Why don't they make stuff like this anymore?

I don't understand what makes people think that modern necessitates better. After all, wasn't the old stuff the modern stuff once? Case in point is the new videos that dominate the airwaves of EmpTV, bands filled with the best angst money can buy. Whether or not you are a Rundgren fan, the above video displays more intelligence and interestingness than any of the crap that is out there today. To be sure, that Rundgren video then was probably deemed too ultra-modern and too wacko and too plastic by the people that saw it then. But if we are in the post-modern age, why aren't people making videos like this, in a wry wink-wink to the past and how cool they are in the present? Just a thought...

Joining the world of the Macs...

I have recently purchased a MacBook, mainly because I am supposed to be a liberal academic and liberal academics use Apples exclusively. I have been slowly getting used to using a Mac, made more difficult by the lack of a right mouse button. But, I like what it can do and feel that much more academic-y merely by my purchase of it. Now, if only it came with a PhD dissertation built in that I could use to get the Dr. in front of my name...

Glitter and Doom is coming to Knoxville and I can't waits...

Another few underrated and little heard bands from my youth

I really like the "Athens sound" that emerged during the early eighties. Once R.E.M. made it, everyone and their brother who even remotely had a band in the greater Athens area was signed to a record deal. A lot were kinda ho-hum, but a few were interesting in their own right, although never attaining the level of their rapid eye movement peers.

Guadalcanal Diary was one that captivated me when I was in high school, and I can't honestly explain why. This video is pretty blaise by today's standards, but it is still a really rockin' song:


Likewise, Dreams So Real had some great songs on their debut album. This one, the title track of their debut, was a favorite of mine of theirs:
Rough Night In Jericho - Dreams So Real
Enjoy!

I'm Bringing Sexy Back, old school style, just in time for summer!

"You Down With OPB (Ocean Pacific Brand)?" "Yeah, you know me!" There I was, pacing the aisles of Wal-Mart, looking for something to fill the void in my life, when I chanced upon the discovery of the re-release of a clothing line near and dear to the hearts of those of us who came of age in the early eighties. Yes, I'm talking about the venerable OP clothing line, sold exclusively now at the Mart.

Gone are the days when we would have given our front teeth just for the opportunity to own an OP shirt. True, perhaps we placed too much value on material things when we were in middle school. And, probably, our sexuality as well, as I remember worrying profusely that a friend of mine and I wore similar blue OP shirts to middle school one day, only to be called "fags" by a bunch of cooler people who now probably work at Wal-mart. So, confident now in both myself, my sexual orientation, and the world in which I live, I hurl down the gauntlet of fashion and proclaim this summer not only the Summer of Mike but the Summer of Eighties Inspired Beach Wear! Who's with me?

Nice 'n' Moogy! Part One

I took piano lessons. I was never really into them, mainly because we played Sound of Music songs for our recitals. However, there has been something in me lately that can't get enough of synthesizer sounds in music. I would love to have a Moog or Prophet-5 in my apartment, to make rumbling analog synth-pop type music. As a result, I offer some of my favorite keyboard songs here, for you, the viewers of the Veeb!

This first is from Genesis, off of their self-titled album, with a scary song called "Mama."

While that is indeed ominous, here is a really bizaare and scary video from a Swedish keyboard band called The Knife, with their hit "We Share Our Mother's Health." I am not sure what I have witnessed here, but fear that it has sent me over the edge into psychic distress...

Now, all I gotta do is find the old Casio keyboard from the eighties we used to have and, viola, instant hitmaking! Enjoy!

A word on makeup for men...

Gee, I wish I were in a situation that I could wear makeup everyday. Not like being a drag queen, but makeup like that of rock stars in the seventies. Just think about it - coming to get my next advisee in the Advising Office with King Diamond-esque makeup on. I would want to be advised by me! That is one of my complaints about history - no theatricality! We need makeup, otherworldliness, to get our message to the people! Like Bowie said in "Diamond Dogs," "This ain't rock and roll...this is GENOCIDE!" I need to cut back on the caffeine, I think...

Revisitng an old favorite of mine...maybe it will become one of your's, too!

Anyone that has not experienced the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis should. Here is their magnum opus from that era, "Supper's Ready," in three parts IT is worth the time investment...
Part one:

Part two:

Part three:

Enjoy - supper's waiting for you!

I'm Waiting for my Man...and some other guys!

Lou Reed, singer and songwriter of reknown and infamy, is coming to Knoxville at the end of April. Who knew that our back water burg would rate a guy like that? I got great seats to see him and will be able to say that I saw him when I talk to my grandkids (Did you really, Grandpa?). Of course, I didn't get to see him all drugged out and homosexual-acting as in this video:

Besides Lou, though, there are a few other bands that are coming this way that I am excited about as well. Pere Ubu will be playing here Easter evening, and X from Los Angeles will be in Asheville in May. Who knew that the big guns would end up in Knoxville and the surrounding environs, besides Kid Rock and Kenny Chesney? Looks like I will need to be giving more blood plasma to see 'em all!

Why can't they make movies like this anymore?

Seriously, will someone tell me why they don't make movies like this anymore? I realize that the 1970s amped up the excess in rock music to the point that punk HAD to happen, but this movie celebrates the theme of excess to such an excessive level that it seems almost comfortingly, orgiastically cathartic. Maybe the GSHA band could perform inside a building that's being imploded!

By the way, I HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE! THE TRAILER ALONE MADE ME CRAZY! WHAT A NAME FOR A MOVIE! Enjoy!

Variegated Brainstem - Year Two, Day One, Hour Ten!

What a day it is today! The birds are singing, the squirrels are considering the current economic situation. Mothers pause to look lovingly into the faces of their babies, and former enemies throw down their machetes and axes to finally embrace in peace. We here at the Veeb are buoyed by the spirit of this day, and anxious about the dual goals of this Friday: celebrating our blog's anniversary and taking our Spam Vindaloo to the Arts and Sciences' Spam Cookoff. Although our initial excitement about our recipe was shared by all, last night's blind taste test revealed that among the things that the good Lord never intended was for Spam to be marinaded - Spam's density as a meat prevents its ready access to marinading forces. As a result, we are not so sure about our dish's success. Even served in one of television art teacher Dan Mihuta's clay bowl creations will probably not help...

But, in addition to the cookin', there is the rockin'!

Today is the first day of the rest of the fiscal blogging year that is the Variegated Brainstem!

Today is the day that one year ago the future of the world was set into motion!

Today is the day that one year ago a iron gauntlet was hurled into the face of humanity!

Today is the day that one year ago people began to realize again that MUSIC IS REVOLUTION!

Today is the day that one year ago a humble graduate student with nothing better to do took considerable time from his studies to bore the world with his acid casualty observations!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is our extreme pleasure to welcome you to:

VARIEGATED BRAINSTEM, YEAR TWO: THE RECKONING
Enjoy!

1970s Soft Rock - why the mundane can be frightening...

Having recently admitted my love and secret shame of MOR seventies soft rock, I have been, as I often do, hyper-looking at and listening to videos and songs of this genre. I must be OCD when it comes to music, because I get fixated on something like "sunshine pop" and then, for 3 or 4 weeks, can do nothing but download and listen to this type of music. And, as before, my new obsession has become seventies soft rock, and I have been sucking this stuff down like an opium addict. HOWEVER, this video by the band Exile has kinda creeped and freaked me out.

I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the disembodied lips on the wall and on the floor. Maybe it's the lead singer's rough androgyny that makes him/her look like a man, then a woman, then a man in such a way that makes me wonder if he is a demonic entity - the dance gyrations don't help. Maybe it is the singluar theme of the lyrics, which proclaim that the only focus of the protagonist will be to get his baby and kiss her all over, all over, all over, again and again - not that I am against kissing or kissing all over, for that matter, but the band's singleminded focus on this particular activity make me wonder if there might be tentacles and spinal fluid sucking involved. Maybe it is the fact that the band is, in my opinion, WAY to into their music, as if they are heralding a new age of utopian revolution or that their music rocks in a similar way as, say, the Ramones. Maybe I'm just overanalyzing it, but you have to admit that they don't make bands like this anymore, which might be a good or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. Either way, enjoy!

Yacht Rock - the reason for the internet!

While I can engage in music snobbery with the best of them, dropping Yo La Tengo and Joy Division references while I hold my nose at the regular pablum that constitutes modern radio, I have always had a soft spot (secret shame?) for the lighter end of the rock spectrum. Apparently, I am not alone, as I chanced upon a group of videos by a bunch of guys from California detailing the untold stories of the creation of what they term "yacht rock" - the Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers type of music that dominated the airwaves of the late seventies and early eighties. These videos are brilliant and provide a wonderful take on this hidden history that so clearly needed to be told. This is the first episode, entitled "What a Fool Believes;" hopefully you will tear up and laugh out loud at the same time, like I did. We should have done this kinda stuff with the GSHA...


Enjoy!

Victory!

ABD, repeat after me, sing "Nah Nah Nah Nah!"

Group 2 Exam today

I go before the tribunal today!

