Ever Since I Was A Young Boy

Had a bit of a flashback recently. Took my two lovely and charming daughters, Cathleen and Emily, to Funspot in Laconia, NH. Funspot is one of those places where you can burn through twenty buck in an hour or so, but not mind the loss for a minute. Penny arcade. One of those places where there is, quite literally, something for everybody. We get a bunch of tokens, divvy them up, and from that point on the kids know where to find me. At the pinball machines.

I used to play pinball any time I got the chance, back in the day. It was one of my primary sources of entertainment, especially when I was in the Navy in the mid-70's. For me, there were three good reasons to hang out at a bar. They had good live music, good pool tables, or good pinball machines. Maybe, in my waning years, it's time to impart some of what I've learned on this subject.

First of all, I should let you know that my style of play was not like that of a lot of pinball fanatics I've known. I don't rock the machine. I've seen a lot of people tread that thin line of manipulating the table to the edge of tilt. For those of you raised on digital video games, a pinball machine has a device sort of like a pendulum, and if the pendulum swings too far, the game ends. It's called tilt, which means you tilted it too far. There was a bowling alley on the base at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, where they taped the tilt mechanism down. You could literally lift the machine off the floor and roll the ball any way you wanted.

To me, that takes the fun out of it. My style was more about finesse. Use of the flippers. I have good enough hand-eye coordination that I could aim the ball fairly well, if I were in practice. Even yesterday, having not touched a pinball machine for years, I was doing pretty well.

There were three or four major manufacturers of pinball machines back then. Remember that the information I'm about to impart is in no way official statistical data, or anything of that sort. It is merely observation, based on several years during which I travelled extensively and played a wide variety of machines. The main manufacturers were Bally, Williams, Chicago Coin, and Gottlieb. I suspect that Chicago Coin and Gottlieb might have been the same company, because the machines were so similar.

My personal favorites were the Williams. They were fast! There were a lot of reasons for this, I suspect, but I believe the main one was that the table was set at a steeper angle. My favorite trick on the Williams machines was a quick double flipper action. The ball would come down and just barely nick the end of one flipper. If you hit it just right, you could knock it into the tip of the other flipper, and then it had enough purchase to shoot it back up the table. baBAM! Plus, the spinners spun faster, the strobes flashed faster, the ball moved faster, and they were noisy sonzabitches!

The main problem with Williams was that they were more cheaply made. It could be one of the things that made them so fast, but little things would break down on them all the time. A roll-over button would cease operating, a spinner would stop spinning, or even a flipper would get loose. A well-used Williams might spend half its life out of order.

Chicago Coin and Gottlieb machines were made to be taken into combat. They had Gottlieb machines at Funspot yesterday that most of the graphics had worn off them, they were so old, but they still worked perfectly. They're slow, though. Painfully slow. The ball crawls around the table. They also seem to have the glass closer to the playing surface than other manufacturers. You're always hearing this scary CRACK as the ball hits the glass.

The happy medium was the Bally machines. Tougher than the Williams, faster than the Gottliebs, and classier than either. They weren't always the first with new innovations - Williams had that distinction - but they were almost always interesting, challenging, and well-made. The only real advantage the Williams had was, they were flashier. To young men, that's a big factor. Still, as long as it gave you fun for money, they were all good, and all got played.

Way before the days of action figures and other pop culture tie-ins, there was hardly a cultural phenomenon that didn't get immortalized on a pinball machine. A big movie, a popular TV show, a hot band, just about any cultural icon could be found with a silver ball cruising around it. I've played machines dedicated to everything from Playboy to Kiss to Star Wars, to Laurel and Hardy fercrissake. Some of them had a certain 'what were they thinking?' savoir faire to them.

It was a definite high point in pre-digital, mechanical entertainment technology. Unfortunately, that simple thing alone meant it was doomed, in the same way the electric guitar has given way to the synthesizer as a provider of tonal possibilities. I could see that the best, most high-tech and up-to-date pinball machine was John Henry to Pong's steam drill. You could see the winds of change moving the world any time you went into an arcade and walked past the rows of quiet pinball machines, and saw the crowds around the Space Invaders game.

