Pencilstorm Holiday Party Featuring Colin Gawel and The Lonely Bones Tuesday Dec 23rd @ Woodland's Tavern

If you were one of the 23,864 people who visited Pencilstorm in 2014, we would like to invite you to our annual Holiday Party @ Woodland's Tavern on Tuesday Dec 23rd. Admission is FREE and doors open at 6 pm with happy hour prices on Four String Brew. Legendary Pencilstorm contributor Ricki C. will be performing a solo set starting at 7 pm and Colin Gawel and The Lonely Bones will be playing from 7:30-9. 

All are invited and if you have troubling making it happen just use the magic words, "I have to slide out real quick to do some last minute shopping. It's a secret."

Boom. See you on Tuesday, Dec 23rd at Woodland's Tavern and thanks for supporting Pencilstorm. - Colin G.

THIS DATE IN ROCK N ROLL HISTORY - BADFINGER RELEASES STRAIGHT UP BY SCOTT CARR

December 13, 1971 - Badfinger: Straight Up is released.

Released on The Beatles Apple record label, Straight Up is the third album released by Badfinger and the follow up to the previous years breakthrough album No Dice, which contained the hit "No Matter What" and the original version of "Without You," a song that would be covered by Harry Nilsson on his album Nilsson Schmilsson in 1971 and become one of the biggest selling rock songs of the era.

Technically, Straight Up is the third album by the band but the second to feature the classic line-up of Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Joey Molland and Mike Gibbins. The first album to be released under the Badfinger name was Magic Christian Music in early 1970, that album was comprised of three new songs produced by Paul McCartney, including the McCartney-penned "Come and Get It" which became a top ten hit for the band in the US and UK. The rest of Magic Christian Music featured remixed version of seven other songs that were recorded by the band when they were known as The Iveys. The Iveys were the first band to be signed to The Beatles Apple label and their name would be changed to Badfinger, which was inspired by The Beatles song "Bad Finger Boogie" that later became "With A Little Help From My Friends." 

With Straight Up Badfinger continued to evolve and create a sound of their own. Being so closely associated with The Beatles had made it tough for the band to achieve their own identity. Initially the band recorded twelve songs in early 1971 that they thought would be the follow up album to No Dice but those tracks were rejected by Apple Records and George Harrison was brought in to oversee the project. Harrison would end up working on four new tracks with the band that would eventually make their way onto Straight Up, but Harrison was unable to complete work on the album because of other commitments, including The Concert For Bangladesh. Harrison told the band he could not finish the project but invited them to perform with him at the Concert For Bangladesh in August. With Harrison out of the picture.....Todd Rundgren stepped in to complete the sessions for Straight Up. Rundgren mixed the entire album and received production credit for eight of the albums twelve songs, with Harrison getting credit for the remaining four songs.

            George Harrison with Pete Ham

Day After Day single

Listening to Straight Up you would never guess that there were so many obstacles in the way of making such a great record. It comes off as a very focused and cohesive collection of songs with strong performances from the band. Loaded with power-pop harmonies and hooks.....Badfinger managed to make a near-perfect album with Straight Up. Two singles were released from the album - "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue" - both written by Pete Ham. "Day After Day" came from the George Harrison sessions and features George on slide guitar along with Pete Ham. It would become the highest charting single for the band in the US. "Baby Blue" followed and would be the group's last top twenty single, peaking at No.14 on the Billboard charts. "Baby Blue" had a big resurgence in popularity when it was featured in a recent episode of AMC's Breaking Bad, becoming a top-selling song on iTunes following the airing of the episode. Elsewhere on Straight Up you will find many other standout tracks, including Pete Hams "Name of the Game," "Take It All" and "Perfection." Bassist Tom Evans would also contribute some of his best material, with the songs "Money," "Flying" and "It's Over."  Likewise Joey Molland had a strong showing with the songs "Sweet Tuesday Morning," "Suitcase," "I'd Die Babe" and the albums most rocking tune "Sometimes."

Sadly Straight Up would be Badfinger's commercial peak and the band would make one more album for Apple Records before leaving to sign with Warner Brothers. A series of tragic events would follow and bring this line-up of Badfinger to an end with the release of the album Wish You Were Here in 1974. Wish You Were Here is considered by many Badfinger fans to be the bands best work since Straight Up, but unfortunately it was too little too late and the band was drowning in a myriad of bad business decisions and lawsuits.  Basically the band was completely broke, had been all but shut down by their legal problems and could not continue. Guitarist Pete Ham committed suicide in April of 1975, followed by the suicide of bassist Tom Evans in 1983. Drummer Mike Gibbins died in 2005. Joey Molland is the only surviving member of Badfinger and still tours and performs the music of Badfinger.  

