A POST YULE BLOG

PHIL SPECOR - A CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR YOU FROM ....

Christmas is over and done now. I hope everyone had a great time. I really enjoyed the holiday this year and even the usual nastiness of the season which is shopping did not seem to bring me down all that much. The reason for that is clearly the Phil Spector Christmas album. This is hands down my favorite Christmas record. I actually like most Christmas music (although I hate most anything done by modern artists and bands, but then that applies to almost everything for me, so I guess that ain't no big deal)but stuff by Mannheim Steamroller, symphony orchestras, church choirs and most any of the classic stuff I can get with and enjoy. The Phil Spector album however, is always heavy rotation during this time of year and I probably play it on a nearly daily basis. This thing is so ingrained into my vision of Christmas that I can't imagine not hearing this at the magic time of year.

You can hear a lot of this stuff on the radio around this time, especially Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" seems to get a fair amount of radio airplay. This record is chock full of greatness. You get the Ronettes (possibly the greatest girl group ever) as well as the Crystals, Darlene Love, Bob B Soxx and the blue jeans. Of course all of this music gets the Phil Spector "wall of sound " production that you know and love. Also many members of the "Wrecking Crew" show up to lay down their chops (and you would expect nothing less) such as the legendary Hal Blaine and Jack Nitzsche as well, as well as Leon Russell and even Sonny Bono lends a hand on some percussion I believe.

I think the origanal record was relesed on the same day JFK was shot, therefor it didn't do as well at the time. It has been reissued a number of times since and is a true classic, not just of Christmas music, but pop music in general, although you won't hear it outside of the holiday parameters unless you spin your own copy in the month of July.

THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO

Rob Zombies foray into adult animation is something I've been waiting for with some level of anticipation. Rob Zombie's comic book that had the character El Superbeast in it was really good, and I was disappointed when I couldn't find it anymore. So when I heard he was going to do a movie with one of the characters I thought it might be pretty good. I'm not a fan of Rob's music, although he does seem to like a lot of the same bands I do. He also likes a lot of the movies that I like, so you would think that i might be able to get into the guys work, but not so much really. "House of a Thousand Corpses" was ok, I haven't seen "Devil's Rejects" or his remakes of the Halloween franchise. I mean why remake those first two movies? Oh well, that's freakin' Hollywood for ya.

Anyway, back to the movie at hand. The thing is I can't really give my take on this movie because I didn't watch the whole thing. I turned off a little way through it. It started out cool. Black and white, with a nice old school horror film vibe. As the film took off though I just couldn't get into it. It's not because it's a cartoon, I'm a cartoon fan, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Looney Tunes, The Flintstones, Popeye, and most all of the classics I enjoy to this day. I just found myself watching El Superbeasto and it seemed lik a waste of time that I wasn't willing to engage in. I will possibly give this movie another chance in the future, but then again maybe not. I don't know. Many people will probably get into this and more power to 'em. I will hope the Rob Zombie will bring back his SPOOKSHOW INTERNATIONAL comic instead.

Before I go, I would direct to check out The Hounblog. This is a great blog and I have to say that Gillian's Found Photo#32 says more about real, bonafide rock and roll than anything your gonna find in a years subscription of Rolling Stone.

THIS MADE ME LAUGH TILL I CRIED

The only thing they had in
common was solving crimes

I took this from here

MY WORTHLESS TAKE ON THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

You can blame Gooseneck over at The Bigfoot Diaries for getting me to think about this. I have never really given the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame much thought before. I never gave more than passing notice to past inductees, and even though there are bands I really love inducted, there are, of course, bands that I do not. No big deal. I never thought at the beginning of the HOF that bands like the Ramones, Velvet Underground, or the Stooges would ever have even been considered, let alone inducted. Yet the legend status of these bands is undeniable, and so they absolutely belong there. The thing is though, are bands like the Stooges being inducted because they are finally getting the respect they are due, or is it more for the fact that the RARHOF would have no credibility if it didn't have them. Yeah the Ramones are inducted, but don't you think the a bigger deal will be made when Green Day gets the nod? I do. So I think that you can conclude that it is the commercial success that has the most meaning to the people running the show. Okay that's life, and it's not surprising, but I always thought of rock and roll(I mean the real stuff) as the language of the other side. A primal blast that the corporate types with their marketing degrees will probably never understand.
Oh well, I'm glad for the band any way. It's really too bad that Ron Ashton isn't around to see this. I remember seeing a documentary where he said he thought the Stooges would have been the American Rolling Stones had they lasted longer. So he may have enjoyed this. I would also guess that with the Stooges being in, that the MC5 will have their day, but it's probably too much to hope for the Gizmos or the Mummies.
What about the Sonics?

THE IMPERIAL DOGS ON MY TV

I've been trying to come up with something to write about. I thought maybe something about football, but being a Steelers fan, I obviously have nothing to say. Possibly I could do a write up on the Micky Spillane book I'm reading, but I haven't finish it yet. Tiger Woods, it's already tired. Politics, not worthy. So I turn to a newish DVD that I got. THE IMPERIAL DOGS LIVE IN LONG BEACH (OCTOBER 30, 1974).

My first question in regards to this is, where are the bands like this nowadays? Really. It's hard to imagine that in the modern rock culture, that is co-opted, sanitized, and impotent, bands like this would be able to exist. I'm sure that there are places where some no name bands with a following of about 12 people, are laying the real thing down in the here and now, but most people are too busy pretending that Green Day is a punk band, or that Blink 182 are cutting edge, or maybe there still trying to convince themselves that the befuddled, old , gibberish speaking, fool of Heavy Metal, Ozzy Osbourne is still worth a crap. Actually, as far as I know, all of those I just mentioned are probably already designated to the yesterdays papers scene, but it doesn't matter, because whoever the new faces are that have come up to take their places, are 99% likely to be limp, sterile, and as interesting as a quilting bee.

Now on to the DVD. First and foremost you absolutely have to play this thing loud. Very loud. It's rock and roll after all and you really can't expect to get anything out of it at low volumes. The show takes place at California State Collage, and the crowd (no more than forty people I'm sure) don't seem to get what they're experiencing. They clap and sorta shake their heads to the songs, but for the most part they seem to be there because there's nothing better to do. There is a girl and her boyfriend who are really into it. I wonder if the girl who is dancing, is the girl who got the band the gig at the collage.

The sound quality is not the greatest, but it's not that bad, although I think that the music does suffer somewhat. But again compared to some of the bootlegs that you've heard, this thing does fine. Like I said, play it loud.

Don Waller is a great front man, and the band lay down some great riffs. The choice of covers is nice, you get the The Kinks,Velvet Underground, and Mott the Hoople tunes done nicely enough.

I have to say that this DVD is my first exposure to the band in regards to actually hearing them. I've read there name in many places where true blue rock and roll is talked about, and Don Waller was one of the main guys behind BACK DOOR MAN, a great rock rag if ever there was one.

This DVD is a nice thing to watch, especially if you want to glom on to some of the greatness that was once rock and roll, when the New York Dolls and the Dictators were walking the earth. The Imperial Dogs are one of those bands that kind of capture all the stuff my imagination thought about rock and roll when I was just first discovering it, before MTV and corporate zombies basically ruined it all. So is this thing for everybody? No, but the really cool things in life rarely are.

THE THREE STOOGES

After a long, slow, and difficult drive home last night, I wanted to do absolutelynothing but sit back and relax with a vengeance. As luck would have it I was able to do just that. So I spent the better part of the night drinking cold ones, sitting with my feet up, and resensifying (is that spelled right?) myself to some of the greatest aspects of human culture to ever come down the pike.

I put in The latest Three Stooges DVD collection that I just acquired and set the controls for the heart of the sun.

I don't think that there is any argument about the legendary status of these guys. I mean even in these P.C., sanitized, and uninspiring times, these guys still do seem to carry some level of cred. I also realize that these guys were not necessarily doing anything groundbreaking (the silent film comedians were tromping along a lot of the same territory i.e Lloyd, Keaton) and the humor was lowbrow, but you are reading this blog; and here at Driver 13 hq, lowbrow is the coin of the realm.

Now I really do enjoy all of the cheap laughs, and zany humor that these guys, as far as I'm concerned, pull off on a level not touched by many, if any. But another thing that really gets me about these Three Stooges shorts is the surrealism of 'em. I think that you could easily slip one of these shorts onto a collection of avante-garde films from the 40's, 50's, and 60's, and it would fit right in. There's an otherwordly quality to a lot of these, or maybe I should say otherreality quality. When you come to think of it though, doesn't most of the really great comedy, the kind that has a lasting quality contain surrealism. Maybe I'm wrong but look at Monty Python and the early years of Saturday Night Live.

Anyway, the particular collection itself is volume #7. All of the shorts on thee discs have Shemp manning the third stooge chair, after Curly leaving the group for health reasons and eventual death. Many people out there in Three Stoogeland don't like Shemp at all, considering the post curly trio is unauthentic. I find Shemp to be pretty good, not better than Curly, just different. He's certainly bringing his best to the proceedings. The Columbia shorts on this collection range from the years 1952 to 1953. Some of the scripts are rehashed from earlier ones but they still work ok. Two of the shorts on here are 3D. You can watch them that way with the enclosed glasses or you can choose to watch them in 2D form.

If I have any complaint at all, it would be that there is no booklet or any kind of extras like interviews or things like that. There are short (couple of sentences) blurbs of info about each of the shorts, but a booklet with more in depth info about each one would have been nice. But all in all this is a minor complaint, and the collections are well worth buying.

SOME THANKS, AND A REVIEW

I wanna say thanks to gooseneck over at The Bigfoot Diaries for the kind words. The guy is truly a King among men. The guy has a true talent for words and I can only hope that one day he will bless us with a book. Yeah, he's that good. He and I have known each other for some time now and we have had some pretty amazing adventures. Checking out his blog is well worth the time.




And since we're speaking of great stuff to read, the latest issue of UGLY THINGS just hit my mailbox. This is probably the best rock and roll magazine out right now. I realize that there may be a few fanzines still making the rounds out there, but I don't know of many (if there out there please let me know). Let's face it, most of the stuff out there on the newstand is not even worth using as toilet paper. ROLLING STONE and SPIN are utter crap. METAL EDGE, and all the other rags championing the flavor of the month corpse paint wearing troubadors are just plain WEAK! Mojo is only marginally interesting, if ever, and I think it's safe to say that almost anything out there that you can name, is just not worth the time,effort, or hard earned dinero it takes to obtain such fluff. Where is the 70's CREEM and ROCKSCENE when we really need 'em?

Well those greats are long gone, and we're left with nothing but the garbage I just mentioned. Dark times indeed. But lo, there is reason to throw on those party hats and rejoice. UGLY THINGS exists in the here and now, and with some luck and people supportig the mag, it will be with us for a long time to come.

This thing is over 200 pages and is full of stuff that the pussies who put out STONE will never begin to comprehend. You get the lowdown on bands like the Master's Apprentices, Stepson, The Imperial Dogs, and many, many more. The music, book, and DVD reviews are all great. Even if I don't like a band they cover, I still like reading about 'em in UGLY THINGS. This thing is a labor of love put out by Mike Stax and his assorted gang of scribes, and if your going to spend money on any magazine spend it on this.

GIFT IDEAS THAT YOU SHOULD PROBABLY AVOID

The only thing worse than being the kid who gets this thing on Christmas morning; is being the creepy relative who gave it.