It's the Tune Tag where everyone knows everyone else! Familial, familiar and fun, you'll want to pull up a front row seat and take notes๐....This kind:๐ถ๐ต๐ถโ
To be fair, Ivers was a bit before my time (I was 3 y/o when he was murdered). I didn't know about him until I was well into adulthood, and from all the reading about him I did, it seemed like he was one of those people who knew everyone. From getting the approval of Muddy Waters early in his career (before it, actually), to his work with David Lynch, to hosting New Wave Theatre, etc... even his early work's influence on rock operas like Jesus Christ Superstar โ I figured anyone even slightly into music history would probably know about him. When it comes to artists before my time, I always assume I'm the one who's just catching up. Maybe I really should do post on him... March 3rd is right around the corner!
Anyway... was fun. Thanks again!
Oh... and there was some rather interesting (but only tangentially-related.. and maybe only interesting to me) stuff that was cut โ might include it in a future post on my stack.
I'd love to see a post by you on Ivers! Full speed ahead, I say! If/when you do, I'll be happy to link it into this Tune Tag!
Having traversed the '70s record biz from, more or less, the inside, I can confirm that Peter Ivers was (and still is) but a mere whispered footnote in the history of rock. Only the most dedicated fact-digger (or those researching Doug Kenney or any of the other names you mentioned above) will hear of him, and maybe be motivated to ferret out his music. A musical acquired taste (IMO), I do find him to be a fascinating personality and, would love to discover more about him after that second ('76) album, and even whatever can be gleaned leading up to his sad end.
Thanks again, NUK! Until we Tag again.........๐ต๐๐
I'm honestly a little shocked to learn how few people actually like(d) his music... I was a fan instantly after stumbling upon Terminal Love one day. I knew his voice was a bit different, but growing up on stuff like Ween and Dead Milkmen, that barely phased me. Musically, I was blown away.. obviously there's some misses and filler, but the stuff that hit, HIT. Maybe it's just me ยฏ\_(ใ)_/ยฏ
"Audience of One" is actually kinda heavy, but in the weirdest way possible (except for maybe the chorus, but w/e). The waa'd Dun-Dun-Dun... mixed with harmonica, violin, saxophone... and panflute? What is going on and why does it work so well?!
And the lyrics! "A silhouetted circus introduced by phantom fingers, A hard ring master ordering the show" No idea what it means, but I love it. Even his little <heh!> at the start of the line... I don't know, it all has a weirdly modern vibe to it, so I get why it was maybe too weird for 1974. That said, I feel like it's aged better than a lot of stuff from the same year โ not that the other stuff isn't still good, but it *sounds* like 1974, while a lot of Ivers' material is little harder to nail down.
Well, NUK, I meant to specify, as per Ivers: No airplay upon release, thus, no sales. So, radio listeners/record buyers in the mid-'70s had no CHANCE to decide whether they liked him or not. Had he gotten some/any airplay, many more rock fans might've streamed into record stores to buy his albums...and loved him!
At the same exact time (1974, to be exact), FR&B's "own" Stephen Michael Schwartz (20 articles he's generously provided us, in his own words...right here: https://bradkyle.substack.com/t/stephen-michael-schwartz) recorded his lone RCA Records album (like Ivers, on a major label with his debut). Unlike Ivers, Stephen was solidly in the soft rock/pop lane, so while Ivers' target was (or should have been) FM radio, Stephen's couple of singles (Ned Doheny's "Get it Up For Love" for one....this tells the incredible story of how Stephen's was the FIRST-ever recording of the song: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/inside-tracks-3-ned-doheny-get-it?utm_source=publication-search ...included is a recording of the 1975 interview I did with David Cassidy, where he mentions Stephen's recording, because David had just recorded the song for HIS first post-Partridge Family album....for RCA)!!
As Stephen recounts on our site, 4 songs into his album #2 for RCA, in '75, he got cut from his contract...why? "Only" 15,000 units sold of his debut (as he says, "My parents bought 10 of 'em!"). Lack of sales can be directly attributed to lack of airplay. People didn't know (back in the day) a record existed without airplay. They didn't know "what to like" if they didn't hear it!
Folks don't know to buy a burger at McDonald's without their ubiquitous ๐ต"Da da da da daaaaaa, I'm lovin' it"๐ตplaying on the radio!
So, I hear your plea....had an Ivers single gotten the '74 AM radio airplay afforded Tony Orlando & Dawn, maybe HE would've sold millions, and he'd have a ton o' fans....such is the nature of pop radio, and its relationship to the retail side of things! Peter deserved to, at least, have some of his music played on the radio, so the public could decide. But, the same can be said of Stephen, and so many thousands of other major label artists over the decades!!
What an absolute journey this one was, or rather, what a proper trip!
I was unfamiliar with pretty much everything and everyone you mentioned except for Randy Newman, so consider me schooled!
I love that Newman track, and I also enjoyed Fannyโs version. I liked some of the other tracks, especially the more melodic ones like Didnโt It Rain.
Also it was very cool to learn a bit more about this โflangingโ recording technique and to see it in action! Thanks a lot for thatz
Thanks, Andy......Mad props to NUK for a stellar Tag-a-Thon and some great song picks!
As for flanging (I used to call it phasing, but flanging is more proper), I played around with it at WFMF, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana commercial FM-rocker I worked at around 1977 (I was 22). You read it once (I see your "like"! It was a while ago, I know), but this is where I nicked that flanging video!
Here's what I did: I took two Kiss "Destroyer" albums (I had a daily 7-midnight shift), and played "Detroit Rock City" on our two turntables. One was "potted" up over air while the other wasn't, although, I was monitoring the off-air one in the studio, making sure it was closely following the on-air one. If it needed to speed up, I'd manually twirl the record faster; too fast? I'd drag my thumb on the LP's edge.
The goal was to make one ever-so-slightly behind the other for when the car crash sound-effect at the end of the song came on, I'd pot up the second LP (now TWO records were being heard over-air!), and listeners would hear the car crash with a phasing/flanging effect! My hope is that some may go, "Hey! The one on MY "Destroyer" album doesn't have that sound on it! What's amazing is that the medium didn't matter....reel tape or LPs...any identical recording can be flanged using the technique explained in the video (or demonstrated by DJ Brad)!! How I discovered that, then, I couldn't tell you....but, curious and "subversive".....that was me at 22! (Picture Snidely Whiplash twirling his mustache..."Nyah-ah-ah!") Here's that article: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/behind-the-mic-a-personal-peek-into-870?utm_source=publication-search
Absolutely. You were both so in tune: with the songs and with each other.
Thanks for the reminder! If I had been around at the time, I would have tuned in every day (or as often as you were on the decks). Brad Kyle: flanging precursor? Man of many talents!
Aw, thanks, Andy.....It's fun to imagine the "fans" one might gain from working weeknights (7-midnight), on a 1976 FM rock station while spinning tunes! Because the switchboard closed at 5, I'd get calls into the control room phone, and I'm the only one in the building! I could choose or not to answer the phone. I usually did, because I didn't mind taking requests!
I remember playing Wendy Waldman's "Living is Good"--a favorite--(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK-QL_0GgUM) Oh, the harmonies! Baton Rouge, Louisiana teen boyz would hit the phones...."Play 'Free Bird,' man!" A lot of those! I'd ask 'em, "Would you like the studio version, the longer live one, or the 3-day festival version?" I was a terror, I tellzya!
Anyway, I got to be phone friends, on the station phone, with a kid named Homer (hadn't known one before, haven't known one since!). One night, he asked if he could come down to the station (can't recall if I told this story in my article).....I said yes, and he came over in his black coat (to his knees), and hung out while I did my show, for about an hour. I always had the control room lights out, and would only have the lit dials and the hallway light shining through the large window behind the board to illuminate! That's the last time I saw him....I think he just enjoyed the process and seeing how it all worked. My first FAndy?๐
Sorry for my late reply. This is all just fantastic. I looove how you knew exactly how to get those callers all hyped up and excited! ๐๐ ๐คฃ๐คฃ Brilliant!
Yes, I remember that story with the kid named Homer. So sweet he wanted to see how it all worked! Bless him. You were already a celebrity!
Homer was maybe 16 or 17; I know I didn't mention that here; he obviously could drive. I don't remember much chit-chat....I'm sure I asked him a few questions, like what music he liked, etc. He was just curious! I'm glad he felt comfortable calling and asking!
That was a fun year in my life; probably my first time experiencing the notion of communicating to others through music, and finding ways to have the recording artists, through their work, communicate to my audience, through their music! The birth of Tune Tag?๐ฑ๐ต
The birth of Tune Tag and I'd argue the birth of FR&B! Interesting how our lives may take winding roads sometimes but we always end up coming back home.
