it smells of ukulele

this is a real laugh riot, the ukulele orchestra of great britain doin' a smokin' version of that old standard 'smells like teen spirit'. the m.c. is jools holland from one of his specials on british t.v. jeesh, ya gotta love the world wide web!




and if ya got more time to kill, here is '2001: a space odyssey' fully explained, in flash animation.

have a great memorial weekend ya'll!

'all i can do is be me... whoever that is.'

they're naming roads after him, and it's true, the whole world should come to a stop. his hometown is bracing for something they feel will compare to mardi gras, and we should all be there. it's bob dylan's 65th birthday today.

someone reflects (sort of... ) on dylan's life, up 'til now.

bob is one of our true inspirations, jeesh, what this guy has seen and done. just growing up with bob has been quite a trip in itself. the man is a mystery wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a riddle (or however that silly saying goes). my first memories of dylan were of listening to 'like a rolling stone' on my little box radio and regaling in the knowledge that my parents couldn't stand what he sounded like, looked like and stood for. and that was just enuff for me back then. he was never a role-model for me, not like the beatles were, but then again he was a major influence on john's songwriting (and he was the 1st one to turn them on to pot) so i guess it was really thru osmosis that he sunk in so deep in my psyche.

i'm really sorry we missed him at the jazz fest last month, but i do have fond memories of seeing him at the warehouse in new orleans with the rolling thunder revue in 1975. the funniest thing happened that day. dylan came out on stage to complete silence. no one was even breathing. it was as if time stopped. but when joan baez stepped out she had a standing ovation. i was floored, 'diamonds and rust'? dylan was riding high with 'desire' but she gets the accolades. but for months later all the talk was about bob (well, bob, and roger mcguinn, who pulled off a stellar version of 'chestnut mare'). i think everyone was just quite stunned to actually see the man onstage. ahhh, it was a great show anyways,


here's a few of the wreckroom's favorite dylan tunes, in mp3, for your pleasure on his 65th via yousendit for about a week or so:

forever young
rainy day women #12 & 35
it's alright ma, i'm only bleeding
cocaine blues (live)
subterranean homesick blues
like a rolling stone (live)
don't think twice it's alright
stuck inside of mobile with the memphis blues again
tangled up in blue
the ballad of frankie lee and judas priest

buy some dylan shit, like his music or his book...

oh, and a last minute bonus, the incredible byrds tune 'chestnut mare'

good night, and good night...

the white album, texas style

The White Album in Concert with Special Guests
7:30 pm May 19, 2006
10:00 pm May 19, 2006

Strings Attached closes its 5th Season with the Complete Beatles' White Album Live
FOR TICKETS: Call 477-9837, go to YourTexasMusic.com.
This concert will be at University Baptist Church, 2130 Guadalupe Street, across from the UT campus.
On Friday, May 19th, Strings Attached is excited to invite you to a great musical fusion, as the acoustic chamber ensemble joins forces with some of Austin's most beloved musicians in a unique, one-night-only performance of the Beatles' entire White Album.
Join Joe Ely, Abra Moore, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, and more than 20 other special guests as they unite the past and present, bringing to life the 1968 acclaimed, best-selling Beatles' album.
The 2-hour show will be played twice with the second show including a live projection light show above the stage by Charles Beard.


White Album CAST:
Back in the USSR with Joe Ely
Dear Prudence with Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Blackbird - Abra Moore
Honey Pie - Olivier Giraud
Sexie Sadie - Billy Harvey
Happiness is a Warm Gun with Tony Scalzo
Wild honey Pie and The Continuing Story of Bungalo Bill with White Ghost Shivers
Glass Onion with Rodney Connell
Why Don't We Do It in the Road with Seela
Savoy Truffle with Bruce James
Obla di Obla da with Schrodinger's Cat
While My Guitar Gently Weeps with Gary Clark Jr.,
Martha My Dear - Libby Kirkpatrick
I'm So Tired - Wendy Colona
Piggies with Bob Livingston
Mother Natures Son - Tucker Livingston
Rocky Raccoon - Matt the Electrician
Don't Pass Me By Eric Hokkanen
I Will - Shane Bartell
Julia - David Halley
Birthday - Craig Marshall
Yer Blues - Seth Walker
Everybodies Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey - Chopper
Helter Skelter - Brian Keane
Long Long Long - David Hess
Cry Baby Cry - Beth Garner
Revolution 1 - Carolyn Wonderland
Revolution #9 - Special guest and Strings Attached ensemble

