Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - The Old Bar Fitzroy Melbourne (15/5/18)

I did unfortunately miss the first two songs

50 Years of Beauty In The Streets (May '68 Revisited)

It’s 50 years on from 1968 - a year that saw demonstrations and revolutions around the world, the beginnings of anti-war and civil rights movements in the US and the shocking assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. It also saw the start of the Nixon Administration, a successful orbit of the moon and the dawn of the television age that brought the world into living rooms.

Australian ABC's Radio National has been exploring what it was about 1968 and how it changed the way we think about culture, identity and politics today

May 1968: The strike that changed the world
1968: A fractured America (Info/Download)
How the spirit of May '68 inspired filmmakers like Godard and Truffaut (Info/Download)
Lessons from past resistance movements (Info/Download)
My '68 (Info/Download)
What led to the student protests of 1968? (Info/Download)
The Music of 1968: Part I/2
Ready for revolution - the psychology of protest (Info/Download)
Activism and 1968 (Info/Download)
Activism that’s less aggressive and far more persuasive and persistent (Info/Download)
May 1968 Revisited (Info/Download)
& finally

Beauty Is In The Street (Info/Download)

...and can I just say if you don't have a copy of Beauty Is in the Street: A Visual Record of the May 68 Uprising, edited by Johan Kugelberg and Philippe Vermés then do yourself a favour and beg, borrow, buy or steal a copy today

Some thoughts on how to feel good by Thor Harris

Adrian Sherwood - Live John Curtin Hotel Melbourne (14/3/18)

   

Adrian Sherwood - Live 3RRR Melbourne (13/3/18)

A nice wee appetiser for tonight's gig at The Curtin. A fifteen minute chat followed by a 45 minute set featuring tunes from the forthcoming Lee Perry and Horace Andy albums on On-U Sound amongst others. 
Listen back HERE (starts at 59:00)
Alternatively grab my recording from the live performance NOT from the radio broadcast

Vintage drum kits from the 1920s and 1930s

HERE

It’s Time to End ‘Trending’

Augie March - When I Am Old

Only filmed here at Exile Towers a couple of weeks ago featuring long time resident Uncle Jack

'I had a brother'

A familiar face from 1978

Was just re-watching the Clash film Rude Boy the other day for the first time in maybe 20 years and this familiar face popped into view

Kodwo Eshun: Mark Fisher Memorial Lecture

Kodwo Eshun delivering the inaugural Mark Fisher Memorial Lecture at Goldsmiths, University of London. 19th January 2018

John Perry Barlow R.I.P.

Principles of Adult Behavior

Be  patient. No matter what.

Don’t badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn’t say to him in the same language and tone of voice.

Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.

Expand your sense of the possible.

Don’t trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.

Expect no more of anyone than you can deliver yourself.

Tolerate ambiguity.

Laugh at yourself frequently.

Concern yourself with what is right rather than who is right.

Never forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.

Give up blood sports.

Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Don’t risk it frivolously.

Never lie to anyone for any reason. (Lies of omission are sometimes exempt.)

Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.

Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.

Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.

Praise at least as often as you disparage.

Admit your errors freely and soon.

Become less suspicious of joy.

Understand humility.

Remember that love forgives everything.

Foster dignity.

Live memorably.

Love yourself.

Endure.

(Written in 1977 on the eve of his turning thirty)

Pictured above with Bob Weir

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
Nothing to tell now/ let the words be yours/ I am done with mine.

Aht Uh Mi Hed Mix

Tracklist:
01 Terry Callier - Live With Me
02 Banbarra - Shack Up
03 Tim Buckley - Get On Top
04 Syl Johnson - Is It Because I'm Black (Instrumental)
05 Bernie Worrell - Rentstrike (DJ Smash Remix)
06 Herbie Hancock - Hang Up Your Hangups
07 Jimi Tenor & Tony Allen - Selfish Gene
08 Shuggie Otis - Aht Uh Mi Hed
09 Lady Margo - This Is My Prayer
10 Chairmen Of The Board - Give Me Just A Little More Time
11 Dr John - Right Place, Wrong Time
12 Flora Purim - What You See
13 Cher - Walk On Gilded Splinters
14 Esther Phillips - Home Is Wher The Hatred Is
15 Opals - You Can't Hurt Me No More
16 The Staple Singers - You've Got To Earn It
17 Betty Wright - Clean Up Woman
18 Betty Davis - Your Mama Wants Ya Back
19 Chris Clark - I Want To Go Back There Again
20 The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back
21 Curtis Mayfield - Now You're Gone
22 Hall & Oates - She's Gone
23 The Temptations - Ain't No Sunshine

Love lost & found
It's been a while...

A.B. Original - January 26

'They tell us to 'get over it, forget it and move on!' Move on? Well, Gallipoli was about 100 years ago, so let's fucking move on from that too. But no – that's 'Aussie spirit'.'

Help save Bill Laswell's Orange Music Studio

In an era where music, among other creative endeavours, has been devalued as mere “content,” freely accessed through the new digital medium, the very survival of those who create music and art and culture has been threatened. Bassist, iconic producer, and sonic visionary Bill Laswell becomes the latest legendary talent to fall victim to the vagaries of these crazy times. Beset by health problems while trying to navigate this harsh and uncertain economic landscape, Laswell is struggling to maintain Orange Music, the legendary New Jersey studio that he as helmed for the last 20 years. He is putting the call out to all fans, friends, and fellow artists alike: If you can help, please do so now. No contribution is too small.

As an artist and producer, Bill Laswell really needs no introduction. Though he has operated largely out of view of the pop charts, he has managed to collaborate with the giants in practically every genre of music—from Miles Davis to Mick Jagger to Bob Marley to name but a few. At the peak of his commercial success, he even produced the Grammy-award winning hit “Rock It” for Herbie Hancock in 1983, one of the first songs that helped hip-hop crossover to the mainstream. At this point, he could have moved to L.A. and cashed in, but he chose to stay in New York and later, New Jersey, and keep it real. In doing so, he displayed his very real commitment to the underground.

Orange Music, the studio Bill moved to in 1998 after getting priced out of rapidly-gentrifying Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has a storied history of its own. Supposedly built in the late 60s for Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, it was originally called Vantone Studio. In the 70s, groups like Jethro Tull, Humble Pie, Brooklyn Bridge, and Carole King recorded there. In the 80s, the studio was renamed Grand Slam Studios and hosted such luminaries as Aerosmith and George Benson. When Laswell took over the studio, he brought with him his international cast of colourful characters, producing such artists as Tabla Beat Science, Sly & Robbie, Matisyahu, Bernie Worrell, and the inimitable Lee “Scratch” Perry. As a maverick in his field, he has always supported other independent artists, who, like himself, are striving for something further, deeper, and true. That’s why he allows other artists and independent labels to use the studio at reduced rates. So many stand to lose if Bill cannot hold onto Orange Music.

Bill’s entire career is a powerful statement of art over commerce. Money has never been an issue, but Bill now needs your help.

PayPal account for Bill Laswell:

modbandcamp@gmail.com

More info & Rewards
HERE