drop the needle on it, let it revolve

pop chameleon elvis costello and new orleans' musical powerhouse allen toussaint recently released one hell of a collaborated effort in 'the river in reverse'. the two had worked together before (on elvis' wildly ecclectic 'spike'), so when allen fled to new york right after katrina they started working together immediately, doing shows for the hurricane victims around new york during sept last year. then, the initial idea was for elvis to cut a record of allen's tunes. things changed, they started writing together and by the end of november elvis and the imposters, allen, big easy guitarist anthony 'ab' brown, and the crescent city horns (all whom had lost everything in the flood) began recording in hollywood and new orleans. they finished the sessions in about 2 weeks.

the album is a wonderful showcase of toussaint's immense talent and costello's resolve to do right by his roots. highlighted by the urgency and helplessness fueled by the disaster, the album is a celebration of the city that care forgot and an indictment against the powers that failed that city. even the covered standards of toussaint reflect the desperate conditions that new orleans faces. the powerful 'who's gonna help a brother get further', a song written by allen long ago about all mankind, becomes a tale for all that is wrong with america today ('what happened to the liberty bell? did it really ding-dong? it must have dinged wrong... it didn't ding long')... i guess it's all the way you look at things ...
the tunes written by elvis reflect his feelings about the whole ugly affair, his love for the doomed city and the music it produced. some of the songs they work on together, like 'broken promised land', are true to the sentiment felt all along the gulfcoast. 'ascension day' is a haunting re-write of professor longhair's 'tipitina' (actually similar to allen's 'tipitina and me') with elvis' lyrics and plaintive drawl summing up the aftermath like he actually had been thru it. 'international echo', an ode to growing up in england listening to the crescent city sound, rollicks along to toussaint's barrell-house pianny and funky horn swells.

the album really flows just like a river, nice and smooth, then you run into these eddys that whip you around. a wonderful, yet heartbreaking ride.

the cd we got surprised us with an extra dvd included. a fairly slick little film about the making of the record that shows the pair traveling the battered streets of new orleans and recording in hollywood and the easy. it's really great to see allen getting all this attention.quite a bargain indeed, as we got it on sale at tower for less than a good bottle of wine. this is just a very nice surprise from two of our musical heroes.

what toussaint's official bio at nyno records sez...
Some of the best known hits penned by Toussaint include: Ernie K-Doe’s "Mother-in-Law;" "Fortune Teller," recorded by both Benny Spellman and The Rolling Stones; the Lee Dorsey hit "Working in the Coal Mine", also recorded by Devo and The Judds; and the Grammy-nominated "Southern Nights," recorded by Glen Campbell, which received BMI’s "The Most Performed Song of the Year" in 1977 and won the Country Music Association’s "Song of the Year." The master has produced such artists as Etta James, Albert King, Chocolate Milk, The Meters, LaBelle, Ramsey Lewis, John Mayall and Dr. John, and has been covered by and/or performed with the Pointer Sisters, Bonnie Raitt, The Judds, Robert Palmer, Otis Redding, The O’Jays, Boz Scaggs, Johnny Winter, Ringo Starr, Paul Simon, Chet Atkins, Lenny Kravitz and Elvis Costello, among others.

all that, and a lot more... and it fails to mention working with paul mccartney (which was somewhat of an epiphany back in '75 when paul and linda came to new orleans for mardi gras and record parts of 'venus and mars' at seasaint studios.)





elvis and allen perform 'who's gonna help a brother...'


elvis and allen:
six-fingered man
wonder woman
on your way down

allen toussaint:
riverboat
brickyard blues ('89 jazzfest)
whirlaway
tipitina (w/ john cleary @ musicare's hurricane benefit)

now go buy 'the river in reverse' or any allen toussaint and elvis costello!

rock-n-roll videos

well, it has been awhile hasn't it? not much going on in the old w'room lately, just waiting for someone to buy this house... feels like that'll never happen at all right now. so come august we are driving to the easy again with another load of stuff. now there is something to look forward to!

we have been real busy filling up with torrents and viddys, (HAL is nearly full everyday and the stack of cd's and dvd's of all things bootlegged are quickly filling up the empty spaces in the w'room), so much to download, so little time and space!

here's a few of our fave viddys of all time, so far...


the beatles 'free as a bird'


the chemical brothers 'let forever be'


bob dylan 'subterranean homesick blues'


blur 'coffee and t.v.'


the kinks - deadend street


radiohead 'paranoid android'


the rolling stones 'we love you'


xtc 'respectable street'


nirvana 'heart-shaped box'


the who 'happy jack'

stop me, if you've heard this one before...

fear of falling
(hi-fi) (lo-fi) (mp3)

now she wants to come around, she wants to be my best friend.
she says she likes me hanging 'round, when can we do this again?...
...and if i start to fall, i always fall too hard and if fall for her when she calls i know i'll surely fall apart.

9 o'clock up on the wall ... it isn't telling time.
9 o'clock up on the wall ... it's only telling lies.
if she calls me should i listen or should i hang up? i'm in trouble cuz i know...
...that if i start to fall i always fall too hard and if i fall for her when she calls i know i'll surely fall apart.

now i like her coming 'round, i made her my best friend.
now i'm glad she's hangin' 'round, when can we do this again?
if i call her will she listen or will she hang up? i'm in trouble cuz i know...
...that if i start to fall i always fall too hard and if i fall for her when she calls i know i'll fall apart...

...and if i really fall, i really fall too hard, and if i really fall when she calls, i know i'll really fall apart...

stuff you need to know to get by in this world

Never argue with an idiot. The people watching might not know the difference.

If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.

When you're laying in bed at night looking up at the stars, don't panic when you suddenly wonder "Where the Hell is the ceiling?!"

Remember, when someone annoys you, it takes 42 muscles in your face to frown. BUT, it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm and SMACK the asshole upside the head.

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four people is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

Just remember........if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

Some people are like Slinkies . . . not really good for anything, but you still can't help but giggle when you see one tumble down the stairs.

In the 60's people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

It is said that if you line up all the cars in the world end to end someone would be stupid enough to try and pass them.

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

The things that come to those who wait may be the things left by those who got there first.

Birds of a feather flock together and then crap on your car.

If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is buy a replacement.

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth of the hole!

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile way and you have their shoes.

If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield.

Good judgment comes from bad experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

Always remember you're unique. Just like everyone else.

Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a mechanic.

Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.

Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you've just made it again.

By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

Your mind not only wanders, it sometime leaves completely.

Sometimes you'll think you understand everything, then you'll regain consciousness.

A day without sunshine is like.................well, night.

Seen it all, done it all...........can't remember most of it.

Those who live by the sword..........get shot by those who don't.

Nothing is foolproof.............to a sufficiently talented fool.

Everybody lies........but it doesn't matter since nobody listens.

There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.

Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

When I die, I want to die like my grandmother who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car.

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...