Saturday morning cartoon

Yes, my friends, embedded here is the complete classic half-hour cartoon “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”... the one we all grew up on. It originally aired on CBS 43 years ago.

(Reminds me that I should’ve dapped up Bill Meléndez during Hispanic Heritage Month.)

Happy Halloween to all!

Dr. John in New Orleans (10/29/09)

Got a chance to hang with some “Treme” folks last night at House of Blues.

The great Dr. John played a charity gig to benefit the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

’Twas my first time seeing Dr. John. And he can still spank the hell out of those keys, though he moves a bit slow getting to the bench. (Dude has been making records for 50 years!)

He had plenty of guest stars with him: George Porter, Jr. (of the Meters) ... James Andrews (whom I just mentioned earlier this week)... Irma Thomas...

Dr. John rocked such old crowd-pleasers as “Tipitina,” “Goodnight, Irene” and “Let the Good Times Roll.” Speaking of crowd-pleasers, the packed house went bananas as guest vocalist/trumpeter Andrews led the band through “Oo Poo Pah Doo,” a New Orleans R&B classic.

I left early, because at this point in life, for me, nothing tops sleep. Long about 10:30, I was standing there thinking, “Oooh, I’mo fuck that mattress up tonight. I’m gonna sleep gooood.” Wound up missing Irma Thomas, and I’m told she was fantastic.

Maybe the longer I’m in New Orleans, the more stamina I’ll get. Meantime, let me spin a couple of platters on my Vox blog...

Click here to hear Dr. John’s 1972 recording of “Let the Good Times Roll” (a.k.a. “Come On”). Click hear to hear Earl King’s original version from 1960.

My thanks to photographer Dino Perrucci, who allowed me to post one of his shots from the show. Dr. John strapped on a guitar for “Let the Good Times Roll.” (Come to find out guitar was his first instrument.)

A free Fela Kuti download

Are you into Fela Kuti? Or did you never get around to exploring the prodigious recorded output of Nigeria’s king of Afrobeat?

Now comes news that Knitting Factory Records will remaster and reissue Fela’s entire catalog over the next 18 months. Those people are on a mission from God.

I got into Fela back when I was buying most of my music on cassette. Time for the upgrade.

Meanwhile, I can point you to a FREE MP3 off the new “Best of the Black President” deluxe double-CD.

Click here to hear “Zombie” on my Vox blog. It’s a 12½-minute cut from 1977. To download it, follow this link to Giant Step, the marketing website. (If you’re a Mac user, CTRL+click and “Save Link As...”)

Random hotness

I don’t know which I’d rather be... the chick or the dude.

Elvis Mitchell interviews Chris Rock

Been writing for the past few weeks, so I haven’t gone to the movies... or even felt like going to the movies. Which means I haven’t seen “Good Hair,” which opened nationwide last week. But I intend to.

My man Elvis Mitchell interviewed Chris Rock on his radio show, “The Treatment,” last week. I love listening to these cats shoot the shit.

Click here to hear a 3½-minute excerpt on my Vox blog. If you want to stream or download the entire half-hour conversation, follow this link to KCRW.

Random Asianness

I bet you Timothy DeLaGhetto gets more Asian ass than a rickshaw seat. The Filipinas are all over him... and he’s Thai. Play on, bruh!

A free Boo Boo Davis download

Boo Boo Davis, a latter-day Delta blues singer, spent the summer touring Europe with his band.

He took a couple of days in July, went in a Dutch recording studio and cut a new album... hot, raw and live-to-tape.

Click here to hear a funky track called “Silvermine.” To download it, click the song title below.

Europe must be where the blues is really happening, because Boo Boo Davis has gigs booked into next spring, and it’s all about Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Poland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic...

Fuck ’em up, Boo Boo.

“Silvermine” (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store

‘This Is It’

If you see it, please let me know what you think.

UPDATE (10/28/09): Author and filmmaker Nelson George saw the movie today and shared his thoughts on Facebook:

“My friend Tigist went with me and cried on and off for the entire film. I didn’t cry but was quite impressed.

“I saw Michael perform many times over the years and thought his stage craft was at a very high level. His performance of ‘Human Nature,’ ‘Smooth Criminal’ and especially ‘Billie Jean’ were extraordinary.

“That said, he did look frail to me and I’m not convinced he could [do] that show for 50 nights without more bulk and upperbody strength. I was also aware that this was a very selective use of footage. They made a two hour film of 110 hours of footage. By definition much was left out. But that’s speculation.

“What is clear [is] that This Is It [is] a great document of the 20th century’s last great entertainer.”

Toto, we’re not in L.A. anymore.

You know when you really know you’re in a different place? When you turn on a local talk-radio station... and you hear a caller who talks like this.

