Random Notes from a Crank

Per the article in The Washington Post, unemployment is up: "U.S. Unemployment Claims Rise to Pandemic High." 

President Adolf is Making America Unemployed Again. 

On the long drive back from Fort Morgan, Alabama, the mind wanders. So I got to thinking about old-school classic rock bands and artists. 

I've sometimes thought about if I had to pick only one band/artist out of these options, which one would I choose?

• Beatles
• The Who
• Rolling Stones
• Jimi Hendrix
• Led Zeppelin
• The Doors

I grew up listening to all of these bands/artists, and they undoubtedly influenced subsequent bands I followed as I ventured headlong into alternative rock in the 80s and 90s. 

Of those six, I think I've probably listened to The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix the most. 

It's a silly mental exercise, but if I had to pick one, I guess it would be Led Zeppelin. 

Speaking of which, there's a good documentary on Netflix titled Becoming Led Zeppelin. 

It's worth a viewing. 

Music Friday: "Stone Free"

On satellite radio I've been listening to RockBar lately, which is a station that provides uptempo guitar-based songs that are a mixture of newer stuff and classics. 

Here's a classic of that ilk live from France in 1967. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I'm starting to follow Premier League football, so I'm trying to decide on a team to support. In a recent FB post, I queried people on teams that I might support. Initially I thought about following Arsenal, but I found out that the Rams owner also owns Arsenal, so I ruled out that team. 

I've whittled it down to three teams:

• Tottehnam Hotspur
• Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Liverpool

I'm leaning toward the first two. As superficial as this sounds, I like Tottenham's colors and the bird emblem. But I also really like wolves, which is the nickname of Wolverhampton. 

I've been watching the hell out of Bosch on Amazon prime. I usually like a good cop drama, and Bosch is a solid offering. I like the lead actor, Titus Welliver, who plays Harry Bosch, but I only remember him from his past performance as a minor character on Deadwood. 

There are so many good TV series out there to watch via Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon that my book reading is suffering.

I finally finished Punisher, but I still need to get back to The Umbrella Academy and finish that series. 

I started watching the old series Justified with Timothy Olyphant, a series I half-heartedly watched when it aired. I will say that the Nazi/white supremacist crap in episode 1 turned me off considering the current times and occupant of the White House.

As I was walking the dog the other day, I thought about one of these hypothetical questions that sometimes rambles through my brain. My thought was about the icons of classic rock and which artist I could not do without. 

To me, there are four major classic rock icons from the 60s/early 70s era: 

• The Beatles
• The Rolling Stones 
• The Who
• Jimi Hendrix

Of those four, I was thinking about which artist I could not do without. 

This is probably not the most popular pick, but of those four, my favorite artist is Hendrix. I have just always been drawn to his blues-influenced rock. I like all of those four of course. They are incredibly influential bands. But if I could only have one in my musical rotation, I'm going with Jimi. 

I used to listen the hell out of the Beatles, Stones, and The Who though. When I was younger, I taped Beatles LPs from my siblings' collections and got them on cassette tape. I had a number of number of The Who albums on cassette, and I listened to the Stones Greatest Hits album a ton. 

If you drop a penny one day and know you dropped it but didn't pick it up, and if the next day you pick it up, can you say the rhyme and get good luck? Asking for a friend...

Stay Positive: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Last summer when we were in Ohio for my daughter's national dance competition in Sandusky, Ohio, we took a trip to Cleveland and had the pleasure of touring the Rock and Roll Hall of Hame. 

It was a fun experience. In fact, if I'm ever in the area again, I'd like to tour that place again. What follows are some photos/highlights from the trip. 

The front entry when we were there featured recent inductees, of which was Pearl Jam, one of my favorite bands. 

Next is Vedder's notebook, which shows a draft of "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town," aka "Small Town," from Vs.

And here's Vedder's vintage typewriter. 

The museum also had a feature exhibit on Mellencamp. Here's a draft of one of my favorite songs of his, "Longest Days."

Of course, they also like to feature the famous attire of the stars. Below of two of Hendrix's fly outfits. 

And what we have here is a draft of the famous "Purple Haze." 

Of course, guitars are going to be featured. It is the rock and roll hall of fame after all. 

Here is the late Chris Cornell's Les Paul. 

That one above and the one below, Cobain's,was in the case featuring Grunge. 

 

Here's one of Marvin Gaye's smooth-ass jackets.

And of course, the Beatles were featured prominently later in the museum. Here's McCartney's jacket from the early days of the band and Lennon's famous t-shirt. 

It was also awesome to see Muddy Waters's guitar and Bootsy Collins's bad-ass bass. 

Ringo's drum kit was one of the few kits featured when we were there. 

At the very end the Hall of Fame featured bands from the Midwest, which there were a lot. One of the highlights of that display for me was the demo tape from The Replacements. Lay it down, Clowns. 

Music Friday: "Stone Free" & "All Along the Watchtower"

This past week I've been listening to the Hendrix discography. 

Here are a couple of my favorites from the master.