WFMU's Beware of the Blog

More Russian Anthems Than You Can Shake a Stick At (MP3s)

What better way to escape the international soccer brawl I seem to have started than by celebrating a song of international unity and peace. My love for the last two Soviet/Russian national anthems was reignited when I found these two pages (by Vadim Makarov)  dedicated to the Soviet National Anthem and it's one-time anthem, The Internationale. The first link chronicles the history of the Russian /  Soviet anthem from the days of Peter The Great on to the days of God Save The Czar, then on to The Internationale, and then "The Hymn" of the Soviet Union, the same beautiful melody that is currently used as Russia's national anthem.

I previously posted about The Hymn here, and I did a radio show on The Internationale a few years ago. On the two pages linked above, there are a few interesting videos as well, including The Pet Shop Boys cover of a Village People song, Go West [download video, 49 megs, mpg format]. The melody to Go West is almost note for note identical to The Hymn, and the video is also laden with nationalistic Soviet imagery, yet The Pet Shop Boys pleaded ignorance when they discovered the melodic and ideological similarities to The Hymn.

Stranger still is this music video by Igor Ugolnikov of The Hymn: download video, 57 megs, mpg format]. The video features many popular Russian singers from the period, and although it is billed as a "parody," it comes off as a heartfelt nugget of Soviet patriotism, produced as the Soviet Union was crumbling. It comes off almost as a Bolshevik version of the Up With People Orchestra, right down to the 70's era fashion and haircuts.

For MP3s of The Hymn, The Internationale and all of the offshoots, check the linked pages. There are too many versions to choose a favorite, but here are ten wide-ranging or memorable versions of The Internationale:

Gypsy Swing version by Coco Briaval Quartet   |   Chinese Metal version

Hans Eisler   |   Tagalog version   |   1929 German version

Electronic version by Maxx Klaxon   |   German(?) Rap version

Vietnamese version   |   Japanese version   |   Greek version

Luxuriant, flowing, silky locks

Inspired upon discovering the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists, I present you with some good hair videos:

Big, luscious '80s manhair + quadruple-necked guitar = Nitro! (wmv, 19 MB)

Smooth, elegant Japanese hippie locks from Godzilla Vs. the Smog Monster (wmv, 8 MB). I'll bet you want a 100% post-consumer bodysuit now, don't you?

Various forms of flashy, glammy, bombastically good hair (and helmets) from a most righteous version of 1994, the way 1980 intended it to be. Download the opening scene from The Apple (mpg, 17 MB).

All good hair videos courtesy of Brian Turner, good hair science provided by Andy.

Football and the Average Christian (MP3)

Friends tell me that there is a football contest underway somewhere across the Atlantic. But I don't care, because only heathens and communists would call a game "football" where the ball was actually kicked around by foot. True Average Christian Americans know better, and they also know that the real football game is all about the eternal fight of good against evil. And drinking. And the teenage cheerleaders, of course. But I digress... It is at least partly about fighting Satan, and here is the proof in form of a sports report: Average Christian vs Satanic Temptations (MP3)

Dan Deacon Brings the Party

Possibly the only performer to list Conlon Nancarrow and Spider Man among his primary influences, Baltimore's Dan Deacon, like fellow electronicist Jason Forrest, aims to take techno-twiddling and Standing Behind a Myriad of Serious Looking Computerized Gadgets into the Party Zone. At the OCDJ Benefit with Matmos back in 2002, the Party Zone ably appeared though disguised amidst squelching tones, blasts of feedback, spastic, stuttering MC action and lots of sweat. It was a mutant Party Zone, but it was indeed unmistakably a Party Zone. After a pile of CDRs, Dan's got a debut release out on NYC's Psych-O-Path label and it's a blast, you know, it's literally the sound of Walt Disney throwing up I think. One track actually loops rhythmic chuckling from Beavis and Butthead, and words alone can't describe his version of "Splish Splash" so here's an MP3 for you. And to be honest, sound alone can't describe the Dan Deacon experience, so check out these You Tube links: here is amazing video of Dan's appearance on his local NBC-TV affiliate's morning show (I think they thought they were in for Beck or something), and some live outdoor crowd cajolling as well. Plus Dan's appeared on OCDJ's show as well (Real Audio). Look for him on tour and bring your dancin' shoes.

World Cup Death Watch - Update 2

As we roll into the second weekend of play, the World Cup Death Watch stands at a big eighteen. Before we jump into the details and links, this is the link to use for World Cup Death Watch (WCDW) posts. The most current post will always be at the top. And don't forget to get your guess in and become eligible for the WCDW Fun Pack - details and rules here. You can put your guess in on any WCDW post, but the deadline for guessing is next Monday, June 19th at 11:59pm.

So how did we get from 15 to 18 with the German and British police arresting hooligans by the thousands?

Here's how: A woman in China died after plummeting from the 17th story of her apartment building last Sunday, after an argument with her boyfriend, who wanted to watch the World Cup in the early morning hours. The boyfriend says she jumped. He swears.

And thanks to Rob, we now know that a 48 year old Frenchman expired of natural causes in Stuttgart, Germany while waiting outside the France vs Switzerland game. And in Mexico, Felipe Sanchez suffered a fatal heart attack last Wednesday while preparing to come to Germany to see his son play.

Have you noticed the high number of World Cup heart attacks? The combination of excitement and the  physical exertion of cheering has proven fatal for many a soccer fan. When you add ass-shaking nationalism to the mix, like in this video from Mexico's Chic Pack, elderly people with faulty tickers don't stand a chance. (Thanks Pseu.)

This is why Cambodian Monks have been warned to remain impassive while watching the World Cup.

This Week in Sex: Party Girl

F— that. When was the F-word first bleeped? How does 1698 sound?

Chicks. You've probably been given a Chick comic gospel tract on the subway. Now read them all online. And if you get religion, you can order them and start spreading the homophobic, prayer-in-schools, anti-partying message.

Make love, not war. The U.S. military considered developing a gay bomb that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Other ideas included a fart bomb, a bad breath bomb, and a swarms of angry wasps bomb, ideas which had been previously developed and abandoned at WFMU staff lunches.  

Think of England. After a win, England's World Cup team is allowed to have sex. And that no-sex-before-the-big-game-myth? It's a myth.

Sperm smells. Let me rephrase that: Sperm have the ability to smell.

Sex sells. The new upscale Soho sex shop Kiki de Montparnasse can say what it wants about being a "lifestyle brand" that "empowers exploration of fantasy and communication of desire," but in my book if you sell cock rings and vibrators, you're still just a sex shop. Even if the cock ring is a diamond tension set cock ring for $795 and the vibrator is a Swarovski Crystal encrusted art vibrator for $150.

Where does smegma come from? Horses. Dead horses. In a post about earwax and other bodily excretions, PZ Myers cites a 1947 paper that helpfully says "Smegma is best obtained from dead horses in rendering plants or from anesthetized animals in a department of veterinary surgery." Myers continues:

The other distinctive thing about the paper is that it is one of the more disgusting experiments I've read about. The authors were testing the potential carcinogenic effects of smegma, and the experiment involved making up slurries of smegma and smearing it or injecting it into folds of skin on mice, and assessing their health. It had to have been a big job, slathering 400 mice with smegma every week, and treating another 400 control mice with ear wax.

The carcinogenic effects of smegma, according to Myers and common sense, are unproven.

Where does bull semen come from? Robots. Cow robots. Breeders in New Zealand have developed a giant metal cow on wheels that the bull mounts.

Margie Brandon - Live At Clancy's!

In the 70s, Margie Brandon was a regular musical fixture at Clancy's, a bar in San Francisco. It is said that she performed with her poodles lounging about upon her organ. Another tale tells that Anton Lavey taught her a few tunes for her repertoire. This is the only information I managed to dig up on this mysterious lady with the soothing warble and delightful organ tone.

This record was recorded live at Clancy's. I'm sorry I don't have the genuine cover- the only person who actually owns this record lives in a hole and has no scanner. I'm dying to see the lady behind the organ.

If anyone knows anything about Ms. Brandon...please tell!

Margie Brandon - Live At Clancy's (mp3s)

Harper valley PTA  |  Folson Prison Blues  |  Golden Sands Of Waikiki

Never On A Sunday  |  If You Go Away  |  Okie From Muskogee

Just What You Mean To Me  |  Guadalajara  |  Fifteen Years Ago

Shina No Yoru  |  Green Green Grass Of Home  |  Sunday Morning Coming Down

Non-Stop Random Video Soundtracks

DailySoundZaping is an online artwork that grabs random snippets of sound from the video site Dailymotion and assembles them into a continuous random audio stream. Although its authors intended it as a criticism of user video sites like Dailymotion or Youtube, I love the damn thing. Dailymotion is more internationally flavored than youtube, so DailySoundZaping comes off as a wild audio collage of surveillance microphones from all over the world. Just click on the Family Version or the Full Version and let the still images and sounds spill forth. Be patient, it varies wildly from one moment to the next. Thanks Chris and We-Make-Money-Not-Art.

If This Van's Rockin', Someone's Getting a Lethal Injection Inside

Guess I will never complain again about the Mr. Softee truck music blaring outside my window.

The Rite of Exorcism

{2 large mp3s below the fold}

Now that the dreaded date of 6/6/06 has passed seemingly without incident, will the apocalyptic religious hysteria (and the mockery thereof) cease?  Heavens, no!  Not if Beware of The Blog has anything to say about it.  And where would the God franchise be anyway without its archenemy and eternal whipping boy—Lucifer, the Bringer of Light?  Are we all so confident that "nothing happened" on June 6?  How could we possibly be?  Babies were born, to be sure—so we'll see, I guess.

If, in the coming weeks, you find yourself speaking in unfamiliar, ancient tongues, exhibiting Tourette's-like symptoms, or contorting your body in new, unusual ways (without the benefit of a Yoga class), you may in fact be in need of a ritual demonectomy—an exorcism—one of the oldest and most hushed ceremonies of the Christian church.

So again I ask, how sure are you that NO DARK FORCE crossed your path last Tuesday?  (I do recall having an exceptionally shitty day at work, but it's likely that this was not a manifestation of Lucifer, who I generally consider to be ON MY SIDE.)

My wife's friend Sylvie believes that all great and small aberrations of mind and behavior are caused by demonic possession.  Syl deeply believes this, and has for many years befriended an exorcist (an ex-priest, if I'm not mistaken), apparently also attending a few of his ritual ceremonies.  Sylvie is far from alone in this belief.  To quote the sub-header of this article from Beliefnet.com, "Knowing when to exorcise and when to refer for psychiatric treatment is a nagging problem for priests."  Wow.  And you thought the priesthood was a cakewalk.  It's actually not a laughing matter, as every once in a while some poor person dies during a botched and perhaps misguided exorcism attempt.  There have also been several reports over the years of child abuse and even death during attempted exorcisms.

This staggering transcript [download pdf] from the UCCF says that, "Depression is the most common symptom and amnesia is considered the pathogenic sign of MPD [Multiple Personality Disorder]. In almost all cases there is a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood, 50% being through Satanic abuse."  I'd love to see the research that led to that jaw-dropping statistic.  For a much more scholarly faith-based discussion on the issue of mental illness as demon possession, see this article from Meta-Religion.com.

A few years ago, I read an interesting book about exorcism.  For the life of me (heh heh), I can't recall the title, but it was a serious, un-sensationalized, case-by-case, chapter-by-chapter discussion of a handful of 20th century, "real-live" cases of demonic possession.  What made the greatest impression on me were the lives of these men, the exorcists—quiet, humble men, deeply devout but also ready and willing at times to question their faith.  Ambitious, sycophantic clergy members with their eye on the Monsignor's chair do not become exorcists.  For the most part, these men were initially asked to respond to a specific case by their superiors, their selection based on certain known qualities in their character (they are usually studious loners of few words); a case or two later, “exorcist” can become a career, and after a while, the rest of the church will hardly even admit that you exist.

Virtually Indecent

This just in from TV network CBS, recently served with a $3.3 million indecency fine for airing a teen sex orgy during an episode of "Without A Trace"...

None of the folks who complained to the FCC were actually watching the show! But oh, they could sense that it was just filthy. Filthy, naughty, dirty, reprehensible.

See for yourself, and watch the clip here. But don't expect any nudity, you pervert, this is CBS not HBO.

CBS says that 100% of the 4,211 complaints filed with the feds about this episode of "Without A Trace" came from web-based e-mail form letters originating from 2 right-wing christian groups (the PTC and the American Family Association). Only two complainers claimed to have seen the show, but made an inaccurate reference to another scene, thus blowing their cover.

But the brunt of the issue lies with a technicality in the indecency complaint process: the FCC can only consider complaints from viewers in the station's broadcast area. Therefore, CBS alleges, the PTC and AFA-initiated complaints against "Without A Trace" are invalid.

Hooray for the Freedom of Information Act!

The Cats Will Have Their Say

After Hatebeak unleashed the pure thrash-metal power of a band fronted by Waldo the Parrot, and Caninus gave us some Alpotastic pitbull grind to chew on, it seemed well about time a feline front took the mic. Enter Frick the Cat and friends, owned by Jersey City natives Mark Dagley and Lori Bortz, also known as the proprietors of the Abaton Book Company. Abaton's put out some recordings of Jersey chanteuse Marianne Nowottny, the Girls (a Boston avant-punk band Mark played guitar in back in the day), and now abandon the human race for their roster completely on this 7" single featuring Frick on the A-side (accompanied by Dagley on some introspective flamenco-style guitar). This full-on rocker "Frick It" (MP3) on the flip is credited to Fuzzy Wuz-She, a "group" comprised of Frick and house-cat-mates Hissy and Bony.

WFMU in the News: DJs on Parade, part 2

This week, another smattering of articles by or about WFMU DJs:

First up, Vicki Bennett of Do or DIY was featured in the June 11, 2006 edition of The Observer in an article by Killion Fox about UK innovators in music.  Read the article here.

Tom Scharpling, host of The Best Show on WFMU, was interviewed recently for The Third Coast International Audio Festival about his adventures in Tuesday night radio madness.  Read the article here.

Mark Allen, besides being a sensational singer and a WFMU DJ, is also a writer, and he just wrote an article entitled "Voices in the Air" for The New York Times.   The article was posted to the WFMU Message Board recently -- check it out here.

Finally, The New York Press recently put out their summer film issue, and Station Manager Ken was asked to name his top five films of all time.  He picked out some choice selections from videos featured on this very blog.  Here's a link to the article and here are Ken's top five:

1. Experiments In The Revival of Organisms

2. Grizzly Bear Man

3. I Wanna Love You Tender

4. Westboro Baptist Church Video

5. Bait-Car Videos

Bus Radio

"It is virtually impossible to listen to commercial radio for thirty minutes without being offended by a song's lyrics or DJ's talk" according to busradio.com and who are we to argue? But there are other problems for the nation's caring school superintendents and bus drivers... how do you control those rowdy kids, get them to keep quiet and stay in their seats? The answer is, of course, compulsory advertising.

With the prevalence of videogames, ipods, and DVRs it is getting increasingly harder for advertisers to get consumers (and especially kids) to pay attention to traditional marketing messages. Channel One, a service that provides audio/video equipment to schools in exchange for mandatory student viewing of “news" and advertising content, pioneered the concept of marketing to kids at school where they are a captive audience. Bus Radio just extends the concept to the school bus.

Skeptical? Even the Happy Listener's Guide to Mind Control would be jealous of these "stats":

The actual content? Sounds  a lot like commercial radio unless you're at a school board meeting in Rhode Island where the superintendent suggests that Bus Radio can play a "yoga/Zen thing to get kids relaxed." (via MIT Adverlab)    

Mark Jenkins Embed Sculpture

From the man who bought you the lollipop parking meters and a zillion translucent scotch tape scuptures, comes this remarkable street sculpture called Embed. It consists of a male figure wearing a hoody sweatshirt with his head stuck inside a concrete wall. Here's a video (youtube) of people poking it, swerving around it and generally wondering if it's somebody pissing, sleeping, or what, when it was installed in Washington, DC. via Tollfreedom

Portable Vinyl Evangelism

Adele Horn's new documentary, The Tailenders, chronicles the unique audio evangelism of  Los Angeles based Global Recording Network. At last count, the group had recorded bible stories in over 5,500 languages. In their quest to tell the story of Jesus in every language and dialect on earth, GRN takes these recordings into remote villages where the recordings are played back and distributed via hand cranked record and cassette players known as The Messenger:

The Bible stories played by the missionaries are sometimes the first encounter community members have had with recorded sound, and, even more frequently, the first time they have heard their own language recorded. Gospel Recordings calls their target audience "the Tailenders" because they are the last to be reached by global evangelism.

Here is a very short quicktime file of the crank-up vinyl player in action: download video, 5 megs, Quicktime format. The Tailenders will be broadcast on PBS's POV show on July 25th. Thanks Fabio!

Lou Carter, The Singing Cab Driver (MP3s)

Of all the artists I've played on my show since posting online playlists ten years ago (partial list of artists here), none has generated more e-mails to me by wayward fans than Lou Carter, The Singing Cab Driver. I was attracted to Lou Carter by songs with titles like If I Had A Nose Full of Nickels or Whattsa Matter Wit Me (MP3s). But most of the e-mails I get are from people who remember Louie The Cabbie from his appearances on the Perry Como TV show back in the late 1950s.

In fact, Louie the Cabbie was the Mrs. Miller of his day, having been created for the Perry Como TV show, which spawned a semi-successful recording career. Newark-born Carter was actually a piano player and arranger for the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, but he enjoyed his greatest fame as Louie, even getting paired up with superstars of his day like Bobby Darin. Here's his entire first LP, Louie's Love Songs.

I Caught A Cold In My Heart   |   The Murials On The Wall

Down Where The Streetcar Bands   |   The Different Shapes They Are

Selfish   |   Mabel   |   Whattsa Matter Wit Me

Only A Room In The Cellar   |   I Don't Wish That I Was Nobody But Me

April In Peoria   |   I Got A Rose Between My Toes   |   If I Had A Nose Full Of Nickels

Adventures In Amplitude Modulation - Part 19

It was a brief foray into upstate New York, but a week ago I was able to spend a weekend away from the radio noise of the big city with my new Degen 1103. Sitting on my friend's porch overlooking the Hudson as the rain fell, I was quite impressed with the lively shortwave reception (with very little buzzing and static). I wasn’t able to spend as much time scanning as I would have liked, but even late at night there were plenty of voices to pluck out of the ether.

In fact, the first band scan I recorded (a meander through the 31 meter band on Friday night June 2, 2006) was full of broadcast. So the recording I’ll offer in this post will kick off at the first readable signal on this band and continue on for a half an hour in real time. I'll follow up with more of this scan in the next post (and perhaps beyond that post as well).

A few readers have expressed continued curiosity about my hands-on experience with the DE1103 (which I talked about in the last two post in this series, available here and here), and I have to report that I’m really happy with this gadget. It is a very sensitive little receiver, and once you get used to the odd interface it’s quite easy to maneuver the controls. Besides shortwave, the medium wave reception is quite good as well, and FM reception seems to be better than any radio I have at the house. WFMU comes in well with regularity here in North Brooklyn, and no other radio I have here dependably picks up FMU in a listenable way. 

Although the only bands easily accessible via the main controls are AM, FM and ten of the major shortwave bands, via direct entry of the frequency (on the keypad) the DE1103 picks up all frequencies between 100 and 29999 kHz. Long wave (below 540 kHz) in the U.S. isn’t really a broadcast band in the U.S., but I was digging around down there here in Brooklyn and all I was able to fish out were images of powerful New York City stations at predictable mathematical intervals. The same thing happened when I ventured about just above the U.S. AM broadcast band (1720 kHz and up a few hundred kHz). I have yet to identify images like this on the standard AM and shortwave bands.

Besides these anomalies, there’s those audible blips when cruising through busy bands and the digital edge the radio adds to some standard shortwave noise. (Though I have to admit I’m starting to become fond of how coming out of a strong frequency occasionlly sounds like you're drowning the signal or the announcer.) Other than these minor annoyances (for an analog radio fan) I have very few complaints so far. And considering I gave up less than seventy bucks (via ebay) for the DE1103, I really have nothing to grumble about at all.

Sensei Rebel's Archive Picks of the Week (6/5/06 - 6/11/06)

I'm not sure but I felt sort of a sea theme on OCDJ's show this week. I'm sad to hear he's leaving the WFMU schedule but wish him the best in his nautical expeditions, and hope he makes a safe return.

All MP3 and RealAudio links are streaming links from the WFMU Archives.

Rock And Roll
Go Sailor - "Fine Day For Sailing" RealAudio from Plug and Play with OCDJ, June 10, 2006

International
Csokolom - "Eva, Szivem Eva" RealAudio from Give the Drummer Some with Doug Schulkind, June 9, 2006

Experimental
Bulent Arel - "Stereo Electronic Music No. 2" RealAudio from Bryce's show, June 9, 2006

Dance
Ram Balram - "Ursula 1000" RealAudio from I'm Sorry I Had To Kill That Guy with Laure, June 10, 2006

Humor
Spike Jones - "Pal-Yat-Chee" RealAudio from Greasy Kid Stuff, June 10, 2006

Ambient
Chuck Bettis - "track 5, from Sonic Sigils" RealAudio from The Belly of the Beast with Stefan, June 9, 2006

Fave Song of the Week
Gal Costa - "Sebastiana" RealAudio from Scott Williams' show, June 8, 2006

Bizarro Documentary Trailers from Finland

Every week or so I can expect an email in my inbox from my friend Jussi in Finland, asking me if I know some totally-off-the-wall obscuro 1980's metal band whom he worships. Recently he sent me a link to a documentary trailer for Shock Tilt, a film recounting the story of a Finnish group who went to Germany to seek fame and fortune only to have their lead singer butchered by their creepy manager, which became a big national news event. What struck me most about the trailer was its odd sensibility for editing, all these strange and somewhat inappropriate backing tracks pop in as bed music in a sideways kind of way, although maybe it's just my American conditioning and it's all completely normal for Scandinavia. On further inspection of trailers for some of the other films put out by Halalax Productions, the Finnish distributor, I have come to the conclusion that it ain't me. Check out Idi Amin (22MB mov file), Riot On (16MB mov file) and you can download the trailer for Shock Tilt as well (33MB mov file). You might as well check out the trailer for Sobhraj:The Hippie Killer too, a documentary about the friend of a serial killer, with "Magic Carpet Ride" blazing amidst the somber images (!?) These are indeed real movies. The list of other Halax documentaries and video games is quite diverse as well, ranging in subject matter to the "dark and insane side of Kung Fu" to students of a tech institute being forced to make beer or out basic raw materials.