New Rule

You know I wrote like a page long rant about Britney Spears and her repeated flashing of the goods. It got way too out of hand (The rant and Spears' not wearing underwear) so I scrapped it. I just want to say Pop stars who have popped out 2 children in as many years should not, I repeat not, be flashing their snatch all over LA to paparazzi and in turn to us. Especially when the last birth was via C-Section. It is gross and unfair. Also a great way to get in the good graces of the court in your soon to arise court fight for your kids.

Seriously who in their right mind besides a washed up, out of shape, moronic, singer who covers Bobby Brown would do something like this? I want to add hick but I'm leaning against it because I don't want to offend, but if you are close to being a hick, it is people like Britney Spears that ruin it for you.

Now Playing...

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads
This record is cool for many different reasons. A. It's got some twisted songs on it. B. Kylie Minogue, P.J. Harvey and Shane MacGowan are on a few tracks. C. It's a Nick Cave record.

The Kindness Of Strangers - This song comes from a time when children were permitted to take candy from those they did not know. The good old days.

Rosanne

Despite what some have said recently about me (in the Mary Gauthier section of Tower Records) I listen to more than Menopausal Heritage Rock. But playing along, I wanted to put a spotlight on a gem of the genre.
A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to see Rosanne Cash and her band perform at Carnegie Hall. The show was filled with many songs that I had never heard before and a few that I was familiar with (Seven Year Ache primarily) but it was the songs from her new record that most captivated me. So here goes, an introduction of sorts to Black Cadillac.

“It was a black Cadillac that drove you away…” sings Rosanne Cash in the opening moments of Black Cadillac. The line is just one of many pieces of Man In Black imagery peppered throughout Rosanne Cash’s newest album, Black Cadillac. There are only a few upbeat tracks on the record, but that makes sense. The album opens with that great baritone voice calling his daughter forward when she was a young child, from what sounds like a home recording. To us he was Johnny Cash, to her he is Dad and she lost him as well as her mother in a short time span, so it is no real surprise that Black Cadillac is about them and about Rosanne Cash herself, now that they are gone and she remains, though seemingly moving forward.
Radio Operator may be about Rosanne Cash’s parents sending messages to one another or maybe not but the sound has a sprightly hop to it and a little twang in its’ chorus. Like every song on the album it is full of plush production, filled out by various string instruments in which you can hear the picks touching upon the strings.
Even if the songs sucked, Cash has a great voice and can carry a tune. You don’t have to listen to understand the words or to know exactly what she is saying and that’s because she gets her job done. Her pitch doesn’t change often like an Emmylou Harris but that doesn’t matter because she has the same sort of glowing quality to the sounds emitting from her mouth. The World Unseen is an example of Cash’s superb voice. Her vocals continue on until you realize the intensity of the instrumentation and her voice have risen and come together, taking over even the most casual, unsuspecting listener, and bringing them to a place they did not know they were heading.
On I Was Watching You, Cash takes a somber look into her past, quickly moving forward to the present with her displaying an aching tone that finds her singing of and to her departed father. Lead by a simple pleading piano melody Cash declares more to herself than any listener, “I didn’t know it but you were always there, ‘till September when you slipped away in the middle of my life on the longest day, now I hear you say ‘I’ll be watching you from above.’”
One gets the feeling he has been invited to view the photo album of another's family or to read someone else's diary and discovers it is all too interesting yet he shouldn't have the access. What is in his hands is the pain of another, but then realizes Rosanne Cash’s world is no different than his own. She makes heartbreak, despair and unflinching optimism in the face of her significant loss our own. That is the magic of the songwriter to take the unfamiliar and distant and twist it into a feeling and mood we all can relate to.
Now that the singer is gone, Rosanne Cash is still singing his song, and doing a fine job.

Who like short songs? I like short songs.

Check this out from the WFMU blog. What are your favorite short songs, and what are you favorite long-ass epics? word? word.

Download Tip

Rbally has a 12/16/75 Tom Waits show. Go To It.

Hendo Bendo Podcast Bonanza # 5

before we continue, i reposted the last podcast cause apparently there were problems with it.


Here ya go gorehounds, its a shorter than the last ones, but there shouldnt be any problems with it:

Hendo Bendo Podcast Bonanza # 5

Link Wray - Fatback
The Devil Dogs - Go On Girl
The Gibson Brothers - Memphis Chicken
The Tearjerkers - Dollar to Death
The Pagans - Dead End America
The Metros - Black Leather
We The People - Mirror Of Your Mind
The Cramps - I Ain't Nuthin' But a Gorehound
Coachwhips - Hey Stiffie
The Black Lips - Workin'
Gas Huffer - Bad Guy Reaction
The Quadrajets - All My Rowdy Friends Are Dead
The New Bomb Turks - Long Gone Sister
The Figgs - Breaking Through These Gates

Love Love

Rather than expound on someone or something we have no tolerance for. e.g. John McCain or Derek Jeter, this week is all about Love, the thing, the band, or the new Beatles mash up record which is pretty amazing. I highly suggest picking the album up and listening to it. All the music is remastered and the Beatles sound as if they were recorded this morning.

Besides great audio quality, Love is fun because George Martin and his son, Giles, have woven Beatles songs on top of one another, added something from one song into another and just plain-old mashed them up. We, the listener, get to marvel at their work. After multiple listens it still doesn't all make sense to me. How the Martins have taken music we grew up with and know like the back of our hand and made it sound new is both bewildering and refreshing but once again displays the magic that was and will always be The Beatles.

Who Do You Love?

This Is Your iPod. This Is Your iPod on Random

LA Blues - The Stooges.
I'm Looking For Someone To Love - Buddy Holly
Sherry Darling - Bruce Springsteen - 8/03/05 - on piano - "I got some beer and the highways free..."
All That I Had - Paul Westerberg
The Log Train - Hank Williams - Sounds like it was recorded nowhere and written everywhre.
Forward (version) - Lee "Scratch" Perry/Upsetters - Not the most original dub but perhaps thedre is more here than meets the ear.
Ready Or Not - Jackson Bronwe
60 Seconds to What - Ennio Morricone - I got some guy at Tower to buy this.
Waiting For Tonight - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Vocals by the Bangles - This is the reason for random and for box sets.
Cold Duck Soup - Guy Clark - check this one out.

Vampires Vampires Vampires

I am posing a question to the HBBB. I am reading a book having a lot to do with vampires and it got me thinking about what kind of music one associates with vampires and other scary-esque things. I have a couple of things in mind, but invite you to post in the comments anything that comes to mind and maybe we can compile the best submissions and throw up a top ten list. So sink your teeth in.... (sorry too hard to resist).

Top Ten Bands You Wish You Saw Live

No Name's List:
1. Dylan And The Band - 1966 Royal Albert Hall or wherever that show was
2. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Any time in the mid to late '70's.
3. The Dead - 1977
4. Pink Floyd - Darkside of the Moon tour
5. The Who - Tommy Tour or the Live at Leeds Show
6. Miles Davis & The Kind of Blue band
7. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Anytime
8. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - 1970's -Tie - The Clash
9. The Byrds -1969
10. The Kinks - Anytime

HM: Johnny Cash, John Coltrane, Johnny Thunders, Band of Gypsies,
Stones - Get Yerr Ya Ya's Time, Zep - before the bloat, Gram Parsons &
The Fallen Angels, Bowie - Ziggy Stardus tour, Whiskeytown, Tom Waits,
The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs Performance, Curtis Mayfield, The
Smiths, Junior Kimbrough

Post your lists in the comments, please - HBBB Mngmt.

Kramer loses it

Kramer has officially joined the ranks of crazed assholes with Mel Gibson, Rush Limbaugh, and that guy in every office that just needs to shut the hell up. The Hendo Bendo Blog Bonanza does not condone racism of any form. Check this out.

Here's a song for you also:
Pussy Galore - Rip This Joint

Happy hump day

RIP Robert Altman

Robert Altman was a man's man's director. He gave us great films from The Long Goodbye to Popeye and so many in between. Known for his lengthy films with scores of characters whose dialogue was stacked on top of one another it is safe to say there will never be another like him. Keep trying anyway Paul Thomas Anderson. Even though Altman is know for the large casts and overlapping verbiage, the films where none of that exist are pretty special too.

