidbit from this great, rambling conversation!
My last one was the "Video iPod" which was the classic iPod form factor, not the phone less iPhone version. It was called "Video iPod" because you could watch movies and tv shows on the tiny classic iPod screen — IN COLOR! I forget the capacity but it was the biggest one they had made (and that's why I bought it, never once watched video on it).
I'll read the full piece later, but in the meantime, yes, let's keep that lighthouse in sight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDDf_SuAlBA
I thought for sure when I clicked on that link it was going to be this, but sadly it was not:
https://youtu.be/0OmsuYnyHdk?feature=shared
Ah well. I'll continue to throw my lot in with the lighthouse keepers.
Perhaps Tim would've preferred this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w042l9rKpzU
Not to put to fine a point on it but why do I want a lighthouse when I can
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_or9gEB6g
Loved them.
BTW, it's important to remember that everybody wants prosthetic foreheads on their real head...
That album was sheer perfection, Birdhouse in Your Soul, My Racist Friend, Istanbul (not Constantinople), Particle Man...