Have Love Will Travel

The reformed Sonics appear to be doing quite a lot of business on the European festival circuit and closer to their Seattle home:

July 12 Sjock Festival, Gierle
August 8 WOW Festival, Gotenberg
August 9 OYA Festival, Oslo
October 31 Paramount Theatre, Seattle

Here's footage of them from November '07 at the Cavestomp festival in Brooklyn, NY:




Hey Ho Let's Go With Uncle Monk

Interesting chat with Tommy Ramone here, discussing his oldtime, Ozarks-style band Uncle Monk. Who would have thunk?

Age critic poll puts Birdman, Saints near top

Melbourne's daily broadsheet The Age has been running one of those critics' polls you see from time to time, looking to provoke debate around the Top 50 Aussie Albums. Surprisingly, Radio Birdman comes in at number-three with "Radios Appear" with the Saints' "I'm Stranded" LP at four.

It's a shock because the critics are usually too young for anything more than 10 years old to figure. And this being a Melbourne-centric survey, it's even more of a trip to see the Birthday Party/Nick Cave didn't rate higher. At number 32 comes the Beasts of Bourbon but I think the album title's a typo, unless they mean the live album of a few years ago.

Top 50 Album Poll

1 1 Midnight Oil - 10 to 1
2 Skyhooks - Living in the 1970s
3 Radio Birdman - Radios Appear
4 The Saints – I’m Stranded
5 Hoodoo Gurus - Stoneage Romeos
6 You Am I - Hifi Way
7 Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls - Gossip
8 INXS - Kick
9 Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional
10 AC/DC - Back In Black
11 Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust
12 Crowded House - Crowded House
13 The Easybeats - Easy
14 Loved Ones - Magic Box
15 AC/DC - Highway To Hell
16 Sunnyboys - Sunnyboys
17 INXS - The Swing
18 Go-Betweens – 16 Lover's Lane
19 Hunters and Collectors - Human Frailty
20 Drones - Wait Long By the River and The Bodies
of Your Enemies Will Float By
21 Archie Roach - Charcoal
22 You Am I - Hourly, Daily
23 Avalanches - Since I Left You
24 AC/DC - High Voltage
25 Saints - Prodigal Son
26 Cold Chisel - East
27 Cold Chisel - Circus Animals
28 Died Pretty - Doughboy Hollow
29 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Good Son
30 Paul Kelly - Post
31 Richard Clapton - Tiger
32 Beasts of Bourbon - Low Life
33 Daddy Cool - Daddy Who
34 Birthday Party - Prayers on Fire
35 Rose Tattoo - Rose Tattoo
36 Even - Less Is More
37 AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
38 Flowers - Icehouse
39 Chain - Toward The Blues
40 The Easybeats - Anthology
41 Stephen Cummings - Lovetown
42 The Angels - Face to Face
43 Crowded House - Woodface
44 Go-Betweens - Liberty
45 Regurgitator - Tu Plang
46 The Whitlams - Eternal Nightcap
47 Silverchair - Diorama
48 The Church - Starfish
49 Master Apprentices – A Toast to Panama
50 Jet - Get Born


The panel:

Patrick Donovan, Andrew Murfett, Shaun Carney, Katy Steele, Chris Johnston,
Jo Roberts, Kylie Northover, Jeff Glorfeld, Michael Dwyer, Craig Mathieson, Barb Walters, Gary Munro, Larry Schwartz, Khalil Hegarty, Patrick Smithers, Karl Quinn, Mahalia Barnes, Darren Seltmann, Stephen Cummings, Joel Ma, Missy Higgins, Andy Baylor, Dan Warner, Ella Thompson, Phil Gianfriddo, Clinton Walker, Mary Mihelakos, Neil Wedd, Keith Glass, Laura Jean, John Watson, Rae Harvey, Murray Engleheart, Jeff Jenkins, Billy Pinnell, Neil Rogers, Amanda Roff, Dylan Lewis, Clem Bastow, Bruce
Milne, Ella Hooper, Ian McFarlane, Brian Wise, Kath Letch, Ed Nimmervoll, Ed St John, Patti Revson, Stuart Coupe, Michael Gudinski, Sarah Morgan, Craig Kamber, Brian De Courcy, Jane Rocca, Vivian Lees, Warwick Brown, Paul Oldham, Dave Laing, Steve Cross, Steve Tauschke, Michael Coppel, Karen Leng, Kav Temperley, Emily York, Robbie Buck and Glenn A Baker.

Do The Pop to hit the silver screen

Radio Birdman's "Do The Pop" has been licensed for use in a forthcoming feature film to be directed by Madonna's other half, Guy Ritchie. With her listening to the Stooges and him cocking an ear to Birdman around the house, their kids must have been getting a varied musical education, prior to the separation.

Best Sydney gig this weekend

Looks like Johnny and Leadfinger have buried the hatchet.

Stone passed (in)

Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood isn't the first person to find the Internet isn't a goldmine for everyone. He recently put this print of himself and ex-Faces bandmate Rod Stewart up on eBay for 1300 pounds. It attracted just five bids this week before being passed in at 500 quid.

Too much choice

Coming up on the midway point of this year, and things are looking as healthy as ever. We're spoilt for choice here on Friday night.
After work drinks are easy- at Off The Hip, being entertained by the Ransome Brothers and the Reactions. That's free, from about 5.30 onwards.

After that, it gets a bit tougher. Two highly regarded local bands, both of whom are playing in peak form at the moment, but on different bills. You've got Eddy Current Suppression Ring and friends at the Espy:

or Witch Hats at Roxanne, playing one last show before they head off to the States.

The Espy show is sold out, with only a few tickets available on the door, while Roxanne is a dive of a place, if that makes it any easier to choose. I know where I'll be- but I'm not saying.

Something new on Saturday- what I understand is the second outing for the Sweet Jelly Roll club night, at North Melbourne's Public Bar. As they say:

Sweet Jelly Roll is a monthly night of down and dirty dancing and drinking to the finest tunes from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. Featuring resident DJ’s Razor Totin’ Slim and Pearl Jackson playing rhythm & blues, surf, Vegas grind, latin rythms, doo-wop, rockabilly, gypsy swing and soul plus special guest bands and authentic burlesque performance.

That's a combination that will be hard to beat on a cold winter's night.

Roky + The Nomads

You read right. Mr Erickson and Sweden's best band. That's the main attraction at the Peace and Love Festival this week in Sweden. Wish Roky would get down to Australia. Apparently, discussions have been had but his asking price was too steep.

Podcast feedback

So do you have any requests? You might have noticed these are sometimes themed shows. Leave 'em (suggestions) in comments.

Message for the American reader(s)

Of course the second photo is only incorrect because no-one in Australia drinks Fosters.

Here It Comes by The Ramrods

If you're a regular here you might have noticed a liking for the D. Was channel at My Damn Channel. So no apologies for another dip of the lid in that general direction.

There might have been some dispute about who owned the name and the songs when they reformed a few years ago but the current incarnation of Detroit's Ramrods undeniably pack a hefty left hook. This a song I first heard on a Dark Carnival bootleg. Dig the audacious Ig-moves from vocalist Ivan Suvanjieff (aka Mark Norton, an ex-editor of Creem magazine.) Clearly a band that knew which side of its bread the peanut butter was on.


IVAN SUVANJIEFF
Vocals
DAVE HANNA
Guitar
ROBERT MULROONEY aka BOOTSY X
Drums
STEVE KING
Guitar
DANNY KROHA
Bass

PRODUCED BY DON WAS
Recorded by STEVE 'DR. CHING' KING
At 54 SOUND, FERNDALE, MICHIGAN
Assisted by Tony Campagna
Mixed by KRISH SHARMA
at HENSON STUDIO D
Assisted by Glenn Pittman

WRITTEN BY JAMES/NORTON/
HANNA/MULROONEY
©1977 DETROIT RAMRODS, INC.

