Random stuff here. Mostly hardcore related, but I reserve the right to stray as it suits me. I like to write a little about how this music fits in the context of my life. If you find something I have posted, that is still available, give me the link of where it can be found so people can get it. Enjoy and please comment not just on this blog but wherever you go.
Yes I do have family members (my cousin’s boy) that “noodle” for catfish. With that, there is no denying where I choose to call home, a whole mountain range, plus some desert away from where I once was. Not judging or anything ya know just not my thing.
I blew my load on that last post so I’m not really feeling like going into a whole lot of detail in that typical Mustard Relics kind of way (yay!) and sharing all kinds of tid bits and music bites. I will say though, that sometimes work can just suck the life right out of you and leave you wondering how you manage to do it day in and day out. Should be more excited I suppose as yesterday made it 5 years since I have wrapped my lips around a bottle of liquor. Probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done and certainly one of my biggest accomplishments (digging yourself into a whole and then digging yourself out).
(Picture stolen from the apparently dead, Humblog) Since this is a Humboldt post and Little Jimmy provided the main rip, thought I would share a few tunes by a recent band of his, Buffy Swayze. Kind of a punky, new wave thing a la 1979, or maybe more of a trippy, surf Bowie-esque grove, what do I know. I need to take a class in how to be more descriptive than “cool”, “dig”, “brutal” and “rockin”. Don’t think these guys have played in a while, if they were it would be another one of James’ 12 bands. Anyway, “AM at Night” is the “hit of these three, for me (some pretty cool stuff). The Buffy Swayze- AM at Night The Buffy Swayze – Good Old U.S.A. The Buffy Swayze – Warning Signs
Another Humboldt installment, this one from a little before my 7 year stay up there. Really know nothing about these and even James just had this to say, “They were only a band in Arc/Eur for 84/85. They played a few local shows and parties, but I don’t think they opened for any bigger bands. Spud Dogma played with them quite a few times @ parties on alliance rd where they would have piles of tvs & stuff and people would take turns smashing them with baseball bats, etc in the front yard!” Some of the tunes are good and others maybe not so much. Definitely from that time, with more of a punk feel than a hardcore one. I think my favorite tune is “Phallacy”, then the instrumental “The Annoying One”. Enjoy another piece of history.
We don’t smoke in the house, which is I guess a good thing, odor, smoking less and so on, but God there are times when it would be nice to be able to smoke and be on the computer at the same time. Anybody got a spare laptop?
There have been many times in my life when this tune was the sum total of my person experience and opinion on relationships. Suicidal Tendencies – Won’t Fall In Love Today
It’s funny how we feel sorry for ourselves when we’ve been “done wrong” in relationships, yet there’s mostly just a feeling of relief when we are the ones who have “done wrong”. I guess Suicidal Tendencies really had something going with that first LP as so many of the songs like that one or the “hits”, ‘Institutionalized’ or ‘Subliminal’ were so easy to relate to. I was very impressed, in what was it, 83 0r 84 when it first came out, but was less impressed with the whole Suicidal gang. Rat packers, just like every other so called gang of tough guys. Wish had something rare to share by the band but I’ve just got that LP and ‘Welcome to Venice’, but I’m sure everyone’s heard those.
Not by a long shot do I think I’m unique in sometimes wandering in a seemingly aimless fashion or just plain old dead set on a mission to find something specific on Youtube. Fucking IMMENSE site with these mysterious saints of the music lover surrounded by masses of idiots. Sites like my humble Mustard Relics are in a losing battle for the attention of a select few, when confronted by monsters like Youtube and Facebook. Fuck it, we’ll keep plugging away, knowing that we are morally obligated to persevere. So I take from monstrous behemoths like Youtube (who profit in the billions and yet I still support them), using a marvelous tool of imaginative pirates like, JDownloader and tear the music right out of the videos. Not selfishly of course because here they are in semi secrecy for my 5 or 10 friends. Almost self destructive in a sense because it detracts from the main post/topic but somehow it all makes sense and is cohesive in my mind. So…
I was in a folk mood the other day and ran across this one (Punk way before punk was born), Pete Seeger – What Did You Learn In School
To the right there on the Youtube page, whenever you watch a video, you get suggestions and ran across another piece of Pete Seeger deepness. Pete Seeger – Which Side Are You On
Needless to say (as you read on or not) I took that song and beat it to death all over Youtube. For a while there when I was a 24/7 drunk, before I said fuck it and bought my liquor by the fifth or the half gallon, I enjoyed those little airplane (single shot) bottles hooch. When I was desperate I would take 20 or 30 of those, so called empties, and turn them upside down over a glass until the last little leftover drops were free of the tiny bottles. If I had enough, it might add up to a shot, or enough to take a little bit of the edge off until the liquor store opened up. What better song to collect drops of to add up to one decent drink, with it’s socialist leaning even as masses of ignorant accuse “our” president of being a Socialist. I’m still not a big fan of the guy but then again there would have to be a drastic change (you might say revolutionary) in the figure in general. They were different times back then, but as long as there are gluttonously wealthy people, a fair wage for whatever it is that people are doing to help those people get that way, it will always be relevant. The song wasn’t written by Mr. Seeger, but by a woman named Florence Reese. A hundred tons of emotion and passion in a simple tune like that, here’s the lyrics. As I’ve done before, once I’ve found the original, I want to hear other groups do their take on a tune. I posted a tune by these guys before, from the Give ‘Em The Boot 2 comp. Their take on it is kind of what you’d expect kind of a pub chant, working class Oi! kind of thing which in this case works for me. Dropkick Murphys – Which Side Are You On
They do it in their live sets apparently too. Dropkick Murphys – Which Side Are You On (live)
I’ve never strayed into the Natalie Merchant camp, but she does have a VERY pretty voice. Kind of a Joan Baez folky hippy kind of thing. More sad than a call to action. Natalie Merchant – Which Side Are You On
Her live version just doesn’t sound as good as the studio one. Natalie Merchant – Which Side Are You On (live)
This Greek lady, I think, has a perty voice too but now that I think about it I’m not sure that’s what the song calls for. Νατασσα Μποφιλιου – Which Side Are You On
