radical druid

For so many years my life has been defined by the Music I've wanted to create. Each time I get disgusted, and lay down the guitar (or bass or piano or whatever primary chording instrument I'm using at the time), it's only a matter of time before something draws me back into that world - a need to express, melodically or harmonically, a certain sense of place and time. Many of my own bouts of indecision, self-doubt and uncertainty can be traced directly to the level of frustration I'm experiencing Musically. Because my primary influence in terms of creative units is based on the Beatles, I am constantly looking for collaborators - and while I have at rare intervals encountered souls who seemed “attuned” to where I was coming from (at the time), usually I end up alone, in the home studio, laying down tracks and attempting to fill in the gaps myself. One time when I was talking to someone about forming a band, and played them some of my tapes, they asked, “well, you seem to have it all together ... what do you need me for?” I said nothing, but thought hard at that person --- have you ever heard of playing live? And sometimes, when all you have is your own ideas, your own harmonic limitations, you end up simply imitating yourself. Instead of finding new chords and melodies, you end up playing every song you've ever written over and over again - and coming up with nothing new, just cannabalizing your own repertoire. Yet at this point in my life I don't want to tour, or drive an hour to rehearsals, or hang out at bars till three a.m. or have someone crash at my house, high or crazy or both. I feel like Robert Hunter, sometimes, looking for Jerry Garcia. Or Pete Sinfield, looking for Robert Fripp. I'll admit, I'm not looking all that hard. I've gotten to a point where it makes more sense to not look. Because looking always ends up with me thinking I've found something, and then it turns out to be so temporary. So many of the models I look to started out so much younger as collaborators, and grew into it as they themselves matured as humans. And besides, the Music industry environment today is not looking to nurture and encourage growth. So there it is. The solution is to just keep on doing what I'm doing. Unless, of course, there is someone out there who wants to collaborate :)

A Path of Wildness

I chose to walk a path of wildness;
though these modern city streets are paved
and seem to revel in a blindness
that believes the urban sprawl has saved
us from what nature could remind us:

somewhere beneath all this black and gray,
behind the masks that progress may wear
as it fumbles through lines of a play
it has not written, and does not care
to find meaning in what those words say,

there is an rough edge to our control.
Beyond that border the feral earth,
that patient presses diamonds from coal,
in each single instant gives birth
to the strange chaos that feeds our souls.

Where the sidewalk ends and turns to vine
is never clearly marked on a chart;
and your map is not the same as mine,
even if we would pretend to start
from the same place at an exact time.

What's more, both paths may appear the same
(if anyone still took time to look)
and like gods often bearing false names
to confuse those who insist on books,
will merge at times; they are not to blame.

Instead, it is our pride that deceives;
we do not seek to balance, but rule,
and as a despot king we believe
our road divine, and others for fools
unfit to share the glory we perceive.

But it is there; the wildness can't be tamed,
nor trimmed and manicured for too long
before it tires of such polite games
and flexes its muscles, lean and strong,
to escape the gilded picture frame.

I would go after, where it now stalks
amidst the dark, thickened underbrush;
sometimes just at dawn I hear it walk
right under my open window. Hush!
Can you hear it too? It likes my block.

18 FEB 2005

and NOT because it is associated with anything but a "marijuana smoking in progress" allegedly, in a definite nod to my less than savory past ...

In glorious MP3 Stereo ... here

The 4:20 Blues

Out on a limb, you've got to sink or swim
And either one is a political act
There on a whim, it's much to late to begin
To separate what you have learned from the facts

Poised on the brink, your neck in the drink
You've got to improvise the skill that you lack
After a while, you start to fake it with style
And then there's not much chance to turn back

Nothing left to lose, maybe then you'll choose
The 4:20 blues

Out on the lamb, it's hard to give a good damn
Beyond the next turnaround of the wheel
If you're in on the plan, you fall for the scam
Or figure out the safest way you can deal

Poised on the ledge, or stuck in the hedge
You've got to subliminate the way that you feel
After a while, you start to take it and smile
And then there's not much hope for appeal

Nothing left to lose, how can you refuse
The 4:20 blues

Out on the line, you start to thinking it's fine
And then the tug starts reeling you in
If you've got enough rope, you may think you can cope
Until the hook pulls under your chin

Poised in the net, you start to feel a regret
But it's a little late for struggling then
After a while, your bones will be on the pile
And you can start all over again

Nothing left to lose, might as well break through
The 4:20 blues

Like Johnny Cash once sang, "I've been everywhere, man."

