Kogar's Jungle Juice

The Blue Knights

2012-01-26T12:20:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for moody/creepy instrumentals. Here's a great one I recently stumbled across. This is right up there with the Morgus Creep by the Daringers.

I don't think it's ever been comped, and it doesn't even show up on the usually in depth INSTROMANIA website.

No info as to year, or part of the country it's from!

Madness!

Jungle 45's

2011-12-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

Here is a Jungle 45 compilation that was originally posted over at WFMU's Ichi Ban Rock n Soul blog. I had been posting the 45's one week at a time, but at some point, I got totally derailed because my vinyl to CD doohicky died on me. After a while I was able to replace said doohicky (thanks again Mucker), but at that point I needed to find a few great cuts to round out the compilation.

So here you go. All cuts taken direct from vinyl with the scratches and pops left in to add to the jungle coolness.

Thanks to J.R. Williams for the awesome cover that he put together (almost a year ago or so?!).

JUNGLE!

Cafe Bohemian

2011-12-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

Here is the 2nd in a series of 45 anomalies. Collect records long enough and you stumble across these weird differences between 45's. The first of the series was the 2 different versions of Ward Darby's Safari 45. I think that post was originally over at Ichi Ban Blog.

This one is a real head scratcher. CAFE BOHEMIAN by THE ENCHANTERS. Both 45's look exactly the same and feature the same Orbit release numbers. But there are major differences in the songs themselves.

One version features a piano intro and lots of saxophone. Thru out the song there are a few "cafe bohemian" whispers here and there.

The superior version (in my opinion) features haunting vocals by Garnett Mimms and no piano intro.

The only real way you can tell the difference between the 2 records is by checking out the dead wax. The "sax" version reads this way: R . 532 . A . D 1. The "vocal" version reads: R . 532 . A . D 2. This second version also looks like it has a number scratched out right before the A. You can kind of make it out in the scan above.

Both records date from 1959 as far as I can tell and my guess is that the sax version came first due to the clean matrix number?

So take this in to consideration if shopping for this particular 45! I first found the sax version of this 45 many years ago and although it was cool to find in the wild, I really thought there was only one version of this song, not 2! It then took a few more years of digging to find the vocal version...

Give both a listen below...

Cafe_Bohemian_(sax)

Cafe_Bohemian_(vocal)

Lux and Ivy's Favorites Volume Sixteen

2011-11-21T16:11:00.001-08:00

Here is Lux and Ivy's Favorites Volume 16.

This volume is based entirely upon the track listing for a tape called FLAMEOUT ON THE RANCHO GRANDE. It has become apparent over the years of making these compilations that Lux used to make mix tapes and then title them with a combination of the song titles on the tape (i.e. FORBIDDEN CITY DOGFOOD etc).

This track listing was fascinating in that 99 percent of the tracks were from the easy listening/exotica/incredibly strange music vein. Lux and Ivy talked about this genre quite a bit in the in the Incredibly Strange Music interview, and some of the previous volumes have touched upon this genre, but here you get a complete over dose! This is a nearly vocal-less compilation filled with castanets, mutated harmonicas, wild steel guitar, accordions, a few kaiju themes, some wild jungle drumming, and I think there's a theremin in there somewhere.

This is the first volume taken largely from LP's, so do some digging. Pick up some the LP's these songs were taken from. There will be hours of listening enjoyment ahead (for those of you with brave ears).

The two stand out artists for me are Leo Diamond and Joe Maize. I was somewhat familiar with Leo Diamond from the Skin Diver's Suite LP , but that didn't prepare me for the awesomeness of the couple of tracks that can be heard here. Both tracks are taken from the LP, EXCITING SOUNDS FROM ROMANTIC PLACES. The harmonica sounds he comes up with are wild. Speaking of wild, say hello to Joe Maize! This guy is an amazing steel guitar player. The sounds he gets on some of these tracks are jaw dropping. I highly recommend the LP, PRESENTING JOE MAIZE AND HIS CORDSMEN on Decca. I guess their live shows were a mix of comedy routines and music. If you find the LP and see the cover, you'll get an idea of what their live show must have been like.

A Huge thank you goes out to Hiroshi Sekiguchi for sending me the track listing so I could put this together. And of course, a huge thank you to Adam Fitch for his continuing contributions to the look of the series. Also, thanks to Paul Goff for sending me beauty dragster.

All this wouldn't fit on one CD, there are 2 "sides".

Enjoy

Side_One

Side_Two

If you downloaded before 9:00 PM EST, please download again, you are missing some artwork.

SAKI!

2011-10-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Well, Jungle Juice has been silent for too long. So, here's a recent find that I'm really digging right now. Side one has a great sleazy sax sound, whereas side two dispenses with the sax and adds a great guitar lick.

Some stuff that I'll be posting soon (hopefully); a little overview of the Sparkles, an ode to Moon Dawg, and some never before heard Ronnie Cook!

And big thanks to Mark Mucker for hooking me up with a new usb turntable to facilitate all this nonsense. Oh, and I'll also finish up my Jungle 45 of the Week compilation that was slowly being posted over at the Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban site. The complete compilation (with the JR Williams cover) will be available here as well as over there.

Earl_Craig_and_the_Downbeats_-_Saki_Part_1

Earl_Craig_and_the_Downbeats_-_Saki_Part_2

Lux and Ivy's Favorites Volume One (Remaster)

2011-07-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

Here is the “remastered” edition of Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume One. It’s hard to believe that the Incredibly Strange Music book with the interview with Lux and Ivy came out almost 17 years ago! The details of going thru that interview and compiling this series is sort of old news so I won’t go into it again. But it is kind of crazy to think about how long ago that was.

I think it’s safe to say that this new edition has much better sound. I’ve also cleaned up some nagging things that always bothered me about the original; The spelling error on the Sid King track, the abrupt ending of Jennie Lee, and the overall awfulness of some of the mp3’s. Again, like I’ve said before, the originals (especially the first 2 volumes) were really never meant to be heard outside of a few friends so I didn’t really worry about it all that much.

HUGE thanks go out to Gil DeLuxe of France for his drawing of Lux for the cover. Gil contacted me after I asked if anyone would be interested in doing some art for the covers. My idea was to have Lux on the cover of Volume One and Ivy on Volume Two. I think he finished the artwork over 2 years ago, thanks for your patience Slim! As always, the layout and effects were done by Adam Fitch.

Volume 2 will be up next at some point, maybe within the next few months.

As for the future of LAIF, just as it seems as if the well has run dry, a new vein is struck.

Here is what is on the agenda coming up at some point (some sooner than later).

Volume 16 will be a double CD of Lounge/EZ listening type stuff. I’m guessing some people will love it, and some will be sort of confused. Some of the volumes flirt with a few exotica songs here and there, but this will blow your mind (if you have the right frame); harmonica lounge, monster movie themes, and overall wackiness.

Volume 17 will be what most of us are used to, rockabilly, blues, etc (actually, this volume is almost finished now, but I wanted to do the lounge edition first).

Volume 18 will be another journey into outer space (this may be a double cd as well).

That should take us in to next year and beyond. Also in there may be the remaster of volume 3 (with Ichiban regular J.R. Williams cover) and Volume 5 with another Haunted George cover.

As always no bootlegging, please. Just share this with friends and enjoy!

Volume_One

The Ventures in Space

2011-04-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine asked me to recommend a good Ventures album. You can't go wrong with 1964's IN SPACE!

It's a great "space" themed album.

Some songs of note: Man of Astroman cover War of the Satellites. The Bat can be found on the LAIF series. The Fourth Dimension may sound familiar to fans of fellow Dolton label instro kings, The Frantics.

Enjoy...

Ventures_-_In_Space

Human Fly Film Overview

2011-04-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

The film opens with a countdown and a placard with: Vengeance Productions Presents a Film by Alex de Laszlo. It immediately cuts to a shot of Ivy walking down the street, transistor radio glued to her ear (The Way I Walk is playing), blowing bubbles and holding a glass bottle coke. Cut to a somber looking Lux in a smoking jacket sitting on what appears to be a leopard print sofa. He’s prepping a huge hypodermic needle by lighting a match and holding it under the needle.

Lux then gathers up some flesh from around his throat and slowly injects himself.

The result is immediate; he begins a transformation!

Again, we see Ivy walking down the street as the film cuts back to Lux as his transformation deepens.

And deepens.

His transformation is complete.

Ivy stumbles and drops her radio down a flight of stairs. She looks down in to the foreboding space and reluctantly goes down them to retrieve her radio. There is one last cut to the Lux monster as he gets up off the couch. Ivy bends down to pick up the radio as the opening riff from Human Fly begins. We follow the camera down the stairs toward Ivy as she screams!

She runs down a hallway (past Nick’s drum kit) into a room with a door. She opens it and out comes Dracula Nick!

As she reacts, there is a jump cut to Bryan smoking. As his head slowly turns you can see that his face is sort of…melted.

Lux lurches into view holding what appears to be a Barbie doll.

He sort of looks around and then throws an evil smile and lurches towards the camera. They way he moves in this shot is really great. It’s kind of hard to describe other than “lurches”.

Ivy is horrified at the monsters around her. Nick, Byran and Lux surround her and drag her to the ground, the Lux Monster drooling and Melt Faced Bryan’s face actually dripping on Ivy. The Lux Monster is swinging his Barbie doll around by the hair, laughing and have a great time.

After a few moments there is a close up of Ivy’s face. As she turns towards the camera we see that she has been transformed into: Skull Faced Ivy!

She slowly gets up as there is a bunch of quick cuts of Dracula Nick smoking, turning on a radio, slowly bopping his head. Monster Lux grabs the transformed Ivy and leads her towards a piece of broken mirror so she can see her new form. She looks at the camera and begins a slow grooving dance with the rest of the monsterous group. The look on her face is great, like she’s excepted her “new look.”

There are more quick cuts of the group having fun as the song ends. Melt Faced Bryan drinking some liquid and “skittering” across a mattress. Monster Lux doing a fly dance, and sucking his thumb over a record player with a 45 on it.

And a final close up of each member.

Then there is a close up of the artwork for the picture sleeve of Human Fly (though only Lux and Ivy are really visable).

Well, that’s it. I think it’s a brilliant piece of Cramps history. Thinking about the time period that this came out, it’s pretty extraordinary. They made this film at a time when something like this wasn’t really logical. It’s not like it was going to air on MTV or something. Jim Marshall chimed in on the last post and said that it had been shown before one of their shows at CBGB’s back in 1979.

So that’s it. I hope it gets a legitimate release someday.

Thanks to Kevin Compton for sending this my way.

The Human Fly Film

2011-04-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

In 1978 The Cramps decided to make a short promotional film using their song Human Fly as the back drop. Other than that I really don't know the history of the film at all. The first I heard about it was when the Ian Johnston book about The Cramps that came out in the early 90’s.

The book said that the film was so rare, that The Cramps themselves did not have a copy.

It’s pretty much considered the rarest bit of Cramps ephemera. Many don't even know about it all. It is any serious Cramps fan’s Holy Grail as it were. The Cramps footage that no one seems to have seen.

Since reading about it in the Johnston book, I've always had an eye out for any mention anywhere about the film. Back in the early 90’s, which was pre-Internet for me, the odds of hearing about the film or running across it were pretty slim.

As the Internet began to play a larger roll in my (and everyone else’s) life, I thought surely a mention of the film would pop up at some point. But still there was nothing about it anywhere. When Youtube hit the scene, I figured it would show up over there. Something so rare had to be in the possession of somebody that would upload its grainy b/w goodness so that people could finally see the film that Cramps fans had been talking about for years.

Still there was nothing.

Over a decade after starting the Lux and Ivy’s Favorites series something extraordinary happened. The film turned up!

Here’s how it went down. A friend of mine from Boston had been telling me about a friend of his who was a HUGE Cramps fan. He said that we totally had to meet because we would hit it off immediately, because of our love for The Cramps.

Years went by where this friend of his and I would never meet. During that time he found out about the LAIF series and enjoyed them so much that he emailed me asking if there was anything I was looking for Cramps related. Like a jerk, I pretty much said I had everything readily available (all the releases, tons of bootlegs, etc). He admitted that he was kind of out of the loop regarding any of the newer live recordings that had popped up over the years, but he felt that he needed to thank me for my efforts with the LAIF series. I was humbled that he thought so much of the series that he felt the need to repay me.

The last sentence in his email went something like this; …”Well, I also have this video of The Cramps turning into monsters in some basement….”

This of course elicited a sound from me akin to 96 eyes popping out of 96 eye sockets!

This HAD to be the Human Fly film! That tiny description was like nothing I had ever read about before. Legend had it that it was a film of Lux “turning into a fly” but I think that was an assumption by someone that had not seen the film.

Here’s a short version about how it came into his possession. When he was in high school he made a short film with this other guy. Years later they wanted to have the super 8 film transferred to VHS so they could watch it again without the need of a projector. Somewhere along the line his friend had come into possession of the Human Fly film. All they knew at the time was that it was somehow Cramps related. Since they were both Cramps fans, it ended up on the pile of items to be transferred to VHS.

Details are a little sketchy at this point, apparently his friend knew Alex de Laszlo, the Human Fly director, and de Laszlo had lent the film to this guy. The film itself eventually made its way back to de Laszlo.

So they ended up watching the film, but at the time since there was no outlet to really show this to the world, it ended up kind of being forgotten. Basically, the tape ended up in his attic and forgotten. He had absolutely no idea that the video in his attic was on every crazed Cramps fan’s Halloween wish list.

Flash forward to about a year ago:

In what seemed like a few hours, I was watching something I have no idea how many people have actually seen. I must have watched it a few dozen times, first on my computer monitor and later on my television. The film has more ideas per frame than the average modern horror flick has in its entire running time.

Soon, various friends were swinging by to feast their unbelieving eyes on the film. Everyone that saw it was speechless. Everyone said the same thing: “WHEN ARE YOU PUTTING THIS UP ON YOUTUBE!?!”

Well, sorry to say, I’m not. This isn’t me saying; “Hey, look at me! Look what I have and YOU don’t!” This is me, or more to the point, US saying some things are meant to be seen at the right place and the right time. If Ivy wants this released, she’ll release it. There’s no way we want to get in the way of an eventual release by doing something as callous as uploading it to Youtube, right next to talking babies, football’s to the groin, and various other time killers; This was too special.

But what I will do is write a review of the film, as well as post some screen shots so you can see that the film actually exists in some form.

For those keeping score, the film is no longer lost, according to an interview I read somewhere Lux and Ivy found the film in their attic (an appropriate place) and at some point intend on releasing it (this was of a few years ago). As of this writing there is no news (that I know of) about any official Cramps release on DVD.

End of Part One

Lux and Ivy's Favorites Volume Six (remastered)

2011-03-25T06:24:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay in getting this finished!

Part of the problem was the winter blahs setting in (sadly, the time when I have the most time to do stuff like this is also the time when I really don't feel like doing it!), and the other problem I was running into was finding decent version of the songs (thus the "remastered" part!).

I think this version is a bit better than the version that already exists. There are a few songs with infinitely better sounding files like a pristine copy of Slide Her Under the Door. It almost sounds TOO good. I was so used to the version on the Wavy Gravy LP (which was taken from a cassette tape!), that this new version took some getting used to.

The other thing I'm most proud of is the Psychedelic masterpiece that Michael Deforge came up with for the cover of this edition. There are more ideas per square inch in this piece that I get lost in it every time I look at it. As part of the download, I've also included the original that he sent me so you can really get a good look at it.

For information, or to see more of his artwork check out http://www.kingtrash.com/

As usual, Adam Fitch put everything together art wise. Thanks to him and the people who helped finding some of the better versions of mp3's.

Next up will be volume 1-3 which will have artwork by French artist Slim Gil DeLuxe (1 + 2) and J.R. Williams (3).

LAIF_6

The Cramps - City Gardens 6/26/81

2011-02-04T05:12:00.000-08:00

It's 2 years today since the death of Lux (still feels weird to type those words). You can read my thoughts on what Lux and Ivy mean to me earlier on this blog, so I won't go into it again. Plus the fact that I'm battling a crazy severe cold/fever the last few days, so I'm not sure if this is making much sense anyway.

Here is a great sounding show from 1981. The one thing that really stands out for me on this recording is the drumming by Nick. It's ferocious and smooth sounding at the same time. If you ever wanted to take a course on what good drumming can be, I recommend buying a kit and playing to this recording every day.

And now a word about bootlegging. I tracked down my local shaman/witch doctor and had him put a voodoo curse on this recording. Anyone trying to bootleg this, or profit from it in any way will "die a thousand deaths!" Sure, make copies for your friends or enemies, but try and profit from it and see what happens...

Rest in Piece Lux. You are sorely missed by many...

The_Cramps_-_City_Gardens

Lux and Ivy's Favorites Volume Fifteen

2010-10-20T12:43:00.001-07:00

Here is Lux and Ivy's Favorites Volume Fifteen!

This volume is a mix of left over songs from that magical tape that came into my possession earlier this year and some other hold over songs that I've been waiting to throw on the series.

A HUGE thank you goes out to Haunted George for doing the cover for this volume. For those unfamiliar with his work, I highly recommend checking out his Myspace or Facebook pages (the URL's are part of the artwork when you download the volume). Be sure to check out his stuff. It's some of the more interesting/different music being produced today in a landscape filled with the usual garbagegarage (tm).

A few notes on the songs.

The intro/instrumental was reassembled from the original tape using the best sources I could find. You can read the whole story about "instrumental" on my blog. It shouldn't be too hard to find the track title if you really want to know. I kept it a mystery for the hell of it. The actual intro will be familiar with most everyone (i hope!). It was on the tape I was given and I had to laugh when I heard it. You could tell it was recorded using a cheap microphone that was more than likely held up to a television so it could be put on the tape.

Ruth Wallis - Ubangi. Wow, here is a song that i've looked for for years! In an old interview with the Cramps, Lux had attributed this song to someone named Ruth Fallen, and described the song in pretty good detail. I could never find this song anywhere. He called it YOU BANGI ME, I BANGI YOU (or something like that).

Then, as a result of that interview I gave to Dig It magazine, someone contacted me (thanks Colin!) suggesting that it was Ruth WALLIS! I tracked down the song, listened to it, and decided it HAD to be the song Lux was referring to. My guess is that the interviewer mis-heard Lux when he said the name of the artist. FALL-IN, WALL-IS, it could have been careless notes, or a bad transcription of a tape the interviewer had made.

Finding a good copy of the song was nearly impossible. It originally appeared on 78. I found a CD compilation of Wallis's songs with Ubangi on it. Great, right? A version taken from CD has to be good quality, right? Wouldn't you know it? The CD has a glitch on that particular song! Any mp3 rips of it sounded like shit. Besides the glitch it had an amazing amount of background noise.

After a while I found that it had been issued on a LP as well and through some further searching found a sealed copy for sale on ebay. This is the version on this compilation. And even then, it doesn't sound that great. I think it was mastered from the original 78 and not a master tape. The song even gets louder and softer, so I guess no one cared because it was for stag parties anyway!

Then I found a few more holdover songs from the original INCREDIBLY STRANGE MUSIC interview.

Red Hewitt and the Buccaneers - D.J. Blues; Lux never mentioned the artist, just talked about the song, and the lyric "music right out of the swirling all!" The first few seconds of this track remind me of a cramps song. So happy to have found this track. Red Hewitt was from New Zealand and released a few 45's on the Audion label (see scan on tracklisting).

Sheri Lee Douglas - Chime Bells; Never thought I'd find this one. Lux and Ivy swear this is KAY MARTIN singing, and I have to agree with them. It sounds exactly like her. The b-side of this 45 will be on the next LAIF volume.

Let's see, what else? There are a few more tracks from Forbidden City Dog Food as well as a bit from the Purple Knif Show. After listening to it again recently I heard a few seconds of something that never registered with me before. As the show ends, there is a few seconds of the deadly ones song, the mad drummer! It is such a great song, it HAD to be included on this volume.

Enjoy this volume, it might be awhile before the next one, but you never know!

My plans for remastered versions of the earlier volumes are still going according to plan. Volume 6 will be next, then volume's one, two, three and five.

Huge thanks go out to: Debbie D for doing a little sound voodoo on a bunch of the mp3's to make them sound better, Howie Pyro for the secret track, Bruce Milne, Colin Duff, Olaf Jens for helping me with a few songs, Steve Pallow, and Adam Fitch for his amazing graphics.

LAIF_15

Tale of Two Thunders!

2010-09-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute favorite guitar instrumentals is Bob Taylor's Thunder on the Yucca label. It has been comped countless times (and even makes an appearance on one of the Lux and Ivy Favorites). The B-side is great too, but man, Thunder kills!

A few years ago, I came upon an auction for a song called Thunder Reef, by the Shindigs. The song was attributed to Bobby Fuller AND Bob Taylor. The sound sample attached to the auction attested to the fact that it was indeed a "re-imagining" of Thunder! It took me forever to get the actual 45 (at a halfway decent price), and I present it here for you to check out.

I can't decide which one I like better, they are both such amazing records. There was definitely something in the water down in El Paso!

This version of Thunder Reef has never been comped to my knowlege. A version of the song has appeared on a few Bobby Fuller compilations, but it has an accoustic guitar sound that really takes the heat out of the song.

Give a (repeated) listen to the 2 versions below, and as an added bonus, there is a link to the other side of the Shindigs record as well, a great instrumental with a nod to the Wolfman!

(beware, the Wolfman side is REALLY scratchy)

Bob_Taylor_-_Thunder

The_Shindigs_-_Thunder_Reef

The_Shindigs_-_Wolfman

The Frantics

2010-09-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

REALLY excited about this latest pur-chase! It's a fantastic slab of 60's awesomeness. Not only is the A-side a killer mid tempo 60's garage gem, but the B-side is a Lux and Ivy Fave that was featured on LAIF volume 12 (albeit in a lousy quality mp3...but it was the best I could find at the time thanks to Mop Top Mike).

Either side of this Atlanta 45 would be right at home on one of the Teenage Shutdown compilations. For a neat pic of what must be one of the band members parents house, check out Greg G's page on the 45 here:

http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/misc/frantics_45rpm.htm

So download and enjoy, and for those who have LAIF #12 take that jack-knife mp3, delete it, and throw this version on there as it is a whole lot better sounding!

So put your wighat on and download immediately!

Why

(Do_The)_Jack_-_Knife

"Instrumental" Mystery

2010-08-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been a bit lax lately posting 45's on this here blog (as a side note, don't miss my Jungle 45 of the Week posts over at WFMU's Ichiban page), it's been a busy summer.

Here is the first in an ongoing (hopefully) series of posts regarding 45 oddities that I've come across. This one's a doozy (and if anyone knows the answer to questions posted below, go ahead and chime in!).

As frequently happens to me, I had a cassette with no track listings. On this cassette was a familiar instrumental, but I couldn't place it. I asked around and other people said the same thing. One such person was DJ and all around cool guy Howie Pyro. He noted that he recognized it, but could not place it. Identifying instrumentals is a tough job. He said he'd keep an eye out for it and let me know.

So a few weeks go by and I get this email: Howie had found the record, it was the flip of Don't Let Go by Round Robin and Yvonne Carol on the DOMAIN label! The odd thing was that the b-side had no notation other than INSTRUMENTAL (no writing credit, nothing).

So I set about looking for the record, without much luck.

ANOTHER few weeks go by and I get another email from Howie: He was at a club and a DJ was cuing up a 45 and it was THAT song, but on a DIFFERENT 45! This time attributed to Lloyd Thaxton! It's the b-side of Pied Piper Man, again on the DOMAIN label. You can see a scan above, but this time it had a name Bom-Pa-Tump-Pa-Tump! Where this name came from is beyond me...

This 45 was a lot easier to procure and within a few weeks I had a copy.

THEN a few days later while driving to work, the same song popped up on my Ipod! I knew I had heard it before! Trying to keep my car on the road, I checked to see what song it was. This time, it was attributed to The Invaders and the song was called Invasion!

Not sure why this song has popped up on many different releases (are their more?!), but here it is for your listening enjoyment. The release on the Instro label is a bootleg. I have no idea if it was originally was released on that label. The song is available on Strictly Instrumental volume 10, but the quality is nowhere near as good as the LLoyd 45. It sounds like the Strictly Instrumental version was mastered from the Invaders bootleg because the sound doesn't sound that great.

Bom_Pa_Tump_Pa_Tump

Adden-dumb: Howie says that the b-side to the Round Robin 45 was called UP AND DOWN, but with no writing credits, etc!

2010-08-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

Check this out in case you missed it last year. The second volume of trash tunes with movie trailers spliced inbetween, etc. Now with a swank new cover by J.R. Williams!

Download here:

http://wfmuichiban.blogspot.com/2010/08/thrill-o-rama.html

The Hasil Adkins 8-Track Tape

2010-07-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

By popular demand here is the Hasil Adkins 8-Track Tape that I scored a while ago.

After receiving the tape, I went about procuring a working 8 track player. I found one on ebay for a good price and bought it. It was great because it was a self contained player/receiver.

The seller even included a free 8 track (John Denver!).

So after I got the player I tested out the John D. 8 track and it played fine. I got everything hooked up to my cd burner and got ready to do the transfer (the Hasil tape, not the John tape!).

The first thing I noticed with the Hasil tape was that the recording was very soft. I had to crank it to just have it be audible. It sounded like a 10th generation cassette tape. The head of the 8 track didn't look all that sturdy either, but this was to be expected for something that old and something that had hung around Hasil's shack for so long.

You gotta wonder why he made this 8-Track to begin with. Did he have a friend that wanted to rock out in his old 70's era station wagon?!

The other unfortunate thing is that the tape was near it's end when I put it in and would not go back to the beginning. So all I got was half of one song, and the last song. I tried to keep playing it, but then I got a burning smell and the tape started splitting a little bit. I think this was the beginning part of the tape and not the recordable part.

All is not lost, supposedly there are people out there that are 8-Track wizards that may be able to take the tape out and put in a better shell so that it will play. We'll see what happens with that.

So here is the one and 3/4's songs I was able to salvage.

River_of_Tears : Hasil released this song on his A.R.C. label back in the 70's. I have no idea if this is the same version from that 45 as I don't personally have a copy, and I don't believe this song has appeared on any of the other Hasil releases that I have. I don't know if it's the quality of the tape, but the guitar Hasil is using in this song sure sounds strange. Like he's using a wah wah pedal or something. If you listen carefully, you can hear an acoustic guitar, and what sounds like an electric guitar overdubbed?

Do_the_Hot_Pants_With_Me : I believe this is a different version than the one on Norton. It doesn't have as much cymbal work.

Well, enjoy the sounds. This is definitely for the Hasil Completist as the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired. But it is presented here as a piece of history for people that like Hasil's music. I basically boosted the volume using wavepad. I did not take out the tape hiss or do any other tweaking.

As a side note, please pick up Hasil's "new" LP on Norton Records called White Light/White Meat! Head over to http://www.nortonrecords.com/ and use their fancy new system and order it ASAP!

2010-07-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

Here is my translated interview from the latest issue of DIG IT, a French fanzine. Longtime friend Patrick Bainee conducted the interview for the 'zine...

.....

All you ever wanted to know about LUX AND IVY’S FAVORITES
The best compilations ever made, a must have for fans
of The Cramps or anyone (or apes) with ears.

Kogar's Top Ten of the Lux and Ivy's Faves

1. The Musical Linn Twins - Rockin out the Blues

2. The Symbols - Do the Zombie

3. Jan Davis - Watusi Zombie

4. The Original Starfires - Fender Bender

5. Link Wray - Genecide

6. The Electro-Tones - Ghost Train

7. Link Wray - The Fuzz

8. Bob Taylor - Thunder

9. The Saxons - Camel Walk

10. Davie Allen and the Arrows - Theme from the Unknown aka U.F.O.

If you only know 4 or 5 from this list, don't cry, it's normal. Then read this and go dig into those fabulous Lux & Ivy's faves: they're for free, thanks Kogar.

Patrick: Kogar, you’ve heard that question a lot of times.
So let me explain that the idea of your Lux & Ivy’s favorites compilations emerge after you read this book Incredibly Strange Music from 1993 (on Re-Search), featuring (among others) a long interview of Lux & Ivy speaking about their favorite records.

Even if there are no songs by the Cramps on your LAIF, those compilations celebrate the tastes of Lux & Ivy in music. What made you become a Cramps addict?

Kogar : Well, I was a big fan of horror movies and comic books as a kid and when a friend introduced me to The Cramps in my early 20’s, I immediately fell in love with them and their sound. Since then, I’ve been a Cramps fanatic…

P : Of course, LAIF can be considered as bootlegs, but on another hand, there should be a statue in your honour. I mean you brought to peoples’ ears music that they never have heard otherwise. Anyway, most of the labels of the records featuring on LAIF have disappeared. What’s your point of view about that? (LAIF being a bootleg, rights …)

K: I really don’t consider the series a "bootleg" series, but a fan made compilation. There is a difference. To me, bootlegs are just a way for someone to make money. I in no way want to make money off these, ever. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have done this interview at all if it weren't for my relationship with you. I have always done this for the love of the music and for Lux and Ivy, and not for any notoriety or money.

P: The first two volumes of LAIF were cool comps you made only for your own ears. What gives you the idea of making other volumes (a total of 13 so far!)?

K: Well, originally it was, as you mentioned, from that RE/search book, but soon, other sources popped up and it went from there. I always have a list of songs that I am looking for, etc. Every time I read an interview where they mentioned a song, I would add it to the list. The list would get longer and longer.

P: Can you explain the exact concept / philosophy of LAIF to us …

K: Well, the only real philosophy is that I try and be true to the theme. I really try and include songs they mentioned or played before shows, or put on a tape. People try and suggest things all the time, but usually I don’t include anything like that, because they are just guesses.

P: Volume 1 was mostly 50’s oriented when volume2 was a mix of 50-60’s era, right?

K: It just happened to work out that way, because of the book’s concentration on exotica, and music from that time period…

P: Most of the other volumes are more eclectic. Is there always a major idea in the construction of the other LAIF?

K : There usually isn’t a theme of any sort, except volume 12 because it happened right after Lux’s death, otherwise I just keep a list of songs and when I see that I am nearing 30 or so songs, I get to work on sequencing them, etc. I do take some time to sequence the songs so they flow together in what I think are a good way.

P: Since this book "Incredibly Strange Music", what are your other sources of research?
Interviews, songs played before Cramps shows, what else?

K: Mostly interviews with Lux and Ivy, tapes that they have made etc. I even went so far as to try and memorize songs they played before their live sets!

P: Did you identify songs mentioned by Lux that in fact never existed (Nasa & the Sputniks …)

K: Well, let me explain that a bit. I believe Lux started making some songs up and throwing them at interviewers just to mess with them! The DJ Mad Mike, from Pittsburgh used to do that all the time, make up song titles and bands that didn’t exist, just to confound his listeners.

I believe that nasa and the sputniks doesn’t exist, but if there’s anyone that’s reading this that can disprove this theory, contact me immediately! The same goes for Ubangi, Me Bangi by Stacey Bengal (another record mentioned by Lux that I can’t find mention of ANYWHERE). Was he referencing Mama Ubangi Bangi? I don’t know….

P: There are a lot of songs you got from those Vip Vop tapes that remain unidentified
I imagine it’s a lot of work / deduction to identify them...?

K: Yes, there are a bunch of songs that remain to be identified. But, believe it or not, it’s been kind of enjoyable identifying these songs over the years. The joy of hearing a song I’ve been looking for pop up on my ipod, or on an internet radio show, can be a religious experience!

P: Do you know the full story of those "Vip Vop Tapes" compilations made by Lux for friends?

K: I really don’t know the full history; Apparently, Lux made a lot of tapes back in the day (Forbidden City Dog Food was originally booted from a tape of Lux’s). I stumbled across someone years ago who had 2 tapes called the “vip vop tapes”. Apparently they were made by Lux to be played at parties etc. The quality isn’t that great, and there were no track listings, so as I identify songs they are added to the LAIF series (there are still about a dozen that remain to be identified).

P: Also, for non 100 % bonafide Cramps fans, could you remind where the nickname Vip Vop comes from. There’s also a song …

K: It’s from a Marvin and Johnny song. Lux at one point had his name legally changed to Vip Vop back in the early 70’s.

P: Do you have any help from guys all over the world?

K: Yes, I’ve had an amazing amount of help over the years. Rex Doane of WFMU’s FOOL’ S PARADISE, Howie Pyro from the INTOXICA podcast, Paul from the UK who was partly responsible for the wavy gravy/mello jello compilations. Dan from the slickee boys, Ben from Chicago Dirk Ungawa, you, Rich Lustre from the Sickidz, and many more I can’t remember off the top of my head!

P: Do all the records from this list exist on vinyl?

K: Pretty much, 45‘s 33’s and 78’s. But I’m guessing Lux and Ivy’s preferred format is the 45 rpm record.

P: Some must be very pricey …

K: That‘s the thing; some are, and some aren’t. You could spend a few thousand dollars on some of these records, or you could find some of them in the dollar bin. Some are priceless, like "Stormy Weather" (NDA: by the Five Sharps – read the story about this record here: http://musicmasteroldies.blogspot.com/2009/09/stormy-weather.html), I think there’s only like 2 known copies or something…

P: 13 volumes of LAIF so far gives a total of almost 400 songs. About 80 % are from the 50-60’s, 10 % from an early era, and 10 % more recent (Gories, Guitar Wolf …). Most of the songs can be classified in the rock’n’roll, blues or garage category. But there’s also novelty tunes, exotica stuff … What else?

K: One of my favorite categories is vocal group or doo wop tunes. Some of the songs on the series really blew me away like "FLAMINGO" by the charades. I think people tend to think Lux and Ivy only listen to crazy rockabilly, but it’s much more than that, and I’m glad the series can show the wide range of music they dig.

P: What’s the craziest song from those LAIF?

K: Well, crazy is in the ear of the beholder.

P: Considering your top ten, your tastes go for the 50’s / early 60’s period, right?

K: Yes, I love 50’s and 60’s music, 70’s and early 80’s punk and the glorious times of the early to mid 90’s garage scene…

P: Do you like all of the songs on LAIF? Or are there some you don’t like that much, or even not at all?

K: Yeah, there are a few that really aren’t up my alley. Like some of the "drop in" type novelty records.

P: Did you already skip songs that Lux & Ivy mentioned. I mean, I read once (Rock’n’Folk, 2003) that they were found of Michael Jackson’s "Thriller".

K: Well there is a difference between songs they’ve mentioned and songs they loved.

P : To me all those "semi instrumentals" like "T-Bone" by Larry Collins, "Red Headed Flea" by the Caps or "Tarzan’s Monkey" by the Apes (a guy saying "me Jane, you Tarzan", and a girl answering "hihihi, no, you Tarzan, me Jane" for all lyrics) are timeless, you never get rid of that kind of stuff. Do you agree?

K: Yeah, those are great timeless songs…

P : Also, I guess that it must be a real pleasure to find out that one of your personal long time fave is among Lux & Ivy’s ones too. Does it happen a lot?

K: It does happen every once in a while. One of my favorite songs of all time is "WATUSI ZOMBIE" by Jan Davis. It popped up on one of the vip vop tapes and I was thrilled that Lux had included that one because to me it’s on of the most perfect records of all time! And being a fan of mad mike too, I was happy to find that Lux liked songs like CAMEL WALK etc.

P: Can you name a few songs that MUST be among Lux & Ivy’s faves but that you never saw mentioned anywhere?

K: I really don’t like to guess at what their favorite songs might be. This is all about them, not me….

P: What would you think of a volume called "Songs Lux & Ivy should have liked" or else.

K: I really don’t like that idea, because it’s every tom dick and harry could "come out" with something like that. To try and guess at a song that they might like is a futile exercise.

P : Do you see LAIF as a compliment of more or less official releases like (explain the comparison or differences, please) Born Bad (the only one issued before LAIF); Forbidden City Dog Food; Purple Knif Show; Songs The Cramps Taught Us …

K: I guess I would look at my series as a compliment to those mentioned above. Born Bad and STCTU as mainly songs the cramps borrowed bits from to create their own songs. Over the years, I have included songs from the purple knif and FCDF because the quality on those bootlegs is not that great. As better quality versions are found, I throw them on the LAIF series. Especially if I’m trying to "fill" the edition and "release" it.

And let’s not forget none of those are official releases. They are outright bootlegs that people put together or make money off of the Cramps name. That’s why; I try to go out of my way to make these free for fans of the cramps or just fans of good music in general.

P: A lot of the songs on LAIF aren’t available on the ones mentioned above, or even on any other compilations. Do you know how many songs from original singles are ONLY available on LAIF?

K: Not really sure. There are many songs that I’ve had to rip from 45’s because they aren’t available on any other compilations.

K: Is the name LAIF inspired by that video tape made by the Cramps in 1984ish?

K: Nope, just came up with the name because it was the best way to describe the series.

P: Do you ever think of compiling Lux & Ivy favorite’s movies?

K: I have thought of that, I just haven’t really been able to seriously take a look at it. I have started incorporating songs from the movies they like, like « the green slime » etc. On the upcoming LAIF 14, I will be including 5 minutes to live by Johnny Cash because that was listed somewhere as one of their favorite movies.

P: Do you feel those LAIF help to keep the flame of the Cramps alive?
(I mean – there won’t be any new Cramps album - maybe "Gravest Gravy" DVD one day)

K: I don’t think anything I could do would keep their memory alive, Lux may be gone, but the Cramps music and legacy will live on forever.

I’ve always looked at the series as a companion piece to be enjoyed by Cramps fans who wish to delve deeper into their mythos. Like if you like the cramps, you might really get even “more” out of them if you check out some of the things that influenced them.

P: Some of the early volumes features downloaded / MP3 songs. Do you plan a "remixed"version of some of LAIF based on originals records that you found lately?

K: I have been making a concerted effort to find better quality versions of some of the songs, especially from the earlier volumes. Some of the early songs had the ends chopped off, because they were the only mp3 I could find. Plus those early volumes were only really meant to be heard by a few people. Quality wasn’t really high on my list. Just hearing these songs at all was pretty cool, who cares if they were in less than stellar quality? But over the years, it’s really started bugging me.

P: Have you heard about Lux and / or Ivy being aware of LAIF
They used to say that good music is for share, that people shouldn’t have to pay hundreds of $ to hear such or such great song, only available on 7’’.
So I think they took LAIF as a celebration of their (good) taste

K: I get the feeling that if they knew about them, they probably wouldn’t be too happy about them. But I would hope they would understand that it’s just a labor of love by a fan, and that originally, they were really only meant for me and my friends. Then, all of a sudden I’d run into people at parties and they’d mention the series (not knowing that I had made them) and say how cool they were. I usually would pretend I didn’t know about them and say I’d check them out!

What I didn’t know was that people had started making copies for other people and that they grew from there. Then I put them all up on soulseek for anyone to get…THEN after that, WFMU found out about them and with my consent put them up on their BEWARE OF THE BLOG page.

P: Apart from soulseek, where are those LAIF "available"?

K: All the remastered volumes will be available on my blog, all the existing volumes as they are available thru the WFMU BEWARE OF THE BLOG page.

P: Some volumes can be found on your blog (http://kogarsjunglejuice.blogspot.com)

K: This is where all the remixed volumes with covers will appear.

P: Do have an idea of how many people downloaded LAIF, or how they will sell if they were available in shops / the Net?

K: I really have no idea. I do know that they have sort of a life of their own now. And again, I have no desire to have these available for purchase, etc. They are meant to be free and to be enjoyed by people who have the desire to find them on the ‘net.

P: Would you like to see some volumes issued on vinyl?

K: Absolutely not. If they were to appear, you could well be sure I had nothing to do with it, and further more, you would probably never see another volume from me, or if you did, it would be in a way to dissuade bootleggers (like I would keep the titles off the mp3’s, etc)

P: As each volume of LAIF is a full CD, it’ll have be a concept, like an exotica one?
Or a special compilation like "LAIF tearjerkers: sad songs for sad people", this one will be based on songs like "The Bells" by Billy Ward & the Dominos?
I think someone has to issue that before other people rip off your concept, as it already happened recently.

K: Yes, someone issued a cd in the UK (Patrick: it's called "Bad Music for Bad People, Songs the Cramps Taught Us"). If this keeps happening, get ready for a radically different edition of LAIF. Like each volume not having the tracks identified. Anyone paying for that cd is just being ripped off. Like why would someone buy something that is obviously a bootleg, when you can download the cd’s for free on the internet? It’s not like anyone is supporting the artists by buying that UK cd. I assume it has been put out by people that copied my compilations. To me that’s just incredibly opportunistic.

P: About LAIF covers: Joaquim Costa, the early Portuguese rocker who died a couple of years ago and with whom you were in contact, thought LAIF was so great that he planned to design covers. Can you tell us the story about this?

K : I had been in contact with one of the guys who put together the PORTUGUESE NUGGETS lp’s and had heard these incredible recordings by Joaquim Costa that really blew me away. Afonso sent me the Joaquim 45 and was pretty close with Joaquim and he told Joaquim how much I loved the 45. He had also given Joaquim copies of the LAIF series and he flipped for them. Joaquim was the first rock and roller in Portugal (and I highly recommend his 45, though I can’t recall the label its on- Patrick: it's on Groovie Records), and one of the things he liked to do was design record covers for records that he had. So say he bought a record and he didn’t like the cover. He would throw the offending artwork away and MAKE HIS OWN COVER!

Afonso told me he had wanted to make covers for all the LAIF volumes and had begun the process (even going so far as to find the original 45’s and scan the labels), but he passed away before he could finish the project. I have no idea how far he got, or if he finished anything, but it was a real missed opportunity to have this amazing guy contribute to the series. I think Lux and Ivy would have approved. I think it’s safe to say, this guy was kind of like the Portuguese Hasil Adkins.

P: The two latest Vol - # 12 & 13, have great covers, with a returning frame: this "stay sick, turn blue" logo. Tell us about the origin of this logo.

K: This is called, for the lack of a better term, the memento mori frame. Memento Mori translated from Latin means “remember you must die“, which I think Lux used to translate into “too bad you’re gonna die” which appeared in some old Cramps flyers.
The actual skull and bones framework was taken from (I believe) a book that came out that published a list of the dead from the black plague. Somewhere along the line, Lux co-opted the design for their old flyers. So it was a no brainer on my part to incorporate that design into the covers for the LAIF series.

P: Will previous volumes get their own cover too. Who will be the designers?

K: Yes, they will all have covers. Well, first and foremost the guy who actually puts them together is Adam Fitch, a friend of mine from college. He basically takes my ideas and makes them a reality. He does amazing work and I can’t thank him enough.

Slim Gil DeLuxe has done the art for volume one and two, which are still on the back burner for right now until I can get the mp3’s up to snuff.

Michael Deforge from Canada has done a super space alien psychedelic cover from volume 6 that has to be seen to be believed! It’s really amazing. Do a search for his artwork on the net under KING TRASH.

I’ve got some other stuff in the works, but nothing’s been finalized so I’d rather not talk about it right now….

P: What’s your fave volume of LAIF so far?

K: Probably volume 12. It’s my aural tribute to Lux and the way it came together was sort of magical in a weird way. Things just seem to come into place.

P: Did you get material for a volume 14. If yes… when will it be issued?

P: I’m working on it right now, and if certain things that I’ve been sort of waiting for come to pass, it should be a pretty cool volume. There’s no telling when it may be out, maybe sometime this summer.

P: Do you ever think of someone writing a book based on your Lux & Ivy Favorites ?

K: No.

P : Well, I imagine it could be something like "Vinyl Junkies" with guys speaking of how they based the best part of their record collection with your help (personally, the Cramps made me re-discover the fabulous 50’s music, but without your help, thru your research to complete the LAIF series, I would never have bought all those incredible original singles).

K: Well that’s nice of you to say. I really look at this stuff as a way to help people deepen their love of the Cramps. You can listen to the Cramps and totally love them, but to appreciate them on a deeper level, you should check out the people that influenced them. Like hearing a riff in a Link Wray song and making that connection to a Cramps song is great. Listening to the Cramps opened up this world of fantastic music to me. Now, it might have happened anyway at some point, but they are pretty much the reason I’m the music fanatic I am today.

P: Anyway, I can’t think of a concept being such an endless river of gold. So, go on Kogar, we want more LAIF.

K: Thanks…

About the creator of LAIF:

P: You live near Boston, is it still a good place to find cool records

P: I live about an hour north of Boston in New Hampshire (the hometown of Gene Maltais!). Boston still has a few great record haunts; I highly recommend weirdo records, cheapo records, and In your ear records.

P: Tell us about your others compilations.

K: I’ve been making tape and cd compilations since the late 80’s. There is just something so cool about doing your own compilations. They are great snapshots in time. If you listened to my tapes back in the late 80’s early 90’s you would hear punk bands like FEAR and the DEAD KENNEDYS, but now you would hear rare 60’s instrumentals and crazy rock and roll from the same time period.

I’m also working on a 3rd volume of my vip vop tape tribute series called Kogar’s Big Thrill – 0 – Rama Trash Show that should debut sometime this year either on my blog or over at the WFMU ICHIBAN page. It is a series of compilations in the vein of the vip vop tapes (songs mixed and sequenced with horror movie radio spots in between the songs.

http://wfmuichiban.blogspot.com/

P: Is Kogar the Swinging ape name based on a song out of LAIF?

K : No, my name was taken from the greatest film ever made !

P: And about your group, thee Monkey Butlers.

K : Not much to say….we played for about 5 or 6 years, played a bunch of shows, opened for Sky Saxon once and now are on a "prolonged" break !

(Oh and if you really want to hear our music, you can download an EP we recorded back in 2004 thru the dirty water records link over at E-Music)

.....

Whew, that's enough of that...

2010-06-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

Head on over WFMU's Ichiban spot to download the above compilation. The cover is by J.R. Williams and truly is a thing of beauty.

So, what IS Big Thrill - O - Rama Trash Show?

Well to put it simply it's my tribute to the Vip Vop Tapes. There are two volumes so far. This one is labeled #0 because originally it had another title. Then years later I made a sequel and called THAT "trash show", so this one has been renamed to reflect the sequel. Confused yet?

Just give it a listen. The compilation is meant to be played like a tape, no track delineations. This is annoying, I know, but just go with it!

The first track is taken from the actual Vip Vop Tapes.

Here is the link

http://wfmuichiban.blogspot.com/2010/06/big-thrill-o-rama.html

Trash Show volume 1 coming soon!

Also, keep an eye out on the Ichiban site for my Jungle 45 of the Week series that started a few weeks back.

Psychotic Reactions w/ Pip

2010-06-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

My friend Pip has been doing a weekly 60's garage show in Boston at WZBC (Boston College Radio) for years. I have a standing invite to guest on his show if I'm ever in the area. In the past we've done all instrumental shows, a Lux Interior Tribute (during his MONTH long lux/cramps tribute after Lux's passing), etc.

Doing a show with Pip is pretty crazy. There is always something going on, the phone rings when we're on the air, there's no 45 adapters (the first time I went to the station, we had to play cd's until we found some adapters stuck in the 10's of thousands of BC's 45's...I travel with my own inserts now!), etc etc.

Whenever I listen to these shows afterwards I'm always laughing...not sure why. Maybe because I'm just psyched to be back on the radio. More than likely it's because watching Pip DJ is amazing. He talks all the time about how the music is so amazing, that he forgets to cue up the next 45. Then, it's a mad dash to cue up the next 45, which barely happens as the previous 45 ends! Then repeat this process about 20 times!

Some of the 45's on this show are taken from this very blog, but there's some other stuff too that I've never blogged about.

enjoy! (or not)

There's nothing better than .... Radio!

Lux and Ivy's Favorites Volume 14

2010-06-03T13:53:00.001-07:00

Well, Well….Here we are with Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume 14!

About a month ago, I had a little less than half of this volume together, but with no real theme. Just some left over songs that never made previous volumes and few other bits here and there.

Then a tape sort of fell into my lap that Lux had made for someone back in the 70’s. Thanks to this unnamed person, here is a new volume of Lux and Ivy’s Favorites.

I’d say that more than half of what is on this volume came from that hour long tape. There were even some songs left over for volume 15 (not to mention ANOTHER tape I have yet to receive). Most, if not all the songs on the tape were rockabilly, thus the vibe of the cover. I wanted it to have that “buffalo bop” kind of look.

A few notes on the songs.

The intro to Knockout is from the fabulous movie LOVE FROM A STRANGER featuring Basil Rathbone in an amazing performance. The movie was mentioned by Lux in the Ian Johnston Cramps book and is well worth seeking out. I thought it was a good way to open this volume.

Before some music nerd pipes up about “Duane De Santo”, yes, I know that’s not who really did that song, but that’s what Lux wrote on the tape case, so that’s the way it’s gonna stay!

The Four Plaid Throats. What is there to say about them? They are the Linn Twins of doo wop as far as I can see. The vocals on “The Message” are just INSANE. This group was mentioned by Lux in the newer Cramps book that came out a few years ago. Their other song will be on LAIF 15, and is a bit more, shall we say, reserved.

It took a while to find both of these songs by the “throats”. At one point I tracked down a bootleg cd with both sides of their lone 45 on it. I was psyched to find it, but disappointed as hell when I listened to it, and found that whoever mastered the damn thing couldn’t get the vocals right! They were popping all over the place. The version on this volume is taken from a Repro that must have come out in the 70’s and is pretty much the only way to hear it unless you can find an original. The fact that is repressed is kind of funny as I don’t really see the sock hop crowd really going for this little number.

I’ve also included 2 bands that Lux and Ivy produced, The Sickidz and The Mad Daddy’s. As well as Chris Spedding, who produced them at one point (Miss Betty being mentioned in some interview years back that I’ve since lost track of).

Lastly, I’ve included the theme song to FIVE MINUTES TO LIVE by Johnny Cash. This movie also popped up in the Ian Johnston book. I had this song years ago, but hadn’t managed to track down a copy of the movie until recently, and lo and behold, the version of the song used in the movie is entirely different then the officially released one! I think the movie version is amazing and features this great guitar solo by Merle Travis. I do not believe this version was ever released, so this is a rip from the dvd (sorry for this hiss).

Shout out’s also go to Adam Fitch for the amazing cover, Dirty Dacoit Dan, and Patrick from France for their help with this volume.

Enjoy this volume and hopefully 15 will be around before the end of the summer.

And again, no bootlegging! This shit is free, free, free!

LAIF_14

Dean Carter!

2010-05-19T18:23:00.001-07:00

Here's one of Dean Carter's (aka Arlie Nevil) stunning 45's on his own "Milky Way" label. This came out in 1967, and every time I hear it, I shake my head. What was this guy on?! Talk about your strange influences. He had one foot in the 50's, the other foot in the 60's and another foot in the future somewhere!

Everyone's heard his version of Jailhouse Rock, right? Hell, it's been comped from here to eternity. But are you familiar with Rebel Woman?! This song is a total monster. Listen to that fuzz! Turn this up as loud as your speakers can take it and let that fab guitar wash over you...

Jailhouse_Rock

Rebel_Woman

Crawlin'!

2010-05-06T10:10:00.001-07:00

Here's three different versions of the killer instrumental, The Caterpillar Crawl!

Note the weird writing credits on the version by The Fugitives...

Not included is the version by The Zodiacs (because you can easily purchase it from Norton!) or the version by Canned Heat!

The_Strangers_-_Caterpillar_Crawl

Dick_Dixon_-_Caterpillar_Crawl

The_Fugitives_-_Caterpillar_Crawl

Link Wray - Ace of Spades/The Fuzz!

2010-04-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

Here's another one from my recent record haul. It features one of my favorite instrumentals of all time on the b-side. The Fuzz. The guitar tone on this one gets me every time. It's a great mid-tempo throbber of a song.

The a-side aint too shabby either. I think this is the dirtier, fuzzier version of Ace of Spades. It also has some harmonica which makes it a lot different than the other versions of Ace of Spades. I think Link recorded this song 3 times (4 if you count fatback). I like this version a lot since it ends like a 60's garage punk tune.

Think Link.

Ace_of_Spades

The_Fuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hasil Adkins - She Said/The Hunch (ARC)

2010-04-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sheesh, its been 5 years since Hasil died (I'd say murdered, but that's me). And just knowing he's not down in West Virginia hunching away in his shack makes the world a sadder place.

Hasil's music literally IS music to my ears. Some people recoil from it; it's too raw, it's too noisy...whatever, every time I hear his music a smile crosses my lips. The fact that Billy and Miriam from Norton Records rescued this guy from obscurity is one of the great music stories of modern times.

