http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9_9k8-W1Po
This is a very important record to me. First, my love is a teacher. My wife Cathleen was and is my "Teacher, Teacher."
Second, The Rockpile album, which is where "Teacher Teacher" comes from broadened my musical landscape more than any other record. I went off to college in 1979 with a history of very typical musical exposure for the time. Big fan of Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Billy Joel, CSN, James Taylor, The Who, The Rolling Stones, and the Eagles. All bands I still love (well not so much the Eagles). I had been to all your big arena shows; Styx, Doobie Brothers, Journey, etc. I had even seen some hard to admit shows; Little River Band, Air Supply, and (gulp) Olivia Newton John.
I pretty much stuck to my musical beginnings my first year of school. There was a group of people on my dorm floor who dug the same stuff. They sat around with guitars playing "Teach Your Children." But in my sophomore year a guy from New Jersey moved in. Todd Abramson. He was a short, skinny guy, with a weird laugh, wearing a Sonics t-shirt. Todd had a whole different sound. The sounds of rockabilly, pop, and garage rock. And not the sounds of now, but the sounds of yesterday and tomorrow. And not just the sounds of FM radio, LA, NYC and London, but the sounds of local music playing in the bar down the street.
He played the Rockpile album for me and that was it. I payed attention to what this guy was bringing. Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, and Todd, sent me in every direction. I went back to the 50s with Carl Perkins, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Gene Vincent. Through the 60's with the garage rock sound,and early stuff from bands I knew, but didn't know, like the Stones and The Kinks. I went forward to Marshall Crenshaw, Squeeze, and the power pop coming out of England. I went forward and back with NRBQ, Elvis Costello, and The Ramones. And very importantly I went out to see live music in small spaces, both local musicians and national bands passing through. In our eyes back then local acts (Tex Rubinowitz, Little Red and the Renegades) were just as important as the nationals touring acts.
( Ulmie!! Tex and Little Red on YouTube: "Hot Rod Man" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaYTuvTsFvQ , "Bad Boy" video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpmjfCrL5PE , and "They Call Me Little Red"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2g1-6iFmyY&feature=related )
The artists were so accessible. I never had thought you could go see your musical heroes, and then talk to them after the show. Not the case with the big stadium shows. I was fortunate to be in a city, D.C., where there was lots of choices.
Rockpile was a very unique band. There is only one official Rockpile album, but the Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds albums from the late 70s are all Rockpile albums, with the band backing the front man. For each of Dave and Nick's solo albums the group would tour. I never got to see them together. The biggest hole in my musical grazing. But I have seen Nick and Dave on their own. Many great memories; such as tracking down Dave's hotel room at the Oneonta NY Holiday Inn, and skipping headliner The Cars at the Capital Center in Landover MD to follow the bus of the opener, "Nick Lowe and His Noise to Go" , to the bar at the Holiday Inn, where we chatted with Nick and Paul Carrack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O4GagrfqO8&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=MLGxdCwVVULXd_Z90TYTkxTyVB4cJ4ycIf
This link takes you through a mix of Rockplile and related music. The first video is classic Rockpile. It is a live version of Nick Lowe's song "So It Goes" from the album "Jesus of Cool" , or as we in the the politically correct States got it "Pure Pop for Now People." Both just fantastic titles. The video features the band with Nick out front wearing the green ? suit that Frank Gorshen wore as the Riddler in the Batman television series. That is just perfect.
Thank you Nick, Dave, and Todd
Second, The Rockpile album, which is where "Teacher Teacher" comes from broadened my musical landscape more than any other record. I went off to college in 1979 with a history of very typical musical exposure for the time. Big fan of Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Billy Joel, CSN, James Taylor, The Who, The Rolling Stones, and the Eagles. All bands I still love (well not so much the Eagles). I had been to all your big arena shows; Styx, Doobie Brothers, Journey, etc. I had even seen some hard to admit shows; Little River Band, Air Supply, and (gulp) Olivia Newton John.
I pretty much stuck to my musical beginnings my first year of school. There was a group of people on my dorm floor who dug the same stuff. They sat around with guitars playing "Teach Your Children." But in my sophomore year a guy from New Jersey moved in. Todd Abramson. He was a short, skinny guy, with a weird laugh, wearing a Sonics t-shirt. Todd had a whole different sound. The sounds of rockabilly, pop, and garage rock. And not the sounds of now, but the sounds of yesterday and tomorrow. And not just the sounds of FM radio, LA, NYC and London, but the sounds of local music playing in the bar down the street.
He played the Rockpile album for me and that was it. I payed attention to what this guy was bringing. Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, and Todd, sent me in every direction. I went back to the 50s with Carl Perkins, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Gene Vincent. Through the 60's with the garage rock sound,and early stuff from bands I knew, but didn't know, like the Stones and The Kinks. I went forward to Marshall Crenshaw, Squeeze, and the power pop coming out of England. I went forward and back with NRBQ, Elvis Costello, and The Ramones. And very importantly I went out to see live music in small spaces, both local musicians and national bands passing through. In our eyes back then local acts (Tex Rubinowitz, Little Red and the Renegades) were just as important as the nationals touring acts.
( Ulmie!! Tex and Little Red on YouTube: "Hot Rod Man" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaYTuvTsFvQ , "Bad Boy" video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpmjfCrL5PE , and "They Call Me Little Red"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2g1-6iFmyY&feature=related )
The artists were so accessible. I never had thought you could go see your musical heroes, and then talk to them after the show. Not the case with the big stadium shows. I was fortunate to be in a city, D.C., where there was lots of choices.
Rockpile was a very unique band. There is only one official Rockpile album, but the Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds albums from the late 70s are all Rockpile albums, with the band backing the front man. For each of Dave and Nick's solo albums the group would tour. I never got to see them together. The biggest hole in my musical grazing. But I have seen Nick and Dave on their own. Many great memories; such as tracking down Dave's hotel room at the Oneonta NY Holiday Inn, and skipping headliner The Cars at the Capital Center in Landover MD to follow the bus of the opener, "Nick Lowe and His Noise to Go" , to the bar at the Holiday Inn, where we chatted with Nick and Paul Carrack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O4GagrfqO8&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=MLGxdCwVVULXd_Z90TYTkxTyVB4cJ4ycIf
This link takes you through a mix of Rockplile and related music. The first video is classic Rockpile. It is a live version of Nick Lowe's song "So It Goes" from the album "Jesus of Cool" , or as we in the the politically correct States got it "Pure Pop for Now People." Both just fantastic titles. The video features the band with Nick out front wearing the green ? suit that Frank Gorshen wore as the Riddler in the Batman television series. That is just perfect.
Thank you Nick, Dave, and Todd
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