Van Halen's 40 gigs

Executives estimate the Van Halen reunion tour, based on a guaranteed fee of $850,000 per show, would likely generate sales of at least $34 million. Which in comparison, is the same as the GNP for the Republic of Vanuatu.

For that amount I guess most anybody could cope with some harassment at the workplace. Wolfgang - Eddie van Halen's 15 year old son, will replace Michael Anthony on bass.

Would you believe it, the guy in the corner is David Lee Roth

Btw, another Dave - Mr. Dave Lesar, CEO of Halliburton, has made himself a reputable $42 million for his gigs down in Iraq. Lesar's gigs are funded in full by the poor, the elderly, the sick, the needy and the future illiterate of USA - now THAT's generosity! Lesar is not much of a singer though, but the pyro is stunning.

YMA SUMAC "Mambo!"

A singer with an amazing four-octave range, Yma Sumac was said to have been a descendant of Inca kings, an Incan princess that was one of the Golden Virgins. Her offbeat stylings became a phenomenon of early-’50s pop music. While her album covers took advantage of her strange costumes and voluptuous figure, rumors abounded that she was, in actuality, a housewife named Amy Camus. It mattered little because there has been no one like her before or since in the annals of popular music. Dl here. Pass: elcrowley.blogspot.com. Original post provided by Elcrowley - a blog with all the partymusic you need if you're serving cocktails in tiki-surrounding.

Hippies in space

Kosmos

Now this is something different! Kosmos brings together a collection of music from East German Sci-Fi movies from the '60's & '70's. Composed by Karl-Ernst Sasse & Günther Fischer, two of East Germany's most important movie soundtrack composers, the music on this CD/LP is a real smorgasbord of styles; from groovy beat, to folk and through to ambient and weird electronic noises. Interspersed with vocal and electronic SFX from the movies themselves, listening to this collection is like taking a fascinating long and weird intergalactic journey. Turn the lights out, listen and get spaced out! RS link. Original post.

Twist in the DDR

A true gem from the marvellous Bear Family record-company. Remember that great box Atomic Platters? It is a must, go buy it! This time the Mister-Happy blog has a great glimpse into ostalgia with the compilation "Twist in der DDR". DL link here. Original link that also includes a second compilation; Twist in Germany here.

I can't wait to hear: Susi Schuster - Jodel-Twist

Anna Politkovskaya

"Today, state-authorities are only interested in making money.
Really, it is their main objective!
If anybody think they can find comfort in "optimistic" warnings,
then let them do so. It is at least an easy thing to do,
but at the same time also a death sentence over our grand-children"
Anna Politkovskaya

Shatner

Alot of people seemingly HATE William Shatner. Why? I haven't got a clue... He has a book titled "Get a Life", and his new CD is called "Has been" he is at least blessed with irony. Now, the cd, produced by Ben Folds - is not bad at all! It is surely lightyears from Steven Segals attemts to produce Buddhist Blues or whatever... Shatner's earlier vinyl releases, solo and with Spock are hilarious, and can easily be found on the net.
Here's a link to a guy that really hates Shatner, all just because he didn't get his book signed in a pleasing manner, then he made this hate-page. He got his book signed - Get a life (sic) - but failed to act on the instruction conveyed in the title. (double sic)
Thanks to Stay Free (blog) - you can get Has Been Here. Original post here.

daba daba daba dum dum dum

A very cool group that's as groovy as their name! The Jumping Jacques were a 60s French vocal group who took elements of other French groups -- like The Swingle Singers or Les Double Six -- and worked in a mode that was very mod, and very 60s! The tunes on the set sparkle with inventive vocal pyrotechnics -- dipping bass parts, floating soprano lines, skipping scatting tenor and alto bits -- all coming together in a lovely blend of male and female vocals, dancing lightly with all the charm of Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66. Most tracks are non-verbal -- in that the vocals are working in more of a scatting instrumental mode, jazzily grooving on a set of original tunes by leader Jacques Hendrix. Very cool, and very much in the mode of mid 60s Michel Legrand soundtracks, The Gimmicks, and other bits of European grooviness!
Thanks to the ever excellent Martian Shaker - you can get it here. Original post and tracklist here. Btw, you might want to check out Weirdomusic if you're into this...

HP Lovecraft - Lurking Fear

(Note includes pdf of many Lovecraft stories)

Files are mp3/56kbs/28mb (60mins)
No password.

