Brandon Burke

You're right. Yerself is Steam was a great record but it sounded too much like a Flaming Lips side project for me. I like how Boces de-emphasized loud guitars. I've had enough of crazy loud guitars with fourteen different effects on them. If something's gonna be crazy and loud, I prefer it to be an acoustic instrument (or a hip hop beat). Contradiction? Of course.

At this stage in my life, if I'm gonna listen to neo-pychedelic wierdo rock I much prefer Thinking Fellers Local Union 282 over the Lips. Thinking Fellers are/were completely unique. Especially Strangers from the Universe. My fave..... EDIT: Oooohh! And the Animal Collective as well. Those guys are great! They have a fantastic and very refreshing new record coming out in the spring.

Hit to Death in the Future Head is my fave by a longshot. I have a hard time with the super early Restless stuff. (I believe we actually talked about this a bit on the phone last week.) I also like the newer ones but feel not at all compleled to buy them. Like you mentioned, I think they just grew up and decided maybe it would be a good idea to make music that girls might like too. At this point, I like them more in theory than in practice. If someone asked me if I liked them I would say "yes" without hesitiation. I have not listened to them on purpose, however, in years. At the time it came out, Hit to Death was like nothing else out there. The only other record I put in that partucular category (not surprisingly) is Mercury Rev Boces. Now that is a strange record. Strange and beautiful........ BTW: I hear you re Clouds Taste Metallic. I drew a line in the sand shortly before that one came out. I was like "if they write another godamned song about (1) brains, (2) jesus, or (3) animals then I'm thowing in the towel for good." Needless to say, Clouds was the straw that broke the camel's back.

TBL came out while I was living in Lawrence, KS. My buddy Scott owned the theatre that got it. They had a bowling torney the night before the premiere with lots of giveaways and goddies. We did awful. The team from the downtown barbershop smoked everyone. I was only lukewarm upon first viewing as well. Liked it much more the second time. I think I'm at a point in my life where I much prefer the warped drama over the screwball comedy, as far as the Coens go. I didn't like Oh Brother at all and damn-near walked out of Intolerable Cruelty. Interestingly, The Man Who Wasn't There bored me to tears. I was assuming I'd be all over it, since I'm such a noir fan. I loved the cinematogtaphy but ultimately felt very distanced from the characters. I couldn't have cared less what happened to any of them. Everyone was so blase that I wasn't inspired to give damn either. As it happens, I haven't really loved a Coen Bros film since Fargo. My all time fave being Miller's Crossing by a landslide. Just watched it the other night, in fact.

Inspired by the thread, I slapped on my LP copy on the turntable just now. This is indeed a great record! Had'nt heard it in some time. I'll be caving in for the CD as well.

Herbie Nichols, Eric Dolphy, Henry Grimes I wanted to say Mingus but I get the feeling Grimes might be more sympathetic to Nicholls' particular kind of dissonnance and off-kilter timing. Rounding out the quartet--only three?!-- would be a young (Evolution-era) Anthony Williams on drums. I was just thinking about this in the car the other day...... EDIT: Dream team #2 is me on bass clarinet, clifford thornton (above) on cello and....well....Grimes.

VICTORY!!!

I got the Henry Grimes ESP date and Sunny Murray Sunshine (both on LP) for thriteen and twelve bucks respectively. Looks like the market has settled down significantly since they were reissued. Now I can finally go back to collecting ESPs and Actuels again....... B)

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Will Ferrell is an American comic treasure. I see him developing into a serious comic force over the years; not unlike Bill Murray, though I do not see a poignant dramatic side to Ferrell. Murray, on the other hand, can go in either direction with equal power. To the point, though, Ferrell's glossy-eyed commitment to character is just amazing (and often downright unsettling). This is best evidenced not in feature films like Old School (or even this one) but moreso in his better SNL skits. Perhaps what I find most interesting about him is how he is equal parts very, very strange and completely on the ball. Might I recommend the Best of Will Ferrell DVD that came out last year. I've practically memorized it by this point.....

The Epistrophy Arts shows are great. They brought the Brotzmann/William Parker/Hamid Drake trio over the summer--yes, it was amazing--as well as Evan Parker. Those of you in the area might want to hop on their email list. I don't usually miss their events. Plus...P.G. (the guy who organizes these shows) is a good fella and a fellow librarian.

Good lord, this looks funny. Oh my god.... Be sure to check out the bonus clip as well as the trailer. http://www.anchorman-themovie.com/

I completely agree. GOLDMINE lists a mono copy of Jackie McLean Destination Out at all of $30 so we can conclude that they're way off. Yeah but Brandon, you know you were glad that Love Garden used it! "Can it be that it was all so simple then....?"

Peter Laughner?! Check out the essay on Laughner in Lester Bangs' PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS and posted here. Yup. That's it.

Lloyd was recently here in Austin touring with the reunited Rocket from the Tombs; takning the place of a now-deceased original member. RFTT was an Ohio band that never even made a legitimate album but split up into the Dead Boys and Pere Ubu. The set ended with "Sonic Reducer" as well as a number of Pere Ubu classics ("30 Seconds Over Tokyo", "Final Solution", "Heart of Darkness", "Life Stinks", etc).

I voted for Hutch. His contribution to the early avant-garde is crucial.

BTW: I agree about Charade. Among other things, the opening credits are a graphic designer's dream. The first time a watched it I called my brother (a graphic designer) immediately..... And no. I'm not going to gush over Audrey Hepburn. I'm an Ingrid Bergman man.

My copy of Hulot finally came in today. I'm throwing it on in T minus 5.....4.....3.....2.....

Good lord! I glanced at his first name just now and thought some one had picked Krzysztof Penderecki. That woulda been great. I was excited to discuss scoring for string sections playing over the bridge. Oh well....

This whole series is ridiculous. The Mingus above and Ornette Coleman Ornette! are--in their original form--two of my all-time favorites. Wa'happen......?

I'm just in awe of Timmons' solo on "Melanie".

The Wizard.

That's what I was gonna say. Contours and Jackie Mclean Action.

I believe that was a typo on jazzmatazz.com. Why would they RVG Fuchsia Swing Song a matter of months after issuing it as a Conn?

http://therionarms.com/pictures/stainless_steel_warning.mpg

Y'know, thinking more about this.....I'm surprised that the Smithsonian hasn't reissued it formally. Beats the hell out of Zoning, which you see everywhere.