Happy State of The F%$king Union To You & Yers

Happy State of The F%cking Union To You & Random Revelations For Shizzle My People...


Wanna hear more of that rabid rabble rouser, big fan of our prez , yes it's 70-something Harry Belafonte addressing thoegathered at last week's Bush Commision Tribunals in NYC?

Give Em Hell Harry !!!!


Harry Belafonte - At Bush Commission

The notable musician, actor and human rights activist stated in his opening remarks he hoped to help save the soul of our nation, noting: "It is important when all the instruments of government collapse, we go in the final hour, to the most important line of battle: the people themselves."

Harry has been lambasted lately in the right wing media for calling Bush the world's greatest terrorist, despite evidence that the Bush ideology has put hundreds of thousands in early graves.

Belafonte, who rose to fame in the 50's as a friendly Folksy Calypso singer was the first African American to win an Emmy, and was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement in this country. He helped organize the We Are The World single with Quincy Jones in the 80's and has been a critic of US foreign policy for many years, particularly with regard to policies in his native Carribean & in particular regarding Cuba.

Here's an interview Harry did with Democracy Now about his visit with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela where he called Bush a Terrorist...

Belafonte on Democracy Now

here's a classic

Harry Belafonte' with Odetta - Hole In De Bucket Dear Liza

and here's harry with the track he's best known for

Harry Belafonte - Day O

Comedians Cathy Griffin and Al Franken are celebrities who've come out against the War, yet have gone on USO tours to Iraq, and love performing for the US troops. They also wonder why the most vitriolic vocal war hawks like Rush Limbaugh & Bill O'Reilly have stayed safe & sound at home. Franken's comment on Sylvester "chicken shit" Stallone is worth clicking this short video link alone...Play Clip



Newsdesk.org, just published a story on January 30, 2005 about how legal music download services are making inroads, but P2P still outdoes em all... <http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/000475.php>

Speaking of legal downloads...
I haven't even had a chance to listen to it, but I found this & maybe you wanna kill some time... instead of fetuses...

That's right Anti-Abortion fans, pack yer i-Pod with this pro Judge Alito tuneage courtesy of Pro-Life dot com... here's yer MP3

Daniel Sisco - Worth Fighting For

here's another fave of you fans of legal travails and our court system

Peter Tosh - Legalize It

anyhow... I had a long weekend with too many highlights & lowlights galore, and I'd go on & on...but I'm exhausted and I promised I'd get to bed before 6am for the first time in daze...

so while i head off to my beddy bye... you can listen to some tunes...

see ya when the vampire awakes...

scrambled playlist of no particular order


Nine Inch Nails - Bite The Hand That Feeds ( Bitrot remix )

The Magic Numbers - She IS (Tim Buckley Cover)

Pretty Girls Make Graves - The Nocturnal House ( from new CD coming in April )

Cat Power - The Greatest ( featuring Teenie Hodges!)

Sepultura - Convicted In Life ( new track)

La Rocca - Sing Song Sung ( upcoming Irish band )

The Sounds - Painted By Numbers ( artsy Swedish rockers)

Les Savvy Fav - The Sweat Descends

Iron & Wine w/ Calexico - Prison Route 41

Tra la La - The Girls Say

Animal Collective - Winter's Love

2600 - Off The Hook ( Renowned Hacker Geek Mag Podcast )

gotta go... I'm fading hard...

is this a great country or what...

Hmmm ...Thank Golly It's Friday

Hmm... Thank Golly It's Friday

Man, I'm watching T-Rex, Myrna Loy & Ray Davies documentaries on the sattelite, typing on the interweb, drinking cold Sierra and I just got back from a dinner feasting on the unruly sushi & sake' at The Drunken Fish in Oakland and i'm prolly beyond satiated...

If I keep my expectations and dissapointments in check, hey maybe life's seeming sorta good at the moment & it looks like lotsa loopy stuff going on as usual this weekend near my world...

Friday night my frisco freak pal Barry is DJing out at the outer avenue's finest dive bar The Riptide...

Barry's got one of my fave sick senses of humor and has played a role in so many wild show business exravaganzas over the years. A list of the bands he's played in since i met him is an awesome testimony to his dedication to the extreme lifestyles of being one of the nuttiest nutty buddies from beyond.

Barry is a road warrior and twisted punk noisecore metalloid genius who has played guitar for Rich Kids on LSD, Me First & The Gimmes Gimmes, GWAR, Embryo Killers, Osgood Slaughter and amongst numerous other dealios...

I've included a few mp3'z of Barry's current combo The Crosstops, they are a "trucker punk" band that to understand, I'd say ya gotta catch their shtick live...

Crosstops - I'm An Accident

Crosstops - Me & The Road

Crosstops - Camping With 2 Bi-Sexual Girls Unbuttplugged

However, as much as I love the fool, I've already notified the boy Barry that I'm likely to skip vacationing in his wonderworld in favor of catching The Leaving Trains at Annie's Social Club ( i.e Old CW Saloon )...

Audra has allowed my buddy Parker to slot in Falling James and crew along with DJ Eddie Budd and a slew of naughty nincompoops will be there I'm sure. Not the leat important fuckup on that list would have to be Falling James, whose street cred has to include the fatalistic footnote of living through being the first Mr Courtney Love.

The Leaving Trains have been Falling James and whoever he's fallen in with since the very early 80's. here's some sample 4 track recordings made in 1983 by in a suburban L.A garage by Vitus Matare.

Falling James & Leaving Trains - Leaving Train

Leaving Trains - Creeping Coastline of Lights

( both samples from the unabridged 28-song Wharf Rat Tales soundtrack with other scenesters The Gun Club, The Last, Rain Parade etc)

According to Parker this is thee way to spend a Friday Night... and no t just cuz of the revamped Leaving Trains...Opening the bill are two bands featuring ex-members of Zen Guerilla...I'll let GibbsMo fill ya in...

Opening the bill is Cheetah Speed featuring Carl Horn from ZG and a rhythm section that beats harder then a monkey watching the banana channel. Following will be the (so-I’ve-been-told) legendary High Karate featuring former ZG member Andy Duvall, his brother, and a band who will be doing their first show in 13 years. Just wrap your head around that: Brothers, alcohol, first show in 13 years? Think of the possibilities people!

Spinning all evening will be the immortal (I shit you not) DJ Fast Eddy Budds playing a bunch of rare 45’s that none of you could ever possibly own. And if you ask him why not, he will tell you. And before long your head is spinning and the show is over. Consider yourself warned.

Here's some Zen Guerilla from what so far appears to be their final throwdown on Sub Pop, but who knows...

Zen Guerilla - Staring Into Midnight

Zen Guerilla - Barbed Wire

Saturday night I'm foregoing a chance to catch the season opening Roller Derby battle in Oakland to help host a carnival of craziness going on in an old wherehouse at the bottom of Potrero Hill where many a Nirvana & Melvins record amongst thousands of others were shipped & Steelpole Bathtub lived...

Adventurous creative souls still lurk there, so keep yer eyes peeled for wacky whatnot

Thinking man's folksters and party hosts Sweet Crude Bill and The Lighthouse Nautical Society have honored me with the invite to do a lil mic hogging...so watch for me to appear on some sort of manic MC duties...

here's a Sweet Crude Bill teaser recorded deep in the heart of the Bluegrass Mountains of Virginny...

Sweet Crude Bill & The Lighthouse Nautical Society- Get Back Into It

and while we're at it, why not some music from openers Low Red Land

Low Red Land - The Duke

Low Red Land - Bloodletting

DJs (Studio G)

Live Bands (Studio H) Clide vs. Crocodiles @ 9:30 Low Red Land @ 11 Sweet Crude Bill & The Lighthouse Nautical Society @ 12:30 (debut show!) plus don't forget the Anarchist Kissing Booth click for info on The Fuego Fatale Electronica DJ Party in Studio G

party likely rocks into the way wee hours so don't be shy to stop by and say "high"...

anyhow, after living through the hangover, I'll also be on view and doing duty behind the bar whilst whipping up drinks and rawkin remixes sans crutches for the first time in weeks at Sadie's Flying Elephant... if you live in F CA, then hey, you know the joint...

stop by Sadie's on if yer a Sunday Night Survivor

we'll avoid talking about politics and concentrate on the booze...

zoinks !

Speaking of booze etc... hve ya noticed more people in the "media" seem outraged by the revelations that Oprah's pet James Frey exaggerated hi substance abuse than were about G.W Bush & Colin Powell's B.S WMD scare sessions before the Iraq war?

speaking of WMD scare session B.S, a former Undersecretary of the Israeli Foreign Ministry hassurfaced saying that Israel is deliberately exaggerating the issue of "nuclear" capabilities of Iran" because it's a discrete way of getting its considerably high amount of budgets approved to provide extra financial support for defense as well as intelligence services, claims Dr. Alon Liel.

A military industrial complex conspiracy ? jeeez, say it so?

Eisenhower woulda never believed it...

I Just Saw That Darn Dubya Dude Is Talking Up His New Nuke-lee-ur Plan...

Maybe it's clear indication that despite the bad rap he's taken on stem cell research, maybe Prez Bush is fully into science and stuff. Or maybe he's just completely insincere and lost in space on environmental and national security issues, anyhow let's just try and fathom his latest proposal for nuclear reprocessing in the U.S.

in other dealios... I've been killing time on the train ride home by getting pissed off while reading this book :

Tragedy and Farce: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections, and Destroy Democracy

It's just a basic rehash and forthright analysis of why our mainstream media sucks big fact-wads... I don't recommend it if ya ain't got a strong stomach for annoying observations about spin doctored modern media, but these people below do...

"John Nichols and Bob McChesney are the Paul Revere and Thomas Paine of our time. We ignore them at democracy's peril."

-- Bill Moyers

"The fact that investigative reporters went to jail while Bill O'Reilly runs around free as a jaybird tells us we need McChesney and Nichols desperately. Their book is a lifeboat for surviving the burst of dam of bullshit called 'American Media."

-- Greg Palast, BBC 2000 election correspondant, and author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

Amongst some of the many infuriating passges are ones like these...

"Nightly news coverage on NBC,ABC, CBS,PBS,CNN, and FOX during the first three weeks after the Iraq invasion found that pro-war U.S sources outnumbered antiwar sources by twentyfive to one."

Click To Order "Tragedy and Farce: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections, and Destroy Democracy"

and the big meaningless pile of random audio I include just to fatten out your musical diet:

Pastels ( with into from John Peel)- Advice For The Graduate

Brian Eno & the Winkies - Paw Paw Negroblowtorch

Brian Eno - I'll Come Running

Brian Eno - An Ending ( Ascent)

Abductors - Adolescent Death ( RKL cover )

Ol Dirty Bastard - Sussudio

Paolo Conte - Happy Feet

The Mighty Stars - Suzanne

The Mighty Stars - Go!

Brian Eno - 1/1

Brian Eno - A Stream With Bright Fish

Brian Eno - The Windows Startup Sound

Avenging Nightmares & Whanot

Now that Seattle has slaughtered the Denver Donkeys, and we darn well know the Pittsburgh NFL team may be the last gainfully employed Steelers left in the country... I can rest. Ahh... The team that Microsoft Built... how long before they crash?

and then, I gotta believe the stupid sign I saw hanging in the stadium that summed it up "Detroit Hawk City"

So in a few minutes, with all the Super bizness settled, I'm headed out the door to catch the Avengers on a little tour warm up before they head to Europe . Penelope Houston is/was the singer of this early West Coast punk band who began and disintegrated in an era that brought us the raw uninhibited punk music from compatriots like X, the Weirdos and Mutants etc. They opened for the Sex Pistols last show at Winterland, and broke up before their debut album even hit the streets. Today sadly for legal reasons, much of the Avengers best old school material is out of print, although the stuff does circulate on bootlegs and live tapes...

Penelope split for Europe, quit music for awhile, married and divorced and remarried, and resurfaced starting in the late 80's with a folk type group. Despite some good music made with collaboraters like Pat Johnson, Josef Brinkman, Steven Strauss, Chuck Prophet and even Billie Joe from Green Day, eventually she realized that ya gotta give the people what they want... and they want to hear The Avengers, not Fairport Convention soundalikes.

Here's some cuts from her solo albums...

Penelope Houston - Behind Your Eyes

Penelope Houston - Pale Green Girl

if yer not familiar with her Avengers stuff... i pity the fool... but seriously since I'm gonna lame out and not go on and on, just go to Strange Reaction and grab some more rare cuts and read a little bit more on these important late 70's punk pioneers. You can also head over to the Avengers page on MySpace to hear some more stuff via streaming ...



Avengers - End Of The World

Avengers - I Believe In Me

Avengers - Teenage Rebel

Avengers - American In Me ( 1979 live)


This weekend while I was galavanting around in Frisco checking out bands and whatnot, I saw that in New York a far heavier thing was going down...The International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity was being convened on the 5th anniversary of G.W Bush's initial inauguration. From Jan 20 - 23 activists, witnesses and whatnot were gathering to analyze, recount and draw attention to activities of the current Bush administration that defy and flagrantly flaunt the ideals of international law. The concerned activists behind the Not In Our Name statement have been helping arrange a special tribunal in New York to focus on these crimes...

Here's their spokesman Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights announcing what they'd be up too....

Michael Ratner - Bush Commission

Amongst the many participating at these hearings were:

Scott Ritter, former UN weapons Inspector
Ajamu Sankofa, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility
Amy Bartholomew, Professor of Law, Carleton University (hear audio);
Barbara Olshansky, lawyer for Guantanamo prisoners
Malik Rahim, New Orleans Common Ground Collective (hear audio);
Denis Halliday, ex-head of UN Humanitarian Mission In Iraq & UN Asst Secretary General
Ann Wright, former U.S foreign service officer who resigned to protest Bush's Iraq War
Howard Zinn, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Boston U, (hear audio)


---------------

these recordings from yesteryear are a bit lo-fi compared to yer digital faves of today but do capture the majestic raw rawk performed live in it's prime . The Sabbath cut is supposedly from the Fillmore West, but I think all are from TV shows, with the introduction on the Sabbath track possibly provided by the legendary ny music industry figure Don Kirschener...

Alice Cooper, the man Marilyn Manson owes it all too, hams it up on Johnny Carson, and then with an intro from Kermit The Frog ( a.k.a Jim Henson) on the beloved Muppet Show...

Alice Cooper - Lace & Whiskey ( live on Johnny Carson 1977)

Alice Cooper



Black Sabbath - Behind The Wall of Sleep ( live in New York 1970)

Alice Cooper - School's Out ( live on The Muppet Show)

as a bonus click the pic for the video of Cooper on the Muppet Show singing Welcome to My Nightmare






P.S here's some Seattle-centric fare for those who wanna party and throw around some Northwest sonic pride...

Kingsmen - Little Latin Lupe Lou

Kingsmen - Louie Louie

Nirvana - You Know You're Right

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Mudhoney & Sir Mix A Lot - Freakmomma

Cat Heads & X-Tal & Enablers & Eitzel and Whatnot

CLASS REUNION: THE X-TAL/CAT HEADS FAMILY TREE

Ex SF Weekly music editor Dan Strachota, the booking agent at The Rickshaw Stop recently had the goofy idea to resurrect stray performers & bands from SF's late 80's / early 90's music scene. Saturday night, the concept comes to life and the club proudly presents a special occasion, whereas many M.I.A performers recombine into four unique and legendary bands.

Expect a celebration of the creativity of San Francisco's UnScene era, whose performers have lost none of their chops & wit, some may have less hair, but perhaps a bit more wisdom. Word is a few folks are flying in from around the country as far as Alaska & Maine I hear to to partake of the festivities, so if you are already in the region, then all you gotta do is get to 155 Fell @ Van Ness...

That's Like, So, Not Hard ...

Why: because duh, The Cat Heads X-tal, It Thing, The (Ex) Cat Heads are all going to be up onstage Saturday Jan. 21, 2006.

All Ages Welcome...Doors at 8 pm, 9 pm show.

THE CAT HEADS A rollicking, rambunctious, silly and heartfelt bohemian quartet that rocked in four directions at the same time, the Cat Heads were UnScene vets who recorded two albums on Restless Records in the late 80s and were beloved for their spirited live performances. Their debut album Hubba came in 1987 followed by Submarine in 1988, they skillfully balanced the deep and the cheeky, and were a popular local club band before disbanding . All the og vets will be onstage at once ms. Melanie Clarin, plus messrs. Mark Zanandrea, Alan Korn & Sam Babbitt. MP3s and more at www.catheads.com

X-TAL Sensitively snarky garage-protest troubadors who traveled the world, and released seven albums and several singles on the Alias, Rough Trade, and Normal labels. Tonight revisit their songs that combined ethereal psychedic folk rock, with a post-punk edge. The band went through several lineups, and tonight singer J Neo Marvin, combines original bassist Alan Korn & drummer Mick Freeman with guitarists Jimmy Broustis ( 1987-1993) & Mark Zanandrea ( 1993 - 1995) for a tour through the highlights of their vast & unruly body of socially relevant & politically charged work. Also tonight they offer a very special limited edition CD release of live performances recorded on tour in Paris and Cologne! X-Tal's "Who Owns Our Dreams?" CD will be offered to fans, friends and curiosity seekers who make it to the show for just $5. www.jneomarvin.com/words/xtal.htm

IT THING After the Cat Heads broke up, Mark Zanandrea and Melanie Clarin released the eclectic psychedelic masterpiece The Ode To Billie Joe Bob Dylan Thomas Jefferson Airplane Experience on the Baited Breath label. Years later, joined by bassist Josh Housh, they are hard at work on their second recording. We will hear some of it, along with some old favorites, at this show. www.catheads.com/it_thing.html

THE (EX) CAT HEADS The other two former Cat Heads, Sam Babbitt and Alan Korn, just reissued their lovely rootsy-pastoral gem, Our Frisco, on the Australian label Lamingtone. With alan busy playing for X-Tal tonight representing the (Ex) Cat Heads will be Mr. Sam Babbitt in a brief solo set. www.catheads.com/ex_cat_heads.html

Your hosts for this evening will be yer pals Lil Mike ( ex- Komotion/Chameleon DJ ) on VJ / MC duties and Stereo Steve (KUSF/ Noc Noc ) spinning the not so golden oldies from his Quixotic collection of unusual audio...

X Tal & Cat Heads will be Stereo Steve's guest DJs on KUSF on Friday afternoon, Jan. 20 at 3:00, playing both old songs and a cross-section of all the projects we've been involved with ever since. For a sneak preview of this event, tune in on Friday Jan 20 @ 3 pm tune into KUSF 90.3 fm or streaming on the web at Live 365 / KUSF

For more coverage, see this story Mike Rowell at SF Weekly wrote up on the show and another even more exhuberant recount of the era from the Contra Costa Times by Denise Sullivan reconting the 80's scene that sprung the Cat Heads etc



Also : Check Out the mixture of happening tunes and artists via J Neo from X-Tal's own 24 Hr Streaming Live 365 Station Ear Candle Radio

For those of us that cannot sit still long enough for streaming to catch up with us, I've provided some mp3 downloads tracks of tunes that are related to the above mentioned gig.


X-Tal when I met em circa 1988

From 1990's debut LP known as Reason is 6/7th Treason album, the entirely appropo

X-Tal - Encore

and the ballad sung by drummer Mick

X-Tal - Cheap Holiday

here's J Neo's latest project doing a Magentic Fields cover

J Neo & The Content Providers - Crazy For You

The Cat Heads have a great website with lotsa stuff including some cool MP3 tracks recorded by them and in all their various side projects over the years...

Cat Heads - Golden Gate Park

Cat Heads - Postcard

(ex) Cat Heads - Anti Song

It Thing - Cupid Is A Sniper


Another show that's happening in this weekend in SF is at the spot formerly known as The Covered Wagon Saloon, and for awhile The Cherry Bar. Now rechristenend Annie's Social Club, on Friday Jan 20th The Enabler's and American Music Club are coming out of hiding to rawk the haus...

Mark Eitzel of AMC will no doubt be yodeling up a despondent storm followed by fiery antics of Pete Simonelli and his band The Enablers who will close down the show in a furious din ...

The Enablers, whom I've mentioned in a couple previous postings are a pedigreed post punk act whose musicians have done time in bands like Tarnation, Swans, Toiling Midgets and Nice Strong Arm...

here's some tracks related to that sorta shindig thing as well...

Mark Eitzel with Toiling Midgets - Mr Foster's Shoes

Mark Eitzel - Christian Science Reading Room

American Music Club - Ladies & Gentlemen

American Music Club - Another Morning

American Music Club - If I Had A Hammer

Mark Eitzel - Outside This Bar

Mark Eitzel - My Pet Rat St. Michael

Mark Eitzel - Proclaim Your Joy

Enablers - For Jack : A Phillipic

Enablers - Pauly's Days In Cinema

Last weekend I headed to the grand re-opening of the former Covered Wagon Saloon, now under new management as Annie's Social Club...and despite potentially waiting in line in the pouring rain, a slew of old school punks & drunks, and rock n roll fans of all shapes and sizes were gathered outside.

Live entertainment inside was to be provided by the wrinkled grey haired faux wildwomen known as The Grannies & the raunchy retro rockers The Naysayers. However most people seemed plenty occupied crowding around the bar just trying to get a beer, or even just hanging out listening to Spike from Me First & The Gimme Gimmes as he DJ'd old rock n roll hits from the cramped wooden closet/DJ booth. The bands tore it up that night on the 6 inch high stage that has held the gear of so many bands ranging from High on Fire & Gwar to G.G. Allin and even Nirvana , Soundgarden, Melvins, Op Ivy, L7 , RKL and Bad Religion. I used to work at the joint before I was even old enough to get in, and there are indeed numerous fond and vague memories galore I could share of that ol' hole on Folsom & 5th...

here's a few of my flyers for the joint I made over the years/beers

Annie's Social Club is the new name and comes from the new owner who owned a bar across from the 850 Bryant cop shop ...

The place had a lot of fans, including Me First & The Gimme Gimmes who filmed a video there a couple summers ago...

She sold that place and has hired Audra , the promotionatrix behind siuch beloved SF institutions as Stinky's Peep Show & Incredibly Strange Wrestling...


The first night at Annie's was packed, with karaoke in full swing in the backroom, and the boys bathrooms had been newly painted black , but the upwelling of old scents and a scene that won't die couldn't be completely buried...

Members of dozens of bands milled around and even I, while propped on crutches in a far off corner behind the jukebox, amongst the folks I mingled with included guys from acts such debauched mutant local SF acts as Slender, Hippie Bitch, Hammers of Misfortune, Crosstops, and Barfeeders.

It was a carnival of characters including Erno, the tattoo artist with a hook for a hand, Big Floyd, Fat Wreck Chords ambassador of goodwill, Lil' Damon the punk rock legal researcher with the missing front tooth, and numerous others...

I imagine Friday & Saturday Night I'll see a similar sea of old faces from places that are gone... and it sounds like fun...

Then if my luck and money hold out after last call on Sat, I may even slip down to LA and catch some live music down there on Sunday & Monday Night...

anyhow

I gotta split... lotsa beer drinkin left to do...

psst if you'd like to catch some of that Eitzel music on the road... looks like this is goin' down in Feb in a venue near you...




ps I found an Eitzel centric post here

[X-Tal][Cat Heads][indie][rock] [frisco]
[reunion][concert]

Thoughts On Feet of The State of The Onion and Info-tainment Industrial Complex etc

Hey didya know that the U.S media is a morally corrupt morass of instituitional laziness and corporate blather, and the frightening potential of this jaded journalistic decline has settled in... oh ya did?

Well as SBL's Weekend Update correspondent Emily Latella might opine "well, Never Mind"...

I'm just in a little Sunday Mornin' Coming down & Ranting mood, perhaps after spending a little too much time thinking about ... "Hijacking Catastrophe" a film I saw recently, plus having books like "Feet to the Fire: The Media After 9/11, Top Journalists Speak Out" out and about , really does'nt help.

Here check out some clips from the above mentioned flick

	The Project for the New American Century (PNAC)

	Relentless: The Bush Propaganda Drive

	How Saddam Went From From Trusted Ally to Brutal Dictator

Selling the Neocon Agenda

With the Democratic Party complicit in calling for the War on Iraq, and producing at best nothing but an embarassing heap of useless political distractions, what can ya do? I hate to blame the media for the utterly lame response to unfolding events in this country, but I think I have placed unrealistic expectations on the power of the press. The media is practically the only voice we have to hope for, and yes, I know the President doesn't read the paper... in fact I have a quote from him somewhere on my desk in which he claims he has hired advisors " who probably do"...

note : Probably...

Indeed, with Bush at the helm, our nation's leadership can blithely ignore our constituitional principles, and now forges a giant corporate cash machine, indifferent to human needs & suffering.

"Fascism should more accurately be named corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

I guess these days, if anything, the laziness of our press is phatly rewarded.
In my last post I mentioned the Knight Ridder columnist who accepted cash flow from Monsanto while puffing up their kindly corporate image. But gosh golly it, don't stop there...

Sure, Bob Woodward had to run the camera gauntlet for a few days last fall for some ethical failures, but he didn't lose a single dollar or party invitation as far as i could tell, and isn't that his real game? Why yes, Jayson Blair's co-worker at the NY Times, Judith Miller did some jail time, but I bet her legal fees will be picked up by some friendly firm or foundation, and her new Neo-Con book deal will make her richer than ever...

Fact: Newspapers are not only devalued by potentail readers such as the president, they've fallen out of favor of Wall St as well. Gannet, America's lasrgest Newspaper companies lost 25% of it's value in 2005. The NY Times stock has lost 47% of it's value since February 2004.


Fact : Newspaper circulation, and therefore in depth current events awareness at large is declining daily.

Fact: So is the quality and diversity of the reporting, as more rely on the same recycled syndicated wire stories, and less news organizations than ever maintain news bureaus outside their hometowns.

Fact: ABC News, for example, has literally 4 foreign correspondants, that's literally les than 1 per continent. How can that begin to accurately report the stories of 6.5 billion people?

Fact: In a true tale of "The Paper of Record" emulating fake news, The guy, who laid out The Onion's website, has now been hired as Design Director of "The New York Times". Apparently the "Gray Lady" wants to look resemble the running parody that is "America's Finest News Source"...

So that leaves us TV I suppose...

In general television news reporting, which arguably is where most Americans get their news, has long prided itself on it's glossy, fast paced, balanced (i.e abysmally shallow ) editorializing and reporting. TV reporting story assignments & subjects almost always follow the pattern of placement on broadcasts based on polls and potential prurient viewer interest. Generally the result is vaguely factual pandering to what seems to be a ratings grabbing & already popular views. The death knell of a career in TV journalism is apparently having reached a conclusion on a political subject, unless you are "free market" nut like ABC's John Stossel, who in a post Katrina editorial in the WSJ wrote "price "gougers" save lives..."

Anyone who studied or lived through the divisive media environment crucible that were the Watergate & Vietnam eras, could see how the polls dictated the type of reporting that the media would give the people. Only when the opinion of the majority of the viewing public was finally confirmed to have turned invariably sour on the war or President (and this is true now with Iraq as well), then you see the media finally report the mounting negative effects of these issues. Suddenly, as the obvious error of our ways is unavoidable, the human costs of the Iraq conflict are figured into the reports, and the foggy stories of heroes gradually fade into the background.

Initially though, instead of truthful accounts of events and their implications, with multiple viewpoints and witnesses to hear from, we accept myths and military & administration press releases. Through this system, the media, tells the taxayer overt lies and fictional accounts of heroic moments to keep the populace proud and pacified with what they want to hear. Think of the "Rescue of Pvt Jessica Lynch", and the cover up of the friendly fire death of NFL player Pat Tillman as examples. Ironically the widely reported ccver stories of these events were eventually exposed as shams, but the charade continues. Headline news for days repeats a government spin doctor approved lie until it is accepted as truth, then later when the cover is blown, a new "story" is substituted, but where is the outrage over the last lie ?

Our mass disinterest in the true condition of humanity and it's political struggles can no more be defined by the now acceptable concept of "embedded" war reporting that we've grown accustomed too. We seem to simply accept the conditions of our intellectual captivity...


For decades the American news media has seemingly narrowed it's focus away from international issues, to a lightweight and narcissistic collective psychosis full of celebrity distractions and meaningless psuedo debate. We are increasingly isolationist in our global awareness, while our government is increasingly involved in events abroad.

We ignorantly pay our taxes that in turn pay for "regime changes" and "destabilization" in other countries while our attention is aparently focused on Michael Jackson's personal travails, and "hot" actress weddings, affairs & pregnancies. Despite the potential for access to instant information over the internet, the use of this medium is mainly lost on it's users. Today as i troll and review the web, it appears the top user created searches on the web are for subjects like Vegas Vacation Deals, Video Game & I-Pod accessories, sexy pictures and yes, Yahoo's top viewed news story involves a Rubik's cube that was solved in 11 seconds.


Sadly, probably because no one cared anyhow, during the post 9-11 run up to the war on Iraq, we couldn't even get the media to report on the basic truthfulness of the claims made by Bush and the Neo-Cons. It's a well known fact to most observers that since 1991 the Iraqi military capablity was absolutely decimated and denuded. Weapons analysts such as Scott Ritter, David Albright, Hans Bix, Joseph Wilson and others could all tell you that the US story of a massive nuclear threat in Iraq was a fabrication. But where were those stories in the mainstream press? Even after the Cheney/Bush Iraq WMD lies have long been confirmed, the US media has largely ignored the false reasons we went to war, and has long moved on. Where is the reporting on the ongoing issues of government credibility?



Now as the radically Neo-Conservative "The Project For A New American Century", arrogantly steamrolls through our Democracy, International Law and creates H.W "Daddy" Bush's long promised "New World Order", the Deocratic party and our corporate controlled media stand idly by.

In fact, i suppose our media do more than standidly by... the cheer them on, such as Hearst publishing attack dog , MSNBC TV host and G Bush cheerleader Chris Matthews who told his audience last week that breaking the law is "maybe part of the job" of the President. On his November 28th program he referred to anyone who did not like the President as "real whack-jobs".

Sure our Presidentially ordered, and therefore NBC condoned, CIA-operated Predator drones circle villages and release Hellfire missiles at a mud-walled huts and kill a couple dozen civilians. Sure I can already hear Bush saying that "we're safer..."

Sure....

references & stories for y'all

"Bush's Perfect Propaganda Machine,"



Somehow I know that all my ranting does no good... but hey, I had to get i off my chest ... and leave some stuff for he Bush admin's equivalent of the Stasi to put in my file...

so anyhow...

would ya like yer damn MP3z already ... I bet ya would... here ya go kiddoz...



Boxcar Racer - Watch The World

The Bobs - Fluffy's Master Plan For World Domination

Mike Watt - Little Man With A Gun In His Hand ( live 2000)

(in memory of Robert Palmer)

Dave Von Kleist - Addicted to War

and hey why not some extra bonus tracks:


Coldplay - Ring of Fire ( from Austin City Limits )

Brit rock faves cover Merle Kilgore & June Carter Cash's timeless country classic

Cripple Creek Fairies - Fire In Your Hole

Cripple Creek Fairies - We Are The Bomb

Cripple Creek Fairies - Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World ( Ramones cover)

Cripple Creek Fairies - I Won’t (Pay Your Price) ( Motorhead cover )


Calgary Alberta based raw rock ala Soundgarden / AC/DC etc

Ludacris - Pimpin' Al Over The World

Apparently the ATL's King of Pimpin' is influencin' everyone from L.L to Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh - Women As Eye Candy

and last but not least...

Naim Amor - Taproom ( from Soundtracks Vol 2 )

Fussy French instrumental fusion freak based in Tucson AZ on Howe Gelb of Giant Sand's label that is currently starting a tour, he rolls through SF CA on February 16th @ The Hotel Utah



anyhow... my next post will be less gnarly and obsessive, and more of an update for ya on a musical event I'm helping co-host this coming weekend here in SF CA USA... so hang tight...see ya roundon the rebound...

60% Crap

If only I hadn't stopped watching that Letterman guy's show years ago... finally he sends out a signal he's alive. I'm probably the last guy in the blogosphere to know, but on Jan 4th looks like Dave told his loudmouth "guest" Bill O'Reilly something millions would've loved to have expressed if they had the forum.

In a remarkably heated debate on the usually jovially irreverent show, Letterman admonishes O'Reilly for his chickenhawk bull-igerence and intones at one point...

"I think that 60% of what you say is crap."

Watch Clip From Jan 4 Letterman Show

Unrelated but related to things that occured on Letterman's show previously :

Arcade Fire - Rebellion ( Lies ) ( live on Letterman)

Dave Matthews - Save Me ( live on Letterman)

Damien Rice - Cannonball ( live on Letterman)

Pearl Jam - Grievance ( live on Letterman)

R.E.M - So. Central Rain ( live on Letterman _

Tom Waits - Make It Rain ( live on Letterman)

Ted Koppel the 42 year vet of ABC News has escaped a fate of blogging from the retirement home, and will join the paper of record, The NY Times as a columnist on Jan 29th.

Queer Music For The Straight World ? Sony, the conglomerate that invented portable music to go with The Walkman, but lost ground to something called the I-Pod, is starting"Music With A Twist" a gay-oriented major label.

In a strange twist Random House has announced they will be giving out refunds to purchasers of an alcoholic substance abuser's memoir, because he may have "exaggerated" his drug and alcohol problems. Most substance abusers tend to be in denial, but I guess James Frey is messed up, because he wasn't messed up enough. Now Oprah who loved & recommended his tale of tawdry terror, has come to his defense, and he's reportedly threatening to sue The Smoking Gun website for refuting his claims of being way f'kd up... The book, sold almost 2 million copies last year and has ramifications in Hollywood as A-list talent now stay away from the film production, not because playing a messed up alcoholic drug abuser wouldn't appeal to them, but a "fake" crack smoking drunk driver...

no way !

wonders never cease...

In another non-story that made a big above the fold, stop the presses front page headline news story in the constantly declining in importance paper known as The SF Chronicle... it seems a gay transvestite prostitute's memoirs may have been written by a lesbian woman, pretending to be a post-op transsexual... or something like that... ! To make matters worse, the paper actually printed a sidebar from a Chron editor who would work for free on the JT LeRoy books, for free...Sounds like know one knew what the f*ck was going on there... or cared... so what? what's news there?

How about The Scripps Howard news service columnist Michael Fumento who Business Week has revealed took a $60,000 payment from Monsanto to start hyping their products in his written work. For ex. he recently dropped the subtle hint that the genetic engineering chemical corp has 30 products in the pipeline that will not only aid farmers, "but also help us all by keeping prices down and allowing more crops to be grown on less land." Apparently Fumento sees no ethical conflict, admits he is a big fan of Bio Tech and claims he's the victim of a witchhunt since Business Week wrote that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff has paid columnists for years to deliver good press to his clients (see BW Online, 12/16/05, "Op-Eds for Sale").

Chineapple Punx - Monsanto

Oi! No! Monsanto



There's fuck all left that I can eat

But you're creating more

I used to like my beans

But I'm not hungry anymore



When I'm eating dinner

I like to know what's on my plate

Genetic Engineering's

An indigestible mistake



From the Agent Orange company

A soyabean delight

But Vietnam's a wasteland

I don't want to eat your shite

In other news you might missed... I hand the reigns of the remainder of this section over to the News You May Have Missed crew

Students at the University of Michigan persuaded the school to suspend a beverage contract with Coca Cola due to alleged human rights abuses.

Lower 9th Ward activists in New Orleans chase away bulldozer crew

U.S. storm water rules revised to exempt oil and gas development

President signs bill to protect mail-order brides

these stories and more at http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/000454.php

Anyhow... In show biz... why not talk up the amazing indie rockers that make the indie world go round...

How about Tom Heyman ... nice guy, even better musician , has got a gig at the Ivy Room with Mike Stinson on Saturday Night Jan 14th...

Stinson's band features former X guitarist Tony Gilkyson & Chuck Prophet's old bass playing chum Teenage Rob Douglas...

Another Case in Point... Miss Carla Kihlstedt and her new band 2 Foot Yard... who through the magic of transcontinental travel have three shows on two coasts and in the high altitude middle section in a span of a few daze !


Carla is an amazing violinist & singer whose done wondrous things in groups like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Tin Hat Trio

See her in On Jan 19th in San Francisco with her former group Charming Hostess at Amnesia ( 853 Valencia St formerly The Chameleon/Chatterbox/graffiti depending on yer intro to SF rock clubs)

Then on Monday Jan 23 she'll be with 2 Foot Yard at the world famous Joe's Pub at 425 Lafayette St in NYC

and if that's not enough, they'll also be doing some shmoozing at Sundance, playing the Star Bar ( 268 Main St.) at 3:00 pm on Jan 28th in Park City Utah...


Music featuring Carla Kilhstedt

2 Foot Yard - 50 Miles

Charming Hostess - War

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - The Neighborhood

Tin Hat Trio - Somniloquy ( w/ Trevor Dunn & Mike Patton of Mr. Bungle)

Curt Kirkwood of the quasi-legendary Meat Puppets has been doing solo shows lately, and is currently on the East Coast promoting his new outing on Pete Anderson's Little Dog Records

The last time I saw Curt he was jamming with some guys from the Long Beach Dub All Stars/ Sublime posse on Polk St at The Red Devil Lounge...It was a low key fun party vibe set, with some sublime & Mea Puppets tunes tossed in... Well Curt made it back to Polk St recently , and here's some recent live tracks recorded a few weeks ago when Curt was on tour in SF at The Hemlock Tavern... it was an early show, an I was still at work when a buddy called to alert me of his 7:30 start time... but thanx to the magic of the web, a few highlights are present so we can imagine ourselves on Polk St, listening to his closer Polk Salad Annie...

Curt Kirkwood - Polk Salad Annie

plus an old Meat Puppets fave

Curt Kirkwood - Plateau

and the title track to his new disc

Curt Kirkwood - Snow


Fish Ranch Road, a band featuring former members of The Uninvited & Red Planet sends me word they have a gig in Monterey CA on Jan 20th at Monterey Live ( 414 Alvarado St ). Not sure what Fish ranch Road sounds like , but I always enjoyed the Uninvited and their goofy humor , here's atrack from the Red Planet...

Red Planet - Star Force



'Tom Heyman - Deliver Me'
:: format :: cd
:: ORDER IT NOW!

Tom Heyman - Alright

Tom Heyman - Crazy Ray

Thanx for Songs:Illinois for posting these Tom Heyman cuts

KILLER NEWS etc

Unlike Steve Earle & Snoop Dogg, I try not to get too worried about the death penalty, just assume that I, and hopefully no one I know, will ever be subject it's administrative vagaries if they obey a basic moral code. That's not too say I don't realize it could come outta nowhere and ruin anyone's day, but we hope some sort of checks and balances still exist to keep it off your back if you uh " don't deserve it"...

In fact, quite contrary to Mr. Earle, I have been known to sorta strongly support it, at least in concept. Don't tell me that there ain't a few scoundrels and scalawags that have plagued upon the innocent that didn't deserve more than just an orange jumpsuit. I feel especially resolute on this in instances where certain offenders have gone far beyond just commiting a crime. Not only have some scum suckers surfaced that far from merely admitting their crimes, they've particularly relished in their misdeeds and shown no remorse, ala say Ted Bundy. One can imagine how upsetting this behavior is for the family of the victims. In my opinion a guy like Richard Allen Davis, who admitted to brutally murdering and raping Polly Klass , a 13 year old girl in 1993 should already be dead, long dead. I cannot at all fathom why he is living for free now off of taxpayer money, while good people work every day to keep him fat lazy and dry in capitivity, fed 3x daily, having his laundry done for him.

I wasn't really all that upset about the ol' Tookie Williams case, since Mr. Williams, admittedly founder of one of the largest & most notoriously violent drug running gangs in US history, seemed to have plenty of evidence supporting why he was in prison in the first place. Perhaps he was a changed man, but was he really an innocent man?

However, I'm not so blind as to believe in the horrible bloated mess that is the Prison Industrial Complex, and the hypocrisy of a society that feeds this ever growing, and less and less effective beast.

With a tiny amount of research and observation, anyone should be able to see the tradgedies & unfair & unequal sentancing policies in our so called "Justice" system, both adult & juvenile. Once on the ball & chain path, inmates face crazy challenges, from a racist power structure that controls the prison & court system, to unequal access to lawyers and appeals, and a systemic failure to provide any reform or rehabilitation within prison walls. This really makes us all the victims.

Let's not forget that the ringleader of the internationally condemned Abu Ghraib prison scandals was trained as a guard in American correctional instituitions.

The Latest Prison System Case In Point:

Dan Vasquez, the former warden of San Quentin, ( 1983 -1993) has joined in the efforts to stop an upcoming execution...He recently published an editorial in The San Francisco Chronicle entitled, "Why Clarence Ray Allen's life should be spared"

-Among his points:

Charles Ray Allen is so feeble, after spending decades on Death Row, that we as a society don't need to kill him, he's almost dead already. According to Vasquez, Allen " is Legally blind, hard of hearing and of frail voice, he cannot even stand up by himself...oblivious to his surroundings, cuffed to his wheelchair and utterly defeated". He'll have to be carried by guards into the gas chamber, creating a sad situation for any correctional officer to deal with.

Ironically Vasquez says " I unhesitatingly served Clarence Ray Allen, who is scheduled to die Jan. 17, with his first death warrant for ordering three murders from his prison cell in 1980. I firmly believe that the death penalty is an appropriate punishment and that the state of California has the right to enforce its criminal laws. But I also believe it must be administered in accordance with civilized standards of decency to maintain its integrity. Because the execution of Allen would now be inhumane and violate those standards, I urge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency in this extraordinary case."

Now that's a doozy lil' bundle of ironic hiss for ya...


Hell Bastard - Justily Executed

Demon Hunter - Not Ready To Die

Dictionkaraoke - Folsom Prison Blues

My Chemical Romance - You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison

------------------------------------



Everyone is talking about Howard Stern's new show, but David Lee Roth has launched his new daily weekday replacement radio show via Infinity Broadcasting in select markets.

Unfortunately I don't live in one... Somehow the guy who had the big hit with California Girls ain't on the air there, but West Palm Beach FLA gets 'em... go figger...

Anyhow, even though he's working mostly out of New York, he's still the fastest talker in the West, and a certified EMT. Which means Infinity expects him to save their ass...

Howard's intellectually void world will hopefully expand with his new environment, unfortunately his mass moronic audience will likely never lighten up or see the bigger picture. I see that all the armchair critics unwilling to shell out for satellite radios to feed their Stern addictions are really taking it out on ol' Dave, who's been given the tough task to replace their idol's drive time slot. Dave's basically jumping into radio, almost like jumping out of a plane in one of his videos & trying to fill some big shoes fast...

There's a nasty backlash already building, as his humor is lost on people who only like fart jokes, and strippers. I know that the majority wanna hate him off the bat & just don't seem to want get his humor or something. Truly he's one of the last great showmen, almost a vaudevillean or larger than life character. Sure, he's an almost crotchety egotistical cartoon nutcase, but that's the gig folks...

How Do I Know? Well... I've been listening a bit myself from 3000 miles away. I found out that unlike Stern, Lee Roth's daily shctick is archived on the net as Podcasts, for free. I've got Monday's, Friday's and his debut show and a sample of his Boston radio demo stint all linked up for ya to download from here, and it's the usual talk radio malarkey, gossip and chit chat... but Dave throws in his lil bits of wisdom and whatnot from the "Dave" side of life...

For example in contrast to Stern's insular world of retarded jerk off shut ins, you'll hear Dave's actual party pals, like Animal, the security chief at Crazy Girl's in Hollywood. Animal candidly talks about his former freebasing problem, and all the studio guests give fairly sensitive and wise advice to a nasty Dad who threw his daughter out after she posed in Barely Legal.

You'll also get plenty tawdry tales of Dave's personal experience with stalker women, groupie "choice fatigue", Eddie jibes, and his sister's pole dancing.

Shows avg. a hefty 100+ meg download, from here or just go to http://Dave.FreeFM.com and stream it daily. Because ya can...if ya care...



David Lee Roth - Jan 9th Free FM Podcast

David Lee Roth - Jan 6th Free FM Podcast

David Lee Roth - Dec 29th Free FM Debut

David Lee Roth - WZLX Boston Demo 03-17-05

subscribe to Dave's daily Podcast
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Van Halen - Get The Show On The Road ( demo 1977 )

David Lee Roth - Tin Cup Chalice ( Jimmy Buffet cover live on WRIF Detroit)

Paul Anka - Jump

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The Newtown Neurotics were a semi obscure early 80's British punk act that took the basic Ramones sound and brought in a more working class UK focused political lyrical stance, that was less obsessedwith sniffin' glue. They were an influence on some of the guys in my band who collected their singles and vinyl, but I'd all but washed them to the far corner of my memory. I just came across a website that mentioned them again, and posted a track that was a great rockin commentary when it came out 25 years ago, and even more relevant today. Turns out The Newton Neurotics are defunct of course, but at least they have their own site these daze , that recounts , updates and provide some downloads, as well as one via John Peel.

