Soon these worlds collide!
Friday, September 30, 2005
I've just returned from Mecca...
...no not actually the holy land but a holy land amongst Dallas' diners, The Mecca. It's been around for at least 20 years (I'm guessing), and despite the fact that it's basically in the neighborhood I grew up in I've somehow avoided it until now. It's in a cool, two-story building on a slightly disreputable street known as a good place to run into ladies of the night, Harry Hines Blvd. It's your typical diner/greasy spoon, maybe a bit cleaner but with great food and a decent ambience, if you will. I had the stuffed bell pepper, with whipped potatoes, green beans almondine, rolls, cornbread and iced tea...TASTY!
In other culturally significant news it seems that THE ROCKENING will be held in Memphis this year, rather than New Orleans for obvious reasons. Here' the scoop via Eric Oblivian on the Goner board:
at the risk of blowing scott's thing... (it's now SCOTT'S THING!), here's what he's working on (THIS MAY CHANGE, and BANDS ARE NOT PLAYING IN THIS ORDER necessarily... )
Thursday Oct 27 @ Buccaneer TearJerkers ,River City Tanlines ,Dutch Masters ,Die Rotzz, Redondo Beat Friday Oct 28 @ Hi Tone King Louie One Man Band, Carbonas,Tough & Lovely, Jenny Jeans ,Live Fast Die Saturday Oct 29 @ Hi Tone Quintron, King Khan & BBQ Show ,Black Lips, Kajun SS
maybe after parties, goner instores tba. stay tuna.
And for those of you keeping score at home I should be able to post an Mp3 of my song for the UNDER THE COVERS comp. by early this week. (Anybody know how to?...e-mail me PLEASE!) Matt's too busy to finish the mixing right now. Coincidentally, Sundazed Records has just released a 45 rpm/7- inch single featuring songs by the 1960's incarnation of West Texas' own Sparkles and wouldn't you know it but the song I'm covering (HIPSVILLE 29 B.C) is on the sucker. I gots to get it...
In other culturally significant news it seems that THE ROCKENING will be held in Memphis this year, rather than New Orleans for obvious reasons. Here' the scoop via Eric Oblivian on the Goner board:
at the risk of blowing scott's thing... (it's now SCOTT'S THING!), here's what he's working on (THIS MAY CHANGE, and BANDS ARE NOT PLAYING IN THIS ORDER necessarily... )
Thursday Oct 27 @ Buccaneer TearJerkers ,River City Tanlines ,Dutch Masters ,Die Rotzz, Redondo Beat Friday Oct 28 @ Hi Tone King Louie One Man Band, Carbonas,Tough & Lovely, Jenny Jeans ,Live Fast Die Saturday Oct 29 @ Hi Tone Quintron, King Khan & BBQ Show ,Black Lips, Kajun SS
maybe after parties, goner instores tba. stay tuna.
And for those of you keeping score at home I should be able to post an Mp3 of my song for the UNDER THE COVERS comp. by early this week. (Anybody know how to?...e-mail me PLEASE!) Matt's too busy to finish the mixing right now. Coincidentally, Sundazed Records has just released a 45 rpm/7- inch single featuring songs by the 1960's incarnation of West Texas' own Sparkles and wouldn't you know it but the song I'm covering (HIPSVILLE 29 B.C) is on the sucker. I gots to get it...
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Losin' It
...is the title of a cheesy, "coming-of-age" movie from the early-eighties that starred Shelly Long, and Tom Cruise before they were very well known. For some reason certain scenes from this film have been etched on my brain. The plot involves a small group of high school buddies that make a trip to Tijuana to lose their virginity. They somehow run into Long's character and one of the guys actually ends up "losin' it" to her instead of the obligatory hooker. Various memories include a rather racy song performed by the dj guy at a strip club/whorehouse that cleverly uses the word "Tijuana" in place of the phrase "Do you wanna?"(as in "Tijuana take your mother to the gang bang? Yes you do, it's been a long time since she had a screw..") and a scene in which some thugs have hoisted one of the kids into the air with a crane at a junkyard, and while preparing to fry his genitals with a blowtorch exclaims, "You are huugge!!" in an exaggerated Mexican accent(this was in response to the fact that said teen had stuffed his pants). It's one of those movies I'm not sure if I'd enjoy today, but I sure loved it as a youngster. The title also describes my current mental state pretty accurately.
Matt and I got the drums recorded last weekend but we haven't had a chance to do the final mix. He's got his wifes' whole family from Houston at his place right now to wait out Hurricane Rita. We had to haul all his recording equipment over to a friends place to use his drum kit. I managed to bang out the rhythm without too much trouble, and I'm anxious to see what it sounds like with the other tracks. There was one casualty in the form of Matt's monitor. He clipped the corner of the driveway when we pulled in after the recording and the base of his clear, plastic Mac monitor was broken. This was slightly ironic as Matt had stated earlier that Mac products are quite durable. I still think the Mac cult is mostly an image/ aesthetic thing. They make some cool stuff but the cultists are usually a bit snobbish in my opinion. That doesn't mean I wouldn't mind having one of those I-Pod Nanos though...
Matt and I got the drums recorded last weekend but we haven't had a chance to do the final mix. He's got his wifes' whole family from Houston at his place right now to wait out Hurricane Rita. We had to haul all his recording equipment over to a friends place to use his drum kit. I managed to bang out the rhythm without too much trouble, and I'm anxious to see what it sounds like with the other tracks. There was one casualty in the form of Matt's monitor. He clipped the corner of the driveway when we pulled in after the recording and the base of his clear, plastic Mac monitor was broken. This was slightly ironic as Matt had stated earlier that Mac products are quite durable. I still think the Mac cult is mostly an image/ aesthetic thing. They make some cool stuff but the cultists are usually a bit snobbish in my opinion. That doesn't mean I wouldn't mind having one of those I-Pod Nanos though...
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
"Things Are Getting Better"
Things ARE getting better, and that is also the name of a song on the Kinks, self-titled first album.I've got a Kinks sticker on my car that I made at work( I do that kind of thing for a living so it looks berry professional, thank you!), so you could say they are one of my top five bands. I feel like a bit of a poseur about it though as I only have like three of their albums. This is something I plan to remedy just as soon as the finances permit though. Despite the lack of Davies-penned albums in my collection I feel that I am entitled to display his bands logo on my vehicle. The only other stickers presently on my car are an "anti-Bush" sticker a friend made, and a Riverboat Gamblers sticker. I have two of the three Gamblaz' albums and I have seen them a gazillion times so I feel fine about that one, and I want the world to know that I hate GWB so that's great too. I'm at that crucial point in stickering ones car where I might start to become one of those guys with a lot of stickers on their (insert car synonym here). I'm trying to keep it minimal you see.
I've really been getting into other peoples blogs as of late and it makes me feel that mine is little more than an online diary. So be it, besides I really only look at mp3 blogs, and I shamelessly download a ton of great music off of them. There are actually too many to realistically see them all(or list them), and there are very few that I can say that I read with any amount of retension of information. I have recently run into a little trouble, however. At first I was playing Russian Roulette with the mp3's I would download, burning them to disc without so much as one listening in many cases. This was done based on band name/song title/ and style, and I had great initial results. There's not much that can go wrong when you have The Wipers, The Big Boys, The Angry Samoans and other relatively well-established artists to work with. It was when I began to get cocky, and/or greedy that I set myself up for a WHOLE lot of song-skipping. It's fun to have a mystery cd to some extent but those little slabs-o-digital fun aren't free, and I guess I'll have to start being a bit more selective.
This Sunday Matt Louis and I really are going to finish up the recording project. Last Sunday got cancelled as the fellow with the drum kit was holed-up watching what I consider to be the equivalent of watching paint dry, The Dallas Cowboys. YECHHHH!!!
I've really been getting into other peoples blogs as of late and it makes me feel that mine is little more than an online diary. So be it, besides I really only look at mp3 blogs, and I shamelessly download a ton of great music off of them. There are actually too many to realistically see them all(or list them), and there are very few that I can say that I read with any amount of retension of information. I have recently run into a little trouble, however. At first I was playing Russian Roulette with the mp3's I would download, burning them to disc without so much as one listening in many cases. This was done based on band name/song title/ and style, and I had great initial results. There's not much that can go wrong when you have The Wipers, The Big Boys, The Angry Samoans and other relatively well-established artists to work with. It was when I began to get cocky, and/or greedy that I set myself up for a WHOLE lot of song-skipping. It's fun to have a mystery cd to some extent but those little slabs-o-digital fun aren't free, and I guess I'll have to start being a bit more selective.
