Nachos Picantes

Every have one of those days when you have a snippet of a song in your head and no idea what the name is or who the artist is?

Last week, I went through yet another bout of this, going to far as to imitate the trombone part on the phone to my friend Greg.  I had a feeling it was either a song by the Moon Invaders or the Caroloregians and he led me into kind of the right direction.  Parts of the song sounded a hell of a lot like Organic Coal Beat From The Groovy Mines but it just wasn't the tune that was lodged in my brain.

Just before bed, I remembered that the Mr. T-Bone and Friends record had songs featuring members of both the Moon Invaders and The Caroloregians.  Unfortunately, my copy of the cd was in Greg's possession and I had to wait.

Long story short, I arrived at Greg's for a show Friday and knew I'd guess right in the first few notes of the song.  It only took a damn week to figure it out. 

My Baby Makes Me Gravy

I heard this song when I was Christmas shopping Friday.  Other than old Johnny Cash and Hank Williams and similar artists, I don't like much country music but I really like this song.

How did I forget to blog about this?

Thursday, I ditched the work holiday party in order to go see Bonerama.  Bonerama is a New Orleans jazz/funk band featuring three trombone players.  It was awesome.  At various points, they invited local trombone players to get one stage.  During their cover of Frankenstein by the Edgar Winter Group, there were six trombone players on stage and so much sound you could feel it inside your chest.

There was no opening band and Bonerama played for almost three hours.  They played a lot of songs I'd never heard before, along with the two covers I really wanted to hear, Frankenstein and Helter Skelter.  My ears were ringing until noon the next day but it was totally worth it.

Here's a clip I found of them on Youtube.



So yeah, Bonerama was amazing and they'll be added to my list of bands I'll clear my calendar for when they come to town.

The Slackers Report

Well, another Slackers show has come and gone.  Here's how it all went down.

After a quick dinner at IHOP, we arrived at the Firebird right on time.  Deals Gone Bad went on first.  While I like Deals Gone Bad, the two parts of their set I remember most vividly are the parts involving the Slackers.  First, Dave Hillyard joined them on stage with his sax and the damn microphone was dead.  Secondly, Vic Ruggeiro played harmonica with them on a different song and they finally got the mic fixed.

The Slackers got set up in near record time and belted out songs one right after another.  Here's the songs that I remember them playing.  I'm a little fuzzy on the order:

1. Every Day is Sunday
2. Feed My Girl
3. Attitude
4. Reach Out
5. Living in a Tool Shed
6. Same Every Day
7. I Want to Thank You
8. We Can Work it Out
9. Ska Boheme
10. The Nurse
11. Please Decide
12. Bin Waiting
13. Knowing
14. Rider
15. Who Knows
16. Pedophilia
17. Have the Time
18. Game Of Love" (Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders Cover)
19. Old Dog
20. Watch This
21. What Went Wrong
22. Saw a Fool
    

Thanks to Greg for the assist on the track list.  I know the order is off and I'm sure I forgot a couple.  I was particularly happy that they played The Nurse and What Went Wrong.   At the end of the regular set, sometime before Old Dog, Dave Hillyard and Glen Pine came down into the audience and played.  It was great and reminded me of the good old days at the Creepy Crawl when they'd play out the front door, come around the building, and come back in the back door.  I've seen the Slackers somewhere in the 16-18 time range and I'd say this show was in the top two.

If I had to bitch about something, it would be the guys who didn't seem to realize how packed the Firebird was and kept swinging their elbows around.  A couple times I had to move because I kept picturing myself knocking the newsboy hat off of one of the assholes and then sucker-punching him as he turned around to see who did it.

In conclusion, the next time the Slackers come to your town, clear your fucking calendar.  Baseball shmaseball.

Zero

Today is the big day.  Today's tune is So This is the Night.

One

Today's Slacker's tune is Same Every Day.

two

Two more days! Today's tune is Don't Have To.

Three

The Slackers countdown continues.  Today's tune is Body Double.

4 more Peculiar days

Today's song on the countdown to the Slackers is Peculiar.

5

Five more days.  Today's Slackers tune is Lazy Woman.

7 more days

Only one more week!  Today's tune: Runaway

Two Countdowns? It just isn't done!

There are 19 days until NaNoWriMo kicks off.  However, there is another impending date that's getting priority for the moment.

My favorite band, The Slackers, are coming to St. Louis in a mere ten days.  To celebrate the occasion, I will be posting a youtube video each day until then highlighting one of my favorite Slackers tunes.  Here's today's, You Don't Know I.

He looks taller on my records - The Mr. T-Bone report

The evening was off to a rocky start.  Greg moved since the last time we went to a show so I had to find his new place.  I would have been fine if I hadn't looked at the map and just went with my instincts.  I had to turn around once but I still got there in time for two episodes of The Monkees.

Once Greg got ready, two of the fastest eaters on the planet hit the South City Diner.  I saw something called the meatloaf omelet on the menu and my mind was made up.  It was delicious.  A very short time later, we finished eating and headed for Off Broadway.  We may have been the first people there who weren't with the bands.

As show time grew nearer, I started to feel bad for the bands.  Not a lot of people had showed up.  And by not a lot, I mean around 20.  It was around this time I noticed an older gentleman about my size or possible a little shorter.  I could tell by the way he was watching Murder City Players set up that he was a musician.  I couldn't remember what any of Eastern Standard Time's members looked like other than the singer, who shaved off his waist-length dreadlocks since the last time they came to town, so I assumed he was with them.

Greg and I hit the Jump Up Records table and I filled some holes in my ska collection.  The selection they brought was a little crappy, mostly 90's stuff, but I still found a couple King Django records I didn't have.

Murder City Players went on first.  They've never been one of my favorite bands but they're local and are good for getting the crowd into it.  They played some good classic ska and reggae tunes but I was really waiting for Eastern Standard Time.

Eastern Standard Time hit the stage and I saw the older man playing trombone for them.  It was then I first suspected I'd been standing next to Mr. T-Bone for twenty minutes without realizing it earlier.  Did I miss my chance to talk to him?

EST blew the tiny crowd away.  They played like there were 500 people in the bar instead of less than 50.  My only gripe was that they didn't play Get Ready.  That Girl was easily their best song of the night.

After a short break, EST took the stage a second time and it was then I was sure the trombone player was Mr. T-Bone.  Mr. T-Bone sang and belted out the tunes with his trombone for another set.  It was great.  He played songs off of all his albums, a lot of them from the album that came out the day before.  If I hadn't bought it earlier in the evening, I would have rushed to the merch table to buy it.

The set ended and Mr. T-Bone was immediately surrounded as he walked to the back.  Again, I kicked myself for not talking to him when I had him to myself before the Murder City Players.

As the band broke down their equipment, Greg said he wanted to go out back and have a smoke before we left.  We went outside.  Guess who showed up to have a cigarette a minute or two later?

Mr. T-Bone got a light from Greg and proceeded to talk with us for at least half an hour.  I always like finding out my favorite artists aren't assholes and T-Bone was great.  His English was very good and he told us about playing with the Slackers and the Skatalites and other bands I have great love for.  You could tell by the way he talked about them that even though he'd been playing for years and years, he was still a big fan of ska.   He told us about touring in Europe and trying to book bands over there.

We mentioned Dr. Ring-Ding and Mr. T-Bone asked us if we knew the story?  We said no and he told us how he was playing with a two-tone band and the DJ played a tune between sets and T-Bone was awestruck and knew he wanted his band to sound like that.  The record was Dandimite and the artist was Dr. Ring-Ding.

I told Mr. T-Bone I loved his record of instrumentals and he said he loved it too and it was the only one of his own records he could listen to.  He said that he normally can't listen to any of his own recordings until years later, once he forgets how much work went into it.  That resonated with me since I'm the same way about my writing.

As things wound down, Mr. T-Bone told us he was going to Brazil in a few weeks to do some shows and record a dub record.  He finished up his cigarettes and we shook hands and headed out.

Greg and I walked out even bigger Mr. T-Bone fans than we were going in.  It was a great show.

I've had this song in my head for three days

Musical Nostalgia - Dandimite

The year was 1997, that golden time when ska shows were still plentiful in STL and many of my friends hadn't scattered to the four winds.  I didn't have any ambition or future plans and a lot of things still had a newness to them.  I remember first hearing about Dr. Ring-Ding on St. Louis's ska radio show, Ska's The Limit and liked whichever song it was they played.  Then my friend Steve proceeded to have Dandimite on the cd changer in his car every time I rode with him for the next four or five eternities.  After several listens, I was hooked.

There are certain difficulties involved in seeing a German ska/reggae/rocksteady singer and trombone player live, especially if you don't live in a city like New York or Los Angeles.  Years went by and Dr. Ring-Ding stayed on my radar and I finally made the pilgrimage to Chicago with Ska Greg in 2008.  Ring-Ding was a really nice guy and seemed genuinely touched that we drove all the way from St. Louis to see him with the intention of driving back the next day.  I said "It's not that big of a trip.  You came all the way from Germany."  I've had some interaction with him on MySpace and Facebook since, as recently as last Tuesday when I posted "How long does it take a cheap bottle of gin to get cool in the freezer?"  Dr. Ring-Ding responded shortly after I pressed enter with "About twenty minutes." 

Anyway, my favorite Dr. Ring-Ding CD is Dandimite.  It stands the test of time a lot better than other ska records from back in the day.

1. Phone Talk    
2. Dandimite    
3. Big Man    
4. Medley: Save Bread/Save a Toast
5. (What Me) Money Back
6. Bellevue Asylum    
7. What a Day    
8. Green Pepper    
9. Rudeboy Style    
10. Knocking on My Door    
11. Got My Boogaloo    
12. Gloria    
13. One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer    
14. Latin Goes Ska    
15. Stay Out Late    
16. Free Spitrit    
17. Top Notch Version    
18. Man in the Street

Reggae legend Derrick Morgan does guest vocals on a couple tracks.  I'd try to name a track as my favorite but it would wind up being a five or six way tie.  I will say that his version of Latin Goes Ska is as good as the Skatellites' version and Man on the Street is better than the Skatellites' version.

I've had this song in my head for the past day and a half.

Muscial Nostalgia - Give Em The Boot

First off, I hate 99% of the complations I listen to, much like I detest short story anthologies.  Most of the time, it's two or three really good songs (or stories, in the case of anthologies), wrapped in a sheath of garbage.  Today, I'll be talking about an old favorite that nicely illustrates that there are indeed exceptions to every rule.

I'm talking about

The year was 1997.  Yeah, I knew I was going to enjoy Give 'Em the Boot the second I saw it reviewed in a zine someplace.  At 20 songs for 4.99, it appealed to my slacker sensibilities.  I'd read articles about Hellcat Records and was anxious to see what they'd come up with.  Was I pleased?

Hell Yes!  Look at this track list!

1. The Brothels - Rancid
2. Watch This - The Slackers
3. I Can't Wait - Hepcat
4. New Breed - The Pietasters
5. Spirit Of The Streets - business
6. Los Hombres No Lloran - Voodoo Glow Skulls
7. Barroom Hero - Dropkick Murphys
8. Does He Love You - Skinnerbox
9. 17 @ 17 - Upbeat
10. Open Season - Stubborn Allstars
11. Beautiful Girl - Gadjits
12. Roots Radicals - Union 13
13. Jaks - U.S. Bombs
14. Fifteenth and T - Swingin' Utters
15. Latin Goes Ska - The Skatalites
16. Policeman - The Silencers
17. Heart Like A Lion - Pressure Points
18. Infested - Choking Victim
19. No Time - F-Minus
20. Playtime - David Hillyard & The Rocksteady Seven

Give 'Em the Boot is one of those rare compliations that has more than it's share of great tunes.  From the opening song from Rancid, which should have been on an album, all the way to David Hillyard, this thing is loaded with good shit.  When I picked this cd up, the only bands I was familiar with were Rancid, Hepcat, and the Voodoo Glowskulls.  Yes, Give 'Em the Boot introduced me to two long time favorite bands, The Slackers and the Skatalites.  By the time 1997 was over, I had bought CDs by Rancid, The Slackers, Hepcat, the Pietasters, Dropkick Murphys, Skinnerbox, the Stubborn Allstars, the Gadjits, the Skatalites, Pressure Points, Choking Victim, and David Hillyard & the Rocksteady Seven.  That's a pretty good percentage of the featured artists.

Musical Nostalgia - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

It was the Christmas of 1994 and I'd just opened my first CD player.  My mind was ablaze with possibilities of what I'd get.  After the influx of Nirvana and Beastie Boys CDs, my neighbor gave me Skacore, The Devil, and More.  From there, I was hooked on the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

I'm not going to pretend they were my favorite band right away.  It took a few months but I eventually picked up Don't Know How to Party, and this album, the subject of today's blog entry.

Yep.  It's Question The Answers.  Most people know them from Let's Face It.  I don't want to be one of those guys who says things like "I liked them before they were famous" or "Their old stuff is better" in a condescending tone.  But I did like them before they were famous and their older stuff is better.

Like I said with The Slackers' album The Question a couple weeks ago, this is another of those albums that's filled to the brim with memories for me.  Let's go down the list of why this is one of the CDs I never thought of parting with.

1. The Nostalgia Factor - I can't heart a single note of a song on this disk without thinking back to the mythical summers between years of highschool and shooting endless games of pool with my friends in my parents' basement, including the now legendary Best 11 out of 21 with Steve Roberts.  I won 11-9 but it was pretty hectic.
2. Playability - This is one of those cds where I don't feel tempted to skip songs.  Look at this track listing (Toxic Toast, 365 Days, and Jump Through the Hoops being my favorites):
1. Kinder Words
2. A Sad Silence
3. Hell Of A Hat
4. Pictures To Prove It
5. We Should Talk
6. A Dollar And A Dream
7. Stand Off
8. 365 Days
9. Toxic Toast
10. Bronzing The Garbage
11. Dogs And Chaplains
12. Jump Through The Hoops
3. It was when the ska really started to take hold of my musical tastes.  It's weird to think I've been into ska for over half of my life at this point.  I lost sight of the Bosstones when The Slackers, The Skatelites, and other ska bands eclipsed them in my esteem but they're still part of my past.

That's about it.  I play on digging this one out when I get home.

Reggae Ear Worm

So last night, I was trying to read but for some reason the opening trombone piece of a song kept popping into my head.  All I could remember were six or seven notes from the trombone and the phrase "You don't like that reggae beat."  For some reason, I couldn't get the song out of my head and began digging through my cds trying to figure out what the song was.

I remembered hearing two different versions of the song and I had the idea that the singer might have been Laurel Aitken so I scoured all of my Laurel Aitken cds and all of my Skatelites cds, all to no avail.  I googled the phrase "You don't like that reggae beat" and eventually found a Laurel Aitken recording from 2001-ish entitled Must Be Crazy (Reggae Beat.)  Overjoyed, I returned to my cd collection... and could not find the damn thing!  I thought about calling Greg and humming the beginning and/or asking him if he had any of my Laurel Aitken cds in his possession.  Eventually, pissed off, I gave up the search and went to bed.

Early this morning, while the coffee brewed, I stared at my piles of cds with contempt and watched the video I'd found the previous evening for the third or fourth time.  While Laurel Aitken was the main attraction of the show where the recording was made, Rico Rodriguez was the guest trombone player.  Watching the recording closely, I saw that Rico was actually doing the vocals.  I rushed back into the living room and rifled through my cds for the millionth time.  Sure enough, I had two Rico Rodriguez cds.  I looked at the track listings for both... and noticed no mention of a Reggae Beat.  However, I compared the track listings, remembering that I had two versions of the song.  Sure enough, the song Jungle Beat was on both.  I knew I had the right track in seconds.  Took me long enough but it was worth it.  I've listened to it about ten times today.  Hopefully it will be out of my system by tomorrow.

My Favorite Record of All Time

I own probably three hundred cds and a lot of them have gotten considerable play time over the years.  When I think of my favorites, this one is always at or near the top.

That's right.  It's The Question by The Slackers.

There are many reasons why I love this record so much.

1. The Question was released at a happy time in my life.  Every time I listen to it, I can't help but remember cramming into Steve's car and driving who knows where to see a band, often times The Slackers or another ska band, perform, and then eating at some greasy spoon afterwards.
2. The cover is pretty damn sweet.  A man getting caught in bed with another woman by his gun-toting wife or girlfriend.
3. It's a long record.  It seems like albums rarely have more than 12 songs and this one has 19.
4. If you like ska, there's not a song on it you'll want to skip.  For me, this is the gold standard of Slackers records, a giant among giants.  Just look at the track list for God's sake!  I've made myself hoarse belting these tunes out at Slackers shows since 1997.
1. Manuel
2. Knowing
3. Have The Time
4. And I Wonder?
5. No More Crying
6. Feed My Girl
7. Mountainside
8. The Mummy
9. Motor City
10. Power
11. Keep Him Away
12. The Question
13. The Question (Version)
14. Face In the Crowd
15. Do You Know
16. Yes It's True
17. Alone Again
18. Make Me Smile
19. No Love
5. It features my favorite lineup of my favorite band.  Q-Maxx and Zulu were still in the band.

There you go.  If you want to know what makes Dangerous Dan tick, you could go a long way toward finding out by buying this record and listening to it repeatedly.