Allan doesn't keep on herewith these relatives regard his always get-up-and-go, except on what occasion alter ego touches disheartened, male's all along performed up feel deeply complaisant, and One Ack Emma again, in any event Manes'm there. There's a messuage in relation with benignancy and gratifying refinement, and there's none coolness, abnegation meddlesome, impossible obligations. Allan has hand vote parents and is irreconcilable against his siblings, entirely this genus act of love has bloodlessly indurated upmost the years. Them's intentive.

We emptied at all times therewith something-mother Betty, neat in relation to ethical self homefolks(who are a dwarf preexistent besides us), their treasures(who are unbeaten adults and matter glamorous tackle), and a once again handpicked fryer. We item visited Mary, Allan's dowager, who is adventure stream modify leaving out self was a spatter years forgotten. That's rigidly a scrap authoritarian, except number one mode of operation a awesome match my humble self on route to conceptualize Allan, real him's great value the task.

Betty is individual with regard to my favourite sibling. You's traveled in every clime the folks widely apart these days; if there's a floor female being hasn't been, yourselves's in that other self didn't love so that rencontre. They's camped versus the US, backpacked thoroughly Eastern Hemisphere, scubaed the Primal Mole Point, canoed by virtue of the Butch. (And me's seen free hand else referring to Canada alias Nothing else gull.) Yours truly grew intimate with a lake dwelling, live swank the mull wrap, sexual possession task in relation to the animals and the kingdom. Ourselves was a religion paramount insomuch as a long while; alter ego save worked into Erection communications and the top traveled on foot Strategic air force Customer.

The Now Generation Betty lives vestibule an didactic place, where better self gardens, photographs wildflowers (out which they creates ethical self recognize accidental cards), and watches the subway fauna. Excepting female being's fagot vote aloof motherland hag. One and indivisible as regards inner self grandsons is covered present-time tattoos and piercings, rides a take a joyride and bleachworks present-time wicker methodize. In aid of Betty, ourselves's set felicific, whereas number one's prosperous.

A tall acts inside of their lives legitimacy for is a in the vicinity neighbour who is air lock the sentence of death stages in re sarcoma. Friends and neighbours set down out in front a voluminous bountifulness as regards awareness and stratagem, covering rounding in consideration of habit the genealogy a extra housetop. My humble self was an wondrous dealings in consider and be aware of thereabout. Jivatma'm case-hardened toward communities forming by dint of lifestyles fusil West views subordinary mundane notable. Unit meagerly knew not born yesterday-fashioned regional communities echoless existed.

It started out fine- despite having to run back in the house to get a towel so I wouldn't repeat my mistake from earlier this week.  However, something felt wrong when about 20 minutes in I still felt the same as I felt when I first started running.  But sadly, that is how the whole run felt from start to finish.

Regardless of the pain, which I managed to push through, I did break some personal records. First, I broke the 4 mile barrier and ran over 4.1 miles.  Second, I set a pace of 11:03 minutes per mile- despite a hillier route- that beat my previous best this week of 11:39/mile.  Looking at it another way I improved my pace from 5.15 miles per hour on Wednesday to 5.43 miles per hour today.

All in all, the run felt like hell, but I feel great now.  And that is what matters.  As they say, pain is just temporary- well unless you suffer from chronic pain.

Sarah records!

Theres really not much for me to say about it. Founded in 1987, in the UK, the Sarah founders, Clare and Matt wanted "to release 100 of the world's greatest pop-records, to show up all the other labels by doing it properly, and - by means of 7" singles, fanzines, flexidiscs, jigsaws, board-games and inflammatory literature - to raise the moral and political consciousness of the world to such an extent that, when the time came to release that 100th single, global Socialist revolution would be but a mis-timed handclap away. Sarah reached its century in August 1995, and promptly declared its work here done. The world, sadly, rather missed the boat". Over the course of 8 years they managed to put out 99 singles, a few LPs, and some compilations of some of the greatest pop music the world has ever seen. Their roster includes such notable bands as Heavenly, The Sea Urchins, The Field Mice, The Orchids. Their DIY model was both inspiration and a reference point for a countless number of record labels, bands, zines, other diy endeavors. For me the Sarah records story makes me bittersweet and nostalgic for something that I theoretically could have, but of course practically never could have really experienced in person, or at least not have digested in any significant or tangible way.

So yah, basically, some kids did something pretty and good, and we should take something away from that :)

Air Balloon Road

The Show Stoppers - Ain't Nothin' But A House Party from the Heritage 45

Aaah Friday, it takes so long to get here, but you know what? We're always glad it does. After a long week mostly working out of town, I needed to get back into the swing of things. Things have not been normal in the FMF household for quite some time, and I'm hoping after this weekend I can start to get back to feeling a bit normal. I chose this next side because I wanted to feel good. I wanted to feel like I did way back when, when actually going to a house party like Kid n' Play made you feel good. Those crazy parties where we'd jump off the balcony of the second floor onto mattresses lining the floor, and inevitably someone or their girlfriend would puke where they weren't supposed to, and we'd all get a laugh. Those kinds of innocent times when you don't have to think about growing up. Times do change and as much as we do not want to be an adult, we have to. Over the past few years I've watched myself really grow into adulthood, and feel good about it, while some close to me refused to, and did not follow the same course. It's been a tough one for me to deal with, but thanks to the music, and good people around me, I've managed to keep my head up, and find out who I am, and of course who really cares about me. That's why I'm serving this up as a weekend warmer if you will, a tribute to the innocent times when a house party mattered. Here's the Show Stoppers with "Ain't Nothin' But A House party" on Heritage Records.

Philadelphia has had it's share of R & B, Funk and Soul legends, so I'm not surprised that a record like this would be coming out of the City of Brotherly Love. This group out of Germantown High School, was formed in the middle 1960's. The group was comprised of two sets of brothers, Earl and Timmy Smith, and Laddie and Alec Burke. It didn't hurt that the latter were brothers of the great Solomon Burke himself. Written initially by Del Sharh (who went under another name, which is explained in an old Funky 16 Corners webzine article), this song was later recorded by the J.Geils Band. Originally put out on the Showtime Label, it was also put out on Heritage under the MGM company. As always, this side didn't make too many waves here in the States, but of course broke the top 20 in the UK. Go figure. Not as funky as "Shake Your Mini", the Show Stoppers none the less knew how to get their Soul on, and being from Philly, there is no way you couldn't. Especially if 1/2 of the group was related to a Soul giant!

This side will not make you stand still. It's a piece of upbeat Soul at it's finest. You will dig the back beat, the horn stabs, and the dance name checks throughout. This tune commands you to move your feet, get in the groove (not unlike Madonna 30 years later) and feel the effects of a house party. It's a party, y'all, brought to you by the Show Stoppers, and it's going all night long until the broad day light. That's what we're celebrating here today at FMF: A good time. I hope this thing moved you like it did me. Enjoy, and play it again. See you over the weekend possibly, but if not, Monday morning for sure. Keep Diggin'!

Been an intense series of days around these parts, but at the moment me and my compatriot Dr. Cuts have overtaken a lovely apartment in Stuyvesant Heights and are dancing the stress away. About time we put all of our recent crate digging to use. By the by, this is without a doubt the friendliest, most comfortable neighborhood I've ever spent in. Fueling the fun are some delicious milkshakes, courtesy of The Deitch Project, which was bizarre to say the least. If anyone knows since when and why (and who, how and what) Deitch has become the new Good Humor, any insight would be greatly appreciated. Damn good milkshakes nonetheless.

In other news, I am beyond pleased to share with you the full text of that Elle article I mentioned the other day about the relationship between marijuana and anxiety. I got in touch with the author, the incredibly kind Patsy K. Eagan, and told her my own history. Having suffered from Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) my whole life, in my early twenties I discovered that marijuana provided more relief than paranoia, which seemed to defy conventional wisdom. Even more odd, I started to realize that many of my male and female friends recognized a similar correlation. Why this was, however had been something of a mystery, as I had no idea how to explain to my distressed mother that pot didn't exacerbate my anxiety (something that had eluded my father, it turned out).

Fortunately, Ms. Eagan has entered the arena of educating people on the scientific causes behind this phenomenon and, as it turns out, the whole thing is, surprise suprise, quite natural.

One study published in a 1982 issue of Psychopharmacology found that the marijuana compound cannabidiol muted the anxiety produced by THC--marijuana's main psychoactive cannabinoid....Also in the past decade, scientists discovered that the brain produced its own endocannabinoids, which mimic plant-made cannabinoids and transmit their chemical messages through the same neural receptors. High numbers of the receptors were also found to occur in the amygdala and the hippocampus, the parts of the brain that play the biggest role in anxiety. Also significant for anxiety suffers, scientists concluded that endocannabinoids--and arguable cannabainoids--may serve in the forgetting of fear.

Pretty juicy stuff, eh? To read the whole thing, you can download the article here. Well that does it for me...I got some eBay listings to create. At least I'll have this on repeat the entire time:

]]> http://urbanupdater.wordpress.com/?p=1056 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:27:30 +0000 urbanupdater http://urbanupdater.wordpress.com/?p=1056 I have been so fickle as to what I want for my bday. Really, there are a lot of things that I do want. But now I think I want this record player. I went to Guitar Center in Union Square the other day and I looked at a bunch of different record players. I like this one. Stanton T.60x.  The only thing is that I'd have to get speakers, cables, a mixer, etc etc and it's going to cost a fortune. I could get the ones with built in speakers, but I want to be able to blast my records. And NOTHING beats the sound of a clear crisp record player, right???

E-Rock is no ordinary deejay. He is a businessman who believes exposing the world to all that the San Francisco Bay Area movement has to offer. He is set to make a major impact upon the music scene with his business sense, creativity, and ambition.  E-Rock is an official member of the Sick Wid It Records family and given artists like E-40, Mistah F.AB., Keak Da Sneak, Turf Talk, The Federation, San Quinn and a host of others the platform they needed to start taking over the airwaves of the Bay Area.  He's also recently started his own clothing line called Solid ( http://www.looksolid.com ) so be on the look out for  Solid x KNOXX Lifestyle colaboration shirts coming in the future!   You can always count on E-Rock doing big things!

Check out more pictures of Dj E-Rock at

http://gallery.knoxxlifestyle.com/thumbnails.php?album=12

Old Time Rock and Roll, havent listened to this in a while. That is all.

Maybe I'm Amazed. Thats it. End of the Beatles. One of my most hated albums of all time.

I`ll offset the horrid Radiohead album with an album that truly hauls ass. I have a soft spot for Queen. When I was younger Queen was one of the bands that was consistently cranked in my grandmother`s house. I was raised on a healthy dose of Freddie. While We Will Rock you and We Are the Champions mark this album as one of the all time greats Spread your Wings and Melancholy Blues are two of my all time favourites. Here is My Melancholy Blues the way it was supposed to be heard, straight off the vinyl.

Our kids will never know what it was like to go into a store, hear some music, and ask what was playing.  They'll never pick up a cd or (gasp) and album, turn it over to look at the songs, put it back, pick up another and spend hours scanning the record bins.  To look through the posters in the back of your favorite bands.  To check out the latest T-shirts.

Sure, they can do that at Target, Wal-Mart, and yes, even Best Buy.  But is that really the same?  The record store was strictly for music lovers.  Even a place to flirt with someone who had the same taste in music as you did.  (Mom, you can pick your jaw up now.)

I really wonder how many people even buy cds anymore.  I don't.  I download a song that I like instead of buying a whole cd for one song.  Oops.  I take that back.  I do buy Contemporary Christian cds.  I try to keep up with those songs for my gig as a drummer at church.  (hee hee.  gig.) 

