VIDEO: "LOUNGE GARAGE" PERFECTED IN SANDY NELSON'S "HEY JOE!" (1966) (MILDLY NSFW)

OK, so "Hey Joe" is already one of my fave rave songs of the 1960s, so I'm up for hearing any version of it I can get my hands on, yeah? This week in my thrift store runs I came across drummer Sandy Nelson's "Superdrums!" LP from 1966 and put it in my cart WITH NO HESITATION AT ALL when I spotted "Hey Joe" as one of the tracks on this instrumental record. I got it home, cleaned it up a lil', and plopped it on the turntable, and this BIG smile came across my face! Wow! What a BOSS GROOVE! Going off the Leaves' superb hit version from the same year, horns replacing the crazy fuzz guitar slices, studio dudes interjecting "HEY! JOE!" every so often, and Nelson's signature rolling triplet fills and propulsive shuffle beat, the song is a time warp stone GAS -- a little cheesy, and a lot rockin'.

I was personally offended that this marvelous song did not have its own video, so I made one for it using vintage footage featuring dancers of the era, including a marvelously enthusiastic young lady in her undergarments. You might receive a quizzical look from your boss if you play this at work, but hey -- he or she might just bust out with a wicked Frug, too. You won't know until you try! Please to enjoy!

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I MADE YOU A CHILDREN'S BOOK NOT FOR CHILDREN: SUMMER ACTIVITIES FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

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IPHONE PHOTO MINI-ROUNDUP: GAS WORKS PARK, SEATTLE

It was a gorgeous summer day yesterday in the Pacific Northwest, and we found ourselves at the very unique and cool Gas Works Park in Seattle: From the park website:

This 20 acre point on Lake Union was cleared in 1906 to construct a plant to manufacture gas from coal - later converted to crude oil. Import of natural gas in the 1950's made the plant obsolete. The city acquired the site for a park in 1962. The park was opened to the public in 1975. The boiler house has been converted to a picnic shelter with tables, fire grills and an open area. The former exhauster-compressor building, now a children's play barn, features a maze of brightly painted machinery.

I shot just a few fonephotos and thought I would share them with you. Gas Works Park is a must-do stop on any Seattle visit, travelers!

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HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY RAY DAVIES!

Tomorrow, June 21st, the inimitable Ray Davies turns 70 years old. I'm very comfortable with calling him "inimitable," having suffered through many possibly well-meaning attempts by other musicians over the last 50 years or so to jack his style. Writing a pseudo-nostalgic tune about blueberry scones whilst singing with a fake British accent does not cut it, my friends, no, no, and no. Ray Davies became an influential and honored songwriter by running with, through instinct or design, his major strength. He is able to take his razor-sharp observational skills, dust them with equal measures of contempt and compassion, and offer us tiny, perfect song-worlds filled with all-too-human characters that we can relate to, that we can sing along with, and remember always.

In the best of Davies' work, we feel a depth that is not often present in the work of most of his British Invasion songwriter peers, and that does include Lennon/McCartney, Townshend, and Jagger/Richards. The focus is smaller yet sharper, the expected subjects turned around, swagger twisted to anger, love as more of a distant concept than messy, heady reality. When faced with the overwhelming content demands placed on him as the leader and primary songwriter for the Kinks, he turned inward rather than outward for inspiration, so in looking back we now find very little of trendiness or hollowness in his work. Write what you know, sage advice goes, and Davies excels at this because he is able to not only translate from his own personal experience, but can hone in on what is essential to understand about others as well. 

This vision depends upon higher levels of clarity and empathy; these are gifts, to be sure, but ones that also come with a great cost. Seeing humanity in all its beauty and brutality is an overwhelming thing, and it does not come with an "OFF" switch. Without question, Davies has struggled with doubt and deep withdrawal, at times can be cagey and cruel, yet remains far more accessible than the above-mentioned peers, and often is quite kind, even when there is no one to see it or laud it. The contradictions he presents are not so different from our own, but he takes them and makes them into art, often with tremendous wit and balance. He remains, at 70, a man still invested in becoming a better writer, still understanding that staying outside the mainstream and embracing imperfections keeps him fueled. He is fairly amazed by how his career has gone and how much he is cared for, which is actually rather lovely.

Happy birthday, Ray.

Ray Davies, "Johnny Thunder" and "The Village Green Preservation Society," Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY. 12/12/08

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I MADE YOU SOME FATHER'S DAY CARDS

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SONGS MORRISSEY WOULD PERFORM IF HE DIDN'T CANCEL HIS TOUR BECAUSE OF A COLD

Frail grumpy pop legend Morrissey has, once again, canceled a slew of concerts because of illness. This time, because of a respiratory infection contracted by, his representatives claim, opening act Kristeen Young (which she adamantly refutes, by the way), fans will once again be deprived of an evening of intractable surly emotionalism and middle-aged man chest-baring.

But...what if Morrissey stuck to the ol' showbiz adage "the show must go on?" Hey, it could happen, and if it ever did, I've made up a setlist for him, adjusted to reflect his current tragic circumstances. Sniff sniff, cough cough!

1. Heaven Knows I'm Even More Miserable Now

2. Mouthbreather Strikes Again

3. Really, Still Ill

4. That Sneeze Isn't Funny Anymore

5. Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This Cough Before

6. Snotblowers of The World Unite

7. You Have Infected Me

8. Rhinovirus Beach

9. All You Need Is Kleenex

10. The Last of The Famous Immunodeficient Playboys

Encore:

1. The Boy With The Phlegm In His Lungs

2. Sinusitis Take A Bow

3. This Robitussin Man

4. William, It Was Really Influenza

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28 YES 28 MORE WEIRD RECORD COVERS FROM VALUE VILLAGE THRIFT STORES!

HOO-EEE!  Das rite, you read it co-rek-lee...it's a MEGA-BLOWOUT SUPER POST of dusty old donations from our musical past! CAN YOU DIG IT??? I KNOW THAT YOU CAN! Please to enjoy!

Do you need to really annoy someone? Put this on at home but use a garden hose. Inside the house, of course.

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FOR BETSY

The bluest sky you've ever seen, in Seattle
I find the sun to warm me
Bleach away the pain
The unfairness of it!
A perfect couple pulled apart
Sweat and tears, salt in my eyes
She is gone.

I look up
There is no Big Guy there for me
But there is something, a presence
So many hearts connected
Love and grief thrown into the air
On a beautiful day.
We start to navigate our loss
Together, this way.

I know there was nothing I could do.
I know there was nothing anyone could do.
I know
I know
I know
I know
I know
I know
And it still doesn't make me feel any better
Because admitting we are helpless
Is just too much.
It's too much.

And hills the greenest green, in Seattle
I wish she could see it today.
I wish she could dance on the grass.
I wish
So very much
On a beautiful day.

When you find your own true love, you will know it
She did!
They did!
And that love bought her time
And made her fearless
And there wasn't a heart that they didn't touch
So many beautiful days!

She is gone
And she is not!
And if you knew her, you would know
She is a part of us, a gift.
We are better and stronger
Because she was better and stronger
And that will be passed on and on
Seeds in the air, wildflowers blooming in an endless spring
And that is so damn beautiful
That I have to smile.

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12 ODD KNICK-KNACKS FROM 3 VALUE VILLAGE THRIFT STORES!

Hello, Fellow Fans of Found Foolishness! A couple weekends ago, I made it to THREE YES THREE Value Village thrift stores here on Seattle's Eastside, and collected some images from the rows and rows of tchotchkes for you. Ponder them in good health, and please to enjoy!

UH OH. TROUBLE.

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