This Sunday Matt Louis and I really are going to finish up the recording project. Last Sunday got cancelled as the fellow with the drum kit was holed-up watching what I consider to be the equivalent of watching paint dry, The Dallas Cowboys. YECHHHH!!!
Saturday, September 03, 2005
For what it's worth...
This was originally posted by Kopper, the fine fellow that runs the Garagepunk.com forum, and is also the host of The Wayback Machine radio show in St. Louis. Like a lot of these online petition/letter sending campaigns I'm not sure what effect it will really have but if it has ANY effect at all than it has served a purpose:
IS IT TIME TO BRING THE NATIONAL GUARD HOME FROM IRAQ? (take action now) After 5 years of laughing off or suppressing sound policy advice, the criminal neglect of our REAL homeland security by the Bush administration has now resulted in the total loss of a major American city. And where is our National Guard and all their equipment that are supposed to be here to protect and save us? They are being ground up in the sand half a planet away for absolutely nothing but the arrogant, uncaring and obstinate pride of our chief executive, who is mentally incapable of admitting or correcting any mistake ever. We must DEMAND that our national guard come home now. http://www.usalone.net/nationalguard.htm The form above will send your personal message to all your members of Congress, and now you can send a letter also to the editor of your nearest daily newspaper at the SAME time, all with one click. Our troops in Iraq need to come home immediately. Not a year from now, not a month from now, NOW now. Is there not a SINGLE politician with the courage to stand up and speak the truth? When enough of US speak up it will happen. We must take PERSONAL responsibility for our government and what it does. Is it the destiny of our country to be utterly destroyed in pursuit of vain foreign conquests, as was Rome so many centuries ago, to where they could no longer protect their own homeland? Is that what is meant by the words "finish the job"? What insanity misled us to this terrible PREVENTABLE tragedy, where pleas for critically needed levee repairs were ignored to finance war profits and tax cuts for this administration's personal cronies. They can't even recruit for the National Guard anymore because it's nothing but a ticket straight to a desert hellhole. Bring the guard home now. We must reach out to our fellow citizens every way we can. Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.
And if you don't think you should care about the people of New Orleans out of compassion for your fellow man, then read this (which I also snatched off of a post made by Don Julio Blanco on Garagepunk.com)...
Mop Top Mike mentioned that he has friends in New Orleans. Anybody who's ever enjoyed jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul has friends in New Orleans. Anybody who thinks of music beyond symphonies or elevators has friends in New Orleans. That music was created by and for the same people who are now homeless, dazed, hungry, and sick. They shared their homegrown music with the rest of us. For that alone the residents of New Orleans deserve our eternal gratitude. The world is a better place because of New Orleans music and musicians. I can't think of another city anywhere that I could make that statement about. Other cities' music histories can usually be summarized neatly in a book or two, if that. New Orleans music history requires its own bookcase.
People today don't realize that 100 years ago, there was no such thing as an improvised solo in band music. That was a New Orleans concept. A group or orchestra playing from head arrangements instead of written ones was a New Orleans concept. Incredibly important, innovative ideas that we now take for granted were not created at the great centers of western culture by comfortable, trained white musicians but rather the sons of slaves and prostitutes in the back alleys and disreputable dance halls in the same neighborhoods that are now underwater. Millions of words have been written attempting to understand how that happened. Nobody has successfully answered that yet. Classically trained musicians in Chicago called this music jazz as a put-down to discourage people from listening to this horrible new sound when it first came there. New Orleanians got the last laugh. They always did. New Orleans has been fighting for its individuality against the ever increasing onslaught of rigid Anglo-American orthodoxy for 200 years.
In the end it was the water, not conformity, that did them in. They will rebuild. The levees will finally be reinforced, new power lines will go up, shiny prefab houses will replace the 19th Century plantation and shotgun houses out in the West End. Students will file into Layola and Tulane like they once did. But the soul of the city will never be rebuilt. Who in their right mind would want to go drink a 'Hurricane' on Bourbon Street ever again, knowing the horrors and devastation that occured in 2005? The city went from a place of celebration to a place of mourning in 24 hours. This is an irreplacable loss for America.
