Man who inspired greatest rock riff of all time passes away

Via Smitty comes some interesting trivia about a man I bet you never heard of Claude nobs

Did not know this:

The name of Claude Nobs will be forever enshrined in Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water, the song with perhaps the most famous riff in rock history. Nobs was a co-founder of the Montreaux Jazz Festival, which by the early 1970s had grown to embrace rock artists such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. In 1971, the Montreaux casino caught fire during a performance by Frank Zappa after an audience member fired a flare gun at the ceiling. Nobs dragged a number of concert goers to safety earning himself the title Funky Claude in Deep Purple’s song.

Related lyric:

They burned down the gambling house,
It died with an awful sound.
(Uh) Funky Claude was running in and out,
Pulling kids out the ground.
When it all was over,
We had to find another place.
But Swiss time was running out,
It seemed that we would lose the race.
Smoke on the water and fire in the sky.
Smoke on the water…

 

Does Rush belong in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame?

Well, of course they do, yet, Donald Douglas poses the question which surprises me. I would think Donald, a fan of great classic rock would be all in, and I am sure he is. He links an LA Times piece on the issue. To me, Rush is a first ballot hall of Fame act, no doubt. Then I figured I would take a peek at this year’s nominees, to see which bands I would vote yes on

Randy Newman, Public Enemy, N.W.A, Donna Summer and – to the delight of progressive rock fans around the world – Rush are among the names on the final nominees list for 2013 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which for the first time will be announced at a ceremony to be held next year in Los Angeles.

Joining them are the Paul Butterfield Blues Band,  Chic,Deep Purple, Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Albert King, Kraftwerk, the Marvelettes, the Meters and Procol Harum.

Of those acts, these are the ones that deserve a place in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame

Rush, Heart, Deep Purple, and Albert King. The rest of the field? Are you kidding? Joan Jett? Why would anyone nominate her? She had one monstrous hit, that is it. Kraftwerk? The Marvelettes? The Meters? Who?

Chic, Donna Summer? Sorry the Disco Hall of Fame is located somewhere else.

NWA and Public Enemy? Again, they are NOT ROCK bands, sorry, put them in the Rap Hall of Fame, that ain’t Rock n Roll!

Procol Harum? Well at least they were a rock band, but, sorry, there just is not the body of work to get them in.

Randy Newman? Close call, but, to me just not enough there.

Paul Butterfield Blues Band? They were pretty influential, again a close call.

Finally, if you have to question Heart, Deep Purple, or Rush getting in you are clueless, sorry to be blunt, but you are.

As for King, he is a legendary guitarist. If you want to know how influential, consider how many greats he influenced. Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, Gary Moore, Joe Walsh, Derek Trucks, Mike Bloomfield, and Albert Collins. THAT is Hall of Fame!

 

Obama, the lazy man’s president

The America  work ethic was, at one time second to none. And to be fair, most of us are still hard workers. Sadly though, a growing number of us are more willing to let someone else work harder so that we do not have to. More of are addicted top the rule of greater expediency. Whatever is easier for us at this moment, well, that is what we do. President Obama, from my observations, seems to like that whole whatever is easier for me at this moment types.

Take the deficit crisis we face as a nation for example. There is much blame to spread around, no doubt. Democrats, Republicans, Senators, Representatives, Presidents, all have blame to share. But the current political leaders are in a position NOW, to start to work NOW, on solutions. So how is our president leading on this? Yid With Lid takes a peek

At yesterday’s press conference President Obama criticized the Congress for not working hard enough to fix the deficit. And he should know, the president has been in Washington every day, well except all of his fundrasing trips,  and the trips he took overseas especially the ones he took that were more like family trips, like the one to South America.  Oh and except for the 45 golf outings, which is a record for recent presidents.

Of course, Congress is not working hard enough on this, especially the Democrats who seem to care about anything except fiscal sanity. Besides announcing no plans of their own, they have done nothing but rip into any Republican ideas, just ask Paul Ryan about that. But, the president has, as Yid points out, doing anything EXCEPT working on this problem. Frankly, Obama seems more like a kid on Summer break than any type of leader.

Even when Republicans, like Mitch McConnel offer him a chance to work with them, Obama blows them off

However, the President rejected the offer, White House press secretary Jay Carney said McConnell was asking Obama to visit and “hear Republicans restate their maximalist position” in the negotiations to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. “We know that position. That’s not a conversation worth having,” Carney said at his daily briefing.

Ah, so deficit solutions are not worth discussing? I guess fund raising and golf are higher priorities.

The president heads to Pennsylvania Thursday evening for a fundraiser at a downtown hotel, followed by a private dinner at the home of Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen, tickets for which start at $10,000.

The worst of all the four letter words? LAZY!

Your guitar god of the Day

Ritchie Blackmore. Of Deep Purple, and Rainbow, truly a rock legend.