MPS HOUR 12: LOVE DRUG

Last week there were two milestones to acknowledge: the death of drummer extraordinaire John Blackwell Jr.; and the birthday of Beatle Ringo Starr. Both are famous percussionists with drastically different styles, and yet there is a bit of a thread that binds them due to being brothers of the skins.

After whetting the palate with an audio sample of the infamous episode of What's Happenin' where Rerun bootlegs a Doobie Brothers concert, I play the song "Birthday" from The Beatles (aka The White Album) as I rant and rave about Ringo being the greatest of all time... then proceed to play "I'm The Greatest", a song fellow Beatle John Lennon wrote for Starr on his solo album Ringo
in 1973.

Then I give props to John Blackwell, who died a little over a year after Prince did. I played a good sample of his work a few times on this podcast but decided that the slowed-down version of "Little Red Corvette" that they performed live in Montreux was appropriate. Prince and Blackwell did a similar treatment of this classic tune at the Forum shows I attended in 2011. I promised to play some Cameo as well, but didn't have the time... so you'll just have to settle for my third-rate Larry Blackmon impression until I get the chance to spin some cuts from that legendary R&B combo in the future.

I segue into some more TV show samples and settle upon Dinosaur Jr's bizarre cover of Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way". It seemed random at first until I realized that J Mascis-- while he is primarily known as an eccentric vocalist and an incredible guitarist --got his start as a drummer, which ties in with the theme of this podcast neatly. This also leads to the remainder of last week's Greenhouse conversation, going from love songs to the songs that JR loves... to more Beatles songs, specifically "Strawberry Fields Forever".

I opted for the original studio version that John Lennon scrapped out of dissatisfaction. Although it is far from perfect, it has its own melancholy charm. Lennon wrote this song in Spain while filming a movie called How I Won The War. His recent experiences with LSD were channeled into this composition, which leads Greenhouse and I to discuss one of three elements of pop culture, drugs (sex and rock 'n' roll being the other two). I share the story of my first time on acid, which fascinates Greenhouse due to his unfamiliarity with the drug. This bleeds into the middle part of an early Phish song called "The Divided Sky" which played a significant role in the soundtrack of my first LSD trip.

We talk about John Lennon's mythical acid consumption and how it may have had an effect on his relationship with Yoko Ono (by this time we've completely departed from our original tangent of Ringo Starr and drummers) and this leads us to The Flaming Lips' version of "I Am The Walrus". The song is just plain weird, and the Lips make it weirder. The theme now is getting high and out of control, which necessitates the use of Dead Kennedys' "Too Drunk To Fuck" in the podcast.

Clearly we're now wading through some fucked-up territory, and I wrap up the discussion by playing a track by a band I used to play bass in. The song is "Drugs" by Ninefinger, and that's me doing the intro bass riff. It's a rough mix of my favorite song from that band, plus it's also a sneak peek into what I have planned for future podcasts. I played bass in a lot of bands that went nowhere and I have the tapes to prove it.

Greenhouse and I bid our farewells, slip in one last reference to Raj and the gang, then close the hour with The Doobie Brothers themselves doing "Taking It To The Streets", the ultimate in-joke ending to another Fornicatti/Greenhouse collab.

All in all, this hour is all over the place. It starts at one point and pataphysically zig-zags its way into another dimension altogether. It's a trip unto itself, a journey where the destination isn't as important as how we got there. It's not as funky as other hours; it's more rockin' and a little punkish, and very psychedelic. I hope it doesn't bum you out or kill your buzz.