It's an Accadacca attack(a)

Not my schooner of Cooper’s but it seems to be bon (or Brian) apertif for most of the rest of the world: AC/DC have released their new single online and you can hear it here.

Sounds like everything else they’ve done since Bon Scott checked out and Brian Johnson landed the gig, but then that’s probably why so many people love ‘em. The Seedies surely are the Ramones for people who prefer denim jackets to leather ones.

Teh Internerd is a wiered plaice

Here's a scary thought: Someone out there paid for a domain, put some html together and is paying for for hosting. Here's what they got.

Casino culture, and another movie

Gig of the week has to be Johnny Casino & the Secrets, who are doing an in-store at Off The Hip at 6pm on Friday, and a freebie down on the floor of the Greyhound front bar on Saturday- which is also free.

Word about Not Quite Hollywood- a history of Ozploitation movies has been around for a while, and now it's in cinemas. Lots of cinemas, but sadly, no drive ins. A labour of love, it fills in the gaps of teenage memory, detailing a particular but not exclusive or hidebound slice of Australian movie history.

Free-wheelin’ sex romps! Bloodsoaked terror tales! High-octane action extravaganzas! They’re the main ingredients of NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD, the first detailed examination and celebration of Australian genre cinema of the 70s and 80s.
In 1971, with the introduction of the R-certificate, Australia’s censorship regime went from repressive to progressive virtually overnight. This cultural explosion gave birth to arthouse classics, such as PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK and MY BRILLIANT CAREER, but also spawned a group of demon-children: maverick filmmakers who braved assault from all quarters to bring films like ALVIN PURPLE, THE MAN FROM HONG KONG, PATRICK, TURKEY SHOOT and MAD MAX to the big screen.

As someone who grew up with Barry McKenzie, Alvin Purple & Max Rockatansky, I can only applaud. Screening times are in that link, with a wealth of other stuff.

Mr Wegener goes to Blogtown

Consummate drummer and an articulate correspondent, Jeffrey Wegener (pictured, right, with Ed Kuepper) is blogging on the legacy of the Laughing Clowns on the band's myspace. He writes:

"So there you go groovers - the Laughing Clowns are not at this point in time going to be put to bed. I can't forget about the band even if I wanted to. Too many people remind me. The spirits are still there - beautiful and funny, sad but often glorious.

"So from time to time I am going to write some stuff here, and I would love some feedback - whether on the Clowns or other related threads - e.g. the live music scene, the role of indie music, the global place of Australian music, etc. Could be about what just a good bloke I am. Or whether the comb-over really is to become the ultimate retro-nouveau tour de force fashion statement based on quantitative science, or did those Bad Seeds guys just set me up? And do you like my new jacaranda coloured suit?"

Sounds like something to follow. There's an earlier Ed interview by Chris Hollow (of Melbourne band The Sand Pebbles) there too. Read it here.

Tote doco looks ace

The forthcoming documentary on Melbourne's legendary Tote Hotel looks like a lot of fun:
The Tote Documentary - Sneak Peak Promo from Natalie van den Dungen on Vimeo.
More info on the myspace thingy.

What I Like About Jew

Menachem Herman is a thick-bearded, payot-sporting Hasidic man with guitar in hand, whose goal is to convert classic rock to Judaism. He believes in ‘giving good music a Jewish, positive significance.' More here.

Nah, can't be bothered looking for the YouTube.

Some culture

It's not all rock and roll here, you know.
There's an interesting exhibition on at the Block Projects Gallery until September 9, called The Aliens Can Smell Our Blood. Here's a sample:

Provocative yet still pretty low-key, it's worth a look. Directions are in that link.

The Astor Theatre in Windsor makes me feel guilty every time I go past it- because I'm usually going past, not going in. Though I did see "Iron Man" there a few weeks back. Anyway, they are hosting the inaugural Swedish Film Festival this weekend. No, not that sort of Swedish film- real ones.

I mean, how often do you get a chance to mingle with the Swedish consul-general?

Walter Lure speaks

Walter Lure played guitar with Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers and also as a session man on many Ramones records. Nowadays he's a stockbroker on Wall Street, occasionally gigging with his own band The Waldos. I tripped over a fine interview with the man here that looks to be reasonably recent. No sign of that live album he mentions on Nicotine yet but we'll let you know if and when it appears.

Stooges Kill God

Kim Salmon once declared himself a god in "The Cockroach" and that was pretty cool. That Iggy's always thought himself immortal is no surprise, but the news is that he and the Ashetons have written a song called "God Is Dead". Maybe they've been listening to Dave Graney & Claire Moore who have a tune "Let's Kill God Again" on their latest album "We Wuz Curious" but I'm speculating. Read more here. Hope it's better than the tunes on "The Weirdness".

And I'm indebted to the stashdauber for spotting this one.

Bob Seger is Michigan's Number One Musician

Yes, that's one of those provocative headlines designed to provoke outrage and flaming, just as I suspect Michigan live music website mlive.com's Michigan Music Face Off was meant to be. In the end, Bob Seger triumphed over the MC5, Iggy/the Stooges and Alice. A bunch of flummery, really, but here it is for your brief amusement.

The Power of Radio

Mary Weiss still leads the pack

Miriam Linna (ex-Cramps member and High Priestess of Norton Records) and Billy Miller (co-conspirator at Norton) have a cool interview with ex-Shangri-Las vocalist and solo artist Mary Weiss here. A great read, as they say in the best journals.

Will Guitar Hero save rock and roll?

Has it really come to this? Hey, take help wherever you can find it. At least we still have the Dictators, who've broken their hiatus to play Spain. Here's an old-ish clip.

This weekend

Hmm, shaping up as a bit of a quiet one.
X and Dollsquad are playing at a relatively new place in Lygon St. Carlton called the Curtin Bandroom, which is upstairs at the John Curtin Hotel. Not sure what that costs. I've heard some of the tunes X's Steve Lucas has just produced for Dollsquad's (hopefully) forthcoming new album, and they sounded pretty good to me. X fans can get a double dose this week, of course- see the post below.
Also on Saturday, the Ooga Boogas are at the Great Britain in Church St. Richmond, with Super Wild Horses. I haven't seen SWH, but I want to. Of course the Oogas are playing tonight (Thursday) at Bar Open, with the Useless Children and while it's probably too late to get there now, I do like the poster:

What else...hmmm, I plan to go on a Vietnamese food safari in Springvale this weekend, and watch some DVDs, but that's not of great interest to anyone but me and my stomach. And eyes.
But there are some great things on the horizon- like this:

World's Greatest Record Collection remains on sale

Talk about "Hi-Fidelity": The world's largest music collection - three million LPs and 300,000 CDs - remains available for purchase. Like many of us, owner Owner Paul Mawhinney got an edict from the Minister for War (aka Mrs Macwhinney.) He stayed, the story goes, but the collection went and moved to a massive, climate-controlled warehouse in Pittsburgh.

A record store operator, Mawhinney was a technical adviser on the movie "That Thing That You Do" and can't take a trick. An attempted sale on eBay in February fell over (the lodgement fee must have been a killer) and a 1997 offer for $US28m reportedly fell over when the company making the bid went bust.

You can view the collection here Thanks to Ben Castan for the tip.

Benefit show

Local snapper Melynda needs some money to stage a couple of photographic exhibitions. She's pulled together a pretty awesome line up for this Sunday at the Tote, for a benefit show that will hopefully raise her the cash.
X, GUT and the Losers on one bill is probably worth $10 of anyone's money, any time. Get along if you can.

Never let good taste stand in the way of a blog post

Kepe out of reach of Emo kids.

Italy bans pirates

Italy has reportedly banned Swedish file sharing site The Pirate Bay and in typical fashion, the pirates have told people how to work around the filters. Read about it in their blog.

It's yet another shot in the war between file sharing sites and record companies. Interestingly, The Pirate Bay has 2.9m registered users. The record companies would have fewer friends.

U2 snooze, U loose

I consider Bono a knob so it was funny to see this reported today online:

Four songs from U2's upcoming album were leaked on to the internet after frontman Bono played them too loudly on his stereo at his villa in the south of France.

A U2 fanatic from the Netherlands who was holidaying in the village of Eze, on the French riviera, heard the new tracks being blared from Bono's window and decided to record them using his mobile phone.

The fan boasted about his find on the forum of U2 fansite Interference.com, and members there advised him to publish the clips on YouTube.

They’ve been taken down but MP3s are still being shared around, the report said. But who’s bothering to listen?

Look, it’s only U2 and the fans are an undiscriminating lot but, come on, MP3s of music recorded on a mobile phone from outside a beachside hotel window? Give me a fucking break, please!

Visitors CD shipping next week

The re-mastered re-issue of the Visitors' one and only album is shipping from Citadel Records Mail Order late this week or early next. If you can imagine some of Deniz Tek's best song-writing transposed over form Radio Birdman and fused with a one-guitar-and-keyboard-band with a different singer, you'll know what to expect.

The band plays The Empire Hotel at Annandale in Sydney next Saturday with Mick Medew & The Rumours (Brisbane) and 25th Floor in support. A must-attend, I would think.