Getting the Hell outta Dodge

Dodge City being Philadelphia. Am very excited. Haven't left the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in about a year and a half. Am on my way to Texas (it aint so bad) to visit family for about a month. Planning to help in my Mother's yard/garden. It's a beautiful space on the Lake. Plus I get to see not only my Mother but the siblings, which is always fun. Plus I'll spend some time with Winnie, the family dog. I like her and she likes me. (of course I'm always giving her dinner scraps so maybe that is where the affection comes from. Ha!) But there is one bummer, SEPTA (public transportation) is currently on strike so that makes getting to the airport that much more difficult. I support them, the drivers, but it is a royal pain in the *ss getting from one place to another now. Strange, we curse them a lot but they really make life easier for the average citizen.

yippee!! good news from Doctors today...

saw 2 doctors today and both agreed no more diabetes pain meds for awhile due to all the weight Ive lost since Nov'15. Over 60 lbs. Am very relieved :-) Sorta looking good too!

Philip Guston - "The Ocean" @ San Antonio Museum of Art

This is a personal favorite painting. If I had to "guesstimate" the dimensions, it would roughly be 8'x10'. It's not Guston's "Greatest" Painting just a fan f*ckintastic "Transition" Painting from his "Abstract" Works to his "Figurative Cartoon" Paintings *PLUS* it's hidden away at a "Satellite Museum" not one of the Major Tx. Museums in either Houston or Dallas. Bonus Points.

Shoegaze Music Genre = Sonic Sculptures

FLP - Recent Music Checkouts

(*) Gang of Four - Entertainment!
(*) The Fall - Eratz GB
(*) Joey Ramone - ... Ya Know?
(*) Radiohead - In Rainbows
(*) Apples in Stereo - #1 Hits Explosion
(*) David Bowie - Nothing Has Changed
(*) Cult - Love
(*) Zombie - Live
(*) Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void
(*) Stooges - Fun House
(*) Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
(*) Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
(*) The Clash - London Calling
(*) Superchunk - I Hate Music
(*) The Clash - Live at Shea Stadium
(*) Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
(*) John Mayall - Picking the Blues; Boogie Woog
(*) The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
(*) Pavement - Quarantine the Past
(*) Talking Heads - '77


Note: The Joey Ramone Solo album is surprisingly good. It's a mixture of "generic" hard rock mixed with "punkish" roots and lyrically, it is smart... not "dumb" in the Ramones kind of way. Just one qualm re: Joey Ramone ... Ya Know? Think track 10 should've been a 7"single & not included on album. Merry Xmas indeed. Also prolly would've been *the* top 40 hit he always desired if he included a "killer" b-side too. Just sayin'.

Recent Finds; Apt. Not Too Too Messy, Really

"Unearthed" CDs "Stored" Behind a Pile of Books

(*) The Fall - Fall Heads Roll
(*) The Strokes - 3 Song EP - free give away included in magazine The Guardian, NME, or some other British Music Mag
(*) The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
(*) Robert Pollard - Waved Out
(*) GBV - UTBUTS
(*) Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
(*) Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye (7 Song Single)

"Recently" Purchased Used Cds: Teenage Fan Club - "Here", Johnny Cash - "The Collection" (2 of 3 CD Box Set; 1 CD missing), total monies spent: $8... ok, yes I'm frugal tho I think the correct term is "Financially Broke." :-( also, picked up 2 more CDs recently at a "Street Sale" - ZZ Tops - Greatest Hits & Cat Power - The Greatest for $2 Total. Not Bad, eh?