IS IT TIME TO BRING THE NATIONAL GUARD HOME FROM IRAQ? (take action now) After 5 years of laughing off or suppressing sound policy advice, the criminal neglect of our REAL homeland security by the Bush administration has now resulted in the total loss of a major American city. And where is our National Guard and all their equipment that are supposed to be here to protect and save us? They are being ground up in the sand half a planet away for absolutely nothing but the arrogant, uncaring and obstinate pride of our chief executive, who is mentally incapable of admitting or correcting any mistake ever. We must DEMAND that our national guard come home now. http://www.usalone.net/nationalguard.htm The form above will send your personal message to all your members of Congress, and now you can send a letter also to the editor of your nearest daily newspaper at the SAME time, all with one click. Our troops in Iraq need to come home immediately. Not a year from now, not a month from now, NOW now. Is there not a SINGLE politician with the courage to stand up and speak the truth? When enough of US speak up it will happen. We must take PERSONAL responsibility for our government and what it does. Is it the destiny of our country to be utterly destroyed in pursuit of vain foreign conquests, as was Rome so many centuries ago, to where they could no longer protect their own homeland? Is that what is meant by the words "finish the job"? What insanity misled us to this terrible PREVENTABLE tragedy, where pleas for critically needed levee repairs were ignored to finance war profits and tax cuts for this administration's personal cronies. They can't even recruit for the National Guard anymore because it's nothing but a ticket straight to a desert hellhole. Bring the guard home now. We must reach out to our fellow citizens every way we can. Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.
And if you don't think you should care about the people of New Orleans out of compassion for your fellow man, then read this (which I also snatched off of a post made by Don Julio Blanco on Garagepunk.com)...
Mop Top Mike mentioned that he has friends in New Orleans. Anybody who's ever enjoyed jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul has friends in New Orleans. Anybody who thinks of music beyond symphonies or elevators has friends in New Orleans. That music was created by and for the same people who are now homeless, dazed, hungry, and sick. They shared their homegrown music with the rest of us. For that alone the residents of New Orleans deserve our eternal gratitude. The world is a better place because of New Orleans music and musicians. I can't think of another city anywhere that I could make that statement about. Other cities' music histories can usually be summarized neatly in a book or two, if that. New Orleans music history requires its own bookcase.
People today don't realize that 100 years ago, there was no such thing as an improvised solo in band music. That was a New Orleans concept. A group or orchestra playing from head arrangements instead of written ones was a New Orleans concept. Incredibly important, innovative ideas that we now take for granted were not created at the great centers of western culture by comfortable, trained white musicians but rather the sons of slaves and prostitutes in the back alleys and disreputable dance halls in the same neighborhoods that are now underwater. Millions of words have been written attempting to understand how that happened. Nobody has successfully answered that yet. Classically trained musicians in Chicago called this music jazz as a put-down to discourage people from listening to this horrible new sound when it first came there. New Orleanians got the last laugh. They always did. New Orleans has been fighting for its individuality against the ever increasing onslaught of rigid Anglo-American orthodoxy for 200 years.
In the end it was the water, not conformity, that did them in. They will rebuild. The levees will finally be reinforced, new power lines will go up, shiny prefab houses will replace the 19th Century plantation and shotgun houses out in the West End. Students will file into Layola and Tulane like they once did. But the soul of the city will never be rebuilt. Who in their right mind would want to go drink a 'Hurricane' on Bourbon Street ever again, knowing the horrors and devastation that occured in 2005? The city went from a place of celebration to a place of mourning in 24 hours. This is an irreplacable loss for America.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Obligatory post!
That's right kids, this is that "oh-so-special" blog entry that comes when it's been a while since my last one. Expect little, and you might enjoy it. Which brings me to a bit of advice I think would benefit many of you(this is primarily directed at people that probably don't read this tripe). It seems that there is an ever-growing trend out there, particularly among the young( by young I mean below middle-age...and what IS middle age now?) of feeling unjustly entitled. In other words, everybody wants something for nothing. Well, all I have to say about that is unless you've got dirt on someone, a sugar-mama/daddy, or just a rich daddy, it AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. Oh, and if you think I'm going to put up with the behavior that this mindset inspires you can think again. This is where all these "30 thousand-dollar a year millionaires" are sprouting up from. I don't know about anywhere else, but Dallas is literally crawling with them. You might have noted that I've been a little bitter lately. I'm hoping it will subside soon.
