Away

For the holidays. Don't let the Xmas goblins getcha!

5th Dimension

Been doing some research for a potential drum machine purchase. There's a freaking TON of gear out there, but so far, it's looking like the Alesis HR16 is a good option for harder sounds (Godflesh used it, so really, what else do you need to know?) Or maybe the Roland TR 707, which is somewhere between the Alesis and the super analog-sounding ones, which require a whole lotta money. Best of all would be an Akai MCP 1000, which is actually a drum machine sampler, so you could rock any of the classic machines using just this one little guy.

Crazy thing is, that's just the tip of the iceberg. All these analog instruments contain an alternate universe of bastard sounds if you know how to unleash them, like Reed Ghazala, the kook considered the father of "circuit bending," accidentally discovered over 40 years ago. Here is a cool primer on this shadowy and mystical phenomenon, followed by some choice words from Mike Patton.

I Put a Spell on You

70s psych from Zambia that makes J. Mascis and co. look like a bunch of honky chumps.

While I'm at it, check out this here documentary on real-life Haitian voodoo and zombie potions. This is some evil shit.

Lemmy goes to the mall

Rockin Til Midnight

From the state that brought you such international sensations as John Waters, Good Charlotte, David Hasselhoff, Edgar Allen Poe, and the legendary Kixx, now comes the sequel to everyone's favorite white trash parade: Heavy... Metal... PICNIC!

According to the Youtube comments Pentagram and the Obsessed played that weekend. No evidence of Pentagram as of yet, but don't miss a glimpse of the Obsessed at :44!

Wild Combination

Watched the Arthur Russell documentary this weekend. Dazzling stuff, especially the performance footage and his partner's memories of their life together, which was incredibly tender and moving.

Here's a video my sis made for an annual Arthur Russell tribute party in NY (I believe this is one of the few songs he was remembered for until a couple albums worth of material surfaced in the early 2000s) and a great article from Yeti magazine about the unprecedented cross-pollination of music and art in the downtown New York scene of the 70s and 80s.

Random Thoughts

1) Forgive me. I've been collecting alot of quotes lately, something I've always thought was a little hokey (anyone who's ever received an email with a Ghandi quote at the end knows exactly what I mean). But for some reason I find myself wanting to hold on to the funny, poignant, or just downright outrageous ones, so expect some of those to be archived here.

Life is like Sanskrit read to a pony.

-Lou Reed

2) Know that feeling when you realize that a band you like, or you think you might like, is responsible for a song you HATE? Case in point (and this isn't that strong an example): I'm seeing Primal Scream, thinking "man, this is so great" and then they go into "Get Your Rocks Off," from that one record I really want but can never bring myself to pay for, and all the corporate alterna-rockers in the crowd start dancing and singing along. No, this isn't quite HATE, but it certainly taints the experience. Anyways, something like that happened this morning while listening to my new Big Pink LP, when on comes "Dominoes," a song so atrocious on so many levels, that they just can't be forgiven. Of course, these are always the ones that get stuck in your head all day, taunting you like a motherfucker.

To wipe the pain away, here's the best song from that Primal Scream album. I won't even dignify the Big Pink with a good song of theirs, I'm so bitter.



3) Saw Burial last night, a German band playing "Burning Spirits" style Japcore ala Death Side, Tetsu Arrei, etc. Not bad, but I couldn't stop thinking about the absurdity of Germans playing a uniquely Japanese brand of music, which then got me thinking about the even weirder combo of Japanese bands playing black American R&B, like Blues Creation's "Mississippi Mountain Blues," or to a lesser degree, Stackwaddy (who are English) singing "I'm going to Kentucky... oh yeah... I'm going to Kentucky." Ridiculous, I tell you. RIDICULOUS. Anyways, this is an amusing video in that vein.

Dreaming

Brian Eno is Sexy and Wise

Over 30 years ago and yet more timely than ever. So incredibly attracted to this man's brain.

Hallowe'en

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Yeah Yeah

Another novelty. This time from Jilted John and his mob of freaks (including Martin Hannet on the baby guitar in back)

Cat Club

Roland and Rora:

Bastards

"This was a new breed of rebel. They, of course, didn't have jobs. They despised everything that most Americans pursue -- stability, security. They rode their bikes, hung out in bars for days at a time, fought with anyone who messed with them. They were self-contained, with their own set of rules, their own code of behavior. It was extraordinary."

Bo Diddley is Jesus

Saw Deerhunter last Friday and been listening to them on endless repeat all week cause I'm overworked and stressed out. Even woke up in the middle of the night thinking about this Bo Diddley tribute, recorded at a show in Germany on the day of his death (cracking up about the CAN shirt too).



Another classic Diddley cover while I'm at it:



... and finally, thee black gladiator:

Don't Be A Dummy

Fun little novelty track from my main man John DuCann, best known as the guitarist for Death Walks Behind You-era Atomic Rooster, and the brain behind the lesser-known but equally awesome Hard Stuff, among others. The tale of how he came to sing this is a strange one.

Originally it was the jingle for a zombie punk commercial selling Lee Cooper jeans, sung by none other than Gary Webb (aka Numan), then front man for Tubeway Army. Once he struck the big time, the record execs wanted him to re-record it as a single, but he wanted nothing to do with it. So in steps John DuCann, now working on a solo album described as "Status Quo meets the Sex Pistols," who turns it into a smash hit on the UK singles chart. Here they are back to back.

Maximum Overdrive

Two things:

Boneheaded cyclists are no different than angry drivers.

And passive aggression is truly the worst.

Darkness Descends

Among the sounds of my youth, Dark Angel's "Darkness Descends" cassette occupies a huge place, having spent many hours blasting it in my parents' old Toyota Camry. So it was with great excitement that I finally scored the LP version in Berkeley today.

To commemorate this joyous occasion, I bring you this amazing vid, featuring the unholy fatman himself, Gene Hoglan, and a pre-born again Ron Rinehart (whose post-DA project, Oil, I just learned recorded a live album at the First Baptist Church in Downey, California). He also shares a striking resemblance to Conan the Barbarian. Enjoy!

Crocodile Tears

Distressing piece on the future of a liberal arts education in America:

"In a response to last week’s column on “Howl,” the movie about Allen Ginsberg’s famous poem, Charlie from Binghamton asked, “What happened to public investment in the humanities and the belief that the humanities enhanced our culture, our society, our humanity?” And he speculated that it “will be a sad, sad day if and when we allow the humanities to collapse.”

What he didn’t know at the time is that it had already happened, on Oct. 1, when George M. Philip, president of SUNY Albany, announced that the French, Italian, classics, Russian and theater programs were getting the axe.

It is the job of presidents and chancellors to proclaim the value of liberal arts education loudly and often and at least try to make the powers that be understand what is being lost when traditions of culture and art that have been vital for hundreds and even thousands of years disappear from the academic scene. President Philip cries crocodile tears. Real tears are in order. "

Beatniks

Still can't believe I saw the Clean in SF the other night. After the whole one-NYC-show-ever-so-rarely situation of the last few years, I had essentially given up any expectation of seeing my favorite roadtrip/driving band. Next thing you know I'm watching these three goofy Kiwis blurting out Don't Point That Thing At Me and a rack of other hits. Hell, they even finished with Tally Ho, something that seemed entirely too obvious to even consider including in the setlist. So yeah, I'm a lucky duck, although now that I want to revisit the damn Beatniks video, its nowhere to be found.

While searching for it, I came across this cool documentary focusing on the Enemy and the scene they jumpstarted in Dunedin, New Zealand. Truly fascinating stuff from a place almost entirely isolated from the rest of the world. Here's part one and part two.

MRR Presents...

Well well well

Odd and ironic? Yeah I think this qualifies

Owner of Segway Company Dies in Segway Crash

Ummm, Yeah

Still trying to get my head around this one.

Wail of the 1%

Great NY Times read on the plight of America's most privileged elite.

"The spectacle of high-income Americans, the world’s luckiest people, wallowing in self-pity and self-righteousness would be funny, except for one thing: they may well get their way."

Sweet and Fruity

Final Agony

HOW MANY MOHAWKS CAN YOU TAKE???

Fuck What Ya Heard

Platonic love can exist between two grown men.

Jason T: Happy birthday man, you're getting to be daddy age. No rainbow
Me: Thanks. At least one of us is still young and handsome
Jason T: Uh. If you were gay I'd hit it. Just be glad you're not. I'd do bad things to you
Me: Thats the nicest thing you've ever said to me

Twilight Zone

This is a good one. Thanks Kirk.

Like Whoa

!!!

Hitched

Watched Scorcese's After Hours the other night and Terri Garr's appearance brought back distant memories of an adolescent crush on her (for some reason, maybe because we recorded it on BetaMax, I watched Mr. Mom like a million times as a kid).

So naturally, I Google image-searched her. It yielded plenty of crap, as well as some really great—though only tangentially-related—photos. (On a side note, this is one aspect of the internet and the search for knowledge as a whole that will forever amaze me: looking for one random fact inevitably leads to more. As John Muir more eloquently stated, "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.")

And now the fruits of my search. No story on this first one, I just found it striking:


This next one was taken by the late, great Dennis Hopper. "Legendary underground filmmaker Bruce Connor (A Movie) is in the tub, while Toni Basil (Easy Rider, singer of Hey Mickey You’re So Fine) and Terri Garr (Young Frankenstein, etc) get ready to go out on the town."


And my favorite, a still from a 1964 pop awards concert called Teenage Awards Music International, which featured all of the big acts of the day—the Beatles, Stones, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Berry, Smokey Robinson, Beach Boys, et al. This photo shows the Supremes and one of the go-go dancers, "a 17 year old Teri Garr who can be seen dancing her ass off almost the whole show." In another account, "the Rolling Stones almost backed out after learning they were going to follow (James) Brown." And rightly so I should say.

Doom On!

Really siked that the St. Vitus interview I conducted with Dave Chandler a few months ago finally made it to print in the new issue of Maximum. These guys were the original hardcorepunkmetal freaks and there's absolutely nothing else like em.

Here's a classic vid featuring a mulleted Wino (his first show with them) and the doom wizard himself playing one of my fave tracks.

If Stephen Hawking Says So

Then it's probably true.

The Big Bang was the result of the inevitable laws of physics and did not need God to spark the creation of the Universe, Stephen Hawking has concluded.

1,800 user comments so far and counting...

Blue My Mind

Can't believe I'm just now discovering this mind-melter from self-proclaimed guitar god Randy Holden, who briefly joined Blue Cheer on side two of their "New! Improved!" LP.

The story goes that after becoming disenchanted with Cheer, he peaced out, teamed up with drummer Chris Lockheed, and rented an opera house to record this mammoth using a wall of 20 Sunn amps. The title, Population II, being "a reference to the fact that there were only two members in the band as well as being an astronomical term that defines a special kind of Star Group cluster type, having Heavy Metal in its composition." Even crazier than the amp wall is that Lockheed supposedly played both drums and keyboard simultaneously during live shows, though how he did this I just can't imagine.

Anyways, this is pure 70's doom unlike anything I've heard. DIG IT

I Could Eat a Nob at Night

"Come together and annoy Karl. He is your leader. He is your messiah! He is your god! And he fucking hates it." - Ricky Gervais

If you don't know this round-headed little twat, here's a quick primer from Pilkipedia. Then enjoy him being abused on the trailer from his new show.

It was Karl himself who best summed up his worldview: "I don't like fun". He is not a fan of holidays, parties, traveling, or anything that has to be planned in advance. Maintaining relationships with family and friends is a tremendous hassle for him. He is also largely indifferent to some of life's great pleasures, like sex and music.

Oh Man

This is just great.

Music is Bad for You

Much as I dislike the generation of tragically hip yabbos associated with VICE, I give the magazine credit for consistently producing cutting-edge, irreverent, and thought-provoking content. (Though it must be noted that my little sis works for them and, in terms of compensation, they're a bunch of cheap bastards).

Here's an excerpt from The Misuse of Music by none other than Ian "the Spiv" Svevonius, which asks: should "music’s paradigmatic status... be reconsidered and even overturned"?

Music has an intoxicating effect on people. Is there any intoxicant that hasn’t been proved to have adverse qualities? For all of methamphetamine’s amorous inducements, for example, crank leads to bags under the eyes and bad breath. Cocaine is considered a wonderful high, but it results in tedious monologues and poor decision-making. Marijuana was extolled by none other than bathrobed sex guru Hugh Hefner himself, but it ends up inducing grumpiness and underarm odor.

Meanwhile, music apparently leads to DEATH. And not a lush, orgasmic death as with a morphine overdose, but a horrible death like drowning in a swimming pool, choking on vomit, or turning blue while bent around a bedpost or a toilet in a fleabag motel.

The rest here.

I'm With Stupid

Highlights from Cardiac Arrest's debaucherous weekend in the Bay

Little Red Rooster

I don't recommend this look to anyone, but Brian Jones? NAILED IT

Def Metal Fist Pump

Pretty great vid of Lee-era Napalm Death on a kiddie program circa '89. Classic move by a mustachio'ed Mitch Harris around 2:10.

Big in the Philippines

Picked up the Wild Swans' iconic "Revolutionary Spirit" single a few weeks ago. I was never completely sold on this tune, but as it turns out, it's the b-side that's the real winner. Maybe I'll seek out the Renascent collection after all.

Tech-not

Mom just got an iPhone and is texting me like a drunk high school girl. Choice cut:

"But enuf,
abt me--what bat u? How
Did
the show go?"

Killed In Jail

The almighty Latin Dogs at the Graystone, Detroit. Their classic, "Killed in Jail," is #2, but don't miss the rest, the entire clip SMOKES

Once upon a time

Larry David had hair. Well, kinda.

Vile Thoughts

Saw my first SF BART show last night featuring Opt Out (welcome back Dan!), Fugitive Kind, and Culture Kids. Good tunes, no police, and the Mission's finest crackheads. Photos coming soon maybe. Til then, please enjoy this classic.

Hype Machine

On the Muir Trail

Just returned from a ten-day backpacking trip through King's Canyon National Park with the Sierra Club. Words cannot describe, so I'll let the photos do the talking.