Thanks, Paul! Definitely, hot Tune Tag Toddies all around in the FR&B bar tonight! I've certainly become the biggest NUK-lehead after this one!๐ As I told him, I thought I'd die never knowing another living human on this, or any other planet, who'd heard either the Ivers or the M. Frog (not to mention, both!) albums! Plus, some great commentary...'twas a fun one to edit and compose!
"I thought I'd die never knowing another living human on this, or any other planet, who'd heard either the Ivers or the M. Frog (not to mention, both!) albums!"
Now I feel kinda bad, but I have to correct this (I mentioned it in the article, otherwise I'd just let it go): I actually never heard the M. Frog album until we did this. I did know about it because I saw the album cover years ago and then years after that, when I started learning about Todd / Utopia, I was reading something about Utopia and its members and put 2+2 together and was like "Hey I've seen that album!".. but just never got around to actually listening to it until now. So, thanks for that, but sorry I ruined your dream of finally meeting someone who knew both those albums... I do now, so that counts for something!
I get it....I was speaking generally, NUK.....the fact that you had, at least, KNOWN about its existence is so much more than most folks....even those who lived through the era!
As usual a winner! I had that M. Frog album, and you filled in the blanks. Why wasn't he on that first Utopia tour at Radio City my mom gave me a ticket to on a school night from her friend's son who couldn't go making me a superfan but in the photo on the back of the album? He quit! City in my head... Utopia. It was a good album but great concert. Roger Powell never measured up. Oh well that's history. Lisa Loeb was my Waterloo in the muzak biz. Knew her after I became a music lawyer, she was in the circuit I was introduced my boss was tepid I could have should have... but all I ever did was congratulate her when it went to No. 1! Top of the pops! Now? Well, it doesn't matter they're both doing a Bowie Tribute tour. You're the best at uncovering mysteries and laying them bare. No flies on me. Auditioning Thursday for a lead as TV Cop Show Detective Chuck Powell (in a play). 2025 Utopia is here... but there's always more... International Feel! Sunset Blvd., Earthquake in NYC. Someone/Anyone?
Thanks, Steve....glad you like! Much appreciation, too, for the kind words....my bro was a private investigator, so his acumen must've rubbed off on me....only, the mysteries I uncover are the musical ones!
I still think M. Frog was an Eno-in-waiting, while Powell was functional and certainly capable in his own way! As for Lisa, I had fun digging into her career more than I had, really only knowing her hit, beforehand.
That Bowie Tribute Show will be fun to monitor as it progresses, and would certainly be fun to see! Hope someone's recording and/or filming it at some point!
Break a leg on your audition, Steve! Keep us posted, Detective!
Thanks so much, Chris! As you well know, the magic is provided by our wonderfully musical guests! I just take a rope and corral it all! Glad you're on board!
Love that Fanny cover, especially on the Midnight Special, but was surprised at how much I liked the Peter Ivers piece. It's weird at first, but then really grows on you. Great pick.
That's the first time I've heard Amy Helm's Didn't It Rain and what a groovin' song. Todd is a perennial favorite.
I recently binge-listened to Daryl's House sessions and Lisa Loeb did a fantastic version of "Stay" double-dueting with Daryl. Having both a male and female voice gives the song a whole new meaning and poignancy. You can hear it here -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stB8G8bT4uQ
Glad you liked, Ellen! NUK has been such a nifty and creative musical find! Now that I know about Ivers' passing (which I don't think I'd ever heard before), I'm kinda tempted to re-visit his music, and really just from a "celebrate a talented human" POV.....he looks like such a nice guy, and with his boyish, and mostly doleful look....his visage didn't really match his quirky music! I'm hoping this Tag brings him some new fans that discover his work!
Thanks for the Daryl link! I really need to do a similar binge-watch of his show....so much I missed, and so few I've caught on his YT vids! Hey, I just looked, Ellen, and our first TT was last June, so DM me a song if you're game for your Part 2! I'd say you're due!! Thanks!
It seems like yesterday and yet so long ago when I did TT. I'll let that marinate and see what songs percolate to the surface. Thanks for the invite!
There are some absolutely outstanding Daryl shows. Highly recommend. Also think an Iver post would be really interesting given how unique his music is.
