Steve's Spinal Column #11

WHAT'S IN A NAME


Not Steve Adelson
In my previous Spinal Columns, I've discussed subjects ranging from scales to progressions, chords and substitutions to intervals and techniques. All that was fine but we really must address the most important issue confronting the professional or amateur musician --- "What do we call our band?"

Let's break our possibilities down to certain categories:

Groups With Colors In Their Name:

Moody Blues
Blues Magoos
Green Day
King Crimson 		Average White Band
Black Sabbath
James Brown
Barry White 		Peter Green
Al Green
Simply Red
Deep Purple

There have been a great many bands containing numbers in their name:

Third Eye Blind
311
3 Doors Down 		Three Dog Night
Fourplay
Take-6

Living Things can be in the equation:

Iron Butterfly
Buffalo Springfield
Three Dog Night (again)
Cat Stevens 		The Crickets
Papa Roach
Elephants Memory
Dinosaur Jr. 		The Beatles (spelling?)
T Rex
Slash's Snakepit
Cousin Fungus

The most common thread is the geographical tie in band names:

Black Oak Arkansas
Chick Corea
Europe
Kentucky Headhunters
Jello Biafra
Ohio Players 		Nirvana
John Denver
America
Oregon
Robin Kenyatta
E Street Band 		Nashville Pussy(really)
Asia
Alabama
New York Dolls
New York Rock and Roll Ensemble
Rick Springfield

How many can you list? (you can't count things like The Los Angeles Philharmonic)

If we combine these concepts we may end up with a band name like:

Six Ukrainian Colored Kelp (SUCK)

Of course there have always been surreal names like "The Who" and "Nashville Pussy" (again). I always had a fondness for a band called "The The."

My favorite is a band called "A." When asked by an interviewer, why the name, the lead singer said, "When our recordings go in the bargain bins, we'll be first."

C, E flat and G walk into a saloon. The bartender says, "We don't serve minors."

A few readers asked about our Long Beach( NY) Jazz Festival which I produced recently. It took place this past Sept. 8-11. We had 70 musicians, 19 performances of wide diversity and a 40% increase in attendance from 2004. Lots of guitar players and some very creative presentations. 2006 LBJF plans are under way and we look forward to an even bigger event. Stay tuned.