Clay's Sounds From The Vault Mix

Muhahahahaha!!! It's that time of year again!!!



Yes, Halloween is once again upon us... and this spooky mixtape was created for you by one of the kings of mixtapes, Mr. Clay Craig ...



Ever since I've known Clay, he's been putting together superb playlists and compilations of all shapes and sizes from entertainingly educational ones like "Under The Covers" ( a mixtape exposing the original versions of songs that are better-known and more famous for their cover versions) to exhilirating seasonal mixes like "The Haunted Disc" and the one yer just about to hear!




Here's Clay himself to enlighten you a little about this 'un:

"making quick one-off mixes is fun, butt taking time to construct a frankenstein epic helps keep my mind out of the abyss. i obsessively collected creepy music and rewatched my fav spooky flicks for a few years in preparation of shitting out this nugget. Jason's Scarstuff blog was the laxative i needed to finish the birthing process, and thanks to Fred and Daily for the opening track."




THANK YOU, Clay for this amazingly thrilling and oftentimes eerily danceable mix!!!




All right now, all you trick-or-treaters ... if you dare, go ahead and ... OPEN THE VAULT!!!

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Speaking of Halloween, Peter & I carved our pumpkins last night, right before a delicious thunderstorm swept over ... He made a very sharp-toothed traditional jack-o-lantern and I made an ominous owl =

Also on a Halloween note, if yer in the area, my band Nowhere Squares will be playing a Halloween show with Ryan's band, Three Happenin Guys at Eclipse in Montevallo this Saturday, October 30th ... can't wait!!!

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In "art news", I've been a busy bee getting ready to show a bunch of new paintings at the Moss Rock Festival which will be Nov. 5th and 6th ...

And a couple of days ago, fellow artist John Lytle Wilson posted something about Birmingham Wiki and I discovered that I'm on there! haha ...learn something new everyday!





Here's some photo evidence of a few of my Moss Rock works-in-progress =

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Also this past weekend, I shot a music video for a Birmingham band called Eat My Shorts which was a LOT of fun! Hopefully I'll have it edited by next week ... if so, you'll see it then ...

The song's about David & Hayley's cat and it's called "Shirley"


Here's Shirley herself =

Shirley and Shirley =

Hayley and Jacki taking a break from the shoot =

Speaking of Hayley and Jacki, their marvelous site, D.I.Y Birmingham is doing our fair city a world of good by not only making folks aware of what's going on with our thriving local music scene, but also integrating that scene with the amazing local art scene as well ... Here, here!!!

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And now, for yer video-watching pleasure ...

1st up, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Thanks, Peter for getting us all in the spirit! =


Here's a nice new one from Memory Tapes =



Hey! It's Twin Shadow on Tunnelvision =



I'm not the biggest fan of the kids cursing in this video (seems forced), but I do support gay marriage so =






And for dessert we have 3 bizarre ones ...





2 from Ryan (thanky!) =



1. (I love this!)


2. (real live Gummo material!)




and 1 from Elise (cheers!) =



(time to brush up on yer German!)

Hade's "B" Book Mix

I never throw away mixtapes (or CDs) that my friends have given me and it's always exciting when I sift through them all and occassionally pop one in, just to see what secret forgotten treasures might be hiding on them ...

This mixtape was "created for you" by my long-lost friend from college, Jeff Nesmith, whom I haven't seen in many, many moons ... I think he lives in New York now ... Anyway, like Ian's Shuckhuckster Mix from earlier this year, this mix was ripped from an actual cassette tape that Jeff had given to me back in the day ...

I dunno why, but for some reason, inbetween some of songs he reads pages from a Dr. Seuss book, which always makes me laugh ... Musically, it sort of breathes in and out of different genres, which I think is one thing that makes it so playable ... one minute you have Billie Holiday crooning and the next thing you know, Ministry is literally screaming into yer ear!!!

I remember it was around this time of year when Jeff gave me the tape ... so both the cover and the music always make me think of dead leaves and cemeteries and Autumn in general ... So it just felt appropriate to share this personal nugget from my past with you on a Tuesday in October ... Maybe you can listen to it while trying to decide what to be for Halloween ...

At any rate, here it is, in all it's REAL LIVE TAPE-HISS GLORY!!!

Enjoy!!! Thanks, Jeff ... where ever you are!

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First off, I recently chanced upon my dear friend, Tantra's bi-annual experimental writing journal, which is pretty awesome ... This issue contains some really great poems by one Howie Good ... I really dig his surrealistic sense of humor!

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This past weekend Ryan and I headed down south to Mobile ...

Dauphin Island at sunset =

Cemetery high jinks =

Speaking of cemetery high jinks, Ryan told me about this video while we were at the cemetery, then later he sent me the link ... I have no words =

Elise's "When I Grow Up" themed Halloween party was very much a blast ...

Her husband Marc was a space man ... she was a princess =

Ryan and I were priests ... siamese, if you please =

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Up next ... VIDEO ROUND-UP !!!

I can't get enough of this new Holy Fuck video =

And this one by Flying Lotus blows my mind just a little bit =

A sort of depressing tribute to Kazuo Ohno by Antony & The Johnsons =

The Fresh & Onlys =


Tim Sommer (ex-Hugo Largo member) posted this amazing really early Kraftwerk stuff on facebook (thanks, Tim!) =


Then I found another golden oldie (I love the audience's reactions) =




Here's three for Ryan =

1.

2.

3.

Speaking of Ryan, he posted this 'un by Shining Path ... They'll be playing with my band, Nowhere Squares and Ryan's band, Three Happenin Guys October 30th at Eclipse in Montevallo =



For dessert, Rosie McGuire posted this insane Paula Deen shite that's both funny and scary (thanks, Rosie!) =

And for round 2, Eric McGinty posted this rather amazing tidbit called "Smells Like Rockin' Robin" ... I describe it as "laugh out loud brilliant" ... Thanks, Eric! =