Lady Gaga vs. Madonna Video Showdown

I love me some kittens with a whip, so how much did I enjoy this short film by Lady Gaga to accompany her single "Telephone"?



Gaga and Beyonce wearing fabulous clothes. Gaga and Beyonce a dyke couple out to destroy. Please, take me with you Gaga and Beyonce! And while you're at it, Gaga, can I borrow your effin' gigantic hat?

Watching "Telephone" however, does bring to mind the Guy Ritchie directed Madonna video for "What It Feels Like For A Girl", a clip it seems unlikely to imagine Gaga never viewed before conceiving of her own tribute to violence in women, which was banned from MTV when it came out in 2001 for its violent nature.



Contemplating the pair side by side is a good bit of fun. Where "Telephone" is sexy, wild, and over the top, "What It Feels Like..." is far more calculated and downright scary. Lady Gaga may kill a bunch of people in a restaurant, but when Madonna starts victimizing the men that regularly victimize women (with her Granny in tow) she brings us to a place far more edgy and uncomfortable than Gaga is able to reach - and she does it with her pants on.

Regardless of which you like better though, both are awfully enjoyable. You know, if you would like to be a sexy lady outlaw.

Malcolm McClaren - Rock and Roll Swindler - Dead at 64

Sad to hear this news, read the NYTimes Obit here and the Daily Mail here. Both give different reports of his death and a different details about his life.

Apparently had Mesothelioma, the cancer that comes from asbestos exposure. Terrible way to die. I mean, "Buffalo Gals" was no masterpiece, but hardly deserving of such torture.



But seriously, he was a genius, and an inspiration for rock promo people everywhere. I doff my ex-band manager cap to him.

Heavy Metal Cookbook "Hellbent for Cooking" Effin Amazing!

I buy a lot of books that end up not delivering on their promise. For instance, "Bye Bye Baby" by Caroline Sullivan charts a woman's lifelong obsession with The Bay City Rollers, but after the 40th running into the band in a hotel it kind of got boring. The same goes for "I Was a Teenage Dominatrix", where author Shawna Kenney spends most of the book assuring us she's really a good girl, really! YAWN!

I guess I should be more discriminating when it comes to kickily named books, but old habits die hard, and thus my recent purchase of "Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook" by Annick Giroux.

Originally bought with the idea I would give it to a friend who loves Heavy Metal, and... well, cooking, after an in depth go over last night, I don't think I'm going to be able to part with it. Lifelong friendship is one thing, but do I really want to just give away this tome of home cookin' recipies by Anvil, Sepultura, and Uriah Heap? Cleverly, author Giroux has made the recipes so easy even the most simpleminded headbanger will find it within their grasp to whip up egg salad or a pizza from scratch, while more advanced metal connoisseurs might try their hand at making "black metal pie" (you paint a pentacle on the top in chocolate), Moroccan lamb, or even sweetbreads (that's cow brains, people and the recipe is by GWAR, who else?). Most importantly though, the part where one day you can look forward to hosting a dinner party with these foods and when asked about the dishes say "oh, I got the recipie from Thin Lizzy/Accept/Judas Priest..." alone justifies the cover price.

At last a book that delivered even more than it promised.

Now, to the kitchen!

Alex Zane interviews Avril Lavigne - who is as dumb as a post

So since returning from the Europe I have a new media crush, comedian Alex Zane. I discovered him doing his crueller than cruel spelling game on Balls of Steel, but when I got to his My Space page I was pleased to see he posted a video of himself interviewing tiresome Canadian kewl girl wannabe Avril Lavigne. Watching her dumbstruck confusion at Zane's offbeat questions is worth sitting through to the end. Hoo boy, who says you have to be bright to be famous?

PiL on US tour

Excellent reporting from CultureMob here on the impending PiL tour, which being old and rocking I feel compelled to attend, even though I don't recall being particularly impressed when I went to the Pistols reunion about 12 yrs ago, even though I got backstage. Cannot recall how or why this happened, only that Steve Jones was rather grumpy but Glen Matlock a dear. Mr. Lydon would not come out and meet and greet with us sadly, ah, rock and roll swindled again!

Oddly the show in Boston is some new club - Royale (looks like the space formerly known as The Roxy) - I can hardly wait for the first joke about a crappy show there being called a Royale with Cheese. Ooh, I'm gonna make that joke!

PS: What kind of on crack tour routing is this? That band is gonna be tired of driving in circles by the end.

The Dentists and The Claim at Dingwalls London - or what I did on my vacation

Rock never takes a holiday, or is it that even holidays in my mind must rock? So how convenient was it that while in London last week one of my very favorite bands of all time, The Dentists elected to reform for a pair of shows? Flying in from the US I felt I'd made quite the effort (only other Yank in attendance appeared to be fellow Dental fanatic the delightful Mr. Bob Wall), but probably not as much as Dentist vocalist Mick Murphy who'd come all the way from Kenya to reunite with his ex-bandmates for just a few frantic days of rehearsal before the big show.

Here's a compliment I never get to pay - Dingwalls is AN EXCELLENT CLUB. First off the sound system is great so you can actually hear the bands, rather than a lot of garble, second the floor of the venue is comprised of a bunch of terraces, so it's 15 feet - a step up - 15 feet - a step up - etc. so even a short gal like me can see from nearly everywhere. As for drink prices, if someone else is buying they are excellent as well. Dingwalls, will you please open a venue at the end of my block?

The Claim were on first, a band who I had never heard before but who I'd been assured by fellow aging indie-poppers was decidedly worth checking out. And since it had been about 20 yrs since they split up, well, what better time than now? The set felt a bit same-y, but to the (almost entirely male and 40 yrs +) fans in the venue (including Harvey from The Field Mice who is apparently the neighbor of the friend I attended the show with) the geezer pop enthusiasm was obscenely high and at regular intervals that excitement was entirely warranted, as below, with the sparkling version of "Do You Still Feel"



As for The Dentists, it would be hard to maintain much journalistic integrity due to my longtime devotion to the band. Safe to say the set covered all the bases. A good hour of songs covering many years of Dentistry, easily displaying why the band were leaders rather than followers when it came to heartfelt turn of the 90's neo-psychedelic jangle pop. A few things about the set did make me sad though: one was drummer Ian Smith missing the drum fill in "She Dazzled Me With Basil" (picky, picky, picky, aren't I?), the other was upon hearing tunes like "Weirdo", and "Space Man" realizing how much they totally rocked live, but hadn't been captured quite as strongly on CD. At least the video below can serve to stand witness to some of that.

















An excellent night out with these two reunited bands. Shame one has to buy a pricey airplane ticket to make the scene. How sad am I that I missed seeing The Undertones in London just a week later? It seems I'm going to have to take a lot more holidays....

Birds are the new Sonic Youth

Check out this clip of a film by French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, birds going about their daily business, and inadvertently rocking out.



This clip reminds me of my other favorite bird-band, Hatebeak - a death metal band which just happens to have a parrot lead singer. I think this pretty much cements the bond between birds and the rock. Other animals are really going to have to start working working harder to compete. Bears, squirrels, fish, I have my eye on you.

Beardyman - Edinburgh Festival

I don't understand how this man makes these noises with his mouth, I just want more

Best thing about the Who at the Super Bowl

The mod target cymbals on the drum kit played by Zak Starkey, Ringo's son. Also, that Zak Starkey looks like a lost drummer for Spinal Tap.



Some friends complained that Roger Daltrey looked old, hardly able to stomp around the stage, but hey, the guy is nearly 65, he's lucky he made it through the show at all. It was absurd to hear them going on about Teenage Wastelands, that is for sure. Thankfully they had the good sense not to indicate they hope they die before they get old.

Grandma Loves to Rock: Young At Heart

Last night on my local PBS station ran an indie documentary I'd meant to see a few years back "Young At Heart". The subject is a chorus of Northampton MA senior citizens who perform contemporary songs.

OK, sounds kind of boring, doesn't it?

But what if the songs these octogenarians are performing included hits by The Ramones, David Bowie, and Sonic Youth?

Oh yes, now you see my point.

The film paints an intriguing portrait of a throng of indomitable seniors and their driven chorus director Bob Cilman as they rehearse, sing for prison inmates, and contemplate their next European tour. And the songs? Well when was the last time you heard a pair of little old ladies coo "My future is static, it's already had it, I could tuck you in, and we could talk about it" from Sonic Youth's 'Schizophrenia'; or hear a group of people who deal daily with the threat of Alzheimer's deliver the lines "Well we know where we're going, but we don't know where we've been. And we know what we're knowin', but we can't say, what we've seen. And we're not little children. And we know what we want. And the future is certain. Give us time to work it out" from the Talking Heads' 'Road to Nowhere'? Climan's music direction and song selection is amazing as is the passionate, quirky performances from the chorus. Check out the clip below to experience the angry old man take on Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" and you'll see what I'm talking about.



And this one, to see the aforementioned clip of 'Schizophrenia'.



And be sure to click here to see the chorus' video for "I Wanna Be Sedated"

Being a Bad Songwriter = Proof of Insanity. Except in China That Is.

Yesterday I got the news bright and early that China had executed Englishman Akmal Shaikh for smuggling heroin into the country. Well that sounds pretty clear cut doesn't it? The English government promptly sounded protests insisting the man was mentally ill and not to be blamed for his actions. What proof do the English have of Shaikh's insanity?

