Year: 1992
Original Format: cassette
Subtitle: “Non-Stop Happy Times and Space”
Most of these quotes I used for the liner notes were lifted from a Dave Barry column, which gives me an excuse to quote this tribute Steve Martin wrote when Barry left the Miami Herald in 2005:
Dave says he wants to spend more time with his family. But I hesitate to tell you that Dave’s family is a hash pipe and some old Playboy magazines. Yes, Dave has written many funny essays that have appeared in our nation’s newspapers. However, most of his material is plagiarized from his own mind. Often, a funny idea will come to Dave, and then he will use that idea in one of his columns. Also, he will sometimes have a perfectly legitimate sentence, and then twist that sentence all out of shape so it will read funny. Another device that he uses is the old trick of putting the punch line at the end of the sentence or paragraph. These tactics are abhorrent.
And, by the way, you know how he often says, “And I’m not making this up?” Well, he made that up. Dave Barry, and I am not making this up, loves Satan.
In truth, if Wikipedia is being truthful, Barry is an atheist of Presbyterian extraction. Nonetheless he is the co-author of a forthcoming book called A Field Guide to the Jewish People.
Where am I going with this? Nowhere really. It’s Sunday. Here’s some music.
Playlist:
A Massive Breakthrough Hunter S. Thompson
From one of Hunter’s last great pieces of writing, “Electricity.” You can hear the whole thing, with appropriate visual accompaniment, here:
Untitled The Sisters of Mercy
This is the rhythm track from the song “Dominion/Mother Russia” slowed way down and with a saxophone layered on top. It’s cinematic and ominous, and not at all a bad way to start.
Show ’Em Whatcha Got Public Enemy
I had tickets to see PE and the Sisters together at the Greek Theater in Berkeley around this time… but that show never happened. According to Lethal Amounts, “ticket sales were so dire that the west coast leg of the tour was cancelled partially through.” Sisters leader Andrew Eldritch opined, “I thought [the tour] might be interesting… unfortunately, it was too interesting for America. America’s got a big problem with anything that’s too interesting, particularly when it’s black and white… So, it didn’t go as well as it might have done.”
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Gil-Scott Heron
Maybe not, but it will be livestreamed.
Pissin’ on Your Steps Del the Funkyhomosapien
From Del’s debut album, I Wish My Brother George Was Here, produced by his cousin O’Shea Jackson (better known to the world at large as Ice Cube). I like to think this song ended Vanilla Ice’s music career, though chances are natural market forces took care of that.
Birmingham The Wolfgang Press
Originally a 4AD Art band, the Press re-emerged in the early 90s with two albums of dance-oriented funk-pop — Queer, from which this is the leadoff track, and the aptly named Funky Little Demons — released a hit single called “A Girl Like You,” and promptly vanished off the face of the Earth.
We Dared Think of Ourselves as Gods James Doohan
In the long and murky years between 1992 and now, I had completely forgotten the source of this clip. Turns out it’s from an episode of the original Star Trek called “Return to Tomorrow,” with James “Scotty” Doohan moonlighting (sans burr) as the voice of Sargon.
Let It Loose The Rolling Stones
“Jagger has been vocal in his dismissal of Exile [on Main Street]’s reputation as the greatest rock and roll album of all time. And though the album is often cited as Keith Richards’ artistic zenith, ‘Let It Loose’ is Jagger’s finest vocal achievement. If much of Exile sounds like a gospel revival being staged by grievous sinners in search of transcendent salvation, then ‘Let It Loose’ is the song that best embodies that spirit. Tellingly, the Stones have never performed the song live. Perhaps even the band is in awe of what they accomplished in this singularly authentic moment.” —Russell Hall
Innocent Child Big Audio Dynamite II
Whosampled.com tells me that this song samples not only Ultravox’s “Vienna,” but also “In the Air Tonight,” “Sexual Healing,” and a song from BAD’s own first album.
Fools Gold The Stone Roses
To me the Stone Roses were really just this one song… or to be honest just that one catchy bass riff. But that’s enough.
The Necessary Information Tiiu Leek
From the movie Starship Invasions, a great and terrible 1970s artifact starring B-movie titans Robert Vaughn and Christopher Lee. It was never released on DVD and was hard to find for many years, but is now conveniently available on YouTube for your viewing… um… pleasure?
Head Julian Cope
“Whenever cultures are achieving their pinnacle, it’s not the product of the smug and the cynical – it’s the ones on drugs.” —Julian Cope
Closer to You Daniel Ash
It looks like there will be no opportunity to see Daniel play guitar for Bauhaus in Athens, Paris, Denver, Chicago or anywhere else this year. I wonder what the future holds?
St. Cajetan Cracker
“Saint Cajetan’s feast day is celebrated on 7 August…. He is known as the patron saint of Argentina, the unemployed, gamblers, document controllers, gamers, and good fortune.” —Wikipedia
The Spanish Word for Straightjacket Carlos Montalbán & Woody Allen
There’s that man again.
Revolution Part II fIREHOSE
I was at a fIREHOSE show when they did this song — which was still pretty new at the time — as an encore, taking me completely by surprise. I wish I could see the look on my face.
The Northern Cheyenne Singers The Cheyenne Sun Dance Song (excerpt)
“The Ponca sun dance was a four-day ceremony of dancing, fasting, and prayer held in mid-summer when the corn was in silk. The event was held in a newly built, circular, enclosed arbor partially open to the sky. A tree was ritually cut down and placed in the center of the circle as a pole. A ‘thunderbird nest’ was attached near the top of the pole. On the final day, young men attached themselves to the pole with rawhide thongs pegged through the skin of their chests and danced, looking up at the thunderbird nest.” —OKHistory.org