Today is the 5th anverisay of Wesley Willis death. Wesley Willis was a busker musician and artist from Chicago. A diagnosed schizophrenic, he gained a sizable cult following in the 1990s after releasing several hundred songs of unique but simple music, with emphasis on his humorous, bizarre stream-of-consciousness lyrics. On August 21, 2003, at the age of 40, Willis died due to complications from chronic myelogenous leukemia.At the time of his death, he had recorded over 1,000 songs but his total life savings were less than $300. Having sold out hundreds of venues across the country, the question [...]

It is hard to believe that there is a tribute album to The Residents that does not suck, but it exists: Eyesore: A Stab At The Residents was released in 1996 on Vaccination Records, and I think it is better than about 90% of the original Residents releases. (I never thought I'd say that about an album that has Primus on it.) Like so many great albums, it seems to be out of print, so here it is for your listening pleasure in digital form. MP3s: Only a Mother / [...]

Hey... Wanna take a walk down memory lane? Well at least mine, in case you weren't alive 20 years ago, Run DMC & Aerosmith teamed up to do a remake (for newbie's that's a kind of precursor to the mash up, where you actually get permission), of Aerosmith's 1974 hit Walk This Way. Well they're doing it again, on Hard Rock's Ambassadors of Rock Tour – hitting spots like London's Hyde Park this summer. Here's Daryl McDaniels aka DMC to you, perform "Walk This Way." Check out some video from a recent [...]

No time to post lasterday since in my only free time I decided to soak up some Tom Snyder clips off the great DVD Shout Factory assembled of his punk & new wave guests. The Tom Snyder collection is a two disc set, compiled from his old late 70's & early 80's NBC program Tommorrow Coast to Coast. It's a vast improvement on the fuzzy 3rd generation copies of classic interviews that have circulated in the underground previously. Now enjoy the full pasty skin tone of a bratty junked out John Lydon, without video artifacts, not to mention [...]
So yes! We have returned with some killer vinyl tunes and bong hits... I mean greatest hits! Anyway, here is the next installation in the ABC's of VINYL series: FROM THE HEAD RUSH PICTURE 7INCH : Heavy Vegetable (feat Rob Crow) - Head Rush . FROM THE WHAT'S THE REMEDY? EP : Half-Handed Cloud (Feat Sufjan Stevens) - Took Your Tablets FROM THE EVERYBODY HAS IT 7INCH : Heatmiser (feat. Elliott Smith) - [...]
around 1994 i used to contribute to a bristol-based fanzine called cookie dough that had a serious penchant for indie rock. this was the same period that i was a regular reader of those fat american zines like flipside. this was also the time that san diego was tipped to be "the new seattle". and the bands in this post certainly suggest why. of course nothing came of it, and all but rocket from