Yes, there was a time when starting up a record company required actual brick and mortar (or at least some office space), telephones, pens, pencils, typewriters and reams of 20 lb stationery (plus desks to put them all on and, ideally, a staff of people to use them) not to mention, in the case of at least one of the two record companies mentioned below, a full Cordon Bleu kitchen staff equipped with a £600-a-month-at-least liquor allowance.

Oh. And many, many talented musicians, songwriters and singers with access to recording studios full of the brightest and most creative engineers, arrangers and/or producers available, I should most definitely add.

A pair of wonderful new DVDs from Sexy Intellectual spotlight two such maverick, pioneering operations from the Golden Age of Boutique Labels. We learn both of these companies were bravely and boldly artist-launched, artist-operated, and above all artist-friendly, both had quite specific audiences to target with their product, and that one of these two labels amazingly continues to run successfully to this very day …though lately their time is much more often spent in the courtroom as opposed to the recording studio.   

In a virtual nutshell then, Here's the stories:

DATE OF INCORPORATION:

APPLE:  January 1968, London, England.

BIZARRE:  February 1968, Los Angeles, California.

CHIEF OPERATING DIRECTORS:

APPLE:  John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Richard Starkey (MBE)

BIZARRE:  Frank Zappa, Herb Cohen (mgr)

INSPIRATION:

APPLE:  The Beatles needed to quickly spend a lot of untaxed income after the death of Brian Epstein.

BIZARRE:  Frank Zappa needed to quickly gain control of his career after MGM/Verve forgot [sic?] to renew his initial recording contract.

START-UP CAPITAL:

APPLE:  £2,000,000.00

BIZARRE:  200 shares of no par value common stock.  

CORPORATE LOGO:

APPLE:  A green Granny Smith apple.

BIZARRE:  A black vacuum pump.

EARLY STATEMENT OF INTENT:

APPLE: "It's business concerning records, films, electronics, and as a sideline, whatever it's called, manufacturing, whatever. But we want to set up a system whereby people who just want to make a film about anything don't have to go on their knees in somebody's office. Probably yours."  (John Lennon)

BIZARRE:  "We make records that are a little different. We present musical and sociological material which the important record companies would probably not allow you to hear."  (Frank Zappa)

LAUNCHED IN AMERICA WITH:

APPLE:  John Lennon and Paul McCartney appearing on The Tonight Show.

BIZARRE:  Wild Man Fischer appearing on Laugh-In.

AFFILIATE LABELS:

APPLE:  Zapple Records.

BIZARRE:  Straight Records.

OTHER DIVISIONS:

APPLE:  Apple Electronics, Apple Films, Apple Management, Apple Publicity, Apple Publishing, Apple Overseas, Apple Retail, Apple Tailoring (Civil and Theatrical).

BIZARRE:  United Mutations (fan club), NT&B (Nifty Tough & Bitchen PR), Intercontinental Absurdities (holding company).

TALENT ROSTER:

APPLE:  The Beatles, Mary Hopkin, Jackie Lomax, The Iveys aka Badfinger, (White) Trash, (the incredible) Brute Force, James Taylor, John Tavener, Billy Preston, The Modern Jazz Quartet, The Black Dyke Mills Band, The Plastic Ono Band,The Elastic Oz Band, The Hot Chocolate Band, The Radha Krishna Temple (London), Doris Troy, Ronnie Spector, Ravi Shankar, Yoko Ono, Wings, Mortimer, Chris Hodge, The Sundown Playboys (at 78 rpm!), Elephant's Memory, Lon and Derrek Van Eaton, David Peel and the Lower East Side.

BIZARRE:  Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Sandy Hurvitz, Wild Man Fischer, Alice Cooper, Judy Henske, Jerry Yester, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, Mayf Nutter, Jeff Simmons, The GTO's, The Whistlers, The Persuasions, Rosebud, Junier Mintz, Tim Dawe, Tim Buckley, Lord Buckley, Lenny Bruce.   

MISSED OUT ON SIGNING:

APPLE:  Lord Buckley, Lenny Bruce, Grace Slick, Delaney and Bonnie, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Fleetwood Mac, Solomon Burke, David Bowie, The Turtles, The Easybeats, The Band, Yes, MC5, Timon, Harry Nilsson, Jon Isherwood, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Kenneth Patchen, Ken Kesey, Ken Weaver, Ed Sanders, Charles Bukowski, Charles Olson, Richard Brautigan, Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Aram Saroyan, Anne Waldman, Gregory Corso, Diane di Prima, Simon Vinkenoog.

BIZARRE:  The Shaggs.

EARLY CATCH PHRASES:

APPLE:  "It'll be like a sort of Western communism."   

BIZARRE: "Just what the world needs – another record company."

EARLY ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN:

APPLE:  Boxed and hand-delivered their first four records to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and even the Queen Mother.

BIZARRE:  Took out full-page ads in comic books.

FIRST RELEASE:

APPLE:  "Hey Jude" by The Beatles (on August 26, 1968)

BIZARRE:  "The Circle" by Wild Man Fischer (on September 10, 1968)

RAREST RELEASE:

APPLE:  The 1969 Wall's Ice Cream E.P. by The Iveys, James Taylor, Jackie Lomax and Mary Hopkin (available by mail-order only …after you bought enough ice cream, that is).  

BIZARRE:  The 1969 Japanese "World New Rock" Series 2-LP (with die-cut slipcase obi cover and "a nifty 12-page book") pressing of the Mothers' Uncle Meat soundtrack – sort of – album (most recently for auction online with a starting bid of $1,865.76 U.S.)    

MOST UNIQUE RELEASE:

APPLE:  "The King of Fuh" by Brute Force (1969)

BIZARRE:  "I don't think unique is a strong enough word for Trout Mask Replica" (Mark Paytress, Mojo Magazine)

UNRELEASED:

APPLE:  "The Lady Is A Champ" by Frank Sinatra, with new lyrics (e.g.: She married Ringo, and she could have had Paul) by Sammy Cahn (labeled Apple 1 and given to Maureen Starkey as a birthday present in 1968). 

