CheckOneTwo

Dude, I’m-a have to run out and pull a con job or something.  The music I heard tonight has irresistibly pulled me into a life of high crimes and misdemeanors. 

Tonight was the debut of ECLIPSE GLASSES, a brand-new five-piece band featuring folks like Andrew Morgan (from Les Attaques, Chinese Girls), Collin Miles (late of The Moving Front), Zach Reeves &  Kyle Carpenter (via Tel Aviv) and Lorenza Harrington (one of the late, lamented Applescruffs).  Think keys, drums, guitar, bass, no vocals…and mad horns!  I’m talking about Harrington playing trumpet AND euphonium, sometimes effortlessly interchanging and playing them in the same song.  The Flag & Banner space was packed with a crowd that was feelin’ it, yours truly included.

CheckOneTwo was pretty much transported directly into a floating mental mix of 70s crime shows and modern glitzy hustle schemes.  This was definitely stellar soundtrack music, the kind that makes you want to go out and create the best movie ever just so you can lay these tracks over your impossible heist job. 

Kudos to the new combination of veteran scenesters.  Mad fun, way too short of a set, and I want to do it again.

Sibilance,

Glen

Greetings, you landlocked rascals.  CheckOneTwo has just spent the last week in lovely Puerto Rico.  Got my rainforest on in a big way, and was also lucky enough to spend a weekend in San Juan during the San Juan Batista festival.  Lots of fun, sun, and time spent in a Jamaican bar drinking Puerto Rican beer. 

The flight back yesterday was the same as the flight to:  yours truly surrounded by upset young’uns.  It was like being at the Travs game on those Screaming Kids days they have for school groups.  Truly a time to turn up the mp3 player and drown out someone else’s sorrows.   A time, in fact, to wallow in musical minutiae.

A report from the CheckOneTwo mp3 player:  these are the tracks that have a number in the title.  Put them together, and it’s a pretty kick-arse playlist:

Garbage:  #1 Crush.  From the Romeo & Juliet soundtrack (ahh, I know, get off me, this song is terrific).  Shirley Manson makes me believe she’d sink ships for me. 

Sonic Youth:  100%, from Dirty.  You know it’s SY right from the opening feedback, and it gets better from there. 

Eileen Rose:  Two in One.   From the album Long Shot Novena.  Got to see Eileen Rose open for Frank Black a few years back, and I was immediately sucked in.  Boston chicka, pipes alternating between a soft croon and a rabid bluesy howl.   One of the greatest lines ever:  “I’m gonna take my sugar with lemon on the side….Tell the Angel move on over, the Devil’s gonna ride…..”

BR-549:  Six Days on the Road.   Great old trucker song remake.  “I’m poppin’ little white pills and my eyyyyyes are open wide….”

Paul Hardcastle:  19.   You know the one.  “N-n-n-nineteen.  Nineteen.”  One of the first songs I ever heard that used a sampler, and schooled me on important facts about the Vietnam War.  History class, and I could dance to it.

Jem:  24.  This is a song that I really love, although it may have been used as part of the promo for the Kiefer Sutherland series.  BabySham and I saw Jem at Bonnaroo a while back.  Terrible live set, but this Welsh lass has some great pipes in the studio. 

Lucinda Williams:  2-Kool 2-be 4-Gotten.  From Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, the album I always listen to while wandering around on Earth Day.  I think it’s because it was the soundtrack from when I opened the Sierra Club office here several years ago.  When Lucinda croons, “Junebuuuuuuug versus hurricane, junebuuuuug versus hurricane,” all is right with the world.

Smoke up Johnny:  12th Street.  We all know girls like the subject of this song, right?  The little rich girl who slummed around with us for a while, but then eventually ran back to her rich friends?  Sorry babe, but you ain’t gotta heart. 

Blind Melon:  3 is a Magic Number.  Shannon Hoon & Co. remake the old Schoolhouse Rock tune.  Give it a listen.  I’m pretty sure it was done in one take.

PJ Harvey:  50 Foot Queenie.   God bless America, this is a great song.  Polly Jean jumps in right over the opening bassline and wails away.  I love how she grows bigger and bigger over the course of the song.  HeyI’mTheKingOfTheWorld!  YouOughttaHearMySong!  ComeOnAndMeasureMe!  I’m FiftyInchesLong!!

