Biking in Gotham

I had the chance to take my first bike ride in Manhattan this morning. How awesome!

My hotel had a Puma folding bike, pictured above, that was available for riding purposes. The bike itself was pretty cool. It is a single speed, kind of a cross between a large bmx and a mountain bike. Despite the lack of a downtube, the frame felt pretty stiff under my girth. I have never ridden a bike that has been equipped with disc brakes. The brakes were perfect for the Union Square streets.

I set off from 17th St and Union Square at about 5:55 this morning and headed west towards the Hudson and the bike path that follows it. The ride along 17th was OK, I only tried to catch onto one vehicle.

Towards the end of this western jaunt, I hit a very old stretch of street that was actually cobbles, and here the wide tires were a blessing. Up off the saddle and the disc brakes killed it.

Heading south towards the Battery, I saw the site that used to have the Twin Towers on it. That was a trip. Even the path was a bit out of sorts at this point. Eieree site, never forget and all that.

Continuing on south, I hit the Battery and looked off to the south and got a good sight line on both Ellis Island and The Statue. The path sort of petered out there and I headed east along Broad Street for a few blocks. Around the bottom of the island, I caught up again with the path/ boardwalk. Heading north now, I was between the FDR and The East River. A bit further, I passed Pier 16, where I caught the Devotchka show a few weeks back at the SchniederTent Theatre, a venue that I recommend highly.

I continued in a northerly direction, passing the Houston bridge, 10th St bridge, etc. At 17th (?) and Ave C, I was able to go under the FDR. I ended up in a project looking group of brown high rises, that looked like a perfect backdrop for a breakin' throw down back in the day, but are seeing more yuppified times now.

After spinning through there a bit, I caught 12th St and headed west until I hit 1st Ave where I headed north. Once at 17th, I headed west back to my start at 17th and Union Square.

It was one of the best rides of the summer so far. 55 minutes of prime rolling in Gotham.

Rockit Scientist Records-NYC

I had a long day at the office in Gotham, and my dinner plans changed.
So what to do? I decided to take a little hike a bit south and a bit east over to the new Disney Land that is The East Village.

As I ventured a bit, I came upon St Mark’s Place. In the back of my mind, I remembered that there was a record store that has been advertising in Ugly Things for 12 years or so. I could picture the ad, but could not remember the store.

On the south side of the street, I saw Kim’s Video, which is the most absolute sickest video store that I have ever seen. It has at least 2 levels, and to be honest, since I can only focus on one collecting addiction at a time, I just bypassed looking at all the video and DVDs, and went up straight to the back of the second floor to the vinyl section. I found a couple of things, but when I looked at the condition, missing the paper insert, general wear, etc, I could not pull the trigger on a few $6.99 records.

As I left Kim’s, the name of the record store came to mind—Rockit Scientist.

I went about another half block or so, and I saw Rockit on the north side of the street. It is a couple of steps down off the sidewalk. When, I walked in, I was taken aback. This is a place of musical nirvana. On the right side of the store there are racks from floor to ceiling, filled with cds that range from soul to funk to 60s garage, psych and cool music of all stripes. Along the left side of the store is the traditional record store raised counter of yore, featuring various record related ephemera and an older Technics turntable. Moving towards the back, past the basement stairs, there is a rack of LPs on the left and LPs on the right. Going up the walls and continuing onto the ceiling there are other records- mainly mid value 45s. The record explorer needs to be careful to not stub your toes on the budget LP crates that sit in front of the other racks.

I found a box of LPs titled, James Brown. Bingo. I looked through the box a bit and came up with a sealed copy of Sho is Funky Down Here priced at $9.99. The record is marked as all instrumental. “James Brown plays and directs the James Brown Band.” Done.

Frankly, I was a bit overwhelmed at the depth and breadth of the music on offer in this tiny store. I struck up a conversation with Robert (?) the proprietor. We discussed all manner of music and musicology. This guy knows his stuff and knew many of the old garage folks from whom I have purchased records, reissues, reviewed their releases, or even interviewed- Crypt Records, Norton Records, Mop Top Mike, etc. over the years.

I remembered something that I was interested in getting a copy of and asked for a recommendation of some Gil Scott Heron. I picked up an LP compilation of Gil Scott Heron called The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. I can’t wait to hear this one either.

I will definitely be back to visit.

Colonel's Back Again- Murray's Choice Mix

Yes, cratedigger's favorite guest, Colonel, is back with a vengeance with both an aggressive and trance inducing mix called Murray's Choice, fueled by the CDs full of dub and reggae that he sent me.

From his generous gift, I am still reaping the kind mix for you, dear reader.

This mix around, there is some reggae mixed in with the dub. Thematically as well as sonically, Murray's Choice spans many eras. Definitely pack the headphones, G.

Hopefully the sound will rattle your ipod/car doors/house/apartment, like it did the CDHQ.

Download The Colonel's Murray's Choice Mix



Murray's Choice Tracklist:

01 Dangerous Match One Scientist
02 Lamb's Bread Collie Jacob Miller
03 Natty Rebel Uroy
04 Universal Dub J-Boogie
05 Natural Roots Mad Professor
06 King Tubby Meets The Rockers Augustus Pablo
07 Soundclash Dub Syndicate
08 Cool Rockers Lee Scratch Perry
09 Extra Time Five Scientist
10 Dub Organiser Dillinger
11 It Dread Inna The Earth
12 Ecological Dub

Iowahawk's June 2007 video

My buddy Iowahawk has built quite a cool tradition of featuring monthly movies on his blog. The latest installment features hotrods of the friends of Iowahawk.

Remember, race fans, use your rubber!

