Steve Reynolds Program - History Lesson- Part II

Ob-La-Di, Fam

No, that song is not on my top 100 songs. It’s not even on my top 100 Beatles songs. I’m just trying to say life goes on.

Sorry for the delay. I suffered a spring fever of Not Writing For The Newsletteritis. I found the cure. It’s called “writing for the newsletter,” duh.

Speaking of top 100 songs, fellow Pollardhead and pal Jason Hernandez just put out his list of Top 100 Pollard songs. It’s great and he nails some of the feelings in words that I couldn’t phrase myself.

OK. Here’s a write-up I took out half of to get it to around five hundred words. Have a great summer! May it be filled with timely newsletters from me.

Song #33

History Lesson- Part II

by The Minutemen

“Our band could be your life”

When I think of great opening lines to songs (“When Doves Cry,” “Random Rules,” “Papa Was a Rodeo” are the ones that come to mind right now), I always forget  “our band could be your life” from “History Lesson- Part II” by the Minutemen and that’s a shame. The phrase is so good, music journalist Michael Azerrad used it as the title of his book on great bands of the 80’s and 90’s.

It distills what band life was to this San Pedro trio: a chance to create and express on one’s own terms. Listening to the Minutemen’s Double Nickels On The Dime, an album so loved and discussed that whatever I’ll say will be redundant or an awkward rephrase of a pro’s take, will always reveal or inspire something new to me. Even its limitations and faults I treasure.

“Real names’d be proof”

I first heard this on an off-brand boombox, something my dad had got as a prize for selling tires. It was in the backyard in the summer and pal CJ popped in the cassette of Double Nickels On The Dime. The main components noticed on first listen were drummer George Hurley’s taut snare so high in the mix, it’d buzz the boombox speaker and D. Boon, bless him forever, singing the frustrated notebook jottings of dudes learning the world ain’t set up so right, cramming in more syllables in the verses than anyone else would.

One night in college, I played this CD (the first of four or five I bought in life; SST cut songs and crammed the remaining 72 minutes on a disc as thin as mist and as delicate as paper lace).  Andrew, friend and Motley Crue fan, proclaimed, “this album is terrible.” Then the comparatively quiet guitar and bass intro to “History Lesson” came on. “Except this song,” he allowed.

“Punk rock changed our lives.”

Going to the local downtown punk club sophomore and junior year changed my own life. Seeing (rarely) the kids excelling in high school there suddenly being uncomfortable and awkward was a damn delight. It made me think of context, relativism-- especially in a social setting. It took away a little of the stress of school.

“Me and Mike Watt, playing guitar”

In a fair world, the Minutemen would be playing like the Grateful Dead did, touring forever. And at every show, the crowd would cheer loudly when D. Boon, now with a big white beard and a little thinner thanks to his strict diet, says the self-narration in this song. Mike Watt lifts his fist to the sky to emphasize the triumph.

Instead, history was tragedy. And a broken axle on a van in the late December night in 1985 on an Arizona highway took away a good soul.

“Mr. Narrator, this is Bob Dylan to me.”

Bobby Zimmerman had his own accident on a highway in upstate New York in 1964. He fortunately survived and continued on. We just have the end of “History Lesson Part 2,” where D. Boon and Mike Watt play their guitar and bass together and, after a crescendo hit a swan note together, chiming and clear.

Ob-La-Da, Motherscratchers

Links to my top 100 list.

This issue’s Song I’m Mad I Forgot To Put On The List is “Let Me Try,” by MC5. Tina Turner, a true legend, just passed so I searched Facebook for times I mentioned her. This came up because I always think MC5 lead singer Rob Tyner is doing an impression of Tina Turner onstage. I still can’t believe no R&B singer hasn’t covered this jam and tore it up.

Saturday, May 27th I’m doing a short set in the middle of a solid lineup in OKC. Aaron Naylor is great; you’ll love him. AND I think I have a couple of comps so message me if you want to go for free.

Tuesday, June 13th Dan Alten from Louisville is playing in Norman. He is kind of the Fugazi of standup— real DIY and keeping it cheap for the peoples. In fact, this show is FREE (donation bucket passed around at the end). Wow, the “Fugazi of standup” is such a contradiction of terms. I’m building a prop for this show so come out and see that.

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