Happy B Day Uh-Merikkka

Uh...

Headed out to participate in some of the usual the hoopla surrounding our country's annual July 4th birthday bash...

In honor of this empirical achievement I thought I'd post some tunes that are uniquely, uh, uh, I guess... Uh-Merican.

here's a crowd pleaser you may be familiar with... I hear it went down well with a few hundred thousand folks gathered at Max Yasgur's farm outside Saugerties New York one August morning in 1969 anyway...

Not sure it's what Francis Scott Key had in mind originally...but it'll do.

Jimi Hendrix - Star Spangled Banner

Here's a true American hero of that era in my opinion, Mr. Abbie Hoffman.

Like Hendrix, he also appeared onstage at Woodstock that same weekend, although he was beaten over the head by Pete Townsend with a guitar when he felt Abbie's blabbering was detracting from the music & cutting into the Who's set time...

Here's Abbie singing God Bless America from his album Wake Up America...

Abbie Hoffman - God Bless America

here's one featuring the ranting of one New Yorker by the name of John S Hall, who brought you the unlikely 90's MTV hit Detachable Penis...

I was surprised to find that this Cd is still available... and ya can buy it for less than $11 right at this link

King Missile III - America Kicks Ass

Here's a song that came along later & sorta expands on that theme, albeit in an even more heroic & metallic manner...


Here's from the uber powerful theme from the animated action adventure flick Team America : World Police...

Team America: World Police - America F*ck Yeah!


F*CK YEAH!

McDonalds, F*CK YEAH!
Wal-Mart, F*CK YEAH!
The Gap, F*CK YEAH!
Baseball, F*CK YEAH!
NFL, F*CK, YEAH!
Rock and roll, F*CK YEAH!
The Internet, F*CK YEAH!
Slavery, F*CK YEAH!

F*CK YEAH!

Starbucks, F*CK YEAH!
Disney world, F*CK YEAH!
Porno, F*CK YEAH!
Valium, F*CK YEAH!
Reeboks, F*CK YEAH!
Fake Tits, F*CK YEAH!
Sushi, F*CK YEAH!
Taco Bell, F*CK YEAH!
Rodeos, F*CK YEAH!
Bed bath and beyond (F*ck yeah, F*ck yeah)

Liberty, F*CK YEAH!
White Slips, F*CK YEAH!
The Alamo, F*CK YEAH!
Band-aids, F*CK YEAH!
Las Vegas, F*CK YEAH!
Christmas, F*CK YEAH!
Immigrants, F*CK YEAH!
Popeye, F*CK YEAH!
Democrats, F*CK YEAH!
Republicans (republicans)
(f*ck yeah, f*ck yeah)
Sportsmanship
Books

Buy It Here:

That's some patriotic plus poetry there & I doubt any of these other tunes will compare... but since i ain't done yet... like any good Uh-merican...I'll keep going at it...like a Sizzler buffet...

Here's a few more contemporary numbers so I don't seem like such a tri-cornered hat wearing old fogey...

First Up in the continuing saga of a random look at the current century's songwriting contributions to the patriotic pantheon...

It's Mr. Zigaboo Modeliste... He's the original drummer from New Orleans' legendary instrumental combo The Meters... Zig is now a current Oakland CA resident and he knows a thing a or too about second line style funky music...

i've enjoyed numerous evenings singing along & sweating my ass off while in awe of his prowess behind a drum kit...

He's amongst my fave musicians I've ever had the good fortune to see and here Zig is joined on this celebratory track of what he enjoys about the American Way by old Meters collaborator Ivan Neville...

from Zig's most recent album "On The Right Track" ( also on sale at I Tunes here

Zigaboo Modeliste w/ Ivan Neville - The American Way

I suggest you bone up on the Zigaboo in your collection, since chances are you likely have some alreay, perhaps without even knowing it. He's played on hit records backing Paul McCartney, Robert Palmer, Keith Richard, Dr. John, Lee Dorsey, Harry Connick Jr, etc in addition to being one of the most sampled drummers of all time. For example his breaks turn up on Amerie's 1 Thing, and numerous hip hop sides including cuts from Cypress Hill, EPMD, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Run DMC, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, NWA, Salt n' Pepa, Naughty by Nature, A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys and others.

