Macca At The Mecca

Fifty-three years after his boyhood idol Buddy Holly played the Apollo Theater in Harlem, Paul McCartney finally took the stage last night at one of the most famous music venues in the world.
In its review of the show, The New York Times reported that Macca told the audience, "It's the holy grail. I dreamed of playing here many a year."

McCartney follows in the footsteps of a pantheon of stars who have graced the venerable space that first came to prominence in the Harlem Renaissance of the pre-World War Two years: Ella Fitzgerald. Sarah Vaughan. Billie Holliday. Chuck Berry. Sam Cooke. James Brown. The Supremes. Marvin Gaye. Stevie Wonder. Aretha Franklin.

The concert on Monday night was heavy on the hits - both The Beatles and Wings - as expected. But The Cute One bowed in reverence to the occasion by pulling out Marvin Gaye's "Hitch Hike," a Motown tune that The Fabs took a swing at in their "back to basics" Let It Be sessions. With six women behind him on a platform dancing go-go style, "it was going pretty well . . . then the house speakers turned off, only the stage monitors were audible, and a screech of feedback made Mr. McCartney recoil."

Perhaps recognizing the ghosts of the Apollo's luminous past at work, the band leader rebooted and ordered his mates to take it from the top. After all, McCartney has been playing American rhythm and blues since he was 15, when he first appeared on stage singing Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally." Even at the ripe age of 68, another take was natural for the eternal Beatle boy from Liverpool who still loves the beat.

This Date In Rock History: 7 September

On this date in 1936, Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas to Lawrence and Ella Holley. He would have been 74 years old today, had he not gone a-way.

Known always as "Buddy" to his parents and two older brothers, he learned to play various string instruments at an early age from them and starting singing with a junior high school friend at clubs and talent shows.

By the time Buddy was 19, he opened for Elvis Presley and Bill Haley & His Comets when the two stopped in Lubbock for concert appearances. Merging rockabilly with Chet Atkins style guitar, Buddy's unique "hiccup" vocals earned him a trip to Nashville. There he recorded some sides with his band The Crickets (Jerry Allison - drums; Joe B. Maudlin - bass; Niki Sullivan - guitar) for legendary producer Owen Bradley. A couple of those sessions resulted in a few sides released on Decca, and went nowhere. Decca didn't pick up a option to keep him on the label.

But agent and producer Norman Petty saw the potential in Holly and his mates. They recorded material in a more up-beat fashion in Clovis, New Mexico. Out of those sessions came the smash "That'll Be The Day" and "Peggy Sue," both of which were performed by Buddy Holly & The Crickets on The Ed Sullivan Show on 1 December 1957.

Most of you know the rest of the story, including the tragic plane crash that took the 22-year old Holly's life in 1959. But it is always worth mentioning the massive influence he has had on rock and roll history.

• It wasn't just Elvis that helped bridge the divide between black rhythm and blues and white based country and swing. Buddy Holly & The Crickets eventually won over the tough audiences at Harlem's Apollo Theater, the only white group playing with pioneers Chuck Berry and Little Richard.


• Forty years after Holly's death, Bob Dylan reminisced at the 1998 Grammy Awards in an acceptance speech about seeing The Crickets as a youth: "And I just want to say that when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him...and he looked at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was — I don't know how or why — but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way."


• The Beatles didn't just name their group as a nod of respect to The Crickets. The Fab Four regularly covered Holly in their days apprenticing in England and Germany. They also recorded "Words of Love" and "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues." Paul McCartney holds the rights to the Buddy Holly song catalogue. George Harrison saw Holly as a youth and patterned his rockabilly style guitar licks after many of his recordings. John Lennon recorded "Peggy Sue" on his Rock 'n Roll covers album.


• Keith Richards openly has discussed his admiration for Buddy Holly. He has been quoted as saying he too attended a Holly performance in London, where he heard "Not Fade Away" for the first time. The Rolling Stones' bone-shaking version of that song - itself a deep bow by Holly to Bo Diddley - is the classic version in the Holly covers canon.


• Bruce Springsteen told Dave Marsh in 1978 that "I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest." The Boss has covered Holly on stage numerous times, including takes on "Not Fade Away" and "Rave On."

Jack White Plays The White House

It's already been quite a year for rock and roll at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In February, a celebration of songs of the Civil Rights Movement brought TNOP Patron Saint Bob Dylan to The White House. The last month, Sir Paul McCartney was honored in tandem with his award of the Gershwin Prize For Popular Song.

Among the luminaries at the U.S. President's residence for the Macca fete was Jack White. Last year, the White Stripes/Raconteurs/Dead Weather member revealed his fondness for The Cute One. "Paul is my favorite Beatle," the guitarist told MTV News backstage at the Outside Lands Festival. "He's been a big influence on me — especially the way that he sings."

White cited an early track as the point of inspiration for his Paul admiration. "I heard a cover song they did early on called 'Hippy Hippy Shake' (from Live At The BBC) that Paul sang, and I loved how high he sang it," White said. "My voice isn't comfortable in that higher range, but that song was a big influence on me trying to get my voice somewhere like that."

On June 2 at The White House, Jack White strapped on an acoustic guitar and treated the Leader of the Free World and the rest of the audience to The White Album track "Mother Nature's Son" - and for good measure threw in a few bars of "That Would Be Something" from McCartney's first solo album.

Paul McCartney: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song In Performance At The White House premieres on PBS at 8.00pmEDT/7.00pmCDT on Wednesday, 28 July with a repeat airing that night again at 9.30pmEDT/8.30pmCDT.

Watch the full episode. See more In Performance at The White House.

Rock 'n Film: "Howl"

The trailer for the film Howl is now available for viewing below. The movie, which stars James Franco in the role of the late beat poet Allen Ginsberg (1926 - 1997), revolves around the obscenity trial that followed the publishing of his work "Howl" in 1957. The stellar cast also includes Mary-Louise Parker, Jon Hamm, Jeff Daniels and David Straithern.

Ginsberg was a noted influence on the rock and roll generation, most famously embraced by Bob Dylan. (The two are pictured above backstage at one of the performances of The Rolling Thunder Revue back in 1975.) Over the years, Ginsberg appeared on stage with a diverse group of musicians, including Dylan, The Fugs, Phil Ochs, The Clash and Patti Smith. Shortly before his death, Ginsberg recorded “Ballad of the Skeletons” with an eclectic lineup of musicians that included neo-classical composer Philip Glass, Lenny Kaye, Marc Ribot and Paul McCartney; the accompanying video, filmed by award-winning director Gus Van Sant, was both humorous and poignant.

Howl opens in selected cities on 24 September.

There Will Be News

TNOP stays on top of the latest doings in music for your reading, viewing and listening pleasure. And we promise no one-hour specials for announcements that take all of 15 seconds to make. So without further ado, this news . . .

MIA, The-Dream, Wavves and Ariel Pink are featured in this month's "Summer Music" issue of The Fader.

Express Night Out interviews Wilco's guitar-slinger Nels Cline, who reveals that the band's contract with Nonesuch is over. Recording for the next Wilco (The Album) will commence later this month. "Jeff [Tweedy] was basically not wanting to be on a record label for a while — he didn't renew his contract with Nonesuch — so we're striking out on our own, our own label," Cline said. While Cline added that Wilco might first release a "souvenir" 7" single through their nascent label to coincide with the Wilco-curated Solid Sound Festival, a band rep told Rolling Stone, "It has not yet been determined who will release the next Wilco record, but forming their own label and releasing future albums through it is definitely a potential scenario."

Hard to believe Metro opened in Chicago way back in 1982, but the concert venue is still chugging along. Pitchfork reports that on 22 July a compilation titled Metro: The Official Bootleg Series, Vol. 1 will be for sale, with proceeds benefiting charity Rock For Kids, a non-profit that centers its efforts on providing music lessons to underprivileged children. Tracks from The Flamings Lips, The Decemberists and Alejandro Escovedo are included.

Elton John has recorded an album with the assistance of one of his chief influences, the under appreciated Leon Russell. Called The Union and produced by T-Bone Burnett, it is set for release on 19 October in the US and 25 October in the UK. Russell began his career as a session musician in Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" productions, then went on to produce Bob Dylan, Joe Cocker, George Harrison and other notables. "I remember when Leon lost his publishing," Elton told MOJO. "I was so distraught at the time. That was in the '70s. Now his music is with EMI Records and we are hoping to relaunch his catalogue when this album comes out. There's no point in doing this record and not bringing all his great work to light at the same time. It's the old story; you sign your life away when you're young so when you hit 70 you've got nothing left. Look at Nina Simone. We're trying to repair that damage." Musical heavyweights abound on the record: Marc Ribot on guitar, Jim Keltner on drums and guest appearances by Neil Young and Booker T. Jones.

Who discovered America? Ozomatli wants you to remember the Latin contribution to our melting pot. In anticipation of the band's appearance at Celebrate Brooklyn! tonight, they talk to The Village Voice.

Richard Starkey, MBE turned 70 this week. So Paul McCartney sang "Birthday" to him in New York. Before thousands of fans, naturally.

Mark Bowen, the co-founder of Wichita Recordings, talks to The Guardian about his favorite recordings for the label over the first ten years. In addition, Bowen and Dick Green provide The Quietus with a great Spotify playlist.

Dawes contributed a new Daytrotter session this week.

The Oxegen Music Festival, just southwest of Dublin, opens today and continues through the weekend. Headliners this year are Arcade Fire, Muse and Eminem, but the undercards are loaded with great acts. Celtic Ray says don't forget your wellies. And if you can't make it, the next best thing is listening to Nialler9's Oxegen mixtape.

Giving West coast baseball its due (uber-Red Sox fan Stephen King represents the Eastern seaboard above), No Depression brings us this tidbit: On Monday August 9, the San Francisco Giants will pay tribute to Jerry Garcia on the 15th anniversary of his passing. Jerry Garcia Tribute Night will see Garcia’s daughter Annabelle will throw out the first pitch while Bob Weir will perform the National Anthem. Later, during the seventh inning stretch, Mickey Hart will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest kazoo ensemble, leading more than 7,000 fans in “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.” Fans who purchase special event tickets will receive a seat in the Jerry Garcia designated section at AT&T Park along with a limited edition Jerry Garcia/Giants themed bobblehead, portraying Garcia’s National Anthem performance at Candlestick Park back on 4/12/93. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Rex Foundation.

Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey are gearing up to tour next spring. Apparently, the hook this time would be performances of the rock opera Quadrophenia, which the duo took on recently at London's Royal Albert Hall with the help of Pearl Jam and Kasabian. Daltrey tells Billboard.com “We definitely don’t want to stop. We feel it’s the role of the artist to go all the way through life ’til you can’t do it anymore.”

That's it from the news desk. Stay cool and listen with us to The Lovin' Spoonful . . .

This Date In Rock History: 18 June

On this date in 1942, James Paul McCartney was born to Jim and Mary McCartney at Walton Hospital in Liverpool, England.

And in the end, he became the most successful songwriter in the history of popular music.

Happy Birthday to Sir Macca.

The Dictionary of Soul: James Jamerson

James Jamerson, pictured above, using "the hook" on his 1962 Fender electric bass, which he famously nicknamed "The Funk Machine."


He has been called the most influential electric bass player in the history of rock and roll by his peers. The most noted comments came in a 1995 interview, when Paul McCartney recalled his training on the instrument, saying "I started listening to other bass players, mainly Motown. As time went on, James Jamerson became my hero . . . because he was so good and melodic." Motown founder Barry Gordy described him as "a genius on the bass . . . an incredible improviser in the studio and somebody I always wanted on my sessions."

James "Igor" Jamerson was the undisputed anchor of the Motown house band known as "The Funk Brothers." With the drummers Benny Benjamin and Uriel Jones, the famously unknown rhythm section played on more number one hits than the Beatles. The Sound of Young America pumped out successful 45s throughout the 1960s with nary a session credit mentioned anywhere on record sleeves or newspaper stories. It took he 1988 book by Alan Slutsky on Jamerson and the subsequent excellent documentary Standing In The Shadows of Motown to bring Jamerson and other Funk Brothers to the forefront. [The story of Jamerson's recording of the bass lines on Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On is worth a view of the movie alone.]


Jamerson died tragically at the young age of 45 in 1983. He was posthumously elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. It would have been his birthday today, so let's celebrate his genius by spinning a few of his most endearing performances:


Taken from the rarely seen documentary Save The Children, Marvin Gaye sings 'What's Goin' On" and "What's Happening Brother" in concert from 1973. About 2:30 into the clip, watch for Jamerson and observe his unique index finger bass playing style (known as "the hook").

Now isolate the bass on your stereo and marvel at the bass line Jamerson delivers on Stevie Wonder's smash "I Was Made To Love Her."




And one of the crowning achievements of the Motown catalog: The Four Tops sing "Bernadette" in 1967. Written by Holland-Dozier-Holland. Levi Stubbs on lead vocal. Jamerson scales the heights of the bass matching the driving beat of Benny Benjamin.

Carry The News

The Thin White Duke helps all the boogaloo dudes at TNOP troll the web for the latest news. . .

Sufjan Stevens gives a lengthy interview with Brandon Stosuy in Interview magazine, discussing his new work The BQE, why he doesn't perform on TV and whether there will ever be anymore "state" records.

The seventh CD from TNOP faves Spoon will be released on January 18 in Europe on Anti- and on January 19 on Merge. It's called Transference and both NPR and Stereogum have a stream of the first single, "Written in Reverse." Sounds cool to us. The new material will probably get a workout when they ring in the New Year with Jay Reatard at The Riverside in Milwaukee on December 31.

Overdosing on the decade and year end "best of" lists? (We hope not, because TNOP's are still to come.) In addition to the Spoon record, here are some of the releases we are looking forward to in 2010:
The National (TBA)
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks (March 9)
MGMT - Congratulations (Spring)
Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring (January 26)
LCD Soundsystem (March)
++++ Ten Questions for James Murphy (Drowned In Sound)
Interpol (Early 2010)
Midlake - The Courage of Others (February 1)
The Hold Steady (TBA)
Massive Attack - Heligoland (February 9)
Arcade Fire (TBA)

Jim DeRogatis profiles Matthew Santos in advance of his appearance at Lincoln Hall in Chicago this Friday.

The Times of London catches up with Brian Ferry and finds him pretty grumpy. But he still looks good and offers you a free download for putting up with him.

Paul McCartney wrote the closing song for the new Robert DeNiro movie, "Everybody's Fine." He talks about it as well as his recent CitiField shows in New York and the coming Gershwin Prize For Popular Song, which Macca will receive in the spring at the Library of Congress.

A few weeks ago we wrote about the pending release of Ben Sidran's album of Bob Dylan covers. Dylan Different is released tomorrow. Rob Thomas of The Capitol Times talks with the Madison based jazz pianist about his passing encounters with the Patron Saint of TNOP. Sidran's put his own stamp on familiar, but sometimes daunting, material.

Paste continues its list-o-mania with the 30 Best Covers of the Decade. Audio included.

And happy birthday to John Densmore, drummer with The Doors. Instead of a cake, this dynamic live performance of "Love Me Two Times" is served up for your listening pleasure.