brainsplotch

I have debated back-and-forth with myself trying to decide which 1984 album to go with next. I have finally decided on Husker Du's Zen Arcade. The Replacements and Husker Du were two big punk/"college rock" rock bands to emerge from Minneapolis in the '80s. I "discovered" both of them in that fateful autumn of 1986 that I have mentioned more than a few times in this blog. "Discovery" is giving myself too much credit. In both cases, it was another kid in the dorm who floated an album my way. With Husker Du, it was a cassette copy of their 1986 major label debut, Candy Apple Grey . Until about 2000, Candy Apple Grey was the only Husker Du album I owned and was completely familiar with, since up to that point I was a much bigger fan of The Replacements. For reason I can't remember now, I made the deep dive into the Husker Du discography. At the time, I worked at Borders corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor and attending graduate school ...

Just for fun, I've decided to take a look back at some favorite or notable albums that were released forty years ago. 1984 was, in retrospect, a significant year for pop/alternative/metal/rock music. I have already made a long list of my favorites, and I will at least try to explore them here in this blog. These entries might be a little freewheeling, so beware. I mean, it IS a blog, right? I reserve the right to be a little sloppy. Leading off is Echo & the Bunnymen's Ocean Rain . The album was the band's fourth album and was released on May 4 of '84. (May the Forth be with Echo and the Bunnymen--sorry, I couldn't resist).  In full disclosure, and as should be no surprise to anyone who reads this blog, I had absolutely no awareness of this album's existence in 1984. The first I ever heard of Echo & the Bunnymen was accidentally seeing their name on the marquee of Detroit's Fox Theater in about 1985(ish).  After arriving at college in autumn 1986, I ...

Happy St. Patrick's Day...or what's left of it. I'm sure by the time anyone reads this, the day will be over. It has been almost a month since I wrote anything in here, so it felt like time. Inspired by the Apple+ TV show of the same name, I'm reading Slow Horses by Mick Herron. It's not the sort of book I normally read, but so far, so good. I'm taking a short break from it right now to write this. It's that late Sunday evening wind down from the weekend, probably my least favorite times of the week. Early Monday morning between 6 and 8 AM might be the only time that's worse. I don't want the weekend to end yet, so am feeling rather restless.  I now feel compelled to return to my book. It is too late in the evening to give any account of my activities this weekend. Maybe later.

It has been nagging me for months that I never returned to my promised blog post about Berlin, so I will return to it and try to retrace it to the best of my recollection. We arrived at the Berlin hauptbahnhof from Halle in mid-morning on August 15, 2023. The Berlin train station is probably the largest one I have ever seen, and if it's not the largest, it's easily the brightest and shiniest, full of steel and glass. As is customary for us, we sought the nearest Starbuck's--conveniently located in the train station--and once sufficiently caffeinated, made our way into already sun-soaked Berlin.  We crossed the Spree to the Spreebogenpark on the other side of the river, and then walked by the mid-century modern government buildings such as the German Chancellory and the Buro des Bundeskanzlers. My first thought was, "wait...this is Berlin? Is this what it looks like? So far, it reminds me of the drab government buildings of Lansing--only a bit larger."...

In the days since I wrote my Wayne Kramer tribute, I have been steadily bothered by my own unintentional slander of the MC5's debut album Kick Out the Jams . While I still consider it my least favorite among the band's three official albums, it's still a good album and absolutely worth investigating. If it's the first MC5 album one listens to, one must place it in its historical context to appreciate it more. The band had only recently been signed to Elektra Records, and the story goes Elektra thought the "5" were too raw and inexperienced to record a studio album. (But what young band ISN'T raw and inexperienced when they enter a studio to record an album?). In any case, Elektra decided to record the band at their home stomping grounds, the Grande (pronounced GRAND-ee) Ballroom, at the corner of Grand River Avenue and Joy Road in Detroit, on October 30 and 31, 1968. Their debut would be a live album. Detroit in October '68 was still only a year remove...

WAYNE KRAMER (Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)                On my drive home from work yesterday, I saw the news that Wayne Kramer, MC5 guitarist and overall legendary Detroit rock musician, had died. It came as a shock, because the last I had heard, within the last few months, was that Wayne was set on recording a new MC5 album and doing live dates. (I won't get into the dubious nature of a new "MC5" album with only one of the then two surviving members participating, but the idea of new music from "brother Wayne" was exciting). To find out that he'd succumbed to pancreatic cancer was a total shock. I can only assume that in the usual "older Midwestern guy" tradition, he'd kept his condition a secret. I then remembered the one time I saw Wayne Kramer in a live setting, when I caught the "MC50" show at the Fillmore in Detroit, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Kick Out the Jams album. I inexplicably never mentioned it in this b...

L. and I went to see cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and pianist Emanuel Ax at Wharton Center last night. They performed three Beethoven pieces and, in an unexpected encore, a Schubert piece. I am not particularly knowledgeable about classical music, but have slowly (like at a snail's pace) grown to appreciate it more over the last 25 years or so, but certainly even more so after our kids played in orchestra in middle school and high school.  Regardless of genre, I will not pass up a chance to see live music, and particularly not when one of the performers is perhaps the most celebrated cellists...ever? Kavakos and Ax, as I have since learned, are also highly regarded musicians. (And I know any classical music experts reading this are shaking their fists in anger at my ignorance). The musicians took the stage at 7:45, fifteen minutes after the scheduled 7:30. They were all wearing Michigan State baseball caps, and Yo-Yo Ma said, "Go Green!" to th...