Frank Gutch Jr: A Journey and the Soundtrack to my Life; Angharad Drake’s New Album; The Big Bright In the Studio; Plus Notes…

 And I don’t mean the band Journey recently inducted into the supposed Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  God knows what those clowns think when they make their choices but when I look at the possible choices they could have made besides those guys… well, I won’t go there.  Let me just say that I understand when people are upset when I make such statements because they have a soundtrack to their lives as well, but this isn’t their column, is it?  I look at it this way— Journey had hits, yes, and made CBS one hell of a lot of money, but they didn’t have an original bone in all of their collective bodies and you will never change my mind.  Hall of Fame?  Not even close.  Not while the hundreds more deserving are locked out.  Change that to thousands.

Frank Gutch Jr: Brian Cullman Is a Freaking Genius (and other tales of suspense)

 

He is!  And I will tell you why!  Read this— the beginning of an email he titled 7 Short Notes on Sandy Denny.  Wait!  I shouldn’t.  You see, Brian is a good friend and lets me in on creative works long before they are ready for public consumption.  Some works.  Sure, some are just one-liners, but always one-liners of consequence.  Others are long and involved thoughts squeezed through fingers or thumbs (unlike myself, he has mastered the craft of the smartphone), dancing around topics but never reaching the core, leaving that task to others.

Frank Gutch Jr: Confessions of a (Reformed) Vinyl Junkie, Plus Notes…..

I used to have over 10,000 record albums.  That is really not that many when you really look at it.  More than you could listen to fairly in a year, I suppose.  Deep enough to impress vinyl junkies, too many to impress anyone sane.  Way more than enough to make my life desolate when it came to relationships.

Frank Gutch Jr: Jim Colegrove— Chapter Four: The Big Apple; Don’t Be Afraid to Pogo Punk Doc Premieres in L.A.; Fotheringay— All Boxed Up and Nowhere to Go (But Up, Finally); plus Notes…..

The last we looked in on Jim Colegrove, he asked the question which consumes every artist, musical and otherwise— …where would the world be without dreamers?  The question ended Part Three of his story as being told through this column at which point Colegrove and band were headed to New York to grab that fabled brass ring dangled by the record labels of the time.  If you recall, drummer N.D. Smart II who was supposed to be the band’s drummer, opted for a gig with The Remains, who had scored a leg of The Beatles’ tour.  But Smart was there when the band arrived after a long car trip.