Down Home Ways

Muddy Waters was the first bluesman I discovered without help from an adult. My dad liked BB King and John Lee Hooker, but I discovered Muddy as a California kid transplanted near Chicago. It's his voice and stellar backing band that I really dig. Check out the great harmonica work on so many of his songs. That's James Cotton. It didn't hurt that Muddy recorded for the legendary Chess label. The Stones even named a song after the address of Chess.

Anywho, this is pretty good introduction to his music. My faves are Hoochie Coochie Man, Forty days and Forty Nights, Young Fashioned Ways and I'm Ready. It's pretty sexually charged stuff from a Chicago OG by way of Mississippi.

Guitar Shop Assholes

Does anyone know a good place to get an amp fixed in the Yay Area? I bought a fender twin and it doesn't work. It's the real deal though, US of A made. So I took it to Guitar Works in SF on Portrero Ave. That was 2 months ago and still my amp isn't ready. How the hell am I ever going to learn to shred like Don Dokken if I can't play with my amp?

The Dirtys- Teenage Teenage Problem Child

It's always refreshing to hear The Dirtys, even if these songs don't quite match the heights of the best album tunes like "You Should Be Sinnin'." There is a fuck-all quality to these guys, as every song sounds like it could implode at any moment. Tight only means plowed in their lexicon. Legend has it they had legendary ingestion appetites, and if that kind of thing can be illustrated through sound, this might do it. If cheap trucker speed affects folks variably, I give you The Dirtys, playing different songs when they're playing at the same time. And it works, charmingly, if you're predisposed to love the underdog. They're like that lovable mutt who eats the neighbor's turtle and has really bad drug problems. You know the one.

Hit Me

This single highlights the Neckbones' schizophrenia. Or, as mama used to say, too many cooks spoil the broth. I don't know the details, but with more than two songwriters with different styles, you might have quality-control problems. I love Souls on Fire, but it is a better record with ten songs, not sixteen. We got a similar problem here. The A-side, "Hit Me," is debauched fun, bringing back those wonderful early morning felt memories when you and your buddies are all beaked over the table, spewing bad jokes and driving the post-dinner couples back to their rooms, whooping it up and laying it down and waking up the next afternoon with a stupid smile and two crumpled bills on the night table. It's a Vegas party anthem for the wee hours and nay a saxophone blows. You can almost smell the puke when that sucker ends. The B-side is a generic, blues-based bar rocker.  OK, in the old days, the b-side was supposed to blow. But not anymore. One dude got one side and the other got the flip, and we got bipolar disorder.  Note to self: program Tyler Keith songs consecutively and get sorry ass back to the green. Those bastards still have my money.

The Gospel Swingers- Mississippi

Wow, I forgot I owned this, which I suppose is part of the fun of grab bag theater. This has to be one of the more obscure IntheRed releases, despite the star-studded pedigree. If Feast of Snakes, Blacktop, and Fireworks ring bells, prick up your ears. This falls on the R&B tip of the 90s' embrace of older music (OK, this came out in 2001, ya nitpicker), and it's hard not to hear the echo of Jon Spencer somewhere in the studio background. No incessant shrieks of "Gospel Swingers, Gospel Swingers" as backup vocals, but I'm guessing these folks have heard a Joe Tex record or two. Look, if a chorus consisting of the spelling of a poor southern state frightens you, maybe you should pass. Me, I kinda dig that "hump back hump back i" closer, and I'm just a wee bit sad that the good people at ITR passed on the album that came after this. Now maybe it was as stinky as the Now Time Delegation (three members of that band play here, and I never heard the damn thing, as it was released years later on some obscure Euro label), and so no stones thrown, but if you see this one in the dollar bin, snatch it up and sing along. That chorus will take you back to first grade.

Home is Where the Floor Is

OK, so the blind grab has its downfalls- everybody knows how damn good this is, so what's there to say? And I do believe, but correct me if I am wrong, that this remains relatively available. Hell, my copy comes from RocknRoll Blitzkrieg in Berkeley, CA, so copies must be around for the taking, unless they're not. Let me point out that you get four songs of non-generic, ole Aussie p-rock power, and not just two. Double your pleasure and double your fun. I believe Bill Hicks said that. And must we really go after the president tonight? Really? Instead, let's talk about kegerator maintenance, because if you're going to pour confidently at your next shindig, you don't want mountains of head landing atop your boss's first pour. It is critical to clean the lines, faucet and taps. I can't emphasize this enough. Invest in beer cleaning line solvents and your IPAs will taste like the hopbomb from that disturbing dream last night. Second, don't be afraid to play with your regulator. Sure, most "experts" recommend keeping PSI at 12, but your unit is special, so treat her with the attention to detail she deserves. Finally, and rarely mentioned in most literature, make sure your beer line doesn't sag below the tap. Sagging can cause kinks that lead to wild beer, and you sure don't need 3/4 foam when the family comes over. Whip that line around your tap to assure that gravity doesn't rear its ugly head. Let's review- clean, play and whip, and not necessarily in that order. Keep those three verbs in mind, put the X single on repeat, and you've got yourself a hell of a Super Bowl party.

The Brides- Bad Attitude

I don't own that many singles, relatively, so my superlatives are generally ignorant and histrionic. That said, I'm not sure I've heard a better rock 'n roll single than this one. It's just, well, perfect. Sorry about that. It makes me wonder whether you should bemoan the lp that never came, or take the untarnished genius that is this single and be happy nothing came along to suck the air out of things. Who's to say? Anyway, I've owned this since it came out and each time it just screams from those speakers, and how many records can you say that about?