40 YEARS OF UNDERGROUND MUSIC, VOL 2

I arrived after a relatively event-less day, stopped into the office for a couple hours, basically to shoot the shit with some co-workers. Now, here is the interesting part. I normally would have started right in doing work and probably would have worked until late, grabbed something fast on the way to the hotel, and then worked some more until I went to sleep. But not since I applied for that job on Friday. I actually feel freer that I have in a long time, and instead, stayed at work for a little bit, didn't really do much, and then left.

Instead of grabbing something fast, I decided to grab a bite at Old Chicago, a place I really love to eat at, but usually am to busy to stop. So I drop in, and order up my usual local favorite, Sawtooth Ale. Here's where it gets even weirder. Instead of CO2, they are using nitrogen on tab. Now, outside of Guinness, which I don't really like, and hardly ever drink, I've never had a regular beer using a nitrogen tap. I'm not sure if I like it better or not. It was just an odd way to drink a beer. It had no bubble (actually it did, just very tiny ones) and the head was different (that's what she said!), and it seemed creamier and lighter. Anyway, I thought it was an odd experience. I may have to go back tomorrow night, and try it again, just to make up my mind once and for all. And if that doesn't work, I guess I'll go back Wednesday night as well!

Pere Ubu - Laughing


Pixies - U-Mass


Sonic Youth - Silver Rocket


Built To Spill - The Plan


Placebo - Come Home

40 YEARS OF UNDERGROUND MUSIC, VOL 1

Last Tuesday, I gave a little review of the football games this weekend, and threw out who I thought would win. As I am writing this on Sunday evening, it looks like I called at least the first game correctly. Good old Peyton Manning, nothing but ice water in them veins. Like I said then, he's one of those guys who, even if you're up by 10 with 3 minutes left, you still get a little freaked, because that dude is just that good.

I'm watching the second game right now, and the old guy Favre is looking good, even if he is looking beat. It's 14-7 Minnesota, but that don't mean squat. New Orleans is making a little play right now and I'm pretty sure there's going to be a lot more scoring before this one is done. UPDATE: And just like that, as I'm typing this, the Saints scored and it's now a tie game, 14 -14. So I said that I thought that New Orleans would win in a game with lots of scoring, eking it out in the end. I suppose it's going to be a few hours before I know if I'm write or not.

And speaking of football, the all star game BEFORE the Superbowl? Who thought of that one? If I was a player, first, I would be a little pissed that the game was in Miami, and not in Hawaii...no offense to Miami, but it ain't Hawaii, right? Of course, it's all marketing...of all the all star games, the NFL's is probably the least watched, least interesting game. I honestly don't remember ever watching one, and I don't know anyone else who has say and watched on end to end either. Maybe this will change things, but I doubt it. We all want the Superbowl, and now we're back to waiting two weeks for it, so the fix will help the wait. I know I won't be watching it.

As you all are reading this, I am back on the road traveling again, another week of bad meals, long days, and uncomfortable hotel rooms. It's kind of ironic...by traveling so much, I get rewards miles for the airline and rewards points for the hotels, but the last thing I want to do is use them to travel! My wife, though, at least gets to benifit from all the points and miles...she pretty much travels for free to California to visit her grand daughter! That makes it all worth it.

The Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes


The Stooges - Down On The Street


David Bowie - Space Oddity


Lou Reed - Satellite of Love


New York Dolls - Personality Crisis

LEFT OF THE DIAL, VOL. 9

So, last of my Left of The Dial Posts. I really only scratched the surface of this great collection of tunes from the 80's underground. If you really want a treat, find a copy of it. Who ever put this collection did a nice job with a few exceptions. Some of the songs they picked by the California punk bands were not the ones I would have picked, but that cool. And the one stinker on the whole thing is definitely the Throbbing Gristle song. But over all, this one collection I do not regret having spent my money on.

So, this is a pretty short post...I'm going to leave to you the music. Life here is just 16 hour work days, waiting for Friday, when I get back on that plane that carries me home to my baby.

Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth
The Gun Club - Sex Beat
Camper Van Beethoven - Take The Skinheads Bowling
Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People
Hoodoo Gurus - I Want You Back

LEFT OF THE DIAL, VOL. 8

I'm seriously thinking of changing up the look of this blog. It's not that I don't like it, I just don't love it, ya know? As someone who has done a theme change on a few blogs, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be smooth as silk. But I'm looking to change up some things in the next few weeks, to make things more accessible, and to make things look better. I'll give everyone a heads up.

Unfortunately, I missed the football games yesterday, though I did catch some of the Indy game in Saturday. I guess I still don't have a team I'm pulling for yet. I guess to me, it doesn't make a huge difference. I like Indy, because I like Payton Manning. You can tell he takes the game seriously, and I respect people that have the ability to take a game onto their shoulders and come though. You just know that is Indy is down by less than a touchdown, with a few minutes left, that Manning is gonna make something happen. I like that cold blooded, put the dagger in the heart player who smiles at you, tells you what he's about to do, and then goes out and executes.

On the other hand, Minnesota has an old guy, and it's hard not to root for the old guys. Favre is 40 years old, a few years younger than me. And he's at the top of his game. I like that too. An old guy who shows the young punks how it's done. I like old guys who spit in the eyes of the cocky young punks..."You don't want to mess with me punk, trust me. I've forgotten more crap than you ever learned!" kind of guy.

But then again, I like the Jet's, and the history there...the old Namath Jet's were a little before my time, but I love the fact that they went back to the old logo and the old uniforms. But overall, I can't say I'm rooting for them.

And New Orleans, as much as I think this would be great for the city, I just can't get real excited about them. I haven't seem them play too much, but I like Drew Brees...he makes things look easy, kind of like Peyton Manning. I can tell you one thing...the game next week between New Orleans and Minnesota is going to be a barn burner. Last man standing kind of thing.

I'm going out on a limb here, but here is how I think things will play out. First, I think that New Orleans is going to beat the old guy in a game for the ages. Some obscene score like 42-35. Lots of points, and I think the old guy throws one too many interceptions at the wrong time, trying to make things happen. You can't do that against New Orleans and expect to win. While I would like to see the Jets win, I think they are a year away, and I think Peyton Manning tears em apart.

That would leave an Indy-New Orleans Superbowl. I just can't see anyone beating Indy. Now, let me hedge my bet here a second...while I don't think Indy will loose to the Jets, I do think if they do, the Jets will win the Superbowl. Just my two cents, and next Monday, we'll see how I did.

Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Christine
Jane's Addiction - Jane Says
Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

LEFT OF THE DIAL, VOL. 7

Happy Monday (if there is such a thing!) to you all. After a quick flight, I got all checked in last night. Of course, not before I made a slight detour to hit the raised floor to work on some equipment. I made pretty quick work of it all, and then headed to my hotel. Usually, I would be watching something like Cartoon Network, but instead, I did something I haven't done in years. I watched the Australian Open.

Growing up, I used to watch tennis all the time. It seems like yesterday watching all those great matches between McEnroe and Borg. That was some of the best tennis ever. I remember I was a HUGE McEnroe fan...the rebel in me like that fact he did what he wanted, damn the consequences. My sisters, of course, were Bjorn Borg fans. We would sit around and argue who was the better player, screaming at the little TV set we had. It was good times.

But tonight I watched a match between a couple Russian women, Maria Sharapove and Maria Kirilenko. What a fantastic match. But here's the thing...women tennis players are SO much better looking than they were in the 80's. I mean, Chris Everett was considered cute, but I never thought so. Tracey Austin? Face for radio. Martina Navrilatova? Seriously, great player, but no beauty queen. So today's women's game is great fun to watch, and great fun to look at. Don't take that the wrong way...I respect the daylights out of these athletes. Tennis players are some serious athletes. I know I've pretty much been able to excel at any sport I've ever tried...pool, table tennis, glof, bowling, football, basketball...hell, I was even a pretty decent team handball player in high school (we only played in gym class...but man, I seriously love that game!), but tennis is a sport no matter how hard I try, I just could never make it work. Ever. So hats off to these women...the are not just beauties, they are some world class athletes!

The Feelies - Fa Cé-La
They Might Be Giants - Ana Ng
The Chameleons UK - Swamp Thing
Rain Parade - I Look Around
The Church - Under the Milky Way

LEFT OF THE DIAL, VOL. 6

Jeez, the world seems a little upside down right now. When you hear of a 7.0 earthquake, you expect that it happened somewhere in Asia, or California. But on an island near Cuba? And a 7.0 at that, with a couple after shocks of 5.5 and 5.0. That's pretty powerful stuff. Here's hoping that the damage is minimal, and the lost of life lower that they are reporting on the tube.

Then I read where Google is shocked...shocked I say...to find out that the Chinese government breached the accounts of political dissidents. Wow...the Chinese not holding to their word. Imagine that. And Google's answer is to stop censoring search results. I'm sorry, but it's pretty reprehensible that they would have practiced censorship at the request of a repressive government. I guess money is money. Still, I'm of the believe that information, like thought and speech, should be free. Nothing irritates me more than a government that censors it's people, press and dictating that those that want to business with them censor themselves as well. OK, enough politics. But on the brightside, I guess my blog is now unavailable to 1/4 of the worlds population. And yes, I have had visitors from China.

So, last day this week for the Left of The Dial posts for this week. I'll be back with a few more next week, but in the meantime, I have some stuff set up that I think you'll all love, so come on back tomorrow!

Sisters Of Mercy - Alice
Sugarcubes - Birthday
Faith No More - We Care a Lot
Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot
Gang of Four - To Hell With Poverty

LEFT OF THE DIAL, VOL. 5

How can it be Monday, and I'm already tired, exhausted, and ready for a couple drinks? I think it's something to do with winter...I'm looking out my office window, and it's been snowing pretty steady the whole day. Which means I need to do some shoveling some snow, which means I need to get my snow blower up and running. On top of that, I just hate the fact that it's dark until 8 in the morning, and then it's dark again by 5:30. Compare that to the summer, when it's light by 6 am, and then stays light enough to golf until almost 10!

On another note, I guess Mark McGuire finally admitted he did steroids when he played baseball. First of all, I hate to tell the cheating scumbag this, but no one believed him when he said he didn't. I've been around enough juiceheads enough to know when someone's juicing. Him, Sammy Sosa, Bonds...the list goes on and on. All scum bags, all cheaters, and all of them deserve to have their stats ripped from the record books, and none of them should be allowed anywhere near the hall of fame, nor should they be allowed anywhere near the game of baseball...a lifetime ban, on the order of what they did to Pete Rose. Just saying.

So today, I continue on my series of Left of The Dial posts. I've also got some other goodies lined up for the rest of the month. No idea how many people book mark this page, but take my word for it, your going to stay around and see what's coming!

Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
Meat Puppets - Lake of Fire
Prefab Sprout - When Love Breaks Down
The Cramps - Goo Goo Muck
XTC - Senses Working Overtime

LEFT OF THE DIAL, VOL. 4

Ever have the prospect of something happening, something really really good, and you just hold your breath in anticipation? Almost scared to think about it, because it's so good, you don't want to jinx things? Well, my friends, that's exactly what's happening to me. And if it driving me nuts, it absolutely killing my wife!

It's no secret that I'm not exactly happy with my current position. I mean, it's a job, and I am very very good at it, but I would love to move on. Well, last week, not one, but two, and possibly a third, opportunity presented itself to me, and all three is a step up. One is actually more of a huge leap than a step. The job I really am waiting for would move me out to San Francisco, and give me a monthly living allowance, and a car allowance. And since my wife is from California, and she has a new grand daughter out there, she is very anxious at the prospect of this deal happening. I've had one interview already, and as basically told I was a perfect fit. The second position is one with an old peer of mine and that's really a formality, just the details need to be worked out. One of those details...going out to San Fran with a monthly living allowance.

Then on Friday, out of the blue, I received another honor. My company has several business units, seven to be exact. I was told that I'm now one of seven IT Architect profession leads. So, lots of things in the works!

For the next three days, I'll be doing more Left of the Dial posts...lots of great stuff coming up, so be sure to come back!

The Raincoats - Fairytale in the Supermarket
The Smithereens - Behind The Wall Of Sleep
Minutemen- Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing
The Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

FIVE FOR FRIDAY!

I am on my way home as you all read this. This has been an exhausting week, for sure. The biggest surprise is that even though I have been doing 16 - 18 hour days all this week, I've still managed to keep the music coming! :-)

I'm one my way...my my my way...home sweet home!

David Bowie w/Queen - Under Pressure
The Police - Message In A Bottle
Squeeze - Cool For Cats
Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back In Town
Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United

Left Of The Dial, Vol. 3

If yesterday was horrible, today was a lot better, albeit a lot busier. My first visit to the raised floor of the year, and things were kind of a mess. I made some mistakes last year, and today they kind of caught up with my. With everything I had going on, I somehow requested the wrong servers to be racked in the wrong spot. Crazy. Plus, I had forgotten some pretty important requests I should have gotten done before I left for Christmas break. Such is life. It just means that I had to work extra long last night to get caught up. But now that I am, I'm like that little beaver there...just chillin with a drink, listening to some tunes, and hanging out in my glorious hotel room. This is the life.

Last day of the Left Of The Dial Posts for now. I have a lot more to post, but I got some other stuff I want to get to first. So probably next week, I'll post a few more of these.

The Pretenders - Message Of Love
The Smiths - This Charming Man
Lone Justice - Ways to Be Wicked
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Enola Gay
The English Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom

Left Of The Dial, Vol. 2

The picture right there pretty much sums up my day today. Somehow, everyone in the state of Michigan forgot how to drive in snow, and that meant that a drive to the airport that should have take an hour took 3 hours. I probably saw a dozen accidents, most of them enough to cause lane closures. Most of the 3 hours was spent doing 15 - 25 MPH. And the weather wasn't even that bad!

Fortunately, I left my home this morning really early, thinking that the security nightmare would be the biggest of my worries. Turns out that I needed every bit of that 5 hours I gave myself, because I made my flight with 10 minutes to spare. Today was a horrible travel day...maybe the worst I've ever had.

New Order - Temptation
Japan - Ghosts
Magazine - Song from Under the Floorboards
The Go-Betweens - Cattle and Cane
Black Flag - Rise Above

Left Of The Dial, Vol. 1

Today, I'm on my way to Boulder. About the only great thing about me traveling so much last year is that I was able to become Platinum on Delta. Last year, I did about 120K miles (halfway to the moon!), took 36 business trips, and spent way too many nights in bad hotels. But, like I said, I made Platinum last year, and that means that most of the trips I take now I get bumped up into first class. But here's the thing...even though I made all those trip last year, I am still on some kind of watch list...go figure. But what that really means is that if all these new airport security rules are a pain in the ass to most people, they are absolutely BRUTAL on me. Here's an idea...instead of putting a guy named Jim Smith through all this extra bullshit, keep a better eye on guys named Umar Abdulmutallab, whose father actually told the CIA his kid wants to blow up a plane. You know, just sayin'.

Today, I start a new series of posts based on the excellent CD-Set, Left Of The Dial: Tales From The 80's Underground. It's an album that I've had on my iPod for a few years now, and it's one that any true music fan need grab a hold of. LOTS of great music in the set, and many hours of listening pleasure coming your way. So you will NOT want to miss these posts. I'll do some this week, and some next week. I think you'll all enjoy!

The Jam - Going Underground
R.E.M. - Talk About The Passion
The Replacements - I Will Dare
Mission of Burma - That's When I Reach For My Revolver
Dream Syndicate - Tell Me When It's Over

Trippin' The Underground - Post Grunge

In case you don't recognize the lady on the mic to the left there, that would be Diane Lane. I was watching Streets of Fire last night, after finding it out there on the internets. I remember when the movie came out in 1984 (I think I must have been only one of a handful that actually saw it in a theater),and I was absolutely memorized by here. I thought she was maybe the hottest thing in movies in that movie, though watching the movie last night, I realized how young she looks! That, and I think she is actually a lot better looking now, in her 40's, than she was then, at 19. I think the movie was, for the most part pretty forgettable, and really, not very good, but that's looking back 25 years.


I'm still at home chillin' with my wife. We went to see "It's Complicated" on yesterday. It was like two different movies in one...once move was when Alec Baldwin was on screen, and the other was all rest of the movie when he wasn't. And trust me, only one of them was any good. Steve Martin was also a little disappointing as well. But it was great to be out with my wife, even if it was a chick flick.

Candlebox - Far Behind
Bush - Come Down
Collective Soul - December
Live - Selling The Drama
The Vines - Get Free

Trippin' The Underground - Grunge

Well, Merry Christmas everyone out there, where ever you are. I hope the day finds you all healthy, and happy, and in the company of good friends. As for me, I am with my wife, and while we are not with our kids, we are together. Today, we'll probably get up, open some presents, maybe I'll make some breakfast (or not), and maybe later, we'll go see a movie. Going to the theater on Christmas is not something we usually do, but I think we've done it before. But most of all, we will be together.

My first week or so of this blog has been very enjoyable, and I appreciate the people who have stopped by. I'm up to a couple hundred visitors a day, which is much better than my last blog started out. I trying to think of ways I can make this a place to stop by more often...I have a few ideas, so stick around!

Mudhoney - Burn It Clean
Soundgarden - Big Dumb Sex
Nirvana - In Bloom
Mother Love Bone - Cloe Dancer-Crown of Thorns
Screaming Trees - Bed of Roses

Trippin' The Underground - Post Punk

Before I begin, I know I kinda skipped over a very important genre, punk 77. No worries, it will get is play. Yesterday was a day of music that I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan of, and that I don't know a whole lot about. Glam Rock came along when I was like 11 or 12. But if Glam was a little too early for me, post punk was right in my sweet spot. I turned 16 in 1979, right when the northeast Ohio music scene was in full swing. Bands like Devo, Pere Ubu, Rubber City Rockers, Chrissie Hynde, The Waitresses just to name a few were all over the radio (if you happened to listen to the left of the dial!). And those groups led me to other groups, mainly through record stores. Musically, it was a great time to grow up in NE Ohio. Of course, we also had 20% unemployment, and all the rubber factories were moving our of Akron, but still, the music was HOT!

I purposely chose the first and last bands on the list. While Joy Division may not have invented post punk, they certainly were considered pioneers. After the tragic death of Ian Curtis, Joy Division lived on in the form of New Order. And by the time Love Vigilantes came out, post punk had pretty much morphed almost entirely into new wave. Post punk may have been short lived, but it breathed new life into music, and made a nice transition from punk to new wave. To me, when you talk about real alternative, underground music, post punk is at the top of the list. Yeah, it's that good.

I hope everyone has their shopping done...2 more days to Christmas. Me, I still have gifts to wrap and a card to get for me wife. I really need to stop procrastinating!

Joy Division - Transmission
Siouxsie And The Banshees - Hong Kong Garden
Devo - Jocko Homo
The Raincoats - Lola
New Order - Love Vigilantes

Trippin' The Underground - Glam Rock

Merry Freaking Christmas Week! I can't decide if it feels like Christmas or not. Outside, the snow is starting back up a little bit...but not a lot. I see the decorations and all the TV specials, but I just don't have that Christmas spirit, if you know what I mean. Maybe as the week goes on, I'll start getting more into it. It could be that my daughter visited last weekend, and we celebrated it already with her, so it kind of feels done.

What ever. The music is the important thing here anyway. Today, I'm kind of starting a few days of looking a little bit into some of the different genres of music, and I'd like to take it in a chronological order, so I'm starting with some early to mid 70's Glam. For the most part, Glam isn't something that I listen to, with a few exceptions. Old Bowie, obviously, and some T Rex. I guess maybe because it was just a few years before I really started to listen to music seriously. However, there is one song on the list that I remember like it was yesterday.

There summer that Sweet's Little Willy came out, my step father was working at a gas station, and he used to make my sister and I go with him to work, and hang out in there. This was before gas stations became stores and places to eat. Basically, there wasn't anything there to do, so my sister and I sat and listened to the radio playing in the mechanics garage. My sister and I used to sing Little Willy at the top of our lungs, and to this day, I can still sing the whole damn song. Three things I remember about that summer at the gas station...Nutter Butter bars, Hawaiian Punch in a can, and Little Willy.

David Bowie - Starman
Sweet - Little Willy
T-Rex - 20th Century Bowl
Mott The Hoople - All The Young Dudes
Roxy Music - Whirlwind

UNDERGROUND WEEKEND, DAY 2

It's Sunday, and I guess that makes the countdown to Christmas official. My fall has been so hectic that I've yet to wrap the gifts I got for my wife. In fact, I don't even know if I've gotten all the gifts I need. Plus the card. Jeez, I forgot the card. It never ends, I swear. At least we did go and take care of something I consider really important. The local stores around here all have these tress where people can put little ornaments with what they would like as a gift written on them. It's for those that are not as fortunate. Now, this is pretty important for one reason...I used to be one of the people who put their names on a tree like this.

I grew up pretty poor...in fact, we were so poor, that the poor kids in school used to be thankful that they weren't us! My mom was a single mother, who struggled to put food on our table. We used to have to get government cheese in the Reagan years, and most holiday meals were delivered to us in a box by the local churches. Same with our presents. So now, all these years later, I am in a position to give back, and it's important to my wife and I make sure that we remember those not as fortunate. The problem is that this year, in Michigan, the need is so huge. We bought more than ever this year...I just hope that for a couple dozen kids, it makes a difference, and someday, they grow up to be able to do the same for someone else.

I'm off to enjoy my last day of vacation. Not that it's been that much of a vacation. I've answered email everyday this past week, and done other work. The only difference is that I'm not spending 10 hours a day on pointless conference calls. I get that pleasure Monday morning. But for now, more naps, movies, and shoveling the sidewalk.

Edit* - I fixed the link to How Soon Is Now. Apologies!

The Replacements - Favorite Thing
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Head On
Ultravox - Vienna
The Smiths - How Soon Is Now
Dinosaur Jr. - Freak Scene

UNDERGROUND WEEKEND, DAY 1

This weekend just seems to be the perfect time to sit back, and chill a little bit with some 80's underground music. I started the day by shoveling the driveway and sidewalk for the first time this winter (listening to my favorite playlist, of course!), and then went and worked out afterward. With Christmas less than a week away, I'm hoping that my work starts to settle as well, and this coming week is calm and peaceful. So the mellowness is kind of creeping into my bones (the vacation I took this past week didn't hurt either.), and this seems to be just to music to chill to this weekend.

Echo And The Bunnymen - People Are Strange
XTC - Senses Working Overtime
The Psychedelic Furs - Heartbreak Beat
Pixies - Here Comes Your Man
Minuemen - Corona