In more important matters my deepest sympathies go out to those who have been effected by hurricane Katrina. I don't personally know anyone that currently lives there but it's overwhelming to think about what has happened nonetheless. On the purely selfish side I noticed that on the Goner Records message board that they are thinking about relocating The Rockening from New Orleans to either Jackson, Miss. or Atlanta, Ga. I mention this because I'm really looking forward to it and it would be really cool to meet some of these folks, many of which are going through a very difficult time. This may be a good time for them to blow off some of this tremendous stress and celebrate life with some great music. I'll admit I haven't been watching any of the flood footage on TV but I've seen some photos on the web, and the most connected to the event that I've felt has been from reading personal accounts from the many musicians, and fans on the Goner board. It has been very inspiring to see how generous people have been with offers of accomodations, food, and job leads. For someone who only a few years ago was anti-internet, and particularly anti-forum/chat room (still hate IM/chatrooms) I have learned not to citicize things I don't know about once again. I have this recurring trend where I end up fully embracing the very things I was adamantly against at some earlier point. I don't think of this as a lack of conviction, or flakiness, but as the talent to recognize my ability to be wrong, as well as the need for personal evolution. How you say PSYCHO-BABBLE!?
In more important matters my deepest sympathies go out to those who have been effected by hurricane Katrina. I don't personally know anyone that currently lives there but it's overwhelming to think about what has happened nonetheless. On the purely selfish side I noticed that on the Goner Records message board that they are thinking about relocating The Rockening from New Orleans to either Jackson, Miss. or Atlanta, Ga. I mention this because I'm really looking forward to it and it would be really cool to meet some of these folks, many of which are going through a very difficult time. This may be a good time for them to blow off some of this tremendous stress and celebrate life with some great music. I'll admit I haven't been watching any of the flood footage on TV but I've seen some photos on the web, and the most connected to the event that I've felt has been from reading personal accounts from the many musicians, and fans on the Goner board. It has been very inspiring to see how generous people have been with offers of accomodations, food, and job leads. For someone who only a few years ago was anti-internet, and particularly anti-forum/chat room (still hate IM/chatrooms) I have learned not to citicize things I don't know about once again. I have this recurring trend where I end up fully embracing the very things I was adamantly against at some earlier point. I don't think of this as a lack of conviction, or flakiness, but as the talent to recognize my ability to be wrong, as well as the need for personal evolution. How you say PSYCHO-BABBLE!?
Thursday, August 18, 2005
I can SING! (sort of)
Well, Matt Louis and I wrapped up the majority of the recording last night, and if I do say so myself it sounds pretty durn good. We basically started from scratch as I had my head planted firmly in me arse the previous night but it worked out better this time anyway. We even finally got that "fuzzy" tone I wanted for the overdub of the main guitar riff. But the most suprising part of the whole process was recording the vocals. As far as I know I had never done any kind of decent recording of any of my "music" let alone documented my attempts at serious vocals. If I hadn't been in on all the action I wouldn't have known the voice that emerged was mine. This isn't to say that I sang in an overly affected manner, or that Matt put some kind of crazy effect on my voice, it's just that the sound you get from a decent microphone when singing over your own music somehow sounds better. Of course I'm biased, but it sounds pretty cool.
The only things we need to do at this point are replace the sampled drums with real ones and do the final mix. What's even greater is that Matt says he'd like to do more of this in the future. He's used to playing and recording at the same time so this has been a good way for him to get more experience with recording. I've been really lucky to have friends like I do that can allow me this type of experience. Thanks to Randy Parker and Matt Louis! I can't wait to get the comp. cd and listen to my song amongst all the other contributions.
In more exciting rock and roll news my buddy "Wild Bill" Ivy just hipped me to the fact that the legendary Mummies are supposed to be playing at the Rockening in New Orleans, La. just before Halloween. I'd sell a kidney to be there, but I may be able to avoid that.
The only things we need to do at this point are replace the sampled drums with real ones and do the final mix. What's even greater is that Matt says he'd like to do more of this in the future. He's used to playing and recording at the same time so this has been a good way for him to get more experience with recording. I've been really lucky to have friends like I do that can allow me this type of experience. Thanks to Randy Parker and Matt Louis! I can't wait to get the comp. cd and listen to my song amongst all the other contributions.
In more exciting rock and roll news my buddy "Wild Bill" Ivy just hipped me to the fact that the legendary Mummies are supposed to be playing at the Rockening in New Orleans, La. just before Halloween. I'd sell a kidney to be there, but I may be able to avoid that.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
People still freak me out!
You know how things will be going along just swimmingly and then all of a sudden some (I hesitate to use the word)...PERSON has to go and do something to remind you that not everyone thinks, or behaves the way you do or would like them to. Why does this have to happen? I'm just constantly amazed at the oblivious and thoughtless behavior exhibited by many of my peers. (and by some of those well above, or below me on the social heirarchy... oh yeah, sometimes by me too!) I guess the reason I mention this is that a friend of mine that I have known for over two years casually asked me what I did for a living during a conversation recently. Now I realize that I don't talk about work much, but unless you have a really interesting job then I'd suggest you don't either. It just kind of sends a signal to me that this person might be a bit more self-centered than I thought. I already knew he was absent-minded with a tendency to drone on about his every activity. Maybe it's just me.
A few random thoughts...
This weekend Matt Louis and I are going to record my opus...a mind-bending version of Hipsville 29 B.C. by The Sparkles. We plan to use anything we can get our hands on for percussion and to keep it really crude. I plan to channel the spirit of the seemingly more-alive-than ever Roky Erickson( of Thirteenth Floor Elevators fame) when I let loose with my patented demented, white boy vocals. Roky has been more lucid in the last few years due to taking his medication, and he's been performing more and more around the Austin area. I must see him at all costs.
I'm ready for summer to be over. Bring on the Nordic Frost, post haste.
What was going on in the 1970's that made scary clown paintings, big-eyed kid/Margaret Keane paintings, and depressing music so popular? I mean I love them all, but I'm a little odd. It seems like there was some kind of hazy, yellow melancholy that blanketed most pop culture of that era. What's popular in the mainstream today couldn't be more different. Gordon Lightfoot could only exist as some kind of college/indie/Drag City recordsish character. If for no other reason than the fact that an attention span, a capacity for abstract thought and the ability to appreciate music with real human emotion are required to enjoy this type of expression it couldn't happen today. I still can't explain how anything other than ironic humor is gained from that weird ass artwork though.
A few random thoughts...
This weekend Matt Louis and I are going to record my opus...a mind-bending version of Hipsville 29 B.C. by The Sparkles. We plan to use anything we can get our hands on for percussion and to keep it really crude. I plan to channel the spirit of the seemingly more-alive-than ever Roky Erickson( of Thirteenth Floor Elevators fame) when I let loose with my patented demented, white boy vocals. Roky has been more lucid in the last few years due to taking his medication, and he's been performing more and more around the Austin area. I must see him at all costs.
I'm ready for summer to be over. Bring on the Nordic Frost, post haste.
What was going on in the 1970's that made scary clown paintings, big-eyed kid/Margaret Keane paintings, and depressing music so popular? I mean I love them all, but I'm a little odd. It seems like there was some kind of hazy, yellow melancholy that blanketed most pop culture of that era. What's popular in the mainstream today couldn't be more different. Gordon Lightfoot could only exist as some kind of college/indie/Drag City recordsish character. If for no other reason than the fact that an attention span, a capacity for abstract thought and the ability to appreciate music with real human emotion are required to enjoy this type of expression it couldn't happen today. I still can't explain how anything other than ironic humor is gained from that weird ass artwork though.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Hipsville 29 B.C...
...is the title of a song originally recorded by a West Texas band called THE SPARKLES that was active in the '50's and '60's. They seem to have started out like most groups of the time playing early rock and roll, which was an mix of country(and western), and blues that sometimes careened into rockabilly. They stayed together long enough to change with the times and this song in particular is the only one I'm actually that familiar with. It sounds like a lot of "garage" type songs with simple fuzzed out guitar, and the singer channels a little James Brown to great effect, but the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts as they say.
I'm going to record my own version of it with the help of some friends in the next few weeks and I'm getting pretty amped about it. I haven't recorded music in any form since college and never in a manner approaching professionalism. I may end up playing a majority of the instruments but I will at least play rhythm guitar and sing lead. The motivation into these largely uncharted waters came in the form of a call for entries in the Shakin' Street forum on Garagepunk.com. They are asking for '60's covers focusing on garage rock. They seem to be pretty lax in their standards though I think they're expecting people to suprise themselves which I hope is the case. I remember the reference to something like "a guy with a tape recorder and an out-of-tune guitar" and this can be a beautiful asethetic if you are at all familiar with tastes that run toward the LO-FI or RAW/PRIMITIVE. This is not to say that there aren't some certifiable "legends" of various eras involved, like Tom Kirby of TONTO AND THE RENEGADES fame whose song "Little Boy Blue" is a very well known example of the genre. The tentative title for the compilation is Under the Covers, and I like it.
