Monday, February 28, 2011

I just heard this fantastic song "No One Wants Me" by The Actioneers on one of the many Teenage Shutdown comps that Calvin lent me called She'll Hurt You In The End. Dig the cool video!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Holy shit! This is the best movie I've ever seen about the border in Texas, or the border in general. It's set in El Paso, TX and represents the city and the people so realistically it almost seemed like a documentary at times, but then you hear Harvey Keitel's hilariously bad impression of a Texas accent. Warren Oates had a smaller role in the film, but was really great as the corrupt Chief of the Border Patrol. The film pointed out some hard truths about the ridiculousness and violence of immigration and it seems like things have only escalated since 1982. This is one of the best roles I've seen Jack in since I saw Warren Beatty's film REDS.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

I love this guy.

I love the middle section of this song at 1:23

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

"...the world's increasing descent
into cruelty and darkness..."

Monday, February 21, 2011

2 Jack Nicholson movies (one he directed) that I've seen recently that really SUCK:


Sunday, February 20, 2011



Saturday, February 19, 2011

Today I attended the Squaxin Island Tribe Pow Wow & it was beautiful. The dancing and regalia were amazing. While I didn't take my camera (out of respect), David Erde took this photo of me before I ate my "NDN BURGER" which is a giant piece of fry-bread, 2 beef patties, green chili sauce, lettuce, tomato, onions, etc. I am not sure why I actually ordered this burger, especially since I ate a burger last night (a bad one too)... but being the burger connoisseur I like to think I am, it had to be done. & it turned out to be a great success! The meat was not the best quality, but the fry-bread countered that and in the end I was incredibly full.



"Walls and Bridges is an album by John Lennon, released in October 1974. Recorded and issued during his estrangement from Yoko Ono, the album caught Lennon in the middle of his infamous "lost weekend", a period that lasted some eighteen months. It was the last album that Lennon released without input from his wife. Apparently, it was originally intended to be an acoustic, downbeat album, in the style of Bob Dylan, but continued influence from friend Elton John inspired Lennon to add a decidedly more upbeat feel to many of the tracks (although some of the original feel is still prevalent in some songs).

In the fall of 1973, as Mind Games was being released, Lennon decamped with his assistant-turned-lover May Pang to Los Angeles to record a cover tunes album with Phil Spector. After the sessions fell into disarray with alcohol, Spector disappeared for some time with the session tapes, requiring Lennon to re-record the bulk of the album later in 1974, eventually titled Rock 'n' Roll upon its early 1975 release.

John Lennon spent most of the first months separated from Ono carousing with Pang and various old friends, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and Harry Nilsson in particular. He contributed to Starr's Ringo and Goodnight Vienna albums (the latter recorded with Elton John) and also produced Nilsson's album Pussy Cats. But by the middle of 1974, Lennon began readying material for his own album, and headed to New York City that June to rehearse and record with his chosen musicians, including friends Jim Keltner on drums and Jesse Ed Davis on guitar.

Produced again on his own, Walls and Bridges has a decidedly more upbeat tone than Mind Games, although many of the lyrics make it clear that despite the enjoyment of his freedom, Lennon missed Ono. "Going Down On Love", "What You Got", "Bless You" and "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)" are a testament to Lennon's heartsickness during this period. "Steel And Glass" and "Scared" were the latest in Lennon confessionals, especially the latter where he prophetically sings: "Hatred and jealousy gonna be the death of me; I guess I knew it right from the start".

On the upside, some of Lennon's most uplifting songs, namely its two singles "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" and "#9 Dream", appear on Walls and Bridges. The former, which features Elton John on piano and backing vocals, reached #1 in the US the same week that Walls and Bridges hit the top of the LP charts. Losing a wager he made with Elton about the single's commercial potential, Lennon appeared at John's Madison Square Garden show on 28 November, performing Lennon's current #1 hit together. In addition, The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", Elton John's new single with Lennon on backing vocals, were also played to an uproarious audience, among whom sat, in a startling turn of events, Yoko Ono. While it proved to be John Lennon's last ever concert appearance, the backstage meeting with Yoko sowed the seeds of their imminent reunion.

During one of his sporadic visits from England to see his father, eleven-year-old Julian Lennon helped record a casual cover of "Ya Ya", which Lennon tacked onto the end of Walls and Bridges with the credit: "Starring Julian Lennon on drums and Dad on piano and vocals". May Pang recalled later the younger Lennon was disappointed when he heard the recording would make the album, telling his father "If I'd known, I would have played better".

Aside from its #1 gold-selling US success, Walls and Bridges was also a UK hit album, reaching #6 there. As with Mind Games, Walls and Bridges is not as highly regarded as John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band or Imagine, though it does indeed have its devout followers. One of them, Elton John himself, has gone on record declaring Walls and Bridges the best Beatles solo album. Also, despite the album being recorded during their separation, Yoko Ono has cited the album as her favourite of John's solo work.

Walls and Bridges was released in a remixed and remastered form in November 2005. The remastered version featured an alternate cover. This new cover retained Lennon's signature and hand-written title, but used one of the portraits Bob Gruen took for the album instead of Lennon's childhood drawing. The bonus tracks for the reissue include "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" performed live with Elton John, a previously unreleased acoustic version of "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)" and a promotional interview with Lennon." - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8hZLu255Mw&feature=player_embedded#at=236

THANKS AGAIN YT!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

THE SCENE! Funky times in the Motor City!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Thanks JAD!





Thursday, February 10, 2011

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

I'm sick of this shit! I'll drank a bottle of rescue remedy. What's it gonna take? There are way too many bad ((((vibrations)))) in the world right now. I don't even feel like I have the right to complain. One of these days I'll close the gate to the east pasture & never come out. Fuck all y'all!


Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Dear Bat Cave Party People,

The 1st Fela Kuti box set came out, & I couldn't be happier. Fela is #1!

love,
JB



I'm so very happy about this 2xLP!

"Spending the greater part of the last decade assembling this masterpiece while tracking down most of the musicians in the process, Stuart Ellis of Radiodiffusion Internasionaal has compiled a mind-blowing set of Pakistani instrumentals spanning the period between 1966 and 1976. It’s all here: rock and roll beat, surf, folk traditional mixed with pop, film tunes, electric guitars, sitar and organ solos, brilliant percussion and arrangements crafted by the grooviest bands of the period: The Panthers, The Mods, The Bugs, The Blue Birds, The Abstracts, The Aay Jays, The Fore Thoughts, Nisar Bazmi, and Sohail Rana.

Situated between Afghanistan, India and Iran, the collision of cultural influences in Pakistan gave birth to music that was, and still is, unlike anything heard anywhere else on the planet. By the late 1960s, previous restrictions on musical expression began to soften and bands that were playing American and British pop covers became popular in Karachi’s burgeoning night club scene and at private dance parties. Long hair came into fashion among young men and hashish became the popular drug of choice on college campuses across Pakistan. Soon, hippies from both North America and Europe began flocking to Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. Very few of the bands that formed during this time actually got to record. Like their neighbors in India, the Pakistani record industry was more focused on releasing “filmi” music, which had just started to incorporate the electric guitar and electric sitar.

Pakistan’s musical revolution ended in June 1977 after a coup d’état and the establishment of a pure Islamic state governed by Sharia law. This marked the end of the “Swinging ‘70s” in Pakistan as night clubs and alcohol were banned throughout the country. Television and cinema, as well as popular music, were now subjected to government censorship. After the clamp down, many Pakistani musicians left the country and moved to America, Canada and England.

The audio quality here is top notch, sourced straight from the original EMI Pakistan masters. This limited 2-LP set is housed in a heavy duty full-color gatefold jacket with superb photos of the musicians and extended liner notes by compiler Stuart Ellis." - Sublime Frequencies
There's almost nothing funnier than Jack Nicholson playing a character named "Stoney," and playing a rip-off tune of "Purple Haze" backwards. PSYCH OUT is a really great San Francisco hippie movie and Bruce Dern plays a crazed & wild "seeker" of God. There is also a really great scene of a fake funeral in Golden Gate park w/ The Seeds! RIP Sky Saxon.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

My final project this quarter is about Tze-whit-zen (the video has this mis-spelled), the ancient village and cemetery that was found during construction of a graving dock in Port Angeles, Wash in 2004. This village is around 2,700 years old - around the same time Rome was founded. There is a lot of controversy w/ the Washington Dept. of Transportation now and this story is just really interesting.