But thank God he was a drummer. Moody Blues co-founder, drummer and poet Graeme Edge passed away recently at age 80. Remembering a Moody Blues concert in Seattle as one of the best concerts we have ever had the pleasure to enjoy, he will be missed. Rest In Peace.
Lou Reed will be gone 8 years on the 27th. Not technically a Boomer (b. 1942) but he blew away a few zillion of us. We’ll be feeling his reverberations a long long time.
Apple TV has just released a documentary of his band The Velvet Underground. As a city-dweller like Lou was I got to see it on the big screen. Well worth the sticky armrests and risk of illness.
The Velvets music sold poorly but influenced majorly. Formed in 1965 New York as an avant-garde project managed by Andy Warhol, in the early days they turned out Lou’s dark and edgy yet hummable tunes, boogie woogie hopped up on feedback, not exactly peace and love, sweet stuff. They wore black!! Girl drummer!! Welsh artist (John Cale) playing viola or droning organ!!! It’s been said they sold only a few thousand copies of their first album, but everybody who bought one formed a band.
Lou wanted to be a rock star though, so he split with Andy and Cale and all of a sudden we got Sweet Jane. Dang!
All four VU albums are on RS’s top 500…not too bad. A lot of music from The Era hasn’t aged well (I’m talking to you, The Doors) but the Velvets keep exploding, giving and giving.
In the 80’s, a punker friend with ripped stockings (and according to her) the Best Legs in Baltimore turned me on to post-Velvets Lou, a whole other rock ‘n roll world. He later married Laurie (Oh Superman) Anderson, and went all mellow and Tai Chi. Gone too soon, RIP Lou.
Check out the VU rockumentary BB’ers…a brave artist was in our midst!
Photo: Billboard.com
Donating blood is a nice thing to do for your community and fellow Baby Boomers. As an added bonus, our local blood bank has a nice offer going.
“We’re giving away 4 Fly Away Music weekends across the USA. When you donate blood Sept 1 – Oct. 31, you will be automatically entered to win a 3 day weekend to see headliner artists at an iconic venue. Includes airfare, hotel, event tickets for 2.” Cities included LA, Nashville, Miami and New York.
So check with your local blood bank and see if you’re eligible to donate. Bloody good!
Wish us luck!
– Jet Cannon
What marching bands do executing precise formations while playing music at the same time is pretty amazing when you think about it. Translating formations into steps for each band member… we assume they use computers nowadays. But still. Amazing.
Anyway, check out the Ohio State Marching Band’s tribute to Rush. Not only is the marching very creative, the music translates pretty well.
– Jet Cannon
Photo Rollingstone.com
When it comes to deciding which 100 songs are the best ever, it really depends on whom you ask. Rolling Stone asked over 200 musicians, producers, artists, critics, journalists and music industry folks to pick their favorite 50. Then RS tabulated the results to come up with Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Songs of All Time. Here’s the top 10:
Interesting. Most of these we know and a couple of them we don’t know. Hey, we all have our own tastes and opinions. The nice thing about these lists is that there’s some music out there that some knowledgable people feel is pretty good and we might want to give those songs we don’t know a listen.
– Jet Cannon
Randy Bachman is a founding member of the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Life on the road has its ups and downs. Guitarworld.com reports, “It’s happened, famously, to Peter Frampton and Jimmy Page. Frampton lost his beloved Les Paul Custom in a cargo plane crash in 1980, while Page lost one of his favorite Les Pauls (also, coincidentally, a black LP Custom) while Led Zeppelin traveled from Minneapolis to Montreal, Canada in 1970. Two beloved guitars, both with so much magic, lost forever. Or so it was thought.
Frampton’s Les Paul was miraculously located in Curaçao in 2011, while Page’s was re-discovered after it was taken to a Minnesota repair shop a few years ago. Both guitars would eventually, after a few twists, be returned to their very happy rightful owners.
Now, Randy Bachman can add his name to this heartwarming list. His 1957 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins, stolen from his hotel room in Toronto in 1976, has amazingly turned up in Tokyo, 45 years later.”
Check out Guitar World for the whole story.
We’re happy for Randy. Listen to one of his distinctively silky solos at minute 3:00 on YouTube.
Keep up with Randy at Randybachman.com
Photo via Randy’s site, Facebook, and Classic Bands.
