Onetime punk toilet is now truly disgusting

Thanks to NESB Hallucinate for the heads-up: NY Press drops by the former site of CBGB - now a home to $750 Cheap (sic) Trick T-shirts and Doobie Brothers (puke) clothing. Read it here. Weep.

This weekend- three nights of action.

Well, there I was all quiet and shit last night, and a whole mess of stuff popped up on the radar for the weekend. Good thing I rested up.
On Friday night, Cold Harbour are giving you the chance to get your very own "wooo-hoo!" recorded for posterity, along with a few of their songs, at the Greyhound, where they'll be playing two sets for recording as a live album.


Then on Saturday, Gimme Shelter is running from 9.00 til late at the Exford

My idiot sheet says:
$3 entry 9pm-10pm
$6 entry 10pm - 2.30am
9 - very late

AND on Sunday, there's a kinda special event at the Tote. I can't add anything to this, really, except to say that I hope a lot of people go.

The Meanies, Headache, Budd, The Oxymorons, Cut Sick, Ricey & Macka (The Guttersnipes)
On Sunday March 12, The Tote will host a memorial for Dennis DePianto, best known to music fans as D.D. Meanie. D.D. was guitarist in The Meanies from 1988 until 1995. His relentless guitar style is stamped on many of the most well-known Meanies' classics, including Darkside, Paranoid, Ton of Bricks, 10% Weird, Mr. Authority, Big Bertha, etc. He was also the founding member of legendary band The Oxymorons. D.D. had muscular dystrophy from childhood but he refused to let it stop him from pursuing his dream to be a rock guitarist. D.D. passed away after a short but stubborn battle with cancer on Feb. 14, 2008.
The Meanies, Budd, Headache, The Oxymorons and Cut Sick play in honour of D.D, Sunday April 13. Proceeds will be donated to Muscular Dystrophy Australia.

Wednesday night- I got nothin' but an urge.

So, a quiet midweek at home. Tomorrow night I will be admiring expensive & beautiful glass at Kirra Galleries, in lieu of taking up a friend's kind offer to go and see Matchbox 20 for free.

But tonight, a bit of stimulating reading:

The cover is a bit battered, frontispiece is in better nick:

It's more interesting than you may think, though a bit turgid- GBS had not yet hit the form that won My Fair Lady eight Oscars. And no, there are no simple parallels/analogies to be drawn with today's artists, if you thought that was where I was going with this. That would be too easy.
This is the only book I own- and one of very few I have ever seen- that actually came from Melbourne's legendary Cole's Book Arcade, by the way:

Links

I've just updated the links section- culled a few dead ones, added some new ones.
The team at Across The Rooftops have gone a bit quiet lately, but there is plenty to keep you occupied until they catch up.
Andy Ramadge's Pop In Print is more regular- he has a keen eye and a good ear.
Tom Reynolds talks about cars and motorbikes a lot- that's his job- and he too has a very keen eye. Check out his take on the Princess Diana conspiracy theories. I've been for a couple of memorable drives with him.

I've also added some more unsolicited endorsements- those are always welcome.

Harem Scarem- reformation.

Well, as noted previously, these boys hit the boards again recently, in front of a packed house at the Corner. Many old friends and faces there, and a great set. I got punched in the head by an over-zealous security guy when I ripped this from the stage:

even though the encores were over.
It was a great set- Chris, Charlie & Barry seemed to be enjoying themselves hugely. Mark Ferrie played bass like the goddamn pro he always is. Personally, I woulda liked to have heard some harmonica in there, and considering "Dirty" Kurt Lindner was in the crowd, and willing to step up, I'm a little puzzled as to why there was none.
Whatever, here's hoping they do it again.

the Rezillos

I listen to a fair bit of what could broadly described as “old stuff”, and one thing I really like is old new wave pop- think Devo, XTC, the B52s…and Scotland’s finest, the Rezillos.
I’ve been listening to the extended CD of their debut album “Can’t Stand the Rezillos” a lot lately.

