Cobra Verde Live @ The Parish

21st Century Boys

(Written in March 2001)
It was a real pleasure to see Cobra Verde live at the Parish in New Orleans on Sunday March 17th, 2001. This Cleveland band is led by John Petkovic. Wider audience had several chances to hear about them. They never fail to get four stars at The Rolling Stone, and it was a big news in 1997 when Robert Pollard of the Guided By Voices decided to fire all of the original members of the band and hire Cobra Verde to finish his visions on the Mag Earwig album. Cobra Verde had some personnel changes because of that, but they fell on their legs and continued even stronger. Album Nightlife came out in 1999, brought a large variety of sounds and styles. Some bands go through less changes throught their career then Cobra Verde in only one album. In a better world, Nightlife would set completely new standards for rock’n’roll.

All of the Cobra Verde qualities were confirmed live on this concert. Although the problem with sound in The Parish is ongoing and for some reason voice always gets burried behind instruments, one could fully enjoy in the sound they offered. Amazing coordinace between the drummer and the bass player made possible for the guitar player (who looks like a Ron Wood miniature), to play over the rhytm together with the thereminist and keyboardist who was really wild on the stage. Everything was under Petkovic’s supervision and he as
a frontman is something that is not an everyday sight.

Stylistically, Cobra Verde owns a lot to the glam rock of the seventies, but there the sound of the live performance is much more straight forward, the way it really is supposed to be in a rock’n’roll band. Much of the sound is quite original, which really makes these guys the first and the best band of the 21st century. Really! We’re talking about the future of rock’n’roll here…

In the middle of their original songs they played on of the jewels of the past, an extremely important song Treat Her Right written by Roy Head, and performed by hundreds of others throught the history. The song went specially for your lighthouse keeper, which is one of the biggest honors that anyone ever did for me.

Cobra Verde
John Petkovic stuff

The Dirtbombs: Dangerous Magical Noise

(Written in February 2004) There’s nothing dangerous about this album, perhaps the title it’s just a way of making it sound cool. But what’s really cool about this album is not its cover, it’s not the title, it’s not the fact that the dude behind the sound is legendary garage face of the Detroit rock scene, Mick Collins. What’s cool about it is the music. In modern rock scene, often when you peel off all the hype, somewhere in the moment when the cellophane of the cd is taken off, and the cd enters into the player, that’s when the magic stops. It’s different with this kinda noise. It’s magical from the ironic crowd cheer in the openingStart The Party, over all the crazy guitars and screams far in VU’s red area to the lengthy boogie of FIDO. Somewhere in the middle of the record you get the real jewel, Motor City Baby – Patti Labelle and George Clinton wore the glam outfits, but in this song Mick Collins is the only black artist who came dangerously close to glam aesthetics. Of course – that can only be a good thing. This album is a hot item, perhaps the most exciting thing Collins did since the revolutionary days of The Gories. He knows rock’n’roll – he’s a guy who you should trust. http://www.thedirtbombs.net/.

March 6, 2008

Jim JonesIn this episode, we heard one song from the new album by Chuck Prophet where he covers Waylons Jennings’ Dreaming My Dreams song by song. It’s a very interesting project in which Prophet not only celebrates Waylon’s songwriting talent, but also twists musical genres and brings out surprising arrangements in each and every song. We quickly flip through the Manchild 3, graphic novel by Brian Walsby and hear songs by his band Double Negative and from the Melvins CD that comes free with Brian’s new book. We also have a brand new album out of Cleveland area, Introducing… by Living Stereo. Today’s show is dedicated to Jim Jones, Cleveland musician who was responsible for the mid-eighties sound of Pere Ubu. Jones died on February 25 in his home after a cardiac failure.

Metak – Ona voli strip junake;
The Rings – I Wanna Be Free;
Tarbox Ramblers – Hey Mr Straight;
Chuck Prophet – Bob Wills Is Still The King;
Danny and Dusty – Cast Iron Soul;
Quiet Melon – Engine 4444;
Double Negative – Techincally Disfigured;
Melvins – My Small % Shows Most;
Melvins – The Ballad of Dwights Frye;
Alice Cooper – The Ballad of Dwights Frye;
Dream Syndicate – The Ballad of Dwights Frye;
Living Stereo – Stop Now;
Pere Ubu – Race The Sun;
Willy DeVille – So So Real;
Paul Kelly – Right Outta My Head;
Textones – Vacation;
The Stems – Get So Bad.

February 28, 2008

TermitiThe new Little Lighthouse (Flashlite) announces a brand new cd for Scott Reynolds, former vocalist of All. This time Scott is accompanied with members of Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips in a new band called The Steaming Beast. We also have a brand new recording from our Utah favorites, The Rubes. Another cool CD for this week is a gorgeous compilation record of Rijeka rock scene, one of the most consistent and most productive rock scenes in 80s Yugoslavia. In this episode, we sample some obvious and some not so obvious choices from that CD.

King Khan and The Shrines – I Wanna Be A Girl;
King Louie & the Loose Diamonds – Gypsy Switch;
The Rubes – I’ll Try Anything Once;
Scott Reynolds And The Steaming Beast – The Boy Who Stole Your Heart;
All – Sex In The Way (live);
Das Damen – Somewhere Sometime;
David Johansen – She;
The New York Dolls – Lonely Planet Boy;
Ian McLagan – Casualty;
The Rolling Stones – Lies;
Lou Ann Barton – The Mean Mean Man;
The Moaners – When We’re Dead And Gone;
Termiti – Vjeran Pas;
Istocni Izlaz – Hladne ruke vruca ljubav;
Xenia – Vjetar u kosi;
Slovenly – Running For Public Office;
Todd Rundgren – Healing;
Cheap Trick – Need Your Love.

February 21, 2008

Chocolate WatchbandToday’s Flashlite edition of The Little Lighthouse brings several new albums: brand new Fleshtones rocking like they never did before, new North Mississippi Allstars and new Paul Kelly’s album. Paul will play live in Cleveland on March 1st at the House of Blues, so it’s a great opportunity for me to finally see a guy who wrote some really important albums when I was a teen. We also present a brand new demo of the My Buddy Moose member V(atroslav)! Also, checkout a beautiful Eckman, Race and Brokaw song with some important Baton Rouge toponyms!

The Damned – Smash It Up;
REM – Circus Envy;
The Fleshtones – American Beat;
The Fleshtones – Back To School;
Dax Rigs – Didn’t Know Yet What I’d Know when I Was Bleedin;
North Mississippi Allstars – Rooster’s Blues;
Defunkt – In The Good Times;
Chocolate Watchband – No Way Out;
Chocolate Watchband – Are You Gonna Be There;
Mona Lisa Overdrive – Are You Gonna Be There;
V (The Fire Escapes) – Sweet Sunshine;
Slapp Happy – The Drum;
Ian and Sylvia – January Morning;
Paul Kelly – Forty Miles To Saturday Night;
Paul Kelly – Keep On Driving;
Eckman, Race and Brokaw (Dirtmusic) – Panther Hunting;
Jesse Winchester – Mississippi You’re On My Mind;
Willy DeVille – Stars That Speak.

February 14, 2008

Willy DeVilleThe second Flashlite brings you a brand new band from Australia, Mona Lisa Overdrive, new songs by Mad Dukes, James Luther Dickinson and Willy DeVille. Also, checkout our “lecture series” on Blackburn and Snow. Today’s show is dedicated to John Stewart who passed away in January.

Action Now – All Your Dreams;
Sonic Chicken 4 – Sexiest;
Mona Lisa Overdrive – Obviously Sally Mae;
James Luther Dickinson – You Better Rock Me Baby;
The Blasters – Border Radio;
The Tonys – Border Radio;
Rank And File – Sound of The Rain;
Mad Dukes – Sound of The Rain;
The Monkees – Daydream Believer;
John Stewart – Razorback Woman;
John Stewart – Friend of Jesus;
John Stewart – Armstrong;
Blackburn and Snow – Stranger In A Strange Land;
Blackburn and Snow – Stand Here;
NRBQ – Sittin In The Park;
Willy DeVille – Been There Done That;
Mink Deville – One Way Street;
Donovan – Sleep;
Game Theory – White Blues.

February 7, 2008

Trolleyvox
Here we go again! Welcome to the Flashlite – podcast/web-stream edition of the Little Lighthouse. We’ve lost some precious time, so we have a lot to catch up. The first episode after a long long break introduces new band Trolleyvox, new project for Chris Eckman (of Walkabouts) and Chris Brokaw (of Come) and new album for Carla Bozulich. The new show will be available weekly on this website and on web-streams of Zagreb’s Radio SC every Thursday from 10-11pm Central European Time.

The Monkees – Pleasent Valley Sunday;
Rich Hopkins And Luminarius – Shooting Star;
The Idle Wilds – You Are All Forgiven;
Trolleyvox – I Know That You’re High;
Trolleyvox – I Call On You;
Bash & Pop – Tiny Pieces;
The Geraldine Fibbers – You Doo Right;
Evangelista – Smooth Jazz;
Stray – Right From The Start;
The Savage Resurrection – Thing in E;
The Savage Resurrection – Expectations;
Come – Dead Molly;
The Walkabouts – The River People;
Eckman, Race and Brokaw – The Other Side;
Azra – Odlazak u noc.

Podcasting from Cleveland, Ohio. Broadcasting on Radio Kragujevac, every Sunday from 4-5pm (Central European Time). Streaming on Rock XS every Thursday at Midnight (Eastern European Time).