Brother Robert - Annye C. Anderson with Preston Lauterbach

 As with most rock'n'rollers, I have been fascinated with Robert Johnson ever since first discovering him via the covers by rock giants the Rolling Stones and Cream, among hundreds (thousands?) of others. Once I heard his haunting original work and learned a little of his story - including, of course, him selling his soul to the devil in exchange for his guitar prowess - I became a lifelong fan. Naturally, there has never been much known about the man, other than what we have learned through those that he worked with, mostly, including other legends such as Son House, Willie Brown, Robert Lockwood Jr., along with a few more. So, once I heard about this book written by his half-sister, I naturally needed to own it!

Even the opening introduction by Elijah Wald is pretty compelling, as he was able to meet and talk with Anderson, then a spry 93 year old who talked of their engaging family along with her innumerable interests and the world that her tale will open up for us. Reminding us that we mostly know of Johnson due to his recordings that account for less than a couple of hours of his life, this book informs that his recordings are - logically - just the tip of the iceberg of the man.

Anderson worked with Preston Lauterbach (I just realized that I have read another of his books, which helped him get the job for this one), who interviewed her and wrote out the transcriptions for her approval. Preston talks of their first meeting where she pulled out family files and finally shows him the photo that appears on the cover. She is smart'n'savy enough to understand marketing and says "if you put this on the cover of your book, it will help sales tremendously"!

The story is fascinating'n'convoluted right from the start, in which Annye's father, who was married to Robert's mother, was chased out of town by a lynch mob, leaving behind his wife and kids, he got married again, spawning two more children, that wife died and he married Annye's mother. Robert's mother in the meantime got together with Robert's father (who we never learn anything about), so without the lynch mob, neither Robert nor Annye (and a number of other children) would ever have been born!

Of course, a good portion of the story takes place before any real fame for Robert and Annye emphasizes the fact that Robert's repertoire was extremely varied - something that he had in common with many "bluesmen" - it was really the record producers who picked the songs that they recorded. Apparently, Robert was a huge country fan and would also play modern pop tunes along with pretty much anything else that came his way.

Since Annye was only 12 years old when Johnson died, she never saw him actually working at his profession, but he did, naturally, play around their houses (many of the siblings lived close to each other) and family parties and she conjectures on the sources of some of his lyrical ideas. She more remembers "Brother Robert" as the tall, lanky, good-looking young man whose favorite food was fried pumpkin and who took her to see Gene Autry movies and help her run errands.

After he died, the family suffered other deaths and moved away from each other and family relics were lost along the way and even Robert's guitar, given to a relative he had played with, ended up being pawned and was never seen again - who knows who unknowingly owns that guitar today!

Of course, his death was far from the end of his story. No one in the family was aware of his growing fame until Annye saw a story in the Ladies Home Journal, of all places, about some British musician covering Robert's songs. Of course, plenty of folks came out of the woodwork to try to make money off of the surviving family members and there were innumerable scams by people pretending to be Robert's heirs or even Robert himself! A man claimed to be his illegitimate son and actually won a court ruling in his favor as Johnson's heir, superseding that of Robert's sister Carrie and Annye. Annye is not convinced of the veracity of his claim and is, understandably, disappointed that Robert's blood relatives who knew the man do not get any rewards from his work.

This is a highly enjoyable work which really humanizes this mythical figure. Well worth reading!

68 - Give One Take One

 We almost literally stumbled upon the band called '68 when they opened for the Bronx several years ago out here in Vegas and were flabbergasted by their insane energy, batshit crazy live show and the amount of wild caterwauling that this duo was able to project. They were already sold out of all merch by that gig - justifiably - but we've made it a point to pick up whatever we can find by them and this one is their most recent release.

The first thing that jumped out at us on this CD was the SOUND - superb production and a mastering job that means that this is a LOUD record - just like their live shows! Their style is fairly indescribable - a mix of punk rock, modern metal, dreamy psyche/metal ala Boris, stripped down blues and noisy no-wave - sorta/kinda! They have played on metal festivals, which I would think would baffle that crowd, but they're pretty weird for punk rock/alt clubs, as well. They almost seem like something that we would not like at all, but we are huge fans and think that they are one of the best bands going today - at least partially due to their uniqueness.

The lyrics are strong'n'intriguing, as well. I've been told that the guys are religious and there are references to the Lord and prayer here'n'there, but nothing too overt and positively not preachy. It does kinda sound like this was a quarantine album, although that could simply be my interpretations of the words. There is a sense of humor here, as well, so they don't take themselves overly serious even as some of the sounds are truly macabre. The musicianship is pretty astounding also, especially Nikko's dynamic'n'creative drumming, but the commotion that Josh wrings out of his guitar are likewise fairly otherworldly.

I can't say that the songs are particularly catchy - there are not a lot of "hooks", per se - but they are incredibly powerful and I love this CD! Not for the weak of heart but see them when you can and definitely pick up their music - great stuff!

The Stooges - Live at Goose Lake

 Despite the Stooges being one of my all-time favorite bands and Funhouse being in my all-time Top 5 records, I was a bit hesitant about buying this live CD due to the fact that their live gigs were - by intent - a bit chaotic and anarchistic, which meant for a terrific live experience, but not necessarily a great listening experience. Of course, some live recordings have been poor quality, as well. And to top it off, once I did get this, I read the liner notes which are almost exclusively Iggy talking about how terrible bassist Dave Alexander was on this gig - Ig fired him immediately afterwards - and what a disaster the gig was! Yeesh! But, despite all of that, this is actually pretty darn listenable. Yes, Alexander is wonky, and some of the songs literally simply fall apart, but there is some great energy and wild sounds abound!

Their set is essentially the Funhouse album, with the opening "Loose" being fairly sloppy and Iggy singing some of the "hot dog" lyrics rather than the final, album words. Despite some chaos, they move directly into "Down on the Street" and plough through that more successfully with Rock pummeling his drums and the Igster ad-libbing some lewd lyrics, and after a quick tune-up they rave on "T.V. Eye" maniacally, then more tuning followed by the menacing "Dirt", where Ron is smokin' and Rock does his best to hold things together but Dave definitely meanders where he shouldn't, unfortunately. 

They bring up Steve Mackay on sax for the finals numbers, starting with a truly insanely frantic "1970" that works well up until the ending simply disintegrates, but then there's their tour-de-force, the album's title cut, with Iggy imploring the audience to "let me in"! Mackay really wails here, as he does on the record, although this is even more crazed, acid-drenched anarchy than any recording studio could possibly contain! This segues directly into the noise-fest "LA Blues" that ends the set. The liner notes claims that the power was shut off, but it sounds to me just like they kinda fade out the jam and they even get a rousing cheer from the MC at the end.

So, yeah, it's an iffy proposition, but the sound quality is stellar even if the performance sometimes collapses on itself, and the energy is absolutely maniacal! As with anything like this, beginners should not start with this but fans will certainly want it!

We The People - Too Much Noise

 I was turned on to We The People way back in the early 80's when I was playing in the Unclaimed - we covered both the incendiary "You Burn Me Up and Down" and the wild "Mirror of Your Mind" at the time. It seems like I have heard this album at some point since some of the songs - all originals - do seems familiar - hell, I wonder if I have the vinyl somewhere - will have to look! The booklet included here contains some excellent period photos of the group as well as some informative liner notes by garage guru Jeff Jarema.

Opening with the wacky guitar slides and feedback, "You Burn Me Up and Down" is a fuzz monster with a simple, infectious riff, cool chorus and perfectly snotty vocals. A true classic! A chunky chugger, "My Brother, The Man" sounds like it has influenced everyone from the Jackets to the Heavy! "By the Rule" is a hip, soulful, R'n'B number with a nice call'n'answer, the afore-mentioned "Mirror of Your Mind" is another stomper with pounding, tribal drums that are almost off-beat, noisy harmonica/guitar breaks and another catchy chorus, "Declaration of Independence" - written solely to coincide with their band name - is actually a nice, catchy, blues-eyed soul number, "Free Information" is a bit of a goof, and "Too Much Noise" - written do to neighbor's complaints about their practices - is good, but not great, and I didn't know/didn't remember that the incredible "In The Past" wasn't a Chocolate Watchband original, although the Watchband did almost a note-for-note cover of WTP's amazing original.

"Half of Wednesday" (apparently previously unreleased) is stylistically similar to "In the Past" melodically and with similar raga-riffs, while "(You Are) The Color of Love" is a terrific and memorable ballad in the Love (the band) tradition that I swear I've heard others do, but I can't place it (maybe I've just heard this version before and don't remember), and there's hints of the Monkees and the Byrds (in my ears anyway) in the harmony-drenched "Beginning of the End", followed by another kinda-throwaway novelty number, "He Doesn't Go About It Right", they get spacey and psychedelic in the more successful oddity "Alfred, What Kind of Man Are You" and the proceedings conclude with another immensely familiar number, the psych ballad "St. John's Shop", which, per Jarema, was their biggest radio hit.

Amazing comp of an amazingly talented and ferociously wild but also terrifically versatile band! Any garage rocker needs this one!

Isabelle - The Life of Isabelle Eberhardt by Annette Kobak

 I was not familiar with Eberhardt until her name came up in Tav Falco's cover of "Old Fashioned Morphine" and that intrigued us enough to research the woman. We came across this biography before finding any of her own writings but we wanted to learn of her life, so we picked this up.

Isabelle's life was confusing and intriguing and complicated right from the start - born in Switzerland to the daughter of Russian aristocracy and her lover, a priest-turned-atheist anarchist, who was brought into the family as a tutor while Isabelle's mother was married to a Russian general. Just keeping her family ties straight is hard enough, but then she begins writing under a male pseudonym, started cross-dressing, moved to Algeria and began a long love affair with Africa where she adopted a male persona and name, converted to Islam, was accused of being a spy, survived an assassination attempt and numerous illnesses, was immersed in drugs'n'alcohol, married and eventually died in a random, unusual flash flood! 

There is an immense amount of political intrigue throughout and innumerable characters that she meets over her short 27 years on the planet, and while she was published during her lifetime, she became well known posthumously with the release of novel and diaries from a benefactor, Victor Barrucand, who she worked with towards the end of her life. 

While Kobak had access to previously unseen writings of Eberhardt's, and the story is pretty darn fascinating, the writing doesn't not truly flow and is not a compelling read, unfortunately. It is still worth reading for the information and there are plenty of quotes from Isabelle, but I would not say that this is a definitive story. I will be looking for more about and from this subject, though.

recommended gigs

 Saturday Mar 27 - Cromm Fallon and the P200 pop up show - check online for details!

Wednesday Mar 31 - Celebration of life for Jeffrey Alexander at the Double Down 7:00 pm

Friday 4-2-21 - Soldiers of Destruction, Horripilation, Talking Bombs at the Dive Bar

Sat 4-3-21 - Fuck Face LV with the Fun Killers at the Double Down

The Jackets - Queen of the Pill

 

I've ranted'n'raved about the Swiss-based Jackets numerous times before, as they are assuredly my favorite modern day garage combo, bar none. With an incredible live show, front-woman Jackie is a uniquely expressive'n' charismatic singer and guitarist, with a fab, fuzzed-out, tremelo'd tone, backed by my old pal from the 80's LA garage scene, Chris on drums (I always have to mention that he started out with me in the Foot Foot Three!) and Mosrite-Master bassist Sam providing the perfectly powerful backing for the tunes. 

All of their songs are unmistakably garage-oriented, but with a sound unlike anyone else's and it's kinda hard to pinpoint the reasons for that. Of course, Jackie has her own style - both musically and vocally - but there's something in the songs themselves, the melodies, rhythms and progressions, which is all their own.

This album was produced by King Kahn (and mixed'n'mastered by Jim Diamond) and the sound is phenomenal - loud'n'full'n'powerful with excellent tones, all the while sounding just like the Jackets. Right from the start there is a masterful blast of fuzz for the opening "Dreamer" that evolves into a mid-tempo, tremelo'd garager with terrific backing'n'dynamics from Chris'n'Sam. Sam's rollickin' bassline and Chris' rapid-fire drums intro "What About You", a frantic rocker, while "Steam Queen" is a classic Jackets groover with hip, layered, varied guitars and extra vocals from Kahn, "Move On" is a call'n'answer raver with a cool breakdown, followed by another monster fuzzer, "Don't Leave Me Alone".

More Godzilla-sized fuzz leading off the title track which breaks down into some cool dynamics and rollin' bass lines and an extended psyched out ending. There's a bit of a Mid-Eastern feel (complete with gong by Kahn!) in "Floating Alice", "Losers Lullaby" is punk-rock-paced ala "Neat, Neat, Neat" (Jackie even sings "yeah, yeah, yeah" throughout!), "Deeper Way" is another way-out fuzzer with groovy Gregorian-chant-like backing vocals and the finale, "Be Myself", is a fantastic garage rocker that I thought was gonna be empowering but the tag line is "I don't wanna be myself"! (I can relate - I once wrote "she made me hope that someday I could be someone besides me"). 

If you're looking for modern garage rock'n'roll, this is the place to go! The Jackets are the best around these days and their live show can't be beat! Get it!

The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs - One More Drink

 OK, so full disclosure - I met the cats in the Cheetahs not long after they started playing in LA clubs and I have even played in the band on various occasions/tours/recordings, so keep that in mind here. For the first new album in 20 years (damn, how is that possible?) co-founders Frank Meyer (lead guitar/lead vocals) and Dino Everett (bass/vocals) have reconstituted the group with long-time drummer Mike Sessa, LA legend Bruce Duff (on second lead guitar/vocals - he and Frank are among the best git-players in the city) and sax maniac Geoff Veaton, along with several guest-star LA luminaries.

While there's plenty of old-time Cheetahs mania present in the songs, there's also a more pronounced power-pop presence - not that they haven't explored that territory in the past - and a mighty big SOUND. The production - Bruce and Frank are a successful production team, having worked with a wide variety of artists - is huge, powerful and just damn good. Loud guitars, lots of harmony vocals, driving, solid rhythms and some neat git/sax interplay.

The opening "Ain't It Summer" starts with waves of harmony-rich, acapella vocals building into the best Cheap Trick song that Rick Nielsen never wrote! From there the group moves from the aptly named, frantically paced "Fast, Fucked and Furious" to more power-poppin' in "Bad Vacation" (that includes a fun rave-up with a wild sax solo) and "We Are The Ones", there's pure punk'n'roll in "The Rejected" and "Rumblin' Train", "Let Me Out" is slower'n'moodier and kinda reminds me of Tom Petty's "Fooled Again" but with more grit, "Scorpio Rising" is pretty much a hep 70's rock'n'roll tune, while the title track brings us back to power-pop territory with catchy melodies and guitar'n'sax lines and some funny lyric-liftin', "Warzone" is a heavy-riffin' 70's rocker, "Switchblade Knights" has some coolly drivin' piano (care of Paul Roessler) and has a bit of a Redd Kross feel with some Kill City-styled sax wailin', and the final two cuts were released ahead of the album as a single with "Escape From New York City" sounding a lot like old-school Cheetahs, as does the frenzied tantrum of "Fuck the Future", with Frank spittin' out the words and slashin' out guitar licks.

Old Cheetahs freaks and fans of raucous punk'n'roll like later Hellacopters are all sure to dig what these cats are layin' down here. I'm sure that they're chompin' at the bit to get back into live gigs as soon as it's safe so pick this up and keep your eyes peeled for their return!

The Spirit (comic)

 I can only assume that someone at the legendary Golden Apple comic book shop in Hollywood first turned me on to The Spirit, as I did not know about him before Kitchen Sink started releasing the reissues. Will Eisner was still alive at the time (he passed in 2005) and was involved in these comics and created/ wrote/ edited/ what-have-you new material for the series, from essays on drawing and writing to new artwork to new stories to explaining the processes on the old comics.

Eisner has an incredible artistic style with a emphasis on layout that has not been surpassed or even equaled by anyone that I have seen, but he has been highly influential over the years. His characters leap off the page, punch through panels, fall through the air and defy the laws of physics and two dimensionality. His narration is often poetic - sometimes literally - and always clever, with interesting plot twists and terrific dialogue, even while creating some unrealistic and, at times, downright funny situations. 

Unfortunately, since the series began in the 1940's, there are some extremely un-PC characters, dialogue and situations, which can be difficult in the 21st century, but if you can get past that, the overall quality is pretty darn fantastic. The female characters tend to be strong, independent, intelligent women, though, who often out-fox the Spirit at his own game, which was pretty progressive for the time.

There are times when his schedule demanded that he turn over some work to assistants and the quality wanes a bit - except when the assistant was Wally Wood, whose work on the Spirit is mythical, if brief. But when Eisner was at the drawing table, he couldn't be beat!

The Spirit comics has been reissued in numerous formats over the years (I have a whole different series that I am going to get to once I have finished these Kitchen Sink magazines) and while I'm not certain what is currently available, I am certain that anyone who digs sequential artwork should explore Eisner's work. 

recommended gigs

 We're not done with COVID yet - please be careful, wear your mask and keep your distance if you go out!

Wed Mar 17 - Crooners Inc at the Mint

Mon Mar 22 - The Reeves Brothers at Saddles'n'Spurs

Saturday Mar 20 - Local Showcase with tons of bands and vendors at the Dive Bar - starts at 3:00 pm

Saturday Mar 27 - Cromm Fallon and the P200 pop up show - check online for details!

Friday 4-2-21 - Soldiers of Destruction, Horripilation, Talking Bombs at the Dive Bar

Sat 4-3-21 - Fuck Face LV with the Fun Killers at the Double Down

Happy birthday Al Jaffee!

Al Jaffee turns 100, and Mad magazine salutes its legendary artist with a birthday tribute 

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RIP Lou Ottens

Lou Ottens, Inventor Of The Cassette Tape, Has Died 

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Man, cassettes were how I saved musical ideas for decades, much less the media that I could take to work and listen to in my car. I owe this man a huge debt of gratitude! 

And I still have literally hundreds if not thousands of cassette tapes in my house that I need to go through some day!

RIP Frank Thorne

Frank Thorne, Legendary Red Sonja Artist, Dies at 90

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I was just cataloging some of the comics that I have with his work in them over this past weekend. I always loved his style and he did a lot more than just Red Sonja, although that is probably his most popular - justifiably! - work.

Grim Jack (comic)

 

Published by First Comics, Grimjack was the creation of John Ostrander who developed the character with artist Timothy Truman to become this excellent series. Grimjack was the street name for a private eye/gun for hire John Gaunt who lived in the pan-dimensional city of Cynosure, where all dimensions intersect and so the laws of physics are meant to be broken, magic can work, technology can cease functioning and all sorts of creatures co-inhabit, depending on which way you turn and which street you're on. Gaunt also owns a bar, Munden's, in the slums of Cynosure, with his bartender Gordon and mascot/friend/sentient lizard named Bob.

Looking somewhat like a space-aged pirate. Gaunt leaves a trail of mayhem and gore behind him, having been literally thrown to the wolves as a child and growing up in the Arena as an underaged gladiator. From there, he fought in the Demon Wars, worked as a bounty hunter, wandered the dimensions, fought and killed and, eventually, even died and returned. His friends were close'n'loyal, he had a few loves and always kept his personal code of honor.

Truman's backgrounds have lots of in-jokes and pop culture nods, everything from the Church of the Sub Genius to underground rock'n'roll bands - something that this book had in common with Truman's other hip book at the time, Scout. Hell, one panel has graffiti for the Blasters, Los Lobos, Rank and File, Son Seals and the Long Ryders! Other artists worked on the series later, but they all did their best to emulate the atmosphere created by Truman.

This is another series that I bought when it came out and I am not sure what reprints have been done, but it is another excellent comic and highly recommended.