The Frank and Mikey Show

I was recently arranging and updating my personal MySpace profile page when I came across these two video gems: Frank Zappa’s “Watermelon in Easter Hay” live with Mike Keneally and the rest of the 1988 band, and The Mike Keneally Band live performing “My Dilemma”.

Frank Zappa: Watermelon In Easter Hay

Mike Keneally

Hot ‘n Nasty

It’s Wednesday, hump-day, and you are no doubt in need of something special to get you through those mid-week doldrums (perhaps brought on by a certain vaultmeister’s recent non answer). So, here’s Jim Dandy to the rescue, so to speak, with Black Oak Arkansas‘ “Hot ‘n Nasty” followed by “Lord Have Mercy On My Soul (Halls of Karma)”. I don’t think anyone can possibly view these two videos, the first especially, without realizing where Van Halen got much of its stage act.

Feel the Urge to Splurge?

Don\'t be the last cow in your pasture to download a copy.

On Sunday, April 13th, after a four year hiatus from micro-press publishing, Greensleeve Editions released the inaugural issue of Splurge, a zine which decodes and defaces the ostentation of contemporary consumer culture; by any means necessary. Just take the zine’s sardonic title, for instance. We know our world is set up in such a way as to make it virtually impossible to avoid consumerism. And beyond all other distinctions, we are still consumers. We are consumers when we wake up each morning, and we are still consumers when go to sleep each night. Is that the end of the relationship? Like cows being led to the barn for milking, or slaughter? We need not go quietly into that barn of consumerism. Which is exactly what Splurge aims to do: bear witness to the shortcomings of corporate and consumer culture.

Between Splurge’s covers lie several “subvertisements” fake ads altered to seem real. The zine also features a section of fake classifieds (“subifieds”?) which offer derisive tidbits of scathing criticism:

“REMOTE, IMPERSONAL West Edmonton Mall requires Dolphin impersonators to replace live ones which have died. 3 shows a day M-F, 4 shows on Saturday. Payment in halibut, cod, salmon. Free antibiotics.”

“LOVE ME TENDER. Constipated, hopelessly drugged out fat former rock star widely reputed to be dead seeks woman to take quality legal downers with. Must love peanut butter and banana sandwiches and be willing to relocate to Memphis, TN.”

Also found between Splurge’s covers are rants, raves, monologues, articles and even a book review. To download a free copy click

(remember, folks, you’re linking to a 70Mb .pdf — some people don’t like clicking on something that causes them to download something).

Splurge is best viewed from Adobe Reader. You can download free Mac and PC Versions

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Bat Chain Puller

Barry and I had a very interesting discussion the other day concerning why some Zappa fans also become big Captain Beefheart fans, while some do not. The crux of the biscuit, so to speak, comes down to Beefheart’s appeal, lyrically, since both Frank Zappa and Don Van Vliet are appealing musically. For example, I offer the following live version of Bat Chain Puller from the French Chorus TV show in 1980 (I suggest you turn it up loud, too):

Three Little Words

My thoughts lately have been occupied by the meaning of these three little words: Kill Ugly Radio. Exactly what do they mean, philosophically speaking? We know the definition of the individual words, but does knowing these components help us? We can guess as to why they were initially uttered. Why did Barry choose these three particular words, beyond their FZ reference, that is? What do these words mean to you? To me? To them? To anyone? The PHILOSTOPHER’s door is open. Speak your piece.

The Dresden Dolls — Post-War Trade

In a comment in a previous post I alluded to a new revolution in how new bands, their labels, and their fans are making music, selling said music, as well as interacting regarding individual merchandising. In this regard, The Dresden Dolls have developed a unique relationship with their fan base called Post-War Trade:

…so here it is, the age of over-inter-connectedness and the internet and it’s time to change the world. I want to create an internet exchange forum in which really talented artists and artisans can directly reach out fans instead of posting photos their wares to the internet to get feedback. this is awesome but i would really like to see these artists making MONEY and doing BUSINESS with our fans. so it was that after years and years of discussion, the concept of Post-War Trade was born.

my good friend and fellow artist Katie Kay has agreed to take on the job of trying to organize this conceptual nightmare into a daydream reality, but we obviously can’t do it without YOU. the main idea is to get as many artists and artisans as possible to submit their work, we will pick the stuff we think is amazing enough to be reproduced en masse, and the featured items will be sold on the net with the majority of the profit going back to the artist.

it’s the DEMOCRATIC FUTURE OF MERCHANDISING! how AWESOME!!!!

no artist is too professional or amateur to get involved. ANYTHING GOES.

The Dresden Dolls are an American musical duo from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 2001, consisting of Amanda Palmer (vocals, piano, harmonica, ukelele) and Brian Viglione (drums, percussion, guitar, vocals). They describe their style as “Brechtian punk cabaret”.

Does their 2004 video, “Coin-Operated Boy” from their self titled debut record remind anyone of a late 1970s FZ song?

Live Albums — Dead or Alive?

I was tagging songs on my Last.fm account the other day (I like to listen to an eclectic mix of music while I work) when I noticed the sheer number of live albums which were being scrobbled from my music library. In no particular order or ranking (they are all equally excellent listening):

Perhaps it was the advent of the music video, MTV, the videotape recorder/player and the eventual evolution of the DVD player along with the rest of the technological wonders of the last twenty years or so that led to the gradual demise of the great live albums. Has any recent band and/or musician released a live album that measures up to the great live albums like those listed above? Where is the impetus for bands/musicians today to record great live albums if a video or a DVD will suffice? I don’t know. There’s something about a really well recorded live album that sticks with you long after you have heard it. It’s like an artifact of an other time. As much as a video or a DVD may attempt to (and in certain ways it may surpass a live recording) it doesn’t capture this aspect of the live album experience. Perhaps this is why field recordings are still so popular.

Let me ask, if and when a Zappa “Roxy DVD” is released, will it take away any of the mystique from the original vinyl recording?

Aphex Twin – Windowlicker

Aphex Twin (aka Richard David James) was born on August 18, 1971 in Limerick, Ireland and is an English electronic music artist. He has been described as “the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music.

While not to everyone’s taste, this particular video is both a hilarious and excellent example of Aphex Twin’s subversive and sardonic view of contemporary music culture (in plain English, rap videos).

Warning/Promise: the full uncut version of this video contains explicit language (lots of four letter words and words that people with a certain skin color are never suppose to use).

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Australian sneer-rock vets Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have come out with their 14th studio LP entitled, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! Though there’s no tracklist info just yet, the album’s artwork is provided by British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster. The disc was released in the UK on March 3 on Anti- (a U.S. release is due in the spring, though a date isn’t set yet).

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! is the first single from the album of the same name.