The first Variegated Brainstem Music collection

Hello, loyal viewers! The Veeb has issued its first soundtrack CD, entitled Make the Madness Stop. It contains a variety of psyche-skewing songs for your musical aggrandizement. Tracks on this first of several collection include:

1. Stereo Phase Test - Man Or Astroman (01:04)
2. Magic People - The Paupers (02:45)
3. At The Mountains Of Madness - HP Lovecraft (04:58)
4. I Put Spell On You - Arthur Brown (03:45)
5. The year of the sun - The Gordian Knot (03:02)
6. my mind - The Misunderstood (02:35)
7. Spiral Galaxy 28948 - Hawkwind (03:47)
8. Through My Eyes - The Creation (03:07)
9. Lysergic Bliss - Of Montreal (04:04)
10. I'm A Nut - (01:02)
11. Bottle Of Wine - Fireballs (02:11)
12. Cup Of Jesus - Joel R. Cooper (02:26)
13. Sardinia - Alabama Sacred Harp Singers (02:14)
14. I live for the sun - The Sunrays (02:28)
15. Laughing Stock - Love (02:32)
16. A Chicken with Its Head Cut Off - The Magnetic Fields (02:42)
17. The Third Eye - The Dovers (02:17)
18. Happy - The Sunshine Company (01:58)
19. Trouble - Lindsey Buckingham (03:49)
20. Me - The Brain Train (02:25)
21. Groovy Summertime - The Love Generation (02:24)
22. White Cat Heat - The Godz (02:12)
23. Something In 4/4 Time - Daryl Hall (04:27)
24. You Keep Hanging up on My Mind - Wendy & Bonnie (02:59)
25. Watch out for Me Ronnie - Yo La Tengo (03:02)
26. Some People Never Know - We All Together (04:21)
plus a secret or too!

Not to toot our horns here at the VCC (Veeb Central Control), but we are pleased at how this CD flows, making everything from dish-washing to the daily commute to encounters with the rhino-hive mind something to look forward to! Drop us a line if you would like a copy. Enjoy!

A crooner for the ages - who will be our pick?

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, as many of you know, is one of our favorites here at the Veeb. The Captain has a 5 octave vocal range and a penchant for screaming, grunting, and growling his way through electrified blues and into your heart, head, and mind. We provide for you (above) a selection from his first LP, Safe As Milk, entitled "Electricity!"

Unlike the Captain and his friends, Scott Walker started as a crooning pop singer with a group called the Walker Brothers, a popular band during the 1960s British Invasion. After going solo, Scott Walker began to sing increasingly darker and disturbing songs about prostitutes, homosexuals, communist dictators, and torture interagators, ultimately producing albums of high-pitched falsetto singing about urban decay and despair over top the sounds of orchestras, industrial noises, and metallic destruction. This video gives an example of the first type of music Scott Walker was involved with:

On a side note, I had a weird dream last night that I thought was interesting: a panther was running around my backyard, scaring black cats that were running away and jumping up in the air - which made me laugh out loud. An Eskimo ran in with a pine tree branch and wounded the panther in the side. I screamed "No, no, Nanook!" As he lay dying, the panther looked up at me and simply asked," Why?" What does this mean?

A Video for Boxing Day!

I don't know what prompted me to want to post this video - maybe the want of snow, the anomie and despair, or my inclination to get something for breakfast. This is one of those that I could watch pretty regularly and I don't know why. Featuring my favs the Kids in the Hall, it must be seen to be believed. Enjoy and have a wonderful day!

I'm sick! But, what a picture to make me happy!

Who could be mad, sad, or sick when Don Dare is hamming it up for the Cub Scouts? Thanks to my bro-in-law Brian for the shot!

Tribute to an important influence...

Those of you that know me know that I spent time in Alaska and thoroughly enjoyed it. During my stay there, I was privileged to work with several interesting individuals that helped shape me into the lean, mean, historigraphical machine that I have become. One in particular was Mr. C. Scott Fry, whose video is presented above. Among his many brush strokes on my canvas (nothing sexual), he introduced me to Beck's beer and Tom Waits, as well as granted me my increased ability to consume alcohol - note the numerous scenes of drunken pontificating and cursing throughout the video (apologies to those with virgin ears). I even have the old guitar and guitar case that he gave me, which I use to screech out tragic paeans to love lost and love won. While many of the Veeb's viewers will be disinterested, perhaps, the best part of the video is to showcase the interior of the beloved Alaskan Hotel and Bar with C. Scott Fry, where he was my manager. So, without waxing too poetic about him, I give you the man, the myth, and the legend!