WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Mambo Kurt, Organ Wrecker (MP3, videos)

Over the last 10 years or so, Mambo Kurt, the King of Heimorgel, has brought us organ cover versions of songs by Rammstein, Slayer, Nirvana, Kiss, Britney Spears and many more giants of rock music. Just as a sample, here is how the Sex Pistols sound like on a Heimorgel, from the 2004 live album Sun Of A Beach: Mambo Kurt feat. Heidi Schulz - Anarchy In The UK [MP3, vocals by Mambo Kurt's former organ teacher Heidi Schulz, supposedly nearly 80 years old]

Since 2004, Mambo Kurt has been a regular at the Wacken Open Air music festival in Germany, alongside a whole bunch of heavy metal acts. You can find several low-quality videos of his performances on YouTube. Here is the encore from 2007, organ destruction in two parts:

YouTube links: Part 1 | Part 2

Arnold Stang: Where Ya Callin' From Charlie?

I'm happy to say that WFMU has become one of the first places people come to on the internet when they want to learn about Arnold Stang. Sadly, I do not have as much time to devote to elaborate articles like that as I once did (hopefully that will change soon), but at least I can still post goodies like this. This is the 1959 novelty single by Mr. Stang that was briefly mentioned in the big fat Arnold Stang piece posted here last year. The track was done in collaboration with the prolific Mort Garson, perhaps best known to readers here for his eccentric moog album Electronic Hair Pieces and his soundtrack for the film with a name reminiscent of this website (or is it the other way around?) Beware! The Blob!. The label gives credit here to Arnold Stang and The Sunshine Kids.

Marsh's Free Museum

Marsh's Free Museum in Long Beach, Washington features many monstrous taxidermy oddities such as the Devil Fish and Jake the Alligator boy. Also crammed into the claustrophobic confines are musical cabinets, the largest collection of glass fishing balls and a cast iron sausage stuffer.

Flickr set 2 / Flickr set 2 / Roadside America Entry

Metamorfose Ambulante

"Metamorfose Ambulante", by Raul Seixas: in some parts of the world, this song is a cultural anthem.  In our particularly little corner, it's just more grist for the mill.  Well, it's a well-tended mill.  So here are umpteen versions of a really beautiful song, just don't expect all of 'em to be as beautiful as this, the original. (Though the 1st five below are all well worth your time)

You need to watch that video, then here's a poetic, translated, rendering by a "Sir Bussy" to stream or download.

Well... there were umpteen versions.  I put a lotta work into finding all my favorites, but typepad crashed before I had properly saved a buncha killer youtube links to astoundingly different versions of this song, so I'll just tell you to search "raul seixas" and "metamorfose ambulante" on youtube. We don't need no stinking typepad.  Fuck typepad, i'm going to bed....

Wow  |  lonely Kansas housewife  |  high school choir  |  raul seixas himself, live  |  Ney Matogrosso (yes, that Ney Matogrosso)  |  raul against the machine  |  tuesday night at applebys  |  grunge, they say  |  METALmorfose ambulante  |  Tukley von Dio

The Mix Machine #13: Cardboard Flava (MP3s)

Continuing in our mix tape series...

Here are two homemade mixtapes from the San Francisco bay area circa early 1990s from DJ Tricky B.

From 1992 here is The Mixology a 90minute megamix...

The Mixology - Side 1 (43:38)
The Mixology - Side 2 (42:11)

Cardboard Flava was wrapped in folded cardboard, but I no longer have the outside wrapping and the mix repeated on both sides of the cassette.

Cardboard Flava (45:39)

The Young And Elderly Bascom Lamar Lunsford With Other Old Timey Videos

I forget just how I stumbled upon David Hoffman's 1962 film Bluegrass Roots, which was the first authoritative documentary on the subject. Top left is a segment of the doc, which features plenty of clogging and old timey playin'. The documentary gives a lot of weight to the elderly "Appalachian Minstrel", Bascom Lamar Lunsford, whom you'll see dancing with his wife about four and half minutes in. Lunsford had already been filmed about 30 years earlier, however, in a scene featured in The Times Ain't Like They Used To Be, a too-good-to-be-true folk video compilation with performances from 1928 to 1935. The DVD is in print but if, as with these depression era performers, hard times have got you in a squeeze, all the contents are on youtube. Top right is that clip of Lunsford's band with a cool introduction in which Lunsford hilariously obsesses about gettin' first prize in some music contest.

It's so hard to choose another clip to showcase from The Times Ain't Like They Used To Be, but bottom left is inspired footage of Uncle John Scruggs performing the song Little Log Cabin In The Lane while his kids do the cutest dance you've ever seen! I'd also highly recommend watching Whistler's Jug Band, Bela Lamb, Estudiantina Invencibal and a version of Mary, Don't You Weep by some "Georgia Field Hands". At bottom right, I'm using this post as an excuse to show a great performance of Bayou Pon Pon from an episode of Sesame Street. Anybody know what band this is? P.S. Guess who just got Photoshop...

This One's Dedicated to Laurie Strode... (MP3s)

1. Cut 1 (0:27)
2. Cut 2 (0:25)
3. Cut 3 Review Spot (0:28)

Three decades later, John Carpenter's Halloween still tops lists as the scariest American movie ever made. Back in 1979, however, it was just another low-budget horror movie trying to make a few bucks at the box office.

This 45 was sent out by Compass International Pictures and no doubt turned into carts for easy airplay. Carts, for those who don't know, were  similar in appearance to 8-track cassettes with around a minute of recording time. A DJ could load several into a cart machine, press a single button and have an entire break's worth of commercials play out. Since the tape was on a small loop, the spot would be ready to play again as soon as it ended.

Cut 3 is the interesting track here, as the high-profile reviews put this late in the box-office marketing cycle. American cinema was being forever changed by Francis Ford Coppola's concept of the blockbuster--a film that opened simultaneously throughout the country. Prior to that, films were released on a regional basis. Movie prints were expensive to make, particularly for low-budget productions, so a few would be struck, tested in major markets, and then hand-carried to the next town. If a film got big enough, they'd make more prints.

During the early days of Halloween's release, little more than newspaper ads were affordable. As the film's reputation grew, so did the marketing budget. Halloween premiered in 1978, but the Roger Ebert review quoted in Cut 3 wasn't written until October 1979.

For those who love a scare, Halloween is a must for your viewing list. Anchor Bay has been dipping into the vaults with this one for years, producing at least seven different versions, including the latest release on Blu-ray. My personal favorite is the Extended Edition, which restores footage shot a year later so that NBC could air the movie in prime time. It's worth seeking out either on the original two-DVD release (long out of print) or in the 2008 box set.

EDIT: Third time is the charm. Cut 3 is working now.

Two Sides of the J's with Jamie

1. Commercials (12:54)

(Tracks below are linked from earlier posts)
2. Everybody Says Don't (2:14) (The Singles Collection)
3. Cotton Fields (2:20) (Hey, Look Us Over)
4. Baby Won't You Please Come Home (2:21) (The Remarkable J's with Jamie)
5. My Cigarette and I (2:24) (The Remarkable J's with Jamie)
6. A Lot of Livin' to Do (2:23) (Hey, Look Us Over)
7. Bewitched (2:52) (The Remarkable J's with Jamie)
8. Little Boy Blue (2:37) (The Remarkable J's with Jamie)

This album, a Columbia Special Products release, completes your J's with Jamie collection from Columbia records. Sent to radio stations as a promo for The Remarkable J's with Jamie, this mono release opens with "Commercials," a trip through the group's advertising work presented as a Dragnet-style narrative. It's just the thing to get your Black Friday consumer impulses stirred into a frenzy, and it includes Jamie's gorgeous version of the Mr. Clean theme.

But wait, there's more! Stay tuned after the jump for a rundown of the Columbia releases and beyond.

70's Rock Dinosaurs in the Homes of Their Mums and Dads

Culled from a Life Magazine pictoral (via the Daily Swarm) on famous rockers of the era hanging with their parents in their assorted styling abodes. Wishful thinking: seeing parental pads of Jobriath, John Morton, Jim Dandy (where for some reason I would envision a lot of moose heads hanging on the wall).

Astro Bowl

It ain't over till it's over and Astro Bowl was over for keeps when it finally shuttered its doors in the spring of '99. I was offered a ride out to Jersey to roll some games a few weeks before the business went south and I jumped at the chance. Astro Bowl was located about 15 minutes outside of the Lincoln Tunnel in the bustling Allwood section of Clifton, New Jersey. Laid out 1960s style, with the exception of the cheesy computer scoring system (the one with the little animated pins going up to heaven), Astro Bowl was once the pride of the Styertowne Shopping Center. By the time I got there the intoxicating sparkle of the lanes had long since vanished. Creaky and dank, redolent with overflowing ashtrays, the lobby stank of foot spray and sticky soda syrup. Dusty glass cabinets boasted blue ball point pen championship stat sheets and the faded league night photos of triumphs gone by. An inescapable finality overshadowed the din and clatter of the automatic pinsetters. As I laced my size nines, I could sense that a great deal of sordid and raucous business had transpired in this joint. A lot of kiddie parties went down in those lanes over the decades and more than likely many an ill-shaven face was abruptly slapped in the cocktail lounge.

Astro Bowl was opened in 1959 with great fanfare by Lawrence "Yogi" Berra and Phil "The Scooter" Rizzuto--two Yankees buddies who were probably looking for a legit hangout to greet the huckleberries while they could sock away a little something-something for the chilly post-season years. Luxuriating in one of mankind's finest follies, they brought in their brothers to keep the lanes waxed and the counters polished just so. Sometimes Yogi would tend bar and bowl with the customers while Scooter would chat with fans over a cannoli. Sure, the malaprop spouting geniuses hedged their bets by hawking Yoo Hoo and the Money Store, but they always found their way back to the bowling alley (which was initially called the "Rizzuto-Berra Bowling Lanes" before they sold the ownership). Hard to believe that a 40-lane paradise that kicked off to such frenzied hoopla would struggle to stay open, and ignominiously shut down, not even giving the Brunswick 2000 ball return machines a chance to greet the new millennium.

KFJC Presents Live from the Japanese Music Underground

California's KFJC is nestled atop Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, about a 40 minute ride down from San Francisco and has been eminating freeform radio waves in a brotherly/sisterly fashion to WFMU for years (and on one occasion swapping identities with WFMU in a motherly/daughterly Freaky Friday fashion). They've always been keen purveyors of the well-known and lesser-known lights of underground of Japan's rock scene, so it was a perfect idea for them to travel over to the Land of the Rising Sun this past August where they camped out to broadcast/netcast and video stream two nights of some stellar performances. Results have now been issued onto a CD/DVD set. As of publishing time, the station is in the midst of their annual fundraiser (like WFMU they are listener-supported), and the set is one of the several new cool offerings in their swag vault, so get ye over to kfjc.org and lend some coin. In the meantime, here's an excerpt from the DVD, six minutes of frazzled electronic mayhem from Hiroshi Hasegawa who performs and records under the name Astro (thanks Grawer for post permish):

Also included in the compilation: Sax Ruins (Tatsuya Yoshida drumming with saxophonist Ryoko Ono), Majutsu No Niwa, Reiko A. + Sachiko, Keiichi Miyashita, Kuurucrew, Katsurei, Up-Tight, Oninko, Tabata Mitsuru, Kawaguchi Masami (of Miminokoto) with his New Rock Syndicate, and Amazon Saliva.

Cassette Culture Revisited, Part XII - Mel Torment and Boopsie (Baby)

This is a tape created by my dear friends Mark Ashwill and Julie Spodek in the early 1990s.  The tracks were recorded in their Eckford Street loft in Greenpoint, a space loaded with Mark's sculptures, paintings, musical instruments and other creations, a sturdy loft bed and not much else.  No doubt some high-cost condominium housing stands there today, as artists without endowments or trust funds can no longer afford lofts in Brooklyn.  The cassette, as far as I know, was only dubbed for a few close friends, each copy with a unique handmade insert.

Mark was a drummer, sculptor and founding member in the legendary NYC noise/performance outfit Missing Foundation, whose global reputation and familiar upturned cocktail-glass symbol endure to this day.  Despite being a somewhat intense character, Mark was also a total sweetie who could always make me laugh, especially when things were at their most hopeless.  His cavalier humor is in high evidence on the Mel Torment cassette, especially in songs like "That Was the Last Cigaret" and "Mighty Fountains of Joy."

The opening piece, "Our Goodnight Song (Goodbye)," is the gem of the collection, a haunting lo-fi spirit procession.  Other favorites of mine include "Mighty Fountains..." (with its unsettling pause-button trickery), "What Goes In, Don't Nesecarily Have to Come Out" and the screechy jazz drone of "Shadow Shift."

Our Goodnight Song (Goodbye)  | That Was the Last Cigaret  | To Boopsie (Baby)  | While Your Asleep | Mighty Fountains of Joy | Angel | What Goes In, Don't Nesecarily Have to Come Out | I Don't Even Remember | Time Never Wasted Me | My Burning Eyes | Shadow Shift

After Missing Foundation (and after this tape) Mark achieved iconic status fronting The Spitters, a shifting band of Narcotics Anonymous buddies who, for a few chaotic years, rained Stooges-like mayhem on the Lower East Side.  Mark passed away in 2000 and is missed by many; writer Maggie Estep wrote a touching obituary for Mark, which you can read here.

Julie Spodek is a vocalist, a trapeze artist (she performed at my wedding party) and a wonderful woman of many talents.  In addition to cooking up the original core concept of The Spitters with Mark Ashwill, Julie was also a founding member of the band The Gamma Rays.

Nothing’s Certain but Death and … uh …

Sluggo and I have been very lucky during the Great Global Economic Collapse of 2008. Since we didn’t have any money anyway, we didn’t have anything to lose. But other folks have not been so lucky, including dead folks.

A big long article in the British newspaper The Daily Mail said that dead people in England were being hit hard by the credit crunch, and some were having to wait more than two months to be buried. I imagine that must be difficult. And I can’t tell from the article whether or not the dead are being embalmed while they wait, or even whether they get to wait in a refrigerated facility or are just stacked up like cordwood in some abandoned Wal-Mart.
It’s all due to British bureaucracy, it seems. People who are on the dole (half the population, even in good times) have to apply to a government agency called Department for Work and Pensions’ Social Fund to pay for funerals, and the Department is taking quite a while to decide whether or not to issue the checks, having first to determine whether someone is or is not dead. (“He’s dead!” “He’s not dead!” “He IS! He has expired, he has ceased to be!”) Meanwhile the esteemed members of the Royal Casketeers and Buriers Guild of Bodymongers, or whatever they call themselves, say they can’t be performing funerals on credit. You can’t blame them, really.

Things aren’t much better here in the U.S. Last month in Pontiac, Michigan (AKA Fun City, USA) five dead people and a bunch of cremated remains were evicted from a funeral home. The owners were known for providing services even when the families couldn’t afford to pay, so then they couldn’t pay their own taxes. Obviously the British Bodymongers know what’s what. At least they know it's death and taxes.

I don’t know what’s going to happen to you if you should die while all this financial sturm und drang is going on, but I do know that Costco sells coffins.

Thanks for reading my blogpost this time, and may God bless.

