Fat Possum Day 4 - T-Model Ford

And we move on to T-Model Ford. If everything you read is to be believed, the man who was born James Lewis Carter Ford is one hard motherfucker. Let the man tell it himself (from his myspace page):
During the time he spent driving and working in a log camp, T-Model ran into trouble, and was eventually sentenced to ten years on a chain-gang for murder. He lucked out and was released after serving two. He says, grinning, "I could really stomp some ass back then, stomp it good. I was a-sure-enough dangerous man." When asked how many times he'd been to jail, T-Model responded, "I don't know. How many?" He seemed to think it might be a trick question. Upon realizing it wasn't, he answered to the best of his ability. "Every Saturday night there for awhile."
Even more so than some of his peers, T-Model Ford's songs are very simple, and typically dont venture beyond a three chord pattern. However, he throws so much vigor into his songs, that the energy and grit really shines through. Here are some tunes from T-Model and his right hand man, his drumer Spam. It should also be noted that the first song down below served as the theme song for one of the radio shows I did at WSPN about 4 or 5 years ago (One Foot In The Grave - for those keeping track at home).

She Asked Me So I Told Her
Come Back Home
Cut You Loose

"Hello, May I Speak To Mr. Dylan Please?"

Forty years before he took to the satellite beams, Bob Dylan spent a night behind the mic on the Pacifica-run independent station WBAI in NY. For a few hours in the middle of a lonely January night, Dylan traded wits with host Bob Nass, the freeform radio legend behind the multi-decade NYC institution Radio Unnameable.

Dylan & Fass fielded late-night calls from anyone who cared to call in, ranging everywhere from a girl looking for a TV dinner date to New Jersey bookseller making a "business" inquiry into Dylan's then-promised publication, to a guy on a psychedelic trip looking for suggestions.


The bootleg label Vigotone released this as the first CD in their Jewels and Binoculars box set, probably one of the most massive box sets in American music history. It's a 26 CD deep collection that documents Dylan's entire recorded year of 1966, including his U.S. & European tour with The Band, studio outtakes and hotel room demos.
Stay tuned to Hendo in the upcoming weeks for more from the box.

Bob Dylan - January 26 - WBAI-FM Studios, NY Part One

Fat Possum Day 3 - RL Burnside take 2

I saw these videos on youtube, and they just had to be shared:

Fat Possum Day 3 - Junior Kimbrough

Today, We're gonna take a look at the first musician that Fat Possum released, Junior Kimbrough. Junior was one of the local legends of the North Mississippi Hill Country that was focused on in the great documentary "Deep Blues". He learned from legendary Mississippi Blues men like Fred McDowell and even later taught Rockabilly icon Charlie Feathers. A lot has been said about Junior's trance-like mesmerizing style, but it really is easy to get lost in his songs. He had his own Juke Joint, oddly enough, called Junior's Place which quickly became the hub for all of the best regional blues musicians.


Black Keys singer Dan Auerbach has hailed Junior as his ultimate influence. They recently recorded a tribute EP to him, and earlier took part in a tribute compilation album also featuring people like Iggy & The Stooges, Blues Explosion, Spiritualized, and Jack Oblivion. Junior died from a stroke in 1998, but his legacy continues to grow with these kind of tributes, and I applaud everyone involved. Check out the man whose 1992 "All Night Long" album got the award of The Best Blues Album Of The Decade by Rolling Stone magazine:

Meet Me In The City
I Feel Alright
Done Got Old

Monday Mix

Lee Hazlewood - Leather & Lace
Gregory Isaacs - Storm
Nellie McKay - Food
Damon & Naomi - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Magnetic Fields - Two Characters In Search Of A Country Song
Pulp - Weeds II (Origin Of The Species)
Afghan Whigs - Lost In The Supermarket
The Broken West - Down In The Valley

Fat Possum Day 2 - Asie Payton

Today, we're gonna look at Asie Payton. He practically spent his entire life in Mississippi, working as a farmer. The Fat Possum guys were able to record him twice, and here is what they had to say: "At the time, all we knew about Asie was that he lived in a shotgun shack -- no phone, no a/c; and that whenever the fields were dry enough for tractor tires, he was working in them. When they were too wet, Asie was impossible to find." His music personifies the Mississippi Juke-Joint style of blues that a lot of the other artists on Fat Possum play(ed) as well. The first song I have here is my favorite of his, it's really simple and repetitive, but its got a real nice groove, and you can just picture yourself in a dark, sweaty bar in Mississippi with a cold beer when you hear it.


Going Back To The Bridge
Skinny Legs & All
I Love You

Fat Possum Day 1 - RL Burnside

Following in the footsteps of No Name, I'm gonna try to do a week of posts about Fat Possum Records. Based out of Oxford, Mississippi, they've done a lot to bring blues into the conciousness of the underground rock scene. Initially, they mainly released albums by older, grizzled, blues men from Mississippi such as RL Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. As the label has gained in notoriety, they have expanded their roster to include roots rock, garage, punk, and indie rock, (including the new Dinosaur Jr album??). We're gonna start things off with the first artist on Fat Possum I ever heard, which is RL Burnside.


RL first recorded in 1967, and kept busy making music pretty much until he got too sick to play. I fell in love with his music becuase of its propulsive rhythms, and his voice. It's because of him that I dug deeper and really sought out the older country/folk blues musicians like Skip James and Son House etc. He recruited his sons and eventually grandsons into his band, and spent most of his days in the Northern Mississippi area in total obscurity and poverty. After Fat Possum began releasing his albums, blues based rockers such as The Blues Explosion became fans and collaborated on an album and tour. This chain of events is what catapulted RL into relative fame. His albums of the late '90s and early '00s got a fair amount of mainstream press recognition, and he even had his music remixed (which is the only stuff of his I'm not personally a huge fan of). Why dont we just allow the music to speak for itself:

Going Down South
Don't Care How Long You're Gone
Old Black Mattie
Peaches
Poor Boy
Snake Drive (live)

Go buy the albums folks, you'll be glad you did.

iPod on Random

Annie's Back In Town, Tom Waits, Time Waits For No One Bootleg
Learning To Fly, Tom Petty, Bonnaroo 2006
Hey Man, Howe Gelb, 'Sno Angel Like You
Swingin' A Go-Go, Stiv Bators, Disconnected
Talkin Fishin, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Kerouac's Last Dream
I'm Not Like Everyone Else, The Kinks, To The Bone
Separate Cars, The Tyde, Three's Co.
Starlust, Lush, Split
Not Over Yet 11 w, Carbon/Silicon, A.T.O.M 2.0
The Funny Bird, Mercury Rev, Deserter's Songs

Cool Shit

Shrimp and I saw Elvis Costello a few years ago and hands down it was amazing. The highlight was "I Want You." Nothing I had ever seen up 'till then or since has matched Mr. Costello's intensity on that song.

Good Year For The Roses:


For the haters:
Jackson Browne


Fleetwood Mac:
Sure this may be a defense mech, but if you can't get into this song you probably don't have any taste. So when the revolution comes, raise your hand and spare the rest of us. Seriously, this is a cool version of the song and an awesome period captured on film.



Warren Zevon:
I can't do this one justice,


Warren & Hunter: I Can't believe this shit exists:


Teddy Thompson covering L.C.: "You kept right on loving and I went on a fast. Now I am too thin and your love it too vast"


This has been on my iPod for a while so it was time to share. David Byrne meet Whitney Houston:

Steve and Emmy

Holy Shit Post Of The Day

Ickmusic has a Steve Earle Bootleg with multiple guest spots featuring Bruce Springsteen.

Jefitoblog has a Bowie Bootleg up that looks pretty neat.

Afghan Whigs retrospective

Rhino will be releasing an Afghan Whigs retrospective May 1st.

The tracklisting for the Afghan Whigs anthology Unbreakable/A Retrospective has been revealed:

1- Retarded
2- Crazy
3- Turn On The Water
4- Debonair
5- I’m A Soldier (New Track)
6- 66
7- Be Sweet
8- Come See About Me
9- Uptown Again
10- What Jail Is Like
11- Magazine (New Track)
12- I’m Her Slave
13- Going To Town
14- Gentlemen
15- Let Me Lie To You
16- John the Baptist
17- Crime Scene Part One
18- Faded

Johnny Thunders in The Goo Goo Dolls?

from idolator

Thanks to the tipster who sent along this press release regarding next week's Rock Star Supernova gig in Philadelphia:

Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee joins Guns N' Roses Gilby Clarke, and lead singer Lukas Rossi, winner of the CBS reality show. The band's current bassist Johnny Thunders, formerly of Black Crowes and Goo Goo Dolls, replaced the injured Jason Newsted following his major shoulder injury in October.

Because Thunders died in 1991, his newly risen-from-the-grave corpse has spent the last few days on the road asking catch-up questions like, "Where did CBGB's go?," "What the hell's an iPod?," and "Why is the drummer driving the tour bus with his dong?"

Holy Shit Post Of The Day

Dick Cheney Is Crazy!

Dick Cheney and Wolf "man has no nards!" Blitzer got into some heated discussion today on the Situation Room. Cheney has to be a huge source of the lies, denial, misinformation going on in the administration right now if what he says in the interview is actually something he believes. But he's got a big out. That being that he's got to be crazy. One half of the Catch-22. Seriously, who but a crazy person would fuck with Wolf "man has no nards!" Blitzer?

Dan Melchior

Billy Childish's sphere of influence is quite large actually. There are several musicans/bands that he has recorded with/toured with/just generally been associated with that get to share his spotlight with him. One of those guys is Dan Melchior, who through his solo albums, his Broke Revue albums, and other odds and ends is challenging Billy for prolific-ness (??). Here is a small sample of his work. He tends to work in the same damaged blues/rock/garage medium as many of Billy's projects.
The first one is actually from the Billy Childish & Dan Melchior album, "Devil In The Flesh". It's Length Of Pipe
Here is one from The Broke Revue album, "This Love Is Real". It's The Longest Train
Here is one from The Broke Revue album, "Old Time Futureshock". It's One More Time
Lastly, here is a song from the Holly Golightly & Dan Melchior album, "Desperate Little Town". It's Directly From My Heart



Check out Dan Melchior's website and here is his Myspace page

If anyone out there has any other of his albums and would like to share a song or two, lemme know.

Damon Albarn/Blur, Day 4

Yesterday saw the release of The Good, The Bad & The Queen's self titled album. The band features Damon Albarn, Tony Allen (Drummer, Fela Kuti), Paul Simonon (Bass, The Clash), Simon Tong (Guitar, The Verve), and Danger Mouse (Producer, Gnarls Barkley).