VIDEO SHOT BY
JOHN 'QUIG' QUIGLY
AND JIM HANNON FOR
CHROME BUMPER FILMS
EDITED BY GEMMA CORFIELD

Drunk & Disorderly: Episode 14

The I-94 Bar Podcast serves up some classic Australian underground tunes of the '80s, mostly 45rpm tracks. You can listen via the interface on the right of this page, via Podbean or subscribe through iTunes.

Some 15,000 people have downloaded the Podcasts over the last year or so. If you're one of them, thanks and spread the good word. Leave a comment while you're at it.

Rosalyn - The Pretty Things

The Stones' unwashed cousins. Even incredibly hyperbolic liner notes by (drummer/manager) Mark St John on the re-issued and recent albums can't spoil this.

(Actually, I dips me lid to Mr St John 'cos he's a driving force in keeping them going.)

Here's some back story about the song from the London Telegraph.

Pasture of Muppets

Don't like your band's review? Delete any reference to it in the virtual world, just like someone in the Metallica entourage did.

Although the Wired article doesn't point the finger directly at the band, it fingers the publicists fairly comprehensively for pressuring journalists and throwing their weight around. So what? Maybe said journo's need to harden the fuck up.

Still, it's a good read (especially the yarn about the brainless PR trying to fly a reporter from London to the US to sit in a hotel room and do a phoner with the talent in the building nextdoor - that's admirable cost-control!) Soak it up here. Yes, the "Pastures" heading is clever but it's all Wired's.

Forget Bindi Irwin. Here are The Muldoons

Ever heard of The Muldoons? Probably not if you live outside of Michigan. Scott Morgan told me about the trio of two sub-teenage kids and their Dad on drums. Here's a taste.

The story at My Damn Channel goes...

"The Muldoons are a 3-piece family band that plays loud, aggressive punk rock in the great Detroit tradition. Brothers Hunter and Shane Muldoon (aged 14 and 10 respectively) write, play guitar and sing - their father, Brian, is a powerful, grooving drummer. For these sessions, they cut 4 great tracks in 45 minutes - if they'd only skipped school, we could've recorded a double album!"

HUNTER MULDOON
Guitar and Vocals
SHANE MULDOON
Guitar and Vocals
BRIAN MULDOON
Drums

PRODUCED BY DON WAS
Recorded by STEVE 'DR. CHING' KING
At 54 SOUND, FERNDALE, MICHIGAN

Collector Scum Corner (3)

Who could forget this example of a stunning album cover by Golden Tonsils Himself, Australian shock jock John Laws? "You've Never Been Trucked Like This Before"? No, John, we haven't.

From hibernation to observation.

Those of you who check in here regularly will have noticed this isn't a stream of consciousness blog, wherein I record everything from my morning cup of coffee to the noontime piss it engenders.
And for good reason- those kind of blogs bore me to tears.
I see and do too much to ever try and capture every blink and breath here- hey, I'm busy actually doing things. What you get here at the Tram are edited highlights- or lowlights - of that.
But recently I made a determined effort to capture some of the things that I do see and hear, over and above those I want to talk about, or that I get paid to report on. Here, then, is a notebook sketch of a 45 minute trip into town to see a show in the city last week:

