Space Pirate Radio - 49-48 (272) - Monday, November 7, 2022

Sylvain Carel - [Sunrise on Panipat #07] - Daughters of the Mughal King

Space Pirate Radio - [SPR 21-09 #02] - intro 

Dracula (English) - [SPR 21-01] - Dracula_english

The Dining Rooms - [Turn To See Me] - Bonjour

The Dining Rooms - [Art Is A Cat] - No Frame

Jean Michel Jarre - [Oxymore] - Animal Genesis

Violeta Vicci - [AUTOVIA Remixed #06] - Long Farewell (The Orb's Laughing Chicks Mix)

A Certain Frank - [Nobody No] - It's

Cosmic Ground - [isolate #02] - Invade

Jarguna & Various Artists - [Chimera of a New World, Session Two] - Urban Soundtrack

Turhan Bey ID - [SPR 21-09 #41] - Turhan Bey ID

Laibach - [Wir Sind Das Volk] - Philoktet

Sudan Archives - [Athena] - Iceland Moss

Yang - [Designed For Disaster] - Unisson

Gabor Szabo - [1969] - Stormy

It Came From Outer Space - [It Came From Outer Space] - It Came From Outer Space

Space Pirate Radio - [1981 Bits Cassette] - The Secret Sex Life Of Jacques Cousteau--away

Youth, Gaudi - [Stratosphere #08] - Stratosphere

Deepspace - [The Blue Dunes  #03] - Emptiness

Fly Pan Am - [Frontera] - Parkour 2

El Ten Eleven - [New Year's Eve #03] - The Time Knife

Oliver Wakeman with Steve Howe - [The 3 Ages of Magick #02] - Mind over Matter

The Future Sound Of London - [Environment Six] - Symphony For Halia

Ebia † - [Mission Control #06] - Back To Earth

theAdelaidean - [Eternity is (free!) #02] - Sodium Lights In Sequence / Highway, Homeward Bound

Space Pirate Radio - [20-09] - Ian Dumpster 

The Kinks - [The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society] - The Village Green Preservation Society

Fairport Convention - [Unhalfbricking] - Si Tu Dois Partir

Alan Stivell - [Amzer] - Kerzu - December (As A Tribute 3)

Perel - [Jesus Was An Alien] - Jesus Was An Alien

Mark Peters feat. Dot Allison - [Red Sunset Dreams #01] - Switch On The Sky

Can - [Live In Cuxhaven 1976] - Cuxhaven 76 Vier

United Future Organization - [3rd Perspective] - Fool's Paradise

Mr. Untel - [Tati - Les Remixes De Mr. Untel] - Play Time House

Tim Bowness - [IDs] - SPR ID (Guy 3)

Tim Bowness - [Butterfly Mind] - Glitter Fades

David Sylvian - [Sleepwalkers] - David Sylvian - Five Lines

Jean-Luc Ponty - [Individual Choice] - Computer Incantations For World Peace

Joe Woodard  - [SPR ID] ID for Guy Guden's 'Space Pirate Radio' 6-10-20

Space Pirate Radio - [SPR 29-16] 2- Kissinger Phone Line

The Rolling Stones - [Their Satanic Majesties Request] - Sing This All Together

Kula Shaker - [1st Congregational Church Of Eternal Love And Free Hugs] - 108 Ways To Leave Your Narcissist

The Divine Comedy - Dumb It Down

Acid Arab - [Musique De France] - Acid Arab

Nichunimu - [Un Cacho de Metal, Un Resto de Vaivén #01] - Cachos

Laibach - [Wir Sind Das Volk] - Der Vater

Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld - [Still Smiling] - Konjunktiv II

Laibach - [Wir Sind Das Volk] - Medea Material

Nurse With Wound - [Merzbild Schwet] - Untitled

FM Einheit - [Stein] - Anna

FM Einheit - [Stein] - Hammermorder

Polly Fae - [Metamorphosis] - By Stormlight

Space Pirate Radio - [SPR 27-19] - Scots' Theatre

Joni Mitchell - [Don Juan's Reckless Daughter] - Don Juan's Reckless Daughter

Stone Poneys - [Vol. III] - Stoney End

Judy Collins - [In My Life] - I Think It's Going To Rain Today

Bruce Cockburn - [Inner City Front] - And We Dance

Chris Mulkey - [SPR 21-01] - Chris Mulkey ID

The Bad Examples - [Slow Music] - The Ballad Of Vittorio

Yann Van Der Cruyssen - [Stray - Soundtrack (Disc 1)] - The Notebooks

Bill Nelson - [Chance Encounters In The Garden Of Lights (Disc 1)] - Seventh Circle

Peter Hammill - [The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage] - A Louse Is Not A Home

Al Gromer Khan - [SPR ID] - Al Gromer Khan SPR ID 1 (Hi) 

Al Gromer Khan & Emin Corrado - [Tantra Electronica] - From Lust To Bairagia

Popol Vuh - [Cobra Verde] - Grab Der Mutter

Sherlock Holmes - [Sherlock Holmes The Spider Woman] - Pygmy

Vox Redux - [Whisper One Word] - Whisper One Word

Focus - [Hamburger Concerto] - Harem Scarem

Space Pirate Radio - [SPR 28-49] - The Uninvited

Richard Burmer - [Treasures Of The Saints] - Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Walter Wanderley - [Orgao Sax Sexy] - Ninguem Me Ama

Bride Of The Monster - Bride Of The Monster (I Was Classed As A Madman)

Alco Frisbass - [Alco Frisbass] - Pas A Pas

Malady - [Ainavihantaa] - Haavan Vari

Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso - [Orlando - Le Forme Delf Amore] - Non Serve Tremar

The Gatekeepers - [The Gatekeepers #01] - Butterflies

Elbow - [Flying Dream 1] - After The Eclipse

Francis Decamps - [SPR ID] Frances Decamps SPR ID (edit)

Francis Decamps & Pascal Gutman - [Bien Au-dela Du Delire] - Le Chien, La Poubelle Et La Rose

Space Art - [Best Of All Times] - Eyes Shade

Twink - [Think Pink II #08] - Grey Eyes

XTC - [Nonsuch] - The Smartest Monkeys

Sudan Archives - [Natural Brown Prom Queen] - Clara

The Dining Rooms - [Art Is A Cat] - When You Died

Recoil - [Bloodline] - Bloodline

Stereolab - [Pulse Of The Early Brain (Switched On Volume 5)] - ABC

Charles Wilp - [Charles Wilp Fotografiert Bunny] - Red Indian Sirene

Holger Hiller - [Holger Hiller] - Pulver

Space Pirate Radio - [1978-02-20] - G3 3 Guys ID

Scandal - [Soundtrack] - Nat King Cole - Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer

Space Pirate Radio - [SPR 21-01] - Cat Stevens - Morning Has Broken

Invaders From Mars - [Invaders From Mars] - Invaders From Mars

MONO - [Pilgrimage of the Soul #04] - To See a World

Holy Sons - [Raw And Disfigured] - Up On That Hill

Godley and Creme - [Frabjous Days: The Secret World of Godley and Creme 1967-1969 #09] - Virgin Soldiers

Elmer Bernstein - [The Great Escape] - Discovery

John Barry - [The Ipcress File] - The Death Of Carswell

Ethel Smith - [The First Lady Of The Hammond Organ (Disc 1)] - Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers

King Crimson - [Music Is Our Friend - Live In Washington And Albany 2021] - 21st Century Schizoid Man

Christopher Lee - [Dracula (short)] - The Last Vampire (short)

The B-52's - [Cosmic Thing] - Follow Your Bliss

Forbidden Planet - The Landing

Space Pirate Radio - [SPR 27-46] outro

Space Pirate Radio - 49-47 (271) - Saturday, November 5, 2022

Space Pirate Radio - [SPR 29-12] - In-Existence - Drifting Away

Space Pirate Radio - [SPR 29-10] - intro

Space Pirate Radio - [1985-04-15] - Godzilla SFX

Space Pirate Radio - [1977-02-21] - SPR Time Cart

Fly Pan Am - [C'est Ca] - Each Ether

STAN DART - [Retrospective #11] - Regarded As Absent

The Dining Rooms - [Turn To See Me] - Lungo Il Fiume E Sull'acqua 0334

Mark Dwane - [Martian Apparitions] Eternity Reimagined - Mark Dwane

Quarkspace - Blue Star Glowing

Violeta Vicci - [AUTOVIA Remixed #09] - Violet Light (Kuba Remix)

Ebia † - [Star Voyager #05] - Asteroids

Mr. Untel - [Tati - Les Remixes De Mr. Untel] - Jour De Fête (Illussion Mix)

Laika & The Cosmonauts - [Cosmopolis 1998-2008] - Boris The Conductor

The Orb - [Auntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond The Call Of Duty pt.3: The Orb Remix Project #14] The Lost Stoned Pandas - The Great Lockdown Of 2020 (The Orb's Freedom Over Fear Mix)

Cosmic Ground - [IV] - Possessed

Al Gromer Khan - [SPR ID] - Al Gromer Khan SPR ID 1 (Hi)

Al Gromer Khan - [Mahogany Nights] - The Abdullah Tree

Haircuts for Men - [Karaoke Night at Harukiya's #11] - Imagine 2d

Bas Broekhuis - [SPR ID] - Bas Broekhuis SPR ID

Broekhuis, Keller & Schonwalder - [Repelen 3] - Madrigal

Fairport Convention - [Unhalfbricking] - Percy's Song

Space Pirate Radio - [20-13] - The Shadow - Psychiatrist 

Donald Byrd - [A New Perspective] - Chant

Playfield - [Stepping Out] - Ice Cream Mountain

Nichunimu - [Un Cacho de Metal, Un Resto de Vaivén #07] Paso Doble y Triple

Julie London - [The Very Best Of] - Mad About The Boy

Homunculus Res - [Limiti All'eguaglianza Della ParteCon Il Tutto] - Accidenti (S. G.)

Homunculus Res - [Limiti All'eguaglianza Della ParteCon Il Tutto] - Profiterol

Incredible Bongo Band - [Bongo Rock] - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

Spirit - [Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus] - Prelude - Nothin' To Hide

Kurt Weill - [The Threepenny Opera (RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta)] - Ballad Of Sexual Dependency (Ballade Von Der Sexuellen Hörigkeit)

Einsturzende Neubauten - [Alles In Allem] - Zivilisatorisches Missgeschick

Stick Men - [Prog Noir] - Schattenhaft

Guru Guru - [Made in Switzerland #11] - Tribes and Vibes

Oneohtrix Point Never - [Age Of] - Myriad.Industries

SPR - [20-33] - Carl Fagan

Jean Michel Jarre - [Oxymore] - Sex In The Machine

The Dining Rooms - [Turn To See Me] - Desire

Orbital - [30 Something (2)] - Belfast (Yotto Remix)

Youth, Gaudi - [Stratosphere #03] - Beautiful People

Violeta Vicci - [AUTOVIA Remixed #10] - Long Farewell (The Orb's Laughing Chicks Mix) Brecon Beacons Live

Kraftwerk - [Remixes] - Expo Remix (Orbital Mix)

Space Pirate Radio - [1978-04-24] - SPR Phased ID - Tin Can

The Future Sound Of London - [Environment Six] - Mountain Path

Bill Nelson - [Chance Encounters In The Garden Of Lights (Disc 1)] - The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

Space Art - [Best Of All Times] - Paris Vision

Sylvain Carel - [Secrets Of The Red Sea] - Far In The Awwam Sands

Space Pirate Radio - [28-46] - The Uninvited

The Smile - [A Light For Attracting Attention] - We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings

Bruce Cockburn - [Inner City Front] - The Strong One

David Sylvian - [Sleepwalkers] - David Sylvian & Ryuichi Sakamoto - World Citizen - I Won't Be Disappointed

Kate Bush - [The Dreaming] - Houdini

Jean Michel Jarre - [Oxymore] - Neon Lips

Stereolab - [Pulse Of The Early Brain (Switched On Volume 5)] - Stereolab & Nurse With Wound - Trippin' With The Birds

Don Tiki - [Adulterated] - Close Your Eyes (A Certain Frank)

White Noise - [An Electric Storm] - Here Come The Fleas

Vanilla Sky - [Soundtrack] - Paul McCartney - Vanilla Sky

Space Pirate Radio - [SPR 27-31] - outro

"probably a loose wire..."

Hola Amigos! 

Welcome back to The Melting Watchtowre…  I had almost giving up posting random thoughts here, but Lo & Behold, Lauren Bacall…  SPACE PIRATE RADIO has evolved on the Inter Fish Net Stockings thing. 

That's right, Folks...  Guy Guden's SPACE PIRATE RADIO has returned to the airwaves via the power of Outdoor Field & Streaming.  Since July of 2019...the Twitching Hour...on Twitch TV.  And after 47 years, this is the greatest evolution of SPACE PIRATE RADIO ever.  it has now become the closest to the actual fantasy concept of the show I had in 1961!

I dreamed of combining old fashioned radio broadcasting with Ham Operators of the time.  Being able to broadcast, but also being able to speak with many other operators in various parts of the world.

That with the later images of pirate radio stations, but broadcasting from space...

Well, it has now finally happened in the truest conceptual form...  I do SPACE PIRATE RADIO live like I have always, at Midnight Pacific time...and the rest of the world can tune in in their respective time zones...plus having the ability to chat with other listeners in real time. 

It's all come together, almost 50 years later.

Do join us...

http://twitch.tv/guygudenspacepirateradio

"I need a rendezvous...rendezvous."

The world seems out of balance.  A chaos factor in the air.  A Battle Extraordinaire.  Darkness versus Light.  Good versus Evil.  An Orange County version of Steam Punk.  A blending of time periods.  Josef Goebbels runs The Desert Fox News Channel.  Shicklegruber hosts The Apprentice.  Dancing With The Scars.  Lemmings going over the Edge with a Quick Quick Slow Two Step. 

It's hitting home.  Too Claustrophobic For Comfort.  So when the Poles shift; there's seismic action under your tap shoes...The Yin Yang becomes the Kling Klang:  We're heading off for the Rock Show.  Or in the Amon Duality of it all, the TWO Rock Shows.  It's a Deja View.  How does one fight off this malaise? 

By going to the Rock Show.  May-December, Young and Old.  In a Romantic Interlude.  Harold and Maudlin.

We are migrating South to see KRAFTWERK.  2 Times 2.  First, it's off to San Diego.  A new venue for the Little Lady and me: The Balboa Theatre.

A pattern has revealed itself, but with new variations.  My Muse and I love KRAFTWERK.  I am proud to say that SPACE PIRATE RADIO was the first commercial radio station to play the Work of Kraft (without the cheese...Louise!) in January 1974.  Despite that boast, the Beloved Little Lady has ACTUALLY seen Ralf Hutter and the boys, perhaps three times more than me.

If one scrolls or scrawls back to the collected Arcana that is the tower of candles melting, a post praises the KRAFTWERK experiences of San Francisco and Oakland, and bemoans the SoCal misery of the outdoor concert.  As mentioned previously, when asked at a certain time what were my favourite and least favourite concert experiences, I replied: BEST: KRAFTWERK, San Francisco, the Warfield Theatre.  The Worst: KRAFTWERK,  Los Angeles, the Greek Theatre. 

Why is this? 

The reason appears to me to be Indoor versus Outdoor.  The serious music lover wishes to be involved in the enclosed event.  Outside is social event, a picnic, a party.  A Festival.  It really doesn't matter who or what is playing.  The music is the soundtrack to the Happening.  The Audience is the Headliner.  The Massed Ensemble are there to be watched.  The Artists are secondary.  The Fourth Wall is reversed.

And so for KRAFTWERK, the earlier equation is repeated.  Our last experience with the band was in Oakland, at the Fox Theatre.  Three nights, but I opt out for my cranky man, low energy routine of seeing only one show.  Only E has the Energy for the marathon music binges.  And her secret life as a patient of Sacher-Masoch prepares her for the Ordeal to Come. 

In Oakland, I take the Middle Path.  Shows One and Three I avoid.  But not today.  For this pair of KRAFTWERK shows, I am now Sasha Mascot.  I'm the Alchemist of Pain & Pleasure.  I'm going for the Gold!

And why not?  I'm a changed man.  New experiences await.  The first show is in San Diego.  At a venue neither I nor my venue voyager has been to: The Balboa Theatre.

And the second show is on my fogging Birthday, for Krispies Sake!  September 18th, a Sunday: the actual day of my early entrance.  The place?  The Hollywood Bowl.  Let's Go!  I'm pumped!  I'm on Stereo Oids.

Yin Yang.  Kling Klang.  Indoor.  Outdoor.  Show me the Magick.

And it Manifests. 

The Balboa is a doorway into another mindset.  A theatre better prepared for vaudeville and Thurston.  Actually a low key auditorium that stages travelling musicals; this is not your typical hall for Pixies or a Depeche Mode Tribute Band.  Usually filled with Season Subscribers, it is, in fact, a treasure to savor an unexpected musical moment.  Quite simply, this theatre, named after Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the First European to see the Pacific Ocean (how appropriate!) becomes possibly the here and now of the best KRAFTWERK performance we have ever experienced.

It is sublime.  No yelps of inebriated concert goers, misplaced applause or disturbances to the performance.  The acoustics are delicate to accentuated.  There is room to breathe for the silent spaces.  It is Blissful.  It tops every show of the band I've seen.  My batteries are recharged.  I'm back in classic SPACE PIRATE RADIO mode.  I'm inspired.  And when I'm inspired, I ignore the Pods waiting for me to snooze.

As mentioned before, I've seen KRAFTWERK in concert 5 times total.  My much younger wife has seen them actually 13 times.  She loves sole founding member Ralf Hutter.  I respect him enough that I would let her move to Dusseldorf with him.  Now SPACE PIRATE RADIO was the first show to play KRAFTWERK on commercial U.S. radio.  And in all the years of the show, with all the musical heroes I've met, I and the wife have never met Ralf.  That must change.

And it did.

Thus making San Diego, this Southern Star of California, a place of new, surprising and cherished memories.

And now on the flipside of our platter...

"You say it's your birthday."  Usually frightened of flipping the odometer, I decide to celebrate an ominous numerological event by doing a second KRAFTWERK show in an open arena.  The Hollywood Bowl or Bowel if I feel the need for a cheap shot.  Actually, I don't hate the Hollywood Bowl like I truly hate the Greek Theatre.  The last time I was at the Bowl was for Monty Python.  Yes, the filmed concert of Monty Python at the etc. etc.  I am actually in the film, with excellent seats, sitting with my girlfriend at the time, Sue Dugan: actress, costumer and after TWILIGHT ZONE, THE MOVIE, the horrific triple death accident, nun.  Besides seeing the Pythons in the flesh and unknowingly appearing in the film, the performance was memorable for sitting with Doctor Timothy Leary and talking about ASH RA TEMPEL and Manuel Gottsching.

But I digress...I'm here on the natal day for KRAFTWERK.  "Are you coming to the Hollywood Bowl?" Ralf Hutter asks me and the wife in San Diego.  "Of course," I reply.  "It's my BIRTHDAY!"

And although the hot day turns into a comfortable evening, none of the subtlety of the San Diego performance is in evidence here.  A group of musicians performing classical interpretations of KRAFTWERK songs fails to soothe the outdoor party crowd.  No Balanescu Quartet here (look it up), though they do their best at winning over an unsophisticated crowd.  KCRW's Jason Bentley tries to win over the crowd in schtick I gave up years ago broadcasting at openings of Radio Shack in Carpinteria or Ellwood Beach.  I Marcel Marceau a gagging projectile hurl to E, returning to my seat.  I'm jealous, of course.  Why isn't SPACE PIRATE RADIO on KCRW, instead of Morning Becomes Erectile Dysfunction?  Something should be done.  :)X.

Instead of the ambient intro in semi-darkness in San Diego, the Bowl large screen monitors tout the wisdom of credit card purchasing power.  Inebriated old friends meet to discuss short term encounters.  People choose open chairs at random.  Views are blocked.  Vaping is the cool thing to do, even though it lacks any of the Eastern Exoticism of a B made Turhan Bey and Maria Montez film.

The Bowl has a lovely vibe in its location.  Voted by the LA Weekly as the Best Concert venue.  This would be true if music wasn't involved.  The show had major mistakes.  Another crashing defeat for the Outside.  Oh, well.  I took it in my stride.  Good Spirits prevailed.  The best thing about the show was the large screen, showing the Winston Smiths how cool the show would be if you were a half mile closer to the stage.  Unfortunately, the screen changes the colour of the actual staging.  A perpetual Kinda Blue permeates the transmission.

*sigh*

"It's my birthday too, yah."

We will always have San Diego.

On to the next bit...

"It is the middle ground between light and shadow."

The recent death of science fiction author George Clayton Johnson brought me back into orbit with my early passion for '50s and '60s sci-fi literature.  George co-wrote LOGAN'S RUN, several TWILIGHT ZONEs and the first episode of STAR TREK (not the pilot).  He also wrote the only decent Rat Pack film, the original OCEAN'S ELEVEN.

Quite possibly an equal influence on my deviant youth was his founding and co-ownership of the beat(nik) Orange County coffee house, CAFE FRANKENSTEIN, in Laguna Beach, California.  My parents loved driving in the car.  Hauling me and my sister in the Ford de jour for quick, but not quick enough, jaunts through all points SoCal.  Trapped in the back seat, missing my comic books back home or something cool on the telly, I would stare out the right hand window, observing the apocalyptic landscape that was (and still is) Door Hinge County.  What newest grove of Orange trees has been mowed down to make way for the latest crop of tract house?  The natural carnage had spread out from hyper-urbanized Fullerton and Anaheim, to once pastoral Placentia and Yorba Linda.  Out beyond to the hills and valleys of Orange and Santa Ana.  Spreading beyond to the doorsteps of Corona and Riverside.  If the parents had opted not to head to Riverside, with an end destination to be the 31 Flavors Ice Cream Store, then the journey might wind through the Sleepy Hollow hills and valleys that would ultimately lead to the off beat beach community of Laguna Beach.
 
The town was not like other beach communities; somehow slightly off kilter.  To my youthful perception, it had an exciting, Romantic feel.  A calling to my sleeping Pirate subconscious.  If we were there during the day, we would probably notice two things: the wild and gently crazy man who waved at all the cars on the main thoroughfare; a visit to the Pottery Shack, where the aquariums with the shells that opened up contained unusual flora and odd stuff.  A nighttime visit would bring out the oddly colour lighted seaside buildings and shacks.  On the posh end was the Victor Hugo restaurant.  On the mystical and bohemian side was the CAFE FRANKENSTEIN.

This was doubly exciting to me as a kid.  The beatnik mystique was calling me through art and images in MAD MAGAZINE.  And to name this pad after the Good Doctor's Creation.  I was drawn to what secret initiate mysteries might await inside.  And the taboo cult was spreading.  In Brea, a little coffeehouse opened up called DRACULA'S DEN.  Yet another clubhouse named after the sacred Universal Monsters.  Is it little surprise that I opened up a Beatnik Lemonade Stand in front of my house in Fullerton called KING KONG'S KORNER?  TRUE!

Also, on the drive into Riverside, there was a cool looking place called DIOGENES' LANTERN.  The Hermit!!!  My fate was pre-ordained.  All the Signs were there...and usually lit by a red and blue light bulb.

But I digress...

 

So George Clayton Johnson was a member of the Southern California science fiction circle, which included Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, and Richard Matheson.  It was Beaumont who introduced him to Rod Serling and resulted in seven episodes for the show.  Johnson was a true eccentric, perhaps not as literary driven as his mates.  He would hitch-hike to and from the events, where a young sci-fi fan as myself would attend, enjoying the company of these professional dreamers.  Places like the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (or LASFS), the Count Dracula Society and the later Academy of  Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.

The photo above is of one such gathering of the Count Dracula Society, probably 1966 (held at a place called Rudi's Italian Inn on Crenshaw Blvd., I believe).  We are listening to Ray Bradbury speak.  Yours truly, bespectacled, seated in front of the dais, waiting to get my copy of Something Wicked This Way Comes signed by the author.  Forrest J Ackerman and others are there.  This photo was published in the English hardbound book The Dracula Scrapbook by Peter Haining.  Anyway, it was heady company for a high school kid.  So glad I missed those football games.

egg y nudu. "Good Neighbour SHAZAM!"

"So you're leaving us to see your doctor?"

"I'm heading south for my annual physical."

"Someone said you were going out of town to get cosmetic surgery."

"Totally absurd."


















[One week later...]

"Glad you're back and things went well.  However, a few people still think you went and had body work."

"That's ridiculous."

The Sex Pimples.

"If music be the food of love, let's eat out," Oscar Wilde once said to Lilly Langtry, slipping under the table after consuming a brandy drenched tapioca pudding.  Using that maxim as a rule of thumb, foot and knee, can we assume then, that a book on music can be made a meal of?  Is the government ever to be trusted?  How many angels can you get on the head of a pin?  The answers to the questions are, respectfully, yes, no, and thirty if thin and lightly dressed.

"Scusi, Mio digresso," as some Italian men would say, rushing into the bathroom after a long Laura Antonelli movie.  Where was I?  Oh yes, making a meal out of music books.  Two of the aforementioned culinary tomes have recently come to my attention, although they might not suit all tastes.  They do fit, however, under the heading of music sociology and should be noted as thus.

The first, Eat My Shoes: The History of the Sex Pimples is a vivid document of this pivotal band in the 'punk' movement.  The second is Babylon's Forgotten Ashtrays, a focus on several of the breakthrough artists of the reggae genre.  Straightforward stuff here.  Not like that book The Liszt of Adrian Messenger, a cheap attempt to mix classical music with Agatha Christie. 

Eat My Shoes is an important look into the brief, frantic, manic and destructive flurry known as the Sex Pimples.  The Messiahs of the punk movement, the Pimples were destined to burn bright, quick and out.  Four of them, lead singer Ricky Barf, his Siamese twin brother (connected at the mouth) and drummer Mickey Barf, lead guitarist Mal-Content, and bass player Clive Noxious.

Where bagels go, trouble follows.  And troubles certainly followed the Sex Pimples.  Their single, "Young Fascists" was banned by the BBC.  So was the album, "Anarchy in the Ukraine."  Violence followed their concerts.  In Texas, a girl rushed on the stage and struck bass player Clive Noxious with a refrigerator.  Noxious was doomed for tragedy.  In London at the Flaming Groins Club, he covered his mom with linoleum, shag carpeting and new drapes, while singing "September of My Years."  Finally, Clive took his life by stapling his wrists together.  For his fans, it was the only way to go.  No one ever thought that Clive would be an old age pensioner.  As this song, "Young Fascists" says:

                    "...I can't stand my Mother

                    And I hate my Dad.

                    Sometimes I want to snuff  'em

                    Stuff  'em in a Glad Bag.

                    I got a white pale face

                    With the blotchy red specks.

                    I don't think nuthin'

                    But violence and sex.

                    Young Fascists!  That's we are.

                    Young Fascists!  I'm a living scar.

                    Young Fascists! I hate this song I just wrote.

                    But if you don't buy this record

                    Gonna cut your throat.

                    Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."

If that's not enough for you, sink your teeth into Babylon's Forgotten Ashtrays.  The book does not pretend to be a serious text book of reggae music, but more of a pictorial document.  The famous and the not-so-famous share equal pages.  Included are Jah Kitsch, Truck Drivers of Rhodesia and Oy U-Hoo, along with giants Barb Wirey and the Maulers and Poops and the Midols.  In fact, the book contains photos from the Barb Wirey concert held locally in 1976.

How I remember that show.  Held at the Santa Barbara Country Beach Men's Room, it was standing room only.  Poops ad the Midols had opened the show, featuring music from their album "Culture Dreaded Gnats."  I wasn't familiar with all the songs.  My comrade was convinced that they were playing the same song twelve times.  A man next to me said that they were alternating between two songs, six times apiece.  It didn't matter.  We were waiting for the headliner.

The crowd was in a lather (thanks to a handy soap dispenser) when Barb Wirey and his Maulers took the stage.  Barb is incredible!  What charisma!  Standing, proud, dramatic, defiant, and somewhat dazed.  His head was framed in a mess of "breadlocks" (pieces of Roman Meal braided into every strand).  Smoking a two and a half foot reed weed filled reefer, and then putting out the butt on a security guard's coatsleeve.  What audacity!  Fifteen minutes later he decide to play, nearly all of his album "Gastaman Vibrator," including the hit "I Shocked My Lawyer."  The crowd wanted an encore, but Barb doesn't give them.  With the last chord still hanging on the sink, Barb lit another reefer, flipped a thankful ash to the audience, used the facilities, and split.  It was the end of an experience.  So is the book.

[First published November 4, 1980.]