Hank III - Rebel "Hellbilly" Within

The crowd at Hank (Williams) III's show at the Barrymore Theater last night was as frisky and freaky as those Mexican masks atop the lobby of that cozy Madison venue.  Hank III plays with a variety of personae, an actor with a heavy family legacy to bear. 

At first, he's the acoustic honky-tonk hero in Stetson and boots playing original ballads - mostly about his blues and his related love of intoxication - with a crack 6-piece backing band that features an upright bass, old-timey fiddle, banjo and pedal-steel guitar.  "A Little Bit of Smoke and a Whole Lotta Wine" is a typical title.

Then he slips on the "hellbilly" rebel outlaw mask - singing "Tattooed and Branded," kicking the musical tempo up a notch, adding a screamer on backup vocals like some demented Freudian id or demonic alter ego, but still playing mostly pleasing melodies with sardonic wiseass lyrics.  Finally he straps on an electric guitar, plops on a Copenhagen tobacco cap and delivers loud repetitious hardcore with fellow metalheads in a group provocatively called Assjack.  That divides the diehards from the more casual listeners, who leave.

Apparently it ain't easy being Hank, who has forged his own intriguing style of punk, alt-country and speed metal.  The endearing 40ish musician gave his enthusiastic fans a treat for Halloween:  an entertaining preview of the Apocalypse perhaps.  Meanwhile, across town, Bob Dylan played the Overture Center.  Reportedly, Bob barely acknowledged the crowd.  The Times They Done Changed, eh?

Happy Birthday, Chuck Berry!

Johnny B. Goode's creator Chuck Berry turns 84 years old today.  John Lennon once said, “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry.’”

He may be an ex-federal-felon (Mann Act), but that brown-eyed handsome man could play his guitar just like a-ringin' a bell.  Check out the old rocker's weekly gig in his hometown (St. Louis) before he passes.   Roll Over, Beethoven - tell Tchaikovsky the news!

Letter to a fellow Lennon fan

Hey, Stu Levitan:
I enjoyed your Tribute to John Lennon radio show on October 10. Very creative use of your 1980 Madcity Music Scene article, embellished with Lennon/Beatles song excerpts. Loved that guy - still miss him. Imagine the songs he'd have written since Double Fantasy!

I wrote an essay (re: what John Lennon had been up to since 1975, etc.) for my freshman English Composition class with Prof. Nicholas Doane, father of the Orpheum's Henry D., at UW-Madison in November 1980 - just before John so sadly died.

By the way, I was born 4 days before John Lennon's 20th birthday, on October 5th, 1960 in Heidelberg, West Germany (where The Beatles launched their career).
Truly,
Muse of the Weird

R.I.P., Solomon Burke - Soul Man

Sad news from Amsterdam yesterday, when soul legend Solomon Burke died suddenly at age 70.  He was sitting in an airplane, just arrived from LA, when a heart attack felled the big singer.  His performance throne sat empty at the sold-out Dutch concert venue.  May he rest in peace.  Long live Solomon Burke, the King of Rock 'n' Soul!

Warren Zevon: Mr. Bad Example

I liberated a beat-up cassette tape from the basement of WORT the other day.  Lo & behold I found a funny song with lyrics that fit me too.  It's - who else - Warren Zevon:

I got a part-time job at my father's carpet store
Laying tackless stripping & housewives by the score.

I loaded up their furniture & took it to Spokane 
Auctioned off every last naugahyde divan.

Of course I went to law school & got a law degree 
I counselled all my clients to plead insanity.

Then worked in hair replacement swindling the bald 
Where very few are chosen, fewer still are called. 

-  "Mr. Bad Example" (Mr. Bad Example album, 1991)

Racine, Wis.: Vibrator Capital of America (circa 1912)

Dig this WSJ story, y'all. Ya gotta love my weird hometown, former vibrator capital of America: host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/doug_moe/article_f4a7b498-d24e-11df-a019-001cc4c002e0.html

Grad student Ms. Hallie Lieberman presents an intriguing idea: build a vibrator museum in Racine. AND IF THEY BUILD IT, WE WILL COME!

Andrei Codrescu Lectures at UW-Madison: DaDa!

Andrei Codrescu's lecture at the Union Theater last night was the perfect 50th birthday present to myself. His NPR commentaries are brilliant feuilletons of the absurd. He talked about being inspired by Dadaist madman Tristan Tzara & meeting scholar Mircea Eliade in Chicago in 1967.

A dark wry poet-editor-adventurer who immigrated from Transylvania to the USA via Rome in 1966. He lived in New Orleans, where I first heard him speak circa 1988, for decades & retired from LSU recently.

Hilariously enough, his new (vacation) home is in the Ozarks wilderness. Redneck country. See the documentary Road Scholar, about Prof. Codrescu belatedly obtaining his driver's license & exploring America by automobile.

Imagine H.L. Mencken crossing America by car with Groucho Marx (Codrescu's a Jew whose native tongues are German & Hungarian) & they pick up Jack Kerouac & John Lennon hitchhiking. Gotta love this crazy world!

Two Farm Aid 25 Highlights

Picture 64-year-old Neil Young with a straw fedora on his grizzled head blowing a harmonica while pumping on a church organ & singing the old spiritual "The Water is Wide" with new lyrics, after urging us to "READ THE LABEL" on food before buying crap from factory farms. His wife Peggy & a pair of backup singers lend a choir air.

Imagine 43-year-old Jeff Tweedy (in the apparent uniform of the day flannel shirt) strumming an acoustic guitar while performing his passionate Wilco song "I'll Fight" solo, before treating us to "You Are Not Alone," which he wrote & produced for Mavis Staples. Another true believer in the cause: healthy sustainable agriculture. But he dedicated "I'm the Man Who Loves You" to his wife Sue.

It was a friendly family affair in Milwaukee on October 2nd, 2010. I'm glad I attended.