In one of the previous posts, “The MOI – Conflicted Histories“, I was struck by one of the questions posed to Jimmy Carl Black:
Warren Zevon was already a ten-year music industry veteran who had written songs for the Turtles, backed up Phil Everly, done years of session work and been befriended by Jackson Browne by the time he cut this self-titled album for Asylum Records in 1976.
Even though Warren Zevon was on good terms with L.A.’s Mellow Mafia (The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac most notably of these), his songs were quite unlike any of them. Zevon’s music was full of blood, bile, and mean-spirited irony which even Jackson Browne’s production values were unable to disguise. Zevon’s songs were a rogue’s gallery of reckless souls: thieves and gunfighters, ambitious pimps, lonesome junkies, hard-living lunatics, and dastardly womanizers. For all their darkness, Zevon’s songs also possessed a steely intelligence, a sardonic wit, and a sophisticated melodic sense, made certain by the high-priced help who backed him on the album (members of the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac).
In late 2008, Rhino Records released a remastered and expanded version of Warren Zevon accompanied by a bonus disc of 15 demos, alternate takes, and live performances of every song from the original release. These early demos confirm that Zevon’s creative vision was clearly evident long before he had the budget to make a “real” album. The 1974 recording of “Carmelita” boasts an extra verse which didn’t make it to its “official” recording. Otherwise, the alternate material is often rougher and less precise than the final cut, which sometimes works in its favor and occasionally does not (yet even the weakest of the archival performances are still quite intriguing).
Of the demos, alternate takes, and live performances, these are indeed newfound treasures:
Carmelita (1974 Demo)
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Join Me In L.A. (Take 2, 11-20-75)
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Poor Poor Pitiful Me (Alternate Version)
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For general interest concerning the relationship between the young Warren Zevon and Howard Kaylan of the Turtles, visit Crystal Zevon’s blog for March 29, 2007.
Why would a successful group like the Turtles grant the B-Side of their single, “Happy Together” to a young upstart like Zevon?
Madrugada (which in Spanish and Portuguese and means “dawn”, “the blue hour” and was suggested to the band by poet/writer friend Øystein Wingaard Wolf) is a Norwegian rock band formed in 1995 hailing from a little place called Stokmarknes in Vesteraalen. The band’s members include Frode Jacobsen (bass), Sivert Høyem (vocals) and Robert Burås (guitar).
On July 12, 2007, guitarist Robert Burås was found dead in his apartment in Oslo. He was 31 years old.
A new, self-titled album was released on January 21st 2008 after having released the single “Look Away Lucifer” on December 10, 2007. All tracks of the album were recorded before Robert Burås died. After his death, they continued recording the album to honour Robert. In the spring of 2008, Madrugada embarked on a tour throughout Europe and Norway, playing material from the Madrugada album as well as material from previous albums. In late October 2008, their farewell tour began. The 11th and final concert of their last tour was held in a sold out Oslo Spektrum November 15, 2008.
Madrugada always surprised me with their anti-love songs and their thought provoking lyrics (check out the videos, “Majesty” and “Look Away Lucifer”, respectively), as well as their often discordant music (which any Mother’s fan cannot help but enjoy). Unfortunately, I discovered them too late to ever see them live, though.
You’ll remember my going on and on about the Tom Waits book Sharl and I illustrated. Ah, well a couple of days ago we finally got our copy:
The front- and back-cover with some of the postcards.
Some more postcards.
It really turned out to be a wonderful book — great attention to detail, typography, paper choice as well as an excellent print job. More, larger pictures are available here. Call me biassed but Sharleena and I are really proud to have been part of this project.
As of now, the book is available for purchase at the publisher’s site for a mere 15 euro. Place your order fast enough, and you’ll get all twelve chapter illustrations in postcard form shipped along for free!
Today this weblog turns one (although technically, it’s to turn eight in July)!
Having made the switch in February 2008, we instantly lost a whole bunch of readers. The new KUR started out with about 12,000 views per month. We are happy to report a current monthly readership of over 28,000 views. That’s still peanuts, but at least the numbers are going up, not down. 
Throughout the past year, two things have kept us going: your support and comments. 308 posts were made, harvesting 3853 comments — an average of 12.51 comments per post.
So, we say thanks to you, and here’s to another year! Commemorative screenshot here. Oh, and don’t forget to have a taste of KUR’s very own beverage over by the bar…
Illegal Drugs: Opium, Morphine, Heroin Pt. 1
The recent awarding of Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar for The Dark Knight made me think about his accidental death from “acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine” as reported by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York. This made me think of how deeply the use, and abuse, of opiods have become a part of global and popular culture: in history, art, music.
This three part documentary (Part 2, Part 3), which first appeared on the History Channel as “Hooked: Illegal Drugs”, shows the history of Opium and how it evolved into Morphine and Heroin, from a completely legal substance to an illegal one.
As Terry Bozzio explains in his introduction to “The Black Page“, the modern trap drum set is a very young invention (it was first created in the 1700s), and little has been taught at the post-secondary or university level about it and even less actually written for it. I recall just missing the opportunity to meet Ansley Dunbar in the mid-90s when he was in town teaching a workshop in Jazz Drumming to Jazz students at a local community college (I’m still kicking myself, even now).
The following ten tracks include some of my favorite drummers, drum solos and drum oriented tracks (I’d be interested what other drummers, solos, and tracks KUR readers have as favorites):
Terry Explains – Terry Bozzio (Oosterpoort, Groningen, NL, 4 Apr 2001)
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The Black Page – Terry Bozzio (Oosterpoort, Groningen, NL, 4 Apr 2001)
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Electric Cheese – Mats & Morgan (The Teenage Tapes, 1998)
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Uncle Meat – Kroumata Percussion Ensemble (Roots, Avantgarde & Freaks, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 3 Feb 1996)
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Awakening – Mahavishnu Orchestra (Inner Mounting Flame, 1971)
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Moby Dick – Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin II, 1969)
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Stratus – George Duke/Billy Cobham Band (McAlister Auditorium, New Orleans, 18 Feb 1976)
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Drum Solo – The Tubes (What Do You Want From Live, 1978)
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The Orange County Lumber Truck – The Grandmothers (Eating The Astoria, 1998)
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Let There Be Drums – The Tubes (Wild In London, 2005)
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[Note: if we are infringing on anyone's copyright, contact KUR and we'll remove the offending material.]
On the bright side, at least you aren’t Canadian (these evil sons-a-bitches have been planning world domination ever since 1867…just watch ‘em). Take the music of Celine Dion, for instance (an insidious effort to turn everyone into Canadians, one person at a time). I dare not link to any of her music videos for fear of infecting this great site, Barry.
I’m sure you’ve all seen this before — The Beatles’ last public performance:
The live concert idea culminated with the Beatles and [Billy] Preston performing 30 January ['69] on the rooftop of the Beatles’ Apple Building at 3 Savile Row before a small audience of friends and employees. The performance was cut short by the police after complaints about noise.
What a fabulous little mini-concert, considering the drama that was taking place between them at the time. Parts two and three.
Disclaimer: I have been suffering from a rather nasty case of the flu for the better part of this week which, according to the KUR Charter of Proper Conduct, allows one to post content that is not in the least bit related to FZ.
Snif.
It took our pal Tommi Brem and his associate Daniel Knapp two years to translate Jay S. Jacob’s Tom Waits biography, “Wild Years: the Music and Myth of Tom Waits”, into German — Tommi at one point likened it to birthing a baby elephant.
Now, finally, the book is about to be published and ready for pre-ordering.
You may remember that Sharl and I were approached to create chapter illustrations for this book, as well as a cover. Given the subject, that turned out to be great fun, despite a near fatal computer crash.
For those interested: if you pre-order the book, you get a free set of high-quality postcards with all 12 illustrations printed on them.
As for Sharl and I: we’re chuffed to have been part of this project! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go camp near the mailbox and await the arrival of my copy
