Tuesday, May 30, 2006

GREEN

DUN GIGGEN/Bath, OH/backyard/May 29th, 2006/explodingveridianloveliness that even i can't kill/junglelushmagichoodoothatdoesthisallonitsown...











































































NP: WRUW/"The Spandex Years" '80's show archive off the web

PEEVE DE JOUR: leaving tomorrow w/all the usual regrets, missed hook-ups...AND only got to Rosati's three times:


this place makes the absolute best frozen custard i've ever had = the Berthillon of Brecksville! two other locations in NEO: http://www.rosatisfrozencustard.com/

see a happy customer: http://flickr.com/photos/11805524@N00/156163157/

N. B. A T. W. P.: Back in the 90s, Gil Shuster organized these amazing concerts in his backyard in Brooklyn. He called them Brooklyn Woodstock and great bands would play all day and raise money for AIDs Research.

Now, about 10 years after the last Brooklyn Woodstock was held, the event is returning to Gil's backyard on June 10--this time to raise money for breast cancer research--in memory of our wonderful friend Wendy Geffin.

Life In A Blender and many other great bands are playing. See the attached poster and hope to see you there.



cb...WHERE ARE YOU?




OHIO

Sunday, May 28, 2006

HALF CLEVELAND

HALF CLEVELAND

THIS COMING FRIDAY, JUNE 2ND at THE LIME SPIDER,
Activemuse.org presents:
The Benefit for Displaced Musicians in New Orleans

HALF CLEVELAND- from 10P-11PM
Tin Huey members Harvey Gold, Chris Butler,
with guest Huey drummer, Stuart Austin and
Chi-Pig bassist Debbie Smith and just maybe...
a sit in surprise!!!!

Co-hosted by Bob Kidney (The Numbers Band) and Tom Ball (WAPS) along with tunes by Mr. Kidney, performing will be ---

Constant Flux 7-8
River Bottom Bushwackers 8-9
Damaged Pies 9-10

Half Cleveland 10-11P

Full Wave Rectifier 11-12
Michael Harvey 12-1A
John "Ozzie" Oswald & the Games Band 1-2A

It's for a great cause, we're proud to be a part of it
and would love to see you.
Half Cleveland also has shows planned for
Akron on June 30th and the New York area f
or the weekend of July 28th.
More details when we get 'em.

Hope to seeya $10 Doors at 6P

fyi:
The Lime Spider
207 S. Main St (across from the Civic Theater)
Akron, OH
330-762-2350
http://www.thelimespider.com

ps: thanks to Furk Zhenk for the fill-in stuff while i was on holiday. funny...he's sooooo verbose...i thought he'd go to town. must be that European reticence. i will resume my usual programming schedule bit by bit...still semi-vacating

NP: Little Feat/"Sailin' Shoes"

PEEVE DE JOUR: why does my Burns Double Six destroy E strings at the bridge? they don't break...they unwind????

N. B. A T. W. P.: see the above listing, B's & G's!

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

VACATION FILL-IN 2











Furk Zhenk here again. cb is still on holiday, but he sent the following 'post card':

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=
-8000409016826512649&q=six+drummers

large fun, no?

Friday, May 19, 2006

VACATION FILL-IN













"Karshtemiz!" Furk Zhenk here (from Europe), saying greetings to friends of Chris Butler who on holiday and so i am filling in while gone is. sorry for English not so good, but i will do the best. I am 1/2 of Kilopop! with my sister Trynka - rock band (from Europe) that you don't know much in USA, but we are actually long time band (in Europe).

here is some info:

"Future Fossil Records is proud to present Kilopop!...Europe's second best pop band and our first foreign-licensing release. Although virtually unknown in the USA, Furk and Trynka Zhenk have been consistent chart-toppers in the EU for over three decades, as well as furious experimenters who've stretched pop's parameters in every conceivable direction. As Furk says: "Why shouldn't the definition of 'pop' include a Shaggs song (Who Are Parents?) or a Raymond Scott tune (Coming Back Down to Earth)? We aren't too concerned with what pop is, but rather what pop could and should be."

Is America ready for Kilopop!? We think so...enjoy!
- Chris Butler"

and also:

KILOPOP! INFO

“I first met Furk and Trynka Zhenk in the ‘60’s when I was an AFS student in Biôt, France. I was having a terrible time with the language and culture (so were they...their Finish, Maltese and Romanian backgrounds didn’t prepare them for the impatient French). We kept in touch, and we each started playing in bands and writing songs at about the same time. They did very well, but I was on a college track so music took a back seat to my studies. I did continue to slip them the occasional tune now and then, which to my surprise they recorded. I was the only person I knew who ‘worked his way through school’ on song royalties, although I was never credited on their records since the European Song Guild was boycotting American writers as a protest against the war in Vietnam.

The early ‘70’s were a time of rethinking and re-positioning for the band. Furk and Trynka sought a reconciliation with their father, Steg Zhenk (the peripatetic Senior Sales Administrator for Finland’s Bonk Business and someone who had no qualms about mixing business with pleasure...hence his offspring by two different mothers) while breaking-up and reforming almost monthly. Although their recording output was sparse, I kept their spirit alive: I can honestly say that without Kilopop!, there would have been no Waitresses...since I based my group’s sound, lyrical slant and presentation 100% on them. They noticed, and this time it was me inspiring them, for in the mid ‘80’s they roared back with a vengeance, and stayed creatively active right up until the present.

Our friendship has certainly had it’s ups and downs over the years, and although I can now look back and laugh at most of the questionable business pranks pulled by Ester van der Sylk, their manager, I am glad that we’ve remained friends and that we are all working together to bring “Un Petit Goûter” to American listeners. Once again, the myopia of the major labels (all of whom passed on this project) is ‘corrected’ by the ‘far-sightedness’ of a scruffy independent. I hope you enjoy these lost classics from a truly authentic (and deserving) band.

—Chris Butler

...and others agree:

"It's not that Kilopop have been tragically overlooked in the rock history books. It's not that this group curiously mirrored every major pop trend of the past 35 years without causing a blip on the cultural radar. It's not that these recordings testify how years before the uproar about Frankenfood, Kilopop was attempting to fill peoples' ears with Frankentunes. No, it's not these things at all."

--Irwin Chusid
WFMU radio personality
Author, Songs in the Key of Z
..........................
"Kilopop! me rend à la lune! La nouvelle collection sera l'accomplissement définitif de l'histoire de la musique populaire Européen du XXième siècle; je l'attend sans sommeil, sans mangeant, même sans soufflant."

Pierre François de la Briosche,
"De La Musique Souterrain"
Vol. 110, Avril 2001

see?...we are cool, so buy us here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kilopop

our fabulous history: http://www.futurefossilmusic.com/kilopop.htm










me and T joined at the ears are!


Thursday, May 18, 2006

WHO KNEW????















last week (?) at rehearsal, one of our tunes morphed into 'I'm A Man' by The Spencer Davis Group. never knew the lyricds, so i looked 'em up - this is one of those classic moments where you've been hearing a song for decades, but always just assumed the lyrics were mumbled 'cause they were crap.


hardly...actually kinda cool.

I’M A MAN

Well my pad is very messy
And theres whiskers on my chin
And Im all hung up on music
And I always play to win
I aint got no time for lovin
Cause my time is all used up
Just to sit around creatin
All that groovy kind of stuff.

Im a man
Yes I am
And I cant help
But love you so
Im a man
Yes I am
And I cant help
But love you so.

Well if I had my choice of matter
I would rather be with cats
All engrossed in mental chatter
Moving where our minds are at
And relating to each other
Just how strong our wills can be
Im resisting all involvement
With each groovy chick we see

CHORUS

I got to keep my image
While suspended from a throne
That looks out upon a kingdom
Full of people all unknown
Who imagine Im not human
And my heart is made of stone
I never had no problems
And my toilets trimmed with chrome

CHORUS

NP: The Spencer Davis Group/"Keep On Runnin'" [back to the dumbass lyrics]

PEEVE DE JOUR:

nosleepnosleepnosleepnotjustfrieddeepfriedcolonelsanderskaolagoldstylee [yes i know you came up with this riff]

N. B. A T. W. P.: Bruce Bennett is a goddam genius...

" The A-Bones will be providing the sloppy, non-matching shirted, 100% Little Steven unapproved filling to a triple-decker stupid-rock sandwich this Saturday night 5/20 at Magnetic Field at 97 Atlantic Avenue in the cradle of civilization, Brooklyn, NYC.
Early show (doors 7:30, neighbor curfew circa 11) and we're in the middle so you do the math."

http://www.magneticbrooklyn.com/

cb...WHERE ARE YOU?




PENNSYLVANIA (travel day)

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

bLiTzScReEd WeDnEsDaY!

(a smattering of coolfun stuff i've received thru the week)




- from Mo in Hoboken. Judson Laipply does Napoleon Dynamite one better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

- from DS. A Squirrel Nut Zippers soap opera:

http://www.newsobserver.com/308/story/439524.html

- from BBob via Lou. 'Do You Take It In The ...?"

http://www.goodiebag.tv/video/do_you_take_it.htm

- from LS in NYC: Simon Dawes:

http://www.myspace.com/simondawes

- interesting physics story in the NYC:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/science/16ligh.html?ex=1148
443200&en=5e9cfd6ab53cbd33&ei=5070&emc=eta1

- from Higgs in NJ:

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0512-20.htm

NP: WFMU/Joe Belock [http://www.wfmu.org/]

PEEVE DE JOUR: busted clothes dryer...the 3rd time

N. B. A T. W. P.: my pal John Sonntag's having a Release Party for his new CD - "Chasing Stars":

May 18th, 8PM
The Goldhawk
10th and Park, Hoboken, NJ

http://www.johnsonntag.com/

cb...WHERE ARE YOU?




OHIO

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

THERE IS NO TIRED LIKE THE TIRED I AM…


country music lyrics running thru my skull – “I’ll admit that you’re a looker, but you ain’t impressed me yet/I’ll just smoke this beer and drink this cigarette”/PA DRAINAWAY/overdrawn at the Sleep Bank/ten megatons of divorce documents to copypreparegodihatethisshit/song lyrics waaaaaay past deadline (I’m so sorry Vandalism…I have a good idea tho)/mad scramble thru rain rain rain rainy terrain the rain stays mainly in the Pennsylvain vein? there is so much rain 500 miles of RAIN seven hours of White Knuckle Hiway/I have not stopped moving in MONTHS/rehearsal was good but I am so fried I fumbledstumbledgrumbled/I am absolute toast…no…toasted AND buttered/great weekend with The Little Man but he takes his toll too/a friend just told me that hey Mr. Duh, you wanna be in Ohio you are voting with your feetwheels/no I don’t great artyfartyparty at Tracy’s last night I gave ‘em the Vayda story sheepishly they are smart cats & cittens hope they like it I like it/got The Do Ya Project up and out there for the Masses to consume very proud of that most creative thing I’ve done in a long time so hope they like that too/so many projects nibbling at me/ so much RESTLESSNESS so much WANNADO so much AMBITION/but all I wanna do is lie in the crack ya know? with my hunnybunsweetiepie if ya get my drift that’s ‘70’s black slang thank you & goodnight.

NP: Dusty Wright/Giant Fingers/Rebecca Turner (thanks, Scott!)/BBob’s CDR of marching band music (!)/Charlie Chesterman (finally)…well, at least PA is good for catching up on all that missedlistening.

PEEVE DE JOUR: EEEEVVVERRRRRRYYYYYTTTTTTHHHIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!

N. B. A T. W. P.: it doesn’t matter…it’s rainin' all over the world…stay home.

cb...WHERE ARE YOU?




OHIO

Monday, May 15, 2006

MONDAY MEDS: Cyclonic Reaction/PART 6

- another installment chronicling my banged-up bod.









in this case, how i busted my back on Coney Island's Cyclone roller coaster and became instantly old.

HOW TO TRY TO FIX OR BUILD A BUILDING IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK

let's say you're a landlord, and the tenant in Apartment 3 just blew up the stove while brewing a batch crystal meth. you need a permit to put in new gas lines, which means you will have to deal with the dreaded Building Department in Lower Manhattan. or let's say you're a poor slob who busted your back on the Cyclone at Coney Island, and want to gather info on the ride/it's inspection history/get general info to bolster your upcoming law suit against the City: you will also have to deal with the aforementioned Kafka-ian bureaucracy 'cause that's where the elevator inspectors hide out, and they are the ones who okay the rides.

not all the Nazis escaped to South America after WW II...several got jobs working for NYC in the Building Department, and they run their fiefdom with a mixture of contempt for whomever walks in the door/Third World dictatorial stalling and ass-dragging/obfuscation/noncooperation/humiliation ...any -ation you can think of. they are right bastards in all respects, and make everyone from the biggest developers to the lowest scumball slumlord jump thru hoops to get that damn piece of paper that sez "go ahead - fix me/build me".

and this is where i have to go, too...in a back brace/in agony/zonked on painkillers that fuzz me out vs. actually reduce the pain of a broken back.

but the waiting room is quite a show: in they come - the mighty who arrived in limos from Midtown and the meek who came in from Carnasie on the subway. and all must confront Ms. Rodriguez, a strikingly beautiful, serene Latina who is the first line of defense to keep all these petitioners from bothering the Inspectors who Have More Important Things To Do Than Their Jobs. she smiles down at you from her high, immaculate desk, they plead, she bats them away with a regal wave of her hand. bip. "Mr. X is at lunch, come back later." bop. "this is the wrong form." bip. "Mr. Y is aware of your deadline, but these things take time." she is unbelievably good at HER job...no one gets past her/no one can smooth-talk her/no one goes away happy or gets what they need or gets anything but highbloodpressurefurious apoplectic...but you have to deal with Them, so everyone forces a smile and slinks away like beaten dogs.

on my third trip (third trip!), i walked up to the building thru a clutch of cop cars with lights a'flashin'...and had to step aside as the cops hustled a screaming man thru the lobby. he was yelling very nasty things in a foreign language, and the cops did little to suppress this. they were sympathetic, and let him vent.

up in the permit office, all was chaos: Ms. Rodriguez's desk was a shambles - her phone system ripped out, papers everywhere, the staff all running around and yelling in there respective foreign languages. Ms. Rodriguez herself was lying on a sofa in the waiting area, all a flutterpanic and was being fanned with today's copy of the Post by someone in EMT drag. she was clearly rattled, wailing in Spanish, inconsolable.

one of the frustrated landlords had finally lost it, gone batfuckberserk and had torn the place up.

then - an amazing transformation happened. Ms. R. gently pushed the fan away, slowly began to moodshift, got up from the sofa, smoothed her blouse and dress...and as she walked back to her desk you could see the composure gradually return with each step. a staffer put her phone system back together, she took her place at her desk, straighten the folders and forms that had been tossed around, folded her hands in front of her, and...

bip.

bop.

bip.

bop...

[to be continued]


NP: BiancaBob/"Tugging At My But" rough mix

PEEVE DE JOUR: notimenotimenotime

N.B.A.T.W.P:

All-Star Concert To Aid Rock Legend's Medical Expenses

An all-star benefit concert, titled WE'RE DOING IT FOR LOVE, will be held at New York's Beacon Theater on Friday, June 23, which will attempt to cover the massive medical expenses of rock legend Arthur Lee (LOVE) who was diagnosed in February with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). Unfortunately, Arthur has no medical insurance, already has medical bills in excess of $100,000 and is facing a probable bone marrow transplant. With a rapidly increasing lineup at press time including Robert Plant, Ian Hunter, David Johansen, Yo La Tengo and Garland Jeffreys and a host of other significant artists expected to be added in the coming weeks, in addition to hopefully solving a major financial crisis, this concert will shine a long-overdue spotlight on the hugely influential but greatly underappreciated music of one of the truly innovative and influential rock artists of all-time. Tickets go onsale Friday, May 12th at noon at the Beacon Theater box office (74th & Broadway) and all Ticketmaster outlets (212-307-7171), www.ticketmaster.com. All of the concert's proceeds will go to Arthur's medical expenses.

Produced by veteran New York concert promoter Steve Weitzman of SW Productions, in association with Arthur Lee's manager Mark Linn, the show will feature artists who will either be performing Arthur Lee's material, their own originals or a combination of both. Many of the artists invited have had a history of performing LOVE covers in their live sets or on records, and Robert Plant, for one, has been performing three of Arthur's songs regularly during his most recent tour. This upcoming concert in fact, owes a large debt of gratitude to the legendary Led Zeppelin vocalist, as he was the first significant artist who agreed to perform, stating simply in a mid-April email to Mr. Weitzman that he "would definitely like to be involved...and will sing with anybody!" He has also insisted on taking care of his own plane fare from London in addition to his NY hotel expenses even when those were offered to be included in the show's budget. Very soon after Mr. Plant confirmed, Ian Hunter followed, and in addition to doing his own performance, offered to have his stellar band back up Mr. Plant who happily accepted that arrangement. The show's producer was told to expect "some old Led Zeppelin songs" as well as material by Arthur Lee and a few other songs long admired by Mr. Plant that he hasn't often performed live. Mr. Hunter and Mr. Plant also plan on singing together on certain selections, marking the first time onstage that they will have ever done that.

Understandably, for Arthur Lee, currently battling his life-threatening illness in Memphis, news of this concert has been practically the best medicine possible and has significantly picked up his spirits. When told about Robert Plant's involvement by his manager Mark Linn, he said, "That's great! Why don't you get that guitarist too... Jimmy something," adding with his "arthuresque" humor and take on life, "Robert Plant is a man of his word. and a man's word is his castle!" While his situation is extremely serious and the next few weeks will be his most challenging with ongoing chemotherapy and extensive hospital stays, he recently told his manager that he is not afraid of dying, only pain. If he is physically able to travel next month, he added, he would love to attend the Beacon show.

It has been well-chronicled that Arthur Lee is a man larger than life. He is a flamboyant artist with a trail of myth and mythology that follows him like a feathered boa. His band, LOVE, was the first rock band signed to Elektra Records, and Arthur is responsible for talking company founder Jac Holzman into signing The Doors. Before all this, in 1964, Arthur gave his friend, an unknown Jimi Hendrix, his first appearance on record (the Arthur Lee penned "My Diary" by Rosa Lee Brooks). LOVE's third recording, the landmark "Forever Changes," is still widely considered to be one of the greatest rock and roll discs of all time. In a Rolling Stone special issue two years ago, it was voted the 40th greatest album ever, on a list ranking the top 500 LP's of all time, even finishing ahead of such classics as Jimi Hendrix's "Electric Ladyland", the Rolling Stones' "Beggars Banquet", "Meet The Beatles," Led Zeppelin "IV" and John Lennon's "Imagine."

Mass acceptance was elusive for LOVE at the height of their creativity as they were definitely not "careerist." They preferred staying close to home, living together in "the castle" near Griffith Park in Los Angeles as opposed to life on the road. Arthur even turned down invitations to perform at the Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock. In the late '80's and early '90's, Arthur spent approximately seven years in jail for "allegedly" shooting off a gun in his apartment. When he was released, he wasted no time getting back to the road and his music. He performed his first New York shows in 25 years in 1994 when he was booked by Steve Weitzman at Tramps for three shows over two engagements in the summer and fall of that year.

During the past four years, Arthur Lee has performed the entire "Forever Changes" album to sold out audiences and fantastic reviews throughout Europe and the United States. backed by the local LA group Baby Lemonade, and a string and horn section. Just when he thought his bad times were finally over, he learned he was sick.

Information regarding the latest talent additions will be constantlyupdated on Arthur Lee's website, www.thelovesociety.com. In addition, Rolling Stone magazine has a preview article in their special 1,000th issue ("In The News" section, page 44). Fans who are unable to attend the concert and want to make a credit card donation to Arthur will find a link for that on his website.

To everyone who has him in his or her thoughts, Arthur Lee sends his LOVE.

For further contact:

Steve Weitzman/SW Productions - 212-254-1725, steveweitzman10@hotmail.com.
Mark Linn, Arthur Lee's manager - 615-480-6923, delmores@comcast.net
Alicia Gelernt, Noble Music - 646-408-9645, alicia@noblemusic.net



cb...WHERE ARE YOU?




PENNSYLVANIA (travel day)

Sunday, May 14, 2006

LUDVIG VAN!









B's & G's - that FABULOUS April 30th performance of Beethoven's 9th by the CANTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & CHORUS will be broadcast on WKSU today (Sunday, May 14) at 5:30 PM.

(it's online too at wksu.org)

NP: this from KA in the UK: http://religionandpolitics.ytmnd.com/

...and still got Lane's cd on in the car. The Little Man is already singing along w/ "Bottlenose Dolphin". btw - there's also a collaboration between Lane & R. Stevie Moore that i caint wait to hear.

PEEVE DE JOUR: i am a worldly hipster...so how come i always dress/look like an old geezer in a bundle of rags? am now terrified that i will die wearing jeans...

cb...WHERE ARE YOU?




NEW JERSEY

Saturday, May 13, 2006

BRILLIANCE

A great marketing campaign is High Art, and there are two out there now that are so brilliant that they take my breath away:









DEVO 2.0

WHAT IT IS: show biz kidz recruited to play/record DEVO songs. Backed by Disney, no less – The Mickey DEVO Club?

BENEFITS: churns DEVO’s catalog with new recordings/new masters = revived revenue stream/old geezer band gets to stay home while the pups go on the road/indoctrinates a new generation in the DEVO artfascist party line/mines the Tweener market with a vengence/possible harem-casting couch perqs/ink ink ink

CROSS-MARKETING: new burst of merch sales – every kid wants an Energy Dome for Xmas/movie andor tv special andor cartoon show (DEVO wanted this bad back in the day)

WHAT IT AIN’T: doubtful that we’ll hear “Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin’) or “I Need A Chick (To Suck My Dick) in this configuration









BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN “THE SEEGER SESSIONS”

WHAT IT IS: new recordings of American folk songs made popular by Pete Seeger/The Weavers

BENEFITS: honors a true American original/gives BS more Lefty cred/cheap to make = live, ragtag feel = low studio costs/can you say “public domain”? = no publishing to pay/since these tunes have become standards at summer camps for decades (pushes the nostalgia button), this is essentially a kids record/gives parents something ‘meaningful’ and wholesome to give their kids/NPR and PBS tie-ins (here in NYC anyway) are a huge success = more liberal audience reach/one big Mitch Miller kinda Sing-Along-With-Bruce/ink ink ink

CROSS-MARKETING: summer tour is now a family event vs. a rock show for BS fans/invest in a clothing company that makes work shirts?/five=string banjo sales burst doubtful tho.

WHAT IT AIN’T: the original Red Scare/New Deal/McCarthy era blacklist context of these tunes has been scrubbed away…and let’s not get into Pete Seeger’s pro-Wobblie/pro-environment/anti-capitalist passions, shall we?

NP:

Lane Steinberg/"The Return of Noel Coward's Ghost" - The Ghost has returned from what sounds like an around-the-world vacation. LS's high, perfect tenor can bend Partridgely/BeachBoyly/Anyly...and is there anyone out there with a better gift for melody? Lane, this record is a masterpiece!

The Witch Hazel Sound/"The World, Then The Fireworks..." = Kevin Coral's WreckingCrewsoundtrackCurtBoettcherwarmlush project. melts Pennsylvania away...

India.arie/"I Am Not My Hair" - it's a Black thing...thanks, DLS!

Stic Basin/Untitled - my pal Barry Andrews' (XTC/Shriekback) dancetrancetechno project

PEEVE DE JOUR: still no sleep...and worse, am out of coffee

N.B.A.T.W.P:

Bianca Bob in NYC writes:

my heartfave arts/streetfair is upon us again...
the bedford barrow commerce (BBC) fest on Saturday May 20th.
Great bands and dancing on the loverly square outside the former ( wahhhh) grange hall.
One of the last loverly events in the village that keeps its old school village vibe,
with wonderful sunsets (weather permitting) and a serendipity that continues each year.
The final act of the evening , a family swing band is great. The bunny hop line starts around 9pm.
i usually try to get some real estate at one of the picnic tables around 5pm and hang with peeps.
i hope you will come down and enjoy with us!

BBC Fest 5/20
bedford, barrow and commerce streets between bleecker and hudson
#1 train to christopher; west on christopher, left on bedford, right on commerce to the music/food square.

cb...WHERE ARE YOU?




NEW JERSEY


Friday, May 12, 2006

FLASH - I'VE BEEN PODCASTED!

...podcast...podcastrated...something.

VERY nice 2-parter (thank you!) on Dusty Wright's Culture Catch: http://www.culturecatch.com/

- hear the history of the Akron music scene in the '70's-'80's from a stage-eye view

- hear 'bout all the cool folks who came from that scene...props where props be do

- hear me bad-mouth this guy....











...and no, it's not Kenny Rogers...he at least makes good roast chicken.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

MORE PENNSYLVANIA











travel day, so no post again...

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

bLiTzScReEd WeDnEsDaY!

(a smattering of coolfun stuff i've received thru the week)

- from BB in NYC - supposedly a winning slogan from a contest run a hundred-plus years ago to promote tinned milk:












- from M at The Rock Hall - THE WORST THINGS THAT HAVE EVER HAPPENED TO ROCK 'N' ROLL (from Blender magazine):

#9 : WHITEY

There are people who believe that this creature -- call him "honky," "ofay" or the "blue-eyed devil" -- was created 6,000 years ago by an evil scientist named Yakub via genetic experimentation on an island called Patmos in a ... lab or something. These people are music critics. In the first half of the century, Whitey took the kaleidoscopic music of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington and begat LAWRENCE WELK and the couldn't-be-more-appropriately-named PAUL WHITEMAN. In the latter, he took Little Richard's gender-bendy, crypto-porn shout 'Tutti Frutti' and begat its wan, Wonder Breaded anathema, PAT BOONE.

We see the Beast's essence everywhere.

There he is, a beefy blond youth in a Von Dutch cap, spilling keg beer as he shifts weight from one Teva to another to a Bob Marley song -- something he calls "dancing"; there he is, performing as MICHAEL BOLTON and VANILLA ICE or singing through the narrow, goateed visage of A.J. MCLEAN. The dreaded character George Clinton christened Sir Nose D'Void of Funk has had an anti-Midas touch on music for decades now, whether it's rockers copping the sexiness but not the subtlety of the blues in the '50s or lemon-faced mooks hijacking hip-hop's vigor to express the torments of suburban males who can't get laid in the '90s.

White folks: They ruin everything.

- from RC in SF: Sammy Davis Jr. & The Animals on Hullabaloo (1965)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOk-EiWEFSo

- from Higgs in NJ - all apologies:

http://www.kabc.com/mcintyre/listingsEntry.asp?ID=432586&PT=McIntyre+in+the+Morning
- f
- from DvB in CA - "Keith, Don't Go"...up the tree to get a coconut.

http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/32229004

- from MB in Union City - now this guy can write:

http://www.poeticdiversity.org/main/poemArchive.php?recordID=782

NP: Little Feat/"Fat Man In The Bathtub". i am a huge beforeLowellGeorgedied Little Feat Fan. i have often been told that my tunes have bent rhythms...well, yeah...and these guys are where i got that feel. thanks to Mike Stacey for the turnon - listened to them everyday for years, 'til they got bumped off my turntable by Television.

PEEVE DE JOUR: no sleep.

N.B.A.T.W.P: this is a cool bill...

Shane Faubert
Jeremy Lee
and Gary Pig Gold

also known quite musically as
THE NEXT BIG THING

are Very happy to be accompanying
the One and Only DAVE RAVE

as he,
and a host of cool others,
play

Thursday May 18th

at CBGB

315 Bowery
NY, NY
212-982-4052

The New York Power Pop Page Presents

8 p.m. - Dave Rave with The Next Big Thing
9 p.m. - The Churchills
10 p.m. - The Grip Weeds
11 p.m. - Marianne Pillsbury
mid - Humbert

Tickets available at the door.

For more information:

www.lostinthegrooves.com/gary13

cb...WHERE ARE YOU?




OHIO


Tuesday, May 09, 2006

SORRY...

...no post today. i was here.











it gets no better the more times you do it either...

Monday, May 08, 2006

MONDAY MEDS: Cyclonic Reaction/PART 5

- another installment chronicling my banged-up bod.












in this case, how i busted my back on Coney Island's Cyclone roller coaster and became instantly old.

i have slugged these reports with the tag line "instantly old". perhaps i need to explain that. i'd never broken anything/was fit & nimble at 41/never had had any serious illness. but great prolonged unremitting pain does something to your metabolism/brain chemistry/physical chemist. in the months after the accident, my hair began to turn gray. other muscles and joints began to creak ominously (this might have something to do with now being perpetually tilted over and misaligned). the mental change was...oh, i have done serious, permanent damage, and i am no longer in some kind of ascendancy. i have hit the tipping point where it's gonna be all downhill from here. slow?...fast?...who knows?...but the trajectory of my life has changed dramatically. as it turns out, most people i know in my age group have had this experience - a brush with a serious medical condition (usually cancer...and there's an amazing amount of cancer among us beansprouteater, nonsmoker, vegans, chckenonlyans, fishonlyans, etc.). Suddenly, we start paying more attention to health items in newscasts that before were routinely tuned out. i now hear the grasping, desperate tone in these reports (eat oat bran! wait...that doesn't work...eat broccoli!...no....studies show that masturbationcaffeineredmeat...").

and so, one looks at the idea of suing somebody as a way of maybe warding of the Horrible Inevitable? of making all this seem like someone else's responsibility (with the implication that the suer will stop aging with a large enough settlement?).

in my case, it WAS someone's responsibility (well...wasn't it? shit like this doesn't just happen, right? you don't get sick for no reason, right? parts of your body don't just break or get sick or misfire or misfunction on their own, right? that would be...irrational). but as to finding out whom was responsible...well, that got a little tricky. in earlier posts, i wrote that The Cyclone was a privately-owned ride, but rested on land owned by the City of New York. so it was lawyertime. i called an attorney friend of D's who specialized in personal injury cases, and learned that:

- there is a wonderful catchall called The Doctrine of Assumed Risk: if you get on ANY mechanical conveyance (and that includes elevators & escalators, Boys & Girls), YOU are taking the risk that there might be a screw-up. this goes double for amusement park rides: got hurt?...T.F.B... you knew there was a risk of possible injury, but you got on anyway.

- pre-existing condition. "well, Mr. Butler...you obviously must have already had something wrong with your back since millions of people have ridden on The Cyclone without injury." try proving that you haven't had something = very difficult.

- i would have to prove negligence on the part of The Cyclone's owners AND The City of NY who certified the ride as safe, and hire a phalanx of engineers to prove that the ride had malfunctioned. during freefall. with no motor driving it.

in short, this hot-shot PI attorney thought i didn't have much of a case - lots of medical bills, lots of pain and stress, lots of days without working...but not much of a case.

i decided that i needed more information, so i started digging around inside the bowels of the NYC bureaucracy. the first wonderful tidbit of news i learned was that the inspection of amusement park rides was - get this - the purview of the same little office that inspects elevators. And that i would have to begin to deal with the most dreaded department of them all - the permit issuers in the NYC Building Department in Lower Manhattan.

[to be continued]

NP: Ornette Coleman/"Free Jazz". oh...and this from Bukoff: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1180662760907882321

PEEVE DE JOUR: today is my three-month bladder cancer check-up. it's called a cystoscopy with possible fulguration. aren't you impressed that i know the word 'fulguration'? don't be...it hurts like hell...pain does wonders for your vocabulary. LINK: cystoscopy.

N.B.A.T.W.P:

Tuesday, May 9th

StorySLAM!

Theme: Tests

A competitive storytelling event

kind of like a poetry slam but with stories

Sponsored by TNT

Hosted by Dan Kennedy

7:00 sign-up/7:30 the show starts

$6 at the door/No RSVP needed

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe
236 East 3rd St. (between Aves B & C)

Testing, testing...1,2,3

Prepare a five-minute story about being put to the test: measured, probed/prodded, judged and assessed. Tested on your knowledge, character, health, strength, morality, loyalty, or beauty. Waiting to be deemed: a. genius/uberhuman, b. fool/slug, c. mediocre/bland/plain/unexceptional, d. did you use a pen instead of a number two pencil? Going for test drives, and lie detector tests. Tests that involve peeing in a small cup... (you can't study for that)! Waiting to see if the little stick turns pink or blue. Tests of your willpower! Tests of faith! Multiple choice or essay. From The Bar Exam to “pick which hand” Proctors and bluebooks, Crash test dummies and the SATs. Tests that have not been standardized: the Are You Good Enough For My Son Test and the Are You Talking Behind My Back Test. Open-to-the public tests, such as the sobriety exam (Mam, say the alphabet backwards, walk a straight line, touch your fingers to your nose). Or tests on the sly, such as the paternity test (who is your daddy? Cause you don’t look like me...). this has been a test of the emergency broadcast system...

How it Works:
Starting at 7:00 PM, we'll put the names of all the folks who want to tell a story in a hat. At 7:30 PM, we'll start picking names. Each teller will have 5 minutes to tell his or her tale. After each story, the judges (made up of you, the audience) will confer, and give a score. The teller with the highest score becomes our StorySLAM winner. The winner will compete with the year's other winners in our next GrandSLAM Championship.

Be Forewarned:
The Moth is NOT a venue for readings; it is a venue for tellings. No notes, papers, or cheat sheets allowed. Please email us at slam@themoth.org for our storytelling guidelines. Contestants are judged on sticking to the five-minute time frame, sticking to the theme and having a story that sticks -- one that has a conflict and a resolution.

StoryTips:
No standup routines please:
The Moth LOVES funny people but requires that all funny people tell funny STORIES.

Steer clear of meandering endings:
Your last line should be clear in your head.

Start in the action and set up the stakes:
"I was just about to say ‘I do’ when from the back of the church I heard someone call out, ‘Not so fast, bingo boy.’ I looked back and to my horror recognized Lola, a one-night stand I'd had in Vegas nine months earlier. She looked angry and she was carrying what looked like a newborn baby."

Producer: Jenifer Hixson

Executive Producers: Lea Thau, Catherine Burns, Sarah Austin Jenness & Katie Miller

About Our Host: Dan Kennedy is the author of Loser Goes First (Random House/Crown). His work also appears in various anthologies including The Los Angeles Times Best Seller Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's Humor Writing (Knopf), The Encyclopedia of Exes (Random House/Three Rivers), Insomniac Reader (Manic D), and Bookmark Now (Basic/Perseus). Check out his McSweeney's column wherein he attempts to help solve the problems you're having with paper and paper-related products: http://mcsweeneys.net/links/paper/paper16.html

Sunday, May 07, 2006

TIN HUEY MUG-A-SHEEP STILL STANDING AFTER ALL THIS YEAR FULL REPORT AND THEN SOME...

Saturday, May 06, 2006

KENTUCKY DERBY DAY!















FLASH! Winner is BARBARO by 7 lengths!!

i grew up with horses. my Dad was a thoroughbred trainer ("trotters?...
va fongul!"). my summer jobs were mucking out the stables at Thisledown and Northfield Park in Clevo, and keeping the tack clean. my peers had paper routes - i knew how to shoe a horse. he would have much happier with me if i had stopped growing at 5 feet/90 pounds and thus had a shot at being a jockey. best times were when he'd pull me out of school for a week and we'd go down to Kentucky for the horse sales. he had a side business supplying vets with horse meds: if i'd get sick, i was more likely to chew on bucha leaves vs. going to a human doctor.

from horses, i learned about sex - seeing a coked-up stud horse mount a willing mare is quite an education for an eleven-year-old. from horses, i learned about drugs - i'd come home from college, all beatexhausted, and he'd steer me towards a huge bottle of Black Beauties...help yourself, he'd offer. from horses, i learned about corruption - Ohio didn't test for butadiene, so a doped horse was the rule rather than the exception. from horses, i learned about alternative lifestyles vs. the whitebreadsuburbanmainstream my folks were trying to struggle into - horsefolk where drifters, grifters, homos (this was the pre-'gay' era remember), drug addicts, whores, noble/rebel/nomads doing what they loved from track to track.

haven't been on a horse in 25 years...but i can still smell the hay, manure, sweat, oats & molassas.

NP: Juvenal/"Back That Ass Up"

PEEVE DE JOUR: when my Dad died, all those horse meds got tossed.

N.B.A.T.W.P.:
Life In A Blender plays tonight at 10 pm at Barbes
in Brooklyn (9th St. and
Sixth Ave, One block from
the 7th Ave. F Stop).


The show is FREE. The full string section will be
on hand and Josh Neretin
will add that extra-groove
with his cajon-playing.


Also: Sea of Scarves will be playing a tribute set
to Nikki Sudden
immediately following our set--featuring
the amply talented Henry Tenney.

FRIDAY NIGHT 10:21pm



















no gig. no girlfriend in this geograpical area. nothing good on The Box - i refuse to watch The Hunt For Red October again. lots of work to do that i don't want to do. kid is in Massachusetts so can't play with him. a friend's hurtin' but i can't do anything about it. friends are playing, but too far away for me to get there on time. returned all my calls. still can't get Matt Wells on the phone tho, so no make-work trip into Manhattan to drop off my blown-up AC30 chassis. no food in the Koolerator. traffic jam by the Lincoln Tunnel means the Thai delivery guy will get lost again taking the backroads thru Weehawken, and if he ever shows up, the grunts will be stone cold. also means it really doesn't matter that Matt Wells didn't call. there's something wrong with my cd player, so no tunes. the old AM radio works, but WNYC-AM is fund-raising. PBS is fund-raising again, too...please tell me how that Wrinkle Cure guy is educational? i have read every book in the house. there's a three-week old Economist i haven't read...don't really care what happened three weeks ago in Bulgaria anyway. i know what you're thinking i could do, but i'm not in the mood for that either. the place is a mess, but don't feel like cleaning it up. just busted a low E guitar string - don't have a spare and i'm not Keith Richards, so to hell with five-string G tuning. out of smokes...tho i'm trying not to smoke but not having smokes makes me not not want...oh forget it...too confusing.

i guess this is called resting. but i don't "do" resting.

NP: nothing

PEEVE DE JOUR: two hours and thirty-eight minutes worth of Friday left...

N.B.A.T.W.P.: if i knew, i wouldn't be writing this.

Friday, May 05, 2006

N.B.A.T.W.P:

(NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY)















"Ron Asheton"

-TONIGHT!-

FRIDAY, May 5 @ 5:30pm - 8:30pm

“ART IN THE VILLAGE”

AIV @ 5700 GALLERY
located in SLAVIC VILLAGE
5700 Broadway Avenue
Cleveland Ohio 44127

Art Opening from 5:30 - 8:30pm

Fine Wines, Good Eats and
did we mention
FREE PARKING in REAR ?

Featuring Artwork from

ARABELLA PROFFER

MAP

Thursday, May 04, 2006

MAY 4TH, 2006

Published on Thursday, May 4, 2006 by the Boston Globe
Why Kent State is Important Today
by Michael Corcoran

Thirty-six years ago today, Ohio National Guardsmen shot 13 college students at Kent State University who were protesting US incursions into Cambodia as part of the Vietnam War. Nine victims survived, including one who is confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Four students -- Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, Bill Schroeder, and Sandy Scheuer -- were killed.

The students were unarmed, and the closest was more than 60 feet away from the Guard at the time of the shooting. There was no warning shot; the National Guard never issued an apology; and no one ever spent a day in jail for the killings despite the fact that the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, appointed by President Nixon in 1970, found the shootings to be ''unwarranted and inexcusable."

Yearly, since the tragedy, Kent State students, alumni, and others have met on the anniversary of the shooting to reflect and remember. Alan Canfora, who was shot by the Guard, says, ''The students today act as the conscience of the college, and the country . . . just like the students did in 1970."

This year's memorial will come, as the last three have, in the midst of a war that has become increasingly divisive. While the memory of Kent State and other violent clashes from that time between protesters and authorities did not deter the incumbent president from leading the country into another unpopular war, it is important to honor Kent State's spirit of dissent and what it taught about the bloody consequences of intense division.

Halfway across the country, the lessons of Kent State are taught each semester in debate classes at Emerson College. J. Gregory Payne, associate professor of organizational and political communication and a Kent State historian, has been teaching students about history, advocacy, and rhetoric through the lens of Kent State for decades.

According to Payne, remembering this tragedy is important because ''Kent State is not about the past -- it's about the future."

Consider the similarities: In 1970, just as today, we had an unpopular president carrying out an unpopular war for questionable reasons.

Richard Nixon and George W. Bush embody many of the same divisive characteristics. Bush tells the world: ''You are with us or you are with the terrorists." Nixon's public statement after the shootings blamed the students: ''When dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy."

Again our civil liberties are being threatened. Bush has ordered the wiretapping of US citizens without a warrant and holds detainees indefinitely without trial; Nixon was spying on student activists and what he called ''domestic radicals."

But, perhaps the most telling comparison is the sharp division within the nation, both then and now. Americans are now, as we were then, split to the core on matters of war and peace, life and death, and cultural values. The President's Commission concluded it was ''the most divisive time in American history since the civil war." Bill Schroeder's parents received signed letters after the shooting saying, among other things, that their ''riot-making, communist son" deserved to die.

Today antiwar protesters are unfairly discredited by the administration as they were in 1970. When Cindy Sheehan took antiwar positions after her 24-year-old son, Casey Sheehan, died in Iraq, she was smeared by pundits like Bill O'Reilly, who said she was a pawn of ''far-left elements that are using her" and that Sheehan was ''dumb" enough to let them do it.

Of course, the absence of a draft now and its presence then may explain why the antiwar movement during the Vietnam War had a greater intensity then it does now. Still, as the protests in New York City last week indicate, the longer the war in Iraq drags on, the more vehement the opposition seems to get.

Musicians, once again, are singing songs of dissent. Last Friday Neil Young, who in 1970 wrote ''Ohio" in reaction to the shootings, began streaming a new antiwar album ''Living with War" for free on his website. Days later, Pearl Jam also released an album made up entirely of protest music.

My generation can't ignore the lessons of Kent State. The same mindset and failure in leadership that led National Guardsmen to fire at students of the same age and from the same Ohio hometowns is similar to what led US soldiers to torture detainees in Iraq.

Kent State should remind us of what happens when a grossly misguided war divides a country. If we can speak candidly and openly about our history and our present -- even the worst elements of it -- then we can ensure that the lives lost on May 4, 1970, were not in vain.

Michael Corcoran is a journalism major at Emerson College.

© 2006 Globe Newspaper Company


thanks to Higgs for this...

OUR IDIOT SONS ARE BETTER THAN THEIR IDIOT SONS











Consider this.


I’ve always been intrigued by Ted Kennedy, but for different reasons than you might expect. Here we have the classic screw-up/third-in-the-line-of succession-so-nothing-I-do-matters sibling saga. While Jack and Bobby took the weight, Teddy partied hearty. Then fate and two bullets moved TK into pole position. Now, the screw-up had to carry the full dynastic burden/the hopes of a grieving nation blah blah/the legacy of so-called American royalty/the very real somebody’s-gotta-shoulder-his-bros’-liberal-legacy. And to just about everyone’s surprise (including his family’s) TK rose to the occasion. Sure, there were stumbles – it’s common knowledge that he’s a functional drunk, and there was that little matter of a Volkswagen that didn’t float a few decades ago. But for the most part, he’s done the do.

The same cannot be said for the Idiot Son sitting in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. He couldn’t pull off being a functional drunk, so Jesus had to hold his hand. He couldn’t get away with partying and womanizing, so he cleaves to this snippy, mousy schoolteacher for all she’s worth. Out of all the things that the high office of the President gets slinged-and-arrowed by…this guy takes it personal that a chimpanzee might be his distant cousin. His family cannot be proud – in fact, they must be looking on in horror as their viperous, venal ‘public service’ is being systematically undone by every ignorant, embarrassing clumsy move he makes.











Their Idiot Son requires God’s counsel…ours was born with The Juice, and that mojo is still workin’.

LINK:
THE WORST PRESIDENT EVER?

UPDATE: THE TORCH IS PASSED...

Associated Press
Update 20: Rep. Patrick Kennedy to Enter Drug Rehab
By ANDREW MIGA , 05.05.2006, 07:33 PM

Rep. Patrick Kennedy said Friday he was entering treatment for addiction to prescription pain drugs after a middle-of-the-night car crash near the Capitol that he said he had no memory of. "That's not how I want to live my life," he declared.

Kennedy, D-R.I., the son of Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, said he would seek immediate treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn..

NP: Creedence/”Fortunate Son”

PEEVE DE JOUR: it’s May 4th…the most DEVO day of all. btw - TK put us all up when we came to Washy Dee Cee after the shootings - can you imagine President Pinhead doing this?

N.B.A.T.W.P:

-REMINDER!-

FRIDAY, May 5 @ 5:30pm

“ART IN THE VILLAGE”

AIV @ 5700 GALLERY
located in SLAVIC VILLAGE
5700 Broadway Avenue
Cleveland Ohio 44127

Art Opening from 5:30 - 8:30pm

THIS FRIDAY, 5 / 5 / 06

Fine Wines, Good Eats and
did we mention
FREE PARKING in REAR ?

Featuring Artwork from

ARABELLA PROFFER

MAP

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

ANOTHER PENNSYLVANIA DUBIOUS ACHIEVEMENT














whoop-dee-fuckin'-doo.

NP: "Wild Thing"/Troggs on Classic Rock radio. great song...

PEEVE DE JOUR:








so i call this nice lady at the Ohio Division of Wildlife Management and explain my hawk problem. "well, we suggest that you get an umbrella..."

( )

"...oh, and paint big eyes on it so the hawk thinks it's a big animal".

N.B.A.T.W.P.:

HEY THERE friends, fans and fiends of

Annabouboula, The Byzan-Tones,

Sharon, George & Sophia, Cargo and other Cults:

Deejay Barba Yiorgi invites you to

BARBA YIORGI'S

POTLUCK WHIRLED MUSIC SALON

A spontaneous planned unplanned event the first Sunday of the month

Sunday afternoon May 7th 2006

3:00 to 7:00 (?) P.M.

at the home of George, Sharon and Sophia

105 India Street, Brooklyn (directions below)

Celebrate Spring with your own live spontaneous sounds…

impromptu singing, strumming, blowing, banging, bonging,

turntabling, eating, drinking, talking, ranting

maybe even dancing, etc.
You are encouraged to bring an instrument & join in!

ANY STYLE

EVERY STYLE

NO BORDERS

NO CATEGORIES

NO PROBLEM

We have a piano, percussion

and other sources of ACOUSTIC sound -
amps and other electric devices are also available if needed

Bring a snack! Bring a friend! Bring your imaginary orchestra! Bring yourself!
We provide the beer & the back yard

and for inspiration, Deejay Barba Yiorgi

on the wheels of steel (or maybe just MP3 player)

playing selections from his vast

music library of rare recordings in unknown genres.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN?? THAT’S THE FUN PART-

We don’t know.

BUT—

A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

DIRECTIONS TO BARBA YIORGI HOUSE

105 India Street Brooklyn 11222

718 383 0619 cel 917 612 4773

Sharon Gensler cel 917 612 4776

India Street is in Greenpoint, between Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street,

2 blocks west of McGuiness Boulevard and 3 blocks north of Greenpoint Avenue.

SUBWAY: Get to

The GREENPOINT AVE stop on the G train (India Street platform exit)

You can transfer to the G train if you

Take the L train (stops along 14th St. In Manhattan) to

Lorimer Street/Metropolitan Avenue (second stop in Brooklyn)

Then transfer (via the upstairs token booth lobby) to G train (Metropolitan Ave. stop) going towards Queens, then-

Go two stops to Greenpoint Ave. G train stop

(look for signs to India street exit on platform)

DRIVING?
REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL FOR DIRECTIONS

-BARBA YIORGI