Thank the Metropator for NPR. I found this hilarious transcript… and accompanying audio recording, of LBJ ordering Haggar slacks from Mr. Haggar himself. Why is this the Funniest Shit Ever? Well, if you’re not familiar with our late president’s personality, reputation, or… churlishness. Youdopia, he makes me proud to be an American.
Let me just say that he burps right into the phone, and uses the terms nuts, and bunghole. This is while he’s in office, by the way. This call was made from the Oval Office. This isn’t some pre or post presidential chit chat. This is official business. Check it out.
Hi Youdopia. This isn’t anything earth shattering, just a clip of Andy Richter (a living example of Charlie Brown and the football… poor guy.) on Live with Regis and Kelly. He gets pretty candid (although very diplomatic) about the whole situation. You can feel his ire at the gig of a lifetime gone wrong. I feel badly for him, and the zillions of other people who moved to LA to be boned by the network.
There’s not much to say about this song, Youdopia, other than it’s one of the best songs ever performed (in my opnion). This song was recorded live in the studio, on one of the first eight track recorders, back in the late 1950’s. If you can hear the original with headphones, you’ll hear Ray slapping his pant leg with the music, as the Raelettes sing with him.
This song was improvised at a concert, and they went with it. Tom Dowd (the same fellow who recorded Derek and the Dominos) caught lightning in a bottle (as he was wont to do) with this song. It’s awesome. It’s also long, and filthy (that’s what she said). It was split into two parts, for radio play. Part two was the naughty, sexual part.
So, enjoy. Perhaps you remember the old SNL skit with John Belushi as Beethoven, taking a little toot of… snuff.. and then playing this. Good stuff.
Boolah Boolah, Youdopia. Great song. Clapton is spending the Sept of his years playing with who he wants. He told Rolling Stone that he always felt like a dick (paraphrasing here) because he pretty much just bailed on Blind Faith, because of drugs/fame. That’s why Clapton went underground (kinda) and went with Derek and the Dominoes, instead of Eric Clapton’s super awesome group w/ Duane Allman. Drugs and anguish can make for great music. Layla is amazing, as is Bell Bottom Blues, the two big hits from that band. So… dig it. It’s the coolest shit ever.
For extra points and a chance at the bonus round I ask you to listen to this version of the same song from 1970, by Derek and the Dominos. Mr Clapton outdoes himself, in my opinion, especially with the wah wah string bending @ 2:00. Check it out. Live music, when it’s performed by masters, and there’s magic in the air, is trascendent. You can watch a slideshow of Derek and the Dominoes pix while listening. Amazing band, amazing songs, short short life. Definitely a case of burnout rather than fade away.
Let’s not forget the writer of the song, Mr Jimi Hendrix, either. I understand he also played guitar.
There’s not that much to say, Youdopia. Either you like Monty Python or you don’t. This sketch is about ten minutes long, so if you don’t like Monty Python I suggest you go read Post Secret or something instead. No blame.
I haven’t watched Monty Python in years, but this sketch still makes me laugh. Nazis are almost always funny. Funniest shit ever? I think so. I love quality humor.
I’ve been listening to Stephan Hoeller lectures, as I go to sleep at night. This has given me a pretty good introduction to Hoeller’s brand of gnosticism. I have been assailed (in a way) by gnosticism for over 25 years.
I would buy occult books in my idiot teen years, and one of them was “The Other Bible” which was (to 15 year old Marky) a snoozefest; mainly because there were no spells within to get me laid. Yes, I was a deep one. What the Other Bible had was a boatload of gnostic (Nag Hammadi) scriptures, full of those divine names constructed of mainly O and A. It seemed stupid to me at the time, and gained me nothing re: sex so I shelved it.
When I practiced Siddha Yoga, in my 20’s, gnosticism would rear its head in lectures and classes that I would take… and I would poo-poo it as simply Christianity turned upside down. It seemed unbelievably ridiculous.
When I studied religion at the University of Oregon, and I took an upper division class on Heresy… I was given gnosticism again. This time I had to digest the cosmology, and then present it to the class. Basically I taught gnosticism that day. It struck me as a video game. The soul’s journey after death past guardians, and archons, and demons, and… demiurges… seemed a direct analog of a video game, with it’s creatures, and puzzles and boss battles.
There’s more to it of course. The Matrix trilogy is a pretty good allegory for the whole gnostic thang. The creator deity isn’t “God”. He’s kind of a half simple embarassment (like George W Bush)… accidental offspring of the divine Sophia. This half wit creates our universe, and that explains why the old testament god is such an irrational dickwad.
Anyhoo, since I have grown older and more/less wise/foolish stumbled across the site of BC Recordings, and their archive of gnostic lectures, by one Stephan Hoeller. They have several, actually a lot, of free lectures, and I nicked them all. I like them. Hoeller is an old man, almost 80, and he has a Hungarian accent, so he sounds exactly like a cartoon psychiatrist, which is strangely apropos because one of the pillars of Hoeller’s gnosticism is Carl Gustav Jung, for whom I have tremendous respect.
So I have a new interest in Gnosticism. Not a belief, but an interest. Belief is the kudzu of the soul, interest is ticklish and fuzzy. So, if you’re interested, take a look at this video, which is simply a lecture of Hoeller’s with a slide show, and see if you dig it. Hail Eris.
Hello, Youdopia. I came across this neato flipbook history of everything while perusing The Daily Grail. Good stuff there. This video is some guy’s art project. He got an A. Enjoy. I used to make flipbooks in 7th and 8th grade. Mostly Paratroopers and robots.
Howdy, Youdopia. I have a dram of wisdom for you Hemlock junkies. Robert Anton Wilson, he of the fnord, completely explains Quantum Mechanics. I can’t recall if I got this from my friend Brigid, or the other way around (probably got it from her) but it’s a nice little slice of clarity in a world where logic is fuzzy. Coolest Shit Ever.
I realized recently that I like the Kinks a great deal. You probably do too, if you think about all the songs of theirs you like. Then add the fifteen more that you knew, but didn’t didn’t know were by them, and then three more that
you’ve heard before in commercials (HP’s picture book commercial from awhile back, and I’m Not Like Everybody Else from last year.). Then there are the ones you’ve never ever heard in your life, but are sweet as honey:
They are one of the only bands who recorded a live “greatest hits” album (as their last act as a band, btw) that is in some ways better than the original.
They just missed the bar. I can honestly say that I like more of their songs than I do of the Who, and yet in high school I had Who posters and entire Who discography.
I saw the Kinks in 1984. It was a great rock and roll show. Saw them at St Anselms college in Bedford, NH. Maybe it was in Manchester, or Goffstown, I don’t remember. I went with a frequent commenter on this blog. Good times.
So, Youdopia, I encourage you to get yourself a good half dozen Kinks albums, containing at least two greatest hits collections, and revisit this band that missed superstardom by this much –> <—
they’ve aged better than most, and this song (below), called Hatred (A duet) is from their last album, and it’s just as fresh and powerful as You Really Got Me, from 30 years earlier. The Davies brothers have had a more contentious relationship than the Oasis dudes (the Gallaghers) and this song is tongue in cheek and dead serious. Vitriol for sure, but a great song.
Ray Davies is the one who started VH1 Storytellers, for good or ill. Tom Waits did one that was awesome, but so did Will I.Am. Ok. So set you iPods on stun and listen to a good, fat, handful of the Kinks. They’re way better than you remember, and they are definitely the Coolest Shit Ever. I think I’ll do a Kinks week.
The thing I have discovered is that their 1996 album, To The Bone, actually has my favorite versions of many of their songs, because it was recorded live, in a small setting, with modern equipment. You needn’t worry with the time factor and the unfortunate result of 1960’s production techniques. Also… I like the performances better. The Kinks were a remarkably powerful live band, and the voices of the Davies brothers have held up marvelously. Check them out. Maybe you’ll realize you’ve been a fan all along.
Happy Birthday, Jimmy Page! Today is a National Holiday in Youdopia. None shall toil. Jimmy is 66 today. You may be surprised that I am a fan of Led Zeppelin, and Jimmy Page. It’s true. Jimmy has written/compiled a photographic autobiography which is being published by Genesis Publications. They are an exquisitely wonderful publisher. They release super high end, expensive books of superb quality. They cost a ton, but I don’t care. I am getting this book.
Jimmy follows the tradition of Ol’ 93/93 with this hand crafted publication. It’s funny, but the day I found out about this book, I literally had this book in the cart, ready to buy. Coincidence?
Youdopia, I want to share one of my favorite songs with you. Mr. Bad Example by Warren Zevon. It is funny, frenetic and fantastic cheesy. The video is from an appearance on Letterman, as if that’s not obvious, but you can hear the original by clicking on the image above. Yes, I love easter eggs. I also love nonsequitors. This song was written in one night, while consuming turkish coffee nonstop. I love it. Because I love you, I’ve provided the lyrics so you can read along as he sings it. It’s fast and seemingly all sung in one breath. I love it. Enjoy the good music.
I started as an altar boy, working at the church
Learning all my holy moves, doing some research
Which led me to a cash box, labeled “Children’s Fund”
I’d leave the change, and tuck the bills inside my cummerbund
I got a part-time job at my father’s carpet store
Laying tackless stripping, and housewives by the score
I loaded up their furniture, and took it to Spokane
And auctioned off every last naugahyde divan
I’m very well aquainted with the seven deadly sins
I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in
I’m proud to be a glutton, and I don’t have time for sloth
I’m greedy, and I’m angry, and I don’t care who I cross
I’m Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt
I like to have a good time, and I don’t care who gets hurt
I’m Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me
I’ll live to be a hundred, and go down in infamy
Of course I went to law school and took a law degree
And counseled all my clients to plead insanity
Then worked in hair replacement, swindling the bald
Where very few are chosen, and fewer still are called
Then on to Monte Carlo to play chemin de fer
I threw away the fortune I made transplanting hair
I put my last few francs down on a prostitute
Who took me up to her room to perform the flag salute
Whereupon I stole her passport and her wig
And headed for the airport and the midnight flight, you dig?
And fourteen hours later I was down in Adelaide
Looking through the want ads sipping Fosters in the shade
I opened up an agency somewhere down the line
To hire aboriginals to work the opal mines
But I attached their wages and took a whopping cut
And whisked away their workman’s comp and pauperized the lot
I’m Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt
I like to have a good time, and I don’t care who gets hurt
I’m Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me
I’ll live to be a hundred and go down in infamy
I bought a first class ticket on Malaysian Air
And landed in Sri Lanka none the worse for wear
I’m thinking of retiring from all my dirty deals
I’ll see you in the next life, wake me up for meals
It’s been awhile since I’ve done an obscure Led Zeppelin number. This one is a beaut. It’s from the final night of the legendary run at the LA Forum in 1977. I do not like the ‘77 tour, but I like the acoustic set from this tour, and I love this little blues ditty they run through, before starting Black Country Woman.
Youdopia, I always try to give you something interesting, and I hope you like this. Coolest Shit Ever? Yes, I think so. This show was taped by Mike “The Mic” Millard, a taper who would go to shows in a tricked out wheelchair (handicapped peeps got rolled up to the front row) with nakamichi under the seat and fantastic mics. His recordings are among the best audience recordings ever.
Another reason why I love this song, is that Jimmy Page plays it in the new movie It Might Get Loud, which is the documentary he made with Jack White, and the Edge. He doesn’t perform the song, but this song is among the songs he plays in his home, to demonstrate the songs that influence him. Cool beans, that movie, but a topic for another day.
Knock knock. Who’s There? Infinity. Infinity who? Infinity is pretty amazingly large. My dear Youdopia, one of the blogs I read daily, is The Daily Grail. This little video which is a zippity doo dah tour from Tibet to the edge of the cosmic horizon and back, was posted there. I just nicked it and reposted it here. Ta da. I’m an ahtist.
This video was made by the American Museum of Natural History, and it’s pretty cool. Is it the Coolest Shit Ever? Well, no, it’s not mind blowing. It is pretty cool, though. Considering that we’re finding watery planets all over the place now, and even watery moons in our own solar system… we might want to bone up on the neighborhood.
Good day, Youdopia. It has been awhile. I am a very busy boy, and you know happened to Jack with all work and no play. He made Homer something something.
I want you to look at Skullduggery. It is an online animated series created by an old friend, and next door neighbor. We aren’t in touch anymore but we still have common friends, and it was through such a friend that I (ultimately) found Skullduggery.
I know little about it other than it involves zombies, vampires, witches, and cool things like violence and … more violence. I was just so tickled to see it that once I noticed it was embeddable, I thought I would spread the word. Take a gander. Do you have your own cartoon? Me either. Skullduggery for the win. Coolest Shit Ever? Until I make one… yes. I think it’s cool. Follow them on Twitter if you like.
What? You don’t know me. I’ve had this goddamn song in my head for six weeks. It’s strained my marriage and made the cats look at me funny. It’s viral. Achoo.Yes, that’s Conway Twitty. Not a word.
I have fallen in love with this song, Youdopia. I know it’s like a year old, but I’m in my Forties. I’m not on the bleeding edge anymore. This is a rap about the function of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). That’s the big doughnut made by atheists in Switzerland to bring Satan back to Earth. At least that’s what my neighbors tell me. Katherine McAlpine, a young scientist (a self described “Science Communicator”) who works at CERN came up with a catchy rap… and I think you’ll dig it. Coolest shit ever? I think so.
I love this movie, Youdopia. It’s etched on my neurons like the lines of solder on a motherboard. Imprinted. This scene where Willard meets Col Kurtz for the first time… is pure genius. I have a thumbnail sketch comparison of this movie to the various Sefiroth (qlippoth) but it doesn’t really stand up, only has some good connections. I believe most of this scene was improvised, and all of it is genius. Coolest Shit Ever.
This, is (to me) the Funniest Shit Ever. Hands down. Some of you may find it slightly misogynistic, but it’s really a harangue against rap music, so lighten up, ladies. This was shown to me by my 15 year old dyghtyr, so it has cool cred. Jon Lajoie is a comedian with tons of funny videos on YouTube, and lots of ha ha funny on iTunes, so … take a look. What I like of his, I really like. Enjoy the humor. Thank you, Youdopia.
I wanted to share these George Harrison videos with you, Youdopia. Why? Because I like you. You got a pretty mouth. I’m tired, and grumpy, so I’m not going to say much, other than Prince kicks ass on My Guitar Gently Weeps, which is at the George Harrison Memorial show. I kind of thought it was over the top, given the vibe, but.. look at Dani, George’s son, who is right behind Prince, and a dead ringer for his dad. The boy is digging it. So, if Prince’s awesome albeit a bit flash, solo made a young man feel better mourning his dad, then okey dokey.
For some reason I can’t save images to my disk, so.. sorry, Youdopia, we’re gonna have to go low fi with this. It is from Sept. 11, 2009, and it’s former Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell preforming Imagine. It’s really well done, and his voice is beautiful I hope you enjoy this lovely music.
CLICK THE PIC TO LISTEN
I used to make flipbooks in 7th and 8th grade. Mostly Paratroopers and robots.
