Saturday, October 31, 2009
The Scariest Videos (for your Halloween Saturday)
I remember seeing this for the first time and never wanting to go to the dentist again. And for a decade, I
didn't.
Tool's videos most always bend reality to extremes....let's have some roofing nails for lunch.
Aphex Twin is purely twisted..on the cusp of evil....I can just fear that hellish halitosis from here. And thats not all... Rubber Johnny is another video that Aphex Twin did with video artist Chris Cunningham...and it is quite simply the creepiest, spooky thing I've ever seen on the web.
Well, enjoy your Halloween ghouls and fools...I'm off to check the apples for razor blades!
Friday, October 30, 2009
The Scariest Album Covers Ever
I can't sleep, my feet are corpse cold and I'm forcing myself to blog about something Halloween-centric.Yet its been hard to get into the spirit of this candy coated holiday. We haven't been invited to an adult costume parties because most of the adults are "doing it for the kids" these days. I wouldn't mind bobbing for apples in a big tub of Jagermeister and yawning at all of the Kate Gosselin and Dead Michael Jackson costumes while I'm at it. But as we get older it seems that we put our kids in in the Halloween spotlight.....sooooo.... I am slightly peeved that my son's school does not "celebrate" Halloween. They are having an event called "The Fall Festival" in all of the early childhood classes...While the older kids do get to celebrate with costumes and monitored revelry, the toddlers do not. Could it be that in the opinion of the administration that 3 and 4 year olds should not be reminded of anything that might scare them in any way? (ie seeing their classmates dressed up as elmos, spidermen, princesses and octomoms? I don't get it? There will be some songs sung and a celebration of the change of season, but not one candy corn on the premises. I think it would be ok to gently scare the little ones if it was done with laughter and not pure fear. Daddy looks pretty scary the morning after bobbing for Jager apples and that might have to be good enough for me this year.
So I did a list last year of the top scariest songs and this year I'm going with album covers this year...without further explanation, I present the Scariest Album Covers Ever.
So I did a list last year of the top scariest songs and this year I'm going with album covers this year...without further explanation, I present the Scariest Album Covers Ever.
Danzig-Danzig
A classic and simple graphic of a shadowy horned skull still sends chills. It also keeps many tattoo artists in business.
Black Sabbath-Born Again
Devil Babies are so cute! When you burp them, little flames get coughed out. Their diapers are always full of human remains and poop that looks like hellflame ash, so be careful..those little nuggets are like shit cinders. Hot!Hot! Hot! I couldn't find one lousy lullaby on this album though,which left me with one cranky little Beelzubaby.
High On Fire-Surrounded By Thieves
A horde of red eyed, netherworldly viking demons charging through fire with axe and spear...right at you. The start of a really bad day. Demons need a hearty breakfast or they get all bunged up and start apocalypses.
The Beatles-Sgt. Peppers
Nostalgia brings up scary memories of me being 8 or 9 and already knowing about the abundance of alleged death symbolism on this album cover. I remember seeing the floating hand hovering over Paul's head and getting freaked so bad that I would run past the stereo system in the room if I was alone in the house. That creshendo of epic strings at the end of A Day In the Life didn't help either.
Lynyrd Skynyrd-Street Survivors(original cover)
The image of the band lined up on a street that is engulfed in flames was an eerie foreshadowing of what was to come with the plane crash that ended the lives of Ronnie, Steve and Cassie. This posthumous release in 1977 also contained the song "That Smell" which touted the dangers of self destruction as a warning. Yet it was impossible for the band to prepare itself for what happened. The look in Steve Gaines' eyes (center) as his head is wrapped in fire is enough to scare the daylights out of anyone. The cover was of course, redone before its release , with the omission of flames and the band shrouded in black.
This is the fucking scariest album cover of all time. I'm shrieking with a slight lisp right now, but still scared shitless. Its so campy, so tongue in cheek, right Glamboat? I'm scared for you, scared you'll be doing shopping mall gigs and holiday variety shows chock full of the dregs on the d-list from where you came.
Alrighty then girls and ghouls! Send me your own personal choices and be sure to include the graphic if you can!
Happy Hollow Weenies everyone!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
U2: The Unforgettable Fire Remastered and Expanded
The Unforgettable Fire is the perfect autumn album, upon listening to songs like Wire, A Sort of Homecoming and the title track, I picture myself in a firestorm of falling leaves piecing together fractured thoughts from a hard week and I can see my breath as I walk a crooked line to a pub at dusk: This would be that soundtrack. Recorded in a castle at the height of Bono's mulletude, it is the perfect mix of ample Eno ambient and the layered,atmospheric rock of a band who in 1984, was on the cusp of superstardom. This album prepared the world for the juggernaut to come, and gave Bono's ego that boost it surely needed. Here are the specs from the band's website.... go for the DELUXE RELEASE...it has great B-sides like Three Sunrises and Love Comes Tumbling and live versions of Bad and The Unforgettable Fire!
U2's fourth album, The Unforgettable Fire, has been remastered and will be released by Mercury Records on 26th October.
This special edition marks 25 years since the album's original release in October 1984. Recorded at Slane Castle, Ireland, The Unforgettable Fire was the first U2 album to be produced by Brian Eno and Danny Lanois, and spawned two top 10 UK singles - 'Pride (In The Name Of Love)' and 'The Unforgettable Fire'.
