'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Those Darn Accordions
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Squeezing The Rock
For the most part, throughout the history of recorded music, musicians were serious artists and/or shameless panderers to popular taste except for the comedy acts. Orchestras had "unusual instrumentation" (eg Haydn's Farewell). Dance bands had "novelty numbers" such as Glenn Miller's Pennsylvania 6-5000. I've written a lot about comedy and comedy music, often called "Demented Music", as in "the kind of music you'd hear on the Dr. Demento Show". Demented Music artists develop a comedy persona, and never get serious. Well, hardly ever.
Dance bands, in particular polka bands, often struck a happy medium. The music was interactive with the dancers, and the musicians were likely rather tipsy. Musicians who were clearly enjoying themselves are more fun to dance to than a regimented band.
Those Darn Accordions come from a long tradition of people making serious music while having fun. They do rock and roll, among other things. They slip in rap and yodeling and tv theme songs and novelty numbers. They are musically tight with some fine vocal harmonies. The accordions are the lead instruments and usually sound like electric organs. Most everybody sings and the two female vocalists add a layer of sound not usually heard from straight polka bands. But let's get down to it, shall we? I don't have all their CDs, but I can recommend these four.
No Strings Attached
Those Darn Accordions first CD is No Strings Attached, from 1996 which skirts close to a true Dementia Music CD (or cassette, showing how quickly technology has changed music). They owe a lot to Weird Al Yankovic, who made accordions hip in the 80s as long as you loved your material.
The first cut is a nearly-Weird Al rock pean to Mothra; not the movie, watching the movie. Heavy on the drums, accordion and backing vocals, the song is about looking for the singing pixies from the film. Accordion players are Behind the Bellows; danceable driving rock. A former "straight arrow" confesses that Them Hippies Was Right. (And about time, too.) Almost rap.
The Hotsy Totsy Girl is a straightforward rock and roll polka, except for the yodeling. Less successful is their cover of the Baba O'Riley. Accordion instead of keyboard/fiddle almost works, and the vocal stylings prevent it from being a mere recapitulation, but it just made me appreciate The Who more. The version probably works really well in concert. They get funk with Citizen Contraire, and admit they faked the Loch Ness Monster on their Deathbed Confession. They get annoyed at their billing on the vaudeville circuit and won't be Following the Puppets anymore.
Weird Al makes an appearance on the answering machine in the bouncy novelty song The Happy House, which is a bar. For some reason, everyone wants to cover Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, correctly figuring that the song is a parody of itself and incorrectly figuring that they cane squeeze even more parody from their version. After the original and the Chantmania version, everyone else should stick to doing it in concert.
Weird Al completists will need this CD, Dementia Musicians will want to flesh out their collection, polka djs will slip in a few tracks. Not quite as danceable as Jimmy Sturr, not quite as conceptually odd as Brave Combo, Those Darn Accordions have made a fine CD with No Strings Attached. They demonstrate a wide range of style and subject matter. Recommended and iPod worthy (iPw).
Clownhead
Clownhead is darker, with more rap influence. They Came For Accordions; the aliens that is. Cool jazz rock, almost techno rap, it'll get all six of your toes tapping. My favorite cut on the CD is the bouncy pop Hippy With A Banjo:
Oh have mercy on me
I gotta run it's a hippy with a banjo
It's like torture to me
Kinda like a skeeter in your ear when you camp-o
He's so simple and free
He's gonna play the damn thing anywhere he can so
Please have mercy on me I gotta run it's a hippy with a banjo
They do a nice cover of Low Rider, where the accordions add to the samba beat. They return to accordion roots with the mariachi Tex-Mex Mucho De Nada about a lost love followed by the instrumental tango Lapis Lazuli. Switching accordion cultures back to Wisconsin Poles is the hearty wish for the First Bratwurst of Summer, accompanies by beer.
I still haven't made up my mind about Clownhead, a dark art rock song about a clown reeling under insults. "Nobody's laughing now." I expect this from Renaldo and the Loaf or maybe Barnes and Barnes. I dunno. Maybe they had too many brats and beer.
I also like Dude, another rap-influenced driving rock dance number with very nice harmonies. A lovable loser is urged to come home and cheer up.
Clownhead stretches the boundaries of accordion music without straying too far from tight danceable music. Another recommended CD with lots of iPw cuts.
Amped
Amped is a 6-cut EP that isn't listed on their web site and even the CD Universe page only lists four songs, so I'll zip through it quickly.
They return to their clown obsession with Serious World, a blues rocker:
But where do you go for kicks in a serious world?
What do you do for laughs in a serious world?
