R.I.P., Captain Lou

We lost one of the greats yesterday, Captain Lou Albano.

If you followed wrestling in the 1970s or 80s, you'll remember his outrageous ringside antics. "The Guiding Light' managed no less than 15 WWF tag team champions including The Valiant Bros. ("Handsome" Jimmy and "Luscious" John), the Moondogs (Spot and Rex) and the Wild Samoans (Afa and Seka). He also managed Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and George "The Animal" Steele among many others.

He may be best know for playing Cyndi Lauper's father in the video for Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

These were among his more famous insults:
"If you put his brain inside a parakeet it would fly backwards!"
"He's often constipated, rarely imitated."

In retrospect, Albano and his contemporary wrestling managers The Grand Wizard of Wrestling and "Classy" Freddie Blassie were performance artists by another name. This was something Andy Kaufman picked up on as he enjoyed antagonizing audiences in the mid-South back in the early '80s. The Captain could make you laugh more than 100 comedians.

Thanks for the laughs, Captain Lou.

Here's NRBQ's tribute to Albano featuring the vocal stylings of the man himself:

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Michael Jackson's New Song is an Old Song

Paul Anka has been award 50 of the publishing of the just-released Michael Jackson song, the much hyped "This Is It." It seems Anka was working with Michael back in 1983 but this song never saw the light of day until Safire recorded it in 1991 under the title "I Never Heard."

Read the full story here.

This is probably a case of lack of competance among the folks trolling thru Michael's archive unreleased material. It reminds me of the time one of Paul McCartney's PR people announced prior to the release of the Yellow Submarine Songtrack that an unreleased Fabs track had been unearthed - "a real rocker." Turns out he was referring to "Hey Bulldog," a song that had been on the original album released over thirty years earlier!

Here's the You Tube mash-up of "This Is It" and "I Never Heard":

Time for a 'Soundcheck'

I will be appearing on WNYC's always excellent excellent Soundcheck with John Schaefer on Monday 10/5 at 2 pm EDT. We'll be discussing recent cases of musical plagiarism and some technological advances that might help combat it. You can listen live or check out their amazing show archive (which includes everyone from Thurston Moore to Judy Collins) here:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck

Coldplay/Satriani Case Settled

Coldplay and Joe Satriani have reached an out of court settlement in Satriani's copyright infringement case over the song Vida La Vida. Given Vida La Vida's strong melodic similarities to Satriani's 2004 track If I Could Fly, Coldplay was well-advised not to let this case get in front of a jury.

The issue here was never whether Coldplay had knowingly copied Satriani's work, it was whether they had COULD have heard If I Could Fly (a slam-dunk) and whether the songs were close enough that Satriani's copyright had been infringed.

These out of court settlements typically include a gag order preventing either side from discussing the case but we can assume that Satch will receive a payoff while Coldplay will not have to admit any wrongdoing and will avoid the hassle of a court trial. Chris Martin was probably sincere in claiming that the similarities here were conicidnetal and not intentional.

So everyone's happy. Now the ball's in Cat Stevens' court.

Here's the Billboard article:

http://www.billboard.com/#/news/coldplay-satriani-copyright-lawsuit-dismissed-1004012280.story

Any Major Dude Will Tell You...

If there's a better music blog than Any Major Dude Dude, I sure haven't found it. They consistently feature great music along with informative stories on the artists who created it. That's why I'm proud that they just posted an extensive entry on the Beatles-related material in Sounds Like Teen Spirit. Once you've visited their site, I can guarantee that you'll be returning again and again. Check it out here:

http://halfhearteddude.wordpress.com/

And as a special tip of the hat, here's Wilco's excellent rendition of their namesake song:

Sounds Like Teen Spirit with Dennis Miller

I will be appearing on Dennis Miller's radio show tomorrow Wednesday, August 12th. Click here to find your local station that carries the show.

Kelly Clarkson and Beyonce: Too Close for Comfort

There is a lot of buzz today surrounding Kelly Clarkson's new song Already Gone and its musical similarities to Beyonce's hit Halo. Although she performed Already Gone on Good Morning America this morning, Clarkson is claiming that the song is being released against her will. She seems to be blaming Ryan Tedder, the One Republic frontman who is the songwriter of both songs. It appears that Tedder submitted the same backing track to both artists, accounting for their very strong musical similarities.

Read the New York Magazine story and listen to both songs here.

This case brings to mind the story of how Bon Jovi's breakthrough hit You Give Love a Bad Name began life as If You Were a Woman and I Was a Man (yes, that's really the title) by Bonnie Tyler. In that instance Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and songwriter Desmond Child reworked the song Child had earlier written for Tyler into You Give Love a Bad Name. While not a big U.S. hit, If You Were a Woman and I Was a Man topped the charts in several European countries in early 1986. It preceded You Give Love a Bad Name's release on Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet album by six months.

Here's the video for Tyler's song. See if it doesn't sound familiar: