BLOG TO COMM

Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Ameriga and all the shits at sea, it's BLOG TO COMM on the air once again trying to straighten out quite a few of you readers as to what REAL rock 'n roll scribing is s'posed to be all about 'stead of what you'd find in a good hunk of that college newspaper offal you've been subjected to all these ugly years. Remember, I said "trying", though whether I succeed or not is an entirely different question that's up to you to decide. Haven't had one of these "real deal" posts in quite some time so let me say 'tis sure grand meeting up with alla ya again and if you can't see the utter snark in that 'un I'm afraid you're even a more hopeless case than I'll ever be.

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One of the reasons this post took so long to get out was because of the arrival of the li'l beaut that you can see at your very left, the latest (#6) issue of FAUX WOOD PANELING which I must admit's the only magazine that I actually look forward to getting hold of in my greasy paws this far down the ol' lifeline. (The reason that this mag held up the post is because well, the only real reading time I get these days is when I'm on the commode and like well, even that can be limiting if you're on a strict diet.)  

Izzit my imagination or is this issue bigger'n the others? And if that ain't enough to get you all hot 'n bothered under the collar  howzbout the contents of this mag which cover everything from Bon Scott and his involvement with and without AC/DC ('n a smart history too regarding those early days of struggle when the Easybeats connection really mattered to people like Greg Shaw) to famed Frenchman Claude Bessy, Robert Forward with his Cee-Dee burn empire and a whole slew of items both inside and out the realm of Meltzer. Even a Heavy Mother "II" tour diary pops up, just like the kind they used to have in alla them eighties "'zines". The thing even comes with a beaut of a flexidisc by some act called Mordecai which I am not going to listen to for reasons that should be obvious to longtime tuner-inners of this blog.

To put the icing on the ol' Ho Ho there's an additional magazine included with this 'un too. It's a biography written by one Timothy Buchanan, one regarding a jazztress named Una Mae Carlisle, a singer of some renown who probably gets the red carpet treatment here because she was born near FAUX WOOD PANELING's Wilberforce Ohio epicenter, mainly the tornado capital of Ohio, Xenia (well, somewhere near its epicenter). It's a great and informative bit of jazz history to read and digest and like, if the world was a more real-deal kind of place for people like myself it would be stuff like this getting printed in bigtime magazines 'stead of the usual fluff that I assume pops up these days. If both Buchanan and Oberlin don't get any added bonus points from this when they cash their chips and meet Saint Peter I'll say there is no hope in this sad 'n sorry life of ours!

If you want one, click on the link at the left.

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Trying to keep this blog somewhat uppa date and current affairs-related well, all of this talk about the sleepy town of Springfield Ohio and the Haitians o'er there who have reportedly been swiping dogs, cats and geese for their din-dins reminded me of my own tangles with the city! T'was during the summer of 1976 and well, the folk were scheduled to do an antiques show/flea market thingie in that very city on a Saturday, only the day before the two of 'em got into a heated argument and Dad says he was definitely NOT GOING to help Mom in any wayshapeform...he was actually that steamed over something that I have forgotten about after all these years! Not having planned to go with the rest of 'em, I was more or less drafted into doing so even though I had some serious plans for that Saturday, mainly spinning records and acting like the total jerk kid I was and in many ways shall remain.

Anyhow I was awakened at two in the morn, got dressed and had breakfast as the tee-vee played THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL. The final segment where all the guests gathered to sing "The Sound of Silence" still reverberates in me, and not exactly in a positive way at that. (If any of you biographers want to actually pinpoint the exact day we made the trek to Springfield I'm sure this little fact should help you out somewhat.)

So right when the television station was signing off we left in our dilapidated second-hand 1972 Ford Torino station wagon with me in the back all buried in antiques while Mom and Cyster stayed in the front. Mom drove and Cyst commandeered the radio meaning I hadda put up with repeat after repeat of Peter Frampton singing "Baby I Love Your Way" which probably encouraged my disdain for the tune even more. I remember my mother saying that she actually liked the song which surely proved that she didn't know what "your way" meant.

We arrived about daybreak, set up and well, thankfully the day was nice and sunny. I don't remember how we did sales-wise but I do recall romping about the show looking for things to ogle at. Someone was offering the original printing of THE MAD READER, the one with the "What's My Shine" story that was excised from later editions, but it was somewhat tattered so I passed (I regretted not getting it for years until the story was eventually reprinted years later and to be truthful about it the thing wasn't funny a'tall). Also espied an 8-track of the Blues Magoos' PSYCHEDELIC LOLLIPOP but since I didn't have an 8-track player I figured to save the moolah. It might have been a quarter-track...you used to see lots of those at these kinda affairs.

Anyway we packed up 'round five and got home about 9:30 in the evening or so because I remember my father was watching THE BOB NEWHART SHOW when we arrived. He seemed to have calmed down somewhat but was still slightly miffed. And of course I was tired, but it was like one of those satisfying kinda tireds you used to get after a long day at the amusement park (as if I would know since we hardly ever went to any). It was fun, and I don't recall seeing any Haitians or pets for that matter anywhere around.

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Interesting "fact" (via an ebay listing) that I never knew of regarding the infamous NUGGETS collection:

This is a must-have for any serious music collector. The two-disc set features a unique blend of psychedelic rock and garage rock, with tracks from various artists such as The Velvet Underground and The Stooges (my emphasis). The vinyl material ensures high-quality sound and the 33 RPM speed provides a smooth listening experience. The record label, Sire, released this album in 1976 and it remains a classic to this day. The black color of the record adds to its aesthetic appeal {? sez me}. The album is in near mint condition, making it a great addition to any collection. Get your hands on this rare piece of music history today!

Ya learn something new every day!

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Some sad if waywayWAY belated news to report --- do you remember a DC-area rockscribe named Elizabeth "Libby" Hatch, the very same Libby Hatch who contributed some interesting music screeding (even if I didn't especially care for her Laurel Canyon and Women's Lip opines) to the likes of HYPE(RION) and CREEM?  Y'know, the same Libby Hatch who played bass guitar with such Dee-Cee acts as the Shirkers and Tru Fax and the Insaniacs and was also known far and wide in the area for being tangentially involved with other local aggregations like Black Market Baby? Sad to say, but I just discovered that she died in a motorcycle accident during December of 1998, and although I'm sure you readers could care less I thought I'd mention her even if I didn't especially cozy up to things like her review of OUR BODIES OUR SELVES or singer/songwriter rah rahs. Well, at least this certain fact has egged me on into reading her contributions to the music press with my rockist pride hanging at half mast.

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Now for a brief interlude, the Alice Cooper Toronto Revival Festival show from September 1969, a performance so off the wall insane that it kinda makes me wonder just how Alice could end up becoming a sad shell of his former self crooning such utter snooze as "Only Women Bleed", "You and Me" not to mention that ultimate gut-wrencher "I'll Never Cry"! As far as his dismal ABC television special promoting his LACE AND WHISKEY album with that forties private eye schtick (and believe-you-me, I tried watching it!) the less said the better...

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And now for another brief interlude, a performance (I posted another one a decade or two back) by the infamous (to those "in the know") Tielman Brothers, the should be legendary in the USA Indorock band who proved that there was life in Holland long before Focus! After watching this all I have to say is...have we really progressed?

 

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The miracle of AI roars on! Gotta say that I really dig these "Super Panavision" refabrications of old tee-vee faves done up in ways I'm sure a lotta you more imaginative kids out there woulda like 'em  to have been the first time 'round! In fact I myself has gotta admit that I like the following two efforts so much that I even requested that these people do an H.P. Lovecraftian take on GREEN ACRES!:

There are at least five FLINTSTONES AI redos that I know of!:

Ditto THE JETSONS:

The Popeye one doesn't work though...he has teeth, both eyes and sheesh where are those malformed arms and legs?!?!?!:

These videos prove that one can play with energetic life forces and actually get away with it. I have great hope for AI, imagining that it can not only create interesting and unique television and motion picture entertainment for our own personal use (once the technology dribbles down to peons like myself who will be able to master our own realities without the interference of higher sociopolitical influence) but can conjure anything from long lost songs by unrecorded acts to decayed cinematic excursions that are over 120 years old! Maybe the future actually will be more Gerry Anderson and less Aldous Huxley after all!

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Tried to keep the reviews short and succinct this time but of course I will fail in my attempts, run of the mouth keyboard bornado that I was, am and shall remain. Thanks for the freebees Paul McGarry, Robert Forward, Thierry Mueller, Wade Oberlin and no one else this time!

The Unholy Modal Rounders-UNHOLIER THAN THOU 2-CD-r set (originally on Don Giovanni Records)

Lessee, I already used the Real Amerigan Folk Music line in an earlier Rounders writeup, and I don't think that you're gonna buy the schtick about these guys being part of the general mid-seventies NYC underground rock scene either (even if for all practical purposes it is true). But whaddeva, this is the Unholy Modal Rounders live at the Bottom Line in New York City doing their psychedelicized mountain man music coming off like what I wished ALL of those down-home whole wheat granola types from the seventies woulda. If music like this had only gotten out a little more back then would we have hadda put up with John Denver? Of course we woulda...people are assholes.

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QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE LP (Capitol Records)

I've tried avoiding this group's "official" efforts after year upon year of hearing about just how flatso these guys sounded in the studio as compared with their various live traipses, of which some early ones have been issued legit-wise o'er the past few decades. Those efforts capture the essence of the entire San Fran ballroom scene before that petered out into drug casualty haze, but coming upon a free copy of their '68 debut I decided to cast a whole lotta "I told you so!" to the wind and find out that well, these naysayers were quite correct. 

Not really, since QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE does show some spark of promise on the second side with the extended tracks allowing the group to stretch out into jazzy improv, but otherwise this is just downright dull. Then again I usually have to adjust my listening parameters to eke any sorta enjoyment outta most of these late-sixties psychedelic efforts so why shouldn't this 'un be any different? Well, it was better'n anything that the corpse of the SF scene was cranking out by the turn of the decade and we should be thankful for that!

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David Bowie-STATION TO STATION CD-r burn (originally on RCA Records)

Brad Kohler wants me to send him all of them Cee-Dee-Are burns that I don't want hanging around the BTC office, but when I offered him STATION TO STATION he balked because he already bought the thing for a whole dollar at the local Starvation Army. Thanks a lot bud, now I'm STUCK with this turdburger!

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Thee Headcoats Sect featuring Don Craine-HEADCOATS ON! CD-r burn (originally on Hangman Records, England)

Pshaw! These tracks featuring Downliners Sect maniac Craine also pop up on that ELEMENTARY HEADCOATS Cee-Dee I reviewed sometime back. Nevertheless this 'un's mandatory listening for any of you who were all out for the Sect ever since you found out about 'em via a variety of early-seventies fanzines, At least I get to hear that Snagglepuss impression once again.

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Lou Reed-CLEVELAND MUSIC HALL, CLEVELAND OHIO APR, 26, 1978 CD-r burn

As I've said many-a-time before, I am so glad that I was too poor to buy all the records like you rich kids sure could (hadda play the ones I did get on an ancient, dilapidated stereo as well!). Thankfully the depression-era wages I hadda subsist on saved me from having to hear some rather unappetizing records like TAKE NO PRISONERS. I assume this recording from roughly the same time is a whole dang a lot like that 'un, and if so I'm glad my $8.98 went towards other worthy goop 'stead of that mess. Somehow I get the idea that if Lou had followed Elvis' lead and went Vegas this is what his show woulda sounded like. I'd like to know which comedian Reed woulda gotten to open the show --- I think Don Rickles woulda been perfect zingin' them insults at Reed before getting strangled!

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THE TONY JACKSON GROUP CD-r burn (originally on Estudio Records, Colombia)

Haw! Have a humongous hit and then leave your group right in the middle of alla this success! Anyway that's what this Jackson guy did and well, if you happen to think that the Searchers just weren't the same without his unique nasal blare (not that any of us in the US of Whoa would know) he sure didn't do so hot on his own! Sheesh, being reduced to re-doing his big hit really must've been a comedown par excellence, but otherwise these tracks are pretty hotcha for those of you who are still enamored by sixty-plus-year-old British Invasion moves and generally moving/shaking songs both original and cover. Not a bad 'un if you're keen for these sounds.

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Michel Pagliaro-LIVE SALOON 3-CD-r burn set

I never cozied up to Pagliaro the way many adherents of the seventies power-pop Greg Shaw "it's all coming back" rah-rah club sure did, and the first disque-and-a-half sure didn't make me regret my choice one bit. By the time the famed Montrealer got into his seventies hits it all tumbled over me like a stack of back issues. Now I can hear what the likes of Jymn Parrett and a whole bunch of under-the-covers rock 'n rollers did at a time when music like the kind Pagliaro churns out on this acoustic live get-together wasn't exactly lighting a fire under the asses of the dulled out Pantsios-bred FM rock types. The extended 'tween songs French patter didn't hinder this either, sounding almost as musical as the actual tuneage.  

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Various Artists-KEB DARGE & LITTLE EDITH'S LEGENDARY WILD ROCKERS CD-r burn (originally on BBE Records, England)

I didn't think any of these early rock 'n roll compilations could get any wilder but this 'un sure does reach for levels of musical insanity. Hotcha collection of early rockabilly, plain ol' rock 'n roll and rhythm and blues that fits like a jigsaw because it sure is tuned into the better aspects of late-fitfies unto pre-Beatles sixties Amerigan doof. Most of these are new to my ears but there are a few recognizable classics such as Ronnie Cook and the Gaylads' better-be-legendary-by-now "Goo Goo Muck", not forgetting Kai Ray's "I Want Some of That" which helped put Minneapolis on the rock 'n roll map! Well, maybe not as much as the Fendermen or Trashmen did but still... A release that keeps up the energy level, but why the stoopid tiki cover anyway?

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Sun Ra-FRIENDLY GALAXY CD-r burn (originally on Leo Records, England)

A just pre-stroke Ra does fine returning to the late-fifties Arkestra style, sounding somewhat tired and ragged but still spirited enough to put on a fairly good performance. Some unfamiliar trackage here as well as a few "hoary old chestnuts" as they like to say. At least he didn't go outta this mortal coil reducing himself to Chuck Mangione dribble the way I'm sure many a record label mogul woulda wanted. Not a mandatory one, unless you're a Sun Ra fanatic and I just know there are many of you out there who are (or better be!).

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A WHOLE BUNCHA RADIO AIRCHECKS CD-r burns

Robert Forward sent these right under the ol' electro-charged wire and well, all I gotta say is what a way to top off a blogpost! The Chicago radio one featured nothing but some guy driving 'round talking about exchange students and Brazil (prolly a mistake on Forward's part), but the rest were hotcha enough in the ways they conveyed just how the concept of FM radio went from freeform entertainment to AOR pandering to the dullest aspects of doofus 18-34 years old Ameriga. Believe-you-me, I hadda LIVE through it all and you all know how much I get STEAMED!!! and wish for not only the dee-jays who played that musical mulch but their teenbo clientele to die long, painful deaths!

Tom Donahue's San Fran show from '68 was particular boss what with his truly freeform playlist and intelligent 'tween song patter, but the "Brother Love" show on WAMO in Pittsburgh from 'round the same time was a real deal surprise for this particularly holed up in the bedroom dip of a blogschpieler! Imagine that Tim Leary type from DRAGNET uttering poster shop slogans along with guest Raymond the Condemned while Blue Cheer and Great Society tracks spin and you'll get an idea of just how cornballus something could be on one hand yet high-lariously in-tune on the other. Just take a listen to "The Museum of the Straight" and hope your name is not mentioned!

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Hokay, here's yet another end of post come on for back issues of BLACK TO COMM that I know you're gonna keep on ignoring. But eh, what else would I expect given all of that wonderful, enriching and knowledgeable rock writing one can find on the web for free. Have fun googling "Foreigner Rock Hall of Fame"...boy will you get the kind of rock news I know you're just looking for!