BIZARRE:  The History And Collected Improvisations Of The Mothers Of Invention 12-LP ( !! ) box set (1970).

TOTAL RECORDS SOLD DURING FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION:

APPLE:  at least 16,000,000

BIZARRE:  well under 160,000

CROSSOVER:

APPLE:  Some Time In New York City by John & Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band featured a full album side recorded live at the Fillmore East with Frank Zappa and the Mothers.

BIZARRE:  We're Only In It For The Money by The Mothers Of Invention featured a full album cover parody of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sanctioned by Paul McCartney.

MOST INTERESTING PEOPLE TO EVER GRACE THEIR OFFICES:

APPLE:  Lauren Bacall (with her children), a bunch of Hell's Angels en route to "straighten out" Czechoslovakia, the "Original Shoot 'em Up Head 'em Off At The Pass Pardner Psychedelic Traveling Family Medicine Show" en route to the Fiji Islands to establish their own alternative universe (and hoping to pick up John & Yoko on the way), and this guy who kept visiting the Press Office claiming he was Adolf Hitler ("…oh Christ, not that arsehole again," complained Apple Press Officer Derek Taylor. "All right, send him up"). 

BIZARRE: Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Sandy Hurvitz, Wild Man Fischer, Alice Cooper, Judy Henske, Jerry Yester, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, Mayf Nutter, Jeff Simmons, The GTO's, The Whistlers, The Persuasions, Rosebud, Junier Mintz, Tim Dawe, Tim Buckley.                 

REASON FOR ORIGINAL DISSOLUTION OF COMPANY:

APPLE:  The Beatles broke up and Paul McCartney sued them because he didn't like their new manager, who later sued them.

BIZARRE:  Frank Zappa broke up The Mothers of Invention and then sued his manager, and then the Mothers of Invention sued Frank. 

CHIEF OPERATING DIRECTORS WENT ON TO OWN AND OPERATE:

APPLE:  Lenono Music, MPL Communications, Dark Horse Records, Ring O'Records.

BIZARRE:  DiscReet, Zappa Records, Barking Pumpkin Records. 

NUMBER OF ORIGINAL RELEASES STILL IN PRINT:

APPLE:  42

BIZARRE:  14  

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ADDITIONAL READING:

APPLE:  The Longest Cocktail Party by Richard DiLello.

BIZARRE:  The Real Frank Zappa Book by you-know-who.

CLOSING STATEMENTS:

APPLE:  "Apple is losing money every week. If it carries on like this, all of us will be broke in six months. I'm down to my last £50,000."  (John Lennon, 1969)

BIZARRE:  "The richest people in the world aren’t particularly smart or happy. And the happiest people in the world aren’t particularly smart or rich. That leaves me making music."  (Frank Zappa, 1979)

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Now, that being said, I have not chosen a career that would lead to this dream, but I have chosen a career that still lead me to be in attendee at this year’s JUNO Fest and Awards.

24 hours a day, seven days a week, I’m a full-time music publicist and an occasional freelance writer. With the honor of attending the 2012 JUNOs as spectator and writer, I truly got to experience the JUNOs and the Canadian music talent it celebrates.

This year’s JUNO were in Ottawa, ON and were finally close enough to Montreal, QC, where I’m based, that I was simply able get in my car with my bestie and fave music writer Barbara Pavone and drive the two-hour trek.

Arriving on a Friday afternoon, you can already tell that the excitement of the JUNOs was plastered on the streets of downtown Ottawa.

I have to admit right off the bat you can tell that the JUNOs are a completely different element in their own right from other Canadian music events such as Canadian Music Week and NXNE. They’ve got a vibe of more suits and industry execs and are like being at one big office party.

There was a great number of superb Canadian bands performing during the JUNO Fest that I was dying to see, but unfortunately I couldn’t be at more than one place at a time. I kicked off my first night by attending The JUNO Cup, a night of hockey between former NHL players like Paul Coffey and Gary Roberts vs. The Rockers (i.e. Juno-nominated musicians). It was honestly a great entertaining game full of action-packed hockey along with follies of seeing pros kicking some serious amateur ass, though Sam Roberts and Classified really delivered finesse as if they were real NHLers.

After a great hockey game, which proves I truly am Canadian, I kicked off my music fun with a night at local venue The Cabin where I saw Jordan Cook, a one-man band from Saskatoon, SK who put on a mind-blowing set with so much showmanship on stage and great tunes; he was doing vocals, guitar and drums all at the same time. Cook is a true prodigy that puts on an incredible performance and is a must-see.

The second band I got to see was a band from Hamilton, ON called Monster Truck. If you’re looking for a great old school ‘70s rock band that gives you that modern good time rock ‘n’ roll fun, this is the band to check out. My fave song from their set was ‘Space Nebula’ and if you want to check out their rocking tracks, then head over to their website and download their two EPs -The Brown EP and Monster Truck – for free.

To follow up Monster Truck’s most awesome set were legendary metalheads ANVIL. Taking to the stage, these old school head bangers brought out a contingent of fans stuck in the ‘80s with mullets and ladies with the full-on hairspray poofs. ANVIL aren’t legendary just because they’re aging metalheads, but because they know how to head bang their way into the hearts of fans, performing classics like ‘666,’ ‘Metal on Metal’ and recent tracks like ‘This Is Thirteen’ from 2007’s same-tilted release and ‘New Orleans Voodoo’ from their 2011 release, Juggernaut of Justice.

Saturday was a night I wasn’t sure what to be prepared for, but am really glad about the way the night played out. Attending the non-broadcasted part of the JUNO Awards was truly a treat and obviously different from the big show to be broadcasted on CTV the following night.

The non-broadcast night included a very nice gala with a dinner for all the nominees and members of CARAS (The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts Society) and saw 36 awards given out over three and half hours. The category I was anticipating the most was the first one – Metal Album of the Year. First on the list to be given out, the category had five great Canadian metal talents nominated: ANVIL, Devin Townsend Project, Cauldron, Fuck the Facts and KEN mode, who won the award.

Over the gala night, it was great to observe the non-broadcast show hosted by Jian Ghomeshi of CBC Radio’s ‘The Q show’ and see all the great Canadian talent. The highlights were meeting CBC’s ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ comedian Sean Majumder, Simple Plan and getting a chance to talk nerd shop with Devin Townsend.

Following the gala, I headed over to the Gibson party thanks to one of my fave Toronto music promoters Darryl Hurs who runs Indie Week, a festival in Toronto that promotes Canadian indie music. The Gibson bash was pretty great, as I got to hang with musicians from The Rabid Whole, ANVIL, the UK’s Suburbians and Monster Truck. Both Monster Truck and ANVIL were playing again that night for the party with two-songs sets and it was a true treat to see them both play again.

From the Gibson party, to end my night, I took off to see Metal Album of the Year winners, Winnipeg’s KEN mode perform at Café Dekcuf for a 1:00am set, anticipating and hungry crowd. The assault these guys laid down for the crowd was bleeding to the ears in a good way and I truly was stoked to finally see them live.

Sunday night was the big night and I was full of excitement, but before I made my way to the big show, I hung out with Marcus Ryan from The Grind podcast to do an interview and talk about our love of music.

From there I headed off to the big JUNO show, which was taking place at the Scotia Bank Place, a good twenty-minute drive outside the city. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but was sure it was going to be memorable. And it truly was and even though I was stuck in the media room for Q&As with winners, it was still a great experience to hear comments from artists like Feist, Dallas Green, Blue Rodeo and Deadmau5.

I have to say legendary actor William Shatner, who I’m sad I didn’t get to meet, was hilarious as host. At his age of 81 he’s still kicking it and entertaining people of all generations.

The highlight of the night for performances was Dallas Green; his performance of ‘O’Sister’ was truly heartfelt. 

After a long night of Q&As in the media room, there were the after parties and it seemed every label had a party going on and wanted you to be there and it was a no brainer of how to get ya there – free booze! I only attended one party that night, as I figured Warner Music’s bash would be the best bet for great people and fun, but to be honest, it was like going to a Christmas party and being the guest of a guest. It was all pretty much suits and nothing else, there were occasional artists and celebrities here and there, such as Ron Sexsmith, Jim Cuddy and Ron Maclean of CBC’s ‘Hockey Night in Canada,’ but overall it felt stuffy, except for the free beaver tails!

All in all, it was a great experience of music and I pray one of these days they bring the JUNOs to Canada’s true music capital, my hometown of Montreal. The JUNOs won’t know what fun is until they experience the life and culture of this city, so I express and urge they come this way soon. And if the JUNOs do come to a town near you, go experience the festivities and enjoy as much music as possible.

For all the latest on the Juno Awards: http://junoawards.ca/

New song? But I thought…

Jim Morrison?

Yeah.

Gary Pig Gold here, from The Rock and Roll Report.

Hey! Good to talk to you. How're you doing?

You know, you were surprisingly easy to track down, I must say.

Well, I'm not that hard to find. In fact, I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.  [pause]  So anyways, what'd you want to talk about?

For starters I guess, the new "L.A. Woman" DVD.

The what?

The new Doors "Mr. Mojo Risin': The Story of L.A. Woman" album documentary.

Oh! Okay, sure.

You have seen it, I assume?

Well, sure, I get all these "new" Doors releases in the mail all the time. I have to so I can sign off on 'em and they can get 'em out there …but that doesn't mean I have to watch them [laughs].

Well, this is a pretty good one. Starts off with a little history of the band, goes through all the songs on the album track-by-track, giving the background information, showing some stills and whenever possible footage from the sessions, talking to many of the original participants…

Oh yeah? Like who?

Jac Holzman, Bill Siddons, Paul Rothchild…

Rothchild wasn't with us for that album. He split pretty soon. Said he was bored. I know what he means… so was I [laughs again].

Yes. Bruce Botnick basically "produced" L.A. Woman with the band themselves, right?

Yeah, I guess. If you can call it that. He called out the takes, turned on the tapes… yeah, but I remember he did bring in Elvis Presley's bass player to play with us.

Yes! Jerry Scheff. He mentions that in the film. He talks about how excited you were to be working with him.

Are you kidding? Of course I was! I mean, this was ELVIS we're talking about !!

You really were a fan?

BIG fan, you bet. Always was. Always will be. I still hang with him from time to time too [possibly sarcastic laughter].

I remember the very first book I ever read about Elvis…

By Jerry Hopkins?

Yes! That's it.

I suggested he write that, you know.

So I heard. And he also wrote a book later on you and The Doors, didn't he?

Yeah, and I helped him with that one too.

What did you think about Oliver Stone's Doors movie that was supposedly based on Jerry's book?

I thought we had this other thing to talk about.

Oh. Okay.

One movie at a time, okay? [almost laughs]

Let me throw some quotes at you from this new DVD then, alright?

Sure. Throw.

"They," meaning The Doors, "were right up there with The Beatles and Dylan."

[silence]

uh, "The Doors are a living entity. When I play them tonight, they will mean something to my audience."

[deep, hearty, prolonged laughter]  Who said that ??

DJ Jim Ladd.

Jim Ladd !!

"I'm tellin' you that right now there's a 16, 17, 18-year-old kid who's listening to The Doors for the first time as a new band and is getting his or her mind BLOWN."

What ??

Jim Ladd again.

[silence]

Talking about L.A. Woman, David Fricke from Rolling Stone says, "If you're going to have an epitaph – if you're gonna have one last record – then THAT was the record to make."

[continuing silence]

Howzabout calling L.A. Woman the Doors' "garage masterpiece"?

"Garage masterpiece" ??

Yes. "Garage," like in a "garage band."

[confused]  Garage band? What's… Who was saying this?

John Densmore.

John! They talked to him?

Absolutely. And Ray and Robby too.

Robby! Last time I saw him he looked like an underemployed executive caddy…

That is a great image, by the way!

Did you ever see Robby on Married with Children? Man, that was a great show. Why'd they ever have to take that off?

Sure, I saw that one. Robby was on with John Sebastian, Richie Havens…

…and Herman !!

