Lou Reed 1942 - 2013 by Ricki C.

(This piece appeared originally in Ricki's blog, Growing Old With Rock & Roll .)

I'm sure by now almost everybody who reads Pencilstorm or Growing Old With Rock & Roll knows that Lou Reed died yesterday, Sunday Oct. 27th. I'm also sure anybody who has ever seen me play knows that there was no bigger influence on my music and songwriting than Lou Reed. My five favorite rock & roll performers of all time are - in chronological order - Pete Townshend, Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen, Ian Hunter and Elliott Murphy.

I fully realize Bob Dylan is not on that list. Lou Reed was my Bob Dylan.

I was introduced to the music of The Velvet Underground by my best friend ever - Dave Blackburn - when he and I first met at Bishop Ready High School in 1968. (There's a song about it, kinda, in blog entry If All My Heroes Are Losers, Sept. 26th, 2012.) I have to admit I didn't get The Velvet Underground in '68 or '69 when Dave was first trying to indoctrinate me. (Dave was at that show at Valley Dale Ballroom here in Columbus, Ohio, that came out on one of the "Banana Album" box-set reissues. I didn't go because I found the Velvets "too noisy." I would think I stayed home that night with my Lovin' Spoonful and Paul Revere & The Raiders records.)

By 1973, however, when I came back from trying to start a band in Boston with Dave and moved into my first apartment, Reed's Transformer album and a German import best-of Velvet Underground double-record set (that I got for two bucks at an Ohio State University campus used-record store) became my touchstones, my muses and my Masters course in rock & roll songwriting. (see blog entry The Apartment, March 9th, 2012.)

If you had told me in 1973 that Lou Reed would still be alive in 2013, I'd have just laughed, dismissed you, and walked away. If you had told me Iggy Pop, Keith Richards and Bob Dylan would still be alive in 2013 - let alone still playing music - I'd have called you a fuckin' idiot to your face. (And Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis? Fuggetaboutit.)

And maybe that's kinda the entire point of this whole Growing Old With Rock & Roll Concept. I cannot reconcile which side of "It's better to burn out than to fade away." I believe in. I realize how awful a thing it is to say in the wake of Lou Reed's passing, but a large part of me wishes Pete Townshend HAD died before he got old, just so I wouldn't have to dislike him and all that he stands for more with each passing year. I was sad in 1978 when Keith Moon died, but Keith wasn't meant to get fat and wasted and useless as he had already started to do even 35 years ago. We're not all supposed to get old and have long careers in rock & roll. 

Bruce Springsteen is. Ian Hunter is. Elliott Murphy is. Alejandro Escovedo is. Maybe Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Richard Thompson, Steve Earle and Dave Alvin are, but I haven't bought a record by any of those five artists in years. And David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash certainly shouldn't still be out there. 

And does it make me sad that Lou Reed's last recorded work is that debacle duet record with Metallica from a coupla years ago? You'd best believe it makes me sad. 

But I digress.......

I think before I lose control of this blog and start down too many rabbit holes, I'm just going to turn it over to Elliott Murphy. The following are the liner notes to 1969 - Velvet Underground Live, released by Mercury records in 1973 to capitalize on Lou Reed's post-"Walk On The Wild Side" popularity. It's my favorite piece of rock journalism/poetry ever, and it says more about rock & roll and loss than I ever could, in a hundred years. 

Too Poor To Buy a Trash Sticker but Rich Enough to Throw Away New Shoes.

As CEO of Colin's Coffee Inc. I have many important responsibilities: managing a large labor force, meeting customer expectations, keeping stockholders & the board members satisfied and most importantly* - taking out the trash. 

Here at the Golden Bear Center, I am not only responsible for the trash inside the coffee shop, but also the three outside containers as well.  I won't bore you with the details but, in a nutshell, I personally take out and pay for the trash from Colin's Coffee, McDonald's and most of the neighborhood adjacent to the shopping center.

See, here in U.A. we have a program where recycling is free, but you pay for any trash to be picked up. It is a rather ingenious system as it encourages good behavior and punishes lazy, wasteful bastards. 

However, the lazy, wasteful bastards from the neighborhood and McDonald's across the parking lot have stumbled onto an ingenious plan of their own - just dump your trash outside Colin's Coffee and he can deal with it. 

And deal with it I do, on a semi-daily basis. So the other day - as I was struggling to remove a 50 gallon trash bag stuffed with Big Mac containers, beer bottles, dirty socks and the like - I noticed a newish Ann Taylor shoebox jammed in the pile. Odd. I've seen many things in the trash but something about this particular item stirred my curiosity. So I turned my nose to the side and slowly opened the box, hoping that curiosity hadn't also killed the family cat, leaving me to stare upon poor deceased Professor Paws. 

My worst fears were unrealized, as the mysterious new shoebox contained exactly what one would expect, a new pair of expensive high-heeled shoes. Perhaps a gift from a tawdry affair run amok that needed to be disposed of quickly? A clue to a crime? Or more likely, just some person too cheap to buy a trash sticker but rich enough to throw away new shoes. Nice.

Colin Gawel wrote this at Colin's Coffee. He also plays in the band Watershed. please check out his other scribblings on Pencilstorm by visiting the archive page.

*Actually, cleaning the women's restroom is the most important responsibility of the Colin's Coffee CEO. 

"World Series Begins, Set Your DVRs for Midnight" b/w "Bad News for Bosox" by Colin G.

As a serious baseball fan I would love to watch the World Series, but as a resident of the Eastern time zone, it just goes too late for my working-man's blood. A couple of years ago baseball made a token show of starting one series game a little earlier just to appease us responsible types. Those days are long gone, as this season every single game starts after 8 p.m. Even the Saturday game, which could have easily been at 7 pm, is scheduled late. Just to guarantee my absence, MLB scheduled the Sunday game at 8:25 pm, the latest of the entire bunch.

I get the message, guys. You don't want me watching. Still, complaining about late start times on the East Coast is about as relevant as complaining about microwave ovens. I don't blame greedy TV executives or commissioner Bud Selig, I blame time itself.

Fish don't ever even watch TV. Why don't we just readjust the time zones so all of America starts one hour earlier? The Atlantic Ocean won't mind. Now the games in the Eastern Time Zone would start at 7 pm instead of 8 pm, 6 pm in the Central and so on. Those hippies out West wouldn't even notice if we changed their time zone. It's just a thought. We would all have to re-set our alarm clocks but other than that it wouldn't be too hard.

My Gut Tells Me The Bosox Are In For An Ass-Kicking. 

Baseball is unpredictable and I'm just some dude who works at a coffee shop, but if I had to gamble on this series I would take the Cards in six games. Actually, if i had any balls I would make it five. The Sox pitchers made quick work of two mediocre lineups in the Rays and Tigers. No such luck with the Cards, who can hurt you at every spot in the order. And with Allen Craig back they can put Matt Adams in the DH spot or vice versa. The Sox better get at least one win at home versus Wainwright or Wacha or this could be over quick. John Lackey game two starter. Hmm...

On the upside for Boston, I have been on a hot streak lately prediction-wise and am surely due to eat some crow soon.  

Colin Gawel wrote this very quickly at Colin's Coffee so yes, some of the grammar is shaky. 

Ian Hunter & the Rant Band in Kent, Ohio, and the Greying Of Live Rock & Roll by Ricki C.

(An alternate - somewhat longer - version of this entry appeared previously 

in  Ricki's blog, Growing Old With Rock & Roll.)    

My lovely wife Debbie and I made a road trip Saturday Oct. 5th to see Ian Hunter & the Rant Band at Kent Stage, a truly great venue in Kent, Ohio.  Kent's rather unfortunate claim to fame is that it houses Kent State University, where on May 4th, 1970, four Kent State University students were shot to death and nine wounded by a detachment of National Guardsmen.  I was a senior in high school on that day and harbor my own 1960's-derived conspiracy-theory thoughts on the subject - i.e. that then-President Richard M. Nixon called up then-Governor James Rhodes and said, "Let's put an end to this Vietnam War campus-protest nonsense. Kill some solidly Midwest students.  No one will really take it all that seriously if it's New York City or California, we need to make a statement and an example in Middle America."  (I offer as evidence of my theory that two black students were killed and 12 were wounded by police gunfire on May 15th, 1970, just eleven days later at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi.  Nobody seems to remember that incident and Neil Young never wrote any songs about those kids.)

However, Governmental Murder For Hire is not our topic today. Today's topic is Ian Hunter & The Rant Band live.

My live rock & roll encounter previous to this Ian Hunter show was a Rolling Stones tribute band at the Columbus, Ohio, Hollywood Casino.  (click here to see pencilstorm entry Sept.27th)   It's becoming increasingly problematic to me that, at 61 years old, I find myself attending only shows that connect back to my 20's in the 1970's, my heyday of rock & roll.  I don't necessarily want to be one of those people who won't go see young, up-and-coming bands, but I am.

After an enjoyable opening set by Amy Rigby & Wreckless Eric (who, by the way, sounds EXACTLY like he did back in 1978 on the Stiffs Live record) the mighty Rant Band took the stage and slammed into "What For" from the new When I'm President album, not-so-subtly announcing that this was not going to be an Oldies Show, that new Hunter material was going to be featured.  Ian ambled onto the stage, making a great entrance in a long-sleeve white shirt & black jeans, looking incredibly fit, trim & vital, belying his 74 years on the planet.  The second song of the set was "Once Bitten Twice Shy," serving equal notice that Ian wasn't going to ignore The Hits in the show.

And therein might lie my problem with The Greying Of Live Rock & Roll: audience resistance to New Material in lieu of Crowd Favorites.  I may not be giving the audience at Kent Stage enough credit, but it seemed to me that a rather large majority of the crowd were there for a Nostalgia Night.  They wanted to hear Mott The Hoople material like "All The Way From Memphis," "Golden Age Of Rock & Roll," and, of course, "All The Young Dudes" and Ian solo hits "Just Another Night" (just about the only Radio Hit that didn't get played) and "Cleveland Rocks."  (Kent is, after all, a stone's throw from the hometown of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.)

I really have to wonder how many audience members in attendance at this show have bought - or are even aware of the existence of - Ian's four brilliant 21st-century releases: Rant, Shrunken Heads, Man Overboard and the aforementioned When I'm President.  (More on that in my Growing Old With Rock & Roll August 2nd, 2013 blog entry Ian Hunter (w/ Mick Ronson) "Once Bitten Twice Shy." And all the Bonus Video Friday blogs in August featured Hunter and/or Mott The Hoople.)  Also, disturbingly, there were precious few young people at the show - fifty & up seemed to be the order of the day.  My wife Debbie, many years my junior, might have been one of the youngest people in attendance.

So the Rant band plowed through a truly rocking set, mixing in newer tunes like "Black Tears," "Shrunken Heads" and "Just The Way You Look Tonight" with the Crowd Favorites mentioned above, before smashing to a close with the new album's "Ta Shunka Witco (Crazy Horse)" - delivered with a venom wholly in keeping with the song's message of America's betrayal of her indigenous people - and "Life."  I think Ian has penned "Life" as a ongoing dedicated set-ender, to replace the now 40-year old "All The Way From Memphis," or the 39-year old "Saturday Gigs," the songs that have concluded Hunter shows the last few times I've seen him, further reinforcing that this is not an Oldies Show, that this is a band that can look fearlessly into the future and "Laugh, because it's only life."  - Ricki C. / Oct. 7th, 2013

IAN HUNTER & THE RANT BAND / LIVE 2013

Colin's Coffee Approaches Debt Ceiling (revisited)

 This was originally published at colingawel.com the last time Congress went haywire. Figured it might be worth a revisit. - Colin

Colin's Coffee Approaches Debt Ceiling. 

It’s not exactly a perfect analogy, but let’s imagine how the Debt crisis would be applied to a small (smallest) business like Colin’s Coffee. Pretend On August 2nd, my business credit card is going to be maxed out.* Times have been tough and I need a little space to stave off disaster. I desperately need the bank to extend the shop more credit. If my credit gets stopped, I cannot buy coffee beans for the month. If I cannot purchase coffee beans, I cannot sell coffee and I cannot pay any of my bills. Worse even, my good reputation will be ruined, people who have been depending on me to sell them coffee will walk away empty handed, taking their business somewhere else. It won’t be long until the power is turned off and the doors are locked.

What’s even worse, if I go out of business and have ZERO income, I still have to pay my rent, the bank and back bills.

I must get those coffee beans! Is that clear?
I must get those coffee beans to have a fighting chance!
All that matters is that I get those coffee beans!

Question: “Well how did you end up in this mess?”

Answer: “Hmm..Let me see…WHO F*&%^$#G CARES! right now we need coffee beans! After we get the coffee beans we can debate the merits of issuing all those free Colin’s Coffee Gift Cards with no expiration date or whether it was wise to slash prices and declare war on Mc Donald’s and Starbucks at the same time.

Small Business 101 for idiots. I struggle with this daily.
1-Secure credit. Buy more coffee beans. Stay alive. Fight!
2-Cut expenses.
3-Raise revenue.

Cut Expenses. Raise Revenue. Pretty simple math. Or is it?

Oh, but you have feelings? You have certain beliefs? So do I. So does everybody. “But I have a certain ideology I have pledged to uphold! I am a Liberal! I am a conservative! I am an Independent. I am part of the Tea Party. I am a chair”. Oh, how nice. That's awesome! You believe in things. How quaint.

Here is the dirty little secret I've learned about business. Numbers don’t read. They don’t even watch TV. They aren’t Democrats or Republicans. They aren’t even independents. Go figure. They don’t watch polls and they don’t give speeches. Numbers add up or they don’t. EX: Adam Dunn’s batting average is not adding up. Amy Winehouse’s CD sales are. There is no debate.

Colin’s Coffee needs those Coffee Beans!

But I have it lucky. I am the king of Colin’s Coffee. I can dig my own grave or dig my way out. I don’t need anybody’s permission, for better or worse, to act in times of financial crisis.

Our Founding Fathers, in their infinite wisdom to disrespect kings, gave the President two business partners to keep him from doing anything rash. (House and Senate, duh) The problem is, he cannot do ANYTHING unless they give him something to approve or disapprove of. All he can do is sit in the Oval office and flash the high sign or the thumbs down and right now his partners have sent him nothing. They are having a debate to impress their boy/girlfriends and he is left mumbling, “Hey fellas, we really need some more coffee beans. This is what is best for the country. If you guys are going to keep debating for a while, let’s get some more coffee beans, cut some spending raise some revenue. Pretty simple really. Let’s make these numbers work, it’s clear we need coffee beans. I can make the order now if you guys give me the go ahead. Got the number on the speed dial. Fellas? Guys? anybody?”

Meanwhile back at the Capital………..

And then there is that pesky Constitution. What a pain in the ass. With it’s “free speech” and “right to bare arms” stuff. GAWD, sometimes it seems it has an opinion about EVERYTHING

This time it’s some crazy, really high number, barely even an amendment like the 14th or 56th or something that says: “The Validity of Public Debt of the United States…cannot be questioned”

That sounds fishy. Who came up with that? Ralph Nader? Geez.

Get credit. Raise Revenue. Cut Expenses. Obviously. It’s all 3 or bust.

And in closing, I think this song pretty much sums up the complexities of the current situation 

_________________________________________________

Colin Gawel is a musician/songwriter and small business owner/father/husband/ He has no business writing about these topics so please disregard the previous article. To learn more about him and other Pencilstorm contributors please click here.

* The actual Colin’s Coffee Debt ceiling isn’t set to expire until 11/17/13

This Reds Fan Will Remember the Dusty Baker Years Fondly. by Colin G.

When Reds owner Robert Castellini announced the hiring of Dusty Baker to manage the club prior to the 2008 season, I excitedly tuned into 700WLW to hear the fan response. Instead of people calling in to support the first major decision made by the new owner, I was shocked to hear caller after caller complain "Why would we hire Dusty Baker?"

I wasn't sure if my fellow Reds fans were ignorant, racist or some combination of the two, because I was asking the exact opposite question, "How did we convince Dusty Baker to take this crappy job?" 

The knock on Baker was that he couldn't couldn't close out the World Series with the Giants or take the Cubs the final five outs to their first World Series in 6,000 years. Boy, as a Reds fan I was prepared to grapple with those kind of problems. The Reds previous four managers were, now get this, Bob Boone, Dave Miley, Jerry Narron and who could ever forget, Pete Mackenan. Those legendary skippers combined to put up a robust record of 513 wins and 620 losses. So what if three-time manager-of-the-year winner Baker blew out some young power arms along the way? I could live with that and besides, we didn't have any young power arms to blow out anyway.

Dusty Baker was a proven winner and for a franchise that hadn't made the playoffs since 1995, that was good enough for me.  And guess what? Baker took a franchise where mediocrity was considered a good year and created a culture where winning ninety games and making the playoffs could get you fired.

Players like Joey Votto, Homer Bailey and Jay Bruce developed into valuable major league assets, unlike previous Reds "can't miss" prospects Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns. Player after player, and even salty Reds play by play man Marty Brennaman claimed, "This is the best clubhouse in baseball." Without question, Baker had his faults, and his old school philosophies concerning OBP and bunting were hopelessly out of date, but he did teach this group of players how to win and in the process raise expectations for the entire Reds organization. 

For those who amazingly claim that Dusty doesn't deserve credit for taking the Reds to the post-season 3 out of 4 years, I ask, would he have gotten the blame if the Reds had losing records all of those years? Sorry friends, can't have it both ways. 

Oddly, both my personal high and low point of the Dusty Baker tenure occurred in the same game. The Reds were set to battle the eventual world champion Giants in deciding game 5 of the NL divisional playoffs in a rare afternoon start. With so much on the line and the early start time, I surprised my son Owen by pulling him out of his 3rd grade class so we could go home and watch the game together. I value education, but who knows when we would get a chance to share a memory like this again, if ever? A deciding baseball playoff game featuring our favorite team and at reasonable time? I just had to make the executive decision and go for it. We spent the game rotating between listening to the game on the radio and throwing baseballs in the front yard and running inside to watch on TV when things got tense. The Reds lost a tough one but it was a moment we would never forget and certainly made bigger baseball fans out of both of us.

So on behalf of myself and Owen, thanks to Dusty Baker for all the good memories. We will miss watching your excitement as you greeted your players when they would line up after a victory. It's time for a change, but we will remember the Dusty years fondly. (And thanks for signing Owen's Reds cap outside Wrigley Field one afternoon too.)

Colin Gawel wrote this on a slow Monday afternoon at Colin's Coffee. He also won his fantasy baseball league this year. Learn more about him and other Pencilstorm contributors by clicking here.

Go into the Cincinnati Reds locker room as they celebrate clinching the National League Central Division Tuesday night at Great American Ball park.