CASSIUS CLAY: "I Am The Greatest"

When great men die, of course, we should remember them by their weird novelty records.

To note the passing of the former Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali, let's listen to The Lip From Louisville's early '60s album of his clever, funny poems, delivered with gusto. Damn near proto-rapping, I'd say. Some lame comedy sketches that he most certainly did not (entirely) write are in there too, but look on the bright side: bonus tracks that set his poems to groovy music. And then there's his singing... a karaoke-esque cover of "Stand By Me," and a ridiculous sing-along called "The Gang's All Here."

CASSIUS CLAY: "I Am The Greatest"

And don't forget his all-star kids albums:
  
"Ali and His Gang Vs. Mr. Tooth Decay" - From 1976, with Frank Sinatra! And Howard Cosell.

"The Dope King's Last Stand" - From 1977, with an even more all-starry cast. How's this for a line-up: President Jimmy Carter, Lily Tomlin, Pat Boone, Senator Hubert Humphrey, Billie Jean King, and Sinatra again.

As a Los Angeles native, I'm used to seeing celebrities here, as well as in Las Vegas, and New York. If you've spent much time in those cities you know that it's not a big deal, maybe someone will recognize a celeb, chat briefly, then leave them alone. But when I saw Ali strolling thru Caesar's Palace in Vegas, there was a veritable mob surrounding him. A peaceful, respectful mob, but still, I have never seen one individual create such a commotion. I think I saw the Pope, the President, and the cast of "Friends" waving and saying, "Hey, over here! What about us?!"

HAPPY (BAND)CAMPERS: WEIRD EDITION

"American Folk Music" is the most boring possible name for an album, but fear not! The latest release from veteran North Carolina wackos the Moolah Temple $tringband is anything but dull. They take songs from Harry Smith's venerable "Anthology of American Folk Music" and radically warp them by introducing such elements as exotic Middle Eastern-isms, clanging and banging percussion, incongruous '80s hip-hop style drum machine beatz, even a bit of rapping on one song, and mix them with the trad sounds of guitars, banjos, and a skillful fiddle that suggests that someone has been taking music lessons. The hideously/hilariously inappropriate combination of traditional folk music and Autotune (!) on "Farmland Blues" had me laffin' out loud. Also dig: the fuzz guitar crunch of "Little Moses" (even tho it goes on too long), and a version of "John Hardy" that might even be better than the Gun Club's? Scuzzy vocals are often distorted beyond recognition. "The Titanic," however, actually approaches mainstream respectability, complete with perfectly competent backing vox.

Moolah Temple $tringband: "American Folk Music"

More Bandcamp weirdness ahoy! L.A. nutters Freshly Wrapped Candies have unwrapped an old album of theirs from 1989 chock full of hermetic, inscrutable DIY obsessions that, perhaps inevitably, are sometimes reminiscent of The Residents, esp. on songs like "Grandfathers' Rug". Other standout songs like the downright catchy "Think" and the Beavis and Butthead-ish "Pitter Pat" don't immediately suggest any particular influences. Organically strange, but not off-puttingly so. It emerges from the haze with its' humanity intact.

Freshly Wrapped Candies: "I Like You" 

The EZ-Listening Gangsta Rap of DJ NoNo

 By request, the marching-band versions of Stooges classics is back up.

"Planned 10 years ago, the Ballroom EP (now album) has been a long time coming…
Mixing ballroom music – big band, jazz, bossa nova, exotica, swing, easy listening and classical pops – with hip hop and r n’ b." So sayeth that red, rad robot DJ NoNo (aka Tim from Radio Clash) about his mashup collection now on-line for your dancing/romancing/listening/downloading pleasure. And what a pleasure it is, mixing the likes of hardcore rappers Public Enemy with an exceedingly cheesy version of the "Mexican Hat Dance." One of the oldies that gets remixed is one of my all-time fave mashups: "Stripper Jackson," which features Jacko singing over a version of that bump-n-grind classic, "The Stripper." This is the kind of stuff that I used to feature regularly in the early days of this here web-log.

Only 9 tracks long, and it's all quite fun and ridiculous. And I'm not just saying that because it's partially dedicated to me. (Looks at the floor) Ah, shucks...

DJ NoNo: "Ballroom"

1. Mexican Love War (Public Enemy ‘Make Love Fuck War’ vs Geoff Love ‘Mexican Hat Dance’)
2. Push It Muchacho (Salt n’ Pepa ‘Push It’ vs Esquivel ‘Mucha Muchacha’)
3. March of the Forgotten (Joe Loss ‘Mark of the Mods’ vs Dre ft Eminem ‘Forgot about Dre’)
4. Swing The Guillotine (Death Grips ‘Guillotine’ vs Glen Miller ‘In The Mood’)
5. Stripper Jackson (Joe Loss ‘The Stripper’ vs Michael Jackson ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’)
6. Quando Tip (Q-Tip ‘Breathe And Stop’ vs Manuel ‘Quando Quando Quando’)
7. Super Wheels (Eminem ‘Superman’ vs Joe Loss ‘Wheels Cha Cha’)
8. Ludasifinado (Ludacris ‘Stand Up’ vs Laurindo Almeida ‘Desafinado’)
9. Cha Cha Like It’s Hot (Snoop Dogg ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ vs Starlight Strings ‘Unforgettable’ 2015 remaster)

TOILET TIDBITS

Zoogz Toozday returns with some re-up requests: the sick punk/jazz/prog of Zoogz Rifts' "Amputees In Limbo," "Island of Living Puke," and "Torment" are all back on-line. And if that still isn't enough scatological humor for ya, plug your nose and dive into this:

TOILET TIDBITS

courtesy of reader Duke Kola, who sounds like a pretty cool grandpa. He writes: "I made this mix (with a couple of changes) a few years back for my pre-teen grandson. Never fails to bring a few smiles to my face regardless of how many times I listen."

Now this may seem like a somewhat dubious concept for a mix, but if you're gonna sing about such stuff, you've got to have: a) a sense of humor, and b) a lack of inhibitions, both of which are sterling qualities for an artist to possess. Not to mention the fact that you've pretty much thrown all commercial potential and radio play hopes out the window once you've gone down this path, another admirable move. And this is indeed a very entertaining listen, more so than I was expecting. 

I personally would have added the Bonzo Dog Band's "The Strain," but I'm sure we all have our favorites.

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01. Amsterdam Dog Shit Blues - Mojo Nixon
02. Caca De Vaca - Joe 'King' Carrasco
03. Snake Bit and Can't Shit - Root Boy Slim
04. Constipation Blues - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
05. Somebody Just Poop - Goofy
06. Somebody Farted - Bobby Jimmy
07. Fart - Breetles
08. I Can't Stop Farting - The Queers
09. Old Fart At Play - Captain Beefheart
10. The Phantom Windbreaker - Red Bovine
11. Pissin' In The Wind - Ernie Payne
12. Pissin' On Your Steps - Del the Funky Homosapien
13. Wee Wee - Abner Jay
14. Piss On the Wall - J. Geils Band
15. Urine Your Out - Prehistoric Cavemen
16. The Thing From Uranus - Sloppy Seconds
17. Shit Don't Stink - TMA
18. Shit For Brains - Nervous Eaters
19. Bag of Shit - Sean Price
20. Shit Can Happen - D12
21. Shaving Cream - Byron Lee
22. Disco Defecation - Flash Bouyancy
23. The Slurf Song - Holy Modal Rounders
24. When the Shit Hits the Fan - Circle Jerks
25. Piece of Crap - Neil Young
26. My Shit's Fucked Up - Warren Zevon
27. Why Does It Hurt When I Pee - Pancho and Sancho
28. I Ain't Gonna Piss in No Jar - Mojo Nixon
29. Don't Eat the Yellow Snow - Frank Zappa


Thanks a heap, Duke!