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Yellow Journalism *or* Review of Radio Free Quad!



Okay, so mum wouldn't let me go to New York, but at least one of the
local classic rock stations picked up the Quad broadcast! Alright!

First off, I'm sure many of you have noticed that I am one of the few
femme fans (aren't alliterations absolutally awesome?) who doesn't think
Roger is the greatest thing since sliced bread. In all brutal honesty, I
always thought he was sort of scary, and worse still, annoying. The
Disney channel played that DST show on my 14th birthday, so of course I
watched it, and well...after seeing that, I wasn't expecting too much of
old Rog this time around (yeah, that was me who was throwing little
balls of paper at the TV and shouting "Put your shirt on, you pathetic
old man!" I never claimed I was nice). HOWEVER, last night I was
completely blown away. I almost fell off the windowsill where I was
sitting. Despite a few cracks and a little hoarseness here and there,
Mr. Daltrey did very, very, very, even MORE verys, well. And I really am
sorry I ever called him pathetic.
As for Pete's singing, was it just me, or did it seem like he wasn't
trying very hard on "Cut My Hair"? Luckily for all of us, he only got
better after that. Once again, a little bit of hoarseness here and
there, but nothing really to complain about. In some places I'd even say
he sounded BETTER than he did on the album...or maybe it was just the he
sounded like less of a girl. I don't mean this as any sort of comment
on Pete's gender, sexual orientation, or an insult to his singing
ability. I simply mean exactly what I said, that when he used to sing,
it occasionally reminded me of my little sister. Not that I MINDED or
anything, I'm not saying I didn't LIKE it, just that it was a little
ODD. I should probably shut up now, I can sense people getting ready to
send my nasty e-mails...
Oh yes, his acoustic playing was quite good too. :)
As for all the other musicians, I think they did a fine job. Sure, I
missed not having Pete doing the electric, but it was still excellent.
And Zak deserves a big pat on the shoulder. Sure, he isn't Keith, but
who is? A reasonable substitute all the same. I barely noticed the
backup singers, but when I did, they weren't bad either. By the way,
does anyone know how one goes about starting a career as a backup
singer? I could use a summer job. Okay, I may not be the best singer in
the world, but I have my own pair of black elbow gloves, and I wouldn't
mind massaging Pete's ego at all. (insert your own dirty joke there)
As for that Phil actor guy, he did a fine job narrating, although he
seemed a bit nervous at times. If they simply HAD to have a narrator, he
was a fine choice. And thank Goddess they kept it concise.
Now for the special guest 'stars' <grumble grumble>. This is the only
part of the preformance that ticked me off. First of all, who exactly IS
this Gary Glitter character? I'd never even heard of him until he was
announced as a Quad guest preformer. Is he a lot bigger in England, or
am I simply to young to remember when Glittermania swept the USA? In any
event, I didn't think he was very good. Surely someone else, ANYONE else
could have sung his parts better. I did have fun picturing him as
looking like the Algebra 1A teacher I had at my old high school. Mr.
Albrect, or as I called him, Mr. Mephistopheles. Oh, how I loathed that
man! He would just drone ON and ON. I'm actually pretty good at math,
but I barely passed that class first semester, and by second semester I
was just sitting in there drawing pictures, writing notes to Krumpet,
and wondering if jumping out the window would be enough to kill me, or
would I just be paralyzed for life? But I digress.
As for Billy Idol...ah...was Roger the ONLY one to get whacked in the
head with a microphone? I think maybe Mr. Glitter popped Billy in the
skull a few times as well. What a moron. He couldn't even remember the
words to his song. It wasn't that much to learn, you know! *I* know all
the lyrics to "Bell Boy". Sure, Pete and Rog bumped a few lines as well,
but at least their mistakes usually made some sense. But come on! "I
ride a touch of seersucker." "The secret to me, it ain't flown like a
badge." My personal favorite, "I ride a GS scooter with my hair cut
short." Did I miss something here, or does 'short' NOT rhyme with
'sleet'? I wasn't aware this was a free verse song. Perhaps if Mr. Idol
had ever been anything more than a Johnny Rotten wanna-be, I could have
ignored these mistakes. Speaking of which, they should have asked
Johnny to take a break from the Sex Pistols reunion and play the Bell
Boy instead. That would have been kinda cool...I might even have
forgiven him for that Mountain Dew ad.
One final complaint, Pete shouldn't have kept sticking the word 'seem'
into "Cut My Hair". It makes for a weaker sounding statement and throws
the beat as well. "Why do I have to move with a crowd of kids who hardly
seem to notice I'm around." I may not be an English major, but I know a
weak sentance when I hear one.
But these are minor gripes. All in all, I thought this was an EXCELLENT
show, and I'm still in a good mood because of it. :)

                                        -Yellow Ledbetter
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/* Salamander                                             */
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