We couldn’t let the occasion of Lady Bunny’s birthday pass without doing a post to mark it (even if it was yesterday.) She ain’t no spring chicken, but she’s as rulin’ as ever.
And here’s the proof, some seldom-seen footage of Lady Bunny performing in 1986, filmed by New York nightlife chronicler, and friend of DM, Nelson Sullivan. The “psychedelic disco” act is called SHAZORK and also features Sister Dimension and DJ Dmitry (later of Deee-Lite.) Who knew Bunny could sing this well? And I love Sister Dimension’s smurf-like outfit!
Frank Zappa joins comedian Robert Klein (and a small studio audience) in 1979 to discuss the first installment of his then-current project Joe’s Garage (inspired apparently by the goofy “don’t take drugs, kids” high school visits from narcotics officers) giving a blow by blow account of what happens in his quirky rock opera.
In Joe’s Garage, a narrator called “The Central Scrutinizer” tells the story of “Joe,” an average everyday kid who forms a rock band in a dystopian America where music itself is against the law.
When it comes to feminist-punk, there’s none more femme, nor punk, than the mighty Peaches.
So it’s no real surprise to learn that Peaches has been following the Pussy Riot trial closely, and has turned her hand to making both a video and a track in support of the persecuted Russian rock group.
A YouTube casting call went out last week, asking for fans to send in their own, pro-Pussy Riot footage to be included in the video. Well it is now done and dusted, and available to watch online. The track itself, called “Free Pussy Riot”, is available as a free download, and all Peaches is asking in return for her work is that everyone sign the Free Pussy Riot petition at change.org.
This is the statement Peaches and friends have made to go with the download:
Peaches, Simonne Jones, and tons of musicians, artists, activists, and free-thinkers are came together to make a video for this song in support of the russian punk feminist band PUSSY RIOT! Now that you have heard about the song and video, we want you to take action! Here is why:
In March 2012 three members of Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevitch, were taken into custody by Russian authorities for their participation as part of a protest at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. Their punk prayer is and was an act of free speech and the charges of “hooliganism” and detainment of the three women are seen by the world as a cruel heavy handed act of oppression, are being carried out to discourage free thought and speech in Russia.
If Russia wishes to be a part of the modern globalized world it must adhere to the standards and principles of a free nation where its people have the right to have a free and open dialogue about all subjects. Discussion, debate, and action are the basic building blocks of a free society. By following through with the prosecution of these women Russian political bullies are currently making a mockery of free speech, free thought, and Russia’s own country’s constitution.
We, the citizens of the world and advocates for free speech, DEMAND the immediate release of Pussy Riot. The verdict is planned for August 17th - let’s show Pussy Riot our support!
The charges and punishments facing Maria, Nadezhda, and Ekaterina are nothing more than a political stunt by the Russian authorities and Russian Orthodox Chruch to retain control over the Russian people and instill fear into the free-thinkers, political activists, and artists of Russia.
The world is watching, and we do not like what we see.
The wearing of a cravat is a sign of sophistication and style. Only the most self-assured can carry it off. Look at Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief, or, David Niven telling us The Moon’s a Balloon, or the dear Master himself, Noel Coward, accessorized with smoking jacket, tinkling the ivories, saying how he would go through life in First or Third Class, but never Second. Yes, it takes considerable confidence to wear one, for it signifies a sense of the wearer’s identity and self-importance.
Elvis Costello wears a cravat in this documentary on the making of his 1981 album, Almost Blue. He carries it off, in his own way. In much the same way as the Post-Punk, New Wave singer made this album of classic Country and Western covers his very own.
It was an inspired decision, one perhaps touched by genius. At the height of his Indie Pop success, Elvis moved to Nashville, hooked up with legendary producer Billy Sherrill, and learned to make a near perfect C&W album.
The South Bank Show followed Elvis Costello during the making of Almost Blue, and captured almost the whole process by which Sherrill and Costello chose, worked on and recorded the album. It is an excellent documentary, revealing the talent, arrogance and self-belief required to make a landmark album, or to wear a cravat.
This image of Jimi Hendrix playing the accordion in his boxers has been making the rounds on Facebook for about a week. In fact, Weird Al Yankovic tweeted it yesterday quipping: “In case you ever needed proof that Jimi Hendrix was cool.”
I’m 99.9% certain it’s a photoshop job, but it’s still fun.
