He began his career in the 1930s but really began to make a name for himself in the 1950's. While his peers made gritty, immediate neo-realist films focusing on social issues and the struggles of the poor, Antonioni used film to examine the space between bourgeois characters with a highly refined and stylized directorial aesthetic.

In 1960 he released L'Avventura starring the iconic Monica Vitti. It was a radical departure from European film before it. The film remains an amazing depiction and evocation of alienation and dread. Its title is seemingly ironic (although "avventura" also means "fling," apparently, in addition to "adventure").

His subjects were almost always aimless, wealthy and unhappy. The films invariable had very long takes, minimal dialog and a surface that prevents the viewer from coming up with easy answers to Antonioni's implied questions.  L'Avventura and his subsequent films practically filled the screen with emptiness. Il Deserto Rosso (1964), his first color film, remains one of the bleakest and most beautiful films I've ever seen. I'm sure Criterion will "present" it in the months to come. It also has one of Giovanni Fusco's best scores, mostly consisting of disconcerting electronic beeps and belches (and silence), not to mention amazing Carlo Di Palma's amazing and ground-breaking cinematography.

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Last Thursday night I watched the second episode of Mad Men -- the engaging and very stylish new TV drama on (of all places) AMC about the business and home/family lives of young, upwardly mobile American ad men in the very beginning of the sixties. The show, which was created by former Sopranos * writer//producer Matthew Weiner, perfectly nails the whole style and feel of that era in American history when things were radically different from today, both socially and culturally. It was a time when everyone seemed to smoke cigarettes, often chain-smoke, and also happily knocked back cocktails during as well as after work every day. And did it sans any guilt or conscience whatsoever. Different times indeed!

As the show reminds us, it was time when people weren't all caught up in safety issues. A different time for sure when one didn't fuss with such silly distractions as putting on seat belts while driving. As last week's episode showed, neither mom nor her kids in the back of the car had seat belts on when she had a little crash. And speaking of mom, this was before the idea of women's rights was a common concept across America. Men were cads, or at least could act that way towards women. (Although you can tell in this well written script that their dominant ways will not go unchallenged by all women for too long.) As well as getting away with being cads, men also got all the good jobs. Women, it seems, were either wives who stayed home or else single women who became secretaries in offices like the Madison Avenue one in Mad Men where they're likely to be subjected to harassement -- except this was eons before the concept of sexual harassment really existed. 

City Lights Home Video

The new album by the new band the 1990's comes out today. I am a bit surprised there is not a band called the 1980's. There is for sure enough bands copying and sometimes reinventing the sounds of the 80's. But since it is now reaching the late 2000's, it has come time for bands to start reinventing the 1990's. Very soon there will be a whole bunch of bands sounding just like Nirvana and L7. There are already a group of bands reinventing the sounds of 90's rave. Shoegaze and Britpop never really stopped existing. The indie rock sound that sort of came into existence in the 90's is still as strong as ever. The new album by the 1990's is called "Cookies." And it actually is sounding a bit 90's. But in a good way.

The 1990's are from the great town that is Glasgow, Scotland. This great little town, which I recently found out is not really that little, has already brought us Franz Ferdinand, Belle & Sebastian, the Fratellis, Bis, Mogwai, and The Yummy Fur. Two member of the 1990's were in the Yummy Fur. Lead Singer, Jackie McKeown and bassist, Jamie McMorrow. This should remind you a bit of Franz Ferdinand. Both Paul Thomson and Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand were in The Yummy Fur. If you like Franz Ferdinand, you would probably like the 1990's. But they really don't sound that much alike. They are reminding me a bit of Imperial Teen. Imagine a British or Scottish Imperial Teen or maybe Sloan or Phoenix. They also remind me of that other 90's band Pavement. They are one of those bands that create wonderful little catchy pop songs. It is very easy to get addicted to these songs. The same thing happened with me and the band Sloan. All I wanted to do was listen to Sloan after I first heard them. This could easily happen to you after listening to these guys. It was what I liked so much about the fun music that was 90's britpop. Bands like Blur and Supergrass were just fun to listen to.

In addition to being the setting for countless movies, including Clint Eastwood's Escape From Alcatraz and Burt Lancaster's Birdman of Alcatraz, the island of Alcatraz, aka "The Rock," has also been the setting for some music videos. Eighties metal guitar gods the Scorpions chose the former prison setting, smack in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, as the set backdrop for the video of their popular song "No One Like You" (see clip below).

The next decade horror-core, hardcore Sacramento producer/rapper Brotha Lynch Hung got permission to shoot scenes on Alcatraz for one of his music videos. During the overnight shoot, Brotha Lynch Hung swore on his life to me, in an interview for XXL at the time, that he witnessed a ghost in one of the creepy abandoned old cells on the small island.

Listed as a historic landmark for over twenty years, the best way to access daily tours of Alcatraz (home to the oldest operating lighthouse on the west coast) these days is by taking the ferry from either the Fisherman's Wharf in SF or from the other direction: Angel Island and Tiburon. For more information on Alcatraz, which is well worth a visit and is administered by the National Park Service, click here. 

 

During the 80’s and early 1990’s, there was an effort by Hollywood to make movies about Latinos but rarely did you see Latinos actually played by Latinos. During my back injury I watched a slew of movies from that era, including Scarface and Carlito’s Way. In Scarface, Al Pacino played a Cuban refugee with F. Murray Abraham as a Cuban as well. In Carlito’s Way, Pacino played a Puerto Rican. In each role Pacino had a terrible accent. I also watched Altered States with Thaao Penghlis, a Greek actor from Australia, playing the role of Prof. Eduardo Eccheverria, a professor from Mexico. In the movie, Thaao doesn’t try to hide his Aussie accent. I guess Hollywood figured his dark skin would suffice. To top it off, I watched Lou Diamond Phillips play Ritchie Valens in La Bamba and Angel Guzman, a former Chicano gang member turned math wiz in Stand And Deliver. Phillips is everything but Chicano. He, according to his bio, is of American of Scotch-Irish, Hawaiian, Cherokee, Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese descent.


During that time period, it seemed like no effort was made to use Latinos in staring roles, even if the movie was about Latinos, unless you were James Edward Olmos. Olmos played most of the big roles during that era. He played Jaime Escalante in Stand And Deliver, Abraham Quintanilla in Selena, police Lieutenant Martin Castillo in the television series Miami Vice and starred and directed the prison gang classic, American Me. This led to the classic joke by La Cucaracha’s satirist Lalo Alcaraz,
“He’s in Olmos every movie!”

The only other Latino actor that worked as much as Olmos during that time was actress Lupe Ontiveros. Lupe was a graduate from Texas Woman's University in Denton Texas who relocated to Los Angeles and got into acting by accident. She claims to have played the role of a maid over 300 times in her career between her stints in movies, television and theatre. She portrays a maid in El Norte, Goonies, Charlie’s Angels and Fame, just to name a few. One of the only roles that she didn’t play a maid or a women with a heavy accent was in the movie Chuck And Buck, made by Puerto Rican filmmaker Miguel Arteta, in which she plays a Beverly Hills executive. Even the pseudo-ultra hip, Sex In The City had her as a maid. Perhaps there was liberation for rich straight white females, but not for the Latinas.

VidAmerica 948

So I’m back after a small hiatus. First, my back kept me in bed for a week. All I could do was lie on my back and watch endless hours of T.V. After my back got a little better, it was time to hit the studio with my band, Monte Carlo 76. We have been writing our second record for close to three years now and to finally hit to the studio is a welcomed relief. During this time it has been painful to sit for long periods of time. Even as I write this I am on my knees with my laptop on my bed rather than sitting at my desk. I still managed to check out a few bands (Calle 13, Ely Guerra and Manejo Beto…more on them later) and I recorded all my keyboard tracks. I just had to do all this while standing up.

If you are under 25 and you are reading this, remember this; Take care of yourself because the older you get it becomes so much harder to recover from injuries, especially if you don’t take care of yourself. I will recover, but like I said, it’s taking a lot longer then it used to.

Before you start second guessing that you clicked on the right blog, I’ll explain myself. While I’m known to ogle a pretty gal now and again, the reason for my purchase is for one woman in particular: Sandra Bernhard. 

New World Video 8613

This week legendary Motown songwriter Ron Miller died at age 74.

Miller got his professional start in the music business in the 1960s, when Motown founder Berry Gordy saw him perform at a piano bar and invited him to Detroit as one of the label's first songwriters and record producers. His songs have been recorded by many leading artists, including Judy Garland, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Ray Charles. "For Once in My Life," written with Orlando Murden, is one of the most recorded songs in history, with more than 270 versions, according to All Music Guide. A rendition by Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder won a Grammy award this year. In 2005, Charles' and Gladys Knight's version of Miller's "Heaven Help Us All" picked up the best gospel performance Grammy.

Born in Chicago, Miller was a die-hard Cubs fan, who wrote his first sad song as a child about his beloved but hapless team, his daughter said. Before meeting Gordy at the piano bar, Miller made ends meet by selling washing machines and taking odd jobs. He served in the Marines, as well, and was stationed all over the world. Throughout the 1970s, Miller wrote the book and lyrics to many musicals, including "Daddy Goodness" and "Cherry," based on William Inge's "Bus Stop." Barbra Streisand recorded "I've Never Been A Woman Before," from the musical, for her "The Way We Were" album.

"My father will be reborn every time someone sings one of his songs," Lisa Dawn Miller said. "When they feel joy or sadness or any emotion, that will be my dad and his words." Miller is survived by his wife, Aurora Miller, and six children. Here is a list of some of his songs:

Saturday July 28

Rowdy Roddy Piper in

John Carpenter's They Live

New Beverly Cinema
7165 W Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 938-4038
Midnight, $7

http://www.amoeba.com
http://www.video-maniacs.com
http://www.newbevcinema.com http://www.myspace.com/newbeverlymidnights

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reposting for the New Bev:


The New Bev Is Back!!!

PLEASE please please come support the New Bev, we need your attendance and promotional help more than ever right now!!!

Help honor Sherman's memory by watching some quality films at his theater!!!


Friday and Saturday its 3D YES 3D 70's porn!!!!!

THE WILDCAT WOMEN & THE PLAYMATES both in 3D so everything they got is comin' at ya!! Playing at 7:30 both nights as well as at 4:30 on Saturday.



Also Saturday night, we have an Amoeba midnight show with John Carpenter's

THEY LIVE

at midnight. Yes, the one with Roddy Piper.



And all you 80's fans will be in heaven on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday with

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Here is an odd assortment of events that happened on this day in history, July 27th.

Charlotte Corday, the assassin of Jean-Paul Marat 1768, is born as is the great Leo Durocher, 1906, manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants.

Vocalist, producer and songwriter, Harvey Fuqua is born 1929, Doc Pomus in 1925 and Bobbie Gentry in 1944.

Another recent victim of visa problems entering the US to perform, UK based and Sri Lankan singer/rapper and designer M.I.A. has apparently overcome her American immigration issues this time around and will be performing all scheduled shows, including a highly recommended free instore at Amoeba Music, Berkeley this Saturday at 2pm!

Yes, the scheduled Saturday afternoon show with the artist often associated with Diplo is due to kick off at 2PM, but, as regulars to Amoeba Berkeley already know, space is somewhat limited when it comes to instores at the East Bay location, so get there early if you want to secure a good vantage point -- especially for this artist, who will most likely attract a large turnout.

The performance will be followed by a meet-and-greet/signing session with the artist, who just celebrated her 30th birthday last week. No doubt she will be performing tracks from her last album, the critically acclaimed 2005 Arular, which launched her unique blend of hip-hop, ragga, grime, and baile-funk Stateside and probably also some tracks from her soon-to-drop new album Kala (due out August 21st), featuring the song "Boyz." (Check out the colorful, mutli-cultural music video for this new single below.

Good word has it that if you buy either the vinyl 12" or CD version of the new M.I.A. single at Amoeba Berkeley on Saturday, you will receive a certificate good for two bucks off Kala when it drops in August, plus a limited edition bandana designed by the musician/designer herself (while supplies last). For full details/restrictions, click here. 

Etta James has been hospitalized.

She is having some kind of complications from abdominal surgery she had last month. 

She's 69 years old, which still sounds young to me! 

Miss Etta James indisputably has one of the great voices of all time.   Here she is performing "Only Time Will Tell."



I just learned that Etta lived in San Francisco in the 50s.  Pretty awesome to imagine her here, kicking around our city. 

She's still a touring artist and apparently had to cancel dates due to her hospitalization.  Hopefully she'll be back out on the road before long.

Tales From the Crypt. Do you remember that show? I sure do. This was before HBO became the best place to watch television shows. But they still had some good programming. Long before we were all addicted to Six Feet Under and The Sopranos. Tales From the Crypt ran on HBO from 1989-1996. The show would have probably not survived and for sure not been as good if it were just on regular network television. Shows like the Twilight Zone were able to still be amazing on network TV without showing any nudity or graphic violence. But these were different times. We were all accustomed to seeing a lot of blood and violence with our horror at this point. And HBO could get away with that. The great thing about this show was its guest stars. Each episode had a new batch of guest stars. So it sort of was like "The Twilight Zone" or "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" of the early 90's. I tried to watch the show whenever I got a chance. But I have started collecting the DVD's since they started coming out in 2005. Season 6 was just released this week. And the final season comes out October 23rd.

I am not sure where my fascination with horror came from. It probably started before 1989. But this show definitely helped to cement it into my consciousness. I remember the excitement I would feel whenever I could catch an episode. The opening sequence really set up the show every evening. The Cryptkeeper was sort of the Rod Serling of the show. Maybe Rod Serling mixed with Sophia from the Golden Girls. He used a lot of those horrible jokes and puns we have all heard a million times. He was basically a sickly little skeleton voiced by  Josh Kassir. Josh has done a ton of voiceover work. But this was his shining moment. He also did the voice for the cartoon "Tales from the Cryptkeeper" which was on from 1993-1997.

It was my birthday this weekend and I got one of these new-fangled devices: The I POD.  I know I am super late on this, but hey I grew up in a household that only got rid of its wood-paneled answering machine within the last 5 years, so I have always been more than a little slow on these things, ask anyone.  Despite the existence of this blog, I am not a huge fan of technology. 

So, the I Pod. 

I drive a car that's from 1993.  It has its original stereo, a tape deck.  At the suggestion of other more technologically inclined folks in my life, I've tried getting CDs to play in there with the whole tape-to-CD Walkman contraption, to no avail.  I resigned myself to listening to tapes and the radio, and had given up hope on anything else.  When it was suggested to me to try an I Pod, I scoffed in said suggestor's face.  I didn't even want to give it a go.  But I was eventually convinced and to my amazement, the suggestor's  I Pod WORKED....I realized I could listen to ANYTHING I WANTED IN MY CAR!  But I STILL didn't want to cave and get an I Pod.  Technology, you see.  It scares me.  Like I said, I just am not a fan.  Too complicated.

Also, I am kind of old skool in general.  I like to play records.  I consider records a superior way to "take" my  music.  It sounds the best.  I know that sounds maybe snobby, but I truly believe it.  I like to see artwork.  I like to see liner notes.  I like to feel and smell and see all of it together....I guess what I am saying is that at its best music is a sensual experience for me.  The idea of this little computer holding all of that seems kind of cold and most definitely uninviting.

This weekend, on Saturday (July 28th), from 10AM til 1PM, is your chance to be a star when the world-famous Apollo Theater of Harlem, NY will make its once a year visit to California in search of "amateur" talent for upcoming Showtime At The Apollo shows back in New York City at the historic 125th Street venue. This year the producers of the show will only visit five American cities outside of New York in search of talent, so this is a great opportunity to try out if you are an aspiring entertainer, whether you are a singer, rapper, spoken-word artist, comedian, dancer, musician, etc. And on Saturday their only West Coast tryouts will be held at the Oakland Convention Center located at 1001 Broadway in downtown Oakland.  

If you plan on attending the tryouts (for which there is no charge and which are based on a first come, first served basis) I suggest you get in line earlier than the scheduled 10AM door opening time. The first 300 in line will be admitted to audition. But even though the cut off time is 1PM, the actual tryouts inside the auditorium will last long past that -- until 6PM or possibly even later, so pack a sandwich and bring lots of water and sunscreen (you might be in line outside for hours). And another tip is to get lots of rest the night before so you are at your best.

A couple of months ago I attended one of the twice-a-year tryout sessions held in New York and wrote about it for the New York Press. What amazed me most was the level of quality talent that showed up to audition. I enjoyed the tryouts even more than the actual Amateur Night at the Apollo (held every Wednesday for the past 73 years) and am looking forward to attending the Oakland session -- I am scheduled to write a report about it for the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

If you go on Saturday be prepared, and know that you will have only up to ninety seconds to display your skills -- so, if for example you are a singer with a backing track burnt on CDR or cassette, have it ready in your hand to pass over to the sound tech person. The contest is open to all ages but children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Below are the exact rules of the audition. For even further information visit the Apollo Theater website.

Scattered … That’s where I am these days, early July. Completely to the wind all up and down the west coast.

If I’m not in the middle of packing up some 350 boxes of household items, toys, records, and books, and moving from an island in the Puget Sound back to my native Los Angeles, I ‘m sitting in a van doing a small tour back up the coast to the northwest with the band Listing Ship, this schedule is hell.

(We've been waiting on the uber-semi-truck filled with 11,000 pounds of personal possessions, finally it arrived, I bid a big hello to the movers and all my newly-arrived-to-LA crap … found a change of clothes, found some musical gear, kissed goodbye my wife and son and hit the 5 Freeway North in a cargo van with six other band members, first gig tomorrow night. It’s hardly a coincidence my life is so scattered. “Can I self-medicate now, please, Doctor, sir, please?”)

Truthfully ...  (yet not exactly), the biggest excuse for not getting around to this post until now -- ostensibly about my favorite subject, 7 inch 45’s, (I had promised something blog-like for the good people at Amoeba almost two weeks ago) -- touring was the first dent in responsibility, but the installation of the magic window that is cable TV in our new rental and just in time for the Tour de France was actually the culprit.

For me, July is inevitably about my birthday, BBQ’ed sausages on the 4th (just meat--none of this mango/pesto/tofu crap, save those ingredients for a smoothie) and bicycle racing in France. My money for the 2007 Tour was on Alexandre Vinokourov. He would have been my choice to win the Tour last year but his old team, Astana-Würth, was ripped to shreds after five of its riders were implicated in the “Operación Puerto” doping case and scandal, leaving Vinokourov with only three teammates and not even a pot to piss in (pun intended). Last year in 2006 Vinokourov wasn't implicated in the doping scandal, however as of this morning all that has changed. On Tuesday Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for a banned blood transfusion after winning last Saturday’s time trial, prompting him and his team Astana to pull out of the 2007 Tour de France. I’m broken hearted once again. “So it ain’t so Vino.”

Not to be confused with the East Bay based Hieroglyphics' producer of the same name, Domino the SoCal rapper with the Southern drawl that betrayed his real roots, who arrived in the rap world in late 1993, was the pop-rap artist who scored hits with "Ghetto Jam" and "Sweet Potato Pie." He was signed to Outburst but was picked up by RAL (Rush Associated Labels). Despite his LBC claimed roots and his Snoop Dogg affiliations, he sported a delivery that was less gangsta and leaned more toward the pop/RnB spectrum of hip-hop music -- a catchy sing-song style, I guess you could call it. Not too long after he arrived in December 1993 he scored his first hit, "Ghetto Jam," which garnered Gold status after six straight weeks atop the Billboard maxi-single charts. It was followed up soon after with an even bigger hit -- "Sweet Potato Pie" (see video above). The album's groove-laden production came care of AMG and Battlecat and would prove to be Domino's only real hit. His delayed sophomore follow-up album, 1996's Physical Funk, and subsequent releases, including 1997's Dominology and 2001's "D-Freaked It" all fell short of the mark.

So I was just talking about how excited I was that "The State" would be coming out soon on DVD a couple of blogs ago. If you forgot, you can look at it here. I finally got to tag my own blog! So I mentioned that the entire cast of The State was in David Wain's new movie "The Ten." My friend just happened to let me know about the special screening last night at the Lumiere.  I, of course, ran over there after work to meet some of my great special friends to go see it. The movie comes out August 3rd, so I was especially excited to see it early. I had already watched the trailer a bunch of times. And I am obviously a huge fan of the creator of the movie and not only the cast of "The State", but almost everyone else in the film.

 
I will just start by saying that the movie is unbelievably awesome. I really don't want to give too much away. So just watch the preview at the bottom of this entry and check out the website. It is better than any comedy you have probably seen in a while. Please go see this movie instead of the horrible movie that is "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry." Just like the world of sitcoms, they really don't make comedies like this anymore. The movie is basically broken into ten parts, with each part about a particular commandment from the bible. The cast pops up in multiple connected stories all put together by Paul Rudd, who narrarates in between each section. It is sort of like 10 skits from "The State" or "Kids in the Hall." But even better. In addition to Paul Rudd and the entire cast of "The State", the cast includes Jessica Alba, Gretchen Mol, Adam Brody, Liev Schreiber, Justin Theroux, Oliver Platt, and Winona Ryder.

If you are a regular at Amoeba Music you may have already seen the silk screened poster art of Forest Stearns, who has done several pieces specifically for Amoeba events. Or maybe you've been lucky enough to catch Forest doing his art live at one of the interactive music-and-art Amoeba instores he has been a part of over the past year.

