I don't have a whole lot of news to report tonight
I mean there's plenty going on...
and basically i could blather on & on if I had time
but I'm in a Halloween bubble
that's passing like gas in the night...
so I thought i'd quickly share 5 frickin' tracks for all you trick or treaters who are trolling the web tonight
me ...
I'm outta here
lotsa parties & mayhem to attend to...
amongst the stops...
Barfeeders & Hightower are playing down the road...
I've also got a friend in town who I need to meet for a drink...
hmmm
you... apparently not so much
and that scares me...
so enjoy these...
a here's a live cut from a dead man's band...
Possibly recorded on the night Geffen Records flew a junkie whore named Courtney Love out to the Metro in Chicago with a backstage pass to torture a young musician who was coming up in the world
here's Joan jett who'll be in town later this week with Queens Of The Stoneage...
This is a Cole Porter tune taken from a soundtrack album that was somehow curated by the afforementioned Courtney beast...
however fortunately she stayed out of the studio and they let my old pal Brian Baker from Minor Threat & Bad Religion handle six string duties along with those vocals lent by Mr. Paul Westerberg of The Replacements...
that's show biz value folks!!!
nice!!
like the song says "let's fall In Love... and I do everytime I hear this one...
I guess one more cover is order... this one was originally a hit for the Grass Roots, a pop band from the late 60's and early 70's that had a string of great AM radio hits...
here's one of their best, as done in that cutesy way by Juliana Hatfield with her 80's era band The Blake Babies
(As recorded by the Grass Roots) DAN WALSH HARVEY PRICE She's got something that moves my soul And she knows I'd love to love her But she lets me down every time, can't make her mind She's no one's lover Tonight with me she'll be so inviting I want her all for myself, aw
Temptation eyes, looking through my mind, my soul Temptation eyes, you've got to love me, got to love me tonight Got to love me baby yeah, mm
Oh wild-eyed innocence is just a game But just the same my head is spinning She's got a way to keep me on her side, it's just a ride It's never ending Tonight with me she'll be so exciting I want her all for myself, oh
Temptation eyes, looking through my mind, my soul Temptation eyes, you've got to love me, got to love me tonight Can you feel it now.
Tonight with me she'll be so exciting, I want her all for myself, oh Temptation eyes, looking through my mind, my soul Temptation eyes, you've got to love me, got to love me tonight Temptation eyes, looking through my mind, my soul Temptation eyes, come on and love me, love me tonight.
(c) Copyright 1971 by Unart Music Corporation.
and howz about we close with some real 60's oldies from the UK rawk & skwawk scene
this track is a live doozy featuring ol' Roy Wood from 1968...
This is the name of a new instrumental track I thought I'd share from Honeycut...
These guys are in New York to hob nob at CMJ this week, and have a showcase the day after Halloween at the KCRW party at 168 Delancey at 10pm...check em out if ya gota few minutes to kill...
They are a relatively new band that I've posted a track from previously. The new album is out on Quanuum called The Day I Turned To Glass and live they offer a crisp , funky and frisky lil' sound. Last week I happenend to stumble in and catch a live set by 'em the other night at The Rickshaw Stop here in Frisco, the Disco town. I ordered up a gin drink by the name of "Fancy Lad" got in the mood, and moved through the crowd towards the stage...
The band was pretty decent live, which should be hard for me to admit considering they ain't even got a guitarist & one of the guys just sorta taps at a drum pad with his fingers like he's typing a college essay.
However despite this handi-capable electronic drum thing going on, and no guitar solos to blister my aged hearing...it wasn't that bad. They are "So Fresh & so Clean" with that club's generally good soundman helping keep it so...
The keyboardist is the main musical genius, and was avoiding clickhes, and even grinding a bit of that durrrrty electronic organ sound to keep the groove going down & back around. The singer Bart is a local rock vet with mic technique that's not for the weak & knows how to work a room. He climbs the monitors at the right moments & stays interested in a sorta non-threatening sassy school boy way. The boy be clowning, preening, posing like a nine year old orphan for middle class couples during open house at the state run orphanage...
of course, forgot my camera...so no goofy pics of Bart's sleeveless turtleneck ensemble.
They threw in a lil harmonica flavored funky closing 60's jam invoking the audience to "impeach the president", and i coulda swore i saw the ghost of Deep Throat dancing in the rafters...
I mean just the thought of "impeaching" is an easy crowd pleaser sentiment at least out here on the left coast...but as impractical as living in yer usual stacked to the gills fire zone/earthquake/landslide landia eco-disaster zona rosa as we do...
their latest single "Shadows" seemingly went over the best, as people seemed to recognize it, or at least it's heavy groove thang...
& at least most in the Weds nite hizzo were paying attention,
That's not to say everyone loved em, some guys tended to stay in the back and chat each other up reassuringly, while the hipster ladies gathered round to dance by the stage. Maybe that's just cuz the dudes can't compete with the charismatic all too cute front man thing going on...oh and not too mention the guy can sing in that little high voice like Prince too. Nothing likely ruins a rocker dude's evening faster than watching some other dude in a sleeveless vest thang yodeling his heart out to the chickadees in a fey way.
Damn Them Lady Killers!!!
I'd tell all you tv talent scouts get 'em on a chat show... the guy's got late night lens appeal...
they're ripe for that tepid talkshow closing gig...
almost like two seperate events going down...
not sure if world's totally ready for a band with a guy that just stands there & taps electric pads...but hey... easy to clean up and pack I suppose...
I read today on Pitchfork that experimental Brazilian Tropicalia composer, Rogério Duprat (1932-2006) died last week after a battle with cancer at age 74. Duprat, who had trained under Karlheinz Stockhausen in Germany (where he was even a classmate with a young pre-Mothers of Invention Frank Zappa), was sometimes referred to as "the Brazilian George Martin" for his 60's production work and arrrangements with Os Mutantes. He continued working as a musician in Brazil, scoring dozens of films & television programmes throughout his career before mostly retiring in the 1980's...