Peter Noone, yes. Spencer Davis, and Mark Lindsay.

[affectionately]  yeahhhhh, Mark Lindsay. Now there was a GREAT singer. Damn, he was great. I always loved the Raiders' stuff.

Really.

What did Manzarek have to say? Pretty Zen as always?

Well, speaking of quotes, in the Bonus Footage he says about the Doors' live shows – let me make sure I get this exact; I wrote it down here – "That Dionysian session of worship of Dionysus, the God of Ecstasy, the God of Madness, the ancient Greek God of Madness and Intoxication and Freedom…"

Oh, Jesus…

There's also a great, almost spine-tingling segment where Ray, sitting all alone at the Fender Rhodes, demonstrates that wonderful "Riders On The Storm" –

You mean our Vaughn Monroe song ??

– that descending E Dorian keyboard line that's still so evocative of gentle, but menacing rainfall. Absolutely beautiful…

[absolutely deafening silence] 

…anyways…

So what else is on this "bonus footage"?

There's a section called "The Doors Guide To L.A."

The what ??!

It's like a little travelogue around the city showing all these different locations.

Like what?

Sunset Sound and the Elektra recording studios, the old Doors Workshop – there's a gold plaque up on the building now…

Yeah, I've seen that.

There's even this big green sign that says "Jim Morrison Room" on the door to # 32 at the Alta Cienega Motel.

I haven't seen that  [laughter].

They show the Doors' Hollywood Walk of Fame star –

That cost us a lot of money, you know…

Then the Phone Booth strip club – it's L.A. Premier Flowers now…

[appreciative, ironic chuckle]

…Barney's Beanery, the Laurel Canyon Country Store…

Did they fix their sign yet?

Nope. Still says "grocerys" instead of "groceries."

[laughter, then some inaudible off-color comment about patchouli, it sounded like]

And of course, they show all the places around town where you guys used to live.

[deep sigh]  I'm really so damn glad I got out of L.A. when I finally did. I really always was more of a Palm Springs kinda guy…  

Enough about the travelogue then. There's also a nice section elsewhere on the DVD of John demonstrating his Jo Jones brush chops on the snare: "…you sorta just swish around – but you gotta have some technique…"

You tell 'em, Johnny !!

Then he talks about the song "L.A. Woman," and how he slowly increased the tempo on you guys – "like an orgasm," he says…

[quite affectionate laughter]

"The problem was," he says about the song, "It was a seven-minute piece!"

John is our Seven-Minute Man !!  [more laughter]

There's another interesting little part where Robby insists that "Love Her Madly" was, and again I'm quoting here, "a little too commercial." But Bruce Botnick says that he knew it was a hit right off the bat. "I just knew it," he says. "We ALL knew it!"

Yeah, I'm sure they did. They were always after those kinda things.

And then they show "Love Her Madly" right there at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 alongside Ringo Starr, Donny Osmond, and Daddy Dewdrop!

Daddy Dewdrop !!

Which reminds me Jim, if you wouldn't mind: What are you listening to yourself these days?

Oh, not much. Toni Braxton. Spin Doctors. Some Bill Withers. Red, uh Hot…

…Chili Peppers?

I think so. Cranberries.

The Cranberries…

…and, uh, Nickelback. Or the Wallflowers. Whatever they're called…

Books?

What?

How about books? Anything special you're reading these days?

Janet Evanovich – not so much Steffie Hall. Lisa Scottoline. James Patterson. Robert Ludlum, and of course the "Twilight" books by Stephenie Meyer.

Really!

I gotta say I mainly watch television though. Lots of television. Lots.

Really.

Yeah.  [pause]  uh, Anything else I can help you with?

Um, no, not really. I don't think so…

Alright then.

Gee, you know, I just want to say Thank you, Jim. So nice talking with you.

Yeah… uhhh, what did you say the title of this DVD is? The full title?

"Mr. Mojo Risin': The Story of L.A. Woman."

You know? I really wish they'd stop with all of that "Mr. Mojo Risin'" stuff already. I mean, I wasn't the only guy in The Doors who loved to mess around with loose Scrabble tiles on the road, y'know…

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2. Vintage "Lookin(g) For A Kiss" performance footage is expertly intercut with shots of our not-yet-ready-for-celluloid heroes as they walk down Hollywood Boulevard, checking out the neighborhood novelty-slash-porn shops, cruisin' Frederick's, and catching David JoHansen actually experimenting for perhaps the first time with a terrifyingly great big proto-Poindexter coif.     

3. A lone, brave fan holds up a crudely-scrawled cardboard sign proclaiming N.Y. DOLLS ARE GREAT as "Trash" picks up, this time accompanied by off-site, quite outasite sequences of the boys poncin' n' prancin' up their proverbial storm at a calculatingly lo-budget photo shoot …David's hair now back into its proper Tyler-vs-Jagger shambles, we see.   

4. Speaking of whom, hilariously quaint all-last-night's-parties footage of the man being interviewed, poolside, soon begins appearing between songs. And I quote: "Pittsburgh, they went wild. We played third bill to Mott the Hoople and the Blue Öyster Cunt [sic!]. We didn't even have a dressing room – they gave us this little trailer that was in this ice-skating rink/swimming pool complex. We ate in this diner. It was just about time to go on and EVERYBODY started throwin' up. Violently!" 

5. The Dolls' faux-Tommy gun ridden homage to Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits, aka their "Lipstick Killers" proto-gangsta shoot, is herein repositioned beneath "Bad Detective," followed by the wisenheimers as severely alt. cowboys in toy holsters and plastic GI Joe bazookas for, of course, "Vietnamese Baby."  

6. Cut to WNBC-TV newsman Tony Hernandez reporting: "History is being made in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel tonight. For the first time that anybody really can remember, a Rock Halloween Party is being held here. As you can see, the Guest List appears to be quite unique" – as the WNBC cameras pan across a 1973 audience much more Rocky Horror than "rock" – "as are the hosts of this Halloween party. I'm speaking of the unique group of young men known as the New York Dolls." Cue "Human Being," Syl quite convincing indeed in his Charlie Chaplin costume (that little tramp) as a VERY Doll'd-up, far-from-dull pantomime horse suddenly waltzes on stage,giving David JoH quite the run for his $. 

7. Those of the Gawker persuasion should meanwhile keep a close eye peeled for gorgeously grainy glimpses of Cyrinda Foxe, Michelle Piza, and other certifiably Rock Scene-approved arm candy sprawled backstage and underfoot throughout Lookin' Fine On Television. In fact, look very closely and you can even spot the Dolls' Mercer Arts Center compadre Ace Frehley celebrating his very own Rock Halloween.   

8. So nice to see so much of Arthur "Killer" Kane throughout the proceedings as well, he the solid-bottomed Ox (as in John Alec Entwistle) of mock-rock. RIP…to both of them. 

9. During the concluding "Jet Boy" sequence we are naturally treated to frightfully hilarious footage of the hot-panted Dolls invading Kennedy Airport, actually being allowed to board an L.A.-bound jet (with Bob and Nadya Gruen's trusty video gear rolling!) then watch what's left of them being most unceremoniously dumped hours later out upon the left coast. This was, rest assured, many years before the creation of the TSA, all you frequent flyers out there will be most relieved to know.     

10. But perhaps the true black-and-white heart(break) of the matter is to be found within Lookin' Fine On Television's Bonus Footage, wherein David, most uncomfortably – in more ways than one – clad in some turtleneck/sports jacket contraption interviews his old – in more ways – bandmate Johnny Thunders outside CBGB. The two attempt witty, friendly banter one 1976 night on the Bowery just prior to Thunders' UK Anarchy tour with the Damned and the Sex Pistols ("I think they're real cute; that's all I know about 'em, really. I've seen their pictures," says Johnny). Reference is duly made – though at this early stage in the game neither can realize the full import or irony of the situation – that the Pistols are under the command of, and "outfitted," as David points out, by none other than ex-Dolls' svengali Malcolm McLaren. "He's really got an eye," adds JT. Malc also certainly realized, though in this footage it isn't clear if either Messrs. Johansen or Thunders do yet, that the Dolls' days and nights have already clearly come and gone; the band and its brand already tragically unhip by '76, rendered utterly redundant by the Ramones and painfully passé by those Pistols. More proof cannot be had of this than watching herein the stragglers outside CBs pushing obliviously by our two joking B&W video stars, busy instead with the new hot club and the new cool scene(s) the New York Dolls themselves, as Lookin' Fine On Television more than shows, more than inspired and  instigated.  

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Every year Blankfest Quebec aids in raising awareness and clothing for Montreal's homeless and over the last few years has raised nearly 2,000 winter clothing items for Montreal's homeless.

“It is a great initiative. With the cold weather here, our clients at the Mission will truly appreciate it.” commented Matthew Pearce, President and CEO at the Old Brewery Mission.
 

"People forget that after the holidays Montreal's homeless are still in need and on the streets in below zero temperatures, risking frostbite and death due to exposure. The least we can do is keep them safe and warm and help the Old Brewery Mission by raising winter clothing for them.". commented Blankfest Quebec organizer Jon Asher

Our collective jaws – to say nothing of the remote – immediately dropped. 

It seems we'd stumbled upon a movie called Athens, GA: Inside/Out. The two guys playing the incredible music turned out to be Chris "Crow" Smith and, on starry Silvertone guitar and vocals, Dexter Romweber. When a graphic across the screen reading "Flat Duo Jets" eventually appeared both Doug and I realized, among several other things, that we had a New Favorite Band. 

Now, at that particular time and place, the only context within we two could possibly place the Jets' exquisitely torn-down sound was Montreal's own Deja Voodoo (perhaps our second favorite band) and, of course, the almighty Cramps. Well, as it turns out, 1990 actually brought the Flat Duo Jets all the way to our home and native Toronto to open for none other than Lux, Ivy and Co.! Naturally, Doug and I were there …along with the one and only Martin E-Chord who, by the way, actually fronted Dexter dinner money for a post-set hot dog out on Yonge Street that momentous evening.  

Dex still owes Martin $5 (Canadian) for it, by the way, but nobody whomsoever should be counting at this point.   

Shortly afterwards I found myself moved to New York City, tracked down a few actual FDJ cassettes of and for my very own, and even ran into Dexter one afternoon at some New Music Seminar showcase he and Crow would later be performing at. Soon the Duo would secure the dreaded Major Label Deal, appear on Late Night with David Letterman, and I certainly wasn't the only eager fan(atic) betting on these two to any minute forever banish the Smashing Pumpkins and hopefully even Green Day from all of our lives. 

But then?  

Nothing. 

So, what in God's name happened to The Flat Duo Jets? Where did our heroes Crow and Dex go? And why did Celine Dion, and not them, sell over 20 million records worldwide during calendar year 1998?

The answers to these, and a multitude of other earthly injustices are vividly contained within the eighty-minute mélange of rock and roll which is Tony Gayton's Dexter Romweber: Two Headed Cow, newly available on DVD courtesy of the fine folk at MVD Visual.  

From its very opening Busch can-framed sequence of Dex pontificating upon JFK and the Three Stooges, clear through its concluding title-song sequence (which even hearing and seeing isn't quite believing), this "eighteen years in the making" as the disc box boasts – yes, director Gayton has been faithfully trailing his subject matters ever since shooting that historic Inside/Out footage – illustrates perhaps better than any film since 200 Motels that, absolutely, touring can make you crazy. 

For it seems that above-mentioned Cramps roadshow somewhat reluctantly launched the FD Jets upon several year of brutal, ultra-low-budget, terrestrial-only haul-assing which, as Dex recalls, set him off upon his own personal journey of "toying with madness.  

"I can't say no to managers and I can't say no to the band and I'm sort of locked into this thing so, you know, I say ok, I'm gonna go do this tour." Two Headed Cow's cantankerously claustrophobic, monochrome, literally-in-their-faces footage perfectly captures Crow and Dex's nocturnal crawls across post-Reagan America, carrying guitars through all-night inconvenience stores, tumbling in and out of pizza-encrusted flea-pit motels, and in Dexter's case spending most every single semi-waking hour burning through a trough of back-seat literature that only serves to heighten the general mis-awareness of it all.  

