The Replacements: Hootenanny
The Replacements were a big influence on me in the '80s and 90's. I recently pulled out Hootenanny, the first Replacements record I ever bought. Maybe it's imprinting, but for me it's the album that best represents the spirit of the band at it's carefree, sloppy, reckless best. With hyper energy, they remain a half step short of complete chaos--Bob's screeching guitar leading the way. They pull off songs with texts consisting entirely of phrases such as: "Red light, red light, run it!" or "It's a Hootenanny!" or "Buck Hill". Or they read the personals to a musical setting as in "Lovelines". Having already mastered non songwriting, Paul is just starting to develop songwriting craft: "Color Me Impressed" and "Within Your Reach." He even has a sneaky one: "Treatment Bound", which sounds as though it was first sung in a hobo camp under a bridge somewhere in the Twin Cities.
I like the albums that came before Hootenanny: Sorry, Ma. . . and Stink, but their amateurishness is not yet fully actualized on those discs.
Let it Be, which most people consider to be their masterpiece, is a little too "slick" and "serious"(those words are used extremely loosely here) for me. Compare "Black Diamond", a serious Kiss cover on Let it Be, to "Mr. Whirly", a consciously, joyously inept Beatles medley on Hootenany. And I never did understand why Paul was so upset about that answering machine (from a time when answering machines were still new.) Wouldn't he prefer leaving a message to nothing at all?
The raucous festivities begin to decline after Let it Be. The demands of the music biz, over production, competence (of a sort), and a melancholic, bitter hangover from the alcoholism that was once fêted all took their toll. That doesn't mean that the later albums aren't worthwhile. There is lots of good music to be had. Is "Here Comes a Regular" from Tim the saddest song ever? All Shook Down is a special favorite. Paul's songwriting skills are in their full glory by this time.
But it's not the glorious celebration of irresponsibility that is Hootenanny.
8 April
I had plans for today, but then I got an idea for a song. It's a pattern for me. Ideas often come at awkward times. When I was teaching, they'd often pop into my head during the last minute rush to get out the door: showering, shaving, brushing my teeth. Kind of inconvenient, but it's a good problem.
7 April
Yesterday was Second Easter here in The Netherlands--Yes, we get two! I had fun creating this: Blue Bunny. Amazing what you can do with a few musical instruments, a looper, a Twin Reverb, a phone, and a heart full of soul. :-D
31 March
Your soul wants to sing: It's a book title and the truth!
29 March
A man shook my hand, kissed it and cried after Ed and I performed today. Wow! Thank you!
28 March
We saw a local band, De Grenswachters (Umpires/Referees), today at the Codrico factory, which was one of the locations for the Art Rotterdam festival. They were playing Dutch-language songs that were played on pirate stations in the Dutch countryside. Big takeaway: the beauty of simplicity. There's a lot to be said for a couple of voices, a bass drum, simple bass lines, cowboy chords, and a few blows and draws on a harmonica!
27 March
I listened to "Paradise" by John Prine today. I was familiar with the song but hadn't realized that was his. I thought it was a folk song,. That's the beauty of the song: it doesn't sound like it was written; it sounds like it happened. Click on the image to hear the song.
26 March
Music as a metaphor for life: it's a lot more fun when you loosen up and jam a bit.
25 March: Songs as Journaling
I started these micro blogs as a way to get back to journaling, something I stopped doing years ago. As I recently listened to a cassette of decades-old songs, I realized that, in a way, my songs have served as a form of journaling. Like with any journal, looking back can be enjoyable. It can be embarrassing. Many times the thoughts or feelings expressed no longer apply. It's fun, though, to think back on the situations that inspired a certain song: the person, the conversation , or the event. Where was I when I wrote it: at home, on vacation, at lunch at work, in my studio? Sometimes I can remember myself coming up with the riff, or the specific moment that a phrase became musical, or I remember myself singing and working out lyrics as I walked along a path or city street. Sometimes my memories are more general: where I was living or my general state of mind at the time I wrote the song. Sometimes I don't remember anything about the song--even that I wrote it. I have to try to piece together the origin based on other songs written around the same time. That happened the other day. I usually forget songs for good reason. This time, though, I wondered why this one had vanished from my memory. You might be hearing more from "Monday Morning", written in Annandale, VA sometime in the early 1990s.
