Dangerous Minds pal Rich Fulcher will be appearing as his groupie alter ego “Eleanor the Tour Whore” at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at The Udderbelly from August 21-30. One of the best comedy shows I’ve ever had the pleasure of laughing my ass off at, I’m sure Eleanor will be the hit of the Fringe!

Below, Eleanor works her charms on Har Mar Superstar in the first episode of Eleanor’s Happy Place:
 

 
Priceless detail from NYT article on Wyclef Jean’s political ambitions that I wanted to call your attention to:

But Yéle [Jean’s charity] needed a way to account for $250,000 that Mr. Jean, through the check to Telemax, had used to help cover the costs of a carnival float, Mr. Rawal said.

The float featured Mr. Jean in a frilly blouse and gilded epaulettes as Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the Haitian revolutionary hero. Mr. Jean also imported a lion for the spectacle, keeping it in the parking lot of the Montana Hotel, now destroyed, where the kitchen crew fed the beast sirloin steaks. (Emphasis added).

If this guy is elected president of Hati, something that seems highly likely to happen, the inevitable next chapters will include all kinds of financial malfeasance, rampant cronyism and who knows what other fuckery? But what will happen after a year or two of President Fugee spending relief money to glorify himself is easier to predict: International relief organizations and nations will simply refuse to deal with Haiti and the people will rot.

What’s good for Wyclef Jean is not synonymous with what is best for the people of Haiti.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the spectacle of seeing an egomaniacal pop star trying to get into politics as much as the next guy (I can’t wait for Sting to decide that he should be the UK prime minister, for instance), but this isn’t about the schadenfreude, it’s about how poorly Haiti will fare should this moron get elected.

Thank you Chris Campion!

Star’s Candidacy in Haiti Puts Focus on Charity (New York Times)

 
This is indescribably surreal. Just watch.

Film footage from 1970 Czech film Na Komete (On The Comet). Moog music by Jean Pierre Decerf and Marc Saclays from the album Pulsations (1980).

 

 
I first discovered Brit rockabilly wildman Vince Taylor when I saw him and his band in some French Scopitones. I was blown away by his over-the-top stage moves and fetishy black leather outfit. The cat was ultra-cool in a synthetic sort of way, a simulacrum composed of bits and pieces of Elvis, Gene Vincent and interstellar tonup boy. Vince had a string of hits and was a mega-star in France. But, LSD, alcohol, and being absolutely convinced he was Jesus, brought Taylor’s musical life to a loopy end.

Vince Taylor may have lost it (or found IT), but before he flamed out he managed to record two of the best rockabilly songs ever recorded, Jet Black Machine and Brand New Cadillac (later covered by The Clash). He was the inspiration for David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust persona and provided the fashion proto-type for Elvis circa 1968. He opened for the Rolling Stones, copped his first hit of acid at a party for Bob Dylan and slept with Brigitte Bardot. Morrissey used footage of Taylor dancing as a visual backdrop during his 2007 tour.

Vince’s moment of fame may have been brief but it was action-packed and he left an indelible jet black impression.

In this fascinating BBC documentary, Taylor’s story is told by his former drummer (the wonderfully animated Bobbie Clarke), David Bowie and people who helped guide his brief but amazing career. Enjoy.

 
Over at Daryl Lang’s History Eraser Button blog, he’s posted some shots taken the same distance from the World Trade Center as the site of the proposed Cordoba House cultural center, AKA the “Ground Zero Mosque”:

What’s my point? A month ago, I wrote about my support for a group of Muslim New Yorkers—whom I consider my neighbors—and their right to put a religious building on a piece of private property in Lower Manhattan. Since then, the debate over the Park51 community center, inaccurately nicknamed the “Ground Zero Mosque,” has jumped from talk radio to mainstream conversation, and turned nasty in the process. Sarah Palin wrote that, “it would be an intolerable and tragic mistake to allow such a project sponsored by such an individual to go forward on such hallowed ground.”

Look at the photos. This neighborhood is not hallowed. The people who live and work here are not obsessed with 9/11. The blocks around Ground Zero are like every other hard-working neighborhood in New York, where Muslims are just another thread of the city fabric.

At this point the only argument against this project is fear, specifically fear of Muslims, and that’s a bigoted, cowardly and completely indefensible position.

Bravo! Here’s a link to some of the responses he got to the photo essay.
 

 
It’s painful to see how a hate-filled harpie like Pamela Geller (of the ridiculous Atlas Shrugs blog) and her rubbish wingnut bigotry and foaming at the mouth anti-Muslim racism has been allowed to hijack and steer the national debate for a few weeks. In recent weeks she’s been elevated to the new “hate lady” on cable news channels. I can’t stand seeing her fucking face. I have to change the channel I find her so revolting. Facts? Why let facts get in the way of irrational hatred? Pamela Geller represents a new intellectual low even for Fox News!
 

