Wednesday, December 31, 2008

sam rivers







tony williams lifetime, paris 1971





yeti @ the wreck room, 2003

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

frost/nixon

saw frost/nixon with the kids at the rave the other night. i can still remember the moment when mistrust of government became an article of faith with almost everybody. (my high school buddies and i were watching a met game and covered the tv screen with shaving cream when they interrupted it with tricky dick's resignation.) my middle daughter very perceptively asked if nixon reminded me of her grandfather (whose two all-time favorite tv shows of all time were the watergate and army-mccarthy hearings). i told her that yes, he did, back when i was a teenager, even though my father _hated_ nixon. still need to see doubt.

nothing exceeds like excess

food for thought on our crashing-and-burning economy from the wfmu blog.

r.i.p. freddie hubbard

the hard bop trumpet player from indianapolis, who came out of art blakey's jazz messengers, played in every context blue note records had to offer in the early '60s, and later made more commercial recordings for cti and columbia, left the planet yesterday at age 70.





Monday, December 29, 2008

the sunday jazz @ lola's last night

my friend kory cook from the sons of hercules called last night. he was in the area playing some shows with todd snider and was looking for a jazz jam where he could sit in, so i directed him to lola's, where dave karnes and crew would be holding forth. since we hadn't seen il karnaggio in way too long, my sweetie and i fell by lola's too and she took some pics, which in the fullness of time will be posted on her photo blog.

karnes and co. sounded great. dave's been playing a lot of dates with le freak, as well as a cover band and a blues band. he says the three-hour disco gigs are tearing up his hands but he's making bank and he didn't appear to be losing his chops; in fact, he did a lot of things i'd never heard him do before. the band -- with drew phelps' son nathan taking his dad's place on bass alongside paul metzger and joey carter -- has a really nice dynamic, very open and free. "caravan," "nostalgia in times square," and an _out_ "footprints" were highlights, and paul recited some "beatnik poetry." he and joey will be playing some bertha coolidge dates later this month, and they've been writing material in preparation for recording a bertha cd at johnny reno's studio. (we need to make it to the scat lounge to catch them with johnny, too.)

oaklin bloodworth and ron the train man did their usual spots and while the first sit-in drummer was up, dave told me about the time he had nathan brown sub for him on a clint strong gig at lambert's. kory got to play the last three songs of the set and got to throw in some nawlins second line on the last toon. he's working for kut radio in austin now and says the sons have a new rekkid, altho my homeboy casino el camino is no longer in the band. 'twas good to see him and i'm hoping to do so again if i go to austin in march.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

mike dillon's go-go jungle @ lola's, 12.26.2008

my sweetie posted some of her pics of mike dillon's go-go jungle playing at lola's friday night on her photo blog. twenty-plus years ago, she usedta go see dillon play percussion in ten hands. after that, he was in billy goat from 1994 to 1997. more recently, he's been playing vibes on the road with les claypool. drummer go-go ray pollard and bassist-singer jj jungle richards were in the last ('95-'97) billy goat lineup. they gots an album, battery milk, out on hyena records, with another one due in february.

Friday, December 26, 2008

the message

Thursday, December 25, 2008

r.i.p. eartha kitt

so long, miss kitt.



english breakfast christmas 2008



auggie wren's christmas story

can



Wednesday, December 24, 2008

metal urbaine



kraftwerk - "truckstop gondolero" 1971

Monday, December 22, 2008

going back to the well

spending some time with my sweetie and the cats (and hopefully my kids and grandkids too). planning to make a recording (which my middle dtr requested a coupla yrs ago) of songs i usedta sing them when they were small plus some acoustic fingerstyle shit i practice when i'm not otherwise engaged, with the moron-level instructions my big sis gave me for garageband and andre's acoustic. re-reading ben watson's frank zappa: the negative dialectics of poodle play and the book about 20th century classical music that my sister-in-law gave me last xmas. listening to fz, messiaen, harry partch, stravinsky, mingus. scheming and plotting musical projects for next year. digging the fact that our new president's va-ca in hawaii is forcing journos to have to explain what spam musubi is. contemplating multiple reminders of mortality. life's a blast, hope it's gonna last.

fz on the "today" show

an int from the last yr of his life.

march 18th @ the chat room

PFFFFT! goes pfffft!

