Today we have one cause and three obituaries. First the cause… We would like to help the music producer from Arizona Craig Schumacher to raise funds for his battle with cancer. Through the nineties and on Craig helped either as an engineer or a guest musician or a producer on many great records by various bands in and out of Arizona (such as Green On Red and Calexico or Tim Lee 3, Steve Wynn and Neko Case). Craig is now battling the cancer (and the health system) and needs your help. Go to this link and check out what you can do: craigvscancer.chipin.com In addition to the cause for Craig, we also have three obituaries. We remember Gil Scott-Heron, Owsley Stanley and John Walker.
Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised;
Gil Scott-Heron – Lady Day and John Coltrane;
Gil Scott Heron And Brian Jackson – The Bottle;
Gil Scott-Heron – Free Will;
Frank Zappa And The Mothers – Who Needs The Peace Corps;
The Grateful Dead – Alice D. Millionaire;
Janis Joplin – Try (Just A Little Bit Harder);
The Walker Brothers – The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore;
The Walker Brothers – Love Minus Zero;
The Walker Brothers – Saddest Night In The World;
John Walker – True Grift;
Friends of Dean Martinez – Cabeza De Mojado;
Steve Wynn – There Will Come A Day;
Green On Red – She’s All Mine;
The Band of Blacky Ranchette – Mope-a-Long Rides Again;
Tim Lee 3 – Mile-Long Midway.
One Hundred Dollars is an americana band from Toronto. They have a third album out called Song of Man, but this is their debut at The Little Lighthouse. DM Bob and The Deficits is another americana band in today’s show, but they draw their main influences from the 80s cow punk. Still, they hail from a very unamerican Hamburg in Germany and DM stands for Deutch Mark. Japanese retro rockers The Routes also debut today at the show with their new record called Alligator. Singing Loins are well known to our visitors and they have a new single out. It makes me very happy to see that Laura Cantrell is also back with a new album filled with Kitty Wells covers.
Booker T. Jones of the MG’s fame continues a streak of new records with The Road To Memphis and once again he is in the great shape. This time he collaborates mainly with the Roots, but there are also other great contributors. Thee Oh Sees from San Francisco also have a new record, called Castlemania and a new compilation of singles. Peter Case also has a new compilation, this time consisted of rare recordings and it’s called The Case Files. Our good friends at Vacilando ’68 sent out another package and this time we pick out a new name for us, band called the Pocket. This is a project of another guy from that label, John Bisset. Check out our bonuses, both Mystery Train and Sympathy for Rock’n’roll offer fantastic tributes to Bob Dylan, who is sweet little seventy since yesterday!
May 8 marks hundred years of birth of the famous bluesman Robert Johnson. At least officially, as the exact date of his birth is unknown. But, the man’s influence on rock’n’roll and all other blues related music genres is impossible to measure. The majority of Johnson’s music was recorded between 1936 and 1937, long before rock’n’roll really had its name. But in 1961 his music was reissued on an LP and the young rockers embraced Johnson as a great precursor of their music. Black blues musicians of the 50s, like Howlin’ Wolf and Dinah Washington were a link, as they were playing Robert Johnson’s songs even before the 1961 LP. British rockers like Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones followed and brought Johnson’s music to the masses. Still, two of my favorite Johnson’s rock’n’roll covers belong to the 80s underground era: Rainer Ptacek’s version of If I Had Possession Over The Judgment Day and Gun Club’s Preachin’ The Blues. But indisputable strength of Johnson’s quality as a songwriter and guitar player is not the only link to the rock’n’roll. His entire short life is filled with mysticism, charisma and myth that also became an essential fabric for a decent rock’n’roll biography. Today, we pay a tribute to that.
Several new records today… Kid Congo Powers plays nowadays with The Pink Monkey Birds and they have a new record out called Gorilla Rose. They also have a new single which they split with Hunx and His Punx (which we introduced in our previous epizode). Matt Sweeney and Bonnie Prince Billy also share the new single. Beastie Boys are back with Hot Sauce Committee Part Two which is their first album with vocals in seven years. New names today are Amanda Shires, a singer songwriter from mythical Lubbock TX, but now based in Nashville. Another band debuts at the Little Lighthouse from over in Nashville – Natural Child. We also have Raphael Saadiq for the first time today. The dude is a famous mainstream pop and hip hop producer, but now he has a new retro funky/soul record called Stone Rollin’ which I can really appreciate.
