The Northern Pikes and Kim Mitchell Videos

A week or so ago Iw as poking around YouTube remembering old videos and I wanted to put some on the blog so here are some more. I seem to rembember buying a cassette of The Northern Pikes that featured "She Ain't Pretty" in Austin, Tx while I was stationed at Ft. Hood. IT would have been after the first Gulf War so I'm guessing it was 1993 or 1994 which was several years after it had been released.



My best friend Tom called me up one day about 7 or 8 years ago to see if I could find a song for him even though he didn't know the name artist that sang it. As a matter of fact all he could remember was the words "might as well go for a soda, nobody cares" and the general beat of the song. Well I found it for him and once I listened to it I was sure I'd heard it before but I really can't pinpoint when or whre. Anyway, it's a great song and it came out in 1985.

Go For Soda


What do these Kim Mitchell and The Northern Pikes have in common? They're both from Canada.

A Cars Reunion? Maybe....Maybe

The scuttlebutt on the internet is that seminal 80s band The Cars may be reuniting. A picture posted on the bands official Facebook page shows 4 of the band members(singer Ric Ocasek, keyboardist Greg Hawkes, drummer David Robinson and guitarist Elliot Easton) playing in a home studio. The fifth member, bassist Ben Orr passed away in 2000 from pancreatic cancer. There is supposed to be a link to a story about the reunion rumors with a note that says "Anyone in the mood for a reunion by the Cars?" I say supposed to be because I'm one of those rare people who haven't gotten on Facebook yet so I can't verify it. Back in February Ric Ocasek told Rolling Stone that he was working on new material that would be a surprise.



In 2005 Easton and Hawkes formed The New Cars with Todd Rundgren but they only recorded a few new songs and toured off an on before stopping it on 2007. Of interest is that at that time Ocasek was not interested in reforming the group and Robinson was out of music and also had no interest.

What a difference a few years can make. If this is all true then it will make for some really wonderful news. The Cars were one of my favorite bands growing up and I never was able to see them in concert nor was I able to see The New Cars. If they do tour and record and I will be there to remove one of the bands that I thought I would never have a chance to see live from my concert wish list.

Del Amitri

What can I say about the Scottish band Del Amitri? The band officially started in 1983 and has never technically broken up but also hasn't released an album since 2002. Their biggest success came in 1989 with the release of their album Waking Hours and the single "Kiss This Thing Goodbye" which was re-released the following year in the U.S. and went to # 35. The band never could manage to break into the top 10 in the U.K., # 11 was the best they could manage with the single "Nothing Ever Happens."



In 1992 the band released their album Change Everything and their single "Always The Last To Know" went to # 13 in the U.K. and # 30 in the U.S. They later hit # 10 in the U.S. in 1995 with the song "Roll To Me." I always liked their sound but kind of lost track of them for bit.



Band Lineup:
Justin Currie Lead Vocals, Bass, Guitars
Iain Harvie Vocals, Guitars
Andy Alston Keyboards, Accordion, etc.

Past Members:
Mark Price 1997-2002 Drums
Kris Dollimore 1997-2002 Guitars
Jon McLoughlin 1995-1997 Guitars
Ashley Soan 1994-1997 Drums
David Cummings 1989-1995 Guitars
Chris Sharrock 1995 Drums
Brian McDermott 1989-1993 Drums
Paul Tyagi 1982-1989 Drums
Mick Slaven 1988-1989 Guitars
Bryan Tolland 1982-1988 Guitars
Donald Bentley 1980-1982 Guitars
James Scobbie 1980-1982 Guitars

The Dirty Heads

I found out about The Dirty Heads the other day when I was looking at Sublime With Rome's webpage and saw that they were touring with them quite a bit so I decided to give them a listen. What I heard is a hip-hop, reggae and punk mix that sounds very much like they should come from where they do, Huntington Beach, California. That area is a breeding ground for groups like this that like to experiment musically and merge various styles together. You can find all the infor you want about them at their website here. Seriously when it comes to music like this the best thing you can do is listen to it to get a complete understanding of what they are like so watch these videos, go to YouTube for some live ones and let the music do the talking. Me? I'm already sold on them.

Local Music Showcase At The Flytrap Music Hall

Friday night while at work I received a call from a former employee and dare I say it, friend, who we will call Thomas (basically because that's his name) because he wanted to let me know that his band Kaizen Pursuit (google it for an explanation) would be playing Saturday night at the Flytrap Music Hall and he wanted me to come see them play. This was to be the 2nd time they had played at a local showcase for newer bands at The Flytrap and he said they would probably play at around 9PM but the club hadn't given them any indication of what the order of bands would be.

Upon receiving the okay from my wife (AKA The Boss) I waited for the appropriate time and then jumped into my truck and made the drive in less than 10 minutes. After paying the $5 cover fee I ventured inside and quickly Thomas came up to me and informed me that I had just missed them. Unfortunately they had been the 1st band of the night. Since I hadn't seen Thomas for a few months I thought at least I could hang out for a little while and talk. Okay the thought that I'd paid the cover charge and hadn't even been able to see them play also crossed my mind.

The next band up (and the first for me to see) was, well I didn't catch their name. They sounded like Creed clones (not a good thing in my book) and nobody in the band had any stage presence whatsoever, least of all the vocalist. The most he could manage other than his double fist grab of the microphone was to a take a few shambling steps to one side as if he was some homeless person meandering around looking for something to eat. Luckily for him this is exactly the kind of gig where you can learn how to present yourself to a live audience. I will add that the drummer was very good.

The 3rd band was called Sleepwalking Home and basically they are a female fronted screamo rock band with a commercial sound to them. Again, not my kind of music but at least they had some energy and their vocalist definitely had stage presence. It's not perfected yet but she does have it. I can see how females would gravitate to this band simply because it has a female singer and that might help them in their drive to become bigger but that's not all that they've got. If you like this kind of music then give them a chance based upon the music first.

At this point I was all set to go but for some reason I decided to stay and check out the next band, if only for a song or two. Instead I ended up staying for their entire set. They were a cross between Cypress Hill and Sublime (they sounded like they could have come from Long Beach) as they had 3 rappers (2 who appeared to be Mexican American and 1 who looked like he was a white rasta) and a guitarist who looked like Mick Jones from The Clash. I believe their name was The Informers but since The Flytrap didn't bother to put anything up on their website I can't say for sure. Their set was a bit ragged in part because it seemed like in some songs they had left it open so that they could freeform rap and kind of tag in when they wanted to and then the song would come to a crashing halt. There were plenty of bright spots for me though and I think of the 3 bands they were the most promising because they are so different from the majority of commercial crud out there whether it is local or national. Give them a year or less to work on their song structures and smooth out the rough spots and then watch out. Now if only I could find some info about them on the web, so far I haven't been able to find anything.

There was to be at least 1 more band but I had to bow out since I have to get up early in the morning to teach my Sunday School class. That's right, I said it. Look, as I get up onto my soapbox I'll let you know that I don't drink, smoke, do drugs, mess around or try to force my views and beliefs on others but sometimes I do like to hear live music so cut me some slack. What someone wants to do is their business as long as they aren't hurting somebody else. Don't judge me on your past experiences and I won't judge you on mine. With that said it's now time to get to sleep so that I can get up and teach the aforementioned class. Tomorrow I'll come back and read over this to edit all of my mistakes so until then cut me some slack, I'm tired. Below is a video from Kaizen Pursuits first visit to The Flytrap, maybe next time I'll even be able to see them play.

Alejandro Escovedo & The Sensitive Boys Live in Tulsa

Tonight at work I received the very outstanding news that Alejandro Escovedo will be coming to the Cain's Ballroom here in Tulsa on August 30th. Al's music means a lot to me and I have a great deal of respect for him as an artist because he puts out very real and meaningful music in a world that is populated by trend jumping wannabe stars. Don't get me wrong, if huge success were to come his way I don't think he'd turn his nose up at it but I'd like to think that he would make it on his terms, not those dictated to him by some schmuck in a suit who knows nothing of music, only numbers learned in marketing school. No, Al's music is very personal and it seems to be a way that he can express he feelings and frustrations with whatever life throws his way, not matter how good or bad it may be. That's the best term that I can use to describe him and his music, real.



You can make a safe bet that I will be there bright and early for this inexpensive show. The tickets are only $18 in advance and $20 the day of the show and if you want a good return on your money then this is the investment for you. If you don't leave the show with a warm glow all over you then you have to be either emotionally numb or a zombie. Of course, that's just my opinion, what do I know? I've seen Alejandro twice before, the first time was on Mountain Stage in Charleston, WV back in 2001 and the 2nd was in Oklahoma City in 2002 which was not that long after I moved back to Oklahoma. So it's been a long 8 years since I've seen Al play live and I am extremely happy that he is finally coming to Tulsa. You can call it an early birthday present for me and look for me close to the stage, I'll be the one singing along all night long.

What A Day, Driving, Doctors and Shots

Sometimes you just have days that are filled with so many things to do that you can hardly have time to breathe and yesterday was one of them for me. After getting off of work at midnight and not feeling well all day long I was dreaming of going home and relaxing for a little bit before going to bed. I started driving home and received a call from my wife which meant that my plans were about to be dashed against the proverbial rocks as is the norm. She was going to bed but wanted to let me know that she had just one thing for me to do. She had boiled some chicken and all I had to do was shred it. Oh and then mix it in with the sauce that she had made for the Peruvian dish Aji De Pollo. And then cut up the potatoes that she had boiled earlier and had put in the refrigerator. Then I would need to put the pillow cases on the pillows since she had made the bed (long story involving a child, pee and me doing laundry earlier in the day) so of course I said okay as if I had a choice in the matter. But first I got on the computer for a few minutes until she woke up and went from our sons room to ours. Knowing my place I decided to get busy and take care of everything. After finally getting done I was able to go to bed at about 2:30 AM.

I woke up at 8:30 AM to get my sons lunch and backpack ready, woke him up and dressed him and then took him to pre-school at 9:30 AM. Leaving there I raced over to Employee Health at the hospital I work at and had them read my TB tine test from 2days before and I was administered an MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) inoculation in the arm. This was because the federal regulations have changed and I couldn't find my military shot records to prove to them that I had the MMR when I was a child and while I was in the Army. From there I was able to come home and eat some lunch before being blessed with a 25 minute nap.

Upon awakening and taking a shower I then journeyed to my doctors office for a follow up appointment where the news was mostly good. 2 weeks before, my blood pressure was too high but this time it had come down. In the past my blood pressure was at extremely good levels so this was a bit of a shock for me. My labs were okay for the most part other than my cholesterol being a bit high and my testosterone being significantly low. That's right, I said it. Significantly low. This was nothing new to me as I had found out before my son was conceived that I had low testosterone. Lately though I hadn't been feeling well and all of my symptoms pointed to my testosterone level dropping more and more. At this point in my life I thought that if taking testosterone replacement could give me more energy and allow me the chance for a better quality of life I was all for it. I'm just tired of feeling as bad as I have been. It wears on you over time and I have a 3 year old that I want to be able to actively raise instead of watching him grow up from a distance. Plus the wife wants another child so I needed some help, STAT.

The doctor reviewed the risk factors and agreed that I was a good candidate so we decided to go ahead with the therapy. That is after one more thing was checked out. You guessed it, I'm talking about the rectal exam which I was not expecting. The was the 2nd that I've had and one good thing about it is that it shows that I could never be a good homosexual. Just that brief intrusion into my most private of parts by one finger (at least I hope it was only one)from the doctor (at least I hope he was a doctor) was all I was able to bear. It was so incredibly uncomfortable that I could barely stand it. Literally. After that I received my testosterone shot which I will need to take every 3 weeks. The only other option was a cream that has to be applied daily and I know how forgetful I am so I went with the shot.

Afterwards I raced home and changed clothes and then picked up my son from his pre-school, raced back home and changed his clothes and then drove to work where my wife picked him up. Mind you all this with temperatures in the high 90s and my air conditioning not working properly. The next 8 and 1/2 hours at work went pretty fast and now I find myself with a sore arm and a sore, uhhh hip, sitting here at the computer when I should be sleeping but hey, I have to unwind somehow and this is one of the ways I do it. It wasn't a typical day for me but it was an interesting one.

Sublime WIth Rome - Panic

Well it seems like I'm behind the times, always a day late and a dollar short so it's no surprise that I'm just hearing about this. Former Sublime bandmates Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson have gotten together with a new vocalist/singer named Rome Ramirez. It seems that the pair had an itch to perform as Sublime again with a new frontman however after Bradley Nowell's death his family had retained the rights to the bands name since he owned it outright and they were against any new group calling themselves Sublime. After some legal issues everyone came together and are apparently fine with the "new" group calling itself Sublime With Rome which is cool by me. I had already known who Sublime was before they hit it big with their self titled 3rd album "Sublime" which was released posthumously after Nowell died from a drug overdose and I loved their music. For a time the void left musically from Nowell's passing was filled by the group Long Beach Dub AllStars which Wilson and Gaugh were members of but that band broke up in 2002 after releasing 2 fine albums. Both Wilson and Gaugh had gone on to other bands after LBDAS broke up but none had the success of Sublime or LBDAS. The band has been performing for over a year now off and on and have recorded a few new songs with a full length new album due next year. Here's a video of them performing their new song "Panic" on the Jimmy Kimmel show.

The Pursuit Of Happiness

The other night I was poking around YouTube and I started coming across videos from back in the day that I had almost forgotten about. The artists in questions for the most part had a few songs that hit decently big but then dispeared back within the framework of the msuic industry. Initially I thought I'd just throw up all of the videos in one big post but since then I've changed my mind and decided to address each of them individually. First up is The Pursuit Of Happiness or TPOH as they are more commonly known.



The band started in their native Canadian province of Quebec back in 1985. "I'm An Adult Now" became a smash hit in Canada in 1986. It was re-recorded and re-released and in 1989 and it reached #6 on Billboard's Alternative songs list. In 1993 they received some success from their video for the song "Ciggerette Dangles" which was featured on the TV show Beavis and Butthead. They never officially disbanded but didn't record from 1996 to 2005 when they recorded two new tracks for a greatest hits album. I wasn't able to find a webpage for them, just a fan's page but you can go to Moe Berg's myspace here.



The most recent lineup:
Moe Berg (lead vocals, lead guitar)
Dave Gilby (drums)
Kris Abbott (vocals, guitars)[joined 1988]
Brad Barker (bass, vocals) [joined 1990]
Renee Suchy (vocals)[joined 1996]

The alumnae (one alumnus):
Johnny Sinclair (bass, vocals) [left 1990]
Tam Amabile (vocals) [left in 1988]
Tasha Amabile (vocals) [left in 1988]
Leslie Stanwyck (vocals) [joined 1989; left 1990]
Susan Murumets (vocals) [touring in 1990 only]
Rachel Oldfield (vocals) [joined in 1992; left 1995]
Jennifer Foster (vocals) [joined in 1995; left 1996]

Star Wars GPS Voices........An Idea Long Overdue....Thanks TomTom

I just saw a story on Yahoo about this and felt the need to voice my opinion on the subject. In my opinion it's long overdue for Star Wars characters to lend their voices to a GPS device, most of these use very generic and boring voices so why not juice it up? Sure, only geeks like me will get into this (if I had a GPS that is) but man wouldn't it be cool? Sorry if you don't think so but it's my blog and my opinion is the one that counts. I found these two videos for Yoda and Darth Vader but the story doesn't say who the initial third voice will be. Later, Harrison Ford's voice will be added to make it a total of four. So who could the other voice be? It might be safe to say that we can eliminate Chewbacca, R2D2, Ben Kenobi and the Ewoks so my money is on Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker character. Of course they could always at the smooth sounds of Billy Dee Williams. Well guess what? While writing this I followed a link and it turns out that the third voice is C3PO. Hmmmm, I dunno about that one. Perhaps soon I can use the Force on my wife. "We do need a GPS. You want to get me a new laptop. We will......." Uhh, I better stop on that one.