I'll see ya'll at Zigaboo.com...

I don't know exactly where this next track originates from, other than they are definitely riding a Grand Funk sample of We're An American Band...so I guess it's all right with me...

I had the gatefold LP version of the original, released in 1973, one of the first 100,000 pressed on virgin gold vinyl. I have no idea were that copy is today, the one with the band nude sitting on a haybale on the inside...

bet it's worth a few bucks...

It was my first known exposure to pre-bicentennial era beefcake...

Which brings us here to the track by Crazy Girl...

This is apparently a British group, on Punk Elvis records no less...but I'll give em honorary Uh-merican status today...sorta like Tony Blair.

Crazy Girl - Kick Yo Booty w/ Grand Funk

On the International political front I will turn to one of the more under rated pundits...

That being the tri state area's own Vic Ruggerio of The Slackers

The Slackers last album Peculiar recorded in a unique cross continental fashion featured this appropo commentary called International War Criminal

The Slackers - International War Criminal

That album was preceded in 2004 by the hard to find International War Criminal EP which lead off with this even more pointed & vigorously raw track....

The Slackers - Propaganda

that above mentioned EP is available at I Tunes here

or on a real CD for around $13 at this link

One of my fave hip hop figures to emerge out of the East Bay ghettos is Mr. T Kash, who put out this album last year on Guerilla Funk...

In part due to the danger here on the streets of the hoods here in the Bay Area, he's since moved his family towards Sacramento but he's still a voice to be reckoned with.

That's a topic addressed in this next track which happens to lead off the CD known as "Turf War Syndrome". It's a problem that continues, sadly, unabated...with the streets of Oakland and San Francisco both providing ample space for blood shed over the past weekend...

The Bay Area, has erupted into a veritable bloodbath this weekend, beyond the usual coroner's schedule at least. In fact there's been so many reports of stupid shootings, sick stabbings, turf wars and moronic mayhem it's hard to keep the chronology & chaos differentiated.

Some of the San Francisco incidents:

Two kids aged 15 & 16 are found dead by the side of the street at Fitch Street and Innes Avenue in HP.

A 19 year old stabbed to death at Washington Sq Park in North Beach.

A 32 year old resident of Stockton was found dead at 16th & 7th Street.

A dispute in a barbershop at Fulton & Divisidero erupts into gunfire, and a stray bullet hits a man in his car, who is believed to be ok at this point, the suspect dispersed into a nearby apartment complex on Grove.

In San Francisco, the SFPD apparently aware of a street situation last night somehow attempted to clear the street, but left, and after failing to fully disperse a crowd gathered at Third Street and Silver Avenue, a woman was soon dead in a hail of drive by gunfire.

and I don't know how far we wanna go back in time, but way back on Thursday night, a 19 year old suspected local drug dealer was shot in the leg late on the 1900 block of Grove.

Read on to keep up with the East Bay's own weekend bloodbath:


While San Francisco certainly had it's own problems, there were two shootings on Saturday within hours on the same stretch of Fairfax Ave in Oakland that left two men in their 20's dead.

Oakland continued it's spate of violence, with a fatality at 77th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, and another man at Friday in the 9400 block of Plymouth Street.

In Richmond a 24 year old man was pronounced dead at Ninth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. and a 21-year-old man who was shot in the back was in stable condition at a local hospital.


T - K.A.S.H - American Nightmare

Download "American Nightmare" (mp3)
from "Turf War Syndrome"
by T-K.A.S.H.
Guerrilla Funk Recordings

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• Stream from Rhapsody

More On This Album



here's something from some other the local terrorists...deep in the belly of a place known as the Yay Area...

In keeping with his urban uber guerilla image, Messy Marv recently released his opus "Music for tha Taliban"...then I hear went to jail for awhile...

here's an older effort...

Messy Marv (Bullys Wit Fullys) - So Hood w/ Clyde Carson + EA-Ski

and that concludes our American offerings for now...

now go out & buy some music, and be careful with those fireworks...and guns too!

Success + Soul + Uncle Sam

Seems like lotsa stuff going on in my life lately, which means less time to blog...

and it seems a lot these distractions from the web seem to take place uh...

anywhere...

in bars & clubs...

hotels

in the garden...

at the pool...

or even the golf course...

or just about anywhere


cuz it's summer y'all

hope yer having fun too...

Tony King - Summer Scene


Anyhow, I wanted to annoint some folks with the most successful cover tune of the week...

It's a fine little number that appears on the new Kelly Willis Cd that came out on Rykodisc this week, a record company that was acquired last year by Warner Music Group.

Kelly has been woodshedding, and raising kids for the past four years, but spent some time in Nashville recently with producer/song writing collaborator Chuck Prophet laying down tracks.

Here's my fave cut on the disk...

Kelly Willis - Success (Iggy Pop cover recorded w/ Chuck Prophet & Jules Shear )

The whole shebang is available as a CD here for about $13 and as downloads at I Tunes by the individual track...




I guess the I Tunes capable I-Phone is another supposed success...

I assumed fat , out of shape geeky losers would be waiting in line for days,(and there were plenty) but couldn't believe that the actual mayor of a major North American city called Philadelphia had time to stand around all day to get a f*cking new toy...

John F. Street, the actual mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, waited in line on and off for 15 hours to get a cellphone...

Your Tax Dollars At Work...

The Associated press reported more:

He wore large Bose headphones hooked up to an iPod Nano - one of three iPods he owns - around his neck while seated on a lawn chair.

... a 22-year-old man sporting a mohawk asked him, “How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?”

The mayor replied: “I’m doing my job.”

here's actual footage of this consumed idiot :

To my folks in PA, y'all better recall that confused & blithering assbone of a mayor or at least make him live on the Jersey side...

At least our pretty boy mayor Gavin Newsom here in Frisco prolly got his I Phone delivered by a stalker or loyal minion or something...

The dude in Philly actually told the media how he had cleared his calendar to wait in a fucking line... don't ya know our mayor is just sitting back & chopping lines!

With your wife!!!

Here's a report from our local Bay Area news that rave about the marketing blitz & PR prowess of Apple... but no mention of our political leaders waiting around in lines...

Here's some slightly more positive things Philly used to have going for it...

Namely it's classic soul sounds...

Here's from a compilation called Philly Soul Girls... which is sadly a still relevant topic... as a young girl pleads for uncle sam to return her boyfriend from military service...

seemed appropo as we celebrate the Etas Unidos B-Day this week and those that continue to pay the price for our leader's far off folly...

The Sherwoods Uncle Sam

This compilation of Philly Soul Girls from the mysterious Distortions Funkadelphia label has 26 total tracks, including the first CD transfer from the actual master tapes of Patti & The Emblems classic "Mixed up, Shook Up Girl"...which I'll dedicate to all my Hollywood gal pals Britney, Lindsay, Nicole & Paris ...

don't forget to write me from rehab you beeotches...

I want to also dedicate it to the crazy mumbling fat chick named Jessica Rodriguez on Nightline last night who was shown sitting in front of a Manhattan Apple store most of last week just to be first to buy a couple new phones...

Not only is she out a grand...but actual days of her life... and apparently was suffering from sleep deprivation, mental exhaustion & an odd nervous tic during her post phone purchase interviews in which reporters toyed with & preyed on her mousy confusion like mean old cats...

Jessica, an out of shape & fragile lil' freak, has became some sort of consumer celebrity just for buying new tech crap made in some likely horrific asian mercurry filled sweatshop. Her newly appointed highness of product hype hysteria told the BBC that she...

