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Jospeh Nazel–The Iceman #2: The Golden Shaft (1974)

April 26, 2018 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: NAIA IZUMI-“Soft Spoken” (TINY DESK CONTEST WINNER 2018). 

I didn’t pay much attention to the Tiny Desk Contest this year (even though there were lots of opportunities to watch various front runner videos).  But this year’s winner was just announced.

Naia Izumi is a 34-year-old musician from Georgia who regularly busks on the streets of Los Angeles, where he now lives.  And now he has gotten some national exposure.

Naia starts the song with a simple percussion loop and then he sets out on some amazing finger tapping jazzy guitar playing.  It’s impressive and pretty at the same time.  And then he starts singing on top of it!

The bridge or chorus (I haven’t figure doubt what’s what yet) is strummed with some cool fluid soloing and then it’s back to the tapping–such a great melody.  There’s a short but pretty solo in the middle and then a quiet section before he resumes the drum loop again.

He starts singing some great falsetto notes (a good vocal range too, this guy) and then the song returns to the fingertapping before it abruptly ends.

I have no idea how it compares to anything else, but it’s pretty darn good.

Watch it here.

[READ: January 15, 2018] The Iceman #2

A whole bunch of books from Holloway House Publishing Co. came across my desk recently.  Interestingly, in 2008

Kensington Publishing has acquired most of the publishing assets of Holloway House Publishing in Los Angeles, the original publisher of such classic black crime writers as Donald Goines, adding an historic trove of gritty African American popular literature to its publishing program. The acquisition includes about 400 backlist titles which will become part of a new imprint at Kensington called Holloway House Classics. Holloway House also publishes a range of popular fiction and nonfiction titles including biographies of famous African Americans.

So this book and many other are likely to be reissued.

But this particular book (and the ones that came with it) were originals gifted to the library from someone.  There were quite a few books written by Joseph Nazel and I decided I’d read this one because it looked awesome.  And it was.

The premise of this series is:

Henry Highland West – he rose up out of the streets of Harlem to become one of the richest, most powerful Blacks in the world, earning the nickname Iceman due to his cold, calculating will to survive. He owns The Oasis, a multi-million dollar pleasure palace glistening in the desert of Las Vegas. And his success is a thorn in the side of those who envy the phenomenal success of the Black man! He’s already fought one battle. One vicious, backstabbing betrayal that left the desert stained with Mafia blood. And now he’s challenged again as modern-day carpetbaggers, hungry for the glitter of gold and the merciless exploitation of slave labor in Africa, waste an old friend in hopes of getting the very land that The Oasis is built on! He’s not alone in the fight. Besides his old street friends he’s got his own private army of voluptuous women trained in the martial arts. And he’s going to need them all, as his survival is threatened by the gold greed of men out to take what he’s so desperately earned! It’s high-stakes action on chopped Harleys and dune buggies as Iceman pulls all the stops just to keep the honkies from giving him the shaft!

And it was just as good as that description sounds. Continue Reading »

Posted in #RESIST, Africa, Death, Gambling, Holloway House Publishing Co, Joseph Nazel, Murder, Naia Izumi, Racism, Sex, Sexism, Tiny Desk Contest, Violence | 2 Comments »

Jonathan Hennessey and Justin Greenwood–Alexander Hamilton: The Graphic History of an American Founding Father (2017)

April 25, 2018 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“The Hamilton Polka” (2016). 

Lin-Manuel Miranda has declared his love and respect for “Weird Al” on many occasions.  So it makes perfect sense that he would ask Al to contribute to the online Hamilton project known as HamilDrops.  The Decemberists’ “Ben Franklin’s Song” is amazing too.

But seriously, how could Al parody a more or less biographical story of a historical figure (that’s two hours long)?.  By not parodying it at all.

Rather, he makes one of his polka mashups which he’s been doing hilariously since his second album.  They are often a highlight of each new album.  This song compresses (almost) the entire musical into 5 minutes.

“The Hamilton Polka,” provides what’s essentially a CliffsNotes-style run-through of the musical’s hooks and highlights — just enough to get the entire musical stuck in your head all over again.

I love the way in the original, the third sister, poor Peggy, is sort of musically dissed whereas Al is just explicit about it.  And of course, how could he refuse to include some actual gun shots for “Not Throwing Away My Shot?”

So they cram in quite a bunch of melodies (and aside from the “bastard” line in the beginning, manage to keep it clean.  Although I do wish he’s added at least one Hercules Mulligan line

Alexander Hamilton
Wait For It
The Schuyler Sisters
Yorktown
You’ll Be Back
The Room Where It Happens
Guns and Ships
Washington On Your Side
Non-Stop
History Has Its Eyes On You
My Shot

And Al can really sing and rap some of those lyrics quickly.  It’s a really fun mashup.

[READ: January 11, 2018] Alexander Hamilton: The Graphic History of an American Founding Father

Before the musical, most people’s familiarity with Alexander Hamilton probably came from this (awesome) commercial (even if none of us could remember what it was ultimately for).

Actually, my father worked for (and owned for a time) Alexander Hamilton Printing in Paterson, NJ, so Alexander Hamilton has always been a part of my life.  Although I had no idea why.  Not really.

There’s a new reason why people know about Alexander Hamilton (can you even say his name without singing it?).

And I’m sure that reason has something to do with the creation and publication of this book.  But Hennessey is not just jumping on the Hamilton bandwagon.  Well, maybe he is, but he has two other historical graphic novels out already: The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation (2008) and The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation (2012).  He also has books called The Comic Book Story of Beer, and The Comic Book Story of Video Games so he’s not all stuffy.

The musical is far more catchy than this book–far more steamy.  But this book is really chock full of details that the musical skips (for various reasons, obviously).  The book is a lot less interested in the romantic dalliances of the founding father, although it certainly does acknowledge them.

Indeed, the book is 176 fully illustrated pages jam-packed with information.  It reads a little, if not dull, then certainly more academic.  That’s because there’s a lot of text and a lot of history. Continue Reading »

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, #RESIST, 17th Century, Aaron Burr, Adventure, Alexander Hamilton, Big Books, Biography, College, Culture Shock, Death, Essays, Graphic Novel, Hamilton, Justin Greewood, Law, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Marriage Trouble, Memoirs, Musicals, Non-fiction, Politicians, Princeton, NJ, Propaganda, Spies, Taxes, The Decemberists, Violence, War, YA Books | Leave a Comment »

Bit Brigade (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, April 24, 2018)

April 24, 2018 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 24, 2018] Bit Brigade

I had never heard of Bit Brigade, but I saw an ad in Johnny Brenda’s for a band who would be playing music from The Legend of Zelda and I was very intrigued.

Clark and I have been to see Symphonic Zelda twice, so I thought it would be interesting to hear a rock version of it.

But as I investigated, I saw that they also had a “Player One” who played the game while the band played.  What was going on here?

It turns out that, as bassist Luke Fields explained to us:

Noah is going to play The Legend of Zelda as fast as he can.  And we are going to play the soundtrack as loud as we can.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Bit Brigade, Double Ferrari, Duck Tales, Johnny Brenda's, Legend of Zelda, Marble Madness, Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

Double Ferrari (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, April 24, 2018) [BIT BRIGADE]

April 24, 2018 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 24, 2018] Double Ferrari

I first heard about Double Ferrari when NPR covered them for their SXSW special.

They were described as “a thrillingly over-the-top throwback to a time when guitar virtuosos noodled their way to arena-sized stardom, Double Ferrari crafts giddily triumphant odes to giddy triumph.”  And why would you only have one Ferrari when you could have a Double Ferrari?

The song on the show was an instrumental based around guitar riffs.  That’s what they do.  I felt like they took the best solos from classic British heavy metal and built songs around them–with two guitars playing the parts in delicious over the top harmony.  And of course I love that the band Double Ferrari has a song called “Double Ferrari ” from the album Double Ferrari. Continue Reading »

Posted in All Songs Considered, Bit Brigade, Cheap Dinosaurs, Double Ferrari, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, SXSW | Leave a Comment »

A Legacy of Canadian Art from Kelowna Collections (2017)

April 24, 2018 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Starlight Social Club, Waterloo, ON (April 24, 2016). 

After reuniting for the AGO shows back in 2015, Rheostatics decided to make a proper go of it again.  This included yet another show at Massey Hall (this time with Martin’s voice working).  In order to prep for that show, they first played this show

Warm Up show prior to April 29 2016 Massey Hall show. First club show since March 29 2007 at The Horseshoe Tavern. The Band consisted of Dave Bidini, Don Kerr, Martin Tielli, and Tim Vesely. With Hugh Marsh on Violin and Kevin Hearn on Keyboards/vocals. Trent Severn guested on Fan Letter To Michael Jackson and Making Progress. Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub was in attendance at this show.

This is a great show with everyone sounding in good form.  Although I love Hugh Marsh and think he is amazing, his violin does tend to take front and center for a lot of this material.  Same with Kevin Hearn’s piano.  They are both essential, but they sometimes feel like more than the other guys (especially he soaring solo of “Stolen Car”).

As the show starts, Dave Bidini begins the banter: Great to be in Kitchener, Waterloo… you’ve changed.  The first show we ever did as Rheostatics was in the hotel across the way.  We slept in the carpark and couldn’t escape Alexanian Carpet (which they talked about back in 2007).  Here’s a bunch of songs.  Hope you like them.

“King of the Past” seems subdued but lovely, with Hugh Marsh’s soaring violin.  It’s followed by “California Dreamline” which opens with soaring guitars from Martin.

It’s followed by “Claire” which sounds great.

Dave says it will take a while for our patter to come back.  Then there’s some new country played on the monitors and Dave suggests that a new direction for them.

“P.I.N.”  sounds bright and positive although I think Kevin’s keys are too much in the chorus.  Martin even sneaks in a “Dirty Boulevard” line.

Dave notes that they were a band before drinking out of a water bottle was cliched–to give you an idea of the age of the band.  We predated grunge.  Actually we invented grunge and then decided it was a bad idea but we left it lying around and someone found it.

The first of Dave’s songs comes in with “Mumbletypeg” it is of course poppy and fun.

Then Kevin recites some of the story of Dot and Bug before starting “Monkeybird.”  Martin makes some wonderful crazy sounds and by the end Kevin starts a chant: I say banana you saw worms.

“It’s Easy To Be With You” is also very keyboardy, with a solo from Hugh or Martin, I’m not sure.

“Song Of The Garden” almost feels entirely like Kevin and Hugh.  It’s lovely.

Kevin starts a sample from Mister Rogers which can only mean “Fan Letter To Michael Jackson.”  Dave says they’ll play this for Prince and for Michael.  Trent Severn (Lindsay Schindler, Dayna Manning and Emm Gryner, in the flesh) sing the “it feels good to be alive” part.  The entire ending (with Martin joining in) is spectacular.

There’s a pretty one-minute guitar segue into “Making Progress” with a very cool long solo by Marsh.

They play a great version of “Self Serve Gas Station” at the end of which Martin says, “and then that guys escaped out of the bathroom window, he’s climbing down the side of the building.”

“Queer” has a lengthy piano solo from Kevin but there’s no “find me another home” outro.  “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds” has a big drum (and much percussion) solo by Don Kerr.  The song ends with some great howling while Martin’s guitar soars.  Martin even brings up the old jokes about someone misunderstanding Don Kerr’s name:  In heavy accent: “Why do you call yourself ‘dont care.'”

“Shaved Head” sounds great as they head into the first encore break.

When they come back out Dave says “I’m working on this solo bass project if you’ll bear with me…..no?  your loss.”

