Meandering Memorial Mix

I have lotsa pals making music these days, and they often toss me a demo or two

Here's a few folks I know who are cuttng tracks that i'll toss at ya for yer perusal...

First up are some guys who wish to preserve some of their anonymity while they test out a new sound of sorts...

Known as feisty noisemakers in days of yore, marriages, more money and a fancy Mac enabled with Garage Band have mellowed them somewhat and sees them spinning out some preening poppier material...

Elk Eyes - Mona Lisa

Elk Eyes – So Long

An elk's eyes are apparently designed to detect movement, even the slightest shifting of grass as a predator approaches... but will you approach?

The band name was handed to them by the fairly well known female artist who did their demo cover art, and so if ya like it, let em know what & why at their new and virgin like unfettered & unfriended myspace page...

http://www.MySpace.com/ElkEyes

It's Memoral Day weekend, and if there was ever a better time to post this next all american war referencing track...Uh, I don't know about it, but it was probably back in 2003 when it was first recorded.

I've had this song sitting around for a few years on a demo disc, but i guess it's your turn ...

especially now that it's available officially why not?

Anyhow, things like dual LP & CD releases take awhile when yer an anarchist luddite punk band, and working on a tiny budget with little overall organizational or financial forces backing you.

However, it was worth the wait, and now finally Shotwell's new Patriot CD/LP is out as I write.


Here's track 11, from the orginal demo I've had for awhile, but am now sharing in hopes y'all won't sleep on the rest of this scrappy album.

Shotwell - Halliburton Yawn

I caught the band at a show in SF the other day and they were playing at the finest level I've seen them at in ten years. The bottom end is well represented and of course with the dual vocal/guitar attack featuring Tony Rojas joining the mighty Jimmy Broustis, things get riled up quick. I like the way the two get yelping away over the top, and it was a great sweaty set.

If you'd like to order the new Shotwell Lp or CD, well I suggest you get on it, as they are limited pressings and only $9 postpaid from Thrillhouse Records...

I believe some copies are available through other sources, but I suggest you go direct. ( p.s there are only 600 some copies of the vinyl so get yours now!)

Here's a track that's included on the new LP/CD but first appeared in aversion heard on The Letters From The Landfill compilation from Left Of The Dial records...

Here it is as heard on that collection originally out circa 2004...

Shotwell - Dust Of The Dawn

So... if yer still interested,

we'll finish this meandering memorial mix with just a couple more Shotwell tracks here...

These last two tracks are from Shotwell's last fairly hard to find release,

The Devil Has It's Day

And for all you cover art aficionados, here's some never before seen, at least online anywhere that i know of, original
color mock ups of a cover for the CD reissue in 2006...
this time entitled "for The Devil Has It's day"



Shotwell - Mudpile

Shotwell - Pick Axe

anyhow

if that ain't enough for ya, here's a preview of Shotwell's debut full length Celery Beef & Iron which emerged about 10 years ago on the Broken Rekids lable, the only record they hae available online for downloads...



that should do ya'll for now I suppose

enjoy!

See Ya Later Folks

consent decree and happiness for thee

So as everybody knows that cares by now... Eddie Van Halen has joined Britney Spears and SF mayor Gavin Newsom and Lindsay Lohan in announcing his rehab.

Only thing is he's got a least two decades of boozing experience on all of 'em...

jeez dude... took ya minute to figure that shit out eh?

I thought Michael Anthony was the whiskey sodded troublemaker... you know with the Jack Daniels shaped bass guitar. But apparently he's been booted in favor of Eddie's kid...

Sad...

So, whatever... we get no classic VH reunion tour ,or even mini performance at the lame Rock n Roll Hall of Fame ceremony. Nope... nothing, just my luck...

Instead, I hear Genesis are regrouping for a summer shed tour...

Sadly I bet that Phil Collins dude is more fun to hang around than Eddie anyway...he's at least got more common sense...

Genesis - Turn It On Again live

With that scariness out of the way...

I suppose my best bet for live music satisfaction for the foreseeable future will be the Legendary Stardust Cowboy and Hank IV down at "your dive", El Rio in San Francisco on Saturday night.

It'll be my second weekend in a row catching the endearingly monikered Klaus Flouride ripping it up on stage, this time with the Legendary Stardust Cowboy... aka The Ledge.

Norman Carl Odam is a bit of a character apparently, a sci-fi rockabilly cowboy kingpin that has to be seen to be believed i suppose. The Wild West version of Wesley Willis...or something like that.




Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Paralyzed

Legendary Stardust Cowboy - My Underwear Froze to The Clothesline

bonus

New York Night Train's Oral History Project: Kid Congo Powers Remembers The End of The Gun Club, and working with the total kook known as The Legendary Stardust Cowboy

Kid Congo - Oral History

Another legend of sorts on the bill is Bob McDonald... kind of our own local lush version of David Yow...

All you SXSW attendees can catch Bob with his band Hank IV at a couple opportunities in the coming week...

Mar 14 2007 midnight
SXSW! Showcase at Lava Lounge in Austin. Hank IV plays at midnight.
Mar 17 2007 3:30PM
Trophy's (Austin) for the WHOOPSY MAGAZINE PARTY. Hank IV plays at 3:30pm.

Here's a couple tracks from Hank IV's debut CD/LP that recently came forth via Hook Or Crook Records... I met one of the proprietors the other night, and he seemed like a swell fella, who has big plans for his little label, or at least for his bar tab. Look for these folks in Austin...

Hank IV - Tonight We Ride


hank IV - Got Got

In other music industry twitchings...

A settlement, or as the Hollywood Reporter called it "consent decree" has been reached with the FCC & corporate chain broadcasters over the investigation into corporate radio playlist payola. Looks like Clear Channel & pals are agreeing to pay $12.5 million to make the Federal Communications Commission's investigators to sort of just go away. The "pay for play" probe involved transactions between major labels & Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio Inc., Entercom Communications Corp. and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. Of course none of these large broadcasters will admit "wrongdoing", but as a group have simply agreed to pay a collective fine and dedicate a total of 8,400 half-hour segments to "independent music" over the next three years. The indie quota agreement is through some sort of mysterious private 2nd agreement made with the American Association of Independent Music.

The organization has about a 100 or so labels involved including Epitaph, Koch, Hopeless, Matador, Ninja Tune, Relapse and Putamayo...

Here's their board of directors who represent a bunch of labels, many I notice who've had distribution deals via majors. One board member is from Lookout Records, the label that stopped paying royalties to most of their bands awhile back including cash cow Green Day, and lost control of the Berkeley based band's lucrative back catalog a year ago.

Mmmm, that's leadership...

Glen Barros


Concord Music Group

glenb@concordrecords.com

Term Ends 2009

Lesley Bleakley


Beggars Group

lesleybleakley@beggars.com

Term Ends 2008

Peter Gordon


Thirsty Ear Recordings

peter@thirstyear.com

Term Ends 2007

Steve Gottlieb


TVT Records

steve@tvtrecords.com

Term Ends 2008

Doug Keogh


Roadrunner Records

keogh@roadrunnerrecords.com

Term Ends 2007

Glenn Morrow


Bar/None Records

glenn@bar-none.com

Term Ends 2007

Molly Neuman


Lookout! Records

molly@lookoutrecords.com

Term Ends 2008

Thomas Silverman


Tommy Boy Records

tom.silverman@tommyboy.com

Term Ends 2009

Amaechi Uzoigowe


Definitive Jux

acu@definitivejux.net

Term Ends 2009

Read an LA Times' story on the FCC probe by Jim Puzzanghera here. Of course known music biz ranter Bob Lefsetz has an opinion too...

Speaking of settlements & leadership...

Commander in chief wannabee Barack Obama finally paid his parking tickets... ones he got while attending Harvard Law School -- 17 years ago. He had racked up $140 in fines and Obama's decade+ worth of late fees tallied another $260. The Somerville (Mass.) News published the story Wednesday.

So now we know how quickly the man can get things done, and that he truly respects & believes in the rule of law. Like, Totally Presidential Dude...

or at least like every other broke ass dude driving a bucket around here...

I know that Hollywood likes to tell us their industry is a gamble, and downloading & home copying and bootlegger's etc are all hurting bottomlines...but somehow the Motion Picture Association of America released figures showing Americans spent $9.49 billion on movies. That's about 1.45 billion tickets sold, 63 films grossing more than $50 million and Disney's Johnny Depp franchise sequel "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" -- made $400 million.

Psychologist's say that owning a piece of a $400 million film might not make ya happy. Actually psychologists don't even call it happiness, they call it "subjective well-being" and a new study says it's all relative. Long term studies captured levels of life satisfaction both prior to and after major life events like marriage, divorce, unemployment and illness or disability. What they found was that basically some people get bummed out easier than others...

No shit sherlocks...

Source:newsroom.msu.edu/site/indexer/3014/content.htm

Busdriver - Happiness ('s Unit of Measurement)


Just saw that an old friend of mine is currently on tour on the East Coast, so if yer nearby you might wanna check out Mat Callahan w/Yvonne Moore. Callahan was a regular rabble rouser of sorts out here in the Bay Area for many years.

In the 70's he had a political folk group called Prairie Fire, and after that an innovative world beat band called The Looters. They were the first US group invited to perform by new Sandinista President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. They recorded discs for Alternative Tentacles, Island records and even Monster Cable's label Monster Music.

Mat helped start a musical collective in the Mission called Komotion International, that held benefit shows, and then permutated into a record label and a magazine we all ran together for about ten years.

He eventually split for Switzerland but I see is going to be back with his new musical partner Yvonne Moore and are doing dates with political folkie David Rovics. He has an album out currently called Wild Bouquet, that features some of his talented pals backing him up including Brain (Tom Waits, Guns & Roses) on drums, Joe Gore (P.J. Harvey) on guitar, Les Claypool (Primus) on bass and singer Zoe Ellis. It was recorded partly in San Francisco, and his new home near Lake Geneva in Mauer, Switzerland.

Here's some Mat Callahan tracks & tourdates

Mat Callahan - Jonny Refused

Mat Callahan - Deep Down

March 10 • Brooklyn, NY
Vox Pop

March 11 • Willimantic, CT
Wrench in the Works • 7 pm

March 12 • Boston, MA
Berklee College of Music

March 15 • New Haven, CT

March 16 • Dunkirk, MD

March 17 • Washington, DC
Fleming Center • 7 pm

March 18 • Norfolk, VA
40th Street Stage

March 20 • New York
Googie's Lounge above The Living Room •

March 23 • Hartford, CT
La Paloma Sabanera
Indy Media Group Show

March 24 • New York
Banjo Jim's • 8:00 pm

Currently Mat's label Broken Arrow are offering a free 4 song EP of Mat & Yvonne with each order while supplies last...hey it's deal !

Speaking of deals... and guys who refuse to cut one with the Feds...

The Feds are still keeping harmless blogger Josh Wolf languishing in prison...

While SF violent crimes spin out of control, and even more real criminals are in Washington, Wolf has done 6 months hard time. I bet Scooter Libby gets way less than that.

Josh Wolf offered to show the video tapes to the judge in chambers, without the prosecutors present. Judge & system though really just want to send a message and hope the kid rots. The Feds routinely spit on all our freedoms, look at the beady eyes on that pudgy smug Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and you learn everything you'd ever need to know about American Justice.

Nothing new here... Ironically despite Wolf's incarceration, this kid will do well once he is finally released... He's a Gen Y kid who now has more credibility going for him than the entire system run by suck up Baby Boomer generation reps that are coming down on him like a ton of worthless bricks.

Wolf didn't burn the mattress, break the tail light, organize the demonstration or smack the cop...and says he doesn't have any footage of the cop getting hit. But he is paying the price for all of that, and most importantly, for sticking up for his right not to be an informant. On the streets they call informants a "snitch"...

In real street crime cases, its a known fact that if you snitch ... then you die...

That's just a fact of life, on SF streets or any urban area.

It's why Lil Kim did time last year...because she wasn't a snitch.

Lil' Kim - Bad Girl

Would the SFPD offer to protect such a kid like Wolf if he did snitch out, or reveal who did what? That's a big rhetorical no.

The cops have no credibility for helping out their informants. Many are hung out to dry, get no protection and too many have died here in SF...

Even if he wasn't making a point as some sort of political martyr, he'd be wiser not to help the SFPD. Many of those who offered are dead...

In interest of justice & restoring order, Ive tried to help SFPD on occasions and have been regretful of it everytime. Those piglets won't appreciate you trying to help them, and they'll turn on you, leaving nothing but grief in return for your assistance. The cops total lack of professionalism amazes me. No wonder SF streets are sinking into a sea of swill...

Peter Plate - Snitch Factory

and that's all I got for now...

Shotwell - San Francisco's Withering

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