A Little Bit of South Korea

Our little travelogue from our trip to South Korea is now posted. Check it out.

Johnny Ramone Dead at 55

Well, hate to say "I told you so," but something about Johnny's self-proclaimed clean bill of health rang false. Either he didn't want to be an object of pity for his last remaining months, or he truly thought he would beat it. I'm just sorry he didn't. Well, 2004 pretty much clinches the "worst year in music history" award. Defintely the saddest.



Goodbye, Johnny.

And More Celebration....

Daniel Nester will be reading from his book God Save My Queen II: The Show Must Go On Sunday Night at Magnetic Field in Brooklyn. I'll probably be performing a few tunes as well.

Sunday, September 12, 7:30pm Reading Series at Magnetic Field Bar and Lounge 97 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

Hope to see you there.

Wattstax is Finally Out on DVD!

Rejoice, brothers and sisters! Wattstax is FINALLY out on DVD.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the lowdown:



Stax Records was a soul music label created in 1958 (originally known as Satellite Records) by Jim Stewart. Best remembered for a stable of artists that included Otis Redding, Booker T & The MGs, Johnnie Taylor and Sam and Dave, Stax was at the peak of its popularity in 1972, and former president-turned-owner Al Bell wanted to commemorate the seven year anniversary of the Watts riots with an enormous concert at the Los Angeles Rams football stadium. Highlights of the concert include: Isaac Hayes, whose performance was omitted from the original film but reinstated for the DVD; Rufus Thomas doing the "Funky Chicken" and nearly causing a riot; Luther Ingram (actually a KoKo Records artist) performing "If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Right" while every female in the stadium absolutely melts.



There are also several performances not from the actual concert, such as Johnnie Taylor's electrifying club performance of "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone" and The Emotions at church, performing the gorgeous "Peace Be Still." Best of all are many interviews interspersed between the musical segments, many featuring Richard Pryor. Often generically referred to as the "black Woodstock", Wattstax is a fantastic film that any lover of soul music or documentaries will cherish.

"Queen Doesn't Need You"

Thanks to everyone who came to the show at Four-Faced Liar last night. We had a great time. Dan actually played some rare lead guitar with his Brian May replica (pictured above). Also, we met a really cool dude named Chuck Zwicky: musician, producer, engineer, photographer and author of this very cool website.



The only downer of the evening was when I was about to leave. I went to collect my guitar, and there was a note written on a beverage napkin that read "Queen doesn't need you." I took this to mean that some anonymous drunken reprobate didn't appreciate our set as much as we'd hoped. Well, same to you with knobs on it, pal!

Music and Literature Extravaganza!

My good friend Daniel Nester will be celebrating the release of his second installment of Queen poetry, God Save My Queen II: The Show Must Go On at the following venues tomorrow night. And I will be singing at Four-Faced Liar at about 9ish. Here are the details:

+ Tuesday, September 7, 7pm Nonfiction Reading Series at KGB, 85 East 4th Street, New York, NY

Followed by book party at Four-Faced Liar, 165 West 4th Street, 9pm, music from Gene Cawley + others

As they say, a splendid time is guaranteed for all. Hope to see you there.

NYPD Arrests Entire City

In an unprecedented move, New York's finest arrested 1.5 million protesters during this week's Republican National Convention, using what was described as a "very large garden shed where we used to keep our asbestos and DDT" to detain them. The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, applauded the action, saying, "What are you gonna do? People were blocking the sidewalks."