JAMMED.ON.ON

...and we have a WINNER!

2009-12-01T10:17:00.012-05:00

CONGRATULATIONS to Officer Jeff Stewart of the Garfield, NJ police department.

sittin' in Charlie Bloods last night (you've REALLY gotta go to this amazing restaurant), it was brought to my attention that Z-100 played Christmas Wrapping yesterday morning (at around 8:50am).

Officer Stewart will get $100 donated in his name to The Hoboken Library's Childrens Book Fund.

RUNNER-UP: Bill Hubay heard it on December 1st @ 5:30pm at Skyline Chili in Lyndhurst, OH.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

- James MacMillan writes:

First European report?

Christmas Wrapping was heard in the restaurant "De Halve Maan" in Amsterdam on Dec 13 at 18:15

Another $5 for the library?

to which i replied:

J -

YES!

...and there by establishing a new tradition....the $5 James MacMillan Tip!!!

thanks so much for the email.

best/miss you...

cb

- Matty Karas writes:

"i assume i'm waaaaay too late, but just in case, 3:47 p.m.
today, friday 12/4, picking up a late lunch at fresh on
seventh ave and 30th st., "xmas wrapping"  came over the
in-store p.a. it was my first for 2009. i'm not even sure
the xmas wrapping trainspotting game still exists, and if
it does still exist, i imagine someone else heard it back
around halloween, but anyway, just in case, there you 
go, and i wanted to write anyway to say it was great to
see you a couple weeks ago at bowery electric."

- WFMU's Ol' Pal Irwin Chusid emailed me on Friday, Dec. 4th at 10:18am that the song is playing on DeepIntoMusic.net.

happy holidays, everybody!

CHARLIE BLOOD'S: http://www.charliebloods.com/

NOW PLAYING1:

ME!

thanks to Chelsea Peters for this.

NOW PLAYING2: The Who (at The Monterrey Pop Festival)/"Summertime Blues". all you ever need to know to be convinced that rock 'n' roll is all you ever need to know.

busted snare drum, busted mic, guitar banged out-of-tune = not bad for the 2nd song of the set...magnificent!

THE 2009 WRAPPIE AWARD!

2009-11-12T10:45:00.016-05:00

gang...

every year, i run this contest where the first person to contact me after hearing The Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping" song gets $100 donated in their name to The Hoboken Public Library's Children's Book Fund.

the contest starts at NOON on the Friday after Thanksgiving (11/27), and the only 'rule' is that the song be heard - say - at the mall, on the radio, in a coffee shop, etc. playing it yourself does not count!

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

reports of 'sightings' are already coming in:

- at 1:46pm on Weds. 11/11, Fran Azzarto texted me that he heard it at Kohl's.

- the song is being used now in a commerical in the UK for a local electronics store!

good luck & happy holidays!!

cbutler

ps - i've had many requests to reprint these...so here ya go:

CHRISTMAS WRAPPING

[PLEASE NOTE: there is some website that sez that the A & P line is "A & P has pride in me...". WHAT???? that is a mondegreen = a misheard lyric. i can't tell you how annoying that is...]

bah! humbug! no...that's too strong, 'cause it is my favorite holiday
but all this year's been a busy blur, don't think I have the energy

to add to my already mad rush, just cause it's "'tis the season"
the perfect gift for me would be, completions and connections

left from last year, ski shop, encounter, most interesting...
had his number but never the time, most of '81 passed along those lines

so deck those halls, trim those trees, raise up cups of Christmas cheer
I just need to catch my breath, Christmas by myself this year
..............
calendar picture, frozen landscape, chilled this room for 24 days
evergreens, sparkling snow, get this winter over with!

flashback to springtime, saw him again, would've been good to go for lunch
couldn't agree when we were both free, we tried, we said we'd keep in touch

didn't, of course, 'til the summertime, out to the beach to his boat, could I join him?
no, this time it was me, sunburn in the third degree

now the calendar's just one page and, of course, I am excited
tonight's the night, but I've set my mind, not to do too much about it
..............
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas...think I'll miss this one this year
..............
hardly dashing through the snow, 'cause I bundled up too tight
last minute have-to-dos, a few cards, a few calls

because it's RSVP, no thanks, no party lights
it's Christmas Eve, gonna relax, turned down all of my invites

last fall I had a night to myself, same guy called, Halloween party
waited all night for him to show, this time his car wouldn't go

forget it, it's cold, it's getting late,
trudge on home to celebrate in a quiet way, unwind,
doing Christmas right this time
..............
the A & P has provided me, with the world's smallest turkey
already in the oven, nice and hot, oh damn, guess what I forgot!

so on with the boots, back out in the snow, to the only all-night grocery
when what to my wondering eyes should appear,
in the line is that guy I've been chasing all year!
spending this one alone, he said, need a break, this year's been crazy

I said, me too, but why are you...?, you mean, you forgot cranberries, too?
then suddenly we laughed and laughed, caught on to what was happening
that Christmas magic's brought this tale,
to a very happy ending
..............
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas...couldn’t miss this one this year
..............
NOW PLAYING: TIN HUEY: Before Obscurity - The Bush Flow Tapes

WE'RE A NEW RECORD!!!...which means you can buy it/download it!

as a tribute to Mark Price...as a tribute to whythehellnot?

NOW PLAYING 2 (and thanks to Bob Basone for this): Barbara Lynn/"You'll Lose A Good Thing"

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK CITY

RAIN CHOIR

2009-11-03T14:59:00.002-05:00

from new pal Judith Ren-Lay:

an alternate version, with Toto's "Africa" worked in:

BOO!

2009-10-30T12:12:00.004-04:00

thanks for visiting my blog. if you've landed here because of the NPR "All Things Considered" ghost hunt story, glad you were intrigued enough to bother to search.

am very grateful that they ran it, but there's more to the story than they were able to air.

please click on http://www.futurefossilmusic.com/ghost.htm for the full version. SCROLL DOWN to the find the player for the streaming audio.

also, there's a SIDEBAR with my new song based on Leadbelly's "John Hardy" murder ballad.

enjoy...and BOO!

best...

cbutler

NOW PLAYING: GHOULARDI 1963

Ernie Anderson's Ghoulardi was Cleveland's most legendary and infamous late night TV horror movie hosts. From 1963-1966 he ruled the airwaves. This clip features his notorious joke about playing poker. How he got away with this in 1964 is anybody's guess.

NOW PLAYING: SCREAMIN'JAY HAWKINS/"I Put A Spell On You"

NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY:
things you should make a point of attending!

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6th, AT FIRESTONE HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM, 333 RAMPART AVE.
$10 benefits the Arts Programs at Firestone High.

"A GAGGLE OF HUEYS AND A HOUSEGUEST" -- i.e., Harvey Gold, Michael, Aylward, Stuart Austin AND Dave Rich (aka 'The Kid' aka Alejandro the Slice) -- will be doing a set from around 9-9:30P, followed immediately after by our pals The Bizarros. Trying to work the right times for the old guy bands so we can all get home in time to catch the weather report from Dick Goddard and stare at the TV, wondering why Ghoulardi was preempted tonight

*** MORE BIG NEWS: TIN HUEY's new archival release on Smog Veil records, "BEFORE OBSCURITY: THE BUSHFLOW TAPES," with cover by derf and liner notes by Robert Christgau and spouse Carola Dibell, is scheduled for release on November 16th. Rumor has it that we'll have some ADVANCE COPIES AVAILABLE THE NIGHT OF THE BENEFIT. Any Hueys present will be happy to try to scratch our names on it, if requested.

Please come. We'll love seeing you; plus, people are putting forth a lot of effort with the hopes that the teachers and kids in the arts at Firestone can get something done here. Thanks much.
.........

G. A. Lewis

BRONZE SCULPTURE

November 7^th – 28^th, 2009

Millworks Gallery

106 N. Main Street

(across the street from Luigi’s)

Akron, Ohio 44308

Public reception during the

November 7^th downtown Akron

Artwalk 5:00PM – 10:00PM

Hours: Saturdays 5:00PM– 10:00PM

Email: lewis@galewisart.com

Website: GALewisART.com

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

A GOOD DAY

2009-10-09T14:05:00.003-04:00

1) the New York Times ran a feature on Wunder Gurl & the mini-golf: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/greathomesanddestinations/09Away.html?_r=2&emc=eta1

2) the Radio Gods have smiled on my ghost hunt story.

cb...where are you?

NOTTOOSHABBYLAND

SURF'S UP!

2009-09-30T12:14:00.006-04:00

TONIGHT!

purplE k'niF!
play Maximum Surf! and Hard Twang! Instrumentals
Friday, October 2, 2009, from 10:00 PM ‘til we’re done...

At

DC’s Tavern
Our Favorite Neighborhood Bar
505 Eighth St.
Hoboken, NJ
201-792-5550

NO cover! NO vocals!

Chris Butler, drumming
John Teagle, strumming
Ted Lawrence, melodious wiggling
Baker Rorick, boom, boom, boom

PEEVE DE JOUR: Bobby Graham, RIP.

[aside: people have often commented as to how much they liked my snare drum sound - the way its tuned...to which i answer - i tune it to the way Bobby Graham's snare sounded on "Could You, Would You" by Them. the sound quality sucks here, but it gives you a hint of how great and how great sounding a drummer he was: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhcKtBrJhaM]

Legendary session drummer Bobby Graham has passed away, aged 69.

Graham played on an estimated 15,000 records in his lifetime, including Petula Clark's 'Downtown', Dusty Springfield's 'I Only Want To Be With You' and 'Gloria' by Them. Alongside those acts, he also worked with The Kinks, playing drums on both 'You Really Got Me' and 'All Day And All Of The Night'.

The Kinks' producer Shel Talmy described Graham as "the greatest drummer the UK has ever produced", states Bobbygraham.com.

The session musician also claimed he was approached by Brian Epstein to replace Pete Best in The Beatles, but turned the offer down because the band weren't famous enough at that point.

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK CITY

JAN SNEUM

2009-09-25T08:50:00.006-04:00

Jan is a wonderful man. i've lost touch with him - this has helped me reconnect.

.......

Down In The Basement - Into The Garage

Interview with Jan Sneum

The Danish musical underground has always been the beloved center in Jan Sneum´s life. How to fortify and stimulate the Danish music scene in the best possible way? Danish National Radio (DR)´s enthusiastic column of fire is turning 60 this month and I met him for a chat about punkrock, lo-fi poetry, willpower and the true values in rock music.

By: Helle Hellcat

The cold wind is howling and sprays of salty seawater whip the dark grey sky. At the roof of the fort by the sea stands a dignified gentleman with silvergrey hair swirling around his head and a big smile solidly plantet on his friendly face. From behind, you hear the pounding rock music from a hopeful band, who frenetically tries to split ears. The silverfox grabs his microphone tight. He is enthusiastically transmitting live from the garagerock festival to the listeners at DR. Wake up! Jan Sneum is out on his crooked mission!

Jan Sneum (JS) fills many posts. He is a producer at DR, photographer, music journalist, editor of musical dictionaries, leader of the P3 live programmes for many years and retired school teacher. For JS life has been all about medias ever since he grew up with a dad who was a painter and a mom who was educated in classic guitar from the Danish Academy Of Music. Sound and vision blended in very early and naturally created an inspiring platform for JS: " I think - in all connexions - music is the most important subject to be occupied with".

In the beginning the photography was the most interesting thing
... and what was more interesting to shoot in the end of the 60´s than objects such as rock musicians? In Brøndbyernes Pop Club JS was taking pictures like crazy, while listening to rock´n´roll music. Many things and friendships began here and soon JS was involved as photographer and journalist in Danish underground zines like Wheel, Rok and MM - often inspired by Rolling Stone magazine. In the 70´s the whole Punkrock movement and all it's bastards emerged for JS. Here came action!!
JS started in 1980 as a freelance reporter at DR and in the beginning the young journalist eagerly tried to fill all posts: "At my first job I managed both notepad, camera and taperecorder and it all went totally wrong", JS remembers, "I couldn't take pictures and hold the microphone at the same time, but I thought I could do everything myself and thought that this was a great idea. This was long before someone came up with the word media convergense". JS had to stick to one thing and here the radio was new and interesting to him. "I no longer had to transform the musical experiences to other medias such as writing or pictures. At the radio I simply played all the records I loved so much. There was no doubt, I thougth: I was on a mission!".

The willpower of the underground scene
JS has always been known in the musical underground environment as "Our Man From Inside ". He has been the primous motor in many enterprises at DR to emphasize the strength of the increasing rockscene. Amongst many other things he has delivered a lecture on the subject How to (maybe) make a commercial breakthrough. "If I have to draw a red line through all my years at the radio, then I must say, that what always have been the most interesting thing to work with is the underground mass of talents. Sometimes bands have asked me, if I could go out and tell the hopeful youngsters what to do e.g. to get a life at DR. But the lectures are not something I have systemized. It was more like a natural follow-up to some of the other projects we had been dealing with at the radio. And actually I don't think I'm competent enough of saying "this and that you have to do to become millionaires" or " this and that you have to do, then your band can play the Gutter Island Festival until you retire - but it will go no further". If I could, I would, right? But I will gladly tell which values we're looking for at DR."

LC: Maybe a solid formular of success doesn't exist? I guess the bands have to kick in some doors themselves?
JS takes a minute to think: "I think You're right. Many of the bands require a solid basis of true willpower. If You wanna make it in the musicbizz the willpower has to be there, because there is so much physical an psycological resistance: Your own lazyness, economics, family, studies, day jobs and so on. If You don't have the willpower there will be no results! Then maybe you drop out or find a state where it's just cosy to sing around the bonfire with your friends ... but that's all. That brings You to no record deal, no touring, no nothing."
LC: So willpower is essential?
"Sure, and this is where the punkrock and it's networking is really excellent showing you how to progress globally. What is going on in Odense? What is going on in Tokyo? ... and at the Phillipines? Many bands from Ungdomshuset (progressive ex-squatted punkvenue in Copenhagen. ed.) have been travelling around the world. The garagerock scene also has it's own network and this shows us, that - at least - for subgenres this determined, networking works! These genre networks often become a kind of a tribal culture, where the important subject isn't nationality, gender or age - it often has a reservation vibe to it - like i.e. at the Gutter Island Garagerock Festival."

Gutter Island Garagerock Festival
LC: You have been quite involved in the gutter Island Garagerock Festival yourself (www.gutter-island.dk). What is Your opinion on this event?

"For several reasons, this is a festival that I praise a lot. On the one hand: A genre I like a lot was miserably neglected and suddenly It came alive in Denmark. Earlier the whole Garagerock scene wasn't very visible and then - finally - the new rock´n´roll wave that had been going on for some years in Sweden, Finland and Norway rolled over Denmark. On the other hand, I think it was great that the garagerock community gathered together and created a festival along with local venues in an original way. I think Gutter Island has so many qualities. Also I think it's good that the festival is an every two-year event ´cause then there's time for some musically development and You have the time to get hungry and really be looking forward to the good times. If You do the festival every year in a genre that is so subcultural and narrow, well, then there's the risk that you'll meet exactly the same music as last year. As it is now, there's room for some new ideas, which I appreciate a lot. Also I'm very glad that The Burnouts, The Defectors and Baby Woodrose was into recording 12" live Ep´s from the festival - it has been really funny to be able to document the Gutter Island Garagerock festival".

LC: Documenting concerts with live albums was earlier a proud punktradition like with "Pærepunk", "Nosferatu" and so on.
"yes, that's right and maybe, again, it's because the networks for these subgenres are so close, that it's easy to get an idea and then fulfil it and that's wonderful. In so many other ways it's terribly complicated e.g. to clear and use DR´s livetakes".

Snotdum
LC: How did the idea of making the split EP Snotdum (Bad Afro) in Danish with The Defectors and Powersolo come up?
"The Idea emerged at the first Gutter Island Festival, where I heard Kim Kix and Powersolo as a duo with songs in Danish. I'm really proud of the Snotdum EP, but in many ways I would have loved to do it even more stripped down as Powersolo was in the beginning. It possessed a lo-fi poetry and beauty I have rarely seen or heard. The stripped down formula is interesting when the songs and the performance are good. The contrast is interesting: stripped down lo-fi and poetry. Powersolo has become so many other things later on and the EP is marked with all the traditional rock effects and fun you recognise in Powersolo, but the earliest fundament is gone. It's clear now that we should have done the EP in that moment and not have waited. But I'm really glad we realised the project. Then we can move on to other projects."

LC: ...and The Defectors?
"I don't know if the EP and their two songs in Danish have had any influence on The Defectors? Maybe they wanna do more songs in Danish in the future? It sure was new to them, but the result is very good, I think. It's important to focus on the good song, both in English and in Danish. Without the good song nothing works. You can do a lot with sound, special stageshow and a spectacular image but without a good song there'll be no success. The song that survives at home on an acoustic guitar or the piano has a great strenght."

"If I have to draw a red line through all my years at the
radio, then I must say, that what always have been the
most interesting thing to work with is the underground
mass of talents".

Networking with no limits
LC: Which qualities do you enquire with Danish bands? "Again willpower is the keyword. Right now I feel there is so incredibly many artists who really wanna make it, not only regarding DR and the home market, but who has the big lust for global thinking. All these bands who, by own drift, set up tours in Germany or Finland or where the Hell they go ... that is just wonderful! That is where the true values of rockmusic exist: When you got the strong urge and the willpower to get a grip on your music and use your network. And especially rockmusic is such an lovely international thing. If you don't have immediately success on your hometurf the fight goes on. There are so many opportunities with all the new ways of communication that the limits are gone".

LC: So it has become easier to get visible as a band with the Internet and so on. It gives You the opportunity to expose your band in different ways than earlier. But at the same time this means, that even more bands are competing about the attention on the various platforms that exist. What do you think of the Danish music scene today?
"The music scene has become so incredible wide. Once I thought I had a general view, but I indeed don't see the whole picture anymore. A neverending stream of new bands have emerged and even though I have been in the music business for years, I can not reach all corners now. Well, that is just wonderful, but it also means that, as a radio station, you have to make some choices, since there is only the same 24 hours in a day".

Fuck Denmark!
Punk, experiments and raw poetry is still a big part of JS´ life. Even though he turns 60 in December - at his own big surprise - there still is anarchistic sides to the radiojurnalist's personality. In 1979 a young JS wrote the liner notes on the livealbum - and portrait of a generation - Pærepunk and here, 25 years later, he wrote liner notes on the two punkrecords Fåk Danmark! ´03, (= Fuck Denmark!, ed.), and Ungdomshuset ´04. On Fåk Danmark! a.o. he writes: "The new names at the Danish punkscene dare to work progressively with the Danish language. And it's new. And wonderful. And necessary. Expressionism, wildness and gigantic spirit is in focus. Et spark i bolledejen!"

LC: The "Fåk Danmark!" cover shows Pia Kjærsgaard and Anders Fogh Rasmussen (right-wing politicians) in some VERY pornographic situations. What did You think, when you saw the cover? " Ha ha ha ha ... yes, that was a surprise. I must say, that when I saw that cover I thought:" Yep! Ungdomshuset is alive!" It's still possible to make provocative covers, but I never thought it would look like this. Maybe it was a strategically smart move ´cause suddenly the record got a lot of attention and the cover made the music more visible. Sometimes you need a provocation and I do think it is done with a lot of humour ... ha ha ... but I didn't know it was going to look like this."

From Ungdomshuset to The Opera
LC: What if JS had never worked at DR and been standing on the top of the windy fort during the Gutter Island Garagerock Festival transmitting live? Do you think the programmes on the Danish National Radio would have been just as varied as now? "Eeh - I don't really know anyone else at DR with the same perception of music like me, so well - it's hard to say, " JS´ cheeks are getting slightly red, " I think it meant something back then that someone like me, who wasn't part of the scene, but then again wasn't too old, via punkrock found back to the amusing roots of rock´n´roll. I hadn't been here today if it wasn't for punkrock. It was so lively, it turned me so much on and there was a close contact with the audience that I like - the element of " the people right there at stage are doing the things I would like to do too".

LC: You cleared the live-takes made by DR which appear on Ungdomshuset´s jubilee record? "If I have to talk about DR as a cultural institution, I think it's important that we contribute on that record with some songs. We make live-takes from the Royal Theatre as well and this width is very well documented, I think. We operate from Ungdomshuset to the Opera. But through my years at DR I guess I spent most of my time looking down the basement and into the garage.

NOW PLAYING: Dennis Diken & Bell Sound/"Late Music"

and...NEW TIN HUEY!

it's on Amazon right now!!

http://www.amazon.com/Before-Obscurity-The-Bushflow-Tapes/dp/B002QEIQFO/ref=sr_shvl_album_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1253889856&sr=301-2

NOW READING: sixth book by Carl Hiaasen - "Sick Puppy". he's so good, but he's also killing Florida for me.

PEEVE DE JOUR: the speed trap in New Paltz

JOIE DE JOUR: learning Dennis Diken's songs. can't believe i'll be playing drums for HIM!!!

cb...where are you?

DENMARK...in my thoughts, anyway.

CAR TALK!

2009-09-18T22:47:00.004-04:00

my gf was Caller #3 on NPR's "Car Talk" show this weekend! podcast & streaming archive of the show will be available on their website after 2pm EST.

http://www.cartalk.com/

she plugs her mini-golf, and The Devil Glitch.

for info on the song, go to:

http://www.futurefossilmusic.com/devil.htm

for info on the mini-golf, go to:

http://www.kelderfarm.com/golf.shtml

and if you want to contribute to the song, go to:

http://www.majorglitch.net

enjoy!

cb

BILL MOYERS NAILS IT:

2009-09-07T09:16:00.009-04:00

NOW RETROING: purplE k'niF at Raceway Park, NJ last month = the best gig we ever played!! beer & babes & burgers & rat rods & Los Straitjackets. ah...summer!

NOW PLAYING: Dirty Projectors/"Knotty Pine"

NOW READING: "Nature Girl"/Carl Hiasson. on his third book...no one nails contemporary Florida better than he does.

PEEVE DE JOUR: "YOU LIE!"...to which i reply, okay you smug Republican fucks...it's time for y'alls & all you red staters to SECEDE from the Union. sicksicksick of listening to you lies and obfuscations as we merrily go down the proverbial toilet. so just go away. you can have Georgia & South Carolina & etc to play in/rant in/act out your gun-toting, paranoid, gay-bashing, deep-fried anything fantasies. don't want my liberal views to block your view of history passing you by.

bye amscray sayonara.

all hail THE REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE DISTRICT OF ASSHOLIA

JOIE DE JOUR: new snow tires on the way! pitiful, i know but it's early in the day...hope things pick up.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (9/10/09):

BANANA PUDDING

A MOVIE TO SEE:

"KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS"

The Cinematheque
The Cleveland Institute of Art
11141 East Boulevard
Cleveland, OH 44106
Phone: (216) 421-7450
http://cia.edu/cinematheque

Thu., Sept. 10, at 8:35 pm

Fri., Sept. 11, at 7:30 pm
Sat., Sept. 12, at 5:30 pm

Canadian director Ron Mann (who, in 1986, became the first filmmaker to visit the Cinematheque) has spent his career making entertaining documentaries about the 1960s-1970s counterculture ("Twist," "Comic Book Confidential," "Grass," "Tales of the Rat Fink," et al.). So it was just a matter of time until he got around to a movie about mushrooms. We show Mann's KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. After you've seen the film, you might like to experience mushrooms in the flesh. And you have two good opportunities. On September 20 Bioneers Cleveland and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History are organizing a trip to the Killbuck Valley Mushroom Farm (details here). And on Monday night, September 14, Whole Foods Market in University Heights (our promotional partner on this film) is hosting an informal hourlong session about their extensive mushroom selection. Click here for details on that event.

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

SURF'S UP!

2009-07-28T21:38:00.005-04:00

...and the pedal is down!

cause....

purpleE k'niF

is playing with pals LOS STRAITJACKETS

this SATURDAY August 1st

at

(to be shouted in a high squeaky voice...)

RACEWAY PARK, NJ!!!

230 Pension Road
Englishtown, NJ

DOORS: 5PM

SHOW: 6PM? 7PM? it's loose, boys & girls.

also n/b re: rain or shine? i'm told that the bar area is large & covered, and that the stage has a marquee over it. we're okay with a light drizzle, not so with a blowing rain.

TICKETS: $15

Directions:

Avoid the NJ Turnpike.
Take the Garden State Pkwy South.
After a toll booth, you'll pass an exit for Sayerville.
Take the next exit which is Route 9 South.
Take Route 9 to Union Hill exit and turn right and go to Pension Road (through one light and I think it's the next stop sign.
Should be signs for Motor Speedway.
enter at Gate 4

about an 45 minutes - an hour from NYC. bring the kids. a chance to get some sweet corn.

NOW PLAYING: "Dragster Beach"/The Dragsters...vroom, vroom!

PEEVE DE JOUR: mice in my house, mice in my Vox AC10!

JOIE DE JOUR: Kelder's sweet corn

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (July 30th):

BUTTER ALMOND

- or -

CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP

cb...where are you?

in the pits!

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND - DETROIT '71

2009-07-26T00:27:00.002-04:00

ASTOUNDING!

a medley live.

view it before youtube pulls it.

cb

AND!

LIVE IN BELGIUM 1969

GRILLED TIE FOOD

2009-07-24T12:06:00.010-04:00

I am always spillingdribblingdripping fooddirtschmutz on my clothes...so me and The Kid have a project going = take 7 white ties (each embroidered with the days of the week), and see how much of a mess we can make on purpose during the course of a single week.

fries with that?

NOW PLAYING: Henry Cow/"Living In The Heart Of The Beast"

amazing stuff from an amazing band. big influence on Tin Huey, too.

JOIE DE JOUR:

1) scumball mayor of Hoboken gets arrested for corruption after serving less than a month in office.

Tom Vincent for mayor!

2) the Major Glitch project is now well over 2 hours long!

so where's your submission?

hear it all/submission details at: http://majorglitch.net/

3)

HELP US NAME THE GRAIN GANG!

What would the mouse be without the Mickey? The bunny without the Bugs? We’ve added some new characters to Homegrown Mini-Golf and Tasting Gardens -- 12 grains enlarged to 90 times their actual size (wild rice, wheat, quinoa, oats, amaranth, buckwheat, rye, millet, spelt, rice, salt, barley and corn). The Grain Gang needs names! Your name ideas can be as crazy as you are, and we are looking for original, fun, descriptive names.

PRIZES!
A name will be chosen for each grain. Each winner will receive:

FAME! Credit by name on the minigolf and publicly announced
FUN! Your choice of a one month pass to the mini-golf or a mini-golf party for eight
FASHION! A Homegrown Mini-Golf T-Shirt

ENTER!
See the Grain Gang in person and get an entry form at Kelder’s Farm or at www.HomegrownMinigolf.com. Enter by September 1, 2009. Rules are on the entry form.

HOMEGROWN MINI-GOLF @ KELDER'S FARM
5755 Route 209 between Accord and Kerhonkson, NY 845-626-7137

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (July 24th):

Mocha Chip

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

THE SQUASH BLOSSOM QUEEN

2009-07-16T14:09:00.007-04:00

Wunder Gurl shows up with an armload of deliciousness...

summer!

eating good down on the farm...

simmer!

NOW PLAYING: trailers for "BIG MAN JAPAN".

boy, do i wanna see this movie!

PEEVE DE JOUR: my Revell Ringo model has now lost both its drumsticks. i built and painted it 1964, and managed to protect it from harm until now.

here's what it's supposed to look like...tho Revell got it wrong, since Ringo played with matched vs. military grip.

sigh.

bereft.

JOIE DE JOUR: the Spiegletent at Bard tonight - Courtney Lee Adams with Fred Smith on bass.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (6/16/09):

PINEAPPLE COCONUT

-or-

GRANDMA'S COOKIE

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

HEY BABY...IT'S THE 4TH OF JULY!

2009-07-04T08:04:00.003-04:00

i'll be in Cold Spring, NY playing with purplE k'niF today ...but here's a video treat from long ago - a frat party at Stevens Institute in Hoboken c. 1990.

that's Otis Ball & Rich Grula, with yours truly as the blurry hairball in the back.

enjoy! and remember - light fuse, run away.

cb

4TH OF JULY

She's waitin' for me
when I get home from work
oh, but things ain't just the same
She turns out the light
and cries in the dark
won't answer when I call her name

On the stairs I smoke a
cigarette alone
Mexican kids are shootin'
fireworks below
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July

She gives me her cheek
when I want her lips
but I don't have the strength to go
On the lost side of town
in a dark apartment
we gave up trying so long ago

On the stairs I smoke a
cigarette alone
Mexican kids are shootin'
fireworks below
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July

What ever happened I
apologize
so dry your tears and baby
walk outside, it's the Fourth of July

On the stairs I smoke a
cigarette alone
Mexican kids are shootin'
fireworks below
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July
Hey baby, Baby take a walk outside

THE STUFF

2009-06-30T10:54:00.011-04:00

so...our sleepy little upstate town of Accord, NY (off Rte. 209, which is no big deal since everything up there is "off Rte. 209") turns out to have had 15 seconds of B-movie fame by being the exterior location for several scenes in the 1985 horror movie called "The Stuff".

if this weren't cool enough, the plot is a major satirical dig at consumer culture & Big Ag & the lard-assing of America.

[i found the following review on the web - who wrote it?]

We all assume that if an alien creature or strange life form was trying to take over the world, we'd beat it back right? Well sure, unless the creature was a delicious treat with a giant marketing campaign! That's the premise behind The Stuff, which to me rivals John Carpenter's great They Live and David Finch's Fight Club as a commentary on out of control consumerism. This evil creature bubbles up out of the ground. Once it's discovered, the greed and gluttony of people does it's work for it. It's the hottest new dessert treat [sort of like Fluff], and the more you eat, the more control it has over you. At first, you're not cool unless you like The Stuff. Then if you're not under it's control, you'll be hunted down and converted by those who are [Stuffies]. Industrial espionage expert Mo Rutherford [Michael Moriarty from Troll, Law & Order, Taken and The 4400] is hired to find out about the origins of The Stuff, and finds more than he ever thought. He ends up teaming up with a kid named Jason [Scott Bloom] on the run from his Stuff-crazed family, and the former director of marketing for The Stuff [Andrea Marcovicci]. They find that it's hard to fight a menace that's so loved and widespread as The Stuff. I especially love the scene where a large blob of The Stuff comes out of Mo Rutherford's pillow and tries to kill him, and when Jason goes on an anti-Stuff rampage in the local grocery store. It's one of the best effects in the movie. Other memorable cast members include Garrett Morris [from Saturday Night Live and Hunter] as Chocolate Chip Charlie, Paul Sorvino [from Law & Order, Still Standing and Star Trek: TNG] as a nutcase military extremist, and Danny Aiello [from The Professional] as an FDA agent who's corrupted by The Stuff. The movie really has that great 50's invasion movie atmosphere, like either versions of The Blob or Killer Klowns. And the best thing is that everything's done relatively seriously, not just for laughs. Some of the effects shots are funny now because of how unrealistic the people look, but you have to take the age of the movie into account. If you can overlook some of the effects that didn't age well, the rest of the movie is absolutely phenominal! I'd love to see a sequel to The Stuff made with today's special effects technology! Good links for The Stuff are hard to find, The Stuff logo links to a cool site. Here are some other links:
The Stuff at the IMDB. Cast list, trailer, trivia, quotes and more
Larry Cohen all about the creator of The Stuff
The Stuff wikipedia entry
The Stuff review

look for a "STUFF FESTIVAL coming soon!

cb

PEEVE DE JOUR: one of the exteriors in the film is an old general store right at the turnoff into Accord. the building is now derelict, and supposedly is slated to be torn down.

THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN!

the building is part of B-movie lore, and a piece of American roadside junk culture.

SAVE THE ACCORD GENERAL STORE!!!!!!

N. P. (NOW PLAYING): Sky Saxon [RIP] & The Seeds.

i was the only kid i knew at Orange High School who bought their album, and it stayed on my turntable until it unfortunately got warped by the sun in the back of Chip Fitzgerald's '57 short.

JOIE DE JOUR:

1) fresh strawberries from Kelder's Farm!

2) seeing Graham Green's "Brighton Rock" at the Film Forum. does anyone know where Paul Roselli is? need to talk with him about it!

3) Mary-Louise Parker. have been watching all of the "Weeds" shows on the net, and i think she is now officially my favorite actress.

4) seeing "Anvil! - the story of Anvil". it is not Spinal Tap - it's super moving, and no film has answered the 'why am i doing this rock 'n' roll thing?' question any better. really.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (6/30/09):

RASPBERRY NON-FAT YOGURT

-or-

CHOCOLATE FUDGE CRUNCH

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK CITY

MERDE!

2009-06-15T10:02:00.002-04:00

i should be in France RIGHT NOW!!!

1) KEN BROWN'S PSYCHEDELIC CINEMA show:

6/12/09

http://www.cinematheque.fr/fr/projections/archives/fiche-manifestation/apogee-psychedelie-ken-brown,10216.html

2) JACQUE TATI RETROSPECTIVE W/ PROPS, SET MODELS

http://www.cinematheque.fr/fr/expositions-cinema/tati/index/bienvenue.html

PEEVE DE JOIR: no water again due to street repairs.

JOIE DE JOUR: road trip!

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (6/15/09)

PEANUT BUTTER OREO

- or -

CHOCOLATE CHERRY KISS

NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY:

PLEASE GOD SAVE US book signing

pal Kent Smith's (a/k/a The King Of Clevo) book rocks.

Saturday, June 27, 2009 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM ED

off Shaker Sq.

Loganberry Books is hosting a "Local Author Book Fair" as a part of the Larchmere Flea Market and Festival. Derek Hess and Kent Smith and Jose will be join 35 other Cleveland area authors selling and signing. The Book Fair is from Noon - 4PM on Saturday June 27th. The Street Festival starts at 11AM and goes to 5PM.

cb...where are you?

SEATTLE, WA

60

2009-05-27T10:12:00.015-04:00

years

old.

no getting around it.

i have now joined the ranks of the living fossils.

so excuse me if lately i am 100% preoccupied with the past.

JERRY'S DINER

Caroljean (nee Raymond?) '40's

'50's

“LOVE AND GREASE” SERVED AT KENT DINER
By Deb Guziak | Record-Courier | October 12, 2008 |Kent, OH

"They served lots of love and grease," said Pat Garrison of Kent as she stood looking at the remains of Jerry's Diner.

It was a sentiment shared by many who attended the last cookout at Jerry's Diner Saturday.
The diner, located at the corner of South Water and Erie streets, will be auctioned off by the end of the month. It has stood vacant for more than 10 years as fire almost destroyed it. The cookout was held behind the diner.

"Grease fires were a problem with the grills," said Linda Nay Smith, whose father, Bill Nay, brought the railcar to the site in 1945. He then added storage, an office, bathroom and kitchen onto the diner. It was first called "Bill's Diner." As it changed hands, it also would be known as Jerry's Diner, Terry's Diner and simply the Diner.

In 1949, Nay also built the "Diner Liner," which was located at the other end of the block. Today, it is the site of Kline-Kavali Plumbing & Heating Inc. Nay operated both diners at the same time.
"They should break it into pieces and sell them," Anne Stesny of Kent said of the diner. She said she didn't eat there, but her mother, Irene Upner, had been a daytime waitress at the diner.

Dave Hinzel of Virginia peered into the glass window of the diner -- the only window not covered with graying sheets of plywood. Through the window, one could see the oak paneled counter front and charred wall studs.

"It got me through finals," he said of the diner. "I'd go there at 2, 3 in the morning and have a hamburger and greasy french fries." Hinzel, who attended Kent State University from 1970 to 1973, said he hopes the diner will be restored.

So does Smith.

The city of Kent has purchase the land on which the diner sits -- part of a land acquisition needed for a development project. When officials starting getting calls from people interested in the diner, it was decided the diner will be auctioned.

One of those interested in restoring the diner is Mike Zenone of North Olmsted. A self-described "diner nut," Zenone said he and a friend have workshops to do the renovation, but not the land to house the diner. He wants to restore the diner and find someone who would give it a home and use it as a diner.

A small percentage of the diner -- Zenone estimates 10 to 15 percent -- can be saved. The rest is too damaged to restore.

"You can make a replica, but it's not the same," he said. "An original means a lot more."

AND PAL ALLEN BUKOFF WRITES:

attn: Mike Zenone,

Glad to hear someone bought Jerry's Diner and hopes to restore it! I don't think it is possible to OVERSTATE the importance of Jerry's Diner in the culture of Kent State/Downtown Kent Ohio in terms of art/music/politics/socialnetworking. And I have a PhD in Social Psychology and spent 12 years in Kent (1973 - 1984) so I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

In fact, Jerry's Diner may have been the single most important DINER FOR FOSTERING CREATIVE CULTURE in the United States. There is an important diner in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan, that has played a proud similar role in UMichigan/AnnArbor street culture...but Ann Arbor never produced innovative music, art and street-culture like Kent-Ohio did during the 70s & 80s (it set itself up as a "judge & jury" of hip culture and art--e.g., Ann Arbor Film Festival--not a producer).

To help you in your search for great stories about Jerry's Diner, I have taken the liberty of posting the following note on my FACEBOOK page:

Allen Bukoff Mike Zenone (mikez@designengineering.com) recently bought Jerry’s Diner (Kent-Ohio), dismantled it, and moved the pieces to Cleveland for future restoration. Yeah! He wants to hear your stories. Email him.

Here's one of mine: Grilled WAITRESSES postcards at http://bit.ly/393mhc (idea for grilling postcards came from Robert Crise, Jr./Crazy Bob).

Keep us all posted and let us know when Jerry's Diner has risen from the ashes, again.

Cheers,
Allen Bukoff
recent work
professional shit
..........
DEAL DE JOUR 1: actually, kind of astounding = a G. G. Allin bobble-head doll.

DEAL DE JOUR 2:

buy Jeffery Dahmer's childhood home.

really.

also where he killed his first victim.

really really.

http://www.howardhanna.com/property/property.asp?PRM_MlsNumber=2465681&PRM_MlsName=NorthernOH

JOIE DE JOUR: down to a few smokes a day (well into my second month)/running/practicing/planning a fun summer...not shabby.

NOW PLAYING/VIEWING:

Anton Karas...then and then-er.

"The Third Man" is still my all-time favorite movie (thanks Jan Sneum, for turning me on to it, and to RD in Akron for the URL's):

XTC...next to The Who, none better ever. i mean...their stuff is consistently brilliant.

as young art-punks:

Andy bails, and the band will tour no more.

ROSATI'S "FLAVOR OF THE DAY" (5/28):

GERMAN CHOCOLATE

(Pecans, coconut, caramel in chocolate custard)

NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY:

HG in Akron writes:

Howdy,

Friday June 19th, HAMELL ON TRIAL is doing a PRIVATE HOUSE CONCERT at Kris and Gayle Carter's in Highland Square. 7:30 PM. I don't know if you've heard or seen this guy, but he's brilliant. His two biggest influences are probably The Clash and Bill Hicks. Seriously folks!!! You REALLY want to see this guy play. He's just sooooo smart and clever! He's also very sweet, so will be great to meet ... and his road guy owns Hueys records, so...?

ONLY 50 Tix are available at $15./ so I'd cough up fast. Just contact kris :
info@kristoffercarter.com

Hope to see you there!!!

Harv and Dolli

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

MAY 4TH

2009-05-04T15:47:00.007-04:00

cb...where are you?

standing in the exact spot
where i stood
39 years ago
at Kent State University
in the Prentice Hall Parking Lot
when the Ohio National Guard opened fire.

UPDATE 5/7/09

you know...just paused for a few seconds and looked at that picture above.

yes, the lens distorts the depth of field some, but the interesting thing is how far away the parking lot is from the pogoda (and where the guard stood...the pic is from their location/perspective).

all four students who were killed were in the parking lot = 2-300 feet away. the guard sez they fired because the felt in danger/in a life-threatening situation: wouldn't it follow that the dead would be closer?...that the people who were endangering them would be 10-20-30 feet away vs. a football field away? it has been documented that there were very few people that close to the guard. in the picture above, there is only a thin swath of gray asphalt parking lot visible under the right branches of the brown tree in the middle of the picture.

therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that - when the guard turned (as a group....which they did & as if acting under an order to fire) - they aimed at & shot blindly into a crowd in a parking lot 2-300 feet away.

that is not how people act in a 'life-threatening situation'/in self-defense.

JAMMIN' AND SALMON 2

2009-04-29T09:59:00.005-04:00

Saturday May 2nd 8P to 10P...ish at
Lockview (formerly The Lime Spider)
207 S Main St.
Akron, OH (across from the Civic Theater)

Members of TIN HUEY:
Stu Austin, Michael Aylward, Chris Butler, Ralph Carney, Harvey Gold, Bob Ethington and...

No charge, Just makin' some strange noises in a place where you can eat and drink.

In spirit, Mark Price.. ALWAYS in spirit!

Special Guests expected to make grunts o' genius at one moment or another during the evening... possibly, perhaps, maybe, probably:

Debbie Smith (Chi-Pig, Half Cleveland)
David Thomas (Pere Ubu, Rocket From the Tombs, DT w. the 2 Pale Boys)
Kristoffer Carter (www.kcshow.com)
Rich Roberts (Chi-Pig, The Hi -Fi's, and 147.8 other bands)

Should be fun and (mostly interesting).

We'd love to see you and get a hug!

xoxoxo - Us

PEEVE DE JOUR: Wunder Gurl busts her foot. poor baby....

JOIE DE JOUR: Steampunk!!!

iPod + ancient Atwater-Kent speaker

N. R (NOW READING):

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/msg/1145834596.html

N.P. (NOW PLAYING):

The dB's/"Amplifier"

cb...where are you?

OHIO

SURF'S UP...AGAIN!!!

2009-03-27T10:03:00.005-04:00

purplE k'niF beacH partY!!!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

BEARSVILLE THEATER
291 Tinker St.,
Woodstock, NY
(845) 679-4406.

Doors at 8pm; Show at 9pm

Tickets $10

purplE k’niF play Maximum Surf and Hard Twang instrumentals! Imagine The Ventures with Keith Moon on drums. With an extensive repertoire of original tunes and vintage obscurities, purplE k’niF eschew the standards and ride the wild outside edge of instrumental Surf music. Formed in 1991 in New York City, all the members are originally from Ohio, and the band takes its name from a catch phrase used by the late, great Ghoulardi (Ernie Anderson) - host of Cleveland’s Fright Night/Creature Feature TV show in the 1960s - “Turn blue you purple k’nif!” (The “K” is hard and k’niF is Fink spelled backwards). After a 12 year hiatus, purplE k’niF reformed in 2006 and have been performing from the New Jersey shore to the beaches of Lake Erie, live radio shows on WFMU-FM and touring with Los Straitjackets.

Tunes by purplE k’niF, plus The Atlantics, The Bel-Airs, The Champs, Dick Dale, Duane Eddy, The Raybeats, The Shadows, The Ventures, Link Wray and more! No CD’s, no web site, no MySpace, no records, no merchandise, no vocals! Just a night of hard-driving instrumental guitar rock: “The most fun you can have without your swimsuit on!”

purplE k’niF is:

Chris Butler, drums. As guitarist and songwriter, Chris was in Tin Huey in the ‘70s, leader of The Waitresses (he wrote their hits “I Know What Boys Like” and “Christmas Wrapping”) in the ‘80s, and plays with Half Cleveland today.

Ted Lawrence, guitar. Ted writes much of purplE k’niF’s original material and also played guitar in The Supertones and The Human Tornados in NYC. He remains widely unknown everywhere to this very day.

Baker Rorick, bass. Formerly in Cool It Reba, The Baxters, Life In A Blender, and a dozen other NY bands, Baker is also a steel-string journalist who writes for guitar magazines.

John Teagle, guitar. Johnny was in The Walking Clampetts, Lucky Tigers, and The Vice Royals. A vintage amplifier and guitar authority, he’s the author of “100 Years of Washburn Guitars” and co-author of “Fender Amps: The First Fifty Years.”

NOW PLAYING:

it's time to bug y'alls again about contributing to THE MAJOR GLITCH PROJECT...where the World's Longest Pop Song gets even longer and longer!

the song now clocks in at...

...which is PITIFUL...i want this thing to run for DAYS!

so check out http://majorglitch.net/ and find out how YOU can contribute to the World's Longest Pop Song (1998 Guinness Book of Records - US Edition)!

NOW PLAYING 2:

can't wait for this one:

Joe Meek movie trailer

...and maybe it's time to reconvene The Violet Shenton Orchestra and do another all-Meek show???

NOW PLAYING 3:

i cannot tell you how much i love this wonderful song. The Lovin' Spoonful were just the BEST American band, and John Sebastian's songwriting is without equal.

I BELIEVE!

just brilliant...and here we have NRBQ as his back-up band!

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (3/27):

MOCHA CHIP

-or-

DRUMSTIK

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

SURF (WAS) UP!

2009-03-17T12:05:00.010-04:00

TWO VIDEOS FROM FRIDAY'S SHOW
(thanks, Freddy!):

purplE k'niF:

Chris Butler - aquamarine drums
Ted Lawrence - blue guitar
Baker Rorick - red bass
John Teagle - orange guitar

"Holiday Inn Spain" video from The Beachland in Clevo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHiLw_UYn58

PEEVE DE JOUR: Depression 2.0 - the worst BMI check in decades.

...plus the AIG bonuses. there was a commentator on NPR yesterday who went on and on about the sanctity of honoring the executive's contracts, and that to break 'em would set a bad precedent.

but contracts get broken all the time!

the recourse for the injured party is to sue, which would expose these execs as even BIGGER scumbags/tie them & their dough up in court for ages/further publicize their shameful antics since law suits are in the public record/wait out AIG's probable declaration of bankruptcy so there will be to entity left to collect from/etc.

the Obama administration should have done this before the bonuses were paid, instead of their post-payout hand-wringing that seems disingenuous.

JOIE DE JOUR: itchin' to test out my new Pro Tools remote control box so i can record drums in another room.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (3/22/09):

HIGBEES CHOCOLATE MALTED

or

TIN ROOF

NOW PLAYING: L'Trimm/"Cars That Go Boom!" two DJ's did this last Saturday at the WFMU Marathon party. here's an excellent version = a mash-up with Gary Numan & Some Guys That Need Haircuts.

how did i miss this tune?? it's got that ear worm thing going, too. '88 no less...and their name ain't about designer jeans, knee-tha.

and The Lady Tigra is still out there:

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

ACE

2009-03-13T12:17:00.015-04:00

Adam Bernard Koblitz: 10/23/18 - 3/8/09

Adam ("Ace") was the father of my best friend when i was growing up in NEOhio. all the Koblitz's - Adam, Anita, David & Beth - were the coolest. jazz on the hi-fi, a martini in hand, Mad Magazine & The New Yorker on the Eames coffee table & Chryslers with big fins in the driveway. a sharp, wry wit...a skeptical, droll intelligence. a wonderful family, a wonderful man.

David writes:

Dear Family and Friends,

I thought you'd like to see this photo of Dad taken at a Navy blimp training base in California circa 1942. He had a good life--survived the sinking of the U.S.S. Quincy in the Pacific, played tennis with Katherine Hepburn, dated Betty Grable, heard Art Tatum play in dives in Toledo and Cleveland, married that classy Smith College gal from Long Island, etc., etc. . . . He'll be greatly missed!

David

my bro PJB writes:

Sam Butler and Adam Koblitz are hanging out by the pool having a lot of laughs. They're talking about their wives, careers, WW II, and all sorts of stuff. Sam has finally loosened up after having checked out in 1987 and is back to being that fun loving guy (we never knew him as that) back on Ripley Road in the early 1950's.

Um, what are they talking about now? They're discussing their kids. And, man, are they proud!

PEEVE DE JOUR: my kid won't eat.

JOIE DE JOUR: rumors of spring.

N. P. (NOW PLAYING): "Hippie Chick"/Soho. one of my-all-time favorite tunes. yes, i know it's a based on a Smiths sample but what they did with it stayed in constant rotation for ages. also played it live with The Legendary Wild Ensemble - Hoboken's only real 'hippie' band. great lyrics, too. thank you, youtube for this....dunno why i never thot to look there before:

N. B. A. T. W. P. (NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY):

Petition Drive • Campaign Rally • Show

Monday March 16, 2009
7pm to 10 or 11pm
The Goldhawk Lounge, back room
936 Park Avenue (at 10th Street)
Hoboken, NJ

Come to show your support
Come to see what this is about
Come to listen to great musicians
Come to sign a petition

I'll be at the Goldhawk Monday night with a stack of petitions, a bunch of friends, some terrific musicians, and probably a beer.

So please stop in, tell the neighbors, tell your friends. So far the response has been very positive, but we have to get the word out that a viable alternative exists. A surprising percentage of people I talk to agree with my ideas and approach, which makes me believe that the more people we can reach the better chance we have of upsetting the status quo.

We have a chance to start a real grass roots movement to get city hall to start listening to the people who pay the bills. But it only works with support. Your support, your energy, and your signature.

So far we've got Ed Fogarty, Boo Reiners and Dave Schramm (unconfirmed) providing musical entertainment. I'm waiting to hear back from more players. Check back for updates.

Tom Vincent

N. R. (NOW READING): "The Daily Adventures of Mixerman" - a collection of an audio engineer's daily postings during the (attempted) recording of dysfunctional band. painful to read because it's ohsotrue. been there/was there/was it...riveting, smart & packed with insight and info.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=49288946

&

- from Higgs in NJ:

CRAZY FOR GOD

Dear Republican Leaders: The Republican Party has become the party dedicated to sabotaging the American future.

You Republicans are the arsonists who burned down our national home. You combined the failed ideologies of the Religious Right, so-called free market deregulation and the Neoconservative love of war to light a fire that has consumed America. Now you have the nerve to criticize the "architect" America just hired -- President Obama -- to rebuild from the ashes. You do nothing constructive, just try to hinder the one person willing and able to fix the mess you created.

I used to be one of you. As recently as 2000 I worked to get Senator McCain elected in that year's primary. (McCain and Gen. Tommy Franks wrote glowing endorsements regarding my book about military service, AWOL.). I have a file of handwritten thank you notes from Presidents Ford, Reagan, Bush I and II. In the 1970s and early 80s I hung out with Jack Kemp and bought into his "supply side" myth and even wrote a book he endorsed pushing his ideas.) There's more, but take it from me; my parents (evangelical leaders Francis and Edith Schaeffer) and I were about as tight with -- and useful to -- the Republican Party as anyone. We played a big part creating the Religious Right.

In the mid 1980s I left the Religious Right, after I realized just how very anti-American they are, (the theme I explore in my book Crazy For God). They wanted America to fail in order to prove they were right about America's "moral decline." Soon after McCain lost in 2000 I re-registered as an independent in disgust with W. Bush. But I still respected many Republicans. Not today.

How can anyone who loves our country support the Republicans now? Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan defined the modern conservatism that used to be what the Republican Party I belonged to was about. Today no actual conservative can be a Republican. Reagan would despise today's wholly negative Republican Party. And can you picture the gentlemanly and always polite Ronald Reagan, endorsing a radio hate-jock slob who crudely mocked a man with Parkinson's and who now says he wants an American president to fail?!

With people like Limbaugh as the loudmouth image of the Republican Party -- you need no enemies. But something far more serious has happened than an image problem: the Republican Party has become the party of obstruction at just the time when all Americans should be pulling together for the good of our country. Instead, Republicans are today's fifth column sabotaging American renewal.

President Obama has been in office barely 45 days and the Republican Party has the nerve to blame him for the economic and military cataclysm he inherited. I say economic and military cataclysm because without the needless war in Iraq you all backed we would not be in the economic mess we're in today. If that money had been spent here at home on renovating our infrastructure, taking us toward a green economy, putting our health-care system in order we'd be a very different situation.

As the father of a Marine who served in George W. Bush's misbegotten wars let me say this: if President Obama's strategy to repair our economy, infrastructure and healthcare fails that will put our troops at far greater risk because the world will become a far more dangerous place. So for all you flag-waving Republicans who are trying to undermine the President at home -- if you succeed more of our troops will be killed abroad.

When your new leader Rush Limbaugh calls for President Obama to fail he's calling for more flag-draped coffins. Limbaugh is the new "Hanoi Jane."

For the party that created our crises of misbegotten war, mismanaged economy, the lack of regulation of our banking industry, handing our country to rich crooks... to obstruct the one person who is trying to repair the damage is obscene.

Just imagine where America would be today if the 14 to 20 million voters -- "the rube base" who slavishly follow the likes of Limbaugh -- had not voted as a block year after year thus empowering the Republican fiasco. We would have a regulated banking industry and would have avoided our current financial crisis; some 4000 of our killed military men and women would be alive; over to 35,000 wounded Americans would be whole; we would have been leaders in the environmental movement; we would be in the middle of a green technology boom fueling a huge expansion of our economy and stopping our dependence on foreign oil, and our health-care system would be reformed.

After Obama was elected, you Republican leaders had a unique last chance to send a patriotic message of unity to the world -- and to all Americans. You could have backed our president's economic recovery plan. Since we all know that half of our problem is one of lost confidence and perception, nothing would have done more to calm the markets and project resolve and confidence than if you had been big enough to take Obama's offered hand and had work with him -- even if you disagreed ideologically. You had the chance to put our country first. You utterly failed to rise to the occasion.

The worsening economic situation is your fault and your fault alone. The Republicans created this mess through 8 years of backing the worst president in our history and now, because you put partisan ideology ahead of the good of our country, you have blown your last chance to redeem yourselves. You deserve the banishment to the political wilderness that awaits all traitors.

Frank Schaeffer is the author of CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back Now in paperback.

...to which i would add - all the RushRickNewts are discredited people with a discredited philosophy and failed political agenda. why are they still bellowing like sick bulls, and more importantly...why is anyone listening? deny them media coverage, already...they are gasbag pinheads who we've heard enough of.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (3/16/09):

YES!!!!...THE NORTHFIELD CENTER LOCATION IS OPEN FOR THE SEASON!!!

CHOCOLATE
CHERRY
KISS

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK CITY

THE YEAR OF THE OX

2009-02-10T11:14:00.013-05:00

...and WINTER CATCH-UP.

- from Lisa in Tribeca: CHINESE NEW YEAR/NYC

- from Bruce in sunny Orlando: NEAL YOUNG DOES IT AGAIN
(fyi - shot w/ a cellphone)
Neil Young - Fork In The Road

- from Glenn in Hoboken: GUITAR BOAT VIDEO

PEEVE DE JOUR: stabilityidentityilikewhatilikewhichhascomeoutofyearsoftrialanderror

vs.

let'schangeverything
allatonce
highrisk
forcedmutation
whuddahyameanyoulikethat?

JOIE DE JOUR: am suddenly starting to find NYC enjoyable again vs. a place to get the hell out of.

NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY:

1) GENE D. PLUMBERS:

For all of us who love Gene Turnonis and the Plumbers (although he prefers "D. Plumbers," a construction that just doesn't do it for me) and remember when they played more often, at Court Street and then The Elysian (some wonderful nights were had, take my word for it) this is great news. D. Plumbers are doing a show at the Elks Club this Friday, February 6, 7pm to 11:30.

Three and a half hours of music, I mean really, who does that anymore? Twenty bucks now, twenty-five at the door for United Cerebral Palsy and the Jubilee Center. As I understand it, we're against cerebral palsy and for the Jubilee Center.

2) DOTS WILL ECHO:
Sunday Afternoons thanks all of you for the wonderful turnout at ourshows. We'll be playing again at Goodbye Blue Monday, 1087 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY this Wednesday, Feb.11 around 10pm.

3) MARTI JONES DIXON:

4) LIFE IN A BLENDER:
Life in a Blender will be playing a deluxe acoustic two-hour set at Barbes in Brooklyn (6th Avenue and 9th Street) on Monday, February 16, from 7 pm - 9pm. We’ll be open for requests of all kinds, so e-mail now so we might learn them (donrauf@aol.com). The show is free other than the price of your soul, but how much is that well-compromised soul of yours worth any way? When you grow up on a diet of lies like you, it’s no wonder your soul is worth less than a photograph of an old feather. If mother didn’t like you so much, I would flush you like last night’s Corsican pate. You know I like you; I just have a horrible reaction when I’m around you.

Kids are welcome!! All ages.

Call Don at 206 295 6024 for more information.

cb...where are you?

ARIZONA

GOODBYE, DUMMY

2009-01-19T09:55:00.004-05:00

from SS in NYC:

PATRICK McGOOHAN, RIP

2009-01-15T15:35:00.004-05:00

BIG fan of The Prisoner. even got to spend the night at Portmeirion once - the actual Village in Wales where the series was shot. arrived late, couldn't find the office, so walked around the place in the growing darkness. turned a corner, and was almost eaten by two Rottweilers. found the office, checked in...and the next morning all the other Villagers kept asking us "were you the Yanks who came last night?"

creepy...how did they know?

a fabulous place. it's a proper British seaside resort, so they weren't too keen on the whole Prisoner business, tho there was a small shop (with requisite clerk/fan in black blazer with white piping & beige trousers) in the bungelow that served as the exterior for Number 6's house.

here's some gossip from Popbitch:

"Patrick McGoohan never got to make the film he wanted of The Prisoner. He was a keen poker player, and at one game in Vegas found himself holding three of a kind. Quietly confident, as everyone upped the ante, he chucked the rights to The Prisoner into the pot. Alas, someone else at the table had a straight flush. No-one expected the winning exec to actually take McGoohan's meal ticket off him. But to the disgust of the other players, he did just that."

be seeing you...

NP: Rejected first theme for the show:

sucks. compare it to the fab one that stuck:

Big Jim Sullivan on guitar? Jimmy Page? no...Vic Flick!

slammin'!!!

PEEVE DE JOUR: winter.

JOIE DE JOUR: waiting.

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

JUMP GEORGE BAILEY, JUMP

2008-12-19T09:21:00.011-05:00

years ago, my yearly Scrooge-ish-ness was acknowledged by Heimer, Higgs & Mo (a/k/a The What Nots) with the gift of a t-shirt on which was written my above Xmas wish.

glad to read that i am not alone.

from the New York Times (12/19/08):

Wonderful? Sorry, George, It’s a Pitiful, Dreadful Life
By WENDELL JAMIESON

MR. ELLMAN didn’t tell us why he wanted us to stay after school that December afternoon in 1981. When we got to the classroom — cinderblock walls, like all the others, with a dreary view of the parking lot — we smelled popcorn.

In “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a stressed-out James Stewart, foreground, unravels in front of his family, including, from left, Larry Simms, Jimmy Hawkins, Donna Reed and Carol Coombs.
He had set up a 16-millimeter projector and a movie screen, and rearranged the chairs. Book bags, jackets and overcoats were tossed on seat backs, teenagers sat, suspicious, slumping, and Mr. Ellman started the projector whirring. “It’s a Wonderful Life” filled the screen.
I was not a mushy kid. My ears were fed a steady stream of the Clash and the Jam, and I was doing my best to conjure a dyed-haired, wry, angry-young-man teenage persona. But I was enthralled that afternoon in Brooklyn. In the years that followed, my affection for “It’s a Wonderful Life” has never waned, despite the film’s overexposure and sugar-sweet marketing, and the rolling eyes of friends and family.

Lots of people love this movie of course. But I’m convinced it’s for the wrong reasons. Because to me “It’s a Wonderful Life” is anything but a cheery holiday tale. Sitting in that dark public high school classroom, I shuddered as the projector whirred and George Bailey’s life unspooled.
Was this what adulthood promised?

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your oppressively perfect wife. It is also a nightmare account of an endless home renovation.

I haven’t seen it on a movie screen since that first time, but on Friday it begins its annual pre-Christmas run at the IFC Cinema in Greenwich Village. I plan to take my 9-year-old son and my father, who has never seen it the whole way through because he thinks it’s too corny.

How wrong he is.

I’m no movie critic, and I’ll leave to others any erudite evaluation of the film as cinematic art, but to examine it closely is to experience “It’s a Wonderful Life” on several different levels.
Many are pulling the movie out of the archives lately because of its prescience on the perils of trusting bankers. I’ve found, after repeated viewings, that the film turns upside down and inside out, and some glaring — and often funny — flaws become apparent. These flaws have somehow deepened my affection for it over the years.

Take the extended sequence in which George Bailey (James Stewart), having repeatedly tried and failed to escape Bedford Falls, N.Y., sees what it would be like had he never been born. The bucolic small town is replaced by a smoky, nightclub-filled, boogie-woogie-driven haven for showgirls and gamblers, who spill raucously out into the crowded sidewalks on Christmas Eve. It’s been renamed Pottersville, after the villainous Mr. Potter, Lionel Barrymore’s scheming financier.

Here’s the thing about Pottersville that struck me when I was 15: It looks like much more fun than stultifying Bedford Falls — the women are hot, the music swings, and the fun times go on all night. If anything, Pottersville captures just the type of excitement George had long been seeking.

And what about that banking issue? When he returns to the “real” Bedford Falls, George is saved by his friends, who open their wallets to cover an $8,000 shortfall at his savings and loan brought about when the evil Mr. Potter snatched a deposit mislaid by George’s idiot uncle, Billy (Thomas Mitchell).

But isn’t George still liable for the missing funds, even if he has made restitution? I mean, if someone robs a bank, and then gives the money back, that person still robbed the bank, right?
I checked my theory with Frank J. Clark, the district attorney for Erie County upstate, where, as far as I can tell, the fictional Bedford Falls is set. He thought it over, and then agreed: George would still face prosecution and possible prison time.

“In terms of the theft, sure, you take the money and put it back, you still committed the larceny,” he said. “By giving the money back, you have mitigated in large measure what the sentence might be, but you are still technically guilty of the offense.”

He took this a bit further: “If you steal over $3,000, it’s a D felony; 2 ½ to 7 years is the maximum term for that. The least you can get is probation. You know Jimmy Stewart, though, he had that hangdog face. He’d be a tough guy to send to jail.”

He paused, and then added: “You really have a cynical sense of humor.”

He should have met me when I was 15.

The movie starts sappily enough, with three angels in outer space discussing George’s fate. Maybe that’s what turned my dad off, that or the saccharine title. I’m amazed they didn’t spoil it for me in 1981, but I may not have been paying attention yet.

Soon enough, though, the darkness sets in. George’s brother, Harry (Todd Karns), almost drowns in a childhood accident; Mr. Gower, a pharmacist, nearly poisons a sick child; and then George, a head taller than everyone else, becomes the pathetic older sibling creepily hanging around Harry’s high school graduation party. That night George humiliates his future wife, Mary (Donna Reed), by forcing her to hide behind a bush naked, and the evening ends with his father’s sudden death.

Disappointments pile up. George can’t go to college because of his obligation to run the Bailey Building and Loan, and instead sends Harry. But Harry returns a slick, self-obsessed jerk, cannily getting out of his responsibility to help with the family business, by marrying a woman whose dad gives him a job. George again treats Mary cruelly, this time by chewing her out and bringing her to tears before kissing her. It is hard to understand precisely what she sees in him.
George is further emasculated when his bad hearing keeps him out of World War II, and then it’s Christmas Eve 1945. These scenes — rather than the subsequent Bizarro-world alternate reality — have always been the film’s defining moments for me. All the decades of anger boil to the surface.

After Potter takes the deposit, George flies into a rage and finally lets Uncle Billy know what he thinks of him, calling him a “silly, stupid old fool.” Then he explodes at his family.
If you watch the film this year, keep a close eye on Stewart during this sequence. First he smashes a model bridge he has built. Then, like any parent who loses his temper with his children, he seems genuinely embarrassed. He’s ashamed. He apologizes. And then ... slowly ... he starts getting angry all over again.

To me Stewart’s rage, building throughout the film, is perfectly calibrated — and believable — here.

Now as for that famous alternate-reality sequence: This is supposedly what the town would turn out to be if not for George. I interpret it instead as showing the true characters of these individuals, their venal internal selves stripped bare. The flirty Violet (played by a supersexy Gloria Grahame, who would soon become a timeless film noir femme fatale) is a dime dancer and maybe a prostitute; Ernie the cabbie’s blank face speaks true misery as George enters his taxi; Bert the cop is a trigger-happy madman, violating every rule in the patrol guide when he opens fire on the fleeing, yet unarmed, George, forcing revelers to cower on the pavement.
Gary Kamiya, in a funny story on Salon.com in 2001, rightly pointed out how much fun Pottersville appears to be, and how awful and dull Bedford Falls is. He even noticed that the only entertainment in the real town, glimpsed on the marquee of the movie theater after George emerges from the alternate universe, is “The Bells of St. Mary’s.”

Now that’s scary.

I’ll do Mr. Kamiya one better, though. Not only is Pottersville cooler and more fun than Bedford Falls, it also would have had a much, much stronger future. Think about it: In one scene George helps bring manufacturing to Bedford Falls. But since the era of “It’s a Wonderful Life” manufacturing in upstate New York has suffered terribly.

On the other hand, Pottersville, with its nightclubs and gambling halls, would almost certainly be in much better financial shape today. It might well be thriving.

I checked my theory with the oft-quoted Mitchell L. Moss, a professor of urban policy at New York University, and he agreed, pointing out that, of all the upstate counties, the only one that has seen growth in recent years has been Saratoga.

“The reason is that it is a resort, and it has built an economy around that,” he said. “Meanwhile the great industrial cities have declined terrifically. Look at Connecticut: where is the growth? It’s in casinos; they are constantly expanding.”

In New York, Mr. Moss added, Gov. David A. Paterson “is under enormous pressure to allow gambling upstate because of the economic problems.” “We ease up on our lot of cultural behaviors in a depression,” he said.

What a grim thought: Had George Bailey never been born, the people in his town might very well be better off today.

Not too long ago I friended Mr. Ellman on Facebook. (To call him by his given name, Robert, is somehow still unnatural to me.)

I asked him about inviting us to stay after school to eat popcorn and watch “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He said it was always one of his favorite films, if a little corny and sentimental, and that he always saw staying late with us as part of his job. If anything, he said, there was just as much to learn after school as there was during it.

He reminded me that it was an actual film print we saw; this was before video took hold. And he also proved to be a close viewer. It was Mr. Ellman who pointed out to me how cruel George is to Mary the night they first kiss, and who told me to keep an eye out for Ernie’s vacant stare when George gets into the cab. He said he cried the first time he saw it.

I asked him if he’d continued those December viewings.

“In later years,” he wrote, “it became too difficult to get students to stay. We started doing a festival of student-written/student-directed one-act plays right after the end of the fall show. Everyone was too busy to stay and watch a movie.”

It’s a shame.

So I’ll tell Mr. Ellman a secret. It’s something I felt while watching the film all those years ago, but was too embarrassed to reveal.

That last scene, when Harry comes back from the war and says, “To my big brother, George, the richest man in town”? Well, as I sat in that classroom, despite the dreary view of the parking lot; despite the moronic Uncle Billy; despite the too-perfect wife, Mary; and all of George’s lost opportunities, I felt a tingling chill around my neck and behind my ears. Fifteen years old and imagining myself an angry young man, I got all choked up.

And I still do.
..............
NP: am about to start reading pal Jon Gould's "Can't Buy Me Love" Beatle book...so i've been learning the guitar parts to my favorite Beatle single "Paperback Writer" b/w "Rain". whuddahgreatrecord!

PEEVE DE JOUR: that whole Christmas thing.

JOIE DE JOUR:

1) my brilliant, sexy GF.

2) Allen Bukoff's online "office party"!

http://allenbukoff.com/info

3) Marian in Sarasota sent a Bush Target Practice link!

http://www.sockandawe.com/

4) The Who lip-syncing "The Kids Are Alright" on Swedish TV in 1966. nb - this is the 'long version', not the single edit, and contains a My Generation stretch-out in the Big Brang portion before the last chorus. been trying to get people to play it this way for decades!

also shows KM with only two 14 x 8 'tuna tin' toms, which was his kits configuration before Premier figured out how to add the third tom. i point this out because i am presently struggling with adding a third tom to my double kit, and it's a pain.

NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY:

SURF'S UP!

purplE k'niF & The Lost Patrol TONIGHT!

The Goldhawk
251 10th St
Hoboken, NJ 07030
(201) 420-7989

8PM

Baker = red bass
Ted = blue guitar
Johnny = orange guitar
Chris = turquoise drums

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK CITY

2008 "WRAPPIE" AWARD

2008-11-22T23:30:00.030-05:00

...and THE 2008 WRAPPIE AWARD WINNER IS:

MARK FRIED!

checking in at 7:49pm, December 1st 'bout hearing The Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping" in a New York City taxi cab!

Mark gets $100 donated in his name to The Children's division of The Hoboken Public Library.

congratulations!

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Roe checked in, saying she heard it...:

"The day after Christmas I was at Pat Catans - a local craft store- looking for those wonderful discount bargains - all was quiet, everyone walking around like holidazed zombies when what to my my wondering ears did I hear - Christmas Wrapping! I had the best time singing along and making merry!"

Lisa Crafts & Cayli watching the "Christmas Wrapping" house w/ lights cued to the song!

here's the video:

Rocky checked in, saying she heard it -

"I was in Columbus at a Barnes and Noble last Friday and they were playing "Christmas Wrapping."

Bill Pomeroy checked in, saying he heard it -

" Hey Chris:

Certainly not the first, but assuredly among the most personal of the sightings. Was up at Home Depot for to buy brother Pete his X-mas offering (don't breath a word, a 221/2 inch Weber One Touch Gold, he had been cobbling together remnants for way too long) and just as I plunked the box into the cart........yep, Christmas Wrapping over the Home Depot squawk box. Wheels within wheels, all is connected, om (or pun intended) ohm, and all at Home Depot, of all the unlikely temples.

Have a wonderful holiday, and make sure you get a check from Home Depot.

Hope all is uber groovy,

Bill"

Jody Wheeler checked in, saying she heard it -

"Hey you...

I got up esp....( me and the snow plow guy.. the onliest ones up at this hour.). CAUSE.. ( don't know about him.. the snow plow guy) but I'm up to write you that I just heard the above title as a bump on the radio show Coast to Coast.. an addiction of mine.. late night show about aliens,, UFO's and now sort of political.. but anyway.. at 3:30 am on 12/17 your song was played.. so.. am I the first reporting in???

xoxo from the frozen white upstate New York.. Jody very sleeppy Jody xox"

Deborah Smith checked in, saying she heard it -

"...in T. J. Max in Akron. congratulations...you've officially been discounted".

Marianne Smith (no relation) checked in, saying she heard it -

"...in my green Volvo. On Route 80W going towards Wayne, NJ Nov 28, 2008, at about 11am".

Deena Shoshkes checked in, saying she heard it -

"I heard it yesterday on 94.3 (? I think..) at 1:11 pm..I was driving and channel surfing..and I rested there because it made me glad!"

Betsy Freedman checked in, saying she heard it -

Hello Chris, I heard Christmas Wrapping yesterday December 5 at 1 pm at Alphabets 47 Greenwich Ave. NYC Rock on!

- cb
.........................
and boys & gurls...once again, it's that time of year to reprint these:

CHRISTMAS WRAPPING LYRICS

bah! humbug! no...that's too strong, 'cause it is my favorite holiday
but all this year's been a busy blur, don't think I have the energy
to add to my already mad rush, just cause it's "'tis the season"
the perfect gift for me would be, completions and connections
left from last year, ski shop, encounter, most interesting...
had his number but never the time, most of '81 passed along those lines
so deck those halls, trim those trees, raise up cups of Christmas cheer
I just need to catch my breath, Christmas by myself this year
..............
calendar picture, frozen landscape, chilled this room for 24 days
evergreens, sparkling snow, get this winter over with!
flashback to springtime, saw him again, would've been good to go for lunch
couldn't agree when we were both free, we tried, we said we'd keep in touch
didn't, of course, 'til the summertime, out to the beach to his boat, could I join him?
no, this time it was me, sunburn in the third degree
now the calendar's just one page and, of course, I am excited
tonight's the night, but I've set my mind, not to do too much about it
..............
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas...think I'll miss this one this year
..............
hardly dashing through the snow, 'cause I bundled up too tight
last minute have-to-dos, a few cards, a few calls
because it's RSVP, no thanks, no party lights
it's Christmas Eve, gonna relax, turned down all of my invites
last fall I had a night to myself, same guy called, Halloween party
waited all night for him to show, this time his car wouldn't go
forget it, it's cold, it's getting late,
trudge on home to celebrate in a quiet way, unwind,
doing Christmas right this time
..............
the A & P has provided me, with the world's smallest turkey
already in the oven, nice and hot, oh damn, guess what I forgot!
so on with the boots, back out in the snow, to the only all-night grocery
when what to my wondering eyes should appear,
in the line is that guy I've been chasing all year!
spending this one alone, he said, need a break, this year's been crazy
I said, me too, but why are you...?, you mean, you forgot cranberries, too?
then suddenly we laughed and laughed, caught on to what was happening
that Christmas magic's brought this tale,
to a very happy ending
..............
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas...couldn’t miss this one this year!
..............

PEEVE DE JOIR:

...which is beginning to be my Obits section:

Bettie Page R. I. P. - purplE k'niF sometimes plays at DC's in Hoboken. on the john door, there is a b & W pic of Bettie Page that has been hand-tinted. well, Irving Kral's partner & sister in the naughty photo bizness, Paula liked to add color to some of the pix they shot. this might be an original one...and dammit, it's screwed to the door!

David Robinson R. I. P - Numbers band drummer, turned me on to lots of great music, met Patty Donahue thru him, many nights playing Jimmy Bell w/ this guy. and oh...those New Years Eve gigs at JB's...

i am not coping very well w/so much death around me...not at all...not one fucking bit.

JOIE DE JOIR:

1) LES IDOLES (a.k.a. THE IDOLS) 1968

i have been blessed many times with stumbling upon something that raises the bar in the So Bad, Its Good category - like seeing Viv Stanshall's "Sir Henry at Rawlinson's End" one and a half times (because the projectionist stopped the second showing before the movie was over), etc..

but boy...this one takes the gateau. billed as a parody of how pop stars are created, it proves once again that The French Cannot Rock. wretched dancing, wretched yé-yé music...but the film is also amazingly prescient - the Charly character IS Richard Hell...not a proto-punk but a PUNK fully-formed and kitted out.

it was interesting being in the audience at the NY premier. the MC announced at the top that the film arrived without heads or tails leader....so there was no way of knowing if the film would be show in the correct sequence (don't know if it was...wouldn't have mattered anyway), and the young-ish, hipster audience was either dumb-struck by the film's awfulness or muted by an internal struggle along the lines of iknowthisissupposedtobehighartbutitsucksoramimissingsomething?

le stinker...truly dreadful, truly wonderful.

OFFICIAL BLURB:

FRA film. French rock and roll, fashion and avant-garde! "Pop music is the sound that kills—then it makes us want to hear more!" The sites and sounds of the psychedelic sixties…French style! This spoof of French '60s pop culture involves three singing idols and their effort to stay in the public eye. There is a dazzling array of fashion and music that combines psychedelic, beat, and pop. Almost half the film is eye-dazzling fashion and music. Pop culture, press conferences, backstage hedonism, psychedelia, manipulative managers and disc jockeys are all satirized.

Music performed by Les Rollsticks (!!!). Dialog in French; no subtitles. Bulle Ogier, Pierre Clémenti, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Valérie Lagrange, Michèle Moretti, Joël Barbouth, Philippe Bruneau, Marie-Claude Breton, Stéphane Vilar, Patrick Greussay, Jacques Zins, Didier Léon. French language. No subtitles. Les Idoles.

here's a 'freak out' scene outtake:

and a 'dance number' from Gigi La Folle:

2) i am not invested in the stock market.

3) CHRIS BUTLER & THE CRANKS do The Who's "Christmas" and "Christmas Wrapping" at Maxwell's in Hoboken last year. i blow the lyrics to my own song, but hey...

4) DATA PANIK does a dead-on version in a Glasgow club:

5) pal Peter Holsapple's blog entry at the NYT's Measure for Measure songwriting blog:

http://measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes.com/

here is the complete text of what i sent him:

PETER HOLSAPPLE/”LOVE IS FOR LOVERS”

First off, there is something you should know:

I CAN’T THINK OF A MORE MISERABLE POSITION TO BE IN THAN TO BE STUCK BETWEEN A ROCK BAND AND A RECORD COMPANY…

…but if you are a record producer (and even if you are a major fan of the band you’re working with), that’s just the way it is…that’s The Gig. Hopefully, the band are your pals, and they are counting on you to listen to them and to preserve their integrity, but the record company is the entity which actually hires you, and they would like to hear a hit (or three), and for you to finish the project on time and within (or better still) under budget.

In the fall of ’81, the dB’s had been signed to Albert Grossman’s Bearsville Records. He was the King of the town of Bearsville, NY…well…half of it anyway…Todd Rundgren being the Other King…two Machiavellian hipster warlords battling for dominance in this supposedly Groovy Paradise.

And I was to be their producer. Since I didn’t have a car, I took the train up to Woodstock (the next town over) and was met at the station by Albert himself. You should know that he had pretty much single-handedly invented the modern music business in the ‘60’s when he managed Bob Dylan, reversing the polarity of the biz’s power structure from the labels’ advantage to where all major decisions regarding the music to be recorded, how a record was to be promoted…even the record’s cover art, came from the artist. He was as heavy-duty and as tough a character as you could find. And tho referred to by the locals (sotto voce, of course) as the Blue Jean Buddha, as you might expect…he was not a nice man.

In the drive to our digs on Albert’s compound, I gushed about how hard the band had worked in pre-production: how we had taken Peter’s great songs and worked them and re-worked them, and how we were going to make a great record and how grateful everyone was to get the chance to record in a world-class studio. After listening to me silently for a while, he stopped me mid-sentence and said in a rather nasal baritone, “Chris…all I am interested in these days are restaurants and wood”.

It was going to be a long autumn.

But onto the song in question - “Love Is For Lovers” had jumped to the head of the line as a potential Cut 1/Side 1 tune almost at first hearing. Tons of pre-production work had gone into the song – things like adding lots of anticipated beats (accenting the “and” of 4) which gave the song a constant forward thrust, and adding that skip beat in the drum part at the end of every four bars. The lyrics were very good and cutting them was not an option, so we used a trick I had come up when arranging my own hyper-wordy songs for The Waitresses - adding a ‘teaser’ chorus or bridge, which lets the tune get back to another verse vs. going directly to a bridge or chorus as required in the standard pop song format (the “do you believe this?” repeats between the first & second verses). The overall structure was methodically tweaked as well, with a restart for the third verse, the guitar breakdown and subsequent rev-up to the finish (a structure shamelessly pinched from the Rolling Stones).

The hardest part of recording the song was coming up with overdub parts to flesh out the arrangement. The dB’s were now a three-piece after the departure of Chris Stamey, and tho the remaining band members were multi-instrumentalists, they were basically a rhythm section with a bunch of terrific songs. Some days the ideas flowed quite nicely - on others, it was like pulling teeth…or rather, like a wrenching psycho-drama of finding a new identity while confronting collective and individual insecurities…with a big chunk of passive-resistance and control freak vs. control freak conflicts tossed in. And to further stir things up, Albert and Todd Rundgren suddenly had made peace, with Todd emerging as head of Bearsville’s A & R department. He was not pleased with some of the tunes, and tho every record he ever made (up until then…and including “Bat Out Of Hell”) had been remixed (sometimes without his knowledge), he was not a fan of the first mixes that the engineer Mike Frondelli and I had submitted.

Listening to the song now some 25 years later, there is much to be proud of. It swings and struts, and it’s as pretty damn pure a piece of pop craft as was ever recorded. Yeah, I wince when I hear the dated handclaps, and what’s with the BOOM! before the giddy-up/surf guitar solo? But then I hear the high guitar feedback note at the outro, and remember that this came from a late punch from an earlier take – a happy accident that was kept in – and ya just gotta smile…because the song works.

6) MARK PRICE PIX (thank you, HG)

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY:

ALL LOCATIONS

CLOSED FOR THE SEASON

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK CITY

MARK PRICE RIP

2008-11-13T09:49:00.006-05:00

i am extremely lucky.

i am surrounded by interesting & unique individuals - artists, musicians, authors & intellectuals. most are just regular folks who have tapped into the creative aspects of their make-up and pursued a form of The Artist's Life by choice. And then there are the few who are so unique, special, etc. that 'choice' has nothing to do with it - they can only be who they are 100% of the time.

Mark Price, Tin Huey's bass player, was one of those people - unclassifiable, perpetually surprising and a constant delight. he could always be counted on to come up with something completely original, completely from out-of-left-field...only his 'left field' was located on the Planet Snoikz. if his DNA had ever been analyzed, there would've been much head-scratching, 'cause i suspect much of it would've been found to not be carbon-based.

an extraordinary human being...and there is a huge hole in the world now that Mark Price is no longer with us.

NP: "ROBERT HITS THE ROAD TO LIEBER NAWASH"/Tin Huey "Disinformation"

PEEVE DE JOUR: i cannot comprehend death.

JOIE DE JOUR: not sure yet.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (11/13):

Black
Cherry
Chip

NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY:

Deena from The Cucumbers writes:

Many years in the making, advance copies of my new album "Somewhere in Blue" are available now on cdbaby, in CD format and as a digital download. (Coming soon on itunes and elsewhere)

http://www.cdbaby.com/deena

This Friday (tomorrow!) I will debut my new band, "The Laughing Boys" at a "pre-release party" for neighbors in my hometown Millburn, at the Wyoming Club. (60 Linden St. Millburn, NJ 8 pm)

There will be an official release party after the holidays, at the Goldhawk in Hoboken, on January 31, with lots of special guests!!! I'll update you as the date gets closer.

For more information about upcoming shows, t shirts, lyrics, album credits...please stop by my new website

http://www.deenashoshkes

Coming up next week: Wednesday November 19 at 8 pm at the Saint in Asbury Park, at their special "A Night In Progress" series. http://www.thesaintnj.com

A special solo acoustic performance of all new songs and work in progress

Love,

Deena

ps just in... "Somewhere in Blue" has been selected as featured CD of the month, for December at http://www.Independisc.com

"I love it, LOVE it, LOVE IT!" writes Gary Gone (Cygnus Radio) Thanks Gary!!!

http://www.myspace.com/deenashoshkes

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK CITY

OHIO GOES BLUE

2008-11-07T09:20:00.005-05:00

Wunder Gurl at Dun Giggen

NP: "The Farm"/Tin Huey. Mark Price RIP

PEEVE DE JOUR: Mark Price RIP

JOIE DE JOUR: roll that around in your mouth a moment..."President Obama".

damn!...ain't that a thing??!!

cb...where are you?

SPEECHLESS

OHIO - 11/3/08

2008-11-03T13:02:00.013-05:00

in ohiO for a Halloween Party (Big Boo 3!!...pix coming) and w/ Wunder Gurl & Risa & Felix who are campaigning for Obama.

lots of For Sale signs, equal number of McCain & Obama lawn signs.

NB:

- SS writes from NYC:

<"Hey Chris, don't know if this counts as a full-on "Christmas Wrapping" sighting, but WCBS-FM (which has gone completely crazy with Xmas songs this year and started playing them in mid-October or earlier) is running ads for its new Christmas comp CD, and the ads include a snatch of the song... >

...which brings up the subject of this year's WRAPPIE AWARD. every year, i give $100 to the Hoboken Public Library's Children's Department in the name of the FIRST PERSON to contact me and say that they've heard THE WAITRESSES' "Christmas Wrapping" song on the radio/in a mall shoe store/etc..

THE CONTEST STARTS AT NOON E.S.T. ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28th.

GOOD LUCK!

...now, for some CATCHING UP:

- Jimmy Carl Black RIP

- quip from Wait Wait Don't Tell Me this last weekend - they ran the audio clip of McCain saying "Joe The Plumber is here! Where's Joe?...is Joe here?", then a panelist said that what McCain had forgotten was that Joe said he'd be there "between 9 and 3"!

- THE WIND w/ pal Lane Steinberg playing at IPO at Kenny's Castaways in NYC at 10pm. magnificent band from the '80's.

- hearing pal Brian Dewan on Weekend Edition sing old political songs.

- pal & fellow Tin Huey-ite Mark Price is gravely ill. fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck...

- BIG BEAT! drum fest in the Adelbert Gym in Clevo yesterday. attempt at breaking the Guinness Book record for the most drummers playing kits at one time. wow...loud as hell.

- Tom Lough RIP

Tom was my sociology prof at Kent State. huge influence, huge talent (pro stride pianist), huge no-shit-taker from the powers-that-be.

- video-ing a cover of Bette Davis & The Balconettes' "Surf! Surf! Kill! Kill!" at Big Boo 3 (me on drums) w/ Felix directing.

- Bob Kidney presenting me w/ a CDR of pix when i was in his band = 15-60-75. thanks so much, BK!

NOW PLAYING: Risa's band's new CD - "Happier Than You"/Jesus H. Christ and The Four Hornsmen of The Apacolypse.

PEEVE DE JOUR: some fuck stole my Mac laptop outta Dun Giggen in Akron

JOIE DE JOUR: ...but sitting on the deck in 66 degree weather watching the leaves fall is a major AH!

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (11/3):

Tin
Roof

Vanilla Custard with Spanish Peanuts in a Fudge Swirl

nb - Northfield Center location open until 11/23!! Harvey & Dolli...road trip????

THE MAJOR GLITCH IS NOW...

hear the whole thing at: http://majorglitch.net/

cb...where are you?

THE BUCKEYE STATE

PICTURE, 1,000 WORDS, ETC...

2008-09-01T14:18:00.002-04:00

SURF'S UP!

2008-08-11T14:01:00.004-04:00

PURPLE K'NIF

Hard Twang and Maximum Surf Instrumentals!

Friday August 15, 9PM-ish

DC'S
505 8th St.
Hoboken

FREE! No cover. No Vocals!

PURPLE K'NIF:
Chris Butler - aquamarine drums
Ted Lawrence - blue guitar
Baker Rorick - red bass
John Teagle - orange guitar

"Holiday Inn Spain" video from The Beachland in Clevo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHiLw_UYn58NP:

PEEVE DE JOUR: another soggy day.

JOIE DE JOUR:

now, that was tasty.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (8/11):

Peanut
Butter
-n-
Fudge

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

"RUMBLE" - LINK WRAY

2008-07-15T09:49:00.000-04:00

when rock 'n' roll was dangerous...

LIGHT FUSE. RUN AWAY.

2008-07-05T15:46:00.007-04:00

Saint Sparky Rides Again

July 4, 2008

Once again this year
Saint Sparky's Helpers
Hand Out Bags of Fireworks
to Naughty Boys and Girls

The Story of Saint Sparky.

"Saint Sparky" (Santo de Chispas) was an anonymous Franciscan Monk who lived in Spanish California in the early 1800s. He visited San Francisco once a year to buy fireworks and bring them back to his mission. He would then don a disguise and in the stealth of night distribute small bags of fireworks to the naughtiest and most mischievous boys and girls. Through his meditation and studies he had come to believe that almost all human efforts to create and live by rules to help us be "good" inevitably backfired. He believed that we must accept--and even encourage--at least some human "badness" to keep our efforts to strive for goodness from becoming misguided constraints. Distributing small and generally harmless fireworks to the "bad" children was his way of telling these children that they were really okay...that much of their naughtiness was actually "good."

The Saint Sparky Society is proud to carry on Saint Sparky's work today all over the world. Learn more about Saint Sparky here.

NP: Soukous internet radio

PEEVE DE JOUR: DW offering to bring over a bag of fireworks...and us living right across the street from the police station.

JOIE DE JOUR: fantastic summer weather...and plenty of San Berino Grapefruit Soda.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (7/5):

Banana Cream Pie

or

Banana
Chocolate
Chip

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

DEVO GETS DEVOED...AND DOESN'T LIKE IT

2008-07-01T22:20:00.005-04:00

from AB in MI via Boing-Boing:

Devo sues McDonalds

Posted by David Pescovitz, June 29, 2008 9:33 AM | permalink

Devo is suing McDonald's over New Wave Nigel, a toy that the fast food restaurant gives away with some Happy Meals. New Wave Nigel is part of an American Idol-related line of freebies based on various genres of music. From AAP:

"We are in the midst of suing them," (Devo's Jerry) Casale told AAP.

"This New Wave Nigel doll that they've created is just a complete Devo rip-off and the red hat is exactly the red hat that I designed, and it's copyrighted and trademarked.

"They didn't ask us anything. Plus, we don't like McDonald's, and we don't like American Idol, so we're doubly offended."

Devo sues McDonald's (Stuff.co.nz, thanks Tara McGinley!)

NP: "November 2 Lima Lima"

JOIE DE JOUR: the Kid loggin in call signs at a ARRL Field Day.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (7/1):

Higbee's
Chocolate Malted™

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

SURF'S UP!

2008-06-24T11:11:00.004-04:00

purplE k'niF!!!

Maximum Surf!

Hard Twang Instrumentals!

FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 11 PM
@
The LAKESIDE LOUNGE
162 Avenue B (between 10th & 11th Streets)
New York, New York
212.529.8463
http://www.lakesidelounge.com

NO Cover! NO Vocals!

purplE k'niF:
John Teagle, electric guitar
Baker Rorick, electric bass guitar
Ted Lawrence, electric guitar
Chris Butler, acoustic drums

BROOKLYN WOODSTOCK, 6/28/08

2008-06-23T20:14:00.005-04:00

damn...wish i could go. this charity event has always been great, and this is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE BANDS:

HI Y'ALL
If you're a long-time Blender fan or just curious, an early formation of Life
in a Blender is reconstituting itelf on stage at Brooklyn Woodstock on Sat.,
June 28, at about 5 pm although it could be a little earlier or a little later
because that's the nature of Woodstock. It's a big open-air event and
families come and sit on the grass and drink beer and pass out. It all happens
at Gil Shuster's house in Ditmas Park ( or is it Midwood). It's at 696 East 19th St.
between Glenwood and  Foster Ave. Take the B/Q to Newkirk Ave.
This year it's Brooklyn Wedstock because Gil and Gabi are getting married at
the event.
All are welcome and donations are being taken for AIDS research and autism.

The band will feature the spectacular Jonathan Gregg on guitar, the
unpredictable and fabulous Charlie Shaw on drums, the mighty Dave Moody on
bass and the Don on vocals. We'll be playing a whole lot of the very first album
(including Wind and President's in My Bed) and I'm excited to being playing again
with these fellahs...they're the best.

Hope to see you there. It's a very fun event. Kenny Young and his Eggplants
are playing and Babe the Blue Ox and the Jug Addicts and many other great
bands. It goes from noon till 10 pm. In the past, Yo La Tengo, Freedy Johnston,
and many others have performed.  If questions, call 347-834-6734.

--Don

(more coming under construction)

BO DIDLEY - YOU CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK BY LOOKIN' AT THE COVER

(baby...you got your radio turned down too low...turn it up!)

ACID FLASHBACK

2008-06-11T11:14:00.009-04:00

IT'S TIME ONCE AGAIN FOR:

KEN BROWN'S

"PSYCHEDELIC CINEMA"!!!

THURSDAY- JUNE 12, 2008

7PM

AT

MONKEYTOWN

58 NORTH 3RD ST.
WILLIAMSBURG/BROOKLYN, NY
(718) 384-1369

http://www.monkeytownhq.com/monkeytownhome.html

in the late '60's, Ken Brown made films for the light show at The Boston Tea Party. his films are fantasticalartytrippy...and when you combine it with LIVE music from The Bong Show, not to be missed!

Ken Sirulnik - electric guitar
Jeff Rabb - electric keyboards
Bob Moses - electric bass
Chris Butler - acoustic drums

NP:

from FS in Rosendale -

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=8242898

from MM in Kent -

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf

from RSM in NJ -

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/10/bbtv-david-byrne-pla.html

PEEVE DE JOUR: not being trusted.

JOIE DE JOUR: BBC filming tonight at Dun Giggen.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (6/11):

Higbee's
Chocolate Malted™

or

Drumstick

cb...where are you?

OHIO

CHALLENGED!

2008-06-07T08:41:00.005-04:00

SOMEONE HAS DARED TO CHALLENGE MY RECORD
FOR HOLDING THE GUINNESS BOOK'S "WORLD'S LONGEST POP SONG"!!!!

USURPERS!!!

INTERLOPERS!!!

AUSTRALIANS!!!

Triple J's Robbie, Marieke and this...this...The Doctor...i accept your challenge!

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/tv/interact/song/default.htm

and i urge you - if you have told me that you would contribute to The Major Glitch project - to do so with all deliberate speed:

http://majorglitch.net/

if you are interested in contributing - all the info you need is available there, too.

your help is needed asap - to the victor goes...um...er...victory.

NP: Hillary's concession speech.

PEEVE DE JOUR: still post-op burning-pee fuzz-head...and...um...forgetfulness.

JOIE DE JOUR: Marmoleum being installed in the kitchen!

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (6/7):

BUTTER PECAN

or

Chocolate
Chocolate
Chip

THE MAJOR GLITCH - CURRENT LENGTH:

too short, folks...i want this thing to run for days!

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

VERONICA LAKE

2008-06-04T20:24:00.003-04:00

A SWEATER, A SARONG AND A PEEK-A-BOO BANG

Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake, Dorothy Lamour, Walter Catlett, Arthur Treacher, Sterling Holloway. Music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer. STAR-SPANGLED RHYTHM (1942). Some of Lake's singing is dubbed.

BAD DAY

2008-06-02T22:41:00.017-04:00

1) BO DIDDLEY DIES AT AGE 79

that's it. rock 'n' roll is really, really, officially dead.

[ASIDE: once saw Bo in the baggage claim area at Newark Airport. no fancy luggage for him...just a beat-up duffle with childish hand-lettering that read "Bo's Bag"!]

and nb: i am the founding member of The Jerome Green Fan Club.

and nb2: Bruce Springsteen got it right. when he used to do "She's The One" live, there would be a momentary blackout on stage...and when the lights came back up EVERYONE in the band had maracas.

and nb3: don't know why folks bet it soooooooo wrong, but the ONLY combo to every get the Bo Beat right was The Band. the 'shaveandahaircuttwobits' beat is NOT played on the guitar...only on the drums. Robbie Robertson's right hand work in The Last Waltz is absolutely spot-on.

2) I FIND OUT MY BLADDER TUMORS ARE BACK

...which means i need a really, really painful procedure to get rid of them called a TURBT.

basically, i'll be getting a urological D & C/have my bladder scraped.

nasty.

3) WUNDER GURL FINDS OUT SHE HAS TO PAY AN ADDITIONAL GAZILLION CLAMS IN TAXES.

...yet, she just plows ahead.

man, this woman is really, really an inspiration.

i would be curled up in a corner...whimpering.

NP: first Bo Beat steal i can remember that became a hit.

...then there are these guys:

...who got it from these guys:

PEEVE DE JOUR: not in the best of moods.

JOIE DE JOUR: not in the worst of moods.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (6/3):

BROWNIE
BLITZ

Brownie Batter
with Fudgy
Brownie Bits

N.B.A.T.W.P. (NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY):

2 must-attends:

- from David Giffels in Akron, OH:

INVITATION -

Hey everyone:

One last reminder that tomorrow night, Wednesday, June 4, the downtown Akron main library will host the official launch of "All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-down House."

The event will begin at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. Parking is free in the deck; enter on High Street.

I'll be talking and reading and answering questions. Books will be available for purchase and I'll be signing them outside the auditorium.

Thanks! I hope to see you there.

David

- and -

- from RH in Brooklyn:

OPEN STUDIO

You are invited to come and see New Work in my studio

June 7 & 8/noon-6pm

or

RSVP for a preview June 5:30-8:30pm

Reineke Hollander
35 Second Pl.
Brooklyn, NYY

reinekehollander@gmail.com
www.reinekehollander.com

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK CITY

BOSTON LEGAL

2008-05-12T22:02:00.008-04:00

okay...so the subplots can be silly, but when they get it right - wow.

hear James Spader plead his case to The Supreme Court:

NP: The Atlantics/"The Crusher"...back on youtube!

PEEVE DE JOUR: so let me tell ya a little story. almost TWO YEARS AGO, Raised By Wolves calls in a panic...her house is being repossessedforcloseduponlost, and she needs a place to part her large paintings...and pronto. nevermind that i was unceremoniously disposed of/that she is a walking disaster area/that she has more loose screws than Home Depot's hardware aisle...Good Guy Chris sez sure, you can park 'em at Dun Giggen.

but then the months drag on, countless dates to move them are broken, an outside hidden key making for 24-hour access never gets used, etc..

i can't in good conscience just toss 'em (which i am repeatedly told to do by people who actually care something about me), my requests for them to be removed are met by her calling me an 'ass' & by my being told that i was being 'dramatic', etc..

...and here they sit.

and here i sit feeling like a fool.

cock-a-doodle-doo.

anyone want 'em?...'cause Mondays are trash days in Bath.

JOIE DE JOUR: still all aglow from Accra Shepp's reading & last night's dinner w/ Felix and Risa...all new pals thanks to WG = The Best!

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (May 22nd):

Turtle

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

MORE MAY 4TH

2008-05-05T17:20:00.000-04:00

Published on Monday, May 5, 2008 by The Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio)

Remembering Kent State Shooting Victims
by Jim Mackinnon

Kent, Ohio - The shooting deaths 38 years ago of four Kent State University students by the Ohio National Guard need to be seen as a gift, ‘a lesson’ to the entire United States, a former United Nations weapons inspector said yesterday.0505 09

But if the May 4 commemoration continues to have low attendance (the event was attended by about 400 people) and Americans refuse to read and understand their U.S. Constitution, then those lost lives will have been for nothing, keynote speaker Scott Ritter said.

The retired Marine is a former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq and a critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. At one point in his career in the 1990s, he sounded alarms about possible hidden Iraqi weapons. He later said the U.S. government failed to make a case for going to war in Iraq.

Ritter, 46, said in his half-hour talk that he wanted to know why more people didn’t turn out on Sunday afternoon.

“While I applaud those who are here today, I have to ask, why isn’t this hillside covered with the citizens of this country?” Ritter asked. “Where are the students of Kent State? Where are the citizens of this community? Where are the citizens of Ohio? Where is the media?”

The program in which Ritter and others spoke started at noon on the campus commons, near the university’s memorial and markers that show where four students were killed and nine wounded on May 4, 1970, as they protested the Vietnam War and presence of the National Guard on campus. William Schroeder, a native of Lorain, was among those killed.

While the event is based on the shootings 38 years ago, many of the attendees also were protesting the ongoing war in Iraq.

Ritter said whatever their feelings about the Iraq war, people should never denigrate the service provided by the Americans fighting there because they are willing to die for us.

“These are men and women who have taken an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” he said.

“Have we done everything we can to ensure the sacrifice that they are prepared to make is in a cause worthy of the sacrifice?” Ritter said. “And I will tell you, no, we have not.”

The rights of American freedom of speech and assembly were trampled ‘on this very spot,’ shortly after students buried a copy of the U.S. Constitution near where the memorial stands to protest their government’s actions, Ritter said.

Those protesters were defending the Constitution, he said.

U.S. citizens need to read their Constitution, he said. “You cannot defend that which you do not understand.”

The students who were killed on May 4 gave the nation the gift of their lives, he said.

“What are we doing to honor this gift, if we cannot understand that their sacrifice screams out for a responsible citizenry, then we have shamed them, shamed them,” Ritter said. “The gift that those who died on May 4, 1970, gave us, was the gift of self-introspection.”

Ritter said most Americans no longer function as citizens.

“The problem is not the president. The problem is not the Congress. The problem is not the judiciary,” he said. “The problem is we, the people of the United States of America. We aren’t doing our job, therefore they aren’t doing their job.”

For next year’s 39th commemoration, the hills and walls around the campus commons must be filled with people and the entire nation involved, Ritter said.

“Because otherwise, this event has no purpose other than to commemorate the deaths of four Americans,” he said. “This isn’t about the deaths of four Americans. This is about the death of a nation.”

Katherine Pershey, 27, a Kent State graduate who is now pastor of a church in California, returned to the campus for the May 4 events with her husband, Ben, and their 3-month-old daughter, Juliette.

Pershey said she thought Ritter made a good point about the responsibility of U.S. citizens.

“I appreciate hearing that perspective,” she said.

Rebecca Vujanov, 51, said she tries to make it to every May 4 commemoration.

She said Ritter didn’t mince words.

“He cut right to the chase,” she said. “I’m just saddened as a community member that more community members weren’t here.”

The weekend’s events included a silent candlelight march on Saturday and a silent candlelight vigil in the Prentice Hall parking lot. Speakers at Sunday’s program included Emily Kunstler, daughter of Bill Kunstler, a lawyer who represented the families of the May 4 victims, and Dean Kahler and Joe Lewis, former students who were shot and wounded.

© 2008 The Akron Beacon Journal

MAY 4TH/TERRY NORMAN

2008-05-04T22:29:00.001-04:00

as Gerry Casale once said...it was the most DEVO of days.

from the Kent list:

From: "Saul Daniels"
Date: Fri May 2, 2008 5:40:18 AM US/Eastern
Subject: KSU / Stater / Burr / WKSU
Hello all,

So here we are, 38 years out from May 4, 1970, and still no resolution. The website http://kent.state.tripod.com/ established in connection with our 2000 gathering continues to collect and post new information.

This week we have an exclusive posting of a new FBI letter proclaiming ..."We consider the matter closed."
Once again the FBI has slammed the door any any further investigation of the events of that awful day.

It came in response to a plea by private citizen and former KSU student Joe Sima who has been researching the actions of FBI informant Terry Norman on campus. Sima provided members of Congress and the FBI with evidence, including outtakes from WKYC video, which raises questions of official culpability in the events of that day. It has been widely known that Norman was armed on May 4 and there is evidence his pistol was fired. So just how involved were undercover officers and possible agent-provocateur Terry Norman?

For those who may have missed the announcement, there will be a reunion for all media graduates at Franklin Hall on May 23 and 24. Franklin Hall is the new high-tech home of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. It includes a converged newsroom for the Stater, TV-2 and Black Squirrel Radio (WKSU). The old Stater newsroom in Taylor Hall is becoming a May 4 museum.

For details on the reunion, visit www.jmc.kent.edu,contact jmc@kent.edu or call 330-672-8281. The RSVP deadline is May 14.

Best wishes,
Saul Daniels
KSU 1966-1970

PS: Please feel free to forward this message to any former KSU-ers who have new addresses and may have fallen off my email list.

KILOPOP! SUES MADONNA

2008-04-28T09:25:00.020-04:00

"if she had just asked, i suppose we would have cheerfully granted her permission to use our song and title....but she didn't, so it's up to the lawyers now".

thus spoke Furk Zhenk - the male half of the brother-&-sister Europop duo known as Kilopop!. Zhenk alleges that Madonna's new release (entitled "Hard Candy") uses substantial intellectual property 'appropriated without compensation' from his band's song "The Candy".

Trynka & Furk...de-chocolate-ized

for more info on Kilopop!, and to hear "The Candy", please go to:

http://www.futurefossilmusic.com/kilopop.htm

NR: (NOW READING)

from pal Jim Palmarini on AD Peters' rust paintings:

THIS METAL, THIS RUST, THIS LIFE
(For AP, Bro, Bwax)

Well, we are what we are
rusting or not
speeding spending and
enlivened by each other’s
stories in the goddam gapped
ridges our lives have worn
and built—who’s
breathing hard, who’s
hardly breathing, all that
news of this one or that one’s
Homeric trot and rot tale. What’s
the story? she said years back
ahead of the bell curve
and call, that sway ’n
dance backlog loose
on the realized and unintended
suitors who are us.

Take my hand—whaddya
got to lose? Time
isn’t on anyone’s side. Might’s
well keep in touch. Invention
is all we have and
I’m not interested in going
through this shit alone.

Oil on the metal.
Moon in the sky
Sunlight through the trees.
Something
in the water
for every fucking
one of us. This is all
so real I can hear it beating.
Now, who can see
in the dark—I’ll toss you
the keys to my own
personal comet, the drums
of my father, and
the only paintbrush
I never ruined
for that golden arrow. Decay
my ass. Get in the car—
we’re all going
for a ride and no metaphors
allowed. Rust never sleeps
you bet, so lock your door and
start pissing in the can. I know
I know—I ‘m going to pay
For this but I can’t stop myself—
what we talk about
is who we are. What we do
is what we know.
What I’ll remember
when I sleep is
you were there. Open up
the door—it’s me and
it’s raining and
you know what that means.

JP 4/12/08

see the paintings/hear a podcast 'bout AD Peters' work at:

http://www.futurefossilmusic.com/rust.htm

NP (NOW PLAYING):

from MR in Hoboken - John Cale on "I've Got A Secret":

PEEVE DE JOUR: every email lately contains illness/couples splitting/general bad news...

JOIE DE JOUR: ...and still wonderful friends and Wunder Gurl.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (4/30):

Higbee's
Chocolate
Malted™

or

Cookie
Dough

N. B. A. T. W. P. (NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY):

from pal Nick Berry in NJ - i'll be doing a rare gig as Norton Antivirus this Tuesday 4/29 at 8pm at Goodbye Blue Monday, 1087 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY. Laptronics without the lap. Vaguely religious trippy noise...perfect for Born Agains on acid!

from pal Harvey Gold in OH: our friend Sally Spring (we we as Half Cleveland once gigged with in NYC and i as Harvey Gold once sat in with at yet another gig somewhere on the North Coast) has the voice of an angel, and some truly lovely songs. her boy toy, the legendary (or is it just 'dairy'?) and multi-talented Ted Lyons is a delight to listen to, watch, and meet if can (tho his bodyguards can be a little arbitrary sometimes).

anyway, they are going to be on the East Coast next week, and if you can, you should see them. you will not regret it, i promise.

all the best...

HG & the gang

APRIL 30 - THE GOLDHAWK in Hoboken, NJ from 9-11pm (a pass the bucket show)
MAY 1 - THE LIVING ROOM in NYC, 11pm-Midnight (this is a free show)
MAY 3 - CAFFE LENA in Saratoga Springs, NY 8-10pm

THE MAJOR GLITCH CLOCK - CURRENT LENGTH =

hear the song in its entirety as streaming audio:

http://majorglitch.net/

cb...where are you?

PENNSYLSPEEDTRAPCRAPFOOD80ISTHEWORSTROADINTHEUSA$3.90GASVANIA

SURF'S UP! - TONIGHT

2008-04-16T23:06:00.006-04:00

PURPLE K'NIF

Hard Twang and Maximum Surf Instrumentals!

Saturday April 19, 11 PM sharp!

LAKESIDE LOUNGE
162 Avenue B (between E. 10th & 11th Streets)
NYC
212-529-8463
http://www.lakesidelounge.com

FREE! No cover. No Vocals!

PURPLE K'NIF:
Chris Butler - multi-colored drums
Ted Lawrence - blue guitar
Baker Rorick - red bass
John Teagle - orange guitar

"Holiday Inn Spain" video from The Beachland in Clevo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHiLw_UYn58

NP: LENINGRAD COWBOYS & THE RED ARMY CHOIR/"SWEET HOME ALABAMA"!

PEEVE DE JOUR: two meetings with Poor Poor Pitiful McMe...

JOIE DE JOUR: Spring!...and seeing my kid in the park.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (4/19):

Brownie
Batter

or

Tin Roof

cb...where are you?

UPSTATE NEW YORK

A. D. PETERS SOLO SHOW IN NYC!

2008-04-02T08:05:00.015-04:00

OPENING TODAY! 6-8pm

A. D. PETERS

"JOURNEY"

A SOLO EXHIBITION

OPENING APRIL 10, 2008 6 to 8PM

GARSON BAKER FINE ART

511 WEST 25TH ST.

SUITE 401

NEW YORK, NY

216.990-3349

yo all...

pal Alan Peters' is an accomplished landscape artist who is now working in a unique medium - painting on rusted metal.

you can see more images, plus hear a radio story i produced here:

http://www.futurefossilmusic.com/rust.htm.

THE MAJOR GLITCH UPDATE: current length = 1:41:52! hear The World's Longest Pop Song getting longer and longer = http://majorglitch.net/

NP: "Red, White & Rhythm"/one of those Paramount catch-all variety movies from the '40's. highlights are a number called "A Sweater, A Sarong & A Peek-A-Boo Bang" where Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour & Veronica Lake goof on their images, and some old vaudevillians doing a 'sticking' routine with Betty Hutton.

PEEVE DE JOUR: Disney's "Club Penguin" kids social networking game...a truly venal site wherein a kid picks a penguin avatar that he can't dress or feed unless Mommy and/or Daddy bust for the dough to become a member. oh...and if the kid doesn't join, their penguin DIES.

JOIE DE JOUR: spring!

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (4/10):

Peppermint
Stick

OR

Fudge Ripple

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK CITY

OFFICIAL LAUNCH! - UPDATE3

2008-03-20T11:23:00.011-04:00

LAYDEES & GENTLEMEN & CHILDREN OF ALL AGES...

IS NOW ONLINE

& READY FOR YOUR SUBMISSIONS!

AT http://majorglitch.net/

in 1996, i wrote a 69 minute song with over 500 verses called "The Devil Glitch". engineered by the formidable Scott Anthony, the Guinness Book of World Records declared it to be the "World's Longest Pop Song".

...but 69 minutes ain't long enough. thanks to the web, it is now possible to stretch the song to ridiculous lengths...which is where you come in. this is an open call for anyone to create a 2-3 minute chunk which will be edited into the original version until its running time is...well, who knows?

please visit the site for more info, composition tools and to hear streaming audio of the song in its current state (now clocking in at 1:35:58 thanks to submissions by R. Stevie Moore, Ralph Carney, Dusty Wright, FLAtRich and others).

if you aren't a muso, lyrical submissions based on the song's lyric of "Sometimes you can fix something by..." are also welcome.

[ ASIDE: re: lyrics - it is my hope that folks who submit chunks will write their own lyrics based on the song's theme of "Sometimes you can fix something by...". therefore, submissions that recycle lyrics already used in the song will not be accepted. the whole point of this project is for you to bring your own life experience into the mix. there were some left over lyrics posted on the site, but they have been used already...so please put on your thinking caps, put a sheet of paper into the ol' Remington and tell me what you know! or...don't be shy about trolling for a collaborator via the Forum page. this project was also always about getting as many folks involved as possible - the original had...what?...14 different backing tracks? so hook up!]

enjoy!

cb

NP: Gary "US" Bonds/"Dear Lady Twist = the first ska song!!!! viva Frank Guida!!

PEEVE DE JOUR: not exactly sure yet, but i'll bet you a million that it'll involve a woman...

JOIE DE JOUR: ditto...

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (4/1):

Peanut Butter
Chunk

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK CITY

THE WHO - TATTOO (1974)

2008-02-08T14:30:00.000-05:00

one of my all-time favorite Who songs:

thanks to RSM in NJ.

NP: working on a podcast/radio story about artist pal Alan D. Peters. earphones are full coolfun art talk.

PEEVE DE JOUR: wicked bad case of the grippe. and i've got a gig on Sunday. hacksnifflecough.

JOIE DE JOUR: still have some Gripex Max left over from my trip to Poland. wish i could get this stuff in the US of A. it really works.

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK CITY

STEAMPUNK

2008-02-06T22:57:00.001-05:00

so...i like to make new recordings on old, obsolete recording gear.

i love the movie "The Fabulous World of Jules Verne".

i love the phrase 'the New Old' which describes a kind of retro-futurism....like the set design in Terry Gilliam's "Brazil".

and tonight on NPR's "All Things Considered" they ran a story on steampunk:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18710895

Steam-Driven Dreams: The Wondrously Whimsical World of Steampunk

By Gareth Branwyn/WIRED Magazine

Retro-futurism is all the rage these days: antique computers, 8-bit game art, classic cases for modern gear, anything to make the onslaught of new technology less disposable. The yearning for timelessness in a constantly renewing tech culture has led to a spike in interest in the steam-powered, brass-encrusted world of steampunk.

The ideas behind the steampunk sci-fi subgenre have been around since Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, but it was given its moniker in the late '80s as a speculative-fiction genre, alongside cyberpunk, ribofunk and splatterpunk.

STEAMPUNK RAYGUNS

While the others peer 15 minutes into the future, steampunk envisions a future that has collapsed onto a re-imagined Victorian past. Steam and clockworks replace silicon logic, brass and copper stand in for titanium and plastic, and airships replace spaceships.

Unlike other speculative-fiction genres, steampunk enthusiasts are not simply content to read its fiction, or passively consume its media. Today's steampunks don't want to just watch the movie, they want to build it, play in it, live it.

NP: DICK DALE - KING OF THE SURF GUITAR! (thanks, Baker!)

PEEVE DE JOUR: missed James and Ester on their last visit. grrrrrrrr.....

JOIE DE JOUR: possible roommate for DG.

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK

KEN BROWN'S "Psychedelic Cinema" & "Selected Shorts"

2008-01-07T12:29:00.000-05:00

UPDATE:

THE CORRECT ADDRESS FOR THE ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVE IS:

32 2nd Ave. NYC

...and KEN BROWN'S WEBSITE is:

click here.

N.B.A.T.W.P. (Never Be At The Wrong Party):

From pal Ken Brown:

On January 10th and 11th, I will present two different film collections at the

ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVE
32 2nd Ave. NYC
both shows at 7:30PM
info: (212) 505-5181

http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org

TICKETS AVAILABLE ON THE DAY OF SHOW!

Thursday, January 10th:

"PSYCHEDELIC CINEMA" - light show films with live musical accompaniment by The Big Bong Theory (Ken Sirulnik, Chris Butler, Bob Moses, Bill Janoff and Jeff Rabb)

Friday, January 11th:

"SELECTED SHORTS" - from 40 years of film making by Ken Brown

KEN BROWN BIO:
It is high time for a survey of the absolutely unique
image world of filmmaker, photographer, cartoonist
and designer Ken Brown. A man who dons many
hats, Brown is perhaps best known for his peculiar
and distinctive postcards and other graphic products,
(wrapping paper, rubber stamps, t-shirts, etc.).
His first love and most abiding passion, however, is
film. In the late 60’s, Brown was the filmmaker for
the ultra-psychedelic Boston Tea Party light show,
producing Super-8mm works loaded with staggering
superimpositions and startling visual dimensions.
His subsequent short films have continued to mine
his deep fascination with American pop culture, the
quotidian world of home movies and the idiosyncratic
world of outsiders and visionary artists. Besides the
copious experimental films, animations and video
documentaries he has made over the years, Brown
has produced and directed dozens of short commissions
for MTV, VH-1, SESAME STREET, AMC and other
clients. These two programs will give an overview of
his prodigious output.
from Anthology Film Archive

NP: Moby Grape's "Omaha" - saw them back in the day - great band.

PEEVE DE JOUR: I REPEAT - settlement or no settlement???

JOIE DE JOUR: 65 degrees...love that January thaw.

cb…where are you?

FAR OUT

FUCKING IGNORANT CHRISTIANS

2008-01-04T15:54:00.001-05:00

I AM PISSED AS HELL.

this man is a joke.

here we go again...this country has been dragged into the shitter by a bunch of

creationist
jesusist
"pro-life = anti-you-&-me-ist"
isolationist
waterboardingist
neocon
jingoist
anti-ecological
leavemygunalone
biblethumpers.

...and the candidates with the most foreign policy experience - Biden & Richardson - can't get arrested, when we are desperately in need of a statesmanwomanperson to repair the damage done by the last batch of pinheads.

i know lots of smart, progressive Christians who are NOT aligned with this guy, thank godiftherewasagodtothank. but once more, the voices of ignorance are gathering behind the issues of guns, god & gays while we sink deeper and deeper into third-rate nationhood.

remember boys & girls...we get the government we deserve. pleasepleaseplease let it not be (again) a person of Huckabee's ilk.

cb
........
from: CK in OR:

If there were any doubts that Religious Right voters are still a powerful force in the Republican Party, Mike Huckabee's huge win in the Iowa Republican caucuses last night put them to rest.

Huckabee's friendly, folksy demeanor can distract attention from the disturbing fact that he and his backers essentially urged conservative evangelicals to vote for him based on his being the "right" kind of Christian.

That should make Americans very nervous.

Governor Huckabee has pledged to support every item on the Radical Right's wish list: a constitutional ban on abortion, a veto of legislation to protect gay and lesbian Americans from discrimination, support for a bill to keep federal courts from intervening when local officials violate the separation of church and state, and most importantly, a far-right Supreme Court.

When asked about what kind of justices Huckabee would appoint to the Supreme Court -- something CNN predicts the next president could get to do three or more times -- his answer was:

"I would want people who are in the spirit of Scalia. He's probably my hero in the Court."

That should make Americans even more nervous.

To find out more about what Mike Huckabee and the other Republican presidential candidates are saying about the Court, please visit www.TakeBackTheCourt.org.

And for more information on Huckabee and the Religious Right, see PFAW's report The Huckabee Surge: Why Religious Right Activists Like Mike and our Right Wing Watch Huckabee archive .

We hope that you stand with us in 2008 as we continue to expose and counter the Radical Right, and mobilize thousands of Americans to Take Back the Court.

SURF'S UP!

2007-12-31T16:06:00.000-05:00

purplE k'niF

@

Unsteady Freddie's Birthday Party & Surf Shindig!

Ted Lawrence & Johnny Teagle - electric guitars
Chris Butler - acoustic drums
Baker Rorick - electric bass

Saturday night, January 5, 2008

11:30PM

Otto's Shrunken Head
538 E. 14th St.
NYC
212-228-2240
http://www.ottosshrunkenhead.com

NP: online episodes of "Pushing Daisys". mainstream oddness...and the director has a thing for cleveage...and i don't mean 'having the property of being from Cleveland".

NOW READING: pal Kent Smith is in Iowa working for the John Edwards campaign, and has been posting a daily blog. good stuff: click here.

PEEVE DE JOUR: a thousand bucks in fuel oil and kerosene.

JOIE DE JOUR: flipping the goodbye bird to this less than productive year...

cb...where are you?

A WINTER WONDERLAND!

DAMN...GUESS WHAT I FORGOT?

2007-12-19T01:04:00.000-05:00

...so i blew my own lyrics! oh well...told ya i needed a rest!

anyway - great band! & a great evening in Hoboken with all my wonderful pals.

thanks Mo, Higgs, Rayban and Chris Gefken (sorry Gef...can't remember your Skanatra nickname!) and thanks to Pugs & Ted for this video clip.

Happy Holidays, everybody!

cb

HAPPY 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF "THE WHO SELL OUT" ALBUM!!!

2007-12-17T11:19:00.000-05:00

thanks RSM in NJ for the head's up.

oh migod...TATTOO, SUNRISE...damn...sooooooo good.

...and to all the WNYC listeners who heard Jonathan Schwartz's
promo for his Great American Songs show...sorry JS, it gets no
better than THIS!

NP: Pete's "Rael" demo. and Petra Hayden Sings: The Who Sell Out.

PEEVE DE JOUR: Court tomorrow.

JOIE DE JOUR: the afterglow from last night's Hoboken Xmas party. what a great bunch of folks.

cb...where are you?

NEW JERSEY

Ohio Elections Official Calls Machines Flawed

2007-12-15T07:39:00.000-05:00

i'm shocked...shocked!, i tell you!

from the New York Times 12/15

CINCINNATI — All five voting systems used in Ohio, a state whose electoral votes narrowly swung two elections toward President Bush, have critical flaws that could undermine the integrity of the 2008 general election, a report commissioned by the state’s top elections official has found.

“It was worse than I anticipated,” the official, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, said of the report. “I had hoped that perhaps one system would test superior to the others.”

At polling stations, teams working on the study were able to pick locks to access memory cards and use hand-held devices to plug false vote counts into machines. At boards of election, they were able to introduce malignant software into servers.

Ms. Brunner proposed replacing all of the state’s voting machines, including the touch-screen ones used in more than 50 of Ohio’s 88 counties. She wants all counties to use optical scan machines that read and electronically record paper ballots that are filled in manually by voters.

She called for legislation and financing to be in place by April so the new machines can be used in the presidential election next November. She said she could not estimate the cost of the changes.

Florida, another swing state with a history of voting problems, is also scrapping touch-screen machines and switching to optical scan ones for the election. Such systems have gained favor because experts say they are more reliable than others and, unlike most touch screens, they provide a paper trail for recounts.

Ms. Brunner, a Democrat, succeeded J. Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican who came under fire for simultaneously overseeing the 2004 election and serving as co-chairman of President Bush’s re-election campaign in Ohio.

She ordered the study as part of a pledge to overhaul voting after problems made headlines for hours-long lines in the 2000 and 2004 elections and a scandal in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, that led to the convictions of two elections workers on charges of rigging recounts. Ms. Brunner’s office temporarily seized control of that county’s board of elections.

The study released Friday found that voting machines and central servers made by Elections Systems and Software; Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold; and Hart InterCivic; were easily corrupted.

Chris Riggall, a Premier spokesman, said hardware and software problems had been corrected in his company’s new products, which will be available for installation in 2008.

“It is important to note,” he said, “that there has not been a single documented case of a successful attack against an electronic voting system, in Ohio or anywhere in the United States.”

Ken Fields, a spokesman for Election Systems and Software, said his company strongly disagreed with some of the report’s findings. “We can also tell you that our 35 years in the field of elections has demonstrated that Election Systems and Software voting technology is accurate, reliable and secure,” he said.

The $1.9 million federally financed study assembled corporate and academic teams to conduct parallel assessments. A bipartisan group of 12 election board directors and deputy directors acted as advisers.

The academic team, made up of faculty members and students from Cleveland State University, Pennsylvania State, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Pennsylvania, said systemic change was needed. “All of the studied systems possess critical security failures that render their technical controls insufficient to guarantee a trustworthy election,” the team wrote.

In addition to switching machines, Ms. Brunner recommended eliminating polling stations that are used for fewer than five precincts as a cost-cutting measure, and introducing early voting 15 days before Election Day.

NP: from NB in NJ - from a blog called "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood":

One day, as I was strolling through the neighborhood, whistling a happy tune, I noticed a sign by the side of the road, and I thought to myself, "How very thoughtful for someone to have taken the time to put up a sign like that. And how ingenious. It looked as though all it took was a piece of cardboard, some paint, and a little creativity."

I then thought about all of the lies that the media have been dumping into the eyes and ears of the people of this great nation of ours. I thought how sad it is that they can get away with it simply because they have more money than everyone else. It just doesn't seem fair (or balanced).

The final thought that occurred to me while looking at this simple, yet poetic message was that other people across the land could be doing this and should be doing this. Hell, even I should be doing it. (Pardon my salty language, boys and girls. Please avert your eyes.)

A friend referred me to the website where this freewayblogger posts pictures of his work and discovered that there is in fact a movement and that there are, to my relief, other people across the country putting signs up alongside the highways and byways of this great land.

I decided it was time to stop sitting there, complaining about how my government behaves and get up and do something about it. I discovered the instructions on how to participate in this "freewayblogging" and am delighted to share my results with all of you nice boys and girls.

Here is the media in your neighborhood:

Here is the media in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood:

PEEVE DE JOUR: so the plaintiff sends a her 'acceptable', 15 page PSA with no "redlines" at 3pm on Friday...when there is a settlement conference with the Judge on Tuesday.

JOIE DE JOUR: party at Wonder Gurl's pad tonight.

cb...where are you?

NEW YORK

HALF CLEVELAND CD RELEASE PARTY!

2007-12-05T11:29:00.000-05:00

THIS COMING FRIDAY NIGHT 12/7, at

THE BEACHLAND BALLROOM,

HALF CLEVELAND is hoping that you’ve made plans to come see us.

If not...we're hoping you will:

HALF CLEVELAND WITH SPECIALGUEST: RALPH CARNEY!!!!

THE BEACHLAND BALLROOM 15711 Waterloo Rd. Clevo

THIS FRIDAY DECEMBER 7TH –
Doors at 7PM

HALF CLEVELAND @ 9:15PM

12/7:

a) Pearl Harbor day

b) the first day of opera season in Italia

c) CELEBRATES THE RELEASE OF THE CD, HALF CLEVELAND @THE WI-FI, a live 'cabaret' set by your favorite old monkeys.

d) all of the above as there's plenty more to be seen as this is one part of 'Gigfest '07' as thrown by our pals at Tri-C's Crooked River Groove. Mucho mui fun to be had.

Directions, Calendar, Details, etc :
http://www.beachlandballroom.com

Hope you can make it,

Chris Butler, Harvey Gold, Debbie Smith, Bob Ethington

www.tinhuey.com/news.htm
www.myspace.com/harveyinthehall
www.futurefossilmusic.com

To listen to and download "HALF CLEVELAND @ THE WI-FI" - available any minute now

http://www.crookedrivergroove.com

Looking forward to seeing you...and as always, please tip your Waitresses!!!

NP: is this like the most beautiful song ever written and recorded?

PEEVE DE JOUR: divorce just drags on and on...i guess wifey just doesn't want to get divorced?

JOIE DE JOUR: working up Xmas Wrapping for Friday's show.

NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY:

cb...where are you?

OHIO

"WRAPPIE" HONORABLE MENTIONS

2007-11-28T13:15:00.001-05:00

- MAJOR PROPS go out to Peter and all the elves at SPIRIT MUSIC GROUP who placed "Christmas Wrapping" in the new "Shrek The Halls" animated holiday special - big holiday thanks!

Premiers TONIGHT at 8pm on ABC.

- Marko writes: "I played it (by request) at 1:52 this afternoon (Dec. 6th) on WCNI in New London, CT. "

- BILL HUBAY who emailed: "Song heard at Barnes and Noble on Chagrin Blvd in Woodmere. Sat Nov 24,2007 @ noon."

- CLAUDIA CHOPEK who called in before Thanksgiving about the Q104 play. always ahead of the curve, CC!

NP: scroll down to the middle of the page and click on "VIDEO" for Wunder Gurl's clip!

http://www.newmorningtv.tv/todaysshow_112707.jsp

Mini-Golf / Maria Reidelbach

Researchers have known for years that listening to music can lead to some great health benefits. And it's not just for people...even your plants can get something out of it. Fact is, experiments have shown that plants grow faster when music, especially lower-frequency music, is played over fields or into greenhouses. But don't take our word for it...try talking to Maria Reidelbach from Kerhonkson, New York. She never intended to be interested in growing vegetables. Her expertise is actually in mini-golf! So much so, that she wrote the definitive book on mini-golf courses across America. But then she came up with the idea to save her friend's family farm by using her knowledge to create a totally different kind of roadside attraction. Aside from showing her visitors a good time, she's also introducing them to foods they've never tried before, as well as the importance of local agriculture. By the way, that huge gnome that you see in the video has a name - it's Gnome Chomsky. He was built as a tribute to Frieda Carter, who designed the first mini-golf course in 1928 on Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. Visit Maria's web site, Hoopla.org. Read an article about him entitled, Kerhonkson gnome pursues Guinness record .

PEEVE DE JOUR: the older i get, the dumber i get. thought i was supposed to get smarter?

JOIE DE JOUR: sunshine.

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

Friday November 30

Purple K'nif play Maximum Surf and Hard Twang Instrumentals at

The Lakeside Lounge 162 Avenue B (between 10th & 11th), NYC 212-529-8463
No Cover, No Vocals, one set only starting about 10:45

PURPLE K'NIF:

Ted Lawrence, electric guitar
Chris Butler, acoustic drums
Johnny Teagle, electric guitar
Baker Rorick, Fender bass

hope you can make it!

cb...where are you?

NEW JERSEY

KELDER'S FARM & MINI-GOLF ECLECT-RONIC INK!

2007-11-26T18:19:00.000-05:00

FROM M.R. the W.G. in NYC:

Hallmark Channel will feature a short piece about Homegrown Mini-Golf, the world's largest garden gnome, and Kelder's Farm on Tuesday morning between 7 and 8 on the "New Morning" show and all day on their web site! Pamela Mason-Wagner, an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker who has worked extensively with Bill Moyers and has also created films for ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS spent a whole day on the farm with her cameraman last summer filming the short piece.

You can see it on Time-Warner 82 in the Kerhonkson area and 107 in NYC or check your cable or satellite listings. If you aren't up and at'em that time of the morning, you can also watch it all day Tuesday on Hallmark's website: http://www.newmorningtv.tv/todaysshow.jsp , or afterward on their web archive for 11/27/07.

Also, Kelder's farm market is open until Christmas with locally-grown trees, wreaths made with the brand new wreath-making machine, and wonderful farm-style gifts. It's on Route 209 between Accord and Kerhonkson--watch for Chomsky, the world's largest garden gnome in his holiday best!

Thanks, and see you soon,

Maria Reidelbach
Homegrown Mini-Golf

Chris and Jackie Kelder
Kelder's Farm

CHRIS KELDER in John Deere Green!

NP: 1963 Frank Zappa on The Steve Allen Show...playing bicycles!

1963 Frank Zappa on Steve Allen Show

PEEVE DE JOUR: the usual...

JOIE DE JOUR: cancer checkup was clean. rewarded myself with the new Coen Bros. movie.

N.B.A.T.W.P.:
JAD FAIR SHOWS FEATURING PALS R. STEVIE MOORE & BILL JANOFF!
(if you can't make the purplE k'niF show at the Lakeside Friday night, this is the one to do!)

R. Stevie Moore In Concert: NOT booked for Saturday Night Live (yet), but we are excited to report to you upcoming shows, major in their scope. How happy can the holidays get?? And NOT solo, FULL ENSEMBLE.

THE m007e DOTCOMBO (earblugs included). LEE MILLER drums, CHRIS BOLGER bass, MICHAEL JODRY guitar, B. JANOFF percussion.

1) R opening for Jad Fair, Thursday 29th November, Knitting Factory NYC

2) S reopening for Jad Fair, Friday 30th November, Maxwell's, Hoboken (Father Bob's 75th birthday party)

cb...where are you?

NEW JERSEY

...and the winner is!

2007-11-25T19:37:00.000-05:00

SUE SCHMIDT-HORNING!

Der Doktor heard The Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping" while waiting for a flight at the Akron-Canton airport, and phoned me at 2;25pm on Saturday, November 25th.

she'll get $100 donated in her name to the Hoboken Library's Children Division.

happy holidays, boys and gurls!

cb

THE 2007 WRAPPIE AWARD...

2007-11-23T09:32:00.000-05:00

the contest starts at NOON, EST. the first person to contact me after hearing The Waitresses "Christmas Wrapping" song in a public place or on the radio will get $100 donated to the Hoboken Public Library's children's collection in their name.

happy holidays,boys and gurls!!

cb

CHRISTMAS WRAPPING LYRICS

2007-11-17T09:18:00.000-05:00

boys & gurls...i have had many requests to reprint these...so here ya go:

CHRISTMAS WRAPPING

bah! humbug! no...that's too strong, 'cause it is my favorite holiday
but all this year's been a busy blur, don't think I have the energy
to add to my already mad rush, just cause it's "'tis the season"
the perfect gift for me would be, completions and connections
left from last year, ski shop, encounter, most interesting...
had his number but never the time, most of '81 passed along those lines
so deck those halls, trim those trees, raise up cups of Christmas cheer
I just need to catch my breath, Christmas by myself this year
..............
calendar picture, frozen landscape, chilled this room for 24 days
evergreens, sparkling snow, get this winter over with!
flashback to springtime, saw him again, would've been good to go for lunch
couldn't agree when we were both free, we tried, we said we'd keep in touch
didn't, of course, 'til the summertime, out to the beach to his boat, could I join him?
no, this time it was me, sunburn in the third degree
now the calendar's just one page and, of course, I am excited
tonight's the night, but I've set my mind, not to do too much about it
..............
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas...think I'll miss this one this year
..............
hardly dashing through the snow, 'cause I bundled up too tight
last minute have-to-dos, a few cards, a few calls
because it's RSVP, no thanks, no party lights
it's Christmas Eve, gonna relax, turned down all of my invites
last fall I had a night to myself, same guy called, Halloween party
waited all night for him to show, this time his car wouldn't go
forget it, it's cold, it's getting late,
trudge on home to celebrate in a quiet way, unwind,
doing Christmas right this time
..............
the A & P has provided me, with the world's smallest turkey
already in the oven, nice and hot, oh damn, guess what I forgot!
so on with the boots, back out in the snow, to the only all-night grocery
when what to my wondering eyes should appear,
in the line is that guy I've been chasing all year!
spending this one alone, he said, need a break, this year's been crazy
I said, me too, but why are you...?, you mean, you forgot cranberries, too?
then suddenly we laughed and laughed, caught on to what was happening
that Christmas magic's brought this tale,
to a very happy ending
..............
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas...couldn’t miss this one this year

.......
NP: practicing Kris Carter's great toons for tonight's show at Musica

PEEVE DE JOUR: need to pack my car with musical gear to take back to the East Coast, but also need to finish a newold song...can't do both. grrrrr. and why is BG's stuff STILL in my garage?

JOIE DE JOUR: got a nice plaque made for the Lawn Lawyer.

NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY:

Half Cleveland show at Musica in downtown Akron tonight - 8pm.

cb...where are you?

OHIO

I REFUSE!

2007-11-14T19:16:00.000-05:00

...to start the 2007 Wrappie Award before at least Thanksgiving!

i mean...jeezuzhchrist...there were Xmas displays in September. and two folks said they heard "Christmas Wrapping" TODAY on Q104 in NYC. and the tune is also in the movie FRED CLAUS, which is already in theaters (and does not qualify for the award, boys and gurls!)

it's just TOO EARLY. all them turkeys be thinkin' they got a reprieve since it surely must already be Christmas time...

so i'm looking at noon on Friday, November 23rd as the kickoff....'k?

NP: HALF CLEVELAND!!

at
MUSICA
(in downtown Akron)

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17th
Doors @ 8pm

HALF CLEVELAND (chris butler, harvey gold, debbie smith, bob ethington)

THE KRISTOFFER CARTER SHOW (kris carter, and a couple of friends sitting in)

$5 ($7 under 21)

*Musica (Mocha Maiden) is located in Akron’s Historic District. Going East on Market St., it’s down a little alley, the first left you come to after crossing Main St….JUST before High St. Valet Parking is right there, or aright on High St. puts you in a municipal parking lot just across the street from the place!

For a map and more: http://1akron.com/musica

Hope you can make it!

PEEVE DE JOUR: stressstressstresstoomuchtodonosleepnofunwhaaaaaaaaaa...

JOIE DE JOUR: road music!

thanks to KA in the UK for this. btw - i often noticed that the grooved pavement on I-80 in Pennsylvania would sound out the Bo Diddley beat!

cb...where are you?

OHIO

Reg Kehoe & His Marimba Queens!!

2007-10-19T11:11:00.000-04:00

from RSM in NJ:

NP: jackhammerscarhornscaralarmsfiretrucks...

PEEVE DE JOUR: BG...is your stuff STILL in my garage????

JOIE DE JOUR: sugar in the morning!

cb...where are you?

SWAMPED

(...with work/errands/half-finished projects/and orders for Lawn Lawyers!!)