Cola is actually an amazing meat tenderizer—folks in my family have poured a can of Coke on the Christmas ham for years. Apparently in China, it’s common practice to pour it on chicken and cook it out in a stir-fry, leaving a sweet, tangy flavor. As far as I know, I have never eaten cola chicken (though sometimes in Chinatown, I just point at things, so I suppose it’s possible), but this new Lay’s potato chip flavor attempts to capture the magic. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be available in the U.S. (greatest country in the world, my ass).
 

 
Via Ad Age

 
Thurston Moore’s beloved Fender Jazzmaster has been stolen.

From Sonic Youth’s website:

“Hi—Thurston Moore had his 1966 (circa) Fender Jazzmaster stolen from the Best Western in Philadelphia (501 N 22nd St) last night 12-12-12 around 12 midnight. It’s Thurston’s iconic Sonic Youth black Jazzmaster with all the stickers on its body. A police report has been filed. Please email us if anyone tries to sell this relic to your store, it would be appreciated. Please forward to other guitar stores you may know in the area. Thanks, Thurston”

The guitar’s serial number is 41927.

This is the second time Moore has had a guitar stolen. In 1999, his white Fender Jazzmaster was stolen from his van. It was returned to him earlier this year. Let’s hope his luck is holding out. Losing a precious instrument is like losing a member of your family.

 
It’s a pleasure to present a rarely seen comic strip from the demented minds of Josh and Drew Friedman.

Keith Richards Goes To The Dentist is classic Friedman and would have easily found a home in the legendary Zap comix, alongside R. Crumb and S. Clay Wilson.
 

 
I find the Friedman Brother’s idea of a tribute to The Rolling Stones truer to the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll than the piles of coffee table books and redundant BBC documentaries that flood the marketplace. This is a tribute more in keeping with the band’s earlier transgressions. But, I’ll let Josh tell you about it:

In recognition of the worldwide celebration of The Rolling Stones 50th Anniversary—an occasion almost too good to be true—I present this primitive comic strip, which ran in High Times, Feb. 1981. The World’s Greatest Band contains two geniuses, and such grand, fantastical characters, that we are blessed to still have them on earth. But, being Englishmen, there once was this problem with their teeth. I sometimes wondered why The Rolling Stones didn’t have a cartoon series on Saturday morning television, like The Beatles. Perhaps it could have gone down like this:

 

 

 

 
The strip in all four of its glorious pages can be viewed at Josh Friedman’s website Black Cracker. It’s gutbustingly funny.
 

 

Steven Crowder: even dumber than he looks?

It’s been hilarious to watch the reichwingers having conniption fits pointing at the “union goon” in Lansing, Michigan who punched curiously smug Fox Contributor Steven Crowder: Uncle Sean Hannity, the pindicks at Breitbart.com, mean ol’ Dana Loesch, and the delightfully insane Michelle Malkin have all been tripping over themselves to get the word out about this heinous, earth-shaking, momentously evil event. You’d think that the livelihoods of working families in Michigan, and what they stand to lose in the Republican sneak attack against the unions, might be the main story, or even a tiny part of it, but no, it’s the Republican frat boy who deservedly got punched in the face—who indeed only went to Lansing in the first place so he could GET punched in the face ON CAMERA—that they all want to talk about.

Fair enough, except that these intellectual pillars of the right might want to look at his video a little more closely before they really get on-board the Steven Crowder Express, next career stop his parent’s basement…

Certainly Crowder underestimated even the Fox News audience’s ability to see—clearly—in the video evidence that he himself provided, that the supposed “union thug” was getting off the ground before he hit him.

Even his supporters want to know what happened immediately before the video starts. Why was the union guy on the ground before the fight broke out? Why did Crowder decide that this part wasn’t important enough to leave in the video he uploaded to YouTube before calling Fox News?

Is this guy for real? Did he even think this shit through?

And what does this say about Fox News and their producers’ ability to divine shit from Shinola? They’re the ones who showed the damned video. Did they even bother to LOOK at it first? Post Romneygeddon it’s not like Fox News has got a whole lot more credibility to piss away with the general public and now they’re embracing a twit like Steven Crowder in prime time? (Great idea, Roger Ailes! You’re a propaganda genius… or at least you used to be. These days, not so much).

