said the ticktockman

>  who are the brain police ? <

"When I was a little kid, and I was going to East High in Cleveland - my dad had died in '49, and my mom and I were living there - I cut school one morning and I went to, I think it was Halle Brothers, down in the public terminal, the Cleveland Terminal Tower. And John Steinbeck was on tour, and he was speaking... and I couldn't get through the crowd... 
it was deep... 

Because there stood John Steinbeck, who was an ex-prizefighter - I mean, he looked like a fire plug! He was a tough guy. He worked like I had worked! I had ridden on boxcars, worked on demolition teams, and driving truck, and crops, and all that shit. But I was a little skinny squirt of a thing."

A failing Harlan Ellison muses on the nature of epiphany - sometime during the 1950s, underneath the observation deck of the watchtower - in a 90 minute interview from his California home, September 2010.

As I remarked, in a reply to a comment in an earlier post:

The smoke has always been as much out as in the bottle. Too much volatility. The cork won't settle.

"The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailors, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones..."

- Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" (1849) as reprinted in the preface to "Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman", 'Galaxy' magazine, winner of the Nebula Award, Best Short Story, 1965.

"...the end will take care of itself."

- Harlan Ellison, "Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman", 1965.


This reading, reissued on The Harlan Ellison Recording Collection, in 1981, is long out of print. Paired with a reading of "Shatterday", written in 1975, both sides to the original Alternative World Recordings imprint - AWR 6922 - can be sourced on Digital Meltd0wn.

▼ HARLAN ELLISON: REPENT, HARLEQUIN! SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN from "Harlan! Harlan Ellison Reads Harlan Ellison" LP (Alternative World Recordings) 1976 (US)

MORE HARLAN ELLISON ON ISLETS OF LANGERHANS

off the hook

bev davis and barbarians, toronto, 1965.

"This photo was taken at the Ford Hotel in Toronto. The 2 clean cut young men were in a band called The Barbarians. The impossibly young woman is me. Geoffrey Morris, me and Bruce Benson... I just noticed the phone off the hook."

A re-up of a post from July 20th, 2008; a post that keeps gathering comments, most recently in the shape of this anonymous recollection of a louche teenage Victor Moulton, baiting the lines down by the pier:

"I knew Moulty when he went to Thompson Academy, a school in Boston Harbor, which was a private school for "wayward" boys. He was KOOl, good looking and polite for a heroin junkie..."


Previously:

"Pre-dating The Seeds even, The Barbarians - formed in 1963 - were a proto-punk garage band straight out of Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The original line-up - consisting of Jeff Morris; Jerry Causi; Bruce Benson; and Victor "Moulty" Moulton - cut their first 45 in 1964 on tiny Massachusetts local imprint, Joy Records, a primitive British Invasion inspired number titled "Hey Little Bird".

Long haired and uniformly shod in jesus boots, the real star of the band was Moulty himself, their one-handed drummer (and vocalist on this, their most infamous single) who sported a hook as the result of a tragic childhood accident.

Following an appearance on Santa Monica's Teenage Music International show - sharing centre stage alongside a host of first division heavyweights including the Stones, James Brown, Chuck Berry, and the Beach Boys - the Barbarians were invited to record an album on Laurie; their predictably self-titled debut hit the racks in 1965. Although it featured the off-handedly cool (excuse the pun) "Are You A Boy, Or Are You a Girl ?", the LP itself is merely interesting.

The real jewel in their crown of thorns is the autobiographical, "Moulty", apparantly recorded during the album sessions as throwaway filler, but subsequently released as a 45 on Laurie in '66.

The song by all rights should just be a rudely executed tear-jerker - a garage junk fileaway - but no, this 'nugget' actually goes far enough to rival the Stooges for pure punk attitude and pulse quickening heart. And it didn't even make the album's final tracklist.

But wait, it gets way more interesting.


the hawks. laurie LR 3326. written by e. greenberg & d. morris:

The rest of the Barbarians don't even make an appearance. Recorded in New York City after all but Moulty packed up their equipment and fled back home, it transpires those musicians more than ably backing Victor Moulton are none other than The Hawks, or - to the still clueless - Bob Dylan's The Band. And none of the Barbarians - especially Moulty it would appear, ashamed to be seen milking his disability - wanted the song released in the first place. Producer, Doug Morris, however, could smell a hit when he heard one and went ahead and printed it up as a shiny new 45 regardless. Tempers frayed, the group soon walked.

The Barbarians bravely kept right at it, evolving into Black Pearl by 1968, but the real hero here is undoubtably Moulty and his righteous call to healing arms.

m-m-m-m-moulty ! don't turn away.

jackperson59: I'm still waiting for that pic you promised of your sister, her schoolfriends and Moulty posing in his parents' backyard. E-mail me and I'll gladly tag it on here.

▼ THE BARBARIANS: MOULTY from "Moulty b/w I'll Keep On Seeing You" 45 (Laurie) 1966 (US)

PREVIOUSLY ON SIBLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS

a word on anonymity

a•non•y•mous |əˌnɒnɪməs|
adjective
• having no outstanding, individual, or unusual features; unremarkable or impersonal : the anonymous black car waiting to take him to the airport | a faceless, anonymous group.

ORIGIN late 16th cent.: via late Latin from Greek anōnumos ‘nameless’ (from an- ‘without’ + onoma ‘name’ ) + -ous .

ass•hole |ˌɑːshəʊl|
noun vulgar slang
the anus.
• an irritating or contemptible person.

For anonymous. In part.

Have I gained myself a stalker ? Or just some sporadic nuisance in the form of an ugly rash ?

A brief report on yesterday's time management:

I have languished on our fold down sofa the better part of all day, alternately rolled out on my back or reclining on one elbow like some bedridden Roman despot.

Aside from making early morning coffees - and connecting, or disconnecting, cables on demand in one room or another - the sole exercise I have partaken in thus far has involved sneezing copiously into wadded tissues and barking like a sea lion.

In short, I am stricken by nothing more than a cold.

I was compelled to watch a little car crash tv. The X Factor has gone into 'Boot Camp' mode. This involved separating those contestants who have made it through the preliminary auditions into three adjoining rooms. There they sweated and tried to compose themselves while the committee gathered to deliver their verdict and enter stage left.

Sadly, somebody neglected to release the Zyklon B.

Featuring Armand Schaubroeck:

▼ CHURCHMICE: COLLEGE PSYCHOLOGY ON LOVE from "Babe, We Are Not Part Of Society b/w College Psychology On Love" 45 (House of Guitars) 1965 (US)

my friend on the raga

7N 15919.

Released on July 30th, 1965, the Davies brothers use of sitar here predates the release of The Beatles' "Rubber Soul" by several months. It has been alleged in some quarters that this superior Raymond Douglas Davies composition may in fact constitute the first popular release in the west to utilize Raga as a core motif.

From Wiki:

"Ray Davies has been heard to say the song is about the loss of his sister, who lived for a time in Ontario, Canada. Upon her return to England she developed a sickness and died while dancing at a night club. Just before she died he says she gave him his first guitar for his 13th birthday. Inspiration for the song came after a stopover in Bombay, where, finding himself jetlagged on a beach, Davies encountered two fishermen chanting on their way to their morning work. He wrote the song while traveling in India years later when he heard about the significance of the Ganges river in the Indian death ritual."


Interestingly, there are sufficient grounds to support the allegation that the appearance of "Friend" (singular) in the title is the result of a misprint on the single's original UK release. Kassner Music - which owns the publishing rights, apparently - officially lists the title as "See My Friends" (plural).

Misprint or not, I infinitely prefer the romantic introspection and polite air of mystery suggested by the former.

Produced by Shel Talmy.

▼ THE KINKS: SEE MY FRIEND from "See My Friend b/w Never Met A Girl Like You Before" 45 (PYE) 1965 (UK)

we sell soul

Vintage Roky b-side. Before he took the elevator right on up to the 13th floor.

▼ THE SPADES: WE SELL SOUL from "You're Gonna Miss Me b/w We Sell Soul" 45 (Zero Records) 1965 (US)

we do wie dü

'church' organist, larry clark gives it up for black monk time, 1966.

As I have intimated previously, I have procured tickets for consecutive nights of Mark E. Smith & The Fall's Glasgow bash, kicking off this evening on the Renfrew Ferry now permanently moored at Anderson Quay on the River Clyde. A location not ten minutes' furious pumping of feet from my hulking block of flats.

Last of the 'projects'. Lost of the Mohicans.

I have lived here for a decade now. We shuffle through yards of refuse jettisoned from windows with no fear of censure, let alone tonsure. Yesterday it was tentacles of imported squid - unthinkably exotic only a few years ago - today it is rudely hewn dreadlocks, a carpeting of scalps.
Up until the mid sixties, when Glasgow's Clyde Tunnel was first opened to traffic, the Renfrew Ferry was the only means of bridging the main artery of water separating Yoker on the North West and Renfrew on the South. Crucial if one found employment just an awkward stone's throw on the other side of town. Similar ferries had operated the same route since the 17th century as an effective means of trade, and long after the Tunnel began conveying road transport the Renfrew Ferry enjoyed sustained commercial success beyond its years; only ceasing operation in 1984 as a result of Glasgow's declining shipbuilding industry coupled with, ironically, a rise in private vehicle ownership.

In 1964, a little over a year in the Irish wake of the Kennedy assassination, for many Glaswegians a motor car was still an undreamt of luxury.

So. What the f@ck has all this got to with the Monks, you might ask ? Indulge me. A noted admirer of the Monks, five US ex-sevicemen who formed a garage band in post-war Germany, I was introduced to their shit via "Black Monk Theme" which made its appearance on The Fall's '90 opus, "Extricate".

Rosa and I will be on the ferry tonight*. Babysitters have been arranged. Drinks will be poured. Zen Master, I love that woman.

* MORE DRINKS POURED IN VAIN!! SEE COMMENTS FOR SHOCK CANCELLATION!

Gary Burger: guitar, lead vocals; Dave Day: electrified banjo, vocals;
Larry Clark: organ, vocals; Eddie Shaw: bass, vocals;
Roger Johnston: drums, vocals.

Produced by Jimmy Bowien. Recorded in Koln, Germany, November 1965.

▼ MONKS: I HATE YOU from "Black Monk Time" LP (Polydor) 1966 (US / Germany)

▼ MONKS: SHUT UP from "Black Monk Time" LP (Polydor) 1966 (US / Germany)

THE MONKS OFFICIAL WEBSITE
PURCHASE BLACK MONK TIME + BONUS TRACKS

club minutes: dealing with cancer

"What the fuck was that ?"

Ralph Hubert "Sonny" Barger, 1965.

Every time I see Oakland flash up on Feedjit, I start a little (Frank; if that's you, apologies). A hard-nosed businessman to the last, I'm not quite convinced Sonny Barger would approve of this choice cut, but I'm all out of Merle Haggard.

Still. If Harley-Davidson and (much older) Indian motorcycles were the officially ubiquitous oil-bleeding bad boys Stateside, Norton - alongside Triumph, naturally - was their very British counterpart.

▼ HASIL ADKINS: WE GOT A DATE from "Out To Hunch: West Virginia Recordings (1955-65)" LP (Norton) 1986 (US)

ORIGINAL ANGEL
SONNY BARGER OFFICIAL SITE

PURCHASE THE LEGENDARY OUT TO HUNCH

laugh at me (shindig)

"live": "shindig" (ABC TV), 11th August, 1965.

The real Bono.
Not that Irish imposter with
the crap sunglasses.

Atco 45-6369.
son of a gun

▼ SONNY BONO: LAUGH AT ME (OVERDUBBED VOCAL PERFORMANCE) from " Laugh At Me" 45 (Atco / ABC: "Live" on Shindig) 1965 (US)

sixty seconds to what ?

sarah palin and senator john mccain.

As to whether there is any substance to the allegation that Palin's designer broomstick is hand-crafted by Colombian orphans plucked off the streets in a fare trade deal, that is up to the American voting public to decide. What's $150,000 between good friends ?

The countdown to November 4th is underway.

That's just four days after she gets to make an incantation, and a little over a month before she escapes through a rift in time and travels back to 1980 - in drag - to blast away at Beatle John in a Creationist frenzy.

▼ ENNIO MORRICONE: LA RESA DEI CONTI from "A Fistful Of Dollars & For A Few Dollars More" LP (RCA Camden) 1970 (US)

PURCHASE A FISTFUL OF FILM MUSIC:
ENNIO MORRICONE ANTHOLOGY ON RHINO

el monstruo!

milwaukee's reginald 'the crusher' lisowski, 1926 - 2005.



los shain's.

