Archive
pulling hrabbits out of hrats
No, this isn’t about magicians pulling rabbits out of hats… or scientists (pulling habits out of rats?). This post is all about Mr. George Hrab (aka “Geo”).
I found Geo’s podcast last October. It quickly shot up to being one of my favorite podcasts, then I got his CDs from CDBaby (I♥CDBaby), and I loved his music even more. He’s got a love for Frank Zappa and the Talking Heads, interesting fauna, science, skepticism (of woo-woo and other things), big band arrangements, great drumming, humor in music, seriousness in music, constant learning / teaching (reading through his liners, that’s apparent), and maintaining all around professionalism as a musician. He has his own music plus he drums (& conducts the bidness end of things) for the Philadelphia Funk Authority.
Anyway, via his podcasts, he puts out about an album’s worth of comedy & rockin’ gold every week… for free. Every Thursday morning, it’s on my “must listen now” rotation, no matter how big my backlog of other podcasts may be.
Geo’s Podcast RSS:
Geo’s Podcast on iTunes (FYI… podcasts are free):
Geo’s also a big dork. I say that in the good way. He recently wrapped up his “Occasional Songs for the Periodic Table” songs… 118 elements… 75 minutes (or so). Some great stuff… the songs / the lyrics
His CDs are great… and his packaging on them is superb. He puts a lot of thought into the unique way that he packages each one. From the sprawling art of Minutæ, the tin case and prescription look and feel of Vitriol, the textbook / field study guide arrangement of Coelacanth, and the sleek dualism of Interrobang?!.
A clever, Brady Bunch-ish video for “The Assumption” from Interrobang?! “The Assumption” is sort of indicative of his pop music side, but he also gets funky, rocky, proggy, instrumental and vocal songs, et cetera on his records.
Sample some of his other songs on iTunes or CDBaby (samples in both venues). Some of my favs from each album…
[sic] (1996) “[sic]” (#10)
Minutiæ (1999) “Minutiæ (Sheer Brick AM)” (#12)
Vitriol (2001) “Monkey Hip Dysplasia” (#1)
Coelacanth (2003) “The Coelacanth Sighs” (#8 )
Interrobang?! (2006) “Who Dogs the Outlet” (#12)
His book, called Non-Coloring Book, is compiled from blog posts, podcast bits, and additional new material is also quite funny. I got it on Lulu.com via the PDF version for only $3.95. It’s also available as a physical book (for slightly more).
Anyway, this is my “I love George Hrab” post. Soon, you’ll write your own “I love George Hrab” post, I’m sure.
http://www.geologicrecords.net/ (his record company)
http://www.geologicpodcast.com/ (his podcast)
http://www.georgehrab.com/ (his blog)
http://www.phillyfunk.com/ (his funk band)
“Jazz Snob: Eat Sh*t”
Some recent DIME torrents of old Naked City shows got me to wishing I could be nostalgic (even though I didn’t get into them until 3 or 4 years ago)…
Don’t have your speakers on too loud… here’s 28 seconds of delish jazz-core (mp3 link) from Naked City (a supergroup of misfits in John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Fred Frith, Joey Baron, Yamataka Eye).
from Torture Garden and Grand Guignol
Definitely not for everyone. The bleeding edge of art jazz…
~Dan – np: (oddly enough… not art jazz) Extreme‘s new song on MySpace called “Star” (it’s very Queen-y)
The Tango Saloon – Transylvania
The Tango Saloon has a new CD coming out entitled Transylvania… trouble is it’s only in Australia now. :(
Maybe Ipecac will get it for U.S. release? Their last one, Julian Curwin’s The Tango Saloon, was wicked good… spaghetti western, tango, jazz, off-kilter goodness. A song from it showed up on a fancy Mix CD I made a few years back…
http://www.myspace.com/manwiththebongos (Tango Saloon’s MySpace)
http://www.myspace.com/thefantasticterrificmunkle (precursor to Tango Saloon)
~Dan – np: Tango Saloon “Kiss of Death” on MySpace
Extreme… and a Naked Video
Double-packed post… unrelated topics (Extreme & nakedness)… what else is new? For nakedness, skip to the bottom…
First off… yes, I like Extreme. The band from the early 90s. They were awesome. No regrets. They were so much artier than what aired on the radio. I saw them in 1995 (Bogart’s in Cincinnati), and it was one of my favorite shows… EVER. They broke up later that year (or in early 1996).
Anyway, they’re back together. New album, new tour. I’ll be flying to Cincinnati (on SkyMiles) to see them at the Union Center Blvd Bash on Sunday, August 10th… as my bro lives, like, 2 miles from there. They just put out a press release for their upcoming album…
(June 9, 2008 ) New York, NY – This summer, EXTREME will release Saudades de Rock (pronounced “sow-dodge“), their first studio album in thirteen years which will coincide with their first world tour in over twelve years. Saudades de Rock will be released on August 12th on Open E Records and distributed by Fontana.
The iconic rock foursome – vocalist Gary Cherone, guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, bassist Pat Badger and new drummer Kevin Figueiredo – recorded their fifth studio offering at NRG Studios in Los Angeles with Bettencourt at the helm as producer and mixer. Saudades de Rock boasts 13 tracks, including the infectious roar of “Star,” the groove-laden, swagger of “King”, a raw funk rock anthem called “Learn To Love”, and the expressive ballad “Ghost.”
“‘Saudades’ was always a beautiful word to me,” Bettencourt explains about the Portuguese album moniker. “It expresses a longing; an underlying sadness for something or someone that’s been missing in your life, and never quite sure if it will ever return. In this case, for us, it’s Rock and Roll. Saudades de Rock.”
Gary Cherone adds, “I like how it expresses that longing we’ve been feeling to play for our fans and be together again.”
The multi-platinum, Boston-bred band’s 2008 ‘TAKE US ALIVE’ world tour gets underway on July 29th at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and will be anchored by a hometown gig two days later at the Bank of America Pavilion. In advance of the tour, Extreme will be a co-headliner on July 11th at the five day Rocklahoma Festival in Pryor, OK.
www.extreme-band.com
www.myspace.com/extremeSaudades de Rock track listing:
1. Star
2. Comfortably Dumb
3. Learn To Love
4. Take Us Alive
5. Run
6. Last Hour
7. Flower Man
8. King Of The Ladies
9. Ghost
10. Slide
11. Interface
12. Sunrise
13. Peace (Saudade)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now for the nakedness…
This video is brought to you by the Brighton Port Authority (a pseudonym for Fatboy Slim)… it is both clever, funny, and catchy… and nude… but cleverly so…
THE Brighton Port Authority (aka The BPA)
“TOE JAM” feat. DAVID BYRNE & DIZZEE RASCAL
(no actual nudity,
but still probably not suitable for work)
Delightful…
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
Amazon.com mp3 downloads
Creative Commons
This blog and concert photos therein are licensed under a Creative Commons License. Available with Attribution for Non-Commercial, Non-Derivative Use.
pacificlectic : concert reviews & eclectic music news 