One Day He Will Disappear,

Unless you've been under a rock, you mighta heard about ol' tub o love Ariel Sharon. The Jabba The Hut lookalike PM of Israel, who last month was finally confirmed to have a "hole in his heart" is now in a coma, "induced", after suffering from a cerebral hemmorage i.e stroke. Now at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem, he's undergone several emergency neurosurgery procedures in efforts to stop internal bleeding in his brain.

One side of his saga seldom mentioned in the sadsack American media is that the stroke occured on the same day the International Herald Tribune reported that Israeli police have secured prima facie evidence linking Sharon & sons to a secret $3 million dollar money transfer from two Austrian brothers. The long brewing allgations have Sharon using some of the $3 million to repay illegal campaign contributions he had received in 2001, but the rest was kept by the family. The allegations have been ongoing for four years but moved when Austrian authorities finally began transferring documents to the Israel Police, including bank statements. Vienna authorities have not yet acceded to Israeli police requests for permission to depose witnesses in Austria. Police are also seeking permission to qusetion witnesses in Canada, South Africa and the Virgin Islands.



Coma Lillies - One Day He Will Disappear



Coma Lillies - Fin



The Coma Lillies are a mostly instrumental band hailing from the Sonoma County CA scene ...

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Coma is a Swedish custcore band, these two cuts are from two out of print 7" singles from 2002 one on the defunct Busted Heads Label and another on the Yellowdog label..


Coma - Misery & Chaos

Coma - War

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Voivod are reportedly working on finishing their album utilizing pre-recorded guitar parts from late guitarist Denis ‘Piggy’ D'Amour who died last year. Michel ‘Away’ Langevin has starte drum tracking with producer Glen Robinson (Voivod’s ‘Nothingface,’ GWAR etc) at Piccolo Studios in Montreal.

They also have started a blog to report the progress of the studio work here.

Away, singer Denis ‘Snake’ Belanger and ex-Metallica bassist Jason ‘Jasonic’ Newsted - are using guitar recordings from Piggy's Pro-Tools enabled laptop that will be eventually released via The End Records in North America.


Voivod - War and Pain


a Voivod cover with female singer from the CD "Please Excuse All the Blood"

Dahlia Seed - Missing Sequences

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The Inflatable Boy Clams were an all too clever for their own good San Francisco art performance scene band in the very early 80's who recorded for Subterranean Records. They played spots like ClubFoot, Deaf Club, and The Mab. The tracks here are from a rare dbl 7" EP recorded by Myke Reily of Voice Farm.

Inflatable Boy Clams - I'm Sorry

An obscure loosely organized oddball Bay Area party band that has links & ties through members & frends with the Clams was/is The Invertebrates. They put out their first record in 1981, and have morphed and continued in curious permutations to this day. Over the years they've collaborated with a roving coterie of musical characters including accomplished Clarinetist Beth Custer, and Brad Bechtel formerly of LA new wavers Outer Circle and middle eastern / western band Go Van Gogh. Here's something from the Invertebrates most recent effort, Garagezilla...(featuring special guest Big Bones on harmonica)

The Invertebrates - Drunk

and a track from the afforementioned Go Van Gogh

Go Van Gogh - Johnny Moody

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The Metalizer attempts to turn songs that are "gay as f*ck" into "Metal"... you decide if it works...

The Metalizer - The Locomotion ( originally recorded by Little Eva, but The Metalizer claims he's doing the Kylie Minogue version... uh, whatever dude )

The Metalizer - Angel Of The Morning ( originally recorded by P.P Arnold although Juice Newton, Pretenders and Merilee Rush and others have made some dough off it as well)



here's a few more random cover tracks for ya...




Was Not Was - Papa Was A Rolling Stone


Al Green - I Want To Hold Your Hand


Nina Simone - Here Comes The Sun


Melt Banana - Surfin' USA


Mest - I Melt With You


any how

for some reason i can barely remember why I gotta bad hangover, gotta go...

see ya later in the week...month, year or whatever

Get Smart ! It's 2006 Already ?!

As I hustle back to work this morning for the first gig of 2006, doubt I'll miss a lot from 2005, particularly all that horrendous bad news, although 2006 is looking pretty vicious already as well...

