The Red Hot Chili Peppers are a band that I’ve admired more than actually liked. With a few notable exceptions, most of their songs leave me cold. “Breaking the Girl” is one of those exceptions and it’s an excellent one. I love how the tension of this melancholy masterpiece builds until it crashes about 3/4 of the way through. The video, directed by Stéphane Sednaoui, is also really good and one of my favorites from probably the last era of my life when music videos actually meant something. From the gazillion selling 1991 album “Blood Sugar Sex Magik.”
And now for something a little less serious … but no less awesome. Bob Log III is a one-man punk blues extravaganza. During performances, he wears a human cannonball suit with a helmet wired to a telephone receiver, which frees his hands to play guitar and his feet to play drums. When he’s feeling especially frisky, he invites female audience members to sit on each of his legs while he plays. While the above clip is a pretty cool animated video someone made for Bob’s song “My S–t is Perfect,” there’s an example of Bob in action is below:
Tom Waits is a fan and said: “”And then there’s this guy named Bob Log, you ever heard of him? He’s this little kid — nobody ever knows how old he is — wears a motorcycle helmet and he has a microphone inside of it and he puts the glass over the front so you can’t see his face, and plays slide guitar. It’s just the loudest strangest stuff you’ve ever heard. You don’t understand one word he’s saying. I like people who glue macaroni on to a piece of cardboard and paint it gold. That’s what I aspire to basically.”
There’s Bill Cosby’s classic descriptions of dealing with small children … and then there’s Louis C.K.’s. The language here is really rough … not even remotely work or family safe. But if you’re offended by this, then you’ve never been a parent … let alone had to deal with a 3-year old on any long-term basis. From his album, “Hilarious.”
Nowadays, most people know Bob Forrest as the counselor with the hat on numerous Dr. Drew Pinsky reality series (“Celebrity Rehab”). However, lesser known these days is that Forrest was also the leader of Thelonious Monster, one of the most highly-regarded alternative LA bands of the 1980s / 1990s. Along with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, and Fishbone, Thelonious Monster was part of a vibrant and exciting Los Angeles music scene that didn’t involve hairspray and makeup.
Forrest and his band had several shots at the brass ring, including record deals with RCA and Capitol Records, but never broke through the way the Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction did, mainly due to Forrest’s excessive substance abuse. Forrest’s low points were extremely low, including washing a syringe in dish soap that an HIV-positive drug shooting buddy had just used because he did not have one at the time. Even Dr. Drew, who knew Forrest as a frequent guest on his nationally syndicated KROQ-FM talk show “Loveline” assumed Forrest was dead at one point.
But Forrest did manage to clean up. And after several humble years working as a dishwasher, started work in drug counseling, where he has had tremendous success helping addicts stay sober.
Forrest’s story is told in an excellent documentary called “Bob and the Monster.” The movie has been on the festival circuit since 2011, but is now reaching video with an added coda discussing events since 2011. “Monster” is not just a terrific time capsule of a great era in recent music history, but a compelling story about how anyone, no matter how low they’ve sunk, can turn their life around and make a tremendous difference in the lives of others. Featuring interviews with Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Courtney Love, Gibby Haynes, Keith Morris, and Steven Adler among many others.
Also highly recommended is Forrest’s autobiography “Running with Monsters” which has just been released as well.
Dave’s Strange Radio is officially back on the air. When I thought about creating an internet radio station, for a split second I thought about ways I could try to appeal to more people … only playing certain songs or bands that would appeal to a certain demographic. I thought how the station could make money, etc. And once I started going down that road, it was no longer any fun for me. If I’m going to devote time and heart to this, this was going to be a labor of love if there ever was one.
I decided my role model would be comedian Andy Kaufman when he created his Carnegie Hall Show in 1979. He basically made this show everything he ever wanted to see in a live show and as weird or incongruous it may have been, he freakin’ did it the way he wanted and let everyone else catch up. And that’s what I wanted to do with Dave’s Strange Radio.
The station is an extremely broad mix of garage punk, classic rock, prog rock, soul, hip-hop, comedy, folk, and all kinds of weirdness in between and outside the margins. While the material on Dave’s Strange Radio may not appeal to everybody, it’s all stuff that’s been personally selected by yours truly and is all stuff that I love and enjoy immensely. The station will evolve over time and more stuff will be added. However so far, there’s nearly 7 days worth of material that you can listen to without a repeat…
Please let me know what you think … or if you have trouble tuning in …
The very moving final scene of David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” with Sheryl Lee and Kyle Maclachlan. The film itself is very uneven, but this ending always puts a lump in my throat. This is among the five best scenes in any Lynch film.
More early Halloween greetings. This time from The Cramps … from their 1980 album “Songs the Lord Taught Us.” I will say that if the Lord you’re listening to is suggesting the actions in this song, you should probably seek out another Lord. Key lyrics: “I could give you a million hugs / You look so good all covered up in bugs” Produced by the legendary Alex Chilton.
Dave's Strange World 