Showing posts with label Chuck Prophet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chuck Prophet. Show all posts

Friday, February 29, 2008

Random Leap Year Mix

Since it's a leap year and the final February Friday and the weekend is coming to take me away, I'm just gonna throw up a mutant mini mix for all those trolling by today...

Feel free to add to your own digital diversity collection by perusing the ye olde tunes I have gathered on yer behalf today...

To lead things off I'm gonna pay tribute to my favorite city.

Here's a tune by the late Mr. Turk Murphy, a trombonist who was a legend in Herb Caen's San Francisco for many years. Turk and his many musical cohorts were leading performers in a New Orleans jazz Dixieland revival that was popular here throughout the 1950's & 60's.

Here's a pic of Turk jamming away...









A veteran of Lu Watter's Yerba Buena Jazz band in the 1940's, by the 1950's Turk had his own band playing spots like The Tin Angel & a regular gig at the busy Italian Village at Lombard & Columbus.




In 1960 he opened his own club...

Even after the mob owned strip clubs & punk rockers made North Beach nightlife a less wholesome affair, Turk kept at it, but left the neighborhood.

He kept his club Earthquake McGoon's going, but moved it to a spot near the Embarcadero, and lastly it's final resting place at tourist trap Pier 39, which stayed open until the mid 80's.

Joining on vocals is fellow horn player Bob Schulz who played with the group from 1979 until the end of the Earthquake McGoon's era.




Turk Murphy - San Francisco Jazz




Continuing on this wayback machine journey, I steer this post on down to the tropical isle of Jamaica...

We head into Sir Coxsone Dodd's Studio 1, where a Mr. Welton Irie gives up a classic track fer yer perusal, it's one of about 6000 recorded songs & versions laid down in that hallowed ground...

Just in case ya never heard of this Irie individual, here's a short video clip of him boasting and a toasting of hitting the White House one night and sleeping with the President's daughter...




Welton Irie was born circa 1960, and recorded at Studio 1 circa 1977 before Dodd split for NYC. This track is also sometimes listed as featuring both Lone Ranger & Welton Irie, but what do i know. Maybe you should ask him. Welton, while obscure, is still active and has a MySpace page where you can simply be his friend, or even book him for session y'all.

Welton Irie - Chase Them Crazy




We continue drifting back into 1972, where a certain LA based latin rock group put their spin on a perpetually popular Van Morrison track...




I have had their groovy Viva Tirado LP for years, but this track also on the Kapp label is new to my world... and hopefully yers...

The band was called El Chicano, and they still play a few oldies gigs every year I believe

El Chicano - Brown Eyed Girl


A year earlier than that last track was recorded, a UK band that was signed to the Harvest label released an album called Message from The Country. Their orchestrated psychedelic pop sound is notable, mainly because it marks the beginnings of a new group that would soon sell multiple millions around the world and remain popular for decades... that being the Electric Light Orchestra.

Here's an early effort from The Move featuring Bev Bevan, Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood. It's from a remastered edition of this group's 1971 album, plus bonus tracks that EMI has painstakingly reassembled from original master tapes stored at Abbey Road and in Don Arden's archives.

The Move - Message from The Country ( 1971)



The Move, who eventually evolved into one of the slickest groups ever in ELO, were alos known for wild antics onstage, and had a crash about stage show that apparently rivaled The Who, and would not have been out of place in punk rock years later.

Here's a live Move track from 1968, a cover of a Love tune written by the late Arthur Lee. This line up predates Jeff Lynne's involvement... as he didn't join til midway through 1969.

The Move - Stephanie Knows Who

...

While I wasn't even born when the Move were tearing it up, and I got to town a bit late to enjoy Mr. Turk Murphy live, I did get in my fair share of live entertainment over the years.

One of those entertainers still going strong is the lovely Miss Stephanie Finch, a school teacher that rocks.

I have had the pleasure of watching her play and sing around these parts for quite some time and she is perhaps better known to most in her role as thee Mrs. Chuck Prophet...


As seen supporting the man in action in this here live video clip I shot & edited awhile back...







Here's a little live sonic serendipity from the same folks, a random revelations rarity for y'all ...it's a nice clean recording of Chuck and his wife Stephie pulling off a delightful cover of an old Jerry Ragovy & Mort Shuman composistion. The original is best known as a song by southern soulman Howard Tate ...



This one was recorded in my old stomping grounds up in Sonoma County in 2003...

Chuck Prophet - Shoot Em All Down



Next up is a sample from a new collection that Luaka Bop has available in yer fave download stores this week...

get DRM free mp3's at Amazon & eMusic.

It's a look at some of the best in Brazilian music, an anniversary celebration of sorts for David Byrne's pet label which first began reissuing Brazilian stuff 20 years ago...

and what a long strange, wonderful trip it's been...

I myself have to thank Mr. Byrne for turning me onto to two of my favorite groups, the legendary psychedelic sounds of Os Mutantes and this fine featured performer...

Tom Ze'...

In 1990 Byrne issued a collection of rarely heard & mostly forgotten tracks that were a revelation...

I actually was lucky enough & got a chance to see the now 70 something Mr. Ze back in the late 1990's at Bimbo's when he was in his 60's and touring with the guys from Tortoise...

It was a quirky, uplifting, silly & really remarkable show, in which Ze wore coveralls, a construction helmet and played a variety of percussive devices, and mumbled many cute but mostly indiscernable sayings in Portugese.

I would gladly do it all again...or at least buy a video if such a thing exists...

Here's a track that originally appeared on his 1975 album Estudando O Samba.
Byrne's interest in Ze's obscure music rescued Zé from a job at a relative's gas station and enabled the artist to return to professionally making music. One of Luaka Bop's first releases was the Brazil Classics Vol 4 compilation, which reappropriated 9 out of print tracks from Ze's Estudando o Samba.

Well, why should we stop milking this classic from 1975 now ...

Here is something from it again...

Brazil Classics at 20: Anti-aging Solutions RevealedTom Ze
"Mã" (mp3)
from "Brazil Classics at 20: Anti-aging Solutions Revealed"
(LUAKA BOP)

Stream at Rhapsody

Check it out at eMusic More On This Album



Anyhow... I'm exhausted from all this muckety muck mix business

y'all should enjoy something from that post...

if not, leave me alone...

I gotta go and be back here on the job by 10 am


toodles...

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Are You Sure Everything's Tuesday Two Times Blue ?

We just finished a big ol' holiday weekend and in honor of the arrival of Tuesday...here's my fave Tuesday tune...

Chairmen Of The Board - Everything's Tuesday

General Johnson and The Chairmen of The Board have a long history, and the next time I have time I'll lay out a bit more of their legend. Let's say it's one that has the General interacting with everyone from the legendary Allen Toussaint and the ol' Minit Records gang in New Orleans on to Detroit's Holland-Dozier-Holland. Later he works with Honey Cone, and even Joey Ramone, and somehow becomes the classic elder statesman the Carolina Beach Music Scene.


---------------------------------------

On this past Friday night I entered the West Hollywood nightlife scene briefly to check out a show at the Mint on West Pico. I was stunned to find a club that actually has a sign proclaiming they charge $75 for someone to videotape inside, but share none of that revenue with the artists being taped... hmmm.
I was considering passing on the opportunity to record the gig for posterity... and just then, oddly enough, while standing by the door, the bouncer alerted me that someone outside was looking for me about some video footage.
They said I had to go outside and sign a release. Huh?
Sure enough I poked my head outside and there was a filmmaker who'd tracked me down, and actually had paperwork for me...Wow!

LA is all business folks... and there's the proof.

And lawyers be damned it looks like an important music documentary I got involved with that's years in the making is heading into theaters finally, and indeed I'll keep y'all posted when i know more.

Anyhow, after that, I was privileged to see a fine upstanding rock concert of sorts, and I'll tell ya more about it...

I had just seen these guys a week before at a sold out show in San Francisco, and now I can testify that the Chuck Prophet and Mission Express touring band is in as fine a shape as can be expected considering he's had some lineup changes since his last album. The band's set only get's tighter as the feel gets looser...

Kevin T. White on bass holds down the bottom end along with drummer Todd Roper ( ex-Cake). New hotshot kid guitarist James DePrato is anything but depraved, and politely plays a supportive role, filling out the sound but never stepping on his master's toes. Chuck's wife Stef shines whenever she's given opportunity, currently it's during an old Gene Pitney cover that was written by Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams back in the Musicor days.

I'll feature a video of this cut soon, I promise y'all... it's truly a long forgotten but amazingly ripping tune... especially when this band builds up the tension.

Despite the fact that Chuck's van was seizing up & very ill in the parking lot, they ignored the pain, pumped up the volume, prevailed and pulled off a fine set. I truly wanted to drive up to Santa Barbara the next day to catch them on a double bill with the retiring country chanteuse Kelly Willis, but there was literally no room at the inn...

I checked dozens of potential motel rooms and nothing was available anywhere near Santa Barbara or even the coastal enclaves of Montecito, or Isla Vista.

It twas a shame, but damn if I'm gonna drive all that way to stay in a motel Carpinteria, Ventura or gawd forbid Santa Maria...yuck...

Anyhow, lucky attendees of Chuck Prophet's past few shows have been able to scoop up a certain collectors item that's in very short supply. It's a ltd edition CD with a phat booklet of which only a few hundred copies are circulating. They are all nicely hand assembled, bound and letter pressed by Bruce Licher of Independent Project Press, and the story of the music is as good as the songs themselves.

Seems that last January, Chuck, his wife Stef, his old guitar player Max Butler, and another handful of fine local musicians got trapped in a local recording studio...literally.

No one knew the access code for the door, and no who did was answering the phone all weekend. With only a lone Waylon Jennings LP on a battery operated turntable to entertain them, they soon got a lil' stir crazy.

On the third listen through, someone suggested they simply re-record it themselves, and with nothing but studio time to kill they went ahead. The results are pretty amazing whether you like country music or not, and I'm gonna throw up one sample cut for those who'd like to know more.

The album is called "Dreaming Waylon's Dreams" and is a song by song extrapolation/tribute to Waylon Jennings 1975 masterpiece "Dreaming My Dreams"

Here's the lead off track:

Chuck Prophet - Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?

( psst since this disc is basically sold out already and yer unlikely to score a physical copy - here's a special link available to download mp3 versions of all the tracks... here)


That would be enough sonic serendipity for ya folks but not on my two fer tuesday...

Here's another rarity...

I wanted to share a mix I whipped up just prior to Xmas...but never got around to sharing with anyone just yet.

Debbie Harry put out a new record late last year called Necessary Evil, and although she was playing in LA while I was there one night, I missed the gig but did get my hands on the 12" vinyl of her latest single while at an ice skating rink ( don't ask).


Debbie Harry - Blondie Mash Up



Anyhow, here's a special mix I made that involves mashing in some Moroder-cized bytes off the "Call Me" single from 1981. I guess you could say that this mini mix is three decades in the making...

It's a late Christmas present to all Debbie's fans, and even my cover art for yer iTunes "cover flow" comes in a vaguely X-messy color scheme.




Debbie Harry - Call Me Two Times Blue 2


Anyhow...

that should about do it for me tonight.

I should be back later in the week, with new scoops & songs for you to learn & sing.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

fax-for-free-from-a-cell-phone? and other random revelations

Gotta make this quick tonight, cuz I'm in a hurry to head home to watch Chuck Prophet on the Carson Daly show in a a little bit... more details down below...


While perusing the web tonight, I just discovered a pretty cool free & potentially useful service ...



I was recently looking for a way to fax something via an online service and most all the free services I could find were really weak ad supported crap or some were charging high monthly subscription rates for something I would rarely need...

If only I had known about QiPit... ( pronounced Keep It... get it ? )

cutesy stupid short dot com name but great service for free it seems...

ya can upload a jpg,

or even send a pic directly from your mobile phone,

and they convert it to PDF & will either fax it, or email it for you
(or even insert it into your blog)

hey... why not try it...

it's free kids



http://www.qipit.com



Other stunning news updates of the day:
-------------------------------------------

Bay Area Green beats up old ladies

Here's a story about a dude arrested in string of attacks on elderly folks in Berkeley CA

Ladies & Gents meet Jahton Green...

He's not yer Nader type of Green either...

He's just Jahton Green, likes to party & beat up old people...

I mean really old people , linked to at least 8 attacks on elderly folks...

He recently pummeled the shit out of a 93 year old man and stole his money...

But being as clever as he is, he unwisely decided to use the credit cards of his victims, which finally lead the cops to him after months of similar attacks.

Otherwise he'd still be out there beating up grammas...

Way to go Jahton!!!

The City of Oakland is certainly proud of you... at least you did your crimes in Berkeley. We can all appreciate the subtlety of that.

I'm sure the Dellums administration will write a letter in support of you...

...

promo pic courtesy Berkeley Police Department


music stuff:

------------ American Music Club ----------

They're back...

Hey did Mark Eitzel get hair transplants?

Or is that Vudi holding the big black cock?



Actually I understand that to be the handsome new AMC bassist Sean Hoffman...

and the rest of the dreamy guys appear on the flip of the disc...

Looks kinda like AMC is being repositioned as a boy band...


it's like they stole the Chuck Prophet "You Did" video concept
(as seen below)
and Vudi got the Natalie Wood/Dennis Wilson part






Apparently Danny Pearson & Tim Mooney, now that they are both fathers are out of the touring biz these days...

The revamped band's newest record "The Golden Age", their 9th full length, is out now on Merge in the US & Cooking Vinyl in the rest of the world...

Look for these fellas on tour in Europe right now through late March...

07.02 - Newcastle, UK - The Cluny
08.02 - Glasgow, UK - Oran Mor
09.02 - Nottingham, UK - Rescue Rooms
10.02 - Birmingham, UK - Glee Club
12.02 - Brighton, UK - Concorde 2
13.02 - London, UK - Dingwalls
14.02 - Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso
15.02 - Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
16.02 - Den Bosch, Holland - W 2
17.02 - Groningen, Holland - Vera
18.02 - Koln, Germany - Gebaude 9
20.02 - Gijon, Spain - Acapulco (Casino)
21.02 - Madrid, Spain - Caracol
22.02 - Bilbao, Spain - Kafe Antzokia
23.02 - Barcelona, Spain - Apolo
24.02 - Bielefeld, Germany - Forum
26.02 - Hamburg, Germany - Fabrik
27.02 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
28.02 - Malmo, Sweden - KB
29.02 - Oslo, Norway - John Dee
01.03 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Sticky Fingers
02.03 - Aarhus, Denmark - Voxhall
04.03 - Berlin, Germany - ColumbiaClub
05.03 - Leipzig, Germany - Nato
06.03 - Frankfurt, Germany - Brotfabrik
07.03 - Weinheim, Germany - Cafe Central
08.03 - St. Gallen, Switzerland - Palace
09.03 - Zürich, Switzerland - El Lokal
11.03 - Turin, Italy - Spazio 211
12.03 - München, Germany - Registratur
13.03 - Wien, Austria - WUK
14.03 - Ebensee, Austria - Kino
15.03 - Geislingen, Germany - Ratschenmuhle
16.03 - Diksmuide, Belgium - 4 AD
18.03 - Paris, France - Divan Du Monde
20.03 - Norwich, UK - Arts Centre

They'll be in the US in April & May. If you want to hear the band live, check out the live set A Toast To You, recorded live at the Rex Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA in 2004.

Link to download AMC live tracks below:









American Music Club


mp3 downloads











Mark & Co usually deliver a passionate set, even if it's done at a tortuously slow drawn out pace. I think that must be part of the appeal for most folks, the sonic equivalent of the pensive hanging chad...with the same disatrous results.

What I'm saying is, The Ramones they are not...

AMC - Live In Pittsburgh

In the meantime, while you await the live show, here's a sample track from their new studio release

American Music Club - I Know That's Not Really You (mp3)



Speaking of live tracks vs studio, not a lot of people know about Chuck Prophet's 2001 live album called Turn The Pigeons Loose, and like rival SF band AMC's latest, it was also released on Cooking Vinyl...

While Chuck churns out effective studio records every couple years, he's also a more than competent live performer...something I'll be affirming this Friday night at Cafe DuNord in SF and again in LA at The Mint on Feb 15th...

I recently dug through my massive & unwieldy live tape collection and unearthed the video from the night he recorded Turn The Pigeons Loose in San Francisco in the summer of 2000.

Here's a video I put together using my footage of the show, and an mp3 of the board recording to augment the shitty sound I normally pick up in the room...

A marriage of brute force multimedia formats ... plus below I included a link so you can download the mp3 tracks from either Amazon or eMusic...







Used copies of these older discs are listed on Amazon for over $100 each, but cost me less than $4 in digital form from eMusic.

I highly recommend the eMusic service as it's got access to wide variety of DRM free mp3 indie music ( 3 million tracks) for a much lower price point than the other legal download sites. With my subscription I get about 40 downloads a month, plus all the various daily freebie downloads they toss in.

Meaning I am getting lotsa music for less than .25 cents a song.

eMusic also has some exclusive tunes, live material etc, like for example Mr. Chuck Prophet has two out of print albums, that as far as I can tell, you can only get in the US through eMusic.


Check out Chuck's live album at eMusic here












Chuck Prophet And The Mission Express


Turn The Pigeons Loose















This album is also available in digital form at Amazon


Chuck Prophet - Turn The Pigeons Loose - MP3


Here's that Chuck Prophet You Did clip I mentioned above that AMC cribbed for their new album cover...

or maybe not





Well enuf lo-fi videos

Are you thinking of checking out U2's new 3D concert movie...

If it was good enough for Hannah Montana, why not Bono?
here's a little look at the technology that went into producing it...




Anyhow, with Presidential pony race fever still engrossing our delegate distracted country, I thought I'd close with this video below.

It's a video from Stanford's Lawrence Lessig who attempts to justify his campaign donation to Barack Obama in this 20 minute video that explores Obama's character differences vs Hilary Clinton.

Kinda interesting, in a liberal elite academia way...





see ya'll

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Rise! Scab TV & Busted Corn Smut Prison Suit!

Hey

uh belated a bit but....

Happy New Year




I feel flat Busted just like Johnny Cash in this classic recorded at Folsom Prison

Johnny Cash - Busted


That song was recorded one cold January day in 1968, and not released until just a few years ago.

Now 40 years later ... a concert will be held this weekend at Folsom Prison again, this time featuring the lone surviving member of the Tennessee Three, drummer Fluke Holland.



Oddly enough, in a punitive country now going broke supporting a bloated prison industrial complex, The Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison album still is a brisk seller. Busted is from a German import version. The entire album has caught the imagination of a nation for decades, and continues to be one of Cash's best known works.

People obviously want to pay tribute and still cash in on that homegrown honest success, including ex-Beau Brummels frontman Sal Valentino.

His voice was heard on 60's hits like Laugh, Laugh, or Wolf of Velvet Fortune... and now in the new millennium he's even done some time in an Austin TX studio recording Johnny Cash's quintessential prison song...

Sal Valentino - Folsom Prison Blues

taken from the album "Come Out Tonight"
by Sal Valentino

"Folsom Prison Blues" (mp3)

(Fat Pete Records)

Download at iTunes Music Store

Buy at Amazon


Yo kids...
Speaking of Prison...

Whoa, did ya hear the latest ...

It's been a few weeks since I dropped by to update the site...and fer some reason

the world keep son churning...

One interesting story to hit my radar this week was the sentencing saga & law suits of one Jose Padilla ( not a latin musician but a guy aka Abdullah al-Muhajir)



A court room thousands of miles away in Miami on Tuesday hosts the sentencing hearings for convicted "terrorist plotter" Jose Padilla, but he and his mother, with the help of Yale legal scholar Jonathon Friedman have also started legal proceedings right here in San Francisco.



San Francisco's Federal Court became part of an intriguing and intertwining legal legacy last Friday, when a suit was filed against a Berkeley Law Professor. Padilla ( one of the few "evil doers" ever convicted in the wake of the Bush Admin's post-9/11 Homeland Security craze that swept the US), is angry at Boalt Hall's John Yoo... and wants a symbolic dollar in damages ( although his lawyers want their full fees of course).



Padilla, a U.S Citizen who was born in Brooklyn and once claimed membership in Chicago's "Maniac Latin Disciples" street gang was later termed an "illegal enemy combatant" after the government announced a "dirty bomb" plot in 2002. Thus began a long & winding legal odyssey in which precedents were few and far between, many challenges were filed, some initial charges were dropped, then reinstated, and evidence seldom matched allegations. All along, Padilla's rotating cast of legal representatives claimed the case was an overblown example of overdue process, in which torture was employed on US soil "as part of a systematic program" that "intended to break down Mr. Padilla's humanity and will to live". Eventually, Padilla was convicted by the Feds last August.



But the story doesn't stop there...



(more after the jump)



Yoo is being sued because while working for the The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel , he wrote the memoranda and legal opinions that supposedly formed the basis for Padilla's detention. According to the plaintiff, Yoo's actions directly violated Padilla's constitutional and statutory rights, and they cite as evidence Yoo's own book "War by Other Means: An Insider's Account of the War on Terror". In it they claim direct evidence of Yoo's personal responsibility for the series of recommendations and OLC opinions that Yoo made on the Government's behalf.



Yoo, one of the chief architects of the Patriot act, isn't your typical Berkeley campus liberal. He earned his keep in D.C as a law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, and has vigorously argued against Congress restricting the President's options in regards to torture. "

They can't prevent the President from ordering torture
" adding that '
It's the core of the Commander-in-Chief function"


Yoo not popular in Berkeley campius circles, pic by Jeff Paterson, Not in Our Name ( jeff @ paterson.net )



The suit was filed here in San Francisco for jurisdictional reasons, as a similar complaint from Padilla filed in South Carolina was tossed out. Cynical legal observers suggest it is still a frivolous claim, even in nutty San Francisco, and without solid legal grounds, the Federal judiciary is likely to toss it out again.



Padilla's sentencing hearing, which begins Tuesday, because of numerous disputes regarding the legalities of his lengthy detention could last several days .




The desperate attempts to build a case against the gov't, the appeals process, various precedents set, and legal bickering on the other hand, will continue for years I imagine...





Anyhow, I as I was mentioning up top, I'm sorta busted currently, and likely gotta get my financials in order

Seems this whole holiday end of year party party party... gift giving & traveling thang has tapped me out.

How am I gonna get me a terabyte, if I can't afford a simple bite to eat eh?

Especially if I keep getting lead into death trap little dives all over town with jacked prices & lousy grub.

Take this joint I was dragged into across from the Makeout Room.


Looks innocent enough, then ya notice the sign... or lack there of.

No Sign = Bad Sign

Yer supposed to know about the place before you go or something, and you'd only know it was there if you are already a trendy asshole.

Nothing like a super "hip" restaurant ... a place where y'know people talk about the tapestries and wooden shit hanging on the walls because the food is tiny, and a rip off.


Apparently the specialty is keeping people out, ala Spago or some crap like that...

However, unlike Spago, this ain't Hollywood and this is the Mission, where one of the earth's better taco's can be had within a 2-3 minute wait for less than $2-$4 at almost any conceivable hour of the day until like 3 am.

Why would I wait outside for 30 minutes for your multi dollar faux Turkish-Taco Fusion ?

I guess they want to appear exclusive, then really just overcharge my cold humiliated ass for corn smut.

Yep... that's one of the specialty dishes, Huitalacoche...

(aka as that black mold you cut off the tops of corn ears. Stupid white people are gladly paying phat checks to eat that here...)

Anyhow if you really want to try corn smut, I suggest you save yer dough and head across the bay via Bart to Fruitvale to the magically homey & friendly environs of El Huarache Azteca ( located at 3842 International Blvd. betwixt 38th and 39th aves).

The guy who runs that place is a true gentleman, he'll get someone to hand make you tortillas to go, even after he's technically closed.

Plus the whole tab, with numerous drinks is like way less $20 for 2 people.

but, L*l* or whatever they call it, on the other hand, is simply a centrifuge for the cliche'd type of carpet bagging cash hungry dickwads that have been ruining the Mission for the last 20 years...

Not only were the pretentious staff pretending to be busy when they weren't...

But it was a scam...

So that leads me to this next dive that opened up on 16th in the Mission recently

They have this beer called Allagash that's quite good...

It's hard to find in Northern California, or on the west coast for that matter...

But I'm used to drinking it for $3 - $4 a pint in LA.

The owners must have thought it was cute, by naming their joint after a religious order that generally takes a vow of poverty.

Then selling goes about selling a bottle of Allagash beer for $22...

That's like at least 2 or 3 x what anyone would ever pay for such a thing ...



Here's some things I think are sorta exciting right about now:

Last year, the Orpheum was abuzz as a certain late night Tv host brought his shtick to town for a solid week of shows. Currently the writers strike has been sapping the comedy out of late night television, it was nice to note that David Letterman's "Worldwide Pants" outfit did their own deal with the writers to get 'em back doing what they do best.



I refuse in my couch potato moments to watch any scab t.v, and hope you'll do the same...



Which is why I whole heartedly recommend y'all tune in to Mr. Letterman's program this week while the competitors languish in their writer-less arrogance. In fact to sweeten the pot, on Wednesday January 9th, Letterman has one of SF's lesser known entertainment assets on hand as a musical guest, that being the mighty guitarzan Chuck Prophet.


chuck-tude.jpg


He started somewhere outside of Danville with a teenage rapscallion act known as Bad Attitude, who were fixtures at joints like The Berkeley Square and Ruthies Inn.



Somehow, after a lot of broken strings and hearts and contracts, he made his roundabout way to the Ed Sullivan theater, only 45 or so years behind the Beatles & The Stones...



Mr. Prophet and his bandmates are chugging off in various directions away from their beloved and high rent Bay Area abodes until around springtime.



Wherever he goes though, he'll steal your show, whether yer Ann & Nancy of Heart draggin' him into a casino gig, Aimee Mann bringing him up onstage at Bimbo's last month, or a sloppy Xmess cover band combo including the Parker Bros, Tippy Canoe & Spiral Stairs, Chris Von Sneidern & plenty o' pals all jammin' on behalf of the SF Food Bank at the Makeout Room a few weeks later.




Watch out folks ...





He's a real rambling storytellin' troubadour from the mystical old school that never was and a perpetual stoner teenager making adult rock for the young at heart. He's done the sideman thang backing up folks like Warren Zevon, Cake, Penelope Houston and even Jewel, but he's best when left to his own devices.



His latest album Soap & Water has been getting some airplay here and there, from Innsbruck to Indiana, Belgium to Brooklyn, Santa Rosa to Satellite Radio.



The road is long & winding, and that ain't nothing new.



In fact it's been so long, I believe he played on the David Letterman show before...



it was back in the hazy 1980's...



When Green on Red, Chuck's prior band that eventually put out numerous nefarious albums was picking up steam...



I'm not sure about all the details, and likely neither is Chuck. He's since gone all what they call "Clean & Sober", but that just means there musta been a lotta dirt to dig out from under...



The episode was vaguely recounted in a Dream Syndicate track in which Steve Wynn recounted tale of Prophet's then bandmate Dan Stuart:





"Well, he lost a lot of friends in San Francisco

made a fool of himself on the Letterman show

in Dallas, Texas, he was thrown for a loss

when he passed out face-first in the barbeque sauce



oh, he's got a drinking problem

likes to let his hair hang down

oh, he's got a drinking problem

till there's no one else around



Here's some free tuneage....



Don't say I didn't never do nuthin fer ya:



Chuck Prophet - Doubter Out of Jesus ( All Over You)



Download the rest of the new album here







Here's an older mp3, the title cut from his previous album



Chuck Prophet - "Age of Miracles"




Here's a spooky lil' track found on the album Hurting Business...

Chuck Prophet - Rise

This one is a bit late this year, but hey there's always next year, it was recorded at an acoustic songwriter showcase Chuck did some years back. The original studio version appears on his album Homemade Blood, but here it is all live and shit, from a link I found at Soft Communication...

Chuck Prophet - New Years Day


anyhow


I gotta go folks

it's late

they want at work... get this... before NOON!!!

my god....

it's practically turning into a prison

keep on rawking in the Free World!!!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Today in the Random Revelations we'll discuss Rum , Sodomy &

Too Much Pork For Just One Fork...




Well sorta... The Rum & Sodomy is from an old Winston Churchill quote regarding the British Nav, that later became a Pogues album title and the

Too Much Pork For Just One Fork...


well, it's simply one of my favorite songs by "Southern Culture On The Skids" who were in town last Sunday...But the free pork was courtesy, their locally based labelmate Chuck Prophet.



Rooty rawk maestro Chuck Prophet, hired a taco truck to the Makeout Room to dole out free tacos out front in celebration of Prophet's new album "Soap & Water" on North Carolina based Yep Roc records.


Check said of his chosen catering firm:


tonayense

Chuck claimed his taco purveyors:

"do a killer "al pastor" which is sort of like a Mexican doner kebab; a slow cooked pork thinly sliced off the spit with a machete-like knife."
.



Since I don't eat the pigmeat myself, I just sorta breezed past the meat pack & into the club to hear the mighty Mission Express run through their retinue of rocking new material they'd lab tested over the past few weeks on the European continent. I thought It'd be my only chance for awhile, as the band has already split to head out across the great divide on a North American campaign until December. But I was fortunate enough to catch a couple tunes at Amoeba records earlier that afternoon... and the next day, a radio station showcase before a small audience at KFOG's studios.

Then head over to The Great American Music Hall later that night to catch Chuck's Yep Roc labelmates "Southern Culture On The Skids" who are known to fling bulging buckets of Fried Chicken and down home danceable sounds around in copious quantities...




Here's the title track from Chuck Prophet's new release...Soap & Water



Chuck Prophet - Soap & Water

Not sure if they played that at the free set I caught only a few minutes of at Amoeba Records on Haight St.

The highlight of that set, at least the part I saw is the track I'm dropping for y'all down below:

It's from an album that's getting the 4 out of 5 star salute from all the relevant mag-o-zines like Mojo. Q etc. The Village Voice just referred to him as "sounding like a man who wears clean underwear but is scared to change his dirty socks." Whatever that means...



Find out fer yerself, he's on tour and here are the dates below...





Chuck Prophet - Doubter Out of Jesus ( All Over You)



Download the rest of the album here





Oh, and here's that goofy lil' song from an older release that never gets old in my opinion from Southern Culture On The Skids



Southern Culture On The Skids - Too Much Pork For Just One Fork

From their 1992 album Ditch DigginDitch Diggin'Southern Culture on the Skids
"Too Much Pork For Just One Fork" (mp3)
from "Ditch Diggin'"
(Safe House)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at DownloadPunk
More On This Album







The celtic minstrels of the Pogues whose biggest hit was entitled Fairytale of New York, certainly have left their hearts in San Francisco, a city receptive to their wicked ways. Last Sunday night began a four night stand at the Fillmore, where general admission for two set attendees back approx $160 after all the ticketbastard nastiness and fees are accounted for.



Despite the high tabs at the box office and of course the bar, no doubt the old wooden dance floor was be packed and straining under the weight of audiences excitedly clamoring to catch the band some 20 years after their first sold out west coast shows in the same venerable venue.pogues 1987 poster



Indeed that cold November night in 1987 they had Joe Strummer of The Clash along with them on guitar, and it was a very foot stompingly wild & whiskey soaked occasion. It was so uh, magically momentous actually to see the wily assemblage holding court back in the day that I'm not sure I'll join in the fray at the Fillmore this year. I wouldn't want to taint the foggy veils of my already perfect memories ya know?

The band came through last year as well, and they heartily held the fort down for several nights, and I heard few complaints, despite the progressively debilitated condition of lead singer Shane MacGowan. It's just amazing to me that the fragile freak o' habit known as Shane's still alive, while the seemingly invincible Joe Strummer is dead...

Click to head below the fold, and download a couple mp3 tracks of rare live material. One is a celtic folk infused version of Bobby Fuller's classic tune "I Fought The Law" ripped from some rare vinyl with Joe Strummer & Shane MacGowan trading off on raspy lead vocals...



The Pogues well earned reputation as drunken pub louts ignores their impressive balladry, stirring poetic lyrics and at times erstwhile musicianship. Their 2nd album, and real breakthrough to critical acclaim was "Rum Sodomy & the Lash" which was produced by Elvis Costello and released in 1986. The record was different from nearly anything churning out of speakers in the sterile & synthetic hair farming 80's music scene. The subject matter of songs like "The Old Main Drag" about a wasted street hustler plying his trade in alleys amongst the "she males", beaten by coppers, "shat on & spat on and raped & abused' weren't likely radio ready. The album also featured songs like "A Pair of Brown Eyes" and "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", both tunes that depicted poignant poetic moments of reminiscence by bitter veterans of useless bloody battles, lamenting their roles as long forgotten heroes of wicked wars. These songs remain vital today, if for subject matter alone, and are just two of many epics in the band's remarkable catalog of tearjerkers & crowd pleasing singalongs.



By 1987's "If I Should Fall from Grace with God", the band had hit it's peak as songwriters & live performers, and made their first foray to the west coast. I got to open for the Pogues debut at The Fillmore back in 1987, and it twas indeed a thrill, especially discovering that they had large roadcases filed with ice for their own onstage bartender...
Strummer was on the tequila train, while MacGowan was already under doctors orders not to drink hard liquor, so his solution was to consume several bottles of port onstage instead.
Here's the robust list of standard items in their standard contract rider:

Liquids


    24 bottles of Beer
    2 bottles of gin
    2 bottles of vodka
    2 bottles 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
( I believe the 4 dozen towels are to clean up the gob & puke...)



The band had a good time, and a good run, and this town, full of Irish ex-pats, always heartily embraced them. While they did make an appearance once at Berkeley's Greek Theater, opening for Bob Dylan while supporting their Peace & Love album, most of their regional shows were at The Fillmore, including there return in 1988 and several solo MacGowan shows when he was still estranged from his former bandmates.



It was sad in the early 90's when an ecstasy & dope addled Shane left the band...or was kicked out or whatever the hell happened... and even sadder still they are trying to do it all over again...

But like any family reunion, sure there'll be camaraderie, as well as ugliness & drunken recriminations, and nothings ever what it was, but that's not without it's benefits as well...

I guess it's sorta like that final Rat Pack Tour... the one where everyone knew it was the last one, and ya sorta just gotta go...
Who doesn't want to see a senile Sinatra spill that last drink on the teleprompter, or this time around, Shane for that matter?






I never got around to drop a C-Note to get in the door and then spend some more dough I didn't really have. I'm sure it was fun no matter what condition anyone onstage was in. Folks collectively celebrating our triumphs & tragedies, and living & laughing like there's no tomorrow...

Heck, the last time I saw Shane play , with his "other" band the Popes, I think I was handed a ticket in a bar, quickly slammed some shots of whiskey, jumped into the swirling pit and lost my salmon dinner in a sloppy mess on the middle of the ballroom floor...
The band played on.. and the crowd sang along on every song...
ah...Good Times...



Here's a cell phone vid excerpt from one of their Fillmore shows last October...





Here's those mp3 tunes I promised ye:



First up a feisty take on Bobby Fuller's classic signature tune I Fought The Law, later interpreted by Joe Strummer with The Clash, and here finally filtered through the Pogues blustery banjo & pennywhistle circus...



The Pogues w/ Joe Strummer - I Fought The Law



By the time this next track was recorded in 1991, Shane MacGowan had really slipped into a cartoonishly grotesque caricature of himself. Somehow, he's kept this debauched act up for another 15 years or so as a solo act,



So in the interests of fairly charting the decline, we'll also hear a barely coherent MacGowan attempt to drunkenly pronounce the title of his not so poetic single "Yeah Yeah Yeah" from his last tour with the band in 1991



The Pogues - Yeah Yeah Yeah



Anyhow...



Sláinte!!!

Friday, August 31, 2007

End of Summertime Thing

Amy Winehouse, has gone from pop darling to pooped out hag at an alarmingly quick rate. Her debut US breakthrough track 'Rehab' was apparently no tongue in cheek joke.

Amy Winehouse - Rehab

It took many years for folks like Courtney Love, Liza Minelli & Billie Holiday to hit the real life rehab circuit, but Winehouse is apparently really on the fast track to hell...

Amy Winehouse - Help Yourself

She's canceled all her upcoming appearances while on an island respite, including a high profile spot on the MTV awards.




Nasty pix of Amy Winehouse in a bathing suit frolicking on vacation & even some of her junkie beau bleeding abounded this week at This Is London
.



Amy Winehouse - Monkey Man ( Specials cover)



The stories continue of public repudiations from her in-laws, followed by angry rebuttals from her dad. It's all the dirty drama that sleazy UK tabloids love, with bonus bleeding scars, bruises and track marks.



Amy Winehouse - There Is No Greater Love


Speaking of sleazy tabloid news, how about that kooky Senator Craig of Idaho who plead guilty to some airport men's room soliciting, and now claims it was a simple misunderstanding. Here's his new hit single, recorded live in Minnesota, called lying & denying during interrogation...

Senator Larry Craig - Lying & Denying


Manu Chao is set to release a new disk this coming week, his first studio effort in 6 years. Nacional Records will be handling "La Radiolina" in the U.S, his fourth stateside release and they have high hopes that this CD can top the 200,000 cumulative units he's shifted here previously.

La Radiolina available Tuesday Sept 4th
Catalog ID: NCL 68496
UPC: 689076849623
c 2007 Radio Bemba Music


Manu Chao



Here's a preview track, the catchy number known as Me Llaman Calle

Manu Chao - Me Llaman Calle

La RadiolinaManu Chao
"Me Llaman Calle" (mp3)
from "La Radiolina"
(Nacional Records)

More On This Album






Marin County's storied Sweetwater venue in Mill Valley closes down this fall. Friday night August 31st is a farewell night featuring music from longtime local SF rocker Chuck Prophet and The Mission Express.

So if ya wanna enjoy the joint one last time, head on down for a final summertime thing...

Chuck Prophet - Summertime Thing (mp3 download coming soon as I get a chance to upload it)

The venue, in biz for some 30 years was an intimate spot where musical luminaries like Bonnie Raitt, Jimmy Scott, Jerry Garcia, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and countless local musicians captivated audiences in the cozy confines off Throckmorton St. Given a 30 day notice by the landlord last month, It's a double death knell to Mill Valley & Marin's once world renowned music scene this fall as Village Music, another longtime fixture in the community closes as well.



Where some go down, another Phoenix rises...



Rumor has it that legendary SF punk venue The Mabuhay Gardens in North Beach is scheduled to host a grand re-opening party on Sept 7th. The venue, most recently The Velvet Lounge, was a former Filipino supper club that started hosting punk shows and art damaged music catering to the nearby SF Art Institute crowd circa 1976. It's reputation built up as a sort of west coast CBGB's in the late 70's, while hosting acts like The Ramones, Devo, The Avengers, Tuxedomoon, Mutants, The Nuns and Nico. Later until the late 80's under late booker Dirk Dirksen's guidance it hosted numerous hardcore & indie rock bills including acts like Flipper, Metallica, Green on Red, Black Flag, Mojo Nixon, Dag Nasty, Sea Hags, Soul Asylum and many more.




Mabuhay History:



In 1976, Filipino restaurateur Ness Aquino opened up his sleepy struggling venue to a bill featuring The Ramones & The Dils. Soon a bunch of art damaged kids who were anything but hippies started hanging out nightly. For the next decade the Mabuhay Gardens aka Fab Mab, was booked by Dirk Dirksen and became the defacto center of the city's punk scene. Hosting local bands like The Mutants, Avengers, Nuns, Crime, Chrome, Offs, Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Pink Section, Lewd, Toiling Midgets, Inflatable Boy Clams and many more the venue gained an international reputation similar to NYC's CBGB's. Touring groups that passed through included acts like The Damned, Blondie, Suicide, TSOL, Husker Du , Toxic Reasons, DOA , and tons of others.

Upstairs a larger space was called The On Broadway Theater and handled the bands as punk begat hardcore and groups drew larger crowds in from the suburbs. Dirksen grew less interested in the knuckleheaded Hardcore scene by the mid 80's, and Paul Rat started presenting the events. The Mab venue ceased presenting bands by mid 1987.

The lower portion of the venue operated until recently under the name Velvet Lounge.

443 Broadway St
San Francisco, CA 94133




The upstairs space is now known as Broadway Studios, and has occasionally presented bands since the glory days ended. I helped promote a Sublime show their in 1994 with the late Wes Robinson, and saw Convoy there in 1998. It's also been used as a comedy venue for cable telecasts and last weekend a Sublime tribute act played the house.



Playing the reopening night downstairs at the reinvigorated Mab on Sept 7th will be the Radishes, a new LA/SF axis band featuring indie rock vets like Scrote of the Billy Nayer Show and leader Paul Stinson . No word on whether they'll be joined by recent recording collaborators Rey Washem of Scratch Acid/Jesus Lizard, and Paul Barker of Ministry.




Here in San Francisco this year, a local character known as Chicken John is running for mayor. In fact, the gene pool for mayoral candidates is so thin, that this guy is likely going to come in second. He just qualified for matching campaign funds, which means the city will double is money, meaning with 25 grand he's now got a campaign war chest of approx $50,000 currently. That dough is a drop in the chicken coop to the real mayor who's likely got a million bucks saved up, but still not bad for a part time auto mechanic who used to play in a band with G.G Allin.

His name is John Rinaldi, and he came to town years ago from NY when he was dating a cute local indie filmmaker friend of mine, she dumped him eventually in an ugly breakup, but he didn't go away. Chicken went on to make a name for himselfin san Francisco exploiting just about any angle he could, from running a gypsy like circus troupe on a shoestring where he ended up with more string than anyone else, to running a bar for awhile called The Odeon.

I'm not exactly endorsing the guy, because i find him to be a little bit more than self centered, and can vouch for some creepy, callous and corrupt behaviors on his part. Although, in politics, that describes just about everyone...

So, despite my better judgment, I probably will vote for him I suppose...

Despite that he considers himself a "showman", he's not much of a musical artist, so I'll just insert some music from LA's Pigeon John. Sounds close enough, and likely way more enjoyable than hearing Chicken rant at ya.

Pigeon John & The Summertime Pool PartyPigeon John
"Freaks! Freaks!" (mp3)
from "Pigeon John & The Summertime Pool Party"
(Quannum Projects)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album





Bonus Track:

Pigeon John - Weight of The World(live)

Anyhow...

That's all for now...


Next week I'll have previews of Michael Franti's Power to The Peaceful Concert in SF's Chrissy Field where our lil' company EventMagic is involved in the logistics.

Anyhow, I'm on way down to Southern California for a few days this weekend, see ya I return...