I can't stand the term "Humpday", by the way. I use it here against all of my better judgment. I also always want to put an "e" after the "g" in judgment. I'll never get over the fact that there isn't one there.
Hi.
Anyway, Gia and I had a conversation about rock stars the other day, and the current lack thereof. I mean, in the Legends category we have a bunch of them. But does anyone really consider Mick Jagger to be a rock star anymore? Eric Clapton? Pete Townshend? Hell, even Bono?
But we agreed on two current rock stars. Dave Grohl (although Gia fought with me on that one) and Jack White. Especially Jack White. Everything that the guy does is just spot-on. And he has somehow turned his unique looks and talents into an iconic thing. He's an absolute rock star in every sense of the term.
Have a listen to "I'm Shakin'" from his Blunderbuss album:
Now that's a song that I can't imagine anyone who has ever loved Rock & Roll not loving as well. And it seems as if he cranks out product like this so effortlessly. Amazing. Fucking rock star.
And one more tune for you. And from a band who reminds me a bit of The White Stripes with a lead singer who stylistically reminds me a bit of Jack White. Wolfmother with "Joker and the Thief" from their 2005 titular debut album. Hehehehe...titular. Enjoy!
As in, ain't no use trying to keep this blog from falling into neglect.
Ah...okay. I'll try. Maybe tomorrow. Until then, enjoy this little ditty by Trampled by Turtles.
"Ain't No Use in Trying"
Trampled by Turtles
Well I got years of livin'
By and how I choose
Ain't never been a gambler
'Cause I's always bound to lose
My buddies, they drink liquor
Sometimes I'll go along
I got a girl who don't like that at all
[CHORUS:]
Well, you know I wouldn't fight
If these guys wouldn't shove me
Now I can't go home
'Cause my baby, she don't love me
There ain't no use in tryin' anymore
Well, last week or so
I woke up in a cell
Don't know how I got there
But my head, it hurt like hell
The guard already knew my name
Before I came inside
I got a girl who don't like that at all
[CHORUS:]
Well, you know I wouldn't fight
If these guys wouldn't shove me
Now I can't go home
'Cause my baby, she don't love me
There ain't no use in tryin' anymore
Well, I guess some guy downtown
Come pushin' me around
So I let one loose and left that fella'
Lyin' on the ground
I got a girl who don't like that at all.
[CHORUS:]
Well, you know I wouldn't fight
If these guys wouldn't shove me
Now I can't go home
'Cause my baby, she don't love me
There ain't no use in tryin' anymore
No, there ain't no use in tryin' anymore
There ain't no use in tryin' anymore.
Keeping with the October horror theme. Well, not really horror. More of a pulp-fiction, film noir-ish kinda thing. Ah, who the hell cares. It's good, okay? Jill Tracy from 1999's "Diabolical Streak".
Dig.
Evil Night Together
Jill Tracy
I'll hold your hand while they drag the river I'll cuddle you in the undertow I'll keep my hand on your trigger finger I'll take you down where the train tracks go
Let's wile away the hours Let's spend an evil night together
We'll drink a toast in the torture chamber And you'll go down on a bed of nails We'll rendezvous in cold blood I'll tie you up to the third rail
Let's wile away the hours Let's spend an evil night together
Who's gonna make you a hero Who's gonna blow you away Who's gonna make you a hero Hold it right there
It's a multiple down in solitary And you'll uncover the evidence Shanghaied by a fishnet stocking I'll hold you close while they dust for prints
Let's wile away the hours Let's spend an evil night together
No need for cake or flowers Let's spend an evil night together
Music for you on this lovely Thursday. Today it's The Pack a.d., a Canadian garage rock duo featuring Becky Black on vocals and guitar and Maya Miller on drums. Very cool sound, if you ask me.
Here's their video for "Sirens", in which the ladies wait until the very end to show up.
And a non-video for their song "Wolves and Werewolves", which is the song that Pandora found for me that led me to check this duo out. Kick-ass song!
After all theses years (it will be 6 years next week!), Gia and I have finally found our song. Should I capitalize the OUR in that phrase? I dunno. We've had songs that we've connected with before. "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits. "Please Call Me Baby" by Tom Waits. Stuff like that. But those songs, awesome as they are, are about doomed/twisted relationships that don't really work out. Not so with this one.
And what's really interesting is that we both found it separately within about three months of each other. I heard it first one day while working with Pandora playing in the background. Several times a day, I will lift my head from my laptop and spreadsheets and stop to listen to a song that might not be new but is new to me. "In Spite of Ourselves" by John Prine with Iris DeMent was one of those songs. I'll then jot the song and artist down on a e-stickynote I keep open in the background. Usually to either share with Gia, buy on iTunes or post on this here space sometime in the future.
Then Gia was watching this movie with Billy Bob Thornton called Daddy and Them. A labor of love for the man who wrote and directed the film. He got his friend John Prine to take a supporting role in the film. And he got him to write a song for the film as well. This one. Prine talks about that a bit at the beginning of the video below.
