#bob johnston

[guessimdumb]

Jimmy Fraser - Of Hopes And Dreams And Tombstones (1965)

This storming soul track seems to have been part of a “Stay in school” public service announcement. I’m not sure it was very effective as Jimmy doesn’t sound particularly sorry.  Soundwise, the drums are absolutely massive, and that’s some very cool harmonica too.

I made my own rules...played it real cool

[odk-2]

Bob Dylan - Day of the Locusts (1970) Bob Dylan from: "New Morning" (LP)

Rock | Folk Rock | Singer/Songwriter

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Bob Dylan: Vocals / Piano Buzzy Feiten: Guitar Al Kooper: Organ Harvey Brooks: Bass Russ Kunkel: Drums Billy Mundi: Drums

Backing Vocals: Hilda Harris Albertine Robinson Maeretha Stewart

Produced by Bob Johnston

Recorded: @ Columbia Recording Studios | Studio E in New York City, New York USA on August 12, 1970

Album Released: on October 21, 1970

Columbia Records

[mitjalovse]

The 60's should be understood as more complex than they're usually seen. Therefore, I must invite Bob Dylan here as well. You will frown, but listen to what I've said before and what I shall say again – he's one of the quintessential musicians of the 60's, yet he also one of those that fought against the cliche this label gives him. Sure, he contains multitudes – he admitted that on one of his latest LPs –, so the fact his work both celebrated and criticized the ethos of the 60's makes sense. However, he has to agree his 60's gave him the acument he still has, they made him. Still, listen closely to many pieces from then, they don't fit the perception many have on him, he was already enigmatic then. For instance – who is the tune on the link really about? Dylan won't answer.

[unclefathersantateddy]

Now Jimmy Pesto has a new voice actor that isn't a terrorist I can hate-thirst for him again

[redhairclara]

Ziegfeld girl, actress, and pathologist Justine Johnstone photographed by Geisler & Andrews, c. 1920. From my collection.

[jasper-dixon]

No matter how bad you suck just know that you don't suck as bad as Jay Johnston. He fumbled a successful career as a character comedian and voice actor to go *checks notes* attend an insurrection at the Capitol on January 6. Hope it was worth it, herky jerky traitor.

David Cross and Bob Odenkirk seem to have washed their hands of this man—despite Bob consistently ranking him as one of the funniest people he knows. And that's important because you cannot participate in an insurrection without believing in the racist, bigoted ideas the idiots are peddling.

Fuck you, Jay.

[bookmaven]

LORD OF LIGHT by Roger Zelazny (New York: Doubleday, 1967) Cover by Howard Bernstein.

LORD OF LIGHT was awarded the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and nominated for a Nebula Award in the same category. Two chapters from the novel were published as novelettes in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction – "Dawn" in April 1967, and "Death and the Executioner" in June 1967.

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (New York: 1967) Cover by Grey Morrow • (New York: Avon, 1969) Cover by Ron Walotsky.

(London: Panther, 1971) Cover by Michael Johnson. • (London: Panther, 1973) Cover by Bob Haberfield

• (London: Methuen, 1986) Cover by John Harris. • (London: Gollalncz, 1999) Cover by Fred Gambino

. • (New York: HarperCollins, 2004) Cover by Steve Stones. • (China: Beijing Publishing, 2015)

[oldshowbiz]

1999.

Jay Johnston on an episode of Politically Incorrect.

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Jad Fair

Photo: Brian Birzer

Jad Fair’s music has been described as “art punk,” “primitive rock,” “naive pop,” and “experimental,” though none of those labels quite capture what it is. Never encumbered by the conventions of songwriting or technical virtuosity, or the idea that an instrument should be tuned, the guitarist/singer/visual artist always made the music that felt most natural. It’s not an experiment, he has said. It just is.

In the mid 1970s Fair started Half Japanese with his brother, David. In 1980 they released their famously audacious debut, a triple album called Half Gentlemen/Not Beasts. It was a raw explosion of teenage boy id. The brothers, both on vocals, indulged obsessions (girls, mostly) over discordant guitars and drums that bubbled and burst like boiling water.

Half Japanese has released many records since, in addition to the mountains of music that Fair has put out over the years, solo and in collaboration with Daniel Johnson, Yo La Tengo, Teenage Fanclub and many others. Over the course of 2021 he released two albums a week on Bandcamp, and then started making music with singer/songwriter/multiinstrumentalist Samuel Locke Ward. They just released their second record, Destroy All Monsters about which Dusted’s Margaret Welsh wrote that “In its warmth and sincerity, Destroy All Monsters straddles a strange line: It impersonates flimsy holiday novelty but resonates on a deeper level. Here are some of Fair’s favorite records.

It’s difficult to just choose 10 albums. There are so many albums that I love.

The Shaggs — Philosophy Of The World

I first heard Philosophy Of The World in 1979. I was given a cassette of it and immediately took to it. It was like no other album I’d heard. The music and lyrics are so sweet and sincere. I was very pleased that I was asked to do cover art for the release of The Dot Wiggin Band’s album Ready! Get! Go!. When I saw Dot’s band perform I was surprised to see that the musicians were reading music. I asked Dot about it and was told that the music for the Shaggs was written out.

The Modern Lovers — The Modern Lovers

In 1974 I read an interview of Jonathan Richman in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. I was impressed with what Jonathan had to say. When the Modern Lovers album was released I sent away for it and was floored by it. It’s a super fine album.

Spider John Koerner — Some American Folk Songs Like They Used To

Spider John Koerner is one of my favorite folk musicians. It’s a shame that very few people have heard the album. I think it’s his best.

Lord Invader — Calypso Travels

I’m a huge fan of calypso music. Lord Invader is a great calypsonian. I love the way he sings and his band is top of the top.

The Stooges — Fun House

I grew up in Michigan and when I was a teen, most of my favorite bands were from Michigan. Michigan had The MC5, The Stooges, Question Mark and the Mysterians, Destroy All Monsters and Motown. I felt I was living in the best state for music.

Daniel Johnston — Hi How Are You?

In 1984 my band Half Japanese had a tour with a stop in Austin. Daniel’s manager (Jeff Tartakov) gave me a cassette of Daniel’s album. During the tour we played it over and over in the van. I know many amazing musicians. What’s rare is a musician that is also a fine lyricist. Daniel was one of the best. He was a genius, and I was so lucky to have worked with him.

Bob Dylan — Basement Tapes

I like the relaxed feel of the songs. Bob Dylan and the Band were such a great match. Super fine songs and super playing.

Howlin Wolf — The Complete RPM and Chess Singles

In the early 1970s, I bought a lot of albums of Howling Wolf. It’s hard to beat Howling Wolf as a performer. He had power and charisma.

NRBQ — All Hopped Up

NRBQ is my favorite band. When I lived on the East Coast I would go to see them anytime they had a show in Maryland or DC. Definitely the finest live band I’ve seen.

James Brown — Live At The Apollo

It’s hard to pick just one James Brown album. He released so many great albums. Live At The Apollo has James in top form. It’s a brilliant performance. It’s star time!

[longliverockback]

Alice Cooper School’s out and Other Hits 2004 Flashback ————————————————— Tracks: 01. School’s Out 02. Under My Wheels 03. Be My Lover 04. Elected 05. No More Mr. Nice Guy 06. Only Women Bleed 07. Welcome to My Nightmare 08. I Never Cry 09. Clones (We’re All) 10. I’m Eighteen —————————————————

* Long Live Rock Archive

[coffeejoshy]

M. Ward - A Man in the Moon, or, An Attempt at Translation

Music, theatre, canvas, the ballet or the screen; these are luxuries for so many of us. ‘Privilege’ might even be more apt given the notion that art is largely seen as ‘a thing to be enjoyed but which is not essential; a frivolity’. Ethan Hawke (of all people) recently gave my favourite articulation of why the arts are so necessary: because until you experience a feeling so incredibly deep that gives you cause to wonder, to think “has anybody else ever really felt like this?”, you have no way of knowing just how essential art can be.

“That’s when art is not a luxury, it’s actually sustenance”, he puts it.

Recently I got to see M. Ward perform his 20th anniversary tribute to his indie-folk magnum opus ‘Transfiguration of Vincent’. It’s a dark album peppered with fleeting spots of bright, written in the throes of grieving after the titular Vincent O’Brien, a friend of Ward’s, passed away. We don’t learn much of anything specific about Vincent over the course of the album, and nor should we. What we do experience over the album’s course, however, is the breadth of emotions Ward experiences in relation to his friend, and the downward spiral that accompanies those feelings as he watches Vincent’s gradual slip from the mortal coil.

Describing the album is difficult for me, because I find it difficult to ‘rate’ (a silly thing music lovers occasionally do), or ‘praise’ a work of art so subsumed in the grief of its artist and the tragedy of its subject. Talking about art in this way feels insulting at times, and never more so than for works as intimate as this. These are songs to be felt, not described.

And yet here is the paradox; I feel so strongly about this album and its artist that not evangelising it feels as impossible a task as explaining the effect it has on me.

Anyway, here we are.

On stage, Ward has a curious presence. He’s more idiosyncratic than charismatic, and instead carries himself with quiet confidence, and his guitar with a crooked left elbow. He isn’t particularly talkative, but the little he did say gave the impression of an incredibly humble man, and his husky voice and greying hair gives him this air of folksy charm that’s really quite, well, charming.

In interviews this seems to be much the case as well; in one radio interview from 2009 when asked how he would describe his then new album ‘Hold Time’ he answered (hilariously) “well, it’s my new album and some people will like it, some people won’t”. Other interviews also see him coming across as reserved and painfully shy about his creative process, not because he’s afraid of giving away trade secrets, but because he’s almost dismissive of the validity of his methods and his art. He’s wilfully determined to refrain from explanations of his art’s ‘meanings’ beyond vague outlines, as was the case for 2020’s ‘Migration Stories’, in his words a “sci-fi fast-forward to a more silent night many generations from here to a maybe-era where movement is free again”.

While much of this likely amounts to wild postulation about a man’s internal feelings, if there’s one accusation that’s easy to level at Ward, it’s that he’s an old soul. He’s cited Neil Young, Daniel Johnston, Billie Holiday, Howlin’ Wolf, and John Mahey as influences (“Transfiguration” is a reference to a Mahey album with a similar title), he records everything analogue, and even completes his demos on a Tascam four-track that he’s owned since his teenage years. Sonically his music evokes shades of Nick Drake, early Dylan, Jackson C. Frank and even Bowie at times. In today’s context, even the model of a solo singer-songwriter writing intimate analogue guitar music feels like an archetype on the brink of extinction.

Above all, Ward seems captured by the task of creating music as timeless as that of his predecessors.

The point that I suppose I’ve been dancing around in all this exposition is that M. Ward’s music has affected me very deeply.

I’ve spent so much of recent years trying to consume as much music as I can, chasing new sounds and bizarre voices to fulfil some craving of curiosity that is never truly satiated for more than a short time. In all that noise, it’s a fortunate wonder I didn’t overlook Transfiguration of Vincent and other M. Ward projects for their unassuming modes. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully explain to someone the inward-puncturing existential grief that a song like “Dead Man”makes me feel, or the utter stillness that “Real Silence” gives me.

Crucially, though, I don’t think I need to try anymore. Writing this helps, for one, but it’s music like this that gives me the kind of unfathomable joys and sorrows that our friend Ethan Hawke was referring to. It’s music like M. Ward’s that reminds me why I need music, and though it may seem fairly obvious an observation (I suppose all the best ones are), it’s the reminder that some things cannot be described; they must be felt, transfigured by poets and writers into an essence distilled for the rest of us.

[writerslingo]

My mom made this joke when I told her about Jay Johnston (Jimmy Pesto) getting arrested for being a part of the Jan. 6 insurrection. And then she proceeded to make this meme in further response, lmao

[krispyweiss]

Don Was on - and in - “The Beach Boys”

- Documentary premieres May 24 on Disney +

Don Was knows both sides of the Beach Boys.

On the one hand: “Man, they made me want to go to where they had cars and girls in bikinis and sun,” Was says as “Fun, Fun, Fun” plays.

And on the other: “Brian (Wilson) put together textures that no one had ever put in popular songs before. He did it first,” Was says to the strains of “God Only Knows.”

The Was (Not Was) and Bob Weir & Wolf Bros co-founder and head of Blue Note Records is speaking in the trailer for “The Beach Boys,” a new documentary premiering May 24 on Disney + and featuring new and previously unseen interviews with band members Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks, Bruce Johnston, Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar; plus Was, Lindsey Buckingham, Janelle Monáe and Ryan Tedder.

The trailer touches on the band’s beginnings; the unauthorized sale of Brian Wilson’s publishing by the brothers’ father; the Beach Boys’ creative rivalry with the Beatles; and the ups and downs of six decades of making music apart and together.

“The fact that it was a family - that’s where the success came from,” Love, the Wilson’s’ cousin, says in a contemporary clip.

Read Sound Bites’ previous coverage here.

4/15/24

[stalkerkyoko]

old jimmy pesto voice commits treason

Jay Johnston

Johnston participated in the United States Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, and was arrested and charged on June 7, 2023.[1][2]

"BOOM charged with insurrection