our last show for awhile as clay is taking some time off to play with the boom boom box. last night forest ward had to cancel due to equipment probs, but bill pohl brought an improv quartet including heavy funk minister sam damask (flash mcdaniels, ex-little brian) on bass, warr guitar wizard mark cook, and previously unheard (by me, anyway) drummer brian brawner. bill allowed later that he hadn't heard his fellow zoo music instructor brian play before, but the brufordian clatter he laid down during sound check was an encouraging sign and the communication between the four was so good that bill forgot to call the jeff beck toon he'd intended to play. for our part, P(F)FFFF(F)T! -- the usual four plus trombonist marcus brunt and matt hickey on synth -- played a set with less balls-out thunder and more space, light 'n' shade than usual, with marcus' solo voice a welcome addition. which just makes me a little sad that last night's show was, at least, the end of the first chapter in this saga.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

a pretty good weekend

saw all my kids, three of my grandkids, and had dinner with our new role models (older couple from two doors down who met at the same age we did). nice.

h.b. fz

stooges dvd review @ i94bar.com

a review i penned of the stooges' escaped maniacs double dvd is online now at i94bar.com.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

last night at the moon

some dudes from germany showed up to catch the li'l stoogeband's set and their response spurred us to give, dare i say, the most feral 'n' out-of-control perf we've given in awhile. sound dude mic'ed our gtr amps and provided teague with a monitor, so jon could actually hear for a change without me turning my shit and deafening ray. hembree was SCREAMING and after we'd played through the setlist, he kicked off "funhouse" and we made that our last song of 2008; a good way to end the year. only non-snazz aspect: i left my slide on the pillar by the side of the stage. oh well. before us, our friends the fellow americans played their last show; big love to hickey, hal, and caleb. band called the white walls played before them but i was out on the porch. my sweetie was there and took lotsa pics, some of which she posted to her photo blog. thanks to evabody who hung around! and yes, i _have_ noticed that with my hair long, i look like dr. zaius. if you have to look like a monkey, at least look like a _smart_ monkey.

farren on "mad" on bush

Friday, December 19, 2008

bad brains @ the inauguration?

highway hi-fi

everybody's short should have one. thanks to the magical ash adams for the link.

jack dejohnette's special edition - "one for eric"

this lineup - marty ehrlich, john purcell, howard johnson, and rufus reid, in addition to the leader -- isn't the band that made the self-titled alb (which i could listen to on continuous repeat forever) that included this toon, but i was so delighted to find this on youtube i had to post it anyway.

ADDENDUM: on the original recording, arthur blythe and david murray, the hot underground reed players the leader was prolly hoping to introduce to the mass-ass public, were fine 'n' fiery, but what always makes me cry is peter warren's beautiful arco statement over the slow theme in "zoot suite."











last two gigs of the year

stoogeaphilia tonight at the moon, PFFFFT! at the fairmount sunday. then both bands will go on hiatus for awhile. the me-thinks have a bunch of dates in january, then they're going to the echo lab in february to record a split 7" with one fingered fist. the great tyrant is planning to play some shows with the gunslingers from france around sxsw time. my sweetie is having some surgery in january, and i've been offered a pass to sxsw by the fw weekly. in the interim, the stoogeband will be back in the shed when we have time, working up some new toonage. the future of PFFFFT! is more dubious, as clay is taking some time off to work on other projects. i've got a couple of other things in mind myself. we'll see, but i'm hoping to play at least as many shows in 2009 as i did in 2008.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

the golden age of jazz

...kinda depends, as francis davis says, on when you started listening to the music. in my case, that'd be ca. 1975, when my beefheart-loving college roommate and i used to go to the library and freak our schoolmates out by listening to ornette coleman records "for our own enjoyment," and i bought my first coltrane record: ascension. so of course i was interested to read the lists of "great post-vietnam era jazz rekkids" posted here and here and here.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

dennis gonzalez/azar lawrence cd review in fw weekly

a review i penned of new cd's by dennis gonzalez and azar lawrence is in this week's fw weekly.

h.b. l.v.b.

fonky fred's in texas highways

june naylor gave fonky fred's some love in texas highways magazine (reproduced on the cafe's website). as a matter of interest, st. lester's executor john morthland also occasionally scribes for the rag.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

the nervebreakers @ a history of dallas music

a substantially edited (and hopefully more readable) version on an interview i did with dallas punk pioneers the nervebreakers is online now on jeff liles' a history of dallas music myspace thingy.

sex pistols in dallas, 1.10.1978

here's the gig my drummer from college witnessed right before he called, urging me to move to texas. six months later, i was here. thanks, stephen!









farren on bush

...here.

pink floyd 1965 - "lucy leave"

Monday, December 15, 2008

next sunday @ the fairmount

bulletin from PFFFFT!:

Next Sunday, December 21st, we'll be joined by adventurous guitarist BILL POHL, performing in a duo with bassist SAM DAMASK (Flash McDaniels/ex-Little Brian), and solo percussion / wind/ electronic ambient wonderment by FOREST WARD (ex-OHM).
As if that weren't enough, we'll be augmented by the lovely and talented MATT HICKEY and possibly other surprise guests.
So come let us play for you, won't you?

THE FAIRMOUNT is located at 600 West Magnolia Ave. Lots of free parking across Grainger in the City Vending Lot.


Love,

PFFFFT!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

buttons

chef keith hicks (ex-gunsmoke grill, ex-kachonga's, ex-ovation), the man who made chicken and waffles sound like a real good idea, has a new spot, buttons (his childhood nickname) opening in the old 29 degrees tavern location at i-30 and hulen. the grand opening is set for monday, december 22nd. the idea of a restaurant within walking distance of mi casa with keith in the kitchen has me salivating already.

forest ward/yells at eels/stoogeaphilia pics @ meezlady.blogspot.com

my sweetie posted some of her pics from friday night's extravaganza at the fairmount on her photo blog. (click on 'em to make 'em big.)

"the truth about the death penalty" @ smu, 1.29.2009


my friend john holbrook is a photog whose pics of death row inmates are part of a traveling exhibition sponsored by amnesty international. on january 29th, he'll be part of a presentation hosted by smu's students for a better society and entitled the truth about the death penalty, along with artist delia meyer and rick halperin, director of smu's human rights program. starts at 7pm in the university's mccord auditorium.

r.i.p. prince lasha

a fort worth original is gone. was sorry to receive this communique from dennis gonzalez today:

John Handy, Bay Area saxophonist has announced that the legendary flutist/saxophonist Prince Lasha passed away in Oakland, CA (Dec.11). Many people will remember his own recordings (especially with Sonny Simmons) and his associations on records with Eric Dolphy, Elvin Jones, Dennis Gonzalez, and many others and in later years with Odean Pope. Lasha was born William Lawsha in Forth Worth, Texas on Sept. 10, 1929. Lasha (pronounced La-shay) went to school and was a boyhood friend of Ornette Coleman.

that's him playing flute on eric dolphy's "music matador."

is it an accident...

...that ted nugent and tom verlaine have the same b'day?



dinner last night

my sweetie made scallops in a white wine cream sauce over angel hair pasta. the contrast between the tartness of the shallots, the sweetness of the sauce, and the smokiness of the scallops was awesome. not exactly "heart-healthy," but beautiful food nonetheless. (it's not just sustenance, it's entertainment!)

the illuminati and beethoven's ninth

interesting tidbit on the shadowy cult and the glorious ninth of ludwig van.



Saturday, December 13, 2008

last night at the fairmount

the li'l stoogeband played a good show because, for some reason, we don't play any bad shows. after next friday night at the moon, however, we'll be taking a couple of months off from live gigs, as the mighty me-thinks gots a bunch of shows in january and the great tyrant plans to play some dates with french despoilers the gunslingers when they're in texas and oklahoma around sxsw time. hopefully by the time we're out of hibernation we'll be able to finally unleash "30 seconds over tokyo" and other new wonderment.

before us, the great trumpeter-composer-bandleader dennis gonzalez and his sons aaron gonzalez (bass) and stefan gonzalez (drums) -- who will have been performing under the rubric yells at eels for a decade next year -- filled our ears with energetic and exploratory extemporizations on toons both old and new (including a personal fave, "document for toshinori kondo"). their new record, renegade spirits (with nawlins saxophonist tim green and art ensemble of chicago percussion wizard famoudou don moye) is a corker and in the fullness of time, a review i penned will appear in the fort worth weekly. unfortunately, stefan was under the weather and unable to sit in on bass clarinet with the stoogeband as planned -- maybe another time.

opening was forest ward, who played a fantastical solid wood drumkit of his own design and construction, along with various percussion implements, a baritone sax, a kora, a '50s vintage hewlett-packard tone generator, and other instruments through a sequencer to create a long, hypnotic, ambient piece that put me in mind of the taj mahal travellers as well as forest's old band ohm, whose other living member nathan brown was in attendance. dennis g. said it reminded him of his own very first performance, at metamorphosis records in dallas, when he recorded bass, drum, and clarinet parts on a teac 4-track recorder in real time, then played his trumpet over the resultant recording. i dug forest's sounds enough to invite him to open for PFFFFT! and bill pohl (who played the last song with yells at eels) at the fairmount next sunday, december 21st. then again, forest's girfriend jeanne reports that a woman at the bar was complaining that "this is the longest soundcheck i've ever heard!" which just goes to show ya.

heavy metal farmer

my oldest dtr showed me this.

Friday, December 12, 2008

new arthur mag

...is available online now. (myself, i get the print versh, 'cos i can't take the imac to the bathroom with me.)

"let's hit the town" ADDENDUM

"world premiere" of the track is s'posed to be at noon today, so wait a little bit, then check it on the AwkQuarius myspace thingy.

sarcasm/dementia

my pal andrew in philly sent along this link about a form of dementia whose sufferers can't comprehend sarcasm. amazing the complexity of the human mind, when it works and when it doesn't.

immortal technique int

here's an interesting interview with rapper immortal technique, covering the creative process, politics, and the music biz. an articulate cat with lots to say. thanks to katboy for the coat-pull.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

"whole lotta shakespeare going on"

back in the '60s, jerry lee lewis actually played (and sang) the role of iago in a stage adaptation of shakespeare's othello: ex-shindig producer jack good's catch my soul. read the unbelievable saga and hear sound clips here. (where else but wfmu.org?)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

"let's hit the town"

you can't hear it yet, but tonight tahiti sent me the mixed-but-not-mastered version of the new AwkQuarius track i played on a coupla weeks back. notwithstanding (in spite of?) my contribution, it sounds pretty snat, putting me in mind of the year i played in an r&b showband and four of my fave albs were 1999, computer games, what time is it? and original musiquarium I. they even included a few seconds of my attempted ernie isley-isms at the end.

josh alan friedman in the fw weekly

a story i penned about writer-muso josh alan friedman and his as-yet unpublished book black cracker is in this week's fort worth weekly. with a picture by my sweetie, no less.

"get out of the house, 'cos those videogames are death"

meet aaron fotheringham from las vegas, nevada.

the theater fire

...got some nice virtual ink in crawdaddy.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

happy berfday junior wells and john cale



never say never again

a story i wrote about josh alan friedman and his struggle to find a publisher for his autobiographical novel black cracker will run as the music feature in tomorrow's fort worth weekly, with a pic by my sweetie. yeah!

the who dvd review @ i94bar.com

a review i penned of the who's live at kilburn 1977 double dvd is online now at i94bar.com.

Monday, December 08, 2008

robin williams talks about the election

...to the brits.

bill pohl w/yells at eels! stefan gonzalez w/stoogeaphilia!

this friday at the fairmount.

william bryan massey III

...gots a new book out. says his first printing is already sold out (at $15 a pop). fall by fonky fred's and stick your head back in the kitchen to see if he has more yet.

the pungent sound

the long-awaited (by me, anyway) e.p. from the pungent sound -- that's ray liberio from the me-thinks and stoogeaphilia and his old hasslehorse bandmate jon frum, whose latest project is transient songs -- is out now and available here.

talking alzheimer's

my big sis sent me this nyt article about a new approach to dealing with folks suffering from dementia.

top secret...shhh sesh pics

...are up now on the project's myspace thingy. marcus lawyer's mixing the tracks he recorded before decamping for austin this past summer, shooting for a 2009 release.

carey wolff pics @ meezlady.blogspot.com

my sweetie posted some of her pics of carey wolff performing at sunday's fraf benefit at lola's on her photo blog. thanks to all who came out to show their love and support for fraf, to all the performers who played (even though some of 'em were sick as dogs), and to lola's staff (especially to dre, fish, and jeff for making everything sound so good).

