Posts Tagged ‘Wal-Mart’

  
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Caught on Tape: The Day I Didn’t Disappear in Front of George Harrison

by Steven Rosen

460px-George_Harrison_1974[1]It was a day of unmatched California beauty; a startling and fiery sun perched high above in a crystal blue sky and blazed down promise. It was an essential day, a meteorological marvel meant to be stored away for future reference.

“Dude,” a friend would ask the following week, “do you remember how amazing it was last Tuesday?”

And of course you do. Even if the day itself was all you’d been given, that would have been gift enough. But the weather was merely an underscoring for the occasion, a gilded and golden opportunity to spend an hour with George Harrison. You’ll forget how to breathe before you forget this. Simply saying the words out loud (actually you’re reduced to mumbling them sotto voce because you’re afraid that anything above a whisper might reduce the reality to mirage) – “I am hanging with a Beatle” – is enough to render you stupid.

Then you start considering the notion that maybe Harrison himself ordered up the perfect day as an interview-ambience backdrop. We all knew that he spoke with God all the time (and if He was going to listen to anybody, He’s going to find a minute or two for a Beatle). So, anyone who recalls a glorious Tuesday back in 1974, somewhere around May or June perhaps, the presence of just a soupcon of magic embedded in the sunrays, you can thank George and God (though not necessarily in that order).  (more…)

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Posted in Caught on Tape, Music | Comments

Monday, March 30th, 2009

Death by Power Ballad: REO Speedwagon, “I Needed to Fall”

by Rob Smith

One of my favorite things about joining the Popdose brother/sisterhood is the fact that I have found a group of people whose taste in music is as broad and, on occasion, wussified as my own. For example, my illustrious editor, Jason Hare, has seen Air Supply live (recently!), and no one busts his balls for it, at least not in any serious, make-Jason-cry kinda way. Those who bow at the altar of the Two-Headed Russell know they’ve found a kindred spirit in Jason, possibly even a virtual gang of them. There is a safe haven for us all under the banner of the ‘Dose. Say hallelujah, say amen.

And then there’s REO fucking Speedwagon. I’ve proudly flown the flag for Kevin Cronin (or K-Crone, in street parlance) and the boys ever since I bought Hi Infidelity at the Record Town in Woodbridge Mall back in ‘81. However, reactions from the Popdose staff are mixed for the man who said he would love us for-eh-vurr. And while I’m not the kind of fan who would engage in a physical altercation to defend K-Crone’s honor (Jefito could probably kick my ass, and he’s about as fierce as a nine-year-old), I am the kind who will spend time at a bar or a record store or on a Web site to make the case for the man and his music.

Last year, in fact, REO delivered its first new studio album since the Clinton administration, a better-than-expected, Wal-Mart-approved record called Find Your Own Way Home. It’s a dignified collection of tunes from a band working in an industry that’s anything but dignified, particularly for a bunch of guys pushing 60.

No, really, it’s quite good. You should definitely check it out, particularly if you’re around 40 and can name the second single off Good Trouble without thinking about it. The pinched-nose affectations K-Crone incorporated into his vocals in the ’90s (which made Building the Bridge and the REO half of the Arch Allies live record unlistenable) have been subsumed to a large extent. Neal Doughty, the band’s keyboardist and longtime secret weapon, provides all the great low-mix color and texture, as he has for almost 40 years. And though I miss Gary Richrath’s chunka-chunka burnin’ chords and chirping solos, my appreciation for Dave Amato has finally exited the grudging stage.

(more…)

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Posted in Music, Power Ballads | Comments

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Spending Our Way Into, and Out of, This Mess

by Ann Logue

83585834One of my friends had a complaint about the personal financial press: why is it, she wondered, that they are telling people now about raising emergency funds and living below your means. Where were these columnists when her business was good and she had the money to set aside?

Suze Orman always talks about emergency funds, but most of the rest were writing about how to get the most value from your second house or how to buy stocks when things were going well.

Because I’ve been self-employed for ten years now, I’ve been forced to learn how to deal with irregular income. When things are good, I save. That way, I can spend at a steady rate when the work isn’t coming in and the customers are late with payment. Most people work for someone else and receive a steady paycheck, so they are more attuned to the mood of the times, and that is often reflected by advertising. When the economy is hot, advertisers have money to spend to entice you to buy what they offer. When the economy is not so good, the ads disappear, and then people writing about the economy become especially conservative.

