Just in case anybody was wondering why some of us keep banging on about Spain...













That Rev thing from Letterman is pretty amazing. It worked for me on a level of being a pisstake of Kanye West type “Gold Digger” antics too. I’m not sure of the power that an appearance on that show, or any show other than Oprah can do, but Marty on such a high profile outlet earns M.I.A. muchos kudos in my particular orbit. Aka Marty In Action!

Big fun in Joisey tomorrow night...

Martin Rev with M.I.A. on Letterman last night... (thanks to Iñigo and Marty for the link)

Southern Fried Festival - Perth, Scotland.

July 31st - August 2nd

Thank you Duglas!

As you folks are no doubt aware, I couldn’t give a shit about the fitba but I LOVE Spain, so congratulations to any of my crew out there who do give a hoot. Condolences to wir homies in Holland who might be a little downhearted after the event but it’ll wear off soon I hope. The passion with which the Spanish people embrace everything should be a lesson to us all.

I think that I’m down with this idea of Kickstarter. Just recently, it seems there have been a good bunch of projects that can be helped get off the ground. It’s quite healthy in these days of vultures circling around to feast on the talents of others. It’s now possible to let the individual take control rather than be directed by those that put up the money. Like with regular donations but without the admin take. The downside is that one can’t invest in them all however much they might want to. As it is, there’s a positive revenue stream and an opportunity to make something happen outside of the regular terrain.

Here’s something you may care to consider…

What else do I need to tell you before my alloted time runs out on this thing?

Oh yeah, Scott Kempner website up and running - get all yer Top Ten info right yonder.

A limited edition 7" of Dean and Britta's sublime versh of "I'll Keep It With Mine"? Yes please.

RIP - Tuli Kupferberg

The Fugs - Crystal Liaison from sebastian f sorrow on Vimeo.

On a Friday afternoon, it seems like there’s all the time in the world. Then some blighter hits the speed forward button and then you find yourself at Monday again. And if you were to react to that, and book a holiday then you’d soon run out of yer allocation so all of this leaves me in a quandary pretty much every Sunday evening around 5pm. It matters not the time zone that I’m in. The inevitability is all-consuming. My good behaviour stamps must count for something? I’d like to hope they outweigh the bad anyway. Two weeks today until Moon Duo, wonder if I should book a day off.

It also just occurred to me that it’s time to renew the car insurance. If public transport ever stepped up to the plate then this wouldn’t be necessary but sadly that’s unlikely EVER to happen in my lifetime. Wasting time with this shit really irks me because of the smoke and mirrors, number one on the necessary evil chart every year about this time.

In addition to many other faculties that seem to be in decline, I’m wondering if narcolepsy is another that I can add to the list. CRS seems to be the major ailment though, to the point that it kind of disturbs me. One minute I can be sitting quite the thing and then I seem to enter full shutdown mode with no real means of re-boot other than the trauma of effort.

Anybody else notice that Google news could be doing with a typo checker this last wee while? My memory and whatever might be shot but for some reason I always seem to be able to pick up on all that. It’s easily done when you’re tapping away but in terms of an organisation like that, it’s plain shabby.

Where am I by the way? Feels like some kinda pickled brain soup.

RIP - Harvey Pekar

Hot enough fer ya? Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. offers up two shows this week guaranteed to heat things up even more -- with our monthly residency at the Rodeo Bar on Wednesday and an appearance at the "Rebel Night Weekender" festival on Saturday!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14th / RODEO BAR /
375 Third Avenue (at the corner of 27th Street) in Manhattan / Two air-cooled shows, from 10pm sharp until 12:30am / No cover!

SATURDAY, JULY 17th / "REBEL NIGHT WEEKENDER" /At THE WARSAW (The Polish National Home) in Greenpoint, Brooklyn / A three-day festival from the "Rebel Night" dance party gang! /

Yours in all weather, Michael

Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. "Ballads, Boogies & Blues"

I nearly made what could have been a very embarrassing mistook. Planning to go to Utrecht, certain that A-Bones show was on Saturday when it was in fact on Friday. Sick as I am about missing it, I would have been spitting many more feathers if I'd gotten there the day after. This has taught me a valuable lesson to mark up the calendar for important events and check the dates. Evediently, my recall and even ability to read is misfiring.

I need to file my column for the OX too. Meant to do that yesterday but never got the op. To tell the truth, your scribe could happily veg out in front of the TV but that's an urge that needs to be fought. It's not quite uncontrollable yet but it's getting there. Perhaps I should drag myself outdoors but the weather is on some kind of rolling bluster with bursts of sunshine punctuated by high winds and rain.

So let's see how it all unfolds over the course...

Well it’s Pee in the Dark weekend and the big black crowds are gathering to soak some sense into those that buy their tickets before the bill is announced. Those who do so afterwards only have themselves to blame. I can’t recall how many years it’s been going now but I don’t think it would be possible to make a decent roster out of the whole shebang. Maybe an afternoon...

And then you look at this and think to yourself, then there at least would seem to be a god (of thunder) someplace.

I’ll attempt to watch some of the televised debacle from Balado just to see what I’m missing but I don’t hold out much hope that it’ll make me want to get on that particular bus. Maybe if Matt and Kim played, I’d go for their set and then leave promptly but frankly there are few undertakings that could be less of an ordeal. They have surpassed themselves this year in terms of an awful bill though. Bonuses to all for fulfilling that remit.

RIP - Harvey Fuqua (The Moonglows)

Do any of you want a copy of this Prince album that's being hawked with a newspaper this weekend? Let me know before saturday and I'll attempt to hook you up.

I’m as sure as I can be that this morning, I dreamt that the alarm went off and had dragged myself up only to have the actual alarm go off and have to go through the dragging process in actuality. I’m not sure what that adds up to on a psychiatric basis but it sure shook me up. Perhaps an inherent inability to comprehend lateness? I’m a stickler for punctuality both for myself and others. Diametrically opposed to the concept of never early, always late. This and my unhealthy interest in packing stuff to protect it from a postal thrashing are the two most obsessive, compulsive traits that I can be accused of. Anyway, it’s about 12 hours after that and I’m still smarting. Maybe this is a dream too? It always occurred to me that donating blood resulted in a good night’s sleep but not recently and thus far in 2010, I’m down three pints of the stuff.

There’s some prime rock action coming up in a head-on trajectory with your noggin. Right now there’s The DT’s new 45, "God Damn World" that’s just come out on the Austrian label, Pure Vinyl. It's like The Bellrays if they had songs. I’ll be hooking you up with info shortly on a limited run of the new full length by The Primevals entitled ”Disinhibitor”. Early birds will be able to score an additional edition of the live set that was recorded when they opened up, and duly despatched, a variation on The Saints that blew through Tut’s in – I think – 2005. The very fabulous Kim Warnick sent me a demo song of her new combo, The Calligraphers which is also top notch. I've heard a LOT of great new stuff this week and hope to be able to give you more details on that over the next wee while. Tomorrow is Friday, right?

I seem to have caught some kind of virus. Of the type that skews the ability to use time wisely and with it the art of prioritising. Maybe it’s because there’s nothing hard and fast happening. All of a sudden, I’ve gotten the feeling of drifting. Not always good, never really bad but listless nonetheless. Having located my blood donor card, I decided that I should make the effort to go and use it. To give back for the cool surprise of some new tracks by by The Dahlmanns in my e-mail this morning. More on that as and when the signal for the word to go out is given.

The autumnal streak continues and it’s definitely a bit fresher. Kind of impossible to have as much rain as there’s been this past few days and it not to be. Ran into some local worthies on my daunder. One of 'em gave me some information that was a little rough concerning another. There are some rotten cards being dealt and this makes me think that i should probably keep my face shut when it comes to complaining.

It’s a sair fecht and the vibe has been pretty autumnal today. The leaves aren’t falling off the trees or anything but it just seems as though yer average daytime scenery has gone from blue to grey. Forecast is for more dampness to ensue which is something that really shouldn’t be on the agenda for a good 6 – 8 weeks yet. Conversely, I believe that the Tri-State area is melting.

Folks in the Scandinavian countries should be on the lookout for Moon Duo, Stockholm tomorrow, Malmo Friday (look out for 4-eyed Thomas in the moshpit) with Oslo in between. A good hard kick up the arse to whoever decided the routing on this one. You should go here and check. The Glasgow show later this month is at Stereo, not Sleazy's. The A-Bones are on this side of the big puddle too and I’m pig sick that I’m gonna miss ‘em.

Do you visit So Many Records every day? Or do you let it build and just gorge yourself on the music and commentary once a week. If you don’t attend with such a rabid frequency then you should.

Now I have to go try and find my blood donors card. Goodnight.