MARK, DON, MEL, & IGGY

      (8-29-12) SIN'S A GOOD MAN'S STOOGE...August '69 saw the release of the first LP by Homer Simpson's favorite band GRAND FUNK RAILROAD. Featuring ( in Homer's words ) the "shirtless lyrics" of Mark Farner, the "bong rattlin' bass" of Mel Schacher, and the "competent  drumming" of Don Brewer. Their later LP's, recorded by high profile producers like Todd Rundgren and Jimmy Ienner, haven't aged so well for me. Conversely their much reviled , Blue Cheer on reds sounding early vinyl recordings by band Svengali and novice producer Terry Knight sound almost avant-garde in their low-fi rawness. It's as if some 'luded out hippie dunked the analog tape in a barrel of Ripple and then mixed it down as quickly as possible in some converted carburetor repair sweat shop of a studio. Sounds killer!

     IG Connect # 1...Before he was a Grand Funker Mel was a bassist with Question Mark and the Mysterians, who's " 96 Tears" was one of many sixties garage classics performed by IGGY on his solo tours. Check out the IG's "Nuggets" CD for a live version recorded in '83.

     IG Connect # 2...IGGY has claimed that his "shirtless" style of (un)dress has been 'ripped off' by perennially bare-chested Mark Farner. Mr. Farner has vehemently denied the charges. Hey, no shirt off MY back...

BOW DOWN # 2

     (8-28-12) REBIRTH OF THE BOW...IGGY again dons the bow! But this time he's getting paid for it.

  My father retired from his grocery clerk job at about the same age IGGY is now.  On his final day at work Dad pulled off his bow tie and, in front of his cheering soon to be ex-fellow employees, flung the offending  garment across the store.  A typically gallant and funny gesture by my Pops...Since I've already thrown out my back I'm not sure what I'll toss when I split this gig....eggs? ...grenades?...paper cups?

TIE ONE ON

       (8-28-12) BOTOXIC...Today is NATIONAL BOW TIE DAY!  When IGGY wore a bow tie without a shirt during the early 70's it became a big fashion influence on the Chippendale's Male Dance Reviews (i.e. strippers ) for women later in the decade.  IGGY was so embarrassed by the association he didn't wear a bow tie again for another 40 years.

ROCK N' ROLL CALL

    (8-27-12) ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN...August of '64 saw the release of the LP "Two Great Guitars" by CHUCK BERRY and BO DIDDLEY. I was lucky enough to see Chuck and Bo live back in the early '70's when they still put on amazing shows; full of energy and nothing but one classic song after another. With Bo gone that leaves only Chuck, Jerry Lee, Little Richard, and Fats left from the original Golden Age of ROCK N'ROLL . Elvis, Eddie, Gene, Ray, Buddy, Roy....funny how we know all these guys by their first names....

    IGGY met Bo on an elevator once. IGGY didn't say anything at first. He waited until his floor  came and then he got off, turned around, and just before the elevator door closed he thanked "Mr. Diddley" for all the great music. I wonder if  Bo had any idea who this funny looking, little white guy was...

BABY BLOOGE OUT-TAKE 8-24-12 #2

(8-24-12) I  JUST CAN'T CHOOSE YA, BABY

        LUCKY BLOOGE JUNKIE'S.....I couldn't choose one so you get 'em both!    

GRATUITOUS CUTE-ATOUS

      (8-24-12)  BABY, IT CAN'T FAIL...A mere two months after dedicating a whole week of blooges to LUST FOR LIFE here I am using this month's anniversary of the LP's release in '77 as a pretext for posting yet MORE pictures of BABY GLORIA.  Being a big BO DIDDLEY fan Gloria digs the beat of the title track. Fact is, she can ride with the whole LP;  with the possible exception of "Turn Blue", which tends to lull her to sleep. But that's a good thing! 

   PS..I know the picture is kinda small but use it as the screensaver on your computer and it grows to gigantic proportions..   

NIAGARA FALLS ?

(8-24-12)      SLOWLY I TURNED...STEP BY STEP....Happy B-Day (8/23) to NIAGARA DETROIT.  Niagara sang lead in two bands with RON;  Destroy All Monsters and Dark Carnival. She also has a thriving career as an artist, with exhibitions such as "All Men Are Cremated Equal" and "Faster Niagara, KILL KILL".  There are many great images of Niagara and her art on the Web. But since it's HER B-Day I thought she might dig this one...bookended by RON & FRED "SONIC " SMITH. What can you say?....some seriously sexy people here... 

BLUE HAWAII

WHO ASKED YOU

     (8-23-12) MY FRIENDS CALL ME KEITH BUT YOU CAN CALL ME IGGY....IGGY rides piggy on the back of B-Day loon KEITH MOON  at some industry soiree back in the '70's.

         Interviewer  to Keith: " We just shot a lot of film with the interview..and I was wondering..now could you really tell us the truth and stop lying?"

         Keith:  " Oh, no....the truth as you want to hear it? I can't do that.  You couldn't afford me."

ALL TIME BEST WHO COVER

LATELY THINGS DON'T SEEM THE SAME

     (8-22-12)   THE WIND CRIES IGGY...Today is the day back in '67 that "Are You Experienced" by the JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE was unleashed upon an unsuspecting American citizenry.  It sounded to me at the time like a weird mix of the Yardbirds, Wilson Pickett, and Bob Dylan; only LOUDER and at times funnier ( people forget how funny much of the work of Dylan, JIMI, Cream..etc. was to listeners at the time). Of course, now it just sounds like JIMI.  And while Sgt. Pepper , which kept RUX out of # 1, sounds sooo 1967 (in a good way) RUX  screams out not only '67 but '57, and 2007, and 2107 and every "7" until the 'end of time'.....just play the music and let JIMI 'prove it to ya.....' 

   BTW..Check out Little Steven's Underground Garage website for a great interview with IGGY.  A still awed IG recalls being a few feet from JIMI in a small Michigan club, with JIMI wearing the same psychedelic vest He wore on the American EUX LP cover.

   PS.  Imagine being so on 'fire' as an artist that you have so many fab tunes that you gotta leave songs like "Stone Free'' and "Red House" OFF your LP?

   B.S..Since my computer crashed in mid-August I have been able to find again all the pictures I had planned on posting for this month, until today. I've scowered the internet  all week but I couldn't relocate the picture I wanted to use for today's blooge. Manic depression, indeed..
TV WORTH WATCHING...

MY KIND OF TOWN

(8-21-12)      HIATT RIOT...Have a little faith in JOHN HIATT, born 8/20/'52. IGGY recorded John's "Something Wild" on his "Brick By Brick" LP. It was even scheduled  to be released as the IG's follow-up single to "Candy" but cooler heads prevailed and the much more revelatory "Buttown" was released in its stead.  Of course "Buttown", aided by its high budget video, went on to sell millions and become the City of Los Angeles's Official Anthem.

  P.S. I dig John's albums "Bring The Family", "Slow Turning", and "Perfectly Good Guitar"....maybe you will, too..

GOOD TIMES, BAD TIMES

   (8-20-2012)   "GOLLUM AND THE EVIL ONE SET THIS DUDE UP.."...Hats off to  ROBERT PLANT  (b.8/20/'48). I'm sure IGGY  and the lemon squeezer, both young lead singin' Rock gods during the early '70's, had a lot to talk about...especially if Bobby was buying....hell, they probably didn't even have to pay for their drinks!
Sorcerers of Rock

HOT GENERATION

    (8-17-12) MRS. FARMER....PAULA PIERCE,  leader of LA Paisley Underground favorites the PANDORAS, died this month on the tenth back in 1991. I saw the Pandoras open for IGGY back in the "Blah, Blah, Blah" days. By then they had a fun but rather generic hard rock sound. Their real glory days was as a band playing sixties style garage rock in the early/mid '80's. Back when Paula was LA's very own female SKY SAXON.  The whole world misses Paula, whether they know it or not.

DESPERATELY SEEKING STOOGES

      (8-17-2012) JUSTIFY MY COOL...Happy B-Day ( 8/16 ) to MADONNA LOUISE CICCONE.  When she was inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame she had the STOOGES play her songs live in her stead.  RON, ever the cynic, thought she was doing it just so she could bask in what RON called that " STOOGE'S SHINE". Ultimate STOOGE coolness aside, I  hope RON said that with a little smile on his face...methinks it  was a pretty cool thing for her to do no matter how you look at it.  She could of gotten someone like Lady GaGa to do it, after all.  Besides, she got to hang with Burroughs, so who needs cool?

   BTW...STOOGE bass thumper MIKE WATT was in a group with members of Sonic Youth called Ciccone Youth who did Madonna covers. 
P.S.What do you get when you mix Burroughs' and Madonna's books?   A Naked Lunch, of course!

DON'T BE CRUEL

(8-16-2012)  ( NOW AND THEN THERE'S) FOOLS SUCH AS THEM...Today back in '77 ELVIS left the building for the last time. While listening to a "classic" rock station today I heard that amazing live version of "Suspicious Minds." And even after THAT finished the ex-hippy DJ had to make some fat ELVIS jokes. I doubt we'll be hearing too many jokes on the future anniversaries of the deaths of such heavyweights as "Elton" and Roger Waters.  Heard any good Freddy Mercury gags lately?   The IG 'll out live 'em all! 

DON'T BOGART THAT BUK

(8-16-2012)  PASS IT ON...Wayne Kramer's great first solo CD "The Hard Stuff" features a hidden track called "So Long, Hank", in which Brother Wayne relates his reaction to reading CHARLES BUKOWSKI'S ( b. 8/16/20 ) novel "Factotum." Lo and behold, the very next day after I heard Kramer's song I found the book on sale and I too "saw myself on the page"; working low level jobs and "drinking, fucking up, with crazy, negative girlfriends."  And I realized why I had never read "On the Road" or "Catcher On the Rye." I was waiting for Bukowski, who opened up my mind's eye to that mug in the mirror I saw everyday but couldn't  begin  to really see. Sorta like RAW POWER.....

