We recently returned from spending some time on the west coast of Florida. While I was there I got to thinking about the state’s contribution to popular culture. There’s really quite a bit when you think about it.

Starting with music, we have famous musicians who come from Florida. Tom Petty (Gainesville), Allman Brothers Band (Daytona Beach) and Lynyrd Skynyrd (Jacksonville) to name a few. Also Eric Clapton recorded two of his greatest albums (Layla and 461 Ocean Boulevard) at Criterion Studios in the Miami area. I believe CSN and Neil Young also recorded albums there in the mid-70’s.

Moving on to literature, two of my favorite authors hail from the sunshine state. John D. MacDonald who wrote, among many other titles, the Travis McGee series. Travis who lives on a houseboat in Fort Lauderdale (Slip F-18 at the Bahia Mar marina) is a salvage consultant who does “favors” for friends who have lost something of value, which cannot be recovered through normal legal methods. Travis takes 50% of the recovery (hedge funds have nothing on Travis!). Then he takes another installment in his retirement until the money runs out and then he goes back to his next salvage job. Each book in the series has a color in the title (e.g. Pale Gray For Guilt). Half the fun of the books is listening to Travis’s philosophical reflections on the modern world. I have re-read all the books in the 21 book series many times. Check it out if you have not had the pleasure. Carl Hiaasen is a reporter for the Miami Herald who writes hilarious novels about various protagonists who are up against the politicians, developers and thieves who are, in one way or another, trying to pave the Everglades and otherwise destroy the natural habitat of Florida. Laugh out loud funny. My favorites are Skin Tight, Skinny Dip and his most recent, Bad Monkey. Also Ed McBain (famous for his 87^th Precinct mystery series) wrote a great series about Matthew Hope, a lawyer in the fictional town of Calusa (sounds like Sarasota). Matthew is always getting in over his head in one way or another. All the titles are nursery rhymes. Only about 10 books but they are really good.

Finally, I also discovered on our latest visit that Tampa is putting itself on the craft beer map. I had three different IPAs during our time there. The best was Jai Alai[1] IPA that comes in a funky orange can that looks like a version of Orange Crush. Our waiter said that the Sunoco down the street had started carrying it. A few days later we stopped in to pick some up. I got the last six-pack, which turned out to be a five-pack as one of the cans had a hole in it and the beer had leaked away. I got a discount and a free beer glass. A bit sketchy but what the heck. If you are down there check the local offerings. Quite good.

Here’s to Florida.

[1] Jai Alai is a game with two players on a racquetball style of court. The players use large curved wooden hand-held device and fling a hard wood ball at high speeds. It is a gambling game, not unlike horse or dog racing, where you bet with odds on the players. It is still very popular in Florida.

I’ve been listening to some new music on Spotify this week. Gary Clarke Jr‘s new live album is worth checking out. Very cool stuff. He sounds to me like the lead singer from Robin Trower (Robert Dewar).  Also listened to the new TV On The Radio album “Seeds”. They’ve been getting a lot of press lately so I thought I would try them out. I’m not getting it yet.

I dug into the archives for Joe Walsh’s live album from 1976, “You Can’t Argue With A Sick Mind”. Not sure where I got this album. Must have stolen it from someone. It was recorded just as he was joining the Eagles (Don Felder is the other guitarist on the tour, and Henley and Frey sing on one song). Among the highlights are “Turn To Stone” and “Meadows”. They both have these really cool, long instrumental passages where the band plays with the dynamics and the instrumentation.  It’s a great album but it only has six songs. Definitely a candidate for a deluxe reissue.

From the “Hope I die before I get old” files The Who 50th anniversary tour has been announced. I’m not sure what to say about this. Half the band is dead. It’s just Daltry and Townshend.  The Who hasn’t been The Who since Keith Moon died. Oh well I guess it has to happen. Don’t save me a seat. I’ll be home listening to “Quadrophenia”. Meanwhile the Grateful Dead will play their final three shows at Chicago’s Soldier Field on July 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Trey Anastasio and Bruce Hornsby will also be sitting in to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Dead. If wasn’t over the 4th of July I would be tempted to take a trip out there. Sounds a whole lot more interesting than seeing The Who. What a long strange trip it’s been.

