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Scribblers Music Review

Omniflux, “Dance in Your Blood.” Omniflux is Mahsa Zargaran one-woman band born in Tehran and high-schooled in the United States. Interesting that she uses “flux” in her name, because her rangy-singing-over-beats style is reminiscent of Fluxus Group member Yoko Ono. She doesn’t do randomness like Ono does, though; this is a carefully constructed, slowly building, layered effort, passionate and pure but neatly crafted as well.

Lists

Shovel Song

It’s snowing again, for the third Monday in a row. Many lists of “Snow” songs exist in the world. Here’s the other image of the day. For a while, it looked like this list would be overwhelmed with metal songs about digging shallow graves, but happily the shovel-pop genre turns out to be broader than that.

Shovels & Ropes (band name, Charleston South Carolina)
“I Gently Shovel Snow,” The Walkmen
“Shovel,” Aesop Rock
“Heel on the Shovel,” 16 Horsepower
“The Days of Sand and Shovels,” Bobby Vinton.
“Mudshovel,” Staind. It’s a crass sexual term.
“The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel,” Gravediggaz
“Shovel Headed Kill Machine,” album by the metal band Exodus.
“Shovel Knockout,” Children of Bodom.
“Bitter Shovel,” Outspoken.
“The Man With the Shovel,” traditional folk song included in the book Songs and Romances of Buffalo by John Charles Shea.
“The Broom, the Shovel, the Poker and the Tongs,” Edward Lear nonsense verse.
“Shovel Knight,” theme from the free-software video game of the same name.
“The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones,” album by Lincoln Durham, who records eccentric folk/blues tunes on antiquated sound equipment.
“One Woman and a Shovel,” empowerment ditty from folksinger Carrie Newcomer
Midnight Shovel Routine, metal band from Kentucky.

Rock Gods

Rock Gods #339: Adventures in Our Little Music Scene

Someone fleeced the Bullfinch, and Q got the fleece back. The hero is being all “no big deal” and “no comment” about it, but it’s all out there in the police reports, and the praise has raised Q’s stature from barback (and occasional show promoter) to Assistant Manager. Might’ve been an even better offer, but Q’s made no secret of wanting to spend more time on his Think-Q record label and his own (mostly unheard) music projects.
So remember Josh the bartender? He was stealing from the bar, pocketing other bartenders’ tips. In the boldest stroke of all, he was taking the large amounts of cash he’d been given to pay deliverymen for shipments. He’d say “I’m new, they didn’t tell me you were coming, I don’t have the money,” and they’d believe him.
It was the kind of scheme that could only work once, and Josh had to know in advance that his employment would be short-term. In fact, he’d done this elsewhere (which is one reason why we haven’t had to use the word “allegedly” in this account) and after bolting from the Bullfinch (and this town altogether) last Tuesday, had already lined up his next target, a bar about 75 miles away.
Which is where Q came in. He’d been calling other clubs in the state to start a mini-touring circuit for a few of his favorite bands. He called this place upstate and who answered but Josh? His distinctive accent is part of the “charm” which has gotten him far in his criminal business.
Here’s where Q was cool. He got so curious so fast that he was able to avoid Josh knowing it was him and keep him on the line a little while so he could formulate his own plan. Under the guise of the No Man Distillery, Q arranged a delivery. He then hipped the bar to the scheme, and (despite some misgivings from the owner, who understandably wanted to fire Josh on the spot), it was decided that Josh should be caught in action with cops standing by around the corner. Real sting stuff. And very successful. So that Josh might avoid jail time, much of the money has already got returned.
But not all of it. Q’s first Bullfinch booking as Assistant Manager is a “Josh Scam Marathon” multi-band benefit to recoup a couple of grand and pay off the distributors.
Tonight: Thank You for the Eels and Musk Turtles (same band, different sets) at The Bullfinch… The Story Needs and Dame Rumor, college jazz rock, at Hamilton’s… Stop & Sop and Mid-K at D’ollaire’s, high-priced jams…

Archie

Riverdale Book Review

There is much speculation as to why Prof. Flutesnoot is obliged to teach both Science and Music at Riverdale High School. Is he some comic book version of Paul Hindemith, modeling his compositions on principles of physics or astronomy? Or was it simply an editing error? In the panel gag “The Corney Cornetists,” collected in the IDW hardcover Archie Joke Book Volume One: Great Gags from Great Archie Artists, Archie and Jughead are in the school’s music room (playing cornet, badly), when in walks their music teacher… Mr. Fluteweed. He looks nothing like Prof. Flutesnoot—he has a pointy rather than bulbous nose, a small mustache and dark hair (though both men are bald on top). But their surnames are enough to cause considerable confusion. I wonder if they got each other’s paychecks by accident.

Lists

Not From Netflix

I’ve just gotten back into Netflix for its DVDs, not just its handy On Demand service. With so much snow on the ground at our new home in Bethany, casual trips to Best Video aren’t so casual just now. And there are still quite a few titles that I can’t get on the iPad.

I’ve been a Netflix customer since the service first began in 1999, and was struck, looking over my queue, by how many things on it are unavailable. Some have never been available. This is what’s currently on my “Saved Titles” list, the disks that Netflix can not currently provide. All list an availability date as “Unknown.”

• All the King’s Men (the Sean Penn one, from 2006)

• Beware of a Holy Whore (Fassbinder, 1971)

• Cause Celebre (Helen Mirren and David Suchet, 1987)

• Chicago Filmmakers on the Chicago River (doc featuring Jon Landis, Haskell Wexler and others, 2004)

  • Coming Through (Kenneth Branagh and Helen Mirren TV movie, 1985
  • Cracker (the popular Robbie Coltrane crime series)
  • Hollywood Rivals Collection (2005 collection of film clips and other documents illustrating great film-star grudges)
  • House Arrest (divorcing couple Kevin Pollak and Jamie Lee Curtis are held captive by their own children in hopes that they will reconsider)

• Maid to Order (1987 Ally Sheedy/Beverly D’Angelo menial comedy)

• Notes from Underground (contemporary take on the dark Dostoevsky story, starring Henry Czerny, Sheryl Lee, Jon Favreau and Seth Green. 1995, directed by Gary Walkow)

• Popi (1969 Alan Arkin/Rita Moreno comedy. They both play Puerto Ricans.)

• Radioland Murders (1994 mystery comedy starring Brian Benben of Dream On, directed by actor Charles Martin Smith and co-writted and co-produced by George Lucas of Star Wars)

• Spring Forward (drama with Ned Beatty, Liev Shreiber, Campbell Scott and Bill Raymond)

• Super Duper Alice Cooper (the recent Alice Cooper documentary, available for $10 on Amazon but not rentable via Netflix?)

• Big Comfy Couch: Comfy & Joy/Jump for Joy (this demonstrates how long I’ve been a Netflix member. My kids are now 10 and 12, and were into this show—and the live stage versions of it that would visit the Shubert in New Haven—when they were like 2).

• The Fox and the Hound (the Disney film can be watched on demand on Netflix, but not on DVD)

• The Stupids (1996 Jon Landis adaptation of the incredible James Allard children’s book series, starring Tom Arnold. I’ve never seen this film, though I do own the tie-in novel)

• Very Best of America’s Funniest Comedians (2003, with early-career snippets of Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano, Norm MacDonald, Kelsey Grammer, Jim Carrey, Rosie O’Donnell, Tim Allen, Richard Belzer, Cheech Marin, Richard Lewis, Jason Alexander, Carrot Top, Paul Rodriguez, Jeff Foxworthy, Janeane Garofalo, Ellen DeGeneres and Drew Carey)

  • Times Square (the film that made Allan Moyle lose his hair, battling for integrity and style when producer Robert Stigwood merely wanted a Saturday Night Fever for punks)
  • Where the Rivers Flow North (1993 stubborn backwoods logger Rip Torn drama. Anything with Bill Raymond in a supporting role instantly goes on my queue.)
  • Xala (1975 social satire by one of my favorite filmmakers Ousmene Sembene)

I’m sure there are all sorts of reasons why these films can’t be gotten: copyrights, song clearances, repackaging, forgetfulness. Some are viewable elsewhere (Cracker, for instance, is on the Acorn TV subscription channel). Maybe I’m the only person on earth who wants to see some of these. But it’s as broad and varied a list as my active Netflix queue, a list that has formed and grown organically, screaming “You can’t see us!”

Interestingly, a number of these ARE on the shelves at my local video store, Best Video. I continue to rely on both Netflix and Best.

Rock Gods

Rock Gods #338: Adventures in Our Little Music Scene

We went unabashed to the Sugary Pop Con. In case you’re unsweetened, this is a music festival, not a confection convention.

We’ve never been ashamed to profess our love for classic acts like The Zagnut Five, The Punctuation Marx and Syrup Boys. But still, this is the cultural affection that dare not speak its name, and some of us are more out about our love for loud cheesy superficial bands than others. We saw a lot of people we know well at Sugar Pops (as it’s affectionately known), and darned if some of them didn’t avert their eyes or duck into hallways when they saw us coming. Others, of course, embraced the culture and loved being among fellow tripe-rock travelers.

Rose Riot of Winged Euonymus greeted us with “Hi-doodly-doo!,” quoting the gummy-jazz classic “Hi Doodly Doo” by the, um, Hi Doodly Doos.

Others wanted to be all learned and academic about the genre, noting that some of the most important guitarists and saxophonists in the harder rock realms had played in sugary studio bands.

Fine. Justify thyselves as thee will. We did the color and the lights and the cool and the lightness. Wouldn’t even know where to put these bands if they wanted to play downtown in our town. Hamilton’s? Too much of a drunken party scene. The Bullfinch? Too ironic. D’ollaire’s? Too big. maybe the outdoor show in the park. With cotton candy and carnival rides. For now, may the heavens bless the Sugar Pops. Besides the live sets—total bliss, too perfect to describe here—we scored a mint 45 of “Fragrant Frank” by the Tri-Fools for only a smattering of bucks, plus a stack of Rich Bears comic books. Sweet, with no guilt.

Tonight: Samses and Adore Clean at the Bullfinch, both with the same bassist, Lauren Snails… The 24 Hours and Best Gas, convenient covers, at Hamilton’s… An Evening with Eunice X. Alon and The Braiders at D’ollaires. Discount admission for distinctive “do”s…

The "c" word: Criticism