Last Tuesday's Can Haz DJ: Legends of Punk & New Wave Past

Ah, Blogger is back up, that's nice.

Had a fun show on Tuesday night, featuring the then & now of some classic punk rockers. You can grab the mp3 podcast here. You will find the playlist for the show on my Can Haz DJ blog along with other good stuff.

Reminder: you can stream or download all the past Can Haz DJ shows and you should, you really should. Sometime soon, I will post a guide to these past shows, to point you to ones that you might particular like (or that I'm particularly proud of). Here's more on some of the music from the most recent show....


Well, good news first. A great new song by guitarist Ivan Julian, one of the original twin guns of Richard Hell's Voidoid arsenal. The Voidoids were an absolute punk revelation for me, even though it took me quite a while to find out about them. Blank Generation is absolutely one of my Top-5 albums of all time.

Perhaps my favorite punk band of the original era are Australia's The Saints. For a very long time I've said it's essential to have their 1976-77 era material and to avoid their later work with just as much determination. That's when Ed Kuepper left the band and lead singer Chris Bailey marched The Saints in a much poppier direction.

Here they are in their prime:


That said, the more recent Bailey-era stuff which is again in a power-trio format is the best since 1977. In fact I actually picked up (or rather down loaded) 2005's Nothing is Straight in My House before the show, and I'm pretty impressed with it. Another Saints album, the most recent, came out in '06 which I haven't heard yet. But the original lineup, Kuepper included, came back together in 2009 to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. Here's a lo-fi glimpse of that:



And here's a look at the video for the original version of that song, I'm Stranded which was their break through to the world back in 1977:



The sad news is that the great Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex recently passed away. She was incredible, a true original in her punk days. She dropped out of punk as it became more and more the music business as usual. And, sadly, after years away from music, she was just mounting a comeback when tragically she lost a battle with cancer.

Below are the title track from her brand new album, a feature on her from her X-Ray Spex days and a recent interview with her talking about the new record.

What I'm Putting On The Radio Tonight

Tonight on Can Haz DJ: Listening to an Electronic World

Tonight at 10pm Pacific on RadioValencia.fm, I'll be playing a bunch of great electronic music that incorporates various world musical traditions (Indian, African, Latin, to name a few). There's lots more on the show besides, but here's a taste of some of that "worldly electronic" that you are likely to hear:







And a whole lot more.... Details on the whole show & more videos on the CanHazDJ blog.

And remember all of my previous shows are in the Radio Valencia podcast archives which you can either stream or download as mp3s.

Really enjoying this Beats Antique album (funny cuz it's 4 years old) via rdio. I will be playing some on Tuesday's Can Haz DJ show

They are based in Oakland, and I'm realizing that I probably know some of the folks involved, or 1-degree away at most as there's an Extra Action Marching Band connection.

Here they are in action, looks like fun:

Earthquake in Japan: Footage from inside the CNN offices + Live Coverage

Here's the live stream from Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English: Live Stream - Watch Now - Al Jazeera English

I'm going to SXSW! And Califone Video from Last Year

I'll be in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest from March 12th to March 22nd!

Last year I got to see Califone one of my favorite bands at the festival. Parts of the video below were shot at a show I attended (they played several times, I was at the one that was under a tent outdoors).

better angels from Califone on Vimeo.

This year I'm sure there will again be both old favorites and new surprises. I'll be posting a bit more here during the fest, I hope. And also blogging about both SXSW Interactive & SXSW Music at Laughingsquid.com and on my Radio Valencia blog.

What Mikl-em is doing lately (circa 2011)

Until very recently, I hadn't written much here for a while. But I've been doing a lot elsewhere. So I wanted to post a quick summary and a bunch of links...

1. Blogging regularly at Laughing Squid on topics including but not limited to TV Nostalgia; San Francisco art, people, weather, and theater events; comedy of all sorts (esp. British and internet flavors); and odd soccer-related videos.
2. Playing music on the virtual air of Radio Valencia, San Francisco's newest and best pirate radio station. My show Can Haz DJ airs every Tuesday night from 10pm-12am. You can go to my blog on the RadioValencia site to listen live, or download mp3s of the show afterward and listen any time.
   
3. Being funny myself at places like The Dark Room (goofing MST3K style for Bad Movie Night or on-stage in Caddyshack Live).
4. Writing for Hi Fructose magazine (in-print only and with several features appearing in their just released second collected edition)
5. Um, other stuff.

That's a good overview, I will write up a list of recommended Squid posts in another post here. Also keep in mind that you can subscribe to my occasional email list if you'd like to keep up on what I'm doing and other SF-local things that I recommend.

How come Charlie Sheen and Newt Gingrich don't get the same punsihment?

Bill Maher as usual does incredibly funny and intelligent commentary with no punches pulled. The Sheen-Gingrich comparison is great, but the Gingrich-Edwards one is a really interesting one to ponder. And from there it slaloms through Ensign and Vitter and Spitzer and on and on. It is a strange old world that some people live in.