Amoeblogger Brad Sheldon was absolutely right Memorial Day when he predicted that R. Kelly's new album would likely be a hot seller at Amoeba Music upon its release the following day. Go back and check it if you missed this informative AMOEBLOG which gave a real good history of the ever-popular & controversial R&B star plus a link to his video "Careful" with Sparkle.   Equally, if not much more to some, entertaining is the Dave Chappelle video "R.Kelly: I'm Gonna P*** On You" included on the about to be released DVD "The Best of Chappelle's Show (Uncensored): Top 25 Sketches" (Comedy Central/Paramount). Available instore on Tuesday, June 5th the other 24 sketches include (among others) the sidesplittingly funny 'A Night With Wayne Brady' and 'The Ni**ar Family' sketches plus the played-to-death so that its well-past-expiration-date funny  'Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories: Rick James."  While I want to own this new DVD, truth is that I have already seen all of these skits a zillion times so right now  I prefer to go back and re-watch that surprsingly engaging, ever-revealing James Lipton interview with Chappelle on Bravo's 'Inside the Actor's Studio'



One of the best videos to surface in the past week or so online is the fun, fast-paced video mashup "Shatner Woo Remix" - posted by YouTube user "smudgeorama" who took a recent Conan O'Brian interview segment with William Shatner and chopped up and mixed interview portions with clips from a video of renaissance man Shatner driving a car at 160 MPH and remixing it with a cool electronic track into a mind-dazzling 2 and quarter minute video.

Vestron 5303

                                    Since moving to the Bay Area from Fresno several years ago Jason Chavez, who works in the hip-hop and soul sections at Amoeba Music in San Francisco, has been extremely active outside of work busily recording and performing whenever possible. Under the name 4AM Chavez performs and records a rich variety of music. He also DJs regularly around SF at spots including Sip Bar in North Beach, the Beauty Bar in the Mission, and Milk directly across the street from Amoeba Music on Haight.   As a musician (producer, percussionist, vocalist, etc) he is most prolific and has an impressive catalog to prove this with both his solo releases and as a key collaborator with others including with the likes of  art-hop group Octavius, Dopesytle 1231, DJs of Mass Destruction, and most recently as a member of Black Fiction which also features some other Amoeba Music employees. One of those members is fellow Amoebite Big Ant with whom he has collaborated with on a cool DJ project.   4AM has appeared twice on the Amoeba Music Compilation series: on Volume IV as a solo artist on the track "Sorry Wrong #" and on Vollume V under the artist name The Dead Have Highways on the song "The Alone"along with the Count of Monte Frisco .  His DJ mix CDs, including the Hug Life series are available at Amoeba SF - ask for them. Meanwhile I asked the smart and always witty artist some questions about his life as a musician, an Amoeba employee, creator of the "Hug Life" movement, and a former Fresno resident.

Media Home Entertainment M012405

The legendary Joe Bataan is making a rare appearance in the Los Angeles area. You don't want to miss this. Joe, who had retired from live performances for over twenty years at one point, has been doing sporadic shows in the homey hot spots for the last couple of years. He has done shows in San Francisco, L.A., The Bronx and Japan, where the slow and low lifestyle is still going strong.

Many of Joe Bataan albums are still available. Most of what was released on the Salsoul label that Joe Bataan started in the 70’s are still in print. Fania Records has recently reissued Joe Bataan’s classics, Mr. New York And The East Side Kids, Riot, and Saint Latin's Day Massacre. Vampisoul, the retro label out of Madrid has also reissued several of Joe’s classics as well as the 2005’s brilliant, Call My Name, a collaboration with ESL’s Daniel Collás that kept Joe’s funky Latin soul intact.






Both shows are in the hood, so if you really want to see the old school with their elbows up going side to side, you'll won't want to miss these shows

Friday, June 15 @ The Montebello Inn,
Montebello, Ca.

Saturday, June 16th @ La Conga Mexican Bar & Grill, San Pedro, Ca.

          
                SCRATCH GUITAR M AESTRO:


                 "It is guitar but a lot of the method is like
                  turntablism" says The Genie - born Luis
                  Monterrosa - the innovator of  DJ influenced     
                 "scratch guitar"  music who  was brought to the
                  attention of many Amoeba Music fans after he
                  appeared two and a half years ago on the
                  two-CD set "Amoeba Music Compilation
                 Vol. V"  with his wonderful composition "Before
                  The World Goes" which was culled from his
                   own album "Rebel Music."


                                                                                                               
        As I was just starting to assemble the elements of what would  become the fifth volume in the Amoeba Music compilaiton  series, which showcases underground/indie artists - mainly from California and many of them Amoeba Music employees - Naomi (the marketing person at the San Francisco Amoeba store) told me about a few "must check out" artists for that upcoming collection. Knowing what impeccable taste Naomi has  (much earlier she turned me onto Deerhoof long before it seemed anyone knew about them) I immediately dropped everything to check out the artists she recommended including the Genie. And again she was right. The Genie is definitely a must check out artist!

         

Key Video 4512

Four gold stars for Notes On A Scandal!


