last.fm

Now that I have a non-satellite Internet hook-up, one of my great joys is to be able to have last.fm in the house...at last. I'd only been able to access it when I was in town (one of the disadvantages to country livin'). Really glad I can use my account now! In fact I have it playing right now.

last.fm is a music service that helps you find music you might like in a kind of fractial fashion...you list some artists or albums you like, and it suggests others from a database of other users who like similar things and also liked the artist or album in question. So you say you like Chad & Jeremy, it'll suggest 5 or 6 other similar artists, like the Beau Brummels or the Vogues...you either say "yeah" or "nah", and it'll adjust its suggestions accordingly. As you go on you can find some really interesting and obscure music that you'd never find otherwise, as well as old stuff you knew but forgot about.

And the lovely thing is that you can have a library of this music and just access it to play on your computer while you blog or whatever! Or follow links to purchase a CD. Good mojo for both listener and musician. Hey, wait, now they're playing Roky Erikson...fantastic...anyhow, hop over and check it out at http://www.last.fm/home for lots of great music...

Here's the Wiki folks again to explain the mechanics much better than I can...

Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed over 40 million active users based in more than 200 countries.[1] On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for £140m ($280m USD).[2]

Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the songs the user listens to, either from Internet radio stations, or the user's computer or many portable music devices. This information is transferred to Last.fm's database ("scrobbled") either via the music player itself (Spotify, Amarok) or via a plugin installed into the user's music player. The profile data is then displayed on the user's profile page. The site offers numerous social networking features and can recommend and play artists similar to the user's favourites.

English Electric

For me any new album release by Martin Newell is a cause for rejoicing, but his newest (released under his old Cleaners From Venus moniker) is especially so. I'd have to say this is his most amazing offering in years...perhaps even since his classic Greatest Living Englishman. Tracks full of jangly goodness, fantastic melody, extremely dry British humor, and Newell's trademark lyric sense of Autumnal loneliness and longing are all brought to the fore, in a tour-de-force of beautiful music that in a much better world would be lauded by critics shouting his praises from the rooftops.

So you can tell I like this a little, eh? And you may too...it's available for download only right now offa his website at http://www.martinnewell.co.uk/ at only five measly British pounds. The price of a couple of pints in a poncy pub. I highly recommend it.

The Arrival

An illustrated book by Shaun Tan, with no written dialog. Seems marketed to children, but actually very adult in its themes and storytelling. Beautiful. Fantastic (in all senses of the word). Inspiring. Oh, just go check it out. You won't regret it. I loved it, there should be a lot more of this in the world.

A review from School Library Journal:

Tan captures the displacement and awe with which immigrants respond to their new surroundings in this wordless graphic novel. It depicts the journey of one man, threatened by dark shapes that cast shadows on his family's life, to a new country. The only writing is in an invented alphabet, which creates the sensation immigrants must feel when they encounter a strange new language and way of life. A wide variety of ethnicities is represented in Tan's hyper-realistic style, and the sense of warmth and caring for others, regardless of race, age, or background, is present on nearly every page. Young readers will be fascinated by the strange new world the artist creates, complete with floating elevators and unusual creatures, but may not realize the depth of meaning or understand what the man's journey symbolizes. More sophisticated readers, however, will grasp the sense of strangeness and find themselves participating in the man's experiences. They will linger over the details in the beautiful sepia pictures and will likely pick up the book to pore over it again and again.

And a review from Booklist:

*Starred Review* Recipient of numerous awards and nominations in Australia, The Arrival proves a beautiful, compelling piece of art, in both content and form. Tan (The Lost Thing, 2004) has previously produced a small body of off-kilter, frequently haunting stories of children trapped in surreal industrial landscapes. Here, he has distilled his themes and aesthetic into a silent, fantastical masterpiece. A lone immigrant leaves his family and journeys to a new world, both bizarre and awesome, finding struggle and dehumanizing industry but also friendship and a new life. Tan infuses this simple, universal narrative with vibrant, resonating life through confident mastery of sequential art forms and conventions. Strong visual metaphors convey personal longing, political suppression, and totalitarian control; imaginative use of panel size and shape powerfully depicts sensations and ideas as diverse as interminable waiting, awe-inspiring majesty, and forlorn memories; delicate alterations in light and color saturate the pages with a sense of time and place. Soft brushstrokes and grand Art Deco–style architecture evoke a time long ago, but the story's immediacy and fantasy elements will appeal even to readers younger than the target audience, though they may miss many of the complexities. Filled with subtlety and grandeur, the book is a unique work that not only fulfills but also expands the potential of its form.

Mary Renault

Really, hands-down some of the best historical fiction ever written sprang from the pen of Mary Renault. Excellent characters, interesting plots, brilliant writing and scholarly period accuracy are all right there...and you get free lessons in the lives and histories of the ancient Greeks as well. HIGHLY recommended. If you're looking for moving, humorous, fascinating fiction that very convincingly takes you out of your time into another, this is the mother lode. I'd have to say The Praise Singer is perhaps my favorite, with Renault's protagonist really giving a wonderful insight of what it's like to be a musician and songwriter (go figure), but The Mask Of Apollo does much the same with its note-perfect reading of the character of an actor. And The Persian Boy is an amazing book too, telling the story of Alexander The Great from the viewpoint of his slave and lover. Really hard to miss with this writer...give 'em a shot.

::iLL WiLL PreSS:: HOME OF NEUROTICALLY YOURS, 4Y-RECORDS & MORE.

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Do not pass Go, do not collect $200...instead, hit that link and laugh your butt off with Foamy The Squirrel, Germaine and their pals. Foamy is a talking squirrel with a really bad attitude (beware his "squirrely wrath), and Germaine is a punky girl (with somewhat of an attitude problem herself) who lives with him. These are NOT cartoons for the kids...well, at least watch 'em yourself first and then figure that out. I love Foamy myself. Ill-Will Press is smokin' funny with this stuff!

Music In The Key Of Oscar

Watching the documentary movie Music In The Key Of Oscar, which has footage of Oscar Peterson and his classic jazz trio with Ray Brown and Herb Ellis. I'm taken with how each of these musicians helped shape my life...Oscar's "Sound Of The Trio" was the first album I owned that made me really want to play jazz; Ray Brown was the guy that made me want to play upright bass; and Herb Ellis' method book was the one that opened up the swing guitar thing for me. Strange that they all played together in the quintessential jazz trio.

Another wonderful thing in this movie is the interviews, which show that these are not only some of the greatest musicians in the world, but that they're intelligent, well-spoken and super nice guys. The obvious affection and respect that they have for each other is incredibly charming, and says a lot about the bonds that form with the right musicians working together. Their reminiscences about traveling as an interracial trio in the deep south, and in the 50s and 60s, are very moving.

Plus, this movie has both vintage and more recent clips of the trio playing, and playing REALLY well! If you have any love of jazz (or even just a bit of curiosity about the genre) this is a treat. If I gave stars for stuff this would have a good-sized galaxy.

Here's a bit of the trio playing in 1958...amazing...

The Merrymakers

It's been said by others before me, in a perfect world The Merrymakers would be a household name, and big stars too...alas, "Bubblegun" was their only American release. It's well worth seeking out though...pure Pop Rock heaven, songs that stay in your head forever (in a good way). The Merrymakers are a musical duo composed of Anders Hellgren and David Myhr, from Sweden, where they must put something in the water I guess to have the kind of Pop songwriting that comes outta there. The melodic content is just so strong, and the production is fantastic...I'm still trying to figure out how they've managed to get their choruses to sound so darn big!
Hellgren and Myhr are still working together, writing and producing for others in the studio (most notably for Puffy AmiYumi), and threatening periodically to make another Merrymakers CD. I'm still waiting, guys!

Here's a great song and very silly video from the "Bubblegun" CD:

3 Mustaphas 3

3 Mustaphas 3 is a British World music band formed in 1982. Core members are Ben Mandelson (under the name Hijaz Mustapha), Tim Fienburgh (1954-2008) (under the name Niaveti III) Colin Bass (under the name Sabah Habas Mustapha), and Nigel Watson (under the name Houzam Mustapha), around which orbit many other Mustaphas - all supposed to be the nephews of Uncle Patrel Mustapha. They claim to originate from the Balkans, but play music from almost every continent; their slogan, "Forward in all directions!", is an expression of this musical diversity. Active at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, they have now stopped producing and performing together, but haven't officially disbanded.

(Thanks to Wikipedia for the above explaination)

...This is a band that really rocked my world in the 80s and early 90s, and still does today! Full of absurdity, humor, and extreme musical eclecticism, they also could seriously kick ass in an amazing number of musical genres. I HIGHLY reccomend seeking out "Heart Of Uncle" to start with (you can get it as a download through Amazon actually), but many other fantastic albums in their catalog await you too. "Can I take it to the fridge?" Hell yeah!

Dracula - Pages From A Virgin's Diary

I watched this movie late last night, as a second feature after Paranormal Activity (a movie so stultifyingly boring that watching paint dry would have been more interesting)...and I found it delightful! Take Bram Stoker's classic story, choreograph it for the Winnipeg Royal Ballet, stir in a score by Gustav Mahler, then bake it as a silent movie a la Jean Cocteau, sprinkle with a little 21st-Century irony courtesy of director Guy Maddin, and viola! A cool instant classic. Perhaps one of the best Dracula movies ever made, and certainly one of the strangest. Renfield, unfortunately, does not have a dance number in it, but it's still great.

The Indestructable Beat Of Soweto

I was originally turned on to South African music by listening to Johnny Clegg on old MTV (Remember when they actually played music? And late night, sometimes cool and obscure stuff)...it inspired me to look further into World Music and South African music especially. Beautiful rhythms and harmonies from a fantastic heritage and a troubled country, which at that time was still under the rule of apartheid. Later I'd go to our local Schookids Records and just find records that looked cool and buy them...so many were so good. This collection was one excellent one! Still available in CD form, and a great introduction to many now Old-School SA styles. Wonderful stuff.

Here's an example of this music working on the youth of America:



Here's another great track from the same record:



And here's that first video from Johnny Clegg that just blew my mind 30+ years ago. I'll have to do a seperate post for his work, but check it out too!

Cake Wrecks

At my house, when I hear insane laughter coming from her office, I can tell that Cynthia is online reading the Cake Wrecks website again. Cake Wrecks is a blog, started by a commercial baker, detailing supposedly professionally-made cakes that have gone horribly, horribly wrong. Many, you just look at in wonderment...but yes, they're real. With very witty commentary from the Cake Wrecks folks, and some examples of really GOOD cakes, too. Go to http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/ for some sweet fun.

Pogo

Pogo is the title and central character of a long-running (1948–1975) daily comic strip created by Walt Kelly and distributed by the Post-Hall Syndicate. Set in the Okefenokee Swamp of the southeastern United States, the strip often engages in social and political satire through the adventures of its anthropomorphic funny animal characters.

Pogo combined both sophisticated wit and slapstick physical comedy in a heady mix of allegory, Irish poetry, literary whimsy, puns and wordplay, lushly detailed artwork, irresistible characters and broad burlesque humor. The same series of strips can be enjoyed on different levels both by young children and by savvy adults. The strip earned Kelly a Reuben Award in 1951.
(Quote from Wikipedia)

...Pogo and his pals shaped my young life in the 50s and early 60s. When I first went to kindergarten I was actually speaking fluent Pogoese, and my teachers were concerned that my language skills were really screwed up. But I was living for a large part in the Okefenokee of my imagination, with Albert Alligator, Howland Owl, Churchy LaFemme and of course Pogo Possum. Re-reading them now, I'm impressed with what good taste I had back then, and how well they entertain in an adult context. They're clever, endearing and funny as hell. Kelly's artwork inspired a slew of other artists, notably the creators of Calvin & Hobbes and Frazz, both of whom owe a lot to him in both line quality and humor. But the original is still the real thing...I feel sorry for Boomers and Later Gens that didn't get a chance to experience Pogo. It's like not getting a vital nutrient early in life. However, there are fortunately lots of reprint collections available! There's still time kids...

Hall Of Douchebags

As a musician myself, I've had to endure many photoshoots for promo pictures. Some were better than others...and so many were sad little projects that went like this: "Let's just go out in the alley during the break and Andy's girlfriend can shoot a shot against the brick wall! It'll look great". Well, it didn't! But some looked pretty funny. Now there's a great website where a huge number of really unfortunate band pics are grouped together, with hilarious and appropriate commentary, at The Hall Of Douchebags. Just go to http://www.rockandrollconfidential.com/hall/
for hours of fun at the expense of all us hapless musicians! I'll have to dig out some of my old shots and donate them...there's some doozys. I should mention that the photo above is NOT my band!

Unknown Hinson

You knows you wantsta go see Unknown Hinson! Troubadour of Country Music, Master of Western Swing and every girls nightmare of Worst Blind Date Ever. Womerns everywhere know Unknown, probly a reason for the sharp increase in deadbolt lock and pepper spray sales. Although some find he has a certain charm. And hey, he really IS a world-class guitarist, baby. Oh, I thinks you'll like this CD, if'n you just give it a chance...

Here's Wiki to explain everything again:

Stuart Daniel Baker, better known by his stage name, Unknown Hinson, is a comedic country musician, songwriter, and voice actor on the Adult Swim cartoon Squidbillies. Baker has carefully cultivated his alter-ego. Much like Andy Kaufman's alter-ego, Tony Clifton, Unknown Hinson never breaks character in public and adamantly denies having any connection to Danny Baker.

Unknown Hinson, dressed in his signature rodeo tailor coat and black ribbon necktie, is a dark parody of the country western stars from the early/mid 20th century. With his glued on sideburns, blacked out front teeth, and dark hair slicked back to reveal a prominent widows peak, he has been referred to as the "hillbilly vampire."
The self-proclaimed "king of country-western troubadours" speaks and sings with an authentic southern drawl, commonly pronouncing words like woman "womern," and window "winder."
Hinson's personality is that of a hell-raising and hard-drinking country western singer with a preference for "party liquor," sexy women, and fine guitars.

Stuart Daniel Baker, a music teacher and studio musician from Albemarle, North Carolina, created his alter-ego for The Wild Wild South, a Charlotte area public-access program that featured comedy sketches and concert footage. Baker along with co-star Don Swan played the characters of Unknown Hinson and Rebel Helms. After Swan's death in 1995, Baker created "The Unknown Hinson Show", a direct spin-off of "The Wild Wild South". The Unknown Hinson Show won Creative Loafing's "Best Of" poll for Best Public-Access Television Show four years in a row.[3]
After the series ended, Baker continued in his role as Unknown Hinson, performing live concerts and releasing several recordings.

...I should mention that in these music clips, Unknown is playing EVERYTHING, all the instruments, backup vocals, the whole deal...

The Triplets Of Belleville

Too good to miss. Another example of a modern director taking animation to a compete other level! Don't let the fact that there's no spoken dialogue keep you from this one, because that in fact only increases its intimacy and charm...but I'll let the pros describe it. It's groundbreaking animation and a movie with an incredible amount of heart. I loved it, really, just go out and get it.

