CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND.

It's been a long, slow, grueling week - always is right before Xmess, ain't it - and after a long Friday at work getting drunk on the clock and then coming home for an hour or two, then going back out for a nice dinner & cocktails at three different bars, I return to find out one of my musical mentors has passed on from from this mortal coil - this after spending the evening drinking w/ a friend whose brother died recently & I hadn't seen since that happened - R.I.P. WISP.

There will be a million posts on "The Good Captain" on many a blog worth its weight, and you either loved him or "just didn't get it", but for me as a young impressionable open-minded teen, his bag of tricks always mesmerized the fuck out of me - not an easy listen by any means - but to me he was sort of the "White James Brown" in many ways.

When I think of Death Valley I will always think him. Never mind - if you don't know by now, here's a shot at (your) redemption...

Rest In Peace, Don Van Vliet - and thank you for helping me along on my way to wherever the fuck it is that I'm headed - For reals.



Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Doc at the Radar Station

Link in comments.

DEVO.

Here's a great-sounding vintage Devo treat for you...

The Spudboys were hard to beat back in the day, and this early performance is testimony to that as they tear through material from the first two albums.

I always enjoyed their early stuff, as they pretty much made digital tones on beautiful analog instruments better than anyone else. The first two albums are my favorites - especially "Duty Now" - but I'd say up through "New Traditionalists" it's all classic. After that they pretty much lost me.

For the record, Alan Meyers is one of the greatest drummers that ever beat the skins, and to me, it AIN'T Devo w/o him...



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Devo - 11.03.1978 Walker Art Center, Mpls. MN



Hawaii was fucking incredible.
I ate some amazing food, drank some decadent cocktails - I even put on a collared shirt! The beach was killer, did some boogie-boarding/surfing/swimming/snorkeling, our hotel resort was fucking plush, saw some amazing waterfalls/flora/fauna/coastline, went to BJ Penn's training facility, slept in, and just generally r-e-l-a-x-e-d.

The good times always go by too fast, don't they?

PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED.

Way, way, WAY back in the day before this British Punk Icon hawked butter to the masses, John Lydon had a pretty remarkable band that sounded like no one else.

Here's a kick-ass live recording from a roller rink I used to go to as a kid now & then.
This was a bit before my time - I was 12 when this was recorded - but the most amazing part of it (besides how fucking GOOD the music is) is that this roller rink was a total throwback in time.
It had to have been pretty stellar to have witnessed these posh motherfuckers in action...



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Public Image Limited - 04.28.1980 Motor City Roller Rink, Detroit, MI

RYE COALITION.

Another record I was obsessed with a few years back.

I could rattle off some generic cliche' such as "boogie van rock mixed w/ math rock" but that ain't the case. Let's just say that with all the irony in the lyrics, there lies some FAT riffage, and the drumming is solid as fuck.

I saw these guys on this tour and it still stands as one of the greatest shows I have ever been witness to. The interplay between the seriously competent players was dynamic to watch, and "on top" of all that, some of these dudes were in the seminal hardcore band Merel, so there you go...



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Rye Coaliton - On Top




Now playing: Medication Time - Something Obscene
via FoxyTunes

OXBOW.

Shortly before the Bay Area's "Kings of Uneasy" set out to record "The Narcotic Story", Eugene & Niko set out on a select-dates tour of the U.S. playing as a duo, the set consisting of favorites of theirs throughout their enitre catalog, as well as some obscure covers.

Here's Oxbow live in the studios of WFMU in Jersey City, NJ performing & being interviewed.

(Enoyable as well as unique, to say the least)...



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Oxbow - 10.26.2004 WFMU Acoustic / Interview Set.




Now playing: Doughnuts - Silence
via FoxyTunes

PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED.

Here's something a little bit different than the usual fare...

While I can't say that I ever listen to this band any more, there was a time when John Lydon didn't completely suck whale nuts.
That was a long time ago, but yeah, PiL did have a short hot streak of interesting material, and here is a rarities / outtakes collection from back in the day.

It's a shame what an over-inflated ego and short man's complex paired with a (self-righteous) mouth that won't stop will do to a legacy in rock and roll...



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Public Image Limited - Commercial Zone



*Sorry for the lack of updates recently, but I was busy celebrating my birthday - June 25th (I'm 41, bitch!) - for the better part of last week.
I was also lucky enough to have an extra-long weekend in Tahoe just chillin' and grillin' with good friends. Got some good skating in, rode my bikes at the bmx track, read more of my Townes VaZandt book, slept in a few days, hung out with some hot tattooed MiLFs, and most importantly, I had my first beers in 5 years!*

Now playing: Grave - Deformed

SUPLECS.

Why these guys never got bigger is beyond me, but maybe it has something to do with the (other) bands these guys are players in? Anyways, the record is a gem to me - even if they do cover the fucking Beatles...

LINKS -
Official Website.
DoucheSpace.

D/L Suplecs - Sad Songs... Better Days right here.



Now playing:
Cro-Mags - Other Side Of Madness
via FoxyTunes

TREEPEOPLE.

The best band from Seattle (sorta) that never fit into the whole grunge-thing.
This band still stands the test of time in my opinion as far as writing big, fat hooks that don't sound rehashed or - even worse - "pussy".
Even better is the fact that this band originated in that "hotbed of rock-and-roll" Boise fucking Idaho...

LINKS -
Official Website?

D/L Treepeople - Something Vicious For Tomorrow / Timewhore right here.




Now playing:
Hellchild - Sea, the Blue
via FoxyTunes

STALWART.

Side project of Pori, Finland "legends" Circle.
This record I dig alot, although personally I can't stand Circle.
Weird, huh?
Heavy, tight, big chops & good riffs w/o being too "arty".
Yeah, it's good (and doesn't sound like anything else)...

LINKS -
Official Website?

D/L Stalwart - Torment Nonplus right here.