I ordered the new Decemberist’s record (on vinyl – I know don’t say it). It comes out next week. Their first release since “The King is Dead” in 2011. I’m sure it will be catchy with horrific subject matter. In other words a typical Decemberists album.

Working my way through “Live at the Fillmore East and West” by John Glatt. He follows a group of bands and artists through the history of both of these venues: Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and Santana. Oh my,  Grace Slick and Janis were some seriously crazy women. If half of what is printed in this book is true it is no wonder Janis didn’t make it (wondering how Grace did). Every drug imaginable, sometimes all at the same time, drunk all the time and sex with everything moving. When was there time for music? What is it about artists and drugs? Someone needs to write a book explaining this (it probably has been written). Bill Graham, the impresario of these fabled rock palaces, spends his time fighting the local politicians and the changing music business to keep the Fillmores alive (to no avail in the end). Great scene: Santana on acid at Woodstock describing the neck of guitar looking like a writhing snake as he tried to hold on and get through the set. The book also got me to try out Hot Tuna, who I had never listened to. Now I know why.

Well that’s it for now. See you next week.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Now that the dust has settled and the last of the guests have departed,  there is time to look through this year’s music related gifts. Most of the gifts I receive every year are books and music (CDs, DVDs, albums…).

Among this year’s offerings let’s start with the books:

MURMUR by J. Niimi. This is part of the 33 1/3 series. Various authors write short paperbacks (usually around 120 pages) on a particular album. It’s a fun series that covers quite a bit of musical ground from Bowie to the Stones to current day artists like Kanye West. This one is a dissection of R.E.M.’s first full length album. The time period it covers (1983) generally coincides with my discovery of the band so I am looking forward to digging into this one.

Live At The Fillmore East and West by John Glatt.  Another of my musical obsessions is the Fillmore East. All my early faves performed there (Neil Young, Traffic, Allmans, Derek and the Dominoes…) and alas by the time I was of concert going age the Fillmore East was gone. I heard about this book just last week from a guy at our Irving Plaza show (see last week’s post). We were standing off stage watching our friend’s band.  We got to talking about Irving Plaza as one of the last great small places to see a show and he mentioned he had just read a review of this book.

Now on to the music…

History Of The Eagles (DVD). Some obsessions become less healthy over time. I saw the first two discs of this DVD in 2013 on Showtime. The first disc covers the band from its inception to the break up in 1980 after The Long Run. In retrospect The Eagles were the most successful but the least interesting  of the  southern California group of artists from that time. I would include in this group Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, J.D. Souther, Karla Bonoff and Little Feat. The second disc covers the time from the Hell Freezes Over reunion tour to the present day. This disc is a real eye opener into the evolution of Henley and Frey from being the creative core of the band to greedy, blood sucking bosses whose other band mates are treated, and paid, like back up musicians. The third disc is a concert performance in Maryland from the 1977 Hotel California tour which should be cool to see. However it’s hard to un-ring the bell from the second disc.

Looking Into You. A Tribute To Jackson Browne (CD). I’ve had my eye on this one for awhile. I was trying to see if it was available in vinyl but I don’t there there was a pressing. Nevertheless this is worth having on CD. The song selection touches all the bases and the artist list, though it has a few of the usual suspects, it a bit eclectic. The way these things usually work is the artists selected get to pick songs in which they are interested. I’m particularly looking forward to “These Days” by Don Henley, J.D. Souther’s take on “My Opening Farewell” and Karla Bonoff on “Something Fine”. Though I’m sure there are other interpretations here that will provide new and interesting spins on some of JB’s classic tunes.

Rolling Stones From The Vault: L.A. Forum Live In 1975 (2 CD and DVD) This looks like it could be a really interesting series. Like many late stage classic rock bands, The Stones have started putting out previously (commercially) unreleased recordings (CD and DVD) of shows from their concert tours. They start off with a show from the legendary 1975 Tour of the Americas. I remember reading the reports from this tour in Rolling Stone when I was in high school. It was arguably their biggest tour ever (except maybe the 1969 U.S. tour) with the Stones at the peak of their powers on this tour if not musically, certainly in stature and reputation. This is the first tour with Ronnie Wood (who replace Mick Taylor who many believe played on the best Stones albums and tours) and with Keith in his full on heroin phase staying up for days at a time.  This is still the pre-stadium tour Stones, performed in arenas like the L.A. Forum (I believe the first stadium tour is Tatoo You in 1981 which is chronicled in the second release of this series). 1975 also marked the beginning of the Rolling Stones’ big production tours with the unfolding star stage and various onstage props. It’s only rock and roll but I like it. Looking forward to more from this series.

Happy New Year to all!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled weekly blog to talk about my trip to see Neil Young signing his new book Special Deluxe,  which came out on Tuesday. I was in the city the previous week on my way to a meeting when I walked by the midtown Barnes and Noble. I noticed a sign in the window that said Neil would be there the following week signing his new book. Well thinking that there wouldn’t be too many opportunities to see him up close again I ventured with my wife, Beth Ann, who is an unusually good sport about these type of adventures, into NYC for the Neil Young book signing.

We got to BN a little before noon, bought the book, got my wristband and went outside to wait on a very long line that wrapped along 5th avenue and down 46th street. Nothing much happened for awhile, so I sampled the new book as we waited.

(It’s an interesting book, better than it thought it would be. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific car that he owned (or in the earlier part of this life the family cars) and what was going on at the time he owned the car. So there is a memoir within these tales of his long standing love affair with old automobiles. Neil has also become a bit of an artist: each chapter has begins with a color sketch of the car. )

Beth Ann went off to shop while I continued to wait. She wouldn’t be able to get into the signing unless she also bought a book which wasn’t happening (her sportsmanship has its limits). Passersby occasionally asked the people in line what they were waiting for. When we answered Neil Young signing his new book responses ranged from “Cool” to “Who’s Neil Young?”

Around 12:30 the line finally began to move and by around 1:00 I was back inside the store, heading up the escalator to the signing area. The line snaked around the outside of the stacks to an area in the back where the author (and arguably my biggest musical idol) sat behind a table in a very secluded area of the store. Photo taking was allowed while you were on line but “frowned upon” at the table.  So I got this shot as I neared the table.

I had two things I wanted to achieve in my brief appearance at the signing table (shaking his hand and gushing about how big a fan I was were not on the agenda – if you were willing to wait on line for an hour I think he probably knows you are a big fan). I had in my pocket the ticket stub from the November 20, 1976 Neil Young and Crazy Horse midnight show at the Palladium in NYC, which I planned to show him (see the post on “Great Rock Palaces of the Past” for a photo of the ticket). I also wanted an update on The Archives II box which has been in the works for a few years and is still not out (Archives I came out in 2009 – Neil years are like dog years when it comes to things like this).

Finally my time at the table arrived. I approached the table. Neil looked every bit of his almost 69 years but still had that amused, ironic looks in his eyes. As he took the book to sign (a BN staffer takes the book from you as you reach the on deck circle and puts it on the table – an effort to streamline the process I guess) I took the ticket out of my pocket. After he finished signing I handed him the ticket mentioning where it was from. He took the ticket, looked it over and said “that’s pretty cool”. As he handed it back to me I asked my question about Archives II. “It’s all finished” he said. “It should be out in six to seven months.” I thanked him and was ushered out. As I was leaving the person who was ahead of me on line also asked to see the ticket.

So that was it. An hour plus on line for 20 seconds with the king. Still I left feeling good I had taken the time to see him. Long may he run.

(PS I’m still taking the over on the Archives II release date.)