j's indie/rock mayhem - 31st october 2007

[ah, a night that comes but once per six years, unless a leap year interferes, then every eleven! j's indie/rock mayhem on halloween! so, rather than doing the typical one hour halloween celebration, we (mostly) forwent the new rock this week and went with strictly all hallow's fare.

congratulations to eric who correctly identified macbeth as the shakespeare play in which the ghost of banquo appears as a character. he won this week's $15 gift certificate to BB's new and used CDs and DVDs over in quaker village shopping center. we give away a gift certificate every week around 6:30, at the beginning of the third set, so tune in for your chance to answer and win.

now, let's get the spooktacular rolling. onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 31st October 2007 Show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Wade Denning and Kay Lande - "Halloween" [returning from last year's show (and originally courtesy of the wonderful scar stuff blog) is this song from the halloween: games, songs and stories LP. this was a staple of my elementary school music class (along with saint-saens) and it was a treat to find it saved for posterity in digital form.]
RJD2 - "The Horror" [from his delightful debut album deadringer and appropriate for so many reasons. mainly because it's halloween and next because RJD2 will be playing at guilford college in the alumni gym this saturday night, november 3rd at 9pm. tickets are $5 and go on sale at 7pm that night. doors are at 8pm and this is a fund raiser for a homeless shelter here in greensboro. so many reasons to come out and see a remarkable DJ do his thing.]
Slayer - "Raining Blood" [from reign in blood. could it be halloween without slayer? no. by the way, i was really enjoying this first set a lot. i put a lot of work into planning this week's show; way more than normal. i was thrilled with the way the segues rolled in this segment especially. i'm a geek.]
the Flaming Lips - "Halloween on the Barbary Coast" [from hit to death in the future head. this is easily one of my least favorite flaming lips records, but this song and a few others make it worth keeping around. this album marked the beginning of the period of their work that i most love though, starting with the album that would follow this, transmissions from the satellite heart, and running up through the soft bulletin.]
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George S. Irving - "Room for One More" [again, returning from last year (and again, courtesy of scar stuff, these are recordings done of george irving reading stories from the childhood-defining scary stories to tell in the dark by alvin schwartz. i had a deep fascination with southern folklore and ghost stories when i was younger and still do to some extent. schwartz's collections of american folklore horror stories was unrivaled in my book. and god, those illustrations by stephen gammell. the dead woman with those hollow eyes...brr. don't look. don't say i didn't warn you.]
Jurassic 5 - "Remember His Name" [from power in numbers. a clever story-song that personifies death as part of the 5's universe. i always enjoyed this song a lot. the 'twist' ending is obvious, but still good.]
Becky Miller - "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" [a public domain reading of the classic emily dickinson poem. thanks to chris who pointed me to the gutenberg site which has tons of public domain audio books. really great for audio versions of classic poetry and literature. i really enjoyed getting to tie this in, thematically, with the irving story and the jurassic 5 song.]
Bauhaus - "Dark Entries" [the lead track from in a flat field. honestly "bella lugosi is dead" would probably have been a better choice, but bauhaus is bauhaus. still, after hearing about them being goth-forerunners for years, i was shocked by how blatantly post-punk in a flat field sounds - just noisy, abrasive and dark. a great, great album.]
the Graves of Fairmount - "The Ferris Wheel Will Destroy Us All" [from the calendars & casualties EP which i reviewed earlier this week. while really only the 'graves' part of their name ties this in with halloween, the title of this song did invite me to picture an anthropomorphic ferris wheel killing people in some bad horror film. death ferris: the ferris wheel that eats people. and then the sequel where the ferris wheel has to fight off an alien foe, but only with the help of the people it had eaten prior. i'd call it: save ferris.]
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Robert Oates, Philip Brack, Godfrey James and Martin Shaw - "Hamlet: Act I, Scene I" [from the original soundtrack recording of the hallmark hall of fame performance of hamlet. it stars richard chamberlain as hamlet, but this scene contains the characters of francisco, bernardo, marcellus and horatio, respective to the actor's names, viewing and flipping out over the appearance of the ghost of hamlet's father. spooky.]
the Gun Club - "Ghost on the Highway" [from fire of love. i tried to thematically link the stories, poems and literary bits with the songs that i was playing. obviously the theme of this part is ghosts. this has been another addition of 'typing obvious things.']
