As a young man I grew up in the South and I hated country music. That changed when I first started hearing songs from The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Gram Parsons solo work, all of which seemed to me to be quite different from the hillbilly shit I’d grown up around. The West Coast country vibe had a wide-openness about it that was more in tune with my Jack Kerouac inspired desire to hit the road…a road that was as much a metaphor for spiritual yearning as a slab of tar and concrete. Gram Parsons’ western music wasn’t solely about blue collar blues, booze and bad women. Parsons was a romantic in the traditional poetic sense, a seeker of beauty in the coarseness of everyday life. Yes, it was honky tonk music, but in Gram’s world the honky tonks weren’t violent dives of retribution, they were a kind of cowboy cafe society that weren’t far removed from the cafes of the French surrealists in Paris of the 1930’s, where absinthe was drunk instead of tequila.

This interview with Michael Bates in 1973 was Gram Parsons’ last recorded conversation. 6 months after the interview Parsons O.D’d on morphine and tequila in a motel on the edge of the Mojave desert.

Bate’s connection to Gram is almost accidental. In 1973—while he was the host of a CBC radio show in Ottawa, Ontario—Bate was on a road trip when he happened to spot Parsons’ beaten-up tour bus by the side of the Massachusetts Turnpike, 90 miles from Boston. He stopped and arranged an interview, which he says turned out to be the final recorded conversation with Parsons, who died that September from an overdose of morphine and tequila.

Gram candididly talks about Keith Richards and The Stones, bad dealings with The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers and how Waylon Jennings had to walk around the block to smoke a joint during a recording session with Chet Atkins. In the beginning of the interview Parsons makes mention of being stuck in England and left penniless by The Byrds. Gram was fired by Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman when he refused to join them on a South Africa tour as he was was opposed to apartheid. Some of his friends at the time thought Gram actually quit The Byrds so he could hang out with The Stones in London.

It’s Gram’s birthday today (Nov. 5).
 

 
Via Exile On Moan Street

 
You gotta hand it to him…he doesn’t back down.

An excerpt from the TV program “Durch die Nacht mit… (Into the Night with…) Henry Rollins and Shirin Neshat”. Henry gets mocked by local hipsters at the record store and fights back immediately.

(via TDW)

 
One of my favorite rock and roll websites Cherry Bombed uploaded this very strange Iggy photo. Where the hell did this take place? It looks like a Republican fundraiser. Nope. It’s the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. Gawd, rock IS dead.

Actually, rock still lives, check out the Grinderman video on Cherry Bombed.

 
This is not a confirmation of booking. This form ONLY allows fans to reserve a place in line on a first come first serve basis. This place in line reserves each guest the right to buy any level of cabin prior to general public on sale. Tentative cruise date November 10, 2011.
 
Cabin rates.        

Interior 939.00 899.00 659.00 - 829.00
Ocean View 1139.00 1099.00 1079.00
Balcony 2349.00 2049.00 1909.00
Premium Suite 3349.00      N/A       N/A
Suite 4499.00 4299.00       N/A
 
Shit! The premium suites aren’t available. I’m so not going.
 
Via Cherry Bombed

 
I once saw an interview with The Mighty Boosh, where Noel Fielding described their comedy as being for people who grew up listening to Frank Zappa. Falling as squarely into that quite particular demographic as I do, maybe this is why I resonate so much with their work. Certainly, for me, the inventively choreographed musical production numbers on their three TV series—think bohemian Busby Berkeley—were the highlights of each show. Kinda like The Monkees, in that way. The best Boosh episodes always have great musical payoffs.

When I caught the live Boosh experience at the Roxy last year, a primarily musical event, I must say, in true Paul Crik-parlance, they fucking killed it.

This weekend in London, Fielding and his comedic/musical partner in crime, Julian Barratt, will be co-headlining what looks to be an incredible musical event, celebrating the life and music of Frank Zappa, along with the Dweezil Zappa-led Zappa Plays Zappa band at a festival at the Roundhouse:

The three-day series of events begins tomorrow with a discussion between Frank’s wife Gail Zappa, his musical assistant Ali N Askin (who worked with him on his classical piece ‘The Yellow Shark’), computer synclavier programming expert Todd Yvega, and recording engineer Frank Fillipetti, the first engineer to work with The Zappa Family Trust on reissuing unreleased Zappa material. This precedes a performance of ‘The Yellow Shark’ by the London Contemporary Orchestra – the last album to be released before Zappa’s death in 1993, it features some typically Zappa-esque song titles; ‘G-Spot Tornado’, ‘Dog Breath Variations’, ‘Get Whitey’ and ‘Be-Bop Tango’. This will be followed by ‘Wild Imaginings – The Music That Influenced Zappa’ also performed by the LCO, giving an insight into Frank’s influences that ranged from Stravinsky to 1950s doo-wop, grungy rock ’n’ roll and jazz icon Eric Dolphy. 



