Golly... you got mashed potatoes?

I want to know where the punk rock split 7" is for this?

A-side: The Frogtown Hollow Jubilee Jug Band "Barbecue" w/the B-side Riverbottom Nightmare Band "The Nightmare"

I picture the Hallowed Ground era Violent Femmes doing "Barbecue" and Big Business doing "The Nightmare".

The Violent Femmes had that whole gospel/country type thing down on that album.

Big Business partly because they cover "The Ballad of Dwight Fry" by Alice Cooper and "The Nightmare" just smacks of Alice Cooper.

Everybody Sing!

Styx

The Serpent is Rising

from wikipedia: The band considers this to be their worst recording. Dennis DeYoung has gone far as saying it was "one of the worst recorded and produced in the history of music."

For your listening pleasure I have posted the lyrics below so you too can sing along!


Plexiglass Toilet (J. Curulewski)

Don't sit on the Plexiglas toilet
Said the momma to her son
Wipe the butt clean with the paper
Make it nice for everyone
But don't sit down on the Plexiglas toilet yeah

A boy of 5 stands close to the toilet
Holds the lid up with one hand
Won't let go the lid for fear that
On his banana it will land
Don't sit down on the Plexiglas toilet yeah

Boy goes up he eats the enchilada
With the sauce that burns the heart
Family comes to visit family
Momma says don't belch and fart

Don't sit on the Plexiglas toilet
Said the momma to her son
Wipe the butt clean with the paper
Make it nice for everyone
But don't sit down on the Plexiglas toilet yeah

Everybody Sing!

Don't sit on the Plexiglas toilet
Said the momma to her son
Wipe the butt clean with the paper
Make it nice for everyone
But don't sit down on the Plexiglas toilet yeah

Don't sit on the Plexiglas toilet
Said the momma to her son
Wipe the butt clean with the paper
Make it nice for everyone
But don't sit down on the Plexiglas toilet yeah

Chuck Biscuits death a hoax

Chuck Biscuits 1965-2009

Reports of the death of Chuck Biscuits, the former D.O.A. and Danzig drummer, are a hoax, according to his brother.

Biscuits, whose real name is Charles Montgomery, is healthy and living in Seattle, according to Bob Montgomery, who spoke to CBC News from Vancouver.

On Thursday, CBC News and other media outlets reported the Canadian ex-drummer's death from throat cancer, but that has proved to be untrue.

The hoax appears to have originated with one U.S. blogger, James Greene Jr., and later was picked up by reputable music industry magazines such as ChartAttack and NME, as well as reported on a Facebook page purported to belong to Chuck Biscuits.

reprinted from CBC News

I know a life of crime has led me to this sorry fate, and yet, I blame society. Society made me what I am.

I was cleaning up the template here at Things of the Spirit and came across a few unfinished posts and thought I should share them.

The movie Repo Man was a huge influence on me in my teen years. It was a quotable classic starring cool cars, cooler characters and a plot line stuffed full of bizarre themes. Plus it had an amazing punk rock soundtrack.

Recently Justin and I reviewed the film and J was able to assemble an amazing track using samples from the film, stringing together the character Miller's dialog involving the connectivity of all things in the universe, including a plate of shrimp. Check out the track here. The song will officially be released on the upcoming OvA album "Replicans not Replicants" the groups tribute to Gary Numan. Watch their Myspace page for details.

Now getting to the unfinished post part.

Over at Jalopnik, Repo Man creator Alex Cox chatted about how he picked the cars for the film and the site also posted a gallery of actual junkyard cars with the symbolic air freshener that Miller professes you will "find one in every car. You'll see.".

Remember...Repo Man's got all night, every night.

Something's Coming Over Me

Throbbing Gristle is releasing a limited edition badged Buddha Machine called the Gristleism. Very Cool.

History doesn't repeat itself - at best it sometimes rhymes

Vince it back! DJ Steve Porter back at it with another dose of infomercial remixing.

Breaker One, Breaker One, I might be crazy, but I ain't dumb! Craaazy Cooter comin' at ya! Ya'll out there on the Hazzard net?

Thank you Robot Chicken

When the music changes, so does the dance.

1935 - 2009

Another great passing. I actually got to see Rashied Ali play. A few years back Ali played 3 sets at The Blue Monk here in Portland and I managed to sneak myself and three friends into the sold out packed to the rafter club for the last set.