"... got no sleep with the rain and the dump trucks going back and forth. I'm going to go home and sleep and play with my phone a little bit."

One can only hope she has some numbers to put in it, or calls from any actual friends to screen...

She was definitely lookin' like a "Mixed Up Shook Up Girl"...

The song itself is a true classic of the era, that being circa 1964, and an early hit by Leon Huff, who later had so much more sweet success in the early 70's with his PIR empire and his co-productions with partner Kenny Gamble.

The female Patti here on the track is actually the late Camden NJ girl named Patty Pussell... and no, I do not know why she is sometimes refferred to as Patty & also as Patti... as seen here on this 45 label on the Kapp label...

Here's an original, slightly shorter & scratchier version of that Patti & The Emblems doing Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl , not the one on the above mentioned Philly Soul Girls comp, but a slightly tinnier & shoddier transferred reproduction from vinyl...


Here's
Patti & The Emblems - Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl

If you wanna hear the contrast with new mastering & higher fidelity... get a copy of the Philly Soul Girls comp... it's available through yer better online sites like Light In The Attic for less than $12, and even digitally for way less than half that via eMusic...


I-Tunes...which is always flogging crap like Avril Lavigne, Hannah Montana & Kelly Clarkson to me at a buck a track does not have this killer Philly Soul Girls comp yet has but one "Patty" & The Emblems compilation available if you must have it from the great Jobs...

it's here...

Patty & The Emblems - Mixed up Shook Up Girl (singles compilation)



Not much new to report on the avant rock front, but it appears I'm likely going to see Pat Benatar next week... go figger...

It's summer... and she's playing the local fair...



p.s

for all you retro rockers who dig whiny poser grunge from Chicago... there's a new Smashing Pumpkins release apparently headed our way next month...

Here's something they did awhile back as part of a Depeche Mode Tribute disc...

The Smashing Pumpkins - Never Let Me Down Again ( Depeche Mode cover)

Anyhow, those curious for more can click below to pre order the new Corgan & co. release for y'all for less than $15 when it hits on July 10th...

Monday's Miasma etc etc etc

On Saturday night I was an honored guest and official band bartender at the annual freak fest known as Parkerzalooza, which was headlined by san Diego's Earthless...

They play at a deafening volume...and capped off a night of many bands, mucho volume, and libations for all.

North Beach was alive with music & festivities over the weekend too as the 53rd annual North Beach festival took over the hood. Aside from the officially sanctioned entertainment on outdoor stages, there were other little combos working indoors along the streets. The usual blues bands were rocking SF's self proclaimed oldest bar, The Saloon where barflys buzzed around the doorway, and the unofficial beat community center Live Worms gallery even had a band playing for the art show. Amongst the other spots where bands played was the legendary corner bar the Condor, who recently were granted a permit from the entertainment commission. Of course, rumor has it, the benign live oldies band featured over the weekend, will soon give way to yet another adult themed strip/topless entertainment theme.

Meanwhile down a long lonely & empty stretch of Broadway, across from a boarded up pizza joint and shuttered Afghan eatery, a for lease sign hung on the spot formerly known as The Crow Bar. In the 60's this location was called Basin St West where the likes of Ike & Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Ramsey Lewis and other jazz & soul greats once played, but now, much like the rest of fabled North Beach, is just a faded shadow of it's former self.



North Beach was once the west coast's premiere entertainemnt district... whether you were a can can girl, comedian with an arrow through your head or struggling folk musician ... everyone cut their teeth there.

Everyone from Maya Angelou to The Dead kennedys, Janis Joplin to Metallica... all earned their chops in this San Francisco neighborhood...

Hoyt Axton - Greenback Dollar


Janis Joplin w/ Grateful Dead - Turn On Your Lovelight

The late bluesman known as John Lee Hooker should need no introduction to real American music aficionados.


Here's some tracks future SF club owner John Lee Hooker recorded back when he bounced around from label to label in the 50's & 60's using different names...



John Lee Hooker - I Love You Baby (Hug And Squeeze You - Part I)

John Lee Hooker - "Too Much Boogie" (mp3)
from "Too Much Boogie"
by John Lee Hooker
SnailWorx

• Buy at iTunes Music Store
• Buy at Napster
• Stream from Rhapsody

More On This Album

A Bay Area lady, and original member of Sly & The Family Stone, guitarist Gail Muldrow remains an unsung hero of funk & soul. While Sly grew legendary, for his chops almost as much for his fabled unreliability, the talented crew that helped bring him worldwide acclaim too often languished in his shadows. Gail is Sly's baby cousin and after remained with Larry Graham in Graham Central Styation. Here's Gail laying down some greasy funk & serious bluesy soul from a recent solo disc.

Download


Gail Muldrow - "Where'd You Get Yo Funk From" (mp3)

Gail Muldrow - Stranger Things

from "Cleen Spirit"
by Gail Muldrow
Global Recording Artists

• Buy at iTunes Music Store
• Buy at eMusic
• Stream from Rhapsody

There are occasional opportunities to see Gail rocking with ex-members of The Family Stone, and rumor has it even with the reclusive Sly himself, who's scheduled to appear at an outdoor show in San Jose next month with members of his old crew.

July 7th, Sly and crew are scheduled to appear at Arena Green, right next to the HP Pavilion. The bill also features the Average White Band and the Latin Sensations (featuring Jorge Santana and other members of Malo, El Chicano and other Latin rock performers)








In the meantime, here's some more grooves you can definitely count on from Gail Muldrow...

I love how she pile drives through Nancy Sinatra's "Bootz" as fierce as Megadeth or the punk band Government Issue did in the 80's, only with far more soul. This recent solo disc also features Sly alum Greg Errico on drums. Worth a listen if you can appreciate the paths she paved to get to today.

Gail Muldrow - Bootz

More On This Artist From Her Own Website

In the interest of the arrival of Summer, I thought I 'd throw out some more tracks in honor of this hot time o year...

like this one featuring Gail with Sly

Sly Stone - Hot Fun In The Summertime

and it appears...with summer almost officially here...

then the heat is officially on...

from the beaches and boardwalks to boardrooms...

Sam Cooke - Summertime

In the silicon valley, the latest quasi casulaty is Terry Semel...although, it's hard to feel sorry for a guy who took home around 75 million in pay , give or take a few recently...

Yahoo, shakeup, more froth & fissure than facts or fiber...

Yahoo! Once the internet darling, the company that has slowly slid into a precarious position of irrelevance and now they reach for uh...Jerry Yang? This is the same kid who boiled like a frog for so long in the pot already, gave up control & let the whole shebang slip away...creating failed inititiatives, and throwing good money after bad...

He's the same guy that basically allowed Yahoo! to slide into it's murky miasma, and gloated as the company became so heavily capitalised they were rumored at one time to be near to purchasing Disney/ABC...

Now they have somehow let their golden goose die, from being the top dog in search, to a sick & lost puppy... albeit still clinging to billions in capital.

Strangest of all was how aghast they were as their own contractor, some startup named Google, actually out Yahooed them...


If I was a shareholder, I wouldn't expect to see much of a catalyst for change in effect by simply putting Jerry Yang back in there...

He created it, but he got paid handsomely and walked away... and the souless execs and MBA's ran it into the ground...

Feeling Carioca - Bikini Talk

from "Rio To Go"
by Feeling Carioca

SCUDPROMO MUSIC

• Buy at Napster
• Stream from Rhapsody

More On This Album


Anyhow... enjoy yer week... I'm getting back to the garden...

Chet Baker - Summertime

...and tommorrow night I'll be performing some Event Magic while bartending at the 4th annual Valley Schwag party south of market ...here's a shot from last year

see ya around...