Sunday, December 07, 2008

advice from t. monk

...courtesy of m. watt. (click on the image to make it big so you can read it.)

jsh in the star-t

speaking of which, there's a nice profile of artist jesse sierra hernandez in today's star-t (which has apparently been on their website since thursday). he's got a solo show at galeria de la rosa coming up in may. yeah!

tunnel of love

ok, jesse. here's a springsteen song i like. or maybe it's just nils lofgren's hendrixian gtr solo, or the fact that the jersey shore amusement park in the vid reminds me of seaside heights. anyway...

eugene chadbourne w/yells at eels in dallas wednesday!

unfortunately, i won't be able to attend, but if you dig adventurous sounds, you owe it to yrself to make it to the lounge on elm st. in deep ellum next wednesday, 12.10:

Inner Realms Outer Realms presents:
Eugene Chadbourne
solo and featuring Walter Daniel
Yells At Eels/Tidbits double trio
DJ sets by Wanz Dover

The Lounge on Elm St.
2810 Elm St.
Dallas, Texas 75226
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
$5 for 21+
$10 for 18-20
doors at 8:00

tom waits is 59 today

here he is singing my second fave xmas ditty (after the italian christmas donkey one).

Saturday, December 06, 2008

last night @ lola's

dunno whether it was the cold, the economy, or the burning hotels playing at the moon, but last night's stumptone show was sparsely attended. pity -- besides having made one of the great rekkids of the year, they're always different, varying their sets, adding new tunes, and evolving their material in performance. second-billed, austin's unbearables were notable not just for having as many ppl onstage as there were in the rest of the club (well, nearly), including a horn section (flute and trumpet/reeds) and a realistic (!) synthesizer (from radioshack!). their gtrist-singer had a silvertone 1478 like i usedta play in high school. he said he paid four bills for it (prolly at now-defunct workhorse guitars in austin, where they sold nothing but old silvertones, kays, and danelectros and nothing for under $400 -- funny because ppl used to throw those things away). anyway, my sweetie figured out why her pics from last time came out blurry and she got some better shots, which in the fullness of time will be posted on her photo blog.

ADDENDUM: pics are up now. check 'em!

Friday, December 05, 2008

james blood ulmer





fifty years of popular songs condensed into single sentences

from mcsweeney's.

dungen 4

got my hands on a copy of the new alb by evabody's fave psychedelic swedes dungen today (thanks, frank!) and have to say it's quite impressive -- concise where ta det lugnt (see clip below) was sprawling, it's over almost before you know it, leaving you wanting more (which is why i've played it so many times). it's a lot more orchestrated (opening cut intro reminds me of "ferry across the mersey," which you're probably too young to remember), poppy in a jim webb/arthur lee/zombies kinda way, and unabashedly melodic, 'cept for the little snatches of jamarama they call "samtidigt 1" and "samtidigt 2," and leader gustav ejstes is now concentrating on pianner vice gtr, but there's still plenty of fret damage and the new drummer still sounds like mitch mitchell, thank goodness. i hear they haven't quite got it as a live band yet, but they could keep making rekkids like thisun forever and i wouldn't complain.

hating der bingle

in fairness to der bingle (an appellation i picked up from reading sgt. fury comics, from which i got the impression that stan lee and jack kirby were ww2 vets like my dad but, unlike him, trying really hard to be cool), i'd already hated him for yrs by the time i saw the "little drummer boy" duet with bowie. before we had tv (which we got when i was four), i usedta listen to him on the radio with rosemary clooney every day. and watch white christmas once a year, of course. before our folks replaced it (seemingly when i was eight or so), we had a couch with a spring sticking out of it that my big sis and i usedta poke ourselves on with regularity -- which occurrence we referred to as "getting poked by the bingcrosby." (apropos of nothing, after we started watching tv, i usedta think that sammy davis, jr.'s surname was davisjunior. and that tennesee ernie ford's was ernieford. you're probably too young to know who any of these ppl were.)

velvet underground @ the gymnasium, nyc, 1967

born on this date

...in 1899: aleck rice miller, aka sonny boy williamson II, an irascible old scoundrel if ever there was one.



also, in 1932: little richard penniman. in his youth, he looked like he could eat elvis presley for breakfast.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

one hundred second dash

wow! a free music compilation from right here in foat wuth, curated by those crazy boys ben rogers (chat room) and tony ferraro (eaton lake tonics). yeah!

fz @ the roxy, 12.9.73





left the planet on this date, 1993. go easy.

