Live-Aid: 25 Years Later

Check out my latest at The Partial Observer. Excerpt:

Many years ago, I think in the 1990's, I heard an American rock critic on VH-1 mention the band Queen's performance at Live Aid as the greatest concert of all time. This opinion was affirmed in England, as it won a poll of "greatest gig of all time" in 2005.

The performance was 25 years ago today.

Happy Canada Day!

Although born in the USA, a substantial portion of my childhood was in Canada before my family moved back in my later youth. One advantage of that is I wasn't raised being forced to recite that godawful Pledge of Allegiance. Another advantage is that, proud of retaining my American citizenship throughout, I actually tried to learn what I could about my own native land outside of school hours. It was also healthy to understand how people in other countries, even those close to the USA such as Canadians, felt about America and American foreign policy.

I also enjoyed the benefits of Canadian federalism and the Canadian parliamentary form of government. Some things were really dumb from an American perspective, but other things were favorable. In any case, I love Canada and tend to cheer for its national sports teams over American teams. If pressed, I'd say the rules of Canadian football are better than the rules of American football.

(It's easier, psychologically, to live in a country that accepts unlimited government in theory but limits it in reality, than to live in a country based on limited government in theory but unlimited government in reality.)

In any case, to celebrate Canada, here a list of thirteen favorite songs from Canada or about Canada. Note: Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are excluded because I don't think any of their great songs were written until after they moved to the USA, and their "Canadian-ness" was known only afterwards. These recordings, as far as I'm aware, originated in Canada. If you haven't heard a song, I hope you like it!

13. Misguided Angel, Cowboy Junkies:



The beauty and sound of this song requires no explanation.

12. Mimi on the Beach, Jane Siberry:



The melody frequently pops up into my head, a quarter-century after I heard it, and I rarely heard it even then.

11. Turn Me Loose, Loverboy:



Never thought of myself as a fan of Loverboy, but it seemed to do everything right on this one. When it comes on the radio, I turn it up.

10. Vimy, Tanglefoot.



I heard this long after I moved back to the USA, but how can it not move anyone?

9. Spirit of Radio, Rush:



Not a fan of this band either, but in this song I really appreciate their sound and what they're trying to do.

8. Storm Before the Calm, Luba:



Like "Mimi on the Beach" above, this tune still comes up in my head frequently, well over twenty years since I last heard it.

7. Real Enough, Doug and the Slugs:



This group had several hits in Western Canada in the 1980's. You might have heard "Too Bad," but this is my favorite.

6. Secord's Warning, Tanglefoot:



I think this is the only flagrantly "anti-American" song in the bunch, and it's anti-American for good reason: the Americans invaded in the War of 1812, "trying to save us from ourselves."

5. No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature, The Guess Who:



This group produced a dozen masterful hits that are in rotation in hundreds of classic rock radio station playlists nationwide. This is something most members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame can't boast, yet, like Rush, The Guess Who is still not a member. (I personally wouldn't call this omission a disgrace, I'd rather call the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a joke - a bad joke.)

4. If I Had $1,000,000, Barenakes Ladies:



In the States, it's macaroni & cheese; in Canada, it's Kraft Dinner. The flavor and tone of this song is uniquely Canadian (the version here has the original studio version but the video was created by someone else.)

3.Oh... Canada, Classified:



The video, shot apparently in Halifax, is apparently the whitest place on earth; Canada is much more diverse. But this song and video are just brilliant.

2. Heart Like A Wheel, Kate & Anna McGarrigle:



This song was popularized by Linda Rondstadt; the original songwriters, two sisters from Quebec, were masters of North American folk.

1. Did She Mention My Name, Gordon Lightfoot:



This song gets to the heart of life in Canada, when the ice is on the river, when the smiles of the pretty girls in the fall put the sun to shame, etc.

Sorry if this means I'm a jerk, but . . .

I'm not sorry to hear that Les Paul passed away.

Maybe if he was still of alert mind and I actually knew him personally, I'd feel differently. And maybe he was of alert mind, and if so I send condolences to his friends and family, those who will miss him.

But I won't "miss" him.

Here's why I say this:

1. His inventions and innovations - the electric guitar, studio over-dubbing, etc. - were developed long before I was born. During my own lifetime, I have no idea what Les Paul accomplished aside from receiving honors. His life's work was mostly accomplished before I was born.
2. His name was also a brand. And he was viewed as a god by those influenced by him. He got all the credit he was ever going to get. He made rock stardom possible, but he was never a rock star himself. Even he must have known he would never become as famous as Edison, Einstein, or Elvis. Even so, he got plenty of adoration in his lifetime.
3. Regarding the honors he apparently had not received but probably deserved, like the Medal of Freedom - if he hadn't received it by now, he wouldn't have anyway. By the age of 94, you've already received all the tributes you're going to get. That is, unless you live to 100, when you might get a re-hash of old tributes.

Maybe if a Fountain of Youth and Immortality is discovered tomorrow, I'd feel a twinge of regret that a genius like Les Paul didn't hang on just a little bit longer and may have faced our still-young century with renewed ambition and vigor. But that isn't going to happen, and Paul was 94.

The world is full of strange, tragic events. The passing of 94 year-old men who lived the American Dream isn't one of them.

Shout out to the U.S.A. on Independence Day

In honor of my country, I'm presenting, for as long as they're not pulled from YouTube, ten songs about the American experience that seem to penetrate my blood and soul. In no particular order:

10. Jerry Orbach - "Try To Remember" from The Fantastiks


While a great song, this wouldn't be included here if not for September 11, 2001. My all-time favorite radio show, Chicago WFMT's Saturday Night folk show Midnight Special with Rich Warren played it as its first song after the infamous day. Hearing it in that context shook me to my bones. Though he's most famous for his role as Briscoe on Law & Order, I'll always associate Jerry Orbach with this Broadway song first.

9. Tennessee Ernie Ford: 16 Tons



8. Paul Robeson: Ol' Man River



I view the two songs above as two sides of the same coin. Most whites and an even greater proportion of African-Americans have been hard on their luck, even if from different causes. Subsequent folk, country, rock, and blues singers haven't really captured the experience the way Ford's and Robeson's voices can.

7. George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue



Not much I can say. You either listen to this and get it, or you don't. But just about anyone can tell it didn't come from a European composer.

6. Steve Goodman: City of New Orleans



Not kidding: every morning when I step outside and the sun is shining, my thought is, "Good morning America, how are you?" (I couldn't find Arlo Guthrie's studio version on Youtube, and am thankful I found a version from the original songwriter instead.)

5. Scott Joplin: The Entertainer - A Rag Time Two-Step



Music beyond religion, music beyond the concert and opera halls for the wealthy, music beyond the sentimental folks songs of hearth and home: music that makes you feel good just by listening to it. Should that even be legal?

4. Blood, Sweat, & Tears doing Laura Nyro's And When I Die



The harmonica, vocal, and brass evoke a sweeping portrait of the West and of the uneducated, down-home philosophies of the prospectors, cowboys, and other adventurers who conquered it.

3. Creedence Clearwater Revival: Down on the Corner



Could any British rocker have possibly composed and recorded this song? This is pure Americana.

2. 1776 Motion Picture: The Egg



If you're unfamiliar with the musical or movie 1776, order it immediately. You can't imagine what a close call the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence really were.

1. Carly Simon - Let The River Run



You may find the more majestic version by Carly Simon from the 1988 Working Girl soundtrack elsewhere. Having heard both, I appreciate both. I appreciate this song not because I believe that God has ordained America as the "New Jerusalem," but rather that the New Jerusalem is wherever human beings have been set free to build their silver cities.

Criticizing Critics, Or, You Get What You Pay For

Let's acknowledge off the bat that nothing on the Internet is actually free. But information and access to a wide range of opinion has a cost of near zero, in the same way that Seinfeld and the Simpsons are available for "free," even though someone, perhaps you, bought the television you watch them on, and you have to sit through the commercials.

In the same way, no Internet service is free, and a lot of free sites, like this blog, include advertising. Ultimately, the systems and services are profitable to those who provide them, even if they provide no direct charges to you (or payment to me).

This is all well and good. It's better find find an obscure piece of information within a few minutes rather than drive to the library and ask if there's a reference librarian on staff.

And everyone who expresses their opinion in this system have a right to do so. I don't criticize their right. I'm reluctant to criticize their content. But when the content itself is dedicated to criticism, and it's from a mainstream site, one might expect informative content.

We all know that some free content is better than others.

If Roger Ebert came out with the "25 most disappointing movies, by Roger Ebert" and this came out on the main page of a leading search engine, we would know we are getting solid, well-written content. But when we click on a link to Hollywood's biggest flops and fiascoes of the last 25 years, we would expect to see some combination of the 25 biggest money-losers and most-panned movies of that period. We wouldn't expect the random choices of people no more qualified than you or me.

Then again, isn't that exactly who we'd expect, considering this "content" is free?

We see,

• one movie that made actually made a profit, but not enough of one for the authors' satisfaction.
• another movie that made lots of money, which the article authors didn't like. What's worse is that this movie was a remake of a movie they had loved growing up, and they anticipated the remake with excitement! How can anyone approach the remake of a beloved movie with anything but dread?
• an actor who supposedly epitomizes flops, Kevin Costner. Costner's career suffered from the backlash of "stealing" the Best Director Oscar from Martin Scorsese, and the Best Picture Oscar from "Goodfellas" with his "Dances With Wolves" (as if the Oscar votes were his fault), and following it up with mediocre but popular movies like Robin Hood and The Bodyguard, and only after that participating in just a couple of over-publicized flops.
  

Some time ago, the same site provided a list of rock bands that should quit already. Among the entries was The Who, which is understandable. But then the author of the list admits that he didn't even like the band's 1971 album Who's Next. One can't help but ask, who are you to tell me which bands should quit, when you yourself didn't like the band even when they were by critical and popular acclaim at the top of their game?

I suppose the next stage for search engines is to build news and opinion pages featuring writers who actually know what they're talking about. But short of that, there's not much to complain about. We get what we pay for. It's just that we expect billion-dollar media companies to hire people who know what they're talking about and respect their audience.

Smashing Heads

Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising has an interesting quote from Lenin, which made me look it up in fuller context. From Time 60 years ago, quoting Lenin on Beethoven's Appassionata (Sonata 23):

"I know nothing more beautiful than the Appassionata and I could listen to it every day. Wonderful, immortal music. I always think, with perhaps a naive, childish pride, how can man create such wonders? . . . but I cannot listen to music too often. It affects my nerves and makes me want to say sweet nothings and stroke the heads of men who live in a dirty hell and can still create such beauty. But these days you can't go around stroking people's heads lest your hand be bitten off. You have to smash them over the head—smash them without mercy—even though in theory we are against every form of oppression of mankind . . . ours is a hellish task."

Lenin is not really unique in this sentiment. Everyone who believes that political power will make the world a better place can identify with it to some degree. And that's the deepest irony: most "world-improvers" like Lenin end up making the world worse off - unlike Beethoven, who unquestionably improved the world without ever firing a shot or casting a ballot.