Road Worn and Weekend Whatnot

I was in Los Angeles earlier this week,( actual photographic proof seen here in this pic on the Hermosa pier). You can spend a lot of time driving around on the freeway trying not to be horribly annoyed by their heinously "hip" corporate radio. The few minutes I interrupted my own musical choices to listen to the pandering pablum on the airwaves felt like hours. I was quickly inundated with with lousy Linkin Park soundalike atrocities until I was forced to keep the FM on permanent hiatus.

Fortunately I was stock piling music for the long drive up the I-5 and had some self selected tunes to ease the monotony...



So in honor of the fact I made it home (even after the car's ignition failure outside of some sad lil lonely burg named Lost Hills...)

Here's some songs I either listened to or purchased out on there on lonely road to and from nowhere...

The list will get longer as I have time, but here's a few to get this party started...

I heard this track pop up in the CD rotator as the signs for $5 diesel whizzed by out the side windows, I imagined how expensive it must be just to keep a band on the road this summer. I've had this album since it came out circa 1982, and this is from a newly remastered edition of Diary of A Madman that I scored in a Modesto strip mall on a trip a few years ago. I love how the the first three tracks in a row still just sail into the stratosphere like few albums ever...

There's only 8 songs in total, but when ya throw down three totally timeless and still fresh sounding hard rock classics in the first 15 minutes, it's plenty of punch to offer the punters. The mighty "Flying High Again" starts things off with a massive head banging, fist pumping fury, followed by the monumental stomper "Over The Mountain", and then there's this next lil' anthem. For some reason this melancholy meandering mellow metal classic with it's screaming Randy Rhodes solo and seven minutes of balladeering is never far from my heart...

It may sound cheesy, but Ozzy's usually right, and it's decades later and you still can't kill rock n roll, and it is really my official religion and my law... now get out of the fast lane if yer still reading the map...

Ozzy Osbourne - You Can't Kill Rock And Roll

I was startled to come across this next oldie but goodie still in the shrinkwrap at a flea market somewhere between Bellflower and Paramount, and while I prefer Joe Jackson's 1980 original, this version from the Persistence Of Time album in 1990 by Anthrax ain't half bad either...

Especially if yer pickin' up speed on the 10 on an overpass above a huge line of losers trying to get into a taping of American Idol ...

Anthrax - Got the Time

Here's one from the excellent casually corrupted country music makin' fool known as Mr Jesse Dayton. He totally won me over after I caught him opening for The Supersuckers several years back, and I can't ever seem to get enough of his shtick.

This tune is in fact a Supersuckers cover, and this bastard son of George Jones sponges it up and squeezes it out perfectly. This was off his self released South Austin Sessions collection on his Stag label, but he's got lots of other great stuff out you should dig into if yer curious.

Jesse Dayton - Road Worn & Weary

I see he's out and about playing shows with Mike Ness everywhere but here, and all over Texas as usual, and he's even got his Mexican vacation gig in Puerta Vallarta all booked up as well.

Looks like he'll be playing in California at the Ink & Iron Festival on the Queen Mary in Long Beach in early June. That's fine & dandy if yer a tatoo sporting So Cal creep, but I haven't pounded shots with him here in San Francisco since Thee Parkside changed ownership awhile back and he was likely banned for life...

Anyhow, if ya see him ... tell him I'm holdin' my own out here, but I miss him and this shit has to be reconciled... or else...

see ya laters kids...

Sounds of Sundance, Stoopid & Some Other Stuff

Stuff :



My pal Chuck Prophet has annointed me with the news that he'll be performing some tunes in Park City on Friday as part of a Sundance ASCAP Showcase... and for those of ya unable to swing by Sundance this year, I have a semi-exclusive Chuck Prophet demo track that's never been released commercially down below for those who wanna be in the know...

Chuck's also got some music in the soundtrack to a grimly funny, provocative teen angst flick about vagina dentata called Teeth that's screening there this weekend...

Apparently Chuck decided to make the journey to Utah himself to climb

"the mythical mountain where hard-core cinephiles and other Hollywood types dressed in black gobble up movies like handfuls of Goobers and Raisinets. We're looking forward to celebrity snow bunny Blackberry sightings, being locked out of sold out screenings and free parties, not free parties, snaking bathroom lines and to coming home with pockets heaving with knick knacks, and our bags bulging swag

Look for Chuck Prophet this Friday Jan 19th at The Star Bar, 268 Main Street in Park City at 6:00 pm and then for his song during the end credits of Teeth...

Fri. Jan 19, 8:30pm, Racquet Club
Sat. Jan 20, 11:00am, Yarrow (press screening)
Sat. Jan 20, 9:00pm, Tower (Salt Lake City)
Sun. Jan 21, 12:00pm, Eccles
Thu. Jan 25, 11:30pm, Library
Fri. Jan 26, 11:30am, Racquet Club

Teeth On The Web: http://www.teethmovie.com/

Also at Sundance, one of the cooler Texans to ever challenge me to a drinking sesion is Jesse Dayton, and aside from the fact he is unafraid to out guzzle me, he will also be singing in Park City Utah this week,

watch for him at Suede on Tuesday...

Here's a tasty back catalog chestnut from that fine yodeling fool from Beaumont who's likely the biggest , baddest country star that ya never heard of... He's the unlikely anti-hero country punk who actually played with his heros like Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Ray Price and sings like George Jones at the peak of his nocturnal powers...



here's an MP3 from his 1st solo CD on his own Stag records label called Tall Texas Tales...

Jesse Dayton - Arkansas Chrome ( Duct Tape Song )

Other artists mingling and performing in Park City this week include Elliott Sharp, Blessid Union Of Souls, Silversun Pickups, Donovan, Jill Sobule, Two Gallants and many others

Of course I'll be far away back in California, it figures... But i've done the Park City shuffle previously and I'm not sure I ever paid down my credit card debt on that from the last time...

Here's a pic of my get up I wore during a junket to hype the film I was involved with called D.I.Y or Die : How To Survive As An Independent Artist.



...

Not a bad lil documentary actually of D.I.Y indie arts scenesters and what motivates 'em.
Designed as a quick & dirty "celebration of the underdog" it deals with why many artists & innovators outside the mainstream do what they do, regardless of a continuous paycheck. Amongst the indie-rati featured are Ian MacKaye of Fugazi, Craig Newmark of CraigsList.com, Ron Asheton of The Stooges, Lynn Breedlove of Tribe 8, Dave Brockie of Gwar , Mike Watt, Richard Kern , Beth Lisick, Lydia Lunch and yep, even lil' ol' me...

It was directed by my old pal Michael Dean, and that's him up there on the left, taking a mock note on his Palm while I jabber out a mock distribution on the cell. In the end we ended up screening as part of the many side fests that parasite off the Sundance hubub, and we made some unique and lasting contacts in the indie cinema world.. as well as met a few freaks & phonies...

Order a spankin new shrink wrapped copy of DIY or Die on DVD here for less than $7...

$6.39

and here's a chance to listen to the entire 25 meg soundtrack of the film, sans pix of course...

Lately Michael Dean's been busy putting together other documentary projects such as the one the did on Last Exit To Brooklyn author Hubert Selby Jr. as well as working endlessly on his books, and his latest fetish, web audio podcasts...

If yer an mp3 junkie you can hear more of Michael's relentless rants & music over at Clone The Homeless.com

I also recently hooked him up upon mutual requests with my afforementioned pal Chuck, who in addition to music has now entered the realm of book editing for Chronicle Books. He's working on a collection of rock n roll road stories and will likely include a CD, some of which will feature some possible audio tweaking by Mr. Dean.

ya see, it's a small whirled after all...

So anyhow, earlier I said I'd post an exclusive Chuck Prophet track that likely none of y'all have ever heard...

It's sort of a quick one day demo thing he did for some folks awhile back with leftover studio time...

While not the most epic track he's ever cut, it's a quick and dirty taste of what easy rolling pop rawk tuneage the guy can likely churn out in his sleep...

Chuck Prophet - Don't Look At Me That Way


Other tings going down this weekend on the radar screen of my increasingly insular whirled...

Speaking of Chronicle Books, rawk photographer Peter Ellenby recently put together his Every day Is Saturday indie rawk scene overview with many of his cool on the fly pix, a 20+ track CD included and a forward by John Doe. In fact , He'll be in NYC (actually Brooklyn) on Feb 1st at the Hancock Gallery doing a photoshow and book signing in Brooklyn, with a live set by none other than hipster lite rawkin faves Nada Surf...

Nada Surf - If You Leave
(Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark cover )

My friends Miles & Kyle and their band SLIGHTLY STOOPID got to open for Dave Matthews Band a few years back and are eager to do it again this year on Dave's 2007 Summer Tour. They want any fans to go HERE and let Dave's booking agents know how bad you want to see SLIGHTLY STOOPID on the road again with DMB!

To vote on your top 5 choices for Dave's tour openers click the link below!
http://web.davematthewsband.com/07openersurvey/07openersurvey.asp


I had the misfortune to catch a Dave Matthews tour stop last year, and that guy's dull show can use all the help he can get. So vote!

here's a stoopid track that sorta sounds a lot like a Fugs cover to me...

Slightly Stoopid - I Couldn't Get High

and another that is definitely a cover, this one borrowed from Wyclef

Slightly Stoopid - Perfect Gentleman

Along with Slightly Stoopid, I also suggested Matthews try getting Gogol Bordello or even a reunited Van Halen. Matthews stage presence redefined boring for me, and I was likely never was so happy to split some never ending gig than that one...

If yer a diehard fan, I guess you'd be happy that he played for f-ing ever, but as far as show biz value, all the songs sounded the same, the guy barely moved, and didn't even bother to shave or wear anything more exciting than a grey hoodie.

I had no idea why 20,000 people a night clamor to his shows... maybe my lil bro who used to hire him to play his frat keggers in South Carolina could shed some light on his appeal.


all I know is right about now... it's beer thirty, and i gotta go out and get me some of that tasty barley juice...

enjoy the tuneage...

and don't forget to peruse the archives for more tasty pop cultural tidbits