Born in Michigan, childhood (and a few later recuperative years) spent on a family farm in northwestern Ohio, high school in southern California, college in Boston (Berklee College of Music, which didn't change me too much), Memphis, Seattle, New Orleans and since Hurricane Katrina hanging out in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Traveled through, lived in, or visited 48 of the United States.

Played music with family growing up, learning country, bluegrass, classical, rock, jazz and everything else I could. Took guitar, voice, piano, clarinet, violin and upright bass lessons. Played in the band and sang in the choir. Started writing songs when I was nine years old, and haven't stopped yet.

First started playing music for any kind of money in high school, then in the club scene in Los Angeles and Hollywood during the late 1980s. Stints in a number of LA bands, and then worked with Aaron Flinn, of Vermont, while at Berklee in Boston. After moving to Memphis, did about six months worth of solo acoustic gigs, a couple of turns as an ordained Elvis impersonator. In Seattle, I played at Folklife with Jean Jacquette and the Bluethreads, which was where I started returning to my country-folk-blues roots. Moved to Ohio, formed the band Poorboy Station but then set my sights for more musical diversity and moved to New Orleans. Now high and dry outside of the Toxic City, I'm looking to explore, discover and expand on what I started calling "Country and Midwestern" music while living in Ohio. Not alt.country, or Deadhead music, or Hot New Country. More like Gram Parsons' Cosmic American Music. To again quote Johnny Cash, "alternative to what?"

Checking out Jeff Rachall and 24/7 on Saturday night, I met another new friend: David Withers, owner and proprietor of Strait Country, a new club out on Highway 6 West just inside the Hagewood city limits. Apparently it used to be called the Bedrock and cater to a younger (probably college crowd), but David has converted it to a C & W joint and the audience seemed to be mostly middle-aged and older folks. The layout is great (it actually reminds me a bit of the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, if you can believe that, except with less black paint and more wood), the stage is big, sound system kicking, the dance floor wide and level, and the bartenders nice and friendly. They've got pool tables, too, and there really isn't a bad seat in the house as far as view of the stage goes. Could be a new watering hole on the weekends; they're open Friday and Saturday nights.

Anyway, David and I are talking about forming a house band to play on the Fridays and Saturdays when they don't have anyone booked. Sounds promising, and I'll keep ya'll posted. Could mean some local gigs (it's about 7 minutes from the house we're hoping to buy) and good times to be had by all.

or "Shows I've Seen, Places I've Been"

