More Chuck Biscuits

As and addendum to the R.I.P. of a year and a half ago, here is the Man in action. With the Big Boys, Austin TX. I am guessing about 1986.

Butthole Surfers

I don't think there is a better explanatory video for this wild Texas band than this:

These guys were crazy, not in the crazy sense but in the way beyond crazy sense where humor meets musical prowess and originality and just plain common sense.

Here is a version of "Florida" ca. 1988:

Forida

And let us not forget this older 1983 performance, where you can really see they used to be a punk band. Includes my fave B*tthole Surfers song "BBQ Pope!"



Also worth noting is this 2-part "interview in bed" with them (ca. 1989?) -very strange and worth watching: ("Tommy Forester is dead" !!)

World Naked Bike Ride Day 2007

Hopefully YouTube will not remove this video. [Update 6/14/07: fuckin' prudes! They removed this video. It was really quite innocent and well shot.]

What strikes me here is not only how trim these people are (us bike-riders, you know, we keep in shape), or that World Naked Bike Ride Day was on my birthday this year, but the sheer numbers of people that turned out to protest our filthy, violent, gas-belching habits we all indulge in when we drive. This is 4 minutes of people in London riding 4 abreast, peacefully, nakedly protesting the fact that we are slowly destroying ourselves by burning fossil fuel.

Plateau ala Nirvana

"What're they tuning, a harp?" Dig the crazy version of Sweet Home Alabama while they are waiting (see 1st part of vid below).

Dig Dave Grohl smoking a cigarette while playing. That's how good players everywhere just spontaneously bust out in music.
The subject however is Plateau, its lyrics, something about Greenland, the Brothers Meat of the infamous Meat Puppets, another twisted band comparable in stature to the ever-loving Butthole Surfers. Both bands have a distinct Southwest (US) flavor, both rock, both will kick your ass. And dig, my brothers and sisters, Nirvana playing a Meat Puppets song, acoustic, on TV, with 2 founders of the Meat Puppets.

There were times where I keep walking around singing this song...

Nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop
And an illustrated book about birds
You see a lot up there but don't be scared
Who needs action when you got words...

Also dig Cobain reading an apparent WFMU newsletter:

Life returning to Chernobyl

Martin Cruz Smith had it right- the mystery writer's mystery writer, in what damn well may be my favorite of his book, Wolves Eat Dogs, describes the area surrounding Chernobyl as a twisted but thriving natural paradise. Today's news story in this link to the UK Guardian corroborates Cruz' vision. Older folks who refused to move out after the meltdown of 1986 describe packs of wolves, forests growing up in the towns and fields, and dozens of other animal species thriving. The area is still polluted, loaded with radiation. Of course Mom Nature keeps doing what she can to heal the wounds.

Cruz Smith makes you feel like you were there. You can see the place. After I read the book I got on the web and found the journal of a woman who'd take motorcycle trips through the area, stopping to take photos and measure the radiation. She wrote that she was glad to have a fast bike, as it was a comfort getting quickly through the areas that were still really hot, and the roads were deserted so she could haul ass as much as the deterioration of the pavement would let her.

The pictures above are of Pripyat, a town near Chernobyl. The woman's riding journal is here. Read and enjoy.

Wolve Eat Dogs also chillingly predicted the Alexander Litvinenko affair.

Johnny Depp cookie

In keeping with my theme of lightening things up a bit around here, I'd like to present this hilarious Johnny Depp cookie I found at the local 7-11 last night. They had about 6 or 7 of them, all hand painted, sugary, crusty, unique renditions of the dependable and talented Johnny. Wow.

Cormac McCarthy on Oprah

Now this is unbelievable.

If you have not read Cormac McCarthy, and you are at all interested in the desert southwest, any kind of dark, bleak literature, well told, gripping stories that do not necessarily have a cheery, rosy, happy, neat ending, then McCarthy is highly recommended. His books include All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, & Cities of the Plain- AKA the Border Trilogy, and Suttree, and 2 newer books, No Country for Old Men, and The Road, which I believe won a pulitzer. Oh and don't forget Blood Meridian- WOW.

The amazing thing about him appearing on Oprah is that he's super non-celebrity, the opposite of famous. The CNN article here quotes a time when he turned down a well-paid speaking engagement in the years when he was barely scratching by. I know from other articles I've read about him that reason he's done that kind of thing is he's too busy writing! He's been kind of a writer's writer for years and years but his stuff is so good that more and more people are reading his books.

As soon as this appears on You Tube I will embed it.

[update 7/11/07: found the trailer for No Country for Old Men here. ]
[update 8/8/07: Dang this guy really is hard to find info on. His books say it best, boys and girls, I will tell you that. However there is an awesome interview here from 1992 published at the New York Times by Richard B. Woodward. Still no Oprah interview on YouTube. Apparently clips are available on Oprah's site & you have to register & etc. C7]