Errol Flynn, John Barrymore, Hermann Hesse, Knut Hamsun, Jerry Lee, Elvis, Rimbaud and eventually Baudelaire: such are the fabulous figures of infamy duly name-checked by Dex as his self-confessed "fucked-up role models that I'd come to be later. Real heavy-duty fuckers. Partiers and wreckage-makers. They became second, third, and fourth selves in me."  Which leads one to think that there always was much, much more than just old Eddie Cochran and Coasters riffs spinning round this man's most remarkable mind, doesn't it? 

Or, as he helpfully explains elsewhere, "Going out and hell-raising I think is really, and to a degree, a positive thing. Madness is merely the door open to the supernatural." 

Nevertheless, despite mopping the floor with a d-u-m-b-struck Paul Shaffer on Letterman, being floated by none other than David Geffen for the Scott Litt/Chris Stamey-supervised Lucky Eye, and remaining just so damned good a band that, despite all attempts, subconscious or otherwise, to derail the star-making machinery, the Flat Duo Jets were poised to become, at the very least, the White Stripes and/or Black Keys they would later only spawn and – now this is putting it mildly – influence. Sure, rarely do the brave, crazed, pioneering innovators of any artistic signpost receive the credit, to say nothing of the cash, those who later water down and recast reap. But the 1999 dissolution of the (in Dex's perfect words) "relaxed brotherhood" between he and Crow not only left our New Favorite Band in splinters, but it turns out cast Dex "broken open," betrayed, and falling into a dark night "trek into some sort of semi-psychotic spiritual odyssey."  

Most unexpectedly but quite perfectly, Gayton's film now becomes more colorful, yet more grainy, serving only to heighten the fitful play of Two Headed Cow's second half. We hear Dex label these since as "years of that bizarre desolation," but in his ol' pal Baudelaire's own words, perhaps this particular Angel of gaiety was simply tasting the grief, the shame and remorse and sobs and weary spite, to say nothing of the vague terrors of the fearful night that crush the heart up like a crumpled leaf. 

Cut to today:  Veteran expert on reversibility Exene Cervenka cites, and proudly salutes, the "extreme case of musicality" carried by Dexter Romweber, while far less poetically Neko Case refers to him as a "Winchester Mansion of sound or something."  

Furthermore, I'm much much more than happy to report that the last time I caught the grand new Dex Romweber Duo (alongside his utterly brilliant drummer/sister Sara) in full action a couple of years ago, the man remains every single inch the towering, blistering, all-encroaching talent he ever was as a keen young Jet. Why, after the show he even offered to pay back Martin for that long-ago hot dog as well. Good guy. 

So much so that he even just agreed to answer, for you and for me, each and every one of my

EIGHT QUESTIONS FOR DEXTER ROMWEBER

1. "Munsters" or "Addams Family":  Which one's for you, and Why?
Addams Family. But I always loved the way Lily looked. But the Addams Family is just darker. Weirder.

2. Who in the world, living or dead, would you most like to play a game of "Twister" with?
Vanessa del Rio – 80s Latin porn star. 

3. How many Sid King & The Five Strings records do you own? 
None. 
 
4. If you had been working the front gate at Graceland that night back in '76 when Jerry Lee Lewis showed up, shotgun in hand, to "put that damn Elvis outta his mis'ry," what would you have done?
Tell Jerry Lee to "Go for it!"

5. "Ginger" or "Mary-Ann":  Which one's for you, and for How Long?
Ginger – because she's such a red headed bitch. For as long as it takes. 

6. What single song, living or dead, do you most wish you'd written, and Why Didn't You?
"Nowhere" by Benny Joy. I'm good, but not that good. 

7. Whose Silvertone 1448 would you most like to be reincarnated as? 
Big John Taylor's. Hottest guitarist in the 50s South.

8. In 2000 words or less, Your Hopes, Aspirations and Goals, musical and otherwise, for your life and your country?
To practice as much as Jimmy Page. To have as much money as Led Zeppelin. To have perfect health. To cruise down a sunny highway, with my beautiful girlfriend. To sit with Johnny Cash in the afterlife – and talk about the best ways to not become a total wretched fuck up.

http://mvdb2b.com/s/DexterRomweberTwoHeadedCow/MVD5259D

http://ruraltone.com/dex/

www.GaryPigGold.com 
 

As a brand new collection called The Beatles with Tony Sheridan: First Recordings, 50th Anniversary Edition more than proves, even the almighty Fab Four were not immune to this pre-fame plague of skeletons-in-the-audio-closet. For you see, when not binging on Chuck Berry, Preludins and Schnaps in Hamburg’s red-light district throughout their, um, formative years, our heroes also served as in-studio back-up band to one of Britain’s then very biggest rock stars. 

Caveat emptor, however:  The “studio” was in fact an orchestra hall situated within Harburg’s Friedrich Ebert School for Boys and Girls, and John, George, Pete and Paul on his brand new Hofner violin “guitar bass,” although they got to perform two songs themselves, were hired only to provide instrumental and vocal accompaniment behind Polydor Records’ first real rock ‘n’ roll signing, Tony Sheridan.

As producer Bert “Wonderland by Night” Kaempfert once recalled, the prehistoric recording session that started it all early on the morning of June 22, 1961 began inauspiciously enough: “I had to tramp up these narrow stairs to a small attic-like room. They were still in their bunks,” four flights above where, only several hours earlier, Sheridan and the Beatles had completed yet another marathon 7pm – 3am session inside Hamburg’s Top Ten Club. “Apart from the bunk beds, the only other furniture in the room was a chair – with their clothes piled high on it.”

Fearless troopers that they were though, after fortifying themselves with bottles of Coca-Cola and remembering to get dressed again I’d assume, Tony and friends proceeded to lay down four complete songs that first day, and a further three the following morning, performing direct-to-quarter-inch-tape on Friedrich Ebert’s stage through a mere two microphones. Those selections, plus another recorded the following year, have been issued in various formats, and in varying versions, literally thousands of times around the world over the past half century …especially during the mid-Sixties after The Beatles became THE BEATLES and Polydor tried every conceivable way – above-board and otherwise – to squeeze income out of their lone eight “Beatle” recordings.

