Rock Town Hall

Just found a site (sent a link in the comments actually) that you might enjoy: Rock Town Hall. I've preselected the Lou Reed search results, but please explore the rest of the site. There's some good stuff there, including a great picture of a very Advanced looking Mark Knopfler.

So What Is Advancement?

I haven't done something like this for a while, so for our new readers, let's get you up to speed:

What is Advancement?

It is basically the opposite of the theory expressed by Sick Boy in Trainspotting: “Well, at one time, you've got it, and then you lose it, and it's gone forever. All walks of life: George Best, for example. Had it, lost it. Or David Bowie, or Lou Reed.” (Ironically, he told this to Renton, who Advances in the movie by renouncing drugs and "choosing life.") The Advanced Theory says that Sick Boy had it all wrong, that Bowie and Reed hadn't mysteriously lost “it,” they just changed “it” to something that is harder to appreciate. And since change is scary to most of us, we declare that the problem is with the artist and not us.

Of course it is difficult for anyone to accept that Mistrial represented artistic progress from Transformer or that "All For Love," Sting's collaboration with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart, could be more advanced than "Roxanne." (It's difficult for me too.) But a great artist is great because he challenges himself and his audience rather than doing what is comfortable. Artistically, "All For Love" was more exciting for Sting than writing another "Roxanne." And what could be more challenging than doing a song you know your fans will hate just on principle?

Finding these kinds of challenges is essential to the Advanced because it is relatively easy for them to write great songs (in the traditional, non-Advanced sense) because songwriting comes naturally to them. This is not limited to Advanced musicians of course. Late in his life Tolstoy got more satisfaction from making mediocre shoes than writing sublime novels. To Tolstoy, the challenge of driving a nail into a sole without breaking it was more stimulating than writing the greatest novel of all time. After all, he did the latter twice.

Before the Advanced had to look to Honda or Rod Stewart for inspiration, the challenge of breaking through to an audience was enough to motivate them to write music. As they aged, though, they began to understand that catering to an audience is limiting. Some reacted by making music designed especially to make the audience mad. But this is ultimately just as limiting because it is still allowing someone other than the artist to dictate what the art will be. So eventually instead of trying to please or infuriate others, they make music that they find interesting, regardless of how people might feel about it. And that's when true Advancement begins.

Lou Reed to Induct Leonard Cohen Into Rock Hall of Fame

Canoe has the story:

Singer-songwriter Lou Reed will induct Canadian folk legend Leonard Cohen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Now that I think about it, the whole story was in the headline. So let's watch "Indian Sweet Child O' Mine" to fill up the rest of our time:

Bod Dylan at House of Blues

I love the title of this article: "Dylan Thrills, Confounds Fans at House of Blues." That is Advancement for you. Let's look at the thrilling and the confounding:

At his best, the 66-year-old legend was full of spit and venom – a grizzled blues master with a voice that bordered on the demonic. And even when the show wobbled – as it did for about a third of the 105-minute set – Mr. Dylan still gave it his all, bobbing his shoulders and pummeling his keyboard in "Highway 61 Revisited" like he was Little Richard.
...
Dressed in black, with a wide-brimmed hat blocking his face, Mr. Dylan walked on to the dimly lit stage flanked by his usual band – longtime bassist Tony Garnier, drummer George Recili, pedal steel player Donnie Herron and guitarists Stu Kimball and Denny Freeman (who’s originally from Dallas).
...

They had their share of tentative moments in slower songs like "Nettie Moore." And some of the new arrangement didn't work, especially the dirge-paced "Positively 4TH Street."

But for every fizzled experiment, another one soared, like the bizarre, Brian Eno-style "Girl of the North Country" and the fiddle-laced waltz version of "Blowin’ in the Wind" that closed the show.

Curveballs like that tend to confuse casual fans who like to hear the hits played the way they know them. But Mr. Dylan couldn’t care less: He keeps everyone guessing – including himself – which is why he’ll never be past his prime.

This reviewer might be on board with Advancement. And by the way, how awesome would an Eno/Dylan record be?

Bette Midler and the Advanced

Judas Constant wrote a great question, with an even better PS:

This reminds me of another question that's been bugging me for a while. What's the deal with advanced artists and Bette Midler?

She's done duets with Dylan and Tom Waits, and she had Ian Hunter as the guitarist on some of her albums. Is she an accessory?

PS: Here's a video of her rapping...

Before we go to the video, I'm not totally sure about her. The Advanced do love her, but the Advanced often love those who are not Advanced. I think, though, that there is some Advancement in her and at the very least she would understand what it is to be Advanced. She's also quite bawdy at times.

Here's the video:

Lou Reed at Macbeth: The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Not a whole lot going on, so let's go back to last week (New York):

There are the times you go to the theater. And then there are the times you go to the theater and look over and discover you are sitting next to Lou Reed. Now, we are a celebrity journalist, and this was BAM's gala benefit for the opening of Macbeth, starring Patrick Stewart. But usually we're used to at least a few rows separating us from the famous ones, for their comfort but also, as it turns out, for ours, since it's really hard to concentrate on Shakespeare when you're simultaneously trying to concentrate on how Lou Reed is reacting to the show.

Apparently he fell asleep. But when the writer approached him, he said it was "just magnificent" and then recited:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.

Sometimes I miss living in New York.

Scarlett Johanssen Does Tom Waits With David Bowie

It's good to be back when there's news like this (from CrackedActor):

Starlet Scarlett Johanson (or ScarJo, as she is affectionately called by the Fug Girls) has cut an album of Tom Waits covers with Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio that is due out on May 20, 2008. The collaboration between Johansson and Bowie started when the two ran into each other at a party a few days before Johansson started recording. According to Rolling Stone, Bowie said he heard that she was working with Sitek. She told him that she indeed was and considered inviting him to visit her in the recording studio. Bowie didn’t stop by during ScarJo’s recording but while she was filming on location in Spain, Sitek called to tell her Bowie had recorded vocals for the tracks “Falling Down” and “Fannin’ Street.”

I don't think I need to add anything to this.

sickness

I've been sick since Wednesday. Be back soon...

David Bowie Coming of Age With Hudgens

This is potentially interesting (Jam! Showbiz):

Are fans of "High School Musical" and Ziggy Stardust about to have an awkward meeting of the minds? According to The Hollywood Reporter, David Bowie is in talks to play an unspecified role in the coming-of-age comedy "Will," which will star "HSM" leading lady Vanessa Hudgens.

I've never imagined David Bowie as the coming-of-age movie type, but then, there's Advancement for you. Would he play a teacher? A guidance counselor? The gay best friend? I look forward to finding out.

Super Bowl Recap

Well, Tom Petty played the Super Bowl, and while he didn't rock as hard as Prince did (not even as hard as Prince's press conference), there were a few things that impressed me. First, the flying-V guitar laser show at the beginning. Pretty good. Second, he played mostly songs from his "solo" album, yet this was considered a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers show. A bit of Advancement. Third, did Mike Campbell, one of the all-time great guitarists, have his hair in dreadlocks? If so, that is one of the boldest statements of Advancement I've seen in a while.

Paul Simon Teams Up With David Byrne

Not a whole lot going on this morning, but there is this bit about the world's most interesting man, David Byrne (Live Daily):

Paul Simon [ tickets ] will enter a month in residency at Brooklyn's Academy of Music this spring, performing songs from his catalog with help from a number of musical friends.... David Byrne and Hugh Masekela will join Simon for the next installment of the series, "Under African Skies," running April 9-13. The performances will draw from Simon's respectively African- and Brazilian-themed albums, 1986's "Graceland" and 1990's "The Rhythm of the Saints."

For some reason, I can never remember what part of Africa Byrne comes from. But I would imagine that really would be a great show to see.

Queen to Make We Will Rock You Musical Sequel

What could be more Advanced than Queen's musical, "We Will Rock You"? A sequel (NME):

Queen are currently planning a sequel to their West End musical 'We Will Rock You'. The show, based around the band’s songs, has been running at the Domino Theatre in the heart of London since it opened in 2002, and there have been various spin-off performances around the world.

Now Queen's Brian May has announced the band and original scriptwriter Ben Elton are working on a follow-up. “We have been talking about it for a long time,” the guitarist told The Independent. “Now Ben has supplied us with a fabulous script the train is rolling! Watch out!”

I've been sick the last couple of days, but this makes me feel so much better.

Danger Mouse, Van Dyke Parks, and John Cale

Not a whole lot going on in the Advanced World, but there is this, from NME:

Danger Mouse has revealed that he is working with the legendary collaborator Van Dyke Parks. The collaboration came about when Danger Mouse produced the forthcoming second album from The Shortwave Set recently. The album, currently under the working title ’Replica Sun Machine’, will also feature a collaboration with Velvet Underground’s John Cale.

I don't know anything about Danger Mouse. Is he Eek-A's cousin?

Roxy Music Reunion With Brian Eno

From Pitchfork:

Roxy Music members Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, and Paul Thompson got together early last year, touring the festival circuit before settling down to record the follow-up to 1982's Avalon, which is slated for release this autumn. Eno, who last appeared on 1973's For Your Pleasure, wrote two songs for the forthcoming album, and worked a bit of keyboard magic on other tracks. "The band hadn't changed one bit in terms of its internal dynamics," he told the Guardian. "Just the same chemistry. It made me wonder if people can ever change the chemistry between them. After all that time, the relationships seemed exactly the same."

As is to be expected, Eno will not take the stage with Roxy Music. "They didn't ask me, I think because they know I wouldn't," he said. "I don't fancy it. I basically don't like playing live and I'm also worried about people saying, 'Oh, right, he's going back to the old band, then.' It was a big decision for me to do those two days in the studio with them. Not that I don't like them. I like them all. They're nice people. But because I thought, 'Oh, fuck, I'm going to have to spend years talking about this, and it was only two days.'"

I'm tied up in knots about this one: It's Advanced to reunite but it's Overt to worry about what people will say. Trying to figure out Brian Eno is probably never going to work out in any case. Too bad he doesn't want to tour. I would have loved to see him in fur again.

Lou Reed Rocks French Bankers

Here's the story (from Reuters):

Rock star Lou Reed took a walk on the not-so-wild-side on Monday when he played a private concert for a group of Parisian financiers. Reed played to an audience of around 500 bankers and business executives at a theatre on the Avenue Montaigne, a street full of haute couture shops off the Champs Elysees.

"I love Paris," said the 65-year old New Yorker, drawing a loud cheer from the mainly middle-aged crowd. The concert, which was not open to members of the public, was organized by French finance company Carmignac Gestion. "We offered him some money and he came," said an executive involved in the organization of the event.

Stories about Advanced Artists almost always have a snarky reference to the "mainly middle-aged crowd" at their concerts, especially for corporate gigs like this one. I'm guessing the wad of cash they get softens the blow.

Where Eagles Dare - Misfits

Nothing is going on today in the Advanced world. But I heard this song this morning and was so moved, I had to find the video. Best chorus ever.

Lou Reed Kicks It With G2

A friend sent me an email to let me know that "Can I Kick It" by A Tribe Called Quest is the theme song for Gatorade's G2 drink. Perhaps you're familiar with the song from its appearance in a Nike ad years back. Or maybe because it samples a certain wild song by a certain Advanced artist.

Klaus Nomi Returns

Here's the story (village voice):

Nomi's two studio albums for RCA (Klaus Nomi, 1981; Simple Man, 1982) do reflect some of his otherworldly glamour, too often his astonishing vocals are lost amid formulaic backing tracks; the few extant live recordings and videos are far better, despite an often primitive sound. But Za Bakdaz, just out on Heliocentric, reveals Nomi in a different light. Part experiment in playful terror, part rough draft of his unfinished glossolalic opera, this suite of home-studio recordings circa 1979—lovingly restored by cohorts Page Wood and George Elliott—is a postcard from a distant land where kitsch and high art meet head-on.

The first (and basically only time) I saw the exquisitely Overt Nomi was on Urgh! A Music War, and I had what I would imagine was the reaction he would have wanted: "What the hell is that?" And, of course, I never forgot it. So I guess that was two wins for him. Anyway, the Village Voice article is in the form of a "dramatic reading" (with an entr'act and everything!) because he shares a birthday with 18th-century Italian castrato Farinelli. So I wouldn't blame you if you didn't read it, as you will only be annoyed.

Trent Reznor: I Want to Tax You Like an Animal

Trent Reznor has an interesting take on how to solve the free-download problem (stereogum):

It kind of gets into the bigger picture that you've had to face as a musician over the last few years, which in my mind was a bitter pill to swallow, but it's pretty far down the hatch with me now: the way things are, I think music should be looked at as free. It basically is. The toothpaste is out of the tube and a whole generation of people is accustomed to music being that way. There's a perception that you don't pay for music when you hear it on the radio or MySpace.

...

In my mind, I think if there was an ISP tax of some sort, we can say to the consumer, "All music is now available and able to be downloaded and put in your car and put in your iPod and put up your a-- if you want, and it's $5 on your cable bill or ISP bill."

What I like about this is that he embraces technology and pisses off his fans. I don't know if Reznor qualifies for Advancement based on his music, but stuff like this certainly merits attention. Plus, he's totally buff these days.

David J Gets Into Musical Theater

From a friend:

Bauhaus' David J writes and directs the world premiere production of Silver For Gold ( The Odyssey Of Edie Sedgwick ) at The Met Theatre in Hollywood, CA, beginning an exclusive two-week engagement on March 6, 2008. Based on the life of Edie Sedgwick - Andy Warhol's brilliant muse - the stage production explores one of the most charismatic yet misunderstood figures in popular culture. Starring multifaceted performer Monique Jenkinson as Edie, Silver For Gold traces the heroine's dazzling rise and eventual downward spiral in a mythological theatrical experience that is part one-woman show, part rock concert replete with avant-garde minimalist staging and video imagery.

"Writing Silver For Gold, it felt as if I had entered into a subtle psychic relationship with this beautiful dead girl and she was actively encouraging me to write," says David J. "She became a bright light that glowed all the brighter whenever I started to create. It was as if she was feeding on the attention. This might sound highly fanciful but that is how it felt. Edie was enduring in her ultimate role, that of the muse. "

Best known as a founding member of the seminal British bands Bauhaus and Love and Rockets, David J leads the Silver For Gold band, providing vocals and guitar. Accompanying David J is Neel Hammond (performed with Sting, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, Gnarls Barkley, Alicia Keyes, Diana Krall, Randy Newman, Macy Gray, Bette Midler, Marina Topley-Bird, Diana Krall) on viola and violin, David Raven (Keith Richards, Norah Jones, T-Bone Burnett, Steve Earle, John Doe, Carole King, Michelle Shocked, Hans Zimmer, Nancy Sinatra) on percussion and Michael de Winter (Stranger Passing) on guitar & backing vocals.

This is a classic example of someone wanting to be Advanced ("I'll direct musical theater!") but not quite getting there ("But it better be about something weird!"). Nice try, though.