Arthur Russell Film Screening and Afterparty

The Back Page


I think this is like the back of an Action Comics or something. I really don't know much about comics or Superman or any of that, but I love a sleazy end of book catalog ad. Reminds me of getting friends together for a bulk order of fireworks and whoopie cushions out the back of Boy's Life and going buck wild at the Webelos camping trip.

I'm Selling My Theremin

Dude. WTF.


I think my company Intranet is trying to tell me something:

Angels and Demons and Windjammers





Mongo Santamaria - The Windjammer






Sun Ra - Angels and Demons at Play

Psychedelic Shack


Let loose a shitstorm of psych records last month. Well, that and blues and mod/rocker/ted/whatever and some ugly exploito Beatles knockoffs.





Found these and more in a sauna-hot Brooklyn Heights basement one night after work. The only good for my ears was discovering Savage Resurrection, which I could have figured out had I paid more attention to that San Francisco revisit of the Nuggets series when it came out last year or so.

I think Thing In "E" is my new early morning Shredator anthem.


Savage Resurrection - Thing In "E"

Savage Resurrection - Tahitian Melody

Savage Resurrection - Expectations

Ambient Record Party


Frankly, I'd like to see more of this kind of thing in New York City. Imagine whole swathes of dubstep nights closing up shop and reopening with industrial drones and Eno adulation.

Obligatory End of the Year Post


Here are some new things I found and loved in 2007, some things people turned me on to, others I had forgotten about -- tracks and artists that made it all worthwile.




Black Unity Trio - Opening Prayer




Underground Railroad - Ain't No Second Best




Caetano Veloso - Gilberto Misterioso




Eddie Kendricks - My People Hold On




Arica - Thorn




Don Carlos - Lazer Beam




David Crosby - Cowboy Movie

Street Photo Installation at Flatbush and Park Place


A wild photo collage laminated on thin wood went up this Summer, drilled into the wall of what if I remember right is a liquor store at the top of Seventh Avenue in South Brooklyn. Asking around, the lady who camps out there selling records on the sidewalk said her brother put it all together. A month ago I noticed some chunks had been pulled out of it, which is a shame.





Martial Solal - Locomotion

Same Martial Solal that composed and performed A Bout de Souffle, this time with circa 1974 jazz funk moves. Shocking that no Native Tongues type hip hop group ever got around to sampling it.

Leaders of the New School - International Zone Coaster

I really do prefer early Busta.

An Argument for Gun Control

New Age New Rage





This was released back in April, but it's killing me right now. Really competent New Age bliss outs by none other than Lou Reed. Metal Machine Music it's not.

I first composed this music for myself as an adjunct to meditation, T'ai Chi, bodywork, and as music to play in the background of life—to replace the everyday cacophony with new and ordered sounds of an unpredictable nature. New sounds freed from preconception… I hope you find as much use for this music as I have in both writing and listening to it and exploring inner spaces.” —Lou Reed NYC, October 2006

Lou Reed - Hudson River Wind (Blend the Ambiance)
**Buy Lou Reed's Hudson River Wind Meditations**


This Beach Boys cut is more white man ethnomusicological foolery than actual New Age prana vibes, but it'll do.

The Beach Boys - Diamond Head


Brainticket's Joel Vandroogenbroeck went on in the late '70s and '80s to create library records centered around the flute. Essentially, tracks on libraries would be licensed by television or movie producers whenever needed. Think original '70s Monday Night Football theme. His later work picked up in a New Age vein, without ever resorting to the Shadowfax / Windham Hill type dreck commonly associated with the genre.

Joel Vandroogenbroeck - Group Meditation

Thanksgiving Parade LOLs





So one time a few years back I'm walking in Chelsea and this Mercedes SUV barreling down the street almost runs me over. My return glare melts away when I realize Jeff Koons is sitting in the driver's seat, and he's shrugging me an apology. True story.

Jeff Koons Spends Thanksgiving In Macy's
A Bunny Balloon Sheds Its Steel Skin


Even more boring anecdote inspired by a night of drinking:

At the age of nine or ten I witnessed my one and only Thanksgiving Day Parade. Clearly remember overpacked streets, people jostling for position to get a decent view, and a pretzel cart bumped around. A plastic ketchup bottle had been knocked over in the scrum, all of a sudden a New York City police officer, who should have been directing traffic, decided that this was the perfect moment to apply his leather heel. I remember being mesmerized by his lazy stream of squirting ketchup, until I snapped out of it and asked my mother why a cop would do such a mean thing.

"New York City cops are bastards", she replied.

Huge impact on my tender young psyche. Still possibly sage advice.