Here's a special top ten Robert Altman Films list.

The Long Goodbye
MASH
Nashville
Short Cuts
The Player
Gosford Park
3 Women
Kansas City
Popeye
A Prairie Home Companion

Top Ten American Bands From The 1960s

As usual people, in no order (what do you think this is a U2 fan site?). Also, this is just bands, not solo performers, next time.

The MC5
The Byrds
The Sonics
The Wailers
Stooges
13th Floor Elevators
Velvet Underground
The Count Five
The Remains
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Honorable Mention: Creedence, Mothers of Invention, Magic Band, Love, The Monks (via Germany)

Let me know that who I left off and why I'm an ignorant slob.

Sunday iPod on Random

-Disco2000 - Pulp - Kind of cool considering.
-Chips Ahoy! - The Hold Steady - The 2nd Best Album Of The Year.
-The Road And The Sky - Jackson Browne - People That Don't Like JB, I Don't Like.
-London Calling - The Clash - This is a good one. Never heard it before.
-My Friend Goo - Sonic Youth - Songs like this are why random is cool.
-The Calvary Cross (live) - Richard and Linda Thompson - I have been listening to "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight a lot lately and it keeps getting better. RT is a great guitar player if anyone was wondering.
-Thin White Line - High School Sweathearts - Cool shit.
-One Time Too Many - Phoenix - This album def. grew on me. After a few listens I realized I dug every track and could actually remember the songs within seconds of hearing them.
-The Nearest Faraway Place - The Beach Boys - This is probably the nicest way to end this list.

Fuck John McCain

Just needed to get that one out of the system. McCain is as spineless politician and we shouldn't let his bravery and heroism in Vietnam cause us to forget that. He panders to whomever is accepting panderisms on a given day and believes that Americans are forgetful of this over time. Hugging it out with George Bush at campaign stops after he has ripped you to threads calling you a psycho (most likely true) and you have remarked about how stupid he is (def. true) is weak. Someone who stood up to his captives and for his fellow POW's should be able to stand up to any careerist politician and for his people. Also, why do we want someone from AZ to be our President? Didn't that get rejected back in the day with Goldwater? Don't we want a President from a state with a fair amount of people living there who can vote. And one more, why Senators running for office? They don't know shit about being an executive. They huddle in groups and vote in blocks. When and if they legislate it takes forever. I guess you could say it makes them more likely to rely on the cabinet but when the cabinet is stacked one way whats the point. Here's to the next POTUS not being a Senator. Those guys suck.

Who do you hate?

Download Tip

Trolling around on iTunes today I found a cover of a song I have never heard. The cover version is performed by Mark Lanegan and is called Boogie Boogie. The oiginal is by Tim Rose (I do not know who that is and maybe that is bad blogorism but whatever). Anyway, the song fucking rocks in a Lanegan sort of way and I highly recommend it. I'm trying to not break any laws which explains why I don't want to post it myself. But hell, its artists like M.L. that desreve your iTunes dollars.

I am not a Mark Lanegan fan by any means but have dug all that I heard recently.

The Cramps

It all started when Lux picked up Ivy hitchhiking on the side of the road in Sacramento. Honestly, wouldn't you have picked her up also? They shared a love for sleazy rock n roll, rockabilly and garage. Eventually, Lux and Ivy made their way to New York City, by way of Akron, Ohio. Along the way, they had amassed a huge collection of rockabilly and r&b 45's that would form the foundation of their sound. Before they could even play any instruments, they decided they were gonna form a band called The Cramps.


Here's a quote from Lux and Ivy about their mission:
"When the two of us started the group, we were attempting to jumpstart the evolution of an original pure rocknroll/rhythm and blues tradition - a tradition that seemed to be all but forgotten at the time. The term "rocknroll", which describes a lifestyle and sex act, as well as a type of music, had become "rock music" in an apparent effort by squares to legitimize it....We wanted to be as shocking, sexy, and original as the great culture changing rock n roll pioneers were during the '50s and '60s."