Instores Forest has been involved with include one with DJ Shadow (San Francisco Ameoba instore) and two with Cut Chemist (San Francisco and Hollywood Amoebas). He has also done live interactive art with hip-hoppers such as Z-Man and at other events such as Reggae On The River.

Additionally, the NorCal artist designed the poster for the Noisettes instore at Amoeba San Francisco, which reportedly everyone loved, including Universal. Forest says the label wants to take the poster and flesh it out to make an animated versions of the band based on the illustration for clothing and more. I recently caught up with the artist to chop it up about life and art, and art and life. For more information visit his website: draweverywheredotcom.

AMOEBLOG: What inspires you to make art?

Fifteen years ago SoCal hip-hop group the Pharcyde dropped their debut album, Bizzare Ride II, which has long been one of my favorite albums, not just from hip-hop, but of any genre. But as you know, sometimes our minds and our memories play tricks on us and what we remember from our past as being great doesn't always stand the test of time. And since I hadn't actually listened to this J-Swift produced album in a long while, last week I went digging in the crates to locate the Pharcyde debut, which was originally released in late November 1992 by Delicious Vinyl, and I played it from start to finish -- twice. And you know what? To me, it is still as amazing an album as that day all those years ago when I first heard it.

With the exception of the overplayed and admittedly gimmicky "Ya Mama" track (the hit single that dropped the year before the album did), I can listen to the musically diverse album repeatedly and never tire of it. Another album single ("Passin Me By") is one of those songs that I will probably never get tired of hearing for the rest of my life. It is one of those perfect songs! Other standout tracks on this consistently fun and upbeat album include "Officer" (about not outsmarting the po-pos), "Otha Fish" (another single), the no-holds-barred "I'm That Type of Nigga," "Pack the Pipe" (a hip-hop dank anthem), and the bouncy ol skool flavored "Return of the B-Boy." Below (after you hit "continue reading") is the video for "Passin Me By." Do me a favor, and in the COMMENTS box below list your favorite one, two, or three albums of all time -- whether they are hip-hop or another genre. Thanks!

I had almost forgotten about Unkle. It seems so long ago that "Psyence Fiction" came out. I guess 1998 was almost 10 years ago. If you remember correctly, this album was huge. These were the years when Electronica was breaking through to the mainstream. This was one of the albums that really put the genre on the map and made people start noticing electronica acts as artists. One of the reasons they got so popular is because they combined all these different genres into one album. With the help of DJ Shadow they incorporated sounds of hip hop with dance. Trip Hop had already been created and this had been done before. But Unkle also brought in major popular rock vocalists such as Thom Yorke from Radiohead and RIchard Ashcroft from The Verve. Like many new fans, this is what first made me check out the album. I was obsessed with Radiohead and The Verve. So I was obviously going to check out anything that they were attached to. I did not pay much attention to their second album out in 2003. But I am again finding myself listening to Unkle.

The new album is "War Stories." There is also a larger special version that comes in vacuum sealed plastic. I think they made it with one of those vacuum sealers that they advertise on infomercials. This time, we have vocals by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Autolux, Gavin Clark, 3D of Massive Attack, the Duke Spirit, and Ian Astbury of The Cult. Ian Astbury is actually on two tracks. "Burn My Shadow" and "When Things Explode." So far they seem to be my two favorite tracks. Maybe this is because I have been a big Cult fan for a very long time. I sort of keep it a bit of a secret. But I really do love myself some Southern Death Cult, Death Cult, and Cult. His vocals, especially here, sound a lot like Jim Morrison. He has one of those voices that is very recognizable. I could not really imagine these songs working until I actually heard them. It ends up working beautifully. His voice fits in nicely with the orchestrated electronics on the album.

That is some hot stuff, Baby!

Talk about hitting two senses at once! That's exactly what the new line of graffiti themed, rich chocolate bars do. And nothing could be more tempting to this graffiti fan with a sweet tooth than the colorfully eye-catching, decadently yummy tasting new line of "graffiti" chocolate candy bars unveiled recently by downtown New York City's Chocolate Bar company -- the award-winning chocolate maker with an eye for style and originality.

The ten individually flavored chocolate bars are each beautifully presented in graffiti-tagged wrappers, each specially designed by such legendary graffiti artists as Crash, Dondi, Blade, Crime 79, Lady Pink, Dr. Revolt, Iz the Wiz, Voice of the Ghetto, and Spar One. The confection creation, with proceeds benefitting the NYC children's arts' All Stars Project (which benefits New York City high school kids' arts programs) was the idea of Chocolate Bar's Alison Nelson, who said that the reaction from the longtime graf artists was "positive, if not a little suspicious" when first approached to be a part of the candy-wrapper project. But, she said, once the graffiti artists got involved, they had fun with the unique collaboration, even getting to "choose the flavor they wanted to design."

Lady Pink chose Banana Milk, which is described as Milk chocolate filled with banana cream ganache, while Crash chose Dark Rum (dark chocolate with rum infused ganache). Blade's flavor/design is Milk Caffeto, milk chocolate with ground espresso, and Dondi White's is S'mores (milk chocolate with marshmallow and graham bits). The gourmet chocolate bars weigh 2.25 ounces each and are priced at $4 per chocolate bar or $40 for the nicely boxed "graffiti bar set" of all ten, which, while pricey for chocolate, is cheap for art -- provided, unlike this weak AMOEBLOGGER, you can resist eating the art!

RCA Home Video 60759

Warner Home Video 12219

Warner Home Video 11914

I'm not real good at forgiveness, myself. If you've ever wronged my family, you can keep that in mind as you watch this cute as a bunny in a jumper video:

Banned: no blood, no sex, no drugs ... interesting as to what this society will not tolerate, dontcha think? She reminds me of someone real specific that I have love for, and I have to say she is one tough cookie from all I have heard.

- The Insomniac is Back

Slade -- the great UK rock group performing "Look Wot You Done" from 1971 when they were more rock than glam, since glam rock didn't fully kick in til 1972/73. In 1972 they released the hard rock album Slayed, featuring such timeless chant-alongs as "Gudbuy T-Jane" and "Mama Weer All Crazee Now." Then there was the song "Cum On Feel The Noize," which years later was popularized in the US by Quiet Riot. Formed in 1966, Slade's lineup was Noddy Holder (vocals/guitars /bass), Dave Hill (guitars/vocals/bass), Jim Lea (bass/guitar/vocals/keyboards/violin), and Don Powell (drums/percussion). Their most successful years were 1971 to 1974, during which time they made some truly classic hard rock and glam songs -- scoring over a dozen UK Top of the Pops hits.

I just read that rock photographer Autumn DeWilde is going to be putting out a book of Elliott Smith photos in November.  She's an LA based photographer that took many of the pics of Elliott toward the end of his career.


The book is going to come with a CD of songs from a performance at Largo.  Here's a tracklisting:

'Between the Bars'
'Angeles'
'Clementine'
'Clouds' (Quasi)
'All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down' ( Hank Williams Jr.)

God, "Clouds" is one of my favorite songs ever.  It was written by Sam Coomes, one of Elliott's best friends.  Elliott always had the most impeccable taste in covers. 

Largo is a club in LA that Elliott started showing up at right after he moved there in the late 90s.  Jon Brion still performs there every Friday night.  There are many stories of Elliott drinking at the bar, then being coaxed up onstage, sometimes with Jon, sometimes with whomever was performing that night, and taking requests, jumping from instrument to instrument effortlessly, covering Beatles and metal songs.  I still want to go!

Autumn DeWilde also came to my attention through Elliott when she took the promo and album shots for Elliott's album Figure 8.  Now she takes pics for bands like the Foo Fighters and White Stripes.  Big time.

Look, I had never seen Female Trouble before last weekend at Midnight Mass.  I know, I know, and I am trying to make up for lost time here.
I am sure everyone has already spoken their piece and covered everything I would want to say about this movie, but if for some reason YOU still haven't seen it, what the hell are you waiting for?  It's genius, esp Divine's performance.
Unlike most of my pals, I am no John Waters expert. I have seen about 4 of his films before and mostly enjoyed them. At times I have felt the same way about John Waters movies that I feel about punk rock: I greatly respect and appreciate the aesthetic and message of the work but sometimes find the overall experience abrasive. Other times I find it exhilarating. What I am trying to say here is that I think John Waters is a total genius and think his ideas are dead on, but sometimes I find his movies or portions of his movies somewhat...harsh. Does that make any sense? 

In person, he's one of the sharpest, most intelligent and gracious people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and he is twisted in all the right ways. Who else would suggest a Sing Along screening of his favorite film of the year, United 93? Who else would insist that the fact that the 9/11 attack on the more vaginally shaped Pentagon building is largely ignored while the more phallic Twin Towers are focused on further proves America's sexism?

The State is finally making its way to DVD! There have been rumours for years, but it is finally happening. Still no exact date, but it will allegedly happen in the fall. I am just so excited that I had to share it with you all. The show was originally on MTV from 1993-95. This was followed by a special on CBS. The show may have disappeared, but its cast has been busy ever since.

The original cast included:
Kevin Allison, Michael Ian Black, Ben Garant, Todd Holoubek, Michael Patrick Jann, Kerri Kenney, Thomas Lennon, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Michael Showalter, and David Wain. Kenney, Black, and Lennon went on to star in Viva Variety. Black, Showalter, and Wain created Stella. Kenney, Lennon, and Garant all went on to create and star in Reno 911! The entire cast had roles in the recent movie Reno 911! Miami. Many original members have also been busy in the film world. David Wain directed the new movie The Ten and it stars some of the cast of The State. It looks amazing...check out the preview here...

The State was on back when MTV was actually still a good channel. The show was simply brilliant. I did not even have cable back then, but I watched it every chance I got, so I have been waiting and waiting for this to finally come out on DVD. This is one of those shows with crazy obsessive fans that have been demanding its release on DVD. They had to redo the score for the show. Back when this aired, MTV had a special deal with the record labels -- as long as the artists that they used in the scores of the TV shows also had music videos in rotation, the music could be used for free. Things have obviously changed. MTV does not really play music videos anymore. They also would have had to charge like 300 dollars for The State DVD box sets if they had not changed the music. No worries. The music is not what got me obsessed with the shows. The cast was amazing and worked really well together. Most of the skits were original and they did not use very many recurring characters. The only thing that I can compare it to is a really good skit on MADTV. I am also a huge fan of Kerri Kenney, Tom Lennon, Ben Garant, and Reno 911! I can't get enough of that show. Maybe Viva Variety! will also be released soon as well!

  The folks who throw the fun themed All Tomorrow's Parties/Don't Look Back series, in which they invite chosen acts to recreate an album live from their back-catalog, have convinced the seminal D.C.-born, NYC based Girls Against Boys to perform their classic early nineties post-hardcore album Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby. And this weekend, the band, which began as a side project of Eli Janney and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty and whose lineup then became Janney plus Scott McCloud, Johnny Temple, and Alexis Fleisig, will perform the entire album from start to finish in exact sequence for two performances only -- one in NYC and one in LA.

