I heard about Flying Lotus from my younger British/South African roommate while living in China. Appropriate then that this video showcases the Chinese zodiac.

Two examples of great 70′s rock out of Africa. First of all, both of these “videos” are only a vehicle to hear the tune, there is no additional visual. I first heard Witch on Pri’s The World. Great tune, and where do I get one of those magic rafts? I think the guy is operating it with his boots…

And tell me the chorus of this Chrissy Zebby Tembo song doesn’t have Ozzy written all over it…

If you like it, get more here. Props to Aesop and his Cosmic Hearse blog.

In early Sept. Dean and I went to Beijing for a culture fix and to celebrate his birthday. In addition to the food and DVD’s we couldn’t get in Liaocheng, we hit the 798 arts district and went to Wodaokou to check out an indie music club I’d heard about called D-22. It was very refreshing. For context, you have to understand the complete lack of decent western music in China. Michael Jackson and Westlife are names dropped when you ask what sort of western music people like. If you are really lucky, someone has heard of the Beatles and have a notion they were influential. So going to a venue in Beijing and liking what we heard was huge. As it was a Tuesday night, there was no actual band playing, but a film. It was a tour film for PK-14, which used their songs during the mundane bits when they were sleeping in the van and such (and to think, bands bitch about being “on the road” in the States) and a crazy ass experimental sound track over the live footage. This was the filmmakers doing and unfortunately I have no info on him. But I bought a PK-4 disc. Imagine my surprise when I got back to L to realize they’d been the global hit on the NPR’s The World the previous day. They is plenty of other press about them out there as well.

I’m trying to get some tracks uploaded to attach to this post but can’t figure it out right now. More later…

Missed out on an obit. last Friday, and this one is a little different as I actually once “met” and interacted with him. He read on the UGA campus in what I’ll guess was ’95, but I can’t reference a month right now. Some friends and I owned a bookstore in Athens at the time and when I walked up to him after the reading, maybe I was being a bit “glory”, but I couldn’t help but throw out the idea that, had he time, it might be cool if he came by. My intention was truly just for him to see and enjoy the place, as it was a bookstore like no other, I wasn’t trying to cash in on some “celebrity appearance”.

But how exactly to spontaneously pitch this?
I guess he wasn’t too impressed, for his response came, and I’ll never forget,
“You have a bookstoaahh?” like a junkie Elmer Fudd doing an impersonation of a New Yorker.

And then quickly some student union handler whisked him away with a promised carrot juice. Surely he was tired after the reading, surely wackballs approached him constantly, and as the sage N. Peart reminds us “one must put up barriers to keep oneself in tact.” I’m not bitter or anything, that’s just my little Jim Carroll story. He came of age in a great city at a unique time in it’s history and wrote some great stuff. I first saw this photo on the inner sleeve of J. Giorno’s compilation “Your a hook”.

J Carroll and P Smith in 1969. photo by Wren D’Antonio

photo by Suzanne Welles

My sister had an 8lb daughter yesterday, both are now doing well. The gbv song has little to do with this, other than the title and the recognition of aging, though it has all actually happened in good time.

He’s the Uncle

photo Simon Sellers

Here’s one resource page, and goodreads. A heavy hitter of 20th century outre fiction! Two other BBC articles on JGB references in music and as a Seer of the Atomic Age.

Finally found a great Ballardarian animated tribute. I’ll be doing more research on this filmmaker!

This looks like a rather amazing line up – can’t imagine how it’s free… I guess some car companies still have huge advertising budgets. But how many headbanger metalheads can they get driving Scions, no matter how customized?
It’ll probably be a packed madhouse by the time Mastadon and Neurosis take the stage, but hopefully I can have a reasonably pleasant experience if I try to catch Boris and Harvey Milk.

“Rock ‘n’ Roll specialists”