Category: Mike Watt

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle – Too Far From the Limb Mix



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And now, we reach the mid-point of the work week… tonight in Nashville is the final week of Kevn Kinney’s residency at The 5 Spot.  Warner Hodges and Chuck Mead are the guests, and word has it that Dan Baird, Joe Blanton, and Brad Pemberton will be on hand as well… should be a fun show!

“All My Best Friends Are Cigarettes” by Darrin Bradbury

We start off the shuffle with another track of Darrin Bradbury’s The Story of Bob EP.  A good chance for a reminder that Darrin, Brian Wright, Raelyn Nelson, and Lauren Farrah will all be playing full band sets at The Basement East on Thursday (tomorrow night).  That show begins at 9:00p.m.  If you get there early, Nancy Terzian and the Leg Men and Stone Cupid featuring Julie Christensen are playing starting at 7:00p.m.

“IX” by Mike Watt

What have hear is Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE) setting the words of James Joyce to music.  It is from a 2008 compilation that features all 36 of Joyce’s Chamber Music poems adapted by different musicians.  The album is called Chamber Music – James Joyce (1907). 1-36.

“Most in the Summertime” by Rhett Miller

This is from Rhett Miller’s album The Traveler which features Black Prairie.  The recording is from a World Café Session.  

“Woman on Fire” by Amy Black

Another of the three original tunes on Amy Black’s new album, The Muscle Shoals Sessions is a powerful statement of purpose embedded in a song that sounds as timeless as the classics that dominate the rest of the album.

“Driven Back” by Jesse and Noah

I just got a listen to the first song from the forthcoming Jesse and Noah album – which will be in the shuffle soon, I’m sure.  In the meantime, we have the excellent title track from their album Driven Back.

“Save the World” by Shovels and Rope

Swimmin’ Time is Shovels and Rope’s 2014 release.  This song is from that album.  More evidence of just how awesome Shovels and Rope really are.

“Pretty Girls” by Against Me!

Another from World Café… The song originally appeared on the band’s 2005 album Searching for a Former Clarity, and a live version will be on 23 Live Sex Acts – a live album due in September.  I really dig the World Café Session version of this song.

“The Sky is Crying” by Elmore James

From 1959, the Elmore James original of a song that has become a Blues standard.

“The New Day” by Tomas Doncker Band

Another song from the Big Apple Blues album.  Doncker and his band have become extremely adept at fusing a variety of influences into a complex, diverse, and yet consistent “Global Soul” sound.  

“Back Back Back” by Anthony D’Amato

From the album The Shipwreck From the Shore… From a Noisetrade compilation. I’m late getting to the Anthony D’Amato party, but I really like this song, and I want to hear more!

VIDEO PLAYLIST

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Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle – So… yeah… Mix

I hope you enjoyed the premiere of the brand new song from Cosmonauts and our interview with the band… in case you missed it – go here. I heard yesterday and Mike Watt is bring his Missingmen to Nashville in October. The Americana Music Fest is just a few weeks off, Live on the Green is starting soon, and Musician’s Corner should be kicking off their Fall series very soon.  Plus news yesterday that Grimey’s is going to open an extension (Grimey’s Too) which include a cafe, bookstore, more music and possibly an expanded area for events like Record Store Day???  

Okay – let’s dive headlong into this morning’s shuffle.  I bit of a rough morning so I needed some sweet tunes to get me settled into my day, and the shuffle beast did it’s job.

First up we have Band of the Month for May (and our last ever Band of the Week) South of Ramona with The Lonesome Soul off their new Step Inside EP which we reviewed. I am still massively digging the band’s haunting folksy rock sound. 

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=395020673/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/transparent=true/
 

South of Ramona so far have only released videos of covers – here is their version of the Jefferson Airplane song, Somebody to Love

Next up we have Bonnie “Prince” Billy (William Oldham)  – a Louisville, Kentucky native who makes some incredible music which contains elements of punk, folk, Americana and Indie Rock. Today, we have the title track to his 2011 EP, The Mindeater which was a collaboration with the Louisville-based The Phantom Family Halo.


And finally, we continue to reap the fruits of our surfing of the ReverbNation site. Friday Night Music Club are “a handful of song writers who came together on a project and never left.”  Today we have Why?  a tasty bit of laid back folksy flavored goodness which definitely eased my transition into work mode.

http://www.reverbnation.com/widget_code/html_widget/artist_2543072?widget_id=50&posted_by=fan_1758528&pwc%5Bdesign%5D=default&pwc%5Bbackground_color%5D=%23333333&pwc%5Bincluded_songs%5D=0&pwc%5Bsong_ids%5D=12910857&pwc%5Bphoto%5D=1%2C0&pwc%5Bsize%5D=undefined

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Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle – Yellow Nuclear Submarine Mix

Hey you guys, the week is off to a rousing start, or else it had better be because I’m really sleeep.  If I drift off, please poke me…………….


Let’s get to it.

First up with have Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, Stooges) with a 2007 cover of the 1981 Blue Oyster Cult song Burnin for You. The song is on the 2007 compilation called Guilt By Association.  The compilation features Indie/Alternative/whatever artists covering Pop, Hard Rock and R&B songs.  Watt’s association with Blue Oyster Cult is long standing and well documented. 

 
 


Next up, we have Featured Artists The Imperial Rooster with the last song on their outstanding Decent People album.  Suzie Anna Riverstone offers the band’s trademark stew of American roots music – this time taking a darker turn down a miry creek. Don’t forget your raincoat.

 
Next up, we have a fun song from the Liverpool Horror Rock band, Zombina and the Skeletones.  Nobody Likes You (When You’re Dead) is off 2002’s Taste the Blood Of… for a reference think about if The Misfits were reincarnated as a 60s era “girl” group. 

 
 

 And finally, we have track called There Goes My Freak by L.A. Indie band Panic Movement from their 2010 album Sensation Generator.

 
 Here’s a Live clip of Panic Movement
 



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Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Life on Mars Mix

Shhhh…. sit back and don’t worry…. I’m gonna tell you all a story, it goes a little something like this….  

 Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she’s hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a saddening bore
‘Cause she’s lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on

We live in a universe of wonders and mysteries, but we so often stay locked in our tiny chambers of supposed security.  Through open the door, take that tentative step into the semi-darkness.  There is a world of wonder and a life to be lead. Fear is rarely useful. Bad stuff happens, but it’s just part of the deal, part of the thrill and the appeal.  I am a noble coward with big ideas, and yet… and yet, when I step outside my place of ease and rest, and I open myself up… it is only when I experience joy and pain and disappointment and triumph and humiliation that I am truly.  This is your day, what are you going to do….

This morning, the shuffle comes from a playlist, I like to call Revolving Random.  It’s actually more arbitrary than random, but whatever.  I created a playlist of 100 songs chosen just because – no theme, new songs, old songs, band’s I’ve featured, novelties, classics… every time, I post a shuffle from this playlist, I replace the songs played with some new ones to keep the playlist at 100.  Here is today’s shuffle:

First up, we have Tori Amos from her 1994 album Under the Pink which was recorded in Taos, New Mexico. Our song today is Pretty Good Year. 

“And Greg he writes letters and burns his CDs.”

  
  
Next up we have a song from Mike Watt’s solo debut, Ball Hog or Tugboat? The album was a star-studded affair.  Today’s track, called Piss-Bottle Man features Evan Dando (Lemonheads) on vocals. 
There are some things
A guy gets from his pop.
Some of them things get spaced,
Others never forgot.
I got such a tradition.
I keep in my truck cab.

 
   
Next up, we have a cover of a Blood on the Tracks era Bob Dylan song. This version of  Simple Twist of Fate is taken off the soundtrack to the 2007 motion picture, I’m Not There and features Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo fame (in case you didn’t know who Jeff Tweedy was).
He woke up and she was gone, he didn’t see nothin’ but the dawn
Got outta bed and put his clothes back on, pushed back the blind
Found a note she’s left behind but he could not concentrate on anything
Except the simple twist of fate

  

And finally, we have The Medicine Show from the classic Dream Syndicate album called simply Medicine Show. Dream Syndicate – featuring Steve Wynn (Danny and Dusty/Baseball Project) – were a very influential California-based Paisley Underground band. 

But I know that it’s hard to be a decent man
When you stop finding reasons for everything
But tonight I’ll find some answers
Down at the medicine show

 
 

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Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Spiel Wagon Mix

Time Marches on and now it is April – though it feels like June here. It’s almost time for our March Band of the Month poll so stayed tuned and be sure to vote.

Two longer songs made up today’s shuffle so I threw in a bonus track. 

Both of the songs have come up before, and yeah, they will come up again. 

Bob Dylan was about 34 years old when his classic album Blood on the Tracks was released (1975).  I can’t remember how old I was when I first heard Tangled Up In Blue but the song got into my impressionable mind and, er, well, made an impression.  I loved the feeling of the song and the story that wasn’t exactly clear and linear, but which was so evocative. The lyrics were (in a twisted way) the inspiration for the title of my (unpublished novel) Scent of Revelation.  In the novel, one of the characters takes the line, “There was music in the cafes at night and revolution in the air” to mean that they was a literal scent of revolution which could be detected by those who are open to it.  This character, Kevin, who incidentally is the character portrayed in my profile picture, believes a revolution is at hand, and that he can detect an underlying “scent” of revolution in the air. Another character, Jerry, muses that maybe it’s a scent of revelation… 

   
(Blood on the Tracks @ Amazon – click the album cover)
The thing that means the most to me about Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, Stooges etc.) is the respect he has and has had for history.  In songs, like History Lesson Part I & II, Disciples of the Three-Way and today’s song, Drove Up from Pedro from his star-studded 1995 album Ball Hog or Tugboat?. The significance of music and inspiration and defining moments have always been important to me. Going to a certain show, hearing an album or a song for the first time… and the way something which might be insignificant or of little importance to someone else, can change the entire trajectory of one’s life (either internally, externally or both). 

 what the germs did at that gig
made him do what he finally did.
he fit the thunderbroom to the thundertune,
stuffed the thing in the hole.
drove up from Pedro, from Pedro he drove.
Even though I never saw the Germs play live, I recall seeing Penelope Spheeris’ documentary, The Decline of Western Civilization and being transported from my 80s small town to the LA punk scene circa the late 70s.  And it also makes me recall rushing home from a show (Rollins Band and Corrosion of Conformity) and having to write a short story (not so much about the show itself, but about the feelings in brought up).

(Ball-Hog or Tugboat? @ Amazon) 
 
Finally our bonus song: It’s Guerrilla Radio by Rage Against the Machine.  Just because, although my revolutions have mostly been internal, I do have a bit of the revolutionary in me.  
 
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Affiliated Links:
Tangled Up In Blue (Digital Sheet Music) Tangled Up In Blue (Digital Sheet Music)
“By Bob Dylan. For piano, voice, and guitar (chords only). Folk; Pop; Rock. 4 pages. Published by Hal Leonard – Digital Sheet Music”

Online Diaries: The Lollapalooza Tour Journals of Beck, Courtney Love, Stephen Malkmus, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and Mike Watt Online Diaries: The Lollapalooza Tour Journals of Beck, Courtney Love, Stephen Malkmus, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and Mike Watt
The tour journal eliminated the rock critic middle man and created a direct, living and breathing, multiple-perspective story-telling that couldn’t have been done by a newspaper, magazine, radio or television. “A scathing take on Lollapalooza.” Sam Pratt – New York Post

Molotov Cocktail Molotov Cocktail
Classic Rage Against The Machine! The front spells it out the band name simply in white and the back has a logo of hands lighting a molotov cocktail on fire. Maroon 100% cotton.

Friday Morning Music Shuffle – Cool Operator Mix

How is it, in life, that you can feel on top of the world one minute and as low as low can be, the next?  How is it, in life, that you can’t avoid meeting assholes? How is it, in life, that we keep going when all signs point to giving up?  How is it, in life, that we forget that we are all in this thing together?

Urg… just some negativity but hey, it’s Friday and lots of wonderful things are happening.  Got a tweet back form a founding member of the Manhattan Transfer yesterday, I’m meeting new and wonderfully talented bands almost every day, and just in today’s music shuffle and nice fortuitous coincidental timing…

The Clash were for a time the greatest band in the world.  London Calling was and remains one of the best albums of all time (imho).  Their self-titled album is another great one.  I’ll admit, I’ve loved the energy and sound of the album well before I really understood what any of the songs were about.

This morning’s shuffle begins with White Man in Hammersmith Palais  and it’s a great example of the reggae/punk sound the band perfected.

Just one other song on today’s music shuffle. And this is where the fortuitous timing comes into play.

On his solo debut, Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE) brought in a who’s who of alt-rock and laid down some truly awesome stuff.  The second to the last song of the album (Ball-Hog or Tugboat?) is a cover of a Funkadelic song called Maggot Brain. This version features some killer bass work, a Watt spiel and J Macias doing a virtuoso take on Eddie Hazel’s guitar solo and it also features Bernie Worrell reprising his keyboard work from the original.

And then….  came this news that Watt is going to play with Bernie Worrell Orchestra and perform Maggot Brain and Super Stupid.

Here’s the album which leads off with the original version:

And here is what’s Ball-Hog or Tugboat?:

 And sad news comes as we learn of the passing of the legendary Etta James…

R.I.P. Etta ———————————————————————————————————-
Affiliated Links:

Funkadelic Maggot Brain Subway Print Men's T-shirt Funkadelic Maggot Brain Subway Print Men’s T-shirt
MAGGOT BRAIN – BIG PRINT SUBWAY T-SHIRT

(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
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Etta James : the Essential Etta James Etta James : the Essential Etta James
Etta James : the Essential Etta James