Classic Rockers Turn the Page

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Bob Ruggiero

A lot of classic rockers got booked this past year.

Except instead of facing a police camera for dabblings in heroin, underage groupies, or questionable artistic moves (who else wants to “go country?”), 2012 was the year that many put down their musical instruments in favor of a writing one, as an unprecedented wave of autobiographies and biographies filled the shelves.

Neil

Many of them even ended up on the New York Times bestseller list. In fact, of the top ten nonfiction titles this week, three are music-related. That puts Willie Nelson (Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die), Bruce Springsteen (Bruce), and Neil Young (Waging Heavy Peace) right up there with Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and the kid who swears he went to heaven and came back.

Warts-and-all memoirs by Steven Tyler (Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?) and Sammy Hagar (Red) started off the year, which also saw autobiographies from Johnny Ramone, Heart, Kenny Rogers, Glenn Hughes, Peter Criss, and Rod Stewart, along with classic rock sidemen Bobby Keys and Jerry Schiff. Gregg Allman‘s My Cross to Bear was arguably the best of this lot, and Young’s great book was just as quirky and unpredictable as its author.

Gregg

Other bands and musicians who were the subject of biographies included Freddie Mercury, Jim Croce, Nicky Hopkins, Mick Jagger (who warranted three bios!), another major work on Springsteen (Marc Dolan’s Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock and Roll), and the Velvet Underground.

(Note: The hyperlinks above will take you to reviews of those books I did this year for The Houston Press and The Houston Chronicle.)

Pete

I just finished Pete Townshend‘s insightful Who I Am. One of rock’s most literary and erudite performers (and if you don’t believe me, just ask him), it was an unsually soul-bearing narrative as he laid out the often fractious history of the Who and his solo career, a childhood marred by sexual abuse which he mentally repressed, his own massive struggles with booze/drugs/women, and a “tortured” artistic conscience that makes the Impressionists look giddy and content by comparison. When he’s creating rock operas and narratives that even he can’t wholly understand or explain (see the Lifehouse project…) you know things get a bit natty.

Even here, Mick Jagger makes an appearance, with Townshend declaring him the “only man he ever wanted to fuck” while waxing rhapsodically about the length of his cock in tight pants. Happy Jack off, Petey? Still, it was impressive. Not Mick’s cock…the book.

But the memoir that I was most interested in reading this year was one was the same one as last…though it may never see the light of day. Billy Joel pulled the plug on his The Book of Joel, after it had already been written and edited just two months before it was supposed to hit the stores. And while he gave no reason, many speculate that he was perhaps a bit too candid in the narrative.

Or maybe he wrote too much while drinking a bottle of red…and a bottle of white…and another bottle of red…

As a diehard fan, I’m begging you, release the book, Billy. Honesty is such a lonely word.

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Damn Right Buddy Guy’s Got a Kennedy Center Honor

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Bob Ruggiero

buddy-guy[1]

In addition to Led Zeppelin, the other classic rock-related recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor during last night’s telecast was blues legend Buddy Guy.

Actually, to call him a “bluesman” (a term he himself doesn’t particularly like) is a bit limiting since his fiery guitar playing, flashy showmanship, and wailing singing makes him a crucial link between the blues legends like former Chess Records labelmates Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter and younger, often white rock acolytes like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

In fact, in the late ’60s and early ’70s, Guy found himself playing more often to white rock audiences and on bills with hard rock/psychedelic bands. And he would have some serious career downs before emerging as an elder, appreciated statesman of the music in his trademark polka dot shirts and overalls. He chronicled his life and career (with co-author David Ritz) this year in his autobiography, When I Left Home.

“When you sing the blues, you lose them…and ain’t that a beautiful thing,” inductor Morgan Freeman quotes Guy as saying before Tracy Chapman delivered a solid performance of Big Mama Thornton’s original version of “Hound Dog” (which he often played with the singer).

Next, new kid wunderkind Gary Clark Jr. and Jimmie Vaughan traded verses and licks on “The Things I Used to Do,” while a strong-voiced Beth Hart joined Jeff Beck for a moving “I’d Rather Go Blind” (even if she did sing “I’d rather be blind,” thus changing the whole meaning of the lyric).

Bonnie Raitt

But it took a fiery haired-and-sounding Bonnie Raitt to bring it home (much to the delight of a head bopping Barack and Michelle Obama) with – of course – “Sweet Home Chicago.”

Guy has owned a nightclub in Chicago – in different locations – for years, and it’s a pilgrimage spot for any blues fan who visits the city. More than a decade ago, I went and there – to my astonishment – was Guy himself sitting alone at the end of the bar. Hundreds of people in the club, and no one seemed to recognize him.

After watching for about five minutes, I went up and asked for a photo with him. Buddy kind of rolled his eyes and asked, drippingly, “Is there a flash on the camera?” I replied no, and we took a quick snap (which, sadly, did not come out).

However, Guy broke into a broad smile when I complimented him not on his blues records, but on how much my small daughter enjoyed his turn as the “King of Swing” on the children’s program “Jack’s Big Music Show.”

“Yeah,” he told me. “That was a lot of fun. Something different!”

KOS

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Rainbow Connection: Led Zeppelin earns Kennedy Center Honors

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Bob Ruggiero

Zep kennedy center

When the first Led Zeppelin album was released in the U.S. on January 12, 1969, it would have been impossible to fathom that the group would be honored – much less occupy the same room – by then-outgoing President Lyndon Johnson. And even less likely, successor Richard Nixon. After all, I don’t think either man was grooving to “Whole Lotta Love” in the Oval Office while finalizing bombing runs over Vietnam.

But time changes everything. And more than 40 years later, surviving members of the band known for mudsharks, mysticism, and mayhem (singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, and bassist John Paul Jones) got to wear the same fancy rainbow necklace that other classic rockers like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, and Roger Daltrey have previously as honorees of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in a ceremony televised tonight.

So lo and behold, there was First Couple Barack and Michelle Obama sitting in the same row with Led Zeppelin – though, presumably, the First Lady was not squeezing the Presidential Lemon ’til the juice ran down his legs.

A funny and inspired Jack Black called Zep “better than the Beatles, the Stones…and Tenacious D” before discussing his own “Zep-a-thon” of listening to all nine studio albums in a row, surely while having to clean out at least one screen on his bong. He also succinctly broke down the band’s lyrical themes into songs “about love…Vikings…and Vikings making love” before introducing a video history.

Then it was onto the live tribute performances. The Foo Fighters (seemingly the go to “rock” band for all prime time ceremonies and awards shows) delivered a somewhat tepid version of “Rock and Roll.” Oddly, drummer Taylor Hawkins singing lead instead of Dave Grohl. Then an ill-chosen Kid Rock massacred “Ramble On” so much that one wished Percy Plant would have jumped down from the balcony to smack those dumb ass shades off the Kid’s face.

Speaking of shades, while Lenny Kravitz continued his seemingly two decade long streak of never letting audience see his pupils (unless they bought a ticket to The Hunger Games), he brought some genuine power and rock star swagger to “Whole Lotta Love.”

Stairway finale

But the evening’s best was saved for last as sisters (and lifelong devoted Zep admirers) Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart – along with late drummer John Bonham’s son Jason thumping the skins – led a moving and majestic “Stairway to Heaven” that even saw Plant wiping away a tear. The Wilsons were backed by a crack band, backing singers, and a larger choir that – like Bonham – wore English bowlers presumably in tribute to his dad. It was a touching and goose-pimpling moment made even sentimental by the shots of the now pensioner-aged men who originally performed it sitting and watching.

But least you think the three are ready for mothballs just yet, check out the just-released CD/DVD Celebration Day from their 2007 reunion concert. While classic rock fans will forever grumble that the show was just a one-off and did not lead to a world tour (damn you, Alison Krauss!), it’s a powerful testament to the legacy and the majesty of Led Zeppelin. And about Vikings having sex.

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