Rock n Roll in the Real World

(Click Me)

BDP - The Bridge is Over.mp3

The Von Bondies Photo Blog is fun.

I missed the Hives on Letterman, but I see they are supposed to be on Leno Monday.

I got the Hives new album and I like it. I also bought Nico's "Chelsea Girls" which I've now bought twice. Once on Napster, and now in a hardcopy. I love it SO MUCH!!


I haven't posted in a while because I was waiting to get my "I'm a Manatee" t-shirt from Jim Gaffigan (I couldn't write about it, 'cause it was a present for Jaime and she reads this site, and then I would of given away the surprise).

But I was really excited to tell you to go to his site and watch the clip of his act, so you would know what the shirt means. But his bandwidth is exceeded. So, we'll have to wait till next month. Bookmark http://www.jimgaffigan.com/ and hit up next week for some funny.

The T-Shirts he has are the coolest, hipest t-shirts I've ever seen (there are more in the Jim Gaffigan store). And, when you buy any one of the three Manatee ones, he donates some of the dough to Adopt-a-Manatee.

"I have a layer of blubber to keep me warm in the ocean!"
--
UPDATE:  Jim's site is back up. Go get the Manatee clip and more. I found a copy of the Manatee clip from Dr. Katz in my cache on my hard drive.  It's only 360 kb so you Dial-Uppers can get it just as easy as everyone else.

Jim Gaffigan on Dr. Katz - Manatee.asf (360kb)

Roadrunner, Roadrunner!! Go to the big ticket. Download this song. Rock. Bookmark. Keep going back.

what i'm listening to Right Now: Mando Diao - Picture Clip
---------------------------------------



Dang, nelliemckay.net has got some new stuff up by this girl NOT named Nelly McKai. Even the video of her View performance.

Now I just need to stumble on the YYY's and the Hives on Letterman from this past week.

I was remembering that great Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs annoys the opera singer.



In the beginning, Bugs sings this catchy little number called "A Rainy Night In Rio." Thinking of this song, I googled it. I stumble on this A-MAZING website!!!

It's called CarlinAmerica.com

On this site you can stream Real Media files of all these great songs. Not exactly full versions, but almost every clip I've found is close to or over 2 minutes.

Here is "Rainy Night in Rio"

And here is "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

Here's "Hanky Panky"

"Pancho & Lefty"

"Total Eclipse of the Heart"

"Yummy Yummy"

"Zing! Went My Heartstrings"

Well the King and Caroline website will soon not include my picture. We talked about it and it's for the best all around.

We started out with promises of working on my songs and it never seemed to materialize. My songs are...different than theirs. I'm a little bit country, they're a little bit rock and.....well maybe it's not quite a Donny and Marie lyric.

I'm more of a comedian see. I started learning the guitar because I wanted to write songs that had some of the funny in 'em (but aren't "novelty songs"). I dream of doing a one man show about marriage. My songs are supposed to be a part of it.

"Been Swearin' too Often" is a funny song I wrote. You've heard it (It's over there--> in the "I'll Sing a Song for You" area). But it's also a serious commentary on issues in relationships. Sorta.

"I Wish I Was A Woman" is over there too. It's a funny-ish tune. But I try to have a bit of a point with it (that being that Men and Women aren't really that different).

Well, I've been trying to get a good recording of my masterwork up here for a while. It's called "Never Made Love" and it's a song based on my theory: When you are singing about losing your virginity on your wedding night, it becomes socially acceptable to be more vulgar than you might normally be able to get away with.

But, you see, I don't play the guitar that great (hence, no picture on the King and Caroline site anymore). So I have to practice a ton to be able to sing halfway decent (I just record live into my computer). I keep messing up the recordings, so I don't have that song ready for you...yet.

The good news is that Grandma is coming into town next week. That means I have to practice extra for the inevitable "Grandmapalooza" that will occur every night till she leaves 5 days later.

Now all this brings me to the song I want to show off to you tonight. It's called "October Ride" and I wrote it because I was doing these open-mike's and was singing things like "How Can It Be That She (can talk so much)" and "Been Swearin" and "You Won't Be Happy Until I'm Miserable." Those are all love songs, but they're also a little mean. So I needed something to counter-act that. I needed a sweet love song to finish off the show. I get good laughs (and make my points) with all the others and then I finish off with "October Ride" and it's harmonica solo, and everyone thinks Jaime is married to the greatest, funniest, sweetest guy ever.

Matthew Cox - October Ride.mp3

Funny story: After the whole King and Caroline "we gotta talk" speech, Jaime and I decide to walk over to the Crab Shack on the James River. A calamari app. and a Coca-Cola later, we get caught in a torrential downpour and get soaked. Perfect end to the night! Here we are on our front porch, stripped to our underwear.



PS Sorry to have such a self-serving post, but it's been an curious night, and according to my stats, no one really reads this thing on Fridays so it's a good night for self indulgence.

what i'm listening to Right Now:  The Hives - Abra Cadaver
-----------------------------------------

You can stream the whole hives album at NME.com.  I haven't bought it yet, but I have a three dollar credit at Plan 9 Records and it will go to this.


(Click picture to visit)

(click on the pics to see bigger versions)


We left Late Thursday. Napped just past Baltimore; then we drove into the city in daylight 


These cops on Mulberry street locked their keys in their running squad car. They were using a coat hanger to try and get back in. 


Cops ride Segway scooters on the Boardwalk at Coney Island 


Jaime on the Boardwalk 


Get to work! Only 351 days left! 


Self Portrait in Porta-Potty. 


Artsy heh? 


We rode the Cyclone of course! 


And I got "Cyclone Hair" 


We saw bands too!    I didn't have a fancy press-pass so without the marvels of digtal-zoom, I would have never got this picture.  It's TV on the Radio by the way.


I call this one, "Astroland sign with star, building, and caboose" 


Needless to say, Jaime did not ride this ride. 


The "shared-bath" hotel. 


View out the hotel window. 

"MAX DROPOUT HAS VENDETTA'S AGAINST EVERYONE!" -Anonymous

Ahh, the Hudson. I miss you already NYC. 

Von Bondies Photo-Blog

What a show.

I remind you of the last time I saw the Mooney Suzuki live. One of the great experiences of my life. I have since asked Longwave what they remember of that show. Now I've asked the Mooney Suzuki what they remember. I just have to hit the Raveonettes and White Light Motorcade and I'll have asked every act on the bill that night.

Anywho, Jaime took all these pictures and they look way better than all my concert shots. Good job Sugar Bear!






They had these wild 60's Mod lookin' outfits on. Sammy the Singer had huge Mutton-Chops.

The drummer was amazing. He actually came out from behind his drumset during "Young Man's Mind" and did the Worm. YES!! The Breakin' 2 "Electric Bugaloo" WORM!! And mid-song, he would stand on his drums and still play and keep up with the song.

Here is Sammy's chops and the drummer standing on his drums:



See the chops? See the drummer lookin' slick in his vest?



The bass player dropped his pick.




Jaime ran over and picked it up; and then, the next day, she surprised me with that frame you see up above. Here it is again:



See, that's the pick, that's the ticket-stub, and then a few of the pictures. Isn't that sweet?

Jaime and I liked the drummer so much we got a picture with him after the show. See the bass player giving the bunny-ears? They actually came out afterwards to the merch table and signed autographs. So cool. That's when I asked them what the remembered about the American University show. They remembered right away. I don't think anyone who was there will forget that night!

Oh, before I forget, the lead guitarist guy had one of those vocoder duu-flochies like "Do You Feel Like We Do" Frampton.



He told Jaime he liked her "Hamburger Heaven" t-shirt that her Mom used to wear back in the 70's.

And near the end of the show, Sammy jumped down in the audience and the guitarist got on his shoulders and Sammy walked him around the crowd while he kept playing! And the drummer got on the bassist's shoulders with that big foam number one that they always wave around (here he is goose-stepping with it:



And here he is when he was right in front of Jaime and I:



But it would have looked more like this:



New York is Getting Closer!!