SmithAntics

Ladies and Gentlemen!

In accordance with our policy of bringing you the finest entertainment, we at Smithantics are proud to present another scorching episode of Adjective's Tree House!

Today's episode of the Tree House features part two of Adjective's spotlight on Orange County's New Rome Quartet. A great new band currently playing in and around southern California. The Quartet play LaCave steakhouse in Costa Mesa tonight with special guest, our own DJ Adjective.

New Rome Quartet can also be seen in residency at Taix Bar on Sunset Boulevard in the wonderfully rowdy city of Silverlake.

All you Sactown boys head on down tonight! You've seen one Super Bowl you've seen 'em all, right?

Thanks for another great episode DJ! Let it roll!

New Rome Quartet!

Here is the final installment of this week’s trilogy on the futility of post-partisanship.

Via Chris Bowers:

You can't compromise or appeal to people whose motives are simply to oppose you, rather than to actually stand for any principles or values (except, I guess, the principle of opposing you). The sooner congressional Republicans make their purely contrarian motives clear, as they have done in this case, the sooner we can move on to just passing good legislation. Let's drop futile attempts to appease those who caused our problems in the first place, and stay focused on cleaning up the mess they left.

Amen.

Why is John Boehner currently at the center of the American political universe?

Do we have time for this?

Now that it’s clear the Rethugs are not feeling the post-partisan warm fuzzies (surprise) and are actively working to undermine the Democratic agenda (surprise) and paint Obama as Jimmy Carter II less than two weeks into his presidency (surprise), I wonder how long Obama will continue his bid to appease them? As I recall, these people were just crushed in an election.

Just asking.

I don’t have much to say today, except the movie Step Brothers is so pissingly funny I nearly hyperventilated watching it last night.

A month ago, I put up a post on the South Bay punk movement I grew up in and which flourished in the late seventies and early eighties. I was really surprised by the number of comments it received. The last post focused on Black Flag and the Circle Jerks. For this post, I want to cover two more highly influential hardcore bands -- the Minutemen and the Descendents.



Here’s some great footage of the Minutemen at the Starwood in Hollywood from 1980.

And here’s the Minutemen playing a backyard party in Lomita. Lomita is a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood and where you went if you wanted to score a dime bag.



This footage of the Descendents from Mi Casita restaurant in Torrance (on Sepulveda or Pacific Coast Highway) in 1983 really shows the audacious amount of energy young hardcore bands could put out.

Note: There are about 9 minutes of the rest of this show available, but due to the quality of the sound in some spots, I’ll leave it up to you to sift through it. My advice would be to advance to 3:15 in the footage. This is not to say all of the footage is screwed.

I know I haven't done a midnight rock post lately but I was taking a break from my regular duties at the late night outpost here and thought I'd drop in for some weirdness.

So here you go...

Instead of posting some cheap rock that we've all probably heard before, how about something a little on the odd side instead?

I've been listening to and archiving sixties surf music recently and in my research I've come across this obscure little gem. Here is organist Korla Pandit, from 1951, doing a spooky version of Miserlou.



Nice lid, fella!

No, really.

Uh-oh

I know this is ultimately inconsequential, but for some reason it really nagged at me all day yesterday. And now it’s nagging at me again.

Stupid fucking Republican.

Since I've had a case of Biden-itis lately I'm going to keep this short and leave space for Mr. Smith here should he so desire.

Today, however, I plan to watch Barack Hussein Obama take the Oath of Office and become the first African-American President of the United States.

I then plan to hit the hay soon after. I predict that I will sleep the best I have for the first time in eight years. Ironically enough, watching this inauguration will be like waking from a nightmare. Then, there is that sense of relief as you wake and you realize that the Bush era is finally over! Truly a good morning.

After a bit of a sojourn, our resident contributor is back with another episode from within his botanical lair. The good DJ has been hanging out recently with a group of musical pals known as The New Rome Quartet. I've just seen the footage myself and I have to say I'm impressed so I advise you all to take a gander. I don't know if these guys are heading north to Sacto. anytime soon, but we'll keep you posted. A special 'Hello' and 'nice job' to bassist Frank Cronin of the Quartet.

Thanks for another fine episode of the Treehouse, Adjective. When can we expect another?

The New Rome Quartet only on Adjective's Tree House only on Smithantics!



"You the man, Barack"!

Despite the fact I really needed to go into a bank today, and threw a major tantrum outside it's locked doors, it is, after all, what would've been Martin Luther King's 70th Birthday. Wherever Dr. King is, I hope he gets a vibe of tomorrow's historic event. Thanks Doc!

Good morning to all! Or afternoon.

Before I introduce the Sunday Jazz artist I would like to take time to apologize to the entire blog family for my outburst at 2am, or thereabouts, this morning.

My comments were slung out there without thought or consideration and although done as a joke, I tend to forget that in this medium those intentions can be lost. So in other words, it wasn't funny - just mean.

In particular I'd like to apologize to my good friend Adjective for needling him on something that simply isn't true. My apologies to you ol' sport! To anyone else I may have offended, I extend the same apology.

About ten years ago, due to massive beer consumption, I was of a rather portly nature myself, so I should know better.

I'm sure Adjective remembers. In fact, Adjective, weren't you Mr. Junior El Toro 1981?

So to calm myself down and also do what our fearless leader hired me to do, here's a classic favorite of mine - and hopefully yours - Mr. Horace Silver with two of his classics.



Horace at Newport 1959. Senor Blues.

Horace in what looks like Rome? 1976. Song For My Father.

No need to comment...
...I'll lock up.

Tar them, feather them and then show the world why these people are to be despised! Do not forget these faces or what they've wrought upon our nation. Vile, dumb scum! If these guys are "enemies of conservatives" then why did most vote twice for these assholes?

There is a reason that W.'s face would come up on Google when the word "Failure" was entered. I was thinking in the shower, as usual, about the impact of this administration and how this group of divisive and myopic Neoconservatives are an anomaly in the annals of presidential history.

Their little experiment didn't work, the consequences of which are showing signs of disaster already. And then of course there are the disasters we've all seen and the creepy crew responsible.

9/11, Plame/Leak/Gate, Iraq, warrantless wiretapping, Abu Ghraib, Katrina, attorney firings, justice Roberts, Alito, Gonzogate, Harriet Miers, 'Scooter' Libby, Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, Ashcroft, Fieth, Pearl, WMD lies, intelligence lies, Iraq lies, torture lies, cronyism, attorney firings and choked on pretzels. Did I forget anything? Probably. How about jingoistic, ideological, nationalistic, ignorant and arrogant and just plain dumb? If you got anymore, post them in the comments.

I am wrong, however, as our fearless editor Steve pointed out, on this administration being an anomaly of sorts. The history of the Neocon movement traces back to Reagan and the likes of James Baker as well. Personally, I'd like to see the following list of losers taken to task by our government for war crimes at least! Steve mentions it'll never happen.

I'd like to thank Mr. Hilton for this enjoyable if not infuriating read. Here are 43 reasons why George W. Bush's tragic and maddening administration should go down as the most destructive and absolutely worst administration to ever be 'elected'!

Also...

Pentagon follies and the network news.

What’s in your CD and DVD players these days?

I’ve got the Descendants’ Milo Goes to College in the CD player right now. In my opinion, Bill Stevenson is the undisputed king of surf-punk drumming. Not to get too "tech" as Underhill might say, but I can hear a strong Bill Stevenson influence in the drumming of Josh Freese.

As for DVDs, I’m just finishing up Ken Burns’ 10-DVD, over 20-hour Jazz documentary, which Amy got me for my birthday back in August. Burns has been criticized for his "classicist" history of jazz and his neglect of important jazz artists and developments in the late sixties and beyond, but I absolutely love this DVD set -- especially the last few DVDS, which focus on Parker, Gillespie, Miles, Monk, and Coltrane. I've been escaping into these 2-hour episodes for the past several nights and just loving them -- except they make me want to go back to New York so badly.

What are you digging these days?

I watched Bu$h's big "F- you" to the country this evening, which I saw as a slap in the face to the nation. It also was an opportunity for this jackass to justify his ineptitude. I could go bananas here, but I caught Chris Matthews immediately afterward and was glad I did because he was disgusted with the whole spectacle of Bush's cheap remarks.

This from Chris Matthews regarding Bush's farewell speech.

“The scary thing about Bush is that he met guys like Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby and William Kristol and Douglas Feith and bought into their Neocon ideology of taking war to the Arab countries in order to spread democracy and instill freedom.”

Matthews went on to point out how W was the guy who laughed his way through college, had everything given to him by his dad, including the Presidency, wasn't very curious, and therefore was susceptible to guys like Cheney et al.

Matthews then illustrated how W's actions as well as the mere unfortunate circumstance of life has cost the lives of 4000+ service men and women and wounded countless others. I sat forward at this point and began cheering for Matthews, this being the first time lately that he has grabbed me by the balls so I was caught off guard.

This, to me, is the immediate legacy of the BU$H era nightmare. The long term legacy I think will be even worse, and I don't buy any surmising by some that time will be good to W, especially when freedom and “democracy” reign in places like Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Call me a cynic.

Matthews summed it up with this:

"The tragedy of the last eight years is that Bush is still trying to sell the neocon doctrine, as evidenced in his speech tonight."

Absolutely goddamned right!

A PB&J sandwich.

Thanks a lot for making my 30s a decade of bewilderment and hate.

Asshole.

I swear to Jeezus, I woke up this morning intent on not putting up a negative post about Obama. The man hasn’t even taken office, and, as Hilton has pointed out, now is the time to savor the inaugural bliss. Okay, I’m ready to do that.

Just as soon as I express my irritation with this.

I know, I know, it’s all part of Obama’s "master plan" or whatever rationale you want to come up with to justify Obama courting and legitimizing these right-wing hacks.

William Kristol?

Here’s a pretty generous read on the event.

Whatever....

PS: No, I'm not freaking out about this.

I wonder what’s more important to Obama: saving the country’s ass or making nice with Republicans? Because he can’t have both. There is no such thing as post-partisanship. Partisanship is a necessary feature of a democracy. Liberals and conservatives have fundamental disagreements on how to govern. There will be no great healing. Democrats have a sweeping mandate to tell Republicans to STFU. Yet the past eight years have demonstrated beyond a doubt that Democrats are a self-hating bunch, who fall over themselves to appease Republicans, despite the fact that these acts are never reciprocated. Obama has shown many signs that he is a part of that culture, and that worries me deeply, specifically because our entire national existence appears to be on the line. Saving the country requires massive liberal governmental action that is going to mightily piss off Republicans. If Obama tries to nuance this action with compromise and self-defeating and undeserved gestures of bi-partisanship, we are fucked. If he operates under the assumption that Rethugs are rooting for him, or have the country’s interest at heart, or do not want his presidency to fail miserably, we are fucked.

Is it just me, or does it feel like most people don’t remember or particularly care who is responsible for our current hell? No one really talks about the causes anymore. Amnesia is settling in, and that is really fucking sad.

The economic meltdown is not an act of nature; it is the predictable result of Republican deregulationist orthodoxy (aided by a healthy assist from bad Democrats). But few seem to care about assigning blame these days. Now there is only fear. And lost jobs. And forgetting. And eventually the pendulum (a stupid and lazy axiomatic construct) will swing back to the Rethugs and they’ll fuck us all again.

With that off my chest, let’s move this blog into the age of Obama.

Lots of stuff to get to folks – impeachments, bimbos, and more Capricorn rock stars!



First off, this has to be seen to be believed. Dana Purina on the Daily Show comes off as a gushing high school senior who won an essay contest and got to go on T.V.as her prize!

Oh, that's right, she’s the White House press secretary...

Unbelievable.

Especially her reaction to Jon Stewart's question about BU$HCo's foreign policy record.

By the way, Smith, you're right: she IS cute! In a kinda Carol Brady-ish sort of way .

Another one that has to be seen to be believed! I just finished watching Mussolini...I mean Blagojevich, give a defiant and bizarre press conference. It was like Mussolini and Bobby Brady as the Safety Monitor all rolled into one! I’ve got to hand it to him, the corrupt bastard has got balls. He's also a little too macho for his own good and seems a little crazy.

By the way, Smith, you're right, he IS cute! In a kinda Bobby Brady-ish sort of way.

Blagojevich Impeached!

House Vote: 114 - 1!

Ouch!

Jimmy Page officially qualifies for Social Security! Happy 65th to the original wizard of rock and one of my top 10 favorite guitarists!



A 13-year-old Jimmy Page on BBC TV with fellow bandmates performs Skiffle.

A 22-year-old Jimmy Page, having just taken Jeff Beck's place in the Yardbirds performs Train kept a rollin'.

A 25-year-old Page with the newly formed Led Zeppelin on Danish T.V. 1969. Great version of Dazed & Confused.

A 31-year-old Page kicks ass with Led Zeppelin at Earl's Court in London, 1975. Fabulous footage and sound! Lots of tech shots of Bonham on this one Smith, and you're right, he IS kinda cute! In a Tiger Brady-ish sort of way! Heartbreaker.

Have a great weekend folks!

What am I going to say about Elvis on what would be his 74th birthday that hasn't already been discussed, joked about, etc.?

A worldwide cultural icon? Absolutely. A legend in his own time and immortal in death? Absolutely!

I recommend you go out and buy the above album in honor of The King's birthday! His first album, with Scotty Moore on guitar, is still fresh and rocking fifty years after its release. This album along with his singles collection may actually be all the Elvis you need – especially with the added bonus tracks.



Again, a rock icon who in life is already a legend, David Bowie is 62 today. His influence on music – especially glam, heavy metal, and punk – should be taught in Rock 101. I've loved and also been perplexed by Bowie since I first heard "DJ" from Lodger on the radio in 1979.

If I may shift gears...



#1 On My Shitlist!

Anyone who has the stupidity to say that Dick Cheney is a “lovable guy" is to be disregarded as a crackpot! Although he uttered the above statement at 3:30 AM this morning, he had the air of a man who had been put up to it! His lame-ass co-host Mika Berzerkski merely nodded with that deer-in-the-headlights look of hers. These two shouldn't even be on the air.

BTW, thanks for all the birthday wishes. I'm back now, Smith! Thanks for filling in, but the blog's now mine, okay?

I think the question of why I’m referring to Underhill as “Papa” is one I’d rather not pursue at this time. In any event, I feel like I’m almost ready to come back and take the helm of the blog. Shit’s starting to rattle around again in my previously tapped-out mind. But fear not, I’d like to keep Underhill on board if he’s into it.

Oh, and while I’m here, this kinda pissed me off too, and I was glad to see that Professor Krugman blogged about it.

See you all soon.

Celebrate Syd Barrett's birthday!



Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett was born on January 6, 1946 and passed on July 7, 2006.

Barrett founded Pink Floyd in 1966 in Cambridge, England. He recorded one album with the group -- The Piper at the Gates of Dawn -- in 1967.

Here's Pink Floyd on a BBC documentary in 1967 doing Astronomy Domine and being critiqued by some uptight music reviewers. Great footage and sound! In the interview portion Barrett is soft-spoken and articulate -- hardly what you'd expect considering his legend.



Buy This Album!

If you haven't heard this classic piece of true psychedelia then you're missing out. Barrett imbues the album with his love of Lewis Carroll and LSD -- not to mention subtle but great guitar work. Barrett's influence and contributions can't be exaggerated.

Full Wickipedia biography.

It's also my birthday today so I'm taking the rest of the day off!

Send Money!

*UPDATE*
FRANKEN WINS!

Coleman - upset. More here!



Coleman in happier times. I think I bought weed from this guy once.

Also...

Obama names former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta to head CIA

One of my all-time favorite actors, Robert Duvall is 78!



Apocalypse Now.

One of the funniest lines I think I've ever seen Duvall deliver, at :21 seconds, from one of his surprisingly lesser known roles in Sideny Lumet's 1976 classic Network.

Duvall reflects on his career in this interview.

Of course the first two Godfathers contain vintage Duvall as well as The Apostle, THX 1138, Tender Mercies and the Lonsome Dove series. Only time permits me listing more here but you get the picture.

Happy Birthday!

The importance of Miles Davis and his impact on jazz as an American art form as well as 20th century modern music, can not be stressed enough. Here I feature Davis with Coltrane in the early sixties followed by Davis' best band, in my opinion, from 1965. Davis also led the way in Jazz fusion with the release of Bitches Brew in 1969 and here in footage from a 1973 jazz festival. The 60 minutes interview with Harry Reasoner is pretty interesting as well.

Miles Davis with John Coltrane in gorgeous b&w from 1960/61. Great sound and footage. So What!

This is by far my favorite period and band for Miles. 1961 - 1967, Davis' premier band was Wayne Shorter on Sax, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass and wonderkid drummer Tony Williams. Mr. Smith, you should definitely like this if Hard Bop's your thing. This is really smoking, probably 1965. Great sound and footage. Walkin'!

Miles live in Austria, November 1973. This is the epitomy of Jazz fusion.

Great piece on Miles from a 1990 60 minutes segment a year before his death. Miles is definitely a funny and interesting cat.

60 minutes interview part 2

How Bill used to roll...

I'm not going to make a big deal about the Richardson withdrawal as Commerce Secretary nominee, but that, hot little tart Amy Rohrbacher over at MSNBC just asked before going to commercial what "effect" Richardson's financial dealings with a California company will have on Obama's new administration?
My answer is that it will most likely have no effect on the new administration as long as the MSM don't shove it down our throats as an eyebrow raising problem in the first place! I will scream for blood should I see little shits like Eric Cantor (R) VA., making hay about this on the talk shows!

Huffington Post has this on Richardson's and Obama's statement.

Just woke up!
Jazz to come!
Any suggestions?
Or should I just blow it off and watch Night Gallery?

Happy Birthday!


John Baldwin, better known as John Paul Jones, is 63.

One of my favorite rock bass players and a master studio musician who has worked with the Rolling Stones, Donovan, Kinks, Dusty Springfield and the Who, just to name a few. (yeah Adjective, that's your cue!)

I thought rather than link the same old footage from Song Remains The Same, I'd link to a 1975 show, showcasing Jones' piano prowess. If you're in a hurry then skip part 1. Part 2 begins with Jones' solo then Bonham comes in and it's just the two of them in a loungy jam. Then Page joins in.

Led Zeppelin live at Earl's Court, London. 1975
Great sound though the footage is a bit murky.

No Quarter part 1
No Quarter part 2

Happy Birthday also to Stephen Stills, 64.



and to...


Italian film director Sergio Leone, 80.

Israeli ground troops in Gaza are met with resistance!



Israel refuses to cease-fire as BU$HCo's half assed calls for negotiations betray their true intentions on this situation. I know this is nothing new for Israel and Palestine but the situation seems quite ominous this time around. Israel is wrong, however, and, personally, I'd like to see them get their asses kicked!

It will never happen. The Untied States not only defends Israel because it's the "Holy Land", but strategically, it is a choice position for us in the middle east!

It will never happen. Not with a U.S. supplied and funded Israeli military that is hellbent on descimating Palestinians for religous reasons. These people just want a place to live for chrissakes!

Hamas=bad, I get it! We are talking about people, however, whose lives have been relegated to that of servile peasants in their own land!

Hamas may very well be the "bad apples" who happen to be fighting a religous war that is in tandem with the need for freedom for Palestine. This makes sense to me! How hard is it to understand that people, generally, don't dig oppression, hence the Black Panther, Brown power and Women's liberation movements of the late sixties and early seventies in this country.

Now, granted, Hamas has gone a little further than mere sit-ins and protesting but this has been going on for forty plus years now. I'd be pissed off too! Oppression will always bring violence eventually and it would happen here in America if we all weren't busy watching American Idol.

Huffington Post has the latest on this maddening situation.

Thanks to contributor Fried Wire for this link.

Stiff Little Fingers was one of the progenitors of punk rock in late 1970's England and were important enough to have a record label named after them. Here they are performing Suspect Device in 1979.

Thanks, Fried! They sure don't make punk rock they way they used to back in the day...

Okay, here is my New Years resolution for all to see... all ten of you.

I, Interim Editor in Chief, Underhill, from now on, will not use the term "back in the day."

I hate that phrase, I'm sorry I used it in the last sentence and, frankly, if you think about it, what the hell does it really mean?

When you say "the day," which one are you talking about? Am I to always immediately assume that one is refering to the good 'ol day(s) of yesteryear? A half-assed generalization sorta?

Or are you refering to a special day like when you lost your virginity or first got your ass kicked? Does this correlate with the current subject of which you speak in terms of a quality experience or specialness?

Whatever, no worries, and it's all good! I'll let you all know of any other resolutions that I may have.

By the way....

Is Israel going to invade Gaza? I'll venture to guess BU$HCo's involvement and support is an 8 on the collusion meter.

Push out all the last-minute horror you can George, barring any "unforseen" catastrophe that may prevent the changing of the guard January 20th, your days of royally screwing this country are numbered.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

The New York times has the latest from Gaza.