Snappy Sammy Smoot Sez...

The Jesus Lizard Show

 UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 
08/22/2013. Enjoy,
NØ


 After the breakup of Scratch Acid, singer David Yow relocated from Texas to Chicago. He teamed up with former Cargo Cult guitarist Duane Denison & ex-Scratch Acid bassist David Wm. Sims for a new project called The Jesus Lizard. The J-Lizard used a drum machine for their earliest recordings & performances, before adding drummer Mac McNeilly after recording their first EP Pure.
Show is a live album from 1994 that was joint released without the band's consent by Collision Arts & Warner Bros. subsidiary label Giant Records.

"A band with limitless energy & unfathomable power, The Jesus Lizard's live acts are legendary. While Steve Albini managed to capture the band's ferocity as effectively as possible within the confines of a studio, a recording of the band in their blistering, live, & unmixed state has been long overdue. Show finally delivers the goods on a live The Jesus Lizard album by presenting a set recorded in the infamous CBGBs club. Every element of the band's sound seems to have grown accordingly in both volume & size. The bass is monstrous, the drums are bludgeoning, the guitar is unwieldy, & Yow's vocals are hoarser, more desperate than ever."
drumb - Milwaukee,WI.

The Jesus Lizard - Show, Collision Arts/Giant, 1994.
all decryption codes in comments

Side A -

Glamorous
Deaf as a Bat
Seasick
Bloody Mary
Mistletoe
Nub
Elegy
Killer McHann

Side B -

Dancing Naked Ladies
Fly on the Wall
Boilermaker
Puss
Gladiator
Wheelchair Epidemic
Monkey Trick

Read mikelittlepony's comment & my reply in comments to explain the following...

The Jesus Lizard - Down, Touch & Go TG131, 1994.

Side A -
Fly on the Wall
Mistletoe
Countless Backs of Sad Losers
Queen for a Day
The Associate
Destroy Before Reading

Side B -
Low Rider
50 ¢
American BB
Horse
Din
Elegy
The Best Parts

Enjoy,
NØ

I've Got a Right - Lenny Kaye Connection

UPDATE: This post has been re-uploaded 08/09/2013. Enjoy, NØ

By Request... Lenny Kaye - Renaissance man.


Lenny Kaye has been Patti Smith's musical collaborator since 1971. They both went down to CBGB Easter Sunday, 1974, to see Television, who had just started playing there two weeks earlier. The rest, as they say, is history.

But wait: there's more! Lenny has also played guitar with a number of other bands, including those of Eugene Chadbourne & Jim Carroll. Lenny's been a bandleader (The Lenny Kaye Connection); producer (Suzanne Vega, James, Soul Asylum, Throwing Muses); journalist & critic; compiler for Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968 & author of several books, the most recent being You Call It Madness: The Sensuous Art of the Croon.

After the Patti Smith Group broke up, Kaye remained a rock 'n' roller & devoted most of his energy to a couple of enterprises. In 1980, he formed the Lenny Kaye Connection. Describing the music resulting from this period as "more traditional than Patti's," Kaye said he didn't want to try & become more avant-garde because that would not be true to himself.

In 1986, he returned to Rutgers University (he earned his bachelors degree there in 1969, he eventually earned his masters degree in history years later) to teach an American Studies course entitled "Rock Music & American Culture". The course broke registration office records. It was a remarkably well-formed & thoughtful critical survey of rock history.

Presently, Kaye plays on Patti's new album Peace & Noise. He is once again a member of her Group.

The Lenny Kaye Connection is: Lenny Kaye - guitar; Paul Dugan - bass; C.P. Roth - synthesizers; David Donen - drums; additional musicians -Jan Mulaney - organ, synthesizers; Patrick O'Conner - bass, vocals; Jonathan Helfand - pedal steel; Jim carroll & John Giorno - anvil chorus.

Lenny Kaye Connection - I've Got a Right, Giorno Poetry Systems #032, 1984.)

decryption code in comments

Side 1:
I've Got a Right
Luke the Drifter
Still Life
Tell-tale Heart


Side 2:
Jealousy
I Cry Mercy
Record Collector
As I Make Love


Enjoy,
NØ

Have you heard the news? Jesus is Dead!

Saw that a few folks had been hitting this but the link was dead. Re-upped 01/28/2016. Enjoy, NØ!



The Jesus Is Dead EP by stalwart Scottish punk rockers The Exploited is very likely the most solid release the band ever put out. Four savage, thrashing tracks about politicians, imperialism, religion, drugs, & issues with law enforcement. Production-wise, this is the best the band has ever sounded: the drums are loud, the bass has punch, guitars are wailing, & Wattie's legendarily indiscernible vocals are loud, upfront, & largely understandable. Although the songs are simple & straightforward, there is some great songwriting here. You may be pleasantly surprised to find how well Wattie & the Exploited's brand of sincere, hard-working punk stands the test of time.



 
This incarnation of The Exploited are: Wattie Buchan - vocals; Nig - guitar; Deptford John - bass; & Willie Buchan - drums.

The Exploited - Jesus is Dead EP, Combat Core 88561-8126-1, September 1986.

Side A -

Drug Squad Man
Privacy Invasion

Side B -

Jesus Is Dead
Politicians

Enjoy,
NØ

Brief Interlude 2

Treasure Island report - pt. 4 (part one)

You probably don't know this, but between The Misfits & The Fuck-ups, between Mars Volta & Pere Ubu, between The Imperial Pompadours & the Lynch Mob, between Bongwater & Scratch Acid, I listen to Sneaker Pimps & Thievery Corporation & Massive Attack. I really like Hot Chip & Lao loves them so we needed to be over on the Island by 4:20 (I'm not making this up). We lazed-in late, waked & baked, went to Cha Ya Japanese vegetarian restaurant for lunch, then walked over to Candlestick (er, AT&T Park). The crowd at the shuttle-point were mostly The Hills, Gossip Girl, OC types & we figured right off we'd better save the 'shrooms for Sunday, which was cool, because we ran into this EarthGirl with a baby in a stroller selling what turned out to be heavenly hash brownies (plus I traded some homegrown for two tickets to Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds at the Warfield [more on that to come]). We got over on the Island in time to check out Bostich & Fussible of the Nortec Collective. I dig the whole Nortec Collective sound, traditional Mexican gone electronica/techno. Bostich is Ramon Amezcua & Fussible is Pepe Mogt. Along with a group of great musicians, the Collective created a grooving 21st Century electroMex vibe that set a sultry tropical mood that went well with the Island locale. After Nortec we kinda just hung around, smoked, ate some more brownies, watched people, looked at records & t-shirts, bought the Black Dahlia a Dia de los Muertos hoodie & then got a good spot for Hot Chip. They kicked ass considering that it was mid-afternoon. Appropriately enough at 4:20 many people participated & some great bud was tried & shared. Alexis Taylor & Joe Goddard, chums since sixth form at Elliott School, Putney, London communicate as such, making for a slightly magickal live show. The band did two, three, four or more song medley-type versions of some their greatest tunes both old (4 yrs.) & new, "Over & Over", "Shake a Fist", "Ready for the Floor". I just wished they had done Kraft Dinner & that they wouldn't have ended on the One Pure Thought down-tempo style. All I remember after that is people-watching & Alison Goldfrapp looked like Stevie Nicks until TV On The Radio came on. It was just getting dark. The San Francisco skyline & the Bridges were coming to light & life. It was a glorious thing. TV On The Radio were excellent & confusing at the same time, like their name, both disconcerting & melodious, turbulent & harmonic at the same time. We stayed 'til they ended, them headed back to S.F. & the Warfield. I liked CSS's first stuff until the Black Dahlia said they sounded like The Go-Gos. After that, Belinda Carlisle was all I could hear & that was the end of that. Neither Lao nor I can stand the vocals of Justice, so no loss for day one. Enjoy, NØ & Stay tuned for the stunning conclusion...

Treasure Island report - pt. 3

We finally had to bid TC & Jolene adieu after exchanging vitals & fluids. Late Friday afternoon Lao & I made our way back to our flop off of Mission to try to decompress before the start of the two-day Treasure Island Music Festival the next day. We laid around the room for a while smoking OJs (thanx TC) & then came to the unanimous consensus that we needed a few pints of plain to push us toward slumber. We walked up the street a few blocks until we spotted a likely looking dive. It looked like a quiet hang-out for locals & reprobates, just what we wanted. We slid onto a couple stools near the end of the bar, saw that they had Anchor Porter on tap & Imperial pints. We had found our oasis. We ordered two, then two more. I played a few games of pool & won drinking cash for the night, using Lao as my distraction with guys & gals alike. She's a mean mis-treater. While we were working our way through the Porter keg, a local band set up on the postage-stamp sized stage. I found out from the bartender they were called Andrew Would? Now, I was never a big fan (any size fan) of grunge, but the idea of a Mother Love Bone cover band seemed kinda interesting & the lead singer looked like a junkie. They proved to be good musickians & highly entertaining. By the time we crawled back to out racks we were well lubricated & well satiated. We both fell asleep thinking "This is Shangrila". & except for the sound of scurrying cockroaches & the trips to the head down the hall, it was.

Mother Love Bone - Apple, Polydor 843 191, 1990.

Enjoy,
NØ

To be continued...

Treasure Island report - pt. 2

After several spliffs & several buses we found ourselves at TC & Jolene's abode in Berkeley, not far from People's Park.

Lao said she didn't feel like hanging around if we oldsters were just going to be reliving the past, so we banned nostalgia for the mind-poison that it is & decided on other entertainment.

TC & Jolene, like myself, are still narco-anarchists, & like myself, in the passing years they have moved to the strictly organic. During the punk heyday, I never much had the desire to do psychedelics in social settings, as the punk scene was more conducive to amphetamines & alcohol. Since then I have changed my ways & only do what I (or friends) can grow. That means I normally limit myself to weed & 'shrooms (which I brought along for this adventure in abundance). TC, on the other had, living in a more urban space, has turned his green thumbs to cacti & poppi (which he had in even more abundance).

Jolene had constructed an authentic Pawnee sweat lodge in their back yard & this is where we spent the majority of the next two days. First we performed a cleansing ceremony with much sweating & chanting, then we moved on to a Peyote ritual with a great deal of fun with the little green man (liberally infused with peace-pipe loads of green & O).

Here's some musick to listen to while you ponder these events.

Various Billy Childish groups - The(e) Billy Childish Native American Sampler, 

Sub Pop SP206, 1993.
decryption code in comments

Enjoy,
NØ

To be continued...

Treasure Island report

Man, what a crazy world. It's been a great wild ride since last Nothin' Sed Somethin'.

Let me try to explain if I can...in the following words & musick, just what transpired.

It's been over four years since I've been able to escape the Wage Slavery. Oh, I've taken a day here, a day there. Never long enough for the shackle marks to clear. Well, I just finished up a fortnight of freedom & I'm questioning my ability to return to the grind, both job & blog.

In the past four years every time there was a show in San Francisco, Oakland, or at Gilman, I'd be working, try to get off early, drive down, do show, have a great time (granted), & then drive back & back to work. If the show was on that lucky Saturn day, then I'd get to stay over & have a bit of Sunny day time. It's just that there is so much to see, so much to do, so many friends to try to look up or track down, so many exquisite places to eat (vegetarian) that with limited time the magick never really gets a chance to unfold to its fullest.

I'd been looking forward to going to the Treasure Island Music Festival for quite a while. The Black Dahlia (my better half) wasn't going so Lao (my better third) & I were making the trek. I used to be a stay-at-home dad, working from the Caca Casa & being a house husband while Lao was going through the diapers to diaphragm years. Since about the time she slipped the noose of the Public School prison we haven't really had a lot of time to do things mano y mano, so I was looking forward to this tremendously. I manipulated my schedule & got two weeks. I took a couple days to reset my internal clock from wake-at-the-break-of-dawn mode to partying late & sleeping 'til noon joy & I was ready. Lao's twenty-six, she's always ready.

We headed to S.F. Wednesday. We snagged a cheap flop in the Mission (the bathroom was only two doors from our room [smoking - hard to find these days]) & dropped off our belongings. Then we hit the streets. First we headed to Herbivore on Valencia to get some pure fuel (vegan & heavenly). Then we found a vacant shop with a nice secluded stoop not far down the block for an after-meal smoke to set the mood. At least it seemed secluded, but to any knowledgeable nose, i.e. a pot-head schnoz, there is no secluding the KGB. Here comes this old hippie couple to share our space, our boo, our mind set.

& then the S.F. magick changed the color of light & the sound of life around us. I knew these people & from the astonished looks that sprang to their faces, they knew me. A veil of years swirled in the ocean-salted breeze & dropped from our lives.

"TC. Jolene. Is it really you?".

"Nathan. Nathan. (simultaneously, I don't know how to write it that way)".

" Jolene. TC. It is really you?!".

"Nathan. Nathan. (ditto)".

We just stared for several eternities until time once more began to move. The roach burned my finger & Lao poked me for introductions. We all name swapped & then we three oldsters started reminiscing.

It had been (you've got to believe this) 34 1/2 years since we'd seen each other. We had been at a benefit put on by STARSEED, as a tribute to Dr. Timothy Leary - then imprisoned after being forced out of Switzerland through pressure from the United States & kidnapped by CIA agents who arranged to have him extradited from Afghanistan. The show took place at UC Berkeley's acoustically perfect Zellerbach Auditorium & starred those heroes of the cosmos, Hawkwind & Man. Joanna Leary spoke. According to Joanna, both she & Dr Leary considered Hawkwind to be the most highly evolved band on the planet. TC, Jolene, & I happened to agree. Hawkwind had done two benefits for Leary in England & still more in the States. Joanne Leary described the bands as, "two highly evolved British bands on the neurological scale of time,". 1,000 people attended. Hawkwind had the most intense stage set, light show, visual & sound show that we had ever experienced. They did the Warrior on the Edge of Time set. I give it to you now to set the stage. Light one up &
Enjoy.

Hawkwind - Warrior on the Edge of Time, United Artists UAG29766, 1975.
NØ

To be continued...