I Wanna Be Your Dog
A collection of over 40 cover versions of the Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog“. And as a bonus, these folks are making a list of songs that use the same chord progression.
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Genius Of The Crowd
Many of you already know Bukowski is one of my favorites. In celebration of his birthday today, I’m linking to a James P Johnson’s astonishing mix of Charles Bukowski’s “Genius Of The Crowd” with Gwyneth Walker’s “An American Concerto: A Burst of Energy”. This is the best thing I’ve seen all day James, and I’ve seen a lot.
National Day Of Slayer
Today is June 6th, 2006 (6/6/06), and that can only mean one thing National Slayer Day!!! From the web site:
6.6.06 isn’t a date that comes around very often (once per millennium, to be exact), and while plenty of stupid horror movies and terrible albums will be released for the hype value of the day that bears “the number of the beast”, we here at NDoS decided that this would be a perfect day for Hessians across the country to come together and engage in something upon which we can all agree – listening to Slayer! Also, do you really want those evangelical Neo-Cons to have all the fun with their “National Day of Prayer”?
I’m trusting that each and every one of you have “Reign In Blood” in your CD collection so I have decided that for my part, I will post a few covers of Slayer song for you to listen to. Turn your speakers up to 11 now!
First off we have som a capella Slayer with Japanese beatboxer, Dokaka, playing “Angel Of Death”
After that we have some classical (not classic, that’ll come later) Slayer with the String Quartet playing “Expendable Youth”
Next is Wckr Spgt perfoming a folkish version of “South Of Heaven”
Here is the just plain wierd Dictionaraoke performing “South Of Heaven”
On a more nerdy note we have “Angel Of Death” played on a NES Chip
And for something harder, here is Vader doing a live cover of “Raining Blood”
Lastly is a few short clips of live Slayer banter in between songs.
Remember, DO NOT use headphones! The objective of this day is for everyone within earshot to understand that it is the National Day of Slayer. National holidays in America aren’t just about celebrating; they’re about forcing it upon non-participants.
Below is a video of classic Slayer, in their heyday of 1985, playing “The Antichrist” live at Studio 54. Slayer owns your soul!
And oh yeah, Slayer is playing the Filmore on Friday.
Bats In The Belfry Or How To Use The Internet For Making A Record Of Your Life
Corner Of 16th & Grant, Denver
Last night, while walking home from work, I noticed this eerie scene and it reminded me of how close we are actually getting to Halloween. The nearly full moon and the belfry of St. Paul Lutheran Church and the dead tree limbs sure created a spooky mood. My new little moon phases thing says that a full moon should be coming any day now. The bells in the belfry can be heard in my apartment. Sometimes their loud ringing is nice and they act as a pleasant type of alarm, other times they can simply be loud and headache inducing. This mostly depends on my mood, demeanor, and how much I drank the night before. I remember one morning when the bells played, to my surprise, Cat Steven’s “Morning Has Broken”. Back in June of this past summer I recorded those churchbells on my cell phone.
KHUBS Radio And Grey Tuesday
So I’ve been working on putting together KHUBS Radio for a little while now and I thought what better time to announce it than on Grey Tuesday.
See, DJ Danger Mouse created a remixed album consisting of Jay-Z’s Black Album and the Beatles White Album, and called it the Grey Album. Jay-Z’s record label, Roc-A-Fella, released an a capella version of his Black Album specifically to encourage remixes like this one. However, EMI claims copyright control of the Beatles November 25, 1968 released, White Album. As a result, EMI has sent cease and desist letters demanding that stores destroy their copies of the album and that websites remove them from their sites. I personally feel that if sampled music is recorded in a respectful and artistically positive way, and that the end result is fundamentally different than the original, that artists should be able release their works without worry about copyright infringement. DJ Danger Mouse’s Grey Album does just that. I’m not sure what EMI is afraid of, the Grey Album is a completely new piece of art wonderfully different from what the Beatles created. I can’t imagine the Grey Album could have any effect on the sales of the incredibly popular (and rightfully so) White Album (except maybe introduce a few hip-hop fans that have somehow escaped the unavoidable genius that is the White Ablum).
The point is we cannot allow these corporations to continue censoring art; we need common-sense reforms to the copyright law that can make sampling legal and practical for artists. So for my part, in participation of GreyTuesday, which is sponsored by Downhill Battle, you can listen to DJ Danger Mouse’s Grey Album by clicking here or the KHUBS Radio link over there on the right for a pop-up to listen to while you’re doing other stuff. Enjoy!
The Good Stuff
Because I refuse to leave the last negative entry sitting here for three days – a few positive things going on.
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Of Montreal
I went to see Of Montreal (one of their better songs can be found here) last night. I had to coax myself out though. It was raining like crazy and I knew I wouldn’t be home till sometime after midnight (my head ended up hitting the pillow at 1:20. ugg) and I was just feeling generally lazy. But I went and it was worth it.
The show was held at the Larimer Lounge. This is the first time I’ve been there and it was hardly a lounge, more of an ordinary dingy bar – in somebody’s basement. Something akin to the 15th Street Tavern. The stage was a smallish platform backed by black sheets nailed to the wall. It’s small and smoky and intimate and I can’t decide if I liked it or not. However the lounge does have a great schedule including Essex Green, Dressy Bessy (they were in the crowd last night) and Mates Of State in the next couple of months.
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Goodbye Otha
This morning I got an email from a music-loving friend of mine that informed me of some sad news. Apparently, legendary bluesman and cane fife player, Otha Turner passed away last Thursday the 27th of March. His death overshadowed by that of a particular children’s television show host. Otha Turner and the Rising Star Drum and Fife Band played a style of “blues” called American drum and fife music. Its influences trace most directly to both the drum corps of the Revolutionary War and traditional African music brought to America by slaves.
I discovered Otha’s music a couple of years ago from some random zine I can no longer remember the name of. What I like most about Otha music, in addition to it’s simple but driving beats and southern man-of-the-earth feel, it was great to party to. In fact Otha threw picnic parties every summer for whomever wanted to attend. Otha and friends would roast goat, drink margaritas, and play music. The summer I first heard Otha I brought his CD to all the parties I went to. My friends with an interest in music (and most of those who didn’t) always got their interest piqued when they heard it. If you haven’t heard Othar Turner yet I recommend you do so. Try downloading (left click) some of his tunes from here, here, or here.
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