Rolling Stones Reach Another Generation or Mick Jagger is the Energizer Bunny

As many of you know by now late last fall The Rolling Stones released another compilation of their greatest hits. It seems like every few years a new set of this music appears all claiming to offer something new. On this collection, titled GRRR, we were promised, to go along with the pristine sound on the newly cleaned up original hits from yesteryear a couple of new singles.

The first of those was called Doom and Gloom and I wrote about the song at that time. However as much as I liked the song, and I did, I do not listen to commercial radio that much and when on the satellite often find myself listening to a mix of First Wave, the Alternative Music Channel and of course my girl Elizabeth Cook on Outlaw Country. Thus I do not often hear what is being played on the more contemporary channels.

That changes when my lovely thirteen year old daughter jumps in the truck. We have an unwritten agreement that unless I am listening to something I cannot miss she is allowed to switch it over to the Hits Channel or the 20 on 20 channel on the satelite. So there we were the other day on our way to school she had bounced around" her channels" so much I had told her to for goodness sake pick something and as she landed on 20 for 20 I heard the opening chords of what could only be a Stones song.

I must admit to feeling a little bit disoriented to not hear Taylor Swift or somebody rapping at me but then smiled to myself to think that our boys Mick and Keith had cracked the bubblegum channel on the Satellite. I cannot tell you how much pleasure it brought me to tell my daughter " Whoa, right there, I think this is the channel to listen to." and we grooved out to Doom and Gloom all the way to school. This truly is one of the best Stones singles I have heard in the last thirty years.

Mick's howl is in rare form and as he spreads out the syllables in Moooooove and Doooom and Gloooom the song works like nothing new we have heard from them in a long time. Take that great song and then make a few teenagers listen to these old wrinkled men as my girl says and you have the start of a very fine day. In the end even she had to say that " while it was not a song she would have picked out it had a pretty good beat."

Perhaps there is hope for her musical taste yet. The Rolling Stones approaching 70 and as Bobby Russell used to say on the radio still " The Greatest Rock n Roll Band in the world. "

The Kennedy Center Honors

Widely touted as the best Awards show each year this seasons Kennedy Center Honors broadcast aired the day after Christmas on CBS. As our family was still in the midst of holiday travel our blessed TIVO allowed me to tape this.

As usual this years broadcast featured an interesting group ranging from legendary guitarist Buddy Guy, actor Dustin Hoffman, ballerina Natalia Makarova, talk show host David Letterman and the legendary rock act Led Zeppelin.

On this awards show the inductees do not perform, they do not even speak. They are spoken to, and about, their work is showcased, and in the case of musicians often performed. This can lead to some moments you will not find on other programs.

The actual event is usually a couple of weeks before airing and consists of about three hours, therefore the broadcast at two hours is an edited version of the show. Trying to respect all honorees but pay attention to the audience viewing our ballerina honoree while getting about fifteen minutes did receive short shrift on the broadcast.

Dustin Hoffman was praised for his immense body of work. Looking at Hoffman in a couple of his early movies like The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy and it is easy to see how this man never allowed himself to be typecast. Over recent years we may have forgotten the brilliance of Hoffman's acting but a review of his past work puts that to rest. His presentation also convinced me that I have to view his performance as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman.

Buddy Guy is an incredible guitar player. Being one of the artists that is more well known in the music community than in the real world has it's advantages, but still it is a shame someone with his talents never found mass appeal. For those who sing and appreciate the blues however Guy is a legendary. A clip of Guy performing with The Rolling Stones years ago and being presented at the end with Keith Richards guitar as if Richards is saying he cannot compete was special to see. I myself remember watching Guy perform with Jeff Beck at the recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame anniversary concert, the man is amazing. At 76 years old we can all be thankful that this amazing talent has received one of the highest honers a performer can gain while he is still with us to enjoy it.

Anyone who knows me is aware of my fondness for David Letterman. I love the man and his show. For much of the last ten years Dave has consistently come in second to nobody's friend Jay Leno. It does seem odd to me that this man of the Midwest should lose the ratings in the heartland while Jay Leno an East Coast boy living on the West Coast can with his bland style of humor and interviewing win the mass audience. I'm not bitter though and one guesses Dave is not either. He was visibly touched by this award and in being honored by Ray Romano and Jimmy Kimmel along with countless other of today's talent in spirit Dave is firmly entrenched as today's equivalent of Johnny Carson. This is fitting as Dave revered Johnny and still mists up when he talks of the night Johnny called him over to the couch after his performance. This is the " big breakthrough" for a young comedian, Ellen DeGeneres talks about how it happened for her as well, and it is very rare. It sent Dave on his way. When the men speaking tribute to Dave tell him that as much as Johnny meant to him he means to them it is pretty moving.

