SJ Esau - I Threw A Wobbly [2008]

Mark-Almond - The Best Of Mark-Almond

One of my weaknesses, left over from an adolescence rooted in the 70s, is a guilty fondness for latenight, mellow, stoner, noodling jams. Call it bong-longing.

So the other day, as I'm cruising in my auto, flicking my way through the Sirius channels, I hit upon their retro FM station and a track I swear I haven't heard in 30 years. Though it was literally the middle of a sunny day and I was as sober as Mitt Romney, I was suddenly transported to the basement of Jon Mitchell's house circa 1979, sucking deeply from his enormous bong (affectionately referred to as "Godzilla"), with cheap Sears speakers lulling the five us with the latin rhythms and 12 string guitar strums of The City. It was both nostalgic and funny. Ahh, the things we do in youth.

There's a thread of mellow stoner music that runs from Pink Floyd through Mark-Almond on to the Beta Band and beyond. It is almost always mildly prog-rock, occasionally jazz-tinged, long tracked, and usually, but not always (see Beta Band), sonically pristine. And, it is almost always rather pointless in the grand scheme of things - the audio equivalent of oreo cookies when the munchies roll in. But damn if it doesn't hit the spot when the Jimmy Cliff glows in the bowl.

This is a comp put together by Rhino in 1990. It pulls together all the noodling of these two Johns (Mark and Almond), both former John Mayall sidemen, including the nostalgia-inducing, The City, the last portion of which could have come directly off Beta Band's 3 EPs.

Load a bowl, or just remember the last one you did, and crack those oreos.

Hear

As the man said, "Fuggit."

For the reopening and our staff:

david yow's actor reel

David Yow - Actor's Reel from David Yow on Vimeo.

Film of Destroy All Monsters by Cary Loren 1972–1976. Featuring Mike Kelly and Jim Shaw.

LIARS / there's always room on the broom

VIDEO from kansas city's own cody critcheloe

Mike Kelley

during the time away we lost a great one and someone special to me.

~~~

Mike Kelley dies at 57; L.A. contemporary artist

Mike Kelley's psychologically complex work was instrumental in making L.A. an international capital of contemporary art.

• 

February 02, 2012|By Jori Finkel, Los Angeles Times

Mike Kelley, an influential Los Angeles artist whose physically messy and psychologically complex projects laid the groundwork for present-day installation art, has died. He was 57.

He was found dead Tuesday evening at his home in South Pasadena in what several friends described as a suicide following a serious depression. "We can't confirm a suicide pending an autopsy or coroner's report," said one of the estate's trustees, art historian John Welchman.

in honor...DESTROY ALL MONSTERS

An anti-rock band founded in direct reaction to the pretensions and complacency of 1970s pop music, the Detroit-based noise deconstructionists Destroy All Monsters earned their greatest notoriety at the peak of the punk era, thanks to a lineup that included alumni of the MC5 and the Stooges. Named after a cult-favorite Japanese monster movie, Destroy All Monsters was formed in 1973 by art students Niagara (a former model), Jim Shaw, Mike Kelley, and Cary Loren; influenced by everything from underground comix to film noir to psychedelia, the highly visual group was experimental and abrasive, with Niagara's Betty Boop-vocals and squealing violin cresting atop waves of trance-like sonic dementia.

BORED

HEAR