This rap tune samples the chorus, of I don’t know who’s version. Not bad if you dig rap and kinda cool because in a distant way, it stays with the theme, in that they are dissatisfied with the status quo. Rebel Diaz – Which Side Are You On
These guys kind of have a fun version and have changed the lyrics to make it more about the system and poke a little fun at hippies at the same time. Wahoo Skiffle Crazies – Which Side Are You On
This is easily one of my favorites, Billy Bragg changes the lyrics to give it an English twist and electrifies it, with the end result of nailing it. Billy Bragg – Which Side Are You On (1985) Germany
This next one was from a KXLU thing called “Demolisten”, you L.A. heads should be familiar with that historic Loyola Marimount radio station. These guys blew me away with their self described “L.A. Folk Death”. I apologize for the low quality of the rip, I take em as I get em. Los Duggans – Which Side Are You On (live on demolisten KXLU)
Got diverted after that one and had to check out some more by those guys at their site appropriately called, Los Duggans. Do yourself a favor and listen to this rager and then go get their CD like I’m going to. Los Duggans – Poor Boy in Jail
After doing all that bullshit, basically masturbating in binary, I found out that this site did this in may of this year, FUCK! Oh well I’m drained.
Don’t you just love the clarity of my prehistoric digital camera? Couldn’t find a scan to steal so as you’ve seen before that’s what you get. Ah, Siouxsie, the stuff teenage crushes are made of. Less lustful than say the blue ball infatuation of Wendy O. Williams, but of course the music and the musicians themselves are mountains more than that. This was/is some serious shit. I only saw The Banshees once, much later than this in 1987, during their Peek -A-Boo tour. Insanely good and a contrast because I had seen Yellowman the previous night at the same venue in Berkeley, California. Even though I was with a woman I was seeing at the time (long story), I was mesmerized. More than that was that they put on an out of this world performance. Songs from every record up to that point and it all came out perfect (maybe it was just the super high quality bud I had, and shared at both shows). I have most of what Siouxsie officially put out whether it be with the Banshees or the Creatures, but not really any rarities. In high school it was mostly the Bau Haus, Jesus & Mary Chain, Love & Rockets crowd that was into her, but I always figured that her roots were punk so I wouldn’t have to answer to the punk rock rule writers. Stopped following her 10 or 15 years ago so I don’t know what made me put this one on the plate today. You can get all this from the recently released ‘Siouxsie and the Banshees at the BBC’ 3 CD/1 DVD set, so I’m not really providing with you much more than a sample of some of my favorite stuff. Dig it or don’t.
Not like I haven’t babbled on enough so we’ll keep this short. Stumbled upon these a while back, I can’t remember which site, the ‘Love in a Void’ take on this is well worth it. Later.
The makeshift skate park in the garage, pretty much the only concrete slab for miles. I’ll miss my boy until I see him again next summer.
Just noticed this the other day when another site I visit on occasion mentioned he had done it as well, but my hit counter on the bottom right column has passed the 100,000 mark. What that number measures is unique IP addresses, which means two things; 1. that’s a lot of fuckers who have come by to share my mundane insanity, and 2. that’s a lot of fuckers who didn’t leave a comment, except for the spam-bots. Not as many as some of the uber-blogs but not too bad for some burn out from California living in NoWhere Kansas. A couple other numbers,
291 posts (10 more and we’ll have a Super Sabado Gigante Celebration)
11,849 comments (9,188 were spam)
2,660 approved comments (half of those mine, just being glad there are visitors)
I don’t know what it is about Black Metal that I dig, especially the lo fi stuff. After all I am the ONLY person that REALLY understands Christianity. It goes back to the early Venom and Slayer days, and reading Anton LaVey, but I realized even then that in the music, it was just a pose, a show. Silly really, spandex and Satan. Until recently, when Jason at Lo-Res Viscera turned me onto Bone Awl, I hadn’t really followed the scene. Had to read what the infallible Wikipedia had to say about Black Metal. Missed the whole 90′s Norwegian white power thing. I guess I have to plead a little ignorance because when you take it seriously how do you rationalize a Judeo/Christian/Muslim concept like Satan and Paganism. There must be a connection but I’m missing it. I understand the animosity, after all, Christianity has a black history of it’s own, but for me the worst thing about it is it’s followers, their manipulation and interpretation. All that aside, I have no idea what they’re singing about, but these guys remind me of the Black Metal Discharge. Malveillance – Sans Voix Malveillance – Attendant La Mort
Shouldn’t make assumptions based on appearances, but pretty sure these ladies enjoy same sex partners (actually after some research, this and the bands that followed were self proclaimed Dyke bands). In my less PC days (especially drunk, it’s hard to be PC and really drunk at the the same time) I might have said they had “vegetarian pussies”, an old quote from a long lost buddy, to which he might add. “‘cuz they don’t eat meat.” That was rude (not sure who I’m trying to please” and the reality is I could give a fuck about sexuality or whose companionship you seek. Everyone deserves to be happy. I’m anything but a homophobe, my best man at my second wedding is what would be best described as a gay redneck. Back in the Humboldt days, there was a strong lesbian scene, led by this band called Pope Joan. I dated the drummer who was obviously bi, and being under 21 I would get into their over 21 shows by playing the tambourine. Anyway, I digress…La Grenuda, which may have some kind of slang meaning, but my Spanish/English dictionary says that it means, “the shaggy”. Got this record not too long ago on a whim from Ebay and paid more that I usually do for bands I know nothing about. Not a whole lot of info on this band outta Portland. I did find this review of this, their one and only 7″, “Two members of La Grenuda are now in The Vegas Beat, a band which was the surprise hit of the Dirtybird Queercore festival this summer. Until the Vegas Beat has a record out, this 7″ is the next best thing. [They now have a full-length out on Candyass.] “Friend” is uptempo and propulsive; “Something’s Wrong” shows a quieter, more introspective side. “Pitfall” starts out with a slow, but driving drum beat and strummed guitar, and slowly builds. (Live Transmission Records) (reviewed 10/96).” My record does not have a date and I couldn’t find it listed anywhere (I suck at web searches I think) so based on this review the record was released some time before 10/96. Vegas Beat as the review says came just after and they have a myspace that seems to still be active. From what I heard of the tunes they have for you there Vegas Beat isn’t too bad, if not a little mellower than La Grenuda.
Team Dresch is another post-LaGrenuda band, that in my humble opinion shreds. A little more sophisticated, especially in terms of the drumming, but still with that hard passion. Grrl Band Geek has a tune they play from the “Free to Fight! Self Defense for Women and Girls” that rocks seriously hard, again with somewhat more sophisticated drumming. The lyrics live up to what you might imagine with a comp of that name, “…Hey that girl’s looking at my butt, wait is that a girl, a boy or what, you’re just the subject of our test, a new form of experiment called lesbian knows best.” Well worth a listen, Team Dresch – Song for Anne Bannon Excerpts of the Trans-Mundane has their “Captain My Captain” LP, that gives you more of the same. A Sample, Team Dresch – I’m Illegal
Those tunes aside and as good as guitarist Marci Martinez is on the guitar there is one that tops them all. The other tunes are just so-so on this 7″ but you MUST listen to “Friend”. The guitar sound on that one is just out of this world. See what I mean,
The post goes out to a good brother of mine who also is a regular around here, you know who you are. A year younger than me and the cancer has already forced it’s way into his life. Hard to find anybody these days who hasn’t been touched in some way or another by the disease. It’s all in how you choose to live I guess but I have a feeling some of that shit is forced upon us. A tall glass of water to the folks makin’ sure you’re around for all of us who love you. Take it easy brother.
Well, the face of summer always changes for me when my son heads back to his “other” home. We always try to squeeze as much as activity as we can into a 2 month period. I don’t have as much energy as I used to as I found out when we started working out together. I gotta say that working out at 40+ is distinctly different than it was when I was doing it in my late teens, early 20′s. I’m a hell of a lot stronger now, but with 20 extra years of smoking blackening my lungs and maybe another 100 pounds under my belt, let’s just say my stamina sucks (air). Going to keep hitting the iron but really need to put some time on the bike. Anybody know what I’m talking about?
With Liam here rap has been spinning or doing whatever it does on the computer, since that’s where his interest lies. I’m no expert on raising a son but I figure you’ve got to show some interest in what they’re into. Not much worse than force feeding a mind, but I still tried to get him to eat his broccoli. Rap wise, these guys were the shit when I was a couple of years older than he was. Surprisingly he knew what was up, shame I didn’t take the words to heart when I was young. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five – White Lines
For some reason this next tune reminds me of the two “craziest” guys that are on my caseload at work. According to my employer it would be an invasion of their privacy to share their pictures, maybe so but I consider them friends as much as I do clients. I guess if you did see them it would be clear that their sense of reality is unique. In my line of work Ken and Andy are what’s called, “dual diagnosed”, meaning they have metal retardation and mental health issues. I find myself more drawn to the guys who are the most difficult, psychotic, delusional and obsessive. As much as we enjoy each other’s company on a daily basis, if they had a choice between having a soda/pop and hanging out with me, I would be picked last. Yellowman and Fathead hit the spot though like a cold soda on a hot day. Yellowman & Fathead – Bam Bam
Heard this one one the radio the other day and was just amazed. If you ever want to hear a three piece rock the fuck out blast this one on the stereo. Funny I probably have 20+ Hendrix LP’s but I have yet to post anything. Sitting on this one double live bootleg thing from his last LA show at the Forum that I’ll have to get out at some point. For now tell me you don’t dig this tune and some trivia, manic depression = bi-polar disorder these days. Jimi Hendrix – Manic Depression
For the life of me I could not remember a whole lot about when Garden Weasel played with these guys so I asked someone who is not burned out. Ed had this to say. “So far as Muzza Chunka, We played with them our last 2 shows, the first in Garberville at the Vet’s hall and second at the Power Station the next night. They had a meaty, chunky, thick, 2-guitar sound, kinda mid-tempo pre-grunge butt rock. All I can remember is that they were really nice guys, from LA. The singer sat with me at Power Station and commented on how they weren’t used to playing all-ages to shows to kids – that they could only get shitty bar gigs in LA. They were happy with the turnout at the Power Station. I know they dug Grimace and maybe had a connection to Arcata via the Bongload Records guys, Thom Rothrock and Rob Shnaff. The bass player had a cool Gibson Explorer bass and I think one of them got lucky with a good-looking waitress I worked with at Golden Harvest cafe in Arcata and I served them all breakfast the next day when they came in. “ I was listening to this album while I was writing this post, I do that a lot, and it’s not bad, but what little I do remember is that they were tight as fuck live. Another thing I remember was that show was the furthest we ever played which was about an hour from Arcata/Eureka. Sad. I put Muzza Chunka in the metal category for lack of a better place, maybe hard rock would be better but it seems like I’m bad at categorizing things sometimes. You be the judge,
Edit: Been sitting on this one for a while boys, finally getting it completed hoping I haven’t lost my “fan base”. Still reading comments though and interested in what’s going on with y’all. Hope all is well, enjoy this Humboldt sweetness. Our little itty bitty garden. 15+ years of busting my hump (swinging a pick, kicking a shovel and chasing a wheelbarrow) for a living, I’m just not that motivated to do anything spectacular in the dirt. This is enough to put several meals worth of vegetables on the table and to get together some jars of salsa (by the way, contrary to popular belief, in my opinion salsa is much better with cilantro/coriander). The best garden I ever had was back in college with Dave Slam up in Kneeland, all dug by hand, with truck load after truck load of horse manure and crab shells, tilled in. Fruit, vegetables and flowers for drying. Amazing what a 22 year old punk rock doper/drunk college student can do (just me, Dave was clean as a whistle, studied very hard and enjoyed listening to 70′s love ballads). It must have been around 50′ x 50′ and now I’m reduced to 6′ x 6′, ha, ha. All cleaned up now, but too out of shape and broke down to let my physical and creative forces flow.
Anybody ever heard this one? Rolf Harris – Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport
Back when I was a kid in the 70′s it seemed like every other year I would make the trek from where I lived then, in the City of Angels to where I live now, amongst relatives in Kansas. We’d either drive and see the sights, which I actually enjoyed, or do it the quick way, even though it seemed like forever, and take the plane. Actually we took the train once and that wasn’t so bad, but another time we took the Greyhound and if you’ve been there you know that long distance bus rides are less than desirable. Anyway, so on the plane trips, which were too short for a movie I usually slept, if the cabin pressure didn’t make my ears explode or listen to those head sets that plug into the arm rest. On one trip I heard that song for the first time and I just loved it. The music was on a loop so I actually got to here the tune 2 or 3 times. So here we are 30 something years later and I’ve rediscovered the tune. A little silly but still not too bad. So I looked it up, here and it turns out there’s a little bit of controversy to it. The forth verse was originally different (Abos=derogatory term for Aborigines).
“Let me Abos go loose, Lou
Let me Abos go loose
They’re of no further use, Lou
So let me Abos go loose.”
A bit of useless trivia about a silly song written in late 50′s Australia, that no on really cares about. Just for my buddy Mike though, over at Strange Reaction who is a big fan of the guys who help out Rolf on this alternate take. Rolf Harris – Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport (ft. The Beatles)
Everybody deserves a sock in the eye every once in a while. In lieu of that I’ve got some random tunes I wanted to share with you. My buddy Alex reminded me of this one that I’ve got on a mixed tape somewhere. Up in Humboldt the helicopters used to fly low dawn till dusk at those special times of the year, in the never ending search for the devil’s weed. Really puts you on edge when you’re one involved with cultivation. Interesting take on the violent side of reggae, “…but if you continue to burn up the herbs, we gonna burn down the cane fields”, John Holt – Police In Helicopter
Tried to turn my son onto this one from about 1988 since he’s on the rap tip, but he couldn’t get into that rap/reggae fusion thing that has been popular off and on. Don Baron proves though that he IS the “Fast Talk Man”, Don Baron – Fast Talk Man
Another buddy of mine that I haven’t seen around here in a long time, Mr. Batguano over at the awesome Fugitve Equilibrium. Turned me onto La Casa Fantom out of Oslo, Norway. This tune is from their first LP in 2000 and for just having drum and bass this shit hits you hard, La Casa Fantom – Sorte Lunger
Heard this classic on the radio the other day and kinda just putting it out there to see if anyone is reading and digs Nazareth, Nazareth – Miss Misery
Little Jimmy came though again with another nugget from mid-80′s Humboldt. Another band that I saw at many a party, but in my mind they all blur together as one party. Schmidt was a popular beer in those part, back then and actually I’ve never seen it anywhere else. As far as types of beer goes I’d put it in the category of “cheap”, if that tells you anything. 12 packs came in four different can decorations and there were those who claimed that one type was better than another (including myself). Many drunk nights, hangovers and barfing sessions associated with that beer. Used to get it from that liquor store that was in between the motel and Hey Juans, by the footbridge over to HSU. Anyway, the Schmidtheads were one of those post punk things that only Humboldt could have produced. The members were,
Patty (Gamel) Forbes – vox
Chris Means – guit/vox
Billy Britain – guit/vox
Jason Brown – bass
Sherri Frost – drums
You’ll run across these names frequently in various bands as the scene there recycled musicians constantly. Patty really could belt out a song, Chris you’ll see around here a lot as time goes on with his killer chords (The Leftovers from a couple of posts ago) and Sherri has already been featured here with the tune, The Jane Maxwell Band – Some Of Us and one of my favorite bands, Students From Marin/Sherri’s Flappin’ Mammies. If there’s one tune I remembered listening to this some 20+ years after the fact, it’s “Mary Kay Cosmetic Queen. Other than that you get a few killer cover’s and some of Humboldt’s finest originals. So if you were there take a minute to get nostalgic and know how lucky you were, but if this is all new, know that all kinds of shit was going on in the middle of nowhere Northern California.
…while my son Liam is doing his rap thing, I’ve just kind of been in a JC mood.
My truck no longer has a driver’s side window because Liam hasn’t quite grasped the concept of potential ricochet’s with the BB/Pellet gun. I think we’ll hold off on getting him the .22 rifle I was looking at upgrading him to. The truck still works though and the dogs know that if I’m going someplace in it, that they too are going to get a chance to go “bye-bye”. You can’t say that word too loud though because if they hear it, it triggers a little bit of a freak out time for them. Sometimes a stroll through the countryside is just what the doctor ordered, although with the dogs in the truck in the middle of summer’s sweltering heat (and no air conditioning), what we have is a hot wind in the face, swirling shedded dog hair, everybody wanting to be on my lap, drool flowing like a waterfall and the non-stop rhythmic sound of panting. Would be sort of comical if there could be some kind of hidden camera.
Not sure if, wherever y’all may be, you get those redneck type jokes forwarded to you in your email. I don’t know that I would be officially considered one or be embraced by redneck brethren as a fellow redneck, but unavoidably the tendencies are there. Actually if I drive my truck I get ten times the waves I do when I drive my car, even the big rigs give me the high sign. The jokes are very popular among the rednecks I know, made popular by Jeff Foxworthy and the other Blue Collar Comedy guys, and I’m a little impressed by a group of people being able to laugh at how they have been stereotyped (or have stereotyped themselves). Ethnic groups do the same thing, kind of roasting themselves, but anyone outside of that group making those kind of stereotypical (racist?) jokes would be frowned upon. Anyway I get these redneck jokes forwarded to me all the time and got a few good ones I’ve edited recently from my Grandpa.
You’re An EXTREME Redneck When…..
1. You let your 14-year-old daughter smoke at the dinner table in front of her kids.
4. You think a woman who is out of your league bowls on a different night..
6. Someone in your family died right after saying ‘Hey, guys, watch this’.
17. You think loading the dishwasher means getting your wife drunk.
Along those lines, interestingly (or not) enough called the Erudite Redneck. An interesting word, “erudite”, I had to look it up, “learned, scholarly, with emphasis on knowledge gained from books”. Kind of an oxymoron (another big word) if you take the stereotype to the next level. Kind of one of those resource link commentary type sites but since my buddy The Warden” is taking a break, I need something to fill the gap in my internet buffet.
If you weren’t Johnny Cashed-out before this post, that like these others before, is on, about, for or in tribute to the man, well…let’s say…I’m still trying. I personally would have a hard time getting sick of his music, but then again I’ve never tried to break that threshold. Like everything it’s all about timing and what mood your in. You may have seen that I posted two very different releases of his, American Recordings and The Sun Years, plus several other random tunes, sparsely salted to taste, throughout my posts here. I really can’t get enough of the guy and wish that he had been like one of those mythical biblical type guys who lived 9oo years. His output was tremendous but what could it have hurt to have gone on for a few more centuries. Speaking of “hurt”, I don’t have all the American Recoding stuff he did with Rick Rubin, but just discovered a tune he did, written by Trent Resnor (NIN) that, if you haven’t already heard it, will blow you away, especially if you’re like me and have been hopelessly addicted to something, Hurt
This fine image was stolen/borrowed/loaned without permission from Sharp Tattoos and fit nicely since my copy of this single doesn’t have a sleeve. Both tunes are perfect on this one from 1971 from what I would call the middle period of his career, but obviously Man In Black is the highlight and worth posting the lyrics to,
Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there’s a reason for the things that I have on.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he’s a victim of the times.
I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you’d think He’s talking straight to you and me.
Well, we’re doin’ mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin’ cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we’re reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought ‘a be a Man In Black.
I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin’ for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.
And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen’ that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen’ that we all were on their side.
Well, there’s things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin’ everywhere you go,
But ’til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You’ll never see me wear a suit of white.
Ah, I’d love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything’s OK,
But I’ll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
‘Till things are brighter, I’m the Man In Black.
I’m not one to quote Wikipedia and actually I’ve run across many sites that pretty much just quote Wiki without credit and then call it good. Cheezy in my book, but I’m not one to talk as this place may have the reek of something like burnt Parmesan at times. This paragraph was too good to not pass on directly so,
“Cash, a devout but troubled Christian, has been characterized “as a lens through which to view American contradictions and challenges.” A Biblical scholar, he penned a Christian novel entitled Man In White, and he made a spoken word recording of the entire New King James Version of the New Testament. Even so, Cash declared that he was “the biggest sinner of them all”, and viewed himself overall as a complicated and contradictory man. Accordingly, Cash is said to have “contained multitudes”, and has been deemed “the philosopher-prince of American country music”. A good lead in to the ‘A’ side of this single.
I have a lot of Johnny Cash singles but this was my first from his early stuff off the Sun label. My copy is worn to say the least and actually according to “Goldmine Standards” is is rated “good”, which is not so good. The label is worn, there’s sticker residue, but there’s “WOL” (writing on label). The vinyl itself has absolutely no sheen, just one big scuff, no scratches that skip, but there is a whole speaker that is dedicated to surface noise. Even still the sound is beautiful. I don’t know their names but I dig the “Tennessee Two”. Now that I live in a place where Country is THE music of choice for young and old, I can see how really popular Mr. Cash was. Watched this special on the man not to long ago that basically put him in a place where he was as popular as the British invasion. In the early 60′s, when he did “Ring of Fire” he crossed over to the pop charts into that top 40. More often than not, popular, means shit, but sometimes…not,
Another seriously great one from the man, that someone has kindly shared the video of. You can pretty much find just about anything on Youtube. Ira Hayes is someone worth looking into especially if your in the mood to be angry or depressed.
People around me are jealous because the voices only talk to me. But have no fear I will pass along everything I hear. There’s this new lady here at work that maybe someone can relate to. A know it all, that even though she’s only been around for a couple of weeks, doesn’t need any training. As I’ve said before, I work with people who have developmental or are dual diagnosed and have severe mental illness as well. Like anywhere though, when you’re dealing with people, you have to get to know them and it takes time. This lady is classic though, on day four she’s already turning people in and telling them how they should deal individuals. I haven’t really had anything to do with her yet, I’m a little higher on the ladder, but I’m kind of looking forward to my first run in. Down the hall though, the other day I heard her talking to someone about her “area of expertise”. Made me laugh hard enough that I’m sure I was heard. A fucking “area of expertise”? Classic! I realize that SOME people actually have an area of expertise, but to hear someone spout that made me want to puke. How fucking cocky and egotistical. “Know it all”, is what we called it when we were kids. Ahh, maybe it’s jealousy. I know a lot of shit (90% useless) and dabble in a lot of things, a poor excuse for a renaissance man really, but an “area of expertise”? Well I guess I do…in drug and alcohol use/abuse. In other words, I am an expert in how to get fucked up. Better yet, I KNOW how to be a loser. At the same time thare are lots of people who were better losers than I was, not sure if I spent enough time in that state to qualify as an expert, a masters as opposed to a PHd. Even though it’s been almost five years, I don’t know if I would say I was an expert on staying clean, still got a ways to go before I get my doctorate in that. So, I’m a pretty busy guy at work but I think that just to feel better about myself, I’m going to take some time to harrass this lady.
“I smile because I don’t know what’s going on”.
My old friend Alex (shit, about 25 years now) hit me up with some interesting tidbits the other day that are worth sharing here. If you claim to be a TRUE ladies man, you might be interested in the X-Ray Pin-Up Calendar. At the very least, a trip and a half. He also shared with me this clip of John Trudell from a much bigger documentary that was done on him (what do you know) called “Trudell”. I got into what he had to say and now will need to see if I can’t pick up the whole thing.
Theres also another vid someone did with some of his intense poetry, called “Look At Us” that you can follow that up with here. Thanx Alex!
Well now if you follow along here, post to post, in my chaotic jumble of words, thoughts and musings, which everyone should as this place is far superior to anything that has been or will be on the interenet, you already have heard of Unbiased. Even though I’ve had this one for almost 20 years, it was released in ’93, when I gave it a spin a couple of weeks back, I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be played at 33 or 45 rpm. Sounded good both ways really, but what the fuck do I know. Elliott said that at 33 the vocals sound a bit more human, which left me thinking it sure would be cool if someone did sing that way, just kinda unusually cool. See what I mean, Unbaised – Greedy Human @ 45rpm. So Shawn and Jay, did a little research on it, found their Myspace and BAM, there it was plain as day. The last tune they have for your consumption there is the last tune on this 7″, played at 33 rpm. Mystery solved, and as I am sometimes easily amused, I feel satisfied and somehow the record is now complete. These guys, outta Japan, didn’t have a whole lot of output, this one that I have, a split with Unholy Grave and a couple tracks on the Thrash Ahoy comp, according to Discogs (which is where I stole these killer scans from, I hope to have a running scanner before too long). I guess they’re kinda of a grindcore outfit and kinda early on in that genre’s history, but they are one of the more interesting ones. Not that balls to the wall, non-stop screaming type of thing, they slow it up, just a tiny bit to give you some heaviness and maybe a little more digable to people that might not be down with straight up, generic, grindcore. Try it out, Greedy Human was my favorite,
Well we’re back in the saddle at my house with Liam here to make sure things are BUSY. At 13, with 14 around the corner, fucking energy just oozes from his pores. A four day football camp over at K-State as soon as he got here only amounted to one day of tired. In the four days since he’s had fishing, BBQing, shooting the BB gun (the side window in me truck was already a casualty), mowing with the riding lawn mower, hanging out with his Kansas friend and practicing his driving on the 20 or so miles of dirt road between our farm and town. DAMN! A blast really and just an honor to have him around, the fruit of my loins, ha, ha. On top of everything else he brought a microphone and as he has been doing in North Carolina he records beats off the internet and does raps over them using Audacity. As I’ve said I’m very selective about what hip hop music I like, but this is my boy using his creativity, incredible. Him and his buddies have this thing going called Ice Men (check they’re myspace) and they seem to be cranking out the tunes. They’re actually starting to experiment with their own beats too. Here’s on of those, all i du iz spit
Doin his papa proud. Needless to say I’m busy, maybe too much so to do this, but fuck, I’ve got a few of you guys that are coming here regularly and I don’t want to lose that. We’ ll keep the ball rolling in what little bit of free time I have, a’ite?
For a short period of time between when I told my boss to fuck off at my city job and when I became a 24 hour a day drunk druggie, I had my own business. On the edge really as I was still passing out every night but managed to get a few jobs done. I called it Hrabe & Son Landscape after Sanford & Son. They have that show still playing all the time on the TV Land channel but does anybody remember the theme song. Funky jazzy stuff that’s pretty wild, dig the whole thing, Quincy Jones – Streetbeater (Sanford & Son theme song)
You know it’s wild what pops up when you do a random image search for a word like “leftovers”. Stole this fine image from a very interesting site called, Deviant Art.
The artist goes by the name, Plasma Snake
and if you take a look at his work he definitely works with a theme. All that because the recording I’m sharing with you for now did not come with an image of it’s own, so in the not so random sense I have used my imagination. The fucking LEFTOVERS, another one of Little Jimmy’s things, that he has taken the time to send my way. What a way back when kind of a treat. First local band I saw upon moving up to Humboldt in 1987 and my immediate thought was, this place is going to be a blast. I also remember thinking these guys were drunks but I was pretty drunk myself. A party band? I guess if you mean did they play parties, yes, that was the scene up in Humboldt, at least a couple a week with live bands, but I think I did see them at a few venues around Arcata too. Not sure if they ever did a tour or played outside of the county, that’s something James will have clue us into,
“Leftovers: 86-89.
Chris Means-vox
Eric Baffert-guitar
James Forbes-bass
John Bishop-drums
Recorded @ vinyl taco in Arcata in Nov 88. We played so many shows/parties it was ridiculous. The hardest workin band in show biz…we used to say. Opened for Screaming Trees when they were on SST. NoMeansNo. Lawndale. Pop O Pies. Tusk(a Gwar type show, pre-Gwar, with members of Redd Kross, Painted Willie, etc, an SST thing). Verbal Abuse. The last 3 were in Garberville!” Vinyl Taco was pretty much the only “real” recording studio around other than KHSU and a few guys around who had 8 and 4 track things. The last place I lived in Humboldt was the house in front as the studio was located in a shed out back. It was run by my landlord, this character named Jeff, and to be honest with you I don’t think he was that good as an engineer. I believe he did the sound on the Garden Weasel 7″. The mix on this one has the vocals up a bit too loud and the bass a bit too low for my taste, but when you have a band as good as the Leftovers, they easily overcome that. My favorite here is “#1 With a Bullet”, check it,
Awful quiet round here, seem to have lost a few of my regulars here at the Mustard Relics cafe. Comments kind of keep the ball rolling but I really can’t complain so I’ll keep peeing outside until someone tells me to stop.
One thing that reminds me of Humboldt around here and when I do see it I realize that if I wanted to I could be making some serious cash on the side. I’ve said it before, this shit grows wild here, in this picture it’s just too close to the old chicken coops to mow. This is not smokable, I tried when I was about 14, this is straight up hemp, for making rope, leftover from the days when that was a crop. Instant headache as far as smoking, may as well inhale the smoke from a house fire. You can thank chemical companies that manufacture nylon (Union Carbide, PPG, et. al.) for it not being a useful crop anymore. Anybody ever read or heard of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, a good read if Marijuana history is your thing. My California friends tell me though that there you just need a medical marijuana card to be able to buy it at stores they have all over the place, “just look for the green cross”. Imagine if I put good seed in the ground…oh my, they’d think it was just ditch weed. I’ve traveled that road though, coffee and cigarettes is plenty for me but for now gonna let my “hemp” grow to see how tall it gets. I know it’s cliche and hippy of me (as despicable as that is to some), I feel compelled to post some Yellowman. When I saw him in ’87 I was blown away, or maybe just stoned out of my mind. If you’re not too closed minded give it a listen, the words are worth it, and you can’t miss when it’s Yellowman with his old pal Fathead, Yellowman & Fathead – Life Was A Thing
Another 33/45 rpm conundrum for ya. I’ve had this 7″ since it came out in ’93 and I don’t remember which decision I made back then. It just doesn’t say which speed to play it at and I like it both ways, but I want to post it right. You make the call (I think it’s 45), Unbiased – Greedy Human @ 33rpm Unbaised – Greedy Human @ 45rpm
Just to start this off, before we get to what I call the highlight of this post, James was kind enough to send along another tune, by a band I’ve never heard of. Worthwhile enough to share with y’all just to get you warmed up, Mojomatics – Another Cheat
My Humboldt buddy James has outdone himself again and served me up with some sweet vittles and pickens from up around there, circa ’86 or ’87.
I was busy that year living in the dorms struggling with my first year of serious schooling (high school is just barely a warm up to what you get in college), and partying my ass off, taking full advantage of being responsible for myself and answering to no one. Between the junior college transfers, living with us who were already 21 and the dope dealers that roamed the halls, it was a battle between enriching the mind with knowledge and the forest fire of burning brain cells. I was smoking the finest bud Humboldt had to offer, everclear jungle juice with fresh fruit out of a trash can, uncut crystal meth (geeter) straight from some freakazoid’s lab and tea made from my own concoction of psychedelic mushrooms and LSD, plus it seemed like half the kids were on some kind of pharmaceutical that could be taken recreationally. Long story short, I missed these guys. I didn’t meet James until he was in a band called the Leftovers, which I hope he’s going to kick down so you can catch the greatness that was them. 15 or so years later I got hooked up with James again (virtually anyway), but he had no recollection of me. Apparently I’m not as memorable as I thought I was. So as I said James kicked down again with one of his bands that just blew me away. James shared with me some of the particulars, ”
DORF:86-87.
Nigel Hill-guitar, scary metal yells
Jesse Wickman-drums, vocals
James Forbes-bass, vocals
Dorf was me teaching them about punk and them teaching me about metal. This demo was recorded by Mike Briggs in Jesse’s kitchen in 87 in Arcata. We would break up/morph into Slug, then Frottage soon.
Dorf played lots of local parties and maybe a real show or 2. Then Wickman moved away to live in Rosa, then joined Nuisance.”
Slug and Frottage I vaguely remember from a party or two at some time or another. Nuisance, I have much better recollection of as you may remember I posted their Attractive Nuisance demo. Dorf though was reason enough for Humboldt to have been on the hardcore/punk rock map. This shit is the real deal and isn’t small town dudes just trying their hand at good hard music. Straight up love this shit. Jame’s bass playing is a plus in any band and in this case it just hits you like a slab of concrete. Everybody in this band comes together and proves that this was definitely a scene. I could go on and on and probably get repetitive on how off the fucking chart this shit is, but we’ll stop here. If you’re a pussy and only game to try one tune, the first one he sent me as a sample, make it “Forsythe, Georgia”. Incredible,
My wife Kim decided to make use of our broken down mower (some of us white trash redneck wannabe types move dead equipment/vehicles to a special place on the property, others, such as ourselves, leave them where they die). The “Scarecrow Mower Man”, as I call him, had the census lady, that came out the other day, talking to him as she pulled up the driveway thinking he might be able to tell her how many people live here.
I know some of you guys do the Youtube thing, but I’m not sure if anyone bothers to pay attention to the comments. For the most part they strike me as coming from idiotic teenagers with zero life experience, who spend a lot of time telling each other to fuck off and just in general spouting bullshit (ha, ha, I sound like an old fart). Sometimes it really pisses me off and reminds me that there’s a lot of people making my planet crowded. Other times they’re good for a laugh though and if you can’t do that every once in a while you may as well end it now. On this video, we have American Breed doing “Bend Me Shape Me”. One of the comments suggests,
“they talking about rolling a joint ??
bend me shape me ??”
The reply kills me,
“EVERYTHING IS ABOUT WEED.
EVERYTHING.”
Reminds me of this Saturday Night Live skit, from the ’90s I think, with this hippy/rasta type who has a store and with just about every item in the store, he says, “you can put your weed in there”. Anybody do SNL? The 90′s was kind of lame for that show.
Another one of my Grandpa’s forwarded emails. One of those typical ones that probably has circled the globe more times than Magellan (he actually didn’t make it, got speared in the Philippines), but if I’ve gotten it before I think I ignored it the first time round. Humorous, insightful and stupid all rolled up into one.
1. A day without sunshine is like night.
2. On the other hand, you have different fingers.
3. 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
4. 99 percent of Politicians give the rest a bad name.
5. Remember, half the people you know are below average.
6. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
7. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
8. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap.
9. Support bacteria. They’re the only culture most people have.
10. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
11. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.
12. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.
13. How many of you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand.
14. OK, so what’s the speed of dark?
15. When everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
16. Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.
17. How much deeper would the ocean be without sponges?
18. Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.
19. What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?
20. Why do psychics have to ask you your name?
21. Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, ‘What the hell happened?’
22. Just remember — if the world didn’t suck, we would all fall off.
23. Light travels faster than sound. That’s why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
24. Life isn’t like a box of chocolates. It’s more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your butt tomorrow.
Posted this one on Facebook, but felt it was good enough to put here. The tune itself proves that some Neu Metal is worthwhile and fucking eh the video is intense enough to make a good watch.
Got this 7″, released in 2008, not too long ago, proving that I’m not totally stuck in the past. There really is so much music to be found out there these days it can actually be overwhelming. I got this in a lot that had one record I wanted, making it a random score and not something I chose to get. Just an aside, I got another package today in the mail (not the one this record came in), I had been anxiously expecting a batch of $.50 and $1 records I bought, and I’ll be damned if the dude sent me the wrong package. The one he sent me included Neil Diamond’s “Hello Again” and Rick Springfield’s “Love Somebody”. I’m proud of my varied taste in music, but damn those are definitely not Mustard Relics. Like driving an hour to see some bands play and finding out the show’s been canceled. Fucking blue balls. Anyway, back to the 7″ of the moment… I Hate This turned out to be a pleasant (if that’s what you would call the sound) surprise. Seriously hard hitting hardcore bordering on power violence. Female vocals make it special in a way too. It’s not a sexual thing or anything cheesy like that, it’s just a rarity to have a woman singing hardcore. Of course a female singer doesn’t mean it has to be good, but in this case the whole package just works. Nothing half-assed about this shit, even the lyrics that are sung faster than you can read them, are worthwhile (but I don’t have a scanner so you’ll have to look them up). This is a re-release of sorts in that it compiles their tunes from two different split 7″s they did with other bands. Anyway…blah blah blah…yadda yadda yadda…dig it or don’t.
As happens sometimes, when I first played this it was at the wrong speed, 33 instead of 45. Damned if I didn’t think they played some fucking good music that way though. See what you think.
Yes I do have family members (my cousin’s boy) that “noodle” for catfish. With that, there is no denying where I choose to call home, a whole mountain range, plus some desert away from where I once was. Not judging or anything ya know just not my thing.
(Picture stolen from the apparently dead, Humblog) Since this is a Humboldt post and Little Jimmy provided the main rip, thought I would share a few tunes by a recent band of his, Buffy Swayze. Kind of a punky, new wave thing a la 1979, or maybe more of a trippy, surf Bowie-esque grove, what do I know. I need to take a class in how to be more descriptive than “cool”, “dig”, “brutal” and “rockin”. Don’t think these guys have played in a while, if they were it would be another one of James’ 12 bands. Anyway, “AM at Night” is the “hit of these three, for me (some pretty cool stuff).
Another Humboldt installment, this one from a little before my 7 year stay up there. Really know nothing about these and even James just had this to say, “They were only a band in Arc/Eur for 84/85. They played a few local shows and parties, but I don’t think they opened for any bigger bands. Spud Dogma played with them quite a few times @ parties on alliance rd where they would have piles of tvs & stuff and people would take turns smashing them with baseball bats, etc in the front yard!” Some of the tunes are good and others maybe not so much. Definitely from that time, with more of a punk feel than a hardcore one. I think my favorite tune is “Phallacy”, then the instrumental “The Annoying One”. Enjoy another piece of history.
Still reading comments though and interested in what’s going on with y’all. Hope all is well, enjoy this Humboldt sweetness.
Anybody ever heard this one?
Liam and I got a kick out of this one.
