Surfing with Lee

Here I was sitting in the casino at my psychic's timeshare, when who should walk in but my old friend, a bail bondsman who I haven't heard from since our days in business services and asset management. He'd been in rehab, finished his degree and tells me that he's looking to get involved in medical coding services, or maybe insurance.

He handed me an LP, an archival release of a surf instrumental album Lee Hazelwood made but never released. It's an odd one but I kind of dig it. Is that an early drum machine?

SMOKIN': The Best of Brick Smokestack

This 1973 best-of was the final official release from The 'Stack. It also proved to be their best-selling and highest-charting. You may not have had it, but your friend's older brother did. 'Stack it!

HOLD ON! The Best of Joan Bannister

Poet/songwriter Joan Bannister's 1990 contract-fulfiller for Nonesuch. Who can forget all those times she opened for Bruce Cockburn at the Park West for an 'XRT show?

Whole Hog! The Best of Taihu Pig

A close-out bin score from 1988, this is, for most of us, all the Taihu Pig we're ever going to need.

Peng!

I ran across this circa 1969-1970 comic that should feel familiar to Stereolab fans:

I think the translation is a bit off. Here's my attempt (with help from Babelfish):

The Deadly Finger

So, you're a stand-up person, you love peace, order and the police…

Worked more than 20 years for the same company, popular with supervisors, no criminal record, no prosecutions.

You joke, yodel, read the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, believe in God and are in the shooting club…

The kids don't like you, especially the long-haired and disobedient, because…

You're a lieutenant in the army!

High time that you're dead!

Bang!

There's a bit more on "Cliff" in this post over at Dangerous Minds.

The Reggae Banana Consolation

Has it really been 2 years? I tell ya, cloud computing disaster recovery is worse than online live roulette!

De Frank & His Professionals

Hey it's been a while. I had invested in a laser skin rejuvenation outfit that went bust almost before it opened. What a mess (literally)! But that's all behind me now. At least my skin is laser rejuvenated, I guess.

My buddy who is a car accident lawyer in Idaho was telling me the other day how he's done with Euro-centric music. Since he includes the descendants of Europeans living in North America, he's cut himself off from the mainstream. Is that so bad? His thing now is buying rare records and cassettes from Africa. He's become big fan of De Frank Professionals (or was it De Frank and His Professionals?) from Togo. Little of this stuff is digital so it's nice that some of it made it to the youtube. No way I'd be hearing this stuff otherwise. My buddy keeps sending me tapes, but my only cassette deck is in my old Chevy Malibu, which I rarely drive. Plus I'm pretty sure it's busted. It's never been the same after that drunk driver plowed into it at the SeaTac parking lot.