return of the cat pictures!

ABOVE: Charlie Hodges in front and Chinaski up top in back

 

Mix Disc Covers: even more single artist best-ofs

It's another batch of single artist best of mixes...

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ABOVE: Madness and Stereolab   BELOW: Arcwelder

ABOVE: Depeche Mode and Led Zeppelin - both mixes are double discs and pretty much replaced me ever playing whole albums by either band again. The Zeppelin mix is subtitled "What Sort of Dumbass Makes a Led Zeppelin Mix In This Day of Age?"

BELOW: A double disc set of Superchunk.

some pictures around new York

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"Scoop. Pray. Eat." 2007

 There was a Banh Mi place that I had to hit on every trip to New York - a small deli counter in sewing supplies/video store - but the place is gone and it looks like the building is being renovated for condos. Now that my favorite place for a Banh Mi is gone, this place will have to do.

 

 I have no idea what these Travis Bickle, Bronson, Hanibal Lecter flyers I saw in Chinatown are for, but they looked damn cool.

I love a good sandwich, and the sandwiches at this insanely good smelling market were some of the best I've ever had.

More Mix Disc covers

Here are some more old mix disc covers.....

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ABOVE LEFT: WHAT POOR GODS WE DO MAKE, A Naked Raygun best of that might be the mix of mine that I've played the most

ABOVE: Two Roxy Music best-of mixes, splitting their career into two halves. The cover collages are supposed to be a parody/homage to Roxy's use of glamour girls for their covers.

BELOW: A Beach Boys best-of made up of only pre Pet Sounds era music and a collection of my favorite mash-ups (the ones that actually stand up to repeated listens)

More pictures of Chicago

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Shuffle-a-gogo: the randomness of the MP3 player

When it doubt, shuffle-a-gogo. 10 songs on shuffle with real time comments.

1. the SWINGIN NECKBREAKERS - The Girl Can't Help It - Supercharged garage fun. Times ten.

2. ZOMBIES - Whenever You're Ready - Pretty much anytime a Zombies cut comes up on shuffle it's a good thing.

3. FAD GADGET - Saturday Night Special - Fad Gadget dies creepy and eerie, while still being catchy, like nobdy else.

4. JOE STRUMMER and the MESCALEROS - Mega Bottle Ride - Ummmm....this song sounds kind of boring at the moment. I love Joe Strummer, but now I'm wondering why I put this on the MP3 player.

5. WONDER STUFF - Astley in the Noose - the Wonder Stuff CDs are mastered soooo damn low that it kind of bums me out every time they turn up on shuffle.

6. NELSON RIDDLE - My Three Sons - "His name is Bud, he cooks the food".

7. AEROSMITH - Come Together - Love it as much today as I did back in Jr High.

8. the LYRES - Not Like the Other One - There's a ton of marginal stuff in the Lyres catalog, but On Fyre is about as perfect as garage albums get.

9. ARLO - Runaround - One of those songs that I can (and have) listen to ten times in a row and still want more. That riff just kills me every time.

10. U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday - War is still my favorite album from U2. For about a decade after this came out I was pretty down on U2, but I still played War on a regular basis.

That and a dollar will get you a ride on the bus.

pics around Chicago: Medinah Temple

It may be a Bloomingdale's now, but I still love the Medinah Temple building. [ CLICK PICS TO ENLARGE ]

 I used to park in the garage across the street from the Medinah Temple and the 2 replicated onion domes always fascinated me.

Shuffle-a-gogo

10 songs on shuffle - no cheating -with real time comments

1. the Drowners - Summer Break My Fall - great pop song from a CD that used to get tons of play at the Slack household and then one day left my consciousness. It never dawned on me before, but this sounds like the Foo Fighters both in structure and vocal style.

2. Boyce and Hart - Jumping Jack Flash - what weird ass cover from the guys behind many of the Monkees hits - slowed down and full of wailing psychedelic guitars

3. REM - Can't Get There From Here - a while ago I realized that I was just tired of REM and stopped listening to them, but when I got the MP3 player I tracked their records and ended up adding way more REM than I thought I would.

4. the POLICE - Miss Gredenko - As this started I questioned why I put it on and almost hit skip. But now I remember why I put it on here - it's pretty catchy (especially the "nobody but us" part) and not too long (2:00) to overstay it's welcome. Probably the only song from Synchronicity I'd throw on a mix disc.

5. FOUNTAINS of WAYNE - Elevator Up - A throwaway from Out-of-State Plates - but a FoW throwaway is stronger than most band's singles.

6. DUKES of STRATOSPHERE - You're My Drug - Out of all of the Duke's song, I think this is the most perfect for capturing dozens of elements of sixties pop while still standing on it's own as a great song.

7. OHIO EXPRESS - Soul Struttin - OK, this is getting pulled from the library. I'll keep lots of other Ohio Express song, but I don't really need a soul-less soul song with a tepid beat.

8. FLEETWOOD MAC - Monday Morning - I've always like some Fleetwood Mac songs on the radio but never paid much attention to them until a friend made a mix of the best of the Lindsey Buckingham written/dominated songs for me. It turns out I like a lot more Fleetwood Mac songs than I thought.

9. the LITTLE ONES - Oh, MJ! - Nice slightly jangley pop from an EP that came out earlier this year. I can't wait to hear a whole album from these guys.

10. the SPECIALS - Little Bitch - you just can't go wrong with the Specials.

Shuffle-a-gogo: MP3 player and random team up

10 more songs on shuffle on the MP3 player with real time comments....

1. CHEAP TRICK - Baby Loves to Rock - The first side of All Shook Up is easily my fave Cheap Trick album side, and this is one of my favorite Cheap Trick songs.
2. AMBOY DUKES - Baby Please Don't Go - This might be one of those songs that you just can't do a bad version of.
3. JIMMY CASTOR BUNCH - The Bertha Butt Boogie - Christ, I don't even remember putting this on my MP3 player, but I'm glad I did. Is it just me, or does this song sound like a funky collision of Frank Zappa and Ray Stevens? I know this song is going to be stuck in my head tomorrow.
4. the RECORDS - I Don't Rmember Your Name - Yeah, I love Teenarama and Starry Eyes like any other self respecting power pop geek, but this is about as perfect as a pop song gets. And I love the "west end" / "best friend" rhyme.
5. PIXIES - Space (I Believe In) - The intro doesn't really go anywhere, and I couldn't remember why this made the cut when putting songs onto the player, but once that "Jefrey with one F" part kicks in it's a killer Pixies cut.
6. PSYCHEDELIC FURS - I Wanna Sleep With You - Pretty much anything off of those first three Furs albums is a welcome treat on shuffle.
7. LL COOL J - I Can't Live Without My Radio - After that Records/Pixies/P Furs trifecta I'm not really in the mood for LL. Sorry, but next cut please.
8. the SUNRAYS - I Live For the Sun - Good dumb fun surf pop. Although I can't hear this without thinking of the Surf Punks cover ("You're block-ing my rays!"). Whooooh-ooooh-ooooh.
9. U2 - Wild Honey - When it started I thought this was mistake - it didn't sound like the kind of U2 song I'd like, but damn this is a solid song.
10. SUPERCHUNK - My Noise - This is one of those songs that sounded bigger than life when it came out 15+ years ago and still does today.

Whoooh whoooh.

Chicaago: walls of windows

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Mix Disc Covers: some more single artist best-ofs

Once again, some old single artist best of mixes...

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ABOVE: the dB's were another band that I could not condense to a single disc.

BELOW: the Kingston Trio (but only the early Dave Guard years) and Nirvana. For the Nirvana I used the Rolling Stone cover of Bart Simpson, but had to cut an extra finger to make it genitalisticly closer to the original cover.

ABOVE: the Tall Dwarfs

BELOW: Teardrop Explodes and Didjits