Kultur: Songs, Scenes and Sunday School
A Blog on Culture by C. Michael Bailey
Kultur
(Way more than) 100 Words on...The King and Dr. Nick: What Really Happened to Elvis and Me by Dr. George Nichopoulos and Rose Clayton Phillips
The King and Dr. Nick: What Really Happened to Elvis and MeDr. George Nichopoulos and Rose Clayton Phillips
Thomas Nelson Publishing
1595551719
2010
Writer's Note: A longer review will appear at All About Jazz.
The 1977 death of Elvis Presley and its inevitable aftermath led to the publication of several books, all one way or another related to Presley's flamboyant and often paranoid behavior as a vector of his well established drug use. The King and Dr. Nick: What Really Happened to Elvis and Me details Nichopoulos' attempt to manage Presley's drug use - a feat tantamount to directing the Titanic's sinking with the same inevitable outcome.
On a technical note (and not included in the All About Jazz article): By the time Dr. George Nichopoulos entered the picture in 1967, Presley already had an established abuse pattern of stimulants and depressant that, more than likely, led to the singer's infamous insomnia. This insomnia (and Presley's de facto dependency on sedative/hypnotics) is what what Nichopoulos was trying to manage at the end of Elvis' life. Presley's post-autopsy toxicology screen revealed multiple barbiturates, non-barbiturate sedative/hypnotics and benzodiazepines.
While not identical to, this scenario is chillingly similar to that of Michael Jackson 32-years later. Conrad Murray was attempting to manage Jackson's insomnia with his stepwise employment of sedative benzodiazepines, hypnotic benzodiazepines, and finally propofol. In The King and Dr. Nick, Nichopoulos inaccurately dismisses the apparent similarities between the two singers' deaths. Where he does get this right is in culpability.
Where Presley died while under the carefully crafted care of Nichopoulos of most likely a cardiac pathology, Jackson died while his physician was administering intravenously a powerful general anesthetic that led directly to his death. Murray was present when Jackson expired.
The similarities between the two artists are more striking than their differences. Both had humble upbringings were relatively suddenly thrust into fame, making a pile of money in the meantime. Both evolved from artists into industries, employing armies of people...armies of people beholden to a single figure for their livelihoods. This sets up a people-pleasing paradigm where the employees do what is necessary to keep their employer performing, always in the short term.
Both artists were eccentric, peculiar, if you will, with peccadillos and appetites that provided the media with years of water-cooler fodder. Both were lavish in there spending and indiscriminate in their generosity. Both changed popular music in ways in which they had and have no peers.
(About) 100 Words on...Eric Clapton - "Bottle Rockin'" Columbus, Ohio 07/04/1974
Eric ClaptonBottle Rockin'
Columbus, Ohio, 07/04/1974
Qualitybootz
The early 1970s found Eric Clapton a mess. Heroin addiction sidelined him between the demise of Derek and the Dominoes (with the death of Duane Allman October 29, 1971 and the release of 461 Ocean Boulevard (RSO, 1973) (though he did appear at George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh (Apple, 1971) and Peter Townsend's Rainbow Concert (RSO, 1973)). Once off heroin, Clapton began drinking heavily as evidenced by his singing performance during this soundboard collected concert in Columbus, OH. Pleasantly hammered Clapton is not. He behaves in an arrogantly belligerent manner that can only be forgiven by his corrosive performance of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" and his near supernatural guitar break in "Key to the Highway. This is Clapton in the '70s to be sure – bloated, lazy, and sloppy. But like Charlie Parker's Dial "Lover Man," Clapton summoned something special to this performance…or else he was just lucky.
Disc 1: Easy Now; Smile;Let it Grow;Can't Find My Way Home; Key to the Highway; Willie and the Hand Jive / Get Ready; Little Wing. Disc 2: Mainline Florida; Layla; Presence of the Lord; Badge; Little Queenie; Crossroads.
(About) 100 Words on...Joe Cocker and Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA 04/26/1970
Joe Cocker and Mad Dogs and EnglishmenFillmore West, San Francisco, CA 04/26/1970
This concert took place about one month after Cocker and company stormed the Fillmore East in New York City for the recording of what would become the two-LP release Joe Cocker and Mad Dogs and Englishmen. That collection has gone through several evolutions finally releasing the performances in their entirety on Mad Dogs and Englishmen - The Complete Fillmore Concerts. The set lists changed little during this short tour but these soundboard recordings from Cocker's concerts wrapping up his MDAE tour did sport the welcome inclusion of "The Weight" in better performance than the released extended MDAE. Cocker proves to be the best of interpreters of other's music. He slays John Sebastian's "Darling Be Home Soon" and Leon Russell's "Delta Lady." Largely absent from these soundboards is Leon Russell, who contributed no sotto voce asides as he did on the official release. Cocker sounds tired but anything but defeated. A little piece of history.
(About) 100 Words on...Elton John at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, 12/22/1973
Elton JohnHammersmith Odeon, London, 12/22/1973
I saw Sir Reginald Dwight in concert in Memphis, Tennessee while he was promoting Peach Tree Road (2004). It was a splendidly performed concert, geared directly for the nostalgic sod such as myself. But 30 years prior, in both our salad days, Elton John was at the top of his game, having just released Goodbye Yellowbrick Road, whose contents were well represented at the Hammersmith Odeon that December evening in 1973. Recorded from Pre-FM reels, this Elton John concert is near perfect save for no material from Tumbleweed or Madman. But that is okay, Honky Chateau is well represented, with "Hercules" and "Rocket Man" being exceptional. Davey Johnstone performs searingly with Nigel Olsson registering as an earthquake.
(About) 100 Words on...Lowell George Live at Hard Rock Cafe, New York City, 06/22/1979
Lowell GeorgeLive at Hard Rock Cafe, New York City, 06/22/1979
In the same way that Little Feat is not, part and parcel, Lowell George; Lowell George is not Little Feat. This June 1979 concert was part of George's last tour, one he undertook after leaving the band. George was to die of cardiac arrest a week after this show. George is in fine voice and slide guitar, but on the Feat material he sorely misses his band, particularly drummer Richie Wayward and guitarist Paul Barrere. The performances of "Fat Man in the Bathtub," and "Spanish Moon" are spirited, but "Dixie Chicken" and "Willin'" do not quite work, in spite of a capable horn section. Selections from George's 1979 Thanks I'll Eat it Here are are uniformly fabulous. "Honest Man," "What Do You Want a Girl to Do," and Ann Peebles' "Can't Stand the Rain" rock while Rickie Lee Jones' "Easy Money" serves as "Dixie Chicken's" introduction. Where the Feat were heading in a jazz-rock fusion direction, George was choosing to address R&B. I fine and sad coda.
(About) 100 Words on...Howlin' Wolf Live at Key Largo, Chicago, IL 02/23/1969
Howlin' WolfLive at Key Largo, Chicago, IL 02/23/1969
Complements of Qualitybootz
Chester Burnett, AKA Howlin' Wolf's life spanned the breadth of blues history from Charlie Patton to the decline of Chess Records. Like Skip James, he was a singular talent not willing to be creatively pigeonholed. This live set captures Wolf at the height of his considerable powers in his adopted home of Chicago. Wolf's blues were not sophisticated like Muddy Waters and Walter Jacobs. They were Mississippi Delta dirt bona fide, electrified and Southern fried. "A Million Miles Away" and "Killing Floor" kill with a ferocity unmatched before or since. Wolf's harmonica and guitar are well represented and Hubert Sumlin shines throughout.
(About) 100 Words on...A&E's Hoarders (Monday Nights, 10:00/9:00PM CT)
HoardersMonday Nights, 10/9 Central
Arts and Entertainment
A&E's Hoarders is a spin-off of Obsessed (on hiatus after the 11-episode first season in 2009) which, itself was a tangent from the highly successful A&E series, Intervention. Obsessed dealt with obsessive-compulsive disorder generally with an occasional episode on pathologic hoarding. Hoarders is all hoarding all of the time and each story has the same theme:
Jane Doe is a middle-aged mother of two who has been hoarding since the premature death of her dog, Bowser. Her house is filled with Bowser's feces and new and old doggy toys from floor to ceiling in every room, including bathrooms. Jane sleeps on the back stoop of her house in a sleeping bag as she can no longer get into her bedroom. Jane has had to rent a port-a-potty, which she is now filling the dog paraphernalia. Jane's children were taken from her long ago and have since grown up, retuning home to help their mother.Enter Dr. Kimberly K. Psychologist, and expert in OCD and Meagan Ann Organize, a professional organizer. The two meet with Jane and form a plan of action. Things start swimmingly, with Jane receptive to throwing away Bowser's feces. By midafternoon, Jane has become anxious, unable to choose which to keep among Bowser's 25 Bo-Boes. The staff of fifteen people stand by while Jane rationalizes, in a sing-song baby's voice, why she must keep Bowser's dog bowl full of 10-year-old Purina Dog Chow. By that evening, Jane has retrieved Bowser's feces and has barricaded herself in what space remains in her garage. The show ends with Jane sucking her thumb on her back stoop.
A&E should consider a new show called Cure. In Cure, instead of a professional organizer, the show employs a company by the same name with a perfect record for cleaning hoarding domiciles. In this series, after the introduction, the Cure team enters the house, sits the hoarder in a chair, gags his/her mouth, nails his/her feet to the floor and cleans the house out from stem to stern with the principle watching. Each episode will be followed up to see if the hoarder has returned to hoarding and if so, what relapse treatment is prescribed. Forget all other shows, this one is a sure bet and this review is well over 100 words long.
(About) 100 Words on...The Hughes Brothers' The Book of Eli
The Book of EliDirected by Albert and Allen Hughes
Alcon Entertainment/Silver Pictures
2010
The Book of Eli is not exactly the type of movie one expects Hollywood to make. Never mind that typical blockbuster fare is at best propaganda, The Book of Eli turns the tables by retelling the story of the aftermath of Rome's fifth century fall. The world is 30 years post apocalypse and life is cheap. Denzel Washington plays Eli, a drifter protecting a mysterious book. Except that this book would only be a mystery to a blind moron with a brain infection. It is the Bible, stupid. Eli protects the book from the literate and diabolical Carnegie (Gary Oldman) . Eli enters into cahoots with Solara, played by Mila Kunis (That '70s Show, where is Kelso when you need him), bringing the book to the American equivalent of the Irish shore to be copied by the post nuclear equivalent of Irish Friars. Sadly predictable with some first rate ass-kicking.
(About) 100 Words on...Duma Key (Audiobook) by Stephen King, Narrated by John Slattery
Duma Key
Stephen King
Audiobook
Narrated by John Slattery
Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition (January 22, 2008)
Stephen King
Audiobook
Narrated by John Slattery
Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition (January 22, 2008)
Duma Key is a most unlikely buddy story between the recently crippled Edgar Freemantle and the oddly omnipresent Jerome Wireman (King's most interesting creation since George Stark/Alexis Machine in The Dark Half (Viking, 1989). Add the elderly and mysterious Elizabeth Eastlake and the King staple themes of old age, physical and psychological damage and repair, and ancient evil, or course, and we have King's finest offering since Insomnia (Perfect Learning, 1994). Mad Men's own John Slattery provides the most convincing narration since James Woods in "Secret Window, Secret Garden" from Four Past Midnight (Penguin-Highbridge, 2008).
(About) 100 Words on...The Georgia Satellites: Sun Plaza Boogie - Tokyo Nakano Sun Plaza Hall 04/23/87
The Georgia Satellites
Sun Plaza Boogie - Tokyo Nakano Sun Plaza Hall 04/23/87
FM Broadcast - Lineage Unknown
CD>EAC>TLH
Courtesy of Qualitybootz
Sun Plaza Boogie - Tokyo Nakano Sun Plaza Hall 04/23/87
FM Broadcast - Lineage Unknown
CD>EAC>TLH
Courtesy of Qualitybootz
Sometimes a greasy dive-bar cheeseburger and a Schlitz are the only things that will satisfy one's near-carnal gastronomic requirements. The same is true for rock Music. The new Century has yet to produce bone-crunchin', ass-stompin', southern fried rock. Instead, we are treated to Coldplay, Hinder,Nickelback and any number of American Idol turds floating in the cultural punchbowl. Enter this 23-year old bootleg of the most primitive rock the 1980s could produce. The Georgia Satellites were a cracker garage band who scored big with "Keep Your Hands to Yourself." Here on their first Japanese tour, these sons of Georgia reach a Chuck Berry critical mass with Rod Stewart's "Every Picture Tells a Story." This ismusic written in your bones.