A GOOD SINGER, A GOOD SONG, AND SOME STONES

It's worth the click, guaranteed. Here's a really nice, no...beautiful cover of the Stones' "Salt of the Earth" by Bettye LaVette. And because I can't leave well enough alone, an assortment of Stones stuff.

You may have heard that "Exile on Main St." is getting reissued, with bells and whistles (some with dubious overdubs). They didn't ask me, but that's an album that, short of remastering, I wouldn't have fucked with. You can get a taste of one of the doctored unreleased tracks "Plundering My Soul" below. Though the better link is the 15 outtakes of various origins at Captains Dead. But do get Bettye.

Bettye Lavette - Salt of the Earth mp3 at BrooklynVegan
Exile "outtake" "Plundering My Soul" (streaming) at Never Get Out of the Boat
15 Stones outtakes at Captain's Dead (outtakes orgins here)
Jimmy Fallon Announces Stones Week on Late Night
A guide to Stones bootlegs at a fan site

WESLEY WILLIS' ETERNAL JOY RIDE

A lot of you may know him, or know of him. Wesley Willis was an incredibly prolific artist, and musician. And he had a lot of friends. A lot. Everywhere he went, he made friends. And it's pretty certain that most people that came in contact with him, remember meeting him.

A brief description of Wesley Willis doesn't really say it all, but it says a lot. He was 6'5", over 300 lbs, and almost child-like in his world view. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the late eighties, heard voices in his head and took medication to temper his demons. He drew street scenes incessantly (in ball point pen and felt tip markers), and recorded over 50 self-produced CDs. He loved rock n' roll, fast food and the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago. He toured a lot, sometimes with a band, sometimes by himself. There were times that he had no permanent address, sleeping on the couches of friends instead. He had no bank account, but at times had thousands of dollars in cash in his pockets.

When he passed away in 2003, there were online tributes all over the place, with a wide mix of people posting comments. Some viewed him as novelty, or as an outsider artist. Some quoted from one of his many, many, songs. Some wrote about his prolific art output. And some remembered Wesley, the person. The demographics were all over the place. It was obvious from reading the comments, he was loved; even by those who shared only momentary contact. There's a new documentary about him, "Wesley Willis's Joy Rides," in which one person totally nails it. He said "You could see peoples' hearts through their interactions with Wesley Willis."

In another segment of the documentary, they interview the manager of the Chicago art supply store that Wesley used to shop at. The manager is recounting a conversation that he had with the stores owner. When asked by the owner "Do you think Wesley is a good presence in the store?" he answered yes. Elaborating, he added,

"In India they call them "muss" [sp?], which means "a God intoxicated person,", somebody who acts abnormal, somebody who acts crazy, but they're not crazy at all. They're, in fact, so in love with God, so in love with life, that they act imbalanced. I told him that he might be one of these types of people. One of the criteria for recognizing if someone is a muss, as opposed to someone who is mad, is the effect that they have on people around them. Usually a mad person,...you want to keep away, and they have sort of a disturbing effect. Whereas Wesley had the opposite effect. He could uplift people, make people feel good about themselves, and people liked to be around him."

While there is no doubt that his output is worth notice, having known Wesley and having seen his effect on people first hand, I'm convinced his legacy will prove to be his ability to interact comfortably with people from all walks of life. Whether you were a child, a geriatric, well-known hipster or totally anonymous wallflower, Wesley treated you with respect. His verve was contagious, and after meeting him, it was hard not to take stock of your priorities. Wesley was the embodiment of the whole punk rock ethos, and his disregard of criticism bears a lesson for all of us.

About the links below:
Released last year, "Wesley Willis's Joy Rides" is an excellent introduction for those unfamiliar with Wesley, and revelatory enough for those who knew him well. After viewing it, I looked online for Wesley resources, something I haven't done since he passed away. I was astounded to find another short on YouTube, filmed in 1988, showing a considerably slimmer Wesley, drawing on the street, before his many Wesley-isms, before his music, before his fame, but with his good will and friendly manner firmly established. I also ran across another page with single mp3s from over 25 of his CD's. Mind boggling in it's scope, it's roughly 500 songs. There's also 23 more mp3s on Alternative Tentacles site. And, finally, a high resolution gallery of over 100 Wesley drawings.

Wesley Willis's Joy Rides trailer at YouTube
Wesley Willis: Artist of the Streets: Early 10 minute short from 1988
Wesley Willis CD Repository: mp3s of over twenty five Wesley Willis CDs
Alternative Tentacles: 23 mp3s (use the "Biographies by Artist" drop down menu to get to Wesley's page).
The Art of Wesley Willis at Flickr
Interview with filmmaker Chris Bagley at Viceland Films
Audio interview by high school students
Audio interview by Howard Stern Part 1 and Part 2

HOW TO STAY IN BUSINESS

The Sensational Big M.R. and His All Bitchin’ All Stud All Stars (Click here for full size)

It's Record Store Day today, and it got me thinking. I've been to a lot of record stores and have had a lot of record store experiences. By far, the event that still amuses me to no end is the day that me and about eight other guys went into a record store and shoplifted. Let me clarify: we didn't shoplift a record. We literally shoplifted a shop.

It was about 1979 and the record store was Monty Rockers, run by one of the scenes more colorful figures (and everybody's cool older brother), Dan McLain. He was a musician and scene ringleader, and a partner in the record store. Few people realized that the store was not wholly owned by him, because his partner was the money man and never, ever, there. Dan was the music brains, and what he lacked in business acumen, he made up for in his contagious enthusiasm for music. (I once saw him get an entire party singing along with "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" by Harry Belafonte. With every "That's right! The Woman is-uh-Smart-er!" his beer would be raised, and his arm would swing, anointing everybody who was shouting along).

After a year or two of struggling, his partner had enough of McLain's relaxed style of business and decided that he would take control of the store. So, he had the locks changed and he hired someone to work the store. All was in place for a takeover, or so he must have thought. But he was dealing with McLain, someone much more likable and, for many, the reason they shopped at that particular record store in the first place.

So McLain figured, without finances, he would still need some sort of leverage to keep the store. The best solution he could come up with was to simply take the store back. In broad daylight. So, he rounded up about eight or ten guys and had us all meet at "the Meade house", where a handful of them lived. I arrived on my Honda 90 and passed out "M.R. Task Force" badges. Some of the guys had baseball bats, so they were cast as the heavies. And I do mean cast. This was a rag tag group of music freaks and most were not all that tough. But the guy working at the store didn't know that. He's never seen any of us, except McLain, so it was an opportunity for all of us to get our Eastwood rocks off.

McLain as Country Dick Montana

Soon after meeting up, we got into a fleet of vans and trucks and drove to the store. Once there, one of the guys with a bat when right over to the phone and cut the line. He then stood next to the incredulous new hire, and while slapping the bat to his hand said "This store belongs to a friend of mine" in a gruff Bronson-like voice. I found it hard to keep from laughing, because the guy with the bat was so far removed from tough guy, I was unsure if he could pull it off (forgetting that he was in a SNL-like comedy group and fully capable of keeping in character).

We loaded up racks and records, and while we couldn't get everything, we were all knowledgeable enough about music to get the good shit. The store was left with absolute crap. The sort of shit small record stores have to keep the racks filled. I have no idea what transpired in the days that followed, but McLain was able to retake control of the store and eventually found a new partner who understood his style and actually liked music.

To give you an idea how important that store was to the scene, not long after the shoplifting incident, when McLain ran into financial difficulties, a benefit spaghetti benefit/backyard concert was held. It sounds quaint, but it was a was a modern day punk rock barn raising, featuring the best bands in the scene (among them the Zeros, the Crawdaddys and the Penetrators). That store was genuinely loved, and not because of the inventory. Like most good record stores it was dependent on a social vibe, a secret ingredient that cannot be bought or sold, only shared.

McLain would later assemble an all star band comprised of members of San Diego bands, deemed the Sensational Big M.R. and His All Bitchin’ All Stud All Stars. A few years after that, he became "Country Dick Montana" and utilized the same musical magnetism that made the store a popular hangout to propel the Beat Farmers to semi-fame. In 1995, he died onstage from a heart attack, while doing what he did best, whipping up a frenzy.

The Sensational Big M.R. and His All Bitchin’ All Stud All Stars: Who Do You Love, Beat Generation, and Burnin' Love mp3s and lengthy story at the Che Underground

Behold the Economic Solo - another post about Dan McLain, Gene Vincent and Monty Rockers

McLain's fanzine: Snare (complete issue scan)

WHADDYA CALL 'EMS

I'm a candy mouth, I'll admit it. I can cuss with the best of 'em. But I had to think long and hard about how I would address one of my favorite music genres. Verve Records, on one of their compilations referred to it as "the beat of burlesque." Debbie D. at Beware of the Blog refers to them as "rock 'n' soul shakers." But most people familiar with this type of music refer to them as "titty shakers." I've got no problem with the unsavoriness of the term. My misgivings about using it has to do with the fact that, well, it's not all that clever. Doesn't quite have the old school panache that old school strip music warrants. An example: Jerry Lee Lewis once referred to strip clubs as "jiggle clubs." Now, that's an excellent example of a panache-laced strip-related slang term. But the Killer isn't some record geek trying to think up a name for a compilation. Old school panache of all sorts runs through his veins.

