Johnny Horton

Check out "Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor" and some other odd facts that I never knew about the rockin' JH at The Devil's Music.

RIP, Jimmy Carl Black.

I was saddened to learn today of the death of Jimmy Carl Black (the Indian of the group). He was always one of my favorite Zappa sidemen, and one of the biggest reasons the Mothers were such a fun, hilarious group. I'll definitely be giving "200 Motels" and "We're Only In It For the Money" some spins tonight in his honor.

Here he is as Lonesome Cowboy Bert from "200 Motels":


And here he is more recently, performing "Trouble Everyday" with the Muffin Men, a gang of former Zappa sidemen who are keeping FZ's music alive:

Download another Percy Trout hour!

the Percy Trout hour

Super Fizz Sugar Pop
from all over the Globe.

Download another show from the Archives.
This one from November 3, 2008:

Part One

Part Two

IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL

Life reduced is simply fascinating. Victoria has a tired old attraction called Miniature World that still captures my attention whenever I visit. There's just something inherently captivating about seeing the world shrunk down to a table top model. Australian Keith Loutit has utilized his photography skills to create a mind boggling time lapse video of miniatures that are far from static.

Alley ooops!
As pointed out in the comments. Keith's work is in fact, tilt-shift photography.
Still freakin' cool.
See below!

Tilt-shift miniature faking is a process in which a photograph of a life-size location or object is manipulated so that it looks like a photograph of a miniature scale model. By distorting the focus of the photo, the artist simulates the shallow depth of field normally encountered with macro lenses making the scene seem much smaller than it actually is. Many miniature faked photographs are taken from a high angle to further simulate the effect of looking down on a miniature. Objects oriented horizontally...make better subjects for tilt-shift miniature faking than vertically oriented objects such as in the second example, in which one can see how the bottom of the trees are in focus but the top of the trees are out of focus, despite being the same distance from the lens.
From Wikipedia


Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.


Bathtub II from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.


Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.


The North Wind Blew South from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Oskar Schönning - Faustine

Swedish jazz act Oskar Schönning plays Faustine from their new album 'Puerto': (via It's A Trap! )

Uploaded by cdymling

Songs for a better tomorrow

"An album of songs that have given hope to working people in their struggles for freedom and justice"
Songs for a better tomorrow, a fine (and quite appropriate for this particular day) share by Bostworld.
Boomp3.com
No matter what your race, no matter your creed
It’s justice for all that we want and need
United in brotherhood, we will succeed
Together we’ll build and together we’ll stand
Together we’ll make this a happier land,
We’ll work and we’ll sing and we’ll march hand in hand
All together , all together, we are stronger every way
We will build together, work together for a better day

Wolf Talk

"This recording consists of sounds of the wolves mixed with bird calls and water sounds. ..."
A Closet of Curiosities gives us Wolf Talk

"Part 1: You'll hear the calls and howls of wolves and the sounds of the following guest speakers: spring peepers, wood frogs, crow, barred owl, red-winged blackbirds, blue jay, chickadees, nuthatches, and one great horned owl."
Boomp3.com
That's the G-R-E-A-T-E-S-T horned owl I ever heard recorded!!!
The guest stars here make a superb backing band with a great natural back-to-the-roots kind of sound. And the main attraction here - the wolves - are really down with it. They've got the blues, alright! And like all great blues singers they're not show-offs. This is the real deal.
It's truly a wild and animalistic performance altogether.

What kind of worries me is that their follow-up has been put on delay, but the title has already been leaked to the press: North Korean Democracy.

Songs of Couch and Consultation

Are you convinced that your superego is just a little more super than everyone else's? Do you have The Will to Fail, or the Repressed Hostility Blues?? Then you might enjoy Songs of Couch and Consultation, a witty collection of cabaret tunes from the late 50s that celebrate the ups and downs (OK, mostly downs) of psychoanalysis.

Piero Piccioni

Piccioni all day and all night long at Isbums Place - and don't forget to suggest/post your favorite Piero Piccioni track here (for an upcoming online tribute compilation).
I feel quite embarresed to suggest ... you know ... my theme ....
Well, there is alot of other brilliant stuff coming from the Piccioni catalogue.

Listen to the Percy Trout hour tonight!

the Percy Trout hour:

Monday Night (11-3-08)
8pm to 10pm EST-USA

WRFL 88.1fm
Lexington, KY

LISTEN ONLINE

Galen Gough

"October 5, 1923. Washington, D.C. The war hero and former invalid Galen Gough, known as the "Miracle Strong Man" after recovering from having his head caved in by bomb shrapnel in France."
Click image for full size at Shorpy.

"Gough's most serious wound came after an exhausting 24-hour march up to the front lines and into battle with the Marines at Vierzy, near Soissons. It was there shrapnel from an airplane bomb caved in the left side of his head and pierced his brain. By all standards he should have been dead. Service personnel at the scene thought he was dead and deposited his lifeless body with the other war casualties.
When officials finally discovered that Gough was still alive he was transferred back to New York where he was treated for his wounds. He was eventually discharged as permanently and hopelessly disabled.
Gough remained in that helpless condition for three years.
However, during those early years, Gough began experimenting with various exercises. He finally settled on crude isometrics and started a regiment of activities that eventually led him to a full recovery. In the process he dispelled the opinions of medical experts on two continents who said he would never be anything more than a hopeless invalid.
His strength didn't stop though, Gough continued to build up his twisted and wrecked body to a point that his recovery was beyond human belief. Noticing that his health had reached super-human proportions, Gough set off on a course that would lead him to such billings as "The Strongest Man on Earth," "The World's Miracle Strong Man" and "The Daringest Daredevil in The World."" (Quoted from this source)

Schönen Gruss aus der Heimat

Von Dieter Koblenz:

Yma Sumac 1922 - 2008

Boomp3.com
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Boomp3.com
R.I.P.

The Certifiably Insane Eloise Trio

I'm not sure how this album has achieved such a high status among calypso collectors--it is easily one of the most hilariously horrific albums in the history of recorded music. Listen in agony as Eloise does her extended high pitched imitation of a mouse getting its tail cut off with a carving knife. Or her seemingly endless histrionics over the loss of her boyfriend. Or her impression of a donkey braying.

Got an extended car trip coming up with someone you don't particularly like? You NEED The Exciting Eloise Trio.

Samba for the Soul

These vintage 1950s Brazilian album covers gracing the pages of Toque Musical are a joy in themselves, and the smoothly romantic music is aural Valium, evoking an era of ladies in satin gowns gliding across the dance floor with suave gentlemen in dinner jackets.

5003

'The Apocalypse', a collage created for the Saigon Market Zine.
Click image for better view at source.

5003's photostream at Flickr. Collages, sketches and stuff.

Vintage Naples postcards

From an old accordion booklet of various italian cities Pignouf of Vintage Poster has chosen to share Naples. He thinks they are from the 1940s.