John McLaughlin’s new LP was 12 years in the making. Meditation kept him sane, he tells Martin Longley Beck. “My old comrade-in-arms, another one who’s about as deaf as me. Listen, ‘Thieves and Poets’ is |
Monthly Archives for February 2004
“It’s easy to wallow in misery, it’s the most comfortable place to be. But it’s always worth trying to get out of it.”
| Gruf Rhys’ track by track guide to Super Furry Animals’ Phantom Power album Hello Sunshine I listen to a lot of people like Davey Graham, a lot of British folk and bluesmen and European acoustic musicians from the 50s and 60s, and musically Golden Retriever has that kind of feel. The lyrics are a blues parody – “I met the devil at the roundabout”. I tried to update blues vocabulary, because I think that one of the things that bothers me most about rock and roll music is that people keep regurgitating the same words. I try to make my own clichés, you know? It also coincided with passing my driving test a few years back, which had a great affect on my life. In studying for my theory test I had to absorb a lot of road sign and driving theory vocabulary, which has made its way into songs like Golden Retriever and Valet Parking. Sex, War & RobotBunf discovered the pedal steel during the recording of the last album and he’s played it on Hello Sunshine and Bleed Forever. On this one we got a pedal steel player from Cardiff called John ‘Catfish’ Thomas for this track. There are a lot of songs on this record about broken relationships and war, and I think they go hand in hand, but always with a positive outlook to the future. Piccolo Snare Venus And Serena Father Father #1 and #2These were in the DADDADtunings. I think it puts some breathing space in the album. They also help Bleed Forever Out Of Control Cityscape Skybaby Valet Parking The Undefeated Slow Life “‘Phantom Power’ also sounds like a sinister power source that controls the world from beyond people’s comprehension. And a lot of the things that go on today seem completely illogical and I think we watch the world go by with disbelief. We seem to be living in such a heavy time. We’re just absorbing all the words thrown at us from the TV and regurgitating them back.”I suppose it’s almost unavoidable that lyrics like that are coming out at this point when almost all our entertainment is based around war. Musically as a band we tend to regurgitate what we absorb from our record collections, and lyrically I suppose the same goes, the topics of conversations over the last couple of years have been based around violence more than usual. We’ve been put on high-paranoia alert by the media! There are a lot of songs on this record about broken relationships and war, and I think they go hand in hand. But always with a positive outlook to the future.”Phantom Power was recorded in our own studio late at night in an office block in Cardiff. We’d erect pressure to show off, we just wanted to impress ourselves. The last record “Similarly with this album |
JESUS BUILT MY HOT ROD, OR AT LEAST SPONSORED IT, BUT THEN I RAN OVER A CONE AND SLID INTO THE GRASS AND…
| Keeping the faith In NASCAR, lines blurred between racing and religion DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — When Bobby Labonte takes the green flag in Sunday’s Daytona 500, he’ll be racing for victory — and the Lord. The hood of Labonte’s car is both a shameless movie plug — The Passion of the Christ, coming soon to a theater near you — and some new-style proselytizing for the Gospel. Yes, witnessing has moved from the revival tent to the fast lane. “It’s a chance to get the word out,” Labonte, who grew up in Corpus Christi,Texas, said about the ad on his car. “Someone who is curious about Jesus and has never been saved sees the race and says, ‘Hmmm, I’d like to see what that’s about.’ … Maybe we can change their minds.” NASCAR racing and the Christian faith have often worked hand-in-hand, from infield services for drivers, crewmen and officials to the pre-race invocation to the annual break in the schedule for the Easter holiday. Now comes a car promoting The Passion of the Christ, a soon-to-be-released movie that already has drawn lavish praise from conservative clergy — including the Rev. Billy Graham — but angry denouncements from Jewish groups fearing it will stir up anti-Semitism. For Labonte, it was a no-brainer to plug Mel Gibson’s film on the No. 18 car, especially since the movie focuses on the seminal event in the Christian faith — the crucifixion of Jesus. “I know how much it has impacted my life and my family’s life,” said Labonte, a former NASCAR Nextel Cup champion. Stock car racing is unapologetic about its ties to Christianity, which isn’t surprising for a sport that grew up in the Bible Belt. But, mirroring NASCAR’s attempts to diversify the good ol’ boy image, the word has gone out that all religions are welcome. “Walking through the garage, yes, I’m unashamed about being a Christian,” said Dale Beaver, a chaplain for Motor Racing Outreach, which conducts half-hour chapel services before events. “If you’re not a Christian, that’s OK. We can still get along.” NASCAR has attempted to maintain symmetry between its predominantly Christian fan base and those of other faiths. Hal Marchman, a retired Baptist minister who has given the pre-race invocation since Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959, always ends his prayer with “shalom and amen,” incorporating the Hebrew word for “peace” into his Christian beliefs. “We’re not the only ones,” Marchman said. “I respect the Jewish religion. I respect every religion.” But it’s not always easy for NASCAR to pull off the balancing act. Two years ago, Morgan Shepherd put a Jesus decal on the hook of his racing truck before a race in Darlington, S.C. NASCAR officials received complaints — “maybe it was the atheists,” Shepherd said — and asked him to remove the logo. He complied, prompting a backlash from Christian fans. A few weeks later, NASCAR told Shepherd he could put the logo back on his race vehicles. It’s been there ever since. “I commend NASCAR and the sport I’m in,” Shepherd said. “They’re not afraid to stand up for what’s right. They let us come in and worship with MRO. We can pray before races. I know they’ve taken a lot of heat.” He praised retired NASCAR chairman Bill France for resisting any attempts to eliminate religion from the race track. For instance, it’s hard to imagine NASCAR levying a $5,000 fine on a competitor for wearing a cap with a cross during interviews, which happened with NFL quarterback Jon Kitna in December (the fine was rescinded last week by the league). From Shepherd’s perspective, NASCAR’s alliance with the Christian faith gives the sport a more wholesome, family oriented image. “I guarantee you’re never going to see anything like what happened with Janet Jackson,” Shepherd said, referring to the singer whose breast was exposed during the Super Bowl halftime show. “Those things are not going to happen in our sport. Not while Bill France is around.” While Shepherd said he’s received plenty of praise for his Victory In Jesus racing team, that hasn’t translated into financial backing. His hopes of qualifying for the Daytona 500 were scuttled by a shoestring budget. “Why does corporate America spend so much money … supporting things that don’t have moral values?” Shepherd asked. “And here we are, trying to serve the Lord. There’s nothing bad in the Bible. Even if you don’t believe in God, if everyone would just live by the Bible and the Ten Commandments, see how much better the world would be.” Labonte has plenty of financial backing. In fact, the idea to use the No. 18 car as an advertising vehicle for “The Passion of the Christ” came from his primary sponsor. Norm Miller, chairman of Interstate Batteries, has teamed up with Hollywood to promote other movies, including Toy Story 2 and The Hulk. But Gibson’s project took on special meaning after Miller saw the film at a screening in California. He doesn’t believe the movie portrays Jews as being solely responsible for the death of Christ — a concept blamed for centuries of anti-Semitism. “The Bible is clear: Jesus was volunteering when he laid his life down,” Miller said. “I don’t feel it’s near the issue people are trying to make out of it.” And, said J.D. Gibbs, who runs the team, this marketing campaign isn’t intended to keep other faiths in the pits. “We want everyone to look at this as their sport,” Gibbs said. “It’s not just a Christian sport.” Labonte Overcomes Early Problems to Earn 11th in Daytona 500 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 15, 2004 Bobby Labonte overcame early problems in the Daytona 500 and fought back to finish 11th in the 46th Daytona 500 Feb. 15 at Daytona International Speedway. Labonte, who started 13th in The Passion of the Christ Interstate Chevrolet, had worked his way up to sixth by the time he pitted on Lap 30. However, as Labonte entered pit lane, he ran over a cone and slid through the grass between pit road and the frontstretch before entering his pit stall. “That wasn’t very good on my part. (Fatback, crew chief Michael McSwain) said ‘Pit if we can pit,’ and I was on the high side and I didn’t know if I’d run out of gas or not, so I figured it’d be better to try and pit rather than just stick it out, because if you run out of gas on the backstraightaway or something, I’d be in worse shape,” Labonte said. Shortly thereafter, Labonte suffered damage to the front of his car when he bumped another Nextel Cup competitor while trying to avoid a spinning car. The car suffered damage to the oil cooler duct and the Interstate Batteries Racing Team began to repair the car during a pit stop. Labonte had fallen to 40th when the race restarted on Lap 37, but managed to work his way up to 30th when a caution on Lap 58 enabled Labonte to get is lap back. “The guys did a good job of getting me out,” Labonte said. “We lost a lap, but we were fortunate on the ‘Lucky Dog’ situation, and we got to make it back up.” A 10-car accident on the backstretch helped Labonte gain several positions and by the halfway point of the race, he had worked his way back to 12th. With the final 300 miles taking-place under green and the field spread out, Labonte could not crack the top 10 and wound up 11th. It was a major improvement from a 41st-place finish in 2003. “It was almost a top 10, Labonte said. “I think last year we finished like 80th or something like that, so it was better than that. I wish we could have finished a lot better. This racing was pretty good today, for me. Early in the race, we could pass a little bit better than at the end. I don’t know why it didn’t get any better toward the end.” “For us and a lot of guys, it seemed single-file, I don’t know if it was the wind [OR SATAN!!!!] or what. If we could have made up a little bit on one series of runs, maybe we could have caught a couple of cars, maybe we would have been in the pack of cars in front of us.” |
Mark Swaney on the History of Magic Squares
16 FEBRUARY 2004
| from http://www.netmastersinc.com/secrets/magic_squares.htm Mark 4 9 2 This is a magic square of My friend Mark Swaney has been working on the history of Magic Squares and has said yes it’s just ripped hot off the neurons, and may have a detail or two out of place. I’m reading all this stuff and then roaring off an epistle. Later, The history of magic squares China India Islam Europe The Squares and the Planets Mark Swaney, January, 2000 Note from someone else: Mark Swaney writes: prescient inventions. |
“BROWN ACID FOR THE TODDLER SOUL.”