Whatever you want to call them, there's a something about the late 50s to early 60s instrumentals that fall into the "titty shaker" category. They usually feature a honking sax or sleazy sounding organ, usually have a good beat, and quite often have just a couple words in the way of vocals. (Think, "[ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom..] Chicken Fat!") Another nutty thing is that the lion's share of "titty shakers" are by complete nobodies. Bands that made a few instrumental records that were used in jiggle clubs and forgotten until years later when "titty shaker" afficionados brought them out of obscurity. Regardless of the origins, the purpose, or the artists' level of fame, when you play several in a row, you're transported to a different time. Before lap dances, before full frontal, and, hell, before exposed nipples. But, alas, the men were always dogs.

These have all of the elements. Almost all ten, bona fide whatever you want to call thems on a Debbie D post at Beware of the Blog. And, Ms D, my hat is off to you for callin' 'em how you sees 'em.

Rock 'n' Soul Shakers, 10 prime mp3s at Beware of the Blog
Tittyshakers.com, streaming "titty shakers," forum and requisite postulating.

NO KOOKS, NO GOONS

Because I bodysurf. Because there's a lot of surf music, but not much in the way of bodysurf music. Because summer's right around the corner. Because our President bodysurfs. Because the hosting blog is held dear to the Trastos heart. Because it's just so damn weird to come across a sung called "Bodywompin'" by a band from Fresno, on a blog from France. Because the same post has the same band doing a suitably twisted cover of "Exotic." For these reasons and others, I felt compelled to post a link to a post with somewhat limited appeal. Thank you Rev. Frost.

This one's for Tim, Ted, Tryka, Gildea, Ables, Sundberg, OSPAC, and the entire Rutherford clan.
Hear them here:
Jim Waller & the Deltas: Body Wompin', Exotic, Surfin' Wild mp3s at Spread the Good Word
Obama bodysurfing in Sandy Beach shorebreak.
(In case you're wondering, a friend of mine with 30+ years of bodysurfing experience saw him in action and gave him a passing grade.)

RECORD STORE DAY IS SATURDAY

Record Store Day is this Saturday, so I'm setting the wayback machine to 1977. But it's more because of the records that drew us to the stores, than the stores themselves. That's because, after years of major label domination of "cutting edge" music, the DIY mentality of punk rock had pulled the independent label movement right out of the mud. Though the indies never really went away, there were just very few of them. But when punk hit, it was as if someone was cutting a path through all of the bullshit. Deals were made on handshakes (or clinking beer bottles), artists were given control, and distribution avenues grew. It was one of the most important, and longest lasting, aspects of original punk rock movement. Nowadays "punk rock" is for the masses, a sound and a look, more than it is a movement, way of life, or DIY business model. Sure, there's still indie punk labels, but what's disconcerting is that a lot of the music is too derivative, too much the same, too punk rock.

In 1977, all these punk labels started popping up in L.A.. Notably early were Bomp (who put out the first Weirdos and Zeros 45s) and What Records (the first Dils and Germs records),; but, by far, the one label that had it down, and released the bulk of the significant shit, was Dangerhouse. I can remember eagerly waiting for the first crop of Dangerhouse releases to hit Monty Rockers, my record store of choice. I mean that literally. I was there when they were delivered. So, that's the segue to Record Store Day. A stretch, I know.

Within a five month period, Dangerhouse released 45s by the Randoms, Black Randy & the Metro Squad (two), the Avengers, the Dils (their second), the Weirdos (their second), the Alleycats, and X. Just a few months later, amongst others, they released 45s by the Deadbeats, the Bags, and the Eyes. At the very least, there are a half dozen landmark punk records in that bunch. And, notably, they're not all really punk rock. Because it wasn't just about a look or a sound. I mean, jeez, the Alleycats were a sped up rock band that had been playing biker bars. X's John Doe & Exene started out as poets. The Weirdos were just loud ex-art school guys. The Dils were really just aggravated, well-versed, ex-rock guys. And the Deadbeats were a total fucking freakout. Nevermind the fact that the Screamers were never properly recorded, they were undoubtedly on the Dangerhouse wish list, what with former Screamer David Brown being one of the labels principals. So just listen to some of the songs on the pages below. Really, at least just listen to the Deadbeats' "Brainless," and think of that the next time you see a kid in a black hoodie and skinny jeans.

This post at 7 Inch Punk has:
The Avengers: We Are the One, I Believe In Me, Car Crash
The Dils: Class War, Mr. Big
Randoms: ABCD, Let's Get Rid of New York
Black Randy & the Metro Squad: Trouble at the Cup, Loner With A Boner, Sperm Bank Baby

This post at 7 Inch Punk has:
The Weirdos: We Got the Neutron Bomb, Solitary Confinement
The Alleycats: Nothing Means Nothing Anymore, Gimme a Little Pain
X: Adult Books, We're Desperate
Black Randy & the Metro Squad: Idi Amin, Say It Loud Pt 3, Say It Loud Pt 13, I Wanna be a Narc

This post at 7 Inck Punk has:
The Deadbeats: Kill the Hippies, Brainless [HIGHLY recommended], and three non- Dangerhouse songs

Dangerhouse history & discography at Break My Face; Pt 1, and Pt 2
An exhaustive history, with interviews and side stories.

Record Store Day official site

REMEMBERING A TRUE SHIT STIRRER

Malcom Mclaren passed away today, in New York. The bulk of the piece below is from a bio I wrote for Woodstock.com ten years ago. Sadly, some editing was required, to change the tense of some passages.

Malcolm McLaren, best known as the former manager of the Sex Pistols, was incredibly astute at picking up on the slightest nuances of contemporary culture and lighting an invisible fuse. He was equal parts explorer, appropriator, trash picker, entrepreneur, opportunist and artist. And he knew how to stir up a fuss.

His name seems to pop up everywhere. In addition to the Sex Pistols, he has had ties to the New York Dolls, Ronnie "the Great Train Robber" Biggs, actress Lauren Hutton, Bow Wow Wow, film critic Roger Ebbert, Boy George, French actress Catherine Deneuve and artist Keith Haring. At different times, he has been band manager, entrepreneur, fashion designer and recording artist, and he was one of the earliest to sell the trends of punk rock, vouging, hip-hop and music piracy. In 1999, when it seemed as though he was starting to slow down, he ran for Mayor of London.

Born in London in 1946, he was brought up by his grandmother and began his young adult life attending several London area art schools. While in art school, he organized a happening at an art gallery (that was shut down by the police), was involved in student revolts and traveled to Paris where he began an association with an art gangster group, the Situationists. During these art school years, his predilection for disorder was instilled.
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Photos from McLaren's funeral here

In 1971, he entered the fashion world, opening his first boutique on Kings Road. Originally named "In The Back of Paradise Garage," it would become his hub, operating under several different names and featuring constantly changing clothing lines, designed with his partner, Vivien Westwood. From this store, under it's third name " Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die," he met the New York Dolls. After yet another name change, this time to "Sex," he would go on to briefly manage the New York Dolls, during their "red patent leather" period. McLaren issued a press statement "Better Red Than Dead" and dressed the Dolls in red patent leather outfits. The intent was for the Dolls to appear as having a threatening affiliation with communism. Ultimately the band sabotaged the idea when they told the press that it was joke.

By 1975, while still operating under the name of "Sex," McLaren met a young band called "QT Jones and the Sex Pistols" and, after learning that most of their equipment had been burgled from the homes of various English rock stars, was enamored enough that he began managing them. After dropping "QT Jones" from the name and recruiting a singer they would name Johnny Rotten, they went on to be signed and dropped from two record companies within months, before landing a deal with Virgin Records.

During the short life span of the Sex Pistols (they broke up in 1978), McLaren invited soft core film maker Russ Meyer to make a film about the band, and he began writing a script with Roger Ebert, titled "Who Killed Bambi?" The project was dropped by 20th Century Fox after one scene was shot, a studio spokesman saying, "We are in the business of making family entertainment".

McLaren would later salvage the idea and some footage, assembling a film that would later be released as "The Great Rock N Roll Swindle," with director Julien Temple. It was during this process that McLaren hooked up with Ronald Biggs, the infamous Londoner known as "the Great Train Robber." Biggs, who had escaped from prison and fled to South America, was enlisted to take the place of Johhny Rotten, who had left the band in 1978. Though the middle-aged and talent-less Biggs was an unlikely front man, he was enlisted by McLaren as an ideal candidate to infuriate British authorities. Flying Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Jones to the exiled Biggs' home base, the sessions produced the single "No One Is Innocent".

The Sex Pistols would soon disband, and McLaren later summed up the experience saying, "The greatest technique involved in managing the Sex Pistols was always to create the right explosion and when know that it was going to happen, and as manager, run into the toilet and come out after the explosion and say, 'God, what's happened?"

In 1980, with his shop operating under the name "World's End", Malcolm McLaren discovers and produces Adam Ant, Bow Wow Wow and a young Boy George. Bow Wow Wow included Adam Ant's backing band (persuaded to leave Ant by McLaren) and featured a 13 year-old girl singer named Annabella, whose youth would prompt another McLaren ploy. By recreating Manet's painting "Dejeuner Sur l'herbe" using the members of the group and Annabella in the nude, as a record cover, he again managed to anger officials (and the girl's mother).

The concept for the new group, and accompanying line of pirate influenced clothes, was to promote music piracy, particularly the home taping of songs broadcast on the radio. The first single by Bow Wow Wow was "C30 C60 C90 Go" a name derived from the names designated by different lengths of cassette tapes. The press release was accompanied by a cassette single (said to be the very first in the format) and a statement that "Copyrighting of this sound recording is UNLAWFUL." The lyrics speak for themselves:

When I went in your shop,
And you said my records were out of stock,
So I don't buy records in your shop,
I tape 'em all, I'm top of the pops

Now I've got a new way to move,
It's shiny and black and don't need a groove,
I don't need no album rack,
I carry my collection over my back

C-30 C-60 C-90 Go
Off the radio I get a constant flow,
Hit it! Pause it! Record it and play,
Or turn it on rewind and rub it away

The record company, EMI, was not amused. As the first label to drop the Sex Pistols, they had already been bamboozled once by McLaren. The song was a hit, but they stopped production, issuing a press release that stated "We cannot promote a band who blatantly promote home taping."

By 1983 McLaren had become fascinated with the New York hip-hop scene, then still in it's infancy. He would later say, "I came to rap on a street corner near Harlem, and I noticed this young black kid wearing a T-shirt saying 'Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols' on it, and he was scratching. To me, that seemed like a miraculous kind of vision. Punk, from England, had made it all the way to New York's Harlem, and now here was this whole new music to be discovered as well."

He began an album called "Duck Rock" which combined international music, rap influenced lyrics and some of the earliest scratching to reach a mass audience. The liner notes described collaborators the World Famous Supreme Team as DJs from New York that had "developed a technique using record players like instruments, replacing the power chord of the guitar by the needle of a gramophone, moving it manually backwards and forwards across the surface of the record. We call it scratching."

The album was quietly groundbreaking. Not only had it introduced scratching, hip-hop culture and cover artist Keith Haring to a mass audience, it was one of the first to introduce a world music hybrid in an international pop music context.

McLaren was still active, with Westwood, in clothes designing. The two opened another shop called Nostalgia of Mud (in 1981). To coincide with the release of "Duck Rock," they showed a new fashion collection (featuring textile prints by Keith Haring) in Paris, using music that mixed rap with opera. Within a year, this would be another path that McLaren would wander. In 1984, he released his second album "Fans" which mixed opera with R & B and hip hop elements. The album, and featured single "Madame Butterfly" (which was a hit in Europe), predated MTV's "Hip Hopera: Carmen" (aired in May 2000) by a whopping 16 years.

After 1984, McLaren was seemingly everywhere, though not as much in the public eye. In 1985, he went to Hollywood, pitching movies such as "Heavy Metal Surf Nazis" and "Rock 'n' Roll Godfather." Now split up with Westwood, he began a relationship with actress Lauren Hutton. Though seen as an odd pairing by many who knew McLaren, the press was uninterested, presumably because they had covered enough of McLaren antics.

The next few years would be filled by a legal battle over the Sex Pistols name (which he gave up the rights to by walking out of court), an exhibition of his work (at the Museum of Contemporary Art in New York) and pitching another film project (this time to Steven Spielberg's Amblin Productions). In 1989, McLaren released a third album, this time recruiting Jeff Beck and Bootsy Collins. Titled "Waltz Darling" and credited to McLaren and the Bootzilla Orchestra, it was another odd pairing, this time with waltzes and funk. He also released a single "Deep In Vogue,' inspired by the New York semi-dance craze. Though not a big seller, the single predated and inspired Madonna's "Vogue," the song that put voguing into it's short-lived limelight.

From 1990 through 1999, McLaren was still at it, keeping up a pace that looked that by now, seemed unstoppable. He wrote and directed a TV movie, "The Ghosts Of Oxford Street," released a forth album, "Paris" (featuring Catherine Deneuve), and toured the Far East, Australia and New Zealand as a lecturer.

He was commissioned to begin writing his autobiography, created and managed a Chinese all girl group called JUNGK. An album, called "Buffalo Gals Back To Skool," consisting of "Duck Rock" remixes (by high profile hip-hop producers) was released in 1998.

McLaren's decade culminated with an unsuccessful bid for Mayor of London in 1999. His chances were slim from the outset. By design, the campaign was pure McLaren. (One of his platforms called for the legalization of cannabis.)

From all appearances, McLaren seems to have been on hiatus since the mayoral election. With the exception of a mash-up (of the Carpenters "Love Will Keep Us Together" and Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart," roughly a year ago), there had been hardly a peep from the McLaren camp in the past ten years. It's quite possible that it was only because he was involved in projects even more peripheral than those in the past (and, if the pattern continues, later someone else will receive the bulk of the credit). Well, then. Long live the shit stirrers.

If you follow this blog and read the last post, the irony may not be lost on you. This post, the first without links leading directly to mp3 files, is about the person who practically invented the term "music piracy".

NOTE TO UK MUSIC PUBLSHERS: These links lead to other sites:
Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK mp3 at Music is Art (5th song at bottom of post)
Bow Wow Wow - C30 C60 C90 Go mp3 at Town Full of Losers (4th song down)
Malcolm McLaren - Buffalo Gals mp3 at 8106 (Scroll down to 4th song)
Malcolm McLaren - Double Dutch mp3 at Crying All the Way to the Chip Shop
Malcolm McLaren & the World Famous Supreme Team – Hey DJ at 8106 (6th song)
Malcolm McLaren and the Bootzilla Orchestra - Deep in Vogue mp3 at Nervous Acid

Added 4/12/2010: Comments from John Lydon, Steve Jones, Annabella Lwin, David Johansen, Vivien Westwood and others at Pitchfork
Added 4/22/10: Photos of the funeral at the Telegraph web site
Added 4/24/10: Roger Ebert on McLaren, Russ Meyers and the aborted Sex Pistols film "Who Killed Bambi?"
Malcolm McLaren - A Chronology
McLaren declares Damien Hirst's $160K clothing collection fake
McLaren's Manifesto for London
McLaren's obituary in the Guardian

McLaren's obituary in the New York Times
Malcolm McLaren's run for Mayor of London

YOU'RE IN MY SEAT

I know, a whole month away from here. It wasn't exactly a vacation. The short version of what went down is this: I received a notice from my ol' pals at Blogger telling me that they received a complaint regarding one of the links that I posted. Seems a UK music publisher thinks I was posting something that infringed on their copyright or intellectual property or some other such nonsense. The truth of the matter is that I have never uploaded a single mp3, ever. Without exception, every song that's been mentioned on this blog was uploaded by someone else, on someone else's server. I though it obvious enough because I have mentioned, and linked to, the hosting blogs where the songs were found. Apparently that didn't matter. So, I took it upon myself to go digging through some legal fine print, and as far as I can determine, my offense was linking directly to the mp3 files, thus making it easier for hooligans to go raid the pantries of rich rock stars. So, from here on in, I won't give you the key to the liquor cabinet, I'll just point you in the direction of the party. In other words, I'll only link to the blogs, not the actual mp3s. It's an added step that, should you be interested in the song, you'll have to strain to make one or two more clicks with that mouse of yours.

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For the record, I'm not recommending that you download music posted on the blogs. but I'm not recommending that you don't either. You know as well as I do, that I can't go on record as condoning downloading, and the fact of the matter is you're all big boys and girls and can make your own decisions. I'm just saying that the right-click-"save as" button is a wonderful thing.
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Now, it didn't take a whole month to figure out how to proceed. One thing I haven't mentioned is that, right about the same time I got the notice from Blogger, I got a virus that chewed up my computer from the inside out. It was bad enough that I was forced to get a new computer, which, unfortunately, came pre-loaded with Windows 7. Ordinarily that wouldn't be a problem, but my mp3 software of choice is Winamp, which hates Windows 7, like I hate UK music publishers. It was a mess friends, and I was thoroughly discombobulated. I had to do a lot of MacGyvering to get the thing to work. But, after a whole lot of cussin', I'm ready to go. The big question is, are you still there?