The Secret Policeman's Ball - Podcast

Amnesty International's legendary Secret Policeman's Ball is back. Secret Policeman's podcasts.

Dylan Moran - Live At The Glasgow Pavillion (mp3) bootleg noisy audio

«link»

But the sound stinks...

Start your day Totally Fuzzed

Want to keep up with the latest of interesting audible entries on the net?

Well, do as I - and start the day with a pot of tea, and a visit to Totally Fuzzy .

It is a remarkable site that is updated several times daily.

Many of my "net findings" have often been through TF.

Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace

Storytellers, patriots, beatniks, rednecks, zealots, activists, dreamers, poets, actors who can't sing, politicians, fans, commentators, and psychos. They all talk. And they do it to music.

I'm not sure exactly what to call this genre--spoken word is the closest, I suppose. Many of these tracks are amusing, a few intentionally so. Although much of the material here is a freak show, there is occasional talent, such as Ken Nordine. Some of the recordings are from my own vinyl, but the majority are from other sources, including 365 Days, Golden Throats, and other compilations. Thanks to mfooz, for compiling this pile of weirdness. Get it now, no waiting; Volume 1 and Volume 2
original post

Heinlein! (a lot of sci-fi lately...)

Thanks to the excellent Bongolong Land blog, you can get these two 1951 Heinlein short stories; The Green Hills of Earth and Space Jockey. Here. Both stories are read by Colin Fox.

Mrs. Miller

Mrs. Miller's success, like that of Florence Foster Jenkins and Wing, was undoubtedly due to the perceived awfulness of her singing. It seems that Capitol were keen to emphasize this—in a 1967 interview with Life magazine, she said that during recording sessions she was conducted half a beat ahead or behind time, and the worst of several different recordings of a song would be included on the finished record. She claimed to be initially unaware that her technical inability was being ridiculed, but eventually realised what was going on. At first she resented this, but eventually decided to play along with the joke. Nonetheless, she later attributed her split with Capitol to her wanting to sing "straight" and record ballads, and Capitol wanting to continue with the "so bad it's good" angle.

Dana Countryman, former editor of "Cool and Strange Music Magazine" has made this bio on Elva.

Thanks to Wiel's timecapsule, you can get Mrs. Miller's "Does Her Ting" on Rogerpost or Mediafire.

Philip K. Dick - A Scanner Darkly

A Scanner Darkly is a 1977 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. The semi-autobiographical story was set in a dystopian Orange County, California in the future of June 1994. The book includes an extensive portrayal of drug culture and drug use.

The title is a reference to a passage in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 13, which states:

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

The book's protagonist is required to view clips of his life on a "scanner", a holographic recorder/projector. In Chapter 13 of the book, the protagonist muses that he has seen his life with a scanner, but came no closer to properly perceiving his life than St Paul with his primitive mirror (or "glass"). True understanding, he suggests, will come only when "death" is defeated.

Read by Paul Giamatti - Files are mp3/64kbs/9.5hrs (Unabridged)
part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - Password is 18rlp6xvy42

HP Lovecraft - The Call of Cthulhu

"The Call of Cthulhu" is one of H. P. Lovecraft's best-known short stories. Written summer 1926, it was first published in Weird Tales, February 1928.^[1] It is the only story penned by Lovecraft in which the extraterrestrial entity Cthulhu himself makes a major appearance.

It is written in a documentary style, with three independent narratives linked together by the device of a narrator discovering notes left by a deceased relative. The narrator pieces together the whole truth and disturbing significance of the information he possesses, illustrating the story's first line: "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."

part 1(mp3/96kbps) part 2 (mp3/96kbps)

Men overcompensate when their masculinity is threatened, Cornell study shows

By Daniel Aloi

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Threaten a man's masculinity and he will assume more macho attitudes, according to a study by a Cornell University researcher.

"I found that if you made men more insecure about their masculinity, they displayed more homophobic attitudes, tended to support the Iraq War more and would be more willing to purchase an SUV over another type of vehicle," said Robb Willer, a sociology doctoral candidate at Cornell. Willer is presenting his findings Aug. 15 at the American Sociological Association's 100th annual meeting in Philadelphia.

"Masculine overcompensation is the idea that men who are insecure about their masculinity will behave in an extremely masculine way as compensation. I wanted to test this idea and also explore whether overcompensation could help explain some attitudes like support for war and animosity to homosexuals," Willer said. «Continued here»

King for 1 hour 7 minutes and 13 seconds

Authors: Stephen King, John Cullum (Narrator}, Becky Ann Baker (Narrator}, Arliss Howard (Narrator}, Peter Gerety (Narrator}
The Man in the Black Suit: 4 Dark Tales

Size: 46,2 Format Mp3

Thanks to avaxhome

The "Wub" by Philip K. Dick

The Wub (link) Short story.

The Tiger Lillies

The Tiger Lillies are an extraordinary three piece band with a large cult following in London. They are fronted by singer Martyn Jacques who trained himself as an opera singer with a castrati style voice of heartbreaking beauty, whilst living alone above a strip joint in Soho for seven years. Accompanied by drummer Adrian Huge, whose appearance was described by David Byrne as James Joyce on drums, and double bass player Adrian Stout, Jacques plays accordion and sings savage and passionate songs about prostitutes, drug addicts and losers, his voice soaring and growling like a man possessed. Ken Campbell has described him as "the criminal castrati", and with his dickensian style of dress, long pigtail and bowler hat, his corrosive lyrics and his astonishing voice, all the while singing with his eyes closed, he makes an indelible impression. Jacques sings about life at the bottom of contemporary Britain with the voice of an angel.

The music is a startling mixture of opera, gypsy song and left bank Paris, but what really marks out this band from any other is the emotional charge and raw passion of the delivery. Because they are impossible to pigeonhole, the band has not yet had a wide commercial success, despite being picked up by David Byrne, with performances at the South Bank, as well as festivals and foreign tours, but this cannot last for much longer as their reputation is spreading very fast in the art culture underworld.
(By Mina Courtauld 17/5/96 )

A taste of the lillies, thanks to a arca do pyrata is found here:
bad blood & blasphemy (1999) (rs) death and the bible (2004) (rs)
UPDATE: LINKS ARE DEAD...

Nebulous

The story of Nebulous is dominated by the eco-troubleshooting team of K.E.N.T. (the Key Environmental Non-Judgmental Taskforce). The group is directed by Professor Nebulous and its goal is to restore a natural balance to Earth. Unfortunately, the team is woefully under funded; K.E.N.T. was forced to open a Laundromat to supplement funds. On the bright side, if their actual missions go awry, the team is still applauded for its excellent dry cleaning service. The Laundromat contains three Zenusi 370 tumble dryers, two of which were the team’s first new pieces of equipment in twelve years.

Nebulous 1.1 Night of the Vegetarians
Nebulous 1.2 The Loverly Invasion
Nebulous 1.3 The Dust Has Landed
Nebulous 1.4 Madness is a Strange Colour
Nebulous 1.5 The Coincidence Machine
Nebulous 1.6 The Man Who Polished the Sun

• Nebulous 2.1 The Deptford Wives
  
• Nebulous 2.2 The Buzzing.
  
• Nebulous 2.3 I Nebulous
  
• Nebulous 2.4 Destiny Of The Destinoyd
  
• Nebulous 2.5 Tempus Fugitive
  
• Nebulous 2.6 Last Of The Present Sirius

Fans of "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Universe" and "Dr. Who" will undoubtly feel comfortable. Many earthly thanks to the OTR messageboard.

Monty Python and Tom Lehrer

More than you deserved. Click the photos. Go make your day.












I love my friends, and they love me, We're just as close as we can be. And just because we really care, Whatever we get, we share!
I got it from Agnes, She got it from Jim. We all agree it must have been Louise who gave it to him.
She got it from Harry, Who got it from Marie, And everybody knows that Marie Got it from me.
Giles got it from Daphne, She got it from Joan, Who picked it up in County Cork, A-kissin' the Blarney Stone.
Pierre gave it to Sheila, Who must have brought it there. He got it from Francois and Jacques, Haha, Lucky Pierre!
Max got it from Edith, Who gets it every spring. She got it from her Daddy, Who just gives her everything.
She then gave it to Daniel, Whose spaniel has it now. Our dentist even got it, And we're still wondering how.
Ah, but I got it from Agnes, Or maybe it was Sue, Or Millie or Billie or Gillie or Willie, It doesn't matter who.
It might have been at the club, Or at the pub, or in the loo, And if you will be my friend, Then I might...(Mind you, I said "might")... Give it to you!