One of the earliest punk bands in town, they formed in Edinburgh in 1976, and drew from similar trashy inspirations as the Cramps, but with a very UK slant- it was all go-go skirts, Top Of The Pops, Thunderbirds (the TV show, not the car) and greasy Triumph biker boys.
Their covers ranged from the classic Merseybeat of the Dave Clark Five’s “I Like It” to the obscure (pseudonymous) Fleetwood Mac tune “Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight”, to the Sweet's “Ballroom Blitz”. Their own tunes- “No”, “(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures” and “Destination Venus” were fantastic- strange, short numbers with amazing energy and some great lyrics. Check out this, for instance, from “Destination Venus”:
Further modulation of the frequency rotation
Triggered waveband activation - near elation
Somewhere in the distance I could hear a voice one instance
Then it faded from existence - no persistence

What does it mean? Who knows, but this is what it looked and sounded like at the time

It's odd to think that guitarist Jo Callis, who wrote all the band's originals, went on to join the Human League and basically conquer the world with synth-pop a few years later. Oh well, enjoy.

The Negatives/the Reals- “Dumbworld”

I’ve been waiting for a release copy of this one for a while, having had some (minor) involvement with it earlier on, and now it’s finally available.
Subtitled “original punk rock from Melbourne, 1974-1978”, it’s basically a collection of home recordings featuring future Sacred Cowboy frontman Garry Gray alongside teenage chum & future Moodist Chris Walsh, in a couple of early outfits, the Negatives and the Reals. They rip through some bruising Stooges covers in between throwing out a few snarling fistfuls of their own teenage anthems. This is the real deal, kids- suburban punk rock being made & played before the term even existed. It also includes a version of the Negatives’ “Lethal Weapons” contribution, “Planet On The Prowl”, without the producer’s unhelpful tinkering/overdubs.
You need to bear in mind that this is not the usual collection of rarities, b-sides and unreleased studio recordings- indeed it would be too charitable to describe some of them as demos- and you may need to have specially tuned ears to appreciate the nature of this stuff. That said, I reckon they sound great. They catch some great early musical moments and provide another layer of insight into the early days of the Melbourne scene-there are a couple of sample tracks up here. "Dumbworld" is out on Savage Beat, through Shock, and is well worth getting hold of.

This weekend- New Christs and more

The New Christs are back in town, playing at the Espy on Saturday 5th April, just a few weeks after their Ding Dong show in late May. With Radio Birdman once again returning to indefinite retirement, this will be your last chance to catch Younger & Dickson live for a while- though European readers have a forthcoming New Christs tour to look forward to.
Supports include excellent locals Cold Harbour, who seem to be hitting the boards fairly regularly lately, and who I think have an album due out soon, as well as a stack of others including the Bower Birds and the Killerbirds. All this,and for free, too.
The post-development Espy is still an OK place to see bands, especially when they put on big line ups like this, otherwise it’s just a frustrating place to deal with the hordes of backpacker types who treat it as their local.

The evils of MP3

MP3s make sharing music easier. They also make a commodity of music and cheapen its value. And they sound shittier than lossless music.

Think you can pick the difference between MP3s of differing compression? Try this quick test.

Bootleg DVD shows MC2 at the Finnish line

One piece of MC5 ephemera I won’t be buying is the Japanese bootleg DVD of the band’s Finnish TV appearance in its dying days. If you haven’t seen the brilliant rockumentary “The MC5: A True Testimonial” a segment of this desultory 1972 gig – which was a contract filler with the Five down to a rump of Sonic and Brother Wayne plus a hired engine room – was fairly central to the movie’s second half, which showed a once great band on its last legs.

By his own admission, Wayne Kramer was lost to his smack habit by that stage and if Fred Smith wasn’t also on that path, he was about to join him. Rob Tyner stayed home with his family, Dennis Thompson was out-of-order and Mike Davis too wasted to notice he’d been sacked. The set list was mostly covers and the survivors apparently ran foul of promoters for being the MC2 rather than the expected MC5.

Here’s a taste of the out-of-tune shambles. If you’re still really desperate despite seeing this, let Google be your friend.

This (Easter) weekend

Apart from my usual annual Lindt binge, I think it'll be pretty quiet. There's that Witch Hats LP launch previously mentioned, and I may try to catch Wagons at Young & Jacksons on Sunday. They're playing for free, between 3.00pm & 6.00pm, if Henry and co. can figure out the dress requirements. I mean, they wouldn't want to show Chloe up.


















Next week, though, they will be starting their "Lightning Strikes Twice" tour. Tour dates in full:

Sun March 30: The Retreat, Melbourne

Wed April 2: Electric Light Hotel, Adelaide

Thu April 3: Edinburgh Castle, Adelaide

Fri April 4: The Pub, Bendigo

Sat April 5: National Hotel, Geelong

Wed April 9: Oxford Tavern, Wollongong

Thu April 10: Brass Monkey, Cronulla

Fri April 11: Woodport Inn, Erina

Sat April 12: Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney

Sun April 13: Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay

Thu April 17: Shark Bar, Miami Tavern, Gold Coast

Fri April 18: Bon Amici's, Toowoomba

Sat April 19: Sol Bar, Coolum Beach, Sunshine Coast

Jay Reatard

Meant to mention this earlier, actually.
Local outfit Stained Circles brought Jay out for a tour, to coincide with their local release of his excellent "Blood Visions" LP.
I only got to one show, the Tote BBQ on the Monday, but it was well worth it.
The album runs through 15 tracks in 29 minutes- if anything, he played harder and faster live. There's a bit of YouTube from the Brisbane show here that'll give you an idea.
And there were excellent supports, including the slightly demented UV Race, and one of Digger & the Pussycats final shows before they leave for a (47 date) European tour.
Definitely an early contender for gig of the year.

BBQ update

My, my, if I'd got to the bottom of that bag of hickory chunks a bit quicker- like, by sometime in 1991- I could have been 55c better off. Oh well, no point crying over spilt marinade. Here's some recent pork:

And some more recent ribs- beef asado ribs:

Trimmed, with all the bones removed except one- this is what I threw away:

They then got marinated and rolled before cooking:

Sorry about the blur in that last shot, I was hungry, and couldn't be arsed taking another one.

Noise 1- MIBEM March 28th

MIBEM - that's the Melbourne International Biennale of Exploratory Music- kicks off on March 28th, running through to April 2nd 2008. They promise:

An expansive variety of contemporary music forms including improvisation, audio-visual works, composition, electronica, free jazz, noise rock and contemporary classical music. Curated by noted local artists/composers, Anthony Pateras and Robin Fox, the Biennale will bring over 50 international and Australian musicians from the cutting and far edges of contemporary music together for a series of inspired and boundary-expanding sonic explorations

I'm interested in the opening night show at the Tote ,which features
Y35.3, amongst others, and also the David Chesworth action - an installation- at the Toff in Town on 30th. March, too, but there is plenty going on.

Noise 2- Music Isn't Noise!

There's a new move to get recognition for inner-city venues, in a similar vein to the now-defunct Fair Go For Live Music initiative of a couple of years back.
At the moment all it really is is a website, and a Facebook group, and the whole thing is a bit Fitzroy-centred, but hey, if you go to see bands there (and I'll put my hand up to being an occasional visitor, particularly to the Old Bar) you may want to lend some support. If you don't want to, that's fine, but please hold your whining when your favorite venue gets closed by noise complaints. Just a thought.

Hall of Lame (2)

For the truly obsessive, here's the whole two-song performance by the Stooges. "Burning Up" is better than "Ray of Light" (thanks for the prompt on that title) but Ig singing someone else's song off-key isn't the same as him mangling his own tunes. Ron's solo is pretty cool though.

Hall of Lame

I don't object to the Stooges figuring in a tribute to Madonna on the occasion of her induction to the Rock and Roll (sic) Hall of Fame, just to the song and performance being so lame.

Just in - Ron Asheton's take on this as reported in the Detroit Free Pres:

Don’t be too worried, Stooges fans: They haven’t sold out to the other side.

So proclaims guitarist Ron Asheton, who Monday night joined band mates Iggy Pop, Scott Asheton and Steve MacKay as the Stooges to play a pair of Madonna songs — “Ray of Light” and “Burning Up” — during the latter’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Asheton was reacting to online reports that have described the band’s scheduled performance as a “tribute” to the dance-pop star, whose music is a far cry from the Stooges’ own gritty, primal Detroit rock.

“The Stooges represent everything that’s against what she is,” Asheton told the Free Press from his New York hotel Monday afternoon before the show. “I don’t wish her ill. I don’t hate her or anything. But I’d never even heard of these songs until I had to listen to a tape and figure out what’s going on with them.”

In reality, Asheton said, Madonna asked the Stooges to perform as an act of protest: The group, widely considered a linchpin of early punk, has yet to be inducted by the rock hall, despite six appearances on the nomination ballot. By inviting the group on stage, she sent a message, said Asheton.

Last year’s rock hall ceremony featured a similar demonstration, when the night’s inductees performed the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” during a jam session finale.

“Basically she was upset that we’ve been nominated so many times and never made it, so she asked us to play in protest. And it was under those auspices that I thought we were doing it,” Asheton said. “At first I went, ‘Whaaat?’ Then Iggy said, ‘Why don’t you think about it?’”

It came together quickly: Madonna reached out to Iggy Pop just two weeks ago, Asheton said. The band, which had not performed together since closing out its latest tour in December, worked on the songs long-distance, with the Ashetons in Ann Arbor and Iggy home in Florida.

“Iggy said, ‘We’re gonna rock them up — just play ‘em like Stooges songs,’” Asheton recounted. “They actually sound pretty cool. We just rock ‘em out. You wouldn’t even recognize them as Madonna songs. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve actually enjoyed playing them.”

On Monday afternoon Asheton had yet to meet Madonna, who was an elementary school student in Rochester Hills when the Stooges started shaking up the Detroit rock scene in the late 1960s. He said if he encounters her during the rock hall’s afterparty action, he’d be sure to be polite.

But he can’t help feeling a little cynicism about the whole ordeal: He probably wouldn’t be in the Stooges without it. With Madonna’s entry into the hall of fame drawing criticism from some diehard rock corners — and with the star’s new album due in April — he figures she may have more than one motivation for handpicking his band.

“I thought that right off the top — that, gee, I just heard she’s got a record coming out, and she’s trying to get a little Stooge shine. She’s a savvy businesswoman,” he said. “I think she actually does like the band. She wouldn’t have asked for us if she didn’t. But she’s also using us for business purposes.”

New Christs return to Sydney

The Solution back story

Here's the inside story from bassist/video producer Jim Heneghan about the "You Gotta Come Down" film clip:

"The Solution’s “You Gotta Come Down” promo film was shot on one roll of Super-8. A roll of Super-8 runs for about 3 minutes and 20 seconds of moving pictures. The song “You Gotta Come Down” runs 3 minutes and 23 seconds. So Super-8 was a perfect choice for a one-shot, one-take Super-8 promo film.

"But The Solution had logistical problems to solve. Since Nicke is in Stockholm and Scott is in Detroit, we had Scott shoot a close-up of himself on his crappy VHS camera gear and send it to us in Stockholm. Then we played that VHS tape on a TV and let Nicke drum along with Scott on the TV.

"But that crappy video had playback issues and what you see in the video is the grainy result, for better or worse.

"The Solution will not be televised indeed!"

The Solution

Long time between drinks. Sorry for the absence but I've been busier than a one-armed bricklayer in Beirut. Here's something to tide you over - the new film clip from the US/Scandi soul band The Solution. That's Scott Morgan on vocals with Nicke Royale (Hellacopters) on drums.

Band member Jim Heneghan came up with the concept and shot the clip, with Scott "mailing in" his self-shot vocal on an ancient video camera from his home in Ann Arbor.

This is "You Gotta Come Down" from the new "Will Not Be Televised" album.