Lock & Loll!!!

I'm sending this one out to Professor Grewbeard (I'm gonna need to see credentials, professor) over @ Magic Carpet Burns on account of his affection for the Land of the Rising Sun.

One can't spin hip Japanese culture w/o Takeshi Terauchi much like one can't really begin to wrap their grey matter around Japanese popular music unless one consider the previously posted death of Ventures co founder Bob Bogle. Yes, the Ventures were that big; big enough to squash the Beatles w/o so much as Brighton scowl or a Liverpudlian lip-quiver. Why? Because the Ventures are painfully pasty Caucasian models of musical efficiency. Needless to say, the Japanese swallowed these Tacoma boys feet first (there goes that over-achiever stereotype again). Then there are, of course, the myriad of Asian acts(Both good and patently ridiculous) which followed in the Ventures more-than capable wake. But as w/ any master/teacher relationship, the new guard must best the old, applying methods both contemporary and traditional in an attempt to outshine their predecessor.

Yes, Takeshi Terauchi is that good



Perhaps it is the loose playing, Takeshi dive bombing that Bigsby and bending those notes into configurations the Ventures would be want to explore. More than likely it is Takeshi's observance of traditional Japanese scales as played on the Koto, an instrument whose essence has been fully adopted into Terauchi's musical style much as it has the pervading culture in the form of Eliki music. Regardless of the particulars, this SOB can sure hang an axe!

I'm Not Quite Sure What This Song is About - Takeshi Terauchi

I Think This Song is About the Beach - Takeshi Terauchi

Note: Special thanks goes out to Amy & Mike over @ Fancy magazine and Go Ape Records for furnishing me w/ this lovely 45rpm while on their travels in the far east. Much obliged!

Update: Thee Mighty R.J - Physically Capacitated Etc, Etc...

"When it rains it pours", though in this case its rainin' manna from the heavens.

Yup, once again we got some bonified skinny on an artist lost to the mists of time and temporal fold, and it just so happens to be a personal favorite of ole' RB, as reader and sometime relative of thee Might R.J. Rodger soon discovered while commenting on my unabashedly gushing endorsement:

"I couldn't agree more. I've enjoyed this record since it's release. I'm proud to say the artist was my uncle, so I'm a little biased. I'm glad see "The Fungus" is still "Among Us"

It is indeed still "Amoung Us", alive and well even. So, what is the deal with thee Mighty R.J. anyway?

"First of all he was Kool Ass Uncle!! He only made one record to my knowledge, he was a very successful radio personality down in New Orleans in the 70's. What you hear on that record is him, imagine mild mannered Clark Kent ducking it into phone booth and coming out a BADD MUTHA F------, talkin' sh--. That was my uncle, the record was just an extension of his on-air persona. Some parts of the record actually had a little truth to them (Working on the farm down in NC, the traveling/working in the different cites, etc.) He would go into the studio and record "Mix Tapes" on reel to reel tapes and send them to his two brothers serving in Vietnam. I've always thought that if "Rap" had a Family Tree he would be in the lineage."

Undoubtedly.

Dig the original post below.

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You know, there are just some records that you are glad exist. It's not that they have any particular cultural value (to the contrary), or that they redefine any one genre or convention. Sometimes a record is just so audacious that it's very existence seems to bolster the concept of artistic merit in a modern world strangely devoid of such perfunctory gestures. The very fact that these kind of sounds exist at all either proves a total lack of judgement (more than likely), or a sophisticated sense of art so inclusive that it challenges the very existence of what we deem as popular music. 'Fungus Amoung Us' is one such song.

I was originally gonna use Fungus (incidentally, not the the Terry Nolan song) to pad out some bald spots in an up and coming BFTRB soul mix. And while it lends itself well to radio bumpers and between-tune soundscapes, it was only upon my getting royally blitzed and giving the single several listens (it really does require several listens to appreciate it's peculiar charm)that I decided that the mysteriously named 'Fungus'(I have no idea why it is called that) deserves it's own showcase with-which to lay down it's thread.

As is to be expected, there is pretty much no copy on this disc. The 'Soulville' label seems to intone a certain late 60's sensibility, even though the track is straight up late 50's R&B. Upon doing a little diggin' I was pleased to discover that 'Fungus' enjoys a healthy, if not widespread admiration amongst hip-hop aficionados, as the rhyme scheme - along w/ the likes of disc jockeys Jocko Henderson & Pete 'Maddaddy' Myers - typify the rhyming couplet which would one day personify Hip Hop, and the abomination which passed for R& B these days.

Note: It seems to me that 'Fungus pt 1 & pt 2 are reversed on the disc. I'd start w/ pt 2 to get the full narrative effect.

Fungus Among Us pt 2 - His Majesty the Mighty R.J.

Fungus Among Us pt 1 - His Majesty the Mighty R.J.

RedBoy XVII

Courtesy of the one-and-only ChocolateFace

The Art of Andrea Nutt

www.andreanutt.com

Don't Call'em a Surf Band!!!

R.I.P. Bob Bogle 1934 - 2009

Wildwood Flower - Ventures

Oh, Cliff!

...Sometimes it must be difficult Not to feel as if You really are a cliff When fascits keep trying to push you over it! Are they the lemmings, or are you Cliff? Or ARE you, Cliff?



Dynamite - Cliff Richard

RedBoy XVI

Courtesy of the fine folk over at Gemini Spacecraft- a rare specimen of the Speckled Brooklyn Le Fleche!

Update: Look at me, I'm Hangin' Five!

Well, here’s a nice surprise…

Found the following comment this morning pertaining to a post from June of last year (The internet has always ever been a trickle down effect) in which the author in question admits to being party responsible for the ultra-tuff Connecticut Surf cuts 'Hangin' 'Five' & Patch'. Who better to tell it like it is then one who was there when it was…

Usually when I’m solicited its for either copyright infringement or, more often than not, moral turpitude. It’s refreshing then to hear some previously unknown skinny on a boss band, especially when it comes from the mouth of one of the horses pullin’ the cart:

“Greetings from Dave Wilkinson, the guy who uttered those immortal words (“Look at me, I’m Hangin’ five!”) all those years ago. I spoke them into the mic (then mike) at the request of A&R man Bruce Patch, who had added the surf sounds in the final mix. The track (78 demo recorded at Ace) was originally named "Blowout," but the record company was hip to the surf trend."

Thanks for the info Dave! Both of those G-Clef cuts are surf monsters! Glad we finally have some copy on em’.

I’ve re-posted the original vinyl below. You can check out some of Dave Wilkinson’s post Reveliers work here as he’s still ‘Hangin’ Five’.

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I've been in an instro state of mind for a fortnight, but alas, Mr. Devil has beat me to the punch (Kudos)

It's a shame that more people don't dig Surf (and instrumental music in general). I think it might be an attention-span thing (Like, no lyrics man?!?!). Either that, or the trappings are just too hoaky for the average fashion-bug. Most people forget that practically every progressive band of particular note cut their teeth on this shit. It is the bedrock upon which all guitar masturbation and heavy-metal dickery is founded.

Like a million bands of their ilk, I can one can only ever give you a time and a place - Newton Massachusetts, 1963. Under cut that with the fact that this is the Reveliers only release, and it may seem like the typical flash in the pan scenario. Be that as it may, I challenge you to spin these two tunes without seemingly smelling the salt air, and smiling at the thought of a boundless ocean...even if that ocean is on the East coast and indeed has garbage floating in it.

Hanging Five - the Reveliers

Patch - The Reveliers

Redboy XV

The Art of Henry Ossawa Tanner

http://cghs.dade.k12.fl.us/african-american/reconstruct/tanner.htm