2010 World Cup Final - Spain Wins It All

Well this game certainly wasn't as high scoring or as pretty as the previous day's but it was entertaining nevertheless. The Netherlands's team tried being rough and physical and it showed as this game received the most yellow cards ever in a World Cup final. I did find out that I don't like the Netherlands team, they foul, they whine and they cry when things do not go their way. Robben likes to fall to the ground at the slightest touch thrashing around as if he has been shot at close range. Unfortunately this takes away respect for him because he is a very talented player. It wasn't a beautiful game by a long shot but still at the end of the day the better team won. Now we can look forward to 2014 when the Cup goes to Brazil. All I have to do before then is win the lottery (which is hard to do since I don't play the lottery) and then my family can go on holiday to watch it live. That's not too much to expect right?

World Cup 2010 Germany vs Uruguay and my comments on the lack of good video highlights

I have stopped trying to predict the World Cup okay? After correctly guessing 7 of the final 8 teams I pretty much fell apart after that. Both teams I thought that would make the final (Argentina and Brazil) lost their next game. All 5 teams from South America made it to the final 8 but Uruguay was the only one to make it any deeper and they ended up losing to Germany and placing fourth which for them was completely unexpected. Unfortunately the only video showing highlights that I could find on Youtube was this horrible recording.



The rest of them were made by complete jerks who stated that they had all of the goals but in reality the videos were of everything BUT the game. Later today I'll be watching the final of Spain vs the Netherlands and I think the winner will be.... sorry, but I'm not predicting this game, I'm just going to watch it and enjoy it. Hopefully it will be just as enjoyable as Germany vs Uruguay.

12 Inch SIngles - The Rainmakers - Let My People Go Go

Number 7 in my ongoing series about the 12 inch singles I purchased in 1986 at a Tulsa flea market is by The Rainmakers. According to their website the band originally formed in 1983 as a three piece. After adding a fourth member and recording their first independent release they quickly were signed by Polygram Records and were named as "America's Great Next Band" by Newsday. "Let My People Go Go" was on their first album for Polygram which was simply titled "The Rainmakers."



Band Members:
Bob Walkenhorst
Steve Phillips
Rich Ruth, through 1995
Pat Tomek
Michael Bliss (Replaced Ruth in 1995)

Go to their website here to find out the rest of their story.

Satelite Kingston - El Enimigo new cd

I knew that Argentina's Satelite Kingston was supposed to have a new cd out sometime soon but as I was looking around on Youtube I actually found it. Their website hasn't been updated to reflect it so perhaps it isn't released yet but man these guys (and gal) are so good! I like them so much that the next time the family gets to go to Peru I'm going to try my best to schedule it around an appearance by them. I know they've played in Lima before so if the stars all align themselves perfectly maybe it can happen next year. Only if dreams come true.

Luckily I've been blessed to see some of the best ska/rocksteady, etc bands many years ago such as The Skatalites (I got a show ID from Lloyd Knibb and a picture with Doreen Shaffer), The Slackers, King Django, Hepcat and on and on and I place Satelite Kingston up there in the same group. It strikes me as pretty amazing how quickly I've come to know their music and how much it has affected me. Perdimos is now my ringtone for my cellphone but it may get changed to one of the new songs. Now if only I could find a way to get their merchandise here in Estados Unidos I could really support them. The bad luck is that living in Tulsa you don't get to see much if any ska music but as long as I've got the internet I can stay connected, right?

The Slackers - The Same Everyday (Live)

It's after midnight, the dvd player isn't working and I'm sitting all alone at home. My wife and son went to a friends to give me some time to rest and they ended up falling asleep so here I am. What kind of fun and mischief am I getting into? This is it. Going online and posting videos of bands that I like. Sad isn't it? Anyway, The Slackers are a great band with a tight sound that should be better known but they aren't. That's criminal. I used to play them on The Ska Beat all of the time and they always drew a positive reaction. Check them out at their website here. Go buy their music and see them play live because they are worth the money.

World Cup Quarterfinals

Well, I correctly predicted 2 of the final 4 teams for the World Cup however unfortunately the 2 that I missed were the teams that I thought would be in the final so I guess my predicting skills are not that great. I really thought that Brazil could beat Netherlands and that it wouldn't be very close but I was incredibly wrong. Then I believed that Argentina was too powerful and skilled for Germany and boy did I get that wrong. After Germany scored the 2nd goal it seemed like they gave up and quit and Germany didn't which is why they scored 2 more goals and thoroughly embarrassed Argentina. It was just horrible. I did correctly see Uruguay beating Ghana (thanks to a handball in the goal area) and Spain beating a Paraguay team that has not scored very much. Before anybody goes on about the handball committed by Suarez let me say that 1 game is the appropriate penalty and that if the roles were reversed you had better believe that Ghana (or any other team) would have done the same. The fact is that if Ghana had made the penalty shot it would all be a moot point. But that isn't what happened and Uruguay is moving on. Get over it.

So now I must adjust my predictions and I think that Uruguay will beat the Netherlands and Germany will beat Spain. I hope.

Alejandro Escovedo Releases His Latest Album "Street Songs Of Love"

This past week Alejandro Escovedo released his latest album Street Songs Of Love which is of course incredible so I thought I'd put up a few live videos to showcase the new tunes. Bruce Springsteen and Ian Hunter drop in to lend guest vocals on "Faith" and "Down In The Bowery" respectively. The thing about Al's music is that it lives and breathes and changes over time so you never know what you are going to hear depending on which musicians he brings with him so to prove that I've included 2 versions of the song "Anchor." If you love real music put out by musicians who really care about what they are doing then you absolutely owe it to yourself to check him out whenever he comes anywhere near you. Now I just wish we could get him to come to Tulsa.

Where Have All The Videos Gone?

I’ve been a bit of a dilemma lately, a quandary if you will. For the last few months I have been doing this thing I call the Friday Flashback where I find some music videos from an older group (usually from the 80s) and give some info on them, a little history of the band and their lineup as well as a link to their website and so forth. I know it’s not a terribly original name or idea but it made me happy and it was also a nice way to highlight a band or musician especially if they haven’t been in the public eye a great deal lately.

For the past few weeks I really haven’t done it other than doing it a day late for one week basically because it’s getting hard to find the music videos that I want to showcase. Either the original video is nowhere to be found or it is unable to be embedded on a site. Now this strikes me as being this way for one or two reasons. First, since the record company originally paid for the video they now control the rights to it and are denying people the ability to use the video because it is their property. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is happening a great deal as history has shown us how much the music labels love to control things with an iron fist. Second, the band itself is requesting the host site (Youtube, etc) that said video be unavailable to be embedded.

Either way this seems to me as being an exceptionally stupid way to go about business. Now I can understand a band or label not wanting some rather unsavory characters (excluding themselves) to be able to take the music videos and say, put them onto a dvd and sell them without the copyright owners having a say in it or making any money from it. This is not what I am talking about at all. What I’m referring to is allowing bloggers to embed the videos for other people to see. It's really a rather simple idea.

Look, it’s free publicity and that’s great whether it’s a group still together recording and/or touring or a group that is no longer together. Anytime the group puts out a new record or goes on tour untold numbers of fans can and do blog about their memories of past concerts or songs, what the music meant to them at some point in their lives and what kind of an impact it had on them personally. They write about how they feel about the new music, their thoughts on the most recent concert or how now their kids are getting turned onto the band and are going to the concerts with them. If a band is no longer together it’s a great way for fans to not let the music fade into obscurity or for new fans to find the music.

To try and lock everything down and remain in total control in this case does more harm than good. It denies the fan or potential fan the ability to fully support and show their love for their lifetime favorite bands and music. As long as the fan in question isn’t trying to make a buck off of it then why not allow them a little freedom in praising you? The world is changing rapidly and what was done decades ago is no longer applicable in these new times. We can either adapt and change with the times or stay as we are and slowly disappear as we no longer remain relevant. The choice is ours to make.

So, will I continue the Friday Flashback? Only time will tell. If it continues to be a chore looking for the videos then what will be the point of it all? I cannot continue to spend hours trying to find a video that I can embed no matter how much I like the song, band or artist. The numbers don’t work when you factor in raising a family, working full time and taking care of a house. There are never enough hours to do everything as it is and I don’t need to subtract any of the small time away that I get to work on the blog. We shall see is all I can say.