Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Often the inspiration for the Idelic Hour comes while driving through the valleys and canyons. A song or a band blasts from of my iPod on random shuffle and a bell rings in my brain and I’m off daydreaming of gigs and long time friends.
Last weekend a Jane’s Addiction record popped on out of nowhere. Jane’s was special from the start. Perry was different. Always side by side with his girlfriend, the two were outgoing and inventive.
We all seemed to fly high and rise with Perry in the ’80s and early ’90s. Perry and Casey lit candles, took off their boots, and rolled up their jeans and passed out fliers to their gigs. They pierced their noses, got naked, got high, and turned their gigs into art happenings.
Maybe they climbed too high, but that’s in the past. Now as we “come down the mountain” and look back at Perry, he preached counter-culture and it meant something.
Funny…at work the other day there was a music brief for a TV advert looking for a meaningful song for a 30 year male. I still don’t know the answer to this one. No bother, back to the car. I reach down to my iPod and set the thing to listen to Nothing’s Shocking from start to finish. Song after song, memories of Jane’s shows came flooding in. I must have seen them 30 times—twice with less than 10 people in the crowd!
Then, on came Eric’s bass line for “Mountain Song:” “Comin’ down the mountain / One of many children…” Ah yes, a new Idelic Hour was born.
Thing is, I actually use the metaphor of a mountain quite a bit. Oh, how many mountains to climb these days? So sure, why not? In fact it didn’t take too much time digging in the crates to find tons of mountain gems.
We got big, small, sweet, blue, black, and silver. We’re standing on the edge, climbing up or down, walking with them, even flying over them. It’s the “Rocky Mountain Way,” and such is life
Long live old school Jane’s Addiction. Listen to these jams too and enjoy.
I’ve Been Driving On Bald Mountain – The Who
Hushabye Mountain – Dick Van Dyke
Blue Mountain – Espers
Sugar Mountain – Neil Young
Blue Ridge Mountains – Fleet Foxes
Black Mountain – Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
Small Mountain – Midlake
Wild Mountain Thyme – The Byrds
Lo-Fi Tennessee Mountain Angel – Whiskeytown
Blue Ridge Mountains – Hurray for the Riff Raff
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Diana Ross
Taking Tiger Mountain – ENO
Smashing – Ray LaMontagne
High On A Mountain Top
Mountain Song – Jane’s Adiction
Walkin with a Mountain – Mott The Hoople
I Come From The Mountain – Thee Oh Sees
Heavy Weight – Wolfmother
Sweet Mountain River – Monster Truck
Man On The Silver Mountain – Rainbow
Hall Of The Mountain King – The Who
The Idelic Hit of the Week:
Wolfmother – Heavy Weight
