Daily Apple

If You Get Too Much...

2008-04-08T19:39:00.027-06:00

A recent run-in with a someone who looks over here every so often prompted an interesting question: "What are you listening to?" How to answer? In the car we had the Walk Hard soundtrack. For the past few days we had been putting final touches on our semi-yearly mailout, and listening to it was a part of that biz. And stuck in our head was "Love is Like Oxygen," by The Sweet. (Don’t know why, just was.) But really, this is what's on the table:

She and Him, Volume One – When we first saw press on it, we wrote it off as "actor/actress gets to play rock star and get unwarranted attention." But then we saw where She (Zooey Deschanel) wrote the songs, and that several sources reported them as "good." Him (M. Ward) also has a rep as being a bit of a weirdo, but an folkie/country weirdo, so this would not be a dance record. What we got is old school production of some candy pop/country/folk songs. These will get you high:

You can’t miss if you rely on "darlin’," and mean it:

Sweet Darlin’

Took it hard, like you knew I would:

Sentimental Heart

Now our favorite. Sounds like someone stayed up all night listening to Wilco’s Summerteeth and then wrote the lost track. Excellent!:

Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?

Black Keys, Attack and Release – These guys have been banging out their brand of blooze for a few years now. They got together with producer Danger Mouse (not his real name, I don’t think) last year with the plan of writing some songs and backing Ike Turner on an album. Ike decided he would rather die than work with the Black Keys and Danger Mouse, and so some of the songs got rolled into this record. I’ve only heard a couple of tunes, but there’s melody hear that hasn’t been before:

Oceans and Streams

Walk Hard Soundtrack – Dewey Cox walked hard from the day he was born. From a poor but proud rural life, unspeakable tragedy struck when Dewey was 10: Dewey cut his brother in half, and lost his sense of smell. Resented by his father, Dewey went his own way, knowing that climbing the mountain "may be a long hard walk, but I will WALK HARD."

In his decades spanning career Dewey reached the highest of highs, only to plummet to the lowest of lows, and then again reach the highest of highs.

All in about an hour and a half.

Sound familiar? It should. It’s the story arc for every bio-pic ever made.

This is real satire, really funny, and really recommended.

In my mind you're blowin' me........kisses:

Let’s Duet

Dewey was good when he was mad at the world:

Guilty As Charged

And Dewey got really good when he got mad at "Mr. Old Guy" in the mid-sixties:

Dear Mr. President

Hey, Mr. Old Guy

Free At Last:

Ladies First

Dewey does Dylan (or Dylan does Dewey?):

Farmer Glickstein

Royal Jelly

Dewey sings the Shel Silverstein song that never existed:

Hole in My Pants

P.S.: You may have seen some Nick Lowe posts up in here. Well, he’s going to roll into Antone’s next Friday, the 18th. Let’s just say that we guarantee that there are worse ways to spend $20 on a Friday night. See you there.

One Last Six Pack To Go

2007-11-10T20:54:00.000-06:00

The great Hank Thompson is now late. An incredible talent, from right up the road in Waco, he was Country and Western.

His last show was October 7, in Waco, with the Brazos Valley Boys.

If you don't already have 'em, please invest in this and this. Your head will explode, in the good way.

Some samples of just a few of my faves to tide you over:

I'm with ya, Hank

Let's Get Drunk and Be Somebody

I'm as free as the breeze and I'll do as I please...

Bummin' Around

Got right next to it, but I couldn't do it...

I've Come Awful Close

Lit up like a Christmas Tree...

Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women

Humorous salute to the DTs. Really.

I See Them Everywhere

The only salvation I see:

On Tap, In the Can, or In the Bottle

It's getting harder to use this ploy these days:

Smokey the Bar

Resistance to My Charms

2007-07-18T23:35:00.000-06:00

More new stuff from Nick.

I Trained Her To Love Me

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

He'll be near your town soon - get out to see him.

Untouched Takeaway

2007-05-27T16:43:00.000-06:00

I've been a Nick Lowe fan for as long as I have had a radio, and a superfan for a good 20 years now - a designation that places me with dozens of others. So now the first in a series of Nick Lowe posts. Your life is about to get a lot richer.

Of all of the horrible injustices in the "music biz", the inexplicable ignorance of Lowe must be one of the most cruel, and not in the "to be kind" way. He's classic, with a load of goodies, and yet gets none of what he deserves. (Every time you turn around Costello is getting credit somewhere for "Peace, Love, and Understanding" - maddening!)

