Scoring “The Next American Dream”

16. January 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: composing · Tags: , , , , , , ,

So I’ve been asked to score a documentary. It’s called The Next American Dream. (this is the trailer I scored) Of course I accepted. The film, set to air on PBS in April, is a documentary about how we will build our environment in the future. It features Chris Lienberger of the Brookings Institute

The question is, how does one compose music for the future? Or I guess, how does one conceive of a soundprint for what America will be like in 50 years?

Right now, where we sit, with all the ugly news, it sure seems like the tendency is to write something dark. But I’m an optimist now aren’t I?

What I know now is that we’re looking at America as a family. A great big family full of good and . . . well . . . mistakes. And families have a past, a present, and a future. Families all have their share of mistakes and screwups. We all have our crazy uncles, and bizarre moments in our history.

So a lot of what I’m thinking about for the score is built around the music of family. I think that will always be there. The kind of music a family surrounds itself with will change, but it will always be there. The instruments may change, the songs will be varied, but they’ll be an ever-present part of how we continue down this experiment we call America.

It’s a great opportunity, and when I think about it in the terms of America as family it seems much more promising.

So messed up, I want ya here. RIP Ron Asheton

06. January 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: heros, people, players, songs · Tags: , , , ,

It wasn’t the vocals or the lyrics that really caught me.  It was that riff coming out of the left speaker, then the sleigh bells on the right.  G, F#, E.  Dissonant, relentless with that unmistakable guitar tone and the insidious goof-ball solo that was all about what would become the name of a disastrous later album – Raw Power.  Two guys propel I Wanna Be Your Dog, the Asheton brothers.

Every show I’ve played in this millennium has included a cover of I Wanna Be Your Dog (Hell, I haven’t bought a guitar that didn’t drone G, F#, E as it’s first chords in my hands).  That started as an homage to my friend and mentor, Alejandro Escovedo (who would probably kill me for calling him a mentor).  The tradition gained a sense of urgency and reverence when Al collapsed and nearly died after a show in Phoenix in 2003.  And covering the song took on a new sense of rapture after Al returned to the stage in 2006.  But covering “Dog” wasn’t all just about Al.  Sometimes, you just can’t shake a great hook.

Ron Asheton

Ron Asheton

For me, Ron Asheton’s guitar playing always had this gorgeous blend of slop and accuracy – I call it the ever-important tension between abandon and unity.  Ron created this tension in every song.  In short, his playing was the living embodiment of the rock-n-roll convention of “living on the edge.”  Countless guitar players copped his approach.  Some even pulled it off, (Johnny Thunders, Bob Stinson, and a few others come to mind).  

Ron Asheton and the Stooges arguably gave rise to more authentic rock bands than any other guitar player/band combination.  It’s largely because Ron Asheton wrote recklessly gorgeous guitar parts paired perfectly with Iggy’s delivery.  For most of us The Stooges are the embodiment of everything good about punk and eventually everything too many indie rock bands never learned or forgot.

The Sooges

The Stooges

Though Madonna did her part, Ron Asheton lay dead  in his home for days never having been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Assholes . . . er . . . excuse me, “Fame.”  An indignity those of us not in the Stooges might consider absolutely insufferable, but one I’m pretty sure  Asheton shrugged off and would find completely appropriate.  After all, what fame did the world of mainstream music ever heap on the Stooges that wasn’t brought to them through a TV commercial?  And what more did Ron ever want besides to play?

There’s really nothing much more I can say about Ron Asheton, except, well, So messed up, I want ya here.  

Note to band-mates:  don’t expect to stop covering this song any time soon.

First Post on the new site

04. January 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized

Here’s he first post on the new site.  Websites take longer to make than songs do.  Many projects are in the works for 2009.  Including a new EP, composing the soundtrack for a feature-length documentary for broadcast, and new songs and shows from the rock band.  If you’re interested in hearing some of the new songs, just check out John’s page on lastfm here.