Duprat's involvement as a mentor to Os Mutantes came after a period of political tumult and an ugly mid 60's military coup in Brazil. The worldly Duprat had aligned himself artistically with a number of human rights movements opposed to the dictatorship. Duprat having studied pop & classical music in Europe, was up to date on the recording technologies of the times, all this made him an essential member of the Tropicalia movement. By 1968, he eventually hooked up with other musicians like Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes (essentially discovered by Duprat), as well as Gal Costa, Torquato Neto, Tom Zé, Jorge Ben and Nara Leão--creating the musical masterpiece "Tropicália: Ou Panis et Circencis". His 1968 solo album, which showed a strange & eclectic psychedelic pop sensibility featured tracks like Judy In Disguise ( with glasses) from John Fred & His Playboy Band, as well composisitions from Gilberto Gil & Caetano Veloso. Os Mutantes joined in on the backing of four songs including this interpretation of a fave Beatles tune of the era and a Cowsills tune. The album is still available as a CD from the UK's eclectic Cherry Red label, who sold me some of my first UK punk LPs back in the day.
Here's two more Duprat tracks from his more sophisticated instrumental thematic arranging side taken from a more formal sorta collection called "Os Maestros Premiados"...
Tonight here in San Francisco local rock photographer Peter Ellenby continues celebrating the release of his new book "Everyday Is Saturday"...
Last night there was swell gathering at 111 Minna , and tonight the fun moves to The Bottom Of The Hill, Peter's fave venue, where a buncha bands will get things moving loudly...
Ellenby, the official Noise Pop Festival photographer for a decade, has been documenting the local rock scene and has captured icons like The Flaming Lips and John Lee Hooker, to way obscure up & comers and even some forgotten.
764-Hero, The Velveteen, John Vanderslice and many more. He's now got a book with lotsa fine pix from venues like Bimbos & Great American Music Hall, plus a 21 track CD audially documenting the action pictured in the many dozens of colorful pages...
The CD features bands like Death Cab For Cutie, Rogue Wave, Chuck Prophet and lots more... full tracklist here.
Stop by 111 Minna on Thursday eve from 6-9 for a free reception & DJ throwdown featuring adult beverages, photo exhibit, book signing etc.
For those looking for a noisier time, Ellenby has put together a show at his fave spot The Bottom Of The Hill featuring a few of the bands pictured in the book including John Doe of X, who wrote the book's forward.
Also on the bill are Oranger, engine 88, Carlos!, and a rare appearance of the late Overwhelming Colorfast.
So their concept is to offer only "full albums" instead of individual tracks... prices of the full album will range from $8.99 to $9.99
they've enlisted some top indie names like Colin Meloy to talk about their fave ALBUMS... the "Save the Album" website ad campaign features indie artists like Devendra Banhart and Bloc Party talking about their fave albums.
Meanwhile Redwood City CA based Emusic.com's CEO David Packman dismisses Insound & their concept as barely a baby blip on the internet music radar screen...
he told Mp3.com of Insound
" Their market share online seems to be so low such that they don't even appear in the market share statistics for online music sales (physical or digital), so I doubt their digital music efforts will have very much effect on the market"
Emusic's battle is not to save the album but to expand the market overall, and also defeat the various DRM platforms, and Apple's dominance of the music downloading biz. Packman, like the little yellow animated video game creature of yore, is much more concerned with his battles, and how to not to get destroyed while running the music industry maze.
It just got uglier with Microsoft announcing it's ZUNE rollout, that will also offer DRM protected content, that's incompatible with I-Pods.
Emusic, the 2nd most popular music site, has been in the music download game longer than both Microsoft & Apple companies, but they've done so with DRM-free mp3 files that offer consumers a choice of players. Emusic, despite their experience, has made due by working with indie labels, as the four majors refute them and the MP3 format, which is unprotected & can be played on any basically portable device.
Apple remains the elephant in the room, the industry behemoth with 1.5 billion songs in their library, and they account for roughly two-thirds of all the legit paid digital downloads. They are looking to trademark the terms Pod & I-phone, and seem to have a perfect proprietary system for pushing digital content through their exclusive portal.
Packman and others in the biz think Apple & Microsoft are merely trying to sell consumers hardware & software, and leaving artists & labels (i.e content providers) out of the revenue stream. Basically he contends the industry is forcing consumers to seek out illegal content, and the artists are losing out on a lot of potential legitimate downloads.
This year, despite tons of players on the market, many millions of I-Pods abounding, the average growth of monthly paid downloads is flat, and even declining, to around 10 million a week .
Packman of Emusic, and other players like Yahoo Music's David Goldberg insist that growth will only come when the largest companies stop trying to enforce a losing proposistion of offering player dependent & incompatible DRM music files. Yahoo has recently begun offering DRM free content, in addition to the protected downloads they previously had.
In a recent statement quoted in Billboard Yahoo Music's Goldberg stated
"It's all nonsense. Music is never going to be protected, and anybody who tells you that is not being honest. Yes, you can put up speed bumps, but the people who really want to steal music are going to steal it. So you're just making it hard for people who want to do the right thing to get the music they legitimately purchased on the devices and services that they want."
Anyhow
that battle is long from solved...
here's a couple new tracks I wanted to annoint ya with ...
Howz about this track from the new Tommy Guerrero release ...it came out last week...
The good folks at Quanuum gave me permission to share this track with y'all...
You can only download the rest of it at I-Tunes, or buy a hard copy at yer fave indie retailer..online or off.
If truly among the world's major cities, it's definitely on the smallish side... with less than a million residents, but we do have a hugely inflated sense of importance...
We pride ourselves on our snobby so called "fine dining" as rated in our very own Michelin Guide & the recent opening of a Bloomingdales store did warrant section fronting coverage & photos in The Wall St Journal.
It's almost like each resident seems convinced of their righteousness upon signing their leases of their overpriced apartments. The mayor should issue each their own bullhorn along with a Yelp user ID so they can be outspoken on nearly anything, ranging from whether marijuana is a "medicine", to who should be allowed to provide free wireless internet access, or even decide how many bike lanes each street will possibly need...
Nearly everyday, if you leave your home, you are confronted with multiple loony bin escapees begging for change, and while the mayor is busy changing his hairstyle... the busses creak to halt so that protestors, or even corporations can block the public right of way.
After reading that Larry Ellison's Oracle sales meeting can block a major SOMA tributary to the freeway in order to provide a corporate hospitality tent for a nine day convention, I headed off to work.
I got to civic center plaza, which is a big open area surrrounded by our city hall, a library, and some other civic buildings...
It is indeed the site of many rallys, homeless encampments, Gay Freedom parades gatherings and even the occasional Opera simulcast...
Like this one last week seen on a huge outdoor screen that took two days to stage.
