BROADCAST #11
AIR DATE: 03-13-07

Here’s the notes for tonight’s broadcast Fanatics! I hope you enjoyed the show and I hope you had a chance to check out Rodney Bingenheimer’s Hollywood Blvd. thing the other day. I have never been to one of those things and I don’t think I will go to one again but I had to check this one out and be one of the many people cheering the man on. I also hope you got a chance to check out the Beasts Of Bourbon at the Troub a few nights ago. They were amazing. I was given a copy of their new album. I have not played it yet but will this week. They played a lot of new material at the show and it was great. I will bring in a track the week after next. Something I wanted to let you know about. I have been working on four broadcast’s worth bands doing covers. I was going to roll one out every three months across the year. Next week is the first one. I hope you will tune in and check it out. Also, I hope you enjoyed the rare Vega track. I am looking forward to hearing the man’s new album that is coming out later this year. Until next week, STAY FANATIC!!! --Henry

Here’s some show info for what I am up to in April:
Janeane Garofalo, Henry Rollins, Marc Maron: It’s Not A Play And There’s No Music.
April 10-15: NYC Gramercy Theater (127 E 23rd )
April 24-29: LA Silent Movie Theater (611 N. Fairfax) http://www.silentmovietheatre.com/

Basically, each of us will do a 30-45 minute set each. No one is headlining so the running order will change nightly. These two are really great and if you have never seen them do their thing, you’re in for a treat. I don’t know how I will keep up with them.

For you Fanatics who can’t live without hearing this show again or if the original broadcast time is too hard on your sleep cycle here’s the re-broadcast schedule:
USA: Fridays: 0200 – 0400 hrs. PST
UK: Fridays: 1000 hrs. – 1200 hrs.
Continental Europe: Fridays 1100 hrs. – 1300 hrs.
Australia: Fridays 2100 hrs. – 2300 hrs.

The Ramones - I Don't Care: In honor of Rodney Bingenheimer, we play the band he started his radio career off playing. What a way to start on radio! How cool! This is from the sublime Rocket To Russia album.

The Germs - We Must Bleed: Two things made me think of The Germs this week. Yesterday I was interviewing Joan Jett, who among other things, produced the Germs album What We Do Is Secret which this track was taken from and earlier today, I went to see LA music icon Rodney Bingenheimer get his star on Hollywood Blvd. and I saw Germs Drummer Don Bolles at the event. I figured we had better listen to some Germs. I have some interesting Germs tracks that you Fanatics might not have heard before that I will bring in soon. I don’t think we play enough of that band on our show so I better get to work on that. Joan said the band were very serious when they were working on the album. Their live shows were notoriously out of control, tune and time but they had great songs. Joan said they knew they had great material and were dead set on getting on tape. When you listen to all their recorded output, it is an amazing body of work. Forget Darby’s Crash’s visionary lyrics, and I don’t use that term lightly, the band is really amazing on these recordings. Fuckin’ Don Bolles, what a drummer! Today he looked like a maniac in the warm California sun. As you Fanatics know, Darby Crash is gone, passed away over 25 years ago. What a band. If you don’t have the CD MIA: The Complete Anthology, that’s one of those absolutely must-have must-hear album.

Various Artists – Bangalifassa: I forget when and where I got this album, Tribal Folk And Cafe Music. It looked interesting and so I got it in hopes that it would be something worthwhile. These recordings are taken from the massive archive of field recordings made by Arthur S. Alberts in Western Africa in late 1949 and early 1950. Sounds pretty cool, don’t you think?! What a trip that must have been.

The Stooges – The Weirdness: I can’t not play something from The Weirdness, the brand new Stooges record. I wish this record was better. I was interested in hearing what these guys would come up with. Last year when I was on the Big Day Out tour, I was talking to Stooges bassist Mike Watt and he told me that Ron Asheton had a bunch of riffs for songs. I begged Watt to make sure they did a record in our life time. I first heard the album several weeks ago and listened to it many times over that period and it has grown on me somewhat but I still don’t think it’s all it could have been. I have read some reviews that are pretty hard on the album but not mean, just let down for the most part. It’s not really for me to be in the critic position but I wish they had taken more advantage of the tools they had at their disposal. Firstly, they had the players. All these guys are in great shape and are not lacking in talent in any way, Iggy sounds as good vocally as he ever did and I think he wants the band to be great as anyone else. Secondly, they could have had many options in the recording process as far as engineers, producers, etc. They chose Steve Albini who is a rock killer. He ruins albums, he strips recordings of sound and delivers the same product no matter who he records. From listening to the album many times now, I have come to the conclusion that they didn’t work hard enough. I think they should have taken more time and treated this album as a demo and developed the songs more. I think they have the tools and should use them. The rhythm section is great, the guitar player is one of a kind and look who the singer is. I hope they follow up sooner than later with another record that blows The Weirdness away. Of course, we Fanatics will stick with the band all the way. One other thing that bugs me and it’s a minor point but all the same, in the band photos, Mike Watt is not present. Come on! He’s been with The Stooges every step of the way since they reformed and he sweats bullets up there and he deserves to be in the line-up shot. Just an opinion.

Grinderman - Electric Alice: From the brand new album Grinderman. Amazon.com says this will be released on 04-10-07 in America. As I told you last week, I picked up a copy in Australia and so we have it now. I reckon something like this deserves and encore play so we will play yet another song that’s not the single. Grinderman is Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos. It’s potent line up with every member having one intense record of musical achievements behind them. I hope I get to see the band play. I have no idea how extensively they will tour or if there will be another album. Perhaps this is a break in Bad Seed action to let the band keep their chops but get the youth out of their systems so they can get back to the grim adult work of the Bad Seeds. More Nick the better I say and have been saying for almost 30 years now.

The Fall - Fall Sound: The first time we have experienced a track from the new Fall album Reformation Post TLC. I have been unusually busy lately and have not had the chance to really sit down and listen closely to this album. It’s late on Friday night and I am just getting started on these notes, that would give you an indication on how behind I am on things. Anyway, I will listen to the album a couple of times over the weekend and get my head around it a little better than I do now and get back to you. If you wanted to get information about this band, I think there is a website you should check out: http://www.visi.com/fall/

The UK Subs - C.I.D. / Live In A Car / B.1.C.: I think this was the first Subs single I got. I think I first heard the band on the Farewell To The Roxy album or some other compilation. I remember hearing Live In Car and knew this was my band. Soon after getting this EP, I was living in my car on and off so the song always had a special meaning for me. C.I.D. stands for Criminal Investigations Department, basically a British detective. I have been looking around and can’t find anything on what a B.1.C. is but it seems to have something to do with unemployment or something. Perhaps it’s a form of some kind. I bet one of our many UK Fanatics could school me on that one. Please do if you wouldn’t mind. I pulled these tracks off The Singles 1978-1982 CD which is very easy to find. As far as I know, this EP was only pressed in the UK and the original pressing on City Records had was pressed in several different colors. Apparently there were 2500 pressed of each color. The ad for the EP says it comes in clear, yellow, green and blue. I have all those but as well, I have it in red, olive green, black and orange. There are two versions of the orange one says the UK Subs site. One has "for stronger pain relief" b/w "keep away from children" scratched into the matrix and another has "a porky prime cut" b/w "this side up the side below". I have the former and have never seen the latter.

Deerhoof - Choco Fight: Another track from the new Friend Opportunity album. I have only played this new album a few times now and I’m liking it. I have not heard all the band’s albums. Engineer X has instructed to check them all out and I will get to all of them in the next few weeks. I am still getting my head around Apple O and Milkman. Several weeks ago when I was Tel Aviv, I was allowed to have a two hour radio show on some station and I played Deerhoof, thinking I was going to lay some unheard music on the people there. They were already fans and acted bored when I asked if they had ever heard of them.

Unrest - Winona Ryder (Xx Version): I thought you Fanatics might find this interesting. This is one of the two versions of this song by Unrest. There’s another version with Bridget Cross on vocals, we hears Mark Robinson’s vocal tonight. Both are available on the B.P.M. (1991-1994) album. In a classic twist of the ever puzzling Mark, this song is actually a song called Debbie Harry by Family Fodder. Mark and Co. merely took the song and re-wrote the lyrics. It’s not like Unrest are trying to hide this fact, they state it clearly on the album notes. It’s just a strange thing to do, well, not strange if it’s something Mark Robinson is up to. He’s an interesting guy. Anyway, that was the very fine track Winona Ryder and if that made you at all curious about what the original version sounded like, well then you were overjoyed with the evening’s next selection. If you wanted to get more Unrest info, here’s a place to start: http://www.teenbeatrecords.com/

Family Fodder - Debbie Harry: Track taken from Fresh Records - The Punk Singles Collection CD. This is a band I know nothing about but am searching out records of. So far, they are not easy to find. When I get more information or music of the band, I’ll get back to you.

Vega / Ocasek - Cracker Jacker: I don’t know if any of you Fanatics will care but to me, this is a big deal. Many years ago, Alan Vega gave me a tape of a project he had done with Ric Ocasek called Ti Stadt. Most of the tracks ended up being used on a CD they released called Getchertikitz in 1996. My favorite track on the whole tape never made the CD and I always wondered about that. I got the tape out the other day and put it on CDR to make sure it was all backed up and heard Cracker Jacker again and knew I had to bring it in. It’s a great slice of prime Vega and perfect for our show.

Black Eyes - Yes, I Confess: Have not played anything from this long gone band in awhile. I don’t know what the members are up on their own. It’s most likely they are alive, well and making all kinds of interesting music and I would be the last to know. Their two albums on Dischord, the self-titled first one that we took tonight’s track from and the 2nd, Cough, are great I think. When I saw them play, they were about to record the first one so I never saw them as they were preparing the newer material. I wish I could have seen them more often, they were fantastic. I have tried to describe what they sound like to people who have not yet experienced the band. It is a frantic and explosive thing that seems to want to destroy itself as it recreates itself moment to moment. If you reconsider a tornado as a whirling cone of debris and think of it as a thing chasing its existence and getting more dangerous as it draws all things around it into itself, that’s what their music is like.

The Cravats – Precinct: From the very good The Land Of The Giants 2CD set. This is on John Esplen’s very good and very brave Overground Records. Labels like John’s should get 100% support because it is one hell of a task to put out records like this. It’s great of course and there’s no Cravats song I don’t like. Formed in 1977 in Redditch UK. The band’s frontman, The Shend, is Dada Rock’s big daddy and a great talent. The band eventually mutated into The Very Things and all those records are good too. Let The Shend tell you how it is: http://www.thecravats.com/

DEVO - The Super Thing: From the band’s New Traditionalists album, their 4th for Warner Bros. This was the album that I thought should have been mentioned more by critics and Spuds (DEVO Fanatics) alike. This is the album after Freedom Of Choice, that’s the album that put DEVO in the strange place of the American mainstream with the song Whip It, a song that many Spuds thought was not nearly as great as the songs that made them Spuds in the first place. It was interesting to see some very normal people yelling, “Whip it!”. Also, there was nothing like looking all Punk Rock and having some knuckle dragger chuck his empty at your head and bellow, “Take that, punk rock, you DEVO faggot!” Nice. New Traditionalists in a way, was the reaction to all that. I wonder if the success of that song took the men of DEVO by surprise. If you listen to the lyric of Freedom’s title track, the refrain at the end of the song, “Freedom of choice is what you got / Freedom from choice is what you want,” seems to be a burn on the very people who bought the album by the truckload. That was so funny to me. I loved the band because of their brilliance, perversion and the fact there was nothing like them anywhere in message and image. What a breath of fresh air these guys were, only to be bear hugged by the beery masses. Anyway, the follow up, New Traditionalists, to me was always a solemn nod to the true Spuds that DEVO had not lost the plot. If you think of what the title means and look at the cover image on the American version of the record, the band all standing at attention amidst Roman pillars, there’s a lot of things to think about there. Also, the songs, are in a way, a real downer. They are cynical, and quietly angry. It is a brilliant album. I remember really connecting with this album like I did with the first two. This is my favorite track on the whole thing. It’s in print and all over the place, as it should be. I have been listening to DEVO for almost 30 years and the music is still working for me.

Xiu Xiu - Boy Soprano: Thanks Engineer X for turning me onto the very great 5RC label and for giving me a copy of this album, The Air Force by Xiu Xiu. It’s the only record I have of theirs but it’s only a fraction of the ones they have released in the last few years. The band at this point is Jamie Stewart and Caralee McElroy. This album was produced by Greg Saunier who is in Deerhoof. I am looking forward to hearing more of Xiu Xiu’s records, this one is very cool. They remind me a little of Deerhoof as they seem to be coming from all kinds of places and at the same time, no place at all, they are their own thing. You can find this one on the 5 Rue Christie label.

Mbuti Pygmies Of The Ituri Rainforest - Animal Dance Song: You probably won’t believe me but I have been listening to this record since I was in 4th grade. Yes it’s true. Our 4th grade teacher showed us a short film about Pygmy life in the Ituri Rainforest and we learned about Colin Turnbull’s work with Pygmies. Our teacher played this album to us and I borrowed it for a weekend and after giving it back, found one of my own. It was lost over the years but in the 1980’s I found another LP copy and then years later, found it again on CD. There are moments on this album that play like samples in my head, taking me back many years. Here’s the address for it on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Mbuti-Pygmies-Rainforest-Various-Artists/dp/B000001DK2/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-7901119-4786327?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1173596904&sr=1-1

The Swans - Your Property: Michael Gira of The Swans gave me my copy of the Cop album in the summer of 1984 I believe. I still have it of course. This might be one of the heaviest albums I have ever heard. I don’t know if I can recommend it but I think it’s one of the most incredible pieces of work ever committed to tape. I played this album all the time, all the way through the last Black Flag tour. The Swans were one of Joe Cole’s favorite bands and in 1986, we had copies of all the Swans stuff out on tour with us and we would play this stuff for hours alone in the truck. Listening to the band is hard sometimes, not because it’s hard music to listen to, it has quite the opposite effect on me, it does make me remember Joe though.

The Sugarhill Gang - The Down Beat: From The Sugar Hill Records Story box set. Have we ever played a Sugarhill joint before on our show? I bet we played White Lines at some point. I had a few of the 12” singles many years ago and thought they were really cool. I got the box set a few years ago and have not been all the way through it. It’s interesting to hear what Rap music used to be like. Hearing the Sugarhill stuff now reminds me of a different time when all we worried about was silly things like Iran-Contra and how Oliver North wore his uniform to court even though he wasn’t a Marine anymore, making it a costume, and a lie, something he was very good at doing. Anyway, enjoy the music!

Lydia Kavina – Melody: Another track from this CD I got weeks ago called Music From The Ether: Original Works For Theremin. We played a track from this CD a few weeks ago. There are a couple of tracks that are perhaps too long to play on the show but you never know, we may throw one of them on at some point. Here’s something that’s pretty cool that I didn’t make note of the last time we listened to Ms. Kavina: Lydia Kavina is a relative of Leon Theremin, who as you know, invented the electro static instrument. If you look her up on Wikipedia, you will see a picture of the two of them.

Mark Perry - You Know: From Mark P’s solo album, Snappy Turns. Mark is the leader of the true Punk band Alternative TV. Their 2nd album, Vibing Up The Senile Man, is one of the strangest albums I own. It’s great. Mark can be credited with creating one of the first Punk fanzines, Sniffin’ Glue. One of my favorite Mark records is the Snappy Turns album. Mark is one of the more interesting figures of the Punk movement. I don’t think I have ever seen any pictures of him looking like a typical punk. His lack of pretension and his appearance makes me think he was closer to what the whole thing was supposed to be about. A long time ago, some people I know had ATV’s first album Action Time & Vision but I don’t know anyone who followed the band past that. I did but only later on. I got more curious about Mark after hanging out with John Esplen of Overground Records, who has put out some really interesting ATV albums.

Shine - Touch Of Everything (Live 02-13-98 Black Cat DC): I know I got this from Ian many years ago. I think Joe from Fugazi taped the show. We have heard Wino’s other band The Obsessed do this song but we have never heard his band Shine do it so I reckon it’s about time we do. You know the deal, Scott “Wino” Weinrich is one of the heaviest mofos to ever pick up a guitar. I think this is one of the best riffs of all time. I can listen to this song every day. What a stomper.

TV Smith - Ark of Suburbia: From TV’s new Misinformation Overload album. As you Fanatics know, TV was in The Adverts, one of the great first wave of UK Punk bands. TV still makes great albums and tours all over all the time. I was just in Australia as you know and TV had just done his first tour there a couple of months before. I was really busy when I was there and forgot to ask anyone about how the shows went. I will contact Tim Pittman who put the shows on and see if I can get an answer from him. Oh yeah, if you have not, you should check out the Adverts classic album Crossing The Red Sea.

Boston – Something About You: On Friday March 9th, Boston vocalist Brad Delp was found dead in his house in New Hampshire. He was 55. I love those Boston albums. All those guitars, man, what a sound. When those records were coming out, I never got them. I heard them so much on the radio, I never bothered. I got them much later on CD and have been playing them ever since. I know that some people bag on the band and I guess Boston left themselves open to some barbs but those are some really well written songs and when those records came out, sonically, they stood out. In headphones, the first two Boston albums are really amazing. Laugh all you want, I am a fan! Of course, it’s sad that Delp passed away so young. The man who produced the bands first album used to be my neighbor and he said that Delp was a really cool guy. I imagine he’s feeling pretty bad about this. One time, many years ago, I did some mixes of More Than A Feeling from a copy master multi-track of the song that was at a studio I was working at. I did an all vocal mix of the song to hear if Delp could really sing that well. It was amazing to hear all those vocals, he could sang great on that track and on all the other ones too.