Music in the Cafes at Night; Revolution in the Air

Beale Street, Bleeker Street, Haight-Ashbury, Sunset Strip, Music Row and Motown.

These are the streets that changed music history, according to Rolling Stone - or is it Chrysler?  And of course, by Motown they mean West Grand Boulevard, but we’ll let that slide, shall we?

Elvis, Dylan, The Dead, The Doors, all those Motown hits, all that Country … no one’s gonna argue that some pretty important music came off these streets – and still does.

Here’s another one, though, that’s kind of a glaring omission:  Abbey Road.  A little band called The Beatles made a few hit records there, and I’m told they enjoyed a bit of influence in their day.  Oh, and The Hollies, The Shadows, Pink Floyd, Radiohead and Oasis.

Oh wait a minute!  Guess they don’t get many Dodge Challengers driving around London.

Top Bottoms

Got your attention?

Actually it's another list: the Rolling Stone Top 10 Bassists Of All Time.

Here's the list:
1) John Enwistle. Not surprising. Not a bad choice.
2) Flea. Cool.
3) Paul McCartney. #1, people. #1. Fancy bass work, while singing, while winking at the girls.
4) Geddy Lee. I've always been lukewarm towards Rush, but they all deserve respect for sure.
5) Les Claypool. Couldn't say.
6) John Paul Jones. Really, I think any bass player would have done. Don't you?
7) Jaco Pastorius. Couldn't say.
8) Jack Bruce. #2. Soloing while singing, & etc.. I know: I've said it before.
9) Cliff Burton. Couldn't say. Guess I don't know my bassmen.
10) Victor Wooten. Really, I don't seem to know them!

Except to say ... where is James Jamerson? Where is Bob Babbitt? Where is Donald Duck Dunn? Motown and Memphis built their sounds on these guys, and everyone borrowed from those. These are shocking omissions.

Someone should get to the bottom of this.