The first concert is tonight, Friday (7/20) at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City and the second is scheduled for Sunday night (7/22) in Los Angeles at the El Rey Theatre. This will be the first time the band has performed in LA or New York in five years (they performed in Europe this year -- most recently in Spain last month). I recently caught up with Johnny Temple, one of the band's two bassists, to ask him about this unique, two-gig, bi-coastal event and the idea of a dual bass rock band.

AMOEBLOG: How did the two bass players idea come about and how does it affect the band's sound?

JOHNNY TEMPLE: A lot of the rock bands of our era, well, really the rock bands of any era, tend to be more melody driven, while we tend to be more rhythm driven. Basically, we all grew up in Washington, DC, which is very funk music oriented. We grew up listening to a lot of soul and funk and Go-Go music which, as you know, is native to DC. And a lot of bands from DC have a greater emphasis on rhythm and groove than a lot of other (non DC) rock bands do. So by having two bass players it kind of pronounces the bottom end, the sort of rhythmic feature of the songs, more so than the melody.

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On Sunday I threw my back out and I’ve been in bed ever since. I haven’t been able to do much other than lie on my back and watch endless hours of TV.I watched endless hours of movies and, Baseball. Flipping back and forth from Blue Jays v. Yankees, Red Sox v. Royals, and Angels v. Devil Rays games put me fast asleep. Nothing is better than a baseball game nap. To me it’s a part of the ritual. I spent a good part of the games snoozing. The combination of the games, summer heat and the softness of the bed made me forget the oppressive pain in my back that has been running my life for the last five days. It was the best sleep I’ve had in years.

It reminded me when I saw the movie, Taste of Cherry. A few years ago, on a whim, I rented Taste of Cherry. It took me several days to watch it. It was story about a man who wanted to kill himself and searching for someone who would either bury him or save him. The movie, shot in Iran, had these long gorgeous shots of the hills outside of Tehran. The pace was beyond slow. Each night I’d pop the DVD into my player before I went to bed and I would fall asleep after a few minutes. It took me many nights to finish the film. The movie wasn’t boring. It put you in a dreamlike state, thus leading one into slumber. When I finally finished the movie several evenings later, I watched an interview with the director, Abbas Kiarostami. He said he purposely made his movies to be like a dream and that the highest compliment who be if someone would fall asleep during one of his movies.

I can imagine the highest compliment Abbas would like to receive would not be the applause of the audience after his movie had been shown. Rather, it would be the snoring of the audience members, in deep sleep, only to be awoken by the ushers once the movie was done.

All of my 80s lovin' friends must be rubbing off on me today, cause this video is hitting the spot at the moment. It's almost like Romeo and Juliet, Pia and Jermaine. (Thanks, Miss Elise!)

It feels very strange to say I actually miss the 80s (so I'm not gonna say it), but can't we all agree that we miss 80s videos at the very least?  I think so.

More shots of graffiti from around the San Francisco Amoeba Music on Haight Street -- including some pics from directly across the street from Amoeba.

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Last night Curt and I went to go see the Polyphonic Spree at the Great American Music Hall. Like I said before, I really do love the GAMH. But I had no idea what I was in for at a Polyphonic Spree show. This was my first time seeing them. And to be honest, I thought they would be maybe a bit over the top but a also maybe a bit annoying. The opening performer, Jessica Hoop, kept telling us that the show was going to be amazing. She bascially said, "You are really in for an amazing experience if you have never seen them before." Whatever. I was not convinced. We did get to sit in the little VIP section up in the balcony  where the lights are controlled. I dropped off some CD'S for the band from Amoeba because they had not received them yet from the label. So their manager gave us some VIP type seats. The manager was very nice but the most amazing thing about him was that he had a baby with him in a baby bjorn. So he was basically controlling the light show with the baby. I didn't get to ask him if it was his, but it sure was a cute little thing. But don't worry, the baby had big headphones on to block out the noise. I figured with 23 people in the band at least two of them were probably a couple and probably had a baby that they brought on tour with them. So basically, Jessica Hoop was correct. The show was amazing.

  The show started with lead singer and band leader Tim Delaughter cutting through a curtain that the entire band was hidden behind. I knew it would be a large band. But it really was amazing to see 23 people crammed on to the stage at the GAMH. I tried to memorize what everyoned did in the band. Here is what I remember. Besides Singer Tim, there were 7 back up singer ladies who were also a chorus and a synchronized hair dancing group. They had some great moves. 2 drummers, 2 keyboardists, 2 guitarists, 1 bassist, 2 violins , 1 cello, 1 harp, 2 trumpets, and 1 trombone player. It is sort of like a mix of a church revival and a bar mitzvah perfomance and a jam band. That does not really sound like it would work. But it does. The whole band seems to be having so much fun playing music that you can not help but to enjoy it as well. They often get unfairly compared to a cult. Any band with so many members that performs in robes is bound to get that comparison. And after seeing the show I was ready to sign up for the cult. Tim is a great ringleader and sort of seems to have some sort of power over the whole band and audience. I can almost understand how people like Jim Jones had that similar cult power. But these guys are just making good fun music. They are not waiting for armageddon or planning some mass suicide. So I really don't think they are a cult but if they are, I'm OK with it.

Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested? In other words: have you ever done something illegal (anything at all) but never gotten caught for it? If so, and you are a legal resident applying for US citizenship, you legally must admit all details of your crime, and essentially turn yourself in. The direct question is part of the US government's current INS (Immigration & Naturalization Services) form for permanent residents, who have been here in the USA for over five years, who are applying for US citizenship. The form in question is the N-400 INS Application for Naturalization ten page questionnaire. It must be accompanied by a money order for approx $400, a fee that is scheduled to increase substantially by the end of this month when it's raised to $675. As a result there's been a significant surge in the number of applicants at INS offices around the US trying to get the application process rolling by the July 30th cutoff date for the lower application fees. NOTE: Due to the huge rush on INS offices, the same day this AMOEBLOG was posted, the date for the new rates was extended until August 17th.

But the fee increase is only one reason for the rush. The other reasons are more serious and are rooted in the new post 9/11 America -- where racial profiling has become more common a practice and border crossing has gotten increasingly more difficult for non-Americans, even if they are US "residents' or Green Card holders. More importantly, the consequences of the possible new immigration laws means that many immigrants, especially Mexicans, whose status is currently "Alien" figure that now is the time to up their status and try to become US citizens. 

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This is the second part in the ongoing series of San Francisco and Bay Area rave fliers from the 1990's, mainly early nineties, like the ones below that include 1993 and 1994.

It's a long time since her last big hit. Six weeks or even more -- a long time in this digital age -- when Obama Girl arrived via YouTube with her sexy video "I've Got A Crush On Obama" that, while not endorsed by Sentor Barack Obama's office, it wasn't unappreciated by any means. The pro-Obama video got 2.3 million YouTube hits. That's way more than any Billboard hit single sells these days! It's also some of the cheapest publicity a presidential candidate can get. The new video, which debuted on YouTube just yesterday has, as of noon today (7/17), received about 160,000 hits, and looks well set to gain as many viewers as its predecessor -- or likely even more. Especially since the new vid ups the ante both in content and controversy: this time taking on rival Rudy Giuliani. The new video, seen below, is entitled "Debate '08: Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl" and features model Adelna Kristina playing  Giuliani Girl part opposite Amber Lee Ettinger and her crew representing Obama.

Out today is the new album from the Editors. It was nice of them to wait until the week after the release of the new Interpol. It is easy to compare the two and I could imagine many getting them confused with each other. Just like when people were looking for the new Interpol album after they heard "She Wants Revenge" for the first time. However, I think "She Wants Revenge" were just cashing in on a current trend in music. After all, they were a hip-hop band right before becoming another post-punk rip off band. The Editors seem a bit more sincere and more of a real band to me. So although the similarities to Interpol are definitely there, the Editors are just about good enough to stand on their own.

"The Back Room," the first album from this Birmingham, England band came out in July of 2005. It was not until almost a year later that the album came out in the U.S. The label decided to make the transition a bit quicker this time. There were only a couple weeks between the U.K. import and the domestic release of the new album "An End Has a Start." I have to admit that I am a big fan of bands putting their entire new album up on their myspace page. I always feel like bands have something to hide when they don't let their fans hear their new album. Fans these days are not like they used to be. I would always just go buy albums before I even heard them. But the internet has made it so much easier to check out the albums before you buy them. And of course, you can listen to the albums at those listening stations in record stores as well.

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For a long time the New York Times has cost one dollar-- just a dollar, whether purchased in New York City or a newsstand in California. But the price of today's (7/16) edition of the New York Times, which coincidentally seemed slimmer than usual, went up in price by a quarter to $1.25 -- which is still good value because it's a great newspaper (despite some faults) that does a thorough job and covers topics that others do not, and has been doing so since 1851 -- winning more Pulitzer Prizes (95) along the way than any other American news journal.

But regardless of its historic legacy, like all newspapers across the US today, the New York Times is also feeling the economic fallout of the new digital age in which advertisers are increasingly taking their dollars elsewhere, and news and information seekers are going online in increasing numbers.  Simply put: people don't read newspapers quite like they used to. In a recently published study entitled "Young People and News," reported coincidentally in today's New York Times, findings showed that only 9% of teenagers surveyed read a newspaper every day. Meanwhile 18 to 30 year olds rated higher, with 16% of those surveyed daily newspaper readers.

Recently both the San Jose Mercury News (long considered among the country's finest newspapers) and the San Francisco Chronicle laid off a chunk of staff. They had no choice: the economy ruled, and journalists lost jobs. But the tragedy is that with these investigative reporters gone, or going, so too is good journalism. The idea of the traditional city newspaper office, filled with reporters who go out with a pad and pen to dig deep in investigative stories has pretty much become a thing of the past -- and that sucks. While there are now more and more news and information sources than ever before, with everyone and their mama blogging, it often seems in this new digital age that we've traded in quality for quantity.

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Midnight Mass just had its tenth year anniversary opening weekend. I can hardly believe that it has been 10 years. Both Josh "Peaches Christ" and I moved to San Francisco in 2006. So it was also just my anniversary of moving to San Francisco last year. Peaches Christ has been entertaining the film freaks of San Francisco for the last 10 years with his amazing summertime movie series at the Bridge Theater. But this is not just your regular midnight screenings. He really puts on an amazing live preshow that is often better than the film he is showing. The movie itself often starts at more like 1:00 am or 1:30 am. Before the movie there is usually some sort of musical number spoof of the movie we are about to see. Sometimes there is roller derby or costume contests.

The crowd is often as entertaining as what is happening on stage. There is nothing quite like a San Francisco midnight movie crowd and it is the reason we all live here. Most of us have come from all over the country and world to live in this wonderful place we call San Francisco. We feel safe and at home here because of the sense of community. And there is always someone weirder and crazier than you when you live in San Francisco. Midnight Mass has always been a place for the freaks of the city to meet and celebrate the movies that have helped make us who we are.

