Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Obama, Why Langford


Musician, songwriter artist and founding member of the great Leeds band, the Mekons, Jon Langford has threw in his hat into the political ring, so to speak, concerning the upcoming U.S. Presidential elections. Langford's piece originally appeared in the blogsite Largehearted Boy, on 7 Aug. 2008. His essay was part of a series entitled, "Why Obama," from a collection of authors and musicians.

"I never quite worked out how the last eight years happened. So soon after Vietnam my adopted homeland slides back down the rabbit hole, hijacked by mean old rich white zombies full of hate. I remember driving back from O'Hare in October 2001 after the Waco Brothers' stagger-a-bout down under and seeing all the flags taped up in the windows next to Halloween ghouls, vampires & dancing skeletons etc. Weird happenstance collages of doom - ominous shit indeed! Back in the 80s when I was still living in the UK and Reagan & Thatcher ruled the world; there were bombs falling on Libya, Argentinean conscripts sunk deep in the South-Atlantic with lungs full of cold water and the whole pub cheered when Reagan got shot. I still get into fights with hardcore anti-American drunks in Brit-cities who can't believe I came here and settled here (and me a socialist too) but I did and there are reasons.

The explosion of music that took place in this country during the last century swept me up and consumed early on. Not just the punk (though my ears were always pointed this way back in 77) but the whole shebang. In the 80s we (the Mekons) started listening to Country, Cajun, Blues, Zydeco, Western Swing and found what we did as a band was not some year-zero re-invention of any wheel but thankfully just another tiny helpless bio-cog in a huge beautiful organic cultural mechanism that spans the globe but is clearly fueled & sourced somewhere over here in the USA in the confused melding of African and European folk traditions. I have often said I have a love-hate relationship with it (Love George Jones hate George Bush) and I have often been told I should go back to Russia BUT I have seen this place and been treated with great kindness and respect here and am saddened by the hatred this current junta's actions have inspired across the planet. I have American friends living in Europe who have to pretend to be Canadian for f*ck's sake.

Time for a change no doubt and a smart young Black bloke from Chicago as president will suit me just fine. I think we all know what they'll fling at him, what dark forces they'll unleash to bring him down and how hard he'll have to fight to clean up their mess when he's elected but this is historic, symbolic, once in a lifetime stuff. This country has talked a great game about freedom and opportunity over the years and while I have been the willing recipient of much of that promise it shames me to see what's been done in its name by this crowd of zombies and vampires. I've been really happy here, settled and raised a family & I could never have done half the things I do if I'd stayed in the UK so I thank you America, now do yourself a favor, give yourself a present and elect Obama."
-Jon Langford

B.W.'s PLAYLIST/ KHSU-FM, 90.5/ TUES., 19 AUG. 08

BOY WONDER PLAYLIST/ HOT CIRCLES/ TUES., 19 AUG. 08/ MIDNIGHT-2AM
634-5789/ WILSON PICKETT (’65)
Mohair Sam/ CHARLIE RICH (’65)
Oh How It Rained (E. Floyd) / LORETTE VELVETTE (’00, Rude Angel)
$1,000 Wedding/ EVAN DANDO & JULIANNA HATFIELD (’99, Return of the Grievous Angel)
Pineola/ LUCINDA WILLIAMS (’92, Sweet Old World)

All the Same to You/ LAURA CANTRELL (’02, When the Roses Bloom Again)
You Know the Rest/ STEVE EARLE (’97, El Corazon)
The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn/ THE POGUES (’85, Rum, Sodomy & the Lash)
Lovely Creature/ NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS (’96, Murder Ballads)
A Place Called Home/ PJ HARVEY (’00, Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea)
Because the Night/ PATTI SMITH (’78, Easter)
Happy Nightmare Baby/ OPAL (’87, Happy Nightmare Baby, w/ Kendra Smith)
Heads Will Roll/ ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN (’82, Porcupine)
69 Annee Erotique/ SERGE GAINSBOURG (’69, w/ Jane Birkin)
Harley Davidson/ MICK HARVEY (w/ Anita Lane, ’95, Intoxicated Man)
Ride/ LIZ PHAIR (’98, Whitechoclatespaceegg)

About You/ TEENAGE FANCLUB (’95, Grand Prix)
When My Baby’s Beside Me/ BIG STAR (’08, Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story)*
Valentine/ THE REPLACEMENTS (’87, Pleased to Meet Me)
Little Rage/ THE MICE (’86, For Almost Ever Scooter)
Exit Flagger/ GUIDED BY VOICES (’92, Propeller)
Statues & Glue/ SUNSHINE FIX (’04, Green Imagination)
Night Time/ THE STRANGELOVES (’65)
I Wanna Be a Girl/ KING KHAN & THE SHRINES (’08, The Supreme Genius of…)*
This Boy is Exhausted/ THE WRENS (’03, Meadowlands)

Less Than Zero (live)/ ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS (’78, Live at the El Mocambo)
Woman’s World/ SQUEEZE (’81, East Side Story)
Waitin’ For Superman/ FLAMING LIPS (’99, Soft Bulletin)
White Winter Hymnal/ THE FLEET FOXES (’08, self-titled)*
When You Have Ghosts (R. Erickson)/ JOHN WESLEY HARDING (’90, Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye)
*new or recent release

Monday, August 18, 2008

B.W.'s PLAYLIST/ KHSU-FM, 90.5/ REVOLVING DOOR

BOY WONDER/ PLAYLIST/ SAT., 16 AUG. 08/ 9-11 PM
What A Good Man He Is/ TAMMI TERRELL ('69)
Love Makes A Woman/ BARBARA ACKLIN ('68)
Minnie Skirt Minnie/ WILSON PICKETT (’68)
Crazy About You/ THE HELLCATS ('87, Hoodoo Train)
Leave My Kitten Alone/ DETROIT COBRAS (’07, Tied & True)
Swing Set/ THE CUTTERS (’01, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday)
Brand New Cadillac. THE CLASH (’79, London Calling)
Brand New Cadillac/ VINCE TAYLOR & HIS PLAYBOYS
Mona/ BO DIDDLEY
I Need You/ THE KINKS
Thunderbird Esq./ THE GORIES (I Know You Fine, But How You Doin’)
Way Down in the Hole/ THE COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS

Life’s Little Ups and Downs/ CHARLIE RICH
Willie/ CAT POWER
These Girls/ RYAN ADAMS (’07, Easy Tiger)
September Gurls/ BIG STAR
Things/ PAUL WESTERBERG (’93, 14 Songs)
Boxful of Letter/ WILCO (’95, AM)

Navy Sheets/ THE HOLD STEADY (’08, Stay Positive)*
Memphis Egypt/ THE MEKONS (’89, The Mekons Rock n’ Roll)
Lady in the Front Row/ REDD KROSS (’93, Phaseshifter)
Lucifer Sam/ THE SADIES (’06, In Concert, Vol. 1)
Torture/ KING KHAN & THE SHRINES (’08 collection, The Supreme Genius of…)*
Earthquake Heart/ THE DIRTBOMBS (’03, Dangerous Magical Noise)
You Got Good Taste/ THE CRAMPS (’83, Smell of a Female)
Ramona/ THE RAMONES (’77, Rockets to Russia)
Fujiyama Mama/ WANDA JACKSON

Devil Doll/ X (’83, More Fun in the New World)
Another Girl, Another Planet/ THE ONLY ONES (’78)
Sex Beat/ GUN CLUB (’81, Fire of Love)
Loose/ THE STOOGES (’70, Fun House)
You Got Me Hummin’/ REIGNING SOUND (’04, Too Much Guitar)
Box Elder/ HOLLY GOLIGHTLY

*new or recent release

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Beautiful Losers


Graphic artist Mike Mills (whose piece, "Who Am I," is pictured here) is among a group of artists, which included the wonderful painter Margaret Kilgallen, featured in the documentary, Beautiful Losers, about the formation and rise of the Alleged Gallery, located in NY's Lower East Side in the early 1990's (a much different neighborhood then). See the Nathan Lee NY Times article for further details.