#48 Punk Rock Friday

Teaser for the upcoming Perfect John Reis that I created with Niels Post for EHPO en Het Zesde Vlak.

#47 Cocaine Is A Hell Of A Drug!

NME has an article online on the 50 craziest spending sprees the stars of this world have gone on. Apart from all the stuff you see on MTV Cribs (the cars, the fountains, the fishtanks...), the people at NME have some interesting insight information on the partying habits of some of the rich and famous. For example:

Justin Hawkins (The Darkness), £150,000 on cocaine in the course of three years. Sure!
Blur's Alex James $1,000,000 cocaine en champagne. No prob!

But then:

Mick Fleetwood (Mac) according to the article spend around $8,000,000 on premium quality Columbian drugs, lives to tell and therefore should be awarded a golden medal at the Winter Olympics.

Read the full article here.

#46 GraphJam

GraphJam is a website that puts music and pop culture in charts and graphs and is quite funny in doing so. Here are some of my favorites.

#45 Random Linkage

- It's the, it's the, it's the... it's the Korean Drummer freak outttttttt.
- A scientific website researching whether Nickelback is indeed the worst band in the world ever.
- How Free Jazz is the Great Grandfather of Punk Rock.
- Click here for a picture of a 60+ nakid guy with 5 teenage girls.
- My Sharona ain't-no-mo-a.

#44 Liars Are Back

#43 Lessons in Level 42

I was driving home from The New Earth Group's Rotterdam release party last saturday and heard Level 42's 'Lessons in Love' on the radio.
Level 42 is / was a British band that had a couple of hits in the late '80's and early '90's and besides having a Screech-look-a-like keyboard player, Level 42 featured "the best slapping and plucking bass player in the world" Mark King.

Now this Mark King entered my life as a little boy whilst watching "Wedden Dat", a Dutch TV show from the 80's hosted by the late and great Jos Brink with his assistant Sandra "Little Shrimp Cracker" Reemer (Little Shrimp Cracker, or "Kroepoekje" in Dutch was a nickname Jos gave her referring to her Indonesian heritage. This might seem racist now, but back then and coming from a gay TV host, this was considered politically correct).
Mark King was on the show to help out with a bet that entailed a guy that could tell, just by listening, what kind of bass guitar mister King was playing. I was very impressed then, I'm very impressed now.

Part 1:


Part 2:

#42 Punk Rock Friday

Meet my fried Gabe. He plays in a band called the Locust.

#41 Brian Jonestown Massacre Lego Vid

thanks Niels Post.

#40 Random Linkage

- How much would you pay to dress like the Kings of Leon? Probably not as much as they're asking.
- Erykah (ya)Ba(dabba)du rules. Or at least her new video / website thingie does.
- Dr. Dre sues Death Row.
- 10 songs about curling.
- Sweet 1984 Prince rehearsal video's.

#39 HealthCity Ad

I saw this HealthCity poster this weekend in Amsterdam and I can't figure out whether this is really smart or very diabolical.
For all non-dutch speaking readers, the copy says:" Just registered and looking better already, free gym bag till march first."

#38 Punk Rock Friday

Via Robin van der Kaa

#37 It Ain't Over Till The Fat Lady Sings (A Battle Royale Of The Worst Singers Ever).

In the wonderful world of weird music a lot of "bad" music has been recorded. This post is about three of history's worst female singers. I'm not talking about women that sing under the shower (like yo momma!) but actual artists who've performed on stage and have recorded at least one actual album.


Singer number one:
Elva Ruby Connes was born on October 5th 1907 and died in 1997. Elva Ruby Connes is better know under her stage name Mrs. Miller. She was an American singer who's voice has been compared to the sound of "roaches scurrying across a trash can lid."

In 1934 Mrs. Miller moved to Claremont, California together with her husband, appropriately called Mr. Miller.
She had long been an aspiring singer, having performed here and there with local choirs and recording 45" cuts for friends and family (Mr. Miller apparently had quite some extra cash lying around).
At one point a young pianist by the name of Fred Bock noticed her special singing qualities and invited her to record a demo version of Petula Clark's "Downtown". The result, to say the least, was rather interesting and Capitol Records bigwig Lex de Azevedo saw financial potential and oversaw the recording of Mrs. Miller's debut "Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits".

Within a period of 18 months Mrs. Miller attained unbelievable fame and "Mrs. Miller’s Greatest Hits", filled with contemporary pop covers, sold over 250.000 copies within 3 weeks. As a result she went on a nation wide promo tour making various appearances on TV and radio shows. A rare live recording from that time can be found here.

Mrs. Miller: Downtown.


Mrs. Miller - Greatest Hits
1. Downtown
2. The Shadow Of Your Smile
3. A Hard Day's Night
4. Dear Heart
5. Chim Chim Cher-ee
6. These Boots Are Made For Walkin'
7. A Lover's Concerto
8. Let's Hang On
9. Catch A Falling Star
10. Gonna Be Like That
11. My Love

Download - Buy



Singer number two:
Singer number two went by the name of Florence Foster Jenkins, who graced the earth between 1868 and 1944 (yes when I'm talking history's worst singers I mean history's worst singers). Florence Jenkins was an American soprano who became famous for her complete lack of rhythm, pitch and tone... pretty much all things you need to be a singer.

