Hoodlums Music and Movies

Last Wednesday, I had an opportunity to interview author Tom Moon about his new book, 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.

I might have to rethink some of my wariness about critics.

I was a bit nervous prior to the interview.  You see, I ain’t James Lipton.  I have absolutely no interviewing experience.  In fact, I’m not even a very good listener.  Yet I was about to interview a guy who had himself interviewed guys like Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, and Tom Waits.  To further increase the tension… there was a really good-sized crowd.  Our friends at Changing Hands said they had been getting calls all day, and that they had increased the set-up size of the event.   But I was armed with three pages of questions… and I loved the book, so I figured “Hey rookie boy, you can do this”.

Back to the wariness.  I’m not anti-critic, I just think that critics tend to be music elitists, bound by a certain set of unspoken rules about their art that doesn’t allow them to get down in the trenches and enjoy music like the rest of us.  You know, the ability to like what you like, whether others like it or not.  They seemingly can’t like McCartney better than Lennon (a few might agree to go with Harrison… but they just can’t go with the cute, poppy one that co-wrote most of the songs and had the most post-Beatles success… until Wings broke up anyway).  They can’t like Gilmour better than Waters.  They can’t say “That Dylan album was weak”.   You get my drift.  Accordingly, even though there was no trace of it in the book (OK, the book included Lennon and Harrison albums… but no McCartney or Wings), I was prepared for pretentiousness.

Anyway, when Tom Moon walked into the backstage area (read: the offices at Changing Hands), I knew I was wrong.  Within minutes, we were talking about the sad “non-available” status of so many of the great recordings in the book and his earlier visit to our friends at Easy Street Records in Seattle.  Janet from CH had to tell us to save it for the audience.

Once we were introduced and I got through the initial nerves of opening the interview, things started to flow.  Tom was very talkative and very much into what he was doing.  He was everything I wish more critics would be: Positive, uplifting, passionate, and totally willing to admit to the trials and tribulations of building such a list.  Most importantly, he was promoting good music from all across the spectrum of time and genre… instead of whining about bad music or the music industry (which tends to be the general angle of many critics and reporters these days).

Tom talked, and I listened.  It was great.  I still had two full pages of questions when they gave me the “go to the audience questions” sign.  When I did go to the audience, hands shot up everywhere.  A half hour later, when I got the “wrap it up and let Tom sign autographs” sign, there were still many, many audience questions left unanswered.

After the signing, Tom came over the store and we talked some more.  He was totally blown away at all of the titles from the book that we were featuring (including 36 in our listening posts),  and very excited about the interview format of the event (he said it was a refreshing change from just “presenting” on his own).

I could have asked him questions for five more hours, and we tried to get him to have a beer with us so we could do just that, but unfortunately he had to go.    So we set him up with one of our new Hoodlums shirts, and sent him on his way.

If your out there Tom - thanks for the great night - and the fantastic book.  As a fellow music fan, I cannot recommend it enough (it’s available at Changing Hands).

Last but not least, if you want a recording from the book, on CD or vinyl - we will be providing a 10% discount on all 1,000 titles from now until our Grand Opening Party on October 11th.  If you can’t make it by then - don’t worry - our prices are still sweet, and we always stock this kind of quality music.