The first weekend of midnight mass was dedicated to our hero John Waters. Friday night was "Desperate Living" and Saturday night was "Female Trouble." Mink Stole, star of many John Waters films, was on hand on Friday for some live performances and a little talk with the audience. Divine was usually the star of most of the John Waters films. But the costars of the movies were often given the best lines and the most amazing characters to portray. Two of Mink's best roles were as Taffy Davenport in Female Trouble and Peggy Gravel in Desperate Living.  Friday also featured some of the best performances from past midnight mass nights. Tura Satana was also on stage with Peaches Christ for a brief chat. John Waters was in the audience but his day was really Saturday.

Some of the best Bay Area parties from the early nineties onwards had some of the best DJs (that goes without saying -- da Bay is home of the DJ) ... and also some of the best fliers. Being an avid collector of fliers, I saved a bunch of them. Many others have saved them too, including the ever-evolving San Francisco music fan Porkchop and of course, the wonderful folks at SF Raves Dot Org, who have archived numerous fliers from the nineties on their recommended website.

This is Part I in a series that could go on forever. If you have any URL links to fliers of SF/Bay Area parties from the nineties especially -- or any memories to share of specific Bay Area parties or DJs, please scroll on down to the COMMENTS box and share. Thanks!  
                                                 

                                                        

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On a recent trip to the Haight Street Amoeba, I once again found myself drawn to the outside walls of  Amoeba Music San Francisco -- specifically the top part of the wall outside from Haight Street down to the corner of the alley (away from Golden Gate Park) that leads to the parking lot where all that gradually changing wall of graf lays in beautiful, bright colorful wait. It includes the barred windows with their intricate tags that always remind me of stumbling upon some hieroglyphics in some ancient cave.

Luckily, on the day I took these pics I caught the Amoeba parking lot almost empty -- with only one car parked in front of those beloved droopy eyed heads that offer comfort to many an admirer. There will be another set of pics (Part V) posted in a week, also taken recently and featuring more of the graf around SF Amoeba.

Among graffiti artists there is a code -- many rules of the game -- and one rule is that you only tag businesses or public property -- not private -- meaning people's houses or dwellings.

But today I passed a red brick apartment building with an ugly ole tag rudely scrawled along the side of it and I thought to myself: I guess homeboy didn't get the memo!

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Puerto Rican Queens, New York born and Bay Area raised emcee Rico Pabon loves hip-hop and lives hip-hop. He has for years. In fact, I first interviewed him way back in the day-- in 1991, right after he arrived on the Bay Area hip-hop scene with his group the Prophets of Rage. Sixteen years later, the conscious hip-hopper is still diligently putting it down in the Bay -- mainly in the East Bay. When not in Richmond recording or spending time with his family, Rico can be found at his other spot over in the Fruitvale district of Oakland -- Sofrito Authentic Puerto Rican Cuisine at 3451 International Blvd (E 14th St), which he owns and cooks for. As you know, there's no money to be made in conscious hip-hop these days. Besides, Rico treats the restaurant, like his hip-hop, with love. And he loves keeping his Puerto Rican heritage alive through its culinary creations and the concept that food can help create community and foster culture. The restaurant has become a needed gathering space for the East Bay's Boricua community. (14,000 Puerto Ricans in Alameda county alone!)

In the early days when Rico started, the Prophets of Rage consisted of himself, his good friend, known then as "Crazy" and his older brother DJ Park, who used to make most of the beats. By the time Prophets of Rage released the album My Power, the group was just Pabon and had been since then until recently, when he started using his own name on projects such as his recently released Louder than Fiction on Hard Knock Records. Note: Prophets of Rage also appeared on Independent Sounds: Amoeba Music Compilation Vol. III with the track "Make The Most."

AMOEBLOG: What is the exact meaning behind the new album title?  

Continue reading

My friend and sometimes host for 90.7 KPFK's Travel Tips For Aztlan Mari G confessed to mistaken lyrics on her myspace page. Because of all the latest hype about the Transformers, it was exposed that she had been singing the wrong lyrics to their theme song for years. She thought the Transformers song went: “Transformers, robots in the sky!” Rather than “Transformers, robots in disguise!” She also mentioned that her brother thought that "Red Red Wine" went, “Reg-gie White” Maybe because the late great NFL football player was all over the news when that song was out.

Along the same sports theme, when I was a kid I thought the lyrics to The Commodores song, "Easy" went, "Why in the world would anybody Wilt Chamberlain? rather than, "Why in the world would anybody put chains on me?” Don't ask me why, it's just what I heard. When that song was out Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was in L.A. and Wilt long split the scene and was no longer in the news.

Also, for some reason, In Santana’s version of Evil Ways, when they sang, “You got to change your evil ways, baby!” I heard it, Que hijo de tu (p*nCh#) madre, David!

Maybe because my pops muttered that under his breathe to me all the time!

Got any mistaken lyrics of your youth you like to share?

Thanks to the director Leon Ichaso I got to see an advance screening of the film, El Cantante. Ichaso is the director of the film and he found out that I’m a huge Hector Lavoe fan, so he invited me to see the film. To me, the Willie Colon albums with Hector Lavoe singing rank up there with such albums as Sgt. Pepper’s, Pet Sounds, What’s Going On? Innervisions, London Calling, Straight Outta Compton, Nevermind & Low End Theory. They are that good.

Lavoe’s story is legendary. His voice captivated a generation and pushed Salsa into the forefront. In the Fania Records heyday, the artists were filling up concert halls all over the world, including selling out Yankee Stadium. There were many talented musicians that were responsible for making Fania a giant in the record business, but Hector was Fania’s rock star. With that came his tragic rock star life.

In the movie, Marc Anthony has the daunting task of playing Hector Lavoe. For not being a Marc Anthony fan I think he does adequate job at it. During the film, especially during the live sequences, it easy to forget Marc isn’t Hector. The same cannot be said about J-Lo. Jennifer Lopez plays the part of Lavoe’s wife, Puchi, and she never stops being J-Lo, perhaps her biggest downfall as an actress. There are very few moments when she slips out of the J-Lo role and is somewhat believable. Most of the film is done as a narrative from Jo-Lo’s character, ala a Behind The Music piece. It would have been better to skip that all together and perhaps developed a better script that gave the characters more depth. The rest of the cast is only serviceable, just enough to keep the story moving along. Besides the script never allowing the supporting cast room to develop, it never showed the development of the revolutionary style of music called Salsa. The way the film portrayed the origins of Salsa was as if the style developed overnight. rather than music that developed through time. The movie's pace seemed better suited for a T.V. movie. I wanted more from this movie than it could ever give me.

So last night I finally go to see the Klaxons live. I refuse to go to popscene, so I had to wait for them to play a real show. They played at the Great American Music Hall. Not exactly where I expected to see them, but I do love it there. I have seen some amazing shows there and always love to look at the great architecture and ceiling. Curt actually told me that he would love to be the persong who paints those ceilings, at least in his next life. However, I don't think I could handle being suspended from the ceiling like that. We eventually scored some seats in the upstairs area usually reserved for people eating dinner. But I think I only saw one person eating dinner last night. It is kind of a weird thing to eat while a band is playing. Isn't that what you do before you go to a show? Dinner theater is one thing or maybe eating during a 3 hour Celine Dion performance. But not during the Klaxons. Last night was also the night of mistaken identities. Curt swore he saw my coworker Margo upstairs. But I didn't think it was her until we went upstairs to investigate and I saw her tattoo. But right in front of me, I swear I saw another coworker Nick, who also happens to look like one of the guys in Chromeo. But as soon as he turned around, probably cause I was staring at him, I realized it was not him. We did get some good people watching in, once we got our seats upstairs.






Opening up for the Klaxons was Fist Fite. We planned on missing them but ended up getting there early since we only live a couple blocks away Another reason that I love the Great American Music Hall.  But they ended up being awesome. Like a mix between the Gossip and the Lost Sounds. They are from Portland and really just the kind of band I think of when I think of Portland. The singer sang the entire show through a telephone. But she had trouble balancing the phone between her head and shoulder while playing keyboards. So she eventually got someone from the audience to help her tape it to her head. They had really great stage energy and played super fun loud music. Both bands actually made comments about San Francisco audiences being better than L.A. And I have to agree. I have been to many L.A. shows and they just don't dance or get excited down there as much as up here. I am really glad we got there early to see them. They currently don't have a CD out but I will be patiently waiting for one.

The recently published Bronx Biannual Issue No. 2 (Akashic Books) is the sophomore publication in the ongoing new ten-part black literary series that was founded and is edited by Bronx born and bred hip-hop journalist//author Miles Marshall Lewis. The 230-page collection boasts over a dozen talented hip-hop generation writers, both known and unknown, all carefully selected by Lewis, who began his hip-hop journalism career back in the early nineties working on the first edition of Vibe magazine as an intern. From there, he worked his way up to become that magazine's editor. He has also been editor at XXL and written for numerous publications including LA Weekly, Rolling Stone, Village Voice, and Essence.

A few years ago he published his first book, Scars of the Soul Are Why Kids Wear Bandages When They Don't Have Bruises, and last year kicked off the Bronx Biannual literary series.

I recently caught up with Miles, who splits his time between New York and Paris these days. I also caught up with one of Bronx Biannual's contributors -- noted hip-hop journalist and author Michael A. Gonzales, who co-wrote the groundbreaking hip-hop book Bring the Noise: A Guide: A Guide to Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture (Crown, 1991) and has written stories and reviews for Spin, High Times, Mode, XXL, The Village Voice and Entertainment Weekly. He penned the piece "Blues For Sister Rose" in Bronx Biannual No. 2.

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As hip-hop buyer for Amoeba Music in San Francisco, Luis (who spins at parties under the name DJ el-S) is always on the go and always listening to new hip-hop music. Throughout a typical hectic day at the Haight Street store, he deals directly with artists, orders from distributors, and even finds time to price the store's extensive used vinyl hip-hop section.

Consequently, Luis knows his hip-hop music: inside and out; so I was really happy to catch up with him recently to hear his views on music, his personal favorites, a good place to grab a bite near Amoeba, and to find out what the Top Five Sellers at Amoeba Music San Francisco were this past week.
 
 Hip-Hop Top Five at Amoeba SF:
     
       1) T.I. vs T.I.P.
       2) Beastie Boys The Mix-Up
       3) Pharoahe Monch Desire
       4) Jaylib Reissue
       5)  The Block Report  DVD (see video clip below)


AMOEBLOG: What is the most popular reissued hip-hop album/CD in stock at Amoeba?

LUIS: The Jaylib re-issue...though Traffic Entertainment Group has put out some old Cold Chillin albums with lots of extra goods...very interesting.

