Ink Lake

Good Cause & Great Music

On Tuesday at the Rock Shop in Park Slope, there was a benefit gig on behalf of musician/engineer Mark Spencer. Spencer, who currently plays with Son Volt, has his home and studio in Gowanus, and it was devastated by Sandy.

A seriously all-star lineup of friends came to lend support. Laura Cantrell, Amy Allison, Jimmy Ryan and the Del Lords, among them.

I’ve written about the first two previously, but the Del Lords – man.. I used to blast Frontier Days on my dad’s old mono record player — before I even had a proper stereo.

I once heard a live show of theirs on the radio – and twenty years later, I still remember their cover of “Tallahassee Lassie”. On Tuesday night, they kicked ass. I forgot how fucking good they are, how much I love that sound. If Crazy Horse came from the LES (and had laid off the heroin), they’d sound like this.

Here is sweetheart of the Brooklyn rodeo, Laura Cantrell, singing “The Whiskey Made you Sweeter”, with the song’s composer, Amy Allison.

The Ice Age

Think Marco Rubio can’t explain the ice found at Mercury’s poles?

Wrong!

Via Conservapedia.

It’s Not Like It Used To Be

 

Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Robbie Robertson. The Last Waltz

You Can Go Home Again

This is taken from the upcoming and final issue of Amazing Spider-Man (#700 - out next month).

It’s interesting that it actually looks not too differerent from the real Ingram Street. In the original comics, I recall Forest Hills being drawn fairly accurately..(tall trees, Tudor houses, leafy). Then after the 2002 movie, in which Parker was portrayed as coming from a decidedly much more blue-collar Archie Bunker-type neighborhood (more Hauser Street than Ingram).. the comics changed to reflect the film.

Now it’s back to a little bit of reality (except for the crowds).

Et in Arcadia, ego.

What We Lost

First Chair

Jill Kelley Warning Signs

Never trust a woman who does the “head tilt” thing when having her picture taken. 

Thank You, Friends

On Saturday night, I got to attend the NY premiere of Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me . It was shown as part of the DocNYC festival .

Like Big Star’s music, it was great, joy-making, and a little sad. I was lucky enough to be able to contribute (very) little to the making of it, and became friends (a little), with the movie’s producer.

Readers of the blog know my feelings about Big Star, and was so glad to see this thing happen, and unlike anything that happened during the life of the benighted band, it was at the festival’s largest venue, and its first sell-out.

Big Star’s story is like that of the Titanic. A hundred sub-plots, each one worthy of its own movie. I’m sure everyone wanted to see all the footage that was shot, but that will have to wait for the Blu-Ray.

At the end of the screening, John Fry (founder/owner of Ardent Studios, where Big Star recorded), and Jody Stephens, Big Star’s drummer, and sole surviving original member spoke briefly. They seemed like the nicest guys in the world, and it made me very happy that they got to see first-hand, an inkling of how many people’s lives they’ve touched, made better, healed.

 

Cool Bonus Footage!

A Fan of the Blog

From the right-wing site HotAir. I comment there from time to time, with varying degrees of appreciation. 

She's Not Trying To Be Ironic