Another one so (relatively) soon??? Well, I have a lot to say and rather'n hold off until I'm good 'n ready I'm gonna rush this 'un off just so's I can sate your unbridled desire to read whatever it is that I have to blab about. Sheesh, what other blogger out there in "notice me" land would be willing to go the extra mile for someone as unimportant as you anyway?

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(OLD NEWS BY NOW TIME EVEN THOUGH I WROTE IT ALL WHEN IT WAS NEW NEWS [WITH SOME UPDATES AND FINE-TUNING], SO BEWARE!) Sheesh, first some she-boy gets killed and dismembered a few miles from where I live, and now there was an attempted assassination on Donald Trump a good 45/60 minutes (depending on road conditions) ride south in Butler Pee-YAY! Talk about the locale where I reside in hitting the front page twice in such a short time! Yes, I do kinda feel proud about it in my own downhome cornpone way, but although things tend to happen in "three"'s I'm a bit scared as to what's gonna happen in these parts next...

I've passed the Butler Farm Show Fairgrounds more times than you can think of and like, I never would have believed in a millyun years that this humble li'l spot more attuned to tractor pulls would become a place of a downright All-Amerigan attempted assassination worthy of the history books! And believe it or don't but in some ways I am part of that very history --- after all, way back when the entire fambly would go to the flea markets that were held there on Sundays not only to buy but (at least once) to sell, and I recall one sunny summer Sunday afternoon when I begged mom to give me 75 cents so I could purchase a swell-looking 1970 vintage FANTASTIC  FOUR comic book (I believe ish #95) that some mid-aged grump 'n frump couple had up for sale. She gave me the coinage, albeit with a stern condemnation of my purchasing choice since, in her opinion, NO comic book was worth that much and you could just bet that while I was reading the thing on the way home boy did I feel guilty and shame-shamed wagging finger and all! I used to get that way sometimes which only shows you that I sure was lettin' the folk get away with WAY TOO MUCH! What they'd do to save themselves 75 cents I'll tell ya...

I also remember another time when I was there combing through some record piles while on the hunt for something not only new to my ears but easy on my wallet. Believe it or not, but I was contemplating whether or not I should chance it buying the Jefferson Airplane's "Pooneil" single as well as that Al Kooper album where his head's airbrushed onto the Statue of Liberty (I STAND ALONE) either because it looked "cool" or because I thought that maybe Al Kooper was really Alice Cooper under a slightly different moniker in order to record on another label! (Don't laugh --- I actually thought that the Alex Harvey of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band was the same Alex Harvey who was the country singer that wrote the Helen Reddy hit "Delta Dawn"!!!) I passed on both which I would say was a decision that was a pretty good choice considering just how hard it was coming by money them days having to beg mom for 75 cents and all!

Gee, I feel all tingly 'n all just thinking about my own role in what is definitely a major part of Amerigan history! If I ever have grandkids I just can't wait to tell 'em all about it even though if I ever did have any by the time I'll be able to I'd be mummified!

***

As far as other news of note goes, did Jimmy Carter, the guy who put the douse on late-seventies gulcher with his aw shucks down home cornball act that was too staid and hokey even for the HEE HAW crowd, REALLY die and the Democratic National Convention is suppressing the news until they can milk the sympathy vote for all its worth? I mean at first he was beyond the doornail stage and then suddenly---NOTHING is mentioned as if the news of his passing was worthy of one column next to the want ads. Well, you gotta hand it to Carter for breaking the record for being on hospice for the longest period of time anyone ever has been before eventually doing the deep six, that is if he really DID croak. Otherwise I take this all as a replay of the Tom Petty dead/not dead/dead rigmarole that we all hadda endure a few years back as if we even cared. 

But still, I must admit to the plain unadulterated fact that, at least for this not-so-humble writer, Carter does not conjure up any particularly happy memories of a halcyon past. Whenever I think of disco, lousy and downright unfunny and depressing message-laden television, Larry Flynt, rampant inflation and a general gurgle in late-seventies living I immediately think of Carter. With his entrance into the public eye he seemed to foreshadow the entire concept of Ameriga (and perhaps even the world) going giddily off the rails (at least Gerald Ford was good for a cheap laugh), and it only got worse afterwards what with eighties happyhappy followed by nineties neo-dour. And that leaves us with TODAY which ain't even worth the effort to even exist in! The first fake hipster president (Kennedy don't count even with that nauseating showbiz cult that surrounded him) with alla that phony get-down-with-the-youth quoting of Dylan out of context and the entire Capricorn Records New South ROLLING STONE youth culture gone flabby types pumping up his flaccid and hokey backwoods hucksterisms, at least until he became so MOR he ended up like a target for both the left and right to aim at. The stupid grinner straight out of THE WALTONS who eventually got everybody mad at him, so maybe I can like him for getting SOMETHING right!

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A visual variation on "Vexations" I can sure get into:

***

As far as people who actually did deep-six RIP PATTY WATERS, a singer of passion and force with a beautiful enveloping set of pipes who, like some of my favorites (Linda Sharrock, Abbey Lincoln, Yoko Ono) and some of my definitely NON-faves (Diamanda Galas) stretched the boundaries of voice as the original instrument (as Joan La Barbara would have said) into realms that really would have shocked your Aunt Mabel. Her albums on ESP are highly recommended as, come to think of it, her appearance on the Marzette Watts Ensemble platter on Savoy which I'm gonna hafta dig out one of these days and tell you all about it if I can only find the thing. Well, at least her passing is an excuse to show you this nude snap taken from the booklet that was enclosed with her relatively recent YOU THRILL ME album. As EF Schumacher once said, "small is beautiful".

***

As usual, a nice buncha donations from a nice buncha guys. Only two guys but still two is a bunch and I am not going to belabor the point any more. Yes, Robert Forward and Paul McGarry are the ones who as usual sent me these which has gotta mean something, but whatever it is YOU tell me! (beware the frequent longwindedness --- I do tend to get that way some [most of the] time.)

Various Artists-AZIMUTH TAPE ADJUSTMENT : BEST OF THE OWN THE WHOLE WORLD CASSETTE COMPILATIONS '84-'85 2-CD-r set

Robert Forward put out a number of cassette companions to his OWN THE WHOLE WORLD magazine and I even own like one or two of 'em if that'll help bolster your opinion of me any. For those of you who've missed out on 'em here's a chance to at least partially redeem yourself since Mr. Forward has slapped what he believes are the best of these tapes onto a couple of CD burns and well, you can make up for your past indiscretions by getting hold of 'em. Lord knows I've had to make up for previous errors such as not getting hold of the right things at the right time so now it's your turn.

Disc one includes (there's no song separation so at times it is hard to tell what is who) a Ghosts Before Breakfast track with some Crummy Fags playing along and the Orchid Spangiafora bit which I think has been legitimately released by Feeding Tube but I don't remember. There's one number I can't identify (I thought it was another Ghosts 'un considering the similarities) that was great in its own folk rock sorta way. Lotsa found sound to be heard too, such as what purports to be Charles Goodyear talking about his discovery of galvanized rubber (though I doubt it really was him since he passed a good twentysome years before recordings were invented, but if he knew about this I'm sure he'd approve). The weirdo tape thing where some guy's voice gets all garbled and twisted as if either he or you were having a stroke was quite mesmerizing if you can believe it. Also liked these two efforts from some band who I can't identify but their singer sounds suspiciously like R. Meltzer if you can fathom that, offkey moan and all! Great and of course the low fidelity makes it all the more gnarlier!!!!!

2nd one's got some great tape garble repeato-bits played o'er and o'er in Nurse With Wound fashion as well as more low-fi basement recordings by (this time) an act called Beautiful Engines who sound like a winner as do the Offbeats, one of the better eighties Cle upstarts who had a whole slew of records out (or at least three if you could consider that a slew) and whose music I sure wish was more present in my collection. And of course there's the found sounds again including an old Burger Chef ad with Burger Chef and Jeff (remember them?) that reminds me of when I was a kid and we were at one of 'em and the folk wouldn't buy me one of their super duper burgers because they cost too much! And back then 69 pennies was a lot of kapusta believe-you-me!!! Biggest surprise --- a spoken ad (more or less) for the infamous OFFENSE NEWSLETTER which was a publication that I really coulda used more of only well, I was a really outta-the-loop sorta guy (still am) and didn't rate any so I got 'em like third/fourth generation.

And FINALLY (if my mind serves me right and you can just imagine ow many times it has been wrong) I get to hear Caroliner Rainbow after all these years of itty bitty curiosity. Actually I got this flyer from 'em back in the mid-eighties where I coulda gotten a free rec of theirs just for the asking. Unfortunately the note came to me all chewed up in one of those Post Office body bag sorta things they use for such mangled missives and I couldn't find any address to write to! Oh well, the track that appears here was probably a tossout throwaway (didn't hit me in the ol' breadbasket) but at least I got to finally lend ear. 

The Lepers also show up here and you might remember them from their COITUS INTERRUPTUS EP on the Drome label but then again you might not. Nice to hear 'em again tho. 

But just try getting hold of these burns because I dunno if Mr. Forward is actually selling these or just dubbing 'em for close and personal friends like myself. But eh, it really would be good trying to get into the guy's inner circle if only to latch onto these. Kinda makes me feel good that I'm in some sorta inner circle for once in my pitiful life and you ain't, peon!

***

Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra-CONTINUATION PART 1 with bonus CONTINUATION PART 2 CD-r burn (originally on Corbett Vs. Dempsey Records)

There are way too many of these El Saturn rarities out there for just about anyone to keep up with and yeah, I know that some of us have lost a whole lotta shekels sending precious $$$ to Sun Ra's personal label in the hopes of getting a few of these ultra-rarities with nary a response which could be hard on you if you were the penny-pinching/mooch off others type like I tended to be. Nevertheless I'm sure glad that these records are finally seeing the light of day even if we reallyreallyREALLY coulda used 'em (like we coulda used a whole load of records that never did quite get out) way back when. 

Not being familiar at all with this CONTINUATION series I sure found these RArities pretty in tune with a good portion of the big band avgarde scronk the guy had released from the early-sixties beyond. Not as mentally twisted as COSMIC TONES FOR MENTAL THERAPY but still hotcha enough for a guy like myself who spent a good portion of the late-seventies subsisting on cutouts jumping for pure unbridled joy when some free jazz album would finally hit the bins. As far as I can tell, every Sun Ra effort is worthy of at least one listen and if there are any that ain't I know some of you readers'll be chewing off my ear tellin' me just how wrong I am!

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Various Artists-SUPER ROCK CD-r burn

What a surprise this is, a collection of fortysome thirty-second snippets from one of those cheapo collections of the hits that are definitely not done up by the original stars that's for sure! Yes, this is what kids who were living on depression-era wages like me hadda depend on, that is if the folk would even let us listen to this devil music but if they did boy were you in for a feast! Downright high-larious takes on various late-sixties AM faves (with a couple of Bill Haley numbers tossed in for whatever reason) and yeah, sometimes the imitations have more entertainment value than the real deal meal ifyaknowaddamean... 

Some full-length definitely phonus-balonus Beatle thingies were included immediately afterwards, stuff like an instrumental backing track for "She Said She Said" etc., which I doubt were part of the original platter but they're OK in their own cheap imitation way. Meaning that their version of "And Your Bird Can Sing" ain't as good as the Flamin' Groovies' but it's probably way better'n something one of those Beatlemania acts woulda whipped up. Nice bit of diversion anyway.

Afterwards Mr. Forward tacked on a podcast that none other than thee Henry Rollins did with someone called Heidi May (well, she might) and its all about the guy's experiences with Alice Dee as R. Meltzer used to call it. This 'cast, no doubt about it, is a quite boring recollection of the man's mingling in the psychedelic realm which may be interesting if only one recalls that by the time he was dropping the stuff in the late eighties his musical output was starting to head rather southwards to the point where many were scratching their beans wondering exactly where our boy went wrong. Let that be a lesson to you people who used to scoff at all of those anti-drug DRAGNET episodes.

But hey, if you wanna listen to it all from the horses' mouth you can always go here and be educated as to the horrors of all sortsa illegal dope usage. And remember, Henry Rollins' mind on drugs is even worse than frying an egg without using a non-stick pan, or something like that!

***

Various Artists-A REAL COOL TIME CD-r burn (originally on Amigo Records, Sweden)

Oh yass, these eighties-vintage Swedish groups were, along with those Detroit-inspired rock aggros making their way outta the Antipodes around the very same time, considered to be the saviors of the rock 'n roll big beat in a world of plasticene music supposedly "passing" for rock and roll about as successfully as Patrice Lumumba could pass for white. Well, the promise and fervor certainly got to me, but a few years later these groups (or at least the leader of the batch, mainly the Nomads) seemed to be teeter-tottering in their promise of restoring the world to rock 'n roll prowess and like well, I got bored and forgot about it all.

This collection does remind me just why people like Lindsay Hutton and Imants Krumins went totally ape #2 over these new Scandie acts. Given that you had to search for your goodies because they weren't gonna come knockin' on your doorstep, the discovery of these groups really was something to toss the confetti over. Most all of 'em sound like primo Nomads in their efforts to take 50s/60/70s punk rock and create a vision for the 80s that unfortunately never did pan out but eh, even though music like this should have enveloped the soul of mid-Amerigan teenbo culture at least the few smart dudes who were privy to the BIG OUT IN THE OPEN SECRET knew and like, it was all for the better (somehow)!

Even a gloss up of the Stooges' "Dirt" by the Occasional Dead Flys ain't the wrong turn that a few fanablas out there might take it to be. The general pace of this 'un's high energy rock 'n roll and well, if you liked this stuff then you just might like it now and perhaps even in the future (if you still have ears) and well, if names like Dr. Yogami, the Bottle Ups and Slobster don't resonate within your mind after even one spin I sure do feel sorry for your psyche.

***

C.A. Quintet-A TRIP THROUGH HELL CD-r burn (originally on Sundazed Music Records)

Like a few of you sixties/seventies buffs who were stranded in the musical/kultural desert of the eighties, I can sure recall the hubbub surrounding the original cheapoid (in quality, not price) reissue of this home-produced platter. From what I can recall, that version of A TRIP THROUGH HELL that made its way into the Midnight Music catalog was supposed to be the ultimo forgotten psychedelic album that shoulda been but never did gets its just dues and, like more'n just a few of you, when I finally did get to hear the album it wasn't like I was exactly thrilled about it and was thankful that someone only taped it for me rather'n me dishing out my hard-begged cash for the thing.

But this platter is (I guess) fair enough for anyone with some shred of late-sixties rockist aestheticism. It surely ain't rancid but it just doesn't reach the heights that many recordings of a similar stature could have and most certainly did with relative ease. Femme backing vocals and toreador trumpets don't add anything to the songs although the melodies and grooves are somewhat snazzy at times, especially for what I assume is a concept album dealing the indestructible soul of man fighting the temptations surrounding us during an LSD trip. Not bad, but nothing that'll grab you, shake you up and rearrange your life for good. But then again we're all ancient.

Some of the bonus tracks do owe a tad to the Association and might have made somewhat of an indent on the national charts. The Quintet does sound better without the slick production and hey, I coulda imagined 'em sorta battling it out with the likes of the New Colony Six for late-sixties contemporary moosh even with their toned down low version of "I Put a Spell on You" (dunno 'bout "Bury Me in a Marijuana Field" which was a nod to the more laidback folkie hayseed hippie types out there). Well, it was way better'n whatever Bobby Sherman was dishin' out that's for sure!

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Marvin Gaye-WHAT'S GOING ON CD-r burn (originally on Tamla Motown Records)

DON FELLMAN WAS RIGHT! All of the tracks on WHAT'S GOING ON do sound the same! But that's OK by me since the luscious string-drenched ooze that envelops this platter is something wonderful for one's mind to sink into which shouldn't be surprising to anyone who didn't realize that the early-seventies were the pinnacle of black pop before it all toppled into disco giddiness. 

Gotta 'fess up to the fact that I think that the early-seventies AM dial was on a real good groove what with the likes of "What's Going On" and "Mercy Mercy Me" clogging up the playlists, and like after a good half-century-plus years later it's easy to see who was right about this all along and it sure wasn't you! 

Pretty neat "concept" platter here, and what's best is that the "message" ain't gonna make you choke like "One Tin Soldier" and "Things Get a Little Easier (Once You Understand)" sure as shootin' did!

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Christmas-HERITAGE CD-r burn (originally on Daffodil Records, Canada)

Spin Turlock warned me not to listen to this, but since his onetime pal Paul McGarry sent me a burn I thought I'd better give it a go if only to appease my major Cee-Dee burner. Frankly it's not bad. As far as being one of those 60s/70s cusp forgotten rock 'n roll efforts thrust into the ether thanks to the more hippoid aspects of youth culture (Hackamore Brick, Sidewinders, It's All Meat...) HERITAGE doesn't exactly succeed --- it's too long and drawn out with songs that really don't have that certain "catch" to them. Nevertheless, it does make for some interesting then-contemporary straightforward rock with somewhat interesting pop moves that coulda been stronger but work out swell enough for someone who had to listen to Ann Murray going to and from school. Nothing to up your nose at, but it can wear on you after awhile.

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Terry Riley/Don Cherry-KOLN, FEBRUARY 23, 1975 CD-r burn 

I guess that this 'un did get some sorta limited release in 2013 but I obviously missed out on it. Not that there were more pressing things for me to do in 2013, but anyway thanks to Mr. Forward I get to hear this great slab of avgarde classical and jazz once again meeting up and the stormfront it creates is something that would make your average tornado warning look like a sprinkle! Riley gets into his electronic riff, at times coming close to a John Cale meets (pre-gnu age) Philip Glass repeato drone that recalls a whole load of past accomplishments that initially drew someone like me to this music in the first place. Cherry's trumpet weaves in and out of the chugga-chug giving a meatier and even more ethereal sound than he did on some of his other efforts that didn't quite gel with my already gelled-up brain. Kinda distorted but that only gives it a fuzztone-styled effect that works out somehow. Karl Berger appears on vibraphone adding an even deeper dimension to the entire proceedings with his own patented percussive prowess. Don't believe me? Just listen for yourself and see just how much smarter I am than you even though you'd never admit it in a millyun years!:

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Charles Gayle, Milford Graves and William Parker-WEBO 2-CD-R set burn (originally on Black Editions Archives Records)

It ain't as knock-you-out forceful as Milford Graves' CHILDREN OF THE FOREST double-duty spinner, but it sure is strong enough to kill on contact whatever it is that is passing for jazz during these sick and sorry days (Samara Joy?, Adam Blackstone??, Lakesia Benjamin??? Never heard any of 'em but if I did I get the feeling that I would enjoy their wares about as much as I do J. Neo Marvin's). 

This trio of Graves with infamous street-preacher Charles Gayle blowing and the omnipresent William Parker on above and beyond the call of duty bass proves that the glory days of total freeform new jazz blitz didn't totally die out like Leonard Feather sure wish it did. The fury that the three produce equals those mid-seventies heights that one used to hear via a slew of Roscoe Michell and Joseph Jarman efforts that were released on a whole number of small labels I'll bet none of 'em ever got paid for. Sound turned into total energy that nobody has topped in all these years, as if anyone really could have in the first place.

It really is the equal to Graves' own legendary BABI MUSIC which I understand is some sort of watermark as far as the new thing getting even newer goes. Available on vinyl in a 3-LP edition for those of you who want a triple live set that isn't WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS.

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I tried not to let my obsessions get the best of me but that has obviously failed. 'specially when it came to my undying adoration of that form of expression (or "art" even) called music which not only cost me thousands in recordings and reading material, but quite a bundle in putting out a whopping twenny-five issues of a crudzine that should have lasted three at the most. Well, after all these years I figure that maybe my efforts at dumping these rags on an unsuspecting public was just another one of my OCD actions which was just a more sophisticated version of my dinosaur frenzy age seven. Only I got rid of alla them critters at a flea market years ago and these mags remain piled up in my basement. Nobody who goes to flea markets wanna grab these up (I've tried), so like it's up to you and I do mean YOU!