• There are four or five teenage Asian Guido types in the local liquor store, arguing amongst themselves over who has what cash to buy a $40.00 bottle of Jagermeister. When I go to the counter, the Sikh bloke who runs the joint (and who knows me) winks and says he can't wait to ask them for ID.
• At the train station, two Maori girls with a slab of bourbon & coke ask me if I want a drink, but then one of them changes her mind- "Buy one, mate, buy one". I walk on, the train pulls in.
• In the city, I walk down Bourke Street, past an overtanned, overweight, overmoneyed but unhappy couple. Her- strapless, facelifted, him- red faced, wearing a blue blazer. Both are talking at about wine and taxis.
• There are a bunch of wannabe gangsters outside a notorious cafe a bit further down. No sign of any real trouble, though.
• When I cross the street, I find a couple of chunky-knit, chunky-jewellery type middle aged lesbians are having a hissy argument over the outside ashtrays, while a lost and lonely tourist family wander past, with the teenage girl whining about not getting to go to the Hard Rock Cafe.
• In a alleyway just off Chinatown, I see four men sitting at one table in a busy restaurant, deep in heavy conversation, while a huge bald guy sits by himself at a table set for five just next to them, watching every word. Bodyguard? Who can tell?
• Outside the Exford, a spotty backpacker holds an armful of (cheap, thin, greasy) takeaway pizza boxes like she's trapped them herself, while her buddies inside forget to buy beers and watch the rugby game playing in the back bar's huge plasma TVs instead.
• I turn around and see a huge ad for a strip joint pasted three stories high over the intersection.
• I buy some Pretz, (savoury cousin of the Pocky) from an Asian grocery, but then, 20 metres up the street, save a Chiko Roll from certain extinction in a dodgy bain-marie, and then head on through the drizzle.

And that, dear reader, was what I saw on the way, before my evening started.

If you like the Blues...

Lightnin' Sam Hopkins - Instrumental from James One on Vimeo.

...you'll some more like this here.. Oddly, these vintage blues film clips of Lightnin'Hopkins, John Lee Hooker et al are nestled away on a period funriture retailer's webspace. I guess we all need a hobby.

The Circle One Mark and other rock and roll cult practices

Circle One was the cult-like group that sprung up around Darby Crash (above) and L.A.’s most notorious punk band, the Germs. Both Crash and guitarist Pat Smear met while attending an alternative high school with loose affiliations to scientology and a curriculum vaguely centered on methods of mind control.

More on musical cults, The Germs and their form of branding ("The Circle One Mark") from the Gibson Guitars website here.

Festival goers: Pee with a Shewee (but buy it new)

I know I'm often accused of being crude or out for a cheap laugh, but the makers of a new product have the interest of female rock festival goers at heart. Any woman who's lined up outside the men's Portaloos at the Big Day Out due to too few women's facilities being provided will know the Shewee makes sense.

It was a bit worrying to see the Amazon listing showed there were "7 new & used" in stock.

Graphics free weekend

Well. No pics this week, for various reasons.
Joel Silbersher and HOSS are doing a bunch of shows in the next few weeks, starting tomorrow:

FRIDAY 20TH OF JUNE ESPY FRONTBAR, ST KILDA W/THE BLACKLIST, KILLER BIRDS.
SATURDAY 21ST OF JUNE THE TOTE, COLLINGWOOD W/THE BAKELITE AGE, FAMOUS CRIMES.
JOEL SOLO SHOW AT LABOUR HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
ALSO, SYDNEY WILL SEE HOSS GIGS FRIDAY 4TH OF JULY THE EXCELSIOR HOTEL, SURREY HILLS.W/POKER HEARTS, KILLER BIRDS.
SATURDAY 5TH JULY DIRTY SHIRLOW'S, 32 SHIRLOW ST, MARRICKVILLE.W/WHOPPING BIG NAUGHTY, HELLCRABCITY, KILLER BIRDS.

But I couldn't find a handbill for any of these. Still, I would love to go to that Marrickville one.

Also on Friday, Cabaret Nocturne is on at somewhere called La Di Da's in Little Bourke St. I was going to post the flyer for that, but the more I looked at it, the less I liked it. Check it out here and you'll see what I mean.

On Sunday, the Local in St. Kilda is holding it's first "Spectapular" beer festival, with 40 Australian microbrews on tap from 12.oo noon til 1.00am. $25 gets you 20 samples. There's a link to the (crappy .pdf) handbill here.

And that's your lot.