I also wanted to mention the fact that my big screen debut occured on Wednesday night at of all places The Studio Movie Grill in Plano, Tx. I had a walk-on in my friend Justin's short film THE HISTORY OF THE LURKERS which is going to be part of an anthology of shorts based on H.P. Lovecraft stories. This is just a warm up for the debut of his feature length POT ZOMBIES in which I have a larger role. This should come out in the next few months.
http://www.thesparkles.net/
(Check out Pot Zombies at Myspace!)
I'm going to record my own version of it with the help of some friends in the next few weeks and I'm getting pretty amped about it. I haven't recorded music in any form since college and never in a manner approaching professionalism. I may end up playing a majority of the instruments but I will at least play rhythm guitar and sing lead. The motivation into these largely uncharted waters came in the form of a call for entries in the Shakin' Street forum on Garagepunk.com. They are asking for '60's covers focusing on garage rock. They seem to be pretty lax in their standards though I think they're expecting people to suprise themselves which I hope is the case. I remember the reference to something like "a guy with a tape recorder and an out-of-tune guitar" and this can be a beautiful asethetic if you are at all familiar with tastes that run toward the LO-FI or RAW/PRIMITIVE. This is not to say that there aren't some certifiable "legends" of various eras involved, like Tom Kirby of TONTO AND THE RENEGADES fame whose song "Little Boy Blue" is a very well known example of the genre. The tentative title for the compilation is Under the Covers, and I like it.
I also wanted to mention the fact that my big screen debut occured on Wednesday night at of all places The Studio Movie Grill in Plano, Tx. I had a walk-on in my friend Justin's short film THE HISTORY OF THE LURKERS which is going to be part of an anthology of shorts based on H.P. Lovecraft stories. This is just a warm up for the debut of his feature length POT ZOMBIES in which I have a larger role. This should come out in the next few months.
http://www.thesparkles.net/
(Check out Pot Zombies at Myspace!)
Saturday, July 30, 2005
BLOGdundancy!
Oh yeah, I have this blog thing. I've been lost in the sauce for a while, but one thing I'm pretty sure of is the fact that most blogs truly suck. Add that to the fact that there are so dang many of them and you've got one big, nasty mess. The worst of them all are the ones that document the minutiae of some (usually boring) fools life, and I guess the second worst are the ones that simply parrot other sites for news, or links in lieu of any real content. I won't even touch on the half-assed attempts by teens, children, businessmen, or religious zealots. About the only ones I've been able to tolerate are the cream of the crop of the underground music blogs, and photo blogs. Some folks seem to view their blog as the new milennium's answer to the "family newsletter". Every family has at least one relative(usually that oddly chipper aunt) that compiles an all-encompassing list of the activities and major events in their clan, right? Blogs and this type of document share the following attributes:
1. They often blather on and on about insignificant information.(Lil' Timmy took his first poo today, etc.)
2. They gloat about personal accomplishments.
3. The information is generally about people and activities that
are either unknown or irrelevant.
That being said here are some links to a few blogs that seem to have some merit. At least they post easily downloadable mp3's of music I actually enjoy...
http://blog.wfmu.org/
http://www.sexkittenscratches.blogspot.com/
http://vinyljourney.blogspot.com/
http://somethingilearned.blogspot.com/
http://strangereaction.com/
http://www.spoiltvictorianchild.co.uk/
1. They often blather on and on about insignificant information.(Lil' Timmy took his first poo today, etc.)
2. They gloat about personal accomplishments.
3. The information is generally about people and activities that
are either unknown or irrelevant.
That being said here are some links to a few blogs that seem to have some merit. At least they post easily downloadable mp3's of music I actually enjoy...
http://blog.wfmu.org/
http://www.sexkittenscratches.blogspot.com/
http://vinyljourney.blogspot.com/
http://somethingilearned.blogspot.com/
http://strangereaction.com/
http://www.spoiltvictorianchild.co.uk/
Friday, July 15, 2005
Willis Alan Ramsey, and Jim Lauderdale.
I had a lucky birthday yesterday. It started off well when I awoke to a lovely hand made card ftom Kara, and then received a free breakfast-pizza(?) from some poor Papa John's guy when I was getting gas on the way to work.(?) I then proceeded to get a free lunch consisiting of a steak, baked potato, green beans, Texas toast, and iced tea. The best part was getting free tickets to see two of the most talented singer-songwriter's alive today at the Granada Theatre. The Granada is one of the nicest, if not THE nicest venue in Dallas and if they would book a more diverse group of bands I'd gladly go there more often.
Bob and I walked in just after Jim Lauderdale's set had begun and though I was familiar with the name from KHYI (95.3-The Range) and the paper I was hesitant at first. I was completely mesmerized within minutes. This Nashville based(go figure) musician is extremely talented and has a long list of accomplishments including having songs recorded by George Jones, and making records with bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley(made really famous by the O' Brother Where Art Though? soundtrack.) As I listened I realized that I already really liked a few of these songs as I had heard them repeatedly on The Range and I had no idea who they were done by. If you like Gram Parsons, Gene Clark, George Jones, Johhny Cash and others I suggest checking him out. I need to buy some of this stuff.
http://www.jimlauderdale.com/
Willis Alan Ramsey took the stage with all the stage prescence of somebodys stoned uncle wipping out his guitar at a barbecue to play some Skynnard, Dylan or some such fare. But after a bit of a rough start he proceeded to blow minds. I won't go into too much detail here but Willis Alan Ramsey(WAR) is one of those legendary artists that is very well known, and loved amongst Americana/Country/Folk/Blues musicians and the die-hard fans but otherwise completely unknown. He released ONE self-titled album in 1972 that was met with much acclaim. Apparently it was too much acclaim for the young WAR to handle so he backed off from the whole affair, WAY off. As far as I know he hadn't performed at all until the last year or so since the mid-seventies but that didn't stop him from influencing virtually every artist that could fall under the nebulous Progressive Country/Americana/Alt-Country(eww!)/Outlaw/yadda,yadda umbrella. Lyle Lovett is perhaps the most obvious example of this and WAR even co-wrote some of Lyle's songs including "That's right you're not from Texas". The crowd of mostly grey-haired folks knew all the words and get very excited when WAR played the hits, so it made for a great time.
I'll have to admit that I was a bit let down that he didn't play his best known song "Muskrat Candlight", renamed "Muskrat Love" and made famous by The Captain and Tennille, but at the same time I can undertand his aversion to the song. WAR is releasing a new album and I hope for his sake that it catapults him to the level of fame and fortune he so greatly deserves.
http://www.willisalanramsey.com/
http://www.khyi.com/
Bob and I walked in just after Jim Lauderdale's set had begun and though I was familiar with the name from KHYI (95.3-The Range) and the paper I was hesitant at first. I was completely mesmerized within minutes. This Nashville based(go figure) musician is extremely talented and has a long list of accomplishments including having songs recorded by George Jones, and making records with bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley(made really famous by the O' Brother Where Art Though? soundtrack.) As I listened I realized that I already really liked a few of these songs as I had heard them repeatedly on The Range and I had no idea who they were done by. If you like Gram Parsons, Gene Clark, George Jones, Johhny Cash and others I suggest checking him out. I need to buy some of this stuff.
http://www.jimlauderdale.com/
Willis Alan Ramsey took the stage with all the stage prescence of somebodys stoned uncle wipping out his guitar at a barbecue to play some Skynnard, Dylan or some such fare. But after a bit of a rough start he proceeded to blow minds. I won't go into too much detail here but Willis Alan Ramsey(WAR) is one of those legendary artists that is very well known, and loved amongst Americana/Country/Folk/Blues musicians and the die-hard fans but otherwise completely unknown. He released ONE self-titled album in 1972 that was met with much acclaim. Apparently it was too much acclaim for the young WAR to handle so he backed off from the whole affair, WAY off. As far as I know he hadn't performed at all until the last year or so since the mid-seventies but that didn't stop him from influencing virtually every artist that could fall under the nebulous Progressive Country/Americana/Alt-Country(eww!)/Outlaw/yadda,yadda umbrella. Lyle Lovett is perhaps the most obvious example of this and WAR even co-wrote some of Lyle's songs including "That's right you're not from Texas". The crowd of mostly grey-haired folks knew all the words and get very excited when WAR played the hits, so it made for a great time.
I'll have to admit that I was a bit let down that he didn't play his best known song "Muskrat Candlight", renamed "Muskrat Love" and made famous by The Captain and Tennille, but at the same time I can undertand his aversion to the song. WAR is releasing a new album and I hope for his sake that it catapults him to the level of fame and fortune he so greatly deserves.
http://www.willisalanramsey.com/
http://www.khyi.com/
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