Fun Haus

Early warning

2008-03-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

The next edition of The Machine is right around the corner.
Easily going to be the best one so far.

Also joining us will be the Asian Sensation, all the way from Oakland, DeeJay Santa Maria!

Aussie rock

2008-03-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

My friend Aaron (Livefastdie) just put out a great article on the most classic of rock from Australia.

Check it out.

Haswell and Hecker remix Popol Vuh

2008-03-21T06:55:00.000-07:00

From haswellhecker.blogspot.com
"Popol Vuh’s soundtrack work for the films of Werner Herzog in 1970’s and 1980’s are some of the most stunning in the field. Editions Mego is pleased to present 2 re-workings of classic Vuh tracks. Mika Vainio takes ‘Nachts: Schnee’ from the 1987 soundtrack ‘Cobra Verde’, and delivers a skillfully constructed ambient piece of beauty, which shifts and turns over 10 minutes. Haswell & Hecker turn the majestic ‘Aguirre I’ from the 1972 soundtrack ‘Aguirre - The Wrath Of God’ into possibly the first track to be played at the last rave on Earth. Unlike recent H&H releases on Warner Classics and Warp this does NOT utilize the UPIC system but vintage digital delays and freeze effect units, in conjunction with digital compositional tools. This release is pressed on red vinyl and packaged in a plastic sleeve with a golden sticker." (Presstext)

DNA

2008-03-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

Perfection, approached again!

2008-03-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

It's safe to say my musical head has been revolving around the newest album by Silver Jews on Drag City.
The wait, and the want.

So I think it's supposed to come out in June, but the newest album by Berman and Co. is fucking amazing. Or umm, at least that's what I hear.
I HEAR that Berman actually sounds better than he has ever sounded.
I HEAR that the songwriting is beyond amazing.
I HEAR that this is the fucking album that will re-define the guy.
I HEAR somehow or another, San Francisco B.C. will be the party song of the year.

The song Suffering Jukebox, heart breakin' genius/wowser!

Also, a friend that just "heard" the album had this odd ditty to mention of a song on the album.

"Damn, it's slide guitar used in the slightly demented manner of Gun Club crossed with REM (music and his vocals are really starting to sound like a Stipe-Cash man baby), and a tad of JMC"

Daryl Hall aint nothin to f**k wit...

2008-03-14T08:42:00.001-07:00

When a post on the Yahoo music blog starts off "Some people may think that going to see SXSW 2008 keynote speaker Daryl Hall perform at South By Southwest is some sort of indie-ironic inside joke. Like, "Ha ha, won't it be funny to see that old has-been who sang 'Private Eyes'?"
I weep a little, then I die a little.
Hall and Oates. totally not a joke.

First get their amazing War Babies album produced by Todd Rundgren, then seek out the amazing Daryl Hall solo album Sacred Songs produced by Mr. Robert Fripp.
If all this is not enough, Maneater. That is all I gotta say.

Cross bearer

2008-03-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

I went to a little meet up last night called "Jesus in the Talmud", and walked away thinking "damn, I really don't know Jesus as well as I thought. Maybe I should learn more. Maybe as a Jew, I should give the man a chance"
So where else to get to know him, but thru rock n roll?
I am happy to report that I'm still not converted, but I decided to highlight the songs about the original hippie from Bethlehem that I listened to over and over and over.
Keep in mind, for the most part, I tried my best not to include a ton of old gospel/early Sam Cooke/Norman Greenbaum because those are obvious (but still amazing).

1. The Waterboys Christ in You
I sort of just got hip to The Waterboys in the last year or so. It's all my fault for being a stuck up douche bag, but damn, they write some amazing songs. Lotsa stuff about Jeebus, and here on this song off one of their later albums Universal Hall they even compare him to some heartbreaker.

2. Soulsavers Jesus of Nothing
What the fuckity fuck? This is evil! Sitar + Mark Lanegan = the soundtrack to the porno version of Passion of The Christ, but really classy.

3. Tom Waits Jesus Gonna Be Here
You know Tom Waits knows Jesus personally? Like BFF or homies4life sorta stuff.
I think senior Yeshua gave Tom the divine power to write this filthy blues ditty.

4. The Oblivians Feel all right
K, so this is one of the songs on this amazing album that these loonies wrote, for what was their "gospel" album, and somehow, it sounds more like a song I would excpect to hear in a church on the south side of Chicago or deep in Memphis, than any of the covers on this thing.
Quintron's organ on this song is somehow both the holy and the profane.

5. Rev. Gary Davis "I belong to the Band-Hallelujah!"
There are 6 discs of Jesus songs on the Goodbye Babylon box set, this one might be the greatest. Had to put it.

End it now!

2008-03-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

I gotta know why are people so into Chuck Norris? Whats the deal that I'm not getting?

who will help the nerds?

2008-03-04T11:45:00.001-08:00

Did you know the guy who created Dungeons and Dragons name was Gary Gygax?
Thats a great name.

Too bad he died today or yesterday or something.

Many are sad.

Goodbye cruel world

2008-03-03T13:38:00.000-08:00

We are so fucked.
First apes pick up smoking, now they find a fucking hexapus?!?!?!

We are all doomed.

Kids I grew up with

2008-03-02T09:14:00.000-08:00

Being born in 1980, I'm part of the tail end of Generation X, maybe my status of late bloomer is my reason for not feeling close to my designated spot in the landscape of the ages.
When my kid's watch Singles some years down the line and comment on the flannel and the Mudhoney references ("touch me I'm dick"), and they say "daddy, people were funny looking when you were a kid", I will smile and eat my Soilent Green.
I "came of age" in the 1990's. The music of the period played it's part in my life. I Lost my virginity in 1996 listening to My Bloody Valentine, I think Fugazi and Pavement were the shit, and smoked a lot of weed and tried to wrap my head around Neutral Milk Hotel. That counts right?
Still, I have the Brian Wilson problem of not feeling like I was born for these (or in this case, those) times.
Some artists of the "alt-rock" kind, I may have gotten behind, just for the sake of being part of the bigger picture. Or maybe, I just wanted girls to think I was cooler than I was.
Whatever the case, I can't tell you the redemptive qualities of spending money on a CD that an older, cooler indie guy told you to get, not really liking it, then making out with a girl who was impressed with you for having it.
That album, The Afghan Whigs Gentlemen, and after that day, I was a fan.
So I am maybe the most shallow member of my age group, but as it stands, there is a very special place in my heart for the voice of Greg Dulli.
Now we are in 2008, and somehow or another, Mr. Dulli has found his way into the company of Mark Lanegan, who in the last few years has become one of my favorite voices in rock.
Together, they are The Gutter Twins, and their first album Saturnalia is out on a label quite familiar to both gentlemen of leisure, Sub Pop.

