Sunday, July 27, 2008

Phil Spector - Back To Mono 1958 - 1969

I keep going back to the year 1977. In that year I was introduced to a whole world of music that I had never considered before, specifically Punk. But aside from punk, I was introduced to a whole world of pop (and non-pop) music from the 1950's up to the then present.

Looming large in this canon was Phil Spector. During my pop music indoctrination, I also soon realized that Phil Spector's influence on everything that came after was pervasive in music, especially influencing my heros, The Beatles (the holy grail of music to me at the time).

I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, but just in case I thought I'd bring the work of Phil Spector to your attention.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation

 

I was discussing the true origins of punk with Gary the other day and we finally agreed that one person was more responsible for the so called "punk" sound/scene/mindset than anyone else and that someone was Richard Hell.

In the mid 70's right here in New York City, down on the Bowery Richard Hell was living a scene he single handedly invented. A culture and an attitude that people like Malcolm McClaren could only steal and repackage but never could have created on their own.

Visit RichardHell.com for more information or go to Amazon.com and buy this awesome album.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

First rehearsal in weeks...

After not playing together in 5 or 6 weeks, it was great to know that we can get together and sound great with little or no rust to speak of.

Besides solidifying new songs we've recently been working on, we actually mastered two new songs instantly! One is recently written (like this week) called "Intersection" and the other is 20 years old called "Set You Free (Let You Go)". Both are absolutely rockin!

Candy Butchers - Live at La Bonbonniere



It seems someone is always turning me onto music that I would normally have never heard of. This time it was Tom E. (childhood friend of my wife's) who many years ago lent me an EP of the band The Candy Butchers - Live at La Bonbonniere which went immediately into my iTunes. I have since done some research and now know that The Butchers were led by Mike Viola (common knowledge to you but new information to me at the time). This 1996 CD was their first release and I think their most endearing.

Mike's take on pop reminds me of Nick Lowe, disguising twisted lyrics with sweet melodies. the home made approach on this disk transcends the bare bones production and has made this CD one I come back to again and again. In fact, I have committed one song (Canned Hunt) to my personal repetoire which I sing for myself as a guilty pleasure. Guess I gotta get out more...

Thursday, July 17, 2008

David Bash announces IPO NY!

Buddy Love just received their official invitation to appear at IPO NY! For those of you who don't know (yea right!)
The International Pop Overthrow is a travelling Power Pop (they now call it "Melodic Rock") festival with stops in major cities all of the world!

Our appearance at IPO NY last November was THE highlight of my music career!
(entry from November 11th, 2007) After having to turn down invitations to IPO Liverpool and IPO LA, I look forward to IPO NY so we all can "revisit" that past glory!

The dates for IPO NY are November 4th thru 9th at
Kenny's Castaways, Bleeker St, Greenwich Village, NYC.

Radio Flyer

Way back in 1978 We had a friendly competition with another local band called Radio City, led by Gary Feldman and Mark Silvert. While we were doing punk, they were doing Power Pop. After not much time Gary's brand of power pop seeped into my pores and that along with other things, was a big reason why I switched gears and formed Buddy Love.

Cut to 1995. I had been out of the music business for about 12 years, still writing and recording in my basement on a four track machine but basically doing nothing with it and much to my suprise I discovered that Gary had moved back into our town of Rockville Centre, NY. We soon rekindled our friendship and it wasn't long after that that we began writing songs together. I soon enlisted ex- (and now current!) Buddy Love drummer Rich "Starr" Stirrat who brought his midi drum pads into my studio. I traded in my four track cassette for an eight track cassette (with built in mixing board!), SMTPE synced it to my pre-windows 286 DOS computer and we began recording. The result was a ten track CD-R called Radio Flyer, released in 1997.



I started a Radio Flyer website and pretty soon Bruce Brodeen was selling Radio Flyer discs! Also pretty soon the Radio Flyer corporation (makers of little red wagons) slapped an injunction on us to stop using the name! We changed the name to RC Flyers (in honor of our home town Rockville Centre) but whatever momentum we began was lost. Gary soon moved away from Rockville Centre and that was that.

Needless to say those homemade discs didn't make much of a dent on the music industry and the songs on it have been pretty much unheard. It is now my pleasure to make Radio Flyer available
here! (take that you corporate bigwigs!)

It is my hope that all three of you will download and enjoy these songs from the mid 1990's.

PS Gary has recently reformed Radio City and also has a new band called RC Flyer. I guess Radio Flyer was just as important to him as it was to me.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Balloon fest goes bust?

If anyone actually reads my blogs (unlikely) they may remember that in June we participated in an outrageous audition fiasco where we (the band) were actually charged! to enter the club where the audition took place. (See June 9th post)

After that audition (which we passed) we were assured that a spot during the NY Music and Balloon fest would be ours. After the indignity of the audition it was a consolation to know that it was worth it.

It now seems that the promoter in charge of the audition now says he cannot confirm our participation. Making music rocks but the music business SUCKS!

It's not gonna stop me from writing my little songs or performing with my band but I have to say I'm pissed off!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Back to our regularly scheduled program.

After taking a month off, the band is reconvening this Sunday to begin preparations for August's itinerary, which will start with the Metro NY Balloon & Music Festival in Brookhaven Long Island. We're still waiting to see which day (August 8th, 9th, or 10th)we're going to be scheduled for.

Also in August is a potential opening slot for Eddie and The Hot Rods at The Knitting Factory in New York. Hopefully our management can secure that one but for now it's still tentative.

We got an inquiry for a corporate (Microsoft?) picnic in September in Santa Clara, CA! Let's see if that pans out.

Basically we got nothing definite. That's Rock and Roll!!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Destroy!


MY wife (god bless her) comes home from Barnes and Noble every month with the only music Magazine I ever read, MOJO. This month they feature the newly reformed (again!) Sex Pistols who were an obvious influence on my guitar playing and on my 1977-78 punk rock writing style.

If anyone reads MOJO, they know that they always come with fantastic Themed CD Complilations and this month's was a collection of seminal punk rock singles from 1977 called Destroy!



Between, me, Joey Psychotic and my childhood friend Danny, we had EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE RECORDS! so to have them all in one place, after all these years is mind boggling! This limited edition CD is probably already off the shelves and out of print therefore I am happy to make this collection available to you all (all three of you!) Click HERE!!

Privilege


During the course of my Pop Music Education which began in earnest in 1977 I saw the film "Privilege", a mid 60's look at a fictional British Pop star (Paul Jones!) and his influence on their society.

The one and only time I ever saw "Privilege" (until recently that is) was on TV in 1978 on WWOR TV (channel 9) in New York, and it affects on me were profound, changing my ideas about the music business and it's potential power (both positive and negative) forever.

It wasn't the music (although fine) in the film that influenced me but the approach that the film's anti hero Steven Shorter's management team had on the political/economic and social structure of Britain portrayed in the "not too distant future" of 1970 (the time period the film takes place in).

The film which was panned by the British press and banned for being "hysterical" has rarely been seen since its first run in 1967. In fact, Universal Pictures (who owns it) had all copies destroyed!

It is my pleasure and PRIVILEGE! to share this obscure but still potent film with you all. You can download it here! Privilege in QuickTime format (Be patient, it's a large file). I urge you all to check it out.

PS It is due for its first DVD release this month!, in it's original widescreen format made from the original negative! Available on Amazon.com

Saturday, July 5, 2008

The Major Labels

Mike Viola has been a household name (in my house anyway) from his work in The Candy Butchers and more importantly, as "The Voice" of That Thing You Do!. Now Mike has teamed up with Ducky Carlisle and a guy known simply as Bleu and formed a PowerPOP SUPERGROUP called The Major Labels.

I saw this widget on another PowerPOP site, plunked down money without hearing a note and am glad I did.

Please support this group.


Don't forget! Buddy Love (remember them?) are on the radio this Sunday night(tomorrow) at 10 PM EST. You can listen via the internet at
wmjcfm.com
or if you're in the New York area at 94.3 FM.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Radio show pushed back

Suprise! It wasn't last week, it'll be THIS WEEK! Tune in THIS Sunday night July 6th at 10 PM., to hear our song on the radio.... (woop-de-do)

You can listen via the internet at
wmjcfm.com
or if you're in the New York area at 94.3 FM.