Kevin asks “how many of you are going to Massey Hall?  Don’t share the setlist online so it’s a surprise for everyone.”  It will be next Friday at Massey hall with Amelia Curran

After many requests, they play a slow and powerful “Palomar.”  It’s followed by a pretty version of “Stolen Car” with what I think is a drum machine.  When it’s done, Martin says, “Let’s all smoke cigarettes!”  Dave tells everyone, “Enjoy Game of Thrones.”

There’s a five-minute encore break.  After 4 minutes you can hear country music playing as if it over, but the boys come back out.  Dave: “Now I’m gonna miss Game of Thrones for sure!”

They return with Kevin’s “Yellow Days Under A Lemon Sun” and then a great version of “Saskatchewan” (even if Martin forgets some of the words).

They end with “Legal Age Life At Variety Store.”  The special guest on guitar: “Ladies and gentlemen, Martin Telli’s son… they’ve never met before.  It’s beautiful.”  I don;t know who it is but he plays a solid rockabilly guitar solo followed by a ripping piano solo from Kevin.  It’s all over after 5 minutes.

With a total show time of just over 2 hours, it’s a nice welcome back.

[READ: January 11, 2018]  A Legacy of Canadian Art from Kelowna Collections

I find the subject of Canadian Art to be rather fascinating (possibly because it’s more digestible than the expansive European or American histories).  This stems from my appreciation of The Group of Seven.  They loom (probably unfairly) large in the Canadian Art world.  So it’s interesting to see how the fit in with the rest of the history of Canadian Art.

This book is the publication from an art exhibit that from July 1 to October 15 2017 at the Kelowna Art Gallery.  What I found especially interesting about this show was that the pieces came from eight probate collections in Kelowna (as well as the gallery’s permanent collection).  But basically eight art collectors in Kelowna allowed the public to see their private collections.   That’s fascinating to me and I have no idea how common that is.

The book opens with thanks and kind words from the director and the curator with a longer essay from Roger Boulet.  He talks about the history of art and artists in Canada as well as collectors and their beneficence to artists and the public at large.

The book is divided up into eras. Continue Reading »

Posted in A. Y. Jackson, Alfred William Davey, Amelia Curran, Art, Artists, Benjamin Chee Chee, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Cornelius David Krieghoff, Daphne Odjig, Dayna Manning, Emily Carr, Emm Gryner, Florence Carlyle, Frederick Arthur Verner, Frederick Varley, Game of Thrones, Gordon Smith, Henri Léopold Masson, Hugh Marsh, J. E. H. MacDonald, James Wilson Galloway (Jock) Macdonald, James Wilson Morrice, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Joe Fafard, Kevin Hearn, Laura Muntz, Lawren Harris, Lindsay Schindler, Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, Marcelle Ferron, Marmaduke Matthews, Maud Lewis, Paul-Émile Borduas, Rheostatics, Rita Letendre, Robert Harris, Roger Boulet, Sybil Andrews, The Beaver Hall Group, Trent Severn | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

Yiyun Li–“A Flawless Silence” (New Yorker, April 23, 2018)

April 23, 2018 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: O.C.-Tiny Desk Concert #732 (April 18, 2018).

This is where I get to complain again that The Breeders had three songs when O.C. [Omar “O.C.” Credle], whom I have never heard of (although he is apparently a classic) gets five songs in nearly 19 minutes.  Bogus.

As a member of Brooklyn rap collective Diggin’ In The Crates, Omar Credle, aka O.C., helped shape what was known as the golden age of 1990s rap. Marked by loops sourced from jazz recordings and lyrics rooted in one-upmanship, O.C’s two ’90s albums made him a rapper’s rapper, an underground star.

I’ve never heard of him but he is sure confident in his crew’s impact (which seems about right I guess.  It’s interesting that they were known for sampling, but they have a live band.  The band sounds fantastic by the way.

O.C. was joined at his Tiny Desk by Soul’D U Out, a jazz ensemble led by Grammy-winning trumpeter Maurice “Mobetta” Brown. The live instrumentation replicated the sample-heavy original recordings perfectly.

They mostly play old songs, but they start with a new one: “New Day,” from O.C.’s 2017 album which features young R&B singer Tay Bell on the hook.  Bell’s vocals are quite high-pitched.  I thought he was a woman at first (just hearing him, not seeing him).  But his voice adds a great fullness to the song.  That live trumpet is amazing, as is the quiet fuzzy guitar from Marcus Machado that runs throughout the song.

He says he wants to get into the old stuff.  He asks, “How many over 45?”  A woman replied, “Oh, that’s wrong.”  He laughs and says, “I’m only 23.”

The rest of the set was vintage cuts from O.C.’s heyday. “Day One,” a D.I.T.C. posse cut, featured emcee and producer Lord Finesse.

Robert “Lord Finesse” Hall gets a verse, which he delivers with a great style I actually like his more than O.C.).  I also love the vibes even if they are only on keys (by Chris Robs).,  He says that the song is about “20 years of history.”  Referring to other rappers, he says, “we birthed a lot of them, they might not say it, but I will. without D.I.T.C, there’d be no digging n the record crates. ”  I seriously doubt that statement, but whatever.

Then O.C. treated the crowd to a version of “Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers” (the one and only song by him, Jeru The Damaja and Chubb Rock).

I was more impressed by the trumpet than anything else.  The sounds he gets at the end are amazing.

He had to fit in his seminal banger and arguably most popular song, “Time’s Up,” from Word…Life.

He says “I hated this record when I made it but people convinced me to do it.”  Huh.  I like the cool bass from Parker McAllister that runs through the song.

The finale got personal when O.C. relayed the importance of the song “Born 2 Live.” “This is dedicated to a friend of mine who got killed down in Baltimore,” he said. “Every time I do this record, it’s somber. … But it’s a celebration at the same time. So I’m a just party it out and have a good time with it.” With a little help from Soul’D U Out, we did, too.

I’m only a little disappointed that the drummer (Camau “Klutch” Bernstine, whose hair is awesome) didn’t get to show off a bit more. He was really solid but there was nothing fancy.

I’m not bummed that he got 20 minutes, because I enjoyed his set, but let some other folks go over time too!

[READ: April 17, 2018] “A Flawless Silence”

Yiyun Li is perhaps the most consistently enjoyable New Yorker author for me.  I love the pacing of her stories and I love the way she tackles large and small personal issues sometimes at the same time.

This story is about a woman, Min.  She grew up in China but moved to America when her now husband proposed to her. As the story begins, she is with her twin daughters in the car.  They are fighting , of course, until one of them says that Kevin, a boy in their class is a Republican.

How do they know?  Because the teacher instructed them to write to either presidential candidate and while everyone class wrote to Hilary Clinton, he chose to write a supportive letter to the male candidate (Yiyun Li uses his name but I don’t feel compelled to). Continue Reading »

Posted in Arranged Marriage, Digging In the Crates Crew, Fears, Hillary Clinton, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, O.C., Parenting, Racism, Short Story, Soul'D U Out, Tiny Desk Concert, Yiyun Li | Leave a Comment »

Mac Barnett–Danger Goes Berserk [Brixton Brothers Book #4] (2012) [“audiobook” 2018–Sarah Debraski]

April 22, 2018 by Paul Debraski

[LISTENED TO: Summer 2017] Danger Goes Berserk

After how much we loved Brixton Brothers Books 1 through 3 we were excited to get to Book #4 (which appears to be the final book since it has been six years, despite what was hinted at in the end).

However, there is no audio book!  No Arte Johnson guiding us through the mysteries of these teenage sleuths.  No one to say Rick (pause) Jerk.

Gasp.

So we did the next best thing.  S. read it to us on a long car ride.  This is second best because it’s exhausting for S. to read out loud for that long and to have the constant complaints of “can you turn it up” which makes me laugh every time one of the kids says it.

It was great to be involved with Steve Brixton and his chum Dana once again.