Don't Be Too Literal with the Dates or Venues; It's Been a Long Time

1978: Maynard Ferguson (ONU, Ada, OH)
1981: Sarah Vaughn (Disneyland, Anaheim, CA), Tangerine Dream (Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA)
1982: Osmonds (Disneyland), X (Country Club, Reseda, CA), The Gun Club (Country Club)
1983: Jacksons Victory Tour (Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA)
1984: Wynton Marsalis (El Camino College Auditorium, Torrance, CA), Ronnie James Dio (Santa Monica Civic), Jethro Tull (Santa Monica Civic)
1985: Downey Mildew (Hollywood Palace), Peewee Crayton (Music Machine, West LA), Dwight Yoakum (Music Machine), Dickies (Scream, LA), Descendants (Whiskey, LA), Love & Rockets (Hollywood Palladium)
1986: Bonedaddys (Hobarts, Long Beach, CA), Depeche Mode (Irvine Meadows, CA), Echo & the Bunnymen (Irvine Meadows), Gay Bikers on Acid (JOhn Anson Ford Theater, LA), Swans (JAF Theater), Long Ryders (Silverlake Street Scene Festival, LA), Cure (Great Western Forum, LA), Julian Cope (Hollywood Palace), Dead Milkmen (Hollywood Palladium), Bad Brains (Hollywood Palladium), P.I.L. (Hollywood Palladium), Blancmange (Blanchard Hall, UC Irvine, CA), David Baerwald (Variety Arts Center, LA), Randy California (VAC), Chameleons UK (VAC), Ray Manzarek (VAC), Skye Saxxon (VAC), Love & Rockets (VAC), The Last (Fender's International Ballroom, Long Beach, CA), Anderson Bruford Wakeman & Howe (Greek Theater, LA)
1987: Henry Rollins (Hobarts), Bob Dylan (Irvine Meadows)
1988: Bob Mould (Golden Bear, San Juan Capistrano, CA)
1990: Elvin Jones (Birdland West, Long Beach, CA), Frank Sinatra (Long Beach Arena, CA)
1991: Average White Band (Avalon, Boston, MA), Meters (Avalon), War (Avalon), McCoy Tyner (Boston Commons, MA), Dennis Chambers (Buddy Rich Drum Contest, Berklee, MA), Allmann Brothers (Memphis in May, TN), Dan Baird (MIM), James Brown (MIM)
1992: Hypnotic Clambake (Java Cabana, Memphis, TN), Neighborhood Texture Jam (Antenna, Memphis, TN)
1994: NRBQ (Nashville, TN), Dave Brubeck (Omni New Daisy, Memphis, TN), Dwight Yoakum (Pyramid, Memphis, TN), John Cale (Pyramid), Billy Ray Cyrus (Pyramid), Mac Davis (Pyramid), Melissa Etheridge (Pyramid), L7 (Pyramid), Carl Perkins (Pyramid), Iggy Pop (Pyramid), John Renbourn (University of Memphis, TN)
1995: Chris Whitley (OK Hotel, Seattle, WA), Laurie Lewis (Wintergrass Festival, Tacoma, WA), Ralph Stanley (Wintergrass)
1997: Merle Haggard (Backstage, Seattle, WA)
1998: Confederate Railroad (Hardin County Fairgrounds, Kenton, OH), John Hartford (Midwest National Bluegrass Festival, Lima, OH), Peter Rowan (MNBF), Tony Rice (MNBF), Ricky Skaggs (MNBF), Alison Krause (MNBF), Hot Tuna (Polaris Ampitheatre, Columbus, OH), Other Ones (Polaris), Rusted Root (Polaris)
1999: Dr. John (Tipitina's)
2001: Dr. John (New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival), Irma Thomas (NOJHF), Van Morrison (NOJHF)
2002: Paul McCartney (New Orleans Arena)
2005: Jeff Rachall & 24/7 (Natchitoches)

Clubs You May Have Seen Me In (either on-stage or in the audience):

Los Angeles: Palace, Palladium, Anticlub, Troubadour, Gazzaris, Madame Wong’s West, Music Machine, Scream, Crypt, Cathouse, Coconut Teazers, Central, Rainbow, Roxy, Fender’s International Ballroom, Hobarts, Al’s Bar, Lighthouse Café, The Hop, Florentine Gardens, Whisky a Go Go
San Francisco: I-Beam Theater
Boston: Ratcellar, Station, Wally’s, Avalon, Orpheum, Black Rose, Sculler’s, Middle East, Harper’s Ferry
New York: Coney Island Freak Museum
Memphis: Antenna, 616, Red Square, Green’s Lounge, Willie Mitchell’s, New Daisy, B.B. King’s, Orpheum, New Daisy Theater, House of Blues, Java Cabana, Otherlands
Seattle: OK Hotel, Colorbox, Blue Moon Saloon, Fiddler, Dubliner, Little Red Hen, Backstage
New Orleans: Boufas, Bacchus Lounge, Tipitina's Uptown, Maple Leaf, Apple Barrel
Natchitoches, LA: Cherokee Club, Strait Country, Pioneer Pub
Yantis, TX: East Fork Restaurant and Club
Bossier City, LA: Roper's Night Life

Glimpse at the surface of one of my songs, and I hope you'll see a new American tradition being born. The authenticity is there --- farmland and family and tales from fly-over country. My roots are showing, and there's no mistaking the fruits from the tree I've been watching over for the better part of twenty years. It's what I like to call "Country and Midwestern," a melting pot of sound and history bubbling up from a triangulated area of the United States that runs from Detroit to Chicago to Nashville to New Orleans, from Memphis to Bakersfield to Austin and back again to Memphis before winding its way right here to Natchitoches, Louisiana --- south of Stonewall, Kickapoo and Cow Patty Junction, north of the Gulf of Mexico, between Dallas and Jackson. East of the Sun and west of the Moon. Where they don't manufacture the stuff dreams are made of, they grow it from seed.

