Ricky Gervais Meets Larry David

Posted in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fun and Crazy, Larry David, Seinfeld on July 20th, 2011 by Willie

If you’ve been following the site lately, you’ve noticed that I’ve been alternating its content between rock and roll and Larry David.  Larry is just one of my biggest comedy heroes, and his newest 8th season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is off to a roaring start.  The trailers for season 8 point to an appearance by legendary British comic Ricky Gervais, creator of “The Office.”  For anyone who has followed Rickey, you know that he loves “Seinfeld” and considers George Costanza the greatest sitcom character of all time.  I found this incredible 6 part interview of Rickey sitting down with Larry, where they have an enlightening and hilarious conversation about comedy, and delve deep into each others pasts.  It is so entertaining, insightful, and funny, and it’s guaranteed to be the best thing you watch today, so enjoy.





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Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, Say Say Say, The Girl is Mine

Posted in Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Youtube Favs on July 19th, 2011 by Willie

The year was 1981.  Michael Jackson was staying over Paul and Linda McCartney’s house.  The pair of ultra stars were recording songs with Quincy Jones and George Martin for their respective albums.  For Thriller, MJ and Macca were laying down “The Girl is Mine,” a horrendous piece of saccharine pop.  For McCartney’s equally successful album ; ) Pipes of Peace, the pair laid down “Say Say Say,” a more superior pop song, but equally stupid in its generic lyrics and execution.  For Jackson, the pairing with a Beatle was both an artistic and commercial turning point for his career.  For Paul McCartney, it was the most costly business mistake he ever made.  When Michael was in the studio for “Say Say Say,” it was the first time he didn’t have Quincy supporting him, and he found he could hold his own with the very musical McCartney.  It was an experience that massively boosted his musical maturation and confidence.  Paul was a gracious host this whole time, even giving the young pop star an inside glimpse into how he was making billions, by purchasing music publishing catalogs.  MJ took the advice to heart.  In 1985, the long disputed “Northern Songs” catalog, which contained the entire Lennon/McCartney catalog was up for sale, and Michael Jackson outbid Paul for the controlling interest, dropping 40 million underneath Paul’s nose.  In years since the incident, Jackson has been painted as the villain that stole Paul’s songs.  The real story is more complicated.  Paul was actually offered the songs privately, but he wanted to share it with Yoko Ono out of fairness, but she wanted to hold out for a better deal.  If anything, Yoko is the biggest culprit in the Beatles not owning their own songs.  Anyway, the friendship between Michael and Paul fell apart not because Jackson bought “Hey Jude” and “I am the Walrus,”  but because Michael wouldn’t raise the royalty rate John and Paul agreed to all the way back in 1961.  Paul has felt that the Beatles had been cheated and underpaid for decades, and the fact that Michael wouldn’t give him a boost was unforgivable.  So, even though Michael and Jackson would never perform or record together again, at least they left a legacy of a massive abortion of  commercial pop for us musical archeologists to examine for the next 1000 years.  Thanks boys.

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Classic Larry David

Posted in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fun and Crazy, Larry David, Seinfeld on July 18th, 2011 by Willie

Larry David’s rise to full on stardom was a long an interesting road.  He started off as a standup but got his first big break as a writer and performer on ABC’s answer to SNL, “Fridays.”  After “Fridays,” Larry made it to SNL as a writer for the 84-85 season.  He only ever got one sketch on the show, and it aired in the show’s last spot.  Right around the time “Seinfeld” got going in 1989, Larry had a bit part in Woody Allen’s “New York Stories.”  As”Seinfeld” grew in popularity, Larry could be seen and heard in bit roles throughout the show’s run, all in relative complete anonymity.  “Seinfeld” gave Larry massive showbiz and financial clout, but he was still not a star by any means.  When he launched his hugely successful HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Larry the performer really took off.  As “Curb” enters its eighth groundbreaking season, Larry has also officially taken his place as a pop culture icon; an anti-hero waging a war against awkward social moments, instances of perceived unfairness, and sleights against himself.  With Larry being such a big star now, it’s fun to look back at his more forgotten moments when he was still finding his comedic voice, and when he had much much crazier hair.  Below I’ve assembled some clips from “Fridays” and from his appearance in the Woody Allen movie for all you Larry fans out there.  Enjoy.

Clip #1 showcases Larry’s recurring character, Saully Mullens, from “Fridays” where he plays a hapless temp worker sent in for assignments way outside his realm of expertise. In this clip, Larry fills in for the US Secretary of State.

Clip #2 again finds Larry in a temp role, this time filling in for Gloria Steinham at an E.R.A. rally. I don’t know about you, but to me, Larry seems to be a cross between Woody Allen and Harold Ramis, all with a tough guy NY accent.

Clip#3 features Larry and Michael Richards in a sketch where a group of friends remember how much they tormented and teased each other. In the early days, its clear to see Larry’s natural nervousness and unease with performing, but also the enthusiasm and joy he was experiencing doing it.

Clip #4 is Larry’s small role in “New York Stories.” I’ve never seen this movie, and have no idea what is going on, but it’s clear that this scene probably inspired the “Seinfeld” episode where Kramer scores a line in a Woody Allen movie. “These Pretzels are Making me Thirsty!”

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AC/DC Week, Hells Bells

Posted in AC/DC, Youtube Favs on July 16th, 2011 by Willie

And thus the bell tolls for the end of AC/DC week, and what better way to close it out then with “Hells Bells” from Back in Black. A lot of my fellow baseball fans know this song mainly from all time saves leader Trevor Hoffman, who used the song whenever he entered a game for the San Diego Padres.  Other people might recognize the song from their astral dream journeys to Hell…hah!  Did you know that bell that starts the song off chimes exactly 13 times?  Freaky right?  This song, like the “Back in Black” song itself, is another tribute to Bon Scott, funny because all his tribute songs are the darkest nastiest jokes about him being some evil ghost or him burning in eternal hellfire.  Maybe they were happy he got “dragged to Hell.”  Probably not, they loved him, but the song is amazing piece of exciting heavy metal drama, and the perfect cap for what has been a memorable week of AC/DC ass kickery.  To all the AC/DC fans around the world, and all fans of hilariously to the point rock and roll, this is Willie Simpson signing off, and I’ll see you down the road…(i.e. tomorrow.)

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AC/DC Week, Shoot to Thrill

Posted in AC/DC, Youtube Favs on July 15th, 2011 by Willie

AC/DC is really good live.  For this installment of AC/DC Week, I have them live in Houston, Texas in 1983 performing “Shoot to Thrill” from Back in Black. It blows my mind that Brian Johnson can sing the way he can for hours.  There are rumors that now, in 2011, he is finally considering retirement.  I’m surprised he didn’t retire after his first show.  I don’t have much to contribute to this blog post other than a recommendation to check out this utterly hard rocking exercise in kicking ass.

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AC/DC Week, Back in Black

Posted in AC/DC, Youtube Favs on July 14th, 2011 by Willie

So Bon Scott died and in comes English native and Geordie lead singer Brian Johnson.  Johnson never would match Bon’s rock star charisma, but he would out sing him in every demonic capacity.  Scott had a high raspy McCartney/Plant like voice, not nearly as good as those guys, but similar.  Johnson had something altogether different; a screeching high octave voice of dark power.  The vocal gymnastics this guy was able to achieve is mind-blowing, continuously topping his highest notes while never going into a falsetto while always maintaining his vaunted rock and roll roar.  It was pure cartoon attitude, not only a perfect fit for the likes of AC/DC, but a voice that was able to elevate them to a higher level of abstract universalism.  A match made in rock and roll heaven.  Teaming with famed 80s rock producer Mutt Lange, the boys put together their Back in Black album, which was their first true world wide smash.  The song that carries the album’s name was a tribute to Bon Scott, a crazy celebration of his nutty life all wrapped up in a hilarious dark banner of victory.  Check it out.

