Let’s Rock

Hi folks and welcom to another Simpsons On Sundays post. On the birthday front, Joe Mantegna turns another year older today. Obviously, we know that Joe voices Fat Toney, except for that one time when Phil Hartman did the voice, in A Fish Called Selma. I couldn’t tell the difference and I don’t know what Joe thought about this, despite that in his contract, he is the only one allowed to do the voice for Springfield’s mob boss, even if he is only saying a word or two.

On the music front, a new Paul McCartney compilation is coming out on December 2nd. It’s not just any other greatest hits, or best of compilation either and it will have some cool stuff on it. The 7” Singles will consist of all of Paul’s singles by himself and with Wings he had released since 1971 and this will include some long lost songs, never available on digital or streaming services before. For example: there is a soundtrack to the movie Spies Like Us, but Paul had released a single, which was the title track and it didn’t appear on the album. It and a song called Girls’ School are among the many rare tracks we will have available to us all, for the first time. They have been available on CD and cassette, but you had to go on Youtube and search for the song specifically. Now, you don’t have to do that anymore, if you wish to hear the b-side to Mull Of Kintyre or even a song like Once Upon A Long Ago, which has been unavailable on iTunes for years. December 2nd is less than 3 weeks away and I’m looking forward to hearing those songs again, as I find b-sides and the rarities often more interesting, then the singles.

On the death front, original singer for Nazareth, Dan McCafferty passed away on Tuesday at the age of 76. I could give you Love Hurts, This Flight Tonight, or Hair of the Dog, but how about this other classic with Dan going all out. RIP and keep rockin’ in rock ‘n’ roll heaven. https://youtu.be/fpeI5Z4vO-4

If you want to know more, here yah go. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/nazareth-dan-mccafferty-dead/

This week we go to a rock ‘n’ roll fantasy camp in the episode How I Spent My Strummer Vacation, which featured guests such as: Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Mick Jagger, Brian Setzer, Keith Richards and Lenny Kravitz. All of the guest stars were huge on classic and main stream rock radio and of course, don’t forget that both Mick and Keith are the principal songwriters in The Rolling Stones. I’ll get into the guest stars more, after going over the episode.

Homer goes to Moe’s Tavern (as is his want) to get a beer. The problem is that Homer has no money, ergo Moe refuses to serve his regular customer. Homer then goes to get the effects of being drunk elsewhere before he goes back to Moe’s to rub it in his face. Moe apologizes to Homer for not serving him earlier and gives him a free beer. Due to Homer already being very light-headed, he becomes very drunk. Moe and the barfly’s get a taxi for Homer, taking him home rather than Homer drive home and risk something bad happening, like getting pulled over or getting killed. However, this taxi turns out to be part of a show called Taxicab Conversations.
At home, the family are watching television when Taxicab Conversations comes on. After a part about Disco Stu, Homer’s conversation comes on. Homer starts off by saying nice things about his family before he goes on to complain that he can’t fulfill his dreams anymore due to his family and job holding him back. After work the next day, the family picks Homer up and takes him out into the forest. Homer gets scared until he finds out that they’re taking him to The Rolling Stones’ Rock N’ Roll Fantasy Camp to fulfill his fantasy of being a rock star.

Homer and several other men from Springfield take part in the camp’s activities, which are all hosted by rock stars. These activities include learning how to strut, learning about lyrics and learning how to escape to a limo. The campers then end their week by performing ” Hound Dog” on stage. When Homer sees his family waiting for him, he gets upset that he has to leave. Seeing this, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards offer to let Homer go on stage with them at a concert they were doing in Springfield. Homer is excited to accept this and gets VIP passes for him and his family.
At the concert, Homer uses his VIP pass to get into places he normally wouldn’t be allowed in. He then gets ready to go on stage but is disappointed to learn that he will only be performing a mic test as a roadie. He goes on stage and starts the mic test, which disappoints his family and friends. Homer sees the disappointment and starts to perform a song instead, which angers the rock stars. The rock stars then chase after Homer on a devils head prop which breathes fire. The devil head then falls into the audience and sets the stadium ablaze. During the commotion, Tom Petty lost his toe. Okay, I have to stop there and ask, how could that have happened?

Anyway, after the fire is put out, the rock stars apologize to Homer for the way they acted. They then ask Homer if he wants to actually perform with them on stage at another concert. Homer declines, deciding to go with his family instead. The next day, Homer takes Bart and Lisa to school in the devil’s head, which has been turned into a car. He then uses the fire breath to burn Principal Skinner’s pants off. During the credits, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger are seen working in their back yards, with Keith Richards putting up storm windows for the winter and Mick Jagger just yells “Simpsoooooooon”.

Alright, now let’s talk about those rock stars who had guest starred in this episode, all of whom I have grown up with hearing their music on the radio. Altho, in the case of Brian Setzer, it was his original band I had heard more than The Brian Setzer Orchestra. For those who may be a little young, Brian was in a band called Stray Cats, who are a rockabilly band from New York, and had a few hits in the 80s, after the revival of the genre. You can thank Queen and the single Crazy Little Thing Called Love, becoming their first no. 1 hit in the US for that. The big songs by Stray Cats are: Rock This Town and Stray Cat Strut. I know there are other singles, but those two are the ones I remember best. If you like, let’s here both songs, starting with Rock This Town. https://youtu.be/0RxBHRZpIdg

Okay, let’s do the Stray Cat Strut. Before that, I just have to mention the other two members: Lee Rocker on bass and Slim Jim Fantom on drums. Cool names huh? https://youtu.be/vEtbfzMLVWU

Next, let’s talk about Lenny Kravitz, and as you may, or may not know, his mother was Roxie Roker from the TV show the Jeffersons as Helen Willis. Both her and her character had married a white man, making it an interracial marriage as she was black. Obviously, they had a son in Lenny Kravitz and she had died on December 2, 1995 of breast cancer. This came after Lenny Kravitz had released his fourth album, entitled Circus. This song was the first single off of it. https://youtu.be/yw8_5OYKQNA

One of my favourite songs he had done is Black Velveteen from his 1998 album 5. Yes, I love Fly Away and all his other classics, but this is interesting as it is a complete 180 from what he usually does, with real drums, bass and guitar. https://youtu.be/KDu0n0VjbZY

As for Mick Jagger, it was because of him that Lenny Kravitz became one of the guest stars. Outside of the Stones, Mick has released some interesting solo albums and his 1993 album Wandering Spirit is probably the best loved, as it was produced by Rick Rubin, who has worked his magic with such bands as: Slayer, Metallica, Slipknot, System Of A Down, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Donovan, AC/DC, LINKIN PARK and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, among other artists. Even Tom Petty worked with Rick, but I’ll talk about him last. Anyway, Mick and Lenny Kravitz did this song in 1993, which is a cover of a track by the late bill withers. No, not Lean On Me, or Aint No Sunshine either. https://youtu.be/8E_lZPAhrbA

What about Micks’ song writing partner in The Rolling Stones? Keith Richards is obviously a great guitarist, but he can also sing. No, he’s no Mick, but he can cary a tune respectably. This is a classic example from a classic Stones album from 1972. Yes, I mean the album Exile on Main St, a double album and one of their best loved work. https://youtu.be/fBcFjNUzFJ0

I could talk about how The Rolling Stones had to do a concert for the CNIB, or else Keith could’ve faced some jail time in Toronto. Ergo, his career could have been down the toilet. I actually met someone who went to my school, who had interviewed The Stones and I had no idea, how much preparation was involved in doing an interview with a band. You have to prepare questions that they would most likely answer and sometimes, the handlers tell you not to talk about certain things. Altho, sometimes the artist being interviewed goes against the wishes of their people and would gladly talk about anything and everything. I’m not sure how the interview with Mick and or Keith went, but I’m sure that he did fine.

Elvis Costello, (born Declan Patrick MacManus) had come up during the punk and new wave era, and he did fine, with quite a few classic singles. My favourite incident was when he put the screws to NBC and played a song that he shouldn’t have done, on Saturday Night Live and resulting in him being banned from the show for years. I can’t find the complete song so, here is what I’ve found anyway. https://youtu.be/eD_24nDzkeo

Here is some trivia about the man. He was a computer programmer before deciding to make music for a living. Also, the musicians on his My Ame Is True album were actually the band Clover, before they had become Huey Lewis and the News. After the record was finished, The Attractions was put together and Elvis Costello has recorded with and without the band when he wants to. Even collaborating with Paul McCartney was not out of the question.

Finally, let’s talk about the late, Tom Petty, who has worked with George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison. Anyone remember The Traveling Wilburys? It featured 2 guest stars in George Harrison, and Tom Petty, who are sadly both no longer with us. Unfortunately, the same is true of Roy Orbison, with Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne being the last to remaining members of the supergroup https://youtu.be/1o4s1KVJaVA

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have obviously made some damn fine records like: Damn The Torpedos and the singles Don’t Do Me Like That and Refugee. Hard Promises gave us The Waiting and we got lucky with You Got Lucky off of the album Long After Dark. Oh yeah, I just can’t forget about his duet with Stevie Nicks on the track Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, which I have always loved. https://youtu.be/H5i7j0VhEHw

I almost forgot about something I had heard years ago, as it features Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam singing a classic Heartbreakers song from the Hard Promises album, which I thought was rather classy of Tom to let him do that. I believe that Tom had no problem with Nirvana and Pearl Jam, or a lot of the grunge and alternative rock from the 90s. Anyway, check this out. https://youtu.be/padBMW652No

Cool! Huh? I could get into how Tom went solo with Full Moon Fever, his other solo albums and Heartbreakers albums from Southern Accents onward, but I want to talk about something else which I think is really cool. Tom was a class act, as he had wanted Dave Grohl to play drums with him, after Kurt Cobain had committed suicide and Nirvana were done. Dave did play drums with Tom, but realized that he wanted to do his own thing. To Tom’s credit he respected that and let Dave go and work on Foo Fighters. Apparently, both the two had become an remain friends until Tom Petty died in 2017. I remember hearing about his death while I was on the phone and it hit me hard, after Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington had also died earlier that year. Tom was only 66 years old and I wish he hadn’t left us so soon.

I thought I would bring to your attention this rare single from 1992, as a reaction to the Los Angeles riots. Unfortunately, this song was forgotten about and never spoken of again, until now in this Simpsons related blog. I remember it coming out and thinking that it was cool, but Tom was busy promoting his latest album Into The Great Wide Open at the time and I have no idea if this song ever ended up anywhere, but on Youtube. https://youtu.be/OT2rb7ac3_4

What I will remember best about him is his sense of humor, and being a complete class act from top to bottom. He did have problems with the music industry, but he wouldn’t just take people to court, for the sake of it, and only did it if he felt the need to do so, in order to protect his artistic control and artistic freedom. For example: when ABC records tried to transfer him to MCA records and he said no to that. However, he did sign with a subsidiary label Backstreet Records, who are probably no longer a concern. Also, if you are a fan of B.F. Goodrich tires, you may know that Tom had taken them to a judge, for using a song which was similar to one of his own. They had tried to get permission to use it, and he said no. He also disallowed George W. Bush to use I Won’t Back Down. The same was true with Tom’s estate saying no to Donald Trump, when he wanted to use I Won’t Back Down for his 2020 presidential campaign.

He decided not to sue The Strokes, for their 2001 song Last Night, which had seemingly ripped off American Girl and I call bs on that. It has a similar feel, but Last Night is a bit slower and in a different key. Even so, I’m glad that Tom didn’t take them to court because they had admitted to using the song, as a major influence on Last Night. Here is the Strokes song. https://youtu.be/TOypSnKFHrE

Here is American Girl and despite that both songs are in different keys and slightly different tempos, they each have a little swing to them. https://youtu.be/SIhb-kNvL6M

I could also get into how Tom could have sued Red Hot Chili Peppers for “stealing” the cord sequence for Mary Jane’s Last Dance, for their 2006 song Dani California, which are both in the same key, but a D major and D minor chord between the two songs made a difference. Here is Mary Jane’s Last Dance. https://youtu.be/aowSGxim_O8

Here is Dani California, which was produced by Rick Rubin, as well as M J L D. Besides, I’d like to think that Tom liked both The Strokes and R H C P. https://youtu.be/Sb5aq5HcS1A

I could comment on Sam Smith, but I can’t. Anyway, let’s go onto Tom’s sense of humor, as he had a playful side to him. After all, he did hang with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison, who all loved and in some cases were friends with members of Monty Python. When Tom died, I had mentioned the audience, singing part of Break Down and I believe that he loved it. Besides, his comment after the audience finishes the chorus is classic. https://youtu.be/T11wn7QMFiY

Tom also was a frequent guest on the radio show Rockline and I was a frequent listener when it was available in Canada. Rockline allowed listeners to call in and ask questions of the artist, with some shenanigans at times. For example: you never knew what would happen with Members of Van Halen and Tom called in when Jeff Lynne was a guest in the summer of 1990, promoting his album Armchair Theatre. Tom was asked about the progress of the new Traveling Wilburys album and Tom said something like having buckets and buckets and buckets of ideas. I’m sure they did. lol. Those buckets and buckets resulted in Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 in October 1990.

Anyway, I like this episode a lot and on Thursday, I found this article talking about some of what went on behind the scenes, in regards to the guest stars. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/rolling-stones-simpsons/

To me, it’s similar to Krusty Gets Kancelled, except it in this episode it’s all rock stars and not just celebrities in general. As far as rock stars go, I have never thought of any of them as being larger than life, because I know that deep down, we are all humans and we all have the same imperfections and things we have to deal with every day of our lives. Altho, being celebrities, they know all the tricks of how to escape from throngs of fans, trying to get their autograph, in masses of humanity. Let’s not forget about the paparazzi, trying to track them down and take pictures of them, making their lives more difficult. I respect my favourite bands, as I know all too well, that I would feel uncomfortable with being in the spotlight like that and having to deal with the business side of all of that. Don’t we all realize that these people are just bags of water like you and me?

Anyway, enough of that and I’m going to leave you this week with a classic Rolling Stones track, which had started off a radio station in St Catharines Ontario and I had actually talked about that in August 2021. Remember, the radio station is 97.7 HTZFM and they have been on the air since June 26th 1986, in a white house… … a haunted building. No, I haven’t come across the ghosts, but I have heard them on the air once in 2005. Anyway, let’s go and get started up with this classic Stones track, which kicked off the radio station, which would become a favourite at my school and of my own. One more thing, tonight we will get our first episode in 2 weeks, with From Beer to Paternity and it should be interesting, with Duffman in it and it will be about parenting. Anyway, let’s rock. https://youtu.be/SGyOaCXr8Lw

Simpsons Guy, 3 Years Later

hi folks and welcome to anotherSimpsons Sunday post. First of all, happy Thanksgiving to all of my fellow Canadians.
Unfortunately, we have another death which relates to The Simpsons this week. Tom Petty died at the age of 66 on Monday evening and of course he was one of the guest stars on the season 14 episode How I Spent My Strummer Vacation. Outside The Simpsons he was also singer and songwriter with the bandsTom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Traveling Wilburys) and his first band Mudcrutch. One of my favourite musical moments was when he was playing the song Break Down, he actually allowed the audience to sing most of the first verse and chorus. Then he says “looks like sombody’s tryin’ to take my job.” Then he picks up the song from the second line in the first verse. You can find it on the live album Pack Up The Plantation, which features some classics and cover versions of old favourites from when he and the band grew up.
Before I get into this weeks post I would also like to say how glad I am, that finally every Simpsons episode is now available on iTunes. I have temporary audio only copies of seasons four through 19 and I will replace them, as soon as I can. Some episodes have been available on collections put together, especially for iTunes but now every single episode is now available for purchase and download. Where will I put them all? I’m not sure yet but I will think of something.
This week is another repost from the other blog from 3 years ago, talking about the Simpsons and Family Guy crossover episode Simpson’s Guy, which aired on September 28 2014, as an hour-long episode with the Season 26 premier Clown In The Dumps.
Okay, let’s start from the beginning and be honest that it really was inevitable at some point that the two shows would come together in a crossover episode. Really, don’t you think the similarities are there? Let’s face it, the two shows are different in that Family Guy has more of an edge to it than The Simpsons. On the other hand, the two families are very similar in that the families consist of: a mother, father, three kids and a dog. Although, the Simpsons have been seen with their cat named Snowball. All though he doesn’t appear in this episode, when Meg says when she feels down she sometimes beats up a cat. Oh, don’t forget The Simpsons family dog Santa’s Little Helper and the Griffin’s anthropomorphic dog Brian, who speaks in Seth MacFarlane’s own speaking voice. Sometimes I wish that Matt Groening had decided to voice a main character on The Simpsons! However, he doesn’t and well, that’s okay. Oh, another reason I think that this happened is because both shows are on the Fox Network. It’s just my theory but don’t quote me on it. Also, I’m not buying that the two shows have a rivalry between them. In fact, I have heard and I also believe, that both Matt Groening and Seth MacFarlane are good friends. It’s kind of like the so-called rivalry between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the 60s and not so much like the Blur and Oasis all out war in the 90s. I’ve heard that both Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn have patched things up and have worked together. Anyway, I digress.

Another thing to keep in mind is that some characters from The Simpsons and Family Guy have crossed over to each others shows on occasion too. Also, Seth MacFarlane has also guest starred on the Simpsons Season 24 finale Dangers On A Train and actor James Woods has lent his voice to both shows and appears in this episode too.

Now, as for the children of the two families, the Griffin’s have a daughter Meg, a son Chris and their one-year-old prodigy Stewie. The Sympsons have three children: Bart, Lisa and Maggie. All three kids were paired up with each other from both the Griffin’s and The Simpsons. Meg was paired up with Lisa, Bart was paired up with Stewie and Chris was Kinda sort of paired up with Maggie. Although you can also say that Chris and Brian were both paired up with Santa’s Little Helper at times. Particularly when Marge told Brian to take Santas Little Helper for a walk and Brian try to encourage that stupid dog to be more independent.

In the case of the matriarch in the patriarch of both families, they were paired off with each other too. Homer Simpson was paired with Peter Griffin and Marge Simpson was paired with Lois Griffin. In all cases it showed how similar each character is to each other and their dissimilarities as well. For example: Stewie is much more evil and sociopathic, while Bart is only mischievous. When Bart showed Stewie how to make a crank call it was in typical Bart fashion by calling Moe at Moe’s Tavern and using a funny name in this case, it was Lee Keybum or leaky bum. Stewie, of course thought it was the coolest thing he ever heard and when he tried it he said that Moe’s sister was being raped. I don’t know what Bart’s reaction to it was because it was probably visual. However, near the end of the episode bar told Stewie that he was freaked out by Stewie’s actions such as: kidnapping and torturing Nelson and his other nemeses on The Simpsons including Apu, for scatological humor, just because Stewie wanted to say “I took a poo.” That last one Bart thought was funny but everything else wasn’t as much to him and his last words to Stewie were “later dude” and at the end of the episode Stewie runs up to his room and cries.
I think what Lisa did for Meg was a nice gesture, by letting her play and giving her her saxophone. Although, Peter throws it away at the end of the episode because he says there is no room in the car for it. It was also kind of nice that Lisa tried to help Meg feel like she actually mattered in this world because she always feels very awkward as a teenager.

Meanwhile, Chris is his usual moronic self and acts goofy as usual. Especially when Brian tries to get out of losing Santas Little Helper by going into the kitchen and barking like a dog and Chris decides to do the same thing, which almost ruined it for Brian, as he was trying to fake Santa’s Little Helper’s presence in the kitchen by talking normal and barking like a dog. Chris also barks and says “we’re creating a braud story.” This is because Brian tried to encourage the Simpson’s family dog to be more independent and so, Santa’s Little Helper runs away and shows up just before the Griffin family is about to leave. .
Meanwhile, Marge and Lois go to see a movie and Homer and Peter try to find the griffins family car. Eventually they find it when Hans Moleman runs over Peter with it.
This is quite possibly the turning point in the episode because Peter decides to give Homer a gift in the form of Pawtucket patriot and Homer doesn’t like it because it tastes like a rip off of Duff beer. This changes the friendship between Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin in that Peter is taken to court by the makers of Duff beer and this has legal ramifications because Peter works for The brewery. Eventually to Peter’s chagrin, Judge Fred Flintstone fines in favor of duff and this furthers the rift between the Simpsons and the griffins, which was started earlier. It is especially apparent when Homer and Peter begin to fight and well, the fight itself seems to go on forever. Eventually Homer and Peter stop fighting and kiss and make up, sort of. They choose to stay a half an hour away from each other with a pile of garbage between them.
That is just some of what happened in the hour-long episode and being a fan of The Simpsons, I like it. I must admit that I don’t understand Family Guy as much as I do the Simpsons but I have downloaded that episode and Life Of Brian onto my iPhone. I also felt that the two shows have similar types of characters in not just personality but invoice as well. For example, Stewie kind of reminds me of Mr. Burns as far as the voice goes and Peter Griffin almost reminds me of Lenny. Everything else on Family Guy stands on its own in the humor and how the cutaways are inserted. Also from what I can tell, this episode brought out the strongest points of all the characters in both shows and to me, that was just as important as anything else involved with the story.
Something else I thought was cool was that the band Def Leppard allowed the song Poor Some Sugar On Me to Be Used in this episode. It Wasn’t the Original and It Sounded like a Newly Recorded Version of the Song but That Was Cool. I applaud: Seth MacFarlane, Al Jean, James L. Brooks and Matt Groening for allowing this to happen. I’ve heard there may not be a sequel to this but if there is, maybe the Simpsons can come to Quahog and they can get a taste of what the griffins live with in their town. I don’t know if it’ll happen but I guess we’ll see.
Well, that’s about it for this weeks Post. In the mean time, I recommend checking out my other blog, which has older posts relating to The Simpsons, along with a lot more interesting stuff about my favourite bands and other things. http://blindgordieblog.wordpress.com
Also, check out Chris Ladesma’s blog. He is the Music Editor for The Simpsons and has been since day 1.

http://simpsonsmusic500.wordpress.com/author/simpsonsmusic500/

Also, check out Yeardley Smith’s blog at http://gobbingoff.tumblr.com

Don’t forget about Marchez Vous, which is her women’s shoe designer company, which she started earlier in the decade. You can check out their website at

http://www.marchesvous.com

Additionally, for more news on The Simpsons, you can go to http://news.simpsonswiki.com/

You can also comment here or you can email me at blindgordie@gmail.com and I will reply as soon as I can to all messages I receive. If you follow me on Twitter or are my friend on Facebook you can comment directly to me that way too.

You can follow Simpsons Executive Producer Al Jean on Twitter and his Twitter handle is @AlJean.

He has ran the show since Season 13 and has ran it during Seasons 3 and 4.

Anyway,  I’ll talk to you again next Sunday.