'Buked & Scorned

Talking 'Bout That Number Which No Man Can Number

2009-01-30T08:55:00.000-08:00

ROKY ERICKSON "I Look at the Moon"

PRECIOUS BRYANT "When the Saints Go Marching In"

DeZURIK SISTERS "Go To Sleep My Darling"

...No, how you doing? Yes, I know it's been a while. Wanted to wait until no one was looking, or linking, I guess? No, really, I just got busy. I know, I know, yeah, we're all busy. OK, I got sick of blogging. But I am less sick of it now, today! And I will cease with this ridiculous fake conversation, toot sweet.

Someday soon this blog will be transferred over to a new/ improved/ actual YETI website. But for now, I'll get started again with three little very pretty songs. Today we're unplugged. God, I hate that term, but anyway.

The Roky song's from the long out of print album The Holiday Inn Tapes. It's my second-favorite post-Elevators number (very favorite being, of course, "You Don't Love Me Yet").

The Precious Bryant track is from this wonderful George Mitchell book which comes with two CDs. George Mitchell might be one of my heroes. I really need to talk to both Bryant and Mitchell, if possible, when I return to the South. (Note to self!)

The DeZurik Sisters tune is from some comp. called like Early Country Ladies Who Sing or something. You may know them as the Cackle Sisters.

It's a very pretty late January day here in Portland (translation: it is not currently raining). I'm obsessed for some reason with trying to find out more about P.M. Wentworth today -- he or she was a very interesting self-taught artist, hardly any known works around -- maybe 40 survive. But who knows? That one lucky family found a stack of unknown Ramirez drawings a few years back -- that show in New York was fabulous, and I highly recommend the catalog. Maybe there's a stack of this person's stuff in a trunk somewhere. But Wentworth -- fuck, there's hardly even any images on the Internet. I'd love a monograph of this work, all in one place, no matter how small. Anyone know if there is one? My guess is no, just need to make sure.

HALLELUWAH Fest lineup finally finalized.

2007-08-24T02:33:00.000-07:00

HALLELUWAH TWO: A FESTIVAL OF ENTHUSED ARTS
Presented by Blackbird, Yeti & PSU’s Popular Music Board
Three days at Holocene, Portland, OR: Aug. 31-Sep. 2 (1001 SE Morrison, Portland OR 97214)

The music-film-arts event that ‘Portland Mercury’ called “the greatest festival of all time” --without a hint of hyperbole, of course-- returns to Portland, OR next weekend.

This year we’ve got a slew of Portland’s finest musicians paired with such internationally renowned musicians as Califone, Climax Golden Twins, the Blow, They Shoot Horses Don't They? and Can vocalist Damo Suzuki (which is sweet since he inadvertently named the festival some 35 or so years ago). (Very) loosely put, Friday is the more dance-oriented night, while Saturday is more folk and rock-based, and Sunday’s performers lean more towards improvisational freak-outs and drones. We didn’t want to divvy it up by genre too much, so there are plenty examples to the contrary.

There’s a rad literary program put together this time by Yeti magazine, and brilliant films shown each night from Seattle’s DIY ethnography crew Sublime Frequencies. We’ve enlisted artist/ Albina Press curator Gretchen Vaudt and photographer Norm Sajovie to mount a full installation of new work solely for the festival.

{ Friday 8.31.07 }
* The Blow, Panther, They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, The Beauty, White Rainbow, Alexis Gideon, Valet, Metal, The Joggers & Modernstate. Hosted by DJ Spencer Doran, DJ BJ & DJ Hanukkah Miracle.
* Sublime Frequencies presents: ‘Niger: Magic and Ecstasy in the Sahel,’ a film by Hisham Mayet. 70 minutes: A celebration of life in the Sahel region of Africa, this film showcases many of Niger's venerable music styles: Tuareg electric guitar trance rock, Bori cult dance ceremonies, Fulani folk, and roadhouse gospel rave-ups.
* Doors at 6PM; film starts 6:30 PM promptly.

{ Saturday 9.1.07 }
* Califone, Dark Meat, Bowerbirds, Plants, Eternal Tapestry, Builders & Butchers, Whip, Strangers Die Everyday & a special appearance by Rob Walmart (performing from inside a van outside the venue). Hosted by DJ Yeti.
* Sublime Frequencies Presents: ‘Palace of the Winds,’ a film by Hisham Mayet (filmmaker in attendance!) 45 minutes: An entrancing look at the culture and music of the Saharawis from the Western Sahara and Mauritania. Journey from the northern fringes of the Western Sahara to the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott.
* Action-packed and NOT-BORING literary event curated by YETI magazine with Jana Martin (author of ‘Russian Lover,’ a Yeti publication), Curtis Knapp, Tom Blood, Vanessa Veselka & Mike McGonigal.
* Doors at 4PM; literary program starts 4:30 PM promptly (even if it’s nice outside).

{ Sunday 9.2.07 }
* Damo Suzuki (performing with the Portland All-Stars: Honey Adams, Yellow Swans, Adam Forkner, Emil amos & Dan Wilson), Tara Jane O’Neil, Ilyas Ahmed, Master Musicians of Bukkake, Evolutionary Jass Band, Climax Golden Twins, Cexfucx, the Sea Donkeys & Katharina Tunicata. Hosted by DJ Old Fronteir.
* Sublime Frequencies Presents: ‘My Friend Rain,’ a film by Robert Millis (filmmaker in attendance!) 45 minutes: A collage of musical segments, tropical backdrops, and mysterious celebratory events captured live and in the moment by Robert Millis and Alan Bishop on location in Thailand, Burma, Indonesia and Laos.
* Doors at 6PM; film starts 6:30 PM promptly.

Portland State University students get discounted admission. Three-day passes are available for $30.00 via Brown Paper Tickets here.

'Russian Lover & Other Stories'

2007-05-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

Didn't realize it was such a pain in the ass to DL tracks off eSnips; I just signed up for another service to host the mp3 files. I'll have more tracks up soon.

Biggest news around these parts is that the very first YETI imprint title, Russian Lover by Jana Martin, is in hand. We also have advance reader copies of the Luc Sante book, Kill All Your Darlings: Pieces 1990-2005. Both books came out really really nice, I think. We're just getting those mailed out now so interestedd reviewers should contact us ASAP for either title.

Jana's book is available pretty cheap here, and I will now quote from the jacket copy OK:

Jana Martin’s sentences have beauty and bite and a rhythm all their own. These are tough, funny stories from a writer wise enough to know that wisdom doesn’t always come with experience. Russian Lover won’t teach you much about Russia, but it will give you some exhilaratingly painful portraits of people trying to love.--Sam Lipsyte, author of Home Land

There’s an elegant, flaring strength to Russian Lover, a precision of language that is daring and unique in the way it touches memory. Martin’s stories are cocoons spun tightly around an elusive, idiopathic emotional core—always intriguing, they give life to the tired mind. --Lydia Millet, author of My Happy Life

Go back to Germany

2007-05-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

CAN "Doko Daie"
CAN "Introduction"
CAN "Mushroom (Alt. version)"
CAN "Halleluwah"
CAN "Bring Me Coffee or Tea"
CAN "Mushroom"

At last night's Miniluwah (with Valet, Au, Smoke & Mirrors, and Amen, Again Amen doing a live score to Kenneth Anger's sometimes gorgeous Pleasure Dome flick) I was having a lot of fun playing with the song "Halleluwah." It was the first time I had allowed myself to be so literal as to play the actual song our little festival stole its name from. I never practice DJ, and lately my office with the stereo in it is in such disarray that I do not get to listen to my LPs as much as I'd like. So when I get fancy and play stuff at the same time ("Mind Train" by Yoko worked well with "The Creator Has A Master Plan" by Pharoah Sanders) or chop a song up into different parts or whatever, and it sounds good, then I'm extra psyched.

These tracks posted today are from a CD bootleg that came into the used book and CD shop I worked at in Oak Ridge, TN, of all places, in the mid '90s. This is where I learned about the "alternative" Christian" genre, discovered that paperback romance novels can be bought and read at an alarming rate by some people, and met one of my favorite people ever, this guy Martin Beeler who did a bang-up job on his Akron/ Family piece for the next Yeti.

That CD, Free Concert, has since been eclipsed by the Can Box in many ways -- you can view the entire concert on that VHS/ DVD, for instance -- and I know at least a few of these tracks are on the CD component of that set, and that they sound better on there. I do not think the entirety of the 28-minute track "Doko Daie" was ever officially released, however. I am not sure I'm even spelling it right. Anyway, "Doko E." appears on Unlimited Edition. I think it's safe to assume here that "E" is for Extract or Excerpt. My years as a private detective come in handy some time...

The first track is a lower res mp3 -- had to make it smaller so I could upload it via eSnips. The other tracks are lossless mp4s. Hope that's cool, that people do not have a problem listening to/ playing those files. Please lemme know if so, OK.

2007-05-05T23:45:00.000-07:00

PUMICE "Eyebath"

Here's the first track off of Pebbles by Pumice. Pumice is the AKA of one Auckland, NZ chap named Stefan Geoffrey Neville, which is such a great name I want to bestow it upon a pet of some kind. Maybe tomorrow I'll run out and get a pet. I was woefully ignorant of the supreme excellence of Mr. Stefan Geoffrey Neville's music until this week, when I was lucky enough to receive this not-yet-released disk in the mail.

I have been in one of the most embarrasingly extreme don't listen to any new stuff at all phases in my life here lately. That does make some sense, in that I'm working on a book centering largely on music made in the '20s and '30s. But between this and the new-ish R. Kelly and Diddy singles -- both of which rule, of course -- I'm slowly being brought back to the music of today's youth, to the now sounds that are currently happening. Yay, Pumice!!!