AwkQuarius opens for ice cube next w-e!

wow! AwkQuarius (that's pikahsso and tahiti, ex-p.p.t.) are opening for ice cube (ex-n.w.a.) at the prophet bar (ex-gypsy tea room) in deep ellum next sat'day, december 13th!

new flower travellin' band int

in english.

fraf benefit sunday @ lola's - suggested donation $5

jaime brockett

thinking about fraf and jeffrey lewis got me thinking about my old high school pal donald harrison, which in turn got me thinking about this guy and his version of leadbelly's "legend of the u.s.s. titanic," a late-night staple of free-form fm radio stations back in the day. the vid's shite, just listen to the song if you've got the attention span to hack 13 minutes of talkin' blues about heavyweight champ jack johnson and lotsa other stuff.



hampton grease band live dvd

the hampton grease band, the weirdest band to ever come out of the american south and makers of the worst-selling album in the history of columbia records (1971's music to eat), have a live dvd of their 2006 reunion show available now. you might know of their eccentric frontman col. bruce hampton (ret.) from his work with the late bronze age, the aquarium rescue unit, and the fiji mariners, or his bit part in the movie sling blade; you might know of their gtrist glenn phillips (_not_ the toad the wet sprocket douchebag) from his subsequent series of solo albs. the real genius of the band, however, was founder-gtrist harold kelling, who died in 2005.



jeffrey lewis' history of punk

fraf's got a doppelganger. his name's jeffrey lewis and he knows a hell of a lot about punk rock, from the lower east side of manhattan perspective.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

my sweetie's on kera.org

crazy picture guy scotty mankoff submitted one of my sweetie's pics to accompany a blurb about him on kera.org's "art&seek" blog. she do take some good pics, i'm a-thankin'.

daybreak cafe @ iloveftw.com

a li'l squib i penned about classic working stiff's breakfast 'n' lunch j'int daybreak cafe is online now at iloveftw.com.

stoogeprac

finally had one monday in preparation for the li'l stoogeband's run of shows this month. had hoped to do more in november but whatthehell. ray-boy told us about getting a flat the night of the me-thinks' last show at lola's when it started raining around closing time. crawling around on the wet ground in the freezing fucking cold wearing t-shirts and long-shorts, trying to find where to position the jack with only a cigarette lighter for illumination: fun times. then he stepped on the base of his mic stand and bashed himself in the teeth (which he used to chew the ivory off his mom's pianner keys when he was three), busting his lip up pretty awesome. ouch. best moment: hearing ray and richard talking about a fort worth punk show they attended back in prehistory and jon teague piping up to say, "i was _in_ that band!" gotta book some shows for next year, hopefully including some with the bastardos de sancho and awesome can wait.

this is hysterical

it's "dominick, the italian christmas donkey." i almost pissed my pants laughing when i saw this. thanks to my pal andrew in philly for the coat-pull.

st. lester on kosmik radiation radio

this week's archive edition of kosmik radiation radio (online until 12.17) is a trib to king of rockcrits, lester bangs. the "classic album of the week" feature (the velvet underground and nico, of course) even includes links to bangs-penned reviews instead of the usual vids. grab your copy of psychotic reactions and carbureter dung, bust open a bottle of, um, romilar, and get ready to have yr synapses scorched!

this is inspahring

went to mail a pkg this morning and saw some graffiti i liked.
someone tagged on the side of the wall street journal box:
"free at last 11.4.08"

this is mind-blowing

my sweetie, who's into brains, found this story about how 40% of "persistent vegetative state" patients may be misdiagnosed, and a team in britain that's identifying "islands of significant awareness" (what the folks at her school call "open windows") and using them to rehab brain-injured patients.

this is sacrilege

taking a page (perhaps) from the stooges' book -- e.g., the hotshot frontguy having realized that the only worthwhile part of his career was the early stuff -- the faces are reforming. possibly with, um, flea on bass. (if you're young, i've always said that bands like the georgia satellites, the black crowes, and to an extent the replacements have been "filling the faces gap.") if the late, lamented ronnie lane -- the chirpy chap responsible for a good part of the sloppy drunk faces' bonhomie and good vibes -- was here, he'd be turning in his grave.

and this is stupid

if you like live music, be glad you don't live in london.

this is interesting

the air force officer who led the team that tracked down abu musab al-zarqawi speaks out against torture.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

my most loathed christmas toons

the italian kid likes this stuff, but he never worked in retail. i don't. back in the '70s, watching this first one on tv, i imagined der bingle beating the shit out of his kids with a shoe. when bowie's voice rises in that soaring countermelody, so does my lunch. rum-pah-pum-pum indeed.



all of brooce's music usedta sound like christmas music to me. if it was up to me, he'd only be able to sing songs like this (and maybe "take me out to the ballgame") at kids' birthday parties.

Monday, December 01, 2008

euroboy 1, cancer 0