Success + Soul + Uncle Sam

Seems like lotsa stuff going on in my life lately, which means less time to blog...

and it seems a lot these distractions from the web seem to take place uh...

anywhere...

in bars & clubs...

hotels

in the garden...

at the pool...

or even the golf course...

or just about anywhere


cuz it's summer y'all

hope yer having fun too...

Tony King - Summer Scene


Anyhow, I wanted to annoint some folks with the most successful cover tune of the week...

It's a fine little number that appears on the new Kelly Willis Cd that came out on Rykodisc this week, a record company that was acquired last year by Warner Music Group.

Kelly has been woodshedding, and raising kids for the past four years, but spent some time in Nashville recently with producer/song writing collaborator Chuck Prophet laying down tracks.

Here's my fave cut on the disk...

Kelly Willis - Success (Iggy Pop cover recorded w/ Chuck Prophet & Jules Shear )

The whole shebang is available as a CD here for about $13 and as downloads at I Tunes by the individual track...




I guess the I Tunes capable I-Phone is another supposed success...

I assumed fat , out of shape geeky losers would be waiting in line for days,(and there were plenty) but couldn't believe that the actual mayor of a major North American city called Philadelphia had time to stand around all day to get a f*cking new toy...

John F. Street, the actual mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, waited in line on and off for 15 hours to get a cellphone...

Your Tax Dollars At Work...

The Associated press reported more:

He wore large Bose headphones hooked up to an iPod Nano - one of three iPods he owns - around his neck while seated on a lawn chair.

... a 22-year-old man sporting a mohawk asked him, “How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?”

The mayor replied: “I’m doing my job.”

here's actual footage of this consumed idiot :

To my folks in PA, y'all better recall that confused & blithering assbone of a mayor or at least make him live on the Jersey side...

At least our pretty boy mayor Gavin Newsom here in Frisco prolly got his I Phone delivered by a stalker or loyal minion or something...

The dude in Philly actually told the media how he had cleared his calendar to wait in a fucking line... don't ya know our mayor is just sitting back & chopping lines!

With your wife!!!

Here's a report from our local Bay Area news that rave about the marketing blitz & PR prowess of Apple... but no mention of our political leaders waiting around in lines...

Here's some slightly more positive things Philly used to have going for it...

Namely it's classic soul sounds...

Here's from a compilation called Philly Soul Girls... which is sadly a still relevant topic... as a young girl pleads for uncle sam to return her boyfriend from military service...

seemed appropo as we celebrate the Etas Unidos B-Day this week and those that continue to pay the price for our leader's far off folly...

The Sherwoods Uncle Sam

This compilation of Philly Soul Girls from the mysterious Distortions Funkadelphia label has 26 total tracks, including the first CD transfer from the actual master tapes of Patti & The Emblems classic "Mixed up, Shook Up Girl"...which I'll dedicate to all my Hollywood gal pals Britney, Lindsay, Nicole & Paris ...

don't forget to write me from rehab you beeotches...

I want to also dedicate it to the crazy mumbling fat chick named Jessica Rodriguez on Nightline last night who was shown sitting in front of a Manhattan Apple store most of last week just to be first to buy a couple new phones...

Not only is she out a grand...but actual days of her life... and apparently was suffering from sleep deprivation, mental exhaustion & an odd nervous tic during her post phone purchase interviews in which reporters toyed with & preyed on her mousy confusion like mean old cats...

Jessica, an out of shape & fragile lil' freak, has became some sort of consumer celebrity just for buying new tech crap made in some likely horrific asian mercurry filled sweatshop. Her newly appointed highness of product hype hysteria told the BBC that she...

"... got no sleep with the rain and the dump trucks going back and forth. I'm going to go home and sleep and play with my phone a little bit."

One can only hope she has some numbers to put in it, or calls from any actual friends to screen...

She was definitely lookin' like a "Mixed Up Shook Up Girl"...

The song itself is a true classic of the era, that being circa 1964, and an early hit by Leon Huff, who later had so much more sweet success in the early 70's with his PIR empire and his co-productions with partner Kenny Gamble.

The female Patti here on the track is actually the late Camden NJ girl named Patty Pussell... and no, I do not know why she is sometimes refferred to as Patty & also as Patti... as seen here on this 45 label on the Kapp label...

Here's an original, slightly shorter & scratchier version of that Patti & The Emblems doing Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl , not the one on the above mentioned Philly Soul Girls comp, but a slightly tinnier & shoddier transferred reproduction from vinyl...


Here's
Patti & The Emblems - Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl

If you wanna hear the contrast with new mastering & higher fidelity... get a copy of the Philly Soul Girls comp... it's available through yer better online sites like Light In The Attic for less than $12, and even digitally for way less than half that via eMusic...


I-Tunes...which is always flogging crap like Avril Lavigne, Hannah Montana & Kelly Clarkson to me at a buck a track does not have this killer Philly Soul Girls comp yet has but one "Patty" & The Emblems compilation available if you must have it from the great Jobs...

it's here...

Patty & The Emblems - Mixed up Shook Up Girl (singles compilation)



Not much new to report on the avant rock front, but it appears I'm likely going to see Pat Benatar next week... go figger...

It's summer... and she's playing the local fair...



p.s

for all you retro rockers who dig whiny poser grunge from Chicago... there's a new Smashing Pumpkins release apparently headed our way next month...

Here's something they did awhile back as part of a Depeche Mode Tribute disc...

The Smashing Pumpkins - Never Let Me Down Again ( Depeche Mode cover)

Anyhow, those curious for more can click below to pre order the new Corgan & co. release for y'all for less than $15 when it hits on July 10th...

Monday's Miasma etc etc etc

On Saturday night I was an honored guest and official band bartender at the annual freak fest known as Parkerzalooza, which was headlined by san Diego's Earthless...

They play at a deafening volume...and capped off a night of many bands, mucho volume, and libations for all.

North Beach was alive with music & festivities over the weekend too as the 53rd annual North Beach festival took over the hood. Aside from the officially sanctioned entertainment on outdoor stages, there were other little combos working indoors along the streets. The usual blues bands were rocking SF's self proclaimed oldest bar, The Saloon where barflys buzzed around the doorway, and the unofficial beat community center Live Worms gallery even had a band playing for the art show. Amongst the other spots where bands played was the legendary corner bar the Condor, who recently were granted a permit from the entertainment commission. Of course, rumor has it, the benign live oldies band featured over the weekend, will soon give way to yet another adult themed strip/topless entertainment theme.

Meanwhile down a long lonely & empty stretch of Broadway, across from a boarded up pizza joint and shuttered Afghan eatery, a for lease sign hung on the spot formerly known as The Crow Bar. In the 60's this location was called Basin St West where the likes of Ike & Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Ramsey Lewis and other jazz & soul greats once played, but now, much like the rest of fabled North Beach, is just a faded shadow of it's former self.



North Beach was once the west coast's premiere entertainemnt district... whether you were a can can girl, comedian with an arrow through your head or struggling folk musician ... everyone cut their teeth there.

Everyone from Maya Angelou to The Dead kennedys, Janis Joplin to Metallica... all earned their chops in this San Francisco neighborhood...

Hoyt Axton - Greenback Dollar


Janis Joplin w/ Grateful Dead - Turn On Your Lovelight

The late bluesman known as John Lee Hooker should need no introduction to real American music aficionados.


Here's some tracks future SF club owner John Lee Hooker recorded back when he bounced around from label to label in the 50's & 60's using different names...



John Lee Hooker - I Love You Baby (Hug And Squeeze You - Part I)

John Lee Hooker - "Too Much Boogie" (mp3)
from "Too Much Boogie"
by John Lee Hooker
SnailWorx

• Buy at iTunes Music Store
• Buy at Napster
• Stream from Rhapsody

More On This Album

A Bay Area lady, and original member of Sly & The Family Stone, guitarist Gail Muldrow remains an unsung hero of funk & soul. While Sly grew legendary, for his chops almost as much for his fabled unreliability, the talented crew that helped bring him worldwide acclaim too often languished in his shadows. Gail is Sly's baby cousin and after remained with Larry Graham in Graham Central Styation. Here's Gail laying down some greasy funk & serious bluesy soul from a recent solo disc.

Download


Gail Muldrow - "Where'd You Get Yo Funk From" (mp3)

Gail Muldrow - Stranger Things

from "Cleen Spirit"
by Gail Muldrow
Global Recording Artists

• Buy at iTunes Music Store
• Buy at eMusic
• Stream from Rhapsody

There are occasional opportunities to see Gail rocking with ex-members of The Family Stone, and rumor has it even with the reclusive Sly himself, who's scheduled to appear at an outdoor show in San Jose next month with members of his old crew.

July 7th, Sly and crew are scheduled to appear at Arena Green, right next to the HP Pavilion. The bill also features the Average White Band and the Latin Sensations (featuring Jorge Santana and other members of Malo, El Chicano and other Latin rock performers)








In the meantime, here's some more grooves you can definitely count on from Gail Muldrow...

I love how she pile drives through Nancy Sinatra's "Bootz" as fierce as Megadeth or the punk band Government Issue did in the 80's, only with far more soul. This recent solo disc also features Sly alum Greg Errico on drums. Worth a listen if you can appreciate the paths she paved to get to today.

Gail Muldrow - Bootz

More On This Artist From Her Own Website

In the interest of the arrival of Summer, I thought I 'd throw out some more tracks in honor of this hot time o year...

like this one featuring Gail with Sly

Sly Stone - Hot Fun In The Summertime

and it appears...with summer almost officially here...

then the heat is officially on...

from the beaches and boardwalks to boardrooms...

Sam Cooke - Summertime

In the silicon valley, the latest quasi casulaty is Terry Semel...although, it's hard to feel sorry for a guy who took home around 75 million in pay , give or take a few recently...

Yahoo, shakeup, more froth & fissure than facts or fiber...

Yahoo! Once the internet darling, the company that has slowly slid into a precarious position of irrelevance and now they reach for uh...Jerry Yang? This is the same kid who boiled like a frog for so long in the pot already, gave up control & let the whole shebang slip away...creating failed inititiatives, and throwing good money after bad...

He's the same guy that basically allowed Yahoo! to slide into it's murky miasma, and gloated as the company became so heavily capitalised they were rumored at one time to be near to purchasing Disney/ABC...

Now they have somehow let their golden goose die, from being the top dog in search, to a sick & lost puppy... albeit still clinging to billions in capital.

Strangest of all was how aghast they were as their own contractor, some startup named Google, actually out Yahooed them...


If I was a shareholder, I wouldn't expect to see much of a catalyst for change in effect by simply putting Jerry Yang back in there...

He created it, but he got paid handsomely and walked away... and the souless execs and MBA's ran it into the ground...

Feeling Carioca - Bikini Talk

from "Rio To Go"
by Feeling Carioca

SCUDPROMO MUSIC

• Buy at Napster
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More On This Album


Anyhow... enjoy yer week... I'm getting back to the garden...

Chet Baker - Summertime

...and tommorrow night I'll be performing some Event Magic while bartending at the 4th annual Valley Schwag party south of market ...here's a shot from last year

see ya around...

Desperate Kingdom Of Love

The desperate state of the record industry has lead to the opening of Touch and Go / Quarterstick Records' own digital retail store. The actual official first "bit" load took place Tuesday, June 5. Corey Rusk's mighty lil Chicago indie operation began offering both individual tracks and full albums as DRM-free 256k MP3's. The site is the exclusive spot to find digital versions of out of print material from the label, like material from Bedhead, or Slint's "Spiderland", as well as the exclusive host of all the Shellac and Rapeman albums. For those shunning mp3'z for the lossless world, the innovative Touch and Go digital store has CD quality 16 bit and even above CD quality 24 bit WAV files of Shellac's latest long player, "Excellent Italian Greyhound" up for sale as well.

check it out at http://www.touchandgorecords.com


Many are desperately waiting to find out what the hell is actually going on with that Ozzfest tour ticket fiasco/giveaway Sharon has promised so many...

But I did see that the desperately seeking retirement income i.e remaining members of Black Sabbath looked up lil' devil Ronnie James Dio for some sort of tour celebrating the Heaven & Hell era he was with the band. I must say it did include the fairly great Mob Rules album. Hey, I bought it when it was new, so that makes it great right?
Ronnie James Dio & Black Sabbath - Mob Rules ( Live )

But, I think I may have missed the latest tour... and word is Dio's voice isn't what it was 10 or even 30 years ago like when this track was recorded...



Ronnie & The Prophets ( early Dio ) - Swingin Street

Yep it's Ronnie & The Prophets... his pre-Elf outing, that sounds a lot like Dion & The Belmonts...

And so here's a bit of a remix/cover/tribute of Mr. Dio as done by Tenacious D, taped live at the Roseland in PDX a couple years back...

Tenacious D - Mob Rules / Holy Diver / Dio

And just for f&*k's sake, here's some old Sabbath straight up with Ozzy...

Black Sabbath - Children Of The Grave

And here's sad lil cutesy kudos to one upcoming lil' pop starlet, Lily Allen, who has announced she wants out for now... She's pretty much tired of being hounded, stalked, constantly photographed, speculated & gossiped about although, I doubt she really wants to give up the clothes, career or phat checks that have made her far more notable & richer now that she's well known.

Here's her latest "How Did I Get Myself In This Place?" blog post

"The thing is , im not going to write here so often now . this used to be one of my favourite things to do . I could come on here and vent how i feel honestly and get feedback from you guys . But the tabloid fucks have ruined it . Everything i write here gets twisted and rewritten buy a bunch of lazy fucks who havent got anything better to write about . And the truth is I don't want to be in their fucking stupid magazines and daily fuck rags . Infact I hate it , i dont want to be a celebrity , I am a singer , I write songs , thats it . I don't sleep and take drugs with famous people( i have a boyfriend ive been with for nearly 3 years ) , I don't go to film premieres . I don't go shopping in the paparazzi hotspots , so please leave me alone . Write about something interesting , and that actually needs to be alked about . I don't want to live in a world where the most interesting thing is Paris Hilton and " how shes doing in jail " . Why do we care , seriously ? Guys the world is MELTING , we are KILLING innocent people , so we can steal their oil , killing them. 400000 people are dead and 2.5 million have no home in Darfur .............. but then again Lindsay did work out at the gym this afternoon and thats what really counts ."

A we'll end that with a song that shows the ever changing mind of the confused lil Brit girl at her best...

Lily Allen - Cheryl Tweedy

Aw heck, here's lil Lily joining The Rakes on a cover of David Bowie's Let's Dance...

The Rakes - Let's Dance

and that's that ...we'll never mention her again...until she wants us too...


Lotsa stuff going on in town here in San Francisco this weekend, I'll let folks know the lowdown about the zydeco, and whatnot that I know about in da bay...


This weekend, a member of Zydeco's first family, C.J Chenier and his Red Hot Louisiana Band are in town. He's the turbo charged son of the late Clifton Chenier, and an an internationally acclaimed American performer who fuses an appreciation of rock n roll, blues, jazz, funk into traditional zydeco rhythms. They are performing at Biscuits & Blues downtown, about the only place lately to see a washboard in action in San Francisco.

While his father was well known along the bayou circuit, C.J was actually raised in the same hard scrabble southern refinery town as Janis Joplin was, that being Port Arthur, Texas. He's created music that shows a love of Funkadelic, Miles Davis & Jimi Hendrix along with a respect for the old music made by his father's own Red Hot Louisiana Band.

When Clifton died in 1987, C.J inherited the band and accordian and has taken the rightful zydeco throne while adding some bluesy bluster. His records on the Arhoolie, Slash & Alligator labels have cemented a reputation at festivals around the world including large scale events like The Chicago Blues Festival, Austin’s SxSW, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, San Diego’s Street Scene, and Milwaukee’s Summerfest where he's entertained tens of thousands at a time. He's recorded with The Gin Blossoms and recorded & toured with Paul Simon.

Here's an older track, from the first CD I bought by the man, 1992's "I Ain't no Playboy" on Slash, that brought in a Texas sized rock n roll strut to the zydeco scene, that being a ZZ Top cover of Sharp Dressed Man.

C.J. Chenier - Sharp Dressed Man


Here's one that's from his last Alligator release, "Step It Up", recorded in Maurice, Louisiana...

C.J. Chenier - Turn Around & Say Goodbye

Download "Turn Around And Say Goodbye" (mp3)
from "Step It Up!"
by C.J. Chenier
Alligator Records

More On This Album


I understand that shortly after Katrina devastated the gulf coast, he recorded The Desperate Kingdom of Love, which was released in 2006 on the indie World Village Records. This is a unique exercise from the normally jubiliant accordian player, as he explores some more sorrowful material including fitting covers of Hank Williams, Van Morrison and even this stirring title track originally done by PJ Harvey.

C.J. Chenier - Desperate Kingdom Of Love

If down home bayou bred danceable & desperate Acadian music ain't yer thing, consider heading down to the Great American Music Hall for a more metalloid & bizarre affair...

The Great American Music hall will reverberate Friday with the sinister sounds of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, the Bay Area based band that isn't afraid to take a female violinist along for the ride into a devilish thrash metal netherworld. These theatrical pros take audiences through the dramatic dungeons of twisted meter and emerge with an omnipotent math rock successor to the typically warped crown of thorny musical hellscapes...

On Saturday Night June 15th - Parkerzalooza IV

Local promoter/bon vivant Parker Gibbs celebrates the continuing saga known as his pointless aging process with a multi band birthday party at 12 Galaxies on Mission St.

Joining Parker in this annual affair will be a slew of bands, each of whom have a unique take on sonic serendipity.

Here's sample of co-headliners Earthless from San Diego, who specialize in a sort of power triaged acid rawk and feature former Rocket From The Crypt drum god Mario Rubalcaba ...

So be prepared to get yer lighters up, and in the meantime check out an MP3 track from their upcoming full length on Tee Pee Records...

Earthless - Godspeed

Tee Pee Records

• Buy at Tee Pee Records
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After Earthless finishes their set, watch for local trouble crew Hank IV to stumble up and finish this battle of the bands fair & square. Borrowing occasionally from the Jesus Lizard playbook, this band which includes local luminaries like Hemlock booker "not so big" Tony Bedard & freakadelic frontman Bob McDonald will no doubt be juiced, loosed and perhaps suitable to be noosed...

Download "Got Got" (mp3)
from "Third Person Shooter"
by Hank IV

Here's another track from the band's debut disk on Hook or Crook records called "Tonight We Ride"

Hank IV - Tonight We Ride.

(mp3)
from "Third Person Shooter"
by Hank IV
Hook or Crook Records

• Buy at iTunes Music Store
• Buy at eMusic
• Stream from Rhapsody

More On This Album

Also on that endless Parkerzalooza bill over at 12 Galaxies are a few other bands including the Enablers featuring the poetic musings of Pete Simonelli backed by some veteran rocker pals. The band have material out on Neurot records, like this cut from their CD "Output Negative Space".

Enablers - Sudden Inspection

oh and if that ain't enough, I'll be yer onstage bartender...

and there's still more coming yer way as well...

For More info Go To 12 Galaxies website and read all about it, heck buy a ticket in advance even...

12 Galaxies