If you're like me, you've probably wondered why more musicians aren't speaking up about what is going on in the U.S., especially the highly visible ones. Springsteen stepped up. These spoken word moments from a concert a few days ago should be heard. He does a good job of describing what's happening in plain terms, And if you're one of those people that feel celebrities and musicians should keep their traps shut and ignore the shit that's going down, pretend he's a nobody and just listen. Now, er, Boss, about that outfit....
Sunday, May 18, 2025
FINALLY, SOMEONE GOT THE MEMO
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
ANY EXCUSE TO POST THIS AGAIN
Have you seen the commercials for SUVs that have a "crab walk" feature? That's a kind of steering with all four wheels turning simultaneously, instead of just the two front wheels. Rather then turning in an arc, the car goes diagonally. What could go wrong? It's not just a disaster waiting to happen. Many disasters are waiting to happen. Idiots will be driving them. Watch.
After shaking my head, I thought of Prince Jazzbo's "Crab Walking", the long disco mix.version with Jazzbo toasting over the "Skylarking" riddim, I dig it, classic Studio One. So here's that and three other cool golden age cuts.
Prince Jazzbo - Crab Walking mp3 at Snuhthing Anything
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse mp3 at Feems
Burning Spear - Social Living mp3 at Internet Archive 12" version, with a couple minutes of the version on the flip.
Horace Andy - See A Man's Face mp3 at Kazo Wailers
Saturday, January 18, 2025
THE MANY MOODS OF ART PEPPER
Last night I was sick. Bad congestion, body ache, all that. I slept a good long time and got up this morning still feeling like shit, unsure if I was better or worse. Time to move.
I got and made some coffee and grabbed a book. I'm re-reading the Art Pepper memoir. I learned something. Do not read a book about a junky, particularly the part where he's describing his first fix when you're sick. It made be feel sicker. I shut the book. I gotta say, that dude had a mess of a life for someone with a talent so immense. You'd think more people would know of him just because the juxtaposition is so great. I thought I'd fix that by posting about him. In checking, I saw that I'd posted about him the first time I read the book. So below are the text and links from that (all links are still good.) From 6/9/2021:
I'm halfway through reading Art Pepper's autobiography The Straight Life (co-written with his wife Laurie). If you know anything about Pepper, you know he's a West Coast jazz guy, saxophone. If you know anything else about Pepper you know that he was a junkie, for years. He did time in a number of facilities, the most notorious San Quentin. I'm only halfway through the book (up to the mid-sixties) and I can tell you just from that that he makes Keith Richards look like a dabbler. Nothing is glossed over in the book. Not the crimes he committed, not the extent he went through to get a fix, not the lovers he treated like shit, or the dark thoughts running around in his head. It is heavy.
So I started browsing, A couple links in, I'm already distracted. There's a shitload about Pepper online. These are tonights detours.
Art Pepper - Caravan mp3 at Rubber City Review
Art Pepper - 'Round Midnight mp3 at Space Age Pop
Art Pepper - Straight Life mp3 at Rubber City Review From Meets the Rhythm Section
Art Pepper - Birks Works mp3 at Rubber City Review Ditto
Art Pepper - More songs and excellent profile at Rubber City Review
Video:
Art Pepper Quartet - Jazz Casual at YouTube Three songs, 29 minutes.1964
Art Pepper - Jazz Survivor at YouTube Documentary, 46 minutes, 1982
Visit:
Their Unique Love Affair at Perfect Sound Forever Profile of Art and Laurie Pepper, 2014
Laurie Pepper, Wife of Late Saxophonist Art Pepper at Fresh Air, PBS Interview podcast, 27 minutes, 2001
Sunday, January 5, 2025
FOR MARGARET
I have a friend that I grew up with that now lives in New York. I touch base with her on Facebook every now and then but haven't seen her face to face in at least twenty years. It's a bummer because we went through a lot together back in the day, were roommates (with about eight others) around 1980. Back then she had a thing for David Bowie and I just ran into some Bowie oddballs and it made me think of her. She, Margaret, inventor of the Bowie Fast.
What is the Bowie Fast, you ask? Something that, at one time seemed silly, worthy of a teasing. Later it made total sense. I think it was somewhere around 1978-79, someone was putting on a record and they were asked not to play Bowie. It seemed Margaret liked Bowie so much that she didn't want to risk getting sick of him. She was on a Bowie Fast. Now I know what you're thinking, that Bowie's catalog is so vast that it would be nearly impossible, particularly for a Bowie fan, to even hear all that he's recorded enough times to go to that length. Not the ease in 1978. Bowie only had about a dozen albums out. There was no internet, no downloads or search engines, no deluxe editions. Outtakes, then only on bootleg LPs or via tape swapping, were hard to come by if they existed at all, There was roughly twelve hours (or less) of Bowie recordings readily available. The Bowie Fast makes total sense.
Here's three covers and a link to a collection of more outtakes, demos and the like. Margaret, hope you like :)
David Bowie - Mother mp3 at Internet Archive Orig: John Lennon
David Bowie- Chim Chimney mp3 at Internet Archive From Mary Poppins
David Bowie and Bryan Ferry - The In Crowd mp3 at Internet Archive Orig: Dobie Gray (?)
The collection (80 cuts):
Bowie For Bowie Fans at Internet Archive
Monday, December 23, 2024
GOT IT, FUNKY WITH GO POWER.
Yep, another Holiday Slackfest All-Star, the GFOS, once a year whether you need it or not. These reposts are getting to be a season all their own. Really though, were you gonna listen to these in July?
James Brown - Funky Christmas mp3 at SB Dave
James Brown - Go Power At Christmas Time mp3 at The Sound of Indie
James Brown - Let's Unite the World at Christmas mp3 at Panic Stream
James Brown - Please Come Home For Christmas mp3 at Panic Stream
Saturday, December 21, 2024
IT'S A WALL OF SOUND SOMEWHERE
Joseph Spence, I gotta. Even if I'm not in the mood for writing much, I can't risk forgetting him. He's like Darlene Love was a few years back, a different style but also a go-to holiday favorite. If you haven't heard him, when you do you'll know immediately what makes him so special. If I have to spell it out for you, to put it bluntly, he sounds like he's drunk off his ass.
Joseph Spence - Santa Claus is Coming to Town mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Oddball bonus:
Jayran Acharya - Santa Clause Is Coming to Town mp3 at Radiodiffusion International India
Friday, December 20, 2024
HERE'S YOUR SLOPPY HUG
Back in the day, a lot of my friends from the music scene were into the Pogues and, looking back, I realized that there was a certain type of person that liked the band. I can't really put my finger on it but it was beyond the binary cool/not cool classification. It was like a secret that this small slice of the scene "got" while others were trying too hard to be the coolest in the room. I started thinking about those friends, some now deceased, and got all warm and fuzzy, remembering the Christmas Eve DJ gigs my friend Julie and I had (at the Pink Panther and later the Casbah) and the reaction that "Fairytale of New York" would get whether we played it or one of our DJ friends did.. All of the faces of drunk friends, cigarette smoke softening the view, a few on the plywood covered pool table that did double duty as a dance floor when things got crowded. Shane MacGowan was one of us on those nights.
The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York mp3 at Internet Archive
Sunday, December 15, 2024
ATTN: PARTY PLANNING COMITTEE
For all of you party planners running around like headless chickens, a reminder is in order. Spread the Good Word's Bloody Christmas mixes are still online. They used to be downloads, but they're now streaming (click on the "download" links below the song lists). Though they are streaming, I'm sure someone you know is savvy enough to run them through your sound system.
The Mixes:
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 9
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 8
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 7
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 6
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 5
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 4
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 3
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 2
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 1
From the Reverend
Reverend Tom Frost - A Bloody Life (streaming) at YouTube
Reverend Tom Frost - Much more at YouTube
Visit:
Reverend Tom Frost at BandCamp
Sunday, November 10, 2024
CRACK THEM KNUCKLES
Last Wednesday morning when I saw the election results, in my head I heard the opening eight seconds of the Stooges "TV Eye". If you know the song, you know what I'm talking about. If you don't know the song, get with the program (song link below, play loud). After the initial shock I remembered what helped in 2016 when the fuckhead was elected the first time. The clip from the film Animal House with John Belushi as Bluto (below). The image above was done in 2016 by Jamie Reid, the guy who did all of the Sex Pistol's graphics including the iconic "God Save the Queen" sleeve.
There's a few additional unrelated cuts from the Stooge's Fun House down there too, perfect for pulling your hair out. Play loud. Then turn it up.
The Stooges - TV Eye mp3 at Internet Archive
The Stooges - 1970 mp3 at Internet Archive
The Stooges - Loose mp3 at Internet Archive
The Stooges - LA Blues mp3 at Internet Archive
Sunday, November 3, 2024
THIS ONE REALLY MATTERS
Friday, November 1, 2024
FUCK DONALD TRUMP
YG feat G Eazy & Macklemore - Fuck Donald Trump at YouTube
Listen:
YG feat G Eazy & Macklemore - Fuck Donald Trump Part 2 (streaming) at YouTube
Monday, October 21, 2024
THEY WILL NOT GO QUIETLY
And don't forget, the Frosty one is a kick ass musician himself. Ask your local Mr. Record Store Man to put the Reverend's goods in their racks. While you wait, buy his shit at Bandcamp.
