Category: Music

The Missing NY City Hawk & John Denver

Here in New York, amid all of the celebrity couples, one of the most famous couples has been the red-tailed hawks who have lived for nine years above a Fifth Avenue co-op building overlooking Central Park: Pale Male and Lola. They even have a Facebook page. (Chimesfreedom recently added a Facebook page too.)

John Denver Aerie

In the last month, though, Lola has been missing and observers suspect she might have died. Pale Male, who has fathered 26 hawks since first being observed in 1991, has apparently moved on and is courting another mate.

I am the hawk and there’s blood on my feathers,
But time is still turning they soon will be dry.
And all of those who see me, all who believe in me,
Share in the freedom I feel when I fly

The story about Lola reminds me of the John Denver song “The Eagle and the Hawk” (maybe you expected The Kinks?). The song was on his 1971 album, Aerie. In the 1970s, John Denver was everywhere. He had numerous hits, he had an Emmy-winning special, he guest starred in TV shows, he hosted the Grammys, he was in a movie with George Burns, and he even guest hosted The Tonight Show. By the end of the 1970s and into the 1980s, though, perhaps partly due to a backlash because of so much exposure or perhaps because he began devoting more of his time on humanitarian and environmental causes, he seemed to largely disappear from pop music. Denver asked to participate in 1985’s “We are the World” recording, but producers denied his request because they thought his participation would hurt the credibility of the project because he was no longer popular.

Denver died in 1997 in a flying accident. One irony is that during his lifetime, he did more for humanitarian causes than many of the other people who participated in “We Are the World.” And, while many still see him as a lightweight pop star, in later years many have come to recognize his contribution as a great writer of pop songs such as “Rocky Mountain High,” “Annie’s Song,” and “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Had he spread out the big hits over his lifetime instead of releasing them in a few years during a huge burst of creativity, maybe he would be more highly regarded than he is.

While one of his first hits came when Peter, Paul, and Mary covered “Leavin’ On a Jet Plane,” he also had a great voice. The power of his voice and his range is on display in singing “The Eagle and the Hawk,” originally written for a documentary and a beautiful song. Maybe if you play it loud enough, Lola will return.

Bonus “What Were They Thinking Video”: I have no idea why this amateur video of “The Eagle and the Hawk” with a guy in a tie mouthing the words and dancing in the woods has almost 500,000 views.

What do you think? Leave a comment.

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    Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert

    Rock Concert

    Don Kirshner, rock promoter, producer, and host of Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, passed away this week.  He was 76.

    Time Magazine once called him “The Man with the Golden Ear,” and the many bands that he helped included the Police, Billy Joel, Tony Orlando, Neil Diamond, Carol King, Prince, Ozzy Osbourne, The Eagles, and The Monkees.  But I remember him as host of Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert.

    Rock Concert was on ABC every other week late at night beginning in 1973 and ran through 1981, starting well before I had access to cable and before MTV.  For much of that time, along with NBC’s Midnight Special during most of the same years, Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert was one of the few places to see many great bands on television.  Kirshner gave national TV exposure to bands like The Ramones and Bruce Springsteen before most people had heard of them. As someone who was still a kid listening to AM radio, I found my first exposure to many bands I later would grow to love on Don Kirshner’s show.

    When Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert would come on, past my normal bedtime, through my sleepy eyes I saw this balding middle aged man with a monotone voice introducing various bands.  He seemed so different from the bands he introduced that one wondered what he was doing on the show.  I cannot help thinking of Kirshner without remembering Paul Shafer imitating him on Saturday Night Live.  But, like John Hammond (discoverer of Dylan, Aretha Franklin and many others) and Ahmat Ertegan (founder and president of Atlantic Records), Kirshner was one of those people who were important to rock and roll who looked like he should be working in an accounting office. I doubt they would put someone as modest in demeanor and appearance as Kirshner on television today, but it is a tribute to his importance that he hosted and had the show named after him even then.

    We rightfully focus on the art and the artists, and we cheer when bands like Wilco find a way to avoid getting handcuffed by record company suits. But it is worth thanking the many people who make it possible for us to enjoy the music. Don Kirshner was one of the few behind-the-scenes people we got to see because of his television show. Still, today most of the clips on YouTube from his show are edited to just show the music without Kirshner’s introduction. I understand, because the music is what is important. But it is worth taking a second to acknowledge the passing of someone who helped bring us such fun and great music who is now introducing many of the same bands in heaven. Thanks Mr. Kirshner.

    Image via YouTube. Do you remember Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert? Leave a comment.

    Buy from Amazon

    Do You Miss CD Stores?

    CD Store Going Out of Business SaleI recently drove to the only remaining CD store within reasonable driving distance of where I live. It is an FYE chain CD and video store. The selection was never great, and most items were overpriced. But it was the last remaining CD store for me after the Tower Records stores closed down a few years ago.

    I would go to the FYE store occasionally to browse.  And over the years there were a few CDs I wanted to get on the first day out, so I would take the drive to this store.

    Today, when I stopped at the store, it was adorned by a large “Going Out of Business” sign. I was so heartbroken I could not even take advantage of the 50% off sale.

    It is odd to despair about the demise of a commercial enterprise.  I am sad even though the cause of the demise, the Internet, has played an important role in helping me discover new music that I might never have found on my own in the record stores. But I cannot help feeling the loss from the closing of the CD/Record stores.

    Today, I purchased Two Men with the Blues by Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis. I still remember the first three CDs I bought when the format was new. They were Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run.

    Before that, I remember as a child saving my money to buy 45 rpm records at a small-town GC Murphy five-and-dime store to play on my portable record player. In college, I haunted the record stores on Coventry Road in Cleveland, discovering European recordings and bootleg LPs. As I moved around as an adult, there were always record and CD stores that were often open late at night where one could find new discoveries, old friends, or comfort from sadness, heartbreak, or loneliness.

    FYE Going Out of Business SaleIn the late 1990s, I remember the thrill of discovering I could make my own CDs from selected songs off my other CDs. And then of course came the iPod and other music players, and everything changed.

    I have a 160GB iPod that lets me carry around my entire music collection.  In my youth, I dreamed of being able to do that when I used to take long drives to visit my family in college and later. Instead, during those drives I would have to select the tapes or CDs that would fit in a case to take with me.

    One loss from the iPod and computerized music, besides sound quality, is that I rarely listen to a single album repeatedly any more. There’s too much convenience to go to the next album, the next song, or shuffle play.

    There are so many CDs where I listened to them repeatedly before falling in love with them.  So I wonder how much music I have lost as the CDs got buried in my digital collection.

    For example, last month I read about a CD that sounded good.  I downloaded it from Amazon, put it on my iPod, and then forgot the name of the band and album. So, this potential new discovery sits buried somewhere on my iPod, waiting to be found again when I hear one of the songs on shuffle play. Perhaps I’ll never hear the album in its entirety once. That would never have happened in the old days of physical CDs.

    One remaining remnant of the past is that my car stereo does not connect directly to my iPod.  So I do listen to CDs in my car.

    But this summer, due to decreasing space in my small New York apartment, I moved my CDs to vinyl sleeves and little suitcases where they no longer sit out where I can grab them easily. My home stereo CD player died a few years ago and I have not replaced it, instead opting to play my iPod through the stereo.

    So today’s purchase will be played in my car and through my iPod.  But the CD will probably never be played on a CD player in my home.

    Willie Nelson Wynton Marsalis: Two Men with the Blues
    My last CD store purchase ever?

    So what is my point? Things change and there are good and bad things about the new world order. It is also okay to be glad one had the chance to spend those days and nights in the record stores, and to be sad those days are gone.

    I wonder if today’s generation knows what they are missing. At least we still have the music. And book stores. For now.

    Do you miss CD/Record stores? Leave a comment.

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    I’ll Die With a Buzzer in My Hand!

    Tonight on Jeopardy, one of the three contestants will be an IBM computer taking on two former champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. It is a battle of human against machine.

    The classic human-versus-machine song is “John Henry.” Historians debate about who was the person who inspired the folk tale. But most seem to agree that somewhere at some point, there was a real person or persons who inspired the legend.

    There are various versions of the song about the folk hero. In most versions of the story, John Henry is a railroad worker who, to save the jobs of his co-workers, claims he can beat the railroad company’s new steam-powered hammer. The tale and the song represent modern human beings’ attempts to maintain dignity in the face of rising corporate and technological powers. Although the various song versions differ, the lyrics from the song made famous by Pete Seeger include:

    John Henry told his captain,
    “A man ain’t nothin’ but a man,
    But before I let your steam drill beat me down,
    I’d die with a hammer in my hand. Lord, Lord.
    I’d dies with a hammer in my hand.”

    There are many great versions of the song by people such as Pete Seeger and Johnny Cash. There’s a blues version with some great guitar playing by Mississippi Fred McDowell.

    Here’s another version by Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Session Band that is a little less raw and a little more like a celebration of John Henry’s sacrifice.

    John Henry beat the machine, but in the end he died. Tonight, we doubt there will be any deaths, but can Jennings and Rutter beat the machine? Please answer in the form of a question.

    Post-Match Update: The computer won. But this match was just a warm up for a one-million dollar rematch that will be broadcast February 16, so there may still be hope for the humans.

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    Will Gov. Quinn Sign the Death Penalty Bill?

    Yesterday, the Illinois Legislature passed a bill to abolish the death penalty in that state. In order for the bill to become law, the governor must sign it. The bill now sits on Governor Pat Quinn’s desk, and he has said that he does not yet know what he will do.

    Lethal Injection ChamberIllinois has been a leader in the death penalty debate in recent years, so it will be interesting to see if the governor has the courage to accept the role in abolishing the death penalty. After several Illinois death row inmates were found to be innocent in the 1990s, then-Gov. George Ryan ordered a commission to review the criminal justice system and he ultimately commuted the sentences of everyone on Illinois’s death row. The results from the commission, and studies by other states inspired by Illinois, in effect, found that there are so many flaws in the criminal justice system, that we can never be sure that we will not execute an innocent person.

    Fifteen states and the District of Columbia do not have the death penalty, and there has been a strong worldwide trend for decades to get rid of the death penalty. Yet, when we hear about a violent crime, like the recent tragic shootings in Arizona, our first reaction is to reach for the lethal injection needle. That quest for revenge is normal and human, but it is also normal and human to act out of rational thought instead of anger. And rational thought and experience tell us that the death penalty is more expensive than life in prison, ineffective, racist, inaccurate, and discriminates against the poor.

    Steve Earle touches on several of these themes in his excellent song, “Billy Austin.” The stark tale is narrated by a death row inmate who is part Native American. He does not claim to be innocent, and he describes committing a murder during a filling station robbery. The song then addresses the trial, referencing the poor representation often given to those charged with capital crimes. Earle seems to be telling us that the death penalty is not given based on the worst crimes, it is given based on what happens in a courtroom.

    But my trial was over quickly
    And then the long hard wait began
    Court appointed lawyer
    Couldn’t look me in the eye
    He just stood up and closed his briefcase
    When they sentenced me to die

    The narrator then describes the wait on death row, touching on the racism in the system.

    I ain’t about to tell you
    That I don’t deserve to die
    But there’s twenty-seven men here
    Mostly black, brown and poor
    Most of em are guilty
    Who are you to say for sure?

    And the song ends with another question.

    Could you take that long walk with me
    Knowing hell is waitin’ there
    Could you pull that switch yourself sir
    With a sure and steady hand
    Could you still tell yourself
    That you’re better than I am.

    And those are the questions that face Gov. Quinn. If he does not sign the bill, he will be the one pulling the switch on everyone executed in Illinois from this day forward. And that is a heavy responsibility to bear. Because the death penalty ultimately is not about the person being killed, it is about who we are.

    Bonus Governors’ Dilemmas in Other States: In the past week, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, and Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen granted clemency to men on death row. Meanwhile, also in the last week, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter granted a posthumous pardon to Joe Arridy, who was executed in 1936, because evidence now shows Arridy was innocent.

    Bonus Discussion of Another Steve Earle Song on the Death Penalty:  Justice Stevens and Steve Earle’s “Ellis Unit One.”

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