BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY! 12-22-09

Happy Birthday Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees!! He truely has some of the oddest and greatest pipes in pop music. Here he is taking the lead with his brothers on "I Started A Joke" from 1968.

VIDEO OF THE DAY! 12-17-09

Wow, check out this footage of the great Andrew Lood Oldham as he oversees recording by the fantastic Vashti Bunyun recording her "Winter is Blue" from the 1967 documentary Tonight Let's Make Love In London. Yes, that is the legendary producer/engineer Glyn Johns working the board. What an embarrassment of riches!

MAVIS OF THE DAY! 12-14-09

More Mavis (with the Band and Staple Singers from the Last Waltz).

SLOW JAM OF THE DAY! 12-9-09

Here is Canadian soul band Skylark featuring Donny Gerrard of lead vocals playing their biggest hit, Wildflower on the Midnight Special in 1973.

MAVIS OF THE DAY! 12-08-09

More Miss Mavis!

MAVIS OF THE DAY! 12-07-09

More Mavis!

MAVIS OF THE DAY! 12-06-09

Mavis!

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY! 12-4-09

Today is the birthday of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson who would have been 65 this year if not for his accidental drowning in 1983. Here is his beautiful "Barbara" recorded in 1971 but not released until after his death on the Beach Boys' rarities collection Endless Harmony. It's been said that this recording was unfinished; that one of the two piano parts was a guide track for strings to be later added.

BAND OF THE DAY! 11-30-09

I saw the Chicago band Spires That in the Sunset Rise by accident and was totally blindsided by their set. I was awestruck. This all woman four piece can find common ground with some of the neo psych-folk movement while also sounding often very Eastern in their melodies and instrumentation. Their use of voice-as-instrument with more often non-lyrical approach also helps to keep their music out of obvious Western forms. Most of what they play are acoustic stringed instruments like banjo and table harps and zithers. Their arrangements are loose and sometimes frail giving a tenseness to their set. Please see them if you can and buy their records.

TINY DESK OF THE DAY! 11-26-09

NPR has a nice series of performers playing tiny concerts behind a desk in their office. Very simple concept that has yielded a lot of great video of great artists playing mostly acoustic for a handful of office workers. Microphones used only to record... not to amplify. Here is the great Bill Callahan (Smog) playing a few songs from his his most recent record Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle (Drag City).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY! 11-24-09

Happy Birthday to Donald Duck Dunn, one of the very best of the best bass players ever. He of course played with the Mar-Keys and Booker T and the MG's who were the house band at Memphis' Stax Records. They backed records by Sam & Dave, Albert King, Wilson Picket, Staple Singers, Freddie King, Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, and really almost every single song released on Stax.. A third of the basslines in your head belong to him.

Here he is with the MG's as the backing band for Sam & Dave...

ADVERTISEMENT OF THE DAY! 11-21-09

Wow.... not many TV commercials like this... and add in the Clara Rockmore track, you got yourself a one of a kind beer spot. As amazing as it is, I'm not sure if it is talking me into having a beer or not. I feel like now checking my next beer for bugs.

BAD-ASS OF THE DAY! 11-20-09

Jim Bowie! Jim Bowie! He was a bad ass who threw a big blade!

Jim Bowie! Jim Bowie! The home owner was pissed by the hole in the door that it made!

MEMORIAL OF THE DAY! 11-18-09

On this day in 1994, Cab Calloway passed away at the age of 86.

Here is a great old Fleischer Brothers animation of their character Koko the Clown singing to Calloway's "St. James Infirmary" to the deceased Betty Boop. Check out this amazing surreal interpretation... added to by their use of the Fleischer's own invention... the Rotoscope which is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame. So good.

DOUBLE NECK GUITARIST OF THE DAY! 11-16-09

All hail Joe Maphis, one of the great early country lighting hot shredders.... He played with everyone from Merle Travis to Wanda Jackson to Johnny Burnette to Ricky Nelson. He was known for his double necked Mosrite guitar and in fact helped launch Mosrite as a national production line guitar maker with his high visibility TV appearances.

Here he is pickin' (but not singin') out front, starting off at a speedy gate and gaining speed as he goes!

ARTIST OF THE DAY! 11-15-09

Wow! Saw a very inspiring art show this weekend... Jesse LeDoux (known for his art on records by the Shins, Elliot Smith, Death Cab for Cutie, as well as a ton of Sub-Pop related art) showed some beautiful and fun paintings/drawings at Chicago's Rotofugi Gallery. Wow! Really great work!! You can buy these original works at Rotofugi if you are in Chicago or buy archival signed prints online at Tiny Showcase.... either way, get 'em!

ANIMATOR OF THE DAY! 11-11-09

I've been occupied recently with all the great animation of Norman McLaren who created a large body of work from the mid 30's up thru the 80's.. Great stuff.

Here is a film short showing McLaren creating his own soundtrack. He created it himself by drawing and scratching into the edge of the film where the optical soundtrack is found.. Wow! Amazing! It is very Raymond Scott sounding.... and actually a lot like some of the other soundtracks for McLaren's films by composer Maurice Blackburn who also employed that way of music making.

QUARTET OF THE DAY! 11-6-09

Saw this clip of the Cats and the Fiddle recently... I think on a PBS program about latin music called Latin Music USA.... can't remember. Well, anyway, hot clip! Man, you can't beat the line up! Tenor guitar, tiple, standup bass, and baritone uke!! So great! They played from the late '30's up thru the '50's.... almost twenty years on almost as many labels. I believe this clip was from a cameo they had in the 1938 Lena Horne film ""The Duke Is Tops" (later retitled "The Bronze Venus").

ANIMATOR OF THE DAY! 11-3-09

Here is a trailer for the upcoming Numero Group DVD, Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al Jarnow, which will be released on February 23rd, 2010. Jarnow is an amazing artist who made hundreds of educational and experimental short films and animations for Sesame Street, 123 Contact, and PBS among others. Everyone who grew up in the 70's has some pieces of Jarnow's work drifting around somewhere on our internal harddrives.

The Numero Group releases the most amazing, burning comiplation CDs and DVDs...they are a "multi-format media company, devoted to dragging brilliant recordings, films, and photography out of unwarranted obscurity". They do a lot of small scene soul reissue compilations that are just amazing. Go to their website right now and buy everything they have ever had anything to do with.

INSTRUMENT OF THE DAY! 11-2-09

I'll admit it, I am not a huge fan of circuit bending in general. Like a lot of free jazz, I see how it can be very fun TO DO, but most of the time it is a DRAG to hear someone else do it. Also, it most often ends up sounding like a cross between an out of control R2D2 and a turd. That said, this fellow at NoysToise Blog does an amazing job of repurposing old plastic keyboard bodies, discarded Speak and Spells, form fitted tool carrying cases, and snooze control clock radios into very beautifully constructed, new forms of musical oddities. This one especially caught my attention with its great aesthetic form and details and its actual musical uses... it's not just a sputtering out of control audio crap sprayer.

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN OF THE DAY! 10-31-09

It's Halloween!!! It's Halloween!

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN OF THE DAY! 10-30-09

Another great old animation by Ub Iworks and music by Carl Stalling... this one back at Disney... created 1929. There was really something to dancing skeletons back then, I guess.

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN OF THE DAY! 10-29-09

...and here is Ub Iwerks' updated take on his 1929 Skeleton Dance; the Skeleton Frolic... only this one is from 1939 and in full technicolor color (and produced by Columbia this time around, not Walt Disney...).

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN OF THE DAY! 10-28-09

Let's start out our countdown to Halloween with one of the best.... The Skeleton Dance is a 1929 Silly Symphonies animation directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks. It is the first entry in the Silly Symphonies series. Music by the great Carl Stalling (with an adaption of Edvard Grieg's "The March of the Trolls").

YOUTUBER OF THE DAY! 10-27-09

Did you know Cheap Trick has their own YouTube page? They do! They have some great live clips from from all the way back to '78, silly interviews they did in Japan in the '80's, and more. See why the world loves these Rockford, IL heros who, by the way, are still kicking it out. I remember when I was about 9 years old sneaking into our shared bathroom so I could hear the music my brother was playing in his room... Cheap Trick ruled the record player for almost a year... ok, ok.... Let's Get Small and Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! had their share of plays too....

We will miss you Anne for so many reasons.

.

.

SAD NEWS OF THE DAY! 10-23-09

RIP Soupy Sales.... comedian, children's TV show host, and pie thrower (and receiver).... not to mention father to Tony and Hunt Sales who played rhythm section for the likes of Iggy Pop and David Bowie. He passed away in hospice care at the age of 93.

TIPLE OF THE DAY! 10-22-09

Ah, the tiple! Same size and shape as the baritone ukulele but with ten strings instead of four (although this guy has strung it with only four)... two sets of three and two sets of two. Look at this beauty with the mother of pearl and all the details! I became aware of this instrument when I saw my friend Ian's beautifully made solid body version he created at his Specimen Products. This one was also made in Chicago and actually not too far from Ian's shop. It was created by Regal Musical Instrument Company, makers of mostly resonator instrument parts for both Dobro and National in addition to their own line of fretted instruments. They were based in Chicago from 1908 lasting until somewhere into the '60's. The building on Grand Ave near Kedzie still sports a faded painted Regal logo on its side. BUY IT NOW!!!

COMPOSER OF THE DAY! 10-21-09

Rest in peace Viz Mizzy, the composer of the original Addams Family theme as well as the Green Acers theme and a host of other songs we all have in the fabric of our very being. He passed away this week at the age of 93.

SEWN MONKEY OF THE DAY! 10-20-09

For the organ player that has everything, here is an old, old stuffed organ grinder's monkey... I feel I have said all that needs to be said on this subject. BUY IT NOW!!!

EBAY ITEM OF THE DAY! 10-19-09

How cute! Someone has taken some their time and skill to imbed a tube amplifier into an old suitcase. It looks like a natural fit, too. It's probably a little 10 or 15 watt amp good for harp or low volume distorted guitar... and it's ready to use easily and then quickly unplug and move on when the show is over... probably best suited for living room gigs... and probably not suited for checking thru at an airport.
BUY IT NOW!!!

SLOW BURN OF THE DAY! 10-17-09

Here is one of the tracks from David Axelrod's amazing 1969 instrumental record "Songs of Experience". Carol Kaye is laying down the bass like only she can coupled with the great drumming of Earl Palmer on this brooding psychedelic funky jazz album that has moments that feel like a 70's cop show halloween episode.

Thanks to my friend Doug for this recommendation. I've not stopped playing it over and over since I got it.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY! 10-16-09

Happy birthday to Nico who would have been 71 today if she hadn't have died in a bike accident in 1988. Here is the very lovely and sweet-voiced St. Vincent (Annie Clark) with her version of the this wonderful song from Nico's "Chelsea Girls" LP, her debut solo record released the year after she had left the Velvet Underground (though Lou, Sterling, and John play on this record too). "These Days" was written by the young Jackson Browne who also plays on the record.

Happy Birthday Nico!

SAD NEWS OF THE DAY! 10-14-09

Sad news....Blue Cheer Frontman Dickie Peterson Passed away on Monday, Oct 12, 2009.

FROM NEWS ARTICLE: Dickie Peterson, the singer and bass player of Blue Cheer, who are considered another one of the first heavy metal bands, sadly passed away this morning in Germany at the age of sixty one. The cause of death has yet to be announced but he had been ill for some time."

They were just in Chicago last year on a reunion tour. I am sad I missed that show. Their records along with the Stooges records scared me as a young kid in the same way punk rock bands like Rapeman and the Butthole Surfers scared me as a young man. I miss being scared by rock bands.

RIP Dickie Peterson.

UNHOLY MARRIAGE OF THE DAY! 10-13-09

We know the spud boys of DEVO have a twisted sense of humor, sure.... but what could have led to this unholy marriage of Jackson brother Jermaine lip-syncing his new 1982 hit song while strumming a flying V without a strap with Jerry and Mark from DEVO as his pantomime backup band?! (check out Mark 'drumming' on an Omnichord!) Did someone lose a bet? Did some one win one? Is this a sign of the end of days? Am I dreaming a terrible terrible dream?

UNSUNG HERO OF THE DAY! 10-12-09

Here we have a great old clip from guitar innovator Vincent "Vinnie" Bell who is playing Coral's version of the electric sitar that he helped design. (One of the very best uses of this instrument in my opinion was on the recordings by Philly soul group the Delfonics... now that is some BURNING use of the electric sitar!)

Bell was famous for his acid-y guitar/sitar work on the theme to the 1970 movie "Airport", his watery, wanting guitar line in Ferrante & Teicher's version of the theme to "Midnight Cowboy", his opening guitar riff on the Monkees' "I'm a Believer", the signature sitar line on "Green Tambourine" by the Lemon Pipers, as well as the distinctive percussive guitar work on Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By". Some also give him credit for creating one of the first versions of the wah-wah pedal in the 50's years before Thomas Organ released their first mass-produced version. Also, the Danelectro Bellzouki (12 stringed guitar) was their electrified version of a bouzouki (a old Greek and middle eastern stringed instrument) and was named in Bell's honor.

Salute Vinnie!!

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY! 10-9-09

To celebrate what would have been John Lennon's 69th birthday today, here is a nice bit of studio footage of JL recording one of my favorites "Oh My Love" from his "Imagine" LP along with George Harrison, Nicky Hopkins, Klaus Voorman, Phil Spector, and Yoko (is that Jim Gordon playing percussion in the drum room?).

It's shocking that he has been gone for 29 years... and also that I am now one year older than he was when he was shot.

Happy birthday Mr. Lennon.

ANIMATION OF THE DAY! 10-7-09

In tribute to the two amazing nights of Hubley family animations shown here in Chicago by animator Emily Hubley, here is one by her folks Faith and John Hubley from 1968 called "Windy Day". Emily and her sister Georgia provide the dialogue as they did for their parent's defining acheivemnet, "Cockabooty".

HYBRID OF THE DAY! 10-6-09

Here we have the musical equivalent to the spork. When you're out of ideas for creating something new, go ahead and nail two existing things together and call IT new... as is the case with the NATIONAL DOREMI TURNTABLE MINI-ORGAN made in the 70's probably for like a month until someone started thinking straight and halted production. This one comes with the 5 flexi-discs which are probably more rare than the player.... BUY IT NOW!!!

EDIT: This auction closed today and I know who won it! Yea!!

BAD ASS OF THE DAY! 10-5-09

I'll admit... I can't for the life of me figure this one out. OK, first we have perhaps one of the greatest drummers ever to pick up sticks Elvin Jones playing the part of a bad ass, sleeveless gunslinger killing a man... THEN we have the James Gang kick into a hippy jam... then Elvin takes over the drums for an extended drum solo to PROVE that he's bad ass...

I'm not sure if this clip is making want to rent this 1971 movie Zachariah or if it's keeping from doing so.

RUBE GOLDBERG OF THE DAY! 10-3-09

Oh, those crazy foreigners! If they wanted breakfast so bad why didn't they just open up a Waffle House? Diced, fried, scattered, smothered, covered, shamed, embarrassed... any way you want 'em in just minutes!

(Thanks to Coudal Partners for the link and daily inspiration!)

ORGAN LICKS OF THE DAY! 10-2-09

Here we have the blazing stylings of "The Barefoot Lady" herself, Rhoda Scott tearing it up on her B3... damn! Check out the fancy footwork! This is a clip from 1972. Rhoda is still touring Europe and occasionally the USA. We must all go see her.

Thanks to Miss Edith Frost for this smoking video pick!

DUET OF THE DAY! 10-1-09

Holy crap... The wicked wicked Wilson Picket at his wickedest with the freaking Bee Gee's backing him up... "soul brother" Barry stepping up and going toe to toe (well, almost)... backed by a burning band and horn section... watching this video is like working out! My pulse is up and I'm all sweaty! I could probably do without the slapstick at the end but hey... (Thanks to Coudal Partners for the link!)

NEW RELEASE OF THE DAY! 9-30-09

In celebration of another Liam Hayes & Plush record existing in a form we the listeners can access and hear for ourselves (Plush's new record BRIGHT PENNY can be purchased now!), here is the new video for the equally new Liam Hayes and Plush song "White Telescope". The video was directed by Roman Coppola.... yes, THAT Roman Coppola.

ODD PAIRING OF THE DAY! 9-29-09

The Jesus Lizard profiled on ABC News? I didn't see this coming....

LUDDITE OF THE DAY!! 9-25-09

Forget your precious Xerox machines, scanners, and capturing software. You must kick it old school. Duty now for the past!
(thanks to Sue for this link!)

Pictorial Webster's: Inspiration to Completion from John Carrera on Vimeo.