I ran into the bar and down the stairs to the humid low ceiling room and heard the crisp snap of a drum as the simple quartet raced into a number. I dashed upstairs and handed over a sum of money that was equal to 2 full price entries and convinced the doorman to allow my friends to venture down for the last set. He nodded us in while my neck hairs still bristled.

Amazing set, memory for life.

Thank you Rashied

I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping

1915 – 2009

The man who invented all the things that allow me to process a guitar signal and allow me to make the music I love has passed. Multi-tracking, overdubbing, tape delay and phasing effects plus the little thing I like to call "electric guitar" are a few of the devices and processes Les Paul developed in his 94 years.

He created the "Les Paulverizer" which allowed Les to create an orchestra of guitars on the fly live. He Later made the mythical "Les Paulverizer" real for his stage show, using a small prop box attached to his guitar. He really pretended to lay down one track over another and then play over the repeating forms he had pre-recorded.

We now have modern looping delay devices that Les Paul dared to dream about.

Thank you Les Paul.

“When we talk about ourselves we almost invariably use Latin words, and when we talk about our neighbors we use Saxon words”

Over at Siempre la Luna J has been having a time with the Blackest of Black and here at Things I've been enamored with Saxon's Wacken attack.

Biff Byford...Classic Mammal Toe

Steve Dawson...Hipster Split!

Screen capture of Steve Dawson to emphasize my point:
Puffy white high tops? Check!
Skinny Jeans? Check!
White belt? Check!
Thick porn stache? Check!
Headband? Check!

Pure hipster 101. In fact this may be the exact image all hipsters base their fashion on.

2 a: a very pronounced or excessive degree

3:46 pm West Coast.

This is pretty much where I work. Justin posted something similar on Monday. Hey, at least the humidity is low.

What's it like where you are?

...all the bits and pieces

A few things I need to share.







The Complete History of the Boombox

...and filled the air with barbarous dissonance.

thank you Emerson over at Chunklet for bring this to my attention.

Kittens who make no noise dangerous!

If it has more than three chords, it's jazz.

Come out on Wednesday night to have a few drinks with Hal. I will be playing Bop, Hard Bop and Cool Jazz until late.

~:~

TiGA, 1465 NE Prescott

Its got wires that vibrate and give music.

click on banner to check out Devo's Guitar-A-Week

Looks as though Devo had the same idea as me. He will see a better selection and does not own them all but he has worked on them. Check out the coffin guitar built for my friend Justin. Killz!!

Devo and his crew at Portland Fret Works has done work on several of my guitars and I wont go anywhere else to have future work done. Check 'em out. Could not place your guitar in better hands.

I've got holes in my guitar *

* Dick Dale

In April I started recounting the guitars I have owned and or possessed long enough to claim ownership to. It has been awhile since the last guitar post so I thought I should start again. I guess the idea of recounting the first acoustic guitars seemed daunting or boring. Meh! Here you go. By the way check out the previous guitars here: 1 2 3 4.

Number 5 & 6
60's Stella H929
60's Silvertone Archtop

I am going to start with the sixties Stella H929. This guitar was also sold under the Airline 7076, Airline 8286/7026, Alden 9935, Barclay H929, Fender F-1000, Holiday AL9238, Regal R200, Silvertone S605 and SR (Sears & Roebuck) S1294 names and were manufactured by Harmony Guitar Company of Chicago. They were manufactured from the late fifties till the early seventies. You will find the majority of the these guitars from the mid sixties due to the boom the acoustic guitar had after the Beatles hit America. According to one Harmony history site over fifty percent of all acoustic guitars made during that period were manufactured by Harmony. I believe it because I see a lot of these things at thrift stores and hanging on walls everywhere I go.

My Stella had solid birch top and body wood with a deep tobacco burst paint scheme with faux flamed maple top. It also had the trapeze style metal tailpiece as in the photo above but I recollect mine had the pick guard as well. Mine did not have the fancy deco fret markers as pictured but I swore it had something. Perhaps dots or blocks.

I can't really recall where this guitar came from or where it is now but there was a time during high school when it never was out of my sight. It had a place in the back seat of my Plymouth Duster and made so many appearances at parties, school events and the beach.

It was brutal to play with razors for strings and action so high a medium sized carrot could pass under the strings at the 18th fret. I am lucky I learned to play guitar in the first position ala Bob Mould so I easily ripped through tunes like "Raspberry Beret", "Tainted Love" and David Bowies "Heroes" that had simple chords.

As I said this guitar went everywhere with me and I recall being pelted with movie theater candy while playing it on stage at the Marc Cinemas while ripping through "Substitute" or some other punk anthem at an un-chaperoned high school event.

I also remember ripping off songs in a friends bedroom. The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cure, The Smiths, Husker Du, Black Flag and the likes. The guitar really helped me learn how to play guitar I think.


Now to the Silvertone Archtop guitar. I didn't really own this guitar but I did possess it for the better part of two years covering two entire summers. It wasn't really that much better a guitar than the Stella but it defiantly looked cooler. Played a little easier because the action was lower and it was a longer scale guitar which meant less string tension. It sounded flat and wasn't much louder than the Stella.

It also had a cardboard case so it really didn't see the inside of the car, the beach or school functions much. I treated the Silvertone so differently than the Stella out of respect. I cried a bit when my friend asked if he could have it back. Sob!

So there you have it. That wasn't too bad now was it? And I can finally talk about my first true love. Stay tuned!

Cheese is milk's leap towards immortality

My dear friend Jessica shows us how to party. Check out her post at Un paradis pour le perdu!

Once again, he's back the incredible...the rhyme animal.

We talked about the incredible SlapChop once before here at Things of the Spirit an I thought we would do a follow up post.

We all know the ShamWow spokesman Vince Shlomi had gotten arrested bac in March because a hooker did not love his nuts as much as he thought she would. Shlomi, after paying Sasha Harris $1,000 for sex, punched her face repeatedly after she bit his tongue and would not let go.

Shlomi and Harris avoided trial because prosecutors declined to pursue formal charges against either of them.

What I truley wanted to share with you though is the video remix that DJ Steve Porter put together. It is currently topping my favorite song list along with the Auto-Tune dude's songs.

Cheapness And Beauty (Once You Go Black...)

Series of posts blah blah blah...reminiscing blah blah blah...share a story...you get the picture.

This post is going to be about the guitar Casey referred affectionately to in the comments as "Odie".

Number 4
1964 Silvertone Silhouette

Odie was a 1964 Silvertone Silhouette solid body electric. It was made in Chicago by Harmony and was black with white plastic pick guard that held the controls and two DeArmond pickups. I stuck an Odie decal on the headstock and a legend was born.

Here is the original description from the 1964 Sears catalog:

Dual-pickup Guitar. Tone and volume controls for each pickup plus 3-way selector switch. Thin, high-speed neck with adjustable steel reinforcing rod. Ebonized fingerboard. Adjustable bridge. White position markers. About 36 x 13 x 2 inches. $5 mo. Shpg. wt. 9 lbs. 57 H 1476L--Black finish..............Cash $54.95

Now that I had fully caught the bug I was on the constant lookout for another cool tool. Something on the cheap of course because I wasn't wealthy. One night while scanning the Sheboygan Press classifieds I came across an ad for a Sears guitar. I called the number in the ad and spoke to an older man who said it had been purchased in the 60's and all it said was Silvertone on the headstock.

The first thing that went through my head was Danelectro! Seeing they had built guitars with the Silvertone moniker for Sears I saw my chance for a real bargain.

The man wanted $75 for the guitar and accessories but it wasn't clear what they were and the fact that I might steal a 60's Danelectro for that amount it didn't matter so much. I booked across town to the man's house to scope it out.

When I got there I was only a bit disappointed it was a '64 Silvertone which was manufactured by Harmony and not Danelectro. The guitar was in great shape with the majority of the wear on the fret board. The frets were nice but the fingerboard was scalloped pretty deeply at the first position. It really didn't effect the playability of the guitar so I plugged it in.

This is when the sale became a bargain. The accessories that went along with the guitar were a 60's 20 foot coiled patch cord, amp and foot switch.

The amp is where this one becomes fun. This thing was a warm 55 watt two channel combo with a tremolo circuit and a single 12" speaker and it was mint.

I bought that rig in a heartbeat and raced home to check it out. I was already pulling the speaker wires from my Peavey Audition 30 and running it like a preamp into a 30 watt Washburn bass amp I got from my friend Scott after his failed attempt at playing bass. That combo was a tinnitus inducing swarm of bees and now coupled with that Silvertone amp I could achieve something that resembled Bob Mould's rig albeit on a smaller scale.

