Tonight I watched Frank Sinatra try to keep up with Gene Kelly. Franky I have some bad news- you can't win.

Dylan Heals All

My Last.fm top 20 most played Dylan songs is a pretty fair assessment of my favorite Dylan songs. Since I most likely won't sleep tonight, lemme post them and a favorite line or two to defend my cases for these tunes because maybe five of them are on popular compilations. The rest are in a no-man's land of his catalog.

1. "Tight Connection to My Heart" from Empire Burlesque

I never could learn to drink that blood and to call it wine. I never could learn to hold you, love, and call you mine.

2. "Girl from the North Country Side" from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

I'm wonderin' if she remembers me at all

3. "Lay Lady Lay" from Nashville Skyline

Why wait any longer for the one you love when he's standing in front of you?

4. "Sweetheart Like You" from Infidels

They say in your father's house, there's many mansions. Each one has a fireproof floor

5. "Jokerman" from Infidels

You're going to Sodom and Gomorrah, but what do you care? Ain't nobody there would want to marry your sister. Friend to the martyr. Friend to the woman of shame. You look into the fiery furnace, see the rich man without any name

6. "Went to See The Gypsy" from New Morning

His room was dark and crowded. The lights were low and dim. "How are you?" he said to me. I said it back to him

7. "Po' Boy" from Love and Theft (Dylan's whole career lead up to this and "Mississippi")

My mother was the daughter of a wealthy farmer. My father was a traveling salesman. I never met him. When my mother died, my uncle took me in. He ran a funeral parlor. He did a lot of nice things for me and I won't forget him.

8. "Mississippi" from Love and Theft

I've been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down.

9. "Subterrainian Homesick Blues" from Bringing It All Back Home

Twenty years of schoolin' and they put you on the day shift

10. "Changing of the Guards" from Street Legal

The captain is down but still believing that his love will be repaid

11. "Blood in my Eyes" from World Gone Wrong (Traditional)

Woke up this morning, feeling blue. Seen a good lookin' girl, can I make love with you?

12. "We Better Talk This Over" from Street Legal

Number 12 is really "Wigwam" but that's an instrumental. I include this song because it has one of my favorite Dylan lines ever- "I think we better talk this over. Maybe when we both get sober."

13. "Watered-Down Love" from Shot of Love

You don't want a love that's pure. You wanna drown love. You want a watered-down love.

14. "Not Dark Yet" from Time Out of Mind

I can't even remember what it was I came here to get away from.

15. "Don't Fall Apart On Me Tonight" from Infidels

It's like I'm stuck inside a painting that's hanging in the Louvre...No more affection that's misplaced, girl.

16. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

You just kinda wasted my precious time, but don't think twice, it's all right.

17. "All The Tired Horses" from Self Portrait

All the tired horses in the sun. How'm I suppose to get any ridin' done? Hmm.

18. "Pretty Peggy-o" from Bob Dylan

Come a-runnin' down the stairs pretty Peggy-o. Combing back your yellow hair. You're the prettiest darn girl I've ever seen-io.

19. "Brownsville Girl" from Knocked Out Loaded (co-written by Sam Shepard)

There was a movie I seen one time, I think I sat through it twice, I don’t remember who I was or where I was bound. All I remember about it was it starred Gregory Peck, he wore a gun and he was shot in the back. Seems like a long time ago, long before the stars were torn down.

20. "Life is Hard" from Together Through Life

My dreams are locked and barred, admitting life is hard without you near me


Oh if there's an original idea out there, I could use it right about now.

2nd Agnostic Prayer

Jesus Christ
Today I used your name in jest
And now I apologize
You had no reason to be brought up
You have believers to heal
I was just trying to bring a smile
To an old face
But it didn’t budge
Staring at the light turned off
I don’t know many people to talk to
Not many to put my faith in
It’s a force of habit
A result of my surroundings
Although I do learn from your teachings
Some good advice to live by
You got persecuted for speaking from the heart
I get persecuted for being selective
I’m not asking for anything, I never ask for much
I just wanted a second to talk
You must get this a lot
I’ll just get gone

Peel Back and See

One of my proudest moments running the infamous Album Club at my high school involved The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967). I would often entertain/piss off my fellow classmates every Tuesday Morning Meeting with an advertisement for the album we would feature on Wednesday. My friend Alison was really pumped about presenting the album, none of us had heard it before. We were out-muscled by all the jocks patting each other on the back for something that they won or whatever and no one got to make any announcements. I chalked it up as a loss and moved on- I knew our main core of maybe five would show up. Little did I know, Allie wasn’t settling for that.

She made her way to the main office and asked to make an announcement on the PA. My heart soared. Over a dozen people showed up, people I didn’t even know. Seniors who adored Lou Reed. Warhol fans too.

It’s one of those icons in rock. Five years later, buying it on 180 gram vinyl (mono) at Newbury’s in Hyannis, I still have fans coming up to me telling me they love the album. In particular, this sales guy at Macy’s. Lock tight in his suit, I saw a nostalgic smile on his face as he said “Great album” with his eyes honed in on the 12” cardboard banana under my arm.

I’m still not sure how I feel about the album. It defiantly brings up down and out memories from high school- liquid eyeliner, cassette bootlegs, an ER visti, staring at the ceiling feeling ways about stuff. With my new art school eyes, I see at as a wonderful piece of art. The Velvet Underground, under the wing of Andy Warhol, would perform along side film projections and bizarre color light shows and drugs….drugs…and some more drugs. It was a multi-media happening called the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. This album is basically an artifact of that (as seen on the back photo). The cover itself was mostly a Warhol creation. A silkscreen sticker of a banana would peel back to reveal a pink banana. Warhol would continue with this interactive album cover in 1971 with The Rolling Stones’s Sticky Fingers cover that had an actual zipper on the fly of the jeans.

As for the actual musical production of the album, Warhol was as much of a producer as he was a producer of Paul Morrissey’s horror films in the ‘70s (Fun Fact: Morrissey took all the photos for the gatefold). He would show up to the studio, say “Oh wow that’s great” and split. Lou Reed and Tom Wilson (the man who produced the Mother’s first two albums as with Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”) essentially produced the album.

However, the whole existence of the album and the band was Warhol’s invention. He was the one who had Nico, a model and resident of the Factory, join the group despite Reed’s objections. It is that reason why I like this album more than any other Underground record. I adore Nico’s voice. I guess I have a soft spot for weird vocals. “Femme Fetale” is so freaking beautiful. Her voice simultaneously tempts and repels you and the melancholy of the whole production kills me.

I’m not the biggest fan of Lou Reed but “Heroin” is such a powerful song. It throws me right back to Mr. Murphy’s room, listening to it for the first time with the lights off. I couldn’t move. I was completely focused on the song. The meditating guitar part- it’s almost Indian but it’s two chords.

It’s my wife.
And it’s my life.

Reasons Why The Last Post Is The Best Rock Song

Aside from the reckless driving test, here are the other reasons why "Annie The Imaginary Lawyer" is the best rock song:

1. Fast. Fast. Fast.
2. Super distorted power chords in the beginning.
3. Straight forward "boom-CHACK-boom-CHACK" rock drumming.
4. A wonderful amount of "fucks."
5. Staggered rhythm in the chorus
6. The bass lead in before the second chorus.
7. A rock lyric that only makes sense when you're caught up in the song "you're about as interesting as my rent."
8. Glockenspiel. Bitches.
9. A dirty chorus that's oh so much fun to shout along with
10. Powerful fucking male vocals at the end.
11. Girl's name in the title.

I also came up with a list for why "Only Anarchists are Pretty" kicks so much ass. Quick side note before I begin: If I ever get a talk show/late night variety show, I want World/Inferno to open the show with this song. This song SCREAMS SNL in the late '70s. Anyway, the list:

1. Strong piano part.
2. HOTTEST horn arrangements. The trills in the lead before the chorus KILL me.
3. The song is about anarchy, breaking out of prison, fighting, femme fetales, and sex. Do you see anything missing? Neither do I.
4. The way Jack Terricloth expresses the sex appeal of the love interest is with the line "[You tell everyone to go to hell] with the flash of the ankle and snarl of the lip. Well I see you in the street and gasp." FUCK. YES.
5. The clean guitar solo.
6. The kick line build up in the final chorus(s).
7. The COUNTERPOINT in the final chorus(s).

Jesus H. Christ I forgot how totally in love I am with this album (2006's Red-Eyed Soul).

Summer '07

It is really really really really really hard to listen to this song sitting down in something that can't got 90 mph on the mid-cape highway. And it's really hard to listen to this and know the Knights arn't just down the road...

Hare Krshna

I have had the busiest damn week, but a good week. As a result, I haven't had a lot of time to write. I'm up to three days this year where I haven't written anything significant. I excuse it with the class film shoot I did on Tuesday (where I was a unstoppable one man sound department) and last night's Hit and Run History screening at the Massachusetts Historical Society. It was so bizarre sitting in the same room as a bunch of Copley and Blyth original portraits kickin' back the free booze and watching the little documentary I've proudly been a part of since 2008.

I return to this little blog to talk about the new(ish) album I bought yesterday in the spirit of talking about every album I buy this year. At Looney Tunes in Boston (on the same block as the Historical Society. Coincidence?) I got The Radha Krshna Temple (London) self titled LP. The albums pop culture claim to fame is its famous record label (Apple) and it's even more famous producer (George Harrison, who also plays harmonium, bass, and slide guitar). I bought it on compact disc back in November when Apple re-released a majority of its old catalog to continue the high demand of Beatles related material after the band's remastered catalog release in September '09.

The album is comprised of devotional Hindi songs/chants with all proceeds going to the Internation Society for Krishna Consciousness. The inside gatefold actually lists all the Temples that were around the world at the time of release (1970) and a neat-o flyer for mail-order ISKCON books. It is very entrancing both listening and watching it spin on my turntable. 33 and 1/3 must be a sacred number in Hinduism because that is the speed this music was intended to be played at. Harrison once said in an interview that he was drawn to Indian music because it felt so familiar and I couldn't agree more. Most of my friends agree that once they get passed the exotic nature in the structure, the music is very familiar- like home, like you would perfectly believe seeing this album in your parent's record collection, Beatle connection or not.

The point of the music is to repeat the mantra to attain a higher state of consciousness- as George said "beyond waking and sleeping." I have defiantly lost myself in the album, shouting the responses to "Bhaja Bhakata/Arati" while blaring it on my car stereo. The easiest mantra to learn is the Hare Krshna Mantra. It's the Lord's Prayer of the East but this time you are trying to listen, not talk. Exhale on each line whilst meditating. Think of it as preparing to exhale "om."

Music is the true cultural ambassador. I never would have explored Indian culture if it wasn't for their music which, at times, is too wonderful for words. I feel I am a better person for exploring the ideas of the East. Spiritually, the East is more excepting and disciplined than the West- two qualities I hold dear. And the food? Spicier AND healthier than Mexican food. Shit now I'm hungry. Spiritually and physically. I can at least satisfy the latter. I'll try meditating again too. I did nearly everyday in the last half of the summer but soon learned that meditating is harder than running a mile.

APPLE LP COUNT- 24
LEFT TO GO- 38