The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME] Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark — “Electricity” Oneida — “I Wanna Hold Your Electric Hand” Fascinations Grand Chorus — “Electrical Delight” U2 — “The Electric Co.” Versus — “Let’s Electrify!” Bill Lloyd — “I Went Electric” Every Damn Day — “Electricity” Such Small Hands — “Electric Touch” Calcinator — “électrifié” Screaming Females — ”Electric Pilgrim” Glenn Morrow’s Cry for Help — “Electricity” Talking Heads — “Electricity (Drugs)” [live] Giorgio Moroder & Phil Oakey — “Together in Electric Dreams”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Forgive me, Father, it’s been five years since my last meatball sandwich review. I have no ready excuse, though I do know that since my go-to chicken parm provider closed a couple of summers ago, I have been on an unofficial quest to find a replacement. But I never stopped loving you, meatball sandwich. And I was reminded of that just the other day.
I had dropped into Milano’s Italian deli on Montgomery Street in Jersey City. I’ve always associated the place with WFMU which is located right next door. In fact, the very first time I volunteered at the radio station, then-assistant manager Liz Berg told me it was a popular place to grab lunch. Several years later, when DJ Todd-o-Phonic Todd needed artwork for a promotional 7” single, of course Milano’s featured prominently. In the past several years, DJs such as Todd, Joe Belock, and Evan “Funk” Davies have kindly allowed me to visit the studio when bands performed on their shows. It was a reliable win-win, because I’d get to see some excellent live music and then get an awesome lunch at Milano’s.
It’s a super friendly, family-run sort of place where the counter staff greets you warmly while also teasing each other. I would usually get, yes, a regular chicken parm sandwich, until my buddy JohnCozz — a Milano’s regular in high school — recommended the spicy chicken parm. Ah-ha, another superb sandwich! And there’s a vodka sauce chicken parm as well. You could really just rotate through the Milano’s chicken parms and be a very happy person. And I was indeed always happy sitting there, enjoying my lunch — sandwich, chips, Pepsi — often running into an FMU staffer or one of the bands. (I recall a nice sandwich chat with the group Drunken Prayer from Asheville, North Carolina.)
The early pandemic put a kibosh on that happiness. WFMU brass wisely banned visitors to the station. I managed to swing by Milano’s a couple of times, such as after giving a friend a ride to a nearby doctor’s appointment (the first time I had a Milano’s breakfast sandwich, no slouch itself). But I was sad I couldn’t be there more often. They still remembered me behind the counter but it was acknowledged that I’d been MIA.
Pandemic regulations slowly eased up. Bands were allowed to return to the station, and volunteers, and eventually, me. A month ago that meant a Milano’s cheesesteak (I like to mix it up) and this week, because the spirit moved me, a meatball parm. As I unwrapped the aluminum foil and steam rose up from the sandwich, I sat back for a moment and admired this thing of beauty.
But food is not meant to be admired; its intent is to be eaten. Thus I dug in. The meatballs: hot, fresh, soft, tasty. The tomato sauce had a nice creamy quality. Melty mozzarella held it all together without getting in the way. And it was all cradled in Hoboken-style bread, crispy on the outside, chewy within.
It has felt so good to be welcomed back by the Milano’s crew, and to run into Nick and Ralph from the great band Cathedral Ceilings, and to eat this wonderful sandwich.
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME] Small Crush — “5” Yo La Tengo — “Five Years” Louis Jordan & his Tympani Five — “Five Guys Named Moe” Mazzy Star — “Five-String Serenade” George Jones & Gene Pitney — “I’ve Got Five Dollars and It’s Saturday Night” Kate Jacobs — “$55 Hotel” Rare Books — “55 Reasons” The Just Joans — “Five Beer Bottles” Art Brut — “Martin Kemp Welch Five-a-Side Football Rules!” Elvis Costello — ”Five Small Words” Awful Din — “Five Story” Igloo — “Five Hours” Three Hits — “Five O’Clock” Johnny Cash — “Five Feet High and Rising” Sweet Nobody — “Five-Star Diary”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME] Ben Vaughn — “Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying” The Natvral — “A Glass of Laughter” The Aislers Set — “One Half Laughing” Bill Withers — “The Same Love That Made Me Laugh” R.E.M. — “Laughing” Edward Rogers — “Laughing Ghost” Mary Wells — “Laughing Boy” Untamed Youth — “Laughin’ Linda” Holy Tunics — ”Poet’s Laugh” The Glands — “When I Laugh” Danny Elfman — “It Only Makes Me Laugh” The Wedding Present — “Don’t Laugh” Evans the Death — “Don’t Laugh at My Angry Face” Randy Newman — “Laugh and Be Happy” For Against — “Last Laugh”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME] Pete Seeger — “Solidarity Forever” Pylon — “Working Is No Problem” MJ Hibbett — “Work’s All Right (If It’s a Proper Job)” The Silhouettes — ”Get a Job” Huey Lewis & the News — “Workin’ for a Livin’” Warren Zevon — “The Factory” Bruce Springsteen — “Factory” John Lennon — “Working Class Hero” Fountains of Wayne — “Workingman’s Hands” The Mekons — ”Work All Week” Isley Brothers — “Work To Do” 2nd Grade — “Work Til I Die” NRBQ — “Whistle While You Work” Mick Jagger — “Let’s Work” Todd Rundgren — “Bang the Drum All Day” Billy Bragg — “There Is Power in a Union”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME] Burt Bacharach & Mike Myers — “What’s New, Pussycat?” (live) Catbite — “Scratch Me Up” Run the Jewels — “Lie, Cheat, Meow” The Sonics — ”Leave My Kitten Alone” Noreen Corcoran — “Love Kitten” Dry Cleaning — “Good Night” Chris Root — “I Miss My Cat” Juliana Hatfield & Frank Smith — “Kitten” R.E.M. — “Worst Joke Ever” (live) Franklin Bruno — ”A Cat May Look at a Queen” Outside Cat — “He’s Just a Cat” Bill Carlisle — “House Cat Mama” Donna Summer — “Cats Without Claws” babybaby_explores — untitled demo Black Ark — “Kitty Cat Chow” Palma Violets — “Step Up for the Cool Cats” Gene Criss & the Hep Cats — “Hepcat Baby” Stray Cats — “Cat Fight (Over a Dog Like Me)”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
When I was in college, I became a massive Robyn Hitchcock fan. But soon after, when I began listening to the work of Syd Barrett (I think because R.E.M. covered “Dark Globe”), it was one of those shocking moments — seemed like Mr. Hitchcock had absorbed quite a lot of influence from Barrett. I was very drawn to the cracked beauty of his solo songs and intrigued about his connection to Pink Floyd, which wasn’t a band that ever meant very much to me. Sure, we kids loved “Another Brick in the Wall” and it seemed naughty when they played “Money” on the radio and the lyrics said “bullshit.” But let’s just say I was never someone who played Dark Side of the Moon while watching The Wizard of Oz with the sound off. And now I aligned myself only with Syd-era Floyd.
And yet, I never knew that much about him. He blew his mind out in a car or some such and became a recluse. There was that great Television Personalities’ song “I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives.” He was spotted by photgraphers, bald and husky. He died. And that was that. So I was excited to see this definitive documentary, Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd. The credits list two directors. Storm Thorgerson is not a Nordic TV weatherman; he was the legendary graphic designer for not only Pink Floyd album covers but Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, ELO, etc. etc. Ah, but in 2013 he passed away and had passed the directing torch to Roddy Bogawa, who has been working on the project ever since.
Because Thorgerson was such a good friend of the band, he was easily able to interview surviving Floyd members Roger Waters, David Gilmour, and Nick Mason, as well as Syd’s sister and many of Syd’s old friends, girlfriends, record industry associates, and notable fans including Pete Townshend, (now sadly deceased) legendary photographer Mick Rock, Tom Stoppard, and Noel “Mighty Boosh” Fielding. Bogawa, who had been recruited by Thorgerson and was involved in the documentary project since its inception, now had to take all these pieces and form a cohesive narrative.
Which he totally does. It stays chronological, as we meet schoolboy Roger Keith Barrett, naturally talented artist who gains the nickname Syd as his interests shift to music. (Jason “Lucius Malfoy” Isaacs provides helpful narration.) It seems like the psychedelic era was both the breeding ground for his genius but ultimately his undoing, as narcotics loosened Syd’s grip on reality. This didn’t mesh well with whatever mental health issues he was dealing with, or not dealing with. And simultaneously, the grind of the band’s success further wore him down. Syd’s joyous spark vanishes — made sadly clear in the many vintage photos seen in the film. (Bogawa also includes much wonderful early performance footage of the band.) The following reclusive years — decades, really — are given context and are de-sensationalized.
Syd was an early example of the “mad genius” musician who ends up broken — a club that includes Brian Wilson, Roky Erickson, and Daniel Johnston; Cobain and Elliott Smith might be in some sub-chapter. It’s up to the viewer here to decide if this all adds up to Syd Barrett being a tragic figure. But beyond that, this is a story of creativity, self-discovery, commerce, well-being, regret, and ultimately about friendships, those we lose and those that hang on.
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME] Bob Dylan & The Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” Frankie Cosmos — “If I Had a Dog” The Specials — “Do the Dog” Flatt & Scruggs — ”Old Salty Dog Blues” Eels — “Dog’s Life” Syd Straw — “Howl” Morrissey — “I Am Not a Dog on a Chain” Tom Waits — “Dog Treat” (live spoken word) Jay Som — “1 Billion Dogs” Bruce Springsteen — ”The Promised Land” Nina Nastasia — “A Love Song” Harry Nilsson — “The Puppy Song” Wednesday — “Ghost of a Dog” Robbie Robertson — “This Is Where I Get Off” r.i.p. Julian Cope — “Beautiful Love” r.i.p. Maisie Hitchcock
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Jaime Rose — “Nowhere” [ALTERNATE THEME] Ribbon Stage — “Nowhere Fast” The Wedding Present — “Getting Nowhere Fast” The Smiths — “Nowhere Fast” Big Eyes — ”Suddenly Nowhere” Talking Heads — “Road to Nowhere” Martha Reeves & the Vandellas — “Nowhere to Run” The Rock ’n’ Roll HiFives — “Running Nowhere” UV-TV — “Back to Nowhere” Young Guv — “Nowhere at All” Pounding Serfs — ”To Go Nowhere” The Smithereens — “Miles From Nowhere” Karl Hendricks Trio — “Nowhere But Here” Bob Dylan — “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” Teenage Fanclub — “Nowhere”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Sometime in the late ‘90s, I picked up a used CD by The Embarrassment. It was selections from a two-disc compilation released by Hoboken’s own Bar/None Records, and there was a quote from Freedy Johnston on the back. OK, good enough for me. But I must admit, I didn’t spend a ton of time listening to that album — I don’t think it really grabbed me on first spin — and I dutifully filed it away under E on my shelves.
Last week I dug out that disc, from in-between Joe Ely and The English Beat, to put myself in the mood for this unlikely documentary. (Or perhaps I should say inevitable documentary in this current content-craving climate.)
The film makes the case that The Embarrassment’s isolated home base of Wichita, Kansas, both helped turn them into something special while also preventing them from reaching greater heights. Without any real “native culture,” they were able to absorb influences and references from everywhere, and developed within a fairly insular scene with no one to tell them to do it differently. The band blossomed into big fish in this small Midwestern pond.
There is a decent amount of video footage of The Embarrassment from the late ‘70s to the early ‘80s, and also current interviews with the band members and various talking heads (alas not the Talking Heads) including Evan Dando and the aforementioned Freedy. So we get to see the youthful joy of the band hitting their groove and trying to find a wider audience, while staying true to their nerdy, quirky sensibilities.
Spoiler alert: They never quite reach that bigger audience. They tour, they record, they do get a following, they are mentioned in Rolling Stone, and Jonathan Freaking Demme even sends a letter on their behalf to A&M Records, but… as is so often the case, life gets in the way, and The Embarrassment give up the ghost without becoming one of the “known” alternative bands of the 1980s. So the guys are left with what-ifs: if only they had moved to New York, or if they had just stuck around another year or two, etc. etc.
There is an oddly long time range in the “modern-day” interviews — it turns out this film was cobbled together by two directors (Daniel Fetherston and Danny Szlauderbach) who eventually learned they were both making documentaries about the same band. How Embarrassing! Though what was gained in more footage, research, and resources is perhaps offset here by a lack of one director’s “vision” for the project.
And a pet peeve that I had also noticed in the Go-Go’s documentary: conveniently no mention of a reunion album (1990) or that Bar/None compilation (1995) that likely brought the band the most attention they’ve ever had. That wouldn’t fit the legend and story arc of the Completely Forgotten Underground Band, rediscovered by the dogged documentarian (or in the Go-Go’s case, finally putting aside their personal gripes and triumphantly reuniting for the first time). But, if you’re trying to make a definitive documentary, the facts need to be in there.
Fans of indie music and rock docs will appreciate this film, even if it’s a different take on a story you’ve likely heard about other bands. As for me, I gave that old CD yet another listen a few days after seeing the documentary, and, I think I finally “get it”!
Jack Silbert, curator