ANIMATION OF THE DAY! 9-24-09

Artist Blu is at it again... amazing! I saw this on DRAWN! today. His MUTO animation was my first exposure to his work... totally great.

EBAY OF THE DAY! 9-23-09

Here you have about the cleanest Clavioline I have ever seen. Either this thing has lived the past 50 years in a zip lock baggy untouched in the back of a closet or the seller used about a gallon of Armor-All cleaning it to like-new appearance. Either way, this is a must have! The Clavioline is a monophonic tube keyboard instrument that was created in the 50's as a way for piano players to 'solo'. The design was as such so that one would attached this instrument to the bottom of a piano keyboard with the keys part sticking out as an extra layer of keys to play. They came neatly house in the back of their own speaker cabinates.... so handy! I recently picked up a Solovox (Hammond's version) that came in a handmade hobo-box with girly pictures decorating the inside. Nice. These were widely used by folks such as Sun Ra, the Beatles, and perhaps most famously Del Shannon on "Runaway". So what are you waitng for? BUY IT NOW!!

VIEW OF THE DAY! 9-21-09

Here is one of many of these on YouTube... the SUSHI-EYE-VEIW... you can imagine YOU are the plate of tamago or unari circling the Sushi-Go-Round... eyeing all the hungry people that may at any moment grab you and eat you and throw your plate on their stack..

BAND/DRUMMER/VIDEO/SONG OF THE DAY! 9-19-09

Deerhoof is a constant source of inspiration. From their idiosyncratic arrangements to their prog-tempered-with-pop tendencies to their obvious joy they all experience and exude when they play to their amazing drummer... I mean, these folks don't disappoint! Their live show will leave you full of warm and confused feelings... while you head for Craig's List to sell your drum set... It was hard to pick which song to present from their great appearance on Juan's Basement (from Pitchfork.com/tv), so here is the most fun.

LESSON OF THE DAY! 9-18-09

So you want to learn how dance, eh? Who better to teach you than Soul Brother #1, Mr. Dynomite, the amazing Mr. Please Please himself... The haaaardest working man in show-business.... ladies and gentlemen, the star of the show! James Brown!!

EBAY FIND OF THE DAY! 9-16-09

Before iPhones, digital records, reel to reels, cassette recorders, record cutters, and those cute recordable birthday cards, if you wanted to record sound you used a wire recorder. As the name implies, magnetic steel wire was used as the recording medium rather than tape. Originally made around the turn of the century (no, no, that other one) these devices gained popularity in the '30's and '40's... until magnetic tape become the standard. These turn up from time to time on eBay... they all look amazing... often very deco looking like an old Buick... but here is one I have not ever seen before.... a pocket sized wire recorder! Wow! Look at the tiny little spools on top! Crazy! BUY IT NOW!

VIDEO OF THE DAY! 9-15-09

The Peddlers were a british band playing in the mid-60's... Their sound fell somewhere between Cream and Tom Jones.... ok, ok, throw a little Blood, Sweet, and Tears in too... Here is their version of Elmer Bernstein & Hal David's 'Walk on the Wild Side', the title song for the 1962 movie... what a performance!

VIDEO OF THE DAY! 9-14-09

Ah! One of my favorites covering one of my other favorites! Here is Azita (Drag City) on a little home-made video owning her own version of Neil Young's "Don't Let it Bring You Down" from his After the Gold Rush LP. Her newest record "How Will You?" is available from Drag City... you should buy it if you haven't already.

SHREDS OF THE DAY! 9-11-09

StSanders is the original 'shreds' guy on YouTube.... his art is taking videos (mostly of inflated rock bands) and re-dubbing with his own somewhat believable yet completely hilarious new soundtracks. There is one that is Slash taking a solo at a live show... so good! Then there was the Yo-Yo Ma string quartet playing free and out at the Inauguration... priceless! Kiss whistling over their hard rock ho-down... brings tears to my eyes! Here, though might be his crowning achievement... The Stones' START ME UP! Empty your bladder before viewing... (some of the embeddings were disabled so just follow the links to each)

INSTRUMENT OF THE DAY! 9-10-09

The amazing SONOVOX would amplify music into one's mouth then come out as you moved your mouth to talk.... This devise predated the talkbox and vocoder by decades. Here is a great video from the 1940 film "You'll Find Out" which shows some musical uses of the Sonovox. The instrument was used a lot with classic radio jingles and IDs too... the most famous creators being PAMS ("W-L-S... music radio.... CHICAGO!") in Dallas Texas who created station IDs for stations nation wide from the 1950's all the way thru the 1970's. Another classic Sonovox use worth seeking out is the 1947 Capital record Sparky's Magic Piano, a children's record where the Sonovox becomes the scary, spooky voice of a haunted piano.