Special formats of The Unforgettable Fire will also feature bonus audio material, including two previously unheard tracks from the Slane Castle sessions: 'Yoshino Blossom', and 'Disappearing Act' (a track which the band recently completed), and a DVD including music videos, a documentary and unreleased live footage from the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope Tour in 1986.
The Unforgettable Fire has been remastered from the original audio tapes, with direction from The Edge and the album will be available in four formats:
* Limited Edition Box Set: containing 2 CDs (remastered album and bonus audio CD), a DVD with live footage, documentary and videos, a 56 page hardback book with liner notes by The Edge, Brian Eno, Danny Lanois, Bert Van de Kamp and Niall Stokes, and 5 photographic prints
* Deluxe Edition: containing 2 CDs, the remastered album, and the bonus audio CD which features B-sides and previously unreleased material, a 36 page booklet with liner notes by The Edge, Brian Eno, Danny Lanois and Bert Van de Kamp
* CD format: featuring the remastered album
* 12" vinyl format: 16 page booklet with liner notes by Brian Eno, Danny Lanois and Bert Van de Kamp
The Unforgettable Fire track listing is as follows: A Sort of Homecoming, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Wire, The Unforgettable Fire, Promenade, 4th Of July, Bad, Indian Summer Sky, Elvis Presley and America, MLK.
Monday, October 26, 2009
New Fang by Them Crooked Vultures
New Fang by crookedvultures
Several days ago, my eccentric neighbor Mr. V. knocked on our door. It was just about dusk, and he was holding a bird watcher's guide. He seemed over excited about something, a bit sweaty and out of sorts. He told me that there was a flock of 30 or so VULTURES chilling in a large tree draping over a nearby yard. I've never seen a vulture east of Albuquerque, so he had piqued my interest.
I put on my jacket, grabbed the little one and followed Mr. V. in his frenzied state into the early dark...and there....40 feet up a huge Oak tree were the shadowy forms of many large birds. I watched them as they would circle, return and repeat..with only the sound of rustling branches accompanying them as they would land.. There was a hulking mass of bird on almost every high branch,We watched for several minutes in stunned silence and then headed back home. In the morning they were long gone. What were they doing here, on a suburban Philadelphia street far from any mountain, desert or dead animal? Watching...waiting...was it a sign? Eat or be eaten. Hunt or be hunted. Listen..do not hear?
We shall see.
Several days ago, my eccentric neighbor Mr. V. knocked on our door. It was just about dusk, and he was holding a bird watcher's guide. He seemed over excited about something, a bit sweaty and out of sorts. He told me that there was a flock of 30 or so VULTURES chilling in a large tree draping over a nearby yard. I've never seen a vulture east of Albuquerque, so he had piqued my interest.
I put on my jacket, grabbed the little one and followed Mr. V. in his frenzied state into the early dark...and there....40 feet up a huge Oak tree were the shadowy forms of many large birds. I watched them as they would circle, return and repeat..with only the sound of rustling branches accompanying them as they would land.. There was a hulking mass of bird on almost every high branch,We watched for several minutes in stunned silence and then headed back home. In the morning they were long gone. What were they doing here, on a suburban Philadelphia street far from any mountain, desert or dead animal? Watching...waiting...was it a sign? Eat or be eaten. Hunt or be hunted. Listen..do not hear?
We shall see.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Thom Yorke + Flea= WTF
A couple of weeks back, I blogged about my wife running into Thom Yorke at an LA eatery. We both thought Thom would rather be sipping tea incognito and brooding at a nameless cafe down the street from his English manor than be anywhere near the fundamental fakery of LA...turns out he was working on doing some live shows based on his 2006 album The Eraser....with his longtime producer Nigel Godrich and Flea(everyone scratch their head in unison) on bass.
Here is a vid from the show they did at the Echoplex...Smoke Machines! Open Shirts! 80s dance moves! As far as I can tell, Thom is tapping into a new audience full of guys who collect beats for a living..those shiny people who wear sunglasses and glossy blazers at the uberclubs, and mumble in digital code...... I say as long as he keeps us guessing, he's A-OK with me.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Basements, Displacements
I have a basement again. It is down there, waiting. Waiting for a band to occupy its space or a song to be written far away from the responsibilities that hound me. Yes its been two years since we schlepped here from San Francisco...so why the hell am I writing about basements on a music blog? Well, simply put, basements are like a sanctuary for the soul if you are a musician. And the mind wanders, when I am down there as a laundry doin' zombie, while just behind the adjacent wall is an empty space with an unplugged fridge and a dusty amp.The mics and stands, packed in a closet in the dark,rusting and waiting. I have not yet utilized this wonderful thing right here in my own house except to prime the walls white and set up my thrift store drums to make a place for the spiders to hone their craft....I should be honing mine.
Basements were magic rooms growing up in the suburbs of the Northeast. There were many parts of the country where houses had no basements because of the threat of water or earthquakes...and those kids were shut out or forced into the garage. Those kids joined garage bands..We joined Basement Bands. Anyhow, our garages were always full of cars finding refuge from 6 months of winter and riding lawn mowers waiting for obsessive dads to find refuge from their families by cutting the grass with a beer in hand.
Some of us were graced with enough luck(or torture) to live at home long enough to appreciate this four walled world which had no use to Mom and Dad other than to house your boxes of Christmas decorations, hide a litter box and send you Fisher Price Toys to their own musty corner of toy purgatory. For most families,a basement was a place for their stuff. But if you went away to college, fucked up, failed out and had to come home...a basement was an oasis of isolation for an angsty upstart musician with endless possibility within the knotty pine paneled walls.
Like many of the homes of my friends in upstate New York, my basement was "finished". There were real walls thrown up over the cinder blocks and carpet on the concrete floors. We were always amazed that Mom and Dad would furnish them and never use them. But most basements just sat their lonely and dressed up to compete with the beautiful caves of cul du sac kings up the street like The Kornfelds or the Ryans. The typical suburban basement had ping pong tables, a dehumidifier and a dartboard with no darts. The floor coverings would collect stains from Pepsi fueled foosball marathons, Post-Atari afternoon bean bag chair spillings and later, all kinds of fluids from massive and covert keg party while "the rents" were away.
But this all changed once my misfit youth compadres and I left the backyard Nerf brigades behind and started bands to release subdivision tension or lure in a cheerleader with forbidden love from behind our denim armors. My parents were always the coolest around...hippies without the drugs so to speak, an easy target. My Dad was an artist and Mom was as liberal as they come...somehow we ended up in the middle class suburbs and not in a commune beyond the farmlands. This made things awesomely simple when it came to finding a place to play. Hell, it was right underneath Dad and his morning Danish! Free and easy, man. The mid 80s and a basement full of couches, amps, drums and a dorm room fridge full of Genesee Beer. We spent at least 5 years in the basement, practicing the classic menu of AC to Zep, recording demos, staying glued true to our roots and hosting parties full of nary a cheerleader, but plenty of granola to go around!
My 20s and most of my 30s were spent in big cities far from the restless dreams of youth and chasing an invisible tail, full of false starts and music in bits and pieces...fitting in jams with various musicians in Atlanta living rooms,Yakima crawlspaces, Brooklyn warehouses, and San Francisco practice rooms...The time will get away from you, and like my Dad always said...some years are faster than others..Now I'm a grown man, back in the suburbs with a family, a slightly overgrown yard and a basement of my own....there are ghosts down there, waiting for sound check, getting shocked on a mic with a bad ground,crossing out lines in notebooks... creating in unison. Those ghosts haunt me while I'm sneaking in loud music on an ipod while driving, while I hum in the shower,while I dis all of those horrible false "idol" shows, cantankerous from the couch. I can hear them laughing, those ghosts...and they all have perfect pitch.
I want a basement band again. I have the basement........It's still down there. There must be guys like me around here...with real talent..(not these Craigslist cretins)...... who love their life but are trapped with responsibility and lose the harness grip on creativity...keeping it hidden, not by choice, but because of life's little necessities, like pre school, Whole Foods and hardware. Come all come one you fine un- young fellows! Dust off your amp, come with a song and plug in..but it has to be after nap time...let's ditch these grungy ghosts and find some funk of our own.
I'd love to hear about your own "basements", garages, and rooms that consumed you in music as well.
Basements were magic rooms growing up in the suburbs of the Northeast. There were many parts of the country where houses had no basements because of the threat of water or earthquakes...and those kids were shut out or forced into the garage. Those kids joined garage bands..We joined Basement Bands. Anyhow, our garages were always full of cars finding refuge from 6 months of winter and riding lawn mowers waiting for obsessive dads to find refuge from their families by cutting the grass with a beer in hand.
Some of us were graced with enough luck(or torture) to live at home long enough to appreciate this four walled world which had no use to Mom and Dad other than to house your boxes of Christmas decorations, hide a litter box and send you Fisher Price Toys to their own musty corner of toy purgatory. For most families,a basement was a place for their stuff. But if you went away to college, fucked up, failed out and had to come home...a basement was an oasis of isolation for an angsty upstart musician with endless possibility within the knotty pine paneled walls.
Like many of the homes of my friends in upstate New York, my basement was "finished". There were real walls thrown up over the cinder blocks and carpet on the concrete floors. We were always amazed that Mom and Dad would furnish them and never use them. But most basements just sat their lonely and dressed up to compete with the beautiful caves of cul du sac kings up the street like The Kornfelds or the Ryans. The typical suburban basement had ping pong tables, a dehumidifier and a dartboard with no darts. The floor coverings would collect stains from Pepsi fueled foosball marathons, Post-Atari afternoon bean bag chair spillings and later, all kinds of fluids from massive and covert keg party while "the rents" were away.
But this all changed once my misfit youth compadres and I left the backyard Nerf brigades behind and started bands to release subdivision tension or lure in a cheerleader with forbidden love from behind our denim armors. My parents were always the coolest around...hippies without the drugs so to speak, an easy target. My Dad was an artist and Mom was as liberal as they come...somehow we ended up in the middle class suburbs and not in a commune beyond the farmlands. This made things awesomely simple when it came to finding a place to play. Hell, it was right underneath Dad and his morning Danish! Free and easy, man. The mid 80s and a basement full of couches, amps, drums and a dorm room fridge full of Genesee Beer. We spent at least 5 years in the basement, practicing the classic menu of AC to Zep, recording demos, staying glued true to our roots and hosting parties full of nary a cheerleader, but plenty of granola to go around!
