'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Independent Music From Seattle '08
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Vagrant Records: An Indie Label
Our old friends at Vagrant Records keep at it. They're an independent record label out of Seattle, WA. Their catalog is small compared to the majors, but growing. Not everything they produce is to my taste, but even the stuff I don't like is well done. Here are three new releases I like.
Bag O' Tricks
Ol' Cheeky Bastards may be all three or none, but their blend of musical styles works very well. I tend to lump them in with the Blues musicians, though their web site calls it "Okie Punk" and I'm not going to argue. They feel like old friends who had been playing half-assed as a garage band for years, then went to a Grateful Dead concert and decided they wanted to play real music and have spent years rehearsing and having fun. A few cuts would need editing for airplay. Relaxed and tight, I'd like to see them in concert, and they play a lot in the San Francisco/Anaheim area.
Bag O' Tricks features dobro, 12-string, piano, bagpipe, electric pipe, Pennywhistle, bodran and some nice vocal work. The songs are listed as "Inspired by the original" and/or "rewritten and bastardized", with three from The Pogues. One of my favorites is the song that pops up automatically on their MySpace page. Church of the Holy Spook is a reverently rockabilly variation:
My father was a sinner
My mother was a saint
I ruined my life by alcohol
Rock and roll's gonna crucify me.
I left you all alone now
I never looked back
The old folks at the home now
will end up with a shack
Give me the Church of the Holy Spook
Church of the Holy Spook
Church of the Holy Spook
It's good enough for me.
The CD opens with the new country version of the Faces Borstal Boys "See the years roll on by, such a senseless waste of time, What a way to reform". Bottle of Smoke would be straight blues except for the jangling electric instrumentation. I'm not going to try to reproduce some of the angry lyrics but you can read them here.. Ladies & Gentleman is western blues honky tonk, "Come on sweetheart, you're looking so good, it's time to go." A good closing song.
This CD pushes all the right buttons for me: covers of songs they love dearly; American music with a dash o' Celtic, nice instrumentation (and no drums), good vocals. Maybe they are old, cheeky and bastards. Highly recommended with several iPod worthy (iPw) songs.
Sacrelicious
When we last left the 24-Hour Church of Beer they were without a hyphen. Their new CD, Sacrelicious, sometimes has a hyphen and sometimes doesn't. Sheesh, it's like they were drinking all day or something.
Their MySpace page has the hyphen: 24-Hour Church of Beer, in which they claim to be a power trio from "Canada's stunning Georgia Straight" with a wide range of influences. I hear mostly fuzzy thrash with a strong melodic sense, and lyrics full of goth and politics. Less beer than their first CD, though drink (and smoke) is an element in several songs. They stretch their musical legs.
They do well with Weasel about, yes you guessed it, George W. Bush. A country swing ditty:
Weasel in the White House throwing stonesThey probably won't play this in Crawford.
Sorry 'bout your luck with your Savings & Loans
Screw all the fuckers from the Skull and Bones
To hell with them all - let's get stoned.
Politics comes back in the country rock, "Watch out for the government of Vampires". Pleasantly pessimistic music; annoyed but not angry.
In a bit of a departure, they channel pretentious art rock ala Yes or Genesis in the nearly-psychedelic Icy Flow:Stranger from 10,000 yearsYeah, drunken frat boys singing about Atlantis. Mostly works.
With his wisdom disappears
10,000 leagues beneath the sea
left all his works for all to see.
"The Freak from down the way" is an acid-dropping superfreak. Cleanly played funk about a girl you might want to know, if you're into strange stuff.
A worthy second CD from a group which is tighter and more sure of itself and its audience. A good beat, tuneful songs, clear lyrics, Recommended if you liked their first CD or if you appreciate this range of fuzzy hard rock done well. Sacrelicious is good party CD that will go with beer and dancing.Loud & Live (in the studio)
When we last checked in with Howlin' Houndog, he was with the Infamous Loosers. In Loud and Live, he fronts several lineups. All are rocking, hard driving blues, as he draws on songs by Leadbelly, Lou Reed, Roger Miller and more.
Howlin' Houndog, one of the nom-de-guerres of Vagrant Record's Erik 4-A, has a Wolfman Jack raspy voice, and knows how to use it. He picks great songs and wrings the blues right out; the other side of Leadbelly, just this side of Dave van Ronk
I don't really have a lot to say about this CD. Look at the song list. You either like blues rock or you don't. Howlin' Hounddog is a particularly good practitioner of the art, and if this is your thing you will do well to add him to your collection. If it isn't your thing and want to dip into the genre, Loud and Live (in the studio) will be a good introduction. The whole CD is iPw.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
--////
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Carolyn Foster Segal: The Shrinking Univers[ity] (irascibleprofessor.com)
Here is a lesson in how to make a small school even smaller.
Nikki Tranter: "Magical Things: An Interview with Julianna Baggott" (popmatters.com)
Julianna Baggott talks about "The Anybodies" and "The Nobodies," her fantasy books for young readers that reveal the path to enlightenment lies in a life spent reading.
R. David Smola: A Chat with Richard Patrick, lead singer of Filter (bullz-eye.com)
"I'm thinking maybe there is a crowd out there that wants to rock and wants to hear music that [asks], F**king why? Why are our children getting whaled on? Why are we sending our children to die in Iraq?"
Will Harris: A Chat with Robyn Hitchcock (bullz-eye.com)
"I'm not one of those people who says, 'Well, we're going to make this record and spend three or four months, and at the end, we'll really have something to show for it.' I mean, on the occasions where I've had the budget to do that, I don't think the results have been very good."
Christine Kearney: Wife of comedian Denis Leary skewers celebrity (reuters.com)
The wife of comedian Denis Leary sends up Hollywood, marriage and celebrities in her new novel that is based on her experiences of dealing with her husband's fame and observations of film stars.
Alex Remington: Happy Birthday, Gene Wilder! (huffingtonpost.com)
Gene Wilder has earned the right to a second act of quiet straightforwardness, having already given us a lifetime's worth of laughs.
Bruce Dancis: 'High Noon' director called it a parable about Hollywood and McCarthyism (McClatchy Newspapers)
"High Noon," with its iconic story of one man's courage in the face of death, has long been a favorite movie of many viewers.
Dana Stevens: Being John Cusack (slate.com)
THE LATEST PHASE IN THE WAR INC. STAR'S CAREER.
Memories of a child star (film.guardian.co.uk)
Bertil Guve recalls acting up for Ingmar Bergman. Interview by Geoffrey McNab.
Kevin Maher: Jules et Jim (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
The return to the big screen of the 1962 classic "Jules et Jim" has our critic marvelling at its genius all over again.
A: Omaha
) found this:
Sunday Celebration
Birthday Party
Marty,
In case you think I was exaggerating, my neighbor just sent me this shot (only one of the day) of my birthday celebration. And THIS was before the storm hit in force! Note, our feet are still on the ground. (That's me hiding behind the downspout...)
Reader Comment
Vic's F-15
I was lookin' at the fighter airplane picture you showcased and, while MY main, and usually broken, aeronautical problem-children in the Air Force were F-4 Phantoms, when I had worked Transit Alert during a spell I did have the opportunity to do a bit of maintenance on an F-15.
In comparison to The Pig, our (us maintenance simians that is) most commonly affectionate name at Kadina A.B. for the F-4E, in contrast, the F-15 (I think it was a C model) was SO EASY to work on.
The one being moved through that downtown area however appears to be completely stripped down and probably going to museum ... crap, while I was in the AF, the F-4 was at the age that the F-15 now is and actively being phased out by the '15. Damn I feel old.
DanD
Thanks, Dan!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and nice.
The kid & I farted around in the garden. We've been putting in a couple of tomato plants a week for a couple of months now.
Been on an heirloom kick this year, so every time we encountered a non-hybrid tomato plant it had to come home with us.
