Donald Fagen on Jean Shepherd and A Christmas Story

Nice little thing on Jean Shepherd by Donald Fagen in Slate. Shepherd was responsible for the stories that make up A Christmas Story. Here's a peak under the lampshade:

If you know Jean Shepherd's name, it's probably in connection with the now-classic film A Christmas Story, which is based on a couple of stories in his book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash. He also does the compelling voice-over narration. On Christmas, TBS will continue its tradition of presenting a 24-hour Christmas Story marathon. There are annual fan conventions devoted to the film—released 25 years ago this Thanksgiving—and the original location in Cleveland has been turned into a museum. But long before A Christmas Story was made, Shepherd did a nightly radio broadcast on WOR out of Manhattan that enthralled a generation of alienated young people within range of the station's powerful transmitter. Including me: I was a spy for Jean Shepherd.

In the late '50s, while Lenny Bruce was beginning his climb to holy infamy in jazz clubs on the West Coast, Shepherd's all-night monologues on WOR had already gained him an intensely loyal cult of listeners. Unlike Bruce's provocative nightclub act, which had its origins in the "schpritz" of the Catskills comics, Shepherd's improvised routines were more in the tradition of Midwestern storytellers like Mark Twain, but with a contemporary urban twist: say, Mark Twain after he'd been dating Elaine May for a year and a half. Where Bruce's antics made headlines, Shepherd, with his warm, charismatic voice and folksy style, could perform his most subversive routines with the bosses in the WOR front office and the FCC being none the wiser. At least most of the time.

Read the whole thing if you've got a few minutes.

Father Christmas, Give Me a Kinks Reunion

From 101.5 WQUT Tri-Cities Classic Rock:

Ray Davies has expressed interest in teaming up with brother and Kinks co-founder Dave Davies on a new project from their long-standing rock band.

Though they haven't worked together as bandmates since 1996, Ray said that a reunion was contingent upon Dave's recovery after a 2004 stroke, and whether or not he was able to play music again.

"I suggested he do some low-key shows to see how well he can play. If we're going to play together again, we can't hit the road straight away with a big-time announcement," Ray said in an interview with News of the World.

"But, if Dave feels good about it and there's good new material that we can write, it'll happen," Ray added.

Additionally, Ray said that the project could include other musical contributors as well, such as a certain New Jersey songwriting legend.

"Bruce Springsteen has expressed an interest" in the project," Ray said.

Bruce Springsteen will not be a part of this project. The Advanced are always saying that things like this will happen, but they never do. I do hope Dave can come back though.

Lou Reed's iPhone App: Lou Zoom

Lou Reed has a new iPhone app, and though it has nothing to do with music, your grandfather might enjoy it:

With Lou Zoom, your contacts have never been this beautiful—or this huge and legible! Each name in your contact list expands to the full width of the display, making them easier to select, and allowing you to read you contact info without squinting. No pinching, no panning around—just your contacts, clearer. Dramatically set in Helvetica Neue type, this contemporary take on classic Modernist design turns heads as quickly as it dials phone numbers.

This is one of the most subtly Advanced moves I've ever seen. (Thanks, Michael, for the tip)

Paul Shaffer's Cher Impression - "O Holy Night"

Because it's Christmas time.

Bob Dylan "Must Be Santa" and LIttle Drummer Boy Videos

I'm late on this, but the video for Bob Dylan's "Must Be Santa" is one of the most Advanced things you'll ever see. What is up with the Advanced and wigs?

And now Little Drummer Boy is out.

For an interview with the director, go here.

Pixies to Play What You Tweet on Jimmy Fallon Show

From thetripwire.com:

The Pixies are currently in the throes of the North American leg of their Doolittle tour, a wormhole of a trek we’ve been quick to spill much digi-ink over in these parts recently. Via an e-mail from the band’s publicist, we’ve just learned that the band will sandwich in an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon next week when they come to New York for four sold-out nights at Hammerstein Ballroom.

I like this. (Too much facebook!) The picture for the article is not quite up to date, though.

Nick Cave Up for Bad Sex Writing Award

From Jacket Copy:

British magazine the Literary Review has announced the shortlist of finalists for its Bad Sex Award. The contenders list could be plucked from any highbrow literary award competition: John Banville has won a Booker, Amos Oz has been awarded the French Legion of Honor and Philip Roth has one Pulitzer and two National Book Awards. But maybe they'd prefer not to add the Bad Sex Award to their achievements.

"Nobody wants to win that award," Margaret Atwood -- who is not in the running -- told Jacket Copy in October.

Not all the finalists feel that way. Nick Cave's "The Death of Bunny Munro" follows the sexual misadventures of traveling salesman Bunny. "Frankly, we would have been offended if he wasn't shortlisted," his British publisher Canongate told the Guardian. Maybe that's because Cave deliberately rendered a crude, sexually obsessed character. "I think it’s a hard look at a particular aspect of masculinity," Cave told Jacket Copy in September. "It’s fronting up to that and railing against the kind of misogynistic and predatory element of the male psyche."

The longer list:

John Banville for "The Infinities

Nick Cave for "The Death of Bunny Munro"

Jonathan Littell for "The Kindly Ones"

Richard Milward for "Ten Storey Love Song"

Sanjida O'Connell for "The Naked Name of Love"

Amos Oz for "Rhyming Life and Death"

Anthony Quinn for "The Rescue Man"

Philip Roth for "The Humbling"

Paul Theroux for "A Dead Hand"

Simon Van Booy for "Love Begins in Winter"

Serge Gainsbourg - animation des graffitis sur 5 ans du mur rue de Verneuil

Serge Gainsbourg - animation des graffitis sur 5 ans du mur rue de Verneuil from Arnaud Jourdain on Vimeo.

You'll like this.

Velvet Underground Reunite at Live from the NYPL

Here's the story:

Former Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker and Doug Yule will make an extremely rare joint public appearance on December 8 at the New York Public Library.

The three will discuss the Velvet Underground's music and legacy with rock journalist David Fricke as part of the "LIVE from the NYPL" series.

The reunion of the legendary New York band comes on the heels of the publication of "The Velvet Underground: New York Art," a compendium of previously unseen photographs, poster and cover designs by Andy Warhol, Lou Reed's handwritten music and lyrics, underground press clippings and other reviews, flyers, handbills and posters.

Feel free to get that for me this Christmas.

Meet Mississippi Gary

Was thinking about this the other day. I just love YouTube sometimes.

Andy Warhol's Children's Illustrations for Sale

Kind of interesting (the Guardian):

They are a long way from the iconic pop art for which he is best known but a set of illustrations for a children's book series by Andy Warhol are set to go up for auction in New York next month.

Warhol's pictures illustrate the story of the little red hen, a folk tale about the value of team work, and show a perky little red hen happily sowing her grains of wheat, as a lazy cat, mouse and dog – who is reading the paper – look on. They were drawn by Warhol early in his career, between 1957 and 1959, for the Doubleday Book Club's popular series Best in Children's Books.

The Warhol illustrations will be auctioned on 9 December as part of Bloomsbury Auctions's sale of 365 original illustrations and books....

I love his early stuff, maybe better than I like the art that made him famous. Wait, I'm being Overt!

About Nicolas Cage

The NY Times has a nice article about Nicolas Cage. Basically the writer is groping for an explanation for his career. Of course we know you can explain everything with one word: Advancement. Here's a snip:

THERE are any number of characteristic Nicolas Cage scenes in Werner Herzog’s “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” interludes you watch with a now-familiar mixture of genuine appreciation and more than a touch of bewilderment. In one Mr. Cage, as the drug-addled cop of the film’s title, enters a room to join a stakeout. The cops are watching a house. And, crammed in the foreground of the shot, two iguanas are watching Mr. Herzog’s low-lying camera, their bodies stretched across the image. “What,” demands the looming Mr. Cage, waving an arm toward the creatures, are these “iguanas doing on my coffee table?” He looks affronted. There aren’t any iguanas, another cop replies, too busy to wonder at the question. Mr. Cage gives the iguanas a small, appreciative smile, eyeballing the animals who continue to eyeball the camera as the image begins to jump and shake. It’s the look of a man who sees something no one else does: he’s in on his own joke. But it’s also the smile of self-recognition.

Read the whole thing.

Bono Editorial in the New York Times

Bono has a pretty sweet gig all the way around. Here's part of the story of "One":

We scan inside the cool cathedral of Hansa, a recording studio made famous by David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Nick Cave. In earlier times, it was a ballroom popular with the Nazis. The members of the Irish band hold a prayer meeting to exorcise the demons. (Seriously.) But it is their own personal demons that are present this day.

About to leave their 20s, the bandmates are bumping into one another’s adult-sized egos. Men, they discover, when they become lords of their own domain, can lose the supple nature that a band requires. For these Irish musicians, the love it takes to sublimate one’s ego for the meta-ego of the band is more and more being reserved for families.

BRIAN ENO, a producer, is only half-joking when he tells the band that “possessions are a way of turning money into problems.” The band has had a taste of success and, even worse, a taste of taste, poison to the pursuit of rock ’n’ roll.

The dreamspace in which songs emerge has been filled by nice houses needing not-nice art. ADAM CLAYTON dreams of Jean-Michel Basquiat; Bono of Louis le Brocquy; EDGE of designing furniture; LARRY MULLEN of not being in Berlin.

Edge, the Zen Presbyterian, no longer a study in restraint, is heartbroken, in the middle of splitting up with his wife; he now sees the same fate for his band. He is trying to write an eight-bar lift section for a song called “The Fly.” He writes two, but when he and The Singer put them together a different song emerges ... and fresh words and a new melody come out of The Singer’s mouth .... the words fall out.

BONO (sort of singing) We’re one, but we’re not the same ... we get to carry each other...

LARRY (charming but hard-nosed, sitting behind his drum kit) Sounds sentimental.

BONO It doesn’t have to be. I can give the verses enough bile to balance the hook. It’s no big kiss, it’s a shrug of resigned optimism. Really, it’s the polar opposite of the kind of hippie nonsense you would expect with a title like “One.”

LARRY So why do you call it “One,” then? You think that’ll help get it to No. 1?

ADAM (one eyebrow permanently raised, thinking they should get on with it as it’s the first good thing the band has done all month) Isn’t “One” a Bob Marley song?

EDGE (deadpan) That’s “One Love.” Completely different.

ADAM I don’t care — as long as I believe you when you sing it.

DANIEL LANOIS (also a producer) I don’t care, as long as there are lyrics. What’s it about?

BONO I don’t know yet .... Er, having to live together rather than wanting to. It could mean a lot of things to a lot of people.

BRIAN ENO For God’s sake, don’t make it a love song, or I’ll retch.

BONO It’s a song about love, not a love song.

This is a good example of Bono's Overtness. He's afraid of writing a love song, has to balance the hook with bile, and it is the opposite of something (hippie nonsense). Bono needs to just Advanced already.

The Who at the Super Bowl

I figured this would happen soon:

The Who will perform at Superbowl XLIV, marking the British band's first performance in North America since 2008.
...
The NFL has yet to officially confirm the report, saying, "When we have something to announce, we'll announce it."

During a recent stop on his "Use It or Lose It" solo tour, frontman Roger Daltrey told Billboard.com that he and bandmate/composer Pete Townshend were working on new material for the Who's followup to 2006's "Endless Wire."

"Hopefully if this tour has done it's job, I'll be in really good form as a vocalist," said Daltrey. "And who knows, we might make our best work."

Townshend has acknowledged working on two projects -- a new musical called "Floss" and the Who's next album, which he has said will include some pieces from the "Floss" project.

All of these things are fantastic, but the Who's status in the Advanced world is still unresolved.

Jay-Z and U2 in Berlin

From Stereogum:

In conjunction with yesterday's 16th annual European Music Awards, MTV set up a special, free U2 concert at the Brandenburg Gate to celebrate the 20th anniversary of tearing down the Berlin Wall.
...

[T]hose that were lucky enough to be on the right side of the wall were treated to a six-song set of U2's classics, kicking off with Bono yelling "Berlin, Du bist wunderbar!" (Berlin, you are wonderful!)(better than calling yourself a jelly donut) and highlighting with Jay-Z joining the band on "Sunday Bloody Sunday."

They certainly dressed correctly for the occasion.

Echo and the Bunnymen Cancel Tour Due to Taxes

Cancel your plans, Atlanta, Echo and the Bunnymen aren't coming:

[The group has] cancelled their US tour 10 days before it was due to begin over a tax dispute. Due to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule, foreign bands have to pay a fee if they tour in the US more than once in 30 days. The band played a one-off gig in New York last month.

A statement on the group's website said the cancellation was due to the IRS's "unreasonable demands" and they would return to tour the US in April 2010.

Please don't tell Glenn Beck. (He loves "Lips Like Sugar.")

Willem Dafoe Gets Pesonal

Most of us don't understand the reasons that Advanced Artists choose the projects they do. For instance, if an actor like the possibly Advanced John Cusack does a movie like 2012 Overt people who prefer to think of him as Lloyd Dobler will assume that he is doing it solely for the money, likely to fund what Cusack is "really" interested in. That happens sometimes, but I think more often serious actors make action films (and other blockbuster- type movies) because they actually want to do it for reasons other than paychecks.

