Drinking With Strangers: addendum

Butch Walker -- "Cigarette Lighter Love Song"


When I try to explain exactly what this man's music means to me, I just want to show people this clip. This is from a show in 2003 at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse, between Walker's first and second albums. The place was packed with fans, and I was one of them. I will never forget this night as long as I live.
The energy is the place was amazing; and every time I listen to this version of the song (in addition to the DVD of the show, he released some of the audio from the show on a live compilation some years back) I get goosebumps whenever the audience swoops in and takes over the chorus that first time through.

Drinking With Strangers

"If you've listened to FM radio any time in the last 15 years, you've probably heard a Butch Walker song -- though you probably didn't know it at the time. In 'Drinking With Strangers,' Walker recounts his days of being a Hair Metal nobody who became a Rock Star nobody who became a songwriter and producer working with Pink, Katy Perry, Tommy Lee, and some band named Weezer. Told with all of the candor, wit, and humor one would expect from one of the Greatest American Musicians No One Has Heard Of -- this memoir is the story of playing by your own rules and winning."

This was the brief little review I wrote to help sell some copies of this book at the book store where I work. And it's about as unbiased and un-hyperbolic I can get when talking about Butch Walker -- the dude's music has meant more to me over the years than I could ever attempt to describe. I discovered the Marvelous 3's breakthrough, Hey! Album, at a time when nearly every song was like a page out of my own life; and if one of the songs didn't speak to me at the time, it soon would. From then, I've followed his career pretty closely, and the man has yet to disappoint.
And it was much the same with this book. Though a lot of the Marvelous 3 and post-M3 stuff I knew about, it was nice to get to fill in all of the details. And it was nice to read about Walker's early days in hair metal band Southgang, as well as his transitional group Floyd's Funk Revival/the Floyds. (There isn't much out there from either of these bands other than some highly-marked-up shit on Ebay.)

I don't read much non-fiction -- and I especially don't read memoirs -- so I can't judge this book on the merits of such. But I can say, if you're a fan of the guy's music, you'll dig this book. If you don't know anything of Butch Walker, I'd still say give this one a shot. If nothing else, it will be a charming bedside read.


THINGS I LEARNED WHILE READING DRINKING WITH STRANGERS

~~ Butch is cousins with the former vocalist of Savatage/Trans Siberian Orchestra

~~ Rivers Cuomo was once in a hair metal band named Zoom, whose gimmick was wearing nothing but bath towels and roller skates

~~ Walker's hair metal band Southgang was one of two bands originally signed to an upstart Charisma Records. The other was a band named Jellyfish

~~ During his early days of becoming an in-demand record producer, Butch passed on the opportunity to produce the debut of an up-and-coming band named Creed



~~ Drinking with Strangers -- Butch Walker
~~ It's So Easy, and Other Lies -- Duff McKagen
~~ Things the Grandchildren Should Know -- Mark Oliver Everett
~~ Goodnight Jim Bob -- Jim Bob
~~ See a Little Light -- Bob Mould

Summer of 89, Winter of Rock Bio

Just a few days ago, Butch Walker's book/"memoir" Drinking with Strangers hit the shelves. Being a huge fan of all things Walker puts his name on, I shouldn't have to say that I'm pretty excited about this. I'm a few pages into it right now, and it's everything I expected it to be. And that's such a good thing.


But one thing struck me while starting this book -- I have a number of "rock bio" type books (auto-bios, actually) on my shelves that I've yet to read (including the promo copy of Duff McKagan's story, which should make a nice counterpoint here); so, I'm making it a point to spend most of these coming winter months making my way through these books and hopefully writing about them here. But that last part remains to be seen.

My list, so far:

~~ Drinking with Strangers -- Butch Walker
~~ It's So Easy, and Other Lies -- Duff McKagen
~~ Things the Grandchildren Should Know -- Mark Oliver Everett
~~ Goodnight Jim Bob -- Jim Bob

Voodoo Zombie Blaxploitation

Last night, the people (or person) behind the Grindhouse Film Festival series screened the relatively unknown blaxploitation-horror gem, Sugar Hill. Not being too well-versed in blaxploitation (just like most of Portland, it would seem, given how surprised Halstead was at the crowd that showed up), this movie was unknown to me. I'm aware of some of the other entries in the hybrid genre -- Blacula, Scream Blacula Scream, Dr Black and Mr Hyde -- but again, I've never seen any of them. But much like the kung-fu films I spent years blissfully ignoring during my years of near-constant VHS scouring, opting instead to make my way through the horror section of all the video rental stores in my area -- the Grindhouse series has been slowly exposing me to some great blaxploitation films; Sugar Hill being no exception.

Like so many films of that era, and especially those that fall under the "grindhouse" banner, Sugar Hill is not without its flaws -- in acting, in the plot, in its own logic; but also like so many of those grindhouse films, that's where a lot of the film's charm comes from. It's schlocky, it's silly, it's pandering, it's kinda stupid, but it's also entertaining and fun.

