Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Yes, humour (with a u in this case) and camaraderie are very important to maintain, so I am going outside now to dunk my head into a bucket of water.

(brief passage of time)

I am back...and rather soaked.

This forum is not only entertaining, but it's also a bloody good read. Case-in-point being Paul Wilczynski's well-reasoned post just two posts ahead of this not-so-well reasoned post.

My wife says, Why do you keep going to that site?
Are there hot chicks there?

Maybe there are (hello?), but overall, it's the dialogue, even heated, that keeps me coming back. Good stuff, even if we don't agree!

JJ, er Paul,

I agree with your view of seniors. Just look at BB King. He has not lost his chops in 30 years. Arguably neither did Chuck Berry. Check out Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll it was filmed and recorded at a 1986 concert in St. Louis. The concert was organized by Keith Richards to celebrate Berry's sixtieth birthday and it featured Richards and Eric Clapton.

So, carrying on with my theme, neither have the Stones (not my all time favorite band, but they deserve some credit) lost their edge or Rod Stewart for that matter.

I recently saw Randy Bachman in concert and he was amazing. In fact he was better than he was 20 years ago.

So it all depends on the artist and what is going on in their life. Paul McCartney is a gifted man. I don't really like much of his new stuff but hey, just like the television if it irritates me I can always turn it off.

Paul: I quite agree that emotional and cognitive growth abounds in the majority of our young old. Paul is a very good example of this population. He looks great physically as well. Is it unrealistic for him to have dark brown hair? Perhaps, but that has not stood in his way.

I didn't mean to sell Paul short, on talent or cognition. I just think that his here today's will not measure up to his yesterdays. That he has written more hits than he will write in the days ahead. While history may not agree, I consider that Paul has generally done his best work in collaboration with others rather than on his own. That his greatest success was achieved years ago is a matter of record and reflected and in the setlist from his current tour. My take on Paul's recent compositions is that he is coasting along and as such is probably going downhill.

Jerry: Reading the posts of many here is like trying to understand how Nosmo King got his name. You often don't fully appreciate the humour unless you examine it in its entirety.

Mick: Your example is a great one. Well all take a soaking here from time to time, but the very good news is that we dry off and come back for more.

Brian: Excellent points. I would argue, however, that Berry, King, The Stones and Bachman had and have a spark that I haven't seen in McCartney for the past while.

Peter, I could not have said it better myself. I must be getting dimmer in my old age.

Paul FYI: In this case Michael Jackson sold out. He owns the Long and Winding Road.

Hot dialogue! It's okay as long as it has some redeeming social value...

It's not only fine to disagree, it's unavoidable. If one is allergic to disagreement, one can always convert to Scientology and spend all one's time in their little 'chat room'...(my apologies to worshippers of Tom Cruise...he's very rich and popular, so maybe a nobody like me has no business puttin' him down. If half the teenage girls in America had a poster of me on their walls, I suppose I'd be in a better position to critique him).

One of the perplexing things about the ongoing Macca controversy here is the division between us concerning the conditions of the controversy itself. To wit: the impression some have that the 'Paul bashing' posts outnumber the 'Paul worshipping' posts...they don't. As near as I can tell, it's about even. And this stuff about being 'mean-spirited'...on this side of the divide, we are pretty rough on the 'old boy' with our prose, but none of us thinks he should be silenced once and for all. In fact, I think I speak for a lot of us on this side of the argument when I say that we'd be thrilled beyond words if he were to do some really good work. Over there on the right wing of our little airplane, however, there have been comments that come pretty close to personal attacks on us simply for having the opinions that we do. Especially annoying is the "let's hear what you've done" argument that's meant to silence us because we haven't yet won a Grammy. This is akin to telling me that I can't criticize our President until I successfully dodge military service, have my way paid into Yale and come away with a 'C' average, fail miserably at oil exploration on somebody else's dime, run a professional sports franchise into the ground, have my family connections get me out of prosecution for driving while intoxicated, and cover up my cocaine-addled past with a big "Come-To-Jesus" moment. Well, none of those things are on my to-do list, but I'm going to be vocal about what a ****** job he's doing because it's my right in what remains of a free society.

I (for one) have been accused of 'sounding angry', but I don't have a monopoly on that emotion, as a quick skimming back through recent postings will attest. And really, that's fine with me...it's not a 'Little Mary Sunshine' world; if it were, rock music would have come and gone a long time ago, dying of irrelevance like Rudy Valee and raccoon coats. No, it's still around and we're still discussing it (and playing it) because it became an inextricable part of social discourse and the progressive movements of the late twentieth century.

In short, I welcome both disagreements with anything I might say and expressions thereof...but please, if you can, avoid making use of statements that, no matter how 'cleverly' phrased, boil down to little more than "Shut up, Hippie"...

Now then...in an attitude of conciliation, I have wracked my brain since yesterday to come up with something positive I could say about any element of Macca's work since 1969, and I have hit upon it:

Thank you, Sir Paul, on behalf of my ancestors and myself, for the song "Give Ireland Back To The Irish"...may the Long And Winding Road rise up to meet you for that one.

I thought Jackson owned Beatle songs up to a point, not including the later songs. Anyway, Paul says they'll revert back to him automatically at some point (like Lennon's shares have).

Everyone: perhaps I need to look at things with my rosey glasses on. I've grown accustomed to my own grouchiness.

Dane: Rudy Vallee could not possibly be "irrelevant"...Macca has channeled him on quite a few songs.

Dane: In the interest of maintaining a positive relationship with those present I have gone out on the limb with this precis of your last post. I will not let it remain but you do come across angry to me. Here is what your post meant to me, paragraph by paragraph.

An interesting discussion here.

Arguing different points of view can be healthy.

Posts expressing a like and a dislike for McCartney's music seem equivocal here. We should all be able to express our views without being attacked personally.

I am not alone in expressing my anger and frustration with regard to some topics.

I welcome honest disagreement, please don't dismiss me out of hand.

I have a limited enjoyment of Paul's work but respect Give Ireland Back To The Irish.

JJ, as much as I hate conceding a point...ya got me there...

Voh-doh-dee-oh-doh and boop-boop-ee-doop.

Hey Peter: thanks, man...could you just leave your post up and say it's from me? Much obliged...

Peter, are you hinting that some of us can be a bit wordy?

Excellent précis, that. Or is it precís?

As a drunk once hollered repeatedly at us from the back of the darkened bar during our set:

"Keep it smoooooth..."

Dane,

Perhaps you could explain "Voh-doh-dee-oh-doh and boop-boop-ee-doop" for the uninitiated. Or am I just having a senior moment? LOL

Oh and I would never have guessed that you were a hippy. Mind you jet planes fly over my head all the time and I can rarely tell you which airline they belong to. I need new glasses I'll bet.

Brian...I'm not an expert, as those phrases are from before my time...I just know they're both quite a bit tamer than "Diddy-Wah-Diddy"...

As to being a 'Hippie'...I dunno, you tell me: