I’ve been digging the paintings of Lamar Sorrento for some time, since seeing them on Count Slowly’s studio walls. Sorrento has a way of capturing personalities using broad and bold strokes that combine to form strangely precise and elegant likenesses. Turns out this very prolific painter, who has created memorable images of everyone from Robert Johnson to the Ramones and so many others, is also an accomplished musician and songwriter. Check out his paintings and his tunes. This guy is rock and roll.
This morning I switched on NPR to see if I’d get lucky and catch something interesting. Was greeted by their pledge drive, and a man stating that NPR news coverage is complete, well researched, insightful etc. blah blah. It is not. Democracy Now! is. So, spontaneously I called NPR’s 800 number, politely stated my name and that I would gladly pledge money as soon as they add Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! show to National Public Radio. Very pleasant Audrey thanked me for my call, and said she would pass the message on to programming. I thought, hmm, what if others did this? It takes but a minute, and it could be effective, if they heard from a lot of us. It’s not a new idea: Bill Moyers has been saying for years that Democracy Now! should be on NPR. He’s right. Without a show like Democracy Now!, NPR “news” will continue to be a sanitized, intellectual-friendly outlet for corporate propaganda, only slightly more credible than their shrieking idiot cousin, Fox “news”. So why not give NPR a call and tell them? NPR’s pledge drive phone number is:
1-800-937-8850.
Plus, I mean it, I’d gladly send them a few bucks if they do this. Meanwhile, I get my news from Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez and their excellent crew. Please re-blog this or forward it by Pony Express, Carrier pigeon etc.
Skalrighty then! San Jose was fun last night. The new tunes rocked, and we also did our cover of Fortunate Son. Something about that song makes me go postal. I open up to sing the first line, and the whole thing leaps out of me like a pissed tiger from a cage. It has to do with the subject matter - I think it’s the best song ever written about social class and war. John Fogerty wrote it during the Vietnam mess, on the day he was discharged from the National Guard. It’s the sound of a young man gaining his freedom and opening his eyes to what’s really going on, told by an El Cerrito kid who just wanted to play in a band and get on with his life. The lyrics are spot on - simple truths about a cruel and immeasurable greed, told precisely and poetically. Kills me every time. We also played Burning Sky, a song I wrote, on a similar note. I do hope one day the lyrics to both these songs will become passe. Ok, Oakland tonight!
Looking forward to our show tomorrow night at the Blank Club, our first time in San Jose since forever. Turns out the opening band dropped out at the last minute so we’re doing two sets - another first. Excited to play some tunes we haven’t done live much yet, like the sweet power pop I Don’t Know Emilie and avian opus Bested By Pelicans, plus a couple of brand new ones we’ve worked up recently. Moose’s new original “Keep Pushin’” is an instant fave of mine, and Paul just wrote this wicked instrumental that we played for the first time at Ashkenaz last month. It’s at the end of the vid below - was the perfect finale for our second Skanking Fools dance contest.
Systems SuckClassic punk anthem from a short lived hardcore band called Deadly Reign. The chorus remained clear in my head for 25 years after I heard them do it at Barrington Hall, Berkeley’s legendary post-hippie punked out acid squat and general dormitory for the insane. My kind of place, though you didn’t want to drink the punch there if you had to work in the morning. The Uptones played at Barrington once - it was like our third or fourth show ever - with MDC and Deadly Reign and a few other hardcore bands. They were down with our two-tone sound even though it was very different from the breakneck tempos and distortion all the punkers were doing. Dave Dictor and another MDC guy were bellowing the lyrics to the Specials’ “Nightclub” while we played our song, “Big Time” which has the same chords in the verses. It was hysterical, the whole mohawked crowd was a bouncing sweaty mess. But what stayed in my head from that night was “Systems Suck, Systems Fucked Systems Suck You Know!” - belted out by Mike (whose last name was never listed on any credits) - in my book one of the coolest punk singers of that era. Anna was a kick ass drummer, Jack and Scott on guitar and bass were total shredders, and they were the greatest bunch you could ever hang out with. This is their signature song, off the original All Quiet On The Western Front compilation. You can play it here.
For many, this recording is old hat by now, but for the uninitiated, I will tell you it is essentially the funniest crank call ever recorded. One intrepid soul put together a set of samples of Ah-nold’s voice, and used them to “speak” with an unsuspecting customer service operator named Kathy. I think I love Kathy. I play this every few months and it still cracks me up. What is wrong with me?
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
— Albert Einstein
SwedelifeDavid Beach’s really cool mp3 blog. I just downloaded the Minutemen and Replacements tracks he has up there, among other unexpected gems from past and present. Take some time and check it out, well worth it. David’s very extensive web presence is in large part to blame for my blogging.
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MP3 LunaticsMeet my mates in the MP3 asylum! My good friend Matthew King Kaufman blogs there often. His notes on the state of the record business and the changing music landscape are by turns fascinating, entertaining and infuriating. I’ve been working with Matthew and the MP3 nutters since 1998, and there hasn’t been a boring day in it. Matthew was the producer behind the groundbreaking indie label Beserkley Records, and more recently, Fun Fun Fun Recordings. Any resemblance between Matthew and Count Slowly is purely coincidental. Matt is largely, horribly to blame for my blogging.
This is by far the most user friendly blog interface I’ve tried. Wordpress is cool for more elaborate sites, and I’ve tried some of the other free blog hosting platforms. I conclude: for quick and easy DIY insta-blogging, tumblr is it, man. So thanks,and damn you, tumblr, for enabling my inexorable plummet down this ever expanding crevasse.