I highly recommend watching VH1's Behind The Music on Badfinger if you are unfamiliar with their career, it truly is the most tragic story in rock history........

Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH  bands Radio Tramps and Returning April. Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.

This Month In Music History - Alice Cooper: Muscle of Love by Scott Carr

November, 20, 1973 - Alice Cooper: "Muscle of Love" is released.

"The album in the plain brown, slightly greasy wrapper"

Muscle of Love is the seventh and final album from the original Alice Cooper Group. It was released on November 20th, 1973 and was the follow up to the hugely successful Billion Dollar Babies album which was released in February of the same year. Muscle of Love was considered a failure upon it's release as it peaked at No.10 on the Billboard charts and only attained gold status whereas Billion Dollar Babies had made it to the No.1 position on the charts and sold in excess of a million copies.

Muscle of Love was an attempt by the band to make a straight ahead rock and roll record without all the trappings and theatrics that they had so carefully crafted with their previous albums. Muscle of Love was the bands first album to not be produced by Bob Ezrin since their breakthrough 1971 album Love It To Death. It was originallly reported that Ezrin dropped out of the project because of an illness but later reports indicated that Ezrin was at odds with the band.....mainly guitarist and chief songwriter Michael Bruce.....over the direction the album was taking. It was decided that Jack Richardson and Jack Douglas would co-produce the record in Ezrin's absence. The result is a solid collection of songs that have aged well. Over the years Muscle of Love has become a fan favorite and many feel it is right in line with all the other Cooper classics of the day. Two singles were pulled from the record..."Teenage Lament '74" and the title track....but neither track managed to make much of a dent on the singles chart. Other highlights on the album include "Working Up A Sweat", "Big Apple Dreamin' (Hippo)", "Never Been Sold Before", "Hard Hearted Alice" and "The Man With the Golden Gun". "Man With the Golden Gun" was originally intended for the soundtrack of the James Bond film of the same name but the band turned the song in too late and the song was not used in the film......so the band decided to include on their album. 

The packaging of the album is unique as it came in a shallow corrugated cardboard carton with a stain intentionally printed along the bottom of the carton. Many of the records were returned by retailers because they thought the cartons had been damaged in shipment....so it's actually pretty tough to find vinyl copies of this album that don't have a "cut-out" notch on one of the corners that indicates it as a return. 

This album marks the last time the original Alice Cooper Group would record together as it was decided that Alice Cooper (the group) and Alice Cooper (the man) needed a break from each other. Alice would release his first album as a solo artist in 1975....with his very successful Welcome To My Nightmare. It was originally thought that the group would reunite for another record after Alice finished up with Welcome To My Nightmare....but this never happened and three of the original Alice Cooper Group members formed the band Billion Dollar Babies and released an album entitled "Battle Axe" without Alice. "Battle Axe" was a bomb and the band disappeared soon after.....Alice would continue on with his solo career and is still releasing new music and touring to this day.

In 2011 The Alice Cooper Group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and later that year the surviving members of the original Alice Cooper Group joined Alice in the studio for the first time since the Muscle of Love record and they contributed to a few songs on his Welcome 2 My Nightmare album. Sadly Alice Cooper guitarist Glen Buxton passed away in 1997...so a full Alice Cooper Group reunion wasn't in the cards.

In recent years Alice has been performing the title track from Muscle of Love in concert.....which is a nice tip of the hat to an album that many have forgot about. If you are an Alice fan.....I'm sure you have heard this record before but if not....I highly recommend that you give it a listen. 

Dead Schembechlers Tickets Going Fast, Click Here For Tickets Or Risk Being a Shutout of the Hate Michigan Rally (loser)

Jeff Hassler may not approve of their language but I can tell you that I have seen these guys live a number of times and there is no place on Earth better to be the night before the OSU v Michigan game. In fact, if you consider yourself a Buckeye Football fan and haven't seen the Dead Schembechlers play, then you really aren't a very big Buckeye football fan. 

Be warned, the show isn't for the faint of heart and unless you want your kid's ears ringing w F- Bombs and hair matted with Wolverine blood, this is a 21 and up show. Ace of Cups Friday November 28th. Doors 6pm, show at 8pm sharp.  Tickets WILL SELLOUT IN ADVANCE so I wouldn't waste time messing around. @baverbuckeyebag

Click Here For Dead Schembechlers Tickets!!

