wo ist zu hause, mama ?

five feet high and rising.

Several years back a friend and I travelled by train to the funeral of an ex-work colleague who died suddenly at a nightspot in Glasgow. He was in his early twenties. A mere youngster.

By this juncture I was past 40 and counting.

It rained hard all the way there, and by the time we arrived at the small village where his family had arranged the funeral the streets were flooded and the route to the chapel was almost unnavigable. Every single road in and out of town was blocked off within the hour.

His death was untimely, but as a result of natural causes.

▼ JOHNNY CASH: WO IST ZU HAUSE, MAMA ? from "The Man In Black: The International Johnny Cash" CD (Bear Family) 2002 (US)

PURCHASE THE MAN IN BLACK: THE INTERNATIONAL JOHNNY CASH

sleep dirt #2

photograph by james joern.

A special vote of thanks to the mysterious Empire Hancock - Milhouse - for bringing this version of Zappa's "Sleep Dirt" to my attention.

From The Living Composers Project:

"(Françoise) Sarhan studied cello with Xavier Gagnepain at the Conservatoire National de Région de Boulogne-Billancourt from 1985-93 and aesthetics and music history with Brigitte François-Sappey at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris from 1992-94, where he later studied analysis with Alain Louvier from 1996-99 and composition with Guy Reibel from 1996-2000."

This, for me, is a bit like hearing Kronos Quartet's take on Television's "Marquee Moon" for the first time. Outstanding.

▼ FRANÇOISE SARHAN (WITH THE ROSAMONDE QUARTET): SLEEP DIRT from "Hell: A Small Detail" CD (Zig Zag Territories) 2007 (US)

PURCHASE HELL: A SMALL DETAIL

sibling whispers #7: les strokes

Switch the dial for a blistering set by The Strokes from 2002, at La Mutualité, Paris, France over on Art Decade. Posted by Mike. Complete with authentic accompanying franco-twittering to make you wish you were actually there. Nice.

butthole surfers

paging Mr. Hendrix...

If Matt from Minneapolis is still out there or happens to drop in again, I hope this qualifies as "more noise, please." I've added a link belatedly to the sidebar on SibLINGSHOT to your site Perceptions. Delusions but I'm out of Mountain Dew to welcome you back to pull up a chair. Apologies that it took me so long to look in on you, but this last week setting up here has sucked up more of my time than I guessed.

This one comes direct from Dallas, Texas ; so i'd like to say hello to Big B from AD while I'm at it.

The first behemoth of a track features Gibby Haynes ; Paul Leary ; Terence Smart ; King Coffey ; and Teresa Nervosa (very possibly). I can't believe it's 20 years already since this album first appeared. Their 4th, no less - co-produced by Ric Wallace - it was reissued on Latino Buggerveil in 1999.


▼ BUTTHOLE SURFERS: JIMI from "Hairway to Steven" LP/CD (Touch & Go) 1988 (US)

▼ BUTTHOLE SURFERS: I HATE MY JOB from "Humpty Dumpty LSD" (Latino Buggerveil) 2002 (US)

SURFING THE AMAZON

rockstar games: unaesta

life is a lentil.

Following a little "shooting the shit" with Emmett on SibLINGHOT's comments section regarding Eumir Deodato, I thought it might be apt to highlight how the video-gaming revolution has influenced music taste.

One title is particular, Rockstar NYC's "Grand Theft Auto" series, has done more in a few years to promote Latin Fusion to young white kids the world over than a shedload of BBC documentaries on the World Service. Rockstar is a development division of video game publisher Take-Two Interactive, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Didn't know that ? You do now.

My son almost overnight developed an appetite for old-timers Tito Puente and Machito y Sus Afro Cubanos based solely, I suspect, on his brief introductory exposure to riding the streets of a thinly disguised Miami with an uzi pointing out the side window just to keep an eye on the passing scenery. Oh, and he loved the decrepit cuban automobile design in Ubisoft Reflections Driver's downtown Havana too.

The great buzz with GTA is that you can tune the in-car radio to a station of your choice just like you CAN'T in real life ; the music is much more diverse and exciting than anything you might pick up normally on a run-of-the-mill FM channel. Soon his taste soared to embrace Bob James and Kenny Rogers & the First Edition. Fusion 45 recently highlighted the 1968 track "First Dropped In..." on his series on session drummer Hal Blaine. My pre-adolescent son first got to know this song by heart from playing Driver 2 a good few years back. Strange fare indeed for a young kid these days, and thrilling for me.

This song by Unaesta caused quite a stir when it was initially released on Grand Theft Auto III: Vice City a few years back. A lot of people scoured the internet looking to locate a bio on the group and to find the original of "La Vida Es Una Lenteja" which featured so prominently on Radio Espantoso in the game.

The title, it transpired, translates as "Life Is A Lentil". It was written by GTA producer Craig Connor and recorded specifically for Rockstar's release. Highly creative marketing, indeed.

My son and stepson badgered me incessantly at the time of the launch of the Playstation 3. Unfortunately, this event took place right before Christmas. How could Santa be so stingy ? they demanded. But you already have a Playstation 2, I replied. Yes, but you can't play GTA IV on a Playstation 2, the urchins snivelled.

The upshot of all this is that my son is now saving up to buy a new console himself. Whether he'll have enough to get one in time for this X-Mas coming is another story.

Life is a lentil, son.

▼ UNAESTA: LA VIDA ES UNA LENTEJA from "GTA vice city: vol. VII; radio espantoso" CD (Epic/Sony) 2002 (US)