Will the Real Lew Ashby Please Stand Up...

With the final episode of season two of CALIFORNICATION upon us, I'd like to channel character cop Debra Morgan from Showtime's exacting serial serial, that being Dexter. "If you have an earth-shattering, ball-crushing mindfuck of a secret, you have to tell"...

Ok, so the writers of Californication have spent the entire season lathering up the stereotype of "record producer Lew Ashby," played by actor Callum Keith Rennie. CKR slithered into the action out of nowhere much like Jimmy Smits on Dexter, both of whom became central to multiple story lines and whom both add and detract from their respective stars. There is much to admire about Lew's wonton character and much to scratch your balls about but I never considered Lude Lew in the Mötley Crüe 'Shout At The Devil' Tee to be anything other than a lazy script convenience. Perhaps it was and is but there's a distinct possibility that "Lew" might actually be based on a real life Lou, as in legendary producer Lou Adler. And, I'm sure it's purely coincidental but here's the Wiki 411 on Adler:

Raised in East Los Angeles, Adler grew up in a mixed Jewish/Mexican family. In 1964, Adler founded and co-owned Dunhill Records. He was President of the label as well as the chief record producer from 1964 to 1967. That summer he sold Dunhill for three million dollars to ABC Records. In June 1967 Adler helped to produce the Monterey International Pop Festival, as well as the film version, Monterey Pop. In 1967, the MIPF introduced a young black guitarist named Jimi to infamy.

Adler is the former manager of Jan & Dean, and was the producer of Sam Cooke, The Mamas and the Papas, Johnny Rivers, Barry McGuire, Scott McKenzie, Spirit, Carole King, The Weavers, Temptations (which he signed in 1968) and Cheech and Chong. In 1974, he helped to produce the American stage version of The Rocky Horror Show as well as the film version, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In 1978, Adler directed the movie Up In Smoke, starring Cheech & Chong.

He has won two Grammy Awards in 1972 in the Record of the Year category for producing "It's Too Late" by Carole King and in the Album of the Year category for Tapestry (also by King).

Adler was known as a major playboy in the 1960s and 1970s, having been romantically linked to some of the world's most beautiful women, such as singer Jill Gibson, actress Tina Sinatra, actress Peggy Lipton, singer-actress Michelle Phillips and actress Britt Ekland. Lou Adler was married to actress and singer Shelley Fabares in 1964 and produced several of her songs. Today Adler is married to Page Hannah, the younger sister of actress Daryl Hannah.

Adler is best friends with actor Jack Nicholson and can often be found at his side at LA Lakers Basketball games. Adler is usually dressed in an elaborate fashion beside Nicholson causing interest as to who the man is. Adler is a lifelong friend of record producer Herb Alpert, formerly of the Tijuana Brass and partner of record label A & M Records.

Peter Fonda partly based his character Terry Valentine in The Limey on Adler, according to Fonda's interview on the DVD. He is also the uncle of former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler (who is seen having a tough time coping on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. And I thought Axl had some tough years).

And if all that wasn't enough to whet your appetite for his destruction, Lou Adler is co-owner, with his son Nic, of the world-famous Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood. A vaunted rock club next to the Rainbow Bar & Grill on the Sunset strip...it doesn't get much more rock that that.

So, even if Lew is Lou, is it really an earth-shattering, ball-crushing mindfuck of a secret? Nah. Will the real Lew Ashby please stand up...

Twinkie, Twinkie Little Star

How I WONDER how you are...

Fair to Midland would probably be an accurate response. It's not every year that I think about Twinkies but I guess this was the year. It's been a good 20 years since I've had one but I'm sure I had hundreds of 'em way back when...ahh the good old days...the boom years if you will, when everything from shite automobiles to shite diets were the American way...consume, consume, consume...more, more and more please...just like modern-day financial institutions and credit default swaps...consume, consume, consume...more, more and more please.

Tastes will always change, trends will always come and go but no one saw the demise of the infamous yellow sponge cake...but it too after 70 years wandered a hard road. About the same time that Krispy Kreme donuts were taken out to the woodshed and abandoned, the whole nutrition-less, calorie-filled dessert gamut was obliterated. It practically happened overnight and Twinkie twinkled no more. Can you say soy? Can you pass the tofu? Can you make that a non-fat half-cafe?

But, now the sun shall shine upon its golden mane once again.

A federal judge approved Interstate Bakeries' Chapter 11 reorganization plan, paving a gluttonous path for the maker of Hostess Twinkies and Wonder (yeah, I alluded to WONDER already) Bread to exit from bankruptcy protection after four long arduous years that squeezed the Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling to within an inch of its infinite shelf-life.

But when did this hallowed national treasure first grace a shelf you WONDER? The Twinkie was invented on April 6, 1930 by a bakery manager James Dewar, making thrifty use of pans that were used for shortcake production only during the strawberry season. Twinkies originally contained a banana cream filling, but this was replaced with a vanilla cream filling during a banana shortage during World War II.

Damn banana shortage always muckin' things up. I think that's how we got stuck with apple pie as our national emblem of American goodness...fallout from yet another damn banana shortage...someone substituted a couple Red Delicious and once again vanilla (ice) cream and the rest is history.

And the Grammy Goes to Metallica...x 4

80's Flashback...It's been 20 years since the Recording Academy made their legendary faux-paux, by giving the first ever Metal Performance Award to Jethro Tull. What a monumental blunder! They did recognize and recover and ever since, the nominees have been more or less the proper ones.

The 2009 Grammy Award Nominees have been announced and heavy music titans METALLICA are justly represented. Death Magnetic has been nominated in the Best Rock Album and Best Recording Package categories, while "Suicide and Redemption" gets the nod in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance area and "My Apocalypse" goes up for Best Metal Performance. And to Rick Rubin, who was also nominated for Producer of the Year. I smell a quadra-sweep for the band and tack one on for Rubin, member-at-large.

As a member of the Recording Association, I voted for Metallica in all of these categories as well as straight-up Album of the Year which I proudly stand behind. I've listened to the record at least 50 times all the way through and it just keeps resonating more and more. The quinessential soundtrack to our nation's economic woes...epic transgressions "Broken, Beat and Scarred" and "The End of the Line" provide the back-drop.

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards will broadcast on Sunday, February 8th 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. I believe there may be a Lifetime Achievement Award given to Neil Diamond whom is being honored two days prior as MusiCares Person of the Year. Rick Rubin also produced Neil's 1st and only #1 album, the poignant Home Before Dark. This night should be a great night for some well-deserving icons.

Check out the video for:
Metallica - The Day That Never Comes

Win The Sound of The Smiths at Owl & Bear

Our friends at Owl & Bear are giving away a Deluxe copy of the new ultra-cool THE SOUND OF THE SMITHS 2-CD collection which was released on 11/11. Jam-packed with 45 hits, b-sides, rarities and live tracks, the compilation was completed with the full cooperation of Morrissey, who provided the title, and Johnny Marr, who personally supervised the mastering. They both assisted in the track selection, and their joint involvement ensures that this will be the most comprehensive look back at The Smiths' extraordinary career to date.

This damn impressive collection has full-on glossy packaging which feels "quite lovely" (as the Brits would say) and could be all yours for the low, low price of a couple of clicks.

Enter the Owl & Bear contest (ends (12/31/08)
More info about TSOTS at Rhino Records

Led Zep Turns 40? The Orange Sleeve Returns. Double Your Mint, Double Your Pleasure

40? Hard to believe though the band's music has aged quite gracefully. Rhino Records is celebrating LED ZEPPELIN'S 40th Anniversary by giving away a Definitive Collection Mini LP Replica CD Boxed set. This amazing Japanese import contains all 10 of the quartet's albums in mini-LP replicas. The Grand Prize winner also gets a Shepard Fairey Limited Edition Mothership Print (Fairey is a renowned graphic designer / illustrator who crafted the coveted red, white & blue Obama "HOPE" poster which I'm sure has adorned everything from a dorm room wall to a rock n roll tour bus).

And like a lesson learned by the time you reach middle age, there's always more than one way to win...the fine folks at Bullz-eye.com have joined the fray and are also giving one away.

Enter the Bullz-eye contest (ends 12/10/08)
Enter the Rhino Records contest (ends 1/19/09)

And for the official low down on the Boxed contents:

Led Zeppelin first took flight 40 years ago this past summer. And while the song may remain the same, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham forever changed rock 'n' roll. To celebrate the band's anniversary and its immeasurable influence on popular music and culture, Atlantic Records/Rhino Entertainment will release a limited edition CD boxed set. This Japanese import contains all 10 of the quartet's albums in mini-LP replicas with artwork from the original U.K. LP sleeves.

The mini-LP replicas boxed set includes Led Zeppelin (1969), Led Zeppelin II (1969), Led Zeppelin III (1970), Led Zeppelin IV (1971), Houses of the Holy (1973), Physical Graffiti (1975), Presence (1976), The Song Remains the Same (1976), In Through the Out Door (1979), and Coda (1982).

The sleeves included in the boxed set feature the original LP album artwork released in the U.K., including the original printing of the group's debut, which used turquoise ink on the cover for the band's name and the Atlantic Records logo. Later printings used orange ink, making the first a rare collector's item. The orange sleeve is included with the boxed set as a bonus.

Led Zeppelin III features the gatefold sleeve with the rotatable laminated card disc, while Physical Graffiti, which was nominated for a Grammy® Award for best album package, features the interchanging window illustrations from the original LP jacket that included four covers made up of two inners, a middle insert cover and an outer cover.

Additionally, the set includes all six covers released for In Through the Out Door, Led Zeppelin's final studio album. Nominated for a Grammy® Award for best album package, the In Through the Out Door covers feature different photos of the same bar scene taken from different perspectives.

Hallelujah!