Monthly Archives: July 2009

The Belldog

Well it’s been a lazy, good for nothing Friday. No, not really. Been busy. Did some laundry, went to the library, smoked a cigar on the stoop. That’s basically it. So that means, since I have nothing to write about, it’s time for the iTunes shuffle.

The Belldog- Brian Eno & Cluster from the album After the Heat. A good song by one of my favorite people teaming up with 2 German guys named Moebius & Roedelius. The UK Music press labeled the genre, Krautrock. A nice meditative and mechanical song. Hard to find. I had a cheap vinyl copy and sometime ago I found a download which I promptly downloaded.

Sad But True- Orbital My favorite Orbital track. Probably a great club track but how would I know? I dislike clubbing. I got this disc (Snivelisation) from Rand & Lisa and played a few tracks for Bill last night. He loved it but couldn’t find it on iTunes. Since I had the disc available, he uploaded that and saved some dough.

My Mummy’s Dead- John Lennon from Lennon Legend. No editing the list here. This is the last track from John Lennon- Plastic Ono Band. Of course the title betrays what a downer it is. Only 1:16 long which is more than enough time to move onto the next track.

Oddly enough, following the Walrus comes,

Egg Man- The Beastie Boys, from Paul’s Boutique. Paul’s Boutique is the Beastie Boys 2nd album and a step forward from Licensed to Ill, produced by the Dust Brothers. Great use of Bernard Hermann’s Psycho strings at the end. The actual boutique, once located on the Lower East Side has been gone for years and the cover is now unrecognizable. Hope Adam Yauch recovers soon enough.

The Part You Throw Away- Tom Waits, from Blood Money. Got this and the companion CD, Alice, from the Arcata contingent a few years ago. It’s a great pair of records, but not something I play too often. Very downbeat, Germanic cabaret feel.

I Got You (I Feel Good)- James Brown, from Live at the Apollo Volume 2. 29 seconds long, a very fast version used as a bridge between songs. I would have loved to have seen this show in 1967, but I doubt if my parents would have been so keen on going to Harlem to satisfy the whims of a 5 year old. It’s definitely a phenomenal record.

Dreaming- Blondie, from Blondie’s Greatest Hits. Another great song. Clem Burke is a fantastic drummer on this, but then again he’s always a fantastic drummer. He used to pop up at McSwells from time to time, just to have a drink. He’s an acquaintance of Chaz’ I believe. One of my favorite Blondie songs.

Come Together/Dear Prudence/Cry Baby Cry [Transition]- The Beatles, from the Love album. A good mash up courtesy of Giles Martin, George Martin’s son. Seems like it’s been more than a week since I saw Paul McCartney last Friday with Bill, Anne & Earl, Julio & Stine, but it’s true. And this is another disc that Anne got me a few years ago.

Simmer Down- The Wailers from the Bob Marley- Songs of Freedom boxed set. I love the early songs of the Wailers. So young and fresh with the ska. Easy to see where the 2 Tone bands got some inspiration. Fun to sing along and dance to, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Pretzel Logic- Steely Dan, from the album of the same name. Another great song and one of my favorite Steely Dan songs. Where did you get those shoes? Now Becker & Fagen are on tour, playing all their hits. No money in record sales these days, so they’re on the road, one night devoted to the Royal Scam, another night for Aja etc. I’m not going, too much money.

Hey Hey- Neil Young, from his Greatest Hits. Neil’s response to Punk Rock which was basically over by the time this came out. And Johnny Rotten didn’t die. It was Sid. This is the heavy version, not the acoustic. It did get airplay on the late lamented WPIX-FM back in the day.

That’s about it. I know how much you all like the shuffle reports.

Don’t know if I’ll post tomorrow, I may be in Otisville, if Pedro ever calls back.

2-4-6-8 Motorway

Well today’s top story involves Hoboken.

Courtesy of the New York Times: In Hoboken, for example, prosecutors charge in their complaint, Mr. Cammarano eagerly agreed in a meeting at a diner (The Malibu) earlier this year to help the fake developer with his projects in exchange for cash.

Prosecutors said that when the man asked for assurances that his requests would be expedited by the Hoboken City Council, Mr. Cammarano replied, “I promise you,” adding, “You’re going to be, you’re going to be treated like a friend.”

The fake developer responded that he would give a middleman $5,000 in cash for Mr. Cammarano and another $5,000 after his election as mayor.

“O.K.,” Mr. Cammarano replied, according to the complaint. “Beautiful.”

And Mr. Cammarano expressed confidence that he would be elected no matter what, according to the complaint. “Right now, the Italians, the Hispanics, the seniors are locked down,” he is quoted as saying. “Nothing can change that now.”

“I could be, uh, indicted,” he continued, “and I’m still going to win 85 to 95 percent of those populations.”

cammarano
Mayor Peter Cammarano

Yeah Peter, whatever you say. You were sworn into office just last month, and now you’ve done a perp walk for the FBI. And it was reported earlier on the TV news that Cammarano received $25,000. $15,000 more than the mayor of Secaucus.

I didn’t vote for him and I certainly didn’t like him. The deals were done when Cammarano was a Councilman at Large, and he became Mayor in a very tight race. Cammarano represented the machine, Dawn Zimmer was the ‘outsider’.

I of course voted for the outsider. One or two friends who were born and raised in Hoboken stuck to Cammarano in the election, fearing that family members long entrenched in city government jobs would be laid off. Of course it was just a rumor, but perhaps effective in Cammarano’s win.

Other than that, I did go to Weehawken last night. Took the Light Rail and found no easy access to the show. The Revelations played a bit by themselves, sometimes sounding like Booker T & the MG’s and other times sounding like an anonymous quiet storm combo.

Kenny Lattimore who sang Let’s Straighten It Out in the 1970’s played with them and that’s when I lost interest. Well I was losing interest before Kenny Lattimore joined them, but I did find myself sitting there saying to myself, ‘Why bother?’

The download I got for free from either Popdose or JockoHomo was good. Not great. Well the instrumental was good. But they didn’t get to it when I was there, which hastened my departure.

I sat there and found that Weehawken people are definitely a different sort from their Hoboken neighbors. More subdued than Hoboken. I guess I was subdued when I lived in Weehawken for 11 years. It was my subdued period.

I walked back to Hoboken in an extroverted & exaggerated manner. Sort of like Robert Crumb’s Keep on Truckin’ poster.

keep_on_truckin

I went to work today and actually collected some animal husbandry magazines. And it looks like I just might be collecting some more bowling pins when Vivek is busy. His wife is having a baby and he anticipates being out of the office, plus he’s starting his new gig in August.

So I guess I will be in but I just don’t know where I’ll be sitting.