Happy Tom Waits Day!

1941: Pearl Harbor attack

1946: deadliest hotel fire in US history (Atlanta, GA)

1970: Rube Goldberg dies

1980: Darby Crash o.d.'s

1982: first lethal injection in the US

1993: maniac Colin Ferguson opens fire on a crowded Long Island train.

Tom Waits' birthday might be the least depressing thing that has happened on Dec. 7th in the 20th century. Here are 16 live tracks from various international locations, various years and varying audio quality.

Tom's tall tales

Eddie Cochran/Gene Vincent

Recalling post #1, insight (hopefully) into established icons is among my foci. And, as with Buddy Holly, both of these gentlemen have an abundance of 'best-of' compilations cluttering the marketplace . . .

For the uninitiated, here are 2 affordable & priceless comps.:

EC on Amazon -- GV on Amazon

some further insight, maybe:

EDDIE COCHRAN:

- LIVE FAST, LOVE HARD, DIE YOUNG: rec. mid-1955 -- a 16-year-old Eddie flaunts his prescience . . .

- I'M READY: rec. early 1956

- MEAN WHEN I'M MAD: rec. 3/57

- 11/2/57 Freeman Hover interview @ Albany Hotel, Denver, CO: conducted directly before the B. Holly interview.

- 2/7/59 on LA, CA's 'Town Hall Party' TV show: Johnny Bond interviews Eddie & band members. The strangest thing about this interview is that NO mention is made of the horrible plane crash that happened 4 days before.

- THINK OF ME (UK single version): prob. rec. 4/59

- JELLY BEAN (long false-start): rec. Summer-Fall 1959

- EDDIE'S BLUES: rec. 8/25/59

GENE VINCENT: vocals -- EDDIE COCHRAN: vocals/guitar

- intro/WHITE LIGHTNIN' (Live) (2/19/60 on 'Boy Meets Girls' TV show) (incomplete): intro by Marty Wilde

GENE VINCENT: vocals -- EDDIE COCHRAN: guitar

- MY HEART/interview (BBC session), 'Saturday Club' radio show -- probably rec. 2-23-60

GENE VINCENT:

- JEZEBEL: rec. 6-24-56, Vincent's 2nd-ever recording session -- orig. recorded by Frankie Laine & covered by the likes of The Mummies, Reverend Horton Heat, Big Bobby & The Nightcaps, The Controllers & Desi Arnaz,

- GONNA BACK UP BABY: rec. 6-25-56

- IMPORTANT WORDS: rec. 10-18-56

- YOU BETTER BELIEVE: rec. 10-18-56

- I GOT IT: rec. 6-19-57

- ROLLIN' DANNY: rec. 6-19-57

- ANNA ANNABELLE: rec. 10-17-58

- LAVENDER BLUE: rec. 3-16-64

side note: the incredible guitar-playing of Cliff Gallup can be found on Jezebel-> You Better Believe.

Groundhogs: don't let the name fool you ...

Sabbath . . . Zeppelin . . . Groundhogs. They are, quite simply, everything GREAT about English rock music from the early 1970's; Groundhogs are the one that got away, sad to say -- unsung, but influential to all. Anyone familiar with the Fall's catalogue knows the name [to date, 2 recorded covers: "Junkman" (1994) & "Strange Town"(2008)]. Here is a 96-minute primer of this 3-piece:

P.S. Listen up for 'Garden' (1970) . . . then compare it to Zep's 'In The Light' (rec. 1974). You're welcome, Jimmy.

Commence with the pounding-of-fists on your automobile's dashboard/steering-wheel:

Thank Christ For The Bomb

Radio Birdman: 'Murder City Nights' bootleg

Admittedly, the sound quality ain't pristine . . . Zip it and take yer medicine.

11/76 @ Double Jay Studios, Sydney, Australia

The above bootleg is taken from my own collection; a far more impressive live set awaits you here . . .

'Back From The Grave' vinyl-exclusives

For better or worse, here they are . . .

I can see why songs like 'Snoopy' (a 'you-had-to-be-there' cover of The McCoys' 'Hang On Sloopy') or The Mods' cover of 'Satisfaction' ('Seuss-less information' ???????) did not make the CD-cut . . . and then there are gems like 'I Won't Be Home', 'What In the World' & 'So Good'.

Go buy the CD's.

P.S., exclusion/inclusion: (1) You can easily find/purchase The Sonics' 'Santa Claus' (BFTG #4). (2) However (despite its availability), I could not resist including Bunker Hill's 'The Girl Can't Dance'; listen up & you'll hear Link Wray & the Raymen backing that maniac.

Take the World As It Comes,

Capt.

Bill Hicks/Ron Shock

Bill Hicks (1961-1994):

3-15-92 in Toronto, ON: Bill does some crowd-work . . . the crowd isn't mic'd, so it sounds like he's speaking to an empty room more often than not; the audience seems

unresponsive. Also, he has a 104˚ temperature. Despite these hurdles, this is one of my favorite Bill Hicks recordings. A random jewel (surely ad-libbed) line (an outro, really): 'I wanna thank Canada for springing Howie [Mandell] on the world . . . you have a lot of explaining to do . . . you gotta show your work on that one . . . perhaps a little foot-work . . .'

3-15-92 in Toronto

1992 in Chicago:

Most people focus on the 'You suck/I'm a drunk cunt' section of this show, but I personally find it interesting that Hicks (surely exhausted at this point, after the initial tirade) singled out the individual who later yelled 'Free Bird' and attempted to engage him psychologically. Memorize Hicks' response, it could come in handy at your next musical outing.

1992 in Chicago

Ron Shock (1942- ): raconteur-extraordinaire & one interesting individual.

CAR CHASE STORY: I was introduced to Shock by seeing him tell a slightly-abbreviated version of this anecdote on FOX's 'Comic Strip Live: Comics Come Home (Texas)' c. 1990 -- (FYI: the size of a .357 Magnum barrel, when it is pointin' at you, is comparable to the base of a mic stand).

Car Chase Story

Newspaper Story 2006, pt. 1: train-wreck -- my history . . . train-wreck

Newspaper Story 2006, pt. 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRqyy-OQLHU

http://www.myspace.com/ronshockcomedy

Teenage Head

Ontario, Canada, recorded 1977-1978. Released in 1979. I first heard friends speak of this album in 1996, which probably had something to do with the fact that it had been re-issued the previous year. ---------- It blew my top! --------- This is that version. A straight-forward sound, yes, but undeniably fantastic. Judging by the album cover (at lower-left), it seems as if the higher-up's wanted a new-wave appeal, but these sounds are far from that. Frankie Venom (R.I.P.) hiccups like Gene Vincent, and Gord Lewis plays guitar like Johnny Thunders (oh, those wonderful neck-slides). Steve Mahon & Nick Stipanitz, whatta rhythm section! I recommend 'Ain't Got No Sense', 'Lucy Potato', & 'Top Down' for starters. The (far-more-prevalant) 2005 re-issue is a travesty; many unfortunate and/or ill-advised overdubs. Here is the 1995 re-issue.

Teenage Head (1979)