Joy Division - "Dead Souls" (live) [from the second disc of the new unknown pleasures: collector's edition. it, closer and the posthumous EP still have been re-mastered, added to and re-issued this week, largely in conjunction with the impending release of the ian curtis biopic, control. in addition to remastering the sound, each of these re-issues contains a second disc of live material from around the time of the album's release. unknown pleasure's live show comes from a july 1979 performance at the factory in manchester. it was mostly (but not entirely) released in the heart and soul box set, so now it's available outside of that. the remastering, by the way, sounds amazing.]
George S. Irving - "The Big Toe" [i've heard variations on this story over the years, but it never gets old. i just love irving's ghost wailing for his lost toe. again from the caedmon records' scary stories to tell in the dark.]
Squirrel Nut Zippers - "Hell" [from hot. i was dancing around the studio during this - if you go awhile without hearing the zippers, you forget what a great band they were for just kicking up your heels and dancing. this song especially.]
the Darkness - "One Way Ticket" [the title track from their sophomore album, one way ticket to hell...and back. aside from being funny, it ties in with the theme of the afterlife and hell.]
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PJ Harvey - "The Devil" [from her latest, white chalk. don't go into this album expecting anything like harvey's previous work, but it's really quite amazing. very sparse, very cold. i'm still wrapping my head around it, but it's one of the more affecting records i've heard this year.]
the Didjits - "Sweet, Sweet Satan" [from hornet piñata. what would halloween be without the didjits gleefully celebrating sin and power? they're obnoxious and horrendous, but they are just a great, great band.]
the Louvin Brothers - "Satan is Real" [the title track from arguably their most famous album. just look at that album cover. one of them had to be taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation while they were shooting that. best. album. cover. ever. amazing country gospel.]
Woody Allen - "Down South" [from woody allen: stand-up comic - 1964 to 1968. a really hilarious bit about allen putting on a sheet to be a 'ghost' at a costume party in the 'deep south.' of course he ends up with a bunch of klan members and hilarity ensues. his line about exactly how he 'passes' as being southern is priceless. take a listen.]
the Misfits - "Halloween" [by request from oft-commenter, s. from the 1985 compilation legacy of brutality. and, because it's way too enjoyable not to link to, may i present glenn danzig's reading rainbow.]
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George S. Irving - "A New Horse" [another from the scary stories to tell in the dark. this one concerning witches who turn people into horses to ride to...witch parties? the story is a little unclear as to whether she takes him to a party with other witches or just with random people. all the same, good stuff.]
Nina Simone - "I Put a Spell On You" [from the best of nina simone. a remarkable version of the screamin' jay hawkins classic. and it's funny, see? cos like, the witch put a spell on the guy in the previous story. scaffolding, people.]
the Dream Syndicate - "Season of the Witch" (live) [from the wonderful the day before wine and roses, a live concert recorded about a month before the dream syndicate recorded their debut, days of wine and roses. this is a cover of the donovan classic which turns into a screeching, bloody mess by the end. so, so good.]
George S. Irving - "Wait 'Til Martin Comes" [again from scary stories to tell in the dark. this kicks off the animal theme songs. i'm personally of the opinion that 'martin' is kind of like 'godot,' and will never arrive. the guy should've stuck around to see exactly how big the cats would get.]
the Ramones - "Pet Sematary" [from brain drain. i had to struggle with whether to play the original album version or the live version from loco live, but i ended up going with the album one. this was written for the stephen king movie and, admittedly, is a bit amusing for those reasons. i'm with joey though. i don't want to be buried in a pet sematary. mostly because anyplace that can't spell 'cemetery' is not for me.]
Type O Negative - "Wolf Moon (Including Zoanthropic Paranoia)" [from october rust. just wouldn't be halloween without type o negative, either. you can read my review of the album from earlier this week. ah, werewolves.]
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George S. Irving - "The Hearse Song" [the last of the night's pieces from scary stories to tell in the dark. remember, i warned you about the picture. seriously.]
Charles Camille Saint-Saens/Orson Welles/Charlie Brown - "War of the Great Dancing Macabre Pumpkins" [my self-composed mash-up of saint-saens' "danse macabre" and vocal snippets from the radio broadcast of the war of the worlds and a vinyl recording of it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown. i still love hearing how the emotions of the conversation actually somewhat match the music. my favorite being sally's tirade at linus over missing halloween as the music descends into the sad, depressing closing section. good stuff.]

That'll do it for this week. I'll be back with Notes From Underground on Friday and back next week with more reviews. I'll be at the Josh Ritter/Eric Bachmann show at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill on Monday, November 5th, so if you see me, say howdy. Until then, Go Panthers, and take care.