A Chili Pepper making a real difference in the community

The Silverlake Conservatory of Music is a non-profit organization, created in 2001 to fill the void in the cultural landscape of our community.  We offer the people of our area the opportunity to study music with exceptional teachers at a reasonable price.  We grant scholarships to deserving children, providing free lessons and instruments.

So reads the mission statement on the homepage of the Silverlake Conservatory of Music.  And, quite frankly, I’m surprised that it’s taken this long for the national press to pick up on the good deeds being done by this little school in Los Angeles.

After all, it’s not every music conservatory that has a genuine rock star as its founder.  And this one does – one Mr. Michael Peter Balzary, otherwise known as Flea, the fantastic bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The co-founder of the Silverlake Conservatory of Music

It’s old news in Los Angeles, where the conservatory hosts an annual “Hullabaloo” fundraiser every fall (the 5th annual was this past Halloween), but it is great to see CNN provide greater exposure for the fantastic deeds of Flea and his fellow philanthropists in this feature by the network’s Denise Quan.

Never judge a book by its cover, they say, and seeing a legitimate music school (not a rock star camp) founded by a guy who – on the surface – would appear to be the least likely to do so is incredibly heartening, to say the least.  And to think, a chance meeting with the music teacher from his old high school was the impetus for the whole project.

Thanks to the inspiration of one man, kids in greater Los Angeles have an opportunity to learn music in an environment that was lacking for the general population before the founding of the conservatory. 

Making Flea not only the perfect example of not judging a book by its cover, but also the personification of one who lives the ideal of “to whom much is given, much is expected”.

Yes, yes, yes, it’s my autumn almanac

You are a huge fan of The Kinks.  Really.  Even if you haven’t realized it yet.

And while the band has been on a seemingly permanent hiatus, lead singer Ray Davies is bringing a handful of Kinks classics alive with the help of the 65-member Crouch End Festival Chorus in today’s new release, The Kinks Choral Collection. 

A lucky few can also enjoy these reinterpretations by Davies on a short tour getting underway this week that will also include an appearance on CBS’ “The Late Show with David Letterman” on November 18th.

Ray Davies

Davies has been busy reconnecting with his fans over the last few years.  He released his first two studio solo albums, the excellent Other People’s Lives and Working Man’s Cafe. 

And now this album and tour allow Davies to re-introduce key songs from a deep catalog befitting the band that allmusic succintly refers to as “one of the most influential bands of the British Invasion”.

Billboard’s Gary Graff chatted with The Kinks’ leader for this feature and, in addition to a discussion of his current projects, Davies actually sheds light on very preliminary plans for The Kinks to potentially regroup and record their first music in nearly two decades.

Davies also opened up for a chat with Spinner, in which he decries the motivations of current musical hitmakers and reminisces about conducting rehearsal sessions for the new record at his boyhood school.

Do yourself a favor and get acquainted (or re-acquainted) with The Kinks by any means necessary.  If the choral pieces don’t grab you, then go straight to the source with The Kinks’ Singles Collection.  Ultimately, even this is just a primer to the discography of one of the greatest bands of all-time.

And as for Ray Davies, the man is quite simply a living legend.  He may not have the aura of McCartney or Jagger, but he is the real deal.  Don’t miss out while he’s still in fine form.

The Oh-Ohs? That’s a wrap…

So, here we are.  Just a little more than seven weeks until the end of another year.

Trying to focus on where the time goes gets progressively more difficult as our lives continue to get busier by the year.  That, of course, makes the end of any year a great time to try to attribute meaning to what we just experienced.  But the end of 2009 brings an even deeper sense of reflection as we welcome the dawn of a new decade.

There will be countless opportunities to relive the events of the past year and the past decade in the weeks ahead.  One site getting a head start is Newsweek, with their “Newsweek 20/10 : The Decade In Rewind” features and lists marking the start of the new century.

Kicking it off is “The Decade in Seven Minutes”, what editor Devin Gordon calls “a video mashup covering every major news event worth remembering over the last 10 years”.

Narrated by reporter Andrew Bast, it’s a great place to start the process of putting the past 10 years into perspective.

Argue about what’s included, argue about what’s missing, argue about what to call the decade (the Oh-Ohs?), argue if we should even consider 2000-2009 a decade or if 2001-2010 would be more appropriate.  Either way, it’s been an amazing journey with highs and lows that could never have been predicted.

Now, let’s get on to the next 10 years and see where we go from here.

The greatest legend you’ve never heard of

Strange weekend here at acme eclectic.  I hadn’t intended for it to be a book review weekend, but sometimes these things just happen.

As an added bonus, I can’t even take credit for this particular recommendation.  That actually goes to one Mr. Ed Vedder (courtesy of this post on pearljam.com).

What book is it that spurred Vedder’s interest in passing along the good word to his fans and followers?  Not one of the variety that you might think.  The book in question is The Old Leather Man: Historical Accounts of a Connecticut and New York Legend, authored by Dan DeLuca. 

And here’s why you should care.  The Leatherman is one of those characters that make up the fabric of America.  His legend may be of the regional variety – his old stomping grounds in the Northeast – but the mystery of the man that attracted the people of his day to immortalize Leatherman continues to reverberate.  The study of his soul allows us just a little more insight into the human spirit.

And, if that sounds deep, well I guess it is. 

Leatherman, circa 1885

For more on Leatherman, check out this short documentary (Part I, Part II, & Part III) from 1984.  Originally shown on Connecticut Public Television, and posted to YouTube by Motion Inc., the production might be a little dated but does a great job of whetting the appetite to learn more about Leatherman.

So, you’ve got the book.  You’ve got the documentary.  And, as a bonus, you’ve also got a blistering live performance of Pearl Jam’s ode to Leatherman here.

Here are the lyrics to Pearl Jam’s “Leatherman”, available as a very obscure b-side befitting the very obscure subject of the song:

I heard about a man to whom I may be related. He’s Leatherman.
Died a long time ago in the 1880’s. Leatherman. Leatherman.
Covered with leather but it wasn’t tight. Underneath a moon in the woods at night.
Making the rounds ten miles a day. Once a month they’d spot him and here’s what they’d say:

“Here he comes. He’s a man of the land. He’s Leatherman
Smile on his face. Axe in his pack.
He’s Leatherman. Leatherman. Leatherman.”

Comes out of the caves once a day to be fed.
He wasn’t known to say much but, “Thanks for the bread.”

So, modern day I walk my way with my jacket faded just like a man of leather whom I may be related.
Rolled cigarette for which he’d ask for a light.
Appear to be an animal. Yet, so polite.
Making the rounds ten miles a day. Once a month they’d spot him and here’s what they’d say:

“Here he comes he’s a man of the land. He’s Leatherman.
Smile on his face. Axe in his pack.
He’s Leatherman. Leatherman. Leatherman.”

Leatherman. Leatherman.
Shake his hand. He’s Leatherman. Bake some bread. He’s Leatherman.
Shame he’s dead. I saw his bed.
It’s all that’s left of Leatherman. Leatherman.
Give me some skin. He’s Leatherman.

Hope you find Leatherman’s legacy as interesting as we do here.  Stories like these are the ones worth exploring.

Longer Cuts

Has Robert Altman really been gone three years already?

Fortunately, the director’s legacy will live on with a collection of movies that could only have been attributed to him: M.A.S.H., Nashville and Short Cuts perhaps among the most notable.

For a true appreciation of the man behind the camera, check out Robert Altman: The Oral Biography. 

The New York Times has a detailed review of Mitchell Zuckoff’s fantastic new study of what drove this great auteur.

And go fire up the Netflix account to catch up on some of the great catalog of Altman films that you may have missed the first time.  Nobody will ever again make the movies like he did.

Winning isn’t everything – it’s the Broadway thing

“I’ve been working in theater for 25 years, and I’ve been a Packer fan all my life. I have a good idea of what a theater audience is looking for, and I know what’s going on in the mind of a typical Packer fan.”

So says writer and director Eric Simonson, who is working on a play based on the life of legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. 

The play is being adapted from the fantastic biography by David Maraniss, When Pride Still Mattered : A Life Of Vince Lombardi and, according to the New York Times, plans for the staging of “Lombardi” will be announced on Monday.

Vince Lombardi's story is headed for Broadway

The Times notes that the play should debut on Broadway late next year and, thankfully, will be devoid of any singing or dancing. 

The concept has a shot – almost 40 years after his death, the Lombardi legend is as strong as ever.  The biggest question is who gets to play the role of ESPN’s “Coach of the Century”.  My guess, though I hope I am very wrong, would be this guy.

Meanwhile, Lombardi’s old team hopes not to incite any grave-rolling by their old coach when they take on the winless Buccaneers this weekend in Tampa.

27

The Damn Yankees win again.  It’s been a long time coming, though it was inevitable in the end.  The New York Yankees have claimed their 27th World Series championship.

The New York Yankees celebrate yet another World Series Championship

For all of you fans of baseball who don’t live in New York or Boston, you might want to bang your head against a wall while pondering the fact that exactly half of the last 14 World Series titles have gone to these two franchises, bitter rivals who outspend every other team in baseball.

Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer is one of those who thinks that the “World Series is fun for big markets, just a show for others”.  And Joe Posnanski of SI.com is apoplectic in his rant, calling the Yankees “the best team money could buy”.

Hey, at least CNNMoney can prove that the Yankees actually got their money’s worth this season, unlike the returns during their 8-year titleless streak while the fake “Curse of the Bambino” was lifted by the Red Sox.

The new spending season is about to begin.  Anyone care to make a bet on where the top free agents will wind up?  It’s as predictable as the snow in the winter.  Or a ticker-tape parade in the fall in Boston or New York.

This rookie just might make the Bucks relevant once again

It was just a little more than 18 months ago that Brandon Jennings took to the Bradley Center court in Milwaukee as one of the participants in the esteemed McDonald’s All-American Game.  And, yes, he put on a show.

The kid (just 20 years old) from Compton by way of Oak Hill Academy in Virginia and Lottomatica Roma in Italy is back at the Bradley Center putting on a show once again as he kicks off his rookie season for the Milwaukee Bucks.  And basketball fans near and far are taking notice.

Brandon Jennings

SI.com’s Arash Markazi has Jennings at the top of his first Rookie Power Rankings of the season while Rick Kamla of NBA TV weighs in with a Rick’s Rant on the early potential that Jennings has shown to be one of the greats.

Perhaps even more impressive is the interest that Jennings is stirring in local basketball fans in Milwaukee.  Dan O’Donnell of SportsBubbler.com delivers an editorial that speculates that Jennings “has the potential to single-handedly reinvigorate a fan base that has all but abandoned their team since it abandoned Ray Allen.”

Indeed, it has been a lost decade of basketball in Milwaukee since Allen was inexcusably sent away by George Karl and Ernie Grunfeld.  With both of those guys long gone and the majority of the mistakes from the subsequent Larry Harris days extricated from the roster, the rebuilding Bucks have certainly found their cornerstone.

For more on the impressive and mature Jennings, be sure to check out Sean Deveney’s revealing interview with Jennings in The Sporting News and this extensive feature of the young rookie (and his mother) by Gary D’Amato of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The bottom line is that Jennings looks to be a steal at the #10 overall pick and if there were any questions about his decision to skip college and head to Europe for a year of professional basketball before joining the NBA, those are quickly being answered.

Questions about his ride of choice on the other hand – a Ford Edge? – remain.  Only in Milwaukee, I guess.

Here’s hoping for a long, happy marriage for Jennings and the Bucks.  It’s only the future of professional basketball in Wisconsin that might be riding on it.

News about your credit (hint: it’s not free)

On television it’s hard to miss the wildly popular band of slackers singing ruefully from a shabby apartment or while waiting tables in pirate regalia. The ruined credit that led to their financial misfortune might have been sparkling if only they’d tracked their status on freecreditreport.com.

Well, maybe not so fast.  That lead paragraph from this great New York Times feature on the use of the freecreditreport.com URL by leading credit bureau Experian is shown to be misleading at best and the Federal Trade Commission is taking matters into their own hands to combat the confusion.

The FTC has set up a new website (freecreditreport.gov) specifically to provide information on free annual credit reports. 

For the record, the official site for checking your annual credit report is annualcreditreport.com.  Imagine that…

The football never stops

For those of you looking to increase your football fix, it’s time to get serious about the recent contributions of FOXSports.com to the weekly offerings covering the NFL.

This certainly won’t negate the need to check in on the usual suspects (including, of course, Monday morning’s must-read), but for additional insight into the stories and the personalities of the week, you can do a lot worse than checking in with Fox Sports personalities Jay Glazer and Brian Billick.

Glazer, a key contributor to FOX NFL Sunday and renowned for his top-flight access to the biggest names in the game, is at center stage for the very relaxed The After Party every Monday at 1pm EST.  Based on the recent roll call, it looks to be a comfortable place for just about all of the league to offer up some “inside scoopage.”  No chance of any “vanilla” interviews with Glazer in charge.

And Billick, a former Super Bowl champion head coach with the Baltimore Ravens, has added to his game analyst duties for Fox by leading the weekly series CoachSpeak with Brian Billick every Tuesday.  You can’t really find fault with this deeper look at the strategy of the game with a candid ex-coach and his current coaching guests.  Really good stuff here.

And, on a side note, the entire cast of players for FOX NFL Sunday (Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson and Jay Glazer) will be taking the show on the road this Sunday, Nov. 8th.  In fact, the broadcast will actually be a two-hour special from an undisclosed military installation in Afghanistan. 

Set your alarm clocks accordingly.  The broadcast will begin at 11am EST/8am PST.