Be sure to check out my post over at the ichiban blogspot where you can download the Hasil Adkins tribute show that FOOL'S PARADISE broadcast back when Hasil past away. There are some great stories about Hasil from Billy and Miriam themselves as well as Joe Coleman, and others who knew Hasil. Plus some great Hasil tunes as well (including some unreleased stuff from the Norton Archives).

I was lucky to see Hasil play a few times. Once great, once not so great.

The great show was at the House of Blues in Cambridge Mass back in the 90's. I had gotten Hasil's autograph earlier in the day at a Tower Record performance (where hasil played a few songs, then threw down his guitar and walked out of the store for a cigarette. Seeing Hasil play guitar and sing right near a Madonna cardboard pic was kind of surreal!).

The thing I remember most that night was this FAT BLUES DUDE (tm) getting all uppity and almost starting a fight with a girl in the front row. The show was part of the FAT POSSUM blues tour. Hasil was the only, uh, "non-traditional" blues guy on the tour. So all of the other artists were, shall we say, more listener friendly than Hasil.

Hasil eventually get's cookin' and the crowd is jumping, hunchin' and generally getting wild. Said FAT BLUES DUDE (tm) leans over to me and shouts something along the lines of; "I've never seen anything like this at a blues club, it's unheard of!" His shocked admonishment shocked me more than what Hasil was up to on stage. I shouted back, "....then what the fuck are you doing here?!" He gave me a look and began elbowing this tiny girl who was right up at the stage. I guess she must have "hunched" into his enormous FAT BLUES DUDE GUT (tm).

So here I am seeing Hasil Adkins play, something I never thought in a million years I'd see, mediating a fight between a tiny rockabilly girl, and a FAT BLUES DUDE (tm). After a while things calm down, and wouldn't you know it, before long the FAT BLUES DUDE (tm) was bopping along to hasil's beat. I think he even apologized to the Rockabilly Chick.

Hasil Adkins: bringing FAT BLUES DUDE's (tm) and tiny Rockabilly Chicks together thru his music.

Here are two Hasil classics on his own ARC label. I think this came out in 1976. Basically a reissue from some of what Hasil was pushing back in the 50's.

Thanks Hasil for all the great music....

Hasil_Adkins_-_She_Said

Hasil_Adkins_-_The_Hunch

Link to Ichiban post - http://wfmuichiban.blogspot.com/2010/04/hasil-adkins.html

The Giggler!

2010-04-06T14:46:00.001-07:00

Here's a little preview of what I'm calling "RECORD HAUL 2010".

This is (apparently) a hard to find record. There is a brief mention of it on the INSTROMANIA website, and I can only see that the b-side has been comped before (on the great cd-r series THE DOG'S BOLLOCKS OF AMERICAN ROCK AND ROLL INSTRUMENTALS). The b-side is a nice take on green onions, but the a-side is the winner here.

It's "The Giggler!" The song starts with a creaking door sound, and then a great high pitched giggle. The music just throbs and pulses with some great guitar. The only thing that could make it better is if there were some deep throated narrator saying; "THE GIGGLER" at certain points of the song.

The Giggler was apparently used on Ghoulardi's show, but i've never seen it listed as a tune he used (either online, or in the Ghoulardi book). I have it on good authority from a Ghouardi fanatic, that the Giggler was indeed used on the show at one point. That's good enough for me.

This is a killer 45 that has to be somewhat rare, since the song has NEVER been comped that I can tell, and an internet search reveals almost nothing.

My copy of the 45 has a few clicks and pops, but you can probably live with that since the song is so amazing! Play it again and again and start giggling!

More from "RECORD HAUL 2010" coming soon...

The_Giggler

Green_Tomatoes

Jungle Talk

2010-03-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blogs lately, but I had some emergency surgery this month (who knew your gallbladder could get gangrene?!), and it kind threw me for a loop for a few weeks.

But in that time, I had a MAJOR record haul and as soon as get them, I'll post 'em here.

Anyway, I've been meaning to post this for weeks...

Here is the mysterious Kai Ray's I Want Some of That/Trashman's Blues.

For everything you would ever want to "know" about Kai Ray, check out the great interview with the man in an old issue of KICKS!

This record has a huge pedigree. It's a Mad Mike killer (in fact, I think he had a hand in it's release?), The Cramps lifted parts of it, and the fabulous Trashmen took their name from the b-side!

It's amazing to me that the b-side hasn't been comped more than it has, because it's a great song in it's own right. But with an a-side like I Want Some of That, I guess it's not too surprising.

For anyone who keeps track of such things, this is one of my favorite records of all time...

I_Want_Some_of_That

Trashman's_Blues

Chiyo and the Crescents

2010-03-04T09:24:00.000-08:00

Here is Pink Dominos by Chiyo and the Crescents. From the original Break Out label out of California. Rumor has it that it was recorded "in a shoe store."

Kim Fowley heard it, and it eventually came out on the ERA label. Unfortunately, the B-side was replaced with a different song.

The original "other side" was the searing guitar surfer "Devil Surf" (check out the other side over at WFMU's Ichiban Rock and Soul page (along with a pic of Chiyo and the band).

Chiyo was kind of unique in the California surf scene as being one of the few female surf guitarists. She owned and operated a guitar/amplifier shop. This is probably where she hooked up with the Crescents. She was easily twice the age of the rest of the band. I'm not sure if this was her label, but she probably put up the money for the recording, etc.

From what I could learn on the internet, she was a native american who married a japanese business man, which gave her the exotic moniker of Chiyo Ishii.

Pink Dominos became somewhat of a hit, spending a few weeks in the top 100 and eventually caught the ear of whoever picked music for Ghoulardi's show back in the 60's where it was heard frequently.

Pink_Dominos

(unfortunately, this copy has a bit of a warp right at the beginning, but seeing as it's pretty rare, beggers can't be choosers...)

Don't forget to check out the awesome Devil Surf over at

http://wfmuichiban.blogspot.com/

Good Gully Miss Mully?

2010-02-21T10:53:00.000-08:00

Here's a great "grinder" by The Orchids.

No real mention of it on the internet anywhere. Nothing on the instromania page.

It really would be right at home on one of the Las Vegas Grind LP's.

Dust off your tassles and check it out here...

The_Orchids_-_Good_Gully!

Billy Storm and The Valiants

2010-02-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite albums. Its the perfect mix of jungle vibe vocal group sounds (lover, lover) and screaming rockers (good golly miss molly, frieda frieda).

This is a real "gateway" lp for people who are "doo wop" curious.

Billy Storm had an amazing voice that has the power to transport you to another plane of reality.

Extra bonus for the amazing last track that just has to be heard to be believed. Needless to say, it reminds me of "home"...

(sorry for the shitty picture of the LP, but it's the best one I could find, and I was too lazy to get out the digital camera to take a pic of my copy)

Billy_Storm_and_The_Valiants

Also, be sure to check out http://wfmuichiban.blogspot.com/ for some insight into one of my favorite records; Hooty Sapperticker by Barbara and the Boys.

Thanks to colin for fixing the picture a bit....

Lux and Ivy's Favorites Volume 12: The Lux Interior Memorial Edition (Remaster)

2010-02-03T08:59:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe it'll be a year tomorrow that Lux Interior passed away.

Here is the "remastered" edition of Lux and Ivy's Favorites volume 12, that "came out" a little after that.

I've cleaned it up sound wise a little bit. There wasn't all that much wrong with it, but since the cover was finished for this volume, I figured I'd take a look at the sound quality. Some of the tracks are from the best available elements, and sometimes, quality was sacrificed for a song's particular inclusion.

Over time, all the volumes will have covers and better sound. So delete any existing volume 12's and replace it with this one!

It's the cover that's of most importance for this volume. Again, I want to thank Adam Fitch for taking my idea and making it a reality. He does awesome work.

Also, tomorrow between 11PM and 1AM (est) check out SALAD DAYS on WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio. Dacoit Dan, Slickee Boys drummer and all around cool guy, will be hosting a Lux Tribute that will feature songs by The Cramps, Movie Trailers, Lux and Ivy sound bites, and Lux and Ivy Faves.

Dan asked me to come up with the songs for the show and I think it's really going to be great. His Mad Daddy Tribute show was great, so this should be too...

Check out the radio station's website at;

http://wrir.org/

Oh, and here's what you came for...

Volume_Twelve

Oops, sorry folks, some people were having problems with the above link.

here is a new one...there shouldn't be any problems...

http://www.mediafire.com/?tnzyukwyxtx

AND here's a the lux tribute show i helped put together - oops, sorry, that link was wrong too...sheesh, here's the right i worked with dacoit dan from the slickee boys...

http://saladdays.podbean.com/

Louis Carpenter's All Stars w/ Mad Man Jones

2010-01-29T07:38:00.000-08:00

I've been a bit of a Mad Man this week (or monkey if you prefer...) so i thought of this 45 to post.

Mad records was started by Tommy "Mad Man" Jones in the late 50's. It's gotta be one of the better record label designs I've seen, and it's one of my favorites. It looks like something out of Mad Magazine.

I believe this track was on one of the Las Vegas Grind editions. Great grinding action on this one...

For more information on Mad Records and or Mad Man Jones, check out this great bio and overview of the label here:

http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/mad.html

And enjoy the tune here:

Yeah!

Oh, by the way, all the "yeah's" are by Mad Man Jones, the music is by Louis Carpenter's All Stars...

The Sliders

2010-01-20T15:01:00.000-08:00

Speaking of Forbidden City Dog Food, I stumbled across the 45 by The Sliders recently. The A-side, The Lamb Shake is featured on FCDF and just might make an appearance on an upcoming volume of Lux and Ivy's Favorites.

The B-side turns out to be a half way decent instrumental as well.

The_Lamb_Shake

Sly_Dog

Speaking of LAIF, I'll be posting The Lux Interior Memorial Edition with artwork soon. Some of the songs have been cleaned up a bit, and Adam Fitch and I designed a cover for it. It really came out great. More soon.

Enjoy the tunes.

Mogul Monster!

2010-01-17T08:17:00.000-08:00

Here's a great instrumental produced by Kim Fowley.

I highly recommend you pick up the new Norton Records LP/CD releases of Kim Fowley produced songs. Insanely cool liner notes.

The_Rangers_-_Mogul_Monster

To hear the other side of this record (a solid 60's garage tune about skiing) head on over to WFMU's Ichiban Rock and Soul (outta)Site!

http://wfmuichiban.blogspot.com/

Forbidden City Dog Food

2009-12-23T12:58:00.000-08:00

By request, here's a compilation LP that was taken from a tape that Lux Interior made many years ago, probably the late 70's is my guess.

It always amazed me that Lux was able to make tapes like these back then with all analog equipment. Today, I can wip up a compilation like this in a few hours (not counting the time it takes to pick the songs, and trailers, etc) on my computer (see my May 29th posting). It must have taken him forever to do this back then.

So legend has it that Lux made this tape. Then it got into the hands of some bootleggers, and they pressed it to vinyl.

Its a classic of its kind and is partly responsible for me making compilations all the time.

If you dig this LP, do yourself a favor and track down the compilations called MELLO JELLO. Basically the same idea, great music mixed with exploitation trailers. 2 volumes with a 3rd on the way (although it seems like its been delayed indefinitely). Also of note is the WAVY GRAVY series of LP's. Same idea...

Forbidden_City_Dog_Food

Johnny & the Debonairs - The Bonecracker

2009-12-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece of Pittsburgh history. I guess this 45 was a big Pittsburgh dance hit probably played by Mad Mike back in the day (not this 45, but one probably just like it).

Pittsburgian's (?) were famous for label defacement to keep those pesky kids from knowing who the actual artist was or what the song title was, etc. But you should know ALL about that from checking out the liner notes to the fabulous MAD MIKE MONSTERS on Norton Records.

A little side note: Ever see records with holes in them like that? Ever wonder what the hell it meant? Well back in the day if a record didn't sell, it was returned to the distributor. The distributor would refund the record dealer's money and resell the record to somebody else. They wouldn't take returns on records with holes in them because they knew they had already been returned.

Dig this great sleazy grinder...

The_Bonecracker!

Las Dilly Sisters!

2009-12-10T18:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a great 45 by a mexican "novelty" act, I guess you'd call them. Legend has it that their father flew them to California to cut this record. A steller piss take of Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White for the Gordo Record Label. I think it was on one of the Girls in the Garage Albums.

Here are Las Dilly's on one of the greatest tv shows of all time...

And here is a rip of the original 45 at the proper speed.

Las_Dilly_Sisters_-_Sometimes_Goodguys_Don't_Wear_White

And here's a rip of it at 33 rpm's that make it sound like its by Las Dilly Brothers!

Las_Dilly_"Brothers"_-_Sometimes Goodguys Don't Wear White

The Conclusion of The Tale of The Mad Daddy Acetates!

2009-12-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

After barely escaping with my life, from another misadventure that I won't get into here, I made it back to the to the bus area to get back to my hotel.

To my dismay, I noticed the little man at the bus station waiting with a few other people. The thought of being on a four-hour bus trip with the sniveling little man made my stomach crawl and my head ache.

I hailed a burro and decided to take the train instead.

In my compartment I finally got to take a close look at the acetates. My hands shook as I took off the banana leaf wrapping. The proprietor had used the banana leaves as a sort of bubble wrap for the package.

