In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Keith Richards and Steve Jordan on their 1988 song, Take It So Hard, off Keith's first solo album, Talk Is Cheap (go here). The interview was for my "Anatomy of a Song" column. I interviewed Keith once before, when we talked about the writing and recording of Street Fighting Man. As rockers go, Keith is about as hip and verbally interesting as they get. Always fun. Talk Is Cheap will be re-issues with bonus tracks today here.
Also in the WSJ, I interviewed Tony Hale of the HBO series, Veep, for my "House Call" column (good here). The final season (seventh) starts on Sunday. Many surprising twists and turns in our conversation, particularly how he met his wife. [Tony Hale at his Los Angeles home.PHOTO: JESSICA SAMPLE FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]
Here's a bunch of scenes from season #1 of Veep, with Tony as Gary and Julia-Louis Dreyfus as Vice President Selina Meyer...
SiriusXM. On Thursday, I'll be on SiriusXM's Feedback with co-hosts Nik Carter and Lori Majewski to talk about my "Anatomy of a Song" column with Keith Richards and Steve Jordan. Feedback is on channel 106 on the Volume network.
Bill Evans in England. Resonance Records will issue Bill Evans in England on April 13 as a limited edition two-LP album on Record Day. Then on April 19, the album will be released as a two-CD set and digital download. The album features previously unreleased music by the Bill Evans Trio—with Eddie Gomez on bass and Marty Morell on drums—live at London's Ronnie Scott's in December 1969. The release will include an extensive book with rare photos by Jean-Pierre Leloir and essays by me, French filmmaker Leon Terjanian and interviews by Zev Feldman with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell. For more info, go here.
Here's a promo video for the album...
Ed Bickert. Brad Wheeler of the Toronto Globe & Mail wrote a touching tribute to the late guitarist Ed Bickert and was kind enough to quote me. Go here.
Deodato. Following my post on Eumir Deodato last week, arranger and trumpeter Marty Sheller sent along the following note. Dig Marty's beautiful flutes:
"Hi Marc, Thanks for those cuts by Deodato. They reminded me of a song by Deodato that I arranged for George Benson…”Jackie, All." For some reason, producer Creed Taylor used only two choruses of the song (the melody statement) and then faded it out. But that’s enough to hear what a beautiful song it is. Here's the song...
Oddball album cover of the week.
What a strange series of images. Let's imagine the color one features a teen who just received a note from a beau she can't stand. He's written that he's coming home for a visit and can't wait to see her. Moving counter clockwise: "What a drag," "Why did I break up with my old boyfriend?" "What should I do?" And "I know, I just won't answer the phone."