Lil Mike's Last Known Thoughts & Random Revelations...: 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...