
Take me back. Yeah, take me back. Take me back to where I once beee-longed. (Elvis version of the Fab 4.) Git back juju.
I mean, fuck a duck, man--where's the FUN that was supposed to be at the heart of everything that matters? War sux. Racism sux. Etc. Yeah, that's all pretty obvious, unless you've got yr head up the ass of some right/left-wing/religious ideology of suffering. There's not much worth fighting about, but there's lots of things worth partying about! Nobody's pie in the sky tastes as sweet as simple pleasure, whether it's getting nicely fucked up, or the beauty of a woman, or getting lost in sound. But for awhile now getting lost in sound has got all messed up with "art" and "collecting" and that awful "Western" idea of progress. Ornette wasn't great because he was "progressive"--he was great because he kept the circle movin'--he breathed the tits back into mama. Us white folks got a lot of stupid ideas, and one of them is the notion that we're not alive if we're not on the road to something "new." Of course, our sad truth is that we just keep repeating ourselves in frustration--chasin' our tails around like dogs who don't get to run free--instead of relishing loving dancing ROCKIN' to the cycles of life as it really exists. What's new is old is new is old. Round and round and round we go. You keep spinnin' and you git real giddy--and kinda horny too!
No more theoretical whoozis! No more art for art's sake! Art for fuck's sake! John Lee Hooker--not La Monte Young! FUN! MUSIC! LIFE! Stop pretending like noise ain't music and music ain't noise. John Cage was a closet case who should've been suckin' dick instead of runnin' down jazz. And I'm a rocker who should be eatin' pussy instead of taking up precious space with unlistenable crap from limited editions of 12 copies that I'll never listen to again. Open up, honey, my tongue is tinglin'! Let's fuckin' ROCK! Let's fuckin' ROLLLL!!
--Stenson Domingo Eddy LeRoi Flores,
James Brown Fan Club, Slippy Town,
Republic of California (independence NOW!)
P.S. Tell yr mama to send pictures!
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Krazy Kat creator George Herriman and fans.
RECOMMENDED READING
Ishmael Reed -- Mumbo Jumbo (1972): Here's a book about the REAL struggle between civilizations: the monotheistic control freaks vs. the pantheistic revelers. Jazz and blues as direct methods to (not metaphors for) sexual and spiritual liberation. The anti-virus called Jes Grew was a primary influence on George Clinton's P-Funk thang.
Nick Tosches -- Country (1977): "The biggest music in America"--so big that Nick's book about country music is as much about R&B and R&R as so-called hillbilly. It's all the same? Hmm? Tosches makes a lot of arguments for pleasures of the flesh on the other side of the black/white divide from Ishmael Reed. Dig 'em both and yer diggin' deep, my friends.
Tony Sherman -- Backbeat: Earl Palmer's Story (1999): If you dig R&R, here's a guy you might not know who helped invent the music you love. New Orleans native Palmer played drums on classic sides by Little Richard, Fats Domino, Amos Milburn, Don & Dewey, Ricky Nelson, Larry Williams, Eddie Cochran, Johnny Otis, Ritchie Valens, Herb Alpert, Jan & Dean, and LOTS of others. He helped pioneer drum rhythms that led the way to everything from James Brown's funk to the Ramones' punk. This book is part third-person history and part oral history--very nicely done. It starts with Earl's childhood years on the road as a professional tap dancer, follows his New Orleans breakthroughs in percussive invention, and eventually finds him as a high-profile session player in L.A.
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SLIPPY TOWN TIMES online #2:
Editorial Home Blitz Interview by Tony Rettman
Music I Dig
Movies I Dig
Comix Section Outro
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Gulcher #0 (1975) online reprint
SLIPPY TOWN TIMES online #1
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