#tom verlaine music video

[lyrasky]

追悼Tom Verlaine【Kingdom Come】和訳トム・ヴァーレインの軌跡 Till Kingdom Come

追悼Tom Verlaine【Kingdom Come】和訳トム・ヴァーレインの軌跡 Till Kingdom Come Lyraのブログへ #tomverlaine #kingdomcome #television #tomverlainerip #トムヴァーレイン #newyorkpunk #punks #thomasmiller #MarqueeMoon #pattismith #b52s #richardhell #davidbowie #PaulVerlaine #neonboys #deedeeramone #RichardLloyd #cbgb #MaxsKansasCity

ニューヨークのパンク・ロック・シーンに最も大きな影響を与えたバンドTelevision。 このTelevision メンバーであり、ギター・インプロヴィ���ーションを駆使したオリジナリティ溢れる音を出していたギタリストであり、クールな言葉を紡ぐイケオジ詩人(ただ単に気を軽くしたくて&Tomに再会したら言ってみたかったから…) であったTom Verlaineが昨日(日本時間だと先ほど)、2023年2月28日土曜日に天国に召された。享年73歳。 最近尊敬するアーティストの訃報が多くてかなりへヴィーな気持ちになる。偉人だって人間だから寿命はあるのは当たり前だと承知はしているのだが…やはりこの世を旅立たれてしまうのは辛い。 特に好きなアーティストや俳優etc…

[krebstar3000]

Television - Call Mr. Lee

[talkinfanfic]

Episode 305 - Talkin' Music with shineswithyou

Summary:

🎧 Find Talkin' Fanfic on your favorite podcast app. Or stream here!

Sara takes (kind of sort of) a break from talking fanfic and bandfic to talk about a different form of storytelling– music, and writing about music! @shineswithyou is a familiar face around Oasis and U2 tumblr, but what you might NOT know is that she has recently embarked on a writing journey of her own, with a substack blog about music and its place as the soundtrack of her own life.

Sara and shines talk about her blog, and the difficulty of “writing words about sounds”; how music is a language in and of itself capable of telling its own (and our own) stories.

Of COURSE we loop it back around to fanfiction and RPF (or, ‘real person fanfiction’), and how bandfic is, at its core, a pure form of love for the musical artist. Other talking points include: how awesome Bono is, and how we wish we could have been at Slane Castle in 2001; the perennial dysfunction of the Gallagher brothers; and the dichotomy of the U2 and Oasis fandoms.

Contact and Credits:

Theme Music: Kyle Laurin "Oasis Supersonic Theme" (Twitter: @cobrakylemusic)

Clips from "Pop Muzik" by M (℗ 1979 Robin Scott Limited) and "Marquee Moon" by Television (℗ 1977 Elektra/Asylum)

Tumblr: talkinfanfic.tumblr.com 

Instagram: @talkinfanfic

Email: talkinfanfic@gmail.com

Time caps:

00:00 - Introduction

14:52 - Interview start

23:07 - Music memories and growing up

30:40 - Tumblr and bandom

34:27 - the pf+hb blog!

39:32 - Blog entry 1 

44:40 - Tom Verlaine and Television

46:50 - Excerpt of blog entry 4

48:56 - shines’ music writing style and influences, and the difficulties of writing about music

57:15 - Art in the time of Covid and intentional listening

01:10:56 - More on Television’s style and ‘Marquee Moon’

01:22:22 - CBGB’s and ‘the scene’

01:28:29 - Music mags!

01:32:05 - Speaking of U2…

01:36:55 - The dichotomy of the U2 fandom vs Oasis fandom

01:43:01 - Rapid Fire Questions!

Episode References

“Pf+Hb” shineswithyou’s substack blog 

Shineswithyou on Tumblr 

Music vid for The Stone Roses’ “She Bangs the Drums” (title inspiration for the blog)

M - Pop Muzik (Official Video) (Youtube) 

Book - "Heartbeat" by Sharon Creech (Goodreads) - a children’s coming-of-age story told in free verse

Music writing rec - Liz Barker’s tinyletter (music writer and blogger, this is Liz’s main website: Words by Liz Barker ) Here is an an excerpt from her novel 

Blog rec - Hanif Kureishi’s substack and a piece he wrote which shines recommends 

Album - Nirvana MTV Unplugged (Spotify)

Album - The Velvet Underground & Nico (Spotify)

Trouser Press - “The biblio of alternative rock”

"The Too-Muchness of Bono" by David Brooks for the Atlantic

Achtoon Baby - U2 music blog project by Kelly and PJ

Fic mentioned - "The Passing of Peggy Gallagher" by Jeevey   

Fic mentioned - “Stop the Clocks” by savageandwise 

Youtube Clip from “My Beautiful Laundrette” (1985, starring Gordon Warnecke and Daniel-Day Lewis, screenplay by Hanif Kureshi. You can stream it on HBOMax)

Film Trailer for “CBGB” (2013) starring Alan Rickman

Book - Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 (Goodreads)

Documentary - Meet Me In The Bathroom (2022) - Youtube trailer stream on Paramount+ or rent on Amazon Prime Video 

Documentary - "Gimme Shelter" (1970) - “A harrowing documentary of the Stones' 1969 tour, with much of the focus on the tragic concert at Altamont.”

Music Video - “Dark Sunglasses” a single off of Chrissie Hynde’s 2014 album ‘Stockholm’. The album doesn’t appear to be on streaming platforms.

Youtube - Where The Streets Have No Name (Live From Slane Castle, Ireland (2001) (you can see the heart-shaped stage that shines mentions really well at about 58 seconds!)

Shines’ Desert Island Discs: “Achtung Baby” by U2 (but on another day it might be “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” by Coldplay

Shines is listening to: “Lucifer On the Sofa” by Spoon (album, 2022) 

Shines is listening to: “Wet Leg” (self-title debut album, 2022)

Music Discovery - Paul Gallagher's MixCloud channel (Sara rec, Paul does a weekly playlist with tons of great and lesser known artists. You can listen for free and there’s no ads, but to get the tracklist you have to be a paid subscriber)

Justin Hawkins Rides Again (Youtube channel, and he has a new podcast)

Music Discovery - Shines recommends finding your local independent radio station with real human DJs! You can google, and most colleges have student run stations, and TuneIn is a site that has a “find a local station” feature you can try out!

Fic Rec - “cheaper than a dime” by harmonising (Beatles RPF, George & Paul gen) -  Shines says it’s a “beautiful, angsty study of Paul and George’s relationship, written in a choppy, time-jump style”

Fic Rec - “Dare, Disturb the Universe” by @penaltybox14 (ao3, Bruce/Steve)

Fic Rec - “Wharf Rats on the Stage” by @penaltybox14 (ao3, Bruce/Steve)

Fic Rec - “Fictitious Characters” and “You Wanted Me Alone” by @likeamadonnau2. Shines says: “gorgeously written and very meta - an alternative history of U2’s early days framed by Bono & Edge’s relationship, & written by them.”

Rapid Fire Questions (starting at 01:43:01)

Beatles or Stones?

Which of these best describes your inner rock star? (I picked ladies because they don’t get talked about enough): Chrissie Hynde, Joan Jett, or Stevie Nicks? 

What’s the best way to experience music? Live show, or headphones and vinyl?

You have a free Wednesday afternoon. Are you going to the Man City Match with Noel, or spending a day at the pub with Liam?

The Doctor suddenly appears with the TARDIS and offers to take you to ONE of the following shows: 

Jan 1969 - Beatles on the rooftop of Apple Corps in London

1974 - sneak into one of Television’s regular sets at CBGB’S

Nov 1995 - Oasis at Earl’s Court, London

Sept 2001 - U2 at Slane Castle, Ireland

What’s your desert island record?

Name a recent album you’ve been enjoying. 

Any music discovery recs? (ex. For me, Paul Gallagher’s mixcloud shows / Justin Hawkins)

Can you give me a couple of RPF band fics off your bookmarks list?

What does music mean to you?

[slackville-records]

Tom Verlaine - Words From the Front (Official music video 1982)

Words From the Front

January 23rd

There's no road

It's been raining now for three days

We're in mud up to our knees

If luck prevails and I'm given leave

I should be home by the 17th

One word I hear all the time

This word I hear

Blind

Blind

John died last night

He had no chance

Beneath the surgeon's drunken hands

It's hard to see

Who's about

The fires we light

Soon smolder out

If luck prevails and I'm given leave

I should be home by the 17th

One word I hear all the time

This word I hear

Blind

Blind

Blind

Up on the ridge

They're dug in deep

We move in waves

As if asleep

And there they lay

Four thousand men

The general orders "Attack again."

If luck prevails and I'm given leave

I should be home by the 17th

One word I hear all the time

This word I hear

Blind

Blind

Blind

[nervoussystemmusicreverence]

Jeff Buckley - Everybody Here Wants You

Music Video

Artist

Jeff Buckley

Composer

Jeff Buckley

Lyricist

Jeff Buckley

Produced

Jeff Buckley Tom Verlaine

Credit

Jeff Buckley – Guitar, vocals Michael Tighe – Guitar Mick Grøndahl – Bass guitar Eric Eidel – Drums Parker Kindred – Drums

Released

May 26 1998

Streaming

[randomrecordreview]

#207 David Bowie - Scary Monsters

#207 David Bowie – Scary Monsters

In which Bowie starts the new decade with a bang. This is often considered to be Bowie’s last ‘great album’. I think that’s doing a disservice to his playful inventiveness in the second half of the 90s and his comeback from Heathen onwards, not to mention the stunning swansong that is Blackstar. Scary Monsters (sometime with, sometimes without, the Super Creeps) is certainly the last album of…

[nofatclips]

Summer Cannibals by Patti Smith from the album Gone Again - Directed by Robert Frank

[rainingmusic]

Television - Call Mr Lee

[jungleindierock]

Violent Femmes - Hotel Last Resort

The wonderful Violent Femmes are back with this new video for Hotel Last Resort, which features the former Television guitarist Tom Verlaine. Hotel Last Resort is the title track from the new album, their first album in 16 years, which will be released on the 26th July 2019. This video was made by Nir Ben Jacob.

Violent Femmes are an American folk punk band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, initially active from 1980 to 2009. The band has since been active again from 2013. The band consists of singer, guitarist and songwriter Gordon Gano, bassist Brian Ritchie and current drummer John Sparrow.

Links: Facebook | Twitter | Site

[soupy-sales2004]

An old video of mine with 29 samples of Bowie/TM songs that were covers.

Wild is the Wind - Johnny Mathis

Sorrow - The McCoys

Criminal World - Metro

Fill Your Heart - Biff Rose

Alabama Song - Lotte Lenya

Footstompin' - The Flairs

Knock On Wood - Eddie Floyd

Here Today, Gone Tommorow - Ohio Players

Let's Spend the Night Together - The Rolling Stones

Working Class Hero - John Lennon

Nature Boy - Nat King Cole

Don't Let Me Down & Down/T'Beyby - Tahra

Growin' Up - Bruce Springsteen

It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City - Bruce Springsteen

I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday - Morrissey

I Pity the Fool - Bobby Bland

The Drowned Girl - Lotte Lenya

If There Is Something - Roxy Music

Gemini Spacecraft - Legendary Stardust Cowboy

It Ain't Easy - Ron Davies

Pablo Picasso - The Modern Lovers

God Only Knows - The Beach Boys

Cactus - Pixies

China Girl - Iggy Pop

Nite Flights - The Walker Brothers

I've Been Waiting For You - Neil Young

I Feel Free - Cream

Amsterdam - Jacques Brel

Kingdom Come - Tom Verlaine

[debussyringtone]

THE FINAL ISSUE OF DEBUSSY RINGTONE IS AVAILABLE FOR ORDER

ISSUE No. 20 - SUMMER 2023. Interviews with Monica Richards about Prince buying her band’s name for $10K circa 1987, Ian MacKaye on his favorite color, an abbreviated oral history of the Future Times Shop. Essays about perpetual procrastination, expansive gratitude, the strangeness of doppelgrieving, Annapolis hardcore tourism, my parasocial haul from the Tom Verlaine book sale, the incomplete Debussy Ringtone theme index, more. Published one year late, this is the final issue of Debussy Ringtone.

--

WHAT WAS DEBUSSY RINGTONE?

A quarterly, print-only zine containing a dozen micro-interviews and nano-essays about music, metaphysics and more.

HOW TO GET A COPY:

All issues (1-20) are currently in print and for sale, $4 US / $6 world each, shipping included.

HOW TO PAY:

There are two ways to pay: Venmo is much preferred: @debussyringtone. PayPal is fine: debussyringtone@outlook.com. Don’t forget to include your street address.

QUESTIONS?

Missing order? Zine mangled in transit by the elements? Anything else? Please email debussyringtone@outlook.com.

~THANK YOU FOR READING DEBUSSY RINGTONE~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ALL BACK ISSUES IN PRINT AND AVAILABLE FOR ORDER:

ISSUE No. 19 - SPRING 2023. Interviews with composer Elori Saxl about the meaning of woodwinds, gallerist Todd Von Ammon of Von Ammon Co. about our desire to see in the dark. Essays about the consummate harDCore of Swiz, the bold city visions of Brick Digest fanzine. Plus: A refutation of synesthesia, an apology to mall walkers of the world, a short list of films that no D.C. condo owner is screening, copious notes from the 2023 Black Eyes reunion, more.

ISSUE No. 18 - WINTER 2023. An all-music issue featuring interviews with the lost D.C. punk band Decapitated Lovers; Rory McAlister, producer of Hard Roc Wiz’s 1988 cult rap single “Get Back!” Essays about country singers with Freudian album titles, the legacy of Bobby Caldwell, a potentially emergent suburban teenage birdsong scene. Plus: Notes from a Black Flag walking tour, the “Unofficial and Expanded 2023 Gravity Records Bracket,” more.

ISSUE No. 17 - FALL 2022.  Interviews with poet Joyelle McSweeney, DJ Haruka Salt. Essays about an exceedingly awkward encounter with Dennis Hopper in an art museum more than 20 years ago, a disproved hypothesis about the secret provenance of emoviolence, the layered eeriness of an early-’70s horror movie transferred from film to VHS to YouTube, opinions on the band Facs, the “Hardcore T-Shirt Softness Matrix,” more.

ISSUE No. 16. - SUMMER 2022. A correspondence from hardcore icon Alec MacKaye about a chance encounter with novelist Edward P. Jones. Essays about the otherworldly jazz of Masabumi Kikuchi, the essential charivari in Ice Spice’s “Munch” video, reading Osamu Dazai’s “No Longer Human” on the Fourth of July. Also, a review of Lina Absacal’s “Never Be Alone Again: How Bloghouse United the Internet and the Dancefloor,” plus a semi-thorough list of what D.C. musicians are reading on tour this summer, more.

ISSUE No. 15 - SPRING 2022. Essays about the nonperishable poetry of T’ang Dynasty recluse Meng Chiao, the night I saw someone figure skating to a Turnstile song in downtown Silver Spring, the transmutation of Duke Ellington into gentrification ambience. Plus, a late pass baptism in the bad-dream punk of the Spits, a memory retrieved after seeing all those Alice Coltrane bumper stickers, loose instructions for a performance art piece composed by comment bots, more.

ISSUE No. 14 - WINTER 2022. Interviews with Joyce Lim about her designs for 1432 R Records, writer Poppy Baker about wheatpasting Washington D.C., rapper Lil Xelly about his favorite spots in Rockville, Maryland. Plus: Julien Gobled designs a superb scarf, Tim Story meets the Necros. Essays about accidental pandemic slang, Maggie Aderin-Pocock’s moon manual, sava saheli singh’s Screening Surveillance short-film series, a reconsideration of Raekwon’s “Immobilarity,” more.

ISSUE No. 13 - FALL 2021. Interviews with singer Shannon Shaw of Shannon and the Clams about the strange magnificence of the “Muppet Babies” theme song, harpist Kim Sator about musical office space, singer-songwriter M.C. Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger about holiday time-suspension. Essays about the neurochemical happiness of cosmologist Stephon Alexander, an autumn afternoon expedition to the Capitol Stones, listening to the Black Flag discography in reverse, more.

ISSUE No. 12 - SUMMER 2021. Interview with artist Pat Aulisio on making comics in the void. A remembrance of Frederic Rzewski by composer Judith Berkson. Essays about Marcell Jankovics’s animated masterpiece “Son of the White Mare,” a savage Helen Frankenthaler insult, the unknown future of quantum consciousness, the frozen remains of a blueberry muffin that Sade split with me circa 2011, more.

ISSUE No. 11 - SPRING 2021. Interviews with D.C. dance music producer Soso Tharpa, Asesinato drummer and BJJ/Muay Thai fighter Zechariah Ghosttribe, trumpeter-bandleader jaimie branch and Karate singer-guitarist Geoff Farina on a forgotten/remembered synthesizer transaction from 2002. Essays on painter Julie Mehretu’s album covers, the unknowable screamo of Kwisatz Haderach, the CIA’s interest in the Washington Color School, the future of sci-fi rom-coms, the dream poems of Jackie Wang, Bohagon’s metaphysical crunk anthem “Bucket,” more.

ISSUE No. 10 - WINTER 2021. Interviews with “The Motherlode” author Clover Hope, Helsinki dance music producer Sansibar, “hard new age” connoisseur Angel Marcloid of Fire-Toolz. Essays about the time-traveling films of Chris Marker, the forgotten Earth Eighteen discography, measuring the future through dead people’s diaries, recognition software resistant music, more.

ISSUE No. 9 - FALL 2020. Interviews with film critic A. S. Hamrah, artist Shanequa Gay, Repo Fam singer-guitarist Michelle Peña, and airbrush artist Alvin Petty, designer of the most gorgeous Metallica record cover you’ve (probably) never seen. Essays about a dreaming Sappho bot, the best rap video of a horrible year, W.G. Sebald on TikTok, an incomplete list of album covers depicting the catastrophic physical destruction of Washington D.C., more.

ISSUE No. 8 - SUMMER 2020. Interviews with polymath-producer Bergsonist about rhythm-as-pattern, audio engineer Heba Kadry on heightened hearing in quarantine, Daniel Higgs (ex-Lungfish) on his recently recovered “13 FLEXIBLE PRINCIPLES OF LYRIC HARVESTING.” Essays about the low-cold rhymes of NOLANBEROLLIN, a rabbit hole dive into the work of Level 42 and Wally Badarou, hypothesizing a relationship between Drexciya and Antarctic seals, the corniness of fascism, more.

ISSUE No. 7 - SPRING 2020. Interviews with sculptor Jude Tallichet, rap/graffiti artist Nate G, hardcore punk font creator Sarah O’Donoghue, Mary Timony of Ex Hex, Jacky Cougar Abok of Des Demonas/Foul Swoops, Mike Petillo of Protect-U/Geo Rip/On the Ifness. Essays about rewilding, the tidy conclusion of a Simenon novel, a misguided hatred for children’s choirs, dead malls on YouTube, more. 

ISSUE No. 6 - WINTER 2020. Interviews with DJ/dancer Diyanna Monet, D.C. rapper the Khan, painter Rachel Giannascoli (as seen on Alex G’s album covers), ex-No Justice drummer Gene Melkisethian about the band’s infamous last show. Essays about Clarice Lispector’s children’s books, a 700-year-old song played by pianist Jeremy Denk, a visit to the Los Angeles listening bar In Sheep’s Clothing, dancing to the techno of Earthman while reading the science-fiction of N.K. Jemisin, more. 

ISSUE No. 5 - FALL 2019. Interviews with poet/translator/poetry-translator Colombina Zamponi (Francis Ponge’s “The Table”), guitarist Josh La Rue (The Sorts/Sea Tiger/Every Shape A Diamond), green-thumbed artist Naoko Wowsugi. Essays about dungeon synth tourism, Suicide as Christmas music, Kim Gordon’s real estate blessing, Teejayx6 and the obsolete tween scams of the 20th century, more.

ISSUE No. 4 - SUMMER 2019. Interviews with Uptown D.C. rap sensation Wifigawd, psychonaut-songwriter Jib Kidder, part-time pianoman and hero of the underground David Grubbs. Essays about Jan Hammer’s neglected eco-anthem, the freaky fiction of Amparo Dávila, the meditative work of poet-painter Etel Adnan, a fan survey after an abbreviated YG concert, more. 

ISSUE No. 3 - SPRING 2019. Interviews with cyberpunk originator Rudy Rucker, post-post-punk gladiator Olivia Neutron-John, rapper and tarmac habitue Baby Boof. Essays about the rainy day piano compositions of John McGuire, a resurfaced CD from the other Blueface, an eye-witness account of a celebrity white supremacist being punched in the mouth, more.

ISSUE No. 2 - WINTER 2019. Interviews with legendary country songwriter Marshall Chapman and a pen pal from Brazil about listening to a recording of João and Bebel Gilberto on the night that Bolsonaro rose to power. Essays about Autechre songs/Pantone colors, the sniffles of cellist Thomas Demenga, rap vegetables at the Chief Keef show, an ideal selection for your aggrieved DJ book club (Anne Garréta’s “Sphinx”), more.

ISSUE No. 1 - FALL 2018. Interviews with Madeline Joey Rose of D.C. indie duo Ultra Beauty and my friend Kiki about that Drake song. Essays about how John Frusciante invented freak folk, the music of Eva-Maria Houben and the Allman Bros, a devastating Fred Moten quote about fascism, the children’s books of Blexbolex ranked by a baby, everlasting life advice from American new age eminence grise Laraaji, the origin of the title “DEBUSSY RINGTONE,” more.

[ch-dld-bft-brit-omm]

Runtime: 54 min Language: English Country: USA Color: Black and White Director: Ivan Kral & Amos Poe Cast: Blondie ... Themselves David Byrne ... HImself (lead singer, Talking Heads) Wayne County ... Himself Jay Dee Daugherty ... Himself Chris Frantz ... Himself (member, Talking Heads) Jerry Harrison ... Himself (member, Talking Heads) Deborah Harry ... Herself (lead singer, Blondie) Richard Hell ... Himself Lenny Kaye ... Himself Ivan Kral ... Himself Patti Smith ... Herself Richard Sohl ... Himself Chris Stein ... Himself Talking Heads ... Themselves Johnny Thunders ... Himself Tom Verlaine ... Himself Description: An invaluable document of a long-lost era, The Blank Generation "sets the style for the Punk Documentary—raw, sloppily spliced, unsynched footage of bands, with sound recorded by cassette. The effect is total disorientation and CBGBs performances by Talking Heads ("Psycho Killer"), Blondie ("He left Me"), Ramones ("Shock Treatment", "1-2-3-4, Let's Go") Tuff Darts and many of the other New York bands fill up this frantic, crowd-pleasing film. CBGB, the small Bowery Avenue club that spawned and nurtured American punk and New Wave music in the mid-70s, closed earlier this fall after a three-decade run. Fortunately, New York filmmaker Amos Poe was hanging out at CBGB in its early days and began filming performances by many of the musicians who would become the stars of the late 70s/early 80s as the rest of America embraced punk and New Wave music and style. Taking his silent 16mm footage and separate audio cassette recordings, Poe and co-director Ivan Kral (guitarist for Patti Smith) put together a documentary, "Blank Generation" (1976), that exemplified a punkish attitude toward film structure with handheld zooms, angled compositions, floodlight lighting, extreme close-ups, elliptical editing, flash pans, and a general in-your-face and “up-yours” stance. Sound and image purposely do not synch. In many cases music and image were recorded on separate nights more economical because of the high cost of raw film stock with sound, but also an aesthetic nod to Jean-Luc Godard who had slashed the umbilical cord uniting sound and image. Out of the French New Wave came the New York No Wave. Neither a collection of music videos nor a straightforward documentary, "Blank Generation" captures in embryonic form vital appearances of the Talking Heads, Blondie, the Ramones, Television, and, most belligerently of all, Patti Smith. In the film the Patti Smith Group performs a rousing version of “Gloria” that makes you want to jump, scream, and run around the room/block/world. With her androgynous looks, thriftshop clothing, snarling voice, biting lyrics, and middle-finger attitude, Patti Smith is obviously well on her way to becoming the intellectual godmother of punk. Television (with Tom Verlaine) performs “Little Johnny Jewel,” complete with an insert of a portable TV being tossed off a building (a forerunner of music videos incorporating performance and dramatic recreations). The Ramones come on with “Shock Treatment” and “1,2,3,4, Let’s Go,” providing a sad moment while realizing 1,2,3 are already gone. Their leather jackets, sunglasses, pageboy haircuts, and plenty of proto-punk attitude helped establish one style for male punks. Looking very art-school, almost preppie, David Byrne and The Talking Heads perform “Psycho Killer” and bring their soul-stirring rhythms into the mix. The outrageous Wayne County with his big hair wig, high heels, and shapely legs in fishnet stockings (obviously influenced by Charles Ludlum’s Theater of the Ridiculous, John Waters’ films with Divine, and the New York Dolls in their gender-bender period of 1973) sings the lovely “Rock ‘n’ Roll Enema” while brandishing a toilet plunger. Not a pretty sight but not meant to be. And then there is Blondie, with the deadly gorgeous Deborah Harry and her perfect cheekbones, artful makeup, and blonde superstar hair. A complete antithesis of Patti Smith, Harry harkens back to the era of the chanteuse and the Hollywood siren of the 30s. The presence of both artists at CBGB shows that it was a very flexible musical era. Even the title of the film, inspired by the Television song, indicates open possibilities in the mid-70s "The Blank Generation" suggests that in 1975-1976 it was still a [fill in the blank] generation with no definition, self-imposed or media-determined. That was a post-Watergate, post-hippie, post-activist time of new possibilities, all clearly championed and captured in Amos Poe’s film. —Chale Nafus, Director of Programming, Austin Film Society 12/06

HERE: http://ubu.com/film/poe_blank.html

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Pell Mell - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, California, 1995

Something extremely cool for you today -- a previously uncirculated soundboard recording of the awesome instrumental rock group Pell Mell, live in San Francisco. Thanks a million to the band’s drummer Robert Beerman for passing it along for me to share with y’all. I’ve recommended them before, but if you’re not familiar, Pell Mell existed in various forms throughout the 1980s and 1990s, releasing albums on such labels as K Records, SST, DGC and Matador. Sadly, a fair amount of their work remains in limbo -- you can get this fantastic early live release via Bandcamp and Interstate from 1995 is available over on Amazon. Discogs is probably your best bet for the rest ... 

A recent Perfect Sound Forever feature by Dave Lang sums the Pell Mell vibe up nicely: “Pell Mell took the twang of Duane Eddy and the Ventures and mixed it up with a jagged, post-punk approach and a beautiful, evocative lyricism which has a wonderfully cinematic quality (no wonder they have had their music used on screen, notably on the HBO series Six Feet Under). A vocalist would only clutter things. The perfectly complimentary interplay between the bass/drums rhythm section and the expressive guitar lines possess a sublime beauty which few others have ever matched. Just imagine Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd playing the Dick Dale songbook... then imagine a music writer struggling to put in words what it is Pell Mell did exactly.”

Right on. This 1995 live show is fantastic, capturing Pell Mell on tour in support of Interstate, the band’s lone major label release. The guitars sparkle, the rhythm section crackles and Steve Fisk’s keyboards add layers of atmosphere and ambiance. The lineup here is Beerman, Fisk, bassist Greg Freeman and guitarists David Spalding and Mike Leahy, and they sound groovy from start to finish. I’m struck by how strong Pell Mell’s melodies were at this stage -- each tune is lovely, while still maintaining an edgy, restless quality. So good. In addition to a bunch of songs from Interstate and its predecessor Flow, we also get two great outtakes, which I don’t think are available anywhere else. For a visual add-on, check out a couple nostalgia-stoking videos from the day after down at LA’s Rhino Records. 

Also worth noting! The opening act on this night was Barbara Manning’s S.F. Seals. No recording of their set, but DB’s Repercussion Blog has some live recordings from around the same time ... 

Photo: Kristine Larsen

[our-daily-spin]

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

2020-01-06

So finally, I get to sit down, headphones on and listen to album on vinyl.  Boys are in bed, Jillian’s at gymnastics practice with Megan.  Bob had recommended a few Bowie albums, but unfortunately this was the only one I had on vinyl, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.

The experience of listening, with the liner notes, still, is much different.  Had I not, I wouldn’t have noticed that all were original Bowie songs except “Kingdom Come,” a cover of Tom Verlaine.  Possibly have blindly passed some of his solo albums, or from his time with Television. I might have also missed that Pete Townshend played guitar on “Because You’re Young.”

Not that any of that is integral to listening to music or finding meaning in the art.  To me, it’s those little details that take you from a casual listener level.  Creates new things to explore, listen for, artists to find.

“Ashes to Ashes” was an interesting song, maybe a decade later reflection on the story from “Space Oddity”?  

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky / We know Major Tom's a junkie / Strung out in heaven's high / Hitting an all-time low

Some web research showing the video was the most expensive produced at that time, and Bowie stating the song was an ode to childhood.

The song that struck me most on first listen was “Scream Like a Baby.”  The tension in the verse is so strong, the chorus almost resolves to a happier melody, but comes crashing down with the lyrics

Scream like a baby / Sam was a gun / And I never knew his last name / And we never had no fun

While I can hear the message of this song in the 80s being an anthem for anyone oppressed, it was hard for me not to hear this - after a year closed with more school shootings, Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in the re-imagined Joker movie - with Sam as a rejected outcast coming back for a violent revenge.

Mostly it’s these lines, between repeats of the chorus:

No athletic program, no discipline, no book / He just sat in the backseat swearing he'd seek revenge / But he jumped into the furnace singing old songs we loved

I do see this entire album, “Scary Monsters” as an exploration and critique of things on the outside.  I think it’s up to the listener to define what the circle is, and if they are singing as one on the inside slamming the opposing view, or one of the opposed looking for a voice.

[bschliamusic]

REVIEW: Bradlee Z’s “2016 Hit Singles”

In 2007 J’ai Paul released and then deleted an album revered by fans and critics. His willingness to embrace anonymity over acclaim stood out and even helped bolster the infatuation of his followers. The less they knew or understood the more they obsessed over him.

Finding Bradlee Z buried in the local Bandcamp tags was a similar shock. Who was this guy? Where was he? How could be so heavily invested in producing content but without touching the scene? It was weird! Bradlee Z himself concedes: “I might be on the spectrum.” This song, whose themes thread through a collection self-mockingly titled “2016 Hit Singles,” lifted a tile.

When he finally agreed to meet it was no surprise to observe many charming eccentricities: a religious appreciation for Tape Op mag, genuine fears of hearing-loss, a wary apprehension to driving. His lyric sheet read like a thought pattern:

“if we puree our DNA we’re cherokee, we’re congolese we’re chestnut trees, we’re breathing bees we’re amputees on trapeze, fleas in tweezers squeezed and wheezing pleas in legalese”

That comes from “Shouldn’t It Feel Good,” a muddy slug-crawl of a song that whips you in the chorus and drowns you in the verse. Paired with the music video, which depicts a dizzying tribute to history versus memory, Bradlee Z reminds us we’re just reptiles that crawled out of the ocean, stood up and invented existential paranoia.

“I’m Turning into Tom Verlaine” makes a daydream sound like a nightmare with a wailing tantrum of a refrain. Mixed up with visions of a styrofoam hand being mutilated in a number of gruesome ways, you get the feeling that this is not a good thing.

The parable of the “Woodrat” implies the risks of self medication: when you start to feel better you might think, who needs it?

(The Woodrat) has a strong preference for shiny objects and will drop whatever it may be carrying in favor of a coin or a spoon.” – Wikipedia

So you flush the stash and as it’s spinning down the drain you think: wait, I’m unequipped to ignore life’s strangeness! Truthfully, this “Miracle Ghost Toast” was a tough one to interpret. But referencing the visual extension of the song was like reading footnotes for Ulysses, trying to understand seemed more important than succeeding.

“Tie-Dyes” comes off as a sentimental drunken sing along. And thank god, because things were pretty bleak for a minute there.

“i humbly submit, not everything is shit”

Even if this is just a passing moment of sublime for Bradlee Z, it gives the record depth and dynamic. Without the bitter, the sweet just ain’t as sweet.

“It’s Not What You Think This Time” serves as the melodic center piece of an album disguised as straight ahead indie folk but hiding a complex web of harmony. Listen for the slight modulation that shows near the halfway mark. Here, the lyrics bring the themes more clearly into focus: if there’s a perfect world, this one surely is not it.

“the earth was formed and cooled and warmed a whale, a snail, a unicorn, a writhing mass of human trash sprang up from the bowels of some hell i commend you for trying lay your flag down by your side ’cause it’s not what you think this time in a perfect world your pretty sister runs a spirited campaign to clear the family name”

It’s hard to take “I Ain’tcha Sousaphone” apart because it’s such a great fucking song. The production is quirky but the execution is easy to follow. With unshakeable rhythmic hooks, Bradlee Z’s rejects his usual pop-mocking and finally feels at home crooning the kind of sweet melody that stays with you all day. The lyrics hide a darker meaning by only glancing at the internal forces that seem to be using him as an instrument. Although he resists, it may have “won this time around.” That acceptance is the magic, the source of this music’s density. Bradlee Z cannot control the forces that account for his work.

“On the Spectrum” is a song that spells out the trail I’ve followed ‘til now. It’s like when your senile grandmother has a lucid moment and remembers where she put that 10k bond.

“i tell my friends i think i’m probably on the spectrum high-functioning but spaced-out missing a connection, dreadfully reflecting”

It’s the perfect closer but instead, “Dead Broke Black Hole” finishes the race.

“2016 Hit Singles,” as the title alludes to, was not released as a whole. These songs were added to the album as they were finished throughout the year and perhaps that’s why “DBBH” feels out of place. Sure, it shares much of the production value as the rest of the record but it feels like the first song on the next album. If anything, this small misstep proves Bradlee Z is, in fact, human.

Many great artists come to be great not only by their raw talent, but by commanding a sense of their identity. What’s not to be envied about being something and also being good at it? Bradlee Z is an enigma which, by its nature, captivates.

The thing is, unlike so many other artists, he doesn’t need the spectator.

You sit at your desk and imagine 100 million bedrooms with reclusive madmen making terabytes of music and refusing to show it to anyone or, at the very least, refusing to market themselves along with it.

You have to find them.