THE TIGERS DEDICATED TO NAIL

This is for Nail, who commented on my MORE MONKEY ROCK post about GS (GROUP SOUNDS, or Japanese garage rock). He has a whole blog about The Tigers singer Julie (Sawada Kenji). Julie was a heart throb as singer of The Tigers, and went on to have a fruitful acting career. Julie/Kenji is still in the movies - he was the father in HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS. The Tigers mostly sang, fluffy soft stuff to make the girl swoon, but had a few upbeat numbers (sort of like the Beatles in a way, though I think the Beatles had more rockin numbers). Anyway, here's one of my favorite Tigers moments - yes it's a rocker, not a swooner - from one of their films. This number is called "C C C" and has an awesome bridge refrain of "I'm so high, I'm so down, I'm so blue..."


Here's one of their signature tunes. This was used in at least one Japanese TV commercial:

GONKS, THUNDERBIRDS AND OTHER LUNATICS.

It was Paul from The Dirty Water club who first told me about this ridiculous movie Gonks Go Beat. Paul is a 60's garage deejay / impresario extraordinaire. He's one of those guys, kind of like my pal Dave Cruse, who was born with record collector's luck. Paul would tell stories like finding an original copy of The Sonics "Psycho" 45 for less than a dollar - or maybe 50p, since he's from over there. And it seemed like he got half of his stuff from 'boot sales.' That's basically the British version of a flea market - the boot meaning car boot, or trunk, where folks sell their old stuff out of. Anyway, Paul described the movie as completely inane with some cool musical moments: It's got a sort of Romeo and Juliet premise with the inhabitants of 'Beat Island' and 'Ballad Island' as the two feuding sides. That means you have to suffer through some bad crooning and folky bits to get to the raunchy rock and roll. There's a really cool scene with a groovy instrumental (something that would fit on one of those Instro-Hipsters A Go Go comps) as these cats drive down an open road in bad ass roadsters like a Spitfire 4, an Austin-Healey 3000Z, a Shelby Cobra, etc. My brother the car nut would dig it even more than I do. That video unfortunately is not available on the web (nary an image even). But here are a couple of those cars:
And we DO have this swinging number by the Graham Bond Organization from GONKS:



Of course my favorite scene in the whole stupid movie is also not readily available to post as a video here. That would be the song "Love is a Funny Thing" by the cheekily named The Long and The Short. Like the Bond Organization, the band simply plays the tune on the beach. It's a tough, uptempo beat number, with nice twangy guitar. You know, sort of like one of those fast Beatles songs, only with balls. The Nashville Teens also make a welcome appearance towards the end of this silly bit of pop melodrama. Remember, the Teens were the incredible backing band on the amazing Live at the Star Club album by Jerry Lee Lewis. And while we're talking about U.S. rockers backed by crazed local European acts, check out Gene Vincent on Belgian TV backed by The Sunlights:



Gonks, by the way, refers to the alien race that comes down to observe the shenanigans of the beats and the balladeers. Or something like that. What reminded me of Gonks, and prompted this post, was the comment from the Master of Ivanlandia on my last post. Something about Cliff Richard in puppet form singing a more rocking tune in Thunderbird's are Go. Without further ado:



I went to England (the first time) in 1994. We had some downtime in London and I went on my own to The Museum of the Moving Image (since closed). It was in fact similar to the MOMI in Queens. One of the most memorable items on display were original models and puppets from Thunderbirds. I certainly don't recall a Cliff Richard puppet. I like the Shadows and his singing okay, but he is some kind of scary Christian that at one time performed to support the Billy Graham crusade. And he's been knighted!

Anyway, on that same trip, since we had at least a week of free time in London, I went to a bunch of movies including my first Beat Takeshi film: Sonatine. Weird, funny, arty, lyrical movie about yakuza that merges highbrow and lowbrow. It has this memorable face-off between Takeshi and his at the time mistress Aya Kokumai:


If you haven't seen a Takeshi movie, run to your Netflix queue or whatever. After I returned to New York I went to Kim's Video and rented his first film Violent Cop. Takeshi had to take over directing the former when original helmer, maestro Fukasaku Kinji, became ill. It features the most poetically violent scene with a baseball bat ever committed to celluloid. His second feature, Boiling Point is actually called 3-4x October in Japanese (a weird baseball reference), and it is also deliriously wacky and poetic at the same time. My favorite hysteric moment was when the owner of a bar slaps down an 'ikeiki gal' (an now dated Japanese slang word for sort of a party girl). You have to see it, especially in context of the whole crazy movie. Definitely a reflection of Takeshi's crazy TV comedy shows where he would abuse and torment his friends and guests (notice the plastic hammer Beat is brandishing - he usually hits folks on the head with something - and also the momentary audio sample of The Stooges "Raw Power"):




It was a fun time roaming around London, seeking out different cinemas in various neighborhoods. I also caught Walerian Borowczyk's bizzare little arthouse/exploitation film about a monster, a woman and sexual obsession, The Beast. I remember it was in a nice, quaint area, and there weren't too many other folks in the audience that late afternoon. It also reminded me of a short film my friend Bob Nozawa had been in.



And I also managed to catch late 70's punk band The Vibrators in a local pub.



Let us close with this classic query: What do you call a person who hangs out with musicians?

SNAP, CRACKLE, POP...SMASH!

ON THE RIGHT, THE BIRDS (NOT THE STONES):

I have a friend who loves Radio Birdman (and so do I) but hates, I mean HATES The Rolling Stones. I'm not sure why, and I think it might be a 'long story' reason. It's funny because even though Birdman don't sound like The Stones per se, you can't deny that they bear at least some inkling of their influence as most rock bands do. In a way the disparity of preference doesn't seem completely logical, but that's what makes personal taste...so personal. As we well know, it's hard to gauge who will like what and what will be popular based on simple facts alone. But then I have at least one friend who claims The Stones are the greatest rock and roll band ever, and anyone who thinks differently is wrong. And another friend claims they made some of the best rock and roll movies ever. So what's the best Stones song? Well, I might be too much of a novelty head here but I love their Rice Crispies spot. It's so punk! In and out, get the job done raw and fast. Call them a sell out shilling for cereal, but this still SOUNDS subversive, or at least disruptive:



I used to have this on an 8 hour video tape of garage and 60's bands, from The Kinks and The Who to Q65 and so forth. One of the best clips aside from the Rice Crispies spot was from this British B movie The Deadly Bees that featured The Birds - not to be confused with the U.S. folk group who spelled their name with a Y, but the incredible British beat / r&b band featuring future Faces member and Rolling Stoner Ron Wood. Damn, I wish they'd released this song as a single or something, because this is unfortunately incomplete. This seems to be the only known recording of the song:

GOLDEN NIGHTS

Friday night out on the town. Well, Williamsburg that is, home of the affected hipster. Dean and I went to Snacky. Jimbo from Uncle Morty's Dub Shack was sitting in the same seat as last time I was there. Maybe he has a share in the place. They were showing the Jackie Chan classic Young Master. We had the Zatoichi special: $4 sake shot with a Tsingtao chaser. Dean, who is the mayor of coolsville ran into about 5 people he knew while we drank and chomped down on fried rice and shoyu ramen. Then we made our way down the street to Trash Bar. We got there just in time for the Imaginary Icons, Tom and Ted's band (I don't know the other two guys). They are reviving a genre that barely ever existed: neo British post punk. Think heavy influences of Wire, Swell Maps, etc. Maybe Mission of Burma was influenced by some of that stuff or had similar sensibilities but they remained fairly original. That was the thing with the first wave of post punk bands: the originality in an era of stale music. By stripping things down those early British bands allowed other complexities to emerge. Imaginary Icons are pretty good, and have interesting parts but I'm still waiting for that one hit song. It does seem like their almost putting on English accents. Maybe it's the familiar phrasing of their vocal lines and arrangements, I'm not sure. The Big Boys "Heartbeat" popped up on my ipod the following day and I realized that they were also playing with weird staccato rhythms while mixing musical genres, though their influences seemed more disparate, namely punk rock and funk/r & b. Next up was The Golden Boys from Austin (pictured above). Don't know how to describe them exactly, somewhere between underground rock, country and a little bit of singer songwriter in a very disheveled sense (that's a good thing). They had a great, chaotic energy but managed to keep everything together despite the lead guitar struggling with his strap through the first two numbers. They had a keyboard player with a curly mustache and all four of the upright musicians assaulted the front of the stage in a happy melee of flailing limbs and twangy sounds while the drummer slammed hard and thrilled the audience at one point with a one armed passage, brandishing a beer in the other hand. I left early so I missed The Spider Bags, who Dean said were great, and the self-proclaimed country rock of Puddin' Tang. So much for me and the scene.

SHINE SOME LIGHT ON THIS

I'm not rushing to the Ziegfeld to see this new Stones concert movie even if the newest song they played is from Tattoo You and the repertoire goes as far back as 1965's "I'm Free." I recently had the pleasure, however, to see a truly golden moment in their career, the 1973 behind the scenes concert movie Cocksucker Blues, directed by genius photographer and beat collaborator Robert Frank. The Stones themselves were not happy with Frank's candid, elliptical snapshot and forbade him to show the film. Ensuing legal action only granted Frank the right to screen the film five times a year and he has to be present. That doesn't stop copies getting around to Stones fans of course. Frank manges to capture the ennui that comes with being 'the world's greatest rock and roll band' as well as sensational moments such as groupies and roadies getting wild on a plane, folks shooting up, nodding off, Bianca Jagger and Tina Turner domineering the frame, and Mick and Keith hanging out in a juke joint, the one moment they seem slightly happy. Speaking of happy, there's a great sequence where Stevie Wonder plays "Uptight" with the Stones joining in that segues to another scene where the band listens to the single of "Happy" for the first time, which then segues into them playing "Happy" live and then back to the room again. Really cool.

COCOCOMA

Is that an esoteric band name or am I just out of the loop? Is it one of those tribal chants assimilated into New Orleans r & b or is it some small hamlet in Long Island or Florida? Cococoma is a great contemporary garage punk band from Chicago. They manage to channel those great 60's punk sounds without being simply neo/revival, but instead blend a pastiche of sounds with enough pop sensibility and punk attack to keep it fresh and exciting. Granted that pastiche comes from a specific niche. I hear resemblances of sounds in the vocals and the parts of songs, references remain on the tip of your tongue as you feel like it's comfortably familiar but fresh at the same time. The band was started by a husband and wife, the former on drums and vox and the latter slashing furious on guitar. And for added measure they've got a great keyboard player who manages to integrate both rhytmic dynamics as well as a few slightly melodic twists as well. Check out the cool composure of 'Premonition,' which retains raw charm yet boasts clever structure and catchy hooks. They have some raw singles and an excellent album on Goner Records.

Attack of the rock and roll polar bear?

The Shemps are playing this extravaganza and then one more show after that and POOF! We become a new band. Same members, different group. Weird, huh? So goes the wacky antics of rock and roll. I'm excited to play with my old pals The Candy Snatchers. They're named after an obscure 70's exploitation film and have often been called the most dangerous band alive. In their heyday sets included breaking glass, flying fish, nudity and full throttle, balls out punk rock and roll. They've just recorded a new album and what I've heard so far is awesome, very Stooges inspired.

Candy Snatchers video here.

The Shemps live video here.

The Underthings debut.

Finally Andy, Kris and Sam from the Spitoons decided to debut the new version of their band last Friday, September 6th. The Spittoons were great because they're all seasoned players and the nicest bunch of goofballs you'll ever meet. They played only covers but with a super fun spirit and just the right amount of finnesse. They began in the quintessential 60's garage band paradigm - playing hits - the early repertoire included Tossin' and Turnin' next to numbers by The Who, The Kinks and (slightly anachronistic with the rest of the material) The Ramones, etc. Apparently years of listening to CBS Oldies rubbed off on 'em. As gigs became more frequent song selections became more obscure. They added one of my all time favorites, Shake a Tail Feather by the Five Dutones as well as The Who's Circles - although thank goodness their version was based on Fleur De Ly's superior arrangement and performance. Now they've added Brett Wilder on bass, Sam has switched to second guitar and they're doing 95% originals under the moniker The Underthings . Brett was in The Vacant Lot but I know him mostly from when he worked at the junk store on 9th st which is now the home of Academy Records. At one point the junk store, I can't remember the name of the colorful character who owned it but I recall him smoking cigars and being married to the singer of the Trick Babies at the time - anyway, he had bought a whole mess of video cassettes from some Chinese guy. It was junk heaven for me because, while they were litterally beat up and some of them dirt encrusted, these cassettes contained obscure kung fu films: Enter the Fat Dragon, Mantis Fists and Tiger Claws of Shaolin , Roving Swordsman, and so forth. And he was selling them for a dollar a pop. I often bought them from Brett who was always super nice, friendly and fun to talk to. Low and behold some eleven years later Brett resurfaces in front of me on stage next to Andy, Kris and Sam...The show was at Cakeshop. It's a nice cozy basement space underneath a hipster cafe and an ever diminishing record store in the rear. The downstairs bar is beer, wine & sake only. I saw Dave the Spazz and Victoria, we talked a bit 'bout the upcoming Norton anniversary on his radio show, then I made a bee line for some inexpensive sake (turns out they serve the standard yet reliable Ozeki). I’m sippin sake, standing at the end of the bar, near the stage, when an attractive young woman taps me on the shoulder. I thought she wanted me to move because I was in her view path but then I realized it was J.K. saying hi. J.K. plays with Kris in the brilliantly retarded garage punk outfit The Plungers, one of the best bands in town (led by the brilliantly retarded Masayo). I down my carafe of sake and the Underthings take the stage with such laid back ease, then break into their first number. Genius – it’s power pop with just enough edge to keep it in garage territory. To be continued...