The detectives are back (in Steve’s hilarious new office) and there are two cases to look into.  One is about surfing.

The other is about… gym shorts.

Someone has been stealing Brody Owen’s gym shorts.  Brody even paid Steve to take the case.  But Steve doesn’t want to take it.  Both because it’s stupid and because he’s got more important, bigger cases to deal with. Continue Reading »

Posted in Adventure, Arte Johnson, Audiobooks, Children's Books, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Gangsters, Mac Barnett, McSweeney's, Noir, S., Spies, Surfing, Trains, Travel | Leave a Comment »

Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.: “Electric Dream Ecstasy Tour in US & Canada” (The Black Box, Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, April 21, 2018)

April 21, 2018 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 21, 2018] Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.

Several months ago I purchased a ticket for Ministry in Morristown, NJ.  I’d loved Ministry’s brand of industrial noise in the early 90s, although I pretty much stopped listening to them altogether before Y2K.

But I saw that they were touring and that they were playing some older songs so I thought it might be a cathartic experience.

Then I found out that Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. were playing at a small club the same night.  Acid Mothers Temple is one of my friend Lar’s favorite live acts and it was fairly easy for me to decide to get a ticket to them and sell my Ministry one.  (I decided I’d rather be pummeled by psychedelia than vitriol and anger).

It was the right decision because Acid Mothers Temple was amazing. Continue Reading »

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Can, Canadian Music, Japanese Music, Ministry, Philadelphia, PA, The Black Box, Underground Arts, Yoo Doo Right | Leave a Comment »

Yoo Doo Right (The Black Box, Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, April 21, 2018) [ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE]

April 21, 2018 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 21, 2018] Yoo Doo Right

I hadn’t heard of Montreal’s Yoo Doo Right when I saw they were touring with Acid Mothers Temple.  But I may have been the only person there who hadn’t.

Before the band even started to set up, a guy with (reasonably) professional looking audio equipment set up his microphones right up on stage.  And another guy with a camcorder propped himself up near the side of the stage to record the whole set.

The band got their name from a Can song and they play a kind of psychedelic Krautrock-inspired indie rock.  It was a really great set and I totally got into it.

The band came out and set up their gear (poor John Talbot on drums needed a bigger cinder block as his drums kept sliding forward).  Charles Masson on bass stood center stage anchoring the flights of noise and melody from Justin Cober on guitar/keyboard/vocals.

Off to the left somewhat was Charles Bourassa on keys.  At first it didn’t seem like he was an integral part of the show, but I gather that after letting the other guys get the noise out of their system he was there to anchor the songs with synth melodies and more noise.  He was also lead vocals on a few songs.

I loved the noisy guitars that Cober played.  And how he switched back and forth between guitar and keys.  Between him and Bourassa, I’m not sure who was making what sounds.

There were some great sections of droning guitars and walls of sounds.  And they often has great moments when the bass and drums came in to anchor the song.

But when all was said and done they were just there to rock.

I chatted with th eband after the show and they were super friendly.  They have two EPS out on bandcamp right now.

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Can, Canadian Music, Philadelphia, PA, The Black Box, Underground Arts, Yoo Doo Right | Leave a Comment »

Gondola (The Black Box, Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, April 21, 2018) [ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE]

April 21, 2018 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 21, 2018] Gondola

I hadn’t heard of Gondola, the first of three bands this evening in The Black Box. They are a local Philly band with (apparently) a large following.  They are the first opening band I have ever seen called back for an encore.  They are also, subsequently the only band I’ve seen called back for an encore who was not allowed to play the encore because they ran out of time (apparently).

Gondola was fantastic.

They play a kind of psychedelic stoner metal, with heavy crunching guitars, awesome low end bass and some surprisingly catchy riffs.  I detected a serious 80s SST Records vibe from the sound of the guitar (solos especially) and the way the bass played off of it. Continue Reading »

Posted in Gondola, Philadelphia, PA, The Black Box, Underground Arts | Leave a Comment »

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