They embody everything that is great about rock n roll. They indeed brought the sleaze back to rocknroll, and they brought music back to its most primitive bare-bones core. They've been doing it for 30 years, and quite frankly, thats all you need.
Dig it:

I'm Cramped (Live at CBGB 01/78)
Garbageman
Drug Train
The Way I Walk
The Hot Pearl Snatch
Cramp Stomp
Elvis Fucking Christ



P.S. This is the 100th post on this blog. Here's to the next 100. Thankyougoodnight.

Friday Night Bloggin

When your as cool as I am you can get away with a little Firday night bloggin. Ok - im gonna start a top ten thread. Old school country. No alt country. No bluegrass. No folk. No nothing in between. Just Country (notice how I spelled that).

Hank Williams
Johnny Cash
Kitty Wells
Willie Nelson
Loretta Lynn
Waylon Jennings
Merle Haggard
Patsy Kline
The Louvin Brothers
Ernest Tubb tie with Pee Wee King

HM: I think the Carter Family is country but not sure since I outruled folk so I'm putting them here. Steve Earle to me is pretty fucking Old School Country. And Chet Atkins for the sounds.

If it ain't Cuntry what the fuck is the point.

Get your ten gallon hats out and let us know your top ten.

Checklist

A Couple of Things,

First, jefitoblog has a Stevie Wonder Bootleg up from 1974 in London. Pretty random but cool.

Second. The Twilight Singers show last night in Brooklyn at Warsaw (the Polish got some kickass beers) was top-notch. Mark Lanegan was a special guest coming out do to four songs. On his first song, "Live With Me" he and Duhli began an awesome version of Leadbelly's In The Pines though the band obviously took its take from Nirvana's Where Did You Sleep Last Night version. Otherhighlights were when a guy threw ice at Greg Duhli and Duhli responded telling the guy to pour his drink over his head at which point the audience member revealed that he was on crutches. THe singer informed him he better have two of those things if he wanted to consider winning a fight a viable possiblity. Awesome, picking on the crippled, just does not happen all that much and sometimes it is well deserved.
The band was in true fighting form with gothic classical like music playing before they took the stage as well as prior to the encore. Eastern European-esque candles on the amps and even cooler, cup holders on the microphone stands. I'm a fan so am obviously biased but thought they were awesome.

iTunes has a 5 song exlcusive EP entitled A Stich In Time which features the beforementioned Lanegan sung Live With Me. If you are looking to get your Twilight on this may one way to go. I also recommend highly the new album Powder Burns and from a couple of years ago Blackberry Belle (Great name for a song and an album).

Third, I have just read that former Supreme Court Justice and love of my life, Sandra Day O'Connor recently told a conference that all nine of the Supreme Court Justices had "received in the mail 'a wonderful package of home-baked cookies' that contained 'enough poison to kill the entire membership of the court.'" (Quote taken from the New York Times).
What the fuck is wrong with people? Assuming no liberal would send cookies to all nine justices, but would shelter the obvious Ginsburg, Breyer, Kennedy and maybe Stevens from the deadly recipe and shoot for the obvious, why would a nutcase (God-loving right wing, dare I say it Republican or Anarchist) want to get all the members when the deck is surely stacked in their favor, even if they are an Anarchist? That is a waste of cookies and provisions. The cookies were accompanied by some pretty obvious death threat letters giving off the conclusion that no rat poision was needed nor were the cookies actually intended to be eaten. I am a little surprised that Scalia, the firmest interpreter of the big C on the high court, didn't eat the cookies anyway to spite the sender, but then again he is a big believer in taking people at their words. To encounter the entire article on the baked goods terrorism plot on our nations judicial epicenter hit the Times up. I'd link it but my safari is being a baby today and I should have used Firefox for something like this.

Finally, what is up with O.J. Simpson? We know he needs the money but there have to be a bunch of rich ex-fratboys who would love to pay to play a round of golf with this guy. Why call more attention to yourself that you have killed the mother of your children only to get away with it. His big break wasn't a football career, or the Naked Gun movies, it was not spending the rest of his life in a fucking prison cell. So why even tempt it? Killing somone and getting away with it in this country is a Norman Mailer American Dream. And he did it, like a Nike ad. There's nothing included in that dream about rubbing it in everyone's faces ten years thereafter. Hopefully people will tune into the Fox special get their fix and not buy the book. Remember every book sold is a royalty in this guy's pocket and that of his publisher, Judith Regan, whose reasons for publishing are all over the web today. I thought the $$ was going to go to his kids she says. Contracts usually can direct where money is going to end up when paid so if the one her and O.J. have executed doesn't direct the money to those unfortunate children she's just as much a liar as O.J. Only she hasn't killed anyone. Except maybe the career's of authors. But they may have deserved it.

Hendo Bendo Podcast Bonanza # 4

Yes, that is Billy Childish, and yes, that is him at an anti-Bush rally. It was a protest against Bush's visit to London from November of 2003. I thought that would set the tone nicely for the next installment of the hendo bendo podcast bonanza. Click below to download it. You may have to register with YouSendIt.com in order to download it since its so big, but its free and really simple. Hopefully in the near future (thanks to the mastermindish work of shrimp cracker), we will be able to host our own files, so they'll be able to remain up for more than a week.

Hendo Bendo Podcast Bonanza # 4

Hound Dog Taylor - What'd I Say
The High Beams - Nothin' Good
The Reigning Sound - Straight Shooter (live)
The Coal Palace Kings - Doreen
The Figgs - Sit And Shake
The Cool Jerks - Man And A Woman
Eldridge Holmes - Hump Back
Palace Brothers - The Cellar Song
Dollar Store - Enemy
Esquerita - Rockin' The Joint
Hank Williams - Tennessee Border
The Boys - Sick On You
Dan Melchior - The Longest Train
Skip Spence - Cripple Creek
Daniel Johnston - Walking The Cow
The Leaving Trains - Walking With You
The Dirtbombs - Mystery Train
The Flat Duo Jets - Michelle
Outrageous Cherry - Corruptable
Shake Appeal - I Can Hide
Supersnazz - Slug
The Prisoners - Better In Black
Billy Childish & The Blackhands - Louis Riel

Take 'er easy
- Hendo

What's He Building In There?

What is he building in there? Hold your hats, the air is about to get a little thinner around here and the oxygen masks may not be working to well, so fix your trays into the upright positions and turn off any devices which may screw with the satellites. Things are changing around here. Just you wait, you will see.

The Detroit Cobras -w- Special Guest Greg Cartwright

Last night, the founding father's of this blog (so to speak though there is only one founding father) attended a performance by the Detroit Cobras and special guest Greg Cartwright of the Reigning Sound at the Mercury Lounge. I have some beef with the Detroit Cobras which I will get out of the way first.
The Detroit Cobras can be a great band, at least on record. There albums are intense, spirited rock 'n' roll that owes as much to the recent garage rock revival as it does to all the genres and sounds the band has covered on their albums. And the Cobras have something going for them that not many bands they cover or from the revival have and that is a female front singer (Rachel Nagy) with a voice and a personality to match. Unfortunately the magic doesn't come off in their live shows. The first time I saw the band was in college at a club in Boston. The band had driven a long distance to get there and didn't let the crowd forget that as the show went on. As if it was our fault they either left for the destination late or were booked into a hectic tour schedule. Besides gratng the crowd about this the Cobras played a short set, or so I thought at the time.
The next two times I saw the band, both times in Hoboken, the band played just as short a set and again the energy of the albums was missing. This could be for various reasons. Perhaps the band was tired and had an off-night as in Boston. A band can sort of get away with stinking it up in Boston, but New York City and surrounding clubs are a different story. The New York audience is less forgiving (ask A-Rod & Roger Maris) and the bulk of the country's major music press is centered here.
Adding the three previous Detroit Cobras shows to the one I attended last night, I am forced to come to the conclusion that the band did not have an off night nor was them being tired the reason the show was lacking. The Detroit Cobras just do not put on a good live show. This is a mixture of inept musicians who cannot pull it together like the soul & R & B groups they cover. Revues, back in the day, were well known for playing a few hundred shows a year and being tight no matter what. Touring often, as the Cobras do, should result in a honing in of the music. For whatever reason the Cobras have not been too sucessful here.
Additionally, maybe switching up the songs would help bring a little spontaneity to the stage and the band, including at times its singer, wouldn't feel like they are phoning the performance in from the last gig. Last night there lead singer kept a plastic cup in her hands the entire performance and none of the liquid inside of it ever slipped out. This is a rock band, and they just didn't rock. To make a bad pun, the band left the Detroit rock in that city and gave us a cover band performing Detroit Cobras covers with their lead singer and not to sucessfully. Thankfully the band only plays for an hour.
The highlight of the show had to be Shrimp Cracker and Hendo yelling out for King Khan and BBQ in a moment of silence in the club and promptly being told to shut up. And then upon Hendo's follow-up into the KK & BBQ ordeal being told by the merch guy (the fucking merch guy!) to back off.
Greg Cartwright of the Reigning Sound was good as usual. His songs seemed like a Joe Lies set without his back-up band but his voice (as Shrimp Cracker tried to recall) sounds quite familiar to someone else yet hard to put your finger on it. Somewhat interesting, Cartwright plays his acoustic as righty and his electric as a lefty (unless I have this reversed) and that is just odd, but good for him.
I do not mean to talk shit about the Cobras becuase I truly like there album output a lot, but their live shows always leave me feeling bored and grasping the fact that I got duped into purchasing a ticket again, but that is my own fault. The best part about a Cobras show, though, is Mr. Hendo always makes an appearance and that makes it all worth it.

