The Song Whats Stuck In Mark's Head-"Proto Pretty" by the Wondermints aka Mark get's LIED TO by the Internets!

If you are a follower or casual observer of the BrianWilson saga, you probably know of the role that LA's Wondermint's have played in his creative renaissance. The main members of the Wondermint's according to what Al Franken would call the "prestigious" Internet are Darian Sahanja (Keyboards), Nick Walusko aka Nicky Wonder (guitar) and Mike D'Amico (Percussion). At various times they have been joined by Brian Kassan on bass, David Nolte on bass and the multi-talented Probyn Gregory on whatever needs playing. They came to Brian's attention while playing in Southern California clubs where they would pull off  a showcase like replicating difficult-to-play live material like the Beach Boy's Pet Sounds. Brian famously offered up a blurb for one of their albums along the lines of "If the Wondermint's had been my backup band then I would have finished "Smile" and toured behind it" or words to that effect. Life would soon imitate art as they became the core of BW's crack backing band, helping him finish "Smile" and touring behind it.

"Proto Pretty" was a vinyl single released in the 90's way before all of the Brian Wilson focused attention.  It may be their earliest release, but I can't be sure of that. Google the name Wondermints and you get a skimpy Wikipedia entry and a lot of Brian Wilson articles but relatively little on the band itself. "Proto Pretty" jangles nicely, has hooky 70's type vocals, trademark Wondermint's harmonies, and lyrics that...well, I'm not quite sure what they mean. But they feel good. Here is a live version below with another LA Power pop recording Artist Robbie Rist who played Cousin Oliver on the Brady Bunch (and who writes about pop music ten times better than I do...I'm not kidding about this. Google him!).

This tune was available on the long out-of-print Rhino "Poptopia" collections. If there has been one downside to the Wondermint's association with Brian Wilson (and their presence on last year's phenomenal Beach Boys tour) it is that it has kept them out of the recording studio. Their releases have been favorites around Casa De Chadwick but there has been, as far as I am aware, no new Wondermints music as such since 2002's "Mind If We Make Love To You" which is probably in a used bin in a record store near you. Pick it up if you see it. Rarer still is their "Bali" covers collection which I had to pay mucho yen for as a Japanese Import.

Sadly the generally worthy Spotify has only one Wondermints tune for your listening pleasure, a 2007 track (thus contradicting an earlier sentence in this essay-damn Internet) from a tribute to Os Mutantes, a band from South America which is a story for another day! I threw that tune up on the Chadwick's Listening Room playlist for your listening pleasure!

So, horror of horror's, the tune that the Internet, specifically the You Tube neighborhood of the Internet calls "Proto-Pretty" is actually a live take of the Wondermint's doing the Roy Wood Christmas classic, "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" which is a damn fine song but out-of-season. So, once again, as in the case of the REAL LIVE GIRLS waiting to meet you NOW,  and the bogus Boner Pill come-ons, the Internet has proven to be a liar. So here are the Wondermints doing the extremely worth "Tracy Hide" which is another Wondermints favorite, also not on Spotify!

Listen to this nice little tune then enjoy the rest of your Sunday! Walking Dead is on in a little over two hours!

Fab Faux Coming to Ann Arbor Saturday April 13, 2013

Just picked up my tickets for the Fab Faux, the band led by Conan's Jimmy Vivino and Letterman's Will Lee that reproduces Beatles songs as exactly as possible. This is not a so-called "wig" band. They are not doing a  "Beatlemania" type show with phony English accents (not that I haven't seen and enjoyed those type of shows). This is something different. Here's a link to their website. The show is at Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater.

The Fab Faux

Here's a clip of a great appearance on Letterman doing "I Am The Walrus."

There will be special guest stars performing with the Fab Faux. Recording artists Jim Boggia (born in Royal Oak!) will be there, presumably guest vocalizing on a couple tunes, as he has done in the past.

Here is Jim's cool "Listening To NRBQ" track!

Erin Hill of "Erin Hill and her Psychedelic Harp" fame will also be there!

The Fab Faux will be accompanied by the Creme Tangerine Strings and the Hogshead Horns. They will be doing the entire White Album but will probably start the show with a set of random Beatle tunes. Highly recommended.

Let's make our song of the day, "Don't Pass Me By" from the White Album which is the first song Ritchie Starkey ever wrote!

Song of the Day Crowded House "Silent House"

Great tune by Neil Finn and the Dixie Chicks from "Time On Earth" the first Crowded House album after their so-called "hiatus." I have been a big fan of Neil and Tim Finn going back to the "Split Enz" days (remember "I Got You?"). Crowded House tuneful pop was always a welcome treat on the radio when they first appeared back in the mid-80's and their new stuff carries on this tradition.

Bowie Releases First Album in 11 Years

The always intriguing David Bowie has, without fanfare, released his first album in 11 years. The single "Where Are We Now" slipped out quietly around the beginning of the year, accompanied by a video in which Bowie barely appears. Now we have this release, with an album cover featuring Bowie's great 1977 "Heroes" album with a white box on the cover with the album title "The Next Day." Huh?

