Awww…if only I had been born 10 years earlier. My first exposure to ACDC was with Back in Black in 1980 or so, when it first came out…I was about 11 years old. I went to my friend Roy “Hamsterhead” Miyake’s birthday party and his Mom gave away gifts to all the guests, I got Back in Black on cassette. In my opinion, except for a few songs here and there over the years, Back in Black is the last good ACDC album. My wife would not agree with me as she is a die hard fan of everything they’ve done…
My political rant in the form of a couple of songs from the Clash live, circa 1979-09-21 at The Palladium, New York, NY…
I’m So Bored With The U.S.A.
I Fought The Law
and last but not least, my favorite…
The Guns Of Brixton
Kind of along those lines, politically relevant and a band I’ve been damaging my ears with lately. The Sleaford Mods are absolutely incredible (mentioned that a few times in the last several months here). The highly charged, poetic vocals and those simple yet profound beats/producing. Just found out about this live set of the of theirs on Soundcloud, Live at the Fat Fox. Check it out there or here…
Sleaford Mods live at the Fat Fox – Trash Arts Live Sessions
Badass cartoon short called Detective 007…
This past year we had two foreign exchange students (one the year before that), and this year we will have two more. I’m not a 100% into it, the Wife just loves it, but I do get something out of the experience and the boys certainly do. Anyway, the one from Mexico this year, Adrian, was mostly a rap fan but he did delve into some other genres. He turned me onto this band called the Arctic Monkeys, a British rock band that has sort of a garage feel to them. Probably more mainstream than I usually groove to, but I can’t deny that I dig ’em and they have sort of an edge (which a band must have for them to be on my radar). This tune is introduced by a DJ on KROQ (my old station in the LA days, no idea what it’s like today)…
R U Mine
Haven’t done a deal on Prince (the artist formally known as), or his death yet. What to say? Hmmm… Death by prescription, no different than death by illegal drugs or alcohol. Seems like artists are especially prone to that, or maybe it’s just because it’s “important” when they die. I was not a huge fan of his music, but there were several tunes that I did like, “When Doves Cry”, “Raspberry Beret”, “1999”, just to name a few. No doubt the guy was very talented and his music was loved by many of my friends. So I ran across this tune, a variation of one of the ones I really like, from a soundcheck he did at some point in time. May he and all the other not so famous folks who have been taken by the demon of addiction rest in peace…
Prince – When Doves Scream (Unreleased)
Don’t know if anyone notices or not, I haven’t felt the writing bug lately, in other words no babbling, like usual, just straight and to the point (there’s something to be said for that). On top of that, sitting down and reading a book is something I haven’t done in quite some time, shit even the unread comic books (Walking Dead) have their own growing pile. God, even just reading anything except for stupid headlines of stories by the mind controlling media, who have essentially thrown objectivity out the window, is a chore. But I heard Michael Essington was releasing another book, and wanted to line up early to get a sneak peak, so to speak. Hit him up on Facebook (which reminds me, I don’t even really call anyone anymore) and he leaked me the pdf. It took me a while to get around to reading, not for lack of interest, by any stretch of the imagination, it was just that my Son was here and it was two weeks of spending all my time hanging out with him. So long story short, I finally got to read the book…
Didn’t take me long, his books are not tomes, they are an easy read and really you want to get to the next page in the story before you’re done with the one you’re on, the stories are that engaging. I’ve never actually met Michael, but through blogs (he was one of the ones who inspired me to do my own) and our mutual love of music, we have been friends for several years now. This book, is like the others before, in that you really get a feel for the kind of guy he is or at least seems to be. Once again the stories here are gritty, raw and very real. The themes don’t have that lame PG-13 vibe, there is nothing tame here, these are stories about real life. The characters could be you or someone you know, someone who isn’t surrounded with rainbows and unicorns, as I said real. Michael doesn’t waste a lot of time with bullshit, no extra words to make the stories longer, you get just enough to know what the fuck he’s talking about, just enough to relate. Short biographical stories (not unlike his own autobiographical stories from the blog), like opening a novel in the middle and just reading several pages, a moment in the life of so and so…Bo, Hank, Walter, etc. This time around, you get lots of poetry too, and you can tell they are his, because they have the same vibe as the stories…gritty, raw and very real (“As I approach the headstone, I know it’s mine”). I don’t want to give anything away, but you gotta dig private detectives. In fact, I may have told him before, but I think he really should do a graphic novel, maybe one about a private detective. Go figure a comic book fan, we both are, writing a graphic novel. Seriously though, these stories lend themselves to that form of media and for an artist it wouldn’t take a whole lot of imagination to draw the scenes, with Michael’s writing you can see them in your head (I’m thinking Ben Templesmith for his style as an artist, for those of you in the know). All in all, without giving away specifics, this book is laid back, with economically chosen words, hyper-realistic, tense at times like real life can be, pleases, but doesn’t aim to please or beg for approval…as the reader you are just a bystander.