Stooges' James Williamson

[der nister]

Ever wonder what happened to him, works for Sony as VP for Technology Standards

http://www.i94bar.com/ints/james2.html

K: What have you been doing since then?

J: I've moved on. From an engineering degree, I sorta moved into the electronics industry. I've been in the Silicon Valley now for twenty years. A lot of different things. I travel extensively and do a lot of things with electronics.

K: How do you account for the continuing influence of the Stooges?

J: Maybe it's just 'cos NOBODY LIKES IT. Teenage music is all about people not likin' it, right? Maybe that's it. I don't know.

K: It's getting harder to play "Shock the Grownups."

J: That's right. I honestly don't know. It's an interesting thing for me, too, to see that something I did twenty years ago...or MORE than twenty years ago...is still actually more viable than it was at that time. That's a very strange phenomenon, and I don't have any answers about that. It does seem to be very relevant to the music that's going on now.

Here, he is, third one down:
http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/corpora ... l-KMW.html

[Snarfyguy]

[Bungo the Mungo]

What a fucking dick.

[harvey k-tel]

[Insouciant Western People]

There was a short interview with Williamson in the recent Mojo tribute to Ron Asheton feature. He intimated at one point that he might be doing a brief reunion with Iggy and Scott if The Stooges get into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.

I don't get out to gigs much these days, but if Iggy, James, Scott and Mike Watt were to come to the UK and do, say, Raw Power in its entirety, I would have to move heaven and indeed earth to get there. Ooh, how I would like that .

[TG]

I can't find a copy to post, but in the latest issue of Fretboard Journal there is a picture of him in Hawaii. He's in shorts, sandals, overweight and looking rather like someone's elderly uncle or grandfather. It's sort of comical considering his appearance back in the day in his thigh high boots or glam spaceman outfit. There's also an interesting (if short) interview and a piece on his Les Paul being restored. Well, interesting if you're into guitar porn. Sadly, I am.

[TG]

There was a short interview with Williamson in the recent Mojo tribute to Ron Asheton feature. He intimated at one point that he might be doing a brief reunion with Iggy and Scott if The Stooges get into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.

I don't get out to gigs much these days, but if Iggy, James, Scott and Mike Watt were to come to the UK and do, say, Raw Power in its entirety, I would have to move heaven and indeed earth to get there. Ooh, how I would like that .

Raw Power and all of the tracks from the Raw Power tour that were never properly recorded and have been bootlegged countless times. Heavy Liquid, I Got My Cock In My Pocket, Open Up And Bleed, She Creatures From The Hollywood Hills and all the rest. Yeah, I'd certainly pay to see a show with Williamson back in the fold.

[Snarfyguy]

There was a short interview with Williamson in the recent Mojo tribute to Ron Asheton feature. He intimated at one point that he might be doing a brief reunion with Iggy and Scott if The Stooges get into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.

I don't get out to gigs much these days, but if Iggy, James, Scott and Mike Watt were to come to the UK and do, say, Raw Power in its entirety, I would have to move heaven and indeed earth to get there. Ooh, how I would like that .

Raw Power and all of the tracks from the Raw Power tour that were never properly recorded and have been bootlegged countless times. Heavy Liquid, I Got My Cock In My Pocket, Open Up And Bleed, She Creatures From The Hollywood Hills and all the rest. Yeah, I'd certainly pay to see a show with Williamson back in the fold.

Since you seem to be knowledgeable on the topic, is there any release, legit, quasi- or otherwise that adequately wraps up this period? There's a baffling amount of stuff out, but something tells me much of it is very poorly recorded.

[Tactful Cactus]

No disrespect to the dead, but Ron Asheton didn't exactly age gracefully either. A Raw Powered Stooges would be great but I wonder has James still got the chops? The guitar playing on that album is very fast and intense. When I saw the Stooges last summer Asheton couldn't quite pull off "Search & Destroy"

[TG]

There was a short interview with Williamson in the recent Mojo tribute to Ron Asheton feature. He intimated at one point that he might be doing a brief reunion with Iggy and Scott if The Stooges get into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.

I don't get out to gigs much these days, but if Iggy, James, Scott and Mike Watt were to come to the UK and do, say, Raw Power in its entirety, I would have to move heaven and indeed earth to get there. Ooh, how I would like that .

Raw Power and all of the tracks from the Raw Power tour that were never properly recorded and have been bootlegged countless times. Heavy Liquid, I Got My Cock In My Pocket, Open Up And Bleed, She Creatures From The Hollywood Hills and all the rest. Yeah, I'd certainly pay to see a show with Williamson back in the fold.

Since you seem to be knowledgeable on the topic, is there any release, legit, quasi- or otherwise that adequately wraps up this period? There's a baffling amount of stuff out, but something tells me much of it is very poorly recorded.

Easy Action put out a box called Heavy Liquid that pretty neatly sums up the period. They did wonders with cleaning up the tapes and the packaging is beautiful. It's six discs and contains versions of most of the songs from the tour that were never done proper in a studio. Some of it is from poorly recorded audience tapes and some from only slightly better recorded rehearsal tapes. One of the concert tapes was recorded at the Whisky-a-go-go by a friend of mine. I recently digitized the original cassette tape and can say that they did a very good job considering that they were working with a second generation tape, at best. There are, of course, countless other boots or quasi-legitimate releases out there that feature other shows. The Heavy Liquid box seems to put the best of it all in one place. Tower.com recently had it at a very reasonable price. Oh, and Easy Action claims to have an agreement with the band and to be paying royalties - something I'm pretty sure hasn't happened with the dozens of other releases of these tapes.

That said; it is still bootleg quality and has to be purchased and listened to with that thought in mind.

They are also working on a new box of Funhouse era live tapes that I think is due out in March. An old friend of mine has a tape from NYC that was recorded the week that Funhouse was released that he is shopping to another label. I've also heard rumors of a Raw Power box set coming out, but as far as I know, these are just rumors. I know of no official info coming from Sony Records.

[TG]

I don't know if he can still play like he did in the 70's. Here is an MP3 of him speaking and playing his Weissenhorn acoustic. I think it's from the Fretboard Journal piece.

http://iggypop.org/weissenborn.mp3

[bhoywonder]

What a fucking dick.

Why?

[Bungo the Mungo]

What a fucking dick.

Why?

I'm not falling into your trap, bhoy! Whatever I say, you'll say 'well, what did you expect?'

So he grew old, so he doesn't care about or understand rock and roll, so it's perhaps not surprising.

I still think he's a dick.

[Snarfyguy]

What a fucking dick.

Why?

I'm not falling into your trap, bhoy! Whatever I say, you'll say 'well, what did you expect?'

So he grew old, so he doesn't care about or understand rock and roll, so it's perhaps not surprising.

I still think he's a dick.

It had to be said, anyway.

TG, thanks for that info. I think I'll hunt down that Heavy Liquid box. Bootleg audio quality doesn't scare me.

[Clippernolan]

This is the funniest thread ever.

[Bungo the Mungo]

No disrespect to the dead, but Ron Asheton didn't exactly age gracefully either. A Raw Powered Stooges would be great but I wonder has James still got the chops? The guitar playing on that album is very fast and intense. When I saw the Stooges last summer Asheton couldn't quite pull off "Search & Destroy"

Ron didn't want to play anything from Raw Power. He was finally persuaded, somehow - and he mucked about with the song anyway.

[Snarfyguy]

He's 60 years old. I give him credit for not being some douchebag hipster trying to look like a pirate, and also for going back to school and doing something productive rather than reliving past glories from 36 years ago. It'd be like these old vets who still think it's 1970 in the Mekong delta and nothing has happened in their lives since then.

It would have been funnier if he'd been a heroin addict for decades, then found Jesus, cleaned up his act and put out a really terrible religious solo album.

[Charlie O.]

TG, thanks for that info.

Indeed!

I like those Easy Action people. Their MC5 set is boss, too.

[bobzilla77]

They are also working on a new box of Funhouse era live tapes that I think is due out in March. An old friend of mine has a tape from NYC that was recorded the week that Funhouse was released that he is shopping to another label.

THAT would be something if it was even good-bootleg quality. I've heard tell of a poorly recorded show from St Louis 1970 where they do all these songs you've never heard before, like the never-finished followup to Funhouse or something. The only decent recording I've heard is the famous TV broadcast, where the announcer's talking over them, but they still sound fantastic.

[Balboa]

He's 60 years old. I give him credit for not being some douchebag hipster trying to look like a pirate, and also for going back to school and doing something productive rather than reliving past glories from 36 years ago. It'd be like these old vets who still think it's 1970 in the Mekong delta and nothing has happened in their lives since then.

I agree with this. Was Ron Ashton cooler or something? They both played guitar in The Stooges.