kenny weir

Look, there's no way these three appointments (starting tomorrow morning) are not going to be tedious, uncomfortable, painful, expensive, painful, expensive and painful. But I figure I can do without the FM crap my dentist favours on top of everything else. This week's headphone commute stuff has been the Sun Ra Horseshoe Tavern set, so that could be the go, especially when Ra gets to pounding on his synth. Maybe Strange Strings or Cosmic Tones? Suggestions welcome, be they serious, perverse, sadistic, humourous or whatever.

GA - why don't you watch it, instead of listening to it?

Context is everything, so I sorta know what you mean. I guess. But I'd like to know more about this interesting term.

I hear you. In some ways, though, the US seems even farther away from me than used to be the case; before the world, um, shrank. I yoyo-ed across the Pacfic through the '80s and '90s with great frequency. Now: *I can't afford it. *Parenthood has taken me on a different journey. *And even had I the time and money, to tell you the truth I'm not sure my back woes/pain are up to the rigours and stresses of spending 24 hours in economy class and waiting in airports. There comes a time, it seems, when such a thing becomes a seriously life-threatening issue. Business class? I wish!

Until recent years, when the names were tweaked to give them broader demographic resonance, they were known as Footscray and the Bulldogs. Now they're the Western Bulldogs, and indeed they are well supported in not only Footscray but the greater wetsern suburbs where we live. They're the most blue collar team. And, no, not new - one of the older teams, IIRC. But like the Saints, they've only won one premiership.

Half a continent? Half the planet, actually! As I say in the "about", there a zillion food blogs and many hundreds in Australia, with many of those centred on food-obsessed Melbourne. Yet only on other person is specifically covering the colourful and multi-cultural western suburbs where we live. So I see this as a great opportunity to have some fun and establish myself as ... um, we'll see. Gotta get a stack of content up there first. After spending a couple of years trying to shoehorn my journalistic experience into a corporate setting, and failing, I now realise it's just not me. This is more like it - not only will it act as a glorified business card, but it's keeping me focused so the therapeutic upside is considerable. The software and so on provided, for free, by wordpress.com is amazing. I have a buddy who's been doing an Australian jazz blog - http://ausjazz.net/ - using the same setup. I'd like to be doing some music stuff, too, but blogs don't work that way. So if I feel the need, the easiest thing to do is start another one!

Grand Final is next Saturday - Collingwood/St Kilda. This weekend's prelim finals saw Geelong trounced by Collingwood, and the Bulldogs beaten by the Saints. St Kilda will be the underdog.

Having just started a blog, I know for a fact I'm enjoying the freedom to be myself more than is the case with my various newspaper gigs, although I sometimes got away with plenty there, too. Having to grapple with the technical side of blogging very much as a beginner, I wonder if some of what is being sought from Red, is due to Search Engine Optimization, keywords, web analytics and so on.

Info on fascinating November release from Bear Family: Historic Country Music Discovery! Recordings of an Interracial Duo located after 60 Years. -- Sometimes people who make music history have no idea they're doing so at the time. Bear Family Records has uncovered just such a case and will proudly be releasing this rare and previously undocumented piece of country music history in November 2010. - You can count on one hand the number of African American country music performers who recorded prior to the mid-1950s. Early Grand Ole Opry star Deford Bailey comes to mind because of his unique status as an instrumentalist. Indeed, the Country Music Foundation treats him as the historical oddity that he was. Jimmie Rodgers used Louis Armstrong's cornet on a 1930 session, but it's a cinch the two men never sang together. Black and white country duets are as rare as hen's teeth during this period. In fact, they may be altogether unknown. - Now Bear Family Records has found one. In several months we will proudly release the historical recordings of Allerton & Alton, The Cumberland Ridge Runners. They are perhaps the first interracial country music duet. Their performances dating from the late 1940s/early 1950s were broadcast over radio station WLAM in Lewiston, Maine and heard throughout the Northeast and parts of southern Ontario, Canada. The story of how these two country music fans met while browsing old 78s is as fascinating as their recordings. Perhaps the most amazing part of their story is the utterly unself-conscious way with which they approached the racial aspect of who they were and what they were doing. Equally compelling is the story of how the Korean War put an abrupt end to this interracial duo, after Alton returned a changed man, having experienced the cruel realities of a segregated U.S. Army. - This release will present their music in typical Bear Family style: lavishly illustrated with vintage photos, full historical notes and as many digitally restored recordings as we can fit on a CD.

First issue of "Lousiana Music" - all on the fabulous Nathan Abshire. Great story, super pics. http://www.pinegrovepress.com/Home.html

I was gonna make a similar comment, but that would've meant admitting that I really did watch the whole thing all the way through.

Ha ha - colour me quaint anytime. Man, that's ... surreal.

When I woz a boy scout, bottle drives were a main source of fundraising. After one such, big boys (dads) and little boys (sons) adjourned to the local tip/landfill. Thusly was spent a super hour so disposing of unredeemable glass products. Bottles of all shapes and sizes were hurled on to the rocks and rubble below. The many different kinds of light bulbs made especially satisfying explosions! So cool! On another occasion, we were demolishing an old wooden house on the lot that was to be our new home in Dunedin, NZ. Halfway through, we tied a long rope around the tall brick chimney. Tug, tug, grunt, tug - and the whole thing came smashing crashing down, more or less cleaning up what remained of the old place. Marvellous!

he produced my fave Bonnie Raitt album - Give It Up. A stone classic!

I'm sure I'd have an allergic reaction to the Clapton album, but I feel this may be a little unfair. We've all come to associate these songs with the like of Sinatra, NK Cole, Billie Holiday, Pops, Duke and so on. But the truth is at the time they were written and in the early decades of when they were being recorded, I'm sure there were many more horrible versions than there were great (jazzy) ones. I've heard a lot that are simply terrible - stilted, straight, painful to listen to.

I went to the dentist last week for some overdue work, and cursed when I got there because I'd forgotten to take a CD with me. In any case, I did ask them to turn off the crap station they were listening to. One kind of torture at a time is enough for me.

Thanks! At that price, I'll get that pronto! (Cool cover, too ... )

I recently had a great thirst come upon me for some hardcore bluegrass, so I topped up my meagre stocks by placing my first ever orders with County Records: http://www.countysales.com/ Quirky, cranky old-school website, but it works. The service, packaging and speed of delivery have been excellent. As well, they have a "buy six and you get another free" deal (you choose from a list that comes up when you check out). I got some old-timey as well - excellent fiddle anthologies of Texas, Ozarks and Mississippi fiddle music - but here's what bluegrass I picked up. Red Allen - Keep on Going: The Rebel & Melodeon Recordings (Rebel) Red Allen - Lonesome and Blue: The Complete County recordings (Rebel) I've heard me some Red Allen before, but only in passing. This is my first up-close and intense listening. What a brilliant artist! Very much the traditionalist, and very much in the high and lonesome realms of the Monroe and the Stanleys. These are early to mid '60s recordings that feature the likes of Frank Wakefield, David Grisman and Bill Emerson. Allen is an incredible singer, and the picking is super. Mind you, it always is on bluegrass recordings. The best thing here, though, especially on the County recordings, is Red's ability to harness tunes with a honky tonk heart and make them fit so seamlessly and superbly into the bluegrass format. Sure, traditional bluegrass is stuffed with love gone wrong songs, but here they get a spitting, sometimes venomous, anguished and rip-your-heart-out treatment that is more personal and confessional than I am used to with bluegrass. Simply outstanding and essential, both records. The Lilly Brothers & Don Stover - Early Recordings (County) Only 11 tracks here. But you know what? In times when so very many CDs/albums are Too Damn Long, running time of 26 minutes is Pretty Damn Cool. Especially whn the music is as good as this. These '56/'57 were recorded for the Event label and feature traditional material almost exclusively. There's even a version of When The Saints Go Marching In that works just fine. Everything is top shelf - the singing, the picking, especially that of banjo man Stover, who displays a capacity for nuances and the subtle that isn't always easy to find in bluegrass. For me this and the Allen discs are right up there with the best of Monroe, the Stanleys and other bluegrass gods. Reno & Smiley - Early Years: 1951-1959 (Gusto) Oh, how I love eradicating long-entrenched blind spots! Far as I can tell, this is a four-disc small-box version of a slightly earlier long-box release. In any case, I jumped at chance to pick it up for the County price of $25. A fine, fine bargain! Only had this a week, so I'm still exploring the music. There's a lot of gospel, some fine instrumentals. There's even drums, electric bass and steel guitar on some tracks. My purist heart was all ready to be horrified, but honestly you can't tell and it wouldn't matter if you could. These '50s tracks for the King label feature a swag of fancy banjo picking by Don Reno. I could say that some of the stuff he pulls off is gimmicky, gratuitous, gauche and tacky, but it all makes me smile, so who cares? The set comes with a great booklet and full details, making the $25 even a better bet. Various artists - Bluegrass: Independent Sides 1951-1954 (JSP) This complements an earlier JSP box I have that covers '31-'53. As with that box, this one plays fast and loose with the definition of bluegrass - but when you're dealing with "small label bluegrass", as this outing does, that goes with the territory. So there's some electric guitar here, and some stuff that is more old-time and proto-bluegrass than genuine bluegrass. But it's all good to great. The focus of the set is on small labels such as Folk Star, Murual, Blue Ridge and Colonial. There's stars to be in the form of Larry Richardson, Jime Eanes, Bill Clifton, Red Allen and Sonny Osbourne, and at least double that many obscure artists. Without being low-fi in the way of pre-war blues and country and jazz, everything here has a crusty, unadorned sound that suits the music just fine.

