Young Man Original

Having just re-watched The Kids Are Alright (thanks, Makerbot), I thought I’d post the original of this song in case any of you bastards are unfamiliar.  I purchased Live At Leeds in the early 70’s and for years just assumed YMB was a Townsend song.  I didn’t hear this original until the early 80’s.

The Who weren’t the first to do a heavy cover of Mose Allison.  Acid-rockers Blue Cheer and blues-rocker Johnny Winter recorded “Parchman Farm,” a song about the infamous Mississippi Delta prison camp (Mose was from Mississippi).  Below is the Blue Cheer version, which for some reason they changed to “parchment” (to skirt copyright?)  Although I’m not a huge Blue Cheer fan, they’re interesting enough for a separate post, if for no other reason than they were considered the loudest band in existence.  They also get credit for representing the dark, aggressive underbelly of the late 60’s San Francisco scene.  Some believe them to be the first heavy metal band, and they’re probably right.  Hell’s Angels in particular liked them.  One Angel said that when Blue Cheer played, the air turned to cottage cheese.  I think that was his way of saying they were really loud, although acid might have been involved.

Not-so-fun fact: Vernon Presley did time at Parchman.

You can hear a lot of Mose (and Chet Baker) in Alex Chilton, who put me on to both of them.  My upbringing was jazz-deprived.

Shit

ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill has hopped the twig at 72.

And holy cow, I don’t think I’ve seen this video in 35 years.

For the Sophisticated Bastard

I had never seen a single episode of this show, and didn’t know much about it when some friends dragged me to the first movie.

It was glorious, I was crying within ten minutes, and felt like I got a workout from laughing so hard.

New (Old) Descendents!

According to an excellent Rolling Stone article from May …

Last year, in the middle of pandemic lockdown, Milo Aukerman got a unique opportunity: the chance to sing a handful of songs that he never even knew existed from the back catalog of the Descendents, the pioneering California punk outfit he’s fronted on and off for more than 40 years.

Dating from the first few years after the band’s 1977 formation, the songs — along with many that Aukerman did perform after he joined in 1980 — will finally see release this summer on 9th & Walnut, a newly completed album named after the Long Beach intersection where they practiced early on. A history lesson for Aukerman, the project will be even more so for fans, who have never before had the chance to chart how the Descendents progressed from the jangly, New Wave–influenced sound of their 1979 debut single (“Ride the Wild” b/w “It’s a Hectic World,” recorded by the trio of guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo, and drummer Bill Stevenson) to the caffeinated melodic hardcore of their first releases with Aukerman, 1981’s Fat EP and 1982’s Milo Goes to College.

Full article here. Full album, which just came out yesterday, is embedded above as a playlist. Happy Friday, bastards!

Just Think of Our *Cough* Reputation

Lest anyone lament that we’re losing our perch as the – I don’t know, Vienna of the South – Nashville city leaders are suddenly concerned about the bachelorette parties and pedal wagons.

I’ll let you know when our understated dignity is restore—

Dammit.