nnstarlets

Why Daddy's rock & roll dream had to end

2011-10-27T21:57:00.001-07:00

Oh yes, a sad day for all local musicians whose dreams of “rawk stahdom” seemed a little bit more attainable because of Daddy’s Junky Music.

After 39 years, the New Hampshire-based chain — with a dozen locations including five in Massachusetts — has unplugged for good. At one time, it was the one place where musicians could buy their gear without signing away their souls.

Another casualty of a down economy and Internet shoppers whose loyalty can be compromised for a dollar, Daddy’s rock and rolled with the times until it devolved into just another high-volume music retailer with amped-up prices.

Like the Friendly’s restaurant chain before it, Daddy’s lost its way. The word “junky” simply didn’t apply anymore.

In the early days, it seemed every weekend there was an excuse for all of us to pile into our guitar player’s girlfriend’s parent’s Camaro and head up I-93 to the wild frontier of sales-tax free New Hampshire.

Back then, Daddy’s was trove of treasures waiting to be unearthed beneath a hopelessly unorganized clutter of used guitars, keyboards, amps and random pieces of P.A. equipment. My prized catch was 21-inch Zildjian ride cymbal that seemed out of place leaning up against an amplifier. It was dirtier than an early Rolling Stones’ mix but it was cheap. Armed with a bottle of Groove Juice and a terricloth rag, I was able to polish it into a gem. I’d like to say I still have that cymbal today, but I think I sold it back to Daddy’s a long time ago.

Last week, I took my older son to Daddy’s in Burlington. He wanted to sell an extra guitar of his for credit toward some used P.A. speakers. They wouldn’t give us a dime for the guitar, which did make me wonder. I told my son if he did some extra chores in the house that I would buy the speakers for him this week. Looks like I have some splainin’ to do.

Source http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/bottom_line/2011/10/daddys-junky-music-shut-down.html

Obama’s grand slam

2011-08-02T01:30:00.001-07:00

President Obama wanted three things from the debt-ceiling fight: trillions in new borrowing authority, status quo on spending and no more drama before his shot at re-election. He got everything.

Republicans in control of the House could have refused to raise the debt ceiling, but their leaders were afraid. They believed failing to raise the debt ceiling would lead to a default and a disastrous reduction in America’s credit rating.

So the leaders struck a final deal that will drive the nation’s debt up to $16.7 trillion, and rating agencies like Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s are poised to downgrade U.S. credit anyway.

GOP leaders claim they cut the best deal possible in a divided government.

“This is very important for our fiscal future, but it’s also important for the fact that our economy needs to get going,” House Speaker John A. Boehner said on Monday. “Beginning to take steps toward fixing our fiscal problems will, in fact, provide more confidence for employers in America.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday night that the deal “will ensure significant cuts in Washington spending.”

That’s an exaggeration. The bill would cut a minuscule $7 billion in 2012 and $3 billion total in 2013 - the only enforceable years. Meanwhile, the nation will continue to borrow at a rate of $100 billion a month.

The second tranche of “cuts” will be left up to a new bipartisan committee tasked with finding up to $1.5 trillion in savings. There are a bunch of gimmicks involved, but essentially we’re supposed to believe that even though Congress can’t cut a days’ worth of spending now, it’s somehow going to have the fortitude to reduce spending by far greater amounts down the road.

It’s likely to be the opposite, as Mr. Obama is already eyeing this “super committee” to fast-track tax hikes, saying on Sunday night, “I’ll continue to make a detailed case to these lawmakers about why I believe a balanced approach is necessary to finish the job.”

Worst of all for conservatives is that there will be no Balanced Budget Amendment. The deal sets a token vote in the fall and a trigger if the joint committee fails to complete its work. Without the leverage of the debt ceiling, it’s simply not going to get enough Democratic votes.

Mr. Boehner arguably put his speakership on the line last week to get a bill passed that increased the debt ceiling only until early 2012. Two days later, the president walked away with a deal that lets him get through the next election.

In November, the American people sent Tea Party conservatives to Washington to bring spending under control. These freshmen were beaten down by their leaders, who were outplayed by the president. Mr. Obama won the debt-ceiling game, and Republicans lost the season.

Source http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/1/obamas-grand-slam/

Les Paul the life of the ‘Party’ thrown by Jeff Beck

2011-03-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

You’re in New York, you go see Les Paul. That was the music-lover’s mantra, at least when I lived there a decade ago. Les Paul single-handedly designed, hewed and laid many of the foundation stones of modern popular music — inventing the solid-body electric guitar, coming up with new ways to play the bejesus out of it, and being one of the first to successfully utilize multi-track recording. From “Guitar Hero” to Garageband, it all goes back to the late, great Les.

On one of the nights I saw him at his weekly gig at Manhattan’s Iridium jazz club, in late 2000, he was 85 and playing like he was 25. Technical wizardry aside, here was the Waukesha, Wis., native showing precisely why he wound up being so influential — because he knew what a guitar could do, what it could take, exactly where its limits were and how to push them. Paul rubbed his pick along the bass strings for a woozy, harmonic tonal plunge, then punctuated the melody with sharp blurts of the upper strings. His right hand crawled up and down the six steel-wrapped strings, poking out plucky grunts and whistles (the sounds he got!). I swear at one point he bent the strings to a 30-degree angle. Who needs a whammy bar?

Paul was a virtuoso, a mad scientist, utterly individual. So when he died in 2009 at age 94, a challenge remained. How do you keep a legacy like this alive?

A static exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wouldn’t do. Even video barely does justice to the excitement of Paul scrapping with a guitar. This month, on a panel at the SXSW music conference in Austin, Texas, veteran rock critic Ed Ward said something interesting: “I feel sorry for kids walking down the street with white ear buds. They think music takes place in their head. Music doesn’t take place in your head. It takes place in a room.” For Paul, it was both. His recording techniques brought the room into our heads, but the room was key. And now, the room is on tour.

If anyone can reproduce the proficiency and energy of a Paul performance, it’s British guitarist Jeff Beck. From rocking the Yardbirds to pre-saging heavy metal in the Jeff Beck Group to crafting jazz-fusion on his own, Beck also has made a career out of exploring the potential and limits of the electric guitar. His initial inspiration, he claims, was Paul.

So last summer, Beck paid tribute to Paul at the same Iridium nightclub. Guests included Brian Setzer, Gary “U.S.” Bonds, Trombone Shorty, Darrel Higham and singer Imelda May, who ably recreated Mary Ford’s vocal parts as the band ripped through a couple dozen Paul-Ford pop classics, including “How High the Moon,” “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise” and “Vaya Con Dios.” Beck himself rocked the Paul instrumentals, like “The Train Kept A Rollin’” and a scorching rendition of “Walking in the Sand.”

The concert was recorded for a new CD, “Jeff Beck’s Rock ’n’ Roll Party Honoring Les Paul,” and a Blu-ray DVD of the same title. But this spring, Beck is taking the tribute on the road for a short tour across the country, with Imelda May and her band in tow, including a two-night Chicago stand at the Cadillac Palace Theatre.

Beck and Paul met in the 1970s — Beck in awe of Paul, Paul admiring what Beck was doing — and had remained friends.

“The first time Les watched me play, I was doing a gig at Avery Fisher Hall in New York with John McLaughlin,” Beck says in a piece he wrote for the CD release. “Someone told me Les was in the audience, but I wasn’t sure if he would stick around to see me as I was playing after John. To my surprise, he was standing in the wings when I came off stage. He told me that we were good and to carry on with what we were doing, and then he left.”

Last month, Beck won three Grammys, two of which were for rock instrumental and pop instrumental.

“Someone told me afterward that only one other person had won in both of these categories, and it was Les,” Beck said. “Isn’t that something? I’m still following in his footsteps.”

Source http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/music/4580604-421/les-paul-the-life-of-the-party-thrown-by-jeff-beck.html

Musical Therapy: Ron Barber's Rock ’n' Roll

2011-03-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Like many of the victims of the Jan. 8 shooting rampage in Tucson, Ron Barber has a way to go before he recovers from his wounds.

Barber, who was shot twice in the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, suffered nerve damage that has left him without sensation in his left leg below the knee, except when he feels pain. He’s in physical therapy to learn how to walk with a brace and hasn’t had the strength to return to his job as district director for Giffords’ office.

But he didn’t let that bum leg stop him when he was invited to bring his family onstage with Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Alice Cooper and more than a dozen other musicians to sing “Teach Your Children” at the end of last week’s benefit concert at the Tucson Convention Center.

“There was no hesitation on my part,” Barber says with a laugh. “That’s one of my favorite songs, and it’s the perfect song to end the evening with the message that we’re trying to send out. To be singing it onstage with Crosby and Jackson and Nash and all the others? It was really cool.”

“Teach Your Children” was the final song of a star-studded concert for Barber’s Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding, which will support victims of the shooting massacre, as well as programs to discourage bullying in schools and assist the mentally ill.

There were many spectacular moments during the nearly five-hour concert: Jackson Browne and Jennifer Warnes on “Golden Slumbers.” Soul legend Sam Moore pulling the audience into “America the Beautiful.” David Crosby and Graham Nash jamming through “For What It’s Worth” with Keb’ Mo’ and “Long Time Gone” with Nils Lofgren. Nils shredding through the Beatles “Any Time At All.” The exuberance of Ozomotli, who had previously refused to play in Arizona following the passage of SB 1070, the state’s immigration law. Calexico and Mariachi Luz de Luna teaming up with Jackson Browne on “Linda Paloma.” Joey Burns’ love letter to the heart of Tucson during “Crystal Frontier.” Jackson Browne on the keyboards for “Doctor My Eyes” and guitar for “I Am a Patriot.” And Alice Cooper’s maniacal set as the show reached its end: Cooper exhorted the audience to sing along on “I’m 18” and “School’s Out.”

“If you don’t know these songs, you never went to high school,” Cooper hollered.

After Cooper wrapped up his quick set, nearly all of the musicians who had been onstage during the show came together for the finale of “Teach Your Children,” with Barber and his family gathering around a mike at one end of the stage.

Barber is kicking around ideas for another benefit concert, depending on who’s available in the future, but he’s not ready to go into showbiz full time.

“I have to tell you, it was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life,” Barber says. “I don’t know if it’s in my future. My future is with Gabby. As long as she can work and she will have me, I’ll be there.”

Aleksa Brown snapped some photos during rehearsal:

Source http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2011/03/15/musical-therapy-ron-barbers-rock-n-roll-recovery

Ruston runners participate in New Orleans marathon

2011-02-21T02:09:00.001-08:00

Ruston recently featured 19 representatives at the annual “Rock ‘n Roll Mardi Gras” marathon held in New Orleans to benefit the American Cancer Society.

Six of the participants from the city competed in the full marathon, while 13 ran in the half marathon.

The top time among Ruston runners in the full marathon was Kelly Worthy at 3:52.

Former Ruston High distance running star William Rogers had the best clocking for the half marathon at 1:20.

Participants from Ruston and their times included:

MARATHON: Kelly Worthy, 3:52;Ivory Bass, 3:55; Ashley Hill, 4:13; Velissa Rollins, 4:19; Elizabeth Clark, 4:35; Annie Carter, 4:40.

HALF MARATHON: William Rogers, 1:20; Beau Jones, 1:41; Shelley Parker, 1:52; Mollie Robbins, 1:50; Tommy Rogers, 2:00; Daniel French, 2:04; Beverly Eoff, 2:06; John Ward, 2:17; Chris Taylor, 2:20; Bethany Cox, 2:22; Trevor Torres, 2:28; Judith Roberts, 2:29; Kelsey Whitlock, 2:29; and Logan Dugard, 3:01.

Source http://rustonleader.com/node/9514

Steven Tyler brings rock star perspective to ‘American Idol'

2011-02-11T00:08:00.000-08:00

When Steven Tyler signed on as a judge for the 21{+s}{+t} century version of “The Gong Show” — that is, the outrageously popular “American Idol” — a lot of Aerosmith fans worried that their favorite rock 'n' roll rude boy had taken one too many nosedives off concert stages.

The future of their beloved band had already been in question for months, what with all the public bickering going on between Tyler and his bandmates — his closest collaborator, lead guitarist Joe Perry, in particular.

On top of all that, the supposedly long-sober lead singer had checked himself into rehab — again.

Now did he want to be the next Simon Cowell, ridiculing young wannabe singing stars in front of millions of viewers on what most self-respecting rock hipsters consider to be the uncoolest show on television?

Had Tyler taken leave of his senses, not to mention Aerosmith?

