Ebony and Irony

I hadn't realized what an utter piece of garbage our old turntable mixer (above, right) was until I got a chance to play with our new one...yep!
New one!
This morning there was a piece of gear in the studio that I'd never seen before- a shiny DJ mixer! Woot! Fancy!
No one had sent out an email or called me, so I was surprised as holy heck to see it...I cued up a record, pressed a few buttons, plugged in the headphones...
Cool!
It has a much better sound than the old one, I could hear the difference straightaway- it has long been a source of considerable consternation to me that my records sound better at home than at the station... why is that?...it's the mixer, duh!

There isn't much that makes me happier than new audio gear.
I was clapping my hands together in glee.
Serious glee, I'm tellin' ya.
The sort of joy that transcends dignity.
*Squeal!*

I pointed the new gizmo out to the early morning DJ, but he doesn't play vinyl. He didn't care. He hadn't even noticed it, his loss...I really wanted to share this happy moment with somebody...but who to tell?

Voila!

In walks one of our nighttime DJs.

"Hey man!", I said,"Have you seen this? This new mixer is cool!"

"Um, yeah. I came in to switch it."

"Switch it?"

"Yeah. It's mine. I left it here last night."

So with under a minute to spare, he replaced the new mixer with the old one.
I cued up another record.
It sounded like shit.

The New Breakfast Snob, Nov. 25, 2007:

Funkadelic- Grooveallegiance
Pledge allegiance to the Funk! The equipment fiasco had threatened to derail my groove train, so some serious action was needed...

Osibisa- Move On
OK. This has cowbell, it helps me rock steady... speaking of helping ,Cowbell has posted details on how you can send gifts directly to the troops in Iraq- and a story that might move you to do so.

Larry Graham- Can't Stand The Rain
This morning we had a brief but heavy pelting of hail, which soon turned into a dreary drizzle, which may or may not have cleared up by now...I'm too goddamn gloomy to be bothered to look outside my window-and my window is directly behind my monitor...I'm that depressed.

Kinks- Sleepwalker
This is one of the very first records that I bought with my own money. I wonder if I will ever have my own money again...my unemployment runs out next week, just in time for X-mas...please Godzilla, I'm an adult now- no more retail...no more foodservice...no warehouses...where are the 'real' jobs? The kind you can blog from, I mean.

Soweto Gospel Choir- Paradise Road
Geez, I should stop complaining...it could be worse. I could be in Soweto- or Baghdad.

Stewart Copeland- Gong Rock
Ex-Police drummer's solo album is so good it almost takes my mind off of war and poverty...where is Klark Kent when you need him?

Kraftwerk- Das Model
I start thinking of Africa...and Germans...African Campaign...1941 all over again...Desert Fox...Rat Patrols...make it stop...

Gong-Can You:You Can
I can say that I am truly grateful that I saw Gong perform in Baltimore, Md., many, many years ago...they were great.

Can- Halleluwah
Can't say I saw Can. Fives times fast.

Stewart Copeland- African Dream
According to the computer, I had four on-line listeners...if you add that number to the number of people listening on the FM dial, it's probably closer to a half-dozen than it is to four.

Soweto Gospel Choir - African Dream
You can't spell 'Soweto' without 'Stew', as in Stew Copeland, who we just heard do a different song with the same name as this one. Circular, maaaaan...like a globe, duuuude.

Nina Hagen - African Reggae
Whatever Nina has to say, she says it in German...a Teutonic tantrum invoking Ras Tasfari. That might seem a bit ironic , but it's nothing compared to this:

The new Will Smith movie, I am Legend, is a re-make of a Charlton Heston flick, The Omega Man, based on Richard Matheson's 1950's sci-fi novel, I am Legend.
In The Omega Man, Heston's Lone Gunman killed a lot of vampires...Charlton's character also had interracial consensual necrophilia with an Afro-Vampire, which was pretty hot stuff for a future NRA figurehead to be involved in...I wonder what Heston would say if he found out that the Hollywood Jews gave his job to a black man?
He'd be happy, I think. Chuck marched with MLK and was an ardent civil-rights activist.
Who knew? Let's give some props to Charlton Heston!
It's a madhouse!!!



Joe Strummer- Get Down Moses

Charlton Heston once played Moses in the film version of a different sci-fi book. In the book, the Moses role was originally intended for a non-white man, so I think it's only fair that Smith gets the Omega Man gig...I wonder if Will's romantic interest will be a White Zombie?



Moody Blues- Dear Diary
Woke up late, wasn't were I should have been...what's happening to me?

Rickie Lee Jones- Runaround Rorschach
Ink blot romance. Welcome back.

Blonde Redhead- Four Damaged Lemons
Damaged lemons? Make broken lemonade.

Manfred Mann- Fritz the Blank
On the 'fritz', i.e., broken, damaged- plus a Germanic reference in the names, get it?...oh, never mind. Go back to sleep.

Loreena McKennitt- Gates of Istanbul
I sure wish she'd play somewhere around here. I'd pay if I could.

Quiet Sun-Bargain Classics
Classic early Brian Eno appearance- bought last summer for three bucks: a bargain!

Emerson, Lake & Palmer- When the Apple...
Quite possibly the longest song title ever. I'm not typing it all. I'm not even reading it.
Listen, yes. Type, no.

Soft Machine- As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still
Gong's Daevid Allen briefly played with an early incarnation of Robert Wyatt's Soft Machine...the Soft Machine served as opening act on a Jimi Hendrix tour- one of those concerts was in Richmond. I was too young to attend the Hendrix show, but I saw Allen in Maryland; that's as close to Hendrix as I'm likely to get.

Altan- Beidh Aonach Amarach
I can't pronounce this but I really enjoy it.

Fairport Convention- Now Be Thankful
A belated tip-o-the-hat to Turkey Day.

Jethro Tull- Up To Me
Take you to the cinema, leave you in a wimpy bar, You tell me that we've gone too far, come runnin' up to me...up to me.

It's up to us. 2008 will be a New Year, dammit!

Fiona Joyce- Cry Over You
Who filled your head with this 'freedom' stuff?



Pretty Things- Old Man Going
S.F. Sorrow is one of the first 'concept' albums, ever. It's a musical narration of the sad, lonely and wholly insignificant life of Sebastian Francis Sorrow...first, war fucks him up, then his lover dies in a dirigible explosion which S.F. witnesses...broken, he falls in with a bad lot and eventually an aged and withered Sorrow finds himself sitting on a park bench, sharing fulsome wine with Aqualung.
No one cares.
The End.




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TRICK HAPPY ENDING:
In 1998, the Pretty Things re-united and performed the entire S.F. Sorrow album live at London's Abbey Road studios; it was broadcast on the BBC and released as a limited-edition CD that features the entire original band, with Arthur "Fire" Brown as narrator and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour on guitar.


Cool , eh?

Anus in the Morning

Don Imus is a raging asshole?
Who knew?

I think I was the last person in the world to hear about his remarks about the Rutger's Women's Basketball team- I heard a lot of angry responses and from the tone of the rebuttals and condemnation I thought he must have said the 'N-word' since nobody was repeating his words on TV.
So I Googled it. He didn't use the N-word.

What he said was worse. It even offended me and I'm from the South...I'm accustomed to loudmouthed racist assholes, but sometimes someone just fucks up so badly that there can't be any further explanation or apology.

Once you have referred to a group of women- including a class valedictorian, a future lawyer and a musical prodigy who plays classical piano by ear- as "nappy-headed ho's" you really don't need to say anything else. You have made yourself very clear.

The words define the man with immutable clarity.
His explanations of "context and comedy" mean nothing.

Holy shit.
I just heard Imus try to explain that it was OK for him to disparage and insult Black women because Black men do the same thing all the time.
Wow. That's one of the worst "apologies" I've ever heard.
Who coached him- Mike Richards?
Anyone who doesn't understand how incredibly racist the attitude expressed by that particular "explanation" is needs to do some serious soul-searching.

I mean, you know you've fucked-up bigtime when you have to apologize to Al Sharpton.

But. And this is a big but...

We have a First Amendment. I don't respect Mr. Imus or his personal and political beliefs. I don't respect the man, period.
But I respect his right to say whatever he wants.

We get the entertainers we deserve because we keep paying attention to persons who are beneath contempt and unworthy of notice.
This incident is preventing me from giving proper attention to the breaking Anna Nicole news...you see what I mean? Why do we even care?

There is no law saying that I have to listen to him, so I don't, but there are enough people who do listen that he still has a career- maybe.

I don't think he should be fired. Not right away.

If what he said carries the weight that it should, then his audience will leave him and his sagging ratings will lead to his early retirement. That is what should happen, but it might not.

If there are enough people who are willing to listen to anything that this loathsome slug utters to keep him employed- and I'm guessing that there are- then he should keep his job.

And every time some sheltered white person tells me that we've moved past reactionary racism and sexism in this country, I will be able to point out that Don Imus called the some of the brightest young women in the country "nappy headed ho's" and he still has an audience.

Uptight, Outta Sight

PUSHERMAN- C. MAYFIELD

I'm your mama
I'm your daddy
I'm that nigger in the alley
I'm your doctor
When in need
Want some coke
Have some weed
You know me
I'm your friend
Your main boy
Thick and thin

I'm your pusherman
I'm your pusherman

Ain't I clean
Bad machine
Super cool
Super mean
Dealin' good
For The Man
Superfly
Here I stand
Secret stash
. Heavy bread
. Baddest bitches in the bed

Here's a song that was on the radio quite a bit when I was a kid- but I can't play it today.
It's a classic song, great groove with an honest but negative message about the dealing life- when I was a kid, we were afraid of heroin because of Superfly - a fear that may have saved my life years later...but I can't play it because it contains
the words 'nigger' and 'bitches'.
I used to hear this song on the radio when I was a little kid- and I am pretty sure that my audience is largely 40-somethings who would get a kick outta hearing this cool old blast from the past- but it ain't gonna happen. I , by habit, do not use the ' n-word' but I'm not squeamish about it's use in an artistic or narrative sense- to make a point, create an image as in the song above.

I guess I could claim he says 'nigga', as if that's any different. Honestly, I doubt if playing this song in the PM would cause a problem, but why take chances?

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We got hit with a huge and unforeseen mess at work, tomorrow looks to be a twelve hour shift; Friday the radio station is having our Second Anniversary Party, so I'll be busy there- if you live in the Richmond area, check it out -
four bands, food, drink , DJ's, dancing- last year we had nearly a thousand guests, this year should be bigger!
I also have two radio shows to prepare for this weekend- Songs From The Big Hair (the 1980's show) on Sat at 3 pm EST and my weekly show , The New Breakfast Snob on Sun , 7 am, so I may not blog much for awhile. Or I might.
Tune in and find out!
Or not.