Now, there's even digital pinball games, downloadable to your computer, which is the ultimate sacrilege. Not because of some warped sense of purity, but because it's just not the same. A mechanical game like pinball requires a certain amount of finesse that no digital technology can duplicate. It's like comparing film to digital photography. At the end of the day, digital is still tiny square blocks of pure color, and no matter how small the squares get, that's all they'll ever be.

So here's to the remaining pinball machines in the world. Long may they ding, bang, buzz, flash, and ratchet.

The Cute Beatle

So, anybody out there a Beatle fan? Whether you like the Beatles or not, no matter what your age or musical tastes are, there's an excellent chance that they've had a significant effect on the music you like.

Lately, I've been on a Paul McCartney binge. I have times like that, when I go on musical binges, listening to one artist almost exclusively for a couple months at a time. It had been a while since I'd had a good Beatles binge, and this time it settled on Paul. The Cute Beatle.

I've been concentrating on his solo work, although I've been digging around his old band's stuff as well. I keep coming back to the Ram album. It's an interesting piece of work. I've been looking at some of the reviews that have been done in recent years, on AMG, Rolling Stone, etc. A lot of people take exception with the fact that most of the tunes are all-but-meaningless throwaways. The thing with McCartney is that, even these get the full treatment. Just take a listen to the song "Ram On." One little verse, and the whole thing hangs on a little mandolin riff. But then you add the hand claps, the background vocals, the fills, and it becomes something more. Give your heart to somebody, so-o-o-on, right away . . .

The whole album is like that. What I find most striking about it is how everything sounds. Every now and then you hear a recording that makes you notice how good, or bad, your speakers are. Paul McCartney's Ram ranks right up there with Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark, and Miles Davis' Kind of Blue in that respect. Especially the tone he gets out of the electric guitar. Listen to the chords in Uncle Albert. I would love to know how they got that tone. Clean, without being sterile. Full, without being loud. I love the way that album was produced. It's deep, without being thick. There's layer upon layer, but each one gossamer-thin.

It is really a high point in his career, although he's got a lot of great albums. Band On The Run always gets held up as his crowning achievement, and I do like it, but the ones that bookend it were equals in many ways. Red Rose Speedway and Venus And Mars may each have more flaws, but the highs seems to reach a little higher as well. I always liked his first solo album, McCartney. Off The Ground is terribly underrated. If you like Paul and have never heard it, you've really missed something. There's some great stuff on there, and the band is so much better than Wings it's almost painful. The new album, Chaos And Creation, is also quite good. I didn't know quite what to think of it at first, but it grows on you. Jenny Wren, Fine Line, and How Kind Of You come to mind as stand-out tunes, but the whole album's very good.

Listening to his music also makes me think about Linda McCartney, who was a centerpiece in his life in so many ways. I have come to believe that many people are jealous of their relationship. I have to confess that I probably fall into that catagory. Really, how could you not be? She was talented, beautiful, intelligent, and their partnership was a 24/7 kind of thing. Don't get me wrong; I love my wife, Lynn, dearly. There is, nor can there ever be, anybody else for me. Still, it's a musician's fantasy to have someone that can be that involved in the thing that defines your life as Linda McCartney was with Paul and his music.

She took her share of heat over the years, too. Supposedly, there's a bootleg tape that's been making the rounds for years. It's from a board tape of one of their concerts, with everything mixed way down except her off-key backing vocals. Funny, I suppose, but still mean. She was truly the Anti-Yoko. I personally believe that Yoko Ono ruined John Lennon. She fed on his weaknesses and built a fence around him. The poor bastard never stood a chance. Linda, on the other hand, supported and inspired Paul.

It would be easy to be skeptical of their relationship. It was too good to be true. Weren't they both sleeping around? Weren't they both junkies? This whole happy-couple thing must be a put on. In the end, however, I think the best clues to the truth can be found in the music that Paul wrote. The man who wrote My Love in 1973 was the same man who wrote Winedark Open Sea in 1993. He loved her, deeply.

That's why we all hurt for him when she died. We knew who those songs were for, and we knew he meant every word. I couldn't listen to Run Devil Run, the next album he did after her passing. Too much pain. To his credit, his creativity has kept him going, and I think Linda would approve of the way he's dealt with the loss. He's remarried, and instead of trying to recreate Linda and their relationship, he hooked up with a strong, independent woman for whom he feels genuine affection. But he hasn't taught her to play keyboards, and he doesn't drag her on stage with him. The new band is a boy's club, and they go up and rock the house. Paul is, for the first time in his life, a solo act.

The new album seems to be the most focused work he's done since Off The Ground. I especially enjoy it, because I've recently turned 50, and it's good to know that you don't have to be an oldies act once you turn 35. Keep rockin', Paul, and ram on.

Sugar, Sugar

Just before Christmas, I sat down with an artist who I've been an admirer of all my life. He was a founding member of one of the most influential bands of the late '60's. 

From humble beginnings in the small suburb of Riverdale, Reggie Mantle rose to the top of the charts with a handful of friends whose only goal was to form a little garage band and have some fun. 

It all started in the waning days of the British Invasion, when it seemed that any teenager with a flashy smile and a used guitar could rise to riches and fame overnight. 

Reggie, along with friends Archie Andrews and Jughead Jones, had a little pop-power trio, their beat-up equipment squeezed in beside the battered hot rod that Andrews drove to school every morning. As the host of the jam sessions, Archie took the lead guitar spot and Reg moved over to bass, with Jughead on drums. Soon, two local girls, Betty Cooper and debutante Veronica Lodge came on to play percussion and keyboards respectively. 

Andrews was the front man, but it was clear from the outset that Mantle was the brains behind the outfit. Now, nearly thirty-five years since The Archies' last album was released, I had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to sit down one-on-one with one of rock and roll's true icons. 

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PP: The question remains, was The Archies a true collaboration, or were you Archie Andrews' back-up group? 

RM: (laughs) I guess it would be easy to think that. We practiced at his place, and he really was, at least in the early days, the most relaxed on stage. He was also a very good guitar player, so I didn't mind stepping back. What people tend to forget was that everybody in the group sang. Even Jughead, although we only let him sing lead on the Christmas tunes. 

PP: I remember his Christmas album. 

RM: That was my first stint as a producer. Not exactly high art, but we had a good time. (laughs again.) Of course, that was right at the start of Juggy's substance abuse period. We tried to keep it quiet, but I'd have to say that was the beginning of the end for the band. That, and his fling with Ronnie.  

PP: Now, wait a minute. Did I hear you right? There was a romantic link between Veronica and Jughead? 

RM: She'd deny it, of course, but it was pretty hot and heavy for a while. Surprisingly, Arch was the last to figure it out, and when he did he went nuts. We were doing a session, and they were late. I mean, hours late. Archie keeps asking questions, and Betty and I tried not to answer them. Eventually, he put two and two together, and then he trashed Jug's drum kit. 

PP: Wow. 

RM: The whole thing was fueled by Columbian marching powder, of course. We finished the record, and the tour was a disaster. Ronnie had a lucid moment and went into rehab, but the band was finished. 

PP: And Jughead? 

RM: He spent a couple years in denial, but eventually got his act together. Did it the hard way, too. Just stopped. Didn't know he was that strong, but he's stuck with it. Going to a good church, married, a couple of really nice kids, but he left Riverdale, won't talk about a reunion tour, nothing. Wants nothing to do with The Archies. Can't say I blame him, considering.  

PP: Were you disappointed that Betty married Archie?  

RM: It kinda stung, but I guess I expected it. Of course, the public thought that Arch and I used to fight over Ronnie, but she . . . Let's just say that she's independent. Didn't need either of us, when you come right down to it. 

PP: She was playing you?  

RM: You said that, not me. (laughed) The Archies was a thing to do. She was good at it. She's good at everything. She's running Lodge Enterprises now, and her father's smiling through his golden years. 

PP: What about your brief marriage to Midge, and the falling out with Moose? 

RM: I told you we werent' going to discuss that.  

PP: Your stint at Betty Ford? 

RM: This interview is over! 

(Reggie stood over me, scowling, for a full minute. I was tempted to apologize and beg him to continue, but I stood my ground. Don't ask me why. A range of emotion played on his face. Finally, he sat down.)  

RM: I've got a good life now. I may not have a wall full of grammies, but there's a few gold records. I'm a producer in L. A., and there's a lot of people who would give their right arm to be me. I put out a solo album every few years, I work steady . . . I got the monkey off my back. It was tough, but it's done. One day at a time. 

PP: Do you keep in touch with Archie and Betty? 

RM: Oh, yeah. I get back to Riverdale every now and then, and they've been to L. A. a couple times. Betty's even put background vocals on a couple projects I've worked on. I'm expecting them to come out to Cleveland later in the year for the induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I'll call Ronnie and Jug, but I don't expect them to show.  

PP: So, no new Archies music? 

RM: I'm remastering the first two albums. There'll be demand after we're inducted, and it's a chance to finally clean up the mix, which I never liked. 

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We talked for another hour. Eventually, he forgave me for invading his privacy. He understood that he owed his fans an explanation. He also understood that he owed them his regrets, and his victories. It was a good time. It's not often in your life that you get a chance to share an afternoon with one of your heroes.

Guitars

I think I'm going to drop a few thoughts about one of my favorite topics; guitars.

I've been thinking a lot about guitars lately, because my house was robbed a couple months ago and most of my guitars got ripped off. I've been gigging with borrowed gear, thanks to some very generous family and friends. When we get the money from the insurance settlement, it's time to go shopping.

Now, for you women who have to put up with men complaining about your shopping, you know that we're just as bad. The difference is that we don't make you go with us when we go. 'Nuff sed.

Anyway, I lost five guitars, but now I'm thinking about what I'd get if I'd taken 5 guitars worth of money and had a chance to re-spend it. One thing I definitely want is a hollow-body electric. I once had a really good one, a blonde Gibson ES-175. Had to sell it to pay the bills, and been kicking myself ever since. It's not the kind of guitar I'd use all the time, but I love to play them. The other main thing I need is a good solidbody with single-coil pickups. Strats are good, although I'll probably do a mod on the electronics. A good Telecaster can do anything.

Here's where we get into one of my pet peeves; "tone woods." What most manufacturers call "tone woods" I consider toneless. Alder, basswood, poplar . . . These woods make dead guitars. Which can be a good thing, if your style of play includes a lot of processing. These kind of woods send a much simpler signal into your processor, and if that's what you do, then that's what you need. I like to serve mine up Rory Gallagher style; guitar, cord, amp. The rig acts more like an acoustic instrument when you run a simple set-up. For that, I much prefer heavy, resonant hardwoods like mahogany, ash, and maple.

One thing I'm considering is having a custom guitar made. In a way, I'd like to start collecting favorite instruments. An SG, a Strat, a Tele, things like that. On the other hand, I've always wanted to have an uber-guitar made. One that was exactly the way I want it.

So, here's what that would be:

Short scale. 24.75", like a Les Paul. Nice, C-shaped neck that was thin, but fit snugly in the palm of your hand.

Mahogany, with maple top and back. I've got the slab of maple, too. Birdseye, cut in New Hampshire, sliced into plank back in 1978 by my father-in-law. Beautiful wood, and rings like brass.

Carvin humbuckers, with coil splitters.

Graphite saddles and nut. No tremolo.

There it is; my Christmas list for '06. All donations cheerfully accepted.

And, I would, of course, love to know your thoughts on the subject.

r

First pitch

Hi. This is my first post to my own blog. Hope you have as much fun reading it as I think I will writing it. It will be about everything.

I think the first thing I should do is explain the name. Peter Pan is, of course, the boy who never grows up. A lemonade stand is the kind of business where the proprietor gets to decide the product line and the price. This proprietor also gets to decide what gets listed on the bottom line. Lemonade is what the wise person makes when life hands them lemons. I happen to love lemonade.

I have a lot of interests, and if I keep doing this, we will eventually cover them all. There is one more thing that I'd like to dump in your lap today, and that is my favorite bible verse. Luke 17:10. Be a good Berean, and look it up. Dat's all 4 now.

r