looks to be a really cool evening of music. if we were within 500 miles of that show we'd be there. faithful readers of this space know how much we love this record and we love it when someone tries to take on the white album in one pop. not many attempt this feat, and even fewer succeed in pulling it off. phish used to do whole shows using the white album (there is a very good bootleg from one of their white concerts out and about) and there are a few beatle tribute bands using it as their centerpiece.
so, if your around the austin, texas area tomorrow night, this looks like the place to be!


some starstudded stars here doing the white one, via yousendit for a little while at least:

siouxse and the banshees - dear prudence
sting with jeff beck - while my guitar gently weeps
u2 - happiness is a warm gun
crosby still and nash - blackbird
jack johnson - rocky raccoon
charles manson - why don't we do it in the road
chocolate genius - julia
bugs bunny and friends - birthday
fats domino - everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey
husker du - helter skelter
elliott smith - revolution
throwing muses - cry baby cry
phish - revolution 9

avalanche!

looks as tho sufjan stevens is gonna extend his stay in 'illinoise' during his insanely ambitious musical 50-state trek... news about upcoming release of 'avalanche' is here and here.

it seems the ol' suf-man had a few extra songs recorded for 'come on feel the illinoise' , apparently he had alot to say about the prairie state, (i spent a few formative years in the village of niles, il. years later robin zander, of cheap trick, would giggle thru a stoned haze and exclaim to me that niles was the first suburb in america, tho i would beg to differ, i think that was levittown). we guess he decided to put out another album from the excess , or he just needs a bit of time cos he is doing more research for his next state/cd (he says he'll do new jersey by the exits on the turnpike, ha. i think i lived off exit 67 a few years ago, in barnegat, near the pine barrens, nevermind... it's a jersey thing. everything revolves around the garden state parkway there.)

but here's a leaked ditty from the cd 'avalanche', via yousend it for a shorter time than it takes to find the parkway:

sufjan stevens - adlai stevenson

plus one that prob will never make a record:
sufjan stevens - the 50-state song (live at the bluebird theatre in denver colorado 7-30-05)

and a song done for the rubber soul tribute 'this bird has flown':
sufjan stevens - what goes on

and a few tunes i left off the last post but shoulda included (was i drunk?), (no doubt)...
some kinks covers by the minus 5 (enjoy mr dvd!)...

the minus 5 - wicked annabella (from 'give the people what we want')
the minus 5 - get back in line (from 'this is where i belong')

the gun album

the minus 5 is like a blast of fresh air, a very needed thing in these musically-horse-lattitude-days.
scott mccaughy (pronounced 'mccoy'), his partner in crime, peter buck (of r.e.m.), and numerous musical friends have delivered a killer record. the self-titled 7th album has been labled by fans as 'the gun album', mostly for the haunting cover as well as the fact that many of the tunes mention firearms. but musically this is faraway from a violent record. like the rest of the minus 5 cataloge, it is quirky, ragged, well crafted pop rock. altho the lyrics are dark at times, the music is hum-along good, making hearing it over again and again something that peels the layers off, revealing a deep and thoughtful record laced with dry humour and toe-tappin' tunes.
this record is not as poppy and lightweight as their best effort, 'down with wilco', (a tougne-in-cheek title... it was done with wilco backing scott), but it is just as easy to fall in love with. a country-tinged semi-psychedelic beatle inspired endevour that seems cohesive and chaotic all at once. scott's plaintive moan over a farfisa organ and syd barrett-like slide on 'left over life to kill' sounds lifted from a late 60's acid record. the chipper feeling on 'my life as a creep' is infectious with it's sgt. pepper pumping piano and skewed falsetto backing vocals.
at times lyrically hilarious, with lines like, 'i had six white russians tonite and two of them were people', from the catchy hook and riff laden 'out on the maroon', the cd had us rolling on the floor at first listen... and there's been many listens since.
the minus 5 is with out a doubt the best album of the year, so far.


mp3's from the minus 5 'gun album' via yousendit for less time than it takes to load a pistol:
my life as a creep
leftover life to kill
out on the maroon
(buy the minus 5!)

an extra:
the little black egg (an amazing cover of the nightcrawlers song)

and a really interesting interview and some live studio treatments from the new record:
the minus 5 on npr 05-04-06 (stream)

ticket to mash

found this very funny viddy done with beatles action figures and a nice mash-up ...

let's go for a drive

the house is done, the kids are gone for the weekend and we're hanging around drinkin' and loungin', wishing we were at the muddy jazzfest. soon come, soon come.

last week, in the midst of preparing 'casa de wreck' for sale, i kinda pooped this viddy out. this one, opposed to 'american 195x', kinda made itself. i forgot i had downloaded this goofy film from the 40's about driving safely. an innocent looking film using stop-motion animation to convey the typical safety message to the public. ahhhhh, but it is really a graphic depiction of horrid driving skills. the yellow car is always the culprit (amongst others) and a few bits are really disturbing (the guy in front of his brokendown car getting reamed is almost funny if it weren't so sad).

so i took it and ripped it over a semi-ancient 4-track song i had written about taking a sunny day drive. the tune started innocently on mandolin and ended up as an homage to the beatles' 'good day sunshine' and the kinks' 'drivin''. it seemed so, appropo, for the found footage. sometimes shit just works for spiritual reasons... but this ain't one of 'em, this is just down right silly. hope ya'll enjoy this and laff as much as we have...

blue stone drive

* don't you think that the weather is fine, dear?
lock up the house and we'll go for a ride . . .

we've been working real hard, with the days too long,
we've got to get away. . .
jump in the car, bring the dog along,
everything can wait.

* don't you think that the weather is fine, dear?
lock up the house and we'll go for a ride . . .

just you and me and sadie makes three, we can't leave her behind.
here's a map we won't need of the places we'll see, we're going for a drive . . .

* don't you think that the weather is fine, dear?
roll down the windows and we'll go for a ride . . .

(pianny solo!)

sadie's in the back, got beatles on the box, not a cloud up in the sky.
there's some wine in my sack, and a lil' bit of pot, as long as you don't mind.
later we'll stop long enough to eat beneath a shady tree.
and if it gets hot, we can fall asleep, fall in each others dreams . . .

* don't you think that the weather is fine, dear?
lock up the house and we'll go for a ride . . .

(...and since youtube compresses the song to digital mush in the viddy here is presented just the tune for your listening pleasure:)

the metry wrecks - blue stone drive (mp3 - play lo-fi - play hi-fi)

for sale: house in reno

well, we finally got the house up for sale. as you can see it is a vast improvement over the way it was ...
whew, it just took slightly less than forever to get to this point, paintin' and cleanin' and all. but here we are. and we're now closer to home. altho not in time for this weekends jazz festivities.

my sister has a nasty habit of calling us from concerts in new orleans and sorta dick waving (she hit me yesterday, i have no idea who it was, daggnnabbitt). i did it too to friends, from baseball stadiums and various events around the country, so i guess it is just a bit o' catch back. not easy to swallow when you know who she may be catching (once in a while i nail the band she is watching, depends on the connection, had her with costello last year, the bass to 'pump it up' gave it away.) but at least once we're back she won't have that to do to me.


other stuff:
we went and did it, just when we shouldn't... got a new truck, a bit too big for the gas (it is $3 a gallon in reno now), but just big enuff to pull us and the little rav across country, while housing 3 dogs , a cat, and whatever else will fit. a new top o' the line, fully loaded, big, black, 2006 toyota tundra. ahhh, such a big ass un-american truck. almost as big as the wreckroom, with an almost comparable sound system. but hey, if we coulda got a sweet deal for just as good a truck from dodge, we'd a gone there. and they wonder why? oh well ...

the house is done so now it is up to the gods of getting outta reno to get us down the road, and back to the easy. then it is up to god knows what to keep us safe from there on out.

and, ahem... a few really silly truckin' tunes to giggle along to down the road in that big frickin' truck, burnin' fossil fuel and our next generation's lifestyle, via yousendit for a shorter time than it'll take us to get home:

grateful dead - truckin'
coal chamber - big truck
deep purple - space truckin'
eddie kendricks - keep on truckin' (complete)
franz ferdinand - truck stop
kid rock - trucker's anthem
bowling for soup - trucker hat