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Archive for the ‘Shoplifting’ Category

Jonathan Lethem–“To Catch a Beat” (New Yorker, October 10, 2011)

Posted in Aerosmith, Allen Ginsberg, Cheap Trick, Essays, Gene Simmons, Herbert Huncke, Jack Kerouac, Jonathan Lethem, Katey Sagal, Kiss, Memoirs, New Yorker, Shoplifting, Steely Dan, Village People, William S. Burroughs on October 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Gene Simmons (1978).

Even all these year later I feel like there is something very “polished” about this album.  It feels different from the others for an intangible reason.  I like it quite a bit,and yet it doesn’t sound like a record from a demon with blood leaking out of his mouth.  Maybe it’s the surprisingly faithful (and delicate) cover of “When You Wish Upon a Star”?  Maybe it’s the cameo by Cher?  Maybe it’s the weird effects on “Radioactive”?  The whole things just seems different to me.

It starts out menacing enough with the creepy laughing and the crazy strings (like a Disney nightmare) and the chanting (what is that chanting–its sounds demonic but they seem to be saying Hosannah?).  And it all swirls into a…disco sounding guitar?  “Radioactive” is a wonderful ditty and shows that Gene, while not exactly a good singer, has more range than the God of Thunder would have suggested.   (That’s Aerosmith’s Joe Perry on guitar).  “Burning Up with Fever” opens with a bizarre, really out of tune guitar intro (that’s two songs with crazy intros).  This feels much more Kiss than anything else on the album, although again, it’s very slick feeling.  And surprisingly, I like the backing vocals on this track–especially the solo that the woman takes–hey is that Katey Segal?  No evidently it is Donna Summer (!!).  I guess Katey was one of the backing chorus on some other songs.  (And that’s Steely Dan’s Jeff “Skunk” Baxter on guitar).

Musically, I rather like “See You Tonite,” but I find his vocals a little weird on this one.  It’s such a sweet song…again, unusual for the demon (Skunk Baxter on guitar, again).  “Tunnel of Love” seems quite sinister in the beginning with a great bass line.  And then the chorus kicks in with these delicate la las (Skunk Baxter on guitars again–Katey Sagal must be in there somewhere).  “True Confessions” has a pretty hilarious choir in the middle of the song.  My mom felt that “Living in Sin” was bad publicity for the Holiday Inn.  Although I thought it was a very funny line (and yes, Cher is the squeaking fangirl and Joe Perry is on guitar again).  “Always Near You/Nowhere to Hide” is a really slick track in which Gene shows of his more delicate singing style.  The first half is a gentle acoustic track but it builds into a high concept highly produced track–and let’s not forget the amazing high notes he hits (is that really him?).

“Man of 1,000 Faces” is another song with sinister sounds in the verses (cool strings, and is that french horn?) and then a gentle, swelling chorus.  “Mr Make Believe” begins the delicate ending of the album (Skunk Baxter, again).  This is a sweet ballad, showing a very gentle side of Gene.  There’s a little diversion in his cover of Kiss’ “See You in Your Dreams.”  This version rocks harder than the Kiss version, and the backing vocals lend a weird edge to the song which is why I like it better than the one on Rock and Roll Over (that’s Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen on guitar).  And then yes, “When You Wish Upon a Star.”  My dad laughed about as hard at the demon guy singing this song as he did about the butch biker guy singing “Oh Danny Boy” in the Village People movie Can’t Stop the Music (which we watched as a family.

Gene’s solo album charted the highest when they were released, although now Ace’s has sold more.  It’s pretty great.

[READ: October 8, 2011] “To Catch a Beat”

There were four one-page pieces in this week’s New Yorker under the heading “Sticky Fingers.”  Each one was about theft in some way (this being the money issue, that ‘s a nice connection).

Lethem, who now appears here twice in just a few short days, also breaks the mould set up by Miranda July (so I guess 2 of four stories about shoplifting is not so much a mould as a half).  Indeed, Lethem goes against all the conventions of the other pieces, for in this story, Lethem is not the thief at all.  There is hardly any thieving going on here.

This story is about Lethem working in used book stores in Brooklyn as a kid.  He mentions several different places where he worked, nut the story focuses on one in particular.  The name isn’t important to the story (in fact it doesn’t exist anymore).  But what happens there is the crux of the story.  It’s basically about a friend of Allan Ginsberg’s armed Herbert Huncke (who I’ve never heard of).  Huncke was a major fixture for the Beats, and is written about (in disguised form) by Burroughs and Kerouac.   But he was also a junkie and an ex-con.  And he came into this bookstore regularly. (more…)

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Patti Smith–“Off the Shelf” (New Yorker, October 10, 2011)

Posted in Ace Frehley, Essays, Fears, Humiliation, Kiss, Memoirs, New Yorker, Patti Smith, Shoplifting on October 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Ace Frehley (1978).

Unlike Peter’s album, Ace’s solo album is probably the most Kiss-like of the four, and I think that most of the songs on here are better than Ace’s Kiss songs.  I also liked that his had his cool autograph on the back.

“Rip It Out” opens with some great rough guitars and a supremely catchy chorus.  His voice also sounds much more assured than it had on the Kiss records.  “Speeding Back to My Baby” is a bit too “rock n roll” for me as well (I don’t like all the backing vocals on the choruses) but the guitar is absolutely on fire in this song–the solo is noisy and insane.  In fact, he really highlights his melodic soloing skills on this disc.  This song always bothered me because he clearly says “maybe I should turn around maybe I should stop” and then second later proceeds to sing “speeding back to my baby and I don’t mean maybe.”  Very confusing. 

The guitars on “Snowblind” are jagged and very cool (and the drums are really techno and a little silly but they sound cool and spacey).  And of course, there’s another great solo.  “Ozone” is a wonderful guitar workout, showing off what Ace does best.  Lyrically it’s a bit of a nonentity, but it is fun to say “O-zone” over and over again.  “What’s On Your Mind” is a poppy little number with a super catchy bridge (although again, a lot of “maybes” in this song).

“New York Groove” is such an anomaly.  A top-40 hit, and I’m not sure why exactly.  It’s so simple, with kind of a funky guitar.  But I guess that super catchy simple chorus could win anyone over.  The spoken word part in the middle cracks me up, his accent is so strong: “Here I am.  In the city.”  “In Need of Love” has an odd feel to it, kind of sinister, but that guitar solo–wow.   “Wiped Out” is wonderful from start to finish.  The crazy cackle in the beginning, the wonderful slippery bass, the cool guitar solo that precedes each chorus and the fast, fun-to-sing verses.  It’s just a great song (it’s probably the most successful flirtation with disco of all four solo albums).

The album ends with the magnificent “Fractured Mirror.”  It starts off as a simple enough guitar picking song.  But it keeps building.  And building.  And then a solo comes in.  And it builds more…until it ends like it began.  It’s a masterpiece of guitar overdubbing.

This album is pretty darn awesome.

[READ: October 8, 2011] “Off the Shelf”

There were four one-page pieces in this week’s New Yorker under the heading “Sticky Fingers.”  Each one was about theft in some way (this being the money issue, that ‘s a nice connection).

When the New Yorker groups four essays under the same heading, the first one really sets the tone for the others.  So it came as no surprise to me that Patti Smith was going to write about shoplifting too (frankly, she was punk goddess, how could she not have shoplifted?).  But her story is quite different and it was one that I found incredibly moving.

Her story concerns the time she stole an encyclopedia.  Not the whole thing (she still weighs less than a whole set), but the first volume, from the grocery store. (more…)

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Miranda July–“Free Everything” (New Yorker, October 10, 2011)

Posted in Biography, Essays, Kiss, Miranda July, New Yorker, Peter Criss, Shoplifting on October 19, 2011| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Peter Criss (1978).

After Alive II, Kiss shocked the world by announcing that they would be releasing 4 solo albums at the same time.  The band WAS NOT breaking up; rather, all four members wanted to express themselves in their own way–four Kiss albums on the same day!  Holy cow.  Unheard of!  And as it turns out, this was probably the first step their money-making schemes.  [I assume that Gene is behind all of the money-inhaling schemes, but I feel like he may not have been savvy enough to think of this one back then.  Am I not giving him enough credit?]

So since you never bought four albums on the same day, that meant that you bought your favorite Kiss guy’s record first, right?  Well, my favorite Kiss guy was Peter Criss.  He was a cat after all.  And as the charts reflect, I chose poorly. 

Peter was the least rocking of the group (despite his great vocal turns in some really great Kiss rockers).  Appropriately, his solo album is a mix of old school rock and roll, ballads and a brief excursion into disco.  Because at the time I loved everything Kiss did, I didn’t discern that I hated these songs.  In fact, I listened to them and I still know all of them quite well.  But as an adult I can see what a crazy release this is from Kiss.  True, Kiss’ other records flirted with old school rock n roll (“Tomorrow and Tonight”), and Peter had had a hit with “Beth.”  But wow, who knew he would go this far?  I mean, “Don’t You Let me Down” is a very delicate weepy ball and “Kiss the Girl Goodbye” is a falsetto’d folk ballad.  My heavens.   And for pity’s sake, “You Matter to Me” out-discos even Kiss’ attempt at disco on Dynasty.  (That keyboard, zoinks!).

My friend Matt and I have always liked a few of these songs more for personal in-jokes than for the songs themselves.  “That’s the Kind of Sugar Papa Likes” is one (and actually of all the songs on the disc, this one has the best groove).  And I’ve always like “Hooked on Rock n Roll’s” preposterous lyric “I was/vaccinated by a Victrola needle” because it not only is antiquated and weird, it doesn’t even fit the rhythm of the chorus (who tries to fit the word “vaccinated” into a two-syllable space?). 

The funny thing is that the album is pretty solid rock n roll.  “I’m Gonna Love You” is an old school rock n’ roll song.  “Tossin’ and Turnin'” is standard old rocker, complete with backing vocals and horns.  It could come straight out of Grease.

But I can’t imagine anyone who likes this kind of music buying this album with the Kiss connection or with him in makeup on the cover.  It may have introduced Kiss fans to doo wop, but I think mostly it just collects dust.

My mom liked this album best of all the Kiss albums, but I distinctly remember she did not like “I Can’t Stop the Rain” because despite the pretty melody (and strings) he said “Goddamn” in the song and she didn’t approve of that sort of thing.  Kiss fans didn’t like this album, and moms didn’t like it either.  Poor Peter.

[READ: October 8, 2011] “Free Everything”

There were four one-page pieces in this week’s New Yorker under the heading “Sticky Fingers.”  Each one was about theft in some way (this being the money issue, that ‘s a nice connection).

Miranda July’s piece was all about herself.  She talks about how she first started shoplifting when she was little.  The first time she got caught was for slipping Neosporin in her sock.  But then she got more clever.

She talks about how the shoplifting really became a part of her life.  I’m fascinated that the majority of shoplifters seem to be women and I wonder why (she doesn’t address this issue).  July talks about all the places from which she stole and she speaks of it passively, with little room for regret (even when she stole from the Salvation Army where she worked).  [Let’s hope the statute of limitations is up for her]. (more…)

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