Florence Foster Jenkins was born from very wealthy parents in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania around 1868. At a very early age she demonstrated the desire to become a singer but her parents objected due to the excruciating quality of her voice and would not support such a career choice.
After her father passed away when she was 39, she inherited a fairly large sum of money which acquired her the freedom to persue her long life dream of becoming a vocalist.

She moved to Philadelphia (and later New York) and became involved in the musical life in both city's. She founded (and funded) the Verdi Club, took singing lessons, and began giving recitals. She gained tremendous popularity in her unconventional way. Her audiences apparently loved her for the amusement she provided rather than her musical ability.

In her lifetime Jenkins recorded nine aria's of five 78's which have been re-released on three CD's.

Florence Foster Jenkins: Die Zauberflöte Der Hölle Rache (Mozart).


Florence Foster Jenkins - The Glory (????) of the Human Voice
1. Mozart : Die Zauberflöte/La flûte enchantée: (Queen Of The Night Aria)
2. Liadoff: The Musical Snuff-Box
3. McMoon: Like A Bird
4. Delibes: Lakme: Où va la jeune Hindoue? (Bell Song)
5. McMoon: Serenata Mexicano
6. David: La Perle du Brésil: Charmant Oiseau
7. Bach-Pavlovich: Biassy
8. Johann Strauss, Jr.: Die Fledermaus/La Chauve-souris:Adele's Laughing Song

Download - Buy



Singer number three:
From the far east we have Wing Han Tsang, popularly known simply as Wing. This now New Zealander was born in Hong Kong and is primarily known for her appearance on an episode of Southpark.

Wing moved from Hong Kong to New Zealand to become both kiwi and singer at nursing homes and hospitals. Not limited by conventional musical ideas on tone, pitch and rhythm she soon became somewhat popular and created a demand for a CD. Her debut is called The Phantom of The Opera and features amongst others... The Phantom of The Opera and is followed by an avalanche of cover records on which Wing brutally slaughters The Carpenters, The Beatles and AC/DC.
In 2007 Wing first set foot on American soil performing at the SXSW festival and had full episode of for mentioned South Park dedicated to her.

Wing: For Those About To Rock (AC/DC)


Wing - Sings More AC/DC
1. Hells Bells
2. For Those About To Rock
3. Eyes Of A Child
4. Feelings

Download - Buy

#36 Random Linkage

- Liars have revealed the artwork for their upcoming new album. Look promising.
- Jay Reatard cause of death revealed.
- Why Belgian advertising is offline this week.
- David Pajo Covering The Misfits
- Jack White is pissed off at the airforce.

#35 Bark Bark Disco

Great video for a great song and a lot of almost nudity from Bark Bark Disco.


via Johannes W. Pannen.

#34 You Shot The Who And The What Now?

The Who being pretty f-ing cool while being pretty f-ing old at the Super Bowl.

#33 De Hoofd-Geitebreier Remixed

I'm loving the new images and updated sounds of the opening titles for one of the longest running Dutch youth TV show "Het Klokhuis".
The opening sequence is directed / designed by Johnny Kelly for Nexus and the original score is by the late great Harry Bannink, who in the Netherlands, for anyone aged 30 and up, is better know as the hoofd-geitebreier (the Head Goat Knitter) of yet another famous Dutch TV show.

#32 Punk Rock Friday

#31 Subliminal Messaging

I love commercials with funked up rock-riffs and incorporated urban youth culture / vandalism. Russian Telco Beeline adds another element: Va-jay-jay.
Beeline has it all.

#30 My buddy David Pino...

has a new video that just hit the airwaves. It's for the song 'Not Jealous' a single taken from Pino's most recent full length: The Long-lost Art of Becoming Invisible.
'Not Jealous' is a beautiful duet with former Room Eleven singer Janne Schra, coincidentlly David's ex-girlfriend. The video features 8 MM footage of a trip they made together in Canada a few years back.
You see... it's a layered song and video.

#29 Dear Smint...

Daft Punk called... they want their music back.

#28 Random Linkage

- Talk about insecurity. Axl refuses Slash like people at concerts.
- Fever Ray alienation acceptance speech.
- Geographical locations of famous rock 'n roll places.
- The 5 creepiest near-future advertising techniques.
- South African Rave Rappers Die Antwoord apparently are the next big thing.

#27 Wanna play rock 'n roll tennis?

Two iconic pants joined forces back in 1990 when Nike launched their "Wanna Play Rock 'n Roll Tennis?" campaign. The two iconic pants here off course being Andre Agassi's 'bike-shorts-beneath-denim-short's' and Flea's 'stuffed-animal-pants'.

I love the spot, especially the last part where Mister Agassi concludes Nike's, look-at-us-we-just-made-tennis-freaking-awesome! message, with the smurky sounding words: "any questions?". Well in regards to your recently published biography, yes Mr. Agassi, I do have question.

1. Are you (and Flea and Anthony) on drugs while shooting this thing?
B. Is that a wig you're wearing or is it 100% percent naturelle?

and

F. Are you related to Collin Farrel?



Part 2.