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Archive for the ‘Larry LaLonde’ Category

Sarah LaBrie–“Las Gaviotas” (Lucky Peach, No. 21: Los Angeles: Winter 2016)

Posted in Avocados, Cars, Dance, Dogs, Don Bowman, Drinking, Elvis Presley, Food, Frank Zappa, Humiliation, Jealousy, Larry LaLonde, Las Vegas, NV, Led Zeppelin, Les Claypool, Lucky Peach, Mexico, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Phish, Primus, Regrets, Road Trip, Sarah LaBrie, Sex, Short Story, Yodeling Cowgirls on September 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Vegas 96 (2007).

This show was recorded at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 6, 1996.  The set also includes a DVD.

The show has a great amount of classic songs, a few big rarities, some cool covers and a whole lot of surprises.

Wilson has a really rocking beginning (everyone is going nuts during the can you still have any fun) until just before the “blap boom” part when it slows to a halt with about 20 seconds of squalling feedback.  Then they launch into an excellent non-jamming version of Frank Zappa’s “Peaches en Regalia.”  It is followed by a fast romp through “Poor Heart”—one of the fastest I’ve heard.  It ends really noisily and then segues into a funky jam that’s mostly keyboard.  After 5 minutes it resolves into “2001,” which also ends noisily with scratchy guitars that segue into a very fast “Llama.”

This has been a simply rip-roaring show thus far.  And then they settle down for a 26-minute “You Enjoy Myself.”  The “Boy Man” section is very funky and the following jam stays funky with a lot of high-pitched bass soloing from Mike and a lot of percussion thrown in as well.  The song ends with a vocal jam but instead of doing weird sounds and screams, trey starts singing “doh doh doh donuts, I like donuts.”

I tend to think of “YEM” as set-enders (since that’s my experience with them), but this is still mid-set and they follow up with a synth and piano version of “Cars Trucks Buses” which seems like it’s going to morph into “Kung” but instead it becomes a loud, brash “Down with Disease.”  The set ends with a rocking “Frankenstein.”  I tend to thing they play this and “YEM” a lot because they seem to be on a ton of official live recordings.

Set 2 opens with a funky “Julius” (a song I always assume is a cover but which isn’t), and a nice version of “Sparkle” (with a super fast “laughing laughing” section at the end).  “Mike’s Song” runs about 10 minutes with a really noisy middle section and then segues into “Simple.”  There’s a lengthy piano section that turns into a rocking jam that goes on for quite a while (the whole song is over 18 minutes).  It winds down eventually and returns to a lot of piano.  It is followed by a noisy and raucous “Harry Hood” that feel really raw.  The song is 15 minutes and there’s a long solo before the “you can feel good” part.

Then comes a big, 11 minute “Weekapaug Groove.”  About midway through the jam the whole band stops dramatically and perfectly. They run through a bit again and stop perfectly again (except for an extra snare hit).  It’s amazing how tight they are.  The end grows very quiet as the band prepares for a quiet a capella “Sweet Adeline” (it’s so quiet all you hear is the crowd shushing everyone–this is the major downside to them doing these barbershop songs).  They come out of that with a set-ending, totally rocking cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times,” with Fish singing the “I know what it means to be alone” part.

The encore proves to be about 35 minutes long.  There are lots of guests and surprises.  And the band walks through a version of the “Harpua” story.  Ler and Les from Primus come out to start the song.  The chorus is done in half time—which is rather unsettling.  The story leads to Les singing Don Bowman’s “Wildwood Weed.”  I had assumed he made up but he obviously didn’t.  Then it’s back to “Harpua.”   In this version of the story, Jimmy walks to Vegas with his cat Poster Nutbag (Trey tells everyone to put all their money on 17).  As they get “closer to Vegas” they hear voices singing “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” (a song by Patsy Montana).  It is sung by the Yodeling Cowgirls.  (There’s some “Happy Trails” in there as well).  Then there’s more of the “Harpua” story and as they approach Las Vegas they see Four Elvises.  Which leads to a singoff of “Suspicious Minds.”  This contest was between four Elvis impersonators with Fish joining in at the end.  Unmentioned (as far as I can tell) are John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (on backing vocals) and actor Courtney Gains (on percussion). And then everyone launches into a wild “Suzy Greenberg” including the Elvises.  During the jam at the end, one of the Elvises turns the song into “Susie Q.”

