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Friday, July 25, 2003
UPDATED—The Mel-odrama Continues: Zero responses to my last personal-ad tag line, so I've rushed in with a substitute: "In Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin—with subtitles!"
UPDATE, 7/26/03: Got a response right away, and, as with most of the others, it's from a secular Jew wanting to know why I converted. (Apparently, none of the Christian-born agnostics or atheists care.) As mentioned before, I don't feel obligated to give a reason for my faith if the respondent's only real interest is in trying to pick me up, so I used the handy "block" button to prevent his contacting me again. Here's what he wrote:
I find you beautiful. Your face. Your mind. You know so much about the music of my generation. So should I join the religion that is resposnsible for so much murder, persecution, and is led by pedifiles and insipid evangelists? Please tell what makes a beautiful woman betray her people and culture?
I thought of telling him that I just love being in a religion led by pedifiles, because they do my toenails for free...
11:03 PM
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Thursday, July 24, 2003
If you have yet to read Part 1 of my "Turntable Hits" series, a record review of the Smile, please read that first.
Turntable Hits of 2003:Part 2 in a Series
MARK BACINO
The Million Dollar Milkshake
Parasol
On paper, this one looks like pure pop heaven. Mark Bacino sings in a lighthearted, perfectly pitched tenor and writes painstakingly concise three-minute pop songs, buoyed by soaring harmonies, jangly guitars, organ flourishes, and the occasional flugelhorn (watch out, Terry Kirkman). His primary influence is the '65 Beatles, followed by the Beach Boys, the Byrds and the Monkees, with hints of the Turtles and Seventies power-pop acts like the Raspberries, the Rubinoos, and Pezband.
So why doesn't it click?
On this, Bacino's second album, my problem is, as always, his voice. Technically, he's an excellent, albeit non-soulful, singer; the "rock and roll equation" would be Eric Carmen minus Steve Marriott. What he lacks is feel. He sounds like a fine session singer, not a songwriter expressing himself from the heart. And, as any pure-pop fan knows, Ron Dante and Tony Burrows were amazing singles acts, but they couldn't carry an album.
That's why I can't even judge Bacino's songs by themselves. Sung by someone else, they might prove to have hidden depths. Sung by their writer, they sound like, "Here's one the kids will like—it's got a good beat, and you can dance to it."
For more information on Mark Bacino, to purchase The Million Dollar Milkshake, or to see Bacino's very well done, Slim Whitman-parodying commercial, visit popjob.com.
11:33 PM
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Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Turntable Hits of 2003:Part 1 in a Series
THE SMILE
Brighton Pier
Cribsong
 When a CD by an unknown group arrives in the mail with a note explaining that the group's singer and songwriter was one of Peter Noone's most recent Hermits, you've got to pay attention. As it happens, Smile mainman Ron Vail's melodious voice clearly bears the marks of his tenure with Herman, plus he's got the best faux British accent this side of the Anderson Council.
Musically, there are some albums that break radical new ground, and then...there are the albums I like. This is an absolutely delightful album.
The production is toned down, atmospheric at times, with lots of acoustic guitars and simple vocal harmonies, but with the steady folk-rock drums keeping things vital. And this is bouncy stuff, all right; many of the tunes have a Northern Soul-influenced feel that brings to mind the janglier work of the best early-Eighties post-Mod revival bands like Squire and the Jetset.
If you think that Village Green Preservation Society is the best Kinks album—and I do—then you'll have an idea of the sensibilities at work here. One can hear in the ear-candy-laden arrangements a remarkable sensitivity, yet it doesn't sound overly precious. And if the music overall is not as hard-hitting as one might like, it's a relief to hear a band erring on the side of delicacy.
For more information on the Smile, including song samples, visit their homepage, thesmile.net.
11:45 PM
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A Cry for ELP: My friend Peter Horvath of the wonderful Anderson Council (a favorite of Little Steven's Underground Garage) writes with an alternate to my Nice headline: "'Bomb blast rocks Nice—Emerson escapes with life—O'List sought for questioning...' OK, it's too wordy for a headline, but the spirit is there."
1:10 PM
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This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. —Psalm 118:24
Just Cause: Had a good headline in Monday's paper, about a lawyer/philanthropist: "Lawyer's heart is too big for his suits".
I also wrote a three-deck (that is, three-level) headline in the same edition, of which I was inordinately proud: "Bomb blast rocks Nice, hurts 16". It took some effort to capture the essence of that story without writing, "Nice bomb huirts 16".
9:59 AM
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Word Up: Came home from Tuesday Night Trivia and was moved to update my personal's headline. Since the last one—"Likes male authors: Moses, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John..."—got no serious responses, I decided it's finally time for some real-world, singles-bar attitude. My new headline: "So, what's your Logos? Read the Good Book lately?"
12:01 AM
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Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Random Thoughts From Mom: I woke up this morning to find in my e-mail box that my mother had initiated a "Random Thoughts Diary." She sent me two entries, inviting me to select one or more to print as I saw fit, so I'm using my favorite of the two. It's her response to those annoying people who say, "You've made your bed...":
Why lying in the bed that you made can be difficult:
Maybe you made it too lumpy.
Maybe you made it too fast.
Maybe you don't have coverings..
Maybe you don't have pillows.
Maybe your laundry is dirty.
3:30 PM
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Monday, July 21, 2003
Now I Can Walk Without That Painful Bunyan: Finally finished John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Part Two, which is to Part One what the New Monkees were to the Monkees. Now I can return it to the library and start on something else. The only reason I plodded through it at all was because I'm a completist, and I couldn't believe that the author of something as inspired as the first Pilgrim's Progress could possibly write something so turgid. (It did have one redeeming passage, which I've duly noted.)
The Dawn Payroll: Last night I wrote to a fellow blogger whose page had come up on Google while I searched for Nilsson-related info. It was a nice e-mail complimenting his blog and suggesting he read my Al Kooper posts, as I thought any Nilsson fan would probably appreciate Al Kooper too.
The guy wrote back saying that he never heard from his readers, and that he was happy to hear from me until he read one of my Kooper posts, in which I said I'd done publicity for the 2001 World Trade Center oldies concert series. Ah, so that's it, he thought—I must be a rock publicist using my blog to draw attention to my clients! That's why I cared enough about his Weblog to want him to read the relevant posts on mine.
I swear I'm not making this up. The poor man.
I was actually quite angry when I first read the accusation, but it just seems silly now. Moreover, since I so rarely hear from any Dawn Patrol readers beyond my circle of friends—and I believe that circle makes up less than half of the blog's readership—I can relate to the man's disbelief that anyone would write to him without an ulterior motive.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to figure out how to get John Carter, the Mets, Paul Petersen, and, of course, Mom to pay me retroactively for all this free publicity I've been giving them...
2:07 PM
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Sunday, July 20, 2003
Today's Reason Not to Be Cynical: Finally got a thoughtful response to my online personal. Further correspondence revealed the respondee wasn't a real "match"—he's not big on faith, and I don't think he shares any of my other interests either—but it was nice of him to spend a dollar just to give me encouragement:kudos to you...
for being yourself in the post-ironic land of hipsters, wannabes, and conformists who think they're trailblazers.
3:33 AM
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