It's named after the Jeff Lynne composition...but really it's about so much more...
Later this week I'm headed down to Nawlins, and i'll do a post before I split featuring some of my faves from that area. Louisiana holds a special place in my heart, even though I was never raised there, and have only passed through a handful of times.
for some reason the crescent city just connects with me, maybe it's just a romantic illusion, and if I didn't already love San Francisco so damn much...Methinks I'd have split for New Orleans a long time ago.
anyhow...
The first time I was in town, I was there on tour with a band who were opening for J Church at an all ages community center in the Fauborg Marigny.
As many of you know, the indie music scene lost a hero & compatriot last month with the untimely passing of that band's frontman, Lance Hahn.
Last Sunday i was privileged enough to attend a memorial held for him in San Francisco. In attendance were a few dozen people, some who'd come from across the country to attend. We shared stories, drank, ate, commiserated, watched vids of his band J Church, and even saw some hilariously poignant home movies of Lance as a young child.
It was his summer of 69...
spent in a baby carriage on Oahu...
Most of all though, we reminisced as to what Lance held dear, what we had in common, and why we held him dear as well.
Our main connections surrounded the criss crossing of our ideals, our anti-establishment fervor of youth, and our total slackerdom...
Not that we weren't hard working... we all seemed to work hard at not working...
or we worked on lost causes, and flew our freak flags upside down etc.
Lance Hahn was true to his anarcho punker roots most of the time, but at the same time, he was a great smart ass & shit talker and never ashamed of any hipster's perception of his perpetual bad taste.
Tommy Strange recounted in his memorial epitaph of Lance's punk cred being in question once when he was spotted carrying around some sacrilegious Steely Dan records around the mission...and people actually wondering "what did it mean?"
I recall us both sharing an unabashed fondness for Poi Dog Pondering, Lance going as far as covering them on one release. He was just as captivated as I by live footage of the awesome Freddie Mercury in action, and wasn't afraid to be derided in a small minded lil scene for appreciating New Order alongside his Crass and Rudi Peni records.
Another band he apparently dug was Electric Light Orchestra, and I thought I'd end this post today with one of his spunky brash lil' covers of their work.
J Church - Don't Bring Me Down
It's an appropriate tune, because I refuse to let this guy's death bring me down. Tommy Strange put it right when he wrote that there's no hole left in this world because Lance has left, the world is actually just so much more that he was here...
If anything, I hope his death helps me take life a little more seriously, time becomes a little more precious, and i'm able to learn, grow and accomplish something from this sad lil' lesson...
I guess i'll never be as prolific, or as heroic, or as determined as Lance might have pushed himself to be...
But at least so far I haven't had as much bad luck as he seemed to get...
I certainly will get around to pursuing my passions a little more furiously, knowing that his were sidelined so sadly...
We really never know when the ride is over baby...
so let's ride!!!!
In the meantime though, I thought I'd do a little update on what's new this week in music...
and maybe some stuff that's been out for a bit, but is just sorta new to me... and perhaps to you.
Fair enough?
Anyhow...
I've been neglecting making any updates here this month as i've been pretty busy, and a guys gotta focus I suppose. We can't spend every waking hour updating this silly lil' website.
I think I've just got enough time to concentrate on a blog post here at 10pm, with work finally subsiding to a low roar...
Anyhow...
This week saw some new stuff dropping onto the scene...
Os Mutantes have returned... and David Byrne's Luaka Bop is the stateside source for for their first fresh recordings in years. Recorded in London on that 2006 reunion tour, here's a classic track delivered with typical jubiliant Os Mutantes flair...
Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina from the release : Mutantes Live - Barbican Theater, London 2006
I've seen them twice since they reunited and each time was a delight... I have a feeling if you get the DVD version, you might not quite feel the magic in the air... but it should still help explain their universally psychedelic appeal.
Os Mutantes Live - Barbican Theater, London 2006"
Os Mutantes
"A Minha Menina" (mp3)check out more from from "Mutantes Live - Barbican Theater, London 2006"
(Luaka Bop)
Also this week... those bad boys of central valley snark rock in Cake deliver up a set of goodies they humbly entitled uh, the clever B-Sides & Rarities...
The first track of note was previously issued on Cake's Wheels EP awhile back, and it is the classic 70's country jam known as "Ruby, Don't Take your Love To Town"...
It was one of Kenny Rogers big early scores when he discovered the silver haired solution to success on the middle of the road...
but unlike most sappy middle of the road chestnuts, it's got bite within it's sweet syrupy packaging...
It's a tale of a war vet coming home with no legs, who watches his woman getting all dolled up on a Saturday night, and our vet knows he's doomed to staying home in the wheelchair for a lonely night of drinkin, cussin & crying ...
It was a twisted sort of AM radio classic of my childhood, and with so many maimed gulf war II veterans filling up our vet hospitals & rehab centers...
I'm more sad than proud to say it's relevant once again...
enjoy this one from Cake's own Upbeat Records label...
Cake - Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town
as a bonus... I'll throw in the delightfully tacky electro-lized instro cut known as Conroy...
But the rest, you can go get yerself...
info below:
CAKE "Conroy" (mp3)from "b-sides and rarities"
(Upbeat Records)
More On This Album
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