WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Vol. 25 (MP3s)

Give the Drummer Some's
5 Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere

Over the next few weeks the Miner is taking some badly need time off, but he's still prepared a few junior-meal versions of Mining the Audio Motherlode to keep your ears nourished. Hey, don't forget to chew!

 

It's Easy Being Green
Sociedad 76  ~  "Johnny Zamot el Hulk de la Salsa"
(Blog: Global Groove)

Loner Folk from the Lone Star State
Larry "Sunshine" Rice  ~  "Here's Sunshine"
(Blog: Ezhevika Fields)




"Himbad" Brailey Sails Away from Funkadelica
Mutiny  ~  "Mutiny on the Mamaship"
(Blog: Blog-O-Blog)

Unheralded Tenor Ax Master
Carter Jefferson  ~  "The Rise of Atlantis"
(Blog: Orgy in Rhythm)




Twang Chic
Various  ~  "I Want a Rock & Roll Guitar"
(Blog: Uncle Gil's Rockin' Archive)

Listen for music from these and other incredible finds on
Give the Drummer Some, Fridays on WFMU, 9 to Noon (ET).

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

Now This Is What I'm Talking About

Industry ad for Loew's American Theatre, Billboard, Sept. 19, 1914 issue

hot child in the city

For those of us who don't have shacks in the Hamptons, the city is our summer playground.  New York in the summer is not just for European tourists. Can you locate these inner city delights?  Answers in the comments section.

  

My So-Called "Death"

I was feeling a little glum one day a few weeks ago, and I started moaning (via email) to DJ Kelly about how when I die nobody's gonna come to my funeral, etc. etc. boo-hoo-hoo, and this is what she replied:

Your fucking funeral would be so humongous that I shudder to think about how annoying it would be if you died. I would organize the memorial service, of course, and do my best to keep out spotlight-seeking mother-in-laws. There would be every WFMU person there, including some you hate, and rabid fans hoping to claw their names into your coffin. Your death would inspire copy-cat suicides by at least two Listeners. The mayor of your tiny Upstate town would declare a special moment of silence at the dog park, and Baxter would get a special little pallbearer’s outfit and sit on top of your coffin during the procession through town, howling in pain. I would go to the NY Times with a gun and force someone there to write an entire full-page obituary about you and your legacy, if only in order to make you turn over in your grave. Afterward, I would visit you at your gravesite on top of some sunny little hill on a peaceful slope somewhere in Westchester. And your headstone would be engraved with "May God Bless," with a picture of your face that you would never recognize.
 Don't die or I'll kill you.

I just want to point out that I do not "hate" anyone at WFMU. Certainly not.
Thanks for reading my funeral plans, and may God bless.

Die Trip Computer Die - Flowerball (MP3s)

It is always hard to describe music which doesn't fall into any known genre, but let me try anyway: Die Trip Computer Die sounds like a bunch of space aliens on acid with a sampler and various old records and sound effects. One of the myriad offshoots of DIY punk band The Homosexuals, this trio of Lepke Buchwater, Xentos 'Fray' Bentos, and Ted Barrow, is one of my favorite bands no sane person has ever heard of. Their discography is quite messy, a wild mix of a few official releases and numerous mysterious CD-Rs and MP3s on various Internet sites. The album "Flowerball" is one of those unofficial releases, and the scant resources I found on the Internet indicate that it was originally a CD-R not on any label. Here are the MP3s, listen at your own risk:

01 System of the Tortured
02 Gestations
03 A Bad Idea
04 In Bed With 1000 Priests
05 Seductive Song of War
06 Messrs Smirkett & Bloat
07 Fink Drummer
08 Chief-Inspector Kickback
09 Contains Psychological
10 Goodbye Again
11 Every 'Why' Is A 'How'
12 The Naked Statue
13 Roll, Frankie Roll
14 A Short Film About Gas
15 Flowerball

By the way, this album has been played on WFMU a few times on Tony Coulter's show, most recently here.

Bargain Barn

It is a damned felony only ten minutes of this show exist. Shawnee, Oklahoma cable access show "Bargain Barn".

Guaranteed good. You buy it, you like it!

Earth Song

Some weeks back, I talked about setting up an apartment friendly compost bin. The basic premise is simple. You need a plastic container with some holes punched in for drainage, kitchen scraps, shredded paper and some urine.

I know that we drew something of a discreet veil over the urine part, but it is quite important to the overall plan.

Many books will tell you that you cannot call yourself a gardener unless you make your own compost. I’d like to add that you couldn’t call yourself a gardener until you become so obsessed with making compost that you bore the living arse off anyone within a five-mile radius.

God bless Twitter and Facebook: I am that compost bore.

80s Action Movie Cliches Pt 2: The Diabolical Villain

Welcome to Part Two of my ongoing series exploring the mystique and joy of the 80s Action Film (approximately 1983 - 1992). Last time I presented some a selection of witty (and heroic) retorts, and now we continue the other side of the hero's journey: the villains.

And so, here are some moments from a rogues gallery of usually big-named actors who got a healthy paycheck for chewing up the scenery: from Major Dad Coach kicking karate ass, to Ben Gazzara kneeing a minion in the groin, to little-person tough guy Daniel Frishman (not the same actor from Head of the Class, obviously), to Lance Henriksen delivering one of the best bad-guy lines of all time. Though the baddest bad-guy of all has to be the last clip featured here, with legendary character actor Richard Lynch (oh so memorable to 80s film buffs for his role in The Sword and The Sorcerer). Now that guy takes evil to an all new level.  

Anyone care to name all the films?

Mystery Drive

I never knew what to call it. For me, getting in my car and driving aimlessly has always been an instinctual, obvious relaxation technique. If I receive bad news, if I am stressed out by my job or a problem in my personal life, or if I've just become bored with the mundane minutiae of everyday life, I often am compelled to go...somewhere. This has one of two effects: it can clear my thoughts, or it can provide me with time and silence enough to work through whatever issue is in need of attention. I guess sometimes it can do both, but in my experience that is rare. My car has been my therapist's couch for over eight years now. Together we've spent as little as ten seconds together (I once decided to drive next door to my neighbor's pool in the middle of summer), and as much as six weeks together (an epic cross-country excursion following graduation from college). Yet, it wasn't until last year when my friend Pat, commiserating about something or other, blew my mind with his simple definition of the event.

The unfairly elementary, logical term for driving nowhere in particular on a given day for the purpose of self-improvement and exploration is "Mystery Drive". You might end up someplace familiar, or you could end up hundreds of miles from home in the middle of who-the-fuck-knows-where. The Mystery Drive can be a spiritually rewarding trip, or an epic failure. In high school, I would often end up at my grandmother's old apartment complex on the border of Livingston and Short Hills, or at the IKEA parking lot near the airport. I was young and naive then, and had not yet truly embraced the power of a true Mystery Drive. Things improved in college, with late night drives across state lines helping to clear my thoughts about a failing relationship, or just because I was tired of eating at Wegmans every night only to come home, smoke some pot, play MVP Baseball for Nintendo GameCube, and watch Adult Swim until I passed out.

Living in a new state, in a rich environment like Southern California, has afforded me some classic Mystery Drives. Sometimes I wonder if my innate enjoyment of spending time in my car is in some way responsible for my move to Los Angeles. Even after two years, I don't know the highway system all that well. Nor do I know the placement of weird off-the-beaten-path areas ripe for discovery. I've been under a lot of stress for the past two weeks, dealing with frustrating and depressing issues on both the East and West coasts. Shortly after I woke up yesterday, I felt my day off was the perfect opportunity for an epic Mystery Drive.

Bingo!

 

Here's a nice little 8mm documentary about Grandma Belasco and her bingo habit.

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Vol. 24 (MP3s)

Give the Drummer Some's
10 Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere
(see Comments, below, for helpful info about downloading)

Happy 30th anniversary to Jimmy Carter and his maligned "crisis of confidence" speech, which some political observers identify as the day Carter lost his bid for reelection. Despite the ignominy attached to Carter's address, it turns out to have been one of the rare moments a sitting president has told the country such a shocking measure of truth about itself. The resulting right-wing shitstorm, which ultimately eviscerated Carter's presidency, spooked progressive politics under the rock it's only now just beginning to creep out from under.

In the three decades since that fateful night Carter sat before the cameras, ostensibly to deliver a speech on energy policy, Carter's flat-lined presidency has been looking better and better. (Of course, even Warren Harding's tenure begins to look rosy when viewed through the prism of the Bush abomination.) Sure it turned out to be a PR disaster, but Carter's address to the nation on July 15, 1979, was a stunning display of soul-searching candor never to be seen again in American presidential politics.

As you poke through the usual assortment of enchantments offered below, do yourself a favor and give a listen (mp3) to Carter's mesmerizing speech. (Or you can watch the whole thing here.)

 

Surf & Garage Covers from Lisbon
Various  ~  "Portuguese Nuggers, Vol. 1"
(Blog: Soundaboard)
From the album: Hully Gully Do Montanhes (mp3) by Conjunto Académico João Paulo

Sitar on My Face
Bill Plummer  ~  "Bill Plummer & the Cosmic Brotherhood"
(Blog: Hippy Djkit)





Aye, That's the Rabab
Essa Kassimi  ~  "Le Luth Afghan"
(Blog: Sounds of Enlightenment)



[7 more nuggets of truth, after the jump]

Ted Kennedy & The Bridge At Chappaquiddick (MP3s)

July 18 (Saturday) will mark the 40th anniversary of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.  Kopechne left a party with Senator Ted Kennedy who piloted  his Oldsmobile 88 off the side of a nearby bridge and into the water below.  He managed to escape, but Kopechne drowned in the car.  In an act of indefensible cowardice, Kennedy fled the scene and did not bother contacting the police until 10AM the next morning.

Kennedy's account of the evening is full of inconsistencies and raises a great many questions.  Earlier this year, the Boston Globe published a detailed account of the tragedy, which can be found here.

        

Don Eddings  -  Chappaquiddick Bridge  (2:47)

Voices Of Cape Cod  -  The Ballad Of Mary Jo  (3:47)  The Ballad Of Mary Jo was written by Doctor Ludmil Chotkowski, an internist who earned his medical degree at Yale University School Of Medicine.  In addition to this song, he is also the author of a 2002 book titled Chiropractic: The Greatest Hoax Of The Century?  He died in 2006 and his obituary can be read here.

That Little Hoarding Problem, Anew

So part of my little hoarding problem has been that I had nowhere to put anything. Whenever I tried to unpack a box of my stuff, Sluggo would throw it all back into a pile and take the shelf space for more of his millions of little vinyl toys or his vast collection of Japanese catalogs of little vinyl toys. One time he decided he didn’t like the little chest of drawers I got for free from a guy who was moving out of his apartment, and he insisted I throw it out and put all my clothes into bags under the bed. (I still have the chest, although it is really ugly. But it’s the only place I have to keep my many pairs of broken sunglasses.) Anyway, what with Sluggo’s talent for acquiring, and my pathological inability to throw anything away, we’ve been in hoarder hell for a while now. That’s why it was such a shock when he sold his entire record collection on Saturday. An old friend of his, who also happens to be a vinyl dealer, came over to give him some advice on his extensive collection of vintage hardcore and punk albums, and ended up buying the whole thing. I know I should be pleased to see it go—especially the Rush LPs—and now there’s two whole shelves empty where I can put my things. But for some reason it made me very sad. Sluggo’s music always seemed like such a big part of his life, and now it’s all gone. I know it’s just things and stuff, and it’s not really him … but still … I guess I can go visit the collection when it shows up at the next WFMU Record Fair, before you Collectors show up and buy it. But it just seems weird.
 
Thanks for reading my blogpost this time, and may God bless.

Hugh Cornwell and Hooverdam

Though my new WFMU show is immersion total in scary metal and noise, this particular aesthetic apex could never have been realized without the formative contribution of my obsession with The Stranglers. I feel compelled, as Diane Kamikaze has done in the past, to bang the drum for Hugh Cornwell—singer, author, guitarist and former co-frontman for the paranormal punk combo (who still record and tour without him, under the Stranglers moniker.) Hugh's made a great new record, Hooverdam, and you can download the full album for free, with Hugh's blessing, right here. Hooverdam will be a treat for Stranglers fans, as it creeps up on you that these catchy songs are very much in the spirit of the more straightforward Stranglers material—the album has some real strong moments, the more I listen to it. (Note that on the cover, Hugh's name is reproduced in the familiar "Stranglers font.")

Hugh has several shows in the NY area coming up in September (Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia on 9/8; the Brighton Bar in Long Branch, NJ on 9/9; The Record Collector in Bordentown, NJ on 9/11; and Highline Ballroom in NYC on 9/12); complete tour dates can be seen right here, at Hugh's Web site. It's also been announced that at his UK Academy dates in November, Hugh and the band will be performing Hooverdam as well as The Stranglers' classic album, Rattus Norvegicus IV—both in their entirety.

Since Hugh is giving these preview tracks away (the CD/LP are nicely packaged and are affordable to own as well), I'm hoping he won't mind my re-posting a few favorites here:

Delightful Nightmare
Rain on the River
The Pleasure of Your Company

There are also some amazing Stranglers clips up now on YouTube that you don't need my help finding, but here's a personal favorite, "Shah Shah A Go Go" from 1979:

A Night in NYC

I didn't move to the Big Apple until 1995, but as a kid growing up watched all the city's TV channels that got exported to Pennsylvania, and formulated a distinct picture of what living there was like. In my mind everybody there made their own independent swinger ads on Al Goldstein's show, had kids who competed for Dynamite magazine and Lenders' Bagelettes on Wonderama, had weird telephone numbers that started with "Murray Hill", and lived in apartments like Felix Unger and Oscar Madison. This 25 minute Jools Holland/Leslie Ash-hosted special for The Tube is a nice drift of early 80's NYC sights and sounds, focused on the Danceteria scene, Arthur Baker, Paradise Garage etc. Check it out (via Skratchworx).

Abe Burrows Sings? (MP3s)

Here's a set of records I've known for as long as I've known what a record was. Abe Burrows was a writer, humorist, radio performer, and much more (including being the father of James Burrows). In 1950 or so, he released a set of four 78's (and, apparently, a 10" 33 RPM album, too) under the title "Abe Burrows Sings?". My parents bought it shortly thereafter, and it was the sort of thing that received frequent plays (and frequent references to it in conversation) in our house. 

If and when I come across this collection I will post a scan of the cover, but for now it's hidden somewhere amongst my parents' things in the basement. Some time ago, I made MP3 copies of all of these songs, though, and offer them here for your enjoyment.

I love all seven of these songs/skits (one being a two-parter) to varying degrees - "Boulder Dam" and "The Gypsy's Violin" are favorites. But there are great little jokes sprinkled throughout, really funny set pieces (particularly in the Boulder Dam record), and just a great, winning way with the whole presentation. I'd be surprised if these weren't a big influence on Tom Lehrer. (And at least a couple of these songs were reworked for use by the Muppets, a fact that I find fairly mind-boggling.)

Abe Burrows later released another 10" 33 RPM album, which featured a song called "The Girl with Three Blue Eyes", and which is also somewhere in that basement of mine. It's also got some fantastic material, which I'll share here when I come up with it.

Bob

1.) Abe Burrows - Brooklyn (MP3)

2.) Abe Burrows - The Gypsy’s Violin (MP3)

3.) Abe Burrows - Lopin’ Along (MP3)

4.) Abe Burrows - Sweet Memories (MP3)

5.) Abe Burrows - Boulder Dam, Part One (MP3)

6.) Abe Burrows - Boulder Dam, Part Two (MP3)

7.) Abe Burrows - Upper Peabody (MP3)

8.) Abe Burrows - Sea Shanty (MP3)

Wing does MJ (MP3)

I don't know if it had anything to do with Michael Jackson's cardiac arrest, but just before the King of Pop died, famous New Zealand singer Wing released her 16th CD "Beat It", featuring herself holding a baseball bat on the cover. Here is what you need to know about her and this most recent album, the official album notes from CDBaby (where you can get the whole CD).

Beat It is Wing's 16th CD and includes lyrical songs most requested by her fans -- at concerts in the US and UK during 2007 and 2008, and for delivery by her popular "live singing over the telephone" service. Wing the singer is admired by fans throughout the world for the passion and joy she shares through her CDs and performances of popular songs. With a unique voice and an ever-widening repertoire, Wing loves singing and she lives to sing. Her goal is to sing beautiful songs as they should be sung, and she spends 3-4 hours every day working towards this goal. Her singing teacher helps Wing work on her current repertoire, and helps to choose the songs for the next CD. A New Zealand resident, Wing's CDs have earned her an international cult following. She is a regular guest on radio shows and television celebrity guest and entertainment shows, and has appeared on programmes as diverse as TAB Sports Cafe (New Zealand), Rove Live (Australia) and the animated television satire show South Park. Her live performances have ranged from New York's Blue Note night club and San Francisco's famous Castro Theatre to old folks homes and hospitals to university gyms, private parties and corporate gigs. Wing's CDs are proudly manufactured in New Zealand by Media Technology.

Finally, here is the song you've all been waiting for: Wing - Beat It (MP3)

Images I Enjoyed in Comics This Week

    

Victor Flick, and the British Invasion of Sesame Street

Today's posting deals with two subjects dear to me heart: The ersatz, fake-o, bogus, unlicensed 'cover' album' (for kid's, in this case) on a 'knock-off' or low-budget label; and the work of legendary guitar specialist, composer, conductor Vic Flick.
  Mr. Flick's guitar artistry on dozens of hit singles and lps is well documented, but his work as a composer and conductor somewhat less so.
I discovered Flick's foray into the world of Sesame Street in 2002 whilst compiling Muppet/Sesame material for a music project. A collector pal brought over his latest Sesame record score and not only was it obviously unlicensed but credited Vic on the cover--a must-listen!

Ukraine's Got Talent: Heartbreaking Art-Filled Talent

Sand animator Kseniya Semonova is burning up the internet thanks to this winning stint on the Ukrainian version of the Got Talent series. 

If you prefer something a little less, well, heart-breaking, Kseniya does have fun with the sand as well.