Ended up with German, Russian, French, Polish, Spanish and Eyetalian plants - as well as some from Arkansas, Oregon & PA.
Americans Use Net To Look Beyond
Sound Bites
Americans dissatisfied with political sound bites are turning to the Internet for a more complete picture, a new study finds.
In a report Sunday, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said that nearly 30 percent of adults have used the Internet to read or watch unfiltered campaign material - footage of debates, position papers, announcements and transcripts of speeches.
Google Inc.'s YouTube and other video sites have become more popular. Thirty-five percent of adults have watched a political video online during the primary season, compared with 13 percent during the entire 2004 presidential race.
The telephone study of 2,251 adults, including 1,553 Internet users, was conducted April 8 to May 11 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Sound Bites
Given Key To The City
B.B. King
B.B. King was awarded the key to the city Saturday at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival.
The blues elder statesman received the honor from Mayor Betty Superstein on the festival main stage near the top of his set, pausing to accept the plaque and thank Superstein while the crowd roared.
King, 82, took a wheel chair to get to the stage at Bonnaroo, the annual festival held in the Tennessee countryside south of Nashville. King walked slowly onto the stage where he took his perch on a chair with his prized guitar, Lucille.
But the legendary bluesman showed that his fingers haven't showed a bit of aging. As he has throughout his long career, he never hit a wrong note.
B.B. King
Family Embroiled In Internet Dispute
Narnia
A Scottish family have become embroiled in an intellectual property dispute with the estate of the author C.S. Lewis after buying a Narnia Internet domain name for their 10-year-old son as a birthday present.
Richard and Gillian Saville-Smith, who live in Edinburgh, paid 70 pounds ($140) to purchase the domain name Narnia.mobi from the internet registration company Fasthosts in 2006 so their son could have it as an email address.
They were asked to return the domain name to the C.S. Lewis company, owner of the author's estate, but refused. The family then received a 128-page legal complaint filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Switzerland.
"We don't have the money to hire intellectual property lawyers, so we're saying 'help'. One thing for sure is that our response won't be 128 pages long, it will be more like 10 pages -- we're looking at quality rather than quantity," said Mr. Saville-Smith, who is an accountant.
Narnia
Senior Spelling Bee
Larry Grossman
The word was "debouch," and Larry Grossman did just that, emerging as the winner of this year's senior spelling bee.
Grossman, 56, put himself in position to win by spelling "botryoidal." He clinched the title Saturday by correctly spelling "debouch," which means "to come forth; emerge."
Grossman, of Northwood, N.D., is a teacher and six-time winner of the North Dakota state spelling bee. For winning the 13th annual AARP The Magazine's National Spelling Bee, he gets to take home $500 plus bragging rights.
Last year's third-place finisher, Michael Petrina Jr., of Arlington, Va., took second. Petrina was eliminated by misspelling "umbones," which is the word for a knob or protrusion at the center of a shield.
Larry Grossman
Upscale Hotel Considered
Alcatraz
The National Park Service is considering adding a hotel to Alcatraz Island, site of one of the world's most notorious prisons.
Unlike the cells afforded to inmates such as Al "Scarface" Capone, the facility would offer upscale accommodations like those now available at the Ahwahnee Hotel in California's Yosemite National Park.
Alcatraz Island is run by the U.S. National Park Service and is already San Francisco's second most-popular tourist attraction, after its famed cable cars.
About 1.5 million people take ferries to visit the prison cellblock every year, and summer tickets sell out weeks ahead.
Alcatraz
Special Treatment For US Lawmakers
Countrywide Financial
Countrywide Financial, the largest mortgage lender at the center of the US housing crisis, regularly gave loans on favorable terms to prominent lawmakers and former cabinet members, according to US media.
The preferential treatment for senators including Democrat Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and a recent presidential candidate, was approved by Angelo Mozilo, chief executive of Countrywide Financial, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.
CondeNast Portfolio magazine first broke the story on Wednesday, saying the recipients of the favorable terms were known as "Friends of Angelo" in internal company documents and e-mails.
The other officials who allegedly received special attention from Mozilo included resident George W. Bush's former housing secretary, Alphonso Jackson, and two senior figures from former president Bill Clinton's administration -- former United Nations ambassador Richard Holbrooke and former Health and Human Services secretary Donna Shalala, the magazine wrote.
Countrywide Financial
Music A Key Element In Brand Profile
WWE
It broadcasts television shows in 130 countries and in 20 languages. It averages a weekly global audience of 47 million viewers. It aired tongue-in-cheek videotaped messages from Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama during an April broadcast. It is a pop culture phenomenon.
"One of my frustrations is getting the word out about just how much music is used in our product," WWE music director Jim Johnston said. "The labels will stumble over themselves to get on MTV, but no one's watching MTV."
The WWE is continuing to develop relationships with record labels and publishers to find songs to feature in the dozen-plus pay-per-view events it produces each year. Next in line for the WWE treatment: hard rock band Shinedown, whose single "Devour" from its forthcoming Atlantic Records album, "The Sound of Madness," will be featured during the WWE "Night of Champions" June 29 pay-per-view event.
For licensed music used in pay-per-view events and the occasional weekly broadcast, the WWE sometimes showcases songs by such well-known acts as Kid Rock or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. More typically, it seeks out little-known bands willing to provide their music for free, timing the airing of a song around the release of a new album, according to WWE Music Group general manager Neil Lawi, who listens to submissions, maintains relationships with labels and frequently scouts new talent.
WWE
Awaits New Home
1939 Mercedes Benz
A car gifted by Adolf Hitler to a Nepali king is likely to be displayed in a palace museum after the Himalayan nation abolished the 239-year-old monarchy and the ousted King Gyanendra quit the palace.
Officials said a 1939 Mercedes Benz presented by the Nazi leader to King Tribhuvan, Gyanendra's grandfather, is now rusting at Nepal's main Narayanhiti palace grounds.
It is lying there for more than three years after an engineering college in Kathmandu, which was using it to train mechanics, said it did not have enough money and spare parts to restore the antique car.
But now efforts are being made to display the car in the palace, which the government says will be turned into a museum.
1939 Mercedes Benz
5K Deaths Since '03
Thoroughbreds
Thoroughbred racetracks in the U.S. reported more than three horse deaths a day last year and 5,000 since 2003, and the vast majority were put down after suffering devastating injuries on the track, according to an Associated Press survey.
Countless other deaths went unreported because of lax record keeping, the AP found in the broadest such review to date.
The catastrophic breakdown of filly Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby last month made the fragility of a half-ton horse vivid for the millions watching, but the AP found that such injuries occur regularly in every racing state. Tracks in California and New York, which rank first and sixth in thoroughbred races, combine to average more than one thoroughbred death for every day of the year.
The AP compiled its figures from responses to open records inquiries sent to the organizations that govern the sport in the 29 states identified by Equibase Co., a clearinghouse for race results, as having had at least 1,000 thoroughbreds start a race last year.
Thoroughbreds
Weekend Box Office
'The Incredible Hulk'
"The Incredible Hulk" was a box-office bruiser, yanking in $54.5 million over opening weekend and laying to rest the stigma of his unappreciated big-screen adventure five years ago.
Also rebounding off a bad last movie was director M. Night Shyamalan, whose fright flick "The Happening" with Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel opened at a sturdy No. 3 with $30.5 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Incredible Hulk," $54.5 million.
2. "Kung Fu Panda," $34.3 million.
3. "The Happening," $30.5 million.
4. "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," $16.4 million.
5. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," $13.5 million.
6. "Sex and the City," $10.2 million.
7. "Iron Man," $5.1 million.
8. "The Strangers," $4.1 million.
9. "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," $3 million.
10. "What Happens in Vegas," $1.7 million.
'The Incredible Hulk'
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