Anyway, here we go again, as Nick releases "At My Age" on June 26. This is his first album release since 2001 ( 9/11/2001 to be exact - damn). It seems he's in a good state these days, but only he could turn his bliss on its head:

Hope for Us All

Trusting you'll pick up the new one on Tuesday, let's go back in time. I could post dozens without scratching the surface, but I'll start with the most recent and work back. From 2001:

If you claim to have ever heard a better description of a more desolate and depressed scene, in only three minutes, your lying:

Lately, I've Let Things Slide

With a growing sense of dread

and a hammer in my head

fully clothed upon the bed

I wake up to the world

That lately I've been living in

There's a cut upon my brow

Must have banged myself somehow

But I can't remember now

And the front doors open wide

Lately I've let things slide

Heartbroken, desperate, pleading for mercy from ...

Cupid Must Be Angry

I know I've had it coming cause I've blown his every plan

And check how the muted trumpet comes in. Fantastic.

Sorry About the Slick Rick Gig

2007-04-04T19:55:00.000-06:00

If you've only heard Rehab, check these out:

You Know I'm No Good

Me and Mr. Jones

Back to Black

HQ album.

Cut your fuckery, pour a cocktail,

and spin it.

(And don't get busted by the carpet burn)

These Kinda Monkeys Can Swing

2007-03-27T23:16:00.000-06:00

The new single from the Arctic Monkeys - Check it Out:

Brianstorm

When It's Late and It's Hot

2007-03-26T23:23:00.000-06:00

Although clearly not as great as 2003's Welcome Interstate Managers, the new Fountains of Wayne disc, Traffic and Weather, sounds pretty good after a listen.

Try this one on for size:

Someone to Love

Now if they could only get Rachel Hunter involved.

Get it at your shop on April 3.

Did You Hear The News?

2007-03-06T00:21:00.000-06:00

I never thought it would come to this:

Rock Saving Riff

"...sources believe it will take place just prior to next month's Fall Out Boy–Honda Civic tour, which many fear will suck the remaining lifeblood from all that still rocks."

Try It Before You Buy It

2007-02-22T21:36:00.000-06:00

Don't know what's going on? Try these on for size:

Three brothers and a cousin have established themselves as the rockinest rockers out there and my personal favorites. Their latest doesn't hit your corner record shop until April 3, but dubious efforts and sources have provided an advance copy. Check a sample:

Kings of Leon - My Party

Badass, right? Right.

Also worth a listen is this one, from SCOTS new album of covers, Countrypolitan Favorites. It's no Bolan, but it sounds pretty smooth...

Southern Culture on the Skids - Life's A Gas

SCOTS will be playing their yearly 5 night stand at Austin's Continental Club March 27 - 31. Don't write 'em off, 'cause they got good time chops, guaranteed.

Out of Dundee, Scotland come these guys, who apparently have had the same jeans on for four days now. I can dig it.

Haven't heard any more yet - the album is out in March. I do know that they had to cancel their US live debut, including SXSW, due to work visa troubles.

The View - Same Jeans

Supposedly Amy likes booze, and is intent on making a public spectacle of the whole thing. Don't know much about that (the British are easily aroused, god love 'em), but this sounds like a Funk Brothers backing track from 1966:

Amy Winehouse - Rehab

What do you do when your band is called The Brokedown and you find out that another band is already called The Brokedown? You change you name to The Broken West!?

A couple of these dudes are former members of Austin's own The Glass Family, til they beat it to El Lay. This is just out, and sounds...good.

The Broken West - Down in the Valley

And finally a patriotic as all hell selection from the Naked Trucker and T-Bones. Ripped from the "uncensored" video on the website.

I LOVE AMERICA too, Trucker............Popcorn!

Naked Trucker's American Dream

Devil's Advocate Overslept

2007-01-26T00:28:00.000-06:00

How about some new-ish music for a change? Yes? Good for you!

EXCELLENT new theme song for your week. Try it. You'll probably lose friends and confuse enemies, but that was going to happen anyway:

I Like It All, Man - Supersuckers

(new server, MEDIAFIRE - just click "click here to start download" and you're in control)

250,000 watts of SOUL POWER, Gonna BLOW YOUR MIND

2007-01-05T23:15:00.000-06:00

Truth be told, Wolfman Jack was neither a wolfman nor a Jack.

Robert Weston Smith was from Brooklyn, growing up on the new "hep cat" DJs of the 50s like "Moondog" Alan Freed and Murry the K. After working in radio and the night club business in New Jersey, he moved to a station in Shreveport, LA, and soon hooked up with a "border blaster", XERF-AM, 1570 on your dial, across the river from Del Rio in Acuna. This is where Wolfman invented his legend and took on a legion of followers.

These Mexican AM stations were not under FCC regulation, which meant that the content, and more importantly the broadcasting power, of the stations were unlimited. In the US, AM power was maxed at 50kW; XERF used a 250kW transmitter. To avoid interference, the transmitter at XERF ran from 6pm to 6am. In the evening, the ionosphere cooled down and the radio signals could really move. You could listen to Wolfman all over the US on most nights, sometimes Canada and Alaska.

"WOLFMAN PLAYS DE BEST RECORDS IN THE BIDNESS, AND THEN HE EAT 'EM!"

Wolfman shows were, in part, an insane musical revival. He was free to say whatever he liked and play what he liked. R&R, R&B, Blues, Hillbilly, Tejano, Opry country, Bluegrass, Jazz - you name it and the Wolfman played it. As his legions grew, his show became a showcase for nitty gritty R&R and all of its variants, and his air checks became a vital part of the show.

The other ingredient of Wolfman's border shows was surreal infomercial. There was no traditional commercial advertising, so the only money coming in was from the products sold on air. Some of the products he pitched:

** Record packages from Ernie's Record Shop in Nashville and Stan's Record Shop in Shreveport. 40 songs for $4.95. Supposedly he would sell 600 record packages a day.

** Mail order Dog Food "The wolfman eat it all the time!"

** Weight loss pills (natch)

** 100 Baby chicks for $3.95 COD "You can walk them around with little leashes. Give them names. And when they grow up, ya can eat 'em."

** Florex pills (some sort of herbal boner pill) "It'll put some zing in your ling!"

** Roach Clips, but he never said what they were really for. "Clip the roaches' tiny little legs to them and throw them out the window!"

Wolfman earned 50% commission on everything he sold and made a tremendous haul. Playing R&R, acting like a lunatic, selling mail order chickens, and getting rich.

Of course once the masses were into Wolfman and the money got huge, he had to pay off so many people to keep it going in Mexico that it got exhausting and dangerous. After a couple of years of broadcasting live from Acuna, and his presence at more than one shootout, Wolfman hit the road and moved to Minnesota where he and another partner had bought a radio station. But part of his deal with XERF was that he would continue to make tapes for the station. So his show continued at XERF for the next few years.

In 1967, he got tired of Minnesota and started a new broadcast back across the border at XERB in Tijuana. This time he had a studio in Los Angeles where he recorded all of the shows. They were then driven down to Mexico to be played at the transmitter. He was still broadcasting out of Acuna, had XERB, and would add shows for XEG in Monterrey and XELO, somewhere in Mexico. All the while Wolfman and his family lived in Beverly Hills. He was the king of border radio, and R&R DJs, until frustration with the Mexican government made him decide to leave Mexico behind. He moved into the 70s with legit radio jobs in LA, American Graffiti, and the Midnight Special.

"WHEREVER YA ARE, WHATEVER YA DOIN', I WANCHA TA LAY BACK, PUT YO HANDS ON THE RAY-DEE-OOO, AND SQUEEZE MY KNOBS!"

No, the Apple never heard the guy on the air while he was alive. But it's not all hearsay and myth making - you can still hear archival recordings as MP3s over at the Wolfman Jack Online Museum.

The fact is, whether he was on the X blasting out of Acuna or the Midnight Special with Helen Reddy (introducing KISS to lip-sync "Christine Sixteen"), Wolfman proselytized R&R. At his best he was a total lunatic and the biggest fan of the music he played, reaching right through the radio and making wherever you were the best place to be. So take a moment and reflect on the X, the magic of R&R, and clap for the Wolfman.

Heard it on the X - ZZ Top, 1975

Clap For the Wolfman - Guess Who, 1972

"WE ARE PUT ON THIS EARTH TO HAVE A GOOD TIME. THIS MAKES OTHER PEOPLE FEEL GOOD. AND THE CYCLE CONTINUES."

Hey Tammy, So Would I!

2006-12-29T13:49:00.000-06:00

A Christmas/New Year quickie to get this thing started. More explanation, exaltation, exhilaration, editing, and enthusiasm will come. Ease up and let the Apple ripen, man. We have very little idea what's going on here.

You'll find that we are using "FileHo!" to get music posted. It works well for posting a few files, like the Apple does here. Just use the link below to get to File Ho, right click, Save Target As, download, and enjoy.

So, speaking of New Year's Eve partying Jesus, here's an inspiring piece of kuntry kroonin' from that pure-as-the-driven-slush Tammy Wynette.

Ah yes, Tammy's holy salvation fantasy with Jesus and Wolfman Jack on stage on The Midnight_Special for some New Testament boogie revival that will "turn the whole world on." There is no doubt that this was intended as a message of devotion (to Jesus and/or late night television) upon it's release in 1978 on the "Womanhood" LP. And yes, Tammy gets a writing credit. But now that the pop references are long long (long) since forgotten, it's just really confusing. For those who haven't forgotten, its pure fantabublastphemous. And look out for that key change!

One nagging question: Would Jesus be lip-syncing on this episode?

We hope so. And tossing that groovy hair.

Jesus-on-the-Midnight-Special