From a scorchingly good new album from Poppy to remake mashups by Scary Pockets to new music from Dream Theater, Rod Stewart Ada Lee, Woody Goss, Deerhoof plus much more this week's list is a great listen. Enjoy!
Here are this week's artists, twitter handles unless otherwise noted:
@dreamtheaternet @poppy @tmorello with @bmthofficial @PARALINE_band Darkcave (again, no socials) @scarypockets featuring Therese Curatolo @woody_goss @regrettesband @mtl_bar @deerhoof @scottbradlee and @NicoleAtkins @eltonofficial and @charlieputh @gunsnroses Zsocca @rodstewart @pomplamoose @alessiacara @MacMerge @natimbruglia @TheShivas @ColdWarKids @adaleamusic @XAmbassadors @PSB_HQ with @EERAmusic ashley_shadow_jamz (Instagram), signed to @felte_label
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Cheap Shots (Monday is Rumday):
I think that MTG is a closeted gay woman. When she wants to shout at men she sends surrogates but when she wants to argue with a woman she does it herself. She's Tsundere.
Not gonna lie, this is an eclectic one. Some established artists, some new, a piece of a punk opera, several instrumentals, two tracks I sing backing vocals on, some orchestral work, a spiritual (sort of), some swearing, some EDM and much more. Enjoy!
Here is this week's list of artists, Twitter handles unless otherwise noted:
@CrownLandsMusic @KSulton (I sing 4 notes on this song, along with a multitude of others!) @codyfry (I sing tenor and bass parts as part of the Lonely People International Choir) @LBuckingham @_JoseGonzalez_ @monoofjapan @FUCKEDUP @ColdBeatSF @felicebrothers @smokebellow @WesleyStace @bluntbangsbangs @MonnoneAlone @minitreesband @PuddlesPityP @Crimsonicband @HouseOfSeb @BobbyLeeBoogie with @Mia_Doi_Todd Rijell (no socials that I could find) @JasonIsbell and the 400 Unit with @johnpaulwhite @wpgonzalez @JOANPOLICEWOMAN with @t_allenafrobeat and @dave_okumu_ damienjuradomusic (Instagram) @ogshelbylynne @AvlisSatori
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Believe it or not, I'm old enough to remember Vietnam. I was just a kid, but I had neighbors who had been there. A couple of them were pretty messed up by the experience. Hell, we as a nation were pretty messed up by the experience.
For those of you too young to remember the experience, just take a look at the movies of the time and for nearly two decades after. It was a military failure, and over 52,000 Americans died in the experience.Hundreds of thousands came home scarred, and faced the additional issues of being called baby killers and worse. It took time before we as a nation could separate the soldiers from the mission - something we're much better at now.
I knew a man who lost a leg in Vietnam who would tell people that he lost the leg in a car accident - just so they wouldn't know he was a soldier.
We as a nation were scarred. I'm not sure we ever recovered.
Which now brings me to COVID-19, and what we're facing now.
The death rate from COVID is ELEVEN TIMES what Vietnam was. Nearly 73% more people have died from COVID in under 2 years than have been buried at Arlington in over 150 years.
Do you honestly believe we're not going to be scarred by this?
I am no expert in psychology, but I remember the scars of Vietnam. I remember the scars of 9/11. Neither of these tragedies were of the scale and scope of this Pandemic, and what's so much worse is that this time actual science and medicine have been politicized and weaponized. The fight against a medical disease has good guys and bad guys. Where does that make any fucking sense?
It is where we are. The country was ruled for 4 years by someone with the expressive ability and cognitive skills of a toddler and so the fight has been reduced to that. "Who's the good guys? Who's the bad guys?"
No, god fucking damn it! This isn't good versus evil but it's being expressed this way.
We have gone to war with ourselves and not with the disease that's killed so many people and I'm not sure that we CAN recover from this. We've taken medical treatment and turned it into a political fight and for that the people who have made it so should be damned for all time.
So how are we going to deal with it?
If past is prologue... probably quite badly.
Cheap shots, because you're probably not drinking enough:
Chris Rock getting COVID shows that people can't tell the difference between comedy and reality, and that you should never look at a "trend" on twitter.
New week, new music! This week includes Kasim Sulton, Reckless Kelley, AJ & Aly, Guided by Voices, Saint Etienne, Heartless Bastards, Jerry Gomes, The Vaccines, and much more! Enjoy!
Here is this week's list of artists - twitter handles unless otherwise marked:
@KSulton Darkcave (I wish he'd post socials - he's put out a lot of music this year wanderingwithmusic (Instagram) @alyandaj @katrowbeeshow @recklesskelly @josefsalvat @hello_BOYO_ @whereisMUNA with @phoebe_bridgers @_GuidedByVoices @bobpetesarah @sleighbells @amylandsniffers @AndrewWK @thevaccines @colleengreen420 @heartlessbstrds @KeroKeroBonito @iamjuliabardo @SLOTHRUST david.zott with jjmus.ic (both Instagram) @mamaclars @tigeraband Morgan Mincer with Shukran Isiah Jacobs (no socials I could find - they're on Spotify) @kati_jayde with KOHL Jerry Gomes (no socials I could find - they're on Spotify) Deep Seeded (no socials I could find - they're on Spotify) Gerry Finian (no socials I could find - they're on Spotify) ZsoccA (no socials I could find - they're on Spotify)
In case you're wondering, the last few bands I found by accessing a site called Slaps.com, which is a social media site for musicians with released material.
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Tomorrow is the deadline/election day on the Recall of Governor Gavin Newsome, something which I urge all Californians to vote NO on. And now I bring the receipts:
You hear horror stories from all across the nation now that school is back in session about teachers and staff and especially children getting sick with COVID-19. It's horrible, frightening, and nothing we should subject ANYONE to, but especially not our children and their teachers. Yet in many states it's now actually illegal to require masks or vaccinations.
California allows mandates for both, and does mandate masks. In San Francisco everyone is masked, and everyone over the age of 12 needs to be vaccinated.
I'm going to take one school district, a very large one, and give you some statistics. The School District for the City of San Francisco, 4th largest in the state, has been back to school for a month now and the numbers are downright astonishing.
New cases: ZERO. Cross-contamination cases: ZERO. Potential Mass-spreading events: ZERO.
And why is that? Mandatory vaccines - at a compliance rate of 92%. Mandatory masks.
IT FUCKING WORKS.
All of the major candidates to replace Governor Newsome have stated that they want to do away with these mandates. This will get people - CHILDREN - killed. Fuck 'em all. Gavin has done right by us, and for that he deserves to keep his job.
And because I love you, here is amazing bassist Tony Levin with his own band performing a classic King Crimson song, and a completely new way:
What a week! Music from multiple award winners Sean Waterman and Saahas, plus NEW music from ABBA, Styx, YES, DMX, Moby, Sting, Remerge Band and so much more. ENJOY!
Here the listing of this week's artists, with twitter handles unless otherwise noted:
@seanwaterman @Saahas16 @ABBA @STYXtheBand @yesofficial @NicoleKMusic @DMX with @Bootsy_Collins, @TheIanPaice, and Steve Howe of @yesofficial
@MsKashMusic @BesnardLakes @corywong with @DirtyLoops doing not only a Michael Jackson but possibly the first ever Euphonium Solo in pop music @scarypockets featuring @Swattykins and @LizzyMcAlpine @ainsleymusic07 @hello_BOYO_ @charli_xcx @SammyBrue @thelittleidiot (Just love Moby's twitter handle) @OfficialSting @MonaLisa_Twins @Imaginedragons @suunsband Motorists (I couldn't find any socials - check them out on Spotify, etc.) pearlandtheoystersband (Instagram) @jimmytamborello @meatbodies
@RemergeBand
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So this is the point where I usually rant on politics and injustices, but today I want to talk about something I did this past weekend. I went to an awards ceremony. I'll get back to my usual stuff tomorrow/later.
I was up for 4 (well, 5 - but the 5th was an accident) awards at the Indie Music Channel awards and I won 1 - Best Alternative Band. It was cool.
The first two artists featured above are the artists who beat me in my own categories, You gotta give them love, but I want to just feature a single artist in another category: Rap/Hip-Hop.
An Oakland Rapper named Ms. Kash swept the Rap/Hip-Hop categories, winning every single award. I wasn't going to include her track because it's older, but I'm betting you didn't know it so it's my list, my rules, and I do what I want. You should hear it, and see it.
So because I love you, here is Ms. Kash, with Reign:
As some of you know, I'm a working musician. This means that I record and release singles, EPs and albums, and I have been known to do a live show here and there. But there are places I won't play - and yes, it's political.
I'm of an older generation, where protests are done with our feet and not with the internet. I have marched, although not as often as I probably should. But I have boycotted. Boy have I ever.
Back in the 1980's, Stephen Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band organized a boycott of the biggest performance venue in Africa, Sun City. Sun City was in South Africa and the point of the protest was to protest Apartheid. Until you can stop being racist fucks, we're not playing this venue, no matter how much money you offer us.
This was a big deal, as Sun City at the time was the biggest resort on the continent. It was a hangout for the wealthy and I'm told it was a great place to perform. Little Steven (as he was better known then) used his platform as a member of the most prominent band in the world to get people to stop performing there. He released first a single, then a full album to help fight racism in Africa.
This certainly didn't end Apartheid, but it was part of the construction of the effort that eventually led to its destruction. It elevated the issue into the mainstream international press, which had been ignoring it for decades.
For my part, I took part in the protests that led to my college, UCLA, to divest from South Africa until Apartheid was gone.
And now I feel it's time to do it again - right here in the US.
Given everything happening in generally Republican controlled states, from stupid COVID policies to voting racism to abortion, is anyone interested in doing a version of "I ain't gonna play Sun City" aimed at certain places in the US?
I am.
So in the spirit of "I ain't gonna play Sun City" here is where I ain't gonna play:
Texas: I have friends in Texas, but given the state's racist anti-voting laws, stupid COVID policies and that they're the first state to legalize vigilante anti-abortion tactics the state as a whole can go fuck itself.
Florida: The state is racing with Texas to see who can kill the most people with stupid COVID measures, has revoked voting rights after voters gave them to the disenfranchised, and their stance on minority voting is appalling. I know a guy who is moving his business, and several hundred jobs, out of the state over this.
Georgia: This is a hard one for me, as I have friends I've known for decades who live there, doing important work. But the state as a whole has decided that the legislature can overturn elections if they don't like how they went, so this is a no for me. I might consider making an exception for a venue in the Tyler Perry universe, but the state as a whole is a big no for me.
Alabama: See the reasons above. I have friends here too and the things I hear from them are horrific.
Mississippi: Same.
On voting rights alone I could add another 25 states.
Let's be real though - if I'm the only person who does this nothing will change. Most people have never heard of me and that's unlikely to change anytime soon. That's no reason not to try. Who knows? Maybe Little Steven will read this.
But the thing is, where this really concentrates, aside from little pockets everywhere, are in the former Confederate States and Texas. So I ain't gonna play there.
Not until they get over this horseshit.
And because I love you, here is Little Steven's effort. I mean, just look at the people he got to be involved:
