Nuclear Rays From My Halogen Haze

music, politics, art, Elvis apologism

Coming up on April 28 – Rrose in a Prose: AUH! April 22, 2013

Filed under: Fiction,Folk,L.A. Record,Lit Events,Literature,Performers,Poetry,Songwriters — D. M. Collins @ 1:43 pm

This month’s Rrose in a Prose is coming up! Once again, it’s at the Hedgehog Coffee Shop in Echo Park, so you can wash the whole thing down with coffee and one helluva sandwich.



The line-up this time has some really great authors and poets, including a return visit from the wonderful Jessica Ceballos, who wowed us a few short months ago. But it also has my old band mate, Asa Ferry, one of the best songwriters I’ve ever worked with and a man who really captures reality in a way not all of us catch or perceive–even if he just reads a sentence, it’ll make you float away later, looking at cumulus clouds and wondering why you’ve never seen the little shimmers that cascade from puff-pocket to puff-pocket before.

We also have Ryan Fuller from Fort King, and … goddam, there are too many people to talk about! Just read the list and kick yourself if you’re unable to attend:

Jessica Ceballos (Bluebird Readings)
Roy Rogers Oldencamp (Bluefat)
Beverly M. Collins (Quiet Observations)
Daniel Austin Warren (Black Hand)
Asa Ferry (Kind Hearts & Coronets)
Ryan Fuller (Fort King)

As always, this event is “hosted” by the not-ready-for-print-time player, L.A. RECORD’s D. M. Collins. That’s me!

A Rrose in a Prose
@the Hedgehog
2201 W. Sunset Blvd
(same side o’ the street as Mohawk Bend)
in Echo Park
April 28th @ 3 p.m.

 

my review of the New L.A. Folk Fest at Zorthian Ranch is up. August 11, 2012

Filed under: Country Rock,Folk,Los Angeles,Songwriters — D. M. Collins @ 2:45 am
Tags: , , , ,

Have you read the history of the Zorthian Ranch? It’s pretty fucking incredible, even by L.A./hippie standards. And this link doesn’t even get into the naked human statuary or Richard Feynman…

Anyway, yes, I wrote a review of the marvelous time I had on Saturday, and sadly it’s not even fully inclusive, since so many wonderful things were all happening at once! Below is a tiny tidbit from the long form review, an almost snide snippet about Tom Brosseau (though I meant everything with a big bunch of love!): go here for the rest.

… lithe blondie Tom Brosseau is exactly like 80s folk icon Phranc. Okay, actually he’s way weirder, all angelic with his blond hair and not a sign of beard or sideburn or out-of-place speck of dust, tanned like a man who works in the corn fields of a cinematic past yet completely immaculate, his jeans and billowy white tee hanging off him like he’s in a Levi’s 501 commercial from the 90s. Even his high-register voice is… otherworldly, that’s the only way to put it. His songs about oil field disasters in North Dakota and loved ones leaving (“I’m drinking malted milk with my eyes shut tight … I’m not expecting you to be there when I open them”)seems even more true, because they’re not songs, they’re the declarations of seraphim.

Oh shit, I forgot to mention that I introduced Stephen Kalinich to an audience of hundreds, right before Beachwood Sparks went up (so it was almost like I introduced Beachwood Sparks!). Here I am doin’ it, in all my dashiki-donning glory:

And here’s footage of Stephen reading!

 

Earl Scruggs is the best banjo player EVER! March 31, 2009

Filed under: Bands,Country Rock,Folk,Personal Shit,Religion — orangehairboy @ 5:54 pm

Well, you could argue on Bill Monroe’s behalf.  But Bill never did this:

 

the eagle never hunts the fly March 13, 2009

Filed under: Bands,Books,Country Rock,Folk,Garage Rock,Los Angeles,Performers,Personal Shit,Songwriters,Television — orangehairboy @ 1:31 pm

I just finished reading Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll’s Legendary Neighborhood.  While it was cool to read about Frank Zappa’s log cabin and Joni Mitchell living with Stephen Stills, I have to admit that in my heart, I still prefer balls-out rockers to any of these hippie fucks.  What the fuck can Stephen Stills tell me that the Music Machine can’t blow out of the water?  You can FEEL this music.  In your groin.

 

As for Laurel Canyon, it was a decent read, though there was a whole chapter and a half about the Troubadour that had very very very little to do with the book’s thesis statement.  For the record, I love a good chunk of the musicians who lived in Laurel Canyon back in the day.  The ones who live there now suck ass, though.

 

California Earthquake July 29, 2008

Filed under: Celebrities,Folk,Los Angeles,Other Stuff,Performers,Personal Shit — orangehairboy @ 8:30 pm

While a lot of people in the L.A. area are feeling “All Shook Up” today, it could have been a lot worse.  If I think about the 1906 or 1989 earthquakes in San Francisco, or of course Northridge a decade ago, the quake we had today was basically just a drill for the big one that will eventually come.  Mama Cass knows what I’m talking about.

 

Van Dyke Parks July 19, 2008

Filed under: Albums,Bands,Celebrities,David Bowie,Folk,Performers,Personal Shit,Religion,Songwriters,The Beach Boys,The Beatles — orangehairboy @ 9:32 pm

I’ve been commissioned to write a review of Inara George and Van Dyke Parks, and I’m pretty stoked.  This dude worked on Smile, which is one of my favorite albums of all time (and I own thousands).  Most people put Pet Sounds in that category, but in my opinion, while Pet Sounds was a pioneering album, its formula was retooled into better albums by the Zombies and Bee Gees (and to a lesser extent by Bowie, the Beatles, and virtually everybody else). 

But Smile, I mean, wow.  What wonders the world might have wrought if it had been released on time, before Sgt. Pepper and before the Beach Boys lost the head of steam they’d built with Pet Sounds.  While Pet Sounds is melancholy and lovely, Smile is transcendent, spiritual, American, orchestral, and utterly unique.  It’s accessible but wears well with each repeated listening, and Van Dyke Parks’ lyricism is a big part of what makes it so interesting.

Anyway, I have to stop writing, before I scoop myself!  But take a look at Van Dyke Parks waxing nostalgic about the Troubadour.  Doesn’t he talk like David Lynch?

P.S. I’m not talking about Brian Wilson’s SMiLE album that came out a couple years ago.  It’s really good, and I own the DVD and all that.  But it’s no more the “real” Smile than seeing a concert by Al Jardine and Friends is the same as seeing the Beach Boys.

 

Obama, don’t flip-flop when it comes to the war. July 10, 2008

Filed under: Albums,Bands,Folk,Love,Obama,Other Stuff,Performers,Personal Shit,Politics,Songwriters,The Stooges — orangehairboy @ 9:16 am

I was trying to write something lighthearted, to cheer me up after the crushing defeat the Democrats brought upon themselves and us today when the Senate voted for the FISA bill. 

The thought struck me after reading the words of Howie Klein and company on Crooks and Liars that there’s another former musician/music curator, namely one Lenny Kaye, who rules the school and has influenced my life for the good several times over, as a member of the Patty Smith Group, as the force behind the Nuggets records in the early seventies, but more importantly to my young ears, the Executive Producer behind Elektra Records’ Rubaiyat collection that came out in 1990.  When I was a kid still in middle school, this collection of Elektra records bands from the present covering bands from the past clued me in to some fantastic sounds that weren’t really available in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in any other form.  It had Billy Bragg covering Love, John Zorn covering the Stooges, and the Cure covering “Hello I Love You” by the Doors, not to mention appearances in song and performance by the Pixies, Sugarcubes, Metallica, and Faster Pussycat covering “Your So Vain,” which I thought was kinda cool even though I was starting to be way too punk for a band like that.   

However, I’m in such a state that after pulling out the CD and seeing the cover by They Might Be Giants of Phil Ochs’ “One More Parade,” it just brought me back to the terrible fears I’m having about Obama turning his back on the vision we had for his presidency, a vision he made manifest by omission if not by admission.  Obama, when you become president, please at least remember how much we want you to get our fighting men and women out of Iraq as soon as possible.  We’re tired of warmongering and money-burning and no-bid contracts, and most of all of the senseless deaths caused by illegal and useless wars.  Even if you go back on so many of the liberal principles we supposed you to have, at least do this one thing for us.

 

Winter Flowers and Schoolhouse Rock! July 3, 2008

Filed under: Bands,Country Rock,Folk,Los Angeles,Performers,Personal Shit,Politics,Shows,Television,Winter Flowers — prodigalsonnybono @ 8:08 pm

I had a blast at 3 Clubs last night, drinking tons of liquor and watching scores of rawkers do America-themed covers, some of them solo on them there acoustic-type instruments, as part of the Christof Certik curated “1st Annual Preindependence Day Musical Extravaganza”.  Whilst Darren Grealish’s anti-Bush tune and Sara Melson’s folk sing-alongs inspired a lot of hoots and hollers, by far the best portion of the night was when Winter Flowers (just a trio this time–Astrid, Gavin, and Christof) got on stage with a banjo and did a cover of Schoolhouse Rock’s “Preamble!”

Their performance was so amazing, I woke up in my car at six in the morning in a Hollywood parking lot!

 

Arthur Magazine needs your help! June 27, 2008

Filed under: Anarchy,Folk,L.A. Record,Los Angeles,Other Stuff,Personal Shit,Politics,Religion — orangehairboy @ 12:33 am

L.A. Record just posted this, and I’m horrified and sickened that one of the best magazines of this decade is on the brink of temporary financial collapse. 

SAVE ARTHUR MAGAZINE NOW!

From various emails and the Arthur site:

Arthur Magazine needs $20,000 by July 1 or it will die.

No donation is too small.

Our preferred method of payment is Paypal. It is a free service to buyers, and enables you to pay directly By VISA, MASTERCARD, AMEX, DISCOVER or from your checking account or debit card. You can also convert foreign currency to U.S. dollars. Signing up only takes a few minutes.

Please use PayPal to make a donation to editor at arthurmag dot com

Thank you.

UPDATE: More from Jay…

On the heels of lower than expected ad sales (although they are trending up), increased production and distribution costs (higher quality printing and paper, higher fuel costs, increased printrun), and an “under-performing non-magazine product” (the Living Theatre dvd, for which we’ve sold less than 25% of the printrun since launch, received zero reviews or notices, etc), spiraling debt service payments (now $2k a month) on startup costs, and most importantly ZERO NEW BACKERS… we’ve finally reached the point where

WE HAVE NO MORE MONEY.

If we don’t obtain at least $20k in the next six days, ARTHUR is done. Our long-term prospects are good, if we are fortunate enough to make it through this rough patch.

Arthur has been a champion of the neo-folk movement, a pioneer of looking back with love at the halcyon days of 1967 (not merely at Woodstock, but at the individual communities and festivals and artists forgotten during the hacky-sack renaissance of the late eighties), a research boon to those of us who want to know about Angus MacLisse or Terry Riley or Lavender Diamond, and just plain incredible when it comes to everything I love about the gentle people of the world.  It saddens me that this world won’t allow them to survive and thrive, but it will if only they can move forward through this one rough patch to the rosy future that lies ahead.

 

the Zabriskie Point soundtrack June 9, 2008

Filed under: Albums,Bands,Country Rock,Farfisa,Folk,Movies,Other Stuff,Personal Shit,Shows,Winter Flowers — prodigalsonnybono @ 8:06 am

Yesterday, my baby and I rolled on out to the High Desert to Pappy & Harriet’s to see Winter Flowers, the Chapin Sisters, and a bunch of really amazing bands at the Manimal Festival.

We left L.A. early, didn’t hit much traffic, and about an hour in I put in the first CD from the Zabriskie Point soundtrack, which was recorded in 68 and 69 and had songs by Pink Floyd, the Youngbloods, the Kaliedoscope (U.S.), and even, gasp, Jerry Garcia solo (yes, I have finally made the fifteen year transformation from spit-gobbing punk rocker to road-trippin’ hippie. Jerry Garcia’s solo stuff was the final threshold I needed to cross. Good morning, Starchild!).

Anyway, all the tracks sounded remarkably good coming out of my car’s speakers as we cruised through the desert, but once we got off the Interstate and were zipping up and down through boulders and burnt-out cacti, Pink Floyd’s “Come in Number 51, Your Time Is Up” started coming through my speakers.  Maaaaan, there is nothing better for boulder-hopping than a good strong case of Rick Wright’s farfisa playing and the groovy sound effects from the Space-Rock era of Pink Floyd. Fuck Dark Side, this song is where the gettin’ is good.

The next day driving back, lysergic delights now dimmed but not fully dissipated, and sleep and refreshing coolness being only distant memories, the CD worked even better, though this time it was the country-rock that really helped us take a load off. The cool, alienated feeling of these songs felt so similar to what was rattling around in my head, that it made me feel like “okay, I’m normal, this music is normal, my environment around me is at peace with my mental state, so who cares that I have to drive two hours to Los Angeles with no sleep and a belly full of gross?”

On another note: aside from the Burrito Brothers, this album seems to be where Beachwood Sparks got all their ideas.  And I love them for it.

 

 
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