Been a while... some tunes to tide youse over

I have been away from the Cratedigger homestead all of last week, with nary a chance for digging. In the meantime and in order to keep things interesting, here is a list of interesting mixes put out by other bloggers:

Vincent at Fufu Stew has a new mix called, Fufu Soul Soundcheck. Some great covers are on offer on his mix. Makes me wonder how he has the time to put together so many tough sets.

DJ Dubstrong at Disco Devil has a new dancehall dub mix that I have been listening to today called, Uptown Skank v. 2. He hails from Brasil, so much of the blog is in Portugeuse.

Phill Most Chill at That Real Schitt put out a digital version of his mix called 2001 Spaced Oddities from a few years back of some killer beats and breaks. Here is Side A. It is cool listening. I have much to learn, Grasshopper.

Heavy Soul Brutha Dave from Soul Brutha's Put The needle on the Record has the second installment of his series, Soulbrutha Meets Caplog V. 2 on Mod Radio UK. It is an internet radio show that repeats. Maybe he will post it soon... hint, hint.

Enjoy and support the players above. I am off to Gotham. Hopefully, I will be able to put something together on Friday or over the weekend.

Some hot and weird cars in Mundelein, IL

One of the summer rituals here in the Midwest is to get your car out to the cruise nights. My 66 is not really nice enough to take to one of these events, where lawn chairs and diet pepsi is the norm.

Anyway, I put some high priced high test into the Mustang and was on my way the 12 miles or so to the Mundelein IL Park on Park Cruise Night that occurs once a month during the summer.

This was a 35 Ford Truck that still had an old flathead in it. There was still some original Henry Ford pin striping under the rust and patina. The old guy that owned it was a bit squirrelly, when I spoke with him. I still liked it.
This Mini was pretty cool in British racing green. It might have too many decals and doo dads on it though.
This was a nice Yenko Camaro set up for the strip. I parked right next to it. It was really too nice to put on the strip.
This was an especially clean mid 30s Ford Cabriolet. 35/36? I am not sure but it was so clean that you could eat off of it.
This Camaro was also clean, the stripes on the sides of the car were a nice metal flake. A very nice paint job indeed.

The quote of the evening was, "I didn't realize that cars could be antiques." This was spoken by an 8 year old girl. Some of the people there could have been classified as antiques. I even saw a couple of Outlaws. (They are the ultimate rival bike club of the Hells Angels.)

Hats off to The Colonel-cratedigger guest selector...

A close friend of mine from the way back machine, chose to keep his life much closer to nature than I did after college.

His name is the Colonel. He spends much of his free time climbing mountains and slashing powder on the slopes in the western areas of our grand country.

For the soundtrack to his outdoor pursuits, he is a big reggae and dub fan. I received an unbelievable package in the snail mail from him last week containing a whole grip of cds filled with freaked out tunage.

In honor of this great gift, I have assembled a mix of some of the jamming tunes contained on a few of the cds. Call the Colonel a guest selector, if you will.

As I mentioned, the tracks below were grabbed from cds and NOT vinyl.

ENJOY! And Thanks Colonel.

Download The Colonel's Little Unique Mix



Tracklist

01 Dance of The Vampires Scientist
02 A Useful Version Prince Jammy & The Aggrovators
03 Prince Far-I Bedward Dub Syndicate
04 Alam Dub Bill Laswell & Jah Wobble
05 Dub In The Right Way Soul Syndicate
06 Rude Boy Dub Prince Jammy
07 Drifter Dub King Tubby
08 The Alien Aborts Roots Radics Band
09 Dreader Locks Lee Perry & Junor Byles
10 Kiwi Culture Mad Professor
11 Trinity Dub Massive Attack vs. Mad Professor

CAN

I have a passing interest in Krautrock, but I have to admit I know very little about the entire genre. When I have a chance, I have been taking recommendations from other music heads about their faves.

Using this approach, I have heard some Can, Faust, Gong and I happened across a burn of AR+Machines, which seems to be a Krautrock talisman of some repute, (and non reissued).

I also received via a trade, three full dvds of Krautrock. One of the bands that struck me with both their overt weirdness as well as their ability to rock was Can.

I happened upon a dvd full of live Can recently and this extreme hot weather has put me into an odd mood. Can seems to fit the bill for the 90 degrees and humidity here on the shores of Lake Michigan.

From some cursory internet research, Can was formed as a collective way back in 68. They had their own studio called Inner Space, which seems like a rather non sequitir as their soundscapes that I am hearing are more akin to spacerock, more like a more arty Hawkwind without the preachy scifi baggage of the Hawks. I can also hear elements of the more spacey areas of English artrock, eg. Eno, and possibly 801 without the Manzanera guitar pyrotechnics.

In 1970, Damo Suzuki was discovered on the street performing music and was quickly incorporated into the Can clan as their lead vocalist.

1971 was when Can started gaining some traction with the critics with their release Tago Mago. Ege Bamyasi was put out the next year and contained the track Spoon which oddly enough appears on two of the three of the dvds that I received. Spoon brought them acclaim in a wider arena as it was used as the theme for a film called Das Messer and was Can's first success charting wise.

listening to some of these extended jams, repetition seems to be the modus operandi for the freak factor.

Here is a link to CAN performing Improvisation for the BBC (the BEEB) in 1974. The limited info that I have on the track suggests that this track did not appear on the Peel Sessions CD.



Here is another download link, if the player ain't your bag.

CAN Improvisation

Chicago Critical Mass June 2007 p2

This video clip catches much of the flavor of June's ride.

The 1st part is more of a hosted webtv show discussing Critical Mass affairs.

Check it out.

if the glove don't fit...

If the glove don’t fit- a cratedigger compilation

01 Intro
02 Soul Searchers Funk To The Folks Sussex 517
03 Isley Brothers Don’t Give it Away T Neck 901
04 Dialog
05 Bobby Blue Bland Turn On Your Lovelight Duke 344
06 Clarence Carter Funky Fever Atlantic 2508
07 Dialog
08 Ike & Tina Turner Funkier Thank A Mosquita’s Tweeter Liberty 56216
09 Curley Moore Funky Yeah House of The Fox 1934
10 Dialog
11 Rufus Thomas Do The Double Bump Stax 236
12 Dennis Coffey Scorpio (rb edit) Sussex 226
13 James & Bobby Purify I’m Your Puppet Bell 648
14 James Brown Brother Rapp (pts 1&2) King 6310
15 Dialog
16 Fantastic Johnny C Boogaloo Down Broadway Phil LA of Soul 305
17 Sons of Slum Right On Stax 120 (mono)
18 Dialog
19 Kool & The Gang Funky Stuff Dee-Lite 557(mono)
20 Jimmy Castor Bunch Bertha Butt Boogie (pt 1) Atlantic 3232
21 Outro
22 Funkadelic Loose Booty Westbound 205 (promo)


all of the above tracks were captured from original 45s, gathered in various dusty midwestern locales. no ebay track diggin' whatsoever...

dialog comes from the aip motion picture "abby" starring carol speed and william marshall, which comes from a very old vhs transfer.

Please download if the glove don't fit...



D/L Link

Thanks to Fufu Stew, Fleamarket Funk, Funky 16 Corners, this is tomorrow, and Soul Brotha's Put the Needle in The Groove for inspiration.

Happy 4th. Be safe.

N.B. It appears that the divshare link above is AOK, but the zshare version of the file is shortened. I tried to reupload, but it continues to chop my file in half. There is a save option within Divshare. Sorry about the technical difficulties.

Chicago Critical Mass 062907

One of the best rides of my life?

Really, I went places in the City of Chicago, on a bike with roughly 800 of my closest friends, that I have never seen , much less traveled in a car or any other vehicle for that matter. But to be on a bike on a summer Friday night when the air temp was in the 60s- it couldn't have been more perfect.

Below is a picture of a mcdonald'$ on Cermak, under the American flag. I think the shot sums it all up- you have a ton of people on bikes, riding by a mcd'$ and a Coke sign above the tunnel. Riding up the Wild West Side, here is a shot that also captures the scenery and mood. Picture scenes such as this, replete with alternately Roger & The Gypsies and Curtis Mayfield blasting on the mobile bike soundsystems-loud. The residents, and the undercover police threw a lot of high signs and raise the roof gestures. They looked as if they were watching a procession of Martians. The shorty shaking it ten feet off the ground-safety be damned- was definitely feeling it.

I really have to give props to the mobile sound system DJ who was playing Chitown Homeboy #1, Mr. Mayfield. The scenery matched up with the anti-drug lyrical content perfectly. RIP Curtis.
This shot is just for looks, as I think it looks awesome. That tunnel on Damen on the South Side is like a block long, then there is a break and then it continues for another block. In a word, "Whoa!!!"

An Unexpected Invitation

I received a nice card in the mail a week or so back from my friends at Bentley! I cannot tell you why they may consider me a good candidate to purchase a $180K motorcar, but let's just say my interest was piqued. Let's face, my only car is a 66 Mustang in driver condition, seems a quite a leap of faith to hop into Continental GT Coupe territory.

Around the Chicago area, it appears that Bentley is raising its head above the typical market segment of private country club members and semi pro polo players.

So, what did I do, I made sure that Iowahawk was available and I called to RSVP. The very polite lady who answered the phone was gracious and said that we were welcome at any time on Friday and that we should come hungry as there would be both breakfast and lunch available. Load up on the canape supplies, dear Bentley dealer, because hungry bloggers are on the way.

Anyhoo, see a pic above of both Iowahawk and me sporting our hotrod costumes. So after getting a new oil pan and a new battery box installed on the 66, I was ready to rumble.

I fired up the Stang, enjoyed the fumes on unspent petrol and headed south the few miles a chez Iowahawk.

We came up with a plan that was predicated on the possibility that the Bentley folks may let us check out a Continental unsupervised, we speculated that this was maybe a 30% chance.
I will say that for $180K, The Continental Coupe GT is quite a looker. And it has the beans to back up the looks. It has 20 inch wheels, a six speed tiptronic style trans and 550 HP v12 and all wheel drive.
Here is a picture of the car that we were allowed to drive. The set up was very nice as they let us drive it for however long we wanted, but alas, there was a Bentley representative riding along. Donuts, neutral drops and attempts at four wheel powerslides were not in the cards for Iowahawk and rb that day.
Scary as this sounds, I think that the Continental GT Coupe may be worth $180K, I came away feeling that this motorcar had an unlimited powerband and that I was driving something in the level of safety of a bank vault.

I won't be able to attend...

Via The Stepfather of Soul blog, I saw this awesome poster for the Soul show this Saturday. $15?!? Get out there Chicago!

Sorry about the post avalanche, just a lot of stuff today.

Funky Shout Outs--Some Mixes to pass the week

Since I have a few minutes this morning, I wanted to give some shouts out to some other blogs that are doing the funky work, to make our weeks roll a bit more smoothly with good tunage:

First up, Vincent at Fufu Stew has a new mix called Fufu Funk Fix #2.

Next, this is tomorrow has a set up called 30 min funk workout mix #2.

Dave at heavy soul brutha has a set called Caplog Meets Soul Brutha Mod Radio UK Show.

All of these sets should put some more glide in your stride, support these blogs!

Two of Ford's Finest

A 66 289 Stang and a 31 Hot Rod Coupe.

Bakfietsen

I found this site, Clever Cycles in Portland, OR. They are offering Dutch work bikes that are known as Bakfietsen.

The rider sits behind the large bucket (that is perfect for carrying stuff and people) and the steering linkage goes under the bucket and turns the front wheel. There is even a fairing/roof available for the bucket that is perfect for all of the weather in Nederlands (and Portland).

The red gizmo in front of the pedals is called a Stoke Monkey and is a human powered motor that assists in pedalling, also offered from Clever Cycles. It runs off of the batteries on the back of the bike, which are charged by the human powering the bike-- not the Grid.

So in effect the bakfiet above is a human powered hybrid. Take that you Prius drivers!

I am thinking that braking would be a challenge even with disc brakes. Maybe a brake booster could be added like on those old heavy 50s cars with 4 drum brakes.

Here are some clips of them in action-- Crazy stuff.

Coop @ So-Cal Open House photos

No reason for this link other than Coop saw many more cool cars than I did today...
Check out his shots from the So-Cal Speed Shop Open House.

HOT.

Get well, soon, Mr. Coop.

Rough Guide to Dub

As I posted earlier, I have been gigging to more dub as of late. I got this disc a while back and the cratedigger reference system has been jiggling the mortar loose from the cratedigger crib ever since.

The second track Satia, Keith Hudson meets King Tubby (pictured above with the BKLounge crown) is a prime example of shaking everything I own at this point in time.

The groove in Conquering Dub credited to Yabba U & King Tubby, is tight, basic reverbed horn charts over a tight bass and some sick reverbed organ that never seems to decay. When the lead becomes the chink a chink guitar into the organ into the horn chart, you miss the bass, then it drops. Almost a relief, then the echoed organ comes into play. This is the stuff. Find an MP3 below, kind reader.

Le Roi Tuby is apparently a big fan of sound effects as well. Thunder and gunshots predominate such as on track 5.

sometimes the cymbals get the treatment and will mess with your noggin opposite the flute in track 8, Satta Dread Dub by Aggravators. "Let us repatriate" "Zion yeaaaaah, repatriate...." into reverb space.

What gets me in these productions is the trebly guitar riffs that reverb off into space... Then other sound elements are dropping in, just like the cut n paste computer culture that followed many of these sounds by a couple of decades in the 90s.

Many of these tracks are pretty short in my mind for dub tracks, methinks that this collection is an excellent way to get one's feet wet for all that is dub. Could they be edits? I am too ignorant of the genre to know, but I dig groovin' to this collection. Dig it!

Downbeat the Ruler

As it has been extremely nice weather wise around these parts, I have found myself hitting the reggae, dub and instro sounds a bit more than I have in more than in a few years.

Along these lines, I found the CD pictured above and available here.

While I shudder to think that anyone could ever use music as background music, (kind of like hanging a painting that an artist labored on over a toilet) this CD is a perfect SDTRK to working or perhaps cooking a gourmet meal of spicy beans and potatoes.


I am sure that everyone knows the deal with Coxsone Dodd, his sound system and Studio One, ground zero for all that is Reggae. I will be brief. Mr. Dodd used to come to America to search (dig) for R&B to spin on his system, with the ensuing wave of Rock and or Roll, Mr. Dodd needed to create some original music for use on his system.

He started a label in 1959, and in 63 set up a recording studio. The rest is history.

Here is a track from the CD, do yourself a favor and get a copy of this one.

Real Rock by Sound Dimension

Cool Blogs- FuFu Stew and The Snack Bar

Vincent has a couple of cool blogs here:

Fufu Stew

The Snack Bar

I came across his stuff via some other blogs, what strikes me about Vincent is that he has a variety of tastes and is not afraid to stretch out a bit and discuss (and mix) different styles and genres of music. He is a prolific poster of mixes, so take a look and LISTEN.

He recently posted a Meters live set excerpt from Bonaroo from a couple of years back.

Check these sites out, you will not be disappointed.

My garage find Advent loudspeakers

As I was perusing a garage sales in my area, I came across a sale in nice neighborhood, where I have made some decent scores in the past.

I overlooked the boxes of plastic coat hangers and the ugly (but clean) cookie jars and travel bags, when I hit upon the sight of these orphaned Advent mini speakers.

They have real hardwood (not veneer) tops and bottoms, so while they are about 12 inches tall, they have some sort of heft to them. They were made in Schiller Park, IL I am guessing in the late 70s or early 80s by American Jensen.

The man of the house said that they both worked...

I inquired as to the price and they were $1. I asked if that was for the pair and the lady said, "No, for each speaker." I handed over the $2 and hopped in the car.

When I got home, I pulled an old receiver out of the basement, along with an old Technics cd player from the early 90s, and hooked up the "system" for backyard chore enjoyment on the deck.

The Coltrane that was played at dinner, sounded surprisingly clean and Mr. Coltrane's sax seemed to penetrate the neighborhood. The Funky 16 Corners and Fleamarket Funk comps sounded cool as well. The rumble from these old soul comps shook the timbers of my deck.

These Advents would make excellent computer speakers, or non powered studio monitors.

Damn This Blog is Cool- Voodoo Funk

I came across this blog and it really makes mine look lame. Frank is a digger of records, but he is not combing through record fairs, garage sales or ePay...

He is in West Africa hunting for funky African discs. Frank has also posted some MP3 mixes, and I am starting to check them out. Above you can see some of the pic sleeves that he has amassed. I need to start reading this one from the beginning.

Spooky Tooth Sunshine Help Me

I came across this track on the Mod Chicago related site, Our Way of Thinking.

I think that this incarnation of Mod Chicago will be the 4th one that I have attended, and every one has been a highlight of my year.

The Leslie cabinet shimmering at the beginning over the tomtom taps is tops, along with the freakbeat searing guitar lead going into the vocal at the beginning. Ace.

"Crazy dreams and mindblowing schemes," I am a sucker for songs that have a build like this. The harpsichord interlude with the choral vocals is not bad either.

Kind of makes my ears think of a Fleur de Lys type sound with a healthy helping of Rupert's People Hammond thrown in for good measure.

Sunshine Help Me was their debut 45 and this track appeared on their 1968 LP, It's All About (Island ILPS 9080). It was also released as Tobacco Road here in the USofA due to the fact that the LP contained this song and it was a live staple for them.

It seems that they drifted off into prog territory with their 2 ensuing LPs, so I am not sure that I am interested in learning more about that era of their career.

Doing some quick research says that ST shared a producer with Steve Winwood's Traffic, Jimmy Miller, so some listeners detect some audio similarity between the bands.

I can't say that I can recall hearing any other Spooky Tooth tracks. They have reunited here is their site.

United Travel Service Gypsy Eyes

I came across this track on the recent compilation that was distroed on GaragePunk Forums called Extra Terrestrial Sojourn #2. Garagebeatnik, made a nice sounding comp. You are in his listening room, feeling the needle drop on each disc.

I know nothing about this except, this catalog number Ridon 860. An online resource dates this 45 to 68. "Gypsy Eyes" looks to be previously uncomped as well.

Please find a button below to hear or d/l a 160kbps file.

The start with the jangle punctuated by the bass drum kick is quite cool. I like story songs from this point in time, like Fortune Teller. "Those eyes... sharp as a knife."

The guitar break is brief, swirling and distorted, but keeps breaking under the vocal.

I think that you will dig it. A moody track for a rainy day in Chicago.

Tinnitus Mix Link

Here it is at long last, a mix posted in MP3 format. I viewed the excellent Flea Market Funk blog and used some of his ideas to post this. I took all of the records that I used for my CDR comp and then mixed them via the excellent shareware program, djay. This was mixed live on my macbook. I would love to hear some commentary on both the mix as well as the hosting service.

Here is the playlist:

01 Jimmy Castor Bunch Troglodyte (Cave Man) RCA 48-1029
02 Archie Bell & The Drells Tighten Up Atlantic 45-2478
03 Bobby Blue Bland Gotta Get To Know You Duke 447
04 Bob Seger & Last Heard Heavy Music I Cameo Parkway C-494
05 Dyke & The Blazers Funky Broadway Parts I&II Original Sound 64
06 George Semper Rhythm Committee It’s Your Thing Rama Rama 7799
07 James & Bobby Purity You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down Bell 660
08 James Brown Lowdown Popcorn King 45-6250
09 Funkadelic Music For My Mother Westbound 148
10 Jean Knight Mr. Big Stuff Stax STA-0088
11 Lavell Hardy Don’t Lose Your Groove Rojac 117
12 Jbs Gimme Some More People 602
13 R. Dean Taylor There’s A Ghost In My House Tamla 896 (Import)
14 Cliff Nobles & Co. Love Is All Right Phil LA of Soul 313
15 Ramrods Soultrain Rampage 1000
16 Aretha Franklin See Saw Atlantic 2574
17 Edwin Starr Stop The War Now Gordy 7104

iowahawk's coupe of justice

I had the pleasure of spending the other evening with Iowahawk at a swell BBQ session, and for dessert, I had the chance to see and take some shots of the recently completed Coupe of Justice. This is the coolest ride- a 31 coupe that has been modified in the Alexander Bros. vein.

The interior is a work of art, notice the glass shift knob. A Pontiac theme is carried throughout the vehicle, hence both the Poncho wheel and abbreviated dash.

The Poncho theme continues to the engine wherein a Pontiac V-8 dwells.

Notice the 3 mechanical Saaty fuel injectors, apparently these are late 50s vintage and are extremely rare.

Seeing this car only fed my need and desire to have a hot rod of my very own at some point. Especially after having the ride around the block, those injectors really scream.

Lee Perry Jamaican E.T.

I checked this more recent (from 2002) CD out from the library. I am not sure what I was expecting, but to listen to this set is disconcerting to say the least.

Scratch produced and composed all of the tracks, but a Black Ark production this is not. He does give a shout out via the track Message to Black Ark Studios.

The production is clean and buries the competent beats and grooves pretty far below Lee's vocals. He utilizes a technique of sorts throughout this set wherein he puts his voice is both left and right channels simultaneously. In effect he layers his vocals, spouting random stuff (as you would expect.)

The end result is that the listener gets a feel for what it is like to have voices in the listener's head. Well, Lee Scratch Perry's voice in the listener's head at least.

I fully realize that not every Scratch album can be Africa's Blood, but still this was pretty disappointing.

White Rabbit

This is a pretty bonus clip.

Using footage from Star Trek, the creator synched it to White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane.

The facial expressions on Leonard Nimoy are especially appropriate. The Shatner doesn't let the audience down, either.

From the land of der Fledermaus, a new 45 rack for the cratedigger shack

I am always on the lookout for good ways to store records. The cardboard boxes from Ikea and elsewhere are OK for long term storage, but what if you want to grab a couple of handfuls of discs to spin, and you don't just want to stack them on a table?

I saw this Pepsi crate calling my name at a garage sale. Each side of the partition is approximately 7.5 inches, so there is some give. My thought is to put a stack of 45s in either side of the crate, and still be able to flip among the discs to pick the next one to play. This set up should allow for browsing, an all too important aspect of spinning these old pieces of vinyl.

I spent about 3 minutes cleaning up the box a bit and then another ten minutes to cut some corrugated cardboard to line the bottom of the box. It turned out nice and is very sturdy. I think it may have been made in 73 based on some markings that I noticed while working on the box.

The Deutschland reference in my post title refers to the fact that the people that I bought the rack from were from Germany and were both very crabby and very inflexible with the garage sale pricing model. They had some records, but nothing even remotely decent, not Krautrock or James Last.

Quincy Punk Episode

I have not seen this since the reruns, 20 or so years back.

Klugman at his most classic as Quincy ME, looking for help in the punk scene to find a killer.

I remember writing about this in a zine 10 years or so ago, would love a dvd of the whole episode.

Tinnitus Cratedigger Mix

Finger licken', Chubb Rock.

Here is my first attempt at a funk and soul mix, it is called Tinnitus.

Here is the playlist:

01 Jimmy Castor Bunch Troglodyte (Cave Man) RCA 48-1029
02 Archie Bell & The Drells Tighten Up Atlantic 45-2478
03 Bobby Blue Bland Gotta Get To Know You Duke 447
04 Bob Seger & Last Heard Heavy Music I Cameo Parkway C-494
05 Dyke & The Blazers Funky Broadway Parts I&II Original Sound 64
06 George Semper Rhythm Committee It’s Your Thing Rama Rama 7799
07 James & Bobby Purity You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down Bell 660
08 James Brown Lowdown Popcorn King 45-6250
09 Funkadelic Music For My Mother Westbound 148
10 Jean Knight Mr. Big Stuff Stax STA-0088
11 Lavell Hardy Don’t Lose Your Groove Rojac 117
12 Jbs Gimme Some More People 602
13 R. Dean Taylor There’s A Ghost In My House Tamla 896 (Import)
14 Cliff Nobles & Co. Love Is All Right Phil LA of Soul 313
15 Ramrods Soultrain Rampage 1000
16 Aretha Franklin See Saw Atlantic 2574
17 Edwin Starr Stop The War Now Gordy 7104

The mix was made via collecting the 45s, none of which set me back more than $8 each, then tracking them on my Rega 3, and getting them into my MacBook and into GarageBand and then iTunes to burn to CDR.

If you would like a CDR copy, shoot me an email and we can set up a trade. In the meantime, I will work on getting a link for some flacs.

Funky 16 Corners New Orleans Box Set

Larry at the Funky 16 Corners has a new "box set" available for d/l. I have been reading his blog for a while. He knows his stuff when it comes to soul and funk. He also punctuates his informative posts with MP3s.

Drop by his blog, take a read and support his drive for soulfunkinformation distribution.

WENG WENG Mini James Bond kung fu dude

This is pretty intense.

Basically Weng Weng is a Phillipino Interpol cop that has a way with the ladies, and likes to live large on his pocket bike.

I am not a fan of the rap SDTRK, but the video is edited into some nice cuts.

Thanks to M. EJ for the link.

The Bachs Live @ Skokie Valley Jr. High 1967

Wow, a live tape from the Bachs just appeared in my post box. The fidelity is not really that bad considering all that is involved-40 year old tape, garage band, recording technology, and recording at a Jr High. There is hiss and the varying sound levels that would make an audiophile cringe. But hey, I survived through most of the original Pebbles comps.

I wrote about a cdr that I got of their only release Out of the Bachs... a while back, so along with this cdr, I think that you can get pretty much the complete Bachs story. These lads hailed from the Lake Bluff and Lake Forest towns (30 miles north of Chicago) in 66-67 and they attended Lake Forest High School.

There is very little overlap with the material @ Skokie and their LP. Although, they slyly slip You're Mine from the LP into Run for Your Life. The multiple part harmonies come through on this original. The cymbal bashing is epic.

The Bachs intro Fortune Teller as a new track by The Rolling Stones, on Got Live If You Want It. Cool. They also perform an original tune called Silhouetted Summer Dream that doesn't appear on Out of The...

They mine cover material pretty extensively. Live for Today uses their multiple voices pretty well, I think, even though I am not a big fan of the song. The Bachs kick out the jams on Stepping Stone, I can detect a boss guitar tone buried in the "mix." The level of sarcasm and angst in the vocal delivery is most excellent.

That's The Way It Goes takes the festivities in another direction. It starts in a moody mode and then erupts for a few bars of Bachs vocal fury, and then quiets it back down to moodiness. Then there is a guitar break that unfortunately is way down in the mix. The counter to this song is their take on Just Like Me, that shows signs of being a great version. It features a wiggly guitar break, but this song sounds more muffled than some of the others.

Their take on Satisfaction, appears to have the F word thrown in for good (bad?) measure. I wonder if the chaperone heard that?

I think that this tape allows the listener to step back in time to feel and hear what a "real" North Shore garage band sounded like back in 67, and recorded in a school as well. Quite authentic.

Donovan BBC Sessions 65-68

Got a dupe of this CD recently. Anyone that has perused this little blog has probably seen my posting related to Donovan Leitch. The tracks that are contained on this wee disc paint a much more folk shade over his work.

This set has OK sound, and includes intros from the late and GREAT John Peel. At times there is pretty heavy tape hiss, such as on the Mad John track. Just don't dig the strings added to this material.

A softer acoustic track like Turquoise seems to be the perfect accompaniment for the first cuppa black tea of the Sunday morning.

But his self penned blues, Bert's Blues might even be better. Elements of fairies and bright green lawns appear when hearing this down home mode. Just Donovan and a dude on bass.
"I been looking for a good girl, but it's taken time."

Hurdy Gurdy Man does not let the listener down. The vocal bridge has a cool special effect into the twinges on a sitar. Then the vocals sound as if they are double tracked. The fuzzed out break is tops, and the warbley vocals pitch a solid stance above the pummeling drums. The tone on that axe is stretched, while still having enough of a low end to not get lost. The intro interview to Hurdy Gurdy Man, Don says that he is tired. Then they let the tape roll of this live performance. I wonder if it is really live? Phenomenal.

Other songs sound too show tunish for me.

Mr. Leitch, when he hits, he hits large, when the strings become too prominent, my ears lose interest. I prefer the softer acoustic sound and of course when Donovan goes "eleckeral." I kept thinking, "What no Atlantis on the set?"

Maybe I am just a fair weather fan, but cherry picking his catalog is apparently what I like to do.

Standing in The Shadows of Motown

Finally the Funk Brothers get some recognition. It took me five years but I finally had a chance to see Standing in The Shadows of Motown.

What a great story.

As just about everyone knows at this point, The Funk Brothers were the musicians on all of the 60s Motown hits. The film takes an interesting tact as it intersperses live performances from the 00s (featuring contemporary vocalists) with interviews and still shots from back in the day a la Ken Burns.

One of the highlights was the brief segment that featured Dennis Coffey. He speaks a bit about the addition of wahwah and guitar effects to the Motown sound. He even cranks up his Vox pedal a bit. Is this where Ron Asheton got his hometown wahwah influence?

Seriously, this is a great use of your time, even if you are not the biggest Motown hit fan.

Djay 1.2 Very cool Download

I don't have much experience moving a fader between two turntables, but in working on a project I came upon the desire to be able to actually mix the tracks that I am playing with.

I did some searching and came up with this freeware piece called Djay 1.2. I have been playing with this shareware for a couple of days now and I am impressed.

The user selects a track from the list on the right (populated by iTunes) and places the track on one of the platters. The platter begins to spin and the track begins to play. You can also grab the record with the cursor to stall or even scratch the record if so inclined.

I have tried to do some beat matching, but I need a bit more practice. I was able to put two versions of Scorpio on the decks and extend the breaks for quite a long time. This is way easier than trying to accomplish the same thing with two copies of the vinyl record, some headphones and a mixer.

Damn impressive.

Critical Mass Chicago 04.27.07

OOO Wee, What do we have here? Looks like another installment of CCM Chicago. Below is an action shot, featuring the "art Bike" of the HiGuy on the left and various other riders. Note the vintage Raleigh a bit right of center.


Heading west along Wacker Drive with the river to the left, I was determined to follow the tunes on the trailer directly in front of me. A pretty impressive soundsystem, I may add, consisting of a car amp, and ipod and some vintage speaker cabinet that looked as if it could have been from an old jukebox. Loud and blaring JB (and possibly TooShort). Nice.

Here is a shot of a tall bike rider using a paddy wagon as an armrest. This shot helps to sum up the sights and sounds of this Mass. Pretty laid back, good turnout and from my perspective, few if any problems.

MAKE IT FUNKY 1/6 (sub jp)

Here you go for your viewing pleasure is the first installment of a 6 installment video called Make It Funky.

To get the context, it may be helpful to brush up on your Japanese.

Some great clips of JB et al.

NIMBY jet powered wheelchair

This is a bit old, hang on the wait is rather long until the payoff, but check the G Force here!

Earth Day 2007 Vinyl Finds

Well, I did something environmentally friendly yesterday for Earth Day, I rescued some old vinyl from the landfill. Recycle, Reuse, Repeat.

I made the venture to the Great White North on the warmest day of 2007, as it was 85 degrees and very sunny. Vestax portable in tow, the quest was funk, soul and garage 45s. The garage ones are hard to find. But I always manage to score a couple.

While I don't feel like sharing my source for these 45s, I will share a list and the prices paid. Despite the location, I feel that at least the first set of discs mentioned below were found "in the wild." While the conditions were great and the prices were low, it took a couple of hours digging through boxes of un sleeved 45s to turn them up.

Archie Bell and The Drells Tighten Up If you have ever heard a funk comp, you have heard this disc , solid. Part II is on the flip.
Jimmy Castor Bunch The Bertha Butt Boogie, He even name checks his other "hit" on this one- Troglodyte...
Jimmy and Booby Purity Wish You Didn't Have to Go, This seems an attempt to hit the gold that is their previous side I'll Be Your Puppet. The bass on this disc will not let you down.
Wilson Pickett Funky Broadway Dot ever think it is only about Midnight Hour with Mr. Pickett, this track is a solid winner.
Booker T & The MGs Green Onions
Michael & The Messengers Midnight Hour Solid garage R&B disc by these Chicago(?) lads, on USA records, home of both The Cherry Slush and Don't Wanna Cry by The Buckinghams.

All of the above records cost a total of US$1.25. The conditions range from VG to NM. Some solid cranking options.

Here are some more sides that I scored:

Bob Seger System The Last Song. I liked the flip Ivory better. Seger liked to drive the R&B. Not so much garage, and definitely not Like a Rock.
George Semper Rhythm Committee Its Your Thing This one is credited to the Isley Brothers. The other side sucks but this one is a sold funky number that also features a nice organ break.
Booker T & The MGs Time is Tight. Mint copy with the cool Stax snapping fingers sleeve. You can't go wrong with any of their stuff can you?
Bob Seger System Heavy Music (PT I & II) This is a driver, another reason to totally hate Mr. Silver Bullet. Found listed under "Non Chart Northern Soul." Um, wrong.

The above discs were US$8.00. I feel as I am finally starting to get my legs under me. I have bought only one CD in 2007. Finding awesome 45s feeds the audio jones and the CD Reference System prefers 45s. The low end doesn't even compare.

I heard some bottom feeders saying that it "was starting to dry up." And that they may need to head to Chicago to find more vinyl. Good luck with that. Even scratchy 45s are US$5 here.

heimatliche klaenge

Here is an incredible series that came across the virtual transom recently. Older readers may recognize the above image as being a scan of a cassette tape cover...

In fact this series (heimatliche klaenge) ran to six (!) volumes back in the late 80s when the series appeared. Thanks to the communication channel of the internet, now most of this cassette series is available for MP3 download.

Many of these songs were familar to me from comps (that were probably somewhat influenced by HK) such as Trans World Punk, Prae Kruat, Hide & Seek, et al.

I can't hear Chicago by the Phantom Brothers enough, though. They rock. Read about them in the latest Ugly Things.



Of course the monks are also in the house on v. 1 playing their uber beat opii Cuckoo and I Can't Get Over You.

Many other bands explore high energy rythm and beat. The Boots, and The Countdowns being noteable on side a of this "cassette release." The Countdowns do a song called Sex Maniac, and hearing their pronunciation of Sex maniac is worth a listen.

A great intro to Deutsche Beat, or a great continuing journey. Check the tracklist and leave a comment.

Download here.

M U S I C M A C H I N E

Dig Casey Kasem doing the intro to this Music Machine clip of the Eagle Never Hunts the Fly.

Great fuzz break and psych visual effects!

Totally boss with the morning Cheerios.

The Stooges Congress Theatre Chicago 4.15.07

DA AUM!

Jim Osterberg, (Igster) really defeats any preconceived notions about age. He is crazy, animated onstage, and he is at least 20 years older than me and he runs about and stagedives like someone in their early 20s.

I am still breathless after seeing the Stooges. Ron, Rock Action and "Minuteman" Mike Watt put on one of the best shows that I have ever seen. This is no nostalgia act.

I have to type a few words about the opener and featuring the knob twister for the latest Stooges CD, which I have yet to hear. Opening for the Stooges is like opening for James Brown. Not good. It seemed like M. Weston, on bass felt as much. M. Trainor on the small drum kit was hitting them quite hard and seemed like he wanted to perform for the hometown Shellac fans. As a whole there just wasn't enough oomph there for me. The handpuppet and questions from the audience went over like an inebriated Letterman.

Back to business, Iggy and the Stooges came out and started everything out with Loose. I was jumping up and down to the point that the rustic Thai food that I had feasted on an hour prior to the show was becoming a bit unruly in my stomach. To say that I was able to see Loose performed live by the originals (sans the late Dave Alexander, RIP) in a most convincing manner was unbelievable. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to see this!

Material was centered on the first LP, Funhouse and the new LP. I guess Raw Power is a sore point with Ron Asheton, I am just guessing here. For me Funhouse is the best followed by the self-titled LP, so leaving Raw Power out of the setlist was not a big deal.

TV Eye, was also performed after the lights went up and Iggy declared, "I can see you."

One of the more bizarre events of the evening was when at least 50 audience members jumped up onstage for Real Cool Time. I was standing next to a diminutive guard who could only shake his head at the spectacle.

The Congress Theater is an old joint from the 20s I am guessing. I don't think that I have been there since the 80s. Most alarming upon entry was the fact that they are using Portapotties as the toilets in this joint. All I could think of is that a regular payoff to city inspectors must occur to allow a venue without sufficient plumbing to stay open and sell beer to music fans. Quite odd even in a city that seems to embrace and celebrate the odd and crooked. It truly was a cool place to see The Stooges. The crowd seemed to support this as there were faces that I have not seen at a show in many years.

Music Machine Ultimate Turn On

Take your pick-- black or white or mono or stereo. Much like this quite essential 2 CD collection that came out on Big Beat last year. Their LP is featured in both flavors (mono vs stereo) on disc one of this set.

I have their 45s and an 80s or early 90s reissue of their LP Turn On, so I waited a while to track this one down.

I will say that Talk Talk, one of my top ten songs of all time does smack of fuzz and distortion in a glorious bath of noise on this digital version. A clean 45 would have the edge, but I digress as usual.

The guitar break is quite killer on their reading of The Beatles Tax Man. Nice crunch from the guitar behind the vocals. This mix does sound nice.

The Machine turns back into the noise with Masculine Intuition, that features tasty Vox organ and a tough bass pulse punctuated by distortion in the trebley register on the guitar. One of my fave codas with the bass drum isolated and pounding to the end.

They pull it back for The People in Me. Still a strong organ driven workout, just not as tough as Masculine.

Not a fan of their take on Hey Joe, methinks The Stillroven kill that song. Except that backgound fuzz wash towards the end of the track just nails it in my book.

The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly is a neccessary exploration into the deep and darkness. Great off time weirdness, screeching guitars, and general mayhem ensues. The vocal sounds especially tough over all of the Vox guitars and related distortion equipment. Check!

Disc two contains a ton of other stuff- demos, rehearsals, etc. I might dig into that a bit in the future.

I have never been a big fan of the selection of cover material for this LP, probably one of the reasons, that when I need a MM fix, I go digging in the crates. But the one two punch of Talk Talk and Trouble, on side one of Turn On, are hard to beat with any record, period. This is essential listening for anyone who even thinks they might like "garage" music.

Ads on Bikes in China

This is an odd pic that I just had to share. Cyclists in China get a monthly fee to run ads on their bikes. Nice ugly rolling billboards!

Read more here.

Lavell Hardy Don't Lose Your Groove

The mid bass and vocal proceed the great horn intro on this track. Then the mood comes down a bit. There is a solo warbley bass, with a soloed vocal over it. JBesque yelps also populate the track after this point. The tempo and the feel picks up...

Then there is a nice build into the break. The drums clatter for a few measures, then the horns come in after the mid bass. Much too short-- the song just ends. Hardy's vocal is just killing it, too. Repeat.

Women of the World, on the flip, is a song about you guessed it, women. Mr. Hardy doesn't appear to have a good track record. The vocal contains more lyrical content and the track appears to be more of a song as opposed to a band workout, like the other side of this disc. The horns are loud but a lot more buried in the mix. The bass appears to be in front of the vocs and the horns.

Jack Taylor produced and wrote both of the sides of this 45. Maybe he had bad luck with the females...

Found this record at the bottom of a pile of dusty wax. I paid a few bucks for it. I dig it, but I think I need to invest in a record cleaner. I think this disc could sound a bit better. I would like crank this one with the screen doors open.