CMW – Kakewalking. Available on megaupload.

01. Frog-I-More Rag – Jelly Roll Morton

02. Harlem Strut – James P. Johnson

03. Charleston Rag – Eubie Blake

04. Maple Leaf Rag – Scott Joplin

05. Buffalo Rag – Tom Turpin

06. The Wagon – Ben Harney

07. Cocaine – Dick Justice

08. Junk Man Rag – Willie “The Lion” Smith

09. Kitten on the Keys – Fats Waller

10. Ragtime Nightingale – Joseph Lamb

11. Hateful Blues – Craig Ventresco

12. Last Kind Word Blues – Geechie Wiley

13. Bugle Call Rag – Red Allen & The Kentuckians

14. Ragtime Cowboy Joe – Andrew Sisters

15. St. Louis Blues – W.C. Handy

16. Sixth Avenue Express – Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, Meade Luxe Lewis, Jimmy Yancey

17. Original Jelly Roll Blues – Jelly Roll Morton

18. Tiger Rag – Benny Goodman w/ Teddy Wilson and Gene Kruppa

So I was visiting my grandparents Edie and Deac in FLA last year with some family. Grandpa Deac can’t hear a thing so you have to shout at the top of your lungs just to get his attention and turn his “good” ear (the left) your way. 

Deac got his name because his father was a church deacon. I still don’t quite understand how it was the son who got the nickname. Anyway, he’s a UVM alum, as is my aunt and sister. His father was also a state rep back when Deac was in college. Deac says the primary order of business for the state legislators was “how to keep people out of Vermont.” 

Well on this overcast Thursday afternoon at Edie and Deac’s, my sister called out from the sofa three feet away “Hey grandpa, did you read in the Cynic [student paper] about the renewed outcry over UVM’s Kake Walk history?” After repeating the question two more times I had to ask for clarification, and was told that Grandpa Deac – now 91, born in Indiana, survivor of the Depression, lifer at General Electric, globe trotter on the corporate dime, wearer of plaid overalls, refuser of hearing aids (they’re too loud) – Deac Connor, was also the only Catamount to be a TWO-TIME WINNER of the annual UVM Kake Walk competition in the 30′s. 

 “Oh yeah, the Kake Walk at Winter Carnival – it was a big dance contest at UVM. They played the old ragtime jazz and put on black face and practiced for, what Grandpa – six weeks? – (nods) – yeah, and he won it two years in a row. They gave a cake to the winner.” 

I see. 

“Anyway they stopped doing it in the ‘50s or ‘60s, I guess because of civil rights or something.” 

(Yes. Or Something.)

Hey, it may no longer be fashionable to blacken your face and summon the dancing spirit of our unjustly oppressed brethren, but we can all agree on the music, no? 

The design here was to learn a little something about what Ragtime music was about and how it influenced (birthed?) Jazz. I started digging around and found a bunch of good stuff and then realized those bastards that made the film “Crumb” had already done most of the work I was head-long into. And did it damn well. So I included a few tracks from that soundtrack, mainly ones that push the blues boundary more than the traditionally carefree piano rags I was uncovering. You decide what to make of it. I feel a little more enlightened about the roots of Jazz and even learned to appreciate the keys as instruments of high energy and formidable backbone. 

CMW – Zulu Lip Balm  

Available on megaupload.   

Tell you what, there is some groovy shit out there if you do a little digging around. Tip of the cap to whatsinmyipod for providing downloads for the bulk of the material excerpted here – not to mention the image above. Pucker up, beeyatch.

1.    Megaton – Vecchio 

2.   Iron Leg – Mickey and the Soul Generation 

3.   Sunshine of Your Love – Spanky Wilson 

4.   Kelen ati leen – Orchestra Baobab 

5.   Dust Road – Fanfare Ciocarlia 

6.   O.U.A. – Orchestre De Bayla 

7.   Dry Weather House – Calypso Quintet 

8.   Lost Fox Train (for Joe) – Hazmat Modine 

9.   I Crave My Pigmeat – Blind Boy Fuller 

10. Sex Machine – Sly and the Family Stone 

11. Yakuba – The Whitefield Brothers 

12. Red Beans and Rice – Booker T and the MG’s 

13. Live at PJ’s – Beastie Boys 

14. No City (prod. by Blockhead) – Aesop Rock 

15. Joyride – Heliocentrics 

16. We Know All About U – Ebony Bones

CMW – Sunday Noises

Available on megaupload 

1. Circle Same – Anders Parker (Don’t think Kenny Loggins, please. Just don’t do it.)

2. Tomorrow Tomorrow – Elliot Smith (An old favorite from ‘XO’)

3. Comfy in Nautica – Panda Bear (Another Brian Wilson royalty check, please.)

4. All I Need – Radiohead (In case you haven’t heard, In Rainbows is a damn good album.)

5. She Is The New Thing – The Horrors (Decent trio out of Cedar Rapids, IA… Cramps-ish?) 

6. It’s Not Too Beautiful – The Beta Band (Another old standby with outstanding production value.)

7. Robot Ponies – Laura Barrett (Heard this on Burning Man radio… still chuckling.)

8. Suffice – The Spinanes (One of Jelly’s fav indie duos from the ’90s.)

9. Tram 21 – Electrelane (Good showing on their ’07 album ‘No Shouts No Calls.’)

10. Here’s Your Future – The Thermals (Straight ahead pop rock with a sense of humor)

11. Wake Up – Dr. Dog (These guys are worth the attention they’re getting; I’m a big fan)

12. My Home Is The Sea – Bonnie Prince Billy and Matt Sweeney (‘Superwolf’ from ’05: very good album.)

13. Sunday Noises – Califone (Great rainy day music, if you don’t mind depression…)

14. Hard Sun – Indio (Vedder adds a longer finish to this one on Into the Wild, but not much else.)

15. Hawaiian Two-Step – John Fahey (Right back at ya, Forehead..)

16. Stone on the Water – Badly Drawn Boy (Might be the worst artist name this century, but his debut in ’00 was interesting. Since then, he’s done nothing noteworthy.)

17. It Wasn’t Me – Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins (“It’s your little wagon, and you’ve got to pull it.”)

My friend, who was a total stud, once told me a story how he was wooing this girl that he was really into. He was doing everything he could to romance her – writing songs, poems, working out, yoga.  It took months before they finally hooked up one afternoon at her apartment in late spring. Being the gentleman and the wooer, he of course went down on her. Doing his best to impress this girl, he was giving her the deluxe treatment, really putting his soul (and tongue) into it. He fancied himself as being pretty good at this. But after a few minutes of this she sighed and gazing out the window said, “should I go to Europe for two or three weeks this summer?” In an instant my friend’s pride melted and his heart sank. Deciding this girl was a lost cause, he rolled her over and masterbated on her back. He named it a “Back Jack.” So now whenever something is slightly interesting but in the end is just not worth the effort, well, we call that a Back Jack. Sexy’s Back is a Back Jack.

I did like the Ozomatli start and it gave me fond memories of Cirque Du Soleil. Stephen Marley was ok. Ben Harper ok. Jurassic 5 is great. The rest just kinda blended into this bluesy, funky, hippy melange that sometimes interested me for a moment but in the end never really got to me. I give it a 6 and thank you very much for the effort you put into making it.

My friend’s name was Sting.

Any one of my friends who have ever been drawn to San Francisco have been drawn (in some part) by her “subversive” undercurrent. Sadly the heavy boot of prosperity has been pressing down on subversity’s greasy wind pipe for far too long to ever fully recover. I’m proud to have bared witness to Mitchell Brother’s O’Farrell Theater in all its glory. I’ll always remember it as a house of ill-repute so tantalizing it actually made ol‘ eD nervous: Beautiful woman of all races beckoning with president’s names from the entrances of dark caverns, suit cases of sexual devise options described in detail and ultimately demonstrated in detail amongst Naugahyde booths, masses of wealthy decked-out Asian couples silently watching the action from the safety of the juice bar, flashlights…dental dams…latex gloves…daisy chains…all are gone. Today the Loin is nearly clean and KFOG‘s Accoustic Sunrise gets more of a rise out of the Bay Area than the fading O’Farrell. (Sigh.)

To be honest, I only went there three times (1. My 1st weekend in SF, 2. My 30 birthday and 3. A few weeks ago with persons who shall remain nameless for fear of the throttling their wives will give them). As with many things, I liked the idea of the O’Farrell more than actually going there and the idea of Jim Mitchell not being in the counting room anymore makes me sad.

In honor of my recent birthday (the O’Farrell is one year younger than me) and this great man’s passing, I’d appreciate if you’d read this article, put on a trench coat and dark glasses, go down to your corner liquor store, buy a “Juggs Magazine” and a pint of their cheapest generically branded vaguely Russian sounding vodka.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/21/DDGUDR3III1.DTL&hw=porn+kings&sn=001&sc=1000

el Detroit
PS: My mix is coming bitches.

Apparently the Son of Sting and his band were the opener. We missed them entirely and what we heard was fairly uninspired. Talk about big shoes to fill – can you imagine measuring yourself against a father who singlehandedly ended the cold war with one poignant song..?

Swampwife and girlfriend were sufficiently impressed with The Synchronized One’s vocal clarity and the lean cut of his shirt. The inevitable subject of his tantric prowess came and went with merciful brevity. Comparisons to Mick Jagger’s lifestyle led to this revelation: yoga and moderation age better than 2 bottles of Wild Turkey and a morphine habit.

The music… what can you say about their catalog of hits? They were freaking hit-makers for years upon years; an impressive accomplishment for a trio that seasoned pop with just enough punk and reggae to keep it interesting. Sumner up front kept everybody watching their MTV. Copeland kept the percussion pace up. Summers was, well, the relatively benign guitarist that he is. They played ‘em all and played ‘em true to the originals with a few repeats added at the end so we could all sing the eyyyyoooooo eeyyyyoooo’s (I didn’t realize how many of their songs employ that little bit of onomatopoeia: Walking on the Moon, Every Little Thing She Does.., Deathwish, Synchronicity I, and others I can’t remember now). Best of set was probably I Can’t Stand Losing You – Deathwish – …Losing You, followed by a So Lonely encore. And they did a decent job with Invisible Sun too.

A respectable showing from a band that I admit, I loved as a kid. Once Sting went Blue Turtles on us, the haystack edifice started to burn stick by stick, culminating in an Infiniti / AOL / DirecTV shill that seems to never end. But the origins were inspired and energized, and had enough lyrical heft (at ages 10 – 15 at least) to conjure adolescent feelings of love longed for and love lost.

I give the show a 6.0 with an extra 1.25 for the nostalgia factor.

Next, you’ll see the Home page defaults to the “about” description. As we get posts up here, that will change (I’ll move it to the right hand column, where “pages” are listed).

Pages are different from posts. Pages are permanent docs that live outside of the chronological sequence of posts. I’m thinking we create “pages” for each cd we submit, and that would have track lists, etc. If it starts to get too unwieldy we’ll figure out an alternative.

You’ll notice that when you write a post you can also add pics or videos (below the type area). Have at it, just remember to delete your own after each month.

Gotta run. Welcome aboard soldiers!