Category Archives: art

Los Punks, a trailer

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Los Punks, We Are All We Have is a film about the punk rock scene in the Hispanic communities of East and South LA.

No judgement on the music, I haven’t heard it yet, but what interests me is the language of community and shared support for the outcasts, which turned out to be a serious message of the original punks (though I’m pretty sure none of them set out to promote that). But it happened. (Maybe in the second wave, and the one after that.)

Slow Chipmunks: My Sharona

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Chipmunk_bandA guy named Brian Borcherdt has taken recordings by the Chipmunks and played them on a turntable that plays at 16 RPM, about one third the usual speed singles are played (and half the speed of elpees). I read about this at Slate.

Here’s a deeply disquieting (as always) My Sharona, which really kicks it when it gets to the instrumental break. https://soundcloud.com/alvin-thechipmunkson16sp/my-sharona?in=alvin-thechipmunkson16sp/sets/sludgefest

There are more tunes at the end of the Slate story.

 

Afternoon Snack: Roxy Music, “Prarie Rose” meets Talking Heads, “The Big Country”

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I cannot same that I am as crazy about Roxy as my mate Gene, but I do indeed love them, their sound, and a shitload of their songs.

I have my loves–Out of the Blue, Virginia Plain, and All I want is You–but Prarie Rose has something to it that pushes beyond being just a favorite Roxy tune.

Aside from being just a wonderful piece of music and lyric, their are links to both Talking Heads (The Big Country) and Big Country’s In a Big Country, that line being core to Roxy first.

Here are the Heads, live in a song that sort of has that great feel between driving and laid back thanks to great drumming laying down that fantastic groove.

Here is Roxy from a few years back, and though the hand held IPhone camera is way shaky, the audio is pretty good, and Phil Manzanera just fucking kills his solo even if we cannot really see him (check the video behind Ferry and I think that is a simulcast?)

Stuart Adamson’s fine Big Country band will be saved for another day!

Sunday Funnies: Chico Marx, Lucinda Williams, and Hayes Carll and friends

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I was stumbling around the television channels on Friday, in search of something funny or challenging, or even both.

As documented here before, I am a big fan of the Cartoon Network’s night time adult diversion, Adult Swim, which presents the most cutting edge/satire/intelligence of any station anywhere.

One show I love on Adult Swim is “Squidbillies,” which features the incorrigible Early Cuyler, a red neck squid who lives with his son, Rusty, Grandma, and sister Lil in the Appalachians where he makes meth and white lightening from pine cones while the family purports to supply “peanuts and hairdoos.”

It is pretty irreverent and good fun (if you watch, check the different hats Early wears).

Well, Squidbillies has a pretty good alt country theme song, and lo and behold, when I watched Friday, I heard Lucinda Williams singing the theme.

So, here is that:

But, in search of Lucinda on YouTube, I found this great little jam that features Hayes Carll, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Unknown Hinson, Rhett Miller, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, David Rawlings, Todd Snider, Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams and that was also on one episode.

If that wasn’t enough, I then found “A Night at the Opera” on TCM, , and though I have seen it a lot (I am sure more than 50 times) it still kills me (all their movies do).

But, I thought this great clip of Chico (and his very long fingers) doing his nominal piano thing made it more than worth presenting his rendition of “All I do is Dream of You.”

Afternoon Snack: Joni Mitchell, “Amelia”

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I know Joni has caused a lot of buzz on the site, but aside from the fact that I love this cut from Heijara, I have been wanting to write for weeks about my concern for Mitchell, who has been hospitalized for months due to an unspecified illness (it was rumored to be a stroke, and Joni was similarly said to be in a coma, but the latter information is untrue per her official web site).

But, the other day, our Remnants mate Peter lost his father, and well, I figured I would post this both just to keep Joni–an exceptional artist and creative force–in our thoughts, as well as Peter and his father.

I think that it is all I can possibly say, because the song and Joni really do it better. Just close your eyes and listen. And, that is Pat Methany on guitar, and the late and equally wonderful Jaco Pastouris on bass.