você fala o português? você foi a Brasil?

revivals or reunions of bands generally speaking do not peak my interest too much. soon seattle will see SCRATCH ACID perform and after seeing the line up for the Touch and Go anniversary show in Chicago, one wonders if possibly big black or the digits will follow suit and tour. dinosaur jr, pixies, your favorite eighties band, your favorite ninties band and your favorite music is happening all over again - good thing? i guess so only because i am older and realize it would be impossible to see certain bands/performers unless they actually do remake, remodel, reunite and play. i personally cannot dig up Thelonius Monk and bring him back to life so my 'wish list' will remain buried and never forgotten. still, last night i went to see OS MUTANTES perform. i am going to ask you first to check out this clip from you tube since it is vintage OS MUTANTES and clearly a lovely example of how damned great they are back in 1969. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJCR69qM8TM this clip features original singer Rita Lee who did not reunite with brothers Arnaldo and Sergio Baptista. Ms. Lee was missed due to 'completist' emotions but her substitute, pictured above, Zelia Dunkan did an outstanding job!! The entire show was an absolute joy in every way...a celebration of music nearly impossible to catagorize other than wonderful. They played all the songs everybody wanted to hear but the highlights for this dork was "Ando Meio Desligado" and the mesmerizing "FUGA #2" (just like the above you tube link). The encore of "Panis et Circenses" heralded a triumph for those who are weary about reunions...like me.

thee Oh See!

orange county. that is where i grew up and grew out. i moved when i was 25 to seattle only to move back to so. cal (to boyle heights no less) but what is it about oc that has people love and hate it so much. there was a time when people were embarrassed to 'admit' they were from orange county due to the (sometimes true) reputation of it being a vapid land void of any culture. oc was in many ways the younger runt brother or sister to LA in my mind. i don't think this stigma still surrounds oc any longer due to the even more vacuous television shows like THE OC and LAGUNA BEACH - both of which i watched ten minutes of each and discovered MELROSE PLACE never left the air, instead the reincarnation was present. i leave this weekend to the OC to see family, sun in the sun and eat mexican food that tastes good. really good. i am very proud to be from Orangutan County and everytime i am there i think that and i think i can't wait to leave - i am so glad i do not live there any longer.

see the above image of a flier for U2? that artifact was for a show in anaheim march 16, 1981. at that time i was writing for flipside fanzine http://www.flipsidefanzine.com/ and i interviewed three quarters of U2 (the drummer did not want to be interviewed). get this, i did not submit this to flipside - which later was probably a good thing considering later i would do more reputable interviews like PAUL WELLER - i submitted my piece to a start up magazine by some woman named STORMY KNIGHT. i kid you not about both my interview and her name. btw, she put a member of the BOOMTOWN RATS on the cover since they were already 'established'.
i actually rode my bicycle to this club (where later i would see bands like the Plugz, Blasters, among many others [i was told later SLAYER would play there often too!]) and took my sisters tape recorder to hear bono pontificate about being in the US. i actually think i have the tape of this interview...they were all quite nice and what not but i can also tell you that i had friends tell me immediately after this show that U2 sucked, i sucked for telling them about it and al k., editor of Flipside told me he would print the interview if i wanted to give it to him but i can still recall the look on his face and he was just being nice. OC, thanks the memories.

everybody's got to eat

over last week i had the worst cold in years. so much so that i barely did a thing beyond just sneezing and blowing my nose (and whining). the silver lining is that i went through a bunch of netflix rentals which is pleasing due to my sometimes and too often procrasternation. in one day i watched a personal fave again, "Mon Oncle" http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=111 which was delightful in every way and i also watched a current hollywood movie, "The Matador" starring Pierce Brosnan. this movie was entertaining (remember, i had a BAD cold) and it kept me captivated but once again, pop music - or, punk rock music rears its head again in a movie completely out of the blue. without giving away the plot or revealing any spoilers to those who want to watch this fodder, "garbageman" by the cramps comes on...well, fantstic i think. all i can hope for is a big fat payday for Lux and Ivy of the Cramps for this entry into the soundtrack of what is a more mainstream film (read, hollywood). yes, the buzzcocks were on the toyota commerical, iggy has "lust for life" on a cruise ship commerical (dear god - sign of the apolcolypse?) but now this and i am quite sure many more to come. what this highlights to me is really the coming of punk rock integrated in every single way similar to the way hippie music/culture did sometime ago. i don't care, everybody has to eat.

but i just do not think i like seeing babies in ramones or dead boys t-shirts and that sort. punk rock families might disagree but i just don't want these kids to rebel against what their parents thought was cool when in fact, it is cool. babies just do not need punk rock t-shirts.

joni doe

to start the weekend off right - uh, that is last weekend, i moseyed over to west seattle and this time it was not for a husky deli ice cream cone...the west seattle summerfest was happening! and musicial guest that friday evening was no less MR. JOHN DOE (seen above) bringing a primarily acoustic affair to the people. i dig Doe...he's like everybody's pal, always looks great and at a very informative time of my life (1979), he pushed me to think that rock meant something other than led zep, stones and all that ilk. he's always been some kind of hero without really trying and me not being exactly sure why. yes he's played in many a great band, x, flesheaters, knitters and i kinda like some of his solo stuff. well, he played all kinds of songs including "kissing so hard", "fourth of july" and an outstanding version of "i must not think bad thoughts" which he mentioned the night or so prior to his stint in west seattle, he watched "your larger seattle band (hello PJ) cover this same song while he watched along with his two daughters...surreal". john doe doing a woody guthrie cover that night did not even make my eyebrow move in any one direction but when he whipped out a cover of joni mitchell's "case of you"...well, i thought the earth was going to open up and swallow everybody. sorry, but that is just weird or is it? i am left not sure how much of a fan john is of joni but it made me scratch my head in wonder.

i ended up getting a husky deli ice cream cone. one can't go to west seattle and NOT get one!

...and you'll be singing the blues

few records freak me out. even fewer impress me past that initial freak out point. ladies and gentlemen, all thirteen of you - i present to you, the GETO BOYS.

the night before last i am seeking out records to play and stumble on the fluid (see below) and then i move on over to "G" and here we have H-Town's finest - these guys were and still are like nobody else. willie d., scarface and the always preposterous bushwick bill. the record you see to your right is the notorious DEF AMERICAN record rick rubin put out and it was profane, crass and just that inane enough for me to write about today. every single song on this record offends someone, some thing in some way...women, men, white people, black people, gays, dogs, cats, you get the picture. the original release of this lp had samples that were later taken off due to steve miller not wanting his 'gangster of love' to be affiliated with the GETO BOYS version which heavily sampled from his 7t's shit song. i pulled out this monstrosity of a record and threw it on my turntable and the same feeling came over me...omigawd, this is so wrong yet so amazing. i can still remember sitting in my car listening to this on the way to smalls k.o. with betty and both of us just laughing from the hardness of it all. bushwick, scarface and willie d. wrote lyrics that were no doubt an expression of what they viewed and thought but this ain't no NWA or PUBLIC ENEMY yet it stands right up there with these two contemporaries. many cited this as just 'too much' - they were wrong. the cd (without the many obvious samples) is still in print and quite a bombastic thump.

Do it like a G.O.

lamestain, wack slacks, harsh realm & cob nobbler

can you name any great bands from COLORADO? i can and the first four lp's are simply amazing records, we are talking about...THE FLUID!

Sadly neglected in some weird way and completely denied the recognition they sorely deserved, the FLUID were so not grunge that they just got lost in the middle of the late 80's, early 90's. A shame really coz' i can still recall the blazing hot and frenzied shows at the central tavern and the vogue here in the emerald city fifteen plus years ago. i write this due to my not sure what to listen to last night and i went to the few records i have alphabetized and saw "clear black paper" (scum copy on blue vinyl) and threw on side 2. out comes "try, try, try" and i am immediately launched into the memory of the five members spazzing out with lead singer john robinson working the crowd like a chippendales dancer in front of a bachelorette party. god damn, these guys were so good it pushed me to write this today and seek out this http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/06/colorado_callin.html

leave it to WFMU's awesome blog to have not one but two killer vid's for your pleasure. enjoy and now tell me about any other band from colorado and not the derelicts. please.