The mighty Eclecta blog was the first place to compare the videos, the reddit community then picked up on the story and amplified it from there and now it’s made it to The New York Times. I would imagine that this will be young Mr. Crowder’s first—and probably last—time to be mentioned in the Times. I’m sure his wife and family will be so proud of him when they read this:

Unfortunately for Mr. Crowder, a look at the video broadcast on the Sean Hannity show appears to show quite clearly that he left out an important section of the footage when he put together his edit. A section of the Fox News broadcast preserved by the Web site Mediaite shows that Mr. Hannity’s producers at Fox News started the clip five seconds earlier than Mr. Crowder did. What the extra footage reveals is the man who punched Mr. Crowder being knocked to the ground seconds before and then getting up and taking a swing at the comedian.

It remains unclear what caused the man who threw the punch to fall to the ground at the start of the incident, but Mr. Crowder did say in an interview with a conservative blogger that he and other men defending the tent did get into a physical confrontation with the union activists. “We didn’t get violent with them, but we did try and push them off the tent,” he said.

So wait: Crowder pushed a guy to the ground who then got up and hit him? And then Crowder went on TV and cried about being a victim of a “union thug” who he physically provoked?

Yesterday Tea party wingnuts were donating to a “reward” fund to bring the “union thug” to “justice,” but dollars to donuts, I predict that no charges will be filed by little Stevie Crowder….

Crowder is now going full-tilt Breitbart and playing the martyr card hard, but unconvincingly:
 

Right now I have a former police officer, heavily armed at my house protecting my wife. The threats are severe. Prayers appreciated.

— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) December 14, 2012

 
Boo-fucking-hoo, asshole…
 

The Last Supper (detail) Andy Warhol, 1986

It may be an obscure Teardrop Explodes b-side, but I think you’ll agree that “Christ versus Warhol” should be in the running for the “Greatest Song Title of All Time Award.”

The brooding flip of 1981’s “Passionate Friend” single. In my eyes Julian Cope can do no wrong, but this song is a stunner. Long live the Arch-Drude!
 

 
‘If you’ve got to ask what a Rhythm Stick is, then it may be possible you will never know the answer,’ Ian Dury tells one interviewer over the ‘phone, in this brilliant documentary from 1979. This was the first full length documentary on Dury and it captures the legendary performer’s humor, enthusiasm and sheer joy at doing what he likes best (even if it’s touring for 16 weeks, and owing more money than he earns), which all goes to making this a great pleasure to watch.

Includes performances of “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”, “Inbetweenies”, “Blockheads”, “Clever Trevor” and “Reasons to Be Cheerful (Part 3)”.
 

 
With thanks to NellyM
 

 
Who would have thought that the highlight of the Hurricane Sandy benefit would be an absolutely badass performance by Sir Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear (a Germ meets The Beatle)?

The helter skelterish song is “Cut Me Some Slack” and it was written collectively by the group during a jam session. McCartney, playing a cigar-box guitar, does some amazing solo stuff. This really did exceed my, and most people I’ve talked to, expectations.

The rest of the show was pretty routine with a bunch of older rockers playing stuff from decades ago. Good cause, though. Contribute here.
 

 
A friend of mine burned me a 4-channel quadraphonic version of Tiger B. Smith’s 1972 Tiger Rock album recently. The hirsute fuzzrocking, boogie-happy German trio (when they’re good) recall Slade, The Sweet, Hawkwind, The MC5, The Edgar Broughton Band, and especially Jimi and Black Sabbath, but about half the album is just bloody awful.

Thankfully this unsung group left behind this boffo clip, all dressed up and rocking out at the top of their game (with a stuffed animal in the shot the whole time, which makes it somehow even better).
 

 
After the jump, more from the wild men of Tiger B. Smith….

Sonny Rollins, pre-Night Music.
 
Night Music, hosted by Jools Holland and David Sanborn and produced by Hal Wilner, ran on late-night TV from 1988 to 1990. It was a particularly smart show, featuring many musicians who did not appear that often on television. This episode is a perfect example of its eclectic and sophisticated offerings.

From 1989: Was Not Was, word jazzist Ken Nordine (rare to see him perform live), Sonny Rollins and Leonard Cohen.

Hello Operator (Was Not Was)
Kim (Sonny Rollins)
Tower Of Song (Leonard Cohen)
Winter Sketch aka Don’t You Wish (Ken Nordine)
Who By Fire (L. Cohen/S. Rollins)
I Can’t Turn You Loose (Was Not Was)
 

 
Bobby Solomon of The Fox is Black posted a few rough sketches made by Saul Bass before he came up with the winner for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

According to Solomon, “I’ve read online that Kubrick made Bass go through at least 300 versions of the poster until finally ending on the extremely alien looking version we now know.”

You can see larger images over at The Fox is Black website.
 

 

 
Via Nerdcore