I don’t know why I think of this stuff when I wakeup in the middle of the night? Why does my brain only function at three in the morning? I think that night job I had for 3 years really screwed with my creativity.
Enough about me, What do you think would make the ultimate band? (you can also include dead musicians since this is a fantasy anyway).
 LEAD VOCALS: Morissey (The Smiths) or Nina Simone
PIANO/BACKING VOCALS: Nick Cave (Bad Seeds) or Tom Waits
BASS: Mingus or Entwistle (The Who)
RHYTHM GUITAR: Izzy Stradlin (G & R) or Wayne Kramer (MC 5)
LEAD GUITAR: Jimi Hendrix, Rory Gallagher or Richard Thompson (Fairport Convention)
DRUMS: John Bonham (Led Zepp) or Stewart Copeland (The Police)
Whadda You think?
Bass: Flea (RHCP)
Drums: the drummer from Rush (forgot his name)
Piano/vocals: Jerry Lee Lewis
Guitar: Who knows – too many good guitarists. Maybe the guy from Days of the New before he got clean.
LEAD VOCALS: Will Sheff (Okkervil River)
PIANO/BACKING VOCALS: Chan Marshall (Cat Power) and Rufus Wainwright
BASS: Mike Watt (Minutemen, Firehose, etc.)
RHYTHM GUITAR: Lee Renaldo (Sonic Youth)
LEAD GUITAR: Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth)
DRUMS: Steven Drozd (Flaming Lips)
Forgot about the Flaming Lips. They’re a pretty popular band where I went to school – almost local boys.
Mike Watt – very nice
OK. I recognized one name. Hendrix. The rest? Guess there is a real generation gap here. Does get me to thinking though about my generations music. The sounds of rock n roll didn’t register with me til about early ’63 when I was 14 years old. Back then in SF you could listen to country all day long, and I think they even did live broadcasting from a place called Ray’s Drive-In, way out on West 12th Street, east of Kiwanis a couple of blocks. I never liked country much. I liked listening to the Twins during the day, then fine tuning the radio at night hoping the atmospheric conditions were just right so I could pick up WLS in Chicago or KOMA out of Oklahoma City. If you liked rock n roll those were the only options. Back then I liked Roy Orbison, Sam Cooke, Peter Paul And Mary, The Beach Boys…stuff like that. I just never could get into the twanginess of 60’s country.
The day when rock n roll started to change? I’ve always thought it was November 22nd 1963. That’s the day President Kennedy was assassinated. Funny how you remember all sorts of details about an event and day like that one. One thing I remember about that day was watching an early morning show before I went to school about a band from England that was the rage of Europe. That’s the day I first heard of the Beatles. Everything changed after that. In early 64 KELO started a two hour evening rock n roll format program with a guy by the name of Lord Douglas. He later left town, then re-emerged about a decade later as Harley Worthit. About the same time in early 64 KISD started an evening rock n roll format also. They had a really tiny studio about on the corner of 8th and Main.
So I was googling around last night for some music from those days. Found this one that I think best describes the music and mood of the mid 60’s. If you can stand it, be sure to listen to all of Tom Hanks remarks. You can link to parts two and three from the right side of You Tube. Hanks nailed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oory_FvwLiU&feature=related
Warren-
You don’t know Nina Simone or Charles Mingus? Maybe you are not a jazz fan?
Warren –
Roy Orbison could do the vocals in my band any day.
A modern day version may be Raul Malo from the Mavericks. He has possibly the best pure singing voice of any man out there today.
Of all the female vocalists, I have to say Kasey Chambers’ voice makes my pants fit funny.
Morissey? Really???
I tried to create a band that might actually sound good together. I had a hard time with a bass player so I fired Lou Reed and here’s what I came up with. I felt I shouldn’t have 2 guys from the same band.
Captain Beefheart-Vocals and Harmonica
Tom Waits-Vocals and Piano
Frank Zappa-Lead Guitar and Vocals
Marc Bolan-Rhythm Guitar and Vocals
John Cale-Bass, Electric Viola and Vocals
Ringo Starr-Drums and Vocals
This is fun! I think I’ll try to come up with a more contemporary list next.
Who played bass for the Smiths anyway?
Nice lineup.
Did you add Ringo for sympathy reasons?
Pretty rockin’!
Yah know, Beer Jew, he still is the Rev!