Well, the Holidays are once again upon us, however heavily, and today I’ve got for you several things that I would love to find in my Christmas stocking on any of the days of Hanukkah or harvest nights of Kwanzaa. But wait, silly…don’t reach for your credit card to start buying them for me. For I’ve already received them from merry media mavens and poinsettia-pwning publicists, so that I could show you how wonderful they are so that you can buy them for your loved one or stalking victim. Be glad you didn’t have to wade through all the crap to get to this cream, because I did. You’re welcome.
Here’s Part One of my first annual Stalking Stuffer Shortlist (at least I have another full year to come up with a better title)…
The first item that you or your loved one should own is the DVD Sunshine Superman-The Journey of Donovan. It is the ultimate super-documentary of rock’s underrated mystic man. Donovan was never quite purely classic rock, singer/songwriter, world music, folk singer, or spiritual guru, but quite an amazing amalgam of all of those things, and a profound influence on many important recording artists…such as Jimmy Page, John Mellencamp, Graham Nash, Devendra Banhart, and lots more. The first disc is a 3-hour chronicle of rock’s underrated mystic man, which is narrated by the mystical man himself. The second disc is chock full of concert footage, TV appearances, music videos, and more about the private life of Donovan. Sunshine Superman-The Journey of Donovan is a must if you call yourself a Donovan fan and possibly the Lost Ark for the uninitiated.
The next item for your lover’s stocking is Ween-At the Cat’s Cradle 1992. Long-time Ween fans will rejoice and new Ween fans will befuddle at the sheer brown-ness of this 1 CD-1 DVD package. Up until 1994’s Chocolate and Cheese, Ween wasn’t a band at all…but a DAT machine for backing drum tracks, a guitar, an adventurous sound man, and two drunk silly potheads who fooled their way into making fantastic music a career for over 20 years now. Ween-At the Cat’s Cradle 1992 is a perfect window into the Ween live experience right before the duo decided (or could afford) to hire a band. The sound is great, the songs are genius, the video is deliciously lo-fi, and the package as a whole is decidedly brown. Ween’s legacy will far surpass Radiohead’s (at least in my mind)!
*Get the special edition that includes a 18″ x 15.5″, handmade, SIGNED silkscreened poster of the cover for the special Boognish in your life!
And third but not last (since there will be another Stalking Stuffer Shortlist installment), is by a fantastic band from my ol’ hometown, land of Skyline Chili, awful NFL football, and surprisingly good college football (go ‘Cats). Cincinnati’s Shake It Records was just a kick-ass record store when I left Cincinnati 8 years ago, and now it seems they are also a kick-ass record label. Wussy is one of Shake It Records’ most promising bands, and I’ve really been digging their recent Rigor Mortis EP. Wussy is an indie-rock band that hasn’t forgotten the second part of that genre title, as many indie groups have. In short, Wussy is an indie-rock band not afraid to bare its rock balls. Wussy writes smart and catchy songs, and plays them loud and tight with plenty of fuzzy drone guitar. And isn’t it just fun to say Wussy over and over. So put a little Rigor Mortis in your loved ones stocking this Christmas.
I’ll have the next Stalking Stuffer Shortlist here for you soon!
I found this on Ween’s website in their ‘Waste’ section and found it thoroughly entertaining…and insightful. And you get to see what Deaner’s wife and mom and dad look like. The recipe he shares for his Sunday Sauce looks awesome. I can almost taste the waste… (click on ‘Waste’ when you get there)…
It sure is the time of year for lists, huh? I’m seeing them everywhere, especially now that every other jerk-off out there has their own blog and thinks that their opinions of the year’s top stuff really matters. Well, unfortunately for you, I’m one of those jerk-offs but at least I’m going to admit that I don’t listen to a ton of new music and can concede that just about any other list you’ll find will be more accurate and attuned to popular modern society.
I am also going to spare you my enormous lists of great NYC vegan restaurants and best foreign films made in Hollywood of 2007 and only give you my listy opinions about music (and you will hopefully share yours) so as not to drive the whole end-of-the-year requisite lists into the ground. So, that being said, I’m going to try to list my Top 10 Favorite New Album Releases of 2007. Since I may not be able to come up with a full 10, I’m going to allow myself (and us) to pad the list with albums that you were turned on to during 2007, but came out whenever. Cool? Let’s do it after the jump…. (more…)
With the release of their eclectic new album, La Cucaracha, and a healthy touring schedule (which is business as usual for the Ween boys), Ween is getting the kind of recognition that they’ve been due for years…or should I say decades.
I first heard Ween on Spring Break, a couple years into college (it’s a little hazy), it was probably ’93 since the album came out in November of ’92. Dewey Enderle was playing it one morning as we sipped coffee at our campsite in the dunes of Port St. Joe, Florida. I was shocked, amazed, and hooked and I’ve been ‘brown’ ever since.
That said, I had been a little skeptical about Ween’s live show after hearing some bootleggy stuff and seeing them at Bonnaroo last summer (bad view, bad stage, during the day), and forgetting how good the show was when I say them after the White Pepper album in 2000. I thought nothing could ever top the show that I saw in ’96 in support of their 12 Golden Country Greats album, during which their band was made up of old grizzled (and amazing) Nashville session players who not only played the country songs from the album, but also played crazyness like ‘Poop Ship Destroyer’ and ‘Dr. Rock’. What a band that was!
But as it turns out, Ween turned me out on Friday at the new Terminal 5 venue in Manhattan, which everyone says is shite, but we had no problems with. It sounded great and the view was great from the 3rd balcony. My guess is that it sucks down on the floor with all the kids. The setlist was top-notch, starting the show with ‘Exactly Where I’m At’ and closing with a four-song encore that ended with a full drunken-crowd sing-along to ‘The Blarney Stone’. Some of my crews’ other highlights of the night were ‘Baby Bitch’, ‘Mr. Richard Smoker’, ‘Zoloft’, ‘The Stallion Pt. 5′, and ‘Strap On That Jammy Pac’.
Click on through to the other side for a rowdy ‘Blarney Stone’ video that I took and more words…
You’ve gotta read this brilliant review of Ween’s brand-new album, La Cucaracha. An accurate review, but what’s more is that it says so much about Ween that everyone else has trouble putting into words…including critics!
Not a whole lot shakin’ in these parts, although the Fam and I did some pumpkin-pickin’ upstate for the benefit of young Kaydence (my niece, seen below). Good times! Other than that, just going to work, trying to be a good citizen and ignoring the voices in my head what tell me to do wrong. Here’s some cool shit though, which shouldn’t be harmful to anyone…
First of all, you definitely need to listen to Ween’s new album stream at their Myspace page. The new album La Cucaracha, drops next Tuesday…and sounds deliciously brown! Be sure to listen to the last song…’Your Party’ with smooth-ass David Sanborn on sax.
And for more brown-ocity, Ween has posted a free download of the Mollusk sessions on their website. It has songs that didn’t make it to the album too. Go get it! When you get there, navigate to the ‘Waste’ page.
And in non-Ween related music news, the Arcade Fire came onstage with Springsteen a couple nights ago and played ‘Keep the Car Running‘ and ‘State Trooper‘ with the Boss. Gosh, Springsteen is actually hip these days!
Led Zeppelin’s music will soon be very downloadable. Finally!
Hidden Track celebrates Bob Weir’s 60th birthday (see, not everyone hates Bobby) and also their one-year anniversary with Glide Magazine. Cheers, Hidden Track!
Kick-ass download of the week…Funkadelic’s Cosmic Slop over at Lost-In-Tyme.
And one more Ween thing. Check out Deaner’s new blog.
What’s up with ya’ll?
