Friday, August 31, 2007

johnny thunders

from baseball jock to "the rock'n'roll dean martin of heroin" in one easy lesson.

fz was _not_ a hipi

and he said a lot of things that made sense.

i miss him.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

cursed hipi music

against my better judgment, i retain a fondness for the jefferson airplane alb after bathing at baxter's, which opened and closed with the two songs below. sure, it's scary in retrospect how mansonesque founder and rapidly-displaced leader marty balin appears, and their post-'69 fuzzheaded hipi politics weren't quite as well worked out as even the mc5's were, but as demented hipi brawds go, i'll still take grace over janis anytime, and jack casady on bass -- the sole (in my opinion) interesting instrumentalist to emerge from the whole '65-'68 san fr'isco development -- occasionally struck some sparks with the lead gtrist and drummer. so there.





in a similar vein, i retain a fondness for the blues project, noo yawk's "jewish beatles," most of whose members (exception: keyb/vocalist al kooper, who'd been in the royal teens of "short shorts" fame and played with dylan) were the spawn of lefty intelligentsia. goldtop-playing gtrist danny kalb's cousin bob taught at my high school. other gtrist/gordon lightfoot singalike steve katz (on bass in the second clip so andy kulberg could play flute) went on to play in blood sweat & tears with kooper and produce lou reed. poor guy. both of these songs are from projections, _their_ good rekkid. i thought the beastie boys showed marvelous self awareness when they sampled "flute thing" on ill communication's "flute loop."





finally, to cleanse the palate, here's some '60s greaser-garage spuzz from the count five (dweebs from san jose who broke up to go to college) and the music machine (greatest under-two-minute song of all time from single-black-glove wearing angelenos; bassist went on to produce the money-making fleetwood mac lineup).



hendrix @ monterey on dvd

having released pert near every other video'ed j.h. performance imaginable (woodstock, fillmore east, berkeley, isle of wight, even the dick cavett show), experience hendrix are finally getting around to releasing a dvd of the 1967 'meercun debut of the greatest two-man band until the sex pistols (that'd be the experience at monterey). panned at the time by robert christgau as "psychedelic uncle tom," it remains, i think, the most focused hendrix show on film, altho the music is almost all adrenaline, without the depth it'd develop later. when i was a snotnose, this (along with live at leeds and get your ya-ya's out) defined for me what a live rockband was s'sposed to sound like. i remain in awe.

link wray

speaking of '50s gtr icons, here's link wray playing "rumble" on conan o'brien back in '98, at which time he'd been playing the song for 40 yrs. back in the '50s, he usedta slash his speakers with razor blades to get _that sound_. link was four yrs younger than my father and kept playing right up until he checked out in 2005. this is how i wanna get old.

another richard lloyd gtr lesson

taking the day off in preparation for tonight's stoogeshow. found this to make myself scratch my head. i especially like that he didn't edit out his mistakes.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

japrocksampler

got word yesterday that my copy of japrocksampler -- julian cope's kinda sequel to his earlier krautrocksampler (as one wag on the head heritage forum wondered, can woprocksampler be far behind?) -- shipped from its u.k. publisher. looking forward to spending as much time with thisun as i have with ben watson's frank zappa: the negative dialectics of poodle play and joe carducci's rock and the pop narcotic (two other weighty rock tomes i've spent far too much time perusing).

mistaken identity / mr. diddley

the other day while i was walking to work, some arlington heights h.s. mom in an suv stopped and asked me if i was a teacher there. ah, the deceptive power of "birth control glasses." thanks (and a speedy recovery) to bo diddley, who might not have had 'em _before_ buddy holly, but _did_ have _that beat_.

hooray

the stoogeband's myspace thingy is back. one less thing to worry about.

r.i.p. hilly krystal

cbgb's impresario hilly krystal has left the planet. 'twas cancer. guess this means he won't be reopening in vegas. say hello to these guys, mang.

rest of week

thursday: stoogeaphilia at 6th street live

friday: zeke's and movie (cinema paradiso -- thanks, will) at la casa, possibly followed by goodwin at 6th street live

saturday: sub oslo and the great tyrant at the wreck room

still have to find out whether or not i'm working monday.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

stoogeprac

things started off a li'l rough tonight, but got better as we got more relaxed. (_trying_ can actually work against you, sometimes.) think things are in good shape and looking fwd to thursday at 6th street. strange thing: my rib doesn't bother me anymore. possible non-snazz development: the stoogeaphilia myspace profile appears to have gone south. can still log in, but can't view it online. this just happened to the fellow americans. feh.

the end of blackadder

i've never been a rowan atkinson fan, but i watched this clip before i went to work and was still thinking about it when i got home. getting sentimental in my dotage. i think it was the way they ended with the field of poppies.



In Flanders Fields
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

guh

feels like i bruised a rib when i slipped and fell on some water at work the other day. gotta learn to look out / walk flat-footed.

Monday, August 27, 2007

jazz by the boulevard fest

it's on! the jazz by the boulevard festival is scheduled for friday-sunday, september 23-25. here's the lineup:

Friday Entertainment Schedule

COORS LIGHT MAIN STAGE
5:30PM Dave Williams' Ornettology Quartet
7:30PM Fort Worth Jazz Orchestra feat. Adonis Rose
9:30PM Joshua Redman Trio with Reuben Rogers bass, and Gregory Hutchinson drums
11:00PM Stage Closes

HERITAGE STAGE
5:30PM 'Dewey Redman Remembered' feat. Marchel Ivery
7:30PM Stage Closes

Saturday Entertainment Schedule

COORS LIGHT MAIN STAGE
12:30PM Dan Cavanagh and Outburst
1:45PM Mario Cruz and Natural Selection feat. Jimi Tunnell
3:00PM Callahan/Tcheco Project
4:30PM Sammons Jazz Ensemble
6:00PM David 'Fathead' Newman
7:45PM Marcia Ball
9:30PM George Duke
11:00PM Stage Closes

HERITAGE STAGE
1:00PM Mondo Drummers
2:00PM LaTx Band feat. E.B. Skipper Grand Marshall of the New Orleans 2nd Line Parade
3:00PM The Slim Richey Dream Band
4:30PM String Theory – International Jazz from Django to Gilberto (France to Brazil)
5:30PM Thelonious Monk Tribute feat. Sam Walker Sextet
7:30PM Stage Closes

Sunday Entertainment Schedule

COORS LIGHT MAIN STAGE
2:00PM T.B.A.
3:00PM Tomas y Flamenco Nuevo
4:30PM Tribute to Jobim feat. Erin Stitzel
6:30PM Arturo Sandoval
8:00PM Stage Closes

HERITAGE STAGE
2:30PM Chris McGuire Band
4:00PM Faces Combo
5:00PM Intonation
6:30PM Stage Closes

"there's a riot goin' on"

listening today to sly stone's stoned-funk masterpiece from back when people still didn't mind struggling with challenging music (why, creem reviewed it no less than _three_ times!), i realized that this one alb inspahrd as much of the music i dig (including a lot of what stevie wonder was up to on talking book and innervisions a year or two later, as well as what george clinton and prince were doing well into the '80s) as, say, jimi's did (wayne kramer and ron asheton, as well as devotion-era mclaughlin, sonny sharrock, and eddie hazel). which reinforces my conviction that anybody's musical taste can be reduced to half a dozen key rekkids. combined with recent reminders of my distaste for "classic rock" and my indifference to the fact that there's a van halen reunion, it's a pert interesting (to me, at least) glimpse into the nature of my own personal prejudices.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

mahler's 9th

yeah, terry -- i wound up chumping on pablo (had to open the market in the morning), but the mahler symphony was ace. my dtr sez, "the first movement was the most emo, and i always ignore the dance pieces [like the second movement]. the third movement was crowd-surfing all the way." and of course, after all those fireworks, the big affective payoff came in the fourth movement. had great seats, too -- for which thanks, paul. my sweetie 'n' i agree we need to do this more often. (my dtr and her b-f do; he actually has a tatt that reads "rockin' with rachmaninoff" -- and he's going in the _army_.)

report from n.j.

my big sis reports that our dad is doing well in the nursing home. he was moved there thursday. with his medication regime, she says he's actually cheerful, which is kinda unusual for him. she says he's been talking about the activities of the squirrels outside his window -- something he wouldn't have taken notice of in days gone by. in a way, i'm glad she's getting to look out for him now, even though he might not be fully aware of what's going on. she always wanted his approval and worked hard for it, and it always seemed to be the hardest thing for him to give, for some reason. but now he thinks that _i'm_ the one who organized the "big dinner party" for all the folks he imagines visited him a few weeks ago (my uncle 'n' i are the only ones who really showed).

Friday, August 24, 2007

why not do both?

it occurred to me this morning that the symphony will get out well before 10pm tom'w night, so we'll be able to catch both mahler's 9th and ph7's valedictory wreck room performance. hooray!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

kavin allenson / bill pohl @ billy miner's

this from guitarist extraordinaire and helluva nice guy kavin allenson:

Guitar acrobat Bill Pohl (of Underground Railroad fame) will be joining me for some tunes. Let's call it : Acoustic meets electric in Rock and Instrumental Guitar. Yes, that's nice. Pretentious, but nice.

150 W. 3rd Street
Sundance Square
Downtown Fort Worth


it's going down sat'day night, 8.25.2006, from 8-11pm.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

"war pigs"

funny how this vid of allman bros. offshoot gov't mule playing the most relevant political song of 1970 makes me _nostalgic_ for the jam. hey lee, what you doin' next wednesday?

jimi plays berkeley, go now

re-watching jimi plays berkeley, a midnight movie fave from back when bruce wade was teaching me that music is as much about _structure_ as it is about _sound_ and we both spent a lot more time poring over the hendrix issue of guitar player than we did, um, going to classes or doing assignments. the amateurish cinematography actually serves to humanize the icon, casting him in the same light as anyone i ever watched from sidestage at the wreck room, but the real irritant is the editing of the musical performances, specifically the filmmakers' fondness for beginnings and endings of songs over the middles (most noticeable on "hear my train a-comin'" and "i don't live today," the latter included in its audio entahrty in the extra shit). i guess at the end of the day, where video is concerned, i prefer documentaries with talking heads to provide context over uninterrupted musical performances, which means joe boyd's a film about jimi hendrix still trumps thisun, not to mention all the latter-day experience hendrix releases (woodstock, fillmore, isle of wight), at mi casa.

finished reading hell's novel and while it contained a few scattered paragraphs of pure genius (albeit to a lesser degree than, say, huck finn and the last page of the great gatsby, no shit), the ending felt like a cheat -- like he ran out of inspiration or endurance, and i was left thinking what i do anytime i try reading kerouac, which is "interesting life -- less interesting writer." in the same league as bukowski, irvine welsh, and denis johnson, altho not as fully realized as the first two. next!

frank sinatra, american

speaking of sinatra, here's a nifty little piece of ww2 propaganda in which frankie takes a mighty circuitous route to teach some dead end kids wannabes about religious tolerance. from here to eternity, the man with the golden arm, and all those great capitol elpees were still a decade or so away...

stoogeprac

had another good stoogeaphilia rehearsal last night in preparation for our 6th street live debut next thursday, august 30th. ray sez the 6th street gig is timely, since our pizza-'n'-beer fund is about depleted.

matt still resists my "kinkophilia" idea, while sir steffin sez he's "not playing much": besides the stoogeband, just pablo -- whose final wreck room appearance will be this sat'day, august 25th, when i'll be at the symphony with my sweetie diggin' mahler's 9th -- recording with bobby zanzucchi, and rehearsing with the reunited bindle. (i just figured out that the words tony diaz mutters in "robot" when he sounds like he's praying are actually from shakespeare's sonnet 18, duh.)

jon teague's busy with great tyrant stuff and getting ready to visit cleveland in october; figure we'll try booking another stoogegig at the end of november with a run of three or four rehearsals beforehand to learn more new material. for now, we've got a new set opener, as well as a toon which may require raymond to wear some stage makeup. seems like evabody's more enthused about this project since our rehearsal-to-gig ratio went up.

terry chandler cooking class @ central market

imagine my surprise when i stumbled on the following while perusing the sked for the cooking school at central market:

mon., sept. 10, 6-30-9pm
outlaw chef goes global
terry chandler, the outlaw chef, fred's cafe

take a taste tour around the globe as chef terry rustles up international flavor with an outlaw flourish. chow down on butter sauteed mahi mahi fillet with fire roasted pineapple chipotle sauce; central american red beans; sauteed asian long beans and apple enchiladas with cinnamon cream. $55.


call 817-377-9005 to book a reservation. if it rolls over, i might even answer the phone.

Monday, August 20, 2007

recipe i wanna try

...found in doctor's office waiting room magazine: grill and dice a tuna steak and serve it in hot dog buns lined with lettuce leaves, mixed with avocado, diced scallions, lime juice and sesame seeds. just need to wait until i can get a good price on tuna steaks...

listening...

...to the last song on the top secret record and realizing that what makes it my favorite song on the album, in fact my very favorite thing to listen to these past few days, is the fact that matt hembree is such an overachiever that he plays more notes in his repeating figure here than all the bassplayers on the rest of the record put together. and still makes it groove.

gideons @ wreck room, 9.30.2007

here's an update from terry vernixx valderas:

Here's the skinny on The Gideons show at the closing ceremonies of Fort Worth's beloved Wreck Room....due to prior commitments, bassist Johnny Singularity (aka Dr. Blake Hestir) cannot make it. Subbing in his place will be the lovely, vivacious, sexy, and talented Lee Allen. If all goes to plan, we will play on the roof (if we don't fall through), although I think this may be a promotional ruse designed to signal the end of an era ala The Beatles in London, The Jefferson Airplane in New York, or Homer Simpson's calssic combo The Be-Sharps. In any event, expect a Gideon's show as usual with loud guitars, bad language, bombastic rhythms, heavy petting, and the odd Melvin's cover. We may even possibly get a few special guests in to jam (Hello Kitty?).

Peace, Love, and Grease....

Terry Vernixx Valderas, esq

the dean

i once dismissed robert christgau as something like "a pompous windbag" (i'm sure he'd have been very upset to hear), but in the fullness of time, i've been repeatedly surprised to discover i agree with him about lotsa things i consider important (the who sell out being the 'oo's only great album, f'rinstance, or the cry of love being hendrix's best). i picked up a copy of the christgau anthology any old way you choose it at half price and wound up skimming through most of it; i like his consumer guides better than his long-form '60s think pieces. but i had another one of _those moments_ rediscovering a critique of mott the hoople ca. "all the young dudes" which i'd originally read in fusion, but i now know first ran in newsday, my old local daily. (also worth reading: bob's dismissive take on hendrix at monterey, and an account of seeing wilson pickett booed offstage at the apollo.) too bad i didn't read newspapers when i was in high school. back then, i was a devoted reader of creem and lester bangs, but st. lester didn't live long enough to be a real adult, unfortunately (checked out at 32, r.i.p.), while christgau always was one, for good or ill. it seems weird now that it was once possible to conceptualize a single entity called "the rock audience" -- which now seems like a fictive generational solidarity that faded as soon as boomers had to face the reality of life as adults, in much the same way as their political consciousness fizzled out with the end of the 'nam era draft. one wonders it would take, or if it'd even be possible to get the boomers' ipod-using progeny to agree about _anything_ the way "we" once supposedly did about elvis or the beatles.

fast car

here's a song i can't listen to without crying. those involved know why.

"classic rock" = death

yesterday, while i ate my lunch, i listened to a four-piece rockband play. they looked like they might have been either a confused beatle homage, or a '90s grunge hangover: hofner bass, vox combo amp, acoustic 'n' electric gtrs. apparently, their specialty is rolling stones covers. i got to hear "gimme shelter" in its entahrty, followed by, um, "brown sugar." they played 'em fine, but i couldn't help feeling a little depressed at the realization that people younger than me (i was a high school freshman the year "brown sugar" was new, back when the stones were still "dangerous" and "decadent" and not just greedy old rich men) might still consider this music worth playing.

recipe for the ultimate lou reed tape

today i'm making a tape for my sweetie. not sure all of these will fit, but my intention is to include the following:

(from the velvet underground)
candy says
pale blue eyes
beginning to see the light

(from loaded)
i found a reason

(from lou reed)
lisa says
wild child

(from the blue mask)
my house

(from legendary hearts)
legendary hearts

(from new york)
romeo had juliet
halloween parade
dirty blvd.

(from songs for drella)
small town
open house
style it takes
work

(from magic and loss)
what's good
power and glory
dreamin'

(from ecstasy)
modern dance
future farmers of america
turning time around

we'll see...

lost country @ arts fifth avenue, 8.25.2007

bulletin from lost country:

NEW CD Release PARTY!
Saturday, August 25
Two Shows - 8 pm and 9:15 pm
Arts Fifth Avenue
1628 5th Avenue
Ft Worth, TX 76104
817-923-9500
$10 Admission
(a portion of this admission price goes to supporting Arts Fifth Avenue, an eclectic neighborhood arts center)

icicle & the kid @ 6th street live, 8.24.2007

ex-fort worth cat kid daniel, recently returned to the panther city from exile in corpus christi, writes:

icicle & the kid featuring brian oblivion, aug. 24th
Okay, 6th Street Live had a band cancel and Icicle and the Kid have been called to the rescue. Here we come with nostrils flared.
Date: August 24th
Time: 9:30 PM til whenever
Location: 6th Street Live
2736 W. 6th St.
817-877-0666
Cover: $5.00

jazz guitar night

made it out to sardines late (got off work at 7:30), and so missed keith wingate's solo set, but got to hear sam walker weave his bebop magic with nimble bassist jonathan fisher, then both gtrists with jonathan, drummer steve waller, and host jhon kahsen's pianner. sam, the mind behind the monk tribute "thelonious," is the fort's answer to jim hall -- not flashy, but always musical, while papa keith ignites more fireworks, as befits a cat who's digested the influences of mclaughlin, metheny, scofield, et al. small turnout, but it's nice that the matarese family believes in subsidising the arts. if you weren't there, you missed it.

bindle

the reformed bindle (my fave rockband evah to originate from the fort -- to hear why, explore katboy's bindle archive) rehearsed again this past w-e, and is kicking around ideas re: how to present theyselves in public agin. i vote for the "book-own-show-with-hand-picked-opening-acts" option -- maybe with velvet love box and the hochimen as openers?

"candy canes"

new great tyrant vid (visual by nouvelle mode films) is every bit as dark 'n' stylized as you'd expect from these guys.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

"dyin' young is hard to take...

...sellin' out is harder": behold the power 'n' glory that was sly and the family stone, 1970.

some hip drum shit

submitted for your approval: 1) the late max roach demonstrating how much music you can make with a single instrument, the lowly hi-hat (now i know where dave karnes got _that thing_); 2) elvin jones as job cain playing a drum solo in the 1971 hipi exploitation movie zachariah; and 3) elvin battling albert ayler's sprung-riddim master sunny murray and hard-bopping jazz messenger art blakey in 1968. injoy!





Saturday, August 18, 2007

p.p.t. / liquid bounce pixxx @ meezlady.blogspot.com

...are live now.

p.p.t., liquid bounce

fell by the wreck last night to catch the p.p.t. / liquid bounce show. we'd been to a wedding earlier and were wondering why it is that all these sweet 20something couples feel compelled to have sinatra played at their wedding receptions. certainly not as a concession to their boomer parents?

anyway, happy to report that the wreck's a/c is fixed and the big room wasn't the swamp we'd feared it might be. saw jesse sierra hernandez for the first time in awhile, as well as steve-o and kevin ryan of the s.p.e.a.k. project. brian forella was proud to have his room filled with hip-hop fans of all colors, and p.p.t. was celebrating being named "best rap / hip-hop band" by the dallas observer. their idol records stablemate corey watson of black tie dynasty, who won so many observer awards this year that they should probably retire their number, joined p.p.t. onstage for their last number.

overall, p.p.t.'s show was an explosion of energy and groove, de-emphasizing the funny bullshit that's so much apart of their cd tres monos in love's considerable appeal. sure, they're personalities, but their sound harks back to a time when the subject matter of hip-hop was more than its artistes' celebrity. p.p.t.'s self-deprecating humor is reminiscent of east coast crews like de la soul and a tribe called quest, but they win on their own merits. hard to make me like a band with no instruments except for picnic's keys, but they did it just fine.

this was liquid bounce drummer nick's last show with the band before heading home to cali for unspecified activities. i'd jammed with bassist ruben before, but now i wish i'd peeped his band earlier. they play a tight, funny, aggressive brand of jazzy funk groove -- like a more spacious confusatron -- with the riddim section laying down a deep pocket for keyboardist dan to overlay with classic fender rhodes 'n' hammond b-3 sounds, and frontman kevin doing a more than worthy job on the mic, sax, and keys. they're going to continue with another drummer. worth hearing more, i'm thinking. my sweetie took some pics of both bands that she'll post on her photo blog.

Friday, August 17, 2007

old school / new school

while sifting through my father's boxes of papers,
my niece was struck by how many newspaper clippings
and magazine stories he and his friends usedta send each other.
i told her, "that's what people usedta do
back before they could send each other hyperlinks."

r.i.p. max roach

max roach, who exploded out of brooklyn in the '40s as charlie parker's teenage drummer, played on crucial thelonious monk sides, co-led a '50s band with trumpeter clifford brown that included sonny rollins on tenor for a spell, recorded the freedom now suite with his wife abbey lincoln and challenged the powers-that-be at the newport jazz festival in the '60s, and was still forward-thinking enough to duet with cecil taylor in the '90s, left the planet yesterday, aged 83. there will not be another.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

elvis is everywhere / elvis is dead

it was thirty yrs ago today that i showed up to open the lawn guyland rekkid store where i worked and found a line of tear-stained, duck-tailed elvis fans mourning _their boy_. when i was living in memphis in the winter of 1981-1982, i surreptitiously carved "elvis sucks" in the wall at graceland with a penknife. but then i was just a jackass. since then, i've come to appreciate the merits of early (sun records) el -- thanks, greil marcus -- but aside from that, pert near evathing i think / feel on the matter is encapsulated in the first two clips, from mojo nixon and living colour, respectively. it's also worthwhile to compare presley's "hound dog" (with scotty moore on gtr) to big mama thornton's (with buddy guy). as energetic 'n' exciting as "the hillbilly cat" could be, he was also ready, willing, and able to be manipulated, ripe for transformation into the joke-icon we all had fun lampooning back in the '70s. his last great moment: "one night" from the '68 tv special. r.i.p.











ADDENDUM: i'm reading richard hell's go now, and maybe hell pegged it best when he wrote, "The America of the fifties, especially in the pockets that are still practically like the nineteenth century electrified. Right before television and franchise merchants homogenized and cheapened it all. That's what Elvis was and why he was so adored. He redeemed the poor and simple, showed the big shots the beauty of a country boy set loose."

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

the amon carter museum

...is reopening this friday. hooray!

random stuff

so now i can hear again. to celebrate, my sweetie 'n' i ate dinner at benito's, where i saw frank cervantez of stumptone and his bride doin' the same thang. i reminded him that the stoogeband is playing 6th street live the day before he plays the wreck room with sub oslo (that'd be 8.30 and 9.1, respectively, so actually there's a day in between -- sorry, frank). hopefully we'll be able to tighten up "i'm 18" and get "final solution" playable by then. the great tyrant is opening for sub oslo, so jon teague gets to play both nights.

this friday, we've got a wedding to go to, then we're gonna fall by the wreck to check out p.p.t. and congratulate them on being named "best rap/hip-hop group" in the dallas observer music awards thingy. their idol records labelmates black tie dynasty garnered three, count 'em, _three_ awards in said competition. good onya, fellas.

sunday we're dining at sardines, where esteemed jazz gtrists keith wingate and sam walker will be performing solos and duets as well as sitting in with jhon kahsen's trio. nice to have my ears back to enjoy all this stuff.

kree evans

...the foat wuth singer-songwriter sez:

Two shows in Fort Worth this week:

Thursday, Aug. 16th
MacHenry's, 8-11
Songwriters in the Round with Rene West
1408 W. Magnolia Ave.
No cover

Friday, Aug. 17th
6th Street Live
With Clint Niosi and Kristina Morland
2736 W. 6th Street
$5
(I'm opening, so it sounds like I'll be starting right around 9:00.)

an embarrassing and somewhat disgusting personal note

at stoogeprac last night, i had to turn down a few times because the volume from marlin's rig was overwhelming jon and he couldn't hear steffin at all when i soloed. this was partially because i couldn't hear anything at all out of my right ear, which is currently blocked with earwax (the medical name for which is cerumen, a name i like because reminds me of the evil wizard from lord of the rings). i've been using these ear drops and squirting water into my ear with an ineffectual bulb syringe for the past week, and telling customers at the market that "i'm a little hard of hearing on that side." (is it a coincidence that lately my entahr life seems like a lesson in empathy for the aged 'n' infirm?)

tonight, when my sweetie gets home, we're going to a clinic down on mccart to get this sorted out. it happens to me about every decade or so. the first time was not long after i'd moved to the fort; i went to the emergency room at osteopathic because i thought i was going deaf and wound up getting my ear irrigated for the first time. the pressure felt weird, but it was a great relief when the _pop_ came and the blockage was removed. (it looked like refried beans.)

my preference for standing stage right when playing dates from the last time it happened, about 10 yrs ago. i was playing in bluesbands and thought i was losing my hearing. when i finally broke down and went to the doctor, the physician's assistant wound up irrigating my ear about 100 times and pulling all this stringy stuff out of my head. it took him two hours, on consecutive days, to get it all out. he was laughing the whole time. for years after that, everytime i saw him, he'd start laughing again.

i'm reminded of pete townshend, whose tinnitus, i'm convinced, was caused by cerumen impaction, not loud noise. i 'spect that sometime between the 'oo's '89 reunion tour, when he played acoustic gtr exclusively except for the encore and was surrounded by acoustic baffles onstage, and the y2k show when i saw him play a wailing strat the whole night without baffles, he musta got his ears cleaned.

jimi's music 3

as my teague-inspahrd hendrix binge continues, i'm finding that besides being overexposed via clear channel, the early stuff (are you experienced, monterey, the bbc sessions) sounds nervous, jumpy, without "that repose, that inevitability you get from people like b.b. king and john lee hooker" (as nik cohn wrote), a quality which jimi found on his magnum opus electric ladyland, along with a more natch'l sounding groove which he'd claim on the series of 1970 recordings that trickled out after his death on albums like the cry of love, rainbow bridge, and war heroes (the cream of which are now collected on experience hendrix's first rays of the new rising sun). jon 'n' i agree with robert christgau that the cox-mitchell unit was jimi's best band; sad but appropriate that he was making the best music of his life when he checked out. if only he'd had more time...

listening to ladyland now, it breaks down like this --

side 1: who else had (or has) the range, not to mention the balls, to essay 'riginal compositions in the styles of both curtis mayfield and john lee hooker on a single elpee side, and make 'em work?

side 2: part of hendrix's genius was the way he could embroider even sow's ears like noel redding's songs into silk purses. the dylanesque r&b fantasias "long hot summer night" and "gypsy eyes" are evidence his songwriting was getting better and deeper, the latter song introducing a groove he'd mine further in '69-'70. i have a special fondness for "come on," a song i liked to play with ric goldstein and steve gray in albany back in '75. "burning of the midnight lamp" was a u.k. hit, surprising for such a poignantly rendered evocation of solitude.

side 3: while in general i prefer vinyl, the cd medium allows you to hear "1983" bookended by "rainy day" and "still raining" without changing discs. in comparison to the psych-sprawl that followed in its wake, from funkadelic's "free your mind" to acid mothers temple, this sequence sounds relatively concise.

side 4: "house burning down" provides further proof, as if any more were needed, of jimi's growth as a songwriter. "all along the watchtower" is formally perfect. while "voodoo child (slight return)" has been srv-ed to death, the 'riginal retains its power.

stoogeaphilia

rehearsed last night with the stoogeband in preparation for our first show at 6th street live on thursday, august 30th. (gotta gig as our pizza 'n' beer fund is almost depleted.) broke in "ain't it fun" and went over "marquee moon," "chinese rocks," "my idea of fun," and "raw power." looks like "i'm 18" is gonna have to wait until next show, by which time we also wanna have "final solution" together. sir steffin 'n' i got to check out the me-thinks guitar section's new riggage (bandy: peavey; marlin: mesa boogie), ratsami of asian media crew / barrel delux fame stopped by, refreshments were consumed, and a fine time was had by all, as always. this remains the funnest shit i do, no matter what else is going on.

new i-94 bar podcast

...is up and listenable here. a must-listen for fans of detroit-inspahrd aussie and yurrupean sounds.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

patti smith

back in y2k, i took my future ex-girlfriend to a patti smith show at the gypsy tea room. my future sweetie was there that night, too, although we didn't know each other at the time, and talked herself out of a speeding ticket later that night when she happened to have the good fortune to encounter the one fort worth patrolman who was also a patti smith fan.

while we were waiting for patti and her group to hit, the soundman played a couple of albums in their entahrty over the p.a.: first electric ladyland, then a love supreme. "at least she's got good taste," i remember thinking, before la smiff took the stage and made me eat every derisive "noo yawk art creep" comment i'd ever made about her. it's nice when art and artists surprise us, even to the point of doing a 180 on previously held ideas and beliefs.

lately, we've been listening a lot to twelve, patti's covers rekkid which i gifted my sweetie for her b-day. while one might see such a project as a sign of fatigue or at least creative stasis for a writer like patti (who 'riginally made her rep as a poet 'n' journo back in the late '60s), she's always used covers as performance vehicles (think "gloria," "so you wanna be a rock 'n' roll star," um, "because the night").

here, she reveals herself as the closet hipi brawd you always knew she was (four of the twelve toons come from the tumultuous year of 1967), renders props to cobain and coolio (!), makes me giveashit about songs i hadn't previously by tears for fears and paul simon. in the fullness of time, her serviceable poet's warble has taken on a power 'n' beauty all its own, and her son jackson (who's supposedly the spitting image of his papa fred sonic, r.i.p.) even plays some gtr. in its way, this disc is as speerchully complete as the ones by jimi 'n' trane that patti used to preface her performance back in 2000.

Monday, August 13, 2007

jimi's music 2

yeah, jimi's music was the water i grew up swimming in, meaning i took it for granted, like "blue are the life-giving waters taken for granted / they quietly understand." i always said i liked jeff beck better, which is like saying you prefer sonny rollins over coltrane. sure, sonny and jeff each carved out their own unique niche, and they both lived a lot longer than their more famous and iconic instrumental brethren. there was certainly some mutual influence going on -- just think of "tenor madness" and the quote from "rice pudding" that ends "in from the storm." but coltrane and hendrix changed the way _everybody_ heard and played their particular instruments -- hell, the way everybody heard and played _music_.

when i was in high school, we were like kids comparing baseball teams, my muso or music-snob friends and i: the hendrix experience versus the who versus cream. (in my backwater lawn guyland town, we were still playing stupid cream and allman brothers songs at the same time punk was happening in manhattan. an older gentleman i met recently, an expat from brooklyn to texas, said it: "everybody on long island says they're '20 minutes from the city' -- even out at montauk! they _lie_!") we'd compare the cats at each position; who do _you_ dig?

to me, it was a no-brainer: on gtr, hendrix was as exciting to watch as townshend, plus he could _play_; clapton came in a weak third (couldn't play riddim). on bass, solid entwistle topped "jazzman" bruce, with his flatulent tone; noel redding was, to put it charitably, not in the same league as the other two (or his own bandleader). shame on us, we didn't even rate billy cox, who in the fullness of time i've come to realize is the reason, along with improved songwriting, that i prefer "late" to "early" hendrix -- and how absurd it seems to make such distinctions when discussing a career that only lasted four years! on drums, moon the loon won out on sheer personality, but mitch mitchell had that elvin jones thang; ginger baker was an overrated embarrassment who actually had the nerve to "battle" elvin, ha ha ha. (to those of you who are thinking, "the obvious answer is bonham," my surly claque didn't even rate zeppelin back in '74, and they remain fairly irrelevant to my life even now.)

i lied when i said i couldn't listen to jimi's music for 20 yrs after college; it was more like 12, until labels and producers started figuring out what to do with cd's (i resisted buying a player until my sister gifted me one). f'rinstance, rykodisc started releasing things like live at winterland and radio one that justified the new format's existence to me by bringing new ways to hear a muso whose work i thought i knew well, rather than just forcing me to buy the same shit yet again. plus, i'm a lazy bastard, and the digital format allowed me to hear all of electric ladyland in sequence without having to change discs.

part of me consciously avoided listening to hendrix for all those years because i was afraid that hearing him would cause me to try and imitate him (as though that were possible). now i don't worry about it because i'm long past the point of being able to imitate anybody. not that i'm an original player at all, but i have my own sets of habit patterns that are indelibly etched in my reptilian brain to the point where i execute them automatically, without thinking, whenever i pick up an instrument. and those, i now see, were formed by growing up in the _age of hendrix_ (as opposed to, um, the age of van halen or the age of cobain). no excuses, no apologies.

jamcat pixxx @ meezlady.blogspot.com

my sweetie just posted some pics on her photo blog of the jamcats throwin' down at the wreck room last week with special guests brian sharp of saint frinatra on trumpet and jerko dabelic of sunward on gtr and f/x. (click on 'em to make 'em big.) if you've been meaning to catch a wednesday night sesh there, you better hurry, 'cos time's running out. (but not yet.)

david henderson

i woke up this a.m. thankin' 'bout david henderson, an estimable poet who also wrote the first and (i still think) best bio of jimi hendrix (despite the fact that in its 'riginal '78 edition, at least, it borrowed _very_ freely from the '75 guitar player special issue that was the _real_ study of my aborted third college semester) and once contributed spoken word performance to an ornette coleman album.

wouldn't ya know, i peeped steve-o's blog and found a link to a tammy gomez blog post wherein the cowtown poet-activist tells the dallas morning news what she's been reading, and compares tomas riley's mahcic to the aforementioned d. henderson's de mayor of harlem.

talk about yr weird synchronicities.

sunday brunch @ fred's

nutritional flavors o' the month be damned: fonky fred's now offers a steak 'n' egg brunch with mimosas, sundays from 10:30am-1pm. while sundays off from the market are few 'n' far between, i'm definitely planning to check it out at the very next opportunity.

2 + 2 = ?

so somebody volunteered the starbucks where my middle dtr works to participate in this project whereby folks meet 'n' greet the planeloads of g.i.'s coming thru d/fw on their way home on midtour leave from iraq. this had some resonance for me, 'cos back in '95-'96, when my reserve unit was doing rotations in italy watching bosnia, we usedta clear customs in bangor, maine, where there was an old couple who'd greeted and thanked the debarking passengers from every military charter that landed there since '90. she's kinda bummed that she's the only one of the baristas in her store who's stepped up to the plate to do the duty so far, which prolly has more to do with the fact that the plane lands at 8am than anybody's politics (notwithstanding the fraudulent bad press her employer has received re: "not supporting the troops"). as it happens, besides being born in the hospital at carswell and having spent the first eight years of her life on or around air force bases, she has friends from high school who have served in iraq or are serving there now, and so, not surprisingly, wanted to do her bit to show them support, even though she's not so red white 'n' blue on the foreign policy that brought them there. (in that regard, she 'n' i are in agreement with bob seger, who sang in his draft-era ditty "2 + 2 = ?" that "it's the rules and not the soldiers / who are my real enemy.") she called me up the other night seeking advice on what to write in a note that she was gonna give the g.i.'s. i told her i'd say something like "thank you for your courage and sacrifice. you are always in our thoughts." she seemed to like that.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

cheney on iraq in '94: "it's a quagmire"

laugh or cry.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

ha-ha o' the day

from farren: "frodo failed -- dick cheney got the ring."

Friday, August 10, 2007

katsuk in the fort

daniel katsuk (the artist formerly known as ahummin' acoustical acupuncture) is back in the fort and invading downtown, with dates at mambo's (8.10) and embargo (8.22).

the s.p.e.a.k. project

best idea i've heard of lately: the s.p.e.a.k. project, brainchild of one kevin ryan, who works for mental health and mental retardation here in the fort. kevin's puttin' on a big rock show at the ridglea theater october 20th with black tie dynasty, p.p.t., the burning hotels, the cut*off, and more hotsoes to be named later, all to raise awareness of de yoof 25 and under of the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases and how to prevent 'em -- crucial stuff. here's kevin's manifesto:

This event grew out of frustration. An awareness event to target ages 14-24. The alarming number of STD's and HIV infection in people in this population is drastic. It continues to climb at alarming rates. OVER 50% of all New HIV infections are in people under 25 in the United States. Texas is in the top 4 states for HIV/AIDS infection/disease rates. The metroplex is one of the largest concentrated populations making up the the HIV stats stated earlier. DO THE MATH!!! Chlamydia alone has been diagnosed in over 2200 young people in D/FW last year. 45 of the new chlamydia cases in Texas were diagnosed in children 9 and UNDER!!!!!! This is our way to protect ourselves and each other. WE must do something. I say WE because WE inhabit this space together and we must protect ourselves and our loved ones through education and awareness.

This event is geared to smash this silence and take a stand for our sexuality and our right to co exist.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

the kinks

peter laughner wrote it, and i believe it:

Life stinks.
I'm seeing pink.
I can't wink.
I can't blink.
I like the Kinks.
I need a drink.
I can't think.
I like the Kinks.
Life stinks.


this morning me 'n' ray-boy were sharing our appreciation of the kinks.

for connoisseurs of heartache, there's no music (with the possible exception of certain beach boys songs like "in my room" and "surfer girl") to top these 'uns, in the keys of G, Am, and D, respectively.







kinkophilia, anyone?

wreck room: the final weeks

so now it's official: the no-shit closing date for the wreck room be's september 30th. on that night, the plan is to have the gideons and cadillac fraf play on the roof. (hope it can stand the weight.) sleepytime gorilla museum and shaolin death squad play this friday, 8.10. other shows of interest:

8.17 ppt and liquid bounce
8.18 panther city bandits
8.24 sally majestic and tongue
8.25 pablo and the hemphill 7
8.31 leroy the prophet, addnerim, merkin, and proud warrior (caroline collier's new band)
9.1 sub oslo / great tyrant / top secret
9.7 el salvador birthday bash
9.20 dixie witch and the me-thinks

art of the jam

random observations:

1) i love playing with jam-meister lee allen, ron "the velvet hammer" geida, john "johnny peckerwood" shook, lucas white, and jerko dabelic real much.

2) i don't know any van halen songs.

3) my new hughes & kettner amplifinger is real boss, prolly the nicest piece of hardware i've ever owned and not one i woulda thought to buy for myself. thanks, fellas!

4) tonight we were set up in the main bar. no more stage, no more back room, no more li'l room. if you put all the human beings in one room, it almost looks full. my sweetie told me we were too loud and i told her, "this is the way it _always_ sounds onstage." except i'm not sure it does.

5) we have maybe six, seven more of these left, if we're lucky. i plan to cherish them. and, um, to be there, of course.

6) thanks, carl!!!

drue webber review @ iloveftw.com

review i penned of drue webber's new cd, the blues stay at home, is live now at i love fort worth.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

changes at fonky fred's

jennifer chandler writes:

FRED'S
TEXAS CAFE
Tastes & Tunes of Texas
fredstexascafe.com
915 Currie Street
Fort Worth, TX
(817) 332-0083

Fred's is now open on Sundays,
from 10:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.
Hope to see you this Sunday for our first Sunday!!
And we are now closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The Weekly Washers Tournament will now be
held on Thursdays.


IN THE FORT THIS WEEK
Wed - Gourmet Pizza Night
with
Josh Clark & FW's Finest in the Fort

Thurs Aug 9
WEEKLY WASHERS TOURNAMENT
with
MARTY CHRISTIAN
www.myspace.com/martychristian

Fri Aug 10
JOSH DAVIS IN THE FORT
www.myspace.com/joshdavisinfo

Sat Aug 11
BAND - TBA

Sunday Aug 12
First Sunday Open !!

SAVE THE DATES!!!
Sat Aug 18 - Fatty Lumpkin
New: Thurs Aug 30 - DeWayn Brothers (beautiful bluegrass)
Wed Sept 5: ERIC MCFADDEN TRIO

The Inside and the Patio are Open:
Wednesday Thru Saturday 10:30 a.m. - Midnight
Sunday 10:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
(closed Mondays & Tuesdays)
Beer, Food and WINE til MIDNIGHT !!
Visa, Mastercard, Am/Ex and Cash Accepted!!
($10 minimum net of tip requested on credit card sales)

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

icicle & the kid redux

david "kid" daniel, former fort worth cats bassist (the "new wave" band, not the ball club) and recent returnee from exile in corpus christi, reports that icicle & the kid (the aggro comprising ex-fort worth cats frontguy john "johnny icicle" seibman and drummer van eric martin along with the kid) gots a gig at sarah's place (5223 camp bowie blvd) on october 5th, so save the date.

jamcats are jammin'...

...at the wreck room wednesday night.

Monday, August 06, 2007

katboy's bindle archive

wow! katboy just added a beautifully clear board recording of an aardvark show from cinco de mayo, 2001, to his bindle archive. if allah is merciful and fortune smiles, we'll be able to hear some of these songs live on the evening stage again soon.

happy berfday, charlie haden

titanic bassist charlie haden, ex-ornette sideman, liberation music orchestra / quartet west bandleader, father of josh, petra, tanya, and rachel, is 70 years old today. like matt hembree, he grew up playing and singing in a family bluegrass band. charles mingus, who had a bad memory for names, just called him "bass." ain't none finer.

nitzinger cd release update

this just in from the john nitzinger camp:

We are getting ready for the big show at McDavid Studio. Please see the attached show flyer and the information below. Also below are links to some recent press about Johnny. Please check it out!

McDavid Studio: The show time has changed. It still begins at 4:00 p.m., but should be over by 6:00 p.m. Get your tickets NOW at the links below. Seating is limited. We look forward to seeing all of you, your family and friends!

http://www.myspace.com/mcdavidstudio
http://www.basshall.com/eventsnew.jsp?selDate=8/19/2007

Please mark your calendars:
August 19th, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Bass Hall's McDavid Studio
301 East 5th Street
Fort Worth, Texas

http://www.star-telegram.com:80/music/story/191257.html
http://www.thecutting-edge.net/Nitzinger.html
http://www.iloveftw.com/johnnitzinger.html [i replaced their link to a deleted blog post with an updated one]

He was also in Southwest Blues in May, and in the Star-Telegram story "Rock Routes" in July.

Thank you for your support!

Judy Zoch Nitzinger
wheresjohnny@charter.net
nitzinger@juno.com
http://www.myspace.com/nitzinger
http://www.nitzinger.com/index.htm

things i didn't know about my dad

my father's past was always a mystery to me. while my mom loved to talk story when my sister and i were kids and could remember her own life with amazing detail back then, my dad was pretty close-mouthed about his own life, revealing things only sporadically (and sometimes denying that he'd even said them later). one of the benes of my recent trip to new joisey was getting to hear him tell some stories about his earlier life (some of 'em several times), and sorting through "dad's important papers" (he's a notorious packrat who hasn't thrown _anything_ out since the early '50s), where i made some interesting discoveries.

1) his parents were from oshima, an island in japan's inland sea. his mother taught grammar school there from the age of 15, and married his father when she was 20. she could play the piano and read music, and later taught japanese language, history and geography at a japanese school in honolulu. he was amazed that she could do all that, despite only having a 6th grade education herself.

2) before his uncle built what we think of as "grandpa's house" on a hill overlooking pearl harbor, my father's family lived behind my grandfather's flower shop. my grandmother's father died during a flu epidemic in the late '30s. my grandfather was saving money to send her there to see her family when his business failed in 1937.

3) after the attack on pearl harbor, the schools in honolulu were closed for "several months." the junior high my father had attended didn't even teach algebra, but a friend who attended mckinley high school (the biggest one in honolulu) let him borrow a trigonometry textbook, and he taught himself from it well enough to persuade the best math teacher at farrington high (where he was a student) to help him get into the university of hawaii.

4) while he was at the university, he managed the student post office. one of the students who worked for him there, patsy mink, went on to serve 12 terms in congress and wrote title IX of the higher education act.

5) he renounced his japanese citizenship in 1951. he had that privilege because he was born in the territory of hawaii in 1924, the year the japanese exclusion act was passed.

6) he got his master's in physics at harvard, but went to the university of rochester to get his doctorate. i found a letter from harvard graduate school informing him that his grades weren't good enough to get him into harvard's ph.d program in physics, although the letter's author offered to make an exception for him, since he'd had to work extra hard after transferring from the school of mathematics.

uncle john turner

sad: uncle john turner, who drummed with johnny winter on albs from the progressive blues experiment through second winter and with stevie ray vaughan in the band krackerjack, left the planet july 26th, aged 62. here he is kickin' the traps with johnny on "mean town blues" at woodstock, '69. r.i.p.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

bindle

the world is _this_ much closer to a bindle reunion. the members of the dearly departed precursor to both goodwin and pablo and the hemphill 7 assembled at a secret location this weekend for a relaxed round of reminiscin' and rehearsin'. we anxiously await the results.

art davis

paul unger is hardly the first bassist to excel in both classical 'n' jazz arenas; far from it. art davis, who left the planet this week, aged 73, performed with the new york philharmonic and on forward-looking coltrane albs like africa/brass and ascension. r.i.p.

blue drue webber

back in the fort, my dad's condition having stabilized (for now at least). found a copy of the new blue drue webber cd awaiting me at la casa. will pen a review for i love fort worth while i'm decompressing from the hectic last coupla weeks.

princeton, n.j., 7.23-8.4.2007

i.

transportation security in dallas
confiscated our unopened 1-liter water bottles.

in philly, they confiscated
my daughter's cigarette lighter

(which she'd been allowed to
carry on the plane in dallas).

i asked her if the screener had told her
that smoking is a disgusting habit she should quit

and whether he'd asked her how she liked the new camels.
she said no and yes.

ii.

driving around in my sister's car
listening to john fahey.
at the record exchange in princeton,
i bought a monk tribute cd.

"is he the one whose music sounds like chaos?"
she asked as we listened to "pannonica."
other people's music,
other people's lives.

iii.

one of the nice hospital ladies
who took care of my father
asked if i knew about tax shelters
and was surprised when i told her
that i'm like a child about money.
"japanese and chinese know about these things,"
she said. "i need to get
a chinese person to do my taxes."

iv.

on the way to dinner one night,
my sister and i passed a 40something whiteguy
wearing a t-shirt with a necktie.

as he walked by, he closed his eyes
and solemnly intoned, "mental disturbance."
i was surprised he knew what the topic of the day was.

later, my brother-in-law told me
that john nash, the schizophrenic mathematician,
has a son who's similarly afflicted and similarly gifted

who's kind of a local character around town.
now i can't help wondering
whether our guy was him.

v.

my father told me, "my mind is going crazy"
because his dreams and reality are bleeding together.
i told him, "it's okay. the dreams that you're dreaming
are just too big for your sleep to hold them."

Saturday, August 04, 2007

fifth avenue jazz collective

trumpeter leonard belotta, percussionist eddie dunlap, and dancer gracey tune (the latter pair of arts fifth avenue fame) are joining forces under the above appelation. film, as they say, at 11.

sardines jazz in august

jhon kahsen writes:

I wanted to let you know about the 2 August events at Sardines . First is Avant Garde night this coming Tuesday, Aug. 7, beginning at 9:00pm. The drummer will be Duane Durrett of Weatherfod College, bassist is Jeremy Hull, Chris White on trumpet and flute, Pat Brown on trombone, many others.

The second is Jazz Guitar NIght Sunday, Aug. 19, beginning at 6:00pm and going until 10:00pm. This will feature Sam Walker and Keith Wingate. Each will play solo, duo, and with the trio.