We are sad to hear that two ladies that influenced pop and rock music greatly from completely opposite directions passed away recently within a single day. One is Poly Styrene, legendary front woman from the X-ray Spex. This punk sister changed the music forever with the unforgettable opening lines “Some people think that little girls should be seen and not heard. But i think: oh bondage, up yours! 1,2,3,4!”. The other one is Phoebe Snow, a singer songwriter from New York City that also changed the face of the music with her first album in 1974. Many performers today, and not only women, borrow today a lot from these two and they will be remembered. Other than paying tributes to Phoebe and Poly, we also introduce a new female singer songwriter Bonnie Whitmore from Nashville. Sam Phillips is also back with her new album. Then we also have a brand new EP for Ty Segall, which entirely consists of T Rex covers. Another new name today is Hunx and His Punks, also from San Francisco, just like Ty Segall.
A ton of new records today… We have a new band called Sonny And The Sunsets. Album is called Hit By Hit and it’s out on Fat Possum. Robyn Hitchcock is also here with a new album called Tromsø, Kaptein. Steve Earle also has a new record out called I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive. Ad Hoc Detroit super group The Witches had put out a compilation record called A Haunted Person’s Guide To The Witches, which ranks as a seriously strong candidate for the best reissue of this year. A very pleasant surprise is the brand new collaboration between Susan Cowsill, Freedy Johnston and Jon Dee Graham in a band they call The Hobart Brothers And Lil’ Sis Hobart. The new songs are in progress, we got one from their website. We also have a new band today, Swedish hopefuls Bäddat för trubbel. I find it amusing how Swedish language when its sung sounds like gibberish English… Anyway, great stuff!
Today’s show is all about vinyl records in honor of the International Record Store Day, which was officially last Saturday. I stopped by the Blue Arrow Records and bought a couple of used vinyl. I wasn’t particularly interested in any of the special Record day releases, so you won’t find any of those in today’s show. The only brand new thing in today’s show is the B side of the new Fleshtones single which the band dedicated to The Ramones. This show is in honor of the vinyl and also we can only hope that the new records are as good as those that came out in the past. Perhaps I’m just hopelessly nostalgic for the old era, but in any case, it was fun to do a vinyl only show.
First half of the show today is dedicated to legendary punks and last Monday in Cleveland. On that day, we had two events that threaten to be the events of the year. First, at the Rock’n’roll Hall of Fame we had a chance to see four legendary Cleveland punks who returned to the city to promote their new books. David Thomas, Cheetah Chrome, Mike Hudson and Bob Pfeifer had a great chance to reconnect with their native audience and reaffirm their well known love-hate relationship with the sweet home of Cleveland. Then, at the Grog show we had a chance to see Mike Watt live with his Missingmen. They played their new opera in its entirety and it worked really great as a single piece without interruptions. The next set was a short but furious and unforgettable Minutemen set. It was one of the best things I’ve ever seen. The second half of todays show is dedicated to some new records that came out. Lords of Altamont have a new record and they covered The Litter’s Action Woman. Another great cover today is that of Kill Devil Hills song Drinkin’ Too Much, this time on the new record for James Leg, the front man of Black Diamond Heavies. Meat Puppets are also out with the new record called Lollipop.
Hey kids, this is this specific show’s host, Phil Lisiecki speaking. This belated and second show of Poetry Music Show/Scene, PMS, was completely produced and created by none other than me, so love it or not….tough shit. Either way, I sure hope you enjoy the second episode of our virgin-ass show. This episode, when concerning poetry content, I went around through various serious creative writing friends of mine and asked for material but I also went through the artistic friends of mine who write more for the enjoyment and love of poetry rather than writing as a career. Musicwise, the bands on this next show are all local bands and personal friends of mine. I’m sure musically there is a major difference when compared to the previous show but, oh well, we all need a great span of diversity in our lives so that we don’t come down to holding a gun to our head. So without further adieu, (with a spare stool and noose nearby), attempt to enjoy this self produced show of mine and have fun!