WHAT I’M THINKING: A BLOG...

2 New Flam! tracks on my Myspace page!

Fri, 7 Dec 2007 16:34:22 -0800

Hey Flam! Fans (both of you)

I just put up not one but TWO new Flam! tracks over at my myspace page. The first one is called "A Stringy Thing" because it has a string quartet (sample) as its basis. Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone so I added a smokin' drum loop and other flourishes. It's actually the most chipper (a word usually associated with seniors who are unusually upbeat) piece I've done in a long time. My wife Liza can't resist dancing to it so I feel I've done my job. The other piece, "Isn't It A Lovely Day, Mr. Bukowski?", features another "found" (see stolen) audio sample from the late, great Charles Bukowski. In an earlier Flam! track I had comedically (I think) juxtaposed samples of Bukowski and CBS's Andy Rooney to underscore their polar opposite approaches to curmudgeonery (if that's a word, well it is now.) I always regretted that I robbed Charles (and after two samplings of his work, I feel like I'm on a first name basis with him) of his stark, sweaty, beer-soaked beauty...so this time I went all the way and didn't add any editorial jokes (other than the ones he put in himself). It's pretty much a straight read (by the author) of "The Last Days of The Suicide Kid" including that introduction. The one change I added was to have him repeat each declaration of "Isn't it a lovely day, Mr. Bukowski? Oh yeah yeah" twice each time, Charles had come back to this rejoinder within the text but I "made" him say it twice each time to give it a traditional "chorus" feel. Additionally, I added "Oh yeah, yeah"s from other parts of the piece to layer it as though there were three Bukowski's (the pips) doing backing vocals (or a Greek chorus, take your pick). Anyway, I was thrilled and moved by the final piece which reaches a symphonic crescendo before it's melancholy coda of long piano sustain and echoed slide guitar, with accompanying ambient noise. Please to be enjoying...they’re only up for a short while.

JUST ANNOUNCED! MYERS BERKELEY EVENT at BLACK OAK BOOKS, JAN. 24th 2008

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:49:56 -0800

I’m really excited to announce that we will be giving my new book, IT AIN’T EASY: LONG JOHN BALDRY and the BIRTH of the BRITISH BLUES, an East Bay debut at my local, Black Oak Books, on Thursday January 24th at 7pm. Black Oak (a great store to get lost in by the way) is located at 1491 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94709 (510) 486-0698. We’re planning to show a bit of Nick Orchard’s awesome Baldry documentary In The Shadow Of The Blues and then I’ll take questions and sign copies of my book.
Come out, and if you are planning to be in the ‘hood, the politically incorrectly named “gourmet ghetto”, you might want to arrive early and go over to Cheeseboard Pizza or (the original) Peet’s Coffee and Tea (but note, you can’t bring it into Black Oak Books, so leave time to enjoy it outside).

Love is the middle word in Clover: Elvis Costello’s “Aim” is truer than ever...

Fri, 9 Nov 2007 10:44:24 -0800

Last night, I witnessed an historic event, the reunion of Elvis Costello (my songwriting hero) with the Marin county band Clover, who played on his first album, My Aim Is True . On stage Thursday at the Great American Music Hall, they played every song, in order,with the same licks, tempos and even the same vocal melodies (a rare thing if you've seen EC as much as I have). The event was a benefit for Richard DeLone the afflicted son of keyboard whiz Austin DeLone. Mr. DeLone and his guitar whiz pal Bill Kirchen (from Commander Cody’s band), opened the show as a dynamic duo and later joined EC and Clover at various times throughout the set. Drummer Mickey Shine was absent but we were thrilled that his “fill-in” for the night was Attractions drummer Pete Thomas. Otherwise the band featured Clover’s original members: bassist John Ciambotti, keyboardist Sean Hopper and guitarist John McFee (whom Elvis fans will recall also appeared on Almost Blue).
A charming host, Elvis vowed that for the evening he wouldn't play any song after 1977, so after performing the entire album in sequence (he even simulated turning over the vinyl platter to herald “side two”) the band did a few encores and even played songs that EC had demoed for This Year's Model. He did some solo acoustic songs he said he hasn't played ever on a stage, explaining how he wrote them in different styles (such as that of John Prine) before he had found his own voice He peppered (padded) the evening with detailed anecdotes from his days working in the computer room of a cosmetics company in Hounslow and other stories. For instance, he recalled that on one tour, bass player Bruce Thomas had sliced his hand open and the late Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy was brought in for a few shows. This year’s model of the Costello show finds him in his best ever voice, with greater power in the upper "operatic" range, but losing none of the snarl and bite of his younger, more pill-fuelled days. When he picked up his signature model Fender Jazzmaster (the one with his name written across the rosewood fretboard in pearl-inlays) he told us the story of how Fender finally put out a replica model - 30 years after he put the guitar on the map in rock (I haven’t been able to confirm if he meant a model with “Elvis Costello” in pearl inlay was available). He also shared a story about how Nick Lowe had gotten Clover to play on that first album, and admitted that the band had found themselves in England illegally and snuck around the UK as The Shamrocks. McFee copped all his signature guitar licks from thirty years ago and even played a hot pedal steel on “Waiting For the End of the World” and “Stranger In The House” -- one of the encores. (No it wasn’t on My Aim, but who cares!?) At one point he and the band wished Bonnie Raitt, who was there at side of stage, a happy birthday and closed the third encore with a full cast finale of Nick Lowe’s "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" that had me up on my feet thrusting a peace sign high over my head. It was a magnificent night of music and after the show I got to tell him so. As he stood there in his buckskin fringe jacket and porkpie hat, I pointed out to him that "love" was the middle word in "Clover" to which EC replied, "Oh damn, I wish I'd thought of that before the show, I would have said it onstage!" To have beaten the brilliant Mr. Costello to a play on words, who could ask for more?

Nov. 4th, Myers speaks with Ben Fong-Torres on San Francisco’s KFRC Classic Hits 106.9!

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 10:22:43 -0700

San Francisco music fans take note:
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4th, at 8 a.m. and again at 8 p.m.,
I will be a guest on BACKSTAGE, a new KFRC (106.9) radio show hosted by Rolling Stone magazine legend Ben Fong-Torres (pictured left). We’ll discuss my new book It Ain’t Easy and how Long John Baldry set the scene for the UK blues explosion of the 1960’s and discovered the likes of Rod Stewart, Elton John and others. The segment will run second on the Sunday November 4 edition of the show so tune in at 8 a.m. and/or 8 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO BOOK LAUNCH NOVEMBER 9, 2007, 7 pm

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:29:54 -0700

Paul Myers will be at THE BOOKSMITH, 1644 Haight Street in San Francisco, California, on Friday November 9th at 7 pm. He will be discussing Long John Baldry and the British Blues scene immediately following a brief screening of scenes from Nick Orchard’s documentary: Long John Baldry: In The Shadow of The Blues (U.S. premiere)

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