Set A Light Lester Bangs Special is a sound film/sound collage by Raquel Pinheiro & Rui Pimenta dedicated to music critic and larger than life person Lester Bangs who died 40 years ago today at the age of 33. It airs today, Saturday 30th on Yé Yé radio: https://yeyeradio.com/ at 7pm (gmt+1): (or on the app). Was Lester the greatest rock critic ever? Who knows. Jim DeRogatis thought he may, at least, be "America's greatest rock critic". Textbook Case by Birdland with Lester Bangs is one of the song featuring Lster himself that can be heard on the show. The full tracklist is below the text.
Bangs wrote for Creem, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and several other publications. He was excessive, passionate, unmerciful and honest when it came to write about music. Is too blunt a thing? Again, who knows, but Lester often certainly was. He also didn't shy from confrontation, even in interviews. His interview with Lou Reed, originally published in Let It Rock in November 1973 is such an example: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/nov/08/lou-reed-lester-bangs-interview Is that even an interview or is it a roasters fight? Hard to say, but it may be better not to try it at home, or if we happen to be interviewing someone. Lester and Lou can pull it off, the rest of us are mere mortals. Did he took it to far when he played typewriter on stage at Cobo Hall in Detroit with the J. Geils Band? Who's to know. What it is knows is that his riff, sorry, typewriting inclued "VDKHEOQSNCHSHNELXIEN(&H-SXN(E@JN?". And that, afterwards, Lester destroyed the typewriter like a proper rock star. You don't get it? Nor do we. Or do we? ... If you think we're making it up just to make things more interesting, we're not. The story is told by the man himself in My Night of Ecstasy With the J. Geils Band that is part of Lester's posthumous writings Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung—The Work of a Legendary Critic: Rock ‘n’ Roll As Literature and Literature As Rock ‘n’ Roll, edited by Greil Marcus.
Set a Light Lester Bangs Special starting point is Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe's film in which Philip Seymour Hoffman, another larger than life person, plays bangs and Patrick Fugit as 15 years old William Miller (William, the teenage wanna be music writer. Lines from the movie and inter-weaved with Lester's own bands, or bands he played with, bands he trashed like MC5's Kick out the Jams - does Detroit Sucks? we don't think so, but, who knows ... Maybe Lester did... - bands he loved, Teenage Jesus And The Jerks, bands who mentioned him in their songs, R.EM., Scott B. Sympathy and even a band he liked, at least early on and wrote a kind of despondent, but honest and unmerciful? biography about Blondie. There are a little over 60 minutes of a few things Lester Bangs on this special Set a Light. All things Lester Bangs would require a whole day show and we may (who are we kidding, we would) still fall short.
Set A Light is a forthcoming regular radio show by Raquel Pinheiro & Rui Pimenta that focus on things, and people, around and behind a band/artist. From music writers to producers through graphic designers, photographers, fans, and others/more.
Tracklist:
01 - Almost Famous - Introducing Mr. Lester Bangs
02 - Lester Bangs - Let It Blurt
03 - Almost Famous - if you like Lou Lester Bangs to William Miller
04 - Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side
05 - Almost Famous - do you take drugs Lester Bangs to William Miller
06 - John Coltrane - This Are A Few of My Favourite Things & Typewriter
07 - Almost Famous -an assignment Lester Bangs to William Miller
08 - Silence (from John Cage's 4'33) & Black Sabbath (Planet Caravan)
09 - Almost Famous - honest Lester Bangs to William Miller
10 - Teenage Jesus And The Jerks - I Woke Up Dreaming - (from the No New Work LP, 1978, compiled and produced by Brian Eno)
11 - Lester Bangs - About Music
12 - Roxy Music - Just Like You
13 - Birdland with Lester Bangs - Textbook Case
14 - Lester Bangs - on Beatles Nostalgia (1981)
15 - John Lennon - Gimme Some Truth
16 - Lester Bangs and The Delinquents - I Just Want to Be a Movie Star
17 - Almost Famous - women Lester Bangs to William Miller
18 - Blondie - Little Girl Lies (Live at El Mocambo, Toronto, August 3rd, 1978 - FM Radio Broadcast)
19 - Count Five - Psychotic Reaction
20 - The J. Geils Band - So Sharp
21 - Almost Famous - unmerciful Lester Bangs to William Miller
22 - MC5 - Borderline (live at Detroit's Grande Ballroom)
23 - Almost Famous - starry eyes Lester Bangs to William Miller
24 - R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
25 - Scott B. Sympathy - Lester Bangs Stereo Ghost
26 - Almost Famous - the day it ceases to the dumb it's the day it ceases to be real Lester Bangs to William Miller
