bazookaluca

Two Scoops Of Punk

bazookaluca — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:40:00 +0000

Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye photographed by Suzie Horgan at a Georgetown Häagen-Dazs ice cream store.

America Will Blow Up The Moon

bazookaluca — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:52:00 +0000

On the eve of this, I couldn’t help but think of this:

Tom Waits Is The Best!

bazookaluca — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:45:00 +0000

Tom Waits, this Blingee represents my love for you!

Have I ever mentioned how Tom Waits is the best?

Well, he is.

You’d think that his music alone would qualify him for this title… and you’d be right. But there’s so much more to Mister Waits. Soooo much fucking more.

He’s a composer, an actor, a master storyteller, a curator of American folklore, a walking monument honoring his own greatness. He’s undeniably the coolest human being to ever walk this filthy rock. The mere concept of avant-garde was created in an attempt to describe his “beyondness.” He is in fact beyond the bounds of the trivial nature of musical trends and fashions. He is eternally relevant and as constant and familiar as gravity itself.

You know those Dos Equis commercials with “the most interesting man in the world“? Yeah, that man looks wistfully to the sky each night and wishes he was Tom Waits.

Hyperbole doesn’t even do him justice.

He’s in a movie with Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell, and yet, Tom Waits is the one who steals the show and totally makes me swoon:

I mean, who would ever think of announcing a concert tour like this:

No one, I tells you! Are you getting all this?! Do I have to say it again?!? TOM WAITS THE BEST!!! NO ONE DENIES THIS!

If there was a city called Awesomeville, Tom Waits would be its Mayor-For-Life and it would always be ranked #1, #2, and #4 on those “Best Places To Live In The World” countdowns. I’d move there in a hummingbird’s heartbeat and punch myself in the face for each previous day that I had not lived there.

I don’t know how else I can express my feelings on this. I’m done.

Oh, but you know who else is the best? Steve Buscemi.

Benin Empire Had The Best Flag Ever

bazookaluca — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:52:00 +0000

The Benin Empire lasted from 1440 until 1897 in what would be modern-day Nigeria. Judging by their flag above, they did not fuck around, but at least they were very upfront about their intentions.

Two cheers for being forthright.

[via BoingBoing]

Photo Of The Year

bazookaluca — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:34:00 +0000

A farmer sprays milk on police forces during a protest against falling milk prices outside the European Headquarters on October 5, 2009 in Brussels.

[Photo by Georges Gobet, AFP/Getty Images.]

Look, I Made Music Once. Am I Cool Now? Guys. Guys? Where Are You Going?!

bazookaluca — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:04:00 +0000

Don’t even act like I don’t play guitar. I’ve got proof right here.

The time was 2002 (or 2003… I don’t really remember) and the place was the basement of a house on Vine Ridge Road in Nashville, Tennessee. My roommate and I set forth to record a song with only one microphone, an old computer, and a bass line to aid us. What resulted (amongst other things) was this instrumental track.

James Shadinger played drums, I played bass, and we both overdubbed guitar parts (me in the left channel, James on the right.)

I can positively say that I was listening to a lot of Mogwai at the time and that they had something or other to do with the overall post-rock feeling of the song. It’s definitely a track that takes its sweet damn time to develop. Basically, it requires some patience on your part, but goddam it, it pays off! I swear!

All right, enough talk, why don’t you just listen to the damn thing:

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=”http://nearfemme.bandcamp.com/track/no-name-basement-instrumental”&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;No Name (Basement Instrumental) by Near Femme&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

If you go to Near Femme‘s (the name for all my music projects) page on Bandcamp, you can download this track for free in a variety of formats (mp3, aac, flac, Apple lossless). It would be cool if you did. I might just start posting more songs in the future, that is, if you’re interested.

As always, thanks for reading, and now, listening.

National Geographic Photographs Giant Redwood

bazookaluca — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:14:00 +0000

[Note the tiny people in red coats for size reference]

From Gizmodo:

Wildlife photographer Michael Nichols wanted to photograph a 300-foot-tall redwood in a dense forest with no clear lines of sight. So he built a custom camera rig to take tons of close-ups to stitch together. The result is a stunning composite of 83 different shots of this incredible tree. Look for a huge foldout of the image in the October issue of National Geographic, and here’s a video of Nichols talking about the process of capturing the image.

The new National Geographic is on newsstands now.

"28 Days Later" Retold In One Minute

bazookaluca — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:42:00 +0000

The University of York Filmmaking Society are out to save us some time.

Don’t Sleep On The New "A Nightmare On Elm Street" Trailer

bazookaluca — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Below is the trailer for Michael Bay’s A Nightmare On Elm Street. This remake, set for release in April 2010, will complete the triumvirate of the über-slashers, joining reboots of the Halloween and Friday The 13th franchises. This is also the first time anyone besides Robert Englund has portrayed Freddie Krueger on the big screen, with Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen‘s Rorschach) taking over the famed glove and striped sweater.

Naturally, after seeing what Bay did with the Friday The 13th remake (and anything else, for that matter), my expectations for this are very low. But regardless, it’s still kind of exciting to see Freddie back in action again. The 1984 classic scared the crap out of me.

Here’s the trailer:

And furthermore, to mark this occasion and to keep with the loose musical theme of bazookaluca, I thought about looking back at some of the less celebrated aspects of the franchise. And by that I mean the terrible videos from the various Nightmare soundtracks.

The first two movies relied solely on scores, but when the decision was made to feature hair-metal band Dokken on the 1987 soundtrack for Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, a precedent was set and several terrible songs followed.

Here they are for your enjoyment (personal favorite, The Fat Boys):

Dokken – “Dream Warriors” – Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Vinnie Vincent Invasion (feat. Mark Slaughter)- “Love Kills” – Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

The Fat Boys – “Are You Ready Freddy” – A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Whodini – “Anyway I Gotta Swing It” – A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

Romeo’s Daughter – “Heaven In The Backseat” - A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

The Goo Goo Dolls – “I’m Awake Now” – Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)