Some members of the younger generation are looking back even further than the Beatles, however. “Like my boy’s nine, and he just loves Chuck Berry,” Harrison says. “When I did that Prince’s Trust concert last June — that was the first time he ever saw me hold a guitar onstage in front of people. He’s got to know a bit about the Beatles, but I’ve never pushed that on him, or tried to say, ‘Look who I used to be.’ I did my two cute songs: 'Here Comes the Sun’ and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps.’ He came back after the show, and I said, 'What did you think?’ He said, 'You were good, Dad, you were good [slight pause]. Why didn’t you do "Roll Over Beethoven,” “Johnny B. Goode” and “Rock & Roll Music”?’ I said, 'Dhani, that’s Chuck Berry’s show you’re talking about!’

excerpted from the Rolling Stone article, “George Harrison Gets Back” (via george-harrison-marwa-blues)

10 Chuck Berry Covers You Should Listen To

Chuck Berry’s influence on rock ‘n’ roll is so vast, that it’s completely possible to make a dozen compilation albums made entirely of covers of Chuck Berry’s music from various artists. Here’s a list of ten that would stand out... Beautiful Delilah-The Kinks

 This obscure Berry track opened the Kinks’s debut album in 1964. It’s easy to here Berry’s influence on the Kinks considering that both he and Ray Davies were gifted lyricists.  The Kinks version of this song is a bit faster, with Dave Davies playing an unusual wah-wah guitar lick, making this song an early sign of what was to come with the psychedelic sounds of Clapton and Hendrix. Maybellene-The 101er’s

 Right before the beginning of punk, Joe Strummer, who played in this band under his real name (John “Woody” Mellor) was part of this pub rock band that made a name for themselves on the London music scene.  The 101er’s frequently covered Chuck Berry songs, like “Too Much Monkey Business” or this version of “Maybellene” that was recorded at a gig they played at Wandsworth Prison in March 1976.  A few months after this was recorded, the 101er’s split up and Strummer was making music with the Clash. School Days-AC/DC

 To say that Chuck Berry was a pivotal influence on AC/DC would be an understatement. Both Malcolm and Angus Young’s guitar playing is drowning in Berry licks and Angus has been doing Berry’s signature duckwalk at every AC/DC gig since 1975.  As a tribute to the man that did so much for them, the band released a cover of Berry’s 1957 single, “School Days” on their second studio album, “TNT”, which was released only in their native Australia. Tulane-Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

 This track from Berry’s later period was recorded by Joan Jett as filler material on her sixth studio album, “Up Your Alley” in 1988.  The original song had a down-home country blues feel and featured the Woolies Bob Baldori on Harmonica. Jett’s backing band, the Blackhearts, completely strips that sound off like paint thinner on an old door and drags “Tulane” kicking and screaming into the era of New Wave.

Johnny B. Goode-Peter Tosh

 Of all the covers of Berry’s signature song, this one by Bob Marley bandmate, Peter Tosh, is the most unique.  For one thing, Tosh alters the lyrics by taking “Johnny” out of the woods of Louisiana and dropping him into the hills of Jamaica. Tosh also alters the chords, doing away with song’s traditional 12 bar blues progression, and although guitarist Donald Kinsey pulls a few Berry licks in the guitar solo, Chuck’s signature intro riff at the beginning is noticeably absent. Come On-Joe Jackson

 On the 2001 reissue of his 1979, “I’m The Man”, Joe Jackson released a live cover of Berry’s little known 1961 single as a bonus track. Jackson had also recorded the song as the B-side of “I’m the Man” when it was released as a single.

Sweet Little Sixteen-The Beatles

 Officially, the Beatles only recorded two Berry covers (”Roll Over Beethoven” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music”).  However, if you listen to Beatles: Anthology and Beatles: Live at the BBC, you’ll find that a significant portion of their early material consists entirely of Chuck Berry covers, as was the case with many bands in the British Invasion.  The Fab Four’s version of Berry’s 1958 single was recorded live on BBC Radio in 1963. John Lennon would also go on to cover this song on an album of ‘50s rock covers called “Rock ‘n’ Roll” in 1975. Johnny B. Goode-Jimi Hendrix

 When growing up in Seattle in the 1950s, Jimi Hendrix worshipped Chuck Berry and was inspiration for his playing style and far out fashion sense.        Hendrix recorded this cover of “Johnny B. Goode” at a live show at the Berkeley community center in Berkeley, California and features  Billy Cox from Hendrix’s band of Gypsy’s on bass and Mitch Mitchell from Hendrix’s previous band, the Experience on drums. “  Four months after this was recorded, Hendrix died at his flat in London after overdosing on sleeping pills. This would later be posthumously released on the live compilation album, “Hendrix in the West” in 1972 and would become a minor hit in the UK charts. Back in the USA-MC5

 MC5 guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred “Sonic” Smith were huge Chuck Berry fans, which is probably why they covered this 1959 Berry and single and named their second album after it in 1970.  For a band that was highly critical of the US government during the counterculture of the 1960s, it’s unusual to hear this Detroit proto-punk group sing what was right with America.  Then again, it’s probably not that unusual considering that Berry wrote this song as a form of protest after touring Australia in the 1950s and seeing how poorly Australian Aboriginals were treated. Havana Moon-Carlos Santana

 This calypso inspired track was released by Berry in 1956, but flopped upon release. In a Rolling Stone interview in the 1990s, Berry attributed the song’s failure to chart to the fact that Cuban revolution was happening at the same time and made American’s think of nothing but Castro and communism.  27 years later, Carlos Santana would record a Tex-Mex cover of this track for release on an album of the same name that also included covers of songs by Bo Diddley, Booker T. & The MG’s and Bobby Parker.

Obscure Chuck Berry Tracks

 Chuck Berry’s death at the age of 90 two weeks ago has left many in the music community feeling empty and mournful as we all collectively look back on the legacy of someone who did so much for American music.   Most of Berry’s biggest hits, like “Johnny B. Goode” and “Carol”, have been covered by a plethora of bands and gone on to be rock standards.

 However, if you only listen to the hits, you miss out on the father of rock ‘n’ roll’s hidden gems such as...

 “Rockin’ At The Fillmore/Everyday I Have The Blues”

 Instead of having his own band on tour, Chuck Berry just relies on any local band from the town he stops in to back him up, with only a quick rehearsal (if that) to prepare the band before hand.

 This gives Berry’s concerts an improvised feeling to them, as is the case on this snippet from 1967′s “Live at the Fillmore Auditorium”, which features a young Steve Miller Band as Berry’s back up group. 

 Steve Miller adds punching harmonica licks to “Rockin’ at the Fillmore”, a song that Berry had recorded under various titles, first on his 1957 album, “One Dozen Berry’s” as “Rockin’ at the Philharmonic” and again in 1964 as “Liverpool Drive” on “From St. Louis to Liverpool”.  “London Berry Blues” 

  This nearly six minute long instrumental jam was recorded by Berry while in tour in the UK, as part of the “London Session” collection of Chess record albums that were also recorded by Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley. 

 The musicians who backed Berry included pianist Ian McLagan and drummer Kenny Jones, who had both found fame with the Faces/Small Faces and supply a steady background sound as Berry runs through every possible lick he knows (provided that it fits in with double string sound). 

“Swanee River”

 This track was released on one of Berry’s final albums that he recorded for Chess records in 1975. It’s a spiritual dating back to the American Civil War that Berry skillfully adapted in a jumping rock ‘n’ roll tune.   If you ever watched a Bugs Bunny cartoon when you were a kid, you’d definitely recognize this song, but hearing Berry’s version will make it impossible to hear it the same way again.  Thirty Days (To Come Back Home)

 Released as a single in 1955, this song has the same foot stomping country flavor as “Maybelline” and was written by Berry as a tribute to Hank Williams. 

I’m Talkin’ About You

Berry released this R&B dance track as a single in 1961 and also appeared on “New Jukebox Hits”, an album that was released while Berry was serving time in prison for violating the Mann Act by transporting a young teenage girl across state lines to work as hat check girl at a club he owned in St. Louis. Although it didn’t make much of an impact stateside, it become part of the repertoire of many bands in England such as the Hollies, the Yardbirds and the Rolling Stones. The Beatles frequently covered it at both their Hamburg gigs and in the Cavern in Liverpool. Paul McCartney even admitted in an interview years later that he and John Lennon used it as inspiration for “I Saw Her Standing There”.   “Promised Land”

 This song was released as a single in 1964 and was Berry’s first hit after being released from prison. This track, along with other songs like “Memphis Tennessee” showcase Berry’s storytelling abilities as he tells the story of a poor boy traveling across the country from Norfolk, Virginia all the way to California.  This song would later be covered by Elvis Presley in 1974. Presley was often called “the king of rock ‘n’ roll”. He may have been talented, but that title should’ve gone to Chuck Berry. 

