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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Topics > Music > 'round-the-dial |
Tom Hallett checks in with the homebase for the latest reviews of local and national releases, plus a heaping helping of his signature rants and raves. |
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'Round the Dial: Eat the Rich
Wednesday 09 May @ 11:23:40 (Read: 1878) |
 by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape." --William S. Burroughs
SONG OF THE WEEK: "Future Generation" --The Auteurs
Hey, what a coincidence meeting you here! You say you thought I'd gone away an' left ya forever?? Hey, it wasn't my idea to tie the 10th Anniversary issue into our official "fare-thee-wells," anyway. Thank Christ I turned down that editing job all those years back. Big thanks to Steve McP. For letting me slide this in late this week. Anyway, there's one more ish to go after this one, then you'll find me skulking around the back alleys, dumpster-diving and chooglin' White Port wine--or maybe somewhere else online ... For now, I've got an important review I've been meaning to get 'round to, so let's quit with all the bitchin' an' moanin' and get on with what really matters--THE MUSIC!!
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'Round the Dial: It's been real
Wednesday 02 May @ 11:14:00 (Read: 2514) |
 by TOM HALLETT
Hey, gang–
Just a brief intro here to acknowledge that the Pulse is, indeed, about to shut down operations, at least in its street incarnation. I've been asked by the publisher and music editor to throw out a few words of goodbye, so here she is.
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'Round the Dial: Into the wild blue Yonder
Friday 27 April @ 13:26:28 (Read: 2579) |
TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "I'm a nursery-school drop-out."--Corey Feldman
SONG OF THE WEEK: "Where Do Ya Draw The Line"--Dead Kennedys
Howdy, faithful readers, dorky detractors and curious lookie-loos alike. We've got a few reviews and a whole lotta rock 'n' roll news this time out, so we'll save the rants for the end of the column and dive right in--the water's fine ...
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'Round the Dial: Ass over teakettle
Wednesday 18 April @ 16:10:29 (Read: 3491) |
 by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "I hate that song."- The late Don Ho, on his signature hit "Tiny Bubbles."
SONG OF THE WEEK: "Roxy Roller" – Brinsley-Schwarz
RIP: Don Ho, 1930–2007
It had been a long and particularly dead Friday night last week as I pulled DJ duty at a local pub--the most excitement I'd seen had been two very well-lubricated (and huge, and hairy, and quite dirty in every sense of the word) fellas who insisted I play the entire 17-minute version of Iron Butterfly's "Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida." "Don't be playin' that pussy radio edit either," growled the largest fella on one of his many trips up to my booth. After suggesting (in vain) that he and his buddy might want to throw a few bucks in the ol' tip jar to make up for their particularly selfish request (after all, there were seven or eight other drunks in there who wanted to hear Built to Spill, Wilco and early Bowie), I gave up on any hopes of monetary remuneration and, with a sigh loud enough they could hear it up at the bar, spun the dreaded, drum-solo-infested psychedelic classic. All 17 minutes of it. Sigh.
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'Round the Dial: From the land of ice and snow
Wednesday 11 April @ 15:00:48 (Read: 2617) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Follow the flock--step in the shit." – Anonymous
SONG OF THE WEEK: "A Song Is More Than Just A Song" – Stook!
Greetings, 'Dial-heads, bored coffee shop patrons and maniacal stalkers alike! With spring playing hide 'n' seek lately (even the weather here in Alaska is mondo bizarro), I was recently struck by how disparate, how wildly, defiantly and delightfully different some of the latest batches of CDs to come across my desk have been. As Bob Roberts once so eloquently said, "The world's got everything in it," and boy, is that the truth. So rather than stick with one particular style or genre this time out, I thought I'd review a couple of completely different beasts and throw in some interesting rock 'n' roll news to boot. So strap in, pull your hat down 'round your ears, and let them headphones hit "10" ...
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'Round the Dial: Splish splash
Wednesday 04 April @ 13:42:18 (Read: 1889) |
 by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Hey, Jim! Look out, I haven't riveted that beam yet!" – Local construction worker
SONG OF THE WEEK: "Children of War" – Buffalo Killers
In Alaska, they call this time of year "break-up." They say there are really only three seasons up here; August, winter, and break-up. I tend to agree with 'em What "break-up" really means is that instead of huge berms of snow alongside the highway and town roads, there are gigantic mud puddles, which some people find highly amusing to drive through at maniacal speeds and splash poor bastards who are trudging alongside the streets to get groceries or fresh water or maybe just a bottle to help pass the drudgery of "break-up."
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'Round the Dial: Beneath the Underdog
Wednesday 28 March @ 15:07:13 (Read: 2302) |
 by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "I think we're going to have to forget about the radio and just go back to word of mouth."--Joe Strummer
SONG OF THE WEEK: "The Painter"--Neil Young
RIP--Brad Delp, lead singer of Boston, 1951-2007.
Overheard in a local Homer, Alaska bar recently: "Jesus, I don't know why so many kids are all fucked up on dope these days. Where do they pick their habits up? What the hell makes 'em think drugs are the answer to all their problems?" No point in asking them why they think they'll be solving their problems by sitting in a bar drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes five hours before Happy Hour starts, though.
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'Round the Dial: When the chips are down ...
Thursday 22 March @ 12:17:03 (Read: 1769) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “People who speak in metaphors should shampoo my crotch.” – Jack Nicholson
SONG OF THE WEEK: “The Great Battle” - Jon Dee Graham
Just a few short words this week, folks, then it’s back to whippin’ these reviews out before they once again begin to pile up on my desk like last year ... and the year before ... etc. As that itch for actual spring to get sprung becomes harder and harder to scratch (like that place in the exact center of your back that you just CANNOT reach no matter how hard you try), I’ve always felt the urge to hit the road, thumb up and hopes high, even though I knew deep down ya can’t out-run what’s makin’ ya run in the first place.
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Kiss me, I’m Tom Hallett
Wednesday 14 March @ 14:46:49 (Read: 1906) |
Hiya and Happy St. Pat's to regular readers and casual browsers alike. Though the icy, mountainous terrain of coastal Alaska is a long way from the scruffy, lovable streets of St. Paul, or even the rolling green hills of old Eire itself (though many a Paddy has come through this here town and commented on the scenic similarity to the Old Country here when the weather's turned a bit towards the warmer side), I'm still constantly amazed at the one glaring constant between 'em all--the massive diversity in nationalities, beliefs and musical styles all balled up in one specific geographical locale.
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'Round the Dial: Hang the DJ
Wednesday 07 March @ 15:47:11 (Read: 2087) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean." – David Searls
SONG OF THE WEEK: "Tugboat" – Alejandro Escovedo
Though it still feels like winter--the ice gripping the earth tenaciously and the snow seeming eager to dump from the skies in the skip of a heartbeat--the truth is that spring waits just 'round the corner, the days grow longer and somewhere under that dirty corner snowbank lies a waiting crop of fresh greenery eager to push its way into the wavering mid-April sunshine. Mebbe now would be a good time to follow the way of the bear, using alcohol instead of nuts and berries, and just hibernate for the next six or eight weeks, until the last cruel vestiges of nature's annual (and I must add, increasingly longer) period of rest has passed.
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Graveyard Power Walk
Wednesday 28 February @ 15:31:18 (Read: 1920) |
by TOM HALLETT
February faces are different than the faces people display throughout the rest of the year--I’m sure of it. Well, what you can see of their faces, anyway. Lots of folks are smart/comfortable enough to wear those bank-robber style wool masks or at least a well-curled scarf to combat the brutal assault of winter. It’s those who choose to (or can’t afford to or just aren’t smart enough to) NOT cover their faces that tend to make for the most interesting people-watching.
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'Round the Dial: There be dragons
Wednesday 21 February @ 17:06:06 (Read: 2013) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are; precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from." --Al Franken
SONG OF THE WEEK: "Before The Revolution" --Tim Easton
Like, there's absolutely no level I wouldn't stoop to in order to receive a free cell phone ring tone--it doesn't matter what song it is (long as its new-school, know what I'm sayin'?), or who it's by. I just like to be the guy standing in line at the bank--I could be there cashing a paycheck, but more than likely I'm there to withdraw my last ten bucks to keep the electricity from going off--and dammit, LOOK important. SOUND important. FEEL important, when that thing jangles obnoxiously and everybody LOOKS at me. ME! ME! ME! Dammit, it's just mom reminding me not to forget to check for jobs today--that whole ordeal with the Moped and the three-day crank binge set her back a few duckets and she's kinda anxious for me to start working again. THAT'S important!
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'Round the Dial: Charley Dush's Breakdown Union
Wednesday 14 February @ 15:54:45 (Read: 1775) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Insomnia is my greatest inspiration." -Jon Stewart
SONG OF THE WEEK: "Ball and Chain"-Social Distortion
Ya know, I usually try to see past the worst shit happening to me and those around me (sometimes I eventually throw temper tantrums) and find the humor in most situations. Like Anna Nicole Smith rejecting $8 million in order to keep torturing the family of that old geezer she married nine months before he died, and the pair of twits who are arguing over who might be her baby's father. Wow, do ya think they'd be fighting so hard if there weren't those millions at stake? Hmmm. Or how about that moment at the Grammys (I promise, I only watched the Police opening and saw a flash of it before I started penning this column) when a bloated (and BLIND!) Stevie Wonder hopped up and tried to grab an equally bloated Tony Bennett's coattail while Tony obliviously kept trotting on up to the stage?
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'Round the Dial: Taking back Valentine's Day
Wednesday 07 February @ 14:37:08 (Read: 2149) |
 by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing." – Mignon McLaughlin
SONG OF THE WEEK: "16 Days" – Whiskeytown
With the annual approach of Valentine's Day, amid the hustle and bustle of starry-eyed lovers shopping, planning, dreaming, hoping and wishing, there hover millions of broken, scarred souls who dread the holiday and all of its inherent implications: that you should be a pair, or a couple, or at least on the verge of finding a kindred spirit to walk this earth with. That you'll be happier, more content, more NORMAL, if you're in (or on the verge of falling in) love, and that finding that special "someone" will solve most of, if not all of your innermost problems, soothe your aching heart and bring you ever-lasting comfort and peace once and for all.
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'Round the Dial: Twangy young men
Wednesday 31 January @ 15:57:49 (Read: 1736) |
 by TOM HALLETT
One (sometimes) positive thing about the inexorable, post-New Year slide into cabin fever, is that it gives a person lots and lots of time to think. Or to drink. Or, maybe, to do a bit of both. But everybody knows too much drinkin' with your thinkin' can cause you to start sinkin'. If you're quick enough, you can catch yourself—this time of year, it's definitely a smart move to learn to think or swim—sorry, that probably sounds a lot funnier when you're either drunk or half-mad with cabin fever, but I think the point is made.
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'Round the Dial: One with the freaks
Wednesday 24 January @ 13:20:15 (Read: 1969) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "I think people have had too much to think, and ought to flex their magic muscles. It takes awhile to get oriented to what I do, but people seem to hear it if they give it a chance. I'd just never want to do what everybody else did. I'd be contributing to the sameness of everything."- Don "Captain Beefheart" Van Vliet
SONG OF THE WEEK: "Garage Band '69"- Stan Ridgway
This one's going out to that elite and, inexorably, sadly disappearing corner of the rock 'n' roll world, those gifted but often misunderstood (and, more often than not, underrated) musicians and artists I call the Beautiful Freaks. And the list doesn't just include such obvious and dated artists as the above-quoted Mr. Beefheart, either.
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'Round the Dial: Get your rock edumacation right here
Wednesday 17 January @ 14:28:47 (Read: 1919) |
 by TOM HALLETT
The last thing I thought I'd be doing this past weekend was standing around sober in an almost-empty local bar at quarter to three in the morning, discussing the majesty/tragedy of Roky Erickson's music and life story with some kid who'd spent half the night running up to my DJ booth asking "Who's that?" over and over as I spun Guess Who, Spirit and Sweet tunes for an oldies party.
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'Round the Dial: Catching up with Graham
Wednesday 10 January @ 16:25:52 (Read: 1931) |
 by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "After one look at this planet, any visitor from outer space would say, 'I want to see my manager.'"- William S. Burroughs
SONG OF THE WEEK: "Thunder On The Mountain"- Bob Dylan
Wheee!! Another grand, fun-filled week of snow, sleet and frost! Nothing like ol' Mother Nature to keep ya humble, eh? Thank the stars, then, that there are still some great albums coming across my desk, or else jumping into an open pot-bellied stove might not sound like a half-bad idea.
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'Round the Dial: The dead of winter
Wednesday 03 January @ 17:30:05 (Read: 6980) |
 If there is such a thing as "the dead of winter," post-New Year's definitely has to be the definitive definition. When you're a kid (depending on your upbringing), New Year's means waking up to a living room full of tattered party hats and those stupid noisemakers, half-empty glasses and the echoes of late-night/early morning revelry (or arguing, once again depending on your upbringing) still ringing in the silent dawn. Either that or church, and given those choices I'll take the dysfunctional family and cold pizza over dire sermons and growling bellies any day.
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'Round the Dial: Best of the Year
Thursday 28 December @ 15:22:19 (Read: 2271) |
 by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "You can't wait for inspiration- you have to go after it with a club."- Jack London
SONG OF THE WEEK: "One Big Holiday" - My Morning Jacket
"2006 was the worst year for America I can ever remember in my entire lifetime," my 17-year-old son utters in a matter-of-fact tone. Not that he's reached that hopelessly cynical state he'll attain after his first real college sweetheart dumps him, or that he's a boy on the edge of man-hood in a time when the reinstatement of the draft is a very real possibility, or even that he's pissed about working more than playing just for the privilege of driving a vehicle he can barely afford the insurance on, not to mention the gas to run.
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'Round the Dial: Music DVD Roundup
Wednesday 20 December @ 19:01:41 (Read: 2380) |
 by TOM HALLETT
The clock is ticking, time is whizzing forward like an out-of-control greyhound after that meatless, robotic rabbit, and it’s only a few weeks ‘til Round The Dial’s official "Best Of 2006" list comes out. Along with the few reviews I have left here tossed around the ol’ desk, I noticed an ever-growing stack of rock ‘n’ roll DVDs I’d never gotten around to taking a peek at. It’s become somewhat of an annual tradition for me to throw out three or four of these a year, but seems it’s been awhile, so this close to the holidays seems as good a time as any for Round The Dial’s DVD Picks.
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'Round the Dial: Little earthquakes
Wednesday 13 December @ 21:14:48 (Read: 2251) |
 by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Restraint can be tough. I’ve made a point to learn how to make a slow song have as much impact as a fast song ... it’s easy to just get out there and blast through a bunch of things and feel as though you’re exciting the audience." -John Doe, X
SONG OF THE WEEK: "Catastrophe" -IV Thieves
I felt the tiniest of tiny little earthquakes last week- it was in the middle of the night, no dishes fell and broke, no alarms sounded and more than likely most of the earthquake-hardened residents of the tiny hamlet of Homer, Alaska, never felt a thing. Me, I stayed wide awake for the next three hours, waiting for "The Big One" that, once again, didn’t come. It did jar me out of my lethargy just enough to inspire me to throw in some discs I’d had laying around and get some writing done, though. Thanks, Nature- I know when that "Big One" finally comes, I’ll at least have some of the wondrous soundscapes I experienced that night outta my inbox and under my belt. More reviews, then ...
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'Round the Dial: Boogie on, reggae legend
Wednesday 06 December @ 16:06:55 (Read: 2363) |
 by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “You can’t ignore what some bands have done ... I know our record will be in a bin next to Lionel Richie- but so are John Coltrane’s, KRS-1’s, Boogie Down Productions’, and Public Enemy’s.” – Zack de la Rocha
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Holy Moses” – The Drams
Heya, folks—now that winter is officially settling in (don’t worry—Hell will soon freeze over and we’ll all be roasting marshmallows over the up-in-smoke careers of “K-Fed” and Bill O’ Reilly), there’s no better time to shelter yourself with some tasty new tunes and some tried-and-true old faves. Hence, another column strictly dedicated to gettin’ out the music ...
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'Round the Dial: Late night music
Wednesday 29 November @ 13:44:37 (Read: 6539) |
by TOM HALLETT
 QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I think we’re going to have to forget about the radio and just go back to word of mouth.” – Joe Strummer
SONG OF THE WEEK: “5-22-’02” – Golden Smog
I’m gonna just keep on truckin’ with the reviews this week, gang—lots more to go before the official end of Review-Land ‘06, and only a few short weeks ‘til I lay out my annual Best-Of Picks. Sounds like I best dive in headfirst this time out ...
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'Round the Dial: Big Willie Style
Wednesday 22 November @ 14:46:19 (Read: 2254) |
BY TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell, no!” – John Belushi
SONG OF THE WEEK: “These Things” – Tim O’Reagan
No time for jivin’ this time ‘round, gang—dig into these here reviews and I hope they help keep ya warm ...
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'Round the Dial: 'Hawks and handsaws
Wednesday 15 November @ 13:36:43 (Read: 2571) |
BY TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated ... it is finished when it surrenders." -Ben Stein
SONG OF THE WEEK: "I’d Go The Whole Wide World" -Reckless Eric
Hey, hey, music-lovers- hope you’re all prepped for a long winter of dancin’, drinkin’ an’ diggin’ live indoor gigs- I know I am. We’ve got about three to four inches of snow up here in Homer, Alaska, with lots more predicted for later in the week. Me, I’m happy as fuck-all that I have so much great music to help me plod through the whole slushy mess.
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'Round the Dial: The gold and the black
Wednesday 08 November @ 12:16:26 (Read: 1909) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “At this time, when most people are completely in the dark about what goes on in this country, politically speaking ... it’s hard work, it’s a chore, to learn the facts and what’s going on. And when most Americans don’t know what’s going on, and they don’t care—they just kind of join a team. Whatever team they feel they want to be a part of, they join and they blindly follow. So yeah, short chore, great reward is a sort of mantra for democratic citizens, in a way, too.” – Vic Chesnutt
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Truth Lies Low” – The Drams
Greetings, ‘Dial-heads, rampant rock ’n’ roll readers, an’ befuddled browsers one and all. Once again, I’m dedicating this week’s outing strictly to the business of reviews, not much time left in Ought Six to give these records their due, so I’m gonna give ’er a helluva go here. Onward ...
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'Round the Dial: Westerberg heads to the woods
Wednesday 01 November @ 12:48:10 (Read: 2512) |
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “(Punk rock) is Bob Dylan to me; My story could be his songs, I’m his soldier-child.” – D. Boon (From “History Lesson, Pt. 2”)
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Fallen Down” – Epic Soundtracks
Hiya, music hounds. I’m making up for my recent broken promises this week and actually running a couple of CD reviews rather than rant on and on in my usual abrasive style. I’m sure most of you are thrilled—me, I’m sippin’ a Hot Toddy and watchin’ the first snowfall of the year cover the frosty Alaskan soil up here overlooking Kachemak Bay, so I don’t mind spending a fuzzy afternoon with some great new(er) releases. Hope ya’ll enjoy ‘em as much as I have ...
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’round the dial: In memoriam
Thursday 26 October @ 14:51:30 (Read: 3991) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Most of the trouble in this world has been caused by folks who can’t mind their own business, because they don’t have any business of their own to mind, anymore than a smallpox virus has.” – William S. Burroughs
SONG OF THE WEEK: “God Is A Bullet” – Concrete Blonde
RIP – Stefan Olson, 1960–2006
Howdy, faithful readers, bright-eyed browsers and sticky-fingered detractors alike. Hope this week’s missive finds you all in good health, good cheer and ready to rock. We’ve got to start gettin’ to some reviews this time out, but first I’d like to take just a moment to remember and celebrate the life of a recently departed pal of mine—as well as of many of you who regularly read this column.
As most of you probably know, long-time Turf Club bartender, door-guy, musician and all-around scene-supporter Stefan Olson passed away a few days back. I’m not going to go into any of the so-called drama surrounding his demise—suffice it to say Stefan chose the paths he walked in life—and ultimately followed them to his far-too-early end. For personal details and more in-depth info on Stefan’s passing, just pick up a local mag or two or ask friends from the Turf crowd—my goal here is to just send a few words out to my fallen brother and those who’ll feel that cold, empty space where he used to stand and grin at them.
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’round the dial: The Silver Lining’s silver lining
Thursday 12 October @ 10:08:12 (Read: 3177) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “If you don’t believe drugs have done good things for us, then go home and burn all your records, all your tapes, and all your CDs because every one of those artists who have made brilliant music and enhanced your lives? Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreal fucking high on drugs. The Beatles were so fucking high they let Ringo sing a few songs.” – Bill Hicks
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Torn and Frayed” – The Rolling Stones
Hey, hey, ’Dial-heads! Not gonna spew, spout or sputter this time out—got way too many discs cloggin’ up the ol’ ’Dial desk to even go into who sucked the most last week, did the best job of trying to weasel out of it and probably got the fuck away with it.
In the meantime, I been promising reviews, more reviews and nothin’ but reviews for several installments now, so I guess it’s time to quit hoggin’ all these good tunes to myself an’ send ‘em out your way. Without further ado, then, here’s this week’s long-awaited ‘Round The Dial Record Review-Land for your perusal. I’m startin’ with Soul Asylum, ’cause I feel bad I’ve been putting this one off for so long. No worries, though—I’ll be throwing tons more local stuff as well as some great national releases your way ASAP. More to come next week...
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’round the dial: Confessions of a dangerous mind
Wednesday 04 October @ 15:14:47 (Read: 3704) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “You say I look goofy? OK, great. You say it’s comedy? Great. Whatever anyone thought, I didn’t care. Could be goony, could be sexy, could be stupid, could be cool. I didn’t know, but as long as it was something, you know?” – Iggy Pop
SONG OF THE WEEK: “This Note’s for You” – Neil Young
Hey, gang! Your humble scribe checkin’ in from the wilds of Alaska. Hope all is well and you’ve been catchin’ as much great music as I have. I’ve been fightin’ my first official cold of the season recently, but I did get to spin some kick-ass new stuff in the ol’ disc player over the past few days—I promise, next week it’s gonna be nothin’ but CD Review-Land here. See below for details. In the meantime, here’s what’s goin’ down in ‘Dial-land ...
