| bmo Says "Hang on, 1/20/09 will get here eventually" |
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| My Adventures in Medicine Poetry I Poetry II Poetry III ** Poetry 2008 ** Magnetic Poetry Fiction Rants Reviews Interviews Photos Essays and crazy ideas |
| January 21, 2008 Any of you cats and kittens what dig the power pop rock and roll bubblegum with a kick sort of catchy melodic old skool POP ala Beatles, Kinks, Raspberries, Shoes, 20/20, Cheap Trick, Marshall Crenshaw, etc… need to be getting your internet browsers pointed over in the direction of one Ben Kastner. You can find him here: www.myspace.com/benkastner. But be forewarned: once you start you won’t be able to stop listening to the infectious earworms he’s laid down over there. Recorded by himself, in his bedroom, the tracks on his debut, free for the downloading LP have that bleary, condensed, almost claustrophobic feeling that home recordings often do. But the songs, oh, my sweet Jesus of Cool, you won’t hear a better batch this side of Nick Lowe. You getting my drift? Any of you with half a brain already clicked the link and stopped reading my babble as soon as you heard the first uplifting chords of “Wake Up”, and won’t stop til you’ve heard every last bit of all 11 songs. I don’t mind. I haven’t been paying any attention to anything I’ve written since the word “cats” in the first sentence, ‘cause my head is boppin’ and my toes are tappin’, and my ears are so happy that I don’t even mind the stabbing pain in my bladder/prostate/what-have-you. |
| There used to be a web site that was infinitely cooler than this one. It was called NowWave, and my friend Josh Rutledge was its founder/editor/owner/publisher/principle writer. I was honored to have had a number of reviews, interviews and rants posted at Now Wave. Sadly, Now Wave no longer exists. Periodically, I'll be posting things here that originally appeared there. Here's one now. It's an interview with a fellow named King Louie. He's a songwriter, musician, singer. |
| King Louie and his Loose Diamonds released a cd in 2007 that became an instant classic, at least in my house. The dude’s got more aliases than I have teeth (and no, I’m not from Maine), and is seemingly always on the move, doing something, going somewhere, which makes me wonder if the FBI might be looking for him. Some kind of “marrying your underage cousin and taking her across state lines while eating greasy barbecue ribs in the back seat of your ’72 Cadillac and listening to Ike and Tina Turner cassettes” scenario. I’ve read the word “irrepressible” before, in reference to various people I’ve never met; I think this is the first time I’ve ever been tempted to actually use it. If you’re not familiar with his resume, King Louie’s been in the Persuaders, The Royal Pendletons, Kajun SS, The Clickems, The Exploding Hearts, The Loose Diamonds and now The Black Rose Band, not to mention his time as a one man band, and probably a dozen other bands you’ve never heard of. This was by far the most enjoyable email interview I’ve yet conducted. I hope and pray that the world hears a lot more from King Louie. keep reading |
| "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Barak Obama Now, really, what is there in this statement that isn't true? The number of jobs in the United States has been decreasing for decades. When there are less jobs there are more unemployed people. When unemployed people, or underemployed people, don't feel like they are getting any help from their government, they get bitter. And then they turn to the things that haven't let them down before, things they think they can trust: God, for instance, or their guns. And they turn against those who are the easiest targets, immigrants and minorities. This is human nature at its basest, perhaps, and not something to be proud of. But it's the truth. I'm not telling you that you should vote for Obama; but I am telling you that you should not rule him out for telling the truth. |
| As important as it is to have opinions and beliefs, it is even more important to be able to say, in the face of overwhelming evidence, "I've changed my mind". I used to think that "The Jerk", starring Steve Martin was the greatest movie of all time. I had friends who insisted that, say, "Citizen Kane" or "Casablanca" were better films...but I stood my ground and refused to bow to peer pressure. Today, however, I stand before you a humbled man. Well, that is, I would stand if I weren't so drunk. Sitting seems to be the closest I can come, and I'll take it..I mean, what the hell. What's so great about standing? The point I was trying to make is that tonight I have discovered a movie greater than "The Jerk". The fact that I drank somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 ounces of Jameson's Irish Whiskey in less than two hours should not be considered relevant. Tonight I proclaim to you that "The Big Lebowski", starring Jeff Bridges and produced, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen is, in fact, the greatest movie of all time. Better than "On the Waterfront". Funnier than "Me, Myself and Irene". Scarier than "Scary Movie". More moving than "Titanic" (then again, my last trip to the bathroom was more moving than "Titanic", but I digress). If, by some chance, you have not yet seen "The Big Lebowski", do so at the next possible opportunity. As you press the "play" button, place two ice cubes in an 8 ounce glass and then pour in as much of your favorite liquor as possible. By the time the Germans drop the marmot in Dude's tub, I guarantee you'll agree with me. No one, not Charlie Chaplin or Alfred Hitchcock or Francis Ford Coppola or Steven Speilberg or George Lucas ever committed anything more worthwhile to celluloid than what the Coen Brothers have done with this movie about an unemployed guy who drinks white russians like my daughter drinks chocolate milk and bowls more than I jerk off. I repeat, "The Big Lebowski" is the greatest film ever made. Now begone. |
| Send me your love, or your hatred, it matters not. Just write to me at bmo02330@yahoo.com. I abso-fucking-lutely guarantee that I will email you back. |
| Here's another interview I originally did for NowWave Magazine. Since that noble publication no longer exists here in cyperspace, I thought I'd post some of the stuff I wrote for them over here in this space. I hope you enjoy. Since I did this interview, the New Frustrations have released a 7" 4 song ep which you really ought to own. You can check 'em out at www.newfrustrations.com “It’s like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup: sweet on the outside with a salty center.” That’s how Timmy Frustration describes his band, The New Frustrations. And it’s a damn good description. At times almost sticky sweet, always finger lickin’ good, and always with that underlying salty kick waiting to hit you in the back of the throat. Asked where they got the name, Tommy Frustration says, “After rehearsal one night we were talking about how much fun we were having, and Mikey mentioned how we didn’t have any of the old frustrations that we had to deal with in The Johnnies. Then Timmy said, ‘well, here’s to the new frustrations.’ And that was it.” Four of the five New Frustrations were in The Johnnies, one of the best punk bands of the ‘90s according to no less an authority than our own Lord Rutledge. All five of them have known each other since childhood, growing up on the not-so-mean streets of Historic Plymouth, Massachusetts, America’s Fucking Home Town.........read the rest |