IT'S OVER

Listen to IT'S OVER by Los Dug Dug's.

Not a bad time to play more Los Dug Dug's. I had someone write in saying they had been looking for Yo No Se forever and was glad we had it. Happy to oblige! There's more out there, just so you know!

I'm kinda disturbed by the news that Jay Bennett has died at 46. I'm pretty sure he led a much, much harder life than I did, but his specific recent complaint--that he had had been too hard on his knees, ignored them in the vain hope they'd 'fix themselves,' to the point he had destroyed his hip joint and needed a total replacement--well...it sounds vaguely familiar. Anyway, it's also timely in that Corbett had been provoking me into giving Wilco another listen, Wilco being a band I've found incredibly annoying ever sense Bennett left. So now instead of listening to the new Wilco album, I'm going to play "Being There" instead. Peace to his family.

Goodbye Oscar Peterson

R.I.P.

RIPPimpC

Damn, Pimp C is dead. 33 years old. Haven't blogged any UGK here but I had a couple tracks in mind next time I was posting hip hop. Wanted to play I Choose You at the wedding reception in tribute but got overruled. Loved those guys. Click on the link for some tributes & cool youtubes.

I've come awful close

With Corbett doing an admirable job with the songs (and photos!) this week, I can't get my normal bloggy fix. Hence this post! Last week some of you might have read that Porter Wagoner died. You don't need me to tell you what a legend he was. But his (frankly) weird persona always interested me, as did his Nudie suits. With his passing a few people posted songs from his album he released this summer, an album he called his best work. I have to say it's pretty engaging, and I might have to pass a selection on here.

Amy and I put Porter and Dolly on one of our favorite Christmas CDs, "One More Round, Bartender, It's Christmas!" I was sad to read that another guy we featured on that mix, Hank Thompson, is struggling with cancer. To be honest, I was surprised to find out he was still around. I've got a whole lot of Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys, it's all top notch musicianship and always with a good sense of humor. Just last week I tracked down his Wednesday Night Waltz for a project I'm kinda working on. Best wishes to him and his family.

Next, this American Gangster movie, I didn't realize was a biopic. I think it grew out of this interesting article on Frank Lucas from 2000. One of the many anecdotes in the article has to do with his (possible) connection to a hit on an Italian lawyer who owed Lucas money. Gino E. Gallina, "then a Pelham Manor mouthpiece for 'top drug dealers and organized-crime figures,' was rubbed out 'mob style . . . as many passersby looked on in horror.'" I only bring this up because that hit happened thirty years yesterday, and it happened at Varick and Carmine, down the block from where Windy now lives and exactly where we watched the United match Saturday morning. Well it was interesting to me!

Finally, when Stu got back from the Iceland Airwaves, he was telling me about this traditional Iceland dinner he went to with Valgeir and the guys from Grizzly Bear. He said that one of the girls there told this too-absurd-to-be-true story about a discovery some friends of hers made in the woods while tripping on acid. And here is that story!

Late Update: Hank Thompson has died. RIP.

R.I.P. Alice Coltrane

Sad News. I've already got next week lined up but I'll post a favorite Alice Coltrane song sometime soon.

R.I.P. Sneaky Pete

Pete Kleinow, 1934-2007.

LET'S MAKE THIS CHRISTMAS MEAN SOMETHING THIS YEAR

LET'S MAKE THIS CHRISTMAS MEAN SOMETHING THIS YEAR by James Brown.

Merry Christmas from Oklahoma! We hope you are with your loved ones this morning, and that you spare a thought for all those you couldn't be with today.

Also, please join us in congratulating John and Jowita on the Christmas Eve arrival of their daughter, Jowita Jane!

While we're here, here's a zip of the Holiday Mix we promised last week. This has all of the songs from the mix, plus the album cover and CD art. Again, if you'd like a hard copy of the mix, you can also let me know here or by email.

And as the late, great, dearly departed James Brown said, let's make Christmas mean something this year!

LISTEN.

Photo: Avenue of the Americas, 2002.

Before continuing, we would like to mark Pinochet's death with Víctor Jara's "Caminando Caminando."