Ending the show was the induction of the incomparable Led Zeppelin. Jack Black was in his glory as he spoke of the band, it's influence on him and as he attested " everyone here except those who are here for the ballerina lady." Certainly they have had their influence on both me and my teenage son. The music is really timeless and a great joy of mine has been seeing my son go through his Zeppelin phase. I have even written previously about that transfer of loyalties from a father to a son. Zeppelin was formed in the late sixties around former Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page and was met with universal criticism and universal popularity at the same time. It took a long time for music critics to switch sides with Zeppelin, when they were staging the worlds biggest tour in 1975 to support their sixth album, all had been multiple platinum, Physical Graffiti John Paul Jones, their bassist, heard a radio Deejay ripping them and called in to complain. Whether they admitted it or not, as popular as they were, the criticism hurt and wounded. Still the fame, private airplanes, millions, and the attention of countless women will ease the pain of that one supposes. The band ruled the album charts for years and still sells a million of albums a year off its back catalog. When the band, sans drummer Jon Bonham who died in 1980, booked a charity reunion show in 2007 over four million people placed their names in a lottery for tickets. Still it appears they may be the last holdout of the great dinosaur bands of that fruitful period of the late sixties and early seventies, thus far they have resisted all overtures to have one last gobsmacking world tour. The performance that honored the band was a showstopper indeed with Kid Rick and Lenny Kravitz both taking turns fronting a band as Zeppelin songs were performed. Still without a doubt the showstopper, the moment you will remember, was the performance of the legendary song Stairway to Heaven. The song was performed by Ann and Nancy Wilson until about halfway through as small group of about ten to fifteen folks joined them for harmonies as the song sped up. Then about halfway through the song and the curtain went up for an amazing scene, a full orchestra and choir. The performance became spectacle, albeit spectacle in a very not Led Zeppelin kind of way. The camera panned to the band members high above the stage, Page his hair pure white in a ponytail looking like he belongs in a fine wine commercial was thrilled while Jones, still looking youthful was obviously pleased. The reaction that strikes though was Plant's. Ornery probably would be a generous word to describe the bands lead singer, cantankerous might fit better. Plant at his advanced age looks like a character out of The Hobbit, with long curly locks of must be dyed hair, wrinkles and bags around his eyes that if lines are character make him venerable indeed, Plant was stunned silent as the choir appeared. Wiping tears from his eyes and smiling to Page's nods to him one hopes that Mr. Plant found a peace in his popularity that bypassed all the hurtful things said about the band. Finishing up the touches was at the end of the song seeing Jason Bonham, who sat in on drums that performance in 2007 in his fathers stead, and who also played during the Stairway performance here, stand and salute his " uncles" as it were. It would be a harder man than me not to feel the emotion in that room.

So for another year the Kennedy Honors are complete and each year the show keeps getting better. One might assume that the older one gets the more they enjoy the show, which by then will be honoring the heroes of ones youth. It might well be true.

Pete Townsend on David Letterman

Pete Townsend was on David Letterman last night promoting his new auto biography. I have to say that with a reputation as being a bit of a hard case I was surprised to find him very charming, demonstrative, and overall an excellent interview. Letterman himself seemed surprised to see Pete so willing to tell stories and anecdotes including a very funny discussion of Keith Richards and his inadvertent origination of the Townsend windmill guitar move as well when Keith Moon blew up his drum kit and set Pete's hair on fire, literally.

Who fans, Stones fans, even just David Letterman fans should get online and view this clip.

Doom and Gloom by The Rolling Stones

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of The Rolling Stones. That is an incredible length of time. The band is currently in rehearsal for some celebratory shows in Newark and London, a release next month of a anniversary compilation and at least if things go well a potential full scale tour next year.

Keith Richards almost died a few years ago when, and you cannot make this up, he fell out of a coconut tree and landed on his head. The man who most assumed would be next casualty to the rock and roll lifestyle for a period of over thirty years almost died of a coconut tree accident but other than that appears healthy. Bill Wyman left the band years ago but the Charlie Watts still drums and Ronny Wood still slithers around the stage. And of course Mick's voice has not faltered a bit.

What is most remarkable to me this fall however is that as has now become the norm for these repackagings of old material the Stones have recorded a couple of new songs, one of which has recently been released. The new song, titled Gloom and Doom has the signature Stones sound. If listening to the song I had to put an era to it I would call it something that would fit in the late seventies, early eighties but the truth is the song is a killer track.

There is a great deal of flotsam out in the music industry and here come these rock Gods yes, but grandfathers also, to release a new song that does not miss a beat, slow a step, or otherwise accommodate the inevitable expected decline and slowing of recording artists their age.

This might be one of the strongest singles you will hear this year. Make sure you do.