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AC/DC Week, Highway to Hell

Posted in AC/DC, Youtube Favs on July 13th, 2011 by Willie

AC/DC week won’t stop, but Bon Scott’s contributions will.  Highway to Hell was released in 1979, and it would be the last album to feature the legendary front man.  Ten days after the video below was created, Bon Scott died from choking on vomit.  Whether it was his vomit or not, no one knows, because you can’t dust for vomit.  Anyway, its an appropriate ironic send off for the man who sang hard and drank hard.  I don’t know much about Bon’s personal life, but I’d like to imagine he’s in rock and roll heaven with 72 groupies…hah!  Oh, religion…Bon’s death was a turning point for the band obviously, and who they would replace him with, and the type of songs they’d create are all stories for tomorrow.  So stay tuned!

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AC/DC Week, Live Wire…LIVE!

Posted in AC/DC, Youtube Favs on July 12th, 2011 by Willie

For today’s AC/DC tribute, I got “Live Wire” from 1975’s T.N.T. and it’s LIVE…in London!  This is a GREAT video performance.  AC/DC were fantastic because they could easily recreate the energy from all their recorded tracks live.  It’s no surprise that they achieved massive international success.  All they had to do was show up, turn the amps to 11, and proceed to rock..hard.  On top of that, Bon Scott was a born rock star.  He  was always having a blast.  At times he tries to project masculinity and toughness with his stage presence, but he can never help his smiling because he is filled with so much joy doing what he’s doing.  And why not…AC/DC songs maybe hard rock, but it’s more like hard rock candy.  All their songs are catchy, buttoned up, and fun.  At their best, they are never really menacing and dark.  It always has to be fun first.  STICK THIS IN YOUR FUSE BOX (best line.)

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AC/DC Week, It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)

Posted in AC/DC, Youtube Favs on July 11th, 2011 by Willie

AC/DC week rocks on with their 1975 hit “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock n’ Roll) from High Voltage. Great title, great lyrics, great song.  The entire song is a musical orgasm of rock and roll simplicity topped off with an excellent bagpipe solo from Bon Scott himself.  This is probably my favorite AC/DC anthem because of the universal truth of the words.  Indeed, it’s near impossible to climb to the top of the rock and roll world without getting your soul scooped out and your body killed.  As we would learn, once Bon reached the top, it did end up killing him.  Too sad because this guy was one in a million.  Rock and roll heaven to follow with a mouse click on that play button below.

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AC/DC Week, Girl's Got Rhythm

Posted in AC/DC, Youtube Favs on July 9th, 2011 by Willie

AC/DC week…why the hell not.  AC/DC is one of my guiltier pleasures.  Adored by a fan base that never understood that they were probably a parody band, AC/DC took rock and roll to a comical level of extremeness.  The Young brothers who founded the band were very talented rock and roll artists, but were also performance artists.  All you have to do is look at Angus’s school boy suit to get the idea.  They sing about Satan, extreme sex, hardcore drinking, and breaking the law, but they do it with tongue firmly in cheek.  Their music is all about boiling rock and roll down to its philosophical essence, sex and drugs, and then juicing it into overdrive.  Musically, its a stripped down, bare bones, and highly electric attack, but very fun.  Lyrically, its confrontational, sophomoric, and dark minded, but very funny.  They created this persona of what a hard rocking band should be singing about and doing, thus influencing the creation of heavy metal, but it was all based on the simple well-worn formula of making sure to have catchy driving songs.  Even though it was all an act, they did really live a crazy life, especially original front man Bon Scott who drank himself to death.  Perhaps he was the spiritual embodiment of the band’s crazy attitude, perhaps he was just a fuck-up, either way, he was quickly replaced by Brian Johnson, who helped take the band to even higher commercial heights in the 1980s.  More on Johnson later.  Right now I have a classic Bon Scott era song, “Girl’s Got Rhythm,” from their 1979 album Highway to Hell.  Like all great AC/DC songs, it rocks your bones and that’s all that matters.

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