im a vampire baby

check out this video mashup of a pink mountaintops song with clips from the movie Let The Right One In. Weird movie, just watched it the other night. Nice song too....

Jerry, Duane, and Yao

I'm listening to the dead at the Fillmore in Feb. of 1970 so Dark Starand then the vocals on Lovelight sound different and I'm thinking tomyself is this Gregg Allman and brother Duane with the Dead? Look itup and it is! I am so proud of myself for noticing that this early.

In other news, I have newfound respect for Yao Ming because while hisfoot may be a calamity (think Bill Walton, though Ming probably isntas good as Walton could have been - read Breaks of the Game to feelfor just how shitty BW's feet were) his fucking digestive tract mustbe amazing.

Free Agency

almost 1 day over with of free agency, and nate and Dlee are still knickerbockers.

holla.

A few things

1. Chuck Klosterman? i dont pay much attention to most things going on around me (one may argue that i dont pay attention to anything - coasting through life blissfully unawares aint a bad way to go...), so despite the fact that i had seen his books everywhere, i really never knew who he was, or what the yarn was with him. I found a used copy of his book Fargo rock city for really cheap so i picked it up. I got 34 pages into it, and came to the realization that i did not give a fuck what this guy had to say about anything. Anyone who is going to pass themselves off as a cool/intellectual rock critic (lester bangs??) who sites Def Leppard as one of the best bands ever needs a slap in the balls. i dont fault the guy for growing up in the rural heartland, thereby limiting his exposure to the much cooler shit that was going on when he was a teenager, but fuck. im not reading another page of that, unless someone can convince me that its worthwhile. its not so much that i disagree with his taste in music as much as he kind of shittalks anyone who disagrees with him. i dont like that kind of shit in any format (elitism is one thing i dont tolerate).

2. which show should i go see this Thursday?

a) Jay Reatard, TV Smith (!), and Screaming Females at Music hall o' wlmsbrg

or

b) Thee Oh Sees, Golden Triangle, The Beets, and German Measles at glasslands

3. i officially started diet # 137 of hendo's eating career today. hmmmm. we'll see. by my guess i need to lose 50 pounds before i can consider entering the contests that occur during the annual JO festival.

Top Ten Best things that could happen on draft day 2009

1. David Stern is replaced as the host of the draft by a tag team of Walt Clyde Frazier and Charles Barkley
2. The Suns trade Steve Nash to the knicks for 3 tacos
3. Charles Oakley comes out of retirement and declares his eligibility for the draft
4. The Clippers trade in the number one pick for a dannon frusion smoothie
5. Shaq gets traded to cleveland, and then LBJ demands a trade to either Milwaukee or NY
6. i get traded for anderson varejao (my contract expires next year...)
7. the albany patroons got absorbed by the NBA
8. Bill russell drops a couple F bombs on live tv
9. the knicks draft a 7'5" 19 year old kid from Greenland who learned how to play basketball last month
10. The Clippers trade the #1 pick to the Nets for Yi, and declare their intentions to sign Iverson

please donny dont do it

Someone tell donny walsh not to trade up to get the number 5 pick in the draft. As far as i'm concerned, as long as lee and nate still aren't signed, the knicks player i want to see go the least is wilson chandler. please, please don't trade him for the # 5 pick. there is no way that thabeet is gonna drop that far. unless someone wants curry, jeffries, or larry hughes, dont do it.

Ali Akbar Khan

Ali Akbar Khan passed away last week. He was a master of the sarode, and played 18 + hours a day for many years (this apparently is nothing compared to what his father - who lived to be 110 yrs old - did - playing "sometimes 23 hours a day"). I enjoy the music because it is so mesmerizing, although I don't know enough about the form to tell very much of it apart. Kind of like a person hearing jazz for the first time. As crazy as it sounds, I can see how playing this music non-stop is possible.


He presided over this school in California, which offers intensive 3 day beginner master classes...

Back from the grave

I haven't posted in a while. I was just inspired by No Name after he sent me this email:


"I think i saw multiplicity in the theasters like 5 times. Andie
McDowell gets no credit for the work she has done on behalf of MILFs
everywhere. She could be in MILF HOF. Maybe it's because she's not in
movies really anymore. But the southern accent and shit? It's like
putting Albert Pujols on a shitty baseball team. A few times a game
their is a bright spot and every once in a while the game's outcome
will change. We should start a Andie fanclub."




I'll be back soon...

The Day After

You Can't Do These Things By Yourself. You Need Some Help - to kind of quote The Boss.

I'm not going to pretend like I know what I'm writing about but the Cavs elimination shouldn't really come as a surprise. Sure, Cleveland was nasty this past season and throughout the first two rounds of the playoffs but winning a title with only one great player doesn't happen too often. 

Michael Jordan only won titles with Scottie Pippen (and Pippen with Jordan) and help from Dennis Rodman later on. Kobe had Shaq still in his prime. Duncan at first had Robinson, Ginobli, and Parker as well as the help to get the job done. The Celtics had Bird, Parish, McHale and a bunch of great supporting players and the Lakers of the 80's had Magic, Worthy and Kareem. 

Cleveland needs to acquire a true all star because LBJ can't do it all himself. Of course, the fact that they haven't done that yet makes it all the more likely that Cleveland loses its MVP when that contract expires.

I Had A Hard Run...

Recently I began listening to the Grateful Dead again. One of the quirks I got myself into was listening to a run whether it be a grouping of a week of shows or a multi engagement stay at a specific venue. My interest got sparked because the band via Dead.net have been releasing a series of sets, entitled Road Trips which are a best of of certain runs.

Lately, with the NBA Playoffs going on, I've been reminiscing about playoff games from back in the day. Particularly the Knicks-Bulls games from the early to mid nineties. In light of all the foul calls and technicals the refs have been handing down this season, I got to thinking about how intense and muscular those 90's games were. Remember the Knicks were a bunch of heavy hitters. We had Oak, Ewing, X-man, Mason, and Starks to name a few. Not to mention Derek Harper who took no shit from no one. People talk about the Pistons as the Bad Boys but really the Knicks of the mid-90's would've made those guys cry. And Mase would've made Bill L shave the Knicks logo into both sides of his huge head. 

So I got to thinking about how great it would be to track down DVD's of those playoff games. Like with Road Trips, we'd get a Playoff run, or series, of those awesome games where the bodies were knocking and everything was on the line. As far as I can tell it's not possible to buy them from the NBA but how great would it be to settle down with those games and your boys and watch basketball as it was played by some of the all time greats with no referee interference?

Here's Bertha from June 9, 1977 - from the best run the Dead ever had which provided us with the penultimate Cornell show. This Bertha is super slow. It reminds me of those commercials they keep showing where two players are on the court and slowly the rest of the teams and arena fade in. Amazing

superbadge

Women Be Shopping

In honor of the fact that im going to a benefit event thing at a comedy club (first time - omg).

this one's for the docta.









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The great Koonaklaster

The YSI group initiated a project where we're all supposed to make mixes, or greatest hits of different artists. I'm choosing Fahey. He was a gateway for me into a lot of great new discoveries, so I figured I'd give him his due. This isn't a greatest hits as much as it is a rough sketch of his career. I don't have everything he released, but I do have a fair amount, and I tried to find something to add from each of them. This mix is not in chronological order, instead I used the schedule of the tides. The Mix was too big to upload as one file with Mediafire, so its split into two zip files. Enjoy.

John Fahey Mix First Half (Mix split into 2 DL's)
John Fahey Mix Second Half

1. Fahey Blows His Nose ; The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick
2. Sunflower River Blues ; Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes
3. Jaya Shiva Shankarah ; Old Fashioned Love
4. Special Rider Blues ; America
5. Spanish Two-Step ; On Air
6. Red Cross, Disciple of Christ Today ; Red Cross
7. Requiem for Mississippi John Hurt ; The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick
8. Dance of the Inhabitants of the Invisible City of Blandensburg ; The Yellow Princess
9. Christ is Born On Christmas Day ; The John Fahey Christmas Album
10. Night Train to Valhalla ; Days Have Gone By, Vol. 6
11. Bean Vine Blues # 2 ; The Voice of the Turtle
12. Go, I Will Send Thee ; New Possibility
13. Fahey Established Rapport With The Tasmanians: A Dissertation on Obsucrity / The Return of the Tasmanian Tiger / Funeral Song For Mississippi John Hurt ; Live in Tasmania
14. March! for Martin Luther King ; The Yellow Princess
15. Jesus Is A Dying Bedmaker 2 ; America
16. Poor Boy ; Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death
17. Worried Blues ; On Air
18. Days Have Gone By ; Days Have Gone By, Vol. 6
19. Amazing Grace ; America
20. Uncloudy Day ; The Legend of Blind Joe Death
21. Wine and Roses ; The Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites
22. Requiem For Russell Cooper ; Requia
23. Ghosts ; The Mill Pond
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What a week...

I know i havent posted in a little while. I just havent really felt the motivation to do that much lately. Besides, ive been wasting a lot of time with the apartment search. ALTHOUGH, on Thursday, while waiting for the landlord to meet us at a place in park slope, I noticed this guy, walking down the street holding his young child. Mr. Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover fame is pretty much a celebrity sighting in my eyes.


I also went to a show where I wanted to see the last of 5 bands slated to play. I dont want to go into details (too annoying), but after 8 bands played, and it was already 2:30am, and the band i wanted to see still wasnt up next, i said fuck it and left. ugh. dont ask.




ill resume some some shit this week. i promise.

Thee Oh Sees

Thee Oh Sees played in Brooklyn this past Saturday night, and I was highly considering going to the show. I actually spent the afternoon in BK apartment hunting, but was too burnt to stick it out for the show. I kinda regret it, cause I've been really digging their new record on In The Red, Help. Every time Thee Oh Sees get mentioned, the laundry list of bands that front man John Dwyer has played in always get discussed. Since I'm only really familiar with his most famous one, Coachwhips, I'll leave that for the more legit reviewers/blogs.

The whole album is pretty catchy, but I've had the first song stuck in my head the past few days, so we'll stick with that.

Here it is:
Thee Oh Sees - Enemy Destruct


P.S.
Is it just me, or has In The Red been on a fucking roll the past few months??
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WOW

Here's a clip from the Carson (fucking) Daly show that aired Friday night, April 3rd. The musical guests that evening were The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Wow. Fuck. Seriously. The show airs way past my bedtime (10pm....) so I didn't get to see it when it aired. This band's ascension has been craziness T's, straight up. Alex = Born to rock. Here's the clip:


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I have seen the future of ROCK

and its name is DIEHARD.

