Captain Beefheart, a.k.a. Don Van Vliet, dies at 69 [link]

Shit.

Oh, Captain, my captain, you were the outer edge of my record collection for a long time. There stood Trout Mask Replica and I would listen to it periodically, and even enjoy certain songs. But I knew I wouldn't go beyond that marker. I needed a little less chaos in my music.

But then when I was writing the Tom Waits book I had to go back and study you further and there were so many other parts to your music. Of course, all your early stuff is amazing garage rock with your inimitable bellow, truly one of the great rock voices. But Spotlight Kid and Lick My Decals had a lot more going on. Some grooves I could hang onto. More of your fantastic lyrics.

I think I'll go listen to "Grow Fins" now.

I'm especially fond of his last couple of albums. And so few artists can bring themselves to go out on a high note without the temptation to revisit their legacy.

It topped a 2007 survey of most-hated Christmas songs ... It's time we give the Singing Dogs their due.

That's a great take!

I am not a Korn fan, but my younger brother got me into a song they did with The Cure on MTV Unplugged. It's a Korn song and a Cure song played together: "Make Me Bad / In Between Days".

(Is it a mash-up if it's done by the bands themselves?)

Anyway, it's totally awesome.

I'm making a blues rock mix and I've pulled down stuff from the recent John Mayall box set and it's pretty fascinating.

The intriguing thing for me is hearing the progression of superstar guitarists go from Clapton to Peter Green (famous for the blues edition of Fleetwood Mac) and Mick Taylor (who replaced Brian Jones in the Rolling Stones).

I've got a lot of Clapton on this mix and even listening to his early Mayall stuff the thing that strikes you is his attack. His shit just jumps out at you and grabs you by the earlobes no matter what band he's in: Cream, Blind Faith, Derek & the Dominoes, Mayall. Doesn't matter. He announces his presence with authority.

Peter Green is just so incredibly fluid and musical. Really an unsung genius. Gorgeous, flowing lines.

And Mick Taylor - well, I know there's a reason why his tenure with the Stones coincides with his their greatest work. But I don't think I realized how much Stevie Ray Vaughan took from him. Though as Stevie's playing got jazzier he took a lot more from Peter Green.

Anyway, just some random observations as I futz around with this mix which also includes Rory Gallagher, Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Duane Allman et al.

It's a Paramore soap opera! [link]

Wowza. That's something. I have a couple of Paramore CDs but never followed anything that happened with the band.

The comments on that are more soap opera than the blog post itself. And I thought I was upset when Dave Gregory left XTC...