I've tried in my songs to incorporate a mixture of the lyricism of Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, the clever touch of Tom T. Hall and Roger Miller, and the straight ahead no nonsense of Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash. While I'm not sure I completely agree, some have said my voice combines the drama of George Jones, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley, yes, particularly Elvis, with the sensitivity of Gram Parsons and Willie Nelson. Dig below the surface, though, and I hope you'll hear Otis Redding, Ray Charles, the second-line funk of the Meters, and the smooth rumblings of Curtis Mayfield. Maybe the Dead, the Band, the Allmann Brothers, John Coltrane and Louis Armstrong. It's a sound raised on radio in America, from blues to jazz to folk to bluegrass, with R & B and soul thrown in for good measure. I think you'll hear the Beatles and the Byrds, the Boss and the Godfather, Country Joe to David Allen Coe, Hank Williams to Henry Rollins, the country fair and the corner barbershop.

There's a risk, though, that you'll have to open your ears to pick up on it all. I don't believe in playing just what you want to hear, when you want to hear it. All music, and my music too, is about choices, and cooperation, and considerations, but it's also about commitment, character and accountability. When I take an old Led Zeppelin song and turn it out like Hank Williams Jr., anything can happen. You'd better have your boots on, because it's a long road from Vermont to Arizona, and we're likely to cover every square mile. From Ellis Island to the Oregon Trail, there's a lot of room for everything in my Country, from the cradle to the churchyard to the grave and every gin joint and disreputable establishment in between.

I've played in all kinds of bands over the years, writing songs in the style of every album that ever hit my turntable, from outlaw to biker to poet to politician. My songs are about love and war, rednecks and revolutions, blue suede and blue ribbons, longnecks, longing and lonely old souls. Whether on guitar, piano, bass, dobro, mandolin, fiddle, lap steel, harmonica or anything else I pick up, I try to make each note tell a story. Like my life, I feel my songs are part of a larger American fable that reaches out to folks in the urban jungles of Boston, New York, Los Angeles and Seattle and says, "Look here, ya'll, this is a thing I picked up where the concrete ends." It doesn't lie, and I hope it'll grow on you like home cooking.

I was born in 1965 in Royal Oak, Michigan. I grew up on a family farm in northwestern Ohio, then spent 12 years in southern California. From there, it was a voice scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston. After parting ways with formal education, I began the long journey back to my roots --- Memphis, home of Sun, Hi and Stax Records. Marriage led me on to Seattle, where I expanded my Americana vocabulary playing guitar with Jean Jacquette and the Blue Threads, and eventually back to rural Ohio, where I kept writing through cold winters and divorce. At that point, having lived East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, Pacific Northwest and Midsouth, I imagined my choices to be Alaska, Maine or the Deep South. I chose based on the music, and relocated to New Orleans, where I met my true soulmate, painter, master chef, ex-sommelier and consummate Aquarius, Starlight Dances. She and I and her daughter have survived Hurricane Katrina and each other, so far, and are now located above sea level and back in the country outside Natchitoches in northwestern Lousiana. I'm playing with some friends locally, still immersed in the country folk blues, still writing what I hope is unmistakably my own music, and looking forward to rebuilding a home studio where I can record and share the soundtrack of my life.

Bright Blessings, Good Roads and Accurate Directions to ya'll.

With a tip of the hat to an online friend, Joe over at Song of My Heart:

You entered: John Robert Litzenberg
There are 20 letters in your name.
Those 20 letters total to 108
There are 6 vowels and 14 consonants in your name.

Your number is: 9

The characteristics of #9 are: Humanitarian, giving nature, selflessness, obligations, creative expression.

The expression or destiny for #9:
The expression that you exhibit is represented bythe number 9. Your talents center in humanistic interests and approaches. You like to help others as you were intended to be the 'big brother or big sister' type. You operate best when you follow your feelings and sense of compassion, and allow yourself to be sensitive to the needs of others. You work well with people, and have the potential to inspire. This suggests that you could successfully teach or counsel. Creative ability, imagination and artistic talent (often latent) of the highest order are present in this expression. It's possible that you're not using or developing all of these capabilities at this time. Some of your talents may have been used at an earlier time in your life, and some may still be latent. Be aware of your capabilities, so that you can make use of them at appropriate times.