In The Name of The Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll: An Obituary To Chuck Berry

 No one man or woman can claim sole credit for inventing rock ‘n’ roll, but Chuck Berry comes closer than most in large part because of his poetic lyrics, guitar technique and wide ranging influence on popular music for over half a century.  No artist set themselves apart at the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll the way Chuck Berry did. As student who studied at the altar of T-Bone Walker, Nat King Cole, Muddy Waters and Bob Willis, Berry took all of those influences, threw them in a blender and managed to build a hybrid of country/blues hybrid that would not only defy racial stereotypes in a segregated America, but would give birth to rock ‘n’ roll and usurp the piano and horns as thee instrument that everyone wanted to learn to play.  Berry’s playing ability was enough to put him in the history books, but his lyrical prowess was so great that it would lead Bob Dylan to call Berry “the Shakespeare of rock ‘n’ roll”. For a man who was in his late ‘20s in the late 1950s, he sure knew how to speak the language of teenagers. Nowhere is this more evident than in the lyrics of songs like “School Days” and “Almost Grown”.  I don’t agree with Ted Nugent on a lot of stuff, but he hit the nail on the head when he said this. “If you don’t know how to play every Chuck Berry lick, you can’t play rock guitar”. Truer words were never spoken.  It’s impossible to listen to any popular music from the last 60 years and not hear a smidgen of Berry’s influence in their music. Whether it was the Beatles in a strip club in Hamburg in 1960 or a high school garage band starting out in some suburb today, it’s a pretty safe bet that they have a least one Berry song in their set or they’re copying his signature duck walk at a school talent show, just as I did with my own band in my younger years.  When politicians talk of American exceptionalism, they’re talking about Chuck Berry. He brightened the world up not only with records, but with his existence and now the world is a darker place without his presence.  Rest in Peace, Chuck! Hail Hail Rock ‘n’ Roll!

Chuck Berry (1926-2017)

We Could Learn From The Netherlands

  The last two years have quite disconcerting to anyone who reads the news on a daily basis. The rise and semi-normalization of the so-called alt-right in Britain and the United States has had disastrous results after bringing about Britain’s Brexit and Trump’s election victory.   While there have been measures taken to fight back against populism, it’s proven to be a bit of an uphill battle. Luckily, however,  we can enjoy a small sense of satisfaction to the recent Dutch parliamentary elections. 

 The BBC reported that Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte managed to defeat populist, Geert Wilders,after having “won 33 out of 150 seats, a loss of eight seats from the previous parliament” , Swiftly defeating his opponent from the far-right Freedom party.   For those of you reading this who have been lucky enough to not have heard of Geert Wilders until reading about him hear, let me fill you in on what a scumbag he is.   Wilders has been called the “Dutch Donald Trump”, not just because of his equally shitty hair style, but because of his insanely prejudiced ramblings.  Highlights from Wilders extensive log of mouth diarrhea included...  1) Openly calling Moroccans “scum”  2) Promising to close mosques across the netherlands  3) Talked about banning the Quran, which he has compared to Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”, obviously not realizing the irony of that statement  You’ve got to hand it to the Dutch. When a racist buffoon like Geert Wilders came along, they saw him for what he was and collectively said no to a leader like him.   Maybe Britain and America could learn from the Dutch the next time we make an important decision. 

The Next Great Protest

 Thanks to Donald Trump’s recent rollback of Obama administration protections for Transgender people’s right to use the bathroom that fits their gender, this subject is now once again up for debate and I think I have an idea how the transgender community can protest it so they are guaranteed their right to relieve themselves where they wish.  Here’s what needs to happen. Groups of transgender people (and allies to the transgender community if they wish to participate) need to form giant mobs and journey to the nearest public place in their town or city (Chicago’s millennium park or New York’s Times Square being an example).  After having gathered the mob in the public place of their choosing, what they then must do, in full view of the general public, is pull down their pants and undergarments and start pissing and shitting everywhere.  For more dramatic effect before such a protest is to take place, it would be wise to ingest some over the counter laxatives, orange chicken and fried rice from panda express, hot black coffee and cases of cheap beer. I recommend Miller High Life or Keystone.  The combination of laxatives, shitty chinese food, coffee and cheap beer will create a slurry of brownish green diarrhea (with bits of red blood) and yellow piss that will paint the pavement of a public park and create an unholy stench that will permeate the air, much to the disgust of families and merry makers.  As this so-called “Boston scat party” takes place, there must be a spokesperson with a giant megaphone who will shout to anyone who will listen that unless the United States Government guarantees it’s transgender citizens the right to use the bathroom they choose, demonstrations such as these will continue to take place on a weekly basis.  I’m certain beyond a reasonable doubt that you would see legislation drawn up in a relatively short time that would see to it that transgender people could use whatever bathrooms they wish, or the concept of gendered bathrooms will be done away with all together.  Either way, it would be a notable protest and would be  talked about in schools in 50-60 years time the way the Montgomery bus boycott and lunch counter sit-ins are talked about now.  Fight the good fight my friends.  Vive Le Resistance!

How to write a letter to the POTUS

 If you’re American (or if you’re not), here’s how you can write a letter to our commander-in-chief. 

                             President of the United States

                             1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

                             Washington, D.C., USA

                             20500

 Let’s send him so many letters that it’ll be like that scene in Miracle on 34th street. 

 He can’t ignore all of us. 

A letter to Donald Trump

Shortly before Barack Obama left office, I wrote him a letter. I published a copy of that letter on this blog which you can read at this link .

 I said in my forward of that letter that I had some choice words for his replacement, which I have again written and published here. 

 As I hope you can all see, I tried to be as respectful and polite in my message to him, even though I’d rather tell him to stick his border wall up his ass. To paraphrase Barack Obama, Democracy only works if we participate. 

 I figure if enough of us send him letters like this, he’ll have no choice but to listen. Let’s hope I’m not wrong. 

Dear President Trump,

                                       I have so much to say and ask you that I’m unsure if I can bring everything on my mind to your attention.

I’d like to point out that I’m not writing this letter out of admiration but rather out of criticism and concern that I have due to the recent actions of your administration.

I’m one of the many who voted for Hillary Clinton over you in our recent presidential election. Personally, I’d rather have Donald Duck as president right now.

However, despite my transgressions, I acknowledge that you are the president of the United States whether I like it or not.

One of the reasons I didn’t vote for you (among a myriad of reasons) was because of your Ludacris plan to build a wall between the US and Mexico.

What are you going to do when Mexico doesn’t pay for the wall? Do you honestly expect American taxpayers to have their money used to pay for something that neither be practical nor adequately solve the immigration issue between north and South America?

Additionally, why do you place such a prevalent focus on our southern border? Couldn’t a foreign threat come in through Canada or an overseas destination?

If you have a good answer for any of this, I’d love to hear it. You might just earn my respect.

On a separate piece of paper, I’ve attached a list of demands that I wish for your administration to carry out. If a few of my demands on that list were met, this would also earn my respect.

I would maybe even consider voting for you should you seek reelection in 2020.

Think about it.

 My demands for Donald Trump

1. Pardon Even Engel, Alexander Rubinstein, Jack Keller, Matthew Hopard and Shay Horse (journalists who were arrested at the inauguration protests).

2. Reinstate pages dedicated to climate change and LGBT/Civil Rights Issues on the White House website.

3. Don’t focus on unimportant nonsense (i.e. inauguration crowd size, media coverage etc.)

4. Lift the communications black out on scientists working for the United States government.

5. Come up with an adequate replacement to the affordable care act before attempting to repeal it and put it to a vote in congress and the House of Representatives (I’ve also written to speaker Ryan on this issue. Perhaps you and he could discuss some suitable solutions to this problem).

 I hope you all enjoyed reading this. That way, if I mysteriously disappear, you’ll know why. 

 Fight the good fight!

My thoughts on Mike Pence

  Fuck Mike Pence. Just. Fuck him. Fuck that guy. 

 To paraphrase Louis C.K., Mike Pence is a “piece of shit cocksucker asshole”.

 He’s a garbage man. Not a man who collects garbage off the street and takes it away to a dump. I have nothing against those men. Being a garbage man is a perfectly honorable profession. 

 What I mean when I say that Mike Pence is a garbage man is that he is literal garbage that managed to materialize into something vaguely resembling a human man that goes around being a garbage man and treating people like garbage. 

  Mike Pence looks like Race Bannon from Johnny Quest, but with the attitude and mindset of Judge Claude Frollo from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”.

  I hope Mike Pence is gay and that he gets caught going Oscar Wilde on some teenage rent boys in the bathrooms of the White House and gets exposed to the press. It will be the best poetic justice for such a blatantly homophobic twat like him. 

 Even better would be if all of his kids and his wife were gay. 

 In all likelihood, it probably won’t happen, but I can dream. 

A letter to the former POTUS

 In the aftermath of the 2016 election, I sent a letter to Barack Obama. I’d been meaning to do so since he won the 2008 election, but I never got around to it. I wanted to make sure I did before he left office. I mostly just suggested music that I thought he would like. 

  It’s the first time I’d ever written to a president before, which is a little embarrassing considering I’m twenty-two years old. I can assure you it won’t be my last time, as I’ve got some choice words to say to his successor. 

  Here is the letter I wrote him. It reads...

 Dear President Obama, 

                                       I hope you are having a lovely day and that this letter finds you well. Although I’m not sure if you’ll read this, as I imagine you and your family are quite busy getting ready to move out of the White House. 

  However, I’ve been meaning to send you a letter for quite sometime and I wanted to make sure I did it before you left office because 1) I’ve never written to a president before and 2) I don’t necessarily have a lot of kind words for you replacement, 

  I remember when you ran for your first term in 2008. I was 13 going on 14, and I was quite a big fan of you. I had a poster of you from Rolling Stone on my bedroom wall, and for Christmas of that year, I received a 44 campaign shirt and campaign buttons from my mother. 

  I think if I have kids someday, I’ll pass those along to them, just as my father passed on his Reagan knife to me. 

  For what it’s worth, I thought you were a pretty good president. 

  Thanks for helping to advance LGBT rights and taking out my generation’s Hitler, Osama Bin Laden. 

  Finally, I’d like to thank you for being as big of a music geek as I am. 

  You’ve had a lot of great acts play the White House. Dylan, Macca, B.B. King, Kendrick Lamar...I could go on and on. 

   I also quite like the summer playlists that you put up on Spotify. I think a great post presidency gig for you would be to either become a contributor at Rolling Stone/NME, or start a soul cover band with yourself on vocals and Bill Clinton on Saxophone. 

   Since you’re about to have a lot of free time, I might as well give you some music recommendations...

   -The Jam (British punk band from the ‘70s. Fronted by Paul Weller. Their album “Setting Sons” is worth a listen)

   -Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band (American airman who was stationed in the UK in the ‘60s and started a soul group with local British musicians)

   -Sister Wife ( An indie duo from my college town in Davenport, IA. Their EP is on Spotify)

   -Soul Coughing (Hip-Hop/Jazz fusion band from the ‘90s. Their frontman, Mike Doughty, has good solo work as well.)

   -Sing Street soundtrack (See the film as well)

  That’s all I’ve got to say. I hope you and your family have a merry christmas. Be sure to live it up and enjoy your impending time off. 

  May the force be with you. 

 ...I thought about ironically ending the letter with “Thanks Obama”, but chose not to since I bet he was sick to death of hearing it. 

Song of the Day

Wonderful Christmas Time - Paul McCartney 

Voting...just fucking do it!

 Since it’s the eve of the US presidential election, I’ve decided to take it upon myself and write an article on something that in my mind is as equally important to music, and that’s voting. 

 If you’re not American, too young to vote or have already voted (like I did), you can stop reading this if you like. 

 Now I’d to like address people who either haven’t voted yet or are not planning to vote. 

 To those of you who think voting doesn’t matter, I urge you to rethink your position. Tell a veteran who fought to liberate Europe from the Nazis during WWII if voting doesn’t matter. Talk to women who were born before 1920 or black people who were alive before 1964 and tell them voting doesn’t matter. 

 Don’t get me wrong, I know America has it’s problems. You hear about them about them all the time when you watch CNN or look through your facebook feed. 

 However, choosing not to vote is not a protest against a corrupt system, it’s a coward’s way out to avoid facing our nation’s problems head on. As Edward R. Murrow once said, “We are not descended from fearful men”.

 Make no mistake, voting is pretty damn important, especially in this election. America is a democracy and part of what makes democracy work is that the citizenry has to participate. You don’t participate, nothing works and we will never live up to our full potential.

 If you’re not voting because you think you’re candidate has got this bag (Hillary people), allow me to pull a Red Foreman and put a foot up your ass. 

 A lot of things have happened this year. Donald Trump became the Republican presidential candidate, the UK voted to leave the European Union and the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. If 2016 has taught us anything, it’s that nothing is guaranteed and you never take anything for granted. 

 So, with that in mind, get up bright and early tomorrow morning and vote. If you got to be late for work, switch your schedule around or travel a good distance to vote, than do it. 

JUST. FUCKING. DO IT!

Johnny Thunders in NYC, 1980.

Photographed by Nikki Sudden

I actually have a vinyl record of Gregorian monk chants.

Overheard at NPR (via nprinterns)

pretty accurate.