Bryce Zabel's FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH

READY TO BELIEVE: Free MP3 of Obama Fight Song!

Last January, while we were still on strike as members of the Writers Guild of America, my wife Jackie and I sat down in a Los Angeles coffee shop with our good friend, musician Cherish Alexander.

Before the coffee was cold, we decided, improbably given the time frame -- as a couple of striking screenwriters and a singer-composer -- to write, produce and distribute the song you'll soon hear.  It happened over a five day period and we released it immediately before the California primary.

So far, "Ready to Believe" has cumulatively had its video versions viewed close to 100,000 times on YouTube.  Plus, it's available on iTunes.  You, however, don't have to buy it in the closing days of the 2008 campaign.  We want you to download it for free and to send it to your friends.

It was written to stand-up for Barack to the Clinton campaign's charges claiming he wasn't ready for the presidency.  We find that the need for this song is as solidly right-on today as it was last February (only Clinton is on the team now and the argument's being made by John McCain).  It needed rebuttal then, and it needs rebuttal now. 

Please give it a listen.  Click the link below to just hear it.  Otherwise,right-click to actually... we'll say it again... download "Ready to Believe" for free.  Again, you have our express permission to download it and to give it away. 

Download_Ready_to_Believe_Song.mp3

Some have asked for a PDF of the actual lyrics.  Here you are:

Download_Ready_to_Believe_Lyrics.pdf

Here's the You Tube version:

Please also visit the web-page of singer-composer Cherish Alexander (http://www.cherishalexander.com/ready_to_believe/) where all the goodies are also available.  She and fellow producer Damian Valentine did an awesome job with this project as you can hear for yourself.

We know the hour is late but if you support Barack Obama, we'd urge you to join us and expose as many people as you can to this song.  Especially Obama volunteers.  We've received a good deal of email from campaign workers who thought it was like an anthemic "fight song" for the cause.  That's certainly what we intended it to be.

Remember to vote.  Even if the polls say he's ahead, you have to vote.  Take nothing for granted. 

Still fired up and ready-to-go for Obama!

Cherish Alexander, Jackie Zabel, Bryce Zabel

"E" Is For Excellent

There are few things in life as satisfying as listening to a brand-new Bruce Springsteen album on the day it's released. Well, maybe some, but they usually don't involve headphones...

I listened to it once yesterday after getting the iTunes download (I had it pre-paid to get it right away) and I've just returned from a long walk where I heard all of "Magic" for a second time on my iPod. I was so into the experience that when I passed my friend Anne on the street I almost missed her.

This is Springsteen’s first album of original songs with the E Street Band since 2004. Don't get me wrong, though, I absolutely thought "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" and "Live in Dublin" were extraordinary. This latest, however, is a return to form in a powerful way.

It's very political, too, although I have to confess that on first or second listens for me, I don't focus on the meaning of the words but on the emotion of the music. Here's what Rolling Stone's David Fricke said about the politics in his review:

...Springsteen’s songwriting here is also intricately wired with outrage and disbelief. The pain, courage and genuine love of country that he saw and felt after 9/11 and put to song with the E Street Band on The Rising have gone up in flames and betrayal. He makes no direct references to Iraq, Bush or the so-called Patriot Act. He doesn’t need them. The pared metaphors and straight talk carry the weight and body count. Like “Born in the U.S.A.,” “Gypsy Biker” is the sober homecoming of a war veteran with images of anxious preparation (“We pulled your cycle out of the garage/And polished up the chrome”) and wasted effort (“The speculators made their money on the blood you shed”). Except this time, the soldier is returning in a coffin, and the devastated singer is numb with grief, mourning over lines of cocaine. “Last to Die”takes off like “Thunder Road,”but into a darkness of unknown depth. “Who will be the last to die for a mistake?”Springsteen sings, gripping the wheel and marking the miles in fires and martyrs from both sides of the road. And the title song, a skeleton dance of acoustic guitar and cimbalom, is a catalog of tricks, not magic. At the end, Springsteen adds up the high price of White House snake oil in a voice strained with exhaustion: “There’s bodies hangin’ in the trees/This is what will be, this is what will be.”

Let's get back to the music itself, though. I know this will mark me, maybe, as a lightweight but the song that hooked me immediately was the beach-radio sound of "Girls in Their Summer Clothes." After that, though, there are so many great cuts: "I'll Work for Your Love," "Your Own Worst Enemy," "Magic" and "The Long Walk Home" grab you right away. I was less passionate for the first cut they released from this as a tease, "Radio Nowhere" but it's good, too. Nothing that turned me off.

The thing is, it's great, it's Springsteen, and I'm damn glad we have him around because nobody, and I mean nobody, can do what he does as well as he does it.

Here's At Least One Verdict on Phil Spector

So the Phil Spector jury has deadlocked and couldn't reach a verdict. This is depressing news for people who think he killed actress Lana Clarkson and would like him to go to jail for the rest of his life to pay for the crime. Granted, I haven't heard the evidence presented as these jurors have but I can't deny that I am emotionally in the camp that wants him locked up anyway. Apparently, so were 10 of the jurors and all six alternates, leaving just two people who apparently needed to see a DVD slo-mo of Spector committing the act in order to convict.

Maybe knowing what happened that night is beyond our ability to know. So, in the interest of providing at least some verdict on Phil Spector, this morning on a long walk I listened to both the original "Let It Be" album which was produced by him and the recent "Let It Be... Naked" album which was de-Spectored by the surviving Beatles, mainly Paul McCartney.

Quick refresher: When the Beatles broke up in 1970, the group had one final album in the can, ready for release, "Let It Be." It gets tricky because this wasn't the last official Beatles album. That was "Abbey Road," which had been released the previous fall. "Let It Be," however, was a collection of songs which had been performed "live in the studio" over a year earlier. When the Beatles broke up, they pretty much all wanted to walk away, and those "Let It Be" tapes got given over to the legendary (and later reclusive) Phil Spector. He then proceeded to add his "wall of sound" style of orchestra, chorus and overdubs.

In 2003, EMI stripped away the strings, the chorus, and most of the overdubs and released "Let It Be... Naked."  Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

The album is presented in a form which is purported to be closer to The Beatles' original artistic vision to get back to the "rock & roll" sound of their early years... McCartney in particular was always dissatisfied with the "Wall of Sound" production techniques that had been employed on the Phil spector remixes, especially his song "The Long and Winding Road" which he believed was ruined by the process. George Harrison gave his approval to the project before he died.

The songs "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It" were both dropped as they were thought to be too weak for inclusion, and Lennon's "Don't Let Me Down" was added in their place. Even the running order is different. So is the photograph of George Harrison. Here's what Rolling Stone had to say in its review:

It's difficult to review "Let It Be . . . Naked" without drowning in the welter of vexed issues that shattered the Beatles. For a start, Naked is being hyped (in a musical nod to the "director's cut") as the "band's take" -- that is, the stripped-down version of the album the Beatles intended to make as they embarked on what was then thought of as "Get Back" in 1969. This notion, of course, is ridiculous. The unfortunate truth is that John Lennon and George Harrison are dead, and, whatever its merits, "Naked" exists essentially as an excuse for Paul McCartney, after decades of complaining, to finally remove Phil Spector's production effects from "The Long and Winding Road." As a result, the song -- a technologically souped-up version of the take in the "Let It Be" film -- now sounds like a vaguely interesting demo, rather than the lavish (and frankly emotional) epitaph for the Beatles that Spector turned it into.

So we know that Paul's verdict on Phil Spector was guilty. John Lennon held out for the other side and voted innocent.

"He was given the shittiest load of badly recorded shit with a lousy feeling to it ever, and he made something out of it. He did a great job."

Both of the deceased Beatles -- Lennon and Harrison -- went on to work closely with Spector, who produced "Plastic Ono Band," "Imagine" and "All Things Must Pass" -- arguably the three best albums of the Beatles' solo years.

I don't pretend to be a music critic (well, actually, by virtue of this blog, I have once or twice pretended to be one) so all I can discuss is what I felt listening to both versions back-to-back this morning.

First, there is no doubt that the new mix is simply a better sound quality all the way around. The vocals are more vibrant and present. In the original, they now sound receded and half-lost. The sparer renditions do allow you to hear the songs as if they're new, and they are damn good songs. The people who sniff that "Let It Be" was somehow one of the Beatles' worst albums are just plain, flat-out wrong. Hearing them one after another, I do think that Spector did a less than great job with them.

So, that's my verdict today on Phil Spector, he was guilty of messing with a great Beatles album. Not quite up there with murder, but a crime nonetheless.

As for whatever happened between Phil Spector and Lana Clarkson, maybe we'll never know. He may not be "guilty" there, but he sure wasn't "innocent."

Got My Satisfaction: The Rolling Stones Play Ireland's Slane Castle

We flew into Dublin, Ireland on Saturday to see The Rolling Stones play before 70,000 fans at Slane Castle, just north of the city in County Meath. It was a great memorable night of rock-and-roll, not something we'll ever forget. The first time I'd ever seen the Stones and same for my family. Well, as the saying goes, better late than never.

The weather rained off and on throughout the day which set up the castle ampitheater for a lot of mud, making it seem like an Irish slice of Woodstock with all the slipping and the sliding. This was no take your seat and chill with a cold beer at Staples Center kind of experience. This was one-of-a-kind all the way.

And, as it turned out, the rain mercifully was pretty much spent during the show even though it was cold enough that every last piece of clothing and "official" t-shirt we bought was being worn by the time the night was over. One of our new-found Irish friends in "D" stands told my wife that if somebody saw her dressed like she was on the streets they'd give her money because they'd assume she was homeless! Maybe it was the three hats she was wearing at the time...

None of it stopped us from having the concert time of our lives here. But don't take my word for it. I'll leave it to the Irish Sun tabloid for the hyperbole. Here's how they began their article "The Stones Wow Slane with Great Big BANG!"

Rock legends The Rolling Stones wowed more than 70,000 ecstatic fans on Saturday night with the greatest live show Ireland has ever seen.

The other papers were similarly effusive here. The Irish Daily Mirror's article was "70,000 Satisfied" and The Irish Daily Star was "Rolling Thrones: Jagger & Co. Crowned Kings of the Castle for Second Time."

That's a reference to the fact that the last time the Stones played Ireland was also at Slane Castle, 25 years ago, in 1982. What makes this so special is that Slane Castle only stages one big concert like this every year and only U2 has created a similar sensation. This felt like a primarily local affair, heavily Irish, and Jagger even spoke a little Gaelic to the crowd.

We had our new BlackBerry "global" phone with us and managed to get off a couple of phone calls during the concert -- to my brother Alan who's been to Ireland twice before and seen the Stones years ago, and to my friend Scott Matis who has forgotten more concerts he's been to than I've ever attended. That was pretty cool -- being in the middle of a crowd of 70,000, having just arrived in a foreign country, out in the middle of what felt like nowhere -- and just dialing out a couple of calls to play a little Stones over the telephone connection. That's the world we live in now. Lauren was busy texting friends when her fingers weren't too numb.

Apparently, back-stage the Stones (who were flown in by helicopter) had a snooker table, massage rooms, satellite link to the English cricket final and even, yes, oxygen tanks and masks. We made do with a few less of the amenities, of course.

We got out here by bus (driving a car on our first day in-country would have been insane, let alone to a concert venue like this) and from the drop-off point you had to hike something like two or more miles (it seemed to me) to get to the concert.

I have to say that, despite the band having a combined age of 253 years they still know how to kick it out. The gig started with "Start Me Up" and ended with "Brown Sugar" and a huge fireworks display. They also played crowd favorites like "Midnight Rambler," "Tumbling Dice," "Miss You," "It's Only Rock and Roll," and a very different "Sympathy for the Devil."

So, bottom line, the rain at Slane couldn't stop the concert that, so far for me, was the concert of a lifetime. The papers have speculation that after the London concerts in the next few days, The Rolling Stones will retire from live touring for good. If that's the case, then this will be, as I said at the beginning, unforgettable. It's the end of an era probably, and we were there. Brilliant...

Lennon and McCartney: Still Competitors

After all these years, Paul McCartney and John Lennon are still rivals. It's odd, but the two most recent CDs I've bought (within a week of each other) have been McCartney's Starbucks fueled "Memory Almost Full" and the Darfur fundraising compilation of Lennon covers "Instant Karma."

"Memory Almost Full" is a lot better than I expected. His last CD, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" got all these accolades but it didn't move me like I'd hoped it would. This one seems more like Paul being back to form and, honestly, thinking about being 65 (his birthday was June 18). My favorite cuts so far are "Dance Tonight," "That Was Me," "Gratitude" and "The End of the End." This is not the end of the end for Paul, of course, but it may be the beginning of the end. And, despite the Starbucks inspired commercial overkill involved, it's still well-done.

For a longer post about almost seeing a Beatles re-union at a 1976 McCartney concert, CLICK HERE.

For Time magazine's take on that same tour (which was McCartney's first live show post-Beatles), CLICK HERE.