EBAY ITEM OF THE DAY! 9-9-09

From one of my favorite eBay sellers comes this amazing STANDUP ACCORDION! I know, what in the world would have led to the manufacturing of such a thing? I have no ideas. All I know is it is beautiful. BUY IT NOW!

CORRECTION: This auction is for the stand only... the actual standup accordion is long gone... Oh well... it was still great to see it and know it exists.

INSTRUMENTAL TRACK OF THE DAY! 9-5-09

Nashville's answer to burning, cohesive studio bands like LA's Wrecking Crew and Detroit's Funk Brothers and Memphis' Mar-Keys was Area Code 615 (name taken from Nashville's actual areacode). This was a group of studio musicians that were Nashville's cream of the crop...first chair... the A team. They played on thousands of recordings by as many artists... most famously with Bob Dylan (Nashville Skyline, Blonde on Blonde). Drummer Kenny Buttrey went on to also play in the Stray Gators, Neil Young's band on Harvest and later Harvest Moon as well as playing with George Harrison, Donavan, and on Dylan's John Wesley Harding record.

Here is their most well know track of their own (they put out two LPs in between sessions under the name Area Code 615) called "Stone Fox Chase" which was used as the theme music for the British music show The Old Grey Whistle Test.

YOUTUBER OF THE DAY! 9-4-09

The break-up of the fine fine Chicago band the M's (Polyvinyl) has thankfully given birth to even more music to love and cherish. Here is a link to the YouTube page for 123 Clap, a project that involves three or four M's along with other temporary co-conspirators. The plan is they all bring their laptops with webcams... and they all meet up without knowing the song they will be recording that night. After quickly working up that night's song, they press record while all the cams are capturing the live, one shot recording. THEN they mix the track and edit between all the webcams for these great, homespun videos. Fresh. Immediate. Spontaneous. I love it! The name 123 Clap refers to how they sync up all cameras with the recording.

VIDEO OF THE DAY! 9-2-09

This one comes from Workshop composer Ethan Stoller... It's Socalled's video for "You Are Never Alone". Holy crap! Totally mindbending. SEE THE VIDEO HERE (they disabled the embedding video function for this video for some reason...).

BASS LICKS OF THE DAY! 8-31-09

Burning hot bass licks from the First Lady of the Bass, Carol Kaye... Burning!

TRAVESTY OF THE DAY! 8-25-09

Yeah, OK. It probably looked good on paper... For Rolling Stone's 10th anniversary, someone had the bright idea to get Ted Neely (the guy who played Jesus in the movie version of Jesus Christ Superstar) singing a montage of Beatles songs with a nutty troop of "dancers" that at one point sport Nixon, Kissinger, and Carter rubber masks... Wait a second... THAT SOUNDS HORRIBLE! How did Richie Havens get mixed up in this?! Well, it certainly was a low point not only in American television but in mankind's existence as a whole. Here are both parts of this smelly 14 minute plus montage... Do yourself a favor and turn off your computer now and thank the heavens that I watched this whole thing so you don't have to.

VIDEO OF THE DAY! 8-20-09

WOW, just look at this Japanese animated commercial for Suntory Torys Whisky!

VIDEO OF THE DAY! 8-18-09

An excerpt from a documentary about the American luthier and violin maker Carleen Hutchins who sadly just passed away last week. Her biggest claim to fames was her experimental work starting in the 1950's creating a family of eight proportionally sized violins now known as "the violin octet".

EBAY ITEM OF THE DAY! 8-12-09

This 'portable' 3 1/2 octave pipe organ (from one of my most favorite sellers) is about the greatest thing I have seen on eBay in a while. Man! Think of the sea shanties you could write on this baby! BUT IT NOW!!

VIDEO OF THE DAY! 8-10-09

Great surreal video from Japan's OOIOO.

