by Chris Barrus
In the past month both the Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Raveonettes had all of their gear stolen in Brooklyn. Please continue to be on the lookout as things actually do get found – Sonic Youth recovered some of their gear that was stolen six years ago and Bob 1 of Devo was reunited with his cloud/potato guitar…
Bedazzled solves a mystery that’s been bugging me for over ten years now and as I should have guessed, Al Kooper is involved.
Eons ago, I got an unmarked tape of recording studio outtakes and ephemera. Most of it was identifiable: the Buddy Rich bus tapes, Murray Wilson vs. Brian, Roky Erickson rolling heads down a staircase on Bay Area radio – all stuff that’s been making the rounds on the Celebrities At Their Worst collections and on the net.
One clip I couldn’t recognize though… It’s a couple of band members arguing with each other and their producer over the line “one good turn deserves another.” The band powers their way through a death spiral of anger, denial, acceptance and back before inevitably exploding in “fucking go to hell!” It’s a great recording… You know things aren’t going to work out and you know there’s an oncoming train wreck but no one, except maybe the producer who wisely kept the tape rolling, is aware of it.
I always thought it was some 60s-era band like Paul Revere & The Raiders or something, but it’s actually an 80s band called St. Regis that Kooper was attempting to produce. Not surprisingly, it never came out. Kooper’s only quote: “Fraternal twins that could teach Liam & Noel a thing or two.”
More wit and wisdom from Kooper in his Guide to the Music Biz
1. The television series Fortier. Gritty police crime dramas are a dime-a-dozen, but this one is superior than most anything else that’s airing right now. Reminds me a lot of Prime Suspect only with grouchy French-Canadians.
2. I’m not a big fan of watermelons, but I might reconsider now that they’ve been repackaged as Godzilla eggs.
3. This essay on the Winchester Mystery House which recontextualizes Sarah Winchester’s mania into a capitalist parable.
Part of what makes the Winchester Mystery House so spooky, I think, is the way it reminds visitors and Silicon Valley neighbors of how fleeting industrial power really is–eventually, the fortunes made in Silicon Valley will pass away and remain only in the form of preserved houses built during the 1980s and 1990s. The death of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, symbolized in Sarah’s house, is a reminder to Silicon Valley professionals and residents that their industry, too, will die, taking fortunes and lives with it.
4. I’m not sure if I’ll see A Good Woman, but it’s goddamn great to see illustrated movie posters making a return.
5. The unbelievably fantastic metallic album covers for Philips’ Prospective 21e Siècle series of avant-garde electronic LPs.
1. This collection of posters for the movies presented by Mystery Science Theater 3000.
2. The “musical furry lobster”
3. Though not furry, the the sponge crab carries around a sponge on it’s back for camouflage.
4. Italian guitars of the 1960s. (full disclosure: I own a Crucinelli-built Vox Cheetah)
5. François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters’ comic series Les Cités Obscures. Mysterious steampunk adventure stories where the story/plots center around architecture city planning constructs. I’ve got three of the books and love them dearly, but I had no idea that there were nine more. Each one feels like a history parable that fell out of some parallel universe. (more reading)
Your weekend crank literature reading is F.W. Alden’s 1924 pamphlet “Jocko Homo-Heavenbound” a antecedent to Akron’s favorite spud boys. Read the annotated version on the web or download a PDF.
You Are… My Bloody Valentine.
You tend to be a bit distant and reclusive. You are a leader as opposed to being a follower. You are a perfectionist and pay very close attention to detail. You have the tendency to be lazy, which sometimes get’s in the way of you achieving whatever it is you may be trying to perfect. You don’t really care about what’s typically looked upon as the norm. You really don’t care about what people think about you at all, or at least so you try and make it seem. You care most about just being yourself.
what Creation Records band are you? (complete with text and images)
brought to you by Quizilla
1. The “op-art carnival vs. 1970s futurism” design aesthetic of Braniff Airlines.
2. The “Visual Music” exhibition at MOCA in Los Angeles. Don’t miss the companion book.
3. The ridiculously charming and catchy Volkswagen Jetta ad known as “Independence Day.”
4. The fantastically groovy 1966 cult German television show Raumpatrouille.
5. Logic System. YMO spin off band that circulates around moogsploitation, straight-up technopop, and leftover tracks from the Cosmos television series. I somehow picture this playing at a western-themed truck stop in Japan somewhere.
Still chugging along through cover art for the ILMiXor series. Here’s art for Volume 2, subtitled “Pop Top 40 From Another World.”
That cover image came from Dmitry Popov’s terrific “Drive Back In Time” photograph series. Worth checking out when you have the time.