I watched the film last night and was blown away by Judi Dench's performance.  It's unusual that a jaded ex film theory student like myself is blown away like that, and although I do truly always love Dame Judi, this was the penultimate character for her I thought. 

Breathtakingly vicious and manipulative, her Barbara is as layered as any real live human being, unusual for a film script these days.  In fact, the layers of each main character in the film, Barbara, Sheba and Steven, are peeled away like the skin of an onion-- as the film progresses we get deeper and deeper into their psyches and man, are they all twisted!


The are also all twisted up in the affair that art teacher Sheba (Cate Blanchett) is carrying on with her seemingly abused 15 year old student, Steven.  Lonely and intense fellow teacher Barbara befriends Sheba, who she alternatively loves and hates for her beauty and bourgeois sensibilities, and she uses their closeness to pull Sheba further and further into her web of neediness when she discovers the affair.

Embassy Home Entertainment 2087

The day after a big holiday Monday is usually a very sad day for music new releases. All the music distributors and shippers shut down on Monday holidays. Because of this, the labels traditionally keep the Tuesday releases pretty slim the day after the holiday. So R. Kelly and Perry Farrell are both pretty lucky with two new albums out today. Without much competition, the albums might do a little better than they probably should. Most Janes Addiction fans would probably appreciate it if Perry Farrell just stopped making music. He managed to make some brilliant albums in the late 80s and early 90s. He even did pretty good with his post Jane's Addiction band Porno for Pyros. "We'll make great pets" is still repeating in my head after all these years. It was a super catchy song.

Perry Farrell started playing music in the brilliant but short lived band Psi Com. The band released one self titled album in 1985. He went on to create two excellent album with Jane's Addiction. "Nothing's Shocking" and "Ritual de lo Habitual" had a major influence on many of us who grew up in the late 80s and early 90s. Especially those of us growing up in southern California. These albums and their singles were heard everywhere. Everyone had the tapes blasting in their cars and I swear that I probably heard Jane's Addiction at least once a day, somewhere. The band became known as the symbol for alternative music. Back when alternative actually still meant something. Perry Farrell also went on to create the alternative music festival known as Lollapalooza. This was  a pretty exciting festival for kids who had never experienced anything like this before. Perry Farrell also released the movie "The Gift" in 1993. While this may be one of the worst films ever released, it remained one of my favorites for many years.

As I waited with my boyfriend, Corey, in the Emergency Room loading dock, nurses, aides, cleaning people and, I think, some illegal immigrants would rush through. The energy was frenetic. It was like someone spliced together all the link and filler scenes from a TV medical drama, and edited out the entertaining parts where you find out the doctor’s sleeping with the wife of the man who runs the hospital who is an alcoholic/pill addict and, even more tragic, votes Republican.

We learned that Corey had appendicitis. They wanted to perform surgery that night. Our plans to play poker and go dancing would, in all likelihood, have to be cancelled.

A cute picture of my boyfriend, Corey

Corey is a self-professed control-freak, and this would reveal itself in many ways. He would grill anyone who entered our room with the same battery of questions, to which he would receive, more or less, the same answers. I didn’t ask why, but I secretly theorized that he was waiting for one of them to “slip up” and say something like, “Well, you may be feeling discomfort because your uterus is over-extended,” to which Corey could then raise his pointed finger and exclaim, “Ah, ha! Got you! I’m a boy and I don’t have a uterus! Because of my hysterectomy last year.”

My boyfriend won’t find that joke funny, but he’s all cripple from surgery, so I’m safe.

    After posting last week's AMOEBLOG about increasing US postal costs which included an interview with Dischord Records' Ian MacKaye - the legendary DC punk icon - I received a couple of emails off-blog from fans of MacKaye's groups Fugazi and Minor Threat. One (from Dave in Orange County) linked me to a killer website that takes visitors on a walking tour of the Washington DC punk scene that started in late seventies. The online destination, yellowarrow.net/capitolofpunk, offers "10 txt-walks, 10 videos. Places and stories of hardcore in DC" where you can either view the ten documentary videos on the site or as a podcast. You can also download a PDF map of DC punk from the site.
  
   What I like about the DC punk history site is that it sheds light on a scene that was overshadowed by such well-documented punk scenes in the UK, NYC, and California. And that got me thinking about all the other great USA punk scene histories like Boston, who years ago in reaction to SoCal's well-publicized scene, released the great compilation "This Is Boston, Not LA." Another overlooked early US punk scene was that of Chicago which is captured in the new film "You Weren't There: The History of the Chicago Punk 1977-1984" from Regressive Films - a documentary that looks back on the impact that punk had on the Windy City and features such well known  bands as Articles of Faith, Effigies and Naked Raygun and such lesser known punk acts as Silver Abuse, Savage Beliefs, and Negative Element. Check out this movie trailer:


But of course if one had to name just one place as the mecca of US punk it would inevitably be the legendary/no longer there Bowery, NYC club CBGBs which, amid much publicity, bit the dust last year. And besides the famed punk-palace's stage, it is was the club's bathroom that was equally famous. Captured on video about six week's before CBGBs closed in the latter half of 2006 this video captured the famous graffiti'ed/stickered bathroom's vibe. To properly view/appreciate: tilt your head on your left shoulder and imagine the stench of urine.:

CHARLES NELSON REILLY 1/13 1931-5/27 2007

here is a video for you to remember him....

