The 13th sign

What's an Ophiucus?

Apparently, in addition to being one of the 88 major constellations, it's also the 13th sign of the Zodiac. I had no idea there were 13 Zodiacal signs until I googled the word 'Ophiucus', but there you go. I haven't paid much attention to astrology since I stopped reading Sydney Omarr, which happened around the same time I stopped believing in the Easter Bunny.

And what inspired my curiosity? Why, a single by a (French?) group of the same name, who recorded the remarkable single depicted above sometime in the very early 1970s. The A-side, Canadian Bar, is nothing to write home about, but the B-side is another matter entirely. Cette Chanson Vient d'Autrefois (This Song Comes From the Past, according to iGoogle's translating tool) will please anyone who's ever contemplatively grooved to the quieter moments of Spacemen 3. It's a bit like Transparent Radiation, which of course is a wonderful thing to be a bit like.

Apparently, an Ophiucus album was released on Barclay in 1972. Clearly something I need to acquire.

The Unbearable Darkness of Being a Citizen of the 'Free World'

Been gone for a while. I know you missed me, and I plan to return to post more frequently. In other self-improvement news, I also plan on learning how to turn water into wine and how to weave straw into gold. Handy skills, those.

I imagine that life in the early 20th century is similar in many respects to life in the early years of the Dark Ages or the Reformation. We can perceive what's happening, but forces beyond our control are driving things inexorably in the wrong direction, and there's little if anything we can do to stop it. Climate change, the gutting of constitutional law, torture and war crimes, the death of the labour movement and the transformation of the United States from ostensibly democratic republic into corporate-fascist state, anti-immigrant xenophobia, porno scanners, the criminalisation of dissent...yeah. I'm not a happy camper. Hopefully things will perk up in a few centuries.

That said, here are two worthwhile links: one to donate towards Bradley Manning's defense fund; the other to donate to Wikileaks.

http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/858/1/

https://xipwire.com/give/wl

Fight the power, people. Fight the power.

Meanwhile, I'm happy to report my fantasy baseball team finished third this season, happy to welcome Rich Harden back to the Oakland Athletics (hopefully as a long reliever), and happy to report that Cee-Lo Green's LP, The Killer, was beyond a doubt the best album of 2010. So all is not lost. Yet.

Get Your Lie Straight

If you enjoy late sixties/early seventies soul, R&B, or funk, you absolutely, positively must acquire a copy of this CD. Compiled by my friend Alec Palao for the BGP label, Get Your Lie Straight collects almost two dozen tracks released by Oakland's Galaxy label. I'd been familiar with the sides Little Johnny Taylor cut for Galaxy, but was woefully under-informed about the rest of the label's output.

Turns out Galaxy was run out of a warehouse at 1281 30th St, in the heart of historic West Oakland. Owned by Fantasy Records bigwig Saul Zaentz (I bet he still can't dance!), the label leased records from outside the Bay Area but also released plenty of local stuff, including amazing cuts by Rodger Collins, future Tower of Power vocalist Lenny Williams, and Richmond's Debonaires.

I've been searching for a copy of Collins classic single, Foxy Girls in Oakland, for a while--I'm especially keen on acquiring the French picture sleeve, which features a remarkable snap of the man himself in best JB-style action pose.





The song is as good as you'd expect and an essential part of any good collection of Oaktown sounds, and can now be acquired for a reasonable price as part of this compilation. It's taken me far too long to discover Get Your Lie Straight--the disc was issued in 2004!--but it's going to be a turntable favourite (so to speak) from here on out.

Vito Marcantonio for President

Apologies for the lack of updates, friends. However, after watching Representative Alan Grayson introduce the War is Making You Poor Act (H.R. 5353) on the House floor on May 20, I've been inspired to post this picture of one of the great American political heroes of the 20th century: Representative Vito Marcantonio.

Marcantonio was elected to represent New York's 20th Congressional District in 1934 as a Republican in the Fiorella LaGuardia mould; he moved to the American Labor Party ticket in 1938 and was elected for a further six terms.

Marcantonio was a true progressive who always voted in the best interests of working people (he was a tireless defender of the pro-labour Wagner Act and opponent of the 'pro-slavery' Taft-Hartley Act), whilst also being a vocal supporter of civil rights legislation decades before it was politically feasible. Though it's easy to consider him as a patsy for the Communist Party, Marconantonio fought tooth and nail against blacklisting and HUAC.

We live in a time when very few left-wing politicians are willing to stand on principle. Alan Grayson and Dennis Kucinich are our two current heroes in the House, but whenever I listen to them, I think of Vito Marcantonio. If you've never read his book, I Vote My Conscience, there are plenty of second-hand copies available online for a dollar or two.

Wish me luck

I've been playing fantasy baseball for many, many years now. I've only won my league once (thanks, Rod Beck), but I just attended this year's draft, and this is the fellow I'm hoping will carry me back to glory (not to mention the traditional Yoo-Hoo shower).

This is Andrew McCutchen, 23-year old outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I have been assured by my crack scouting staff that he's going to be a mega-star...starting, perhaps, this season!

Of course, this being my fantasy baseball team, it'll probably all come down to how well my #6 starter pitches.


Yep, that's ol' Methuselah himself, Jamie Moyer, who'll be backing up my regular rotation of Chris Carpenter, Dan Haren, Kyle Lohse, Homer Bailey, and Bud Norris. Don't worry, though...I've got Stephen Strasburg down on the farm and I'm working on signing Pedro Martinez, too.

There's nothing like a new fantasy baseball season, when hope springs eternal and my astute decision to spend too much on McCutchen and Jason Motte is destined to pay huge dividends by season's end. Yah.

Play ball! I'll be back with something film-y or music-y soon enough.

Le Schpountz

Do you remember where you were when you first heard The Beatles or The Sex Pistols? How about when JFK was shot? The moon landing? The day you realized Sarah Palin really could become President? Well, I recently had one of those moments when everything changes. I discovered Fernandel.

Fernandel was a hugely popular French screen comic of the 1930s and '40s, but--perhaps due to the fact that he looked like the result of a midnight tryst between Rondo Hatton and a horse--he remains virtually unknown to Anglophone film fans. In fact, other than a thankless cameo in Michael Todd's bloated Around the World in 80 Days and Paris Holiday, a lame Bob Hope film no-one's ever seen, Fernandel never made an English-language film.

Turner Classic Movies recently aired Le Schpountz, one of five films the actor made with director Marcel Pagnol, and it's a revelation. Fernandel plays Irenee Fabre, a backwoods son of a shopkeeper whose dreams of cinema stardom apparently come to fruition when a film crew needs to borrow a saucepan from the family store. Bored and in need of distraction, the crew sign Irenee to a blatantly phony contract (he gets a bonus for performing in temperatures above 45 Celsius, or if he develops leprosy whilst working on their film)--but their clueless mark takes it absolutely seriously, and is soon wreaking havoc on the back-lots of a Parisian studio.

It's a delightful film, but it wouldn't be anything special without Fernandel, who seems almost as adept at straight drama as at broad comedy. More, please, TCM!

GSH no longer MIA

I just found out there's a new Gil Scott-Heron album coming out on February 22. The wife and I have been fans of his for a long time; we saw Gil perform a couple of times in the early '80s, right before he descended into the Hell of drug addiction. I honestly thought the drugs were going to destroy him but it looks like he's beaten them...perhaps this means there's still hope for Sly Stone.

I challenge anyone to watch these videos and remain unmoved. The man is a genius, and I don't use that word lightly. Join me in two weeks in purchasing his new LP, I'm New Here, on XL Recordings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OET8SVAGELA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbZVdj_d62M

There's a more substantial film post in the works, so keep checking back!

[Photo taken by avantgardener4 and labeled for reuse on Flickr]