Author: hogs35

dap dippin’ with the menahan street band.

Featuring members from some other Daptone groups (like The Budos Band and Dap Kings) the Menahan Street Band is what some people might call, “awesome.” I am one of those people. I’m beginning to feel like a bit of a Daptone whore but frankly, I want as many people as possible to hear about the artists on Daptone because they are simply amazing. They do things the old way and I sort of feel like they’re keeping our musical past alive and producing some damn fine music while doing it. I wouldn’t keep bringing them up if they weren’t that damn good. If you want a good read, check out Soul Reviver an article from the New York Times.

For all you tech geeks out there, I’ve been drooling over the Palm Treo Pro for about a month now. It seems to be a more practical device than the iPhone and I kind of like the way it looks. I know that’s just a matter of opinion but it sure beats the Handspring Treo 270. (Remember when they were called Handspring?)

Camera Obscura’s new album, My Maudlin Career can be preordered here.

Stay tuned.

link hopping.

I read webcomics. Mostly I just read webcomic, singular, Questionable Content but, because they’ve been linked by QC I have, on occasion, read other comics. Today I was reading the excellent comic Cat and Girl and it seems that the artist, Dorothy, is also in a band called The Basement Apartments out of Tucson, AZ. I dig their sound and they seem like they’re probably a good time live. In fifteen minutes of listening, Going to a Party with Dracula is probably my favorite song.

So, I’m checking out the Basement Apartments’ MySpace page, looking at the CD information, which leads to bass player/singer Billups Allen’s webpage and it turns out he has a radio show called Groove Tomb on Tucson’s KXCI 91.3 as well as a comic called Cramhole which is a great title, frankly and would probably have been a better name for this site if I had thought of it first. He made a blog post entitled Ramones Mix Tape which is a must-read for any Ramones fan. In the post, Billups discusses the lesser-appreciated Ramones albums.

This is why people call it a “world wide web” or used to, I guess. (Hey, at least I know it’s not a series of tubes.) I can get from Questionable Content to a blog about “Too Tough To Die” in just a hop, skip and a blowjob. (Just like getting from Whoresville to Slut City, right Jamie? Sorry, loyal readers, inside joke alert.)

Here’s the Basement Apartments video for Teen Planet. Stay tuned.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3144493&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
The Basement Apartments: Teen Planet from Wiggly Piggly on Vimeo.

more free music.

My friend Naomi made a comment that she likes free music and it reminded me about all the places I get free, legal downloads online so I figured I’d share more with you. First, Sage Francis’ Strange Famous Records website where they have many rotating free samplers, albums, etc. so check the MP3 Downloads section often. Currently Buddy Peace “Holy Chome” is available.

If you’re looking for interesting stuff to listen to, the Daptone Jukebox is always available. Through the Jukebox I found a pretty sweet blog, Voodoo Funk, which I’m obsessing over currently. Frank, from Voodoo Funk recently played with The Budos Band at Union Pool in Brooklyn. I have a few friends who may have gone to that show and I’m quite jealous if they went.

The archives of the Greasy Kids Stuff radio show are available online and though it’s a kids show, it’s a really good kids show that everyone can enjoy. The ever-awesome Little Boots has a free mixtape download on her site right now. One of my favorite magazines, Filter has a lot of media available here.

I leave you with Little Boots and her Tenori-on.

Stay tuned.

EDIT: Late addition, I found DatPiff buried in my links. If you’re into rap/hip-hop mix tapes, this looks like a pretty good place to start. Big ups to KSDB station director Loren Seeger for originally posting this link on Facebook. Hope you’re enjoying NYC, girl.

punk, funk, soul and rock n’ roll.

As I write this I’m watching Independence Day on TBS and drinking a Guinness. If Bill Pullman’s speech doesn’t get you ready to kick some ass, I don’t know what would. (Maybe this.)


If you can watch Black Moses play Theme from Shaft and not have to dance, I pity you.

My first job was washing dishes at the K-State Student Union. When I got my first paycheck I cashed it then went directly to Streetside Records and purchased two CDs: Isaac Hayes Shaft and Curtis Mayfield Superfly. When I ran into two friends on the way down the street, they asked what I got, I showed them and said, “You can’t be a punk if you ain’t got not funk.”

I like old music. I like old punk, I like old rap, I like old funk, I like old soul, I like old metal, I like old reggae. I have original pressing Ramones albums, the favorite album I own in any format is probably my LP copy of Toots and The Maytals Funky Kingston. That record can put a smile on anyone’s face after the crappiest of days. Pretty much anything current I’m into sounds old (Camera Obscura, por ejemplo.) Anything with a Daptone label on it, especially Binky Griptite and the Melomatics and The Budos Band.

I like to buy music on vinyl, I like having a physical connection to the music. I’ve downloaded a few albums off of iTunes but what do you get? You don’t get an album cover, you don’t get liner notes, you don’t get pictures or little freebies included (like stickers, guitar picks, postcards, afro picks or decoder rings.) Why would anyone want just an MP3? MP3s aren’t art, you can’t hang them on your wall, you can’t smell them, you can’t feel them you can’t open them. I understand that the music is the most important thing, of course but that’s only part of the experience.

For those of you lucky enough to be in the MHK tomorrow, I’ll be at Maes starting around nine. Happy Fake Patrick’s Day to all of you.

I leave you tonight with the irrepressible Sharon Jones and the baddest band in the land, the Dap Kings. What if we all stopped paying taxes?

recently…

That’s the title of a song by Polaris who, if anyone remembers, was the band from the greatest television program ever, The Adventures of Pete and Pete. They were, in fact, three of the four members of Miracle Legion. Their lead singer (both Polaris and Miracle Legion) is Mark Mulcahy who is still producing music and touring and whatnot so check him out if you have the inclination. Now, that’s what I call digression. I never intended to talk about any of that but, based one the title of the post (which is usually just a random deal, anyway) I managed to go on and on for a paragraph…and I’m still doing it.

So, now that that’s out of the way, what I really wanted to talk about was some station goings on. This past Saturday the KSDB crew was in full effect at Aggieville’s Fake Patty’s Day celebration giving out t-shirts, mugs, coozies, pens and good vibes. People love free shit, especially people drunk on green beer. An enjoyable time was had by all and some people even made out in broom closets and got caught by bar owners (but I’m not mentioning any names.)

In other news, pizza is awesome.

NPR has a SXSW sampler available for download and Juliana Hatfield has several songs available for download. Both are free.

Right now I’m listening to Tilt’s Til It Kills on vinyl and loving every minute of it. Tilt was such a good band and if you’re not familiar with them you should become familiar with them. Do it. Do it now.

91.9’s Urban Department has a Facebook Group you should join. (Man, I’m really into telling people what to do today.)

I’m going to try and start posting playlists from my shows each week…first I have to remember to write down what I play, though.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned.

today’s specials.

Totally random post title but does anyone remember the Today’s Special TV show from Nickelodeon in the 80s? No? I thought not. Moving on…

While searching for bacon-related sound bytes for liners I discovered a blog that has more center cut bacony goodness than this site could ever hope to have. Royal Bacon Society. I’m quite surprised neither I, nor any of my Camp Bacon cohorts discovered it sooner. Much like density popped George McFly to Lorraine Bates in Back to the Future (1.21 gigawatts!) it was this post and google that popped me to the Royal Bacon Society. I haven’t had a chance to fully explore the site but I’m sure when I’ve got time away from studying Spanish, I’ll give it the once over. Aside from my favorite bacon-related quote of all time, “butter that bacon,” I found a new one which I had not heard before, which is “Mmmm. Move over, eggs. Bacon just got a new best friend – fudge.” Classic.

If anyone listened to the show today we cut out twice. Once was because the engineers were working on fixing something and once was because I played Juliana Hatfield’s “Spin the Bottle” but forgot about the line, “she is such a sucker, he don’t wanna fuck her.” I managed to cut the CD player for a second just in time to avoid an FCC violation. Oops. Really good song, though. I heart Juliana Hatfield.

My Bhopal Stiffs CD came yesterday so I played “Bottle It Up,” the first song on their 1985-1989 compilation. It’s good, good stuff. In a related note, I also played some Pegboy. For the Camp Bacon crew, and also Evan Reser, I played a little Sonseed with “Jesus Is A Friend Of Mine” but I couldn’t play the Jesus/Flea Market mashup because we’re not able to play from the computer right now (that’s what the engineers were working on.) That ability should be back next week and I plan on hitting you all with some extra fun stuff, including She and Him.

I discovered today that my favorite soul label, Daptone Records had their studio broken and a bunch of equipment was stolen. Not only should you check their site out and buy stuff (because it’s all pretty much awesome) but, if you feel inclined, you should buy a drink for Daptone and donate to help them buy mics, preamps, etc. Or don’t, whatever. If you want my personal recommendation, you can never go wrong with the smooth automatic soul of Binky Griptite & The Mellomatics.

That’s all I’ve got for now, time for radio class. Stay tuned.