Friday On My Mind

By the time ya read this, I'll already be hurtling down the I-5 towards LA for the weekend...




I'll be staying smack dab downtown...staying on Olive st, which no longer looks like this


or this...


but more like this...


In fact I suspect it'll be mind numbingly dull perhaps, but at least with supposed "4 star" corporate comfort upgrade ...



here's a few pix from the last time I was down there...

Here's some tunes i'll be jamming in the car tonight on the long 5 or 6ish hour journey and likely I'll have some new stuff to crank when i come back...


1st up, the Australian band whose founding members in the 70's helped manage their nephew's band AC/DC and get a bit o' recognition...

Easybeats - Friday On My Mind

Here's a remix of Portland Ore's sons of liberty who helped us fight the british invasion in the 60's...

Paul Revere & The Raiders - Kicks (Millenium Remix)

I just can't get enough of that drunken brit chanteuse

Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good ( Skeewiff Mix )

and here's a fun Quincy Jones cover from the British DJ crew of Al & El who did the remix above

Skeewiff - Soul Bossanova

and one more mash up for the road...

gotta go...

Outkast vs Marvin Gaye - So Fresh & So Clean vs Let's Get It On

Achievement Unlocked - Like I Give A Care

Been awhile since I got all random on yo' azzes...

so dig in...

Last i remember I was ranting about the type of fools we find making decisions for us in government roles...

Y'know, all the usual suspects were on my list including everyone's fave Attorney Weasal in General, Alberto Gonzalez, and similar cronies placed in posistions all over the Bush admin. I wouldn't be surprised if they daily use the U.S Constituition they are sworn to uphold as toilet paper at the White House. After all, it's a simple case of interpretation, as the oath never said they couldn't just "uphold" it up their dripping asses.

Of course being an equal opportunity ranter, I find Democrats with similarly abhorrent activities to point at.

My fave this week was VA Senator Chuck Webb whose lackey was arrested carrying a concealed gun in into the halls of congress, that the aide said later was actually Webb's. Politically proficient Webb then quickly distanced himself from the assistant at a press conference and merely sympathized with his "unfortunate" incident. Best of all, Webb knew the guy was rotting in DC jail on his 45th birthday...

for some reason, I found this track appropriate

You Say Party! We Say Die ! - Like I Give A Care

Download MP3

You Say Party! We Say Die!- Like I Give A Care (mp3)
from the album "Lose All Time" by You Say Party! We Say Die!

released by Paper Bag Records

Yo hey by the way, if y'all noticed I've been quasi MIA here this week, I wanna apologize to the invisible masses...

or at least that stop by here regularly for info-tainment for my lack of posts thus far into this month... I attribute some of this to technical difficulties...

Spring is in the air...and also my lame "blogger" account has mysteriously eaten my last two posts when I hit the "publish" button...

Nothing like typing away furiously for an hour or two, getting all my links correct etc and have the work just vanish into thin browser air. That can take the wind outta yer overall blogsails pretty quick ... then yer ftp account starts acting up and all the sudden yer posting tunes to YouSendIt...


I know it's all free... but ya get what ya pay for huh?

maybe it's time to change some software around here I guess...

Just reminds me that I can't get no satisfaction can I?

Here's a song that more or less sez the same thing, 'cept they've got a liquid light show, some very cranked marshalls, and a whole lotta orange sunshine coming on strong...

I speak of Blue Cheer , the 60's San Francisco sound band that found Mr. Stanley Owsley as a patron of the arts. Owsley, a renowned LSD brewer, reportedly gave the band as much high powered fuel as they needed. Hence this lysergically warped take on the Rolling Stone's 1965 breakthrough hit single...

Blue Cheer - I Can't Get No Satisfaction ( you send it link)

Speaking of free crap for addicts, here's more for y'all...

Here's some X box sounds for all you gamer geeks, as apparently there's more than 6 million lamers connected to Xbox LIVE network alone. Within that worldwide wigout some 2,000,000 text and voice messages are sent every day between members on the service.

These are sounds from games, like ya don't get enuf of those...

Hidden Orb sound (MP3)


Agility Orb sound (MP3)


Achievement Unlocked sound (MP3)

Hmm... let's up the ante' a bit...

delve into some real show biz, not virtual nonesense...


Here's a lively Italian novelty song from Louis Prima...Baciagaloop (Makes Love on the Stoop).

Recorded circa 1954 I think for the Jimmy Durante TV show, and rippedfrom an old dusty 10" I got stashed in the closet...

I know it ain't the greatest fidelity, and come to think of it, Prima himself wasn't a great believer in fidelity either, just ask Keely.

The scratchy recording is just how yer Mama & Papa woulda heard it back in the day off a 10" "long player". The sucker apparently goes for $55 on EBay, so I think the value of just hearing my copy must be at least a few bucks... so no whining.

Louis Prima - Baciagaloop ( Makes Love On The Stoop) ( you send it link)

Prima is nothing less than a legend, and legend is generally an overused term that I can actually endorse using in Prima's case. His career spanned decades, and had way more highs than lowly lows...

Check out this lively documentary if you need further evidence of the man's charisma & show business greatness.
Since yer still reading I'll toss in one more Louis Prima track, this one about my hometown on the Mississippi, St. Louis...

It's track 26 on his jam packed Capitol Collector's Series disc, which can be had for less than $10, and it's certainly worth every penny...

Louis Prima - St. Louis Blues


I have a few more minutes to lay out some tracks, so we'll go funky I guess...

here's a rarity that recently saw the laser light age of CD, however this is ripped from an authentic vinyl copy... put out by Drive records, a subsidiary of empresario Henry Stone's Miami based recording empire. The band's name was an attempt to cash in on a hit record by Beginning Of The End, a Bahamanian band who'd already scored with their hit "Funky Nassau"> This 45 was was produced in part by Mr. Clarence Reid ( aka Blowfly) and I'll take Henry Stone's description of the band verbatim from his own website for additional background...

This band consisted of four members, Arnold “Hoss” Albury on keyboard, Ivan “Cool Breeze” Orlando on drums, Charles “Carlos” Hepburn on bass and lead vocals, and Simeon Taylor on guitar. The Horns of many Deep City and T.K. Records in the early days came from the famous Marching 100 of FAMU, consisting of Aaron Johnson and Willie North on trombone and Earl Bethel and Earl Finley on trumpet. Ivan Orlando played on two gold hits, Clean Up Woman with Betty Wright and Rockin Chair with Gwen McCrea. Check out the unique grooves on these classics. This group played on the original Blowfly x-rated albums. They were also, with the exception of The Horns, Betty Wright’s tour band. They were very exciting and entertaining in their colorful tapestry/designer uniforms. With Hoss on the organ B3, they sounded like a 10 piece band. This group set the pace as the foundation of the T. K. era and Miami Funk. They were so hot that they had to have three names to make way for releases, Funky Nassau, The Rising Sun, and Arnold Albury And The Casuals.

Funky Nassau featuring Carlos - Look What You Can Get ( When You Tired Of What You Got At Home) ( you send it link)

& for end of post stragglers...

Here's one of the better Hip Hop tracks I've heard in months, maybe years... ironically from a Brit label...


Backini w/ Dr. Oop Capone - Radio

Download (mp3)
from the single "Radio"
by Backini (feat Dr. Oop Capone)

released by British indie
Lumenessence Recordings

• Download more at iTunes Music Store
• Download more at eMusic
• Stream from RealNetworks / Rhapsody
• Download more at Napster

More On This Album


anyhow... I've got other shit to do...

a bit o' cash to spend, hotel rooms to book for this weekend, vodka to drink, and so I really better be going...

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consent decree and happiness for thee

So as everybody knows that cares by now... Eddie Van Halen has joined Britney Spears and SF mayor Gavin Newsom and Lindsay Lohan in announcing his rehab.

Only thing is he's got a least two decades of boozing experience on all of 'em...

jeez dude... took ya minute to figure that shit out eh?

I thought Michael Anthony was the whiskey sodded troublemaker... you know with the Jack Daniels shaped bass guitar. But apparently he's been booted in favor of Eddie's kid...

Sad...

So, whatever... we get no classic VH reunion tour ,or even mini performance at the lame Rock n Roll Hall of Fame ceremony. Nope... nothing, just my luck...

Instead, I hear Genesis are regrouping for a summer shed tour...

Sadly I bet that Phil Collins dude is more fun to hang around than Eddie anyway...he's at least got more common sense...

Genesis - Turn It On Again live

With that scariness out of the way...

I suppose my best bet for live music satisfaction for the foreseeable future will be the Legendary Stardust Cowboy and Hank IV down at "your dive", El Rio in San Francisco on Saturday night.

