Random Ramblings & Tunes 2

Edit: So long story short, blah blah blah song, blah blah blah song...blah blah blah video (in my mind not so random). My morbid Easter picture for yall. Taken LITERALLY the whole Passion and Resurrection events are gruesome and morbid. In case you didn't know, I have a friend who uses the nickname "The Only True Punk".  Well, I am "The Only True Christian".  Ha, ha!  Actually of all the things I've studied in college the only thing I've continued to consistently study is Christianity in general.  More specifically, early history, Gnosticism and extra-orthodox exegesis.  Still an amateur though, but I do have more than enough understanding to confront the wide range of those people espousing Christian belief, especially the far right, evangelical, fundamental, speaking in tongues, laying on of hands, infallibility of the bible, variety I find myself surrounded by here.  First two things that come to mind, ignorance and hypocrisy, starting with Paul all the way to the present.  If you take a look at the metaphors you find in the gospels and try to understand themes (or even "secret" meanings) you see that there was no need for the 2000 years of misery, the so called leader and followers of the faith have cast upon this world.  True blasphemy of what could have been a good thing. Today we have Islam and it's fundamentalists taking up the sword intolerance and extremism. This picture reminds me that, I don't care what your religious beliefs are, Mel Gibson's "Passion" is well worth watching, despite all the drama surrounding the film. This doctor back in 30's France, Dr. Pierre Barbet, in doing crucifixion research, used cadavers, thus the photograph. Wish I knew what it was about me that draws me to stuff like that.  When all is said and done, I should be a fan of Marilyn Manson.  Not sure why but I feel compelled to wrap this up with a Bone Awl tune, Bone Awl - When I Die (monotonously simple, raw and perfect) Well I don't know if anyone noticed but this post is late. Kinda told myself (we talk all the time ya know) that I would try to come out with a post at least on every Thursday. Funny because I just interviewed for a job, within the same company I work for (a non-profit serving persons with disabilities) and during the interview they asked how I did with deadlines. I of course stated that I was excellent, if not the best person in the world at meeting deadlines. Oops. Needless to say, I got the job, a little more money and a lot more work and responsibility.  Now despite my meager advancement, which I'm selling short (it is actually a big deal, it's just more punk rock to pretend it isn't) I am depressed because I found out that according to this article I am not part of the middle class. Still far from it. Instead I will have to be proud of my upper lower class status. Along those lines I think it's very interesting to find out that Mike Myers makes $108,000 a minute for doing the voice of Shrek. Of course it doesn't matter, as I said in my last post as I have decided to join the materialistic masses.  No matter how much I try to glorify it, record collecting, even in my modest way, is somewhat materialistic.  After all, I said it before, "property is theft", just go ask TSOL, or go to the source with P.J. Proudhon.  Besides I'm sure Mr. Myers worked VERY HARD for that money (at least as hard as a teacher in Kansas, who can expect to start out at $34k a year). Entertaining kids is more important than educating them right? (Tired old argument) If you're a "Big Lebowski" fan you must go to the Lewbowski Fest site. Did that WAR trip on the last post, so Mike sent me this one, Dream Team - You're Slippin' Not too bad and actually very obscure as I couldn't find shit on the band. There was a whole rap album sometime in the 90's of just WAR covers, but I haven't tracked that down to give it a listen. Got me in the mood for rap (just for a second) and made me think of this tune, Gangsta Of Love (the original, no Bushwick though) Gangster of Love (similar to the above, but this one's got Bushwick) Gangster of Love (the original featured a Steve Miller sample, but after being sued they changed it to a Lynyrd Skynyrd sample) Play that one for your old lady and see what she says. "I treat a bitch like a queen, but she better realize that I'm the god damn king." (I too am a hypocrite [in many ways] for posting this tune and being into things like Crass' "Penis Envy" at the same time. May as well post Nazi shit, but I can do whatever I want on my site, right?) I mentioned TSOL and for some reason they really reminds me of Junior High School.  I suppose some of that was probably the little bit of shock I had, moving from LA proper to the Valley.  There were no punks at my previous school and as far as I knew there were none in the Rampart district of LA, just immigrants, gangsters and me.  I had already been exposed to punk (thank you Rodney) and along with metal, was a fan, but I had never seen them as a group of people.  I hung out with the stoners, but I was always interested in what was going on with the punks. This was in 1981, so "punk", even as hardcore was growing, was pretty well defined at that point.  A lot of those punks went on to be in BPO.  So somewhere in the mix I was introduced to True Sounds Of Liberty.  Mike, also recently sent me their first demo, that's worth hunting down if you're so inclined.  Check out a tune. TSOL - Superficial Love Another thing worth mentioning, from Junior High, was this guy Eddie. My buddy Match, if he graces me with his presence, will have a lot more to say about the guy.  I'm sure that every Junior High had a guy like Eddie just like they had girls who were having abortions.  Eddie was extreme, crazy, drugged out, and wanted attention terribly.  Not sure what his home life was, but I got the feeling it wasn't good and that he was maybe on ADHD doper.  He was always up to something evil and may eventually have been kicked out of school for that (or ended up in Juvenile Hall, psyche ward, something...).  So one thing I remember about him is that he went into his neighbors yard, took their pet bunny, hung it in his closet, cut it's head off and brought the head to school.  I've always been a softy for animals especially in their innocence and subservience at the hands of people.  Needless to say, his actions upset and confused me.  Whatever pity I had for the guy got sucked down a drain of anger.  Fast forward about ten years to college.  There was this friend named Gail who lived with Dawn and Kathy, some older friends and all part of a bigger group of friends that all hung out and partied together.  They lived on California St. in Arcata, which is one of the best downhill skating spots in the county.  They lived in this big ass house with a huge deck, several bands played there including Garden Weasel as you can hear, here.   So Gail has this gigantic snake, python, anaconda, boa or something.  It's so huge, like you might see in the wild or at zoo, that it's moved well beyond the mouse eating stage.  Rabbits.  So someone gets the bright idea that at it's next feeding we should make it an event and have a little party.  So Gail gets a big rabbit, which turns out to be some kids pet that his parents decide to get rid of.  Tame, happy, bunny.  There is excitement in the room, but I can feel the rabbits fear, like an unwilling gladiator.  Maybe like the bull at a bullfight.  The snake gets a hold of the rabbit quick, but there is no other sound in this world that is similar to the squeal of a rabbit when it knows it's going to die.  I remember it too from when I was a kid and my aunt raised rabbits for pelts and meat.  So the snake and the rabbit is a natural thing but to me that was an unnatural event.  Gail had also been a roadie and was good friends with the guys in NOFX.  They came up several times over the years and partied with everyone and maybe even played a time or two.  Was thinking about them the other day when I was talking about musicians who had committed suicide through addiction.  They have this great song off the "Wolves in Wolves Clothing" that just fits all too well into that theme, NoFX-Doornails Pretty much have kept my head shaved, buzzed or just cut short since my senior year of high school.  When in college my semi-WASPafarian friend Rob made me a tape there was a song that, without meaning to, rang true for me. The Twinkle Brothers - Throw the Comb Away (Reggae Sunsplash 1982) Even though they're talking about dreadlocks, I too threw the comb away a long time ago.  Shaving your head has become quite common over the years, but no one looks as good as me with buzzed hair.  With a perfectly shaped head, round and not too big or small, and ears that don't stick out in a goofy fly me away way, my head is shear perfection.  :-) So this post is late, as I said, and it's not that I procrastinated, it's that I just couldn't pick out a record to be the main topic of the post.  In the picture you can see the stuff I have in my "cue", as some of my fellow music site-sters call it, but nothing was grabbing me as it usually does.  On top of that I probably have another 30 CDs, albums and 7"s ripped, converted and labeled.  I'm not much of a writer, more of a journal writer, but you might call it writers block.  Something old, something new, something mellow, something harsh, something green, something yellow.  What to post?  Really have been listening to all kinds of different shit lately, mostly new to me stuff from other sites.  So many songs stuck in my head I can't even think.  Instead we'll just leave you with an interesting rap video with a pretty serious story. Not bad even if you don't dig that particular genre.

"it's messed up I had to lose an eye to see shit clearly" [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv_-CCR-9x8&w=480&h=385]

War - Cisco Kid b/w Beetles In a Bog 7"

Thinking about renaming this site SUBURBAN BITCH after the Conservatives song of the same name on the "Hell Comes To Your House" comp. The song starts out, "Coffee and cigarettes, small talk and bullshit...", perfect.  Ha, ha, my bullshit though right?  Why don't you give that tune a listen.   May as well give everything else the Conservatives ever released, two on said comp, and three more on the "You Can't Argue With Sucksess" comp (which aren't as good). Anybody know if they did anything else? (my copy of HCTYH has a needle snapping scratch the length of one side)

Suburban Bitch Just Cuz / Nervous Confusion Nuclear Madness Beaver Cleaver Well the Spring Equinox (Vernal) or March Equinox (so as not to be northern hemisphere-centric) is on the 20th. I'm not sure about you guys, but it means a lot of things to me, much more than it ever did when I lived in SoCal.  Shure is gettin' perty 'round here.

Was watching Rugby (England vs. Scotland) and the announcer said something about England not having "habitual fluidity".  I thought that was interesting.  You can read/hear about sports being a metaphor for life or finding lessons in sports that apply to life (take that for whatever it's worth).  But "habitual fluidity", that, for some reason seems profound at the moment.  Something that might be good to have in life. When I was a practicing alcoholic and addict I did not have habitual fluidity it was more like being stuck in quicksand, a different kind of habitualness all together.

Looked up and was interested in a relevant word/concept that I've never really took the time to know the exact meaning of, Plutocracy. The folk-punk band A.P.P.L.E. that's been featured around here, had an album called "Plutocracy" and I always just took it for some fancy word that meant fucked up government. Always did procrastinate on my homework and ran around not knowing what the hell was going on. gimmick-" a trick or device used to attract business or attention."

For some reason, as long as I've been working for a paycheck (since I was 14), I've bought things and thought about how long it took me to earn that. So for instance, if I made $10 an hour, it would take me about a half hour to have enough for a pack of cigarettes (at this time I won't talk about the crazy taxes on cigs). I don't know why but I always appreciated what I had when I took the time to think about how long it took me to earn it.   Back then a non-import LP was about $7.  The first job I had paid $2.50 an hour, so after three hours of work I had enough for a record (plus 50 cents to take the bus).  My bro Match, years ago, told me that all we have is time and we sell some of that time to get the things we need (and stuff we don't need too).  If you bother to read my babble around here you know that lately I've been fixated on the wealthy. People who can afford materialism and a fascination with shiny objects. Some useless information, just read that there are a little bit over 1000 billionaires in the world right now. Poor people are no more righteous than rich people of course, because most of them dream of being rich anyway. Anyway I wanted to figure out how much a person taking home a million dollars a year was making an hour. I've already mentioned that at my current hourly rate, with a little bit of overtime, I will take home my first million in about 55 years. For the guy who take home a million a year (that's not even considered rich anymore), he makes $480 an hour (after taxes) or around $8 a minute.  Do you know what I could do with $8 a minute?  I don't know... I think I'm going to give in guys, I too want to be rich.

You don't have to be to appreciate these guys.  They are a natural high.  Threatened a while ago that I was going to post some WAR so here you go.  I have they're Greatest Hits on cassette that my Mom got for me back in the late 70's.  A must have for you to round out whatever kind of collection you music lovers have.  Interesting too because the compact cassette (introduced in 1963) in the mid 70's was taking over the market from the 8-track cassette and so they came out with some trippy cases for the things (as my War cassette does) until settling on the clear plastic one with the paper insert that we came to know (more useless info).  Anybody know what I'm talking about?  Anyway this is hands down my favorite War tune, yes even more than the universally popular Low Rider.  They have lots of good tunes though.  "Why Can't We Be Friends", "The World is a Ghetto", and my second favorite tune of theirs, for your listening pleasure Slippin' Into Darkness.  Hard to categorize these guys, a lot of people might just lump them in the funk category, but I kinda feel like they have a lot more going on than that.  Speaking of which maybe sometime we should do a Parliment or Funkadelic post sometime.  In Cisco Kid, with a big band and several instruments, there's a lot going on.  It all comes together though in this groove, especially when you listen to how the bass and drums play off of each other.  Text book shit that should make the song required listening for anyone wanting to take up an instrument (of course every instrument I ever took up I sucked at, so what do I know).  Pretty sure this single version is different than the one off the album, "The World Is a Ghetto".  Got mine from a guy in Japan, as you can tell.  I mentioned a while back too that I saw these guys, must have been in about '95, but doing some reading on them I found out that the War that's been playing for a while only has one original member.  The key members and the majority of the original guys play in the Low Rider Band (one those ugly fights over band names that ultimately most of the band lost out on).  Blah blah blah could go on, as I've proven time and again, but it's time to open the door so you can settle into this (the B side is just okay).  These guys definitely have "habitual fluidity".

 

Cisco Kid Beetles In A Bog

(sorry for the shitty bit rate on those you guys, it's the server limit of 7mb per file, sucks, but I ripped them at 256k so...)

Cypress Hill did what rappers sometimes do to a tune (not bad if that's your thing), you can check that Cypress Hill (feat. Method Man & Redman) - Cisco Kid This video is like a fucking history lesson in music (the audio for it, Cisco Kid (Live 1973 Midnight Special).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMlrI6IkQv0&w=480&h=385]

Vi - The Triumph of Death 7"

A little late getting started on this one, kinda going through one of those funks I have every once in a while. As Iggy might say, "not right".  Antiseen's Twisted Brain comes to mind as well.  Anybody else get those disconnected feelings? Not just in the mind but you can feel it all over your body too.  Or do you have to be familiar with anxiety and psychosis.  Irritable does not even begin to describe it, and tired at the end of the day because you use up all your energy trying to keep your kool. That's what music's for, right? (And this place, for me.) Is it just me and maybe the fact that this is a picture from 1970, or are you telling yourself like I am, "hell yes they inhaled".  As you know I'm not much for either party (or those fucking goons in the Tea Party either), especially these days, but life in the United States was, at least on the surface,  pretty good when Bill sat on the throne.  Almost made you believe money, greed and power weren't behind everything.  A Golden Era?  Maybe not (maybe so, we'll see what the history books say in 20 years) but after 8 years of Bush II this place is fucked up.  Really, as supreme commander of the cannibalistically gluttonous, with the power to completely wipe out life on planet earth (except the cockroaches of course), you're not doing too bad when your biggest fault is wanting some strange in the form of young chubby cocksucking women.  My friend Dawn from college went on to become an attorney  and worked at the white house during the Clinton thing.  Among other things she said that he was a stud.  And Hillary, what did she ever doing wrong except stick with a man who was cheating on her.  I never understood why they blasted that lady and let Tipper Gore get away with murder (maybe not because now the "Explicit Lyrics" sticker is some kind of idiotic badge of honor, that sells more albums).  Anyway, I kinda liked that picture, they look happy, and maybe like they would have enjoyed having a cup of coffee and a cigarette with the Mustard. On some of the other sites I visit (there are some fucking seriously good ones out there) they some how manage to get "underground" news.  Where do you go to find out that kind of stuff?  You know stuff about the not so rich and famous.  I'm not talking about Corey Haim (another suicide by addiction?).  Fucking tragic shit, that really is only symbolic of the masses of people that end up that way.  The other Corey from the Goonies was my favorite.  So, anyway, my bro Sang and I are emailing back and forth, writing about how difficult life can be sometimes and he mentions another guy who died a few days earlier, Mark Linkous (pictured at left).  He was the meat and potatoes behind the band Sparklehorse.  Not really that underground, and when you're labeled "alternative" I have a hard time taking a band seriously, but I really dug those guys.  I posted my favorite album of theirs a while back, It's A Wonderful Life, but that one flew way under the radar as the only comment I got was from my bro Slam, talking about the seasons changing.  :-)  So, dude had some emotional problems mixed with, you guessed it, drug problems, took a rifle and shot himself in the heart.  Yes I know, indicative of a larger population that goes unmentioned but, DAMN.  Really the music, that I called heroin music, lends itself to the suicidal personality, so it wasn't a big leap.  His stuff was fucking good though, Syd Barrett would have been proud.  Also reminds me of the bad spaces I've been and how I've overcome all of that.  Do me a favor and give the title track off that album a spin and let me know what you think. It's A Wonderful Life Mike reminded me of how lucky I was to still have a Grandpa that was alive and kicking.  My gramps sent me this one.  Union blue collar to the bone and at 81 he spends his time on a computer, a machine he only recently has come to know. So, was listening to the radio again (uh oh, right).  Found another one of those early to mid 70's super hits that must have negatively influenced those that came to create punk rock.  Also another one of those I know I heard on the AM radio in my Mom's bug circa 1975.  They're biggest hit I think, even bigger than their hippy stuff of the late 60's before they changed their name the first time.  I have an album that I'll have to post sometime by a band called the Great Society, which I actually think is very cool.  Look them up.  So if you're a real man and can shed every last shred of your machismo (and maybe your dignity) how about... Jefferson Starship - Miracles How about another one, but a few years later, 1977, at the dawn of punk rock.  One of my first cassettes was Blue Oyster Cults "Agents of Fortune".  Not really sure why I was into those guys to be honest with except to say I was about 8 years old and into Dungeons and Dragons.  Somehow there's a connection.  This tune gets way overplayed on the "classic rock" stations, but I can still dig the middle part with the delays and the sampling. Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla Was this in it's own way like punk? NWA - Straight Outta Compton I tried this time to find something else I had that I could not find posted anywhere else (it's hard to do that unless you really have some rarities).  The band is called Vi out of Denmark and was released somewhere between 1985 and 1987.  I got this around that time from a guy I've mentioned before, Ade, the Satanic Malfunctions drummer that I was trading music with back then.  Released on the Loony Tunes Records label that I've featured a bunch of times around here as well.  If you look around "Vi" is a popular name for a band and even more popular, especially in the black metal circles, is the title "The Triumph of Death".  Other than that I could really find out nothing about this band except that this was their only release (must've had a demo though).  If you know anything let me know.  Interesting is that "The Triumph of Death" is a famous, crazy ass painting from 1562 by Pieter Bruegel the Elder that's worth posting (thumbnail).  As far as the band you get some pretty decent European hardcore that may not blow you away but in my opinion isn't too bad.  Kind of cool that they sing a few in English and then some others in their own language.  Straight forward, no nonsense type of stuff that maybe some would call a BGK rip off, or is that just the sound of the region.   I'm no expert and what to you want for free anyway?  :-)  "Bunch of Shit" is my favorite here, but they all sound fairly similar.  If you do nothing else, have a NICE day. Tiltcore En Slov Kniv Brystet It's Love Bunch Of Shit Gadebillede Alt For Meget Menneske Dod Radden Menneskehed