NONKINSENSE
Adventures of an Analog Man in the Digital Universe, with a little help from my friends and relations.
Monday, October 31, 2005
I thank God Halloween only comes once a year ?
submitted for your approval:
1-Halloween-The Drongos (words and music:kennedy&mitchell)
2-Halloween Parade-Lou Reed
3-Scary Monsters-David Bowie
4-Spooky-Atlanta Rhythm Section
5-Monster Mash-
Monster Mash is Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers (or Crypt-Kicker
5)
1. See Above
2. Dinner with Drac - (John) Zacherele
3. Spooky Boogie - Gentle Giant
4. Haunted House - Roy Buchanan
5. Hoodoo Bash - Unholy Modal Rounders (Halloween Treat)
Donny
1. Werewolves of London- Warren Zevon
2. Frankenstein- Edgar Winter
3. Monster- Steppenwolf
4. Thriller- Michael Jackson
5. Ghostbusters- Ray Parker Jr
Jim
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Traffic and Continuity
Come now Number Six, you didn't really think you could escape the Traffic and Continuity ? You do however give new meaning to the phrase On the Ground, would you agree, Secret Ramp Agent Man?
good luck Ira, SK EBS, Inc.
We want to thank you for your interest in the above mentioned position. We had many fine applicants for the position, including you. However, we have filled the position with someone whose background and credentials we feel best meet our needs at this time. We welcome you to apply for any future positions we have available that match your skills and experience.
Sincerely,
The Hiring Manager for the "(Fall) Inside Sales Representative - Washington Wizards"
Hi Ira
I recently received your resume for a position our firm had been looking to fill. This position was filled, however your resume appears to be a good match for some of the employers who frequently use our recruiting services in your area. If you are still active in your job search, take a look at the link below. Remember that it is important to keep your online resume up to date.http://www.careersfor2005.com
Best of luck,
JH
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Green Magic Woman
Even on this stupid Blog, it's always, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.
The month of Birthday announcements continues:
Ira,
In honor of Peter Green's 59th Birthday. Peter Green Top Five:
1. Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown)
2. Oh Well (Bonus: Live from the Boston Tea Party, 1970)
3. Black Magic Woman
4. Albatross
5. Man of the World
Donny
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Don't Blame Me I voted for Jon Anderson.
October is certainly the month for Birthdays on the Blog and yours Jon is no disgrace from 10/25:
Ira,
In honor of Jon Anderson's 61st Birthday. Five Favorites:
1. Sound Out The Galleon (Olias of Sunhillow)
2. Anything From Fragile
3. Yours Is No Disgrace
4. To Be Over
5. And You And I
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Frankly, I don't get it, I'm with the Comic Book Guy on this one. If I see another picture of that Paulie Walnuts, I'll just plotz.Mit fremdeh hent iz gut fei'er tsu sharren. As a laib shloft, los im shlofen!
Happy Birthday Kerry!
Yes, it's a touch Psychotic, but, it's the best I could come up with.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Starriders with a Tribute to some Original Girls on Top.
Knockouts
Blame it on Roman, who recommended "Remember Walking in the Sand." But here comes a message worthy of Nonkinsense, which is why I'm sending it to Ira too.
Yesterday, while making up a chord chart for Remember Walking in the Sand, I figured I'd take a look and see what became of my youthful crush - Mary Weiss, the lead singer for the Shangri-Las. Mary seemed so grown up at the time, but looking back, I see she was only 16-18 during the Shangri-Las glory years. Of course, I was only about 10 or 11.
They came from Queens and went to Andrew Jackson High School, which I remember because a few of my older sister's friends, who also went to Andrew Jackson, knew them.
The way I remember it, the Shangri-Las were the original bad girls of rock, if not quite so bad as the later bad girls. They dressed in tight black leather, and sang about bikers, bad boys, and death. And yet there was an innocence about them. Mary couldn't really pull off the tough image, and even in black leather she still looked angelic. Still, if they'd made videos back then, it would have been in keeping with their image to finish "Walking in the Sand" with Mary wading out into the ocean as the music faded, suggesting that she was going to drown herself.
"Give Him a Great Big Kiss" has to be one of the first examples in which "bad" was used to desribe good, with the immortal words: "I hear he's bad." "He's good bad, but he's not evil." You know these girls were bad, and way ahead of their time, when they deliberately misspelled a word: "When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, L-U-V."
But the corniest line in all music has to be this exchange: "What color are his eyes?" "I don't know, he's always wearing shades." Shades - the symbol of ultimate evil and cool back then, unless worn on the beach or baseball field. And yet the innocence implied in the same line - she's never even seen him without his shades. Unless he wore his shades to bed - which would be truly frightening, if not evil - we can assume they never made to bed.
I might be stretching this a bit, but it always struck me that there was a bit of a protest message in "Remember Walking in the Sand." Not exactly antiwar, but anti-draft. It's obvious that her boyfriend had been drafted. After all, he's been gone for two years and he's overseas. (The Shagri-Las didn't sing about the elite rich or even poor Rhodes scholars studying at Cambridge. They sang about rebels and bad boys). So there's really no other way to explain why she expected him to return after a two year absence, and is therefore shattered by his letter saying he's not coming back to her. If the record had been made just a year later, when the Vietnam War turned really ugly, though antiwar songs were still off limits (outside folk music), it would have been in keeping with the Shangri-Las to have gotten a letter saying he's not returning because he's been killed.
Yes, they are easy to spoof today. In fact, they invited spoof in their own day. Leader of the Laundromat was a spoof of Leader of the Pack. But in the next few years, their producer, Shadow Morton, would go on to produce such artists as the Vanilla Fudge, Janis Ian and Mott the Hoople. And that's cool.
Well, that's enough Nonkinsense for the moment.
Rob
and Leslie West
Ira,Bless you for your heartfelt sentiments. Once again a brilliant job with album covers and photos. Today is also the Birthday of Leslie West (a/k/a The Great Fatsby). In his honor I now list my Ten (not in any order) Favorite Leslie West (Solo, etc.). I also attach a beautiful twelve string acoustic solo piece entitled Because You Are My Friend:
1. Blind Man (A Fabulous Blues Deluxe)
2. Blood of the Sun
3. Dreams of Milk and Honey
4. Because You Are My Friend
5. Long Red
6. Token
7. Mississippi Queen
8. To My Friend
9. Flowers of Evil (From the father's perspective about a son who re-enlists for a second tour of duty in Vietnam to support the son's heroin addiction)
10. Old Brown Shoe
(1-5: Solo, 6: West Bruce and Laing, 7-9: Mountain, 10: George Harrison Tribute).
Donny
Happy Birthday Donny!
Before there were Blogs there were Birthday Cards and Tapes. Shows 'ya that I have not changed all that much over the past 20 some odd years and at least one person still knows where I'm coming from. Happy Birthday to the best friend of the Blog, at least, within the Top Five, including Fred.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Who's Next ? I don't know. I do know that I can count on at least one person who knows the place where I'm coming from.Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Good Job Brownie, just, great, but, I'm still the boss of this family...Whaddya' tellin' me, you went to see him instead of your own Uncle?, I taught you how to play baseball, for Christmas sakes, and none of that smart ass Junior Brown in my pants shit, Me ken nit tantsen oif tsvai chassenes oif ain mol.
Monday, October 17, 2005
WESTERN eLECTRIC RETURNS...
WESTERN eLECTRIC, THE BAND THAT NEEDS NO STINKIN' REHEARSALS, NOR THEIR OWN WEBSITE OR BUSINESS CARDS, RETURNED TO THE VILLAGE SATURDAY NIGHT TO RAVE REVIEW(S)... thanks Theresa and Christine for the Opportunity.
Thank you very much again for volunteering at the Bide-a-Wee benefit, Their staff was very appreciative, together we helped raised money And got volunteers for the shelter also. The performances were excellent, I wish you all great luck with your music.
Dante"For Dante Music, Photos, Shows and MORE! Please visit; http://www.dantessongs.com/
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Fuck Donny Most, they told my Agent they were looking for a guy who could play the most Donny... Here 'ya go Red, try this one on for size:
An Open Discussion on Drug Addiction. Dr. Baird's speech dealt primarily with marijuana. He argued against those who say that marijuana is not as dangerous as alcohol. An example was cited in which a boy, puffing one marijuana cigarette lightly, had a frightening hallucination: he thought a six foot Pepsi Cola bottle was chasing him. One alcoholic drink could hardly produce such extreme results.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Lathams Meet the Flinstones and Jetsons
Sorry George, Jane, Fred and Wilma, This Month Belongs to the Lathams. Happy Birthday(s) and Anniversary!
One Week before Donny's Birthday, it's been A Hard Day's Moose.
Nonkinsense(s) were digging the sound of Booker T and The MG's at BB Kings, Friday Night, as good today, perhaps even better, as it was back in the day...Tonight, featuring Anton Fig on drums.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Donny the K, The Fifth Beatle.
Ira,
Only in my Liverpudlian dreams.
Donny
We were expecting more from you Number Six, something a little less bizarre, obscure and esoteric.
We want to thank you for your interest in the above mentioned position. We had many fine applicants for the position, including you. However, we have filled the position with someone whose background and credentials we feel best meet our needs at this time. We welcome you to apply for any future positions we have available that match your skills and experience.Sincerely, The Hiring Manager for the "Sales Representative - Madison Square, Knicks and Rangers" Position
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Come now Number 6, we go through this every single time, why did you resign? - we all know it wasn't because of the commute.Saturday, October 08, 2005
Godfrey Daniel, 
first it's a highly esoteric Bojo reference, now, the diabolical Nonkinsense, that swine, has run out of fresh and cunning ideas. Allow me to enlighten the loyal readership, the three of you, that is... He's borrowing a page from Nic Harcourt's "Music Lust," available at The Barnes and Noble on Rockville Pike and asking us to provide the Greatest Debut Albums of All-Time:
first it's a highly esoteric Bojo reference, now, the diabolical Nonkinsense, that swine, has run out of fresh and cunning ideas. Allow me to enlighten the loyal readership, the three of you, that is... He's borrowing a page from Nic Harcourt's "Music Lust," available at The Barnes and Noble on Rockville Pike and asking us to provide the Greatest Debut Albums of All-Time:
Ira,
> Ironically enough, I too had been thinking about presenting this as a
> topic:
>
> 1. Although it's a cheat, Meet The Beatles above and beyond any
> other
> debut.
> 2. Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols
> 3. The Doors (Lori)
> 4. Can't Buy A Thrill - Steely Dan
> 5. Buffalo Springfield
> 6. Led Zeppelin (I)
> 7. In The Court Of The Crimson King (An Observation By King Crimson)
> 8. Dear Mr. Fantasy - Traffic
> 9. Fresh - Cream
> 10. Elvis Presley
> Although I could go on as Lori and I kept saying "what about?", I'm
> stopping
> at ten.
> Donny
I'm not sure in all cases if it's the debut album. I might
have just had a breakthrough album instead. But hethinkre are what I
are great debut albums:
1) Bat Out of Hell: Meatloaf
2) Tapestry: Carole King
3) The Eagles: The Eagles ( I think it was just called the Eagles - anyway, I mean the Eagles first album with Take It Easy, Peaceful Easy Feeling, Already Gone, etc)
4) Mr. Tambourine Man: the Byrds
5) America: America
6) Boston: Boston
7) Chicago Transit Authority: Chicago
8) Deja Vu: Crosby Stills Nash and Young: the second album for Crosby Stills and Nash, but the first one with Neil Young
9) Nervous Night: the Hooters
10) If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears: the Mama's the Papa's.
11) Sun Sessions: Elvis Presley. I don't think this was released as an album until many years later. But if it had been released as an album, it would have been Elvis's best.
Many other performers had great debut albums, such as the Beatles, Stones, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, the Moody Blues, Simon and Garfunkel, to name just a few. But they all went on to make far better albums.
The reason I chose the above albums is because the bands (at least in my opinion) never again rose quite as high as their debut album. Chicago came close with it's second album, and the Eagles had quite a number of strong albums. But I still like their first albums the best. It took Meatloaf almost 15 years to come up with an album (Back to Hell) that was anywhere near as good as Bat Out of Hell.
Rob
Are You Experienced, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Cars.
#24
From TM:
Rob
Are You Experienced, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Cars.
#24
From TM:
Never Mind the Bollocks.I'll have to give this some thought.
For best debuts, I guess I'd have to put
Springsteen up there.
Also, Elvis Costello, Blood Sweat and Tears, ELP,
Santana, and Billy Joel. If I come up with anything else, I'll let you know.
Most of them don't fit the "first and best", but arguably some of them could be.
What do you think?
Uncle Jun
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Ira,
I understand that those days are Holidays and that you need to take off
those days but you are responsible for your shifts. It will be up to you to
get those shifts covered. If you have any questions please feel free to
call me.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Song Titles Not Sung in The Song.
1. Pandora's Golden Heebie-Jeebies - Association (I kid you not. Probably
the worst follow-up record [to Cherish] in rock history although the name
Pandora is mentioned).
2. Sing-Along Junk - Paul McCartney (although Junk is mentioned).
3. T.N.U.C. - Grand Funk Railroad (A rant about a really nasty woman).
4. Twilight Alehouse - Genesis
5. Knots - Gentle Giant (One of the greatest Chorale pieces in rock history)
Happy New Year!
Song Titles not sung in the Song:
>
> 1-It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry - Bob Dylan
>
> 2-Badge - Cream
>
> 3-Ballad of A Thin Man- Bob Dylan
>
> 4- Smells Like Teen Spirit-Nirvana
>
> 5- SWLABR-Cream
>
> * I don't think we did this before.
>
> Ira
There's a host of Dylan songs that dont reference the title: Just like Tom Thumb's blues, Love minus zero come to mind.
Your mentions of Dylan brought to mind a few more:
Subterannean Homesick Blues
Ballad of a Thin Man
Romeo's Tune - that's a great tune, and one of Steve Forbert's few chart hits. But he has a lot of great songs.
1. Over the Hills & Far Away - Led Zep
2. Romeo's Tune - Steve Forbit
3. Ritual - Yes
4. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - Dylan
5. Revolution # 9 - Beatles ( "Number 9" is of course spoken but not "Revolution # 9")
Editor's further additions: Funk 49-James Gang, Meeting Across the River and Incident on 57th Street-Springsteen
Bob practically owns this category, on Highway 61 Revisted Alone he has:
It Takes A Lot to Laugh, A Train To Cry, Ballad of a Thin Man, From A Buick 6 and Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues.