Ann 2
Alain
JennYWhat Group Are You With?
October 24th 2006 02:21
You know what I mean and you know you have done it.
You jump out of the shower and grab a towel. You are either getting ready to hit it or head out to meet friends when THE song by THE artist comes on...and you are no longer standing, dripping wet in your bedroom. You are THERE... You are THEM....
Scene pans to a packed stadium, the lights are blaring and hot, the muzik is loud and thumping behind you, there are thousands of screaming fans in front of you...YOU are in front of the microphone and it's YOU they came to see...well, you as whoever's life you just jacked...but you get the idea.
I do not have a muzikal bone in my body...I couldn't play the damn cowbell if my life depended on it and I can't sing worth shit. Can't carry a tune in a bucket. But let me tell you...there have been times when I have become someone famous...it's never the same person. It just happens when I am in a particular mood. Of course, it doesn't last for long because as soon as I start singing, the crowd turns violent. But is there someone that you would love to be? Someone who just seems to have it all in the muzik world?
If given the opportunity, what group would you sign with, together or broken up, living or dead, who would you rock with? What instrument would you play? What song would you sing?
You jump out of the shower and grab a towel. You are either getting ready to hit it or head out to meet friends when THE song by THE artist comes on...and you are no longer standing, dripping wet in your bedroom. You are THERE... You are THEM....
Scene pans to a packed stadium, the lights are blaring and hot, the muzik is loud and thumping behind you, there are thousands of screaming fans in front of you...YOU are in front of the microphone and it's YOU they came to see...well, you as whoever's life you just jacked...but you get the idea.
I do not have a muzikal bone in my body...I couldn't play the damn cowbell if my life depended on it and I can't sing worth shit. Can't carry a tune in a bucket. But let me tell you...there have been times when I have become someone famous...it's never the same person. It just happens when I am in a particular mood. Of course, it doesn't last for long because as soon as I start singing, the crowd turns violent. But is there someone that you would love to be? Someone who just seems to have it all in the muzik world?
OR
If given the opportunity, what group would you sign with, together or broken up, living or dead, who would you rock with? What instrument would you play? What song would you sing?
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Comment by Little Angry Doll
Falling Haiku Leaf
Inner West Life
Comment by tinkster
that's all it takes and I am there...
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
Starting Mr. Goo off right, I see... :c)
I would never want to be with a group other than to watch the greats during the writing process...I would love to do that...
Thanks for sharing!
Come back,
Voices~
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
I get like this with any Martina McBride song, (of all people, she has a range like Pat Benetar and beyond.) I just sing at the top of my lungs...as bad and horrible as that is. I occasionally go a little AIC on Don't Follow. Most of the time I am just soaking them up though.
Thanks for sharing,
Come back,
Voices~
Comment by lethalpiano
Concert for Bangladesh, accoustic/electric 6 and 12 string or better yet, a double neck, bass, or even better still a triple neck!!!! And piano and hammond and vocals.
Being the snob that I am I have to keep in that vein. The Willburys, instrumentation as above. Petty, as above. ELO, as above. Dylan, as above. Leon Russel's band, as above. The Dead, as above. Concert for George, as above.
Billy Joel, keyboards and vocals.
Cindy Lauper, keys and vocals. Oh, and a bedroom toy.
Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young and Lethal, 12 string electric Rickenbacker and vocals.
Beach Boys, 12 string and vocals.
Robbie Williams, Bass and vocals.
Katie Melua, see Robbie and Cindy.
Maroon 5, see all of the above (exept the bedroom thing).
The Eagles, 12 string and vocals.
ELO, piano and vocals.
Enough yet? I could go on all night!
Stuff it, I will.
Band...now there's another twist.
Ray Cooper said (of the concert for George) "This is never going to work! Look at all the musicians on stage together! It's gonna be a train wreck! And I looked around, saw 4 drummers, 8 guitarists, and I thought to myself, 'hey, this is really cool!' They held it together because they knew what NOT to play."
On that note, Gerry Garcia, Jacko Pastorius, Simon Phillips, George, Janis, Billy Joel, Billy Preston, Leon Russel, Joe Williams, David Paich, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Joe Walsh, Jeff Porcaro, Don Henley, Steve Lukather, Joe Williams, James Morrison, Miles Davis, Jimmy Pankow, Cannonball Adderley, Verdine White, Jason Scheff, Tina, Cindy, Robbie, Joey Bishop, Slash, Tris Imboden, Derek Trucks, The Bird, Slick, and finally Niel Sedaka.