Never in a million years did I think I would ever go to a New Edition concert.  But there I was, at the Gibson Amphitheatre all in the mix with the New Edition fans. The audience looked what I imagined what my twenty-year high school reunion would look like. I was in junior high when “Candy Girl” came out and in high school when “Cool It Now,”  “Mr. Telephone Man” and the other NE classics came out. I've told my young friends who are into the whole 80’s retro culture and  lucky to be no more than a child during that era, that the eighties were not kind. Not only were the clothes, haircuts and the music hideous, growing up in the conservative Reagan era was no fun at all. It was Punk Rock and Hip-Hop that got me through the eighties because for me, 80’s pop culture was as Joe Strummer referred a "hamburger culture.”  I felt I was force-fed mass marketed pieces of garbage and told it was nutritious. During the eighties, I felt empty and hungry for more, much more.


Still, I had a soft spot of NE because buried underneath the 80’s gobble-goop production were great R&B songs. Their songs I imagined could have been performed by the likes of Smokey Robinson or The Temptations. Even when Ralph Tresvant would break out into his primeval raps, it wasn’t much different from the breakdowns of the Motown and Stax artists of the past. The fruit never fell too far from the tree as far as NE was concerned.

It was the complete line-up for New Edition at the Gibson, the OG’s and the replacements. For the most part the guys looked great and sounded flawless. All the guys hit the stage running, minus one Bobby Brown. Everyone was anticipating the unpredictable Mr. Brown’s arrive. Was he going to be performing tonight? No one seemed to know. In my mind if he didn’t show he wouldn’t have been missed. Johnny Gill, who replaced Bobby brown back in 1987 sounded better than Bobby in his prime. They did all the NE big hits in the beginning, before they broke into Bell Biv DeVoe songs as well. It was then that Bobby Brown came out. The audience went crazy. There was a 40ish women seated behind who let out a big scream when he came out, like as if she was in junior high again. Her friends laughed at her when she did this. She screamed to her friends:

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I'm watching the film Let It Be right now.

The Beatles look....exhausted.


Paul's singing "Let It Be" at the piano and he just looks like he's about to keel over. They look so worn out, so at the end of their ropes.

Paul seems like the only one who was even trying to give the cameras a little "entertainment"...if you count heavy eye contact as that. (When it comes to The Beatles I have to say I am entertained by pretty much anything.) He's irrepressibly a showman. It's so interesting to watch. They are phoning it in, practically asleep while playing, and yet their music and songs are still transformational. Even though the magic between them personally had faded their raw talent never faded.

I haven't watched this since I was a kid. When I was growing up I somehow found the one video store within a 20 mile radius of my home that had a copy. I would go about once a year and rent it ... until one year it was mysteriously gone.


The rooftop concert is, of course, my favorite part of the movie. One time when I went to London I found the Apple building. I stood on the concrete outside the door and tried to imagine what it was like that freezing day in January when everyone's regular old workday was interrupted by the sounds of the one and only Beatles filling their ears. How phenomenal! This is where that rawness really shows itself. I think it's beautiful and painful to watch; it's like observing a tiny happy moment within any necessary but sad breakup that's been a long time coming. I remember standing there on Savile Row, turning around to find the exact direction they had been facing when they performed by the view of the church spire and buildings.....yes, I am coo coo.

 Gabriella works in the DVD department of Amoeba Music Hollywood, located in the mezzanine area of the cavernous Sunset Blvd building that stretches one full block. She's been at Amoeba for almost three years now and was recruited by fellow Amoebite Chris Carmena. She works on the registers twice a week and three days amongst the DVD department's movies, which is her passion, she says. In total, twenty Amoebites (a lot!) work in the extensive Hollywood Amoeba Music DVD section, where there is a truly amazing selection of DVDs in every genre you can think of, found both new and used, and at damned good prices.

AMOEBLOG: What are three of the most popular DVDs with Amoeba shoppers in the last week or so?

GABRIELLA: Cocaine Cowboys, An Inconvenient Truth, and with the recent Paul McCartney in-store performance, we’ve had a lot of Beatles music DVD’s selling out.

AMOEBLOG: Who shops in Amoeba Hollywood's DVD section? And does the fact that the store is right in Hollywood -- home of the movies -- make a difference?

GABRIELLA: We have the most diverse clientele-- from celebrities to tour buses full of Japanese visitors. We attract all types of people because we satisfy every taste!

AMOEBLOG: What is one of the most popular DVD box-sets these days?

I think I might finally be able to listen to Elliott Smith again!


I know I have posted about him before here, but really that was the first time I had talked about him at all since he passed away in 2003.  At that point I really had to stop listening, so it has been a while.

AND It's been very nearly 10 years since Elliott's fourth album XO came out!  Dang I am old.

So here I am in 2007 and this weekend I put on XO just to see what happened...and poof!

It took me right back to a very particular time in my life.  After being a huge music freak since I was a kid, it's hard to believe I can still be caught so off guard by how much one record, one assemblage of songs, can conjure.  It's so strange how  specific and deep music can make memories, and how easy it is to let it take you back right there.  Isn't it weird to realize that those memories have always been right there in your brain the whole time, and you never think about them, but hearing one particular album can access all that  once again in a flash?  It's like being completely taken away by a good, visceral dream....or a nightmare, depending! 

From the moment XO came out, I played it to death.  Like, waaaaaay too much.  I was completely into it.  I could not get enough, esp of the songs "Tomorrow Tomorrow," "Pitseleh," "Oh Well, OK,"  "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands" [Elliott's version of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab"], and "I Didn't Understand" -- Geez, really the whole thing.

After numerous setbacks and obstacles in planning, the Boredoms' 77 BOADRUM set on 7/7/07 at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park under the Brooklyn Bridge came together and was a big success. It was an amazing experience for those lucky enough to make it into the DUMBO park to experience the free show that featured 77 full drum kits kicking out a rhythm with Yamataka Eye and other members of the Boredoms in the center of it all. There are numerous video clips posted on YouTube -- some poor audio quality. The one below is short but has decent sound and focuses on Hisham Bharoocha, Aron Wahl, and Michael Catano. The idea of the drumming fest was linked to the Japanese festival Tanabata.

Today is the day of the battle between Spoon and Interpol. I have always been a bigger Interpol fan so I am siding with them. I think most people are really either a Interpol fan or a Spoon fan. Or they don't really care about either. They both have big new albums out today. They both are on David Letterman this week. Spoon has been around a bit longer and has managed to stay on an indie label. This is their sixth abum and it is released on Merge. Interpol had two albums on Matador. And has now made the big jump to a major label with their third album, "Our Love to Admire." This album is released on Capitol Records.  It is kind of just how it works. Many indie bands have made the similar jump. Belle & Sebastian, Death Cab For Cutie, The White Stripes, and Modest Mouse have all done if before. They have all managed to somehow keep their indie fans and develop a whole new fan base that a major allows them. A whole new world is opened up with heavy rotation on mainstream radio and MTV. It works really well for some bands and will most likely work out for Interpol. Some bands don't do as good and end up back on the indies or just simply disappear into the clearance bin.

Don't expect a brand new sound for Interpol. They still sound most definitely like Interpol. The band that you have either fallen in love with or never liked to begin with. As one of those that actually likes Interpol, I am liking the new album. Like most albums, it took me a couple listens. On about the third listen on my headphones I was hooked. I don't think they will ever be able to top what was their first album "Turn on the Bright Lights." I still remember when my friend at Matador told me about this new band "Interpol" that they had just signed. She told me that I was going to absolutely love them. And she was right. This may seem like old news now, but at the time it was  exciting to hear a band that sounded like some new indie version of Joy Division. Now there is a whole new group of bands that have ripped of Interpol ripping off Joy Division. But at least they sort of did it first.

Michael Moore's latest film, Sicko, just out in theaters, may -- as its detractors so quickly accuse it of being -- be biased and one-sided, but you know what? I don't give a damn, because, like all of Moore's films to date, it is still a hell of a unique work: one that tells the side of the downtrodden, ill-represented majority of this economically unbalanced society in which we dwell. It is a story that long needed to be told and the fact that someone as high-profile as Moore, whose films get so much attention and so many viewers, is a wonderful thing that hopefully will lead to changes in the current corrupt medical insurance system in the USA. Sicko also brings to my mind some of the other great expose documentaries that have been produced in recent years and that are available on DVD -- which means you should be able to find them in Amoeba's DVD section.


Some of my personal favorites include OutFoxed, which takes a humorous but scathing look at Rupert Murdoch's Fox News network (an easy target for sure...but a well worth looking into one), presenting some of the shameless attempts at "fair and balanced" reporting that the TV "news" station practices.

Other documentaries in the whistle-blower style include Robert Greenwald's must-see 2005 documentary Wal-Mart: The High Price Of Low Cost (see clip below), which exposes the retail giant for the shady, exploitive, corrupt employer and corporation that it really is -- one that has the audacity to wrap itself in the image of the American flag when its practices (ranging from exploiting medicare, destroying small businesses and communities within the United States and exploiting overseas workers) are the most un-American that any entity could possibly execute. This documentary exposes the retail giant from the perspective of its hard-working employees and along the way exposes facts such as the high crime rate in the under-protected Wal-Mart parking lots.

The Farce Of July, Xicano Records & Films annual anti-colonialism celebration was held at Self Help Graphics. Started by the group, Aztlan Underground, The Farce Of July is an alternative celebration of freedom without buying into faux-patriotism. Many East Los bands, deejays and poets have performed for free each year, providing the community with entertainment beyond firecrackers and alcohol. Muralists usually create art on the spot and various independent vendors sell jewelry, clothing and alternative books that you will not be able to find in any mall.

The musical line-up varies from year to year. This year the festival included; festival organizers Aztlan Underground; Olmeca, a conscious rap artist who just returned from a extended stay in Chiapas with the Zapatistas; recently reunited 80’s East L.A. punk legends, The Brat, and Quetzal, in one of their final performances for several years. The co-leaders of Quetzal, Martha Gonzalez and Quetzal Flores, are moving to Vera Cruz for a year, then to Washington State while Martha finishes her PHD. They will be sorely missed not only for their music but for their work in the Chicano community as well.

The highlight of the event was the performance by Geronimo. They are like a modern day Goblin. For those who don’t know who Goblin was, they were a 70’s –80’s Italian prog group that were responsible for many eerie soundtracks to Dario Argento’s horror movies. Geronimo captivated the audience with their minimalist noise and keyboard swells to go along with a heavy rhythm section. Think Sly & Robbie if they played in the Swans. Horror filmmakers should really check out this band. Geronimo has just signed to 3ONEG, the label run by the members of the band, The Locust.

Wizard Video 092

Lettuce Entertain You Inc.

Heads up on the Kiki & Herb show coming soon (or rather returning) to San Francisco, scheduled to open Friday July 13th at the A.C.T. on Geary with tix starting at only $12 and going up to $45. My advice is get 'em now while you can -- especially at the cheaper end prices -- before reviews get out on this side-splittingly hilarious duo's show that makes its way back to the Bay from New York City where the cabaret comedy duo with a punk attitude got nominated for a Tony after their successful Broadway show. The talented duo started out in San Francisco in the early nineties before taking their cabaret drag act East a few years later.

I recently caught their most current show at Joe's Pub in New York where they did about a month of Sunday nights. Before going, I honestly had no idea what they would be like. I just knew that the show, in which Kiki (Justin Bond) and Herb (Kenny Mellman), was some sort of irreverent drunken drag comedy musical live show -- but frankly, that description sells it short -- way short. What it was, is one of the most entertaining, quick-witted, satirical-comedic, music-based stage performances I have ever witnessed. It was one of those perfectly crafted performances that is so smoothly delivered that it comes off as totally improvised, which it is not, and the ninety minutes or so of the show zipped by like it was only 20 minutes. Brilliant! Check this review of their Broadway show from the New York TImes.

AFFORDABLE SF ARTIST EXPO: It might seem hard to recall a time when artists exchanged ideas and information (images, sounds, videos, etc.) not via laptops, Blackberrys, or iPhones, but in person. It was really not that long ago. In fact, when the Expo for the Artist & Musician started back in the year 2000, there was no MySpace or YouTube and while most individuals had Email addresses and/or websites, the digital age wasn't in the progressive state it is in today. Regardless, then or now, nothing beats that personal touch -- especially when it comes to artists literally reaching out and meeting other artists and sharing ideas in a common physical space. And that is exactly what the affordable, recommended annual Expo for the Artist & Musician does. It is only $25 to secure a table at the event, which happens on Saturday, September 15th (11AM - 6PM) at SomArts 934 Brennan. Click right here for more info.

After a very slow week of nothing last week, this week coming up is crazy. July 10th is such a big new release date that I have to get an early start. It is the big week where Interpol and Spoon will battle it out for the number one spot at Amoeba. I am betting on Interpol.  Idlewild just put out a new album not too long ago. It was called "Make Another World." Around the same time Roddy Woomble, the singer with the group was working on slower and more folky songs. He decided to put out a solo album using these different, less Idlewild songs. This album, "My Secret is My Silence" is finally coming out domestic on Tuesday. It has been out for almost a year as an import. But I have patiently been waiting and actually have not ever heard it until a couple weeks ago.



Idlewild has been one of my favorites over the last 10 years. They got their start in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1995. I was first introduced to them with their first real album "Hope is Important." I really liked the album. But they quickly became one of my favorites with the release of  "100 Broken Windows" in 2000. The songs are super catchy and not really too far off from what you could expect from an indie band from the U.S. Sort of similar to R.E.M. It is really their lyrics that set them apart. Very literary lyrics. Its almost like reading a book or maybe a collection of poems when you read the lyrics. Much like Morrissey, Roddy is a man obsessed with literature and authors. He did name his band after the book "Anne of Green Gables." There is really nothing like 100 Broken Windows. It easily was one of my favorites of 2000. I still go back to it every once in a while. And it is still as great as it was when I first heard it.

So I just watched the new video for the new Siouxsie song "Into a Swan." I thought I would share it with all of you. I have known for a while that she is working on a new solo album. But I had no idea there is already a video. Things are now moving fast. The new album is called "Mantaray" and comes out October 2nd.  I have loved Siouxsie since I can remember liking music. She is amazing and is still amazing. She manages to stay brilliant and relevant after all these years. I met her about 8 years ago at an instore for the Creatures and she was not really the nicest person that I have ever met. But Budgie was such a wonderful nice little guy that he kind of made up for it. And she is Siouxsie Sioux so she can kind of get away with anything. There is really nothing like a Siouxsie fan. They are crazy fanatical devoted fans. So this is really something to be excited about.

You can check out the official Siouxsie website for more info. Here is the new video....
Siouxsie -Into A Swan



I am seriously excited for the new album. The countdown begins. Only 2 months to go. And a new albums means a new tour.

The Cure are also working on a new album! It will come out at some point this year. And Porl Thompson is back in the band! Tickets for the October 6th show in the bay area at Shoreline go on sale July 19th. Go to the Cure website for more info. I have never missed a Cure tour in the last 20 years or so. But unfortunately some really good friends of mine are getting married on the exact date of the Cure show at Shoreline. So I will most likely be driving down to Santa Barbara to catch the show there. But they are also playing at Red Rocks in Denver. And I have always wanted to see a show there. And there is nothing like a Cure show. They still put on the most amazing live show. Sort of like what a Dead show was like to a Grateful Dead fan. I guess.

I am exhausted today. Totally exhausted, after spending 24 hours with Jack Bauer, or rather, with the entire seven DVD set of Season 5 (from 2006) of the popular television series 24 starring Keifer Sutherland. I watched it from start to finish over the past three days, and honestly, it wore me out, just watching it. It felt as if I was right there with Jack Bauer, going through every draining confrontational thing that the cool-headed Jack endured from moment to moment and never once having time to stop to just drink some water or even grab a sandwich. Poor Jack Bauer!

My goal was to watch the entire  season of 24 in real time, as in over the course of one day/24 hour period. * Actually it's 18 hours due to fact that each show is approx 45 minutes,   But even at 18 straight hours, it proved just too exhausting for this viewer. Simply put, I couldn't keep up with Jack Bauer! Not owning a TV, I had never seen the show before. Of course, I had read about it and heard about it from friends who are diehard fans of the show. They told me it was a rare good TV show and addictive viewing. They were right! They just didn't prepare me for the relentlessness of each minute of every hour (episode) of Jack Bauer's day.

Other things I learned from watching 24 include that the word "schematics" is used a lot and that Jack Bauer utters the word 'dammit' frequently. And I noticed that, despite all the turmoil and danger he finds himself constantly in, he never loses his head or that little shoulder bag of his. And neither he nor anyone else ever seem to have to charge their phone batteries -- yet they are on them all the time. Same for their laptops, although they are usually plugged in. They also never laugh or smile, eat food or drink water, or catch a wink of sleep as far as I could see from watching Season 5 of 24. I also learned, after doing a bit of online research, that there is a Jack Bauer Appreciation Day (May 9th) and that there are numerous spoofs of 24 including an episode of the Simpsons in which Bart prank calls Jack Bauer.
         
But exhausting as watching 24 for the first time was for me, I am hooked on the great TV show and want to see the other seasons (which should by the way be available in Amoeba's DVD section). I am told that the earlier seasons were better so I am looking forward to checking them out...but first I need to rest some more.

Media Home Entertainment M848

Thorn Emi HBO Video TVC3671

 Hollywood Amoeba Music instore man of the moment Paul McCartney is among the many artists scheduled to be contributing to an upcoming Fats Domino tribute/benefit project. Entitled Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino and scheduled to be released by Vanguard in the Fall, the collection will feature numerous artists doing covers of the New Orleans great's music, including Elton John ("Blueberry Hill"), Randy Newman ('Blue Monday"), Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers ("I'm Walkin'"), and Willie Nelson ("I Hear You Knockin'"). According to the Goin' Home project's creative consultant Tim Donnelly, McCartney will be covering Fats Domino's "I Want To Walk You Home." The CD compilation, executive produced by Bill Taylor, will be a benefit for the Tipitina Foundation, whose goal is to "save the music culture of New Orleans."

  Big props to San Jose competitive hot dog eater Joey Chestnut, a 23 year old engineering student, who took the title the other day when he became the new reigning champ in the Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest in Coney Island on July Fourth. At the annual event, which makes food eating a competitive sport, he deposed the reigning champ, Japan's Takeru Kobayashi, when he ate a world record 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Damn!  And he's a skinny dude which, he said in one interview, is how he can manage to eat so many dogs -- by staying fit and in shape.

Ben Tuttle
3+ years employment
Sound Man Extraordinaire


Q:  So Ben, what music did you listen to when you were a kid, like before you could pick yourself?  What was playing in your home?

BT:  My dad used to listen to the Beatles, I remember that.  Probably Rubber Soul and I remember listening to Chuck Mangione and Slim Goodbody.  He was an informative performer for kids and he wore a full body unitard that showed the inside of his body.  I saw him perform in Oakland when I was a kid, my mom took me.

What was the first music that really struck you and made you a big music lover?

George Gershwin "An American in Paris" and "Rhapsody in Blue" and Led Zeppelin.  Those were the first tapes that I ever listened to that I remember.  My brother turned me on to Houses of the Holy.

What's the first instrument you picked up?  Whatall do you play now?

Piano.  That was the first thing.  My mom made me take lessons when I was 5.  I didn't learn the music and I just did it by ear cause I figured out how to do it like that.

Now, drums, guitar, keyboards, vibes, saxophone.  Those are pretty much all the instruments I play on a regular basis.

What was the first live show you ever saw?
Slim Goodbody was the first show I remember but he didn't have a band or anything, so I guess the first live show I ever went to was the Dead.  My brother took me to see the Grateful Dead and while I enjoyed the new experience I ended up falling asleep.  I was a kid, I was 12 maybe.

Well, TODAY is indeed a special day.

My dear Andrew Dupuy has at last launched his eagerly anticipated website/podcast: Discover A World Of Sounds! 


Yes, the site is incredible and I am not afraid to say I am biased.  I daresay Dupuy is one of my favorite people in this great big world.  He's a Southerner in origin, and thus carries with him that particularly Southern sense of ballsy/cutting humor and deliciously gross charm, but most importantly and like me (perhaps why we get along!), he's a total pop culture whore.  His new site is many things, but it's mainly an exploration of how music relates to memory.  And trust me, Dupuy's memories and comments are HILARIOUS.  You can listen to his first podcast here.

Just push play!

This first podcast is an amalgam of childhood memories, setting the scene for what's to come.  Dupuy's gonna post a new radio show every two weeks, and just trust me here, dude's got it down!  His production is seamless and layered, but more importantly his detailed tales of growing up in Louisiana as well as living in the now here in San Francisco are quality entertainment.  He's not shy.  There will also be constantly posted blogs related to music and memory on the site.


Perhaps I will have to interview him sometime soon for this site.

"Da-dah di-dah-da-dah, da-dah, da-dah, da-dah, da-dah" or something like that, goes the sound of that annoyingly repetitive Mister Softee ice-cream truck jingle which, with summer now in full-effect, has been playing in a seemingly never-ending loop in many city neighborhoods, including mine. Like most, I once too loved that song that signaled the promise of a nice cold ice cream on a hot summer's day. But after the first few thousand times or so of enduring that looped sound, it firmly burrowed its way under my skin and got on my goddamn nerves, and I am not alone in feeling this way. New Yorker Michael Hearst of One Ring Zero was so sick and tired of hearing the same two or three old ice cream truck songs playing over and over, year after year, decade after decade, that he decided to compose alternative ice cream songs and has created an entire album of new original music based on the insidiously infectious tunes of ice cream trucks and already a number of independent ice cream truck operators in New York and Los Angeles have started using Hearst's music instead of the traditional truck tunes. Entitled simply Songs For Ice Cream Trucks, the recently released album's dozen songs were recorded using various unusual instruments, including a high-pitched glockenspiel, melodica and theremin. That's his video above.

I'm very shaken by this story, so I will just re-post the story from SFGate.com, in hopes that someone will come forward with a name ...

(07-05) 17:33 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The 16-year-old drummer of a San Francisco punk rock band was seriously injured Wednesday night when fireworks thrown by someone at Dolores Park exploded near her right hand, police said.

It occurred shortly before 10 p.m. as Roisin Isner, who has played drums with the band Tinkture since 2004, and an unidentified girl watched San Francisco's fireworks display from a hill in Dolores Park in the city's Mission District.

"They were just sitting there chatting, then they saw a bright flash between them and the girl started screaming," said San Francisco police Sgt. Steve Mannina.

Police began canvassing the park for witnesses as paramedics tended to Roisin's hand and transported her to San Francisco General Hospital, but investigators didn't find much in the way of witnesses or evidence, Mannina said.

"We don't have a whole lot," he said. "We're definitely looking for more witnesses."

Mannina said police have not determined, and probably cannot determine, just what was thrown at Roisin and the other girl, who was not injured. Tinkture is an all-girl three-piece punk band that was founded in 2002. Roisin didn't know how to play the drums when she joined the band in 2004 after the founding drummer was dumped, according to the band's Web site. The band has performed at some of the area's most well known clubs, including Slims, Bottom of the Hill and 924 Gilman.

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New World Video 8602

So I saw this car parked out in East Oakland -- dusty and dirty and truly in need of a wash and on its window was that age old finger-on-dirty-windscreen tag of WASH ME PLEASE. Wash Me Please with the please dramatically underlined, as if to strongly, but politely stress just how very dirty and in need of a wash this vehicle had become.

I find it interesting that people have been, without fail, tagging those same three words (or just the two words WASH ME) on dirty cars for decades and decades. For as long as people have had cars there's been people who've been neglecting to wash them, and consequently others who've been tirelessly tagging them with that kind reminder.

Forever it seems those exact same words have been written on cars, apparently never going out of style or being modernized with each passing new decade. You'd think they'd be updated to something more in line with contemporary slang, while still packing the urgency and importance of the request. Maybe something like "Wash My Ride Beyoootch!" But hopefully not, as it is nicer this way -- those same old-fashioned, demanding yet civil words with that message WASH ME PLEASE mark a return to both kinder times and to a graffiti tag classic.

 

I have been fortunate to witness amazing events. I have been blessed to be at the right place at the right time, sort of. I also have unbelievable bad timing. When I heard Paul McCartney was going to perform at Amoeba, I was excited until I heard which day he was going to play. The evening Sir Paul was to play Amoeba, I had an opening night for Nativo! A new club that I spin at. This wasn’t the first time a legend was performing and I had to miss it. Once I had a show the same night I had free tickets to see Tom Waits perform acoustic in front of a small crowd. I went to the show anyways but I had to bail to my own gig after a few songs. Another time I made the mistake of making a date during a SXSW conference, not knowing the time I made the date was the same time Johnny Cash was performing at Emo’s in front of 300 people, me being one of them. Once again I had to leave early after a few songs to meet my date and then I couldn’t get back in. On top of that, nothing happened between the girl and myself, ever.

I showed up to Amoeba early, hoping to catch at very least Paul McCartney’s sound check. The Amoeba bosses told us that we could watch sound check just as long as we weren’t gawking at Paul during the check. Having done many sound checks myself I always hated people gawking at me while I was sound checking. I’m usually trying to get the gallos out of my throat or awkwardly playing a part just to get a sound and it never sounds pleasant. I would make it a point, from one musician to another, to respect their wishes and not be a fan. I would continue to get the store ready for the in-store and not stop and stare.

The band was jamming on stage. Paul McCartney was nowhere to be found. I continued to take down box sets that might inhibit people from viewing the performance. The band blasted into “Ride My Car” I had my head turned while they were playing the song. I figured one of Paul’s band mates was taking the lead vocal since Paul wasn’t around. I turned around and there he was, singing and playing that familiar Vox bass. I resisted the urge to go closer to the stage and continued to work. But soon the fan in me and in the rest of the staff won out. Slowly, like cats creeping towards some foreign object in curiosity, we all edged closer to the stage. Soon, none of us were working, only watching the “show” that was supposed to be sound check.

In honor of the fourth of july the record labels are not putting much out today. Nothing worth me talking about at least. Besides Velvet Revolver, Collie Buddz, T.I. and Kelly Rowland. I don't really like to do bad reviews about things I know that I am not going to like. So I will not waste your time. But there is something I can't stop thinking about and that would be the new Transformers movie. I am allowing myself to talk about it only because the official soundtrack to the movie does come out tomorrow. So it kind of all ties in to today's street date.

It is really hard for this soundtrack to compete with the awesomeness that was the original soundtrack to the original 1986 Transformers movie. We have songs by Smashing Pumpkins, Linkin Park, the Used, HIM, and a new theme song by Mute Math. Nothing too exciting. It just gets me a bit more excited for the film. I did pick up the 20th anniversary special edition DVD of the original 1986 "Transformers The Movie." And it really is awesome. Just in case you forgot, this movie "starred" the voices of Judd Nelson, Leonard Nemoy, Casey Kasem, Scatman Crothers, Orson Welles, Robert Stack, and Eric Idle. This was the last film for both Orson Welles and Scatman Crothers.  This movie was obviously a big deal. The original TV series was on from 1984 to 1987. I was ten when the show first started and became obsessed with the show and got a lot of the toys. The show was basically one big commercial to go out and buy the toys. But one can really say the same thing about Star Wars or any movie aimed at kids. I didn't know about any of this as a kid. I just knew that I loved myself some transformers. This movie was rated PG which allowed it to be a sort of more adult movie. This was the movie that killed off its hero Optimus Prime. The themes were a bit more mature and the 80s soundtrack was aimed at an older audience. The soundtrack is by Vince Dicola. Vince not only did most of the music for Staying Alive, directed by Sylvester Stallone, but also was featured on the Rocky IV soundtrack. Sylvester Stallone obviously knew a thing or two about music.  This DVD features some amazing extra features. Commentaries by the director and also fans. Tons of trivia and trailers and some documentaries. The movie really is a classic of its time but it really is the music that holds it all together. But don't worry the original soundtrack is still in print if you want to pick that up as well.

If you've ever checked out the murals on the outside walls of the three Amoeba Music stores (Hollywood, Berkeley, San Francisco), you may have noticed a similarity in styles between all three. That's because the same two artists, Larry Smulian as designer and Brian Blesser as art executor, contributed their art to the outside of all three music stores.  "Larry does all our ad art, and Brian did our murals on the front of Berkeley way back when, and the side of Haight street, and the top of the front of Haight," said Amoeba Music's Marc Weinstein.

Note that these artists contributed to the Ivar side of the Hollywood Amoeba (not the Cahuenga side of building -- more on that art and the artist who created it in a later Amoeblog) and that they are not responsible for the graffiti art side of the Haight Street store.

Most of the pics displayed here in this BLOG are from the Haste Street side of the Berkeley Amoeba Music store and are chosen because they are among this blogger's favorites for many reasons, including the historical content's significance -- mainly the fact that they represent the period during the 1960's history of Berkeley's Peoples Park, which is steeped in radical political activism, not to mention that People's Park is directly behind Amoeba Berkeley in the same block bordered by Telegraph & Bowditch and Haste & Dwight.

One recent afternoon, while ambling through the rock vinyl aisles of Amoeba Berkeley, my eye caught that great Joy Division album cover Unknown Pleasures. Wow, I thought, just how perfect is that cover artwork that was actually taken from an edition of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy? And how even more perfect is that whole album -- originally released on June 15th, 1979? I could listen to it and everything by Joy Division a million times over and never get tired of hearing it. Even the over-played and over-covered "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (released a month after Curtis' suicide) never ages in my head. Perhaps part of the greatness of all this music is that it is frozen in time, never having to be matched by later releases from a band that came to an abrupt early end after the tragically troubled lead-singer Ian Curtis had literally kicked the bucket -- instantly making him and Joy Division stuff of music legend, to be forever admired and romanticized in pop culture from afar.

But what (let's just imagine) if Ian Kevin Curtis hadn't hung himself back on May 18th, 1980, at the young age of 23? What if instead, he had kept on living and making music with Joy Division (meaning, of course, that there would have been no New Order), cranking out (increasingly weaker and weaker) albums throughout the eighties and up until an ugly break-up in 1997, followed by Ian Curtis completely disappearing for many years up until, let's again pretend, in 2004 when the producers of VH1's Band Reunited track him down. What if they find him old, fat, bald, bitter and living in a bedsit in Birmingham? Then, encouraged by VH1's intervention, he officially pulls himself together, temporarily kicks his age old habit, and tours small clubs with a new Joy Division lineup doing at best average covers of his old songs. Not pretty, eh? Not compared to the perfectly preserved, romantically tragic Ian Curtis that is the pop culture icon today.

I love Piano Magic. I know that I may throw that word "love" around a lot. But I would take back all the times I have used it, if I could use it just this one time. This band has been around for a bit over 10 years, but I only just discovered them maybe about 4 or 5 years ago. One of my friends, June, was obsessed with them. Since I like all the same music as him (Cocteau Twins/Lisa Germano/Red House Painters/This Mortal Coil/His Name Is Alive/etc.) I figured I would also love this band like he had. So my first introduction was "The Troubled Sleep of Piano Magic" back in 2003. I quickly discovered they were one of the bands that were made for people like me. I was excited for their next excellent album "Disaffected" in 2005. It is always exciting to discover a new band that has already been around for a while. It is like they somehow kept themselves hidden and their fans kept them a secret. Once you find about them, you want to keep them to yourself for a little bit. Until you just can't take it anymore and you to share them with everyone. When I always think I have already heard everything, it is nice to know there are still some great bands out there for me to discover. It's exciting.

They have just released their new album "Part Monster" on Important Records. They have  been on about 7 different labels and have had many different members. They are currently Glen Johnson, Jerome Tcherneyan, Alasdair Steer, Franck Alba and Cedric Pin. They are of course from England. They sort of fit into that ambient rock category. Dreamy and ethereal but still a rock band. Sad and emotional and all tragic. The vocalist sometimes reminds me of a mix of Jesus & Mary Chain and The Tindersticks. Sort of like what Slowdive sounded like as they were transitioning into Mojave 3. They also remind me a bit of bands like Field Mice but just with a little Black Heart Procession. That is enough band comparisons. They are just awesome and do sort of have their unique little sound.

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