My 20s and most of my 30s were spent in big cities far from the restless dreams of youth and chasing an invisible tail, full of false starts and music in bits and pieces...fitting in jams with various musicians in Atlanta living rooms,Yakima crawlspaces, Brooklyn warehouses, and San Francisco practice rooms...The time will get away from you, and like my Dad always said...some years are faster than others..Now I'm a grown man, back in the suburbs with a family, a slightly overgrown yard and a basement of my own....there are ghosts down there, waiting for sound check, getting shocked on a mic with a bad ground,crossing out lines in notebooks... creating in unison. Those ghosts haunt me while I'm sneaking in loud music on an ipod while driving, while I hum in the shower,while I dis all of those horrible false "idol" shows, cantankerous from the couch. I can hear them laughing, those ghosts...and they all have perfect pitch.
I want a basement band again. I have the basement........It's still down there. There must be guys like me around here...with real talent..(not these Craigslist cretins)...... who love their life but are trapped with responsibility and lose the harness grip on creativity...keeping it hidden, not by choice, but because of life's little necessities, like pre school, Whole Foods and hardware. Come all come one you fine un- young fellows! Dust off your amp, come with a song and plug in..but it has to be after nap time...let's ditch these grungy ghosts and find some funk of our own.
I'd love to hear about your own "basements", garages, and rooms that consumed you in music as well.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Dave Grohl, Can I Be Your Best Friend?
How could anyone not love this guy? Here he is talking to a complete stranger from some radio station in Austin and he's just laughing at himself, loving life and completely aware of how lucky he is to play with Them Crooked Vultures, John Paul Jones, Queens of the Stone Age....and Nirvana.
I love the part where he laughs about the Vultures first meeting...at his 40th birthday party held at a Medieval Times Theme restaurant. Hey, I've got a birthday coming up next August...do you think Dave could meet me and my friends at the local Chuck E. Cheese, play some serious Galaga and then head back to my place to jam on Zeppelin's entire catalog in my basement?
Let me know, Dave. Until then I'd be willing to hold your stick bag or shine your cymbals.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
What The X#@%!! Is Wrong With You People
What the Fuck is Wrong With You People!!!????
Hold your Horses..by YOU PEOPLE, I mean the rest of you in the good old USA who have gone completely, culturally limp. I mean the bulk of you who take the middle of the golden road and cling to it like if you didn't, you would slip toward the ditch on either side and be washed away to the burning loins of Hell. Shame on you, the rest of you. If your safe soft bellies were punctured, styrofoam packing peanuts and high fructose corn syrup would seep out.
This week's Billboard Chart:
1. Michael Bublé - "Crazy Love" - 132,000 (debut, in 3 days of sales)
2. Kiss - "Sonic Boom" - 108,000 (debut, Wal-Mart exclusive)
3. Toby Keith - "American Ride" - 90,000 (debut)
4. Barbra Streisand - "Love Is the Answer" - 75,000 (down 58%)
5. Jay-Z - "The Blueprint 3" - 65,000 (down 27%)
6. Luke Bryan - "Doin' My Thing" - 58,000 (debut)
7. Mariah Carey - "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" - 54,000 (down 68%)
8. Miley Cyrus - "The Time of Our Lives" EP - 47,000 (down 14%)
9. Backstreet Boys - "This Is Us" - 42,000 (debut)
10. Breaking Benjamin - "Dear Agony" - 41,000 (down 69%)
Around this time in 1990
1. "Because I Love You (The Postman Song)" — Stevie B. 4:22
2. "The Power" — Snap 3:40
3. "Cradle of Love" — Billy Idol 4:41
4. "Pray" — MC Hammer 5:13
5. "Hold On" — Wilson Phillips 3:42
6. "Unskinny Bop" — Poison 3:49
7. "Step by Step" — New Kids On The Block 4:29
8. "Pump up the Jam" — Technotronic 3:38
9. "I Wish It Would Rain Down" — Phil Collins 5:30
10. "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection" — Nelson 3:54
Progress is dead...I'm going to barricade myself in my house...no, I'm going to dig a deep system of tunnels and chambers under my house to hide out and cut my ears off.... take my books, a copy of Exile on Main Street and my worn slippers and not come to the surface until the apocalypse has happened and all of the malls in the middle of the country have been leveled to dust.
Hold your Horses..by YOU PEOPLE, I mean the rest of you in the good old USA who have gone completely, culturally limp. I mean the bulk of you who take the middle of the golden road and cling to it like if you didn't, you would slip toward the ditch on either side and be washed away to the burning loins of Hell. Shame on you, the rest of you. If your safe soft bellies were punctured, styrofoam packing peanuts and high fructose corn syrup would seep out.
This week's Billboard Chart:
1. Michael Bublé - "Crazy Love" - 132,000 (debut, in 3 days of sales)
2. Kiss - "Sonic Boom" - 108,000 (debut, Wal-Mart exclusive)
3. Toby Keith - "American Ride" - 90,000 (debut)
4. Barbra Streisand - "Love Is the Answer" - 75,000 (down 58%)
5. Jay-Z - "The Blueprint 3" - 65,000 (down 27%)
6. Luke Bryan - "Doin' My Thing" - 58,000 (debut)
7. Mariah Carey - "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" - 54,000 (down 68%)
8. Miley Cyrus - "The Time of Our Lives" EP - 47,000 (down 14%)
9. Backstreet Boys - "This Is Us" - 42,000 (debut)
10. Breaking Benjamin - "Dear Agony" - 41,000 (down 69%)
Around this time in 1990
1. "Because I Love You (The Postman Song)" — Stevie B. 4:22
2. "The Power" — Snap 3:40
3. "Cradle of Love" — Billy Idol 4:41
4. "Pray" — MC Hammer 5:13
5. "Hold On" — Wilson Phillips 3:42
6. "Unskinny Bop" — Poison 3:49
7. "Step by Step" — New Kids On The Block 4:29
8. "Pump up the Jam" — Technotronic 3:38
9. "I Wish It Would Rain Down" — Phil Collins 5:30
10. "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection" — Nelson 3:54
Progress is dead...I'm going to barricade myself in my house...no, I'm going to dig a deep system of tunnels and chambers under my house to hide out and cut my ears off.... take my books, a copy of Exile on Main Street and my worn slippers and not come to the surface until the apocalypse has happened and all of the malls in the middle of the country have been leveled to dust.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
John Paul Jones in Philly last night
This is a legend of a man named John Paul Jones who is presently touring the US with Them Crooked Vultures. This is from last night in Philadelphia. This was shot by yours truly. He played bass, 12 string bass,bass pedals, electric mandolin and sang back up on most of their 13 song set last night. (which was earth shattering). This man was in Led Zeppelin for the rock infants out there. That's right, Led Zeppelin. Get ready for the album of the year, and Flock Together come November.
Best Week Ever(?) and It's Only Tuesday
WHY?
-I Just got back from seeing a monumental life changing Them Crooked Vultures show. JOHN PAUL JONES.
-I saw The Mars Volta for the first time this past Saturday and got my soul dusted and cranial crop rotated.
-The Phillies are going back to the NLCS.
-The Yankees thumped the Twins in a super sweep.And Kate Hudson's sweet lady bits are keeping A-Rod's bat finally worth something in October.
-The Red Sox can sit on their asses until April and stare at a big green wall.
-The Patriots can ponder another heartbreaking loss while the world fucking cheers.
-I got 4 new pair of underwear.
-I've got to sing loud and proud at a Bang Camaro show at Santo's Party House in NYC on Thurs.night.
-My wife bought me a box of Boo Berry(highly unusual gesture) and I almost shat myself with delight.If she buys me Captain Crunch "All Berries" I might just propose all over again.
-I heard "Love Gun" on the radio today and can now say without doubt that it is in the top 5 worst songs of all time. Uncovering a new" Best of the worst" is a thrill akin to jamming with Paul McCartney for yours truly.
-Pumpkin carving with my son is just around the corner and this is the first year he'll really "get it." Stick your hand in that thing, Hudson.
-I have 4 reviews to write this week and I am cramming more shows in this month like a perpetual man child should.
-October is and always will be "Rocktober".
-
-I Just got back from seeing a monumental life changing Them Crooked Vultures show. JOHN PAUL JONES.
-I saw The Mars Volta for the first time this past Saturday and got my soul dusted and cranial crop rotated.
-The Phillies are going back to the NLCS.
-The Yankees thumped the Twins in a super sweep.And Kate Hudson's sweet lady bits are keeping A-Rod's bat finally worth something in October.
-The Red Sox can sit on their asses until April and stare at a big green wall.
-The Patriots can ponder another heartbreaking loss while the world fucking cheers.
-I got 4 new pair of underwear.
-I've got to sing loud and proud at a Bang Camaro show at Santo's Party House in NYC on Thurs.night.
-My wife bought me a box of Boo Berry(highly unusual gesture) and I almost shat myself with delight.If she buys me Captain Crunch "All Berries" I might just propose all over again.
-I heard "Love Gun" on the radio today and can now say without doubt that it is in the top 5 worst songs of all time. Uncovering a new" Best of the worst" is a thrill akin to jamming with Paul McCartney for yours truly.
-Pumpkin carving with my son is just around the corner and this is the first year he'll really "get it." Stick your hand in that thing, Hudson.
-I have 4 reviews to write this week and I am cramming more shows in this month like a perpetual man child should.
-October is and always will be "Rocktober".
-
Friday, October 09, 2009
Pre Traumatic Stress Syndrome
Crawling on all fours through fun city dreams
lay a punch in the face of the night
shuffling faces glide from affinity's stare
everything men say they will always take care
its not when you stay put, its where.
fantasee me on a plain brown stage
shake teeths of read and fists of page
bleeding in the dancehall on coasters and bearings
writing and texting while hating and caring
pidgeonholed in doldrums
typecast in sad sackism
random head wackism
blue blue these children sit
in sedations way
donefore in the folklore of anonymous days
doggish strays
chasing tails like grown men do in a
ceiling stare
too late to sleep it off
too heavy to sleep it in.
lay a punch in the face of the night
shuffling faces glide from affinity's stare
everything men say they will always take care
its not when you stay put, its where.
fantasee me on a plain brown stage
shake teeths of read and fists of page
bleeding in the dancehall on coasters and bearings
writing and texting while hating and caring
pidgeonholed in doldrums
typecast in sad sackism
random head wackism
blue blue these children sit
in sedations way
donefore in the folklore of anonymous days
doggish strays
chasing tails like grown men do in a
ceiling stare
too late to sleep it off
too heavy to sleep it in.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Sleepless for Seattle
Well, Via Los Angeles, I guess. There was a Temple of the Dog reunion of sorts in LA at the Pearl Jam show last night. You see, since Matt Cameron has been behind the kit for almost a decade now, so all that was missing was a man named Chris Cornell. He happened to be there and graced the stage w/ PJ during one of their encores for a rousing redition of Hunger Strike. The video is about a B-, but I'm posting it because...listen closely...... Chris HITS THE NOTES! Yes! And he's growing those pantie soakin', flannel flyin' locks real long it looks like. I dream of a Soundgarden reunion after this Pearl Jam tour ends maybe a year from now, but for now, this will do.
So If that wasn't enough to get me to pull up roots and move back to that converted garage in West Seattle that I used as a flophouse in 1995 surviving on Jugs of wine and Lucky Charms and hoping to join a band coasting on the fumes emitted from the ghosts of grunge......Jerry Cantrell comes up during the "Alive" encore and steals the guitar from McCready and does the solo...damn, shit damn. These guys are in their mid 40s!! They still rock whole and hearty and pure as fuck. Man.... some days just label me a child of the early 90s.
Cantrell, Cornell
Cast spell, Do tell.
Ed Ved
Ride Swells
Teen Spirit
Like Smells.
2 weeks
Bleach sells
Mudhoney
Armed well
Trees Scream
lows fell
Gifts fall from
Laynes hell.
The Best "Cover Band" Ever
Now this is more like it! I would gladly watch this guy do ANY of the song on my list from a couple days ago. What an economical way to entertain.
And then there's the incomparable Bob Log III....
Lets start an army of one man bands.................
Sunday, October 04, 2009
A List of Cover Songs That Should Never Be Played Again
I was at a local October Art Festival today, bypassing all of the art for the food(chicken and black bean burrito=fart-tastical bliss!) when I came across what a bitter, sort of professional rock musician like myself would call background music. Yes, it was a cover band set up on a street corner doing their best to get the LCDs to sweat to the oldies. The band was a rainbow coalition of weekend warriors with a maximum case of tin ear bleeding out of the speakers(on poles) into a puddle of godawful in front of the stage...
(on a side note, do you ever notice that guys in cover bands always have exquisite equipment, gold top Les Pauls, 4 thousand dollar Paul Reed Smiths, Fender Jazz Basses, Marshall or Mesa amps w/o a scratch, puncture or crease that still smell like the inside of a Guitar Center? never been dropped or spit on, cases adorned with nary a sticker except for maybe a Free Tibet one, ughhhhhh-Fuck Me! Why is it that the gear says Gibson when the talent says Peavey?)
Anyhow, The song that Cheesy Danish and the Hot Pockets or whatever the fuck they were called were playing was "I Saw Her Standing There" by the Beatles. Man it hit me right where my burrito was making its way home and everything on this fine October day turned to sour sour cream. Now, I've done my time in cover bands for more years than I care to mention: Blue Coolies,Commotion, Tainted Love, Sex Type Thing, Blitz Band) I've had fun, I have worn red leather pants...I have sung I saw Her Standing There... and I do believe there is a time and place for well balanced tribute/cover bands(weddings: 45 minutes post open bar, proms:because anything's better than a DJ, and nestled between purgatory and the seventh level of hell somewhere or at an arena bar in between the 2nd and 3rd period of a Flyers games because...well, those zombie folks are easy to pleasebeautiful losers well watered down and radio ready) . I also think learning other people's stuff is a great way to cut your teeth, woodshed and find your style as a young budding musician.
But man, I get so nauseous when I hear a cover song that should never be played again by a band that has no business attempting it. There are songs that get wrung out so badly in public by bad bands all up and down the tri- state area.( and I'm talking the cover band capitol of the world known as Jersey,Pennsylvania,Delaware). It's like the Bermuda Triangle of music because players go in and are never seen or heard from again. And by all means, if you are in a cover band and make your living doing it, I say Hell Yeah! That means you're good enough to keep getting booked and probably have the good sense to NEVER play the songs on this list, songs that have been beaten to death by "great" cover bands and have trickled down like bloody tears to the setlists of the weekend warriors over the last decades only to be stripped of all melody and rhythm and left to die while the crowd claps out of sync and drinks their Coors Light. I banish these songs to the same place I'll probably end up hearing them in eternity: somewhere between purgatory and the seventh level of hell....... the last ones on this list are the ones that should be driving terrorists out of Afghani rat holes or stopping hostage situations nationwide.
A List Of Cover Songs That Should Never Be Played Again
The first 5 are from an album called Beat the Beatles....
1) I Saw Her Standing There
2) Get Back
3) Back In the USSR
4) Day Tripper
5) Ticket to Ride
6) No Matter What-Badfinger
7) Twist and Shout-enough already
8)Down On the Corner
9) Bad Moon Rising
10) Looking Out My Back Door
11)Rock and Roll-Led Zep- 99 % of bands worldwide who attempt this will butcher it. Turns out its anything but Rock and Roll.
12) Whole Lotta Love-Christ,I don't even wanna hear Led Zeppelin do this song.
13)Brick House-the fact that it gets a bunch of rotund cougars on the floor is not an asset to the set.
14) Mustang Sally- do I really have to tell you why?
15)Margaritaville- feels like underwear sand when I hear it.
16) Walkin' On Sunshine
17) Oye Como Va- matarme, por favor.
18) Crazy Bitch-Buckcherry- The guy who actually sings this has six pack abs with "Chaos" tattooed on it. Everybody else has an innertube that hangs over their acid washed jeans.
19) Rock and Roll All Night- always at 2/3 of the tempo and makes one wish the cover band had make- up on as well.
20) Play That Funky Music- White boys, leave it to the black boys please.
21) I Want You To Want Me
22) Sunshine of Your Love
23) Crossroads-one of the most painful...should have been banned on cover circuits in 1969.
24) You Give Love a Bad Name
25) Livin' On a Prayer- like a plague, you will get hit by this even outside of the afformentioned "Bermuda Triangle of Music", and you might feel better doing the backstroke thru a Jersey landfill.
26) Sultans of Swing
27) Hard to Handle-exactly.
28) Laid-James-won't.....get......
29) Man in the Box-Alice in Chains: if you don't have the pipes, don't try to hit that note. Wildlife will die. Shot glasses will shatter.
30) Sweet Home Alabama-because most kids and their young mothers think this is a Kid Rock song.
31) All I Wanna Do Is Have Some Fun- and I will as soon as I leave this bar.
32)Some Kind Of Wonderful
33)Any Song Steve Miller Has Ever Written
34) Any Song Bob Seger Has Ever Written
35)Beast Of Burden
36) Honky Tonk Woman-I believe this song has caused more DWI's in women 45-55 than any other.
37) My Own Worst Enemy-yes you are.
38) 3am-Matchbox 20- burning down the house every night.
39) Suck My Kiss
40) You May Be Right-wrong again.
41) Crazy Little Thing Called Love
42) 867-5309(Jenny Jenny)- call 911 instead.
43) Are You Gonna Go My Way- Is your way towards the EXIT?
44) You Shook Me All Night Long- one of the most difficult songs to sing of all time. There are no breaths in this song, except for the one you use to resuscitate yourself after hearing Buster Hymen and the Penetrators do it.
and rounding out the absolute bottom....
46) American Girl
47) Brown Eyed Girl- any female who relates to these songs is no longer a girl...the band fails to realize this.
48) Shout- you know you make me wanna....bash my head in and...slit my wrists and uh, come on now....
49) Born To Be Wild-get your walker walkin', shuffle down the hallway, looking for the lunchroom or whatever comes my way.....
50) What I Like About You- you have arrived in hell, please leave your jacket at the door and dive straight into the infinitely burning sea of forever. Have you ever seen a picture of The Romantics since 1985? That's how embarrassed they are.
Please send your hate mail or your additions to this list to Seano at Circle of Fits. I am available for children's birthday parties, Right to Life Conventions, Nascar afterparties and Magic: The gathering gatherings. Thank you and be sure to tip your bartender.
(on a side note, do you ever notice that guys in cover bands always have exquisite equipment, gold top Les Pauls, 4 thousand dollar Paul Reed Smiths, Fender Jazz Basses, Marshall or Mesa amps w/o a scratch, puncture or crease that still smell like the inside of a Guitar Center? never been dropped or spit on, cases adorned with nary a sticker except for maybe a Free Tibet one, ughhhhhh-Fuck Me! Why is it that the gear says Gibson when the talent says Peavey?)
Anyhow, The song that Cheesy Danish and the Hot Pockets or whatever the fuck they were called were playing was "I Saw Her Standing There" by the Beatles. Man it hit me right where my burrito was making its way home and everything on this fine October day turned to sour sour cream. Now, I've done my time in cover bands for more years than I care to mention: Blue Coolies,Commotion, Tainted Love, Sex Type Thing, Blitz Band) I've had fun, I have worn red leather pants...I have sung I saw Her Standing There... and I do believe there is a time and place for well balanced tribute/cover bands(weddings: 45 minutes post open bar, proms:because anything's better than a DJ, and nestled between purgatory and the seventh level of hell somewhere or at an arena bar in between the 2nd and 3rd period of a Flyers games because...well, those zombie folks are easy to pleasebeautiful losers well watered down and radio ready) . I also think learning other people's stuff is a great way to cut your teeth, woodshed and find your style as a young budding musician.
But man, I get so nauseous when I hear a cover song that should never be played again by a band that has no business attempting it. There are songs that get wrung out so badly in public by bad bands all up and down the tri- state area.( and I'm talking the cover band capitol of the world known as Jersey,Pennsylvania,Delaware). It's like the Bermuda Triangle of music because players go in and are never seen or heard from again. And by all means, if you are in a cover band and make your living doing it, I say Hell Yeah! That means you're good enough to keep getting booked and probably have the good sense to NEVER play the songs on this list, songs that have been beaten to death by "great" cover bands and have trickled down like bloody tears to the setlists of the weekend warriors over the last decades only to be stripped of all melody and rhythm and left to die while the crowd claps out of sync and drinks their Coors Light. I banish these songs to the same place I'll probably end up hearing them in eternity: somewhere between purgatory and the seventh level of hell....... the last ones on this list are the ones that should be driving terrorists out of Afghani rat holes or stopping hostage situations nationwide.
A List Of Cover Songs That Should Never Be Played Again
The first 5 are from an album called Beat the Beatles....
1) I Saw Her Standing There
2) Get Back
3) Back In the USSR
4) Day Tripper
5) Ticket to Ride
6) No Matter What-Badfinger
7) Twist and Shout-enough already
8)Down On the Corner
9) Bad Moon Rising
10) Looking Out My Back Door
11)Rock and Roll-Led Zep- 99 % of bands worldwide who attempt this will butcher it. Turns out its anything but Rock and Roll.
12) Whole Lotta Love-Christ,I don't even wanna hear Led Zeppelin do this song.
13)Brick House-the fact that it gets a bunch of rotund cougars on the floor is not an asset to the set.
14) Mustang Sally- do I really have to tell you why?
15)Margaritaville- feels like underwear sand when I hear it.
16) Walkin' On Sunshine
17) Oye Como Va- matarme, por favor.
18) Crazy Bitch-Buckcherry- The guy who actually sings this has six pack abs with "Chaos" tattooed on it. Everybody else has an innertube that hangs over their acid washed jeans.
19) Rock and Roll All Night- always at 2/3 of the tempo and makes one wish the cover band had make- up on as well.
20) Play That Funky Music- White boys, leave it to the black boys please.
21) I Want You To Want Me
22) Sunshine of Your Love
23) Crossroads-one of the most painful...should have been banned on cover circuits in 1969.
24) You Give Love a Bad Name
25) Livin' On a Prayer- like a plague, you will get hit by this even outside of the afformentioned "Bermuda Triangle of Music", and you might feel better doing the backstroke thru a Jersey landfill.
26) Sultans of Swing
27) Hard to Handle-exactly.
28) Laid-James-won't.....get......
29) Man in the Box-Alice in Chains: if you don't have the pipes, don't try to hit that note. Wildlife will die. Shot glasses will shatter.
30) Sweet Home Alabama-because most kids and their young mothers think this is a Kid Rock song.
31) All I Wanna Do Is Have Some Fun- and I will as soon as I leave this bar.
32)Some Kind Of Wonderful
33)Any Song Steve Miller Has Ever Written
34) Any Song Bob Seger Has Ever Written
35)Beast Of Burden
36) Honky Tonk Woman-I believe this song has caused more DWI's in women 45-55 than any other.
37) My Own Worst Enemy-yes you are.
38) 3am-Matchbox 20- burning down the house every night.
39) Suck My Kiss
40) You May Be Right-wrong again.
41) Crazy Little Thing Called Love
42) 867-5309(Jenny Jenny)- call 911 instead.
43) Are You Gonna Go My Way- Is your way towards the EXIT?
44) You Shook Me All Night Long- one of the most difficult songs to sing of all time. There are no breaths in this song, except for the one you use to resuscitate yourself after hearing Buster Hymen and the Penetrators do it.
and rounding out the absolute bottom....
46) American Girl
47) Brown Eyed Girl- any female who relates to these songs is no longer a girl...the band fails to realize this.
48) Shout- you know you make me wanna....bash my head in and...slit my wrists and uh, come on now....
49) Born To Be Wild-get your walker walkin', shuffle down the hallway, looking for the lunchroom or whatever comes my way.....
50) What I Like About You- you have arrived in hell, please leave your jacket at the door and dive straight into the infinitely burning sea of forever. Have you ever seen a picture of The Romantics since 1985? That's how embarrassed they are.
Please send your hate mail or your additions to this list to Seano at Circle of Fits. I am available for children's birthday parties, Right to Life Conventions, Nascar afterparties and Magic: The gathering gatherings. Thank you and be sure to tip your bartender.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Bleach: Remastered and Re-Released
I'm going to see if I can blog consecutive Seattle-centric posts until grunge is in style again. Today, its all about Kurt,Chris and Chad.... In the How did I miss this department comes news that Nirvana's first album Bleach has been remastered and will be re-released with extra stuff(no never before heard songs.) Here is the story from rollingstone.com:
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Bleach, Sub Pop Records will reissue the band’s 1989 debut album with as an expanded CD/double vinyl collection on November 3rd. Additionally, the reissued Bleach will feature an unreleased bonus live album called Live at Pine Street Theatre, recorded at the Portland, Oregon venue on February 9th, 1990. Both Bleach and the Pine Street show have been digitally remastered from the original tapes by Jack Endino, who produced Nirvana’s debut LP.
Like the original run of Bleach on vinyl, the first-run of the reissued double-LPs will be printed on white vinyl. Also, the songs “Big Cheese” and “Downer” will feature on vinyl for the first time after being excised from the original LP release. Both the CD and the LP will be accompanied with a booklet looking back at the classic debut along with never-before-seen photographs of Kurdt Kobain and Chris Novoselic, as they called themselves in the album’s liner notes, along with pre-Grohl drummer Chad Channing.
As for the Pine Street concert, half of Bleach is represented, along with Incesticide’s “Dive,” “Molly’s Lips” and “Been A Son,” a performance of “Spank Thru” from the Sub Pop 200 comp and a early live version of “Sappy,” or “Verve Chorus Verse” as it was called when it appeared as a secret song on 1993’s No Alternative benefit disc.
Here is the Pine Street concert track list:
1. Intro
2. School
3. Floyd the Barber
4. Dive
5. Love Buzz
6. Spank Thru
7. Molly’s Lips
8. Sappy
9. Scoff
10. About a Girl
11. Been a Son
12. Blew
Awesome,dude. Love Buzz, Negative Creep, About a Girl, School: ALL CLASSICS! Now fatter, louder and grungier. Is grungier a word? I can't wait to crowd surf in my head.
As a further recommendation, I urge you to buy the spectacular Nirvana DVD called "Nirvana-Live! Tonight! Sold Out! that was concepted and released on VHS back in 1993 and had been long out of circulation, but was finally re- released in 2006. It is a hilarious journey pieced together by the band with wacked- out foreign TV appearances, snippets of fucked up interviews and many live performances. I'm watching it right now,even!
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