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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

KEITH AND NORA DO GRAM AND EMMY-LOU




Comments:
Nazareth is proof that anyone could make a living in music in the 70's.
 
Anyone with an amazing voice and the coolest guitar tones.....don't come round here dissing the Nazareth, go outside n' do that!

Nazareth is tops here at Savage D.
 
"we wore eachother out"

Pretty thoughtless and glib comment coming from the man that introduced Gram to heroin.

But she sounded beautiful.
 
Clarkie,

I'm not sure one can blame the person who first turn you on to dope for one's habit. Graham knew what he was doing, and he knew exactly how dangerous hanging with the Rolling Stones was. His death was as tragic as any in the long string of heroin/drug casualties of the day, but they all share one aspect: their habits were theirs and theirs alone. Keith was close to this fate himself. Why did he survive and others not, I don't know, dumb luck I guess.

I don't knw for sure, but I'd guess his comment was his reflection on the better times, hig or otherwise, that they shared.
 
That and the fact that Gram had been introduced to heroin long before he met Keith.

Don't fool yerself kiddo....Gram was the teacher in that relationship. The only thing that Keith introduced to Gram was the limelight and the Riviera.
 
...and I think Keith sounded pretty beautiful too, they obviously had worked it out prior.

....and what's so damn glib? A bit sanctimonious Clarkie, gotta say, you sound practically provincial in your attitute here.
 
I would never blame Keith Richards for Gram Parson's addiction or death. I just felt like Keith was making light of the fast lifestyle they shared that contributed to Parson's demise. It's like the surviving passenger in a fatal car crash joking about what a wild ride it was. I could have misinterpreted as Tony suggested.

As for who was teacher and who was student? It's really neither here nor there. Like I said, I wasn't trying to implicate Keith Richards in Parson's death. I'm a bit fanatical about GP and what I've read and seen has suggested that he was mainly a bourban or tequila man until he buddied up with Keith Richards. But I could be wrong. If Jackson has evidence to the contrary than I would certainly defer to his vast and indepth knowledge of things musical.

But as for his singing? Let's start by saying that I have in the past been keen on Keith singing. I love that duet that he sang on that album that I needled you for owning. My brother owns it too and until you mentioned it, I thought HE was the only one. I'm sensing Jackson that you are very defensive about your Keith Richards... as I am about Gram Parsons. But I was markedly unimpressed with Keith's singing on that. It made me wonder why anyone ever covers Patsy Cline, or trys to sing Hallelujah the way Jeff Buckley did. Keith looked more interested in trying to get into Norah Jones pants then on trying to connect with her on a musical level. She was visibly uncomfortable and his demeanor did not relate to the song at all. And he sounded like the ringleader at a circus. I'm sounding like Simon Cowell. It just bugged me out because when Gram and EmmyLou did it right (sometimes Gram was too messed up to get it together)it was transcendent. You didn't hear the song, you felt it. Keith should have sang another song, maybe Brass Buttons, and they should have left Norah Jones breasts backstage so that he could focus on what he was singing about.

And did you know that in the dictionary under sanctimonious it says people that use the word provincial?
 
Clarkie,

Have become a huge Gram fan since Jackson's post May of last year. I went out and bought the box set right away. I've been working up a version of The Return of the Grievous Angel. Perhaps a duet?

Norah's breasts are not to be denied (BTW, I think she nicked a line from the Stones 'It's Only R&R' Deep cut 'Till the Next Time We Say Goodbye' for her last hit).

Having said all that, Gram did show up to Nellcote with a hefty habit of his own. The two of them were simply peas in a pod when it came to getting high. A lot of their relationship was chronicled in "Exile on Main St.: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones" by Robert Greenfield. It's a pretty good read as Stones books go.

I maintain that I don't know exactly what was going through Keith's mind when he made the statement, but I've had more time to ponder and his comment is really quite in line with his and indicative of the band’s character when it comes to personal loss. The Stones lost many who were close to them including the founder of their own band (Brian Jones). I think it's safe to say that they were all deeply affected by the death of so many of there friends (the list is VERY long), but they’ve always had a cavalier post mortem attitude about death. Call it arrogance, stupidity, etc…, but Keith knows “it could’ve been him” and wears it like a badge or war scar, they all do. I survived, and others didn’t. They seem to be impervious to their own mortality. Their attitude about it can be summed up in the lyrics to one of Jackson and I’s favs from ‘Sticky Fingers’

“Ain't flinging tears out on the dusty ground
For all my friends out on the burial ground
Can't stand the feeling getting so brought down
It's just that demon life has got me in its sway…”
 
I think if you closed your eyes and listened you'd hear the melding of the voices. At any rate it's a damn hard song to sing. I did not see any reation from Nora to suggest that she was anything but cozy singing with Keith. It has also been documented that Keith smells less than wonderful, maybe that was what you saw in her eyes.
 
Tony, it's funny that you should mention having a cavalier post-mortem attitude. I read somewhere that is one of the keys to longevity. Althought it could just be a symptom of it. My grandpa lived to 93 and seemed unphased by the eventual death of all his peers and their children. I guess the line from "Sway" is enlightening, under the circumstances. A good day is any day that you're alive. I guess Keith has earned the right to laugh at death. What was Nellcote? By the way, if you're a Netflix person, get a dvd from a german guy called Fallen Angel. It's a documentary on Gram with lots of access to his few remaining family members. It explains a lot. Lots of drama in that family. They're not big fans of Phil Kaufman, for obvious reasons. His actions have been romanticized, much to the family's dismay, but I think what pissed them off most was that Kaufman did a sh*t job of it. The body was not burned all the way. It takes alot to cremate someone. Keith's in it. Chris Hillman... poor Chris Hillman, he just wanted a career for God's sake. The cool thing about the dvd is the way it's edited. All the parties involved subtly (or radically)contradict eachother in one interview to the next. It's a lot like life. Also a really interesting picture from France of Gram and Keith playing together and Mick Jagger looking really jealous or pissed off. Mick, otherwise, does not appear in the film.

As for Return of the Grievous Angel, I'm all about it. Can't hit some of the high notes though.

Jackson. I'll give it another listen with and without my eyes closed. I was a little enhanced and ornery when I listened the first time, and probably expecting something different. Did you see Pirates OTC At World's End. Keith was classic. Genious casting.
 
Nellcote was Keith's house on the French Rivera where Gram visited during the recording of 'Exile' which was recorded there, and that photo you mention was undoubtedly taken there.

Yes, I saw Keith's moment at the end of the movie, I slept through most of it, but I own a copy ;)
 
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