15 2009

Tom Wilkes Dead at 69

Tom Wilkes于6月28日因心脏病发作死于加利福尼亚拓荒城的家中,时年69岁。

Tom Wilkes是谁?是一位曾获得过Grammy奖的艺术指导,其参与设计过封面的包括以下重量级唱片:

The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet

Neil Young’s Harvest,

George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass

George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh

Flying Burrito Brothers’ Gilded Palace of Sin

Eric Clapton’s Eric Clapton

Janis Joplin’s Pearl

(Wilkes所拍摄的Janis Joplin的照片,就在那个摄药过量的夜晚)

另外Tom Wilkes作为1967年蒙特利国际流行音乐节的艺术指导设计创作了许多著名的音乐节海报。
1967monterey

“Tom Wilkes能够抓住专辑和其创作者的精髓,唱片设计的神奇和重要性在于能捕捉住你的目光,获得对其包含的音乐与个性的感觉并使你想掏钱买它。你看着Neil Young’s Harvest专辑的封面,背景质地的感觉和简单古体的字母,你能感觉到Neil在这张专辑中的所作所为——其代表的诚实、饱满的砂砾感和美利坚精神。”


24 2009

Handwritten Poem By Teenage Bob Dylan

young_dylan

一份两页手写诗的原稿日前在Christie拍卖行进行拍卖,该诗作者的名字是Bobby Zimmerman,或者在摇滚名人堂里被称为Bob Dylan。这份手写诗歌“Little Buddy”是年轻的Dylan在50年代中期创作的,而令人吃惊的是当时的Dylan仅是个年轻人,却写出如此有影响力的作品。Dylan手中的Zimmerman蓝色钢笔讲述了一个心爱的小狗因友善的对待一个醉汉而被打死的悲伤故事,诗歌中的主角等待着医生到来救小狗的性命,但不幸的是医生却来的太迟。

故事是令人心碎的,但值得注意到有趣现象是,即使是年轻的Dylan也不能避免误用your作为you’re的语法错误,写道“Your too late sir my doggy’s dead.”(艺术家的选择?)“Little Buddy”的全诗如下:

Little Buddy

Broken hearted and so sad
Big blue eyes all covered with tears
Was a picture of sorrow to see

Kneeling close to the side
Of his pal and only pride
A little lad, these words he told me

He was such a lovely doggy
And to me he was such fun
But today as we played by the way

A drunken man got mad at him
Because he barked in joy
He beat him and he’s dying here today

Will you call the doctor please
And tell him if he comes right now
He’ll save my precious doggy here he lay

Then he left the fluffy head
But his little dog was dead
Just a shiver and he slowly passed away

He didn’t know his dog had died
So I told him as he cried
Come with me son we’ll get that doctor right away

But when I returned
He had his little pal upon his knee
And the teardrops, they were blinding his big blue eyes

Your too late sir my doggy’s dead
And no one can save him now
But I’ll meet my precious buddy up in the sky

By a tiny narrow grave
Where the willows sadly wave
Are the words so clear you’re sure to find

Little Buddy Rest In Peace
God Will Watch You Thru The Years
Cause I Told You In My Dreams That You
Were Mine

Bobby Zimmerman


8 2009

Eddie Vedder在Grunge口述历史中回忆Pearl Jam的诞生

ed_early

西雅图因星巴克、太空针塔而闻名,当然,还有grunge。90年代早期的grunge运动产生出Nirvana、Pearl Jam和Soundgarden这样的摇滚标志象征。在Greg Prato的新书Grunge is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music(本月初于ECW出版社出版)中,作者采访了130多名西雅图的音乐家、日报记者、唱片业巨头和乐迷,编译了描绘当时独特情景的详细的口述历史。其中的声音包括Eddie Vedder、Jeff Ament、Mark Arm、Matt Cameron、Chad Channing、Jack Endino、Duff McKagan和Hiro Yamamoto。

“我想从grunge产生的最初讲述这些故事,”Prato说。关于grunge根源的讨论已经延伸到了像Wailers和the Sonics这样的乐队,Grunge is Dead一书从五六十年代的车库朋克组合到七八十年代的西海岸朋克来追踪西雅图的进程。到了八十年代末,像Malfunkshun和Screaming Trees这样的乐队孵化出来新的“西雅图之声”,最终成为grunge。“这是我认为西雅图摇滚乐到达顶峰的时候。”Prato说。

当采访Layne Staley的母亲时提到了极有价值的信息,最有意义的被采访者当属Pearl Jam的Vedder,因为Vedder的Pearl Jam是西雅图最后幸存的grunge代表。在与Prato漫长的电话通话中,因谨慎而著称的Vedder在夏威夷开始娓娓而谈。

“那时他正坐在海滩上看着落日和我谈话,”Prato回忆道。“他最初从从Jeff Ament和Stone Gossard那搞到磁带,里面有几首为Pearl Jam写的歌,Vedder那天在冲浪时来了写歌的灵感,包括Once和Alive。Eddie说他在整个歌手生涯中会永远感谢冲浪的那一天,因为那天他清楚他能想出这样两首伟大经典的歌曲。”

Prato的书名取自西雅图最引人注目的形象——Kurt Cobain的一副讽刺画,画中的Cobain穿着印有“Grunge is Dead”的T恤,抱着他还是婴儿的女儿Frances Bean。采访提供了关于许多西雅图音乐史上重大事件的生动透视,从家庭party到Cobain和其同样作为西雅图象征的Andrew Wood的悲剧性死亡。Grunge Is Dead中也有一些艺术家对于西雅图运动落末的反应。“当听到一些之前未曾听到的消息时,我总是很吃惊”,Ament告诉Prato。“我感觉有些事情应该变一变了”,谈到自己的乐队时,Vedder说,“但我不感到惭愧。”


14 2009

评选Nirvana的歌曲清单

ID_Kurt_Nirvana_05

上周,为纪念Nirvana主唱Kurt Cobain逝世15周年,RollingStone向读者发起对这个西雅图乐队音乐的问卷调查. 经过对投票的统计,乐队1991年专辑Nevermind中的歌曲Smells Like Teen Spirit荣登榜首, 排在了In Utero专辑中两首歌曲之前。其他的经典歌曲有:

1. Smells Like Teen Spirit
2. Heart-Shaped Box
3. All Apologies
4. About A Girl
5. Aneurysm
6. Drain You
7. Dumb
8. In Bloom
9. Rape Me
10. Come As You Are
11. Lithium
12. On A Plain
13. Verse Chorus Verse/Sappy
14. Pennyroyal Tea
15. School


17 2007

They Die Young

Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brain Jones, Ian Curtis, John Lennon, Elliot Smith, Kurt Cobain, and Layne Staley…

I hope I die before I get old …”The Who

And we die young, faster we run …”Alice in Chains

the END, the ETERNITY.