MP3 Download Dinner Bell for September: The (Almost) Music-Free Installment

Patton Oswalt - Werewolves and Lollipops (Sub Pop)
While perhaps the phrase "Wackity Schmackity Doo" has get to infiltrate the mainstream American psyche, Patton Oswalt has been entering more living rooms via higher profile TV gigs (and flicks, he's the voice of the head vermin in Ratatouille) and now thanks to Sub Pop a whole lot of new CD decks and iPods. Indie comedy has long been a cozy compadre to Indie rock, but until that world is completely ready to come to terms with the crackcore stylings of Rick Shapiro (if it ever will be), Oswalt is treading some serious darkshit terrain while still able to come off as an affable, audience-friendly fellow. His unabashed comic nerd-dom times a completely fearless attack into some of the deepest darkest wells of absurdity made him the odd man out for sure at the Flav roast a few weeks back (you can tell mutual hatred between he and Carrot Top was no mere TV moment), but we love him dearly here at WFMU. In fact he recently made a great guest appearance right here in our Jersey City studios on Tom Scharpling's Best Show on WFMU (Real Audio), where surely he felt more at home than on all the talking head VH1 shows he's now alienated himself from. His new CD/DVD Werewolves and Lollipops is best not listened to on road trips as I learned first hand, almost driving the car off the shoulder on more than one occassion, but instead enjoy  "The Miracle of Childbirth" (MP3) and  "Dukes of Hazzard" (MP3) at the safety of your computer.

Bucky Sinister "Like a Real Life Adam Sandler" (MP3)
San Francisco's fledgeling Talent Moat label has started rolling out what promises to be the Laff Records of the new millenium, documenting some burgeoning underground comedy that's taken place at the label's related Club Chuckles nights at the city's Hemlock Tavern. Release numero uno comes from Bucky Sinister, a shadowy, Bukowskian figure who's loomed over town for a while, and his debut CD What Happens In Narnia, Stays In Narnia is a journey through his inner psychoses via perplexing segments with titles like "My Date With Laura Ingalls." Sinister's approach finds himself propped up in a manner not unlike the late great Bill Hicks, a refreshing literacy missing in a lot of so-called indie comedy (so it's probably worth mentioning Bucky's penned a bunch of books too). He sounds like someone who's spent a lot of time recuperating from godknowswhat on the past's punk circuit (something he sounds well versed in), crawling his way out of a pit of fellow rehab zombies immersed in trash TV. His observations reel off in the form of angry spittle and get downright speedfreaky at times, he's a compelling and funny listen and quite different.

Comments

[James]

Bucky Sinister is a frequent guest on the Nest Of Vipers podcast, and the man tells some incredibly funny stories on there. The one about his experience as a video game hotline operator had me in stitches.

[DanO]

don't you mean the "crackwhore" stylings of Rick Shapiro? Oh, I kid.

[Rufus]

I remember you playing the Doors project that day. So funny the listener couldn't realize that it was a track and not a DJ.

[bartelby]

The Doors Project is perfect example of what happens when professors say things like "As long as you hand something in." So you folks in the professoriat take note.

[jeff]

wow... i had missed a chunk of the doors guy that day & just assumed this was a time capsule from like the early 70's. for as awesome as it is i think i'd like it even more if it wasn't from the 90's.

[Elisabeth]

Thanks for the write-up on Bucky! I knew him many years ago in San Francisco when he ran a poetry night at a local club (the Chameleon (RIP), perhaps?. Just a couple of weeks ago I shelved one of his books at my bookstore job and thought about him for the first time in many years, then this post---somethings in the air. Nice to see him still out there sharing his interesting life.

[sd]

I just want to say for the record that this Doors guy is a blithering idiot.

[jim]

Indie comedy? Remember the guy named emo phillips (I think it was lower-case)? He had a live LP circa '82 or so, and apparently provided the name for one of those silly rock subgenres at the same time. College stations played him, but probably no one else did. His bowl haircut and dourness didn't do much for him; Moe Howard had done the bowl cut decades earlier. Of course, years later other (like my pal Geechy Guy) mined that nerdy niche with greater success and talent.

[Logir]

Nice music, go on!