Notify, Volume I

That's pronounced "NOT-ify"...

I love Spotify.  I was slow to jump in on it, since I had (have) a hard drive with 36,000+ songs on it that I have collected, compiled, bought, beg, borrowed, and maybe even stolen across three decades. After a while, since I didn't possess the technology to access my HD anywhere on the globe, I could no longer deny the convenience that Spotify offers. It's pretty cool.

For a while, certain musical artists held out from the platform for purist or purely pecuniary reasons. And in truth, a lot of them weren't being selfish; it's well known that Spotify pays artists exactly jack diddley. Such is life as a rock and roller in the 21st century. Ask Rootsy, Les Coole, and Greasetruck.

Anyway, Spotify certainly does the trick for me, and these days, by now mostly everyone and everything is up there.  Mostly.

Some of my favorite stuff isn't there. Cool stuff I'd love to put on a playlist and expose to music fiends and friends everywhere. I don't just mean live stuff, there are cool studio tracks and one-off moments that should be shared.  So here I go with Volume I of Notify.

Brian Wilson sings "Brian Wilson"... I love this.

Still my favorite mash-up of all time...

A random one. When I was 15, someone gave my dad UB40's Little Baggariddim EP on cassette for his 40th birthday. UB40, get it? Hilarious. Anyway, he never bothered with it and I scooped it up.
The hit was the cover of "I Got You Babe" with Chrissie Hynde. I quickly skipped past that for a mini-treasure trove with "Don't Break My Heart," "Hip Hop Lyrical Robot," the super great/green "Mi Spliff," and a new and improved version of one of their early hits, "One in Ten." You can't find this version anywhere except on this EP, and I dig it the most.

Camper van Beethoven / David Lowery had a bone to pick with Spotify, and a $43 million lawsuit settlement caught some attention. A bit of Camper's stuff is still missing from Spotify, including most of Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart and Key Lime Pie. 

Here's the latter. You've heard their cover of "Pictures of Matchstick Men," but again, I'd skip over it most of the time. Check out the three song mega-tandem of "When I Win the Lottery," "(I Was Born in a) Laundromat,", and "Borderline." 


Enjoy, and post more random stuff you can't find on the major music sites.

The Great Ones Never Rest On Their Laurels

You may have heard this music news tidbit in the last month, and when you did, you may have thought of me.  I've made no secret of my opinion of this "man."  But he just keeps doing things to reaffirm that I'm right.  (And I'm not alone.)

Just over three years ago, Beach Boy Mike Love won the title of Biggest Douche in Rock and Roll.  In a landslide, amazingly.  Earlier this summer, I took in the Beach Boys' 50th Anniversary Tour stop in Virginia Beach, and afterwards, I conceded that I enjoyed every bit of it, even the parts that Mike Love sang.  But we couldn't just end on that high note, could we?

About a month ago, it was reported that after the completion of the current slate of tour dates, Mike Love would be sacking original B-Boys Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, as well as longtime BB musician David Marks.  He will be going back to his usual touring band . . . the one he's toured with for years under the name The Beach Boys . . . you know, the one with Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, some other guys, and no Wilsons. 

The incendiary headlines that followed weren't overstatements, though.  I mean . . . Mike Love fired Brian Wilson and Al Jardine.  It's actually difficult to find a parallel.  It's like Ringo firing Paul and George and touring with his All-Starr Band under the moniker The Beatles.  That's not a stretch.  It's Dan Quayle dumping GHWB for the '92 run.  It's me ousting Teej and Rob and insisting that I am Gheorghe: The Blog. It's outrageous, egregious, preposterous.

Naturally, the ballcapped one, having seen the backlash from the public, tried to justify what he did.  And this is why, after having taken the high road, I'm chiming in after the fact. From the letter he took the time to publish in the Los Angeles Times:

"I did not fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I am not his employer. I do not have such authority. And even if I did, I would never fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I love Brian Wilson. We are partners. He's my cousin by birth and my brother in music."

Blah blah blah.  Of course you did.  But here's the best part.  The fans loved seeing everyone back together, according to Rolling Stone...

"But Love says an ongoing reunion tour is 'impossible' because of other Beach Boys shows he had already booked that started to bump up against the reunion dates."

Are you kidding me???  Which iteration would the venues rather have on stage??? Which would the fans rather see??? 

"Look, man, I know David Lee Roth is back with the band, but I bought a ticket to see Gary Cherone, and that's what I want to see!"  "Hey, it's great that Steve Perry has agreed to tour with you guys, but I don't think you understand.  We booked the guy from American Idol, and that's who we want."

I understand that Mike Love might have existing contracts with the stiffs who have been portraying Beach Boys for years in what amounts to the best publicized cover band in America, but here's the deal: buy out their contracts, you money-grubbing asshole.  You, the bald, bearded, scumbag who was too stingy to shell out money for your daughter's transplant and she died as a result, need to defy all odds and past performance and do the right thing, even if it costs you.  The 50th Anniversary Tour is the last chance you have to engender some will that's not hideously ill.  Some karma that isn't soul-eroding.  This is all you've got.  If you fuck this up, you may well die soon . . . and neither quickly nor painlessly.

Clarence has spoken.

Brian Wilson has, too.  He wrote a great letter as a form of reply, worth a quick read in its entirety to see how a man who's been called genius since 1966 can be humble, grateful, reflective, conciliatory, and earnest . . . and how the same man who's been called crazy since 1969 can be articulate, level-headed, and reasonable.  We should all be so crazy.

As far as I know I can't be fired--that wouldn't be cool. The negativity surrounding all the comments bummed me out. What's confusing is that by Mike not wanting or letting Al, David and me tour with the band, it sort of feels like we're being fired.

It's Al and my opinion that all of us together makes for a great representation of the Beach Boys. While I appreciate the nice cool things Mike said about me in his letter, and I do and always will love him as my cousin and bandmate, at the same time I'm still left wondering why he doesn't want to continue this great trip we're on. Al and I want to keep going because we believe we owe it to the music. In any case happy anniversary, I loved it and I think we knocked it out of the park for what it's worth.

Amen, brother.  God only knows what that dipshit would be without you.

One More Reason Why You Can't Hate Brian Wilson

Anybody watching The Franchise on Showtime has seen a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff on Brian Wilson. Instead of loathing the man as a Rodman-like egomaniac, I find myself rooting for the guy even more. He's just a dude who realizes how ridiculous it is that he gets paid so much and has no need to behave normally. He works his ass off and he seems to be genuinely liked by his teammates. And by the men in the Castro district.

But we're not here to write on sports. We're here to provide links of endearing physically challenged guys who have become internet sensations in videos featuring cameos by baseball personalities like Brian Wilson and Cody Ross.

And this video isn't meant to give Rob any Halloween ideas, but he could ride on the coattails of this internet sensation (79 million hits and counting). He just needs to grow the hair out and get some goofy glasses. And keep it real in front of the camera.

Update: this fine, fine blog entry was written after Wilson was put on the DL, so the vailidity of the Gheorghe: The Jinx hypothesis does not hold here.