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’round the dial: Ask Tommy
Thursday 28 September @ 09:48:56 (Read: 3204) |
by TOM HALLETT
Howdy, music addicts—welcome to another installment of Round The Dial. This week, we’re gonna take a brief detour from the business of reviewing CDs (don’t worry, I’ll be back with a shitload of killer stuff next week—I’ll be checkin’ out brand new ones from The Black Keys, Ween, classic Bad Brains on video and some local treats, with lots more to come in the next month or so) and answer some questions about the ’Dial itself.
As you might imagine, with this column available on the web, I frequently receive letters, notes, threats and other various and sundry queries, questions and comments via e-mail. Bein’ as I have a free morning on my hands here, and I’ve recently gotten a few more e-mails regarding the column (most of ‘em good, which is always nice, but I sort of enjoy sparring in print from time to time), I thought this might be as good a time as any to address said missives. Hang on to your wigs, crank up the tunes, and read on ...
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’round the dial: Hem- and haw-free this week
Friday 22 September @ 14:42:23 (Read: 2660) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands." – Miles Davis
SONG OF THE WEEK: “One Last Time” – Frog Holler
Hidey-ho, ‘Dial-heads! No hemmin’, hawin’, or any other kind of jabber-jawin’ this time out, just a few reviews you may find useful, or at the very least, mildly entertaining. Either way, here’s the scoop—put the kettle on to boil, plug in yer favorite headphones, an’ give the ol’ dial a spin ...
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’round the dial: Wood burning stoves, leaves: it’s time
Friday 15 September @ 03:10:21 (Read: 1873) |
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I wanted to create music that was so different that my mother could tell me from anyone else." – Les Paul
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Pop Cigar” – Garageland
by TOM HALLETT
Greetings, ’Dial-heads, casual readers, lolly-gaggers an’ looky-loos alike ... welcome to another installment of your one-stop source for rock n’ roll news, reviews, rants n’ raves. As summer winds down its last, desperate few weeks, it’s time to start thinkin’ about fall—cooler days, fresh nights, the falling leaves, blah blah blah ... Oh who am I kiddin’? I don’t give a rat’s ass about most of that hoo-rah. For me, fall is just another great excuse to sit inside and listen to music. Seeing as fall officially begins in about a week, I thought this might be a great time to share some of my favorite albums of the season with you, the readers.
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'round the dial: Crazy like a fox
Thursday 07 September @ 15:53:20 (Read: 3137) |
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “You got to have a Jones for this, a Jones for that ... this runnin’ with the Jones’s just ain’t where it’s at ..." – Boz Scaggs
SONG OF THE WEEK: “The Shape I’m In” – The Band
by TOM HALLETT
It just hit me the other night that after several decades of exclaiming, “What a looney bin!” in reference to everything from the state of my own living room to the dance floor at the Turf Club, I am, in fact, now living right next door to a real mental health facility. It’s not an institution, there are no gray walls or locked gates—this place is a former duplex apartment-turned-office space that caters to the various psychological needs of a very small group of what the late Syd Barrett’s sister would refer to as “lost souls.”
Not that I’m playing the part of snoopy “Bewitched” neighbor Gladys Kravitz here (“Quick! Abner! Look! She’s FLYING again!” Poor Gladys—I bet if she’d shouted, “Hey Abner! Samantha’s NAKED again!” he’d have tore outta that armchair and finally been able to back her claims of witchcraft up once and for all ...), it’s just that I’m a smoker and I live in a non-smoking house. Turns out the facility is about 10 feet from my back porch, and as I puff away precious lung tissue and moments of my life, I’m privy to a constant barrage of tiny passion plays, some I’d be happy to tellya about over a cold one and some I’d rather pretend I hadn’t observed.
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’round the dial: Why? Because we like you.
Wednesday 30 August @ 21:55:48 (Read: 2107) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “When punk rock came along, the one thing you were not supposed to be was musical." – Nick Lowe
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Up” – Frances Gumm
Heya, folks! Welcome to another installment of the ’Dial—your one-stop spot for reviews, rants, raves and raucous rock ’n’ roll recklessness. No rants this week, though—I’m still wading through the dozens of e-mails inspired by my recent “Bubblegum Pop” column—not to mention dealing with the ire of several dead-serious Crispin Glover and Falco fans (WHERE do these people come from?!) who’ve seen fit to target me in their ongoing battle to uphold the good names of both of those eccentric pop-art icons by barraging me with pleas to shine the spotlight on their “other stuff.”
Hey, I did say I liked Glover’s acting (a lot!), and as for Falco, well, I’m sure he’s found a nice cushy political appointment in the post-Communist German government by now, eh? Maybe even as a Kommisar? Whew. Hope I never hear him say, “Herr Hallett! Ve must zee your papers, mach schnell!!” In the meantime, this week we’ll stay here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. and pay a visit to a 10-year music biz vet/actor who once sported cute lil’ mouse ears on his cap …
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’round the dial: Five ways to ruin a mixtape
Thursday 24 August @ 20:21:00 (Read: 3470) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." – Jimi Hendrix
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Starting to Hurt” – Ryan Adams
We’re due once again for another of the ‘Dial’s beloved, world-famous Top Five lists, kiddies—so grab yer Mr. Rogers sweaters, yer Sharpies, an’ that embarrassing, personalized notepad Aunt Ethel gave ya for yer last birthday ... in the immortal words of Ben “The Thing” Grimm of Fantastic Four fame, it’s clobberin’ time!!
Hallett’s Top Five Irritating Tunes For Personal Mixes:
(I’ll qualify this by admitting that there are so many irritating, mix-manglin’ tracks out there now that it’d literally take a whole year’s worth of columns to even get through the best of the worst, so I’ve whittled this list down to the five worst that have come up on my computer juke—no small feat, considering I’ve got over 16,000 songs on it—over the past week on random play. Besides, maybe you’ve run out of ideas to throw a well-deserved twist in some anal music buddy’s next super-mix, or there’s an ex lurking in the wings you’d love to drive batty, or maybe you actually LIKE shit like this ... in any case, here’s the—erm—poop.)
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’round the dial: Chewing bubblegum
Wednesday 16 August @ 12:26:06 (Read: 3437) |
by TOM HALLETT
 QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception." (When asked about his theory of relativity) – Albert Einstein
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Gravity/Falling Down Again” – Alejandro Escovedo
R.I.P.- Arthur Lee of Love, aged 61.
The Soporific Science Of Pop/Rock: (Or, My Wasted Weekend With A Toothache, The Archies And A Bottle Of Vicodin)
So I’m dorkin’ around this past weekend, downloading stupid songs from the web, when I get the bright idea to start collecting as many idiotic bubblegum pop tunes of the late ‘60s and early ‘70's as I can think of. My twisted logic being that I could then place them side-by-side on a mix CD with the even more repugnant, steaming pile of shite that passes for idiotic bubblegum pop today and show the younger generation how really and truly awful things have gotten. I’m cranky anyway- I’ve got a horrible toothache, my appointment with the dentist is three long days away, and there’s nothing to be done about it but pop pills and listen to music. Why should these modern whippersnappers get to sally forth through their text-blizzard, Jennifer Lopez-infected little lives and never suffer through some of the undeniable mind-rot I had to as a kid?
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’round the dial: Summer days, drifting away
Sunday 13 August @ 22:52:06 (Read: 2585) |
by TOM HALLETT
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “There's a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out.” – Lou Reed
SONG OF THE WEEK: “The World Is On Fire” – Matthew Ryan
Hey-ho, ‘Dial-heads! As we embark upon the sweltering, unforgiving month of August, it’s time once again to clean out the ol’ desk and bring the ‘Dial reviews section up to date. Soon, the leaves will begin to turn, the days will grow cool and inviting, and my mail bin will fill to overflowing with new fall releases. Ya just know I’ll be waist-deep in crapola national releases, a few decent regional albums, and the usual buttload of awesome local stuff, eh? No time like the present, then, to begin to whittle this beast down to a manageable stack, eh? Onward …
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’round the dial: Working-class Hojas
Thursday 03 August @ 15:16:04 (Read: 2100) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Music can save people, but it can’t in the commercial way it’s being used. It’s just too much. It’s pollution.” – Bob Dylan
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Marionette” – 12Rods
Greetings, music lovers, boogie chillun, an’ just-right, oh-so-tight, ever-lovin’ stalkers of the night!! Just a brief postcard from the lower end of Kachemak Bay for ya—hope you’re all doin’ fine an’ enjoyin’ the hot, heavy depths of yer Minnesota summer down there ... me, I’m takin’ it as easy as a guy can, bein’ that I’m surrounded by a whole passel of music nuts, party animals, brewmeisters, green thumbers and lost children of the sea my damn self.
Ah, well, you’re only 29 once, right gang? Huh? What’s that? Some of you remember my last four(teen) 29ths? Heheheh. Shhh. I won’t tell the Canadian border guards if ya’ll don’t—and remember, it’s just a hop, skip and a high-ass jump to BC on my way back down the Al-Can for my next visit home...whoo hooo!! For now, I’ll crank up the albums I’m reviewing this week, dream of the cream of the home crop and hang out in my back yard with the moose family who’ve seen fit to adopt me over the past weeks. And now on to your regularly scheduled music review section ... Oi, oi!!
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’round the dial: You and me plus the bottle makes three
Wednesday 26 July @ 15:24:24 (Read: 3392) |
 by Tom Hallett
Hey hey, ya keg-stompers, can-smashers an’ bottle-bashers! Happy birthday to lil’ ol’ me!! That’s right: Your humble scribe has somehow managed to stay outta the hangman’s noose for one more year, and I can’t think of a finer place to spend my b-day than on the gorgeous, salt-sprayed shores of a tiny Alaskan fishing hamlet (the unofficial town motto here is, “Homer, Alaska—a quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem!”). OK, I’ll miss the gallons upon gallons of free birthday drinks you folks usually pour upon me on this day, but I’m expecting the heartiest of you (you know who you are ... Drinky, Charlie, Caveman, Gary, Terry Walsh, Aaron Pruitt and the rest of you loveable, liquified yahoos) will carry on righteously in my absence. I hope this last week of July finds ya’ll healthy, happy and above all, stayin’ safe. No lectures, morality rants or dipshit diatribes here, though. Nope, I’m actually gonna lay low this week myself—maybe next year (please God, Mohammed and Bagwan Shri Rashnishi, throw down that game of Strip Pinochle for just five minutes and put an end to this insanity!), we’ll actually be enjoying the very reasons it IS a great thing to be living in a democracy, and that July will actually once again represent the truly wonderful ideals we expect the rest of the so-called “Free World” to respect us for. Ah, dreams ... For now, though, I’m gonna toss out my five fave drinkin’ songs for the week, then we’ll delve into a review of a great new local rock ’n’ roll album for your perusal. Ready? One-two-three—DRINK!!
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’round the dial: Full of grace
Thursday 20 July @ 13:15:47 (Read: 2440) |
by Tom Hallett
Greetings, ’Dial-heads! Not gonna spout too much this time out, just takin’ a short time-out from the rigors of a heady Alaskan summer to hang with ya’ll, down a cold one, and see what condition my condition is in … Hey! At least I’m not promoting some wacked-out fried chicken franchise, or selling my name to a line of adult diapers aimed at bitter, bowel-challenged alcoholics. Yet. Yep, could be worse. Wait … no, that’s not it … it’s as good as can be today considering all the ins an’ outs, yesterday’s too late, an’ tomorrow ain’t even started yet, so back to that one-moment-to-another jump an’ jive, eh?
Over the next few weeks, we’re gonna check out a plethora of fresh releases as well as a couple of albums I recently found languishing in the bottom of a beat-up cardboard box (along with four old safety pins, three pennies, approximately 17 granules of sugar, the torn, traumatized paper label from a long-ago sucked-dry bottle of Bud, a good-sized ball of grey pocket lint, and the empty, cracked plastic cassette case for a long-forgotten ’80s reissue of Lou Reed’s Berlin album) and haven’t had a spin ‘round the ol’ ‘Dial yet. Batten down the hatches, gather ‘round ye olde stereo, an’ hang onto yer hats …
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Round The Dial: Hippie? Don't Bet on it?
Wednesday 12 July @ 12:56:59 (Read: 2569) |
By: Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “If you’re looking for youth, you’re looking for longevity, just take a dose of rock ‘n’ roll. Rock n’ roll is good for the soul, for the well-being, for the psyche, for your everything. I love it. I can’t even picture being without rock n’ roll.”- Hank Ballard
SONG OF THE WEEK: “The Thing That Only Eats Hippies”- The Dead Milkmen
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‘Round the Dial: Teach them well.
Wednesday 28 June @ 14:05:21 (Read: 2556) |
By Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “When he toured with The Mothers, Frank (Zappa) stayed in a different hotel than we did. The Mothers were into sex, drugs, and rock and roll. He didn’t like it at all, so better to stay away from us.”- Jimmy Carl Black
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Giving quality listens the bump
Thursday 22 June @ 02:36:31 (Read: 1971) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Good place to wash your hair, Liverpool- nice soft water.”- George Harrison
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head”- Electric Light Orchestra
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‘round the dial: Chee•cha•ko n. 1: alien or foreigner
Thursday 15 June @ 15:56:52 (Read: 2520) |
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Just gimme my goddamn drugs and let me go home. Christ.” – Some harried-looking, short-haired woman in a long line at a neighborhood Alaskan pharmacy.
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Lift Me Up” – Scud Mountain Boys
by Tom Hallett
It’s all so fleeting, so temporary, so UN-permanent, ain’t it? Time ain’t just flyin’ no more, chillun—it’s strapped tightly to a super-fucking-sonic rocket ship barreling straight towards hell and all we can do is hang on for the ride, hopin’ we don’t slip off into everlasting limbo or burn up in the eye of the sun along with all the sheep-brained numbskulls dithering along their own inane paths to nowhere ... it’s enough to raise the hackles on any regular ole barnyard coon dawg, ah tellyew whut ... that and the incessant chirping of delirious, sleep-deprived birds—what the hell kind of bird emits a whistle like this: WHEE-OOO-OOO-OO-OO ...?
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‘round the dial: Into the uncertain arms of America
Friday 09 June @ 17:24:41 (Read: 3147) |
 QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "I don't have to sing it. I just have to play it. That's cool."- Billy Preston (RIP)
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Went To See The Gypsy”- Bob Dylan
by Tom Hallett
Hey, gang! Hope your early summer’s goin’ well an’ you’ve roped in the requisite number of late-night live gigs and hopeless, early mornin’ hangovers- I know I have. This week we’ll be checkin’ out a couple of indie albums, one from the heart of Minnesota, one from the wilds of Alaska, so strap yourselves in an’ hang on for yer lives ...
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‘round the dial: Instant classic
Wednesday 07 June @ 13:53:23 (Read: 2353) |
by Tom Hallett
Another wild week gone by here in the Land Of The Midnight Sun, where I’m finally getting a chance to start delving into local, Alaskan music and learn a bit about the scene and the folks who populate it. The band names themselves are enough to get ya to wonderin’, but once ya slop through the always ubiquitous cover bands, boring white boy blues acts, an’ still hopeful hippie-rawk rejects, there are more than a few interesting outfits and individuals to keep three Halletts busy, broke an’ hungover. Here’s just a small sampling of the various artists workin’ the harsh tundra of the 49th state: Twitchin’ Sushi, The Whipsaws, The Smokin’ Bandits, Cluster Funk, The Spamtones (why didn’t anyone in AUSTIN, MINNESOTA come up with THAT one??!!), Sticky Wicker, and Three-Legged Mule. Whew. An’ that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to modern Alaskan rock n’ roll, gang.
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‘round the dial: No love for Slowhand
Thursday 25 May @ 16:25:48 (Read: 2633) |
by Tom Hallett
“By the way, I don’t believe any of that shit.” Nice line. Comes right near the end of a lil’ blues number called “Me And The Devil” (yep, the Robert Johnson cut), as laid down by the cats I’ll be reviewing in this week’s column. But before we dive into the whos, wheres, whats, and whyfores, let’s do us some qualifyin’, classifyin’ an’ clarifyin’, eh?
Don’t fret, boogie chillun: I’m not gonna spin off into one of my famous “Clapton is the Devil incarnate” rants here. God (an’ mebbe even de debbil hisself) knows I’ve wasted enough breath in stale bars drinkin’ even staler beers over THAT particular subject. Suffice it to say that I’ve never been overly impressed by what I like to call “Got-no-reason-to-but-still-think-I-do-White-Boy Blues,” awright? Jonny Lang? Phew! You get the point.
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’round the dial: A few of my favorite things
Thursday 11 May @ 08:55:29 (Read: 3079) |
by Tom Hallett
Greetings, ’Dial-heads, the curious,and those of you desperately seeking an extra piece of newspaper for the bottom of your birdcage. I’m comin’ at ya live again this week from Alaska: not a whole lotta news, just settlin’ in for the ol’ summer tourist season (we call ‘em “Pukers” up here—take ‘em for a ride out on the choppy waters of Kachemak Bay and you’ll find out why right quick) and preparing to take on some extra seasonal work.
That’s right, lil’ ol’ me, “Mr. Black Leather jacket, Neil Young T-shirt, an’ ripped blue jeans, two vodka OJs in hand and a smoke in his gob” is gonna be selling home-crafted lawn and garden art to help support his insane, nasty bad habits!! Whoo hoo! This should set me right up for a career down the line on some public TV Home & Garden program. I can see it now: “First you need to choose seeds that will bear excellent yield—I find the best come from either Amsterdam or B.C.—you may have your own preferences ... blah, blah, blah ...” Well, you get the point. In the meantime, I thought I’d take a minute and shoot off a list of five albums I’m damn glad I have up here with me in the Land Of The Midnight Sun and why, so here we go ....
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’round the dial: Kiss me; I’m Irish
Wednesday 03 May @ 14:10:19 (Read: 2537) |
by Tom Hallett
Hallett, checkin’ in from the wide-open spaces and big skies of our great 49th state once again. Now, I grew up here, so I do have a bit of an in right from the get-go. But the first thing the average visitor to Alaska notices—apart from the sky-scraping glaciers and the blessed sparseness of human population—is its still-thriving, no-bullshit spirit of freedom and independence. This is, after all, a state that’s threatened the U.S. government with secession, maintained softer marijuana possession laws for years (although, sadly, the last few federal administrations have made sure the state complies with the government’s outdated, moronic stranglehold on personal possession rights), and literally thrives on its artistic, pioneering and fringe elements.
Reviewing the CD I chose this week, I was reminded of my own Irish heritage, and the fact that even though the fights are over different things, and the people live thousands of miles apart, we too should have the strength, the courage, the tenacity and the gumption to stand up against evil and oppression, whether it be on our own shores or those far away. But like Dylan said in “God On Our Side,” and Stephen Stills pointed out in “For What It’s Worth” (a song covered—nay, re-fashioned— fantastically on the CD I’m about to introduce), every side thinks— ALWAYS thinks—that they have right, and justice and the Truth backing them up.
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'round the dial: The Royal Ty Morse
Friday 28 April @ 14:23:30 (Read: 4289) |
by Tom Hallett
OK, so that idyllic evening I told ya'll about last week--the one where I communed with nature, and a full moon, and great music and sweet treats--well, let's just say that like anywhere else on this big ole spinnin' ball of shit, blood, tears and sweat, even the pristine reaches of Southeastern Alaska have their not-so-fun moments. This past week, I've been so busy chasing down hokey internet connections, flaky former buddies, and my own tail, that I nearly didn't have any time at all to spin a new album. Fortunately, last night the stars aligned just right, the waning moon shed a comforting--if weak--ray of forgiveness and peace upon me, and I delved into a local fave I'd been meaning to crow about for some time.
Tonight, the skies are nearly opaque--those royal glaciers are hidden in clouds of misty grey vapor, and the ocean is a dark, choppy, white-capped renegade. I'm sneaking a cigarette (SEVEN bucks a pack here in granola-land, but the other smoke-ables around town make this particular pain-in-the-wallet worth it by far) out the window of my no-smoking room, and crankin' this little gem on the box ...
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’round the dial: Hello from AK
Thursday 20 April @ 16:51:35 (Read: 3664) |
by Tom Hallett
A full, yellow moon hangs heavily over the flat calm ocean’s reflection of far-off, majestic glaciers. The ancient, melting edifices seem to be slowly, wearily letting down their long, faithful guard over the peaceful gray waters of Kachemak Bay. The tiny town of Homer, Alaska, sleeps fitfully, its residents dimly aware that the rapid onslaught of mini-malls, K-Marts and Sam Goodys means that the once far-off modern rot of New America grows ever closer; their weak grip on tradition, autonomy and home-spun pride giving way to a cell-phone-addicted, text-message-sending, Intel-driven emptiness that all the snow in Nome couldn’t whitewash away.
Me? I’m standing on a balcony a couple miles inland, my back against the lavish picture window of a tony hillside home that provides a view of The Spit (a five-mile-long, half-a-mile-wide slab of sand, rock and gravel fill jutting out into the Bay), the town of Homer, and all of nature’s terrible beauty that surrounds it. I’m puffing on a half-blown stick of Matanuska Thunderfuck, a cold Alaskan Amber clenched in one fist; a boom box, a pack of lonesome coyotes and that unblinking, all-knowing full moon my only company. Peace. For now. I take a long drag, salute the Orb, and crank up the box. Here’s what’s playing RIGHT NOW...
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’round the dial: Get out your decoder ring ...
Wednesday 12 April @ 22:06:24 (Read: 2593) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We’re better than anyone, ain’t we? Except for The Eagles; The Eagles are better than us!” — Sid Vicious
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Rebellion (Lies)” — The Arcade Fire
We’re back once again with some pithy reviews and a few snide asides; as you like it, then, eh? No time for hemmin’ an’ hawin’, gang—let the rock (and/or roll) roll ...
