Wish I Could Tell You What I Thought of V Last Night ...

... but I'm afraid it's not possible. Nashville's ABC affiliate, WKRN, elected to air Titans on 2 with Jeff Fisher, a weekly, locally-produced series promoting the local 0-6 pro-football team. It wasn't the first time I turned to channel 2 looking for one prime-time network program and getting football-talk instead, but it was the first time it almost kinda sorta mattered to me and definitely matters to others, as evidenced by the station's website feedback and Twitter backlash.

I have no small amount of sympathy for my peers who work at the channel, on the staff end. I've been stuck playing plenty of songs, over my career, that were mediocre at best and with no say in the matter. This was simply a horrendous call - the kind that drives people away from the corps traditional broadcast media and to the internet, where there's almost always someone who will satisfy a genuine jones.

Just ask Uncle Ray:

Time With the Big Man

Earlier this morning I recorded a phone interview with Clarence Clemons (E-Street Band) and Don Rio, and his longtime friend & co-author of the memoir, Big Man, Real Life & Tall Tales. It just came out yesterday and it's a fantastic read. What's great is that instead of being anything like a regular bio or auto-biography, this is a book of stories. When you hang out with a traveling band for any length of time, you'll start hearing the tales of all the crazy shit they do and some that just happens without much effort on any of the members' parts. Being around when the stories start coming out is one of the most interesting and fascinating things a fan can ever get to do - Clemons and Rio are giving fans of Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street band a huge treat by sharing these episodes. Another bonus is that the prose reads as though you're sitting at their feet.

Each chapter is a vignette; about 1/2 of them are true; the rest may as well be. I consider this book a must for rock fans. In the meantime, I think I'm going to run the phoner when they get a little closer to Nashville's Sommet Center show.

Relix Mag's Top 50 Concerts

Relix magazine released this list, compiled by journalists, musicians, and other industry vets. Of course, some of us will disagree.

#1 was the warm-up to MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech at the US capitol, with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Odetta and Peter, Paul and Mary. The rest, descending:

50. Arcade Fire - Coachella 5/1/05
49. Pantera - Santa Monica Civic Center 5/2/94
48. Phil Ochs - Carnegie Hall 3/27/70
47. B.B. King - Regal Theater, Chicago 11/21/64
46. H.O.R.D.E. Festival - Cumberland, ME 7/9/92
45. Janis Joplin - Monterey Pop Festival 6/17/67
44. Radiohead - Santa Barbara Bowl 6/30/01
43. RATM - DNC Staples Center LA 8/14/00
42. MMJ - Bonnaroo 6/12/04
41. The Clash - Bonds Int'l Casino NYC 6/1/81
40. Muddy Waters - Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 11/22/81
39. Metallica - Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas 1/4/92
38. Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable w/The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Trip, LA 5/3/66
37. Dylan - Boston Music Hall 11/21/75 (late show)
36. Pearl Jam - Soldier Field, Chicago 7/11/95
35. Nirvana - Unplugged Sony Music Studios NYC 11/18/93
34. Concert for Bangladesh - MSG 8/1/71
33. Miles Davis - Plugged Nickel, Chicago 12/22/65 (set 2)
32. MC5 - Grande Ballroom, Detroit 12/30/68
31. Roosevelt Sykes, B.B. King, Bukka White, Zigaboo Modeliste, George Porter & Professor Longhair - New Orleans Jazzfest 4/14/73
30. James Brown - Boston Garden 4/5/68
29. Cream - MSG 11/2/68
28. Michael Jackson - MoTown 25, Pasadena Civic Auditorium 3/25/83
27. Minor Threat - 9:30 Club, W'ton DC 9/23/83
26. Allman Brothers Band - Fillmore East NYC 6/26/71
25. Bruce Springsteen - The Bottom Line NYC 8/14/75
24. U2 - Red Rocks 6/5/83
23. The Ramones - CBGB 8/16/74
22. Grateful Dead - Fillmore West 3/1/69
21. Lollapalooza '91 - Shoreline 7/26/9120. Aretha Franklin - Fillmore West SF 3/7/71
19. The Rolling Stones - MSG 7/26/72
18. Coltrane - Village Vanguard NYC 11/3/61
17. Otis Redding w/Booker T. & The M.G.s - Monterey Pop Festival 6/17/67
16. The Who - Grande Ballroom, Detroit 5/9/69
15. Bob Marley & The Wailers - The Roxy, H'Wood 5/26/76
14. Led Zeppelin - The Forum LA 6/25/72
13. Talking Heads - Pantages Theatre LA 12/18/83
12. Pink Floyd - Nassau Coliseum 2/28/80
11. David Bowie - Santa Monica Civic Auditorium 10/20/72
10. Phish - Big Cypress 12/31/99
9. Elvis - NBC Studios, Burbank, CA 12/3/68
8. Sex Pistols - Winterland 1/14/78
7. The Band - The Last Waltz, Winterland 11/25/76
6. The Beatles - Shea Stadium 4/15/65
5. James Brown - The Apollo 10/24/62
4. Jimi Hendrix - Woodstock 8/18/69
3. Dylan - Newport Folk Festival 7/25/65
2. The Beatles - Ed Sullivan Theatre 2/9/64

