Moving Solves Everything

Inspired by a comment on another blog recently about typefaces, I ordered two CDs from CDBaby: Couch Flambeau; and thy came today. So we're jamming on the classics "I Don't want To Be An Eddie" "I Wanna Snow You" and "We'll Go Through The Windshield Together" today.

Saturday Morning, as I was lumbering around, getting ready for my workout and just generally lolling about, some bright 'n' chipper guests came by the front door. You bet- they were Witnesses, concerned about the condition of my hypothetical soul, as always.

It being my house and my time they were intruding upon, I answered the door in my underwear, because a pair of pants was all the way upstairs. I love doing that.

I will say this; they're getting used to that. Although they still found a reason to shove their broadsheet propaganda in my hand and hit the bricks pretty quick.

Well, that was a pretty good start to the weekend. Nothing like shaking up some overly moralistic scold whose own life is just so gosh-darned perfect that they cannot resist telling other people how to live.

And I won't get into the pyramid scheme nature of religions that rely on birthrates and proselytizing for brand expansion.



So on Friday I skipped the music thing, and NOT ONE PERSON noticed. Of course, this means one thing: Now I WON"T STOP doing them. Stubborn like a mule, got it from my mother.

No time to do the Random thingie though, or at least no time to blog about it. I was busy getting this:



Up and going.

It's a hoot. It's a huge advance over a cell phone, and having seen a client or two with a Blackberry gadget, it's a LOT more usable. It's like all the extras on a typical cell phone: you've got them, but hardly ever use them because they're a PITA to use.


Sunday we took Lucifer for a longish walk, down by the Milwaukee River. Since the dam was removed , the River has narrowed considerably, exposing a fair amount of flat river's edge, and we walked along that for a while. Lucy, being stupid as a bag of rocks, ran towards a bike and collided with the front wheel, then wondered how come her leg was sore. Idiot. Otherwise, she had a riot racing in and out of the weeds and running off leash.

Further along, we walked across the new pedestrian bridge, which is a nice crisp piece of modern design. About two thirds of the way across was Dolores Umbridge who, when Lucifer sniffed gently at her leg, Shrieked "WHY is that DOG not ON A LEASH!?? ALL DOGS MUST BE ON A LEASH IN THE PARK!!!"

Recognizing insane authoriarians when I see them, I merely said, "I apologize ma'am" and leashed the dog. I did not say "Because we weren't planning on running across any insane rule fetishists today" neither did I say "Here's my phone. Feel free to call the police. I'm sure they will be thrilled to stop whatever they're doing to come down here and cite me because you are too rude and snappish to ask us nicely to leash our dog, who hadn't harmed you or been a nuisance in any way". No, we moved on, and when we got below the bridge, unleashed our dog in her clear view amongst the underbrush by the River again.

Learning from Snag to always use learning experiences when they present themselves, I pointed out to the youngling that by responding politely, I left old Dolores with no reasonable response, while her screeching left her indelibly etched in our mind as a witch.

You know, though, she was right. The City has a leash law. However, the far part of Riverside and the River Trail are unacknowledged Dog Parks, providing everybody behaves. For the most part, everybody is reasonable. If their dog can be trusted off leash, they are, otherwise people keep em on leash. The police and everybody KNOW, you see, that in areas like this the leash law is a Nuisance Law, designed to be able to take care of people when they can't control their dogs. Not the case here though; Dolores is just wound a bit too tight.

The Mekons Story.

"Destroy your safe and happy lives, before it is too late/ The battles we fought/ were long and hard/ just not to be consumed by Rock 'n' Roll" - the Mekons, Memphis, Egypt

Back in... oooh, say 1989? 1990? I read a Rolling Stone Review of The Mekons Rock 'N' Roll, the major label debut of a band that had been knocking around for some years. The review identified them as a favorite of the late Lester Bangs, and essentially said the album encapsulated the spirit of Rock n Roll while at the same time being a scathing indictment of the Rock Music Industry. Interesting choice for a debut album, I thought.

It took a while in those pre-iTunes days to locate the album, finally buying it from Atomic. Upon first listen, the opening track "Memphis, Egypt" blasted out of the speakers and twisted itself into my cortex. I stopped the disc to listen to that again. The album followed with Club Mekon (featuring longtime Mekons chanteuse Sally Timms) and Only Darkness Has The Power, both standouts. Cocaine Lil is the story of a party girl; Learning to Live on Your Own, Blow Your Tuneless Trumpet, Echo, all great songs. Empire Of The Senseless, for which this blog was named. Amnesia talks about Rock n Roll being brought to America in the holds of slave ships; finally, When Darkness Falls wrapped the whole thing up.

