The last week for me has been spent mostly in or around hospitals with my youngest son continuing his hearing rehabilitation following cochlear implants. As well my thesis has entered a patch of heavy weather. These combined resulted in me spending most of the week offline. A strange experience. I have not been away from computers and the internet for such a long period of time since summer 2007 (a month in small town Australia, where phone modems and internet cafes still rule). The week offline gave me the opportunity to write out (with a pen and paper!!) a re-worked thesis plan. I still have to type ii up, but I think I may be on the way to solving the problems I have with my thesis.
The big news for this week is of course The Pirate Bay (TPB) trial. Oh my god! Could it be any more fascinating and entertaining. While I know a documentary is already available regarding the background and early stages of the trial, and another is in the making, someone should sign the rights to this story ASAP. Imagine Hollywood doing The Pirate Bay story. But then again...maybe not. On to the media.
AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE: Selected works by Evan Roth 2003-2008.
The book was made entirely in Linux using open source software and open typefaces and is indeed available online for free.
Eric Bogle: The Autogram recordings
Eric Bogle (born 23 September 1944 in Peebles, Scotland) is a folk singer-songwriter. He emigrated to Australia in 1969 and currently resides near Adelaide, South Australia.
Several of his most famous songs tell of the futility or loss of war. Prominent among these is "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", written in 1972. The lyrics tell of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) experience fighting in the Battle of Gallipoli. It has also been interpreted as a reaction to the Vietnam War. Another of his best-known songs, "No Man's Land", is also World War I-themed. This song is commonly known as "The Green Fields of France", a title it was first given by The Fureys, and which has subsequently been used in a lot of further cover versions. The song refers to the traditional Scottish song "Flowers of the Forest" being played over the grave of a World War I soldier. This song has been remade by Alec Beaton (with a Scottish soldier from "The Water is Wide"), Plethyn ("Gwaed ar eu Dwylo" (Blood on their Hands), sung in Welsh from "Blas y Pridd"), and Hannes Wader ("Es ist an der Zeit" (It is the Time)). American folk singer Charlie Zahm also has a version on his album "Festival Favorites".
Another notable song on a similar theme, but with a more contemporary setting, is the Troubles-inspired "My Youngest Son Came Home Today", with its tale of a young man killed during factional fighting in Northern Ireland. Cleverly, this song can be interpreted equally well as being about a Protestant loyalist or a catholic republican death.
Joseph Beuys - Transformer (Documentary dir. John Halpern, 1979)
This 60-minute documentary features avant-garde German artist Joseph Beuys and his unique sculpture art during a 1979 exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The tape features Beuys' work, interviews with him, and footage of him speaking before the patrons at his Guggenheim showing. The main feature of the video is Beuys telling a little of his own history -- how his life changed when the Russians shot down his German airplane during World War II, as well as his opinions on art, mankind, the state of the world, and some of his artistic inspirations. This documentary captures the world of an artist at the pinnacle of his fame.
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Thee Early Worm - Early Worm ,LP,1968/2008,UK
Before Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV Genesis P-Orridge made a tape in 1968, at the age of 18. This is it.
“EARLY WORM” was pressed at Deroy Sound Services in November 1968 even though the actual single acetate copy has “copyright 1969” written by hand on the centre label. I was away at Hull University when it arrived at my home at 6 Links Drive, Solihull, Warks. So I took it back to Hull in the new year. I hand wrote the cover quotes from “SILENCE” by John Cage. It was recorded in the roofspace attic of the house during 1968 Summer and on a weekend trip home with Jesus Joheero (Joheero pronounced - Yo’ hero, i.e. Your Hero). The sleeve notes were hand written on typing paper. Xerox enclosed.
Gnaire Gill was Pinglewad’s girlfriend.
Joheero & Dr. Moses Tea are nicknames I gave John Shapeero.
Spiderman is Ian Evetts.
Jangel is my nickname for Jane Ray, my girlfriend at the time.
RFM is my father, Ronald Frederick Megson.
Pinglewad is my nickname for Peter Winstanley.
Pinglewad is also the name of a homemade, banjo-like instrument I built that sounded uncannily like a sitar, using a shallow biscuit tin and banjo strings, with drilled nails for machine heads and a plastic shopping bag as the “skin”.
The original tape still exists, as does a tape of the follow-up album that was called “CATCHING THE BIRD” and was the same people, but including the addition of Dr. Timothy Poston. However, it being old, cheap, analogue tape the oxide is probably very fragile as on other tapes from this and earlier periods. Transfer to a new master for preservation would have to be very carefully supervised as it would probably only go through the tape heads once before disintegrating.
Squadra Omega - two albums :: February :: 2009
Squadra Omega is an Italian psychedelic free-form jam band that knows how to bend your ears. From the first onslaught of sax, guitars and drums on Tenebroso I was spellbound. The 20 minute single track album was recorded in one live take with an intensity that few artists can keep going for that duration. This is a free improvisation spree complete with all the mistakes and risks that make this form of live art so…well…alive.
Anne Vada & Aki Fukakusa - Solrenning
This is a very cool record but the information I can find on it is very little. From the blog:
Cet album est le fruit de la rencontre improbable entre Anne Vada ,chanteuse classique norvégienne, soprano pour être plus précis et Aki Fukakusa, musicien japonais, bassiste de son état, tombé amoureux fou du shinkin, très rare instrument chinois à cordes. A ces deux musiciens viennent s'ajouter des flutes japonaises , quelques percussions et une guitare occasionnelle. Il n'en faut pas plus pour nous transporter dans un autre temps, baigné de sérénité mais aussi de mystère.
The blog Chenehuby which hosts the download has lots of other interesting music. Here is a video on Aki Fukakusa playing with a band, also very nice:
Japanese drone blues.
Jimi By Himself: The Home Recordings (1968)
Out Of Print 1995 CD. Not A Bootleg.
For years these tapes have made the rounds under different bootleg titles. But, Jimi By Himself: The Home Recordings, actually began life as a legitimate 1995 CD release - packaged inside the book, Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend Of Jimi Hendrix. Only 30 minutes long, this CD was created to push sales of the now out-of-print graphic novel hardback. It worked, too. Most bought the book just for this collectible.
Skeletal performances and great sound quality make for a fascinating listen to Jimi's Electric Ladyland demos. It's just Hendrix... in a Greenwich Village apartment with his electric guitar, notebook and tape recorder (and the occasional ringing phone). It doesn’t get any more up-close than this. The All Music Guide says it best; “What this lacks in typical Hendrix firepower, it makes up for in poetic delicacy. In some respects, these performances bring us closer to the tender heart of his work than the famous official versions.”
* 1983... (A Mermaid I Should Turn To Be)
* Angel
* Cherokee Jam
* Hear My Train A’Comin’
* Voodoo Chile/Cherokee Mist
* Gypsy Eyes
Elvis Presley "Complete Word For Word" (5 cd's)
Johnny says: "This is an oddball 5 CD set called "Word For Word". The box-set contains everything that was ever recorded of Elvis' talking voice from 1955 until 1977. You will get every interview, commercial, speech of any kind (you name it...) that was ever recorded during his lifetime. The concept for this release is that you will get every interview so folks, there's no music here. Press Conferences were released on the 2 CD-set "The Press Conferences". I'm aware that this will be interesting for the 'die-hard' Elvis collector only, hope you'll like it".
The die-hard Elvis fan or the digital sampler and maker of strange soundscapes or mashups. Every word from the richest hillbilly the world has ever seen.
EnJOY.
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