It'll be my second weekend in a row catching the endearingly monikered Klaus Flouride ripping it up on stage, this time with the Legendary Stardust Cowboy... aka The Ledge.

Norman Carl Odam is a bit of a character apparently, a sci-fi rockabilly cowboy kingpin that has to be seen to be believed i suppose. The Wild West version of Wesley Willis...or something like that.




Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Paralyzed

Legendary Stardust Cowboy - My Underwear Froze to The Clothesline

bonus

New York Night Train's Oral History Project: Kid Congo Powers Remembers The End of The Gun Club, and working with the total kook known as The Legendary Stardust Cowboy

Kid Congo - Oral History

Another legend of sorts on the bill is Bob McDonald... kind of our own local lush version of David Yow...

All you SXSW attendees can catch Bob with his band Hank IV at a couple opportunities in the coming week...

Mar 14 2007 midnight
SXSW! Showcase at Lava Lounge in Austin. Hank IV plays at midnight.
Mar 17 2007 3:30PM
Trophy's (Austin) for the WHOOPSY MAGAZINE PARTY. Hank IV plays at 3:30pm.

Here's a couple tracks from Hank IV's debut CD/LP that recently came forth via Hook Or Crook Records... I met one of the proprietors the other night, and he seemed like a swell fella, who has big plans for his little label, or at least for his bar tab. Look for these folks in Austin...

Hank IV - Tonight We Ride


hank IV - Got Got

In other music industry twitchings...

A settlement, or as the Hollywood Reporter called it "consent decree" has been reached with the FCC & corporate chain broadcasters over the investigation into corporate radio playlist payola. Looks like Clear Channel & pals are agreeing to pay $12.5 million to make the Federal Communications Commission's investigators to sort of just go away. The "pay for play" probe involved transactions between major labels & Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio Inc., Entercom Communications Corp. and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. Of course none of these large broadcasters will admit "wrongdoing", but as a group have simply agreed to pay a collective fine and dedicate a total of 8,400 half-hour segments to "independent music" over the next three years. The indie quota agreement is through some sort of mysterious private 2nd agreement made with the American Association of Independent Music.

The organization has about a 100 or so labels involved including Epitaph, Koch, Hopeless, Matador, Ninja Tune, Relapse and Putamayo...

Here's their board of directors who represent a bunch of labels, many I notice who've had distribution deals via majors. One board member is from Lookout Records, the label that stopped paying royalties to most of their bands awhile back including cash cow Green Day, and lost control of the Berkeley based band's lucrative back catalog a year ago.

Mmmm, that's leadership...

Glen Barros


Concord Music Group

glenb@concordrecords.com

Term Ends 2009

Lesley Bleakley


Beggars Group

lesleybleakley@beggars.com

Term Ends 2008

Peter Gordon


Thirsty Ear Recordings

peter@thirstyear.com

Term Ends 2007

Steve Gottlieb


TVT Records

steve@tvtrecords.com

Term Ends 2008

Doug Keogh


Roadrunner Records

keogh@roadrunnerrecords.com

Term Ends 2007

Glenn Morrow


Bar/None Records

glenn@bar-none.com

Term Ends 2007

Molly Neuman


Lookout! Records

molly@lookoutrecords.com

Term Ends 2008

Thomas Silverman


Tommy Boy Records

tom.silverman@tommyboy.com

Term Ends 2009

Amaechi Uzoigowe


Definitive Jux

acu@definitivejux.net

Term Ends 2009

Read an LA Times' story on the FCC probe by Jim Puzzanghera here. Of course known music biz ranter Bob Lefsetz has an opinion too...

Speaking of settlements & leadership...

Commander in chief wannabee Barack Obama finally paid his parking tickets... ones he got while attending Harvard Law School -- 17 years ago. He had racked up $140 in fines and Obama's decade+ worth of late fees tallied another $260. The Somerville (Mass.) News published the story Wednesday.

So now we know how quickly the man can get things done, and that he truly respects & believes in the rule of law. Like, Totally Presidential Dude...

or at least like every other broke ass dude driving a bucket around here...

I know that Hollywood likes to tell us their industry is a gamble, and downloading & home copying and bootlegger's etc are all hurting bottomlines...but somehow the Motion Picture Association of America released figures showing Americans spent $9.49 billion on movies. That's about 1.45 billion tickets sold, 63 films grossing more than $50 million and Disney's Johnny Depp franchise sequel "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" -- made $400 million.

Psychologist's say that owning a piece of a $400 million film might not make ya happy. Actually psychologists don't even call it happiness, they call it "subjective well-being" and a new study says it's all relative. Long term studies captured levels of life satisfaction both prior to and after major life events like marriage, divorce, unemployment and illness or disability. What they found was that basically some people get bummed out easier than others...

No shit sherlocks...

Source:newsroom.msu.edu/site/indexer/3014/content.htm

Busdriver - Happiness ('s Unit of Measurement)


Just saw that an old friend of mine is currently on tour on the East Coast, so if yer nearby you might wanna check out Mat Callahan w/Yvonne Moore. Callahan was a regular rabble rouser of sorts out here in the Bay Area for many years.

In the 70's he had a political folk group called Prairie Fire, and after that an innovative world beat band called The Looters. They were the first US group invited to perform by new Sandinista President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. They recorded discs for Alternative Tentacles, Island records and even Monster Cable's label Monster Music.

Mat helped start a musical collective in the Mission called Komotion International, that held benefit shows, and then permutated into a record label and a magazine we all ran together for about ten years.

He eventually split for Switzerland but I see is going to be back with his new musical partner Yvonne Moore and are doing dates with political folkie David Rovics. He has an album out currently called Wild Bouquet, that features some of his talented pals backing him up including Brain (Tom Waits, Guns & Roses) on drums, Joe Gore (P.J. Harvey) on guitar, Les Claypool (Primus) on bass and singer Zoe Ellis. It was recorded partly in San Francisco, and his new home near Lake Geneva in Mauer, Switzerland.

Here's some Mat Callahan tracks & tourdates

Mat Callahan - Jonny Refused

Mat Callahan - Deep Down

March 10 • Brooklyn, NY
Vox Pop

March 11 • Willimantic, CT
Wrench in the Works • 7 pm

March 12 • Boston, MA
Berklee College of Music

March 15 • New Haven, CT

March 16 • Dunkirk, MD

March 17 • Washington, DC
Fleming Center • 7 pm

March 18 • Norfolk, VA
40th Street Stage

March 20 • New York
Googie's Lounge above The Living Room •

March 23 • Hartford, CT
La Paloma Sabanera
Indy Media Group Show

March 24 • New York
Banjo Jim's • 8:00 pm

Currently Mat's label Broken Arrow are offering a free 4 song EP of Mat & Yvonne with each order while supplies last...hey it's deal !

Speaking of deals... and guys who refuse to cut one with the Feds...

The Feds are still keeping harmless blogger Josh Wolf languishing in prison...

While SF violent crimes spin out of control, and even more real criminals are in Washington, Wolf has done 6 months hard time. I bet Scooter Libby gets way less than that.

Josh Wolf offered to show the video tapes to the judge in chambers, without the prosecutors present. Judge & system though really just want to send a message and hope the kid rots. The Feds routinely spit on all our freedoms, look at the beady eyes on that pudgy smug Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and you learn everything you'd ever need to know about American Justice.

Nothing new here... Ironically despite Wolf's incarceration, this kid will do well once he is finally released... He's a Gen Y kid who now has more credibility going for him than the entire system run by suck up Baby Boomer generation reps that are coming down on him like a ton of worthless bricks.

Wolf didn't burn the mattress, break the tail light, organize the demonstration or smack the cop...and says he doesn't have any footage of the cop getting hit. But he is paying the price for all of that, and most importantly, for sticking up for his right not to be an informant. On the streets they call informants a "snitch"...

In real street crime cases, its a known fact that if you snitch ... then you die...

That's just a fact of life, on SF streets or any urban area.

It's why Lil Kim did time last year...because she wasn't a snitch.

Lil' Kim - Bad Girl

Would the SFPD offer to protect such a kid like Wolf if he did snitch out, or reveal who did what? That's a big rhetorical no.

The cops have no credibility for helping out their informants. Many are hung out to dry, get no protection and too many have died here in SF...

Even if he wasn't making a point as some sort of political martyr, he'd be wiser not to help the SFPD. Many of those who offered are dead...

In interest of justice & restoring order, Ive tried to help SFPD on occasions and have been regretful of it everytime. Those piglets won't appreciate you trying to help them, and they'll turn on you, leaving nothing but grief in return for your assistance. The cops total lack of professionalism amazes me. No wonder SF streets are sinking into a sea of swill...

Peter Plate - Snitch Factory

and that's all I got for now...

Shotwell - San Francisco's Withering

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