Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

Yes, I bought the T. Rex Born To Boogie DVD and its 2-CD soundtrack on June 7th, the day they were released in the U.S. It was worth the wait. As a concert film, it definitely delivers the goods. Ringo Starr directed the "new Beatle", Marc Bolan, filming two T. Rex concerts at Wembley Stadium on March 18th, 1972. It's great fun to watch the pompous and entertaining glitter-rock guru performing at his peak. The 61-minute film also contains bizarre fantasy sequences, in which Bolan and Starr were aiming for Fellini-like surrealism. In one sequence, Ringo is dressed in a dormouse costume, and Bolan is dressed as the Mad Hatter from Alice In Wonderland . A dwarf eats the rearview mirror on their car. Yes, it's that kind of self-indulgent mess, but it's somehow fascinating to watch. In another sequence, T. Rex perform "Tutti Fruitti" and "Children Of The Revolution" with Ringo and Elton John, and Bolan's head protrudes from the top of Elton...

The Starbuck's Coffee Company's CD business is getting interesting. The company is going to produce and exclusively release Bob Dylan: Live At The Gaslight 1962 , a CD containing 10 much-bootlegged songs performed by a 21-year-old Dylan at New York's Gaslight Cafe. That Greenwich Village spot was key to the early-'60's folk revival. Here is the AP story: http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/news/wire/sns-ap-people-dylan-starbucks,0,673181.story?coll=sns-ap-entertainment-headlines Starbucks will also sell the two-CD soundtrack to No Direction Home , the upcoming Martin Scorsese PBS documentary about Dylan, although that will not be a Starbucks exclusive. Both items will be available at Starbucks on August 30th.

A very good article about John Hiatt, one of my favorite relatively-unknown artists, appears today in the Associated Press. It's recommended reading: http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/news/wire/sns-ap-music-john-hiatt,0,3360077.story?coll=sns-ap-entertainment-headlines The Hiatt quote that ends the article is a good one. Hiatt says: "It's all good now. I don't have huge hit records. But by not going away and maintaining a steady pace I've built up a great following. We sell a couple hundred thousand records a pop. We can fill up 1,000- to 3,000-seaters pretty much anywhere. I make a good living, and I do what I love doing. What's not to love?" It's good to know he is contented. Also, bear in mind that Hiatt is currently on an indie label (New West Records). If he were on a major, selling "a couple hundred thousand records a pop" would be no big deal. But on an indie? He's definitely a big fish in a small pond. Rarebird's John Hiatt...

One more Floyd-related post. The band was mentioned twice in the recent May 2005 issue of MOJO magazine. Both of these short sidenotes are now amusing to read in light of current events. The first one appeared on page 51, in a side column titled "I Hate You So Much Right Now! Five More Bands Who Rucked As They Rocked", by Tom Doyle. The third band mentioned is Pink Floyd, and Doyle says: "A born troublemaker, Roger Waters sidelined and then sacked keyboardist Rick Wright during the making of The Wall , hijacked the band for his own ends and then flounced out in 1985. Relations between Dave Gilmour and Waters have remained bitter since, with the former dismissing The Final Cut as 'cheap filler' and the latter calling The Division Bell 'awful'. Waters recently noted, 'We're both quite truculent individuals'. A reunion isn't anticipated." Until now. The other mention came on page 56, in a sidenote to a Boomtown Rats article. This was...

Speaking of Pink Floyd, an interesting article on the band's original frontman Syd Barrett appeared in the Cambridge Evening News , Barrett's hometown paper, yesterday. It seems to dispel most of the rumors I've heard about him in recent years: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/lifestyle/arts_music/news/2005/06/16/6582daf9-adfc-4d8d-878c-858700bf0b02.lpf Here is the text of the article in case the link doesn't work: Star's choice not to shine PINK Floyd may be reforming for the biggest gig of the decade but it would seem one of the band's founders could not care less. The wayward genius Syd Barrett, who lives as a recluse in Cambridge, appears indifferent that one of the greatest feuds in rock history will end for the Live 8 concert next month. The man who wrote many of the band's early songs shuns fans, rarely answers his door and has not spoken to his former bandmates - Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright, or his replacement, Dave Gilmour - for nearly t...