Googoosh has been Iran’s reigning pop goddess for the past four decades. She recorded, toured and made movies until she was silenced by the Iranian revolution of 1979. From that moment on she was banned, as were all Iranian women, from singing or performing.

She remained in Iran until 2000. Where she currently resides is somewhat of a mystery, though it is rumored that she lives in California.

In the 1960s and ‘70s, Googoosh was on the cutting edge of pop music in Iran. And even though that doesn’t sound like much of an achievement, you’d be surprised. Her music would have held its own against any of her Western contemporaries.

In recent years, there has been a revival of interest in her music among young Iranians who circulate bootleg recordings and upload old VHS performance videos on Youtube. And while she has been touring for the past few years throughout Europe, Australia the USA and the Middle East, she still cannot perform in the country of her birth.

Here’s a collection of four songs by Googoosh. The quality of the videos are funky but considering they are illegal in Iran, it’s amazing they exist at all.

 
The Bangladesh film industry is located in the city of Dhaka and is playfully referred to as Dhallywood. It produces about 100 films a year, a fraction of neighboring India’s Bollywood output.

Here’s a trailer of Dhallywood’s take on The Hulk. The special effects are pretty cheesy, but by Dhallywood standards this is big budget. It can’t be any worse than Ang Lee’s version

 
Frankie Smith is best know for his song ‘Double Dutch Bus’ recorded in 1981. In the song, Smith created a new style of hip-hop slang that has become a big part of the music’s culture. By putting “iz” in the middle of a word or replacing trailing syllables with “-izzle,” Smith arrived at a funky form of nonsense that was quickly absorbed into rap’s vernacular. Snoop Dogg took it to the next level.

In addition to recording his own songs, Smith wrote tunes for The Spinners, Archie Bell and the Drells, The O’Jays and Billy Paul. But, ‘Double Dutch Bus’ was his most significant achievement. Without Smith, there’d be no “fo shizzle ma nizzle.”

One of Smith’s lesser known talents was as a yo yo master. After the success of ‘Double Dutch Bus’, Frankie went looking for the next big thing and he thought the idea of combining yo yos with disco music was the ticket. In 1982, he recorded ‘Yo Yo Champ.’ It did not set the world on fire, but he managed to get some TV appearances out of the deal. One of which is included here.

The ‘Double Dutch Bus’ video is the only official video made for the song. Ironically, it was made for Dutch television.

 
Must see video of the Yo Yo Champ after the jump…

 
Attention good people of California, the mighty Bad Brains are coming our way for a whirlwind six day tour.

Bad Brains in California tour dates:
Aug 19 @ Ventura Theater, Ventura, CA
Aug 20 @ House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
Aug 21 @ Sunset Junction, Los Angeles, CA
Aug 22 @ Belly Up Tavern, Solano Beach, CA
Aug 23 @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA
Aug 24 @ Slim’s, San Francisco, CA

The band is giving away tickets at their website for each of the shows. Register to win here. If you win the free tickets, I guess you won’t have to, ahem, pay to cum! (Ha ha ha ha. I’m so darned funny, I just slay myself).
 

 
Note that the above video of the Bad Brains playing Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, shot at CBGBs, also comes from the InnerTube cable access series, circa 1982, that Marc wrote about here.

 
I was thrilled to hear that Ideal, starring the very talented Johnny Vegas would be returning to BBC3 television on August 17th for a sixth series. Ideal is about “Moz” a smalltime Mancunian pot dealer—who may or may not be agoraphobic—and the whimsical characters (and psychotic criminals) who come in and out of his life wanting to buy an eighth of weed. It’s one of the smartest, best-acted, best-directed, best-written sitcoms that I’ve ever seen. How many sitcoms can you name that have Throbbing Gristle and Carter-Tutti references? Additionally it’s got one of the best soundtracks going.  Did I mention that I love this show? Well I do, but the way series creator Graham Duff ended the fifth series, I was under the impression that the show was finished and had a bow tied on top, so the fact that it’s returning soon was viewed as unexpected great news in our household. Tara loves the show, too.

I love me some Mr. Johnny Vegas, who I think, truly, is one of the great comic actors of our time. I’m a huge fan. There is something about him that reminds me of WC Fields (this is a very good thing) and I’d call him “the funniest fat comedian of all time” except that the once unabashedly fat Vegas has slimmed down considerably from his peak weight. His verbal dexterity approaches that of a trained Shakespearean actor and his quick-witted stand-up material is shocking in its brilliance. I’ve seen him in practically everything he’s ever been in and I think he’s excellent in all of it. (All except for the awful, unfunny Sex Lives of the Potato Men, which is utter shit).

If you’ve never seen Ideal, obviously there are ways to get your hands on past episodes and if you are a fan of super-smart comedy, I suggest you do so.
 

 
It’s not Neu! but it’s the closest we’re going to get and it sounds pretty fucking glorious. Its Hallogallo 2010 , consisting of living legend Michael Rother with helpers Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth and Aaron Mullan of Tall Firs. WNYC has posted the trio’s recent show at Lincoln Center for our perusal. enjoy !

 
No Cover: Michael Rother and Friends Play the Music Of Neu! (WNYC)
 
Thanks Ian Raikow!

Click here to see a larger version of the map.
 
Via likeitcool

 
Among musicians, dreams die hard. This video from Eric Sandvik (Dwayne838) is a true life miniature melodrama. It has all the ingredients of a movie or a classic cry-in-your-beer country song: pathos, shattered hopes, hustlers, the shady side of the music business, Nashville, Memphis, an out of control Greyhound bus, the will to keep on keepin’ on and a bittersweet ending.

You gotta love Eric for sticking to the thing he loves best, his music, even when it bites him in the ass.

My advice to Eric is to steer clear of the Nashville jive, stay in Jersey where what you see is what you get.  And don’t spend what you don’t got. The rock and roll gravy train has left the station. And The Eagles suck.

Good luck, man

Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
Don’t let ‘em pick guitars or drive them old trucks.
Let ‘em be doctors and lawyers and such.
Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
‘Cos they’ll never stay home and they’re always alone.

 
“Hi.”
 
(via Gamefreaks)

 
This languid and dreamy, heavily phase-shifted late period mid-tempo disco masterpiece was released on the storied Casablanca Records label in 1979 by one Dennis Parker, better known as ill-fated porn and soap opera actor Wade Nichols. I guess the below clip is a fairly recent discovery which offers not only an oddly affecting melodramatic performance from Parker, er Nichols but also a gorgeous look at late 70’s mid-town Manhattan.

 
More after the jump…