Lou Reed cries and Shawn Phillips uncorks a classic

Lou Reed: Legendary Hearts (1983) **** Guru T-Lu while listening to "Home of the Brave": "Lou, you don't have to cry about it." Harvey Dog replies: "Lou was an emotional gay man, and he was married at the time. Of course he had to cry." Lou Reed's official website.
***

Shawn Phillips: Second Contribution (1971) ***** I really like Shawn Phillips a lot. I'm still trying to figure out why I like him so much. There's some kind of connection, I think, as to the same reason why I like Ted Neeley in Jesus Christ Superstar. (Even though Shawn Phillips seems more serious as a working musician). His website is pretty cool to. (Shawn Phillips', not Ted Neeley's...I wonder if Ted Neeley has a website? ummm.) Shawn Phillips official website. I have two other lps by S.P, and I think they are both great.

Guru T-Lu walking in at the beginning of "The Ballad of Casey Deiss". "Johnny Cash?" I reply: "No. Shawn Phillips 1971." "I think somebody ripped off Shawn Phillips." Referring to "Hurt"

Oh, fuck it. I had this rated 4 1/2, but now I think it's a fucking classic. 5 stars.

And he looks like Jesus Christ.
***

R.L. Burnside: Come On In (1998) ***1/2 What a great sound on this record. I bought this at a really cool used cd and record (I didn't have a record player then...ahh) in Toronto. Shit, I wish I could remember the name. (Guru T-Lu remembered 1 hour after I wrote this...Paramusic). It was on Dundas E, about 3 blocks up from Yonge. Great store. They had all these Russian imports with 2 records on it and bonus cuts. I got The Beatles (early), T. Rex (early), even Grand Funk, The Animals. I would have eventually got more, but we moved to BC.

This album rocks real good. I listen to this one regularly....in comparison (and that I have about 2,500 lps and cds). R.L. Burnside web site.

Well well well....gotta get his cd with Jon Spencer Blues Explosions (I like em).
***

Nothing much of interest today...(finally) got a big VS project onto a FrontPage web site with the help of Paul Stokes. Thanks Paul. Also bought a cool skull t-shirt from Rock Your World. I'm fucking 43. Guru T-Lu and I are chilling tonight. It's down to -18 celsius tonight here in Prince George, BC.
***

I thought about Captain Beefheart today. We should all think of Captain Beefheart at least once a day. Here's an awesome Captain Beefheart site. The Captain Beefheart Radar Station
***

The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002) *** Really creative catchy experimental pop. I actually prefer listening to the early Lips stuff. The first Flaming Lips I got was the "Finally the Punk Rockers are Taking Acid" 3 cd set. The 1st 3 albums and bonus cuts. I love that raw youthful energy of it all. Especially "Jesus Shooting Heroin". Obviously a Catholic thing.

Yeh.
***

Here's a new poem about my dog...Poobah. I'll call it "Yorkie Poms are Really Small"

yorkie poms are really small
not big at all
she's not that bright
her farts stink
and poo gets tangled
in her hair

but still...she turns me on.

No, no, no. I'm sorry. Isn't that an Emerson, Lake & Palmer song?
***

Guru T-Lu cooks it up in the kitchen, Kevin Ayers, spontaneous poetry and Bryan Ferry meets Charlie

I go down to the kitchen and Guru T-Lu is cooking up a pot of goodness. Tastes amazing, so here's a new feature. "Guru T-Lu's Food for Stoners"!!

Here's the recipe: Throw a bunch of frozen vegetables and a can of tuna into a large pan, add half a jar of Cheese Whiz and voila! A delight of the senses!
***

Hey, check out the picture. It was taken by Guru T-Lu and you should check out her Flickr site. Follow the link to the right or click here.
***

Kevin Ayers: Whatevershebringswesing (1971) The first time I've heard this and it's pretty good. I only recently got a couple of his cds. I bought "Dr. Dream" (1974) *** and like it fine enough. This one sounds stronger, which seems to be the prevelant critical opinion.

I also remember buying "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock Music" about 1975 or 1976 (amazingly my parents didn't question the purchase: there was nudity in it!), and there was a large picture of the cover of "Dr. Dream" which I thought was amazingly cool for being 13 or so...and raised Catholic! Sort of freaked me. Kevin Ayers official home page.
***

I love that article in Uncut (the last page...usually critics drunken, stoned escapades with rock stars) where the writer, Marti Jones, writes about meeting Bryan Ferry in 1978 and ranting and raving wired on "charlie". It seems like Bryan Ferry is a gentlemen, since he was always careful to share his "charlie".
***

spontaneous poetry

rushing the wave
of sound
neanderthals delight
in their own
shadow....

wasted scoundrels
dream of Moroccan opium

asleep in their dreams
a wave
...........passes them by
***

Computer Interlude

I can't believe that in VS.Net 2003 that when you query using the DISTINCT keyword, that your memo field is truncated to 255 characters!? This causes quite the problem for me at work, since I have a large complex query (joining 6 tables, searching many fields with criteria), and one of the fields I want to display from this query on the web is, of course, a memo field. I thought it would be a simple workaround, instead it's a problem that Microsoft itself recognizes. I hope this is fixed in VS.Net 2005.

Had to vent. Now back to our advertised content.
***

Bryan Ferry: Let's Stick Together (1976) **** In Your Mind (1977) *** I'm certainly a fan, and I would recommend Let's Stick Together to any early Roxy fan, since half the album is old Roxy covers. I'm not sure he betters any, but they are all interesting and still great songs. Very enjoyable. In Your Mind is actually the album he was promoting in that Uncut article. It's good. Solid professional shit, but then again...he was on the charlie. Bryan Ferry's official web site.
***

Just ran across a good site about music censorship in America. Considering a marching band in the United States was banned from doing an instrumental (?? what the fuck ??) version of "Louie Louie", you know censorship is alive and well. I think the New York Mets sort of forcing (persuading) Carlos Delgado to stand for "God Bless America" is a form of censorship itself. Wither gone the days of protest? Check out Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America. I'll even try to find a copy of the book.
***

Guru T-Lu hates Tim Buckley and the Hated Uncles drop by

Tim Buckley: Blue Afternoon (1969) **** Tim Buckley: Starsailor (1970) ***** By the time "Chase the Blues Away" barely had a chance to breathe, Guru T-Lu said: "This guy is bringing me down." I replied: "He always brings you down." Later on, I remarked: "I find his music beautiful and majestic." Guru T-Lu said something like, "beautiful and majestic...good for you." Maybe his music just hits me right during my "stones". I love his voice and the control he has over it. You can feel him exploring every note. I've read of comparisons of his voice with Coltrane, and that's not too far off. Even though Buckley wasn't as brilliant as Coltrane. Not too many were.

Oh yeh, I also love the subtle musicianship, which accentuates his voice beatifully. I read Lee Underwood's bio of Tim Buckley, and it's obvious Lee loved Tim, but Tim could also be a prick. Typical musical genius. It's a good read as well. If you're interested in Tim's music definitely check it out. I think I read my copy from the Oakville Public Library. Great library.

I'm really digging on "Jungle Fire" right now. I so disagree with Guru T-Lu....Good Lord, is "Starsailor" ever freaky. I started hallucianating that I was listening to Amon Duul or something! Tim Buckley's official site.
***

I'm so far behind in my magazine reading. I read MOJO, Uncut and Record Collector cover to cover, but lately, I'm getting so far behind I'm having to skip some reviews and stuff that's not really my cup of tea. Example: The value of The Smiths rarities. So, it may be awhile for me to finish the Julian Cope.
***

Hated Uncles story #1

OK. A new feature. Old Hated Uncle stories. We opened up for The Forgotten Rebels in Hamilton, Ontario at Willy Woggs, and played probably our best show up to that point. It was a tough, biker kind of crowd (obviously, with The Rebels being punk heroes) and our weird original music with a trumpet, guitar, bass and me yelling out my lyrics while rolling around on the stage and then walking out into the crowd confronting people got quite a mixed reaction. In other words, we were lucky we didn't get the shit kicked out of us. Micky DeSaidst (who even became somewhat of a friend), however really liked us. Maybe because people didn't like us. Whatever. We all became friends. He actually told the crowd they were doing their version of The Hated Uncles and then they did some song similar to our "big" song "Name on a Gravestone". Of course, with our egos fuelled by alcohol we were pretty hot shit that night. [Aside: That was also the night I first met my friend of many years, Vikram] Mickey told us we could open for The Forgotten Rebels in London, Ontario.

Wow! The Hated Uncles on the road. So, we do what all touring bands do. We rented a van for too much money, packed up the equipment and headed out to the show. The big time! This could lead to something! Maybe we could open up for The Forgotten Rebels when they went on tour! Oh God! The possibities!

I'm usually a pretty good driver, but I remember missing a stop sign and just driving right through a pretty busy intersection. I'm sure the other guys were distracting me or whatever, but we were lucky we got through it alive because it was close. Definitely a bad omen.

So...we get to the show way too early, like the eager losers we were, and wait around drinking beer and playing pool. Finally, Mickey shows up and the first thing he says is: "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Um.....well, you remember that show in Hamilton...oh you forget...it's ok I'll get you on. Mickey's a good guy. He comes back and says, "You're on at 10." Great. No problem.

It's about 7:30 and I go out with Tanya (guitar player's girlfriend) for dinner and a drink. Being a single horny man who masterbated too much and never got laid, of course I had a thing for Tanya, but then again, I think we all did. The other guys stayed behind, but I liked to get away from the place for a break and come back closer to showtime. Our shows were pretty intense, and we definitely worked up to them with a lot of beer and attitude. So, I liked to come back about 1/2 hour before we went on. Made it seem fresher to me.

We have a pleasant dinner and we head back. It's about 8:45. Mickey comes running up: "Where the fuck have you been?! They've been waiting for you on stage for about 5 minutes. I rush up, we start off, but everything was off. The sound was shit, we were shit. So, we get the plug after 3 songs. Surprisingly, the only time that ever happened. I could think of a couple of shows we should have had the plug pulled, but that'll be for later stories.

Of course, we all got shitfaced, smoked shitloads of pot outside, bickered and were quite nasty with each other. We were all tired and wasted. Somehow we get back home, and amazingly keep the band going. I remember some kind of weird feeling that came over me on the ride back, but to this day, I'm still not quite sure what that feeling was.

What a great experience.
***

Velvets

The Velvet Underground: The Legendary Guitar Amp Tapes 1968-1969 (1996) ***** Riding a wave of electrical feedback...pulsating sensations....my head a mere fragment, a mere scrap of possibilities. Drown drown drowning in haphazard thoughts. thc rippling through my frontal vein throbbing out that pounding Maureen Tucker beat. Sterling and Lou fight a dance and circle each other searching for space. Is it Doug on organ? The sound coalescing into light...the finest of bootlegs.

It's the Velvet Underground man!!!!!

OK OK OK...I'm hearing bubbles in the ocean bubbles in the ocean...through my fucking computer system! As of right now this is a ***** listening to "Heroin / Sister Ray". Amazing stoner music.

Listening to "Run Run Run" now. At first it sounds rough, then the feedback takes you away and you're back floating with velvet angel wings on that driving backbeat. That's it...It's *****!!
***

I went to the local library and they actually had a copy of Julian Cope's "Head On" and "Repossessed". 2 in 1!! Cool. I'll get through them and report back here. Love the cover of "Repossessed".
***

Started Warren Kinsella's "Fury's Hour". He calls it a punk manifesto. Looks interesting.
***

The debut of Guru T-Lu, introducing the Mole and Bob Dylan camps out

There's a huge argument going on about Jandek on my friend Mole's newsgroup. There's a link to his page on Creative Radio Central and if you send him an email you can join his outrageous newsgroup of music nuts of all sorts. I really need to listen to some Jandek. Sounds fucked-up, which can be a positive, so I'm hoping I enjoy it. We'll see.
***

OK. Time for some Guru T-Lu advice. A reader writes in and says: "I've been invited to a fabulous soiree. My fabulous crush, a record store owner [Harvey Dog aside: snicker snicker] needless to say will be present. Still wearing the brusises from my last relationship, with my pummelled ego laying splat on the floor, I'm afraid of making a fool of myself. How do I handle the pre-date jitters."

Guru T-Lu's answer (The answer is applicable to both men and women, gay, straight, transgender, bisexual) : Here's how you do it. You face the situation from as many angles as possible. You say will my crush be there? Yes he will be there. Accept that as a reality. You may feel nervous. Accept that you are nervous. Ask yourself if you are hopeful that your crush might turn out to be a good person. Of course you are. So be happy knowing that you just might have the opportunity to meet a good person that night. Ask yourself if you bear him any ill-will and of course you don't, so if you see him, approach him with kindness and good intentions and a manageable quantity of booze and i [Harvey Dog aside: I hate people who use small i's. She made me keep it in] assure you all will go well.
I hope this reaches you in time. Good Luck!

Thank you Guru T-Lu !
***

I'm listening to Mel Brown & the Homewreckers: Homewreckin' Done Live (2001) borrowed from the Public Library. Thanks. Sounds quite good. Solid, basic, but good blues playing. Nice version of "Hey Joe" playing now. First time listening to it, so too early for the lameass star system.
***

I was just telling Guru T-Lu, what a genius she is. I must want to get laid tonight.
***

From the description of "Seven Days" from Bob Dylan's "The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3":"At the end of March 1976, Eric Clapton was recording his LP No Reason To Cry in Shangri La Studios, Malibu. Bob Dylan decided to drop by for a while. As Clapton recalled, 'He was just hanging out. He was actually living in a tent in the bottom of the garden. He would keep sneaking into the studio to find out what was going on, trying to catch me in there.' Ron Wood, who was later to record 'Seven Days' himself (on Gimme Some Neck), was also hanging out at Shangi La (the former bordello featured briefly in The Last Waltz). He remembers it well: "That's where I got 'Seven Days' from. He played it to me and Eric in the studio, and he said to Eric, 'You can have this song if you want it'. And I took him up on it and Eric didn't.'"
Now....here a few things I consider odd about this.

?!?! Dylan was living in a tent at the bottom of a garden??? A tent? Was he broke? Why would no one invite him to crash at their home??!?! Dylan had to sneak into the studio??? What? To get by the security guards? Was he banned from the studio? Was he just considered the bum living in a tent in the garden??!?! And do musicians just hang out at studios? It doesn't sound like Ron Wood was recording at the studio...just 'hanging out'.?!?! And who else but Dylan would give away such a masterpiece as "Seven Days" and only perform it 5 times himself?
***

I borrowed John Denver's "Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits" from the library. Don't laugh. Whatever. I like the cd title. Anyway, Guru T-Lu said, "You know John Denver committed suicide." I replied: "No no. He died in a plane crash." I looked up on all-music (I got 3 annoying pop-ups while surfing all-music...what the fuck is that all about?) to see who was right. All-music states: "Tragedy struck on October 12, 1997, when his experimental aircraft suddenly crashed, killing him instantly. " I couldn't help but think that Guru T-Lu was right. Another rock'n'roll suicide!
***

Julian Cope, Poobah and a new lame ass star system and Bowie

I wrote about depression for the blog yesterday, but I'm holding off on it. Somehow, it's one thing to write it down, and another to publish it. We'll see. Anyway, speaking of insanity, let's get back to our carnival of music thoughts.
***

Julian Cope: Jehovahkill (1992) **** You hear about somebody for years, and when you finally hear them, it's nothing like you expected. I vaguely remember Teardrop Explodes and "World Shut Your Mouth" and liked what I heard, but maybe not enough to pursue at that time. This past summer I got "Peggy Suicide (1991)" and this one from Randy...once again thanks.

I think this is the dog's breath. And I love dog breath thanks to Poobah our yorkie pom. What a creative and experimental album this is. I like, and may learn to love, his singing. His music is accomplished and driving. I don't know what he's talking about, but it sounds intelligent. Maybe, I'll focus on it super hard one day instead of writing into this blog while it's playing. In fact, there's a lot to love about this album and I highly recommend exploring Julian Cope. I know I'm going to further explore his work. Another note is that from what I remember (and only listening to it twice), that "Peggy Suicide" is even better! Julian Cope's web site.
***

Who else needs to be explored further?? So many. Roy Harper. Cecil Taylor. The Fall.
***

And remember Hawkwind loves you!
***

This Julian Cope album is sorta messing with my mind. "The Tower" is playing now, and I love the spooky overtones. Are his books any good? I'll check out the PG library and see if they have any Julian Cope books. They may. They have an excellent music section. I'm reading Gary Valentine's "New York Rocker" right now. It's ok. Nothing too special. Then again, I was never a huge Blondie fan. I loved Lemmy's book. He strikes me as incredibly sensible. Seriously.
***

Did Julian Cope just say: "Mother, Mother, bah." in a psychotic insane sort of way to end the album? Wow. Now that is a way to end an album! I listened to it 3 times to make sure I heard it right. Once again...Wow.
***

David Bowie: Hunky Dory (1971) *** I've actually never been the biggest fan of "Changes". There. I admit it. However, the rest of this album does it for me. I especially love "Oh! You Pretty Things!", "Life on Mars", "Andy Warhol" and "Queen Bitch". Isn't Bowie sort of pompous in interviews? Like he's got some smug secret that he may let us in on one day. I liked his interviews when he was loaded on "charlie" though.

Note: The day after I wrote this blog up, I reduced Hunky Dory down to 3 stars from 4. I think there's some pretty naff shit going on, but there's some blah stuff there as well, and **** seems a little high.
***

Isn't my new star system lame? I just can't help myself...I'm so ashamed.
***

motherfucker
***

The First Post Finally Appears

Well, the talk has finally stopped. I have been threatening for a number of months to start my own blog, and become one of the millions in cyberspace babbling about their interests. Finally, that day has arrived.

What are my interests? As indicated by the title of the blog, my obssessive interest is music. I also want the freedom to write about depression, as I have struggled with this ailment all my life. So, occassionally, I may write about how shitty I feel, or the feelings I'm struggling with, and the rest of the fun stuff that goes along with depression, stress and anxiety. My purpose in this? The hope that someone with depression reads one of my depression posts, and something in it clicks with the way they're feeling, and maybe, just maybe, it can aid them on their journey. You never know what will help a person with depression.

OK. The main focus of this blog is music, and when I write about depression, that will be indicated in the title, so those who aren't interested in depression can bypass those posts. I may even start a separate blog for depression; but, I finally started this one, so maybe I should slow down and actually write some posts!

I'm not sure how this blog will develop, or where it's headed....and that's the exciting part for me. I think I'll start this blog off with some random thoughts.

***

My friend Randy supplied quite a number of classic krautrock albums to my collection (amongst tons of others. Thanks Randy!), that I was sorely lacking. Can, Amon Duul I & II, Faust, Neu!, Cluster, Harmonia, Kraftwerk, Brainticket, Guru Guru and so on. I'm currently listening to Neu! 1975 and I love it. The quality that strikes me about these groups, is how creative they are. No matter how primitive the equipment, the enthusiasm shines through. Question: How much charm (if any) has been lost with the improvement in equipment? Sounds like a future essay.

***

John Cale-Terry Riley: Church of Anthrax (1971) For some reason I always thought this was an electronic, classical kind of album. Never heard it, just read the reviews. Then I got a copy from Randy (thanks again man) and I think it sounds fantastic. Rather jazzy. Probably a ***1/2 rather than the 2 or so it usually gets. I saw John Cale live in Toronto at Larry's Hideaway, around the 1983-1984 period, and I was so fucking drunk I was at the back flirting with a girl named Candy (no, really), unsuccessfully I might add (I think she had some "rounds" to make), then ended up closer to the stage and I believe I shouted out a heckle whereupon Mr. Cale most appropriately put me down, so I proceeded to sulk and get even more childish. Ah, the good old days.

***

Amon Duul II: Wolf City (1972) I can't believe I went so long before getting this music. I'd heard of all the big krautrock bands (Can, Faust, Amon Duul etc.), but they were difficult to find, and I'd really only had listened to 30 second snippets on AllMusic, which is NOT the same thing. Green Bubble Raincoated Men is currently playing and this album is beautiful. I love Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz' voice......a few puffs and coughs later and I'm really getting into this album. Love It. Did I already say that?

***

Neil Young: Journey Through the Past (1972) As you can see, I have gone to a "here's what I'm listening to...my inane comments follow" kind of style for my first post. I must remember not to fall into predictability.

When I was a lonely masterbating drunk, I used to play side 1 over and over. I loved the segues. For What It's Worth / Mr. Soul and Find the Cost of Freedom / Ohio....absolutely rocked. And they still do. And Side 2 is pretty great too. Southern Man and Alabama are fantastic. Words is pretty good. Side 4's pretty fucked up, but interesting once in awhile. So, why do the critics kill this album? It's still not available on cd. I grabbed my copy (My second. The first I sold for beer money 20 years ago) from Rock Your World. If you're ever in Prince George, check out Rock Your World. Great collection of lps. * Plug over *. Anyway, I think this is a **** album, and when you're a lonely masterbating drunk like I was, it's a ***** for the first 2 sides anyway.

***

Tammy just walked into the room and asked for a cd by the "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun" guy. This is how Cat Stevens is remembered if you've ever seen an 18 year old Cat Stevens jocularly sing "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun". Try to check it out. It's on "The Singer and the Song" dvd I got at a very evil place.

***