Forty years ago today-- the Sex Pistols release "God Save The Queen"

Sometime during the 1979-80 school year, when I was eleven or twelve, my older brother returned home from college in Colorado, where he was a freshman and hating it. When he’d gone off in the fall, Clark had had shoulder-length hair and was listening to the Marshall Tucker Band, the Eagles, and the Who; when he came back home, his hair was half an inch long, and he was wearing cracked mirrored sunglasses and an amused snarl. One day during his visit, Clark told me I needed to call the KSHE Radio request line and ask for a particular song to be played. At the time (and probably to this day), KSHE played “Real Rock Radio” and was where white St. Louis went to hear Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Charlie Daniels, Steely Dan, and Yes—it was, at my brother’s insistence throughout high school, the only radio station we ever listened to on family car trips. Now here was Clark wanting me to call up these arbiters of dinosaur rock taste and request some song with bad words in it he'd heard about while away at college. As the younger brother who always wanted to be included in any mischief and mayhem, I was eager to comply.

I’m not sure I actually remember placing the phone call, so I always imagine my fingers shaking as I dialed and my voice cracking as I asked the man who answered the phone on the other end of the line, “Can you play ‘God Save the Queen’ by the Sex Pistols?” But I have no trouble recalling his response— he quickly shouted “Fuck you!” and crashed the phone down. Needless to say, I was thrilled—what powers had I just unleashed? What was this music that made grown men cuss out little kids over the phone just for requesting it? I hadn’t even heard the song yet, but I knew was hooked.

What I have been reading lately #53

Hillsborough: The Truth-- Phil Scraton

In April of 1989, at the start of an FA Cup semifinal match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death on the terraces at Hillsborough Stadium. Despite what some thought at the time, the deaths were caused not by drunken hooligans but by a combination of poor planning, incompetence, and inaction primarily by the South Yorkshire police. Phil Scraton's disturbing book, a comprehensive narrative covering the entire event and its aftermath (i.e. the attempted police cover-up) , was the first book I read this summer.

The Day of the Hillsborough Disaster: A Narrative Account-- compiled and edited by Rogan Taylor, Andrew Ward, and Tim Newburn

Why read just one book about a horrible sports-related, crushing disaster caused by government and corporate complacency when you can read two? This book was an oral history of the events at Hillsborough and complemented Scraton's book very well. Needless to say, my summer was off to a rosy start.

Above and below: Scenes from the Hillsborough disaster 

The Education of Hopey Glass-- Jaime Hernandez 

The Girl From H.O.P.P.E.R.S.-- Jaime Hernandez

I am not sure why I read things like this. All I can say is a) it seemed like a good idea at the time, and b) neither of these graphic novels involved people being crushed to death in pens while police officers stood idly by and watched.

The Catcher in the Rye-- J.D. Salinger

I take great satisfaction from the fact that I still own the copy of this book I first read in high school (not pictured above, although mine looks almost exactly like that)

Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga (2008 edition)-- Stephen Davis

Growing up in suburban St. Louis in the early 1980s, I tried very, very hard to learn to like Led Zeppelin. (It didn't work.) This book did go a little ways towards reminding me that Led Zeppelin are, despite everything, actually a pretty good band.

LZ - '75: The Lost Chronicles of Led Zeppelin's 1975 American Tour-- Stephen Davis; photographs by Peter Simon

Why read just one book about the most overblown and preposterous rock band of the 1970s when you can read two? This book covered just one of Led Zeppelin's US tours, and it was actually quite enjoyable-- the photographer, Peter Simon, turned out to be singer Carly Simon's brother. Additionally, this book raised an important question for me-- is it possible for an author (in this case, Stephen Davis) to plagiarize their own work?

On High Steel: The Education of an Ironworker-- Mike Cherry

By far the best book I read all summer (and the summer of 2008 and the summer of 2004)-- everyone should read this book. Good luck finding it, though (and no, you can't borrow my copy).

A live version of Led Zeppelin's "Tangerine"

Someone doing a cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Tangerine"


For all you guitar players, Bob from Toronto, Canada teaches how to play Led Zeppelin's "Tangerine" on your own

What I have been reading lately #35

CBGB's: Thirty Years from the Home of Underground Rock-- Introduction by Hilly Kristal; afterword by David Byrne. This was a book of photographs. It took about forty-five minutes to read.

Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll's Legendary Neighborhood by Michael Walker. I once knew someone named Michael Walker, but not the one who wrote this book. This book has lots of information about many musicians, including (but not limited to) Cass Elliot, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Steven Stills, Micky Dolenz, David Crosby, various member of the Turtles, and everyone in Led Zeppelin.

Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss by Tom Davis. Tom Davis wrote for NBC's Saturday Night Live program for many years and was one-half of the comedy team of Franken and Davis. He has many interesting stories to share and tells them in an amusingly random fashion.

Below: Tom Davis (right) and Al Franken (left) with some of their co-workers.