posted February 24, 2006

From Eddie:

Hello Mr. Parker! Quick question, as I'm sure you are sick to death of the comparisons to Joe Jackson, I was wondering if you were friendly with him and what you thought of his music. I ask this because a few years back I saw him in concert (on the Night and Day II tour) and he performed, to my surprise, a very moving version of 'You Can't Be Too Strong' accompanied only by his piano.

Thanks for the years of great music and 'Acid Bubblegum' is still one of my favorite releases of the last few years of ANY artist!

TO EDDIE:

I caught Joe recently playing solo on a double bill with Todd Rundgren. He was quite brilliant and the solo setting showed the true power of his melodic structures, much more so than when I saw him with a band many years back.

The solo setting also illustrated the huge differences between our music. Joe's work is so much more theatrical then mine, melodically and musically, and I told him later (yes, we're friends) that I thought it would work brilliantly on Broadway, to which he responded that he had actually been approached in the past by at least one person in the theatre. They did, however, talk about him writing new songs for such a venture, but I thought that his existing tunes would make the backbone of musical already and he wouldn't need to write anything new when the material was already there.

It's no secret that the facile Costello/Jackson comparisons are abundant in reviews (a reference point because their work is more well known than mine, especially the former), but these two acts have in some ways a much wider range of creativity than I do. But no matter how much thumping noise some of their backing tracks may have, unlike me, they are not rock 'n' rollers. Nor are they soul singers, and I am.

(This comment of course will be twisted into a "GP slags off" etc. thing by people who are not paying attention (idiots, that is), but if you're allowed to analyze this stuff, then so am I.)

(And while we're at it, get a load of my latest linguistic creation, a motto that should be passed in front of blokes who have radio shows featuring music that allegedly comes from a place where you keep your car who think that I do not make rock 'n' roll albums anymore but only nice "singer/songwriter" ones and that my new material has no place in the place where people keep their cars: "Rock 'n' Roll is not a tempo: it is an attitude." Put that on my tombstone, please.)

MEMO TO: Meisterslinger Graham Parker
FROM: Herr Doktor Rolf Grolsch
RE: the mystical presence that is Chrissie Hynde's hind

From ME AND THE STONES by Graham Parker: "He often filled me in on the gossip that was doing the rounds: who Chrissie Hynde was screwing; how the gutter press had a deal with Cliff not to reveal his transvestite tendencies; how Millionaire Paul Young and his Model Wife weren't getting along very well--little tidbits like that."

From ME AND THE STONES by Graham Parker: "So, Bindhi", I said, finding scant pop star gossip in the tabloid. "How's Millionaire Paul Young and his Model Wife? Whose face is Chrissie sitting on and have they shopped Cliff yet?"

From THE OTHER LIFE OF BRIAN by Graham Parker: "Surely the north of England was no less afflicted than the south by the cult of mediocrity in the shape of dreadlocked rappers, melody-deficient singer/songwriters whose vibrato-saturated voices were routinely thought of by the dullard masses as being soulful, and, of course, the ever popular reunion acts?"

Graham. I'm here to help. As you know, Chrissie Hynde's hind recently acquired the power of speech. I was no less flabbergasted than you were when Chrissie's Incredible Talking Hiney not only ordered a scotch & soda at Cliff Richard's new celebrity bowling-alley, but then proceeded to deliver a note-perfect Anthony Newley impersonation that had every bowler in the joint wiping away tears of joy at The Miracle Of It All.

Well, one of the first things that Chrissie's Articulate Ass did was to hire me so as to ascertain the reason for your pronounced Chrissie-phobia. And I believe we now have the answer--don't we, Graham. It's that oh-so-soulful vibrato of hers. Gosh darn that fiendish vibrato. What a wide-body vibrato. You could drive a truck thru that vibrato. You could sit on Orson Welles's shoulders and Orson could run in & out between the oscilloscopic nibs of that vibrato. With room to spare. It's a vibrato that's every bit as eminently emetic as (dare I say it?) Elvis Costello's vibrato.

Come to think of it, that's the chief difference between you and Costello. Costello indulges in cheezadelic vibrato-infliction and you don't. Congratulations.

Good lord, Herr Doktor, those quotes look so awful singled out like that. What was I thinking? (See above for more artist comparisons nonsense.)

And that's a damn funny missive you've written there, too! Yes, those vibratos should be heavily fined, along with that melismatic shite a la American Idol...

Graham:

I have to ask you whether I am a bad parent? After hearing my playing of your CDs in the house, my 7 and 4 year olds somehow have picked you as their favorite artist and demand that I play your music. Seriously. At first it was satisfying (I'm exposing them to something more musically substantial than Disney tunes- setting a solid foundation!) but it is a bit troubling when my daughter walks the house singing "Come on Turn it into Hate", "They Got it Wrong as Usual ", or "Come on Baby Ride on the Milk Train" (currently they prefer Acid Bubblegum to Your Country, but I'm working on it). Do you think we're seeting the stage for some problems here? I mean, the CD didn't come with any warning labels.

Don't worry about it, their pure and innocent love for any kind of music that strikes them as good will soon be replaced with bullshit as they grow older and more easily influenced by peer pressure etc. The modern equivalent of the Spice Girls will soon be booming all over your house.

Hey Graham, long time fan from Chicago. Got turned on to your music when I was just a wee teen in the 70's when my brother constantly played "Stick to me" at maximum volume. When you came out with "Squeezing out sparks", I was totally hooked. Two quick questions: 1. Who was the craziest Mother F'er you ever had in any of your bands? 2. Who was the biggest asshole in the Rumour? Just curious.

1) For a while there in the '90's I was doing tours of Scandinavia with Swedish backing bands, an interesting and convenient idea that a few promoters in Sweden were responsible for. In one of those bands, myself and one of the musicians - whose musical role has long been forgotten - took a stroll across the road one day to take a look at a river. We leaned on the waist-high brick wall and stared at the rushing water for a while. Just as we were about to turn back to the hotel, said musician took off his shoes and placed them delicately on top of the wall, pointing toe first at the powerful, churning water, along with a towel that he had mysteriously carried with him from the hotel, neatly folding it as he did so.
He said nothing as we crossed the road, leaving me to turn around many times to admire the almost avant garde nature of his gesture and to wonder what kind a psychotic I was mixed up with here.
The subtlety of his action seemed more insane to me than any more typical two-a-penny overt rock band craziness. He was kind of deadpan in a bizarre way.
(In case my description has not been effective, the shoes and towel left on the river wall clearly suggested that someone had dived in, never to be seen again.)

Of course, I've seen and taken part in much of the usual craziness that one expects from rock bands on the road, but that's not interesting.

2) I don't think I could use that word to describe any Rumour members, which is a good thing and perhaps not so a common an occurrence in this business.

I believe you are a soccerfan but never wrote a song about it. Will that ever happen ?

More of a player than an actual fan, although I am looking forward to watching the World Cup. Can't imagine the sport as songwriting material!

Seen you many times over the years but the times you are with Southside Johnny always seem like you and Johnny are having such a great time. I know you two go way back. I was interested in what your impressions were of Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes when you first saw/heard them during that infamous 1977 tour.

I thought they were a knock-out. And they are still always worth paying money to see; a real good night out. The comparisons with me and the Rumour were always slim, though, and only really applicable to the instrumental line-up, Southside being an R 'n' B stylist and me being an original songwriter whose material went way ahead of straightforward R 'n' B.

Dear Graham:

I've followed your career with enormous pleasure over the years -- particularly so because of the artistic growth. I was talking with a couple of friends the other night --they were lamenting that so few of the great rock songwriters/performers were able to sustain a truly lifelong career, and I said, Wait a minute, you're forgetting Graham Parker, this guy just keeps getting better.

So . . .I'd be interested in your thoughts about longevity, if you have some. After all, it's true that so many of your near-contemporaries were good for a few albums and then . . what? But you've avoided that trap somehow. And I'm sure glad!

Well thanks for the sterling compliments.
I'm constantly amazed at the quality of my work. So far, it just keeps coming (this could end at any moment). I don't feel that I can take too much credit for it even, preferring to attribute it to weird and lucky chemistry. It doesn't get any easier, but then I suppose it never was, the rule being that you shoot more dogs than you keep.

This is not a question . . .
The first I'd ever heard of Graham Parker & The Rumour was way back in 1976. I was a typical American male at that point:18 years old, longhaired, fairly accomplished amateur guitarist, music fan, healthy interest in beer, marijuana, girls, etc. I had won a pair of tickets to see Boston (the rock band, not the city) at the Palace theater in Waturbury, CT. At the time I liked the big distorted guitars and pounding drums of the era's hard rock, but that was only one musical interest: I was (and still am) a huge fan of soulful R & B and rootsy rock, and well-written songs. I had heard a few tracks from "Howlin' Wind" from WPLR, the AOR station in New Haven. I liked what I heard!

G.P. & The Rumour were the scheduled opening act for Boston that night in Waterbury, 16 December 1976. I was rather enjoying the earthy directness of the music. Unfortunately the majority of my fellow audience members didn't--they were primed to hear "Smokin'" and "Foreplay/Long Time" and "More Than A Feeling" blasted at them at earsplitting volume. The audience was rather rude, booing, jeering, throwing a number of objects at the stage, etc. G.P. & The Rumour were not bad by any means--in the face of a deteriorating situation you and the lads put it out. (It was a bad booking--whoever the agent was, I'd still like to punch him in the mouth for his lapse of judgement.)

I've wanted to apologize for the poor treatment you recieved from the audience that night. I'm sure you've forgotten it, but my heart is in the right place.

I really enjoy your songs and singing, and always have. I'm sorry I couldn't have increased your record sales but I can only buy one album at a time.

Sincerely,
Derek W. Brown

Not a question, as you say, but it deserves a response. Boston! I recall opening for many inappropriate acts, but can't quite remember Boston being one of them. Skynard, Journey, Blue Oyster Cult...and more.

In those days it was standard record company practice to push unestablished acts on with any group that could fill a big venue, and it was nearly always a waste of money (the artists) and time (the artists). I spent a fortune of my record co. advances on trucking a band and roadies and all the rest of it around the states opening for acts whose audiences were going to be entirely unreceptive to the music we were making, but that's just what you did. Hindsight is worth a bank of laser beams...

GP: Any chance of putting out a DVD that captures live footage of you and maybe whatever videos you've made? I've got an old tape of you that Sony put out (around Another Grey Area time frame). Anything else out there that you know of? Also, the last time you were in Pittsburgh, you played the Club Cafe -- they've got a pretty elaborate set up to record artists on DVD / state of the art sound, etc. Were you recorded?

Thanks

A film maker (he did the Ramones "End Of The Century") has been at work for at least four years making a rockumentory of me. These guys take forever, and I keep ribbing him that, like the Ramones, I'll be dead before it even sees the light of day. But please watch this space for news of its release.

I believe the Club Cafe gig was filmed, yes, but it would be excruciatingly boring to just see me from one camera angle bashing away solo. Also, a film crew shot the gig me and the Figgs did in Fall River, Mass, last Summer, and they did a good job, but I want the rockumentary out first. Stay tuned...

Hey Graham:

Just wondering if you can recall any memorable moments with Nicky Hopkins and the sessions he participated in during the "THE UP ESCALATOR" and "ANOTHER GREY AREA" albums.

Also, your thoughts in one sentence in the following folks and their influence on your work:

Nick Lowe
Robert John Lange
Jack Nitzsche
Jimmy Iovine
Jack Douglas
David Kershenbaum

After 83 you pretty much took the bull by the horns as far as producing yourself. What I'm wondering is how much effect did each have on your technique in the studio and if so, whom had the most profound affect.