FallNet: LP Review, Unverified Factoid via Wikipedia.org, & Playful Observations

silly stuff
allan smitheeSep 23 12:58 PM

am sure it has been discussed ad nauseam on FallNet but still, I'm a late comer so consider this only a humourous reminder/take on "Fall Things"; prolly have been on list only 4 or 5 years tho I *really* am a fan of The Fall & *most* things Mark E. Smith even though I had to take the "Blood Oath" that's now a requirement for FallNet Membership. Btw JC, the scar is healing very nicely thank you, the prison tattoo of Mark E. Smith's Mug not so much...

nick here, nick there: track 12 "I Am Damo Suzuki" from "This Nation's Saving Grace" - opening riff & whole song really, very very close to Bauhaus' Bela Lugosi's Dead.

separated at birth?: Mark E. Smith & Robin Banks (via The Clash Close Up & Personal - DVD & Book Set)

Have a Great Weekend All!

for Fall O'Heads
why the younger generation of Fall Fans really like the album "Fall Heads Roll"
1) great opening song. one of the best in many many years. heavy, rhythmic bass drums, spare guitar instrumentation, very cool & random seeming keyboard riff. nice female backing vocals. definitely a winner.

2) album "rocks" all the way through except for 2 or 3 slow songs & some "rockabillyish" tunes but so what. and that song "Blindness" Just Kicks ASS!!

3) the 2 or 3 slow & spare "acoustic" tunes are some, if not the most "beautiful" songs ever committed to tape by the Fall. very spare instrumentation *plus* Mark E. Smith's lyrics seem almost introspective... as if these were life changing experiences.

4) lyrically, the album seems very "personal", i.e., lived through by Smith as opposed to the usual "stream of consciousness" word of play. not better or worse but different. ok, better.

5) did I mention that the album flat out rocks, whether songs are "fast" or not, i.e., soft or hard?

6) lastly, without being a "Fall" Fan, the album sounds great & youthful though there are hints of estrangement & "jadedness" i.e. you know.,. "youthfulness" throughout.

7) Matador Records & Gerard Cosloy would have loved to release this album instead of the one they did. just saying.

8) have you listened lately to latter day Fall Albums recently instead of always listening to "the Classic", early stuff? some of it is *really* fuckin' good :-)

Note: this is the opinion of a long-time Fall Fan, though not from the 1st album... don't really remember, maybe "This Nations Saving Grace."


..........
Fictional Factoid?
Mark E. Smith (Frontman of The Fall) - Favourite Meal: "Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potatoes"

..........
Page Six
allan smithee Sep 17 1:25 PM

"Mark E. Smith has gone from loathsome yet charming-like eccentric to disgusting & deplorable human being as evidenced by some recent behaviour such as wearing wet urine-stained trousers on stage at the Glastonbury Festival while The Fall performed. It also wouldn't surprise me to find out he's a bit of a 'poofter' nowadays."

Who Said This?

A) Sir Elton John
B) Paul Francis Gadd, aka "Gary Glitter," Prisoner at HMP Albany on the Isle of Wight, Convicted of Sexual Abuse Agaist Minors
C) Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys fame
D) Noel Gallagher, formerly of Oasis
E) Brix Smith, former Fall member and ex-wife of Fall Frontman Mark E. Smith, now budding Author & Performance Artist
F) FallNet Consensus ;-)
..........

Jeff Curtis  Sep 17 1:38 PM

>Who Said This?

Hillary Clinton.

JC

wwalters Sep 17 1:58 PM

> "Mark E. Smith has gone from loathsome yet charming-like eccentric to disgusting" 

Mark E. Smith has gone from loathsome yet charming-like eccentric to disgustingdeplorable human being as evidenced by some recent behaviour such as wearing wet urine-stained trousers on stage at the Glastonbury Festival while The Fall performed.

It also wouldn't surprise me to find out he's a bit of a 'poofter' nowadays."

Who Said This?

A) Sir Elton John

Bitchy old queen so possible -- but would the great man deign to comment on somebody so far down the biz sleb alphabet?

B) Paul Francis Gadd, aka "Gary Glitter," Prisoner at HMP Albany on the Isle of Wight,
Convicted of Sexual Abuse Agaist Minors

Doesn't sound like my good friend and yours The Lead-uh!
.

C) Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys fame

Yeah. might be. Possible bitchy old queen PLUS he once described his pop band as a "project" therefore instantly achieving cunt-status. Nothing better to do that comment on other elderly pop persons.

D) Noel Gallagher, formerly of Oasis

He wouldn't describe anyone as "deplorable"

(hANG ON - IS THIS A TRICK QUESTION? wAS IT hILLARY cLINTON?)

E) Brix Smith, former Fall member and ex-wife of Fall Frontman Mark E. Smith,

& now budding Author & Performance Artist

Could be her. She's touting her bokke isn't she. Apart from that circumstantial evidence I'd say (hope) not.

F) FallNet Consensus ;-)

Not unless it's in one of the 102 unread.

So I go for Neil fucking Tennant 

wwalters Sep 17 2:07 PM 

>Hillary Clinton.

>JC

Bingo. We've got a F*llnet Consensus.

Also she's obviously MES's twin:
1. Past-it physical wreck who keeps falling over
2. Drugged up.
3. Plays to tiny audiences
4. Notorious bursts of anger and forgetting the lyrics
5. Mysterious accidents and broken bones.
6. Leaks top secret intel reports
7. stupid trousers.

Recent Comments During Past Month or So Left on Various Fave Blogs

Philebrity

Allan Smithee Saturday, September 24, 2016 1:18 AM

I *always* laugh to myself when you bitch & moan about the death of "rock criticism"... cause you're generally referring to tangible print but man Sweeney, your "rock writing" is always good, if not, at least intelligent & generally entertaining. Regards.

Can't Stop The Bleeding
"Allan Smithee" says:
#1  9/5/2016 at 5:59 pm

this comment is off-topic but was curious none-the-less. am currently listening to a couple of fave cds (Matador Artists coincidently, Chavez to be specific) and was wondering since you are in the “biz”… sometimes it takes me quite a few listens to really begin to enjoy some recently released or even "old" music, Pavement’s Wowee Zowee for example. So I was wondering, how you also begin to enjoy some "difficult" music when I’m sure there is *always* more “product” to hear. thx.

GC says:
#2  9/6/2016 at 2:36

you’re 100% correct, this is very off-topic.

I listen to a lot of stuff, old and new. Not all of it particularly related to the projects I’m working on and rarely with the mindset that I’m “scouting” or sniffing or snorting for whoever or whatever. I’m not gonna tell you that everything I’ve ever liked hit me immediately or that certain bands or records aren’t something of an acquired taste, nor can I claim to be the most open-minded listener with the widest musical background (though it’s probably a lot wider in 2016 than it was in 1986).

I try not to think of the “product” side of things when i’m trying to appreciate a composition, a performance and a recording (in that order). That doesn’t mean I’m not mindful of the fact records we’re working on, stuff we’ve commissioned, etc. has a commercial expectation slightly beyond that of The Haters’ ‘Wind Licked Dirt’.


"Allan Smithee" says:
#3  9/6/2016 at 5:45 pm

One last thing. Know you currently reside in Austin. Here in Philadelphia, seems most of our Record Stores have closed & just disappeared almost overnight. Sorta sad.


GC says:
#4  9/7/2016 at 1:02 am

frustrating for sure. However, you still have Philadelphia Record Exchange!

..........


Philebrity

Allan Smithee
Tuesday, August 23, 2016 4:16 AM

Top notch stuff Sweeney. Glad Philebrity is back, but what took you so long? All the staff quit over the summer? ;-) Also, glad you mentioned the "Jeweler's Row" Tear Down... seems nobody in this City really gives a fuck about her history, read, Arch. History which is really strange :-/

..........

Aquarium Drunkard

yes, Mag Earwhig! is great. also enjoy Sunfish Holy Breakfast & the collab between Pollard & Doug(forgot his last name) Speak Kindly. oh yeah, Tonics is a great GBV album

| Allan Smithee September 5th, 2016 at 9:14 pm

..........

You probably think I suck but I always really enjoyed Green Mind.

The Clash - Sandinista! (full album)

The Clash - Black Market Clash