F*CKF*CKF*CKF*CK... Tom Petty in critical conditon after cardiac arrest

Scott Powell said:
My first paying gig I sang Break Down, It took me forever to get that intro down ,an d I was so proud of the fact that I could both play the intro and sing the song as well. He has always had a special place for me
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My first ever gig we did wont back down, free fallin and into the great wide open, badly I'm sure, but it was a start.

I must have been noticeably bummed in work today, more than a few kids asked what was wrong with me.
 
Bruce is my idol andI'll be crushed when he goes - to me thee street band and the heartbreakers are on a whole other level to REM.

Subjective of course but its like comparing Bowie and Bolan. Both great but one in a totally different league.
 
Dogsinotpalc said:
REM had an amazing run. I think unlike a Billy Corgan, they realized the game had changed and didn't want to play the new game. They made their mark and benefited greatly from it from an artistic and financial perspective. I'm wondering when they might get back together...
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Unlike a Billy Corgan, R.E.M. was a democracy that made it through the DIY trenches and made a kajillion dollars off WB by selling high during the alternaboom.

Billy Pumpkin basically got one bite at the apple and because he and his band were pretty fucked up at the time--and because they desired SERIOUS FAME--he was left chasing the ghost. Dude squandered his opportunity to become a cult artist/beloved elder statesman by being a weird internet troll.

Now his whole Infowars alignment makes him pretty "problematic" as a public figure.
 
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I wasn't a big fan I did like his music. It was well crafted and the Heartbreakers are very good musicians to boot. It makes a sad day sadder with his passing. RIP Tom you were always good enough for me.

 
In the summer of '94, my paternal grandparents took me on a vacation. It was a memorable trip for many reasons, but one particular memory has always loomed large in mind.

I think we were in Wisconsin, but it really could have been any roadside town with an old motel. The motel was attached to a dimly lit lounge that seemed to be haunted by the ghosts of crumpled packs of cigarettes and well liquor. My grandfather and I were sitting at a table near the door, and over in the corner a band was finishing setting up on small stage. They looked - and smelled - a little weird (which really shouldn't have been surprising, I suppose) as they were decked out in the wonderful early 90's fashion quagmire that tried to fit flannel with piercings, leather jackets with tie-dye, and greasy, shaggy hair that was a middle finger to the AquaNet Eighties.

They played their first set and I watched quietly from my chair, trying to take in everything around me. I had just started playing guitar, borrowing my mum's acoustic and some of her piano books, trying to read chord charts and make my fingers contort in ways that seemed like wizardry. This unnamed band had cracked the grimoire, and I was desperate to be where they were, to do what they could do. Once they announced they were taking a break, I excused myself from the table and cautiously approached the guitarist and drummer, who stood on stage still adjusting cables, lighting up a fresh cigarette, and laughing over some beers. To this day I have no memory of what I actually said to them, but their guitar player grinned and handed me his guitar (a Telecaster, as I found out not long after) and told me to try it. I played him a couple of the chords I knew and he was encouraging; he showed me how to play an F Major chord without using a barre, something I hadn't yet cracked. After that he gave me a sequence of chords to string together, and it sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. He told me to keep doing that, and he was going to be right back, but whatever I did, DON'T STOP PLAYING.

So he and the drummer got up, went outside to talk to the other band members and when they came back, they asked me if I'd play a song with them, a song with those chords I had just been shown. I was nervous and said I shouldn't, but they told me I could do it, and I should just try... if I didn't have fun, I could stop. The guitarist grabbed an acoustic guitar from off a stand and started playing, telling me to follow him. I tried, and it was clumsy, it was confusing. My fingers wanted to do things their own way and the new grips weren't coming easily. But I tried to keep up and once the rest of the band joined in, I found my footing. I didn't even realize what the song was until the singer sang, "Oh my my, oh hell yes" and suddenly it all clicked. I was playing a Tom Petty song.

That was the first time I ever got up and played guitar in front of people, and it's a moment I think about a lot, especially today as one of the most influential and celebrated musicians of the 20th Century - Mr. Tom Petty - heads "Into the Great Wide Open."

Thanks for the tunes, Tom.
 
xStonr said:
I first heard TP back in 1978. I was in my mid 20's and living in a college town. At the time radio sucked. No classic rock yet and the local radio station played pop and disco. On the hand, the college station played new artists at the time like Dire Straits, Elvis Costello, and TP. How refreshing it was to hear the next wave of rock artists. I've been a fan since. I got to see TP play live once 1n 1983 at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA. This was before he played in the huge arenas. Many of his songs are in my guitar playlist and of course will remain. He will be missed. RIP TP
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Sounds like that was a good station.
 
Flamencology said:
Anyway, though it kinda pains me to admit it, I am a little worried for tompetty. Will be following the Halifax news.
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Just follow him on the other forum...he was getting racist the other day there and then had to tell everyone that he has a black friend to show them that he isn't racist. That always proves it to EVERYONE.

Whacko.

To the real topic:

The information during this, and especially on the day of his heart attack, has been handled very poorly. I know that when it comes right down to it, that it isn't the public's information until the family releases it but the press still like to get to the story first and get it out there.

This is supposed to be the information age and it's getting worse. I suppose when speed is the focus some of the accuracy will suffer. The thing that really sucks is that due to the murky reports, I actually heard pretty late that he was still alive and I can only imagine that many others were like me with elevated hopes that he would pull through only to be let down by the stark reality.

It seems strange to be impacted by the death of one when the event of the deaths of so many in Vegas is still sinking in.
 
smorgdonkey said:
It seems strange to be impacted by the death of one when the event of the deaths of so many in Vegas is still sinking in.
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If there's one thing us Americans are really good at, it's escapism. Let's mourn Tom Petty because we can reflect on the carefree times of our youth instead of confronting the gruesome reality of adulthood.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
If there's one thing us Americans are really good at, it's escapism. Let's mourn Tom Petty because we can reflect on the carefree times of our youth instead of confronting the gruesome reality of adulthood.
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You have to escape at times.
The scale and the horror of the Las Vegas shooting is unbelievable.

I had flashbacks to the carnage of Lebanon in '83 when I first heard the reports.


Tom Petty's music does give me that escape.
I'll take that escape over filling bodybags again any day.
 
DFB said:
You have to escape at times.
The scale and the horror of the Las Vegas shooting is unbelievable.

I had flashbacks to the carnage of Lebanon in '83 when I first heard the reports.


Tom Petty's music does give me that escape.
I'll take that escape over filling bodybags again any day.
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I'm not saying there's no value to escapism. I'm just saying that's what's happening.
 
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On the other hand, maybe we are capable of handling large-scale carnage and an individual, natural loss at the same time. Neither is easy to deal with, but looking at the individual loss does not blind us to the large-scale tragedy.
 
Gary Blanchard said:
On the other hand, maybe we are capable of handling large-scale carnage and an individual, natural loss at the same time. Neither is easy to deal with, but looking at the individual loss does not blind us to the large-scale tragedy.
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Gary Blanchard is a tool of the oppressors.
 
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