Best of luck with the new album, I'm looking forward to it and from what I've heard thus far it sounds like a return to peak form while treading new territory!!

Best Regards Mystic

Funnily enough, I've just done an interview with a chap named (I kid you not!) Nick Low for a BBC Radio Two documentary on Nicky. Perhaps you can check online and get to hear it. I think it will be broadcast near the end of March.

Nicky and I became friends and hung out together quite a lot at both his place in LA and my place in London, as well as in New York where we worked on those two albums of mine. A good fella, very much missed.

As for your producer question, as far as influence goes:

Nick Lowe - zero
Robert John Lange - zero
Jack Nitzsche - influenced the way I make records to this day, from "The Mona Lisa's Sister" onward, when I decided I should call myself the producer.
Jimmy Iovine - zero
Jack Douglas - zero
David kershenbaum - zero

Hey, GP,

Digging Songs of No Consequence -- you're singing like you're pissed off -- a sure sign of sanity.

Glad to see you're a fellow Pynchon fan. How does my album (Eric Blowtorch and his Superpowers Flame On!!) sound to you? I gave it to you about 5 years ago at Shank Hall in Milwaukee while we were chatting with Sam Llanas.

Umm...sorry, don't remember it. I'm sure it's good though.

Is it disrespectful for a singer to chew gum during a performance?

No. I remember seeing John Lennon chewing and singing on TV years ago and I thought it looked damn cool. I sometimes chew gum myself when working with a band and not using the harmonica. It helps to keep the mouth lubricated.

If Blue HIghway is played in the key of D, is the chord played during the words "crammed" and "you'll never miss" a Gm?

Ever since your first album I have been told that I look like you. Never seemed to help me get laid though. Should I take this as a compliment?

Thanks

Yes, Gm it is.

Looking like me never helped me get laid, either. It's being funny that gets 'em.

In your latest communique (no 21) you state that no one is going back to vinyl anytime soon. Wake up! There are many that never left and many new fans of all ages comming to vinyl. Please start pressing your work on vinyl again. Your production work is great and many of your albums really rock on a good analog sytem. I have all of your vinyl albums on different pressings from many countries. Don't be outdone by Beck or Neil, you are the stud. More Please!

Point taken, Corks. I'll take it up with the record company.

Dear Graham,

I do hope you don't mind me asking you this, but I'm a 44 year old Australian, who's an amateur singer/songwriter/guitarist, who used to play in an amateur Rock band with my late younger brother, in Brisbane, Queensland (Australia) in the early 1980s.

I was just simply wondering, if you could, speaking generally, briefly give me some ideas on how you go about your songwriting, to produce the excellent music you've been producing over the last 35 years. I'm a huge, huge, fan of yours, and I think that you're the best singer/songwriter in the world. I know that your music will live on forever. I hope you don't mind me writing, but at the moment I'm very frustrated with my songwriting, having written two songs only. I will understand, howevever, if you can't write back.

Please take care, Yours Sincerely,

Doug Paul
Toowoomba
Queensland
Australia

I guess there are various answers to this question, but none of them will help. I just piddle around with a guitar until something starts to mysteriously emerge. It's 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration, like all things creative, but none of it works without the 10% part of the equation. And that's up to brain chemistry and therefor truly in the realm of the mysterious.

How come you have never made an appearance on the Comedy Central's "The Daily Show"...I think it would have been a good gig for promoting SONC? No?

Beats me. The guest part of his show is the most boring usually. Come to think of it, has he ever had a musician on as a guest? Wiilie Nelson was on, right? That's about it though.

Graham

Pretty sure the first time I saw you was at Wimborne Youth Club, Dorset, UK around 1969 -1971, fronting an otherwise black soul band playing 'Baby Come Back' etc. Am I dreaming? By the way - I find lots of todays kids find the 'stick to me' album very cool when I play it to them.

