Tremble Under Boom Lights

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

All The LPs I LIstened To in 2024...

Melvins - Stoner Witch
Dex Romweber - Good Thing Goin’
Misha Panfilov Sound Combo - Days As Echoes
Young Creatures - The Future Is Finally Now
Karen Dalton - Shucking Sugar
Jeff Cowell - Lucky Strikes And Liquid Gold
Panda Bear Sonic Boom - Reset
Tala Vala - Modern Hysteric
Buzzcocks - Time’s Up
Sugar Tradition - More Sugar
Sorcery - Stunt Rock
Randy Holden - Population III
Gwen Marston - Songs For Small Fry
Kornove Sestry Spievaju - Slovenske Korene
Explosion - All The Pretty Girls
Teens For Christ - Thank You Lord
Annabel Lee - Mother’s Hammer
Various Artists - Brown Acid Vol. 18
The Hits - self-titled (untitled?)
Free Energy - New Horizons
Anton James - Off The Cuff
Danny Vann - Remembering…With Danny Vann & Memories
Fraction - Moon Blood
The Blu-Tones - Romanian Dances
The Local Honeys - Little Girls Actin’ Like Men
Marcus Machado - Blue Diamonds
Bone Machine - Decapasaururs
Band-X - The Best of Band-X
Mouth Congress - Waiting For Henry
White Hills - Splintered Metal Sky
Various Artists - Brown Acid Vol. 17
Cleta Brooks - I Learn To Trust In Jesus
Schafer High School Symphonic Band / Gerisch Middle School 1979
Johnny Ambrose & Dorothy Mains - A Man And Woman Of Song
Beat Boys - Analyze This Freak
Music By Joe And Elwood Chipcase - s/t
The Shins - Live At Third Man Records
Fake Indians - Inforock LP
The Hives - The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons
Darity - You Choose What Remains
Chady Chad - Ugly Like Me
Emily Nenni - Long Game
Danielle Durack - Escape Artist
Mount Worcester - Mount Worcester
The Local Honeys - The Local Honeys Sing The Gospel
Various Artists - Colemine Records Soul Slabs Vol. 2
Black Peaches - Fire In The Hole
Umut Adan - Bahar
Orchestra Gold - African Psychedelic Rock
Various Artists - West Michigan Country Music Album
Stephanie Anne Johnson - Jewels
Dianne Baker - Songs Alive
Dearborn High School - DHS Jazz Show
Arcano 16 - Venus EP
Orchestra Gold - Medicine
The Blackwater Fever - Temptator
Redd - Monsters & Mothers
Sylvio Fraga - Robal Nenhum
New Math - Die Trying & Other Hot Sounds
Arcano16 - XVI
Black Moon Tape - The Salvation of Morgane
Master Wilburn Burchette - Music Of The Godhead
Drahla - Useless Coordinates
Francisco Mora - Mora!
Wendy Eisenberg - Time Machine
Ned Collette - Old Chestnut
Sarah Mary Chadwick - Sugar Still Melts In The Rain
Ruby Force - Evolutionary War
The Okemos Jazz Ensemble - Straight Ahead
Solomon Burke - Best Of Atlantic Soul 1962-1965
Lou Johnson - Sweet Southern Soul
Dave Grohl - Play
Ama Dots - Ama Dots
Low Life - Downer Edn
The Blassics - Togetherings
La Murga + Loco_motive - Volumetrical Gooma
Red Lantern - Turns On
Harvi Griffin - The Voice and Harp of…
Alice Cooper - Easy Action
The Nuclear Banana - Riot On Kansas City Strip
Baby Huey - The Baby Huey Story / Living Legend
Mande Dahl - Let The Juices Run Between
Breakout - Blues
The Middle Wages / Los Halos split LP
MC Breed & DFC s/t
Bendigo Fletcher - Terminally Wild
Various Artists - There Is No Finish Line Soul Step Records compilation
Sime-E & ADUM - The Cry EP / ADUM EP
Parker Louis - All Good Things
The Scrubbers - Vol. 1
Capital Punishment - Roadkill
Golden Smog - Down By The Old Mainstream
Various Artists - Sofrito: Tropical Discotheque
WIld Nothing - Indigo
The Beau Brummels - Bradley’s Barn (expanded edition)
Alice Cooper - Killer
Beau Diamond - Out Of Context
Denby High School - Spring Concert 1956
The Schizophonics - People In The Sky
Go Hirano - Go Hirano
The William Loveday Intention - Will There Ever Be A Day That You’re Hung…
Rich Ruth - Water Still Flows
Jack White - Live at the Blue Room 4-19-2014
WITCH - Live at TMR
Sharptone Records sampler
Mdou Moctar - Funeral For Justice
Infinite River - Tabula Rasa
Mountains And Rainbows - Particles
Susu - Call Susie
Linda Martell - Color Me Country
Usonian Automatic - self-titled
UT - Early Live Life
FNU Clone - BInary Or Die
K9 Sniffies - Master’s Touch
Elite Force - Watch Out Baby
Bhajan Bhoy - To Love Is To Love (Vol. 1)
Untitled Eyes - self-titled
Dead Sea Apes - Rewilding
Dan Sartain - The Lost Record
Myriam Gendron - Mayday
Tyvek - Overground
Uptight - Sweet Sister
Power of Zeus - Uncertain Destination
Burke, Black & Redmon - Too Hot To Dance, Too Cold To Plow
Footloose - Call In Well
Teegarden & Van Winkel - Experimental Groundwork
Fiddlin’ Chubby Anthony with Big Timber Bluegrass - Love And Life
Michael Quatro - In Collaboration With The Gods
John & Rosy Goacher - Begone Dull Care!
Various Artists - Behold the Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR and Boogie
Sister Felix Sings the Songs Of Patrick Mason - Now It’s Time
The Spurlow Band - Live Sold-Out
The RFD Band - RFD 2
Verdun - The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol
Various Artists - Ladies From The Canyon
Joel Mabus - Grassroots
Up-TIght & Makoto Kawabata - self-titled
Madam - Thanks For The Noise
IHS Band - The Answer
Nod - Nod
Footloose - Country In The City
MX-80 Sound - Better Than Life
Melted Men - Jaw Guzzi
Curtis Godino and HIs Orchestra - Discorporation soundtrack
Rebel Kind - Just For Fools
4-Letter Words - Band In Boston
The Johnsons - Regressive Bluegrass
The Woggles - Time Has Come
Death Squad - Split You At The Seams
The Gentlemen’s Agreement - Just For The Record
Charlie Rich - I Hear Those Blues - Rich In Stereo
The Stooges - Fun House (ERC version)
Various Artists - Perfect Like the Angels
Kelley Stoltz - La Fleur
Fat Produce - Fresh Squeeze
The Medicine Dolls - Filth and Wisdom
Combustor - s/t
V-Tones - The Beginning
Jay Round - Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
Interpol - Live At Third Man
Nate Mercereau - Excellent Traveller
Bob Dylan - Live 1974 TMR Vault
Atlantis Aquarius - Leo’s Rising
Queens Of The Stone Age - In Times New Roman
Jake Orrall & Kunal Prakash - ASMR1
Various Artists - Hillbillies From Hell Vol. XII
Various Artists - Mr. Bongo Record Club Vol. 3
Iggy And The Stooges - Metallic KO
Choirs of Gospel Temple Baptist Church - Where Could I Go
Slizz - Detroit, Michigan EP
Various Artists - Excavated Shellac REEDS
Various Artists - They Came From Outer Limits Lounge Vol. 1
Bel Air Lip Bombs - Lush Life
Amanda Whiting - After Dark
Liminanas/Garnier - De Pelicula
Guitar Wolf - T-Rex From A Tiny Space Yojouhan
Straight Arrows - On Top
Joseph Allred - O Meadowlark
DJ Baby Chocolate - Feelings
Rob Noyes & Joseph Allred - Avoidance Language
Eyeswater - This Great Midwestern Darkness
Guitar Wolf - Beast Vibrator
Calvin Johnson - Gallow’s Wine
XV - Basement Tapes
Mestizo Beat - Jaragua
Sister John Angela - Easy Keeper
Ribbon Stage - Hit With The Most
Voolva - The Stars Are Ours
Branson Anderson - Applecore, Baltimore
Tom Petty - Live in Edinburgh ‘82 Gennaro Tapes
Werewolf Diet - Landmine Territory
Lightnin’ Hopkins - Last Night Blues
Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More
Albert King - Live Wire - Blues Power
Arthur Baker / Jose Parla - The Awakening
Various Artists - Perfect Like The Angels: Raw African American Gospel 62-80
Moondog - Moondog
John Lee Hooker - Burning Hell
Skip James - Today!
Mike Watt - Ring Spiel Tour ‘95
The Hard Quartet - The Hard Quartet
Paul Simon - Seven Psalms
Cass Weir - Mandolin Magic
Hani Polyphonic Singing In Yunnan China (Sublime Frequencies)
Ted Lucas - OM album
Daulet Halek - Dombra Solo
Teddy At Night - Good In The End
208 - Nearby
Gism - Detestation
Kurt Vile - The Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness
ZOUO - Agony Remains
Kurt Vile - Child-ish Prodigy
Metallica - Leftovers From The Black Album Box Set
Mirage - In The City
Material Girls - Leather
Future Kill - Mind Tasters Floor Wasters
Øyvind Holm - After The Bees
Virgil Deuce - Time & Record
Dicken Choir - Movin’ Right Along
Dicken-Lawton Rock Ensemble - Wheelin’ On
Stef Chura - Messes
Penza Penza - Neanderthal Rock
Misha Panfilov - The Sea Will Outlive Us All
Jerry Lee Lewis - Killer in Stereo: Good Rockin’ Tonight
Grocery Bag - Break You
Eric David Wallace - Mindful
Joe Step - Sacrifice
Metallica - St. Anger Live Rarities
Chet Baker - It Could Happen To You: Chet Baker Sings
Dicken-Lawton Rock-Jazz Ensemble - Good Vibrations
Infinite River - Space Mirror
Sarason - Reflections of Self
Gloria Plotnik Bookstein - Vocal Recital
Robert White & The Candy Mt. Boys - In The Saviours Hands
Bill Evans Trio - Sunday At the Village Vanguard
Michigan Dairy Food - The Changed World of Farmer Brown
OXZ - Along Ago
Nathaniel Rateliff - And It’s Still Alright
Ex-Cult - Negative Growth
Joe Kool - Ain’t Nothin’ But A Joe Kool Parti
John Juan - Never Sleeping
Spahn Ranch - Back To The Wood
Daniel Lanois/Rocco Deluca - Goodbye To Language
Pharoah - Point Of Entry
Inkster Church Of Christ Chorus - We Came To Praise Him
Selmi’s - Beginning
Headroom - Head In The Clouds
Obedient Wives Club - Cinematica
Doldrums - The Air Conditioned Nightmare
Tad - 8-Way Santa (reissue)
Strange Wilds - Subjective Concepts
The Mills Brothers - Cab Driver
Tad - Salt Lick (reissue)
The Lennon Sisters - Somethin’ Stupid
Various Artists - The Best Of Dope Folks Records Vol. 2
Soundgarden - Ultramega OK (expanded reissue)
Vincent J. Verdoot - The Big Parade / Between 53 Whistles of the Calliope
The Infinites - self-titled
Powell - Frankie & Jonny
Dewolff - Rosita Rapida
Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today
Scatteredtrees - Song For My Grandfather
The Revenge - self-titled EP (In The Red Records)
The Scientists - 9H20 SiO2
Wolfmanhattan Project - Blue Gene Stew
Jackie Shane - Any Other Way
Protomartyr - Formal Growth In The Desert
Kresge Store Background Music - #234
Dr. Forrest Stevenson - A Trilogy Of Love
Flowers Destroy - Hawks Listen
The Courettes - Back In Mono
Wand - Ganglion Reef
Cory Hanson - Pale Horse Rider
Wand - 1000 Days
Reigning Sound - Memphis In June
The dB’s - Stands For Decibels
Ikey Owens - Ikey Owens
Jack Kerouac - Readings From The Beat Generation
Katie Morey - Friend Of A Friend
Billy Pepper and the Pepperpots - Beat-A-Mania
Trolls Of Amsterdam - Wilson Drive
Indian Summer - Giving Birth To Thunder
Various Artists - The Factory Outlet (Numero Group 2533)
Clairo - Charm
Various Artists - There Is No Finish Line: Soul Step Sampler Vol. 2
Matt Duncan - I Will Write Your Song
Emily Nenni - Hell Of A Woman
Coastal Club - All Of The Things You Said
Bendigo Fletcher - Memory Fever
Various Artists - There Is No Finish Line: Soul Step Sampler Vol. 3
Bendigo Fletcher - Consensual Wisdom
The People’s Victory Chorus and Orchestra - The School
Jean-Yves Bosseur - Musiques Vertes
Couch Flambeau - Bunny Hideout
MJ Lenderman - Live At Third Man Records
Pete Yorn - Live At Third Man Records
Mary Anne Rivers - self-titled
Ryan Allen - Song Snacks Vol. 1
Big Business - The Beast You Are
Bryan Tysoe - You
Colin Linden & Luther Dickinson with the Tennessee Valentines - Amour
Thunderbirds Are Now - Justamustache
Extra Arms - Up From Here
Extra Arms - Headache
Don Howland - Endgame
Axe And The Oak - Electrocution
Alice Bag - Sister Dynamite
A Burning Bus - self-titled
Lavender Flu - Barbarian Dust
DAS - Now
The Cheetahs - self-titled
Bonny Doon - self-titled
Brian Owens & The Royal Five - Love Came Down
Green Dragon - self-titled
Bonnie Cosby - Virginiana
Josephy Allred - Traveler

Saturday, November 30, 2024

Actual Conversation I Had With My 11-year-old While Listening To “Mind Playin Tricks On Me”

Her: Did one of them die?

Me: Yeah

Her: Which one?

Me: His name is Bushwick Bill

then uncontrollable laughter

how lucky am I

to have these talks

with my daughter

Thursday, October 31, 2024

When A Mess of Fifth Grade Girls Unexpectedly Show Up On Your Porch

This morning I said

“It will be rough

The first time

The girls decide

To go trick-or-treating with their friends…

Or not at all”

I just didn’t think

It would happen today

Monday, September 30, 2024

Mestizo Beat "Jaraguá"

Mestizo Beat

Jaraguá

scum stats: 600 copies on black vinyl, 200 copies on maroon. I have the black...

An interesting thing happens around here...bands mail in copies of their records asking if we will sell them in our store. When I worked at Car City Records back at the turn of the century, I don't remember this ever happening, no one blindly mailed us an LP and asked us to stock it.

But because of the Third Man reach, maybe we're just on a wider radar than most other folks. Problem is...we don't sell records not on the Third Man label. So these records, I don't know, maybe 15-20 a year, arrive with a request that we will never be able to meet.

These records are often forgettable. Mestizo Beat is the exception to the rule. The rhythm heavy instrumentation, self-described "instrumental West Coast Latin funk" is sublime. Low rider jams verging on no wave "Optimo" bass breaks all coalesce into fuzz lined guitar leads that propel the songs into whirls of horn and percussion.

Dare I say, you cannot go wrong here.

I have a difficult time imagining anyone taking issue with these songs. Just enjoyable for days, something you could relax to or hop up and shake it.

So while we might not be selling any copies in store, surely the dedicated readers here will tick up the mail order sales (hello Bandcamp Friday!) and we'll still hit the desired goal...more people knowing more about this incredible band.

Saturday, August 31, 2024

August 13, 2024 8:34pm

The smell

Of fresh cut grass

In mid-August

(but ONLY mid August)

Time warps

Dry and dusty

Like soccer try outs

A little scared

About not making the team (everyone made the team)

About seeing your friends for the first time in months (we didn’t keep in touch in the summers)

About running so much you puke (this happened fifty percent of the time)

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Say A Little Prayer For Her And Say A Little Prayer For Yourself

https://www.nugs.net/live-download-of-the-white-stripes-live-at-the-magic-bag-ferndale-mi-07-30-1999-mp3-flac-or-online-music-streaming/37796.html

The White Stripes played fifteen shows in 1999. Only three of those occurred in any approximate vicinity of others (the late September sojourn opening for Pavement) meaning each one of the shows from ‘99 exists in a vacuum, with new songs flying in and different arrangements making themselves known, no real established running order or pacing/tempo/meter/cadence. All but four of these shows were recorded in some manner, which still feels like a tiny miracle given how unknown and unheralded the band was at this juncture.

Outside of the Stripes show from the Gold Dollar, August 14th 1997, this July 30th, 1999 gig is the White Stripes show that I have listened to the most in my life. No doubt I immediately popped this sumbitch into the cassette deck of the ‘95 Ford Taurus on the way home from the show and would continue to come back to it for years. It lives in my head rent free, iconic and memorized and encased in amber, a memory reinforced by the consistent reliving of it over the past twenty-five years that it’s foundationally unparalleled in my understanding of the band.

When I listen now, what immediately grabs me is the piano. The piano!!! Oh man, it felt like a huge coup to get the powers-that-be at the Bag to actually let Jack play the thing, a seemingly “fancy” instrument that lived on the stage but was always covered up when bands of their ilk were in the house. In comparison, the powers that be would not let the band use the projection/video screen (they softened that stance by the De Stijl album release show the following year).

Twenty years after the show, dear friend (and White Stripes roadie in arms) Brandon Beaver mailed me a stack of Polaroid pictures that I had taken at the show. I had completely forgotten about this, because, well, it wasn’t in the recording. They hadn’t informed my recollection, my mind canon of it all. I was surprised to see the piano, this grand (baby grand?) beast covered in the red-and-white stripes of an American flag that was previously used as a stage backdrop as depicted on the cover of TMR-345. The visual of it all is striking, it is visually compelling and indicates a modicum of extra effort that separated the Stripes from their peers at the time.

Couple that with the fact that in the rehearsals leading up to the show, Jack and Meg had repeatedly practiced a cover of the song “Do You Love Me Now?” originally by the Breeders. I still don’t know why they didn’t play it that night…the moments in rehearsal were solid and worthy of being trotted out on stage. It sounded damn cool. The fact that the band never recorded a version of this song is one of the bigger frustrations in the “Shit The White Stripes Should Have Done” list in my head.

The recording here is the first time that a piano or any keys are ever used live in a White Stripes performance and it’s beautiful.

Terry Cox was the sound man on this night. At the time he was the front-of-house engineer at the Magic Stick, so I’m not really sure why he was at the Magic Bag this evening. But with Terry behind the mixing desk, the band got a more-familiar set of ears working in their favor, as opposed to some rando without a clue as to what the band sounded like. The reverb on vocals “Love Sick” is a prime example of the special touch Terry brought to the mix. Reverb on the snare too. Actually, it’s just a shit ton of reverb. The whole show sounds “BIG” in a way that no other recording from this era ever would. God bless Terry.

“Love Sick” here is the Stripes first ever performance of the song, not even two years old by this point, the highlight of Bob Dylan’s Time Out Of Mind album from 1997. It sounds important. It sounds serious. It sounds like it is a harbinger of bigger things to come.

Followed by “Dead Leaves” which, by this point, still hadn’t truly found its form. A piano take on the song is still a rare outing, so even though it is by far the song the band played most in their career, I’m unclear if it was ever done exclusively on piano again.

The tension here is palpable. Between “Dead Leaves” and “St. James” someone shouts something in the crowd. At 2:04 and again at 2:07. You can just barely hear it. Wouldn’t be a stretch to think they’re screaming “Fuck you!” Whatever is said, Jack responds with “You’re a liar,” echoing Dylan’s retort at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1966 to a member of the crowd shouting “Judas!”

Couple that with the intro to “Astro” where Jack extemporaneously sings “I’m gonna kill my brother Jack” from Meg’s perspective, to the tune of “Three Little Fishies” a child-like number 1 hit from 1939. I recall Meg responding to this moment with a dismissive laugh, but still, I remember feeling uncomfortable. It was awkward.

But at some point, it all changes, the air is cleared, so to speak. Everything feels…understood? Accepted? Light-hearted even? Having thought about this many times over the intervening 25 years, I just know that while the first half of the set embodies a tension, the second half emboldens a joy throughout. Listening now, I smile. I feel happy.

As Jack is ready to end the performance with “Broken Bricks” you can hear Kevin Peyok (The Waxwings, Jack White and The Bricks) and Ko Shih (The Dirtbombs, Ko and The Knockouts) repeatedly yell “SAME BOY!” while Jack is thanking the opening bands the Greenhornes and Clone Defects.

Isn’t it great when folks request an unreleased song? Kevin would know the song from playing it with the Bricks just three weeks earlier, but even so, the three Stripes performances of the song earlier this year were already enough to embed it into the consciousness of fan/friends in teh crow. And with an “aw shucks” manner Jack responds “You wanna hear ‘Same Boy’? Alright I’ll play that.”

Come the encore of “You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket”, another Stripes live debut that wouldn’t see a studio release for another FOUR YEARS, it all is sweet and dare I say wholesome. With just Jack and the piano, here is a worthy reminder that there’s no such thing as an off performance of “Pocket” as the tender emotion is palpable whenever it was performed and only more so if it was just Jack playing it.

With Jack asking “What do you want to hear?” it’s worth noting how rare it is to hear him openly take a request, especially in light of already taking one with “Same Boy.” Funnily enough, we don’t hear anyone yell anything in response. At the culmination of a blistering “Broken Bricks” Jack sheepishly gives notice that the gig is over…that he broke a string and that Meg has mono.

“She’s tuckered out…so say a little prayer for her and say a little prayer for yourself” he offers up. Jack didn’t have to say that. No one would have begrudged the band ending the show at that point without any indication as to why no more songs were performed. It was already a decently full set. But the sincerity, the honesty, the essence of “we have given you our all” coupled with a “you are released” sews up this oddity of a show perfectly.

Sunday, June 30, 2024

Kroger 9:43pm on a Sunday

Kid

No more than twelve years old

Takes a running start

And jumps

Arms stretched to the heavens

Six inches short

Of the low-hanging security camera

I forgot

That I used to do this too

Friday, May 31, 2024

Usonian Automatic self-titled album

scum stats: this copy is numbered 3/50, though their website lists two different runs of 25 copies each. All lathe cut, these sound fantastic, with hand-written song titles on the jacket. Just how I like it

In the 20+ years of demos being flipped my way, very seldom has something so realized, so thorough, so unified crossed my desk.

Everything offered here by Usonian Automatic is exquisite. The songs, the recording of said songs, the jacket art, the 16 page newsprint insert...this is 100% absolutely worth whatever effort you need to put into securing one. All of it is tied together and, in one way or another, overarchingly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright. Architecture and music don't really overlap in ways I can easily conjure, so the attempt here is real. It is valid. It is an effort without FEELING like an effort.

The accompanying manifesto is vaguely reminiscent of the White Stripes take in the "De Stijl" liner notes and the song "Nickles & Dimes" is very likely a sample of the drum into to "Jimmy The Exploder" slowed down just barely. All that to say, inspiration in this regard is merely a jumping off point, nothing slavish or pandering considering the perch I'm writing from where I'm hyper-aware of such things. I get Kills "No Wow" guitar vibes and haunted, detached vocals imbue the tracks with an ennui that feels real and not contrived. Some Earth-like arrangements and the "turntable" percussion appropriation all make a genuinely unique and enjoyable connection across otherwise unconnected realms.

Listen to the whole record, really, I don't know how many are left available to purchase from the Bandcamp page (this came out in 2020, for what it's worth) but I definitely make the case here that $65 Canadian is well-spent on this record.

And shit, if you buy it and don't like it, I'll happily trade you equivalent and thensome in TMR goodies so I've got a spare on my shelves. That's how confident I feel about this music. Essential? I think so.

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

The White Stripes Live at the Magic Stick April 17th, 1999

There are moments, ever so brief, that feel like an entire room has catalyzed and are all

speaking the same language. Even if speaking vaguely or in code, everyone understands fully.

So while I cannot speak for the rest of the 100 or so folks that were at the Magic Stick on April

17th, 1999, I can speak to how *I* felt.

For establishing purposes, exactly 25 years ago, on April 17th, 1999 the White Stripes played in

the middle of a bill with Gore Gore Girls opening and the Compulsive Gamblers headlining. I

was sixteen years old.

Barely a month earlier, it appeared that the White Stripes were done. With their cessation being

reported in the Detroit News, the fact that a DAILY newspaper was covering such underground

countercultural gossip still feels beguiling. Yet in the span of a few weeks, the Stripes had

played a triumphant non-farewell show (March 13th, 1999) and were most definitely soldiering

on, while Jack White’s other current musical concern, the Go, had unceremoniously kicked him

out.

I guess this was relatively big news in the small world of Detroit garage rock. In hindsight, it

seems pretty insignificant. So when the Stripes roll into “Astro” at the tail end of their set and

Jack substitutes in the names of his former bandmates in the Go “Bobby”, “Marc” and “John” as

“do(es) the astro” the feeling in the air, to me, was “oh man, he’s giving it to ‘em.”

To follow it up with the ending verse impromptu singing “Maybe someone has an ego!”

and “Why don’t you do what you want to, girl?” (with what I would interpret as foreshadowing of

future attack-like songs as “There’s No Home For You Here (Girl)” and “Girl, You Have No Faith

In Medicine”) and it all had the allure of an up-to-the-minute newscast, made up in real time, for

the couple dozens friends and scenesters gathered there that evening, all of whom knew the

score.

As the song concluded, you faintly hear a request for the Go song “Meet Me At The Movies” to

which Jack replies on mic “Somebody wanna hear “Meet Me At The Movies?” It’s the wrong

band!”

The Stripes performance, overall, is just so different from any single show they’d ever played

before or would play after. First ever appearances of gems like covers of Iggy Pop’s “I’m Bored”

and Earl King’s “Trick Bag” (done in the style of the Gories) alongside Jack and Meg’s first ever

performance of “The Same Boy You’ve Always Known.” They also cover Brendan Benson’s

“Crosseyed” for seemingly the only time ever with Brendan himself smack dab front and center

watching the proceedings.

Interesting little moments abound…the show-opening “I’m Bored” is quickly scuttled as Meg’s

bass drum pedal snaps. She coordinates a quick replacement with Deb Agolli (drummer for

openers the Gore Gore Girls) that precipitates Jack’s solo take on “Trick Bag”

(For years my recall is that I was up there helping Meg attach the borrowed pedal to her kick

drum. But just now, at this moment, I’m half-thinking that I watched it from the crowd. In my

head, I see Deb, coincidentally wearing red and white, behind the drums with Meg. But I also

see myself crouched down, futzing in the dark, helping Meg. The video of the show conveniently

shows neither myself nor Deb onstage during any of this. There’s a possibility my memories are

lies)

But once all is back up-to-speed, Jack just starts “I’m Bored” from the beginning.

There’s a simplicity to taking the song from the top, an innocence to it, a “we’re gonna do this

right” stick-to-it-iveness that I tend to think most bands would not actually endeavor. Most bands

would just move past it and try to pretend that they never even attempted the song in the first

place, let alone start their set with it.

And that’s just one of many reasons why the White Stripes were objectively great from such an

early point in their career.

Other treats include an early run of “The Big Three Killed My Baby” that does not start with the

trilling three scratches of the guitar. Seemingly every version performed afterwards would start

just like the album recording…with those ominous trills. Jack introduces Meg as his little sister.

Jack also, for the first time we’ve documented, signed off the show with a “My sister thanks you

and I thank you.” Little Easter eggs all of them.

And while there’s no real evidence here to point to proving so, we all know that this is the

evening that Jack White would pay a couple hundred bucks to Compulsive Gambler’s Jack

Yarber for his red Airline guitar that in short order would become an iconic piece of the White

Stripes imagery.

My favorite moment of the entire show unfolds in the middle break of “Astro” where Jack drops a

curveball…

What did the hen dog say to the snake?

No more crawfish in this lake

Just a hair, just a little bit, just a hair, just a little bit

Well what did the woman who came to the side,

one hand on her leg, one hand on her thigh

Good lord, have mercy, good lord, have mercy

This is a slightly altered take on George Johnson’s version of “Jack The Rabbit” as featured in

the 1978 John Lomax film The Land Where The Blues Began. Johnson was a gandy dancer, a

now-obsolete job of manual railroad track maintenance. This is a work song, plain and simple,

Johnson’s repeated lines of “just a hair, just a little bit” actually instructions to the rest of his

crew in regards to which increment or degree they should be adjusting the track. It’s chilling, it’s

got unforced attitude, it’s beautiful.

In sharing this clip with Jack this week, twenty-five years later, he said he had absolutely no

recollection of what it was or where it even came from.

But it felt so familiar, both then and now. Like a nursery rhyme I’d heard my entire life. Like

something EVERYONE had heard their entire life, certainly everyone in the room. Like it was

meant to be there, that it had always been there, and would always be there, smack dab in the

middle of “Astro.”

The point I’m trying to make is that for these fleeting moments on this night, the demarcation of

stage and floor were largely irrelevant. What was happening wasn’t a band playing for a crowd.

What was happening was a conversation, an education, a therapy, a laugh, a finger-pointing, all

wrapped into one. And so much of it, hell, maybe all of it, happened just that once, seemingly to

be experienced only by those in the room. Fleeting.

So should you give a shit that this is effectively a spruced-up audience recording? Not in the

least. Just sit back and enjoy all the swirling different factors and reactors that melted together

to create a one-of-a-kind evening a quarter of a century ago.

Listen here...https://www.nugs.net/live-download-of-the-white-stripes-the-magic-stick-detroit-mi-04-17-1999-mp3-flac-or-online-music-streaming/36808.html

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Ada Richards "I'm Drunk And Real High (In The Spirit Of God)"

Ada Richards

I'm Drunk And Real High (In The Spirit Of God)

Some weeks will have you questioning the existence of a higher being. I like to think if there is one, they exist in a realm where this song is on loop.

That scream.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Eddy Grant “Nobody’s Got Time”

Eddy Grant

Nobody's Got Time b/w Where Are You Going To My Friends

scum stats: seems like this was a hit, but in a tiny country. who knows!

Oh. My. God.

This song is so damn good. Was shared with me by extremely great dude of the highest persuasion Chris Schulist (DJ on the Jack White 2022 tour). Sat in my inbox for a month or two before I ever even cracked the message because that's the state of my email affairs these days.

I finally opened about three weeks ago and have not stopped listening to this song since.

There's a simplicity to the groove here, coupled with an unusual heaviness, that puts the overall feel in rarefied air. It's likely the only record I own from Trinidad...and if any more sound like this, I will clearly need to find more.

My immediate thought upon grooving to this jam is that I want to play drums to this with Pat Pantano and that's already enough said. The plonky fuzz with the sparse, pick-and-choose bass...it's unmitigated perfection. I do not say that lightly.

There's a bootleg 45 out there that's a little more of a recent DJ "edit" with some added effects and shit, which is good too, but I have absolutely no qualms or quibbles with the original here.

I have not liked an OLD song this much in quite some time. A nice reminder that there are still gems out there that can connect to the innermost rhythms in our soul. Keep searching them out.

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Mary Jane Dunphe "Fix Me" b/w "Seasons"

Mary Jane Dunphe

Fix Me b/w Seasons

scum stats: limited to 835 copies on clear vinyl

By the sheer titles, I anticipated this being a Black Flag cover as the a-side and a solo Chris Cornell cover on the flip. You never know what you're going to get with the Sub Pop Singles Club and this waxing puts Dunphe on my radar.

"Fix Me" has is a catchy melody with propulsive drum heavy backing, prime for singalongs in a guitar focused manner. I don't know anything about Mary Jane, if you told me she's primed to be the next big pop star, shit, I'd believe it.

B-side is a little bit more in the feels, light synth interludes that recall bouncing ball marimba (more serious than cheeky) with emotive, heartfelt voicings. The more I sit with these recordings, letting them replay over and over, the stickier they become. I'm more entranced by the drum programming/production of recalling bits of Saint Etienne's cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Will Break Your Heart" with a bit of that early 90's trip hop vibe. I'm also getting the slightest hints of the Limiñanas here, another outfit that just hits that spot with me. Crisp and gritty at the same time.

All in all, a promising introduction to an artist I'm stoked to learn more about. Good luck finding a copy of this subscriber only record, so in light of that go and stream the shit out of this one.

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Watching MrBeast and Drinking Ghost Energy Drinks

This

Is what

I imagine

New Year’s Eve

At age twelve

Looks like

Thursday, November 30, 2023

There is

Nothing quite

Like a new couch

It’s where life begins

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

I Somehow Weaseled An Essay Into The Detroit Free Press

If you would've told ten-year-old Ben Blackwell, daily devoted devourer of the Detroit Free Press, that a mere text message to the music editor of the paper, some 31 years later, would get my own writing into the newspaper...I would have asked you "What's a text message?"

Click the link below to read the whole shebang, I worked very hard on it and am very proud of it and I don't say that too often.

I'm Finding It Easier To Be A Gentleman -OR- Forever The Union