February 2006 - Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ)Monthly Archive

Can you play Hotel Carlifonia? (note distinct Mallu accent). I can’t remember the number of times I’ve been asked that question. But as a kid growing up in some obscure village (Ambalamugal to be precise) in God’s own Kerala, this song, unknown to me, had already entered my very soul.

My earliest memory of ‘HC’ is of playing air guitar to the lead: This was the late70’s. My dad had got my elder brother an electric guitar and the first song he had to learn was this mother. The entire neighborhood was infected with it as a result of that learning process.

Could The Eagles have ever imagined how far the song would go when they wrote it or how big an entity they were creating? One that would set musicians all over the world in search of that Holy Grail – to nail that solo! It took two of them to write that darn thing alone! And then there’s the song itself. What the heck is it about? (We even tried listening to it backwards on the old spool tape players we had back then!)

Flying…

Strangely enough we got to play this very song at the Malayalee Thattukada gig last week. (What? TAAQ?? Playing the cover of all covers?)

Well, let me tell you that it was a revelation for me as well. It was a special request by a 15 year old called Mandara, who wanted to sing it. And her dad (an airline pilot btw), who’d seen us play at Zero G and the TULL gig and whose party it was, who’s dream it was to play the drums with a ‘real’ rock band.

So, there we were. On Stage. Playing the first notes of the opening chords…I looked back and there instead of Rajeev I see Captain Nagaraj at the drums, focusing straight ahead like he was doing some mental calculations about wind speed, distance and whatever else passes through a Pilots’ mind before take off.

Now this is not a song we’ve practiced often as a band to say the least, but all of us there had logged in our hours with the song. 15 to 40 being the age span. We played it with David helping Mandara on with the vocal bits and Captain really taking off into the groove. Off stage I could see Rajeev grinning widely and grooving with us. By the time we hit the solo, which Bruce totally nailed, I was flying! Therein, I realized, had come true, a forgotten childhood dream of mine as well – to play with a band that could get this song right!

Under the Covers…

On the way back David and I were talking about the gig and music in general. David’s probably played HC more than all of us with the experience he’s had with playing covers.

Why do we have this thing against playing covers?

One line of thought that nobody takes into account when playing covers is the whole copyrights issue – have you got permission of the rightful owners of the song before playing it for your own profit?!? Can we get sued for playing that song (even the way we did!)?

So, how does an Indian musician with ‘a rich cultural and musical heritage’, speaking and thinking in English play a rocking version of Hotel California (and get a visa to the US `;~)?!?

In Western and Indian Classical music, anything worth composing has already been done. Anyone wishing to prove a point has to first show mastery over what already exists and that it self takes a life time for most of the great performers to achieve. That’s playing covers, the way I see it.

So what can we gain by playing covers? I know Bruce has to get it just so or NO! So learning a song like HC is essential training then for any guitar player? IS there any guitar player out there who’s not heard HC or tried to learn it?

Personally, learning to play this song seems to have given me purpose in life! Playing it over and over, in all sorts of bands and circumstances, through the musical adventure that got me thru school and college. And then some 20 years later, to last week, to answer that question…

Can you play Hotel California?

YES!

Ps: There is an actual version of Hotel Keralafonia floating around somewhere. I got it as a fwd once. If anyone has it please to kindly oblige and put it up here. It’s super funny.

Though Rudy passes himself off as an ordinary guy, with an ordinary life, the conspiracy theories have to make their presence felt.

First. Rudy is not a mal. How come? Well I heard Rajeev say it for one. The other is have you ever ever heard of a mal called Rudy? Mals generally take any 2 sounds and put them together. Now Rudy would fit this criteria beautifully BUT… there is no one else called Rudy. Do you know a mal called Rudy. NO. Even Titichayan’s wife tatama kochamma wouldn’t know a Rudy in her nagaram (which means town. naragam on the other hand means hell which actually are never too far from each other).

Despite this he speaks perfect malayalam. He claims he was born there. But he is not a mal. So… what is he?

Theory 1

Rudy is from Mars

This astonishing theory actually gains credence once you’ve spotted Rudy’s red hair which is never allowed to grow. But he is actually quite vocal about it. Red hair from the red planet. Obviously his wife would rather not have everyone know she’s married a martian so hence the ban on the beard. But Rudy has that longing for his roots in a follicle sense of course. So Rudy landed up from Mars in Kerala. Why? Simbly.

Theory 2
Rudy has some European roots. But that’s too boring. So on to the next theory.

Theory 3

E=mc2

Theory 4

Rudy is actually a vampire. So actually he is about 500 years old and came to the Kerala shores with old Vasco da Gama. Haven’t heard of a Portuguese vampire? Try Rudy. If you ask Rudy ‘Queres beber um pouco sangue?’ He would hesitate a moment. Also check out an unreleased picture of him with his teeth glinting. However one must reiterate that this is a pro vegetarian vampire. What lovely bloody music he makes!

Theory 5
Rudy is John Lennon

John Lennon’s shooting was a silly urban myth. However as the myth started spreading the marketing dudes who were getting tired of Lennon decided they would milk it for all its worth. So with a neat bit of chloroform they parcelled Lennon (Rudy) away for a few months. They got the whole world to cry about him and released him from his house arrest. Obviously no one believed that he was Lennon. He was dead after all.

So Rudy Lennon decided that the next best thing to do was to land up in Kerala. Having visited India before it was a doddle to settle in the land of the mal. A few days of sun got the skin sorted. Learning the language was made simple by the Boney M loving restaurant owner. How? Rudy Lennon would say ‘RA RA Rasputin’ and he would get some appam and stew. And so with the consistent usage of Boney M songs the language issue was solved.

Then came the musical issue… ah well we know how that worked out. He joined some zany band… unknown to most….