DROP IN VS DROP OUT

When people find out that I've been in radio/music all my life, I inevitably get the "what's your favorite band?" question. As most of you with varying tastes know, this is a near impossible question to answer. So usually I give them my stock answer (and I paraphrase) " I'm a Beatles and Stones fan at heart that went wildly astray"! This post is a perfect example. When I first saw this footage of The Beatles filmed on October 30th,1963 for the Swedish TV show "Drop In", I almost dropped myself! This terrific mini-concert is a Megaupload 93.4MB MPEG which runs for 11:39. Please check out the wonderful "Beatles Source" web-site for a mind altering trip into Beatles rarities.



On the opposite end of my musical hemisphere are The Residents. As much a San Francisco tradition as Rice-A-Roni, I first starting playing The Residents during my early radio days at WTBS/WMBR, Cambridge. I was drawn in by their "theory of obscurity" and their irreverent take on pop music. They were to me a sort of "anti-Beatles". The album art for "Meet The Residents" gave a clue of their attachment to The Beatles, but "The Beatles Play The Residents And The Residents Play The Beatles"" single took the beloved mop-tops and warped them into pure Residentsmania! Both the mind-altering snip and paste pastiche "Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life" and the faithful cover of "Flying" (supposedly selected because it was credited to all four Beatles) are at the same time a tribute and a slap-in-the-face. Both are Megaupload MP3 files.

There it is, the answer to that often asked question - ask me again tomorrow - it will probably be different.

If you haven't already, check out the "The Beatles Anthology" book and DVD set and if you are truly adventurous, a whole world of Residents music, movies, CD Rom and books await you. I suggest starting with "Eskimo", a landmark avant garde electronic release from 1979.

More fun stuff on Thursday!

RFW