Nixonvisions and Nixonsounds

1. Andy Kim: Tricia Tell Your Daddy
2. Jay & The Americans: Tricia (Tell Your Daddy)
3. Gene Marshall: We Want Dick, We Want Dick, We Want Dick
4. Gene Marshall: We Want Dick And Spiro, We Want Dick And Spiro, We Want Dick And Spiro
5. Rod & The MSR Singers: Richard Nixon
6. Gene Marshall: Get Off That Phone, Martha
7. Barbara Foster: San Clemente's Not The Same
8. Gene Marshall: President Richard Nixon
9. Gene Marshall: The Great Richard Nixon
10. Gene Marshall: Richard Nixon In '76
11. Gene Marshall: God Bless Richard Nixon
12. Gene Marshall: Hail The Chief

Credits: Artwork: Kjartan Slettemark - Sounds: PhilxMilstein

about: NIXONVISIONS taken from here

Art description:
The starting point for the NIXONVISIONS was a collage made by Kjartan in 1971 with a Nixon poster and a hand, holding a coffee-cup taken from a Swedish advertisement. Later he began to make cut-ups using scissor and glue that resulted in the NIXONVISIONS (1972) series.

Incident:
Three collages by Kjartan Slettermark were removed from the foreign affairs committee meeting room in the Oslo parliament building, in october 2004, by Members of Parliament saying they were shocking and unfitting.

"Following an evaluation, it was determined that the piece was unfitting and potentially shocking," Hans Brattestaa, the parliament's secretary general said.

They were felt to deliver "a political message that is not the most appropriate" Norway's parliament said.

Former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjoern Jagland said “I don't think that the meeting room of the foreign affairs committee is the most appropriate place to exhibit this kind of expression”


Current status:
The works was moved to a spot were they were to be found less unfitting… :( What are they thinking? Are they afraid that the Bush administration will impose sanctions?

Opposed by: Norwegian parliament (Stortinget)

Reason: Political

Baby it's cold outside [the igloo]

This is one of the most interesting vocal arrangements around. Inuit vocal games. The expression Inuit vocal games designates central Canadian Arctic practices that are both ludic and musical. According to regions, these can be divided into several genres with different names. First known to white people as guttural songs or throat songs, or sometimes as breathed songs, they were later on designated more accurately as throat games by Beverley Diamond and Nicole Beaudry. But it is the native term katajjaq that is the most often used. However, it applies only to Arctic Quebec and to the south of Baffin Land. Netsilik, Igloolik, and Caribou Inuit vocal games do not necessarily feature the throat sounds typical of katajjaq which are so striking, and they often refer to a narrative text absent from katajjaq. Thus, it appears simpler to adopt a more neutral and less specific term such as vocal game. In native terminology, these games belong to the larger family of ulapqusiit (traditional games) and are designated more precisely as nipaquhiit, that is 'games done with sounds or with noises' (nipi). [read more] Thanks to Different Waters for giving us this (mu-dl)

Loads of free audiobooks

Simply go to LibriVox and have a look.

Choose by Category:
Fiction
Poetry
Non-fiction
Dramatic Works

Mostly the "Classics", but it is legal(!) and free...

John Oswald : Plexure

In 1993 Oswald released Plexure. Arguably his most ambitious composition to date, it attempted to microsample the history of CD music up to that point (1982 - 1992) in a 20 minute collage of bewildering complexity. The ambition of this piece would later be recalled by the British bootlegger Osymyso, whose "Intro-Inspection" captured the pop-junkie feel of Plexure. Osymyso, who at the time was unaware of Oswald's work, used the same structure of an accelerando (putting his source material in an order from the slowest tempo to the fastest), to link a few bars each of 100 songs, creating a simpler sound than the thousands of overlapping and morphing pop "electroquotations" in Plexure (RS). Thanks to Mended Records (link)

How evil are you?

Being awakened by "the macarena" at 4am, or a dozen people doing "singstar", can be annoying. But there is revenge; The George Garabedian Players and the Awful Trumpet of Harry Armssong. (info)Put it on max volume at 8:30am - on repeat - and go out for a coffee. Pretty evil. Anywho, this advice was merely a badly disguised way to tell you that Otis Fodder once again has embarked upon a BRAND NEW 365 days project.