Rock on!

I surprised at least one individual with the revelation that I have a professed affinity for Johnny Rotten and The Sex Pistols. I am also on record as getting some serious hoots from headbangers like Megadeth.

So, I'm up at 0400 to watch another re-run of "The Last Waltz." I get the satellite feed from the Left Coast, owing to the geography of my mountain hideaway. All the best movies are on in the middle of the night.

I should just buy the deluxe 4-CD boxed set, and treat myself when I'm in the mood for rock & roll.

There is something with peculiar hippie appeal to waking up pre-dawn, and catching a broadcast of Martin Scorsese's classic. I don't think a concert film with better production values has ever been made. Watching Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton and Muddy Waters rocking a stage with The Band is an event that lasts. I'm leaving a lot of folks off the list of guests, like Neil Young and my drumming role model, Ringo. The Band had everyone onstage for that last show. Great musicianship is appreciated.

I also like the "old school" of arena rockers like Blue Oyster Cult. I played the drums for a few minutes, hence the picture. The best band I ever played with featured a guitarist who sawed his leg off with a chainsaw. Seriously. We even got written up in Newsweek in 1988, as part of the long-lost Southern rock culture. Tim has a great sense of humor, and never let the loss of his leg be more than a passing joke. I'd like to reunite The Nobz, but we're scattered to fate's four winds.

I have come to appreciate classical music, especially the passion of Russian composers who captured so much pain. Neil Young, Clapton, "Buck Dharma" and Robbie Robertson can rip off guitar riffs that'll bring tears to your eyes, but there's something exalting about an orchestra going full-tilt boogie.