This go-round The Beatles’ First Recordings, true to form, fill two full discs with thirty-four (!) variations upon those notorious eight: The original mono masters which constituted the majority of the vintage seven-inch Sheridan/Beatles releases, surprisingly vivid stereo mixes which began surfacing worldwide just as the Fabs were in the process of breaking up circa 1970, and even such oddities as American-only versions which added “enhanced” instrumentation plus strange “Medley” mixes from the 1980s.

To be blunt, we’re not talking “All My Loving” or even “All Together Now” here. The First Recordings are quite simply, quite pimply, the sound of five young Brits-on-the-make trying their best to eek out a living recreating the sounds of American rock ‘n’ roll for randy nightclub goers and, just maybe, a few young German record-buyers as well. “My Bonnie (Lies Over The Ocean),” perhaps the best-known of the “Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers” recordings – it was actually released as a Polydor single in October of ’61 – is represented herein via no less than eight variations: Attempts were actually made in the editing room to splice both English and German-language slow introductory preludes onto the original recording, for starters, and as George Harrison himself wrote to a friend about this hit-that-never-was, “When Tony sings, then it’s me playing lead, but the break in the middle is Tony playing. The shouting in the background is Paul.”

Dueling lead guitarists and enthusiastic accompanying hoots and hollers notwithstanding, Bert watched “My Bonnie” quickly drop off the German hit parade and seven months later freed The Beatles – yet intriguingly not Tony Sheridan – from their Polydor obligations altogether. Additional releases from these sessions trickled out across Europe over the next several years, yet even a 1964 single of John Lennon’s sole vocal spotlight, “Ain’t She Sweet” (featuring drums overdubbed by Bernard “Pretty” Purdie …and none too slickly, either; Pete Best does just fine on his own, thank you) failed to enter the American charts at the very height of Beatlemania.

But Tony’s lead solo, by the way, is spectacular.

Of the remaining half-dozen, “The Saints” – yes, as in When They Go Marching In – could’ve slotted easily into the current Presley movie, “Why” is also typical sub-Elvis mulch (though Tony handles the octave-bounding melody quite gamely), “If You Love Me, Baby” aka “Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby” cruelly had Mr. Sheridan’s “goddamned” in a concluding chorus edited out for sensitive American ears, “Nobody’s Child” sounds so much better here than in George’s Wilbury remake three decades later, and “Sweet Georgia Brown” – all five versions – really does benefit from Roy Young’s guest piano (P.S.: and so impressed were all involved with Roy that he was actually asked to become a full-fledged Beatle in 1962, but decided to stay behind to lead the house band at Hamburg’s Star-Club instead. Pity).

And then, lest we forget that one-and-only Harrison/Lennon co-composition “Cry For A Shadow,” originally called “Beatle Bop” by the way. It was in 1961, and remains in 2012, one very nifty two-minutes-twenty-three indeed. Truly too cool for words, and the best evidence across these entire two discs that greatness could indeed lay right around the corner for at least three of the people involved in these recordings.

Of course we all know the story that did lay ahead for most of those Beat Brothers. Producer Bert, however, fared quite well throughout the Sixties as well. Besides hitting No. 1 in America three years before “I Want To Hold Your Hand” with “Wonderland by Night,” he rearranged the traditional “Muss I Denn” as “Wooden Heart” for no less than Elvis, wrote hits as well for Capitol artists as diverse as Wayne Newton (“Danke Schoen”) and Nat “King” Cole (“L-O-V-E”), a portion of his score for the film A Man Could Get Killed provided the music behind Sinatra’s “Strangers In The Night” and, perhaps most impressive of all, Kaempfert’s own “Swingin’ Safari” became the theme song for none other than television’s Match Game!

Oddly enough, on much the other hand unfortunately, Tony Sheridan never achieved the fame, fortune, or even notoriety he very much deserves. Though he still lives and performs in Hamburg to this day, Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity is best remembered, if at all, as the man who diligently mentored young Liverpool musicians over countless midnight hours on the Reeperbahn, coaching Gerry Marsden and most obviously John Lennon in the fine art of wearing one’s guitar defiantly high across the chest, legs apart and bobbing, in order to properly play authentic rock ‘n’ roll on stage.

Yet when all is said and sung, as baby-Beatle specialist Hans Olof Gottfridsson’s fascinatingly thorough text in this set’s booklet conclude, “This is The Beatles in the state of becoming. This is what you would have heard in the clubs of Liverpool and Hamburg when you could have hired The Beatles for ten pounds a night.” As such, The Beatles with Tony Sheridan: First Recordings, 50th Anniversary Edition should be considered Required Listening for not only Fabmaniacs who crave to hear every little thing by the lads, but for those curious about the very leather-coated birth of British rock ‘n’ roll itself …not to mention hear what a great drummer Pete Best really was.

Good lookin’ feller too.

http://www.timelife.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=1001&catalogId=10001&productId=205501

www.GaryPigGold.com

On January 18th, the Rock and Roll Report will go dark for the day in protest of SOPA and PIPA and encourage you, if you are American, to contact your member of Congress and have your voice heard.

In just 7 days, the Senate will vote on forever altering the free and open internet by instituting a new regime of extra-judicial, corporate-led website takedowns. This is a fundamental fight about who has power in society — the people with the means to communicate freely or the governments and corporations that feel threatened.

For the full state of play on the censorship bills, take a look at this infographic we’ve put together. Click here. The clock is ticking, and we’re still 35 senators short of the number we need to kill the bill.

If you’re on Facebook or Twitter, please use these links to spread the word about the protest:

 

Star Anna has released several CDs over the short time as a songwriter. Having started out as simply “Star Anna,” she has since added her band, the Laughing Dogs, to her moniker. The rest of the band consists of: Justin Davis on guitar and vocals, Keith Ash on bass, Ty Bailie on keyboards and Travis Yost on drums. Together, Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs have created the 2011 release, Alone in This Together. And while previous releases featured a style that could have been categorized as “Americana,” the heavier feel to the music on Alone in This Together can only be called Rock and Roll.

