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  • Friday the 13th songs…

    It’s that day again… Time for a few Friday the 13th songs!

    Whenever the 13th day of the month happens to fall on a Friday, a lot of people become superstitious. This week, we not only had Friday the 13th, we also had the twelfth anniversary of September 11th. I happened to schedule a last minute dentist appointment that day because one of my molars was doing odd things. I found out the molar is cracked and now, at the very least, needs a crown. Darn the luck!

    Having grown up in the 1970s and 80s, I always thought Friday the 13th superstitions started with the string of horror movies bearing the same name and featuring a chainsaw toting masked man named Jason. As it turns out, superstitions surrounding Friday the 13th have been around at least since the 19th century. In fact, there are even people out there who have a phobia of Friday the 13th; paraskevidekatriaphobics have an irrational fear of the unluckiest date. In fact, in 2013, there are two incidences of Friday the 13th exactly 13 weeks apart. How’s that for creepy?

    I thought it would be fun to have a look at a few songs that fit in with Friday the 13th. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find a few good ones.

    Stevie Wonder and “Superstition”

    Here’s Stevie Wonder singing his classic hit on Sesame Street. I couldn’t resist this clip because it’s so old school. What a great song to hear first thing in the morning.

    Here’s Stevie Wonder and Stevie Ray Vaughan (RIP) playing a super funkified version of “Superstition”. Note Jody Watley jamming along with the two Stevies!

    And here is Stevie in Paris, playing his iconic song with Prince!

    And here, Stevie Wonder plays with guitar wizard, Jeff Beck. I think “Superstition” is the ultimate Friday the 13th song, which is why I added four versions to this post. Stevie Wonder is the kind of guy who can collaborate with everyone.

    Ray Charles and Jimmy Lewis “If It Wasn’t For Bad Luck”

    Blues songs really lend themselves to songs that are perfect for Friday the 13th. Here’s a song about two guys one upping each other with stories about how if they didn’t have bad luck, they’d have no luck at all. I suspect these two would do well to stay home on Friday the 13th.

    Albert King and “Born Under a Bad Sign”

    Albert King sings a classic song about being born under a “bad sign”. I couldn’t resist posting another clip with Stevie Ray Vaughan playing. Maybe Albert King is unlucky, but we’re lucky to have videos with him jamming. It makes Friday the 13th a little less daunting.

    Paul Thorn and “It’s a Great Day to Whup Somebody’s Ass

    This may not be the ultimate Friday the 13th song, but it’s definitely a song about bad luck. If you have a day like this on Friday the 13th, you might develop a phobia.

    Magic Slim & The Teardrops “Hard Luck Blues”

    Here’s a cover of “Hard Luck Blues” by Magic Slim & The Teardrops. If you’re feeling unlucky today, this is a song that you can relate to.

    Weird Wilbur and “Fucked Up, Fucked Over, and Hungry”

    This is a song about a man’s bad luck trying to get into the music business. It’s obviously not work or kid safe, but it’s definitely a hard luck song.

    I’ve never felt particularly unlucky on Friday the 13th, though as I sit here worrying about my tooth and what will be done to it next week, I’m not feeling particularly fortunate today. On the other hand, things could be worse. I could be sitting out in the middle of the desert with no way to get to a dentist and no money to pay for one even if I could. I don’t enjoy dental treatment, but it’s better than not having it, right?

    I hope you have a good Friday the 13th and an even better weekend!

  • Best of 2012 mix cd’s (discs 4-6): a track listing

    Every year, I design what ends up being a 6-cd best-of-the-previous-year mix. I have several friends who want all six, others who like to receive samplings therefrom. I design one set in February, another in the fall (giving me further time to explore). I’m told, and choose to believe, that I’m very good with track-to-track flow, so in this era of things like Spotify and Rhapsody playlists, I figured I might as well share with you the fourth through sixth tracklists for 2012 in case you want copies (if I know you) or just were curious and wanted to play with these a bit.

    Discs one through three are here; they mostly focus on my 50 Favorite Albums of 2012 list. This set — aside from giving second samples of eleven particular favorite albums, and first samples of late insertions onto that list — is more a tribute to individual songs.

    Noisy Up There, Where the Blind Lead the Blind

    1. Killers, Runaways
    2. Au, Solid Gold
    3. People Get Ready, Orange Grove
    4. Decomposure, Oh Brother
    5. Ned Collette + Wirewalker, il Futuro Fantastico
    6. Tic Tic Boom!, For Feeling
    7. Chairlift, I Belong in Your Arms
    8. Magnetic Fields, God Wants Us to Wait
    9. Heems, Womyn
    10. Roomful of Teeth, Quizassa
    11. Viv Albertine, Confessions of a MILF
    12. Alt-J, Fitzpleasure
    13. David Ramos, Digital Memory
    14. Agony Family, There Again
    15. Ben Folds Five, the Sound of the Life of the Mind
    16. Phedre, In Decay
    17. Darlingside, Still
    18. First Aid Kit, the Lion’s Roar
    19. Standard Fare, Kicking Puddles
    20. Gabriel and the Hounds, the World Unfolds
    21. Verlaines, What Sound is This?

    Goddamned Believers

    1. Eliza Rickman, White Words
    2. iamthemorning, Monsters
    3. Aesop Rock, Crows 1
    4. Billy Woods, the Man Who Would Be King
    5. David Byrne & St. Vincent, I Should Watch TV
    6. Ab-Soul & Danny Brown, Terrorist Threats
    7. Clock Opera, a Piece of String
    8. It Bites, Meadow and the Stream
    9. Sigh, l’Excommunication a Minuit
    10. Between the Buried and Me, Bloom
    11. Future of the Left, Notes on Achieving Orbit
    12. Diablo Swing Orchestra, Mass Rapture
    13. Thumpermonkey, Wheezyboy
    14. Extra Life, First Song
    15. Serj Tankian, Forget Me Knot
    16. Cold Specks, Blank Maps
    17. Why?, For Someone
    18. Cadence Weapon, You Can’t Stop the Machine
    19. Flobots, Stop the Apocalypse

    Stop Pretending Art is Hard

    1. Emilie Autumn, Fight Like a Girl
    2. Bryan Scary, You Might Be Caught in Tarantella
    3. the Fixx, Girl with No Ceiling
    4. ECID, Back from Japan
    5. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Thrift Shop
    6. Jim’s Big Ego, 404 Blues
    7. Artichoke, the Market of Farms
    8. James Rabbit, Sing Low
    9. Cosmo Jarvis, Sunshine
    10. Taylor Swift, We are Never Ever Getting Back Together
    11. Amanda Palmer, Ukelele Anthem
    12. Phoebe Kreutz, the Day the Basement Flooded
    13. BidiniBand, Big Men Go Fast on the Water
    14. Jed Davis, I Hear an Echo
    15. Metric, Clone 
    16. Busdriver, Kiss Me Back to Life
    17. Zammuto, F U C3PO
    18. Hundred Waters, Theia
    19. ChauCoco!, Nada Mas
    20. Kaipa, Vittjar
    21. Pepe Deluxe, Riders of the First Ark

    – Brian Block

  • Boobs a Lot

    Boobs a Lot

    You gotta like “Boobs a Lot”…

    Ever get a song stuck in your head you haven’t heard in years? That’s happening to me this morning. When I was growing up, I liked listening to morning radio shows, which usually featured silly songs. One song I used to hear all the time on morning radio shows back in the late 80s was called “Boobs a Lot”.

    I had forgotten all about “Boobs a Lot” until one day a few months ago when it popped into my head and wouldn’t leave. I didn’t know who sang the song or when it was originally unleashed on the public. I went searching for it and soon found out that “Boobs a Lot” is older than I am, having been recorded by The Holy Modal Rounders in 1971. I was immediately surprised, since I thought in the early 70s, people were more conservative about such things.

    The song “Boobs a Lot”…

    I ended up downloading the album this song came from and learning more about this band, which seemed very obscure to me. I mean, I had heard the song a lot as a teenager, but never knew who sang the song. The Holy Modal Rounders has been around a long time. The folk duo, consisting of Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber, got its start in New York City in the early 1960s. Lots of people were into this group and, in fact, American actor and playwright Sam Shepard was featured in the band for awhile. Over the years, the Holy Modal Rollers put out quite a few albums and had a cult following. There was even a documentary made about them in 2006 entitled The Holy Modal Rollers: Bound to Lose.

    So why hadn’t I heard of them before “Boobs a Lot”? And why haven’t I heard their other songs? Okay, so I have heard the songs on their 1971 album, Good Taste Is Timeless, which does sound a little dated, but is actually very appealing in a goofy sort of way. The music is like an odd mix of folk, bluegrass, psychedelia, and silliness.

    The Holy Modal Rounders on Laugh In back in 1968

    Check out the flashy silver pants on Peter Stampfel. He comments on YouTube that they were his girlfriend Antonia’s idea and that he pre-dated glam rock by a few years. I see on YouTube that someone managed to interview Peter Stampfel in 2010 and he offers tips for musicians.

    Peter Stampfel offers some handy tips for musicians.

    Here’s a little more silliness for a Tuesday morning. The Holy Modal Rounders sing “Low Down Dog”.

    Listening to this song, I can sort of see why this band had such a cult following. Their music is fun and quirky and it sounds like they enjoy playing together. Obviously, Peter Stampfel and his bandmates took his good advice about getting along and not being “pissy”.

    Peter Stampfel plays “Stick Your Ass In The Air”.

    Looks like Peter Stampfel still plays an entertaining show. And he still sings goofy songs about body parts. We should all take his advice and stick our asses in the air. That’s harder for some of us to do than others. Frankly, I appreciate “Boobs a Lot” a lot, not just because it introduced me to such a fun band with a long history, but because I happen to have big boobs that my husband loves. Long live comedic radio shows in the morning!