Friday, April 29, 2016

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Welcome Back Stephen

High-ho silver, ride...

It was a hot summer day in 2010, and my friends and I are in the pit at Osheaga watching Pavement.

High-ho silver, ride...

We're dancing and singing along to "Stereo".

Take another ride to see me home...

Out of the corner of my eye I see an object flying over the crowd stage left in what seemed like slow motion.

Listen to me, I'm on the stereo...

It was a plastic cup full of beer thrown so perfectly and so accurately that not a drop of alcohol spilled in its flight.

Stereo...

SPLASH!

The beer cup pelts Stephen Malkmus right in the centre of his forehead, completely drenching him and his guitar. One interrupted chord later and everything stopped. I looked at my friend, mouth agape. He looked at me with the same expression, both of us thinking, "Oh fuck, it's over." The crowd stood there dumbfounded for what felt like forever, but the whole thing transpired in probably less than three seconds, then suddenly...

My baby, baby, baby, baby, baby gave me malaria, hysteria...

Malkmus sucked it up and continued to play the rest of the song, and the rest of the set, completely soaked in beer. That's rock 'n' roll.

Press play:


Saturday, April 16, 2016

Even Better Than the Beatles


The Shaggs, "Sweet Maria" b/w "Missouri Waltz" #rsd2016 #TheShaggs #vinyl #records #45rpm


A couple of weeks ago during general music chatter with patrons and a record store that shall remain nameless (and you'll know why in a second), I innocently asked the person who works at the shop what the odds were I could score this Record Store Day exclusive by The Shaggs from Light in the Attic.

They checked the database to see how many copies the store requested, and told me there were three. Now, it is a "rule" that record stores are not allowed to put RSD releases aside for people, but it was hinted that perhaps there just might be a "forgotten" copy in the back room waiting for me when I arrived at the shop on April 16th.

I was pretty confident that a copy of some of the worst and weirdest music in recording history would be mine.

Fast forward to Record Store Day, my friends and I went back to the shop to see what they had, and guess how many copies of this 7-inch were still in the bins: three. The record store followed the rules of Record Store Day, and I got the only item on my RSD 2016 wish list, and everyone was happy! 

IN EVEN BETTER NEWS: Light in the Attic Records is reissuing The Shaggs' only album, Philosophy of the World, this autumn and I could not be more excited! Frank Zappa was reported as saying that The Shaggs were "even better than the Beatles", so you know this is one fucked up record. Check out some tracks from this rare release on YouTube.