Category: Uncategorized

Busy week. Not as productive on the blog as I would have liked. Got only one CD review done this week, e.g.

Certainly, our hearts go out to those affected by Katrina. So, is it sacrilege to suggest that living below sea level isn’t exactly a great idea? See what Greg Burgas thinks. More pointedly, read this National Geographic article posted by Socks in Box on September 2.

Bush: Vacation Ruined By ‘Stupid Dead Soldier’. From “The Onion,” natch.

Since you were planning on filing for bankruptcy anyway, now seems like a good time.

You haven’t heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster? Clearly, knowledge of Him must be taught in our schools. If you and if you want to see Him for yourself…

When the child doesn’t sleep, I have weird dreams: in a sea of black suits, charcoal gray suits, navy blue suits, and dark brown suits, Fred Hembeck is named as head of the FBI. Not the real Fred, cartoon Fred. And he’s wearing a robin’s egg blue tux.

My best to those affected by war, floods, illness (including Steve Gerber and his pneumonia), and all sorts of pain, physical and emotional. Especially that bestest couple who I’ve never met; I think they know who I mean.

NAME: David Allen Jones a/k/a Johnny Bacardi
BLOG NAME: The Johnny Bacardi Show
NAME OF CD: Different Stuff for Different People, Volume 4
NUMBER OF CUTS: 17
RUNNING TIME: 79:35
COVER ART:

Stylish yet decadent. Made me want to drink a Psychic Martini, and I don’t even LIKE martinis. One of my two favorite covers. It’s even better in a size you can read it.
SONG LIST: His live journal of June 20
SUBSEQUENTLY REVIEWED BY: Gordon on October 6
GENERAL THOUGHTS: A wonderfully eclectic mix, elegantly presented. Unfamiliar songs by familiar artists (Beach Boys, Kinks), familiar songs by different artists (Tomorrow, Morning Glory), artists I forgot I had in the collection (Dax, Wood, Cibo Matto). A very satisfying experience.
THINGS I PARTICULARLY LOVED: Sobule-instrumental backing based on Chicago’s “Saturday in the Park”! Blodwyn Pig, Dax; Wood-“something to make my hair grow long” (too late for THAT); Alex Harvey; Cibo Matto, Price (campy); Buckley (I love the song, which I’ve heard by others, and I love the voice); Zevon (anytime);
ON THE OTHER HAND: I like Lou Reed, I do, but 11 minutes of that vibe was a little sleep inducing. I also wonder about the 9 ½ minute Grand Funk track; I know the live cut so well (see below) that it wasn’t a problem for ME, but COULD be for other listeners; I prefer the live cut, BTW.
OFFICE FRIENDLY: As far as I could tell.
ONLY VAGUELY RELATED: My sister Leslie had a boyfriend named George in high school who thought of himself as a black militant. He thought of ME as one of those hippie types. For Christmas or my birthday, he bought me “Live Funk” from Grand Funk Railroad, a group I was barely aware of at the time. I think he thought it fit my demographic. It featured a LONG version of “Inside Looking Out.”

Worst job, hands down:

A Mr. Burgas was doing a contest (actually three contests.) One involved describing the worst job the reader ever had. There were even prizes involved. Of course, that was really a secondary consideration. The primary thing is that it gave an excuse to write this piece, appropriate for the beginning of the Labor Day weekend.

You might think it would be a job cleaning huuman feces from a wall (mentioned SOMETIME last month) would be the worst job I’ve ever had, but you would be wrong.

I worked in a box factory. You know the cardboard that separates cans or bottles in a case of beer or soda? There was a conveyer belt in which four people, women as it turns out, took these innards and put them together. My job was to tie them into bundles of 20.

These women were developmentally disabled with IQs of about 70. Perhaps that is why the repetitive nature of the work did not seem bother them, but it certainly annoyed me. So they were much faster putting together the box innards than I was tying them into bundles, using a specific knot that I did not know. (Why that specific knot, I never knew.)

The work was 2 hours on, 10 minutes off, 1 hour 50 minutes on, 30 minute lunch, 2 hours on, 10 minutes off, 1 hr 50 minutes on, go home. No variation. No one with whom to have a decent conversation.

And since I couldn’t keep up with these women, the boss was screaming at me by day 2. Moreeover, the women on the line were resentful of me, because if they slowed up, it meant that they didn’t reach their bonus goals. Not so incidentally, the guy doing the tying was not eligible for any bonuses.

My back was very sore every night from the bending and lifting.

By day 3, I decided to quit at the end of my second week, even though I REALLY needed the money for college. It was after that when I learned that the previous person on the job had the position for one week, and his predecessor for one DAY.

I have nothing particularly pithy to say. New Orleans, which thought it had dodged a bullet, is devastated by weather, infrastructure failure and human behavior. The gulf states are facing damage in terms of life and property that we won’t really know the extent of for days, as officials frantically try to rescue what’s salvageable. So, I’ve decided, and maybe you’ll decide, to donate to the Red Cross.

So, how to do this that might work to maximize the effort among folks reading this? How about this: I will give $1 to the Red Cross for every person going to my blog – they don’t even have to read it, though obviously I wish they would – between now and the end of Labor Day (Monday) at 10 pm EDT. (The counter is at 144.) The challenge is for every blogger and web person to do something similar. The need is extraordinary.

NAME: Larry Young (with Charlie Allard and Matt Smith)
BLOG NAME: AiT/PlanetLar
NAME OF CD: Astronauts in Trouble
NUMBER OF CUTS: 20
RUNNING TIME: 51:38 (the first CD I received that was shorter than mine)
COVER ART: Label
SONG LIST:
1. Prof. Hawking’s Channel Seven Promo: The World’s Smartest Man Watches Channel 7 (talk)
2. 21st Century Newscast: We Will Rock You Bipartisan Mix-EBN
3. Hayescorp Command Center: Apollo 11 Mission Control, Houston (talk)
4. AiT/TMP Opening Titles: Sing Sing Sing (with a Swing)-Louis Prima
5. In the Newsvan Tapedeck: Bad Astronaut-James Kolchaka
6. Re-Align the Low-Gain: Turn It On-the Flaming Lips
7. Heck’s Got a Hangover: Absurd- http://www.absurdfluke.com/ Fluke
8. The Moon from Inside of a Spacesuit: Oye Como Va-Santana
9. Neil and Buzz: Tranquility Base 20 July 1969 (talk)
10. Pepperoni Pizza Nightmares: Dean’s Dream-the Dead Milkmen
11. Float Me Another One: Feelin Existential-Mojo Nixon
12. Cry Me to the Moon: St. Cajetan-Cracker
13. Static, Baby-Open Frequency- http://www.sharpeworld.com/marcy/pages/article.html Dr Zomb’s Stereo Obscura
14. Annie’s Suit Radio: Greetings to the New Brunette-Billy Bragg
15. The Cows Go In: Ring of Fire-Johnny Cash
16. Home Box Office: Tom Hanks Apollo 13 (talk)
17. Not Enough Coffee to Go Around: Fade to Black-Dire Straits
18. AiT;TMP End Credits: Hi Side-the Mad Capsule Markets
19. Doomsday Plus One: Press conference-President Ronald Reagan Talk)
20. Hot Mike: Canon Help Desk-Troubleshooting (talk)
ALREADY REVIEWED BY: Gordon on August 24
GENERAL THOUGHTS: Not only did I get a CD, I (and all of the other participants) received a book. An interesting mix of talk and music, not surprising space-related.
THINGS I PARTICULARLY LOVED: All the talk snippets except the last; 3-I have a couple Benny Goodman versions, but was unfamiliar with the Prima doing it; 12-17 (I own the last three song tracks).
ON THE OTHER HAND: 7-some sort of techno-grunge that would have been OK in a short piece, but the 6-minute track felt like twice that long. 20- wasn’t prepared for the obscenity-laden tirade.
OFFICE FRIENDLY: 5 is naughty, 10 has F-bomb but it’s down so much in the mix, I nearly missed it. 20-that’s a big time no.
ONLY VAGUELY RELATED: I’m looking forward to the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line, this fall.