Our gurus and pals (at least till they sue me for copyright infringement) from Wikipedia say:

The Triplets of Belleville (French: Les Triplettes de Belleville) is a Belgium-Quebec-France coproduced 2003 animated surreal adventure film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It was released as Belleville Rendez-vous in the United Kingdom. The film is Chomet's first feature film and was an international co-production between companies in France, United Kingdom, Belgium and Canada.

The film features the voices of Michèle Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Michel Robin, and Monica Viegas; there is little dialogue, the majority of the film story being told through song and pantomime. It tells the story of Madame Souza, an elderly woman who goes on a quest to rescue her grandson Champion, a Tour de France cyclist, who has been kidnapped by the French mafia for gambling purposes and taken to the city of Belleville. She is joined by the triplets of Belleville, music hall singers from the 1930s, who she meets in the city, and her obese hound dog, Bruno.

The film was highly praised by audiences and critics for its unique (and somewhat retro) style of animation. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards — Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for "Belleville Rendez-vous". It was also screened out of competition (hors concours) at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

...The trailer here is a visually bit too dark in places, but the film itself is not...

Hayseed Dixie

Strangely enough, I first heard this band while on tour in Germany with Michael Katon. Of course my first reaction was "Absolutely brilliant! Who wouldn't like this?" and I think I was right...Hayseed Dixie has had a great if somewhat Underground career. Take a bunch of really top-class bluegrass studio guys with a love of old rock and roll, and turn them loose on one of the classic rowdy rock bands in history...it works! It works really well. As time's gone on, the boys have branched out from AC/DC into other ventures, with excellent results. The invented back story of the Hayseeds is fairly amusing in itself, I'll post up their video of it here. But really, some very inventive and hilarious music awaits your open ears on this one...

Shriekback

Shriekback...dark heart of my dreams in the 80s. Shamen of the groove, cold fusion of Funk, Rock, World, Techno. Decadent, mystical, scary, pretentious, intriguing, danceable. Really interesting lyrics, thought that then and now...a spinoff from the legendary XTC, from which so much crazy and amazing stuff seems to flow. Most recent release from Shriekback is actually a collaboration between leader Barry Andrews and XTC leader Andy Partridge (who keeps popping up on this blog for some reason). But start your listening, uninitiated ones, with Big Night Music, arguably their most complete triumph. It helps if you have a really high fever, or have just eaten some questionable mushrooms (and I've experienced and enjoyed their music either way), but it isn't really necessary. Do listen to it at night if you can, maybe in a candlelit room with some Absinthe.

Here's a little byte from my pal Wiki:

Shriekback are a rock band formed in 1981 in Kentish Town by Barry Andrews, formerly of XTC and League of Gentlemen (keyboards/synthesizers/vocals), and Dave Allen, formerly of the Gang of Four (bass), with Carl Marsh, formerly of Out On Blue Six (guitars/vocals) soon added to the line-up. They were joined by Martyn Barker on drums in 1983. Other members included: Linda Nevill, Emma Burnham, Brian Nevill, Pedro Ortiz, Claire Hirst, Lu Edmunds, Wendy and Sara Partridge (from Electric Guitars), Steve Halliwell, Even Moon, Ivan Julian, Mike Cozzi, and Jessica Palin/Jose Fina Cupido.

And a taste of Shriekback:

Lawrence Juber

One of my very favorite musicians. Guitarist for Paul McCartney's Wings band, brilliant fingerstyle acoustic soloist, wonderful music educator. Many fantastic albums, these days all acoustic and just amazing. Check it out.

The REAL Beowulf

Sometimes when I'm spending a lot of time in my car I go off to the library and get me some books on tape. I like 'em. Most radio is moronic and irritating, and sometimes I don't want to listen to music anyway. Books on tape are like having someone read you a story as you're driving, which I think is cool. Plus, I often check out things I wouldn't ordinarily read...it's a different format, it just works out that way. This week I'm listening to the original Norse Saga of Beowulf. Translated into English of course, I'm not crazy really. I can hear the ancient rhythms when I listen, sort of imagine what it would be like to be in those old Viking halls listening to some bard laying the story down for the mead-drinking warriors there. Weird and stately stuff, but action-packed as well...Beowulf (the hero, not me) is like the ultimate badass...swimming in the open sea for days at a time, kicking sea monster ass, sailing to Denmark and TEARING THE ARM OFF the giant man-eating demon Grendel, then battling his even bigger and more pissed-off Mom (Grendel's Mom, not Beowulf's), amongst other manly deeds. Not things I would do myself, but pretty cool stuff! Wonder what I'll pick up next...

Agile Guitars

Ever want to rock out on a Les Paul? Ever look at popular Gibson prices and just sigh sadly like a sad sighing thing, resolving to never rock at all? Well, hell, there's hope yet! Rondo Music is selling the Agile line of guitars, with some really beautiful instruments at prices that even destitute fools like me can afford. I know I sound like an ad for Agile here...but I think it's good to know about, if you even play just a little for fun, but you'd like something nice. These are professional musical tools though for sure...solid mahogany bodies, Gotoh tuners, well-made hardware and very good woodworking throughout. I was so impressed that I wound up getting two...a regular Sunburst LP copy and a 12-string LP! Just TRY finding one of those 12-strings. You'd have to go to Gibson's custom shop and spend $5,000 to $7,000 at least. I got mine for under $300.

I think right now we're living in another golden age of guitars. The early Fenders and Gibsons (I'm talking about the early electric era from the late 50s to the early 70s) were amazing, groundbreaking, breathtaking guitars. They still are. And a lot of new Fenders and Gibsons are beautiful too...at least some are. But it's a crapshoot as to quality sometimes, and the prices are now not in a league that many musicians can afford, especially beginners. However nowadays the entry level instruments are MUCH better than in my beginner's days in the 60s, and many, like Agile, Jay Turser, Samick and Cort are producing things that are really really good instruments, things that many professionals are taking out on the road...sometimes just because their prized Gibson is too valuable to risk getting swiped!

Understand this...these Agiles are made in Korea...from my research the guitar builders are paid very well relative to the cost of living there, and there seem to be good working conditions in the shop. I'm all for buying American stuff whenever I can, but Gibson has priced themselves out of my market when a stock Les Paul is $2500 or more...I just don't have that kind of money right now. I bought my sunburst Agile AL 2000 used on Ebay for $150! Now it does have a thicker poly finish (which doesn't seem to affect the tone all that much)...and I did wind up changing the pickups (although I really didn't have to, the originals were pretty good)...but again, the woods and the construction were equal to the originals, and I've played many worse LPs than my little Agile. You may feel differently, but there's my two cents. When my ship comes in and people are flocking to my concerts, maybe then I'll look for a nice older Paul. Some of them are REALLY special. But here in my hand-to-mouth reality, I'll keep playing these. And I won't feel too bad about it either!

Check out these guitars at http://rondomusic.com/ if you've a mind to. I don't get any financial reward (alas) for advocating these guitars, but hey Rondo guys, anytime you wanna send me a free guitar it's OK by me. Maybe one of those 6-String Fretless Basses!

Spirited Away

Let me start by saying that I originally thought I'd start this entry highlighting the director of this film, Hayao Miyazake, but then I figured I'd rather talk up his films one by one, since each is so amazing. First off, Miyazake is a true genius. He's taken a medium (Japanese Animated Film) and spun it into an unbelievable art form. Stay with me, Anime-Phobics and Film Snobs. "Spirited Away" is to, say, "Sailor Moon" or "Simba" what Kobe Beef is to a Whitecastle Slider...a totally different animal. Certainly lots of elements of Anime are interrelated, but Miyazake's films stand apart from the crowd...well, well apart. There's stunning beauty here, fantastic artwork, a film to take you outside of your world into a place you've always wanted to be but didn't know was there. Lots of drama, humor, interesting Japanese culture and folklore, a heroic plot to make Joseph Campbell proud, and a really magical film score as well. If you haven't seen any of Miyazake's work, please see it. Any good video store will have it, or that Netflix thing, or whatever. And once you see it, if you GET it, there's lots more films by the same director. And it's guaranteed to change the way you think about animated film!

Here's a little bit that I stole (O forgive me O copyright Gods) from Wikipedia:

Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi?, literally, Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away) is a 2001 Japanese animated film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film follows a sullen ten-year-old girl who is in the process of moving to a new town (presumably in the countryside) with her family, and chronicles her adventures in a world of spirits and monsters.
The film received many awards, including the second Oscar ever awarded for Best Animated Feature, the first anime film to win an Academy Award, and the first (and so far only) non-English speaking animation to win. The film also won the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival (tied with Bloody Sunday) and is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.
Spirited Away overtook Titanic (At the time the top grossing film worldwide) in the Japanese box office to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history.

...In this case, the trailer doesn't do the film justice at all, but it's the best I can do...gotta just see this one...

The Goon

It all depends on how you feel about comics. If you're dismissive of the medium, if you think that it's all Super Guys in tights kicking each other's asses, you've been misinformed (Although I've got nothing against men in tights...at one point in life I wore tights myself. Looked pretty damn good in 'em too). Seriously, things have evolved quite a bit from the early days of Batman, although I'm still an unrepentant Batman fan...the place where great writing and great graphics meet is getting to be a pretty exciting hang.

There are some amazing people doing amazing work, and The Goon by Eric Powell is one of the best examples. Set in a weird noir universe in a 40s-like era, these stories are alternately hilarious, obscene, heartbreaking, suspenseful, offensive and exciting. Wikipedia says "The series has a distinctly paranormal slant, with the average story concerning ghosts, ghouls, skunk-apes with an unnatural hunger for pie, extra-dimensional aliens, and mad scientists." And yes, there is a good dose of ass-kicking as well. Did I mention that Powell is a fantastic artist? His art and content owe a good deal to Will Eisner's "The Spirit" Comics of the 40s, but he's ramped it WAY up both in terms of art and of story content. No, WAY up.

So, my advice is, don't you be dismissive or afraid of them there picture books. You can even call 'em Graphic Novels if it makes you feel better. But do go out and check on The Goon...if you're in my neck of the woods, hop over to Vault Of Midnight, a wonderful store, or go online (hey, you're already there!), or check your local Public Library...they may even have copies, mine did! The Goon and his psychotic pal Frankie, The Zombie Priest, Doctor Alloy and The Buzzard await you...

Stone Premonitions

A strange angel, with the head of a lizard, dances with a small orange furry alien and two beautiful nudes around a ring of power in some unnameable space. Sounds of music draw you into the circle, which reveals itself a spiral of eternal energy, spinning further and further into inner space, as your mind expands...

Then you're back on the street in your business suit wondering if it was all a dream. You're late for work! But before you rush off you look up, and there, high in the sky above you in a red balloon, you see the evil clown manipulating your marionette strings, laughing...

...It's just a taste of the vibe that many of the Stone Premonitions creations seem to inspire in me (and maybe in you too). Stone Premonitions is a Cooperative or Collective organization, officially started in 1994 but with its roots much earlier in 1974. Sometimes a record label, sometimes a radio station, always an incredible group of creative artists and musicians. The story's way too big for me to tell here, so check out their history on:
http://www.aural-innovations.com/stonepremonitions/history.html

...One of my favorite bands from the many (there's just an amazing output of music!) available is Census Of Hallucinations. Here's some unabashedly Psychedelic music with great hooks, crazy spaced-out moments, counter-cultural anarchist attitudes, fantastic musicianship, and lots of fun. But there's a LOT more besides COH. Check out the Stone Premonition discography and see:
http://www.aural-innovations.com/stonepremonitions/catalog.html

...Many of the SP recordings can be found at Stone Island Records (along with the CDs of some tosser called Beowulf Kingsley for some reason), which has a great web radio station that plays Stone Premonitions stuff all day long! Check it out here:
http://www.stoneislandrecords.com/

...Crazy cool. I'll leave you with a couple of teaser demos...have fun...

Gwar

Here's where my more intellectual, sensitive friends will flee from this blog in horror (what, Call Of Cthulu didn't do it for you already?)...my recommendation of Gwar, Insane Metal Band, Theatre Troupe, Scumdogs Of The Universe and Purveyor Of All Things Disgusting. Gwar will probably never be on NPR. Or on commercial radio. But they've been attracting and keeping (sometimes literally) rabid fans satisfied for more than 25 years! Gotta love 'em.

Gwar began in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, when Dave Brockie's band Death Piggy donned outer space monster costumes for a no-budget independent art film "Scumdogs Of The Universe" being made by Hunter Jackson and Chuck Varga. The costumes kept appearing onstage at Death Piggy shows and eventually Piggy was absorbed by the Gwar persona. Like Death Piggy, Gwar shows were both music and mini-plays, but Gwar went further and further into it, eventually creating movies and live performances that were like psychotic musicals written by very very disturbed adolescents (and I mean that in the very best possible way). After over 25 years and many personnel changes, Brockie is still in the band, in the character of Oderus Urungus, chief monster of Gwar. It's cool.

A rather complete history of the band is over on Wikipedia at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwar#1985.E2.80.931989
and is interesting reading, if you find this kind of thing interesting! Gwar are horrible, perverse, disgusting, offensive and appealing to the lowest common denominator in humankind. I highly recommend them! For elder geeks like me who don't want to go to the show and covered with fake body effluvia, a trip to the video store is in order. "Dawn Of The Day Of The Night Of The Penguins" is a pretty good representation of their live show, and features a delightful segment in which Marilyn Mansion is flayed alive! Or the hilarious "It's Sleazy" in which Gwar's amazingly pompadoured manager Sleazy P. Martini hosts his own daytime talk show...although there's some very disturbing violence that ensues. DON'T watch this stuff with your younger kids! At least watch it yourself first. I warned ya.

Edit: I just realized that Marilyn Manson is actually flayed alive in "It's Sleazy"! My mistake. Oh well.

The Adventures Of Prince Achmed

This film was created by groundbreaking animator Lotte Reiniger, all in laborious stop motion, back in 1926. Not only is it the first animation of its kind as far as I can tell, but its detail and artistry are unbelievable. The few clips I'll post can't really give you any idea of the beautiful detail involved, I'd highly recommend renting or buying a copy and watching it on a good full-sized screen. As I said, the attention to movement, facial expression and composition make this far ahead of its time...and the shadow-puppet silhouette animation adds to the period charm. Plus, it's a rockin' tale of Magic, Love, Flying Mechanical Horses and Beautiful Women Who Turn Into Birds! Great stuff.

Don Ross

As a sometime guitarist myself, I feel I have to periodically post some of the great music being played by some of the really great players of the instrument. One you might not know of is Don Ross. He's one of those musicians who not only have the technique to do things seemingly impossible, but to make his compositions beautiful and lyrical as well. His first album of solo guitar, "Passion Session", is a series of breathtaking, gorgeous tunes that can alternately beguile you with his harmonies and melodies, or (especially for fellow guitarists) blow you away with his effortless mastery of the instrument. But enough of my yakkin'. I'll post up a few vids and let you hear it yourself.

Roadside America

When I was young (many millennia ago in the Jurassic age) my folks would take us on annual trips to visit their parents in Montana. On the way, the highway billboards would advertise amazing, magical places like Seashell City or Wall Drug or Reptile House or Mystery Spot, strange locations that I desperately wanted to visit. We would stop for these wonderful haunts all too rarely, and they were highlights in my memories of those travels (well, that and things like my Dad trying to get close-up photos of buffalo...something he found inadvisable quite quickly).

I was really pleased to find Roadside America, a website that loves the same kinds of crazy Americana that I do. It still lives on our highways, although somewhat diminished with the times...and RA also celebrates the wonderfully weird stuff that you can still find all over the US, bizarre and delightful locations like Pet Cemeteries, Giant Paul Bunyans, homemade Stonehenge's, 2-story outhouses and unlikely statues of every description. Plus many museums that must be seen to be believed.

One wonderful thing about the RA website is that it has a function that allows you to plan your trip around various wild and wacky attractions that might just make your next road excursion something really special. I mean, who doesn't want to see the Nun Doll Museum, the Giant Neon Kielbasa, the Upside Down Stove Restaurant and Bar,
the Hiawatha Statue, Mr. Chicken the Plastic-Legged Rooster, or Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum? And hey, those are only a few wonders available just here in Michigan! You better get movin'. Check out Roadside America at:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/

The Orange Hat

In keeping with my ongoing love of really strange and wonderful indie musicians and multi-media maniacs I'd like to present The Orange Hat. The two principal guys in this organization, Christo and Zeus, have known each other and played together since high school...and look what it did to them! The Hat has been together in some form or other since 1995 or before (accounts seem to vary), and for a few years produced a crazed TV show for Atlanta Public Access Television called "The Orange Hat Hour" (only real problem there was that it was a half-hour show). I can only describe it as a demented blend of Magical Mystery Tour and The Monkees Show, but in the nicest way. I really love The Orange Hat's music, with its melding of Psychedelia, Power Pop and Indescribable Strangeness. Marvel at their website at:
http://web.me.com/christoharris/Orange_Hat/Welcome.html
...And find their CD "Pufferfish" at:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/orangehat
...Finally, I've included some of their YouTube documentation of their music and their TV show below. Enjoy!!!

The Empress Of Mars

By Kage Baker, "The Empress Of Mars". Best Science Fiction book I've read this year! Baker writes a series of novels featuring "The Company" which I haven't warmed up to yet, but her short story collections shine and "Empress" is a kick-ass novel that's all about what I really like in the genre. I'll paste in some stuff from PW below, but hey, check it out!

From Publishers Weekly-

Baker seamlessly expands her 2004 Hugo and Nebula–nominated novella of the same title into tale of nonconformist survival. Widow Mary Griffith and her daughters relocate to an oddly anachronistic Mars, a world dominated by the badly run British Arean Company. Declared redundant by BAC, Mary establishes the first bar on Mars, which prevails despite the moralistic disapproval of her former bosses. Her customers are colorful characters who exist at the periphery of Martian society, from shyster Stanford Crosley to would-be space cowboy Ottorio Vespucci. Mary's family, friends and neighbors struggle to survive economic setbacks, the inhospitable climate and BAC's hostility to all forms of eccentricity. Though the international politics are sometimes threadbare, Baker's tale of individualists battling enforced conformity is a worthy evolution of her novella and will especially appeal to longtime science fiction fans.

Review-

“Most writers’ alternate universes are fun to visit, but Kage Baker’s is one I wouldn’t mind moving to: the Barsoom of Edgar Rice Burroughs . . . seen through the eyes of a writer far more poetic, vastly more scientifically literate, and with an infinitely superior sense of humor. Even as science-fictional taverns go, the Empress of Mars is memorable, a joint I hope I’ll be able to return to many times.”
--Spider Robinson, author of Very Hard Choices

"For my money, The Empress of Mars is the one to read.”
--Mike Resnick, author of Starship: Rebel

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns on all of Mars, the Empress is the one to visit. Let's raise a round to Kage Baker.”
--Jack McDevitt, author of The Devil's Eye

Jonathan Coulton

Here’s another find from our Public Library (I love Public Libraries…free stuff!), a CD that I picked up on a whim. Stuck it in the player on the way home, and by the third song both Cyn and I were saying “Who IS this guy? And why didn’t anyone tell us about him before?”…Some of the best eclectic Pop/Rock music I’d heard in a good while. Great arrangements, cool harmonies, with some very good playing throughout. And most importantly, really amazing, intelligent, poignant, witty songs. All, apparently, done by this one guy…writing, playing, recording, production. So who the hell IS he?

Turns out Jonathan Coulton was working in the IT field up till recently, when he decided to challenge his songwriting and production skills by taking a year off and writing, recording and producing a song a week for that year. He then posted them up on his website as podcasts. This has worked out really well for him, since he’s now writing, recording and touring full-time, and is no longer bound to the IT cubicle anymore (although he’s used it for fodder for his amazing songwriting mill). Success stories in the music biz are not all that common these days; it’s nice to see a genuinely talented person making it happen.

Coulton’s songs do owe a great debt to They Might Be Giants, another self-starter band of prodigious output and imagination (he actually opens their shows on occasion these days), although his style and perspective are somewhat different. Jonathan’s enormous songwriting universe includes an Evil Genius who’s having trouble with his current relationship in “Skullcrusher Mountain”, a strangely cheery family banished to a mining asteroid on Christmas in “Chiron Beta Prime”, an achingly sad song about a Sea Monster who loves the little ships he keeps destroying in “I Crush Everything”, and a former office-mate who’s now a Zombie but still an asshole in “Re: Your Brains”. How could anyone possibly not like that? A great deal of his work is available at his website:
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/
…And his documentation of that year of weekly songs is available in a series of CDs titled “Thing-A-Week”. Also, since he releases his music through Creative Commons, his fans are free to make videos of his songs, and there are a huge number available on YouTube (I’ve included several below). For an excellent perspective on the JoCo phenomenon, get his live performance CD/DVD “Best.Concert.Ever” to see him playing in front of one of his EXTREMELY enthusiastic groups of fans. As a musician, I really appreciate seeing that. Well worth watching!

Call Of Cthulhu

H.P. Lovecraft has been a huge influence on writers of Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction since he started putting his mad, dark, purple prose out (in the short story "Dagon) in 1919. He certainly had a huge influence on me...I remember as a young teen tucked away in a dark wood lined basement coffeehouse at the U of M, drinking tea and eating Space Food Sticks and reading "The Colour Out Of Space". Heady stuff.

I was in the Public Library recently and found this film adaption of "Call Of Cthulhu" there. After sitting through many bad Lovecraftian films, I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. It's done as a silent film, in the style of classic 20s silents, with a great symphonic score. For a movie done on a tiny budget it's amazingly well acted (again, close to 20s silent style) and it works for the material very well...the brooding dark quality is enhanced by the retro vibe.

If you haven't delved into Lovecraft's work, wassa matta wit you? Fear not the miasma tainted by the fetid ichor of his prose and open the strange book bound in you dare not guess what. And watch this movie, by the way! Make some extra popcorn for me. For more info on H.P., check here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.p._lovecraft
And before I go I'll post up the movie's trailer. Watch it, watch it, but beware...your very sanity may be at risk...

Martin Newell

First post relating to cool and underknown artists should certainly be about Martin Newell. Back in the 90s when I was working at the Border's music department in Ann Arbor, one of my principal amusements was combing through the bargain bin to find the little cheap treasures my meagre paycheck would allow. It was always strange for me as a musician looking at CDs that people had put their hearts and souls (sometimes) into, sitting in the unloved swill bin of a lousy corporate mega store. Every album has a story. And one day, puttering around there, I found this CD with a strange looking cover..."The Greatest Living Englishman" by Martin Newell, produced by the "New & Improved" Andy Partridge. Well, Partridge I knew from XTC, a band I knew and loved, so I paid the four dollars and took it home. I was floored by what I heard. Newell had played all the instruments (save some drums and a few keys done by Partridge), sung everything, and wrote songs that connected with me in a strange, dark beautiful way.

I used to try to explain Martin's work on that album as "Imagine if John Lennon had come to his senses and left Yoko, gone back to England and his Beatles roots, gotten a little more mature and a lot more cynical, and made another album". But really this album is very different from that, it has a different kind of poetry and Martin never really left England or his amazing Post-Beatles sensibility. There's an incredible beauty and a strange Autumnal quality that, if you're the right kind of listener, will draw you in and keep you there forever.

And if you like this particular record, there's a lot more. Martin Newell had a lot of great albums, mostly self-produced and released as underground cassettes, with his band The Cleaners From Venus back in the 80s, and many of those songs are available now on collections (obtainable through Amazon for one, yet another corporate monster although perhaps a slightly friendlier one). And with his spin-off project from that group, his Brotherhood Of Lizards was the first (and only, I think) band to tour England by bicycle as an early green experiment. The BOL album is wonderful, by the way, and seems to go in and out of print, but it's well worth seeking out. Although his later solo CDs are more eclectic and sometimes more uneven, there are fantastic songs on all of them as well. Martin makes his living these days as a journalist, and is also famous as the most published poet in England, due to his years as resident poet for the Independent newspaper. He performs poetry readings and occasional music, usually not straying far from his home in Wivenhoe.

Martin's own website is at http://www.martinnewell.co.uk/ and if you enjoy reading blogs (which if you're STILL with me I must assume you are) I'd highly recommend checking his out. Literate and hilarious! I'll leave you with a few songs from "The Greatest Living Englishman".

Welcome to the Funhouse

I just want to say I'm creating this blog from pure peer pressure. After regaling my friends and family with recommendations for things I enjoy...music, art, bizarre culture, mad websites, cults, ethnic recipes, dance troupes, roadside attractions, etc. ....I had a crowd of my people draw me aside and suggest, in the nicest possible way, that I create a blog about it so they could read it and turn their friends on to what I was on about. At least it seemed nice at the time. They had the hoses and the lead pipes, but they didn't actually use them, which I sure thought was nice.

So here I am, up in my humble garret, bats fluttering around my head, figuring I'll try and post up something once in a while to possibly amuse my friends and incidentally keep the hoses offa my head. Thanks, Bruce, Richard, everybody else, you can put those away now, I'm typing already!

If I wind up writing about something you're already hip to, well, congratulate yourself on your pre-existing hippitude, and maybe next week I can turn you on to something you haven't heard about yet. And feel free to be reciprocal about this...if there's something you think I should know about please write and let me know, that would be great! I've found some great things out just stumbling around, but perhaps if we all stumble around together we can make our lives even more interesting and cooler too.