I will only say that this day seems to make me sad - more and more sad every year.


This, to me, isn't about anything as petty as a red or a blue state, shallow things created by the media to increase the distances between us. My brain chases my heart around, and ultimately they end up over in the corner somewhere, in the dark. Sad. Crushing sadness for everyone involved.



It's a sadness, indeed, to know the state of the world - and to feel the tears upon your face, feeling helpless and alone - wishing for nothing more than this:



Nanci Griffith. Twenty years of helping me stay human in a world that tears apart every human heart. Thank you, Ma'am. I can't thank you enough.

So I saw Lisa Gerrard last night at the Palace of Fine Arts. I can't really imagine a better place to see the magical Lisa Gerrard than the Palace of Fine Arts. Besides maybe the Paramount theater in Oakland, where I last saw Dead Can Dance perform a couple of years ago. I usually like to get to the Palace of Fine Arts early so I can walk around and enjoy it, but we didn't have enough time and it was really cold last night.
My friend Rosemarie joined me for the show last night. I couldn't think of a greater person to join me for the show. I have not seen her enough lately so it was great to be able to hang out on such a magical evening. We both love the Dead Can Dance and Lisa Gerrard, so we were very excited for the show.

Seeing Lisa Gerrard is sort of like going to church. Her fans are all very devoted and would do anything for their Lisa. And it seems she would do anything for her fans. She really does give back all the love to her audience. You can just feel the love in the crowd. I really do love seeing Dead Can Dance perform with all their magical different instruments. Its also great to see the vocals of both Lisa and Brenda Perry go back and forth. But it was nice to see Lisa all by herself last night. She was joined by one of the members of Dead Can Dance, John Bonnar on keyboards. She was also joined by the guy who plays on the new album on keyboards and piano.

Her shows really are very magical. The feeling you get from the show stays with you years later. Her voice is amazing and really takes over the whole theater. I was literally staring at her trying to imagine how she makes her voice do the things it does. Her voice quickly changes tones and styles in mid song. Its like a whole chorus is coming out her mouth. She played a mix of her new album and her previous solo albums. The best of which is her first solo album, "The Mirror Pool."

Media Home Entertainment M174

I’m sorry.

I haven’t written to you in ages, I know. It’s awful of me, but don’t take it personally – I have a really good excuse, and it has the added bonus of being true.

Saturday began normally enough. I woke up about and hour before my alarm went off, percolated some java, weaned my cat off my calf muscles and onto a bowl of kibble, shaved, brushed, exercised and watched the abortion episodes of “Maude”. Nothing remarkable.

I left home to walk to Amoeba Music Hollywood fifteen minutes earlier than necessary; again, totally normal – I am chronically early to everything.

I was greeted at the door by a big hug from Karen and carefully made my way back to the jazz / classical / soundtracks / New Orleans / gospel / comedy / new age / blues room amidst a maze of potential accidents as created by our early morning cleaning staff.

Embassy Home Entertainment 7669

Brent James
7.5 years employment
Information Control

Q: What was playing in your house when you were a kid?

BJ: Janis Joplin, "Mercedes Benz" and lots of  Willie Nelson, lots of The Doors, Fleetwood Mac.  Basic 70's things that are very important to my formative years.

What was your first show?

The Shirelles at a classic car show in Turlock, California.  No lies, my dad was the president of the Cam Twisters USA! He still is.  That was it!

That's crazy. ...yet fabulous. What was the first band that you were really into?

Ratt.  They made me want to be a musician.  It's true!  Why lie, you know?


What is your favorite venue here in the city?

Cafe du Nord.

Yes, I love it.  That's one of my favorites too.  What is your favorite band right now?


I just gotta say I listen to a lot of old things right now.  Ruth Etting and vocalists of the 30s and 40s is what I am listening to a lot at home, besides the usual.

Wow, I didn't even know that you listened to that kind of thing.  What do you think is the best local band?

Monarch Home Video 7401

                      
'I'm like the Rainman of the F train now because I now know every speck of that train,' laughed New York public space guerilla artist & recent subway prankster Ellen Moynihan. "Sixty seats, eight doors, and seven poles. And the overhead ads are exactly seventy inches by ten inches," said the ring leader of the spirited and highly creative four-woman House Of Malcontents crew - her and three other New York artists with a shared desire to reshape public spaces such as a subway car to make it more homey. This they accomplished last month when all four boarded an early morning F train in Brooklyn headed into Manhattan, and briskly and artistically made it over to look and feel more like ... home.

    'No Train Like Home'  they dubbed the installation that took the four guerilla artists 40 minutes to carry out during early morning New York City commute hour.  Carol Tessitore was one of the collaborators. The other two wish to remain annoymous because of the illegality of the maneuver. The idea for the 'No Train Like Home' came to Moynihan, who is also a writer (currently working on a book about Patti Smith), after checking out Mark Ecko's controversial graffiti on subway event in Chelsea a couple of years ago. Later as she was riding the bland, drab, New York subway, she fantasized about how great it would be to make over the institutionalized-looking subway car into something warmer: to make it feel and look like your living room - especially since so many New Yorkers spend so much time commuting by subway daily.


              At first she thought about,  "How cool it would be to get a grant and get a lot of money and a subway car of my own to redecorate."  But soonafter gave up on the difficult task of trying to get a grant, and also on the idea of asking for permission.  So she studied the subway to learn "every speck" - taking photos and measuring in preparation for the perfectly plotted makeover morning (April 6th) when Ellen and her three fellow Malcontents went to work on the train: putting down a runner rug down the center of the subway car and taping down 'welcome' mats near the sliding train doors, covering the windows with curtains, tying flowers to the poles, putting pillows on the usually uncomfortable hard seats, scattering magazines around to read, and nice art to look at instead of the ads already there.  "We made copies of family portraits or paintings you'd see at home," said photoshop expert Carol who also 'stitched together' on computer photo images of books on a shelf, and later printed them out on the long reams of paper they had purchased.

Raedon Home Video RD-011

So I went to see Old Joy back when it was at the Red Vic.  It's out on DVD now and it's really different from any movie I can think of at the (tired) moment.  In a good way.


I'd like to stress again here on my blog (strongly) that I am not a Yoga Mat Person, but I will say this movie has a meditational feeling to it.  By that, I mean while you watch it there is so much silence and there are so many moments of a quiet kind of reflection that when you finish watching it you really do feel like you went somewhere else on a journey.

The journey of the film takes place in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon.  Old friends from way back Mark and Kurt meet up and go camping.  They haven't seen each other in a long time and it's obvious that their lives have branched far away from one another in those years apart.  What's great about this film is that the issues that  this growing apart have caused are never directly addressed.  Instead, the filmmaker Kelly Reichardt allows the viewer to use those gorgeous silent moments to absorb thoughts and scenery and to reflect, bring about one's own ideas, and draw one's own conclusions.  I love it when movies don't preach their message to you,slam you over the head with whatever it is they are trying to get you to feel,  and this one is brilliant in that regard.


The film definitely sparked my own memories about similar experiences.  It got the awkward silences right for sure. Mark is the Reformed And Now Responsible Guy and Kurt is the Wild Dude That Never Grew Up Totally.  Kurt is still flying by the seat of his pants and Mark is uncomfortably wearing his like Urkel.  I read a review a few weeks ago that said how the viewer sees both Mark and Kurt by the end of the film will say a lot about how that viewer sees life in general and I think that is a fair and interesting comment. 

Oh, what a week.

The View is self destructing right there on live tv for everyone to see.




































What else is there?

Well, there's a new video for the White Stripes first single from their forthcoming album, Icky Thump.  You can watch it here:  Icky Thump Video Hottness

Ian MacKaye
                                
       When at the beginning of last week the United States Post Office quietly, but significantly, raised its rates (yet again) small struggling music companies that depend on mail-orders to generate important cash-flow particularly felt the pinch. Among them was Washington DC's Dischord Records, the longtime, legendary, anti-capitalist label founded by Jeff Nelson and Ian MacKaye, who as a result of the USPS rates hike was forced to abandon its long-running, customer-friendly, postpaid policy whereby, until just last week, when someone bought,say, a mail-ordered copy of a Fugazi album or CD for $10 the price included all shipping and handling costs. But not anymore! 
    
    "For the first time in our 27 years we decided that we can no longer cover for the Post Office because we've always had a postpaid price. We always operated like 'this is the price including postage' but they keep raising the price at a maddening pace," said Dischord's Ian MacKaye who is equally known for his membership of such bands as Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Embrace, Fugazi, Pailhead, and most recently The Evens.
 
 
   "We were before just barely breaking even," said MacKaye in an interview with me on WFMU last week (archived in MP3 here) in which he suggested that something even criminal is afoot with the latest USPS price hikes. "This most recent increase, I think, is completely insane and it is a crime. Someone from Time Warner and similar kinds of corporations have gotten involved and they've managed to create a situation in which their rates have not gone up or they have gone up insignificantly and yet the smaller publishing companies, and that includes Dischord and other labels, our prices for shipping went up 30% so if we were selling a CD for ten bucks and charging a $1.60 to ship it, it's now gone up to something like $2.20. It's quite an increase."

The first thing you’ll notice about the Mexican restaurant, El Conquistador, is that it is gay, but in an old school Mexican way some of us grew up on. Like that mustachio tio who liked to wear tight Mariachi pants yet never played Mariachi music. The tio your mom said was married but we never met our Aunt. It was that same tio that always brought a male “friend” to family functions. When I go to El Conquistador, this is where I imagine my gay tio hanging out, having Margaritas.

El Conquistador is in Silver Lake, a throwback to when Silver Lake was all Latinos and gays with a few bohemians scattered about. The main attraction is not the food. In fact, skip it all together; your stomach will thank you later. The star of the show is their Margaritas. When you absolutely, positively, want to forget everything on your mind, this is the place.

El Conquistador does not have the best Margarita. El Compadre's infamous “Flaming Margarita” is the best that I have had so far. But if you try to light a flame in one of El Conquistador’s Margaritas, you’d make a Molotov cocktail instead. Yeah, it’s that strong. After a hard day of work or a bad break-up, El Conquistador's Margaritas works better than the Lacuna procedure in the movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Whatever your flavor, order your Margarita “Rocas con sal”. That’s the way to have it. Blended just doesn’t cut it, ever. I like the cross section of people that go to El Conquistador. Leather Daddies in chaps sitting next to the Altera-moms with their babies in carriages, sucking down margaritas trying to forget motherhood for a few. Retro-rockers looking like they stepped out of a Uriah Heep album next to newly in-love couples sharing eyes and a margarita with two straws like a milk shake. Of course don’t forget along with our gay tios is our gays tias hanging in strong. I didn’t have a gay tia in my family, so when
I have children, I’ll have to adopt one.      

It’s been three years since I had to report to jury duty. The last time I had to go I sat in a jury waiting room reading Walter Mosley books until they dismissed us at the end of the day. I love Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins series because it all takes place in Los Angeles, mainly South L.A., not to far where I grew up. Much like reading other Los Angeles writers such as Raymond Chandler, John Fante and Charles Bukowski, I try to imagine what Los Angeles looked like years before I was born. Some of the areas that they wrote about that were once suburbs are now ghettos. Other areas, mainly downtown L.A., once inhabited by immigrants, cutthroats and hustlers of all kind, are now replaced by unimaginative people with money displacing anyone with flavor.

I took the Gold Line from my place in Cypress Park and transferred to the Red Line that dropped me off right at Civic Center where the courthouse is located. Once in the courthouse the women in charge giving the instructions for the day loses it after 10 minutes of repeating herself several times. People just don’t listen. She tells people to fill out the green portion of the summons and soon you have several people filling out the purple section. She tells people not to ask questions until after the end of the instructions and soon several more people are coming up to her to ask her the same questions she just gave the answers to. People who work in this field must cut their life expectancy by ten years with all the yelling they have to do.

Immediately, we are called into a courtroom for jury selection. No Walter Mosley for me today. The judge explains that this particular civil case is expected to last from 30-60 days. A collective groan comes out of all us potential jurors. The first thing we have to go through during the section process is going through the hardship cases. Out of a room of ninety people, seventy-five of us have excuses why were cannot be on a jury for that long of a duration. The judge is reasonable. He dismisses people that are going to school, caregivers for the elderly or parents with a single earner income. Others try to stretch the truth by adapting other people’s hardships to their own in hopes that will get them out of jury duty. At this point you got to wonder about the intelligence of some people. You are going before a judge, a person that has to differentiate truth from fiction EVERY DAY!
Do you really think he never met a liar before? This just makes the judge upset. He dismisses the liars and makes them come back the next day, thus continuing jury duty for at least one more day. Those idiots leave grinning, thinking they pulled one over the judge, not knowing that 90 % of us will complete our jury service in a matter of hours.

So last night we went down to the beautiful Cafe Du Nord to see the brilliant Patrick Wolf. Curt had never been there! So I was excited for him to see it. The bastard has only been to San Francisco once about five years ago. I missed that show and have been waiting ever since to see him live. I have loved all 3 of his albums and have been waiting patiently to hear how they sounded live. I was a little worried that he would disappoint.  It was hard to imagine him pulling off the brilliance of the albums in a live setting. But he literally blew me and everyone there away. I was expecting some over the top outfit and of course he met my expectations in this regard at least. I thought maybe some suspenders and a jaunty cap with a feather. He came out with a blue wig, shiny gold suspenders and little school boy shorts. He reminded me of a young Liza Minnelli mixed with Mccauley Culkin's version of Michael Alig. Maybe with a little Marc Almond and high school musical thrown in there. He even made a costume change half way through the show. He was joined by three young men on stage. Stand up bass, drums, and of course electronics. His violin player had gone back to England because of the "weather." The songs sounded great live and he was quite the little show man. He interacted with the crowd and told some great little stories.


He played a lot of my favorites from the first two albums. The live version of "To the Lighthouse" brought some little tears to my eyes. The highlight of the night was right before he came on stage. Five bears walked right in front of us to find their spot for the show. While a couple of them were obviously dragged to the show. The fact that they were there made me happy. It was overall a very stylish indie crowd. But its nice to know he has crossed the boundaries into bear territory. And I swear I saw George Lucas and Catherine Zeta Jones in front of me as well. The best thing about the show was how positive he was. He could have easily been a little mopey depressed emo goth on stage complaining about how horrible and tragic his life was. But he instead remained positive and optimistic. He shared not only his music with the audience but also a little bit of love. I left the show with a big smile on my face.

131,577 YouTube viewers can't be wrong!   Well, actually they can as some videos with questionable entertainment value get repeated viewings on the popular video website. But not so in the case of the ever-cute, highly-entertaining, and skills-a-plenty turntablist Lejo dj who, as of May 23 @ 8:04AM Pacific Time, had gotten 131,577 well deserved hits for his 53 second clip "Lejo DJ" in which the simple-but-brilliant, four-fingered/two-bugged-out-eyes hand puppet character cuts up the vinyl on his miniature gramophone.

Nearly as entertaining are such other, less-popular, clips by the four-finger artist as "Lejo: Magic Trick" and "Lejo: Accordian" - his dueling accordion duet with a look-a-like hand-character. Simply called "hand cabaret" and using only bare hands, bits of wood, no dialogue (just music), and a lot of animated imagination and humor the Netherlands based Lejo has been entertaining Dutch audiences for many years including appearing in short-film form on the Dutch kids TV show Sesamstraat (yeah just like Sesame Street). You can email the artist at: info@lejo.nu

                             

  As digital downloads (often illegal) continue to spiral and music sales continue to tumble, record companies are becoming more and more desperate in ways to try and tap back into that cash cow that once was. Back to a time when new albums were guaranteed to sell briskly and automatically generate tons of money. Back when a number-one debut spot on Billboard's Pop charts meant you had usually sold well in excess of at least a million units. Not so nowadays with CD sales so dismal that many of this year's number one new releases sold for well below even a measly hundred thousand units.

  One potential new way for music companies to generate money is to seek royalties from broadcast radio stations.  As reported in yesterday's  New York Times, traditionally radio stations have paid royalties to composers and publishers when they played their songs but have enjoyed a federal exemption when paying the performers and record labels because, they argue, that radio airplay sells music. But of course nowadays, as we all well know, radio airplay no longer translates into the hard sales figures of days bygone. So now the RIAA (Recording Industry Assn. of America) along with some artists' groups are going to pressure Congress to repeal the exemption (Note: they failed in the past). If successful this time, the strategy could generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually in new royalties.

   This latest move comes hot on the heels of a recent federal decision to hit up Web broadcasters for significantly higher fees to stream music. "Public performance royalties" is officially what satellite and Internet radio pays to play. The way it works now is that Internet broadcasters,  Satellite radio, and cable television companies offering digital music channels must regularly pay performance royalties.  And now the RIAA wants that same payment to them be levied upon traditional radio stations.

Out today is the new album by Erasure. Yes, they are still putting out albums. It seems like they are putting out a new album every year or so now. Almost as often as their best period in the late 80s and early 90s. Vince Clark, one half of Erasure, is for sure one of my heroes. After helping to form Depeche Mode and create one of the first brilliant synth albums "Speak and Spell,"  he went on to create two brilliant Yaz albums. Then came Erasure with such brilliant albums as "Wonderland, "The Innocents," "Wild," and "Chorus." Erasure has actually surprised me a couple times over the past couple years by creating some still brilliant songs. They basically invented synth pop back in the 80s. I can't really imagine where I would be without them. They have wrote some of the catchiest songs of the period that still remain great songs.

This new album is about their 13th full length album. Maybe their 15th if you count "Crackers International" and the brilliant ABBA cover album "ABBAesque." They have continued to make accessible dance albums over the years. However, with 13 or 15 albums there are bound to be some ups and downs. "I Say I Say I Say" really marked the end of the great Erasure albums, for me at least. Some might say it ended with 1991's excellent album "Chorus." In 2005 they ended up making a great comeback album, "Nightbird." I have to admit that I am still impressed with Erasure and their new album "Light at the End of the World." It may not have as many great songs as their albums of the past. But Andy Bell and Vince Clark still have the magic to make a catchy pop album. It is easy to find yourself singing along to most of the songs on the album. It might just be my memories of albums past that has kept me an Erasure fan after all these years. But they still have me under their spell. They created a lasting genre that has affected millions and influenced many.

my roommate's band performed this weekend at the No Fun Fest in NYC.

here was their set:

                                                                                 Juan (AKA Wonway Posibul), who joined Berkeley Amoeba two and a half years ago, lives and breathes hip-hop. At the East Bay music store his title is hip-hop buyer. Outside he is emcee Wonway Posibul with Berkeley hip-hop crew the Secluded Journalists. Additionally the always busy artist has, over time, collaborated with many other artists on projects including the acclaimed A Tribe Called Quest tribute he recorded with Oakland Faders' DJ and fellow Amoeba Berkeley employee DJ Platurn.  He is also an in-demand DJ and currently spins at East Bay spots including Kitty's and Easy Lounge. But it is the unique class that this qualified educator teaches once a week at Cell Space in San Francisco that he finds most rewarding.  "Def Ed"  is the exact title of the progressive course he teaches on the art of emceeing. As well as schooling his young students on how to effectively write rhymes Juan also carefully mentors them on how to present their rhymes properly - on how to flow.