MOVIE TRAILER OF THE DAY! 8-8-09

Looks like an amazing movie about an amazing musician/composer/inventor/genius.

EBAY ITEM OF THE DAY! 8-7-09

Why don't you buy this attractive Mayfair guitar for me? Haven't I been good to you? BUY IT NOW!

EBAY ITEM OF THE DAY! 8-6-09

Here is a very unusual hand made stringed instrument. It has four strings and seems about the length of a baritone ukulele but with a super small body and extended neck.... or this could be a four stringed saz or cora... anyway, it looks quite unique and I must have it.. MUST! 4 days left!!
BUY NOW!!

VIDEO OF THE DAY! 8-2-09

A wonderful animation by the late greats John and Faith Hubley from 1973. They animated this beautiful short from covert audio tapings of their two young daughters at play. Who knew one was to grow up following their footsteps in the field of animation (Emily) and one would grow up to play drums in Yo La Tengo (Georgia).

INSTRUMENT OF THE DAY! 8-1-09

What to get the saxophonist that has everything? How about this monster contrabass saxophone? It sounds good AND acts as a natural laxative.

YOUTUBER OF THE DAY! 7-30-09

THANK GOODNESS these beta tapes were hidden away in some file cabinet or under some bed! YouTuber BACKPORCHVIDEO has posted videos made in the mid '80's of some sort of cable access show of the same name made by young punks (side note: Dino went on to be one of the New Monkees) showcasing hardcore shows that came thru town, their hilarious friends with hilarious facial hair, and alternative and punk rock in general as seen thru the eyes of high school teenagers from Detroit/Dearborn Michigan. What a time capsule! I started with the Scratch Acid clips (oh, look how young they were!) and am now addicted.... I can't pull myself away! WATCH NOW!

VIDEO OF THE DAY! 7-29-09

It's funny because it's true...

SONG OF THE DAY! 7-25-09

Mix the greasy grooves, hot crisp orchestration, and the gospel stylings of the Mighty Clouds of Joy with their namesake song... just try and sit still to this tush-shaker...

EBAY ITEM OF THE DAY 7-21-09

Oh, you need to get this. I have a few now because when I see one I am compelled to buy it... This is a micro-phonograph player... really. It plays these tiny thin one sided flexy-style plastic records that are glued to these printed cards. The cards give information about what the record is playing... In this case, these are all bird songs and each card tells you a bit about each bird as well as having a beautiful Audubon-ish illustration of said bird. They really are amazing. This one comes with a mess of packets of card/records too so BUY NOW!!!

VIDEO OF THE DAY! 7-20-09

Archer Prewitt's Sof'Boy vinyl figurine created in giant form. These exist. They really do. I have one. It's right here. It's hilarious. It's gigantic. Thank you Presspop!

EBAY ITEM OF THE DAY! 7-16-09

Are there four better words in the english language than "animated monkey band parts"?! I think not. If you act fast you can get these for your very own... BUY NOW!!

FUZZTONE FREAK-OUT OF THE DAY! 7-15-09

Oh, how the Monk's must have freaked out those German teens... the fuzz bass, their distorted banjo, their shaved head tops... and this is 1966?! So good.

DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEE OF THE DAY! 7-12-09

Daniel Knox is a Chicago singer/songwriter with a beautiful baritone voice and a severely twisted (and often mean spirited) take on things. I am a fan. Here is a strangely fitting video for his song "April 3rd".

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE DAY! 7-11-09

Talk about inspiration! Here is the wonderful Califone with their video/film by Brent Green for Spider's House.

THIS AMERICAN LIFE OF THE DAY 7-9-09

Today's inspirational video is an animation for the This American Life Showtime series. John Kuramoto animates Chris Ware art to great effect. Makes me think these guys should animate EVERY TAL story.

VIDEO OF THE DAY! 7-7-09

Today's inspirational video comes to us from the lovely and talented Andrew Bird (with help from the equally lovely and talented Dianogah as Andrew's backing band). Animation by Lisa Barcey.

ANIMATION OF THE DAY! 7-5-09

Today's inspirational "video of the day" is this amazing 1950's German animated spot for Telefunken Vacuum Tubes. Watch as the joyous and soulful German tubes literally kick out the old mean Russian tubes. Ha! Great stuff.

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