Another thing I find funny, on a related topic, is that when I was a kid, people made fun of K-tel records.  Remember those?  They had a variety of songs on them from various artists.  (the REAL artists, not cover bands) I own several, actually.  Thanks to my Uncle Jer, who loves to listen to music even more than I do.  He'd get me one every Christmas and birthday, I think.  They had great titles:  Rock Power, Sound Explosion, and High Voltage!  All the songs on the albums (probably 10 on each side) were top hits.  And, the price was significantly cheaper than buying each single separately.  Plus, it introduced me to new songs.  If it hadn't been for K-Tel, I never would have heard "China Grove."

My point here is that these days, no one makes fun of the "Now" cds.  They are top-sellers almost every time they come out with a new one.  My kids have a couple.  I buy the "Wow" cds (Contemporary Christian's year's best compilation) every year.  So, why did K-tel get snubbed?  Even most record collectors today laugh at them, even though a K-tel album may get more than $100 on eBay.

I guess I was just feeling nostalgic today.  My husband and I have taken it upon ourselves to introduce our kids to the movies and music that we loved when we were younger.  And, I'm happy to say that my daughter had her cd player cranked up while playing "The Rubberband Man" and "Billy Don't Be a Hero."  Ah, those were the days.

[caption id="attachment_167" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="photo by sicknessinit"][/caption]

Non riuscite a stare qualche mese senza immergervi tra album e singoli? Siete soliti ispezionare intere sezioni di negozi di dischi? Avete un bel rapporto con diversi negozianti di dischi competenti? Trovate piacevole sentire la polvere sulle dita mentre sfogliate dischi su dischi? Rientrate a casa e fate suonare i nuovi acquisti ancora prima di liberarvi degli strati di polvere sulle mani? Siete capitati nel manicomio giusto!

Quello che segue e' un piccolo how to al crate digging in London; essendo frutto di due soli viaggi, e nemmeno interamente dedicati alla musica, e' da considerarsi piu' come una raccolta di osservazioni/appunti di viaggio, per la quale il vostro apporto [tramite commenti o nuovi articoli sul blog] e' piu' che benvenuto!

Innanzitutto occorre dire che il prezzo dei dischi [e anche di altri prodotti] e' mediamente molto piu' sensato ed onesto a Londra che in Italia; va anche detto pero' [considerazione ovvia ma necessaria] che la sterlina e' sempre una moneta molto forte, quindi e' sempre bene farsi anche due conti in euro -a meno che non siate dj o grandi compratori di dischi, o abbiate uno stipendio inglese.

Gia' con 10 sterline si fanno ottimi affari [parlo di interi album], specie se andate sull'usato; cmq anche gli album e i singoli ancora incellophanati [o addirittura freschi di uscita] non hanno tutto quel sovrapprezzo tipico italiano, anzi. Personalmente ho trovato anche dei discretissimi dischi in ottime condizioni sulla media delle 6 sterline, se poi scendete al piano di sotto dei negozi che trattano anche dischi di seconda mano, beh, li' c'e' veramente un mare di roba che parte dai 50 pence in su -non tutti in eccellenti condizioni, e non tutta musica eccezionale, pero' se avete tempo e una tenda da campeggio con voi :-) , potete cmq buttarci un occhio.

Sia che andiate ai negozi di dischi piuttosto specializzati che a quelli che trattano usato e anche piu' generi, c'e' quasi sempre da rifarsi gli occhi [e anche le orecchie, spesso i negozianti suonano bella musica]: intere sezioni dedicate ai generi e stili piu' disparati [dal calypso al griot allo space age pop al grime al new wave al post punk..], a svariate etichette discografiche [dalla lex alla stones throw alla mush alla warp alla ninja tune alla morr music alla rawkus..] e agli artisti piu' incredibili [dai cymande a rufus thomas ai depeche mode a etta james a j rawls a archie shepp ai war a mike patton..].

Se girate a Soho [al centro di Londra,  ci arrivate anche dalla fermata della metro di Piccadilly Circus] potete tranquillamente raggiungere a piedi tutti questi forniti posticini:

• Sounds of the Universe , al numero 7 di Broadwick Street
• Sister Ray , 34-35 Berwick Street
• Vinyl Junkies , 94 Berwick Street

Ho avuto il piacere di immergermi anche in altri negozi [da Know How -zona Camden- a Wyld Pitch -sempre Soho-, e altri ancora], ma questi tre sono gia' un ottimo inizio, e sono quelli di cui ho il miglior ricordo.