A handsome young Duglas T Stewart of BMX Bandits gave this brief tour of his favorite things for 1980s pop show FSd. Amongst the items on display in Duglas’ den were: a fan’s portrait made from sticky-back plastic, records by Village People, The Beach Boys and Throbbing Gristle (nuff said?), and his plastic fish tank. This will go in some way to explaining why BMX Bandits are one of the most beloved, beautiful and inspiring bands of all time. As has been said by others in the documentary film Serious Drugs, BMX Bandits’ music is like being hugged by all the people you love, all at the same time. Pretty heart-warming.
Duglas’s piece to camera segues into a quick clip of Wray Gunn and the Rockets, featuring a very young Keith Warwick, now with The New Piccadillys, before we return to Duglas and BMX Bandits performing a subversively delightful version of “(You Gotta) Fight For the Right (To Party!)”
Serious Drugs - The Film about BMX Bandits is to be shown at the Portobello Film Festival, in London on 7 September 2012, check here for details.
When Dangerous Minds launched three years ago, an album that I was listening to constantly at the time, and wildly enthusiastic about, so it was one of the first things I posted about here, was jazz organist Larry Young’s astonishing and little-known avant jazz masterpiece Lawrence of Newark.
I first heard the unorthodox sounds of Larry Young’s organ on a bootleg of him jamming in the studio with Jimi Hendrix (Later released as part of the 2010 West Coast Seattle Boy box set). If you can hold your own with Jimi, you’ve got to have chops and Young—sometimes called the “Coltrane of the organ”—had chops to spare.
What sent me out (er…. to Google) to find this, though, was a reference in a Nick Cave interview where he was saying how he and the musicians in the “mini-Seeds” Grinderman project had been grooving on Young’s monster of a song “Khadid of Space, Pt. 2 Welcome” in the studio.
With a recommendation like that—and knowing that Pharoah Sanders and guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer were all over this album, too—I just had to hear it.
It did not disappoint. Recorded in 1973, but not released until 1975 on the underground Perception Records label, Lawrence of Newark is a massive HUNK of music. Funky, psychedelic, both droning and jazzy simultaneously due to Young’s “modal” organ playing, it’s nothing short of exhilarating. There’s practically no other album like it. Look at the album cover. I’m a sucker for anything that even faintly reeks of Sun Ra-style Afro-Futurism and if you, too, are so inclined, you won’t be disappointed by Lawrence of Newark.
I was listening to the Grinderman albums and the (incredible) new 5.1 surround mix that Mute just released of Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! over the weekend (more on this later) and that got me hankering hear Lawrence of Newark again and I have probably played it four times since.
It’s an obelisk of “pure sound,” an inscrutable thing that cannot be adequately described, only experienced. It’s the musical enlivenment of a Richard Serra sculpture, perhaps…
Forget describing it, that’s impossible. Just CRANK IT UP and hit play. Prepare to be made absolutely helpless by the sound of Larry Young’s “Khadid of Space, Pt. 2 Welcome”
(Since Larry Young has been dead for well over 30 years and the CD out of print for several years, too. I feel no qualms in pointing you towards a download link at the Sophisticated Squaw blog.)
If you haven’t heard yet, Universal Music Group is re-releasing the entire Frank Zappa oeuvre and the first dozen of his 60s and early 70s albums—everything from 1966’s Freak Out! to the 1972 live set, Just Another Band From L.A.—are already out. This is one of the most significant catalogs of 20th century music and it’s about time it’s gotten a polish with 21st century audio tools. (I haven’t actually heard them yet, still just checking the mail every hour…)
It will come as no surprise to frequent readers of this blog, or even a reader of the above paragraph, that I’m a Frank Zappa fanatic (a painting of the original Mothers in drag hangs above my desk as I type this). I was first exposed to his music (specifically “Let’s Make the Water Turn Black”) via the Dr. Demento radio show in 1975 when I would have been nine (Via that very same broadcast, I also discovered two other life-long favorites: The Bonzo Dog Band and Noel Coward).
I have such an exhaustive selection of Zappa bootlegs and DVDs that it’s borderline absurd, so the re-release of these albums, for me, is an invitation to dive back into them (something I do at least every two years anyway). For younger music fans, this might be their first exposure to Zappa’s music and in an effort to encourage that discovery, or re-discovery, for old and new Zappa fans alike, during the next week or so you’ll be seeing some great new Zappa-related posts, plus some older posts pulled from the DM archives.
Although it would be ridiculous to describe Frank Zappa as, in any way, “obscure,” the blunt fact is that his music is not widely known to the general public in 2012. Whether you chalk this up to the “difficulty” of his music, that he’s been dead for a generation, or that he acted so far outside of the music industry as he did during his maverick career—Zappa was one of the very first popular musicians (well, Zappa and Frank Sinatra, I suppose) to have his own record label and operated as an “indie” long before that term was coined—it really doesn’t matter much, and besides, in this case, there’s a real opportunity for FZ to blow some new minds. It’s criminal that he’s not better known than he is today, but I’m sure Mozart and Beethoven’s music went through lulls over the years, too…
My point is, dear younger readers, that right now is a really good time to discover the genius of Frank Zappa. Oh that I could hear these albums again for the first time. I envy your youth for that reason alone… but I’m already getting off topic. The primary reason why I would recommend Frank Zappa so strongly to music fans who are new to the Zappa catalog, but curious, is that FZ’s prodigious output is one of those things that you can dive into for months and months at a time: There’s a lot of incredible music that he produced and he’s sort of a genre until himself, really, like when you first get into krautrock or reggae.
Few other musicians of his era, and of his stature, have such massive back catalogs to immerse yourself in as Frank Zappa and such an interesting life story to read about as you do so. The guy was a genius on so many levels. Aside from being a great composer, musician, guitar god, and all around avant garde god/freakster, Frank Zappa was also an astute businessman and one of the tiny handful of the 20th century bandleaders (think Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Sun Ra) who was able to keep fairly large groups of touring musicians on the road for decades (a tremendous feat in itself). And he had an idea for something like iTunes two decades before Steve Jobs brought it to fruition. Did you know that? It’s true.
The fact that this music hasn’t become over familiar throughout the years, from the point of view of 2012, is a big plus, if you ask me. And like I was saying above, to get to hear this music with fresh ears, that’s an experience I’d like to have.
You can get more information and updates on the Frank Zappa remasters by following Jeff Newelt’s Twitter feed.
Below, the original Mothers of Invention with a unique take on their concert staple, “King Kong,” at the Grugahalle, Essen, Germany, on September 28th, 1968:
In this fantastic excerpt from the legendary Dutch TV documentary about old school hip hop, Big Fun In The Big Town, a young Grandmaster Flash displays his “turntabilism” techniques—“backspin” “punch phrasing” and “scratching”—for the camera.
From the left: Chrissie Hynde, Deborah Harry, Viv Albertine, Siouxsie Sioux, front: Poly Styrene, Pauline Black
Here’s an excellent mix consisting of female fronted punk and post punk bands via Suicide Watch:
01. The Avengers- I Believe In Me
02. Destroy All Monsters- You’re Gonna Die
03. X Ray Spex- I Am A Poseur
04. Siouxise & The Banshees- Jigsaw Feeling
05. Judy Nylon- Jailhouse Rock
06. Bush Tetras- Cowboys In Africa
07. Au Pairs- We’re So Cool
08. Delta 5- Now That You’ve Gone
09. Girls At Our Best- Warm Girls
10. Pylon- Cool
11. Suburban Lawns- Janitor
12. The Pretenders- Precious
13. Patti Smith Band- Ask the Angels
14. The Maps- I’m Talking To You
15. The Bags- Survive
16. 45 Grave- Evil
17. The Plasmatics- Butcher Baby
18. X- I’m Coming Over
19. The Mo Dettes- White Mice
20. Bow Wow Wow- c30 c60 c90 Go
21. ESG- You’re No Good
22. Shonen Knife- A Day of the Factory
23. Essential Logic- Aerosol Burns
24. Lora Logic- Brute Fury
25. Young Marble Giants- Brand New Life
26. Liliput- Die Matrosen
27. The Raincoats- No Side To Fall In
28. Lizzy Mercier Descloux- Wawa
29. Teenage Jesus & The Jerks- Orphans
30. Sonic Youth- Making The Nature Scene
31. The Slits- I Heard It Through the Grapevine
32. Blondie- Out In The Streets
.
box set). If you can hold your own with Jimi, you’ve got to have chops and Young—sometimes called the “Coltrane of the organ”—had chops to spare. 
over the weekend (more on this later) and that got me hankering hear Lawrence of Newark again and I have probably played it four times since.
to the 1972 live set, 
—are already out. This is one of the most significant catalogs of 20th century music and it’s about time it’s gotten a polish with 21st century audio tools. (I haven’t actually heard them yet, still just checking the mail every hour…)
(which Zappa himself hated, but I loved), 
by Kevin Courrier, Ben Watson’s essential Marxist take on FZ, 
, 
by Billy James which concentrates on the original Mothers, and Pauline Butcher’s must-read for Zappa-heads, 
(
, a young Grandmaster Flash displays his “turntabilism” techniques—“backspin” “punch phrasing” and “scratching”—for the camera.