Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Thrift Store Vinyl Radio program 7 (distant lands)



Wanna travel across the globe? Well so do I, but listening to this month's episode of "Thrift Store Vinyl Radio" is really the next best thing to that, so why even start packing?!


Haha ... ok, it's not THAT good ... but I do have a lot of scratchy records "from" exotic foreign places and it was a ton of fun digging through all that under-the-bed vinyl & making the show ... so THERE!


Get ready to "travel" to Africa, Japan, China, America (!), India, Israel, Spain, France & Switzerland ...

Here we go!!!






Wanna download this?

Well, you can right HERE!!!





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Tragic news =
Singer Amy Winehouse was found dead this past week ... She was only 27 ...


sad sad sad ...


HERE's a nicely written memorial piece that Pitchfork posted the other day ...


R.I.P. Amy











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So I finished up working at Arts Camp at the Bham Museum of Art this past week ...



On the last day, the kiddies got to take turns beating this =




Furious determination =




Candy for all =




The kid in the middle called me "Daddy" all week ...
Still dunno what to think of that ... haha =








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Hey ... I've got an idea ... let's watch some V I D E O S !!!!!!!!







Since the theme is travel this week, let's begin with this Ethiopian documentary by Olivia Wyatt ... It's called "Staring Into The Sun" and I reeeally wanna see it! Here's the trailer =



Here's the only commercial I've ever seen for a Smiths album ... and I dig it! =




Wow ... just when I was gonna give up on Spike Jonze (I hated "Scenes From The Suburbs"), he comes out with this excellent action figure-filled one for the Beastie Boys (feat. Santigold) ... YES! =




I dig this 'un from Behavior =



I'm not the biggest fan of the new Black Lips album ... However, this video for "New Direction" is pretty enjoyable! =


Some hazy subtitled beauty by Dream Boat =


Seth Persons recently posted this (thanks!) ... it's the very talented Manu Delago ... dig! =







Dessert is on the way!!!




1st up my man, Ryan sent me this amazingly musical kitten clip =




Chris Stewart posted this bit of crazy Japanese 90's madness by RIP SLYME ... Cheers! =




And Jen Healy sent me this bit of bit of gold lame insanity ... yikes!
Gracias, Jen! =




Flaming Lips and Lightning Bolt collaborated recently and here is the rather nightmarish result =




And finally, Matt Goodin posted this dramatic sequel to the potty-mouthed Keisha Thiabo video that hit the youtube airways a few weeks back ... Danke, Matt! =


























Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Jess Marie's Old Spotted Blue cassette side B



This mixtape was created many moons ago by one of my greatest friends, Miss Jess Marie Walker ... She is not only a talented artist, she's also a very wonderful teacher and mother ...


This is truly a one-of-a-kind compilation, ripped from a genuine audio cassette ... Waaay back in January 2011, I posted Side A ... Which you can listen to RIGHT HERE ...


and now ... 7 months later ... we have Side B for you, in all of it's Southern nostalgic glory!


Even though Jess Marie made this tape for me quite some time ago (it really reminds me of when I used to live in Montevallo), I've found myself digging it out every couple months or so to give it another listen while I'm painting or writing or just plain old goin about my business! I find it somehow extremely playable ...


Speaking of playable, Side 2 is really just as wonderful as Side 1 ... I like listening to it on Summer days because it has a couple of songs that make me long for Autumn & Winter (Peggy Lee's "September In The Rain" and Opal Fox Quartet's "Someone's House Always Burns On Christmas", but aside from that it also contains a rich and eclectic collection of old country, jazz and even ends on a lovely experimental note with John Cage's radio drama, "The City Wears a Slouch Hat", a piece I could listen to over and ove and over (I love the pots and pans rain sound effects!) ...


So here is the track list =




and here is the mix ...
Side B of the grand "Old Spotted Blue" mix by Jess Marie Walker ...
Thanks, Jess!

ENJOY!!!!!!





Wanna download it?
Well ya can RIGHT HERE.





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1st up, a bit of randomness ...



Ed Reynolds, who I used to work with when I delivered Black & Whites, posted this as his facebook status recently and I thought it was pretty funny ... thanks, Ed! =


As I pressed the pump to put ketchup on my cornbread at the NASA cafeteria last week, I soon learned that it was instead French dressing. So NASA can launch the most complex machine ever built into orbit and bring it back. But they confuse French dressing and ketchup. But I gotta tell you, French dressing and cornbread is damn good. I've dubbed this newly discovered delicious delight "NASA cornbread."



Also, Ryan sent me this horrifically funny badly stuffed animals page ... my god, I never knew taxidermy could look so nightmarish!

You can dig the disasters HERE.



And oh yeah ...one of my very favorite record labels Ghost Box Music just put out a new album by The Advisory Circle called "As The Crow Flies" ... and a member of that band, John Brooks created a quite awesome "Summer Gathering Sequence" mix to celebrate =







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So I've been working with kiddies again at the Bham Museum of Art's Arts Camp these past weeks, but aside from that, my band Nowhere Squares played at Bottletree this past Thursday, opening up for Nobunny, who never showed his face except on stage and hid in the backstage airstream the whole time ... It was a fun show though, and we debuted a brand new song, "Don't Fit In"! Here's the set list, written on a paper plate ... haha =








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Also this week, one of my best friends ever, John Wendel visited the States ... he teaches English in Korea ... we got to hang out a good deal, which was a grrrreat ...


Here's Justin and John deep in conversation at the river =








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V I D E O T I M E !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Ian Frearson posted this bit of TV history, saying:

"You knew something different was about to start when you saw and heard this!"
Thanks, Ian! =




The Cults go back in time in this grand video =


I love this awesomely animated one that Ryan sent me =




Ryan also turned me on to the incredible Irish band Girls Names (their album "Dead To Me" rules!) =




Another great one by Girls Names =




Slim Twig goodness =



Moonface (Spencer Krug) who is playing this Sunday nite at Bottletree! =




Some psychedelic visual fun, care of Leyland Kirby =




Weston Flippo posted this trailer for a 60's show called "the subject is jazz" ... it rules and I wish I could watch every episode ... cheers, Weston! =




This Nyota clip is pretty astounding =



Multiple Strokes for multiple folks =







How bout some sweet and hilarious dessert ???




Haha ... Chris Stewart posted this, stating :
"now that we have a dog, I don't have to know this anymore"
(Cheers!) =




Seth Persons posted this very silly "rent-a-friend" VHS treasure ... gracias! =




Sarah Harrell posted this Sarah Hyland thriftstore adventure ... haha ... danke, Sarah(s)! =




This "baby mustache" from Ryan is pretty ridiculous, but that doesn't mean it's not brilliant! =




Ryan also sent me this hilarious bit of Japanese James Brown madness! haha =




All good things come in threes, so here's a 3rd one from Ryan! This time it's "Little Eden" choking on hairspray in slow-motion ... classic! =




And speaking of Little Eden, Matt Goodin posted this slowed down version of her performing her soon-to-be smash hit single "Cutie Patootie" ... thanks, Matt! =










Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Andrea's Soundtrack for the Rapture Mix part 2



Some folks take the concept of "mix making" to a whole new level ... and Andrea Paschal is one of those folks.


She took an idea, the so-called "rapture", or end of the world (that was due to happen back on May 21st), and created a complete 2 part epic soundtrack!!! Witness the incredible detail that Andrea put into this when I posted Part One of the mixtape and asked her to explain it ... (HERE IS PART ONE).

Here is a snippet of Andrea's explanation =

"After hearing about the news of Harold Camping’s approaching Rapture date:May 21st 2011 (Strangely enough just after into watching the series Aftermath: Population Zero) I was immediately intrigued…and inspired. It had been awhile since I had sat down to make a good mix….and this was just the sort of thing to really get me going.
When I sit down to make a mix, often times I have a certain person in mind… or sometimes it is just stuff I am into at the moment …but every once in awhile that mix is created to or tell a story…. whether it is real or made up…to capture a specific feeling or memory that I want to have forever (music is so vital to me for that).
Those mixes are, to me , always the most fun!
So… I set out to create the perfect Rapture Mix…you know… just in case!
While I was making it, I thought about Mr. Camping’s Rapture. You know, the one with the horses and the demons and thecoming of Jesus and all of that fun stuff… but if you look up the definition of rapture you will see the other two definitions (don’t worry I went to the trouble for you):

rap·ture (rpchr)
n.
1. The state of being transported by a lofty emotion; ecstasy.
2. An expression of ecstatic feeling. Often used in the plural.
3. The transporting of a person from one place to another, especially to heaven. "


Thanks, A!

Well, the 1st part was so much to take in that I decided to give the listeners a bit of a breather before we unleashed Part 2, which is quite a treat for the ears ... AND for the eyes ... for Andrea took it upon herself to make a story out of the song titles ... which I really think enhances the entire listening experience and also makes the mix so much more fun :


See, it all started on The Night of the Lotus Eaters1.
You seemed so scared of my Spellwork2
but little did you know I could build you Castles in the Snow3.
Sure…Everybody Wants to Rule the World4,
but now here on a Night Like This5 ,
all I see left to rule is a Kingdom of Doom6.
A Shattered Shine7 seems to cast it’s gleam
upon The Day of the Lords8.
Now I truly know that He Lied About Death9.
Don’t Save Us From the Flames10 cause there’s no where else to go.
Persephone 11has come just to tell me so.
Just Make Love12 while you still can
and wait for your Angel13 to come and take you away.
My last wish is be in this moment with you…
and just Unravel14 From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea15.
Tonight we will look smaller than we ever did Under the Milky Way 16
and It’s seems like everybody’s got the Jesus Fever17
…but for us, you and me , it was the Perfect Day18


(I should also add that it's also a very danceable mix as well!)


and now, here it is ...
Andrea Paschal's Soundtrack to the Rapture Part 2: Don’t Save Us From The Flames








And here are all the artists :

1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
2. Austra
3. Twin Shadow
4. Tears for Fears
5, The Cure
6. The Good, The Bad and the Queen
7. Crystal Stilts
8. Joy Division
9. Stars
10. M83
11. Cocteau Twins
12. Daft Punk
13. Massive Attack
14. Bjork
15. The Cure
16. The Church
17. Kurt Vile
18. Lou Reed


You can download the epicness RIGHT HERE.



If you scroll down, Andrea has also picked out a slew of rad videos for this week ...
Thanks so much, Andrea!



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Speaking of grrrreat mixes, while scanning the intranets, I found this rather wonderful Summer mix called "lovers melt" by Flying Lotus. You can indulge in it HHHHEEEERRRRREEEE.




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So far, this year has been chock-full of reeeaaally great music ... and one of my favorite sites, Altered Zones decided to compile a lot of (what they considered) the best songs of 2011 so far ... To a large extent, I agree with this list ... DIG IT =








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So this week I'm working with kids at the Bham Museum of Art's Arts Camp, but last week I not only did some new paintings (mostly snakes) for Jackson's Bar & Bistro,



but I also was commissioned (by Kate Phillips) to paint a classic photo of twins by Diane Arbus =







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Aaaalssso I've been converting my sister's husband's family home movies to digital for a birthday present ...




It's crazy cuz there are roughly 80 reels (2-3 minutes long each)



But it's pretty amazing watching all of this stuff from the distant past ... I think I'm the 1st person to watch these in probably 25 years or more ... wow ...







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I had to throw this in ... Ryan took this great photo of Charley in dreamland ... Her leg was standing straight up and sort of curled ove at the top ... haha =







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Okay ... Shameless self promotion time!

My band, Nowhere Squares will be opening for the phenomenally crraazy Nobunny THIS THURSDAY July 14th at Bottletree ... If yer in the area, it's only $10 ... treat youself!



Here is a taste of Nobunny on "The Creepy Touch" show =







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VIDEOS VIDEOS VIDEOS VIDEOS VIDEOS VIDEOS VIDEOS VIDEOS !!!


Brought to you this week by Miss ANDREA PASCHAL!!!


Take it away A! =


"I have been in a definite musical mood lately and I am perfectly happy just to stay right here....so much music that is making my ears so happy. it is like the moment of getting a new crush

so here is my musical dear diary in video format...xx-ap "


Kurt Vile: In My Baby's Arms
*I heart Kurt Vile....bigtime....for all sorts of times....'nuff said.




John Maus: Do your Best
*this song was just what i was looking for...




Geneva Jacuzzi: Bad Moods
*If you missed her at bottletree last week...here is one of my favorite videos...featuring Ariel from Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti




Lykke Li- I follow Rivers
* this one goes out to Hollis...turn it up and dance!!!!




nite jewel- artificial intelligence




Glass Candy: Feeling without Touching
**I always love a piece of Glass Candy!




ford & lopatin :: too much MIDI
*while waiting on the new M83 i guess this will help me pass the time....




R. Stevie Morre: I wish I Could Sing
*for hanging in your room thinking about making some music...




hotel mexico-dear les friends:
*also on repeat...



elite gymnastics- omamori
**my new favorite suuuuuper late night/ early morning jam




washed out- you and i.
*this new album is killing me it is so good.
I couldn't pick between this track ...



or this one:
Washed Out: Amor Fati