& thanks for the memories!

From left - Artiste Mark Ritch working the soundboard & bon vivant Henry Lee aka NØ taken at the notorious Poopoopalooza debacle better known as Punchupaloser 

 

Well, as I mentioned in the Zarkons post, Tuesday past was my two year anniversary here at Nothin' Sez Somethin'. I've never given a rat's ass about whether or not anyone comments, though I am indeed thankful to all who do & try to respond in kind, but when my TWO YEAR mark came & went with nary a word, not even from my so-called netfriends, well...in the words of Blue Cheer to Bill Graham when he denied them a slot on the last days of Fillmore West extravaganza, "Fuck you & thanks for the memories!" 

NØ

Like a Plutonium Coughdrop

Jim Carrol - R.I.P.

Bill & Jim

 

 

I turned one night the other way, faster than I should have and this beam of purple light shot slowly from your wrists like a tired lazer, straight to my eyes...and dyed them blue, I swear...then I tilted back my head to suck it to my lips, and felt it melt down in layers like a plutonium coughdrop...I turned the other way to hear the reverberations of purple light in the hollow of its flux, it was the sound that steals snowbirds from the wire to sing...we sleep, we sleep without dreams, too distant from the mirror...imitating clarity... disguising childhood terror. I turned the other way...always turn the other way. One night you kissed me you were drunk. I thought of Candy Darling in 1971, the back room of Max’s Kansas City with Jackie Curtis, leading me out the back door with Lou, changing places in the alley-way until the circle was full and the snow turned to fire while the birds wept on the wire for the purple light to sing. We went back inside...it was empty and we didn’t care. Candy was dying and she didn’t care... Ginger, why don’t you smile next time they take your picture? Why are you looking so sad in each photograph? 

©1980 - Jim Carroll 

Goodnight Sweet Prince, 

NØ

Look into the Eyes of the Beacon Street Union

UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 08/18/2013. Enjoy, NØ.

Though part of the trinity with Ultimate Spinach & Orpheus in the MGM scheme for 'the Boss Sound of Bosstown', The Beacon Street Union was a far superior band. They were second only to Boston’s Listening (who released the phenomenal eponymous album) in reality. But like other bands used in the Bosstown promotion, the Beacon Street Union suffered from the hype, & although both their albums made the charts, they never had much of a chance to succeed.

Bosstown Sound was originally a publicity campaign by Alan Lorber of MGM started in January 1968. The idea was to present the groups on his label (Ultimate Spinach, The Beacon Street Union & Orpheus) as a package. The Bosstown Sound was to echo the San Francisco Sound that was very big at the time. The hype was a big turn off to the rock critics & rock audiences. Record sales never materialized. The campaign backfired & became an albatross.


TIME Magazine, May 10, 1968: “THE EYES OF THE BEACON STREET UNION (MGM). Among today's sound- saturated rock groups, The Beacon Street Union is refreshingly rare: it recognizes the existence of twin stereo speakers and utilizes them to separate its music into two compatible components.”

Not everyone agrees, citing the band as too eclectic (late 60s???) , but The Union deserved better management & better acceptance.

The Beacon Street Union were:John Lincoln Wright - vocals;Paul Tartachny - lead & rhythm guitar;Wayne Ulaky - bass;Robert Rhodes - keyboards; & Richard Weisberg - drums.

Beacon Street Union - The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union,

MGM Records SE 4517, 1968.
decryption code in comments

Side A -

My Love Is
Beautiful Delilah
Sportin' Life
Four Hundred & Five
Mystic Mourning

Side B -

Sadie Said No
Speed Kills
Blue Avenue
South End Incident (I'm Afraid)
Green Destroys the Gold
The Prophet (4:33)

Beacon Street Union - The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens,

MGM Records SE 4568, 1968.
decryption code in comments

Side A -

The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
The Clown's Overture
Angus Of Aberdeen
Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins cover)
A Not Very August Afternoon
Now I Taste The Tears


Side B -

King Of The Jungle
May I Light Your Cigarette
Baby Please Don't Go

Enjoy,
NØ

Between the Idea & the Reality...Falls the Shadow

 UPDATE:This post was re-uploaded 08/23/2013. Enjoy, NØ

It's been a great week for me & musick.

This Tuesday is my two year anniversary at Nothin' Sez Somethin' & I was trying to come up with somethin' good.

Yesterday I got a package from a friend of mine who lives in Massachusetts. He is a vinyl collector. He pillages the eastern seaboard for collectible vinyl. He occasionally sells off doubles he's accumulated or stuff he no longer listens to or wants. I never pay more than $5 per platter. I always have a standing order for certain types & genres of musick, plus certain specific request, so although I never know exactly what I'll be getting in my Care packages, Steiner never fails to come through & enthrall. In Friday's treasure trove were many wonders of vinyl heaven that I'll be getting to as time permits...but there were two ethereal gems with which to begin.

