The Unseen Man

Here's a taut bit of Existential Country for you. This is the story of the dust, from the wind - whom you don't see, so much as slightly avoid. Similar themes to Ralph Ellison's and H.G. Wells's INVISIBLE MAN, yet without the racial or science fictional elements. Here is just a man who is so redundant, so usual and unnecessary that you barely notice him. Sad as hell.




I haven't been able to find out much about Bob Garmon - is he the Unseen Man?

His BMI writer profile contains some intriguing titles I'd like to hear:
"Bummin' In A Big Wide World"
"My Private World"
"Reflections Of A Fool"


There is a hot little number called "I'm A-Ready Baby" under the "Bob Garmon & His Studio Combo" name on a 45 on little-known Amber records. This is an earlier number that Rockabilly hounds have comped and YouTubed:

Billy Carter song alert

Thanks to my friend Geoff for hipping me to this very special post on the WFMU Blog:

Billy Beer Drinkin' Fan



Greg G. Listener has rescued three Billy Carter novelty songs that I did not even know existed, so kudos to him. The song "Beer Drinking Billy" by Bill Gibbs has one of the best captured sounds of the opening of a beer can on record.

Maroon polo shirt - Do I look like I work at Burger King?

Having bought a handful of sale store-brand polos in a variety of colors, I only recently ventured outside of the house in the Maroon Polo.

It's a nice feeling shirt, and the color is pleasing.

The only problem is, I feel like I'm on my way to work at Burger King.

What the hell.

You might say I should put more effort into it and find just the right form-fitted maroon polo shirt. Store brand shirts fit like trash bags.

But if I wore the fitted, I would simply feel like the Burger King Manager.

Dee Edwards "Why Can't There Be Love"

This song rocks my world!


The YouTube host breadmaker99, godblessum, says "I can't get my head around the guitar."

My friend, that's because you need to get your mind IN the guitar.





DEE EDWARDS. Dennis Coffey!

On the Tube as: "Northern Soul - Strange 70s Brilliance - Dee Edwards"

Uncle William

In these times and days any can for less than a dollar is a bargain. This was another Big Lots find ... 55 cents.

Honking hunk of fatback doesn't even give vegetarians a chance.

For some reason this one reminds me of Canada. And not just because their country's name begins with "can".

These original baked beans are ones you might find for sale at fish camps, up just past where the roads end.

Who is Uncle William?

This ... right here ... is my ... pretty boy swag

Ey!

Where have I been?

The blog has been quiet while we had a son! Thank t'law he is BOUNCING.

The can of Double Luck Cut Green Beans has served us well. It's been quite a couple months.

Coming soon: more cans and records.

Coming up in a bit: a mind-blowing set of records for Round 2 of Jimmy and Billy Carter novelty records.

As for today, this is about what I'm good for:

Double Luck

35 cents at Big Lots.

Pardner in the park

Yesterday my band Pardner played in the park in Cabbagetown.
It was a semi-private event so don't get your feelings hurt if you didn't know about it. We was good times filling up the neighborhood with some of the Pard-boogie!

Here's the song "Boat Dock Bar Dishwasher" straight from the grass:

Woman with parrot perched on face arrested after throwing inhaler

Dayton Daily News, Dayton, OH
www.daytondailynews.com

By Ryan Gauthier, Staff Writer Updated 2:54 PM Tuesday, April 20, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — A 49-year-old woman was arrested as police claim she nearly struck an officer with a thrown inhaler.

Janice McCoy-Nuttle, of the 900 block of Beech Street, was laying in a bed surrounded by as many as seven Chihuahaus and 10 cages filled with birds.

Police report a white parrot was standing on her forehead at the time, biting her face, while another smaller bird was perched on her chest. She was reportedly intoxicated to the point where she could not stand up and speak to officers and was unable to remove the bird from her face.

Police were dispatched to the residence for a reported domestic disturbance between McCoy-Nuttle, her husband and some neighbors. The couple had reportedly been out celebrating the husband's homecoming after a four-month stint away from home for work.

Officers spoke with her husband, who appeared to be bleeding from the ear at the time. He gave officers several conflicting stories regarding his injury, ranging from McCoy-Nuttle pulling on his ear to injuring it while he was getting out of a vehicle.

McCoy-Nuttle became upset with her husband at some point and attempted to throw an inhaler at him, nearly striking an officer in the process, police said. She was arrested for disorderly conduct and taken to the Middletown City Jail, where police report she was increasingly uncooperative and threatened to kill herself.

My Gal's Outa Her Tree Again

Another cool one from the Kudzu pile.

50 cents!

Kind of a silly song, but some strong secondary impressions:

1. "Johnny Selph" sounds like an early 80s TV drama punk rocker.
2. The KAM label design is very cool.
3. I like the spelling of "Outa"
4. This is the only country record I own outa Orlando.

Gentlemen Be Seated

If the "People Hater" didn't make you feel like a misanthrope, here's a song that will really make you hate people.

I like this song because it's a classic spoken word country tearjerk suspense play, but presents a situation so awkward and unexpected that you'll gently slap your forehead and say "Damn, I didn't know there was a song about that."

I hate this song because it's crass and callous, and predicts a C-level reality show premise. It's heartbreak heaped upon pathos heaped upon piggishness.

The story is this: narrator calls together three men to announce the impending burial of Juanita, a woman to whom each of the men had been married. It is implied that each man cheated on and left Juanita in turn, and that somehow led to her untimely death. "So Gentlemen, be seated." There will be no flowers for her grave, nor funeral mourners unless the four men join together in their guilt and go (as a group?).

My question to the narrator: What makes you so sure Juanita wants to see any of you jackasses?

Also I like literally visualizing the title command. By the third time he says "Gentlemen, be seated," I picture the three other guys just kind of shifting around on their feet and scratching the backs of their heads but not wanting to sit down for this ill-advised pity party.

Finally, after he apparently gets them seated and buys them a round, narrator says "gentlemen, set down your drinks and come with me." At this point I picture the hawk faced and whisky-stiff narrator leading the way, two embarrassed guys shuffling behind, just because it seems like they should do the right thing. And then the fourth guy stays seated at the bar, arms crossed like "hell no, I ain't goin' to that bitch's funeral." Maybe I should write an answer song as one of the "Gentlemen"?

The backup band sounds hypnotic and great on this record.





To read about Neal Merritt see the page on Hillbilly-Music.com, where you will find out more about his prolific songwriting career including his biggest hit, "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose".

Chicken Wing Robbery

The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ga. — Police in Georgia are searching for a pair of hungry bandits who stole an order of chicken wings from a pizza delivery driver.

Columbus Police say the 19-year-old Domino's driver was approached outside a home Tuesday night by two men who asked for money. One of the men pointed a chrome pistol.

Police say one of the men then said, "give me the wings." They fled the scene with the $36 order.

No cash was taken and the driver was not injured.

___

Information from: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, http://www.ledger-enquirer.com

The People Hater

This is why we do it! This is why we look for the records.

I picked this one up for 50 cents. The guy with the best booth at Kudzu Antiques put out a couple boxes of rinked oddball 45s, and this was in there.

I hate people. I hate people.

The arresting and discordant breakdown puts this song decades ahead of its time. Apparently released in 1959, Brad and Jerry's tune sounds to me like Chuck Berry style fun. But that breakdown! This is just too early to be punk, even in the old sense of garage punk. This is not a movement, this is lunacy and honesty.

Shad Records is part of a group of small early rock'n'roll labels run by one Bob Shad. This song and many others are available on the compilation Rockin' On Broadway: The Time, Brent, Shad, Story released on the UK Ace label and available from Amazon.

Right now there is only one user review on Amazon - and I think the person has a really low opinion of The People Hater:

"This collection of 30 tunes from these labels contains the hits, the near misses and some sides that make one think studio time and tape must have been way too cheap. ... More could have or should have been hits, like the Jades' "So Blue". Then there are the sides like "Bury The Hatchet" and "The People Hater" that beg the question "Whaaaa?"."

I am going to get this compilation and see what's Whaaaa. Who could turn their nose up at such exciting music?! I hate people.

We Finally Saw Willie Nelson

What forces conspire against a band and its fans?

Some of you who know me know that I wanted to see Willie. Got cursed once, and we drove all the way from Chicago to Ft. Wayne, Indiana with sweet tickets in hand, only to find the show was canceled.

Well, we got to see Willie in Rome, Georgia last night at The Forum!
Bad weather ,Willie's hand, and the law threatened to continue the curse, but our luck was all good. They canceled the show before ours, but they made it to Rome and played.
We drove through the rain. The bleacher seats we found to be inhumane:

The tickets I bought said "Bleacher Section," but I didn't realize they were literally bleacher seats, the kind you can collapse into the wall. These seats would only be comfortable for elementary school students, but here they were selling them to Willie's older, larger fans. You can't even sit straight in the seat without your knees pressing into the person's back in front of you. And it was like something out of a movie, the guy in front of us was a 300-pound biker type with a Harley Davidson t-shirt and a long braid. Didn't seem like a good idea to knee him in the back!

So we retreated to the nosebleeds, where we could max and relax in the relative luxury of the bucket seats, shoes off.

Willie Nelson sounded great. He can still sing and play clear as a bell, even coming out of a cold January rain.

The band was small, no full drum set, only a snare with brushes. Willie's vocal phrasing was like a snake in a bag. The backup band had to duck or jump a few times to catch a verse. He sang all the hits, including "Me and Paul," one of my favorite songs. We enjoyed a moment during his beautiful rendition of "You Were Always On My Mind," and for that moment it felt as if the circle would be unbroken, by and by.

A review of the forces that conspired to spook the horses:


The hand: Lucas Nelson (Willie's son) opened the show. He was sort of like Young Willie mixed with Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was actually pretty damn good.

On the day of the show, the Rome News-Tribune "printed" an article entitled, "Forum manager: Despite band's legal trouble, Willie Nelson show still on." The Rome News-Tribune points us to the Jacksonville News site, reporting that on Thursday, January 28, members of Willie's tour band were busted in Jacksonville, North Carolina for moonshine and marijuana.

On the day of the show, following these news reports about the band bust, Lucas Nelson posted a message on www.willienelson.com that focused instead on Willie's hand:
"We have just cancelled tonight’s performance in Kenansville, NC. Dad’s hand ( the one he had the carpel tunnel operation on) was in pain, too much to play his guitar Trigger. Doctors say to just give it a rest. He is going to try and finish the tour ( tomorrow night Rome, Georgia and then Asheville, NC) before taking it on home to Texas for ten days."

I will tell you that they made it to the stage in Rome! Both Lucas and Willie's hands were in sterling shape as they rang out notes to the rafters. Fate smiled.


The law: Here is the bust according to the Jacksonville News:
"N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement agents from Wilmington confiscated moonshine and small amounts of marijuana from members of the band who were in a van outside the events center. Band members were cited with a misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession, said District Attorney Dewey Hudson, who was at the concert."

At the merchandise table in Rome, bandanas were $15 and t-shirts were $35. One t-shirt featured a large marijuana leaf and the insignia "WILLIE NELSON: FIRST AID".

The bad weather: Rome News-Tribune reported warnings: "Rome and Floyd County public safety officials and road crews were watching the skies nervously late Friday night as a winter weather system was making its way across the state."

They were watching the skies nervously.

As soon as they said that I pictured an old line drawing of some Nervous Norvus type with shake-lines radiating off of his shoulders. I wonder how these public safety officials would feel about being called "nervous."

In any case, the worst of the Winter storm held off for all of Friday night, and we, Willie, and the many minions went our merry ways.

2 for 89 cents

We need to get a new camera.

I had a hard time getting a good close up of this - the can is reflective under bright lights and flashes, and the sale sticker is such a bright orange. I did some tricks to get this one. I hope you will authenticate this as proof that I did get two cans of hot fish for eighty-nine cents.




THAT'S 44 1/2 CENTS PER CAN.




Bargain fuel for your ice-walking, recommended.


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Hot Fish

Coming at you.

Happy New Year!

Here is a can of little fish steaks so hot, they will blow your mind. Sold in an ordinary retail package as containing "Louisiana Hot Sauce," these little steaks are actually packed in a sauce infused with the most aggressive peppers. Before the slow burn of Cayenne comes: Lip Peppers. An arresting way to wake up your proteins.
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