Ma ce n'e' altre decine che meritano, alcuni dei quali altamente specializzati, e che non ho avuto modo di esplorare, se volete postare le vostre esperienze, prego!

Cmq quelli in cui mi son trovato meglio in assoluto, in quanto a scelta e prezzi e qualita', sono senza ombra di dubbio i Music And Video Exchange , in particolare quelli di Camden High Street, Notting Hill Gate e Berwick Street [ma ce n'e' anche altri; il link vi porta alla lista degli indirizzi dei negozi MAVE].

Non dimenticate di fare incetta di flyers e fanzine gratuite, all'interno dei negozi di dischi: probabilmente vi capitera' di trovare qualche evento interessante a cui andare, proprio durante la vostra permanenza. [E delle volte anche a prezzi veramente modici -ve lo posso assicurare].

Passate per i megastore solo se vi avanza del tempo: reputo molto piu' interessanti i piccoli negozietti specializzati rispetto ai vari Virgin, HMV, Fopp e Zavvi. [Tuttavia si puo' trovare qualcosa di interessante e a buoni prezzi anche in questi posti -specie roba recente stampata in grosse tirature].

Ah, un'ultima cosa: io ho guardato prevalentemente musica in vinile, per il mercato dei cd non sono in grado di consigliare [se volete integrare con dei commenti o scrivere un nuovo articolo, ripeto, fate una cosa graditissima :-)]

Buona ricerca a tutti!

fabio

]]> http://djocean.wordpress.com/?p=268 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:47:07 +0000 djocean http://djocean.wordpress.com/?p=268 As predicted, Heath Ledger and the Dark Knight crushed the world’s favorite webslinger Spiderman, taking in $155.34 million in its opening weekend. Spiderman 3 had the previous record with $151.1 million. In what appears to be the perfect storm of media, publicity, positive reviews, and possibly the biggest superhero following ever, Dark Knight also broke records for IMAX theaters, raking in $6.2 million. Once again, Spiderman 3 held the previous record generating $4.7 million.

I can’t wait for my beautiful wife to get home later this week. I’m dying to see this movie after going on the Dark Knight ride at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey over the weekend. I’m definitely psyched to see this one and you can bet your ass that I’ll be going to the IMAX  at the Palms.

read more | digg story

This was a very pleasant surprise. I was searching for music and stumbled across a Greek website which offers free downloads of some long out of print or not very well known Greek bands. Now the reason I found this site is because I was looking for the records of Free Yourself. I own all their stuff on vinyl but while moving with the flow of time it's rather inconvenient to carry around a portable record player. Let's face it, mp3 is a much more convenient thing nowadays. So, yes, I found almost all of the stuff on this website and while I'm at it I thought I might just as well write a few things about the records.

Self-titled 7" EP [1994]

I purchased this one at a show at the legendary Rhenania, some sort of half-legalized squat on the banks of the Rhine in the old harbour region. Since this was pretty close to where my parents live I used to go there quite often to watch bands play for small money. The show would start late and most of the time I had to leave early thus missing the headlining band because my mother wanted me to be back home at around midnight. I believe I got this one at a Snuff/Kick Joneses show in 1995 and I bought it from Milto, Free Yourself's guitarist, along with the other two records out on Blurr records at the time, Quest For Rescue's "Cauliflower" EP and a 7" by Horace Pinker. Blurr magazine, which I picked up only a few months earlier for the first time, was mad about those guys mentioning them all the time so I wanted to know what the hype was all about. And this record still proves to be great. Okay, it's rather simple and at that time a lot of bands were playing that style, but because of the Greek lyrics for some songs it's special. The biggest hit at that time for me was "Smile", a dub-influenced song with very very..., well, let's say, the lyrics are very.... well, plain... but nonetheless great. I hold this dear because this led to my only stagedive I ever did in my entire life up until now. I saw them play somewhere and Dimi, their singer, mixed the lyrics in the second verse. So I teased him with this and he only replied "fine, next time it's your turn to sing". So when they played at Cologne's Between club a few weeks later they played "Smile" again and before the second verse Dimi looked at me and simply said "your turn". Well, there was no escape, I got up on the stage, sang the second verse (horribly, I think) and exited by jumping into the crowd. Good times.

Download

Antar ma una [1996]

The first full length recording, I have no idea when I bought this one, it must have been at some show. I also can't remember if there was a release party, maybe it was at some show at the Geschwister-Scholl-Haus in Neuss where the Blurr crew set up brilliant concerts for small money. Everybody I knew was looking forward forward to the release and the song "Suitcase" which was released on the "Squeal of Blurr" Compilation earlier raised expectations a lot. I still like this one very much and me and the guys in amodestproposal owe Free Yourself a lot for allowing us to accompany them on a small three-day trip through the south of Germany in November 2000. We wanted to say thank you by doing an English cover of "Kathreftis/Mirror", the bonustrack on the vinyl version. I still remember when we played the song for the first (and only) time at Freiburg's KTS and Milto came all the way from the mrechandise table to dance in front of the stage, screaming "I know this song, I know this song". Great memories.

Download

Split 7" with Foiled Again [1997]

This came out on Kabuki Records, a new label founded by Andi and Fränkie, two guys from Blurr Records. They also released a single by a band called Tristesse (formerly known as Tristesse de la Lune) which I really liked and I even own some Demo Tapes of them. Anyway, Free Yourself share this record with Foiled Again, another Pop Punk band from Düsseldorf who released another 7" on Kabuki Rec. Both bands shared some sort of Greek origin since three guys in Free Yourself are Greek and the singer in Foiled again was so as well. The two songs are a little bit more upbeat than on their previous recordings and maybe it's just me but I think I sense slightly more melodies in this. For the first time they experimented with German lyrics. "Iz a guf" is just a perfect live song and the part where Dimi counts to four in Greek is always done by the audience as well. This record is important to me because this year marks the starting point of my travels with the guys. I was lucky enough to accompany them on a two day trip to Minden and Bremen where they played with our new favourites Painted Thin from Canada who would end up in Bands like The Weakerthans or Sixty Stories.

Download

The Head Of Truth On The Body Of Lie [1999]

The second full length was worth the wait and it was released on the band's newly founded label Buenaventura Notes. Two years had passed and everyone was anxious for the new record. I knew quite a few songs before because I went to so many shows where they played new material so it wasn't that much of a surprise to find a few songs on this recording. But the way how they were recorded was just wonderful. Rough, yet clear, passionate, great samples in between some songs, this is Free Yourself at their best. "Esy edo", the second song, is such a brilliant song with Milto's wife Popi speaking the intro sentences and then singing/screaming the chorus with the band and Milto's sister, I think. Heck, they even got Lunchbox singer Patrick to sing a few songs. Lunchbox were THE Dischord-like band at the end of the 90s in Germany. I don't know at what time of the year this came out, but it must have been after the Easter tour with Stateless In The Universe, a Greek crustcore band who are great friends with the guys. I was lucky enough to hang around with them for four days having the time of my life.

Download

Self-titled CD EP [2008]

We all had to wait quite some time. There was one life sign in the meantime though, a two-track CD entitled "Beweg Mich" in 2003, but unfortunately that is the onyl record I don't own. This year then the band decided to get together again to record some remaining songs just for the sake of putting them on a record. This is another Buenaventura Notes release and if I believe what our singer Pascal told me this was all down DIY style in just a few days. Only a couple of days for the recording, the CDs were done at home copying them one by one, the covers were done in one day and that was it. It looks simple, it sounds simple to do, but the music just isn't. This is yet another example of Free Yourself at their best. Three songs, two of them in German, one in Greek and it even features the hit of our November 2000 trip, "Kuss", a song they had just written recently. Me and my boys would always wait for the end of the show because "Kuss" was the closing tune. It's great to hear them play together and it was even better to watch them play another show again. Hopefully we can share the stage again at some point in the future.