The Autonomous Commie Republic, which is part of the Russian Federation, is situated in the far northwest of Europe, and spreads up to the Arctic part of the Ural Mountains. It’s crossed by 9 northern parallels. Ten fair-sized European states could be placed on its territory. Besides indigenous residents (that is, the Commie people), there are also Russians, Ukranians, Nenetzes,… Read more →
Category: Music
End of an era
I mentioned in my maudlin St. Patrick’s Day post that I had reason to believe that things would be very different next year. Well, the cat is out of the bag. Read more →
Danger High Voltage Slacks
I love Tom Waits. Old hipster Beat Waits, and new batshit-building-instruments-out-of-farm-equipment Waits–I love it all. I can have my heart ripped out by San Diego Serenade just as easily as by The House Where Nobody Lives. I think I’d title my autobiography “You Don’t Meet Nice Girls In Coffee Shops”–or at least in my mental world my life is interesting… Read more →
The Parting Glass
One last St. Patrick’s Day themed post: The Parting Glass The Parting Glass is a resource page for fans interested in the literary, historical, political, and personal references found in the lyrics of the Pogues and of the related projects of the band’s members. It’s also got some other goodies connected to the Pogues. Read more →
“I never bin lost..”
So, while I’m talking about my Minneapolis friends, let’s shine the spotlight on Adam Stemple. (Those of you not reading this in an RSS aggregator will notice I’ve added a link to Adam’s new web site to the link list on the right–head over there and give him some love.) In addition to his myriad musical talents, Adam has started… Read more →
St. Patrick’s Day
So, it’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’m not in Minneapolis. This is the second year in a row that’s happened, after more than a decade of seeing the Boiled In Lead show at First Avenue every year. And, for reasons which I don’t know if I’m allowed to mention, I suspect that things may be very different next year. Of… Read more →
Nicole Blackman
I’ve been sitting here for hours listening to Nicole Blackman tracks. What ever happened to her? She came out of the NY chapbook & spoken word scene and then there was that Golden Palominos album, then her poetry book, then she did those tracks on the Recoil album, then there was the Courtesan Tales thing, and then nothing for a… Read more →
Old habits die hard
Yanking still more (months old) content from the Guardian, is a piece on Shane McGowan. Shane MacGowan doesn’t remember much about leaving the Pogues, except this: “I was glad to get out alive.” The piece is a nice combination of “tales of excess” and “he’s not really like that”, which paints a bit of a picture. (Actually in the article… Read more →
Songs Stuck in Your Head
I’ve been walking around all day humming and singing bits from Danny Michel‘s alt.country cover of David Bowie’s Young Americans. Of course, this isn’t such a bad thing–if you have to get a song stuck in your head, it might as well be something good. Last week it was Ice-T going on about how “my lethal weapon is my mind”… Read more →
Just Ordered
Fans of Mazola Pony, Marigold, and Plasticine take note. I have just ordered Rob Szabo‘s new double EP “Late Bloomer”/”Sore Loser”. (There are downloadable MP3s of two tracks at Rob’s homepage). I have previously ordered Steve Strongman‘s latest CD from the same site, and had great service. I’ll let you know about Rob’s disc when it gets here. Read more →
Growlin’ wolf
You know, I’m a reader. A very serious reader. Like a “more on books than mortgage” kind of reader. But my list of Living People I Really Want To Hang Out With For A Weekend doesn’t have an author at the top of it. The top of that list is something entirely different. Read more →
Apparently I am allowed to openly like Waters-era Floyd now
There’s a nice piece at the Guardian about the history of perception of Pink Floyd, that glances off history and current projects of various band members. The key thing is that apparently I don’t have to be embarrassed about knowing all the words to The Final Cut anymore. There’s lots of nice quotes in it: “My big fight in Pink… Read more →
Loving The Alien
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows me that I bought the new Danny Michel album, Loving The Alien, the minute it came out. The entire album is Danny doing covers of David Bowie tune, and the short review is that they are all great–and very different from the Bowie versions. When I started seeing Danny’s live… Read more →
