Brief News In Brief

[A] Mr. Lif is at Johnny Brenda's coming Monday (May 18th, my dad's birthday). That's him up der. A very Public Enemy-ish beat, which can only be understood as high praise.
[B] The Roots, at their Roots' Picnic, are playing with Public Enemy, doing "Nation of Millions" all the way through. {also with TV on the Radio, The Black Keys, & Santigold}
If you have $50, go; if not, see Lif with me. (He lives in Philly now.)

[C] Woody Allen is engaged in a legal spat with the founder of American Apparel. Dov Charney used Woody's image sans permission. I think Dov's billboard might have been saying that anti-Semites want to drag down any Jew who has sex? Maybe yes? Anyway, check the summary of AA's defense:
1)The Meteoric Rise of Dov Charney and His Company, American Apparel
2) The Media Vilifies Mr. Charney and Turns Against American Apparel
3) The Woody Allen/Annie Hall Epiphany
4) The Display of the Images [booty]
5) The Images as Mr. Charney's Artistic Expression, Social Commentary and Art Parody
6) Mr. Charney Consistently Champions the First Amendment's Freedom of Expression
(full analysis by real lawyers here, NJK)

[D] Roxana Saberi was released from prison. She's an American reporter who was jailed for espionage, after a 15-minute trial, in Iran. Then she was let out.
You already knew that, huh? Well, how about this: She used to be a "Miss North Dakota". She wears the charming white one-piece below, and says she would like to end both world hunger and politically motivated, judicially suspect jailings.


[E] Popped! musical goings-on is free and in my area June 20th.

You can 'rent a tent' for $125.

[F] Steven Wright, who I web-blabbed about here, is playing the Keswick Theater. I don't really go see live comedy (do you?), but I though this presented me a golden opportunity to link to myself, which is done by any mature blog worth a hill of beans.
He says things like this:
One time a cop pulled me over for running a stop sign. He said, "Didn't you
see the stop sign?" I said, "Yeah, but I don't believe everything I read."

Children in Bars 'n' Drivers in Cars

Today is nice, so I will tell you a (nice) story from the other nice day.

Young Turks - Rod Stewart

{{ This song is just great. I'm thinking I'll play on my BBC Essential Mix, when I am finally a world-befamed DJ. }}

First, let's just state, forthrightly and with feeling, that I saw extra clowns.

Not only are clowns notable as such, but the first one was outside of a bar, getting ready to do her thing.
Of course, since she's a clown, she's got a bunch of kids around her, all ready for balloons and jokes and smiles and BEER i guess, because it is a bar after all. Also, clowns=fun and beer=fun, so Beery the Cheery Clown must be FUNfunFUN.


I also saw a few clownish things:
Outside of Rob's comic shop, I saw a giant inflatable HULK ( ! Hulk Smash ! ), so I went in and said Hello to him.

I later saw a giant inflatable cross, with a nipple on it --IT'S ART : DON'T HAVE A COW MAN!!-- that was printed with the pattern of a Holstein cow.

I did a clownish thing: while walking out of Old City Coffee, I hooked the handle of my umbrella on the door. I then made a face, which included a smile (clowns smile or frown: always one-or-the-other). Amelia saw me and laughed, because that's what clowniness makes you do. Also, it wasn't raining that day, so it was like a prop, this umbrella, and clowns love props.



I also saw lots of poor driving, as if there were 8 clowns in the car: all harmless. Lots of turning left from the center lane: eh, who cares. My magnamanity regarding other people's various shortcomings is really touching, I think. It's the sort of thing you could totally praise me for, basically non-stop.
And you can also praise me for the bounty of my blog, which is about to increase a fair bit. My time zone is now "summertime". So you will get a more-frequently logged blog. In fact, just in the last week or so, here are some topics, mixes, etc., that I have thought about generating.

Gary Numan: "Are Cars Electric?"

Putting pickles in salads : Good but intense (identical to me in this regard). Strictly, they were cornichons, 'cos I'm quality, but cornichons are just glorified, if glorious, pickles.

Maybe something about PJ Harvey, since she has a new album and will tour in Philly soon. June 7th (??...Tix as Birfday Gif...??)

A blog about blog-driven connections, including the world's oldest pharmancy, paintings and mom-as-muse(-maybe?). Oh, what's the connection? You Will Have To Tune In To See!!


Mixes:
"You can't even DRIVE yet!"

This would be drawn from CDs I've owned forever that are still classics -They can't just be old (I must have bought them long ago too), or obvious gems, like say Neil Young. They have to be something you might care, or need to, learn about. Aphex Twin-, Stone Roses-type things.

Underrated Albums or Bands; can we call this one "Slept On"? Elegant, innit?

More versions of "Shower Jamz!", which Kyle liked (Cf. Previous Post)

"Talky No Singy": songs where the singing is more talking than singing. No, not rap, ya goof. So far I'm considering Billy Bragg, this Pretenders song, Lou Rawls, maybe Sonic Youth (because they do this, but are they really that great?: jury's out man), Suicide, Jonathan Richaman's "Monlogue about Bermuda", which I talk about with regularity. Arab Strap too, natch.
Suggestions welcome for any of these, by the by.

Shower Jamz!

This mix was inspired by an arcane practice from my friend Kyle. He and his then-roommate used to sneak the favorite songs of the other guy onto the stereo when one was in the shower. A pleasant, if unexpected, way to start your day.

Download your new favorite series of 'jems': Shower Jamz!.zip.

(Here's a song off of it, to sate your ears whilst you feast your eyes on this oh-so magical blog)

TRACKLISTING:

Wind-Up Doll *** Lee Perry and The Upsetters

I Can See Clearly*** Johnny Nash ("nothing but blue sky"!)

Move On Up *** Mark Eitzel (cover of Curtis Mayfield)

Last night on Earth*** Mekons- ("they can't hurt you now..."!)

The Way We Get By *** Spoon (piano!)

Oh, Pretty Woman *** Al Green (cover of Roy Orbison)

Alright *** Supergrass (keeping their teeth clean: super clean!)

Young Folks *** Peter Bjorn And John (Yeah!: Bein' Young!)

Lady Don't Tek No *** Latyrx (Booty Bassline! Sassy rappin'!)

Beng Beng Beng *** Femi Kuti (...heh heh...)

Oooh (Feat. Redman)*** De La Soul

Oh Yoko *** John Lennon (oh YO!)

Too Young *** Phoenix (Young again!)

To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high) *** Ryan Adams (again: Young Again!)

Settin' the Woods on Fire *** Hank Williams ("you be daffy, and I'll be dilly; we'll order up two bowls of chili"!)

Bimbo *** Jimmy Dean

If we can land a man on the moon, surely I can win your heart *** Beulah


I made an iTunes playlist, driven by the same desire: to get the day off to a really nifty start. It works! If you don't believe me, listen to this mix every morning for about 3-6 days, and then leave comments and a 'before' and an 'after' picture, okay?
Bet they look like this:
before:


after:


I've had this playlist, growing and growing, for years: I pared it down to some essentials. Some of these are songs I know that Kyle would like or does actually like; some are my own favorites. That some of the songs are simply selfish makes me feel better, because I don't like making mixes for other people: other people are gross!

Shower Jamz.zip

Lemme tell you though: just because I put some of mine own besties on here, does not preclude them from being thine own besties, too. For instance, if you do not know the Spoon song, you will love it (FACT). If Beulah songs don't make you happy and smile, you are dead inside (FACT). Phoenix is hit or miss, but this song?: hit (FACT). (They're mostly hit, by the by.)
I mean, you've heard of these people: Ryan Adams Hank Williams Al Green Spoon De La Soul Yoko (haha JK it's John Lennon, ya dope). See, I don't even need to put spaces in there, because you know when the name starts/stops.
There is nothing scary here, only 110% bestness and favoricity and gollytude.
Download: Shower Jamz!.zip

So I was talking with this Clown...

Really guys! I was!

There was a guy sitting in his car outside my house, putting on pancake makeup, while I was ripping new songs from new vinyl*. He got all dressed up, in full clown makeup and a tux and a Phillies (2008 World Champions) hat.
Later, he asked me "How do I get back to the real world?".
He wasn't high, or crazy (unlike some clowns...).
What he meant was, "How do I get back to Center City?".

One of the tracks I got today was this, which, due to the combination of its greatness (you gotsta listen to it) and its non-obvious nature, proves that I am a Wax Witch, which is like a water witch, but with records. I am basically a vinyl sleuth.

Meeting In The Ladies Room - Klymaxx

I am pretty sure that they were having clown tryouts at the studios across from my house today, because later, I saw a young kid go in, carrying clothes from the dry cleaners and a suitcase.
(See, I've deduced that he was a clown, because kids don't have dry-cleaning! Elementary, my dear whoever you are.)
I am really hoping that the 'case had some serious, even-better-than-Conrad-style magic tricks in it.


* Today, I got more Billy Paul; in fact, this album


a soundtrack (to the movie Perfect, which we've never seen, but has Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta, when he was till dancing) which has on it: a Jackson, the Pointer Sisters, the Thompson Twins (brothers, not sisters), Wham!, Whitney Houston, and ,,uh,, Lou Reed.

Also, Sonny & Cher (better than you think, balee' dat),
a 12" single by Snap,
a 45 called "Folk Attick Presents:--", which a little lacking in the soul department, because they are British, and this is from when 'folk' meant "Negro Folk Music" (as the sleeve says), meaning the blues. British people didn't grasp the blues until like the 60's- hell, they didn't learn to rap until AFTER the French.
an epic album called !Magician's Hat! by Bo Hansson


and Charlie Rich (AKA "The Silver Fox"), which used to belong to Cuyahoga County Library, of Cleveland Ohio: not kidding! It was Dewey Decimal'ed as M783.7 R37SI, if you don't believe me.

And, as stated, the single for THE ABOVE SONG: Klymaxxx "Meeting in the Ladies Room".
I've been sleuthing around for that track for a bit now. It was on an mp3 mix (?Diplo? perchance), which means that I didn't know who it was.
She says at one point, "Don't slap me: I'm not in the mood".
Huh? I dunno: this song is confusing. For instance, it appears to not be about cocaine, which you might think, but about man-stealing. But ((CONFUSING!)) she then leaves her man alone while she has a conference (in the Ladies Room) with her girls about it? Eh, maybe it is about coke. Ask Conrad about it?, two weeks to the day.

HYPERTEXT MGA-BLG

Here's a quote from poet Dylan Thomas:

"Look look, I got books;
See! See! I got CDs!
Fer sure, fer sure, I got pictures;
Stacks and stacks of hot hot wax."

Wax is vinyl; you should know that.

Listen to this:



I'm letting you download it here, too

[[[ Today I also got Jerry Butler and a soul compilation (all Philly Soul Power), with that above song on it. I figured you all might LOVE THE SHIT OUT OF IT because, mostly true, the song "Dirty Old Man" basically was when my blog broke into the mainstream consciousness, and this song sort of sounds like it.
More funk, but a little less sass. But really, isn't funk sassy, and isn't sass a bit funky? So it's robbing Peter to pay Paul, see? ]]]

Here's what I got recently:
CDs from Portland
Surrender to Jonathan! by Jonathan Richman ( on Vapor Records)

...This is really the picture on the CD...
-----------(dude's pretty funny)----------

The Animals: Retrospective (I have a lot of these songs on 'wax' already, but the songs I didn't have are impressively out there... you'll see someday, when I focus my blog's LAZERVIZION on how batshit crazy ALL British rockers are. For instance, The Who?: CRAZY)

Gary Numan: Archive (just totally random stuff of his, compiled by some random British- hence, crzy- label that he never recorded on. Also, Numan, British himself, though not a 'rocker', is also crazy: check the Wiki factsheet)

Suicide: reissued second album, and first rehearsal tapes (weird early American synthesized-not-techno jams: It blurbles, and how.

Guy sings like Elvis, no honest!: remember that song "Juxebox Babe" on the Annie 'DJ Kicks!' mix? That's the same guy/singer/dude.)

Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels: Devil with a Blue Dress and Other Hits (on, ahem, Flashback records)
Notice how much old, old old stuff I've been buying lately? I could practically DJ 'Bouffant Bangout' all by my lonesome!
I'm pleased as punch by more expanding 'oldhead' CD section, but really, don't the titles of these sound totally uninspiring?: 'Other Hits': y a w n -but really, it's good

Jonathan Richman: Soundtrack to 'Revolution Summer' (this is really great, because it sounds JUST LIKE him, but it is totally different. More different than his "Jonathan Goes Country!" album. Really, he has an album called that.)
(( I think that maybe 'different' cannot be made superlative, like how 'unique' cannot be: 'more unique', see, just is not right ))
C'mon, I'm serious: Are any of these albums I bought regular albums? 'Reissued Retrospective Archive of Other Soundtrack Hits'...

THE STOOGES: S/T (well, maybe 'N/T' is more accurate)

A proper album, please note....
(same picture, please note)


Hot, Funky, and Sweaty: 10 Super Rare Original Funk Killers From The Late 60's to the Early 70's (THE UNDISPUTED BLACK MIND POWER)
That is the real full (and really full, and fully real) title, and yes, there is a crocodile water-skiing on the cover??!?!?!?!? Because it's a comp from a French label, figure that out. The CD is printed so that it looks like a 45 rpm record: pretty sweet, though not a brand new idea.

But really, if "brand new" were my criteria, first I'd be stupid, and second, none of this would have got bought, right?

AMX Mix- "Supersounds of '70"

Eek, I'm back! Back in Philly (was way west: Portland), and back up in this here blog.

I've been sitting on this "AMX mix" for a few weeks now, and I'll tell you what:
it really improves with age; the more you listen, the more you know- and the more you know the more you GROW.

Here is the zip file, loaded up with over 20 songs! Supersounds of '70 will blow your business and lay you low. This is one of my (well-received, nearly world-famous) AMX mixes, so it too is loosely inspired by a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack. This one comes from Reservoir Dogs. Remember how Stephen Wright was the voice of that radio disc jockey?



And how he played these odd fun bouncy little 'jems' (that is a 'gem' and a 'jam')? Yeah, you remember that 'Stuck in the Middle with You" song that you really, really believed was Bob Dylan.

That sort of jem.
(If you don't know who Stephen Wright is, then you won't remember him from this show:

which, not conincidentally, is like this mix: funny, charming, odd, and old.)

Download the zip SUPERSOUNDS of '70 my friend!

T R A C K :) L I S T I N G
Party Lights :) Cluadine Clark
Band of Gold :) freda payne
La La :) The Cobras
Mocking Bird :) Inez Fox
Sixty Minute Man :) the Dominoes
You came a long way from St. Louis :) DeeDee Sharp & Chubby Checker
Bloodshot Eyes :) George Symonette
Opium Tea :) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
A Horse with no name :) America
Cross-Eyed Gal from the Ozarks :) Ferlin Husky
Bongo Bongo Bongo :) Preston Epps
Amazons and Coyotes :) the Dreamlovers
I'm Wearing the Britches :) The Carlisles
Happy Organ :) Dave 'Baby' Cortez
96 tears :) Aretha Franklin
Kind of a Drag :) Buckinghams
I Put a Spell On You :) Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Hats Off to Larry :) Del Shannon
Puddin n' Tain :) the Alleycats
Honky Tonkin :) Hank Williams
Got to see if I can't get Mommy (to come back home) :) Jerry Butler
Crimson and Clover :) Tommy James and the Shondells

Download the zip SUPERSOUNDS of '70 and set yourself free!

You'll get a fuller account of this mix soon (busy busyWORKbusy busy), but here are some lyrical themes:
A newlywed who isn't getting any
Mom won't let me party!
MOCK! (yeah), ING! (yeah)
Someone not quite being cool enough that you'd believe he was from Missouri, that epicenter of kewl
Alcohol abuse (eyes so bloodshot, that "you'd better close those eyes, before you bleed to death")
Narcotics in liquid form
A girl with a face like a Holstein cow
Congratulating the fellow who broke your lover's heart

You know, 'the issues of our day'. Oh, why "of '70", you ask? Because that is the year of my father's AMX, which is what got this grand project off the ground.

We got 'A Thing' going on...

Whoa, Okay, Hey, Yeah-
been busy celebrating Black History Month; too busy to bust out songs for you.
But here's one. Billy Paul sings that ol' chestnut "Mrs. Jones" (which you can stream way below). But here he asks the pressing question, "Am I Black Enough For You?". (I query myself the same, often: that's how I stay on top of it- and yeah, that's a download up there)




Download Billy Paul's "Am I Black Enough For You?".


Billy Paul will do some scat-style singing at times; you even catch a bit of that in "Mrs. Jones". "...meeeee,eeeee, me, me and miss-'n'misssssesss Joooonesss..." (listen to it- it's just like that!)
Now, I'll be honest, Billy- I find that shit a little annoying. BUT you avoid all annoying, all together, on "Am I Black Enough For You?", and I thank you for that.
Both these tracks, by the way, are on "360 Degrees of Billy Paul", which is the cover presented here. Dude's from Philly too:I got this album on Broad Street, at The Official Philadelphia International Records memorabilia and Album Selling Place, located here:



Digitally, it is located here.

Here's "Mrs. Jones", which is a serious cut in its own right.


Ah, Billy, that really hit the spot. I owe you one.


"You're welcome!"

Black History Month - "and Yet, Without Heirs, Memory is Meaningless"

It's time for Black History Month! I saw Angela Davis talk the other day, and it reminded me that this, the shortest month,+
is, in fact, dedicated to the history of Black Americans.
Now, I know little about strictly political American history, so most of what I know about Black Americans is musical history. It goes without saying that Black people have contributed their fair share to other aspects of this American life++;
but I have been very busy and so have heard, in the main, about musical contributions.

+Angela Davis told us that it used to be called 'Negro History Week', then 'Black History Week', now 'BHM'. Just saying: both points (name, and duration) are relevant.

++Not the radio show "This American Life"; I'd wager Black people have done very little to contribute to that show. Call it a hunch.

The Young Folks - Jackson 5


Okay, you all were way into so-called "HOPE" recently: this song's for you. It basically is exactly how Obama got elected. (If you missed the details of that, don't worry- this song sums it up in just under 3 hummable minutes.)
It's the Jackson 5 doing what everyone else did during the 70's/late 60's: they got political. This track's all about not letting The Man tell you what to do anymore: they're "marching with signs" even! That line gave me pause at first; watch:

"We're marching with signs
We're standing in lines, yeah, yeah
Protesting your rights
...
to turn out the lights, in our lives"

Oh -I see- your protesting the way they mess up your lives! You aren't protesting RIGHTS as such. Cos, that's a really radical political position. Even more radical when you consider that Michael is only 12 or so when he sings this...
He's fifty now, by the by: talk about your history!



The quote from the title is from Nietzsche, okay, so please excuse the seeming pessimism. I'm not pessimistic that Americans won't/don't have 'heirs'; that is, have a legacy ahead of them. Am I optimistic, then?
That's my little secret!: Blogs aren't suited to talking about yourself, obviously!
(That's why Michael Jackson doesn't have one- he's on Twitter)