So she purchased the song on iTunes and one late afternoon while we were enjoying a Summer Ramble, it popped on. I immediately started singing along. She was a bit confused because she thought she was going to introduce me to my new favorite song. I was confused because I had thought I had introduced it to her months ago. I'm still not sure that I hadn't. Maybe I did, but she didn't really "hear" it until she watched that film. Hard to say. Doesn't really matter because we proceeded to listen to it 5 or 6 times in a row that evening. And we fell in love with it and each other all over again. Music can be incredibly powerful that way.
This song makes us ridiculously happy. Because it's a ridiculously happy song. And because we found it separately yet for each other at the same time. Or something like that.
There's a dude out there named Alex Ebert. And things weren't going so well for old Alex. He broke up with his girlfriend, moved out of his house that he shared with his best friend and entered one of those 12-step programs to deal with addiction. Not sure what kind of addiction it was, but he wasn't in a good place.
Then he started to write a novel about a messiah figure named Edward Sharpe. Sharpe was brought to earth to heal and save, but he wound up being tempted by earthly pleasures...women. As they do. It was all so distracting.
But that was Edward, and this was Alex we were talking about. Or maybe they are one and the same. Edward/Alex met a singer named Jade Castrinos in Los Angeles, and then they and a bunch of musicians started touring around the country in a big old bus as Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.
It's all quite the trip.
You get the feeling that Chuck Manson might dig this Edward Sharpe character. Or vice versa. Manson wanted to be a musician first before he became a crazy person. Or maybe when he was already a crazy person. It's hard to put a timeline on these kind of things. Sanity...ya know.
This post is inspired by blogger, writer* and all around good egg Erin O'Brien. A few days ago, she posted a video from the band April Wine that was a moderate hit back in 1982. The song in question was called "If You See Kay", and if you say that out loud...well, go read Erin's blog post.
Got me thinking about some of the terrible, raunchy music from the early 80's. And if you read that post, you will see that I commented about a song called "I.L.B.T.'s" (link NSFW-ish) by Joe Walsh from 1983. An acronym that stands for "I like big tits", which appealed to me when it first came out because I was 16-ish. Still appeals to me now as an older feller. What can I say? I like 'em big. Not making any excuses here.
Anywho...that song came from an album called "You Bought It, You Name It" and there were several songs that got significant airplay from it back in the day, including that one. And yes...a song that proudly stated how much the performer loved big tits had significant airplay on FM radio back in 1983. Believe it or not.
The other two songs from that album were "Space Age Whiz Kids" and "I Can Play That Rock and Roll". Well, lemme...ugh...oh God! Just watch the videos below and prepare to have soul crushed if you remember 1983 fondly at all.
Okay...a few of things to note.
I haven't heard either of these songs in about 25 years. And yet, somehow, when I first found them again on Youtube the other night, I knew them by heart. I mean every lyric and chord of both damned songs. How the fuck is that possible?
Both songs are basically about the same thing. A man lamenting an older time when things were simpler and/or better. I'm guessing Joe was feeling a little out of time in 1983.
How did Joe Walsh get away with "I Can Play That Rock and Roll" when Bob Seger basically wrote the same exact song 5 years earlier with "Old Time Rock and Roll"? Sure, they sound different, but the message is the same in each. Maybe they were buds, I dunno...
*Read her writing about her brother John O'Brien, author of "Leaving Las Vegas", and his writing here. It's...heartbreaking and awesome.
PS - I pretty much hate everyone in the band now, especially Ian Astbury. He look like a fool. So almost all of them. Except Billy Duffy on lead guitar. He's fucking harsh!
I keep talking about Pandora. That's because it's pretty much my favorite thing ever in the streaming music world. I listen to it all day streaming to my Roku box while I work. I listen to it using an the app on my phone when I'm out and about. I'd listen to it in the car, but we have XM/Sirius there. I just dig it.
Because it's the only thing out there that introduces me to new artists/music or reunites me with some artists that I haven't heard in a very long time for one reason or another.
Like Gill Landry, an artist who I had never really heard of before. But I was listening to a Tom Waits station that I had set up, and "Mexico" by Mr. Landry has popped up several times over the past few month. I dig.
Then there is Alice Donut, a band who I LOVED back in the early 1990's. I don't think I've heard anything by them since, well, the last time I mentioned them here on the Dude. But man...I still love some of their stuff. "Magdalene" is such a great song. If you were a fan of Jane's Addiction or Sonic Youth back in the day, then you may enjoy it as well. Dig times two.
Watched Snatch again last night. It never gets fucking old. Maybe one of the best soundtracks ever. "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers, "Ghost Town" by The Specials, "Dreadlock Holiday" by 10CC, "Fuckin' in the Bushes" by Oasis...and, of course, "Don't You Just Know It" by Huey "Piano" Smith.
I'm a few weeks late with this. Sometimes it takes some time to process the events of the day or of the world.
Levon Helm passing away was an event of the world.
I didn't grow up with the music of Levon Helm or The Band. I was late to the the game. I think I started listening to them in my late 20's. Close to 20 years after they, um, disbanded. But once I did, I was done with trying to find the voice of America. It was Levon Helm. Singing about characters like Crazy Chester, Miss Anny and ole Virgil Caine.
There have been more fitting tributes to Mr. Helm in the past week or so than I could ever imagine writing myself. I'm not going to even try.
I don't know a hell of a lot about Papa Mali yet. But I plan on digging a little deeper as he seems like a cool cat. Check him and the band doing "Early in the Morning" down below.
David Wooderson is back, girls. And he's just as cool as ever. Check out Matthew McConaughey reprising his best role ever after 19 long years. The song is courtesy of Butch Walker and the Black Widows. Dig.
"The older you get, the more rules they are going to try and get you to follow. You just gotta keep on livin', man. L-I-V-I-N." - words to live by.
I'm digging Eilen Jewell, the self-described Queen of the Minor Key, lately. Another Pandora discovery. And not only because she sings about "High Shelf Booze".
But it doesn't hurt.
Dig.
High Shelf Booze
Eilen Jewell
If my man asks ‘bout what I’ll do
Now that he’s turned me loose
Tell him I’ve gone to meet all the girls
And drink all that high shelf booze
The high shelf booze, the high shelf booze
You won’t catch me dead with no blues
The high shelf booze, the high shelf booze
You won’t catch me dead with no blues
I always said I’d be his slave
Before I would be his dog
But it looks like he’s got me rambling ‘round
And sleeping in a hollow log
A hollow log, a hollow log
Sleeping in a hollow log
A hollow log, a hollow log
Sleeping in a hollow log
Well it’s one man on Sunday, another on Monday
Two on Tuesday afternoon
Easy come, easy go
You won’t hear me sing no lonesome tune
Easy come, easy go
You won’t hear me sing no lonesome tune
Easy come, easy go
You won’t hear me sing no lonesome tune
Bob Dylan wrote it. The lyrics...my God...the lyrics. Redbird did this awesome version of it.
Dig.
Buckets of Rain
Bob Dylan
Buckets of rain
Buckets of tears
Got all them buckets coming out of my ears
Buckets of moonbeams in my hand
You got all the love honey baby
I can stand.
I been meek
And hard like an oak
I seen pretty people disappear like smoke
Friends will arrive friends will disappear
If you want me honey baby
I'll be here.
I like your smile
And your fingertips
I like the way that you move your hips
I like the cool way you look at me
Everything about you is bringing me
Misery.
Little red wagon
Little red bike
I ain't no monkey but I know what I like
I like the way you love me strong and slow
I'm taking you with me honey baby
When I go.
Life is sad
Life is a bust
All ya can do is do what you must
You do what you must do and ya do it well
I'll do it for you honey baby
Can't you tell?
NOTE: I don't have the words right now to express how I feel about what happened in baseball last night. Simply put, it was the...BEST. NIGHT. EVER. More to come soon. Much, much, much more. - Earl
I just dig the song, yo. And I never heard of Sean Hayes, the musician, before. Score another win for finding cool shit on Pandora. He's an interesting-looking fellow, isn't he?
source: Wikipedia
Here's the tune in question. A jaunty little number (not) called "Fucked Me Right Up". Bonus points for having a potty mouth.
Fucked Me Right Up
Sean Hayes
Don't know that she knows
what it is she doing
Don't know that she knows
how deep this will cut
Can't believe you really think
We'll make it through this
You fucked me right up
Just fucked me right up
All alone
in a house that we were living
All that love
just walked out the door
She's off running around
with a brand new man
You fucked me right up
Just fucked me right up
I've got a long way to travel
with a heaviness taking hold
It takes a long night
when you unravel
a home
Don't know that she knows
what it is she's doing
Don't know that she knows
We are throwing it all away
Now tell me how you think
we're gonna make it through this
You fucked me right up
Just fucked me right up
Don't know that she knows
or even if it matters
The cut's been made
The dice have been thrown
What was our love worth
if it's something we could gamble
You fucked me right up
Fucked me right up
I got a long way to travel
with a heaviness taking hold
It takes a long night
when you unravel
a home
One of the more interesting thing I used to love about music and albums, in particular, was the album cover itself. Take the above image for Tom Waits' album "Small Change". I think it says just as much about the man and the music as the stuff that plays on the record. And how cool is it that the nearly naked woman posing as the bored dancer in the background is most likely Cassandra Peterson. She of Elvira fame, of course. She's not credited on the album, nor has she ever fully verified it. But she admits that it sure does look like her, and that was a time and place in her life when she doesn't really, ahem, remember exactly everything that went down. Cool, huh?
In honor of the lovely and talented Mistress of the Dark, here's a little Tom Scat for ya.