Alone in This Together begins with the Justin Davis-penned “Shine”. While the song was written by a guitarist, the song is built mainly around the playing of keyboardist Ty Bailie. The gentle feeling of the beginning of the song builds until all of the musicians begin a slow jam.

One of the best tracks on the release by far is the title track. Star Anna and Justin Davis start the song with only their guitars. About one minute into the song, the pace quickens and the track adds a lot of energy to the album. The song even includes a solo from Pearl Jam’s own Mike McCready that really kicks up the energy. Along with being one of the strongest tracks, it is also the longest, allowing the listener to really enjoy the playing and interaction of all of the musicians, as well as the singing from Star Anna, herself.

“Time” is one track on Alone in This Together where you get to experience the band letting loose. While other tracks build to a point before the band gets into a groove, “Time” starts strong and just keeps going. The playing of the band members, the singing of Star Anna, and the message of moving on make for a strong track that feels like a single.

Another moment on Alone in This Together where you hear Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs just let loose and give it all they’ve got is on the song “Wolves in Disguise”.The guitars from Star Anna and Justin Davis, along with the organ from Ty Bailie create another strong groove on the album. And the solo from Mike McCready once again adds an additional amount of energy that helps make a strong track even stronger.

Every album must come to an end, and of course, Alone in This Together is no different. But for the last track on this release, Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs slow down the pace while keeping the energy level up on the track “High Water”. The final song features justin davis on guitar and Ty Bailie once again playing the organ. The bluesy feel to the music and the lyrics create a song that gives the newest album from Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs a real feeling of closure.

As a bonus track, the title track of “Alone in This Together” is included at the end of the CD in a shortened “radio edit”.

Visit Star Anna’s record label, Local 683 Records.

If ever you want to see how truly talented a band is, see them in concert. If that band can perform the songs as good as or better than on the album, you know that band has the talent to go far.

Not long ago, Washington State-based Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs finally made their way to Cleveland. It was at the Brothers Lounge that the Cleveland area got their first exposure to this talented band. And when the band took to the main stage, you could see many of the people look up from the bar to listen to the music.

For me, it was a please to finally get to experience Star Anna in concert, having written my first article on her three years previous to that concert date. So when Star Anna and the band took to the stage, it was more about the concert experience for me than it was about checking out new music from a new band- I had my initiation to their music years before. For those who had never heard of Star Anna before that concert, she and the band spent the hour or so on stage playing a nice mix of music from Star Anna’s catalog of music. While most of the songs like “Time” and “For When I Go” came from the latest CD of Alone in This Together, the night also contained songs like “All of Her Ghosts” and “Through the Winter,” which came from Star Anna’s last CD entitled The Only Thing That Matters. The band even included “Devil Don’t Remember My Name,” a personal favorite of mine, which was included on the 2008 release, Crooked Path.

The most response, however, came when the band played the title track from the latest release. On “Alone in This Together,” Star Anna and the rest of the band all but blew the doors off of the Greater Cleveland venue. The power that was produced from the band on the song, as well as from the audience afterwards, made the song the most memorable moment of the evening.

The hour-long set from Star Anna at the Brothers Lounge and the Laughing Dogs that night at the Brothers Lounge was over too soon. Hopefully, it won’t be that long before the band comes back again for another concert in the Cleveland area.

Click HERE for a live performance of “Alone in This Together”.

If you fall into this category (and you know who you are) let me assuredly tell you that Bat Sabbath has the power to change your mind and make you a believer in the magic of covers. If you don’t fall into the above-mentioned category, let me still tell you that Bat Sabbath can make you a believer in the magic of covers.

Now, I know that cover albums and cover bands can often be simple, shoddy attempts at quick fame and recognition, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth when it comes to two time Juno-nominated Cancer Bats and their Black Sabbath cover project. These guys are overflowing with talent, charisma and unbelievable stage presence, all of which are skillfully showcased and blatantly obvious during their live shows, no matter what songs they happen to be performing. Heck, they could probably take a folk album and turn it into one worthy of head banging and sore necks nationwide.

What started out as a one-time surprise performance at the Sonisphere music festival in Bohemia earlier this year turned into an 11-date tour of Ontario and Quebec this past month.

Taking Masters of Reality into their own hands – while also taking the liberty to rename the classic, dubbing it Bastards of Reality – Bat Sabbath made it clear from their first moment on that stage why the show had been such a success in Bohemia and why it had transformed into a mini tour. (Which will hopefully spawn a second tour and maybe even some recorded material. Hmm? I’m talking to you, Bat Sabbath. Please, please, please?)

In Montreal, the band performed at infamous punk/rock/metal hotspot Les Foufounes Electriques where the utterly captivated crowd grew bigger and bigger with every song.

Taking to the stage under the cover of darkness, surrounded by a cloud of smoke, with frontman Liam Cormier wearing a black cape (Note to self: capes officially make everything more badass), Bat Sabbath played all the Black Sabbath classics in a set that lasted slightly over an hour and had only one downside: It ended way too soon. I know that might sound cliché, but too bad, it’s the truth.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a band so genuinely humbled by positive feedback and so focused on giving fans what they want. Just to prove my point, let me point out that Cormier was at the band’s merch table till the moment he had to get up on stage and was right back at it the second the set was done and he jumped off into the crowd and walked back over.

And to prove my point again, when fan after fan started getting on stage during the encore song, the band didn’t try and push ‘em off, instead choosing to embrace the mayhem unfolding around them as they continued to play. One lucky fan even had the chance to sing part of the final song as Cormier momentarily took a step back and let him do his thing.

I said it on Twitter right after the show and I’ll say it here again because even days later, I still feel the exact same excitement about this one of a kind show I was lucky enough to finish my 2011 concert season with: Bat Sabbath = a.ma.zing. Black Sabbath reunion tour 2012 should take notes and sleep with one eye open. 

For everything Cancer Bats: www.CancerBats.com