TV Heads-Up Dept. - The Capture

We're two episodes in of what seems to be a well up to par third series. If you've missed out, grab the first two series first, from the usual shady corners of the internet. You'll find it hard not to binge watch. Impeccable everything, from the script up. It's that rare thing, an intelligent thriller. Great ideas, great execution, and nearly into SF in terms of beyond cutting edge technology. Aaaand ... no disappointing series endings! Things are wrapped up nicely, possibilities are suggested, leaving you thirsting for the next series. Utterly brilliant, really.

Executive producer David Heyman could have made me rich and famous by filming Helium, but chose instead to make the Harry Potter movies, and himself a billionaire. His loss, right?  

 

 

The Great Jazz And Pop Vocal Albums Dept.

Will Friedwald's book of that title is a wonderful read. His knowledge and enthusiasm are a winning combination of fan worship and critical smarts. Of course, we may not agree with his choices ("it's all subjective, innit?" - The Internet, yesterday) but that's part of the fun.

Fred Astaire [left - Ed.] cut one of the very first albums, back when an album was just that - a bound book containing pockets to hold the discs - and it's one of the first albums Friedwald talks about. Fred was the last to claim any merit as a singer, and he has my wholehearted support in this, although Friedwald elevates him to the ranks of the greats (he also rates Chet Baker, another no-voice vocalist - who's next? Claudine Longet?).

Still and all, if you're in the mood for some very sophisticated light and cool combo jazz, which this surely is, you'll dig this. There's an added-value bonus in the download!

Can't think of anything to type here - maybe later.

Penn & Teller's Psychedelic Prestidigitation! Dept.

Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, yesterday

You'll know Jerry Penn and his youthful ward Dick Teller from their kids' TV show Saw Your Sister In Half! but did you know they host a weekly Psychedelic Psalon at their luxe private ballroom at the Old Grain Silo in downtown Pork Bend? You do now!

This week the dapper duo will be playing all volumes of Electric Psychedelic Sitar Headswirlers in an epic all-nite freakout! And you're invited! Far out, huh, kids?! Here's husky bath-house posterboy Jerry to open proceedings!

JP Hey kids! Tonite we gots-

FT3 Sorry, Jer, but that's all we have time for, so it's back to the studio and Marvinia Geeky [left - Ed.] with the Nude Traffic Roundup! [APPLAUSE, BURLESQUE STRIPPER MUSIC]

 

 

 

 

This post brought to you by Jiminy, George, and Crikey

 

 

Happy Days Are Here Again! Dept.

 

 

The clearest analysis of Trump's insane war is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcXfcXJvMXg

Robert Pape knows what he's talking about. Listen to the man. It's a long-play information dump that we need right now.

No diesel in my little town today, and a cap on petrol/gas. The sheer scale of Trump's ineptitude and his trailer-park hillbilly administration is staggering. He's killing everybody.

 

This post made possible by Ignorance and Greed, two reassuring constants in a world of change.

Give The Drummer Some Dept. - Billham Cobly

My man Billham, smackin' th' traps!

 

The first drummer I heard who had an immediately recognisable signature sound wasn't Ringo Starr - he was the first I knew by name - but Keith Moon. I didn't know if he was technically any good or not (still don't), but his full-on style was his alone, like he loved the drums but also wanted to beat the shit out of them. Scary guy. But the one I came to worship was Billy Cobham, first heard on the first Mahavishnu Orchestra album. He was busy, but never unnecessary, every faster-than-thought beat in exactly the right place at exactly the right time, and he sounded like nobody else, that tash-tash-tash cymbal. He drove the beat but never rushed it, and he was all over the kit, which is what I like to hear. Not for me the *cough* motorik minimalist metronome, I want value from my album investment. I paid for those drums, and I want to hear them.

He's also a first-rate composer, and his solo albums have always had melody at the heart of them. It's like he's playing chords on his kit. Spectrum and Crosswinds are both pinnacles of musical excellence, no matter how you label them, and I listen to his solo works far more than I listen to McLaughlin's. Today's deliverable is a sweet pair of albums he recorded in rsrch date pse ed [pse fuck yourself - Ed.], featuring luxe arrangements of older tunes and a few new ones. His Panamanian roots are showing in the steel pans and the Caribbean lilt, and there's nothing too brow-furrowing here, which is a good thing. Pure enjoyment.

I'm guessing this was designed by Stevie Wonder

 

If you know what this is about, Billham may have to kill you

This post made possible by funding from the Old Guy Underwear Xchange, Pork Bend, Alaska