So the story goes that while on the road in Chicago, the Wheel of Fortune game show had a contestant drop out at the last minute. The producers found some guy named Raymond Taylor on the street, gave him a suit, and propped him on the stage. I have no idea if this is true or urban legend, but legend is the operative word when describing Raymond Taylor’s exploits on Wheel of Fortune. Raymond was a skinny Chuck Berry clone who could never look anyone in the eye, and was constantly fidgeting around the set. He was also TV gold. He was genuinely witty and cutting in all his remarks and timing, and he was a stunningly adept “Wheel” player. Many people assume, with racist underpinnings, that Raymond was a crack addicted clown. I’m not going to go that far. Television has a way of either making people conform with fear, or bringing out their inner star. I think this was the case of the latter. Raymond ended up winning over 80k in cash and prizes, and actually began to stalk the Wheel of Fortune studios looking for a job. The studio ended up putting a restraining order against him. It’s a bizarre end to a hilarious and peculiar story, but check Raymond out yourself in his best moments on his unreal Wheel of Fortune run.
The Kids in the Hall were a sketch comedy team formed in the 1980s by a group of talented and semi-demented Canadian geniuses. SNL guru, and fellow Canadian Lorne Michaels gave them a show that pushed the limits of comedy to frightening new edges of hilarity. Playing out like an uncensored SNL, the Kids in the Hall tackled drugs, homosexuality, counter-culture ideas, religion, and raving lunacy with breathless confidence, finding humor in very dark places. In many ways, its no surprise they were Doors fans. The Doors were a group who too were unafraid to push boundaries, and they did both musically and socially with their manic psychedelic rock and with the outrageous behavior of lead singer Jim Morrison. So, Kids and the Hall and the Doors? Match made in heaven. Check out the hilarious clip below where the Kids in the Hall teach you exactly how to be a Doors fan, and then watch the clip of “Waiting For the Sun,” preferably at dusk.
Beulah was formed in a mail room in San Fransisco when Miles Kurosky and Bill Swan decided they both liked the same music, well mostly. This is the kind of story yours truly can get behind due to own desire to hatch great ideas when I worked in a mail room. Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo hooked them into Elephant 6 when he heard their first demo, and before you knew it, Beulah was one of E6′s shining stars of indie rock. The thing I love about the Elephant 6 Collective was how they all intermingled with each other and helped out other bands when they recorded and went on tour. The “collective” part of the moniker was no bullshit, as this was a band of boys and girls who all loved the same music, and all dreamed of becoming rock stars. They remind me of the way certain underground comedy teams were forming around this time in the mid 90s like Upright Citizens Brigade and the State. Creative young people in the 90s all saw the value in sharing, working together, and having fun, despite rivalries, which were never too serious. Beulah is that band, constantly swapping members with Of Montreal, Olivia Tremor Control, and the Apples. Musically, Beulah has a gorgeous storytelling quality to their songs. Most of them begin somewhere in the middle, and the music is so energetic and uplifting, that you just go along for the ride, no matter how out of context the lyrical content seems. The only thing I know about “Gene Autry” is that it was released on 9/11/01, bestowing it’s sweet sadness with even more mysticism. “Emma Blowgun’s Last Stand” has some of the greatest lyrics you’ll find in an indie rock song. Lastly, my favorite, “Ballad of the Lonely Agronaut,” I’ve played 1000 times. I always kept swept up in its tale of American exploration, and its ceaselessly catchy structure. The song bursts out the gate with an enthusiastic melody that just hooks you instantly. Also, the line, “gold is coated with gold on the languid hills, where they wait for hours and hours, cool grey ladies from Shirley’s loan us cheer, as they sat for hours and hours,” is so wonderful, and I have no idea what it means, but its been stuck in my head forever. Beulah broke up in 2004 because their last record, Yoko, despite the best reviews of their career, failed to go gold, a huge goal for the band never reached. The recording of that album, which featured the breakup of Miles and his long term girlfriend, and three other band member divorces, was dark and difficult, and took its toll on the group’s psyche. It was a bit of a burnout for one of the most unique and creative bands of the late 90s/early 00′s, but they certainly left a legacy as one of America’s best underground bands with one of the most devoted fan bases.
The worst thing about Dave Chappelle leaving his hit Comedy Central show all those years ago, was that so much stuff has happened in the world, and Chappelle’s voice was sorely missed. I don’t know about you, but I needed to hear Chappelle during the 2008 election. I needed to hear Chappelle during the fiscal crisis, and the hunt for Osama Bin Ladin, and every other major American moment because Chappelle is the best American comedian. He is simply a gifted genius, and the fact that he has limited himself to unannounced random standup appearances, where he insists that no one film him, has left a gaping hole in the comedy world, and it makes videos like the ones I’m presenting below so vital, despite their less than stellar quality. In these clips, Chappelle is performing at the “Comedy Jam,” in California, and only being a few months old, it represents his most current standup. You’ll see a pumped up Chappelle take on Obama, living in Ohio, Osama Bin Ladin, racism, Kramer, and his real top secret reason for leaving the spotlight. It’s all quite hilarious and brilliant, and his timing is still razor sharp. It’s a real treat for all of Chappelle’s biggest fans. Enjoy.
They say elephants never forget, and they also say fuck Yoko Ono. When John Lennon played Madison Square Garden Live in 1972, he played an afternoon show and an evening show. “Elephant’s Memory,” the backup band for John, claimed that the evening show was far superior, but upon releasing this concert in 1986, long after John’s death, Yoko decided to use the inferior afternoon show as the basis for the album and the concert video. Why? Nobody knows what Yoko is thinking. She probably thinks that her performances in the afternoon show were better than her performances in the evening show, which is insane, because nobody could possibly care. The tapes and video of the evening show are locked away forever, or maybe even destroyed, and we might never get to see them thanks to the brilliant Yoko. Yoko did the same thing for the Mind Games video where she took a raw 19 hours of footage, shot by college kids who followed John Lennon around for a day, and condensed it to a precious 4 minutes! In that 19 hours you can supposedly see John Lennon making an appearance at Radio City Music Hall, where the “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band On The Road” was playing. He apparently got a 20 minute standing ovation that he described as one of the greatest moments of his life, and proceeded to sit down on organ and play with the house band. Why this footage is not released is beyond me. I actually rather wish I knew it never existed, then to think Yoko’s got it hidden away somewhere for no one to see. Blah, that’s the end of my rant. Enjoy John’s performance of “Come Together,” a song originally written as a way to get people to vote LSD guru Timothy Leary as governor of California. It’s a little historical tidbit that’s a perfect segue for me to champion my status as finalist in the CBS Best Local NYC Blogger award one last time! Tomorrow is the last day of voting, and you can STILL vote for me, even if you’ve already voted! Once a day counts, so click that link and put me over the top!
For part 77 of my countdown, I got Jeff Bridges performing “The Man in Me” at a Lebowski Fest in Los Angeles. The song of course was featured beautifully in the Coen Brothers ultra cult classic, “The Big Lebowski,” when the Dude is riding that magic rug. Dylan wrote this song for his 1970 LP New Morning. It’s a gorgeous folk rock ballad about love from a man’s perspective, featuring an aching lead vocal and beautiful background vocals. I think it’s one of Bob’s more touching melodies, and I’m glad its popularity is enhanced by its inclusion in the film. Jeff Bridges does a really good job crooning this, and it speaks highly to his character to attend a Lebowski Fest and give his fans something so personal and fun. So, check this video out, and share it with your friends, its really great.