 

 
Via Little Green Footballs

 
Duncan Dowling has come up with some stylish concepts for redesigning American dollars. The vertical layout makes the money easier to handle because that’s the way paper currency is exchanged between people and machines.
You can read more about the project at Dowling’s website.

We have submitted a design concept to a competition being run by New York designer Richard Smith. The Dollar ReDe$ign Project hopes to bring about change for everyone. We want to rebrand the US Dollar, rebuild financial confidence and revive our failing economy.

 
More bucks after the jump…

 
See more over at I’m Voting Tea Party

(via Clusterflock)

 
As seen on Ebay. Opening bid is a million bucks.

Here’s an item you won’t come across everyday! This is the toilet that was personally owned AND used by J.D. Salinger for many years! It sat in his home in Cornish, New Hampshire, and was installed in the ‘new wing’ of his house.

When he died, his wife inherited all of his manuscripts with plans to eventually release some of them! Who knows how many of these stories were thought up and written while Salinger sat on this throne!

This vintage toilet is from 1962 and is dated under the lid. It will come to you uncleaned and in it’s original condition when it was removed from Salinger’s old home!

It will also include a letter from Joan Littlefield. Her and her husband are the new owners of Salinger’s house and are the ones who had the toilet removed and replaced. It is dated April 16, 2010.

Don’t miss your chance to own a piece of history!!

Note that the toilet will not be cleaned. Presumably so the purchaser has a chance of some literary genius rubbing off on them?

Thank you. Chris Campion!

 
Rock journalist Steve Krakow (Plastic Crimewave) is blogging about forgotten musicians of Chicago. The Secret History Of Chicago Musicians sheds light on a number of bands I’ve never heard of and it’s a fascinating read.

Krakow went in search of the Windy City’s equivalent of Anvil, a band that flirted with fame but ended up in the cutout bin of history, and he found Amulance.

Amulance’s story is filled with your typical rock band nightmares. Formed in 1984, the group suffered through shady management, bad record deals, tours that fell through and even a murder. It’s another tale of speed metal gone off the rails and heavy metal heartache.

In compiling the reasons Amulance never made it, I’d put the vocalist’s and the lead guitar player’s fashion sense some place close to #1. Fortunately, the band has revamped it’s look for it’s recent re-union gigs. Good luck guys, it’s a jungle out there….but you already know that.

 
More heavy metal thunder after the jump…

The women of Crass: Gee Vaucher, Joy DeVivre, Eve Libertine 1982
 
A couple of Crass things of note this week:  The first fruit of their long planned remastering/repackaging program aka The Crassical Collection emerges this week (although I can’t find anybody selling this in the states yet, unfortunately) with the first Crass LP The Feeding of the 5000.

After many years of being out of print, this legendary album has been been restored from the original analogue studio tapes, repackaged and bolstered by rare and unreleased tracks, and stunning new artwork from Gee Vaucher, who has lovingly created what could only be considered a real artefact. Included in this package is a 64-page booklet featuring all lyrics along with extensive liner notes from band members Penny Rimbaud and Steve Ignorant, which shed light on the making of the record. Also included is CD-sized recreation of the iconic original fold-out poster sleeve.
‘Five thousand’s a crowd (four thousand nine hundred and ninety nine more than I imagined were going to buy the record), but two’s company (I knew for certain that my Mum would want one), so it was on the plate, ready to serve, The Feeding of the Five Thousand’. ‘We were setting out as purists: hard, uncompromising and utterly bemused’. ‘On one thing we were very clear, in bringing a prosecution of Criminal Blasphemy against us the authorities would have been giving us the kind of publicity which overnight would have made us a household name. They were aware of this, and so were we. It was a situation that allowed us carte blanche to say pretty much whatever we wanted without any real fear of incrimination, a situation which over the next seven years we exploited to the hilt’.

Epic want ! The other epic thing is this lengthy new interview with Penny Rimbaud which reveals some surprisingly bitter battles between the players accompanied by some fantastic, never before seen photos (two of which I used in this post).
 

 
Below: a fan vid for one of the most striking tunes on Feeding of the 5000

 
ANARCHY AND PEACE, LITIGATED:A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE IDEALISTIC PUNK ICONS CRASS, AND WHY IN 2010 THEY ARE GOING TO COURT OVER SOME TOTAL BULLSHIT (Vice Magazine)
 
THE FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND - REMASTERED EDITION (picadilly records)
 
Crass previously on Dangerous Minds here, here and here