Spending got us into this financial mess: spending money that people didn’t have on assets that weren’t as valuable as they thought, whether it was a condo in a new Las Vegas subdivision or a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes. But consumer spending is the engine of the economy. Personal consumption makes up about 70% of the gross domestic product, so when regular folks cut back, it hurts.

Now is a great time to be spending money, assuming you have money to spend. And you know what? A lot of people do. Most people have jobs, and some are getting raises. Bankruptcy lawyers are busier than they have ever been, and the good executives at AIG are collecting fine bonuses. The government’s stimulus package will give taxpayers an extra $8.00 a week to spend. Meanwhile, prices are falling because stores are desperate to attract customers. There are plenty of bargains to be had! (more…)

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Posted in Current Events | Comments

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

Unsolicited Career Advice for… Radiohead

by Rob Smith

You wouldn’t know it by reading the following, but Uncle Donnie is afraid of British people.  Thought the Beatles were going to bring about a counter-Revolutionary War, in which England would attempt to take back the original 13 colonies, by force, if necessary, using the Fab Four as a distraction.  He distrusts anything with a Union Jack on it, including the Def Leppard drummer’s shorts back in the early 80s.  That said, for some reason, he digs Radiohead.  Calls Tom Yorke’s voice “soothing.”  In typical Skwatzenschitzian fashion, he’s got some advice for the band. —RS

TO: Radiohead
FROM: Don Skwatzenschitz
RE: Career advice

You guys went right to my (radio)head (ha-ha) years ago. I saw you open for REM back in ‘95 or so, and you were fantastic. I didn’t know a single damn song (you wouldn’t play “Creep,” regardless of how many times my row shouted for it), and I was blown away. You’ve had your ups and downs—to be honest, I’ve lost track of you these last couple years, since Amnesiac. What has happened to you? What have you done? You were on the cusp of something big—BIG, I tell you—and now … I think Blur might be bigger than you guys, and they’re not even a band anymore.

I can help you out, if you let me. Believe in Skwatzenschitz. I’ll make you stars once again. Here’s what you have to do:

  • Get into food. Pablo Honey barbecue wings. Knives Out frozen meals.  Unborn Chicken Voice chicken tenders. This country loves nothing more than a heaping helping of junk food. Put your name on something breaded and microwaveable, and by God, you will be a household name. Kids will order you at Applebees. What more could a band ask for?
  • Smile in your publicity photos. Tom, nobody likes a sourpuss. You look like a … well, a creep in your publicity glossies. You never crack a smile; none of you do. And what the hell are you doing with that eye? Lighten up, boys. Need an example? Just a little sample? Look at the Osmonds, back in the 70s. Smiled in every fucking picture. Biggest band in Utah. I kid you not—cheerful works!
  • Go country. Duetting with someone hot in country can get you all kinds of sales at Wal-Mart, you know? Heartland honeys like Carrie Underwood or Taylor Swift, or even that chick from Sugarland, the one who did that song with Bon Jovi. While we’re at it, guys, do you think you have a Lost Highway-type album in you? Because if you do, my God, CMT will be all over you.
  • Charge double for your music. This is a crazy idea I had recently, but hear me out. Why do people spend 50 grand for a Cadillac, when a Civic will do? Because of the prestige of owning something special, something precious. Too many bands just give away their music these days. You should charge double—$39.96 list price for the next Radiohead album. And don’t sell it on the Web, or in Wal-Mart. Make it available only at specialty stores—really out-of-the-way places, so people have to find it. It’ll seem more exclusive. You won’t sell as many copies, but the ones you do sell will put a nice extra chunk o’ green (or whatever color you Brits’ currency is) in your pockets.
  • Fake your death. “Radiohead Dies in Bizarre Plane Crash—Wreck Never Found.” Great headline, huh? People will buy your entire catalog again, just to have something more to remember you by. Meanwhile, you guys are up in jolly olde Britain, noshing on Cornish pasties, listening to your Can albums, raking in the quid hand over pale, skeletal fist. How alternative would that be?

All the best,
Don

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Posted in Music, Unsolicited Career Advice | Comments