BLOG TO COMM

Last week I was watching PRIVATE BUCKAROOS, that World War II quickie filled with musical interludes both patriotic and not courtesy of Harry James, Dick Haymes and the Andrew Sisters (who rose to fame with the original BUCK PRIVATES starring Abbott and Costello and, as they say, why argue with success?) along with comedic asides featuring the likes of Shemp Howard and Huntz Hall to make it more palatable to people like myself. While suffering through one of the aforementioned numbers which was so hackneyed and cloying in its efforts to stir up the rabble against the Germans and Japanese I remarked that after seeing something like this I kinda wish we had lost. My World War II vet dad actually chuckled which I and maybe even you can take in a variety of ways.

Maybe I ain't as chipper as I should be. In fact, maybe at this point in time I should be tossed into a chipper. What really irks me is just how low blow things have gotten in life these days to the point where yes, I truly am a total alien on a planet where I was once a first class citizen, or at least felt like one. There are tons of people who I can blame my status in this caste system on, and of course none of the fault lays with me other'n I hadda take the advice of people who really didn't know better but somehow convinced me they did!

But still it does bug me...I mean, like Don Fellman, I never was the kinda guy who turned hippoid or imbibed in a whole load of extracurricular chemical fantasias, and here I am the one who's picked on constantly and held up as some sorta (insert cute and cloying liberal cliche here) by people who think they are living the ultimate in being that fabled total human when all they are are delusional automatons who are merely living from orgasm to orgasm and do things not out of devotion, but to make themselves feel all the more better.

Yeah I know times HAVE to change and we all must go with that flow (yeah right!), but I keep thinkin' about how great things were at the time I was born and just how much they've deteriorated into a dystopia of weird sexual/socio/religioso head gratification that I have and will continue to find quite appalling. I think of the world I inhabited in my early youth and the one I'm in today, and although we now have cures for many ailments and the tee-vees don't have tubes that blow out right inna middle of PETER PAN anymore I'll that THAT over THIS in a heartbeat! Things were way more fun, the broadcast medium really catered to the fun-loving wild side of our lives and people tended to be people and not "menacing strangers" as H.L. Mencken once put it. I know that of all you readers only JD King will agree with me and SO WHAT, but folk really were better off during the earlier years of my reign and that includes alla those minorities who at least had a more stable world to exist in, at least in the USA where our more altruistic and therefore destructive sides used to be kept in check.

But when the smoke clears one can only see just how dismal those who were supposed to be protected are, if not worse. If there are any children around these days I've yet to see them. Most are just born adults just waiting to grow to full size, Entertainment has been stodgy and overbearing on all levels for the last forty years while people overall seem to have become bigger grumps than the teachers I had growing up. And as far as my existence on this plane goes well, let me leave it to a person who I would say is way more better' n I...

But don't fret any...I'll try to put on my best smile. Like I was told ever since I was a mere turdler, always have a smile on your face and show the world you're a happy person even if you do have a bursting artery and are at death's door.

One happy consolation is that according to "Mylife" my online reputation profile stands at a measly "1.3". Well, I am proud given all of the effort I put into obtaining such a low rating!

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After reading the above a good six days later all I gotta say is boy, was I ennui'd out! Forget I ever wrote that slop. I'd delete the whole thing but sheesh, I gotta pad this week's entry out SOMEHOW!!!

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Here's another Nick Tosches piece that I gotta admit tops a whole lotta "best of" lists as far as rock 'n roll writing went...his critique of the concert for Bangladesh entitled "The Heartbeats Never Did Any Benefits" from FUSION which was a surprisingly sly take on the whole George Harrison Bangladesh brouhaha that took place during that "relevant" year we called 1971. A total feel-good read, especially when you think of just what George Harrison used to look like back inna seventies...woof!

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Gather 'round for the gruel. Got some goodies here that might even inspire you into buying a few of the wares mentioned this week. Gotta thank the usual suspects like Bill, Paul and Feeding Tube for the freebees which doesn't mean these things are guaranteed good reviews but hey, why should I upset the apple cart and get rid of this cash cow anyway? Rekkids are few and far between these days, and whatever I can scam you bet I'm gonna scam good!

Abronia-THE WHOLE OF EACH EYE LP (Feeding Tube Records)

I'm surprised that there are still a whole buncha these neo-psychedelic rock acts wallowing about even this far down the line. The slow and moody music that Abronia makes is rather difficult to describe, although these people do come rather close to the GREAT JAPANESE PSYCHEDELIC UPHEAVAL OF THE EARLY TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY (and yes, I still spin my copy of THE NIGHT GALLERY on scant occasion). The music ebbs and flows more than it relies on riffages or discernible melodies for that matter. The resultant sludge of sound is rather appealing, perhaps because it relates to how my nervous system has been reacting lately especially after a lifetime of everything I hadda go through all these miserable years.

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Mickey and Ludella-BEDLAM A GO-GO CD-r burn (originally on Vinyl Japan Records)

These garage band revivalists might be good enough to eke out a few stirrings of past accomplishments and at times even get the original pounce down pat, but I find very few of 'em good enough for a second listening. Mickey and Ludella are included in this category even if they do have the same chops and outlook that got more'n a few acts with names like Death By Ugha-Bugha airplay on Little Steven's Sirius XM radio channel. Maybe a little does go a long way. Still this does work well on your rockism nerve nodes what with the intentionally lo-fi sound and well-performed material both original and cover which comes off as more than just a homage to an era in time that fizzed out a whole lot more sooner'n any of us really hoped it would.

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Miss Ludella Black-SHE'S OUT THERE CD-r burn (originally on Damaged Goods Records)

Here's Ludella on her own and in better clarity doing more of that sixties unto the new century sound and comin' off even sweller'n she did with Mickey. She kinda reminds me of the early solo Cher without the neo-Spectre production and with a nicer set of lungs to deliver these olde tymey teenage pop songs with. Those of you who like those Miriam Linna platters of the past few years will also enjoy Miss Black's approach to past glories for a new world that couldn't give a whit. And whaddaya know, the thing actually swings, rocks, moves you and other things rock intellectuals used to hate back inna eighties!

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The Crickets-STILL IN STYLE CD-r burn (originally on Bear Family Records, Germany)

Heard 'em all before but YOU (and I) NEED TO HEAR 'EM AGAIN! A perfect slice of just what the early-sixties could aspire to despite what those rock snobs who think the whole shebang died twixt the "Day the Music Died" and the appearance of the Beatles on Ed Sullygum have told us for years. It's a shame that the Crickets didn't do way better what with these tracks' straight-ahead throb pace---it's also too bad that the only thing Sonny Curtis is really remembered for these days is that appealing to every starry-eyed student teacher you ever knew theme to THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW.

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Sky "Sunlight" Saxon and Fire Wall-WORLD FANTASTIC CD-r burn (originally on Skyclad Records)

Even though the guy had been spending the previous sixteen years in such a wasted state even the Manson Family woulda been shocked, Sky Saxon could still sing swell and rock out with the best of 'em as this 1988 effort proves.

Yeah his voice sounds like it had dropped a good octave and his overall hippie looks really do put a damper on the entire proceedings, but on this platter Sky still comes on strong and I ain't talkin' 'bout BO while his backing band is copasetic without coming off sycophantic.

Good enough that it even features yet another plagiarizing of the old "Pushin' Too Hard: riff. Heck, it even has a cover of Roky Erickson's "Don't Slander Me" custom made for those of you who saw some sorta psychedelic battle of the cozmik brain fry being held between these two chemically sustained beings.

Sounds a whole lot better'n I remembered it to back when it came out oh-so-long ago, but then again back then I had a mad on about a whole lotta things and some of these things I still have a mad on about so don't bug me Gertrude!

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Various Artists-EAST OF THE BLUE-EYED SITAR SUN CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Sheesh, I dunno if I'm exactly inna mood for a side of Frank Sinatra's worst, but then again listening to the Chairman handle the twist craze and a duet with Dagmar and some dogs inna background sure beats the heck outta that phony Arbogast and Ross top forty radio spoof that's about as funny as the Coraopolis PA sewer system. Of course nothing could be worse than Garry Moore, a man who I gotta say I hate with more of a passion than I hate most people out there in Everydayland.  At least the Shadooks' version of "My Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes To The Bathroom" or something like that sure had a boffo 1963-styled rock 'n roll instrumental sound to it in an era of general feh, while the Stinson Brothers deliver that straightforward rockaroll that seemed oh-so-tasty despite the nostalgia craze of the seventies which ruined a whole lotta the appreciation I could have for this music inna first place. ('n for an additional laff howzbout a sitar-laden version of "My Favorite Things"!) In all a good platter for sickoid fun 'n jamz but sheesh, how I hate Garry Moore---gimme Durward Kirby ANYDAY!

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Just a little reminder that BLACK TO COMM back issues are still available with the mere click of the highlighted link, and with a few bucks tossed my way as well. If really interested, leave me a message below with pertinent contact info etc. (I will not make anything confidential public knowledge!) and maybe we can work out a deal. There's some might good readin' to be found inside those mags as well as a lotta mistakes, long-refuted "facts" and other things that might upset your tiny little stomach, but I think you're human enough to handle it all, aren't you???