John Holt, the former front man of the rocksteady era Jamaican group The Paragons and the man who penned the classic The Tide is High (a later hit for Blondie) has a voice I just can’t get out of my head.
You may have heard his 1982 rasta chant Police in Helicoptor, but his earlier solo work is where it’s at.
John Holt-I’m the One to Blame Download Mgmt is a group outta Brooklyn and they’re opening for the Fiery Furnaces at the First Unitarian Church on Dec. 9. There’s not a clunker in the bunch on their new Oracular Spectacular LP, and this one stands out.
Mgmt-Time To Pretend Download
Ddog is always digging up old youtube videos of 80s acts. He’d never heard of Altered Images before this week. I actually still have this vinyl- it was one of my favorites from my high school days. I loved the way her voice is sampled when her vocals finally come in. It’s the first time I’d ever heard anything like it at the time.
Altered Images- I could be Happy from Pinky Blue LP 1982 download
Two years ago I picked up some Troegs Mad Elf. I bought an entire case because frankly, I had no choice- I live in the backwards state of Pennsylvania.
Anyway, I stashed a couple sixes in my crawspace, along with a six of my all-time FAVORITE beer, Stoudts Double IPA. I figured anything with an alcohol content above 8% should age and mellow a bit over the years.
I put up the tree this week and had frankly forgotten about the beer until I had to drag all the xmas ornaments out of the basement. I grabbed some of the beer and cracked one of the Troegs tonight.
I agree with most others’ opinions of the beer- it tastes a bit like cough syrup out of the gate but has definitely mellowed over the years. There’s still a prominent cherry flavor, but it’s not sickly sweet, and the 11% alcohol is still easily masked.
Coincidentally, Tom Ferrick and others compared six winter brews in the Food section of today’s Inquirer. They liked them all except one: You guessed it. Mad Elf. Gave it a D+ and called it a “dud”.
I think I’ll put the rest on craigslist.
Oh, the Stoudts? I actually asked Carol Stoudt herself what she thought of aging her double IPA. She agreed that it was a great idea and it improves over time. She’s right. If you think Stoudts IPA is good when fresh, you should taste it after it’s aged. Amazing.
Although I bit the bullet and bought a high def. tv over a year ago, I’ve continued to track LCD TV prices, waiting to see the day a ~40″ 1080p LCD dips under the $1k mark.
I’ve spotted a few TVs under a grand for a while now, but those TVs are mostly refurbished models, models without tuners, or models from cheaper manufacturers like Polaroid, Sceptre, Westinghouse, etc.
The historic day finally came just before black friday from dealnews.com, the best gadget price checker site online.
They reported that a 37″ JVC 1080p LCD could be had for $999.98 plus free shipping. Cool.
Coincidentally, a Sceptre 42″ 1080p could also be had on that same day for 899.99 (+$100 shipping).
Many people will disagree with me on this next statement, but my belief is that there are two types of tv brands: “high-end” and “low-end,” for lack of better terms.
High end brands include Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi, and Pioneer.
Low end brands include the aforementioned along with Acer, Olevia, and Vizio just to name a few.
Also keep in mind that each manufacturer makes a range of models and prices. I went for the lower-end Sony V2500 40″, which is pretty much the exact same panel as their higher-end Bravia XBR series. I talked my buddy into getting the 46″ set, and a friend at work bought the newer/replacement V3000 46″. All three of us couldn’t be happier with our sets. What did I pay for mine? I’m almost embarrassed to say. I was honestly one of the first 10 people in North America to own mine so I payed a premium. It was listed at $3,000 but I was able to price match and get it for $2,600. My buddy paid around $800 LESS for the larger panel just 1 year later. Now, on cyber Monday, it can be had from Circuit City for $1,100! (although the price went back up to $1,600 today. Sorry)
If you’ve been waiting to put a high definition TV in your house, you gotta dive in some time, and now’s the time.
Just don’t kick yourself when you see the same set for half price next year!
Tonight I’ll start off on a 1,600 mile hellride drive to Nashville and back. Luckily I have an iPod and the kids have a DVD player.
If you too will be driving somewhere for Thanksgiving or just sitting on a plane or standing in line at the airport, load up your music player of choice with some free gems:
Hailing from Lawrence, KS of all places. From D.R.I’s new LP Smoke Rings on Range Life Records. Finally someone on THIS side of the pond got that 50s doo-wap sound down pat.
D.R.I has one more chune available for download on her myspace page.
Dear Alice. Will you PLEASE visit the United States? I swear we won’t shoot you. You went all the way to Australia to record with the Bamboos… maybe you can bring them along with you? Pretty please?
My friend in Melbourne (also home to the funky Bamboos) told me she’d go see them this past Sunday. I told her she wouldn’t regret it. I haven’t heard back from her.
MP3: The Bamboos & Alice Russell- Step it Up from Rawville LP on Tru Thoughts Records Download
I can’t believe this soul songstress slipped under my radar all these years. I just picked up her self-titled LP along with her Money Recordings LP. Both phenominal. She does a lot of covers, but boy, I honestly like her versions better than some of the originals. Here’s her rendition of the Otis Redding classic:
Eek A Mouse enjoyed big popularity in the US in the 80s but hasn’t gotten much respect since then. That is, until Damian Marley used him to DJ on his fantastic Khaki Suit tune a couple years ago. Now he’s slowly appearing on a few riddims here and there, including this one from ‘06:
MP3: Eek A Mouse- She Come From Italy (on the Acqua riddim) Download
And finally, if you find yourself driving through Washington D.C., you’ve gotta have some Go Go music blasting. Honestly, I can’t figure out how this seriously funky genre never caught on elsewhere, but a quick search found it’s still going strong in DC. I think I first heard about it when 20/20 did a story on it in the early 80s(?). Can someone dig that up on youtube for me?
The Inquirer’s Dan DeLucareports that Austin Texas-based concert promoters C3 would like to stage a multi-day festival next August in Fairmount Park, presumably on Belmont Plateau. How freaking cool is that?
C3 is the outfit that resurrected Lollapalooza (of which I attended it’s very first year in ‘91 thank you very much).
If that makes you feel a bit uneasy, get this: They’re also the ones behind the amazing Austin City Limits, which my friend attended this past September along with 225,000 others.
Now, wouldn’t that be right up your alley?
The catch?
Philly’s own Electric Factory Concerts/Live Nation got wind of it, and original thinkers they are, want their own festival in the same park (and probably the same month) to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Natch. Bullies.
Listen Live Nation: If you fuck this up so help me God I’ll.., um. Damn! Something really cool might happen here and whattya bet Live Nation runs them out of town? And we’ll get stuck with another one of their cheesy, lame “fez-tivals”. The Daily News has more about it here.
I’d even settle for a smaller indiefests like Chicago and NYC enjoy regularly. To name just a few: The Vice Intonation Festival/Pitchfork Music Fest/Lollapalooza (all Chicago); Crown Point Festival/Green Apple Music Festival/New Yorker Festival/Siren Festival/CMJ(!) (all NYC). Or even little Austin which bosts both Austin City Limits AND the South by Southwest jawn.
All is not lost however.
Big boy bloggers Brooklyn Vegan and Philebrity report the second annual Philly Popped! Fest is already set to happen in June and The Roots are already signed up.
Sorry, but the above photo is NOT Belmont Plateau. Its the Sasquatch Music Festival in Washington. Sigh.
My little girl is following her Mommie’s footsteps. She’s taking her first dance classes at Koresh Dance Studio, the same place her Mommy danced for years.
Now honey, you can continue dancing, but promise Daddy one thing? You won’t get all crazy and bulimic like some of Mommies dancemates now, will you?
Yep. I’m still commuting to and from work twice a week. We’ll see how long it lasts in this cold. It takes a good part of the morning just rounding up all the damn clothing. Then I end up peeling most of it off after the first few miles.
This here is my baby. I’ve got a couple other nicer and newer bikes to ride, but I always end up on this one. Here’s her story:
She’s an early ’80s era Giant steel frame I got for 10 bucks back in ‘97(?) from the now gone swapmeet behind the Philadelphia Art Museum.
I slapped on components that I had laying around the house except for the forks (steel 650c Murray) and headset (Mavic). Been riding it hard ever since. I’ve been riding that same rear wheel since the mid 90s. It’s an old Weinmann with an odd concave profile, and even though the axle in it snapped in half twice (once most likely from carrying an 8 foot pressure treated 4×4 from the lumber yard), I’ve NEVER had to true it.
The first year of riding it hard as a messenger, I cracked the rear chainstay in half. I hobbled over the the Anvil Iron Works on Washington Ave. and they welded it for me on the spot for free. I expected to only get a few more miles out of her after that but she’s still running.
I finally got rid of the road brake levers and am loving the new single straight-bar lever. Can’t believe I waited this long to do that!
I’m sure it’s been done before but I’ve never seen it and it’s a great idea: I put a Chimay type beer bottle cork in the bar end (in my case, a Brooklyn Local 1). You never want to leave them open because my old buddy Two-Brims from Timecycle ripped an 8″ gash in his thigh from it once in a crash.
The other commuters I used to see riding from the burbs to the city are slowly falling off since the clock and weather change, but for the first time since I’ve been commuting I passed another bicyclist going my way. I think it was just a student here at my school coming back from Penn, but it’s a start!
The Roots are playing a FREE show at my school, but unfortunately it’s only open to students faculty and staff. I’m probably the only Philadelphian who’s never seen ‘em live yet, and I can’t make this show either (and you know how I hate to miss out on free stuff).
I’m gonna TRY to make the Sea Wolf show at the North Star on Saturday Nov. 3.
A huge thanks to The Underrated Blog for turning me on to this gem: A Shins Bluegrass tribute. I don’t know where it’s been hiding cuz it came out back in February (I swear I used to stay on top of things more). Classic.
