Saturday, August 19, 2017

So I had one of those rather herky jerky kinda weeks---y'know the kind where the work never stops and ya end the day feeling like ya just put in an eternity at the salt mines and dread going back the next day. And boy do the evening hours when ya can unlax and rewind come off so goooooood after all of that hard work and drudgery. Yeah, that's the kinda week I had 'n I gotta say that I'm sure glad I survived these past seven spinners if only because once I got through them days, puking seems so fine...
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'n so, what should I write about before we get down to the meaty potatoes of it all. Howzbout some "current events" to spice things up? Well, not really...I had a really big schpiel planned re. my take on the rawther recent Charlottesville hoohah that transpired this past Sunday, but I thought I'd scrap letting you know my innermost thoughts on what happened because hey, I'm bound to upset more'n a few precious petunias out there with my news 'n views that just might seem unsettling to the reg'lar as well as uninitiated reader! I really don't wanna bruise any feelings out there in Pansyland y'know.

Come to think of it---maybe I BETTER give my own guts out opinion of this and all of the hoo hah surrounding that nice li'l kerfuffle that the State Media turned into an even BIGGER propaganda push than they even did with Pavlik. I mean, what else am I but PREDICTABLE, so why not stop being so this late in the game o' life and let you know exactly how I feel about recent events that seem to have shaken the sensitive to their very core and have made brave men fall to their knees! And maybe even caused a few people to skid their shorts for all I know!

To start things out let me "come out" as they say (hah!) and admit that I am whatcha'd call "Alt-Right" and PROUD to be so...after all, Paul Gottfried (the guy who coined the term), Pat Buchanan and H. L. Mencken* are my favorite political commentators these days (along with Andy Nowicki, Gavin McInnes, Justin Raimondo, Kathy Shaidle, Paul Craig Roberts and scant few others---even Milo ranks in there somewhere!) and if anyone out there stands as a counterpoint to what the stodgy types in the Republican Party and the official conservative movement stand for these days it's guys like these! After all, ya gotta admit that the writings and actions of these political stalwarts who are about as outside of the usual Dem/Rep loop as I am get about as much respect from these well-ensconced ones as I would at a rock fanzine convention! Hokay maybe these folks got their claim to be called Alt-Right swiped by what Ramzpaul has been called a bunch of "Hollywood Nazis" over the past few years, but if you look at the original (and perhaps "real") definition of the Alt-Right term these guys are the ones who created and nurtured a real counterpoint to what's passing as the republicans or the conservatives or whatever there is these days that I gotta say nauseate me. And they do make me wanna puke about as much as the bleedhearts out there in Ivory Tower Land who seem to have taken everything that was good and right these past hundred or so years and trashed it in a manner that would make those reformers of yore smile on from their portals in Hell.

(Hokay, maybe i am skirting around the fact that the fine chaps who were there to keep a statue of an anti-slavery Civil War general who just wanted to defend his state from Northern Aggression intact weren't exactly the kind of people who share the same views that Gottfried et. al. hold, but in this situation I gotta let ya know where my true sociopolitical views lie, as if you didn't know them by now.)

Too bad they didn't have a Starbucks to go to afterwards.
Besides being a proud member of the anarchist right (if you stretch that term a bit) let me admit that in no way can I even in the smidgiest way cozy up to those antifa, or as I like to call them antifanabla types (who seem to be the darlings of the newspapers and the networks for reasons that should be more than obvious) wrecking property (which ain't theft---though see what happens to you when you come after my records!), wrecking people (who I guess don't own themselves and thus are worthy of their pain) and yammering away on their high chairs horses at anything that's to the right of Jay Hinman with predictable moral indignation. Talk about SANCTIMONY INCORPORATED---I haven't seen such altruistic useful idiots as this since I stopped reading MAXIMUM ROCK AND ROLL back in the late-eighties! These kinda/sorta "rebel" types (hah!) remind me of those Spanish communists in the thirties who were digging up graves of nuns and exhibiting them, sometimes in pornographic positions whilst getting the praise (and moolah) of rich Amerigan liberals who were doing their part to make this a better world where we can all join in and sing in harmony like some old Coke commercial (or PBS documentary), preferably atop some mass grave as yet to be uncovered.  And, of course, we all know what a virtual hellhole Franco's Spain was next to Stalin's Workers Paradise throughout those year, eh???

If some of the Alt Right elements are whatcha'd call "beyond the pale" (and frankly I'd say that a good part of 'em ain't despite the hoots and hollers to the contrary---Mike Cernovich and Paul Joseph Watson come to mind), the antifa "Alt Left" is a way more violent creature without a conscience that's driven by pure Marcusian ideological bulldozer zealotry to put it mildly! Take it from me, you'll find more variety and excitement in ideas and expression on the other side, not to mention people who still like the Velvet Underground and Thirteenth Floor Elevators and don't feel the need to apologize than you will in the precious petunia world of today. And when I get down to it I must admit that I will choose sanity over the creation of the kind of world that the kind of corpse gazers seen above undoubtedly wanted, and thanks be to God for that.

Not that it matters to the real powers that be who are intent on wrecking everything that was working rather well these past few centuries while using their hired goons as disposable pawns. The tearing down will continue, and hapless fools who get run over are gonna be the new heroes of the new state perhaps with plays, movies and museums devoted to them. And with sights being taking off the internet (including those like ALTERNATIVE RIGHT which was a well though out and comparatively balanced blog, at least compared with most on the other side of the spectrum) you can tell that anything that's even mildly offensive and contrary to current tastes is going to be banished with a deep vengeance. If so, may I say toodle-oo now 'n before it's too late???

As usual Jim Goad puts it into a language even your most addled fuzzpitted self-righteous gal can understand. Ditto the oft maligned Ramzpaul. Ya better read 'em or die!
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Look ma, no cavities other' the
one that hunka hair's covering!
Guess what I found while looking through about fortysome years of boxes filled with various flotsam and whateveritissam that I have collected throughout the years. No it ain't yet another copy of SUPERDOPE but (now get this!) a snap of memeME!!! that was taken at a mid-seventies Christmas party whilst under the influence of too many Coca-Colas I snitched while no one was looking (of course the stuff I added to the otherwise soft drink will be discussed in detail in a further post). When I see this snap the memories just keep on flowin' because when this pic was popped it happened to be during a time in my life when I was spinning many a Zappa, Beefheart, Patti, Eno, Alice, Lou and whatever album enjoying 'em all to the utmost. Come to think of it I was a few days into having purchased and enjoyed to the fullest the Hampton Grease Band platters at the time and was a few days away from snatching up the Monty Python live import on Charisma that never did get released o'er here if that makes any difference to you (like it did to me given how the former represented the extent of my freeform freak tastes and the latter my own dabbling into various cutting edge comedy troupes that would fizzle out within the span of a few short years). Yes, those memories just keep flowin' thinkin' of all the suburban slob fun I was having while this pic was taken, and for the life of me will someone out there identify that dark wavy stuff that was set splat upon the top of my bean???
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Oh yeah, I just discovered (and posted on the left) Craig Bell's own website. It's a really good 'un too what with alla the history and pix of Craig and his various groups that can be found. Lotsa nice information to be found here and like, if you want you can even spend some moolah on Craig's fairly-priced booty that you can't find anywhere else now you have the opportunity to spend, spend, and  SPEND EVEN MORE!!!! 

Funny thing, but the guy himself has posted that very same snap of him playing in Rocket From The Tombs while wearing a Left End "I'm Spoiled Rotten" t-shirt that I discovered in my own collection only last Sunday and was planning on posting this week! His is in much better quality natch and I thought I was gonna getta real scoop posting this 'un, but what th' hey here is my photocopied copy anyway!

Anyway....the Bell site's a good place to waste some time while you're cruising the web and you're getting tired of all of that clickbait that seems to be cluttering up the screens while searching for something that's a little...."mentally stimulating"... at least for nonviable masses of tissue like ourselves that is
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Things are looking bright not only with this week's batch of beauts to spin but with the promised arrival of the latest UGLY THINGS in a few day's time.  And that's not forgetting a few interesting platters I actually paid for with my own moolah which are bound to make their way to my front porch within the next few days (or weeks, or months in the case of my Forced Exposure preorder). Looks kinda bright out there in soundsville for a change, and between these purchases and the goodies sent by Bill Shute, Paul McGarry, Weasel Walter and even Bob Forward I should be basking in pure musical mayhem for quite some time. Well, it should keep me off the streets but really, have I ever been out of trouble???



Weasel Walter-A POUND OF FLESH 4-CD set (ugEXPLODE, available here)

I just got done listening to all four Cee Dees of this set (well, I actually broke the listening sesh into two disques yesterday and two today) and gotta say that I am not only visibly, but physically...spiritually shaken. And that's something that music rarely does to me anymore...you could say that A POUND OF FLESH is an effort that has pretty much skewered whatever is left of my sense of musical appreciation to the point where I feel like one of those shish kebabs that pop up in the meat case of your local Cash Market just beggin' to be doctored up for at least another day's shelf life.

Much of Weasel Walter's other efforts have been whatcha'd call "cutting edge" and other terms that come straight outta the new lexicon of hip descriptors. Forget those...A POUND OF FLESH beats 'em all as far as a mass of totally unclassifiable (jazz? avant garde classical? rockism???) really don't cut it. To be safe I'll call it jazz because the way this one reaches out and twists your frontals it's gotta be the most crazed (but not crazy) release with a neo-free bent to come out at least since the decline of the AACM!

Dunno how he did it...some sorta electronic sampling or something along them lines...but this is technically a percussion album. Not quite the solo percussion platter that you got with the likes of Andrew Cyrille or Jerome Cooper. You hear electronic roars and squeals all about not to mention electric guitar attacks, some which are particularly unnerving especially on "Xenoglossy Part 3" (last track on second disque). Some sorta bell-like sound can be heard pealing and although Walter's booklet notes explain it all it's like I can't comprehend any technical explanations of musical instrumentation beyond the flute-o-phone. Even when it's Walter and his drums and nothing but (like the first track on disque 4) it's a wild rumble worthy of the Milford Graves Drum Ensemble (and there's only one of him doin' this!). All I can do is settle back, turn on the machine and be CRUSHED!

To be cornballus about it listen at your own peril! But do enjoy it because somehow the angular synth sounds and beyond Sunny Murray rhythms seem like the perfect soundtrack for the kind of lives many of us are existing in these days. Definitely worth the relative ease it takes to obtain a copy but hurry...limited to like 500 copies and they may all be gone by now!
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Lou Donaldson-POSSUM HEAD CD-r burn (originally on Argo Records)

When I come home from work I sometimes wanna just soothe my nodes with sounds that I consider sonically stretching and bared wire intense None of these schmoozing to James Taylor while swilling cocktails sitcom stuff for me! So when I plunked down this pick outta Bill Shute's latest package I was hoping for some strong soul jazz sounds that would get my cranium up and goin'!

Not exactly so here, since most of POSSUM HEAD came off too straight ahead and nicey-nice for me...y'know, bowtie and tux music far removed from the feral screams of a Shepp or Coltrane. Still I found myself getting engrossed as the platter proceeded and the sesh began to seep into a deep groove that got me moved at least a tad. Plays swell enough I guess, but for total real life demon exorcism it's THE NEW THING and nothin' else, hear?
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Eugene Chadbourne-BOOGIE WITH THE HOOK CD-r burn (originally on Cleo Records)

Ain't paid too much attention to Chadbourne since his DON'T PUNK OUT album with Frank Lowe but this one is the proverbial cats! It'll drive you about as nuts as I got listening to Chadbourne and band (threw away liner notes or lost 'em or something like that...boy will Bob Forward be mad!) do everything from twangy hillbilly sounds about ten generations through the brother/sister continuum to some rather suspiciously-sounding mid-seventies Braxton/Mitchell/Jarman-styled interplay with a bit of Chadbourne's electric guitar in there somewhere. I dunno what else to say other'n if you like crazy twang folk music and experimental seventies loft jazz sounds and want it all in one package well, do I have to tell you the rest?
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Sweet Toothe-TESTING CD-r burn (originally on Dominion Records)

There must have been thousands of these self-produced rock albums popping up outta nowhere back inna mid-seventies, and Sweet Toothe were but one band to manage to crank out a longplayer that I'm sure didn't even get to make it as far as the old rundown flybynight record shop that mighta taken something like this in the first place. Well, no big loss 'bout that for TESTING ain't really worth your time unless you happen to like the lighter end of the seventies hard rock spectrum. Sweet Toothe might have been a big hit live and all, but on this one they just flop about doin' the same ol' riffs 'n grooves that certainly made those New York Dolls albums sound all the better back then. These guys were from West Virginia as their name obviously should reveal to you---after all, if they weren't from that state they'd be called Sweet Teethe!
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Third Floor Strangers-LAST CHANCE CD-r burn (originally on Trelaine Records)

The late-seventies and early-eighties produced their fair share of what was to be called "power pop" groups and like, who can deny that these Strangers were trying to nudge their way into the movement! This '81 offering was recorded by a group I never heard about before, although they were from Buffalo New York which means that I'll bet that Bernard Kugel knew a thing or two about these guys. And like most of these platters there seems to be quite a few tracks that don't knock my socks off, but then again there are a few downright gems to be found when you're not especially looking for any. I'd say these guys rank about a notch or two lower than Pezband, though they're about as good as Morgan Taylor's Rock Group so they can't be that all bad.
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The Nazz-NAZZ NAZZ CD-r burn (originally on SGC Records)

Should this 'un 've been in the year end post of familiar albums that are worthy of at least one mention lest they wither away into obscurity (or some ass reviews them on his/her/its blog)? Well, maybe the answer is no because I never did lend ear to NAZZ NAZZ before, and besides maybe this is too good a platter to forget about until the new year's tidings ring in (if they ever will). But once you get down to the brass balls of it all NAZZ NAZZ is a pretty decent pop-rock excursion from those NUGGETS faves with a good portion of heart-melting teenygirl rock mixing in with some Who-inspired wowzers and of course those more, er, heavy "FM-sounding" tracks that kinda put me off like nothing since coffee stir enemas. Thankfully nobody told Todd Rundgren he was a genius yet, and this is a far way from his horrid late-eighties Broadway-inspired platter I had the misfortune of being sent a review copy way back when. But to answer the old SPOONFUL fanzine question is Todd a punk? From this one I'd say only when the guitar chords suit him and they do (well, at least part of the time).
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Various Artists-FARAWAY ACORNS AND IMPOSSIBLE SINNERS CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

I thought this particular Shute-shoot was a good enough selection of what Bill used to call "Thrift Shop" somethingorothers. There are lotsa good moody mid-sixties weepers here that are enough to put me down in the dumps while the Blue Mitchell piece of solid blues/jazz was enough to pep me up if you can believe it. A pre-"Four" Bobby Fuller track was a nice inclusion while a pre-"Strawberry Alarm Clock" Thee Sixpence sure had a Seeds style to 'em I obviously wish woulda made its way into the newer edition of the group. Some real real surprises show up like a track called "Puppy Love" (not the Paul Anka tearjerker) by Jerry Samuels before he put on his Napoleon XIV hat and coat and like I can't find a thing wrong with this one, other'n the fact that Bill did not sneak any of those great old radio ads in between the toonz like he usedta.

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*OK, the undeniable fact is that Mencken has been dead for over sixty years awlready, but he seems more alive via his writings and opines 'n most scribes out there, especially in these days when political punditry has been reduced to various feely good catchphrases meant to tingle the nodes of some out-there prole who for the most part can't care less what some newscasters thoughts re. subject X are!

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