DANCING WITH MR. D

You may have heard that Dick Clark died today. I've got mixed feelings about him, as I do with a lot of people who make, or have made, their living off of rock 'n' roll in a support role. It's kind of a gray area. Some roles just rub me the wrong way. Back when I put on shows (usually with friends), it was for the music. We had just gotten tired of driving to L.A. to see our favorite bands. The shows were not in any way a money making venture, and we actually lost money on just about every show (guarantying bands 100% of the door after expenses will do that). Nonetheless, I would have people grill me about how it was done with their sights on getting a foot in the door with the music industry. One of them ended up working with Bill Graham, and another with Nirvana. I've always had mixed feelings about both of these guys. Though I assumed that their hearts were in the right place, their role was in the business end of things, ergo they were dancing with the devil.

Public Image Ltd.- Poptones & Careering (American Bandstand 1980)

Make no mistake, Dick Clark danced with the devil. But that didn't stop me from watching American Bandstand one last time in 1980. Public Image Ltd was appearing and it was one of the few times that the majority of room mates and lurking couch inhabitants at the house I was living in all crowded around a TV set. We figured it would be interesting to see how P.I.L. and the world's oldest teenager interacted, and we weren't let down. John Lydon made few attempts to lip sync, and spent half of the time wandering around the audience, dragging and pushing the bewildered clean cut teenagers onto the stage. It was one of musics biggest televised WTF moments. Looking back, it's kind of remarkable that it was even aired.

So here we are, thirty two years later. Dick Clark is dead and Public Image is back at it, releasing a new four track EP this Saturday, for Record Store Day.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Public Image Ltd - One Drop (streaming) at Brooklyn Vegan From the EP to be released this Saturday
Watch:
Captain Beefheart phone interview on American Bandstand at YouTube Dig the teens getting down to Diddy Wah Diddy! Another WTF classic!
Visit:
John Lydon, Public Image Ltd. return with first new album in 20 years at the L. A. Times
Record Store Day Official site