In the Shat House… by Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture

April 6, 2011 Whitney Farmer 14 Comments

Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A. She has an M.B.A, and is working on her taxes.

Last weekend, while Johnny Winter was at the club to perform, I learned from his band that he had just finished collaborating on a song for William Shatner’s new album ‘Seeking Major Tom’. The album contains space-themed collaborations of metal music contributed by legendary musicians with vocals provided by Shatner.  At this time, it is unclear if the lyrics are presented in the spoken word format championed and immortalized by Shatner on ‘The Transformed Man’ and later ripped off by evil rap artists.

Again Shatner delves into the depths of human souls in space, adding to his discography which includes ‘Rocket Man’ and ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’. Johnny Winter was tagged to be guest guitarist on a re-working of Deep Purple’s ‘Space Trucking’, with members of the original band Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore adding their contributions and blessings as well.

Under the umbrella of Cleopatra Records, the album is reported to include the efforts of Zakk Wilde (Ozzy Ozborne), Peter Frampton, Brian May (Queen), Mike Inez (Alice in Chains), Steve Howe (Yes), and Bootsey Collins (Parliament-Funkadelic). Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is involved in the mix in some way. Songs rumored to be included alongside ‘Space Trucking’ are ‘Iron Man’ (Black Sabbath), ‘Learn to Fly’ (Foo Fighters), ‘Space Oddity’ (David Bowie), and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (Queen). While this last may seem an odd inclusion, the reasoning becomes evident when you realize that it is one of the longest and most word-jammed songs in the history of rock. If you have only one chance to sing in karaoke, pick this one…And if you are the Shat, it’s a waste of everyone’s time to share the mic.

Johnny’s band said that no one said no when they were asked to participate on the album. Everyone loves Shatner. Revolver Magazine is even vetting the Shat with a Golden Gods Award on April 20^th at the evil Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles. With my new crush Chris Jericho hosting the show and my eternal crush being celebrated, I’ll stay far away and pure by thinking about baseball.

In looking at events scheduled in the surrounding areas during 2011 Comic-Con, there are music venues that are dark during some of those nights this July. Possibly they have put holds in their calendars in anticipation of private events related to the convention. But this is a booking that MUST happen. Captain Kirk doing spoken word metal, accompanied by music legends performing on the same stage…? Within walking distance of 185,000 convention participants, all of whom have at least one overheated monologue committed to memory. (Risk. Risk is our business. That’s what this ship’s all about. That’s why we’re aboard her…) Come ON…

The Padres are on the road that week, and PETCO Park is next to the Convention Center.

One concert. The right place and the right time. That’s all it would take. Stadium rock comes to the Con, with Captain Kirk at the helm for the maiden voyage.

Can I hear an ‘AMEN’?

QUOTE OF THE BLOG:

Space Trucking by Deep Purple

We had a lot of luck on Venus

We always had a ball on Mars

Meeting all the groovy people

We’ve rocked the Milky Way so far

We danced around with Borealice

We’re space truckin’ around the stars

Come on let’s go space truckin’

Remember when we did the moonshot

And Pony Trekker led the way

We’d move to the Canaveral moonstop

And everynaut would dance and sway

We got music in our solar system

We’re space truckin’ around the stars

Come on let’s go space truckin’

The fireball that we rode was moving

But now we’ve got a new machine

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah the freaks said

Man those cats can really swing

They got music in their solar system

They’ve rocked around the Milky Way

They dance around with Borealice

They’re space truckin’ every day

Come on