So High, So Low, So Long

Hey...

Looks like ol' Ike Turner iced himself on the cocaine after all...

Now who'd have thunk that mean old maestro at 76 years young & well hung was still dabbling in the devil's dandruff...

Bad Boy til the end...

nothing new there...

so here's something sorta new:

Gorillaz feat Ike Turner - Every Planet We Reach Is Dead

and something old school:

Ike Turner - Twistin' The Strings


I LIKE IKE: There's more rare Ike Turner tracks at my tribute I posted last month here

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Not only did I just have to shield my eyes from that news, but another all too real & disturbing tale Greg Palast is spinning today at his website...

Including an excerpt from Palast's latest audiobook & Ed Asner reading this prescient excerpt from the script of Paddy Chayefsky's 1970's masterpiece Network:

“The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back. … It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity…. There are no nations, there are no peoples. There is only one vast and immense, interwoven, multi-national dominion of petro-dollars. … There is no America. There is no ‘democracy.’ The world is a business, one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work.”

Ed Asner - Network

I also just spent a good chunk of lasterday considering the meaning of "community justice" here in San Francis-fiasco. The mayor's minions have cooked up a new plan they think that could help rid the city of the drug addicted waystrels, and homeless nuisances. We'll see I supppose...

As much as I'd like to hear something innovative in the works, I wasn't real impressed, but at least they were trying to impress I suppose.

I doubt anyone in ol' Vladimir Putin's Russia, or say in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iran or in the Myanmar of Than Shwe's Junta would even bother to try...

Which i guess makes me at least resigned to appreciate the good ol' USA.



In fact here in the good ol' USA, your gov't starts with the constitution.

Which leaves you to figuring out what's important, and what you like and might want to preserve.

Perhaps consider what you want to continue to like about living in the good ol' USA...

And what you don't want others to f*k around with...

But before you get ahead of yourself, a good place to start is reading the constitution...

I suppose that's out of the question for most of y'all...

The fact you even stopped by some lowly lil' blog is nice enuf I suppose...

So here's an idea...

Some friends of mine recently recorded the whole archaic Constituition thang, all it's preambles and amendments etc...

Even the OG stuff about people that only own a small percentage of their freedoms and whatnot...

Here's a two minute sample...

The U.S Constituition ( as read by Debra Jean Dean)

and for the real diehards... go ahead and download the full 60 meg mp3

at http://www.debrajeandean.com/constitution/index.htm

Then maybe you'll better appreciate Brian Dykstra, and his spoken ode...

Brian Dykstra - They're Killing Us
Brian Dykstra
"They're Killing Us" (mp3)
from "The Jesus Factor"
(Uproar)
Download more at iTunes Music Store
Download more at eMusic
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and for the rest of ye not so civic minded sick lil monkeys...

join me in guzzling some brwws tonight, and getting "so High" with Nick Oliveri's Mondo Generator crew...

Mondo Generator - So High

Download "So High" (mp3)
from "Dead Planet"
by Mondo Generator
Suburban Noize Records

• Download more at iTunes Music Store

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Is this a great f'n country or what?

I Like Ike

Had a great little dinner at the loud little Luka's Taproom in Oakland, frothy decent imported ales, a variety of fine fresh vegetables, and fish...

Got home kinda late...and began plugging in a new TV...

The old one died awhile back and we were doing our best to get by without it...

That sorta lasted a month...

But now a beastly 32 inch HD thingamajob sits were the ye olde box was...

After the set was finished looking for channels, I saw Ike Turner's face on the tube...

Which generally is never good for him...

And this time, it was final...

Newscaster said he was dead at 76...

I know he's been a media pariah for years...

But his contributions to rock n roll should go a lot further than being a mere footnote as a wife beater.

First off, let's be clear, he was a mean drug addict, but unlike O.J or your current first lady, he didn't kill anyone...

He made his amends, with the law, and at least with god... and now he's gone.

He was also one of the greatest, most driven showmen to ever wield an axe onstage or a studio.

Nuff said.

Here's the track that put him on the map... or sorta should have, since it sold a healthy half million copies in 1951. Some say it's the first real rock n roll record, made at Sam Phillips Sun Studios in Memphis.

In fact, Ike never was credited with this tune properly, just like a lot of stuff in his life.

Here he is ripping it up, at 19 years old, creating that fuzztone guitar sound long before Link Wray got his rumble on...supposedly because his amplifier had a hole poked in it by a cymbal stand.

Here's Ike Turner with Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats - Rocket 88

He soon had his own unit rolling up and down the highways, and a legend was in the making. By the latter 1950's Ike Turner & His Rhythm Kings were a serious force to be reckoned with...

He was well established as a bandleader before that certain young gal from Nutbush Tennessee joined the act and became his "8th or 9th" wife. His songwriting and studio efforts are well known and he also helped other artists as an A&R man including B.B King, and many others. Check out some of his early 1950's instrumentals and production work with the Kings of Rhythm to annoit thyself with his pre-Tina legacy.

Here's an instrumental track from some 1969 sessions.

Ike Turner & His Rhythm Kings - Getting Nasty


He went totally Hyperbolic at some point, and his persona changed...

After Tina left him, Ike really spiraled out of control, becoming a tragic figure. By 1989, he was sent to prison for 17 months.

But let's never forget that Ike was someone long before he became her backing musician...

Here's a comeback track Ike did some ten years after getting out of the joint, with a fellow reformed rocker named Billy Rogers a few years back...

i's a classic revision of a tune he did way back in the day...





Ike Turner & Billy Rogers - I'm Blue

Ike continued to record, tour and perform until his death.

In fact in 2007, he was finally honored with a Grammy, for best blues album... his farewell release "Risin' with the Blues"

More on Ike Turner at his official website



http://www.IkeTurner.com



Whatever you do... get some more Ike in your collection, ya really can't go wrong...

I doi sugggest perusing eMusic , the eclectic all DRM free MP3 indie based download website that has plenty of material from this legendary cat ( at prices less than half of I-tunes & others)...

and if yer a new member, heck the first few dozen are always free to keep... with no cancellation fee or penalty if ya wanna quit a good thang...

Ike Turner 1958-1959 Ike Turner 1958-1959