The Wreckless Eric Paintings Site!

Just noticed that I didn’t post anything here on Saturday past. The fact that I thought I had is further grist to the mill with regard to where my heid is. However, activity is on the up and if we can scrape out of September with just one such oversight than that’s not too shabby. There will be times when I am MIA and I’ll tell you right now, I’m not about to be updating this from a bloody phone.

So I’d gone to see a thing called Pompeii: Live. A bit of culture for “Roman Week”. But what did they ever do for us, you may ask? Whatever it was, you can bet your bag of otter’s noses that I won’t be partaking of such a bunfight ever again.

Many of the presenters involved were of that advertorial gushing variety that one would never tire of hitting. Add a whiff of what I perceive those terrible NT cinemacasts to be like and you have something a little short of what I call entertainment. If anyone from the British Museum is tuning in to this – the premise needs a rethink. Encourage people to go to the exhibit by other means because I really don’t think this was a great moving billboard for it.

What it did do was make me think that if there had been an ebay or gumtree in old Pompers then a lot of this junk might have enjoyed another type of recycling. Plus, to add insult to injury. Not one mention of Frankie Howerd. A little Lurcio would have gone a long way.

Out tomorrow, just ahead of a short series of UK dates, is the new Laura Cantrell album, “No Way There From Here”. Once again on the Spit & Polish/Cadiz imprint, it’s time for another birl the way only this lassie can serve it up. “No Way”... is the first full set of all-new material since her Matador release. Kicking in with “All The Girls Are Complicated”, she immediately transcends the pigeonhole labelled “Americana”. Or whatever sub-division of that you might consider her to reside in. This is American music though, through and through with all the twangs in all the right places.

Not sure who the musicians are this time out other than Mark Spencer but they serve up just the right backdrop for Laura’s tales. I think my favourite is “When It Comes To You”. This little nugget is set to become a classic like “Do You Ever Think Of Me?” or “Two Seconds”.

You may have heard “Can’t Wait” before. It made its debut on the Radio Free Song Club a wee while back and the recorded version here provides the connection with “Not The Trembling Kind”. Pop country perfection. As is the case with everything nowadays, you can just nip over to wherever and hear snippets and full tracks and decide for yourself. I hope to see some of you folks in Glasgow or that you’ll go to one of the shows and help the lady out by treating yourself to what can only be described as a proper album. Not a bunch of tracks that became so because there were enough “in the can”. “No Way There From Here” marks a time when a long player never outlived its welcome.

For a large part quiet and understated, just the thing for heavy rotation as the light fades earlier with every passing day.

Out on Monday... more about that over the weekend!

alan vega just a million dreams by tamarafilms

RIP - Mac Curtis

So we're just over halfway through September. Even although I haven't exactly been able to get much together in the way of gabbing, I have managed to post something each day.

One of these days I will get around to "reviews". Probably.

Meanwhile, I hope you've got your tickets for the big rock show on Saturday October 5th?

Thanks Line...

Forgot how great this was...

Sadly not in Amsterdam to catch these fine folks tomorrow...

Chrome Cranks at the Wurli tonight!

For some reason, I scribbled BC on the calendar just below next Wednesday, 18^th September. I have no idea why and it doesn’t look like the noggin is about to present the answer anytime soon. This is all symptomatic of the on-going memory fug. It’s embarrassing. Particularly when you can’t introduce someone to somebody else because you’ve forgotten the name. This happens more and more. Not just with people I maybe met briefly once. Oh no, this goes for folks that I know to some degree. Pffff...

 

And what's with this Post Office thing? After my tirade the other day, the public flotation is happening and I would imagine that further sounds a death knell from a once excellent service. It's quite likely that the UK will be owned outright by an overseas conglomerate sometime very soon. Irrespective of whether Scotland goes "indie" or not. We'll get unloaded as fixtures and fittings if that happens. The best we could hope for is to be a larger "Pimlico" cica the good old Ealing Comedy days. Oh how the world will larf.

 

 

Back from summer vacation?  Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. is -- and back this week for its monthly residency at Rodeo Bar!
 
*WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th / RODEO BAR /
375 Third Avenue (at the corner of 27th Street) in Manhattan /
 We return to our second-Wednesday-of-the-month residency! /
Three back-to-school sets, from 9:00 sharp 'til midnight, with no cover.

And, speaking of residencies...

*THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th / OTTO'S SHRUNKEN HEAD /
538 East 14th Street (just west of Avenue B) in Manhattan /
8:00 sharp 'til 10:00, with salty snacks and no cover!

Yours in all seasons, Michael
Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.
"Ballads, Boogies & Blues"

Sir Wreckless Eric... solo US shows!

25.09  RICHMOND VA, Gallery 5 
26.09  KNOXVILLE TN, The Pilot Light 
28.09  MEMPHIS TN, Gonerfest 
30.09  SPRINGFIELD MI, Lindberghs
01.10  INDIANAPOLIS IN, tbc

The ordering and sending of stuff by mail is getting crazy. There used to be a rule of thumb with a care package. If the post cost more than the contents then that was a cool thing. Nowadays there’s almost no danger of it being anything else.

I no longer send anything like the amount of packages I used to and that’s probably a good thing because if I did, then I’d likely be bankrupt. I don’t mind shelling out to bring joy to others but what I really do get into a kerfuffle about is when ordering from these fulfilment places that the post and handling amounts to more than the band or artist will get.

It doesn’t cost $20 to mail a record from the USA to Europe. It might be $12. Maybe, but even worse is the cost PER item. “That’s the way the system works”, I’ve been told but that’s simply robbery. Tempered with laziness. Post at cost with a wee bit on top would be fine but lining the halls of the postage service is not in my remit.

It’s pretty rough sending things out too. Since they started going by bulk rather than weight sometimes the costs can be eye-watering when you get to the “window”. It’s at least twice the price that it used to be and there’s been no improvement in the service. Indeed postal workers across the planet are being squeezed by the system. I don’t mind shelling for something that appears to work. However, when it takes 4 weeks for something to reach its destination when it’s alleged to be a 5 (working) day delivery then I get a little pissed off. With the advent of budget flights, it might be worth considering personal delivery.

The reason I bring this up is that I’ve been considering selling up the archive. Maybe via e-bag, maybe not. I tend to actively dislike the type of individual they’ve come to attract. And I don’t like getting stuck behind one of the entrepreneurs they’ve encouraged in the post office.

RIP - Maralie Dawn Whitney

Apparently it’s Cassette Store Day. Another niche commodity that’s enjoyed a resurgence of late and I have to admit that I have a soft spot for the format. Whatever becomes of it, I really hope that it doesn’t turn into the evil shakedown that Record Store Day has become. Looking at the website, I was immediately turned off by what I saw but you shouldn't let my predudices spoil your enjoyment.

I’m fairly sure that the chains won’t be partaking in this and finding an outlet might be outside the remit of the fuckwits that buy for ebay activity. Let’s keep everything crossed on that score. And no one is seriously suggesting that tape is better than vinyl here. I see all kinds of annoyance but I figure this as more of a quaint harking back to the past. Albeit a type of landfill.

A mix tape was always a much more romantic proposition than a mix CD. It was certainly more time-consuming as a pastime because of all the pausing and changing the record. Laterly, such tapes were possibly compiled from CD and vinyl with sound levels going all over the place. All part of the fun and the effort. Then there was the insert, with scribbles and hand-lettered titling.

Of course there was the typewritten version too. It was all very creative. Then these dull shiny discs came along and kind of ruined everything but that was nothing compared to what the interweb and mp3’s did to music. They devalued it together to end up where we are now. Where artists aren’t compensated for their work and if it’s not that then “collectors” scarf up and resell to folks that might not have a store in their town. I’m getting away from the point here though so cut along to wherever and check out this tape phenomenon while there are still machines around.

I have several players and thousands of tapes that will probably end up in a big skip in coming years. The ignorance of future generations almost guarantees that.

Dig this tomorrow night...

 

Mañana sábado día 7 de septiembre les tenemos preparado un programón cargado de locuras y maravillas a 78rpm para celebrar la Sexta Temporada de Melodías Pizarras Novelty vaquerito, blues blanco, western swing, mazurca antillana, calypso, cubanos, swing, hillbilly, old time… ya saben, géneros y artistas que sólo suenan en Melodías Pizarras, y en su formato original !! Aquí una pequeña muestra de los 30 temones que les sonarán a gloria bendita:

“Old McDonald Had A Farm”. The Kidoodlers (VOCALION, 1938)

“A New Salty Dog”. Allen Brothers (BLUEBIRD, 1930)
“Ragtime Cowboy Joe. Girls Of The Golden West (VOCALION, 1938)

“Does My Baby Love Me?”. Jimme Revard and his Oklahoma Playboys (BLUEBIRD, 1937)

“Alimony Blues”. Al Dexter and his Troopers (VOCALION, 1941) 

"The Pants That My Pappy Gave To Me". Hoosier Hot Shots (VOCALION, 1939)

“Bravo, Bravo!”. Alphonso y sy Orq. Típica Antillana  (ODEÓN, 1949)

“Movin’ The Boogie”. Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons (VICTOR, 1941)

“I Feel So Good”. Big Bill Broonzy (COLUMBIA, 1941)

“You Upset Me, Baby”. B.B. “Blues Boy” King (RPM, 1954)

“Taint What You Do”. Jimmie Lunceford Orq. (VOCALION, 1939)

“Jump. Jack, Jump”. Andy Kirk and his Clouds Of Joy (BRUNSWICK, 1938)

“The Caissons Go Rolling Along”. Jenks Tex Carman (CAPITOL, 1953)

“Old Grey Mare”. Elmo Newcomer “The Pipe Creek Kid” (CROMART, 1939)

"One, Two, Three, Four". Criterion Quartet con Ferera y Franchini (VOCALION, 1923)

“Honky Tonk Blues”. The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers (RCA VICTOR, 1953)

….

No se lo pueden perder!!!

Salud y pizarra!!!

http://blog.rtve.es/melodiaspizarras/

Well I did pretty good this week for posting here... and it's Friday. Another week closer to Laura Cantrell's OK shows and The Nomads / The Dahlmanns / The Hip Priests and The Outbursts down in the London. The weather is back to normal and I shall not be venturing far. So maybe there'll be more action here... and then again.

Right now however, there is travel-agenting to be done!

Coming soon on Last Summer Records...

Dark earlier, light later... the autumnal nature of the past week or two signals that it ought to be time for hibernation. I had to drag myself out an hour early yesterday morning and it was hard. Not to get up but to get out. I hate the commute too, an ever escalating haemorrhaging of time that I’ll never get back. In recent times this has been exacerbated by traffic lights at bridgework (not of the dental variety) for a local white elephant that’s currently under construction. An abject waste of time, money and everything else that goes with the territory.

And the reason for the time slip was that it is once again time for the six monthly dental check up. These half yearly events come around very quickly. Too fucking quickly for my liking.

But I shouldn’t whine. Monday morning brought the news that one of my brother’s closest friends passed away late Sunday night. Just a matter of weeks after the guy was told he wouldn’t make it until Christmas. Hell, he barely scraped into September. I’m not entirely sure how a person can process a situation or information like that. Maybe I would have asked him that when we were travelling to the Del Lords show in Newcastle. He was really looking forward to that, Couldn’t the supposed higher powers have cut the guy a break to at least have gotten there?

Evidently not.  Anyway he’ll be with us very much in spirit on October 26^th doon the big toon. My thoughts are with his friends and family at this cruel time. You never know what’s ‘round that next corner so don’t let valuable time slip away (like I’m inclined to do).

I went to donate blood tonight. I had to convince them it was a full 24 hours since I’d been at the dentist or they weren’t gonna take it. Rules, regulations, health, safety. It’s all about covering your arse. Or blaming someone else. Take your pick.

It was kind of, sort of my intention to start September with an intent to update this daily where possible again. I have nothing prepared so we'll see what becomes of this notion. Last eek at this time I was in MRC basking I the sunshine and excellent company. Today, I'm in the bunker looking out on a decidedly autumnal day expecting the rain to pish down at any second. Most likely when I go out the front door.

There's a bunch of stuff that I guess I want to write about but I don't know if that will actually translate into wordage. One thing I'm not going to do is continue with a slew of RIPs. Of course if something significant should occur (and I hope to hell it doesn't) then of course I'll have to bend that but let's hope that these are few and far between. The other thing I'm a little aware of is that "the blog" has had it's day. Not just this one, pretty much all of them.

As have websites that don't "sell" stuff in general. I don't find that I have the time to trawl anymore. Not that I'm really doing anything else of great importance but the web bores the heck out of me. As for viewing stuff on mobile devices, don't "eben" get me started on that shitstorm. However, this portal exists and there enough visitors here to suggest that I should at least make an effort. I don't like this laptop as much as I did the fixed PC that I used to have. I'd much rather be anywhere else but where I'm stuck but there are flecks of light out there on the horizon.

As I sit here contemplating, Mr D'uff just flagged this up...



And  as I set sail last Friday, some wonderful new ACC music dropped in so as you can see, sonically - things are going OK.

I can't get the widget thing to appear so click here to go to the Soundcloud page where other wonders from Sausalito also appear.