I wondered to myself what could possibly be on these discs? Could they be long lost recordings of The Mad Daddy, aka "The Joker", like his lone 45, WHAT IS A FISTERIS/I LOVE A GOOD PRACTICAL JOKE? The mind reeled at such a prospect!

I took a look at the tan folders the acetates came in. They were labeled TRANSCO. A little quote below the name said; …A "SOUND" INVESTMENT. I chuckled at the horrible pun. According to the sleeve, the company was located in Linden, NJ.

Once back at the hotel, I decided that I had to listen to the acetates, just once! I had to hear what were on these discs! I had my primitive set up to transfer vinyl to compact disc ready and waiting for me.

I lit some candles and got to work.

Here is what I discovered…

Disc One: Crystal Ball (all cuts identical)

Hmmm, this is interesting; its just 20 odd seconds of a sound affect the Mad Daddy used on his show! That's it! It builds slowly with an almost theremin/ethereal quality to it. It's a very recognizable sound if you've ever heard any of the Mad Daddy air checks floating around.

Crystal_Ball

Disc Two: "UMUMH!" (1-8 all cuts identical) recorded 10/13/61

Well, this is a head scratcher! It's less than a second long, and it's just an exaltation of "Umumh!"

I have a number of Mad Daddy air checks and I do not ever remember hearing this on one of his shows. Why would he have gone into a studio to record this? What purpose did it serve?

Disc Three: GIMMICK (long play)

This one held the most promise to me. By looking at the grooves, I could tell that the lengths of the tracks were different. It didn't say "all cuts identical" like the other ones did.

Track One: an almost playful sound that I can't quite place. It seems to bounce back and fourth between the speakers. Short beeps, like picking on piano strings.

Track Two: It's that trademark Mad Daddy Laugh! I don't know much about radio of the time, but I'm guessing this was a way for Pete Myers to get some sounds that he wanted for his radio show in NY. Since these are acetates he couldn't have played them again and again, they would have deteriorated. So he must have used these as a way to put them down onto tape?

Mad_Laugh!

Track Three: It's more laughter! But this laugh is the lesser of the two. It's not the "main" laugh he used, but the one he used between songs, etc.

Track Four: Ah, the "wavy gravy" bubbling sound! A minute and 30 seconds of bubbling sounds…

Wavy_Gravy!

Track Five: More otherworldly sounds, 15 seconds or so long. It sort of sounded like something from "FANTATSICA", the LP by Russ Garcia. The Mad Daddy used songs from this LP for his show.

Track Six: 15 more seconds of ethereal sounds, this time with women's voices. I think he used this during the final seconds of his show?

You_Have_Reached_Your_Destination!

After listening, I sat back with a far off look on my face.

I had to digest what I had just heard. While not as earth shattering as I had hoped, the acetates were still a lost relic of a hero of mine. Relics that could have easily ended up as a joke gift to someone and lost to history.

The thought of this unnerved me. What other items could be out there, or could already be lost because people didn't know what they had?

This is what makes record hunting so amazing. It really is like excavating. And like excavating, sometimes you uncover gold, and sometimes, like this case, you just uncover something really cool.

I was hoping beyond hope that these acetates held some amazing lost track that Pete Myers had recorded, ala "Fisteris", but it wasn't meant to be. But what I did end up with was something that Pete Myers had held onto for a number of years until his death. Something he had personally used to produce his beloved radio programs.

I had snatched these items from the brink of destruction. That was pretty satisfying.

My only wish is that these had been uncovered before the Norton Records Mad Daddy CD.

If there is ever a volume 2 of WAVY GRAVY, maybe all the acetate's tracks can be included there.

Mad Daddy Aircheck 1958

2009-11-28T09:55:00.000-08:00

As a companion to The Tale of the Mad Daddy Acetates (part 2 coming soon) here is one of my favorite airchecks of The Mad Daddy. It's from 1958 when he was in his prime. Great song selection and Mad Daddy patter.

This is the first 58 minutes or so of an overall 2 and half hour aircheck. Probably the closest we can come to actually having a complete Mad Daddy show.

Enjoy!

The_Mad_Daddy_-_WJW_1958

The Tale of The Mad Daddy Acetates

2009-11-15T09:41:00.001-08:00

This originally appeared over at the Mad Daddy Myspace Page a few years back. Figured I'd share it here. Sadly no more gold has appeared since this writing. Oh well, that's the bane of record buying; you are always searching for the next fix.

As a bit of an introduction, for those who don't know who Pete Myers is, he created the radio DJ persona of The Mad Daddy on Cleveland radio back in the late 50's. His radio shows are the stuff of legend. He spoke entirely in rhyme. He played music parents hated. Crazy instrumentals, rock and roll, etc. All punctuated with his trade mark insane laughter. For more on the wonder that is The Mad Daddy, check out the amazing CD on Norton Records called WAVY GRAVY: ATOM SMASHIN’ ZOOMERATIN’ MELLO JELLO RADIO BROADCASTS 1958-1964. For some quick samples of his DJ patter zoom on over to The Mad Daddy Myspace page. There is some memorabilia over there as well.

www.myspace.com/themaddaddy

Part One:

*Warning some of the following may contain falsehoods, and or deceptions, but more than likely most of it is true (no, really)!

While hunting in the Congo for records I came upon a record shop in a most unusual place.

Having just hewn my way thru miles of dense undergrowth I came across a dark and foreboding cave.

I had heard from the natives that many riches could be found there. Many had come before me, but none had ever been seen again. The natives did not care for records, but the white man, the white man kept coming.

The stench that emitted from the cave was nauseating. My eyes began to sting and water profusely...

I had to tie my bandana around my mouth and nose in order to keep from retching. Sancho, my dear departed steward, had given me some ointment to swab underneath my nose to help quell the fetid odor. I can't quite remember what he said it was made of, but thank god he had given it to me, for it helped me in this, my darkest hour.

The cave was like any other I had encountered in my many years of travel. Littered outside were the bones of collectors past, who had come like I had come, with a wad full of cash and thoughts of rare records in their heads.

The jungle was on my side this day, and I had made it unscathed...maybe it was because I regularly bathe and comb my hair, or because I don't like to spend endless hours talking about mono vs. stereo, or the difference between vg+ and vg++!

As I entered the cave I could hear a bubbling cauldron echoing through the entry chamber. It wasn’t a cave at all, but a very well concealed record store!

But this was no ordinary record store! The walls glistened with some sort of green iridescence. A dense fog covered the floor. Things moved in that fog…but I’d rather not think of that right now.

It reminded me of some sort of sick butcher shop. There were no records to peruse! There were no record bins to browse through! There were no records to be seen anywhere in front of the counter!

Everything was behind the counter! You had to ask the proprietor what he had for sale! What manner of store was this? None I had ever talked to had ever been here before, so I did not know what to expect!

As I neared the counter, I realized someone else was in the “store” with me! He was a mealy little fellow and he seemed very happy to be talking with the proprietor.

Ah, the proprietor. He was a site to behold. He appeared to be an amalgam of all I had come across before. He was stout, like a man who had just eaten a pile of sweaty kielbasa! He was dressed in the cheapest stuff imaginable. Clothing was like an afterthought to this strange perspiration covered man. He was balding, but appeared otherwise to be completely covered with matted damp looking hair. Even his ears had sprouted with the stuff!

Very disconcerting…

It was then that I heard something that peaked my interest!

“….Pete Myers…”

I moved closer, tripping over some sort of creepy crawly in the mist, trying to hear more…

“Yeah, my boss’s name is Pete Myers, so I figured I’d buy them for him! He would get a big kick out of that!”

“Ahem”, I said, as I moved closer to the counter. “What’s this about Pete Myers?”

“You know him?!” Gasped the clueless stranger.

I was amazed at this person’s idiocy. “No I don’t know your boss, but Pete Myers was a radio DJ in Cleveland in the late 50’s.”

“Oh”, he said sadly. His face brightened as he continued; “Well, this gentleman has something called the Pete Myers astitates!”

I looked at him like he had two heads. “Astitates? Do you mean Acetates?” Clearly this person had just stumbled into this place and didn’t have a clue about anything….

“ACETATES!” grunted the proprietor, drool hanging from the corner of his mouth, his belly protruding over his dirty unwashed jeans.

“Oh, YES, acetates, that’s what they are! What fun this shop is! Can you believe I would stumble across something like this? Especially something that I could buy as a joke gift for my boss!? Its just delightful!” As he said this he clapped his hands in the most annoying manner.

I backed away not knowing if I should cry, or punch the little sniveling man in the mouth.

“Have you already bought them?” I asked wearily? Having been beaten to the punch so many times before, I expected the worst.

“Actually, no, this fine gentlemen and I were just coming to terms.”

During this whole time the proprietor was staring dumbly, as is their want. The drool slowly elongating till it rested softly on his stained wife beater t-shirt. His glistening, beady eyes stared back… He almost looked like he could understand us.

“Well, I just might be interested in these ‘astitates’ myself…”

“ACETATES!” grunted the proprietor once again.

“Yes, yes, acetates. What are you offering him?” I asked, as I jerked by thumb towards the proprietor.

The man opened his “fanny-pack” (my fingers shudder just typing the word) and peered inside. “Well, let me see what I have.”

The proprietor began sniffing and grunting at the air, his hands twitching uncontrollably. He could smell a bidding war beginning to brew. His mouth opened and closed as he breathed in and out.

Before the little man could say anymore, I asked the proprietor to see the actual acetates. He grunted his approval and shuffled off further behind the counter. He approached what appeared to be a black velvet curtain. He parted it with the wave of one big flabby hair covered arm and roared; “Maaaa, get me my purple record carrier!”

Before long he reappeared with 3 acetates all bearing the GOTHAM record label.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Here was something that, as far as I knew, had never been heard of before! 3 of Pete Myers’s personal acetates! What could they be? What could be on them? What untold treasures could those black and oily crevices contain?

I picked up the first one. It said simply, CRYSTAL BALL. Hmm, what could that be?

The second: GIMMICK. It had a date of 2/29/60. Hmm, interesting. It must have been after Pete had left the Cleveland area to “make it big” in New York City.

The third one read simply; UMUMH!, and was dated 10/13/61.

Now the proprietor was not the only one who was salivating in a most disturbing way.

I tried vainly to compose myself. It is important in times like these to keep a straight face (which was easy for me, since half of my face was concealed beneath my kerchief!).

“So you want to buy the acetates. And I want to buy the acetates. What do you think we should do?”

“AUCTION!” Grunted the proprietor, as he slammed his flabby palm against the counter. Little bits of spittle landing on the stranger and I.

At this suggestion I grinned as I felt the bulge of money in my pocket. Money that I had saved for just such an encounter.

“Oh dear!” Said the little man as he looked thru his change purse. “It seems that I only have 120 American dollars!”

The proprietor bristled at the little man for showing his hand too soon! He looked at me expectantly…

I offered up a pittance more than the 120 offered by the little man.

The proprietor looked back at the little man, expecting a counter bid….

The little man cowered. “If I give any more, I won’t have enough for bus fair to get back to the resort!”

He sighed and slowly turned to leave the store. Looking back once with the look of the defeated.

The proprietor looked at me as I took out my billfold and peeled off the 120 and change. His eyes gleaming in the green iridescence.

He pushed the acetates towards me. I carefully gathered them and got them ready for my return trip home.

End of part one.

Trash is Neat Volume One

2009-11-07T13:05:00.000-08:00

Trash is neat is a series of cd (and soon to be DVD) compilations put together by a member of the Stay Sick Cramps Yahoo group. Volume One is made up of bootleg live versions of songs The Cramps never really got around to recording on legit albums (during the 2 guitar era).

As the cover above says, all the material is taken from 1977 to 1984. Volume One was limited to 30 copies and mailed out to various members of the Stay Sick Group. Just recently, I noticed someone sold their copy on ebay and it went for well over a 100 dollars. A 100 dollars for a CD-R! That's totally crazy. So here it is in all its glory.

Thanks go out to MondoSean for all his hard work on the series. Volume 4 should be out any week now. This might be a good time to join the Stay Sick Group if you want more info. I'll post volume 2 (Songs We Taught the Bass Player) and volume 3 (bands covering The Cramps) sometime soon.

There used to be a Trash is Neat website, but I'm not sure its around anymore. Do a search for it online, some sites still pop up!

http://www.mediafire.com/?mzygdleu2wz

Wrapped up and Tangled Up in The Cramps

2009-10-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

Well, this Wednesday would have been Lux's 63rd birthday. Here is an article I wrote for a canadian fanzine that has yet to materialize. I wrote it shortly after Lux passed away. I don't know if the fanzine will ever see the light of day, so here it is in all its "glory". Sorry if it seems all over the place, but when I was writing it, I was pretty emotional. Still am, I guess...

(pics above: a super young looking Lux with his homemade Mad Daddy shirt and a picture taken by Mark Mucker at the Trocadero show in Philidelphia.)

I went to fishin’ one day
And I put my hook out in the water
And somethin’ got a hold to it
And tried to get loose

When I pulled it up there was a big fish on the hook
He was twistin’ and turning there
Tryin to get loose
But the hook had him there
And he couldn’t get loose

And I said I wished the Lord would hook me one day
Like this hook has hooked his fin
And on one Friday evenin’, he came into my soul
And hooked he me with his spirit

And ever since that day
A song come into my mind
I had to say like Jerimiah say…
There’s a ffffffiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrre keep on burnin’
Shadow up in my bones…
And I couldn’t hold my pee

-The Reverend Charlie Jackson – Wrapped up and Tangled Up in Jesus

The Cramps got their hook in me around 1989 or so.

Hearing The Cramps for the first time completed my musical puzzle. Up until that point, music wasn’t a big part of my life. It was just something I listened to passively. There was nothing I was hearing that was really moving me. Certainly I had not heard anything that I would want to collect or devote any serious time to.

Growing up, I was into all the “weird stuff” you’d expect me to be into if you know me now. I liked monsters, books, books about monsters, monster movies, comic books, etc. I spent hours and hours scouring the TV guide trying to find horror movies to watch.

My parents had decent taste in music. My dad was a teenager in the 50’s and 60’s, a glorious time for music. We always had music in the house, but it was as most people listen to music today; as a background, something to fill the empty air. It may have meant something to them, but it didn’t connect with me. Blue suede shoes? Who gave a fuck about blue suede shoes?! I was a kid that liked giant monkey movies for god sake!

Myself, growing up in the 70’s, in New Hampshire no less, there really wasn’t a lot musically going on. For some, the 70’s were a great time for music. But as an adolescent without a car, you were kind of at the mercy of geography. All the radio stations I could tune in at the time played 70’s arena rock or dance music.

At some point, I started running with a different crowd and a friend introduced me to punk, and then later, The Cramps.

At first I didn’t know what to make of them. I simply could not comprehend what I was hearing. It sort of sounded like the music my dad was always playing when I was younger, but it was somehow new and exciting. It seriously confused me. Being in my late teens, Punk was a no brainer. It was loud, fast, out of control. But The Cramps were different. It just seemed more real somehow.

The Cramps opened up a whole new world for me. I was amazed to find a band that seemed to be influenced (at least in part) by the movies I grew up watching! You could just hear it in the music. You could see it in their look. Hell, you could even see it in their amazing logo.

Songs like WHAT’S BEHIND THE MASK had me doing double takes. Surely this song was based on a segment of TALES FROM THE CRYPT, the classic comic from the 50’s read by JD’s and wide-eyed innocents alike.

Pretty soon I was a fanatic; I had to have everything they ever put out. I went from release to release aurally devouring everything within earshot. It was Cramps overload.

It is at this point where you can distinguish two kinds of Cramps fans. The casual fan that goes to the shows, buys the records, etc., and The Cramps fan that delves a little deeper, tries to find out what made this band the way they were. A truly rewarding experience waits for those who wish to dig deeper into the history of the band and where they came from.

Since Lux’s passing a back in February, there has been a lot written about the band and Lux in particular. Many of the hastily written pieces that appeared soon after his death were shoddy and, to be quite frank, embarrassing. Some even got his age incorrect, others had no idea how to describe their music. It was a sad tribute.

As the weeks went by, and more and more people put their thoughts on paper, or on the Internet, it really helped me deal with my grief and I think it was helpful for others as well. People I talked to were shocked at how bad they felt about Lux’s passing. We all felt like we lost a family member. A lot of people were in the same boat. I mentioned as much to my amazing and understanding wife (who is also a fan) and she said something that has really stuck with me. She said; “Of course you feel bad, The Cramps, in some way, have had an impact on your life almost every day.”

She was right; a day probably doesn’t go by when I’m not affected by The Cramps. Whether it be putting together the Lux and Ivy’s Favorites series or hearing a Link Wray tune, buying some 45 on Ebay, or watching some exploitation movie; The Cramps have had a wild impact on my life. I can honestly say I would not be the person I am today if I had never listened to The Cramps.

Since Lux’s passing, I’ve been trying to sort out my thoughts about this band that I completely love and that changed the direction of my life.

The Cramps are more than a band. Lux and Ivy, the driving force behind the band, are history teachers for those who care to listen. Read their interviews, listen to their records, listen to the records they listen to, watch the movies they like to watch. If you do, there is a whole world that will open to you, if you are willing to take the time to explore.

I transitioned from a casual fan to an obsessed nut job when I heard, THE PURPLE KNIF SHOW. It had to have been 91 or 92. I saw the CD in The Cramps CD section. I didn’t even know what the hell it was. It had a picture of Lux and Ivy on it, and wording that said; RADIO CRAMPS. I had no idea what it was, but I had to have it. Maybe it was a live show or something. Most of you probably know, it was a radio show that Lux had hosted where he had complete control over the play list.

The stuff he played was mind blowing. The door to my musical awakening was creaking open even further, like you’d see in an old Boris Karloff movie. Here were songs that defied description; a song about a baby brother that crawled around on the ceiling and then flew away into space, another song about turkey decapitation, further still a song about a Bohemian Café that I search for to this day (not the record, but the physical place!).

Then shortly after that, it was the BORN BAD LP’s. Here were songs The Cramps liberated from the past and incorporated into their music. I knew some of their songs were covers, but this series of LP’s opened my eyes wider to what The Cramps were doing with songs and artists from the past.

The door opened even more.

Link Wray, Hasil Adkins, Andre Williams, The Mad Daddy, Mad Mike Metrovich, Ghoulardi, Russ Meyer, these are just some of the names they have introduced me to.

The door was blown off its hinges!

Soon, I was buying music like crazy. There were frequent trips to Boston; mail order; downloading; anything to get my music fix. Most, if not all of my disposable income went to the purchase of records, video tapes (later DVD’s), movie posters, etc. All of this can most likely be traced back to my discovery of The Cramps.

Over the years I saw The Cramps 8 or 9 times. A Cramps show was always an amazing experience. There was always something that happened to make it memorable. One time I got an empty wine bottle that Lux had drank from during a show, another time Lux used me as a lean post to get closer to the crowd (I spent the bulk of this show just looking up at him as he leaned on my shoulders to berate the crowd.), one time my friends and I fed him lines during the introduction for Alligator Stomp, another time a 5 foot tall girl physically attacked me for having the nerve to be standing in front of her (where I had been for 3 hours before she got there!). Blood, sweat, urine, wine, flying bodies, all par for the course at a Cramps show.

The last time I saw The Cramps live was a special one off show in NYC. It ended up being the last time they ever played in the city that sort of spawned them. That night they were on fire. Lux was like a man possessed. Drinking wine bottle after wine bottle, climbing speakers, bending mic stands.

At one point, while Lux was draping the club’s black curtains around himself (mimicking the Mad Daddy’s famous pose?), while teetering atop a 15-20 foot speaker stack. The crowd was going bonkers. All eyes were on Lux. What would he do next?

I guess I should say, all eyes weren’t on Lux, most of them were. I was watching Ivy. She was playing with here usual sneer, but you could see the concern in her eyes for Lux as he balanced precariously atop the speakers. For a good 5-8 minutes she watched his antics and only went back to torturing her guitar with reckless abandon when he was safe back down on the stage.

At times like that I think of how lucky Lux and Ivy were to have found each other. For over 30 years they have been together. They started a band, toured the world dozens of times, helping create an interest in music of the past while always seeming to be looking towards the future.

While traveling the country together in the mid-seventies they were on a quest for the soul of rock and roll. They found it in junk shops, record stores, record warehouses, distributorships, etc. Buying 45 records all along the way that held the key to their musical future. This time spent together would eventually lead them to starting this amazingly influential band.

Lux said in an interview he and Ivy did with Rex Doane on WFMU’s Fool’s Paradise, in which he believed that ideas for musicians are floating around in space. Those ideas are then picked up by entities and shot like lightening bolts into the heads of people, and that’s how you end up with crazy, awe inspiring songs. Basically alluding to the fact that humans need a little cosmic interference once and I while. This is a fascinating concept. How else do you explain The Musical Linn Twins Rockin out the Blues? Surely extraterrestrial influence abounds on this absolutely insane 45.

I like to think that even though Lux isn’t on this world anymore, that he just may have graduated to being one of those entities in outer space. And if that’s the case, we can only hope that his touch will be shooting ideas into people’s heads for a very, very long time.

Addendumb: Please do yourself a favor and check out Chuck Miller's Cramps Blog. It truly is an amazing page of Cramps related stuff. Hours of fun is guaranteed!

http://suchbeautifulgardens.blogspot.com/

The Takers

2009-10-01T09:14:00.001-07:00

Here's in intersting 45 from Indiana in the 60's.

One side is a half way decent 60's garage jangler, but the b-side features a kick ass little instrumental with some great guitar work and some Nick Knox type drumming. To my knowlege neither of these songs have been comped.

Here they are.

I can Say no More

http://www.mediafire.com/?ntkvn1ltirz

Wondur

http://www.mediafire.com/?jewouazzzwz

"keep twistin'"

2009-09-23T13:28:00.001-07:00

Ok, I know I'm cheating a bit by posting this here, because I already posted it over at the WFMU Ichiban Blog (which you should totally be checking out, as it will "go live" any day now!), but here it is again, with a little bonus.

Years ago, I came across something called "the vip vop tapes". Tapes made by Lux Interior that featured all kinds of great tracks, some well known, and some damn near UNknown. One of the tracks was this P-A-T-I-O twist. Only half the track was really included (or so I thought, it ends up being a really short track), plus it was in less then steller quality.

For years I had been trying to find the PATIO TWIST. At one point, someone uncovered this 45 called the WAKR TWIST, and it was damn near the same song, but with slightly different lyrics!

Turns out it was a Pepsi Cola Promo 45!

As soon as I posted this people from all over were emailing me about the fact that the PATIO drink was featured on MAD MEN. I wouldn't know as I don't watch that show.

The funny thing is, that the people behind these 45's were probably from some ad agency that sold the jingle to various people all over the US. WAKR being a famous Ohio radio station. The Pepsi 45 coming from Missouri.

So, needless to say, the PATIO TWIST will be on the (far off) upcoming edition of Lux and Ivy's Favorites.

Here, for your listening enjoyment (?) are rips of both records.

WAKR TWIST

http://www.mediafire.com/?zozhdtckmzw

PATIO TWIST

http://www.mediafire.com/?kjidky5twaz

The Complete Voodoo Idols Bootleg

2009-09-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here is the complete recording that was used for the classic Cramps bootleg, Voodoo Idols. It's a great soundboard recording of a show The Cramps played at a place called Crazy Al's in Indianapolis in 1981.

Enjoy!

http://www.mediafire.com/?jxgdmm4hynt

2009-08-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

(preview) Cover of Lux and Ivy's Favorites Volume 6!

Here is the the absolutely stunning cover done by Michael DeForge for Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume 6. He contacted me and asked me to do a cover. I checked out his work and it blew me away. This is what he came up with in about 2 weeks time.

I’m still in the process of “remastering” that volume (getting better quality mp3’s). It should be available (with the actual cover…this is just a preview) in a few weeks or so.

Check out his website at:

http://www.kingtrash.com/

Thanks!

2009-08-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

KIPPER AND THE EXCITERS!

Here’s an amazing instrumental double hitter from KIPPER AND THE EXCITERS!

I think the A side was just compiled on the HIGH SCHOOL RUMBLE LP volume 3, but the b-side has never been re-ished to my knowledge.

I’m a huge Kip Tyler fan. Tyler was responsible from some truly amazing “switchblade sound” type tunes. I’m sure most everyone familiar with his killer songs, SHE’S MY WITCH and JUNGLE HOP, but you HAVE to track down songs like RUMBLE ROCK, and to a lesser extent, SHE GOT EYES and WAIL MAN WAIL.

I guess at some point he cut this 45 for the TORCH record label. He’s listed as producer and has “writing” credit. These are 2 phenomenal instrumentals that have that “Kip Tyler” sound.

For more info on Kip check out this website:

http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/kip_tyler.htm

Also be sure to check out a reissue cd of lots of his material called OOH, YEAH BABY on the Hydra label.

Drum Twist Part One

http://www.mediafire.com/?yjnjtztwqz2

Drum Twist Part Two

http://www.mediafire.com/?ndhwonyzggo

So have a listen and start twistin'.

2009-08-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

GHOULARDI!!!

Here’s a compilation I made a looooonnnnngggg time ago. I decided to dust it off and share it here. It is a cd I put together using songs Ghoulardi played on his show back in the 60’s.

The songs were culled from The Psychotronic Video Magazine, as well as the Ghoulardi book that came out back in ’97.

It’s hard to sum up Ghoulardi in a few sentences but here’s what you need to know. Ghoulardi was a character created by the brilliant voice over artist Ernie Anderson (ever heard the radio trailer for FROGS? That’s him!) back in the 60’s. He hosted a show called SHOCK THEATER on WJW in Cleveland that showed horror movies. Ghoulardi wore outrageous attire, spoke in a language that “parents just didn’t understand”, played crazy music and did little things like blow up action figures during the breaks from the movies. Movies included; THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL, THE BRAIN EATERS, and THE BRAIN FROM THE PLANET AROUS. Kids ate it up.

It was television, so anything could have happened. The execs at the station were terrified at what he might say or do on any given show. But since his ratings were so great, they kind of let him do his thing.

Lux Interior was quoted once as saying; “When Ghoulardi was on T.V. crime went down!” Presumably because all the J.D.’s stayed home to watch his show!

For more info on Ernie Anderson/Ghoulardi check out GHOULARDI: INSIDE CLEVELAND’S WILDEST RIDE by Tom Feran and R.D. Heldenfels.

I included a few sound samples of Ghoulardi doing his thing from back in the day. There were downloaded off of the internet at the time I made the cd.

“Cool it with the boom booms!”

http://www.mediafire.com/?qyhjtmt4zwm

2009-07-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

The Reverend Charlie Jackson

All right, back to the glorious 45!

This week’s 45 offering comes from the Reverend Charlie Jackson!

Back in 2003, Case Quarter issued a CD made up of the good Reverend’s recordings. It was a revelation. Blues fans, garage fans (crypt put out the vinyl, I think?), punk rockers…everyone was getting’ down to what the Reverend Charlie Jackson was slingin’. To me it was one of the releases of the year that year.

I had heard about Jackson through the Lux and Ivy Interview in the INCREDIBLY STRANGE MUSIC book. The way they described the song, “Wrapped up and Tangled Up in Jesus” made me want to hear the song immediately! I had to wait a few years till this cd hit the shelves.

Jackson was a blues man first, and at some point became a Reverend. He played crazy, dirty sounding guitar and used to play and sing during his sermons. At some point he started recording some of these songs to give to his parishioners.

The CD is called God's Got It: The Legendary Booker and Jackson Singles, and is higly recommended!

At some point, he formed his own label and started releasing his material.

Here are the 2 songs from his 45 released on his own JACKSON record label. Both of these songs have not be re-released in any form! One is a re-recording of Wrapped Up (although, its spelled “Wraped” Up!?).

Enjoy

And if they still have them, you can get your own copy of the 45 from the great website;

http://www.50milesofelbowroom.com/

Tell em, Kogar send you!

Wraped Up and Tangled Up in Jesus

http://www.mediafire.com/?zwgy3iwy0ni

Lord Your so Good (no spell check in the 70’s, I guess…)

http://www.mediafire.com/?tjg5jmmzghy

Also, I wanted to mention that Debbie D was awesome enough to invite me to join the new WFMU blog! I don’t think the site is “live” yet (you can certainly go there and check it out, you just can’t “add it” to your favorite “blogger” list of blogs).

My only post so far is a review and links to download the new bootleg of MILAN, aka The Leather Boy,’s re-issue LP; HELL BENT FOR LEATHER. A great collection of the work of Milan!

I will also be doing a DJ set for the page once I can figure out this whole “record your voice onto your computer” thing….

Check it out here:

http://wfmuichiban.blogspot.com/

Next Thursday, I’m heading up to Montreal for the WOOLY WEEKEND, so there may not be a Blog.

Thanks

Kogar

2009-07-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

Lux and Ivy's Favorites Volume 13

This is the first Lux and Ivy's Favorites to include artwork. I worked closely with a friend of mine to come up with some cool artwork that would fit in with the theme of the series.

At some point, all of the other volumes will have artwork as well.

This one was a tough one to put together. It just took a lot out of me for some reason. As time goes on, there are less and less L and I interviews, etc to take from.

You'll notice a bunch of "modern bands" this time around. An interview with Lux and Ivy from the 90's was posted online some point after Lux's passing. L and I mentioned some current bands that they liked. Of these bands (The Mummies, The Oblivians, The Gories, The Demolition Doll Rods, the 5.6.7.8's), I picked songs that I thought fit in (i.e. Queen Bee Drag Racin because of the car theme, Pinball party because of the Cramps riff lifted in the middle of the song, they mentioned The Mummies, who "covered Sonic's tunes!"). I didn't think it was too much of a stretch to include them on this edition.

Lux also said in effect, "The most Cramps influenced band he had heard in a long time was Guitar Wolf." He mentioned that the album they were working on was called "Planet of the Wolves", so I chose that song. Plus with the theme of the last volume being outer space, I thought it made a good continuation of that theme.

I also lifted bits from some of their favorite movies; The Devil on Wheels, and The Horror of Party Beach (Zombie Stomp).

The Devil on Wheels was interesting in that I read an interview with The Cramps that appeared in "the ancient knowledge" book and it mentioned "cassette tapes" in their hotel room and that one of them was the "soundtrack" of the film The Devil on Wheels. I searched for a while, but came up empty on an actual soundtrack. I don't think one was ever issued. What I DO think is that Lux recorded the whole movie (it's a slick 70 minutes or so) onto audiocassette and listened to it while driving around!

The last thing I want to mention is that for years people have been asking me about covers for this series. I was really hesitant to do anything, because I thought that it would lead to bootlegging. I am adamant about these cd's being as free as free can be. There is no fucking way anyone should be paying for these. Download them, copy them for friends, but please do not sell these cd's!

In the long run, I decided to take an active part in coming up with "official" covers for the series. So that's all these are. I hope you like what we come up with. There also might be a guest artist or two. Keep an eye out for them, and the re-mastered editions of some of the early volumes of LAIF right here.

Enjoy everybody!

http://www.mediafire.com/?3z5jwnnkgn4

Kogar the Swinging Ape

Cover concept by Kogar
Everything else by Adam Fitch 2009

2009-07-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

Songs we Taught Walter Daniels (The Jack O' Fire)

Geez, sorry about the lack of blogs lately. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks since getting back from Memphis.

Here is the last of the “songs we taught” comps I’ve made.

This “Songs we taught” is for the Jack O' Fire!

The Jack O’ Fire was a great band that released a bunch of stuff back in the early to mid 90’s. It featured Tim Kerr on guitar and Walter Daniels on harp and vocals.

Man, what a band. The basic principal of the band was to do fucked up blues cover songs. But going further than that, they would “blues-ify” punk rock classics. The sound they got on their recordings was fucking outstanding.

On certain albums you’d get covers of chuck berry right next to a version of a minutemen song! All done like fucked up blues tunes.

Amazing stuff. Track down their albums; BEWARE THE SOULESS COOL, FOREVER, and THE DESTRUCTION OF SQUARESVILLE …good listening is guaranteed!

So, this is a compilation I made of songs that the jack o’ fire covered.

Songs we taught Walter Daniels

http://www.mediafire.com/?yj2zjzj3n2a

2009-07-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

The Gories and The Oblivians Live in Paris!

A friend of mine recorded both sets by garage legends The Gories and The Oblivians last night. Here is the result.

I'm gonna let the music speak for itself on this one...

Thanks to Patrick for sharing these great recordings!

The Gories

http://www.mediafire.com/?n3l1nydqvyy

The Oblivians

http://www.mediafire.com/?ymgvh4bng0u

2009-07-02T08:15:00.000-07:00

Songs we Taught Billy Childish Volume One

Next to The Cramps, I think the artst who introduced me to the most interesting stuff is Billy Childish. On his 100 or so releases he's covered, copped, outright stole some fantastic songs. I think I made this "songs we taught" compilation right after The Mummies one. I think I jokingly called this one "volume one" because if you had the desire, or the time, you could make 50 volumes of songs Childish covered!

I never really got past this volume. But if you have a decent punk or 60's garage collection, you can make your own volume 2 pretty easily!

Here is SONGS WE TAUGHT BILLY CHILDISH VOLUME ONE!

http://www.mediafire.com/?nynfmyzyyyd

2009-06-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

Songs we Taught Jack, Eric and Greg (Oblivian)

Seeing The Oblivians for the first time since 95 was a total revelation. What a great fucking band.

Here is another volume of "songs we taught..." that I made after The Mummies volume. It was meant to be mostly centered around the Oblivians, but I stretched it out a bit by including songs from the Compulsive Gamblers, the Reigning Sound, etc. Some of the songs I think I grabbed from the liner notes of an Oblivians cd (BEST OF THE WORST). Others were from live bootlegs or songs from their albums.

Enjoy!

http://www.mediafire.com/?2fnzygnnhnl

2009-06-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

Songs we Taught The Mummies!

Wow, what a crazy rock and roll month it’s been!

Saw The Mummies, The Gories, and The Oblivians (all twice!) in the span of two weeks! Yow!

Here is the first “songs we taught….” Compilations I made back in the early 90’s. Obviously, the idea came from the original SONGS WE TAUGHT THE CRAMPS LP that came out in the mid 80’s. It was an LP of songs the Cramps had covered. Since that time, there has been ANOTHER series of compilation/bootlegs with the same name, as well as a series called BORN BAD with the same purpose; to expose songs The Cramps had covered and put them in a handy dandy format.

I just used that same idea and applied it to various other favorite bands of mine. The first one I tackled was THE MUMMIES. There’s a few missteps on the compilation (how the fuck could I make a comp of songs The Mummies covered and omit Don and the fucking Goodtimes?! Pretty much thee blue print for The Mummies as far as I'm concerned!), but I think it gets across what I was going for at the time. There are also a few too many versions of stronger than dirt on it, but what the hell, every version of that song rules!

Funny story about this compilation. I ran into one of the guys in the very Mummies-influenced band, THE BRIMSTONES and we got to talking about The Mummies. He said he been given a compilation of songs The Mummies had originally done from a friend of his in Europe somewhere. I was kind of shocked. I asked him to describe it to me, to tell me what songs were on it. He spoke of all the different versions of “dirt” on it. I told him that was the compilation I had made!

He pretty much didn’t believe me. But he must have gotten it from someone who downloaded it off of napster!

It was then (this was probably 2002?) that I realized that “home made” compilations were starting to really take off over the world due to downloading. ANYONE could take a subject, or theme and make their own compilations and have 100’s (perhaps 1000’s?) of people hear them!

Pretty crazy.

Here is SONGS WE TAUGHT THE MUMMIES

http://www.mediafire.com/?mmihaw1zgtm

Coming soon: Song we taught:
Jack, Eric and Greg (Oblivian)
Billy Childish

Walter Daniels (Jack O’ Fire)

2009-06-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

The Camelots

Here’s a little preview of the upcoming Lux and Ivy’s Favorites Volume Thirteen!

This is a great 45 by THE CAMELOTS. I’ve been looking for this song “charge” for YEARS.

I originally heard it on the VIP VOP TAPES (tapes Lux made back in the 70’s). The tapes had no track listing, so I’ve been slowly piecing them together over the years.

I stumbled across this one on ebay using the “hear it now feature” on an auction.

What a trip it was to accidentally stumble across it.

It’s a great 45. The b-side, SCRATCH, is a total winner too!

CHARGE!

http://www.mediafire.com/?vtjnnlzmzi2

SCRATCH!

http://www.mediafire.com/?qyiyykxjzqd

LAIF 13 should be done sometime soon. I'll post it here when its done.

There might not be a blog next week, as it’s going to be a crazy one…THE MUMMIES at maxwell’s this Tuesday!

kogar

Bo Diddley

2009-06-02T15:44:00.001-07:00

Shit, it's been a year since Bo died.

Here are 2 myspace comps that I made within a few weeks of his passing.

BO DID IT AGAIN -- a compilation of bands doing Bo covers or Bo styled songs. A take off of the BO DID IT LP.

http://www.mediafire.com/?zvnqlzngwgm

and

BO KNOWS INSTRO -- all instrumental Bo songs from his various albums. Bo did some amazing instrumentals. I tried to pick the ones that he definitely was involved with...

http://www.mediafire.com/?mryutymgjzv

Enjoy

2009-05-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

Kogar's Big Thrill-O-Rama Trash Show!

Here is a compilation I made for a local music board here in the New England area. It is the second in a series of compilations I have made that are a tribute to THE VIP VOP TAPES.
What are the Vip Vop Tapes? As legend has it, the VVT were a couple of tapes that were made by Lux Interior back in the late 70's for a friend to be played at parties, etc. They featured amazing instrumentals, R and B, garage, etc. Spliced between the songs, and sometimes IN the songs themselves, were amazing exploitation audio trailers.
It's a great listening experience, let me tell you. When I first heard them, it really sent me into collector overload. I wanted to identify all these tracks! The VVT had no track listing, making it pretty hard to identify certain songs (mostly instrumentals). Identifying those tracks has become a life long obsession. All the song I've identified have been comped on my series LUX AND IVY'S FAVORITES (I'll post those later at some point).
The two comps I've made as a tribute to the series (originally called NIM BOP COMP) both start with a track from the VVT as a starting point. I tried to pick songs that were in the spirit of those original tapes.
Besides being a part of the NOISE BOARD cd-trade this comp was originally made available on my Myspace page.

http://www.mediafire.com/?zcne2ydfkem

2009-05-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

So this is kind of what I'm talking about.

Here's a 45 by LOUIE AND THE FAT MEN. Originally, I stumbled across this 45 on a website of a guy selling stuff. It had a 20 second sound clip to go along with it. Those 20 seconds blew my mind!

How had this song never been comped before?! It's a KILLER Las Vegas Grind style "bump 'n' grind-er"!

Here's the full song.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mzjzzxzjynm

Introductory Post

2009-05-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

For years now I've done a blog on my Myspace page. Well, I guess not every body "does" Myspace, so I always get emails saying; "how come you only do this on myspace?!" yadda yadda.

So, since recently discovering THE HOUND's blog page (and the new NORTON RECORDS blog) I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon (not that this blog will be anywhere near as mindblowing as those two) of "blogging".

So over the weeks and months to come I'll post a various bunch of mp3 files for people to download without having to bother with that "pesky" Myspace.

What kind of stuff? Basically various 45's that I find interesting, cd-r compilations that I've made over the years, or anything else that strikes my fancy.

Kogar