So far, I have no major problems with this album. It's not brilliant by any means but the songs have been fun to listen to. I've come away digging the bass sounds that Simonon provided. The album shipped gold in the U.K. which is not really a big surprise. It probably won't do as well over here, but the band is playing Coachella so I guess they will be a semi-hip thing.

Check out All Music Guide's review here.

The following tracks are the first on the album and then the leadoff single.

History Song
Herculean

The State Of Our Union Is Frail

Well, John the Baptist, after torturing a thief

Looks up at his hero, the Commander-in-Chief

Saying, "Tell me great hero, but please make it brief

Is there a hole for me to get sick in?"

- "Tombstone Blues"

Holy Shit Post Of The Day

Best part of George W. Bush's State of the Union was the shot out to Dikembe Mutombo who was sitting right next to Laura Bush. Their are lots of jokes to make about those two next to one another with GWB watching but that's not for this blog.

Damon Albarn/Blur, Day 3

Tonight the third installment of our Damon Albarn series comes to us courtesy of the Gorillaz. Laika Comes Home is a remix album of the first Gorillaz album and for this reason it not strictly a Gorillaz release but billed as Gorillaz vs. Spacemonkeyz. I assume the Spacemonkeyz took part in the remixing, or at least were paid a royalty for any troubles their matchup caused them. The album was released in 2002 on Astralwerks Records.

While I never got into this highly successful (Did any of you see the opening of the last Grammy’s when they performed w/ Madonna?) side project, I really like Laika Comes Home because the remixes are deeply rooted in dub reggae which is a favorite of mine.

For the unaware's Gorillaz is an audio/visual project comprised of Albarn, Miho Hatori (of Cibo Matto), Tina Weymouth & Chris Frantz (of Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club), Dan “The Automator” and others (Dennis Hopper, Shaun Ryder, Debbie Harry, Kid Koala, Del The Funky Homosapien-some of these are names I never thought I would type and never hope to again). The visual aspect of the partnership consists of visual cartoonish images created by Jamie Hewlett. I imagine that his visuals are much more entertaining than watching the above musicians, with the exceptions of Ms. Weymouth and Dennis Hopper, but only because he is fucking nuts.

Gorillaz vs. Spacemonkeyz - 19/2000 (Jungle Fresh)
Gorillaz vs. Spacemonkeyz - Punk (De-Punked)

Tomorrow's feature will be The Good, The Bad & The Queen. 'Till then have a nice day.

P.S. Rumor's floating that Tom Waits will be at the 'Roo this summer.

P.P.S. Support your local record shops before their are none and you bitch about it.

Billy Childish & The Singing Loins

Just got back from Vermont, and am ready to start posting again. As promised, here is a repost of the Singing Loins tracks that were originally posted here.

Skinner's Rats
The Pub On The Corner
Medway Wheelers

And now, here are some songs from the collaboration album the Singing Loins did with Billy Childish from the album At The Bridge.



You Make Me Die
The Bitter Cup
One More Bottle To Drink

Holy Shit Post Of The Day

Word is in that the Jesus and Mary Chain are reuniting for Coachella!!! WTF?!?? This is great and one of a few excellent reunions instore for us this summer. The 6-up being the other?

Damon Albarn/Blur, Day 2

In 2002, Damon Albarn released Mali Music (Honest Jons Records), an album he recorded with Malian musicians while visting the country. The album is billed as a release by Albarn, Afel Bocoum, Tolimani Diabate and Friends. The music is dynamic, awakening and a real interesting blend of western and world music. Besides the tracking of multiple artists their are lots of sounds on Mali Music, derived from a variety of intstruments. Albarn, no stranger to Augustus Pablo and his brand of dub reggae, brought along a melodica, a child like instrument capable of churning out some attractive sounds. There are also things called kalimbas, koras, monochords and a trez. But don't get worried because drums, guitars, bass and xylophone's also appear as well as vocals, lots of cool sounds emitting out from these humans.

The pictures (their are a bunch) accompanying the disc, show Albarn in as many different settings as their are pages. He is frequently playing his melodica joined by those he recorded with. I'm not sure if Albarn would classify the music made on his trip as field recordings but they certainly do come off as recorded "live." Apparently, the album was recorded at various venues, clubs and bars where Albarn could set up shop. Though Albarn later, in a studio, added instruments and other sounds.

Before moving on to the music, I want to point out that this album is surely not a descendant of Paul Simon's Graceland (not that that would be a bad thing). Albarn stays pretty faithful to the Malian/World sound, not really incorporating it into pop music. Rather he performed a reverse operation, incorporating elements of pop music into what by and large is world-ish composition, perhaps not strictly Malian but borrowing from Jamaica and other distant locales.

Finally, this post would not have been made without the recommendation of this album right after it came out, by my friend NB who had so graciously opened his Mass. home up to me for the night. Before a game of pool he put this on and I do believe without wasting any time I told him to turn it off. "Who would play pool to this?" I thought. Well, he is a better man than me because we would all be better pool players if we listened to some Mali Music while playing a little 8 ball.

Mali Music - Spoons
Mali Music - The Djembe
Mali Music - Niber

Buy Mali Music at Amazon.

Just in case you needed a brit-pop fix:
Cast - Fine Time

Damon Albarn/Blur, Day 1

This week marks the release of Damon Albarn's new project The Good, The Bad and The Queen. The album is to feature Paul Simonon of the Clash, Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen, Simon Tong of The Verve and was produced by Dangermouse. I've seen mixed reviews from the album but am pretty excited to hear it in full myself.

I thought it would be interesting to spend the next few days putting a spotlight on Damon Albarn's career with Blur and on into his side/solo projects. Blur were arguably, next to Oasis, the best of the Britpop scene. There music was clearly British but it also was highly original and fun to listen to. The band released seven albums. Modern Life is Rubbish (1993) and Parklife (1994) are hailed as their most spectacular but even Think Tank (2003), their last LP and only without guitarist Graham Coxon is worth checking out.

My plan is to begin with some Blur and move on to Mali Music (2002), an album Albarn wrote and recorded in Mali with local musicians and some interesting musicians. Next, I'd like to toss up a little Gorillaz but something from the remix album, Laika Come Home. From there I think I may be ready to post a track from The Good, The Bad & The Queen and close up the week by returning to Blur (how cool would it be if Albarn himself did that as well?).

So to get things rolling I wanted to set up the juxtaposition in Albarn's musical tastes and capabilities that he displayed within Blur and outside that group. From Blur's The Great Escape (1995) we have Country House. From Think Tank is Moroccan People's Revolutionary Bowls Club, complete with robotic ending.

I hope you enjoy

Yesterday's News

a Hendo weekly wrap-up


The Big Bopper, Jr. hired a forensic anthropologist to investigate the day the music (and his daddy) died. Question Mark (of ? & The Mysterians) lost his home, possessions and 4 of his 7 Yorkies in a tragic house fire. Especially shitty is he lost his gold record for "96 Tears" in the blaze. America (the band, not the falling empire) released a new album & played Letterman with Ryan Adams on lead guitar, while The Arcade Fire played their old high school cafeteria on Saturday night.

Rolling Stone profiled a real rock & roll band we haven't heard of yet, The Beatles are going to iTunes, and the RIAA sent in a SWAT team to crack down on mixtape DJ 'piracy,'

On the blogs, My Old Kentucky Home has a download of Samuel L. doing "Stack 'O Lee" from his new movie Black Snake Moan, where he plays on RL-looking ex-bluesman who chains up Christina Ricci to cure her of nymphomania. In the land of 7" audio rips, 7inchPunk has the 1st Stiff Little Fingers single up for grabs, and I Am Fuel You Are Friends has the A-side from M. Ward/Jim James single "Magic Trick" (if you're into that kinda shit). Aquarium Drunkard has a live radio broadcast of The Meters from 1977, while plenty of older-school MP3s abound at Driftwood Singers, including Emmylou's take on "Pancho & Lefty" & William Burroughs' original of "What Keeps Mankind Alive?".

In Neil Young news, Reprise announced they're putting out the next volume of Neil's Archive Series on March 13. The recording, "Live at Massey Hall," captures a solo/acoustic set from Jan., 1971 in Toronto. According to Neil, "this is the album that should have come out between After The Gold Rush and Harvest," and was getting a lot of push his near-permanent producer David Briggs. Neil dug the recordings from Harvest so that's what they went with, but if Briggs was such a fan of releasing this back in the real-time context of 1971, then we're convinced this has to be quite a fucking show.

Reprise also confirmed a fall 2007 release of the long-long-long-rumored Archives Volume I box set, with 8 CDs and 2 DVDs packed with 38 unreleased songs (some studio, some live) plus more, all between 1964-1971. Now that's a lot of music for not too many years, which suggests many future outpouring of the Archvies, but even more badass is what might exist in those early-early years. Particularly I'm talking about Neil's pre-Buffalo Springfield band, The Mynah Birds, the one fronted by Rick James that never released any material, but who apparently recorded 16 tracks for Motown before being dropped...

Charlie Louvin

In the holy shit post of the day, Charlie Louvin has a new album coming out next month on Tompkins Square Records. The remaining half of The Louvin Brothers will be joined by such guests as Jeff Tweedy, Elvis Costello, Bobby Bare Sr., Tift Merritt, David Kilgour, Paul Burch and George "I got such sweet hair" Jones. Ok wait, there's more. Mr. Louvin also has members of Bright Eyes, Superchunk, Lambchop i.e. Kurt Wagner, Blanche and a bunch of other folks joining him. This is sure to get a Grammy nomination without anyone having heard it.

I left one person out. Bonnie Prince Billy also shows up on Knoxville Girl.

This is the best part about thinking people are dead. They not only are alive and recoridng music still, but they gathered up a slew of guests to join them.

Sunday's iPod On Random

Half Past France - John Cale - Paris 1919: Here we go starting things off right. Isn't this Jeff Tweedy's favorite album? Maybe John Cale is one of the reasons that band lost its track.

Ethiopian Version - King Tubby & Soul Syndicate - Freedom Sounds In Dub: I have no clue who or what the Soul Syndicate is but this shit is top-notch.

Learning The Game - Buddy Holly -The Buddy Holly Collection: I've never heard a BH track I didn't like. I read somewhere this week that the family of the Big Bopper is going to exhume his body to find out if there was a gun on board the plane. Check it out here.

It's Impossible - Lambchop - The Decline of Country...: Most bands got nothing on these guys.