What does it mean? I don't know.  The first single was a bit of a somber affair, a recounting of past times and places. It appeared to be a signal that he was returning to the late 70's sound of his so-called "Berlin" trilogy.  Sonically interesting, not very rocking, as if that matters to David at this point. It didn't appear to make much of a stir.

Now we have a full album to judge and the early reviews seem very positive. Bowie has reunited with his most sympathetic produce Tony Visconti and he appears to be re-energized. Considering the fact that Bowie was rumored to have "retired" from the business for good, and variously to be on his deathbed or reclusive due to gaining a large amount of weight, the Bowie here sounds purposeful and focused.

The new "single" "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" comes out rockin" with an aggressive guitar attack and an "in your face" mix that services a nice little hook, showing that Bowie has not lost any of his ability with a pop tune! The video, which I haven't seen, purportedly stars Bowie and Tilda Swinton. Though it has been streaming on Itunes for a couple of weeks now, it hot Spotify on Tuesday. I need to give this a couple more listens before I have a fully formed opinion but this one might be a purchase on my next trip to the record shop.

Supposedly Bowie is going to be touring this year, which should be interesting. I have only seen Bowie once, back in the 70's on his "Station To Station" tour (shout out to my concert going buddy Jeff Keiffer) and it was a phenomenal show. I am looking forward to what Bowie does next!

Song of the Day "News" by the Beau Brummels

Heard any interesting news today, at least if you live in the Detroit area?

That tune is "News" by the scarcely-remembered, but well-regarded Beau Brummels. A band that started off their career with two big hits, "Laugh Laugh" and "Just A Little" and then had nicely crafter 45s and Lps stiff, one after the other. You might hear the two tunes above on oldies stations. "Deep cut" oldie stations might play "You Tell Me Why" which was a worthy followup that scraped the top 40, peaking at number 38 in August 65. Not having been beaten to death by oldies radio gives it an engaging freshness. (I couldn't find a video on youtube that I could copy into this post but you can hear it on my Spotify playlist "Chadwick's Listening Room")

But, if you ever wondered why terrestrial radio has gotten so musty and non-creative, then take a look at this story from Upworthy.com.


The real reason they still play Mrs. Robinson on the radio.

Glory Days

I've been reading a very fine book by Paul Clemens titled "Made In Detroit" which I have gotten about 2/3 of the way through. Paul's book is memoir of a white, Catholic School kid, growing up on the East Side of Detroit in a neighborhood beset by rapidly changing social economic circumstances. I am about 15 years older than Paul, a product of a one parent home and a West Sider. Aside from those distinctions, I can see a lot of myself and my friends and family in  his account. When reading such a tale I am invariably filled with nostalgia, especially when I compare my younger "Glory Days" to what my son is experiencing now. It's a great read and I highly recommend it.

My son, who has been often referred to as my "clone" by my wife and other family members, is in just about all ways an improved version of myself. Just as smart, just as funny. with a talent for music and an ease with friends both male and female that I was not to have until my mid-to-late twenties. I guess this comes with having been raised by two loving parents in an atmosphere of unconditional love and acceptance as opposed to being raised by a single mother with limited parenting skills because she came from a union of parents who  married, and fought during their marriage and after their divorce.

Which got me too thinking as I celebrated my daughter's 12th birthday today, as she stands on the brink of her teen years, with my son about to turn 15 in one month, will their glory days be their high school years like the sad friends of the protagonist of the classic Bruce Springsteen song, or like their old man, will their glory days be now, when they have a marriage to a loving, understanding wife who puts up with him, and they have kids of their own?

From the Born In the USA album released in 1984, that watershed year in pop music, maybe the last great year for top 40 radio when great singles Springsteen, Van Halen and Prince dueled at the top of the charts, here is "Glory Days!"

Song of the Day-Woody Guthrie's "Billy The Kid"

Billy The Kid aka William H. Bonney aka William Henry McCarthy aka Henry Antrim was a 19th Century American Outlaw who was said to have killed 21 men though the true number is probably somewhere under 10. His story has been told and retold so many times that the details of his life verge on legend. In fact, the lawman whose name has been linked with Billy's demise, Pat Garrett, was rumored to have faked Billy's death so that he could start over free of his criminal past.

But Billy's story has provided fertile ground for biographers, movie makers (you might recall Sam Peckingpaugh's "Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid" from the 1970's) and, way back in the 1940's there is this tune from another legendary American figure, Woody Guthrie. In 1944, Woody made some recordings for Moses Asch of Folkway Records. Released and re-released many times, it is now out on a fine collection called "The Asch Recordings." If you are familiar with Woody's influential body of work through the fine recordings of Billy Bragg and Wilco which dealt with Woody's poems that were not set to music, then you owe it to yourself to check out any of his fine recordings.

Woody is a fascinating figure. A huge influence to Bob Dylan and many other 60's folkies. A hero to the Progressing movement(Woody's guitar was emblazoned with the slogan "This Guitar Kills Fascists," father to Arlo of "Alice's Restaurant" fame.