I try to be a sensible guy
But I'm coming off a beautiful high
And I feel like a clown going down
In A serious World
As a student, he didn't pay attention in shop class, but now he's a working in construction the teacher gets Mr. Slagle's Revenge. The accordions are okay in a faithful 60s rock cover of Magic Carpet Ride. Few bands would even try to cover Making Our Dreams Come True (Theme from Laverne and Shirley) but the two women evoke the proper Milwaukee stubbornness and the instrumentation is faithful to the original while different enough to justify the update.
Still, my favorite cut (of the six) is Meaning of Life, a polka that ponders the imponderable:
What is the meaning of life?
Did you ever stop to ponder that question in your head?
What is the meaning of life? Just gettin' up and doin' stuff and goin' back to bed
Amped is available for $8.95 but all six songs are available through their store for $0.99. Meaning of Life is a good introduction to Those Darn Accordions. If you like that one, get more.
Squeeze Machine
Their latest release, 2007's Squeeze Machine, is their most ambitious and most successful CD. Steam Punk is a genre that goes back to Jules Verne -- science fiction/fantasy in a world where the steam engine is common -- and is getting a resurgence now as writers don't want to be bothered with quantum physics. The CD is in a cardboard case with a lyric booklet insert: A long way from a cassette.
This Song is a bouncy Beatles-inspired pop tune about a bouncy Beatles-inspired pop hit:
This song's got money written all over it
C'mon and sing along, little children
this song's got money written all over it
Ain't gonna quite 'till it rolls in
Roll on, roll on, c'mon, c'mon
Please please me oh yeah and buy this song
Grabbing another culture that uses them, they use zydeco to Blame It On Those Darn Accordions. Ever think about buying a bicycle built for two? Better listen to the country Tandem Bike. Getting back to important subjects, Glass of Beer Polka is a fun dance number.
They show their blues rock roots with Bob and the Office People. Not as angry as Worm Quartet's Strap On Brain or as sick as The Smothers Brothers Mediocre Fred, Bob isn't quite fit for the corporate world, so embezzles money and leaves for warmer climes. It's Now Or Never is a fine Italian tango and they do a fine version with the Elvis lyrics and an Italian operatic chorus. The singer gets jealous of Larry's Wonderful Life, a sweetly sick song about a stalker.
Squeeze Machine is another strong album by a group with many strengths. Those Darn Accordions deserve a few bytes on your iPod, if not the full CDs in your collection. All the songs are available as single cuts from the Those Darn Accordions store. Recommended for those who like good, danceable rock from a variety of musical traditions with a sense of humor in song selection and lyrics. They have a nice mix of covers and originals. Spend a few bucks on some of the individual cuts, then order the CDs for the higher quality audio and lyric sheets.
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
David Plotz: God's Venture Capitalist (slate.com)
The strange quest of Sir John Templeton.
David Sirota: Homogeneity Threatens Democracy (alternet.org)
Across America, local culture has been supplanted by fast food and sub-par Will Smith movies. No wonder people don't care about hometown issues.
Froma Harrop: Obama's Liberal Shiver (creators.com)
Everyone expects some alterations as the chosen candidate moves to the center for the general election. But Obama hasn't just shortened a sleeve here, taken in a waist there. He's come out with a whole new summer wardrobe of policy positions. Nor had he left a face-saving interval between one view and its opposite.
Susan Estrich: Three Dog Night (creators.com)
The man I sleep with never has trouble falling asleep at night. If there's one thing he knows how to do (other than eat), it's sleep. He closes his eyes and he's out. He can wake up in an instant - if the phone rings or someone comes to the door - and then fall back to sleep just as fast. Sleeping for him is as natural, and seemingly as easy, as breathing.
Susan Estrich: The Evil Eye (creators.com)
I grew up with the evil eye lurking. In my mother's experience, doom was at the end of every rainbow. And the worst thing you could do was call attention to your blessings, a surefire way to attract the evil eye. A compliment required not a thank you, but a "kinnehora, tut tut tut" - the verbal equivalent of spitting three times after you tell the evil eye to look elsewhere.
Samara O'Shea: The Dangers of Keeping a Journal (huffingtonpost.com)
I once had a boyfriend. He once read my journal. He read all about me sleeping with another man. I no longer had a boyfriend.
Clare Tomalin: Jane Austen (The Guardian)
Not long before her death, Jane Austen described her writing as being done with a fine brush on a "little bit (not two inches wide) of ivory".
QUENTIN B. HUFF, "BUSTED HEADPHONES: Truth in Humor" (popmatters.com)
The second season of The Boondocks tackles issues that are important to the hip-hop community with contributions from numerous hip-hop artists. Boondocks Response Syndrome explains why we react to this series the way we do.
Will Harris: A Chat with Joe Anderson, Co-Star of "The Ruins" (bullz-eye.com)
Dude, there are scenes in ('The Ruins') Š they're something. Some horrible stuff. People were walking off set when I got my leg chopped off.
'I like the way I look. I celebrate that. I don't make excuses for it' (film.guardian.co.uk)
Charlize Theron hasn't let her astonishing beauty stand in her way. From serial killers to dysfunctional mothers, Carole Cadwalladr meets a Hollywood pin-up happy to play ugly.
KATRINA-KASEY WHEELER, "Pretty Odd: An Interview With Panic at the Disco" (popmatters.com)
Frontman Brendon Urie demonstrates that maturing can be a good thing for a band, but don't think that no one's having fun.
Alan Jackson: The cheerful world of Aimee Mann (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
Aimee Mann's songs are often angry and bleak. But in person this purveyor of intelligent, grown-up pop is all smiles.
What was the best selling non-fiction book of 1991?
Katharine Hepburn's
It SHOULD have been Kitty Kelley's: Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography though!
Reader Suggestion
aBowman Gadgets
Hello Marty,
Reader Comment
A brief thanks
Hi Marty,
I don't know if I should be thanking JD for recommending,
Neave.com ...the interactive playground of Paul Neave or not. I've been, "Checking it out" for the precious grandkids for an hour now... But, I must admit, it's fun. :)
Thumbs up, JD!
Sally P
Thanks, Sally!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Little more humid than usual, but tolerable.
ABC, FX Get High Marks
GLAAD
The marriage between the gay characters Kevin and Scotty in the season finale of ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" helped the network win the highest praise Sunday from an advocacy group that pushes for more visibility of such characters on television.
It was the first wedding of two gay or lesbian characters in a prime-time scripted series, said the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. ABC has had other historic moments, including introducing a gay character to "Soap" in 1977, having a gay teen in "My So-Called Life" and Ellen DeGeneres coming out on "Ellen" as well as in real life.
ABC ranked highest among the broadcast networks in hours where gay and lesbian characters were portrayed, with FX topping the 10 cable networks monitored, GLAAD said.
GLAAD
China Breaking UN Embargo
Sudan
China is breaking the United Nations arms embargo on Sudan, providing military equipment and training pilots to fly Chinese jets, the BBC said Sunday, citing an investigation by its journalists.
Citing two confidential sources, the broadcaster said China was training pilots to fly Chinese Fantan fighter jets, and that Sudan had imported several fighter trainers called K8s two years ago.
It obtained satellite photographs of the planes, reportedly believed to have been delivered to Sudan in 2003 -- the UN arms embargo was imposed in March 2005 -- at an airport in Nyala in south Darfur last month.
The BBC said it had established, without citing its sources, that the jets were flying out of Nyala on missions in February.
Sudan
Free Central Park Concert
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi rocked Central Park, New Jersey style.
The rock group gave a free concert Saturday night on the park's Great Lawn, delighting tens of thousands of fans who sang along with the lyrics on a glorious summer evening.
New York City officials gave away 60,000 tickets for the concert. Some 50,000 people were expected to attend. The free tickets were reportedly being hawked by scalpers on eBay
Bon Jovi
Baby News
Vivienne Marcheline & Knox Leon
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has given birth to twins, a boy and a girl, her doctor at a hospital in southern France said on Sunday.
Oscar winner Jolie, 33, had the twins by caesarean section on Saturday evening at the Lenval hospital on the glamorous Promenade des Anglais waterfront drive in Nice. Actor Brad Pitt, the twins' father, was believed to be at her side.
The girl, named Vivienne Marcheline, weighed 2.27 kg (5.0 lbs) while her brother, Knox Leon, weighed an almost identical 2.28 kg, according to Jolie's doctor, Michel Sussmann.
Marcheline was the name of Jolie's mother, also an actress, who died of cancer last year. Marcheline Bertrand raised Jolie and her brother, James Haven, after divorcing being abandoned by their father, actor Jon Voight (R-McSame), when Jolie was a toddler.
Vivienne Marcheline & Knox Leon
Broadcast Access Still Issue
Beijing Olympics
Broadcasters and the IOC are pushing China to keep its promises and open up Tiananmen Square to more hours of live coverage for the Beijing Olympics.
Unfettered access to Tiananmen, site of a bloody crackdown on the 1989 democracy movement, is being used to gauge how far China's communist government will go in granting press freedom, which it promised seven years ago to help win the Olympic bid.
In an emergency meeting last week in Beijing with the International Olympic Committee and broadcasters, Chinese officials - after months of hedging and leaving the critical question unanswered - decided live broadcasting from Tiananmen would be limited to two time slots - 6-10 a.m. and 9-11 p.m.
Chinese officials also finally agreed to give hundreds of satellite trucks freedom to roam around the city and report, but a list of restricted areas is expected this week. And there are reports broadcasters will have to get permission 24 hours before filming from a location.
