Records: buying more of them, writing about them, listening to them over and over again, listening to them once and then filing them, failing to file them, buying duplicates of them on different formats, buying duplicates of them on the same format without realizing it, knocking over piles of them.
Instruments to play: ukulele, 4-track, korg, cracklebox.
Here's a handy guide to help you tell apart the various bands I'm in right now: The Human Hairs (that's the one with Saul), Preggy Peggy & the Lazy Babymakers (that's the one with James), the Cloud Club (just me & my ukulele), Moshi Moshi I Am the Decider (with Dave & Polly & Vic), Goils Goils & Fripped (just me & my Korg), Exusamwa (with Doug, Nell & Neil), the Depressed Horns (with Goosewind by mail), the Sun Shine Sanitarium (with Shana). Wasn't so hard, was it? Stick around, cause there'll probably be another ten bands by this time next week.
I'd like to meet:
You, and this gent.
Comment, please.
Music:
Cliff Edwards, Ros Sereysothea, Helen Kane, Kim Fowley, SCG, BB5, Glenn Gould, Sinatra, Django, R.D. Burman, the great Jimmy Dodd, Morricone, Roy Smeck, Helen Merrill, Eddie Lang, Anita O'Day, Nerve Net Noise, Harm A. Drost, Jed Speare, Liquor Ball, Little Jimmy Scott, Jeff Leppard, Scott Walker, Sagittarius, Caroliner, Music Machine, Hellhammer, Stackwaddy, Caravelles, Henri Pousseur, Wolf Eyes & Inzane stylings & Hair Police & many related, Dick Raajmakers, Bruce Haack, Angry Samoans, Frankie Laine, Cap'n Beefheart, Sabbath, Phil Spector & an awful lotta girl group, Charlie Christian, Dino Desi & Billy, B.S. Pully, Glamorous Pat, Key Boys, Al Green, Dark Ducks, the freakin' O'Jays, The Surfers (the Hawaiian vocal band), Betty Davis, Four Freshmen, Sol Hoopi, Paperrad, Joseph Spence, Everly Brothers, Skullsnaps, Piccioni & Giombini & Bacalov & so on, Slim Galliard, Abruptum, We All Together, Lambert Hendricks & Ross, High Rise, Jandek, JPT Scare Band, Erkin Koray, Carnabeats, Screamin' Mee Mees, Father Yod, Lightning Bolt. I'm a big fan of children's records, anything with karate sound effects, nasal whining, kazoos/jew's harps, or bass harmonica. And how could I forget Vic Mizzy, Oum Kalthoum, Mel Henke, Flower Travelling Band, Johnny Preston, Dusty Fletcher, the Flamingos, Carmen Miranda, Ross Bagdasarian, the Noise Ramones, Cab Calloway, Metalux, and Farid El Atrache? Recent raves? Why they'd be Hans Grusel, Muhammad Ali, Mammal, Stickball, Irene "Granny" Ryan, 3/3, and Quentin E. Klopjaeger. Did I mention Shuggie Rodelle and his (Goddamn!) Imperial Imbiblio Rhythm Band? I'm also very partial to Cactus, Dion & the Belmonts, anything with chipmunk voices, DJs Whoo Kid & RC, Pete Rugolo, & Monoshock. And there's more, like Telegraph Avenue, Dale Hawkins, Merle Travis, Troupe Majidi, every single instant waxed by Los Mirlos, Tommy James & the Shondells, Leonardo Paniagua, & Mauricio Kagel. And yep, I still quickly pull out my long knives to defend my childhood faves Van Halen, the Doors, Hall & Oates, & especially the Eagles.
Movies:
Saturated technicolor: Willy Wonka, Holy Mountain, Pillow Talk, Sweet Movie, Apna Desh, Silk Stockings.
Monochrome: Two Lane Blacktop, Texas Chainsaw, Cannibal Holocaust.
Westerns: Once Upon a Time in the West, El Topo, Peace Hotel, Sabata, Ace High.
Epistemology: Wittgenstein, Memento.
Form follows function: Mr. Arkadin (long version), Hurlyburly.
Soundtrack killers: Baiju Bawra, Cat o' Nine Tails, One Night at Dinner.
More: Busby Berkley, the Swimmer, Man with the Golden Arm, Beast People video, For Your Height Only, Gol Maal.
Television:
Blinky's Fun Club, Uncle Floyd, 'El Kabong'.
It took me at least six months to think up any tv shows I liked that weren't aimed at small children. Mostly I'm too busy selling/pontificating about records. I do think Joe E. Ross from 'Car 54 Where Are You' is a really good singer though, don't you?
Books:
Tosches, Meltzer, Andy Earles, Coley, Bangs, Justin Farrar, Klosterman. Husserl's Crisis,
Plato's Theatetus, St. Thomas' Summa, Karl Rahner, Michael Polanyi. Outside of hefty phenomenology/Jesuit tomes & even heavier record reviews, I'm quite badly read. Do enjoy such usual suspects as Thomas Mann, Poe, Philip K. Dick, Lem, Ballard. Always had a soft spot for Thornton Wilder's 'The Bridge of San Luis Rey' (kinda the philosophy fan's answer to a Nick Drake record).
Heroes:
Steve Allen , Dennis Tyfus , Mike Rep , Henry Jacobs , Peter Cook
One of my favorite local bands, Moshi Moshi I Am the Decider:.. ..