OK on the TT....fire when ready, Captain! As for Ivers, I'd be game to do a collab....if you want to focus on his music (debut album? His first 2?), I'd like to see what I can find on his life, like growing up, and I don't for a second think I'll be solving his murder, but I've yet to really read much about that, in the first place.....so.....I'd also like to poke around into his collabs; I think NUK brought out some I didin't realize, and it sounded like he had some friends, if not fans, in the record biz of the day! LMK.
That's a kind offer but I'll have to defer on a collab at the moment because I've got too much on my plate with substack and work. I'm not sure I'm the right collab on that as writing about the music itself is not my forte. I always think of you as writing well about that!
YOU'RE the one! Two main scenes I was in: In the parking lot of The Austin American-Statesman (our local newspaper), downtown, I was a background onlooker (with a gal whom I didn't know), as a boy on a bike was accidentally hit (staged, of course) by a man who was backing up his car. The actor/"driver" was actor, Miguel Ferrer, movie actor Jose Ferrer's son.
In San Antonio (where I booked a downtown hotel room for a couple nights--I was 39...your age....you can do this stuff when you're that young!), we shot a lot in the Alamo square (in scenes I wasn't in). I did an interior in a nearby bank, where I played an in-line customer. Brian was in front of a guy who was in front of me in the line. I had been given a "fake" checkbook, and I made it look like I was scribbling in it (hey, I'm a "method actor"!).
At the scene's end (Brian had gone up to Karen Duffy's character...she was playing a teller, to ask, I guess, to see the bank's prez), the man after Brian went to another teller, and I was directed to go to Karen's window, where she and I mimed a transaction as the scene came to an end with Brian's dialog elsewhere.
We did that scene several times, and Karen and I fooled around a bit each time: I wrote Karen a chatty little note while I was in line, and handed it to her during shooting. We smiled a few times, and had a few seconds after "Cut!" was yelled, and we wondered aloud, together, when lunch would be called, and what we might have! Fun times! As an extra, it was customary to make about $75-$100 a day.
"[Brad: A little obscure?!?]"
To be fair, Ivers was a bit before my time (I was 3 y/o when he was murdered). I didn't know about him until I was well into adulthood, and from all the reading about him I did, it seemed like he was one of those people who knew everyone. From getting the approval of Muddy Waters early in his career (before it, actually), to his work with David Lynch, to hosting New Wave Theatre, etc... even his early work's influence on rock operas like Jesus Christ Superstar โ I figured anyone even slightly into music history would probably know about him. When it comes to artists before my time, I always assume I'm the one who's just catching up. Maybe I really should do post on him... March 3rd is right around the corner!
Anyway... was fun. Thanks again!
Oh... and there was some rather interesting (but only tangentially-related.. and maybe only interesting to me) stuff that was cut โ might include it in a future post on my stack.
I'd love to see a post by you on Ivers! Full speed ahead, I say! If/when you do, I'll be happy to link it into this Tune Tag!
Having traversed the '70s record biz from, more or less, the inside, I can confirm that Peter Ivers was (and still is) but a mere whispered footnote in the history of rock. Only the most dedicated fact-digger (or those researching Doug Kenney or any of the other names you mentioned above) will hear of him, and maybe be motivated to ferret out his music. A musical acquired taste (IMO), I do find him to be a fascinating personality and, would love to discover more about him after that second ('76) album, and even whatever can be gleaned leading up to his sad end.
Thanks again, NUK! Until we Tag again.........๐ต๐๐
I'm honestly a little shocked to learn how few people actually like(d) his music... I was a fan instantly after stumbling upon Terminal Love one day. I knew his voice was a bit different, but growing up on stuff like Ween and Dead Milkmen, that barely phased me. Musically, I was blown away.. obviously there's some misses and filler, but the stuff that hit, HIT. Maybe it's just me ยฏ\_(ใ)_/ยฏ
"Audience of One" is actually kinda heavy, but in the weirdest way possible (except for maybe the chorus, but w/e). The waa'd Dun-Dun-Dun... mixed with harmonica, violin, saxophone... and panflute? What is going on and why does it work so well?!
And the lyrics! "A silhouetted circus introduced by phantom fingers, A hard ring master ordering the show" No idea what it means, but I love it. Even his little <heh!> at the start of the line... I don't know, it all has a weirdly modern vibe to it, so I get why it was maybe too weird for 1974. That said, I feel like it's aged better than a lot of stuff from the same year โ not that the other stuff isn't still good, but it *sounds* like 1974, while a lot of Ivers' material is little harder to nail down.
Well, NUK, I meant to specify, as per Ivers: No airplay upon release, thus, no sales. So, radio listeners/record buyers in the mid-'70s had no CHANCE to decide whether they liked him or not. Had he gotten some/any airplay, many more rock fans might've streamed into record stores to buy his albums...and loved him!
At the same exact time (1974, to be exact), FR&B's "own" Stephen Michael Schwartz (20 articles he's generously provided us, in his own words...right here: https://bradkyle.substack.com/t/stephen-michael-schwartz) recorded his lone RCA Records album (like Ivers, on a major label with his debut). Unlike Ivers, Stephen was solidly in the soft rock/pop lane, so while Ivers' target was (or should have been) FM radio, Stephen's couple of singles (Ned Doheny's "Get it Up For Love" for one....this tells the incredible story of how Stephen's was the FIRST-ever recording of the song: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/inside-tracks-3-ned-doheny-get-it?utm_source=publication-search ...included is a recording of the 1975 interview I did with David Cassidy, where he mentions Stephen's recording, because David had just recorded the song for HIS first post-Partridge Family album....for RCA)!!
As Stephen recounts on our site, 4 songs into his album #2 for RCA, in '75, he got cut from his contract...why? "Only" 15,000 units sold of his debut (as he says, "My parents bought 10 of 'em!"). Lack of sales can be directly attributed to lack of airplay. People didn't know (back in the day) a record existed without airplay. They didn't know "what to like" if they didn't hear it!
Folks don't know to buy a burger at McDonald's without their ubiquitous ๐ต"Da da da da daaaaaa, I'm lovin' it"๐ตplaying on the radio!
So, I hear your plea....had an Ivers single gotten the '74 AM radio airplay afforded Tony Orlando & Dawn, maybe HE would've sold millions, and he'd have a ton o' fans....such is the nature of pop radio, and its relationship to the retail side of things! Peter deserved to, at least, have some of his music played on the radio, so the public could decide. But, the same can be said of Stephen, and so many thousands of other major label artists over the decades!!
What an absolute journey this one was, or rather, what a proper trip!
I was unfamiliar with pretty much everything and everyone you mentioned except for Randy Newman, so consider me schooled!
I love that Newman track, and I also enjoyed Fannyโs version. I liked some of the other tracks, especially the more melodic ones like Didnโt It Rain.
Also it was very cool to learn a bit more about this โflangingโ recording technique and to see it in action! Thanks a lot for thatz
Great work, guys!
Thanks, Andy......Mad props to NUK for a stellar Tag-a-Thon and some great song picks!
As for flanging (I used to call it phasing, but flanging is more proper), I played around with it at WFMF, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana commercial FM-rocker I worked at around 1977 (I was 22). You read it once (I see your "like"! It was a while ago, I know), but this is where I nicked that flanging video!
Here's what I did: I took two Kiss "Destroyer" albums (I had a daily 7-midnight shift), and played "Detroit Rock City" on our two turntables. One was "potted" up over air while the other wasn't, although, I was monitoring the off-air one in the studio, making sure it was closely following the on-air one. If it needed to speed up, I'd manually twirl the record faster; too fast? I'd drag my thumb on the LP's edge.
The goal was to make one ever-so-slightly behind the other for when the car crash sound-effect at the end of the song came on, I'd pot up the second LP (now TWO records were being heard over-air!), and listeners would hear the car crash with a phasing/flanging effect! My hope is that some may go, "Hey! The one on MY "Destroyer" album doesn't have that sound on it! What's amazing is that the medium didn't matter....reel tape or LPs...any identical recording can be flanged using the technique explained in the video (or demonstrated by DJ Brad)!! How I discovered that, then, I couldn't tell you....but, curious and "subversive".....that was me at 22! (Picture Snidely Whiplash twirling his mustache..."Nyah-ah-ah!") Here's that article: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/behind-the-mic-a-personal-peek-into-870?utm_source=publication-search
Absolutely. You were both so in tune: with the songs and with each other.
Thanks for the reminder! If I had been around at the time, I would have tuned in every day (or as often as you were on the decks). Brad Kyle: flanging precursor? Man of many talents!
