Wilf Brimley made his first appearance at th' old House O' Foam© nearly twelve years ago, and soon became a favorite with th' Four Or Five Guys©, what with his goodnatured cussedness and homespun homilies and private supply of M.I.T. acid! But we lost contact when we shut the old place down and sailed across the ocean to our new socially-distanced demesne here on Fabulous False Memory Foam Island©, so were were delighted [yeah, ri-ight - Ed.] when his raft washed up on the shore yesterday. We revived him with a healthy brine n' seaweed facepack, and these words croaked from his parched lips -
"I figured [wrongly - Ed.] you'd be wanting the rest of them Mainstream albums whut I found in the crawlspace, so I spent the last decade or so paddlin' my raft across the Pacific Ocean to gives 'em to yeh. Say - is Cody hereabouts? Been lookin' forward to seein' that gal agin! Hih-hih-hi- *KAFFKAFFKAFF*"
Pushing him roughly aside, I pounced greedily on the box of albums he'd traveled so far to share with us. The Tangerine Zoo, The Art Of Lovin', The Growing Concern, The Jelly Bean Bandits, and The Tiffany Shade. Five first-class examples of second-rate psychedelia.
"Gee! Thanks a bunch, Wilf! I expect you'll be wanting to get right back home! Sorry you couldn't stay! So long, old-timer!"
Second-rate psychedelia, from a third-rate Thespian. Can't wait!
ReplyDeleteThe Good: Old Wilf does commercials here for The American Diabetes Association.
The Bad: He pronounces it Diabeetus.....Oy vey ***rolls eyes***
"Second-rate psychedelia, from a third-rate Thespian. Can't wait!"
Delete............When did he get promoted to third-rate?
Hoo doogy! Pardner, you have cooked up a potential freak out playlist for us here at the Double X' ranch. I'll have the miss' drive into town and see if she can't get us a big ol' bottle of Boot Hill and I'll put up those plastic beaded curtains she's been on about. Might even fire up the VCR and pop in Skidoo.
ReplyDeleteThank you as always,
Billy Gates.
All of these have their moments. Thanks for digging deep.
ReplyDeleteFor the tardigrades who missed Wilf's first cornucopia of crawlspace collectibles, it's still down there somewhere, so dig around in the hot sand for it, and if the upload has withered on the vine for lack of love, leave a beseechment and it will receive my earliest attention. This may be "second class" psychedelia, but only when held up to the coruscating light of God that emanates from, say, Electric Music For The Mind And Body. On their own terms Mainstream albums are just swell, and a lot of fun. You passed the Stealth Link already, so you're going to have to hang a U-ie.
ReplyDeleteA coruscating article is not necessarily an aureate metal. Just as a rolling igneous fragment accrues no lichen. My parents had no idea what they'd started when they brought home Electric Music. I have no earthly idea why they thought it's be a great gift but it truly was, but in no way they foresaw.
DeleteIt's blotter music, and remains as potent as ever. The wider context that shaped it - the culture, the weather, the people on the street, the spirit of the time - is micro-encapsulated in the groove, and gets released - in full strength - each time you hear it. It's kind of a shame that they're remembered- if at all - as a folky-protest group, and that the laws of diminishing returns applied, because this one album is ... special.
Delete(Of their later stuff, I love Here We Are Again, for totally different reasons).
Blotter music, yes it is. It's for real psychedelic to be sure with great and trippy songs. I love Here We Are Again as well. I interviewed Joe when I wrote for the LA Free Press full time. What a character. If you google his testimony from the Chicago Seven trial it's one of the most hysterical bits of agitprop you'll ever here while completely denying the reality of the squares of which Judge Julius Hoffman was most certainly one and one of the most hard nosed. $400 bucks later and my cat is stable and doing okay. I have to take him back in a week or so to have the stitches removed. The tough little bastard! I don't think he'll fight a rattlesnake again. The worst part for him so far is that damned cone he'll have on for 10 days or so.
DeleteThat's it. I'm launching a Jellybean Bandits fan club. The cover alone is great. These guys look like a bunch that would scare the pants offa Sonny Barger and Co. Good stuff in here Farq! Thanks.
ReplyDeletePardner' Farq,
ReplyDeleteYou are one sly hombre, I tell you what. But It's a gentleman like you that keeps an ol' cowpoke like me on his toes. The miss' and I will be raising a glass to you later this evening, looking for flyin' saucers as usual on a Friday night.
Your friend as always,
Billy Gates at the Double X' ranch.
Thanks for all your comments, as ever. And don't forget - submit a piece and win a swell trading card! You can write any old shit. I do.
ReplyDeletewouldn't Cody have only been about 8 years old 10 years ago? This guy's even more perverted than the rest of us perverts!! Still planning on the next chapter in the "Cavalcade of Carnage" series but work has gotten in the way of my "work" lately
ReplyDeleteTime here on th' Isle O' Foam© does not relate in any way to time in the rest of the world. Nobody's dead, for one thing. Clocks don't work, for another. So no worries about Wilf.
Delete