Comments on: McCartney reaches retirement age, Hendrix still dead – of time and rock stars….

By: When Celine sings for Hillary, a kitten dies somewhere | Scholars and Rogues

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:31:55 +0000

[...] and he is seriously smart when it comes to issues of branding–and most of the S&R elders take their music very seriously, as they should. So do I–though my tastes run a little more to the White Zombie than the [...]

By: When giants walked the earth…the end of “the age of rock stars…” a personal view… « Scholars and Rogues

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 02:04:09 +0000

[...] that both rewards artistic risk and commodifies the artist/person taking that risk. Think of the sensation of Hendrix when his talent exploded onto the American consciousness at Monterrey – and of the pathetic [...]

By: “On The Road” at fifty…goring a Boomer sacred cow…. « Scholars and Rogues

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 12:56:28 +0000

[...] is a year filled with Boomer anniversaries – the 40th anniversary of Monterrey Pop, the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club [...]

By: mike starnes

mike starnes — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 21:55:36 +0000

Not that I am a Sir Paul fan but you clearly don’t believe in fact checking. ” .. he

By: Jim Booth

Jim Booth — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 20:36:20 +0000

Ah, thanks Bruce. I remember you now. One of the things Susan and I miss about Advance is St. Clements. Good to reconnect.

By: 12stringNC

12stringNC — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:46:15 +0000

Bruce Nash the 12string geetar player (at church sometimes)

By: Brian Wilson at 65 - not made for his times… « Scholars and Rogues

Brian Wilson at 65 - not made for his times… « Scholars and Rogues — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:35:22 +0000

[...] Earlier this week we had Hendrix at Monterey and Sir Paul’s 65th. [...]

By: lostgirlfound

lostgirlfound — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:20:43 +0000

BTW, Jim, I work for Starbucks, so what can I say? Sir Paul has been selling off the racks like crazy … but I agree w/you!

By: Jim Booth

Jim Booth — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 20:16:15 +0000

lostgirlfound: Remember an old SNL skit about “Elvis’s coat” being on tour to sold out houses? As has been noted numerous places, death can be a great career move. I love Jimi, but dying at 27 denies us of the very growth, change and evolution you claim for Sir Paul. As I’ve noted here and elsewhere, I love Paul, but his Starbucks alliance just looks bad because it makes the knocks on him that float around (he’s about the Benjamins, he’s a popularity whore) seem all the more viable.

12stringNC: Can I get some i.d.?

By: lostgirlfound

lostgirlfound — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:05:11 +0000

Wouldn’t you agree that the mystic that Hendrix carried with him to the grave is part of what we all treasure, too? Yeah, he was incredible. Yeah, he was uber-spiritual and seductive in a time when those virtues were held high. Plus, once you’re “lionized,” and dead, you have no way of ruining your reputation.
McCartney (and Lennon) broke ground that no one else had. They teleported musical society through generations in just the short span of eight-ten years. McCartney continued to grow, evolve and change — just as society did. You can’t be on a stamp — or frozen in time — until you die. I’d say the jury will be out on him until after he’s gone.
Also, I agree with “felixwas.” Jimi knew. Part of why I love him still was his “otherworldness,” so evident in what he did.
Excellent article, BTW.

By: 12stringNC

12stringNC — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:56:02 +0000

Jim,
Nice piece about two of my heroes. I hear folk say Sir Paul has become irrelevant, and, with respect to some of the recent releases, he may have become so.

I guess I still just love listening to everything he did w/ the Beatles, and then the tone poem Standing Stones, which I believe is a really good representation of the evolution of music in stride with the evolution of humans. Then there is Working CLASSical, some of the Beatles pieces done by string quartet (much better than by the Hollywood Flutes Orchestra or the Fresno Kazoos Band)

I’ve seen a few of the live concerts he’s done, in person and on the telly, and he still has the stuff. I’m just not sure about the current set of compositions.

Happy birthday, Paul!

Greetings from St. Clement’s, Jim

By: Rod

Rod — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 03:57:37 +0000

One of the things I liked about Paul and Jimi for that matter was that they touched on some of the social issues of their time within their music.

I was not born during the 60′s…but whenever I feel I want to listen to music with a conscious, I listen to 60′s and 70′s music.

http://www.media2politic.com

By: Jim Booth

Jim Booth — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:32:02 +0000

In a music environment where Justin Timberlake is the shnizzle, Jim, Macca is irrelevant. See my post to Diallo above for a fuller take on how I feel about him – and about how the sad state of affairs has caused him to make some bad decisions…as you note yourself.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:58:05 +0000

I don’t know if I’d call McCartney irrelevant. His newer work is just not popular. That’s in no small part because of the fragmentation of radio. There’s no radio format out there today that plays songs like McCartney writes. So it’s harder for him to find that audience.

I have fond memories of McCartney songs from my childhood defining times of my life — Another Day, Listen to What the Man Said, Silly Love Songs, Goodnight Tonight, Take It Away. So even now that I’m about to hit the ripe old age of 40, a new McCartney album is a major event for me, even if he is on the label started by those guys who think they know something about coffee but still always manage to make it taste burnt.

My kids and I have listened to the new McCartney album probably 30 times in the car. We’re all groovin’.

By: Top Posts « WordPress.com

Top Posts « WordPress.com — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:59:29 +0000

[...] McCartney reaches retirement age, Hendrix still dead – of time and rock stars…. “It’s funny how most people love the dead. Once you’re dead, you’re made for life.” – […] [...]

By: Jim Booth

Jim Booth — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 22:32:15 +0000

Let’s be clear about something, Diallo:

I love Sir Paul. I was a professional musician in another life – a bass player – and I became a bass player because of Paul McCartney.

But he’s playing a losing game, as you note, and it’s simply saddens me to see him trying so hard like with this Starbucks thing. If he wants to do albums, that’s great. He’s earned the right to do whatever he wants as long as he wants to.

But this “stooping to conquer” move of aligning himself with a corporate entity to try for bigger sales just looks greedy. And desperate.

Neither of which Macca is or should look.

By: Diallo

Diallo — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 20:49:21 +0000

Wow, great piece, man.

Kids nowadays still celebrate and recognize what was great about Hendrix BECAUSE they didn’t have to see him grow old. No doubt the same thing will happen in the hip hop community with Biggie and Pac. They’re dead, so we never have to see what boring old men they would have become. Imagine if Prince or Michael Jackson had died at 27. They’d be lionized.

It’s hard to grow old when you have a certain type of fame and a certain type of fanbase.

That said, you are right by saying that Paul is not given enough credit for the world he helped create.

In fact, his legacy will be forever compare with another dead man (John) who was taken from us before he got old and safe.

By: Denny Wilkins

Denny Wilkins — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 20:32:23 +0000

Well done. Thanks, Jim.

By: felixwas

felixwas — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 20:27:02 +0000

“If I don’t see you no more on this world, I’ll meet you on the next one — and don’t be late.”

“There ain’t no life nowhere.”

“Feel like I’m livin’ at the bottom of the grave.
“I wish they’d hurry up and execute me
“So I can be on my miserable way.
“I don’t/
“Live today …”

Jimi knew what was coming.