BOOK REVIEW! SELLING 'EM BY THE SACK --- WHITE CASTLE AND THE CREATION OF AMERICAN FOOD by David Gerard Hogan (New York University Press, 1997)

Here's a tome for the times that I never expected to have seen, a book not only about the legendary and downright mythical White Castle restaurants but fast food chains in general. If you are one who still longs for THE GOLDEN AGE OF TEENBO LIVING when things like drive ins were the pinnacle of ranch house culinary desires you just might go for this 'un, at least if you ain't on no diet. 

Judging from what author Hogan has written here White Castle was not just one of the first chains dedicated to getting the hamburger out to the masses but the ones who pretty much made the hamburger respectable. I guess there were other chains out there like Coon Chicken Inn but White Castle concentrated on mini-burgers, the kind they call "sliders" these days, and they sure knew how to market their wares at the kind of people who would want a nice cheap meal and were subsisting on depression-era wages. White Castle also knew where to set up and which demographics to aim their patties at, and not only did it work but others copied the strategy and did even better with it. It is unfortunate that White Castle remains a relatively small enterprise while all them others merged into all sorts of conglomerates that seem downright evil, but they sure do need the huzzahs for creating an entire industry even if they sure don't have the visibility I sure wished such a corporation would have in these here United States.

Sheesh, there ain't any White Castles within a good sixtysome mile radius (closest one's in Akron) but Starbucks are sure plentiful. I must admit that I abhor Starbuck's overpriced wares as well as the touchyfeely hippie vibes their self-consciousness just oozes, something which I doubt you'll find at White Castles which tend to draw some of the more everyday Joe types whose idea of a discussion about race would probably be about the daily double. At least frozen White Castles can be found in more than a few of the budget grocery shops in the area (you do know that Elvis himself treated his Army pals to a White Castle feast after having a ton frozen and shipped his way) so when the craving for one of those delicious two-inch squares of cardboard-thin patties with the holes smothered in little onion bits hit you know where I'm headed for...the freezer that's where and maybe if you weren't such a high-class cosmopolitan type you'd do the same thing too.

It hasn't been that long since my last biggie post, but there's a whole lot to get to and I better get to it even though for all intent purposes you did read it here last.

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The Sharon/Hermitage area, after years of woeful neglect and perhaps downright scorn, has finally been PUT ON THE MAP! Of course it hadda be due to some 14-year-old kid who thought he was a she which was the start of the entire problem that was the catalyst for and ultimately hastened the youth's death and rather grisly dismemberment, but we sure made the front page this time and boy am I civic pride wave-the-flag proud! The not quite boy and not quite girl's name was Pauly Likens (wonder if this creature was related to the equally doomed Sylvia?) who met his fate dur to a pickup via GRINDR, but still us locals should be thankful because, for the first time since the big tornado of 1985, we got ourselves some nation-wide coverage if it hadda be in such a disturbing manner. 

Judging from the front page of the local fishwrap THE HERALD and undoubtedly every other big name news outlet on the planet, this incident of gay lust gone awry isn't just ANY tale of reaping what you sowed but a horrible earth-shaking occurrence that's on par with all of those other earth-shattering occurrences that have been tossed in our faces these past few decades. Garment rending beyond belief if you listen to some of the more emotional types out there, or at least garment rending enough until the NEXT garment rending incident pops up but ya GOTTA have some incident to get your sense of virtuousness up and runnin' now, eh?

Sounder minds know that the entire shebang was nothing but yet another sordid tale of some unrestrained kid who was way more mixed up than any of the nutzo kids I grew up with. Only this one met up with the exact kind of guy kids like me used to be warned about but now eh, the more enlightened amongst us will only tell their offspring that the creepy pervert in the shack we all used to hear about way back when is now just a complete human being, someone just like the rest of us only with a different lifestyle we must honor and respect just as much as if the man just happened to be a chaste and moral churchgoer. Thinking about him in any other way is pure heresy even if this person has more (what we used to call) "perversions" than even the Marquis De Sade could have conjured up while diddling his wanker away in the Bastille.

The relatives will undoubtedly disagree, but no matter how you slice it (I know, a bad pun) Pauly was a huge hunkerin' ball of adolescent instability who, instead of properly being helped out like he should have was encouraged to be just the type of kid who would end up having to look forward to a future of soiled bedsheets. A boy who was sold a bill of goods by his elders that he could be anything he wanted and free to do whatever was in his heart (instead of mind), so he hooked up with some rougher than usual trade and met more'n just his "match". An amoral youth at that with parents who, judging from their various tee-vee appearances, were undoubtedly your typical lower-class "jeeter" types (probably not wed) who I'll bet my bottom peso had little or no strong moral bond with their offspring letting him do anything his crazy mixed up heart desired without fear of punishment. But had it been otherwise well...that would have been oh-so "Dark Ages" or something along those whacked out archaic lines and as real history has told those ages weren't so "dark" after all but stick to a good slur you must. 

Obviously this gift of youthful freedom bestowed on him included leaving Pauly off on his lonesome for a few days to engage in some extremely risky middle of the night sexual behavior that not surprisingly led to his quite dismal end. Sure makes me wish those lowlifes posing as relatives would get hauled off to court and be severely punished for their own form of child abuse even if you know they never will because of, well...things. That's the real tragedy of this saga and something which, in retrospect, makes me more'n glad that my folks would wail the tarnation outta me even for the slightest of infractions! Sheesh, if I had parents like Pauly who knows, I might have ended up even screwier than him (or than the way I eventually turned out --- and as usual you will be the judge!). 

If Jack Armstrong were 
alive he'd roll over in his
grave and die!

The twisto-changeo of what actually happened and what is being reported in this HOMO ALONE story is a masterful work of art equal to (now get ready since I have used this comparison many-a-time before) the Pavlik story over in Stalin-era USSR where a family squabble turned murder became the shock of a nation due to the crafty work of some propagandists who masterfully tweaked and tuned the story to the Politburo's advantage. For a far more realistic report you might want to eyeball this, but why bruise your own sense of sociopolitical self-righteousness by reading something that opposes your own precious worldview? Maybe you should, because I've been pretty much forced to endure your sanctified opines just brimming with fake self-consciousness and virtuous fluff whether I wanted to or not (most often the latter) these past thirtysome years!

As expected, the political vultures have already swirled 'round just itching to take advantage of this admittedly tragic situation. Pauly's corpse ain't even cold yet and none other than PA guv Josh Shapiro is using the murder as an opportunity to get even stronger hate (thought?) crime laws passed even though this particular incident was (once again) a strictly homosexual matter with no normal people involved whatsoever. Y'know, just like the Matthew Shepard bruhaha which was revealed to be a gay-on-gay murder only a few years after that incidence was milked by the lavender mafia and their lackeys for all it was worth, but lie we must for our cause is just I guess. Good idea you have there Josh, but aren't you afraid that after the new law's passed maybe YOU'LL eventually be arrested?

***

Other'n the likes of Pauly, the RIP list just goes on and on. 'specially hearty farewell to noted Cleveland record shop magnate Johnny Dromette ne. Thompson, a guy who I hold in high regard because he actually would sell me records by mail even though the official Drome mail order biz was more or less stalled and for all I know never even got off the ground. That's niceness above and beyond, and for a grifting type of guy such as myself who wants everyone to be nice and give me free stuff and do favors and all boy, did I appreciate all of his going out of the way-ness. Let's just say that Dromette's acts of kindness were well appreciated  especially considering how all the records I wanted were way beyond my grasp. We even talked once or twice while I was shopping with whatever pittance I had (and well, some of those prices were sky high especially for a peon such as myself) which only goes to show you that there are nice people out there who would even treat a total pissed upon lower 'n low doof like me with some shard of respect!

Should we care whether or not Shelley Duvall has passed? Or was it Didi Conn? I always got those twigs mixed up.

Maybe I should also mention Francoise Hardy even if it is only to pad this post out just a tad  I never even heard of her until I read that BOMP! piece about her that appeared in their final issue and hey, I don't even think I heard a note of her music for that matter. But she was good looking so why shouldn't I give her some space if only for that?

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Although I shouldn't admit so I gotta 'fess up to the fact that it is fun watching the usual Mount Olympus types (y'know, the superior ones who act in movies I haven't seen since my teenbo days and go on television shows I haven't watched in years to tell their audiences how to think) either covering for Prez Joe Biden after his series of quite earth-shattering gaffes or beg him to step down and have a somewhat more coherent (Gavin Newsom?) politician run in his place. Only goes to show you that, no matter how hard you try, you just can't build castles on tapioca even if for all intent purposes the man was never running the show. But yeah, he does make for a somewhat cute/stupid figurehead who was always worthy of a pretty good laugh. I mean sheesh, he makes Gerald Ford look like one of our best presidents and that's an accomplishment in itself! And Biden is relatively harmless in his decimated state...no need to fear him pressing the button because he's way too weak to do it!

Not that I am not somewhat wary of Donald Trump wigglin' his way back into his old job given that, no matter how hard he tried to convince us that he was a true right wing populist, perhaps even an Amerigan Le Pen or Orban for that matter, he's more likely the "Cheeto Bush" that some wags out there have labeled him. A guy posing as the anti-swamp maverick (even though he sure loaded his cabinet with some of the swampier people Washington could churn out) with a whole load of campaign promises that I don't think he had any intention of keeping in the first place. At least I get the impression that if he nominated any Supreme Court justices at least said prospective justice will be able to define what a woman is whether or not he's fluent in the subject at hand, but who knows. At least I heard that Justice Johnson is a pleasant and friendly person and heck, she has voted "my" way at least once or twice which only goes to show ya somethin', only what it is I really don't know.

My own presidential preference at this time would point towards Candace Owens. The woman has been on quite a roll as of late bravely going against a whole load of tides that would have washed more'n just a few political pundits away, and when the usual suspects have to go way out into using their usual trajectories to twisto change what she actually said into what these types WANT us to think she said you know that the lass is quite effective. Best of all is the plain fact that her offensiveness to the long entrenched political rule makers really tends to get under their skin because like, she is of African heritage and women of such a background are supposed to act like Angela Davis, Flo Kennedy and fat lady on THE VIEW who has hair that looks like fish turds.  

It's too late for 2024 but four years later I wouldn't mind seeing Miss Owens taking the big step into the political arena even if you know the anti-woman and downright "racist" slurs are gonna be thrown around even more'n the chimps flinging their number two down at the zoo. Maybe she and Norman Finkelstein could run on a "get together" kind of ticket...would be worth voting for if you ask me (and why not, it's my blog!).

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EPISODES OF GILLIGAN'S ISLAND I'D LIKE TO SEE!

Ginger's old porno loops wash ashore.

The castaways' hopes are bolstered when they hear on the radio that the authorities are searching for the Professor after it is discovered that he did preliminary research for Josef Mengele during World War II.

Thurston Howell III loses his fortune after having heavily invested in a company that made shoe polish that glows in the dark and no-cal pizza. 

Panic ensues when the rare plant the castaways use to make toilet paper dies in a drought.

After discovering a strange talisman, Gilligan dreams that he is Aleister Crowley.

A Japanese sailor who doesn't know that World War II is over forces the castaways to watch an entire run of Yoji Kuri animation.

The fix is in when Mrs. Howell wins the "Miss Nude Island" contest.

Gilligan trips over and accidently disconnects the primitive life support machine that the Skipper is connected to (after falling into a coma when accidentally bashed on the head with a sledgehammer by Gilligan) as hostile natives go on a rampage.

Marcel Marceau lands on the island, but since he can't speak he's unable to tell anyone where they are and nobody can understand his miming.

Mary Ann's longing for her farm days leads the castaways to go on the search for an amorous wild boar.

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REAL NAMES OF YOUR FAVORITE ROCKSCIBES AND FANDOM PERSONALITIES REVEALED!

Arno Pluckett (Bill Shute), Ferd Berfel (Wade Oberlin), Hugo Tobias III (Dave Lang), Guido Fatchamatta (Robert Christgau), Gustav Kovich (Chuck Eddy), Parley Magruder (Scott Soriano), Gladys Ogilvie (Anastasia Pantsios), Funtime Freddy O'Hara (Dave Marsh), Percival Throgmorton (Brad Kohler), Yanko Kosanovic (Jay Hinman), Vincent Struzynski (Bruce Mowat), Delia Schreckengost (Amy Gelman), Julio Rendigay (Patrick Amory), The Fabulous Moolah (Ann Powers), Tom "The Cat" McAllen (Tim Stegall), Banjeet Patel (J. Neo Marvin), Gdzft Zyekxpwg (Chris Stigliano). Don't you wish more people would rip off old R. Meltzer writing gags like I do?

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Eh, not as nice a batch as I woulda liked, but a batch it is and as usual these freebee donations (in this case everything written about below) were sent by Robert Forward and Paul McGarry who are two guys who do know better.

Various Artists-MERSEYBEAT --- THE STORY OF THE 60s LIVERPOOL SOUND 2-CD-r burn (originally on Sanctuary Records)

Like a good portion of these Cee-Dee compilations that have appeared over the past twentysome years this really is nothing but a good excuse to get some by-now easily obtainable tracks and slap 'em together thematically. Nothing especially bad about that if you're looking for a space-saving way to get a whole load of ancient trackage for your own personal pleasure, and as far as for being an encapsulation of the Liverpool sound this collection does a fair 'nuff job. Its got the familiar (Beatles, Searchers) mixed with those groups you only read about in old issues of WHO PUT THE BOMP! (Undertakers, Koobas) and, even for those who think they've heard it all before, there are a whole load of acts and tracks here that I and probably you have never heard of let alone heard before. It is an interesting slab of varying rock groups playing the Merseybeat, but one thing is certain and that is next to the music being made in the Pacific Northwest or any local crankout from across the globe for that matter boy, does this stuff come off soft and downright listless!

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Various Artists-POST PUNK HITS VOL. 1 CD-r burn

Had a whole lotta fear goin' into this one...I mean, post-punk usually means "punque" to me 'n what's this "post" business all about anyway as if the original thing ever went away. But surprisingly enough this is a really listenable piece of musical excitement what with some Public Image Peel Session material ('s well as their appearance on AMERICAN BANDSTAND), the Delta 5 who I don't think are as stomach-churning as some of you more discernable readers might, and the same ol' Slits stuff that has been legitimately reissued long ago. Actually it did make for a somewhat pleasant listening experience and a reminder of that point in time when the mode of the music was changing, and perhaps not in the sorta way I woulda wanted but I managed to survive it all even if it were as a lesser man.

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Bardo Pond-DENVER (3/8/02? 7/5/02 CD-r burn

Not having heard (or paid attention to) Bardo Pond in quite awhile this burn courtesy of Mr. Forward was a wake up call to be cornball about it. Yeah it's more of that "new" psychedelic rock 'n roll that sounds rather pale next to the Elevators or even various seventies acolytes but it still has a nice dirge to it that fits in with my own set of gritty existence (at least of the soul). Sorta reminds me of various eighties vintage underground rock attempts, some successful and others not, that were fighting it out for your hard-begged dinero with about a thousand other upstarts putting their own records out in the hope for that prized review in the pages of OPTION.

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FARM CD-r burn (originally on Crusade Enterprises Records)

Another one of many local psychedelic records made during the earlier part of the seventies, only this one's pretty close to the psych groove without being bogged down by the more flowery aspects that later befell the music. A hefty debt to the Allmans is more'n just plain "obvious", and although I am far from what one would call a fan of that group I gotta admire the way something like this stood apart from the usual hippie doldrums and right-on "relevancy" that was so prevalent then. Actually a pretty solid record from a band that I gotta say were too GOOD for the wretched tastes that were being encourages instead of shunned like they should have been.

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LaMonte Young-DREAM HOUSE 78'17" CD-r burn

I don't think this is exactly the kind of dream house that Barbie would want to live in, but this LaMonte Young/Marian Zazeela installation piece is a fairly on-target example of mid/late-twentieth century art that was bound to get the Big City beret and stale doritos types all agog. Soundwise this is typical Young drone (including one long sine wave buzz) that might not be appreciated to the fullest without the visuals, but people who have been in on the Young game ever since they read about him and John Cale etc. in all those music books will appreciate this on whatever levels their li'l old art major minds can conjure. Good enough for me especially since I had immersed myself in some Pandit Pran Nath a good day or so before tackling this 'un!

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Sun Ra-LOST REEL COLLECTION VOL. 1 2 CD-r set burn (originally on Transparency Records)

Double-spinner with some rather good Ra on the first platter complete with standard full ensemble horn blares and percussion workouts that go beyond the usual African root music you often hear on these free jazz efforts. For those long on the Ra discography there's also yet another rendition of "Satellites Are Spinning" that ain't as powerful as the one on THE SOLAR MYTH APPROACH (kinda ragged) but it'll do. The second disc contains one of those lectures that Ra did when he was teaching some class at I believe Berkeley and at least to these ears it comes off like nothing but a load of pseudointellectual shards of philosophy thrown together making little or no sense to anyone other than Ra and his closest followers. Sorta reminds me of that one OUR GANG short about the "Coo Coo Clams" where Sunshine Sammy and Farina (who were members in good standing) work for this black gentleman who gives talks filled with large and meaningless wordage presented in a purportedly scholarly manner. Another slice of Ra rarities and if you have 'em all boy, you must be rich!

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Various Artusts-ROCKIN' RHYTHM 'N' BLUES FROM MEMPHIC CD-r burn (originally on Stomper Time Records, England)

Who would have known that there were way loads of these fifties-era r/b efforts recorded if not actually released --- not I! I got some enjoyment out of these definite rarities featuring the kind of sounds that were definitely emanating from the darker part of Memphis, and given that my knowledge of this music is quite dismal I will admit that I at least did like what I heard. There are a couple of Billy Lee Riley tracks included which might seems strange to some considering his lack of melanin, but since the guy was steeped in the blues and learned how to play guitar from some fellow sharecroppers he does make for a nice token inclusion.

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Various Artists-THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED --- ROOTS OF THE GRATEFUL DEAD CD-r burn (originally on Shanachie Records)

Also known as SONGS WE TAUGHT THE GRATEFUL DEAD, this is yet another one of those themed collections just like the MERSEYBEAT one above that more or less comes off as an excuse to rob you of even more of your precious lucre. Can't fault these guys for the fact that these tunes are probably more known because the Dead covered 'em than for their own versions but eh, it's a fine enough grouping as these things usually tend to be. Y'know, I get the feeling that my folks woulda liked a nice portion of the tracks being presented here (at least the less raucous ones), that is until they found out that the Dead covered 'em which at point it's chuck the thing outta the house time and like pronto! (Mebbee not...after all I remember one July 4th when I caught my dad watching NIGHTLINE and as special guests they had Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir playing some folkie thing having to do with a monkey, and dad was telling me about how the Dead were well versed in all types of musical genres and performed them well to a "T" --- things that whoever was hosting the show had relayed to the unfamiliar peons like dad tuning in about the Dead 'n all, and sad to say my father actually came off as if he believed it hook line and Owsley!)

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Did you know that when I started BLACK TO COMM up way back when I was trying to get a rag with a CREEM/TEENAGE WASTELAND GAZETTE/BACK DOOR MAN snot nosed gritty seventies thumb your nose not only at the powers that be but the hippiepunks of the day up and going? A rather uncommercial thing to do right in the midst of the squeaky clean golly goodie eighties, and although I don't think I succeeded even though I did give it the good kindergarten kid try maybe you'll beg to differ. And there's one way to find out now, isn't there?