The sound this duo creates is a dark, American gothic. Other categories might include dark white boy blues, fire and brimstone, broken down and lonely or maybe the best record of these two men's careers.
Trying to describe it to a friend without sounding like a chump, I found myself saying the words "like Tom Waits singing for Bauhaus deprived of the glam influence."
I cringed at that statement, but try and listen to some of these tracks, such as Idle Hands and try to think otherwise.
Here we are in the dying days of winter, and an album so moody, and hopeless comes out, making us want to scratch away the last flakes of the cold and welcome some sunshine.
But long into the summer, I can still see myself saying this was one of the top albums of the year.

hero worship, en espanol

2008-02-29T10:58:00.000-08:00

One last caress

2008-02-26T07:48:00.000-08:00

Well I got something to say, it's my last hours in Chicago today...

Ah, The Windy City. I feel like we hardly got to know each other. As my last gift to your fine city, I donated to WBEZ today. Maybe my favorite public radio in all the land?
Some of their local programing, aside from the always amazing This American Life (heard of this one?) has made it easier for me to get rid of a TV and sit around and listen for hours on end, as the awful weather outside made it so I spent an entire winter getting smarter (yeh right) and cooking for myself almost every night.
What a winter!

Also did I ever mention Chicago beats most other cities in ma and pa restaurant's?
Yes, it's true, but I fear that next time I visit it might be a different story. This city is slowly losing some of the old independent blue collar feel in the areas I'm used to.
Whatever the case, the other morning, El Charo right off the California Blue Line stop (Milwaukee and Fullerton I want to say?) I had maybe the best chillaquillas (sp?) I have ever had.

It's places like El Charo, Orange Palace, and other like it that will make me miss the Windy City, but as it is, I have to say buh bye. Thanks for everything. Chicago, Ill call ya later.
Etc. Etc.

Digging for a bone.

2008-02-25T08:50:00.000-08:00

During my stay in Chicago, I have grown to enjoy a small D.I.Y. publication known as The Skeleton News.
A newspaper thingie that comes out monthly. It's covered topics from my favorite doomed folkie of the 60's, Karen Dalton to a Loren Coleman, who is one of the leaders in the field of cryptozoology
For the price of free, it's a steal.
The current issue, I guess is their "art issue", which means they have also opened up a gallery in the Wicker Park area. A place where this sort of stuff once thrived, but has now turned into a stinky, yuppie hell on earth.

A few hours before checking the joint out, I sat with a friend, whom I would consider one of my more heavy artist pal's. I extended the invite to check out the gallery his way. He declined. His reason was he liked what they were trying to do, but felt they were trying to be "too Rhode Island".
Funny.
I went off on my way, and made it to Happy Dog, only to be greeted by, nobody.
The entire gallery was abandoned, but very much "open to the public".
There were can's filled with cigarette butt's next to stacks of leftover copies of past Skeleton issues.
As far as a gallery, this felt more like a thrown together affair of recent artists, some good, some not so good.
I took it all in in 20 minutes, and walked out into the cold, scratching my head.

Maybe I'm the asshole? Maybe I'm getting too old? The idea of putting together a gallery with pieces that seem totally out sync with each other, for what feels like the sake of putting a gallery show together seems a bit pointless.
My friend who accompanied me pointed out "I think they think they are Dada".
We began to laugh, until later while reflecting on the experience did I begin to realize how awful that comment was, and how it was true.
Maybe the real "meaning" behind the gallery was to test what most of us have began to consider to be an "art showing".
Labeling them as wanna-be this and that only helps fuel debate, and make me curious to go back and re-think everything being shown off.
Okay, so I am the asshole. Sue me.
If you want to check it out for yourself, that would mean leaving your apartment/house in Chicago, which means you will get cold, go to Happy Dog, 1542 N. Milwaukee.

still alive/not dead

2008-02-15T10:14:00.001-08:00

Leaving Chicago in a few days. Going down south then back to New York. Surprised? Me neither.

So, the term "world music" has always bothered the shit out of me, you?
It just stinks of American swine that want to seem more "cultured".
But, it has never steered me away from loving the sweet sounds that have come from Brazil, Africa, the middle-east, etc. etc. etc.

As of late, it seems to be filling the ears of many like-minded young upstarts.
Latest example Dengue Fever.

Please feel free to love them.

fuck yes

2008-01-29T10:58:00.000-08:00

ugh...been sick...working...reading...getting ready to move back to New York.....ugh.
Blogger, available in Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian.
So rad.

Ummmmmmmmmm. Argh. Good lord I feel fucking slow today.

Listening to Blue Cheer and Lil' Wayne. Why?

Then there is this...

Bobby Fischer, we hardly knew your creepy selfhating ass

2008-01-18T08:31:00.000-08:00

Hey hey did you hear the news? Bobby Fischer died today.
I have some sort of sad feelings about this as Fischer was sort of a hero of some of my family.
Of course then there is his post-genius phase, when he became one of the top 5 biggest self-hating Jews of all time.

mad fuckin salty

2008-01-17T08:33:00.001-08:00

I wrote Morton Salt a letter a week or so ago. I found it a wee bit retarded that on a kosher product that they would publish a recipe for something that ain't really kosher.
I tried my best to capture the spirit of an 88 year old man from Boca Raton.
Soooooo.

'
Sirs of the salt
I am writing a complaint in reference to the "baked Asian shrimp with
Thai sauce" recipe on the back of the 3 LB. box of coarse kosher salt I recently
bought at Jewel a week ago.
On the back I was shocked to find the above mentioned recipe for a food (shrimp)
that is forbidden by kosher law to be eaten.
I find it irresponsible and to be honest, disrespectful, and should hope in the
future you would try to be more careful. of the traditions and beliefs of the
consumers you seem to target with said product.
This sort of thing has the ability to take on a life of its own, as my people (said Jews) have a keen ability to kvetch a lot until some sort of action is taken. Even if said letter writer does not adhere to said laws (kashrut).
But that is my own problem and none of yours.

Jay Diamond

RESPONSE TIME!

"Thank you for contacting Morton Salt regarding the use of a non-kosher recipe on
the back of the Morton Coarse Kosher Salt Box. Our customers and their concerns
are very important to us.

Morton Salt sponsored a recipe contest featuring the use of Morton Coarse Kosher
Salt. The winning recipes where selected by a group of independent judges. The
prize for the winner in each of four categories was having their picture and the
winning recipe displayed on the back of the Morton Coarse Kosher Salt box. The
Asian Shrimp recipe was one of the winner selected by the judges.

We do appreciate your concerns and your bringing them to our attention. We have
stopped the printing of this recipe on our Kosher Salt package."

Sincerely,

Earl C. Thorne
MORTON SALT

Wow. Im like a Jewish muckraker. In your face Upton Sinclair!
There will be Salt!

S-words

2008-01-16T10:43:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the creepy new year!

2008-01-12T15:43:00.000-08:00

Not even 2 full weeks into 2008, and we might already have the best story of the year.
Ill give you a hint from the title of the article

"Twins unwittingly got married in Britain"

People really love it when they find somebody they have so much in common with.
I guess except for the fact that they might make some defective babies, this could be a match made in heaven.
This could be the sequel for the classic Arnold/Danny DeVito film.
Happy Saturday!

Mountain, Birds, Mountain

2008-01-11T08:18:00.000-08:00

Holy Mountain is a sweeet label. My fingers hurt, and I need coffee, so I will not go down the list of releases, but just know, they are all good.
Okay, wait, here are some names, Six Organs of Admittance with OM, the dirtier version of Comets on Fire known as Residual Echos , Blues Control, La Otracina, Lichens (Rob from 90 Day Mens dronefuck "project"), Daniel Higgs from Lungfish, and more.
Through the grapevine, I get the news, the newest release on the label will be a limited pressing of Birds of Maya from Philadelphia. A band I have been blown away by for a few years now.
Fucking loud and dirty cosmic slop.

Allllllso. Black Mountain is back! Their new LP comes out in just a few days.
Fucccccccccck yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaahhhhh!!!!!

Zombies...again!

2008-01-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today I saw a preview of the new George A. Romero film Diary of the Dead. Here it be...

Diary of the Dead - Exclusive Trailer

The guy is a master at what he does. Like Jesus healing lepers, or me complaining. So, with that in mind, I'm excited. It's a whole new spin on his zombie apocalypse stuff, and according to a few sources, part 2 is already been given the green light.
My only question is, how did George steal Marty Scorsese's glasses?

Ill be back...for your ship

2008-01-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

Is it me, or does it sound like Gov. of California Kindergarten Cop is telling the U.S. Navy he is going to blow them up?

riiiight....

2008-01-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

G.W. has "predicted" a Mideast peace deal by the end of his term.
I am of course posting this, so a year from now if it doesn't happen, I can remember it as a document of the many promises that didn't come through.
Sorry, I have heard this sort of stuff before. After reading Jimmy Carters Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, I am more cynical than ever in terms of American politicians and their "interest" in the middle east. If and when peace comes to the region, how many presidents and politicians will raise their hands and claim that they are the one(s) that push the region into peace?
Like Carter, Bush will one day use this period to overshadow how worthless his time spent in office was.
No bets please, but smart money should NOT go on the man who has caused some of the greatest unrest in the land to calm it down.

if I cant dance to it...

2008-01-10T09:58:00.000-08:00

Is good dance music better if contained to the underground?
Can the masses handle it?
Hmmmmm.

I would like to think so.

Mike Simonetti, the man who has been bringing you the amazing Troubleman Unlimited label has ventured out to set up a label of the sort of dance music he likes so much (and is maybe one of my favorite dj's in the city). In a few weeks, his new label Italians do it better will offer up the first release by Invisible Conga People. A group that could have well done the score (if there was one) to Downtown 81'.
Im quite excited, and the interview in Dusted Magazine only helps that along.

Dr. Evil would be proud.

2008-01-09T10:57:00.001-08:00

Somewhere in the world right now (actually the middle east) George Bush is looking at the piece of news about the victim of hurricane Katrina seeking 3 quadrillion for damages and thinking "heh, stupid poor people, thats not even a real number."

okay and weird.

2008-01-08T09:19:00.000-08:00

"John, could you sing to me? Sing that Beach Boys song you sang about Iran. God you have a great sense of humor John. I love you so much. You and your old balls."

we walk an endless mile

2008-01-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

It seems the city of Angels has gone and picked out it's list of top 5o transients.
Way to go everybody!

The funny returns?

2008-01-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

Tonight, Stewart and Colbert make it back after 2 months.

As for Dildo Leno, Im still waiting for him to fuck up. I wonder if Bill Hicks is floating in the cosmos waiting as well?

The pride of Long Island...

2008-01-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

Some times you need to say anything for things to make perfect sense. Such as this event I stumbled upon.

Her family must be so proud.

Where was I?

2008-01-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

Exile is a strong word. For the last few months, I have been resting.
Reading, listening to music, walking, even jogging (what gives?).
My ear has stayed planted to the ground as best I could keep it there.
Why then did I miss out on Yeasayer? Where was I?
Really, how long did I sleep for?
Pitchfork gave them a rating of 7.8 on Oct. 25th 2007. I was around. How did I miss this?

Letting go of all that, I believe it was planned that their songs pop up right before Yes on my iTunes. Creating this beautiful little transition that is almost hardly noticed.
This is the me of 2008, missing out on nothing any longer.

U.N.I.T.Y.

2008-01-04T13:07:00.001-08:00

Eugene Hutz is fucking rad. He is maybe one of the three men on this earth I look at and wonder to myself how much sex does this guy get?
Eugene's Top 10 of 2007

Ruskie

2008-01-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

Gary Shteyngart is my favorite writer in the world right now.
Yup.

I just found a great interview he did with Modern Drunkard a while back.

ghosts in the graveyard

2008-01-01T09:47:00.000-08:00

Happy 2008! Are you hungover?
Bloody Mary has crept back into my life, and to start the new year I will tell you what I learned this week.
The best Bloody Mary I have ever had is at The Gingerman on Clark between Racine and Waveland a block away from Wrigley Field.
It is of life changing magnitude.
Please, brave walking through the wonderland for little boys who miss the frat house, and get one sometime in your life.
Make it your Paris of Bloody Marys.
Spicy, but not to spicy. A little chunky, a lot tangy, and it comes with a pickle!
I'm out of it this this morning and really want one.
Figured I would share this with you.

Steal this blog?

2007-12-31T10:56:00.000-08:00

Ummmm. Read Jewschool today, and ummmm...
Borat is playing Abbie Hoffman in a Steven Speielberg film about The Chicago 7.

New years eve...

2007-12-31T10:36:00.000-08:00

Okay so the joke can maybe now be complete...
'So a woman, a black guy and now a Jew all run for president...'
What the hell, I thought we were done talking about this?

gawker posted this...

2007-12-30T18:55:00.000-08:00

Okay first, this is wrong. Should be "Miracle in a converted loft on Kent Ave".
HOWEVER, a "friend" told me I need to be less NY-centric and talk about my new home city, which is fine, because the hero of this story could easily fit in with the people that go to Columbia College in the Loop.

Sort of funny, sort of really not. I don't know! Im soooo confused!!!

ho'seven

2007-12-27T08:46:00.000-08:00

Looking down at a bookstore the other day, I saw a button that said a date, and under it read "The last day of of George Bush".
Thinking for a second, I realized "fuck, I hate all those people that wore their politics on their sleeves".
Meaning it in a very literal sense. Then a second passed, and my cynical side quited down.
This year is leaving in a few days, and for the first time I might actually be going into a new set of numbers on the old Gregorian.
As the pin back claimed, W. will be out almost a year from now. The way things look, maybe, MAYBE people might be paying attention, and looking to fix things.
Oh, and the 2nd Ave. Deli opened back up.
Of course closing the year with a good ol' political assassination is a bit unsettling.
HOWEVER.
In light of that shitty news, 2008, I welcome you with open arms.
Oh, and the music that came out this year, pretty, pretty good.

So. My list. In no particular order. A few things I really loved this year.

Grinderman
Nick Cave, and some Bad Seeds put out an album that makes you wonder "what if The Birthday Party had never broken up?"
Ah, what a wonderful, wicked world it is to think such thoughts.
Alas! Not on the warmest of spring days did a friend begin to play a track of something I thought I knew.
"Ive got to get up to get down to start all over again. Head on down to the basement and shout KICK THOSE WHITE MICE AND BLACK DOGS OUT, KICK THOSE WHITE MICE AND BABOONS OUT, KICK THOSE BABOONS AND MOTHERFUCKERS OUT and....GET IT ON..."
Huh? I knew not of this.
No Pussy Blues? This song I knew nothing of either. These are men of Australia. The Scientists influence leaks all over this double shot of the Bad Seeds love.
Oh fuck-fuck-fuckity fuckwad! "Record of the year! Record of the year!"
I ran all over Bleeker Street screaming it.
Months later it stood. Record of the year. What the hell? Who would have thunk it?

Thurston Moore
I was only 15 or so when Sir Thurston put out his first solo album Psychic Hearts. A classic piece of scuzzy rock that FINALLY got re-issued a year or so ago.

10+ years later, Mr. guywhotaughtmeeverythingaboutmusic puts out another solo piece called Trees Outside the Academy.
A piece of brilliance, and beauty. Mr. Moore does some Sonic Youth doing Fahey stuff on this one, and out pops this all glowing and pretty.
Oh, and check out the personal on this album. Amazing.

Panda Bear
I thought the Animal Collective guys had run out of tricks. I figured it to be all over. Free show at South Street Sea Port, was just drunken good times and a chance for me to be a biiter, jaded motherfucker the way mama nature intended me to be, outside, and not paying.
Sitting next to a 16 year old smoking a joint, I festered in my shallow dislike of youth.
"How old are you kid? Should you be smoking that?"
He took a hit. Exhaling he replied "should anybody be smoking this?"
As smoke billowed out of his mouth, he began to laugh.
He asked me what my problem was. I told him to give me a hit of that joint and I'd tell him.
After fifteen minutes of rambling on about anything but what had bothered me, my ears picked up on the sounds of Animal Collective in the distance.
I looked at my junior. Everything could have been worse, but that is what drugs are for?
"What do you think of this band?"
The pot had weakened my shell. I remembered back to Sung Tongs and the Prospect Hummer EP. Classics.
The kid rolled another joint, and didn't look at me.
"Animal Collective? Oh, I like them. Panda Bears solo album that came out is better."
Already a few months old, Person Pitch was buried among a whole bunch of other stuff I wanted to listen to, but had no time for.
The next day, alone on a Bushwick rooftop, continuing my stoned summer, I blasted the CDR I had gotten from a friend in the "industry" (whatever one that is, I don't know) and remembered what blew me away about Panda Bear and his friends once a long time ago.
There is one song, Bros. if you know this album, you know the song.
It's maybe one of the greatest things ever.
Like the 13th Floor Elevators Slide Machine as done by a girl group with a male lead singer.
Magic? Fucking MAGIK!!!
What a beautiful life it is!

LCD Soundsystem
James Murphy you bastard!!! Why do I want to hate you so bad?
Why do you put out such great music? New York I love you, but you're bringing me down and North American Scum are instant classics.
It's sick how good you are at this.
Whore.

Okkervil River
Am/was I bothered when I looked at the wikipedia article that called the band "an emo rock band from Austin Texas?"
Nope. I'm a man. I can take that.
Why? Well, because I'm getting older, and those little tags mean little to me.
Also, Will Sheff is a songwriting genius. Every song an anthem for me leaving the city I love, coming weeks before my departure.
I don't know, but John Allyn Smith Sails being about John Berryman, and the Sloop John B. re-doing towards the song, is maybe the greatest piece of poetry I have heard in years.
I get chills. Serious, real chills from it.
Hands down, the song of the year.

Marissa Nadler
This year I put on a festival. Its a huge source of pride, and I loved every second of it.
Every stressful second.
Marissa Nadler was highlight number one. She is a woman of beauty I can't sum up in words, and won't try.
I was high on pot brownies listening to her cover Famous Blue Raincoat in a church basement and realized how important this moment was, and how amazing the artist covering the classic is.

Black Lips
A few years back, during the "garage revival" it never would have dawned on me after watching this band incite a mini-riot inside a club in Miami that one day in the future they would put out an album like this on Vice records.
Quite possibly the most vital band on the planet?

Angels of Light
So, Thurston Moore and Nick Cave, children of the noisy early 80's put out amazing albums, why should Michael Gira, once of Swans sit by and not do the same?
He puts out what I will say is easily the best under his newer moniker, Angels of Light.
Black River Song opens the record and has Mr. Gira playing the menacing crooner he has grown up to be, with haunting back up vocals, it leads off to a dark rainbow of music.
In a statement that came with the record, Mr. Gira stated that he is packing up his home in New York and setting up shop in a more secluded area somewhere else.
If I am hearing right, the song The Man we left Behind, might be his goodbye letter?
Of course this is Gira we are talking about...

Uhhh...

There is more, but I don't want to type. Mostly Diamond Days. What an experience. I was blown away to be able to take part in such a large event.
Plastic Crimewave, Tournament, Titan, Golden Triangle, all fucking rad.
M.I.A. is as good as everybody says. Sitting outside McCaren Pool and hearing Cat Power as my friends and I ate at Enids in Brooklyn was magic.
Missed The Clean re-union, but oh well.
The EP by Grizzly Bear, Friends is stunning. The CSS remix I could have done without. Dragons of Zynth, Yacht, No Age, Blues Control, VietNam, Liars, White Rainbow, Oakley Hall, Deerhunter, Devendra, 1990s, Lightning Dust, Beirut, Clorox Girls, ugh ugh. So Many bands and records. Michael Yonkers was in Vice magazine?
Cold Chicago winter is fun. Arthur Magazine returns. No Country For Old Men was amazing, and I loved Grindhouse. Fuck the haters.
The Source, about Father Yod and his crew is rad. Oh, and The Yiddish Policemen's Union was my book of the year.
2007. sweet. So much writing.

The weird world of republicans

2007-12-27T08:33:00.000-08:00

At this moment, I am listening to Fresh Air talk about what Mike Huckabee is doing a week before the Iowa Caucuses.
He's shooting birds.
Yes, Mr. Huckabee is one of those people that likes to get the stress out by firing guns.
The Ark. Gov. won't name names, but he points out that he will go after people with guns firing, his six shooters out, etc. etc. (not named, but meaning Mr. Romney).
This is sort of a misquote, but the story ends with Romney showing of the birds he killed, and claiming something to the effect that this is what happens when you go up against Mike Huckabee.
This guy is half crazy and half pretty funny.
Ill try to post the link to the story later tonight.

Times article reporting about how John McCain has spread his seed all over this great land.

Big Willie style?

2007-12-25T15:32:00.001-08:00

The Fresh Prince is getting a raw deal. As quoted in a Scottish newspaper.
"Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good.'"
Do I agree with him? Not really, but does this make him seem sympathetic of Uncle Adolf?
No. It just makes me understand why it's the Willenium!
Will Smith loves everybody, maybe Jeff Goldblum taught him how to do that?

Hang the DJ, put him out of his misery.

2007-12-25T15:05:00.000-08:00

Here I am, huddled up in blankets on what turned out to be a beautiful Christmas day.
A recap of last night is in order, for the Heebonism event I DJ'd.
Really fun time, really beautiful bar. The new issue of Heeb looks amazing. The 5 free Grey Goose and sodas I had were quite nice, and the mini latkes from Brad Rubin of Eleven City Diner were fabulous.
Of course, as any night DJing, the inevitable request I could not fill came up. However, this one was a little bit harder the handle.
A girl, straightened hair, loads of make up, etc. comes up to me reaches over into the DJ booth to shake my hand and says hi my name is so and so, and continues to grip my hand.
She goes on to say that she represents some of the top DJ's in Chicago, names a bunch of names I really don't know and have never heard. Guy's that I am sure are great at what they do, so great they have a person that "handles" them.
After naming her list of clients, she takes a quick turn from professional to cutthroat.
Notice, I am putting the following into quotation marks, because it is indeed EXACTLY what she said.
" We are dying out here. Are you going to play any house or bass?"
This took me surprise. Maybe because the worst requests are usually totally obscure, or something like "more 80's", and it usually by the second drunkest person in the club, bar, party, etc.
I have never really had anybody come up to me with their professional credentials and tell me they are unhappy with what they are hearing.
Still being somewhat new to the area, I tried to be as polite and to the point as possible.
"I don't really know any of the dj's you just mentioned, and maybe it's because I'm from New York, but where I come from, if there are as many people dancing as there are now, I will continue playing what I'm playing."
Then she told me my music sucked, and walked away.
DJing seems really glamorous to some people, and in truth, it's awesome. I love it, but something about people dis-liking your music selection really stings.
All in all, it was a really amazing time, but I would like to pass this on to most people who frequent places where a people DJ.
Leave DJ's alone. There is a pretty great chance they are not going to radically alter what they are playing because you want to try and go on a mini-power trip and change things.
Okay a few other things
1. I like it when people know what Im playing. I think it's awesome. It makes me sort of smile when a person keeps coming up to the booth and dropping the name of whatever is being played.
I know some people hate it, but I think it's encouraging.
2. Fist pumping on the dance floor needs to make a comeback.
3. I am totally not a club person. I wish I was more. I don't know what it is.
4. I wish people liked Boney M more. Rasputin is one of the greatest songs ever.
Thats really all I have.

Shopdropping and the revolution

2007-12-24T07:57:00.000-08:00

The Times is getting hip that 'tis the season for subversive thought.

The band they highlight called The Death of Jason Brody, suck really fucking bad. If I got one of their free CD's, I would return it ASAP.
I totally hope when those anarchists bring on the revolution, this is not the soundtrack

Ugh, Christmas eve. Im glad I'm DJing tonight.
It's always been a depressing night for some reason. The day itself, I can deal with it, of course Chinese food and going to see the directors cut of Blade Runner seem to be in order.

Nu Mix

2007-12-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

Made a new mix today for my boss. He wanted death songs, I decided a mix full of shady characters, bad drugs, gamblers, Sex crazed reefer addicts, and of course, the devil.
Here we go. Some of this stuff has been on some of my better mixes. Let me know if you want a copy.

1) Ananda Shankar Jumpin Jack Flash
Yes, Ravi Shankar and this guy are related, and yes, Ananda plays the sitar. On his amazing debut in 1972 the lesser-known Shankar covers The Doors Light my Fire as well this amazing instrumental of The Stones Jumpin Jack Flash.
Why did I choose this song to open up? Eh, well The Stones are evil, what better representation of the whole duality of man deal then with some good Indian vibes rocking out to their Sympathy for the Devil?

2) Oakley Hall House Carpenter
Oooooh yeh. Oakley Hall rips the shit out of this song that has been covered so many times by the likes of The Pentangle, Bob Dylan and about 100000 other people that hung out or would have liked to have hung out in Washington Square Park in the early 60's.
Of course if Oakley Hall would have been around back the and tried to play this monster, I think the power would have been cut off quite fast.

3) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Devils Waitin'
Whats all this modern shite? What happened to the days when I was a real bastard and only put songs up until 1979 as a sign of hatred for the modern state of music?
What has become of me?
Hmmm.
Less cynical. B.R.M.C. was one of those "new garage" bands that I wanted to hate a few years back, and I did.
Then they put out this record called Howl. All sleazy, blues stomper, rock. This gem was on there.

4) Junior Kimbrough Meet me in the City
Okay, umm, there is something really fucking raw and/or badass about the late, great Junior Kimbrough. The man needed to be on here.

5) The Byrds Hey Joe
Okay, while not THE BEST cover of this psych/garage stomper, it's The Byrds.
So let's see, one of the greatest bands in American history, doing a cover about a guy who shot his wife? Yeh, needed to be on here.

6) Dock Boggs Pretty Polly
Doc "Motherfuckin" Boggs. Old timer that Harry Smith found way back when. Doing the old English ballad about a poor young lady that is lured into the forest, killed and buried in a shallow grave.
Total bummer it made such a sweet song.

7) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Stagger Lee
Did you not see this coming? The baddest of the bad ol' Stagger Lee's was done by non other than Mr. gloom and doom Nicky Cave on the classic Murder Ballads album.
A cover that would have made many a juke-joint uncomfortable.
With a sweet video to boot.

8) John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers The Death of J.B. Lenoir
Leave it to ol' Mr. white bluesdudemaster himself to write the eulogy for one of Chicago's most overlooked blues dudes, Mr. J.B. Lenoir.

9) Dick Justice Henry Lee
Of any of the "death songs" I know, something about Henry Lee gives me the willies.
Mr. Cave, whom I mentioned a few positions above also covered this song on the same album as Stagger Lee, but something about this recording seemed more in step with the "vibe".

10) Mississippi John Hurt Candy Man blues
Why I went from death songs to this filthy lil' number I do not understand, but hey, all is fair in mixes.
"The Hurt" may have written one of the sleaziest song's I can think about.
" All heard what sister Johnson said
She always takes a candy stick to bed"
OOOOOHHH YEH!

11) Lucille Borgan Shave em' dry
Remember what I just said about the last song being one of the sleaziest songs ever written? Nope. This one takes the cake.
Lucielle has sex and weed on her mind. Long before anybody from Bed-Stuy rapped about it. Most of her songs like this one, Tricks aint workin no more and the classic Sloppy Drunk Blues sort of back that theory up.

12) Dick Justice Cocaine
Again with the Dick Justice? Hell yes!
Of course there are a million of great songs about drugs, this one just seemed to fit.
"The doctor said she couldn't smell no more".
Classic!

13) Charley Patton Prayer of Death Pt. 2
Maybe the man who brought "delta blues" to the attention of people outside of the area, Mr. Patton from Sunflower County, the man first put out this record under the pseudonym "Elder J. Hadley" and died about 5 years after it came out.

14)Carter Family Motherless Children
Ah, the blessed Carter clan and their songs about the down and out people that at the time catered to well, the down and out people.
Every song is golden, and I could have picked their version of John Hardy I know, but what about the poor motherless kids roaming barefoot through the mountains of Tennessee? Who will put their song on a mix?

15) Townes Van Zandt Waiting around to Die
Lordy, it's really hard to make a mix about down and out, and not put this song on it. I actually think I need to establish an "every mix from now on has a Townes Van Zandt song on it" rule.

16) Old Crow Medicine Show Silver Dagger
One thing I hate, is a revival band. Heartless clones, aping off a genre from long ago. Sometimes, I will let it go if the band or musician is really great.
On the surface, O.C.M.S. might seem like a bunch of guys trying to re-write the Oh Brother where art thou? soundtrack, but they are so far from that.
This cover of the old Silver Dagger ballad is the best one around. Even better than old Joan Baez (Shhh...)

17) Snatch and the Poontangs Two Time Slim
If you have been paying attention, this LP is my favorite find in awhile. I was itching to put it on something.
If you get this CD see if you can spot the lyric that one of the artists lifted into another song towards the start of the comp.
Johnnie and Shuggie Otis for ever!!!!

18) Oblivians with Quintron Live the Life
Not a bad closer eh? I love The Oblivians and Mr. Quintron as well. This is one of the greatest albums of the 90's, hands down. It's the closest to Christ I'm ever gonna get, so enjoy!

A kinder looking Crypt keeper

2007-12-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

Just watched the 1972 movie Tales From the Crypt. Came out a long time before the HBO series and in all honesty, other than the Crypt Keeper segments from the series, the film does the EC Comics classic more justice.
Not too campy (except maybe for the fake blood looks awful), good stories, amazing looking for a 70's film, and the soundtrack is pretty damn spooky.
The opening story even has one time hottie Joan Collins getting killed by Old St. Nick (or a lunatic in a Santa costume at the very least).

I guess you can file this under a "holiday cheer film" because of that. Totally reasonable to watch it during this time of the year.
5 uber-creepy stories. As great (maybe better?) an adaptation as the Twilight Zone film in the 80's.
I will even go as far as to say that it is one of my favorite 1970's British horror films.
This guy digs it.

Let my basketball team go!

2007-12-19T18:06:00.000-08:00

I will admit, this is a little much, but I guess either you are part of the problem or you demand one of my least favorite people in basketball EVER, be fired.
I guess that would make this part of the solution?

Panda Bear #1

2007-12-19T11:56:00.001-08:00

I am really nobody to argue with pitchfork. So, I gotta say that picking the solo album from Animal Collectives Panda Bear, Person pitch, seem's like a good idea.

My money was on M.I.A.'s newest (not in my opinion, just seemed like the logical choice), but as it is, one of the only music websites that matters has had it's say, and now that is that.

Jules.

2007-12-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

If this guy somehow win's, we are doomed.

Hubris.

2007-12-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

Maybe because I posted about the X-Mas eve blowout
that I am DJing, or the 2nd Ave. Deli thing, but Heeb gave me my props today for guessing who was on the cover of their "goy" issue.
From Heebmagazine.com
"A little over a month ago, we challenged you to guess who would be gracing the cover of our Goy Issue. Your guesses included Borat, Conan O'Brien, Ned Flanders, the Pope, Ann Coulter, and a surprising number of Paris Hiltons. But only one person correctly figured that Curb Your Enthusiasm's Cheryl Hines would be bestowed with the dubious honor of Goy Issue covergirl—and that person was Jay Diamond (who made the guess at our December 1 Heeb Storytelling afterparty at the Eleven City Diner in Chicago). For Jay's efforts, he'll walk away with an Owsley Owlbert USB flash drive designed by Mimoco and the unsettling knowledge that he thinks like a Heeb editor."

I thought it was going to be Ex New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, for his love of Jewish men?

Token with J.R.R. Tolkien

2007-12-18T10:10:00.001-08:00

Right now, I am having a happy day.
Peter Jackson is going to produce The Hobbit.
Jesus. This is shaping up to be a day of sweetness.

I must warn Mr. Jackson, it will take a lot to show up one of my favorite childhood movies. Please impress me you big, fugly Kiwi.

Yeeeeessss!!!!

2007-12-18T10:04:00.000-08:00

For all of you that know me and my Seinfeld-esque stance "I am not a vegeterian, I just don't really like meat" might know that one of the very few places on the planet I would go to actually "like meat" is/was the Second Ave. Deli.
As of a few years ago (2 maybe) it shut the doors of it's original location on (of course) snd ave. in NYC. All the funny waitresses, the Molly picon posters, and the amazing Pastrami, gone.
Now as read on Heeb Magazines blog, it re-opened in its Uptown location.
I now must go back home ASAP.

dope

2007-12-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

Just read about this on Papermag.com.

"The graffitti world is buzzing with excitement at the discovery of a wall covered with the tags of old school superstars Fab Five Freddy, Futura 2000, Jean-Michel Basquiat and others. Believed to have once belonged to art critic Edit Deak, the apartment became a hang-out, a let's get high spot where the walls became a canvas for the aerosol artists. According to Yahoo News "the mural will be publicly unveiled Thursday as part of a retrospective exhibit of the graffiti art movement (1980-1985). Running until Feb. 15 in the SoHo building's Gallery 151 on Wooster St., 'The Wild Style Exhibit' takes its name from the iconic 1982 hip-hop movie."

Jesus would want it this way

2007-12-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

Time to promote.
Night before X-Mas. When many will be at home, thinking about the baby Jesus, I shall be DJing the night away, the good little Jew I am.
Check the flier.
Rockers, electro boogie, yadda yadda.

Ike Turner R.I.P

2007-12-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

Sure, he was the poster boy for spousal abuse and did his fair share of "the narcotics", but the man did his time, and according to most reports, cleaned up, repented, etc.
The man passed on the other day, and I am afraid that his legacy will be that of Laurence Fishburnes portrayal in the film What's Love got to do with it?
That is indeed a sad thought considering along with the amazing recordings he did with Tina Turner, Ike was one of the early pioneers of rock n roll, putting out what many consider to be "the first rock n roll record" Rocket 88.

I hope that legacy lives forever, because most of his musical output is amazing.

kid video

2007-12-14T08:35:00.001-08:00

I'm sorry I am becoming a video blogger today.
I found this on Orthodoxanarchist.com and almost made a poo poo.

Rock n roll hall of fame!

2007-12-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

Leonard Cohen, Madonna and The Ventures are making it into the rock n' roll hall of fame.
While I am a huge fan of all three, I must say that in terms of rock and roll, the first two are pretty far off from Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Robert Johnson, etc.
But who can argue with this?

Ron Paul takes on Uncle Adolf

2007-12-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

Saw this on Wonkette. Had to post it.

I think the comment under it made by "Honlyrappa" says it all.
"haha, make one of these where Ron Paul beats the shit out of some GOP pretenders"

Hazy shade of off season

2007-12-14T07:24:00.000-08:00

Here comes my obligatory reference to a Simon and Garfunkel quote.
Sorry I really need to ask, but where the fuck have you gone Joe DiMaggio?
Our national pastime has become a sad reminder of what this country has become and is fast becoming.

Huckabee, again!

2007-12-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

Things seem to be getting worse for Huck.
Huffington Post is reporting that the ex Gov. of Arkansas pushed for the parole of a rapist who when released raped and murdered two other women.
Yikes. 2 strikes in 5 minutes.

Huckabee you ass!

2007-12-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

I try, and I try to be more open minded. To see both sides of the story.
Slowly, I begin to warm up to somebody, and then you read crap like this.
Another reason why you can't trust a republican.

Girl Talk/Dan Deacon will NOT be sponsored by Greyhound

2007-12-10T12:26:00.000-08:00

Man, I have rode on a few Greyhound buses. Even one this summer. Maybe some of the worst experiences of my life. Crammed with all sorts of (I know, Im generalizing here) assorted people who like me swear they "just hate flying".
I really do. I swear!
This week looks to be a turning of the tide. First The Onion has the front page 30 Miserable lives lost in Greyhound Bus Crash, then the 'hound fucked with the wrong indie synth rocker (hmmm...) when they used an image of Dan Deacon along side Ruins, and a crowd shot from a Team Robespierre show in a postcard series in the latest issue of XLR8R.
Deacons response was pretty fucking great.
"greyhound bus company is one of the worst run, bullshit companies i have ever had the misfortune to use. they are a total monopoly and take advantage of that with poor service and price hikes and route cancellation. they have bought all the other smaller companies and run them out of their office in dallas. they treat both their employees and customers like shit. they are a cancer.

since i do not drive i used to use them to get to shows (when nothing else was available). on many occasions i had to cancel shows because the bus would be late, my luggage would get lost/stolen, the over sell their buses, and fuck i fucking hate them.

it really upsets me that i am being used to promote them. if i had my way i would see all their buses transport guns to all the people they have fucked over.

like many evil companies they are trying to use subversive advertising and i will not allow myself to be a cog in their wheel of lies and deceit. these rats stink like rotten cum. fuck them with 1000 fires.

in case this message finds its way to someone in the advertising department of greyhound: eat my shorts you dickless pig fuckers."

Japancakes

2007-12-10T10:45:00.001-08:00

I have listened to Loveless by My Bloody Valentine about 6 hundred thousand times. Which is still totally alright with me.
After I lost my virginity (yes, I know. Gross) it started playing on the girl's cd player.
In the 90's, it was a great escape to those of us who loved distortion, but had really had it up to the ears with grunge.
It's an amazing album, and with all the stuff Kevin Shields has been doing since the band broke up so long ago, I think their reunion will be pretty great.
As things go of course, you can only listen to a record so many times, and that is the case with Loveless. I sort of put on the shelf for a few years.
For the last few weeks, a pal of mine has been raving about the band Japancakes, who I admit, I had never listened to before. Living in Brooklyn for so long, I always think of Japanther, and get a bit mixed up by the names (not the sound of course).
In a High Fidelity moment, my friend put the most recent record by the Athens Ga. group on. A song-for-song remake of the classic M.B.V. album that I lay digesting so many times in my life.
Person after person came asking "is this My Bloody Valentine?" And so it goes, people were turned on.
It's sort of a minor triumph to do an album like this. A gamble to cover a record as complex as Loveless could present a million pitfalls, but Japancakes pull it off, and have at the very least, put out one of the best re-releases of 2007.

Jail birdz

2007-12-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

Monday morning. Woke up late. Got a sweet Hanukkah present.

Loved you in How Stella got her Groove back

2007-12-08T09:50:00.000-08:00

A few months back, Whoopi Goldberg started out on The View, and made the comment about dogfighting being part of Michael Vick's culture. I admit, I felt like Whoopi was making blanket statements to seem "edgy", after taking the place of Rosie O'Donnell.
Then I realized, I don't really even care about The View. I have never watched a full episode, and never really care enough to.
Fast forward to today, reading Ed Champions blog, and I realize what an amazing formula this show really is. Proof that you toss any washed up comedian from the 80's at a table with 3 morons, and sparks are gonna fly.

limbs ahoy

2007-12-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

Maybe there was a good reason I skipped reading the article entitled When surgeons cut the wrong body part in the Times last month.
I woke up, hungover, made some eggs and coffee, then on accident, I click a link to this fucking article.

Karlheinz Stockhausen, dead

2007-12-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

Karlheinz Stockhausen has passed on.
One of the first great artists in Germany after World War 2.

Mermaid Ave.

2007-12-07T15:42:00.001-08:00

Oh, so you mean going into a concert and taping the music isn't such a bad idea?

That Zimmerman dude is going to be uber-stoked. Maybe as much as when he picked up Hank Williams suitcase?

Delia and Gavin AKA Delia and Gavin

2007-12-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

going.

2007-12-07T07:52:00.000-08:00

Do I dare say that of all of the Dostoevsky I have read (marched through is maybe more like it) that I feel The Brothers Karamazov has translated the best over the generations since it's initial publication?
Yes, I might.
MAYBE (note the capital letters on this one) not as "popular" (note the quotation marks on this one) as Crime and Punishment or the famous opening lines of Notes from the Underground, but if you want to talk about the guy being one of the founders of existentialism, if the guy would not have died, he was planning making this into a series called The Great life of a Sinner.
Sheesh. What's a guy gotta do to get some respect.

Anyways, going to this today, thanks to Flavorpill.

"Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic novel The Brothers Karamazov is a heady brew of depravity, justice, and redemption. A moving indictment of the problem of evil, the novel's lasting influence is owed, in part, to its examination of universal conundrums — the struggle between faith and doubt, the existence of a loving god, and the question of moral accountability"

Sounds like somebody should check it out as well. Drew Peterson maybe?

in the early 1980's

2007-12-07T07:37:00.000-08:00

2 of the most important things I can think about.

The Clean did their reunion show this week. I sat alone in my room in frozen Chicago second guessing my choice to move here.
But in the end, I settled for the pictures.

Pylon got a proper re-issue by DFA. Bradford (Deerhunter/Atlas Sound) does an interview and a good write up on his blog.

These events show that MAYBE the world is slowly headed in the right direction.

Djangos tears

2007-12-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

Oh man, the Rom are at war!
In SoCal of all places.

"It used to be that the Romany world was absolutely insulated from the outside world," said Hancock, a Gypsy himself. "But it's very hard to resist the pressures of MTV, and people are beginning to see alternatives."

Can't one clan just put a big Thinner curse on the entire other clan and be done with it? Sort of like an A-bomb of gypsy curses.

The next Zoolander. Good or bad thing?

2007-12-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

I caught John C. Reilly and Jake Kasdan on "Fresh Air" the other day talking about their new movie Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
After listening to the interview I realized 2 things
1. In interviews, John C. talks like his Chest Rockwell.
2. This movie is either going to be amazing or really terrible.

Judd Apatow as one of the writers and the movie poster lead me to believe better than worse.

However good, it won't touch Judd's upcoming project You Don't mess with the Zohan.

The Muse of Nick Cave?

2007-12-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

5 or so years ago, when Rockit Scientist Records was on Carmine street in the West Village, long before it became the last good place to visit on St. Marks place, Your young hero (myself) waltzed into there, and spent more money than I had on a stack of records.
One of those records was The Weird World of Blowfly. It's by the self-proclaimed "original dirty rapper" who is back on the road and even putting out records on Jello Biafras label. But these were different times. The guy behind the counter knew what was up.
"Shit man, you havin' a party?"
Me? With the bar I spun records at to a room full of 10 or less of my friends, and 3 drunk Polish guys? Yeah, I guess he could call it that.
"When I was a kid, me and my brothers would sneak these records away from our pop's, and listen to them when they left the house. This shit, and Richard Pryor."
He hit upon another name I hold in the Mt. Olympus of genius.
"My parents would play this shit for parties, so we call it party music."
About five years later, I found myself watching an interview on ViceTV with Nick Cave. The interviewer mentions that in one day he listened heard two records use the term "panther piss" one being Cave and Companies newest under the name Grinderman, and the other, Snatch and the Poontangs.
I was curious, so I went and found a copy of the album, which may be one of the most overlooked of all time.
A collection of dirty, filthy blues by Mr. Johnny Otis, and his son, the then 13 year old Shuggie Otis which includes The Great Stack A Lee and also has a lyric (among others Im guessing had some influence on the guy) "I'd crawl over 50 good pussies to get to one fat boys asshole".
2 things Mr. Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds would later reference on their album Murder Ballads. Maybe our old friend Blowfly picked up a thing or two in terms of fucking with older songs from this album. The Hand Jive send up Hey Shine is 100% classic.
I gotta guess that somewhere, sometime, this album, that includes some R.Crumb inspired artwork on the cover had to be considered to be party music to somebody.