Happy Halloween!

A few creepy and/or Halloweenie videos for today...

Here's Ministry's Everyday Is Halloween, a song for which I do not believe there is an actual video, but this montage of horror flick images is an acceptable substitute. Not recommended to watch around kids.


Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party


The Ramones - Pet Cemetary


Siouxsie and the Banshees - Halloween


Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead


The Cramps - Garbage Man

New Mullet on Monday - R.E.M.

Was that a mullet on former R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry? I think it was. Peter Buck was dangerously close to mulletdom as well.

Stating the obvious here, but the three remaining original members of R.E.M. have continued to play live and make albums since the band's birth in 1980. A live DVD-CD combo, R.E.M. Live, was released on October 16, and a new album is slated for spring of 2008.

Michael Stipe will be a guest on The Music Club on BBC Radio 2 this evening at 11:30 p.m. London time, which according to my calculations, will be 7:30 p.m. E.S.T. BBC Radio does stream -- click here.

Here's R.E.M.'s first television appearance -- Late Night with David Letterman, October 6, 1983.

Translator!

The excellent Retro Music Snob blog recently featured a tune from Translator, and I felt compelled to do a little update.

Translator formed in Los Angeles in the late-seventies and relocated to San Fransisco. The band got it's first record deal after submitting a demo version of Everywhere that I'm Not -- the song for which they would be best known.

The band fell apart after releasing it's last album, Evening of the Harvest, in 1986. There were brief attempts at reuniting in 1993 and 1995, and Translator did play a series of reunion shows at the 2006 South by Southwest Conference.

An interesting tidbit from the All Music Guide: (In the mid-nineties) Beatles fans alerted the world via Internet and fanzines that the Fab Three had re-recorded a version of the Beatles instrumental "Cry For a Shadow" during the Anthology sessions. The tape was later found to be an old Translator B-side.

Singer-guitarist Steve Barton released his third solo album, Flicker of Time, in June of 2007 -- tunes can be sampled at his MySpace page (link below).

As for the rest of the band, the Translator official MySpace page says: All members of the band continue to play music in some form: Dave Scheff immediately joined Winter Hours for a brief spell and is currently the drummer in the house band at the world renowned San Francisco show Teatro Zinzanni, Larry Dekker has provided his powerful melodic bass playing with a variety of bands, Bob Darlington (guitars/vocals) continues to perform his haunting evocative songs.

All four of the band's albums have all been re-released and can be found on Amazon. Translator music can also be found on iTunes.


Translator - Everywhere That I'm Not



Links:
Translator Official MySpace
Steve Barton's Website
Steve Barton on MySpace
Robert Darlington Interview

Lost and Found Video - The Connells

This Raleigh, North Carolina band worked with such noted producers as Don Dixon and Mitch Easter. Outside of the mid-'80s/early '90s college music scene, The Connells were not well known in the United States, but their song '74-'75 was a top-20 hit across Europe in the mid-'90s.

From the 1987 Connells album Boylan Heights, this is Over There.

It may come as a surprise, but The Connells are still together, and play a handful of shows each year, mostly in the south. Original band members Mike Connell (guitars), David Connell (bass), and Doug MacMillan (vocals) are still in the line-up.

Former drummer John Schultz went on to become a filmmaker.

Connells Links:
The Connells Official website
The Connells on MySpace
OneSimpleBand.net - a fan site.

New Mullet on Monday - A Flock of Seagulls

In the case of Mike Score, lead singer, keyboardist, and hair stylist for A Flock of Seagulls, it was party (or something) in the front, and back. No, not the traditional mullet, but definitely worth a mention.

In 2003, Bands Reunited was able to get the original members of the band back together. According to their Wikipedia entry, In September 2004, they reformed again and played a small number of live shows in the United States, but broke up immediately afterward. Otherwise, for years, Mike Score and his band have been touring under the Flock of Seagulls name.

From the 1983 album Listen, this is Wishing.

Links!
A Flock of Seagulls on MySpace
Their All Music Guide Entry

Briefly...

From Billboard:

• U2's The Joshua Tree will be reissued in several different forms, in celebration of it's 20th anniversary.
  
• Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel will be among those performing at the Johannesburg 46664 Concert on World Aids Day this December.

From NME:

• Peter Hook is reforming his side-band Monaco for a performance in Manchester at an Oxjam event.
  
• Peter Gabriel talked about skipping the Genesis reunion.

From Pitchfork:

• News of an expanded Björk tour.
  
• A Dinosaur Jr. update, complete with tour dates.
• The full scoop on Bob Mould's upcoming album, just-released DVD, and tour dates.

From Elsewhere:

• There will be some very lucky guitar students at the University of Salford, according to the Manchester Evening News.
  

Lost and Found Video - The Call

The Call, a band formed in Santa Cruise, California, released ten albums between 1982 and 2000. Their 1985 album, Reconciled, featured guest appearances by Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, and Jim Kerr of Simple Minds, and received a goodly amount of play at my college's radio station.

from Reconciled, this is Everywhere I Go.

The Call trivia, from Wikipedia:

• Peter Gabriel liked the band so much that he asked them to open for him during his 1982 Shock the Monkey tour.
• I Still Believe (also from Reconciled) was recorded by Tim Capello and appears in the 1987 movie The Lost Boys, and appears on the soundtrack.
• In 1989, they released (the album) Let the Day Begin, the title track of which reached #1 on the US Mainstream Rock chart. Red Moon, which included background vocals by U2's Bono, was released in 1990.
• Al Gore used Let The Day Begin as his campaign song in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election and Tom Vilsack used it as his song during his brief 2008 U.S. Presidential Election campaign.
• Vocalist Michael Been has appeared as a sideman in bands fronted by actor Harry Dean Stanton; Stanton having played harmonica on Let The Day Begin track For Love. He played the apostle John in Martin Scorsese's 1988 feature film The Last Temptation of Christ.

Links:
The Call's official Website
The Call's All Music Guide Bio

New Mullet on Monday - Ebn Ozn

Back in the day, watching the video for Ebn Ozn's AEIOU Sometimes Y resulted in a few laughs. Today, there are more laughs (and/or groans) -- the hair, the yellow pants, the loafers, the mullet...and not only do we get to see a mullet, but a wacky, swirly mullet enhanced by multiple, long rat tails. New Mullet on Monday just doesn't get much better than this.

Am I the only person germophobic enough to cringe when she bites the apple?

According to Wikipedia, AEIOU Sometimes Y, was the first American record to ever be completely executed on a computer.

Post Ebn Ozn Report:
Robert "OZN" Rosen, a.k.a. Robert Ozn, went on to form dance music act Dada Nada, and his own label, One Voice Records. More recently, Ozn worked in the movie industry. He is now said to have left the entertainment biz, spending his time between New York City and Rio De Janeiro. Check out his Wikipedia entry to read his interesting biography.

Alas, Ned "EBN" Liben passed away from a heart attack in 1998, at age 44. Liben, who built his first professional recording studio at age 14, had worked with, among others, Jimmy Hendrix, The Talking Heads, The Ramones, & Ravi Shankar prior the Ebn Ozn days. Liben had continued to work in the music industry up to the time of his death.

All info obtained from Wikipedia and the All Music Guide.

Briefly...

From NME:

• Iggy and the Stooges are joining the line-up of the Fashion Rocks event going on this week in London.
  
• Frank Black told The Gothamist that apparent plans for a new Pixies album have been scrapped due to a lack of desire by Kim Deal.
• Sex Pistols fans worldwide are supporting the campaign to push the song God Save the Queen up the UK charts. Today's chart may see the tune in the top 10.
• Deborah Harry announced a tour to support her new solo album. The North American dates will kick off on November 8.
  
• A review a the new Lou Reed/Killers tune Tranquilize.
• The new R.E.M. track, Until the Day is Done, will debut on the CNN documentary Planet in Peril, airing October 23 and 24.
  
• As part of the Love Music Hate Racism campaign going on in the UK, Billy Bragg paid a visit to his old school.

From Billboard:

• Bob Mould has signed with the label Anti- for the release his next album, District Line, coming out on February 5. The story also features the track list for the album.
• New Order's Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert are among the artists contributing to a Nine Inch Nails remix album.
  

From Rolling Stone:

• The R.E.M. Live CD/DVD is set for release this coming Tuesday, but the entire album is now streaming on Rhapsody.

From Spin:

• Elvis Costello will be performing at Hillary Rodham Clinton's birthday party on October 25 (scroll down -- 3rd story).
  

From Pitchfork:

• Find out about upcoming releases from Robyn Hitchcock, along with tour dates.
  

Lost and Found Video - The Saints

The Australian band The Saints formed in 1974, and has been together in various incarnations ever since, with founding vocalist/lyricist Chris Bailey as a consistent presence. The band's current line-up released an album, Imperious Delirium, last year, and are still touring in support of it. they will be playing in Greece this weekend, then will arrive in the U.S. for a string of dates from October 25 through November 4.

According to Wikipedia, Bailey and other original members Ed Kuepper (guitars), and Ivor Hey (drums) got together for a one-off show this past July as part of the Queensland Music Festival.

From 1976, this is I'm Stranded.

Links:
The Saints Official Website
The Saints on MySpace (more up to date)

New Mullet on Monday - Adam Ant

When discussing '80s musicians with mullets, Adam Ant is probably fairly unlikely to leap to mind, but there is this one photo of him looking fairly mullety -- so I might as well take the opportunity to feature him today.

Adam Ant's more recent exploits have included writing his autobiography, Stand and Deliver, and, last month, performing for the first time in nearly a dozen years at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. The show was scheduled to promote the release of the paperback version of the book -- check out adam-ant.net for a review of the show, and for all your other Adam Ant related needs.

From 1985, this is Strip.

And as an added bonus, from just over a week ago, here is an interview of Adam Ant on the UK show This Morning.

On the Talk Shows this Week

• Last Call with Carson Daly - Morrissey (October 12).
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - Modest Mouse (October 10), Tori Amos (October 11), They Might Be Giants (October 12).
  
• Jimmy Kimmel Live - Modest Mouse (October 8).
  

Briefly...

From NME:

• Deborah Harry talked about about her upcoming solo album.
  
• The Buzzcocks will be playing a one-off show in London next month.
  
• The Sex Pistols may be recording some new material, according to John Lydon.
• Morrissey had to cancel two of ten shows scheduled this week at the Hollywood Palladium.
  

From Rolling Stone:

• A gallery of Lynn Goldsmith photos, which includes shots of Iggy Pop, Deborah Harry, and Eurythmics.
  
• A Q&A with Control Director Anton Corbijn.

From Pitchfork:

• It may not be an official Throwing Muses reunion, but Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donnelly will be performing together in Boston tomorrow night.
• An article on Australia and New Zealand's Big Day Out, which will include Bjork and Billy Bragg.

From Spin:

• Details on an upcoming album from Morrissey.
• Information on Duran Duran's upcoming album Red Carpet Massacre, and dates for a nine-show stint on Broadway (2nd story on web page).
  

From elsewhere on the net:

• According to New Order Online, U.S. distributors of the movie Control were hoping to have Joy Division play at the New York premiere.
• R.E.M.'s website has one of a series of previews of their upcoming live DVD.
  
• Bob Mould has done some polling on his blog regarding what fans are willing to pay for his music. See the interesting results and dialogue on his blog.
  

Lost and Found Video - JoBoxers

JoBoxers was formed when Vic Goddard's former backing band was running a second-hand clothing stall in a street market in Bristol, England. According to All Music Guide ...they met American expatriate Dig Wayne, who was running his own stall; he joined them as lead singer, and the band was complete.

The band released two albums, 1983's Like Gangbusters, and 1985's Skin and Bone.

This is the video for Just Got Lucky, which got a lot of play on MTV in '83.

Post JoBoxers activities: Dig Wayne pursued an acting career, enrolling in the Lee Strasburg institute in 1990, then landing the lead role in the West End show Five Guys Named Moe, which had a five-year run. See IMDB for a listing of Dig Wayne's TV and movie appearances. Dig Wayne and The Chisellers released an album called Shack Rouser this year. According to Wikipedia, drummer Sean McLusky joined guitarist Rob Marche in the indie-dance band called If? and bassist Chris Bostock was a member of The Spiritual Cowboys, Dave Stewart's post-Eurythmics project.

Links:
JoBoxers Official Website
JoBoxers on MySpace (Fan Run)

New Mullet on Monday - The Cure

All of the members of The Cure were looking quite mullety in 1982...

From Pornography, this is The Hanging Garden.

For the latest on The Cure, I will defer to the band's website:

Following on from their sell-out Australasian first leg of THE CURE 4TOUR, the band will be performing 22 headlining shows across 15 different European countries in the spring of 2008, once again playing for around 3 hours a night!

The quartet of Robert Smith (voice/guitar), Simon Gallup (bass), Jason Cooper (drums) and Porl Thompson (guitar) are currently in the studio finishing off their latest album which is scheduled for release early Spring 2008. It will be The Cure’s 13th studio release and is expected to be a double CD package.