The Armpit Collection XXXI: Go West

Update:

I was just browsing back over the old Armpit posts, had to spruce up a few images, touch up some tagging, tend the garden. It'll be a couple of years this coming August and I've only dished out 61 records so far (and a couple of abstracts). In my mind, I could easily tuck this many records under my arms if need be. More. There will be more. Since beginning this series, I've delved heavily into guys like Art Blakey's catalog, Tom Waits periods, Miles Davis bands, other wild cards that will all make an appearance. Not too mention the extensive back tracking I need to do, like where's Tom Petty? Where the fuck is Tom Petty? GH's or Wildflowers? If you have any "Where the fuck is _______ suggestions for the Armpit Collection, please comment. Let us open a dialog.



I can't believe I've left this record out. This was the first Sonny Rollins record I purchased. Picked it up in Montreal. When you see a record with a cover image like that... After having heard and explored Sonny's work, this is my favorite record of his. Previous posts (XVII & XXII) may speak to some of his other work, and I still think The Bridge is his best record, but this remains my favorite. Trio format, Sonny saddled with the cool rhythm section Ray Brown and Shelly Manne (who I realized last night went on to record a few records with Tom Waits nearly 20 years after this release). Sonny does very well pianoless, which if you can imagine drums, bass, and saxophone, you get the idea that "no one" is playing chords. Sonny's romantic tinges and disciplined playfulness lend itself very well to this format, especially given thematic material like Way Out West. This is like jazz horse-ridin' music, which any ol' Swaggard can swagger to.

Bad, Dirty Misery

I heard that the oil spill is equivalent to an Exxon Valdez disaster every four days... There has been oil gushing into the Gulf since 4/20/10. I hope BP is lawyering up, there will be hell to pay.

Good, Clean Fun

Jean-Michel Basquiat (American, 1960-1988)

Since We Got the Interwebs...

What Does the Internet Look Like?

Love + Theft = Faker?

One Princeton professor of History's interpretation on the "authenticity" of Dylan's work.

Hahaha! This is a skit/short/vid done by my friends at the Post Show - Bob, Jason, and That Guy - almost four years ago (and I helped!). Now they've recently shot a pilot for SpikeTV. Wishing them the best of luck!

Blogerature II

Over the past few months I've read two Don DeLillo books and I'm midway through a third. Undeworld is a tangle of lives that all seemingly relate to a famous event that occurred in mid century NYC. The passages are gritty, uber-real, and include many references to shifting cultural sentiments in American life. I recommend starting with this one.

I haven't read it yet, but I love the idea that his first novel is called Americana and was released in 1971 - a time when many of the ideas and aesthetics we may associate with Americana were being popularized. He also has a new book out, released in February, Point Omega.

DeLillo is an important writer who is able to put into words and mental images the existence that we experience today. I don't mean this in any romantic sort of way, but in a more confusing, detached sort of way. Many of his themes are mocked and muddled. They tend to deal with what-it's-like-to-be-in-the-postmodern-world. This makes some passages difficult to read or understand, which is ok by me, maybe not by others. Other recent writers I've enjoyed all share similar characteristics in that they don't limit themselves to conventional reality, but rather explore the yearning that many people experience to break out of "the routine existence." DeLillo is a champion of this effect. Sometimes it's difficult to express the absurd in reality, but reading it can be haunting.

For me, DeLillo's a New York guy and it's refreshing to take in a piece of art that hits home. And he tackled 9/11. I'll probably get into that one next.

They Did It Again

I'm not sure how many of you remember this post, but brace yourself because the Puerto Ricans have done it again:

Yesterday and today, callers who stopped to pay their final respects to the late Mr. Colón got a bit of a surprise. Instead of the traditional presentation of the body in a casket, Mr. Colón's corpse, dressed in casual duds and sunglasses, was instead posed in a very lifelike position atop his Repsol-liveried Honda CBR600 F4. According to Puerto Rico's Primera Horanewspaper, the motorcycle was given to the victim by his uncle, and upon Mr. Colón's untimely demise, family members delivered the bike to the funeral home specifically for this unusual wake.

With any luck this will become a regular feature on this website.

We've Known Each Other for About 1200 Years

You don't listen to enough Bob Dylan.

You Better Watch Your Shutter Speed

Back in high school it was hard to find "cool" or even "decent" people to hang out with. For the most part it seemed like everyone was more or less like everyone else with the exception of the x301x Crew (obviously those cats were fearless heros). One day a new kid moved into the area, Casey Broadwater, and my sister and I thought he was a-ok, probably one of the most genuinely kind human beings we'd ever met (son of a preacher man). Through the magic and wonder of Facespace we've kept in touch, and he recently posted about his new photography webpage. I guess I felt a certain sense of nostalgia since Casey and I both took photography class together at Williamsport High. I figured I'd share some of his images with you, enjoy.

Casey Broadwater Photography

I Do It For Free

Came across this coyote killin cowboy on the NY Times. Worth a read and a watch- might not see this American sport around much longer.

Article: Coyote vs. Greyhound: The Battle Lines Are Drawn

Video: Ara-hoo!

Shady Dan's Hot Sauce

On February 2nd I spent my 28th birthday at the Magician in the Lower East Side. A surprising amount of people showed up, and most of them bought me drinks. Needless to say my blood alcohol levels reached heights not seen in years... which lead to me meeting new people/strangers in the bar who found me hard to ignore (for better or worse). While smoking a cigarette outside (because NYC thinks smoking outside is an awesome idea) I met a gentleman that went by "Shady Dan." For some reason or another him and I struck up a brief, but memorable friendship, and he insisted I grab a complimentary bottle of his very own hot sauce. I introduced him to all my friends, we cheered, and a bunch of us poured the sauce on the top of our hands and took some tequila shots (a good idea at the time, my poor liver).

I told Shady I'd find him on facebook, or I'd google him and we'd keep in touch. He told me his website wasn't up yet, and I told him that was inexcusable and would have expected it to be up by now, but alas, his Go Daddy site hasn't developed. I'm also almost done with the sauce he gave me, and now use it sparingly because I'm afraid to run out, and then my tacos will no longer be shady. They'll be... um, not shady?

So by titling this post "Shady Dan's" I'm hoping it comes up on the google search eventually, and Dan finds this post. "SHADY DAN, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER SO I CAN BUY BOXES OF YOUR HOT SAUCE!!! LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED HELP!" mkhxbby(at)gmxil.com. If he ever emails me, I promise to send every poster on this blog their own complimentary bottle.

Blog Mine

Last Night I saw Jakob at Town Hall, Jakob Dylan and the Three Legs as they're billed, featuring Neko Case and Kelly Hogan. Town Hall is a great place to see a show; small, theater seating, drinks in the back during intermissions and pretty decent sound I think if you get a seat on the floor. We were in the balcony and the sound was still pretty solid, but a wee bit boomy, mid-rangey, swampy if you will. The band's sound was a bit dirge-ish, minimal but thick, and his vocal range is lower and it all kinda washed out into a feeling that reminded more of the "lenny" and four drinks I'd had beforehand, rather than the chords and verses being played. The place was half empty.

The band was top notch, quite delicate as I mentioned, not much of an edge or an enthusiasm, but very respective of the sound. Jakob himself mainly played a no-toned, hollow body electric, which further led to the swampiness of it all. A few songs in, he introduced the fiddle player, special guest David Mansfield, who you may recognize from the Rolling Thunder Revue band. Jakob alluded to this fact, "I toured with this guy back in '75." There were a couple numbers that I enjoyed, even the Wallflowers hit "Three Marlenas" was pulled out. Mainly the set was from Seeing Things and Woman & Country.

Anyway, the night led to many father / son jokes that I won't repeat cause they're stupid. This morning I found this though, a recording I've heard existed, but have never heard myself. The song is featured on Biograph, a different more Desire-ish version, but in my mind the song is more of an idealization of Blood on the Tracks, which comes across in this live take. Enjoy.



Goddamnit that is good.

Exiled from 'Exile'

"Plundered My Soul" was gonna be on the Rolling Stones album "Exile on Main Street" along with two or three other songs. Those songs were kinda sucky back then, I guess, so Jagger/Richards decided to leave them off. Those songs might still be kinda sucky today, but they're at least as good as anything on "A Bigger Bang," so the boys have decided to stick them on to the re-issued re-mastering re-recorded re-release of "Exile" due May 18.

You can listen to "Plundered My Soul" today, though, by clicking that thing there.



It's growing on me.

It also has a non-YouTube but official music video.

And here's the weirdest thing I've seen today:

Electroweight Title Bout

Here's a great picture Morgan Stanley drew in art class today.

Daddy tweeted and Mommy Bee-Cee-Cee-ed Aunt Susie about my birthday party. Then Davie poo-poo-ed on his teacher's wall.

An Esoteric Dirge

Do 401Ks Suck?

My roommate and I were having an interesting discussion on 401k plans. He had read some articles (here, here, and here), and we concluded the nation's elderly are vastly unprepared financially for retirement. A lot of people are heading in to retirement with not a pot to piss in, and Social Security is drying up. Grab your land and guns, it's gonna be every man for himself!

"The Society of Professional Asset-Managers and Record Keepers says nearly 73 million Americans, or just under 50% of our working population, now have a 401(k). And collectively we pour more than $200 billion into these accounts each year. But retire rich? Don't bet on it. The average 401(k) has a balance of $45,519. That's not retirement. That's two years of college. Even worse, 46% of all 401(k) accounts have less than $10,000. Today, just 21% of all U.S. workers are covered by traditional pensions, and the number shrinks every year. "The time may have come to consider returning 401(k) plans to their original position as a third tier of retirement planning, behind pensions and Social Security," says Alicia Munnell, who heads the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. "They should not be the thing we rely on for retirement security." And the government seems to agree. This summer, the Government Accountability Office concluded, "If no action is taken, a considerable number of Americans face the prospect of a reduced standard of living in retirement." That's what is known as an understatement."

Yeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh. Seems like a lot of people are fucked, but believe it or not the rest of the world (Europe and Asia) are in a worse situation. Due to population decline they're facing a future with a lot of old people and too few young people to work (and pay taxes) in their place.

The only conclusion I've come up with is that our retirement funds will most likely be whatever we can gather for ourselves (like in the Pre-Industrial era!), thus we are responsible for it. We are responsible for saving, and paying attention to our investments. The best advise I could give you is to start saving now while we're still young, and don't touch it. I could talk about this forever so if anyone has questions on retirement or why Danzig tears apart a chicken in this video feel free to leave comments.

New Banner

Courtesy of J. Is that Jimbo?

Charming cartoon of a lady's butt

Sébastien Tellier - Look from Record Makers on Vimeo.

Hypnotic and cheeky

Solid Marble Eyes

Do we have any theories about whether this Eagle is for real?