I got to see their first show ever last night at Union Hall in Brooklyn, and when they're rich and famous, I got the bragging rights sonnnn. Killer indie rock/pop reminiscent of the best bands from the early-mid '90s. Close your eyes, and your at a show in Chapel Hill circa 1994 (that is intended to be a compliment - hopefully it means what i think it means...). Loud, fast, nice guitar work by my man ezRock, and spot on male/female vocals.
I polled the audience completely at random, and asked someone else what they thought:
"The problem with starting is a new awesome band is you can't come back to say your old awesome band is alright" - Shrimp Cracker

The whole set was filled with songs that get the official HBBB stamp of approval, but one stood out to me as totally awesome. Unfortunately, a full band recording of it doesn't exist yet, so I only have a VERY ROUGH DEMO. But either way, the song rocks. This demo sounds cool, but with the band it really kicked ass. They switched off vocals, and it really tied the room together.

Cool Kids (DEMO)

Check out their myspace page for a bunch of songs they've done together. These guys are going places (and im not talking about midnight runs to Scottys....), I think there must be something in the water in Teeneck, NJ (??????????)
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Hendo Bendo Podcast # 11

Despite the fact that I was listening to John Fahey for a while this afternoon, I was inspired by Shrimp Cracker to make a podcast featuring some catchy loud fast rocknroll/punk/garage/power pop.
Enjoy

Hendo Bendo Podcast # 11
Tracklist:
Scared of Chaka - Why are you Weird?
Cheap Time - Falling Down
The Shitty Limits - Leave Me Alone
Mind Controls - Trap Door
Reruns - So Alone
The Jet Boys - High Tension Love
Carbonas - Journey to the End
The Marked Men - Ditch
The Bananas - Peanut Butter Cups
Nobunny - Boneyard
The Fliptops - Beat You Up
Hunx and his Punx - You Don't Like Rock n Roll
Nodzzz - Is She There
Supercharger - Gum Flappin' Baby
The Fallouts - Here I Come
The Pets - No Way
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Little Steven

Sorry for the long post, but here is the speech made by Little Steven at a convention center during SXSW last week. I thought it was worthwhile.

*Steven Van Zandt, Austin Convention Center
SXSW. March 20, 2009.
*
Good morning how are we? I see all my people.

Interesting time in our business, is it not?
Now you wish you listened to your parents and went to college, huh?
We are experiencing the biggest changes in 40 years as the main
revenue-producing medium switches from the album to, we don' t know what
yet.
Keep in mind that until the Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion
landed in 1964, the vinyl single ruled what was called the business. it
wasn't exactly the business in truth, it was more like the Wild West with a
bunch of freaks, misfits, outcasts, outlaws, entrepreneurs, renegades and
hooligans running around making it all up as they went along.

Finally in 1967 the Beatles made an album called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band -- you can ask your grandfather to borrow his copy -- and with
that record the album became undeniably king. The difference between 79
cents for a single and $4.95 for an album created a music business.

As I'm sure you've noticed we've now come full circle back to singles and if
you're wondering what 1962 was like, well you're looking at it. And if that
wasn't enough to deal with, just to make it interesting, let's throw in a
little worldwide economic holocaust, shall we?

You thought you were having problems a year ago? Heh, those were the good
old days.

The truth is it might take a year or two but those things will literally
sort themselves out. There will be some revenue model, be it the 360 thing,
subscriptions or whatever, and frankly there have been enough boring
discussions about the mechanics of our business, already enough to last a
lifetime. And as far as the economy, well, Obama's gonna fix the economy so
don't worry about that.

It's the third topic I want to look at today. All we ever talk about is the
delivery systems for the product, the mechanics, the technology, the
infrastructure. I wanna spend just a minute on the topic that never gets
discussed in the music business, and that's the music.

The reason why nobody wants to talk about it, it's understandable because
it mostly sucks. I mean it blows, it's terrible. It's sucking major moose
cock. Who are we kidding here? Nobody's buying records. No shit, they suck.

And I know why. Nobody wants to deal with this but, we have to.
Yeah we are expriencing big changes in the business but more impotrantly,
over the last 60 years or so, we have been witnesses to a crisis of craft.

I started to notice this crisis right around the time MTV appeared, not that
it's their fault. One must assume the video was as inevitable as the
combustion engine, food preservative, the digital format and all those other
horrors of commerce disguised as progress. You could fight it, but you're
better off just adjusting and dealing with it. Save your energy because
you're gonna need it.
And MTV may come back around and save us yet. But more about them later.
Rock n roll is the working class art form. Real rock n roll, traditional
rock n roll. The music you hear every week on the Underground Garage and
every day on Sirius 25 and XM 59, is equal opportunity, regardless of race,
education or how much money you got, since the working class don't think too
much about what is art and what is not. Mostly because they're too busy
working. They spend their time on their craft, the practical useful stuff.
So let's get back to basics for a moment, what is our craft?

Rock n roll had always been a two-part craft, performance and record-making,
and that turned into a three-part craft for bands, when songwriting was
added after the Beatles changed the world.
That self-contained archetype may have been a temporary blip in the big
picture. Recent history started to suggest that the Beatles in that short
little period may turn out to be the exception, rather than the new rule.

It was, after all, our renaissance. That approximate 20-year era, from 1951
to 1971, will be studied for hundreds of years to come and still informs
everything that today is popular music.

So as to our craft -- performance, record-making, songwriting -- what
happened exactly?

The crisis in performance is, I believe, based on one simple fact. When it
started, rock n roll was dance music. One day we stopped dancing to it and
started listening to it and it's been downhill ever since.

We had a purpose, had a specific goal, an intention, a mandate, we made
people dance or we did not work, we didn't not get paid, we were fired, we
were homeless. That requires a very different energy. To compel people to
get out of their chairs and dance, it's a working-class energy, not an
artistic, intellectual, waiting-around-for-inspiration energy. It's a
get-up, go-to-work-and-kill energy.
Rip it up, or die trying.

The advent of the video was just the final nail in the performance coffin, a
coffin that had already been constructed by years of excessive immersion in
ganja, hashish and all forms of water-cooled bong therapy. You didn't have
to make people dance anymore, they were too stoned to dance.
Now you didn't even have to play your instrument anymore. All you had to do
was act like a rock star and bada-bing you were a rock star.

Well now, there's a new trend that's even more dangerous, and this affects
songwriting as well as performance. Bands are starting to skip the bar-band
phase of their development
and I'm seeing it all over the world. The club stage, where ideally you're
still a dance band.
But equally important, you get the opportunity to play other people's songs,
your favorite songs. Analyze them, understand them. All of a sudden, I'm
hearing it's not cool to play other people's songs. That's for the less
gifted, you know, the losers. That thinking has been extended now to include
anybody's songs, you know any songs that didn't come from your personal
musical genius.

This is a major problem. Performance-wise, the energy you discover,
manufacture and harness as a dance band stays with you for the rest of your
life. You never lose that. And the analysis you must do while learning to
play classic songs is how you learn how to write. The melody, this melody
with that chord change, produces this effect. It's how you learn to arrange.
The verses go here, the bridge there, it's how you learn the specific job of
each instrument.

You learn greatness from greatness. Nobody is a born great performer, nobody
is born a great songwriter. The Beatles were a club and bar band for five
years, and then continued playing covers for five albums, the Stones did
about three years and their first five albums. All of a sudden, we think
we're better than them?

Another nefarious infection regarding modern songwriting is the auteur
theory, which means the person singing has to be the person writing or else
it's irrelevant. This became dominant as rock n roll became the art form of
rock. Beginning in 1965, it was the year the Beatles, the Stones, the Byrds
and Bob Dylan influenced each other right into a new art form. Suddenly rock
was personal.

It was important, and an industry of journalists sprang up to explain it to
us. And that was, and is, great, except an inaccurate balance was created
between the post-art-form rock and the pre-art-form rock, keeping in mind
that the art-form rock was only the last quarter of the renaissance.

It was born in the folk-rock era, continued through psychedelic,
country-rock, and into hard rock and the singer-songwriter era, where an
inaccurate emphasis on the importance of the self-contained artist has led
to the ocean of mediocrity we're drowning in today.

Journalists work in words, they love words, they are words, so it's
perfectly understandable they labor under the misconception that lyrics are
the most important part of the song. They are not and let's keep in mind,
there are of course, major journalist exceptions. The two best rock n roll
books are after all Nick Tosches' "Hellfire," the Jerry Lee Lewis story, and
Dave Marsh's "Louie Louie," both about pre-art-form rock and, don't get me
wrong, great lyrics make a song better. I made five political albums and
spent months on the lyrics. Just don't think that's why people are coming to
see your band. Because that is not enough reason. Bob Dylan is the greatest
lyric writer that will ever live, but if he wasn't a great singer and wasn't
able to write, or in the early days steal, great melodies, he'd still be in
the Village at Cafe Wha.

The problem with this imbalance is that singers who don't write or write
about the correct subjects,
aren't taken seriously. And it's true, in spite of Elvis and Sinatra.

The 15 years of pre-art-form lyrics may not seem as important or meaningful
in a social and political way, but as a 13-year-old hearing the super sexy
Judy Craig and the Chiffons sing Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry's "I Have a
Boyfriend," don't tell me that wasn't important. More than anything else in
the world, I wanted to be that boyfriend. I still do. That was my "Blowing
in the Wind," my "Day in the Life," or "Sympathy for the Devil," absolutely.
If you wanna write, then learn how to do it.

As one of the great song publishers, like Lance Freed, who were always
encouraging young songwriters to co-write with older ones, said, just like
it's important to perform with a purpose, it is equally important to write
with a purpose. Whether that purpose is to express your most personal
anguish or to simply have a hit record, if you're gonna do it, do it right.

The third part of our craft is record-making and that discipline has almost
completely disappeared.
A record is four things: composition, arrangement, performance and sound.
Four different crafts, overseen by a producer, who understands, to some
degree, all four elements, plus the big picture of the industry, plus the
psychological stuff, being the artist's psychiatrist, plus the liaison with
the business people etc., etc.

Where are they? Where are the real producers, the arrangers, the point
being, once upon a time it took an army of very talented people to make
records: writers, singers, musicians producers, arrangers, engineers. Now
you have to do it all yourself? No wonder everything sucks.

Well, when the major record companies abandoned development, DIY was born,
do it yourself. And the auteur theory works well with DIY anyway, so why
not?

Well there is one reason why not. Everybody isn't a star. Everybody isn't a
songwriter, isn't a singer, isn't a performer, isn't a record producer. But
who is there to tell them these days, who's there to help, who's there to
suggest a different direction, to teach, to impose discipline?

Even the majors are starting to adjust, and I hope they succeed because
right now in this new paradigm they are useless to us as banks. There's
nowhere to spend their money anymore.
It's very encouraging and impressive that they stuck with MGMT for 18 months
for instance, before it broke. Maybe they look back and learn from Steve
Popovich, who stuck with Meat Loaf for over a year, when no one was
interested. You know a little bit of this long-term patience is nice to see.
But mostly the majors have passed the creative stuff off to the production
companies. There's nobody home artistically. You know, they can still find a
record, and occasionally break one, but they're gonna have trouble with the
second one, because nobody in the company knows how they made the first one.