CD102.5's Brian Phillips Answers Colin's Questions About Pulp.

This month's installment of Reelin' and Rockin' at the Gateway Film Center features Pulp - A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets. Drinks at the upstairs bar at 7 pm and movie at 8 pm. Tiks only 5$ and proceeds to CD1025 for the kids. Colin knows this is an important event but really doesn't know why. Brian was nice enough to fill him in.

Colin - I know I should know Pulp but really other than the one guy is named Jarvis, I can't say I can name a song offhand. Does this make me a total dumbass or is in natural for us Yanks to have trouble keeping track of all these UK bands?

Brian- Not at all. It's tough to break into the U.S. market. Look at Pulp the way you would The Kinks or Blur. Their Britishness makes large scale success in America a more difficult proposition. 

Colin: What record would be the best one for a novice like myself to start with?

1995's "Different Class" has their best known song "Common People" and is generally regarded as their greatest top to bottom. It garnered the 1996 Mercury Prize for England's best album and sold a million and a quarter copies in their native land alone. That's like moving around seven million copies here. If you need more convincing William Shatner covered "Common People" several years ago and it's hilarious!

Colin: Have you ever seen them live? Have they done a big room appearance at CD1025?

Brian- I have not. America was never a touring priority and jaunts of any length have been sadly few and far between. 

Colin; This movie is brand new and making it's Columbus debut at our little movie club. Any initial word on reviews?

Brian- Reviews have been across the board very positive. I've read that their home town of Sheffield is an important part of the film. The "Common People" that live and work there are reportedly instrumental in the film's success. 

If I could I'd like to add a recommendation. Front man Jarvis Cocker's (no relation to fellow Sheffield native Joe Cocker) 2009 solo album "Further Complications" is for my money the funniest album ever recorded about being a recently divorced sexually frustrated middle-aged man. It is an excellent display of his lacerating wit. It also rocks like a mother. 

Today's-Hot-Young-Country Country Op-Ed by Aaron Beck

Thanks to Aaron Beck for letting us re-post his piece about last week's Country Music Awards. I didn't want you to miss it. Colin G.

Twenty years ago, today's-hot-young-country country was hilarious enough. But the new breed is taking it to Spinal Tap levels. Things I loved about last night's Country Music Awards, which - in a perfect world - would be aired for 3 hours every Wednesday night:

1) That all the aw-shucks dudes are so supernaturally clean.
Seriously, does a team of handlers power wash these fellas all day
before these shows? I mean, Vince Gill, one of the cuddliest
pop-country singers 20 yrs back, today is as threatening as a Hell's
Angel in comparison.

2) That the names of all the singers sound like characters from
General Hospital. I give you Luke Bryan, who dodged some nasty
lightning strikes last night (see photo).

3) "Outlaw" Eric Church. This guy. My God. Trying way too hard, dude.
Waylon Jennings had more "outlaw" in any one of the goddamn toes he
had amputated right before he died of "the sugar."

4) That the songs are either Spring Break Country-ish (let's go to
Cabo der der der der der) or "rockin' " a Coldplay/Bon Jovi/Journey
vein. Hilarious.

5) That an award dubbed "Entertainer of the Year" is given to someone.
Always seems like the winner of this ought to be juggling a kitten, a
chainsaw, and an apple, rather than singing lyrics written by seven song-
factory-line-workers in an office near Vanderbilt.

6) That said winner will then thank his manager at Mercury South, his
publicist, the guy who precision trims his 3-day beard, and then point
to the roof of the building and thank Jesus, who no doubt is wearing
fashion jeans and a sleeveless black T while glued to his fresh
900-inch flat screen in his new condo in a new mixed-use building in a
neighborhood full of earth-to-mouth gastropub-dive-bar concepts.

7) That the Dierks Bentley song "Drunk on a Plane" wasn't written by
Weird Al or Ray "The Streak" Stevens.

8) Florida Georgia Line! Yes! These top-shelf cornballs are a couple
clicks away from Chippendale's auditions at 2 p.m. on a Monday
afternoon in Tampa at the former Structure store in the West Shore
Plaza.

9) That rootin', tootin' Garth Brooks is still with us and possibly
could revive Chris Gaines and tour with Keith Urban.

10) That, based on all this evidence, that there's a big chance this
time next year that you'll catch my new band, Tanktop, featuring Cody
Papaw on lead vocals, performing our first sensitive-man single "You
Call Me Stupid, I Call Me Country (While Ya'll Treat Me Like That?)."