MICK & KEEF DO, DO MAIN ST. SATISFACTION, SATISFACTORILY!

Jolly good, lads!




When we last left Main St., we had been exiled with only early info on the upcoming May 18 reissue of the Rolling Stones "best" recording, Exile On Main Street.
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Rolling Stone mag had listed only 3 bonus tracks, which we here at the PCC thought bollocks.
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But then last week, the website Allmusic broke the new news that the '10 Exile would have a "whopping 10" extra, unissued tracks from the Exile sessions.
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And now, it's official, plus more: Stones' music label Universal told the NYTimes that not only
will there be the 10 unreleased songs, but also alternatives of Loving Cup and Soul Survivor.
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Regarding the outtakes, the Times' story uses the word, "like," in its description which may mean-we said may- or indicate that there will be more than two alts and outs on this, now 38 year old anniversary.
(Well, we can dream.)
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Unfortunately-always one with music releases-it looks like we will just
have to wait for another day, er, year, decade, etc., for those fabulous
live recordings of Exile tracks from the 1972 tour.
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But at least we appear to be getting a top-shelf reissue of Exile, to round out the Rolling Stones Records latest batch of do-overs. So, we're happy.
www.rollingstones.com

30th ANNY DOUBLE FANTASY MAYBE A SINGULAR ONE, FANTASY, THAT IS

ENCORE, Yoko! Encore.




A report surfaced this week that engineer/producer Jack Douglas was working on a project to commemorate the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's October 1980 "comeback" record, Double Fantasy.
"Unplugged," was the descriptive word thrown around.

Now, with obvious understanding that we are dealing with a rumour at this point-to say nothing of the fooked-up fickleness of Apple/EMI-it would seem to moi that a DF acoustic CD would be a long shot.

Yoko Ono has already been there, done that one a few years ago, with a Lennon acoustic demo offering that has long since been forgotten.

Furthermore, have Her Nibs and Douglas kiss, kiss, kissed and made up after their legal spat over DF royalties that Douglas claimed he was owed?
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Overheard Chinese whispers say that at least at this time, Apple/EMI are only entertaining proposals on possible 2010 Lennon projects, although at least one such TBD, is pretty much a lock.
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In any event, I'd rather put my lot in with another box set, Lennon Anthology Part Deux, rather than a specific DF release.
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The Anthology, now going on 12, was pretty damn fine, although anything can be improved on, and here's Yoko's chance.
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She's got TONS of unreleased-and even un-booted-material from the span of Lennon's career, and since the true fans would want outtakes from all era's, then another career-spanner should be the way to go.
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That way, if Ono wants to devote an entire disc to DF stuff-including work by Cheap Trick and other notables that got left off-she could easily do it.
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Finally, of course chronologically it is totally real that thirty years have passed since John's death but I just still can't seem to emotionally register it, or that so much time has passed.
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Let's hope that whatever is released this year does JL's legacy justice.

ONE CUSSIN' KICK-ASS HIT-GIRL

GOOD GRIEF, Charlie Brown!!!


Get ready to get acquainted shortly with "Hit-Girl," a 10 year old assassin from the upcoming movie "Kick Ass," due for an April release.
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A Feb. 24 front page story in the New York Times Arts section will see to it that you will be suitably intrigued, or advocating the calling out of the National Guard cultural wars division to slay the evil, mind-warping Hollywood independent film-making moguls.
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The R-rated movie, a fantasy/dark comedy taken from the pages of a similarly twisted comic book features 13 year old Chloe Moretz playing the pre-teen cutie, good with a gun, and other.
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And all this is at issue due to what they call a "red branded" movie trailer, which since late last year has gone viral on the Net, and also gone koo-koo for cocoa-puffs on some parental groups who see the film as yet more proof we are all going to hell on a rotting, risque rail.
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In the trailer, Hit-Girl tells her father, played by Nicholas Cage that she is, "only fucking with him," calls some impending victims of her gun-play, "cunts," blows several heads off, severs a few legs, and, well, you get the idea. Yes, kids still say-and do-the darnedest things.
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Of course having young girls in raunchy movies is nothing really very new, with perhaps the most salient example being Jodie Foster as the 13 year old prostitute in Taxi Driver, released in 1976, also to a few howls of self-righteous indignation.
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However, one may argue that Foster's role was that of a groundbreaking
nature, conceived by a genuine auteur in director Marty Scorsese, and certainly not played for loquacious laughs and pr-teen titillation like Hit-Girl obviously is. (Apparently, this teen thing is to be the rage.)
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And which side you may come down on for this movie may also depend on if you have children about the same age as Hit-Girl, who doubtless will become the kiddies new(est) hero, simply because she is driving the poor harried parents bunny-boiling mad.
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If you are not presently supervising brats, then you can go to the move and be suitably dumbed-down with nary a care.
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But Lionsgate, who will release the film and are expecting it to be a smash, may suffer a backlash when it hits the mainstream media blender, or God Forbid, the US Congress gets sour wind of it.
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With this eventuality,things could get very interesting...
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Thee, hoo-ha: http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/kick-ass-red-band-hit-girl-trailer/

BEATLES and BOXING:BOFFO!

Inspired by Harry Benson!




One of me fave things to do besides bollixing around with this Blog, is to wander around book stores trying to see if I can find remainders of the day, or for those not in the publishing know, books heavily discounted due to slow sales and such.

But just because a book does not sell does not mean it is rubbish.

Case in point is The Icons Of Our Time series, featuring Muhammad Ali, with text by Jane Benn.

Lots of superbly shot, gorgeous b&w pic of Ali from 1963 to 1974 with one taken by photographer Harry Benson, which will likely interest Beatle fans.

When I interviewed Benson for the National Post in 1999, he told me about the circumstances leading up to the famous Feb. 9, 1964 Miami Beach gym photos of the Fabs while they were in town to appear on Ed Sullivan, and where Ali was preparing for his heavyweight championship fight with Sonny Liston.

Harry, who travelling with the lads, told me that John Lennon in particular did not care much for Ali, and thought that the brash young fighter would be destroyed by Liston.

Benson said that Lennon wanted the photo session to be with Sonny. Hard to imagine that one, I'm afraid as Liston was a beast who suffered no fools, Beatle or otherwise.
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In any event, the Beatles did play the fool with Ali, and some of Harry's pics became all-time iconic images.
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The other shots featured here are of Ali in London just before his May, 1963 fight at Wembley with Henry Cooper, who possessed a thundering left hook, known as "'enry's 'ammer," which actually dumped Ali on his arse, before he rallied and stopped olde Henry on cuts.
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Ah yes; wot a glorious time.

SOON TO BE EXILED NO LONGER

HURRY, April 13!





Some call it the "greatest rock and roll record ever made."
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And when you put that salutation in quotations, who can argue?
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But regardless, many can say quite rightly I'd reckon, that 1972's Exile On Main Street, the Rolling Stones only non-compilation/live double album ever released , may certainly be the group's finest hour.
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A brilliant and sprawling smorgasbord of rock, blues, country and blaring horns all concocted with the aid of a continental cornucopia of inebriating substances, this was/is the true spirit of rock. Yet we have been stuck with a CD transfer of the great Exile that is now 16 years old, and surely showing its age.
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Yes, the rest of Rolling Stones' catalogue of Sticky Fingers onward was given the 21st century digital upgrade last summer, but Exile, which was originally skedded for an October 2009 release, has been maddeningly held up 'till this coming April.
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Keith Richards recently told Rolling Stone mag that Exile would get the full "coffee-table" offering, but the article listed only 3 unreleased tracks for the remastered CD.
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If there are only a measly three tunes included for such an iconic reissue, what a wasted opportunity that would be.
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Because what better chance would there be for the Stones-who recorded over 10 shows with their 16 track mobile during the legendary summer '72 tour-to offer some of those Exile live renditions which heretofore have only surfaced occasionally on bootlegs.
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Original LP packaging of this release is all well and good, but it has already been done in 1994 with a series of "Collector's Edition" CDs, of which some of that visual material is featured here.
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Of course there is bound to be extra, unseen pics and such from the era, but only hard-core Stones' fans give a damn for that.
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Most buyers want a fantastic remaster and LOTS of GOOD bonus material, otherwise the whole thing could fall flat.
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Here's hoping Mick and Keef do the right thing and we fans don't end up scrapping shit right off our shoes.

YET EVEN MORE PEACE: THIS TIME LIVE IN NEW YORK SANS THE WALRUS & BAG!

I'm (sort of) sorry to say...but bloody 'ell and all!

And so we see that Mummy Yoko Ono is still searching for her hand in the snow, 40 1/2 years

after the Live Peace In Toronto thing was done "all over you," and from which your ears and other such

sensibilities may still be recovering.
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Yes, the New York Times felt the 2010 version of (in)famous pick-up band that John Lennon threw together whilst whacked on smack to help him break free of his other group, deserved not only two colour pics-many bigger, real bands get much less-but a nice and respectful write-up by Jon Pareles.
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Yoko and Sean Lennon, joined by original POB members Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, and Jim Keltner-along with a few other music celebs like Ono's Dakota neighbour Paul Simon and sireen Bette Midler-appeared all together now at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Feb. 16, under the banner, "We Are Plastic Ono Band."

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Yoko wailed songs from her latest recording, "Between My Head and the Sky," played her one listenable tune, "Walking On Thin Ice," and of course closed with "Give Peace A Chance," which the Times reported had some lyrical amendments. (My Lord!)
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Listen, I once interviewed Mz. Ono, and she was very nice, and actually seemed interested when I quizzed her about the Toronto gig.

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And I can see how Clapton et al would be there for her to honour John's memory.

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But please, don't get me to try to force down the Kool-Aid that sez YO invented, or even as Parles writes, "inspired," avant or even savant rockers.

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And let's be even more brutally honest; without the Lennon name and legacy, neither the Times, nor you or I would give a bleedin' toss.

PEACE ON YOU, BROTHER/SISTER

All we are saying, etc...

Well, unless you were a fan of the space program, most of us-the

boys, at least, did not think of the National Geographic as anything but a sneaky place to glimpse a few

naked, native breasts.

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And certainly not a place to go to peruse the trappings of the new

"Love generation."

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But oh, how things have changed in 40, freaky odd years.

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A Great new book from the Geo folks, entitled, "PEACE, the biography of a symbol" by Ken Kolsbun and Michael S. Sweeny-with FABULOUS visuals-is something any self respecting Baby Boomer should own, or at least read.
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And if you have been thinking it was a bunch of spleef'd up long-hairs in jeans and grubby sandals that made up the peace sign as we know it, you better think again, people.
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For it was actually Gerald Holstom. a middle aged, textile designer

from Twickenham, UK, who designed the iconic cog in 1958, specifically for a peace rally and the growing nuclear disarmament movement in England. (They were way out front of North America.)
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Originally conceived as white on a black background to stand out for photo and TV, the peace sign has evolved over the past 52 years to
be just about anything a designer wants it to be.

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And although Holstom's first design was rather plain-his colleagues never thought it would catch on- successive pliers of peace paraphernalia have added lots of colour and extra

graphics to add to the message.
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The peace sign sort of went out of vogue for a while in the late 70s and 80s-even John Lennon said in Rolling Stone that he didn't want to see some "freak" coming at him flashing a peace sign-but now it seems more relevant than ever before.
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However, the chances of getting the major war-makers in the world to give it up like they were forced with Viet Nam, are between none, and slimly (new age word) none.
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Giving peace a chance, does not seem to be an option. Pity, that.

SWEET BIRD OF PARADOX&PR

Imagine there's no rubbish...





Well, well, well, as Johnny used to sing.
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Yet another look at the (in)famous "Lost Weekend," AKA John
Lennon drunk and disorderly on the US left coast from late '73 to autumn '74.
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This time from the February '10, Q mag, which claims to be "The UK's Biggest Music Magazine." -
Actually a decent enough little feature, with loads 'o' May Pang Kodachrome's, but bogged down a bit by the recycling of many of the oft-told-tales of Johnny and Harry Nilsson getting bombed, and Phil Spector being a boob and/or psycho.
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The piece could have used more about what exactly took place with the Rock 'n' Roll session tapes after Phil extorted 90K from Capitol for their return.
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And the claim that Lennon was "broke," and needed a 10 grand advance from Capitol to live strains incredible.
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Plus the whole premise of the "lost weekend" has been rejected by many who see it as proforma JohnandYoko murky mythology
designed to launch John into his "house husband," period, also a rather dubious in totality tale.
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However, there is a really boffo yarn about how Nilsson and Lennon managed to sort of trick 5 mill out of His Master's Voice for Harry, with fantasies of how great the Pussy Cats collaboration was to be-it flopped-and how possible Lennon would flee Capital for RCA after his contract was up in 1975.
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Pick up/roll up the magazine, and read all about it.

KILLING THE GOLDEN GOAT, er, GOOSE!

Bubble, bubble, TV trouble!

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Ah yes, Super Bowl Sunday.

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Still one of the (last) really big days for US network TV.

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But the usual twin suspects of greed and stupidity-and some technology-are surely going to put the mockers on "free" television as we have come to know it.

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The greed involves the amount of money the NFL extorts from the networks (3 billion bucks, plus for the current deal) for the right to gather in about 60 million SB viewers once a year.

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The stupidity is the failure by all concerned to see that the above is unsustainable for at least the foreseeable future.

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Why?

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Well, besides the fact that personal seat licences are pushing a decent pair of season tickets to around $4000 per, and cable and sat dish charges are rising-always-it is something that costs a tenth that will ultimately push the NFL and other sports on to a pay-per-view basis, and maybe even kill commercial based network TV as we have known it for 50 years.

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And the 1/10 something is something called a DVR, or Digital Video Recorder.

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Very few people I know that have the programmable, recording devices watch TV programs live anymore.

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Therefore, the 30 minute sit-com becomes a 22:30 view, with the 6 minute and a bit commercial time fast-forwarded into blurring-by oblivion.

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And me, a TV football viewer since 1963, no longer watches any NFL broadcast, live.

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Why?

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Recall that 3 billion buck NFL/TV deal?

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Well, part of the reason for the other-worldly amount of money, is because the networks get to insert even more bloody spots into the broadcast, especially with national and/or prime-time games.

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The 4th quarter of any national NFL telecast is a hideous crawl through the action, and a super-size-me commercial vomit-fest.

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So, when the Super Bowl began at 6:25 PM eastern, I was making dinner, then eating it, and finally, taking a shower.

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I picked up the game about 7:45, X4'd through EVERY frigging commercial and dumb-as promo, and caught up live inside the two minute warning, when the bastards had run out of spots.

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And that, is how I watch "live" sports, and anything else, now for that matter.

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Gee, if other souls do what I do, that does not seem sustainable from a commercial/network/NFL perspective. Does it? I mean, what advertiser is going to pay millions for commericals that get the digital bums rush?

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And gee whiz, save for those folks in bars and/or just drunk who have a use for the fooking commercials to run to the pisser, does anyone else know about this DVR thang?

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Just wondering...

BEFORE THERE WAS LIVE PEACE....

Groovy, baby!

I'd suppose that any self-respecting Baby Boomer worth his or her remaining brain cells know about Live Peace in Toronto, when Yoko brought her walrus-or the other way 'round-to Toronto's Varsity Stadium for the Rock 'n' Roll Revival extravaganza that featured not only John Lennon's pick-up Plastic Ono Band, but also such luminaries as the Doors, Alice Cooper, and some good old vintage r&r acts like Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry.

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However, many fewer BBs know that just 3 months prior to Live Peace, there was the first Toronto Pop Festival, also held at Varsity Stadium.
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As the scan at upper left shows, the three day event was well attended to the tune of 25,000 per day plus, and demonstrated that Varsity was in fact a viable rock venue.

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Interesting, as well, that two artists/groups-Alice Cooper (not listed on the poster, but a late add), and Chuck Berry would return for the Live Peace fest in September.
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And what a line up it was in totality that warm June, 1969, weekend.

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Just two months from becoming an international superstar at Woodstock.

Sly Stone and Family rocked it up in Toronto, along with Johnny Winter,

and even the Velvet Underground.

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Also of note was Al Kooper, who had founded Blood, Sweat and Tears-but

was replaced by David Clayton Thomas just prior to this concert- helped open the fest, whilst the

DCC fronted BS&T closed it, along with Steppenwolf.

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Oh, and don't forget, Tiny Tim warbled as well

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Now, another salient notion: suppose this festival was recorded?
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I'm not aware of any recordings from this gig, but common sense
would dictate at least some of the record companies rolled tape.
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It would be nice to hear from anyone who was at the Toronto Pop
Fest, or for that matter, anyone with more info on the concert. Especially if there was any of that brown acid making the rounds to freak the freaks out.
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Thanks to that wonderfully wild, olde hippy-chick Restless Red, who dug up all these images up for your terminally, terribly lazy correspondent.

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I'm sure that the Woodstock promoters were watching what happened in Toronto closely-tickets in TO were 6$ per day as opposed to $8 at Woodstock- as these large outdoor gatherings were in their infancy, at

least on the east coast and one never knew what would happen, did one?

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In any event, those certainly were the daze, and blah, blah, blah.

Oh, and far out as well.