et tu?

Will Roman Polanski Please Just Put His Pants On and Face The Judge, Already?

Roman Polanski is a brilliant artist who once raped a drugged-up (but not so drugged that she couldn't and didn't say "keep away" and "no") 13 year old kid.

His many apologists, ranging from the likes of Mia Farrow, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg to anonymous internet users fall over themselves with excuses for his decades-old behavior. "But she looked so much older." "But she was no stranger to drugs." "Minors are still sexual beings." "She wasn't a virgin." "Her mother wanted to make her a movie star." "But he's been through so much."

Roman Polanski is 76 years old. Samantha Geimer, who outed herself as his rape victim ages ago, wants the whole drama over with so she can get on with her life. What judge is going to put Polanski behind bars when he can still make so much money for so many people in Hollywood, and when Samantha Geimer refuses to testify against him? "Oh but the stigma ..." Deal with it, Hollywood. The longer you drag this out, the more people can go to The Smoking Gun and read the grand jury testimony, and realize you're sending your women out to defend a man who raped a scared 13 year old kid, and you don't look too good when you do this.





Hollywood, I know you want to welcome him back, and that's understandable. You need him to make art more than he needs you to make money (as long as we aren't talking gobs of it).

Roman Polanski is a brilliant artist, whose work I admire and think anyone who cares about such things should see, as much of it as possible. But even brilliant artists have to grow up eventually, and you can only make excuses for what's in that testimony for so long before you drive away what's left of the demo that bothers to see the films you promote to a select group of people in January, February, and March, in the first place.

Roman Polanski needs to man up and deal with this, if only because Hollywood is making a major asshole of itself in defending him.

Past Time Someone Said It

Canadian radio guy Bruce Cameron:

One thing's for sure: I know I never went around singing songs from 1932, like Dance of the Cuckoos,(the Laurel and Hardy Theme) or Cole Porter's "After You, Who?"

So what's a 10-year-old doing these days going around singing "Strawberry Fields Forever?"

In retrospect, when I listen to Cole Porter's love songs it sounds like he had a better sex life than John, Paul, George or Ringo ever imagined, but still. How can anyone be mystified about teens and illegal downloading when we refuse to promote any meaningful part of their culture we can't both identify with, and make a buck off of? Don't give me Hannah Montana. Hannah's on the pole.

So Fracking Blue

I went up north on my annual pilgrimage to family, old friends, and the southeastern side of the Adirondack mountains. Still going through photos, but thought I'd share this "stitch" panorama. There's something about the deep blue of the northern sky that serves as a reminder, far more than in the south, that we're basically all hanging in outer space.

Just Out of Curiosity ...

I did a Google search on the phrase, "Beatles overload." Survey says: 575 results. It may be a long autumn for some.