“We're already booked for a tour November/December that's to be South America and Japan,” he reassured members of the press in a January teleconference from New York.

“I mean what you hear in the press about Aerosmith getting in the way of ‘American Idol', it just isn't so.”

In fact, Tyler said he would be meeting soon with the rest of the band in Los Angeles in preparation for Aerosmith's next studio album, their first since 2004's collection of blues covers, “Honkin' on Bobo.”

“Joe's got the licks, and I got a bunch of songs that I've written for solo and/or Aerosmith,” he said.

Tyler claims to have had no misgivings about how his participation in “American Idol” might affect his long-established image as a rock icon. If anything, his sometimes “off-color” antics have so far served to emphasize his rock 'n' roll history of backstage debauchery.

A case in point was a recent incident that occurred when one of the amateur performers introduced himself as Jack Muck, and Tyler promptly pointed out that the contestant's last named rhymed with a dirty four-letter word.

On the very next program, the producers apologized for Tyler's utterance, assuring viewers that he had promised such a thing wouldn't happen again.

“I got such an identity with this band for all the videos that I've done, I figured it'd be a shoo-in,” Tyler said.

But he was quick to add that he'd never had any intention of becoming the new Simon Cowell-esque villain at the judge's table.

“The part that's a little difficult is judging young kids, that I think they all have a voice, but actually being honest and open,” Tyler said. “So it took me a couple of minutes to get into the role of that, but I've grown accustomed to it and it's fun, and I get to sit next to (fellow judges) J. Lo (Jennifer Lopez) and Randy (Jackson), taking the you-know-what out of everybody, and it's been good.

“I don't take whatever happened to me this morning or last night or with the band or with exes. I don't take that into judging kids like some other people have. I kind of take what I've grown up with, which is being a very harsh judge of myself — my own vocals, my own band — and kind of laid that across the talent that comes across my view.

“... But I think I'm not going to be a harsh judge or an (overbearing) judge. I'm just bringing my Italian on how to work a room. Aunt Phyllis honesty, 40 years that front guy in Aerosmith who's judged the hell out of himself and kind of made a good career out of it, and with the hopes to find some kids in America here for ‘American Idol' to take the stage, and no more and no less.”

Source http://www.newsok.com/steven-tyler-brings-rock-star-perspective-to-american-idol/article/3539146?custom_click=lead_story_title

Penny Ice Creamery owners to sit with Michelle Obama during State of the Union address

2011-01-24T21:45:00.001-08:00

The owners of Santa Cruz's Penny Ice Creamery will be "in the House" for President Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday.

The pair, Kendra Baker and Zach Davis, will join their spouses in first lady Michelle Obama's box in the House of Representatives chamber when the president delivers his annual address, according to a press statement from the White House late Monday. The first lady invited the owners of the organic ice cream shop to highlight how federal stimulus funds enabled small business loans.

Vice President Joe Biden called the pair in November to thank them for a video they posted to YouTube, lauding the Obama administration for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. By opening the business in August with a $250,000 loan, the pair employed 11 workers and hired 20 other businesses to renovate and design their Cedar Street shop.

"After the call from the vice president, we assumed that was the end of it," Davis said Monday before preparing to leave on a 6 a.m. flight Tuesday. "We were pretty floored."

Davis said he, Baker and their spouses have been invited to the White House for a reception before the speech and will return there after leaving the Capitol. They hope to meet the president.

"It would be great to shake his hand," Davis said.

The statement from the White House doesn't specify whether the president will mention Baker and Davis during his address, but Davis hopes so.

"We're definitely wondering if we are just there to watch or whether there will be some mention of us," he said. "Obviously, we'd be thrilled if there was."

Davis said he is excited for his first trip to the nation's capital, even though the Santa Cruz contingent is coming right back Wednesday.

"I'm nervous, but what I'm trying to focus on is that what we're doing at the shop is unique," he said. "But what is not unique is that we're a small business like hundreds of thousands of others in the country. It's really humbling that they asked us to stand in for all those millions of people out there."

Also sitting with the first lady will be survivors and loved ones of the victims from the Jan. 8 mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz. that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wounded. They include the parents of 9-year-old Christina Green, who died in the incident, and Daniel Hernandez, a Giffords staff member who tended to his boss during the shooting.

Source http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17185335?nclick_check=1