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’round the dial: Ten minutes you’ll never get back
Wednesday 05 April @ 00:17:11 (Read: 2532) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Champagne for my real friends, and real pain for my sham friends.” — Tom Waits
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Freebird” — Lee Greenwood
Hey, hey, ’Dial-heads, the curious and you ever-lovin’, ever-present government watchdogs. Thanks for tunin’ in, turnin’ on an’ droppin’ trou—just a few short reviews this week, then it’s back to scanning the turbulent spring skies for cloud-seeders, alien scout ships and the inevitable, Earthly return of Timothy Leary’s ashes ...
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’round the dial: The New Camelot + DVD round-up
Wednesday 29 March @ 17:23:53 (Read: 5371) |
by Tom Hallet
Last night I had a dream ... and in this dream, our beloved President, George W. Bush, was on an old-fashioned train tour of the U.S., stumping for his brother Jeb’s 2008 election. At each stop, George would smile, wave and greet the bright, sunny faces of his many admirers and loyal devotees. After each inspirational, rousing sermon, he’d break into song—a fat man with a banjo accompanying him as he danced merrily and led the masses in an unabashedly joyful rendition of “For God’s Sake, Give More Power To The People.”
Jeb never spoke in my dream, just stood behind his big brother, waving and smiling and basking in the glow of adoration bestowed upon him by the shoe salesmen, gas station clerks and unemployed auto workers crowding the stations ....
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’round the dial: The Silver Fox
Monday 27 March @ 12:43:46 (Read: 2850) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It’s dying in me. I really don’t want to go on the road much anymore. I’m tired of airports... but if I had my own little truck I could enjoy a few more years of going down the road and doing shows and stuff ... but the world is getting so over-crowded with traffic on the roads and airports, and with all this war-time stuff while traveling, it’s really not a lot of fun anymore.” — Ramblin' Jack Elliot
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Fine Soft Land” — Koerner, Ray & Glover
We’ve got a long-awaited, special treat to run through this week, gang, so we’ll pass on the usual rants, raves and raucous recollections and dive right into the OUT stack on this ole milk crate I call a desk ...
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’round the dial: Dancing in the Storm
Wednesday 15 March @ 19:54:50 (Read: 3903) |
by Tom Hallett
I never thought I’d start a column talking about the weather- the last, yawn-inducing bore of a conversation-maker that usually spells the end of a chat for me. So it fuckin’ rained last night- who gives a rat’s ass? Hurricanes? Old news. Snow in Southern California? Frost in Florida? Heavy flooding in Hawaii? Ho fuckin’ hum. But over the past few days, the weather has been increasingly wending its way into not only the conversations around me, but actually welling up and carrying me into its wild, bestial heart.
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’round the dial: Local Gold
Thursday 09 March @ 14:51:48 (Read: 2661) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, hey, ‘Dial-heads- another busy week, an’ it seems like time is all warped an’ skittery, with the days lasting forever, while the nights, weeks, and months rush by like a runaway locomotive. Hell, even Mr. Peabody would have a hard time finding a nugget of wisdom or a worthy lesson in today’s panic-fraught world. In that spirit, then, we’ll just cut right to the chase this week an’ give ya somethin’ to take the edges off a bit...
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’round the dial: Better than a Blender
Friday 03 March @ 17:34:47 (Read: 2830) |
by Tom Hallett
“IT CAME FROM THE ’80S!!!!” screamed the ad, causing me to pull my extra-long, thrashed-out pillow over my pounding, hung-over head and groan in pain. “THAT’S RIGHT!! NOW YOU TOO CAN OWN ALL OF YOUR FAVORITES FROM THE DECADE THAT BROUGHT US SUCH HITS AS ‘WALKING IN THE RAIN’ BY ORAN JUICE JONES!! ‘KARMA CHAMELEON’ BY CULTURE CLUB!! AND ‘MY PREROGATIVE’ BY BOBBY BROWN!!” At this point, I find it very, very easy to just reach over, fumble for the cable remote, and flick the obnoxious idiot box over to the warm, serene blue wasteland that is the non-channel of 60.
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’round the dial: Modern-country Nuggets
Thursday 23 February @ 15:37:53 (Read: 4703) |
by Tom Hallett
I don’t know why Gram Parsons has been comin’ up in conversations and just hangin’ out like the Ghost of Great Tunes Past in the back of my mind lately, but he has been. Maybe it’s cuz it’s been so bitter cold lately I’d rather be Sam McGee stoked up like the fires of Hell itself in that frozen Northern oven, or Gram burnin’ hard an’ bright in his cozy lil’ stolen coffin than a chunk of drunken ice with a slushy beer an’ headphones on. An’ I’m nearly twice the age Gram was when he bit the proverbial dust. Hard to believe the godfather of the Cosmic Cowboy genre was only 26 when he succumbed to a drug overdose, eh?
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’round the dial: The one about the Scot and the Preacher
Wednesday 15 February @ 11:10:50 (Read: 3129) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, hey, hey, ‘Dial-heads, slippery lil’ snow bunnies, an’ wonderful, wingless snowbirds! We don’t have a whole helluva lotta space to muck around with this week, gang, so let’s roll right over the usual crapola and head straight into CD review-land ...
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’round the dial: Love Bites, Love Bleeds
Wednesday 08 February @ 10:29:55 (Read: 3190) |
by Tom Hallett
Ah, Love ... so much Love. The world is just full of it, ain’t it? Love is in the air, Love is like a rock, Love hurts, Love is like a butterfly, Love, love me do wacka do wacka dooooo ... hey! Let’s make a commercial holiday in honor of Love, shall we? I know! We can create a multi-billion dollar industry that saves our fat, unimaginative, sagging corporate asses if Christmas (er ... The HOLIDAY) is a bust once again!! Sigh. OK, so I’m not the biggest fan of any holiday (including THAT ONE) that allows some greedy fucks to co-opt an emotion or feeling or vibe that folks should be feeling towards one another (or even themselves, fer chrissakes) all year ‘round and prettily produce, package and wrap it up for the mooing masses to gobble up like so much winter hay ...
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’round the dial: One Down, Eleven to Go
Wednesday 01 February @ 11:38:29 (Read: 2823) |
by Tom Hallett
There goes another one, just like the other one ... yeehaw! That’s the first month of Ought Six down an’ only eleven more to go!! Just like that!! What does that mean for you? Oh, that most of the “Buy Now Make No Payments ‘Til 2006” deals you were suckered into are coming due, it means that (thanks to this wonderful war we’re fighting for peace, freedom and the, errr, “American way of life”) your heat bills are three times what they were this time last year, and that I’ve still got way too damn many CDs and DVDs from 2005 stacked up around my desk. So, as much as I’d love to go off on a tangent about Ken Lay or the Supreme Court or the line of Republican senators falling like so many damaged dominoes, I’ll hold me tongue once again and rock forth ... shall we?
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’round the dial: Making Rock the Old-Fashioned Way
Thursday 26 January @ 13:17:15 (Read: 13528) |
by Tom Hallet
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “You get on the radio by writing your own songs. But we had the dilemma of not being able to play anywhere because we weren’t able to play anything that anyone wanted to hear. So we learned songs that we thought that we could do without puking.” — Wayne Kramer of The MC5
SONG OF THE WEEK: “I Made An Offer” — Little Man
No time for jivin' an jawin' this time out, gang. We're divin' right into a killer local CD I’ve been just itchin’ to give some ink to, so kick back, crank up the tunes, an’ roll ‘em if ya got ‘em ...
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’round the dial: That High Lonesome Sound
Thursday 19 January @ 20:14:55 (Read: 4375) |
by Tom Hallett
RIP: Bob Feldman, founder and president of world-renowned folk and roots music label Red House Records, who passed away last week at age 56 at his home in St. Paul, Minn.
He is survived by his wife, Beth, son, Ari, parents, Sydney and Toby, brother, Alan, and sister, Sheri Cerny. Feldman was known across North America as a tireless music promoter and record producer who devoted his life to building and enhancing the careers of many of today’s finest roots music artists. Red House Records boasts a long list of internationally recognized recording artists including such luminaries as Greg Brown, Lucy Kaplansky, Guy Davis and recent Grammy nominee Eliza Gilkyson. Thanks to Bob for his years of tireless devotion to authentic American music and all the great memories, and our deepest sympathies to his family, musical roster and many, many friends around the world...
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’round the dial: CD Reviews
Wednesday 11 January @ 14:09:55 (Read: 3629) |
by Tom Hallett
We’ll forgo the usual rants an’ raves (watch the worms squirm on the news for once!) whilst we frantically scramble to ship out the final couple batches of ‘05 CD and DVD reviews over the next few weeks, folks. So settle into that icehouse, Finnish sauna or dimly lit gas station bathroom, kick back and dig in ...
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’round the dial: So This is the New Year
Wednesday 04 January @ 15:05:45 (Read: 3982) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, hey, ‘Dial-heads! Welcome to the New Year!! Hope ya’ll are well on yer ways over ya hangovers an’ ready, ready, ready to get back into the rock and/or roll ... here at the ‘Dial, we’ve got one just more week’s worth of New West Records reviews to cruise thru, then it’s back to more great, fresh local and national CD and DVD releases, plus your favorite rants, raves, an’ rock n’ roll hootchie-coo!! Bang on, then ...
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’round the dial: Reviewing the New West
Wednesday 28 December @ 10:20:58 (Read: 3611) |
by Tom Hallett
Welcome to the very last ‘Round The Dial of 2005, gang! It’s been a helluva year, and I for one am glad to leave it behind. Let’s hope Ought Six brings us all a bit better fortune—individually and as a nation, planet and universe. As for the ‘Dial, we’re gonna throw our usual spanner in the works here, and instead of running our planned year-end reviews, we’re gonna toss out two weeks worth of New West Records reviews!!
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’round the dial: Clean Out Your Desk
Wednesday 21 December @ 18:33:54 (Read: 3596) |
by Tom Hallett
Greetings, ‘Dial-heads, and welcome back! Rather than spend the last few days of 2005 attempting to vainly recall favorite albums, live gigs and “Rock Moments,” we’re gonna finish off the stacks an’ stacks of albums and DVDs in the ol’ 2005 “TO REVIEW” pile here. My apologies to anyone who’s spent an inordinate amount of time on that stack—you’ll find your work reviewed here over the next few weeks. If not, and you did send me something, I probably either didn’t like it or somebody else at Pulse covered it. Either way, we’ve got a PILE to go through here, so let’s get it started ...
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’round the dial: Remembering Lennon
Wednesday 07 December @ 18:46:50 (Read: 2890) |
by Tom Hallett
I got off the school bus on the morning of Dec. 9, 1980, a short, pimple-faced son of a bumpkin about to embark upon the horrors of the 10h grade in a hick town on the backside of nowhere. I headed toward Smoker’s Corner, located in front of a church across the street from the school—the same church they held AA meetings in on Friday nights—and could immediately sense something amiss.
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’round the dial: Hang the DJ
Thursday 01 December @ 20:15:30 (Read: 3470) |
by Tom Hallett
It started, fittingly enough, with an electrical blackout five or six months ago. The entire east side of the small, relatively quiet Midwestern burg I’d been living in went suddenly and totally dark near the tail end of a particularly vicious lightning storm. Normally, one would fetch the candles, flashlight and battery-powered radio and settle in to await the Great Re-lighting Of The Cosmic Torch, but as I was sitting on a barstool in a two-bit dive with six strangers and a double White Russian, I was able to avoid that predictable session and instead forge a few of those sticky bonds peculiar to human beings sharing mildly traumatic situations.
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’round the dial: Get Ready for Winter
Wednesday 23 November @ 17:11:09 (Read: 3527) |
by Tom Hallett
There’s something forlorn about the weeks before winter kicks in—even when the sun is bright and plentiful, it’s lost a good portion of its heat and when a staunch wind develops, it can almost make you miss a gloomy but warm late July afternoon. Each falling leaf is a reminder of one more thing you didn’t get to over the past few months—friends you didn’t call, letters you didn’t write, projects uncompleted, road trips forgotten, personal oaths unfulfilled. When those ol’ fall blues kick in, do yourself a favor—toss the rake and those ratty old brown gloves down onto that massive pile of leaves in the back yard and head on in to your stereo. Put some water on to boil, have a gooey, sticky cup of hot chocolate and throw on some local music. Here’s one that makes for a perfect pre-winter warm-up ...
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'round the dial: Parr for the Course
Wednesday 16 November @ 16:53:12 (Read: 3766) |
by Tom Hallett
No time for jabberin’, jawin’, hemmin’ or hawin’ this ish, gang. What with Christmas and Year-End Lists looming on the horizon like the first, inevitable barrage of funky white flakes from yon skies, we here at the ‘Dial figger we’d best get as many of this year’s releases out your way ASAP. So without further ado (I’ll just be over here sharpening my axe, my friends—after all, there’s wood to cut ...), here are this week’s picks ...
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’round the dial: Viagra for that Ass
Thursday 10 November @ 19:42:55 (Read: 4016) |
by Tom Hallett
The fuckers never learn, do they? I mean, I can understand mummified, saw-dust filled fart-knockers like Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove not remembering the power of youthful protest music—I’m sure it’s tough to hear which way the winds of popular thought are blowing when you’ve got the war drums cranked up to 11 24-7. Plus assholes like that probably still think The Foxtrot and Harry Belafonte are risqué, right?
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’round the dial: Grimm-lock Smash
Wednesday 02 November @ 01:38:28 (Read: 2504) |
by Tom Hallett
I went to a Halloween party the other night—a tossed-off affair thrown by a friendly, albeit terrifying-looking gaggle of thrash metal kids, Goth rejects and fire-obsessed social misfits—and boy, did I get an eyeful! There were bloody Living Dead Girls, seven-foot tall hunchbacks with shrunken heads, demonically possessed, sex-obsessed Catholic school chicks, half of the Village People (I couldn’t tell whether they were supposed to be the living or the dead half), a backwater Elvis, three Killer Klownz, an evil jester, an escaped convict replete with ball and chain, what could only have been two members of Gwar and some crazy bastard dressed as a priest who super-glued two five-inch high deer horns to his forehead.
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’round the dial: Any Way You Want It
Thursday 27 October @ 17:50:32 (Read: 3185) |
by Tom Hallett
Lots more cloggin’ up the old in-box this time out, kiddies, so we’ll once again forgo any needless chitter chatter and delve right into the ever-growing stack of recent CD and DVD releases growing like so much mold on a chunk of bread here on the Dial desk ...
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’round the dial: 300: Is that plutonium?
Thursday 20 October @ 23:54:53 (Read: 3416) |
by Tom Hallett
Wheee!! Strap on your lil’ party hats, spike the punch and get ready to play pin the tail on the politician, gang!! Round
The Dial turns a gnarly old THREE HUNDRED this week! That’s right, we’ve officially been drowning in a semi-useless pop culture stew for 300 consecutive weeks in a row here at the ‘Dial, and to mark the occasion, we’ll actually pay the phone bill on time this month! If you’re in possession of the super-secret Dial Backstage Pass, of course, you’ll be seeing us later tonight for a small informal ceremony involving partial nudity, cheap dark rum, the last three albums by the winners of “American Idol,” and lots and lots of FIRE!! Heh heh heh hehhh ... I can’t wait ...
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’round the dial: Indie rock/ Indie film
Thursday 13 October @ 00:06:59 (Read: 3725) |
by Tom Hallett
No outrageous rants or long-winded raves this time ’round, gang—we’ll just let the mouth-breathers, soul-stealers and baby-headed death-eaters think they’re gettin’ away with somethin’ for a few days, eh? In the meantime, we’ve got a whole passel of new CD and DVD releases to run through, so let’s chew up the last of the ice in that whiskey glass, grab our chaps an’ goggles and head out into the wind ...
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’round the dial: Spin the Black Circle
Thursday 06 October @ 00:22:54 (Read: 2764) |
by Tom Hallet
The Kid ambled nonchalantly into the shop, hands jammed deep into the front pockets of his tattered jeans, long, dirty blond hair hanging in his eyes. Though he was moving slowly, he seemed to know exactly where he was going and what he was looking for. Behind the counter, Johnny glanced up from the day-old newspaper he had been perusing, sussed that The Kid posed no threat, and cranked the volume up a notch on the Dead Boys album he’d been listening to. The Kid slipped past him silently, as if afraid to disturb the soundwaves, and headed towards the used vinyl section near the back of the store. He started at “A” and began expertly flipping through the alphabetically arranged stacks of wax with all the practice and patience of a file clerk or a librarian.
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’round the dial: What does your soul look like?
Thursday 29 September @ 14:24:33 (Read: 3641) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey—lookit lil’ sister! Summer’s finally gone the way of freedom an’ democracy in the good ol’ US of A, and frankly, we here at RTD are lookin’ forward to some cool, music-filled fall evenings and the usual stack of great wax that comes out this time o’ year. Besides, our leather jackets, wool socks and vintage SPMC stocking caps are gettin’ mighty lonely layin’ in the closet right behind that box of old trucker 8-tracks (Bruno Blue’s “The D.O.T., You Motherfuckers,” a best of Dave Dudley that contains neither of his truck drivin’ hits, and of course, a ratty copy of some Sheboygan cover band re-interpreting the collected works of C.W. McCall ... please don’t ever let me open that box again, Lawd!) and the one glove you somehow end up with every fall. So let’s get right into the reviews this week, kiddies—I gotta feelin’ the ol’ ‘Dial in-box is gonna be overflowin’ real soon ...
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’round the dial: Blowing in the Wind
Wednesday 21 September @ 23:21:48 (Read: 4933) |
by Tom Hallett
“You can’t go home again.” “Home is where the heart is.” “Keep the home fires burning.” “I’ve got my home in my hand.” The subject of home—both on the literal, physical level and a metaphorical, universal plane—has been exhaustively explored in art, literature and music. Some hold that first, concrete statement up as the undisputed truth. Others are more ambivalent; some openly pine for the warmth and comfort of whatever nook or cranny they crawled out of back in the day. Few, however, have so thoroughly and thoughtfully documented their individual journeys as Canadian-born singer/songwriter Neil Young. This week, we’ll check out Neil’s latest offering, an album being touted as the third and final chapter in a series of country-inflected albums that began with 1972’s Harvest. Hang an arm out the side window, gang, and get yerselves a big whiff of Prairie Wind...
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’round the dial: High Fidelity Addiction
Friday 16 September @ 03:26:28 (Read: 5065) |
by Tom Hallet
I’ve known a lot of junkies—waitresses, truck drivers, mechanics, doctors, nurses, soldiers, immigrants, retirees, musicians, cooks, bartenders, teachers, shopkeepers, street freaks, hookers, moms, dads and teenage miscreants. I’ve ridden in cars and trucks with ‘em, walked frozen railroad tracks with ‘em, spent nights under freeway overpasses, railroad trestles and bridges with ‘em. I’ve drank with ‘em, roomed with ‘em, talked with ‘em, rocked with ‘em, cried for ‘em, bitched at ‘em, froze ‘em out. Hell, I’ve even slept with a few. And if you’ve spent that much time with ‘em—unless you’re a counselor, a doctor, a Jesus freak, a mortician, or a dealer—chances are you’ve been one too.
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’round the dial: Music of the Big Easy
Friday 16 September @ 00:37:04 (Read: 2744) |
by Tom Hallett
*RTD extends our deepest sympathies to the victims of Hurricane Katrina & their loved ones this week- let's hope, as a country, we never forget the rich cultural and artistic heritage we owe the city of New Orleans, the rest of the affected areas and the people who populate them.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It's gotten to the point where I can't listen to anything; it's trashy. It's just a hundred channels of garbage all over. It's almost like a global effort to knock the sense out of you ...” — Jeff Beck
SONG OF THE WEEK: “If New Orleans Is Beat” — The Tragically Hip
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’round the dial: What is an Unskinny Bop?
Wednesday 31 August @ 03:35:15 (Read: 2470) |
by Tom Hallett
It's been a weird couple of weeks in rock n’ roll, gang. From on- and off-stage bickering between a reconstituted Iron Maiden and Ozzy’s wife Sharon Osbourne (who calls herself “The Real Iron Maiden”) to the arrest of Poison guitarist C.C. DeVille on domestic abuse charges (“I’m innocent!” he swears, but on one website, an astute music fan fires back, “Maybe—but your guitar playing is still guilty of SUCKING!”) to the deaths of a couple of legends (multi-instrumentalist Vassar Clements and Voivod axeman Denis “Piggy” D’Amour), the shit is shakin’ and the world continues to slide inexorably off of its axis.
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’round the dial: Stop, Drop and Rock ’n’ Roll
Friday 26 August @ 01:08:45 (Read: 3108) |
by Tom Hallett
He peered over his whiskey sour and raised one greying, bushy eyebrow. “Well, I could give two fat fucks about gas prices or the ozone layer. I’ll drive until they pry my fingers off of the steering wheel, and I don’t think that’s gonna happen.” I shrugged and grunted, turning back to my vodka OJ and stubbing out my twentieth Marlboro Light of the day. I’d just quit another lousy day job, my head was pounding, and a few scattered but highly embarrassing memories of the night before were starting to skitter back through my consciousness. The mad ranting of a disaffected city bus driver with bad teeth and some kind of horrific skin condition ranked pretty low on my list of priorities.
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‘round the dial: Going Down to the Station
Wednesday 17 August @ 12:12:14 (Read: 2713) |
by Tom Hallett
The ‘Dial’s on the road this week, gang—or, to be a bit more specific, off the frickin’ rails on a whirlwind, cross-Canada train ride with some of your favorite Sixties rockers. Get yer ticket an’ climb on, there’s room for everybody. All aboooaarrdddd ... !!
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’round the dial: In the Hands of Such A Lot of Fools
Wednesday 10 August @ 15:34:34 (Read: 3629) |
by Tom Hallett
SCANDALS!! LAWSUITS!! PLEA BARGAINS!! SETTLEMENTS!! Sheesh, you’d think it was the deep, dark Fifties all over again, what with all the stink risin’ from SONY/BMG’s recent scrape with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer over their long-running “Pay To Play” practices. What, you ask, is Pay To Play? Well, it’s a nice, safe, sanitized way of saying PAYOLA. Payola, of course, being the act of giving gifts, cash, vacation packages, cars and other bling-y incentives to radio stations in exchange for airplay.
