I knew death had been looming for years but when I saw the news online late last night it saddened me greatly. Still does. It’s not like Wexler and I were ever friends but the hours we spent together, which I recall vividly, and the kindness he showed me, made me feel like we had connected in way that rarely occurs during an interview.

Read this post in its entirety, and the Jerry Wexler interview I did in 2003, at TampaCalling.com.

McKeen’s bio smartly focuses on Thompson’s singular writing style, his mastery of invective and the lengths he went to make sense of a world gone wrong. McKeen adroitly dismantles the Raoul Duke persona exploited by uppity doodler Garry Trudeau, as well as Hollywood and Thompson himself. The book addresses the Gonzo journalist’s acts of brutality and self-destruction but keeps the emphasis on the writer and his ability to demonstrate the “power of language when used well.”

Click here to read the entire piece and for info regarding McKeen’s appearance at Inkwood Books in Tampa on Thursday. See ya there.

Cross-posted from TampaCalling.com.

By this point, I’m sure you heard about it. Thirty-six teams built would-be flying machines and ran them off a 30-foot high pier into the notoriously dirty ass Hillsborough River. One or more person piloted the aircraft  and took the plunge. Teammates typically jumped in the brown water after their apparatus for shits and giggles. I stood in the sun, cooking, cringing and losing faith in humanity, myself included.

I kept thinking of that old parental saying about if everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you? In Tampa, apparently that’s the case. Organizers expected a crowd of 50,000 to witness people place themselves in a flimsy contraption and then be willingly hurled into a body of water deemed not fit for swimming. More than 100,000 suckers, myself included, attended.

One of those participants was my coworker, London, the woman pictured working on building an aircraft out of newspaper. Good gawd. Creative Loafing entered the competition as the Bread Winners. Countless hours went into building what they billed as the Flying Cuban Sandwich. “We are closing in on the big day,” reads a message from “The Captain” posted on the Bread Winners’ website July 14. “We still have some work to do in order to make everything originally envisioned a reality, but in another evening we should be all but done.

“The pilot [London] and I spent another night getting some finishing details knocked out after work with a couple of cold beers. We had a mock assembly of our flying Cuban and it was quite a site to behold.”

The damn thing didn’t even have wings. Well, kinda, but they were about as wide as oars. From where I was perched Saturday afternoon it looked like a giant coffin and had me seriously worried that London would not emerge from it, or if she did it would be with some kinda severe spinal or brain injury. Or with a limb missing.

“You know it’s not too late to back out,” I told her about 20 minutes before she took the fall.

“I can’t,” she said, more than a hint of fear in her voice.

Our entourage of friends and coworkers then wormed our way through the obnoxious, all ages crowd — who brings newborns to Flugtag? — and thanks to our group largely consisting of young women, were able to land last-minute, front row, waterfront seats behind a concession tent.

A bunch of David Hasselhoff-worshiping gym and sun freaks dressed as lifeguards dubbed Tampa Baywatch kicked things off around 1 p.m. They attached a glider to the top of their contraption and, with a person inside, it sailed 100 feet. Impressive, I thought. But then flying machine after flying machine dropped straight down into the diarrhea-colored waters.

I did some research. Flying 100 feet is not so impressive. The winner in Nashville last year traveled 155 feet. Even more disconcerting was learning that there were actual engineering students who entered contraptions that fell off the pier like bovines being pushed off a cliff.

“We built it a little too nose-heavy,” reads a quote in the this morning’s Times. It’s attributed to a Max Hirsh of DeLand’s Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The University of Florida and Florida State also had their engineering students present, only to be bested by Team Baywatch. “His zealous teammates finished their skit and began to push the aircraft,” reads the explanation as to why the UF team tanked. “They forgot that [John] Bornberg needed a few seconds to remove bungee cords fastening the glider to the rest of the gear.” This says a lot about why NASA hasn’t accomplished anything substantial in my lifetime.

CL’s Flying Cuban Sandwich was the third contestant of the day and fell apart before it even hit the water. But that should be expected from an alt-weekly newspaper’s team. Especially one featuring a “world traveling bootlegger,” an “honorary Loafer based on her love of drinking and SOG cred,” and a woman “cool enough to party with Creed on their tour bus.”

It took what felt like about a half-hour in between each liftoff. We left when our booze supply ended, which occurred right when the concession stand we were practically sitting in ran out of beer. We didn’t miss much.  Baywatch won.