Aw, thanks, Andy.....It's fun to imagine the "fans" one might gain from working weeknights (7-midnight), on a 1976 FM rock station while spinning tunes! Because the switchboard closed at 5, I'd get calls into the control room phone, and I'm the only one in the building! I could choose or not to answer the phone. I usually did, because I didn't mind taking requests!
I remember playing Wendy Waldman's "Living is Good"--a favorite--(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK-QL_0GgUM) Oh, the harmonies! Baton Rouge, Louisiana teen boyz would hit the phones...."Play 'Free Bird,' man!" A lot of those! I'd ask 'em, "Would you like the studio version, the longer live one, or the 3-day festival version?" I was a terror, I tellzya!
Anyway, I got to be phone friends, on the station phone, with a kid named Homer (hadn't known one before, haven't known one since!). One night, he asked if he could come down to the station (can't recall if I told this story in my article).....I said yes, and he came over in his black coat (to his knees), and hung out while I did my show, for about an hour. I always had the control room lights out, and would only have the lit dials and the hallway light shining through the large window behind the board to illuminate! That's the last time I saw him....I think he just enjoyed the process and seeing how it all worked. My first FAndy?๐
Sorry for my late reply. This is all just fantastic. I looove how you knew exactly how to get those callers all hyped up and excited! ๐๐ ๐คฃ๐คฃ Brilliant!
Yes, I remember that story with the kid named Homer. So sweet he wanted to see how it all worked! Bless him. You were already a celebrity!
Homer was maybe 16 or 17; I know I didn't mention that here; he obviously could drive. I don't remember much chit-chat....I'm sure I asked him a few questions, like what music he liked, etc. He was just curious! I'm glad he felt comfortable calling and asking!
That was a fun year in my life; probably my first time experiencing the notion of communicating to others through music, and finding ways to have the recording artists, through their work, communicate to my audience, through their music! The birth of Tune Tag?๐ฑ๐ต
The birth of Tune Tag and I'd argue the birth of FR&B! Interesting how our lives may take winding roads sometimes but we always end up coming back home.
Liked the Todd Tag Today. Some Motown, some Jazz, some Females. Hit most of the food groups. Well done, Nuk and Brad!
Thanks, Paul! Definitely, hot Tune Tag Toddies all around in the FR&B bar tonight! I've certainly become the biggest NUK-lehead after this one!๐ As I told him, I thought I'd die never knowing another living human on this, or any other planet, who'd heard either the Ivers or the M. Frog (not to mention, both!) albums! Plus, some great commentary...'twas a fun one to edit and compose!
"I thought I'd die never knowing another living human on this, or any other planet, who'd heard either the Ivers or the M. Frog (not to mention, both!) albums!"
Now I feel kinda bad, but I have to correct this (I mentioned it in the article, otherwise I'd just let it go): I actually never heard the M. Frog album until we did this. I did know about it because I saw the album cover years ago and then years after that, when I started learning about Todd / Utopia, I was reading something about Utopia and its members and put 2+2 together and was like "Hey I've seen that album!".. but just never got around to actually listening to it until now. So, thanks for that, but sorry I ruined your dream of finally meeting someone who knew both those albums... I do now, so that counts for something!
I get it....I was speaking generally, NUK.....the fact that you had, at least, KNOWN about its existence is so much more than most folks....even those who lived through the era!
As usual a winner! I had that M. Frog album, and you filled in the blanks. Why wasn't he on that first Utopia tour at Radio City my mom gave me a ticket to on a school night from her friend's son who couldn't go making me a superfan but in the photo on the back of the album? He quit! City in my head... Utopia. It was a good album but great concert. Roger Powell never measured up. Oh well that's history. Lisa Loeb was my Waterloo in the muzak biz. Knew her after I became a music lawyer, she was in the circuit I was introduced my boss was tepid I could have should have... but all I ever did was congratulate her when it went to No. 1! Top of the pops! Now? Well, it doesn't matter they're both doing a Bowie Tribute tour. You're the best at uncovering mysteries and laying them bare. No flies on me. Auditioning Thursday for a lead as TV Cop Show Detective Chuck Powell (in a play). 2025 Utopia is here... but there's always more... International Feel! Sunset Blvd., Earthquake in NYC. Someone/Anyone?
Thanks, Steve....glad you like! Much appreciation, too, for the kind words....my bro was a private investigator, so his acumen must've rubbed off on me....only, the mysteries I uncover are the musical ones!
I still think M. Frog was an Eno-in-waiting, while Powell was functional and certainly capable in his own way! As for Lisa, I had fun digging into her career more than I had, really only knowing her hit, beforehand.
That Bowie Tribute Show will be fun to monitor as it progresses, and would certainly be fun to see! Hope someone's recording and/or filming it at some point!
Break a leg on your audition, Steve! Keep us posted, Detective!
Always love this musical game!!! So much fun. So much info. So much good!
Thanks so much, Chris! As you well know, the magic is provided by our wonderfully musical guests! I just take a rope and corral it all! Glad you're on board!
Truth! Itโs a fun musical journey ๐ธ
Love that Fanny cover, especially on the Midnight Special, but was surprised at how much I liked the Peter Ivers piece. It's weird at first, but then really grows on you. Great pick.
That's the first time I've heard Amy Helm's Didn't It Rain and what a groovin' song. Todd is a perennial favorite.
I recently binge-listened to Daryl's House sessions and Lisa Loeb did a fantastic version of "Stay" double-dueting with Daryl. Having both a male and female voice gives the song a whole new meaning and poignancy. You can hear it here -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stB8G8bT4uQ
Glad you liked, Ellen! NUK has been such a nifty and creative musical find! Now that I know about Ivers' passing (which I don't think I'd ever heard before), I'm kinda tempted to re-visit his music, and really just from a "celebrate a talented human" POV.....he looks like such a nice guy, and with his boyish, and mostly doleful look....his visage didn't really match his quirky music! I'm hoping this Tag brings him some new fans that discover his work!
Thanks for the Daryl link! I really need to do a similar binge-watch of his show....so much I missed, and so few I've caught on his YT vids! Hey, I just looked, Ellen, and our first TT was last June, so DM me a song if you're game for your Part 2! I'd say you're due!! Thanks!
It seems like yesterday and yet so long ago when I did TT. I'll let that marinate and see what songs percolate to the surface. Thanks for the invite!
There are some absolutely outstanding Daryl shows. Highly recommend. Also think an Iver post would be really interesting given how unique his music is.
OK on the TT....fire when ready, Captain! As for Ivers, I'd be game to do a collab....if you want to focus on his music (debut album? His first 2?), I'd like to see what I can find on his life, like growing up, and I don't for a second think I'll be solving his murder, but I've yet to really read much about that, in the first place.....so.....I'd also like to poke around into his collabs; I think NUK brought out some I didin't realize, and it sounded like he had some friends, if not fans, in the record biz of the day! LMK.
That's a kind offer but I'll have to defer on a collab at the moment because I've got too much on my plate with substack and work. I'm not sure I'm the right collab on that as writing about the music itself is not my forte. I always think of you as writing well about that!
That's cool....I get it. And, thank you!๐๐
Saw Blank Check in the theatre but that's almost literally all I remember about it lol
YOU'RE the one! Two main scenes I was in: In the parking lot of The Austin American-Statesman (our local newspaper), downtown, I was a background onlooker (with a gal whom I didn't know), as a boy on a bike was accidentally hit (staged, of course) by a man who was backing up his car. The actor/"driver" was actor, Miguel Ferrer, movie actor Jose Ferrer's son.
In San Antonio (where I booked a downtown hotel room for a couple nights--I was 39...your age....you can do this stuff when you're that young!), we shot a lot in the Alamo square (in scenes I wasn't in). I did an interior in a nearby bank, where I played an in-line customer. Brian was in front of a guy who was in front of me in the line. I had been given a "fake" checkbook, and I made it look like I was scribbling in it (hey, I'm a "method actor"!).
At the scene's end (Brian had gone up to Karen Duffy's character...she was playing a teller, to ask, I guess, to see the bank's prez), the man after Brian went to another teller, and I was directed to go to Karen's window, where she and I mimed a transaction as the scene came to an end with Brian's dialog elsewhere.
We did that scene several times, and Karen and I fooled around a bit each time: I wrote Karen a chatty little note while I was in line, and handed it to her during shooting. We smiled a few times, and had a few seconds after "Cut!" was yelled, and we wondered aloud, together, when lunch would be called, and what we might have! Fun times! As an extra, it was customary to make about $75-$100 a day.