| Bright colors, silly jokes: A moment from “H. R. Pufnstuf,” one of the Sid and Marty Krofft series being shown on TV Land. The Evil Geniuses of KiddieSchlock Have you ever thought you But there was |
THE CHAMPAGNE UNIT.
| An Absence in Alabama As Bush’s military service re-emerges as an issue, here is what we knowand don’t know By MARK THOMPSON and JAMES CARNEY From the start, Bush’s military But the With reporting by Douglas |
U.S. Nixes Subpoenas Against Protesters
12 FEBRUARY 2004
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: February 10, 2004 Filed at 6:14 p.m. ET
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Brian It also |
“YOU WERE ALWAYS HERE, WAITING FOR YOURSELF TO ARRIVE.” — GRANT MORRISON’S BUDDHIST XMEN.
“Exploitation is the price of cheaper food, says Oxfam”
By Cahal Milmo 09 February 2004 The Independent Global retailers, includingBritish supermarkets are, systematically inflicting poor working conditions Extra |
“All the people in the Funk community who thought I’d faded into oblivion, that’s not true. I am in full effect.” —PEDRO BELL 1994 interview
P-FUNK (Pedro Bell Interview) (From Roctober #11, 1994) No band has had more outrageous looks, costumes, masks, shows and grooves than Funkadelic and the other bands in their family (Parliament, Bootsy’s Rubber Band and the rest). And after George Clinton, the man in charge, no one else left a more indelible mark on the space age crazoid imagery associated with the best Funkadelic music than cover artist Pedro Bell. In 1971 Pedro was a young man kickin’ around college radio, hearing (and “borrowing”) the new records that were dropping, when Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” came in. As soon as he heard it he knew he’d found the sound and contacted the band. He did local promotion and flyers for them and when they came to their first Chicago show to a packed mixed race house at the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall he met the band and was soon doing the colorful, freaky, futuristic raw, marker and mixed media collage-heavy cover art for albums for all the Funkadelic and George Clinton solo LP’s from “Cosmic Slop” (1973) to “R&B Skeletons in the Closet” (1986). In addition to that artwork, he’s tried his hand at animation, screenwriting, comic books and his own music. Currently of his many musical projects the one he’s most excited about is Tripzilla, which will be released as soon as a label can meet his artistic terms-a gatefold vinyl edition to display is artwork is a necessity! A score or so after that original historic P-Funk set, Roctober’s Jake Austen, Randy Lancelot and James Porter sat down in the cafeteria in Mandel Hall and talked about his glorious history. Without further ado, let’s let the Bell ring out… RETURN OF THE CRAZOID ROCTOBER BRINGS ARTIST EXTRAORDINAIRE PEDRO BELL BACK TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME WHERE HE FIRST MET FUNKADELIC Jake Austen: This issue is going to be about masks. I want to hear about your space age masks and designs. Pedro Bell: Well, masks-masks…it’s funny you should mention masks, because the last Funkadelic album, called “By Way Of The Drum”, I designed a mask for that, it’s a combination of low tech and high tech. It’s never been released. “By Way Of The Drum” was actually the world’s oldest unpublished Funkadelic album. I started in 1982, I finished in 1989, it hasn’t been released yet. Randy Lancelot: There was a promotional 12″ that had the song “By Way of the Drum” released about 1989 or 90. PB: Yeah, but it was released without their permission. It was a standard (no art) sleeve. JA: Were you into comic books when you were a kid? PB: Well comics, I really couldn’t get a lock on those because my Mama wasn’t into having — she was one of those types where it’s said, “No comic books.” So, if I left a comic book in the living room or the kitchen, it got trashed, so I never did get that full lock on comics. But, uh, the first comic type thing that I was exposed to was some ads by this car customizer called Big Daddy Roth. And one of the artists he was bringing up was Robert Williams, who got his own reputation later. So at that point it was the underground comics. So my influences were the later ’50s and ’60s, Big Daddy Roth and Mouse… JA: Rat Fink. PB: Right, Big Daddy Roth designed him. I had teachers in high school told me my style was, uh, Salvador Dali, but I didn’t know anything about him until after, when I checked out to see what was happening with him. JA: But where are you coming up with these album covers? Were they telling you what to do? PB: No, I designed all that stuff. Pull out “R & B Skeletons In The Closet” (by George Clinton). Here’s a typical example of how something like this would come about. I heard from some of his Powertoylah boys about the George Clinton thing, and because they had these little legal battles between me and Capitol, he said why don’t you do this: they don’t never seem to complain about what you do on the back of the album, so why don’t you make the front real clean and safe, and you stretch out and go crazy on the back. So I said yeah, OK. So instead, I just said, I’ll make a parody of a clean album. And that I did. So once I made up what I was gonna do, I just went automatically. Clinton didn’t know anything about what I was doing until I was finished with it. When he did see — sometimes he doesn’t see the album until after its printed — but he did see, and his one and only thing he had done was the circle (around George’s face) was in color, and he had them do it in black and white. James Porter: I’m curious about the cover of “Hard Core Jollies” . . . is that woman giving birth? PB: (laughs) Awww, man… JP: That’s the way it looks to me. PB: Yeaaahhh . . . wellll. . . JP: This lady’s in the bathtub and she’s got this little child’s head pokin’ out. PB: Ah, that was merely an angle coincidence. That was something a lot more scandalous. JP: Really scared me when I was a child. JA: Did you ever do a straight comic book? PB: Ah, got one now. Actually it’s a compilation of what I call the Artusi Tribe. The main man for that is Seitu Haiden. It’s called, “Ain’t that a Blip” and it’s going to be published later on this year. JA: Are the album covers mostly painting, colored pencils . . . PB: Most of them are markers. Some of this is ink. I’ll use anything. JA: What do you have going through your mind when you turn these people into these space-age freakazoids? PB: Drugs! Drugs! Basically Funkadelic was like the alterego to Psychedelic. Funkadelic is like a Shock Theater, Thriller, Twilight Zone kinda tangent. You know, aliens make it always crazoid, out the box, I guess to sell more units. JP: There were a lot of rock bands at the time exploring the dark horror movie side of psychedelia, like Alice Cooper, but it seems like Funkadelic always had to go to the extreme. PB: That’s it, you know. I was following orders. RL: Did you ever get to tour, or did you just deal with them when they were in town? PB: I was asked a few times to tour, but I’d seen enough of that chitlin circuit back in the early days, and I didn’t see anything cool about going from town to town, strange food, strange wenches and all that. I’d go out to L.A. or Detroit to see a show, but a full-blown tour, there’s nothing fun to me about that. JA: George Clinton’s put out two really bad album covers in a row. What’s he going to do about it? PB: Well both of them were on Paisley (Park, Prince’s label). Well there was a concept, which I am going to reuse, for “The Cinderella Theory.” It was actually going to be a combination robotic-photographic combination. And George had done his part as far as the photography, and I’d done my part, and then somewhere in Paisley Park, the Purple One said no. JA: Now that Paisley Park has been dropped by Warner Brothers, where does that stuff stand now? PB: George doesn’t have any shortage of sources. Somebody in Detroit’s setting up some kind of label. Somebody said Uncle Jam’s label’s coming back. JA: Are you going to have input? PB: Parliament Funkadelic is the next one coming out by me. It’s called “Dope Dogs.” They have to use Parliament Funkadelic because they lost the right to use Funkadelic as a stand alone name. JP: Speakin’ of which, there was a real wack Funkadelic record that George Clinton had nothing to do with called “Connections and Disconnections.” PB: There was nothin wack about that! That album was Baaaad! JP: Sorry, sounds like Gap Band outtakes to me. Keep expecting someone to say, “Oops Upside Your Head.” PB: In relationship to “Electric Spanking of the War Babies” that was out at the time, no contest. The material on there was far superior to official Funkadelic. Tell you a little scandal that went down. When Warners found out about this they went to George’s face saying what’s this group claiming to share the name, and Clinton said, “Well there was some paper, but it was in a foreign country.” Well the foreign country turned out to be Canada. Which turns out trademarks and registrations Canada is not considered a foreign country. What happened when Warner Brothers found out that Clinton didn’t have any legal power, they said, we’re just gonna have a strong promotional campaign. So they came out with a 45 of this (with a sleeve) that was in color, which was kind of unusual, because 45s were starting to wind down as far as doing it like that. And Warner Brothers paid me to do an editorial about the other Funkadelic, and the title was, “Will the real Flunkadelic Shut the Flunk Up.” Then they turned around and did me a serious injustice on a little money matter, so to make up the difference I was approached by LAX records, the other boys, so they paid me to do the rebuttal to the editorial I wrote. RL: Did you use the same name? PB: No, I made up an alter ego, but they knew it was me. But like I said, compared to “Electric Spanking,” no comparison. Now there were some tracks that were not on “Electric Spanking” originally supposed to be a two-album set, but anyway, somebody was obviously on the pipe. I got a few tracks that weren’t on the final version, and they’re better than the garbage that was on that. They could have sent that straight to tje bargain bin. JA: You crack on the back of one of those George Clinton solo albums, “Use Pedro Bell art, or it’s straight to the bargain bin.” But all those solo Clinton’s went straight to the bargain bin. That’s where I got mine. JP: Even though they had “Atomic Dog.” PB: Last I heard — everyone and they mama know that bad boy went gold, but Capitol swears to this day . . JA: that “Atomic Dog” is not gold!?! They must just not want to pay you guys, thinking you’re more trouble than you’re worth. PB: “They” — Clinton and company — make that distinction. JA: Hey, it’s a family, you can’t . . . PB: Yes I can — disavow myself. Everyone knows I’m a mercenary. Once upon a time, yes, terrible as it may seem, KISS approached them as far as having me do something for them. RL: KISS approached Funkadelic and wanted you to do something? JA: And they wouldn’t let you? PB: Well, they gave them some story that they couldn’t find me or that I busy or something, and I don’t appreciate that. Cause they would’ve paid. In fact, I don’t know what they were tripping about, if they woulda hooked that up, oooohhhh… JP: P-Funk would have been bigger. PB: Right! JA: Those KISS people would start buying these records. Do you know what record it was? PB: No, but it was when they was still slammin’ on the charts. JP: Amongst Black kids, the same people who liked Parliament liked KISS, so if only it could have gone the other way around. PB: It would have helped. JA: Finally, what do you want to tell the people about Pedro Bell? PB: All the people in the Funk community who thought I’d faded into oblivion, that’s not true. I am in full effect. I will be doing things for all levels for ’95 — I will be all the way live. ROCTOBER #11/THE HISTORY OF MASKED ROCK N ROLL (FALL 1994) OFFSET, 52 PAGES, 2 COLOR HEAVY STOCK COVER BY SLINK MOSS CONTENTS: “PUNK’NHEAD” COMIC BY JAKE AUSTEN “ROCKIN ACE” COMIC BY SLINK MOSS WAYMON TIMBSDAYLE REVIEWS PREHISTORY OF MASKED ROCK N ROLL BY ANNA SCOTT AND JAKE AUSTEN BLACKFACE BY NAJUMA STEWART “THANK YOU MASK MAN” BY GENTLEMAN JOHN BATTLES LUCHA LIBRE, THE MASKED MARVEL, THE PHANTOM BY KING MERINUK (W/ ILLUSTRATION) MONSTER ROCK N ROLL SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT, MASKIN’ IN THE MOVIES, MASKIN’ IN THE 60S, 70S, 80S, 90S, RON HAYDOCK COMIC BY JOE CHIAPETTA BANANA SPLITS BY JAMES PORTER KIM FOWLEY INTERVIEW MASK MAN AND THE AGENTS COMIC BY JOHN PORCELINNO PEDRO “FUNKADELIC” BELL INTERVIEW GLAM, KISS BY BRIAN CALVIN BLOWFLY COMIC BY JASON MITCHELL ORION BY KELLY KUVO BLACK LONE RANGER, SKIMASK INTERVIEW MUMMIES/PHANTOM SURFERS INTERVIEW BLACK METAL BY THINNING-THE HERD FUCKERS COMIC BY JASON HELLER GOBLINS BONUS: ORIGAMI MASKED BAND TOY BY JEROME GAYNOR https://roctober.rocks/ |
COURTESY IAN CHRISTE!