Last time I did this you commented on the folks you knew. Could I ask a favour? Let me know, out of the above, who and whom you DON'T know. Then we'll get together and jam. Oh, and I don't believe you for one nanosecond that you can't carry a tune in a bucket! (Anyone would think I'm trying to pick you up...)
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
Ok...there are a lot I don't know in terms of their actual work or being intimately familiar with what they have done for us in the Muzik world. I am still learning, early tier 4 and all that, you know. Tell me about: Cannonball Adderley, Verdine White, Jason Scheff, Leon Preston, Katie Melua for starters...tangients welcome and encouraged.
You really need to believe me on the not singing thing...really. Actually, the last time I sang, I received a restraining order from the courts from my neighbors accusing me of strangling cats in my shower and to stay away from all of their newborn kittens. Horrible.
As for you picking me up...keep talking and that may happen whether you intended to or not...I am this close to falling in love as it is, oh great god my god of trivia.
Looking forward to jammin,
Come back,
Voices~
Comment by KarenC
Genghis Gal
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
Well, go ahead then. Right now. In the privacy of your home, and provided no one is asleep that will think you are being murdered, let it go! Twirl the mike...and let er rip! *smile*
Come back,
Voices~
Comment by lethalpiano
If I could have any voice I wanted...Yep, you guessed it. What a tragedy though, Kieth Moon? You should have heard Pete going off about that.
Comment by KarenC
Genghis Gal
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
Come back over and over my friends!
Voices~
Comment by KarenC
Genghis Gal
I love him. I worship him. I adore him.
I would even farm trout for him ...
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
*consulting strine dictionary for references to trout farming as a declaration of love* Ok...I didn't find anything on the topic...what does that mean? I need to know in case that post needs to be removed for indecency reasons. *smile*
I got Janis Joplin, The Hits. It has 'Piece of my Heart, Summertime, Try (Just a Little Harder), Cry Baby, Me and Bobby Mcgee, Down on Me, Get it While You Can, Bye Bye Baby, Move Over, Ball and Chain, Maybe and Mercedes Benz. It was the only cd they had of hers. But that's ok...I think it will be a great start. When you come back here...and leave a comment letting me know, I will immediately put Janis in...and respond.
Come back,
Voices
Comment by lethalpiano
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
I couldn't wait to listen to it. *smile* I jumped in my van, took a drive on the highway and listened. I am madly in love. Her emotion...just knocks you out.
In 'Me and Bobby McGee', I loved the line, "...feeling as faded as my blue jeans."
I am the sort of person who has to listen to it over and over, think about her, find everything I can on her life, and ponder her work. I need to know what experiences she had that were the same as mine. I want to know what drove her. And then, I will probably write a screenplay about her life...for no other reason than do it. To honor her in some way, to thank her, I suppose.
I love having this blog just for this reason...
Come back,
Voices~
Comment by lethalpiano
She was a lonley, broken, ugly duckling. Never able to find love exept inside a needle. Poor kid. She started out just having fun, as you do, then she realised that the happines, warmth and the reeling of belonging she so craved as a girl was given to her on the stage.
She was born in Austin, and "by some freak of an accident discovered that I had this really loud voice". She started singing Blues, coz that's what she liked. Later, she joined a Bluegrass band and after a while hitchhiked to San Francisco with Chet Helms, where she became infamous when she sat in with her band-to-be at the Fillmore, Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Eric Burdon (The Animals) has this wonderful story of when he went to the Fillmore. He'd been told that if he went round the back, to the musician's entrance, he'd get in for free. There was Janis; she extended her hand in a hearty and sincere greeting. When Eric pulled his hand away, he realized Janis had left a trip in his hand...he wasted no time devouring it!
Over the years, she had many tragedies in her life, not the least of which were the perpetual dissappointments from her lovers. Never able to keep a man for any length of time, she tried lesbianism for a little while but that didn't work either. (Damn, I could have been her man forever!)
The connection she felt to her music and being on stage led to her emotions being increasingly difficult to separate from her personal life and then of course you had the drugs on top of that. I've got footage of her dragging people on stage with her just so she could be close to them. (hang on-I'm just gonna put it on.) She had no family or friends or even long-term boyfriends to tell her, 'hang on, this is what you really look like'. Every time she had a disaster, it was worse than before. Every time she got high, she was higher than before. Every time someone gave her something and she dared to dream, it was cruelly whipped out from under her so often, it's little wonder the poor kid suffered. She was always coming to grips with her less-than-average looks and disproportunate rumours of lesbianism. She was always coming to grips with the pressure from within the industry. She was basically a runaway train, headin' for the end of the line.
I saw a photo of her at the height of her career, just before she died. The ugly duckling had finally become a beautiful swan. That was months before she died. Oh shit, this is hard to write!
After Dylan, the subject matter became very wide; it wasn't just me and my baby type stuff, the subject matter really opened up. That it did, gave Janis the very thing she had been looking for. A bridge between rock and folk. An escape for her emotions (whis is pretty hard to miss). A reason to just exist. She did have a good go at getting off the drugs and alcohol, and not just once, but what shocked me was when she heard the news that her bassist's wife in her current band had just overdosed. Her first reaction was to go and score.
Not one day goes past when I don't think of her. She was just dropped on the floor; sheer, astronomic talent pushed into a corner and left to rot. I thank God I never ended up like that. I wish I'd been there to pick her up.
She was twenty-seven.
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
Anything I would write about her wouldn't be for publishing...this is just how I work out my obsessions with those I admire.
Most of what you told me I had read earlier this afternoon on her website...except for the lesbianism. That was not mentioned. This is why I need you and your stories...they show me the truth...or at least part of it. Thank you again, and you will soon tire of me telling you this...but I just am in awe of what you know and what you have seen in the music industry. One has to wonder why you do not write your memoirs...or have someone do it for you...*wink*
Did you ever see her driving her Porsche? I think that would have been a great thing to see.
Thank you again and again and again,
Do Come Back again and again and again!
Voices~
Comment by lethalpiano
She said it best at Woodstock when she addressed the crowd: "If you have any food left, share it with your brother and your sister and that's the person on your right, and the person on your left."
A nice little story from Wavy Gravy; they were all sitting around the fire drinking, and everyone held the last mouthful and simultaneously spat it into the fire. There was this huge ball of flame and through the smoke they all swore black and blue they herd her cackle, and it was her saying goodbye. Always disturbs me, her story. Makes me wanna just give up and say screw the world and shrink into insignificance.
Comment by KarenC
Genghis Gal
Roger Daltrey owns a trout farm in England... so no references to strine dictionaries required. It's kind of a strange hobby and I think it's fantastic. I love former hard arse rock n rollers who find trout farming and sober up ...
Lethalpiano, I don't think I can add too much about Janis that you haven't already written. Voices, when you listen to so many of her songs her loneliness shines through so clearly - it breaks my heart every time I hear her sing about how "One good man ain't much, it ain't much - it's only everything". (From One Good Man on I Got Dem Ol Kozmic Blues Again Mama!) As has been said, she was an amazing talent and she was marginalised and taught to think she was nothing. Greatest waste ever - even more so than Layne Staley.
Greatest Hits is always a great place to start - it does, after all, have some of the greats on it. I'm with lethalpiano that Ball & Chain just kicks arse.
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
There are some lyrics that for some reason were brought to mind when I read your comments.
I started writing out various parts and then kept adding...this song fits her so well...even the references to appearance (tongue in cheek)
Its been five years since Ive seen her face
Shes the holy ghost lost without a trace
And now were left with the whatifs
Its been five years since she left for LA
Shes an angel with a dirty face
And it seems to me
Shes a casuality of all the pressure
That we put on her
And now weve lost her for good
Its such a shame shame shame
That our homecoming queen
Was alot like you and alot like me
And she never walked on water
Guess no one really saw her
She was so adored by everyone
When it came to looks she was next to none
But loved partying and having too much fun
Then she hooked up with the wrong someone
And he promised everything under the sun
And it seems to me
Shes a casuality of all the pressure
That he put on her
And now weve lost her for good
Its such a shame shame shame
That our homecoming queen
Was alot like you and alot like me
And she never walked on water
Cause no one really saw her
Its such a shame shame shame
That our homecoming queen
Had a lot to prove and so many to please
Shes just somebodys daughter
Just looking for somebody to love her
Well I never knew you
Wish I couldve saved you
>From losers that drained you
Before you got strung out
With so much potential
How could you let us down
Its such a shame shame shame
That our homecoming queen
Was alot like you and alot like me
And she never walked on water
Cause no one really saw her
Shame shame shame
That our homecoming queen
Had a lot to prove and so many to please
Shes just sombodys daughter
Looking for somebody to love her
Shes just somebodys daughter
Looking for somebody to love her
Its such a shame shame shame...
Come back,
Voices~
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
I have thoroughly I will be much more able to write something more substantial on the cd later today...I will respond to your comments, then.
Thanks and Come Back!
Voices~