They muuuuurdeeerrrrrrrrrrred himmmmmm

2007-05-05T00:07:00.000-07:00

NANCY DUPREE & HER ROCHESTER SCHOOLCHILDREN “Docta King”

TONY SCHWARTZ “Religion (Street Preacher, Jewish Prayer)”

NANCY DUPREE & HER ROCHESTER SCHOOLCHILDREN “James Brown”

TONY SCHWARTZ “Imagination & Music”

OK, so things seem a bit less harried and crazy and nuts and busy around here today so I aim to post with regularity -- we'll see!

The EMP Pop Conference remains the best thing happening in music criticism (as Christgau has claimed I believe? -- don't want to misquote him, especially now that I finally really like the guy and his work).

I was honored to be included, and the presentations I saw by Scott Seward, Michaelangelo Matos, Erik Davis, Ned Sublette, Simon Reynolds, RJ Smith, and this guy whose name I forget who had super interesting things to say about the ways Hawaiian culture interpreted / appropriated minstrelsy, he was awesome too. I missed as much great stuff as I saw, too. My brain's still processing stuff from then, and it was two weeks ago now (also just getting over a cold I picked up on the trip, yay).

One of my outlets, eMusic, has recently uploaded hundreds of Folkways titles. Hundreds!

There's music from the rarely recorded Tuareg people of the Sahara and cool looking weirdo classical people I've never heard of and a great Fugs record and some weird guru chanting recordings and Tim Leary telling you how to get high and a recording of the way a Manhattan street sounded in the early '50s. I know it's been said dozens of times, but if Folkways is not the most judiciously interesting label that's ever been launched, what is? They should have just sent the entire Folkways catalog up in the Voyager -- or sent an extra one along with it, crammed with a nice hi-fi and a robot eager to cue up every Folkways disc.

Even more obscure titles from the Folkways catalog remain un-digitized, though presumably it’s only a matter of time before everything is released—hopefully including archival recordings that never got put on LPs or CDs in the first place, going back to acetate 78s and early wire recordings! I personally can’t wait for the release of Elder Charles Beck’s awesome and super rare recording Urban Holiness Service, though it looks like it's digitzed elsewhere. The Blind Willie Johnson LP that Sam Charters did in the '50s which has his second wife taking credit for stuff his first wife did; I have it on vinyl but it would be nice to easily have it in bits, too.

The two things that have me really freaking out are the near-complete recordings of the genial, New York City-based musique concrete/ collage artist/ contemporary sound ethnographer dude Tony Schwartz, which just got added (you may know him for his Moondog recordings.)

Also just added is Nancy Dupree’s brilliant 1969 album Ghetto Reality, essentially an inner city version of the Langley Project with the kids writing their own songs. Holy fuck, it's so good!!! Hope you like these samples. I urge you to check out more at your earliest convenience.

He'll be with me 'til the end

2007-03-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

BISHOP PERRY TILLIS "I Found a Solid Rock in Jesus"

Woah, how did I ever miss this song by Bishop Perry Tillis on the compilation Traditional Music from Alabama's Wiregrass, a gift from esteemed scholar/ gentleman Kevin Nutt? Here I thought I'd never heard Tillis until I got sent the swell Perry Tillis disc that Birdman released last November. My brain's a sieve, apparently. Anyway, that disc is rad, the Alabama wiregrass one, and I guarantee you'll be the first on your block to own a copy. Plus it's only ten bucks, and the $$ goes right to the folklore society people themselves.

I wrote about Tillis a bit here a few months ago, if you care to know more. Nice to hear him in this 1995 service excerpt backed by drums and a congregation! This here song is about as raucous as I've heard him Tillis get, FYI. Part of his appeal is actually how subtle and "soft" his style is. Tillis actually played with Blind Willie Johnson. According to Bengt Olsson (awesome Swedish music fan who discovered / recorded Tillis some thirty-five years ago) Johnson himself hunted the dude down to play with him in the '40s! Wow. I wonder if BWJ was performing "Dark was the Night" live at the time (or really, ever)?

I once was lost in sin

2007-03-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

ERNST PHIPPS & HIS HOLINESS SINGERS "A Little Talk with Jesus"

You know, The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of: Super Rarities & Unissued Gems (subtitle: The Dead Sea Scrolls of Record Collecting!) really should have topped my little list of favorite albums from last year. I didn't dig into it until January of this year, however. I guess I'd heard that the presumed-lost Son House find of a few years back, "Clarksdale Moan,"* was on a compilation somewhere, but... you know, you get busy, you move around a few times and aren't on anyone's promo lists anymore. And that's mostly fine by you since publicist emails and phone calls are maybe not worth the "free" discs after twenty-plus years of such stuff. Plus hardly anyone sends finished product anymore, it's all CD-Rs in the mail or lo-bit advances streamed on choppy proprietary players -- it's not like the old days of fancy lunches based on the boxes of discs loaded into your shiny Amazon cubicle weekly, daily. Just saying I'm a little out of the loop, and do not always hear everything months before it comes out. I wrote about this collection a touch here, months after it came out.

If Phipps' name sounds familiar, well he's on The Anthology, in Social Music of course, ruling on a ragged send-up of "Must Jesus Bear the Cross Aone" which they called "Shine on Me." And here, "A Little Walk" has become "A Little Talk." Not sure if this was because of royalties or just the natural desire to put one's own stamp on something? Phipps and his crew were part of Ralph Peer's mindfuckingly important Bristol sessions. If you like this, check out their few other numbers, especially "I Want to Go Where Jesus Is."

* That song is awesome, by the way -- worth the wait, even!

2007-03-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

PON DAO, JUEN "Sad Love/ Gungteng & Voice"

Everyone and their househeld pet is going gaga over Sublime Frequencies’ Omar Souleyman release, and with good reason. This past week, while prepping the full text of an interview with the Sun City Girls I did a few years ago for a Seattle weekly cover story, I spent a lot of time revisiting the SF records, and #27, which has the Nonesuch Explorer-ish title of Ethnic Minority Music of Northeast Cambodia, has been kicking my ass: it's meditative and lovely.

On their own website, the SF folks have this to say: For the first time, here is a recording that documents the ceremonial animist music from the mysterious tribal villages of Northeast Cambodia. The Tampoans, Krungs, kavets, Braos, and Jaraîs of Ratanakiri Province and the Phnongs in Mondolkiri Province have been living amidst each other in this region for centuries preserving and expanding their unique cultural heritage, sometimes at peace and other times in conflict with one another or with foreign invaders. The music includes hypnotic gong ensembles, guitar ballads, bamboo flute, and unique local instrumentation such as the “Gungteng” and the “Mum”. The superb singing styles and vocals present throughout are absolutely mesmerizing. These tracks sound like nothing you’ve heard before, all magnificently documented transporting the listener into the heart of each performance. Recorded on location by Laurent Jeanneau over a 2-year period from 2003-2005 with his revealing liner notes and a detailed tracklist included within.

Of ouds and fuzzes

2007-03-21T12:22:00.000-07:00

JOHN BERBERIAN AND THE MIDDLE-EASTERN ROCK ENSEMBLE "The Oud & the Fuzz"

How about an Armenian-American psychedelic jamlet to help you get through hump day? It's no Mogollar, but it's definitely worth hearing. F.E. has a bootleg reissue for pretty cheap, via the label with the best name ever, Acid Symposium (World's Leading Terr0r1st State). They have this to say about it:

An inspired fusion of Middle Eastern rhythms and the fuzz guitar blasts so dear to fans of psychedelia resulted in this the most accessible album by accomplished oud player John Berberian and his troop of skilled musicians. First released on Verve/Forecast in 1969 this exotic album features music based on traditional themes from Turkey, Armenia, Greece, Arabia and North Africa blended with the terrific improvised energy of psychedelia. So what you end up with here is bustling bazaars and scorched sands passed through the prism of the lysergic sensibilities of the late 60's.

They know where they are

2007-03-20T00:44:00.000-07:00

ALEX CHILTON "The Walking Dead"

I am a little, tiny bit disappointed upon hearing this for the first time in about sixteen years. It's just not how I remember it, somehow. Either the song sounded rawer, crazier and a tad more "jointed" to my younger ears (which of course had yet to listen to the Rev. Overstreet for days on end) or it's the magnification process in the space in-between owning the song on vinyl then finally finding it on disc? Most likely it's a bit of both -- or perhaps the version I used to have was different?

Anyway, these are MY ISSUES, and I hope you enjoy this song. It's surely one of the five best paeans to zombies ever written (the other four being, I don't know, most likely Misfits songs). Dude clearly sounds out of his skull here, and once I relax and just accept the thing for what it is rather than what I thought it maybe was going to be, it's not half bad at all, especially delivery of the line "it gets stuffy in the lab." Hope you like, and many thanks to Douglas and Jason for saying 'welcome back' to me in the comments section! PDX represent, and stuff.

My soul got happy so I stayed there all day.

2007-03-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

Straight Street Group (featuring Rev. Milton Phelps) "Angels Keep Watching Over Me"

Gospel Keynotes "Jesus Will See You Through"

The first song is a latter day sanctified blues tune done just the way I like. It was sent my way by the esteemed Kevin Nutt, the man behind the Case Quarter label and the Sinner's Crossroads radio show. He had this to say about the number: "Thought about you when I heard this. Vanity label South Georgia Pentecostal throw down. c.1975 maybe."

Thanks Kevin! And holy frijole this thing is awesome: rollicking distorted guitar-heavy stuff in the manner of Rev. A. Johnson and Rev. Charlie Jackson. Can't find anything out about this Phelps guy but I know I need to hear the flip-side of this one. I'm going to presume he's of no relation to the famouser Rev. Phelps, the not very nice one, OK.

