Author: DOuG pRATt

Stones cold case

Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney
Mick Jagger sitting at the feet of Paul McCartney — where he belonged. 😉

The 40-year-old case of Brian Jones’ death is being pried open.

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/08/31/uk_police_to_review_rolling_stones_guitarist_death/

I’m somebody who thinks there’s nothing more to it than, “a coroner said Jones drowned while under the influence of alcohol and drugs,” but this gives me an excuse to say something about the Rolling Stones.

At some point in 1970, in my anguished early-mid adolescence, I realized I’d stopped caring, at a visceral level, about the Rolling Stones. It happened when I developed a deep, personal relationship with The Who. Later, I came to realize my waning interest in the Stones had also coincided with the disappearance of Brian Jones from the lineup.

Much of what I respond to in the Rolling Stones are the sounds and flourishes contributed by Brian Jones. Go back to my post at this link to hear an early example of what I’m talking about.

Some critics fault the Stones’ psychedelic period as being insincere and full of “us too” efforts, but these are some of my favorite recordings, thanks to Brian Jones. The delightful “Dandelion” wasn’t released until the Summer of Love in ’67, but it had been recorded in late ’66.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/SEP/Dandelion.mp3]

A favorite Stones psychedelic single is “She’s a Rainbow,” b/w “2000 Light Years From Home.” I’ve got to believe that Jones is all through both of these tracks.

2000 Light Years From Home

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/SEP/Rainbow.mp3,http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/SEP/2000LightYears.mp3]

I’m not an expert on Rolling Stones studio recordings, but the last notable release that sounds like it bears the distinctive Brian Jones brand is “Child of the Moon.”

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/SEP/ChildMoon.mp3]

Jones was undoubtedly played out and had nothing further to contribute, but once he was gone the Stones did only one more standout — “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” — and then, for me, it was downhill from there. What they were lacking without Brian was a feeling of creativity and musical expression. Oh, I thought “Sticky Fingers” was a great record — especially with the original zipper sleeve gimmick — but it didn’t take me over like “Who’s Next” would. And I enjoy “Exile on Mainstreet,” but I’ve never played it as more than background music.

STANd and deLEEver

A long time ago, my world would have been rocked by the news that Disney is buying Marvel. Today the news interests me greatly, but I can’t think of any way that the purchase will have an effect on me personally.

The picture above of Stan Lee is noteworthy, because he’s standing next to Steve Ditko’s unpublished cover for “Amazing Fantasy” #15, the 1962 comic book that introduced Spider-Man. A similar drawing by Jack Kirby was used instead. In my opinion, Jack’s style didn’t suit the character, and I assume Stan felt the same way, because after that first cover he rarely had Jack draw Spidey. Jack included Spider-Man in his 1969 Marvelmania self-portrait, and even at the time that seemed wrong to me.

One of the most reliable hit-getters for this site is the BBC documentary, “In Search of Steve Ditko.” At this link you will find Stan talking about Ditko’s insistence that he is the co-creator of Spider-Man.

Stan is always lavish in his praise of the artists who worked for him in the Marvel Bullpen, and that’s great. Stan absolutely deserves everything he has received in money and recognition, and he has received a lot of both:

Lee sued Marvel, claiming he was owed profits from the Marvel films that had started to take Hollywood by storm. The suit was eventually settled with Lee reportedly getting a settlement of more than $10 million.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32645353/ns/business-media_biz/

But if Stan deserves the money and credit he has received, Steve Ditko deserves some of the same. With the BILLIONS of dollars now on the table, Ditko should get a million bucks and co-creator status for Spider-Man. Without the latter, it seems he won’t accept the former.

Richard Egan’s right to die

Richard Egan, co-founder of data storage technology leader EMC2, was a Republican fundraiser and a friend of Dick Cheney. Diagnosed in May with advanced lung cancer, a couple of days ago Egan killed himself with a shotgun.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/20608388/detail.html

Richard Egan, 73, was inside his Four Seasons condo on Boylston Street when he killed himself in a closet. His wife and visiting nurse were in the home at the time and heard the gunshot.

As a noted Republican, Richard Egan had a perfect opportunity to step forward and proclaim his right to die with dignity, and denounce the lies about the proposed health care legislation having a provision calling for “death panels.” He didn’t do that, but I think somebody should.

Not my week

Work has been totally clobbered this week by a major outbreak of the Conficker-A worm. It got hold of some valid Windows Domain credentials and wreaked havoc. I was at the office until nine tonight, and we’re nowhere near the end of dealing with this mess. The XP desktops were relatively easy to take care of — get rid of server service, run the removal tool, then enable Automatic Updates. The Windows 2003 servers were much tougher to clean up, because DHCP client and RPC were clobbered. I’m sure you’re fascinated by this. But I had to leave the fun tonight because I promised Bismo I’d meet him at a bar, where a couple of other guys from work were playing in a band with a buddy of theirs.

Speaking of getting clobbered, Bismo and I found ourselves as reluctant participants in a bar brawl! By the time the pile of lunkhead steroid users plowed into us, the two guys who were actually throwing punches were being held down by others, so for me it was only a matter of pushing back, which was surprisingly easy to do. But there was no avoiding becoming involved. The fight broke up, but only temporarily, when the two antagonists started going at it again, apparently at the urging of some woman who either looks older than she is, or is trying to look younger than she is. Once things heated up again, the cops were called, and before they arrived the troublemakers cleared out.

Ted Kennedy Dead

I met him only once, with a 20-minute one-on-one interview eight years after Chappaquiddick, three years before he lost the Democratic nomination to Jimmy Carter. No matter what you may have thought of him as a man, I have to stay that Ted Kennedy was very impressive in person. As a senator he knew his stuff.

P.S. Ted didn’t lose the nomination, of course, in 1980. He dropped out of the running.

See comments for why I added this post to the Beatles category.