BOOK KINDA THINGY REVIEW - PATTI SMITH --- HIGH ON REBELLION (Babylon Books, England)
Not a fanzine, a magazine or a book for that matter (actually its one of those quickie churn outs that Babylon Books used to splatter all over the place a good fortysome years back), but HIGH ON REBELLION's bound to get people like myself who are obsessed with sixties/seventies rock mythology and the one called Patti Smith's involvement with it somewhat excited. Not totally excited like I was while reading through Sandy Robertson's WHITE STUFF but good enough to rekindle the old nodes of rock energy and ranch house suburban slob bliss that sorta petered out once the early-eighties really got into gear.
To be as honest as J. Neo Marvin about it this 'un really ain't worth it if you've been in on the Smith game since the early-seventies. I'm sure that there are more'n just a few of you out there who were on to her back then anxiously pouring through her write ups and articles for a wide variety of pubs, not to mention latching onto your own prized copy of HORSES as soon as that 'un hit the bins. There are TONS of reprints of articles and other Patti ephemera that you probably already read once or at least copped via choice nuggets that popped up in WHITE STUFF or ANOTHER DIMENSION, and really do we need to see those nude snaps of her once again lest our testicles shudder in fear and run back up to the ribcage for safety?
Still, the original text regarding the lass and her history is well written (although nothing out of the ordinary is revealed) and there are a few bits that have passed me up even this late in life such as a NEW YORK TIMES piece by then-contributor Jonathan Cott. You may remember this guy --- he's the same Jonathan Cott who whipped up some rather high-minded and somewhat flitzy material in the early edition (and even later) of ROLLING STONE. (To me he's best known not only for the interviews with John Lennon and Karlheinz Stockhausen that appeared in the mag's early pages but a snooty high-minded putdown of the Red Crayola in their tenth anniversary issue calling them the bummers of the San Francisco Summer O' Love going against the entire grain of the spirit and warm 'n toasties those days exuded. Well I definitely am exaggerating but Cott sure didn't go for the group's atonal shenanigans which thankfully did a good nose thumb at all of the youth-gone-rancid loveydoveyness that was in the air.)
Cott aside I will admit that this entry fits in with my own ideals of just how much 1964-1981 were the real hard-driving years for rock 'n roll (and I don't mean the same kinda LSD haze that I assume Cott reveled in nor the whole James Taylor First Family of Rock spew his mag foistered on a generation of gullible kids) and how Smith, for all her rather creepy eccentricities, was a rock 'n roll fan like the rest of us who fortunately got to live her fantasies of being as big as her idols out unlike a schlub such as I. But given the oft-seen reprints and same-old packaged in a nice 'n glossy color cover effort I coulda done without it. I didn't and like well, it does snuggle nicely into my own '64-'81 homage to an era long gone and missed (at least by me) library that's cluttering up the place to the point where I just might be the next subject matter on the HOARDERS television show!
Thursday, June 20, 2024
SINGLES GOING STROONAD AGAIN AND AGAIN ONANONANONANISM...
Yet another trek into the vaults showcasing a whole buncha records of the seven-inch set.A good excuse to revisit long-unheard spinners hidden in the back of the pile which I will admit have yielded quite a few surprises even to me...
Died Pretty-"Out of the Unknown"/"World Without" (Citadel Records,
Australia)
Australia was still buzzin' when this Rob Younger-produced single hit the
consciousnesses of more'n just a few rock-starved OCD's back in the dark days
of '84. Side one sounds more like It's All Meat when they were doing their
early Pink Floyd moves than it does the Doors but still has its feet firmly
planted in psycho terra firma. The flip not-so-oddly enough reminds me more of
the Chocolate Watchband with that opening which sounds as if it came straight
outta "Baby Blue". A few years later it all came off watered down when
compared with what had transpired but when it was fresh boy, did I think that
the next Golden Age was upon us and like now!
***
Mike Rep and the Quotas-"Mama was a Schitzo Daddy Was a Vegetable
Man"/"Rocket Music On" (Hozac Records)
I don't think I should review this 'un considering how these guys have
consorted with the enemy, but random pulls outta the collection being random
pulls and all I got stuck with it. Low fidelity '76 vintage Ohio local rock
with the same sorta suburban slob approach as the Real Kids or perhaps even
the Screamin' Mee Mees, something which should not come as a surprise
considering all of the raw scrapes of sound that were being laid down not only
in that state but in the entire world just about the same time. For those of
you about to reduce rock 'n roll to a compost heap of sound, we salute you!
***
Simon and Garfunkel-"El Condor Pasa"/"Why Don't You Write Me" (Columbia
Records)
Another random pull out, and an
inherited one at that (as if I'd ever
buy such a thing)! The hit side proves once and for all that Paul Simon was
swiping from the indigenous ones long before "Mother and Child Reunion" let
alone GRACELAND, but if anything this 'un reminds me of the adolescent
fun and jamz I used to have changing the lyrics to such absurdities as "I'd rather eat a booger than a turd" ... (another one was
"I'd rather be a penis than a cunt --- you silly runt --- go on a beaver
hunt" which is something you would expect from a twelve-year-old only I was
35!). The flip snoozes on though I will praise it for being at least
tepid. Can you really run it through your brain that there were millions of
14-year-old girls out there who took this record (and this duo) to their
flatter'n a pancake bosoms?
***
12,000 GIRL SCOUTS SING AMERICA'S NATIONAL FAVORITES 7-inch 33 rpm EP
(United Artists Records)
And speaking of flat bosoms...twelve-thousandgirl scouts???Them gals sure hadda sell a whole lotta cookies to make it to this jamboree where
I'm sure they not only had quite a good time skinny-dipping (hopefully without
their Troop Leader lecherously spying on them) but got to record this EP of hoary chestnuts both familiar and not. It must've been utter heck to get 'em all
singing in tune and all together for that matter, but they do and the results
kind of remind me of either an avgarde musical experiment I'm sure John Cage
would have loved to have conducted, or something that would have transpired in
Mao-era China where one out of place squeal would send said singer to the
re-education camp definitely
not
of his choice. Audio proof that 12,000 girl scouts can't be wrong, or
better not be wrong to be more precise about it!
***
Tiny Tim-"Comic Strip Man (Biff Bam Slam)"/"Tell Me That You Love Me" (Solid
Brass Records)
Gotta love Tiny Tim for trying to keep abreast of all the latest trends 'n
gimmix in order to rev up that BIG COMEBACK he always thought was
just around the corner. On this '81 release Tim attempted to cash in on the
then-recent superhero revival complete with cheesy to the limit gal back up
singers and Southern California session men who I'll bet'd rather be reading
HUSTLER that working with this once-living legend. You know what it sounds like already, and I love every second
of it. Other side's one of those trips back to the kind of twenties/thirties
music that Tim gnarled his teeth with, or better yet the late-sixties
nostalgia trip that Tim rose to the charts on. Thus you could call this an
early-eighties nostalgic yearning for the nostalgic yearnings of 1968! Kinda
like people whose only fond memories of the fifties are via
HAPPY DAYS 'r somethin'.
***
4-Skins-"I'm Mad"/"When I'm Gone" (Grove Records)
Lotsa local rock groups that shoulda put out records back in the
late-seventies/early-eighties didn't, while a lot who shouldn't have most
certainly did. However, we can be thankful that NYC's 4-Skins were of the
former persuasion what with this rather boff spinner that delivers the goods
straight-ahead rather than being hung up on the varying early eighties trends
which practically laid waste to the entire genre. "Mad" is an onslaught of
straight ahead pre-punque heavy duty sounds which roars on though ends after a
mere one minute and forty-eight seconds. "Gone" actually enters into some
funky territory and dredges up memories of a music I sure wish proliferated
'stead of then flavors of the week that unfortunately took up way too much
space in the pages of THE NEW YORK ROCKER and
TROUSER PRESS. More of this kind of raucousness was needed by groups
like the Skins (and a ton of unknown/unreleased acts) back then and maybe even
now in a world where rock has been dead and buried for a good four decades
already.
***
Nico-FOUR SONGS LIVE AT CBGB, MARCH 8, 1979 EP (What Goes On Records)
It was quite some time since Nico's last record so this EP did come in quite
handy. Four songs recorded straight to cassette in what sounds like a quite
intimate setting, one where you can ever hear the muffled chatter at the
tables. Lutz Ulbrich strums guitar on "All Tomorrow's Parties" and Nico howls
her harmonium on the rest. When this one does pop up for sale it's usually at
an affordable price so you don't have to worry about any bank breaking on your
part.
***
Gene Vincent-"Be-Bop-A-Lula '62"/"The King of Fools" (Capitol Records,
Germany)
It's too bad that Vincent's '62 re-do didn't do anywhere near as well as the
Ventures' "Walk Don't Run '64" because the thing really does have that
sorta/coulda been feeling. "'62"'s a jauntier take on the original with an
overall feeling and production that might have been more suitable for the
whole Rydell/Vee crowd than the greaser jaunt of the late-fifties, but as the
old cliche goes "it works!" Well, somewhat. Yeah, it was a comedown of
sorts but then again Vincent could have sung Brad Kohler's report card and it
would have sounded great. There's more of the same on the flip, this time
complete with backup vocalists who sound as if they escaped from a
SING ALONG WITH MITCH taping not to mention an overall direction
that's as MOR as can be. It is better'n anything you've heard on the radio or
tee-vee for the last fiftysome years so shut your trap and open your mind.
***
The Beach Boys-"Good Vibrations"/"Let's Go Away For Awhile" (Capitol
Records)
You, me and even Helen Keller have heard the a-side overnovernover to the
point of gagdom, but the instro flip really does satisfy those of us who still
have somewhat of an appreciation for what they used to call California
Sunshine Pop. A melding of moods and shifts that only a troubled mind could
have come up with. "Let's Go" is the strange missing link between the original
instrumental surf era and the new poppier sounds that were just on the horizon, and if original owner Michele Hodge is out there you can always stop in to
take a gander at your long-gone record as long as I'm home during a day in the
week with the letter "z" in it during a total eclipse.
***
Jane's Addiction-"Whole Lotta Love"/"Slow Diver" (Hell's Gate Records
bootleg)
I loved the dickens outta this 'un when I first heard it way way back, but how
does the thing hold up now that I'm older and much stupider if I am to believe some of you readers? The
Zep cover still manages to tingle, sounding like something that I'm sure a few
thou groups from the seventies and beyond coulda whipped up and maybe even
performed at a Saturday night prance. "Slow Diver"'s the kicker, with moody
late-sixties Pink Floyd organ intermingling with RADIO ETHIOPIA-era
Patti Smith mystico mumbo jumbo that sure brings back warn 'n toasty memories
of how I thought these late-eighties punk groups were gonna resurrect the
mid-seventies teenage lament after years of squeaky clean whitewash.
Unfortunately their debut album wasn't as good as far as I can remember, and I
have the feeling that their subsequent ones weren't as well.
***
The Downliners Sect-"White Caterpillar"/"Lord of the Ring", "Spider"
(Garageland Records, Sweden)
Even the Downliners Sect couldn't resist the lure of psychedelia as these
released only in Sweden tracks so plain as the nose on Nanette Fabray's face reveal. With titles like "White
Caterpillar" you can tell that the Sect were about as far into the psychedelic
groove as the Troggs which I gotta admit says a whole lot more
positive about the Sect and Troggs'
contributions to the form than it does about the Jefferson Airplane's.
Pretty hard rockin' for the Sect as well, and I wonder if any of those Sect
haters who wanted to piss in Don Craine's deerstalker cap way back when woulda
had different thoughts had this record made its way to their ears? Prob'ly not
but what else is new?
***
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments-CAREER INTERRUPTION CODE 33 rpm EP (Datapanik
Records)
Mighty fine lo-fi wail on this 33 rpm spinner where the Apartments "borrow"
heavily from everything from "Waiting For My Man" and "Gloria" to re-invent
the concept of garage band rock the way most of you lunks probably first heard
it via BACK FROM THE GRAVE. Trash enough (read:
PERFECT) for my own personal tastes and
perhaps yours too unless you're some sorta troll who likes to get his kicks
writing stoopid comments on this blog. Notched many points for mentioning the
excretable fanzine upper-echelon snob Tom Lax on the sleeve...wotta twat!
Y'know, if I only realized that Ron House was being sarcastic when he was
whining the ikky "Letter to a Fanzine" on that Homostead sampler I
wouldn't've given him and his Great Plains the razzing that I did. (Well, I
gotta say that for the past fiftysome years it has been hard for me to
separate put on from reality as most of my readers have surely found out, and vice-versa for that matter.) Boy
did that start a feud to rival the Al Capp/Ham Fisher hatespew, the one that
ended with the latter's suicide (no self-inflicted demises in our case as of
yet). This 'un should forever redeem House in my eyes, but since I get the
feeling that the guy
continues to loathe
me just like most of you sophisticado types out there most certainly do (he once described me as looking like an "insect" and if it were to be a butterfly I'd punch him in the mouth!) forget I said anything
nice about him. Like anyone ever said anything nice about me (as if I should care
anymore, but at times I do) so screw 'em all!
***
The Trashmen-"Henrietta"/"Rumble" (Sundazed Records)
This won't make any of those one-dimensional self-appointed hip kinda people
change their minds about the "Surfin' Bird" creators but it will bolster our
own faith in the entire Trashmen oeuvre. High quality sound too unlike the
roller rink acoustics I thought would have been associated with a recording by
a group on the low rung of mid-sixties snootiness. It's sure nice to know that
there actually
were people who remembered Link Wray in
the mop topped year of 1965.
***
Konk-"Soka-Loka-Moki" (99 Records)
I recall being somewhat interested in that whole funk/dance music thingamabob
that groups like Pigbag and these guys were cranking out during the v. early
eighties, and these sides (which I assume are the same song) do have somewhat
of a neo NYC decadent take on various James Brown moves that were so big at
the time. But overall this is really tiring music that sounds as if it were
made especially for some white New Yorker who wore a beret and light tan
sports jacket and hung out at chi-chi parties where everyone was blasted outta
their skulls on a variety of "stimulants" talking about who was on
THE COCA CRYSTAL SHOW the previous night. You can bet that in these days each and every
one of these people are about as humorous as a Sartre novel. You may call it
punk funk (it really ain't --- check out Ronald Shannon Jackson or the Human
Arts Ensemble's FUNKY DONKEY for that) but I'll call it the
beginning of the end.
***
THE LONGINES SYMPHONETTE SOCIETY PRESENTS BRIEF EXCERPTS FROM BERT KAEMPFERT
flexi-disc
It's no surprise that the older generation types were going whole hog for
Kaempfert back during them days of teenbo rebellion 'n hair touching the
collar/upper ear lobes (a big nada for the folks and relatives!). Well, Kaempfert's pseudo big
band pop sure was a nice change of pace for some mid-aged
office schlump having to endure "Quick Joey Small" over and over while
carpooling the kids, and who out there would doubt that the Longines Symphonette people really knew which
demographics to focus their energies on!
This promo flexi presents a nice enough medley
of Kaempfert trackage neatly strung together sorta like those "Stars on 45"
singles that were all the rage 40 + years ago. At first I played it at 45 and
thought it had a nice kinetic bounce to it. At the proper 33 speed it had that
slow glop feel that was bound to appeal to alla them cube types out there who
wanted to do some oozing out after a long day's work. I can imagine some fifty-plus guy in 1972 playing the music presented here on his cheap Zayre's-bought stereo system, the kind that most all of us hadda endure whilst spinning our own then-piddling collections.
This flopper sure brings
back memories of alla them free flexis that companies like Longines would
fling out to them silent majority types as well of as the fun otherwise bored
outta our skulls suburban slob types like myself had spinning 'em...sheesh,
the first time a ten-year-old me ever heard any, or for that matter even heard
about Buddy Holly was via one of these things!
***
Dangerous Birds-"Alfa Romeo"/"Smile On Your Face" (Propellor Records)
Two sides that really make me feel wonderful inside like I'm some teenbo kid and so happy about that life I have to look forward to
with all the fun, adventure and cooze that's gonna be in store (hah!). "Romeo"
might have some elements of eighties-vintage all gal group commercial
cutesie poo to it, but even with the sweet melody this outfit still manages to
inject some bright flash that kept it from sounding like the latest gnu wave
toss into the trough. Real kicker's the flip, a middle eastern romp with
castanets and couscous moves that kinda makes me wonder if Boston really was the last gasp of local rock innovation and a mecca for new and exciting talent. This'll help
keep my spirits somewhat spry at least until the next time reality kicks in.
***
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band-AVALON '66 EP (Blue Desert Records
bootleg)
Rumor has it that some rather well-known rock critic released this on the sly at
the same time he did a similar Alex Chilton effort. Well, whatever the case
may be this EP did help us out by presenting some rare early
Beefheart tracks long before they eventually ended up on a whole slew of illicit
longplayers. Definitely SAFE AS MILK-period Beef here, and its all nattily done up at a time when he and the Magic Ones were still heavily into Howlin'
Wolf and yet to traipse into their late-sixties cataclysmic mode. As usual the
low-fi flatness adds more tension to an already high-powered effort than many people can stand. You've heard
this 'un a long time ago, or so I assume...
***
Burt "Boy Wonder" Ward-"Boy Wonder I Love You", "Orange Coloured Sky"/"Bob
Guy-"Dear Jeepers", "Letter From Jeepers 33 rpm EP (US Ltd. bootleg)
And now onto Captain Beefheart's high stool friend and sometimes nemesis Frank
Zappa, here seen jumping onto the latest bandwagon that most definitely
did have commercial potential. The trax with Burt Ward have
been heard o'er and o'er again ever since the Mother People found out about
Zappa's involvement with the Boy Wonder (I guess MGM could get away with
avoiding the use of the name "Robin" in this fashion --- whoever was
responsible sure learned their lesson from Jan and Dean). The other side contained one of those olde tymey hammed-up "nostalgia" efforts my mother hated because she thought the younger generation was making fun of her's! Of course they were, and I gotta credit mom for her astuteness. Naturally both of these songs are custom made for those who still cherish mid/late-sixties camp which
I gotta admit sure beats modern comedy attempts at fun and jamz all
hollow.
Flip's some single that a Studio Z-era Zappa did with El Lay horror host Jeepers
Creepers during the Golden Age of Local Television (1963), and this fanabla exudes more of an early-sixties teenbo
hipster appeal that was perfect for the MAD magazine/Steve
Allen/PLAYBOY kinda Joe College type who eventually went whole
grain marshmallow. Pretty fun stuff especially for you old-timers who remember
just how downright cool low-budget television programming with their eccentric personalities was.
***
The Spiders-"No Price Tag", "Don't Blow Your Mind"/The Nazz-"Wonder Who's
Loving Her Now", "Lay Down and Die, Goodbye" EP (Battle of the Bands Records
bootleg)
And the third in a string of
tangentially Zappa-related 7-inch bootleg booty. Here are two of the three pre-Alice
Cooper singles from back when these guys were seemingly just as human and as every day suburban slobbish as you or (maybe even) I were. The Spiders got the mid-sixties teenbo sound (complete with a riff stolen from "Tobacco Road" on the a-side) down swell enough while the Nazz come
off West Coast psychedelic what with their "Wonder Who's Loving Her Now" sounding
closer to the Chocolate Watchband's take on "I Ain't No Miracle Worker" than
anything I've heard before or since. For a funtime task compare "Don't Blow
Your Mind" and "Lay Down and Die, Goodbye" with the versions that Alice and
group were preforming a good three/four years later.
***
Rancid Vat-"It's My Fate"/"Slow Ride" (T/K Records)
And to top things off this effort from one of the few hardcore or thereabouts groups that were still worth their weight in salt after the rest proved themselves to be nothing but hippies in sawed off denim jackets. Can't complain about the a-side which is a surprisingly driving numbuh with interweaving guitar shards all backing up Steve Wilson's beauteous growl. Foghat gets the treatment on the flipster only proving just how much the Vat could take rather snoozeville boogie and rough it up beyond recognition. One of the few who hold up long after the rest floundered horribly, and if you want to know more about 'em just read the eighteenth issue of my not-so-infamous crudzine only you won't be able to cuz that issue's long out of print and just try findin' one!
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
BOOK REVIEW! A SMITTY TREASURY VOLUME 1 BY WALTER BERNDT (Gwandaland Comics, 2018)
Given that the only thing I knew about this comic strip was copped outta old MAD magazines I gotta 'fess up that I was somewhat curious regarding these by now ancient SMITTYs. Sure a strip about an office boy who likes to goof off but is so aw gosh that even his boss Mr. Bailey takes a shine to him (enough that the two go on fishing trips and even vacations together --- gosh, weren't we all so innocent then?) doesn't seem like the kind that would exactly perk my nerve endings. But still, SMITTY was a product of the Golden Age of Comic Strips and just for that I thought giving it a try would be something constructive to do before I clock out of life or happily spend my declining years on life support, whichever comes first.
After going through this gathering of old BORMs it's easy enough to see through the haze of a good ninety years that, although SMITTY is not the attention-grabbing visually pleasing type of comic that LI'L ABNER was, nor was it a simple to-the-point strip about the fun times of childhood as HENRY or NANCY well --- it was better than even I would have gathered. SMITTY was somewhat of a situation comedy strip so-to-speak which presented the daily travails of a young boy who should have been in school but is supporting his parents and younger brother Herby (an actual school kid who seems to be of turdler status) at one of those "what kinda business is this anyway?" sorta places where Dagwood and Ward Cleaver work. It wouldn't've been an exciting comic either without Smitty getting into some interesting scrapes, twists, turns and other story development lines that were bound to keep the usual depression-era wage kids (during and after the depression, and I should know!) tuning in given that well, there wasn't much else for kids to tune into back in them days!
And tune in they did! Some nice continuity here from the on/off attempt to snag the elusive fish "Big Mighty" to the usual problems and such we all probably had to (and still do!) go through thanks to office politics and ordeals, situations that I guess were later dealt with in the more recent (and way more boring) comic strip DILBERT. I liked the one where some new hotshot kid at the office tries to get Smitty fired so he can take his job which is something people (like myself) have experienced throughout life, only the badskis never did get caught and humiliated like they do here in fantasyville!
SMITTY creator Walter Berndt knew how to keep the art nice and simple and the stories uncluttered so that even the simplest of doofs could get it. And so would the same kinda folk (like us!) who still tune into old NANCY comic strip sites on this here internet if only to re-capture a part of our kid-hood that seemed to vanish once reality began to set in and set in hard.
It was nothing that really lights up the comic pressure point in my brain like a variety of other strips do, but I like it. I get the feeling that if I grew up with SMITTY I would be harboring the same pangs of a happy turdler era lost the same way I do when I read other old comics thinking about a time in my life I would gladly return to, at least if I had the dexterity to wipe my own ass.
Saturday, June 08, 2024
Well, after all of those tossout book reviews I guess that it's time for the
real thing, and if you are a fan of mine (and who shouldn't be unless you're a TOTAL JERKOFF) you
BETTER be
ever-so-grateful! The usual day-to-day hassles and a summer that's gonna
be filled with hard-sell outdoor flea markets etc. are
putting a damper on this blog and will continue to for quite some time, but
nevertheless settle back for the ride given how I've been putting a whole lot of
heart, soul and even some plastic-laden testes into these posts.
Anyway welcome to the first post of Rainblow Month 'n here's that li'l ol'
attention whore me presenting for you the kinda post I know (at least from post stats) you just love. I'll guarantee ya that nothing that is presented within
these "pages" will elicit the same sorta throb thrills that earlier writings of
mine most surely did, and perhaps because of the span of time between these
big-deal posts there's just too much for the average (?) BTC reader to digest and ultimately
shit out. (I was tempted to hold a whole load of this back for a subsequent
post but figured by then none of it would be whatcha'd call "timely" as if this blog ever was.)
However, deep down inside whatever's left of my heart I'll admit that I'm surprised my mind managed to toss this post at'cha, and given the swill passing for rock journalism these days what I've written still beats whatever I've recently
read (or more accurately tried to avoid) regarding that maddening sound called
rock 'n roll all hollow.
Now, that doesn't say much considering the dearth of printed pus
that passes itself of as "rock critijissom" or whatever other descriptive
terms one might conjure but eh,so what! When you
consider that this entire mode of the music (as well as the people who produce
and even listen to it) really
is
deader'n Karen Quinlan what would you expect? As I've told you many-a-time, we're all just zombies goin' through the motions only
we don't know that we've been obliterated by the past five or so
decades of utter loathing directed at our pure ideals and concepts of music. Music as
a spell cast against both the forces of mediocrity and the hip superiority
moosh that's "supposed" to stand
AGAINST that very
selfsame mediocrity. Well, better to indulge in the hard and gritty musical
past than to sustain your cravings via the piddle being passed off as
"raw" and "exciting" these days, and you know this blog is but one guided
missile in the war against the creeping tide of bland that unfortunately crept
over us way too long ago. And remember --- I wouldn't print any of this if it
wasn't true!
***
REAL DEAL EVENT OF THE POST just hasta be the arrival of
FAUX WOOD PANELING #5into my mailbox as well as my very
own existence. Sheesh, life has taken a turn for the better ever since this mag
has come out, and looking forward to receiving the latest issue (me being on the
freebee list---wow!) has become just as tingle throb worthy as when I was a kid
awaiting my Archie Club badge and press card which I still have to have and to
hold somewhere in the pile. Wade Oberlin never fails to deliver on the
post-Meltzerian goods what with this brimming (pages are un-numbered but it is a
biggie) mag that features none other than an in-depth interview with Darwin
Layne himself Craig Bell as well as various bits 'n feces that are most welcome,
at least to souls like ours who have been in on the game for quite a long time and are too smart to give it all up. Really,
where
else are you going to read an in-depth review of an early-fifties Casper the Friendly Ghost
cartoon, other'n maybe the very blog you're now reading that is? The reprint of
Meltzer's Blurt review was most welcome --- now if Wade would go 'n find the rest of his ne'er reprinted VILLAGE VOICE writeups boy would I be one happy somethingorother!
One particularly peeving thing about this issue is the (re?)printing of a Brian Walsby
comic dealing with Rocket From The Tombs and the Cleveland first wave of
underground rock. This particular page was irritating to me considering just how much I loathed Walsby's
frequent PEANUTS-inspired art that cluttered up a myriad assortment of
hardcore rags that I will be jettisoning once I get back on ebay or
some cheaper equivalent one of these days. The man and his patented eighties
punk unto punque attitudes were so upsetting to me that not one
but TWO Walsby
spoofs appeared in the earlier issues of my not-so-erstwhile crudzine...he was
that
irritable bowel syndrome bothersome to me perhaps because I thought that he and his
work were somehow a culmination of the entire punk attitude and sound idiom
that was turning into boring hippie swill right in front of my very eyes! And
as time proved I was more righter'n you'll ever be!
Anyhow, despite my past hatred for the dude it's good to see that Walsby is
now a devotee of the finer aspects of the underground rock quest (he was also
responsible for a Maureen Tucker comic that I only saw a page of if only
because Brad Kohler wanted to get my goat) and that his style has improved 'n
all HOWEVER... Well, Walsby forgot that Crocus Behemoth had a beard and that
Peter Laughner was in Rocket before the Gene O'Connor/Johnny "Madman"
Madansky/Darwin Layne edition of the group, and although I know that I perhaps picking the nits a tad and that there's
always some "poetic license" being injected into these things and that mistakes are expected to be made, but we're talking about a HALLOWED SUBJECT MATTER that should be treated with the utmost respect! This 'toon shoulda been executed a whole lot better considering the hallowed subject matter, with all the care and detail he would have used had he were doing the Henry Rollins story or something along those lines! Eh, why bicker
especially this late in the game when it doesn't really mean a thing anymore
and in case you didn't know...we all
LOST! (available via wadeoberlin@gmail.com).
Also jettisoned my way via Robert Forward was an issue of that legendary
magazine devoted to the more avgarde vibrations in life, mainly THE WIRE. Dunno why Mr. Forward sent this since hardly any of the musical entities
who are written up in this magazine are anything that I'd go, in Tuli
Kupferberg's own words, "aggieoogieagga" over (pardon me if I have used this descriptor before). Still the
thought was nice and there were a few turdbits of interesting things I
sorted outta this ish even if for the life of me I wouldn't spend one thin
dime on just about anything that is mentioned in here! Well, they did print
a review of that Peter Laughner "graphic novel" that I writ up sometime
back, and maybe if I dig in a little more I'll find something like a review
or an article that might actually be of interest to my rather
horse-blindered brain. But as for now the only current publication that
worthy of my time and pleasure's FAUX WOOD PANELING, and I won't take
guff from any of you over this!
***
Looks like I got my birthday present a li'l early but so what! Here it is,
SYD BARRETT'S FIRST TRIP which should also be known as
THE BEGINNING OF THE END...
***
Here's another one for you cinema buffs, an early slice of underground
filmage entitled 1941 that was created by a painter and
moviemaker of little if any renown (can't find nada on-line, or elsewhere
for that matter, about him) named Francis Lee. From what I do know about
this flicker and (obviously) its title I
can tell you
that the thing had something to do with Ameriga's entry into the Second
World War, but given how abstract and mind of the viewer interpretive it
is, this film could be about "Aunt Flow" or any feminine type problem that's out there for all I know. Whatever, I gotta admit
that I kinda like it if only because it reminds me of the opening of the
old private detective series CHECKMATE:
***
Anyone out there who could give me some info or maybe even airchecks
regarding on-air personality Steve Brown, some guy who used to spin 'em at
KSJO-FM, a once-freeform but now Bollywood station in San Jose California?
I'm only asking cuz, in the course of a Cameron Crowe-penned Grateful Dead
article in that Jan '74 issue of CREEM I praised to the
rafters a few weeks back, Brown was briefly mentioned as having been "once
a locally infamous disc-jockey" and "an eclectic lover of off-the-wall
punk rock" whose "first love" are none other than the Gang of Garcia as if
you couldn't've seen that comin'! Sounds like the kinda guy I
wouldn't mind getting to know better, although his affection for one of
the more overrated rock groups in history might be quite off the ol' high
energy target if you ask me (and why not, 'tis my blog?).
***
Hefty kudos to the DENIM DELINQUENT facebook page for all of those early Alice Cooper photos they've
been posting as of a few weeks ago. Keep them snaps comin', and maybe a written review or two from Pete Sanchez would be nice!
***
AS IF ANY OF YOU OUT THERE WOULD CARE TO HELP ME OUT DEPT.: I'm trying harder'n hard to find some information or for that
matter a discography (and the availability of recordings) on a
late-seventies English punk rock group called the Worst, a Mancunian bunch
who have been described in the following terms --- and
what terms they
are!:
The worst are so much like Uncle Lou and Friends you could be fooled into
thinking they are the genuine article. No one's pretending they're 1978's
answer to New York's bug-eyed sons (and daughter)But people are inclined
to make comparisons - And it's a shadow, y'know.A starting block, and
attempt to identify/categorize....it's a blistering tribute, but I could
blame a basketful of bands who think it's necessary to pay the Velvets
homage = trouble is,The Worst do it so bloody well...Audio-visual
excitement:it's even more difficult to understand.Maybe they've
rediscovered the energy that made Warhol's Exploding Plastic Enevitable so
special/maybe they're pulling the wool over everyone's eyes.
(Punctuation/spelling kept as originally presented.)
Are the Worst really that late-seventies flash/burst of Velvet Underground
sonic pride I've always enjoyed or just another one of XXXXX rock groups who took "the
superficial aspects of the quest" without the deep drive and nerve-twisted
feeling. They never entered a recording studio but I assume that there are some live tapes flying about, even though to date I have uncovered nada and I just KNOW none of you would be willing to help me out (then again, I wouldn't give any of you readers a ride to the hospital even if you broke your leg!). Who knows, maybe that guy in Finland who has been releasing these limited edition CD-r's of punk rarities might have 'em in his catalog! As usual, I'll attempt to find out and probably once again
get burned in the process.
***
And the deaths just seem to keep on comin'. Dennis Thompson's passing
makes it the MC0, and although I am not an aficionado of film as
aht it was kinda sad to hear that Roger Corman bit the dust.
And believe it or not, but I should feel somewhat droopy about the exit stage left of Steve Albini if only because he sent me an album gratis way back when I
really needed to be sent albums gratis. Unfortunately the kind of deaths
that I am looking forward to have yet to transpire which is kind of
disappointing on my behalf. After all, I really do need a reason to smile
these days. But maybe if we all wish and pray hard enough...
***
Ron Unz makes the brilliant point that Donald Trump, whilst campaigning from his prison cell (or at least the swank country club passing as one he'll be skedaddled to), could possibly be this century's answer
to Eugene Debs. And come to think of it, if I were around way back 1912/1916 way I definitely would
have voted for Debs over Prez Taft and especially the vastly-overrated and downright despicable Woodrow Wilson. Then again, even Happy Hooligan woulda
been a better choice than that peacenik conveniently turned warmonger Wilson, a man whose crowning moments as Commander in Chief was probably during his post-stroke days when he couldn't do any harm even though his illiterate wife ended up runnin' things. And, surprisingly enough Debs
was an honest man, something which seems to be a scarcity in
the world of political wheeliedealies these days. Howzat for throwing you staunchly patented lefty types for a loop?
Whilst on the subject of the upcoming election...izzit true what they say about Trump and Roy Cohn?????
***
As you've been waiting for after all the above personalist jibberjab, here are
some reviews of just a few of many recordings that are 1) either newly released
and deserve a li'l push or 2) for the most part are totally new to my ears
and I thought you should know at least what I think about 'em. As you've come to expect Paul McGarry, Robert
Forward and even Wade Oberlin are the ones responsible for the burns and
my pocketbook the one for the brand spanking new entries into my
collection.
It is getting harder and harder to keep to my
New Year's resolution not to splurge on various frivolities so like well,
better enjoy what I have writ up before I'm banished to the poor house
until my dying day. Pretty pic 'n chooze here --- will it be a winner or
will it be a dud? (Unfortunately the gif doesn't work, but it's taken from
the old MYSTERY DATE tee-vee commercial that some of you old turdburgers may remember. That was the mid-sixties board game where gals getting in on
the hetero relationship merry-go-round aim for the ultimate dating
experience and usually get stuck with the "dud", a guy who in this day and
age would probably be yer aspiring body-pierced tattoo'd gender is over
type's idea of a fun night out!)
Dredd Foole and the Din-WE WILL FALL 1983 CD; SEE GOD 1985 1986 2-CD
set (both efforts via Corbett Vs. Dempsey Records)
You can read my review of the first Foole/Din career retro release here if you really wanna. If you don't I might have a tad bit of
contempt for you but anyway, here're vols. two and three of the Din
trilogy for all of you unrepentant Boston Rock fans and Velvet Underground
obsessives who I still believe are firmly ensconced under your own
personal rocks. Save some space for me!
WE WILL FALL 1983
has Foole still teamed up with Mission of Burma (more/less)
continuing on the Boston tradition with their mix of more than competent
originals jumbled with the expected smattering of those covers that
inspired them originals. It's all done up live and pretty gnarly at that
what with Foole's strained vocals and a group that sounds blaring even on
a cheap bedside boom box.
SEE GOD 1985-1986's got Foole backed by the post-Burma Volcano Suns
(a group I now wish I paid more attention to, but sheesh I was so
busy/poor then) with their two classic longplayers slapped together giving
me reason to double up on the lisinopril given the palpitations I had for
these albums back in the late eighties (a time that was certainly hard to
get excited over even existing in I'll tell ya).
You might want to take this one piecemeal. Having played all three
platters (which clock in at way over an hour each) in one sitting I feel
like I'm coming down off a long day with nothing but energy drinks for
sustenance. Yes, Dredd Foole and the Din pack a mighty wallop and well, if
you like your under-the-underground rock 'n roll history compacted in such
a way as these platters deliver you just might be a better appreciator of
the warm drone than I could ever hope to be!
***
Murahashibu-LIVE '72 CD (Good Lovin' Records, Japan)
Sometimes these Japanese rock groups can tread some mighty similar pools
of sound. I mean, the opening track comes close to Les Rallizes Denudes while other moments recall that
infamous anarcho-punk/mock Tyrannosaurus Rex act Zuno Keisatsu. Then there
are the overt Stones swipes and other nods to the occidental set which is
to be expected from Japanese acts such as Murahashibu and others who've kept
their eye on alla them trends happening globe wide and brought 'em home
for the locals. Nothing that'll get your jaw all agape but rough and
tumble enough at least for my tastes. Yeah, I really can see why a touring
Stranglers took an interest in these guys, and if you were/are in on the
whole seventies leather and feral nature of rock 'n roll you will to.
***
Grachan Moncur III-NEW AFRICA CD-r burn (originally on BYG-Actuel
Records, France)
Another boff BYG sesh featuring trombonist Moncur along with the best of
the expats making an album that might get you all frothing over the fact
that nobody who played on this ever got renumerated. It ain't over the
hill running and screaming like many of these other late-sixties
cataclysmic bouts of sonic liberation, but it's still rooted in a dark
mid-sixties neo-Archie Shepp (who appears on "When") urban groove that
kinda sounds like it shoulda been the real soundtrack to
COTTON COMES TO HARLEM. If they still have used record bins with
1980's prices dig it up you penny-pinchers you!
***
Anthony Braxton-RECITAL PARIS '71 CD-r burn (originally on Futura
Records, France)
This previously unheard by me Braxton rarity features a 25+ minute solo version
of "Come Sunday" as well as a multitracked piano piece dedicated to John Cage sidekick David
Tudor. Alla you Braxton fans who were listening in back when Meltzer said
he was nothing but the new Dave Brubeck custom made for the college snobs
"thing" (a comparison Braxton would have probably loved) already heard
this. For the rest of us this should be more than just "good enough" if
your tastes veer in between the new jazz thing and the classical avgarde.
Not boring at all, in fact quite stimulating.
***
Chick Corea-CIRCULUS CD (Blue Note Records, Japan)
Actually this is the first Circle album with Corea joined by fellow
members Braxton, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul. You may
be familiar with their double live set that popped up on the ECM label
back in the seventies, and if you aren't then you sure weren't thumbing
through the jazz section of your local record shop back when that set used to pepper up the plains.
Gotta say that I always found it quite funny that Corea was working in
very close proximity with Braxton in the v. early-seventies considering
how both of 'em would become rather big names in the world of jazz within
a few measly years. Corea as the leader of a rather pedestrian fusion
quartet (though I never did hear the debut Return to Forever LP on Polydor which some
say was of a quite different genome than that of the later edition) and
Braxton the omnipresent avgardist who appeared at a time when there
actually seemed to be an audience for this sort of sonic air shredding.
Still, this effort shows Corea at a time when his L. Ron Hubbard-inspired
pixie and dixie approach hadn't yet taken him into starry-eyed commercial
realms. The rest of Circle keep him in tow, with Corea playing his
classically-bred lines while Braxton etc. are free to do their own thing.
And the use of small instruments etc. does lend the perfect color needed
to keep this from being just another free jazz
effort...CIRCULUS bounces up down and about in your musical
psyche like the best AACM/BAG efforts though not as nervegrinding as the
first or as funky as the second.
It is interesting, perhaps somewhat boring at times, but not boring as in
you're stuck in a carpool with nothing to hear but the radio spinnin' the
80s/90s/00s etc. sounds you tried so hard to avoid for the past umpteen years. Might be worth picking up a few tracks via Youtube 'r something
with only serious fans of seventies experimental strains searching out any
flesh and blood copies that might be wallowing around.
***
Meyer Kupferman-ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK FROM THE FILM
HALLELUJAH THE HILLS LP (Fontana Records)
From what I could gather HTH wasn't exactly one of the more
engrossing underground films that were popping up throughout the sixties,
what with such efforts as CHAFED ELBOWS (also iffy but good
'nuff) and the various works of the Kuchars and Warhol passing it up while
waving goodbye. This soundtrack album might give one the idea of what was
happening on the screen (including a scene where future Cheryl Tiegs
spouse Peter Beard goes streaking in the snow), though I get the feeling
that it is all so filmatic and New York chi-chi that I doubt that it would
have anything to do with your miserable existence.
Musically some of it reminds me of the kind of tinkle you would have heard
in such early French avgarde efforts as THE BLOOD OF A POET or
ZERO FOR CONDUCT, while there are quiet neo-baroque
harpsichord/flute interludes and even a few trips into a sound that's
almost late-sixties neo-gothic rock. Overall this is nothing that I was
expecting given the very few huzzahs this album had been endowed with
these past sixtysome years, but one thing that I did like was that it
didn't drive me into fits of rage the way a whole slew of
amerindie/"lightcore" records I heard in the eighties sure did!
***
SILOAH CD-r burn (originally on the Garden of Delights lael, Germany)
You remember SUKRAM GURK. Siloah's second album which sounded like
a stoned punk rock mad trip into the inner reaches of some twenty-year-old
German whose chemical makeup seemed to equal that of Monsanto's.
However, have you heard their debut of a quite different schnitzel? I
tried to avoid it after hearing all of those references to
"hippie-communal-freeform-body odor" mysticism that were directed at this,
but lo and behold none other than Mr. Robert Forward sent me a burn and
well, you already know how I feel about it so why write this review in the
first place? Aimless get together in the group house jams are what's in
store here, most of it kinda sounding something like Amon Duul's infamous swan song PARADIESWARTS DUUL without the early Velvet Underground
repeato riffs. If Adolf were alive he'd just die!
***
Various Artists-LULLABIES FOR CATATONICS 3-CD-r set (originally on Cherry
Red Records, England)
A lot of these recent CD compilations that bunch up previously released
spazz and slaps 'em into a packet under a certain thematic grouping are
rather meaningless while others, like the Chris Needs-helmed
DIRTY WATER series and that collection of classical avgarde
efforts that inspired Frank Zappa are pretty solid. As for this triple
disque effort giving us a somewhat unconnected overview of various
late-sixties/early seventies English proggy sounds well...
This set comes off like the kind of jukebox Chris Welch and Michael
Oldfield (the MELODY MAKER scribe, not the
TUBULAR BELLS guy) would have just
LOVED
to have had spinning at their headquarters while tossing darts at pictures of
Johnny Rotten, and you've won the ol' cigar if you think that the
majority of tracks don't exactly make me want to jump up and
down in frenzied ecstasy. Acts like Curved Air (doing a Vivaldi violin
homage that might have even put a smile on Miss Grundy's face) and Barclay
James Harvest don't exactly reach for my jugular even if even I gotta
admit that a few of the latter's very early Beatles riffs are slightly
palatable if taken in extremely small doses (really!). For the most part
the tracks on this effort just remind me of just how laden this so-called
rock music could have gotten once the Mantovani side of the brain overtook
the Buddy Holly one.
Not to say that there are some winners sticking out like diamonds in a
field of turds. The Bowie-fueled Riot Squad doing "Waiting For My Man"
must rank along with the Deviants' version as the earliest example of a
cover that more than a few Ladbrook Grove bands would be doing throughout
the late-sixties and seventies. The Velvet Frogs' homage to
THE MARBLE INDEX makes me wish that more by these Velvet
Underground aficionados would make its way to the ears of people who are
bored silly by all of those superficial VU-inspired groups of the last
fortysome years. 10cc prove that there was a whole lot more to them than
"I'm Not In Love" and oddly enough Stackridge's "Grand Piano" sounds like
a Badfinger-esque Beatles rip that would have sounded spiffy on a 1972 AM
playlist.
And there are more goodies from the Third Ear Band and Comus, but for the
most part this effort just reverberates old feelings of some quite unexciting music that did have its audience, which is OK for that audience
I guess but what about those of use who are addicted to the concept of high energy? There
are collections more attuned to my own sense of sonic integrity which I
mentioned in the first paragraph, but LULLABIES FOR CATATONICS is one grab together that just ain't made for the typical reader of
this blog. But who knows...perhaps the Emerson Lake and Palmer revival is
just around the corner and I know how some of you readers just love to
jump on them new hip bandwagons!
***
STONE COOL WHITE CD-r burn (originally on Cal-Tex Records---well at
least it ain't Co-Tex!)
Wade Oberlin sent me a burn of this 1970 vintage funk thing
OBVIOUSLY because these guys (and femme) hailed from Dayton, which is 'round where
Oberlin himself resides. The AM radio sound does help deliver a most
welcome raw feeling which does aid the searing wah-wah Hendrix ripoff
instrumentals and echoplex vocals. Dull cover of "Ain't No Sunshine" tho.
Kinda reminds me of what that King Afro and the Mongoloids single that Reg
Shaw mentioned in his "Jukebox Jury" column in
BRAIN DAMAGE magazine woulda sounded like.
***
Wally Shoup/Bill Horist/Paul Kikuchi-CHEMICAL LANGUAGE CD-r burn
(originally on New Atlantis Records)
Even thought this 'un's nine-years-old it's like very recent in
BLOG TO COMM time! Alto/guitar/drums trio that play sparse and
bared wire in that post-twentieth century style that I used to hear a
whole lotta back when I'd tune into Dee Pop's Freestyle Night at the CBGB
Lounge. Can't pinpoint a direct ref to Shoup's takeoff points (too
sharp for Ayler and thin for Shepp---maybe Braxton?) but Horist plays electric spidery
enough in the fashion of some of those Euros like Joseph DeJean did on Shepp's
Antibes album. Drummer Kikuchi slaps around it all in
the fashion that Sunny Murray begat oh so long ago. A good effort that has
been ignored for nearly a decade and I get the feeling that it'll be
ignored until the current crop of jazz pansies die off and are replaced by
a new, snarling generation (yeah, right!).
***
The Jesus and Marychain-GLASGOW EYES CD-r burn (Fuzz Club Records,
Scotland I guess)
The latest, and perhaps not greatest in the Jesus and Marychain catalog. I
liked these guys back when their mid-eighties violent mix of
VU/Syd/Jan and Dean was such a welcome relief from the usual doldrums so prevalent then, but even that original splurge of brilliance didn't last long.
The over-production and dependency on updated technotwizzle (with the
passion kept to a bare minimum) sure doesn't bring back memories of those
feedback blasts and riots that made these guys the darlings of the English weaklies. Well, it's good to see that ex-Rezillos singer
Faye Fife got to lend some vocal cords to this even if I never did care
for her act --- 's just that I'm glad she doesn't have to hang around the
Welfare Office anymore. Overall a fair enough release that I guess I
should have come to have expected when I tore this 'un outta McGarry's
latest parcel.
***
Hawkwind-STORIES FROM TIME AND SPACE CD-r burn (originally on Cherry Red Records, England)
The latest in a long line of Hawkwind wares that keep on comin' more'n John Holmes ever did. Naturally, like their past fortysome years of Hawkwind and related releases this is pretty much the same old only with a new cover that sure lacks the imagination of the ones that graced their seventies platters. Some good melodies can be discerned here and there but otherwise Dave Brock and the new crew have yet to re-capture the entire hard blare of those early albums that were so boff on the psychedelic trip that even the FM stations in the USA couldn't ignore 'em. If you're starting in on the Hawkwind game and want to know where to start, go for the United Artists albums and slowly work your way forward...
***
These reminders about picking up one (or hopefully even more) back issues
of BLACK TO COMM are gonna get less and less friendlier as time rolls on. Anyway
like, what's keeping you? Whatever you do, don't believe all of those
naysayers out there who have lambasted this rag for years if only to make
their own selves feel more better in their quest of personal destruction
(something I sure wish I had the ability to do!). These are the ultimate
fanzines and any fan of the Big Beat who is without copies is like a
toilet with a roll. Sheesh, you'd think there'd be at least a few
thousand more hard-edged rockist maniacs out there on this globe of ours
willin' to latch onto this thing!
Shane Parish - Sunday Interview
-
Photo by Petra Cvelbar
*1. What is your greatest joy in improvised music? *
A lot of my time is spent composing and arranging, researching and
developing...
Trying to set things right
-
The issue of marital stability is an important one but is often treated
simplistically on social media. The argument is often that a husband just
has to ...
President Huck
-
How long have animated cartoon characters been “running” for the U.S.
presidency?
Well, Popeye and Bluto did. So did Betty Boop (as the crowd chanted her ...
Ep. 2567 How to Live a Long Time
-
Marc Lobliner of Tiger Fitness talks about the food pyramid, how much time
you need in the gym, one thing you absolutely cannot sacrifice, and plenty
more....
TGIF: That Was the Election that Was
-
One can be overjoyed by the repudiation of a candidate without being
pleased with the opposing candidate's victory. This election is an occasion
for that...
Felix Arrives in the Sunny South
-
Howdy Readers! First off we have a color drawing by Cathy Hill, my favorite
cartoonist. She’s celebrating Halloween night this year and many years past
in ...
Punk and Other Four Letter Words - Linda Aronow
-
I met Linda Aronow in the 80's, first as a friend, but when I learned of
her terrific photography skills, we worked together on many of my musical
pro...
Good One
-
Friday Adventure Day. This romantic pirate strip was so well distributed
that it is somwhat know to many fans and collectors. Although it was
credited to t...
BOLETIN: ACTUALIZACION
-
Desde hoy comenzamos la actualización de los links. TODOS los álbumes
“activos” estarán en la sección de *“DESCARGAS”*. El objetivo es activar
TODO y q...
-
Allied Propaganda Issue 2, July/August 1979
*Any fanzine is worth checking out if you can spare the time or money, if
only for the principle - forget all...
The Millennial Mindset
-
In any effort to fundamentally change society it is necessary to mobilise
the young. The rhetoric on the populist right often invokes notions of the
people...
Crown to call Ottawa residents in convoy trial
-
Crown lawyers intend on calling Ottawa residents impacted by what became
known as the Freedom Convoy to testify in the criminal trial of two of the
protest...
An Interview with Peggy Webber - Part One
-
*Peggy Webber: You have Bob Denver on your shirt.*
*Kliph Nesteroff: Yes, Gilligan’s Island.*
*Peggy Webber: Was he a friend of yours?Kliph Nesteroff:...
Memorabilia: I Megatons
-
Grazie all'amica Cristina possiamo offrirvi questo straordinario
memorabilia di un oscuro complesso strumentale e vocale varesino di genere
bea...
-
HEY EVERYBODY!
The links are all dead, yup - I know. I tried to do a mammoth exodus of all
of the stuff but there ain't no good place to upload them. Th...
Putin’s ‘Winter War’ on Ukraine
-
[image: Putin's 'Winter War' on Ukraine By Patrick Buchanan]In the final
days of this lame-duck Congress, before control of the House passes to
Republicans...
Banana Republic, USSA: 2022 “Elections”
-
Are we going to go through the same thing again now? Knowing how mail-in
voting, drop-boxes, and early voting were used to enable massive fraud and
ballot ...
Mini, Midi, Maxi│Emmanuelle Khanh│1972
-
Mini, Midi, Maxi?
*[1972]*
Volkswagen launches air conditioning to match.
*Mini, Midi, Maxi Who can predict future fashion? Mini Fashion? Then you ...
Ed Ward 1948-2021
-
*Greetings. Yes, it's been years. It's become apparent, though I am busier
than ever as a professional writer these days, there is a need to revive
thi...
For downloaders from file hosting sites
-
Mentioning this as I’m using it myself and it is not a “must pay” service
(up to 4 free dl’s / day). It’s been exactly what I was looking for for
files hos...
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912)
-
*Hello again, kitty cats! I thought it would be a good idea to give you all
an idea of what kind of content I will be offering on my new Patreon page.
On...
The Bobby Fuller Four - "Let Her Dance" (1965)
-
There can certainly be something freeing in letting go of V-I cadences. I
think this two-chord song does have cadences, but they're all plagal: IV
chord to...
Are you sitting comfortably?
-
The Machine have moved on stylistically since *Solar Corona* and seem a bit
funny about this album’s popularity, which they don’t seem inclined to
reissu...
The End 2010-2020
-
Ten years and 3100 posts later, we're done. And on a Friday the 13th, yet.
I know I said that once before and I was only gone a few months but this
time, I...
2019, the insanity grows...
-
Odd title for an annual music review, but them's the times. With these
words I aim to provide you with an escape from the creeping madness, which
by the ti...
THE NEXT MUTANT SOUNDS RARE LP AUCTION IS LIVE NOW
-
Some major monsters this time, including four LP's on Futura Records, The
V/A-Music box on Vanity Records, The First Decayes LP and NDW LP's pressed
in edi...
That's all, folks!
-
My posts have gotten thinner over the years. I'm aware of that. I've been
hopeful for a long time, that I can remain active with blogging and sharing
furth...
AFS v. 378 ~ Do Call it a Comeback...
-
*I’ve been gone for months!!!*
*My baby girl Una at 18 months is getting hella-radical as you can see.*
*Thanks to Jeffrey for letting me to sub his "Toda...
Fadensonnen - Brut (FR018 - September 2018)
-
*DEATH POSTURE / HYMN OF THE YLLUSTRIOUS FORGER*
Brut by FADENSONNEN
*Double edged blast of electro-snuff-skronk to bathe away the daily
apocalypse -
th...
About "cookies"
-
Yeah, OK, y'all.. Google said because of those new EU regs I must let
y'all know that this blog will collect "cookies" and that they even
"helpfully" supp...
She Made It After All...
-
From August 19, 1977, it's the last broadcast of Jessica Savitch at KYW-TV
Channel 3 in Philadelphia (complete with commercials). She was leaving the
the...
Deadbeat's Guide to Mother's Day Gifts
-
If you're like me, you think mother's day is just another made up holiday,
designed by corporate America to shame men into spending their hard earned
mone...
1969 Grin and Bear It junk yard
-
It's a fine long term investment,,,,in a few years after garbage fill,
you'll double its value as a prime building lot.
Playlists For The New Hound Radio Show
-
Playlists for the first eleven weeks of my new radio show on
www.littlewaterradio.or (or on Mixcloud) can be downloaded here:
https://www.mediafire.com/fold...
Nick Kent - Apathy for the Devil, a 1970's Memoir
-
Une quinzaine d’années après son recueil *Dark Stuff* (*L’Envers du Rock*
en français – et qui comprend des articles formidables sur Brian Wilson,
Syd Bar...
THE OLD REDHEAD AND SCOOTER
-
Huh. Was looking through archives of a long defunct weekly magazine from
Paterson and found these in a 1960 issue: Yeah. Oh, and yes, I'm back....
Sansón from Argentina
-
Almost three years ago I posted about a Spanish language version of The
Squirrel Cage from Argentina's Billiken Magazine, titled *Jopito Y Calvete.
*I've j...
I May Have Forgotten How to Do This...
-
But here is a message from Dan Wenninger: 1Way returns this Tuesday (2/24)
with Oblique Orchestra at 9pm. After our set there will be an open, large
group ...
Tangerine Dream: SingAlongaTangs
-
First published in *Sounds*, 6 November 1976
Tangerine Dream were a great band to spend time with; almost the polar
opposite of how you imagined Kraftwerk...
One Hand Records store …
-
Head on over to: onehand.bigcartel.com There’s a new record from Dark
Sunny Land and one due soon from Weasel Walter & Chris Pitsiokos.
Eighty-two'ed
-
[This is merely an update to a previous post. Normally I just tack this
kind of info to the end of my original post on the topic, but since this
piece is s...
NOBODY'S BABY
-
NOBODY’S BABY (Miriam) Norton 397 So here we are in this new fangled world,
but still, the beat goes on, as it has since boy first met girl and hearts
ran ...
The Death of Creativity or a New Filter?
-
*By Doug Sheppard*
In a recent issue of *The Guardian*, David Byrne lamented that the Internet
“will suck all the creative content out of the world”—point...
TL Wahl - A Face In The Crowd
-
TL Wahl - A Face in the Crowd LP.
Grey splatter vinyl local real people late night soft rock record from 1979
on the GDS label (same as Claw) from cen...
Bar Talk # 8
-
*Overheard Friday Night (6-8-12) at Nick-A-Nees, Providence, Rhode Island
(Purty much reported as close to verbatim as possible.)*
He’s the kin...
BACK TO BLACK MANDARA UNIVIVE-021
-
UNIVIVEの最新タイトルであり、「DOUBLE HEADS 15CDBOX」「WILD TRIPS」「NAKED DIZA
STAR」と並んでビギナーからマニアにまで幅広くお勧めできる最重要作品のひとつです。まず特筆すべきはディスク1の75年4月の御殿場花まつりのサウンドボードソースですが、最近ボックスにし...
Albert Ayler Quintet - Black Revolt (1966)
-
Albert Ayler Quintet - Black Revolt
Tracklist:
1 Bells 18:18
2 Ghosts 23:24
Bass - Lewis Worrell
Percussion - Ronald Shannon Jackson
Tenor Saxophone,...
Kovacs on the Corner (1952)
-
Is this thing on? Hello?
Hello?
Here's something I never thought I'd see.. the much-maligned and very
short-lived Kovacs Philly daytime vehicle Kovacs on...
LOVE ACETATE WITH JIMI HENDRIX
-
I found this missing link a while ago when this blog was wandering in the
wilderness. Here are the legendary Love/Hendrix sessions......
here:
http://uplo...
CONCENTRATING THE MIND: Thoughts About Distribution
-
How did you watch the Obama Inauguration?
I had intended to find a place with a large screen, preferably full of
Americans, and share the audacity of hope....