Los Llamarada live at WFMU

(pic: Trent Wolbe) While Los Llamarada might be one of the most exciting bands to come out of Mexico in years, they haven't won tons of fans in their hometown of Monterrey. In fact, it's reported they've been asked at one point in a frat bar to play Cranberries covers (they didn't). That's too bad, because the Yams (as some of us love to call 'em), have something special; they're harnessing the same molten energy of the Dead C, early Germs (and to some extent early Magik Markers) and laying down sheets of unpredictable, loose-n-woozy rock. Not exactly the "well-balanced" stuff of frat bar popularity. After hearing their debut LP The Exploding Now on S-S Records, WFMU was psyched to get the band to our 2008 SXSW showcase in Austin after they had to bail from Siltbreeze night (most of the band works as psychologists, and work kept them getting into Texas early). Their set knocked out all FMUers in attendance, and began with a sputtering Una Baines-era Fall keyboard line throwing odd shapes around Johnny Noise's deformed Cramps guitar figure; then the drums kicked in and vocalist Sagan stalked around the stage like a lunatic. As it all lurched forward, it spiralled into a volcanic noiserock blowout formed from ugly, malevolent and very alien sentiments. Johnny continued the set shaking his fist menacingly looking up at the sky, Sagan eventually handed the mic off to female vocalist Estrella who also stomped around like Darby Crash while everything blurred into chaos and confusion. They finally made it up to New York in November for three shows with the Hank IV, and performed live on Brian Turner's show. Video from the WFMU studio of "Atanareska" (shot by Dylan Going, edited by George Sinfield and Matt Kuglinski) and MP3 downloads below. Don't miss the killer finale either, a cover of Wire's "Pink Flag"! Los Llamarada have a new 7" single out on Italy's Avant label, and their latest LP on S-S is called Take the Sky.

Los Llamarada - Live at WFMU 11/18/08 Part One (Sagan vocals) (MP3)
Los Llamarada - Live at WFMU 11/18/08 Part Two (Estrella vocals) (MP3)

Roller Boogie in your mailbox

What's the best way to start your bleary work day? How about rolling around the office and poppin' wheelies in your desk chair to a blast of roller boogie?

That's what I've been doing for the past month thanks to Milwaukee DJ The Fed. Via her music blog bounce/oz, you can sign up for a daily blast of Foxy Disco delivered fresh to your email inbox each weekday. You've already missed out on a dance floor freakshow, body movin', a groovin' update of the beat, and the forever funky "Double Dutch Bus". Since I love you, I've reposted those tracks here, but you best get on the list now for the one and only Roller Boogie Audio Successory™ of the Day or risk missing more gems.

Listen to: The Bar-Kays "Freakshow On The Dance Floor"   Frankie Smith "Double Dutch Bus"  West Street Mob "Let's Dance (Make Your Body Move)"  Orbit & Carol Hall "The Beat Goes On"

And if you need even more reasons to get down, how about the soundtrack to the classic Linda Blair film Roller Boogie? Okay, maybe "classic" is an overstatement, but as far as roller disco movies go it is far from the worst (that distinction goes to Skatetown USA), and even though the soundtrack is lacking in pure awesomeness, it does feature a few out of print gems from Cher and producer Bob Esty.

Listen to: Cher "Hell on Wheels (12" version)"  Bob Esty and Cheeks "Electronix (Roller Dancin')"

And the roller jams aren't just a thing of the past. Not only was Roll Bounce a retro delight that brought the boogie back to Bow Wow lovin kids, but take a listen to Plantlife's super-funky "Rollerskate Jam" - it can get any party laced up (and starts with the appropriate shout out, "“Whaddup, De La Soul!”). Then there's the new millennium disco queen Leslie Hall, who is bringing back the disco bling - and even though the video below may not show it, she has been known to perform on skates in roller rink concerts.

Antique Phonograph Music Program Documentary

Check out this swank three-part documentary about our own Mac and his Antique Phonograph Music Program!

Buy WFMU Crapola for the Holidays

WFMU has just added a ton of great items to our online store as an enticement to CONSUME this holiday season. Feast your eyes upon these delectable goodies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tell your loved ones Happy Boxing Day with an "Eat Flaming Death Fascist Media Pigs!" hoodie, warm your sternocleidomastoid with a WFMU scarf, or check out tons of other fun DVDs, t-shirts, stickers, magnets, CDs, night lights, cookbooks, and more.

All orders received by 12/14 should arrive in time for x-mas.

Glassbreaks (MP3)

Bob Cronin, aka dj BC, is best known as the creator of such memorable mash-ups as The Beastles (Beatles vs. Beastie Boys) and Wu Orleans (Wu-Tang Clan vs. New Orleans Jazz). Boston Phoenix magazine declared him Boston's Best Lawbreaker, and his progressive attitude towards copyrights might also be responsible for the fact that his mixes usually disappear from his website after a relatively short time. One of my all-time dj BC favorites is his album Glassbreaks, mashing up Philip Glass with hip-hop. Here it is, for free download, and hopefully for a longer time.

01 Einstein on The Beast [PG - various pieces from Einstein on The Beach vs. The Beastie Boys - Pass The Mic]
02 For The Glasty [PG - Dance V vs. Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes - For The Nasty]
03 How Many Whores? [PG and Foday Muso Susa - Warda's Whorehouse vs. The Fugees - How many Mics?]
04 Lil' Tut [PG - "Funeral" from Akhnaten vs. Lil' Jon & the Eastside Boyz - I Don't Give A Fuck]
05 Crystal Glass [PG - Dance II vs. Smif n Wessun feat. Talib Kweli - Crystal Stair]
06 Gangsta Rubric [PG - Glasspiece #1: Rubric vs. MC Eight feat. CMW - Geez Make The World Go Round]
07 Evening High [PG - Evening Song vs. Kanye West feat. Talib Kweli and Common - Get 'Em High]
08 Stand Up Dance [PG - Dance I vs. Dizzee Rascal - Stand Up Tall]
09 Leila Dies, Lyrics Born [PG - Leila Dies vs. Lyrics Born - Callin' Out]
10 Glass Prison (Instrumental) [PG - Act III Scene 1: Trial/ Prison from Einstein On The Beach]

By the way, "PG" is short for Philip Glass, not to be confused with the MPAA content rating acronym. Tracks 2-8 are in fact rated R and may damage unaccompanied minors.

The 2008 Cinematic Stupidity Lifetime Acheivement Award

Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm golf clap out of sheer politeness and misguided empathy to the director/co-screenwriter duo and winners of this year's coveted Cinematic Stupidity Lifetime Acheivement Award, Michael Sucsy and Patricia Rozema.

They, along with HBO Films, have just wrapped up production on the remake (due in April 2009) of Grey Gardens.  Grey.  Gardens.  The documentary.  About Edith and "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale living in a filthy, unkempt mansion in the Hamptons?  They remade a fucking documentary.

The Life Magazine Internet Photo Archive

This is too cool for words, which is fine and also makes sense, since it is an incredible archive of photography. The work of Life Magazine's legendary photographers (artists like Allan Grant, Yale Joel, John Dominis, Gjon Mili, N.R. Farbman, Grey Villet, Peter Stackpole and countless others) is now available in a massive internet archive powered by a handy dandy search engine. Regulars to Beware of the Blog know I'm pretty much obsessed with anything having to do with old showbiz and these classic black and white Life stills really conjure up the walls of an ancient cigar chompin' Broadway agent. Find yourself lost for days in a Broadway Danny Rose world with this super cool development put together by behemoths TimeWarner and Google. I've organized some of my favorites on my own site - click on them to enlarge. Check out:

Ed Sullivan
Bill Cosby
Lucille Ball
Milton Berle
Woody Allen
Mort Sahl
Groucho Marx
Bob Hope
Jerry Lester
Edward R. Murrow
And the beautiful Yma Sumac

These are just some meager examples. There are thousands and thousands of amazing photos to unearth. Now go search for your own favorites.