I feel a great desire to hear every single song that sounds like this. I don't need to own the stuff, and I know I'll never hear it all of course -- I just want to try, you know? All the cool cats are down in Austin this time of year immersing themselves in the crowded venues all day and night. And even a few years ago I'd have been there or wanted to be there bathing in the excitement of next big things and enjoying the awesome BBQ (eat the brisket, kids -- you'll never have it as good anywhere else!) and all else that SXSW has to offer (I love the running into old friends aspect, and the Yard Dog shows, the best). Instead, I'm up here in Portland combing through the Dixon and Godrich book, trying to find sanctified blues numbers I've never heard before, salivating over the idea of unheard Paramounts and unissued test pressings. I'd love to be in Austin (even though it is in TX) but I'm not at all sad to not be there, is what I'm saying.

Song number two is from about the same time as the first single, though most likely a few years earlier: a delightfully smooooooove number in the style of the Delfonics/ Floaters, by the Gospel Keynotes, who I do not think I've ever listened to before. This one was sent in by Ted Sonnenschein, whose ears are burning since I talked about Ted quite a bit at last weekend's moving, sweet memorial service for Charles Gocher of the Sun City Girls up in Seattle, at the SCG/ Sublime Frequencies compound.

The gospel soul era (very roughly, '69-'82 or so--whenever it is everyone and their mother had to start sounding all super mass choir) isn't my area of expertise, nor too often is it even an area of that much interest. But damn, I'm digging this song, today. It's what I imagine riding around in the back of a huge old American car that smells good heading to church with your man or woman dressed up looking so good you can't wait to get back home later but also you want people to see you with them just might be like. This song. I hope it is not too terribly lame for me to have shared this minor fantasy of mine with you. Ted writes: "Every time I listen to gospel I think of my pooka bear. If you ever need a hand, I have this song for you. God Bless, Teodorus Sonnenrighteous."

It's good to have friends. Anyone else care to send me some mp3s of gospel music, or maybe some drone I've never heard, that would be swell. But pretty pretty please, no more mp3s from indie bands trying to break into the don't-call-it-the-blog-o-sphere -- that email address is all clogged up already! (PS: there are of course five thousand, three hundred and twenty-three other blogs which people actually look at, unlike this one, which are all ready and aching to hear your stellar and exciting sounds and to help you get signed to, say, "Megakid"'s label before she gets shit-canned. Ummm, best of luck to you!)

Thirty three and a third reading

2007-02-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

'Sup? I'm deep in a review-writing crunch and getting back taxes sorted so this is more news-based than, well, interesting, sorry!

I'm reading at the new Sonic Boom General Store in the Fremont section of Seattle, WA Thursday evening, at 7:30 PM. It's free, and maybe fun. Be sure to heckle me if you show up? I am nervous enough as it is during these things; maybe I'll do a Scanner-head?! That would be cool.

The esteemed KEXP Blog said nice things so I'll just quote them:

Thursday February 8: 33 1/3 book reading with Sean Nelson & Mike McGonigal {Sonic Boom Records General Store}
It doesn’t seem so long ago that we were buying our copies of OK Computer from Sonic Boom’s wee-sized Fremont location. Now they’ve grown to multiple locations all over to fill the backpacks of Seattle’s music lovers. Their latest addition to the SB family is the Sonic Boom General Store, which will specialize in vinyl, magazines, books, designer toys, gifts, and snacks. We’ll find any one of those things exciting. We mean, “designer toys?” Snacks? FUN!

But we digress. This Thursday is a night of smarty pants good times that involves a trifecta of things, each as fun as a mouth full of pop rocks: Sean Nelson, Mike McGonigal, and 33 1/3 book series. Sean Nelson, Seattle Man about Town, will be reading from his new 33 1/3 book on Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark and Mike McGonigal, curator of the finest arts and culture publication-Yeti, will focus on My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. With both men being stunning examples of charm, eloquence, and wit, we’re breathless with anticipation for Thursday’s reading.

Russian Lovahhh

2007-01-25T23:50:00.000-08:00

As the first two titles from YETI Publications near completion, the first one's now up on Amazon and ready for pre-order: Russian Lover by Jana Martin. It's a collection of short stories from the upstate-New York-based writer.

Also, Greil Marcus is writing the introduction to our second title, out late Spring/ early summer: Kill All Your Darlings by Luc Sante. And Patrick Barber is designing the cover just now, which has a sweet painting on it by Francesco Clemente.

The other two YETI titles which will be out at the end of the year, Mike Doughty's Eritrean photo book and Tara Jane O'Neil's art book will both be 6" by 6" full color hardcover titles with CDs inside them. Rachel Carns has signed on to design those.

Pre-order Jana's book at a sweet discount here.

To here knows when

2007-01-24T23:14:00.000-08:00

Pictures are pretty

2007-01-23T12:39:00.000-08:00

Just playing around with images today, and can you tell I was thinking about this olden time awesome silliness today? In order these are by: Jordan Belson, Bruce Conner, Unica Zurn, Oyvind Fahlstrom (left my umlauts at home sorry), Jordan Belson, Paul Thek, Bruce Conner, Oyvind Fahlstrom, Paul Thek, and Jordan Belson.

The cake it is here

2007-01-22T23:31:00.000-08:00

Well the Music Appreciation Society people are AWESOME and the event was sort of a d.i.y. sweet, Canadian mini-pop conference. I am also psyched about the Seattle Art Museum's sculpture park -- it's free and a pretty nifty use of public space. Lily concluded a month's long search for jeans that fit at the Seattle Rack, we both saw some friends and I only had one cup of Vivace, but I guess I just feel like I get coffee at least as good as that here in Portland every day so I do not need to go all the way out of the way simply to drink down a cup of ristretto in five seconds.

The image up there is by Jason T. Miles and Tony Remple, a two color job done at Zak Sally's awesome La Mano Press. You can buy it off of Jason's blog for ONLY SIX BUCKS, if I read correctly.

PS: I have no way to post or host files right now so no music for a bit -- and eventually this blog will go over to the YETI site sometime this year but will of course post messages saying that here when that happens, OK.

Ack, links not working today for some reason so go here for Jason T. Miles' site yes: http://drinkmeink.blogspot.com/

All things are possible...

2007-01-16T23:49:00.000-08:00

SWAN SILVERTONES "Only Believe" live (Youtube link)

Hope you had a groovy MLK day. Me, I guess I have a sinus cold? Man this thing is weird because I only have a few symptoms. Makes it hard to get work done, but then so did the actual snow which fell and stuck on the ground this morning -- several inches worth, very rare for Portland! I'ts still a winter wonderland outside, now -- the stuff stayed stuck!

My girl and I ventured out this afternoon as her school was cancelled (though she didn't know until she got there this AM, and it took her many hours to figure out none of the buses were working properly as despite the fact it began snowing at 3 or 4 this morning not a one had chains on their tires so she took the light rail home instead which leaves off a mile and a half away). It's weird how I was able to not feel sick for that hour and a half we went outside: angels were made, snowballs flung, feet slipped and slid, hooray.

So, of course since I'm illing I start flipping around on YouTube looking at the Yardbirds and the Move and Fred McDowell and Rev. Louis Overstreet and Rev. Charlie Jackson. I only give YT a few more months before all this great content disappears; it's too good to last, you know? Anyway, I love this clip of the Swan Silvertone Singers. Seeing Claude Jeter and Louis Johnson pass the mic back and forth like that is amazing. I really really would love to see more. I've watched this a dozen times already, holy frijole.

"Music Appreciation Society"

2007-01-16T04:42:00.000-08:00

I'm headed to Seattle this weekend to participate in this thing happening Saturday, January 20th, at 2 PM in the Henry Auditorium. Unfortunately it's $8 for Henry Members / $10 General: A Listening Event and Panel Discussion with Rodney Graham and Special Guests. “Join artist/musician Rodney Graham, The Music Appreciation Society’s Kathy Slade and Brady Cranfield, and special guests Rich Jensen, Mike McGonigal, and Meghan Seling as they trade opinions on choice picks from popular music and art.”

So, near as I can tell, I'll play a song and talk about it for fifteen minutes or so and then these other folks (all famous Vancouver artistes in town for their Fri. night show at the Henry, plus Rich from the most excellent Clear Cut Press, and surely you know Meghan from theStranger) will do the same thing. And after that we'll talk/ argue/panel-ize about music and art or something? I hope it will be fun and not at all friggin' Sarah Vowell/ McSweeney's-y despite the thing being called what it is, which to me sounds pretty Sarah Vowell/ McSweeney's-y, but maybe it's that I've had a sinus headache for two days, and am perhaps a tad grumpy as a result.

My song will be the BEST of course. It was recorded almost exactly eighty years ago and consists of voice, guitar and finger cymbals. If you live in Seattle and want to stop by and pelt me with popcorn, please do so. If you live in Seattle but do not want to spend ten bucks to go to this thing, I do not fault you, one bit. I mean, if it were me, I'd be still asleep at 2PM on Saturday... Or watching a matinee of Children of Men to try to catch more of the details in the newspapers-on-the-wall scene.

Thanks to everyone who replied to the post about the sanctified blues book! Hooray.

Help with my book on sanctified blues/ guitar evangelists/ gritty gospel music?

2007-01-07T01:31:00.000-08:00

Sorry to not be here anymore; I will blog again!, and soon, on the Yeti site, after we overhaul it in the next month or so.

I'm writing 'cause now that the Loveless book is finally out, I'm starting on the next one, on sanctifiedd blues.

Aside from a few chapters here and there in histories of blues or gospel (most notably/ excellently in Paul Oliver's Songsters & Saints) I've had trouble finding much info. about this type of stuff. There's not a single book that addresses sanctified blues. So, I'm starting to write one about it, myself. I do not pretend to be an expert on this material, FYI; I just have to know more about it and do not see any other way, really.

