TUNING

I Have It On Good Authority That Billie Jean Is Not, In Point Of Fact , My Lover- Oh, And Here's How To Moonwalk

Very detailed instructions on How to Moonwalk

KI$$ MERCH

I'm not such a big fan of Kiss' music but oh man do I love the phenomenology of Kiss Merchandising . This site has it in spades.
There are at least two books about Kiss merchandising alone that make for fascinating reading.

Did I think they overstepped the bounds of propriety when they introduced the Kiss Kasket? No.
Was I perturbed that Gene Simmons his ownself donated a Kiss Kasket to the grieving family of slain Pantera Guitarist Dime -Bag Darryl? Well, yeah.
Am I jumping on a chair at the thought of a chain of Kiss Coffeehouses? -No I think that's a cool idea.
Do I think that theire caution that the Coffee is "hotter than hell" is
A)Alarming
B) Bad marketing
C) Lawsuit Squelching ? -fuck yeah.

USEFUL TIPS FROM THE MOST USELESS PLACE ON EARTH.

Basic 33 RPM LP Cover / Jacket Repair From Ebay™, of all places.
It's part of their new "Reviews and Guides " feature.
Most of the other tips fall into the "everybody else is lying except me" category, but this guide has some useful techniques.
I don't agree with the section on taping up imperfections though.
It encourages things like people using masking or electrical tape to fix splits and tears; as was the case with an otherwise gorgeous Calypso-Limbo record I found that was delineated with some kind of brown cloth electrical tape whether it needed it or not.
I bought it anyway, but still...........
See Also: The Nickety Split Method to Repair Record Album Jackets

So long, and thanks for all the condescension

Tower Records going out of business [Seattle PI]
"Tower, which owes creditors about $200 million, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August. In its filing, Tower said it has been hurt by an industry-wide decline in music sales, the trend toward downloading online music rather than buying CDs and competition from discount stores such as Wal-Mart."
It must break the suckometer to have your retail ass handed to you by Wal-mart.
Here's a thought; don't try to compete with online music jauggernauts like Itunes when your basic buisiness model is one big point of purchase display. I used to got to Tower to buy music , not necessarily having anything in mind when I walked in the door. I did not go to buy books , videos , action figures, tshirts, wallets on a chain, shitty home stereo components, or dead donkeys.
I went for the reasonably priced Cds. when the CDs stopped being reasonably priced, I stopped going. As much. When I saw things with more than adequate US distribution thrown into the import bins and the price jacked up by as much as ten bucks, I stopped going.
Hey assholes, Caroline Records is a US company that facilitates the reissue of deleted imports and underdistributed foreign records.
It's main purpose is to avoid jacked up prices on some pretty good music.
Music that just because it got there by boat rather than truck, automaticly made it $30 US.
When you pay through the nose for something, that money is tainted. Tainted by boogers and bits of cartilage.
After a decade or so of this, your nose starts to hurt and you think; "Maybe I better stop doing this so much"

Hey Music Nerd!

Make your own 78s and 45s with The Record Generator

But He Doesn't Know The Territory!

Dell Comics are only now being seriously considered by collectors as something other than bottom of the barrel. Maybe it has something to do with the liberal use of other media (Tv shows, movies, rock and roll) and a penchant for Roy Rodgers that caused the comics publisher to fall out of favor with the youth of America.

Quick to latch onto any cultural jaugernaut and hold on screaming by their fingernails, Dell Comics managed to compress any joy or excitement out of the stuff of dreams in transfering stuff to four color newsprint.
The movie adaptations were the worst. I'm not here to slag Dell, (despite the previous vitriol) but to slag their choices for movie adaptation.

Imagine this scenario:
There's a movie that's going like gangbusters at the box office. It's a hit all over the country. Dell naturally wants in on the action. Artists are poised with ink pens ready. By now you are probably wondering "What Movie?" .
Why, the only logical choice would be The Music Man of course.
That's right , a musical.
Not only that, but a musical that seems to integrate songs into the story more tightly than most.
Nothing says absurdity like following the pared down, song -stripped exploits of Professor Harold Hill for thirty nine poorly drawn pages.
Ladies and gentlemen, I've suffered for my art- now its your turn.
If you haven't shaken your head in bemusement at something for a long time, please Download the Music Man Comic [as pdf 23.something megabytes]

ALL HAIL JOHN PEEL

Today, (October 13th) is the very first John Peel Day . Check out the massive Tribute Site on BBC 1 and these Favorite John Peel Quotes

I LIKE BLANK TAPES AND I CANNOT LIE.....

To paraphrase Sir Mix-A-Lot, and so does Cassette Jam'05, with many styles and colors to choose from.
Even if I could read Japanese, i don't think it would explain the all important question why.
See Also: The C-90 Project, the fine print on blank cassette packaging, translated from the Russian. Puzzling in any language.

TO HELL WITH PAYPAL, JUST BUY ME ONE OF THESE

You have no idea how much I covet and desire this
Emile Berliner Gramophone Replica Kit
from Hobby Link Japan

This kit allows you to build your very own gramophone, which will let you record and play back disks made from the lids from cup-noodle bowls, old CD-ROMs, plastic file folders, glossy paper , basicly any shiny or semi shiny material with a certain amount of rigidty. The only things they don't provide in the kit are 2 size "C" batteries, cellophane tape, a Phillips' head screwdriver, and scissors.

They also sell Cup Phonograph Kit in Edison Style
which they don't sell as many of, because of the unweildy prototype nature of the Edison Cylinder scheme,
and the fact that Edison was a monopolizing bastard who succeeded in squashing Berliner's developement
of the Gramaphone disc system (which actually preceeded Edison's machine by a number of years) .

It's about 40 bucks after shipping and I'm not kidding about buying me one. If you enjoy this site, have found out something useful from it, or are just plain altruistic, order one and send it to the adress listed in the left hand sidebar. Tribute must be paid.
MORE ON EMIL BERLINER AND THE EARLY DEVELOPEMENT OF THE GRAMOPHONE
Emil Berliner and The Birth Of the Recording industry (From The Library of Congress)
Invent Now Hall Of Fame
Emil Berliner
Emil Berliner From About Dot com
Sound Visualization And Analysis In The Pre Electronic Era

KUSTOM KARS AROCKIN'

Check out the Voxmobile