To read a tribute to Paul McCartney on his 64th birthday, CLICK HERE.

"Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur" is also getting a lot of play on my iPod. It's a wonderful effort musically and for a good cause. Some great acts have given a shot at some Lennon songs that probably a lot of people haven't heard before. U2 does the "Instant Karma" title track, making it come alive again. I'm particularly fond of Dhani Harrison and Jakob Dylan's version of "Gimme Some Truth."  Same with Matisyahu's "Watching the Wheels" and Ben Harper's "Beautiful Boy." The only one that absolutely pales in comparison is "Imagine" which, even if you're Jack Johnson or Avril Lavigne (both do versions), basically just can't compete.

For a longer post about the day John Lennon died and what it meant, CLICK HERE.

For a post about the Beatles coming to America and first playing on the Ed Sullivan Show as reported by Newsweek at the time, CLICK HERE.

For a review of the new Beatle's Las Vegas show "Love," CLICK HERE.

To read about Apple (the computer company) and Apple (the record company) finally coming together, CLICK HERE.

Funny isn't it, 37 years after the Beatles go solo, McCartney is still the "commercial" one and Lennon is still the "political" one. Oh, well...

Once (2007) -vs- Music and Lyrics (2007)

Two Films -- One Review -- No Holds Barred.
For more film-on-film reviews, visit MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

The Smackdown. If you want to see the difference between studio and indie films, and between American cinema and foreign cinema, these are two films worth checking out. "Music and Lyrics" came out at the first of the year and is your DVD pick. Joining the fray in a big way is the Irish film "Once" which has become a darling on the festival circuit. Both of these films are about a singer-songwriter who meets a woman who helps him with his music even as their work together threatens to blossom into a messy relationship. But their respective tones are world's apart.

"We could make beautiful music together. And, honestly, the scarves really do work as a metaphor for artistic integrity, don't you think?"

The Challenger. The plot of "Once" could not be simpler. A decent guy (Glen Hansard) who works repairing vacuums also has a life outside the shop as a busker playing in downtown Dublin. Along comes a Czech woman (Marketa Irglova) selling flowers on the same street, and she's a pianist and a budding song-writer herself. The only place where they can play together is a music store, but eventually he asks her to help him record some tracks before he heads off to London to seek his musical destiny and re-connect with an ex-girlfriend. She's in Dublin with an infant even though her husband is still ambiguously back in the old country. That's pretty much it, and it's 88 minutes of wonderful coming at you in just about every way you can imagine. People watching this film are sitting in theaters with big smiles on their faces.

"Smile if you're about to get lucky. Okay, then. Point Grant."

The Defending Champion. In this romantic comedy, has-been and former 1980s pop star Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) gets the comeback chance of a lifetime thanks to quirky plant-healing lyricist Sophie (Drew Barrymore). When a teen singing sensation improbably asks Alex to write a song and record the duet with her, Alex can't refuse. There's only the one problem, something about having writer's block with lyrics. Naturally, Alex and Sophie sit down to write and their chemistry turns solid gold. There's not a moment in the film where you actually wonder what is going to happen but Hugh Grant still remains the very definition of charm in films. He's sometimes phenomenal, but always good, and he's right on the money with this role. It's sweet, the music is surprisingly good, and the humor is only occasionally forced.

The Scorecard. A studio film with two huge stars ("Music and Lyrics") often follows the by-the-numbers screenplay construction that seems to get taught from every street corner in the US. It mandates certain key plot points and a story that gets bigger and bigger. So, naturally, the perky gardner is going to fix more things for Grant than his house plants. Then they are going to write a song that is more than just good, it has to be great and a chart topper. Then they will have to perform it on a stage before practically the entire world.

In a foreign indie film ("Once"), however, a small story has the luxury of staying small. The people involved with the song don't have to enjoy a success beyond simply getting something recorded because that, alone, is a huge victory for them. It's not like "Ray" or "Walk the Line" or "That Thing You Do" or any of those films where it gets radio play, then becomes a hit and we see the small-timers corrupted by life before getting real again. Nope, in this film, they start real and stay real. And that is like a breath of very fresh air.

Both of these films build their action on two people -- possibly romantically linked -- who start to build music together, note-by-note and word-by-word. One of them makes the process big, frivolous fun and the other makes it as real as watching a documentary. It's all the difference in the world.

And the winner is...

The Decision. I really, truly liked "Music and Lyrics" as a pleasant diversion -- it's not a bad rental at all. In a previous Smackdown with "Wimbeldon," it took the decision. This is just one of those times when something is good and predictable and it's not enough. "Once" is great and surprising and wonderful. Find it in the town where you live at whatever indie theater it's playing at and go there and see it as soon as you possibly can. You owe it to yourself. Then, when you're done, go to iTunes and buy the soundtrack and play those songs that you just can't get out of your mind. We can't resist -- "ONCE" is so good it's worth seeing two times -- once in the theaters and twice when it comes out on DVD.

Dixie Chicks Win Five Grammys

I'm trying to care about this, but I just can't. Obviously this is the music community's way of sticking it to Bush by giving them a bunch of trophies, so that's the news peg. But, really, any awards show that has the same artist accept an award five times on stage for essentially the same contribution needs to be overhauled... I'm going to sleep...

Apple and the Beatles Come Together

Apple, the computer company, made peace today with Apple, the music company, over who gets to use the logo and in what way. This means that the way is paved for a deal which will soon bring Beatles music to iTunes at long last.

It was a kick seeing who could do a stronger backflip to get a Beatles song metaphor into their coverage.

The New York Times used the "Long and Winding Road" to start its story.

The Los Angeles Times managed to work in "Let It Be" in its first sentence.

The Associated Press played it straight.

I was surprised that nobody used the song I  just used in this blog post -- it seems like the logical one -- "Come Together."

Have there ever been two brands who should get along more than these two? A couple of my very favorite things in life are my iMac and my Beatles collection. For all the Beatles tunes not to be on iTunes has been insane.

On the other hand, I personally won't be buying many of them since I've bought them all previously twice before -- once on vinyl record album and later on CD. Okay, then, in the spirit of the day... let's end with...

Here comes the sun...

Loved the Beatles, Felt the "Love"

For all of you who were born after the Beatles broke-up, well, you can't ever quite know how it was. How it was, when a new Beatles album was coming out, was beyond extraordinary and although there are anticipated artists and albums today, these instant classic albums were in a class by themselves even then.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Las Vegas to see "Love" which is the Cirque du Soleil show featuring Beatles music, approved by the surviving Beatles and the departed Beatles families. The show was wonderful -- taking two artistic expressions I love -- Cirque du Soleil and Beatles -- and putting them together. I left feeling up and inspired and nostalgic and sad and glad, all at the same time. I knew when I saw the show that the actual soundtrack was due out the next week so I was waiting for it.

Now that I've had some time with this new CD, I can really say that it reminds me the music is the thing. The show was great, mind you, but the CD is everything I could possibly want as a Beatles fan. Listening to it, on headphones as I used to savor an original Beatles album, I was transported again to that time when you couldn't wait to finish your first listen so you could start your second.

This was like a new Beatles album to me, not a re-packaging, not a tribute, but a vibrant, original conceptual work. It is surprising, touching, powerful, thoughtful, emotional. It's terrific. It's been described as a Beatles "mash-up" but it's so much more than that.

George Martin -- the Beatles original producer -- has done a superb job here, working with his own son, Giles. I tried to imagine how much fun this assignment had to be. Working as father/son, and going through every original Beatles recording you could get your hands on, and being challenged to put it all together any way you want, using only that material, and keeping it to an hour-and-a-half. Wow! There is a surviving member of the Beatles beyond Paul and Ringo and his name is George, George Martin.

If you haven't heard this CD and you don't really know the Beatles, it's still a great way to get to know these musicians. But if you do know the Beatles, you are in for the best treat you've had since 1970.

I'm about to go take a car trip and I can't wait to fire up the iPod for another listen.

Classic Cash

Driving my 14-year-old to school today, out of some 8,000 songs on my iPod, he wanted to listen to a Johnny Cash set. I know some of this interest comes from last year's movie, "Walk the Line" but he liked the Man-in-Black even before.

My son's Cash playlist puts his cover version of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" as his all-time favorite Cash song. He also likes "Folsom Prison Blues", "Walk the Line", "Ring of Fire" and especially Cash's cover of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man."

I have to admit that I like Johnny, too, or I wouldn't have so many of his songs on that iPod.

My son wondered how many times that Joaquin Phoenix had to listen to Johnny's versions of the songs he recorded for the film bio. Probably thousands we agreed. We also agreed that if you have to go for thousands, Cash is a good choice. Maybe not quite up there with the Beatles, but close.