Have a Great Weekend

Sorry for the lack of posts for this week everybody but that virus really did a number on me time and sleep-wise. I’ll get back up to snuff over the weekend and will resume as usual next week with some more cool rock and roll madness for your reading and hopefully listening pleasure. Take care and have a great weekend!
Later.

Two Cool New Records from Rhino Handmade

I don’t want to sound like some kind of corporate schill but Rhino and their limited edition Rhino Handmade imprint has come up with two very cool records that you might want to investigate. The first is Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults and it looks very cool. Featuring The Association, The Misty Wizards, Kim Fowley and The Electric Prunes, this limited edition CD features excellent sound and a deluxe 22-page booklet.

The other CD is Come to the Sunshine: Soft Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults which, as you might have guessed features the softer, poppier side of rock and roll with some equally obscure nuggets from Harpers Bazaar, The Morning Glories and The Gas Company. Another limited run that looks kind of groovy. Check ‘em out.
Later.

Most influential record of the seventies

Here it is people, the most influential record of the Seventies as determined by Q Magazine. And the winner is….. “Anarchy in the UK” by the Sex Pistols. Not a bad choice in my opinion and although you might moan and gripe about the choice of “I Feel Love” by Donna Summers and “Le Freak” by Chic, but they were both part of the explosion of Disco which, despite the fact that you and I may choose to forget that whole sorry episode of music history, did occur no matter how much those of us old enough to remember detested it. The additions of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Paranoid” and “Blitzkrieg Bop” makes this an interesting debate indeed. Here they are for your reading pleasure and don’t forget that Q is based out of the UK:

1. Anarchy in the UK by The Sex Pistols
2. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
3. I Feel Love by Donna Summer
4. Get it On by T. Rex
5. Paranoid by Black Sabbath
6. Gangsters by Special AKA
7. I’m Not in Love by 10cc
8. Autobahn by Kraftwerk
9. Le Freak by Chic
10. Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones
Later.

Little Steven is Looking for the Next Rock and Roll Sensation

Little Steven, that maestro of underground garage flavoured rock and roll is looking for the next great rock and roll band and that band could be you! He has set up a “Battle of the Bands” competition in 9 U.S. cities with the winner getting a prized slot at the 3 day Little Steven Garage Rock festival this August! Full details can be found at the Rockin’ Garage site. Go for it! The world needs more genuine rock and roll!
Later.

Live Smile in London

Well the reviews are pouring in for the first of the Smile concerts by Brian Wilson and The Wondermints and friends and the response is overwhelmingly positive. Great reviews from both fans and in The Guardian and in Yahoo News seem to confirm what everyone was hoping, that this would be well worth the wait. Not only does the Smile tour continue throughout Europe and then North America but the actual studio album will be completed and released by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks according to Pitchfork Media. Very cool news indeed. If you want the complete scoop on “Smile” check out the excellent fan site The Smile Shop. Nice to see Brian Wilson so active these days.
Later.

I’m Baaaaaack!

Well that was a fun couple of days. While battling all this digital vermin I have learned a couple of things:

1. After a clean install of Windows, before you begin installing all those wonderful patches to your OS make sure that you install your anti-virus program first I repeat first. Hitting the Internet with a freshly installed version of Windows with no patches or fixes installed and no anti-virus program is liking walking into a war zone with only your bathing suit and flip flops on. Trust me it turns ugly fast.
2. If you have to run Windows, keep your virus definitions and Windows updates up to date. If you don’t, you will regret it at some point. If you don’t want to buy an anti-virus program, there are many free alternatives a Google search away. If all this sounds like too much of a pain in the ass, buy a Mac or install Linux which, though not immune to viruses, have a lot less.
3. Swearing at your computer or mashing your hands down on the keyboard at 2:00 in the morning will not do anything but wake up and piss off your family. Go to bed and take a fresh approach the next day.
4. When getting weird error messages, copy them down and enter them in a search engine like Google or Yahoo. You would be amazed at how much information you can get this way and it will definitely help you get to the bottom of whatever ails your computer.
Although I still have countless more updates to install tonight on my machine, I will get in a couple of posts before the weekend and resume my regular posting schedule next week (knock on wood). Thanks for all your patience and thanks for reading The Rock and Roll Report as, in between virus attacks we scour the world for cool rock and roll together. Oh, and I’ve deleted the test pattern graphic I had up but you have to admit that it was pretty cool!
Later.

We are currently experiencing technical problems. Please stand by.

Sorry folks but I have run into a nasty virus on my computer preventing me from posting to The Rock and Roll Report. It should be cleared up soon but until then go dust off that old MC5 record and blast your ear drums out OK? I’ll be back with more rock and roll goodies ASAP, I promise.
UPDATE: This is going to take a bit longer than expected. Continue with both “Nuggets” box sets and by then things will hopefully be cleared up. Oh, and to the moron who released this virus, thanks.
UPDATE # 2 Yes I’m still here duking it out with the SVCHOST virus. Ironically enough there is a patch available from Microsoft but the virus is preventing me fromm downloading it. Nice huh? Last night I did a complete re-format of my hard drive and re-installed Windows 2000. Tonight I will load up a new anti-virus program and then hopefully download all the patches to update my system. Doesn’t actually put one in the mood to talk about rock and roll but I have a whole bunch of stuff piling up to write about such as the first Smile concert in London by Brian Wilson and The Wondermints, some cool new releases from Rhino Handmade, two very cool Mod festivals in London and Chicago and the usual host of great bands, record labels, websites and radio stations to talk about. I even picked up the latest Mojo, Magnet and Q> History of Rock and Roll Special Edition (part 1) but I haven’t even taken them out of their bags but fear not! I’ll be back as soon as my home PC is back up to snuff. Can’t write from my current location so keep checking in and thanks for reading The Rock and Roll Report!
Later.

What is an independent record store owner to do?

You would think that owning a record store is a cool job, and it is but as “Spinning off the Web” points out, the outlook is quite dire for all those great independent record stores out there who are being “iTuned” to death. But as the article points out, there is hope. Buy your CDs and records from some of these stores. Please.
Later.

Don’t touch it. Don’t even look at it.

Of course that was the legendary Nigel Tufnel admonishing director Martin DiBergi to not even think about getting near his priceless Gibson Les Paul in the rockumentary “The is Spinal Tap” but has technology passed the guitar by? Two interesting articles I recently came across show that there are some pretty cool things being cooked up for the mighty six string. The first is an article called The Guitar’s Technological Crossroads and is about Gibson’s attempt at a radical new interface that would allow you to digitally plug in your guitar to up to six different amps and a whole host of new effects. The second is a post from Slashdot discussing the Transperformance Performer automatic guitar tuning system. All very cool stuff but my only question is this: Will all these new items work on my ultra-cool, vintage air guitar?
Later.

Deconstructing the music industry beast. Don Henley on what’s wrong with the music industry.

Don Henley recently penned an opinion piece called Killing the Music in the Washington Post (registration required) that is making the rounds and you should read it because he intelligently puts the argument forward that corporate control of the music biz is killing the “industry.” Very well said keeping in mind that he is a multi-millionaire rock star who some may consider to be part of the reason why things are the way they now are but read it and decide for yourself. Oh, and if you are too young to know who Don Henley is, The Ataris covered one of his tunes.
UPDATE: This article has certainly generated a lot of debate and these two letters to the editor make some good points.
Later.

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