NURSERY MIND

Goodbye, "Big Man" Clarence Clemons

2011-06-26T22:44:00.004+02:00

Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence: "Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band".

Bruce Springsteen Live in Concert. Carousel House, Asbury Park NJ, 7/12/2010

2010-12-17T15:32:00.006+01:00

On December the 7th, in New Jersey's Carousel House, nearby the boardwalk of Asbury Park, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed a one-time wonderful concert, playing live songs from The Promise, the new 2-cd set. Five songs from the show are online in streaming .

Songs from The Promise setlist: Racing in the Street ('78); Gotta Get That Feeling; Ain't Good Enough for You; The Promise; Blue Christmas.

Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow

2010-08-28T18:02:00.005+02:00

By Vincenzo Esposito
Homer & Langley is the new book written by the American author Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (Welcome to Hard Times, The Book of Daniel, Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, The March). It is a fictionalized account of the life of an extraordinary pair of brothers, Homer and Langley Collyer, who were born into one of New York City’s oldest families (Homer in 1881 and Langley in 1885) and lived in a fabulous building on Fifth Avenue in New York. The novel has an episodic structure, and touches on significant American historical events and changes taking place around the two eccentric brothers: they organize dance parties and serve alcohol in their home during Prohibition; meet notorious gangsters; watch their Japanese servants while they are taken to a prison camp during WW2; and even open up their home to a group of hippies for psychedelic experiences. But day after day, year after year, nothing happens any longer: Homer is trapped in his own body (blind and deaf) and Langley in his madness and compulsion to accumulate “useless” stuff. During their latest years they live as two reclusive, and refuse to pay any bills. The house begins to deteriorate around them: electricity, water and phone lines are eventually cut off. They die in their brownstone home, and are eventually found buried under tons of old newspapers, filth and clutter in their trapped house. Doctorow’s novel is extremely touching and engaging. The “black & white” atmosphere and the bittersweet taste make Homer & Langley one of the best American novel of this year.

Bruce Springsteen Live in Hyde Park

2010-05-19T22:49:00.003+02:00

By Vincenzo Esposito

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's “London Calling: Live in Hyde Park” concert film, will be release on two Dvd set on June 22. Captured in London at the Hard Rock Calling Festival on June 28, 2009 in HD, the 172-minute film documents 27 tracks of live Springsteen that begin in daylight and progress through a gorgeous sunset into night. “London Calling: Live In Hyde Park” conveys both the experience of being on stage and the vast crowd experience of the festival environment. Viewers are able to see Springsteen spontaneously directing the E Street Band and shaping the show as it evolves. The set list spans from “Born To Run” era to “Working On a Dream” and includes rare covers such as The Clash's “London Calling”, Jimmy Cliff's “Trapped”, The Young Rascals' “Good Lovin”, and Eddie Floyd's “Raise Your Hand”. Springsteen also performs fan favorite “Hard Times (Come Again No More)”, written by Stephen Foster in 1854. Brian Fallon from The Gaslight Anthem joins the band as a guest vocalist on Springsteen's own “No Surrender”. Grammy and Emmy Award-winning producer and editor Thom Zimny and director Chris Hilson, both members of Springsteen's video team dating back over a decade, oversaw the film. Audio was mixed by Bob Clearmountain. Bonus material includes stunning footage of “The River” from Glastonbury, June 27; and the full music video for “Wrecking Ball”, filmed at New Jersey's Giants Stadium.

Victor & Albert Museum celebrates Harry Goodwin

2010-04-15T20:48:00.004+02:00

By Vincenzo Esposito

Harry Goodwin’s “rock pictures” at Victor & Albert Museum, London. This exposition will bring 200 of Goodwin's most striking and memorable photographs: from a shocked Bob Dylan (temporarily blinded by Harry's flash in punishment for grumpiness) to a dramatic shot of Jimi Hendrix playing the guitar with his teeth, and naturally the famous "McCartney's polomint". These images capture the mood and style of the 60s and 70s (when Goodwin worked as photographer for "Top of the Pops"), and the impact of its musical stars. They celebrate those who are still actively part of the contemporary music scene and those who are remembered with veneration and affection. As the show's resident photographer from 1964 to 1973, Harry Goodwin's unique collection of photographs remembers them all. From 30 April to 24 October 2010. Free admission.

John Hiatt's new album "The Open Road" (2010)

2010-03-25T11:24:00.007+01:00

By Vincenzo Esposito
The Open Road is John Hiatt's brand new album (out on March 2nd). It is his 19th studio album and is a classic Hiatt, picking up the tempo and returning to rock following his previous terrific and critically acclaimed Same Old Man. This is a wonderful "garage rock" album. Backed by his touring band, (Kenny Blevins on drums, Patrick O'Hearn on bass and Doug Lancio on guitars), the songs are inspired by life on the road, without looking back. "All the other years, my songs are about coming home," Hiatt says.
In his long carrier, John Hiatt has written songs covered by a multitude of great artists in a wide variety of genres including Bob Dylan, Rosanne Cash, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt. On The Open Road he showcases both his lyrical and musical talent with his blues driven, country and rock songs including the title track and Haulin. Hiatt produced The Open Road himself after recording with his band in his garage-turned-studio. Hiatt will take the new songs on the road beginning with a run of international dates with Lyle Lovett.

Riot in Bogota outside a Metallica concert

2010-03-13T17:46:00.005+01:00

By Vincenzo Esposito

"Riot in Bogota": it sounds like an old punk-rock song by The Clash! But it really happened on Wednesday night (March 10). More than 150 people were arrested during a riot outside a Metallica concert in Bogota, Colombia. Hundreds of furious fans, without tickets, tried to break through barriers to see the heavy metal gig. Four fans and four police officers were injured; the protesters also damaged traffic signals and demolished walls to get rocks and use them as 'weapons' against the police.

“Under Great White Northern Lights”: red, black and White Stripes

2010-03-06T09:24:00.011+01:00

By Vincenzo Esposito
The White Stripes’ 16-song live album, Under Great White Northern Lights, will be released on March 16 together with Emmett Malloy documentary of the same name. The concert tour film (selected for Toronto International Film Festival 2009) tracks the 2007 cross-country tour of Canada, from Charlottetown to Toronto. The director also captured backstage, between gigs and the original Jack & Meg relationship, not forgetting the duo’s famous signature in red, black and white (stripes). Watch Jack White press conference at TIFF.
Part 1.

Part 2.

Rock Around the Screen and Jimi Hendrix

2010-02-02T21:43:00.005+01:00

Rock Around the Screen is the title of a new book edited by Diego Del Pozzo and Vincenzo Esposito. It's a book (written in Italian) about the relationship between cinema and rock music. For further information, please visit my Italian blog . Since Jimi Hendrix is on the front cover of the book (and since Jimi is one of our guitar heroes), I'm pleased to offer a link to a free listening (in streaming) of Valleys of Neptune, a song which was never released commercially when Hendrix was still alive, but did appear on 1990’s Lifelines: The Jimi Hendrix Story four-disc set. The song will be released, on March 9th 2010, in a new compilation of the same name, with very rare recordings. Enjoy (in advance) the great MUSIC of Jimi Hendrix! Valleys of Neptune.

Download "Heroes" by Peter Gabriel and donate to Haiti!

2010-01-28T17:48:00.004+01:00

By Vincenzo Esposito

Download Peter Gabriel's Heroes from Scratch My Back album and donate to Haiti. http://www.musicforrelief.org/

The Irrepressibles' debut album, "Mirror Mirror": a masterpiece!

2010-01-25T10:11:00.005+01:00

By Vincenzo Esposito
Mirror Mirror is The Irrepressibles' stunning debut full lenght album, released in the UK 11/Jan/2010. The sound is the result of a mix: pop (early David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, Antony and the Johnsons); classical music (from Baroque to Kurt Weill's Weimar music); a sensational circus atmosphere; a theatrical attitude. Nevertheless, there is something new, never heard before, in this masterpiece of the new decade. The Irrepressibles is a british group composed of great musicians, lead by the charismatic figure of Jamie McDermott, composer, artistic director and, most of all, superb vocalist. I think that Antony and the Johnsons and David Sylvian's 2009 albums and Peter Gabriel and The Irrepressibles' 2010 albums will open a new way to pop music and create a meeting seminal ground for those who are tired of listening always the same blues based bands. Fresh air, new (old) ideas, but first of all a categorical imperative: two chords are not longer enough to get good pop rock music. We want something more: brain (not only stomach) must be set to the center of emotional processing of feelings.

Roberto Benigni. The funniest man in Italy

2010-01-19T22:26:00.003+01:00

By Vincenzo Esposito

"The funniest man in Italy". Roberto Benigni's first visit in the USA. David Lettermann talks to him about Down by Law. TERRIFIC!!!

Rock Around the Screen

2009-12-27T18:18:00.006+01:00

The 10 Best Rock Movies of the Decade 2000-2009.

Enjoy the trailers and

... Happy New Year

(Vincenzo Esposito)

I’m Not There, Todd Haynes (2007).

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten, Julien Temple (2007).

Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Jonathan Demme (2006).

Shine a Light, Martin Scorsese (2007).

Moulin Rouge, Baz Luhrmann (2001).

Dancer in the Dark, Lars von Trier (2000).

Walk the Line, James Mangold (2005).

Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe (2000).

High Fidelity, Stephen Frears (2000).

No Direction Home, Martin Scorsese (2005).

The Best Music of 2009

2009-12-26T22:55:00.006+01:00

My Top Ten:

AKRON FAMILY, River (Set 'em Wild, Set 'em Free).

JOE BONAMASSA, The Ballad of John Henry (The Ballad of John Henry).

CHUCK PROPHET, Sonny Liston's Blues (Let Freedom Ring).

MARK KNOPFLER, Cleaning My Gun (Get Lucky).

PORCUPINE TREE, Time Flies (The Incident).

VIC CHESNUTT, Chinaberry Tree (At the Cut).

DAVID SYLVIAN, Small Metal Gods (Manafon).

CHRIS GARNEAU, Dirty Night Clowns (El Radio).

DAVID GRAY, Draw the Line (Draw the Line).

LOCAL NATIVES, World News (Gorilla Manor).

“The Wrestler”: Real World is Faker Than Wrestling

2009-03-03T20:58:00.007+01:00

By Vincenzo Esposito

Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) is an aged wrestler whose glory days are long gone. At the end of the movie we see him on the top turnbuckle, ready to show off his best aerial technique, a trademark that usually results in a win. He’s going to deliver the last “Ram Jam”, a free fall headbutt. He has fought a match through intense pain. Now he’s tired and wants to leave: He leaps from the ring ropes and disappears off-screen; the shot cuts to black and The Wrestler ends up, leaving the audience in the trusted hands of Bruce Springsteen, whose eponymous closing song gives light to the darkness, and turns the off-screen into a clear Steinbeckian in-screen image. “Have you ever seen a one trick pony in the field so happy and free/If you've ever seen a one trick pony then you've seen me/Have you ever seen a one legged dog makin' his way down the street/If you've ever seen a one legged dog then you've seen me”, sings Springsteen; but it’s Randy’s “acousmatic” voice speaking, and explaining how an over-the-hill wrestler feels after diving into the extra-diegetic “real world”. He feels free and happy, but he’s only “a one trick pony in the field…a one legged dog makin' his way down the street”. A deformed character, exactly like those drawn by John Steinbeck. On the contrary, “in the ring, and even in the depths of their voluntary ignominy, wrestlers remain gods because they are, for a few moments, the key which opens Nature, the pure gesture which separates Good from Evil, and unveils the form of a Justice which is at last intelligibile”. (Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", in Mythologies). So, what is real? The ring or the deforming world outside? Wrestling is not a competitive sport, everybody knows it. It is just a spectacle of excess, but it is not faker than Soap Operas, Monday Night Football, Reality Televison Shows, or Premier League Matches. It’s more complicated than mere fakery, because as Mick Foley - champion of some wrestling bestsellers - would say: “The Real World is Faker Than Wrestling”. And this is what Darren Aronofsky’s movie seems to state, whether you like it or not. The Wrestler is a pic shot in a '70s handheld style, which tells the story of man who defines himself "a broken-down piece of meat": an expired product of the Reaganomics, consumed by the false values (and the mediocre music) of the 80s; a relict who thinks that the beginning of the fall is in “the '90s fuckin' sucked”, and has now been relegated to the edge of the Obamanomics crisis. “Wrestling holds the power of transmutation, which is common to Religious Worship”, writes Roland Barthes; There is no doubt that Randy’s metaphysical signs (his countless of scars and injuries) have the power to transform a piece of tortured body into a page of American History. Over the course of 25 years he has learned how to perform predetermined moves and make them real in front of the crowd (and the camera!). And they are as vivid as the New Jersey trailer park where he lives, the crappy supermarket where he works during the week, the impossibile relationship with his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood), the stripper (the magnificent Marisa Tomei) to whom he has affection for, the game of Nintendo with which he plays… As vivid as the fucking fake Reagan totems!

[Watch Bruce Springsteen at The Golden Globes]

"Gran Torino": Eastwood’s Requiem for America

2009-02-24T20:59:00.013+01:00

By Vincenzo Esposito

Clint Eastwood no longer acts in his movies; he simply stands and stares at you with his petrified eyes, as if to say: “Make my day, forever!".

"Dirty Harry is back”, wrote Manohla Dargis, film critic for The New York Times. I don’t think it’s true: Walt Kowalski - a retired Ford autoworker and Korean War veteran, living in a small gang-infested neighborhood dominated by Asian families – is a somewhat “Dead Harry”, a man seeking for Death since the very beginning of the story. Actually, the pic starts with the funeral of Kowalski's wife (while Walt angrily grunts at his own family) and ends with Mr Kowalski’s funeral service. In the middle of the circle, Eastwood walks the line of life with the light steps of a ghost, and with a distant voice which has climbed the rocks of Inferno and found out the way to speak the truth about Death.

Death has been on his side for many years - since he killed more than 13 people in Korea, where he was fighting for the United States Army's 1st Cavalry Division - and has transformed him in a man beyond redemption; a mask which is the distillation of Eastwood’s film image.

In Gran Torino (that’s the name of his beloved 1972 Ford) there’s a “Persona” playing his concluding notes: silence, emptiness, loneliness, and mournful grace give this wonderful movie the inesorable slow rhythm of a Mozart-like Requiem – powerful and marmoreal. But unlike the Religious Mass, this “(un)religious movie” has no answers. The classical Eastwood’s direction lets the events unfold and follows discretely the characters’ struggles to relate the complex to everyday life.

From a post-war front-porch (vestige of a passed away Golden Age), Kowalski-Eastwood grimaces at the New World going into a dangerous twilight zone: America is on its knees, now; Detroit, the capital of auto manufacturing, is falling down; and the last man standing, Mr Kowalski, is just a dead man walking, dreaming the time when a “Dirty Harry” could proudly drive a Gran Torino up the Lakeshore Drive.

[Watch Gran Torino Official Trailer]

1 - From Fleet Street to Wonderland: The Story of Tony Stratton-Smith and Charisma Records

2009-02-24T19:26:00.009+01:00

Part I
By Vincenzo Esposito
There's a man beyond the "The Famous Charisma Label", a man that all fans of English progressive rock still love. There's a man under the “Mad Hatter” (and the other characters “stolen” from Alice in Wonderland) of its logotype. That man was born Tony Stratton-Smith, in Birmingham, in 1933, but very soon, for his pals, he became simply “Strat”.
The day of his funeral, in 1987, Keith Emerson played an original composition called “Lament to Stratton-Smith” in front of the cream of prog: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Peter Hammill, Carl Palmer, Alan Hull. The Monty Python - who had nothing to do with the “dinosaurs” of progressive music, but had something to do with Strat – were also there. It was his big family, the family of his label: The seriousness of Genesis, the grandeur of Keith Emerson, the creativity of Peter Hammill, the surrealist joy of Monty Python. That family had been the quintessence of Tony Stratton-Smith.
Still very young, during the ‘50s, he had started to work as sports journalist for the Birmingham's newspaper Gazzete. Then, he ran after his passion for soccer to Fleet Street in London, the capital of British press, where he became editor for the Football Annual Magazine. The glittering atmosphere of “Swinging London” brought him into the (new) music, and the Beatles made the rest…
In the middle of the ‘60s Craven Cottage (Fulham FC) and Stamford Bridge (Chelsea FC) were no longer his favourite places, instead he became familiar with the capital’s music clubs: the Marquee, where the Rolling Stones made their first ever live performance on 12 July 1962; The Ufo Club, where the Pink Floyd were often booked; and the Speakeasy, where the Clash's Joe Strummer would be beaten up by a teddy boy and lost a tooth.
90 Wardour Street, the Marquee’s address at the time (now it is in Upper Saint Martins Lane, Covent Garden) used to be his second home, and its manager, Jack Barrie, his best friend in London.
During the last years of 1960s, Marquee was the best place to listen to rock music: Pink Floyd, Yes, Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience all the way from Seattle, USA.
During one of those memorable nights of 1967, Tony met Keith Emerson, and fell in love with the music he played with his first band, The Nice. When their former label, the Immediate, closed down, Stratton-Smith decided it was time to enter the Music Biz. He became the manager for The Nice, but was not able to find a record company that would release an album. Thus, in 1968, in Soho, he opened up the Charisma Records. But Emerson and the Nice had to wait a little longer, because the first single he released was Sympathy, by the British pop group Rare Bird, and the hit reached the UK chart #27.

[Watch Rare Bird’s Sympathy at Top of the Pops]

But the best was yet to come: over the last weeks of February 1970, the song touched the number 1 in Italy, giving birth to a “long period of sympathy” between Charisma’s music and the land of Melodrama.
In an interview with Armando Gallo Strat said: “Rare Bird were different…They spoke a new language and had a new spirit”.
“New” was soon taken as Charisma’s password. Everything Tony was going to produce had to be “new”. Rare Bird, Nice, Lindisfarne, Atomic Rooster, Van Der Graaf Generator, Genesis were “new”. And definitely “new” was also the idea of releasing the “Comedy Records” of Monty Python, from 1971 to 1979.
(TO BE CONTINUED…)

2 - From Fleet Street to Wonderland: The Story of Tony Stratton-Smith and Charisma Records

2009-02-24T18:50:00.016+01:00

Part II
By Vincenzo Esposito
“In the early days of Charisma Records, the label was in many ways bigger than any of its acts. All of the bands at this stage were the personal picks of Charisma boss, Tony Stratton-Smith”, says Peter Hammill. It was a “small size” label, with only six people working full-time: Tony, Gail Colson (his secretary), Fred Munt (Gail’s husband), Glen Colson (Gail’s brother, and P.R.), Eve Slater (press), and Chris Briggs (a sort of number 2, now working for Robbie Williams). “It only worked thanks to Tony’s enthusiasm - says Peter Gabriel - and God only knows where the money came from”. Maybe from race horses…. He owned some race horses, and later would also sponsor the “Charisma Gold Cup” at Kempton Park.
The 70s were the years of Charisma boom: it was a record company where good and friendly artist relationships were regarded as paramount. As Strat stated himself, "a recording label is the sum of its artists". During the progressive rock Golden Age, Tony Stratton-Smith was first of all regarded as the man beyond Genesis' success, although his most loved groups were probably Van Der Graaf Generator and Lindisfarne. In the early years of the 1970s, he had the idea of putting together his best groups and let them tour with the formula of “Charisma Festival”, in order to expose them to larger crowds, in bigger venues, with a low ticket price. In 1971, after Trespass, Genesis were given the easier task of opening the festivals, and VDGG the more difficult one of closing the shows, with their complex, modern and unique music, their unusual (for a rock group) line-up without guitarists, and the “madness” of David Jackson and his double electric sax. [Watch a VDGG performance]
In a very short time, after the releasing of Genesis’ third album Nursery Cryme, Gabriel & C. would prove to be the biggest and best-loved band on the label. They were also the first Charisma’s band to achieve a great success in the U.S.A., and in 1973 Tony Stratton-Smith decided to relinquish control as manager of the band, and to be only their boss in the company. [Watch Genesis’ first ever world success I Know What I Like.] Tony Stratton-Smith was also the man who introduced the modern “Comedy Albums”, releasing almost all the records of Monty Python: From Another Monty Python Record (1971), with its funny package as Beethoven Symphony No. 2 in D Major defaced by the Python [see the picture below] until the unforgettable Life of Brian (1979).

Between the late 70s and the early 80s, Strat expanded the label’s horizons releasing a wider range of music: From Patrick Moraz and Peter Gabriel’s post-progressive albums to Tuxedomoon’s post-punk; from Julian Lennon’s songwriting to Malcolm McLaren’s album Duck Rock, which happened to be highly influential in bringing hip-hop in the U.K.
In 1985, tired of the Music Biz, Tony Stratton-Smith sold Charisma Records to Virgin Records, and flew to island of Las Palmas, in Spain, where he intended to spend the rest of his life. But in 1987 he fell sick during a visit in the U.S.A. and died at the age of 54. Music industry lost one of its most sensitive men. The “Mad Hatter” could finally return to the place where he had come from: Wonderland!