Dummy Up: a/k/a Tommy Chong

Tommy Chong appears on Alex Jones‘ nationally syndicated radio show to discuss the recent FBI raid of Spectrum Labs and the seizure of 10,000 DVDs of Chong’s documentary, a/k/a Tommy Chong. Also on the show is Kevin Booth, creator of American Drug War: The Last White Hope; Josh Gilbert, creator of a/k/a Tommy Chong; and Matt Stevens, owner of Spectrum Labs. The show is guest-hosted by co-producer of the Loose Change documentaries, Jason Bermas.

At the height of popularity of the Bush administration (huh?) — the federal government entrapped and subsequently imprisoned Tommy Chong. Josh Gilbert began documenting the federal case against his long time friend, for the terrible crime of selling bongs. This film (broken down here into four clips) examines the personal effects on Tommy, the motivations and tactics of the politicized Justice Department under George Bush, set against the back drop of the War on Drugs and the legal issues involved.

(Parts Two, Three, Four)

Listening to Jones’ radio show, followed by Gilbert’s film, one can easily see how one can become a target of a vengeful government bent on teaching someone a very public lesson. Just imagine, if the U.S. Federal government could view Cheech & Chong’sUp In Smoke” as a threat, how might they have viewed Frank Zappa’s “Pygmy Twylyte/ Dummy Up” (from WSTM-FM’s ‘FZ as DJ’ broadcast, 21 Nov 1974) and treated him if he were alive post 9/11:

[audio: http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/Pygmy-Twylyte-Dummy-Up-MOI.mp3]

Tuesday Mix: The Golden Era

Let your mind drift back fellow Zappa freaks to that Golden Era of Zappadom: the 1970s. During that decade he did his most prolific touring, began recording his live shows almost religiously, and produced some of the most successful and iconoclastic albums of his career. One might even say the 70s were Zappa’s zenith. It was the blueprint set down during this decade — through his live music, his albums, song lyrics and interviews — which laid down the foundation for the Frank Zappa mythos.

When compiling this particular mixtape, I decided to divide the tracks into suites of songs from individual performances (where possible) instead of just individual tracks (here or there). This way you get a much better feel of the live Zappa experience (the only thing better, of course, is having actually been there in person). There are quite a number of treats and surprises, both for the Zappa newbie as well as the Zappa diehard.

First there was the Mudshark, now there’s the Don PardoDo the Don Pardo, Barry!

Click here to listen to the mixtape (Be prepared, KUR-meisters, it’s another BIG one).

Note: If anyone feels we are infringing their copyright, contact us and we will remove the item in question.

Alice Cooper Group — Sun Arise (Live) & Black JuJu (Studio)


Some music listeners (born after the 1970s) don’t understand the early appeal of the original Alice Cooper Group. They had a unique sound and image (which like all great rock ‘n roll mortified our parents) that was very appealing to those of us born in the 1960s and were obviously quite cynical about just about everything that came out of that decade (hippies metamorphosing into yuppies). Yet listening to Love It To Death (first issued on Straight Records), one can still hear the sound of the band which Frank Zappa originally signed before Warner Brothers completely morphed them into the mainstream (leading to the original band’s eventual demise). The first clip, Sun Arise (Live), is somewhat choppy, but rare footage. The second, Black JuJu (Studio Version) is the one track I always recommend to anyone wanting to explore the true, real sound of The Alice Cooper Group (before Vincent Damon Furnier took on the band’s nom de plume as his own, and the self-parodying that followed the band’s break up).