More than halfway through the thing called August… took in a small corner of the Edinburgh festival by seeing John Otway’s power point presentation. Maybe a tad overlong but he seems like such a good geezer and of course the price, gratis entry, is entirely right. I’m not sure if it runs for the entire festival but if you’re in town then you could actually pay to see a much lesser performance.

And then there was Shonen Knife. In a crammed Sneaky Pete’s the j-pop-punk triumvirate belted it forth as only really they can. Defying all pop clichés and employing the wattage of pyramid power, the set itself maybe wasn’t as great as last time at Tut’s in Glasgow but it was still a hoot. I put this down to them maybe not including “Barnacle” this time. Although their ode to sushi came mighty close.

The place was rammed so there was no way the girls could get offstage to do the encore ritual. So they stayed and played a medley of Ramones songs as can be found on their Osaka Ramones tribute that has just been released. The version of KKK would bring tears of joy to a glass eye and well, it was just magic.

Great show = great merch and Murray noted how it seemed like the audience just turned around and queued for the gear. It might have been a school night but it didn’t matter at all because a visit by these girls is still an occasion. Like Otway, they occupy a special place that’s damned cool to connect with. The Knife are making their way across Europe in the coming weeks. If they can kick my spirits into life then chances are they can jump start yours too.

Guess I wasn't on here yesterday? In some ways that's progress because it suggests a semblance of a life - ha ha. And today, we're heading for Edinburgh and all the hoo-hah that festival time bestows. Not for anything in particular but maybe John Otway at 3pm in The Voodoo Rooms.

Ballroom @ Voodoo Rooms from 15:00 - 16:00, August 7-17 - Otway on Otway [Music]
Rock and Roll's greatest failure's hysterical romp through 35 years of being a pop star with 2 hits and 25 flops. Soon to be a major movie.

Might be back later. Much later. Shonen Knife tomorrow. It's all go.

Ben Weasel is back and not in the business of taking prisoners...

Pffffff.... I've tried to make a link to Lola Dutronic ten times and each bloody time, this thing has frozen up. Between the gas and pedal powered PC and blogger taking the piss. I might be about to take my rage on to the streets. Either that or have another round of thai red chilli crisps...

I was wondering what to post because my head is elsewhere. One of these places is a boat in Stockholm. Anyway, The Chairman literally just sent me this this link. You all love Lola Dutronic right? Well this version of The Fast's classic will rev you up for sure.



LOLA DUTRONIC is an Electronic Pop duo that divides its time between Berlin and Toronto. Vocalist Stephanie B. and producer/composer Richard Citroen combine elements of French Pop, Lounge, Electro, Bond Themes and Euro Disco, often within the same song.

Their latest digital release, “NEW YORK STORIES”, contains 5 cover versions of songs from the fabled CBGB/Max’s era – Suicide’s “CHEREE”, Blondie’s “IN THE SUN”, Johnny Thunders’ “YOU CAN’T PUT YOUR ARMS AROUND A MEMORY”, Alan Vega and Martin Rev’s “KEEP YOUR DREAMS” and the single, “KIDS JUST WANNA DANCE”, originally performed by New York legends THE FAST, written by the late Miki Zone.
More on this when I hear the entire thing...

Can’t dilly dally here for too long as I have a houseguest but a couple of things to flag up in the interim.

Tomorrow is The Nomads annual Blidosund Blitzkrieg and I am very jealous of those who will be clambering aboard.

Kopper dropped me a line about The Garage Punk Hideout comps. I haven’t had time to investigate those but it sounds like something that would be up your alley. So scoot the heck over there.

“They’re mad as hell and they’re not gonna take it anymore”.

Can’t you just see the bye-line of the upcoming computer game Social Unrest 2011?

Filched from Network it could easily be applied to what’s going on in the inner cities. The undertow is that authorities are tied down by red tape and health and safety regulation. How do you deal with marauding sociopaths when it will just end in form-filling. Or on YouTube.

Attempts at levity aside. This latest twist on tensions isn’t hurting the authorities. It’s trashing the lives and livelihoods of people that are just trying to make it through the days and weeks. Many of them haven’t got homes, or businesses or jobs to go to today. All because a pack of twonks wanted to nab ugly tracksuits and/or a flatscreen TV. Insurance will have a field day and our already absurd premiums will spiral ever upward. It’s sickening and I sincerely hope that you folks out there aren’t affected directly by any of this?

While I fully understand that no-one in their right mind has much respect for what passes as the authorities, this should not be confused with having no respect for how others may choose to conduct their lives or their property. Don’t piss up my back and tell me that it’s raining and I’ll leave you and yours alone. As a credo goes, it's pretty simple. This is almost certain to get worse before it gets better and we’ll all have to pay through every orifice for it. That’s the only certainty in all of this. Do you think that Cameron will be able to get his holiday leave back after having to cut his break short?

This is the best piece I've read about what's going on. As of right now there are 16,000 cops on the beat down London way. Chaos reigns, even in town as I understand it although there are no actual altercations. when something like this results in the cancellation of Mose Allison's final night of his Pizza Express stint then, well, that's just not on. This Solidarity Federation statement is also worthy of your attention.

And what about the Sony/PIAS thing? As if music wasn't suffering enough - a lot of labels and bands simply won't be able to wear what was happened.

Let's hope that things can calm down. Why don't the police just make like they're dealing with terrorists? The actions are certainly terrifying the people that have got to live in these areas so can't they just shoot them?

Oh soz, I forgot. The form-filling.

Fun for all, and all for fun. It's Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. at the honky tonkin'est joint in town, the Rodeo Bar!

(Oh, and this will be our last Rodeo Bar show until October, so best catch the fun whilst thou can. Just sayin'.)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10th / RODEO BAR /
375 Third Avenue (at the corner of 27th Street)
in ol' Manhattan / Two *guaranteed* fun sets, from 8:30 sharp 'til 11pm or so / No cover!

Yours in merriment,

Michael

Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.

"Ballads, Boogies & Blues"

I haven't read this but enough people whose opinons I trust have (cyber)doorstepped me about "B-Sides and Broken Hearts" so I'm pretty sure it' a goer. The original title was "Joey Ramone Is Dead".

There's a Brooklyn, NY launch on the 25th of this month.

RIP - Conrad Schnitzler

Via Kenne Highland and Miriam's fb...

Fur Dixon and Steve Werner are back with episode three of their ongoing folked up Americana. Entitled “Songs Of The Open Road (Volume One)” these West Coast troubadours have collected another 10 songs that indicates that they can sure pick ‘em in more ways than one.

Crystal clear and expansive in sound panoramic, you’re with them all the way down those byeways. “I Like How I Feel” is luscious. “I‘ve been over the hill and around the bend” sez Fur but it sounds like she’s comfortable in her skin now. “Do Re Mi” is a hymn for these stock-market plummeting times, penned by Woody Guthrie way back thataway – precious few of us ever will be troubled with having bucketloads of that particular commodity. It’s time wealth was measured in a more spiritual currency and this couple could teach us a thing or two about that demeanour.

The slow burn tex-mex marinade of “De Colores” is a soothing concoction also. There are two tunes penned by a lady by the name of Mary McCaslin who I’ll be “googling” just as soon as I’m done with this. “The Dealers” is a mid-paced swinging western tale presented by both parties. Old timey but never trite. The steel on “Prairie in the Sky” haunts the song beautifully without ever being overplayed. (Update - 7.12pm: Was I ever outta the loop on the Mary McCaslin thing...?)

Dan Janisch’s “I Cannot Settle Down” brings the curtain down and it pretty much covers their reason to believe the way they do. I just hope that they make it out this way soon to state their case in person. Go play on their website.

Billy McBarbie gave me a copy of Sugar Louise's “Everything’s Better With Sugar” when I was in Moss. It encompasses that grand Scandinavian tradition of being able to channel several generations of glam, punk and pop into anthemic daftness. How the fuck could you not love a song entitled “Be My Demi Moore”? Seriously. And I played “Down By The Lake” during my disc-n-spinnering without knowing what it was and said tune fitted the mood like a glove. Sometimes you just get a feeling.

I don’t know what is in the water there but I’m addicted to it. And while we’re on an H2O Aqua better get ready to redo their biggest hit as “It’s a Billy McBarbie world”.

Sugar Louise is where The Riverdales collide with Backyard Babies (circa Total 13) at a Smashed Gladys tribute evening to The Sweet. In a perfect world, Sugar Louise would be packing ‘em in with their rambunctious take on a musical form that not easy to get right. One slight quibble – I could a done without the calypso bits in “Wastin’ Summertime” but will let that slide because of the sentiment in the gloriously juvenile “U2 Sucks” (“not a single decent song – after playing for that long”).
This wee treasure is on the Naked Hollywood imprint.

The postal service between Australia and here has conspired to keep me and Dollsquad’s “Lethal In Leather” apart until just recently. The latest copy that Joey sent made it over the obstacle course. Keeping their garage fuzz credentials intact they’ve rounded out the sound with a glam crunch. And what other band do you know has pez dispensers as part of their merch. I was well impressed with the one I saw in Casa Arnoff.

Six gals in leather pummelling out cave beat, what the hell’s not to like in the first instance but when it’s performed like this then the result is a genuine twist-off.

These Melbourne lassies deal all the right frequencies. The keyboard action is especially frisky and the overall result is not unlike the latter day Pandoras. The Friggs fandabbidozi “Bad Word For A Good Thing” is given the D-squad treatment and “Rock’n’Roll Boy” is crying out to be struck in 7” vinyl. A double “A” with “Dreaming” perchance?

The duet with (Oz) X singer Steve Lucas (who also manages them) is cool in a Hazlewood sense but the real gold is in “Everything” a ballad that pitches in a little Suicide-ish piano flourish, not unlike yon version of “Heart and Soul” that appears in the movie “Big” when Tom Hanks is fooling around in FAO Schwarz. A quiet but perfect high upon which to close.

A cut above your common or garden identikit authenticity then, Dollsquad possess both style and substance in abundance. See for yourselves...

Thanks to Mr Duff for the heads up on this. Proper Friday afternoon tuneage and no mistake.

Never saw this before - Courtesy of the SLQ fb...

S&LQ in the house...


Suzy & Los Quattro "Freak out" by BCore Disc