Los Camperos De Valles - Mexican Sones Huastecos Thanks to kh1958 for the tip on this one. I haven't got 'round to reading the rather detailed notes yet, so I don't know about this music or where it fits in. But it's very good, if a bit samey for a long stretch. There's a ton of terrific fine violin (fiddle?) and the whole lot is drenched in fire and passion. A very nice addition in terms of diversity. Various artists - San Antonio's Conjuntos in the 1950s I struggled to find even a single review of this - at all the usual places (Amazon, allmusic etc), but went ahead and ordered it anyway. Glad I did, too. Turns out this is a 28-track appraisal of the Rio label run by a certain Hymie Wolf, with a pleasing range of style and influences. This kind of specific focus on a label, genre or region is exactly what I go looking for, and it makes me wonder what other likeminded items are lurking in the Arhoolie catalogue and elsewhere, masked by a simple "various artists" tag that is actually quite misleading. Anyway, here there's even a Tex-Mex hoedown tribute to Clifton Chenier on Boppin' The Rock. Essential listening, I reckon, and a nice way to signal a pause in my pursuit of Tex-Mex sounds - for now at least!

Given the loose parameters of the wikipedia list, another that could be added are potato cakes. These are sold in Oz/NZ fish and chip joints and low-rent burger joints. Basically a slice of potato about .5cm thick dipped in batter and deep fried. They're crap, IMHO; albeit very popular crap. There's no reason why they couldn't be a delicacy of some sort a la tempura. So I guess it comes down to quality of ingredients, including the oil, and so on. Certainly, potato cakes are a lot heavier, gluggier than tempura.

I'm just finishing Dan Simmons' The Fall Of Hyperion. One of the foodstuff the various far-future galaxy-jumping good guys/bad guys/good-AND-bad guys eat is something called fried dough. Now assuming this meant deep fried dough, I started a mental list of how many kinds I knew of or had tasted. Got up to about eight or so, before I checked out wikipedia - and sure enough, there's handy list. I suspect the likes of India's puris and papdams should more correctly be labelled batter, but what the hey. Also, they haven't got those flat, crispy ribbons (I forget the name) under the Italy heading. Do canoli count? Deep fried but stuffed. They do put samosas on the list - also stuffed. In fact, I suspect the Italian part of the list is minus a lot. And as far as I'm concerned falafel are not batter, dough or fried dough. Maybe they're on the list because they're made of chick peas. Weird. Can't see it, myself. Great list - I want to try them all. Given the wide geographical and cultural spread of members, I'd love to hear experiences - good and bad - you've all had with ... Fried Dough. And WTF is this all about? **** Asia * Central Asia o Boortsog Chinese youtiao * China - Chinese cuisine has several fried treats, such as the matuan, typically covered in sesame seeds. o Chinese restaurants in the U.S. sometimes serve small fried pastries similar to doughnut holes. o Youtiao are popular breakfast foods in Chinese culture. They are savory and oily in taste. The texture is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside with large cavernous holes. o Ox-tongue pastry (牛脷酥) elliptical shaped dough that resembles an ox tongue. They are sweet in taste and the texture is chewy and fine. o Shuangbaotai (双包胎) is a sweet fried dough food with cavernous holes in the food and a crisp outside. The are made by sticking two small pieces of dough together and frying them, causing them to separate slightly while still connected, thus resembling conjoined twins, for which the food is named. o Jin deui is a hollow fried pastry made of glutinous rice flour that is coated with sesame seeds and filled with a sweet filling. * South Asia o Chakli (Murukku) o Jalebi (Hindi: जलेबी, Urdu: جلیبی, Punjabi: ਜਲੇਬੀ) or Jilapi (Bengali: জিলাপী): deep-fried sweet batter with rose water and saffron o Kichori: doughnuts filled with minced meat o Namak pare o Pakora (also called bhajji): deep-fried vegetable fritters in a gram flour batter o Papadum (also called papad, papar, etc.): fried wafer made from a dough made of lentils (often urad dal) and spices. When fried as a dough or with sufficient moisture, it is called pappaṭam. When fried dry, it is called appalam. o Paratha (also called parantha, porota, etc.): fried flat bread, often stuffed with vegetables, cheese, or ground meat o Puri: puffed deep-fried bread, variations of which include the North Indian bhatoora (Hindi: भटूरा bhaṭūrā) and the Bengali luchi (Bengali: লুচি) o Samosa (including variants such as mitha samosa, shingara, etc.): deep-fried filled pastries o Vada (also called vara, bara, etc.): lentil cakes shaped into patties or donut shapes Kaya balls. * Japan o Curry bread, a curry-filled bread, dipped in panko and deep fried. It is usually pre-packaged and sold in convenience stores and bakeries. o Sata andagi, a sweet, ball-shaped snack, similar to the doughnut, native to the Okinawa Prefecture. o Tenkasu [edit] Europe * Bulgaria o Mеkitzi (Мекици)- similar to Funnel cake o Ponichki (Понички) o Pirozhki (Пирожки) * France American-style beignets with coffee. o Beignet (and the pastry is also present in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) - Sometimes described as a French doughnut but, as with other 'variants' of fried sweet pastry, the beignet typically has its own distinctive characteristics (shape and texture) which are sufficient in the minds of some of its devotees to object to Beignets being referred to as doughnuts. o Bugnes * Germany o Berliner or Krapfen, the doughnut equivalents, don't have the typical ring shape - except for a variety in southern Germany where so called Auszogne are produced which have a ring shape but a skin in the middle - but instead are solid, usually filled with jam. (German doughnuts are sometimes called Berlin Doughnuts in the USA.) * Greece o Loukoumades - Somewhat like crisp doughnut holes, loukoumades (pronounced loo-koo-MA-thes) consist of deep-fried dough balls marinated in honey and cinnamon. * Hungary o Lángos * Iceland Icelandic Kleina o Kleina (plural Kleinur) o Laufabrauð * Italy o Chiacchiere and lattughe in Lombardy o Cenci and Donzelle in Tuscany o Frappe and Sfrappole in Emilia Romagna o Struffoli - a dessert of Neapolitan origin * Netherlands and Belgium o Oliebollen / Smoutebollen- Referred to as Dutch Doughnuts (or occasionally as 'Dutch Donuts') which contain pieces of apple and/or dried fruit like raisins. * Norway o Smultring ("lard ring"), similar to a doughnut but smaller, without glacing or filling, and flavoured with cardamom. o Berlinerbolle ("berliner bun"), same as the German berliner. * Poland o Chruściki (also known as faworki) - fried, crispy flat dough, sometimes twisted and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. o Pączki - springy doughnuts filled with jam * Portugal - o Malasada - a fried dough from Sao Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal which are also popular in Hawaii and in Cape Cod Massachusetts, where they are called "flippers." * Scotland o Bannock - a bread the same thickness as a scone. Native Americans and particularly Métis, in western Canada and the northern Great Plains in the United States, adopted bannock in their own cuisine over the 18th and 19th centuries. * Spain - o Churros o Porras - Often served for breakfast, especially in Madrid). * Sweden o Rosette - ornate irons are dipped into batter and then dropped into hot oil. The pastry quickly separates from the iron , which is removed. The rosettes are then fried to a light brown, removed from the oil and sprinkled with powdered sugar. * United Kingdom o Fried bread - a staple of the traditional English Breakfast, Fried Bread is quarters of white bread fried in, traditionally, bacon dripping, and served on the plate with the rest of the breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, black pudding, beans and tomatoes [edit] Middle East * All of the Middle East o Falafel o Luqmat al-qadi (لقمة القاضي) (literally, judge's mouthful) a relative and etymological ancestor of the Greek Loukoumas. Also called sfingis (in Arabic) and lokma (Turkish, see below). * Turkey o Tulumba o Lokma * Israel (Jewish) o Sufganiyah [edit] Africa * East Africa o Mandazi is a fried bread (served with no glazing or frosting) that is popular in areas around the Swahili countries of Kenya and Tanzania. Often eaten along with breakfast or tea, or as a snack by itself. * South Africa o Vetkoek (pronounced FET-kook) is a fried bread dough traditional to Afrikaner and also called magwenya by the indigenous population. It is typically rolled into a ball or hot dog bun shape. [edit] North America Funnel cake. A sopaipilla. * United States o Funnel cake - A creation which is made with fried sweet pastry where the pastry dough is extruded through a funnel into a pan of hot oil and allowed to "criss-cross" in the oil until the string of dough fills the bottom of the pan in a kind of tangled spaghetti-like arrangement, which is cooked as a cake rather than an individual snack. Funnel cakes are usually associated with carnivals, fairs, amusement parks, and seaside towns, much like (cotton candy). o Frybread (also known as "popovers") is a Native American fried dough which may range from bread-like to donut-like depending on the source, as many tribes use different recipes. o Hushpuppies - savoury fried dough balls made from a heavy cornmeal batter o Elephant ears - Fairground specialty, a large, flat round fried dough, often covered in fruit or sugar, also called fried bread, beaver tails, elephant ears, whales tails, tiger ears, pizza frita, frying saucers, doughboys o Sopaipilla - a fried dough side dish or dessert popular among Mexican-Americans in the Southwest. Sopaipillas puff with air when fried, the finished product resembling a pillow. They are often served with honey, but may also be sprinkled with a cinnamon and sugar mixture. Sopaipillas are characteristic of New Mexican cuisine. o Beignet - New Orleans's a deep-fried choux pastry covered with confectioner's sugar o Fried Coke - A creation made in the summer of 2006 which has proven very popular in Texas. Batter is mixed with Coca-Cola syrup and fried, after which it is topped with more Coke syrup or whipped cream, a cherry, etc.[1] * Canada o Bannock - also called frybread o Beaver tails - oblong shaped fried dough, like American elephant ears o Toutins - fried bits of leftover bread dough. Often served with molasses. * Mexico o Buñuelo (also known as the "Mexican Fried Cookie"), essentially a round, cookie-shaped doughnut, often pan-fried rather than deep fried. o Churro - a thin cylinder of deep-fried pastry with a characteristic 'ridged' surface, due to being extruded through a star shaped hole. It is also popular in the US where it is sometimes referred to a "Mexican Doughnut". In Mexico, churros are often had for breakfast or in local fiestas, matched with thick chocolate or white coffee. They are sometimes homemade or bought frozen to fry at home, but most are bought at cafes or from fixed or ambulatory churrerías. [edit] South America * Brazil o Pastel, is a thin pastry envelope containing minced meat, catupiry and chicken, shrimp or another filling and then deep-fried. * Sopaipilla * Peru o Picarones, a sweet, ring-shaped pumpkin-based fritter; often served with a molasses syrup. * Panama * Hojaldre - a white flour dough made with baking powder that is deep-fried. It is a traditional breakfast cuisine in Panama.

No disagreement from me. Simon Barnes wrote a similar and persuasive piece for The Times. Some of the main points. IIRC: *Players too tired. *Main loyalty to clubs. *Champions League more important. It really was a dud, and I expect it'll be so going forward. Which makes me wish Australia wasn't spending the required multi-millions try to get the 2012 Cup. I mean, who wants it? The Cup and Games and F1 organisers dangle these circuses like, well, of course, why wouldn't you want them in your town. But it's all smoke and mirrors. There just isn't any justification for most countries/cities to get into this sort of silly BS race. I agree with a colleague - Games should be permanently in Athens/Greece, WC somewhere else, and Australia should let its F1 GP slip away for the simple reason it'd get Bernie Ecclestone out of our lives.

Prety weird move from them, I reckon.

Funny how the things that happen in online forums, funny how words and tone get all jumbled. Funny, too, the number of times well-meaning newcomers lob into a well-established forum and get a somewhat more acerbic welcome than they expect. No blame from me on either side, but I wonder what they expect? That we all sit around chuffing on pipes, wearing slippers and dispensing jazz bonhomie? Naw. That's just Allen.

Try the trio and/or small band recordings of Count Basie, especially those for Decca in the late '30s/early '40s.