Can We Try Love Again - Kool Blues - from Numero Group's Eccentric Soul Series. This one from the Capsoul Label: Hendo just bought this one I believe and I'm sure will dig the vibes.

In The Jailhouse Now - Steve Earle & The V-Roys - The Songs of Jimmy Rodgers: I'm trying to think of what musician from the past Steve Earle could be compared to and keep drawing blanks. The guy has released so much great music and is such a story that I think he stands on his own. If he didn't take his lefty stances, I bet he would be honored in the Kennedy Center or something one day.

To Live Is To Fly - Townes Van Zandt - High, Low And In Between: This is iPod poetry, Townes coming in to keep Steve some company. If Steve Earle is due such high remarks, than Townes should have a town named after him (No pun intended) or a huge fat royalty check sent to his widow(s) for his efforts. Seriously, find me a singer-songwriter below the Mason-Dixon that wasn't influenced by TVZ.

Belle S'Est Etourdi - Kate & Anna McGarrigle - The French Record: I am such a sucker for anything sung in French and these sisters that this album was a no brainer for me.

Walk Of Life - Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms: Last night this weird station I get aired a documentary on Dire Straits from around the time of their first record. They were so young looking it was scary, like how a band on the cover of NME looks today. Other than that there was nothing interesting I saw that made me keep watching and In The Line Of Fire was on a few channels away. I got to thinking about how Clint Eastwood is on the walls of my apartment in a few places. That creeped me out so I flipped back to these guys.

What A Day (For A Night) - Paul Westerberg - Besterberg: Pretty soon it will be time for the Hall Of Fame to shaft Paul too. He's used to it though. (I think The Replacements are actually eligible for entry which means they already have been shafted).

Today's Ethicist is a good one, Mr. Cohen gave us an extra Q&A.

New Music

A new year, means brand new albums to digest your way through. Here is a tiny list of a groups who have new (or newish) music out there I've heard a track or two by but would like to check out some more.

Menomena - Wet & Rusting from the album Friend and Foe, released by Barsuk Records

The Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye from the album Carnavas, released by Dangerbird Records

Lastly, there's the new Damon Albarn project The Good, The Bad & The Queen featuring Paul Simonon and Tony Allen. That should be an interesting one.

And for some albums that aren't so new that have hit my to get list: M. Ward's last one, Dead Meadow's last one (just got the re-issue of their first LP and it's banging), Yabba You re-issue out on Blood & Fire, Tappa Zukie's Escape From Hell (Zukie being a dub producer maestro), a new Dead live one from NYE in 1976 that I believe may only be ordered on-line from Dead.net but I'm not so sure about that one.

Before I split, I'm listening to the Twilight Singer's As Played By The Twilight Singers. The rhythm section of a '70's R&B outfit blended together with the alt-rock of some of the best '90's bands. It really is a winning combination and I'm kind of surprised more group/artists don't try it on for size. Then again this shit probably ain't too easy to pull off.

Oh one more thing. The New Yorker has posted an profile written in 1978 about Ahmet Ertegun who recently passed. It can be checked out here. It's quite lengthy and I think I only linked to the first part so JIC here is part II. People live on in the memory of others and while Mr. Ertegun lives on via the shelves of our records, this is a little backup.

O'Reilly Rounds 2, 3 & 4

Last night Colbert was on Bill O'Reilly's show and O'Reilly then showed on on The Colbert Report. It was entertaining to say the least

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Bonus: Here is Phil Donahue levelling to O'Reilly's level while keeping his tact.

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The Gore Gore Girls

This just in:
The Gore Gore Girls are signing to Bloodshot Records. Check out the part in the article where they make fun of the Mooney Suzuki (comin' back to Valentines on 02.17) and the Woggles.

Riders

Alice Coltrane has passed away and the world feels a little different without her. When I was a sophomore in college, I got myself in a little bit of trouble and ended up in a hojo's for a few weeks instead of a dorm-room. I had a room with some basic cable, a neighbor with a "slow" child who she yelled at constantly and a wake up call every morning to invite me back to a world that wasn't really doing me any favors. To say the least it was pretty unpleasant and more so I had no stereo and this was right before iPod's became widespread. I felt fucked.
I convinced myself that the cost of a boombox was nothing, especially when added to the the price of a Howard Johnson's for days upon days. So I went and got one but then had only the cd's in my car to play and I wasn't listening to anymore live versions of Darkside of the Moon so I hit up a local record store and purchased two albums that became the only albums I listened to for weeks in that room on the first floor. One was Love's Forever Changes. A little hint, if you are ever in a significant amount of potential trouble and living virtually on the run, this is not the best thing to have on repeat. The other album I bought was Alice Coltrane's Journey in Satchidananda.
It may have been fate or just luck or neither but me and that record clicked. I would lay in bed reading as her harp and Pharoah Sanders sax wafted around my motel room. For a change of scenery, I began taking baths and Coltrane kept me company. Sometimes it felt like she and Arthur Lee were the only ones and to that I am grateful. I've never learned the track names or really read the liners but I feel I know that album in the biblical sense. To me it's a warm and soothing record, with sounds like no other that I have ever heard and I vividly can remember the feeling of getting excited every time I pressed play to hear it one more time. On a shitty boombox it sounded perfect and I'll never forget it.
I haven't really listened to Journey all that much since that period in my life but it fulfilled its purpose and I got much more than the price of admission that I paid, more than with most albums that I own. I've also never bought another Alice Coltrane album but thinking about it probably should. Alice Coltrane was a woman I never met and now never will, but she made a real impact on my life in a difficult moment and I will never forget it and will never forget her.

The Doors - Riders on the Storm

Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson - (Ghost) Riders In The Sky

Nonviolent Protest

Today is Martin Luther King Jr Day. If anyone from the last 60 years deserves a national holiday in their rememberance it's MLK. But no, motherfuckers be trippin, and my job doesnt give us the day off. FUCK THAT. Not only is the weather insanely shitty today, but to have to come in to work on a day like this when everyone else has the day off blows. Beyond selfish reasons for wanting the day off, this shit is offensive also. Help me come up with ways to protest nonviolently about them not observing Martin Luther King day. And yes, I am doing this from work (ooooh what a rebel)


P.S. I'm also accepting violent protest options

Something I Learned Today

a Hendo weekly wrap-up

The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame announced its Class of 2007 (Grandmaster Flash, R.E.M., The Ronnettes, Patti Smith and Van Halen). Sammy Hagar expressed fear of "some harsh words towards each other or some sly remarks in speeches," but remains comforted by the fact that people will recognize VH as "one of the greatest rock & roll bands in the world, ever, and well-deserved the inauguration into the Hall of Fame." Besides VH1 dropping the HOF ceremony from their programming ranks, the bigger story out of Cleveland is that The Stooges were nominated & again didn't make the cut, making 2007 another bullshit year. Go sign the petition here.

Sneaky Pete Kleinow, the wizard steel guitarist & Flying Burrito Brother, passed away in a nursing home in California after complications from Alzheimer's. He was 72. Elsewhere in California, a woman died of water intoxication while taking part in KDND-107.9's “Hold Your Wee For A Wii” giveaway contest. Rolling Stone started a reality show, everyone at V2 got fired, and Fredonia apparently has a music scene.

On the blogs, The Perfumed Garden added a 1988 Dinosaur Jr. set to their mountainous Peel Session archives. Side One Track One posted new, to-be-released tracks from Modest Mouse, Apples In Stereo, !!!, Air (w/ Jarvis Cocker on vocals, and LCD Soundsystem. Post-Punk Junk posted the 2nd LP from the flamboyantly excellent Human Sexual Response, and Driftwood Singers has an excellent post up on Lowell George (aka The Orson Welles of Rock), with a plethora of related MP3s. Ickmusic has a live Clash show from '83, and Big Rock Candy Mountain is soliciting suggestions for the 100 Greatest Drinking Songs Of All Time.

In Dylan news, The Weinstein Company of Harvey & little bro Bob snatched up the rights to I'm Not There: Suppositions On A Film Concerning Bob Dylan, which they're hoping to release late this year. Alicia Keys responded to Zimmy dropping her a line in the leadoff track to Modern Times: "I couldn't quite believe it.... For him to give a shit about me is pretty exciting. I like it." Simon Cowell announced he's never bought a Dylan album, and Bob did a radio show about hair.

If you haven't yet, join us in indulging Bono & the post-production triumph that is U2's video for their new single "Window In The Skies". Gotta love this kind of shit....

The Singing Loins

I had already been listening to Billy Childish for a few years (albeit not as rabidly as i later did) and already owned about a dozen of his releases before I came across the "At The Bridge" album which was credited to Billy Childish & The Singing Loins. At first I thought it was some one-off band he had assembled, but soon realized that the Singing Loins were a Medway duo, who had created a name for themselves on their own. The sound of the album was a lot folkier than anything else I had heard by him. They had an awesome raw, gritty lo-fi folk/blues/traditional sound going on. They sounded like authentic working class pub-folk (you could imagine them tearing it up at a smoke filled local pub in rural England in the 1800s. Banjos, Acoustic guitars, accordians, cardboard box percussion....this shit was the lo-fi real deal. They described their sound as "Authentic raw folk from the Medway delta". They released a few albums on Hangman Records and called it quits after a few years. They did a one-off reunion gig in '04 which lead to a legit comeback, and a new album at the end of '05. "Songs To Hear Before You Die" is the album, and is really great.

Here are a few tunes from the album:
Skinner's Rats
The Pub On The Corner
Medway Wheelers


This guy here could probably give you a better background on the band. Either way, pick up this 2 CD anthology that collects everything they had previously done. Pound those pints and throw on the singing loins.

Rainbow Quartz, Day 5

One of my favorite singles so far outta the Rainbow Quartz camp has been from a band who goes by a name none other than... The Singles.

Damn skippy.

The Singles - Since You've Been Gone

And some more light 'n sweet guitar pop pleasantries:

The Singles - He Can Go, You Can't Stay

The Marked Men

Here's another album that would have been considered for my year end list for '06, but I didnt get it until recently. The Marked Men's new(est) album, Fix My Brain was their first one for Swami Records. I'd never actually owned any of their stuff, but I've had a few random mp3s from older albums for a while that I dug. They've got a really cool garage/pop kind of sound, and you can hear it on A Little Lesson.

Sound Alikes

So I was just listening to Ray Lamontagne's first album Trouble which reminds me for some reason of Astral Weeks era Van Morrison and when the last track came on All The Wild Horses the string arrangement brought me to Dylan's All The Tired Horses from Self Portrait.

It was funny because I didn't have the Lamontagne jacket in front of me when I decided to post about the similarity so I couldn't see what the title of the song was but as soon as I picked it I had to wonder whether the arrangement was purposely lifted as the names are so similar.

Either way both are gorgeous songs.

We Will Never Agree On Anything As We Agree On...

Team Hendo would like to usher in the new year with a few new post topics. The first in a series of new ones is We Will Never Agree On Anything As We Agree on...(name subject to change). The phrase comes from a Lester Bangs article whereupon he stated in an aside that, we, the listener, all could agree on Elvis but after him our tastes diverged and hence the rock critic was born.

The premise of the post is Team Hendo, individually, and any friends, loved ones, readers, haters (i.e. you) will write in to tell all about your favorite album by the band named for the specific post and why it hits your #1 with a bullet. So please, lets start with the tip-top of the mountain: The Beatles.

What's your favorite album by the fab-four and why?

Rainbow Quartz, Day 4

Lilys and The Asteroid Numberfour have a few things in common: both derive from PA and at one time were on Rainbow Quartz, though neither of the posted tracks is from a RQ release. Also, I know nothing about these bands so will not waste your time with any commentary.

The Asteroid Numberfour - Apple Street

Lilys - With Candy

The Big Cheese

Happy Birthday, Rod. Contrary to the opinions of some contributors to this blog, Rod Stewart is not and will never be a pussy. Despite decades of decadence and big-time bullshit, his boozin' years with Ron Wood & co. in their various outfits safely enshrine him in eternal glory. And though some would have preferred enshrining him in carbonite (in say 1974), let's take today to remember the positive thoughts.

For real people.



That's John Peel faking the mandolin solo, and some feelgood camaraderie of soccer ball kicking, live on the Beeb.

For the archivists out there, here's an audio recording of that same broadcast, made available on the now legendary box set Five Guys Walk Into A Bar.

"Maggie May" [live BBC]

Some other goodies from the box:

"Shake, Shudder, Shiver" [Rehearsal]

"Wyndlesham Bay (Jodie)" [Outtake]

And for dessert, a stray country ballad from the solo archives, with a title I'll never comprehend:

"What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me)" [Jerry Lee Lewis cover, double A-side with "Angel" from '72]

Question

Yesterday, the NYPost ran a picture of Johnny Depp and Keith Richards in full costume on the set of the next Pirates movie. I was wondering if anyone had come across the pic and if so could they provide a link?

Rainbow Quartz, Day 3

The Volebeats hail from Detroit, have seven albums under their belt, and are one of the few bands on RQ's country tinged label, Turquoise Mountain. The sister-label is dedicated to finding and releasing Cosmic American Music with a little something special. That is God's work .

The band's first album on the label was Country Favorites, which contains a few originals and a bunch of covers of tunes by Serge Gainsbourg, Slayer, 13th Floor Elevators and Funkadelic. The album features members of Outrageous Cherry, Electric Six and was engineered by Jim Diamond.

One I Know (Volebeats Original)

Maggot Brain (Funkadelic Cover)

Paul Burch - East To West

In the past week and a half since I finalized my top ten albums from 2006, there have been a few albums that I got to hear for the first time that came out in '06. Some of these would have been strong contenders to make it onto my top ten, and I want to give them some attention now.
The first one is the latest album from the Nashville native Paul Burch. East To West, released by HBBB faves Bloodshot Records is chock-full of some absolutely top notch twang. Burch has such a great voice, and his songwriting (which is not something I necessarily pay that much attention to normally - as long as it rocks, im usually down) really is great as well. This time round, Burch's band, The WPA Ballclub includes Jim Grey and Marty Lynds. East To West also features some stellar special guests including Kelly Hogan, Ralph Stanley, Tim O'Brien and some nifty gittar playing from Mark Knopfler.
Here's a few tunes:
Montreal
Daddy Rhythm Guitar - This song is really cool cause it glorifies the role of the rhythm guitar in a band. "Daddy was shy about his steady hand, he knew it wasnt what the people were coming for. That old band would have broke down if he stopped chuggin, that hard pumpin rhythm guitar.." As a bassist, you gotta love shit like that.

Here's a link to buy Burch's stuff online, or even better go support your local record stores, they need your love.

Rainbow Quartz, Day 2

Today's choice was a tough one. So many bands and so little time. The Morning After Girls are pretty top-notch in my book. A more modern Brian Jonestown Massacre. Did I really just write that? They are from Australia and they rock. Their Rainbow Quartz release is titled Prelude: ep's 1 & 2. This is from that and its called Run For Our Lives. The band's site has a couple of more tracks you can check out if you like what you hear as does their label page.

Happy B-Day Zigga

In honor of David Bowie's 60th B-day here are a few artists paying their respects to Ziggy Stardust. Taken from an Uncut Magazine tribute disc. And as a bonus, a little of Bowie taking on the Boss.

Starman - Culture Club - it actually isn't that bad but I think the reason is more because of the quality of the song, rather than Boy George.

Rock 'n' Roll Suicide - Black Box Recorder

It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City - David Bowie

and check out this list of 60 things about David Bowie as compiled by the BBC.

No Name's Top 5 Bowie albums
1. Ziggy Stardust
2. Hunky Dory
3. Low
4. Bowie At The Beeb
5. Aladdin Sane

Rainbow Quartz, Day 1

Rainbow Quartz, a New York based label, mainly releases psych-pop albums. The label has a hefty sized stable of artists and bands and is a much needed presence on the current music scene.
Over the next week Hendo Bendo will feature a few of the artists on Rainbow Quartz and its sister label, Turquoise Mountain. If you like what you hear, the label's site contains links to a few tracks by each of the its bands, but more importantly, go out and purchase an album or two or three so this label can persist in releasing cool tunes by worthwhile artists.

We start with Denise James and a track from her 2006 release Promises titled tonight it's allright. Denise James is from Detroit by way of Paris. The album was produced by Matthew Smith of Outrageous Cherry and The Volebeats and engineered by Jim Diamond. Denise James is not the typical Rainbow Quartz artist. Her music leans more towards poppy singer-songwriting stuff than sun-bursting psych and for that reason Denise James has made some pleasant Sunday listening.

iPod on Random

Who Knows: Marion Black, Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label - This is a track from a re-issue by perhaps the finest re-issue label out there right now. Numero Group has a few handfuls of releases that mine the vaults of various soul, funk, power-pop labels as well as individual artists that history did not remember. They do God's work for all.

Campaigner (boston, MA 11/22/76): Neil Young, Perfect Echo Vol. 1: Neil singing about Nixon "having got it: Soul."

What A Day That Was: Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense: The Talking Heads should make a comeback. That would be so cool.

Mad Dog 20/20: Jack O. And The Tear Jerkers, Don't Throw Your Love Away: Side project from member of the Reigning Sound and Compulsive Gamblers. Released on Sympathy. Part of the great Tower run of 2006.

Wintertime Blues: John Hiatt, Master of Disaster: John Hiatt is a master, hands down.

The Foz: The Stone Roses, Second Coming: This track is really fucking annoying.

She's Your Problem: The Gentlemen, Ladies and Gentlemen...: Pretty soon the Numero Group is gonna have to rescue these guys from obscurity, if the band doesn't decide to do it themselves. Come on and give us a tour.

Home (When Shadows Fall): Sam Cooke, Ain't That Good News: I got nothing on this one.

(if Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right: The Faces, Five Guys Walk Into A Bar: Rod Stewart is such a fucking pussy. We know exactly what this guy is capable of and what he instead produces. Fuck him for wallowing away in the "classics."

Africa: Augustus Pablo, East of The River Nile: A reggae classic from top to bottom.

Can't Get Enough Of This Shit

Over the holidays I bought What It Is!: Funk Soul And Rare Grooves. The Shit it hot and from Rhino so you know right off the bat it's gonna be sweet. What It Is! is a four disc collection of tracks from the vaults of Atlantic, ATCO and Warner Bros. There's like one hundred and twenty jams on this things and I can't get enough. This is Ananda Shankar showing us her Jumpin' Jack Flash. Turn it up, turn out the lights, and freak out!



The above rekids got me thinking about something I picked up in Cleveland at the Rn'R Hall Of Fame with Hendo and Shrimp Cracker. A re-issue of two albums the Temptations made with the Supremes. Together and Diana Ross & The Supremes Join The Temptations. These records aren't phenomenal but are still pretty fucking cool. Here's something cute for you. My Guy, My Girl.

Last week I drove through Gary, Indiana, the birthplace of Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5. I would not recommend checking the place out, but that's just my opinion. The Jackson 5 rocked and so does Graham Parker. I Want You Back as performed by GP. I'd crank this one up as well.

The Crue

Ok...maybe I'm a little late on this, but who knows. Motley Crue's tell-all book The Dirt is the best rock n' roll balls to the wall debauch stories ever laid to the page that I have ever read. Better than Hammer Of The Gods. Better than Walk This Way and The True Adventures of The Rolling Stones tossed together and fucked by a couple of groupies. If you haven't checked The Dirt out, you gotta, dude (as Tommy Lee would say).

The book is comprised of a bunch of chapters told from the view points of each band member and compiled by Neil Strauss. In all honesty, I bet Strauss recorded their stories and then made sense of it all because there is no way these guys are all as literate as they seem, although ever single Tommy Lee sentence either begins or ends with "dude" or "bro." But to Tommy's credit he comes clean about Heater Locklear (Schwing!!), Pamela Anderson (major psycho) and going to jail (Oh Fuck). Vince Neil (as well as everyone else but Mick) tells us extreme details about all the groupies they fucked and fucked with as well as all the in-house fighting and kicking the shit out of each other that went down. And there is also deaths, lots of deaths and DRUGS. More drugs than groupies, deaths, fighting and music multiplied by 69 x 4. Drugs, Drugs, Drugs. These guys are fucking maniacs and it makes no sense that they are all alive but they got a fucking book out of it all and supposedly a movie on the way.

I don't own a Motley album nor do I want to but according to Nikki Sixx the major inspirations on the Crue are some of our fav. bands here at Hendo (Dolls, Stooges, AC/DC, etc). Besides a tale of shit your mom should never know or even think exists in this world, The Dirt is a cool account of a band coming together in early '80's L.A. who hit it big real quick and then crashed hard, and had to learn how to cope. Some in prison, some with debilitating diseases, some in hollowed out mansions and others with Playboy playmates and Mel Gibson. So basically we can all relate to it.

The Figgs

I just wanted to point your attention to Underneathica, which has been doing a bunch of cool stuff about one of our fave bands The Figgs. Check it out.

Bringin In The New Year With The Wolf