BLOG TO COMM

CAN'T THINK UP ANY SILLY PUNS USING THE WORD "EASTER" THIS YEAR!

...so I'll refrain from making any comments about the Easter Bunny relieving himself in your basket or mention interesting places where you can hide your well-decorated ovums at the Fire Island Easter Egg Hunt! Anyway, to all of you BLOG TO COMM readers (or at least some of you) have a Happy Easter and don't get too crocked on all of that Easter Eggnog you'll probably be guzzling with joy today!

Well. at least it'll be a Happy Easter for you, since for me I'm still suffering the same being of nadaness that I had been last week that has been compounded by other spiffy current events like the basement flooding up due to a faulty sump pump (no major damage other'n the soaking of an old TEE-VEE GUIDE with Archie Bunker on the cover, something which is bad enough to make one shed a tear even if it will dry up in crinkly sorta way). And despite the temps hitting 80+ these last few days (it's now in the upper-sixties which is nothing to ka-chew at!) let's just say that I'm not exactly the happy camper that I was during Eastertimes past. Really, there's hardly anything new that's extremely good or crunchy enough out there that get my juices a'flowin', so expect yet another half-empty glass (pessimist that I am) post that I hope to pad out one way or more likely another.

At least there are a few niceties that have graced my ears which you might want to know about as well, or why else would I write about 'em in the first place other'n to pretend I'm giving my life some sorta meaning doing this:

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Weasel Walter-LARGE GROUP PERFORMANCES 2007-2009 (UgEXPLODE)

I've been slowly (but surely) working my way through this package of releases that ugEXPLODE sent my way this being but the first. And if the rest are any indication of what's in store then I better start saving up for a pacemaker because this mega-epic free loft jazz disc is one might mofo of a hot session (actually a number of sessions) that should send all of those Sirius Radio lite jazz types back to the comfort of their Al DeMeola records. On this disc rec'd over the past few years ('n live at that) Walter not only play his drums as well as guitars and a variety of clarinets but leads various groupings that feature some well known players (Henry Kaiser) but mostly not through ragged terrain that never ceases to amaze. Pretty steep stuff here, especially the 40-minute "Crushed Beneath Infinity" which echoes a whole lotta the Sunny Murray album on ESP directed by Alan Silva if you can comprehend that! Funny that all three tracks were recorded in Oakland California...I thought those people were still into the seventies Dead 'n NRPS gumby dance sounds but if this is any indication I should say not!

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Weasel Walter Septet-INVASION CD (UGexplode, link on above)

Given the lack of anything worth grabbing onto the scar tissue where my cojones once resided I decided to spin another Weasel Walter-related free jazz disc from the Ugexplode pile, this one recorded in none other than Berkeley Californicate! Henry Kaiser once again joins in (and frankly does not sound offensive like he used to back in the eighties) as do two other names in the improv jazz world, Vinny Golia and John Lindberg. And dare-I-say that I find the resultant metascronk to be a whole lot more pleasing than some recent similar-minded offering that might have seemed grand, but were more or less flopsters that tried honing in on certain avant jazz watermarks such as Ornette '59 or Ayler '64, but ended up sounding more or less like white college kids '10.

No such altruistic jumble here! INVASION is one great total avant spew that kinda roams a whole load of directions from Sun Ra to Rudolph Grey's "Flaming Angels" with a lotta hot BYG points in-between. None of the players here hack out and I still can't believe the high energy levels that are exuded on all points! Really, if you're tired of the same-old alternative indie rock that's been crammed down your throat for the last three decades and are looking for something really new 'n refreshing you'd be wise to pick this up. More proof that Chuck Mangione was never weaned from mother's bosom.

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THE SEDIMENT CLUB EP (Soft Spot)

And now for what's gotta be THE SURPRISE OF THE WEEK if not the year, a debut release from what purports to be an up-to-date no wave group who do sound quite a bit like the Contortions! The Sediment Club have that same herky-jerky sound that the likes of James Chance's 1978 aggro as well as a whole bunch of their no wave brethren excelled in (at least before the no wave evolved into the no disco/jazz/blues/avant garde/heavy metal movement around 1979) and it would seem fitting that these "youth" (at least compared to ME) would be cranking out this atonal racket because this disc was produced by none other than Ivan Julian of Voidoids fame! His son Austin just happens to play guitar and sing with this bunch, and if anything it looks like he's not only following in his father's but his mother's footsteps since she be none other than Cynthia Sley of Bush Tetras fame so I guess his mere existence dispels any rumors that have been going around about her for years on end!

Anyway this disc, from the hot cover to the general extended play format, does bring back memories of the turn of the decade ('79/'80) En Why scene when a few rumbings were starting to come out of this nascent and short-lived musical moment in time. It's just too bad that there's no Max's Kansas City for them to perform at. And it's just too good that the Sediment Club also know how to rob from the best, since their disc-closer "No More Earth" is (now get this!) an ever-so-slightly re-write of the Electric Eels/Ex-Blank-Ex "chestnut" "No Nonsense" which does show the band's good taste in swiping ideas!

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Before I forget, let me clue you in on a boffo Eddie Flowers interview that Mr. Bear at Gulcher clued me in on via a mass e-mailing. Great reading (if you do care for my humble opinion) and a particular wowzer too, since believe-it-or-not but I actually agree with Flowers' political rabble rousing comments that close out the piece! Perhaps it's the re-reading of all of those Ditko comics that I've been picking up as of late, but I find Flowers to be very lucid and candid about the current state of many a political woe not only Californians, but the rest of us peons have to suffer through via the law and justice system these days! I know Flowers will probably kill himself after reading this, but it's true. And hey Mr. F., if you do decide to end it all howzbout sending the rest of those disques I bought from ya before I go insane for lack of moozikal stimulation!

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Softly as I leave you, here's a bit of Cleveland kultur that I know you will enjoy (at least if you have the same sense of dynamic suburban bloat that I do)...mainly some moist and meaty clips of Cleveland horror host legend THE GHOUL. These were recorded during his "comeback" stint on Cle Tee-Vee after being kicked outta Detroit sometime in the early eighties, an era which I must say just hadda've been the swan song for not only hotcha indie, but local tee-vee programming as well! Brings back those great moments in time back when strange atmospheric conditions or better yet a tornado warning would drag all of those distant UHF signal in to my home as clear as a bell! Funny, I used to wonder why all of the kids I knew enjoyed blowing up everything from Tootsietoys to well-crafted model cars with firecrackers and even M-80s...t'wasn't until years later that I found out they got their inspiration from none other than the Ghoul which makes me sad because by not seeing him at the right "impressionable" age I missed out on all of that pyrotechnical fun myself!

Viewing these obv. classic Ghoul clips also makes me wish that I pestered pop hard enough to get that high antenna and signal booster I've always wanted despite his fears of it blowing over every time a wind whooped through the area. Obviously I missed out on a lot of good television that way, not only the various independent stations (during the mid seventies including 17, 43, 53 and 61) that flourished before the advent of the small networks taking 'em all over, but even such long-forgotten favorites like the class OLD MOVIES, THE GOLDEN ERA that ran on Cleveland PBS station 25 on Saturday nights. That show sure beat watching Carol Burnett think she could make us laugh that's for sure, as did a good portion of the reruns and locally-produced horror host programs like THE GHOUL that were making their way to our cathodes from signals near and far!

Just watch these and tell me you don't once again feel like a twelve-year-old just rarin' to blow up your baby brother: