Did I include this image of Greg Sankey and Ted Cruz to damn by association? Hard to say. |
Thursday, May 02, 2024
The Rich Get Richer, College Edition
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Tom Carvel's Bad Fun
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
In the summer of 1986 the band went into the studio (the Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, England, property of Richard Branson) with producer Steve Brown. Brown had been responsible for the production of Love. Following the motto “never change a winning team”, the band set out to work. A total of 11 songs were recorded. The new album, provisionally titled Peace, was ready to go. Or wasn’t it?
When singer Ian Astbury heard the song Cooky Puss by the Beastie Boys (which was produced by Rick Rubin), he knew the band’s route had to change. It had to be more raw, direct, just as the band sounded live.
I’d never try, never think that we could appropriate hip-hop culture or appropriate hip-hop music into what we do. That would be gauche. It wouldn’t be authentic. Certainly it’s part of what we’ve done in the past. I mean the reason we made the Electric album was because of hip-hop. It was because we heard the Beastie Boys. I heard “Cookie Puss” in a club in Toronto very early on. Like ’85. I heard that song, and I was just like it’s so dope hearing that. Obviously hip-hop was this new music. It wasn’t things like Sugar Hill Gang or whatever. We were hearing some of this stuff. Until we came to New York in the early 80’s I didn’t know what culture really was. Being more directly kind of in front of clubs and hearing that kind of music, and then hearing “Cookie Puss”. There was something about that. We came to New York, we came to Electric Lady, we’re part of the Def Jam family.
It was a completely different approach. Working with Steve Brown on the initial sessions, I was actually talking about Rick Rubin. I had heard “Cooky Puss” by the Beastie Boys and I wanted to get that sound, and Steve Brown was still into that textured, layered sound and had a different vision of what it should be. I felt that the music we were making, the lifestyle we were living and what was motivating me as a writer was much rawer.
I remember hearing “Cookie Puss” in a club in Toronto in, like, ’85. And I went to the DJ and I said, “What is this?” And he went, “It’s by The Beastie Boys.” I had to know everything about them. When I found out they were being produced by Rick Rubin, I thought, he’s got to produce us because that is the sound. Stripped back, rhythmically driven, direct. We had to get that sound. So, we went and pursued Rick Rubin. We met him in ’86 and I want to say he was in an NYU dorm room but that may be a projection of time. But I’m pretty sure we were. I remember we sat in a very small room and he put on a TV. He had a VHS and he put on Blue Cheer and said, “What do you think of this?” We were like, “Wow, it’s really raw, it’s really primal.” And Rick said, “I think you need a bit more of this in your music.” We were young guys, like, 25 at the time. And we were both, like, “This is so exciting!” It wasn’t as nuanced as the English producers who were making these elaborate pop records, layered and textured and what have you. This was way primal and direct and completely reflected our lifestyle at that time. So, that was the link between the Beastie Boys and The Cult. Then, if you look at the MTV New Year’s party in 1986 going into ’87, you’ll see me on stage with them performing “No Sleep to Brooklyn.” I was part of the posse on stage. We really immersed ourselves in that world, the Def Jam world. There were such incredible things in New York at that time and the conduit was the Beastie Boys. Then, later, things like the Tibetan Freedom Concert, which we played with Adam [Yauch]. I wouldn’t say it was an intimate relationship but it was certainly a parallel trajectory in some ways.
- Like his fascination with Native America that informed his cultural appropriation and got him sued by the Sioux.
- Like when he quipped, "Peace on earth and good will toward men - that is something we need to work on. Like Nelson Mandela, we should learn from him."
- Like when he said, "I've liked the Yankees since I was a kid. I grew up in Canada so I kind of identified with New York sports teams."
- Like when he channeled Marty Balin and Salvador Dali to write, "Sittin' on a mountain, looking at the sun / Plastic fantastic lobster telephone."
- Like when he says anything. It's fun to play along.
Sunday, April 28, 2024
What is it like to be a dog? What is it like to be a squirrel?
Although the book is for 7-10 year olds, Rob and I get into some fairly deep topics: the subjectivity of consciousness; structural racism and systemic prejudice towards black Americans, human and canine; the principles of drama; and the fleeting nature of our mortality.
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Overdue and Ironic
Saw the news this week that the Washington Commanders announced plans to retired Darrell Green's #28. My first reaction was something along the lines of, "what took them so long?". There aren't many ex-Skins more iconic than Green, nor many moments more memorable than him walking down Eric Dickerson.
But after I dug into it a bit, I realized that the Washington franchise really doesn't retire numbers, or it didn't (with one notable exception) in the Era That Shall Not Be Discussed. In fact, not one player from the Golden Gibbs Era has his number retired. Nary a hog, regretfully not a Riggo, monstrously no Monk, terribly not a Theismann, mournfully no Mann, distressingly no Dexter.
The Washington franchise has been pretty stingy when it comes to retiring numbers (and ain't that in keeping with Little Danny Starfucker's ethos: waste money on washed up big names, skimp on stuff that might make fans happy). Turns out they're not alone.
Retire Riggo! |
The Bears (14), Giants (14), and Niners (12) are profligate, while the Bengals (speaking of stingy owners) and Jags have one retired number each, one of which you'd easily guess, and the other you never would.
I enjoyed my little trip down NFL numerological history. Hope it'll keep you entertained for at least a few minutes.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Notify, Vol. VIII
Rob recently checked in on the WFCSAGS recurring feature and provided an update. Not sure Zman can with WCSAGD, other than to keep saying "Nobody's bought one yet!"
Well, here's an update nobody even asked for -- the Notify News! Welcome back to the Notify show, the one where we highlight songs not on Spotify!
And here's the latest, including which songs we highlighted that are now available on Spotify after all. [If you think I'm implying with such a post as this that the G:TB Notify posts have influenced the powers that be at Spotify, well, yes, yes I am.]
Here are the songs that I brought to that platform for you:
- De La Soul, "Eye Know"
- Toad the Wet Sprocket, "Rock and Roll All Nite"
- Garth Brooks, "Hard Luck Woman"
- Klark Kent, "Away from Home"
- All of Neil Young!
- CSNY, "Woodstock"
- Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi"
- Nils Lofgren: "Keith Don't Go," "Bullets Fever," and "Jhoon Rhee Ad"
- The Blues Brothers, "Shake a Tail Feather"
- The Smithereens, "In a Lonely Place"
- The Dream Academy, "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want [instrumental]"
- The Beatnuts, "Off the Books" (on compilation and Big Pun album)
- Nina Simone, "Gin House Blues [live]"
- The Pharcyde, "I'm That Type of N****"
The rest, for which we remain ever vigilant:
- Brian Wilson, "Brian Wilson"
- Stevie Wonder vs The Clash, "Casbah Uptight"
- UB40, "One in Ten"
- CvB, "Laundromat"
- Arcade Fire, "Guns of Brixton [live at BBC Culture Show]"
- The Clash, "Listen"
- Aztec Camera, "Jump"
- CvB, "Eye of Fatima"
- Strontium 90, "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"
- The Police, "Nothing Achieving"
- Dropkick Murphys, "Guns of Brixton [live]"
- Wyclef Jean, "Electric City"
- Pizzicato 5, "Twiggy Twiggy"
- Danger Mpouse, "What More Can I Say"
- The Clash, "(In the) Pouring Rain"
- Cracker, "Been Around the World"
- Total Coelo. "I Eat Cannibals [original]"
- Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, "Prime Mover"
- The Walkmen, "Greasy Saint"
- Ray LaMontagne, "Crazy"
- Father John Misty, "The Suburbs"
- Bruce Greenwood & Circle the Wagons, "2 Ft. O' Butt Crack"
Okay, there's the recap. But what about some new Not-ifies?
Fair enough.
Who doesn't love Ween?? Well, I don't right now, since they cancelled the show that was playing around here this weekend. But then again, it was for Deaner's mental health, and I'm for that. We waited out Gener, we'll wait for his buddy.
Here are a couple of lost tracks.
Here's a tune they wrote when Captain Trips died.
And another for an All-Star pitcher's cousin. Love this one.
Speaking of dying, the Margaritaville Man died last year, and here's an old tune he did that appeared on the Urban Cowboy soundtrack.
Here's one that didn't even have a presence online until a month ago. An old tune by old VU-er John Cale, somewhere in the late 1970's.
And there there's this. 1983's sophomoric, misogynistic, ludicrous, and mildly amusing Jerky Boys precursor, "Cooky Puss!" All hail Carvel ice cream. This ain't no Fudgie the Whale.
That's all for Notify this go-around!
BUT... that's not all for Cooky Puss! Stay tuned for Part II of the Cooky Puss saga!! It's fascinating!!
Monday, April 22, 2024
All The News That Fits ...
Saturday, April 20, 2024
People Are Occasionally Pretty Neat
Coming to you live from the ancestral homeland of Brewster, MA this weekend, where we're gathered as a clan to celebrate my great-aunt's 100th(!) birthday. Clean living and serving others does a wonder for a body, as it turns out. I may not be so lucky.
Speaking of serving others, I came across this neat little story in the WaPo a few days ago. It starts like this, "Sam McGee picked up the phone in 2022 and dialed the same number he’d called every year for decades. He had the same question he’d been asking for 20 years: Could his family buy back his late grandmother’s Ford Mustang that had been sold in 1973 to pay for her funeral expenses?"
That's a zinger of a lede that turns into a bitter (mostly) sweet tale of family, persistence, and a community-minded individual. Enjoy this award-winning documentary students at Samuel V. Champion High School in Boerne, TX produced about it.