The disc became one of my favorites; personally, I rate it up there as an example of post-punk development as good as London Calling. Maybe better; it does the job in one disc rather than two.

Not too much later, they came through town and played the Shank. I went by myself, because I wanted to see how this stuff translated into a live show.



Well, it translated like it should. With fire and anger, humor and passion. The band spent some time bantering, but when you saw Rico Bell take the stage with his accordion, you knew it was not going to be a normal punk rock show.

A couple of years later, the band was touring in support of the major label swan song, The Curse Of The Mekons (the story is that the Mekes did the album the same way they did the previous effort, figuring that was what the Company wanted; when they submitted the tapes, the Company thought it was a joke, since it had come out so different. The album remained unreleased for a year, and was not released in America for several more years. Needless to say, it's one of the strongest). So my wife and I went, by that time I had turned her on to the Wonder of The Mekons.

God. The band was so off. The music was poorly chosen, mostly seemed to be droning mishmash. Later, Jon Langford said "Some nights, we can be focused like a laser beam. Other nights, we're complete crap." This must have been one of those nights. We left. Later, I found that they had been dumped by their record company mid tour.

That was it. For a while, I just thought they had the one good album in 'em. In 94, they came back again, in support of "Retreat From Memphis". I thought well, I'll just go and give them one more chance. That first show was so good.

They were a laser beam again. It was another jaw dropping show. Damn. I bought the new CD; by this time they were on an independent (again). The Mekons have been on at least 12 different labels since 1977.

Yes, 1977. They released their first single in '77, inspired by the Sex Pistols. After a couple of released albums (upon which they never learned to actually play their instruments) they spent several years finishing college and woodshedding, practicing and listening to music: Gang of Four and old Country music. The Result was Fear and Whiskey, the album that has been acknowledged as creating the alt/country genre. There is no Wilco without the Mekons.

Since then, the band has been unwilling to stand still. Although they may not appeal to everybody, They have been on the cusp of guitar based alternative, they have toyed with country, folk, reggae, pop, electronica, even re-recording their first songs and releasing them recently on Punk Rock. They have performed and exhibited collaborative art shows. They did an anarchic lesbian pirate musical. They have released books and art. And always, always invented new amalgams of music. The most recent album, Oooh! (Out Of Our Heads) was released with a coordinating art show, and melds English folk traditions with rock and punk.



In 2000, the somber The Edge Of The Night was released, an they toured with a mostly acoustic lineup, re-invigorating the "unplugged" genre. They played for thirty of us at the Cactus Club.

In 2002, they performed three nights in Chicago in honor of their 25th year; each night celebrating a successive decade.

Although Langford premiered his retrospective art-performance piece The Executioner's Last Songs, here in Milwaukee, the Mekons have not been back since that unplugged show at the Cactus Club. Until now.



Next month, they release a new album, Natural, and the American leg of the tour kicks off here at the Pabst on September 27th. I popped for tickets already; look for me in the front rows. Although from all accounts this is to be on the mellower side, rather than the raucous 'loud' shows, it promises to be a stellar evening. I'd go twice if I could.

They may even practice.

EDIT: It needs to be said, and the author of this Salon piece does, that the Mekons really started evolving when women were added to the band, a virtual rarity in 1980. Ever egalitarian to the point of socialist and beyond, the band is a true collaborative; no one writes songs until they get together, and everyone present participates.

"There's no peace/ On this terrible shore/ Every day is a battle/ How we still love the war." From the latest album. How can you resist couplets like that?

Technorati Tags: noise

The Flame That Killed John Wayne

Not really a flame war. Mor of a flame tussle. Not really flames, actually- more like an Escalated Temperature Dining Table Discussion With Fewer Thrown Dinner Rolls.

But really, I think in the end everybody behave reasonably, and thanks to all for that. I kind of liked it; it was exciting. As Rollins says "....when things get tense, that's when people are real."

Speaking of, my son took my iPod to listen to Rollins spoken word pieces, specifically Think Tank, after hearing a bit of his spiel on airports. Some might find the language intense, but the feelings are true, and like exposing eric to Penn and Teller, I think the input is good. So now Eric wants me to take him to the next Rollins Spoken Word Tour in November, "Provoked". It'll be a hoot, I'm sure; Rollins is spectacularly gifted as a storyteller.

Speaking of which, I had an opportunity to stand up and tell a story last night in front of a good crowd, as part of a class taught by John McGivern, along with ten new friends. It went gangbusters, except that our anchor storyteller was AWOL as the result of a minor accident. Ironically, her story was titled 'The Luck Of The Irish'


On to this week's Pseudo-Flamewar and Happy Birthday Silent Mike FRT:


1. The Imposter from the album "Get Happy!! [Disc 1]" by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2. So Young from the album "Suede" by Suede
3. Candy from the album "Cure For Pain" by Morphine
4. Kiss Off (Demo) from the album "Violent Femmes" by Violent Femmes
5. Sputnik 57 from the album "All the Fame of Lofty Deeds" by Jon Langford beep beep...beep beep....beep beep.
6. Invisible Man from the album "Skin & Bone" by The Angels
7. Big River from the album "Wacos at the Abbey" by Waco Brothers
8. Driveby from the album "Sleeps With Angels" by Neil Young
9. Goofy's Concern from the album "Independent Worm Saloon" by Butthole Surfers
10. The F Word from the album "Flying Saucer Tour, Vol. 1: Pittsburgh 6/20/91" by Bill Hicks
11. Colors from the album "SST Acoustic" by Angst

The Second Grade Applauds

Harry Reid told the Republican senators to put up or shut up.

Literally.

The rightwing fucktards have been immobilizing the Senate by threatening any piece of legislation that doesn't kiss President Nepotism's fake shitkickers. So Reid told them to commence with the goddam talking already and actually DO a filibuster, on the Levin/Reed Iraq withdrawal legislation, or shut the fuck up, sit the fuck down and go the fuck away to let some adults go about the business of running the country for a change.

You know, you can agree with the legislation or not; but the R's have been using the fake filibuster all year and never had to put up.

It's about time. Let's see if they can stand up and oppose it vocally, and face their constituents after being on record.

Yay Harry.

How Do You Work This Thing?

Hi.

Jennifer says I need a note from my mom.

Ummm. Would a shout-out from Snag do? I'll see what we can do. He might not return from his promotional tour, apparently he's falling apart starting with the teeth, he probably looks like Shane McGowan right now.

So. I'm on vacation and you guys let Scooter walk. That's why I can never go on vacation.

McCain is broke (so is america- no one's telling you) and you're not covered by health insurance, even if you think you are. The health insurance industry has a whole division of cubicle moles devoting every hour of every day to figuring out ways to not pay for your illnesses. Hey! Don't get mad at me! Look at the Republicans, who can't tolerate the idea of normal people getting something that will help them live in less stress and fear.

Speaking of Republicans, have you seen that they are sitting on the Senate, refusing to vote on any bill, including the one to allow our troops to recover in between deployments? Not only are they fulla shit when it comes to supporting the troops, they refuse to do the work of actually GOVERNING the country, preferring instead to throw a hissy fit and threaten to hold their breath until they turn blue, rather than work with and/or vote for Democratic legislation.

My solution? Let 'em turn blue. In fact, let's help 'em along by wrapping dry-cleaning bags around their fat, lying puckerheads.

So, now that I'm recharged and feel like railing about politics again, let's launch a FRT:



1. More Songs About Chocolate And Girls from the album "Here Comes The Summer - The Undertones Tribute Com" by The Vacant Lot Obscure cover by an obscure band of an old punk slab of summery crunchy goodness. Just as good as the title implies.
2. The Fall of the House of Usher: Arrival (Instrumental) from the album "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" by The Alan Parsons Project right into a prog rock snoozer. Kinda spacy, like an outtake from Dark Side Of The Moon.
3. I Could Be Happy from the album "Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits Of The '80s, Vol. 4" by Altered Images More of that sugary summery lightweight new wave. I like it.
4. New Lace Sleeves from the album "Trust" by Elvis Costello & The Attractions More 80's new wave. Nice on this beautiful pre-weekend day. Plus, elvis is always a goodo.
5. A Sort of Homecoming from the album "Wide Awake in America" by U2 Back when they were cool.
6. Pedal from the album "The Singles" by Tullycraft
7. Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before from the album "Strangeways, Here We Come" by The Smiths Good mixing by this iTunes gadget, good stuff indeed. Morrissey's mopey tendencies were always offset by Marr's chiming and propulsive guitar work.
8. Movin' On- Uncle Tupelo from the album "20 More Explosive Fantastic Rockin' Mega Smash Hit Explosions!" by Various Artists - Pravda Records Heh. Alt-rock superstars doing a cheesy old TV tune. Back when they could have fun doing music, before they got all serious and Pitchfork-y critics cobags. Bet those super-serious boys in Wilco wish they could forget this one.
9. Just Like Heaven from the album "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" by The Cure pretty much an 80's theme. Only ever exceeded by the Dino Jr cover.
10. Miles Away from the album "Goldfinger" by Goldfinger
11. Inside from the album "Gravity Kills" by Gravity Kills


Kind of an aggro little ending there.

Technorati Tags: noise

No One Home....

...we're at Summerfest.

Go read teh Rude Pundit. Then go see SiCKO.

Then come on down to the Fest.