...spent decades in television and is best known as the executive producer for the classic detective series...COLUMBO. One of my favorite eps..."A Deadly State of Mind"(Season 4 - 1975) is streaming now on Netflix.
2. Marilyn CHAMBERS - Actress
...was a savvy and talented business gal who became a mega-star in the adult entertainment industry. Her break-out performance in "Behind the Green Door"(1972) is NOT on Netflix...but will have you streaming just the same.
3. Paul CHAMBERS - Jazz bassist
...was one of the top bass guitarists of his era with his debut..."Whims of Chambers"(1956) considered an excellent sample of hard bop.
However, it is his outstanding string-spankage with the Miles Davis Quintet(1955-1963) that sparkles for this bass-bopping string-bender.
4.Cliff CHAMBERS - Professional Baseball Player
...was a southpaw who threw baseballs like a coal miner trying to dispose of a lit stick of dynamite. He played for three different teams...most notably as a Pittsburgh Pirate...pitching a no-hitter against the Boston Braves one skin-blistering summer afternoon in 1951.
5. Martin CHAMBERS - drummer
... one of the great "Pretenders"...known for tatting skins with 'inshredible' poundage.
They are all part of my family. (trust me!) Good Stuff!
Sometimes...one must revisit the past before pushing things forward.
And...Fatal Jamz...appear to be pushing things forward quite nicely. With plenty of glitter-glam panache and tasty rock-meat on the bone.
Fatal Jamzmake one point after another with delicioussparkling guitar shimmer...never allowing the listener a moment of doubt that they know what they're doing...whether it's melting the paint or catching a butterfly. And the mix is excellent.
Falsetto love-flame singer Marion Belle absolutely shines...delivering the news like a Dickens town-crier. With a powerful and gentle urgency, Belle has learned from the best...sounding both uniquely fresh and oddly familiar. "Scorpion Chain" - Fatal Jamz Fatal Jamz "Vol 1" is filled with eleven songs that reward with each new play and will slide nicely into your playlist adding plenty of ear candy for the summer. "Trudy" - Fatal Jamz NOT TO BE MISSED "Scorpion Chain" "Trudy" "Strange Agez" "Goodbye Mermaid Man" "Another Chrystal Morning"
"Some girl that knows the meaning of... hey hit the highway." John Mellencamp
The acknowledged "Little Bastard"...John Mellencamp...had already recorded five albums prior to his 1982 money shot ..."American Fool".
Most critics, uptil then, had taken a collective turd on 'Camp's earlier output, but the two albums leading up to his Billboard Breakout were not all too shab.
(I'm not dipping my toes in water earlier than that!)
His self-titled..."John Cougar"(1979)and "Nothin' Matters and What If It Did"(1980)...are not necessarily must-own albums, (although both are in my keeper-collection)...but they're not Mellencrap either.
So here are 7 underrated songs well-worth another viz for your cherry-picking pleasure.
"I gotta take me on a permanent vacation." --> Aerosmith <--
Take a two week trip and you feel like you've done something. Samuel Pickwick and his wealthy cronies decide to skedaddle outta the city for a two year romp exploring the English countryside.
Now that's what you call a vacaysh!
Charles Dickens' first novel finds him weaving a humorous tale of misunderstandings and happenstances that follow likable Pickwick and his goodnik buddies wherever they travel. In the process, Dickens brings to the forefront many social issues that would be more famously explored in his later novels.
At over 800 pgs, "The Pickwick Papers"(1836) is not for the faint of heart. Dickens occasionally stretches sentences like he's pulling apart a Slinky. And the slangular dialect of the period can take a bit of warming up to.
But once you catch on to the rhythm of the word-flow...(and you will)...it's a pretty dang entertaining read. Step inside this noisy coach and enjoy the journey.
I got a letter from a friend the other morning
He say it's hot down in Montego Bay
I got the point and now I think it's finally dawning
Yeah, yeah, I got to get away.
I got to take myself a permanent vacation
The sky's the limit but my plane won't fly
My nose is clean and lordie don't need no sedation
Yeah, yeah, and that's the reason why.
I really need it, really, really need St. Tropez
I want a tan where the sun, it never shines
I really need it, really, really need St. Tropez
You best believe it that I go to get away.
I got a sister man she really got a pinhead
She think she kinky but she can't get straight
She say she livin' but I kinda think she brain dead
Just excess baggage on a late night freight.
I gotta take me on a permanent vacation
The girl's be cummin' down in Cayman Brack
I gotta hand it to a firm situation
Yeah, yeah, I got to cut me some slack.
"Sights and sounds of the people goin' 'round Everybody's in step with the season." --> Gordon Lightfoot <--
When it comes to Gordon Lightfoot albums...I mostly cherry-pick the branches rather than take the whole tree. But what I've grabbed from this Canadian troubadour's catalog are absolutely killer and not to be missed.
Lightfoot has always reminded me of Jimmy Buffet...(without the tray of empty margarita glasses piling up around his table, of course.) That's not meant to be a bad thing...just that Gordie generally keeps it a wee-bit more serious.
His folk rock presence was most heavily felt in the 70's...thanks to his first and only #1 album in the States..."Sundown" (1974). Songs like "Carefree Highway" and the title track are daily radio staples and have remained timeless.
Lost Gem:--> "Circle Of Steel"......is a haunting portrait of a Xmas season for families of the welfare variety. And made all-the-more unforgettable by the beautifully played recorder (Jack Zaza)...that truthfully captures the harsh reality. Not your Griswold Family Christmas...No, not this time.
Have you heard this gem?
Rows of lights in a circle of steel Where you place your bets on a great big wheel High windows flickerin' down through the snow A time you know Sights and sounds of the people goin' 'round Everybody's in step with the season.
A child is born to a welfare case Where the rats run around like they own the place The room is chilly, the building is old That's how it goes The doctor's found on his welfare round And he comes and he leaves on the double.
Deck The Halls was the song they played In the flat next door where they shout all day She tips her gin bottle back till it's gone The child is strong A week, a day, they will take it away For they know about all her bad habits.
Christmas dawns and the snow lets up And the sun hits the handle of her heirloom cup She hides her face in her hands for a while Says look here child Your father's pride was his means to provide And he's servin' three years for that reason.
"...comics are just about the only real performance artists left on this planet." --> Romie Lee <--
HORSE HEAD MEETS
ROMIE LEE
Chef Extraordinaire
Cabbie To The Stars
Stand-Up Comedian
@sexyfatfunny
("Twitter is my metaphorical stage. Facebook is for the gays and low cholesterol is for pussies." - Romie Lee)
HORSE HEAD: Tell me about an older album/CD you think has been forgotten or underrated. A song.
ROMIE LEE: Before I answer your question, I'd like to get something off my chest.
I have a real disdain for the people who go ape shit supporting local cover bands...but won't give the time of day supporting the local comedians working some original stuff. It's frustrating. Comedians can't hit the stage performing the best of Kinison or covering Carlin's greatest hits. You either bring your own stuff on stage...or you don't get a stage. I don't mean to soapbox...but comics are just about the only real performance artists left on this planet...with a shit-ton more integrity and originality than most musicians. Anyway, back to your question...an older band that I don’t think ever received nearly enough critical acclaim was Thin Lizzy. They were just a good no-bullshit rock and roll band.
ROMIE LEE: I'm not much of a reader...literally the only books I've read off the top of my head were...“The Dirt: Confessions Of The World's Most Notorious Rock Band” (2001) by Motley Crue and “I Only Roast The Ones I Love" (2010) byJeffery Ross.
And I recommend them because they were both able to keep my attention beyond the Forward. HORSE HEAD: What's an older movie you enjoyed that others might like revisiting? ROMIE LEE: "Full Metal Jacket". It was like watching two movies in one. I saw it when I was only eleven and it's still one of my favorites.
Stanley Kubrick's 1987 violent boot camp and Vietnam blitzkrieg.
HORSE HEAD: Who's an artist (any genre/medium) that deserves more attention?
ROMIE LEE:Comic genius...Doug Stanhope. All of his CDs and DVDs are gold. Even though he downplays it, Stanhope is one of the most socially relevant stand-ups working today.
"Burning The Bridge To Nowhere" (2011)
Doug Stanhope
As for music...one of my favorite...straight forward...no gimmick rock bands out there today is Shinedown and they are just absolutely amazing to experience live.
HORSE HEAD:If you stream, what's the last thing you watched? A DVD?
ROMIE LEE: The late great Patrice O’Neal's DVD...“Elephant In The Room” (2011)...is an absolute masterpiece. Simply the best comedic timing and pacing I've ever seen and with sharp biting material most mortal comics couldn’t dream of pulling off.
When Willie Nile hit the music scene, critics were penciling in his name atop the short, but seemingly endless, "The Next Dylan" list ad nauseum.
An Excalibur no one really wants and no one's ever owned.
Neverthless, Willie Nile has been court and sparks with most critics since releasing his self-titled debut in 1980.
He brings songs that play straight and unforced. Rocking with rumble one minute; Cool-burning the next. Likecity bruises and small victories...Nile owns the words he sings. We feel it and own them as well.
Lost Gem:-->"The Black Parade"...is a deliciously spiteful reminder to whom it may concern..."What goes around, comes around."
Have you heard this gem?
Hand me down my walking cane. Tune up my New Orleans drum. They're gonna call my name when the morning comes.
I wanna lead. Please let me lead the black parade, oh yeah. I wanna lead. Please let me lead the black parade.
Rags hanging off my bones. Faint hearts will all run away. No mercy will be shown on this judgment day.
You laugh at the shape I'm in. Drink cheap wine and have all your fun. But you'll wipe off that graveyard grin cause your time is gonna come.
In grade school...Horse Head wanted to be an astronaut. He wanted the mad-skills of eating an entire slice of pizza in a single chomp ala Ninja Donatello.
And he also wanted to randomly "bounce through time...putting things right that once went wrong"...like Sam Beckett (and his friend, Al) in the early '90s sci-fi TV series, Quantum Leap.
So when Horse Head discovered Innovation Comics published a Quantum Leap series (1991 -1993)...he nearly "leaped" his pants.
Each comic was a complete story and almost like watching an episode...minus the commercials. The run was short...(13 issues + 1 special edition)...but they're pretty good, lightweight fare and still a fairly easy series to complete.
The Horse Head Five...
Issue #1
Sam leaps
into a female high school English teacher.
Issue #2 Sam leaps into a prison inmate on death row.
Issue #5 Sam leaps into a reporter during a UFO scare.
Issue #6 Sam becomes a teenage girl whose sister is in danger.
Issue #12 Sam finds himself pumping gas in the middle of nowhere.
"I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when under stress." --> King Crimson <--
Seven years had passed since the legendary prog-floggers...King Crimson released a studio album. It was 1981. A different climate. And most thought the band was long-gone, boned, and buried.
However...nobody informed guitar genius, Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford (drums) Adrian Belew (guitar/vocals) or Tony Levin (bass).
"Discipiline"(1981) is a stunning must-own album filled with thrilling maneuvers...both powerful and innovative. And it still sounds amazingly fresh.
Robert Fripp, Tony Levin, Bill Bruford, Adrian Belew
Fripp spins one guitar web after another...but loosens the reins enough for the others to take their trip. And Belew, Bruford, and Levin sound inspired and dangerous. Lots of noise. No notes wasted.
Lost Gem:--> "Indiscipline"...has all the unnerving ramblings of a psychotic loner (it's something much more innocent) with Fripp and Belew shredding each others back with a guitar cat-o-nine-tails. Levin and Bruford let their own selves in. Begs repeated listening.
Have you heard this gem?
I do remember one thing. It took hours and hours but.. by the time I was done with it, I was so involved, I didn't know what to think. I carried it around with me for days and days.. playing little games like not looking at it for a whole day and then.. looking at it. to see if I still liked it. I did.
I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat.. The more I look at it, the more I like it. I do think it's good. The fact is.. no matter how closely I study it, no matter how I take it apart, no matter how I break it down, It remains consistent. I wish you were here to see it.
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