If you're a fan of some of the other genres that fall under the collective grindhouse umbrella, then I do recommend this one to you. Yes -- it falls short in some areas, but the voodoo approach to the (stale, even then) zombie movie is a nice change of pace.
If you're not a fan, you can probably skip this one. Overall, it's pretty basic fare.

DSC_5633

DSC_5633, originally uploaded by G C Lee.

No Dust Here

Last night was the opening for No Dust Here, a group art show I'm taking part in. For the show, a number of artists were given old record albums and asked to reinterpret the cover(s) however they saw fit, using whatever medium they wanted. As usual, my medium was photography. Here are side-by-side comparisons of the source material (album cover) and my final submitted image:









The show runs throughout the month of August, at the Basil Hallward gallery on the third floor of Powell's City of Books. If you can, go check out it. There's some really amazing work in the show.

overlooked, underrated pt 2

A few more entries in my favorite overlooked albums list



Morrissey -- Kill Uncle
After Southpaw Grammar, this album probably receives the most ire and criticism of Moz's solo attempts. I've never understood why. I think it's a damn solid album, full of gems and career highlights. In fact, I've listened to this one so much that my CD has tiny holes worn through the top side, making it unlistenable now. Thankfully I was able to rip it into iTunes before that happened.








Morrissey -- Maladjusted
This one isn't spat upon so much as it's simply ignored by most. And unfairly so.
All in all, this album was probably the last good album the man recorded (he's still making records that follow this same blueprint, yet those have been received unwarranted praise from all corners, while this one is continually forgotten -- even the recent resequenced reissue didn't do much to improve it's general legacy).





more to come...

overlooked, underrated

Recently, PopMatters posted an article on "10 albums that supposedly suck, but don't" -- which got me thinking of my own list of personal favorite albums that are often looked down upon or ignored by long-time fans. Sometimes, a band will branch out and try a new sound, or find itself drifting into some different territory. Some times, this change is awful. Other times, it's just new and different; and after time, it comes to stand out as something to give a second (or third or fourth) chance.

Here are a few of my favorites, in no real order.



Twisted Sister -- Love is for Suckers
Originally conceived as a solo vehicle for Dee Snider, this is a huge departure for a Twisted Sister record and often receives a lot of unfair criticism. It was never meant to be a proper "metal" album, and so it can't really be criticized for not meeting any kinds of "metal" standards. It was meant to be a more pop-oriented, more radio-friendly device to launch Snider as a solo artist. Depending on whose story you hear/believe, one side or the other -- Snider or Atlantic records -- was a bit weary of releasing it as a solo record and demanded it be released as a Twisted Sister record. The album itself had been recorded with a series of studio musicians (Kip Winger among them), but the other members of Twisted Sister received credit on the album. So, in the end, fans were given a "Twisted Sister" album that had not been recorded by the band proper, so sounded a far sight different than expected. It was also a Pop album disguised as a Metal album -- never a good thing.
And unfortunately, the backlash the band received, in addition to conflicts within the band itself, was too much. And an album that most of them had nothing to do with was to be their swansong.

If you can put aside any notions that this is supposed to be a "metal" album, I think you'll find a pretty strong (not perfect), utterly enjoyable pop album.






GWAR -- Carnival of Chaos
I once read a review that described this album as the "thinking man's GWAR album," and I kinda have to agree. After setting the world on fire with Scumdogs of the Universe, watching it burn with American Must Be Destroyed, and then feeding it to the World Maggot with This Toilet Earth, there wasn't much left for them to do. So, they brought about the end of times with Ragnarok and reveled in it all with Carnival of Chaos.
They tried some new things, tried some new sounds, and (unfortunately) set the stage for their near-demise. While certainly not a flawless album, it's certainly one that deserves more attention than it currently receives; as well as a higher rank among the GWAR echelon.







Misfits -- American Psycho
Yes. We all know that the Michal Graves era of the Misfits could not hold a candle to the (classic, legendary) Glenn Danzig era of the Misfits. Such an argument is ridiculous, cliche, and should not still be happening in 2011.
That said -- if you're able to take this (first) reincarnation of the band on its own terms and its own merits, you'll find a really solid horror-themed pop-punk band who released two solid albums. The first one -- American Psycho -- is the stronger of the two, and definitely worth a re-appraisal if you happened to be one of the ones who initially cast it off.





....more to come....

Wuving the Oaf

The Wunderful Ed Luce -- creator of the Wuvable Oaf comics -- was recently interviewed over on the Accidental Bear blog. You should definitely go read it.

Also, Luce will be at Floating World Comics on August 4th, premiering the latest issue of Wuvable Oaf, as well as exhibiting a selection of art work.

*Hint Hint* His show would make the perfect prelude, or follow-up, to the No Dust Here show which will be at the Basil Hallward gallery at Powell's Books starting August 4th -- a show that I will have a few pieces in. *Hint Hint*

No Dust Here

I've recently posted some information on No Dust Here -- an upcoming group art show/project I'll be taking part in during August -- over on my photography blog.