WFMU's Beware of the Blog

365 Days #138 - This Is Joe Cutajar (mp3s)

MP3:
01. Love Goes On (3:23)
02. Got To Have You By My Side (2:58)
03. Sing With Me a Happy Song (3:04)
04. Adios Amore Mio (3:50)
05. I Want To Sing (2:46)
06. Dejjem Ghall Xulxin (3:39)
07. Minghajr Imhabba (2:58)
08. Barbeque (4:13)
09. Dak Kien Zmien (3:46)
10. Xewqat Sbieh (3:56)

This Maltese easy listening effort is one of those well meaning, but deliciously inept albums where the singer is let down by the quality of the production. Joe Cutajar was a big name in Malta and first found fame as one half of Helen and Joe who warbled the Maltese entry L-imhabba (The Love) for the 1972 Eurovision song Contest. It came bottom. This was the last Malta entry to be sung in Maltese, all subsequent entries were in English. But Joe compromised and sings in both Maltese and English on this 10-track album, which, being from 1977, is awash with Moog synths, wah-wah guitar and a particularly unpleasant Salina string machine.

The latter is so over-used it suggests that they had hired it for the day and were getting their money's worth in the limited studio time. The Moog was also clearly on loan and in most cases is as loud, if not louder, than poor Joe's vocals. I love the way it keeps going off on little trips of its own which have nothing to do with the tune the rest of the band are playing. On Got To Have You By My Side it sounds like a demented cat mewing away in the background, while by the time it reaches Sing With Me A Happy Song it has turned into a particularly unhappy car alarm.

Joe's not a bad crooner, a bit like a cross between Britain's Tony Christie and Neil Diamond, but as English isn't his first language some of his pronunciations are a bit odd. For example "It's the need deep inside me" becomes "It's the knee-deep inside me" on Got To Have You By My Side. While on the peace anthem Sing With Me A Happy Song he enthuses "All those birds cannot be wrong, try your door and leave us a lock". Also check out the way he sings the word "people" on the strangely demonic I Want To Sing where we also learn "How they look but they just stares, They minds are lost elsewhere,What happened to the swirl?"!

There are lots of moments to enjoy here. Love Goes On features so many mad Mini Moog counter melodies it's like we've wandered into a fairground, with the whining synth really setting your teeth on edge. And don't overlook the Maltese-language epic 'Barbeque' on side two where it's not only the food that was on fire. A splendid wah-wah guitar-driven rhythm, a funky flute, electric piano and an extended, screaming, guitar solo all compete with Joe's reverb-drowned vocals to create a unique sound. There's something especially naff about a MOR crooner doing a disco number but when it's sung in Maltese with such a dodgy backing it's in a league of its own!

But save room for the ballad Xewqat Sbieh (Best Wishes) that has the lot! The ubiquitous string machine turned up to 11, a discordant flute, a badly dubbed narrator and a superbly out-of-tune children's chorus. Watch out for the point when the flautist and the kiddie chorus both hit splendidly bum notes.

The cover shot says it all. Joe squats nervously floating on a sickly orange background, sporting a hideous headache-inducing striped sweater and a forced grin as though he knew he was on to a loser. But his loss is our gain...

NB: the sleeve credits reveal that Joe also played drums on the album. If he performed these songs as a live act (and the sleeve photo on the back suggests that he was in-house entertainer at the Malta Hilton), then the dule role of singer and drummer in a cabaret setting must have been hard to carry off, but wonderful to watch.

- Contributed by: David Noades

Images: Front, Label

Media: Album
Label: Sunray
Catalog: SR 7001
Credits: Lyrics by Alfred Sant, Music by Raymond Agius. Recorded at Smash Studios, Malta. Musicians: Tony Barbara (Drums), David Lucas (Sax, Flute), Joe Cutajar (Drums), Ray Agius (Piano), Godwin Cachia (Moog), Wilfred Buttigieg, Freddie Scicluna (guitars).
Date: 1977

Koenjihyakkei Live at WFMU

Thanks to Phil Catalano for this footage of Tokyo's amazing Koenjihyakkei (aka Hundred Lights of Koenji), making their very first performance outside of Japan right here in WFMU's studio:

 

The group is led by Tatsuya Yoshida, drummer extrordinaire from the duo known as Ruins, and this larger band is a somewhat more expanded exploration of Ruins' clear fixation for all things Magma (while not actually being a Magma cover band!). Hyper-precise prog blowouts, hairpin curve changes, wailing operatic vocals in a made-up language, it's also a definite trainwreck between ELP, Queen, and Melt Banana and who knows what else. The band has plays tomorrow night the 18th at the Festival Actuelle in Victoriaville, Quebec, and May 20th at the Rough Idea in Toronto before heading home. You can check out the two songs of the WFMU session on Brian's show in Real Audio here. Oh yeah, as amazing as she is, vocalist Aki might want to watch out for this up-and-comer who might steal her gig someday!

Layers Of Failures - Alex Kanevsky

Alex Kanevsky's paintings are seemingly transient and meaty as the same time. I am in love with his sense of weighted yet ghostly space. For myself, as a maker of things, this quote rings very true...

I am...fairly slow when it comes to actual painting. Slow but impatient. That can be a problem, but over time I figured out how to turn this contradiction into my own way of working. I can't do slow and methodical accumulation painting: I get bored with careful, planned sort of activity. I also depend on freshness of perception, what zen-buddists call "beginner's mind". That is difficult to sustain over a long period. After a while you are just not a beginner. So I work fast, trying to hit the right note every time. That is nearly impossible, so I constantly fail. But I keep coming back to a painting. It accumulates layers, each one - more or less a complete painting. Complete but failed.

- from an interview with vivianite.net

Gursky and North Korea

If you are in NYC you must check out the Andreas Gursky show at the Matthew Marks Gallery (link). Gursky has taken his obsession with crowds to a whole new level: North Korea.

On display are two giant images from a series of photographs Gursky took in Pyongyang. Every year the North Korean government packs the May Day Stadium with 80,000 gymnasts who perform against a backdrop of 10,000 children who hold colored flip-cards. Breathtaking, terrifying and beautiful.

Guess The WFMU DJ Personal Article, Part 19

Every Thursday here on the blahg, we play a game called "Take Me Out To The Ballgame -- In Your Benz, You Sexy WFMU DJ".  Witness the key to, yes, a Benz, accompanied by a pewter mitt representing, yes, The Mets.  Now, guess which WFMU DJ it belongs to.

Winner gets a piece of team swag!  (Team WFMU, of course)

And since it's Fan Appreciation Day here at Magic Factory Stadium, here's an mp3, enjoy! [mp3 for download, 13 megs]

This Benz-Mitt Combo may belong to any person who has ever had a regular show on WFMU.  To help narrow the field, here's a list of 19 people to whom it definitely does not belong:  Trouble \ Joe Belock \ Hatch \ Diane Kamikaze \ Irwin \ Fabio \ Bryce \ Maria \ Bill Zurat \ Liz Berg \ Stork \ Scott \ Billy Jam \ Charlie \ Rich Hazelton \ Mike Lupica \ Bronwyn \ Vicki

365 Days #137 - Goodyear Argument (mp3s)

MP3:
Goodyear Argument (24:23)

Just another day in paradise....

...in which our hero, having felt that he and his maid have been jerked around, and that he was subsequently threatened, by the operators of the local name-brand car repair establishment, invited representatives of the establishment to his home to discuss his plans to pursue the matter.

Some years later, I was lucky enough to pick up the recording our hero made of his conversation with those representatives, at one of the many rummage and music sales I used to be lucky enough to live near.

The conversation takes a while to get going, but builds up steadily over the last ten minutes, and should be quite the listening experience for those who like such things.

Good day, sir!

- Contributed by: Nigel Wilkinson

What's 40 inches long, rock hard, and pink?

The bats used in major league baseball games on Mother’s Day. What every mother wants, I guess. And some guys, too, according to ZOO, the documentary about a Boeing engineer who died in 2005 after having sex with a horse.

[WARNING: DON’T READ THIS IF HORSE SEX OFFENDS YOU.]

Program Director Brian and I went to see ZOO last week. It was kind of an odd movie, as the director, Robinson Devor, decided to experiment with the documentary form. That’s usually a euphemism for “the director didn’t know what the hell he was doing,” but in this case I’m not sure whether he did or not. Maybe he meant for it to be like that. For the soundtrack, Devor used audio interviews with a few of the men who were involved in the same zoophilia group as the dead man and with Jenny Edwards of Hope for Horses, who “rescued” the horses involved in the incident. The visuals were all “reenactments,” mostly by human actors and horse actors. Most of the male actors were gingery haired and middle-aged and had facial hair, and were very hard for me to tell apart. The horses were easier, since a grey Arabian stallion portrayed the “Before” horse, and a horse of another breed entirely was the “After.” The name of the man who died is never mentioned in the film, where he’s referred to only as “Mr. Hands,” his Internet pseudonym, although I found his name—along with a naked photo of him—in less than two minutes on line. In fact, most of what I know about this case comes from a little online search I did in order to write this review.

The film itself was not very informative, about either the actual incident or zoophilia in general. Another odd thing about ZOO is that they never used the horse’s real name either, although I found that out, too. There are many lovely shots in ZOO, I guess in an attempt to contrast the natural beauty of Enumclaw, Washington, with the ugly behavior of the zoophiles. Or maybe it’s supposed to emphasize the underlying naturalness of their behavior—it’s not really clear. Mr. Hands is treated fairly sympathetically, although some of the film’s implications about him—where he lived, which horses and how many horses he owned, etc.—are misleading at best. It’s very confusing sometimes, such as towards the end of a particularly nice scene in which Mr. Hands is writing a check for child support. The phone rings, he answers, and a woman’s voice says, “We’re here.” Meanwhile, the soundtrack has part of an interview in which one of the men is explaining how the group was contacted by other zoo’s (as they call themselves) and how they decided which ones to invite out to their horse-sex parties. I was interested in the idea that women might be involved, too, and then disappointed that she was never mentioned again. It wasn’t until I started writing this that I realized the woman on the phone was supposed to be Mr. Hands’ ex-wife, calling to let him know that she and their son had just arrived in Seattle for a visit.

Sixty Second Song Remix Contest - Final Voting

Many months ago, I started up a little contest here called the Sixty Second Song Remix Contest. The idea was simple: compress a "known" song to 60 seconds or less. Choosing a winner wasn't quite so easy, given the 450 submissions I ultimately received, and the incredible range of approaches our creative listeners brought to the task. (My previous contest posts are here, here and here.)

Rather than choosing one winner, I have narrowed down the submissions to 40 entries and now throw it out to you, the WFMU Blog readers and listeners, to do the rest. Follow the jump for links to the 40 finalists and then come back up here to place your vote. Voting ends Wednesday, May 23rd at 10pm, EDT. The top vote getter wins a WFMU messenger bag stuffed with CDs and assorted swag and the next 4 vote getters receive lighter packages of swag. (The e-mail addresses of the top five vote getters must match the address used to send in the original submission.)

Thanks to everybody who submitted remixes to this contest, it was a lot of fun. For the next remix contest, I'm still debating between reducing a feature length movie to four minutes, or extending a know pop song to one hour. Let me know what you think. Now get voting:

Sixty Second Contest

Vote On Your Favorite Sixty Second Remix: Adam Ainsworth - Song 1 Chris Combs - 60 Second Song Chris Larsen - Bolero C. Heiland-Allen - Lesson 6 Craig Mitchell - In Between Hearts Dad's New Slacks - All One Song Daniel Urria - Believer Dave Krooshof - Toxic Dave Scarborough - Strobe Light DJ Soft - Yeah Easy EW - B--thd-y Ed Word - Hungarian Dance Grant Olsen - Bluest Minute Grape Minkoff - Time Has Come Today Hans van der Valk - Wind It Up... J Henry Chunko - 1-60 Jerod Freitag - Stagger Lee Jim A - Ring of Fire Jonathan Wall - Right Ontoppa Compton Justin Tripp - Chinese Children Lee Rosevere - Nevermind Lester - Sympathy For The Devil Mickey Mephistopheles - Take One Mofobaru - OK Computer Moonman - Kiss MP3J - Anarchy Generation N - Hell O_n You Nathan Dewitt - No, Nobody Nick Boffo - Star Spangled Haircut Otis Ball - More Than Half-Off Bird Pflaphschoen - Eleanor Rigby Quadraspazzed - White Lines Rick McNamara - 20 Years of Confusing.. RJ Godin - A Minute On The Beach Ronny Waernes - Lauft... Russ Johnson - Rock Around 23 Seconds.. Stiever - InAGaddaDaVida Thant Tessman - Super James Uncle Bela - O Fortuna You vs Elvis - Shook All Up

Current Results

UPDATE: The votes are in, and the winner is Russ Johnson, with 78 votes for Rock Around The Clock in 23 Seconds. Here are the next four finishers:

Second: Ronny Waernes - Lauft.. (76 votes)

Third Place: Uncle Bela - O Fortuna (62 votes)

DJ Soft - Yeah (51 votes)

Otis Ball - More Than Half-Off Bird (48 votes)

All these folks should e-mail me at ken at wfmu dot o-r-g. If I don't hear from them, I'll get in touch with them the week of 5/28/07.

MP3 Truffles: The Aural Majority

I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped [9/11] happen.'

Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them.

It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening.

The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.

AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.

In other words, so long Jerry Falwell. Sorry you missed the apocalypse or the ascension or whatever it was you thought was going to be your fate. Here are some more Falwell quotes, though my favorite has to be attributed to a comment left at another blog which said: Here's a new one from today you can add to your list: "Jesus H. Christ it's hot down here!".

Sadly, I could find no Falwell "music" or sermons on the net this week. But let's stay in the spirit of mixing extremist philosophy and politics with some new songs from those who are even more frighteningly fanatical, the followers of Fred Phelps.
MP3 - Westboro Baptist, "This Land Is Fag Land"

Ever since Ken moved that Nirvana On 45 mp3 into his own personal top 40, I've been dying to hear some of the original Stars On. While the Beatles medley is the best known, how many remember their tribute to Stevie Wonder? Wait, are you sure "tribute" is the word they're looking for?
MP3 - Stars On, "In Tribute to Stevie Wonder"

And here are several cover versions of "These Days", including the rarely heard version by songwriter Jackson Browne himself. Nothing tops that sadly overplayed Nico song, at least the first time you ever hear it, and yet my favorite version is missing. So I share it with you here.
MP3 - Johnny Darrell, "These Days"

More MP3 finds after the jump.

365 Days #136 - Daniel Aliangana - From Eldoret to Sighthill (mp3s)

MP3:
1. Huyu Odote (4:54)
2. Dada Margaret (5:10)
3. Usikoti (5:04)
4. Mama (3:56)
5. Binadamu (5:27)
6. Mama Watoto (3:44)

Sighthill, just north of Glasgow's city centre, is a dismal place. Built in the 60s to replace sprawling slums, by the 1990s it was hardly better than the housing it replaced. Feral children would lob eggs from the twentieth floor, the elevators were piss-soaked and shit-stained, and the best view from the block was the cemetery to the north.

Before it became a haven for Kosovan refugees, the Royal Infirmary used the Sighthill tower blocks to house its foreign medical students. Glasgow, with its bloody awful diet and natural tendency to heart disease, teaches the world about coronary care. And into this drab, scary world came Daniel Aliangana.

Daniel is a medical technologist from Eldoret, Kenya. In 1994–95 he was studying at the Royal Infirmary. He recorded these tracks in his spare time, and gave me a tape before he left for home.

Daniel recorded these on a double cassette deck, carefully overlaying each track by recording live over the top. He used a borrowed classical guitar, an electronic keyboard, and some kitchen objects for percussion. He played the guitar almost upright, propped up on his left knee.

There are occasional harmonies which might have been provided by my wife's former flatmate, Grace. Grace is also from Kenya, and is now an internationally-known doctor in Nairobi.

I don't know where Daniel is these days, but there's a Mr D. Aliangana listed as Chief Technician in the Department of Medical Physiology at Moi University in Eldoret. Wherever you are, Daniel, I hope you are well, and thanks for the music!

- Contributed by: Stewart C. Russell

365 Days #135 - Co-Star - The Record Acting Game - Fernando Lamas (mp3s)

MP3:
Scene 1: Alfred & Humbert (4:47)
Scene 2: Alfred & Dorothy (5:28)
Scene 3: Alfred & Dorothy (3:55)
Scene 4: Alfred & Humbert (5:12)
Scene 5: Alfred & Dorothy (3:57)
Scene 6: Alfred & Humbert (3:15)
Scene 7: Alfred & Dorothy (2:06)

Found in a Seattle thrift store. No date but I'd guess mid 1950s-early 60s. This series was designed so you could act movie scenes along with the actors.

This particular record features Argentinean born actor Fernando Lamas doing his part from "The King & the Chorus Girl". Unfortunately the script with the lines from the film were not in the jacket,  you'll have to make up your own. There's also some great - or ridiculous, depending on your POV -  music cues.

Other records in this series feature Sir Cedric Hardwicke, George Raft, Tallulah Bankhead, Basil Rathbone, Vincent Price.

- Contributed by: Jim Sadler

Image: Cover

Media: 12" LP
Album: Co-Star The Record Acting Game
Label: Co-Star
Catalog: CS102
Credits: Produced by Hugo & Luigi

Sensei Rebel's Archive Picks of the Week (May 7, - May 13, 2007)

Sometimes I have a hard time deciding which song to pick for each category, so I've changed the format a little to include every song that made the cut.

All RealAudio links are streaming links from the WFMU archives.

Rock And Roll
Welcome - "All Set" RealAudio from Scott Williams' show
Skull Time - "Birthquake" RealAudio from Woody's show
Slade - "Cum On Feel the Noize" RealAudio from The Evan "Funk" Davies show

International
Konono No. 1 - "Kule Kule" MP3 | RealAudio from RealAudio from Airborn Event with Dan Bodah

Experimental
Tom Recchion - "Jazz 10,000 AD" RealAudio from John Allen's show

Dance
Mochipet - "Flappercore" RealAudio from Ken's show

Humor
Gertrude Berg - "How To Be A Jewish Mother" RealAudio from Put the Needle On the Record with Billy Jam

Instrumental
Ozric Tentacles - "Myriapod" RealAudio from Stan's show

Fave Songs of the Week
Terry Riley - "Journey From the Death of A Friend" RealAudio from Stan's show
Satanicpornocultshop - "Dream're My Reality" RealAudio from Maria Levitsky's show
Leo Addeo & His Orchestra - "Dancing Tambourine" RealAudio from Scott Williams' show

Rabbit's "Lady La Di Da"

Stumbled on this, the 1975 debut single from the Aussie band Rabbit, notable for featuring singer Dave Evans after he got replaced by Bon Scott in early, early AC/DC.

Download link (mpeg format, 11 megs)

Digital Techonology and IP Policy

Ok, now that 90% of you have tuned out of this post based on the title alone, I would now like to let the radio, webcasting, tech, and copyright geeks in on the dirt from a conference I attended in Washington, D.C. on May 2.

The Future of Music Coalition magically planned a meeting of the minds at exactly the right time in history, setting aside a day for webcasters, musicians, copyright lawyers, legislators, and performance rights organizations to engage in a civil discussion about contentious topics like net neutrality and the Copyright Royalty Board's webcasting rate hike. I observed some meaningful conversations between groups who have been at odds with each other, but I also witnessed the old guard struggling to come to terms with technologies that are at least a decade old. I came away from the meeting half hopeful about open lines of comminication between previously warring parties, and half convinced that current attempts to create meaningful laws for music technology and intellectual property are futile and doomed to failure in our rapidly morphing media environment.

But you can form your own conclusions. FMC has generously posted streaming video of their entire Technology and IP Policy Day, broken down into individual talks (click here for the schedule and video links). Below I've reposted direct video links to each talk:

Intro and Welcome by FMC's Kristin Thompson        
  Video: Windows Media  |  Real

Congressman Mike Doyle's (D-PA) Keynote
Refreshingly well-informed speech touching on net neutrality, webcasting royalties, and artist compensation.   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

Radio Waves
Webcasting royalties discussed by a panel including the CEO of Pandora, the Executive Director of Sound Exchange, an independent musician, and others, expertly moderated by FMC's Brian Zisk. This was the hot button session for me: the VP of XM shoots down Sound Exchange for claiming that airplay has no promotional value, the indie musician says that Pandora helps him sell music, and the CEO of Live 365 begs Sound Exchange to return his calls... How much sexier can it get?   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association's Address
The CEA sticks it to the RIAA for alienating customers and independent musicians.   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

Jenny Toomey Explains FMC's Rock the Net Campaign
   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

The Net Effect
Panel on net neutrality and how a tiered internet would hurt independent musicians.   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

David Carson of the U.S. Copyright Office
Learn what a digital phonorecord delivery is, and where downloads and audio streams fall under this definition. Kind of. Maybe. Ok, so I was kidding. But it is amusing (and sad) to know that the copyright office is well aware of the blunders and logistical roadblocks built into the DMCA.   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

Stocking the Celestial Jukebox
Licensing and artist compensation in the digital world, the effects of new tech products on musicians, and the need for copyright reform.   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

Out Of Context Cinema: The Baby

I've been posting periodically about movies that I love or rediscover, usually of the more obscure or cult variety, and I've been wanting to a lot more of that. However, I don't have the urge to write long posts about all of these movies. I also feel that quite often showing is better than telling - though quite often movie trailers really fail to capture the true essence of a film.

And so, here is a quick and hopefully effective new series called "Out of Context Cinema", wherein I'll be featuring scenes from some great lesser-known movies, and let you decide if your interest is peaked piqued to see more.

First up:

Follow the jump for details.

365 Days #134 - Directions. 101 Records (mp3s)

MP3:
1A
Lionel and The L.A. Stars - Hold On (4:02)
Words and Pictures - Piggy Squeals (3:26)
Camera Obscura - Village of Stars (3:45)
Tek Morek - Call Up (3:38)
Marc-Sebastian Jones - Prince Of Passion (3:48)
Ice - This is The World (3:08)
1B
Zetta - Lady (3:04)
Savage Hearts - Senorita (2:46)
Liz Helix - Hooligan Juice (2:59)
David Black and The Dispatches - Promises (3:18)
Alchemist Exvention - Expressions That Change (3:49)
Climbing Frame - Trap Door Love (3:42)
Peter Parrish - Buttercups and Daisies (2:46)
2A
Johnny Goodger - Framed and Blameless (3:42)
Eugene Sratton Rock and Blues Band - What Have They Done to My City (3:31)
Chicago Sunsets - Last Night (3:53)
Andrew Buckingham - What Your Words Have Done To Me (3:08)
Umberto Attolicci - There's No Other Place I Wanna Be (3:31)
S Pizzo - We Can Dance All Night (2:38)
2B
Kerb Dance - Everyone Here (2:40)
False Dots - Memory For You (3:27)
400 A.S. - Goodbye to the City (4:06)
S.A.55 - Obsession (3:39)
Fatal Kiss - Day Break (2:37)
Fracture - Bird Song (3:42)
John Tuck - Rainbow (3:32)

Not just a fairly nondescript album of UK Eighties wannabees' demos, cut to vinyl for a fee by a small London publishing concern as a moneymaking venture, but a document of the times. You get the creeping influence of early Duran Duran, ( cue 'funk' bass with chorus/flange effect and chiming guitars with far too much chorus/flange, and the hard bass drum made to sound like an early Linn . . . ) The Cure and other post Joy Division bands, and the leave overs of disco, punk and pub rock. Most of it is pretty uninspiring in my view, but the highlights are terrific. Bad, but terrific. This is what was happening in countless small studios round the country. The bands that never made it as far as getting any kind of record deal ( as far as i know at least ) handing over their hard earned in a desperate and doomed bid to reach the promised land. . . I know coz I've been there, we didn't go down this route but we never 'made it' either. All that hard work and emotional energy to produce something nobody wants. I little bit of you dies when you find that out and you know it's all over. You grow up and get over it though ;-)

There's a back story to this album. In the spirit of giving back to the web some of what the web has given me I felt you deserved this record. It's too good to keep to myself.

Oil of Hate (MP3s)

[ 7 MP3 files in this post, of which two are nearly identical. ]

They say that history repeats itself, but it is still quite surprising when it does so as literally as it did in 2003. The US under George Bush attacked Iraq under Saddam Hussein, exactly as it had happened 12 years earlier in 1991. They also say that copying degrades quality, so it may come as no surprise that the second attempt turned out a bit more disastrous than the first.

Anyway, many people weren't even happy with the first George Bush and the first Iraq war. One of them was the inventor of LSD Country & Western, guitar and banjo wizard Eugene Chadbourne. He released a 7" vinyl single called "Oil of Hate" on Blackjack Records, "dedicated to the memories of everyone who has died or will die in the folly of 1991, the USA/Iraq battle". Apart from the fact that he is namedropping Oliver North and Margaret Thatcher, it could have been written in 2003 or even today. That is one advantage of repeating history, we can recycle protest songs without even changing the lyrics. Without much ado, here is Eugene's universal anti-war single in MP3 form:

1 If You Don't Stop These Wars, I'm Gonna Call The Police (MP3) - The girl singing here is the uncredited star of this whole recording.
2 Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die (Iraq) (FCC) (MP3) - Unfortunately the Iraq war wasn't an exact copy of Vietnam, so Eugene Chadbourne had to change the lyrics of this Country Joe McDonald classic. The text contains the word "Dick" which is a federal offense unless it is accompanied by "Cheney", so I made a clean version for the kids: Feel Like I'm Fixin' To die (Iraq) (censored) (MP3)
3 Peace Medley (MP3) - A duet of Eugene and the uncredited girl which starts on the first side and continues on the second side of the single. I patched it together electronically, you may now marvel at the wonders of modern audio editing.
4 National Bummer (MP3) - Recorded live 1981 in Greensboro, NC, with David Licht on drums, and Shep the Hep playing bass.
5 Oil of Hate (MP3) - Eugene claims that this is a solo recording, but to my ears it sounds like someone is playing bass. Who knows, maybe there is a rational explanation.
6 Peace Peace Peace Peace (MP3) - The uncredited girl wraps it up with a short experimental vocal piece piece piece piece.

Addendum: The uncredited girl was in fact Eugene's daughter Molly, who must have been about 6 years old at the time.

The Multi-Russian: Akim Tamiroff

Akim Tamiroff was a versatile character actor of Armenian and Russian descent with a very thick accent. He was remarkable for many reasons. In his long film career he played Russians, Mexicans, French-Canadians, Arabs and any other ethnicity a script called for. The most remarkable thing of all? He never bothered to play any of those characters differently. They all sounded just like Akim Tamiroff. The man was so talented, you could be convinced he was French or Egyptian or Mexican  - with a heavy Russian accent!

Tamiroff's acting career had him cross paths with an impressive roster of giants from the Russian theatre and American film. The only actor to work with Cecil B. DeMille, Preston Sturges, Orson Welles and Jean-Luc Godard, Tamiroff got his start at the Moscow Art Theatre School studying under Stanislavski shortly after the revolution. After graduating, he toured with a theatre troupe performing notable Russian plays. He starred in productions written by all the Russian giants: Tolstoy, Chekov, Turgenev and Gorky. In 1923, Tamiroff and the gang landed in New York to perform at Jolson's 59th Street Theatre. Tamiroff decided after the run to remain in America to try and make a go at acting in metropolis (the decision does not appear to have been political in any way). He worked on Broadway in various capacities for the next ten years. I'll spare you the boring details of this period and pick it up in 1936.

Courtney is Chanting and Licensing Like The Wind

Courtney Love is turning to Buddha for advice on how to dispose of Kurt's stuff (link). But it looks like her mind is already made up on Ye Olde Licensing Question (link). (Thanks Brian!)

365 Days #132 - B.O.S.S. - Beethoven's Fifth (mp3s)

MP3:
B.O.S.S. - Beethoven's Fifth (3:05)

This '70's-era high school band record is mostly a pretty dismal affair, given over to sloppy covers of things like "The Surrey With The Fringe On Top" and the "Airport 1975" theme. However, the B.O.S.S. Jazz Band gets it together on one track, a funky cover of "A Fifth of Beethoven" (titled "Beethoven's Fifth" here) by Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band. The rest of the band sort of troops along for a minute as the drummer (Marianita White) pounds out a steady, unwavering beat, and then, whoa, guitar solo! It's the only one on the album, it's played by Ronnie MacDonald, and it's pretty bitchin'.

For the record, I'm not sure what "B.O.S.S." stands for; presumably "S.S." stands for Secondary School, but the band is from Glace Bay, Nova Scotia so perhaps whoever was in charge of the album cover just thought "B.O.S.S." looked cooler than "G.B.S.S.". Also, Fantasy Sound was a record company based out of Willowdale, Ontario; you sent them your tapes, and they would press the record and have the cover printed for you. I have a few other high school band records on Fantasy Sound, so presumably they were a fairly inexpensive option for getting a record put out during the '70's.

- Contributed by: Beau Levitt

Images: Front, Back, Label

Media: LP
Album: B.O.S.S. Presents Bandology
Label: Fantasy Sound
Catalog: FS23511
Credits: Director: Mr. David W. Mangle. Produced by Fantasy Sound Limited
Date: 197?