Try To Plead To The Power Company?
POSTED WEDNESDAY 05.07.08
Truly bizarre audio sometimes comes from the most random place. After purchasing some back issues of Chunklet (don't ask) on eBay, the seller sent me a CD-R along with the package.
written on the CD-R insert.....
I think the thick Pennsylvania accent and the electric songs he cranks out speak for themselves, but hey, if I thought the power company would turn my service back on if I wrote a song, I'd probably do it.
J&H Productions has nothing on this guy....
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TVT R.I.P. (The Debits & Credits Edition)
POSTED TUESDAY 05.06.08
To quote Billy Carter, "holy shit, I can't decide which is worse: the $3,200 owed to Eric/AIMS et al, the $115k to BET or the .86 cents to Aaron Spelling". I wonder if The Connells back catalog will keep them afloat for a while.
Read it here.
I should also add that I have never had business relations with TVT Records, but I can rattle off a list a mile long of labels, distributors, etc. that have stiffed Chunklet for ad revenues or magazines sold. I know, I know, try and wrap your head around the fact that there are liars and thieves in the music business. I'm sure this is the first time it's been mentioned.
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Bon Scott Pluggin' Coke (The Other Kind, Silly)
POSTED TUESDAY 04.29.08
I must admit, I was pretty late to AC/DC. When my family moved to Colorado from the suburbs of Houston in 1980, that was my first introduction to their distinct logo and sound. However, my parents were always super protective and not willing to let me bring records into the house with a schutzstaffel "S" (Kiss and AC/DC were the two big offenders) or pentagrams (Rush, Black Sabbath, etc.) or anything that the catholic church (or worse yet, Donahue!) frowned upon.
A classmate lent me "For Those About To Rock" a couple years later and I dug it, but it wasn't until the mid-90's that I really started obsessing about them.
The yin and yang of protorock®
With mp3 blogs being how they are, finding AC/DC bootlegs is rather common, but really good bootlegs are another story. During my cyber discoveries, I found these recordings.
The first is by Bon Scott's 60's bubblegum pop band, The Valentines, doing a jingle for Coca Cola in Australia. A bit of a novelty.
Okay, each band has their missteps....
The second batch is during AC/DC's first real US push in 1978 where they played any show that Atlantic Records told them. This recording is from a record industry conference in Nashville. Sadly, due to my inability to post more than 7 tks per blog post, I can't include the hilarious radio announcer lead in track, but the rest of the recording shows just how flawless and on fire this band was back in the late 70's. And I have said this a lot, I'd put The Ramones and AC/DC in the same pantheon of amazing bands. Simple. Flawless. Unstoppable.
Enjoy.
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Bitch Magnet Performing "Ben Hur" at ATP This Fall!
POSTED WEDNESDAY 04.23.08
Actually, that's not true. Although it'd be miraculous if it happened.
I was lucky enough to see Bitch Magnet at least a couple times when I lived in Pittsburgh during the "glory years" (some would say "year") of 1990 and 1991. Much like lesser (yet still phenomenal) bands such as Nice Strong Arm and Bastro, Bitch Magnet were more massive in Pittsburgh than any place else in the country.
So when I left Pennsylvania for Georgia, I knew that Bitch Magnet lived in Decatur (a burb inside Atlanta) for a while, but even with that, their presence was minimal at best. I pushed them on everybody I knew to little effect.
1993 was a big year. I met an enclave of suburban Atlantans who'd moved to Athens. The Martians, the Fiddlehead guys and most importantly, Jerry Fuchs. Jerry wasn't well known at the time (he was 18, ferchissakes), but he's now played in Chk-Chk-Chk, LCD Soundsystem, The Juan McLean, Turing Machine, Maserati, Cloudland Canyon and Vineland (with Jon Fine from Bitch Magnet, not coincidentally). Bands that all massively benefit from Jerry's motorik skills.
Still, to this day, I think he's one of the best drummers on the planet. I have crystal clear memories of Jerry sitting in the passenger seat of my '84 Jetta as we went record shopping in north Atlanta, playing Bitch Magnet's "Umber" album and Jerry excitedly playing along with "Navajo Ace" on the dashboard. Whereas there are few that could play Orestes's drum parts, Jerry nailed them. Even without a kit he was a master.
1993 also signaled the year I became good friends with the guys in Seam which featured the songwriting genius of Bitch Magnet's bass player Soo Young Park. Another blog post goes into this band in detail.
Due to my inability to know what's passing as "hip" nowadays, I can't tell you if Bitch Magnet are fashionable in today's lexicon, but if it weren't for this band, nothing from Tortoise to Mogwai to Torche to Minus The Bear would exist. There's no way.
So I'm including this video clip (which was the original impetus for me doing this post) and some rare recordings of Bitch Magnet. The first 2 tracks are from the Caff single that came out in 1990. Caff was run by somebody in Saint Etienne as memory serves. The other tracks are from a board tape of them performing in London in 1989 with Dave Grubbs (Bastro/Squirrel Bait) on guitar.
Go buy all of their albums.
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SURVEY: Sniglets
POSTED MONDAY 04.21.08
So I've been spending a lot of time today sifting through just a mountain of old correspondence (both mail and that of the "e" variety) and came across a couple emails of suggestions for sniglets.
Seeing as how we've had these in many past issues, I thought it time to open the floor up to people that might have some suggestions/additions for the new issue.
And in case you've been wondering, this new issue is going to be absolutely crushing. Very excited. Finally.
FOLKLECTIC (adj) describes any music group featured on NPR's Fresh Air.
ALTRO (adj) describes any music group featured on NPR's Sounds Eclectic. oddly dated. most often derrivative of Beck and/or trip hop.
Leave suggestions/additions in the comments section.
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Superstar Love Cross Tape - track 1
