What Kind Of A Man Reads Playboy?

When I started this blog I swore to myself it was going to be about looking forward – new concepts and trends in music, new technologies, etc. And definitely NO nostalgic nattering, droning on about how much better vinyl records are (though they ARE) or the “golden ages” of various styles of music. But we seem to be at a crossroads in today’s pop culture; I see many young up-and-coming bands taking a back-to-basics approach to production values and songcrafting, and the popularity of musical competitions on TV igniting a new interest in forgotten pop classics. New musical technologies are about making things simpler, to not impede the creative process. I remember this arc of the music cycle very well, because at the dawn of NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, I had just moved to Toronto, seeking a new start. Freshly fired from a BostonKansasStyxSupertramp cover band, I wanted to shed that glossy pop and re-invent myself.
So this post is going to be about how sometimes leaping ahead takes you to a place further back than you started from…
I got a job at Roblan’s Warehouse, the main distributor for Sam The Record Man, thinking about the networking possibilities, as well as how great the fit for my skillset. That didn’t matter- Sam wanted cheap, didn’t even care if you spoke english, most of my fellow bottom rung-ers were Chinese (If  you ever wondered why your special order from Sam’s was wrong….) My only stroke of luck was that I was hired just prior to summer holidays, and demonstrating a knowledge of records got me rotated through the various departments as a temp replacement. The first adventure was “the Returns Basement”…. (spoken in a contemptuous voice, implying a Stygian crypt of uncleanliness)
Surprise! Matt & Dave were very friendly, funny cats who had converted a dank cement basement into a colorful tribute to the history of vinyl. The walls were covered everywhere with all the records that featured the female form. Herb Alpert, Ray Conniff, Boots Randolph, Roxy Music, and hundreds of unknown lounge lizards who had discovered marketing rule number one;
(drum roll) SEX SELLS
But it wasn’t just the girls, these guys could discuss the relative merits of Acker Bilk and Ace Cannon, in the same breath as Killing Joke or Joy Division. I had never met such musical non-partisans before- they had a deep appreciation for ALL music, and could intelligently discuss the commonalities that linked Engelbert Humperdinck and Adam Ant, or the classical themes that appeared in both Beatles and Black Sabbath. They showed me that everything old is new again – one night we got invites to a record release party for Jack De Kyzer’s Rockabilly band “The Bop Cats” (The Stray Cats were currently no 1) and we wound up in the A&R guy’s office listening to the REAL stuff; Sonny Burgess, Vernon Taylor,et al.
(much, much later that night, after a few ‘shish bowls-full, he started pulling out all his ‘slush pile’ demo tapes. All the wanna-bes and earnest hopefuls that should have considered a career in comedy instead. Laughed until it hurt…)
That same week, Wayne Kramer’s Air Raid played at Larry’s Hideaway and blew the doors off with a heavy rock version of the Supreme’s  “Stop, In The Name Of Love”.  Saw tons of new/ modern bands too (Kinetic Ideals, Breeding Ground, L’Etranger, etc.), went to auditions seeking that SOUND no-one else was doing (paging Lorenzo St Dubois !), but the mirror had been shattered. In every Talking Heads song I heard Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66, in every Bauhaus lurked Ziggy Stardust. And when The B52’s “Rock Lobster” infected all of Toronto later that summer, all I could think was:
WHAT KIND OF A MAN READS PLAYBOY?

NASH the SLASH will RISE AGAIN

We lost someone very special in Canadian Music this week. Jeff Plewman, A.K.A. NASH THE SLASH died, taking with him a uniqueness that deserved far greater acclaim in today’s sterile Beiber-ized pop landscape.

He was a HUGE influence on me, showing that a solo electronic performer could do so much alone and still ROCK; he broke the barrier of using (at the time despised) Drum Machines, he’d create a textured sound with a few devices that could serve as a shimmering backdrop for his Violin and Mandolin virtuosity, and using simple costume, light effects and slide shows, created an eerie environment that transported you along with his otherworldly music. He started his own Independent record label, and built a successful multi-album career, totally without any Government grants!! Only person to ever release a vinyl album (“Decomposing” –so clever) that could be played at any speed (‘tho playing at 16 r.p.m. only suitable for acid hangovers)

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First saw him performing on NIGHTMUSIC, a 1970’s late-night TVOntario program that featured uniquely Canadian bands way WAY before MuchMusic. Alt-music fans of today have NO IDEA how special that was, in the days before remotes & 500 channel digital, sitting on the floor right up to the screen, with the sound down low so as not to ssssh! wake the family!!
In addition to playing with Cameron Hawkins as duo FM, NASH performed solo, musically interpreting the abstract art of his friends Rob Vanderhorst & Paul Till, and also doing a soundtrack to Salvador Dali’s 1928 film “Un Chien Andalou”
(also performed to special live screenings of that film at the ROXY theatre, and I still insist he originated performing live music to silent BW movies – he did “Metropolis” YEARS before QUEEN did) Through him and NIGHTMUSIC I discovered David Pritchard’s NOCTURNAL EARTHWORM STEW, a seminal Canadian electronica album, and another NIGHTMUSIC performer with SLASH . BTW; also saw Joe Hall & the Continental Drift on that show, another HUGELY under-appreciated Canadian act.

A friend of mine had the special treat of seeing him play violin in early prog-rock band BREATHLESS at the Canadian National Exhibition way back in the early 70’s. After he did a solo, he tossed his violin in the air and had it explode, presaging the pyrotechnic performances that would be his trademark, long before many other acts would get the actual credit for (CURVED AIR e.g.). Chainsawing his instruments, a skull-shaped electric mandolin that spewed blood, and his “Invisible Man” costume helped me turn even the most die-hard metalhead into a fan.
Saw him many times at THE EDGE, another lost Canadian Musical Heritage landmark. I convinced a date that his Valentine’s Day Show counted as “romantic”, but was left to enjoy the show alone when it turned out to be projected images of the Valentine’s Day Massacre– alas, she never talked to me again. Later on, I worked at Sam the Record Scam’s warehouse with his lyricist John a.k.a. “Toby Dammit” and came to know his brother, who owned a Classical record store in London, but never got to meet him personally.

I won’t say “rest in peace Nash”…. because if there were ever anyone that would come back from the hereafter to haunt us with his incredible music, IT. WILL. BE. HIM.!!

Get some grass in your jam

I was reading the other day a fascinating  article about “Earthing”, describing  the health benefits of exposing your bare feet to grass/nature at least once a day. The TARAHUMARA tribe in Mexico never wear shoes, and run constantly, sometimes days at a time. They are some of the healthiest people on Earth.

We spend all our lives these days insulated in our electronic cocoons, bathed in electromagnetic waves that have proven carcinogenic effects. I think we should make an effort to more attune our bodies with GAIA,  with  the natural magnetic fields of our planet, and today is the right day to start.

So ….GO OUTSIDE! Wiggle your toes in the grass!

How “social” IS the Social Media

I’m saddened this week by the death of yet another teen who could not do without the fake social interaction that Facebook peddles, even though bullies had turned it into a horrible experience.
Changing schools, addresses, phone numbers, etc. does no good if you constantly return to the root of the problem. In spite of Facebook’s much-vaunted “terms & policies”, these boys were allowed to post obviously objectionable material that should have been easily screened out, and their accounts terminated. Or is this negative publicity more useful to Facebook?
In this internet age people are addicted to the imaginary attention from these sites- pushing a “like” button is so much easier than picking up the telephone, or meeting someone, and it gives many sad individuals a “score” to wave around and further debase the concept of being a “friend”.

Magic Lantern Squeezebox

“Well, this is MY turn, I’ve jammed out my perm,
but it’s allright,
Let me be who I am, baby, KICK OUT THE JAMS!”

Andy Warhol’s Curse

“In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes”

Andy’s words were never interpreted as the threat they truly represented. Today we see the awful consequences of them – a narcissistic, oblivious popular culture that lifts banality onto a pedestal, while belittling and dismissing those with true ability. Video games that give the user a false sense of accomplishment, brainwashing them to believe they can instantly possess skills it takes years to acquire. Television programs that create a cult of personality around people whose only ‘talent’ is obnoxious behaviour, training viewers to accept lying, conniving, & gossip as desirable traits.

It is now considered a normal situation that talented performers can only achieve a brief, transitory fame by submitting to a degrading contest where they are pitted against other hopefuls,  harshly judged by vacuous has-beens,  only for the sake of getting the public to  ‘vote’ by 1-900-BLEED-ME-DRY phone. Why can’t their talent simply be presented for viewers to enjoy, instead of this disgusting roman circus?

The economic engine that once supported music by selling records to young people has been supplanted by ringtones and downloads, that deprive the artists, while enriching the multinational telecommunications industry. Vinyl records and CDs created jobs, and a physical commodity that could be held,  listened to , and APPRECIATED. Today’s stream of digital phantoms employs only computers, and can be programmed to vanish, leaving nothing behind.

“Reality Television is people who aren’t actors, saying things written by people who aren’t writers… it’s like an amateur production of nothing,  or a photo of a drawing of a hologram”~Dana Gould

Copyright law needs a digital-age upgrade

Digital Divide

from BOINGBOING;

Pamela Samuelson in the San Francisco Chronicle analyzes how important a total rethink of this issue is to everyone who downloads any type of media on their computers– it’s not just artists & musicians getting the shaft anymore ….

“We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are – that is the fact.” ~ Sartre

“I’d love to sell out completely. It’s just that nobody has been willing to buy.”
John Waters

“My mind is filling up with many voices it seems there’s a little more room @ but all of  these voices keep me from deciding, I can’t help from changing my tune @ I can remember when I had a conscience, it’s voice was dependent and pure @ but now I think that I might be indecisive but then again I’m really not sure…….I REALLY REALLY GOTTA DECIDE…..”

Jaymz Bee & the Look People

r.e.s.p.e.c.t & c.r.e.a.t.e

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." - Maya Angelou

“The nation that complacently and fearfully allows its artists and writers to become suspected rather than respected is no longer regarded as a nation possessed with humor or depth.”
James Thurber

FORWARD IN ALL DIRECTIONS!

If you develop an ear for sounds that are musical it is like developing an ego. You begin to refuse sounds that are not musical and that way cut yourself off from a good deal of experience.
– John Cage

Beneath the Valley of Chaos

“Everything in the universe is … is … is made of one element, which is a note, a single note. Atoms are really vibrations, you know, which are extensions of THE BIG NOTE … Everything’s one note. Everything….”

Spider in Very Distraughtening ~ Lumpy Gravy~Zappa

Spider: We are … actually the same note, but …
John: But different octave.
Spider: Right. We are 4,928 octaves below the big note.
Monica: Are ya … are you trying to tell me that … that this whole universe revolves around one note?
Spider: No, it doesn’t revolve around it; that’s what it is. It’s one note.
Spider: Everybody knows that lights are notes. Light, light, is just a vibration of the note, too. Everything is.
Monica: That one note makes everything else so insignificant.

A Different Octave ~ Civilization Phaze III~Zappa

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MoiHaHa Productions does keyboard session work, video soundtracks, demo recordings, post production, graphics, and more….

tbork Art is digital art prints, photography, and environmental art

MOIHAHA PRODUCTIONS

“Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.”
– Edith Sitwell