  If you are interested in delving into Buk's massive catalog of work I suggest you start with his novels featuring his alter-ego Hank Chinaski ( "Ham On Rye","Factotum", "Post Office","Women" ) and his great book of short stories "South of No North."

     PS...Although I didn't realize it when I first moved in, until recently I had been living for the last ten years in the same style bungalow as Hank; which was just around the corner from me at 5124 DeLongpre in the same neighborhood where he wrote most of his classic work. Some people think that the fact that his old pad has been declared a "Historic-Cultural Monument" by the city of Los Angeles is somekinda disgrace to Bukowski's memory. I'd like to think he'd get a good laugh out of it. Maybe even a cool poem...And thanks again, Brutha Wayne!

PENILE CODE

 (8-14-2012)     SINS OF THE SON....On August 11, '68 at a club called Mothers in Romeo, Michigan, IGGY POP's penis made its first public appearance. IGGY flipped over backwards, his pants fell off, and the joint was soon crawling with coppers. In a charming happy ending to this sordid tale IGGY was bailed out by his Dad, whom the young Jim placated by joining the elder Osterberg  for a round of golf. FORE!  

I'M BACK

(8-14-2012)    TESTES..TESTES....Hello, fellow Bloogers..I just gots a new computer setup here and I'm trying it out...let me know if you get this!

   The picture is of IGGY on his B-day this year, hangin' out at a record store on Record Store Day!  Salt of the earth...

DEATH TRIP

(8-10-2012)  I guess the Nagasaki Blooge was a bad omen. My computer at work crashed today and all the as yet unused photos on my computer seemed to have vanished. I may yet retrieve them  but if not,  WE WILL REBUILD!  Console yourselves with the knowledge that tomorrow is the anniversary of the " first public appearance of IGGY POP"s penis," during a STOOGES' show back in 1968. 

RUNAWAY SON OF A NUCLEAR A-BOMB # 3

 (8-9-12) NAGASAKI...Today is the anniversary (1945) of the last time an atomic weapon was used on a city. The bomb's name was "Fat Man". The caption for this photo says it was taken at the "exact moment of detonation", with those three people in the foreground for a second unaware that anything has happened. Did they live, and if not, how much time did they have? What about the cameraman? What we do know is that about 80,000 people died, about half of them on the first day. Josef Stalin is quoted as saying:"One death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic." Sorry for this drag of a blooge..no AC here at work and my teeth are killing me. I'll think of something more fun for tomorrow... 

Nagasaki Archive

SOUP TO NUTS

   (8-8-2012) POP ART..."I'm afraid that if you look at something long enough it loses all of it's meaning."

Happy B-Day, ANDY (8/6/28)...and thanks for telling LOU to "keep the dirty words in."

P.S. I dig this photo..it reminds me of an ALFRED HITCHCOCK movie where Hitch makes his cameo appearance.

SCHLOCKADELIC STOOGES

  (8-7-12) FOR A FEW STOOGES MORE...Twenty years ago CLINT EASTWOOD won the Best Picture Academy Award for "Unforgiven." In 1986, while sitting up in a tree in Laurel Canyon, IGGY was asked by MTV what he thought about Clint. The IG talked about how as a youth he would save up his change and go to any Clint flick, especially the westerns. IGGY then paused for a few seconds with a faraway look on his face. Then he slowly said: "You know..it was a schlocky kinda magic, I guess...but damn, it got me through." 

This is a Public Service Announcement...with Clint!

IGGY DON'T

 (8-9-2012) A-POP-BOPALOOBOP ALOPBAMBOOM!..This day in the late '50's original ROCK N'ROLL giant LITTLE RICHARD rocked Louisville...for 99 cents! The STOOGES live CD, recorded at RICHARD'S in Atlanta GA and included in the deluxe version of RAW POWER, is called "Georgia Peaches." I'd like to think this is a tribute to Georgia born RICHARD PENNIMAN, who's nickname is "The Georgia Peach." A live version of "Rip It Up" by IGGY from 1994 is available on the "Roadkill Rising" CD. And of course the MC 5's colossal "Back In The USA" LP opens with "Tutti Frutti." Ooh! My Soul!

MASTER OF MUPPETS

(8-3-2012) KERMIT'S HERMITS..Our favorite blonde DEBBIE HARRY began filming her appearance on episode 509 of the Muppet Show on 8/4/'86. During a fab 2006 BBC documentary called "One Way Or Another" IGGY calls Blondie the last great American pop music group. He describes the Debster's early performances as: "Barbarella on speed." The IG also mentions how both he and BOWIE tried hitting on Deb. "She was really cool about it," says IGGY of their unsuccessful attempts, "she said maybe another time when Chris ain't around..."