Amazingly enough, I just unearthed a photo of me posing with a guitar taken in November 1970. On the back of the photo, someone's written the date, and also, "Boxgrove Youth Club Free Concerts Featuring Graham 'The Lizard' Parker." I know this youth club was somewhere near Chicester, Sussex, where I was living and working (at the Chicester Rubber Glove factory, no less). I've got hair down to my ass and am standing solo with an electric guitar that I'm sure was not mine.

I was never in Dorset at that time and can't recall ever visiting Dorset at any time of my life, unless me and the Rumour played there in the early days of my career, which would be 1975/76. Sounds intriguing.
What white guy would be fronting a black soul band in '69/'70?

I have heard that "Stick" appeals to the youth of today myself.

My 91-year-old father's opinion of your latest:

I was taking my 91-year-old father for a ride earlier tonight, and had your excellent new album, Songs of No Consequence, on the car stereo. After the third song or so, my father said, "what is this crazy music?" And I said, "it's Graham Parker, he's one of my all-time favorite singers." He said, "well, it sounds crazy." So I said, "do you want me to turn it off?" And he says, "no, to tell you the truth, I've been pretty depressed lately, and this music is really cheering me up." Quite likely your oldest fan, I'd say!

Ha! I love that.
Pity these old geezers don't buy records...

Dear Mr. Parker:

I understand you were a great fan of comedian par excelence Bill Hicks and, in fact, that you were one of the guests on the infamous Letterman show from which his appearance was removed. I'd love to hear your thoughts about his work.

Cheere,
Andrew

I was not aware of Bill Hicks until that very show. I had no idea who he was, what his work was like, or that he'd been a regular guest of Letterman, as I was myself.

I recall sitting backstage and watching this guy do his stuff which had lots of jokes at the expense of the anti-smoking brigade and Christians. I couldn't believe it. After his set he came back and mentioned what a fan of my music he was, but the meeting was sullied by the rumor going around the studio that his performance might get axed. He seemed very upset, understandably. The word was that because Letterman had changed networks from NBC to CBS (or vica versa?) right at that time, things were going to be a bit tighter in the censorship department, and sure enough, when the show ran that night, instead of showing Bill, they made a crude and obvious cut to another comedian doing a skit that wasn't even in front of a live audience. It was like they'd just scanned a few archives and stuck this other guy on.

Sometime later, when the Comedy Channel appeared on TV, I saw a documentary about Bill featuring footage and interviews with many top comedians, Letterman among them. I thought it was fantastic and would often check the listings on Comedy Central in case they ever showed it again.

I never did see that show again but just last Summer I was in the offices of Ryko somewhere in California where I was told to grab as much swag as I liked. And there it was: a Bill Hicks DVD compilation (and some CD's) with loads of performances, as well as that documentary.

It's unbelievable work. A genius I guess. It's weird that I was a guest on that fateful show. Mike Gent told me that my name actually pops up in a book about Hicks. He dug my work. What an honor.

Hi Graham,

Been a fan since 1980 (a tad late to the party I know....) Saw you at Toad's in New Haven where, standing in line, I met a guy named James (?) Liston who said he knew you from the old days. He tried to get us in the downstairs dressing room to say "Hi" but no such luck, natch.

Anyway, speaking of live performances, I was able to order one of the few copies of "Live at Rockpalast" at Amazon.UK before it went oop. It's criminal that these two amazing shows ('78&'80) haven't been released in the US. I'm sure there must be a good reason; but what the heck is it?

Plus, there must be other archival footage of you and the Rumor. Why doesn't any of this get released for fans who may not have had the chance to see this powerhouse band in its glory days?

I've been in touch with the people who are handling the Rockpalast shows and asked them to hold the release in the states until the GP documentary currently being edited is out (see above my answer to Dan Murray for more info on this). If he (the doc. maker) doesn't get his shit together soon though, and the Rockpalast folks ask me again if they can put it out stateside, I'll be inclined to tell them to just go ahead with it.

Not a question but something to share.

I just had the most vivid dream of walking into a Tower Records store and seeing the new Graham Parker CD promoted all over the joint. Except it wasn't your new CD. It was a CD that was named "GRAHAM PARKER" and had a black and white picture of you, right profile, sitting with your feet up on a desk and your hand at your chin, thoughtful like. Background was white. I just looked through your pic galleries to see if this is a pic that I'd seen sometime before and was locked in my subconscious. But no.

In the dream I'm thinking "Wow. Not since Squeezing out Sparks have I seen this type of promotion for Graham. I didn't even know about this album." Then my cat woke me up with the dreaded cold-nose-sniffing-my-ear thing (I hate when that happens. Fucking cat!).

I don't know why I feel compelled to share this with you. I woke up sort of disappointed that it was only a dream. So if you decide to call your next album "GRAHAM PARKER" and put a black and white picture of you, feet up, in a thoughtful mode, please do. I can then tell all my friends that I'm clairvoyant.

Tim
Oakland CA.

Rrrright...

Graham,

One of the many things that draws me to your music and touches me deeply is its pronounced adult, unsentimental (and sometimes sentimental) perspective. Hearing you give voice to the ordinary tribulations and frustrations of life in middle age enables me to step back and appreciate how art can be wrought from ordinary events.

Having attended a few of your shows during the last several years, I've noticed that a significant portion of your audience is middle aged white guys. My initial thought was that maybe the bulk of people were there for sentimental reasons, but in time I came to feel that maybe many men attend your shows because they take comfort in your lyrics and want to celebrate being where they are in their lives. In essence, they (we) come to listen because you are giving voice to experiences common to us all.

I really have no question. I just wanted to thank you for music that has moved me and meant a great deal to me for the last 28 years. I find the vitality of your most recent work thrilling and encouraging. In our youth-oriented culture, your work stands out as something unique and necessary.

Thank you and best regards,

Hugh Musick
Chicago, IL
www.hughmusick.com

I know. It sucks, doesn't it...(the bit about "middle aged white guys.")

Love the new album. My favorite of the last decade or so. The production seeems crisper and clearer, the guitars warm and rich, with, forgive me, a Brinsley "searing" sound to them on some songs. Your voice is also sounding incredibly rich and strong. The word that comes to mind is "textured".

Now, a question. Sitting here watching "Rockstar INXS" and the show's idea of what a rock singer is (lots of posturing, performing stereotypical "rockstar" actions on stage, trying desperately to look "sexy", showing lots of fake enthusiasm, etc). I'm curious if you've seen it and what you think about the show and that style of singer. Anything from the concept, the idea of holding public tryouts for a singer, their style of music, how a woman singer would work for a group with a long history of songs sung by a man, etc.

I was never a big fan of INXS. Some of the contestants have good voices, but they all seem to be lacking something. Authenticity, perhaps?

Have not seen the show in question, but all of those shows are an embarrassment. I've never watched an episode of American Idol, either, but have of course suffered hearing the dubious talents of these bogus personages, because it's hard to escape them. It's always the same with this kind of stuff: every single one of them are third-string hack singers who in a saner, more intelligent world, would be confined to perhaps short-lived careers as jingle singers.

last night i was playing the bastard of belgium as i got the dinner (yup engish, middle class) ready, and the wife described it as "lovely". she has been exposed to you for the last twelve years and never even noticed before. do you regually sing acapella versions of satndards or was that just a one-off?

I've been doing "Someone To Watch Over Me" a cappella for some years now. Not every gig, just when the mood strikes. I also used to do "Cupid" in the same style. I really should try to dig up some other classic for this treatment I suppose, but it's not really something I give a lot of thought to. Glad you and the missus enjoy it.

Chairman Parker:
Per: the exact location of tornado alley

Vindication is yours in the form of twisters rolling through Kentucky tearing up trailer parks. Being a dumb suburbo and often stuck to a chair myself, I quite enjoy your singular takes domestic America.

I play Tough on Clothes to my daughter as an object lesson. Is the young lady in the blue Your Country t-shirt the inspiration for that tune? (Your daughter, I'm guessing). Saw a photo of you in Rolling Stone once flinging a baby around in the sea. Same kid I'm guessing. Time does strum on.

Funnily enough, some reviewer took a little jab at me for not knowing my American geography in reference to that song, so I researched the exact location of the real Tornado Alley. I found that, although there is a general consensus as to its parameters, that some areas of western Kentucky are included by some experts as indeed being part of that tumultuous weather system.

Yes, my daughter is wearing the YC t-shirt, and although she wasn't a literal inspiration for the tune (if anything, I'm the one around here who destroys clothing at a fair clip) it wasn't hard to come up with the idea based on the cliche of kids in general being rough with their garb.

Hi,

I want to know if Graham Parker ever toured in Brazil, and if so, when and where?

And also if he were, something have been recorded from that?

Thank for your answer.
The GP Fan club in Brazil.

No, I've never been to Brazil. Nice to know I have a "fan club" there.

Thank you for playing the Steel City Coffee House in Phoenixville PA. Your shoes, and that electric set, really rocked. Most legendary artist to grace their stage.

Q: What do you prefer, the electric sets, or the acoustic?

Playing acoustic guitar is hard work on the fingers, and so it's a bit of a relief to be able to switch to an electric, which is much more forgiving. I like both, but have done a few "living room" shows entirely on acoustic because it works for many more numbers.

I'm back at the Steel City soon. Check the live page, it's on there now.

Hi, Graham. Thanks for providing this venue.

First, I've got the new album and it's really good. So good, in fact, that it sent me back through your CDs of the past decade or so that I missed during the period when music wasn't such a big part of my life for any number of reasons.

The CD that's totally knocked me out is "Acid Bubblegum." I'm amazed that it's almost a decade old, yet the lyrics and the bite are totally of the moment. "Turn it Into Hate" is a perfect accompanyment for the Bush regime; "Obsessed w/ Aretha" a great response to last year's disgusting Super Bowl Commercial; "Beancounter" for all my pals who have been laid off in the last year; and so on and so on.

I know the way the music biz works -- not as well as you, I'm sure -- but is there any way you think you can get pop traction with these songs? Do you even have any interest? There are so many new outlets now, particularly through the Internet, that a music video produced through MoveOn or DailyKos or any left-leaning site might really help bring these great songs to more people who would really groove on them.

Let me give you an example. I'm in advertising and I travel some. The week before Thanksgiving, I was in Lisbon, brought several CDs of yours on my iPod with me. On the way back, I ended up seated next to a young woman returning from a two-year stint in the Peace Corps in Africa. She was a little nervous about returning to the states; the news came to her in fits and starts, and she was concerned that the masses and pop culture were completely cowed by the Bush regime.

I told her no. I gave her my iPod, which she had heard about but never seen. After she tooled around on it a bit -- first thing she listened to was Jeff Buckley, incidentally -- I put on "Acid Bubblegum." She listened. She laughed several times as it played. She nodded along. After it was over, she took off the headphones and said, "You're right. That really made me feel a lot better about things." She also said you sounded a little like Bruce Springsteen, only angrier, smarter and funnier.

I'd agree with that, though I have to say I like Bruce a lot and even think his vocals could have been mixed a little higher on "Endless Night." Yeah everybody's a critic....

Anyway, thanks for all the great music, which has really been a boon to my life and attitude in recent months. "Deep Cut To Nowhere" is another great album, incidentally. "Blue Horizon" is a beautiful song, one of your very best -- and that's saying a lot.

Thanks for turning a stranger on a plane on to my work!

Regarding your question about trying to revive old tunes that have relevance now, for an act not bearing the gifts of either commercial clout or trendy appeal ("Trend and Commerce," is my catchphrase to describe the two values that are of prime importance in the marketplace) it's impossible to gain "traction" on anything that isn't brand new (and even then, you must have at least one, preferable both, of the attributes outlined in the previous parenthesis).

My albums do their business (if you'll excuse the term) in the first two months of their release, then, to any meaningful degree, it's over. They're simply dead in the water.
It would be a waste of time and money to bother trying to do any of the things you mention.

It's over, let it go, is the way I see it. And I guess the very idea of dredging up the past bores the heck out of me. But thanks for caring that much. Appreciate it.

In Fall River this year you had the show videoed; did the dancing moron sitting in front of me in the front row ruin the entire video or are there any plans to release this on DVD eventually? Thank you.

As I mentioned to someone above, a guy has been working on a GP rockumentary for about four years now (I just contacted him and he's up for a Grammy. He did "The End Of The Century," the Ramones doc.) and this is the product that should be released on DVD before anything else; but the folks who filmed the Fall River show are indeed keen on releasing that concert footage at some point. I've seen it, and it is very professionally done. The problem with it is, it is not a solo performance, which I think the venue is better suited for. It is a very rockin' gig with the Figgs, and the whole rock club atmosphere is missing.
Therefore, the filmmakers reckon getting rid of that guy by using alternative camera material would not be a problem, as losing audience reaction almost completely might be a good way around the lack of it anyway, if you see what I mean. So, no, according to the people that filmed the show, all is not lost because of the lone dancer.

Hi

I hope this is not impolite but may I ask you to write a requiem for the Fourth Amendment?

Last month we learned that the Fourth Amendment had died. We learned that the National Security Agency has been listening to our phone calls since 2001 without a court order, without a warrant. Perhaps the court that issues these types of warrants would have granted permission, but the President and NSA never asked.

The Fourth of July is supposed to be a celebration of our Bill of Rights, but what's left to celebrate if it's dead?

I suppose we can fill the sky with fireworks and pretend that we still retain our rights, but at the end of the night, when the fireworks are over and the sky is dark, there will still be someone from NSA will still be listening to our phone calls.

So, could you write a funeral march or a dirge for our lost freedom?

A sad tune to remind us of what we've lost.

Thanks

Well, if you go to iTunes or eMusic (there's a link on this site) you will find a "sad tune," quite funereal, but hopefully not a "dirge" that I have just released as a one-off single exclusively for downloading only. It's called "2000 FUNERALS" and was inspired by...well, I'm sure you know the rest.
It is not in any way a "protest" number but, perhaps in the mold of "Can't Be Too Strong," is an attempt at expressing an emotional take on a serious matter. Not quite what you're after, but it'll have to do for the moment.

Graham,

I am one of your "socks and sandals" fans, 47 years old, still sing "Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi" at full volume when I hear "Fool's Gold" as I have since the college daze, late 70's.

Stood up to see you and the Rumour at the Metro in Boston 1982, and had the pleasure of seeing you more recently open for U2 in Baltimore prior to catching the doubleheader at Fletcher's after Bono & Co.

Q: Do you still love it? I thought I'd outgrow rock, but it still matters to my heart and mind.

Best,
Chris

I enjoy performing now much more than I used to because I've finally learned how to sing without losing (fingers crossed) my voice all the time, which I used to do in the early days, usually in rehearsals, before I'd even arrived at the first venue on the tour. That made it miserable for me. I just didn't know what I was doing then. But it's only a real buzz when I've packed a place out. I can't say I don't occasionally think back fondly on the days when I was ascending. It was extremely exciting to be blasting out to a full house (in place that doesn't not have the word "Cafe" in its title, but rather the word "Theater") with thousands of people in it.

Also, making albums is much more rewarding now. Once I shed all those expensive producers who's talents were, in hindsight, questionable, everything got much better.

As for listening to music, it's not at the top of my list of pleasurable things to do and has not been for a long time.