In January of 1972, the Society for Literary Advancement and Gestation awarded the top prize of its Literary Competition for British children aged 7 through 16 to Gerald Bostock, an 8-year-old literary prodigy from St. Cleve. Known as “Little Milton” due to his precocious nature and advanced intelligence, the young lad from the Moordale Primary School won the countrywide competition with an epic poem entitled Thick As A Brick. His triumph would be short lived.
After reading the poem on the Young Arts program on BBC 2, the SLAG disqualified Little Milton following hundreds of protests and threats over the poem’s content. After four of England’s leading child psychologists deemed Bostock to be seriously unbalanced, declaring Thick As A Brick to be a product of “an extremely unwholesome attitude towards life, his God and Country,” they recommended him for psychiatric treatment without delay. Reading Little Milton’s epic work in a magazine, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull was inspired to write “forty five minutes of pop music to go with it” and the resulting album was described as “at worst entertaining and at least aesthetically palatable” by the St. Cleve Chronicle.
Setting aside the fact that Jethro Tull did release Thick As A Brick, a 45 minute progressive rock opus that spanned both sides of the then-omnipresent vinyl LP format, none of the above actually happened.
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Last week, we dropped the news about Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder’s new solo album – Ukulele Songs – which comes out on May 31. Hot on the heels of that announcement comes word that Vedder will hit the road in support of the album with a 17-date cross-country theater tour, which will kick off on June 15 at the PAC in Providence, RI and includes two-night stands at the Beacon Theatre in New York and The Wiltern in L.A.
Joining Vedder as the support act for the entire run will be Glen Hansard (The Frames/Swell Season), who also appears on the new album. A special Ten Club only ticket pre-sale will begin today at 11 AM (EST), with a general on-sale beginning on April 1.
If you’re not into a night with Mr. Vedder and a ukulele, then maybe you’ll be interested in hitting one of these recently announced tours…
Finally, 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of Jethro Tull’s breakthrough album Aqualung. As a way of celebrating this milestone, the flute-prog-folk act has announced that that they will perform the album in its entirety, along with other selections from their catalog, at each stop on their upcoming 16-date North American tour, which will kick off with a gig at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO on June 8.
Written by
Scott Bernstein on
04.27.2007 |
Allmans,
Beastie Boys,
Jethro Tull,
Leftovers,
Pearl Jam,
RatDog,
The Band,
The Beatles,
The Who,
Tom Waits,
Willie Nelson
Frank Zappa’s legendary albums Over-Nite Sensation and Apostrophe, staples of my days as a Skidmore freshman, have finally received the Classic Albums treatment. For now the whole documentary is available on YouTube, but quick, watch it now before Gail Zappa catches wind of this. Meanwhile, Dweezil and his Zappa Plays Zappa outfit are firing up an extensive summer tour.
Next week Conan O’Brien heads to San Francisco for a weeks worth of shows. Tom Waits, Ratdog, and the Artic Monkeys top the list of bands appearing on Late Night. And speaking of California, be sure to check out the Coachella webcast today through Sunday. Have a good weekend, kiddies.
Written by
Scott Bernstein on
04.11.2007 |
Bruce Springsteen,
Disco Biscuits,
Galactic,
Grateful Dead,
Greyboy Allstars,
Intermezzo,
Jethro Tull,
Lollapalooza,
Lotus,
Pavement,
Pink Floyd,
Radiohead,
Robert Randolph,
Soulive,
Spank Rock,
The Police
Les Claypool and his Fancy Band are embarking on a major tour beginning in May and wrapping up in July. Up-and-coming rock duo Two Gallants will open most of the shows. The members of the Fancy Band haven’t been announced, but a good guess would be Skerik, Mike Dillon, Gabby La La, and Paulo Baldi. What else?
Comprehensive, but let us know if we missed anything in this link dump…