AMOEBLOG: How does teaching kids to emcee benefit you as an artist and as a person?
JUAN:   I was raised by a community that consisted of family, friends, artists,  activists, and teachers. I wouldn't have progressed as an emcee without  them. So it's only natural I give back to the community that raised me. Especially with HipHop nowadays and the consolidation of images and ideas  that's being presented to the youth. I feel like teaching is one little  way  of fighting the bullshit, and trying to establish a balance. This is my  first year teaching, so just making these lesson plans, and breaking down what I feel is important to be an emcee, and for the first time critically  look at what I'm doing, I'm learning a lot and becoming a stronger writer and emcee because of it. The kids also bring an energy along with some new styles that I think is very exciting and inspirational.

Where is this film in the IMDb ???

Atlas Entertainment Corporation 5011

So yesterday started off really good. My old friend from Long Beach Poly High School dropped by Amoeba. I had not seen Melissa in like 14 years. But of course we recognized each other and it seemed like it had only been a couple months. I didn't really realize that I miss her until we hung out a little.  The rest of the day I had little memories of all the important events I experienced with her. We had to talk about Cameron Diaz a bit. I still can't believe she has not talked about her formative years in high school drama. So I dedicate this blog to my friend Melissa. It's crazy its been so long.

Last night we had the pleasure of seeing Bjork live. For some reason I have never made it out to see her before. I kind of find it hard to believe myself. But it just has never worked out. Or maybe I've been to so many shows at this point that I am starting to forget who I have  seen.  Although it is kind of a hassle to get all the way out to Shoreline, it is kind of a fun adventure.  It's like a little vacation. Parking is just a bit of a nightmare. Even though they have hundreds of employees directing traffic, it still manages to take way longer than it should. There is also nothing really to do in Mountain View other than work at Google or go to a show at Shoreline.  But we did manage to find In-N-Out. So did everyone else it seemed. So we ate our meatless hamburger with hundreds of other Bjork fans. I don't ever eat fast food, but In-N-Out is my one exception. Even though the employees seem to be all part of some weird religious cult, they do make good food. And it is nice that nothing is frozen. They also don't look at you weird when you order an animal style grilled cheese!

I listened to Elliott Smith almost constantly for a number of years, in particular during my collegiate hermit era.  His music has meant a lot to me, so this week's release of New Moon was sad and happy at the same time for me.  I think that's how his music always is too, rolling opposites into one, simultaneously delicate and strong.  It's one of the best things about his songs and no small part of what makes them classics.

New Moon is a double cd length collection of songs that for various reasons never made it to full length albums. Elliott always wanted to put out a double album a la The White Album, and it's hard that this posthumous collection is as close as he got. The tracks are all from the years 1994-1997, arguably his best period.  Some of them are from singles and some are never before released.  Being a big ol' fan, I had heard pretty much all of  them before (Thanks Charlie!), but that doesn't lessen the impact of hearing them again for the first time in years and having them all together collected.  I have to say since Elliott's death in 2003 I had virtually stopped listening to his records.  I feel strange hearing his voice again on New Moon and I keep listening to it over and over and over.

The great thing about the release, aside from the amazing songs, is that it was put together by people who were really close to Elliott and who knew his aesthetic and how important it is to maintain his vision.  None of the tracks are overdubbed or messed with; they are presented in the form they were recorded, and they are as spare as any of his early releases. 

His songs are so unbelievably rich and evocative.  I think the detail in every aspect of every song is nearly unparalleled.  His songs are fantastic top to bottom, from the lyrics to the chords to the melody.  Even the covers he chose over the years are flawless.  One of my favorites, "Thirteen" by Alex Chilton, is included here at last.  I feel like my meager writing can't do the tracks any justice, so i don't have too much to say except that I am sad that he's not around any more and I am hopeful that more and more people will find his music.  And that you should listen to Angel in the Snow cause it's one of the best songs he ever wrote.  It is so funny and also telling that Elliott's throwaways are usually better than what 90% of people putting out music ever write.  He must have been very hard on himself.

A.I.P. Home Video 7043

  The cassette revival, albeit an underground movement, seems to be well underway judging by two cassette-themed events this week: "Leaderless: Underground Cassette Culture Now" - the ongoing Thurston Moore curated exhibition over-viewing contemporary American cassette culture that opened a week ago and runs until May 28th at Printed Matter at 195 Tenth Ave. in New York City, and the "2007 Cassette Jockey Championship" - scheduled for this weekend (May 19/20) in the Bay Area at the fun DIY-themed Maker Faire at the San Mateo Fairgrounds - in which CJs (as distinct from DJs) will battle it out on their own personally rigged cassette set-ups. 
  But don't call this the cassette comeback. As those deep into the beloved analog format (mainly noise, experimental, and psych music purveyors) will point out: the popular tape format of the 70's and 80's never really went away. It just got pushed further under the radar to become more of a speciality and collectable item - just like vinyl and (more recently) even CDs. But interestingly it is not so much hip-hop, whose whole foundation was built on the "mix-tape," that is keeping the flame burning for the cassette with a flow of new releases. (Note these days it costs a lot more to dub cassettes than to burn CDRs). Non hip-hop labels that rigorously issue cassettes these days include Hanson, Drone Disco, Tone Filth, and Hospital Productions, while those who specialize exclusively in cassette-only releases include  Heavy Tapes, Fag Tapes, and FuckItTapes.
  Hundreds of cassettes dating back over the last few decades were on display in glass-cabinets at the "Leaderless: Cassette Culture Now" exhibit opening last Saturday.  Plus a ton of recent cassette-only releases were for sale (average price $6) and were being snapped up by eager cassette fans of all ages. I casually questioned two of these folks (both males) what they would play their new prized purchases on?  "On my cassette deck, of course!" - came the indignant reply each time. Meanwhile throughout the well-attended event a cassette jockey (CJ) mixed music off two old old-school basic cassette decks, mixer, and effects pedals (see pic).
  CJs will be out in force this weekend to battle at the "2007 Cassette Jockey Championship" or "cassette wars" whereby solo contestants will be judged on skill, technique, and knowledge with each CJ given three minutes to show his or her stuff. This includes creating or hot-rodding their own cassette decks to do battle on.  Competing CJs can work up to six cassette devices but must use cassettes only. No mini-cassettes or 8-tracks allowed.  Feedback is allowed however, according to the competition organizers who first launched the idea four years ago in Chicago and are reviving it for this weekend's Maker Faire at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds (Sat 11AM-5PM, Sun 11AM-4PM).  (While it is obviously too late at this stage to enter the CJ competition here is the email for the organizers for possible future events: cjchampionships@gmail.com)
  A separate but equally cool-sounding part of the big Maker Faire this weekend is the "Swap-O-Rama Rama" which will include a giant clothing swap (so bring stuff to trade), on-site silk-screening and sewing stations, plus lots of DIY how-to workshops. For more info click here.

I finally picked up a copy of the Angel Collection on DVD. Not the Buffy spin-off but the classic 80s teen prostitute saga, "Angel." The original Angel starred Donna Wilkes as Molly Stewart (Angel). She also starred in another one of my favorites "Grotesque" with Linda Blair.  She was Molly during the day, a perfect honor student in high school and then turned into Angel at night, the teenage Hollywood Boulevard prostitute. This movie was released in 1984 and directed by Robert Vincent O'Neill. He had directed some great cult films of the 70s such as "Wonder Women" about kung fu girls on the rampage and "Blood Mania" about a sex crazed nympho who kills her father for the inheritance.

I'm not sure why, but this was one of my favorites as a teenager. I watched it one day on cable and was sort of obsessed with it after that. I couldn't actually remember what it was even called until I found it a couple years ago. You can imagine my joy when i found out it was released as a widescreen DVD box set. The film went on to spawn 2 more movies, "Avenging Angel" and "Angel III: The Final Chapter." All 3 are included in the box set. There is actually a fourth movie made in 1994 "Angel: Undercover." I have never seen this one but I can only imagine how horrible it is. Although, I would not pass it up if it ever shows up on cable. Angel is played by a different actress in each movie. The best of the bunch is for sure the first. Unfortunately you will not find any much needed commentaries or documentaries. But they do at least give you some deleted scenes and the original theatrical trailers.

AKA   Dance Of The Dwarfs !!

Interglobal Home Video 1376

I guess Bo Diddley had a stroke Sunday.


The guy has to be pretty old.  I read that the stroke happened after a concert.  It's incredible and awesome that he is still out there on the road! 

The article also said that, sadly, the stroke had affected his speech. 

We keep Bo in our Oldies section here at Amoeba.  My favorite record of his is Bo Diddley is a Gunslinger. 


The man clearly kicks ass.  Hopefully he will recover soon.

Much to my boyfriend's dismay, I am once again obsessed with that little slice of Americana that is Born in the USA.

I have a car, and my car has a tape deck.  For most music fanatics, this would seem like a nightmare, but I quite enjoy it.  I see the tape deck as a challenge and a chance to listen to things I normally would have forgotten all about.  I actually really love having the deck.  There's nothing like going through your parents' old tapes to find Every Great Motown Hit of Marvin Gaye, or my early childhood Holy Grail: Born In the USA.

Bruce Springsteen, my mother always taught me as a child of the early 80s, was the hardest working man in show business. (Tina Turner was her hardest working woman selection.)  She would explain to me in all seriousness how he gave his all at his live shows and how hard he worked the crowd each and every night.  This woman has never actually gone to a Boss concert, mind you, but hey, she's never been short on opinions! (I had to get it from somewhere, right?) Guess Mom musta watched that Dancing in the Dark video a few too many times!  Anyway, Born in the USA was something we could all listen to together, my energy loving mom, my construction working dad, my annoying brother, and ME.

Much like other supremely enjoyable records, there isn't really a crappy track on the album.  Sure, the production is insanely overdone, but Springsteen manages (unbelievably) to rise above even synths and all the 80s trappings to come out of it all seeming like someone we can all relate to:  He misses those "Glory Days", he's had his "Downbound Train" bad times, he's a man "on fire."  Even as a young child I hafta say the energy and earnestness of the music resonated with me.  It sounds so triumphant sometimes and so resigned others. There was a nostalgia there but also, the record is FUN; I guess the record kinda takes you on a journey through a man's past musings and present confusion.  I love it.  Every time I put it on I am channeled back to my parents' green