Fuck Mike Love

Just needed to get that out of my system.

If you hate someone write in and let us know.

National Holidays

Leonard Cohen is a Canadian but that doesn't mean the United States government shouldn't honor him and give us all the day off in appreciation for what he has done. Go Listen to Leonard.

Let's hear your votes for who deserve a national holiday.

PS Roy still needs a stamp.

A Night Of Celebration

Ms. No Name, Shrimp Cracker and I just got home from an evening celebrating the musi of Bob Dylan at Lincoln Center. Let me tell you it was amazing. The highlights were Natalie Merchant and Phillip Glass performing The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll. Al Kooper and a band with powerful horn section played the shit out of It Takes A Lot To Laugh... Phil Lesh accompanied by Warren Haynes and co took on Thunder On The Mountain. Lee Ranaldo, Smokey Hormel, John Medeski and others on a rousing Postively 4th Street. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals on a 15 minute Isis>Lovesick>Isis. Catpower (who we saw right before the show began) doing House of the Rising Sun. Jill Sobule accompained by an Cyndi Lauper and a drummer doing Ring Them Bells. The last song performed was Ramblin' Jack Elliott w/ Patti Smith and Al Kooper and they performed Knocking on Heaven's door. I will not describe it because it was great. And then outside we saw Mr. Jack Elliott hiself and that was pretty neat. But the highlight hands down was the Roots who owned Masters of War and got the big standing ovation of the night. The Roots were a Guitar-Drums-Tuba trio. The song started sung to the melody of the star spangled banner and over the next 5 minutes changed tempo from military march to taps to thrash to wailing Prince-Hendrix guitar soloing with rapid and intense drumming. Honestly I have never heard anything like it. What really made it an amazing song was though and musicianship that went into it when meshed to the intensity of the lyrics. All in all it was a night to remember. But better yet, the producer of the show informed the audience that the next night of music celebrating an artist will be in April at Carnegie Hall and it will celebrate Bruce Springsteen. I have just died and gone to fucking heaven.

Merchandise, Merchandise, Merchandise

Doojh will be dusting off the cobwebs and playing their first show in 5 months on Friday December 8th at 9pm at Valentines, opening up for Jason Ringenberg, he of Jason and The Scorchers fame. It's gonna be a hootenany, sock hop, box social, school dance, and drag show rolled into one nice package.

If we learned one thing from Spaceballs, its "merchandise, merchandise is where the real money is made from" - Yogurt. It's never too early to get some of your holiday shopping done. Who wouldn't want one of those aprons? Seriously people.

Oh man, thats funny

You just gotta love it.


Go Fuck Yourself Rummy.

The Afghan Whigs

Pulling away from the election results for a sec, I’d like to accompany the Afghan Whigs tracks posted below with some explanation. Hailing from Ohio, the AW's, or at least a few of them, supposedly met in a local jail cell, though All Music says otherwise. From there they became an alternative staple and a bunch of Gods to their fans.

I’ve read that Greg Duhli, the AW’s chief songwriter, vocalist and rhythm guitarist, described the band’s music as a R&B done up and rocked and at times I do agree. At others though the music becomes sex rock, alternative style, bordering on the no means no. It’s hard to explain, but if you are more than a casual listener you may agree. A writer in the Albuquerque Journal (where?) describes the music as a “dance-driven take on grunge” and perhaps that is the most P.C. take on it.

On a different note, Greg Duhli is supposed to be one of our generations more interesting characters. Nothing I write is going to give this guy justice, but there are stories out there on the Internets that will surprise even the most road worn and weary of you.

Without further ado, the Afghan Whigs, are like many bands of their time, better to listen to than to write about or discuss, so here are the tracks.


Be Sweet - Gentlemen
My Curse - Gentlemen
Crime Scene Part One - Black Love
Summer's Kiss - Black Love
Somethin' Hot - 1965
Neglekted - 1965


P.S. The covers The Afghan Whigs have chosen to perform aren't only interesting (R&B, Rap, The Wizard of Oz and Jazz). Seek them out and enjoy. Or stop by sometime and we can enjoy.

Get Out (the vote)

I’m watching Studio 60 and John Goodman is playing the local sheriff slash judge where some cast members of the show w/in a show got arrested. John Goodman just delivered some excellent lines that display why this program shouldn’t go off the air just yet (oh and Will Bailey I.e. Joshua Malina hasn’t made an appearance that turns into a 6 year stint). On the West Wing, when Goodman played the temporary President of the United States (when President Bartlett had to recuse himself from office after Zoey got kidnapped by terrorists for political reasons) he was so great you almost wished he was the fake-real President and not Martin Sheen. Or you wished that Sheen was the real-real President and Goodman was his real-fake successor. Although, after a little more thought, when the West Wing had the election campaign to end the final season you thought that both Jimmy Smits or Alan Alda would make a better fake and/or real President than the real one, but probably not Bartlett or for that matter Goodman. Upon a little more thought, every cast member including Donna would have made a better President than GWB, though not better than Bartlett, Goodman, Smits, or Alda. But I digress. Or maybe I didn’t. The point of the post has just derailed and taken on a new life. Everyone on the West Wing and Studio 60 (even D.H. Hughely) would make a better President than George W. Bush. No everyone in prime time (except O’Reilly and anyone on Fox News) would make a better President. Real or Fake. Chew on.

Back & Forth

I go back and forth over Ryan Adams. Sometimes thinking he is great and other times greatly thinking about how lame he is and shit. But I am more of the earlier thought because I have heard a recent show of his with the Cardinals that is posted on rbally. The quality is equisite but the arrangements are even better. If you fall somewhere in the spectrum described above, give this a shot.

Fantasy Band

Disco Stu's Fantasy Bar Band:
these would be all contemporaries, some are dead though:



Rhythm Guitar/Lead Vox: Ray Davies
Bass/Backup Vox: Rick Danko
Lead Guitar: Clarence White (of the Byrds)
Mellotron/Organ/Vox: Graham Nash
Drums: Jim Capaldi (of Traffic)

Tambourine: Macca

Top Ten On Random - iPod Mix

The Lemonheads – Ceiling Fan In My Spoon – that’s a fun Sunday afternoon song.

R.E.M. – Nightswimming – song that makes you wish it was late at night and you didn’t need to wake up in the morning.

Guided By Voices – Twilight Campfighter – Perhaps I’m stating the obvious but for a band that released so much music each song seems like lots of attention and craftsmanship was given to it. But most of all love. Just love.

Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve – Watching The Detectives - Live in 1996 Bootleg – one pit-stop on the renaissance man’s race around the track, accompanied by his very own mad scientist.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Think About Me – From the Playback Box. My iPod is beginning to look like some AAA radio programmers wet dream. Maybe this isn’t a good thing. Anyway. Playback is the ideal box set an artist should release. A healthy amount of released album cuts but a huge chunk of unreleased material that doesn’t suck. Because like my old man always says to me “Son, there is a reason it never came out in the first place.” To which I say “Yes, Father.”

Afghan Whigs – Summer’s Kiss – I cannot say enough good things about these guys. In my eyes they are fantastic. If I was in a band, I hope this would be the music we would play.

Patsy Cline - When You Need A Laugh – I was gonna say something hokey, like they just don’t make ‘em like they used to, but it’s true and that sucks. While I don’t like greatest hits collections that much there is a line of them called the Definitive Collection that I can get behind and this comes from that. The sound is tip-top and the songs are even better.

The Essex Green – This Isn’t Farm Life – Honestly, I bought this for the group’s Kinksian name. How lame is that? Just because it had the word Green in it. But it also came out on Merge and figured I’d take my chances.

HEM – When I Was Drinking – This is one of those songs from one of those albums (Rabbit Songs). It’s pretty, quiet, and especially melodic. I like to read or go to bed with it. Unfortunately, HEM’s follow-up albums never equaled this one.

Jacob Miller & The Fatman Riddim Section - Dread At The Control – Some Heavyweight Super Dub to finish the afternoon off.

Post 'em if you got 'em

Teenage Gluesniffers

Let me start things off by saying that there was a 6 or 7 year span where I liked The Queers so much I would have taken a bullet for them. The Queers started off in 1982 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Taking their cues from The Angry Samoans, Black Flag, The Ramones, The Dickies, and their fellow New Hampshire native GG Allin, along with ther boredom and adolescent who-gives-a-shit attitude, Joe King, Wimpy and Tulu decided to form a band. They called themsevles The Queers merely to piss off the local meatheads and rednecks. With early song titles like We'd Have A Riot Doing Herion, I Don't Wanna Work, I'm Useless, This Place Sucks, I Spent The Rent, Nobody Likes Me, and Nothing To Do, they fit right in with the other great teenage bands of the era. Wimpy was the original lead singer of the band, and his vocal style was unbelievably snotty and abrasive. It fit perfectly with the tunes. Eventually, guitarist Joe King stated singing more backup vocals and when Wimpy left the band, Joe took over lead vocal duties. Joe's voice is much more pleasing to the ear, and he could actually sing, as opposed to Wimpy, who just yelped really. As soon as that switch happened, there was a very noticeable pop influence on their sound. They still played with the punk intensity and snottiness, but they became the perfect blend of The Ramones and The Beach Boys, two of Joe's favorite bands. In came a new rhythm section of Hugh "Hubie" O'Neill and JJ Rassler, who was later replaced by B Face on the bass. For me, at least, this is when they went from being a good band to a great band. MRR columnist Ben Weasel got a hold of some recordings and got them signed to the same label his bad, Screeching Weasel (perhaps more on them later...), Lookout Records. Through Lookout's name recognition, promotion, financial backing (?), The Queers made a name for themselves on an international scale, becoming one of the figurehead bands of the ever-increasing pop punk scene. It was during these years that I saws them live about a dozen times or so. They totally kicked ass live, and I couldn't have loved a band more. When I was learning how to play the guitar, I immediatley learned how to play their whole catalog (along with the ramones catalog) and used to play along with the cds endlessly. Here are some songs from that era:

Goodbye California
Feeling Groovy
Ursula Finally Has Tits
Teenage Gluesniffer
Ben Weasel
Hawaii

Their relationship with Lookout soured, and Hugh passed away in 1998, and B Face moved on as well. Too much drink/drugs/bad vibes (and an unfortunate brain aneurysm) brought the end of their best lineup. Joe has continued the band, releasing things on various labels, and having various lineups of the band, but he has remained as the frontman. After a little while I lost track of them, returning to their albums every once in a while. I think its time for another trip down memory lane. Here's a link where you can purchase their new live album, "Weekend At Bernies". Check it out party people.

Figgs Rock.COM Pt. 1

Let me be the first on Hendo Bendo to proclaim the excellence that is Follow Jean Through The Sea the brand new Figgs record. A must own for anybody that has ever heard of this power trio staple, let alone anybody that actually digs this band. There will be more to come on this album but for now lets just reach an accepted understanding that this album kicks some serious power pop ass.

Mekons For Breakfast

Here's some tunes to get you through the day.

The Mekons - The Flame That Killed John Wayne
The Mekons - The Curse
Thee Mighty Caesars - I Can't Find Pleasure
Fred Neil - Travelin' Shoes