the Rock Report

Ummm …. all right: more interruptions. But, I swear, we’ll get back to the regular program in just a few days (yeah … and the Prez will marry Condi, IIII knowwww …).

BUT, UNTIL THEN, faithful readers …

Both of you know, by now, that the RR is sorta … well, modifying the SOLID GOLD ROCK! Spaper to include hundreds or tens of baby-boomers around Cleveland … and the nation, for that matter!
Look … we gotta face it: Not everybody loves old(er, sorry, Chief …) classic rock. Yes, they can be saved … but, until then, we’ve gotta respect ‘em, ’cause they are baby-boomers as well …
So we’re redoing the Spaper to include anyone who was born.

After World War II.

But we don’t wanna make it dry and so factual to where they fall asleep (man, that even sounds sick. AARP!) It’s gotta be fun … but have the info and flashbacks that folks from the era can dig … remember … and that young’uns can get a kick out of …

Yeah … like gas was really thirty cents a gallon … that’ll bring a lotta smiles …

Anyway, after reading Brother Harvey Kurtzman’s wonderful piece of literature, MAD Magazine, I figured, “Hey … why not a seriocomic look at the era?”

Then, I remembered I’m in Kentucky. “Hey … why not a sorta-funny, sometimes-a-libbit-serious look at the era?” Thus, an idea was born …

Suggestions for the name: OUR GENERATION, FLASHBACK ’60s and my favorite, AGING HIPPIE. There were other suggestions, but this is the web, and the powers-that-be might switch me off (or transfer me over to Myspace or somethin’) if I use ‘em.

Anyway … if you’ve got any idea for a good name that’ll hook the baby-boomer readership, lemme know. You’ll get credit in the Credits each week …
And we’re also lookin’ for a mascot to go along with it (kinda like Alfred E Neuman … or was that Edwin Newman?).

Just send ‘em to me by posting a note for me here, or at the email address that’s covered up by this line.

Thanks. Now … back to your homework, you two …

See ya on the flip side.

Seems like the old PC Gremlin (I know … sounds like an ’80s compact stuck in the muddy back lot of Ed’s Used Cars) knows just when I put something new on here … and immediately throws a dozen more projects my way to keep me off the machine!

One of those is a revampment … remember the paper, Solid Gold Rock? Well, to be honest, sales kinda draaaaaaggggggeeeddd … so I queried some prospects (NONONONO!! Not THAT!! “Queried” is English for “asked.” [Geez! Where is your mind wanderin’?]). Sooooo … if everything goes according to Doyle (Hoyle’s younger brother), and there’s some wood to knock on in this concrete-and-steel conundrum … enter the big baby-boomer bonanza of Our Generation&#8482 — which’ll still be SGR!, but with a lot more added! It’ll appeal to a wider-range of over-50’s-but-less-than-dead.
It’ll be fun, no doubt … but it takes a lotta work … especially if you’re largely a one-man show!

Another update … and gettin’ back with the program … in the next post …

Man, don’tcha just love computers?? My C: sawed, the CD was DOA and the floppy flopped for a few dozen days that ended with “y’.
But, as the Chief says, “Stuff Happens, and then you fix it” (PS Buy the book …); sooooooo …
The PCs been fixed. Along with two of my cats, one dog and my supper (for you readers up North and on the West Coast: dinner).
So, let’s get back to the program:

In the musical soap-opera of Lady Heather and Sir Paul, the tension seems to have taken a bizarre twist. Seems Macca’s introduced us to his feelings about it all via a track on his Chaos & Creation In The Back Yard. It’s called On The Way to Vanity Fair and is about Ms. Mills’ alleged tell-all to the mag of the same name. But that’s not all …
He’s supposedly made an offer to the former Missus that she’ll get around 70 mil … if she keeps her mouth shut about their marriage. It’d be paid out in yearly increments (good-bye, Wal-Mart; hellooooo, Neiman-Marcus!). Will she take him up on it?
Annnnnd the British hierarchy wanted him to tear down a cabin he’d built for his own privacy … it’s supposed to be a place where he could reflect, create and get far from the madding crowd (hey … it’s the right spelling in-context! Look it up …). Instead, he offered to demolish his own house and two barns if the MPs allowed him to keep the cabin. According to them, all were “eyesores”.
Well, they’re just sore in one eye now … ’cause he won his petition!

In other news: Gotta hand it to the new kids from England called The Streets for doing what a few rock historians anticipated years ago: taking the next logical step in hip-hop progression. Y’see, just as skiffle was the grassroots blend of rockabilly and blues, their brand of rap is the same blend of Euro-rock and hip-hop … meaning it sets the stage for the next progression in the musical genre. Sure, ya got Outkast, Black-Eyed Peas, Kid Rock and others … well, kinda doin’ that, but they’ve gotta take it back a notch first to really make it click …

A coupla other notes: Been asked if the Monkees will ever get back together for another reunion tour. Word is: NO! Davy Jones will not tour with Dolenz, and Pete Tork (who was fired for refusing to go off-wagon during their last tour) is doing well enough with his group, Shoe Suede Blues.
Also, an email from Florida from a reader of my Rock Relic page, asking whatever happened to Jefferson Airplane fronter Jorma Kaukonen (actually, it was Jack Cassity, but he asked about Jorma). He’s got a new venture called The Fur Peace Ranch, nestled in the foothills of Ohio and showcasing some outtasight talent!
But more on that later. Right now, I see by the old clock on the wall that … it’s broken (WHO REMEMBERS THE NOVELTY “SONG” THAT LINE CAME FROM BESIDES ME?? LEMME KNOW!!).

Sooooo, until next week, when we throw the LPs back on the spinning time machine … keep your eyes to the skies, your feet on the ground … watch out for telephone poles … and I’ll see ya on the flip side!