Mr. Moderator says:

12/21/2008 at 8:30 am

Former Lumber Company pitcher Dock Ellis died. He was a great man.

diskojoe says:

12/22/2008 at 9:30 am

First off, I would like to use this opportunity to wish everyone at RTH a Merry Chrimble & a Gear New Year.

Dock Ellis died? I think that pitching a no-hitter on acid was probably a better accomplishment then chasing after Madonna.

Great Pretties video. It’s probably from the Parachutes album since Dick Taylor is nowhere to be found. Phil May doesn’t look as good w/the beard. Maybe there should be a new RTH topic, what rockers look better with or without a beard and/or mustache.

Mr. Moderator says:

12/22/2008 at 1:31 pm

I just got the Cantonese chicken bone shot of Linda Rondstadt in the rotating banner image and I thought I’d share that I saw Yes Man with my 11-year-old boy yesterday. It was much better than expected. Zooey Deschanel’s character got to sing some silly New Wave songs that were written by Eels, if I read the credits correctly. Someone’s gotta get Zooey one of those chicken bones!

the great 48 says:

12/23/2008 at 12:28 am

I can’t bring myself to see YES MAN, because I loved the book that it’s based on, and as far as I can tell, all they took was the title and the basic idea. Asswipes.

diskojoe says:

12/23/2008 at 9:01 am

I saw that Slate article by Mr. Fagen on Jean Shepherd. I’m a fan of his, which began when I read his columns in Car & Driver when I was a lad in the early 70s.
Just last week I posted a link to his Playboy interview w/the Beatles. I hate to Prince-Nez latelydavidband, but Shep was never a “DJ”. Although he did play records, they were only used as background & to amplify his monologues. In fact, he was fired from several of his early radio jobs for just talking instead of playing records. Another fact about Shep was that although his musical tastes were quite broad, he really didn’t care too much about rock.

Mr. Moderator says:

12/23/2008 at 3:37 pm

Fans of the mustache will certainly be rooting for the 49ers this weekend:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3789504

hrrundivbakshi says:

12/31/2008 at 10:01 am

I have a fave blog, “The Vinyl District,” the author of which — I *think* — is an occasional contributor to the Hall. Anyhow, TVD posted its “best song of 2008” today, and I just wanted to say it’s a stone winner. Click on through to

http://www.vinyldistrict.blogspot.com/

to check “Vitriol” by Bluejuice out. I’m not sure how long it will take for me to get tired of the otherwise humorous intro/cult spoof content in the video — but the song rocks. Without any guitars, it rocks!

HVB

Mr. Moderator says:

02/25/2007 at 1:08 pm

Sammy asked:

Also, is Paris au Printemps worth a spin?

Yes! It’s energetic and a bit sloppy in a great way.

I need to find some albums produced by Adrian Sherwood that I used to hear in the ’80s. I don’t know what that music was, but it had some dub applications to music that was not necessarily reggae, from what I remember.

BigSteve says:

02/25/2007 at 3:48 pm

I would love though to find another band, like early PIL, that used dub qualities as a means to an end rather than an end itself.

I’m not exactly sure I’ve got what you mean, but how about the Slits and the Delta 5? Killing Joke and the Basement 5 also come to mind as something along the same lines from that era.

I agree`with Mr. Mod that Adrian Sherwood might be a good direction to pursue, but to me that stuff is pretty much dub rather than dub-like. He released records under the names New Age Steppers and African Head Charge. I don’t know if by “no dance or trance” you mean no elctronica. I mean, the whole trip-hop thing kind of used dub effects as a means to an end. The Mad Professor made lots of good electro-dub records, and he remixed the second Massive Attack album.

Also the style called dubstep is one of the latest styles to emerge from the London underground. I really like it. The self-titled album by Burial is probably my favorite album of the past year. If you want more recommendations in that area I’ve got some.

Also, is Paris au Printemps worth a spin?

Yes.

Mr. Moderator says:

02/25/2007 at 4:02 pm

Delta 5 was always among the best of the PiL-type bands from that era, I thought. Didn’t a retrospective of their stuff just come out?

I never got The Slits, although that one album cover had some appeal.

I can’t stand Killing Joke – to me they were always nausea-inducing music, but they do fit the bill. Someday I’ll have to reexamine why they gave me such fits in their time.

Good point about Sherwood, BigSteve, I guess that really was dub music itself. I do remember it sounding wholly formed as that sort of music, though, not like someone fiddling with knobs of an already recorded song, which is what I thought was meant by Sammy’s Clash example.

sally_cinnamon says:

02/25/2007 at 5:06 pm

Hi Sammy,

Maybe you’d like Delroy Wilson too if you’re into Lee Perry – Prince Buster is another obvious one… but I think Delroy Wilson and the Prince had some kind of beef writing songs about eachother or something. Reggae Dub Fight Club! Does anyone have the Strummerville compilation on here? All I’ve heard is Janie Jones done by Babyshambles – which I actually really, really like a lot.

This brings up an interesting conundrum – Is “Psychedelia” constrained by a time-period? Was it a music style that ended? I suppose you could certainly say that it was an “era” but does that mean that any psychedelic band that has come since is “Post-Psychedelia?”

Hm. Interesting question. I’d say that it was a definite time-period, and that you could classify newer stuff as post-psychedelia. I’m happy with that. Newer (in the loosest sense of the term) bands that I’d lump into that genre would be Super Furry Animals, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci (r.i.p.), Dead Meadow, The Invisible Eyes, THTX, Black Lips, Jennifer Gentle, TV Personalities – thoughts on lumping Neutral Milk Hotel/Olivia Tremor Control in there?

Delta 5 was always among the best of the PiL-type bands from that era, I thought. Didn’t a retrospective of their stuff just come out?

Yep, Rough Trade released it a while ago. Retrospective 79-81, singles and sessions – I remember seeing/playing that at my hometown’s radio station when it came in.

mrclean says:

02/25/2007 at 8:08 pm

As a side note – the Delta 5 comp packaging art/cover was designed by Philly local music supporter Maria Tessa Sciarrino. She was one half of the local Philly show promoting “Plain Parade” organization.

http://www.herjazz.org/maria/about/

I’ve been meaning to pick this comp up and am glad it gets high marks here.

hrrundivbakshi says:

02/25/2007 at 8:47 pm

Is this Oscars night a particularly lousy one, or am I just in a cranky mood? That James Taylor performance was particularly heinous.

Oh, good Lord. A perfect storm of… something; Melissa Etheridge singing a song from “An Inconvenient Truth.” Ewg. I really don’t like her — her music , I mean. I mean, at *all*. Really, other than the, you know, socially conscious lyrics and what not, what’s the difference between Melissa Etheridge and Jon Bon Jovi?

dr. john says:

02/26/2007 at 9:20 am

Re: Scorsese

My favorite “diversion” of his is Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, which ranks up there with the great road movies of the 70s.

Last night, I rewatched Mean Streets, and there you can see all the classic elements of Scorsese in embryonic form: rock music soundtrack, religious themes, street dialogue.

I was thinking that Taxi Driver actually marks an artistic decline for Scorsese, in that it allowed a kind of nihilistic approach to portraying violence to creep in.

dr. john says:

02/26/2007 at 9:34 am

re: post-psychedelia

Comets on Fire
Bardo Pond
Skygreen Leopards
The Espers
Wooden Wand

berlyant says:

02/26/2007 at 11:03 am

I was glad to know that Scorscese finally won an Oscar for Best Director/Best Picture, even if it’s for a movie that by all reports is below his prime stuff. Friday night we let our oldest boy stay up late and watch most of After Hours with us, occasionally skipping to another channel for scenes not cut out for a 9-year-old kid. He loved it. That was a cool period for Scorscese. I haven’t put my finger on how to describe it quite yet, but it’s cool when an artist gets into a little stretch of “diversions.” I’m sure this happens with musical artists as well. Could be a full topic of its own someday if anyone hits on what I’m scratching at…

too love After Hours and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. I miss the days when Marty didn’t feel the need to make an EPIC every time out. I think part of After Hours’ appeal is that it’s pretty “hip” for a film made by someone with 15+ years experience. It’s aged better than a lot of ’80s indie classics, and it captures nightlife paranoia very well. It’s a film I appreciate more and more the longer I live in the city.

I’m pretty sure this has been discussed years ago on the Yahoo list, but count me in as a major fan of After Hours as well as The King of Comedy with my preference going towards the former. In fact I like these movies just as much if not more than say Taxi Driver or even Raging Bull.

I must say, though, that when anyone says “the city”, I also think of New York but that’s just a function of living in that area (either NYC proper in 3 different boroughs or the NJ suburbs) for most of my life until I moved here last year. Nevertheless, I’m glad to see other appreciators of that film on here. How cool is the scene where Griffin Dunne tries to get into a club to look for Kiki and Hearst (sp?) and the Bad Brains’ “Pay to Cum” is played? In a lot of ways it reminds me of everything downtown Manhattan used to be but isn’t anymore.

berlyant says:

02/26/2007 at 11:28 am

All great ones Dr. John! Actually – I’m not a huge BP fan (and their website drives me frickin’ bananas), but they do have a few shows coming up with one of their gazillion side-projects that’s on my heyday list:
# 2/7/2007 @ LURE, Philadelphia (PA) [As Michael Gibbons – also featuring Tristan Lowe as a part of “Sonic Expansion Night”]
# 2/21/2007 @ North Star Bar, Philadelphia (PA) [As Baikal – also featuring Primordial Undermind]

Michael (and the rest of Bardo Pond) is also playing with a whole bunch of other musicians (including a member of Espers and others) at International House. They’re doing a live score to a screening of the horror film Head Trauma. The details are here:
http://www.ihousephilly.org/headtrauma.htm

berlyant says:

02/26/2007 at 1:28 pm

You’re welcome sally (sorry I haven’t yet figured out who you are; that is if you were also on the Yahoo list; love the username, though; it’s a bit less egocentric than I_am_the_resurrection_; ha ha).

Here’s another Bardo Pond appearance for you because I’m in a generous mood:
http://www.poppedphiladelphia.com/