Exhibit one: "Come Little Rabbit" (click to download), a song Shaikh recording believing it would bring world peace (rather than establish him as the next Daniel Johnston).

Exhibit two: Shaikh was traveling to China in search of a recording contract. Presumably because there are no record companies in England.

OK Gordon Brown, you're right. Crackers!

I'm only sad that there will probably be precious few covers of this song which likely could have happily taken their place on the CD rack next to songs by Ernest Noyes Brookings and Wesley Willis.

Al Jourgensen says "Go Fuck Yourself For Christmas"

Oh I hate Christmas Songs, and now I have a friend in hating them, Ministry's Al Jourgensen. But while my dislike of them has prompted me to remember to wear an IPod during all holiday shopping rather than run the risk of leaving a store singing Patti LaBelle all day, Jourgensen's dislike has somehow resulted in him releasing a Christmas song (which sounds remarkably like "Space Age Love Song" by A Flock of Seagulls).



Sadly this video cements that Jourgensen is no very foxy anymore (gee, what, not as hot as when I saw you on the Twitch tour? What's wrong with you?) but I do admire him creating the one holiday song I predict won't hear blasting in Macy's (but possibly in Target). Whither Patti LaBelle?

How do you spell AC/DC?

Does listening to Heavy Metal really hurt your IQ?

Weezer Snuggie - You now know what to get me for XMAS

Joan Baez is Fucking Amazing!!

Here is a link to an amazing story my sister sent me about Joan Baez confronting some protesters outside her show in Idaho

"Last night, four Vietnam veterans protested Joan's concert in Idaho Falls with signs reading: "JOAN BAEZ - SOLDIERS DON'T KILL BABIES, LIBERALS DO" and "JOAN BAEZ GAVE COMFORT & AID TO OUR ENEMY IN VIETNAM & ENCOURAGED THEM TO KILL AMERICANS!" Joan was informed that the men were protesting her concert about an hour before it was due to begin and she immediately walked out onto the street to talk to them...."

OK Joan Baez, you are now officially my hero! Way to kick butt!

X (the band) at the Paradise May 26, 2009

So what is this? The 8th time I've seen X? I just remember the first time was in the 80's on the tour with Tony Gilkyson, I was so sad then that I'd missed the Billy Zoom heyday. I think there were 2 shows with Gilkyson, 2 with Dave Alvin, and the last 4 with Zoom. Oh Billy Zoom there is no comparison to you. Your bizarre frozen smile, your stock still stance while you kick total ass on guitar. And Zoom, you're just ONE of the members of X! I mean most bands have one or maybe 2 standout members but X has four! Dissonant singing wild child Exene, foxy earthy bassist John Doe, and skin beater extraordinaire DJ Bonebrake. But having seen this band without Zoom, let me assure you the complete package needs to be in place to get the full effect. How delightful they're still playing today.

Tonight's show was all by voter request at X's website so it seemed there were a lot more obscure album tracks to be heard tonight instead of just the hits. Of course, knowing every song they ever did front to end doesn't hurt either.

This just terrifies me

Indian Version of Thriller, somehow even scarier than Michael Jackson in real life.

The Woggles - Sweet Potato!

Its been far too long since I posted a video of a show I went to, and The Woggles, are worth every letter I type.

Possibly the greatest garage band in this nation, The Woggles sell it like nobody sells it, with matching outfits, stage choreography and a proclivity for getting off the stage and booty shaking along with the fans in the audience. A few weeks ago they played another sparkling set as part of the Muck and The Mires CD release party. In reference to that matter all I can say is the new record is not only produced by legendary freakazoid Kim Fowley, but the cover is real 3D, and comes with 3D glasses. Get yourself a cut gratis here. The Konks, at their first show in forever were also delightful, man, that Yukki Gipe sure can hit.

The Indelicates: Thank Fuck For The Fucking Recession!

I had been dismayed that so few young people bother to write songs anymore about annoying topics, but then The Indelicates came to my rescue with The Recession Song. With the very Art Brut sound of this single and members of Art Brut playing on it to boot, how can I not love this fine tune?



And while we're speaking about Art Brut, their new record drops this week. Lead parable "Alcoholics Unanimous" finds Eddie Argos contemplating his drunken behavior and considering rehab all with a fine sing along cheer. Ah the glorification of the drunk life. How I love that!



So there is it my new favorite songs about poverty and drunkenness. Let us welcome the new age upon us.

Can I call em or can I call em?

Check my blog dated January 5 2009. I guessed Taya would win Rock of Love Tour Bus Edition back at week one. I am da bomb!