you can trade life with any of your favorite musicians, who wud it be?
 

i was reading mojo, the ledzep comeback issue, and in their opening short interviews, "all back to my place" they often ask which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be? ellenor friedberger said, "Orpheus, Or if that's not a real enough person, Beethoven, why not? Or if that's too old, Sinatra". This got me thinking, what musicians id wana be, you cant just take into account the great music they made, but also the lives they lead, their legacies, etc.. so heres what i came up with...

robert johnson-travel the country, have an eerie mythology about myself, influcne rock n roll.
miles davis-why the fuck wouldn't i wana be miles?
sun ra-be a real whacky dude, lead an amazing jazz collective, be one of the founders of free jazz
brian jones-embodyment of the "live fast die young" rock n roll doctrine. take tons of trips on acid and peyote, sleep with countless beautiful women, travel to exotic places and hear exotic music.
captain beefheart-because i love captain beefheart
lee "scratch" perry-yes, hes mildly schizophrenic, but so are a lot of geniuses, and perry is GENIUS, you get to live in jamiaice, record with all the great dub muscians of all time, smoke excellent bud.
jimi hendrix-great drugs, beautiful women, be an all out mystical spritual dude, play the FUCK out of a guitar.
iggy pop-fun house, nuff said.
john cale-the velvets, the stooges self titled, tons of classics produced, and because lou reed is an asshole.
lydia lunch-redefined womens role in extreme music, played in one of the most intense guitar bands of all times, still relveant 25 years later.
john zorn-amazing free jazz player, not afraid to give a big fuck you to all the jazz traditionalists who scoffed upon him when he went on stage with raddy hair, ripped jeans, and a napalm death shirt, plays multiple insturments amazingly, plays sax like i wana play sax, countless amazing records, naked city, painkiller.
ennio morricone-because i love movies, and i love his movie soundtracks


yeah, that list looks perfectissimo.

Jamie Stewart. I'd do anything to be that good looking.

Probably Thurston Moore or Lee Ranaldo. Happily married with children, hasn't burned out or faded away, has an awesome band that is pretty successful.


Screw drugs, satan worship, legions of beautiful women. I'd take stability.

haha, i gota respect that.

Brendan Canty would be a good choice too.

hmmm, interesting thread.


so many rock n rollers or musicians have led such depraved lives, and so many died young wasting their talents sucking down wild turkey or shooting up heroin.

I have thought about this a LOT. If I could trade my life for any musician ever, I would trade with

RINGO STARR



He was hoping to work in a haberdashery, and instead joined up with the beatles in hamburg germany, proceeded to record some of the most influential rock music ever, was lucky enough to be friends with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCarteny when he did not suck ass, has been happily married for a long time, has met and befriended all the great music idols of the last 50 years, has played with many great people, has lived long enough to outlive John and George (sadly) and actually passed up Paul mcCartney as the COOLEST LIVING BEATLE
and still has a great sense of humor, the exact same sense of humor he had when he joined the beatles and booted out pete best.
He will probably outlive Paul mccartney, even though he was the elder beatle.
he has never been involved in any ridiculously stupid drugs or sex scandal that I know of.


It would rule all to be Ringo Starkey

Good choice Rob

He's probably the luckiest person on earth. A shit drummer who somehow fell into a successful band full of 'talent'. He's a complete tit, however, and has never shut up saying how he doesn't owe anything to Liverpool, despite the fact if he had been born elsewhere he wouldn't have had the chance to mooch off Harrison, Lennon and McCartney. And then he had the unmitigated GALL to come back to Liverpool this spring and hold a big event in his own honour, and sing a terrible song about how he 'never let Liverpool down'. Fuck off Ringo Starr.

^^^
That was probably written awfully, but I am blind with indignance.

Anyway, in response to the question.. I'd probably trade lives with either Conor Oberst or M. Ward. Both have written some of the best songs of the 21st century, are talented musicians and are friends with many other talented musicians. Conor got to bang Neely Jo Jenkins from Tilly and the Wall, Maria Taylor, and will probably end up banging Leslie Feist. On the other hand, M. Ward is good friends with Zooey Deschanel and will probably get to have some fun with her soon (or perhaps he already has, the dawg).

he does not owe anything to liverpool. what did liverpool do for him?

from w3hat I hear the beatles all say they all hated liverpool and there was no reason for any of them to go back except to visit family.


and to say he was a shit drummer is ridiculous.
he was a basic early rock n roll backbeat drummer.

george martin has said that in all the years of recording the beatles, he never ever had to stop a take because ringo fucked up. if you know any drummers or have ever recorded then you know how unbelievably awesome it is to have a drummer that reliable, especially in the studio.

I've thought about this a lot, too. I'd want to be all smug like Stephen Malkmus.

stephen malkmus may be my choice too, since he lives in a house in portland and has a family and still plays music. that's exactly what my plans are in the future.

yeah he would be one of my choices too.

Who gets pussy? I'd be him. Not that I don't, but a bit more wouldn't go awry.

the nuge!

he don't give a shit

i'd be Chan, but i'd like to be Chan in 2002, before she made some bad decisions.



I'd very happily be Cedric, Omar or Jim



Most of all, i'd LOVE to be Joni, so i could play her beautiful songs every night

did she invest in northern rock?

you'd be a douchebag!


i would be keith richards. he doesn't take shit too seriously, or take anything seriously at all, rather. he's just a load of fun.
or i would be bilinda butcher because she plays really nice guitar and has a cool band and is beautiful and quiet and well spoken.

Haha! :)

What she did is start wearing make up. It all went downhill from there.

pfff she's gorgeous with makeup

My answer: Bob Dylan.

It wasn't all beer and skittles for this man, far from it. But he interests me like no other musician.