Friday, December 24, 2010

Friday Random Ten (Christmas Eve Edition)


Black -- Pearl Jam
Spanish Bombs -- The Clash
Brokedown Palace -- Joan Osborne
Cry Baby Cry -- The Beatles
This Way Out -- Nat King Cole Trio
Dreams Of Our Fathers -- Dave Matthews Band
Ashes Of American Flags -- Wilco
Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down -- Elvis Costello & The Attractions
I Can't Get It Out of My Head -- Fountains Of Wayne
I Shall Not Be Moved -- Dirty Dozen Brass Band

Bonus (Let's hope next year is a better one) cut...

Heaven --Geraint Watkins

Happy Christmas to everyone!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Zappadan


Happy Birthday, Frank!

And so we conclude yet another festive Zappadan for 2010. Here's best wishes to everyone out there for a happy and healthy new year.

Ich bin der chrome dinette.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Lunar Eclipse


I'm going to do my best to stay up late this evening. Let's hope that it's a clear sky. This is the first time that this event has occurred on the Winter Solstice since 1638.

Wow. That was two whole years before John McCain was born...

Mr. Fish


Your daily dose. And.....scene.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Captain Beefheart


Don Van Vliet would no doubt be unknown to millions would it were not for Frank Zappa. Coincidental that he would pass during the High Holy Days of Zappadan, but that's just the way things go sometimes.

Here's a cut from his iconic Safe As Milk album...

R.I.P. Captain.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Zappadan



It's day 13 of Zappadan.

Things wind up after the weekend on the 21st when Frank once ascends back to the lair of the Grand Wazoo.

Until then, behold this live cut of Muffin Man circa 1977.

FZ conspicously avoided and lampooned the trappings of rock stardom, but he was an hilarious and gracious host at his shows. I saw maybe 6 or 7 Zappa shows over the years and they were always spontaneous and festive affairs.

Zappa fans really loved Frank, and, as evidenced by his playful back and forth with the crowd, Frank loved 'em back.

Friday Random Ten


It's In My Head -- The Who
Show Me -- The Pretenders
Slow Drip -- Superchunk
Time Won't Tell -- Joan Osborne
Don't Buy The Realistic -- Spoon
It's Over -- Roy Orbison
Two Of Us -- Aimee Mann & Michael Penn
You've Got It All Wrong --The Hives
Cocaine Blues -- Johnny Cash
Let's Go To The Disco -- Nick Lowe

Bonus last weekend of Autumn cut...

Here Comes My Baby -- Cat Stevens

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Well, Baby It's Cold Outside


Here's the weather report from Cleveland for the next 90 days or so.

"It's not always frozen..." Jarmusch rules.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Friday, December 10, 2010

Friday Random Ten


Paper Bag -- Fiona Apple
Furious Rose -- Lisa Loeb
Bitter -- Jill Sobule
Ouo -- Andrew Bird
Mona Lisa -- Nat King Cole Trio
Liar's Market -- John Doe Thing
Day After Day -- The Pretenders
Dark Star -- Beck
Fable Of Faubus -- Charlie Mingus
Dilltastic Vol Won --The Roots

Bonus cut:

Don't Worry About Me -- Sarah Vaughn

White Riot, I wanna riot, White Riot


...a riot of my own.

American students would NEVER protest tuition hikes with street violence. We're all way too afraid of the functioning police state here in 'Merka, so three cheers to the young lads and lasses unafraid to storm the gates and raise a fuss.

Good on ya, Brits.

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Thunderdome


I wasn't going to post this 'cause it's so bloody grim, but I haven't been able to stop chewing on it since my first reading. Plus, I found it over on Salon after Dave hipped me to it earlier today so it now falls into the category of "the piece which must be obeyed".

Me?...I'm just a messenger, you can tell me by the way I walk.

A monster of an article. (Hit print for a more eye friendly read).

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Zappadan


Well, it's day 4 of Zappadan and courtesy of that Canadian cut-up, darkblack, I'm pleased to showcase some fine Gibson SG work from FZ and his crew.

Flee to the Cleve...

John Winston Lennon


John Lennon died 30 years ago today.

Here's a song which, to me, is representative of his ouevre. People always complain that a millionaire wrote the line, "imagine no possessions". Well, bollocks to that. Just because someone elevates themselves to a station of great prosperity due to their talents in no way infers that they lose touch with their roots.

Bob Marley, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson...John Lennon. They all may have become very wealthy as singers and writers but their artistic integrity cannot be questioned. John knew of the pain that everyone feels and shared that gift regardless of his own personal gain. He was a working class hero.

In 1980, I had my very first visit to NYC two weeks before Lennon was shot. We saw David Bowie in the Elephant Man, went to the Macy's Day Parade and took the IRT #6 to the Upper West Side to stand in front of the Dakota to perhaps catch a legendary glimpse of John and Yoko. Two weeks later, back in Bowling Green, I heard Howard Cosell tell the world that John had been shot and killed mere footsteps from where we had been standing.

Heartbreaking.

I'm now 11 years older than John was when he was assassinated. The work and music he might of created will never be known, but I'm grateful for what he did leave behind. These last 30 years have gone by very quickly but there is hardly a week which passes that I don't think of John Lennon and what he meant to me and to the entire planet.

All you need is love. Indeed.

Friday, December 03, 2010

LeBron


Now that all that's left is the echo of the boos, I thought I'd throw in my my two pieces of flair.

First, I find the most hilarious and pathetic component of this whole cheap drama to be that LeBron went from a place that loved him and has a great reverence for sport to a section of the nation that barely gives a crap that they even have professional sports. I remember when the Florida Marlins snatched the World Series from the Tribe in '97, they had a real problem getting bodies in seats in Dade County.

In the now famous case of Rubber v. Glue, I'd like to cite this marketing campaign as evidence that Miami is the most lame of places.

Fan Up...heh.

And secondly, thanks to Mr. Benton's innertubes prowess, there's this uniquely crafted piece from ESPN that frames the who spectacle in a wistful yet hopeful way that makes everything a little more okay and LBJ decidedly less significant to this town.

I'm glad the game is now over with The Heat. Time to move on, folks.

Oh, and by the way, Bobstradamous says Pat Riley will be the head coach of the Heat by the end of the month...

Friday Random Ten


Days --Ray Davies
Killing Lies -- The Strokes
Give Me Something -- Yoko Ono
Everything's Ruined -- Fountains Of Wayne
Happy Jack -- The Who
Your Got Your Cherry Bomb -- Spoon
After The Gold Rush -- k.d. lang
Andromeda -- Paul Weller
Here Comes The Flood -- Peter Gabriel
Testify -- Nellie McKay

Bonus cut just 'cause...

Handshake Drugs -- Wilco

(Huh, that's funny. That's two weeks in a row that Wilco was the bonus cut)

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Dy-no-mite!


The razin' o' the Green. Wow.

I used to work a couple of blocks south of Cabrini. It was literally an island of despair surrounded by gentrification and renewal. Sorry for the folks who had to relocate but glad to see it go.

Ritchie Daley may be a dim bulb, but he sure got a lot done in Chicago during the last twenty years...