1 Oct 1956 |
Thanks to thisdayinmusic.com here’s some October 1st classic rock trivia. After test audiences gave a negative reaction to Elvis Presley dying at the end of the film Love Me Tender, The King was called back to re-shoot the scene. In the new ending, the hero lived. |
| 1 Oct 1965 | Bob Dylan appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He introduced his new touring band on this tour, made up of guitarist Robbie Robertson, organist Garth Hudson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manual and drummer Levon Helm. They will become known simply as The Band. |
| 1 Oct 1966 | Jimi Hendrix appeared live for the first time in the UK when he jammed with Cream at their gig at London Polytechnic. Hendrix made his official UK live debut a month later on Friday 25 Nov 1966, when the Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared at the Bag O’Nails Club, London. |
| 1 Oct 1967 | Thieves broke into Mick Jagger‘s London flat in England and stole jewellery and furs belonging to his then girlfriend Marianne Faithfull. |
| 1 Oct 1967 | The first edition of UK BBC Radio 1‘s ‘Top Gear’ was aired. Presented by John Peel and Pete Drummond they featured The Move, Traffic, Pink Floyd, Tim Rose and Tomorrow featuring Keith West. |
| 1 Oct 1970 | Jimi Hendrix was buried at The Greenwood Cemetery at the Dunlop Baptist Church, Seattle. Among the mourners; Miles Davis, Eric Burdon, Johnny Winter and members of Derek and the Dominoes. |
1 Oct
1977 Elton John became the first musician to be honoured in New York City’s Madison Square Hall Of Fame.
Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll! A Buzzed Boomer’s dream!
This is perhaps the final chapter from Volume I of our trail-blazing Airstream trekkers. Sex (Airstream orgasm), drugs (beer) and rock ‘n roll (cover band Get The Led Out at Red Rock). This is no Communications Breakdown. You’ll see.
Big thanks to Hunter S. for coming to the Jet Cannon writer’s-block rescue once again!
Thanks to Onethisday.com here is some music trivia that occurred on this day in history:
1915 Cecil Chubb buys English prehistoric monument Stonehenge for £6,600. No one cared until Spinal Tap’s epic concert performance.
1966 Jimmy Hendrix changes spelling of his name to “Jimi”
2004 Green Day release their album “American Idiot” in the US
2013 Farm Aid held in Saratoga Springs, New York; performers include Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, Pete Seeger, Amos Lee, Jack Johnson, Jamey Johnson, Kacey Musgraves, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Sasha Dobson, Carlene Carter, Pegi Young & The Survivors, and Insects vs Robots
On August 31st, 1897, Thomas Edison was granted a patent for his Kintograph… the first movie camera. He also developed the first phonograph using a wax cylinder to play back recorded music. What most people don’t know is that he also invented the iPhone which combined a movie camera and music playback capabilities, and a bright light (he called it a light bulb) but he told no one fearing that citizens would be bombarded with stupid ads over and over and over. Ultimately, his invention was discovered after his death and others received the credit.
Terry Kath was born in 1946, the first year of the Baby Boomer generation. Sadly, he passed away at a young 31 years old. Jimi Hendrix admired Terry as a better guitarist than Jimi himself. Fortunately, Terry’s music and live footage lives on.
His daughter put together Chicago: The Terry Kath Experience which showcases his musicianship, shares some of the stories behind the band, and followed her search for some of Terry’s long-lost guitars. He is remembered by Joe Walsh, Steve Lukather and many others including his Chicago bandmates.
We recently found the rockumentary on IMDb TV. The DVD is also available at Amazon. It’s worth watching.
– Jet Cannon
Photo: Rollingstone.com
Those of us at Buzzed Boomer love dive bars. We love live classic rock. We appreciate a properly prepared Martini (thanks Lindy)! We love pool tables. We crave a great burger. We love having our favorite IPA’s on tap. How about a place offering breakfast and great specials? And we’re grateful for a bar powering through the Covid disaster that closed so many restaurants.
Elmers in Burien, Washington is all of that except…. it’s really too nice to be called a dive bar. It WAS once a dive bar but owner Rachel has been steadily upgrading Elmers. And it looks great and it feels great. Our kind of place!
Not from Seattle? Elmers is a short ride from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and not far from a light-rail station if you’re visiting downtown Seattle.
We hadn’t been to Elmers in years but we’ll be back!
– Jet Cannon