First off was an album from 1968 by a Boston band that I have been looking for for years, which I see on ebay sometimes being offered in the $40 - $60 range...The Beacon Street Union - The Eyes of... I had this disc back in the day. I finally wore it out I played it so much. Classic Boss Sound of Bosstown with just that somethin' to make it special. When I listened to it yesterday, I remembered the songs as if it was, well, yesterday that I had last heard it...but not in the way that I usually remember old favorites long unheard. They were fresh as my lover's smile in my mind. I had the strangest feeling that they were, unbeknown to me, the soundtrack of my deepest dreams.

Then I found an unexpected unrequested star.

If you've followed this blog for long, you probably have heard me blather on about The Alleycats & The Zarkons. Well, for a long time I've been looking for The Zarkons final album from 1988...Between the Idea & the Reality...Falls the Shadow. Well, lo & behold, there it was...& here it is. Although this was released as The Zarkons were in terminal meltdown, it is one hella great album in this man's opinion. If you're not sure, try "Shoot the Moon" for a taste. I think you'll be back to the platter for seconds. I'll get to the other things later.

The Zarkons - Between the Idea & the Reality...Falls the Shadow,
Atlantic 81846, 1988.
decryption code in comments

Side A -

Heart Full of Soul
Just Who We Are?
Rodeo Rider
Miasma of Illusion
The Hunchback in the Park


Side B -

Shoot the Moon
Among the Ruins
The Dark Horse
In the Realm of the Zarkons

Enjoy,
NØ

My Government is My Soul

This post was re-uploaded 11/04/2017.

When I was posting up the cassette-only release The Last Supper, I was re-listening to it & was reminded that Bourbonese Qualk is an extremely excellent band that I haven't revisited nearly enough as of late. I am remedying that situation now, by listening to all of their material that I have.

After Julian Gilbert & Steven Tanza left the group (to pursue writing & form the band The State, respectively), Simon Crab, original founding member & musical mastermind of Bo-Qu reformed the group with Miles Miles (guitar & other instruments) & Owen 'If' Rossiter (drums). The re-formed Bourbonese Qualk trio spent the next 3 years (1987-90) in a recording silence constantly touring Europe. Out of these years came the highly acclaimed LP My Government is My Soul released in 1990 on their own New International label. My Government Is My Soul is a more polished live-sounding album which occasionally hints at a rockier, slightly more commercial-edged sound than their earlier releases. It's a collection of hauntingly quiet passages, broken by unusually emotive angst, filled with sequenced bass rhythms, endless percussion & wonderfully noise-ridden synthesized voice.

You can read about the early years of Bourbonese Qualk & the infamous Ambulance Station over at Simon Crab's great site, The Stalker. You can also download the entire Bo-Qu back catalogue at their Archives, which documents their work from the beginnings in 1980 until the end in 2002, when, following the untimely death of guitarist Miles Miles in October of that year, the remaining members decided to disband the group.

Bourbonese Qualk - My Government is My Soul,
New International Recordings/FünfUndVierzig 34, 1989.

Featured on this release: Simon Crab - voice & electronics; Miles Miles - guitar & saxophone; Owen If (Rossiter) - drums & percussion; & Kif Cole - live sound.

Side A:
Guilt
Let It Go
Ton Ton Macoute
Know Your Enemy
Eist
Knock

Side B:
Murmur
Keep Pushing
Forget The Past
Decide
The Last Thing We Have Is Choice

Enjoy,
NØ

Word Falling...Photo Falling...Towers Open Fire

Something for the ears...The Fugs - Virgin Forest

Something for the eyes...

from Port of Saints 1973 - William S. Burroughs:

"Drifting sand, fish smells & dead eyes in doorways, shabby quarters of a forgotten city. I was beginning to remember the pawn shops, guns & brass knuckles in a window, chili parlors, cheap rooming houses, a cold wind from the sea. Dead eyes seemed to be looking at some distant beginning to remember the boy, an old skating rink...any minute now...Who said Atlantic City?...wire rusty around jagged holes...Van's Surgery...writing croaker...Globe Hotel...Great Atlantic Accident...name address hotel quite right?...a number...police line ahead frisking seven boys against a wall. Too late to turn back, they'd seen us. & then I saw the photographers, more photographers than a routine frisk would draw. I eased a film grenade into my hand. A cop stepped toward us. I pushed the plunger down & brought my hands up, tossing the grenade into the air. A black explosion blotted out the set & we were running down a dark street toward the barrier. Behind us the city went up in chunks."

Enjoy,
NØ