popdude

Did somebody say fruit-based groups? Howzabout: APPLES IN STEREO THE ORANGE PEELS THE LIME SPIDERS WILLIAM PEARS CHERRY BLOSSOM CLINIC BANANARAMA PEACHES AND HERB

Coem on Jeff, that NEVER happens here in L.A.!

I can take a stab at this one. It's either: 1. Big Star had no "hits," thus making them "cooler" in the eyes of the hip/indie/lame. 2. Eric Carmen didn't go off the deep end like Alex Chilton did after his band broke up (it's the whole Jim Morrison "He's Hot! He's Sexy! He's Dead!" mindset). To some, it's cool to be f***ed up, I guess. 3. Eric had the *nerve* to have a commercially successful solo career singing - gasp! - ballads after the 'Berries' breakup. Had he been "cool" like Chilton, Eric would have also bummed around NYC, drinking too much and taking too many mind-altering substances, recording crap like "Bangkok" and "Tennis Bum" and squandering his talent. (Me, I always thought Chris Bell was the REAL genius behind Big Star, anyway. RIP, Chris...)

I love how the opening of "Best Chance We Ever Had" sounds EXACTLY like "I'll Be Back" by The Beatles!

They did "Only a Memory" on Friday night, Billy, along with all their other favorites and some cool covers (including the Beatles' "Don't Bother Me").

I'll be at both shows....

Congrats to your friends, Billy! Severo Jornacion, a good friend of mine and a fellow musician who has performed with the band I'm in a few times, has also scored a cool gig as the touring bassist for the power pop band The Smithereens. I had the opportunity to see them play here in CA on Friday night and the band is still as powerful and entertaining as ever. Hard to believe that they've now been together for 25 years! Severo was obviously having a ball performing tunes such as "A Girl Like You," "Time and Time Again" and particularly "Blood and Roses," with its signature bass line. He later told me that playing with the Smithereens is like a dream come true for him, as he is also a longtime fan. Very cool!

Here's a thought, Lew: maybe you could post your anti-Springsteen stuff in a Bruce Springsteen forum, instead of trying to rile people up/beat a dead horse around here....

...and a whole slew of classic power pop albums released in 1979, including: The Beat - s/t The Toms - s/t Shoes - Present Tense Nick Lowe - Labour of Lust The Records - s/t

I've always been quite fond of "Dog Day Afternoon" with Al Pacino.

I can think of three right off the top of my head, and they all crack me up...and yes, I own them all... 1. "Why Sting is Such an Idiot" - Allen Clapp 2. "Ballad of How You Can All Shut Up" - The Loud Family 3. "America Under the Mongol Yoke Prelude" - Sex Clark Five Come to think of it, Sex Clark Five is one of my favorite band names...along with Kathleen Turner Overdrive...

"Why You Wanna Break My Heart?" - Dwight Twilley "Who Are You?" - The Who "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" - Culture Club

"NIP IT! NIP IT IN THE BUD!!!"

My kids loved "Winn Dixie." There's a great version of "Splish Splash" on the soundtrack that my kids just love, performed by Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne) and James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins).

Shoes have never played live much (the last time was at the International Pop Overthrow Festival in L.A. a few years back) and they release records very sporadically, so that may be why folks think they have broken up...

An excerpt from the Alex Chilton message board: " Subject: [Alex Chilton] Alex's family has also heard from him last night. I confirmed with a family member a minute ago on the phone that she heard from him last night and he is officially safe. We should now not pursue looking for him further." Good news!

The Bangles and Box Tops have already reformed - saw the Bangles at the HOB last year and they were outstanding - and Shoes have never broken up.

Yes, the Hudson Brothers had some fine pop moments: "So You Are A Star," "Rendezvous," "Joni" and so many more. Definitely an underrated band!

Last I heard was that Alex's family was still looking for him, but they had seen a photo on CNN.com that looked somewhat like him, so they were holding out hope that he was OK.

Yes, Material Issue was indeed a great band, one of the shining lights in power pop music during the early to mid '90s. Al of their albums are very good, but the debut, INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW, contains some of their best tunes. Lead singer/songwriter Jim Ellison left us too soon, taking his own life in 1996....

Can't have CCR reunite with all the original members; guitarist Tom Fogerty died in 1990.

Some time ago, I was asked by GOLDMINE Magazine (along with all of the mag's other writers) to compile a list of the 10 tunes I would want in my pwn personal jukebox. Difficult to narrow it down, but I managed. The lists were published sometime last year, I believe. A few weeks ago, I receive a CD in the mail of "The Beatles Show" radio program, hosted by Casey Piotrowski on WPMD. (WPMD.org and WPMD-AM 1700 originates from the campus of Cerritos College in Norwalk, California.) Apparently, unbeknownst to me, this hour-long program was aired and showcased a bunch of the Beatles' tunes that were named on all the various writers' top 10 lists. Here's what they had to say about my list: "Some of these top 10 lists from GOLDMINE offer a bit of logic...a kind of symmetry. You look at some of the music that's included and even if you didn't see the rest of the list, logic would tell you which song from the Beatles would be a part of it. Like the choices John M. Borack had for his jukebox; he mentioned Badfinger's "No Matter What" and the Beach Boys' "Girl Don't Tell Me." "But once you saw he included the Raspberries' "I Wanna Be With You," you knew exactly which Beatles record he was going to name." (plays "Please Please Me") "Now John M. Borack also included music from Fountains of Wayne, Cotton Mather and the Rooks, so maybe his Beatles choice wasn't quite all that obvious. But there's no doubt that Eric Carmen's song was something of a musical stepson to "Please Please Me." So seeing one of them on the list means it's not all that surprising that you'd see the other." Just thought I'd share...

Highway 99 in Bakersfield, CA? Hope you "got your kicks" on your b-day, Ted!

Believe it or not, I have heard/heard of a Steely Dan tribute act. They were called Pretzel Logic and they were pretty awful. I'm on the board of directors of a local community foundation here in CA, helping a city plan their summer concert series, and each year I have the pleasure of attending something called the "Concert Share Fair." Basically the share fair is like a flea market of musical acts, each aggressively hawking their wares to interested cities, hoping for a shot at a gig at a local summer concert. I've seen everything at these share fairs from gruesome Beatle tribute acts, horrible cover bands who can't be bothered to get the words right to the songs they're covering (a pet peeve) to mediocre tributes to everyone and their uncle. That's where I came across Pretzel Logic, along with "tributes" - and I use the term loosely - to John Denver, Tina Turner, Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond and countless others. We hired the Rod Stewart guy for this year's concert series, and he was actually OK - sounded like Rod with a head cold. Kicked a lot of soccer balls into the audience and danced with his mic stand a lot, plus if you stood far enough away and squinted a bit, you could be fooled. Now let me tell you about the all-female Cheap Trick tribute band that plays the circuit here in CA called - wait for it - Cheap Chick.

There is a very cool Nick Lowe tribute CD coming out soon, featuring some great pop acts (Walter Clevenger, Ron Flynt and Steve Allen of 20/20, Michael Carpenter) as well as two very special guests---Ian Gomm (covering "Cruel to Be Kind") and Nick's daughter, Tiffany Lowe. There is also a very, very good Cars tribute CD out now on Not Lame Recordings...