Kargyraa Throat Singing
I heard a Tuvan (Kargyraa) throat singer years ago at the Richmond Folk Festival. I was fascinated with the strange (to my Western ears) multitonal sound. (Yes, Tuvan throat singers can sing more than one note at once.) Without any clue on how to go about it, I spent the next couple of weeks walking around the house trying to duplicate the grumbling, buzzing, droning sound. My wife was relieved when I lost interest.
Flash forward about 20 years. I'm always looking for fun ways to develop my voice. A week or so ago, I remembered throat singing. And since there are multitudinous tutorials on YouTube nowadays, I'm having a blast. My friends are too--it's a great team-building activity. Also fun for the family. You might want to give it a try. This video will get you well under way to learning a new hobby or party trick in just one minute: https://youtu.be/Vz5Lrwngzwc
20 March
Some people talk about music and songwriting as a business. I prefer to see them as a joy.
Making Music
I saw the new Elvis interview/concert film, Epic, yesterday. Several takeaways:
1) That Elvis, he sure could sing! I guess I hadn't heard his voice over such a good sound system before. Wow!
2) Elvis loved to perform and valued his audience.
3) Most importantly: He and his band were MAKING music onstage, not just performing. And it was a joyous process! I was really struck by how the band and background singers constantly looked at him with smiles on their faces, paying attention to his every move and adjusting as inspiration struck him or them. Elvis even talks about this in the film. It keeps the repeated performing from getting boring.
So why am I struck by this? Because I think that's what performing is all about. And I think that it's a nuance that is lost on many budding musicians and seasoned performers alike. Anybody who has had piano lessons knows how difficult and frustrating it feels as you work to perfectly reproduce the notes on the page. You feel defeated when you can't play the song "perfectly." Traditional piano teachers reinforce this depressing feeling. Many a budding pianist has quit over this. I've known several wonderful pianists who more or less stopped playing. I attribute this to the painful memories they had of studying under a strict, old-school teacher.
But there's more: modern popular music performers are often just lip syncing (sinking?) to pre-recorded tracks. Also a band often plays their instruments, but are backed up with pre-recorded music. I know of one band that had to cancel a show because they'd lost their laptop! I guess audiences have no problem arrangement. There doesn't seem to be any shortage of people willing to pay exorbitant prices to do watch well-known acts do this sort of thing.
But that wasn't what Elvis & co. were doing. They were interacting with each other. The whole band adjusted when Elvis did something unexpected, repeated or changed a line. He sometimes teased the background singers mid song causing them to laugh audibly. He introduced songs with the caveat that it was the first time they had ever performed it. (I can't ever remember seeing a big act do that.) And several songs clearly ended in an unexpected way. You could hear and see the band compensating and making it work. It sounded just fine.
Why am I so impressed by this approach? BECAUSE IT'S FUN! It's fun for everyone, not just the musicians. You could see in the film too that the audiences were smiling, laughing, screaming, jumping up and down, and even kissing Elvis. (Elvis kissed a lot of girls during each show!)
I know too many musicians who get hung up on this idea that performances have to be "perfect." They feel insecure. They have a hard time accepting compliments because they didn't perform a song exactly as they had practiced it.
My feelings about performing improved dramatically when I let go of the "note-perfect" expectations I'd had of myself.
To be truthful, one of my favorite performing moments is when our band screws up and then we smoothly get back on track. That's making music. On the spot.
Live performance isn't about perfect notes. It's about a perfect feeling.
16 March 2026
I met the head of the Stardumb record label yesterday. They specialize in punk and power pop. Good stuff! Check out some of their music here: https://www.youtube.com/@StardumbRecords
And, of course, you'll want to learn more about the Godzilla tote bag here https://www.stardumbrecords.com/products/stardumb-records-godzilla-totebag