Ruben "Hurricane" Carter Passes

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

The Story: Hirsch, James (2000) 
Hurricane: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter
New York: Houghton Mifflin Company

The Song:
Bob Dylan lays this travesty of justice raw
during The Rolling Thunder Revue Tour
with his song Hurricane, from the album Desire (1975).
(Above is an alternate master.)

From the Wikipedia Contributors: "Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter (May 6, 1937 – April 20, 2014) was an American middleweight boxer who was convicted of murder and later freed via a petition of habeas corpus after spending almost 20 years in prison."

Rubin Carter, Requiescat in Pace.

An Event that Changed America on April 4, 1968: "Shot rings out in the Memphis sky"

At 6:01 p.m., April 4, 1968, a shot rang out as [Reverend Dr. Martin Luther] King stood on the second-floor balcony of the [Memphis motel where he was staying while he supported] black sanitary public works employees ... who had been on strike since March 12 for higher wages, [pay equity with white employees] and better treatment. From the Wikipedia Contributors on Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Reverend King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee -- the wreath marks the spot where King fell, mortally wounded. 

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One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrow

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach.
One man betrayed with a kiss

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

(nobody like you...)

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love 
...
(U2, Pride (In the Name of Love), The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

Steve Earle Covers His Mentor's Best: "Townes" : "Pancho and Lefty" (2009)

Backstage before going on at a gig with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan explains why Townes Van Zandt's song Pancho and Lefty is a national treasure:

He's (Townes) is like a philosopher-poet. He gets to the heart of it in a quick way; gets it out. It's over, and just leaves the listener to -- think about it. 

Here Steve Earle covers this superb, truly American song.

"I Feel Alright Tonight"

Steve Earle (1996)

"I feel alright tonight!"

Toots & The Maytals - "Pressure Drop" / The Slickers - "Johnny Too Bad"

The Harder The Come Soundtrack (1973) 

Toots and The Maytals

Here's a couple of cuts from The Harder They Come soundtrack that turned me on, in the early 80s, to the real deal -- reggae straight from the source: the isle of Jamaica. When it comes to my favorite deep album cuts from this record, Pressure Drop blew my mind the first time I heard the track and still gets me out of my chair to this day, over three decades later. 5 stars with a bullet!

The second cut, from The Slickers, has, to my ear, a whole different feel. And it still get 5 stars from me. Enjoy! 

A Mature Bruce Springsteen and The Big Man's Last Solo for Him

Bruce on tour in Europe (top photo) in support of Wrecking Ball (2012)

I just finished reading a collection of interviews, speeches and encounters, Springsteen on Springsteen (2012) containing Bruce's 2011 eulogy for his E Street Band's founding sax player, dear friend Clarence Clemons. After giving the eulogy, Bruce told an interviewer, he went home, put on The Big Man's sax solo in the yet unreleased song Land of Hope and Dreams, and cried. I love that song off Wrecking Ball (2012), an album I've enjoyed thoroughly since I got a copy last summer.

Mature; that's what this record is. Bruce's recent speeches and interviews attest to that maturity. Not really surprising; the man is 64. 

The daring arrangements and historically-aware ethnic diversity in the tracks, some of Irish and traditional immigrant folk with complete, authentic instrumentation. But there's plenty of the straight ahead, take-no-prisoners social commentary about the world we live in. I see plenty of charismatic rocker I've followed devotedly since the late 70s.

Springsteen on Springsteen may be best for die hard fans, but the album should bring new listeners from Bruce's international audience to the fold. (His photo up top was shot at a festival gig in Denmark.  

Here's a taste of mature, pure rock n' roll redemption.

Land of Hope and Dreams -Bruce Springsteen on Vimeo.

Jimi Hendrix Would Turn 71 Today

I rewatched Jimi Hendrix perform the currently definitive cover of The Star Spangled Banner in the original Woodstock (1970) documentary recently.

I wondered, would the high regard for Jimi's cover hold up over time? My money is on Jimi holding onto the lead regarding the national anthem. He shifted gears and, for those willing to take the ride, will continue to bring war back in a war poem.

Rest in peace, Jimi.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Rockin' in Rio (2013)

Touring on his remarkably powerful latest release, Wrecking Ball (2012), Bruce and the band show how to move an audience without gimmicks. Here they perform Raul Seixas' Sociedade Alternativa (literally, Alternative Society) to a home audience in Brazil.

His Portuguese gets the job done.

"Methamphetamine" - Old Crow Medicine Show (redux; studio version)

Since Ronnie Van Zandt of Lynyrd Skynyrd died, I have been waiting for someone to pick up this fallen torch and run with it. Neil Young has kept the flame alive -- take the acoustic version of "Keep On Rockin' in the Free World" from his album Freedom, for example -- but now Ronnie's heirs are on the job.

Old Crow Medicine Show will. "... [r]ock You Like A Hurricane, Meth-am-pheta-meeeen" -- and this story is set in the poorest part of Appalachia, with roots down to northern Florida. You can beat the South at Appomattox, but stubborn hillbillies, crackers and rednecks (me included) just won't sign up for most of the Yankee agenda.

It's only too late if you think it is -- give a spin to "Mother's Little Helper" (Stones), "That Smell" (Lynyrd Skynyrd), "Keep on Rockin'" by Neil, and "Meth" by our young Medicine Show friends. And "Don't Forget this fact, we can't get [David Ruffin] back, Cocaine." (-- J.J. Cale classic song broken by me to honor the late Temps lead singer.

In this drug war, just who is the enemy? Eh?

... "There Goes Your Freedom of Choice, There Goes the Last Human Voice"... : Tom Petty (2002)

When Tom Petty and his band-for-life the Heartbreakers, finished cutting this one, they knew they had audio-napalm on their hands, but no one knew if Tom could sell it the executives ("the suits") at their label. Tom played the completed studio track for the boys upstairs, not sure, but in his heart not caring, if his slash and burn ballad would blow up right there and be over. Or should I say, fodder for another fight.

As the song progressed during the meeting, the room grew quiter. There was dead silence in the conference room when the song ended. After a minute or so, one of the executives pulled himself together and remarked, trying to break the tension, "That's not about us, is it?" Now, more silence from the executives but one of their own had summed it all up. (Source: interview with Tom Petty in Peter Bogdanovich's comprehensive documentary on the band, Chasing Down a Dream).

Petty articulated, and the Heartbreakers brought home the message that real radio was dead to the children of the millenium. If these 21st century rules (see lyrics below) applied in 1957, Elvis Presley would be a retired truck driver who sang in church; Chuck Berry would be a local hero as a club act in St. Louis. There would be no Beatles, no Stones, no Motown. If the suits and the corporations won, my brothers and sisters born in the 50s, and everybody going forward, would be the new Lost Generations. And so it came to pass, we lost, but keep fighting. But I'll let Tom tell it.

__________________________

The Last DJ

by Tom Petty

Well you can't turn him into a company man
You can't turn him into a whore
And the boys upstairs just don't understand anymore
Well the top brass don't like him talking so much
And he won't play what they say to play
And he don't want to change what don't need to change
And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
There goes the last DJ
Well some folks say they're gonna hang him so high
Because you just can't do what he did
There's some things you just can't put in the minds of those kids
As we celebrate mediocrity all the boys upstairs want to see
How much you'll pay for what you used to get for free
And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

[Instrumental break]

Well he got him a station down in Mexico
And sometimes it will kinda come in
And I'll bust a move and remember how it was back then
There goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

Happy Birthday, Bob!

Yesterday America's greatest living poet, Bob Dylan, turned 71. For all he's given me, for all he's helped our generation give the world, here's a little birthday wish: from The Band's Last Waltz (Concert, 1976; Scorsese's film, 1978), here Bob, Robbie & Co. performing Forever Young.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (U.S.): U2, "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (1984)

U2 at the Garden, 2005

In the Arizona struggle over recognition of this federal holiday, U2 stepped right into the depths of that coflict. The Irish rockers performed concerts and supported, in word, song, and deed, the

recognition of the new holiday; in return came death threats against band frontman Bono. U2 went on with the concerts anyway, performing Pride (In the Name of Love) -- a song about the late Rev. Dr. King, Jr., and every man, woman or child who ever showed pride in the face of injustice, all in the name of love.

The internet sheriff won't let me embed the video here, so please check it out at this link:

U2, Pride (In the Name of Love) (1984)

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Merry Clayton: "After All This Time" (1972)

The most powerful vocal performance on the Stones' signature anti-war song is Merry Clayton's duet vocal with Mick Jagger on Gimme Shelter (studio version, first released as the opening track on the band's 1969 Let it Bleed album.)

That said, now I'll move over and let Merry take over.

whiteray at Echoes in the Wind inspired and contributed to this post. See his post: One Chart Dig: January 3, 1972.

The Occupy Movement's Soundtrack, Part II: Buffalo Springfield, "For What It's Worth"

Occupy Wall Street Protesters Confront NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Before Planned Eviction from Zuccotti Park (December 5, 2011;

photo credit: J.B. Nicholas, Splash News)

Here's another cut from back in the day that plugs in right here -- history with a soundtrack:

Buffalo Springfield, For What It's Worth (1967)

Occupy and Stay! -- "The Revolution Starts Now!"

This one goes out to my brothers and sisters on the front lines of the Occupy Movement.

The Revolution Starts Now! (2004) -- Steve Earle

Addendum: One reader reported having a problem with the track player above. You can find a lower fidelity but fine copy of Steve's protest anthem on YouTube at: Steve Earle, "The Revolution Starts Now!"

R.E.M.: Requiem for a Heavyweight Band

I was listening to Lucinda Williams from her 1993 Live at the Filmore (West) yesterday morning early, watching the birds out my back door. I was on one of my reveries, this one about lyrics, Lucinda's Reason to Cry and Fruits of My Labor.

And then the news I'd caught by accident a few days earlier hit home: R.E.M. was gone.

The band announced via its website that as of September 21, 2011, the band would "calling it a day as a band". (Hilton, Robin (September 21, 2011). "R.E.M. Calls It A Day, Announces Breakup" NPR.org.)

A year ago. The end of carrying on since Bill left for his farm in 1997. And all this time I thought they might be hunkered down in a studio. The obits pile up too quickly these days

Think of it this way. We were shiny, happy people in our glory days.

R.E.M. & Kate Pierson rehearse Shiny Happy People - 1991 (for SNL)

And some of us are angry:

Orange Crush (live in Germany, 2003)

And often reflective, as I was sitting yesterday morning, having my coffee and watching the birds in the early morning light.

Nightswimming (Michel Stipe vocals, Mike Mills piano;
Undated, Live in Jool, Netherlands)

Yeah, reflective, like the mood I'm in now. Michael, Peter, Mike and Bill -- to your band R.E.M., Requiescat in Pace.

"Ordinary Man" - Christy Moore Live at The Point (2006)

Here is Christy Moore with a very talented friend performing Ordinary Man -- a song originally written in the mid-80s by Peter Hames. This clip is from 2006, live at The Point, an Irish concert venue in the Docklands section of Dublin; this venue ran from 1988 to 2007.

My old running buddy the Big Gallute sent me this while touring Irish pubs working on his guitar playing and beer drinking skills. This Chicago native noted that the song was "accented by heavy nihilism." I respectfully disagree. This isn't nihilistic, it's the modern employment world for the "ordinary man." Christy tells us what he thinks as he introduces the song in the clip below. But what do you think?

"You Can't Scare Me, I'm Sticking with the Union"

Woody Guthrie, Union Maid, Hard Travelin': The Asch Recordings, Vol 3

I can't stand it no more. I try and I try to stay away from politics here but sometimes you just gotta speak up. To all those folks at all those rallies in the harse winter in Madison, Wisconsin, this one goes out to you -- a slice of Woody Guthrie singing Union Maid -- sounds to me like Pete Seeger on the chorus.

The Dixie Chicks: Still "Not Ready To Make Nice"

A friend of mine put on an album the other night, one I hadn't written about since it took home five Grammys and tore up the charts in 2006. The Dixie Chicks' Taking the Long Way still sounds great these five years later. (Judge for yourself with the video above; as always, my apologies for the ad across the bottom.)

As an aging hippie, the idea that a band would stir up so much controversy by exercising an artist's right to criticize American foreign policy from overseas is more than a little disconcerting. I grew up at the height of the era where protest music and musicians speaking their minds were badges of honor. But judging on the first decade of this century, a band now puts its future on the line by stepping out of line. As I think about it, I guess its always been risky to oppose those in authority.

The Dixie Chicks are still thriving with a smaller fan base, having lost many of their more conservative, mainstream country fans. But they are still going strong, and their cathartic album Taking the Long Way stands as one of the decade's most important protest records.

Johnny Cash at San Quentin: The Song "San Quentin"

Johnny Cash Playing San Quentin Prison, 1969

When the double album Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969) was released, a good bit of the show had to be edited out for space. The DVD special edition released in 2000, featuring almost the entire show, includes performances by supporting players Carl Perkins and June Carter Cash.

One little nugget Cash wrote just for this show, the song San Quentin, was the highlight of the evening for the inmates, but sadly left off the initial release. Here it is below. Even if you are not a country music fan, check it out -- it's an unparalleled musical commentary on prisons.