Apes Ma

hmmm,

after visiting j. HINMAN's - rather tasteful and oh so good - blog today www.agonyshorthand.blogspot.com and seeing his posting on Capt Beefheart (and not seeing eye to eye on his AGAIN well written points), i decided to remind myself of the brilliance known as the MAGIC BAND by paying a visit to the current 'crack cocaine' of the internet, you tube. i've never seen this clip and all i can say is, party with this punker.

get down and stay there.

folk music's bob dylan

my pal washburn is a never ending plethora of information about all kinds of things. i usually lean on him for info on music and it eventually gets to SPIRIT or some story about brian wilson - both very entertaining and lovely. he hates or at least i think he hates LEONARD COHEN. i don't, in fact, i love COHEN. for many reasons i love leonard cohen and many are sentimental (mccabe and mrs. miller, old girlfriends, etc). recently i was accused of loving a certain restaurant because of the memories attached to this fine establishment...wrong! the food is great there but i digress. i adore leonard cohen for many sentimental and sappy reasons but i also love him because he is a jew, he is a purported 'ladies man' and he has a sense of humor that translates in both his books and music. i once talked to him on the phone about something we shared (other than being jews and purported ladies men)- - our love of the show LOVE CONNECTION. i once had a friend that was his personal assistant...and it is a long story and not worth getting into that.

uh, i did go and see the new COHEN documentary "I'M YOUR MAN" about a month ago. at first i did not like it, then i liked it and back again to thinking it was empty to back to I WANT EVERYBODY TO SEE THIS. the fact this doc was made while lenny is still alive is testimony to the filmakers and the performances by antony, rufus and his sister martha are quite good but the winning performance is by cohen's back-up singers JULIE CHRISTENSEN and PERLA BATALLA doing a chilling and perfect version of "ANTHEM". yes there are some weirdo names including uber weirdo mel gibson and yes, U2 are in it but overall, this doc is worth it. ask me tomorrow, i might say stay away coz' i did leave thinking i wanted more anecdotes from COMMANDER COHEN.

dub housing

have you ever been to sacremento? i have and that city sucks. the river is gross, the capitol building is not that exciting and it is hot [in a disgusting way] there. "sacto" is also the place where the seattle band the A FRAMES record their records so really, there is a saving grace. i only wish everybody would own all three of the A FRAMES records and all the 4t5's but even more so, see them live. this trio is really nothing to look at but they can make your insides move when playing/blasting live. i once thought they sounded an awful lot like the underappreciated and exceptional COWS, then other times they remind me of swell maps among many other bands but they always seem to have a certain distinction which makes them one of my favorite bands around in the last five plus years. the rhythm section are easily one of the best i have ever seen in my life and although they just got a new drummer (lars off to concentrate on his band - the rather incredible INTELLIGENCE http://www.myspace.com/theworldisadrag) - this new guy is keeping up with what could be the best bass player alive! damn it, these guys are great and not a bad lp out of the three they have put out. get their records now http://www.dragnetrecords.com/ .

seriously, now.

Rude Dick

i like the clash. i rarely listen to them and because of that, i appreciate them that much more. they are firmly planted in my head as one of my favorite bands when i was a teenager and i am quite sure that if i listened to any of their first three records, any of the early singles, i would grin with satisfaction...that just is not going to happen. i much rather listen to other things but really, that is not what direction i am going here. last night my main man gNat and i went to see "Let's Rock Again!" - a hour long documentary on Joe Strummer and his band, the Mescaleros at the Experience Music Project aka the unused Frank Gehry building in Seattle. the documentary to me was interesting only because i was interested in the subject but as an artistic endevour, i found it dragged and slightly boring. we never really get to see what makes joe tick and furthermore and not to fault the director dick rude, possibly joe was not one to reveal too many of his cards. i saw joe and los mescaleros at that very same place three years earlier and was pleased. and this doc had lots of footage of them in japan and all accross our country. seek it out if you must but really, rent it or watch for it on pbs - something i found out while googling dick rude...

mr. rude or mr. dick was at the screening last night and he was introduced by the new curator of emp...who told the audience he cried after seeing the movie. so did i, but these were tears of laughter after hearing the q and a with dick. never in my life have i ever seen one person use so many first person personal pronouns since i saw 'buffalo 66' at MoMA with vincent gallo doing an INSANE q and a (btw, i asked him about prog rock - gallo loves prog rock). dick talked about being so close to joe, known him for 17 years, seeing the clash early on, being a screenwriter, an actor and i, me, my, mine and ugh - this guy was a marvel. gNat and i laughed when he talked about his writing poetry and working with (in this order) "red hot chili peppers, blonde redhead and tommy lee". i had to ask him a question just to see his reaction and i shot him this, "did you stage the scene when strummer was talking with those young(er) kids?". i never got an answer but i think he mentioned his being in 'sid and nancy'.

mr. dick rude - you sir define freaksauce.