BLOG TO COMM

You know us, we're the site that has relied on artificial intelligence long before that term became oh-so handy dandy! Welcome aboard (and welcome abroad in case there are any readers of the female persuasion out there) for another ride into the world of (hopefully) highly offensive unchained rockism, and even though as usual I don't think that this episode is anything too special (but special enough, I guess) I will give it the ol' college of hard knocks try anyway. With that and my natural charms maybe I can put out a post that just might do swell as far as titillating your cranial nerve ends and perhaps curling or straightening your hair, depending on where the hair is located of course. 

But to be even more honest than Al Capp about it, for the most part I couldn't care one whit what any of you think of either me or my way superior to anything you've even thought of efforts. Well, at least not at this time when my guard is up (things do change emotions-wise) but anyway, you could say that I'm just bidin' my time going through the motions of doing this blog if only to dredge up some of them fun tingles I usedta get listening to music back when I was young and way stoopider than I am now. Having been around humanity for quite a while, I've come to the conclusion that maybe my readers are all nothing but animated corpses anyway so why bother trying to appease you sub-zombie sputum anyway? As the ol' meme says, "change my mind."

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Biggest shock of the post just has to be the news that Brad Kohler wrote me about the extreme likelihood that the (should be, and probably is) legendary Miriam Linna is doing the Karen Quinlan on none other'n the entire Norton Records enterprise! Now it could be argued that things just weren't the same after co-Nortonite Billy Miller passed away but eh, the company was still chuggin' along at a pretty good pace even if, for the life of me, I never did bother to buy anything from 'em in quite a long while. Mostly due to money concerns but then again...

With the passing of Norton also comes the likelihood that the long-promised issue of KICKS that's been having me hold in my guts waiting for that ULTIMATE EXCUSE TO USE THE TOILET for lo these many years is never gonna see the light of day! And you wonder why I've been getting fat as of late --- that ain't blubber I'm storin' up nosiree! 

Maybe the dynasty will last long enough for the mag to eventually come out (I've always wondered about that obscure group called the Beatles, also known as the Five Shits, that were mentioned in those UGLY THINGS ads) but I kinda doubt it given just how a lot of these good things that have been promised to us over 'n over again just never do seem to pan out. Well, all them years of Norton releases, KICKS and, of course, Miriam's writings really do add up to a whole lotta plusses on the rock 'n roll fandom front so like, maybe she's done her part for the cause and a whole lot more t'boot so why mourn?

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Still pouring through the HEPCATS FROM HELL Cee-Dee burns which continue to make a rather earth-shaking life-reaffirming impact on my entire reason for existence. Naturally it's all whatcha'd call extremely stimulating material, giving the grey matter the ol' massage on one hand then kicking it down the stairs the next and we can sure use more of that in our systems, eh? Yeah there's way too much reggae on the shows where Kickboy Face either hosts or guests (no surprise at that as any sturdy SLASH reader coulda told ya!) but I really like the little bits of heretofore unknown knowledge and long-forgotten music that gets splattered throughout the lost remnants of a cool El Lay past. The show where Top Jimmy hosted was tops, and wait until you hear about Meltzer's encounter with none other than Lash Larue!

Mr. Forward, who sent me the HEPCATS shows, also slipped my way what is labeled a "Freeform FM Radio KSAN Tom Donahue" disque which purports to be a slice of what I assume is an early-seventies broadcast. I'm not so sure about that considering not only the exemplary sound quality but the smattering of trackage ranging across a rather large AOR timespan, but it was of interest even if there is something a little fishy about the whole schpiel. 

Methinks that someone got some snippets of Donahue blabbing about, cleaned up the sound, added fresh-sounding music and let it loose on an unsuspecting public. Sorta like those old CRUISIN' platters only with the wordage being as it originally aired. Interesting but has that air of phony-balonyisms that doesn't quite gel.

Makes me wonder if any airchecks of WMMS-FM back when they were an actual freeform force and not an arm of industry hackdom exist, or even the old WOR-FM back in the days when Murray the "K" got canned because he actually spun the Red Crayola's "War Sucks"!

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MORE FANMAIL FROM SOME FLOUNDER! Cleaning up my room sure dredges up some pretty disturbing artyfacts of a past I'd soon prefer to forget, as the following cheery missive from none other than another build up/tear down artist, the noted record company mogul not named Clive Davis and all 'round good guy himself Gerard Cosloy proves:

'n sheesh, I like Luna and Berlin Airlift (or at least a nice portion of what I've heard by 'em) which goes to show you that some people, no matter how high up on the Mount Olympus of amerindie power and might they are, just don't know what they're talking about! Oh I keep forgetting that it's all a matter of "taste" and that taste could be nothing but raw anus but anyhoo, thank goodness that in the here and now I'm way less susceptible to these Hinman/Amory-styled set ups which is one reason I try to avoid a good portion of you readers like the plague (other'n if I want something from you, that is). And I thought Cosloy was such a good writer too, even when he was doing that ol' adolescent toughkid routine which really does tire as time rolls on.

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Lessee, what have I been doing, other'n feeling sorry for myself* about things I'd prefer to bury in the deeper reaches of my cranium? Well, I have come across a few old and long-forgotten items that I've had the pleasure of re-reading, or perhaps reading for the first time since well, during the heyday of my crudzine there was a lot that sorta wooshed right by me and maybe now's the time for me to do a li'l catching up. 

Like this xerox'd JIMMY OLSEN saga that popped up amid a whole load of caga (inc. the letter above) which for the life of me I can't remember reading at all way back in the '90s when it was sent.  When I was first getting my grip in the field of comic books I really liked the older Superman sagas which, next to the fresh 'uns that were popping up at the newsstand, reflected that fifties/pre-hippoid sixties fun 'n jamz style that reverbs in my soul even to this day. And this particular saga from ish #87 (Sept. 1965) (which combines the aw-shuckness of Olsen with those Bizarro stories I really usedta get a kick outta) woulda been a topper 'n top fave had I chanced upon it way back when, not only with the Olsen/Bizarro angle but because of the older generation lampooning of rock 'n roll that always exposed a side to the teen mania of the day I'm sure many teens just loathed! I always got a belly laugh outta these stories whether they be in the comic strips or on tee-vee even if some of my classmate types seemed to be "offended" given how they never could "take" any criticisms or jibes at their generation, no matter how obviously satirical (or as realistic) as they may have been.  I've decided to print the first page and first page only just so's you can get but just a taste.

Hmmmm, maybe in this particular story the main character shoulda been known as "Jimi" Olsen what with them gyrations of his 'n all! But with all of the fun and "camp" this saga oozes out its pores its the legendary "Bizarro Code" printed at the lower right of the page that really gets to me! Back when this story debuted anyone with their head on tight would have agreed that said code was rather loopy and an aberrancy straight out of the mind of a madman, but here in 2023 it's more or less metastasized into the DNA makeup of pretty much the entire world where beauty is loathed, perfection is frowned upon, good is evil and bad people are innocent. And considering the state of the world since the time this story originally appeared well, all I gotta say is that maybe I'd have a way better quality of life and way way MORE peace of mind on the Bizarro planet than I have here on terra not-so-firma these sad 'n sorry days!

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HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE DEPARTMENT!: no foolin' but I had a dream that I actually put out a BLACK TO COMM #26! And although I woke up soon after whilst screaming my lungs out I get the feeling that, had I kept on dreaming, it wouldn't have sold either.

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Don't get your hopes up. It's just the usual mix of new items, old standbys and even some things I actually didn't have to beg Paul McGarry or Bob Forward for:

The Revolutionary Ensemble-MANHATTAN CYCLES CD-r burn (originally on India Navigation Records)

The Ensemble live 12/31/72 not only playing an album-length Leo Smith composition but doing their best to, how shall we say, make it about as much of their own as they could. Can you think of a better way to spend a New Year's Eve, eh? For those of you who have read the past few posts extolling the virtues of this co-op unit here's more of the same, perhaps not as vitriolic as the rest of the catalog but still essential for followers of the newer-than-new thing that was sprouting up at the time. Features a special guest appearance by Billie Holliday, sorta.

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Television-LIVE... LONG ISLAND 1978 CD-r burn (originally on a label I believe is called "Time Arc" --- probably a bootleg but who knows?)

Gotta say that I haven't spun any Television in about ten or so years thinking that I've heard more'n enough of 'em in one lifetime. So I guess Mr. Forward's passing of this one onto me was what they call providence, or Warwick for that matter. Taken from a WLIR-FM broadcast, this 'un shows Tom Verlaine and company in pretty fine form having worked out those rough edges that I loved in their early days but wha' th' hey... Mostly reminds me of a time when real energy and innovation in music wasn't shoved to the back of the stove in favor of alla that fluff wave and helium metal that aging bongoids still seem to get all rheumy-eyed over for obvious reasons.

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WCSB LOST LIVE TRAXXX --- THE HUMAN SWITCHBOARD AND J'ACCUSE

Switchboard sound a whole loads better'n I remember them to've been after being crowned the local new wave group that was safe to see via some WMMS Coffee Break Concert and afternoon tee-vee appearances. Still I would've trampled over 'em to get to an Electric Eels reunion. Never heard J'Accuse or of them for that matter, but they were one of those groups that, while not annoying and definitely musically inclined enough to be enjoyable, seemed to lack focus. Maybe it's because the singer admits to having not slept in two and a half day. Maybe it's because the instrumental backing consists solely of bass guitar and drums (though they sound full enough as did a number of other bass/drums duos whose names escape me at the moment). I wouldn't want a steady diet of this and after about fifteen minutes I think I had a steady diet so like, tread with caution.

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The Hellcows-TOOTHLESS LP (Black Label Records)

I hain't been playing any (not even one note!) new era rock lo these past thirtysome years, so dragging this platter outta the bin was a refreshing change from the same ol' same ol'. Portland Oregon before it became the compost heap its citizens turned it into, though this music does sound like some sort of precursor. Hard 'n heavy avant sax mixed with eighties over-the-top total eruption music that will dredge up the wall of sludge that passed for under-the-underground tuneage. The resultant spew is bloody enough to make FUNHOUSE sound like Mantovani. For fans of the Amphetamine Reptile label which makes me wonder, whatever happened to the forces behind THAT???

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Test!-LIVE AT CB'S 313 GALLERY, EARLY 90'S CD-r burn

I guess free jazz at the CBGB Gallery (and later on Lounge) was up and about long before the advent of Dee Pop's freestyle series. Here's a set by just one of the earlier performers at the venue, an act called Test! who had in their ranks quasi-famous trumpeter/woodwinder Daniel Carter and Sabir Mateen on woodwinds along with Poki (good thing it wasn't "Pookie") Hudgins on bass guitar and Tom Bruno on drums. The last two guys I never head of but they sure hold up more than just a "backbeat" for the hornblowers who play in that post-post Ayler free and up above and in-between notes style. Test! sure brought back all of them outside jazz memories of the Sam Rivers Studio Rivbea loft scene of the mid-seventies, and I wasn't even aware of that until I read a review of the WILDFLOWERS series in some now rotting issue of DOWN BEAT wasting away in my basement!

There's some mighty horn play about twenty minutes in that (once again) recalls them past seventies pleasures that I'm sure you would have thought dissipated from this mortal jazz coil around the time Ken Burns decided to turn the entire genre into boring anecdotal schmalz too stodgy for even a history book. And yeah, although this sound ain't exactly the kind of blast that's gonna appeal to Aunt Petunia it sure is something to cleanse the soul of way too many years of jazz as bowtie and cummerbund music custom made for noshing.  

'n if you want it, here it is, though would you nimnuls quit walking in front of the camera!: (OK it's been deleted because of a canceled account. Too bad because you probably woulda loved it!)

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Tuxedomoon-MAX'S KANSAS CITY LIVE APRIL 1979 EP CD-r burn

Didn't even know about this 'un until recently and, for the life of me, I wondered how I could have gone so long without knowing of its existence. Turns out this release from San Francisco art rockers Tuxedomoon didn't even see the light of day until 2018, which is kinda sad because it woulda done everyone a whole lot more good in 1979 than it would at a time when mankind had devolved into such a mass of ooze that anything that happened two days ago is already considered ancient history.

But I won't complain even if the moment has been lost, for this 'un doesn't fall prey to the usual new unto gnu wave pratfalls that made the early eighties a time I was questioning a lot of what transpired in the late seventies. Sure it has some of the prissiness that a name like Tuxedomoon would suggest, but even with the more irritating aspects that plauged a good portion of "new wave" the music fortunately decided not to lop its balls off for the sake of art as aht. 's a nice electroburn somewhere in between mid-seventies Roxy Music and that one group whose name I dread mentioning over 'n over considering just how many lesser rock critic snoots have done the exact same thing these last fiftysome years to the point of them words losing all of the mystical potency they once had.

Only wish the entire show woulda been released but be thankful I posted the Youtube video below so's you don't have to dish out any money for a download directly from Tuxedomoon's bandcamp site. But hey, if you wanna go that route and get even more, then why not? (POSTSCRIPT: sorry that the video has been taken down --- tried to remove it but for some reason can't!)

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Roscoe Mitchell-NONAAH 2-CD set (Nessa Records)

I didn't want to overload this post with too many free jazz reviews, but given that there seems to be the newer than new thing on my mind as of late I figure that you guys need the education. So whatever you do, don't blame me for bettering your life! Yup, more of that AACM farther out 'n anything else that was goin' on at the time outer reaches music that's appealed to me for longer 'n I can imagine, with Mitchell solo or paired off with other Chicago stalwarts such as Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams etc. T'was a time when these new directions players were thankfully getting a good shake via the jazz press and big time record labels, and if you miss those days when you could actually snatch up recs like this at the local hangout then buy this and get all nostalgic about it until you puke.

'n don't miss out on the title track (a quad-alto workout) if you want a totally searing to thine ears experience.

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ANCIENT ROMAN MUSIC CD-r burn

Dunno the whys and wherefores of this, just had Paul McGarry burn this collection of 2000 year old music because I want to expand my sonic parameters. But is it authentic or just some modern rehash of surviving musical annotations that are probably misconstrued way beyond belief?

Even if they are incorrect translations I gotta say that the music found here is not just entertaining but engrossing to a great degree. I can't complain even if at times a good portion of it does sound like it coulda been used for the soundtrack of some Hercules crankout. Shards of a past seemed lost to time do fascinate. I find the Brian Jones JOUJOUKA platter quite the invigorating experience --- maybe if someone phased these tracks out the effect would be quite the same?

Still, it's nice and romping, intense and rhythmic, introspective and brash (depending) music performed on flutes, harps, trumpets and drums. At times this music's reminiscent of various Mediterranean and Middle-East folkisms proving this stuff does stick around for a long time. Now I realize that the music Can had been making all those years wasn't as up to date as I was led to believe. 

Listen while staring at the trees and you'll connect with the far past feeling secure in the fact that some things, like nature and an appreciation for the concept of sound, have remained intact for a longer time than any of us could have ever imagined.

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Vic Godard & the Subway Sect-A RETROSPECTIVE (1977-1981) LP (Rough Trade Records, England)

I reviewed a Subway Sect Cee-Dee compilation on this very blog ages back, but I came across this vinyl "best of" while roaming through the stacks and thought "why not?" And I won't even refer to my earlier writeup in order to snitch ideas or see if I'm contradicting myself either! 

One of the rising stars of the '77 English scene, the Sect started off as a straighter-ahead-than-most-of-the-competition punk band steeped in past accomplishment to the point where their early stuff (like many other contemporaries) could easily pass for mid-sixties local teenage crankout! As the years progressed the Sect veered into a more professional and at times maybe too commercial style that kinda reminds me of some of those poofs who were hitting the charts at the time. Only they did it slightly better to the point where those bad radio feelings don't come rushing back to haunt you. Gotta credit 'em for being a group of the punk variety that didn't go punque once the eighties got into gear.

Goes to show you that Jonh Ingham was right grouping the Sect in with Siouxie, the Slits and Wire in his article on future sound trends that appeared in the final issue of BOMP! 

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I've been trying to dump these back issues of BLACK TO COMM for a longer time than I can imagine, with hardly anyone out there taking the bait and purchasing enough of these mags in order for me to recoup at least a good portion of what I poured into 'em money-wise. Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that putting these crudzines out was not done for monetarily renumeration but only outta the goodness of my purest of pure heart which goes to show you just what kind of a stoop I really am! 

I ought to bill alla those turds out there who were badmouthing me and my efforts for alla the sales that shoulda transpired but didn't due to the bad knocks they gave me, but that would be an even more Herculean task than cleaning out the Aegean Stables of my back issue department! Aww, why dont'cha naysayers (you know who you are) who were putting me down way back when make REAL amends, not this "I apologized to you twenty years ago even though I never paid the PENANCE I should've" drivel, take a load off my back and put a load of money in my wallet? Who knows, maybe someday I'll like you for it, but I probably won't.

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*'n nothing wrong with that since none of you "devoted" readers ever feel sorry for me! Waaah!