Updates and Things (Pt. II)

From the ROCKdesk on October 29:
Country superstar Porter Wagoner, who not only introduced his genre to television on a weekly basis but also a lively young blonde warbler named Dolly Parton to national audiences, passed away on Sunday in a Nashville hospice for the terminally ill.  Wagoner, 80, suffered from lung cancer.
In a stadium in [...]

Introducing: GUMPHONICS!!

A couple of days ago, while trying to knock the bejabbers outta this flug I’ve had (“flug” (n.) composite word comprised of “flu” and “bug”. Spoken by lazy writers), I took in the superb Tom Hanks classic, Forrest Gump. This story, about a young man’s escapades through life, has … awwww, you’ve seen [...]

SPECIAL REPORT

This is a special update from the RockDesk.
Sadly, all things must pass …
The Relic has just learned of the death of Cyrkle vocalist/bassist Tom Dawes this past week of complications from heart surgery. He was 64. Dawes was the head of a group discovered by Beatles manager Brian Epstein and named by John [...]

Line-Up Announced for Zep Reunion

Well, the revised lineup for the Led Zeppelin Reunion, slated for November 26th in London, has been announced. Contrary to buzz, Rolling Stone leadman Mick Jagger won’t be appearing onstage with the group. He says he’ll definitely be there if he’s in town, but (and this is a bit snide!) “They haven’t done [...]

Rockin’ With The Choos

(snif!) This time, the (ahhhh — ahhhhh CHOOO!) Relic’s writin’ with a case of the flu … so please excuse the messiness on the monitor …Actually, it seems that more people are gettin’ down with the bug today than at any other time in recent history. And, to quote Mike Nesmith, it’s a “stone [...]

Singin’ In The Kitchen

Years ago, the legendary country star, Bobby Bare, had a hit with the comfortable memory of Singin’ In The Kitchen. It reminded me of the last time my original group and I jammed.Hy-Que‘d just reunited after twenty-some years, and wanted to see how we sounded. Did we still have what it took to [...]

The Great Hula Hoop Hope

Y’know, while everybody is making a big thing about the national obesity issue, even more are wringing their hands and wondering “Gee … how CAN I lose these gosh-ugly POUNDS?!?” They try different diets, pills, doctors and exercises, often without the desired weight-loss.
So how can you exorcise the weight demon?? Man, we had [...]

We Saw It On TV

It’s amazing what a little box with a bunch of cathodes, diodes, wiring and speakers could do for us rockers back-in-the-day, isn’t it??Back in pre-Beatle America, the Superman of Variety, Ed Sullivan, used his televised program not only to intro us to the “person behind the voice” of Elvis, but also served to make youngsters [...]

Pass The Butter!

In the realm of funk/rock, there’ve been hundreds of cool instrumental trax — and each one of them would carry the depth and drive the genre deserves.
But, for the Relic, the best of the bunch has to be the ultracool Popcorn by (who else?) Hot Butter (I knew that stuff would get its revenge someday!). [...]

On Detergents, Cuff Links and Archie ..

Man, if ever there was a hyperactive cat in the rock jungle, it’d have to be the legend … Ron Dante!After taking up guitar as therapy when he broke his wrist while playing baseball as a kid, the man decided that music made him tick! So he perfected his playing, and got up with [...]