Time for another excruciatingly painful and snail paced edition of a blog that would get most people in this world of ours bored silly, enraged or for that matter totally pissed off! Not that this ain't anything new considering just how easy (and fun!) it is for me to go out of my way to irritate folk who are just asking no, make that BEGGING me to offended them. Sheesh, can you imagine just how many people there are out there (many who loathe me and my various works) who actually believe that they're no-doubt-about-it superior to and thus must rule over me (and maybe even you) because they were especially chosen by God or nature or whatever (if only because they're so kind and pure of heart) to have been "gifted" with tastes, opinions and good enough looks which gives them a heavenly enough reason to treat me like dirt. Well, I guess I'm just asking for it considering I'm so ikky 'n all but sheesh, with alla the people out there who claim that they're "God's Chosen" and especially anointed by Him to act snobbishly superior and rule over the hoards of us great unwashed types I think I'd prefer to be the shit from His ass. Well, it would be a whole lot more honest and for that matter self-respecting.
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Thankfully things are on a somewhat of an upswing here, if only because (on the same day!) I opened up a coupla neat packages sent to me by two devoted readers who'll do anything I say (except take out the garbage), Paul McGarry and Robert Forward! Paul's parcel contained a number of really hot burns not only requested by me (including a few rare mid-sixties airchecks of historical and funtime relevancy) but a number of items that I think he really wants me to hear and digest in my own intestinal way. Robert's was chock full of nothing but even more HEPCATS FROM HELL radio shows (some with and some without the infamous "R" Meltzer as host) which is great because that means I don't have to listen to NPR anymore! Not like I have at least since I was working a night shift and it was either the jazz show or Larry King gargling with gravel, and I was kicked outta that carpool with alla those blessed types mentioned in the paragraph above so I don't have to suffer through ALL THINGS CONSIDERED anymore! Anyway, lots of funtime listening is in store, so whatever you do don't bug me between the hours and six and eleven in the evenings, or Sat./Sun. PMs depending on my schedule.
As far as these broadcasts go, I've already trudged through the Murray the K one Paul sent which comes from the days when the K was inaugurating the concept of pre-stodgy AOR programming on WOR-FM. And to be more upfront than Chesty Morgan about it I am kinda surprised as to what actually was going down in the FM band them days --- y'see, I thought that the records that the man was spinning were going to be more in the early pre-hippoid FM style with some of those rarer "nugget if ya duggit" tunes that might have been just a li'l too strange for the transistor crowd (like I told you a millyun times, the guy got 86'd for spinnin' "War Sucks" which I will admit is a cool daddy way to go out!). It must've been too early in the FM rock game for that, but anyhoo it's pretty solid Top 40 that's in store without any of the more "adventurous" sounds that I would have associated with these early treks into the "maturing" of the rock 'n roll idiom. I find it way more'n "palatable" since this was during the top tier days of teenbo musical stomp, but why did the folk who posted this have to edit alla the music out? Well, even without the recs it's (to be NYC swanky about it) mah-valous hearin' Mr. "K" roaring through the broadcast givin' us a reminder of just how flashy deejays (even on the FM band) used to be before the days of wine and sopors.
Still goin' through the new batch of HEPCATS and as ya'd surely ponder what I have lent ear to is pretty much in the same outre mode as the other shows which did their best to portray the El Lay music scene in terms other than hack. Still comparatively restrained as far as some of the stories I've heard about this program...would love to encounter the ones where Meltzer'd spin turntables by hand frontwards and backwards and other decidedly non-professional actions that woulda gotten any high-stool deejay at least ten years detention. Maybe it'll turn up among these disques --- who knows?
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AS IF YOU CARED DEPT.: Cleaning out the bedroom sure can uncover some of the darndest things imaginable. Like half-eaten candy bars, rejection slips and this weirditie, a mouse-nibbled copy of...well, it's a comic book true but one made outta two beat up throwaways stapled together with a brand-spanking new cover and not only that but an original cartoon drawn by none other than me! During my pre-self abuse days I was creating comics books with my (perhaps not-so) original stories for my own amusement, but I guess the time came when I figured it would be easier if I just slapped together some old beat up coverless books I got at various flea markets and wrapped 'em up as if it was some sorta original creation of mine! Well, it sure took less time than drawing these bastards.
Jamming cheap comic book discards together to make a new and fresh title really is a kinda/sorta original thing, even if it is taking the easy way out as far as creating some downhome self-produced fun 'n jamz go. Still, COMIC STRIP sure is a winner what with the selection of early-seventies Archie stories and Paul Fung Jr. delineated Chic Young imitations, not to mention an entire page with but one single NANCY comic (guess I forgot to paste in more to fill it up) which only goes to show that I was wont to leave projects half-finished, something which reflects my general philosophy as well as my sieve-like mind. (I am tempted to get some NANCY's and finish up what I started to do a half-century back, but somehow I think I'd be tampering with HISTORY or something along those lines.)
My budding artistic talents are most certainly on display in the only original piece to pop up here, mainly the DICK TRACY cartoon seen on the back cover. What a style and mimicry I had, one that was sure to match that of Wally Wood or Bill Elder in their various endeavors throught the fifties and sixties! Not to mention a storyline that's as gripping as anything Chester Gould could have mustered up during his prime! Really folks, I'm surprised something like this wasn't used as evidence to have me shipped all the way to Polk State Hospital where I could be drawing comics to my heart's content, while dodging all of the dung I'm sure that would have been thrown my way.
But setting my youthful stoopidity aside, after giving this comic a go over and marveling over the resultant spew I'm thinking that perhaps I should have tried to sell some of my creations like RATS REAGAN and FEEBLE FABLES to the newspaper syndicates perhaps revolutionizing the entire comic strip industry in the process. Well, they most definitely woulda put most of the offal popping up in the funny pages these days to quite a shame that's fer sure!
Gee, I gotta say that I am so proud of this to the point where I'd like to get the thing slapped twixt to sheets of thick UV-ray prone plastic with one of those professional comic book gradings on top hermetically sealing the book for all eternity! Sheesh, even in its dilapidated form I'm sure some collector would want to snatch it up given my own fame and notoriety. But do you think I'd EVER give it up? Hmmmm, dangle a few thou in front of my snout and I may reconsider...
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Here's yet another list of some of the items I've been listening to (besides the goop reviewed way down below) during the creation of this post. Maybe now you'll believe that I am the complete man due to my hipper'n ever musical tastes just like you did with alla 'em kids writin' in with their own lists to MRR and FLIPSIDE!:
Umela Hmota 3 disc from the Josef Vondruska ROCK 'N' ROLLOVE MILACEK 2-CD set (Guerilla Records, Czech Republic)
UFO 1 CD with additional tracks CD (Repertoire Records, Germany)
The Shangs-SONNY BONO TEAR DOWN THIS WALL OF SOUND CD (Judigee! Records, Canada)
Art Ensemble of Chicago-AEC WITH FONTELLA BASS CD-r burn (originally on America Records, France)
Roscoe Mitchell-NONAAH 2-CD set (Nessa Records)
Terry Riley-PERSIAN SURGERY DERVISHES 2-CD set (Mantra Records, France)
The Heartbreakers-CBGB-NEW YORK 25th JULY 1975/7th SEPTEMBER 1975 CD-r burn
Suicide-disc two of THE SECOND SUICIDE ALBUM/THE FIRST REHEARSAL TAPES 2-CD set (Blast First Records, England)
The Fruit Eating Bears-THE LOST 1977 PUNK RECORDINGS CD-r burn
Various Artists-TOOTH AND NAIL CD-r burn
Fred Frith-GUITAR SOLOS LP (Caroline Records, England)
Frith/Fitzgerald/Reichel/Bailey-GUITAR SOLOS 2 LP (Caroline Records, England)
Parliament-RHENIUM LP (HTH Records, England)
Roxy Music-FIRST KISS 2-CD set (Gold Standard bootleg, Japan)
Can-TAGO MAGO 40th ANNIVERSARY 2 CD EDITION (Spoon Records, Germany)
THE RITE OF SPRING (LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS) BY IGOR STRAVINSKY - PIERRE MONTEAU CONDUCTING THE PARIS CONSERVATOIRE ORCHESTRA LP (RCA Red Seal Records)
THE BLACKEARTH PERCUSSION GROUP LP (Opus One Records)
The Human Arts Ensemble-LIVE VOL. II LP (Circle Records, Germany)
Kim Fowley-ANIMAL GOD OF THE STREET LP (Skydog Records, France)
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You know what I've discovered about the current state of peopledom? You can't help but loathe 'em, and I do mean all. Still, if you can USE 'em fine, but just don't let 'em let onto your true feelings!
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BE SMART AND LEARN SPANISH! Phrase of the day (directed to a good portion of my readership out there) --- "Usted es un maracon y un chupapollas!" As Eddie Haskell would have said, "It means you're a swell guy!"
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You can bet that when I get some time on my hands I'm gonna be pouring through these downloads of the entire run of the infamous folk (with sidesteps into rock 'n roll) fanzine LITTLE SANDY REVIEW! And since I went to the trouble to link this 'un up you'd better too.
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ALMOST bought the PULL DOWN THE SHADES compilation of the New Zealand fanzine entitled GARAGE that HoZac Books has recently sprung upon the world of rock reader-ism. What killed the deal you might ask? The Tom Lax interview (he being one of many who deserves the treatment I wished upon Jay Hinman a good six months back), that's what! And he lives a whole lot closer to me than Jay, so a one day trip could fill the bill just fine!
***BORENADO WARNING: Going against my own better judgement (and Eddie Flowers', who warned me that nobody really gives a number two about my long-winded reviews which often recount various episodes in my comparatively dull and boring existence*), I decided to really let go and crank out some multi-paragraphed and definitely elongated writeups this go 'round. My own personal opinion's that these longer'n usual writeups just might be some of the better scribbling efforts I've put out in quite some time, though I know most of you will undoubtedly think that these personalist blabathons are about as exciting as my pornography collection (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, SEARS CATALOG, mid-seventies issues of TIME and NEWSWEEK...). Well good for you, even though at this stage in the game I don't care what you think or care about me or what I write --- until I change my mind that is.
The rekindling of various AACM stirrings within the wax of my third ear had me latching onto this collection of the first two of the three Lester Bowie albums that came out on the short-lived Muse label (the third, a trumpet/drums duo with Charles "Bobo" Shaw which is entitled BUGLE BOY BOP might get the review treatment in a future post, or at least I hope it does!).
I've already had the first of the pair entitled FAST LAST! for quite some time, but since I hadda get it paired with LP #2 ROPE-A-DOPE which isn't available on its lonesome lest I want to buy an overpriced vinyl copy so its like I had little choice. Well, you could say that snatching this 'un up was an excuse to give FAST LAST! another spin and of course it's still good, flocculating between out there AACM/BAG squalls and somewhat straightforward takes on tuneage as squaresville as (if you can believe it, and I can!) "Hello Dolly"! Bowie's sidemen rank among the top outre types of the day from Julius Hemphill and Philip Wilson to some dudes who were not exactly known for their adherence to the way out aesthetics that the AACM was known for. Bassist Cecil McBee and even Art Blakey mainstay John Hicks pop up here and it ain't like these guys were quite in the same strata as Bowie and all of thise Midwest maulers. But don't fret, for it all comes out in the wash, 'specially the closing number "F Troop Rides Again" which makes me feel really good inside knowing that even the more further out players of the past used to get their kicks watching old tee-vee sitcoms just like I did and certainly will continue to do!
ROPE-A-DOPE's got the sound, a good buzz and fellow Art Ensemble of Chicago members Malachi Favors and Don Moye helping out. It also has Lester's brother and future Defunkt leader Joseph on trombone and violinist Raymond "The Wizard" Cheng on the opening track, he being a guy who not only pops up on the Frank Lowe classic BLACK BEINGS but a man who has a style that sounds like a smoother and fluider Leroy Jenkins (Jenkins being the standard of how I rate jazz violin!). Wonder why he never went as far as he shoulda...prob'ly the drugs.
Even some of my less-alert readers would call ROPE-A-DOPE more of the same what with an original arrangement of "St Louis Blues" taking the song in one distinct direction the way the Flamin' Groovies took it in quite another. Like its predecessor its quite the experience, with me finding the trumpet/bass/drums "Mirage" the kind of freeform jazz set-up I wish more working trios would have delved into. In fact the totality of "side two" lacks even one woodwind resulting in a sound that affects me (maybe even you) in quite an unusual way as the Bowie bros. rip and tear around the bass and percussion onslaught dredging up some long- buried emotions you've been keeping deep inside lo these many years. Maybe they're the emotions you would have preferred to have been left buried within the stockroom of your mind, but in my case they sure brought back warm 'n toasty memories regarding a whole lotta the somewhat occult excitement I encountered discovering this new thing during the later years of my teenbo existence. It's sorta like a music that represents your inner child caught playing with himself and OUT COME THE SCISSORS!!!!!!
From the sound of these I'm guessing BUGLE BOY BOP to be an equally stellar example of minimalist brass and percussion taken to perhaps even more stark reaches. Hey Paul you old fanabla you, hurry up with that burn willya? (And as I noted above, he did --- see next post for a write-up!)
