Sparklewood Friendship Society Club

Art Brut in the musical sense has been garnering a lot of attention recently, with Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's success, and the somewhat recent emergence of one R. Stevie Moore (who has been home recording since the late 60's and has an estimated output of somewhere around 400 albums, and who covered a Shaggs song on a tribute album). The Shaggs' legacy was revived in the late 90's due to a certain suicidal rock star's appreciation of their complete and utter lack of talent, as well as their soul-baring, innocent subject matter. You can hear seeds being planted. Vivian Girls? The Clean's "End Of My Dream"? It's all there.


Oh, Elinor Blake. The object of my affection in the year of 2002. French pop music sung by an American girl who once performed in a band called The Shitbirds, AND she worked on Ren and Stimpy. AND her album "Chrominance Decoder" was produced by Bertrand Burgalat. AND she recorded an album with Petra Hayden under the moniker Los Cincos. Damn, I think I'm still in love.


Playing in a punk band is really fuckin' awesome- you get to drink beer, break shit, and hang out with really, generally insane people on the fringe. Just, like, stay away from the drugs. And remember to at least finish high school. It's not that hard.

SUPER BONUS AWESOME MATERIAL UNRELATED TO MUSIC

Ok, this shit is just plain weird. My brother and I used to watch the heck out of this Gumby VHS tape that our Mom or Aunt bought for us at Jamesway or Caldor or one of those junky pre-cursors to Walmart/Target back in the late 80's. I don't really know what to say about this animation, but it's more than slightly creepy, and it fostered a healthy fear of Native American Kachina dolls. Gumby is like taking a jello shot made of pure acid. WTF.

Have a groovy night, friends.