The mixes:
NOTE: Song lists are available for mixes 1-16 and the links to the mixes are below the song listings. The links to the other mixes go directly to the posts at MixCloud.
Bloody Halloween Mix 25
Bloody Halloween Mix 24
Bloody Halloween Mix 23
Bloody Halloween Mix 22
Bloody Halloween Mix 21
Bloody Halloween Mix 20
Bloody Halloween Mix 19
Bloody Halloween Mix 18
Bloody Halloween mix 17
Bloody Halloween mix 16
Bloody Halloween mix 15
Bloody Halloween mix 14
Bloody Halloween mix 13
Bloody Halloween mix 12
Bloody Halloween mix 11
Bloody Halloween mix 10
Bloody Halloween mix 9
Bloody Halloween mix 8
Bloody Halloween mix 7
Bloody Halloween mix 6
Bloody Halloween mix 5
Bloody Halloween mix 4
Bloody Halloween mix 3
Bloody Halloween mix 2
Bloody Halloween mix 1
From the Reverend
Reverend Tom Frost - Malaguena mp3 at Spread the Good Word
Reverend Tom Frost - A Bloody Life (streaming) at YouTube
Reverend Tom Frost - Much more at YouTube
Visit:
Reverend Tom Frost at BandCamp
Sunday, September 29, 2024
DAMN.
Kris Kristofferson - Sunday Morning Comin' Down mp3 at Internet Archive
Kris Kristofferson - Me and Bobby McGee mp3 at Internet Archive
Kris Kristofferson - For the Good Times mp3 at Internet Archive
Kris Kristofferson - Help Me Make It Through the Night mp3 at Internet Archive
Saturday, September 21, 2024
DEFINE POSEUR
Holy shit! It's the last day of summer. That went by fast. Granted I've been summer lazy and posts here have been sporadic, there's just less urgency. That said, it being the last day of summer, I figured it high time to post some surf music. I picked an unlikely band because, well, they're a borderline surf-ploitation outfit, the Lively Ones. Some of you may know the name from their cover of the Ventures' "Surf Rider" on the soundtrack of Pulp Fiction. Why Quentin Tarantino chose their version over the Ventures' is anyone's guess. Maybe it was too expensive to license the original. Who knows.
The reason why I consider the Lively Ones a surf-ploitation band is because they did so many covers of other surf tunes and, as far as I can recollect, didn't have any bona fide hits that were self-penned. I was listening to a few cuts of there fourth LP titled The Lively Ones And Surf Mariachis – Surfin' South Of The Border and it occurred to me that they were like a surf version of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, by no means authentic but entirely listenable.
The few below are from Surfing Drums, their second LP and one of three LPs released in 1963. The thing is dripping in covers, Duane Eddy, the Rockin' Rebels, the Tornadoes, the Bel-Airs and Link Wray and others. (Their first LP begins with three Dick Dale covers.) You gotta check out their cover of Link Wray's "Rumble". Dig the guitar/floor tom freakout at 1:18 and 3:26. (I know what you Wray eggheads are thinking: 3:26? That's right. At 4:10 this cover is almost twice as long as Wray's OG). Returning to the floor tom thing, just listen to the spare primal pounding. Something about it slays me.
The Lively Ones - Rumble mp3 at Internet Archive
The Lively Ones - Mr. Moto mp3 at Internet Archive
The Lively Ones - Bustin' Surfboards mp3 at Internet Archive
The Lively Ones - Surfing Drums (entire LP) at Internet Archive Streaming and downloads
Monday, September 2, 2024
UNIONS WORK
Billy Bragg - There Is Power In A Union mp3 at Zed Equals Zee
Visit:
Labor Day Purpose and History at ThoughtCo
Monday, August 26, 2024
WHY NOTHING EVER GETS DONE
You know rabbit holes. I'm sure you do. Once you hear one thing, it reminds you of something else so you go hunting for that. That leads to another song or artist, and so on. When I fall into a rabbit hole, it can last for days. This time it was Ten Years After that started the wandering. It was their version of "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl", a live thing from 1975. Originally released in 1969 (I think) I'd heard them do it, but it's been years. But first, take a moment to behold the epic guitar face of Alvin Lee.
Johnny Winter And - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (live) (streaming) at YouTube 1971
Muddy Waters - Good Morning Little School Girl (streaming) at YouTube 1963
Sonny Boy Williamson - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (streaming) at YouTube 1937
Saturday, August 17, 2024
THE UNEXPECTED HELL YEAH
I don't know how it happened but..just wow! The Cuban born Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz, is slated to be on a U.S. minted quarter. (That's a 25¢ piece). Soul sister Lady Spinsta hepped me to it. She knows. I totally dig Celia Cruz. Seriously, with that giant smile she had, and that voice, how could you not? And, jeez, talk about the jams?! With stellar backing and collaborators (Tito Puente, Johnny Pacheco and that whole Fania mob) her stature in Latin music was like Aretha's in soul. Massive.

I checked the old posts and none of them had any working links so, yeah, I dutifully trackew down a few. Like it or not, my super long break seems to have ended.
Celia Cruz Y La Sonora Ponceña - Sonaremos El Tambo mp3 at Internet Archive
Fania All-Stars Feat. Celia Cruz -Cuando Despiertes mp3 at Internet Archive
Celia Cruz - Four early cuts (mix) mp3 at Internet Archive
Sunday, July 28, 2024
THE SECOND TIER ESSENTIAL
Back when I was in high school I had an art class with Mrs. Land, a cool lady who let students bring in records to listen to when we were painting. For whatever reason, maybe because in that class there were several of them, the surf chicks dominated record player, a standard heavy duty AV Department special, built to survive the clumsiest of AV monitors. Not that these gals were clumsy, if they were I wouldn't have noticed anyway. (What part of surf chicks didn't you get?) There were four records that they played more than others. The soundtrack to the surf movie "Five Summer Stories", which everybody had. Within the surf crowd, and the peripheral beachy non-surfers, that soundtrack would have been what Nirvana's Nevermind was in the nineties, not in sound but in ubiquitousness, at least with that small demographic. I had it (surprisingly some of it still holds up). Other LPs that got repeated plays were Van Morrison's Moondance, and the most annoying of the bunch, the self titled It's A Beautiful Day. That one snuck in there because the most annoying song on that most annoying LP, "White Bird", was in the soundtrack of a surf movie. Fuck, I don't care, I hated that song and that band and still do. Surf chicks can do no wrong? Bullshit: "White Bird".
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers - All Your Love mp3 at Internet Archive
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers - Double Crossing Time mp3 at Internet Archive
The whole LP:
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers -Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton at Internet Archive NOTE: Under "Download options" on the right side of the page, select "VBR MP3" for individual songs, or you can just stream it. Download a torrent, if you're one of those rascals.
Monday, July 22, 2024
EARLY SURF ALERT!
This is just a heads up to surf geeks: On Tuesday July 23 TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is airing all five pre-Endless Summer surf movies by Bruce Brown. Filmed from '58'-''62 these were made before the wide scale commodification of surf culture. Starting at 8:00 on Tuesday, going into the early morning, all followed by John Milius's Big Wednesday (1978).
Slippery When Wet (1958), Surf Crazy (1959), Barefoot Adventure (1960), Surfin Shorts (1960), Surfing Hollow Days (1962). The quality is crude and the narration corny as hell, but they capture the era well.
Bud Shank did the soundtracks to Slippery When Wet and Barefoot Adventure. It's total West Coat jazz. Used vinyl copies of both are pretty cheap and they're both really good.
Listen:
Bud Shank - The Surf and I (streaming) at YouTube
Full LPs:
Bud Shank - Barefoot Adventure (streaming) at YouTube
Bud Shank - Slippery When Wet (streaming) at YouTube
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
OUTSTANDING IN THEIR FIELD
Years ago I used to go to a bar near the beach for happy hour. Pitchers were half off, at the time a pitcher of Bud was something like $2.50. I only went to that bar for happy hour. I was a bargain hunter. After going there for a while they got a CD jukebox. The first one I'd ever seen. It was a crazy advancement. The thing would have the full album CDs so for the first time you could hear a deep track on a jukebox. In a bar. Loud. Granted most of it was classic rock. The price you pay for cheap beer.
One time I was in there and the bar was more crowded than usual. Everybody was shout-talking in a battle with the jukebox. That being the case, you could here snippets of conversations a few people away. The loudest, most dominant conversations were of the bickering, agitated chest beating, tough guy routine type. Everybody yapping their early buzz ass off. It was a total cacophony,I decided to add to it.

I had earlier taken a look-see at the jukebox. There it was. The white album. You know it. The double LP by that hairy bunch above. I filed that away, that it was there in case I wanted to hear something from it later. It wasn't much later when, annoyed at the congress of loud talkers, I put on the song that was the way-the-fuck-out-there deep cut of the album. Eight minutes of weird shit. Talk about adding to the cacophony. A couple minutes into it two fights broke out. I left and went home for dinner before going back out to my non-happy hour bar which was way happier.
Sunshine Company Happy Hour Fight Song [sic] mp3 at Internet Archive