Truth In Advertising

|August 31, 2010 | Stuffs

Make This.

|August 21, 2010 | Stuffs

You could, you know.

CRASS : Anarchy And Peace, Litigated

|August 17, 2010 | Stuffs

A long, fascinating, fact-filled interview with members of Crass is at Vice – they cover the history of the group, their unlikely success, their iconic logo ( I have seen the Crass symbol tattooed on more people than any other band logo ), and the birth of the punk DIY aesthetic.

It Turns Out That You CAN Pirate A Vinyl Record

|July 31, 2010 | Stuffs

Shit, how about that. See how to do it here.

A Conversation About New Orleans

|May 30, 2010 | Stuffs

Two men are talking at a flea market.

Old man : ” Hey, well, look at that! Do you know what that is? ”

Younger man : ” It looks like a license plate for a bike. ”

OM : ” Yep, up until the 1980s every bicycle had to have one of these. ”

YM : ” Even little kids? ”

OM : ” Yeah! Seems crazy, doesn’t it? I wonder why they did that. ”

YM : ” Well, you had to buy the tag from the police, and then if you got caught not having one you’d have to pay a fine to the city, right? ”

Both men look thoughtful.

New Orleans Bicycles

Brotherhood

|May 9, 2010 | Stuffs

Bless the electricians — not just because their logo is the best one ever ( ever! ), but because they make all the good stuff possible.

Fighting & Drinking

|April 25, 2010 | Stuffs

An entertaining account of Rome’s Fifth Legion, who were apparently as tipsy as they were bloodthirsty, is at Modern Drunkard.

Tomorrow Is Record Store Day

|April 16, 2010 | Stuffs

Saturday, April 17th, 2010 is Record Store Day, so go to your favorite local independent shop and buy yourself some music. If you’re not sure where that is, check this list. If you’re in New Orleans, run, don’t walk, to this place right here   ( click on photo ) :

Make A Monster Name

|February 2, 2010 | Stuffs

Well, that’s fun. Go here to spell your name in 1974 Topps monster sticker letters.

2010 : Living In The Future

|January 18, 2010 | Stuffs

Go here to read the entire book. ” In 2010 there must be no wasted space. There are so many people in the world that every inch of ground must be used wisely. ”

FUZZ

|January 17, 2010 | Stuffs

Hey, look at that – an original, unstuck Ed ” Big Daddy ” Roth decal from the 1960s.

K&B Cassette

|December 17, 2009 | Stuffs

You Won’t understand why this is great unless you’re from New Orleans.

8-Track Is Best #2

|December 10, 2009 | Stuffs

Here’s Devo’s Duty Now For The Future on 8-track, signed by Mark Mothersbaugh.

8-Track Is Best #1

|December 9, 2009 | Stuffs, White Zombie

I found this Road To Ruin cart at a thrift store while White Zombie was on the road with the Ramones in 1995, and the band graciously signed it for me. There was much eye-rolling, especially by Johnny. Everybody hates 8-tracks.

Richard Hell: “I felt an immediate affinity with the Ramones. I dug them and didn’t have any reservations about them. They were just the way they always were. Lisa Robinson hired me to write about them in Hit Parader – the first article about them that was ever published nationally. All their songs were two minutes long, and I asked them the names of all their songs. They had maybe five or six at the time: ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Down In The Basement’, ‘I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You’, ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Learned, I Don’t Wanna Be Tamed’, and ‘I Don’t Wanna’ something else. And Dee Dee said, ‘We didn’t write a positive song until ‘Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue’.’  They were just perfect, you know?”

In The Studio

|December 6, 2009 | Stuffs

Beth.

Stuffs.

|November 29, 2009 | Stuffs

Faber’s Talking Machine * 1850

|November 13, 2009 | Stuffs

From Bell Telephone Labs’ 1963 book Speech Synthesis – An Experiment In Electronic Speech Production : ” Faber’s talking machine, developed around 1850, could hold a conversation in normal speech. A foot-operated lever pumped the bellows at the top right. Air streaming from the bellows activated a vibrating reed whose buzz was modified by the resonances of the tubes on the operator’s left side and by the lip-like opening directly above the tubes. The keyboard played by the young lady determined which resonant tubes were in use. The mask face-up on the front of the machine was included to complete the illusion. ” Here are some of the groovy people that worked at Bell Labs in the 60s.

Fonts Used In Popular Band Logos

|November 9, 2009 | Stuffs

Click on the photo.

Doogie’s Bounce Machine

|November 7, 2009 | Stuffs

Ballzack and co-conspirator Odoms have released their first iPhone app, and I have played with it, and it’s really fun. You can get it here. Who’s Doogie? Oh boy.

The Vulcan Cylinder Record Company

|October 21, 2009 | Stuffs

This is from Retro Thing.

Unbelievably, the Vulcan Cylinder Record Company still manufactures phonograph cylinders. Their modern process incorporates a molded resin cylinder that is considerably more robust than historical recordings. Each is hand crafted in Sheffield, England and their catalog is available by mail order. They can even make custom cylinders from your recordings, if such a thing tickles your fancy.

Prices start at £13, with hits like The Charleston Fox Trot and Everything is Hotsy Totsy Now priced at £15 each. Incidentally, one of the main reasons cylinders fell by the wayside was that they were challenging to duplicate in large quantities. A standard record can be duplicated using a stamping process, but you’d be lucky to get 100 copies from a master cylinder before the artist had to re-record it.

The photo features Thomas Edison ( circa 1878 ) with an early phonograph that recorded on tin foil. The glass plate negative is part of the Library of Congress collection, and the high resolution scan underscores the simplicity of the era – the base and fittings of the machine are well worn from constant use, and the foil appears to be partially recorded. As for 31-year-old Mr. Edison, the grime under his fingernails reveals that he spent the vast majority of his time squirreled away in his machine shop.