Music for Perfect People

Speaking of battles…

Charles Hamilton and Serius Jones went at it recently during a show at S.O.B.’s. The two emcees take turns killing each other with punchlines for six minutes before breaking it up and showing love.

Pretty even battle overall. A lot of great punches. Give a listen. Then go check out more Charles Hamilton.

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Deadheads in the dead of winter waiting for Ratdog

Jackie Greene has been playing in Phil Lesh and Friends for over a year. Here he reflects on what the legions of dedicated deadheads mean to him. This is ripped from his blog:

“The Love you Take is Equal to The Love You Make•January 27, 2009 •

So there was this moment on the PLF spring/summer tour when everything made sense to me.

We were in Columbus, Ohio scheduled to play at this wonderful outdoor ampitheater (the name escapes me now) and Levon Helm was about 30 minutes into his set when a horrific thunderstorm struck. It literally came out of nowhere. It was immediate. The downpour was intense and the wind blew the rain sideways and everything on the stage began to get drenched. Within seconds, guitar amps were shorting out and microphone stands were being toppled. Levon’s band had to leave the stage but Levon kept playing. (to be fair, Levon and Larry) He finished the song and ran to the side stage to dry off. His set was cut short.

The image of Levon Helm playing his heart out in the middle of a storm – with the biggest shit-eating grin you’ve ever seen – is something I will NEVER forget. In retrospect it was almost a metaphor for the music business. Playing through the struggle, paying dues and all that. It was a powerful moment, and I am lucky to bear witness first hand.

What happened next was even more remarkable:

The venue had completely cleared out – thousands of people vacated the ampitheater. It looked as if the show was over. PLF would not be performing that night.

All the gear was shot. The rain had come so fast and so hard that there was no time to cover anything up. One of my amps was filled with water and Steve’s electronic keyboards were messed up. Not to mention the house sound system and microphones and monitors.

It took several hours for the crew to dry the equipment enough that we could use it safely. I remember seeing a bunch of stage hands with portable hairdryers working diligently to dry the little nooks and crannies of the sensitive gear.

We didn’t know if we were going to go on that night. It looked as if the crowd went home. I thought for sure they went home.

Well, we ended up going on several hours later. And to my surprise, every single person came back and the venue was again filled. They had all been waiting around the corner or across the street. I was so amazed. It literally brought a tear to my eye. It was this moment when I realized how monumentally powerful music can be.

I mean, here’s a band (the grateful dead) who’s body of work is SO important, SO revered that fans are willing to wait for hours in the rain to go to the show!!! And there wasn’t any definitive call on weather or not there would be a show that night! They waited just for the CHANCE of a show….

…it was as if the storm NEVER happened.

And therein the magic lies. The grateful dead songbook is one of the most impressive and powerful catalogs modern history has known. It’s a staggering body of work that reaches into the lives of so many people and captures the spirit of the human experience so well, and with such honesty, it’s difficult to deny. Once you are in – it is impossible to escape.

Honestly, I’ve never seen such dedication before in my life. Most bands are lucky if they have fans that will go to two shows a year. The deadheads are unprecedented in their passion and unmatched in their appreciation and kindness.

Halfway through the first tune, it all clicked: ”The love you take is equal to the love you make”. Of COURSE we had to go on. How could I have doubted it? These fans have been coming to shows for decades. Probably not the first storm they waited through either!!

I know so many bands that would have said: “fuck it, lets call it. Crowd’s going home anyways”. And they would have been right. Their fans probably would have gone home. But not these fans. Not deadheads.

Now I realize that it probably never even occurred to Phil that we might not go on. Even though the rest of the band and crew were wondering if we would. As long as it was safe – we go on. Period.

I learned one of the most important lessons of my life that night, and it has brought a beautiful new meaning to my life. ”

Nice statement about music and its power in general. Here’s a clip of Jackie and Phil playing “Brokedown Palace” together at Lesh’s home.

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Apparently Kanye is sending out emails and introducing a “new artist” who goes by Tokin’ Black Guy.  You can hear a couple of TBG’s tracks over at Allie is Wired.  The thing is, pretty much any of you who click on that link will figure out that TBG is just Kanye doing his thing with dance tracks.  There aren’t any robot-voices, so that’s good…maybe that dude from Little Brother won’t call him out about this one.

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This is one of my favorite pieces of music from 2008. 

Pretty girls singing about dropping acid seems pretty wonderful. Chris Robinson and Jonathan Rice contribute the hauntingly beautiful background vocals.

You also may recall Jenny Lewis as Fred Savage’s love interest in “The Wizard”. The late 80′s video game tour de force that introduced the world to Super Mario Brothers 3 and the belief that italian folks can fly using a raccoon tail.

Lewis on how the record came to be:

According to the Los Angeles Times, Lewis was inspired by house parties at Jonathan Wilson‘s Laurel Canyon home.^[8] “We’d go to these jams in the canyon. They’re fantastic. Jonathan invites older session musicians from the real Laurel Canyon era, and younger people who are just starting their bands who happen to live in the canyon, and we all get together and sing Grateful Dead covers and J. J. Cale songs.”^[8]

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Keep an eye out for The Neville Brothers on Leno, and Paul McCartney on The Colbert Report this evening.  Both start around 11:30.   I’ll be setting the DVR because I go to sleep at 10:00 (usually closer to 9:45).

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• The Rain Hath Turned Purple

N.A.S.A. ft. The Cool Kids, Ghostface, Scarface, and DJ AM – The Mayor

I keep trying to figure out exactly what N.A.S.A. is, but you know, NASA keeps getting in the way.  Anybody want to shine some light?

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Welcome to this beautiful mess I, the good Dr. Mangtooth, like to call THE MANGLED BAG OF TRICKS. Check back here every Wednesday for new audio and video updates, and other rants, links, etc …

For lack of a better jump-off point, and since this was deemed the perfect start to Woodstock in 1969, I feel that this is good enough for all you cats as well …

Now that we have introductions out of the way and Richie Havens has your freed blood flowing, we can move on to this sweet album I found out about last week. .. DJ Signify’s newest release, Of Cities (released on Bully Records January 20^th, 2009). In case you haven’t heard of DJ Signify (http://www.myspace.com/djsignify), he is hip-hop producer currently hailing from Brooklyn, NY and is known largely for his mix tapes in the mid-90′s along with his spot in the legendary 1200 Hobos crew. Of Cities is a dirty instrumental album that mixes a large variety of genres together while being heavily driven by the big sound of the drums.

Of Cities Cover Art

This album is perfect for the winter months as any one of you is trekking to the bodega for a 40 or to the local watering hole for a pint. There are in fact some lyrics spun into the mix so don’t let the “instrumental album” aspect scare you … this is not an album to toss on in the background to some mundane task. The tracks “Low Tide” and “Sink or Swim” feature Strong Island’s own AESOP ROCK. Aesop serves his purpose on this album by reminding listeners that dope beats DO deserve to have some lyrics thrown on top of them.

Give Of Cities a go and see if the big sound is something you can wrap your little head around. I enjoyed it and I hope the best to you and your heavily humped eardrums.

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Moving right along … I have noticed a large portion of music blogs and websites have been drooling over the new Animal Collective CD. What better way to remind everyone of the origination of spooky sounds and sweet synthesizers than some videos! The first video is the legendary Herbie Hancock playing with some “technologically advanced” machines … back in the day when they were in fact advanced.  The second video is some creep playing a Buchla 200. Both remind me of some Ghostbusters type shiiiiiit but you get the point.  The third video is the famous song POPCORN. It was one of the first synthpop instrumental jams back in the 70′s. I found this song on vinyl a few weeks ago and had to purchase it .. not only because it is somewhat hilarious to listen to but I do recall at some point in my early life, my mother used to play this song to her dear sweet baby Mangtooth. The fourth and final synthesizer video is the old school MiniMoog Voyager in action.

Respect the past and the enjoy the videos all you synthheads out there …

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Just a little recording side note …. The RX Bandits (http://www.rxbandits.com,) from the West Coast of this beautiful nation, are heading back into the studio in early February to record their latest work which should be released on the bands own Mash Down Babylon Records (http://www.mdbrecords.com).  Here is a video of Matt Embree and the Bandits rehearsing in their home studio, The Elizabethen.

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Well it appears its time to close this bag of tricks for the week but how could one leave you without some sweet soul music to get you through until next Wednesday’s audio overdose! Enjoy Nina Simone and her wonderfully sung “Ain’t Got No … I’ve Got Life.”

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The Beatles – I Wanna Hold Your Hand

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John Forte ft. Talib Kweli – Homecoming

Update:  I was just bumming around on wikipedia and learned that George W. Bush commuted John Forte’s sentence in November (this was later confirmed by Kid Diabetes.)  I really didn’t see that one coming. The tags have been updated.

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Everything I know about The Watson Twins  comes from their album with Jenny Lewis “Rabbit Fur Coat.”  Simply based on that though, they have really pretty voices.  It looks like they’ll be releasing a new EP on February 17th entitled Live at Fingerprints, and will tour in February and March as well. 

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Not sure if any of you guys happen to have $2,300 lying around, but if you do head on over to charityfolks.com and bid on the Les Paul signed by Bobby, Phil, Mickey, Warren, Nancy Pelosi, President Obama, John Podesta, and Jonathan Adlestein after The Dead’s performance at the Mid-Atlantic Inaugural Ball.  All proceeds go to HeadCount.  That will probably be the last time John Podesta and Jonathan Adlestein get mentioned on this site.

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Jack Johnson – Banana Pancakes

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Tickets for Jeff Tweedy in Burlington, VT, Northamption, MA, and Beacon, NY go on sale Wednesday at 10:00 AM.

You can check them out here.

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Another mash up. Again, I usually don’t care too much for these type of things, i think they typically sound stale and boring, but Sinatra and Biggie surprisingly work very well together. Give it a listen..here’s the streaming link.

http://www.imeem.com/panamaschild/playlist/FJa2ZIwg/blue_eyes_meets_bedstuy_music_playlist/

A lot of good Biggie music and mixes floating around lately. Thanks unnecessary biopic.

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Radiohead Live at Santa Barbara Bowl – 8.28.2008 (2 hours, 5 minutes)

Derek Trucks Band Interview/Set on World Cafe (20 minutes)

James Taylor Interview/Set on World Cafe (19 minutes)

Also, keep an eye out for webcasts with Dr. Dog (February 6th at noon), M. Ward with John Welsey Harding (February 20th at noon), and  A Tribute to Thelonious Monk (February 26th at 8:00).

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