What are you listening to?

[Number6]

The Top 100 Beatles songs as voted by listeners on SiriusXM radio, channel 18. They've been playing the list for a couple of days now with some of The Beatles channel hosts providing insights into the songs. It's interesting to hear some of what they have to say. For instance, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds would at first glance appear to reference drug use but it wasn't. According to John Lennon, his 3-years old son, Julian, brought home a picture he drew in school. The girl in the picture was of a girl in his class floating in the sky surrounded by diamonds.

I like this Top 100 list because it reminds me there were a lot of Beatles songs I had forgotten about or hadn't heard in years.

[ZoWie]

The consensus on Helter Skelter, the song that supposedly inspired Charles Manson to commit what would now be regarded as terrorism, was always that it was about what the come-down from shooting speed feels like. Manson, something of a druggie himself, went even farther off into never-never land when he thought it was a secret instruction to start a race war in the US.

However, a helter-skelter in britspeak has always been an especially large type of kids' playground slide.

"When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the ride......"
"... I'm comin' down fast..."

My own thought on the subject is that the 60s tendency toward opaque song lyrics reinforced the general suspicion and distrust of authority that characterized that era.

[Number6]

The consensus on Helter Skelter, the song that supposedly inspired Charles Manson to commit what would now be regarded as terrorism, was always that it was about what the come-down from shooting speed feels like. Manson, something of a druggie himself, went even farther off into never-never land when he thought it was a secret instruction to start a race war in the US.

However, a helter-skelter in britspeak has always been an especially large type of kids' playground slide.

"When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the ride......"
"... I'm comin' down fast..."

My own thought on the subject is that the 60s tendency toward opaque song lyrics reinforced the general suspicion and distrust of authority that characterized that era.

IIRC, one of the hosts of The Beatles Top 100 said Paul McCartney wrote the song after Roger Daltrey remarked he had written the loudest rock song ever so Helter Skelter would be louder.

[ZoWie]

That sounds more likely than all the deep sociological theories that have been projected onto 60s-70s rock.

[Number6]

That sounds more likely than all the deep sociological theories that have been projected onto 60s-70s rock.

Another song that people get wrong about is Crystal Blue Persuasion by Tommy James and the Shondells. The title and the song are not a reference to drugs but at the Tommy James was becoming a Christian and the lyrics reference the Book of Revelations.

[ZoWie]

Practically every rock song from that period was carefully analyzed for supposed drug references. Now some songs actually had these. "She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie -- cocaine!" The rest, well probably not.

[Number6]

Practically every rock song from that period was carefully analyzed for supposed drug references. Now some songs actually had these. "She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie -- cocaine!" The rest, well probably not.

I'd say songs with drug themes would be more of the Psychedelic Era. Songs like White Rabbit and Incense and Peppermint.

[ZoWie]

Helter Skelter was in the transitional period, when the flowers had wilted but every town had psychedelic dungeons on every street (Frank Zappa's line). There were still plenty of people, some of them law enforcement authorities, who carefully analyzed every lyric they could puzzle out through all the fuzz boxes, distortion, and overdubbed rhythm tracks.

Hell, Manson as much as said that he thought it was a personal message to him to start a race war.

[Motor City]

Thinkin of LA and Palestine and New Orleans and North Carolina and Israel and Vegas and ....and...and.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MwDGxuO73Y

City of the Angels


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzOW1ZS680A

Red Hot Chili Peppers- City of Angels


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiWUIv4ePe4

Journey - City of the Angels


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcADqxnQA_4

Randy Newman - I Love L.A.

[ZoWie]

LA is what you make it. It's a very spread out, amorphous place, and you can find whatever it is that gets you through the night.

The fires were caused by bullshit. First they built a housing development deep in the hills, with only one two-lane road out. That became a popular trail head for hikers. There were always the legions of yuppies who hiked the trails and thought they were connecting with nature. The trails also led to many party spots where the kids who lived in Paradise could smoke weed and party. In a fire zone. And of course the homeless encampments, they have to stay warm after all............

You had to be there, I guess, but every time I drove up there all I thought was that we silly humans were telling nature to frack off, and nature was going to win in the end. I'd seen those hills burn many times by then, but always the worst case never came to be...... until this time.

Not all of that development burned down, and anyway it's a tragedy no matter whose homes burn, but still... the real tragedy here was that human hubris had finally blinded us to nature's ways, and nature won. First the people in that development were ordered to evacuate but with that silly two lane road all that happened was that hundreds of automobiles hit it all at once and all became immobile. People abandoned the cars and ran, and a lot of them were locked for whatever reason and the FD couldn't push them, so they couldn't get fire fighters up there fast enough. Finally they brought in a huge D9 Caterpillar usually used to cut fire lines in the brush, and used the dozer to shove the cars out of the way.

Too late. The next 24 hours were something of a clusterfuck, and with an 80 MPH wind behind it the rest of the Palisades was doomed. The fire went through the whole thing. It got it all. Clear from Castlemarre to Rustic Canyon. 10,000 structures destroyed or damaged. And the fire in Altadena was just as bad. 10,000 more, and half of those people weren't anywhere as financially well off to rebuild.

I feel very sorry for all these people. I did feel sorry for Pacific Palisades, even though our generation that grew up there could not afford to stay there. It was a good place to take people for a quick oooooo ahhhhhhh, since I knew all the back roads and just where the oh my god views were. There's a map now where you can see every address in the whole place and which structures made it and which didn't. About 95% didn't. Ironically a lot of the ones that did survive were in that same wretched development where the damn thing started and they couldn't fight it because of the wind, the 2-lane road, and the reservoir which just happened to be empty - dry - no water in the hydrants and no place for helicopters to fill up, and too windy for them to even try anyway.

Anyone who knew LA was doing a huge ohmygod thing because everyone knew that a fire starting where this one did was the doomsday scenario for the whole Palisades. It played out like a Shakespearean tragedy.

There was a brief period after the same catastrophe happened in Altadena, clear over on a whole different mountain range, when it strongly appeared that we were finally going to lose much of Los Angeles. The evacuation zones kept getting closer. We had a pile of go bags ready to load into the car. You understand that we are miles from the Palisades, but for a time there really was a chance of losing Santa Monica, West LA, Malibu, and probably the real fat cat zone along Wilshire and Sunset all the way to Hollywood.

It happened the same week they inaugurated Donald Trump. Two disasters at the same time. He came out here and gave a dumb speech, and now he's bragging that he saved LA by sending in the military to turn on the water. He did no such thing. The governor activated a few hundred National Guard to relieve LAPD from the hundreds of roadblocks around the evacuated area which was the size of Rhode Island. They never did solve the water problem, since the only water that wasn't already on was in an aqueduct far from the fire. The water was on in the fire zone, it just ran out a little faster because they'd had budget problems fixing the reservoir, and by then it was already too late.

All BS. You can't get away from the BS. It rules. It burns.

Not a good year, this.

[rainwater]

calif FireAid concert listening to jelly roll sing...its all gonna be alright....what a good song.

When it's all said and done
I'm not okay
But it's all gonna be alright
It's not okay
But we're all gonna be alright

[rainwater]

the fire aid concert is showing on KTLA....stevie nicks now...

[ZoWie]

...guitars are the weapons we bring,
To the fight against tyranny, war, and injustice,
Ready... aim... SING!

--Tom Lehrer

[Motor City]

yea I Feel bad for all those families, having your house burn down is traumatic experience whether your rich or poor or somewhere between and not just yours but your entire neighborhood and multiples upon multiples of them and the history and familiar places. Our house burned down when I was a kid once, we were coming home and the brand-new fire truck passed us on the way. Glad your ok Zowie at least as ok as you can be considering the circumstances.

feeling the 70s tonight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9uvpr_gm64

This Flight Tonight



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LE6ON9ROzE

KISS - Beth (Acoustic 1978 Version)

[rainwater]

i dont think Bono would cut the vid with all the girly pic in it.
who does this now...who can take say Bono's track and load it with their own pic
and put it out there?.....oh now in AI wurld i guess anyone can do anything they fkn want, eh.
i guess utube doesnt mind guess laws dont mind guess the peeple dont mind....or maybe no one asks them.

bono.... still havent found what im lookin for....or what i lost.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR__lhlVawI

[ZoWie]

YouTube is full of that crap. Any bozo with an editing program can make their own MTV. I paid $200 for mine. There are probably much better ones now and probably cheaper.

I used mine for business. I hate rock videos. They're the film making version of masturbation.

[Motor City]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzjfWSjNWGE

Keep Your Head to the Sky


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIKJS9QxbO8

Someday We'll All Be Free

[rainwater]

against the wind...still runnin...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmrkY-EZy74
[Verse 1]
Seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Janey was lovely
She was the queen of my nights
There in the darkness
With the radio playin' low, and
And the secrets that we shared
The mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
'Til there was nothing left to burn
And nothing left to prove

[Pre-Chorus]
And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me, oh-so tight
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

[Chorus]
Against the wind
We were running against the wind
We were young and strong
We were running against the wind

[Verse 2]
And the years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
I found myself further and further from my home and I
I guess I lost my way
There were oh-so many roads
I was livin' to run
And runnin' to live
Never worried about payin'
Or even how much I owed

For months at a time
Breakin' all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searchin'
Searchin' for shelter again and again

[Chorus]
Against the wind
Little somethin' against the wind
I found myself seekin' shelter against the wind

Well, those drifters days are past me now
I've got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in
What to leave out

(Against the wind)
See the young man run
(Against the wind)
Watch the young man run
(Against the wind)
Watch the young man runnin'
(Against the wind)
He'll be runnin' against the wind
(Against the wind)
Let the cowboys ride

Ride, ride, ride, ride, ride, ride, ride, ride, ride, ride

[rainwater]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09839DpTctU...
....so I called up the Captain
"Please bring me my wine"
He said, "We haven't had that spirit here
Since 1969"
And still those voices are callin'
From far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Mirrors on the ceiling
The pink champagne on ice, and she said
"We are all just prisoners here
Of our own device"

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
"Relax," said the night man
"We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave"

[ZoWie]

Best song ever written about LA.

[bradman]

I was the last hold out. It's difficult admitting to the family it can be done better. Finally had to admit this one was way better than the old fuck original......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

Ya i know.....i've always been a bit behind in the times.

I will not back down. That's a given.

[Motor City]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTQz-zCDxv8

Here Comes the Sun


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3jiFbOMr8E

Why The King of Love Is Dead (live)

[rainwater]

Best song ever written about LA.

it just takes my breath, always has. the nite at the prairie dog bar singing along with it til the end
with the guy neighbor next to me...when it was over we both felt relieved, i guess it was sumthin
sexual from the song. ..i still remember my neighbor guy and that song in that saloon of ours.
we looked at each other and did the wow that was a trip thingy.

[ZoWie]

It really is the best song ever written about LA. I think it inspired a novel called Rainy Night in LA. In the story, they talk about a coming rain storm for 400 pages while everyone sleeps with everyone else's marital partners. Then at the end, the storm comes as a bone dry santa ana wind instead and the place catches fire, forcing the protagonists to evacuate. No one except Raymond Chandler has ever described LA better.

I've been trying to write the definitive screenplay about this perfect LA scenario for many years... can't get past the cliches and into a real movie that would attract venture capital and fill theaters with butts in seats all buying the grossly overpriced popcorn. I'm sure part of the reason is that in many respects, LA is a cliche by its very existence.

[ZoWie]

Last couple of days I've been on a Yardbirds kick.

For those not born in time for real music, it was an early British Invasion band which Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page all played for at one time or another. First they caused a blues revival in the US, then they more or less invented psychedelic rock by pioneering the use of electronics to change the guitar sound. They lip-synced in the infamous busted guitar scene in Antonioni's Blow-Up, the movie that still stands as the definitive description of the 1960s alienation/unreality groove-thang. They put Howlin' Wolf and Bo Diddly into the common vocabulary of ordinary white kids. They practically invented garage rock, and they put the word "rave" into the common language. They were what Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival were reviving.

Some of their stuff is still way out there even by today's standards. One song that made the charts in that halcyon era is basically a Gregorian chant. It's still studied by ethnomusicologists today.