I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK:  ROLLING STONES-Rock and Roll Circus [DVD] (1968).

Probably the most interesting thing about this DVD was seeing Tony Iommi, future guitarist for Black Sabbath playing guitar for Jethro Tull!  Let me repeat: the guy who played “Iron Man” was playing on a song with a flute solo!

Okay, with that out of the way, I’ll talk about the DVD.

The idea behind this event was to promote music in a new way, and the idea of a circus makes sense, so why not.  Wikipedia gives a pretty lengthy explanation of the whole thing, so I won’t bother with all of the details.

Anyhow, I had heard about this DVD in context of The Who.  I had read that The Who totally blew away the Stones at this event (apparently Mick Jagger agreed, which is why this was not available until 1996). Much of the Who’s performance is available in The Kids Are Alright movie.

But now with this DVD available, we get to see all of the acts in the circus:

Jethro Tull-“Song for Jeffrey.” Evidently they mimed their performance, but it’s still Tony Iommi.

The Who-“A Quick One While He’s Away.” Just amazing.  Fantastic rollicking, amazing.  It’s a crazy song, and it’s so full of energy.  Yes, they blow everyone else off the stage.

Taj Mahal, a band I’m not familiar with, plays “Ain’t That a Lot of Love.”

Marianne Faithfull sings a surprisingly quiet rendition of “Something Better.”  Her trademark voice hasn’t quite developed yet.

The Dirty Mac, who are John Lennon (vocals & rhythm guitar), Keith Richards (bass),  Eric Clapton (lead guitar) & Mitch Mitchell (drums).  They perform the Beatles song “Yer Blues” and then a jam called “Whole Lotta Yoko” which features Yoko Ono doing what she does best…caterwauling for what seems like much longer than 4 and a half minutes).

Then the Rolling Stones come out.  The story is that they had been up playing for hours, and their set was finally recorded at 5AM.  Whether or not that’s true, the set is really lackluster.  I’m not a huge Stones fan, but I do love many of their songs.  In fact, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Sympathy for the Devil” are two of my all time favorite songs.  Sadly, the versions on this DVD are totally substandard, especially compared to the originals.  Even “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” a song that I don’t particularly love but which has a great opening riff sounds tired.  I don’t know if it’s the amps, the sound board, or if they’re just really tired, but the set just doesn’t have it.

So, yeah, there’s not much to see with this disc.  You do get Brian Jones jamming with the Stones.  And of course, “A Quick One” is great.  It’s also cool to see Tony Iommi, but since he’s not actually playing, it’s not that exciting.  And, in fairness, Mick Jagger is a very good host, and he keeps his spirits and excitement level up pretty high throughout the show, especially when goofing around with John Lennon and the fans.

As a curiosity, this DVD was okay…I actually enjoyed the talking bits in between songs rather than the songs themselves.

[READ: March 25, 2009] “White-Bread Jesus”

It has taken me a very long time to read this story.  I had been putting it off because it was kind of long.  Then I started it and put it aside, and then finally I read most of it but didn’t have a chance to finish it.  I found it again today under a pile of magazines and decided it was time to finish it up.  None of that reflects on the story, though, honestly.

I was very intrigued by the story right from the get-go.  In it, a preacher (Reverend Wesley Edwards) who is losing his faith, and really his mind, has something of a breakdown in church.  He begins a dialogue with Jesus in which Jesus admits that the Bible is nonsense, and that he, Wesley, is really a prophet.

The opening section of the story was so visceral that I couldn’t put it down.  The suspense built as Wesley confronted a parishioner (in his mind? or in the church?)  It was only after he returned home and woke in a puddle of his own vomit to see the destruction he had caused to his house, that he realizes the full measure of his actions.

Wesley walks in the rain for miles, rehashing the fights with his wife, rehashing his spirituality with Jesus, and rehashing some of the events in his community.  The story veers into his personal life with his wife, and how she began to look after a young man who was released from an asylum.  This back story led me to think that this piece was an excerpt from a much larger story.  I’m not sure if that’s the case however.  And really, all of this background information, while useful in fleshing out the story lost the visceral feel of the earlier portion.  It felt a little meandering.

Note: Coover is working on a new book, of which this is bound to be a part…see the bottom of the review.

After all of the reverie is over, and Wesley is soaking in a hot bath, another  parishioner, Priscilla Tindle, sneaks into his house to warn him that the church is trying to get him locked away.  We learn just how much of a spiritual crisis Wesley has been having with the more he thinks about Priscilla.

Despite the prolonged time it took to read this and losing my way during the one section, I enjoyed the story very much.  It had a great Southern Gothic feel to it.  I also enjoyed the discussions with Jesus, as they were very funny and quite sacrilegious.

This is my second Coover story, and I’m finding that I’m enjoying him more each time.

I also just looked up some information about Coover, and discovered that his first book is called The Origin of the Brunists.  This story concerns itself with the Brunists…is it circling back to the beginning for Coover?  Well, Harper’s notes that Coover is working on a sequel to this 1966 piece.  So, indeed, he is going full circle.  Neat.  Makes me want to read the original now.