Deftones:  7 Words.  Somebody’s got some serious scream abilities.  This is not the song you want to play while Grandma’s in the car, unless you’re in the will. 

Bow Wow Wow:  C30, C60, C90, Go!  C’mon, lie and tell me you didn’t have a crush on the Bow Wow Wow chick when we were kids.  She had candy, you wanted it, and here it is.  

Silver Swirly:  Six String Sail.  From the Shannon Yarbrough tribute album, Listen to What I’m Made Of.  I didn’t know Shannon, but this is one of my faves from the album.

The Donnas:  Zero.   Is there anyone better than the Donnas at just making funny three-chords-and-out songs about relationships?  Not for my money.   Dudes get their chops busted in every track, including this one.

The Cure:  Wrong Number.  OK, so it doesn’t actually have a number in the title, but close enough.  This song is The Cure in techno mode, with the best-laid plans this side of America.  BabySham loves hearing Robert Smith talking on the phone near the end, all British-y, when he says, “Sorry…wrong numbah…”

QUESTION:  Your favorite song with a number in the title (and why)?

Local hip-hop impresario Chane “Epiphany” Morrow is about to soft-launch a new website, entitled “IAmTheLife.net” with a press conference at the Peabody Hotel.  CheckOneTwo is on the scene and will be bringing details to you live as they are announced. 

Also joining the effort are:  Sean West, 607, Suga City (Arkansas Bo & Goines), Carteaire Custom, and DK & Soulja T.  The site will follow each of the acts over time, featuring ”a mini mix-tape series (5-7 songs) that can either be streamed through the site or downloaded for free. ”  The site will feature up-to-the-minute information about each “Legend”:  bios, a goal set by each performer, and the obstacles in reaching that goal, along with information about the performer’s news, shows, & events (and an online journal for each). 

Site visitors (Fam Members) can download ringtones, wallpaper, podcasts, and more.

2:10:  Piph stars it off.  Tagline:  “For those who know we’re deeper than music.”  5 years ago, the hip-hop industry was at a stasis.  50 Cent had strong album sales, hip-hop starts becoming dominant as acts like Outkast started winning Grammys and getting widespread acceptance.  Lots of critics hitting on gangsta branding (like 50 Cent being a thug, shot 9 times, etc.)  Plenty of hip-hop magazine dominance (XXL, The Source), but a real lack of indie artist and distributor performance.

2:15:  5 years later:  album sales are dwindling.  Hip-hop is double of music sales in any other genre, but album sales are going down all over.  The money is in increased tour sales and endorsements, less about album sales.   Websites & reality show are coming into dominance now–magazines are fading (Vibe in bankruptcy).  Now the viewer wants to see the artist behind the scenes.  We’re also into an era where artists can produce and distribute their own albums.

2:20:  Piph is touting a new model for the music business.   There’s a new environment.  Musicians have to find a new way to connect with the audience.  Ergo:  IAmTheLIfe.Net.

Targeting the “conscious, computer friendly hip-hop contributor and consumoer who has an affinity towards the underground and the inclusive.”

IATL will follow six “Legends” for eight months, their lives, their goals, their music.  Gives away some things free, has others available for purchase.  A focus on emarketing/eloyalty, building a grassroots success story.   Each of these Legends has their own individual fan base–he’ll market to them, but also to other lists.   Various contests and prizes.  Marketing will not just be online, but also good street team stuff and media. 

2:25:  The content on this site:  a breakdown of each “Legend”.  Each will have a “Pledge” and a “Real” (the obstacles).  The Pledge is a goal set by the Legend to be attained by the end of the run.  607 wants to buy his mom a house, for instance.   Cartiaere Custom’s goal is to get a deal, his obstacle is making rash decisions.  Piph’s Pledge is to release his solo project, the band’s EP.  His obstacle is juggling too much and maybe an overestimation of his own talent.   DK & Souljah T want to get their mixtape out, but the obstacle is “getting caught up in hood politics.” 

2:30:  Every six weeks:  each Legend will have a new, downloadable mixtape.   The site will also have numerous visual aspects–music video, photos, performance video, and the like.

Apparently:  due to technical difficulties, the site will officially launch:  June 25th.  

Why there is a press conference announcing the launch of a website that no one can get to today is beyond me.   Good grief.

I haven’t seen anything at all about this, but…Cowboy Mouth is scheduled to play the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock this Friday!  It’s on Pollstar.com, it’s on the Cowboy Mouth MySpace page, it seems to be everywhere…right on!  Cowboy Mouth is terrific.  I’m not sure that I can stomach the Peabody Rivertop Party, but Cowboy Mouth is a real temptation.

This Friday is shaping up to be a good’un.  Some early tidbits to get your palate salivatin’: 

Rev Room:  latest edition of The Chill, with Suga City, 607,  Epiphany & One Night Stand

Whitewater:  The Drams, Glossary, Kevin Kerby & Battery

Not to get all fogey on you, but I have a vinyl fetish.

Not in the cheap catsuit kind of way, but in the LP way.  I “might” buy your band’s CD for $10, but “OH YEAH YOU BET I WILL” buy your album for $20, and I’ll probably rip the plastic off and open it right there at the show.  There’s just something about it.  I love the smell of it, I love the heft, I love the feel of it in my hands.  And Jesus Crispy, if your album cover is gatefold, I’m probably yours for good.

Audiophile types like to drone on about how the LP sound is “richer” or “warmer” than that of a CD.  Maybe.  I don’t know.  I’m not that guy who spends all day messing with the equalizer in front of his friends, so we can all hear the subtle undernotes.  I don’t really understand what the hell Dolby noise reduction is.  But I’m a fool, an absolute drooling fool, for busting out an LP and dropping a needle.  It’s like some sort of religious rite for me, communion with a big ole platter-sized wafer.

That’s why this past week has been CheckOneTwo’s spiritual journey.  I’ve symbolically made my pilgrimage.  Homey’s been to Mecca.  I’m am now Glen el-Hajj.  The vinyl gods have smiled on me and made it rain like that. 

Blessing #1:  The Wondertwin and I have been favored with a gift of no fewer than six Zeppelin albums, in pristine condition, on down to the covers.  I’m talking about Zep I, II, III, Houses of the Holy, In Through the Out Door…even Coda.  Wondertwin’s first reaction:  “What the hell!?  No Physical Graffiti?  Auggghhh!!”  That’s a chick to hold on to,  right there.

Blessing #2:  WT and I were out for a little drive yesterday and she said “Hey, let’s pop by [SECRET USED RECORD STORE LOCATION] and see if they have anything.  The door was locked, with a note that said “BACK BY 3:30″.  But…sitting outside the door…free for the taking and destined for the dumpster…TWO FULL CRATES OF 45s, from an estate sale and deemed unsaleable. 

T’was truly manna, and I was Moses.  Ohhhhhh….we nabbed ‘em.  The owner came back in mid-nab, thanked us for taking them away, and said he’d call me whenever he was clearing out vinyl in the future.  Ehh, come again?  He’ll call me when he’s giving away vinyl?  I wrote down my name and number, but all shaky-like.  Think Dave Chappelle signing for a brick of weed in Half-Baked. 

This was a treasure trove, my friends.  Conditions ranged from mint to wretched, but there were many gems.  After we went in and bought a couple of LPs just to be neighborly (Elvis Costello:  Armed Forces, Willie Nelson & Family:  Live! Double LP, w/Emmylou Harris AND Johnny Paycheck!), Wondertwin and I took the crates out to inspect over happy hour beers.  Try The Beatles, Hank Sr., Donna Summer, Ray Stevens (The Streak!), Cameo, Marty Robbins (El Paso), Glen Campbell…oh, it’s just too much.

My birthday is July 5, but it appears that the presents came early.   Time for a good ole record party.  Who’s game?

Sibilance,

Glen

I’ve had to send my computer in for repair–thus the lack of posts for the last few days.   Will be back up when all systems are go.

In the meantime:  don’t miss San Antokyo’s CD release party this Friday night at WWT, with special guest Smoke Up Johnny and Magic Hassle (members of American Princes/Big Cats).  Gonna be a good one.