Beijing Olympics
Honored in Los Angeles
Sir George Martin
Sir George Martin, the classically trained producer who helmed the Beatles recordings from their mop-top phase through their late musical masterworks, was honored Saturday night in Los Angeles.
Martin, 82, received a career award from The Recording Academy's Grammy Foundation, which provides education programs for future music professionals and works to preserve musical history.
Martin is the most successful record producer of all time, according to the academy, with more than 50 chart-topping hits and one-billion units sold. He also holds the record for the longest run of No. 1 pop-chart hits in history, spanning 36 years.
Sir George Martin
Honored in Los Angeles
The Who
The Who was honored at the Saturday taping of the third annual "VH1 Rock Honors," which will air Thursday on the cable channel. Celebrity guests such as David Duchovny, Mila Kunis, Rainn Wilson and Adam Sandler introduced The Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters, Incubus, Tenacious D and Pearl Jam, who covered songs from such Who albums as "Tommy," "The Who Sell Out" and "Quadrophenia."
Who guitarist Pete Townshend and lead singer Roger Daltry closed the special concert at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion with a performance of some of the band's greatest hits. Original drummer Keith Moon died in London in 1978. Original bassist John Entwistle died in Las Vegas in 2002. Moon and Entwistle were remembered in pre-taped retrospectives during the over two-hour show.
"The Office" funnyman Wilson, dressed as Elton John's character Local Lad from "Tommy," introduced The Flaming Lips, who performed a medley of songs from The Who's legendary 1969 rock opera. Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne began the "Tommy" set inside of a giant plastic bubble that which traveled over the first few rows of the audience.
The Who
Sells Out
Anheuser-Busch
U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc agreed to a $50 billion takeover by Belgium-based InBev NV, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday, creating the world's largest beer maker.
InBev, the maker of Stella Artois, and Budweiser-brewer Anheuser were not immediately available to comment.
The combined company will be called Anheuser-Busch InBev, said the sources, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. Anheuser will get seats on the new company's board, the sources said, but it was not immediately clear how many.
Adding another dimension to any deal was Mexico's No. 1 brewer Grupo Modelo, which is 50 percent owned by Anheuser. The maker of Corona beer, which has the right to choose its partner, has not yet approved InBev for that role and the two brewers remain in talks, according to one person familiar with the situation.
Anheuser-Busch
Nuremberg In Reverse
Gitmo Trials
When accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed grumbled to the U.S. military war tribunal he couldn't get paper or file legal motions with the court, he was told to put his complaints in legal papers and file them with the court.
When he asked for documents to be translated into Arabic so he could read them, he was told there was no requirement for the U.S. military commissions that will try his death penalty case to do that. But the judge said he would think about it.
Lawyers for the five men accused of plotting the hijacked airliner attacks on the United States say the complaints brought last week before the war court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, exemplify the trouble the men face getting a fair trial before the first U.S. military tribunals since World War Two.
From simple logistics like paper, computers and law libraries to strict secrecy rules that will prevent the five from seeing classified evidence before trial, the defendants and their lawyers say the tribunals are not giving the men a fair chance in a case that could lead to their executions.
Gitmo Trials
Rose Bowl Has 39,250 Seats
Jim Purol
Jim Purol took a seat at the Rose Bowl, and then another, and then another, until he broke a world record.
The Anaheim man set a Guiness World Record on Wednesday for "Most Seats Sat in 48 Hours" by sitting in 39,250 seats.
The 56-year-old, who already holds several other world records, says he has dreamed of tackling the Rose Bowl seats for 20 years - ever since he sat in all 107,501 chairs at the University of Michigan's football stadium.
The feat has taken a toll on his body and his cleanliness, as soot on the seats rubbed off on his clothes. He says he loves the Rose Bowl but calls the place "filthy."
Jim Purol
Weekend Box Office
'Hellboy II'
Superheroes battling inner demons often rule the box office. This time, the superhero was a demon as "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" pulled in $35.9 million to debut as the No. 1 weekend film.
Universal's "Hellboy" sequel, starring Ron Perlman as the red-skinned devil fighting for the good guys, took over the top spot from Will Smith's superhero tale "Hancock," which slipped to second place with $33 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Eddie Murphy bombed with his comedy "Meet Dave," a 20th Century Fox release that took in just $5.3 million. The movie features Murphy in dual roles as a tiny alien and his spaceship - which is designed to resemble a full-sized human for a visit to Earth.
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. "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," $35.9 million.
2. "Hancock," $33 million.
3. "Journey to the Center of the Earth," $20.6 million.
4. "WALL-E," $18.5 million.
5. "Wanted," $11.6 million.
6. "Get Smart," $7.1 million.
7. "Meet Dave," $5.3 million.
8. "Kung Fu Panda," $4.3 million.
9. "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl," $2.5 million.
10. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," $2.3 million.
'Hellboy II'
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