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’round the dial: Come Feel Me
Wednesday 03 August @ 16:51:50 (Read: 3192) |
by Tom Hallett
More sweaty summer reviews this week, folks ... strap on them goofy flippers, your favorite cut-offs an’ that too-tight pair of goggles, and take the plunge ...
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’round the dial: Son Volt Returns
Wednesday 27 July @ 16:17:30 (Read: 2951) |
by Tom Hallett
No time for yappin’, gabbin’ or crabbin’ this week, gang: the ol’ new music pipeline is backin’ up faster than a public restroom at a Gwar concert, so I’m gonna forgo the yammerin’ an’ dig right into this ever-growing stack of fresh CDs ... belly up!
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’round the dial: Record Roundup
Thursday 21 July @ 14:51:29 (Read: 3470) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, hey Dial-heads, curious browsers and thrifty bird owners! Welcome to another edition of ’Round The Dial, where you’ll find the best in reviews, rants, raves and the occasional intelligent point flitting around like a hot spark from a roaring keg fire. This week, we’re gonna check out some new-to-fairly-new CD releases, so grab your hats and hang onnnn ...
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'round the dial: It’s a sickness
Thursday 14 July @ 01:44:01 (Read: 3620) |
by Tom Hallett
It’s a sickness, I tell you. An affliction, an addiction, a cruel, hungry monkey on ya back as hard and dark as horse, blow or meth. Thing is, there’s treatment for heroin, crack and crank addictions. There are 12- step meetings, support groups, therapy and a million books, pamphlets, films and treatises on the subject. There are umpteen fellow survivors and road-mates to call. Hell, there’s even a supposed “higher power” that’ll help ya get through just about any pharmaceutical or chemical problem you can think of. There’s even an island, courtesy of Eric Clapton, where (if your funds are in the right range) you can recuperate among rockers and movie stars. But is there such a treatment for my addiction? Is there a book, a movie, a credo I can turn to for solace and respite? Nay, I say. There ain’t no cure when yer addicted to music, baby. And as it turns out, I am one sick mofo ...
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‘round the dial: “Rockers” lives up to its name
Wednesday 06 July @ 00:40:19 (Read: 2817) |
by Tom Hallett
Wha’ppen, Stars? So, yeh, I an’ I duck de baldheads dis week, mon, an’ don’t you know I been lookin’ for I dreddies fo’ so long, too. It I-rey, feel no way, mon. Babylon an’ dem mascots dey cork up de streets but I an’ I we got de chalice an’ de hard drummer, mon. So don’ vex, no, rank up an’ satta, I seen I? Good, good. Now les’ mash it out, Rasta ...
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'round the dial: The Ricky Nelson story
Wednesday 29 June @ 00:39:45 (Read: 3658) |
by Tom Hallett
Long before David Cassidy, John Travolta, or that guy from “Beverly Hills, 90210” made their respective (but not necessarily respectful) leaps from television to the pop charts, a young fella by the name of Ricky Nelson began paving the way. Check it out: Here’s a guy who starred in a long-running network television sitcom centered around the All-American family—a kid whose father’s name was Ozzie—a teenager who was already a national superstar when Elvis and the Sun Records boys were just spittin’ out their first nasty rockabilly licks.
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'round the dial: Karl Mueller remembered
Wednesday 22 June @ 16:33:56 (Read: 4851) |
by Tom Tallett
RIP Soul Asylum bassist Karl Mueller, who passed away of cancer last Friday at the age of 41—one step closer to the stars.
I didn’t know Soul Asylum bassist Karl Mueller. But then again, maybe I knew him in the way he would’ve liked best for a fan to know him—through the notes he made, the music he played, the images he and his band conjured and left indelibly tattooed on my brain, heart and soul. So don’t take this little outpouring as anything other than what it really is—a genuine fan grieving for a genuine rock ’n’ roll hero. Hell, I wasn’t even around back when Mueller, Danny Murphy and Dave Pirner were spewing out their collective big city angst and boredom as Loud Fast Rules, and I probably wouldn’t have been cool enough back then to appreciate ’em. But it didn’t take long for them to find me, once I’d landed in the twisted time/space continuum known as the Twin Cities—whether it was a deep album cut on ol’ KJ 104 or a gigantic poster in Let It Be Records or a battered copy of one of their releases laying willy-nilly on a shiny stack of Metallica, REM and Beastie Boys CDs at some lame, late-night St. Paul beer party, it was nigh onto impossible to ignore the influence, the attitude, the gritty honesty of that hometown outfit. (“I was tappin’ my foot on a Friday night/To my favorite band ...”)
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round the dial: CD reviews
Wednesday 15 June @ 00:24:19 (Read: 3200) |
by Tom Hallett
Alright! Who’s in the mood for revolution, baby? I’m not talkin’ ‘bout no sleepy-eyed, drag-ass, layabout revolution where ya sit in a Starbuck’s for three hours yackin’ about your perceived loss of freedoms (which you never really had anyway, but it was a damn good illusion for 40 or 50 years, wasn’t it?), no sir. An’ I’m not talkin’ ‘bout no clean, safe, sanitized, lissenin’ to Tracy Chapman in yer Dodge mini-van kinda revolution. No sittin’ on the fence, no runnin’ at the first sign of trouble with the fuzz, no hangin’ your head an’ slinkin’ off to commiserate with fellow yellow-bellies about how “The Man” just keeps you down, baby. This is a revolution of the MIND, and SOUL, and SPIRIT ... and it starts in your eyes and ears ...
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'round the dial: CD reviews
Wednesday 08 June @ 01:40:05 (Read: 3050) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, gang—more CD and DVD reviews for ya, as we rush head-long into thunderstorm season ... this week we’ll check out some great new DVDs from a couple of punk/alternative legends. Awright, then—no time to talk, cuz we gotta rock ...
Iggy Pop
Live San Fran 1981
(Target Video/MVD, 1983)
Where were you on the evening of November 25th, 1981? You may not recall; you may choose not to recall; you may, in fact, have not yet even been born. You know who else probably doesn’t remember where he was that night? If you said Stooges founder/punk godfather James “Iggy Pop” Osterberg, give yourself a red star and march immediately to the principle’s office.
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‘round the dial: CD reviews
Wednesday 01 June @ 00:08:57 (Read: 3086) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, hey, ‘Dial-a-holics!! Welcome to June, the month where it’s alright to wear white, get skin tight, and stay out all night. So get yer backsides up offa them sofas and beanbags, flip off those never-ending TV ads featuring Wilford Brimley selling diabetes medicine and Eric “Ponch” Estrada shilling Arkansas swamp land, and crank up the tunes! It’s time once again to get ready, ready, ready to rock ’n’ roll ...
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‘round the dial: Computerized music revolution
Wednesday 25 May @ 13:15:48 (Read: 2976) |
OK Computer, You Win (Or, You Can Have Your Music And Shuffle It, Too)
by Tom Hallett
Finally. I’m down to just three 1-foot high stacks of CD’s—not for review, naw, that would be too easy—I’m talkin’ about the last remnants of the literally hundreds of discs from my personal collection I’ve been frantically rippin’ to my computer for the past month or so. And before ya start poundin’ out irate letters tellin’ me that iPod is the wave of the future and I’m wasting my time transferring all of my CD’s to my PC, blah, blah, blah, lemme say this: I don’t have an iPod, don’t plan on buying one anytime in the near future, and, after the back pain and added hangovers caused by my current CD psycho-trip, would probably never again in this lifetime go through such a painstaking effort to basically move some stacks of music from one room (even if one or both are virtual) to another.
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round the dial: CD reviews
Wednesday 18 May @ 13:29:41 (Read: 3210) |
by Tom Hallett
Wot a week, eh? From misunderstood White House small plane fly-overs (but hey, that incident DID take all the press attention away from G.W.’s reported brush with a dud grenade during his recent visit to Russia, didn’t it?) to alley-scrappin’, money-grubbin’ in-fighting at Disney that makes any tussle Tramp and Scamp ever got into look like a cat fight featuring Rufus Wainwright and Sir Elton John, to the wallet-bustin’ announcement of several (sigh) classic rock band reunion tours (Cream—$1,500 tickets, Rolling Stones, $100 tickets), it’s clear that the recent TV mini-series “Revelations” couldn’t have come along at a more appropriate time. That’s why I’m as tickled as a wrinkle-faced, redneck coondog to lay here on the front porch in the sun and roll around in the dirt with this week’s batch of CDs and DVDs. Come on down—it’s warm and safe next to the old rocker and a fresh jug o’ XXX, and after awhile, the fleas become almost like family ...
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round the dial: CD reviews
Wednesday 11 May @ 14:46:44 (Read: 11453) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, hey ‘Dial-heads! Spring has finally really, really, really sprung, the buds are budding, the blooms are blooming, and BEER tastes like it should. Or at least like you deserve it. Life could be worse. Here at the ‘Dial, we’ve got a bit of a back-log of CDs and DVDs for review, so for the next few weeks, we’ll hang out and spin the best (and worst) of local and national music that’s comin’ through the ol’ inbox. Pop the top on a cold one, and check it out. This week’s hoe-down starts right now...
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‘round the dial: CD Reviews
Wednesday 04 May @ 22:14:44 (Read: 5303) |
by Tom Hallett
Greetings, ‘Dial-o-philes! Welcome to another edition of your one-stop spot for the best in music news, CD and DVD reviews, and the occasional mad, rambling rant. But hell, the weather’s gettin’ too nice fer rantin’. Merle Haggard is on tour with Bob Dylan, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” is finally in theaters, and these days, I’m spendin’ more time mowin’ my lawn an’ walkin’ my dog than sniffin’ out corporate huckle-bucks an’ slippery social anesthetists. So, just fer shits n’ giggles, we’ll stick to the ol’ cookie-cutter CD an’ DVD reviews format this time ‘round. For those of you who prefer my rabid rants and relentless raves, fret not. Something’s bound to irk me in the next few weeks or so. For now, here’s some reviews ...
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‘round the dial: Time travelin’ with Roky Erickson
Wednesday 27 April @ 21:47:04 (Read: 4691) |
by Tom Hallett
One more run in the Ergo© Time Machine this week, kids, and it’s gonna be a doozy. We’ll jam them gears, slam ‘er into hyper-drive, and hope like hell we’ve got enough juice to make it home again, because where we’re headed, you wanna make damn sure you’ve got a way back. This trip’s gonna include our standard time travel, but we’ll also be peering into some spooky psychic nether regions, as well. So put on your tinfoil anti-Alien caps, stock up on holy water, and slip a few silver bullets in yer pockets, just in case. Oh yeah, and somebody bring bail money—cuz fer starters, we’re off to the dusty, windswept streets of pre-’70s Texas, where everything’s big, especially T-R-O-U-B-L-E...
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‘round the dial: Another spin in the Ergo©
Wednesday 20 April @ 01:04:58 (Read: 3830) |
by Tom Hallett
We’re back for another run with the ol’ Ergo© Time Machine again this week, folks—where we’ll be making a pit stop in Springfield, Mo., to visit Steve Forbert’s backing band during the freezing winter of 1979, and taking a brief Happy Hour respite in Minneapolis during the spring of 2004. Pop your motion sickness pills, down a martini, and strap yourselves in for ...
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‘round the dial: Adios SPMC
Tuesday 12 April @ 23:21:39 (Read: 3134) |
by Tom Hallett
Get Well Soon, Neil Young—who suffered a brain aneurysm last week and is currently recuperating at a NYC hotel. RTD will rejoin the Ergo© Time Machine in action again next week. This edition goes out with big, big love, to the inimitable Saint Paul Music Club, The Mammy Nuns, Rob & Leah Rule, Dave Weigardt and the entire staff—past and present—of the Turf Club.
Thanks for the Mammy-ries, gang!
Well, I guess some of you have been wondering when the ‘Dial was gonna break down and address the latest disturbing news on the local music scene; that beloved St. Paul music venue The Turf Club has changed owners and the revered SPMC has pulled up stakes and vacated the building. And that’s mostly true—the defunct Clown Lounge sulks in the bar’s basement like an aged cabaret starlet, her makeup stripped off; her wigs, silky threads and feather boas packed away in a mildewy trunk. Upstairs, there are no Raleigh’s Tacos flying outta the kitchen with clockwork precision, no SPMC stickers, T-shirts, or albums for sale under the cash register.
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‘round the dial: More ergo time machine© madness
Wednesday 06 April @ 23:16:56 (Read: 3484) |
by Tom Hallett
NOTE: A fond and (sniff!) hearty farewell to the reign of the SPMC at ye olde Turf Club in St. Paul—best of luck to all the Mammy Nuns, past and present, Raleigh’s Tacos, and all of the great staff who made that scene so fun, interesting and rewarding over the past decade or so. More to come next week...
ROCKIN’ WITH THE ERGO TIME MACHINE ©, PT. 2
When we last saw each other, I’d just blasted off from Go Buttons-land, where we laughed, cried, danced, drank and snapped our fingers to the catchy, pop-perfect grooves of that band. Heading out through the infinite time-lines, stretching their ubiquitous ways along myriad possible futures, what-if pasts and hazy presents, I’m gettin’ a slightly woozy feeling. That’s OK—at least it’s not from the music. I’ll just drop a few soda crackers, pound a couple of cold ones and steer this baby right on into our next stop ...
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‘round the dial: Take a spin in my ergo time machine©
Wednesday 30 March @ 17:03:07 (Read: 4058) |
by Tom Hallett
Hola, ‘Dial-maniacs! As usual, the daily reports are overflowing with news that’s either very, very bad, very, very inane, or very, very unencouraging, at best. So rather than dwell on the finer points of that big, bad, true-to-life Reality Show out there, the ‘Dial’s gonna spend the next couple o’ weeks cruisin’ in our trusty ol’ Ergo Time Machine©. We’ll head alla way back to 1969 ... with a few stop-offs along the way in the ’70s and beyond to visit an eccentric Texan rock n’ roller, a massively overlooked Georgia singer/songwriter/guitarist, and a couple of more recent recording artists. We’ll also make a brief but highly effective detour somewhere along the line to the year 1952, where we’ll relax with some strong coca wine and exotic musical exhortations from a gaggle of Basque fishermen, dusky Spanish dancers and long-forgotten anti-Franco folkies. Climb aboard, gang, and hang onto yer proverbial hats ...
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‘round the dial: Sussman Lawrence revisited
Wednesday 23 March @ 00:59:09 (Read: 3532) |
by Tom Hallett
Well, now that all the gaudy, green-tinted glitter and whiskey-induced declarations of ancient Irish/Celtic heritage so prevalent every early-mid March in the ‘Cities have faded like the fabled pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow—buried under a well-deserved blanket of cleansing, honest Northern snow—we can all get back to moping, cringing and complaining in our oh-so-Minnesotan ways through the remaining days of winter. Woo hoo!!
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‘round the dial: The truth about Disney / CD reviews
Wednesday 16 March @ 16:57:08 (Read: 3874) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, hey, ‘Dial-heads! Another week of howlin’ terrestrial havoc and cosmic, pre-Apocalyptic omens gone by—and man, was it ever a doozy!! It can’t just be coincidence that in that very same week our good buddies at the Disney (ABC-TV-Radio/Cap Cities/etc., etc., etc.) Corporation announced their upcoming 50th anniversary plans for this summer, a giant, mysterious fireball “...streaked through the night sky over the Pacific Northwest...” That’s according to actual, real, government-approved news sources, too, folks.
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‘round the dial: Face-to-face with mortality
Wednesday 09 March @ 16:56:46 (Read: 3457) |
by Tom Hallett
I think I can pinpoint the first time I really, actually, honestly and truly came face-to-face with my own mortality. Or at least the first time I realized the situation as such, anyway. I must’ve been 8 or 9 years old, living up in the tiny fishing village of Homer, Alaska—a tow-headed, mismatched-clothes- wearin’, Olivia-Newton-John-lovin’, T.V.-and-Grandma-spoiled little shit who had no concept of time, Life or Newsweek. Pioneer families who’d survived the ’64 quake were still squattin’ on land George Bush would shit a brick bible for today. The sidewalks were built of wooden planks. The local bar was in an old lighthouse.
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‘round the dial: Goodbye Hunter / CD reviews
Wednesday 02 March @ 18:50:19 (Read: 3749) |
by Tom Hallett
THE DOCTOR IS OUT—PERMANENTLY. YOUR PRESCRIPTION? QUESTION AUTHORITY. TAKE NO SHIT. KICK ASS NOW, TAKE NAMES LATER.
(Or, Some Final Thoughts On The Late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson)
Right on! Another completely whacked-out, bizarre and surreal month down—only ten more to go and we can forget that 2005—at least the first several months—was another banner year for the Pod People here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. I mean, ya can’t hardly cast a darker shadow over the forces of Goodness, Truth and Righteousness than by celebrating President’s Day with the suicide of an iconoclastic anti-hero like Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, can you? Er—no, no you can’t.
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‘round the dial: CD reviews
Wednesday 23 February @ 00:11:38 (Read: 3785) |
by Tom Hallett
R.I.P. Hunter S. Thompson, gonzo journalist, first-class freak, and political/cultural realist, 1937-2005. May the road rise to you.
Howdy, howdy, howdy! Hola! Hey-hey-hey, hi there, howareya, howareya, howareya? Welcome to RTD, your tantalizing, titillatin’, feedback-makin’, rock n’ roll reviewing machine ... click ... machine... click ... machine ... POW!! Sorry, gotta do that once in awhile, the damn thing gets stuck. It matters not, however, because this week’s batch of smooth, soul-warming, ear-soothing record reviews are hot off the griddle an’ jes’ about ready to go ...
*I SEE YOUR “SIR,” SIR, AND RAISE YOU ONE DIESEL ENGINE ...
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‘round the dial: CD reviews
Friday 18 February @ 21:56:34 (Read: 2872) |
by Tom Hallett
First come the friendly e-mail inquiries, the not-so-subtle hints, the tentative phone calls: “Um—yeahhhh, this is Blah Blah with the Blah, Blah, And Blah Agency. We’re just wondering if you got that copy of Blah Blah and the Blah-barians we sent you for review? Just give me a buzz, mm-kay? Thanks now!” That’s not so bad. But then the letters start: “We’re SURE we sent you a copy of Blahbie & The Blah-sterians, Tom. When can we expect a review?? CALL us!!” Then one day ya look out yer curtains (in that same suspicious way you’ve been doing it all these years) and there they are!! Waiting in the bushes, under the hedges by the mailbox, behind your car, crouched down like so many ravenous wild animals, sniffing the air for “writer blood.” PR FLACKS!! All colors, shapes, sizes, sexes, and some apparently on loan from strange, far-off galaxies—and they all want one thing—INK!! Aiii-eee!!! I SURRENDER!! I’ll write the damn reviews!! Please, please, please, though, STOP sending me Kylie Minogue, Lenny Kravitz and Uncle Kracker updates!! I’ll do anything!!
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‘round the dial: Valentine’s Day Mix CD guide
Wednesday 09 February @ 16:18:19 (Read: 3439) |
by Tom Hallett
Yowza, it’s already Valentine’s Day!! Y’know what that means ... yep, you got it. Gaggles of greedy corporations (and plenty of like-minded small businesses and individuals) are lining up to guilt you, the American consumer, into buying a whole lot of useless crap for your sweetheart, your family and every single screaming little monster in your kid’s fourth grade class. AHHHGGHH!!
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'round the dial: Good riddance to Michael Powell
Wednesday 02 February @ 16:14:39 (Read: 3080) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, hey, ‘Dial-heads!! I’m comin’ at ya this week filled with the spirits of independence, joy, freedom and cheap bathtub gin!! That’s right, kids—it’s a full-on celebration here, I’m a’ hoppin’, jumpin’, and a’ pogo-in’ around my office like a 12-year-old at his first Pinhead Gunpowder gig—and all because of some BIG changes in radio over the past week or so. First, my ol’ buddy/nemesis MICHAEL POWELL has decided to RETIRE from the FCC!! Yahhh-hoooo!! I guess, like the rest of the rats deserting the leaky, rusting scow known as the U.S.S. Bush II (including his father, COLIN), Mikey figured he’d best git while the gittin’ was good.
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‘round the dial: Dave Davies on the mend, DVDs on the tube
Thursday 27 January @ 14:39:27 (Read: 6114) |
by Tom Hallett
With all the hub-bub and hoo-rah on the political scene, war, and epic international natural disasters of near-biblical proportions overloading our senses in the past (seems) forever or so, it’s easy to see why a lot of people might not be aware that Dave Davies, founder and lead guitarist of pioneering British rockers The Kinks, recently suffered a massive, nearly fatal stroke. And though all of those events were— and are—newsworthy and deserving of contemplation and action, RTD would like to take just a moment to update those who care on Davies’ condition and recent artistic activity.
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‘round the dial: Redefining classic rock - part 2
Wednesday 19 January @ 16:59:11 (Read: 4086) |
And now, RTD presents the eagerly anticipated second installment of “Redefining Classic Rock”:
by Tom Hallett
Another angle to the “Classic” vs. “Modern” rock question is, why are some “Classic Rock” artists—even though their music is played on “those kinds” of stations, and their concerts are attended by the kind of people many “New Rock” fans consider to be ignorant, time-worn relics—still considered “cool” by today’s music fans, while others are considered “dorky,” “irrelevant,” or worse, complete trash. Here’s a short list for ya:
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‘round the dial: Redefining classic rock - part I
Wednesday 12 January @ 19:10:31 (Read: 3294) |
by Tom Hallett
She left the room for ice, taking along the standard motel room bucket as well as the complimentary plastic garment bag left hanging in the closet (no doors, permanent hangers). She obviously planned on getting a lot of ice. Suddenly alone and too buzzed to appreciate silence, I fiddled with the radio dial. Bad new Nashville country inundated the ‘waves, separated only sporadically by formulaic, Clear Channel-owned Lite FM stations, religious broadcasting, and the occasional news/sports program. I was actually reaching for the stack of cassettes I’d brought along (Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, a best of Warren Zevon, Bowie’s Young Americans, and Neil Young’s double live LP Live Rust—nothing planned, just random grabs from the racks), one hand still mindlessly twirling the dial, when the glorious power chords of the Ozzy/Randy Rhoads nugget “Crazy Train” came blasting out of the mini-boombox speaker.
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'round the dial: Looking back at 2004
Wednesday 05 January @ 14:58:04 (Read: 4615) |
by Tom Hallett
Hail, hail, rock ’n’ rollers, and welcome to the first installment of Round The Dial for the year 2005. (I’m going to try and drop the New Year in as many places as I can so it’ll be easier for me to remember it.) Seems like just yesterday it was the New Year before 2005—but I bet you’re all as eager to forget the pain, humiliation and suffering of the past 12 months as I am, so instead of looking back at all the crap that went on, e’re gonna press fast rewind, fast forward, and pause so many times that by the end of this column, you may just be at a loss to remember what year it really is. (It’s 2005, in case you’ve forgotten.) Anyway, lots of ground to cover this week (the first of 2005), so let’s crank ‘er up to eleven and rip off the knob ...
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‘round the dial: A lesson in pain
Tuesday 28 December @ 19:22:43 (Read: 3970) |
by Tom Hallett
Happy New Year and the best of the Season out there in ‘Dial-land!! Welcome to the final edition of Round The Dial for 2004—don’t worry, I’ll be gentle. This week’s installment will be short, sweet (well, in some spots, anyway) and as to-the-point as I can get. Mostly because, like you, I’ve got family gatherings, holiday bashes and late-night revelry to attend to over the next few days—we’ll get back to our usual, far-beyond-the-limits-of-professionalism-or-even-good-taste-length columns toot-sweet! In the meantime, check out what ol’ Saint Nick left hanging by the ‘Dial fireplace the other night ...
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‘round the dial: Looking back at 2004
Thursday 23 December @ 10:28:58 (Read: 4324) |
by Tom Hallett
THIS IS REAL! THIS IS NOW!! THIS IS THE FREAK SHOW, baby, anyhow ... welcome to another installment of Round The Dial, your soul patrol down in a hole like a mole diggin’ fer musical gold ... at yer service once again and ready, ready, ready to rock an’ roll. I got aches, I got pains, I got fevers an’ chills an’ rheumatism an’ I STILL can’t stop the beats, baby. They’s in mah head like a rollin’ drum call from on yonder, ah tell you whut. ‘Course, tain’t like ah been tryin’ none too hard to settle all that jibbety-jabbety racket, either. Seems like things’d be a mite crazier settin’ around here in total silence—ah might actually hear whut’s really runnin’ through mah head an’ scare the bejeezus outta mahself—an’ everbody else—yessir.
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'round the dial: Record Reviews
Wednesday 15 December @ 20:26:31 (Read: 3900) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’m always in love.” — Bob Dylan
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Don’t You See It?” — Chris Mars
I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I for one am damned glad this foul year is almost over—though I have a feeling that a lot of people are going to wake up around mid-2005 with a slightly nauseous, hung-over feeling, wondering just what in the hell happened in the past 12 months to fuck shit up so badly. Me, I feel like that about every other day anyway, so I’ll be used to it. Plus, I have a clear conscious as far as my recent voting record goes, so the normal guilt will have to do.
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‘round the dial: Record reviews
Sunday 12 December @ 19:05:25 (Read: 4547) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Anyway, I don’t believe in it. I think it’s all a bunch of bullshit. Me, I’m gonna get my kicks before the whole shit-house goes up in flames, alright! ”
— Jim Morrison
SONG OF THE WEEK: “We’re Truck Drivers”
And now, the news ...
A FORMER RHCP GUITARIST BEATS HEROIN; BREAKS JIMMY PAGE’S OUTRIDER CURSE WITH TWO GREAT SOLO ALBUMS!!
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‘round the dial: Record reviews
Wednesday 01 December @ 19:45:04 (Read: 5210) |
by Tom Hallett
Welcome to the machine! Welcome to my nightmare! Welcome to the boomtown! Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends! Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back! It’s time once again for the ol’ ‘Dial to head down Review Avenue and commence to clearin’ away some of these stacks o’ discs cloggin’ up the rock n’ roll pike-way, folks. So without further ado, here’s this week’s picks...
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‘round the dial: Turkey day musings
Tuesday 30 November @ 19:40:21 (Read: 3780) |
by Tom Hallett
Greetings, ‘Dial-heads, curious looky-loos, and snoopy guys wearing wing-tips and shades. It’s Thanksgiving time again, and you know what that means around here: I rant on and on for at least a couple hundred words about how rotten it was for the white man to steal the Indian’s land, kill his families, and slaughter all the beefaloes, and how we really shouldn’t make a national holiday out of that horrible catastrophe. However, since it’s a new century and we’re busy fucking over all kinds of other people across the planet, I think we’ll forgo the usual indignant (and generally ineffective) thrashes, snarls, ashes, and sack cloth and indulge in a mellower, and perhaps, more rewarding celebration.
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‘round the dial: Sweet Memories
Wednesday 17 November @ 00:01:03 (Read: 3988) |
by Tom Hallett
Ever get the feeling that the game is rigged? OK, folks, this is it. Round The Dial will now commence to start shovelin’ out the heapin’ piles of CD and DVD reviews that have stacked up over the past couple of election-tainted weeks. Yessir, it’s time to open up some windows in this here joint an’ let some air in. Jes’ ’cause the whole brick shit-house is fixin’ to go up in flames don’t mean we cain’t put the boogie to the woogie an’ the ting tang to the walla walla bing bang, does it? Ahhh, how about that breeze? I feel better already. Time to hop in the old Way Back Machine again and kick out the ever-lovin’ jams with ...
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‘round the dial: What now?
Friday 12 November @ 15:16:25 (Read: 3117) |
by Tom Hallett
Ever get the feeling that the game is rigged? That no matter what you do, it’s all closing in on you? Feeling like a bald guy in a blind alley as bird shit starts coming down like that ol’ hard rain Bob sang about so long ago? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Despite the official results of the recent presidential election, a surprising number of American citizens—just about exactly one half of the population, according to polls—still claim to be suffering from some form of mild shell-shock.
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'Tis the season for political musings
Thursday 04 November @ 06:24:03 (Read: 4060) |
by Tom Hallett
R.I.P.- Round The Dial salutes the late, great BBC Radio-1 DJ John Peel, who passed away on Oct. 25 of a heart attack. He was 65 years old. Peel spent over four decades discovering, promoting and playing some of the greatest indie, punk, underground and Americana to grace today's music scene, including such Minnesota artists as Bob Dylan, Babes In Toyland and Jack Norton. He will be greatly missed.
It is with great trepidation that I pen this week’s column—considering that Pulse goes to press on Tuesdays, and this Tuesday is probably the most important Tuesday I’ve ever witnessed in my adult lifetime. When this paper hits the streets on Wednesday, Nov. 3, no matter what the outcome, the world will be a very different place.
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Rock that pumpkin/election!
Wednesday 27 October @ 20:48:38 (Read: 6754) |
by Tom Hallett
Boo! It’s that time of year again, kiddies. That’s right—the time of year when people don masks and fancy outfits, run around acting like idiots for a whole evening, stay up ‘til dawn partying with people they don’t know, and generally make total asses of themselves. What’s that you say? Happy Halloween? Oh, yeah. It is almost All Hallow’s Eve, isn’t it? I was talking about Election Day, but I guess my description works equally well for both October 31st and November 2nd, huh?
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Taking A Stand Against Hate
Wednesday 20 October @ 14:57:55 (Read: 5074) |
by Tom Hallet
I’ve always thought that the meaning to the above-mentioned Randy Newman song—a smart, funny, mean little jab at the proverbial Southern Man—was pretty damned clear: “We’re rednecks,” he sings cheerily, “rednecks, and we don’t know our ass from a hole in the ground/Rednecks, we’re rednecks, and we’re keepin’ the niggers
down ...” It was a reactionary song, written after Newman caught a particularly vociferous appearance by segregationist Georgia governor Lester Maddox on an episode of the Dick Cavett (or, as Newman’s character refers to him, “some smart-ass New York Jew”) Show in the early ‘70s.
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Thoughts on Charlie Watts ... and Cheese
Friday 15 October @ 15:54:09 (Read: 4655) |
by Tom Hallett
When I heard the other day that 63-year-old Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts recently survived a serious throat cancer scare (he’s doing fine now, according to Mick and the docs), it got me to thinkin’ about my first Stones—and Watts—experience. I can still remember the first time I ever really heard Charlie doin’ his thing: I must’ve been 5 or 6 years old, riding in the back seat of one of the ubiquitous beaters my ma used to drive. It was a hot summer’s day—at least, it was hot for Alaska. Somebody (probably me) had accidentally spilled a vanilla milk shake on the dash a few months earlier, and the thick, sugary liquid had drained down into the car’s heat/air ducts. As the engine got hotter, the sickly-sour stench of rotten milk began to permeate the cab of the vehicle.
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Record Reviews
Wednesday 06 October @ 18:20:38 (Read: 4563) |
by Tom Hallet
Hey, hey, hey, gang—happy Rocktober, and welcome to another spin of the old ‘Dial, your one-stop source for CD and DVD reviews, music news, and off-the-wall, firewater-fueled rock n’ roll foolishness. I’ve got a whole kit-bag chock fulla new and classic musical matter to share with ya, but first, here’s a peek at the debut of a new feature I’ll be including in the ‘Dial from time to time for your enjoyment.
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Record Reviews
Thursday 30 September @ 11:36:59 (Read: 4529) |
by Tom Hallett
We’re back with more CD/DVD reviews here at the ‘Dial, where it seems that the fruits (and, of course, a few unwelcome veggies) of music’s summer growing season are being delivered by the ton. In the coming weeks, we’ll check out new releases from scads of your old faves, new up-and-comers, reissues, and maybe even a homemade video or two. In the meantime, let’s not waste anymore time—here’s this week’s round-up:
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Record Reviews
Wednesday 22 September @ 12:04:40 (Read: 3705) |
by Tom Hallett
* RTD salutes the late, great punk rock enigma/guitarist, Johnny Ramone, who passed away on September 15 of prostate cancer at the age of 55.
It's time again for Record Reviews here at the 'Dial, where we'll take a look at a stack of local and national music I've been spinning around the old homestead lately...
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My unwitting crime spree (pt. 2)
Thursday 16 September @ 16:56:36 (Read: 3289) |
by Tom Hallett
RTD continues with part two of ...
My Unwitting Crime Spree, Or, How I Nearly Spent Twenty Summer Vacations Behind Prison Bars
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My Unwitting Crime Spree (pt. 1)
Wednesday 08 September @ 12:58:56 (Read: 3741) |
by Tom Hallet
The following is an introduction to a review of SF punk band Crime’s recent compilation package, San Francisco’s STILL Doomed. Inspired by both the band’s name and the criminally-underrated material on the album, I decided to recount my own personal brush with the wrong side of the law—we’ll call this little excursion into my whacked-out past ...
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'Round the Dial: Bukowski still has bite
Thursday 02 September @ 15:52:52 (Read: 5351) |
by Tom Hallett
When we left off last week, we were fixin’ to dive into the steadily growing stack of DVD’s piling up on my desk. This time out, we’ll kick off the proceedings by taking a gander at a rare early live poetry reading by the inimitable Charles Bukowski.
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Video killed the radio star
Thursday 26 August @ 16:55:43 (Read: 5947) |
by Tom Hallett
I was yakkin’ with a younger music fan the other day, shootin’ the shit about this an’ that, when the conversation turned to music videos. Where they came from, who made ‘em before the onset of Emptee-vee and VH-None, and what purpose they served.
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The day I died
Wednesday 18 August @ 09:21:14 (Read: 4002) |
by Tom Hallett
I died, the story went, on Friday the 13th of August, 2004. Apparently, I'd been drinking heavily and decided to tearout across the fields on a four-wheeler. Drunk out of my mind, I'd misjudged a turn and rolled the machine, killing myself in a blaze of hot smoke, gin, and spilled fuel oil. And on Friday the 13th!!
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Rocket From the Crypt
Wednesday 11 August @ 16:55:28 (Read: 3996) |
by Tom Hallett
Formed in the summer of 1990 by San Diego hardcore punker John "Speedo" Reis, Rocket From The Crypt immediately established themselves on the indie scene as a powerhouse live act. Speedo, along with bassist Petey X, guitarist ND, drummer Sean, and back-up singer Elaina, spewed out a raw, garage-y groove that was equal parts The Seeds, The Ramones, and Big Star’s more upbeat side. Today, you can hear their trademark, early sound in outfits like Teenage Fan Club, The Lemonheads, and The Posies. Though Reis was simultaneously filling lead singing duties in cult faves Drive Like Jehu, once the "Alternative Revolution" began to gain momentum and record companies started to show interest in the ‘Crypt, he focused all of his energies on writing and releasing the band’s debut album, Paint As A Fragrance.
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Flying High Again
Wednesday 04 August @ 15:17:44 (Read: 4987) |
by Tom Hallett
Recommended activities to either whole-heartedly embrace or completely avoid when one is trying to quit smoking cigarettes: (1) Stop drinking beer. I know, that sucks, but beer makes ya wanna smoke and you can’t really enjoy candy (which, of course, you’re using—along with baby carrots and sticks of celery—as a tobacco substitute) with a can of Old Mil.
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Terry Eason
Wednesday 28 July @ 16:52:50 (Read: 4799) |
by Tom Hallett
Yep, the summer of 2004 has to go down as one of the weirdest, most off-kilter slices of time most of us under the age of 50 can remember living through. I hear it from friends, acquaintances, and even total strangers every day: “What the fuck is going on?” “Why do I feel so weird?” “Why am I arguing with friends/family members whom I’ve agreed with my whole life on most things about shit neither of us really understand?” “Is it just me?” Well, no, it’s not just you.
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Little Man
Wednesday 21 July @ 16:33:48 (Read: 5446) |
by Tom Hallett
I’d like to say I can pinpoint the exact moment in time when I first saw Chris “Little Man” Perricelli. I mean, I know it was at the 7th Street Entry, and I know it was the first night I ever saw Chicago’s Ike Reilly and his band turn that room upside down and fill it right to the brim with an ocean of beer-sweat. But nowadays it just seems like the soft-spoken guitar tech/singer/songwriter/guitarist has been a part of the scene here forever.
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Worm is Green...Alkaline/One Man Army...Alva Star
Wednesday 14 July @ 13:34:11 (Read: 4208) |
by Tom Hallett
It’s record reviewland time again here at the ‘Dial, kiddies, so strap on yer best divin’ fins an’ take a deep breath...cuz here we goooooo...
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'round-the-dial
Wednesday 07 July @ 11:05:14 (Read: 4265) |
by Tom Hallett
I’ve had this recurring nightmare for over 30 years now: I’m walking down Main Street in Homer, Alaska, the tiny fishing hamlet I was raised in, when I come across the public library. It’s the old, tiny, rustic building, not the spiffy, larger, more antiseptic unit that was built after I left town, and the closer I get to it, the more fearful I become. There’s a horrible, sinking feeling in my guts that I’m about to walk into a whole passel of trouble, and I can’t, for the life of me, figure out what it is.
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'round-the-dial - The Alan Lomax Collection (part 2)
Thursday 01 July @ 11:19:11 (Read: 4039) |
by Tom Hallett
(We continue with the second of our two-part series on Alan Lomax's Deep River of Song collection this week, where we take a peek at Louisiana: Catch That Train And Testify!)
The Louisiana that John A. and Alan Lomax (along with Ruby Terrill Lomax, Paul Yeager, and, later, Irene Therese Whitfield) visited in the early-to-mid 1930s wasn't very different from the Louisiana of 75 or 100 years earlier, when many of the songs they'd capture on tape were first undergoing transformation from proud African traditions to Christian-and-English/French-influenced slave work songs, field shouts, religious hollers, and early blues standards-to-be.
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'round-the-dial - The Alan Lomax Collection
Wednesday 23 June @ 17:51:39 (Read: 4368) |
by Tom Hallett
Once upon a time, in lands far, far away, a steadfast and eminently curious musicologist by the name of Alan Lomax lugged an ancient tape recorder through mountains, jungles and forests and captured some of the true root sounds of the music you hear and love today. But that's not all he captured—along the way, he managed to preserve for future study the very cultures and traditions of peoples who've since disappeared or been assimilated into the modern societies they presaged.
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The Great Depression
Wednesday 16 June @ 12:12:22 (Read: 3932) |
by Tom Hallett
You're running down a cold, wet dock, arms waving frantically like an aircraft carrier flagman who's just realized that the jet taking off still has a fuel hose attached to it, screaming in vain at the vague outline of a quickly retreating, sea-bound ship.
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'round-the-dial
Wednesday 09 June @ 10:34:23 (Read: 6973) |
by Tom Hallett
(This review of Jay Farrar's latest album, the live CD Stone, Steel, & Bright Lights, is continued from last week.
One other note—I had thought briefly about editing/toning down a bit of the anger running through this week's column towards the current administration and our national and international policies, but after the passing of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan last Friday, the attendant outpouring of staged grief and revisionist dreck clogging the mainstream press, and the barrage of idiotic e-mails I've received over the past few days concerning part one, I think it's more important than ever to leave it just the way it is, if only to present a dissenting viewpoint in some area of the press.
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'round-the-dial
Thursday 03 June @ 12:21:40 (Read: 5167) |
by Tom Hallett
Back in 1981, when Bruce Springsteen uttered the above quote, we thought the planet was a pretty scary place. The U.S. and the Soviet Union were still locked in a bitter Cold War, Iranian fundamentalists had proven they could hold a world superpower hostage, and President Ronald Reagan (along with many of the good folks currently serving in and around The White House) was set to lead us through one of the greediest, most self-serving, demoralizing decades the country had seen since the 1950s. The rock ’n’ roll voices that the youth of America had come to depend on for information, inspiration and righteous indignation were muted, or silent altogether.
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'round-the-dial
Wednesday 26 May @ 14:04:51 (Read: 4526) |
by Tom Hallett
The tiny red light on 'Round The Dial's answering machine is glaring accusingly out at the world (or me, anyway) and blinking furiously. "You have SIXTY-TWO new messages ..." Man, you just know at least half o' those have to be complaints, problems, and rants. Sixty-two?! Whew! Guess it's time to drop the funky, ne'er-do-well little projects we've been involved with lately (for just a minute) and hop back on that ole CD review bandwagon, kiddies.
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'round-the-dial
Wednesday 19 May @ 13:23:41 (Read: 5357) |
by Tom Hallett
Welcome, 'Dial-heads! This week we're going to delve into the tricky subject of celebrity drunk driving! How fun, huh? Well, probably not a lot of fun for the folks who've been arrested, or the people they might've hurt or killed along the way, but then this is a goofy music-related column (most of the time), so let's try and forget the truly horrific undertones for just a minute and take a look at the lighter side of...
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'round-the-dial
Wednesday 12 May @ 12:00:25 (Read: 4346) |
Detroit: The Motor City, Rock City, broke city, bad city, city of Stooges, the MC5, the Motor City Madman, and Motown Records. Well, it used to be, anyway. These days, Detroit as a modern metropolis—and especially its music scene—has one helluva past to catch up to, or live up to, or at least fess up to. I imagine being a young—or reasonably young—rock and roll band in Detroit in the year 2004 would be somewhat akin to being a young—or reasonably young—rock and roll band in Minneapolis/St. Paul in the year 2004.
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KILL UGLY RADIO: (Or, How To Lose Dem Ol’ Transmitter Blues, Pt. 3)
Wednesday 05 May @ 15:09:11 (Read: 5201) |
by Tom Hallett
I slung my beer-heavy backpack to the ground and stepped forward to meet the remainder of the pirate radio gang. The first of the three to reach me, a short, pudgy fellow with horn-rimmed glasses and just a smattering of grey hair crowning his reddened scalp, stuck a meaty paw at me and nearly shouted, “Hallett! Damn good to meet you! I’m Ranger X, and these here are my partners,” he nodded to the man standing on his right, “Mr. Ta-Da,” then to the tallest one of the bunch, on his left, “and this, this is the inimitable Dr. Skiboobalee, professor of all things radio, at your service.”
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KILL UGLY RADIO: Round The Dial for 04/28/04
Wednesday 28 April @ 13:17:24 (Read: 4536) |
(Or, How To Lose Dem Ol' Transmitter Blues, Pt 2)
by Tom Hallett
The rusty back door of the Volvo swung open with such force that it bounced back upon itself and nearly closed, but I hardly noticed as foul black smoke belched from its exhaust and formed a cloud of noxious material around my head. I grabbed for the door handle through the sooty air, and as I slammed into the back seat, the car shot forward with an audible groan. We were on the road—for better or worse—and I still had no idea who was driving or where we were headed.
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KILL UGLY RADIO
Wednesday 21 April @ 12:06:25 (Read: 5053) |
(Or, How To Lose Dem Ol' Transmitter Blues, Pt. 1)
by Tom Hallett
"Yeah—you don't know me, but I've been following your column for a couple of years now, and a mutual friend gave me your phone number ..." The voice was harsh, the words whispered gruffly, and as I struggled to blink away the fog of sleep churning 'round my brain, I pictured a 50-ish, portly white guy wearing an ancient black derby and a stained, yellowing wife-beater T-shirt on the other end of the line. "Um ... OK ..." I stuttered, sinking into my old green chair and rummaging through my desk drawer for a renegade cigarette.
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'Round The Dial for 04/14/04
Wednesday 14 April @ 12:44:18 (Read: 4787) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, ho, 'Dial-heads, casual readers, and friends. No time to mess wit' the small stuff this week, so let's get right to it. We've got a couple of "Weird Rock News" items, then it's back to CD reviews ...
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Get 14 albums or tapes for a penny! Nothing more to buy- EVER!!
Thursday 08 April @ 13:17:05 (Read: 5021) |
by Tom Hallett
I was digging through an old stack of magazines and comic books from the late Sixties and early Seventies the other night- a much-needed respite from the ubiquitous, unremitting cacophony of fear, selfishness, vanity, and greed emanating from my radio and telly- when I came across some of those old RCA and Columbia House Record And Tape Club ads. You remember the ones- “Get 14 albums or tapes for a penny! Nothing more to buy- EVER!!”
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Round The Dial for 03/24/04
Wednesday 24 March @ 12:26:16 (Read: 4543) |
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by Tom Hallett
Ah, can't you just FEEL the love, baby? Spring is about to
be sprung, the grass will soon be green, and I'm almost to the bottom of the
stack o' discs that's been hiding my weekend pass from this looney bin for the
past three months or so. So let's get right to it—for this edition of
March Musical Muck Madness, we'll jam through half a dozen of the good, the
bad, and the merely mediocre.
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'Round The Dial: St. Patrick's Day Edition
Wednesday 17 March @ 12:01:15 (Read: 4451) |
by Tom Hallett
Greetings, ‘Dial-heads, and happy St. Patrick’s
Day to one and all! Enjoy your green beer, street parades, and cabbage soup,
just make sure ye watch underfoot fer the little people, now, ya hear? Me, I’m
actually of Irish descent, and therefore have established a tradition of taking
St. Patty’s Day off from my usual bibulous pursuits. Let the amateurs
have one day (two, if ya throw in New Year’s Eve...), that’s my
take on it, it is. But that doesn’t mean I’ll put my pen to rest
and lay about, either- we’ve still got a couple installments to go in
our March Musical Muck Madness series, so let’s get to it, shall we?
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March Musical Muck Madness
Wednesday 10 March @ 13:19:49 (Read: 5109) |
by Tom Hallett
March Musical Muck Madness continues with some semi-pithy reviews of albums I’ve received in the mail over the past few months that I thought were so rotten I actually handled them with HAZ-MAT gloves and physically threw them in a bag for recycling. Oh, it’s not that the musicians and “artists” involved in the various projects were/are untalented at playing their instruments, or that the recordings are crappy, or even that they might make music that I personally don’t enjoy listening to. No, it’s worse than that, my friends. These CD’s are downright FOUL. Steaming, reeking, sensibilities-offending, god-forsaken SMEGMA!!
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Gingerjake: Paralysis
Friday 27 February @ 12:08:57 (Read: 6444) |
by Tom Hallet
DOLDRUMS: 1. a) Low spirits; dull, gloomy, listless feeling. (b) Sluggishness, or complete inactivity; stagnation. - Webster’s New World Dictionary
Ah, late February, early March. There’s always been something about this gray, half-lit time of year that either inspires the hell outta artists, musicians, and the like, or sends them scurrying for their basements, bottles, and binges.
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'Round The Dial Remembers George Harrison, 02/25/43 - 11/29/01
Wednesday 18 February @ 11:56:30 (Read: 5062) |
by Tom Hallett
Lately, when I look back at my on-and-off (mostly on) love affair with the Beatles over the years, my thoughts always seem to return to lead guitarist George Harrison. Why, I'm not quite sure. Maybe it's because when I was a teenager, his solo music brought me back as a fan of the band and their respective careers. Maybe it was the fascinating way he combined spirituality, dignity, courage, and a delightfully black sense of humor through the darkest times of his life. Or maybe it's because, of all the big Beatles news in my life time, George's passing on November 29, 2001, came after I'd reached adulthood and could really understand what a precious gift the world had lost.
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Round The Dial: Valentine's Day Edition
Wednesday 11 February @ 11:04:55 (Read: 4687) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, hey, music fans—welcome to another installment of Round The Dial, your one-stop, no-bullshit, right-between-yer-eyes rock ’n' roll depot. Well, most weeks, anyway. This week just happens to include Valentine's Day—that most mushy (and commercially viable) little homage to love and romance that invariable sneaks up on you (guys) every February—though, so we'll chill the wine, dim the lights, and give a nod to the tender side of rock ’n' roll.
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Mars: A Rock And Roll Obsession: Part 2
Monday 09 February @ 15:05:32 (Read: 4377) |
By Tom Hallett
"Greetings, Earthlings! We come in pieces. Please do NOT to take us to your leaders. They scare the bejeezus outta us. Anyway, we're here in search of INTELLIGENT life, so they'd do us no good. What might be a smashing good time would be if we could sit down over a bottle of handsomely aged Venutian whiskey and listen to some of the strange emanations and utterances we've overheard you calling 'Rock And Roll.' Got any?"
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Mars - A Rock ’N’ Roll Obsession:
Tuesday 27 January @ 19:14:32 (Read: 4861) |
By Tom Hallett
Did anybody else catch the Democratic "debates" on the tube the other night? What a snooze! I mean, besides the news anchors' pathetic obsession with Howard Dean's now-infamous howl (which, I hear, has now been officially included in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's "Famous Screams" section, along with those of Robert Plant, Little Richard, and John Fogerty), and the absolute insanity of the presence of a Hawk military candidate who freely admits voting for both Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan, the entire hot air festival was about as entertaining as I imagine a guided tour of George W. Bush's private library would be.
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'round-the-dial
Wednesday 21 January @ 13:53:12 (Read: 4466) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey-ho, 'Dial-heads! I trust you're all keeping warm and comfy in your respective Hobbit-holes as winter digs her frost-encrusted nails deep into our collective psyches? Good, good! 'Cos I've got an album for ya this week that's sure to be the perfect companion for yon looming months of hibernation and liquid vacation.
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Honeydogs - 10,000 Years
Wednesday 14 January @ 12:25:24 (Read: 4944) |
by Tom Hallett
A friend and I were swapping funny family stories awhile back (you know the kind—whose dad did the craziest shit before you were born, whose mom gets tipsy quicker at parties), and we hit upon the subject of wacky uncles. The end results of my conversation with said buddy concerning wild uncles were that: (A) He won, hands down. I've had some crazy uncles, but his takes the cake. (B) I really realized how much of a difference my own uncles made in my life, even though most of them died when I was very young.
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'round-the-dial
Wednesday 07 January @ 12:17:05 (Read: 5078) |
by Tom Hallett
Greetings, ’Dial-heads! Welcome to the New Year, and here’s to hopin’ that most of your hangovers have worn off by now—or you’re well on your ways to creating fresh ones. For those of you who’ve missed the past few weeks of RTD, we’ve had somewhat of an ongoing debate raging in these pages over my Christmas Eve column, in which I reviewed an old Fleetwood Mac album. For full details, check out the archives section of Pulse’s website, http://www.pulsetc.com. That column spawned several nasty missives from overzealous fans of the band, one of which I responded to last week.
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'round-the-dial
Tuesday 30 December @ 17:14:10 (Read: 8884) |
by Tom Hallett
Ahhh...the very last ‘Round The Dial for 2003, and I’m happy to say what a quick year it was, too. I’m also thrilled that we can, as they say, go out with a bang this time ‘round. Last week’s column about an ancient Fleetwood Mac album (which I thought, frankly, would sorta just slip by most folks in the haze of the holidays—who knew some wankers would be sittin’ around on Christmas Eve obsessing about moldy ‘70s bands? But then agin’, bein’ that I’ve done the same, I shoulda known better) brought the kind of reader’s responses that I sit around all DAMN year waitin’ fer.
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'round-the-dial
Tuesday 23 December @ 18:37:51 (Read: 5511) |
by Tom Hallett
Hey, ho, Dial-heads! Happy Holidaze to ya all, hope you’re enjoyin’ the best of the season, wherever you are. If you’re like me, you’ve had just about enough of the commercialized onslaught that Xmas has become, and you’re hoping like hell that I’m not going to write some long-winded, sappy, over-wrought Noel column. Well, guess what? I’m not!! As a matter of fact, this week’s column is so far removed from -er- THAT, that by the end of it, ya just might forget what time of year it is at all. Let’s give ‘er a shot, anyway, eh?
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Lucky Jeremy: Call It What You Want...But This City Is Mine
Wednesday 17 December @ 13:30:33 (Read: 5069) |
by Tom Hallett
You ever have one o’ them days/weeks/months/lives that just seems to drag like a rusty tailpipe under a car? You know, the kind where the clock ticks with molasses-like tocks and time slows to an almost glacial crawl? Sure you have. We all have.
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'round the dial
Wednesday 10 December @ 11:16:10 (Read: 5134) |
by Tom Hallett
There are three big questions city folks usually have when speakin’ of the country: (1) Does moss grow on the north side of a tree? (2) If a tree falls when there’s nobody around, does it make a sound? And, of course, (3)—the old standard—does a bear shit in the woods? Well, I’m here to give away those time-tested secrets once an’ fer all, kids. The answers are as follows:
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Halloween, Alaska
Wednesday 03 December @ 13:30:10 (Read: 6063) |
by Tom Hallett
One time I had this dream, and in the dream, everyone I knew had the heads and faces of those little ‘70s novelty trolls. Big yellow or red or green or purple hair, over-sized noses, leering grins. They all had their normal bodies (and wore their normal clothes), though, making the troll-heads look even more bizarre and frightening than they already were. It was kind of like living with the cast of Killer Klowns From Outer Space, ya know?
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'round the dial
Wednesday 26 November @ 11:37:47 (Read: 6118) |
Greetings, Dial-heads! Welcome to this week’s edition of RTD, your premier source for rock n’ roll reviews, ramblin’ rants, and the rare, roaring rave. Guess which one I’m gonna do this time out? If you guessed (B), rant—you are kee-rect! Now, I don’t mean to be overly morbid here, especially on this Thanksgiving (read: Kill the Indians, eat their food, take their land, destroy it all) week, but let’s just get one thing straight: We all gotta go sometime, and (thankfully) none of us really know when that time’ll come.
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Heartaches, Private Dicks, An’ Old Dogs With New Tricks, Part Two
Wednesday 19 November @ 12:29:18 (Read: 5570) |
This column is continued from last week. Surf online to http://www.pulsetc.com for Part One.
As I wuz sayin’ last week, let’s go over the many comparisons to Willie Nelson’s own life in episode #90 of The Rockford Files, Heartaches Of A Fool, to that of the hard-drinkin’, music lovin’ character Charlie Strayhorn, one more time:
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TV Land
Wednesday 12 November @ 21:42:02 (Read: 7638) |
by Tom Hallett
I’m dumpin’ cable TV in a couple o’ weeks. That’s right, I’m weaning myself off o’ that billions-of-miles-long teat that, like a giant alien mommy, feeds me a steady diet of off-balance cable news, live courtroom drama, behind the music specials on people who are more behind than music, and, of course, good ol’ TV Land. TV Land is that special place where worn-out old bastards like myself who grew up in the “Happy ‘70’s” can go to get back in touch with our screwed-up childhoods.
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Of Roaring Engines, Screaming Amps, And Grand Young Champs...
Wednesday 05 November @ 09:58:52 (Read: 5908) |
by Tom Hallett
One of the loudest non-musical places in the world has to be the below-deck engine room on a 150-foot-plus Alaskan fishing tender. The experience is probably about as close to actually scrunching up and sliding inside of Pete Townshend’s amp during that show where beachcombers in France could hear the Who’s concert on the shores of Merry Olde — you know, the one that got ‘em in the Guiness Book Of World Records — as a guy could get. At least without getting arrested.
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50 Snipppets of Conversation Overheard @ Local Bars
Wednesday 29 October @ 11:53:19 (Read: 4633) |
by Tom Hallett
So we been playin’ it pretty fookin’ safe here over the past few weeks—mebbe I’m gittin’ soft ‘er else mah head is cavin’ in from the force of the amps an’ the cheap rice beer... But GODDAMMIT! We’re gonna tear it up this time! Yes, folks, I’ve spent the past few (decades, shhh!) months loitering and lingering amongst the best and worst of you, sippin’ shitty beer around town in dives that sailors wouldn’t be caught dead in, listening to great acts and crappy alike, disguised as the last guy you’d ever think would be Tom Hallett.
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Wellstone World Music Day
Tuesday 21 October @ 15:54:50 (Read: 5305) |
When my pal/musical compatriot Jim Walsh sent out a mass e-mail a few months ago, asking anyone who had anything to do with the media to get involved with a project called Wellstone World Music Day (to be held annually on October 25th), I have to say I was a bit stumped at first.
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Best Fight Story
Tuesday 14 October @ 17:28:43 (Read: 4913) |
by Tom Hallett
Best Fight Story
Free Everybody
2003 (Fight or Flight)
With a monicker like Best Fight Story, you might pick up this band’s CD in the local music section of your neighborhood record store and think it’s gonna be some weird musical tribute to a couple o’ lifelong bullies who enjoy nothing more than pounding on the heads of innocents and gathering to match bloody tales afterwards.
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'round the dial
Wednesday 08 October @ 10:34:59 (Read: 5347) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “All my records are comedy records.”
—Bob Dylan
SONG OF THE WEEK: “It’s Not Funny Anymore”
—Husker Du
RTD continues our ongoing local and national CD reviews series this week with an offering from a Twin Cities outfit.
The Mubbla Buggs
Colouramic
Exoteric Tunes (2003)
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'round the dial
Wednesday 01 October @ 12:05:00 (Read: 4889) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I don’t think that music is going to make you go out and bomb a school, or whatever. Maybe you have to start with the assumption that your kid is smart enough not to do something so stupid.”
—Scott McDonald of Arcwelder
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Avalanche”
—Leonard Cohen
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'round the dial
Wednesday 24 September @ 14:01:47 (Read: 5254) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I think that’s the key to all songs—you have to unlock certain doors to free yourself up so the song won’t be predictable. So that it has life. Otherwise it’s a cliche.”
—Paul Simon
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Sleep Don’t Come Easy.”
—Spikedriver
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Round the Dial
Thursday 18 September @ 12:24:53 (Read: 5210) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’d slur the words on purpose or I’d miss a word. I’d try to smile, but the nervous twitch in my face kept the smile from coming. Sweat would be pouring out of me just after 10 minutes. As soon as the show was over, I’d burst into the dressing room in a rage, stomp my guitar or smash a hole in a door with my fist, striking out at something—anything. Then, alone in my room with the beer and amphetamines, I’d pace the floor all night, trying to outwalk and outlast whatever demon was snapping at my heels.”
—Johnny Cash, on his early ‘60s speed addiction
SONG OF THE WEEK: “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead”
—Warren Zevon
Ya know, about a week or so ago, I’d just sent RTD off to the editors when I heard that singer/songwriter/rocker Warren Zevon had passed away. I remember trying to digest the information that the first artist I’d ever seen play at First Avenue, the first rock and roll artist my now 14-year-old son had sung along with in perfect harmony (“Aaa-oooo, werewolves of London...”) when he was a baby, and the first guy I’d ever heard warble out songs about dismemberment, stalking and suicide in a socially-acceptable format (FM radio—if ya can call that socially acceptable) was gone forever. Man, I thought that was gonna be the worst news I’d have to deal with all week. Well, as we all know by now, that was just the beginning.
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Round the Dial
Thursday 11 September @ 14:12:20 (Read: 4906) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Rock and roll? It’s not music. It’s a disease.”
—Columbia Records exec Mitch Miller
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Born With a Tail”
—The Supersuckers
Hey, ho! Welcome to this week’s edition of RTD, where we’ll continue reviewing the once-again massive stack o’ discs occupying that dusty little space next to my desk ...
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Round the Dial
Thursday 04 September @ 14:51:46 (Read: 4985) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “After air, food, water and fucking, I think music is the next human necessity. People think music is a luxury. In actual fact, music is a necessity.”
—Keith Richards
SONG OF THE WEEK: “The Clouds Are Full of Wine (Not Whiskey or Rye)”
—Captain Beefheart
Noise, glorious noise! Trucks, trains, planes, cars, motorcycles, buses, helicopters and sirens, sirens, sirens everywhere. People screaming, bass boxes bumpin’, phones ringin’, alarms beeping, buzzing, ringing, screeching: WAKE THE FUCK UP!! Summer’s almost over and you haven’t even started to make a dent in that monstrous pile of “To Review” CDs piled precariously next to your desk like a stack o’ slightly skewed waffles!! Oh, wait, that’s my trip, not yours. But beware! If you do have any projects, promises or plans you swore you’d stick to this year but haven’t tackled yet, remember that we seem to be caught in some kind of cosmic time warp, and although the sun is shining and the skies are blue today, we could wake up tomorrow to the cold, grey, pre-winter hullaballoo of Halloween! Brrr! I think I’ll take advantage of the weirdness that is Labor Day (an annual holiday that seems to serve no real purpose except for reminding everybody how cool it would be to not get out of bed every Monday from the ages of 6 to 70 years old, or until we drop dead, whichever comes first) and knock out some of these albums I just KNOW you’ve all been dying to read reviews on. In the meantime, you might as well dig out the rakes, snow shovels and thermal underwear now, so when you do crawl out of bed on some cold, not-too-distant morning, you’ll be completely prepared for the previous night’s warp. Onward ...
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 27 August @ 15:29:19 (Read: 5311) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I suppose you might just call me a sadist.”
—Hank Williams, Sr.
SONG OF THE WEEK: “What’s Your Sign, Girl?”
—Alex Chilton
Ah, the final days of summer. The weather becomes about as predictable as a badger in a briar patch, the State Fair fires up their grills, games for the shills, an’ stages full of ’80s has-been acts, and firewood starts to look like a wiser investment than an air conditioner. Amid all that seasonal hoo-rah, though, I’m starting to notice that quite a few of my single buddies’ thoughts are turning from that ever-elusive one-night stand to actually trying to find a mate for those long, cold, winter months ahead. It’s tough, though, they tell me. After all, there’s sooo much attractive, half-dressed eye-candy traipsing around, that it’s hard to stop that inbred wolf-chase long enough to actually hook up with somebody they wouldn’t go insane with once cabin fever and frostbite replace our current wanderlust and sunburn. I can diggit; I too once tread the treacherous ground of the single male, and it can be, to put it in gentle terms, less than thrilling at times.
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'round the dial
Wednesday 20 August @ 11:47:00 (Read: 5810) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Everybody was getting really loud, psychedelic, flashy; and we went the other way. This was never discussed, you understand, it was just a constant reaction through the years.”
—Robbie Robertson, The Band
SONG OF THE WEEK: “The Guitar Can’t Keep From Crying”
—George Harrison
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 13 August @ 11:25:20 (Read: 5623) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “God guard me from the thoughts men think/In the mind alone/He that sings a lasting song/Thinks in the marrow bone”
—W.B. Yeats
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Inmates (We’re All Crazy)”
—Alice Cooper
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 06 August @ 10:42:30 (Read: 6406) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: ““There are certain things I feel need to be done in terms of music and performance, and what these things amount to is that the world doesn’t need another posturing clown yammering away about his ‘baby.’”
—David Byrne
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Many a Fine Lady”
—Townes Van Zandt
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 23 July @ 15:07:10 (Read: 7307) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I have a low tolerance for mediocrity in music and life. I’m into pain and joy, and the in-between doesn’t interest me.”
—Steve Ear;le
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Guitar Blues”
—Chet Atkins
Man, talk about strange days, indeed. I’m layin’ low at my crib, recovering from some minor surgery, tryin’ to stay outta trouble, spendin’ most of my time converting an abandoned birdhouse I found in the alley into a massive purple Tribute To Motown (that’s one way to get rid of those annoying little plastic raisin guys that’ve been sittin’ on my shelf since the early ’90s), and gettin’ the most outta my prescriptions. Do ya think I can escape the mad, mad, mad, mad world of rock an’ roll? Nawwww.
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 16 July @ 11:15:04 (Read: 5585) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We never sold millions of albums, but we did try to get a toehold. We did always plan on holding out, on making music we could put our names on. I’d like to think we never put out any real dogs, and that we never joined up, and that we got in some good licks, and played some music that will last and be remembered.” —Levon Helm, The Band
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Would I Be Happy Then?” —Jack Logan
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 09 July @ 12:19:39 (Read: 6021) |
by Tom Hallett
File the following under: DIDN’T REALLY PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT HE WAS READING, eh? Diggit, normally, I love receiving angry, irate letters from readers who actually allow my wacked-out, bibulous musings to get under their skin. I read them and file them away for a future letters to the Dial column. But this latest missive is so off-base, so blatantly ignorant of the facts, that I just hadda share it with the rest of Dial-land. Here’s the back story: Last week, I reviewed an album by a band called Kangaroo, and in trying to illustrate the amazing blandicity of the first half of the album, I used the following line: “The first track, ‘Any Day,’ sounded to me like the kinda cookie-cutter, assembly line bullshit you hear on KDWB or Cities 97, totally inoffensive, safe as milk.”
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 02 July @ 12:59:22 (Read: 5052) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I want to be the Prime Minister of England someday.”
—David Bowie
SONG OF THE WEEK: “America Drinks And Goes Home”
—Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 25 June @ 12:01:55 (Read: 5846) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I don’t consider my guitar sacred. It could bust and break, it’s pretty old now, and I could still get another one. It’s a tool for me, that’s all it is.”
—Bob Dylan
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Don’t Slander Me”
—Roky Erickson
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 18 June @ 12:47:06 (Read: 5224) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The big difference between us and punk groups is that we like KC and the Sunshine Band. You ask Johnny Rotten if he likes KC and the Sunshine Band, and he’ll blow snot in your face.”
—Chris Frantz, Talking Heads
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Summer Of Madness”
—Ol’ Yeller
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 11 June @ 15:25:05 (Read: 5626) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressable is music.”
—Aldous Huxley
SONG OF THE WEEK: “The Right To Remain Silent”
—Silver Jews
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 04 June @ 11:54:45 (Read: 7150) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “People are just too superconscious of every creative move to do anything anymore that’s outside of all contexts or just a simple expression of something with no real ramifications, at least none that the creator consciously put there...”
—Lester Bangs
SONG OF THE WEEK: “I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City”
—Harry Nilsson
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 28 May @ 11:30:14 (Read: 6112) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “This is a very rootless life. The only thing you got to hang onto is family. I can sit at home with the kids and the wife, and to me it’s a perfectly rock and roll natural wedding. My wife wakes me up and says good morning to me, even though it might already be evening, then I get down to work.”
—Keith Richards
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Mohammed’s Radio” —Warren Zevon
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 21 May @ 11:22:50 (Read: 32629) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I sat out in the darkness and felt the dew drops fall. I watched the moon rise in its place. I heard the night birds call. God’s world, in perfect order. In line, one after one. May I be in accordance on my last setting sun.”
—Johnny Cash
SONG OF THE WEEK: “As Tears Go By”
—The Rolling Stones
RIP: Valerie June Carter Cash, 1929-2003
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 14 May @ 12:56:19 (Read: 5288) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I build more sandcastles in one lifetime than there are pyramids in Egypt.” -Arlo Guthrie
SONG OF THE WEEK: “My Dog And Me” -John Hiatt
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 07 May @ 10:26:01 (Read: 6070) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’ve met all the women, and I’ll tell you—I’m more woman than any of them. I’m a real woman because I have love, dependability, I’m good, kind, gentle and I have the power to give real love. Why else would you think that such a strong man as David Bowie would be close to me? He’s a real man and I’m a real woman. Just like Catherine Deneuve.” —Iggy Pop
SONG OF THE WEEK: “They Call Me Big Mama” —Big Mama Thornton
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 30 April @ 11:48:21 (Read: 5027) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We’re not politicians, you know, look his lips are moving, they’re lying. We’re a rock and roll band, and we don’t want to go out and bullshit an audience. An audience can smell bullshit from a fuckin’ mile away. It might wash once, but when you come on twice be prepared for the ripe tomato.”
—AC/DC’s Angus Young
SONG OF THE WEEK: “All Falls Away”
—The Silos
Fighting, fighting, fighting ... seems like the whole world is consumed with fighting these days. Fighting in the skies, fighting in the water, fighting in the streets, fighting for air, fighting for your lives, fighting disease, fighting famine, fighting the good fight, fighting for your right to party; do ya think we’ve got a fighting chance? We fight with other nations, other races, our neighbors, our friends, our families, our spouses and significant others. We fight sleep, inflation, higher taxes, fire (sometimes we even fight fire with fire); we fight addictions, we’d rather fight than switch, and we fight back tears. It’s all a monumental struggle, and it’s usually all for naught. Some folks just plain like to fight, others feel they have to, and many more (the majority, I’d say) would rather not.
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 23 April @ 13:04:09 (Read: 5483) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "You can't afford to be paranoid. Being run by fear is the worst thing anyone can do to themselves. If you're afraid to come out of your house; afraid of walking the streets, you're assigning yourself to some kind of purgatory. It's not hell, but it might as well be."
—Keith Richards
SONG OF THE WEEK: "You Fucked Up"
—Ween
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 16 April @ 13:05:52 (Read: 5221) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Not all truth is funny. But that which is funny is true.” -Joe Henry
SONG OF THE WEEK: “After The Rain” -Chuck Prophet
Welcome to this week’s edition of Round The Dial! The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the mudpuppies and street-walkin’ cheetahs have risen their slumbering selves from a long winter’s nap—blah, blah, blah. Let’s just cut right to the chase—Spring Has Sprung! And it feels pretty damn good, even if the winter was just a kind of confusing, gray blur and not really one for the record books. Anyway, by the time ya’ll read this, the temps will probably have plunged back below any sane comfort level, and it’ll be nothing but a nice, warm memory. If that’s the case, simply clip and save this column for a few days—you know how crazy spring in Minnesota can be. It reminds me of the spring of ‘79, when...wait a minnit...WHAT IN THE HELL AM I DOING TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER??!! AHHHHGGHH!! I’m becoming a typical Minneso-tan, ey? Christ...I guess spring fever’s got a chokehold on me, after all. I best just lay some springtime tunes on youse guys and go sit on the porch with a cold one. So here it is, Tommy’s One-Stop Mix Shop presents a spring music compilation tape/CD:
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Wednesday 09 April @ 12:09:37 (Read: 5729) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “There’s a kind of self-censorship that goes on when you’re writing a song. You might attack a public figure, you might attack something you hate, but I wouldn’t use it on my ex-wife. I’ve probably slipped in some cynical things about..uh...people like ex-wives.” -
—Richard Thompson
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Twenty-One”
—Judd Herrmann
09/69
Dear Mom and Dad,
Getting short, Mom, coming home pretty soon. Going to quit flying soon, too much for me now. I went in front of a board for sp/5 will know soon if I made it. I have now 20 oak leaf clusters and some more paper for you. I have flown 1500 hours now, and in those hours I could tell you a lifetime story. I have been put in for a medal again, but this time I have seen far beyond of what ever you will see. That is why I’m going to quit flying. I dream of Valerie’s hand touching mine telling me to come home; but I wake up, and it’s some sergeant telling me I have to fly. Today I am 21, far away but coming home older.
Love,
Larry
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Wednesday 02 April @ 11:58:05 (Read: 5615) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “In my next incarnation, I want to become a dolphin.”
—Robert Palmer
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Runnin’ And Gunnin’ You Down”
—The Blood Shot
When I found the above quote from ’70s/’80s schlock rocker Robert Palmer a few years back, I filed it away along with forty or fifty others that I thought I might someday use in a column. Most of those, cool ones from folks like Frank Zappa, Neil Young, Paul Westerberg and Hunter S. Thompson, were used up rather quickly. Bob’s quote (I don’t know the man well enough, really, to call him by such a familiar title, but then everything else about Mr. Palmer is stuffy enough, so I’ll stick with Bob), however, simply sat as useless and idle as George W. Bush’s little willy, right next to quotes from people who probably, at one time, caused some sort of excitement for said willy—people like Debby Boone, Carly Simon, and Shaun Cassidy. Shallow people, shallow music, shallow quotes, whattaya expect, right? I never thought there’d come a day when Bob’s quote would have any social, musical or timely qualities whatsoever. Shows how much I know.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 26 March @ 10:50:52 (Read: 5957) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Maybe there is no Heaven. Or maybe this is all pure gibberish- a product of the demented imagination of a lazy drunken hillbilly...who has found out a way to live out there where the real winds blow- to sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whiskey and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested...”
—Hunter S. Thompson
SONG OF THE WEEK: “There’s A Wall In Washington”
—Iris Dement
I remember back in fourth or fifth grade, this kid named Tony Mantor found a whole barrel full of ancient lead toy soldiers out in the woods over by Mickey’s Market. Man, were we jealous—he brought ‘em to school a few at a time, each batch of three or four representing different warriors from different wars the tiny representatives of death and destruction had clashed in. Roman Centurions brandished tiny shields and spears, wore light armor and were crafted in such exquisite detail that every fold and wrinkle and facial crease was immediately visible to the naked eye. Medieval knights frozen in mid-swing with wicked-looking maces, blades, axes, poles and daggers. Revolutionary War troops; lobster-colored British cavalry and infantry and gunners, cannon and flags and wagons and miniscule supplies; American rebels, dressed in impossibly natty blue uniforms; hulking, mohawk-bedecked Native Americans carrying great stone tomahawks, crude war clubs, and fistfuls of what looked a lot like sopping, wilted scalps. Civil War-era grays and blues, turn-of-the-century U.S. Navy deck swabbers and Spanish foot soldiers, and a slew of somber officers from across the centuries—long, wicked blades stabbing the sky like sharp, metallic phalluses—astride furious, frothing steeds of white, gray, brown, and black.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 19 March @ 12:56:57 (Read: 5548) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “You know, if God showed up tomorrow and said, ‘What do you want to do,’ yeah, if he said, ‘Do you want to be President?’ No. ‘Do you want to be in politics?’ No. ‘What do you want?’ I want to be a rhythm guitar player.”
—Lou Reed
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Land Of Used To Be”
—Eugene Chadbourne
& Ethan Johns
As the dogs of war tear inexorably toward their prey, as rosy-cheeked children beg in the streets for peace, as the factory belts and trucks, trains, and products roll steadily, uniformly towards their deadlines, warehouses, and store shelves, and as the country prepares for its greatest inner turmoil since Vietnam, it’s sometimes hard to remember that we’re still damn lucky just to be able to wake up every morning to power, phones, food, smokes, booze, free, citizen-run newspapers, and, hands down, the best fuckin’ music in the world.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 12 March @ 12:02:39 (Read: 6735) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I was watching a show the other night, and it was about how teenagers are basically under threat by corporations in terms of music, what music they listen to, what brand names they buy, like, it was really, really fascinating. The whole group, mass-mentality is what is sort of forced down their throats.”
—Rufus Wainwright
SONG OF THE WEEK: “All By Myself”
—Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
RTD will continue (honestly) with our CD reviews section next week, when we’ll delve into new releases from Tim Easton, Tommy Womack, Jay Farrar, The Blood Shot, Hungry Horse, and more. First, though, an update on last week’s column about the raping and pillaging of old ’70s (mostly) one-hit-wonders by greedy modern record labels. I probably wouldn’t even give this story any ink if it didn’t involve a member of one of my favorite ’70s bands, Badfinger (whose main songwriters, Pete Ham and Tom Evans, both hung themselves at tragically young ages, mostly due to being FUCKED by major record labels), and he didn’t live right here in town, and he hadn’t turned out to be one of the nicest fuckin’ guys you’ll ever meet who’s actually breathed the same air as John Lennon. I’m talkin’, of course, about Badfinger singer / guitarist / songwriter Joey Molland, who’s lived right here in the Twin Cities for over twenty years.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 05 March @ 13:03:13 (Read: 6049) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “That’s what music and film and art are for...to pull you up out of that despair, to shine a light on new possibilities. That’s where the living is, that’s where life is.”
—Bruce Springsteen
SONG OF THE WEEK: “God’s Away On Business”
—Tom Waits
Hey-ho, ‘Dial-heads! We’ll continue reviewing the massive pile o’ discs teetering precariously beside my stereo next week, but this time ‘round, I’ve got a wee little rant for ya. You know those ‘60s and ‘70s “Superstars” collections you see on the shelves of some of our larger music retailers? They’re today’s answer to the ubiquitous K-Tel and Ronco Big Hits series released throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, but they have a nasty little secret. You must’ve noticed them, if only because the price tags on ‘em are so low—$7.99, $8.99—and there are MOUNDS of ‘em. Some so closely resemble the official Billboard Top 10/Top 40 collections that, unless you produce a magnifying glass and some sort of carbon dating system, you’d never know the difference. And what, exactly, IS the difference? Oh, it’s evil, man.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 26 February @ 11:31:16 (Read: 6858) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “People tend to assume that “Sister Morphine” comes from an incident in my life, but at the time I wrote it, I’d only done smack once...by the time it came out on Sticky Fingers, I was the character in the song. You have to be very careful what you write, because it’s a gateway.”
—Marianne Faithfull
SONG OF THE WEEK: “F You A-Bomb”
—Sean Na Na
RIP: Johnny PayCheck and club shows featuring flash pots.
I’ve always loved the above quote from Ms. Faithfull, because if you buy into her theory that you can write your way into deep %@!#$& (thinks I, who always seem to be in some level of toxic bung-droppins ranging from ankle to waist to neck deep), why, by Gawd, you should be able to write yer way OUT of it. I mean, don’t that make sense? And, going one step further with that particular postulation, couldn’t one then actually write one’s way PAST the “Out of deep %@!#$&” stage and onto greater personal gain? Like, if I were to start writing about being a guy who’s got great health, wealth, and peace, would I immediately begin to notice results? Would the pain finally stop, would my piece of %@!#$& used car suddenly morph into a decent set of wheels, would that gigantic black cloud that’s surfed wickedly over my head since around 1967 suddenly disperse to reveal a bright, bright, sunshiny day? Nawwww. Marianne might have a point that writers can actually convince themselves that they are—or have become— what they’ve written about, but in the real world, ya ain’t gonna ever write (or wish) away a broken back, a junkie mechanic, or an angry bird-woman at a gas station who just has to share her personal aura of repression, rage and self-righteousness with you. What to do? Simple. What you always do. Stop off at the liquor store, hit the record shop, and hole up on a cold winter’s day far away from doctors, bosses, bankers, bill collectors, junkies and angry, unattractive strangers and get lost in a great album or two.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 19 February @ 12:22:53 (Read: 7635) |
Whoops! A Little Lesson in Jazz History
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “BIX BEIDERBECKE WAS WHITE!!”
-—Outraged Jazz Fans
Everywhere
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Whitey In The Woodpile”
-—Cows
I’m sitting here in the flickering candlelight, the clock on the wall says three-thirty—that’s three-thirty AM, mind you—and I’m down to the last few gulps of my bottle. Head in hands, sweat fairly rolling off of my pale, sun-starved skin, I can’t help but let out a small moan of frustration and pain. Ruined, I tell you, I’m ruined! And all because of that infernal, bug-eyed little cornet player Bix Beiderbecke. Sure, I’d been a fan of his rollicking, flighty brand of jump-jazz since the first time I’d heard it, had even included his name on a list of all-time great jazzers in some liner notes I’d written for a local band. But I’d never owned a Bix album, just had some old tapes, Bix mixed with other early jazz pioneers, no photos.
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Wednesday 12 February @ 14:54:24 (Read: 6158) |
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Time and again, the black man has %@!#$&ed up. He starts out with his %@!#$& together, then he gets sidetracked by the white folks whisperin’, ‘Clean it up. Tone it down. Get a monkey-suit.’ See- attitude! That’s what the black man’s got. The white man wants it so bad, he can’t help but be jealous. So over and over, the black man’s music gets %@!#$&ed with.”
-—Miles Davis
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Thank You For Talkin’ To Me Africa”
-—Sly & The Family Stone
Welcome to this installment of Round The Dial, where, in honor of Black History Month, we’ll celebrate and note some of your humble correspondent’s favorite African-American singers, songwriters, musicians, producers, songs, and artists. As I sat down to go through my albums, tapes, and CD’s for this column, I found myself musing on my rather cloistered upbringing, and being raised in a household where prejudice and racial intolerance were the norm. Being raised in a family where “nigger” was the nicest word used to describe African-Americans, where Native Americans were referred to as drunks, bums, and losers, where Orientals were dubbed “chinks,” Latinos and Italians “wetbacks” and “wops,” and where even white nationalities like Norwegians, Finns, Poles, French, and Germans were relegated to a lower social standard and became the butt of coarse, ignorant jokes.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 05 February @ 12:31:04 (Read: 5459) |
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The package I hope is going to be called “Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy.” It’s a story about a kid that’s born deaf, dumb and blind and what happens to him throughout his life...what it’s really all about is the fact that because the boy is “D, D & B,” he’s seeing things basically as vibrations which we translate as music...inside; the boy sees things musically and in dreams, and nothing has got any weight at all. He is touched from the outside, and he feels his mother’s touch, he feels his father’s touch, but he just interprets them as music. His father gets pretty upset that his kid is deaf, dumb and blind. He wants a kid that will play football and God knows what.”
-—Pete Townshend, explaining his concept for the
upcoming Who album Tommy to Rolling Stone’s Jan
Wenner in 1968.
SONG OF THE WEEK: “A Legal Matter”
-—The Who
We’ll get to readers’ letters concerning last week’s Pete Townshend column in a moment, but first, here’s the scoop (no pun intended, Pete) on the recent legal misfortunes of a few other well-known musical legends:
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 29 January @ 11:17:26 (Read: 5987) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I think I justified it in terms of being noticed. And %@!#$& it, I wasn’t going to stand on stage and play rock & roll, if it was just the music; because that’s not what rock & roll is, anyway. It might be what the blues is, but rock & roll is something else again.”
-—Pete Townshend, on his
predeliction for smashing guitars.
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Young Man Blues”
-—The Who
While I continue recuperating, I thought folks might like a peek at an open letter from Blackie Lawless, bassist/vocalist of hard rock outfit W.A.S.P (you may remember some of their finer ’80s offerings like “Blind In Texas,” “Animal (%@!#$& Like A Beast),” and “Ballcrusher,” or their outrageous stage act, wherein Lawless would tie semi-nude models to torture racks and throw raw meat out into the audience) concerning Who axeman Pete Townshend’s recent arrest on internet child porn charges. While I’d originally planned to wait for some more hard facts to come out before commenting on the whole mess, Blackie’s letter made me realize how Pete must feel—especially if he’s innocent—being castigated and becoming the butt of thousands of jokes before he’s had his day in court.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 22 January @ 12:19:48 (Read: 5626) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I actually wrote out the words to Hank Williams’ ‘Lost Highway’ last night. The whole life of sin seems like a million years ago- but it’s still waiting. It’s a monster, a deadly beast waiting out there for me.”
-—Paul Westerberg, 2002
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Black Soul Choir” -
-—Sixteen Horsepower
*For those of you who missed last week’s column, your humble correspondent is currently operating at half-speed due to some minor surgery, so I’ve put together a couple week’s worth of “lazy” columns while I deal- this time out, we’ll look back at some of my favorite letters from readers. Enjoy!
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 15 January @ 12:22:35 (Read: 7531) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “People accuse us of being nothing more than a disco band...but they don’t know what they’re talking about. If you listen to our records, you’ll find that there’s dance music, but there are also ballads...and there are some very beautiful, non-danceable songs, too.”
-—Maurice Gibb
SONG OF THE WEEK: “I Started A Joke” -—The Bee Gees
*Note: ‘Round The Dial will continue with our “CD’s I Should’ve Reviewed In 2002” list next week. This week’s column is dedicated to the memory of Bee Gees co-founder/bassist Maurice Gibb, who passed away on Sunday, 1/12/03, at the age of 53.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 08 January @ 11:26:09 (Read: 10397) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The only reason that I join bands is so I can go out and play live. That’s the only thing I give a %@!#$& about. I’m kind of the outsider...all these guys are talking about the message of the music, and that’s all just a bunch of pretentious bull%@!#$& to me.”
-—Jon Sawyer, bassist for The Rakes.
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Pull My Strings”
-—Dead Kennedys
I know, I know, some of you have just been waitin’ on the edge of yer seats fer ‘Round The Dial’s annual Year-End List, wherein yours truly runs down his fave albums, shows, people, places, etc. of the past year. Well, guess what? In keeping with my steel-bound reputation as a cantankerous, rule-breakin’, scene-shakin’ kinda guy (OK, cantankerous, anyway), this year I plan to present absolutely NO YEAR-END LIST whatsoever!! WHAT??!! I hear the masses roar in protest, no favorite gig, no precious record-haven, no superb bartender (Dale) to rant and rave about this year? Nawwww. If you’ve read even a few ‘Round The Dials over the past 12 months, you already know what bands I thought were great, what shows I hit, where I drank the most, and who poured me the best drinks. I’m startin’ to think these Year-End Lists are a buncha hooey, anyway. Why not give the space over to a stack o’ CD’s I DIDN’T get around to reviewing in 2002? Maybe we’ll all learn something. Or I will, at least. Here’s to one last shot for some of this stuff to reach your music-hungry ears and souls—so here goes: ‘Round The Dial’s First Annual Stack O’ CD’s I Shoulda Reviewed Over The Past Year (But Didn’t):
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Round the Dial
Thursday 02 January @ 11:17:04 (Read: 6215) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’ve got no doubt the fourth dimension exists. But is it just like the world we’re trying to escape from? I need to know if you’re allowed to smoke in there...”
-—Joe Strummer
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Mega Bottle Ride”
-—Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros
*Note: Due to unforseen factors, last week’s Round The Dial Tribute To Joe Strummer was regrettably cut short—and sadly devoid of any photos or artwork. My apologies to Joe’s fans, my regular readers, and especially the folks who took time out of their busy Holiday schedules to contribute—we’ll pick up this week where we left off, and once again send out peace and condolences to Joe’s family and friends. —Tom Hallett
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Round the Dial
Thursday 26 December @ 17:05:03 (Read: 7060) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Listen—before we play anything, we’d like to ask you one favor: please don’t spit on us. We’re just trying to do something good up here and it throws us off our stride...” -
—Joe Strummer
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Death Is A Star”
—The Clash
R.I.P. Joe Strummer: 101’ers/The Clash/Mescaleros singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist, of a heart attack, 1952-2002.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 18 December @ 10:23:00 (Read: 5660) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The best things in life aren’t things.”
-—Art Buchwald
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonite)”
-—Ramones
Can yer believe it’s already CHRISTMAS time again? What the hell happened to the last 11 months? My best guess is that Earth has entered some bizarre time warp, and that for the past few years time has been consistently speeding up—at least, that’s one way of trying to explain to myself how I’m gettin’ so old so fast, and how absolutely un-exciting that once-thrilling day in late December has become. I mean, even taking into consideration the fact that I’m almost positive a certain chubby dude in red from the North Pole doesn’t really exist and the shaky state of the world these days (rumours of war, pestilence, and other fun, armegeddon-type events), there just seems to be a lack of shine to the ol’ holiday season. You don’t really need anything, the kids are so spoiled that only the trendiest, most expensive gifts make ‘em sit up and take notice, other adults are just as burned-out on the whole charade, your boss is up your ass but you’re expected to grin and burst with holiday cheer, your family is pressuring you about the same mundane hoo-hah they do every year, and even your pets don’t really deserve any special treats. You might as well lock your door, take your phone off the hook, open a bottle, and start giving yourself a “Bah, Humbug” tattoo with a rusty safety pin, right?
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 11 December @ 11:16:26 (Read: 7760) |
Keep on rockin' in the Free Worls: The sordid relationship between the White House and pop music
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The inspiration of great music can help to inspire a fervor for the spiritual values in our way of life; and thus to strengthen democracy against those forces which would subjugate and enthrall mankind. Because music knows no barriers of languages; because it recognizes no impediments to free intercommunication; because it speaks a universal tongue, music can make us all more vividly aware of that common humanity which is ours and which shall one day unite the nations of the world in one great brotherhood.”
-—Franklin D. Roosevelt
SONG OF THE WEEK: “This Is My Country”
—-Curtis Mayfield
Y’know, I never realized what a rabid music fan current President George W. Bush was until I read the other day about his massive CD collection at Ye Olde White House—apparently, all (both) of America’s major record labels make it a practice to regularly stock the Prez up with the latest, greatest releases they have to offer. The “library” is also well-stocked with “the classics,” which surely includes Stravinsky, Bach, and Beethoven, but probably also features Sam The Sham, the Beatles, and Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over, Beethoven.” And hey, I’m not complaining. I mean, yeah, I think it’s kinda slimy that this cat who’d love to ban all music that doesn’t agree with his personal philosophy has access to all those free CDs when the segment of our population who most needs to be educated and informed about music and art—the youth—are ensnared in an evil corporate web of plasticized, placebo R&B, gutless, vapid rawk, and porn-laden poo pop. But on the other hand, my interest was piqued by the thought of G.W. kickin’ it with sycophantic, sourball-sucking sidekick Ari Fleischer in some secret, black-light equipped room and crankin’ out the tunes.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 04 December @ 10:55:57 (Read: 5368) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Looking back on my childhood now, there’s a sort of glow to my reminiscences. It’s like my memory has blocked out most of the bad stuff. You need to have good memories from your past; you never know when you’re going to have to depend on them...”
-—Neil Young
SONG OF THE WEEK: “%@!#$&in’ Up”
-- Neil Young
Greetings, Dial-heads. This week we’ll blast back to the past and review a couple of classic albums that no self-respecting music fan’s collection should be without. That ol’ Holiday season is comin’ up, and there’s no better stocking stuffer than a killer album or two. If you’re Grinch-ish or simply don’t have anybody to buy a gift for, treat yourself. These albums can only make your life richer...
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 27 November @ 09:42:49 (Read: 5687) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “A lot of the industries now are in a vicious cycle: in order to sell their goods to the youth market, which accounts for the major market, that same market that buys most of the records, you have a weird situation where in effect, record companies are helping to disseminate the information which will cause the kids to wake up and eventually destroy what they stand for, and they can’t help it.”
--Frank Zappa, 1967
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Destroyer”
--The Kinks
It’s no secret, even to the rapidly vapifying youth of today’s world, that the ‘60s and early ‘70s were rock n’ roll’s premier era for earth-shattering, chart-busting, foundation-shaking political and social anthems. Who could deny the power of Buffalo Springfield’s in-the-moment tribute to Kent State students who were shot by U.S. R.O.T.C. troops while exercising their right to peacefully demonstrate against the horrors of the Vietnam War, “For What It’s Worth”: “Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’ / We’re finally on our own / This summer I hear the drummin’ / Four dead in Ohio...”
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 20 November @ 09:49:21 (Read: 6051) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “95 percent of the time, I’m a happy guy. I tried to examine it at one point, why don’t I write happier lyrics? And yet, a muse is a muse. That’s what drives me. I always felt better after I listened to a Joy Division record.”
-—Scott McDonald of Arcwelder
SONG OF THE WEEK: “I’m The Ocean”
-—Neil Young
We first noticed Sunny Jim scavenging under the docks around the Homer, Alaska, boat harbor a month or so before we were scheduled to head out for a summer tending salmon boats in Southeast. Dressed in a skimpy T-shirt, faded bell bottoms, and a feather-spewing down vest, he was busily clipping buoys from jam-packed shrimp pots and bobbing his head mightily to some tinny noise emanating from the headphones perched precariously over his shaggy mop. After what seemed like an eternity (long enough, anyway, for me to polish off a quarter box of Fiddle Faddles), he glanced up and started like a deer caught in a pair of high-power halogen headlights. “Whoa!” he exclaimed, dropping the stinking, dripping cage full of greyish, still-twitching harbor shrimp and falling back off of his haunches. “I-I didn’t see you guys there!” Once we’d assured him that we weren’t the owners of the purloined pots and had no plans to force him to walk the plank, he visibly relaxed and returned his eight-inch Bowie knife to its sheath.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 13 November @ 10:13:52 (Read: 6257) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’m not afraid of death because I don’t believe in it. It’s just getting out of one car, and into another.”
-—John Lennon
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Born In A Blizzard”
-—Toddzilla
Man, it feels like I’m losing a lot of friends and personal inspirations lately. As a matter of fact, I can’t think of a very long period over the past few years when I haven’t been bummin’ out about one hero or another biting the dust before their time. Two Ramones and George Harrison, Doug Sahm, Waylon Jennings, and, just last week, my dear friend, soul brother, and compatriot—and every bit as much a musical hero as the rest—Todd “Zilla” Kachinsky.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 06 November @ 09:32:51 (Read: 5552) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I learnt a unique and indispensable skill, which is to make rock n’ roll. I stopped my parents dressing me and started becoming a conniving sonofabitch, which I’ve always been since the beginning of The Stooges.”
—Iggy Pop
SONG OF THE WEEK: “We’re All Mad Here” —by Tom Waits
RIP: Run-D.M.C.’s Jam Master Jay and actor/singer Richard Harris. Somewhere, the world’s first authentic hip hop remix of “MacArthur Park” is in the works, and it’ll still sound better than anything you’ll hear on the radio today.
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Round the Dial
Tuesday 29 October @ 16:52:14 (Read: 5770) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Today, a revolution can be accomplished by mass media, with technical advances that Madison Avenue is using to sell you washing machines and a loaf of bread and everything else. This can be used to change the whole country around—painlessly. The sloppy kind is blood-in-the-street and all that bull%@!#$&.”
-—Frank Zappa, 1967
SONG OF THE WEEK: “The World Is On Fire”
-—Matthew Ryan (In memory of late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone)
I suppose I could dedicate this week’s column to ranting and raving about “Mysterious Crashes,” famine, abberant weather patterns, war, and rumours of war, but hey, even Halloween isn’t supposed to be as scary as the real, %@!#$&ed-up world out there. So I’ll try and keep things a bit on the lighter side here in Dial-land this time out—you can get your fill of true-to-life horror and heartache just about anywhere else you turn. On the other hand, who wants to read another cheesy All Hallow’s Eve list of “Cool Free Events?” Naw, for true Samhain delight, one must momentarily suspend belief, sensibility, and rationale—for some of life’s most horrific surprises lie hidden in record and CD collections somewhere very close to you right this moment. In the spirit of the season, I’ve compiled several spine-tingling scenarios for your sensory enjoyment. Pour yourself a stiff one, put another log on the fire, and curl up for what I like to call...
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 23 October @ 09:37:07 (Read: 5590) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Excuse me, I couldn’t hear you. I was talkin’...”
-—Johnny Cash
SONG OF THE WEEK: “When I Was Cruel”
-—Elvis Costello
Damn, I’m tired...so tired, tired of waiting...I’m plumb tuckered out, beat, bushed, wore down, laid out, in the bag, fittin’ to hit it, rode hard an’ put away wet. You ever have one of those weeks (months, years, lifetimes) that just seem to grind into your very fiber and make ya want nothing more than a big, fuzzy blanket, a hot cider, and a great read? One where you pull the plug on the stereo, the phone, the TV, the can opener and the doorbell? When a loud, smoky bar and a stage fulla half-crocked, wild-eyed musicians seems about as appealing as a night in a small, unfurnished white room with George W. and that guy who took over as host of The Weakest Link? Well, join the club.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 16 October @ 10:07:52 (Read: 8005) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Abuse is abuse, and when you’re terrorized, you’re terrorized...sometimes you can cut out parts of yourself to survive. It’s much easier if you numb those parts a little bit, put some ice on them.”
-—Tori Amos
SONG OF THE WEEK: “If You See Her, Say Hello”
-—Bob Dylan
It had been a wild summer—days spent mindlessly packing overpriced groceries in bags and boxes, hungrily accepting the puny tips that would fund each evening’s drink and debauchery; nights at a campground by the Tanana River, hooting, hollering, and howling towards the dawn with a steady string of just-as-crazy fellow campers. By the end of September, though, the temperatures were slipping down into the single digits at night and the Fairbanks, Alaska, park rangers were starting to seriously enforce the area’s no winter camping laws. When my partyin’ buddy and I awoke one nippy fall morning to find that the gaggle of hard-nosed, bibulous bikers in the tent next to ours had fled during the pre-dawn hours, we knew it was time to move on down the line.
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Hockey Night: Style Raiders
Wednesday 09 October @ 11:12:08 (Read: 5885) |
by P.J. Morel
“Breakout!” says the graphic peeking out from below the lip of the jewel case: that curvaceous hot pink logo, which once graced the squat profile of Atari game cartridges, is now part of the bombastic cover art for the new Hockey Night CD, Rad Zapping. “Breakout” is clearly a stylistic point-of-reference for the album, which is full of squiggly video game noises and catchy lo-fi synth hooks. But “Breakout!” is also a unifying theme for an otherwise diverse and sprawling musical project. Paul Sprangers, mastermind of Hockey Night, explains: “The album is kind of a musical outline of an idealized future in which youthful creativity and sincerity battles with the oppressive forces of our society. That may sound pretentious, but it’s actually pretty simple. The art and music as a whole are supposed to be kind of like a big animated lightning bolt that shatters this big, ugly, boring mirror that keeps showing people the same thing about themselves and their potential.”
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 09 October @ 11:02:38 (Read: 7029) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I never work on anything. Dedication is such a weird word after all, after Albert Schweitzer and people like that. That’s dedication, when you give your whole life. No one dedicates themselves to anything now.”
-—Ringo Starr
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Antiworld”
-—Nina Hagen
Ya gotta love the cooler temps and fresh Northern breezes this time of year; it’s great to throw on yer rock n’ roll clothes and not be soaking in gallons of sweat before the first band takes the stage, but it also seems that Fall sometimes brings the weirdest world situations, (another pointless, bloody war in the Middle East, anyone?) local dramas, (if I hear one more head freakin’ out about that supposed DEA billboard along the freeway...grrr!) and personal jams (I’d be happier than spit to never gaze upon another used car, but considering my profession of choice I guess I’d better get used to it). Just some great conversational fodder for your upcoming, dysfunctional family holiday gatherings, eh? To help ease your frazzled nerve endings, here’s a recent release ya might want to consider adding to your collection:
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 02 October @ 10:15:59 (Read: 8269) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Punk rock (is) not for elevators. It’s not for your regular radio stations. It’s for the nighttime show. Where the guy plays what he wants, not what the programmers tell him to...it’s tapes that get handed from people to people. This is the bloodline of rock and roll...”
-—Neil Young
SONG OF THE WEEK: “One O’ Clock High”
-—Cows
It’s kinda weird how the music of Shannon Selberg has cruised in an’ outta my personal rock radar over the years. When I first began scribin’ for local ‘zine The Squealer in the mid-’90s, many of my more scene-hip co-workers chided me for not having caught the seminal Am Rep post-punk outfit the Cows—which singer/songwriter/bugle-blatter Selberg fronted for over a decade—live at one of their countless legendary Twin Cities performances. Luckily, I heeded their advice and made it a point to drag my ass out to some of the loudest, most overwhelming, brave-as-%@!#$& rock and roll gigs to ever grace (well, maybe grace isn’t quite the right word here—let’s try conquer) a Minnesota club stage.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 25 September @ 10:20:16 (Read: 6279) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’d like to manufacture a thing called the Interested Party—I’m taking steps in that direction now—which would be a third party that lives up to its name.”
-—Frank Zappa, 1967
SONG OF THE WEEK: “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)”
-—The Band
I know, I know, summer is barely over and you could swear you already saw some psychotic, driven-by-hell-itself neighbor stringing red, green and purple blinking Christmas bulbs around the roof of his too-expensive uber-rambler. Scary, ain’t it? Well, I ain’t here to haggle with ya over the price of a box of those yarnball decorations yer gramma Fanny had on her tree in ought six, but I would like to mention a few worthy albums before the whole “End of the Year,” “Oh, %@!#$&, do you hvae your list ready?” type o’ %@!#$& starts goin’ down. So, in that spirit, Round The Dial presents four recent or fairly recent releases, one local, the other three from across the vast, still, desolate plains, hum-buckled highways, and roads less traveled. Let’s dive right in!
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 18 September @ 09:56:32 (Read: 5867) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “As for me, I’ve always put my life in the hands of fate. Everything I do is controlled by it and, for the most part, I’ve fared pretty well. It’s like giving up smoking and being hit by a Lucky Strike truck.”
-—Ronnie Wood
SONG OF THE WEEK: “All Those Years Ago”
-—George Harrison
Man, when I think back on it, my old man really was a jerk. I mean, it was bad enough that I had to wake up at the crack of dawn for an hour-plus school bus ride to the nearest town every goddamn day of the week, but on weekends, the old crust-bucket thought it was pretty funny to rouse me on Saturday and Sunday mornings with a faux chipper “Rise and shine, boy! It’s daylight in the swamp!” And lemme tellya, he wasn’t wakin’ me up so’s I could catch the early morning weekend cartoons, either. No, pa had other plans for his longhaired, music-obsessed offspring.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 11 September @ 09:41:28 (Read: 5804) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Rock music has to be naive. And when you’re no longer musically naive, or socially naive, or intellectually naive, and you start to get a bit more worldly-wise, no way can you do that anymore.”
-—Ian Anderson Of Jethro Tull
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Baby Let Me Follow You Down”
-—Bob Dylan
RTD showcases another phenomenal release from Winder, Georgia’s Backburner Records this week with a quick review of The Roach Brothers’ most recent official effort, Pure And Simple.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 04 September @ 10:57:26 (Read: 5881) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “All my new songs were recorded down here in the basement. Most of them were cut one thing at a time, live, one take. I’m a fan of that school. %@!#$&. I’m the head of the class. Jerry Lee’s the professor. If you mean it, you do it once.”
--Paul Westerberg
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Don’t Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie (On The King Of Rock N’ Roll)” by Crow
So what up with re-issues, anyway? I mean, I guess it’s cool if a record company re-issues an old album that’s never been on CD before with new packaging, superb liner notes, and a couple of rare outtakes and demos, but to just re-issue an album for %@!#$&s and giggles, that kinda logic really escapes me. I’m talking specifically about Rykodisc’s recent, typical corporate spew-out of our own beloved Replacements’ first four Twin/Tone albums. When I first spotted the e-mail from Ryko’s PR firm squawkin’ about the label’s plans to re-introduce the world to some of the ’80s most ground-breaking, breath-taking, rockin%@!#$&in’ rollin’ albums, I was thrilled beyond words. “%@!#$&,” I thought to myself, “Peter Jesperson (former ‘Mats guru/producer/Twin Tone honcho) must’ve finally got down to business with those liner notes and bonus tracks he’d always dreamed of one day unleashing upon the public.”
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 28 August @ 09:49:42 (Read: 6084) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Have The Rolling Stones killed.”
-—Crotchety billionaire C. Montgomery Burns, from Fox TV’s “The Simpsons,” after hearing The Ramones play “Happy Birthday, You Bastard.”
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Pantyhose & Paper Cuts”
-—Seth Hogan & The Black Lashes
Round The Dial dives back into the vaults of Backburner Records this week with a look at albums from Cafeteria and Vic Chesnutt with Kelly and Nikki Keneipp.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 21 August @ 10:08:46 (Read: 6037) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Most of all, I’m glad I’m still alive! The earth remains a beautiful place.”
—Suicide Commandos co-founder Chris Osgood
SONG OF THE WEEK:
“Good To See You” by Neil Young
Ah, reunions. Be it family, friends, schoolmates, coworkers, bands, or just old feelings and grooves ya might’ve thought lost forever, reunions can bring out the best and the worst in us all. As summer wanes (the first official day of autumn isn’t too far off) and folks around me gear up for school and career reunions, I’ve found myself running across a few of my own. Thing is, it wasn’t because any of us involved were really looking for each other, it was more because I recently took a day job (Twin Cities Leather & Boot, on the corner of Snelling and Edmund in St. Paul, 651-917-8100) and resumed regular human contact outside of my rock n’ roll office or a smoky bar for the first time in about nine years.
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 14 August @ 09:13:31 (Read: 6167) |
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Forget the tired old myth that rock and roll is just making records, pulling birds, and getting pissed...that’s not what it’s all about.” -Pete Townshend
SONG OF THE WEEK: “I’ll Be Your Mirror” by The Velvet Underground
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 07 August @ 09:41:02 (Read: 5907) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’m not fed up with rock groups, only fed up with concerts. I kept going...and it would be the same ritual happening. Even with artists I liked, there would be moments of inspiration but nobody seemed to take many chances. Therefore it almost becomes like a holy rite, but without the quality to really justify that.”
—Elvis Costello
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Are You Ready?”
—Pacific Gas & Electric
Yeah, I know—it’s only Wednesday, not really the most appropriate day to, er, preach about holy rites, faith, spirituality, and goin’ to church, but hey, I never claimed to be socially competent, did I? Anyway, me talkin’ about the whole life-after-whatever thing is nothing on the balls scale compared to Springsteen’s latest, The Rising. You want ashes and sackcloth, much wailing and gnashing of the teeth, fire and brimstone, G-O-D and Ol’ Scratch? You want morality and architecture, cities in dust, lonely widows and widowers, sleepless nights and empty days, blood (there’s lots and lots of blood here—oceans of blood), burnt offerings, suicide bombers, MIA heroes, death-scarred families, motherless children, the good, the bad, and the ugly? You want goin’ to church music? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 31 July @ 10:04:24 (Read: 6117) |
RTD presents the third installment of our ongoing series on Georgia-based indie record label Backburner this week with a look at releases by The Possibilities and former Dashboard Saviors member Rob Veal.
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'Round the Dial
Wednesday 24 July @ 11:47:01 (Read: 6291) |
by Tom Hallett
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Put the screws on me, and I’m gonna screw right back. I’m tired of that %@!#$&, you know?”
—Johnny Cash
SONG OF THE WEEK:
“Jump Into The Fire” by Nilsson
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 17 July @ 10:15:38 (Read: 6323) |
by Tom Hallett
Greetings faithful ‘Dial Heads! This week we’ll poke our musical toes into the hot, muddy swamp water of rural Georgia, where internationally renowned recording artist Jack Logan, his guitar-pickin’ pal Kelly Keneipp, and Kelly’s wife, Nikki, run the laid-back, down-home indie label Backburner.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 10 July @ 09:40:20 (Read: 6430) |
by Tom Hallett
RTD wraps up our in-depth expose’ of local label Susstones this week with more commentary on their debut sampler, WWWGO, new releases, and upcoming events:
“One of the things I want to do with this label,” says Polara frontman / Susstones co-founder Ed Ackerson, “is avoid [getting stuck in] genres and cliques- I think they’re very damaging to music. I mean, sometimes it’s useful to have a sort of ‘movement,’ because it does give people something to rally around, but things can get really, really bad when there’s, like, an indie rock code book.” A quick scan through the tracks on the Susstones sampler proves Ackerson means what he says: No two bands, acts, or artists sound alike. He and his cohorts in both Polara and the label all contributed solid material, including Jennifer Jurgens’ Bipolar Bear and his own projects, Sideways and Tiles. He’s equally proud of them all, he says, but is particularly eager to see the release of label co-founder Christian Erickson’s album with Astronaut Wife this fall.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 03 July @ 10:06:23 (Read: 6322) |
by Tom Hallett
TOO LATE THE HERO—RIP: Who bassist John Alec Entwistle, 1944- 2002
I can’t believe I’m interrupting Round The Dial’s look at local label Susstones once again (I’m really, really sorry, Ed Ackerson!) to pay tribute to a fallen rock hero. It was just a few short weeks ago that we mourned the passing of former Ramones bassist Dee Dee, and this week it’s late, great Who bassist John “The Ox” Entwistle, who was found dead of an apparent heart attack in a Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas last week on the eve of a U.S. reunion tour. There aren’t a whole helluva lot of bass players who’ve really stood out above the pack over the years, and we’ve just lost two of the coolest. My advice to local bands? Hug your bass players and tuck ‘em in personally tonight.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 26 June @ 10:22:10 (Read: 6124) |
by Tom Hallett
We continue our in-depth look at local indie label Susstones this week, with more commentary from label co-founder Ed Ackerson and a peek at some of the artists populating the recently released Where Will We Go Now? A Susstones Compilation 2002.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 19 June @ 10:17:45 (Read: 6021) |
by Tom Hallett
Anybody who’s spent just a couple evenings at local clubs over the past decade has most likely caught singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer Ed Ackerson rockin’ in one incarnation or another. Whether co-helming Twin Cities cult faves The 27 Various, wrangling mutated, space-age howls from his axe as front man for the lush-n-layered rock outfit Polara, jamming with old pals like The Mofos and John P. Strohm, or just hangin’ by the stage with a big grin as one of the countless bands he’s produced, nurtured, and promoted over the years tears new holes in the sonic folds of the universe, the thirtysomething music fanatic has always had a hand (or two) right smack in the middle of the Minneapolis/St. Paul music scene.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 12 June @ 12:26:01 (Read: 5988) |
by Tom Hallett
(RTD will continue our overview of quality local and national indie record labels next week with a peek inside Susstones Records (I promise!), but this week’s column goes out to Dee Dee Ramone, who passed away last week of an apparent overdose at age 49.)
RIP: DEE DEE RAMONE, 1952-2002. Barber, post office worker, construction laborer, gigelo, junkie, friend, husband, artist, writer, ROCKER. You’ll be missed, brother.
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Round the Dial
Wednesday 05 June @ 10:51:33 (Read: 6060) |
by Tom Hallett
(NOTE: RTD will continue with our in-depth look at quality local and national indie record labels with a glimpse inside the workings of local label Susstones next week.)
As I was sifting through my rather extensive collection of Frank Zappa (and Mothers Of Invention) albums, CDs, tapes, and Root Of All Evil radio compilations of a recent sunny afternoon, it suddenly struck me that damn near every one of the late, nimble-fingered guitarist/songwriter’s ruthless little musical jibes and jabs still ring true today—and maybe now more than ever. Some of the names and titles are just as relevant, and most of the lyrical content is easily transferrable to today’s skewed, fear-filled society. Even as far back as the original 1966 Mothers lineup, Frank’s political, sexual, and societal comentary could very well have been penned with some moronic modern-day public official, morally uptight/corrupt individual, or silly current fad, trend, or style in mind. In the ‘80s, he took on the PMRC and the entire U.S. government, testifying on Capitol Hill against censorship and record album warning labels. Mostly, he just didn’t cotton much to STUPIDITY anywhere, from anyone.
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Round The Dial
Thursday 30 May @ 12:41:11 (Read: 5910) |
by Tom Hallett
We wrap up our in-depth look at Texas/Cali-based indie label New West this week with some final comments from Senior VP/A&R guy Peter Jesperson, who will reveal the label’s fantastic latest signing and give us a few hints about other upcoming treats:
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