Induction then destruction

I just had a hankering to hear the Edwin Starr classic and here it is. This is a homemade version, mostly a montage of big ships and battlefield carnage. It starts off with some kooky Gilliam-style animation and then gets right to the death and dismemberment. Enjoy. If you'd like a more authentic video (I say that with tongue firmly in cheek), here's a performance from back in the days when they put even less effort into realism than the average CBS drama.

Edwin Starr -- 'War'

Come, come to Senegal

Here's some guy's home movies of his time in Dakar. Kinda cool. Random shots of people at work, people at play, people just walking around in the daylight. Funny that no matter where you are, no matter how the people live, there's always hot chicks and cool cats on mopeds.

Orchestra Baobab -- 'Cuomba'

'Imagine you're in hell and you want out'

I thought this was appropriate for Halloween, a downright eerie composition that seems to be an examination of what sounds can be coaxed from the modern keyboard. A fascinating piece by a 20th century master well-played by Mr. Anderson, damn some of that cross-handed action is kooky. Even the camera work and editing are intriguing, if a little cheesy and heavy-handed. Still an all-around interesting piece of work here. Enjoy.

Greg Anderson -- Ligeti's Etude #13: 'The Devil's Staircase'

Rainbows and waterfalls run through my mind

The music editor was listening to Shuggie the other day--not a lot of output but all of his stuff is classic--and he had to put some up on the blog. Unfortunately there's nothing approaching a real video out there just a coupla homemade jobs. This one is hackneyed but ambitious, so it’s the winner. (Did you know Shuggie played bass on Frank Zappa's 'Peaches en Regalia'? Oh yeah, he was like 16 at the time--born a stone cold badass!)

Shuggie Otis -- 'Strawberry Letter 23'

Put some fuzz on it

I believe this, the opening track off his latest album, is the first Keller Williams song I've ever heard that had drums on it or a wah solo--both courtesy of a collaboration with Jeff Covert. Still got the telltale frenetic bass lick and goofball sense of humor to go with the electric git action. I like it. Even self-made badasses can expand their horizons.

Keller Williams -- 'Play This'

Makes me wanna cry

Along with 'Crazy Train' and, of course, 'Stairway to Heaven', this was one of those tunes that every idiot with long hair wanted to play back in the day. I couldn't play any of those songs and I still can't...'cause I'm smart? Yeah! Take that, guitar gods! I was hoping to find 'Die With Your Boots On', to me the quintessential Maiden song, but this classic is good enough for now.

Iron Maiden -- 'Wasted Years'

I brought a little of everything

The 12-string guitar in the hands of confident player sounds like a wall of fury. Hart brings the frenzy but plays with such touch and has the soulful voice as well. Frankly it ain't fair how badass this guy is and this clip courtesy of the Fog Network is just a taste. (I lived in the Bay Area for 6 years and while I was a big fan of Hart, an Oaktown native, I never heard of the Fog Network, my loss)

Alvin Youngblood Hart -- 'Gallows Pole'

Watch TV and have a coupla brews

The latter day (roided out) Henry Rollins is absolutely humorless about the subject of drug use but in his youth he used to advocate drinking and sloth. We assume he hasn't lost his enthusiasm for beanbag chillin' but now he's more into the artsy, not the fartsy. Perhaps we should've seen that coming: he was way ahead of the curve on Hill Street Blues.

Black Flag -- 'TV Party'

Ever wonder why the caged bird sings?

The music editor caught a film the other day called Same Old Song directed by Alain Resnais, from a play by the great writing team of Jean-Pierre Bacri and Agnes Jaoui. It was a good flick, a fairly ordinary tale of the romantic entanglements of upwardly mobile Parisians with one extraordinary twist: the dialogue is often punctuated with bursts of song. Not original songs like a musical, but pop songs lip-synced by the actors. Strange in that (like Stewie on Family Guy) you can never tell if the other characters understand the song being sung--it seems like sometimes they do and sometimes they don't--but it definitely livens up the atmosphere.

Anyway, the songs were all French pop songs that I didn't know. But I did recognize some Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf and Josephine Baker, it put the music editor in an old timey mood. Here's the great Josephine belting out a number from the 1934 film Zouzou. (I haven't seen the film so I'm not sure if this is the only musical number in the film or if this is a proper musical, I look forward to getting to the bottom of this mystery) Her creative bikini top almost makes this a NSFW item but I don't think anyone will be emotionally scarred by this. Man, she's got some pipes on her and the set and costume designs are curious.

Josephine Baker -- 'Haiti' (from the film Zouzou)

Deep deep sleep

Here's a clip of Radiohead from way back in the day. (You've got Radiohead's new free album, right?) In my youth I was what might be called an 'early adopter' of music, I was generally ahead of the trends. But in my later college days, I lost interest in keeping up the financial wherewithal to be an early adopter and so gradually drifted away from whatever it was the kids were digging on. At any rate, Radiohead hit the big time right around the time I was withdrawing from the popular world, so it took me many years to catch on to these guys. I vaguely remember the song 'Creep' but I don't remember hearing that record or even much about them back in the day. But I'm glad I did finally catch on to them, they fucking rock, man. Thom Yorke, obnoxious punkass that he is, is quite a badass and I'm sure I'd be a dick too if I were kicking as much ass as he does. Now they're giving away product--a no-no when Microsoft does it but the cat's meow when it comes from these guys--and I say bravo. As a guy no longer willing to keep up with the joneses, I'll take all the free shit I can carry.

Radiohead -- 'Airbag'