Yeah I know, another weekend BLOG TO COMM post and like, who really cares! Anyway, hope you're in on the fun and jamz like you should be with this post which, while not up there in the Top Ten of blogposts 'r anything even remotely like that sure beats the competition (whatever there is left of it) all hollow with its total eruptive nature. Y'know, that thing which just ain't allowed to be revealed in polite company these sad 'n sorry times lest we offend some pantywaist with a sopping dishrag for a conscience. But who ever said that I was one to kowtow to the current trends just because it's the right and proper thing to do? Heck, if anything I've been wont to go against the grain because, well, if anyone needs to be irritated out there it's alla those prim and proper progressive snob conscientious objector do-gooders that Steve Ditko warned us about who've been calling people like me living horse manure these past upteen or so decades just because we do our best to fight that mindless brain rot which can be found metastasized into every facet of what we used to call All Amerigan Wholesome Livin'! Drat!!! But screw them with a broken toilet plunger handle like them New York cops did to that drug dealer a few decades back --- we're here to get to the hard matter of things at hand (the matter being music) and if you don't like it you've probably already abandoned this blog in abject shame a good ten years back!

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As you woulda expected the pickins are kinda skinny this week, as they have been pretty much this whole year let along decade let alone past fiftysome or so. It's something that I would have expected anyway given how --- well --- we are all getting older and frankly the music that we crave, that hard-edged, take-no-prisoners kinda total eruption rock 'n roll, is being held in less and less regard as the years creep on. You shoulda all seen it coming and those of you dumping your record collections probably have, because for all intent purposes the high energy music that pretty much drove the sixties and seventies (at least if you all-out rockers knew the right places where to look) is about as "relevant" and "meaningful" to the whole concept of music at large as the Moms and Dads were hawking their platters on pre-primetime tee-vee back '71 way. Don't see any major improvement in the situation either, although I do get the feeling that in fifteen years time there's gonna be a major upswing in the concept of sound that I here at BLOG TO COMM cherish and that teenbos of a better O-minded breed are gonna just gush over the old records and such made by those aforementioned sound explorers who pretty much have been puked upon by lesser souls throughout their lives. Sheesh, I even get the feeling that dear old ME will become a major icon of the ramped up printed word the same way a whole lotta hipsters were lookin' up to Carl Sandburg back when I was a beansprout! Hope I'm alive to soak it all in because, well, maybe I do deserve something positive to happen to me in my otherwise blandoid existence!

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I know you all did your durndest in helping me find out just exactly what the name of that Sunday AM religious show with the half-man/half-woman creature was a coupla weeks back (still wondering that age-old question, like what was between its legs?!?!?!), so I'm sure you'll be champing at the bit to help me find out more about whoever it was back inna eighties who would rent kiddie-oriented VCR tapes, record themselves doing disgusting things right inna middle of 'em then return the things to the store where some unsuspecting family would get an eyefulla something they just weren't expectin'! I recall Don Howland doing a story about one sorta fellow who did just this which got printed in an old issue of FORCED EXPOSURE which doesn't exactly point any fingers of guilt at him but who knows, while a relative of mine mentioned the time his boss's mother held a neighborhood party for these Korean orphans she had adopted, and while the adults were gulping coffee inna kitchen the young brats were watching a rented Disney film in the other room. When the grownups noticed that things were gettin' kinda rowdy in the parlor they went to check only to find the little ones goin' crazy watching this guy with nothing on who called himself "Mr. Happy" marching around to some Sousa oompah before taking a dump and rolling around in it. The youthful partygoers were quite into the scatology of it all, yelling "poopie" and words to that effect while laughing their little turdler (and in this case I do mean "turdler") heads off. The cops were called and the kids were given some psychiatric evals to see if the sight of number two popping outta a grown man's rear end had affected their psyches, but I've been told all went well and each and every one of 'em got a clean bill of health in the brain department. Do any of you have any interesting stories regarding such happenings, or better yet were any of you involved???

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One word of advice to alla my Canadian readers --- BERNIER! 

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Paul, PD and Bill, thanks a millyun! The rest of ya...ptooey!

Len Price 3-KENTISH LONGTAILS CD-r burn (originally on MRL Records)

I reviewed a few of these guys' platters o'er the years so I guess that I might know just an eentsy-weentsy more about 'em than you. Maybe not, but this 'un seems to be in the same vein as the others with a sixties beat that's filtered through seventies power pop on and on up until the present which, in the end, makes for a music that's kinda like the original but souped up for present tastes kinda like those new Thunderbirds. Stuff that really ain't that bad although far from the kinda grog that makes up my personal throb thrill listening experiences. Still, a fairly good smattering of moptop-era rock 'n roll and Troggs-y moves with some steps into Pistol-y punk pre-punque, and it will probably sound a whole lot fresher in twenty than you will smell.

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The Pretty Things-THE BBC SESSIONS 2-CD-r burn set (originally on Repertoire Records, England)

Wow, I'm thinkin' how I woulda killed (hopefully someone I hate) for a set like this back inna early-eighties, and thankfully this double disc wowzer has appeared in my life to make it a li'l better'n had I not heard it. Starts off with the group working their way through the heavy duty r 'n b sounds right into Byrdsian psychedelia and heavy metal before gettin' into that later-on sound that's a bit tamer but still way superior to some of the gunk that was comin' up against 'em. It's not only got great crystal clear quality but the original deejay intros and outros really make you feel like you're listenin' in as it's happenin'! Plus, for you heavy duty rockers out there, there's a great raw urgency to these renditions that seems to be subdued on the legitimate releases. Top Gear and live inna studio, and a pretty good piece of rock 'n roll evolution that doesn't end up sounding all prog slog.

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Frank Lowe-DOCTOR TOO-MUCH CD-r burn (originally on Kharma Records)

Mebbee somebody can tell me whether or not this was recorded before or after Lowe read that review about his "overblowing" which changed his overall style, supposedly for the worse but that can be argued. I don't think this '77 document ain't that bad, but Lowe does seem quite subdued when compared to that overt nail-scrape sound he got on the likes of DUO EXCHANGE not forgetting that all-time grinder BLACK BEINGS. Still, a find example of that mid-seventies loft styled sound that went off on the proper tangents to the point were even the quieter moments seem rather startling. Features Fred Williams on bass and either Olu Dara or Leo Smith on trumpet as well as fellow brother in needle Philip Wilson in the drum seat.

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Guru Guru-HINTEN CD-r burn (originally on Ohr Records, Germany)

Of course I've had it in my collection for ages and've written it up way way back! But sheesh, this Bill burn's cover was, er, staring me in the face and I thought that it was time to give Guru Guru's second effort another listen to after a good few years of neglect. 'n besides, with the inflow of fresh music at a standstill better I write this 'un up 'n rage on even more about those twennysome people out there I'd like to see dispatched with stainless steel knives wielded by an off-duty chef at Benihana's.

As a lotta these freaked out German efforts tend to get, HINTEN stands up swell even a good fifty years later from that asinine sleeve which typifies alla those bad-taste krautrock covers that promised a lot in the grooves and sometimes delivered on in the music, which really captures all of the high energy madness that the late-sixties/early-seventies cusp gave us with a seemingly relative ease. Psychedelia lived on a good three or so years after the fact with this 'un which, I must admit, does moosh the sarcastic humor of Country Joe and the Fish with the power and energy of the Stooges or whatever it was that heinie rock critic wrote. Plus they put just about alla those tiresome power trios of the sixties and seventies to abject shame.

After the fourth Guru Guru effort you better forget it, but the ones for Ohr and Brain well...those are must to have's in any real deal fan of this blog's record collection!

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Jimmy Ley with Robert Junior Lockwood-WMMS COFFEE BREAK CONCERT July 19 1972 CD-r burn

Surprisingly clear sounding early Coffee Break Concert with Jimmy Ley doin' a great one-man band sorta crash/thud pumping out a rumble that puts Jerry Van Dyke backing up that hootchie kootchie dancer on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW to shame. Local legend Robert Junior Lockwood then joins in and now it's serious non-George Thorogood-ish real down home blues fan time. I can imagine whatever heads there were out there listenin' to this 'un scratchin' their beans hopin' that someone would kick these guys outta the studio and slip "Layla" on before nod out time. Glad the thing survived in such pristine condition, sure wish some of those other WMMS concerts (Rocket From The Tombs etc.) had.

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Augustus Pablo-EAST OF THE RIVER NILE CD-r burn (originally on Message Records, Jamaica)

Given that I really never did cozy up to that Jah-Rastasnorie reggae music this particular platter does resonate somewhat within my thinned-out beanie. Melodica-laden instrumental sounds make for rather good backdrop to not only me reading but writing this particular slop that many people out there seen to either love or hate. Strangely enough it doesn't offend any of my sensibilities, that is what few of them I have retained over the years. Give it a try and who knows, maybe you'll dust off that melodica you got for your seventh birthday and try to squeak out some tunes that closely approximate the music heard on this rather entertaining disque.

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Various Artists-SNAKEHIP PEPPERGRINDER MILKMAN CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Some surprises mixed in with the typical Bill Shute esoterica including the original version of the Evil's "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" with alla the feedback left intact and the Swamprats' take on the Rolling Stones obscuro "It's Not Easy". The new to mine ears efforts such as the Roosters' folk rock overdrivin' "One of the Days" was enough to make my day a little brighter than it woulda listenin' to the usual homo propaganda passin' itself off as respectable entertainment. The rest, from some sides by the JuJus and the same Nightcrawlers who I assume are the "Little Black Egg" guys, make for a finer'n fine collection. But sheesh, if Germany had won the war the only thing we'd be listening to is Gervase singing "Peppergrind" --- ach du fanabla!!!! 

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There was a time when people were quite literate, well informed and generally knowledgeable about music, the arts, politics and the world around them. Then came BLACK TO COMM tossing alla that phony pretext into the commode with its generally snarky, socially un-pious demeanor and loathing for all that is phony and detrimental to the high energy way of living. Buy some back issues and see just why this mag has earned the scorn of people from New York City to Los Angeles, with a few equally non-intelligent points in between.

RADIO SHOW CEE-DEE SET REVIEW BY BILL SHUTE! THE NEW ROY ROGERS SHOW, VOLUME THREE (Radio Archives)

Roy Rogers began his career as a guitarist-singer with the original lineup of the Sons Of The Pioneers, under his real name, Len Slye. When Republic Pictures was looking for a new singing cowboy as a back-up to Gene Autry, to keep Gene in line in case he made any demands to re-negotiate his contract, Roy was chosen and given his own western films to star and sing in. These films turned out to be as popular with Western audiences as Gene’s ever were (and Roy had the same wholesome appeal as Gene, so he could be marketed to children as well as adults, and both men took their position as role model to the youth of America seriously), and Roy went on to become a huge phenomenon on his own, Hollywood’s KING OF THE COWBOYS, a man who was at the top of popularity in movies, on radio, on television, in comic books, in newspaper comics, in storybooks aimed at children, and in toy sales. Anyone who frequents junk stores, antique malls, and the like knows that there was a wide variety of Rogers items for sale in the 40’s and 50’s, and you still see them today, usually in poor condition and being sold at laughable prices. One wonders why sellers would assume anyone would be stupid enough to pay $20 for a water-stained used coloring book (for instance) with half the pages missing—you’d have to convince me to take it for free, and I’m a Rogers fan. I’m guessing most of these sellers saw a mint item similar to that sold for $20 on Ebay once—probably to some collector of Rogers who needed it to complete his collection—and figure that’s the going price. So much for the pre-Ebay days when sellers would price something so that they could move it in a month….and if it didn’t move it in a month, they’d drop it by a third. But I digress…

As someone who listens to old-time radio shows when I’m working (I unfortunately take a lot of work home from my job each night and need something to keep me going while I’m doing hours of tedious work—usually it’s music, but often it’s old-time radio….in the last month, I’ve probably listened to 75 episodes of the late 40’s Philo Vance show, starring Jackson Beck), I’ve had Roy Rogers in my rotation here and there over the years, though I paid little attention to what season I was listening to. On the whole, Rogers’ radio shows featured a lot of music and had a variety show feel, though later in the run, they tended to go more into a juvenile-oriented style, and were sponsored by breakfast cereals, and Roy would appeal directly to “boys and girls” when he spoke to the audience.

So imagine my surprise when I stumble across a set of 14 shows from 1954 (Roy’s last season on radio was 1955), and it’s quite different in format from what I’m used to. First of all, it’s called THE NEW ROY ROGERS SHOW. Then it’s announced at the beginning that it’s “for the entire family.” Usually that would mean that the show was family-friendly for children, with no “mature” content. This, however, means the opposite—that it’s not just a children’s show but is meant for adults too.

And that’s made crystal clear from the sponsor and the many commercial pitches. I don’t think many children are interested in buying an elegant 1954 Dodge or Plymouth sedan….or one of the work-horse Dodge trucks that Roy mentions he uses on his ranch and for pulling the horse trailer for Trigger. In fact, the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans theme song “Happy Trails” is re-written to include Dodge in every line after the first and is sung at least once on every show! There are so many ads for Dodge vehicles on the show, and the ads are full of such rich and enticing particulars, I found myself wanting to own one of those sleek, attractive, and affordable ’54 Dodges at the end of each show, the way I want to smoke a Lucky Strike at the end of each episode of THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM

One gimmick used during this season (it might be used on other 50’s seasons too, but not in the 40’s shows I remember) is that each show is titled after a song, usually some Western standard such as “Strawberry Roan” or “Red River Valley,” which is performed during the show and echoes of which are worked into the orchestral backing during the dramatic scenes, and then some element from the title of the song is worked into the plot…in the most forced but tangential way. For instance, Strawberry Roan is worked into a horse-racing plot (Brad Kohler will have to hear that one), while Red River Valley is set in a town near the Red River!

Also, many of the episodes involve murder mysteries! The earlier shows aimed at 10 year olds were certainly not. Of course, Agatha Christie or Erle Stanley Gardner would not have had to worry about any competition, as the quality of the murder plotting is rudimentary, to put it mildly, and one can only introduce so many suspects in a 30-minute show….especially when a chunk of it is given over to music, to Dodge commercials, to sidekick Pat Brady’s comedy antics, and to the Queen of the West DALE EVANS (originally from right down the road in Uvalde, Texas!) getting a song and interacting with the female characters on the show. I guess the murder mysteries were a way of making the show more “adult.” However, the eight-year-olds are not forgotten, as any child who’d listen to one or two previous episodes could figure out the guilty party as quickly as the adult listeners could.

I also like Roy’s being a celebrity in the dramatic parts of the show, someone recognized as being famous by the other characters they encounter as the plot plays out. This technique was used in the later seasons of the YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR radio show (which ran until 1962), where Johnny would appear in some town on a case, go into the local diner and get a cup of coffee and ask a few questions about the locals, and the guy serving the coffee would say, “why I know you, Mr. Dollar—I listen to your show every week.” Here, Roy will be about to question someone who was a witness to a crime or whatever, and the person is at first not wanting to cooperate, but then after Roy says his name, the person is impressed, admits he’s a fan, and says “of course I can help Roy Rogers—what can I do for you, Mr. Rogers.” Boy, it must be nice to have your name open doors like that!

Any fan of old-time radio will recognize many of the voices of Los Angeles-based character actors in the supporting roles, and the music is the kind of vaguely Western orchestral sound I associate with Spade Cooley at his most uptown. The Mello-Men vocal group appear too and do a novelty quartet vocal about Dodge products, the same way the Sportsmen Quartet used to do a novelty song about Lucky Strike on THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM. The instantly recognizable deep-bass voice of Thurl Ravenscroft (voice of Tony The Tiger, of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Fame) is heard on these tracks, and here and there he gets 8 or 12 bars of solo singing, which is always a treat.

Anyone who remembers the Rogers 50’s TV show will enjoy the antics of comedy sidekick Pat Brady (in his other life, a member of the Sons Of The Pioneers), though since much of his routine on the TV show was visual humor and exaggerated mugging a la Leo Gorcey or Shemp Howard, he’s toned down a bit on radio. Also, his famous Jeep “Nellybelle” does not appear on the ten or twelve episodes of the show I listened to in this review….though the show DOES mention that Pat was on occasion taking Trigger somewhere in the horse trailer which was pulled by Roy’s tough 1954 Dodge truck! Evidently, Jeep not being an advertiser (Jeep was not part of Chrysler back then—it joined Chrysler when they purchased American Motors decades later) kept Nellybelle out of a Dodge-sponsored show!

Overall, this is an entertaining show for the Rogers fan. He’s in virtually every scene, he gets a song in every show, he interacts with his charming wife Dale, he plays the straight man to Pat Brady’s comic buffoonery, he solves a murder in most episodes, and he’s excited about the 1954 Dodge line of cars and trucks, and anxious to tell YOU about them. Listen to a few of these shows in a row, and you’ll be wanting a stylish and economical 1954 Dodge too!

Easter used to be a favorite time of year for me for reasons stated in previous Easter posts, but anymore I couldn't care one whit or even a fig for that matter. With life zizzing by as fast as it has these past few decades and with nothing to look forward to other than less and less music, tee-vee, quality and companionship to keep me up and running its like why should one holiday matter other'n being yet another road sign on that big trip to Wormsville. At least back when I was younger and I actually had delusions that life, love, happiness and LOTSA MOOLAH were just around the corner I could appreciate the arrival of spring and all of the warm weather activities that were in store for the next few months. Nowadays nothing really matters anymore...true I can look forward to the warm weather wear your bermuda shorts days with some anticipation, but then again I kinda like the winter months because I can stay put all day and goof off while listening to records and reading old comic books all I want. Its a trade off I don't mind one iota either.

Anyway the following consists of a buncha platters I spent spinning this past week. You may find these writeups interesting, but frankly with the specter of eternal douse that has overcome me these past few days I fear that I'm just not up to my usual low standards of fannish rock scribbling done up pseudo gonz with a whole lotta my suburban attitude firmly in place. I would say that I gave it the ol' college try, but after looking over these writeups I wouldn't even say that I gave it the ol' nursery school try. And that's with an added emphasis on "nurse" because frankly, these reviews suck more than a La Leche convention!

Fossils/Bill Shute-DIESEL FALLOUT DIXIE STAMPEDE CD-r burn (Kendra Steiner Editions)

Can't believe that this 'un even exists! Yes, our own Bill Shute, in conjunction with the mysterioso Fossils, set forth on a free-splat poetry cut-up extravaganza that's so potent (even here in the heard-it-all-before teens) that it would even give William Burroughs a hard on right in his own crypt. Bill's very copasetic voice (Bus Eubanks would have given him an "A") is run through distortions, fragmented, muffled and sliced and diced as his poetry concrete is uttered resulting in a strange melange that recalls John Cage's INDETERMINACY being forced through a Veg-O-Matic. And that stuff Bill spews forth...extremely splice and dice in itself even without the editing hijinx of the ones called Fossil. Let's just say there's none of that "Stick your finger in the hole/Now you have a Tootsie Roll" jive here, and maybe you should be glad for it!

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The Three Stooges-AND SIX FUNNY BONE STORIES CD-r Burn (originally on Peter Pan)

Here's one a them kiddo records that a whole load of moms usedta buy for the brood to spin during play/nap time. We had (and still have) HUCKLEBERRY HOUND AND THE GHOST SHIP (still a good Saturday Night pop the corn spinner) but fortunately some lucky suburban slob kids got to enjoy this one featuring the Three Stooges themselves at the height of their sixties pumping the tee-vee generation for all it was worth revival! Hear Moe, Larry and Curly Joe take a rocketship travel through time and meet up with Cinderella, the Ugly Duckling (who sounds like Cinderella after screaming her lungs out at a Bobby Rydell concert), the Princess (who sounds like Cinderella after downing a few Fisherman's Friends) and the Pea (not surprisingly, when I was a kid mattresses and pee went hand in hand!) and the Magic Lamp (no Cinderella here!). A platter that's definitely of historical value if only for the appearance of the Stooges, but considering the lack of the slam-bang action these three were dishing out on television screens nationwide at the time I'm sure that most tots woulda thought that the 99 cents mom spent on this one at the supermarket would have been put to better use buying a few packets of Fizzies.

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The Len Price 3-NOBODY KNOWS CD-r burn (originally on Wicked Cool)

What I said about these guys earlier goes double here. Good 'nuff retro rock 'n roll true but like really, how could I get excited over Len Price and the Three as if they were supposed to be the latest in that long line of rock 'n roll saviors who are supposed to save us from...whatever there is in musicland to save us from here in the teens. By the looks of it, we've gone from the retro movement of the eighties to the retro to the retro-eighties movement. Disque closer regarding the horrors of the Margaret Thatcher years because she nixed free milk in schools does prove one thing that Archie Bunker got right---the English are a bunch of fags if they thought the world owed 'em a free glug of moo juice!

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The Hitmen-DANCING TIME 78-79 2-CD-r burn (originally on Savage Beat)

I ain't been listening to much music being created beneath the equator as of late so this one comes as a mild surprise as well as a mild diversion. The infamous Australian underground group featuring the usual assortment of ex-Radio Birdman and Saints types do a wild mixture of garageoid cover and originals for an audience that (believe-it-or-not!) seemed a little more than appreciative which is probably more than you could say about any audience above the equator! Kinda run-through and dashed off in spots, but I sure got that mid-eighties thrill of trying to find something to live for right in the midst of Madonnamania feeling listening to it, as if that was something to feel nostalgic about!

With over fifty tracks to absorb this might be a little too much for one sitting, so be sure to handle it piecemeal. But as for the glory that once was Australian post-Detroit rock, I must admit that the strains of the Hitmen kinda makes me wanna go do a quickie retard crudzine over the course of a nothing-to-do weekend, print up 40 copies and see which way the wind blows.

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Ron Carter with Eric Dolphy and Mal Waldron-WHERE? CD-r burn (originally on Prestige)

Maybe I should still be mad at Carter for some of those sell-out turds he's been ladling out  these past thirtysome years, but this '61 side shows that the guy started out with his jazz sights well in focus, at least before he decided to cooperate with the hip hop generation. True the recording is kinda dry lacking a lotta the tension I like in my jass, but the presence of Eric Dolphy saves this from being one of those DOWN BEAT schmoozers that you feel like you have to wear a tuxedo to listen to. Dolphy soars on the bass clarinet (and his flute playing ain't bad either even if I found it a bit irritating during its giddier moments) while Carter is at his best seated at the 'cello. However, Mal Waldron is more or less wallpaper and the drummer sounds as if he'd be better suited playing in the Mister Rogers band. Overall one of those ones you'll want to listen to...after you've listened to all the rest.

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Joe E. Ross-SHOULD LESBIANS BE ALLOWED TO PLAY PRO FOOTBALL CD-r burn (originally on Laff)

Gotta say that the disc this one was "sourced" from sounds as if Iggy danced upon the thing with his golf shoes on,  but from what I could make out the famed CAR 54 actor was about as schlocky a stand up comedy as one could be. None of them off-color scratch crotch while asking if anyone knows a good cure for dandruff gaggers here, but from what I can tell a good portion of 'em come pretty close. If you wanna hear some of the dirty jokes that were making their way around the water cooler back in them days dig up a clear copy and maybe you'll wish you hadn't.

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Cheap Trick-BUN E. CARLOS BASEMENT BOOTLEG VOL. 1 CD-r burn

Dunno the exact whys and wherefores of these ltd. ed. releases, but this volume's a gotta get for those of you who thought that Cheap Trick were one of the better bridges between late-seventies hard pop stirrings and what had become of the FM consciousness during the height of AOR sopor sonatas. A snat selection of Trick before, during and after their big breakthrough complete with special guest appearances from the likes of Roy Wood, AC/DC, Dave Edmunds and Cozy Powell. You'll really get a laff outta the time they got Alex Harvey to join 'em on "Shakin' All Over" and totally flub it up!

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Jack "Bongo" Burger-THE END ON BONGOS CD-r burn (originally on Hi-Fi Records)

More stereo stompers created for that guy who looked like Dennis the Menace's dad  who used to spin stuff like this on the hi-fi in his knotty pine rec room back '57-'66 (and even thereafter!) way. A typical flea-market finagle that does conjure up the exotic jazzy status of mid-Amerigan living during a good portion of the dreaded by progressive types postwar/pre-Vietnam era, but would anyone have noticed if it weren't for the painting of the topless gal onna cover???  Like I always said when it comes to these things..."titties triumph totally!"

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Various Artists-STUPID STARRY EMERALD IGUANAS CD-r burn (via Bill Shute)

Funny, there's no country and western on this 'un, nor is there any down home folk blooze as well. Bill must be slipping. However, he did enclose a good hunk of early-eighties-vintage underground from the likes of Chem Dyne (from Hamilton Ohio), El Lay's Nervous Gender, the (Kansas) Iguanas as well as the infamous Dejavoodoo, an act who made a small splash in amerindie circles during the eighties. Also included were some really obscure garage rockers courtesy the likes of the Poor Boys, Up-Tights and Emeralds that helped smooth out the tangled nerve-endings as well as the tres-obscure Sky Saxon "Starry Ride" EP which taught the new garage band era kids a thing or two about how it should be done. The snippet of Merry Pranksterdom left me hungering for at least a little more (it sounded loads better'n that Grateful Dead radio broadcast bootleg) while the Richard and Willie segment off some old Laff Records sure brought back memories of strolling through seventies comedy album bins wondering exactly what kinda jokes were being spewed forth on those "Adults Only" platters. And after all of these years I now know why none of these ever got any in-store play!

QUICK---SOMEBODY BUY TOM HANKS A CANDY BAR!

How are you enjoying the nice 'n warm October weather we're having here in the tri-county area anyway? Believe-you-moi I sure do appreciate this summertime extension we're having which I must say reminds me of some of the surprisingly nice and toasty Octobers that we've had in the past. Y'know, the kind that somehow intermingle with the better moments of my (and maybe even your) growing up days when I'd be reading comic books and watching old tee-vee programs when I should have been smoking pot like all of the other eight-year-olds out there!.And hey, since the Indians are predicting a cold winter I better get my hot weather jollies in while I can because this January you know that I'm gonna be freezing my toogles off shoveling the snow at six inna morn just fantasizing about all of that warm weather most of us took for granted only a few months prior! But hey, other'n that at least winter gives me a good enough reason to GOOF OFF!!! and we all I sure could use a whole lot more of that as the year winds down.

In other news...Tom Hanks has diabetes. And like... are we supposed to cry about it??? Even a sniffle or two regarding the fact will certainly not come from my obvious clogged sinuses I'll tell ya. I mean, thanks to a double family whammy which already guaranteed my baldness I'm gonna be more'n apt to get the dread disease than YOU probably will and guess what...NONE of you young whippersnappers are gonna care one bit whether or not my blood can be used as syrup for Dracula's pancakes.

I gotta admit that, although I couldn't give one fig what you think, it does burn me up a bit hearing all of that sad and sympathetic talk aimed towards a man of whom I have a total loathing and hatred for. Someone who I frankly wouldn't mind wishing some evil upon if only for the past three decades of his sniveling career which I somehow think was supposed to be directed towards the likes of me, as if anyone from Hollywood had cared to ask me what I like inna first place. This current crop of mewling reminds me of when I was a kid in school just loaded with all sorts of problems and miseries and inner demons trying to bore a hole through my noggin, and alla the girls would feel sorry for not me but some cutesy boy kid who had something not-so-drastically bad befall him! Of course the skirts felt this way only because he was a good looker and I was just another blubboid pimplefarm! I mean---I know I look more like Karbunkle or even Fester Bestertester than I do Guy Smiley, but I was the one who was having the problems and my heart and soul getting ripped outta me, and like the same people who were shedding tears over some updated Freddie Bartholomew type were continually tell me to "get over it" like it was that easy to toss off those traumatic experiences that pretty much shaped my entire personality and being!!!!

Yeah, tell me to get over the constant haranguing and debasement and abject ridicule, then go home and rub yourselves off while listening to Dylan sing about Hollis Brown and Hattie Carroll thinking you're all oh-so-superior to the rest of us mouth-breathers! Hope you feel really good, and don't forget to clean up the mess!

So you can (obviously I hope) tell that I have an extreme aversion to people showing sympathy for well off big name stars who bruise their pinky whilst all these poor schmucks with nada to their name actually cry' their li'l eyes out because of it! (An exaggeration???  Well, maybe not by much!) Well, I guess that now that the Kennedys have been dropping off like flies Ameriga needs some new hollow idols to bleed heart over and really, can you get any more hollower-than-thou than Hanks?

I think I've dished out enough curmudgeoness for the week...anyhoo here's what stimulated my stirrups this past week or so:

The Walnut Band-GO NUTS CD (Numusi Records, Germany)

Back during the illustrious days of underground rock making inroads into barfoid teenage listening patterns, I was thoroughly under the impression that all of the acts that were playing the much-fabled CBGB/Max's Kansas City circuit in lower Manhattan were of a thoroughly punkoid stock! Yes, I actually believed that each and every artist that set foot on the hallowed stages of those clubs was worthy of my record collection, and the fact that both clubs were able to subsist on the bevy of bountiful acts that not only existed in the local area but worldwide was living proof that this world was heading toward a powerful post-Velvets vista of high energy jamz that would last us for nigh up to a good decade or so, at which point something even more beneficial would come around to push us true believers into even greater realms of musical expression! Yeah, back then ignorant kids like myself could really conjure strange if compelling theories as to where rock music was heading and thankfully it wasn't into the sordid album rock direction the rest of the kids thought it would!

Funny how a li'l research could change your perceptions within the blink of a wink or however that old saying goes. Loads of digging and review scrounging had me discovering early on that maybe some of those CBGB and Max's acts just weren't as punk rock or even gnu wave-y as we all thought they were going to be. Oh yeah, some of 'em may have been punk rock in a 1971 CREEM magazine punk rock sorta way, or punkier than thou or even sorta punk, but a good portion of 'em weren't exactly punk like you me and the bedpost thought it might be. In fact, some of the groups that were appearing on the stages of those haunts were pretty much aping their directions from rather non-punkian sources, or even non-underground stylings of any sort or maybe even non-rock 'n roll ideals for that matter! Hard to believe that, but it's true as anyone who plunked down moolah for albums by the Movies and City Lights (both good enough acts at least in part) could tell you with a slight sense of disgust on their faces.

I have, at least as of the past two or so decades, been surprised at the number of decidedly non-punk acts that were playing the clubs during the mid-to-late seventies which as you know has shattered my pre-conceived notions like potrzebie! Of course there were the slew of heavy metal groups from the likes of Sun/Son and Sorcerers not to mention that all-time great Von Lmo at CB's and Max's, but they had at least a shard of early punk credo that I'm sure kept 'em interesting enough to the reams of regular attendees (as well as the unacquainted few). Rhythm and Blues (and just straight-ahead blues) was a big enough ticket in mid-seventies New York to the point where Max's even got mentioned on the cover of a Spivey Records sampler as a hot place to hear the likes of the Dicey Ross Blues Band, the Sugar Blues Band and other acts that never did get out as much as some thought they should have. (Did the legendary Rice Miller Band ever release anything?) And who could forget this quote that ex-Shirts singer Annie Golden spewed forth about how going to CBGB wasn't exactly a predictable experience given how Hilly Kristel would book not only the standard punk rock locals but jazz rock, rockabilly, psychedelic and other kinds of acts that probably couldn't get a gig anywhere other'n CBGB especially in those original music-starved days.

(One of the weirdest things I've discovered about the booking patterns at CBGB and Max's [and to a small extent Club 82] was the presence of progressive rock acts at the clubs! Max's seemed to be the bigger offender even though Peter Crowley drew a thirty-plus-year memory block when presented with some facts [blaming it all on Deerfrance who was booking acts while Crowley was cavorting in England managing Wayne County], but both places actually did book quite a few prog rockers amid the usual up-and-coming acts. One of them was called Amber Waves [led by mellotron and acoustic guitar player Jimmy Maraval] who actually performed their rock opera entitled "Justice and Sundown" at Max's twice where a special showcase for Manticore Records was attended by Emerson Lake and Palmer's manager! The guy was impressed, but this was right when ELP was falling apart and both they and Manticore's days were pretty much numbered. Another group called Elixir started life as a Genesis cover band complete with the Peter Gabriel costume changes but got to play Max's providing they did mostly originals. Another act that played CBGB a bit more frequently than Max's called Travan billed themselves as "a progressive rock band for the twentieth century" making me wonder which centuries the other prog acts were playing, and who could forget Chicago's Pentwater who played CBGB and Max's late-'76 and even used a track from their CB's show on their self-produced OUT OF THE ABYSS platter! If any of you have any more information on these or any other prog groups that made it to the stages of these clubs [or photos, tapes or even personal recollections for that matter] please send it along because frankly, we need all of the information we can get before it all fizzles out into the ether! And who knows, I might even like what I hear!)

Of course one of the strangest acts that I've noticed popping up on the local punk circuit (or at least at Max's) was this Boston aggregation that was going by the name of the Walnut Band. Saw their name on two Max's gig listings (considering the gaps I have as far as these gigographies go there may have been more) during the summer and autumn of 1976, one on a five-band packed bill that also featured none other than local hard-rock and Kongress mates Guardian but space rock explorers and probably progs in their own right Master Radio Canaries. A li'l googlin' out of pure curiosity brought up the fact that the Walnuts not only were a "pop" group but had an album out on the Appaloosa label which did stimulate my bean a bit considering how Boston was pumping out good pop acts like Coraopolis PA pumps out unemployment checks. Sounded OK enough to me I'll tell ya. However, further research had me discoverin' that this group was more or less closer to the Grateful Dead than they were the Atlantics, at which point I kinda wondered what the heck was going on since hippie rock never was the forte of the New York underground scene unless you considered the Shirts or Hackamore Brick to be hippies (I didn't).

So yeah, with influences ranging from the Dead to Allman Brothers you could say this group was more suited for Watkin's Glen rather than Max's Kansas City, but how did their home-made effort of an album turn out anyway? Gotta say that frankly, this thing ain't that bad...nothing that would tweak the nodes of your average BLOG TO COMM fanabla but interesting enough to keep you going through at least one spin. Maybe a four out of ten star deal...the Dead references and Allman twin guitar leads do prevail, and although that ain't exactly a selling point when it comes to me parting with my moolah I gotta say that I wasn't offended at all. Maybe the hippie dippyisms weren't as overt as I had expected, though the seventies San Fran vibe does its best to make its way through the boundaries of your headband. Strange that such a prim, proper and downright staid area as Boston could produce a group like this...

In all, this probably ain't that different from a few thou other local psychedelic acts who were selling their records at gigs before dumping 'em off at the local Goodwill. At least another little missing bit of rock esoterica has been uncovered in this great jigsaw puzzle of long gone underground rock history, though once you get down to it couldn't it have been Junior Birdmen instead???

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The Connection-LET IT ROCK CD-r burn (originally on King Yum)

Who woulda ever thunk that power pop would still be up and running here in the 'teens! Of course it's been quite some time since Greg Shaw's famed PP-themed issue of BOMP! made its way to your door, and as far as I can recall the movement didn't congeal that far outside of a small cadre of local moptops and their miniskirt wannabes. But if you were the kinda guy who plunked out the pezoozahs for SHAKE SOME ACTION (even an early import copy!) before it hit the cut out racks like I managed to do given my depression-era wages or met up with the Scruffs, Shoes, Socks or even Suspenders on the basis of a few fanzine articles boy is this the group for you!

Gotta admit that I don't think that the Connection live up to the power and energy of '76 Groovies, nor do I ponder that the same folks who praised Pezband would think as highly of these New Hampshireites as they do Chicago's answer to the Raspberries. But for those of you starved for that seventies take on sixties accomplishment this just might be the group for you. Pretty hotcha rip throughs featuring that floor-stomping midwest-sounding take on Beatledom with a touch of Who, reshaped for a seventies clientele that shoulda prevailed against the fartwind of AOR but never did make it outta the garage. And yeah, like I once said listening to stuff like this in 2013 is kinda akin to my uncle listening to Bix Beiderbecke toons being played on mid-morning PBS, but at this point in time can any of you really care what people think of you anymore???

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Various Artists-SLY DOG SHAKIN' CD-r (compiled by Bill Shute)

Hey, some real surprises here including an early take on the infamous Moving Sidewalks crowd pleaser "99th Floor", Kai Ray's "Trashmen's Blues" (the song where the group got their name from, and I don't mean the Rays!) and the Continental V's "Wake Me Up Girl" which sounds as good here as if did on that FLASHBACK compilation of Texas psychedelia a good thirty years back. As usual the country twang that Bill also included sticks out as much as a hunk of smegma in an Israeli nudist colony, but I guess Bill likes it that way. Also worthy of your ears is Chiyo and the Crusaders' "Pink Dominoes" which was produced by Kim Fowley and which also just might appear on one of those new Norton collections of various rarities from the famed King of the Cagas, but if not its here and you can pick it up for download with the mere flick of a mouse!

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Wolf Eyes-NO ANSWER: LOWER FLOOR CD-r burn (originally on De Stilj)

Not bad a-tall scrounge noise from this long-lived Robert Forward fave (he sent me the disque!), though next to such masters as (former Wolf Eyes collaborators) Smegma this just don't come off as pow'r 'n might. Nice enough free crank that sounds like the attic of  your mind is being cleaned out of old LIFE magazines, and you can just feel the layers of dust being shaken offa your uncle's old World War II uniform as you listen to these guys making sounds akin to a gestating android in the second trimester of transistorized gurgle. But hey, I've listened to many of these post-LAFMS-styled groaners before and, although it makes a fine resensifier, if you have a handfulla the stuff that was being made thirtysome years back it ain't like you have to part with your hard-begged for more of the same! Get it free like I did and save a wad, John!

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The Len Price 3-CHINESE BURNS CD-r burn (originally on Wicked Cool)

Another McGarry power pop burn he obv. deemed important enough for me to hear. Neat enough straight ahead power pop rock, but way too "Little Steven" for me to fully appreciate. Coulda used a little push of somethingorother to make it through the intestinal tract of my listening parameters, perhaps because I feel like I've heard this album throughout the past thirtysome years only it's been issued under different names and on different labels considering that the drive and feeling is unchangingly the same. Otherwise, it's fairly good rock that kinda makes me wanna go down to the radio station and strangle those giggling guys you hear on FM morning drive time as they make the off color remarks in between repeated spins of Journey, so it ain't like a total douse!

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CELLULAR CHAOS CD (ugEXPLODE, try CD Baby for a copy)

Sure seemed like only a few months ago that this whacked out group (featuring Weasel Walter among others) put out a platter, but they have a new 'un anyway and boy is it a crazy affair. Doesn't sound as much Teenage Jesus or Siouxsie (two selling points CD Baby is using to push this one) as it does various mid-eighties underground noise acts, but it sure does its best to destroy all the cells huddled in your ear canals. Female vocals screech over a sonic attack that typified the whole spirit of underground mania, at least before the people in these groups began settling into chi-chi hi-fi living and totally forgot they were supposed to be degenerates in the first place. By the way, ugEXPLODE seems to be in some sort of flux, so if you want this order from CD Baby until the mail label can get themselves back on track.

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Charity Chan/Peter Evans/Tom Blancarte/Weasel Walter-CRYPTOCRYSTALLINE CD (ugEXPLODE, see above for details)

A surprising free jazz outing led by Montreal pianist Chan and her ragtag band which not surprisingly also features ugEXPLODE label head Weasel Walter on drums. A might rage have we here, reminding me of nothing more than a Cecil Taylor Unit Structures session with Chan's piano sounding even more percussive than Taylor's (if you can imaging that!) while trumpeter Peter Evans plays even freer than Ted Curson ever attempted to. Coulda used the new generation's Jimmy Lyons on there (whoever he may be!), but maybe on the next 'un. Burton Greene's inner/outer piano approach also freely comes to mind. This has got all of the energy and tension that I loved in the music way back when packed into it more'n fudge, and if you too mourned the loss of the blare sometime in the early-eighties boy will this put a smile on your face! Gotta give this one all the stars in the world available...one of the best heard by a batch of young upstarts in quite some time.

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See you again, but who knows when...