On The Subject Of: Oscars, Suze Rotolo, Eddie Kirkland

Observations From The Forefront:

The Oscars.  I did watch them but had the sound turned off.  I figured it would be the perfect time to review the new Social Distortion Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes LP instead.  I've followed most of Mike Ness' band through the 20 years beginning with their S/T Epic album and then continued off and on.  Somewhere Between Heaven & Hell remains the best for me and the noisy White Light, White Heat White Trash their least with Michael Beinhorn messing up the mix to being unlistenable.  Prison Bound from 1988 I have fond memories of although I never ventured anything before that record.   Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes while not on the level of Somewhere Between H&H but it shows how far Mike Ness has come from being absolute punk to a middle age punk rocker with a love of The Rolling Stones, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and The Ramones and at times the record does sound like a punk version of Exile On Main Street even with the chick background singers. The old Social D remains strong on the instrumental Road Zombie or Far Side Of Nowhere and if Hank Williams was part of Social D, it would be on the remake of Alone & Forsaken.  Funny how the Rolling Stones tribute songs are Can't Take It With You  or California (Hustle & Flow) where the Exile comparisons are at to where chick singers make their appearances.  Nevertheless on side D of the vinyl Ness summarizes the album that You Can't Take It With You and that he's Still Alive after his early years of heroin addictions and too many times at the tattoo place.  And just to show you one last time, the bonus tracks on the album Take Care Of Yourself and I Won't Run Anymore harkens back to the sound of Prison Bound.  But maybe side D is a concept album in itself judging by the titles.  And it just might be my favorite Social D album since SBH&H or at least a good answer record to Exile On Main Street, something that Mick and the boys never quite did themselves (although Some Girls comes close).

The Oscars themselves, I really have no caring to see The King's Speech or The Social Network.  But when I saw Celine Dion singing something to the departed, I was glad that I did have the sound turned off.  Moving on.

Seems like the way things are, we documenting more on obituaries than actual music since most of the movers and shakers in music or movies we don't care that much about.  Suze Rotolo you may not know the name but you know the face if you have seen her.  She's the girl on Bob Dylan's arm on the Freewheeling Bob Dylan album and was the basis for Dylan to create all those powerful songs that he did way back in the 60s.  She passed away at age 67.  She was mostly into art designing and kept a basic low profile even she was with "the elephant in her room" known as Dylan. Dylan did return the favor by writing Don't Think Twice It's Alright with her mind.  And a few others, good and bad.

Eddie Kirkland after playing a gig Sunday Morning  and returning home, made a wrong way U turn in front of a Greyhound Bus and died.  He was 88.  Best known as a bluesman, he best known for appearing on some of John Lee Hooker's early 50s recordings for Modern (I'm In The Mood) and later sessions for a later album on Atco.  He can also be heard on two recordings from the latest Foghat album Last Train Home.  Kirkland also was an band leader for Otis Redding in the early 60s.

Pat Moran who passed away at age 63 earlier in the month died from Pick's Disease, a form of dementia.

“I’m in love with all the women I’ve ever been with, or else I wouldn’t have been with them. That’s why I don’t kiss and tell. That’s a terrible thing – sex is really personal between the two of you. It should never be talked about with anybody else. The subject shouldn’t even arise.”  Lemmy-on not sharing sex secrets.

RIP Harrell "Buddy" Jones former drummer for JJ Cale and later became Leon Russell's manager.  He was 70.

And too bad Charlie Sheen won't go away.  With Mr. Big Mouth blowing coke and ho's all around L.A., NY or Bumfuck Egypt  he is making a demand for higher pay for 2 and a Half Men.  Didn't CBS canceled that show?  You don't get a bonus for a canceled show stupid.  The big problem with media this day and age, they seem to focus more on the stupid and the halfwits rather than the smarter kind.   Rumor has it that CBS was going to rename the show Two Men after Charlie Sheen got the boot.  Actually I thought Jon Cryer was the better of the two actors myself but nobody's reviewing Jon on anything right now.  Just the trainwreck coke snorting, ho raping, wife beating AA reject that is Charlie Sheen.

And so it goes.