If you don't believe me, maybe you'll believe the I'm-starting-to-think-he's-Advanced Willem Dafoe:

“The fact that even close friends can wink at me and say, ‘Well, he does it for’ ” — he paused to fan a wad of imaginary cash in his hand — “it’s like: ‘You idiot. No, I like doing this.’ They can’t recognize the personal filmmaking in a movie like ‘Spider-Man.’ But the truth is it was a very personal film.”

Then he said, "I thought you was a bunny! Bunnies jump fast. You jump slow."

Brian Eno and Daneil Lanois Remembering "The Unforgettable Fire"

From Pitchfork (you may have heard of it):

Pitchfork: Daniel, the story goes that Brian Eno recommended you produce U2 after they first came to him.

Daniel Lanois: Brian and I had been working in Canada in a town called Hamilton. We'd been making ambient records [including On Land and Apollo] for a few years, some very cool records. But I'll be real straight with you. During that ambient music-making chapter, I was pretty isolated. Nothing had really come my way that was illustrious, in terms of invites. I had poured my soul into these ambient works with Eno, and a lot of phone calls were coming in-- David Bowie was calling, Iggy Pop the next day. None of them to me, all to Brian. Brian was pretty much in the fast lane of record making at that point. He was pretty much on the pulse of things in New York City, and then he said that he wasn't producing records anymore. He was finished with it, and was therefore not interested in working with U2.

Brian Eno: I had never worked with that kind of music before, and I was not completely convinced that I would be the right person for it. I thought, well, I can handle the ideas side of it all right, but can I handle the actual traditional production side alright? I knew Dan was very good at that side of things, and very good at working with bands, getting the best out of the players and so on, so I said, "Why not have both of us? We'll sort of overlap in some parts, but we actually sort of serve different functions as well." That was how that working relationship started.

I would read the whole thing if I were you. By the way, I wonder if the Pitchfork folks were intentionally making a joke about Eno/Lanois remembering the unforgettable fire. I hope so.

One other thing: it's giving me chills thinking about how good that record is.

Ray Davies to Do Kinks Klassics With Full Khorus

This is going to be sweet:

Last week, Ray Davies told [Paste] of his forthcoming choral collection: a new album Kinks classics featuring a full choir. And this November, you can hear it for yourself, live and in 65-voice surround sound: Davies just announced a seven-city, eight-date tour through the U.S. Although some of the dates will find Davies playing solo, the New York dates will feature The Vox Society Choir and the New York shows will feature The Dessoff Chamber Choir.
“I didn’t want the Chorus to just do ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs,’” Davies said of the project. “There had to be something within the song that’d allow them to express themselves.” And so there are; the re-imagination of some of The Kinks finest songs will make for a concert equal parts rock ‘n’ roll and gospel soul.

But don’t fret if you live somewhere in the vastness of America; Davies will hit David Letterman’s show on Nov. 18.

I might have to get up to New York for this one. Ray Davies barely made it into the book, but he is one of the most Advanced Artists of all time. And this project is proof of that.

Slate: Why Bob Dylan's Christmas Album Isn't a Joke

As is often the case, Slate gets it:

...to dismiss Christmas in the Heart as mere mischief is to misunderstand Dylan—and Christmas songs. In recent years, Dylan has been less folk singer than folklorist. On albums like Love and Theft (2001), Modern Times (2006), and Together Through Life (2009)—and on his fabulous satellite radio show—Dylan has been dipping further into America's musical back pages with an expansive vision of roots music that takes in not just blues and gospel and country but 19th-century parlor songs, vaudeville ragtime tunes, Tin Pan Alley's Hawaiian ballads, and other products of the ye olde pop industrial complex. Dylan's love for crooners like Bing Crosby is evident in Modern Times' "Beyond the Horizon," a note-for-note homage to the 1930s hit "Red Sails in the Sunset."

and

Dylan...knows that holiday schlock is a profound tradition in its own right. Most yuletide standards are of relatively recent provenance, cooked up by pop tune-smiths during and just after World War II. But it was the special genius of those (mostly Jewish) composers to create songs that feel as if they have always existed, that can sit comfortably beside the ancient "O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" as icons of that bizarre civic-religious rite, the American Christmas—the one time each year when the country's consumerist and spiritual excesses merge in a mass celebration of the enchanted and uncanny. Even the silliest Christmas tunes are surreal—cheerily, unblinkingly narrating tales of flying reindeer and talking snowmen. Then there are songs like Berlin's titanic "White Christmas," which fuses Stephen Foster's antebellum nostalgia, Jewish schmaltz, and Broadway melodicism into a secular hymn that is as dark and blue as it is "merry and bright."

Dylan gets this, and that's why Christmas in the Heart is less a joke or a provocation than a polemic.

Exactly!