The High Definition Broadcast was made possible by a huge $35 million philanthropic donation & recorded for posterity and enjoyed live by a few hundred folks stretched out on the plaza one Friday night. Along with the opera, viewers who waited in the brisk evening chill were treated to a geeky live backstage tour of the War Memorial Opera House replete with stage crew interviews. In addition to the show, a veritable homeless camp of tents were set up to accomodate Italian catered meals, espresso and merch tents. No word on whether they allowed the normal less monied residents of the Civic Center to dine on the leftovers, use the porta johns, or stay in the tents overnight...
Today near there, I walked past Bob Dylan's bus, it's shades pulled tight, with a black Waylon Jennings logo souvenir license plate alongside the Florida plates...
The catering crew was prepping the pre-show meals, while the faint bleatings of an early possibly Kings Of Leon soundcheck procedure that could be heardfrom within the cavernous Bill Graham Civic Center hall...
Across the plaza I met the stink of porta johns being emptied, and a group of Nation of Islam practitioners, hands held in a chain, with a speaker on a platform praising Farrakhan & praying for Fidel Castro into the mic...
Across the street was a smaller group of Asian Americans with some media rallying for a school board candidate and the publisher of Asian Week newspaper who is campaigning to be re-elected to the board of the regional commuter rail system that refuses to operate past midnite...
I sauntered through the campaign rally & entered City Hall where I quizzed by some oblivious and young hispanic security staff stationed at the metal detectors about who the protesters were...
They shrugged as they had heard of neither group... and likely weren't big Dylan fans either... and then I went down into the basement to pick up my absentee ballot, which is five large pages...
The best part was having the concept of ranked choice voting explained to me even though the only two races eligible for this electoral procedure, have only one candidate... go figger SF in nutshell...
Now for somethings completely different...
One of Britain's fastest rising downloadable music groups is The Beatfreakz, can they follow Gnarls Barkley from I-Tunes to success on this side of the pond? Their gimmick is milking Motown , but not the classic Temps/Supremes period
Here's the radio edit mix of this stalker-iffic fave that hit number 3 in the UK download charts in May, that redoes an 80's Motown number by Berry Gordy's progeny Rockwell... Beatfreakz - Somebody's Watching Me
Their new single has risen to the top of the UK charts, their 2nd stab at updating an 80's motown hit, this time it's Superfreak, originated by Rick James and heavily sampled in the early 90's by by the bad ass Oakland A's bat boy Stanley Burrell( aka MC Hammer)
Hammer, now a minister, has himself reissued some of his classic club material that put him in fine cars & a hilltop mansion, only to lose it all to bankruptcy proceedings a few years later...
Don't Hurt Him, go download some of that wackness & support his brother Louis' righteous efforts to put the empire back together...this time for Jeeeeeeezuz...
Here's Hammer from his heyday about 15 years ago & the lead song off the soundtrack to Rocky V now reissued via his brothers' Bringemback Records
Speaking of funky Jeeeeezuz music...There's a cult sensation of a lady known as Sister Gertrude Morgan...
Sister Gertrude Morgan... here's a self portrait she did back in 1975. Her heartfelt amateurly produced and only album of self composed religious songs has shown up as a cult fave all over the web since her death...especially championed at WFMU
So despite the fact that I spent most of lasterday as a balloon wrangler for a mock touring version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...
yesterday was actually Castro Day in SF...
Nope ...
Not a new gay holiday named after the upper Market St neighborhood...
(or even a tribute to the ailing Cuban dictator popular with the beret & camoflage pants crowd...)
Yesterday was "Tommy Castro Day" in San Francisco as proclaimed by our always up to something Mayor Gavin Newsom!
who is Tommy Castro you ask?
Well, he's some white guy from San Jose that plays the blues...
Perhaps the mayor has enjoyed Castro's soundtrack contributions to mediocre TV programs like "Nash Bridges", "NBC's Comedy Showcase " and "The Young and the Restless." Uh...
still perplexed? read on why our day in SF actually belonged to Tommy and Tommy alone...
Well, I actually have no idea why they dedicated the whole darn day to him... maybe he's got some ill backstage partyin' story about the mayor he promised to keep quiet...
( course Billy Getty has plenty of those, and I don't think they even named a half day after him yet)
Or maybe Tommy played a gig to retire some of that campaign debt...
pic from ModernGuitars.com
Anyhow... Here's a cut from his last disc called Soul Shaker, during which he name drops our very own Hwy 80 & The Golden Gate... d'ya think that won him official stauts ?
Tommy Castro - Take Me Off The RoadMe, I skipped Tommy's gig at some overpriced South of Market watering hole... and instead borded a bus & went across the bridge to a 9 band kegger at an art studio in West Oakland instead ... Grant Irish... a big ol' artsy metal worker & all around nice guy held a bar Bar BQ for about a hundred or so pals ... and a shitload of bands...
I'll include some feisty party pics here...
and here's a track from one of the bands that played (pictured at left)
Anyhow, came home to discover some news to interrrupt a wicked weekend bender...
Seems that the media is reporting that Freddy Fender, the legendary Tex-Mex musician who started his career as Baldemar Huerta, has passed away. By almost all accounts he was a sweet gentlemen, an elder of American music and someone who will be missed, especially by his family for whom he was the patriarch...
His song he'll likely always be remembered for is his first grande exito from originally recorded in the late 1950's "Wasted Days & Wasted Nights"... about a lovelorn man who battles the bottle...a story Freddy no doubt had personal experience with.
here's one from his early Tejano border rawkin daze... compiled on an Arhoolie release of Freddy Fender's early recordings called Canciones de Mi Barrio, The Roots of Tejano Rock...
I found it and about 50 other Freddy solo tracks, and more from the Texas Tornados at Emusic.com
It's a cover of a Fats Domino tune, one you may know from Cheap Trick's Live At Budokan album as well...
Freddy Fender - Ya Me Voy ( aka Ain't That A Shame)
Freddy ended up in prison for a spell... but made it out & started having hits again after his probationary period in which he was forbidden to record...
But although Freddy had lived through some ups & downs, he spent some of his last years surrounded by family , and of course prior to that playing in a super group with Doug Sahm & Flaco Jimenez in The Texas Tornados
Here's another classic... from his mid 70's comeback period...
The theme of this post is yet undecided, but hey, well, make it sorta revolve around death...
We'll feature some dead guys, and even maybe some people that should be dead & dead bands...
and uh, more talk about how to go about killing time...
whether that be at the County Courthouse Tommorrow, Or Tonight At The Bars...