This is one of my favorite shows.  The inclusion of the Primus guys and the crazy version of “Harpua” is just spectacular.  And by the end, everyone is having a great time.

[READ: April 1, 2017] “Las Gaviotas”

I enjoyed the way this story seemed really unsettled, just like its protagonist.

Finley is a in a relationship with Neil.  But she is currently hanging out at Brace’s apartment.  Brace is Neil’s old roommate.  Neil is in the other room with Brace’s girlfriend Alice.  They are all pretty drunk.

Brace is everything that Neil is not: he is big–not fat, just big–with a voice and presence to match.  And while Finley loves Neil–she keeps telling us that–there’s something about Brace (that name!) that she is drawn to.  She also hates Brace’s girlfriend Alice who has “otherworldly beauty.” (more…)

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Tim Parks–“Reverend” (New Yorker, December 8, 2014)

Posted in A Perfect Circle, Attention Deficit, Larry LaLonde, Laundry, New Yorker, No Forcefield, Primus, Religion, Short Story, Tim Alexander, Tim Parks on January 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

dec8SOUNDTRACK: LER & HERB during the hiatus (1999-2003 & 1994-2003)

1201_Tim_Alexander_Lead lerDuring the years that Ler and Herb were out of Primus, it’s a fair question to wonder what they were up to.

Larry “Ler” LaLonde was only “on hiatus” for a couple of years.  During that time, Ler created an electronic band (no guitars!) with Brain (who mastered the business and the beats) and DJ Disk (who drank grappa), and The Filthy Ape (who enjoyed a casual snack and read a good book), while Ler himself was on the flying boat (whatever that means).   Take what you will from that.  They released two albums which I’ve written about earlier: Lee’s Oriental Massage 415-626-1837 and God is an Excuse.

They are both electronic and or full of spoken nonsense and neither one is really worth hunting down.

Tim “Herb” Alexander was out of Primus for about 8 years.  And during that time he was rather busy. He started a band called Laundry, which released two albums Blacktongue (1994) (which you can listen to on Youtube) and Motivator (which is on Spotify). He also made an album with a supergroup called Attention Deficit (with Alex Skolnick – Guitar and Michael Manning – Bass).  They made two albums, Attention Deficit (1998) and The Idiot King (2001).  he also drummed on one song on the A Perfect Circle album Mer de Noms.

I haven’t really listened to all of his stuff that much.  Laundry is a sort of noisy kinda Primusy prog metal outfit Blacktongue is noisy than Motivator (and Herb sings lead on the second disc, and his voice is better suited to the music).  I’m curious about Attention Deficit, so I’ll have to give them a listen one of these days.

[READ: January 21, 2015] “Reverend”

This story was actually quite simple in plot, but it revealed a great deal that was hidden.  A man who has just lost his mother, reflects back upon the life he led with his parents and siblings.

The narrator’s father was the titular reverend.  Being a reverend was an extremely important part of his father’s life.  Indeed, he even met his wife when they both considered becoming missionaries.

They had three children–their oldest son–who grew up to be extremely anti-religion; a daughter who was very religious but not very smart and then the narrator who was, by his own admission, completely middle of the road in front of his parents. He didn’t believe in religion, but he never made waves with his parents.  He was smart but he never showed off.  And he believes that this milquetoast attitude may have upset his father more than anything. (more…)

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Greg Prato–Primus: Over the Eletric Grapevine: Insight into Primus and the World of Les Claypool (2014)

Posted in 24-7 Spyz, Books about music, Buzz Osborne, Chuck D, Drinking, Drugs, Eugene Hutz, Fishbone, Geddy Lee, Greg Prato, Hank Williams III, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Larry LaLonde, Les Claypool, Limbomaniacs, Matt Stone, Metallica, Mike Watt, Muse, Oysterhead, Possessed, Primus, Sausage, South Park, Stewart Copeland, Tim Alexander, Tom Morello, Tom Waits, Trey Anastasio on January 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

primus bookSOUNDTRACK: PRIMUS-Suck on This (1990).

primus suckThis was the disc that introduced me to Primus–it was on a beach vacation with my friends Al, Joe and Rad.  Al made this the soundtrack of the drive and, man, it was weird and crazy and super cool and by the end of that trip I was hooked.

Actually I was immediately hooked when the band opened this live disc with a rough version of Rush’s “YYZ” which then launched into “John the Fisherman.”  What do you make of this band and this weird song?  Stomping bass which is doing all of the lead stuff, with guitars that are just noises and craziness but which really work with what the bass is doing (once you listen a few times, anyway).  The drums are mammoth and very prog rock.  And then there’s Les’ voice–cartoony and unconventional–sometimes deep, sometime really silly, sounds that work perfectly with the storytelling lyrics.

The quality of this recording is pretty poor, although I find that it sounds a bit better on smaller, less “good” stereos, where Ler’s guitars don’t get lost so much in the bass.  Most of these songs have been re-recorded for later albums, so perhaps the newer versions sound cleaner to me.  [Groundhog’s Day, Frizzle Fry, John the Fisherman, Pudding Time and Harold of the Rocks on Frizzle Fry and Tommy the Cat on Sailing the Seas of Cheese].

The best songs on this disc have really catchy parts: “John the Fisherman” (most of it) or the insane fast bass and wild soloing section of “Groundhog’s Day.”  Sometimes it’s just when the noise stops and Les gets a line, like “It’s Just a Matter of Opinion” (in “The Heckler”).  Although the noise there is really catchy too–listen to what Ler is playing during the funky bass section–it’s wild and amazing.

Of course “Tommy the Cat” is a major standout from all three guys.

The only song that doesn’t really work for me is “Pressman” which seems a bit too long without a lot of resolution (although the end is pretty cool).  I often get “Jellikit” (the other song that didn’t make it to a studio album) in my head, whenever I think, Did you like it?  There’s even a drum solo from Herb the Ginseng Drummer in that song

What’s fun is that the audience is totally into it and they know most of the songs–anticipating lyrics and even singing along.  And this is where “We’re Primus and we suck.” comes from.  It was a shocking debut when it came out, and it’s still pretty unusual, although not as unusual as some of their later songs would be.

[READ: January 3, 2015] Primus

As I said above, I’ve been a fan of Primus since near the beginning of their existence.  And yet, for all of my enjoyment of them, I didn’t really know all that much about their origins.  I didn’t know that the original line up was Todd Huth and Jay Lane (guitars and drums), and that the three of them wrote the songs that appear on Suck on This and much of Frizzle Fry.  Ler had to learn these unusual parts (Ler took lessons with Joe Satriani and is much more accomplished than his lack of flashiness indicates) and did so wonderfully. I also didn’t know that Les and Kirk Hammet were in the same class in high school (and that he’s the reason Les picked up a bass in the first place, even though they never formally played together).

The book is constructed as a series of quotes from a vast assortment of people.  The “cast” is two pages long and includes current and former members of the band and management as well as fans like Trey Anastasio, Matthew Bellamy (from Muse), Geddy Lee, Chuck D, Eugene Hutz, Tom Morello, Buzz Osborne, Matt Stone, Mike Watt, Hank Williams III, guys from 24-7 Spyz, Fishbone, Limbomaniacs and even Linda Perry (!).

It opens with Les talking about his high school years.  And what’s amazing is how many people who were involved in Primus are friends from when he was a kid.  If they didn’t play together, they were involved with art or management or something.  We also get the origin story of Bob Cock, which answers many questions.

Les had formed Primate (legal dispute with the band The Primates made them become Primus) with Todd and Jay.  They toured a lot and were gaining a following, but Les was always looking for something more.  He even auditioned for Metallica after Cliff Burton died (Kirk thought it sounded great but I guess James didn’t). (more…)

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Chris Schweizer–Crogan’s Vengeance (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Chris Schweizer, Fishing, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Greed, Larry LaLonde, Les Claypool, Oni Press, Pirates, Primus, YA Books on February 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LES CLAYPOOL-Of Whales and Woe (2006).

Although I was a little disappointed with Of Fungi and Foe, I enjoyed it enough to want to track down Of Whales and Woe, since it seemed to be generally better received.  What’s interesting about this disc is that it sounds a lot like Primus, except that rather than guitar, other various instruments have been substituted to accompany Les’ bass.  And since one of the instruments is the saxophone, (and there’s no guitar) this album sounds (at times) like beloved Morphine (with a much funkier bass and completely un-sexy vocals).

On the first few listens, when I wasn’t listening very carefully, I really enjoyed the disc.  It reminded me a lot of Primus, although it had a lot of Les’ solo quirks.

However, once I started scrutinizing it a bit more, I found I didn’t enjoy it as much.  The first track, “Back Off Turkey” reminds me of some of the tracks on Fungi: wild and crazy sounding music but the vocals are so muddy it’s impossible to tell what’s up with the song.

On the opposite end from the Fungi-like bass heavy tracks, we have “Iowan Gal” a light -sounding and light-hearted romp about, well, an Iowan Gal. (There’s a lot of fun little quirks in there–Bow ditty bow bow).

And yet there’s some really great tracks on here: “One Better” is an amazing track, highlighting just how great Claypool is as a songwriter and arranger.  This song lasts pretty long but because there’s a lot of different things going on, it never overstays its welcome.

Most of the songs are stories about various bizarro characters.  And although I love Les’ characters, this turns into one of the downfalls of the disc.  In the great tradition of storytelling songs, the songs tend to be verses only with nary a chorus.  And that’s fine because most storytellers use the music as a background to accompany the story.  Les’ music is far too aggressive/innovative/interesting to be  background.  So when you get a great wild bassline, you’re attracted to it.  But when it lasts for 5 minutes with no changes, it’s exhausting.  And trying to listen to lyrics along with it is, well, I think your brain just shuts down (especially when they are recorded low in the mix and are hard to hear).  And so, the album feels a lot longer than it is.

Maybe I miss Ler’s amazing guitars.  I’m still unclear about why Primus has split, especially if Les is writing songs that are not unlike Primus.  Of course, having said all that, there is no denying the awesomeness of Les Claypool.  The funny thing is that even a reigned-in Claypool is still pretty out there.  I think maybe sometime he just goes too far out there.

[READ: February 7, 2010] Crogan’s Vengeance

When Sarah and I went to BEA, we spoke to the Oni Press guy who was praising this book, The Crogan Adventures, as a fantastic series aimed at teens, but really readable for the whole family. The premise is that the Crogan family (and there’s an extensive family tree on the back cover), all led exciting lives.  The stories about these men are being told to the youngest Crogan boy Eric, in present day.

This first book is about Catfoot Crogan, an honest sailor who was more or less forced into a life of piracy in the 1700s.  And the story is fantastic.  There is sailor talk, there is swashbuckling, a terrible storm, even a shark! (more…)

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Peter Kuper–Diario de Oaxaca: A Sketchbook Journal of Two Years in Mexico (2009)

Posted in Culture Shock, Foreign Books, History, Larry LaLonde, Les Claypool, Mad Magazine, Marriage (Happy), Memoirs, Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars, Nature, Peter Kuper, Pig Hunt, Primus, Violence on February 9, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LES CLAYPOOL-Of Fungi and Foe (2009).

Claypool was asked to score a video game called The Spore Wars and, at around the same time, to score a movie called Pig Hunt.  According to the liner notes of the disc, he used the templates that he made for the scores and fleshed them out to make this album.

This was the first Claypool solo album I’d bought in several years (since 2002’s Purple Onion).  I’d heard “Mushroom Men” on the radio and really liked it, so I decided to get the disc.  And I have to say overall I’m a little disappointed.

Now, I’ve been a Primus fan for years (I even saw them right after Suck on This) so I know what I’m getting with Les.  And yet, maybe I don’t anymore.  The disc is very percussion heavy, with lots of rather long songs.  And although I love long songs, I love long songs that aren’t the same thing for 6 or so minutes.  I also rather miss Claypool’s voice.  He doesn’t sing a lot of these songs in his typical falsetto.  There’s a lot of very deep voiced, rather processed sounding voices here (it works great on the muh muh muh muhshroom men, but not so great elsewhere).  Because when you combine that with the bass and percussion, it’ really hard to hear what he’s on about (and Claypool lyrics are half the fun).

Plus, we know that with Primus’ own brand of weirdness, a little goes a long way.  So, hearing the same bizarro riff for 4 minutes can be trying.

Despite the criticisms, the disc is good in small doses.  The first 4 tracks are all really solid.  But that 5th track, “What would George Martin Do?” just sucks all the life out of the disc.  The same goofy riff for 6 minutes with completely unintelligible lyrics.  Ouch.   But “You Can’t Tell Errol Anything” picks up the pace somewhat with a wonderful Tom Waits-ian soundtrack.  The addition of Eugene Hutz on insane wailing vocals brings a wonderful new level of dementia to the disc.

Throughout the disc there some amazing bass riffs (of course) and some really cool effects thrown onto the bass (and other instruments).  But the overall feel of the disc is just too samey.  I think the music would probably work really well as soundtrack music, but it lacks a little something by itself.

I’m not suggesting that Claypool needs to be more poppy, because that’s hardly it (although he does have an amazing gift for clever hooks), but it’s possible that he needs an editor.  Was that the role Ler played in Primus?  Who will ever know?

[READ: February 5, 2010] Diario de Oaxaca

Wa-HA-Ca (that’s how you pronounce Oaxaca (the first question I had)).

I ordered this book for our Spanish collection without really knowing what it was about.  When it arrived I had a hard time deciding where to catalog it…is it a graphic novel?  a biography?  It’s bilingual so does it even go in the Spanish collection, which has much less circulation than our English collection?  As I flipped though the book, it looked really cool, so I decided to just read it and figure it out for myself.

Peter Kuper is, among other things, the drawer of Mad Magazine’s Spy vs Spy since about 1997.  Sometime in 2006, Kuper decided to go on sabbatical from the politics of George W. Bush.  He and his family packed up and moved to Oaxaca, Mexico for two years.  While he was there, the city experienced a semi-annual teacher’s strike.  However, this particular strike turned bloody when the President of Oaxaca turned his soldiers against the strikers. (more…)

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Kevin Barry-“Fjord of Killary” (New Yorker, February 1, 2010)

Posted in Culture Shock, Humiliation, Irish Writer, Kevin Barry, Larry LaLonde, Mister Roger's Neighborhood, Nature, New Yorker, No Forcefield, Primus, Sex on January 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: NO FORCEFIELD-Lee’s Oriental Massage 415-626-1837 (2000).

I was terribly disappointed with the second No Forcefield album (so why did I get this one?  Because I got them both used at the same time for $1 each).  And I can’t help but think Id have been so much more disappointed in it had I listened to this one first.

This first record is really quite good.  I still have no idea why Ler from Primus is in the band or what he does on this disc (and he’s the reason I learned about the band to begin with), but this disc sounds like a proper album and not just a bunch of undercooked ideas.

This disc is primarily a collection of electronic/scratching tracks.  The beginning of the disk has more scratch-heavy pieces (provided by DJ Disk), and as the disc moves along we get slightly longer more instrumental-only dancey tracks.  But they’re not really dance tracks either, they’re heavy electronic tracks in the vein of say Prodigy (with no lyrics).  They’re quite inventive and they rock pretty hard.

But it must be said, it sounds nothing like Primus.  There’s virtually no bass, and no guitars and no vocals.  I assume that Brain does all of the electronics and drums, and then there’s a few extra folks helping out.  There’s some definitely worthwhile tracks on here (and the samples are all fun…Mister Roger’s Neighborhood music, for example).

This isn’t a genre I know very well, so I don’t know how it compares globally to others. But I do know bad techno music and this isn’t it.

Not bad for $1.  And, no I never called the phone number.

[READ: January 26, 2010] “Fjord of Killary”

This is a quick, dark story.  It concerns a poet, named Caoimhin, who moves from the city to the West Coast of Ireland.  Specifically, he goes there to buy a hotel.  The hotel has been extant since the 1600’s and was even written about by Thackeray.  Since he is having massive writer’s block, he assumed that this little community on a fjord will give him lots to write about.

But instead, he finds himself very busy tending to the locals (the hotel bar is the real draw) and largely uninspired to write anything.

The actual plot of the story concerns a terrible storm.  The raging ocean that is right below the hotel is rising and rising.  Caoimhin is rather nervous, but the patrons, all old residents of the area, tell him not to worry.  Well, actually they ignore him, (despite all of his lame attempts at conversation making) but the effect is the same.

It’s only when the water actually comes up the porch and under the doors that the people start to really get nervous. (more…)

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