CR@ZY WIZDUMB MASTER$

The Hit Man with the deadliest aim, Nashiem Myrick.

The Velvet Underground (?) - "The Star-Spangled Banner"

One more plug for Maggot Brain #19, in which you can read my epic guide to the dark labyrinth of Velvet Underground bootlegs. I think Third Man is even running some kind of deal on Maggot Brains right now, so you really have no excuse. Tons of other good stuff in there, both VU-related (Doug Yule interview!) and not (The Sonics, Antietam + Sleepyhead, Angela Jaeger!). Print only!

Meanwhile, here's a Velvet mystery I did not discuss ... The VU playing our horrible nation's horrible national anthem?! Well, uhh ... This track kicked off the very first VU bootleg I ever came across, which you can see pictured above. The Psychopath's Rolling Stones! One teenaged afternoon, it appeared before my eyes at Go-Boy Records in Redondo Beach (a place that only exists in t-shirt form these days), and I somehow convinced my mom to buy it — these kinds of illicit compact discs were not cheap back then, kids! But it offered a messy grab-bag of Velvet rarities, often mislabeled/misdated in what may or may not have been mischievous subterfuge on the compilers' parts.

John Coltrane Quartet - Naima / Live In Comblain-La-Tour 1965

Personnel:

John Coltrane - tenor saxophone

McCoy Tyner - piano

Jimmy Garrison - double bass

MARQUEE MOON - LIVE! 

Some summer re-runs from way back in the Doom & Gloom archives ...

Yes! I'm sure someone, somewhere has done this before. But I haven't! So here you go, Marquee Moon performed live onstage by Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, Billy Ficca and Fred Smith, 1976-77. Most of the album's eight songs became standard inclusions in Television's sets, with the exception of "Torn Curtain" (which they rarely played after the album was released) and "Guiding Light" (which was only played a handful of times). I think this live companion runs a bit shorter than the album itself, mainly because I didn't select the most epic rendition of the title track (it clocks in just under 10 minutes). Don't worry, though, dudes, it's still totally epic. The Kiss of Death! The Embrace of Life! Marquee Moon - LIVE! 

Let it never be forgotten (even though it has been deleted from Pitchfork):

The Village Vanguard. New York City. 1961.

We was sittin’ there watchin’ the stage. Waitin’ for the man they called Coltrane to come out and do his thing. It was me and my four droogs. Them bein’ Peter, Georgio and Dim; Dim being really Dim. ‘Round an hour’d passed and the place was packed straight through to the back. I’d just dropped some dollars for ‘Trane’s Giant Steps six months back. Now was the time, this was the place. The Village Vanguard. New York City. 1961. I was only there for the first night, see, but them cats at Impulse! just made my life complete. They put out four CDs of all that sound ‘Trane put out those nights. But you know my type, man. Can’t afford to eat, let alone spend some heavy cash on music. So I only got the essential. Live at the Village Vanguard: The Master Takes is one disc, makin’ it one-fourth the cost of the box set. And you only get the best stuff. Man, the opening beauty of “Spiritual…” It’s like a dream I had: I floated on the River Nile, smokin’ some fresh weed, relaxin’. But I ain’t ever gonna see the Nile anyhow. This track’s as close as I come, and it’s close enough. Best of the best, though, has gotta be “India.” It’s only when you listen to a perfect old jazz tune like this that you realize how much drum-n-bass is derived from this music. ‘Trane takes it to heaven and back with some style, man. Some richness, daddy. It’s a sad thing his life was cut short by them jaws o’ death. Shit, cat. It don’t make a difference. The man produced enough good music to last me a lifetime. This Village Vanguard thing’s just another example of the genius of Coltrane.

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