The Newtown Neurotics - When The Oil Runs Out

--------------------

Polish metallers Vader offer a new CD EP recorded in Białystok, Poland out soon on Candlelight Records USA, and have released a free track to promote the release. Vader's appearing on the "Metal Crusaders Tour 2006" with Kataklysm, Nuclear Assault and others in May. Vader's debut came out on the Earache label in 1993 and they have put out close to 10 full length releases, and numerous EPs on 5 or so labels since.

Vader - This Is The War

Single Bullet Theory, the Philly based metl band seeking a new label, has released a free .mp3 download of a new demo track recorded at Angry Chair recording studios in Glenside, PA. The band is attempting a heavier follow up to previous releases on Crash Music "Behind Eyes of Hatred" (2004) and debut disc "Route 666" from 2003.

Single Bullet Theory - Throes of Man

---------speaking of theories , here's one from Steve Earle ------------

Steve Earle - Conspiracy Theory



What if I told you it was done with mirrors
What if I showed you it was all a lie
Better be careful, someone might hear ya
The walls have ears and the sky has eyes
What if I said you were only dreamin'
What you wanna bet that all you gotta do
Is open up your eyes and you will wake up screamin'
When you realize that it's all come true

chorus
Hush, now don't you believe it
Cover your head and close your eyes
Now, take it or leave it
Go back to bed
Now don't you cry

Half a million soldiers fly across the water
One in ten are never comin' back again
Fifty thousand sons who never grew to fathers
Don't you ever wonder who they might have been
What if you could've been there on that day in Dallas
What if you could wrestle back the hands of time
Maybe somethin' could've been done in Memphis
We wouldn't be livin' in a dream that's died

chorus

Go on and tell yourself again there are no secrets
Go on and tell yourself that you don't want to know
It's best that you believe that you don't hear the footsteps
That follow you around no matter where you go
Maybe you were thinkin' that it didn't matter
Maybe you believed nobody else would care
But once you've added every little lie together
You finally find the truth was always waiting there

------------------------------

anyhow here's some remainders & random tracks that rock & rattle
(or even just lull and cajole) :

Sleep - Wall of Yawn

No Means No - Rag & Bones

Scratch Acid - She Said

Iron & Wine - Lion's Mane

One Day He Will Disappear,

Unless you've been under a rock, you mighta heard about ol' tub o love Ariel Sharon. The Jabba The Hut lookalike PM of Israel, who last month was finally confirmed to have a "hole in his heart" is now in a coma, "induced", after suffering from a cerebral hemmorage i.e stroke. Now at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem, he's undergone several emergency neurosurgery procedures in efforts to stop internal bleeding in his brain.

One side of his saga seldom mentioned in the sadsack American media is that the stroke occured on the same day the International Herald Tribune reported that Israeli police have secured prima facie evidence linking Sharon & sons to a secret $3 million dollar money transfer from two Austrian brothers. The long brewing allgations have Sharon using some of the $3 million to repay illegal campaign contributions he had received in 2001, but the rest was kept by the family. The allegations have been ongoing for four years but moved when Austrian authorities finally began transferring documents to the Israel Police, including bank statements. Vienna authorities have not yet acceded to Israeli police requests for permission to depose witnesses in Austria. Police are also seeking permission to qusetion witnesses in Canada, South Africa and the Virgin Islands.



Coma Lillies - One Day He Will Disappear



Coma Lillies - Fin



The Coma Lillies are a mostly instrumental band hailing from the Sonoma County CA scene ...

---

Coma is a Swedish custcore band, these two cuts are from two out of print 7" singles from 2002 one on the defunct Busted Heads Label and another on the Yellowdog label..


Coma - Misery & Chaos

Coma - War

---

Voivod are reportedly working on finishing their album utilizing pre-recorded guitar parts from late guitarist Denis ‘Piggy’ D'Amour who died last year. Michel ‘Away’ Langevin has starte drum tracking with producer Glen Robinson (Voivod’s ‘Nothingface,’ GWAR etc) at Piccolo Studios in Montreal.

They also have started a blog to report the progress of the studio work here.

Away, singer Denis ‘Snake’ Belanger and ex-Metallica bassist Jason ‘Jasonic’ Newsted - are using guitar recordings from Piggy's Pro-Tools enabled laptop that will be eventually released via The End Records in North America.


Voivod - War and Pain


a Voivod cover with female singer from the CD "Please Excuse All the Blood"

Dahlia Seed - Missing Sequences

---

The Inflatable Boy Clams were an all too clever for their own good San Francisco art performance scene band in the very early 80's who recorded for Subterranean Records. They played spots like ClubFoot, Deaf Club, and The Mab. The tracks here are from a rare dbl 7" EP recorded by Myke Reily of Voice Farm.

Inflatable Boy Clams - I'm Sorry

An obscure loosely organized oddball Bay Area party band that has links & ties through members & frends with the Clams was/is The Invertebrates. They put out their first record in 1981, and have morphed and continued in curious permutations to this day. Over the years they've collaborated with a roving coterie of musical characters including accomplished Clarinetist Beth Custer, and Brad Bechtel formerly of LA new wavers Outer Circle and middle eastern / western band Go Van Gogh. Here's something from the Invertebrates most recent effort, Garagezilla...(featuring special guest Big Bones on harmonica)

The Invertebrates - Drunk

and a track from the afforementioned Go Van Gogh

Go Van Gogh - Johnny Moody

---

The Metalizer attempts to turn songs that are "gay as f*ck" into "Metal"... you decide if it works...

The Metalizer - The Locomotion ( originally recorded by Little Eva, but The Metalizer claims he's doing the Kylie Minogue version... uh, whatever dude )

The Metalizer - Angel Of The Morning ( originally recorded by P.P Arnold although Juice Newton, Pretenders and Merilee Rush and others have made some dough off it as well)



here's a few more random cover tracks for ya...




Was Not Was - Papa Was A Rolling Stone


Al Green - I Want To Hold Your Hand


Nina Simone - Here Comes The Sun


Melt Banana - Surfin' USA


Mest - I Melt With You


any how

for some reason i can barely remember why I gotta bad hangover, gotta go...

see ya later in the week...month, year or whatever