OK, last night I watched the bottom video about Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins and thought it was pretty lame. Am I missing something?
Yes. Watch them again until you can appreciate their beauty. On a side note to a fellow Hendrie fan, did you see our boy Phil Hendrie is in the new NBC sitcom, Teachers? http://www.nbc.com/Teachers/bios/Phil_Hendrie.shtml
http://www.seattleweekly.com/music/0549/051207_music_talktalk.php J.D. Ryznar (Michael McDonald) By Michaelangelo Matos Seattle Weekly: Yacht Rock, the Internet program on www.channel101.com that you write, produce, and star in, has become a cult hit. Where did you get the idea to do a parodic takeoff on late-'70s/early-'80s soft rock in the style of E! Hollywood Story or Behind the Music? J.D. Ryznar: I've always fantasized about what it was like being guys making music back then—certainly a freer time, and the boats looked like they were fun to be on. I came up with the term "yacht rock," but Hunter [Stair], who plays Kenny Loggins, and Dave Lyons, who plays [soft-rock impresario] Koko, have their own term: "Marina rock," as in Marina del Ray [where Yacht Rock takes place]. So we compromised: Yacht rock had to do with the more elite studio artists. Steely Dan is sort of the primordial ooze from which yacht rock emerged, whereas Marina rock is more of the one-hit wonders, like "The Pina Colada Song" guy, Rupert Holmes. As I got more into Steely Dan, I recognized the similarities between them and the Doobie Brothers, then [that] Kenny Loggins was involved, and realizing that this was a huge world of musicians that not a lot of people had looked into that deeply. It sparked my imagination. I thought about writing a spec script imagining what these guys' creative stories [were] like. The show has an interesting framing device: The stories are told in flashback by "Hollywood" Steve Huey, who's actually a music critic for All Music Guide. How did you meet him? Through my roommate. We'd have afternoon barbecues, and Dave Lyons would show up and bring Hunter [and] Hollywood Steve, the friend of a friend. We call him Hollywood Steve because he got into [the Screen Actors Guild]. He had these roommates who were extras, and they were looking for skinny guys for Pirates of the Caribbean. Steve was like, "Why not? I'll try out." He gets this extra role and works for three months and gets all this money and a SAG card. He took a commercial acting class and got an agent and now he's appearing in commercials and stuff, and he just stumbled on it. And he really is a rock critic. It sort of legitimizes the whole thing, even though the stories are completely false. One of the funniest things about the show is having John Oates do all the talking and Daryl Hall nearly silent. Part of the point of Yacht Rock is going against the audience's expectations. The more you can take these music icons and go against type on this show, the more fun it is. Similarly, the cheapness of a lot of the wigs and fake mustaches gives the show its flavor. We got what we could. [laughs] You know, if we can have a real mustache instead of a fake one, we'll take it. But, you know, we can't get the best fake mustaches in Hollywood, we can only get the $5 ones. Channel 101 has to take credit for that more than we do. It's just such a cutthroat, bare-bones, low-budget way to get your stuff seen. You just spend the money you can spend, and you make it as fast as you can make it. That's part of the charm.
Yes, that's why he's been playing repeats on his radio show for the last 2 weeks. I think he's back this week finally. Have you seen this site? www.sweetfeatheryjesus.com Best Phil site on the net. Anyhoo, back on track. I actually like Kenny Loggins. I saw him at the Fourth of July show downtown a few years ago and it was a great show. He ended it with "I'm Alright" and I was doing the gopher dance. You forget how many hits that guy has.
How do you define yacht rock? By MICHAEL CRUMSHO asap Friday, January 6, 2006 link A few little-known facts about singer/songwriter Michael McDonald: aside from topping the charts and winning Grammys in the 1980s, he was a tireless defender and advocate of smooth music. His best friend died in a back alley songwriting contest, and he feuded bitterly with one-time songwriting partner Kenny Loggins. Famed horror film actor Vincent Price, however, forced the two to make amends so they could conjure a spirit to help with the recording of Michael Jackson's ''Thriller.'' Sound a bit far-fetched? Not to JD Ryznar, the Los Angeles based writer, actor and director who portrays the man with the beard in his series of short films called ''Yacht Rock.'' The shorts, which have garnered a cult following thanks to their success as part of the monthly Channel 101 film contests (and subsequent downloads, blog shout-outs and message board posts), take a look behind the scenes at the creation of the ultra-creamy hits that made folks like McDonald, Loggins and Toto pop stars in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Ryznar coined the term ''Yacht Rock'' after he noticed a series of connections and similarities between Steely Dan and groups like the Doobie Brothers and Toto. Such as: 1. All of them seemed to share members and collaborate frequently with each other and people like Kenny Loggins. 2. A lot of the music of the era featured albums with guys on boats on the cover and songs about sailing. 3. This music sounds really good on boats because it's good for relaxing, sitting back and drinking. And so ''Yacht Rock'' was born. The show (see the full episodes here: http://www.channel101.com/shows/show.php?show_id152) offers surreally hilarious back stories for singles known more for their gentle grooves than any underlying drama. But the series doesn't attempt to satirize the musicians themselves. Instead, Ryznar takes aim at the songwriting process. ''When people want to sit down and write a hit record, they get together and it's trial and error -- not so much fun,'' he says. ''But if you infuse it with some sort of completely made up fairytale story, suddenly it becomes a lot more interesting.'' This sly reverence for the subject matter gives the show an added nuance. After all, taking potshots at yesterday's hit makers would be just too easy. But much of the humor also comes from inverting the stereotypical images people have of the musicians in question. ''When artists like Hall & Oates and Michael Jackson have such huge personas, you don't want to just see another impersonation,'' continues Ryznar. ''I have the freedom to do something different, so I choose to do so.'' Thus, Hall & Oates become two thuggish trash-talkers from the hard streets of Philadelphia always looking for a fight and Michael Jackson gets portrayed as a brute womanizer. Even Journey front man Steve Perry gets the treatment, showing up in a couple of episodes as a motivational rocker who persuades Kenny Loggins to turn to the hard side. Armed only with a few friends, some witty dialogue, and often nothing more than a couple hundred bucks per episode (most of which, Rynzar says, ''goes into feeding the cast and crew. Clearly, it doesn't go into the wigs and mustaches.'') Ryznar's show has gotten him some notice and even an agent -- not bad for a guy who moved to the West Coast with almost no connections and even less money. The moderate success he's achieved underscores the growing impact that Channel 101 (whose tagline reads: ''the unavoidable future of entertainment'') has as an important outlet for up and coming talent to showcase material that ordinarily wouldn't get a cursory glance at major Hollywood studios. ''That's the beauty of Channel 101,'' Ryznar says. ''You can try different things. The worst that can happen is that you get canceled, and then you can just come right back with a brand new show.'' Started by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab in 2003, Channel 101 allows anyone to submit a pilot, the best of which are selected and shown at monthly screenings held in Los Angeles. A sister site, www.channel102.net, recently opened up shop in New York. The top five vote-getters each month are added to a category called Primetime and are then allowed to make another episode. This constant influx of submissions means everyone has to keep upping the ante from month to month. While Yacht Rock's subject matter might make it seem like a strange candidate for such a word of mouth following, Ryznar's idea ended up in the right place at the right time. Storylines aside, the truly strange thing is that with all this nautical talk, JD Ryznar has never even gotten his sea legs. ''I get seasick on yachts,'' he laughs. ''And I'm poor and I don't have any rich friends, so no yachts for me.'' YACHT ROCK HIDDEN GEMS JD Ryznar offers a curated selection of his favorite less-obvious songs of the era ''Any World (That I'm Welcome To)'' by Steely Dan Aside from being totally awesome and beautiful, this is one of the first Dan songs to feature Michael McDonald's huge background vocal power. The presence of McDonald's voice pretty much legitimizes any song's Yacht Rock status. ''It Keeps You Runnin''' by Carly Simon This is not only a cover of the Doobie Brothers' hit, but also actually features the Doobies as the backing band. Still, it's a totally original take on the song, and a rare example of Yacht Rock female empowerment. ''You Never Change'' by the Doobie Brothers This has Michael McDonald harmonizing with himself on lead vocals, as well as that classic Yacht Rock shuffle beat that sounds like they're using every percussive instrument they could fit on the boat. ''Concrete Sailor'' by Jerry Reed It's not really Yacht Rock, but ''Concrete Sailor'' is a weird example of Yacht Rock crossover. Country singer and Smokey & The Bandit co-star Jerry Reed used sailing as a metaphor for a trucker's lonely life on the road. Kenny Loggins' alternate versions If you hear a song on a Doobie or Michael McDonald album that was co-written by Kenny Loggins, chances are, Loggins has a version of that song with a classic Loggins twist. Check out Loggin's versions of the Doobies ''What a Fool Believes'' and Michael McDonald's ''I Gotta Try'' & ''No Lookin' Back'' to see what I mean.
Someone going to the Red Alert section at the game tonight MUST bring a sign that says: "KEEP THE FIRE!!" It sure beats "BELIEVE IT". Anyone?
A new episode of Yacht Rock has been posted: http://www.channel101.com/shows/view.php?media_id=1583 I'd give it 1 1/2 out of 4 stars. Not as good as some of the past episodes, but still good to see Yacht Rock lives.
Episode 9 is out! Cameos by Drew Freakin' Carey and "Van Halen"! http://www.channel101.com/shows/view.php?media_id=1622 "Sorry guys. Hard rock don't get my c*ck hard. The Doobies do." NSFW Language.