There's no development, there's no long-term thinking, so, as usual, it's up
to the indies, right?
But indies, whoever it is, better establish a new work ethic, better find
some new patience, better get back to the basics, and better be qualified to
go the distance.

Standards have been set. The standards have been set by Sam Phillips,
Leonard Chess, Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Berry Gordy. You wanna be in the
record business, those are the standards we must live up to. We must
introduce, re-introduce, a new dedication to the craft. And worry about the
new technology and the art later.

Thank you.

Song of the Day - The Beets

The Beets (not Doug's fave band...) bring new meaning to lo-fi. Their album from last year, Spit on the Face of People Who Don't Want to be Cool, may be one of the lowest quality recordings I've heard in a long time, but it makes up for it with the tunes. They write very catchy mid tempo rocknroll/trash kinda songs that put a smile on your face. The gang-shout vocals are always a plus for me, and they do it well. All this, and I only heard them for the first time 24 hours ago.

Here's a song:
The Beets - What Did I Do

The Strange Boys

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In India You

The other night, I was having trouble falling asleep. This is worth noting because despite the fact that I never get a good night's sleep, and rarely feel rested in the morning, I fall asleep within 10 minutes of lying down, every night, without fail. After a while, I got out of bed and went to go listen to music on the computer. I decided on the Brian Jonestown Massacre (who incidentally, are playing in NY in like a week) album, Their Satanic Majesties Second Request, and turned on the itunes visualizer. When the lights are off, and that is all you can see, it is pretty easy to get mesmerized. When track 4 came on, something really clicked, and I was bobbing my head to the beat while staring intently at the computer screen. When it ended, I played it again, then again, then a fourth time. The whole time, just sitting there with my eyes fixed on the swirls and shifting shapes and colors. No drugs were involved, just boredom. But its rare these days that I want to listen to an almost 4 minute song over and over and over again.

Here's that song, and turn on the visualizer....

The Brian Jonestown Massacre - In India You
.

Song of the Day - Sun Araw

I'm getting ready to go out for the night, so I needed some good shoe tying music. I found it with Sun Araw, which is a side project for one of the guys in Magic Lantern. The album I was listening to, The Phynx, has two 16 minute drone/noise tracks, and two shorter ones that are more song oriented.
Here is one of them. It's a keeper:

Sun Araw - Harken Sawshine
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Lovvers

I find it astonishing that almost every day recently, I'm finding out about bands that are new to me that are just kicking my ass. In a good way that is. Today, that band is Lovvers. These guys are British (!) and play lofi rocknroll/punk thats just off kilter enough that it still makes me wanna stomp the ground like the DC5. Even the more straight forward catchy as hell punk songs have kinda crazy "middle 8's" if you will.
Such as: Talk Cheap

Go punch the wall to this one: No Romantics

Song of the Day - The Greenhornes

I hate my current musical set up. I have most of my CDs in my bedroom at my parents' house (a lot of good that does me here...), and have to rely on my computer, hard drive, and the assortment of CDs i've picked up the past few months. a HUGE downside to this situation is that I don't have immediate access to some of my favorite albums. Among my personal favorites are the first two Greenhornes albums. Fucking perfect in practically every way. They are both the kind of albums that make you feel like an ass for not listening to more often. I've been listening to them the past few days for the first time in what feels like 6 months - Way too long. Its too bad that Jack White hijacked the rhythm section for unbridled wankery. And even though I still dig Dual Mono, the first two are where its at. Crank that organ.

Here's a cover of the Spencer Davis Group from the self titled album:

The Greenhornes - High Time Baby
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Hendo Bendo Podcast # 10

i felt a need to stretch out a little bit.

Hendo Bendo Podcast # 10
Townes Van Zandt - Rex's Blues
Skip James - Jesus Is A Mighty Good Leader
Bardo Pond - Wank
Loren Connors - Airs No. 18
Pelt - Deep Sunny South
First Independent Holy Church of God and Unity - Don't Let His Name Go Down
Ghost - Grisaille
Cheer - Rain In The Wind
Stag Hare - Holy Quinn
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Quote of the Day

This is the best out of a nice selection of quotes from today

"My hatred for mankind burns with such a furious vengeance that permeates my entire body"

WHAT do you even say to that?? either right on, or go to the calm down cafeteria.

i had to spend the evening at an event for work that took place in the nicest, biggest apartment i have ever seen. Here's the view from the living room over looking central park. fucking elitist scum.






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Song of the Day - Yussuf Jerusalem

Sorry for the lack of posting this weekend. I had important matters to attend to......oh well. One of THOSE NAMES (you know what i mean) that kept popping up on the blogs/sites I go to was Yussuf Jerusalem. The latest album, from last year, is "A Heart Full of Sorrow" has been described as death metal / garage / lofi / folk / pop which seems rather absurd, but its realy not that far off. I don't know much about metal let alone death metal, but all I can tell is the first song on the record scared me. The rest of the album is more straight forward lo fi rock. Pretty cool stuff, check it out:

Greetings from Novi Sad
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The Strange Boys

Every once in a while, a band/album comes by that just knocks me on my ass. that band right now is The Strange Boys. I was made aware of these TX killers a while ago by everyone's favorite bassist, doorknobs, but I had nothing of theirs until recently. Their debut album just got released on In The Red, and it is more or less amazing (of the BSE variety). It's like a combination of everything that I currently like about rocknroll - Garage, psych, twang (shitfi). HIGHLY reccomended to fans of this kinda stuff. Again, a tip of the hat to this guy for making us awares.