No. That apostrophe is in the right place; do not write in with corrections, this is how the name appears on the original LP jacket.

Originally a hit for The Novas, and covered most famously by The Cramps on their IRS EP in 1981, this is from a Peruvian group of teenagers who released an album of Rock n' Roll & Garage staples on their Odeon release, "El Ritmo De Los Shain's" in 1965: LD-1483. Band leader, Geraldo Rojas, later went on to form a psychedelic collective with the delightful Beatles flavoured moniker, St. Thomas Pepper Smelter. Not surprisingly, original vinyl copies of this album regularly change hands at quite exorbitant prices.

Written by Bob Nolan & The Novas for the Parrot label, 1964.

If yesterday afternoon's post was hard-boiled pulp - with the accent on genuine disgust - then this is Abbott & Costello vs. The Munsters.

▼ LOS SHAIN'S: EL MONSTRUO from "El Ritmo De Los Shain's" LP (Odeon) 1965 (Peru)

PURCHASE EL RITMO DE LOS SHAIN'S (REPSYCHLED)

day tripper ticket #65

photograph by robert anderson, 1993.

Originally released in December, 1965. A riff so strong neither Jimi Hendrix or Otis Redding could resist it.

With the Beatles there was seldom such a thing as a b-side. BBC Radio 1 playlists determined "We Can Work It Out" should be the one to incite commuters on the run up to the inevitable Christmas office party and a thousand boozy fumbles next the franking machine. Who can argue ?

After their gruelling visit to Shea Stadium in August, things could only get more interesting in the studio.

▼ THE BEATLES: DAY TRIPPER from "Day Tripper b/w We Can Work It Out" 45 (Parlophone) 1965 (UK)

▼ THE BEATLES: WE CAN WORK IT OUT from "Day Tripper b/w We Can Work It Out" 45 (Parlophone) 1965 (UK)

PURCHASE 1962 - 1966 (THE RED ALBUM)

tony burrows: funny how love can be

photograph by joe rainaldi.

Tony Burrows is one of the great British session vocalists in the history of bubblegum pop.

Starting out in skiffle groups in the 1950s, he is better known as the voice behind the Flower Pot Men; Edison Lighthouse; White Plains; Pipkins; The First Class; and the abysmal Brotherhood Of Man, one-time winners of the Eurovision Song Contest.

And this group, The Ivy League, which would evolve into the Flower Pot Men by 1967 to cash-in on the Haight Ashbury experience with their global hit, "Let's Go To San Francisco".

Written by Birmingham friends, John Carter and Ken Lewis, this song has it all in spades. Genuine Working Men's Club talent from the days when there actually was such a thing.

▼ THE IVY LEAGUE: FUNNY HOW LOVE CAN BE from "Funny How Love Can Be b/w Lonely Room" 45 (Piccadilly) 1965 (UK)

PURCHASE ALL THE HITS PLUS MORE: TONY BURROWS
THE VOICE OF TONY BURROWS: EXCELLENT JAPANESE FAN SITE

jailbirds and yardbirds

DB 7706 .

A remarkable 45 from The Yardbirds with guitarist, Eric Clapton still on board, just prior to the recording of their massive hit, "For Your Love".

Produced by Giorgio Gomelsky. The a-side is a Graham Gouldman composition - later of the Hotlegs and 10CC - the flip-side is an equally great number by James McCarthy and S. Smith (Paul Samwell-Smith) of the original blues rock outfit.

▼ THE YARDBIRDS: EVIL HEARTED YOU from "Evil Hearted You b/w Still I'm Sad" 45 (EMI Columbia) 1965 (UK)

▼ THE YARDBIRDS: STILL I'M SAD from "Evil Hearted You b/w Still I'm Sad" 45 (EMI Columbia) 1965 (UK)

PURCHASE HAVING A RAVE UP WITH THE YARDBIRDS REMASTERED

the barbarians: moulty

not quite black leather barbarians, but barbarians nonetheless.



laurie LR 3326. written by e. greenberg & d. morris.

Pre-dating The Seeds even, The Barbarians - formed in 1963 - were a proto-punk garage band straight out of Provincetown, Massachusetts. Their original line-up - consisting of Jeff Morris; Jerry Causi; Bruce Benson; and Victor "Moulty" Moulton - cut their first 45 in 1964 on tiny Massachusetts local imprint, Joy Records, a primitive British Invasion inspired number titled "Hey Little Bird".

