BLOG TO COMM

It's time for (once again) my entry into the culture of narcissism with yet another post as if you would ever in your right mind care one whit what I think about anything in the first place. But read on you must because well frankly, even in this day and age there ain't that much neo-gonz musical info available anywhere let alone on the internet, and since you've probably paid beaucoup wampum for your computer you gotta put it to some good use other'n to seek out porn, right?

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So what's been "floating my boat" as the cornballs like to say these days? Not much really, though you might like to know that I've been cutting down on the turntable and going to Youtube for a nice hefty portion of my entertainment pleasure. It might surprise you (but maybe not) that, perhaps through no control of my own, I've been watching a whole load of things that have been reminding me, or better yet triggering me as the fru fru's like to say, of buried memories from the depths of my brain which are almost always related to the events of my youth. Mostly bad things too y'know, like at night when I'm trying to get to sleep and my mind wanders from one subject to the next and then --- ALL OF A SUDDEN --- something ugly that happened to me age fifteen pops into my skull and I can't slip back into slumberland because it's just too embarrassing or downright depressing to shake outta my head! And given the kind of life I've had to endure, there have been quite a few sleepless nights o'er the years.

Sometimes this "triggering" is for the better, especially when those old warm 'n toasties come oozing their way into my cranium reminding me that maybe things weren't always that hideous during those supposedly best years of my life (hah!).

And speaking of some of the more enjoyable memories of youth well, you might be surprised to know that I have been absorbing many a happy recollection of them days past by watching a whole load of old clips from the famed PBS phonics, grammar 'n punctuation kiddie series which I'm sure some of you readers used to glom, mainly THE ELECTRIC COMPANY! Like with THE MONSTER SQUAD mentioned awhile back, I was a tad bit too old for it when this series was permeating the late-afternoon hours on your local educational station but watched I did because it was either this or the umpteenth rerun of Dick Van Dyke. Truth be told, you can fantasize about Mary Tyler Moore's suckems only so much! 

Of course it helped if you had your daily requirement of Mad Dog in you but anyway, despite being made for the single-digit set I thought that the show's comedy skits with a purpose and surprisingly good musical numbers were also aimed at a more mature audience. Like those old Hanna-Barbera cartoons, it was something the folk could get a kick out of along with the brats, and you kinda get the idea they were watching even if the kids weren't home (after all, dad can fantasize about MTM's suckems only so much too!). Besides, when Spiderman joined the cast the show was mandatory viewing given the big superhero jag I was on at the time. 

 

And after giving these clips the once-over after all these years, I gotta say that I'm especially impressed by the Phyllis and the Pharaohs numbers where Rita Moreno et. al. spoof fifties nostalgia the way it shoulda been done back then but never was! 

Other memories of THE ELECTRIC COMPANY remain strong even after years of mental clutter shoving a lotta the more fun moments of tee-vee past to the back burner. You remember the "blends" --- the silhouettes where two facing outlines would combine words with the one on the left saying the first part, the one on the right saying the second and then both saying the word in its entirety? Me and my cousin used to do that, only with vulgar words such as "sh" --- "it"---"shit" while getting a whole lotta laughs outta it because well, we were gutter-minded to some extent. The trouble was that when I said "f", my cousin would say "uck" --- "fuck" and my uncle would of course get all mad at us even though it wasn't exactly as if his own vocabulary was always that prissy. Funny, I thought the obvious coupling for "f" was "art" because we were more in an excretory groove rather than a sexual one but my cousin felt different, perhaps thinking that we were just doing bad words without any specific categorizing.

These old ELECTRIC COMPANY clips also reminded me of way back when PBS was actually kind of fun not only with shows like this but things like MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS (which actually earned me a "cover your eyes" and then "change the channel" demand during Terry Gilliam's "Full Frontal Nudity" cartoon) to of course the old movies which really pushed me into the realm of moom pitcher obsession. But one thing that these ELECTRIC COMPANY segments dredged up from years of sediment inside the brain was my early teenbo appreciation for the show's "Short Circus" member June Angela, and from what I understand I wasn't the only one!

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THE FEEL BAD VIDEO OF THE WEEK: For some strange reason or another the following episode of DRAGNET featuring stock Mark VII actor Timothy Donnelly as a comic book afficionado who steals old movie posters while dressed as a costumed crimefighter didn't register with me when first viewed, but in the dank twenties it seems to mean all the more. I must have viewed this for the first time long before my aforementioned comic book obsession because otherwise I should have gone for this 'un bigtime. Somehow this show went straight through that sieve I call my mind...strange how the old jelly in one's head can work, especially when it's left to its own machinations which might go awry at times.

Now I'm positive that to most of you readers this character who dresses in a cheap superhero outfit which he wears while swiping valuable movie posters might come off as a perpetual loser who deserves nothing but scorn (though as far as for being a pudgy type that the kids picked on Donnelly looks fairly svelte), but the combination of a downright honest pathos and Donnelly's acting really brings out a dimension that kinda strikes a sad chord within me. You'll just might loathe him just because of a perhaps not-so perceived jerkiness on his part, but for once I can do a little empathizin'.

Maybe it's because of a real life experience that my soul gravitates towards this particular entry into the Jack Webb canon. For some perhaps maybe not-so-odd reason this Crimson Crusader reminded me of a sordid chapter in my family's existence pertaining to an uncle (the one mentioned above in fact). He was my mother's oldest sibling, a good fifteen years older than her in fact and in many ways a second father given the difference in age. The big brother/little sister relationship made the situation perhaps even more straining on her own attempts to go on with life, and if you think it was exactly pleasant during those days you are sadly mistaken!  

A combination of out-of-control diabetes and the onset of dementia was making my uncle behave quite erratically to the point where he was just about to not only lose total control of his mental faculties but very likely his home as well. It was a late September day when I was informed of trouble brewing between the two, so I rushed over to my uncle's place only to see him and mother in a heated argument over his not eating his prepared meals and other sundries with the situation almost getting to the point where I pretty much believed it would all erupt into a major tragedy. Then all of a sudden, in the midst of this rather frightening uproar, my uncle briefly paused and then burst into tears with the look of total bewilderment over his current state of affairs. Watch the conclusion of the program and you'll get an idea of how I was feelin' while seein' my uncle down pat.

Y'know, it really is sad to be a man who knows there's something wrong with him but doesn't know what it is. And that, dear reader, is why this episode of DRAGNET really beings out those old, disturbing feelings in me that will never go away the same way THE ELECTRIC COMPANY reminds me of some of the happier moments of growing up suburban ranch house UHF-TV middle class 'n all.

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The record situation has been as dismal as ever, what with the lack of any really new or truly life-reaffirming platters making their way to my abode these past few weeks if not months. It's not just that I don't have the filthy lucre that keeps me from indulging in what was once a strong obsession --- its actually the lack of anything worth purchasing that gets me rather uptight.

Given that there really hasn't been a music scene worth diving into for nigh on what, forty long years, and given how life in general has devolved into a fight to just merely exist instead of live, AND given that something that was once a vital and perhaps the ONLY reason for me to stick around and not commit spiritual suicide (I don't actually cozy up to the thought of the real thing), mainly my appreciation for that sonic wiggle otherwise known as MUSIC, hasn't been able to stir the kettle inside me the way it used to is what's been getting me rather down and out these sad 'n sorry days. Only goes to show you what being a mature human being rather than a typical suburban slob can do to you, and how I long for the days when music, art, television and literature were a pathway to a world that I sure would have loved to have spent the rest of my life wallowing in!

But I still spin the old stuff, and unlike Nancy I still get a few groovy throb thrills outta it even though at this point in time I should be feeling just like our heroine. Current faves that are getting the repeato play here include the Lou Reed demo tape from '65 which is, for all intent purposes, a Falling Spikes platter, and the Creative Construction Company CD of their back from Europe concert, a recording which made a life-long indent on my perception of music even if everyone around me thought it was just a sick put-on. 

I've also been spinning the THOSE WERE DIFFERENT TIMES collection of Mirrors/Electric Eels/Styrenes efforts, after all these years still finding the Styrene's "1967" to be quite an impressive part of their musical catalog. Or at least as impressive as it was when I saw them do it (with the Styrene Dancers) live at the Kent Creative Arts Festival. Anyone out there who can send me a copy of the lyrics?

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I told you about this quite awhile back, but since I came across it again only a few days ago I thought I'd show it for all to see. Yes it's a letter from none other than Jay Hinman where, surprisingly enough, the chap seems to come off rather fine and dandy and even appreciative of my own humble efforts! Heck, he's even acting downright gracious regarding my positive review of his own fanzine efforts which sure seems strange given his eventual heavy-duty putdown of myself and the past X-some years of work in and out of the fanzine idiom that I have produced! As you will see once you get to the blasted thing, this note (which came with the then-latest issue of SUPERDOPE, not exactly the best one I've seen what with articles on a number of groups I never heard of and probably wouldn't WANT to hear of for that matter) was written a good eight or so years before the big slam came which, in retrospect, doesn't sound so strange considering the one-upmanship loathing that people in this "rock underground" sometimes have for each other. Anyway, read on MacDuff!:

Sounds really appreciative 'n all, don't he? Unfortunately for me I didn't realize that Hinman was merely fattening me up for the slaughter so-to-speak (not the first time that happened), so shame on me for not being more aware of these people who shake with their right hand, and have a knife aimed at your back with their left. And in his take down of me he had the nerve to say what a lousy rock 'n roller Von Lmo was!

