Either I went so long without a post that no one checks my blog anymore...and that's fine, that's fine. OR no one cared enough to guess of who the pic was. Ok, two people voted and I bet Michael was still one of them.
Yes, that picture IS of ZZTop "pre-beard". Totally cool, don't you think? I've recently found a new respect for them. I always dug their stuff, but listening to it recently, it's even better than I remembered. Funny side story: someone asked Jimi Hendrix what it was like being the world's best blues guitarist. Jimi's answer: "I don't know, ask Billy Gibbons". I think that's pretty cool and very possibly true. I've got mixed feelings on Jimi, but I digress.
Actually, no, I don't digress, I regress or ungress... people are always mourning the death of Jimi, Janice and Jim (Morrison), and don't get me wrong, I like their stuff or at least some of it. But I believe that we lost more musical talent in the loss of Richard Manuel & Rick Danko than those "iconic" three put together. Richard Manuel's death bothers me everytime I start thinking about it. Levon said, by the end, that he was consuming eight (8), EIGHT bottles of Gran Marnier a day! Makes me sick just thinking about it. So they say in interviews, at that time men didn't get involved with other men's issues, etc. You were a man and you took care of yourself, there wasn't such an "intervention" type of thing popular at that time. I don't know...if you see your bandmate (brother, in not so many words) killing himself, I'd have it out with him. Lord, what a voice that guy had. And Ricky too. Those two kill me. Here's my advice: Take a listen to the double live album "Rock of Ages" by The Band and see what those two could do live. Unreal, heartbreaking vocal beauty. I haven't even touched their instrumental musicality. Danko had a similar problem with heroin, but stretched his "usage" out for longer, it seems. Back to original point, I personally mourn the loss of new material from these two gentlemen than I ever do Jimi or Janice and definitely Jim. They put out as much as I need to hear, and I haven't heard all their stuff. But I could more than surely use another album of similar quality to Big Pink or the brown album or even Stage Fright and Northern Lights/Southern Cross.
Here's to Richard and Ricky!
5 comments:
I was NOT one of them, Nick. I followed your precise instructions. Before you accuse me...take a look at yourself.
I'm not sure that I personally lump Jimi into that "3". I know the media has because they died within a year of eachother. Jimi Hendrix revolutionized the sound of the guitar. It's hard to imagine what that sounded like to the average music listener in 1966 or 1967. We grew up listening to all kinds of weird guitar sounds. Human ears had not heard a sound like that EVER. They said "what the hell is THAT"!!! Obviously he made a huge impact on pop music and pop culture. This happened years after he paid his dues on the Chitlin Circuit playing blues for booze down south. Janis and Jim? Not so much.
I did not respond to your poll, because I was all polled out. TWO (2) polls in a row..whoa!!! crazy.
(oh, and I didn't have a clue).
I voted twice...I RULE!!!!
Kris
I didn't vote at all because I don't care what you name your blog, just as long as you keep writing and I can keep reading it. Thank you very much.
Post a Comment