Long haired and uniformly shod in jesus boots as part of some half-hearted gimmick, the real star of the band was Moulty himself, their one-handed drummer (and vocalist on this, their most infamous single) who sported a hook as the result of a tragic childhood accident.

Following a well secured appearance in Santa Monica's Teenage Music International show - sharing centre stage alongside a host of first division heavyweights including the Stones, James Brown, Chuck Berry, and the Beach Boys - the Barbarians were invited to record an album on Laurie; their predictably self-titled debut hit the racks in 1965. Although it featured the off-handedly cool (excuse the pun) "Are You A Boy, Or Are You a Girl ?", the LP itself is merely interesting.

The real jewel in their crown of thorns is the autobiographical, "Moulty", apparantly recorded during the album sessions as throwaway filler, but subsequently released as a 45 on Laurie in '66. The song by all rights should just be a rudely executed tear-jerker - a garage junk fileaway - but no, this 'nugget' actually goes far enough to rival the Stooges for pure punk attitude and pulse quickening heart. And it didn't even make the album's final tracklist.

But wait, it gets way more interesting.



The rest of the Barbarians don't even make an appearance. Recorded
in New York City after all but Moulty packed up their equipment and
fled back home, it transpires those musicians more than ably backing Victor Moulton are none other than The Hawks, or - to the still clueless - Bob Dylan's The Band. And none of the Barbarians - especially Moulty it would appear, ashamed to be seen milking his disability - wanted the song released in the first place. Producer, Doug Morris, however, could smell a hit when he heard one and went ahead and printed it up as a shiny new 45 regardless. Tempers frayed, the group soon walked.

The Barbarians bravely kept right at it, evolving into Black Pearl by 1968, but the real hero here is undoubtably Moulty and his righteous call to arms.

Don't Turn Away.

▼ THE BARBARIANS: MOULTY from "Moulty" 45 (Laurie) 1966 (US)

SUNDAZED BARBARIANS

i go to sleep

imogen cunningham (1883 - 1976): the unmade bed, 1957.

Proof once more that sometimes the best songs recorded are those first fragmentary exercises in plucking substance out of the ether.

Better remembered as a 1981 hit for Chrissie Hynde - Davies' then wife - and The Pretenders, the original unreleased demo from sixteen years earlier leaves it completely in the shadow of his unmade bed.

Recorded around the time of "Kinda Kinks", this is possibly my all time favourite Raymond Davies composition.

▼ THE KINKS: I GO TO SLEEP (Bonus, Unreleased Demo) from "Kinda Kinks" CD Reissue (PYE/Castle) 1998 (UK)

REMASTERED, BONUS TRACKS

jimmy roselli

from Wiki:

"In 1991, The Wall Street Journal wrote a front page story about Jimmy and his career headlined "Fans of the other Hoboken singer say Sinatra is just Roselli's Salieri." Comparisons to Frank Sinatra are inevitable due to their similar backgrounds, Italian-Americans from Hoboken, NJ. Roselli is the crooner who was loved and loathed by the mob. They loved his songs, but were furious that they couldn't control him. Unlike Sinatra who embraced the mob, Jimmy Roselli refused their assistance (like fellow Italian American Jake La Motta, whose life story was captured on film by Martin Scorcese in "Raging Bull"). Indeed, Roselli was relegated to selling his music out of the trunk of his car parked in Little Italy in Manhattan."

The story goes that mob henchmen were dispatched on "Search & Destroy" missions throughout New Jersey and the boroughs of New York in order to prevent Neopolitan Jimmy Roselli's 45 releases from being aired on bar and club jukeboxes.

The offending vinyl was routinely removed and eliminated on the premises. Repeat malefactors had their jukebox summarily trashed with the aid of a baseball bat. Misspent quarters, I assume, were forfeit. The message was clear: only Sinatra could claim de facto profit from his Italian connections.



Apologies, siblings, for the atrocious quality of the sound. Either it was taken from a VHS copy of Mean Streets or an original from the trashcans round the back of a bar in down town Hoboken.

▼ JIMMY ROSELLI: MALAFEMMENA from "Malafemmena" 45 (M&R) 1965 (US)

BUY IT, IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU...