Another Stones Ripoff c/o The Velvet Underground

Yes, Even The Velvet Underground Stole From The Stones

This Stones track came out in 1966...

And you are tellin' me that this live Velvets version from less than a year later in April '67 has NOTHING in common with the Stones track?!  No way - that riff is EXACTLY the same.

I'd like to say that in the end this isn't all that big a deal, though.  EVERYONE has stolen from the Stones.

Bootleg Time: Blondie with Special Guest Johnny Thunders!

A big shoutout to Mike Mindless for this one!!

I was never a huge fan of Blondie.  I think I listened to them more because of the New York scene they grew out of than the actual music they played!  Sure, they have a few songs that are permanently on my iPod, but when I am in the mood to Rock Out - they are never selected.  It's more for either the wife or background music, ya know?  Good enough to play but not good enough to listen to, I guess.

Well, there are exceptions to every rule - and this exception comes from a Blondie show from 6 November 1978, at the Walnut Theatre in Philly, PA.  The recording is excellent - drawn straight from a WLIR-FM radio broadcast to a reel-2-reel and then converted decades later to digital - and the big treat here is Johnny Thunders jumps on stage for the final two numbers, which are the only two tracks I bother to play!  It takes JT a few minutes to get into a groove with Bang A Gong, as he sorta noodles around with one string and comes in late on a chorus or two, but as they roll into Jet Boy...JT finds his groove. 

Overall sound is fantastic, sorta like when your local FM would broadcast live concert recordings on Saturday nights - which is exactly how this was recorded!  Ah, those were the days...

Download the LOSSLESS show right HERE! 

Careful! Lou Reed Bites!!

New Genus of Velvet Spider Named after Lou Reed

An international team of biologists has discovered a new genus of velvet spider and named it after Lou Reed, an American rock musician and songwriter.

This is the velvet spider Loureedia annulipes from Tel Krayot, Israel. It belongs to a new genus named after American rock musician Lou Reed (Martin Forman)

Velvet spiders include some of the most beautiful arachnids in Europe and some of the world’s most cooperative species.

The ecology of these social species is fascinating and has been the subject of several landmark scientific papers.

By contrast, most kinds of velvet spider are rarely encountered. Most species keep well hidden or dig burrows and live underground. Because of the cryptic habits of most velvet spiders, scientific knowledge of this spider family is uneven to say the least.

The name velvet spider accurately describes the dark and shiny appearance of these creatures. Some species also have brightly colored highlights, such as the red, white, and black ladybird spiders of Europe and North Asia. With the exception of one species from Brazil, velvet spiders live in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

They found that one particularly enigmatic species belongs to a new genus. In recognition of the fact that this velvet spider lives underground, the new genus has been named Loureedia in a whimsical salute to the musician who began his distinguished career leading the 60s rock band “The Velvet Underground.”

Read the entire article HERE:  Sci-News.com

Scott C Knows Minimalist Art

Sometimes I am impressed with an artwork's complexity and detail, but other times I am equally as impressed with simplicity.  Scott C, you are a master.  Thanks, Gavin!

Click Here To See Scott C's Site & Check Out What He's Got To Offer!

Johnny Marr & Morrissey

Adam Ant

Devo!

Rest In Peace Robin Gibb

Mick Jagger KILLS IT On Saturday Night Live!

Over the last few years, SNL has mostly had a couple funny skits and then an hour of actors trudging through miserable writing.  So, I didn't have very high expectations for Mick's performance on the season finale.  Well, I gotta say that they must have been saving the best writing over this entire season for the final episode.  Hilarious from beginning to end.

Now, if you go to the Rolling Stones forums, you'll find a bunch of fat old men whining that Mick didn't get Keef's permission, and Keef should have been there, or Mick sucked...but everyone younger than 50 can look at the show for what it was - a really funny guy who has some comedic chops - (There's nothing like reading shit written by a bunch of old losers who wish it was 1971). 

Anyways, I hope everyone outside the US can see this - totally worth your time:

And if you thought Mick can't pull this off regularly, check out a couple other skits through the years:

The Batusis (Sylvain & Chrome) - Live in Philadelphia, 2010

Much thanks to whoever recorded this originally - I have lost that information.

The Batusis, formed by the New York Dolls' Sylvain Sylvain and the Dead Boys' Cheetah Chrome, never finished recording that long-promised LP. However, there are a number of live audio and video recordings floating around. This one - a cover of the Heartbreakers' "I Wanna Be Loved" - is from the M Room in Philly, July 25, 2010.  Lez Warner (drums) and Sean Koos (bass) round out the band.

I had the opportunity to catch a show on this tour, and it was a helluva lot of fun. These guys loved playing together and if they ever join up again you can be damn sure I'm gonna be there! Check out my review of their show in Washington DC right HERE.

Billy Rath's Boney Maroney

This is Billy teaching Joey Pinter and John Tyree Boney Maroney in the back room at Alex's Bar, January 2012.  If you talk to people who played with him on the Billy Rath/Steve Dior "Broken Hearts" tour in the UK during late 2011, you'll find out how Billy was BEGGED not to play this.

Billy hasn't posted on his Facebook page in a while...let's hope he is doing ok.

High School Photography Project (1991)

Cleveland Heights High School senior year photography class, baby!  This has been kicking around for years...why was I holding onto it for so long?  Oh yeah, so I could post it online for everyone!

Not much to say here.  We had to take four different photos (panning, foreground in focus, everything in focus, still), develop 'em (heh heh - remember when photos required film, let alone chemicals to develop this film stuff?!) and mount 'em.  I got an A, though I obviously wasn't letting my imagination work overtime.

So screw ya!

Ronnie Lane Tearin' It Up with Faces (1972)

Somebody posted this in the Rolling Stone forums and I've been watching it constantly for a week since.  Ronnie is simply rippin' it up here, especially from 0:15 - 0:35.  But watch the fuck out for Rod's mic-stand twirlin'!

Meme Of The Day: Disappointed Marriage Guy

Time For Some Nick Lowe, The Jesus Of Cool

 All text c/o Allmusic.com

As the leader of the seminal pub rockers Brinsley Schwarz, a producer, and a solo artist, Nick Lowe held considerable influence over the development of punk rock. With the Brinsleys, Lowe began a back-to-basics movement that flowered into punk rock in the late '70s. As the house producer for Stiff, he recorded many seminal records by the likes of the Damned, Elvis Costello, and the Pretenders. His rough, ragged production style earned him the nickname "Basher" and also established the amateurish, D.I.Y. aesthetics of punk. Despite his massive influence on punk rock, Lowe never really was a punk rocker. Lowe was concerned with bringing back the tradition of three-minute pop singles and hard-driving rock & roll, but he subverted his melodic songcraft with a nasty sense of humor. His early solo singles and albums Jesus of Cool and Labour of Lust overflowed with hooks, bizarre jokes, and an infectious energy that made them some of the most acclaimed pop records of the new wave era.

By the time Brinsley Schwarz broke up in 1975, he had already gained a reputation as an excellent, eccentric songwriter, and he was beginning to produce artists like Graham Parker, Dr. Feelgood, and the Kursaal Flyers. At the time, his songwriting was veering away from the country-rock and bluesy rock that distinguished his Brinsley work, and he was beginning to write inventive pop songs.  

Lowe released his debut album, Jesus of Cool (retitled Pure Pop for Now People for its American release), in 1978, which featured his first British Top Ten hit, "(I Love the Sound Of) Breaking Glass." The single "American Squirm" was released in the fall of 1978 to little success. After producing the Pretenders' debut single, "Stop Your Sobbing," Lowe recorded his second album, Labour of Lust, supported by Rockpile; Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary was recorded at the same session. Labour of Lust featured Lowe's one big American hit, "Cruel to Be Kind," which was a reworked version of an old Brinsley Schwarz song. Between the recording and touring in 1979, Lowe married Carlene Carter, the stepdaughter of Johnny Cash; he would produce her albums Musical Shapes (1980) and Blue Nun (1981). 

Lowe made a comeback in 1994 with the straight country album The Impossible Bird. Hailed as his finest effort in years, the album became a hit in the burgeoning Americana movement in the U.S., and he supported the album with his first solo tour in five years; his touring band featured former Commander Cody guitarist Bill Kirchen. In 1998, Lowe returned with Dig My Mood, followed by a series of three albums for Yep Roc: 2001's The Convincer, 2004's live Untouched Takeaway, and 2007's At My Age. His fourth outing for the label, The Old Magic, followed in 2011 to bigger sales numbers than his other Yep Roc titles due to nearly universal critical acclaim. 

Meme Of The Day: Lawyer Dog

It's funny 'cause it's true.

Heavy Psyche-Rock from Euclid

Recently I was perusing the fantastic music blog Dirty Funky Situation and came across this LP.  I am trying to expand my musical horizons beyond the Garage-Rock & Roll-Punk I am usually listening to, so I thought I'd give this one a shot.  What I discovered was sort of a missing link between Psychedelic Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.  Very, very heavy with Bonham-esque drums pounding away behind a wall of crunching guitars and harmonizing vocals.

I was pretty excited and contacted my music-loving uncle who was in college in the very late 60s/early 70s, thinking he may like it but was disappointed to read his response:  "Good drums, but otherwise not my thing. The review went really, really overboard.  These bands were a dime a dozen.  They all wanted to be Rolling Stones derivatives.  On second thought, is that so bad?  The Black Crowes are still around."  So, for him it was nothing special - but bands like this simply didn't exist during my MTV-Generation days in the 80s.  It's new musical territory for me!

Euclid wore their influences on their sleeves, covering the Spencer Davis Group and the Rolling Stones, from whom Euclid lifted the Satisfaction riff for their song, First Time Last Time.  I've tried to find out more about the group, and maybe unsurprisingly there's very little floating around the Internet, but I encourage you to go to Dirty Funky and read what he posted.

It doesn't look like this has ever been legitimately reissued on any format and vinyl copies are into the unaffordable range at $300+.  So, here is a copy of a South African bootleg copy:

>>DOWNLOAD HERE!<<

1 - Shadows of Life - On the Way - Bye Bye Baby
2 - Gimme Some Lovin'
3 - First Time Last Time
4 - Lazy Livin'
5 - 97 Days
6 - She´s Gone
7- It´s All Over Now

Rest In Peace Adam "MCA" Yauch

MCA, Ad-Rock, and Mike D in 1986

Get More: Music News

Man, I guess I really AM getting old!  Adam "MCA" Yauch died yesterday at 47 years old.  One of the most influential bands of my youth and certainly, with Run DMC, helped to break Hip Hop massive in the mid-80s into the suburbs.  

Rather than type a bunch of bullshit, I'll just leave you with the video that I used to wait for HOURS to come on MTV, before MTV became a shitpile: