Kiss Off

No random music today becaus I hate 5 idiots on the Supreme Court.

They don't even bother being consistent in their logic; the only consistency is that they are pro-corporate, pro-government power, and anti- anything that might benefit someone even a little bit less rich than themselves.

Ass munching toad-felchers. White supremacists in black robes. John Roberts is a hyena's dingus.

Maybe I'll morph this into an all-insult blog.


Catch me at Summerfest, you gadabouts.

Pre-SFest midweek random ten, rated for Summerfestosity.

1. I've Got A Match from the album "Lincoln" by They Might Be Giants They once collapsed a pit stage at the Avalon; but no summerfesty.
2. If I Had A Hammer from the album "Golden Throats: The Great Celebrity Sing-Off!" by Leonard Nimoy HAH! no way. hee hee. Croak it man. Bilbo! Bilbo!
3. I'm Convicted from the album "Industry & Thrift" by Bad Livers never. Would have been good though.
4. The Selecter / The Selecter from the album "This Are Two Tone" by The Selecter Oh man, I wish.
5. Reason 41 (Demo Version) from the album "Eponymous (1981-1983) [Remastered]" by The Alarm What is this? my 80's playlist?
6. Kentucky Lounge from the album "Every Other Day At A Time" by Liquor Giants
7. Darktown from the album "Darktown" by Steve Hackett
8. Whip It (Demo / Alternate Version) from the album "Recombo DNA (Sequence A)" by Devo
9. Mess from the album "The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner" by Ben Folds Five Well shit. 9 songs before someone shows up. I think he's been there twice, and I'm not sure whether I'm going this year, he's opening for John Mayer. Call it 4 points.
10. Staring At The Sun from the album "Young Liars" by TV On The Radio


wow, nearly a complete bust. How is that possible?

Passion Is No Ordinary Word

When we were kids, our Christmas tradition kind of had two parts. On Christmas Eve was the Gift Exchange, were we would all get the practical gifts like new clothes and books and such; everything was wrapped and signed. Then on Christmas Morning was the 'Santa Episode' where we would get whatever toys and things we REALLY wanted, unwrapped to try and keep the debris under control. On these mornings we could barely sleep, and invariable wound up sneaking downstairs at 4 AM to pick through the best stuff to take back to our rooms and play with until my Dad would yell "Dammit, Go Back To Sleep!"

in 1971, one of the things I got from 'Santa' was a small avocado green AM/FM radio. I can't remember if I had asked for it or not, but hey, how cool! Totally Groovy, am I right?

I scarfed that sucker and the associated batteries and scurried back to our bedroom, turning it on as soft as it could go. O glorious days of independent rock radio! The first song that came out of it was "Heartbreaker" by Led Zeppelin. Holy shit. Even as a ten year old with a tinny little radio playing nearly inaudibly, it 'fractured my tender psyche'. It totally restructured my mind. Listen to it now, it's still that good.

Once I could work, I spent the money from my part time jobs on a Realistic compact stereo from Radio Shack. Played tapes too; not those 8-track jobbies that my brother favored, but the newfangled 'compact cassette' ("Home Taping is KILLING music!" remember that?) And started to buy albums. By high school, my taste was definitely leaning toward the heavy stuff; Zep, Nazareth, Queen, Styx.... My brother took me to my first Rock concert, Neil Diamond at the Madison Coliseum (the famous Clamshell). A year later, my best friend and I went to see Styx on the Pieces of Eight tour in the same place.

In 1979, WMAD was playing an entire new release album on Sunday nights. Straight through, no interruption, just a somewhat bigger gap when they flipped the disc (I know this is all gibberish to you kids, just bear with me). I would set a tape to record and go to sleep, and would have a new slab of rock to listen to the next morning. One Monday I woke to find Bon Scott screaming Highway To Hell at me and peeling paint. So good, so good, so fucking good.

The next week was the Cars debut album. I didn't know what the hell was going on, but I liked it. I saw Elvis Costello on SNL (of course I didn't have dates on Saturday nights), and the B-52's, and Devo. I bought London Calling. My friends were starting to refuse to let me pick music. But it was all good; once I went to college, I discovered it was called Punk. Or New Wave for the more timid. The Ramones, the Boomtown Rats, Elvis, B-52's, there was so much energy floating around. That first summer after my freshman year, I bought a guitar.

It was ostensibly a '56 or '57 Gibson standard, modified from original so it was cheap. I carried it home on my bike. Some chumpwad replaced the original unique pickup with DiMarzio Humbuckers, while ignoring the worn tuning pegs that couldn't hold a tune. I disassembled it, stripped the clunky paint job to reveal a nice cherry, and refinished it myself, adding the best tuning pegs I could afford. Without the original pickups, it now had a unique mutt of a sound and a great action, good for punk. A friend borrowed it occasionally to play some Devo covers in a band called the Animated Geeks. God I loved that guitar.

Of course, I wound up pursuing an architecture degree in Milwaukee. The big City. A real music scene! The Oil Tasters were playing. Plasticland. The Femmes released their first and second albums; I saw the Bodeans on their third night out. Numb Jitters. Those X-Cleavers. Couch Flambeau. Boy Dirt Car, of course. The R&B Cadets with Paul Cebar and Robyn Pluer. The Squares MOVED here because of the scene.

Architecture school is a grind, designed so. Long hours at drafting tables, vicious critiques of work by sadistic professors (good ones, too, but you remember the bastardos). But the commitment required is fierce. Little time for a social life, let alone a preoccupation like starting a band. I would have; no doubts. I was already helping some of the local guys doing load outs and setups. But One year, the financial aid folks let me down and I was short of cash. I needed money to stay in school so I sold my guitar to Tim Ungrodt for tuition. He promised to paint it lime green, the bastard. I stayed in school and got my Master's.

But you know, it's always nagged at me. I've got no regrets; I love the work I do and have had a positive demonstrative and satisfying impact on the City. But the what-might-have-beens get to me sometimes. Especially when I pick up my guitar now (I now have an acoustic and the sweet Special Edition Telecaster my wife bought me for Christmas one year) I'm still no good; but if I had devoted the time to playing rather than school...

I know, I know. "Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are 'It might have been'". Eat me, Vonnegut. But once a year, I get to kind of immerse myself in an alternate universe where my path led to stages rather than building sites. In immersing myself into Summerfest, I can swipe a bit - just a tiny bit- of the buzz that I felt back in those heady days of the Eighties when anything could happen.

Just for a little while.


[cross posted at teh Summerfest Blog]

Calling Yog Soggoth

email I received late last week:

"ZORG will remain in hibernation until July 5th. Then, and only then, there will be a full blown fury of biblical proportions that only a hellbeast can unleash.
Old testament, real wrath-of-God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies, rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes. The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.

In comments, I answered:

see, here's the dealio, Z. The rest of us will have 5 or 6 days head start on you. Hell, You're gonna miss BOC! So we're gonna be building our Summerfest points...

You ever join a fantasy game after the others have been playing a while? Every one else has up-armored and scored some exotic weaponry, and they are up for fighting the likes of creatures that are able to dice you and snort you like low grade snuff.

So that's where you'll be. You'll be getting dropped into the crowds that already have Summerfest Feet, and a serious Wave will swamp you while the rest of the crowd is barely disturbed.

AND THEN....and then. The 8th comes. It's the last day! you may hit it- hard- but it's the last day. everyone will be winding down a bit; Monday will roll around and you won't be sated. You'll be left with a raging FestWood, and no way to relieve it.

But Summerfest will be gone. For another year.

Sad. I Feel for You, pathetic heck-beast.

While ZORG slumbered on, someone liberated some of his treasures and sent them on to me. Very cool, and appropriate; I sense the beginnings of a collection, if such a thing is still possible. After all, the Pin is long gone also.

Thursday is, of course, the Big Day; opening festivities. The King of Summerfest crowns his 100th consecutive day; and I am starting on my second Full Attendance Year, with some luck. Help is always needed.

By the time the 5th rolls around, I expect to be sunburned, hungover, bruised and sick of Famous Dave's Hot Links. When ZORG shows up, he may be fresh, but will be out of shape; a hardened Fest veteran will take him, easy, I think. Bill Murrayisms notwithstanding, it's nothing but a blip on the radar, a small stain on the rocks along the lake edge of Summerfest, an ass bubble in the demonstrator hot tubs. One glob of mascara among the Goths on the Rocks.


[Cross-posted to The Summerfest Blog]

Lunchtime Random Musical blerg. Last one before S-Fest, Munchhosen.

Maybe going to see Drams tonight (ex-Slobberbone) at the chi-chi Vnuks



Rating the following for Summerfestosity: 1 point for each time they've been at S-Fest; 3 points if they're playing this year; 5 points if I'm going

1.Shine Like It Does from the album "Listen Like Thieves" by INXS 4 points. There this year, but I'm skipping.
2. Families from the album "Living With War" by Neil Young 0 pointage. Neil's too good for us.
3. Never Going Back To New Jersey from the album "Losing Streak" by Less Than Jake 6 points; I'm there!
4. Young Lady from the album "Flying Saucer Tour, Vol. 1: Pittsburgh 6/20/91" by Bill Hicks 0 pts. He's dead, man.
5. Untitled from the album "Short Sharp Shocked" by Michelle Shocked 0 pts, I don't think she's been there. But it's hard to keep track, admiitedly
6. L-Libbie's Song from the album "Gung Ho" by Patti Smith
7. Kids Don't Follow from the album "Stink [EP]" by The Replacements 1 point. Saw them on their last tour.
8. Working Class Hero from the album "Working Class Hero - Single" by Green Day nope. 0 points
9. Night Train from the album "Every Dog Has His Day" by Let's Active I don't think so. 0 points.
10. Television from the album "Dance the Night Away" by Scud Mountain Boys ha. 0 points


let's see if a couple of bonee tracks can raise the average.

11. Feed The Fire from the album "Joe Dirt Car [Disc 1]" by The BoDeans God, how many times? they're not there this year, but I've seen them all the way back to when there was a Main Stage clamshell at the North end... Let's say 6 points.
12. When Yer Twenty Two from the album "Transmissions From The Satellite Heart" by The Flaming Lips I bet they don't know where Milwaukee is. 0 Points.
13. Kashmir from the album "Physical Graffiti (Disc 1)" by Led Zeppelin Right. Zep played Summerfest. Heh. 0 points. What a.... MASSIVE... song though.
14. Life Of Pain from the album "Damaged" by Black Flag Oh, shit no. 0.
15. My Baby Wants To Rock & Roll from the album "Brick By Brick" by Iggy Pop





alright, that's enough. total of 17 points. I bet I could do better. Maybe we'll try again next wednesday.

Deep In The Mother Lode

...and I'm not coming back for quite some time.

I just found a pretty neat website: Wolfgang's Vault.

Digital access to all kinds of live shows, it actually has a performer payment scheme that nets more money for the actual artists, and lets you stream or download live shows.

Oh, my this is cool.

I'm listening to a Genesis show from 1978, recorded for King Biscuit Flower Hour. The 'new' lineup, Chester and Daryl are included. nice and clear, for a live recording.

There's lots of other stuff. free streaming. BOC from 76. ELO from 76. The tubes in 74. The Police in 79. Rush from 84 (that one's for Brando). Devo from 81. Boomtown Rats from 79.

Go try it out. And those of you who knew about this, why didn't you tell me? Huh?

Fading Lights

Glenn Greenwald today has written a blog post that nails the newspaper and news media industry (because it is an industry, with its own lobbyists and political influence, never doubt) to the wall, through the balls that all-too-often are lacking in their reporting of real news such as the war or the subterfuge and lying of our ruling Bushes.

But boy can they muster the outrage when a white woman is missing or a half-bright substance addled heiress falls afoul of traffic laws.

Visit it here.
(free login if you watch the little ad)


"[in] practicing the dark art of politics...it is often best to keep the lights off"

Richard Cohen let the cat out of the friggin bag on that one. Has there ever been a clearer desire to avoid investigation and knowledge of a political system? Obviously, the chattering media pundits who are oh-s o-much above us Dirty Fuckin Hippies on our blogs, know JUST what is appropriate for us to know, like an overbearing aunt who refuses to let the kids read the Harry Potter books received from their parents for Christmas.

It will, eventually, have to be pounded through these-neo-monarchist twits that here, IN AMERICA, all of these people APART from the Washington Beltway actually constitute the country, and have the inherent RIGHT to know what is being done in the halls of our government. In the end, the relationship of government officials to citizens is one of employee to employer, not ruler to ruled. Whether we act on the information, ignore it, or print it out and use it to line the cat box, it is OURS to decide; not these self-important self-appointed 'guardians of public discourse'.

Light is antiseptic to these types, and the type of government they feel is appropriate for us. Shine the fuckin light Glenn: shine it.

Go read Glenn's piece. It's rage-inducing good. Then keep that rage and direct it toward action.

"Anger is an energy" - Johnny Rotten

Smoke Two Joints

Hey, betcha all thought I'd skip the Random Blurt this week, seeing how I'm hungover and already posted. Think again, chumpsticklers!

meanwhile, I'm waiting for someone to come through so I can work on the title of this post...

so. Random. Non-wa-ha.

1. Turn It On from the album "Dig Me Out" by Sleater-Kinney
2. Only a Lad from the album "Only a Lad" by Oingo Boingo
3. Bully For You from the album "TRB Two" by Tom Robinson
4. Too Much Sex (Not Enough Affection) from the album "Eden Alley" by Timbuk 3
5. Can-Utility And The Coastliners from the album "Foxtrot" by Genesis It took several albums before they stopped letting Gabriel name the songs while he was stoned.
6. New Used Car And A Plate Of Bar-B-Que from the album "Bulk (Disc 1)" by Jack Logan
7. Silence Of The Universe from the album "Ska The Third Wave Volume 3" by Insatiable
8. I'll Do Alright from the album "Under The Big Top" by Free Hot Lunch
9. No One's Home from the album "Billys Live Bait" by Gear Daddies
10. Come On Eileen from the album "Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits Of The '80s, Vol. 8" by Dexy's Midnight Runners

Ring Around The Moon

...and if there wasn't one, I still saw it last night.

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture while drinking tequila?

WARNING: Excessive penguins drinking tequila in Hawaiian restaurants may see subliminal messages appear on elegant socks.

At least, that's what it says on the back of this spanking new Free Hot Lunch CD, "Under The Big Top." It's of a show they taped back in 1993, viddied for Public TV but they had a good soundboard tape to work from also, and since it was PTV, they were able to ask for the rights- and get 'em.

As the setlist shows, "Ring Around The Moon" was the third encore, but apparently The Sailor's Prayer was the coda we were looking for, because the crowd was satisfied at that point. A shame, becasue "Ring" is such a pretty song. If I had the magical HTML skillz of BluGrrrl (or the servants with skillz, whatever) I would post it.

Gah, it was a very nearly perfect Wa-Ha night. Smoke-free show, so hard as it was on the nic-fitters, we got home without smelling like a three alarm fire. We grouped with old friends and new friends, and of course recognized most of the crowd from previous shows.

At this point IT MUST BE NOTED WITH ALL PROPS AND RESPECK KNUCKS that Zelmo and Amy, forging ahead while we waited for stragglers on the deck. MADE THE SCORE OF A LIFETIME, OR AT LEAST THE NIGHT by securing three tables RIGHT ON THE STAGE EDGE. we could have kissed the band. Actually, I think we did. I also think the rest of the crowd hated us. Z, I take back anything bad I've ever said about you, or will say in the future. You're alright, I don't care what those people say about you.

An olds talwart Andy even made the gig. I found it hilarious to watch him react as his body went into flashback mode, remembering the shows from twenty years ago. And to their credit, the band could still hit those harmonies. AND they could still drink the tequila. The first set hit most of the songs from the new disc some of which teh band forgot they had ever performed; in teh second set, they even played "Smoke Two Joints" Which I had never seen them do.

Of course, as audience members we did our part, heckling and kibitzing. Of course, we knew when to shut up, too, so hopefully nobody behind us got pissed. If so, we're sorry. Wa-Ha makes us giddy.

I just realized they finished up with some harcore drinking songs. "Wouldn't you like to be an alcoholic," "How Much Tequila Did I Drink Last Night," (That's a song name but also a darn good question. Although I did come home with my own pants on) "Tequila Sheila" and "Reiba's Cantina"

They also had verrrry interesting news. They will be vidding tomorrow's performance (so we'll make sure to wear our very BEST Hawaiian shirts) for a video release (tape or DVD, I don't know yet) and after that, Jeff Laramie siad they were going to do a movie called "The Last Mambo". That could be great! Better than the Tenacious D movie, certainly.

Got a meeting to go to. Feel sorry for Zelmo, who had one at 10 AM.

I'll Stay Out Tonight

Walked right straight into two crises today at work. It's amazing how much that can sting. Left a mark, too.

But managed to defuse one and take a bite into the other.

So, tonight is Free Hot Lunch, and it'll be a well-deserved wa-ha. It's impossible to maintain a downer while they're playing, it really is.

I probably won't make it the balls-to-the-wall careen it should be; I've got a meeting tomorrow. But rest assured: Tequila will be had. Oh yes my compatriots; Sweet, sweet Juice of The Agave will go to our brains and hearts, not ethanol. Give me no garbage about salt or the worm; good tequila has no need of such gimmickry.

I'm gonna go for the pictures too. We've got about two dozen friends coming, so it can be a pretty representative set of pictures. Yes, I've got more than two friends. Yes, I have a low threshold for defining friend. Usually just about anyone or anything, including Republicans, very small animals, and end tables can qualify.

It'll be an excellent warm up for Summerfest. The only thing missing will be sun, and I already got a starter burn on the day I spent at Riversplash.

Hold on; it's gonna be a bumpy summer.

Tomorrow Night

....It was either that song title or "I'll Stay Out Tonight" the problem being, of course, that tomorrow night is the night in question, not tonight. I don't want to tax anyone's attention spans at this time. Even Silent Mike has nearly lost track of the days.

Sidebar: [MIKE! WE'RE LEAVING OUR HOUSE A LITTLE AFTER SEVEN!! BE THERE TO GET YOUR TICKET OR THE WHOLE THING FALLS APART!!]

Well, we can hope the message gets through. Hard to tell.


Back to the matter at hand: It is, of course, our Personal Pre-Summerfest Misbehavior Management Seminar and Boozy Careen, otherwise known as Free Hot Lunch, otherwise known as Wa-Ha! A thursday night show, warming up for the biggie in Madison on Saturday night, and being a decade or two older, the band has graciously afforded a day of recovery between.

A FHL show is not to be missed. I last tried to describe it here; reading back, that was actually pretty good. The local music scene has been poorer without these three guys roaming about; but everybody moves on and can't begrudge them for piling it in as a full time band after giving it a real shot.

They hit the ground running with their first album, WaHa Music. Although the production of the album tended toward workmanlike folk, as a live band they play much more brightly (and stripped down, doing the unplugged thing years before MTV) keeping it to a couple of guitars, mandolin, banjo and some a capella songs. Not to mention _oh, please let's don't mention!- the ionteraction between band and audience.

The first album also birthed one of the WaHa classics: I Hate To Wake Up Sober In Nebraska:

As you travel through this world
Many roads you will ride
some are long, some are steep
Many will not treat you kind

But the longest and most boring
stretches 500 miles
from Omaha Nebraska to that Colorado line

(chorus) I Hate To Wake Up Sober in Nebraska
Them miles and miles of empty range
Shake my sense of time
So pass me up a cool one, light the pipe, turn up the stereo
It's 5 hours more to Oglala
and 300 miles to that Colorado Line

From Omaha to Lincoln
Grand Island down to Lexington
It's the flattest piece of highway man or god has ever made.
No trees to block the sunrise,
No hills to mar the landscape
'Cept for liquor stores and truckstops
every mile looks just the same.

(chorus)

Now if I had a beer for every time I drove I-80
I might get drunk enough to pack my bags and leave tonight.
But I'd probably wake up red-eyed,
just the other side of Omaha
with a case of empty bottles (Point Beer)
And the sun about to rise.

(chorus)

and I got Jack Daniels on the dashboard
in case my Jesus lets me down

The song, done in a giddy bluegrass stylee, was strong enough to garner an excellent review in Playboy magazine, (which oddly enough does not do as well promoting music as you might think). But the album also compiled a hit list of WaHa setlist stalwarts: Tequila Sheila, My Wife And My Best Friends Girl, Trees In Love, Mambo Man, Reiba's Cantina and the a cappella epic Sailor's Prayer (I'm gonna include those lyrics too, just to get Zelmo so wound up he won't be able to work the rest of the day):

Though my sails be torn and tattered
And the mast be turned about
Let the night wind chill me to my very soul.
And though the spray might sting my eyes
And the stars no light provide
Give me just another morning light to hold.

Chorus:
For I will not lie me down
This rain a raging
No, I will not lie me down
In such a storm
And if this night be unblessed
I shall not take my rest
Until I reach another shore.

And though the only water left
Is but salt to wound my thirst
I will drink the rain that falls so steady down.
And though night-blindness be my gift
And there be thieves upon my drift
I will thank the fog that shelters me along.

Chorus

Though my mates be drained and weary
And I believe their hopes are lost
There’s no need for their bones on that blackened bottom.
And though death waits just off the bow
We will not answer to him now
He shall stand to face the morning light without us.

Chorus

That one is done in wonderful harmonies, and is usually the last encore. Brings a tear to my eye when they do it.

Well, Playboy notwithstanding, the album did not make them the Nation's neo-folk/bluegrass/country fun loving troubadours, so they kept slogging it out in the fun and games of the music lifestyle. I know it created marital frictions, certainly (although now all three members have beautiful wives who assist in the occasional FHL giggery). They next released a live tape, which got closer to the mark, and a couple of CDs eventually.

I've been going to see them every opportunity since I saw them by chance in 1983; it must total nearly a hundred times by now, because we'd see them do several sets each year at Summerfest, including some truly weird locations. Of course, we've also gone to see them in Florida and Hawaii.

Through it all, regardless of the other music I like, they've remained one of my favorite bands. And it's not just the tequila! Jeff, John, and Jeff, your music helped twist me into the oddball fuck I am today, and I love you guys for it. See you tomorrow night.

Oh, and Wa. Ha.Tomorrow Night

Feeding The Fire

A couple for the Z and BG.



The tour started today, in Helsinki. From the info to date, the setlist is pretty much as we talked about before. That seemed to be enough for Zelmo, but I must say Glue Birl seemed disheartened by the news and we expect to see her tickets show up anyday now, because it's obviously a HUGE waste of time...

I mean, just look at this:



Doesn't that look like the makings of a lousy stage show?

Heh. It looks like it knocks the last tour into a cocked hat. Or a Hocked Cat.


EDIT
SPOILER-BOILERS.
I have seen video.

You see Chester and Phil. playing a stool.

Look at those colors up there. It's an amazing light tech to get such pure blues and yellows. And that's only the beginning from what I see.

Zelmo, that three screen dealio on the last tour? So last century. Face it, they did the three screens back in 74, albeit with slides; the new show goes a different, and altogether completely jaw droppingly awe inspiringly, direction. Three words: WALL OF FLAME. It's scary good on crappy hand held video; in person it's gonna make people pass out.

It is confirmed, that I was wrong: Turn It On Again is not the very first opener; it comes during the first suite, however; close but no cigar. One reviewer said "Turn It On Again was only 700,000 times better than the VH1 Rock Honors" So there's a chance, however slight, that BlueGrrl won't be disappointed.

I wonder if there's a certain song introduced as "...for a Blue Girl"?

I Forgot What I Was Drinking To Forget

Friday already? Damn. So much for keeping up on the posting.

Oh well. I've been battling with stains and leakers. I mean the people who don't seem to realize that going to see Free Hot Lunch at Shank Hall is more important than work, or some stupid seminar, or that lousy 'wedding'....

Since Zelmo canceled on the tickets, everybody is having troubles coming through. Oh well, their loss...


Next Thursday, for the Wa-Ha inclinated. AND Saturday in Madison. We're going to both, because we don't know how long this has to last us. One year? Two Years? Ten? Hard to tell with these guys, their focus is completely shot. One lives in Madtown, one in Hawaii, and one in Fort Myers Beach.


This Barely Random is dedicated to the Wa-Ha!

1. Bird Of Paradis from the album "Barrymore Reunion Careen" by Free Hot Lunch That's 'Paradise', Mike. Jeez. Can't trust these jam band tapers, canya?. Taped from about four years ago, at the same place we're seeing them next Saturday night.
2. Xerox Line from the album "Barrymore Reunion Careen" by Free Hot Lunch
3. Half from the album "Studio Sessions" by Free Hot Lunch
4. I'll Stay Out Tonight from the album "World Tour R" by Free Hot Lunch
5. Yo Yo Ma from the album "I Forgot What I Was Drinking To Forget" by John Corning
6. Money Tree from the album "World Tour R" by Free Hot Lunch A Wa-ha classic.


Interlude: There are thousands of FHL stories, but this is mine. The first time I saw them was in a little college town in the middle of FuckAll, Wisconsin. A friend was visiting for the weekend, and we started the Saturday by playing a weird version of croquet that involved cheap brandy. After it started getting hot, we started wandering down to Main Street looking for a bar with A/C to get some food. We stopped at the music store and banged around on some guitars until the owner got tired of us, then went to a joint called the Hoist House. After trying to drink a few beers, someone walked by with a nice, icy ginantonic. So we switched to G&Ts, and hung around the bar drinking and having a burger.

About 6 PM, the band showed up to set up, and we decided to stay. I only knew from the name that they were a Madison band, but the bar comped us in cuz we had been drinking there all afternoon.

When they started playing, we played the part of drunken hecklers, as ordained. The band not only took it in stride, they took glee in ridiculing us and nearly spent more time doing that than playing music. They have a natural comedic chemistry, and a Wa-Ha show is as much comedy as music.


7. Telephone from the album "World Tour 1" by Free Hot Lunch From an old cassette-only release.
8. I Forgot What I Was Drinking To Forget from the album "Barrymore Reunion Careen" by Free Hot Lunch Ah, the title song. "I think I used to have a job/ showed up every day/ Christ I think I used to be married/ but it all worked out okay."
9. Sex In A Volcano from the album "World Tour R" by Free Hot Lunch An update to the old Genesis song? Sadly, No!
10. Sailor's Prayer from the album "Barrymore Reunion Careen" by Free Hot Lunch One of the classics. an a capella tour de force. The audience used to participate by throwing ice during the stormy parts, but the band got tired of enduring the welts and instrument damage.

Once, we traveled 5000 miles to see the band. Hawaii, 2003. They hadn't played together for twelve years, and didn't remember how to play the songs. 30 people came from the Midwest for the show, to the befuddlement and amazement of the bar crew.

11. Money Tree from the album "Studio Sessions" by Free Hot Lunch A different version of above. Obviously.
12. Penguin Love from the album "Studio Sessions" by Free Hot Lunch
13. Good Time Lady from the album "Barrymore Reunion Careen" by Free Hot Lunch


I could keep doing this all day.

14. Wouldn't You Like To Be An Alcoholic? from the album "I Forgot What I Was Drinking To Forget" by John Corning
15. You're Eating For Two Now from the album "I Forgot What I Was Drinking To Forget" by John Corning


I sure do wish Zelmo was going to be there though.


One for my homies, one for libations:

16. Jive Medley from the album "Barrymore Reunion Careen" by Free Hot Lunch This one is about marijuana! Weed! Betcha didn't know that jazz musicians smoked reefers. It's True, Believe It Or Don't! No Pshaw!
17. Hymn #694 from the album "World Tour R" by Free Hot Lunch


Have a wa-ha or two this weekend, and check in here for hangover news after the show.

Stupefaction

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[forehead on table; repeat]

Can I be more of a dumbass?

Especially after my screed last week about supporting live music.

Gah. One of my favorite artist, Graham Parker, played at Shank Hall last nite, with a full band, the Latest Clowns.

Where was I? Watching a crappy horror movie.

AAAHHHHHHAAHHHHHH! Why didn't one of you bozos call me?

Forgive me Mr. Parker. No excuses. I fucked up.


What the hell. Onset of middle age? Creeping senility? CRS disease?

I'm gonna blame it on Zelmo. Hey, yeah- if he had gone, he could have called me to ask where we could meet. That's It! It's Z's fault. After all, it's not as if I don't owe him a few beers (eighteen by his last count); you'd think he'd be hounding me to collect.

Bad Zelmo. Bad, bad Zelmo.

Gone Again

Where so many great writers have already expressed the loss, I am hesitant to throw my paltry words into the pile; but sometimes, you gotta write, you know?

Blogger Steve Gilliard of the News Blog has died.

I guess it doesn't come as a huge shock; regular reading of the NewsBlog would reveal that he had been in the hospital for some time, and although there were positive reports, when the updates went black I feared the worst was not far away.

I first read Gilliard when he was part of the Big Orange Kos Machine. He had what others are describing as a 'take no prisoners' style. I preferred to think of it as Passionate. He brought a fierce intelligence to his writing, never assuming his readers were anything less than his equal in intelligence; and he challenged you to keep up. Sometimes, I thought, he brought a sarcastic edge when he felt he was explaining something self-evident; but he never held back.

Eventually, he split off and started The NewsBlog, which slowly became one of my daily reads when I realized that every time I did visit, I found something worth reading. A vital mix of national and international affairs was the mix of the day, with a fair amount of New York thrown in for spice. It wasn't until I was a regular reader that I realized he was African-American. The veil of the INtertubes, for good or ill.

My regret is that I didn't comment over there very often. I usually felt a bit out of my depth; he and his commenters maintained such a high, fierce tone of comment that is hard for me to hit regularly. Most of the times I commented was when Steve would (intentionally, I am sure; whenever he felt things were just a bit too quiet) initiate a Mac/PC flamewar. Gilliard had a bone-deep bias against the Mac, but eventually would admit that he uses a Mac too and remains unimpressed; but when the temperature would die down would, more often than not, admit that his beef with Apple is primarily their advertising. After a couple of these, it became obvious he did it for chuckles as much as anything.

Regret, though, because after reading some of the tributes out there, it's obvious that by not being a regular commenter, I missed the opportunity to better know him. Again, with the carpe diem, but that's how it goes; if you don't take the opportunities when they present themselves, that door closes.

And all you're left with is regret.

Best wishes to his family and friends, and a fond farewell to Steve Gilliard, the kind of guy who sees a Mac/PC flamewar as entertainment. Peace.

Begin the Begin

aaaaahhhh. Summer season begins in Milwaukee today; birds are singing, a spring rain freshens the air, and THEY'VE SET UP A FRIGGIN BEER TENT IN FRONT OF MY DOOR!

It's the first festival of the season, a downtown affair called Riversplash. The prob-o is that our office is also downtown. So The fest starts honking away right outside our windows. DID I MENTION THERE'S A BEER TENT RIGHT BY OUR FRONT DOOR?!?!!

Milwaukee is funny about outdoors, it really is. I think it has to do with the long winter and inhospitable springs and falls. All that time inside makes everybody a bit stir-crazy (and in the case of Jeffrey Dahmer, stir FRY crazy. Thankew! I'll be here all week!), infected with a special brand of cabin fever. So when the weather breaks and the summer season starts, we feel a genetic need to do everything outside, including drinking the vast amounts of beer we are famous for.

Every bar, restaurant, and cafe worth a dime has some sort of sidewalk seating or outdoor patio. It's kind of counterintuitive, right? For a climate where most of the time the weather doesn't allow us to use it? It's kind of like having a motorcycle in this climate...wait. Every third person here has a Harley. See, we're friggin nuts.

HEY! THEY'RE SETTING UP A BEER TENT OUTSIDE!!11! KNOW WHERE IT IS? 40 FEET FROM OUR FRONT DOOR!11!

Anyways, after this weekend's festival, the summer becomes a blur. Every weekend there's some kind of festival, from the ethnic festivals that occur on the Summerfest grounds to the local street festivals, there's always too much to do, and it's all outside, it all has music, and it all has beer. AND IT STARTS BY ME HITTING THAT BEER TENT LIKE IT STOLE MY LUNCH MONEY, STARTING RIGHT AROUND NOON!!1!1ELEVEN!11!

It IS genetic, I suspect. After all, the history of Milwaukee and the German heritage is filled with beer halls and music halls, where everybody gets together to drink and dance. Milwaukee, as a matter of fact, was the center of the resistance during Prohibition, with the Breweries selling the materials necessary and every third house on any given block brewing beer. Brewing equipment, copper, barley, malt was sold and shipped all over the country from this area.

It's also a lesson in Carpe Diem. Summer weather is limited; we are aware, every minute we spend outside, that savage weather is coming, and right soon. If we don't enjoy every minute, every second we can outside, we're going to regret it in January when it's twenty five below and the dog is frozen to the tree in the backyard.

Of course, the Festival season hits it stride at the end of June with Summerfest. There are a lot of Summerfests around the country, but no other is like this one. Eleven consecutive days of music food and beer over acres of beautiful lakefront, with cumulative attendance usually over a million people. It's...awe-inspiring. Especially when the moon is rising over the ranks of porta-potties....

I kid. About half of the toilets at Summerfest are permanent structures.

UNLIKE THE BEER TENT OUTSIDE MY OFFICE DOOR!!

Well, like I said, at this time of year I kind of feel sorry for people who don't live here (the rest of the year I daydream schemes to move elsewhere). So, I believe posting will start to lessen a bit, and start to focus on music and beer (more so than usual, I mean). And the Summerfest Blog will go active in the near future; when it does I'll throw a link up. Until then...

THIS IS THE FRIDAY RANDOM-BEER-TENT-IN-FRONT-OF-MY-OFFICE BLATHERING MUSIC REVIEW AND I'M-LEAVING-AT-LUNCH TIME-WASTING MINUTIAE SPLATTERAMA!!

1. Billy Pritchard from the album "Barrel Chested" by Slobberbone sadly defunct band, they are now The Drams. As the 'bone, they played a smoking hot live show.
2. Things You Say You Love from the album "Who You Fighting For?" by UB40
3. All I Want For Christmas from the album "Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Xmas" by Timbuk 3
4. D.I.Y. from the album "2" by Peter Gabriel
5. Abolish Work from the album "The First Conspiracy" by The (International) Noise Conspiracy
6. Lillywhite Lilith from the album "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway[live, disk 2]" by Genesis
7. Heaven Or The Highway Out Of Town from the album "The Bottle & Fresh Horses" by The Refreshments
8. Are You A Good Witch Or A Bad Witch? from the album "What is Truth?" by J Neo Marvin and the Content Providers Well worth searching out this West Coast band, lots of good stuff on their discs.
9. Underwater Love Story from the album "Stay Young" by Ultrasound One brilliant disc, a handful of EPs, several incendiary shows, and poof! they broke up.
10. Spaceboy from the album "Siamese Dream" by Smashing Pumpkins



A couple of inadvertent mulligans there, as I got distracted by work and phone. Hey, any reason to blow a few extras, righto?

11. How Do You Say Goodbye from the album "Violent Femmes (Live 1982)" by Violent Femmes
12. Wipeout from the album "Golden Lies" by Meat Puppets
13. View From The Rim from the album "Eighth" by Eleventh Dream Day
14. You Know What It Is from the album "Lived To Tell" by Eleventh Dream Day Heh. Now THAT's pretty funny, hey? 2 in a row.
15. Give It To Me from the album "Runaway Boys: A Retrospective '81-'92" by Stray Cats


Rock em out, Zelmo. How's that ankle bracelet? By my estimate, I think I owe you seventeen beers. You know where I'll be.