Vale Lobby (2)

The official word:

"A public service to celebrate the life and career of Lobby Loyde will be held at Lauriston Girls School, 38 Huntingtower Road, Armadale (Melbourne) on Sat (28 April, 2007) commencing at 1pm. A private cremation will follow. In lieu of flowers, donations to Support Act would be appreciated."

Vale Lobby Loyde

The passing of Lobby Loyde should not pass without mention.

For those not aware (and the media mentions have been low-key by comparison to some of his contemporaries), Australian guitar innovator Lobby Loyde died on Saturday night, aged 65. He had been fighting lung cancer.

Lobby was the quintessential outlaw who made his mark as leader of the (ultimately infamous) Coloured Balls, a searing and often innovative guitar band that influenced a long string of bands following in their wake. The obvious (Rose Tattoo, Billy Thorpe) and less so (Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain) owe Lobby a debt. Julian Cope and Steven Malkmus (Pavement) are among Lobby’s fans. The guy also went on to manage and/or produce acts like the Sunnyboys, X, Painters & Dockers and Sardine v.

The last few years have been something of a Lobby revival, with almost all of his prodigious output re-issued in generously re-mastered form by Aztec Music. It runs the whole gamut - from searing boogie-rock to blues excursions and trippy, psychedelic prog. “Ball Power” remains an Australian hard rock landmark. Half a Cow also compiled the entire recorded output of his earliest band, the Purple Hearts, and this week issued a collection chronicling his boundary-pushing rock-jazz outfit, the Wild Cherries.

I was lucky enough to interview Lobby for the I-94 Bar in 2006 in the midst of Aztec’s re-issues program. He was medicated (I later found out) to block out the pain and struggling for breath, but his raw enthusiasm for music cut through. Fuck, we’ve lost some good ones lately.

You thought your job was bad

I've heard of herding cats but tossing off elephants is something entirely different. Still, the bloke appears to enjoy his work.

Now that's a drink

I'm indebted to Dutch maniac Tony Slug of the Niwtiz et al for this insprired find on YouTube. It's a Russian bloke showing how to drink a bottle of vodka in 20 seconds. Don't try this at home:

I've bean thinking

Back in the Land of the Salaried and after a few days I realise the thing I did miss during an extended break from work was freshly-brewed coffee.

Of course these things have a flipside and the annoying thing about coffee shop takeaways is that when you order a long black espresso, they never fill it to the top. If I wanted to leave room to dilute this stuff with milk (and thus lower its potency) I’d have asked.

Podcast Number Five...

...is live here. Leave a comment so I know you care. Ignore the stat counter too. The host seemes to be only counting the times the thing is streamed from their site to your desktop (you can also subscribe via various podcatchers, or download the MP3 to your desktop for your listening pleasure.)

This episode's Special Features: A Stooge of an intro and a special station I.D. from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Plus, you get an exclusive listen to the forthcoming Turbonegro single.

You don't have to be insane but it helps

Going back to wage slavedom tomorrow after an extended break. For some reason, it brought this to mind:

Drunk & Disorderly Episode 4: Liquor & Drugs

There's another one of these podcast thingies live right now. Grab it here and you can stream it from your desktop if you don't have one of those podcatcher things. If you listen to it, feel free to leave a comment. We don't bite (usually.)

Theft Most Foul in the Murder City

Word from the other side of the world is that the Powertrane support to the Stooges in the Motor City went down a storm. One disappointing note, however, when PT's special guest, Deniz Tek, parted ways with a near new Rickenbacker somewhere between Montana and Detroit Metro Airport. Deniz isn't holding his breath, suspecting foul luggage handler play. Thankfully, it's wasn't the Epi Crestwood.

When too much Stooges isn't nearly enough

So I'm sitting here in sunny Sydney, cooling my heels, when I shoulda jumped a plane to the Motor City to see the Stooges, supported by Powertrane Featuring Scott Morgan with special guest Deniz Tek. Then this fine little promo movie pops into my mailbox. What's a poor boy to do but put it here on a blog for public consumption?

Drunk & Disorderly Episode 3: New I-94 Bar Podcast

It's righteous, it's free and what's more it's here.

This is the set list:

Motherfucking Motherfucker - Brian Henry Hooper (Lemon, Lime & Bitter - Bang! Records)
Suck Suck - X (X-Aspirations - MDS)
The Rock 'n' Soul Fever - Dollhouse (The Royal Rendezvous - Off the Hip)
I Love Fish But Fish Hate Me - Electric Eel Shock (Beat Me, Spooky Records)
Burn Out Timeline - The Me-Thinks (Make Mine a Double EP, Indian Casino)
This Time I Know - Sewergrooves (Rock 'n' Roll Receiver, Wild Kingdom Records)
Death Trip USA - Spencer P Jones & The Escape Committee (Fugitive Songs, Spooky Records)
Be My Caveman - The Boobytraps (The Boobytraps, Off the Hip)
I Met You There - Kitty & The Kowalskis (Chinese Democracy, Amp Records)
Gimme an Answer - The Star Spangles (Dirtybomb, Tic Records)
Bacon Martini - The Whiskey Daredevils (The Essential Whiskey Daredevils, Knockout Records)
Hail - The Vegas Kings (Dead Money, Merenoise Records)

Let us know what you think by leaving a comment. Drop us a line if you're looking to buy any of the albums and we'll give you a steer.

X still marks the spot (2)

By the time you read this, those X tix for the Sydney gigs (scroll down) should be available over the bar at the Exceslior Hotel in Surry Hills. Run, don't walk. X-cellent.