Wednesday, April 30, 2008

omg guys.

I don't know what these are exactly, but I know that they are really fucking cute. LOOK AT MATT'S WEE FRED PERRY POLO. HIS HAT, IT COMES OFF. I'm in love. Don't forget to check out the website of the artist, Queen of Cleveland/Phoebe Marie's.



Monday, April 28, 2008

RADIO PLAYLIST: A Kick In The Head With Caitlin

Today's show on WBOR
1. Get Up [Dropkick Murphys]*
2. The Stan Freberg Show (08-25-57) (#7, the episode with the Lone Analyst)
3. Gunsmoke! (07-26-54) "Matt For Murder"

*This is b/c they were playing at Tufts this weekend, instead of on my campus. We got Naughty By Nature and Talib Kweli, though I voted for the Murphys. I swear. Someone thinks it is 1992. More on this all at a later date.

OH MIKE NESS. I will never get over you.



PS- He's touring!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

This Day In History: Bombing of Guernica 1937



During the Spanish Civil War, the Condor Legion of the German air force, supporting the Nationalists, bombed the Basque city of Guernica on this day in 1937, an event memorialized in Pablo Picasso's painting Guernica. [Britannica Online]

And if you haven't seen Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, set after the war under Franco, I'd like to encourage you to check it out. I have yet to see its "spiritual" prequel, The Devil's Backbone, which is set during the war.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Sublime


With the warm weather rolling in and the frolicking and whatnot going down, it looks like everyone's getting into the swing of what will soon be summer, including the great McCrank-- who has 2! (yes, that works in terms of enthusiasm AND math) Sublime boots up. (And some BAD!) Big fucking shoutout in his direction, because it reminded me that I have absolutely shortchanged one of SoCal and the 90s' finest bands by not posting anything of theirs besides "Smoke 2 Joints," which Caitlin wants to go on record as liking, and which is indeed a fine song.

Now, I don't know what kind of music gets radioplay across the country, but to anyone who grew up with KROQ, it was pretty hard not to hear these guys all the time, as they continue to receive tons and tons of airplay during what I've come to realize is comparatively near-- but not quite --perpetual spring/summer. Driving in the sun listening to a Sublime song is definitely up there on my list of Really Good Things To Do. (Something I will not be able to do this summer.) It's something of a shame that Sublime's work has been co-opted by the frat boy scene. Not to say anything against frat boys, I know some very sensible and very nice ones, and I can't deny them good music, but it associates what is fundamentally very good and very clever and very funny songwriting with (alleged) goofy and mindless debauchery. I actually wasn't aware of that association til I came out here. And beyond subject matter, why did that happen? The last time I was at the local jock bar, all they played was Sublime and RHCP. What is it with frat boys and Socal rock?

Anyway, here we go-- my top 5 Sublime songs. I don't think there will be any surprises (ie, as Caitlin says, the "KROQ standards,") but I hope you enjoy anyway.

First, though, head on over to McCrank's Juke for not one but TWO sublime Sublime boots.

5. Santeria

4. Date Rape
Justice is done, on all fronts. I don't know what else to tell ya.

3. Doin' Time
Sublime + Gershwin. Maintains the haunting quality of the song and relocates it to a hot SoCal night.

2. April 29 1992 (Miami)
"It's about coming up and staying on top and screamin 187 on the motherfuckin' cop." The difference in the dates (oooh, today is the 26th, I'm so clever) is on account of not wanting to throw out a take that was for all purposes really awesome except the botched date. This is actually neck and neck for number one with. . .

1. What I Got
"The Sublime style's still straight from Long Beach." A perfect marriage of poignancy, swagger, and uplifting-ness, and it apparently samples Too Short, who writes fantastically insulting (read: hilarious) songs about bitches, from what I can remember.
And, as a bonus, Gwen Stefani, back when she was cool but not as well made-up, joins the boys on "Saw Red."


Anyway, howzabout you guys? Any Sublime favorites?

Friday, April 25, 2008

Request: Pearl Harbour & the Explosions

Okay! Pearl Harbour & the Explosions. If you're like me, you came across this San Francisco New Wave act in the process of learning more about the only band that matters, specifically that Pearl E Gates AKA Pearl Harbour was married to Paul Simonon (here we go girls- yeah I'm talkin' to you Ms Patti Smith-: sigh). Lil bro Nick Simonon plays the drums on this album, which Allmusic aptly describes:

Where the Explosions were stilted and restrained, Harbour's voice is loud and freewheeling on the rockabilly driven rumble of "Out With the Girls," "Fujiyama Mama," and "Alone in the Dark." There's not a trace of hesitation in Harbour's hiccups, whoops, and yelps; she sounds comfortable in a way that listeners simply hadn't heard before. Harbour's breezy self-assurance also extends to the campy girl group flippance of "Everybody's Boring but My Baby," reflective pop/rock of "Heaven Is Gonna Be Empty," token country weepers "Losing to You," and a tough, but affectionate cover of Ian Dury's "Rough Kids."

If you're not sold yet, check out my favorite track, "Everybody's Boring But My Baby," and see if you like it.

This was originally posted at the always excellent Twilightzone!, so if you like this, head on down for more listening pleasure.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I love my hall!

Here's a good one for you sweet kids you.

I had an assignment to write a 1-page piece from the POV of an "other," ie, somebody who is not like me (female, American, 'hapa,' whatever.) So I thought, Oh-ho! I shall write from the POV of a Chinese skinhead! The closest I get to a skinhead, and I'm not making any claims here, as you'll see, is my lovely Merc jacket that Miss Caitlin keeps taking from me. I love it so. Vies with my Straight to Hell jacket as my favorite jacket, unless it's really really cold, and then my loyalties lie with my tragically no-longer waterproof, puffy North Face thing which only ethnic minorities seem to wear. . .

Half an hour later. I realize that this it isn't going to work, but I run into my neighbor in the hall, who moved into my friend's room after said friend went to study abroad in Glasgow (and it was said friend who actually first sent me the link to the band down there), and I say, "Hey, you've been to China, right?" He's one of those white kid Econ majors who speak Chinese.

"Yeah."

"When you were in Beijing, did you see any skinheads? Like is there a substantial-- relatively-- presence?"

Kid blinks a few times. "What's a skinhead? Are they, like, emo kids times two?"

Now I was pretty sure this was a subculture fairly embedded in the modern consciousness. Guess I was wrong.

Anyway, check out some crazy Chinese Oi! Lead singer Lei Jun is apparently one of the first working to spread the scene. Oh yeah, and PS? I think that picture is one of the cutest I've seen ever. I want my wedding pictures to look like that. Minus bleach splattered jeans. Just not into that.

Monday, April 21, 2008

RADIO PLAYLIST: A Kick In The Head With Caitlin

I have been encouraged by B the dictator here at Noise Annoys to post the playlists for my weekly radio show, so I am starting today... for the last, let's see, 3 or so shows before the end of the year. Less? Something like that.

So here is the playlist for today's show, A Kick in the Head with Caitlin, happening as I type this up, at 1pm-2pm EST on WBOR 91.1 Brunswick, ME or streamed live from the link on the sidebar:

1. Redemption Song [Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer]
2. You Say You Don't Love Me [Buzzcocks]
3. C'est Si Bon [Lisa Ono]
4. Tell Me Why [Beatles]
5. Ballad of A Lonely Man [Mike Ness]
6. If I'd Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked A Cake [Bing Crosby and Bob Hope]
7. Big Black Mariah [Tom Waits]
8. Bad Habit [Andrew Rose Gregory]
9. 18 Miles From Memphis [Stray Cats]
10. Moonland [Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds]
11. i'm finding it harder to be a gentlemen [White Stripes]
12. Estrellita [Benny Goodman]
13. Train In Vain [Kirsty MacColl] (interrupted by me accidentally clicking on "Habibi Dah" by Hisham Abbas, the started again... sorry... that's what happens on amateur college public radio...)
14. Well Did You Evah! [Iggy Pop with Debbie Harry]
15. Yul Brynner Was A Skinhead [Toy Dolls]
16. The Natives Are Restless [Cramps]
17. Jesse James [Clubland]
18. You Do Something To Me[Ella Fitzgerald]
19. King of Fools [Social Distortion]

Friday, April 18, 2008

Five Songs! Right Now!

1 mp4, 4 mp3s. Go!



1. "Playboy" by Candy-Coated Killahz

MOKB posted their song "Rich Kids" and then "Playboy," saying, "There might have been a time when I thought bringing back the 80s was a bad thing, but I was wrong. I'm digging the Tainted Love vibe going on in the background." If you liked "Rich Kids," "Playboy" is catchier, sexier, and a hell of a lot more fun. They also just posted the title song from their upcoming release It Factor on their Myspace, so make sure to give that a visit for more. For a different type of 80s sound, check out the Daggers via Mister McCrank's mix tape!

2. "Georgia On A Fast Train" by Billy Joe Shaver [Tramp On Your Street, also avail. on the Greatest Hits comp.]

I posted some Billy Joe last year, but with the vague and possibly completely incorrect impression that new people wander through here every now and then and need to be convinced of Billy Joe's, oh I don't know, genius, I thought I'd throw up one of my favorite Billy Joe songs. If you need more convincing, go read Ken's superb Billy Joe post. Now! Go go!

3. "500 Channels" [m4a] by Choking Victim [No Gods/No Managers]

"Atheotonomist"-with a penchant for Satanist imagery-band Choking Victim, part of the Crack Rock Steady 7 (which also includes Morning Glory, INDK, Leftöver Crack), is known for politically charged lyrics, ska-core, squatting, drugs, but most of all I turn to them for what could be called really loud blah-argh-yell-angry! music. (If you're being a lazy fuck like me.) But anyway. Here's one of what I've found to be their catchiest songs.

4. "Galway Bay" by The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem [In Person at Carnegie Hall]

While some kids will grow up only knowing Carnegie Hall as that place where JK Rowling outed Dumbledore (despite writing over 4000 pages, it is something she never managed to explicitly slip in because of, let's face it-- book sales), I'll always know it as the place where this was recorded (and also that place in that joke.) But the real reason I'm posting it (besides it being good and funny and all that) is because besides a brief spasm of classiness the other day, the main staple here has been PBR.

5. "Keep It Simple" by the Slackers [Peculiar] [photo creds & orig.]

The Slackers are putting out a new album on April 29th, and will be performing a set at the Union Square Virgin Megastore on the 28th. "Keep It Simple" is off their second to last release (Boss Harmony Sessions being their last.) I have a big fucken crush on Vic Ruggiero's voice. Best lines?

Well, maybe I’ll take myself
On down to the river
And throw myself off the dock
When you
See my body floatin’ on by
You can
Throw me down a wreath
Then you can send my bleedin’ heart off the Washington
Attention: Commander In Chief

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Fantastic James Jean Art!

I'm always blown away by this guy's stuff, but this one I particularly like. The full-sized original, "Southern Belle," can be viewed here, or alternately, go to WORK, "Wine." Scroll all the way to the right.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

"Reportedly racist music video hails the laurels of properly prepared Southern Fried Chicken."

So it's late, I'm supposed to be in bed, and my mind has jumped out the window and probably ran right into the Hudson and done drowned isself.




The video alternates between excited hungry kids and Ms Peachez waving raw chickens and chicken parts around, cooking chicken, and saying something I can't quite catch but doing it in a Jackée voice/gesture. (Same thing happens in "Ms Peachez In the Tub.") Besides being catchier than Soulja Boy (remember those wacky prison folk?), it makes me, as does anything with pictures of food, commercials included, want to eat. Ms Peachez is a character created by a Shreveport man who is, according to an insightful post, participating in

[Jose Munoz’s] theory of disidentification [when] somebody performs the societal expectations (negative) of their identity(ies) and through their performance they take control of the image and twist it however they’d like. Most often into a positive image; at least one that interrogates the image. [em. added]

I'd be quite interested to see who is complaining about the racist tones. I feel that in the end, it really is a matter of taking charge of one's own identity, handily done in the video with full awareness of that sense of ownership, and when racism is not in the intent (which I am going to assume is the case), then it is being projected by those who see it, with all the implications upon said individuals and their discomfort issues.

In the same vein. I don't watch this show, and I think Tina Fey needs to stop posing like this (sorry, you're just not that hot), but this is very, very funny. "Mind yo' own damn business, Mrs Rodriguez!"

Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Crystal Skull & Fascists!


So while I geek out for a second over the cover to Indy 4's soundtrack, available now for pre-order on Amazon and set to be released on May 20, I also want to take a chance to recommend the Indiana Jones books by Max McCoy, and also to warn everyone that looking at the tracklist might give away The Entire Movie, as evidenced by this detailed analysis that reveals what must be a crucial plot point: "The exchange rate in Akator is very good." (No spoilers, don't worry.)

Here's some music to read to, if you decide to read what I'll admit is a B's been up since 8am reading about the Reformation and drinking tea and is clearly addlepated-type Post, but regardless- the End Credits from The Last Crusade, here ya go.

John Williams - End Credits (Raiders March)


Found at skreemr.com


Anyway, McCoy's books featured the (a?) Crystal Skull prominently-- and I know there's a word for it (like Rosebud, bete noir or great white whale or something)-- as an artifact that forever eludes Indy's grasp as he traverses the world and fights fascists, dogged by the Curse of the Crystal Skull, which threatens his lady friend (and he can't! have! sex! cos of it!) Indy first encounters it in the first McCoy book, Indiana Jones & the Philosopher's Stone- as in, yeah, the one they sorta-kinda use in the first Harry Potter book. But this one is way cooler. People's skin peels off and stuff, and if that's not enough, the book starts with a fantastic bang- crazy snake, crazy temple, crazy fascist.

There's no rest for our favorite professor, and in Indiana Jones & the Dinosaur Eggs, Indy manages to destroy the whale in the Natural History Museum before he runs off to to Mongolia with a nun and drinks reindeer pee and has to pay bribes to corrupt bureaucrats. He is accompanied by Wu Han, the poor fuck who cashes his check in the first 10 minutes of Temple of Doom after Kate Capshaw sings a Cole Porter song in what must be Chinese.

In Indiana Jones & the Hollow Earth, Indy teams up with some crazy Viking woman and this totally cool kid named Sparks and the most awesome pilot Ever (I'm not joking, he should be made a part of the Rogues), but that's only after punching out a famous bank robber and getting himself stuck in a cave AND fighting racism.

McCoy's run, and the series, ends with Indiana Jones & the Secret of the Sphinx, where Indy totally gets himself stabbed by some crazy Japanese chick while trying to help some lady find her husband. Sallah's in this one, too.

I mean. Really, if you don't think this sounds cool (Nazis! Gangsters! Dirigibles! Thule Society! The Omega Book! Shaitan! Dogs!) you don't like adventure.

It's interesting to see his take on Indy, who becomes more and more cynical as the books progress but is definitely not the cad that he is in the films. McCoy always forms a colorful cast and embeds the stories into the history of the times as well as into the mythology of the series, with a nice emphasis on Indy as a professor, coming to his own in the field. ('His own' being breaking all the rules, it seems.) McCoy also provides an afterword for each book that details the historical setting and facts, and it's here that his writing skills are especially evident. Reading his non-fiction is just as easy and fun as reading the fiction that has come before it, and it's clear that the man has done his research, and all the better for the story and the plot.

McCoy's books have a light-heartedness to them that doesn't undermine the action or the adventure. It's light reading, to be sure, and is crafted as such, but content isn't sacrificed and the pacing is good, the prose precise. As you can tell, I'm infinitely fond of these books and they clock in at about 200 pages, so they're good fast and fun reads, perfect for a few hours reading out in the finally-arrived Spring weather. I also want to recommend Martin Caidin's two books, which are a bit longer and heavier and more dense; his take on Indy emphasizes the academic, and they're also a lot of fun. (Pilots! Dirigibles! Gangsters! Witches! The Civil War! FASCISTS!)

  • Download "All You Fascists" courtesy of Billy Bragg (+Wilco) and Woody Guthrie. Buy Mermaid Ave II here.

Actual, coherent, exclamation mark-free plot summaries of the books can be found here. Check out in interview with Mr McCoy here. Excerpt below.

Let me first say that I am a big fan of your writings and you are my personal favorite Indiana Jones novelist. The thing that I noticed the most about your work was the Crystal Skull motif that played out beautifully through each of your 4 novels. I was wondering if you had originally planned to include the quest for the Crystal Skull in each novel or if you just spontaneously had the idea to expand the Crystal Skull theme and tagged it onto your novels in the form of prologues and epilogues culminating with Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx, where Indy finds and returns the skull? (Submitted by Greg)

Thanks. I planned the Crystal Skull episodes from the start, because I wanted a continuing story to play from book to book, and I knew Indy would have to return the skull. But I expected it would play a bigger part in the last book… originally, I had written a time-travel sequence for the last book, but only portions of it survived. Nobody was thrilled with it. They kept saying, “but this is science fiction.” And I’d say, yes, what do you think the other stories are? They aren’t just adventure. Remember when Belloq described the Ark as a “radio transmitter for talking to God?” Now, that sent chills down my spine.


Friday, April 11, 2008

Roger Alan Wade

Roger Alan Wade, who happens to be this guy's cousin, has written music for Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Jr. (You can learn more about him here.) I'll let the following review say this, but just to make it clear. This album may not be only funny. But when it is, it sure is. Here we go, courtesy of DanD.
Take one look at the titles of these songs--"Butt Ugly Slut", "Gone Back to Whorin'," and "Fryin' Bacon Nekkid," to name a few--and you think: Okay, a novelty CD, with some good laughs, nothin' more. If that's what you're after, then go ahead and buy this CD--you'll get a lot of laughts. AND if you're lookin' for somethin' more, buy this album as well--because, well, it's not ALL laughs.

Try not to cry when Wade picks and sings "Johnny Cash Has Died." The Kristofferson-esque poetry of "She's a Baby When She Cries" and "Sweet Wine of Sorrow" make these two tunes instant-classics. Even "Horse I Wanna Ride" is a tribute to the days of old, and what makes a man (and a horse). . .

ALL LIKKERED UP is a hilarious, moving, thoughful, intelligent, stupid, ENJOYABLE album. Roger Alan Wade, through brilliant songwriting and a whiskey-tinged voice, has crafted an album where a children's song of living life ("Chicken Song") can be played alongside a classic tale of murder and justice ("Knoxville Girl"). These are songs of liquor, lust, death, redemption, bacon, chickens, horses, female anatomy, and probably some more liquor. Yeah, lots of liquor.

Make sure to visit RAW's Myspace, where you can find his location of choice from which to purchase his album. He just released a new album, Stoned Traveler, in February, which I haven't had a chance to listen to, and he'll be at Hootenanny this summer.

L'esprit d'escalier: A musical narrative journey, or Why I'm Always So Pissy <3

Remember Dummy? The kid who is awkward beyond belief and Just Didn't Get Joe Strummer? I had another classic moment with him in the hallway the other day, and I'm still pissed off about it. So I get the knock on my door and I figured it was my friend because we were supposed to go get pancakes the next day. Lo and behold, it's Dummy, and he's standing there holding a cup of tea and asks, "Did you see 40s on 40 today?"

40s on 40 used to be a charming Senior tradition. At T-minus 40 days til graduation, the kids used to get 40 ozs and drink it on the Steps. A few years ago, cos some dumbfuck made it through four years of college without figuring out his tolerance and got alcohol poisoning, the Powers That Be decided to take over the event-- so you still got the beer, but now you have it in this hilarious penned-off area on the steps for seniors only. From what I can tell, they get sandwiches too.

Yeah, so I'm all for bringing your own forty to the steps and drinking it in broad daylight. But let's face it. We've all done that anyway. And now you get free sandwiches.

So Dummy (who is a senior) asks, "Did you see 40s on 40 today?"

I'm thinking, Oh come on, leave me alone, and instead I say, "Yeah."

And he talks about something for awhile and finally says, "So why I'm here is because I'm trying to convince all my junior friends to boycott it next year." And he says something about how it's super lame now and how it's been institutionalized. [And we get to talking also at one point about how his pops has a studio apartment on the Upper East Side. (THERE YOU GO.)]

So I don't say, Kid, there are bigger fish to fry, or anything. Instead I say, "And pass up on free beer?"

And he stares at me. And says, "Aren't you a punk rocker? I mean, shouldn't you be-- my respect for you has just gone down."

I unwisely did not say, "Boy get outta my sight before I beat yo' ass like Lee Marvin." Instead I did the blink-blink-WTF thing and said, "Did I ever say I was a punk rocker?" Because I didn't and I'm not. And then I go on this whole thing about the political efficacy of the individual and why would I boycott something I don't even care about. And he says, "Well, you listen to the music."

Oh-kay! And it gets better. This kid is a pasty motherfucker from Great Neck. (Read that as you will.) And he asks me if I like soul food. I say in a vague effort to end the conversation, "Well, I don't like the fried chicken."

"Soul food's not fried chicken."

Fine. Here we go. I don't like the fried chicken but I like the ham hocks and the greens with the ham hocks (and I specify that even though it's intuitive because I went somewhere and they said there was turkey in it but it tasted like fish), I do like fried gizzards, and mac and cheese and sweet potatoes, candied or otherwise, and BY GOD, do I love hushpuppies, and let's face it, I might not know what exactly defines soul food but I know what I Like, so if we can just put this to rest, I like southern cooking. Okay? Which is what I tell him. (I do not, however, like sweet tea. I just don't take sugar in my tea.) (Um, now I want fried food.)

And then I made a joke, "Yeah, what'd you think I was gonna say. I don't like the fried chicken but I like the watermelon?" And he just stared at me. Not because it was terribly un-PC in what I hoped was an ironic right-back-atcha diffuse-the-tension kinda way, but he didn't get it. At all. Anyway, now that Lent's over I can be mean as I want. It's just so hard to do it to their faces :p

A few minutes later he started choking on his tea while Just Standing There and Doing Nothing, which I think is proof enough of something like karma.

(I'm not. I've never read Bakunin. But Dummy is spineless; if he invests so much into 40s on 40 it means he's never gotten drunk on the steps. Yeah, you know what kid? Figure it out.) Check out The Index from whence these songs came.

Plus, some Words of Wisdom from the Silver Jews.

Silver Jews - Tennessee


Found at skreemr.com

Sunday, April 06, 2008

The Speed Limit and My Favorite Brunette

Double Indemnity. Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler. Fred MacMurry and Barbara Stanwyck. Um, amazing.


[the "speed limit" exchange]

the entire movie is on youtube, starting with the first part here


and the Hope-Lamour silly "detective"/noir movie on google video here (features peter lorre, lon chaney jr, and cameos by bing, alan ladd)

the song "My Favorite Brunette" (Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, which has absolutely nothing to do with the movie) here.
(for some reason, when I ripped that, it ripped, I think, as a wma. for it as an mp3, go here)

Request: Unclogged/ X


There was a request for X's Unclogged: so here it is!

"Recorded live at the Noe Valley Ministries Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, California over two nights of performances, Unclogged presents acoustic arrangements of past X material, along with two new songs: 'Lying in the Road' and 'The Stage."[wiki]

[album review from sputnikmusic]

It's X, it's lovely, get it here.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Worship at the Church of Baseball (with the Clash!)

Jezebel says that for the modern American female, "loving baseball is not only her birthright but her responsibility." I think Noise Annoys can safely go on the record in support of that.

So get ready. The Dodgers got their first win over those good people from up North for a good start to their 50th season in LA. Let's see how this goes. (Don't you laugh.)

Grab this boot of the Clash opening for the Who at Shea Stadium on October 12 of 1982 during the Combat Rock Tour. Shea is entering into its last season before the Mets move across the street. Info on the gig came be found at this excellent place. Footage will be included on the upcoming Revolution Rock DVD.
 

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