Here are a few songs:
Who Needs Who More
Probation Blues

Honestly, there's too many good songs on this album to just pick 2. The myspace page has a bunch too. GO check it out!

Skip James

I've been listening to a bunch of blues stuff this morning. I just saw this on youtube and wanted to share it:



Skip James - Crow Jane


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JTE

On first glance, Justin Townes Earle's new album, "Midnight at the Movies", is one of my favorite albums of the year so far. I've only listened to it twice all the way through, but the songs are really growing on me. It's been a while since I've been in the mood for mid-tempo Americana, but he does it really well. Oh yeah, his dad is kinda cool too...

Here are some tunes:
Mama's Eyes
Walk Out

Don't Fuck with the Apes

Did you see this news story about the chimpanzee at the zoo in Sweden that stuck it to the man? Santino gathered stones and rocks and stored them so he could throw them at the tourists. The fact that he planned this attack and anticipated that he would be angry later is kind of crazy.

I know I posted a track of theirs the other day, but how could you pass this up?

Homostupids - Apeshit

Hendo Bendo Podcast #9

I haven't felt like posting anything the past few days, so I made a podcast to make up for it. It starts off with 2 bands that just tore it up at southpaw on Friday night, The Reigning Sound and Davila 666. Greg Cartwright should get an Obama cabinet post, just sayin.

Enjoy.

Hendo Bendo Podcast # 9
Reigning Sound - I'll Cry
Davila 666 - 9:36 (puto)
The Strange Boys - This Girls Taught Me a Dance
The Pizzas - Too Popular
The Busy Signals - Matter of Time
The Rats - Deterioration
The Telescopes - Anticipating Nowhere
The Drags - Iron Curtain Rock
The Users - Sick of You
Times New Viking - Faces on Fire
Wavves - Beach Demon
Betty Harris - The Trouble With My Lover

Song of the Day - Max Roach

I bought the 1962 Max Roach album "Speak, Brother, Speak" on Emusic a little while back but never had a chance to listen to it all the way through. I corrected that error while on the way to work today. Pretty sick stuff.

Here's the title track:
Max Roach - Speak, Brother, Speak

Song of the Day - Homostupids

Here's the song to end the day. i was told i don't tell good stories or write well (i dont disagree....), so I will keep this short and sweet.
Here's a song from the Homostupids' Cat Music EP.

Homostupids - Beneath the blackman

by the way, what the hell is wrong with people? Who would throw out something like this?? If I had a way to take it with me at the time, this would have been my new dresser bitches.



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YOU MAKE ME SICK

fuck you. you know who i'm talking about.

Thunderstruck

This is from last week, so they didn't have the benefit of watching one of the youngest, scrappiest teams in the league knock off Dallas the other night, but still. These guys have a great core of talented young players that have a ton of potential with Durant, Green, and Westbrook. They're starting to play a little better than they were the first half of the season (i know its not saying much) and playing with a ton of energy. I've had Westbrook on my squad all year, so I know how good he's been in his rookie year, but congrats to him on his first triple double. It also didn't hurt them that nonads had one of the best games of his life.
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Weird Owl

NY rockers Weird Owl released their new record a little bit ago, and it is worthy of a mention here. Like some of their Tee Pee Records label-mates they specialize in the heavy rock/psych so prevalent in the early to mid '70s. The singer's voice really reminds me of someone else that I can't figure out. At this time, I'm still uncertain if its a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, the tunes are there.

Here's the 2nd song on the album, skeletelapathic. It has such a driving, propulsive rhythm that it immediately caught my attention. It's got a pretty cool riff, and every time it comes on, I usually want to hit the repeat button and hear it again.

Here's Tobin's Spirit Guide. If you had told me this was a cover of some obscure Neil Young/Crazy Horse song I would have believed you. See for yourself.

I'm not totally sold on the album as a whole. These are my two favorite songs (out of 8), but overall, its good enough that it deserves at least a few listens.
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Black Lips

Over the past 3 years, one of my favorite bands has been the Black Lips. I only found out about them when they released "Let It Bloom" which took time to grow on me. I wasn't immediately blown away by them, but after a couple listens, it became a go-to album. Both of their next releases were killer as well. The live album recorded in Mexico was incredible, and I loved "Good Bad Not Evil". About a year ago, I made a mix CD of their stuff for a friend who had never heard them, in hopes of convincing him to see them live with me - it worked. As a consequence, I listened to that mix of my favorite 16 or so songs more than anything else of theirs. I got to skip the filler, and only heard the classics. It would have been tough for a new Black Lips album to match a career-spanning greatest hits mix, which inevitably set the bar pretty high for the new album, "200 Million Thousand".
On first listen, my opinion of the new album mirrored pretty much exactly that of the review at slang editorial. I heard the first few songs, and thought, "eh, they're ok i guess, but nothing too special". I was waiting for another Katrina, Boomerang, Fad, MIA, Stranger etc. I was just plain disappointed. I've now listened to it many times since, to make sure i understand what the deal is. Overall, the album isn't really that bad, but I prefer all of their previous LPs to this. There are a handful of songs I really dig though. Again and Again, and Body Contact both have that back from the grave fuzz stomp that the black lips pull off so well. I also like Drugs, Starting over and short fuse, but I'm already at the point where I started skipping a few tracks when I listen.
Oh well.

Here's a video of them covering the KK&BBQ Show and then doing Stranger. Killer.



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Happy Birthday Dr. KP

In honor of the good doctor, here's some marty larry:



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Ty Segall

I just heard for the first time this one-man-band guy from San Fransisco, Ty Segall. First impressions sometimes say a lot, and my first impression of this guy can be summed up with "holy shit". Smoking hot and super catchy rocknroll of the first order. He uses tons and tons of fuzz so he has a much fuller sound than some other notable OMBs. I need to find more of this guy's stuff immediately.

Here are some tunes:

Oh Mary
You Should Never Have Opened That Door (gabba gabba hey)

Here's a video for his song "Pretty Baby"


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Song of the Day - Robert Wyatt

Ugh. This work week really sucked. Thank god its over, and we can all head down to the lakeside lounge soon. Stay tuned cause the next few days I have a slew of rocknroll bands/albums that are new to me, and must be shared. Plus, the official HBBB opinion on the new Black Lips album will be revealed (its taken me about a dozen listens to figure out what i really think about it).

Here's a song from Robert Wyatt's 1974 album, "Rock Bottom". Enjoy.

Robert Wyatt - A Last Straw

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Top Ten Songs by The Clash

I rented the movie "Rude Boy" a couple days ago, having never seen it. I was a little distracted while I was watching it, but there were definitely some cool moments, and the live footage was awesome. It inspired me to listen to The Clash again for the first time in a few months, and then make a top ten. I tend to prefer the earlier, more punk rock songs. My first contact with them was unfortunately through their last album (classic), "Cut The Crap" when I was probably 12 years old. Needless to say, after being exposed to the Ramones, Dead Kennedys, etc. that sounded like bad disco new wave crap. I was going to give up on them, until I heard the first album. That's more like it.

Here they are, the top ten Clash songs.

Hendo's List

1. White Riot

2. London's Burning

3. Career Opportunities

4. Safe European Home

5. I'm So Bored With The USA

6. 1977

7. Complete Control

8. Janie Jones

9. Rudie Can't Fail

10. Hateful / Tommy Gun (tie)


HojoHiFive's List

Clampdown

English Civil War

Death Or Glory

One More Time

Hateful

Bankrobber/Robber Dub

White Riot

Jail Guitar Doors

Complete Control

London Calling


Lundqvist's List
Clampdown
Straight to Hell

Police on My Back

Brand New Cadillac

(White Man) in Hammersmith Palais
White Riot

Career Opportunities

Tommy Gun

The Magnificent Seven

Pressure Drop

Shrimp Cracker's List
1. White Riot
2. Clampdown
3. The Magnificent Seven
4. London Calling
5. Janie Jones
6. Police On My Back
7. Safe European Home
8. I'm So Bored With The USA
9. Lost in the Supermarket
10. Tommy Gun
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Song of the Day - Sonic Chicken 4

How 'bout some rocknroll to start the day? If you are a fan of the aforementioned (rocknroll), then chances are good that you will be a fan of Sonic Chicken 4 - if you aren't already that is. PLUS, they're French, so....


Sonic Chicken 4 - Right Side of Woman
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Duke

Get that man on a stamp!.......er.....coin?

It was announced today that Duke Ellington will be commemorated on a coin. He will be the first African American to appear solo on a coin. It's hard to argue with this decision. Maybe they'll get Joey on one next? (or Roy??)

Here's the CNN story

I took a course on Duke whilst at college, and he wrote some amazing music. He may not be among my top few jazz musicians, but it is impossible to deny the fact that he had a massive impact on the direction jazz took over the course of his career.

Here's a song from one of his extended pieces/concept albums later in his career, The Far East Suite:
Duke Ellington - Mount Harissa

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Nate Robinson

How glad are we (YES, the rhetorical-no, not royal, "we") that the knicks were able to hang onto Nate "nasty nasty" Robinson once the trade deadline passed. He is the BSE - Apologies to A1.
Monster night last night, and had the NBA.com steal of the night. No mean feat.



Nate JO's all over the Pacers

Song of the Day - Residual Echoes

Here's a song from the 2006 Residual Echoes album, "MFI-GBSP". This song is some Sabbath / Comets on Fire heaviness, but is not necessarily indicative of the rest of the album. Psych meanderings with mumbled vocals is no tap as well. Adam Payne is the driving force, and appears to be friends with heavyweights Ben Chasny and Ethan Miller, which explains a lot.

Residual Echoes - Headache Traverse

Happy VDT

The Dutchess and the Duke

The Dutchess and the Duke. I kept seeing their name all over. I just never paid attention (i am A stupid mother fucker). Then, they showed up on Shrimp Cracker's Top Ten Records of 2008 list (he's a man of wealth and (good) taste). I still didn't really know them then either. I am glad I finally got wise though, cause "She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke" is mighty fine. They've been in garage bands previously, and despite the fact that their playing acoustically, they got some of that punkrock spirit the kids go crazy for. It seems like they pounded a bottle of whiskey and some battered acoustics and decided to hit record.

Here's some tunes:
Reservoir Park
Ship Made of Stone

Song of the Day - Jacuzzi Boys

I don't know how I missed them for so long, but I only first heard the Jacuzzi Boys when they were on tour with The King Khan & BBQ Show this fall (although we missed their set...). They have definetely gone to the same school of trash/rocknroll as KK&BBQ and Black Lips. Here's their song from the split 7" they did with King Khan last year.

Jacuzzi Boys - A Strange Hand

it's your lucky day(!!!!!!!) cause I'm posting a 2nd song. Here is the title track from the Island Avenue EP

Jacuzzi Boys - Island Avenue

Mountains

"Choral", the newest album from NYC's Mountains is another gem, and an early entry to the top records of 2009. One of my first few purchases after signing up for emusic several months ago was their self titled record. I've returned to that album numerous times since then, and "Choral" will absolutely demand repeat listens again. Their mix of acoustic instruments with electronic swells makes for incredibly warm, hypnotizing music.

Here are a few tracks:

Mountains - Map Table
Mountains - Add Infinity

Mississippi Fred McDowell

I got up pretty early this morning (for a Sat. that is...) because the people next door were making a ton of fucking noise for some reason. I figured I'd do some straightening up, and the best music to listen to while cleaning is the blues (proven fact you MFs).

I bought an awesome album by Mississippi Fred McDowell a little while back that hasn't been more than 2 feet from my stereo since I got it. Perfect. I thought I'd post a cool video of him in leiu of a link to a track this time around. Haunting.


Mississippi Fred McDowell - Goin Down To The River

Song of the Day - Psychic Ills

Here's a song from the most recent Psychic Ills album, Mirror Eye. Cool psych/drone band from Brooklyn thats been around for a few years now. Also, check out the amazing review the record got from our friends at Pitchfork. Hotness.


I already posted my favorite track from this album as part of a Hendo Bendo Mix a little bit ago, but here's another:

Psychic Ills - Fingernail Tea

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33 1/3

The 33 1/3 book series has come out with a list of 170 albums that could potentially be covered in their series.

I have only read about 4 or 5 books in the series, and I've found them to be hit or miss. The ones I've read have all been about personal favorite albums, so its hard to say for sure whether I'm chomping at the bit to see books about particular albums. So much depends on who the author is, and what their method of handling the project is (it can vary widely...). Here's (just) a few from that list I would be interested in:

Bob Dylan – Self Portrait
The Cramps – Songs the Lord Taught Us
Drive-By Truckers – Southern Rock Opera
The Incredible String Band – The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter
The Mekons – Fear and Whiskey
Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night
Pussy Galore – Exile on Main Street
Richard Hell and the Voidoids – Blank Generation


Any recommendations for what should be covered next? (the dictators)

Reunions

Last fall, Greg Cartwright got everyone frothing at the mouth by mentioning a potential mini reunion tour with The Oblivians and The Gories on the Goner Message Board. He mentioned Detroit, Memphis, and then off to Europe at the time. Just thinking about it makes the wood get all sporty...


The Gories - Thunderbird ESQ




The Oblivians - Jim Cole

President's Day

in honor of Presidents Day, Top 5 presidential NAMES
1. Rutherford B. Hayes
2. Millard Filmore
3. Barack Hussein Obama
4. TEDDY Roosevelt
5. LBJ

The Chatham Singers

There will be a new Billy Childish record (gets released in a few weeks), and in my opinion it is amongst the best things he has released in recent years. Billy, Nurse Julie, and Wolf have revisited the Chatham Singers brand this time around with the Damaged Goods LP, "Juju Claudius". I found the album on another blog, I was curious to get a sneak preview. Buy it when it comes out, or pre-order the album here.

"Juju Claudius" has some of the best gritty, stripped-down blues/folk Billy has ever done. He sings some songs, Julie sings some songs, and they sing some together, and it all works. Also noteworthy is the fact that the name "Wild Billy Childish" is absent from the band name now....

Here is a sampling:
Evil Thing
Angel Of Death

This Guy Is Making It Too Easy...

How many reasons do you need to be thoroughly convinced that someone is a worthless shithead? This guy is pushing for the new record.

As if we needed more convincing that people who work for Fox News suck.




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Nobunny

If you like your rocknroll with an extra dose of snot and tongue in cheek fun, then you should check out Nobunny. 2008's "Love Visions" comes across like a sloppy, lo-fi Ramones/Buzzcocks/Jay Reatard/Groovie Ghoulies. (do i get an douchebag award for naming 4 bands as a comparison???) The songs are insanely catchy, and if you don't take things too seriously (he wears a bunny mask...), this album is a lot of fun. He apparently gets naked at his shows too...

Tunes:
Tina Goes To Work
Not That Good

Scott Tuma

After serving time in the '90s with Americana band Souled American, guitarist Scott Tuma has gravitated towards ambient music. His first two solo records, "Hard Again" and "The River 1 2 3 4" both have a warmth that make them sound effortless. His last album, "Not For Nobody" has been a staple in my listening rotation for the past month or so. It's got a hazy, ethereal quality that is a perfect choice for falling asleep.

Here's a few tracks:
Scott Tuma - Fishen
Scott Tuma - Heeler

Lux!!!!!!

We're screwed

At what point does a hobby take over too much of your time and become a problem?


I don't have too many true hobbies, but I do play fantasy basketball. I've played the past 5 years or so, but this year, the intensity has gone up several notches, and I find myself spending much more time than I ever did (which is really saying something) researching/worrying about my stats and the rest of the league. I have basically lived and/or died this NBA season along with my team.

Right now, I want to murder/maim someone. I made a trade that at the time was a surefire great move. Within two days, it was a disaster. At the time, Lamar Odom for Jameer Nelson was a steal, then, on the day the deal was finalized...

Bynum Goes Down



then 2 days later...


Nelson Goes Down




I'm gonna back to just being a music geek.

I'm Getting The Band Back Together

No, not The Utica Bandits (We never broke up, VIVA!)

Here's a Hendo Bendo Mix to get things rolling again...


Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Colour Television
Psychic Ills - The Way Of
The Weakends - Devil By My Side
Ilyas Ahmed - This Dust