I found a YouTube video I’d seen in 2007, the URL of which I saved. That was three computers and two hard-drive crashes ago. The URL vanished somewhere among my many desktop files, and I could never find the video again. Though I tried every possible search term, I came up empty. Then one day…
Improvement is not always conscious
December 23, 2013
Those of you who’ve read Ghosts and Ballyhoo may have noticed that I make only one mention of Tony Levin, on pages 42-43. This was not deliberate. My friend Steiv Dixon and Carmen were Levinites, as they called themselves. They introduced me to Tony Levin’s best work. As a result he became one of my…
Gene Simmons worried I’d do this to him
November 25, 2013
I interviewed Gene Simmons on January 28, 1996. You can read all about the confusing, stressful lead-up to the interview in my book In Cold Sweat: Interviews with Really Scary Musicians. There’s a reason the book has been in print for twelve years: It’s good. And the reason it’s good is because the interview subjects…
Scott Thunes plays my bass
October 31, 2013
A member of Talkbass.com sent me a message: Finally I got to see Scott Thunes live! Hi Tom Last night I was fortunate enough to see Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels being performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London – the full BBC concert orchestra plus a huge choir. Before the show, Scott, Gail Zappa,…
Dead son rising
October 29, 2013
I belong to a very small club. A one-man club. Actually, I belong to several: I’m the only person to be screwed by five Web designers in a row when creating one Website; I’m the only person to have had a spontaneous recovery from total hepatic failure; and I’m the only person in the world…
My sincerest wish for the U.S. Postal Service
October 26, 2013
I wrote before about the theft ring in the U.S. Postal Service. It’s based in New York. Postal workers steal valuable postcards sent from Germany and sell them to collectors. Nobody will do a thing to stop it. Not the Postal Service, not Congress, not the FBI, and not the Germans. Nobody cares. Well, it’s…
A very hard night
October 26, 2013
It was a very hard night, the worst since Mom died. I listened to people on the radio discuss their experiences with evil spirits, being possessed, having demons make them look like old women, and all manner of meretricious claptrap. The host had that super-earnest quality, like he was trying his damnedest to get across…
How things got better
October 22, 2013
I had a love-hate relationship with Howard Jones’s song “Things Can Only Get Better.” Though I wanted to believe, I just didn’t. There was no evidence that Howard was right. Loved the music, though. The bass line of this live version is one of my favorites. Carmen loved it too, the reason I never listened…
Ghosts and Ballyhoo album
October 18, 2013
The Ghosts and Ballyhoo album has been released. Drummer Steven Menasche, guitarist Ron Kukan, keyboardist Jai Young Kim, and Scott Thunes have created six tracks of improvised jazz based on the book. I know, I know: improvised jazz? You’re thinking this, right? Nope. It bears no resemblance whatsoever to that. Music like that has its…