Well here it is, MY blog, and for that matter the center of MY life. Really, it has all come down to an existence where I do nothing but work, more work, eat, drink and get rid of what I ate and drank a few hours later, and of course settle down in front of the old record spinner/bedside boom box/tee-vee and then write up what I think about what I just experienced if only so's you could ooze some sorta second-hand jollies outta the thing. And to tell you the truth, I think I'm finally hitting my stride forty years after I shoulda!

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Some interesting reading material has passed mine eyes as of late, nothing that I think warrants one of those smaller book/moom pitcher/what-have-you posts that nobody reads but they should be written about because who else'd dare do it. First off, I got this nice li'l piece of rockism history that has been out for awhile but unfortunately had escaped my notice until now, none other'n a reprinted edition of the entire 4-issue run of the infamous Stooges newsletter POPPED! Often gabbed about but never actually seen, POPPED was the brainbastard of one Natalie Stoogeling, a gal who I think woulda hadda fight it out with Metchild to see who really was Iggy's #1 fan! I'll bet that woulda been an all out catfight to end alla 'em penthouse apartment scratch 'em ups you used to see advertised in the back of sleazy magazines, but no matter who the winner woulda been it's no surprise that publications like POPPED really served their purpose in getting the Iggy word out to the people who were just fed up with the snide anti-Stooge attitude that mags like ROLLING STONE fostered upon their readership in their quest for pure karmik whooziz!

Lotsa super Stooges hype is to be found within these pages which should get any real fan of the group (or fan of the early-seventies cataclysm in music phenomenon in general) roaring what with the bits'n feces of information that have been included, some of which, if you can believe it, even I have NEVER seen brought up in any Stooges fanmag or forum before! Like didja know that Iggy one met up with Tommy Smothers or that there actually was a contest to write a song for the Stooges? Sure woulda liked to have heard the entries on that 'un! Even stranger is the fact that the Stooges were covering (though to my knowledge not performing in front of a live audience) Nico's "Evening of Light" which, according to Miss Stoogeling herself, sounded better'n the original! Now where are the recordings of that stashed?

Loads of fun to be had with these straight-from-the heart writings which are packaged in a neeto plastic sleeve complete with rare photos that Stoogeling took of her fave rock group. If you were one who went for all those gal fanzines that Lillian Roxon got a buncha acolytes to crank out a few years later, mags like SLADE PARADER, ELECTRIC WARRIOR FREE PRESS and STAR SPECIAL, you're bound to like this 'un!

My other recent fave's a real strangetie that hits the target as far as satire of things NEEDED to be satirized go. It's a spoof of the early-seventies version of that previously mentioned all time hippiedippie spirit-strokeoff journal ROLLING STONE, a rag which for once was getting the kinda ribbing such a stodgy hipkid-centered magazine shoulda had comin' at it for years and I for one am glad. The Hoodoo Rhythm Devils (a group that I really didn't go whole hog for though a re-eval is in order if I can only find my Cee-Dees) had everything to do with this RULING STOOGE, a deft takeoff that renders all of the things that you hated (or perhaps liked at least back when some of the better on-the-ball writers were still allowed to be published within its pages) about these youth-culture capitalists, and their send-up is pretty cutting if I do say so myself. 

With articles and reviews by all your favorites like Ben Virgo-Taurus, Ralph J. Fleecem, Ed Word, John Meddlesohm and Lester Fangs, who can deny that this is the the kinda takeoff that more'n a few tru-blu rockers sick of all the countercultural jiz of the day had been waiting for! (OK, I believe that CRAZY did a STONE spoof 'round the same time and who could forget the phony Lester Bangs interview in BRAIN DAMAGE, both of which goes to show you the far-reaching tentacles that Jann Wenner had on the more gullible youth of the day.) Rec reviews range from the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils to the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils with sidesteps into Mister Rogers, and although you probably won't laugh at any of it the thing still reminds all of us as to why this type of hippie journalism and the audience that went with it just hadda go (but didn't, and the rot can still be smelt a good half-century later)! Still there are some fine moments like this particular entry from the "Ransom Notes" column:

Do It Long Enough And It Will Git to Ya: R. Meltzer, noted essayist on rock and things in general, was under observation last week, after friends reported that he was wandering around talking coherently and making sense...

'n although I should be even more offended than Meltzer would've been I gotta admit that it was cool knowing that someone out there at least knew and acknowledged who he and his entire rockist DNA were, are and shall remain.

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Last autumn I printed an old FERD'NAND comic that reminded me of a track on the Charles Gayle UNTO I AM album in which Gayle played the saxophone and drums simultaneously. Today I present a 1949 strip where --- now get this --- Ferd envisions that his proudly purchased electric guitar (without an amp even --- just plug it into the wall!) is going to act just like the self-playing electric guitars of Remko Scha a good thirty-plus years later! Not to mention, which I know you were all expecting me to say, even those Joe Jones homemade instruments that popped up on Yoko Ono's FLY album as well as on their lonesome. It's funny how strange things such as this could have been predicted years in advance and in the last places you would ever think of looking:

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A beautiful piece of sentimental slosh with Will Rogers, the Our Gang Rascals and don't miss a brief appearance by Charley Chase. A fine example of long-gone pathos and a longing for a past that never will come back, though I thought that Mom's disappointment at not getting a birthday present was pretty self-centered not to mention downright childish, almost as bad as Mike Mercury's when he thought the Supercar crew had forgotten his!:

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THE SHITS JUST KEEP ON COMIN' DEPT.: The above snippet featuring a sly putdown of yours and mine truly was lifted from the pages of Jay Hinman's prozine DYNAMITE HEMMORHAGE #1 from quite awhile back, and I for one and downright shocked at the craven attempt not only to diminish my various contributions to the cause of music (hah!) but the extremely feeble attempt to drive a wedge between me and Bill Shute which fortunately fell flatter than Olive Oyl's chest. Well, t'is obvious that the doof who wrote the above doesn't know how to read a map considering that in no way is Sharon Pennsylvania located in the southwestern part of the state, and although his sense of direction may be dismal enough who could deny that his disrespect for me and all of the great things I've done for all you readers is also quite disgusting. Ooooh! And here I thought Hinman was oh so sorry for all the things he said about me...well, I guess its ok for him if others do the snide asides but him?...NO! (I hope he, and others out there, understand the vaguely humorous and fun-poking tongue-between-the-cheeks frivolity I'm engaging in, but knowing people the way I know them I would say probably not!)

(FREE PLUG TIME: don't get your hopes up too high, but in the near future there just might be a new issue of DYNAMITE HEMMORHAGE hitting the mag racks, and if there ain't something nasty about me or my opines or whatever included in it well...I might be a tad surprised. But anyway, if you can afford the high price tag go out and buy a copy --- it's BOUND to be a real doozy!)

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...and although this is older'n Methuselah news, heres' a hearty Rest in Somethingorother to Donald Sutherland, one of the creepier actors of the second Golden Age of Moom Pitchers. Really, this guy seemed to be in every other film released throughout the seventies and eighties before becoming a spokesman for the Florida Orange Growers Association, an up-to-date Lyle Talbot, John Carradine or Keye Luke who never turned down a role. Here is my favorite Sutherland scene which continues to hold up view after view (unfortunately the one where he kills the cat in that Communist apologist drag-a-thon 1900 just ain't graphic enough or else it woulda been here!):

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While I'm at it, here's a real surprise I knew nada about, mainly the Styrenes with the Styrene Dancers live at the Pirate's Cove Summer 1979:

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Got a fair (wha' 'm I sayin'---PIDDLING) bunch of reviews this time, most of which were sent to me by Robert Forward, one by Paul McGarry and some actually purchased by me because I wanted to do my part for the war effort.

Man-THE 1999 PARTY TOUR CD-r burn (originally on Eagle Records)

What else could it be but Man doing their pretend Quicksilver thing on the US Hawkwind tour back '74 way. Considering their roots in the more lysergic aspects of late-sixties West Coast braincell exploding music they're pretty good at capturing a good portion of the aura that fried a few million brains. It ain't bad really, though at times you can get bogged down by all of those spacey jamz that don't sound the same without the proper stimulants that usually get passed around at these sorta concerts. A good enough grind on for those days when you're doing the laundry and ironing and want some backdrop that sorta weaves in and out of your daily doodies.

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Cecil Taylor-UNIT STRUCTURES CD-r burn (originally on Blue Note Records)

I started this review out in about a gazillion ways trying to say a whole lotta to-the-point pertinent things about this '66 effort. Stuff like about how a track like "Enter, Evening" comes closer to the even baser ESP jazz ideal than Taylor ever had before, or just how, to use that worn out descriptor, angular it all sounds even when compared to his other efforts that were pretty all over the place themselves. None of 'em really were suitable enough to describe the hard edged bared wire intensity that Taylor and band (oldies like Jimmy Lyons along with newies like Alan Silva and Andrew Cyrille) ooze like pus from a pore. The bridge twixt early budding Taylor who seemed to be fully understood by Nat Hentoff and nobody else to the guy who was even edgier than all of those jazzbos who were copping all their ideas from Taylor in the first place.  Kisses any semblance of proper structure goodbye and waves as the train leaves the station, it's that worthy of your time and effort to latch onto and let creep as far down your earhole as possible.

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Airway-LIVE AT LACE CD-r burn (get it here)

More of that late-seventies LAFMS free sound that, while not as much into the rock 'n roll realm as Smegma or the Child Molesters, still manages to rip roar into yr skull just like the rest of all those 70s/80s sound as sheets of aural metal most surely did. As an added bonus the always above and beyond Mr. Forward slipped a bit of Airway taken off of Brian Turner's WFMU radio program back 2009 way when the Potts' etc. do some interesting music that reminds me of Japanese mini robots performing a New Guinean circumcision ritual with their metal crab claws!

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Karlheinz Stockhausen-KONTAKTE CD-r burn (originally on Ecstatic Peace Records)

Stockhausen ain't makin' the same shudder shock on me the way that Cage or Varese do, but I find the proto-krautrock energy somewhat exciting. Not as much of a work of art as the downing of the Twin Towers, but still an interesting slice of classic electronic dabble.

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Rods and Cones-CBGB OFF THE BOARD cassette (CBGB Records)

Since I don't have any "Cassette Caga" columns planned either in the immediate or distant future and I'm really hard up for fresh to mine ears material to review I thought I'd tell you about this recent acquisition. 

 One cool thing about CBGB was that they were willing to support a whole load of the groups that needed a little push, and the string of live cassettes they issued in the mid-eighties did bring some of the lesser-known acts bumbling around on the club scene to a somewhat wider audience. Rods and Cones were part of that package, a pretty straightforward rockin' sextet that had somewhat of a seventies laid back rock swagger to 'em but weren't as irritating as Boz Scaggs, Bob Welch or a variety of mid-seventies AM snoozeroonies that I have fortunately forgotten about. 

Okay, "Come Sunday" does remind me of Scaggs' 1976 chart topper "Lowdown", but I still find it somewhat decent at least compared to much of the "hip" amerindie bilge I've had to endure throughout my "career". Then again, even "Lowdown" sounds like the Stooges next to most of the offal that the radio (and "hip" underground labels) has tossed at us these past fortysome years so maybe that ain't much of a compliment. Still a good enough straightforward collection of whiteguy play on r/b moves that ain't anything new or for that matter exceptional but it does have its appeal and excitement. 

Now if I can only locate a copy of the live tape by Toronto's Tulpa that CBGB issued at the same time. Supposedly all of those got lost somewhere down the line but who knows, maybe a Canadian fan's willing to jet a copy (or a dub/burn) my way.

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John Peel-12/28/81 - 12/29/81

These are OBVIOUSLY a couple of year-end roundups featuring some of Peel's fave session tracks o'er the years with the noted chickenhawk rating it all according to his own personal standards (I guess). Lotsa "post-punque" dribble to be heard, but some things do have an interesting zip to 'em like the tracks from an all-gal Scottish act called Sophisticated Boom Boom who sound nothing like what their name would suggest. The rest ('cept for Stiff Little Fingers and maybe a few others) pretty much reminds me of the incredible disappointment I got combing through more'n just a few mail order catalogs throughout the eighties.

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Fripp & Eno-LIVE IN PARIS 28.5.1975 3-CD set (Opal Records, England)

THREE whole spinners --- well, actually it all coulda been condensed into one 'n a half --- of one of those shows that former King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp did with mid-seventies wonderboy Eno wayway back when records like NO PUSSYFOOTING and EVENING STAR were the talk of the more hip 'n with it than thou set in many-a high school throughout the land. This particular show (and I assume the rest) runs the gamut of truly jarring to proto gnu age prattle, but since these were done up in the mid-seventies it doesn't bother one so much considering all of that techno slickwhiz music wasn't yet overtaking the world. If you have a penchant for some of the more ethereal krautrock music of avgarde repeato-riff compositions of the day well, you know the rest.

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Y'know, I coulda presented for you tons of somewhat wittily written articles and reviews cluing you in not only on the most cutting and searing music to have ever graced anyone's ears, or for that matter features introducing you to many an obscurity that deserved to be lifted from the bowels of indifference and onto your turntables. But why bother because you'd still hate not only me but the magazines I have put out from the mid-eighties until the dawn of a definitely grave new world. 'n if you wanna see why just pick up a few of 'em and you will not be disappointed I'll tell ya!