Scan of the 1966 Sears Catalog showing the Silhouette

Back to the guitar. It was very light with a thin neck that did nothing to help with the sustain. The neck as I mentioned earlier was very soft, or what the catalog refers to as a high-speed Ebonized fingerboard. The man I bought it from must have had a ton of Ebonized wood under his nails because the scalloping on the fingerboard would have made Yngwie Johann Malmsteen proud. The thin plastic pick guard made a sound like stretching a dental dam over the top of a cereal bowl and humming into it.

One thing the guitar wasn't was grounded. I eventually wound an e string around the output jack and tucked it under the tailpiece cover to reduce the wonderful hum it produced.

This guitar was nothing special but it did make an appearance on stage with the one off band Septic Fish. I owned it for quite sometime and finally sold it to a kid from a group called Agent Glitter. I hope he enjoyed it more than I did.

Cherry's scratching like a grain of sand, the trigger itch in the killer's hand.

This is the third posting in a series of posts I will be making covering all the guitars I have owned or possessed long enough to lay claim to. I have already posted the first two installments a mid 60's Teisco E-120 and an 80's Rocket Roll II. It has been very fun reminiscing about the subject of guitars and also stirs up some fond memories of time gone past. I hope you enjoy this as much as I am and please share a story about one of your stringed friends in the comments.

Number 3
1975 Ibanez 2390

In the summer of 1985 another of those epiphanous musical moments happened to me. I heard the thrum and drone of a song called "Never Understand" on Mtv by The Jesus and Mary Chain. It absolutely blew my mind that a song could sound so abrasive and mellow at the same time. I heard the lyrics and instantly felt in love with an emotion of some kind but I couldn't pin point what it was.

The way the band looked in the video was exactly like me. Floppy hair? Check! Ray-Ban style sunglasses? Check! Hole riddled jeans and dark shirts buttoned to the collar? Check! All I needed was the old hollow body guitar.

I got my drivers license in 1985 allowing the freedom to check out stores in the city of Milwaukee. On a Saturday, my brother Casey, friends Scott and Tim and I would pile in my 76 Duster and track all over the Cream City looking for record stores, head shops, clothing stores, book shops and anything else we knew we wouldn't see in Sheboygan.

On one trip we stumbled onto a store called Record Head. If you are having a hard time following this it was a head shop that sold records. The store was at 7045 W Greenfield Ave and had a pretty cool selection of used records and tapes plus if you were in the know you could see their glass pipes they kept under the counter or in the office or something. It was against the law to sell paraphernalia without also selling tobacco products and well the store wasn't called Record Cigar Head now was it.
Against one wall they had a few guitars and being that I had caught the bug I had to check them out. I read my fair share of Guitar World Magazine to know a lot of guitar companies. Nothing on the wall jumped out at me. I asked the irritable man behind the counter how often the stock rolled over and he kinda dismissed me but told me of another Record Head on the north side of town. We didn't have enough time so I planned to take another trip to check it out.

A month or so later the four of us made the trek south and searched for the other Record Head. I found it at 7418 W Hampton Ave and went inside. Holy @#&% batman, this store was amazing. There were fewer records, although they were good, but my eyes bugged out when I spied the selection of guitars. Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, Gretsch, Rickenbacker...jaw-dropping-awesome.

It hung on the wall next to another big huge hollow guitar and a black Guild bass guitar. Walnut brown, soft and round. The Ibanez 2390. Of course I didn't know it was the 2390 back then but I did know it
looked like the guitar the Jesus and Mary Chain guy played.

I pulled it off the wall and held it in my hands. So light and loud. I was sold. $225, saved while working for a small print shop after school and during the summer.

It was essentially a Gibson ES- 345 copy right down to the shape of the headstock. The finish looked new and the bolt-on neck felt the same as the Rocket Roll II's neck. In retrospect it was pretty plastic. The pots and switch were mounted onto a piece of plastic to save money I suspect. A real ES-345 had the same layout but the guts were mounted right to the top of the guitar. Ibanez did make guitars with the top mounted controls so I am going out on a limb and saying the 2390 was probably the cheapest of the catalogs Gibson ES series copies.

I owned that guitar for seven or so years. Just long enough to have the neck mounting screws strip out, the plastic neck inlays fall out and the finish start to check.

I passed it on after some light repairs, again not a luthier, to my friend Matt who was a singer but wanted to learn to play. He owned it for roughly three weeks before pawning it. I would have bought it back from him had I known he would take a loss on it. Unless the pawn shop recognizing it was a 70's guitar gave him more than $80.

Crack of dawn...Cindy's moving on...talking Cindy to everyone...til she's had her fun.