Indeed unlike the speedy data delivery folks, I prefer to not even start reviewing the events of the past year until the new one has officially started, much less the art. Heck, I haven't even mailed out all my X-mess gifts out yet. Maybe I'm Russian Orthodox, superstitious, or just lazy and disorganized...

Anyhow, I mentioned in my last post that I'd keep a tally on some of the noteworthy figures that passed away in 2005 and I'll continue to do just that until I run out I suppose...

Here's a few more ...



Sandra Dee

Born Alexandra Zuck of Bayonne New Jersey in 1942, by the late 50's she was escaping her step father's gropings to become known to moviegoers as teen icon Sandra Dee. She was a wholesome blonde beauty, the original "Gidget", starred in "A Summer Place" and by 1960 was married to pop singer Bobby Darin whom she met while filming "Come September" with him. Despite the Hollywood glamour and show biz trappings, the liquor soaked marriage wasn't a picnic, and Darin was a troubled troubadour, who had a bad heart and found out at 32 his sister was actually his mother. After having a son and then a divorce brought on by Bobby's unfaithfulness in '67, and his eventual death in 1973, Sandra Dee fell off the radar. In the early 70's she made some low budget Italian flicks and didn't resurface in the public eye until she had a bit part in the 1978 sensation "Grease". Dee's last screen appearance was the 1983 film "Lost" and she died of Kidney failure, after many years spent in virtual recluse.

here's an old circa 1963 Doo Wop release on the Jubilee label about a girl named Sandra

The Volumes- Sandra

newsreel audio from Come September premiere...

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Don Adams cemented his role in pop culture as the comical secret agent "86" on the show 'Get Smart" which ran from 1965 - 70. He started out life as Donald Yarmy born in NYC in 1923. In his 20's he tried his luck at standup comedy and took his wife's last name to avoid being called last at auditions. He won a contest on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show in 1954, which lead to more TV & nightclub work including spots on the Steve Allen, Perry Como & Bill Dana shows. Highlihts of his career include Don winnng an unprecedented 3 Emmy's for his role on Get Smart, a Clio directing commercials and was also the voice of hit 80's cartoon detective Inspector Gadget. Don appeared in many commercials, as well as other TV shows and specials, including Laugh-In, Fantasy Island, and many episodes of The Love Boat, including the pilot. He liked hanging out at the Playboy Mansion, playing cards with his pal Hef, with whom he appeared numerous times on various Playboy TV specials. In 1987 he had a cameo as the harbor master in Back To The Beach, featuring Annette Funicello & Bob Denver who had cameos in my last post, He had lowpoints to including a panned revival of Get Smart in the 1990's and was known to be forgetful,slept with a gun beside the bed, and I knew his nutty daughter who died of a Heroin overdose in the early 90's. Don died at age 82 in September battling lymphoma, a broken hip and finally a lung infection which provided his fatal blow.

here's a fitting upbeat wav file of Don from a Get Smart tribute page-

"Once again the forces of niceness and goodness have triumphed over the forces of evil and rottenness." 81K WAV

Get Smart Theme .mp3

Don had a few albums out during the 60's, and since i couldn't find any mp3 tracks online, I uploaded the next best related thing I could...

Barbara Feldon was Don's female co-star Agent "99" here's her kitschy Nancy Sinatra-esque theme song, produced by Elliot Mazer, whose other credits included Janis Joplin, Mike Bloomfield and the Byrds.

Barbara Feldon - 99

So you think you see a pussycat you'd like to pet
You start to come on strong to see how far you will get
You feed the pussycat that I'm a tiger lie
You don't know that you're mess'n with 99, 99
You brag about your motorboat and Cadillacs
How you cheated 'bout a million on your income tax
It isn't 'til they slap you with a great big fine
That you know that you've been mess'n with 99, 99
There's music on the hi-fi and she dims the light
She fixes a Martini that is out of sight
Your tongue begins to loosen 'cause you're all alone
But that ain't a olive buddy that's a microphone
You're a foreign spy who wants to come in from the cold
And you've never been uncovered you're so self controlled
But when they find your body floating down the Rhine
That's a lesson don't go mess'n with 99, 99
You're the highest paid informer for a Balkan State
On your night off you invite her for a dinner date
But when she freshens up, you'll end up unemployed
'Cause that ain't a lipstick buddy that's a Poloroid
So listen tigers this is what it's all about
A pussycat will get you if you don't watch out
Though she may send shivers running up and down your spine
She is doing her caress'n with a tiny Smith and Wesson
And that means you've been mess'n with 99, 99, 99, 99

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hey are you looking for my top ten list?

quit looking...

Not one to rush to judgment, I don't mind reading em, but I disdain the idea of making top ten lists, probably because I'd hate to have to consider whittling art down into tidy casualty counts...


does anyone ask those people to do that ?

hey blogger X !? what's on yer I-pod dude?

are you still digging what ya were digging in July?

that's so cool !

I just can't imagine the "blogger" thinks the world is waiting and the clock running when whatever new recordings they brought home and listened too warranted more than their mere appreciation.


I wonder the merits of comparing the worth of my fave music vs some other morons Jukebox Jury choices...it's not like there will be a playoff between Coldplay and My Morning Jacket to make the big bowl challenge vs the West Coast blogger league champs ( Rogue Wave ? Beck ? Deerhoof ? Sleater Kinney ? )

Anyhow, none of it matters cause usually the dusty vinyl or old 78's I score sound newer to me than most of the indie or corporate dreck I hear.

let's get back to some others who passed on in 2005

1,638 Jamaicans were murdered last year according to latest island statistics, while an estimated 36,000 die in the U.S each year from influenza.

Meanwhile a new low of only 45 Israelis were killed by Palestinian attacks, while 221 Palestinians died in the violence prone West Bank & Gaza strip.



and hey, enough reminiscing, as this new year of 2006 is already well under way and taking no prisoners... first to go of note around here....

Champion CA bicyclist killed in rain by non native Eucalyptus tree

R.I.P Dan Plummer

see this week's flood damage around SF & my ole stomping grounds in wine country


in other gnarly gnarly and neutered news of note :


Infected sperm can carry bacterial DNA

'U.S. May Have End in Sight on Iraq Rebuilding'

TSA screeners to begin "psycho-analyzing" passengers

Christian rock evangelist in a hurry dies passing on a road in Zambia

Parent of dead Marine speaks out in Wash Post

Developers attempt to reinvent L.A's dilapidated downtown


random bonus tunes for the persistent:



Jobim & Moraes - Garota de Ipanema

Gomez - Whipping Piccadilly

Pavement - Hit The Plane Down

Radio 4 - Absolute Affirmation

Rachid Taha - Rock The Casbah

Clash - Know Your Rights

Pharcyde - Officer

Cream - Badge

Judas Priest - Breaking The Law

feel free to leave the lonely lil' blogger yer comments below or write me at

R.I.P 2005

Dedicated To The Memory Of...

here's the first post of a few that celebrate those we must leave behind with the year known as 2005...

I stayed out way too late on new years eve, missed getting to the East Bay for a chuck prophet gig, but saw the Supersuckers rock the party, and shoulda gone to bed hours ago...here's the first post of a tally of some folks that left the scene this past year...

Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown the Louisiana based musician had a 50 year career playing blues , country and cajun styled music and was considered an influence on Albert Colllins and reportedly was Frank Zappa's fave guitarist. He was already suffering from Lung Cancer, Emphysema and heart disease before dying after the stress of relocating from his home Slidell LA during Hurricane Katrina.

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Got My Mojo Working

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R.L Burnside - one of the last great Mississippi bluesmen, his music career finally got some momentum in his later years via a hook up with Fat Possum records. R.L toured extensively with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and brought his authentic rural blues style to a new generation. R.L died at age 78 in September, leaving behind a musical legacy, and 12 children and too many grandchildren to count.

R.L Burnside - Hobo Blues
R.L Burnside - Little Babe (1968)
R.L Burnside - Rollin' Tumblin' ( Remix)


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Barry Cowsill - while he's not officially dead , Barry went missing shortly after Hurricane Katrina in New orleans, and leaves behind his family, a clan that actually was the inspiration for the Partridge Family. The Cowsills in their heyday had 4 Billboard top ten hits between 1967 & 1970, and over 100 gold records. Barry was their bass player, getting his start on the frat party circuit around Rhode Island's Brown U in the mid sixties. They were 'discovered’ by Johnny Nash’s all black R&B label, JODA, and Nash protege' Bob Marley is known to have covered Cowsill material. Eventually they turned down an offer to be the leads on a TV series with Shirley Jones, but the producers kept the Cowsill family member names Keith & Susan for lead characters on the Partridge Family. The band were the American Dairy Association's spokespeople, and Barry soon was a show biz "has been" by age 15. In the 80's, Barry went on to form a band with Waddy Wachtel, had troubles with booze and drugs, and had recently relocated to New Orleans before dissapearing in the horrendous aftermath of the storm.He left his sister a voicemail Sept. 2, saying he was in the midst of "a lot of 'lootin' and a lot of shootin'" and never called back.

The Cowsills - The Rain, The Park & Other Things

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Bob Denver was Maynard G Krebs, tv's first beatnik on Dobie Gillis and later known as Gilligan who had his own island he shared with cute castaways, Bob Denver was a classic perpetually youthful figure of a more innocent era. He died in September at age 70

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Mitch Hedberg The caustic stoner comedian who had been on Letterman 10x and had two CDs out, died in a Jersey motel last March with a mixed cocktail of substances including coke and heroin coarsing through his bloodstream.

Mitch Hedberg - Sesame Seeds
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Chet Helms - the goofy hippie with a heart of gold, but a liver that had seen better days after partying through the 60s with cohorts like The Dead & Janis Joplin. Helms pioneered the modern rock concert experience, bringing tripppy posters, liquid lights shows and festival vibes to the old Fillmore Auditorium and Avalon Ballroom before Bill Graham made the scene about the $cent of money. Helms died in june at age 62.



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Richard Pryor - a comedian extraordinaire who should need no introduction, born in 1940, Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III arose from humble but perverse beginnings as the scion of a family who ran a low rent brothel in Peoria Illinois. He was expelled from school by 14 and worked as a janitor in strip club before joining the Army for a stint in the late 50's. By the early 60's he had become adept at telling jokes, and moved to NY to try his had at live comedy. At first he was compared to Bill Cosby, but after awhile tired of tame material that was contrived but comfortable to white audiences. Eventually, after making inroads on TV variety shows, he walked offstage at an engagement opening for Bobby Darin at The Aladdin in Las Vegas in 1969 and never looked back. He moved to Berkeley and began hanging with radicals and Black Panthers. He grew his hair out of a process and into an afro, began telling it like he saw it, and was blitzed on coke during a role in the low budget Oakland dope & pimp flick The Mack. His stand up routine evolved into rollicking rants that used real life incidents, racial epithets and a crazed raw confrontational comedic style fearlessly fueled by his powdered drug of choice. His comedy albums on Laff records began to sell in numbers comparable to label mate Redd Foxx. Two award winning Lily Tomlin specials in 1973 and witing gigs with Sanford & Son and Flip Wilson started earning him real money and acclaim . Mel Brooks offered him the sheriff role in Blazing Saddles, but the studio, supposedly wary of Pryor's controversial reputation and drug use would not finance the film if he was more than a writer . He soon scored an important dramatic role in the 1974 Diana Ross vehicle Lady Sings The Blues, and the suits of Hollywood took serious notice. Eventually he was the highest paid actor in Hollywood, pulling $4 million in just for a few minutes of screen time in Superman II, and was the first African American wih his own production deal with a studio. I, along with any conscious comedy attuned head on the planet eagerly awaited his film and television appearances, which broke taboos and box office records with equal ease.

Pryor, to casual observers was a sad story, to others a mythical and ominous figure. A bright diamond of many facets, yet if you looked too closely you saw a deeply flawed jewel as time and temptation had eaten at it's hard exterior.

I got to see the more vulnerable Pryor, and even light his cigarette while he was onstage awhile back. It was at The Comedy Store, the joint owned by Pauly Shore's Mom on The Sunset Strip. He was a far cry from the slick & sly mad cat that prowled the stage in the landmark 1982 film "Rihard Pryor : Live On The Sunset Strip", this older Pryor had his onstage savagery being ravaged by a more than 10 year battle with MS. Yet, even with his physical presence weakend and timing of the delivery disrupted, his wit was possibly just as sharp, and as terrifyingly funny as ever. His material about Annette Funicello that night was worth retelling, but I doubt I could rewrite the snickering delivery enough to translate it via the limited vibe of the blogosphere...



I was surprised to see him there with Jennifer Lee, a woman whose tales as a cocaine groupie lovedoll warranted her own biography "Fallen Angel", which is a juicy gossip, drug & BJ filled read. Her life took her from Max's Kansas City onto her goodtimes & hard living in the arms of Wilie Nelson & Waylon Jennings and into into the shaking grip of Hollywood's Sir Richard at the height of his freebasing fever. She had been to hell and back with him, restablishing domesticity with him in the late 90's and remarrying him after leaving him at the height of his 80's downard spiral.

Richard Pryor was married 7 times ( twice to Miss Lee ), and fathered 7 children. Dec 10th he died in an Encino hospital near his home from complications of his long running battle with MS. He's buried at Church of The Hills, Forest Lawn Cemetary.

Richard Pryor - Super Nigger excerpt

Richard Pryor - 1974's That Nigga's Crazy LP 29 megs

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Charles Rocket a former Saturday Night Live cast member, Rocket was fired for saying "Fuck" on air one fateful skit in the early eighties. He later appeared in Dumb & Dumber, Max Headroom, and various B movies and sci-fi channel fare. On October 7, 2005, Rocket's body was discovered by police in his yard in Canterbury, Connecticut; his throat had been cut. The Connecticut state medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.

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Nipsey Russell 80, was well known for his role in the 1978 Michael Jackson vehicle the Wiz, but got his start as a lively carhop at The Varsity drive in burger joint in Atlanta in the 1940's before establishing a career on the stage and screen. He made appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, Car 54 Where Are You? and eventually games shows like Match Game and To Tell The Truth. He was a fave on Dean Martin's variety shows and Johnny Carson had him guest host the Tonight Show on NBC.
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Vincent Schiavelli - the memorable character actor from films like Ghost & One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest died in Sicily
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and a sad footnote I came across:

Kyle Williams - 14 year old son of a Cleveland Ohio area sheriff who died from inhaling "canned air" ( Dust Off brand). Dust Off has been aparently abused to the point of death in several other incidents as well.

Is This A Great Country Or What ?


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Sure the mainstream media has Bono & Bill Gates, along with guys like George W. Bush listed in the man of the year cateories. Here's a short list I quickly made off the top o my head featuring some other characters worthy of mention due to their presence or at least infamy in 2005.


My Nominees For Runner Ups of The Year :

Normally I ain't much of a law and order man, and no it's not because i ain't a fan of Jerry Orbach. I generally have little interest in the chicanery surrounding the cops & robbers game, legal process, but since i work in a law school these days I'm growing a little more patient with the process. Two figures stand out this year in their fields...

NY's Attorney General, has been taking on the corruption of the music industry, which has been rife with pricing & payola scandals, and now Spitzer, who has obvious political aspirations, is looking into the practices and price fixing of the digital downloading process...

Elliott Spitzer

The obvious other prosecutor to make this list would have to include the man charged with investigating the Valerie Plame leaks

Patrick Fitzgerald

Non Nominees, perhaps scapegoats or people who had opportunities, but did so very little...

Hillary Clinton.
Slick Hllary's ambiguous war & gay marriage posistions, and subsequent awkward lurch to the right make her safely "tough" policies on flag burning and video games look ridiculous. Actor Tim Robbins recently uttered that she can kiss his posterior on Air America. As she attempts show bitchy backbone before her run for Prez in 08, she's less & less likeable to all.


other news that bodes uh, so well for the New Year ...

Big rain threatening to ruin New Year's in my base of Northern California.

An Iraqi prison erupts in violence, leaving at least 9 dead, while eightfold fuel price hikes bring attacks & protests.

9 New Orleans cops surround & kill lone nut obviously retreating in broad daylight , see the video


Criminal Justice student amongst 3 who kill cabdriver in Chicago

oh, also : Beware Milwaukee Mobs...

Known Paedophile Gary Glitter spent Christmas in jail ,after being busted doing nasty with kids in Cambodia & Vietnam. The 70's hitmaker, known for his stadium rock fave "Rock n Roll part II" was jailed in Britain just a few years ago for having child porn images on a computer he'd sent in for repair. Glitter a.k.a Paul Gadd, attempted a failed comeback via a Dutch website that was selling a new album called 'Lost On Life Street'.

and now : some random mp3z for yer perusal

Spoon - I Turn My Camera On

Ernie K Doe - Here Come The Girls

Kaiser Chiefs I Predict A Riot

Diamanda Galas -Gloomy Sunday

Tuxedo Killers - Flowers and Lightning

The Poison Control Center - Good Morning

The Exploder - Dedicated To The Memory Of