Dark Side of the Loon

And I don't mean Syd Barrett.

This guy is reading the Syd-less Pink Floyd's indulgent album as a metaphor for The Wizard of Oz. Confused? Click to read all about it. Bloke's taking the piss or he's another Madcap.

If the landlord doesn't allow pets...

...try this virtual one.

Depress-me Street

Emo's are such an easy target, I know, but who can resist?

Eye of the Tiger sucks

" Getting 'Eye of the Tiger' stuck in your head is the result of a glitch in your auditory cortex. This part of your brain processes sounds and stores them for later recall. It powers up and can start crooning uncontrollably after hearing just a few notes of a familiar tune. Want it to stop? Listen to the whole song or do some math."

Want to know more, Rocky? Wired explains Three Smart Things About Music here.

More Brother Wayne

"Revolution in Apartment 29" from the "Citizen Wayne" album with David Was. Another live-n-the-studio recording from My Damn Channel.

Collector Scum Corner (2)

Everybody bought Ken's album when it came out, right? Critics said Ken was a bit wooden in his stage presence but a pin-up for the safari suit set.

Bears that should turn your mouth gummy

Academics in Australia are trying to re-define the term "binge-drinking".

Apparently the latest research says four standard beers are the equivalent of a big night out, these days.

I spill that many in the first hour of hitting a bar so I suspect some underhand strategy is going on at the highest levels. Just like the excise hike on pre-mixed canned alcoholic drinks (which taste like shit, by the way) that the Government rammed through ion itys last Federal Budget, which was a tax grab thinly-veiled as an attack on teenagers getting smashed.

So just in case the new Australian Nanny State is considering mandating moderation in law there are always solutions like this.

David Was and Wayne Kramer

Found this and a few other tasty things at My Damn Channel.

The screed reads as follows:

"Wayne Kramer redefined rock 'n roll guitar as a member of the extreme Detroit band, The MC5...David Was is one of the founding brothers behind Was (Not Was) and one of the greatest lyricists on Earth.

"Pat Tillman turned down a $3.2 million offer to re-sign with the Arizona Cardinals in order to enlist in the Army following 9-11. While serving in Afghanistan, he grew critical of the war and Bush's policies. He was scheduled to meet with activist Noam Chomsky upon his return from the middle east but was killed by 'friendly fire' - three shots to the forehead fired from 10 yards away. Military and congressional investigations have yet to establish a credible account of the circumstances surrounding his death."

Line-up:

DAVID WAS
Vocals and Harmonica
WAYNE KRAMER
Guitar and Vocal
ALEX BROWN
Background Vocals
ERIC GARDNER
Drums
DON WAS
Bass

Possibly a Cold Chisel fan

Or maybe ZZ Top. You can make a call on this in the comments section.

Witch Hats US tour dates

Nice poster.
But those dates are a little hard to read. Never mind, there's a full (very long) list here, as well as a request for help. Anyone got a spare stage, or (more importantly) a spare bed or five? Get in touch- they're pretty much house trained.

Collector Scum Corner (1)

The I-94 Bar Blog...bringing you only the best in listening pleasure:

Vexxed Pistols grate the critics again

The Pistols' weekend performance at the Isle of Wight festival copped a mild going over in the London Daily Telegraph overnight. And that photo is current so Rotten really did wear what looked like his late father's nightshirt.

Rumours persist that they may make it to Australia late in 2008 (but the same rumours had them Big Day Out-bound last year - so keep an appropriate grain of salt handy.)

Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald claims the late Heath Ledger modelled his Joker characterisation on Rotten. Isn't the resemblance obvious?

Patti Smith movie on the festival circuit

Can’t confess to being a fanatic who listens to her every utterance but I have a lot of time for Patti Smith whose attitude and music has earned her an enduring place in rock and roll’s Hall of the Committed.

The Brit punks like Rotten might have given her short shrift but “Horses” was an extraordinary debut and we should never forget the role her sideman Lenny Kaye has played in keeping the Nuggets of ‘60s rock warm. I reckon there’ll be a few people looking forward to seeing a commercial release for a film about her life that’s doing the ro0unds of the festival circuit right now.

Let’s hope it doesn’t suffer the same fate as the MC5 movie, in which her late husband “Sonic” Smith was a leading light.

I heart TSOOL

As in The Soundtrack Of Our Lives. So it was cool to find them covering the Stooges' "Sick Of You" on YouTube.

And here's Iggy and The Trolls doing the same number in the late '90s.

The Mummies return

No-fi San Francisco Bay Area Budget Rock legends The Mummies are reforming for one gig in Spain but recently did an unannounced warm-up gig closer to home. A review is here.

This should get you through your weekend

No wave rave looks the goods

New York No Wave, I can take or leave, but Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Brit music press veteran Byron Coley are terrific writers. Their forthcoming book on the downtown Manhattan noise scene is previewed here and might just be worth a read.

Bringing the bedroom musician into the daylight

Frustrated rock star? Relief is at hand. A Melbourne company has set up what it calls the Rockstar Exeprience and for just $1499 you, too, can become Keef or Mick. Didn't I see this shit on an episode of The Simpsons?

Hibernation

I have just spent a cold, quiet week pondering a few things.
The incredibly warming combination of roast pumpkin and tandoori spice, for instance, which is almost better than the traditional lamb and pearl barley.
And what would Mexico be like if it was run by communists instead of drug dealers?

I borrowed that pic from here, by the way.
Anyway, some shows on this weekend.
Tonight, Ninety Nine and friends are at the Old Bar:

No, it's nothing to do with that stupid new "Get Smart" movie.

And tomorrow night sees the first personal test of the new lockout legislation.
Can I make it from the Spencer P Jones & the Escape Committee/Johnny Casino & the Secrets show at Ding Dong, to Gimme Shelter at the Exford, before 2.00am?

I don't know, but I may give it a fucking good try. I mean, it's only a few hundred metres, and it's downhill. Wish me luck.

The science of Swampland

A juicy collection of old Scientists classics plus some unreleased live songs and demos is coming down the turnpike soon on Spain's best music label Bang! Records. Double disc vinyl.

eBay and the future of music

Online auction site eBay is the epitome of free market economics. A transparent public space where traders buy and sell and the market decides the price. Of course, anyone that “owns” a free market just can’t resist tampering with it and eBay has committed the all-too-obvious sin of imposing Paypal (which it owns) as the preferred payment system for Australian traders. Fuck them for their arrogance.

The market forces that drive eBay have also driven down the price of recorded music. That’s a good thing on the surface for buyers, but not so hot if you think rock and roll shouldn’t just be a commodity. Food for thought about that and a few other issues in the London Review here.

Shock rock invokes only mock shock

The Pistols are on the cover of Mojo magazine this month and that's the cue for this thoughtful Guardian article on why rock and roll no longer shocks.

Davis, Kramer & Thompson kick 'em out again

You'd never know from the website but DKT/MC5 is back on the road in the UK, with some US dates rumoured. If you can't wait, you can grab a 2004 show here.

The World's Most Hated Band calls it a day

Toto, of course.

I don't care and I'm sure you don't, but if you know someone who does make them cry by sending them here. It's all too fucking Spinal Tap for me.

Is that a Buzzock in your pocket or you just happy to see me?

Nice interview with The Buzzocks' Pete Shelley here that indicates they'll be back in Australia soonish. Just burn your Genesis records before they land.

The Stems meet The Clash (sort of)

Informed word at the Dom Mariani newsgroup is that the Stems guy is planning to re-start DM3 and take them to the USA. More immediately, however, he's playing with ex-Cortinas/last gasp Clash member Nick Sheppard in a band called DomNick. Sheppard re-located to Perth a few years ago and the project is heading to the studio.

Stooges Got a Right

Interesting news. The re-born Stooges have taken it upon themselves to play songs from their Raw Power era. Informed comment from reliable sources was that those songs were verboten, on account of the Asheton brothers (Ron, to be precise) having been excluded from the songwriting process in 1972 when James Williamson was sole guitarist.

So, peruse this set list from a recent gig (7 June) in Belgium:

01. Loose
02. 1969
03. I Wanna Be Your Dog
04. TV Eye
05. Dirt
06. Real Cool Time
07. No Fun
08. Band Intros
09. 1970
10. Funhouse
11. Skull Ring
12. My Idea Of Fun
13. Search And Destroy
14. I Got a Right
15. Little Electric Chair

And only one song from the missed opportunity that was the "comeback" album "The Weirdness". Now THAT is no surprise around these parts.

Bastard of a beer

Click to read the fine print.

Soggy

There's a ripple of retrospective excitement in various places like the Goner Records message board about this long-lost French band Soggy and their vinyl LP. They existed from 1978-82 and were Stooges-obsessed, for sure. Here's a clip on YouTube to show just how obsessed. Judge for yourself.

Buy it here.

Shindiggers- "Maximum Beat"

Well, this was bound to come along one day.

51 tracks from this frantic mid '80's Melbourne combo, includes complete studio recordings plus lotsa rarities with most tracks appearing on CD for the first time. Comes with 16 page full colour booklet and liner notes from mainstay singer Bill Leggett. All tracks remastered from original source tapes.

I knew the Shindiggers knew 51 songs, at least, but didn't realise they'd recorded quite so much.
These guys were a mainstay in the Melbourne live scene of the early/mid 80s, playing a potent and trashy R & B/R & R blend, usually at a breakneck pace. If I saw them once, then I musta seen them 40 times- here's a setlist from back in the day:


The "Australian Milkshakes" tag doesn't do them justice, and neither did being lumped into the "psychobilly" camp with a bunch of their contemporaries. Their live shenanigans- which for a while included Bill being carried on stage in a coffin in homage to Screaming Lord Sutch, and occasional bouts of inter-band fisticuffs, were always entertaining.
Ahh, they don't make them like that any more. All credit to the crew at Off The Hip for cutting through the (still ongoing) feuds to get this out there.

Gaffstock 08

Yes, it's on again this weekend, featuring too many bands to list, over three days and nights:

This place is one of my favorite bars, and it seems to go from strength to strength. At $10 a session you'd be a fool not to drop in for a while at least.

Click to enlarge the (excellent) poster for full details

Vale Bo Diddley

Look at the picture, save 1000 words

I’m Not There

Saw this much-lauded Dylan study on DVD at the weekend. It must be the first biopic of any note not to use the subject's name but still clearly identify him.

Director Todd Haynes (of "Velvet Goldmine" Bowie hearts Iggy infamy) explores a different facet of Dylan's character through different actors, at one stage casting the young Bob as a 10-year-old African-American freight train hobo. This one was probably a metaphor for some of the stories the songwriter used to tell about his background when he was starting out.

Haynes' interspersing of these vignettes throughout each other makes for a confusing ride. If I was blunt I'd say the movie's all over the place like a mad woman's shit but I'm not so I won't. And the Richard Gere one that pits "Dylan" into a "Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid" theme park where giraffes and ostriches run wild is a waste of celluloid or whatever they shoot this shit on.

Why Haynes has to project his own gay proclivities into Dylan and/or his fans (like, if you're a bloke have you ever checked out His Bobness' wedding tackle when you've seen him watering the horses?) is beyond me.

Australia's Own Cate B. played strong, done fine as Bobby D circa 1965 but Haynes left her fingernails and wedding ring in place (probably deliberately.) Strange to see Dylan Just Like a Woman but this was obviously playing up his female side.

I know it's arty so it was never meant to be a straight-up rendering of the story but I paid my $6.50 to hire it so I'm entitled to evaluate it as pretentious. Two stars out of five.