Taking "Mean Mr. Moyer" to task for bashing The Beatles

I get it that not everybody likes The Beatles. But seriously -- who took a dump in Justin Moyer's breakfast cereal?

An unfocused and laughably uninformed hatchet job by the Washington Post "Outlook" section writer harrumphs that The Beatles need to be sent to the historical scrap heap, a la the Model T.
That's as ignorant as saying Van Gogh, Da Vinci and Picasso are irrelevant because "there's an app for that."
It's like saying Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron don't matter because Barry Bonds hit more home runs than they did; never mind that Bonds achieved his record by methods that have forever tainted the integrity of baseball.
The true greats always stand the test of time. 
It's mind-boggling that Moyer, who by virtue of being a musician automatically has a discerning set of ears, doesn't have a better appreciation for The Beatles' accomplishments (setting the standard of rock bands writing their own songs; pioneering experimentation with recording techniques and instrumentation; starting their own record label, etc., etc.), all the while maintaining commercial success. 
Moyer wrongheadedly states that The Beatles are obsolete because the primary format for their music was the album. Sloppy research!
The Beatles released a notable number of songs in the single format, which thanks to the mp3, is once again the consumers' format of choice. Please see "Past Masters," Volumes 1 and 2, albums created in the '80s to cull EPs and singles into a tidy package. 
Moyer declares The Beatles unfit to have a third generation of fans ("Something is either wrong with pop culture or wrong with teenagers," he writes), while suggesting tongue-in-cheek that Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Kanye West, or even Psy, might be this generation's uniting musical icon.
I'll say it again: true greats always stand the test of time.

The worst OpEd ever. RT if you agree. #thebeatles http://t.co/NrjgZDYICr
— Rick Friel (@rickfriel) July 22, 2013

Dude, Justin Moyer is just plain wrong. “@rickfriel: The worst OpEd ever. RT if you agree. #thebeatles http://t.co/MYEWqrdgqT”
— Justin S Davis (@JSDavisGuitar) July 22, 2013

The legacy of The Beatles: Mean Mr. Moyer Justin Moyer clearly feels that the influence of The Beatles has lin... http://t.co/cBuE1X7AaJ
— 13th Floor Elevators (@texaspsych11) July 23, 2013

Moyer moans that Radiohead will never be as big as the Beatles simply because of marketing. As a musician, he ought to know better that it all comes down to the quality of the songs. Sorry dude, Radiohead has only two good songs. What I've heard of the rest of their catalog is boooorrring. 
The Beatles' melody-driven songs are accessible and fun. At the same time, they were trail-blazing tricksters that compelled you to listen closer to what they were doing. The Beatles were also adept at switching up their sound in compelling ways to keep their listeners and those pesky bourgeois writers (ahem!) guessing.
Also notable for their ability to switch up their sound to keep it fresh were The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Doors and The Velvet Underground -- '60s bands that Moyer claims are just as good, or better than, The Beatles. While all important and wonderful in their own right, Moyer fails miserably to connect the dots.
Lennon/McCartney gave The Stones "I Wanna Be Your Man" to record as a single, which became an important moment in getting The Stones' mojo working. Without The Stones' making the edge of rock 'n' roll sexy, does anybody outside of L.A. hear The Doors?
Without The Beatles, there is no British Invasion, and it becomes much harder for The Who to get noticed in the U.S.
In the early '60s, adults still viewed rock 'n' roll as a teenage fad. Without The Beatles' influence in legitimizing rock 'n' roll as an art form, The Velvet Underground would be little more than an experimental footnote in the Andy Warhol story.
Moyer does have a point when he wonders why U2 doesn't have the same iconic status, since Bono took the social conscience element in rock -- which The Beatles started, by the way -- and took it to a more hands-on activism. I say give it time. The reason could simply be that The Beatles had more hits -- an unduplicated 20 U.S. No. 1's (and numerous other hit songs) in a span of just six years.
For some reason, the grumpy scribe also takes a non-sequitur potshot at Bruce Springsteen, calling him a "codger in a youth-dominated field."
This is worth mentioning as Springsteen was recently named the top current live act by Rolling Stone, with fellow "codgers" Paul McCartney at No. 15, Prince at No. 2, Neil Young at No. 5 and Tom Petty at No. 13.
Repeat after me: true greats always stand the test of time.
"Aren't there other musicians from other communities -- perhaps New Orleans or Nigeria ... that every kid can adore?," he wonders, questioning whether a generation needs a definitive musical icon at all.
Be that as it may, we have yet to find another band with the same enduring universal appeal, but I'm willing to keep an ear open.
Meanwhile, as one member of Moxy Fruvous blurted out in that group's musical interpretation of Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham": "Hey, you lay off The Beatles, buddy!"

What's the coolest work party you ever attended?

Harleysville-based Spring Hill Realty threw a first-class company picnic that featured Lee Alverson as Elton John, with a full band.
I've heard of many tribute acts, but can't say I've heard of this one. 

 Alverson had the glasses, Elton's stage apparel (minus the really awful '70s costumes), Elton's front-teeth gap, and the hits: Your Song, Levon, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, Benny and the Jets, Rocket Man, Candle in the Wind, Pinball Wizard (You forgot about the film version of "Tommy," didn't you?), Tiny Dancer, Crocodile Rock, Philadelphia Freedom, The Bitch is Back, and these ones as well.





Alverson's band even branched out to cover Great Balls of Fire and Billy Joel's You May Be Right and New York State of Mind, a nod to the Billy Joel/Elton John co-headliner tours.
Lucky me -- I got to attend because my wife works at Spring Hill. Past picnics have featured David Stone as Johnny Cash, and Elvis and Rolling Stones tributes.

Spring Hill's Cheryl and Leo Orloski pose with Lee "Elton John" Alverson.

Spring Hill Realty's Joyce Westerfer dons some authentic-looking Elton John specs.

America's next voiceover star?

Wouldn't it be cool to be this guy?



After attending a class through Souderton Area Community Education this spring, I learned that there's a lot of everyday people making money being voiceover talent, whether it's telephone on-hold messages, company training videos, GPS voices, commercials, animation, etc.
The instructor for the class, who is now my voiceover coach, was Tom Force from the Vermont-based company Such A Voice, who was a long-time Detroit radio personality.
 To my surprise, two area musicians, whose band names I recognized, were also in the class -- none other than Chris of LD-50, which recently changed its name, probably to not be confused with a metal band of the same name, and Doug from All Worn Out.
Not sure if they decided to try the voiceover thing, but it was cool seeing them at a community education class, and observing how interested the other people in the class were in  Chris and Doug's latest musical projects
Since then, I've discovered that this voiceover thing requires a lot of time and a lot of money to get into. I swear, every week I have to reassure my wife that I'm not doing this just to get away from her.
So how'd you like a cartoon character voicemail message for your phone? I can do that real cheap.

Scribbles in my notebook: Vietnam Stories

Hopefully you've been following The Reporter's series on local residents that gave their lives in the Vietnam War. It's in honor of the Vietnam Moving Wall visiting the Hatfield American Legion June 27-July 1.
I felt a strange connection with Lansdale native Albert "Buddy" Finn. He died in a helicopter crash near the DMZ on Sept. 20, 1970, six days after I was born. Lt. Finn was also a member of Holy Trinity Episcopal, where my family went to church from the '70s through the early '90s.


One of the first phone interviews I did for this series was with Fred Johnson, a Wisconsin resident that was flying in a separate Huey during the mission that took Finn's life.
I was too young to have a grasp on what was going on during this time period, however Johnson framed the Vietnam era in a refreshingly balanced way that I had never heard before.
After the war heated up in the mid-'60s (and started getting transmitted to televisions around the nation), he said, the music on the hit parade noticeably changed. Upbeat pop from The Beatles and The Beach Boys gave way to darker fare like:
 Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction"


Buffalo Springfield "For What It's Worth"


Creedence Clearwater Revival "Fortunate Son"


Marvin Gaye "What's Going On"


Bob Dylan "Blowin' in the Wind" (Peter, Paul & Mary and Stevie Wonder both had hit covers)


The Animals "Sky Pilot"


The Doors "The Unknown Soldier"


"The students didn't want to go ... (into what) at the time was the country's longest war," said Johnson, referring to the draft.
"There's an expression that Vietnam veterans like to use: 'When I left, we were winning'," he said.
The year Johnson graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and got married, 1968, was a "pretty tough time" for America, he said, because of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.
Deteriorating support of the war morphed into outright hostility toward those in a military uniform. "I came back from the war, and got spit on in Seattle," said the former Army Ranger.
In a conversation he had with a reporter that day, Johnson was told frankly that people weren't interested in good-news stories about returning soldiers, and that the war's growing unpopularity was the news story that would sell.
Overcoming symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Johnson went on to found his own business, and he is recently retired.
The Vietnam veterans got a raw deal because they fervently believed they were doing their duty. Hopefully our series somehow contributes to a better historical legacy for the Vietnam vets.

XFest: Scribbles in my notebook

On rare occasions I encounter musicians whose music I've never heard, but are just so stinkin' nice that I just have to seek it out.
That's what happened in the "reporting" phase of a preview story I wrote for the 2013 version of the annual Xtreme Folk Scene festival, XFest.
The Grand Slambovians, who often play the Sellersville Theater and have entertained at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, are the headlining act Saturday, and the band's Joziah Longo and Tink Lloyd seemed pleasantly surprised to learn that they were the headliner.

Lloyd emailed to me:

"Will be in touch at 3:15. BTW, we were watching an old episode of 'Fringe,' which was taking place in Lansdale, Pa. just before we saw your email yesterday!!!!

We thought that was significant, and should definitely do this interview!" 

 Longo (pictured above) took me through his life's journey of being kicked out of Catholic school in Philadelphia and winding up at C.B. West while living on a commune that resided in the octagonal barn in Whistlestop Park, on the Montgomery County side of County Line Road.
Now of course, I have a hard time believing that Montgomery Township or the Central Bucks School District would be at all OK with that arrangement. Time has not allowed me to independently confirm that the barn was ever used as a residence. However, in Googling info. on the barn, I did learn that it was severely damaged in a storm in 2004 and rebuilt.
I heard about Longo's original band, The Ancestors. "We'd play Carnegie Hall one night and the next night we'd be at CBGB's," he said.
Founded in 2000, The Grand Slambovians have such a following that they have their own line of coffee!
Longo was drinking some sort of calming tea during our chat, which must have transferred over the phone because I felt comfortable enough talking to Longo to let it slip that my own folk 'n' roll duo, Raspberry Tea, performed at the 2010 XFest. He was genuinely interested in hearing more about that.

And it turns out the Slambovians' songs are quite fun.That's Tink Lloyd on the accordion.

I also spoke to John Weathers of Stolen Thyme, who will play the same Saturday opening slot that Raspberry Tea played three years ago. He let me in on the dirty double entendre of his group's name, taken from an old folk ballad, "Let No Man Steal Your Time." Weathers, who has a Ph.D. degree and reminded me of talking to a college music professor, revealed that the herb thyme has been used to symbolize virginity. Needless to say, "let no man steal your THYME" takes on a whole different meaning. 

Cooking like hot sex

Food Network Chef Robert Irvine recently hosted an online, real time cooking event for charity.
Chaos ensued in our kitchen. 

Harleysville Celtic group part of Philadelphia Folk Festival lineup

The lineup for the 52nd Annual Philadelphia Folk Festival has been announced. 

Richard Thompson returns to the festival with an electric trio. The Mavericks, who rose to fame during the '90s country music boom, are also headlining.  Always loved their song "What a Crying Shame."

Other notable names include Asleep at the Wheel, The Carolina Chocolate Drops and Jake Shimabukuro.

I'm excited that Hooters drummer David Uosikkinen’s project "In the Pocket: The Essential Songs of Philadelphia" is part of the festival at the Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford Aug. 16-18.

But even more impressive than that is that Harleysville group Burning Bridget Cleary will be playing the festival this year. Woo hoo! Way to represent the area, guys (and girls)!
 Go to www.pfs.org to get more info.