I have yet to speak to London since she braved life and limb for a cheap publicity stunt but did see her being pulled out of the dark waters and wave to us, so, y’know, she survived. But who knows about the whole brain damage thing. I’ll have to question her at the office Monday. And question my own sanity for attending such an event.

Cross-posted from TampaCalling.com.

In Tampa, a Times used to cost 25 cents Monday through Saturday and 50 cents only on Sunday.

A 100 percent price jump? Really? Shouldn’t we have had a stopover at 35 cents?

Of course, you can still get tbt* for free, which is a great read, if you have an IQ of, say, 54.

Here’s the press release from Steele:

AMERICAN MUSIC LEGEND DEX ROMWEBER SIGNS MULTI-ALBUM DEAL WITH BLOODSHOT RECORDS NEW ALBUM FEATURES CAT POWER, NEKO CASE AND EXENE CERVENKA 

SUMMER TOUR ANNOUNCED!

Bloodshot Records and Dex Romweber announce the signing of a multi-album deal – a match made in heaven between two arbiters of the edgy side of rock, R&B and country. The first album, as yet untitled, will feature duets between Dex and Cat Power, Neko Case and Exene Cervenka. Recording commences in mid-August at Overdub Lane in Durham, NC; John Plymale (Meat Puppets, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Corrosion Of Conformity) is producing. Said Nan Warshaw, Bloodshot co-owner, “Dexter’s reputation as a musician’s musician is well-established and so deserved, but we here at Bloodshot are also in awe of the unbridled fury and raw soul he has unleashed for decades.”

 

The Dex Romweber Duo will stretch their legs prior to the recording with a tour that is bookended by two festival dates: Festival For The Eno July 6 in Durham, NC and the Deep Blues Festival July 19 in Lake Elmo, MN. All tour dates are listed below.

Dex Romweber Duo Summer Tour Dates:

July  6 Festival For The Eno -  Durham, NC

July 11 Mansion 462 – Chapel Hill, NC

July 13 The Hi-Fi Concert Club – Lakewood, OH

July 14 Cafe Bourbon Street – Columbus, OH

July 15 The Latchstring – Ft. Wayne, IN

July 16 Red Line Tap – Chicago, IL

July 17 Club 505 – Rockford, IL

July 18 Davey’s Uptown – Kansas City, MO

July 19 Deep Blues Festival – Lake Elmo, MN

July 21 Off Broadway – St. Louis, MO

July 22 Sam’s Saloon – Indianapolis, IN

July 23 White Water Tavern – Little Rock, AR

July 24 Murphy’s – Memphis, TN

July 25 The Nick – Birmingham, AL

July 26 Pilot Light – Knoxville, TN

Top 10: Songs about sugar

1. “Sugar on My Tongue,” Talking Heads

One of my all-time fave Talking Heads songs. Other than Zeppelin, this is the band I most want to see reunite … and play “Sugar On My Tongue.”

2. “Brown Sugar,” The Rolling Stones

Terrific song but this killer riff/sordid lyric lost its sex/danger appeal — and No. 1 ranking — when it was used to sell kahlua … and Pepsi. Mick, Keef, is nothing sacred?

3. “Sugar, Sugar,” The Archies

Fake band, I know, cheesy, I know, but I love this song.

4. “I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl,” Nina Simone

Allison Moorer does a fine cover of this song on her latest album.

5. “Sugar Baby,” Dock Boggs

One of numerous gems from the legendary Harry Smith anthology.

6. “Sugar Baby,” Bob Dylan

No one steals from the public domain quite as effectively as Dylan. Click here to read my rather amateurish review of Dylan’s Love and Theft (the album includes “Sugar Baby”), which dropped on 9/11, while I was in college, writing/editing for the USF Oracle and freelancing for Weekly Planet. Yes, I was taking a polite swipe at the proverbial feeding hand. To this day, my esteemed editor Eric Snider and I differ on the merits of Dylan’s past three albums.

7. “Sugar and Spice,” The Cryan Shame

Good lawd, I love vintage garage rock.

8. “Brown Sugar,” ZZ Top

Not a Stones cover.

9. “Blood Sugar Sex Magik,” Red Hot Chili Peppers

Ah, yes, the title track from one of my favorite CDs of junior high (and beyond).

10. “Falling Sugar,” The Palace Guard

Good lawd, I love vintage garage rock.

WHAT DID I MISS?

Cross-posted from Tampa Calling.

From Reuters:

“At the moment, Boy George cannot come to the United States of America because he has been refused permission to enter by the USA Administration,” read a statement from the artist’s management. “This is not in respect of anything he has done in the past but because he is facing a trial in November in London for something that happened in April last year.”

Seven-word description: Highly emotive and quirky anti-folk from Paris.

Should appeal to fans of: Kimya Dawson, Jonathan Richman, Hamell on Trial
Wait, hasn’t Herman Dune been around for like 10 years? Yes, but this might be the year the Parisian duo finally expands its following Stateside. Herman Dune played a well-received set at SXSW in March, has toured with Juno soundtrack star Kimya Dawson and today released the bouncy, poignant, folky, poppy, excellent 5-song EP 1-2-3/Apple Tree.

Breakout CD: 1-2-3/Apple Tree

Release date/label: June 24/Everloving

Listen/watch official video: “1-2-3/Apple Tree”

Cross-posted from Tampa Calling.

Amanda Shaw and the Cute Guys, plus Sara Hickman

Friday Aug 08 08:00PM — Skipper’s Smokehouse

$12 advance, $15 door.

Louisiana teenage fiddle sensation Amanda Shaw returns after her triumphant set at Tropical Heatwave.

Heatwave review:
“Shaw’s poise, charisma, and chops belie her age. Then again, she’s been performing in public for a decade, and it showed Saturday. Shaw elated the crowd with her singular brand of Cajun-flavored roots rock. Boasting a strong and expressive voice colored with genuine twang and beat-the-devil fiddle skills, the diminutive frontwoman turned in a dynamic performance that included interestingly reworked blues (”Got My Mojo Workin’”), traditional zydeco (”Hot Tamale Baby”) and Cajun-spiced punk (The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”).

Shaw’s originals, mostly culled from her Rounder Records debut Pretty Runs Out, were equally varied and impressive, with the teenager revealing a knack for mature lyrics and catchy hooks that make her rustic sounds appealing to pop fans — without sounding too poppy. Could Shaw bring Cajun music to the masses? Perhaps. For now, I just hope she returns to play a local venue like Skipper’s in the near future.”
- Wade Tatangelo, Creative Loafing

SARA HICKMAN – With a twenty year recording career (including releases on Elektra, Discovery and Shanachie), the Texas singer-songwriter has an impressive catalogue of songs. Live, she is an irresistible, irrepressible spirit who is nearly impossible to categorize, with a musical style ranging from pop to jazz to folk to her own brand of whimsical music.

Tickets available by:

• Phone: 813-238-8001
• Ticket Outlets

Venue:

Skipper’s Smokehouse

910 Skipper Road

Tampa, FL 33613

Phone: (813) 971 – 0666

http://www.skipperssmokehouse.com

Directions from North – I-275 to Bearss exit, then left one block to Nebraska. Go right on Nebraska for 1/4 mile to Skipper Road. Turn left and then left into parking lot.

Directions from South or East – I-275 N to Fletcher exit, then right one block to Nebraska. Go left on Nebraska to Skipper Road. Turn right and then left into parking lot.

Top 10: Songs for George Carlin

1. “My Shit’s Fucked Up,” Warren Zevon

2. “Bitches Ain’t Shit,” Dr. Dre/Ben Folds

3. “Cocksucker Blues,” The Rolling Stones

4. “Fuck Me Pumps,” Amy Winehouse

5. “Little T & A,” The Rolling Stones

6. “Fuck the Police,” N.W.A.

7. “Piss and Vinegar,” Against Me!

8. “Still Don’t Give a Fuck,” Eminem

9. “Funk Shit,” The Prodigy

10. “Sure As Shit,” Kathleen Edwards

Cross-posted from Tampa Calling.

From Wikipedia:

The words are (with examples):

1. Shit – The bird shit on the statue.
2. Piss – I have to piss like a race horse.
3. Fuck – Fuck you.
4. Cunt – She has a gorgeous cunt.
5. Cocksucker – Go to hell, you cocksucker.
6. Motherfucker – You are a motherfucker.
7. Tits – Hey, nice tits.

Later, Carlin referred to three additional “auxiliary” words:

1. Fart – I farted.
2. Turd – Who dropped a turd in the urinal?
3. Twat – Shave that hairy twat.