By The Beachwood RockNotes Affairs Desk
1. The webcast of Pearl Jam’s performance here at Lollapalooza last weekend was censored by AT&T.
“After concluding our Sunday night show at Lollapalooza, fans informed us that portions of that performance were missing and may have been censored by AT&T during the ‘Blue Room’ Live Lollapalooza Webcast,” Pearl Jam says on its blog.
“When asked about the missing performance, AT&T informed Lollapalooza that portions of the show were in fact missing from the webcast, and that their content monitor had made a mistake in cutting them,” the band says.
“During the performance of ‘Daughter’ the following lyrics were sung to the tune of Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ but were cut from the webcast:
– ‘George Bush, leave this world alone.’ (the second time it was sung); and
– ‘George Bush find yourself another home.'”
Do we still live in America? Or is this what we should expect in a world of corporate-sponsored rock?
2. Watching Eddie Vedder sing the 7th-inning stretch at Wrigley last Friday was quite amusing. He sang with such conviction! This is the way it sounded to the Beachwood RockNotes staff:
“Take me out to the ballgame (MY FATHER WHO I NEVER HAD!)
Take me out to the crowd (THE MADDENING CROWD OF PEOPLE WHO DON’T UNDERSTAND!)
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks (AS IF RAGING CONSUMPTION IS WHAT OUR LIVES SHOULD BE ABOUT!)
I don’t care if I ever get back (KILL ME! KILL ME NOW!)”
Let’s get some runs.
3. Lee Hazlewood is not to be confused with Lee Greenwood.
Hazlewood is the guy described on one fansite as “one of the most ingenious, inspired and impressively stubborn sons-of-a-bitch the music industry ever saw. His career – a word that Hazlewood himself scorned – saw him take on almost every aspect of the music industry – a word that Hazlewood himself was equally dismissive of – and come out on top every time.”
Greenwood is the guy who plays at Sean Hannity’s Freedom Concerts.
Guess which one we prefer?
So it was with great sadness that we took the news recently that Hazlewood died of cancer at 78.
Hazlewood wasn’t exactly a household name, but his work is familiar to most Americans – he wrote and produced “These Boots Were Made For Walkin'”, for example, among other hits he delivered for Nancy Sinatra.
Here’s what the Beachwood’s Matt Cook and John Door wrote about Hazlewood last February:
“Hazlewood is one of America’s most important and strange musicians. Giving us ‘These Boots Were Made for Walking’ and then walking away from stardom, [“Cold Hard Times”] is from the Cowboy in Sweden record. He recorded it when he was in Stockholm working on a Swedish television series, also titled Cowboy in Sweden (let me know if you know how one might track down a copy of any/all of this series – I’ve been looking for years with no luck), the whole record features some of his strongest lyrics and melodies to go with his always complex arrangements. The song “No Train to Stockholm” is one of my favorites of all time but it is “Cold Hard Times” that fits into this playlist’s theme best. Special thanks to Steve Shelley for releasing a number of Hazlewood’s out-of-print records on his Smells Like label.”
And here was Cook and Door in June:
“You either dislike or are obsessed with Lee Hazlewood. Put me in the latter. “Six Feet of Chain” is from a record I believe was the third that I had bought by Lee and I just couldn’t believe that he had made it. All the songs have long talking intros that set up the song before breaking into it. Talk about a recipe for not having a hit. All of the material is set in Lonesome Town and populated with criminals, beautiful pre-adolescent women, and our hero, Lee Hazlewood. The instrumentation is quite light for a Lee record, usually just acoustic, bass, and drums. But as with all of his recordings, Lee comes out. “Pray Them Bars Away” is from Cowboy in Sweden, which is a serious contender for being one of the best records that I’ve ever heard.
4. The local label heroes at Thrill Jockey are celebrating their 15th anniversary with two shows in London. A Chicago show in December is in the works.
5. “Janis and Tina at Madison Square Garden, 1969.”
6. State Fair Smackdown: A comparison of acts coming to Midwest grandstands (and Leinie Lodges) near you.
7. ” American Idol Contestant Auditions While She’s in Labor.”
8. “Common Creams Korn.”
9. Rock and roll according to Wikipedia.
10. “The Other Side of Summer” by Elvis Costello, now only accepting Visa, for whom he’s also appearing in magazine ads:
The sun struggles up another beautiful day
And I felt glad in my own suspicious way
Despite the contradiction and confusion
Felt tragic without reason
There’s malice and there’s magic in every season
From the foaming breakers of the poisonous surf
The other side of summer
To the burning forests in the hills of astroturf
The other side of summer
The automatic gates close up between the shanties and the palace
The blowtorch amusements, the voodoo chalice
The pale pathetic promises that everybody swallows
A teenage girl is crying cos she don’t look like a million dollars
So help her if you can
cos she don’t seem to have the attention span
From the foaming breakers of the poisonous surf
The other side of summer
To the burning forests in the hills of astroturf
The other side of summer
Was it a millionaire who said imagine no possessions?
A poor little schoolboy who said we don’t need no lessons?
The rabid rebel dogs ransack the shampoo shop
The pop princess is downtown shooting up
And if that goddess if fit for burning
The sun will struggle up the world will still keep turning
Madman standing by the side of the road saying
Look at my eyes, look at my eyes, look at my eyes, look at my eyes
Now you cant afford to fake all the drugs your parents used to take
Because of their mistakes youd better be wide awake
From the foaming breakers of the poisonous surf
The other side of summer
To the burning forests in the hills of astroturf
The other side of summer
The mightiest rose
The absence of perfume
The casual killers
The military curfew
The cardboard city
An unwanted birthday
The other side of summer
The dancing was desperate, the music was worse
They bury your dreams and dig up the worthless
Goodnight
God bless
And kiss goodbye to the earth
The other side of summer
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Posted on August 9, 2007