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Here's one that I was quite curiouser than curiouser about in typical Alice in Wonderland fashion about after comin' across some boffo writeups way back in the Dark Ages we call the late eighties. Heck, I even recall writing to the fine folk behind this particular cassette (the same people who gave us MX-80 Sound in case you're interested) and for some odd reason hearing nada back, something which I considered strange because I had nil trouble getting ahold of the Junior Grenadier and Angel Corpus-Christi releases they were dishing out just a short time earlier. Having written, half-jokingly at that, about my lack of success in getting hold of this and other efforts in the pages of my own fine publication (back then I was being sent some of the worst offal passing as "amerindie" piddle whilst the truly vital goodies I hadda pay hard to come by bucks for) I was told, by a certain ex-CREEM staffer who has one of the biggest cases of Virtuosus Signatalus ever seen by man (he was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam hoohah, and how more self-righteous can one get???) that my failure in latching onto this very cassette was DEFINITELY because two of the people involved in this effort were of the Hebrew persuasion and obviously they would never deal with such an outright anti-Semite such as I! Funny, but I never thought it really showed...
Anyway, said rock critic (whose work I admired but found difficult to read afterwards sensitive soul that I was and shall remain) was definitely talking up his pacifist ass because, like I said, I managed to get a whole slew of tapes from these exact same people without them pulling any snobbish moral superiority tricks on me! Maybe my request just didn't reach them, but waddevvah my curiosity regarding this tape was buggin' me for quite some time considering the positive press that this band and release received. It eventually came to the point where what it sounded like became one of those gnawing questions that I've been trying to answer for what seems like ages. Aural hallucinations swirled in my brain, and just what this musical act had laid down became one of those gnawing things I just hadda know more about, along the lines of things like just who was that country and western heavy metal band from Texas that played at CBGB and Max's Kansas City way back in September 1981 anyway?
Well, thanks to the miracle of email I was able to finally get to hear this
'un courtesy the kindness of one Mr. Lindsay Hutton, who maybe
not-so-graciously but graciously enough anyway sent me a cassette dub of
Poetraphonics' COME LIKE BOMBS in exchange for a coupla back
issues of my crudzine that I've been trying to pawn off for ages. A good
trade on my part, but for some perhaps not-so-odd reason I think Mr. Hutton
got stiffed in this deal since those mags ain't exactly of what
I would call tippy top quality and this tape's a pretty good humdinger, not
without its faults mind you but something that reminds me of the better
aspects of eighties under-the-underground rock 'n roll that unfortunately
got wooshed away by the more irritating musical aspects of those
worser-than-worse times.
In fact you Chinaboise fans will be glad to know that "The Greatest Story Ever Told" pops up here, slightly reworked as "Work Is Hard" but still pounding enough for fans of the Bloomington brigade that gave us acts like this as well as the Gizmos, the Social Climbers and those West Coast wannabes the Screaming Gypsy Bandits. Fans of the late-seventies zeitgeist will also be thrilled to the tits by the Poets' take on the Iggy classic "Funtime" which (at least for me), sure dredged up memories of the spiritual opening of my musical appreciation 'round them times, even though I thought THE IDIOT was a flopperoo back when I first heard it upon release! Oh, and there's that "deconstruction" of "As Tears Go By" which is about as different from Marianne Faithful's take as BLOG TO COMM is from DEMOCRACY NOW.
Dunno if the people behind Poetraphonics are planning to re-release this with the required bonus tracks and of course a neato booklet detailing the group's history and bitter days of struggle. I kinda/sorta doubt it but they better, because even with the tendency to drive into my brain some of the reasons I struggled through (and continue to struggle through for that matter!) the post-'81 huge drop off in rock 'n roll quality COME LIKE BOMBS also reminds me of the freshness and at-times unique appeal that some of those groups that sprang forth from the loins of the likes of Patti, Iggy, Lou etc. were able to muster up with seemingly little or no effort. And no, I'm not on any special medication that would affect my abilities to reason and judge what is and ain't worthy for any of our ears as far as soundscapading goes. This is a pretty good wowzer in its own special wayshapeform and I'll even put your life on the line to defend my frank and forthright opinion!
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Hawkwind during their QUARK STRANGENESS AND CHARM days, undoubtedly one of their better times even though Brad Kohler would disagree, roaring through a couple of pretty hotcha sets laid down smack inna middle of Holland of all places! Band's in finer'n fine form what with Robert Calvert once again fronting and the better selections from their latest getting played for a small club audience who seem pretty appreciative given that they well, are from Holland, the land of treats, uncles and rubs. Each show climaxes with a boffo cover of "Waiting For My Man" showing that Hawkwind were staying true to their Ladbroke Grove roots even that far down the ol' line and were perhaps even more on the ball compared with some of their younger and punkier competition. You can burn both of 'em via Youtube, though if you're one of those hi-fi nut sound quality type of guys I'd suggest the Luxor one if only so's you stay true to your anal-retentive sense of sonic integrity.
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If you think that HAVE MOICY represents the spirit of lysergic Americana way more than all of those Marin County casualties ever did you'll want to burn this 'un off Youtube as well. Stampfel and co. dig out a number of newies to my ear as well as the hits offa their most recent chartbuster and if all of them feelings you had when you first discovered these guys don't come rushin' back then your third ear undoubtedly needs a good wax cleanin'. Makes you feel proud to be a member of urban hillbilly freakdom, or at least spiritually a part of it. Best parts, the covers of "Wooly Bully" and "Be True To Your School" not forgetting the infamous HMR chestnut "Fucking Sailors in Chinatown" which I somehow think would offend quite a few sensitive souls in these sad 'n sorry times.
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This a sorta cleaned up version of the OUT OF OUR TREE-era Wailers for national consumption. The inclusion of such tit-rubbers as "It's You Alone" at the expense of the more raucous material from TREE was sure to placate those more mellow rock types who weren't into the raucousness of it all. Fine for them although fans of the hard rock Northwest Sound are sure to get pee'd.
Quite a few Beatles influence can be sniffed out (the Fab ones shoulda sued for the way the Wailers re-conditioned "Drive My Car" on "Turn and Run"!) and the nod to Indian mysticism via "Bad Trip" shows that the guys were not the baggy suit shorthairs of their first platter anymore.
Like it or lump it, but ya gotta admit that when the Wailers were taking on current pop trends they took it on in their own special fashion and weren't just mere copycats out to scam cooze with the female pantie wetters of the day! Not bad even with the slowies!
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Warn't aware of this particular grouping until I chanced upon a posted video of 'em during a recent Youtube stroll. Got Mr. McGarry to burn it for me and now I have a really good show by this quartet that'll be a pretty keeno backdrop to late night readings of the various mid-seventies CREEMs that are living in my clothes closet forevermore.
Ulmer's at his usual fit form playing a really small electric guitar that kinda looks like one of those Audiovox solid bodies of the thirties while Rivers does pretty good for a 69-er going from free to blues to even some rock territory fitting in with the new "punk funk" mode just fine. The rest of the quartet (Kim Clarke on bass guitar and Aubrey Dayle on drums) keep it all together as much as you'd expect...btw Clarke is the current bassist for Defunkt, one of them eighties-born heroin-infused lower Manhattan aggregates (led by noted trombonist and brother to Lester Joseph Bowie) that I didn't even know were even still around. You'll think it's a bit too commercial in spots but eh, I can withstand it if only to get to the gnarly moments!
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After combing through some of these (no, all of these) back issues of BLACK TO COMM I've come to the conclusion that they really are the pits. The writing (well, at least mine) is atrocious with nth degree Meltzer swipes lacking in any honest insight or dazzle, the photo reproduction is for the most part horrid, the layout looks as if Stevie Wonder did it and the overall spirit and joy that should have been part and parcel to a publication such as this has been replaced by a dog-tiredness that for the most part comes off desperate. You think the above writing's bad??? Right now I just can't stand even looking at these losers staring me straight inna puss. Please do me a favor and GET THESE FANZINES OUT OF MY LIFE and hopefully for good!
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*Perhaps the best criticism of my writing (good natured criticism that is, otherwise I woulda ignored it with a passion sensitive soul that I am!) that was ever leveled my way. Only wish I wish I had adhered to it much earlier in my career.
10 comments:
i like the cranberries. :)
You're a fool if you don't buy that Pull Down The Shades book. It's the tits.
Nixon wasn't being raped. He just always wanted to have an 18.5" gape. Besides, it's nothing he didn't do with Bebe Rebozo.
The Comic Strip cover makes me think there should be a band called Archie & the Underbites.
Hey, Chris! Don't put down NPR! They have some righteous jazz programing. Peace out, bro!
your header is all dudes except for nancy and yoko.
gay?
happy pride!
:)
I wish you would have drawn a page of ads for comic strip number one. I would have liked to have seen your pre-pube take on x-ray spex. I sent away for sea monkeys and the dad did wear a spiffy hat but unlike in the ad he did not smoke a pipe! Sea monkeys are a rip-off!
What a tremendous post Chris!
Pops O'Reilly
Trying to tell me that Lester Bowie is an accomplished musician is like trying to make a case that vomit smells good, that Totie Fields was a sexpot.
Does! Not! Compute!
BTW, Black to Comm gets mentioned by Bruce Russell in an interview near the end of Pull Down The Shades. He talks about an interview with Lou that you printed where he talks about guitar playing.
Eh, still not gettin' it.
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