First Off ... no matter where you are on Planet X, J or Y
do check out the late Nikki Sudden's final album...The Truth Doesn't Matter , which came out earlier today, on Oct 10th...
the good wholesome midwestern folks at Secretly Canadian records are oozing this baby out , at no small personal expense I'm sure... I've got a track posted down below...
Now , I'm just about to get all regional on yer azzes, there's a buncha news for rawkin Bay Area folks here about hub bub in our hood... even if yer not nearby you could read on & absorb some sights & sounds... (but don't be surprised if all this hubub in the next couple daze just makes you crave Anchor Steam beer, sourdough bread & dungeoness crab, and make ya wanna uproot & head out here to dodge dot-com deadheads, fags with tidy mustaches & pathetic panhandlers all day...)
I can't tell if I'm blessed or cursed when my potential agenda gets read back to me...
Like on Wednesday , will I find time to Slip Away & catch Tom Heyman & Bobby Bare Jr @ The Rickshaw Stop, when I've also got a ticket to catch the muthafrickin' Pogues a few blocks away?
It's been at least 17 or 18 years since I saw the Pogues, and I'm a bit afraid to tell ya the truth... ( note: poster I made in '87)
It was so uh, magically momentous actually, I don't want to taint the foggy veils of my whiskey soaked memory ya know?
Speaking of death, it's just amazing to me that Shane's still alive, while Joe Strummer is dead...
I got to open for both those guys when they were touring with the Pogues back in 1987, and it twas indeed a thrill, especially discovering that they had their own onstage bartender...
here's a list of items in their contract rider
Liquids
24 bottles of Beer 1 bottle of gin 1 bottle of vodka 1 bottle of dry white wine (Soave or Frascati) 1 bottle of Martini 1 bottle of brandy 1 bottle of champagne 1 bottle of ginger beer 2 bottles of Coke 2 bottles of sparkling water 2 bottles of still water 1 bottle of iced tea 1 bottle of Rock shandy 2 bottles of non-alcoholic Beck's
Solid's
A selection of fish, vegetarian and pasta dishes Chocolate Packets of Marlboros, Marlboro Lights and Benson & Hedges (Carrols in Dublin)
Miscellaneous 48 large, clean towels
It was sad when Shane left the band...or was kicked out or whatver the hell happenend... and even sadder still they are trying to do it all over again...
but like a family reunion, sure they'll be ugliness, but that's not without it's plusses as well...
I guess it's like that final Rat Pack Tour... the one where everyone knew it was the last one, and ya sorta just gotta go...
I'll drop a C-Note to get in the door and then spend some more dough I don't have & I'm sure I'll have fun no matter what condition anyone is in, and I'll live & laugh like there's no tommorrow...
Heck, the last time I saw Shane play , with his "other" band the Popes, I think I slammed some whisky and puked up a salmon dinner on the middle of the ballroom floor...
Good Times...
Thursday is just as loaded with adventure, if not more, and I don't know how I'm gonna do it all...
First on my packed agenda is getting out of work early enough to see my pal Michael Dean atthe screening of his new film on the life of the late Hubert Selby Jr at the Yerba Buena Center For The Arts. Best known for his literary works made into acclaimed major motion pictures "Requiem For A Dream" and "Last Exit To Brooklyn", Selby's life was anything but a Hollywood glamour ride, rife with agonizing addictions and debilitating disease.
Narrated by Robert Downey Jr, the film goes over his life and has archival footage odf the author, as well as Selby's last interview,(shot with a tube in his nose). In addition to Selby himself we hear from friends, fans & colleagues like Nick Tosches, Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins, Amiria Baraka and Lou Reed.
Later that night in addition to some pre-determined bar hopping, I will make it up to The Red Devil Lounge for a show that a music industry pal of mine says "Is really kind of a big deal".
The occasion features an amalgamation of madcap musicians who've been members of an array of intersting bands, including the 13th Floor Elevators, Flamin' Groovies, Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Tubes just to name a few.
He's most thrilled that opening the bill is a Texas legend of sorts, who played in the 13th Floor Elevators, and wrote Janis Joplin's hit "Bye Bye Baby". That would be one sorta old hippie looking dude by the name of Powell St. Johnhttp://www.powellstjohn.com/
span >He'll be performing with the members of Roky Erikson's band The Aliens, including Billy Miller on electric autoharp and Duane Aslaksen on guitar, together with drummer Fuzzy John. Expect some killer versions of Elevators classics, Can you say "Two Headed Dog". Whatever you say , don't let it be "You're Gonna Miss Me"...
excerpt of a track from
Powell St. John - Bye Bye Baby( a tune he wrote made famous by Janis Joplin)
Next are The Magic Christian which is Flamin' Groovie frontman Cyril Jordan's current band featuring drummer about town Prairie Prince ( ex-Tubes and lately the Todd Rundgren fronted version of the Cars) , plus musicologist Alec Palao on bass, and mighty melodic & friendly singer dude Paul Kopf. These old guys are more teenager at heart than most teens I meet these days, and have a MySpace page to prove it
Those in the know, with stamina for the nightlife are gonna dig The Dilettantes, those who might dig it the most are fans of the movie DIG! That's right, tambourine man & scene stealer Joel Gion of the Brian Jonestown Massacre is in this new group along with some of his fellow Amoeba Records employeees.
oh yeah... and on Friday the 13th... My buddy Scott Alcoholocaust is hosting a rager at Annie's Social Club...and another the next day at an Oakland wherehouse...
The Annie's gig is a CD release party for the Grannies, who were the first band to headline the club on opening night, plus a chance to catch Fabulous Disaster and The Hollycocks
There's also a great party happening at an Oakland Wherehouse complex the next day... It's a multi-band extravaganza at Poplar & West Grand...read on for more details on that shindig...
Y'know it's always tragic to release a record by a dead artist,(trust me...I've been there)...
but when it's a great record as well... that makes it even harder...
number one.. because they will never get to see the joy that music gives their fans...
number two, as a label , because you are taking a deep financial risk...
bcause your artist will never tour or even get to tell a friend that the music is out...
So if you dig, classic, dirty, funky rock n roll ala The NY Dolls, you should already understand. I imagine Nikki Sudden as a sorta lost cousin of Stiv Bators meets Gary US Bonds meets Nick Cave in an alley with Abba & the Fleshtones type of thing going on... but that don't do it justice...
cuz it's music... and that's not words are for describing...
Nikki Sudden
haunted, but hip like hairspray.
If you were ever kinda crazy, uh, secret handshake in the back of the club cool then you'd understand...
This track called "7 miles" is about as cool as anything Dylan has done in 30 years...and prolly beats it hands down. In my blanked out little black book at least... from his farewell release, and quite possibly his finest in 20 odd years, out now on Secretly Canadian
Also releasing a disc on the same daya s the ded dude above, is the very much alive Tommy Guerrero. A former pro skater with the notorious Bones Brigade, Guerrero has mellowed with age and has been producing some sort of easy listening musica for hip hop lovin gen Xers for awhile now.
His live shows are somewhere more along the lines of a lounge jazz thang, but with lotsa drunk dudes with trucker hats and cuter chicks ...
This one here is from his new disc on Quannuum ... a jam with his labelmate, Brazilian bad boy Curumin.
Monday just came up on me this morning like an angry knife wielding Oaktown hood rat...
Actually I was awoken by two guys from the DA's office looking to get me on the stand and testify against a dude that fits the above description..
I'm the only witness to a bit of thuggery he performed recently against his baby momma ...
I guess I wouldn't mind, if only I knew it was gonna make a bit of difference...
Truth is using a knife on someone around that town these days is almost quaint... more old school than offensive. It appears to be a mere right of passsage, before they break out the heavy artillery.
In fact just an hour after my talk with the DA's about testifying on this young lady's behalf, I heard some kids ina local fast food restaurant talkin' about that "Nigga that knifed" one of 'em...
Sadly, if I give my word on the stand, it will likley only be used against me, and I'll end up regretting it like so many other urban statistics on these mean & so so stupid streets...
It's likely the perp will still walk & what do i do then, when he has my address, my name and knows more about me than I ever will about his larceny livered soul...
Anyhow, in more placid, and esoteric personal entertainment trial news...
Awhile back I started up a subscription to Emusic.com, and so far I've been fairly pleased...
Of course I went for the free trial, and intended to quit ... but instead I'm guilty.
Guilty of enjoying it too much!
There I was trying to exhaust all my free trial downloads... but y'know what...I just couldn't...
Because there were too many choices, and obscure ones at that...
I had to keep going...
I Confess, I Got Hooked... I'm a prisoner...
I figure I can just add it to my growing list of vices, a small lil' luxury in a bleak existence...
...and as long as I have $10 left over at the beginning of the month and a broadband connection...worth the monthly price in my opinion...
The Emusic.com service is far cheaper than Apple's overrated I-tunes, and because it's focused on independent labels, offers up a distinctly diverse array of music you generally wouldn't find while trolling the more obvious selections on the mainstream download sites...
Started as GoodNoise back in the early dot com daze, indeed it's only gotten better as time has marched on... in fact the often have exclusive content ranging from classic selections from artists like Rufus Thomas & Ike Turner to newer stuff from Aceyalone, The Hold Steady, Rancid, Daniel Johnson, Cat Power, Favorite Sons etc...
Here's a free track that Emusic is currently offering as an exclusive bonus added to the The Favorite Sons new album released last month on Vice Recordings. It was originally recorded for broadcast via KEXP last May.
They also have an exclusive Emusiclive archive of shows recorded by the Digital Club Network at spots like the 9:30 in DC , Maxwell's in Hoboken and Schubas in Chicago that feature groups like My Morning Jacket, Gogol Bordello, Taj Mahal, J Mascis, Demolition Dollrods, The Long Winters, ShellShag etc.
All the industry press hype seems to go back and forth between Rhapsody ( formerly Listen.com ) and that Steve Jobs affiliated dealio... or offerings from WalMart & Best Buy while these guys lay low in Redwood City and just do it indie stylee, establishing a decent DRM-free downloadable library , available at a decent price.
We're talking about an online repository of obscure & cool stuff you'd never stumble across on I-Tunes... things like raunchy old Blowfly, old Stax stuff including rare outtakes, Agent Orange covering Metallica, even the band Strontium 90, which is a pre-cursor to the Police etc.
How about this Todd Rundgren remix of sorts that fits my Monday mood perfectly...
It's from a release on Purple Pyramid records that sees Rundgren's old vocals combined with newer backing tracks, with bass here provided by Tony Levin ( known for his work with Peter Gabriel and King Crimson)
Aside from creepy old dudes, you can also get the latest stuff from newer bands like The Raconteurs, Ladytron, Fischerspooner, Kaiser Chiefs, Nouvelle Vague, Sufjan Stevens and The Pipettes, along with longtime indie-esque faves like Pavement, NOFX, Yo La Tengo, Jeff Buckley and Meat Puppets.
That's not to say you can't find more well established artists galore, ranging from platinum acts like Los Lonely Boys & Johnny Cash, plus classic rock radio staples like Creedence Clearwater Revival , The Kinks, Pete Townsend & The Police to lots of New Wave faves and one hit wonders from the 1980's from Billy Idol to A Flock of Seagulls etc.
I mean looking for some hard to find Gary Numan tracks, Emusic has no less than 12 of his albums...
Of the many New Wave type bands, I was surprised to find these include acts that are often out of print on CD, that were on Stiff Records, like Dr. Feelgood, Wreckless Eric or even that crazy dame with the kooky voice known as Lene Lovich. Download Lene Lovich - Lucky NumberOne (E-Music MP3, 192kbps)
At I-Tunes that stuff costs ya at least .99 cents... but via Emusic... hey, about a 1/4th of that... which is maybe what it's really worth eh?
Plus, I guess today I'm linking that up for free... as a trial offer... to try out the trail offer thingy Emusic will do for ya as well... I'm not sure, but I think currently ya can sign up and get up to 50 free tracks...
A little of whatver ya like, blues, electronica, jazz , classical & even "crunk"...
Yes Yes Y'all...Hip Hop is represented there of course, ranging from Lil Jon on down to the old Delicious Vinyl back catalog, as well as the latest fom cutting edge crews like The Quanuum Records & Hieroglyphics camps. New stuff is added to the database every week... so you can stay fresh...
For the adventurous, there's also lots of Latin and World Music too... I've delved into some classic boogaloo Latin music featuring albums by Ray Barretto, Charlie Palmieri, Machito & Joe Bataan as well as dub & reggae cuts from Desmond Dekker, Bob Marley, Ernest Ranglin, and plenty others so all you feisty fans of Toots & The Maytals,
nor siree... y'all won't be left out either.
Toots & The Maytals - Pressure Drop (a live DRM free MP3 encoded at Emusic.com's standard 192kbps,)
I guess I kinda enjoy the convienance of finding all sorts of classic tunes at my fingertips, with more selections uploaded & offered each week...both new & old.
It's like having an Amoeba that's open 24 hours a day...with free samples too...
Yeah, you can cruise around in yer undies and sample from albums that feature free promo tracks, like this week, I've grabbed tunes by Paul Pena, Jerry Garcia & David Grisman, Tom Waits, Yo La Tengo and more can all be had for free if you poke around on Emusic.com
(this tune is the original demo version from the blind Bay Area guitarist that Steve Miller recut and took all the way into perpetual classic rock radio airplay...For more info on the amazing Paul Pena , ya gotta see the Academy Award winning doc Ghengis Blues... )
p.s I suggest whether you subscribe or not ya better save this link for daily browsing...it's always got something new...
Anyhow... I ain't gonna go on about this forever, but I just wanted to say that I find the subscription service to be a fine reliable & welcome time killer, always entertaining, with fairly high quality bit rate files to boot. I'm always finding out about new stuff through all the links to related albums & artists...either from fellow customers, Emusic's reviewers or just random searchable coincidences such as label, artist and genre links.
Plus it's way less guilt inducing & creepy than trolling around like a skeezer looking for random illicit downloads. At least you know some sort of tacit approval & royalties are involved with yer tunes...
Anyhow, I figure if you find my site... you are probably looking for music, and ya might wanna give their legit service a go as well...
For less than the cost of one new CD or I-Tunes album each month, basic members have access to dozens of tunes that ya can keep , burn, and move around from player to player without any proprietary DRM restrictions...
Here's just some of the artists I've grabbed legit DRM free mp3 tracks from recently...
A Flock Of Seagulls Agent Orange Albert King w/ Stevie Ray Vaughan Albert King w/ Steve Cropper & Pop Staples Alejandro Escovedo Allen Toussaint Amy Farris Ann Peebles Art Neville Bad Manners Barry Adamson Bebel Gilberto Ben Kweller Billy Lee Riley Black Nasty Black Velvet Flag Bobby Bare Jr Bobby Charles Bob Marley & The Wailers Bow Wow Wow Brazilian Girls Calexico Carl Perkins Chuck Prophet And The Mission Express Clarence Reid Cyndi Lauper David Lee Roth Dead Kennedys Dee Dee Ramone Def Jef & Tone Loc D.O.A. Doctor & The Medics Dr. John Easy All Stars Eddie Condon El Michels Affair Fleetwood Mac Flipper Frankie Goes To Hollywood Gary U.S. Bonds Green Day Heaven 17 Helen Reddy Ian Hunter Ike And Tina Turner Ike Turner Jerry Garcia & David Grisman Jimmy McGriff Joan Jett Joe Strummer Johnny Cash Jon Langford Kaiser Chiefs Kim Carnes King Pleasure Kris Kristofferson Lagwagon Laurent Garnier Lee Hazlewood Lene Lovich Lil' Jon Los Fabulous Cadillacs Los Lonely Boys Louis Jordan & His Tympani 5 Lucinda Williams Machito Madeline Peyroux Madness Marginal Man Marilyn Manson Marilyn Monroe MDC Michael Franti And Spearhead Mojo Nixon Mongo Santamaria Nancy Sinatra Nick Lowe Odiorne Orchestra Baobab Otis Redding Paul Pena Paul Revere & The Raiders Pavement Pigeon John Pointer Sisters Psapp Rahsaan Roland Kirk Ray Barretto Ray Charles Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise Rockers Hi Fi vs Ella Fitzgerald Rodger Collins Ronnie Laine Rufus Thomas Rusty Bryant Santana Scissor Sisters Shapes and Sizes Ska Cubano Skandalous All - Stars Soul Asylum Soundtribe Sector Nine Strontium 90 (Police) Stubborn All-Stars Sufjan Stevens Supersuckers Syl Johnson The Black Neon The Futureheads The Kinks The Pretty Things The Prisonaires The Raconteurs The Slackers The Shangri-las The Specials The Waitresses The Walkabouts The Whispers The White Stripes Tokyo Police Club Tom Heyman Toots & The Maytals Tower Of Power TSU Tornados Van Morrison Visionaries Wanda Jackson Wasp Wendy O Williams Yo La Tengo Young MC
Oh & Here's where that Toots track above came from, twas yet another disc you find at Emusic...
Reggae On The Rocks : Live & Directavailable via Emusic & released on What Are Records
Gotta love the hypocrisy oozing out of the sick sphincters of the Republican congressional caucus this week...
Apparently they've known about the pedophiliac page harrassing emails of one of their own for almost a year and did NADA!!!!
Trent Lott was squirming in his seat last night as Jon Stewart of all people got to take the moral highground, gleefully coaching Lott on the need for morality & order in Washington. At one point Stewart asked Lott if he felt Republicans deserved control of both houses of Congress...
Through the uncomfortable laughter, one could almost hear disgraced Rep. Mark Foley typing instant messages to his lawyers in his underwear from a mysterious drunken pedophile sex addict rehab...
Author Larry McMurtry's son James has become a slow but steadily rising star in the American rawk scene as of late. Currently working on a new album in Austin TX for Compadre Records, he has rushed one tune out in particular to answer the Republican Congressional decision to endorse the Bush admin's ill advised decision to reinterpret the Geneva Conventions when it comes to their "enemy combatants" aka "detainees".
Says McMurtry, “I had meant to wait until I was finished overdubbing before putting this song out, but our brave legislators have once again outdone themselves in their acquiescence to the executive by passing the detainee bill.”
“We refer to foreign governments that employ all-powerful executive branches as dictatorships, but we're still supposed to think of our own government as democratic. I'm appalled at the spinelessness of Republican legislators. I guess they still think they'll be invited to the feast. They will be, but only if they continue to watch their mouths.”
The all too truthful tune will be available on his new upcoming CD, and is indeed intended as some stinging social commentary.
Called “the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation,” by none other than writer Stephen King, McMurtry has been showing his songwriting skills since his debut disc was released in 1989. Having done stints on Sony/Columbia & Sugar Hill, McMurtry and his band, The Heartless Bastards, are now affiliated with indie Compadre Records. They will continue touring the U.S. for the remainder of 2006, and McMurtry also generally comes home for his residency each Weds night in Oct & Nov at The Continental in Austin TX.
why not feature some additional seditious sounds du jour from norte du border...
The Subhumans featured here are not the UK band, but a reformed version of the O.G punks fom Vancouver Canada. They originally started in the late 70's, and were one of Canda's rowdiest bands before Gerry Useless, one of their members was convicted to a 10 year prison sentence as a conspirator in a plot against Litton Industries, a nuclear defense contractor.
Part of the "Vancouver 5", he was not directly involved with a 1982 bombing that injured a police officer and several plant workers, but was tied in to plans to rob a Brinks truck and support further direct actions.
In a jazzier vein, but no less concerned about the state of our times we live in... is Bobby Previte, and his Coalition of The Willing featuring members of some funky jam pros like Galacatic & Sexmob.
Amongst the serious psychedlicized playas you'll hear on this disc include Stanton Moore , Skerik, and Mr. Charlie Hunter as they lay down some Orwellian white trash jazz funk grooves.
Here's one from a different era, but still dates from a confusing decade when our country was swallowed up by a bleeding sore of a war going nowhere except into contractor's pockets, and a Washington political scene rife with backstabbing, and bullshit & bluster. Sound familiar?
Here's an 11 minute jazz piece I found at All About Jazz from the late great Charles Mingus... entitled "Don't Let It Happen Here"... the tune/political poem is from a new collection recorded at one of his workshops from 40 years ago at UCLA's Royce Hall in September 1965, and only recently issued by his wife Sue. Originally this amateur recording document was pressed in a quantity of only 200 for Mingus mailorder label, and the original masters were destroyed. Now finally, the tapes are restored, and a two disc set of the tempermental Mingus leading an educational "workshop" session with his octet is available.
Only days after a messed up school shooting situation unfolded in rural Colorado...A 32 year old milk truck driver has killed at least 3 females at a rural Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania...
Happy Mondays! Good Times !!
I Love America & Especially All Our Glorious God Given Guns !!!
Friday morning I had to get down to the new Adidas store by 6:30 am to help build a cage that Joe Montana & Gavin Newsom could throw footballs into on Market St. I woulda taken pictures of this photo op for ya'll but I left my camera in the bar I had skiddaddled out of an hour before I had to be assembling their stage. There's nothing like shaking off a buzz while watching Gavin Newsom and his very shiny waxy hair helmet wander around in his stocking feet admiring various sneakers. Gavin & Joe both had their feet "scanned" by some new fangled Adidas technology hooked up to plasma monitors, and apparently the red dot in Gavin's sole imprint shows he puts a lot of pressure into his step . At some point an Adidas store rep got the mayor fitted into some custom kicks ( retail value approx $250).
Gavin was earlier quoted by KRON TV as saying of the new mall
"Shopping centers represent an energy, a vitality. They represent a sense of community beyond just the experience of shopping."
Tell that to the crowd of freeloaders who stole a palate of 1000 commemorative umbrellas from under the noses of overwhelmed Bloomingdales staffers...
Meanwhile, while Joe & Gavin yukked it up for the media, I perused the scone selection at the Adidas hospitality table, and after an hour or so of painfully forced smiling & mingling Joe & Gavin split. As the former 49er QB passed through the crush of the velvet ropes, a middle aged woman in the horde got all pissy that Joe didn't hang out & say Hi to her personally.
I said
"Well he actually signed a lot of autographs & was here for over an hour, what do you expect, after all it's just a publicity stunt...
She said
" Well I think it's lousy"
Last week the same sort of strange promotional forces somehow plopped me into the middle of a different surreal encounter with hundreds of BORAT fans at The Metreon, and an encounter with the film's controversial star ...
While already late for a 4:30 appointment on a BART train going through a tunnel from SFO, my cellphone rang and somebody needed help with an event that night at the Metreon...
Some sort of movie event, MySpace... garbled voice, fritzed out line, dropped call...
I text messaged back when I hit the surface, and agreed to get down there to help after my last scheduled obligation ended at 7:30, and figured I could make it down there by 8:00 pm as requested.
I am basically in the dark still, but head downtown as a brisk foggy dusk starks to take the city in it's chokehold...
When I get to the Metreon, there's a line snaking around the building... hundreds of people long, up and down stairways, while busy promo folks for 20th Century Fox Pictures & MySpace scurry about. One particular PR heavy from Hollywood pulls me aside and starts going over the details, hands me a wireless mic and then asks if I can keep a secret?
Apparently unbeknownest to most of the crowd is whether the star of the film, Sacha Baron Cohen will be making a surprise apppearance.
500+ people are already at this event, more are being turned away at the door due to an invite on MySpace circulating in an online group called Black Carpet Screenings. No mayor, no super bowl QB to distract the teeming throng... so I am called into action as a portable temporary stand in celebrity...
I'm given a black MySpace t-shirt to wear and told to "go work the line", and I shake hands, and chat up the kids. Some of them aren't even kids...weird. A camera crew begins following me around, and I walk up and down the crowded halls of the Metreon, meeting and greeting the assembled, some who report they've been there hours longer than I've even known about the whole shebang.
I am vaguely familiar with the character 'Borat", having seen an online clip awhile back, but these folks are fanatic. They are well versed, hungry for more, they do impersonations, and they quickly grab all the promotional flyers I have to give out, some demanding two or three.
Worst of all, they want to know if "Borat" is coming. I try my best to bluff, but apparently the word is slipping out... or something is up. Some 25 five cities in 6 countries are getting a sneak preview via MySpace invites tonight. The diehards have been following the hype for days, eagerly anticipating this event and many have read that "Borat" ( aka Sacha Baron Cohen) will be making an appearance at one of the screenings. They tellingly note the camera crews and photographers, and smell blood. I just don't want it to be my blood.
Keeping tabs online all day, some of these fans even know that "Borat" has yet to appear in any city on the east coast or in Europe. Another person in line reports to me that he heard a security guard in Jack In The Box saying a "star" was coming down on his radio. I keep a poker face, try to blow off the talk, dash their hopes & dreams, play dumb etc but I realize these fans are not kidding around... such is the power of celebrity, and comedy and uh, all that "BORAT" stuff.
After awhile we manage to give wristbands out & squeeze as many folks as we can into the joint, and another hours passes as the crowd goes ever more impatient. There's a podium with a teleprompter set up near the screen and I'm surprised how many people ignore this and move towards middle rows and to the back. I get up and rewelcome all the folks, working the screening room aisles with a wireless mic, chatting up folks, stalling, and telling dumb MySpace jokes...
The blogosphere has already been ranting about this for daze since it happened last week, and i'll let the 18 yr old kid from hayward who goes by the name "izilla" recount his perceptions at the time:
"the guy from myspace that was running it, was being total dickwad, saying stuff like 'oh, i'm sure if borat was here tonight he'd add you all back as his friend!' and me and steven were dying in tension, but i noticed a podium when i first walked in, so i had high hopes,
I can sense the audience impatience, heck I can sense my own impatience, and I'm forced to keep up a charade, doing that hardest of show biz routines, killing time, everyone's time. Eventually a Fox PR guy tells me that the "star" will be here in a few minutes, hopefully saving my ass from an angry horde of disappointed geeks. A few minutes pass & I'm given the cue to go up & announce him, the crowd cheers, and we look around... and he doesn't appear. Gulp!
They Boo! They Hiss...
I throw in a "gotcha!!!" ... pretty sure everyone hates me now, even the cute girl who took a picture with me.
In fact I'm pretty sure they hate me because my reviews are in & the kids are not pleased said one who goes by the clever moniker Scamboogah
Once inside, we were 'entertained' by some total douchebag from MySpace who thinks he's funny because he's allowed to run company picnics or something. His act was tired after 30 seconds, so of course he went on for half an hour.
Then just when all hope is lost, I get the cue again... must've been a little miscommunication or a broken elevator or something. So I say "No really... and your friend & mine, the star of the film... BORAT!!!" and then , I wait, they wait, the PR guy waits, and he doesn't appear again... The despair in the room is palpable.
The audience is fuming, popcorn is being thrown...I am definitely not getting out of here without a police escort...
Said one MySpace member known as The Beast:
By 10:30 the movie had still not started and people were starting to take their aggression out on a David Spade-like Myspace Emcee who kept refering to himself as "LilMikeSF." He kept dawdling asking questions like "how many of you met through Myspace?" A question which several people awkwardly raised their hands to as the majority of people showered Lil Mike with incredibly offensive invectives and whatever candy they had.
Then just when all hope is lost, I get a third cue, a frantic waving of the arms from cellphone talking dude from LA, to do it yet again... ok, he's paying the bills, here goes one more try...
"Anyhow folks, we're just gonna get the film rolling, sorry that Borat could'nt be here... but oh wait..hey would you please welcome our special guest BORAT!!!!!"
I'm not sure anyone believed me the third time around...
According To The Beast
"By this point the camera crew and the posse of production people along with it had lined up near the podium and it seemed like Borat might be coming out. Lilmike finally announced that they were ready to start the movie literally seconds from becoming the first person to probably ever be lynched in San Francisco. "
I'll let fellow netizen Scamboogah recount the scene for you
"But at the moment everyone was about to storm to the front and choke this tool to death, Borat ran into the side of the theater and started kissing guys on the cheeks. The guy is totally fearless. He was getting mobbed and didn't seem to want security to get anyone off of him. "
And then there he was, coming down the side aisle, from a different door than I was expecting...than anyone was expecting. Hundreds of folks leap to their feet in excitement!! Borat, heads up into the crowd, high fiving people, and kissing males with his traditional greeting of kisses on male cheeks...
The place is an instant madhouse, almost no one is left in their seats, people are climbing down rows to touch him...it's a post modern Metreon miracle... Borat squeezes the top of my hat, and quickly I and my wireless mic are tossed aside by the swarming crowd like so much chafe during the winter wheat harvest in Kazahkstan.
Said the one known as the Beast in his blog
"The place went absolutely bananas, people were hopping seats to go up and hug him, everyone was taking pictures, girls were kissing him; I was literally stunned. I never thought I would be in the same room as Borat, my life feels marginally more complete."
After a few minutes of pandemonium, as Metreon security basic lose control and are overwhelmed by the affection for the actor...Borat assumes control of his fans. Some audience members begin an impromptu session of singing his theme song, a tasteless politically incorrect number from his homeland called "Throw The Jew Down the well" ...
Now, I'm hearing the song for the first time, looking at all the glee as the audience recites the lyrics, and I'm truly flabbergasted... I had no idea... it's blowing my freaking mind!! Rupert Murdoch is paying for this??
I'll post a couple vids I took from my camera... you gotta see it to believe it.
Here he is singing...and attempting to exit through the swarm...
The film, it truly is a belly splitting and beyond outrageous flick that surpasses my expectations for even ribald comedy on so many levels. Borat interweaves actual unrehearsed scenarios, sorta similar to the Daily Show interviews into the film that go beyond my meager comprehension at times. The guy's got basically big balls that will shock at times, but I can think of no more twisted comedy that I've seen in ages.
The film itself is causing a bit of an uproar, with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is not pictured, complaining to the state department, demanding diplomatic meetings with former President George Herbert Walker Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, multiple congressmen, businesses partners, and religious organizations, and even President GW Bush.
Long story short, the next day I looked up this event on MySpace and a bunch of kids were saying it was the greatest night of their lives...
I'm not sure I'd go that far... but I wanted to share it with ya because it was definitely special.. and I'll be back as paying customer as soon as "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" is officially released on Nov. 3.
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Apple remains the elephant in the room, the industry behemoth with 1.5 billion songs in their library, and they account for roughly two-thirds of all the legit paid digital downloads. They are looking to trademark the terms Pod & I-phone, and seem to have a perfect proprietary system for pushing digital content through their exclusive portal.
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Best known for his literary works made into acclaimed major motion pictures "Requiem For A Dream" and "Last Exit To Brooklyn", Selby's life was anything but a Hollywood glamour ride, rife with agonizing addictions and debilitating disease.
Later that night in addition to some pre-determined bar hopping, I will make it up to The Red Devil Lounge for a show that a music industry pal of mine says "Is really kind of a big deal".
John. Expect some killer
the club on opening night
A former pro skater with the notorious Bones Brigade, Guerrero has mellowed with age and has been producing some sort of easy listening musica for hip hop lovin gen Xers for awhile now.
Currently working on a new album in Austin TX for Compadre Records, he has rushed one tune out in particular to answer the Republican Congressional decision to endorse the Bush admin's ill advised decision to reinterpret the Geneva Conventions when it comes to their "enemy combatants" aka "detainees".
entitled "Don't Let It Happen Here"... the tune/political poem is from a new collection recorded at one of his workshops from 40 years ago at UCLA's Royce Hall in September 1965, and only recently issued by his wife Sue. Originally this amateur recording document was pressed in a quantity of only 200 for Mingus mailorder label, and the original masters were destroyed. Now finally, the tapes are restored, and a two disc set of the tempermental Mingus leading an educational "workshop" session with his octet is available.