Yet it will be the Zappa Plays Zappa band that should provide the highlight of the celebrations on a double bill with cult British comedy duo The Mighty Boosh on Saturday. The ZPZ band have performed in the UK before but this should be particularly special as the band will feature original Zappa sidemen including Mothers of Invention singer / guitarist Jeff Simmons, anarchic bassist Scott Thunes and woodwind / keyboards player Ian Underwood. They’ll play Frank’s best selling album Apostrophe in its entirety as well as other selections from FZ’s vast repertoire. With The Mighty Boosh’s Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt providing their own take on Zappa’s music and a comedy sketch recreating actual dialogue from Zappa’s infamous Old Bailey obscenity trial, plus Frank himself making an appearance to ‘play’ live with son Dweezil, this will be an epic and aptly surreal tribute to this truly unique musical visionary.

Frank Zappa: 70th Birthday Celebration, Roundhouse, London NW1, November 5 to 7, 2010
 

 
Peter Blegvad is an all around swell songwriter/ poet/visual artist that I’ve long admired. Here are some great cartoons of his that are posted at the Radio Free Song Club which also hosts some songs by Blegvad as well.
 

 
More after the jump…

Breyer P-Orridge in 2006 by Laure Leber.
 
A further statement, rather ambiguous, from Genesis Breyer P-Orridge regarding the recent Throbbing Gristle rift. According to Gen, s/he didn’t quit the group:

Dear Friends,

We have seen and heard various inaccurate, erroneous, even sometimes libelous speculations about why we felt compelled to drop out of the current Throbbing Gristle tour. As a result we intend to address these matters in full as soon as possible. We hope that what we state now, and later, will be clear, will not fan the flames of destructive gossip, will not seem negative and will reduce an somewhat dramatic situation into a simpler story. We want to make it clear right now that we did not, and have no wish to quit TG. Obviously there is more involved than just that simple statement. Personally, at this point of my life, my position is that the inner workings and dynamics of any band, but especially of TG, are as intimate, unique and most of all complex as they are within any family. Unfortunately, even at the level TG occupy in popular culture, band business becomes potentially everyone’s business. We all know the internet has amplified the speed of distribution of “information” almost as fast as it has accelerated the decline of accuracy worldwide. We have no interest in pointing fingers (or is it claws?) at various people or sites and accusing them of letting the cat out of the bag. Bickering is never attractive, not one on one nor within the realms of an ever expanding media fueled by smart phone technologies and laptops. As soon as we have composed a written version of what series of events we believe led to my feeling unable to remain part of THIS short tour by the re-grouped TG that feels acceptable we will post it here.

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge

Below, a video demonstrating an amazing new multiple from Breyer P-Orridge, the “Pandrogyne Cube.” The limited edition shifting photo sculpture, 4 x 4 inches, edition of 300 costs $123 + shipping and handling. Purchase at Invisible Exports in NYC.
 

 
Rescued Chilean miner Edison Peña creates magic on the Letterman show. This guy is so happy to be alive he radiates the power of a 1000 suns. His Elvis impression is bliss personified. Wow.
 

 
Tremble Under Boom Lights has created a map of Detroit record labels. 

The link below will take you to a Google Map with pinpoints of over 200 Detroit record labels throughout history. With each pin-point comes a little bit of info about that label. My criteria for this was simple…an address I could find for a record label. Most were taken from Keith Rylatt’s essential book “Groovesville USA” but a fair amount were also gleaned from my own independent research, ie, addresses listed on the labels or sleeves in my possession.

A map of Detroit record labels.

 
Divine sings “The Name Game.”

Divine gives it her all at The Hacienda in Manchester, 1983. The audience appears to be totally clueless - joyless division. Where the FOK is Happy Mondays?

Divine was punk before punk. A shit-eating Diva that could have devoured the entire Sex Pistols for breakfast.