November 15, 2004

• I'd *totally* go see that....
• I'm tired of all of these legendary bands reuniting.
• This is good, but I am holding out for the Rutles reunion.
• When's dave grohl gonna replace john bonham
• THank you rock gods for hearing my prayers.
• Speaking of great bands reuniting, I heard the new Zombies album kind of sucks. :( That's too bad... I'm really into the box set right now.
• Wake me when a really great band, like Styx or Foreigner, reunes.
• I'm waiting for the powerful Ram Jam to reform.
• Wow. *Eric Clapton* has run out of money?
• Next up: The Police reunion tour, in which the rest of the band beat Sting to death with their instruments.
• hehe
• I read that towards the end of The Police, Stewart Copeland had the words "Sting is a cunt" written one word per tom-tom on his kit. Can you believe this, though?
• I do believe a Rutles reunion . . . well, sequel . . . is coming. And much as I admire Eric Clapton, what's the point of a Cream reunion? That band existed just to crank out hits to make alot of money . . . oh yeah. Never mind.
• Just one in popbitch Wolof. Would it just be old material from Cream do you think?
• Yeah, thanks, tellurian, I probably read it there. I don't care if it's true or false, I want to believe it. I'd imagine they'll pump out the hits to keep the folks happy, although Jack and Ginger have done some pretty wacky gear since, so other stuff may happen as well. Although I wouldn't expect to hear too many Tony Williams Lifetime covers, nor many tracks off Elevator Over the Hill. /uninformed speculation
• Re: Sting + Police, it gets even better: Sting: One of our problems was we were quite good at playing our instruments - that was definitely a handicap... Andy Summers: And your point, Stewart? Stewart Copeland: [Sting] should've been drowned at birth, I believe is my point... Sting: Is that what your drumming was all about? Stewart Copeland: That's what the tom-toms were expressing, yeah. The snare drum was about a whole different thing - namely, 'Am I going to get laid tonight'?
• Sting comes off in that interview as the biggest prima donna ever. Or maybe his ex-bandmates paint him that way, but he doesn't argue the point. I wish I could have seen that in person, though, to get a real sense of how they were talking. I do love The Police and a lot of Sting's music, but...yeah.
• What I love about this conversation is that the "their early albums were great, but then they/he sold out" stereotype is so true vis-a-vis Sting/the Police.
• This is my only celebrity story. Maybe a dozen years ago, I was with some friends at the Checkerboard Club in Chicago, a legendary but by then overrated blues joint. We were there to see Junior Wells. Now Junior could be great or a disaster, depending on how drunk he was when he came onstage. This was not his best night. Still, we enjoyed the first set. Between sets Robert Plant walks in with a smallish entourage, just a manager and a groupie. This caused a stir among the white clientele, while the blacks were impressively unimpressed. ("Who is he?" the waitress asked me. "Led Zeppelin? What did they do?") When Junior Wells staggered back out he announced that he was being joined by "a very good friend...good friend...London...who is he? who?...Robert Plant!" Plant jumped on stage and gave a very respectable set of blues, backed by Junior's shaky harmonica and his awesome band. (Every southside Chicago blues band is amazing.) After the second set some of us went up to Plant to say hello. Alas, the conversation was dominated by my Sting-obsessed friend Justin. "Robert!" he said, "Tell me, did you ever meet STING?" Plant admitted that he had. "Wow! You've met Sting!" my doofus friend exclaimed, as the rest of us (especially Plant) flinched. "What is he like? Are you friends?!" "Well," Plant said, "Sting is rather the definite article, where as I am an indefinite article." "Robert, I am not sure I understand you" said Justin, despite being an English major. "Sting is a 'the' whereas I am an 'a,' " Plant explained. He really was a sweet and patient man, and may have been the only sober person in the bar. "Robert! I'm still not getting you!" Justin flailed. Robert Plant put his hand on my friend's shoulder and spelled it out: "Sting. is. an. asshole."
• Ka-CHAK! (rpt x 3) That is the sound of LarryC racking up 3 free games.
• Link's fuxx0red.
• LarryC, that is AWESOME. Thanks.
• HA! Nanners, LarryC
• I'm not sure the audiences of today (with possible the exception of Phish Phreaks and surviving Deadheads) have the attention span to "get" what Cream did live. Some of their studio stuff was just plain weird, while the live stuff had an internal fire just short of explosive. Search out "Sittin' On Top of the World" from the "Goodbye" album, "Born Under A Bad Sign"or (for the more adventurous) the long version of "Spoonful" from "Wheels of Fire" and then realize each performance of these songs was completely different, and you'll get a glimmer of what was going on all those years ago. I wish I could find a recording of their one and only reunion performance from their induction into the R&R Hall of Fame back in 1997 (I think). Does it exist anywhere? Does anybody have it?
• I can't help you with the recording, GuitarMonkey, however I second your sentiments. Do you really think Clapton et al could pull it together again like the first time?