In the case of a dozen or so artists, there is quite a bit known, of course: Washington Phillips thanks to Michael Corcoran, and in the cases of Rev. Louis Overstreet and Bishop Perry Tillis I myself was able to find people to talk to about them/ their work. But with, say, Luther Magby, whose sole 78 is mind-bending, I can't find more than a few sentences here and there.

I'm thinking of calling the thing 'BUKED & SCORNED: The YETI Field Guide to Sanctified Blues & Gritty Gospel, 1922-Present (yeah, unwieldy/ unoriginal title, I know). The format will be that of a classic field guide: color innards, rounded pages, plastic cover, everything (there will be other 'Field Guides,' including a photo-heavy guide to 'American ruins' - old and abandoned factories, hospitals etc., with info. on how to break into them and spelunk about). The plan is to have an awesome introductory 80 minute disc with the book, the gospel blues one I mean.

I'm really psyched about it. At first I felt like maybe I'd bitten off more than I could chew. But now I'm just breaking it down into little entries and starting on them, with help from the little bits of info. found on places like the liners on the back of the Origin's fabulous In the Spirit LP collections or inside the essential book Blues & Gospel Records 1890-1943.

Not sure if there is much interest/ audience in this, but it seems like Fahey's excellent (if poorly titled) American Primitive Vol. 1 sold pretty well. So maybe there is some sort of audience? We'll see.

Following's the raw list of artists that I'm starting with. I know it's long. I know this post is already long. I know it will take me longer to get this thing done than I think it will. But if anyone has suggestions about other artists to consider, or has xeroxes of articles about any of these peeps from old issues of Livin' Blues or anything, I'll totally love you for that info. and pay for xeroxes, whatever... I will love you and pay you! (What's that called again?)

Just groping about in the dark to find stuff out. Here's my working artist list: sanctified blues musicians/ players of raw bluesy gospel/ guitar evangelists/ bluesy streetcorner gospel shouters/ predominantly blues musicians who also recorded & performed significant songs of a spiritual bent.

Elder Charles Beck
Barbecue Bob
Emmett Brand
Richard "Rabbit" Brown
Rev. Pearly Brown
Elder Richard Bryant
Sam Butler AKA "Bo Weavil Jackson"
Rev. E.D. Campbell
the Campbell Brothers
Wynona Carr
Clarence Clay & William Scott
Rev. Edward Clayborn "the Guitar Evangelist"
Austin Coleman
Jaybird Coleman
Dennis Crumpton & Robert Summers
Elder Curry
Rev. Gary Davis
Blind Willie Davis
Thomas A. Dorsey
Arizona Dranes
Duckett & Norwood
Brother Willie Eason
Brother Claude Ely
Sister Callie Fancy
Rev. Lonnie Farris
Blind Mamie Forehand
Jesse Fuller
Rev. J.M. Gates
Aubrey Ghent (how much of the 'Sacred Steel' artists, if any, to include?)
Blind Roosevelt Graves
Blind Arvella Gray
Henry Green
Suddie Griffins
Holy Ghost Sanctified Singers
William "Blind Willie" Harris
Goldia Haynes
Eddie Head & His Family
Jessie Mae Hemphill
Jessie May Hill
Mississippi John Hurt
Rev. Charlie Jackson
Otis Jackson
Skip James
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Rev. A. Johnson
Bessie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson
Prof. Johnson & His Gospel Singers
Elder Otis Jones
Alfred G. Kanes
Louisville Sanctified Singers
Thee MacGee
Luther Magby
Rev. Moses Mason
Sister Matthews
Mother McCullum
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Rev. F.W. McGee
Lonnie McIntorsh
Memphis Sanctified Singers
Sister Mary M. Nelson
Blind Gussie Nesbit
Nugrape Twins
Rev. Louis Overstreet
Isaiah Owens
Frank Palmes
Charley Patton AKA Elder J.J. Hadley
Sister Lottie Peavy
Elizabeth Phillips
Washington Phillips
Ernest Phipps & His Holiness Singers (? – not sure how much to enter into preacher and congregation type artists – whether to just use a few who are really bluesy or just to forego them entirely?)
Leon Pinson
Rev. D.C. Rice
Staple Singers
Homer Quincy Smith
Rev. Utah Smith
William & Versey Smith
Horace Sprott
Bozie Sturdivant
Blind Joe Taggart
Sister Ola Mae Terrell
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Two Gospel Keys
Henry Thomas
Bishop Perry Tillis
Joe Townsend
Rev. I.B. Ware (with Wife and Son)
Rev. Charles White AKA James Butler
Bukka White AKA Washington White

One way conversation

2006-07-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

TEENAGE FILMSTARS "Dressing up for the Cameras"

Best piss-take on the Jam, ever? Perhaps. Great song, regardless. Love the Jowe Head-style bass. Really digging the O Level/Teenage Filmstars compilation on RevOla, A Day in the Life of Gilbert and George this morning.

YETI 4 is done, in production; cover will look like this, only better (with gooooooooold). Pre-order capability to show up on YETI site shortly.

HALLELUWAH festival site is up (uhh, hence the link to the left) --very bare bones now but info. about other aspects of the fest as well as info. about the fest-only LP (Deerhoof, Alela Diane, Valet, Michael Hurley, Nudity, Rick Bishop, and more...), as well as how to get tickets, all that jazz, will be up on there shortly. This bit about it was nice.

Sitting here in the slowly swelling heat anticipating the 102-105 projected temp. today, trying my absolute best not to lose my shit over a good chunk of change owed me by an insanely rich computer type company I did some work for back in March. Their system is so insane, labyrinthine, and mind-numbingly not at all oriented towards anyone doing creative work (not any of the templates they offer for invoicing make any sense to me -- not a one, out of three) so I feel a wee little bit like our pal THX 1138 today. Just a wee bit.

I feel that I've been very patient until now, especially as this is my first time working for these people, and it does often take longer to get paid when you're a freelancer. But Jesus fuck I don't know if it's the heat or what but I just feel like my head's going to explode from this stuff. Feeling this way could have something to do with the fact that my brother dumped the entire task of finding his baby mommy a place in Portland, in the next week, same time I myself have to pack and move... I haven't got my hernia fixed yet so I'm a bit worried about literally spilling my guts in that procedure. (TMI? Too bad!)

So, if anyone knows of a 2BR/ 1BA near OHSU close to bus lines that allows cats and is under $800, let me know, OK? Thanks a gazillion.

We want to live...

2006-07-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

3Ds "Evocation of WC Fields"

For no reason other than I just imported tracks off the CD last week, here's a fun ditty by New Zealand's 3Ds, from their 1990 disc Fish Tails/ Swarthy Songs for Swabs, which combines their first EP and LP, plus an extra track or two. People who say they sound like the goddamn Pixies are so wrong it makes we want to umm, to tell them how wrong they are. Loudly.

Got the final manuscript for the Luc Sante collection Yeti Books is publishing next Spring; of course, it's awesome. Also in the final throes of getting YETI 4 together--we send off pages to the printer on Monday. The disc is being mastered right now. And the first book we're publishing, Jana Martin's short story collection Russian Lover, is coming together as well. Damn.

We'll finally have a site up for the Halleluwah Fest in the next week or so. Looks like I'm spending the next week crazily assembling a cool LP with unreleased tracks from some of the festival performers, which will be available at the show only, for not too much dough ($10 maybe?). That is, if it can actually get manufactured by the end of next month. Thus far, though, Rick Bishop, Truman's Water, Nice Nice and Deerhoof all seem into the LP thing (as well as the fest itself of course). I hope it happens as I think it'll be a rad/ fun souvenir type thing.

Posting has been re-enabled after a long absence, FYI. I finally figured out if you just use one of those crazy scrambled word filter things you can keep the blogspam out, or most of it anyway.

When I was alone you promised the stone from your heart

2006-07-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

SYD BARRETT "Dark Globe"

You probably know this already but it looks like Syd Barrett passed away, age sixty.

In the palace of the Lord

2006-07-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

VAN MORRISON with Bob Dylan "Foreign Window"

I think this is from a live show in the late '80s, Dylan presumably on harmonica. I like the way the pseudo mystical sheen of the studio version is gone; it just sounds like two dudes on a boardwalk somewhere. It's kind of puffed-up and full of itself but what song that namedrops Rimbaud and Lord Byron wouldn't be?

Today I give thanks for iced coffee, Oregon blueberries and Tuli Kupferberg's Listen to the Mockingbird book. For no reason other than when I wasn't working or furniture hunting at "the bins" (score! for $30.50: two ottomans, two nice mis-matched dining room chairs, one big bulky old stereo console furniture thing--which was actually free by the side of the road, a paperback about Chinese medicine, and a very oddly shaped modernist mini-bookshelf) these things provided major relief.

And the rest of the scene still exists

2006-07-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

BIG BOYS "Which Way To Go"

Not a rare song, nor a particularly unheralded band this time. The summer makes a lazy man extra lazy. Well, maybe they were a bit unheralded outside of Austin and L.A. at the time, but surely that's been redressed by now. Wikipedia credits them for spreading hardcore across our fair land, which seems pretty wrong to me both on the historical side of things and the musical side, but I don't feel like ever dipping into "correcting" a Wikipedia entry. I mean, I'm a geek and all but I'm not that kind of geek. You know, the kind who cares about accuracy too much.

I do know that this tune is from the Texas band's posthumous 1984 release on Enigma, No Matter How Long the Line Is at the Cafeteria, There's Always a Seat. It's always been one of my three favorite Big Boys songs, and needless to say I was delighted when Seam did a slow-kiddie-core cover of it a few years later.

Didn't get turned on to this band until after they'd broken up, thanks to onetime dorm-mate Al Brown, who lent me this album like in '87, along with the just-released Paid in Full. If you click on that link, check out Alex's Alice Coltrane painting from last year. Holy hell. I always knew Alex was smarter and more talented than anyone else at school, but I didn't realize the dude is brilliant until a few years ago.