That is seriously awesome.

Nice day for a white birthday party.

Start again!

Always liked this one, too, here performed by Billy with Steve Stevens and friends at a 2010 fundraiser for the Santa Monica School System music and arts departments, accompanied by a symphony & choir of those young people (singing the background chorus of les yeux sans visage):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKLyaQ4pai0

I'm more partial to the bass riffs on "dancing with myself". Not easy to play...

Steve Stevens's shredding on "Rebel Yell" stands the test of time.

One of my favorite artists of all time. I saw him around 2001 at the waterfront. It was nuts. I also saw DIO that summer. Great memories.

Steve Stevens, the guitarist of Billy Idol, talks about his influences and gives an insight on his song writing process, style and playing technique....[including] how to play the basic chords of "Rebel Yell", "White Wedding", "Eyes Without A Face", "Dancing With Myself" and "Rat Race." Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqGB4nQIAcQ

Influences include oldies guitarists he heard on the radio as a kid, Leo Kottke, and later, Robert Fripp & Adrian Belew (Paco de Lucía, not mentioned here, has also made a dramatic impression on him -- no wonder!). Stevens attributes his "Rebel Yell" intro to an innovative Kottkesque style he developed.

I don't understand the music world. This is one of my favorite Bill Idol collabs - with Joni Mitchell and Tom Petty. Neither Billy nor Tom were credited on Joni's Dreamland CD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tVsUuvOnK0

That song was on "Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm," and they were credited there. In fact, Joni liked Billy's antics so well that she expanded his part as they were going along.

Some people were turned off by the heavy production on that record, but it has a monster cast and some great songs. I'll pay $100 to whoever can tell me what they're chanting (in a mumbling way) in the background on the chilling number "The Beat of Black Wings." You talk about haunting.

Idol? Okay, I guess I can see it, but WHY didn't I figure you as a fan? I guess I should have. Classic musicianship will ALWAYS transcend the eras. :) And yes. THIS is a VERY cool thing.

Jack, to find out what Benjamin Orr is singing in the background, you can go here -- http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=37 -- where Joni's got her lyrics, and send a note from the link there that reads:

Would you like to help annotate the lyrics to this song? Send us a note with your idea.

I never would've recognized Ben Orr's voice singing that without the liner notes credit. R.I.P., Ben.

Here's a neat story from Joni's visit back to her hometown and old school on a promotional tour after recording that album:

Joni Mitchell Delighted To Be Home
Saskatoon Star Phoenix
March 26, 1988. p.D1
By Terry Craig of the Star Phoenix

"Chalk Marks in a Rainstorm" is the most ambitious and complex recording project Joni Michell has undertaken in her 20-year-old career.

Appearing relaxed and affable before a battery of microphones and television cameras at a news conference Friday at the Bessborough Hotel, the 44-year-old singer, songwriter covered a variety of subjects ranging from the new album to growing up in Saskatoon to the influence the Prairies have on her songwriting.

The Saskatoon stop, one of three scheduled across Canada to promote the album, came at Mitchell's request.

"I have great memories from here," she said. Returning to Saskatoon was "a nostalgic experience as soon as I hit town."

Friday's press conference marked a rare return by Mitchell to the city where she grew up, but she said the influences exerted on her during those days still remain with her. She has even considered doing a recording project about the prairies, "like a W. O. Mitchell trip!"

Discussing the new album, which features an eclectic array of musicians and singers - Billy Idol, Willie Nelson, Benjamin Orr, Peter Gabriel and Wayne Shorter - she described it as "almost like a rock opera" which doesn't have a storyline but casts different voices for some songs.

On the cut, Dancin' Clown, Billy Idol brought a sense of high gun to the recording session, she said. Many of the guest appearances came as a result of hanging around the coffee machine in the studio - that's how former Prince vocalists Wendy & Lisa came to sing on the album.

She requested Billy Idol for Dancin' Clown and Willie Nelson for his duet with her on Cool Water, a song she remembered from her childhood.

"My last album was tedious by comparison," she said of the general feeling that dominated Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm.

Recorded at a number of studios, the album reflects Mitchell's concern about war. One recording session for the anti-war song, The Beat of Black Wings, took place at Peter Gabriel's studio in rural England. It was during the session that U.S. warplanes departed from a nearby air base to bomb Libyan military targets.

"The air base was within walking distance from the studio and it occurred to me that if there was any retaliation we would be sitting right on the target," she said.

While the album itself is true to the Mitchwll trend of not repeating herself and presenting a vibrant new sound, she expressed a disdain for the market forces that are in place to sell her product.

"Radio is less adventurous," she said. "Disc jockeys have no freedom to play the music of their choice. In the U.S., radio is geared to certain markets and it's difficult to place my music in those markets - it's not quite jazz, folk or rock."

But she is encouraged by the success of performers like Paul Simon, Sting and Gabriel, whose music defies the strict marketing guideline prevalent in radio today to incorporate new sounds and yet receive airplay.

Mitchell was almost self-effacing about the positive reaction to the new album.

"I think people are ready to like me again - it's time for me to be liked again."

She recalled her days as a youngster modelling fur coats and attending sock hops at the Bessborough, attending Aden Bowman Collegiate and going to high school dances.

"I was in Saskatoon from Grade 6 through to the end of high school. I spent my formative years here and was here during the birth of rock 'n' roll - I have great memories."

Mitchell bantered with students from Aden Bowman about some of her former teachers still at the school and how she flouted the school's stringent dress code against female students wearing slacks by alterating a pair of Bermuda shorts. At the end of the interview, she posed for the students wearing a school beanie and waving a pennant.

Runnin' Back To Saskatoon ~ The Guess Who (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoUTZ3ccP70