If you are able to achieve the potential of your natural expression in this life, you are capable of much human understanding and have a lot to give to others. Your personal ambitions are likely to be maintained in a very positive perspective, never losing sight of an interest in people, and a sympathetic, tolerant, broad-minded and compassionate point of view. You are quite idealistic, and disappointed at the lack of perfection in the world. You have a strong awareness of your own feeling as well as those of others. Friendships, affection, and love are extremely important.

Undeveloped or ignored, the negative side of the 9 expression can be very selfish and self-centered. If you do not actively involve yourself with work that benefits others, you may tend to express just the opposite characteristics. It is your role to be very involved with other people and their needs, but it may be difficult for you achieve this role. Aloofness, lack of involvement, and a lack of sensitivity mark the low road of this expression.

Your Soul Urge number is: 9

A Soul Urge number of 9 means:
With a 9 Soul Urge, you want to give to others, usually in a humanitarian or philanthropic manner. You are highly motivated to give friendship, affection and love. And you are generous in giving of your knowledge and experience. You have very sharing urges, and you are likely to have a great deal to share. Your concern for others makes you a very sympathetic and generous person with a sensitive and compassionate nature.

You are able to view life in very broad and intuitive terms. You often express high ideals and an inspirational approach to life. If you are able to fully realize the potential of your motivation, you will be a very self-sacrificing person who is able to give freely without being concerned about any return or reward.

As with all human beings, you are prone to sometimes express the negative attitudes inherent to your Soul Urges. You may become too sensitive and tend to express emotions strongly at times. There can be significant conflict between higher aims and personal ambitions. You may resent the idea of giving all of the time and, in fact, if there is too much 9 energy in your nature you may reject the idea. You may often be disappointed in the lack of perfection in yourself and others.

Your Inner Dream number is: 9

An Inner Dream number of 9 means:
You dream of being creative, intellectual, and universal; the selfless humanitarian. You understand the needy and what to help them. You would love to be a person people count on for support and advice.

What's Your Name Mean?

Borrowed (ever who gets it) from stardances:

Borrowed from edbook. After reading his results, I was intringued, but did not imagine that my own results would prove equally as insightful. I'm really quite surprised at how closely this set of ten selected interests REALLY sums up a good part of who I am.

1. bukowski:
   Poetry, in a world that discounts art, that praises mediocrity, that devalues beauty by worshipping youth, is not pretty. That to me is the lesson of Bukowski. Combine that with his general philosophy that great writers are born, not made, and I'm hooked.
2. dictionaries:
   Words, words and more words. For a time, I used to read the dictionary for relaxation. Words have power; to know the name of a thing is to control it. Likewise, to know the origin of a word is to understand your own history. I've always been fascinated with learning new words, new ideas, new facts.
3. gil scott-heron:
   The power of the word to fuel a revolution. The tangible strength of the spoken voice to connect the earth to the sky and rumble the foundations of power. I remember the first time I listened to "Small Talk at 125th and Lenox" all the way through; it was not just the stuff of revolution, it was revelation. This was what poetry, when harnessed to will and a microphone, was capable of doing. This was slam without competition; this was performance.
4. india:
   Apparently, my first word was "elephant". I have always been drawn to India: her people, her languages, her diversity, her religions, her extremes, her history.

   Om namah shivaya

5. lefty frizzell:
   Wow. So far, this interests grabber is right on the money. Lefty Frizzell represents the clarity, phrasing, intelligence, humor and lyricism of traditional country. He is one of my all-time country music idols, and paved the way for many others - Willie, Merle, George Jones, Roger Miller, and me.
6. perennial philosophy:
   This phrase, used but probably not first coined by Aldous Huxley in his book, sums up my life's spiritual quest: to find the common threads that run through all religious traditions; to seek the truth that does not fade although its names change from generation to generation; to learn to appreciate the journey spent along the shore communing with the ocean, rather than grasping for a single grain of sand to call the answer.
7. revolution:
   To change the world by changing oneself; to call for a reinforcement of evolution; to participate in the world at the speed of now, moving with the spheres as they revolve. To constantly challenge the status quo; to resist the urge to stay self-satisfied; to never be satisfied with "because it's always been that way" or "you can't fight City Hall" or "no fish ever got caught, 'cept it opened its mouth".
8. sonnets:
   So short, so simple, so compact, those fourteen little lines. Ah, you can take your Milton, Steven Vincent Benet, Longfellow, Poe, Pope and other such longwinded fellows; and give it to me sweet and intricate. To master the sonnet is to understand what it means to call poetry an art form. It is to appreciate the limitations of language, and at the same time, comprehend its infinity. That's not an easy lesson to learn, absorb or accept.
9. vedanta:
   Two of the most influential books in my life have been "The Gospel According to Sri Ramakrishna" and "The Complete Writings of Vivekananda". It's my understanding that these two sources form the basis for much of what is called "modern" Hinduism. Certainly, this was the form that reached the West, and has influenced so many of the writers and thinkers that I love and respect.
10. zen:
    The first Eastern religion that I attempted to practice was Zen Buddhism. It represents, to me, cutting through illusion and simply living in each moment; applying the principle of Occam's Razor to each and every act, each breath, each word.

Enter your LJ user name, and 10 interests will be selected from your interest list.

With a tip of the hat to przxqgl:

You are Pure Nerd

69 % Nerd, 26% Geek, 43% Dork

For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Congratulations!

THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

or is the parfait? It's something with layers, I know ... either way, this one didn't bring too many tears. Thanks to draggingmuppets, from which this was obtained:

1) Favourite movie of the 1980s?: Gandhi
2) Favourite musician/group of the 1980s?: The Cure
3) Favourite TV show of the 1980s?: Twin Peaks
4) Favourite invention of the 1980s?: The PC
5) World Event from the 1980s that stands out in your mind?: John Lennon's assasination

borrowed (lifted, snagged, absconded, pilfered, nicked) from draggingmuppets:

	You are 39% messed up. You are secretly messed up. Most people probably couldn't tell but you are messed up beneath your calm appearance. You are likely to plan elaborate schemes and be the instigator in events - so you can keep your messed up nature a secret.
'How messed up are you?' at QuizGalaxy.com

so I don't know if I dig the results of this one, savvy? I mean, I've known people from Texas, and I've traveled through Texas, both via airplane (don't you have to switch planes in DFW whether your destination is Heaven OR Hell?) and across the panhandle via car ... and I actually did play a gig in Yantis/East Fork. But Texas, to be honest with ya, has always intimidated me a bit. Maybe it's the result of seeing Giant at far too early an age, and seeing what it did to James Dean (LOL) and what it didn't do to Rock Hudson.

Anyway ...

Here's a mix of another recent song, Don't You Diagnose Me (with the Blues):

Download it from MySpace

Enjoy!

Recently back from Austria and Switzerland, where he was stationed during the Korean War, here are my father (right) and uncle circa 1953, both in their mid-twenties:

My own version of the Friday Ten -- top ten influences lyrically and melodically (in no particular order):

Lyrics:
Cole Porter, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Sammy Cahn, Kris Kristofferson, Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams, Chuck Berry, Roger Miller and Ira Gershwin

Melodies:
Cole Porter, Paul McCartney, Hoagy Carmichael, Wolfgang Mozart, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Duke Ellington, Willie Nelson, Curtis Mayfield, Brian Wilson and Smoky Robinson

Having just seen (actually for the second time) the made for VH1 movie "Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story" and recently also having watched "Ray" and "The Five Heartbeats" got me thinking about all the movies I'd seen about real or fictitious musicians or singers.

Musical biopics, I suppose they're called in the trade; biographical pictures that because of their subject matter must include a great deal of music.

So I thought I'd put together a list, and over the next few months I'll be updating to add comments and ratings to these flicks as a guide to the newly needing to be inspired musicians on my reading list. Because I've seen most of these movies, over the years, and found them either inspirational, insipid or in some cases, wildly inaccurate about the way being a musician actually works. No matter, the accuracy, however, it seems that the movie-going public has ALWAYS been fascinated by biographies of musicians, whether they would have them in their homes or not.

So here's the list: