Kill Da Wabbit

|September 24, 2009 | Photos By J.Yuenger

Why yes, it IS a refrigerator with a painting on it of a rhinoceros perforating a rabbit with a machine gun. This is a picture I took at a swap meet in Texas in 2001.

Annie Butcher

|September 24, 2009 | Found Images

Here’s a photo I found the other day. It’s marked on the back, ” Cuneo Photo Studio – Euterpe & Dryades “, and the name ” Annie Butcher ” is written in pencil. I guess this is her confirmation picture, or something like that.

The corner of Euterpe and Dryades ( now Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. ) streets is in the Central City shopping district in New Orleans, a formerly well-traveled and prosperous area that today is mostly abandoned. It’s really bizarre there, blasted, empty, and fucked up ( with a few notable exceptions, like the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center and Café Reconcile ).

The Imports * 1980

|September 21, 2009 | Found Sounds

The Imports were the first punk-type band I saw live, on, according to Joe Strell’s all-inclusive and entertaining Imports chronology, May 24th, 1980. The sky was dark and strange because it was full of ash from the Mount Saint Helens eruption a couple of days earlier, and they played, all thrift-store suits and spiky haircuts, on the back of a truck in an empty lot. There’s a Starbucks there now, at the corner of 53rd and Harper Ave.

These guys went to my high school. Their drummer was the first person to play a punk rock record for me. This is the first self-recorded, self-pressed record I ever owned. I guess if I was hearing it for the very first time today, it would sound to me like some sort of tweaky, post-punk surf rock. Or something. I really don’t know, because this song has been kicking around in my head for more than half my life now.

The Imports : ” Side One “

The Imports : ” Side One ”

Vintage Travel Decal * New Orleans

|September 16, 2009 | Found Images

Captain Beefheart’s 10 Commandments For Guitarists

|September 16, 2009 | Philosophy

1. LISTEN TO THE BIRDS : That’s where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren’t going anywhere.
2. YOUR GUITAR IS NOT REALLY A GUITAR : Your guitar is a divining rod. Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you’re good, you’ll land a big one.
3. PRACTICE IN FRONT OF A BUSH : Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush doesn’t shake, eat another piece of bread.
4. WALK WITH THE DEVIL : Old delta blues players referred to amplifiers as
the “devil box.” And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you’re bringing over from the other side. Electricity attracts demons and devils. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper, a mandolin attracts Wendy, but an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.
5. IF YOU’RE GUILTY OF THINKING, YOU’RE OUT : If your brain is part of the
process, you’re missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing.
6. NEVER POINT YOUR GUITAR AT ANYONE : Your instrument has more power than lightning. Just hit a big chord, then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.
7. ALWAYS CARRY YOUR CHURCH KEY : You must carry your key and use it when called upon. That’s your part of the bargain. Like One String Sam. He was a Detroit street musician in the fifties who played a homemade instrument. His song “I Need A Hundred Dollars” is warm pie. Another church key holder is Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf’s guitar player. He just stands there like the Statue of Liberty making you want to look up her dress to see how he’s doing
it.
8. DON’T WIPE THE SWEAT OFF YOUR INSTRUMENT : You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.
9. KEEP YOUR GUITAR IN A DARK PLACE : When you’re not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don’t play your guitar for more than a day, be sure to put a saucer of water in with it.
10. YOU GOTTA HAVE A HOOD FOR YOUR ENGINE : Wear a hat when you play and keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house the hot air can’t escape. Even a lima bean has to have a wet paper towel around it to make it grow.

Tube Diagram

|September 9, 2009 | Found Images

From the 1964 edition of The Radio Amateur’s Handbook.

White Zombie * 1993

|September 8, 2009 | Photos Of J.Yuenger, White Zombie

I like this photo, looks like some rock power’s going on. Here’s me onstage, somewhere, sometime. 1993, most likely, because Sean’s still playing her Epiphone bass, and I’m still playing my Jackson ” devil head ” strat, a handsome and fantastic-sounding guitar that I never should have sold. Also in this shot, the slime-green and black STP shirt I made in a rooming house bathroom in Brooklyn. Additionally, there’s this.

It’s hard to remember much about this period. We didn’t live anywhere and we didn’t stop touring, hitting most towns twice, as an opening act and then again as a headliner, every couple of months. If you took this picture, let me know and I’ll credit you.

Second Line, New Orleans 9.6.09

|September 6, 2009 | Photos By J.Yuenger

And so today I went to the parade, and I smiled ear-to-ear, and I realized that I’d nearly forgotten why I wanted to live here in the first place.

Clicking on this photo will take you to a set of pictures I took.

Kids * 1941

|September 5, 2009 | Found Images

Mulatu Astatke / The Heliocentrics : ” Masenqo “

|September 5, 2009 | Found Sounds

How cosmic is this? Mulatu Astatke is a 66-year old Ethiopian bandleader and arranger ( read about him here and here ) who collaborates on this track with the young London group Heliocentrics. Classy jazz piano leads into fire engine-bells ( what is that? A Theremin? ) which blends into crashing Chinese new year cymbals .. I could go on and on. The trashy fuzz guitar break at 3:35 gets me going every time.

Mulatu Astatke / The Heliocentrics : ” Masenqo “

Mulatu Astatke / The Heliocentrics : ” Masenqo ”

Fu Manchu * 1997

|September 2, 2009 | Photos Of J.Yuenger

Here’s me, along with Brant Bjork and Bradley Cook tracking Fu Manchu’s ” The Action Is Go “ album at Grandmaster Recorders in Los Angeles, 1997.

Photo by Tony Tornay

Window Decal * 1950s

|September 2, 2009 | Found Images

October 1970

|September 2, 2009 | Found Images

A photo I found.