Rodan's Everyday World of Bodies

I was fortunate enough to see Rodan twice during their way-too-short existence, both times at Lounge Ax in 1994. This video was from a show in Athens, GA that same year and, well it turns out you didn't have to be there: you can watch this and you'll get why it was so disappointing when they broke up. Yes, Rodan's breakup was the most tragic of 1994, beating both Nirvana and Unrest. Why? Because Rodan was just getting started. It's like, what if My Bloody Valentine gave up after making "Isn't Anything"? Or if Pavement made no records after "Perfect Sound Forever". You know what I mean?

In the mean time, it's back to San Jose for more liposuction for me!

Back to Back to the Egg

I was talking to my buddy the other day, when the topic of Wings' ill-fated 1979 LP "Back to the Egg" came up. He's a personal injury attorney in Detroit, so he's well-acquainted with mishaps. Looking back, I think the "disasters" associated with "Back to the Egg" were mostly external, like Paul's pot bust in Japan and the band's breakup. Listening to what's actually on the record, I don't see what's so bad about it. Maybe I can chalk it up to familiarity.

I heard the album start-to-finish for the first time only recently when I picked it up on used vinyl. It was uncanny: I already knew this entire album. Every track on this thing must have gotten played on AOR radio enough that everything was familiar. Kind of like the Eagles' "The Long Run" or the first Boston album. The difference here is that the Boston and Eagles tracks are still in regular rotation on Classic Rock stations to this day. I don't know about "Back to the Egg," outside maybe "Rockestra Theme".

Here's a 1976 demo of one of those "Back to the Egg" non-hits, "Old Siam Sir":

The Curse of the Muppet Movie

Husker Du on "Good Company" April 1986

Been a while! You head to Cincinatti for a weekend, and on a whim get some liposuction. A weekend turns into a week, a week turns into 6... you know how it goes.

Do you remember seeing Husker Du on a local morning TV show back in 1986? I sure don't, but then I've never lived in or near the "twin cities". You?

Friday Playlist: An Ugly Death, It's So Easy

Reviving the "Friday Playlist" for the late Jay Reatard. Here he is with his what will be known as his "classic" touring band lineup running through two of my favorites just over a year ago:

Friday Playlist: Competent Drumwork

There's a certain something about people who broke big out of Michigan. Think of Iggy & the Stooges, Barry Gordy, Madonna, Ted Nugent, Thomas Edison, Funkadelic, Michael Moore, Jack Kevorkian, the White Panthers and the MC5. Few states can compete with that.

Add Flint's Grand Funk Railroad to that list. Given this is a Youtube clip, the bass won't be rattling any bongs, but it's remarkable nonetheless. Given this is 10 minutes long it's a playlist of one. If you make it through the whole thing, you'll agree that's more than enough. It starts paying off about halfway through.

[ When this post gets translated into a Facebook note, what will happen to the Flash embed? You might need to click over to Junk Nexus to see it. ]

Shallow thoughts re: Decemberists show Oct 8, 2009

The sound was great. This was my first indoor rock show without earplugs in probably 17 years. No (tobacco) smoke, no tinnitus, and back home by 11 PM. Pleasant!

The 50+ crowd was out in force, as were kids with glasses. Chicago Police were on hand and there were no arrests.

I did not expect them to play the whole new album "Dark Side of the Moon"-style.
I am dense.

You may remember all the Neutral Milk Hotel comparisons this band used to get. I've seen NMH (twice!) and the Decemberists put on a much, much better show than NMH.

You may remember all the Jethro Tull comparisons this band still gets. I haven't seen Tull (ever!) and I didn't think about Tull at all during this show. I still hear some Tull in "The Crane Wife" though.

This is only my 4th visit to the Riviera, and it's always an Event: Sonic Youth/Royal Trux 1992, Kraftwerk 1998 (first Chicago show since the early 80s), Wilco 2008 (final night of their play-everything 5 night stand). Kraftwerk still may be my favorite of the 4, but it's close now.