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There are a few decent beings on this planet like Paul McGarry, who donated a couple of the platters that have been reviewed this go 'round. I also dug a couple outta the LP pile which I haven't touched in quite awhile. Hope that there's something in here that will make you wanna rush to your nearest record shop and snatch up one of these items, until you realize that your favorite record shop closed down ages ago.

Alice Cooper-LIVE FROM THE ASTROTURF CD-r burn (originally on Good Records)

I mean, who can replace Glen Buxton? Still, the rest of the classic Cooper lineup play as snat in 2015 as they did in 1970, right before the entire group became, how shall we say, well oiled. CLICHE WARNING!: these old fogeys can teach them young turdburgers a two or thing!

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Brian Jonestown Massacre-FIRE DOESN'T GROW ON TREES CD-r bur (originally on A Recordings)

Nothing worth tossing the cornflakes over, but somewhat better than I remember the other BJM platters to have been. At least the references to past accomplishment are more vivid than usual, from the 1967 English psych of "The Real" to "What's in a Name?"'s solid adherence to the San Fran ballroom mode. True there's a whole load of modern production and false memories of previous musical successes (like the raging droneathon that was more of a late-eighties creation) but still, this makes way more sense to my own musical parameters than some of those overpriced psych imports I dumped a lotta money on back in the early nineties.

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EARTH OPERA LP (United States Sound Records)

I only bought this album by Colorado's Earth Opera (who are not to be confused with THEE Earth Opera on Elektra) because I espied their name on a '76 CBGB listing opening for none other than Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers. And like I've often said, if curiosity killed the cat there must be a millyun of 'em slaughtered what with me checking out these obscuros while on the lookout for a sound and style that I thought would somehow sate my sonic cravings. Or at least be a new Hackamore Brick or Sidewinders. Trite rock without any discernable ref. pts. that lacks the drive many original music acts of the seventies just seemed to ejaculate. In other words, this certainly ain't no Polystyrene Jass Band!

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Pete Townshend-WHO CAME FIRST? LP (Track/Decca Records)

A dig into the vaults pulled up this album that, or so I thought at the time, was actually the new Who LP! The version of "Pure and Easy" which starts it off is good though not as good as the one on ODDS AND SODS, while the rest comes off a bit too early-seventies twee for my tastes. I guess Sri Chinmoy wasn't into the same kinda hard rock the Who had been making their name with for a good half-decade or so.

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SLADE ALIVE! LP (Polydor Records)

Vault dig #2 upchucked this once popular effort from Slade, a bunch that was hot cakes all over the world 'cept in the USA where they were more like hot turds. SLADE ALIVE! ain't quite the KICK OUT THE JAMS that Greg Shaw and Mike Saunders made it out to be in an old issue of PHONOGRAPH RECORD MAGAZINE, but it does have the notion to rock away when it wants to. Such as on the Ten Years After cover that opens the album as well as the not as good as the original but still rousing version of "Born To Be Wild" which closes it. Not hard to find and really, pretty much worth the pennies you can pick it up with if you scour the flea market bins with some sort of diligence.

By the way, has anyone out there ever even seen the Slade single that came out on Skydog Records?

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THE ESSENTIAL JOSQUIN DES PREZ CD (Gaudeamus Records)

Sixteenth-century sacred vocal music that emits an air of total ethereal sanctity and unspeakable beauty that gives me a feeling like nothing I've heard since Thomas Tallas or at least THE MARBLE INDEX. Des Prez was a highly-regarded and imitated composer back in the 16th century and was famous for his use of harmony and counterpoint and a whole lotta things you forgot about in music class, but don't let that deter you from giving these chorales a go. They're so straightforward and pure in the way they envelop your sense of nobility that you'll wish they'd sing these songs in church 'stead of that horrid pop jive that's supposed to "inspire" people but just turns 'em off.

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If you liked the above, you just might like reading these back issues of BLACK TO COMM  that are still available even thought they should have sold out ages ago given their overall importance to the development of the fanzine form. Then again, if you liked reading the above maybe you should seek professional help. I mean, look at the mental predicament I've revealed by just merely writing the above sputum in the first place!