Because of the awesomeness of my friends and Soulseek, I have the new live Me First & the Gimme Gimmes album, Me First & the Gimme Gimmes play Jonny's Bar Mitzvah three weeks in advance of its release. It is, of course, full of solid covers of classic artists.
Spike: Or maybe Captain Forehead was feeling a little less special. Didn't like me crashing his exclusive club, another vampire with a soul in the world. Angel: You're not in the world, Casper.
'Just Rewards (2)'
Buffista Music II: Wrath of Chaka Khan
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
Mr. Broom - Oct 01, 2004 8:12:33 am PDT #5198 of 10003
"When I look at people that I would like to feel have been a mentor or an inspiring kind of archetype of what I'd love to see my career eventually be mentioned as a footnote for in the same paragraph, it would be, like, Bowie." ~Trent Reznor
DavidS - Oct 01, 2004 8:29:42 am PDT #5199 of 10003
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Book launch events
10/26 BOOK RELEASE
Nov 10, Lakeside Lounge, NYC, Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 play the Flamin' Groovies, FREE SHOW, 9pm
Nov 11, Housing Works, NYC, reading and concert, line up includes Brute Force and Bridget St. John, FREE reading 6:30pm, FREE concert 8pm
Nov 30, Book Soup, LA, readings, songs and stories from Lost in the Grooves and the record collector underground, 7:00pm, FREE
Dec 4, Mr. T's Bowl, LA, songs from the book performed by The Fleagles, Del Rey & the Sun Kings in a tribute to Monitor (feat. Jackson Del Rey from Savage Republic), The Supreme Dicks, Brooke Alberts & Dave Sawyers present a tribute to Mr. Fox and Roy Harper and more TBA
Dec 10, Harmony Gallery (next door to Counterpoint Records & Books), 5911 1/2 Franklin Ave, Hollywood, opening party for exhibition featuring Tom Neely's fab illustrations from Lost in the Grooves, 8-10pm, FREE
mid-December, Chicago reading
early January, Austin concert
tba, San Francisco concert and reading
Hayden - Oct 01, 2004 12:54:36 pm PDT #5200 of 10003
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."
Been listening to Brian Wilson's Smile all day. It's extraordinary. I get choked up thinking about how close the world came to only hearing this in fragments. For every passage that's stiffer than the original (and we can include the vocals on "Wonderful," "Surf's Up," and "Good Vibrations" in this category, as well as the far-less-than-insane intro to "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" -- although all make up for it in other ways), there's a section of lyrics or music or perfect wordless harmony that just takes my breath away. I think I first grew emotional when suddenly there were new words and sounds in "Barnyard", the fourth song on the album (which was always 3rd on my homemade Smile, before - rather than after - "Do You Like Worms?," which is now retitled "Roll Plymouth Rock"). The fantastic transition from "Wonderful" to "Child Is Father Of The Man" is now filled by "Song For Children," which previously was known as the instrumental "Look". The lyrics on "I'm In Great Shape/I Wanna Be Around/Workshop" and the transition to "Vega-Tables" make it one of the darkest beautiful things that Brian Wilson or the Beach Boys ever created outside of "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times." The instrumental "Holiday" is now the pirate drama "On A Holiday." "Love To Say Da Da" has become "In Blue Hawaii," an intentionally silly ode to the 50th American state. There's no sign of "He Gives Speeches/She's Going Bald" or "Well, You're Welcome".
Listening to the completed original teenage symphony to God leads me to wonder how different American rock music would have developed if Brian Wilson had been able to finish it. Smile is such a deeply weird and wholly gorgeous slice of wholesome psychedelic Americana; it's hard to imagine what would have happened if it had been a piece of mainstream music. It's no mere concept album, like Pet Sounds or Sgt. Pepper's, but a full-blown rock opera, following the notion that albums and songs can proceed in narratively or musically linked sections but rejecting the folk-song verse-chorus-verse trope that informs so much rock music, and pre-dating the hereto recognized first rock opera, The Who's "A Quick One (While He's Away)," by two years.
Rio - Oct 01, 2004 7:35:46 pm PDT #5201 of 10003
Are you ready to be strong?
mid-December, Chicago reading
w00t w00t!
Frankenbuddha - Oct 01, 2004 7:56:25 pm PDT #5202 of 10003
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
RIO!
No, got nothing else. Good to see ya, though, as always.
Rio - Oct 01, 2004 8:15:31 pm PDT #5203 of 10003
Are you ready to be strong?
HELLO FRANKENBUDDHA!!!
I should rilly rilly go to bed.
DavidS - Oct 01, 2004 10:40:42 pm PDT #5204 of 10003
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
mid-December, Chicago reading
w00t w00t!
Yeah, check in with erinaceous, Rio, she's helping to put it together.
Rio - Oct 01, 2004 10:44:34 pm PDT #5205 of 10003
Are you ready to be strong?
Quimby's, right?
DavidS - Oct 02, 2004 9:01:06 am PDT #5206 of 10003
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Quimby's, right?
Yes, ma'am. But there will be some music shows too, since a number of our Chicago writers (like Jake Austen of Rocktober/Chic A Go Go/Goblins) are also musicians.
Polter-Cow - Oct 02, 2004 9:14:51 am PDT #5207 of 10003
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Quimby's, right?
Ooh. I've been there! Make sure to give the red devil woman a foot massage.