That’s a “John Osterlind Show” clip from early last week... when the news was all about a backwoods Louisiana justice of the peace who wouldn’t marry interracial couples.

Interesting show, actually. A black woman named Jalinda called and lumped Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson in with the redneck justice of the peace... because “they’re reversing racism on people!”

Click here and listen to Jalinda for a few minutes. She uses one turn of phrase that’s so tasty, I’m gonna steal it and put it in a “Treme” script. Can you guess which phrase I mean?

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘Love Hangover’

Best. Disco. Record. Ever.

A free Preservation Hall Jazz Band download

I’m still in a New Orleans frame of mind, peoples. I delivered today a fresh draft of my first “Treme” script, and now I’m cooling out.

Found another FREE MP3 from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which has been a New Orleans institution for almost 40 years.

This version of “Peanut Vendor,” recorded in 1966, was recently reissued in digital format. This configuration of the PHJB includes the legendary clarinetist George Lewis.

Click here to hear “Peanut Vendor” on my Vox blog. To download it, click the song title down below.

The melodic hook should be somewhat familiar to all... even if the words “Peanut Vendor” don’t ring a bell.

Turns out “Peanut Vendor” (or “The Peanut Vendor,” or “El Manisero”) has quite an interesting history. With lyrics inspired by the chants of Cuban street vendors, this tune was composed in Cuba more than 80 years ago by Moisés Simons.

A 1930 recording of “Peanut Vendor” touched off a “rumba craze” in the United States that lasted into the ’40s.

Louis Armstrong recorded it in 1931, thus introducing “Peanut Vendor” into the New Orleans canon through a side door.

Over the years, many major artists have recorded “Peanut Vendor.” Stan Kenton, Dean Martin, Chet Atkins, Xavier Cugat... and every Cuban star who ever drew breath: Desi Arnaz, Perez Prado, Mongo Santamaria, Candido, Paquito d’Rivera...

I like this jaunty Preservation Hall version a lot.

“Peanut Vendor” (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store

Random genius

(Hat-tip: Bold As Love.)

A free Flying Neutrinos download

One cool thing about working on the upcoming HBO series “Treme” is that I’m familiarizing myself with the breadth and depth of New Orleans music.

Is you hip to a “retro swing” band called the Flying Neutrinos? Lead singer Ingrid Lucia is kinda trippy. She comes from a family of street musicians. Her vocal style owes a debt to Billie Holiday.

I got a FREE MP3 for you.

Click here to hear the band’s take on “St. James Infirmary,” probably my favorite old-time jazz standard. (James Andrews, self-described “Satchmo of the Ghetto,” is guest vocalist and trumpeter.)

To download the track, follow this link to the Flying Neutrinos website, and look under “Live from New Orleans.”

Saturday morning cartoon

Posted without comment

(Hat-tip: Shadow and Act.)

Muzak karma

While shopping last night at the only Whole Foods Market in the city of New Orleans, I had a surprising and quite pleasant experience.

First let me say... I wasn’t at the Whole Foods because I’m ultra bourgie or anything. Heck, I go to the Walmart on Tchoupitoulas as well. But sometimes I wanna get cute with my mustard selection.

Or watch with my own eyes as they put $85 worth of groceries into one paper bag. (Whereas at Walmart, they put $40 worth of groceries into 15 plastic bags.)

Anyhoo... last night I stopped in my tracks, somewhere around the prepared foods aisle, when this song came over the Muzak.

Now you must admit, that is one frickin’ deep cut to be hearing at the grocery store. I was delighted. And it wasn’t no fluke, because earlier in the mix was “Fancy Dancer” by the Commodores... another deep cut.

I’ve been having good Muzak karma lately. Over the weekend at Burbank Airport, the cuts weren’t deep, but they were plenty tasty. “Love Hangover”... “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”... “The Groove Line.” Sounded like something I might’ve mixed.

(Photo above by Walter Parenteau.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwparenteau/ |CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Random silliness

(Thanks, Susie.)

Bokeem Woodbine... rock star?

Y’all know I like it when famous actors be singing and shit, right? I’ve shared with you the musical stylings of Billy Bob Thornton, Robert Downey, Jr., Steven Seagal and others.

Well... I just found out that Bokeem Woodbine fronts a hard-rock band called 13 Purple Dragons.

Below is a clip from a Hollywood gig 10 months ago. And because the song is titled “Don’t Hate,” I shan’t tell you what I think of Mr. Woodbine as a musical talent. (I dug him in “The Big Hit,” though.)

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘Rockit’

Am I the only one who can’t stand this record and never could stand it?

Bill Cosby’s town hall

A free Betty Davis download

The fine folks at Light in the Attic Records have dug up, polished and packaged an album’s worth of unreleased material from the legendary ’70s funk queen Betty Davis.

“Never bootlegged... never heard until now,” says the press release. And if that ain’t enough to curl your toes, guess what? They’re giving away one of those tracks as a FREE MP3.

Click here to hear “Is It Love or Desire” on my Vox blog. To download it, click the song title below.

The album – also titled “Is It Love or Desire” – was recorded in 1976 in Louisiana.

“Is It Love or Desire” (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store

Random Japaneseness

(Hat-tip: Craig Nulan.)

A free Kyp Malone download

Kyp Malone of TV On The Radio has a new album out... under the name Rain Machine. Album’s called “Rain Machine” too.

Most of the tunes are a bit too shoegazey for my taste. But one track – “Give Blood” – is one of the hottest alt-rock jams I’ve heard in a while. I loves that cut!

And it’s available as a FREE MP3 from Seattle’s KEXP.org.

Click here to hear “Give Blood” on my Vox blog. To commence downloading the MP3 right now, hit this link.

Saturday morning cartoon

Celebrity Tweet of the Day!

(An actual Twitter post from earlier today.)

Bootsy Collins: “Balloon Boy was really on it but I swooped in on my mothership then beamed him into the attic”

The new Coati Mundi 12-inch

Let’s wrap up Hispanic Heritage Month with a post about my favorite Nuyorican – Andy Hernandez, a.k.a. Coati Mundi.

He is most fondly remembered as August Darnell’s right-hand man in Kid Creole & the Coconuts... an impish little showboat who spiced up one of the hippest live acts of the 1980s.

Hernandez and Darnell go back further than that; “Sugar-Coated Andy” played vibes in Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band.

Coati Mundi has also cut a few records under his own name... but not in last 20 years or so. Until, in July, he put out a three-song digital 12-inch of new material. (He put it out on vinyl as well.)

Because I’ve always dug Coati Mundi, I will spin one of those new tracks on my Vox blog... even though they don’t bang like his old ones. Click here to hear “Dancing Disco 101.”

For old time’s sake, click here to hear one of his early-’80s joints.

Random Hispanicness

A modern marvel

This is me... 30,000 feet in the air... RIGHT NOW.

Yes, I am on an airplane... and on the Internet... at the same time! Coolest. Shit. Ever!

A free Sophia Ramos download

In these final days of Hispanic Heritage Month, let’s hear from Sophia Ramos, a Bronx-born Puerto Rican singer who’s down with the Black Rock Coalition.

I got a FREE MP3 for you. Click here to listen to “Freedom Is Over” on my Vox blog.

I’m not nuts about this track... but I am interested in hearing more from Sophia Ramos. The 11-minute video embedded below provides a biographical intro.

“Freedom Is Over” is part of a new black-rock compilation put together by blogger Rob Fields (Bold As Love). The album is free to download – all 17 tracks! – from Amazon.com. Just follow this link.

(Oh... and the artwork up above is by Steven Lapcevic.)

Bill Cosby’s rap album?

No, Dr. Cosby doesn’t rap... but he is putting his considerable social capital behind a new album titled “Bill Cosby Presents the Cosnarati: State of Emergency.”

You know what to expect, right? Positive messages... without the filth flarn filth.

The album drops in late November. But Cosby and his group, the Cosnarati, will launch the project next Monday... with a 90-minute live-streamed “town hall meeting” on the Internet.

And the Cosnarati is supposed to perform a few songs.

I will embed Monday’s live-streamed event here on this blog... starting at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, 4 p.m. Pacific. Meanwhile, here’s the teaser:

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘Dr. Beat’

Inevitably, ineffably, I had to get around to mentioning the Miami Sound Machine.

You know... for Hispanic Heritage Month.

In the U.S.A., that group’s English-language breakout cut was the unforgettable (and yet I try) “Conga.” Way back in 1985.

But the previous year, Gloria Estefan and the boys had an international hit called “Dr. Beat.” It was a Top-10 single in Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany.

Yep, “Dr. Beat” paved the way for Ms. Estefan to become the most famous Cuban since Castro.

Random hipness

Jewish soul sister

Last Friday I posted a status update on Facebook and got some unexpected feedback. I wrote: “David Mills has a thing for Debbie Wasserman Schultz.”

In case you don’t know, Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a Democratic congresswoman from Florida. I saw her on MSNBC Friday afternoon. She’s on MSNBC a lot.

Anyway, Eric Easter (of EbonyJet.com) replied: “You too?”

Donnell Alexander responded: “I’ve got the same jones, even knowing about her double mastectomy. Now that’s hot!”

My old friend George Darden commented: “I thought I was the only one. That hair! She is too cool.”

Lisa Langford (a.k.a. Kellybelle) added: “she’s gonna be the first woman president. watch.”

All this black love for a white Jewish politician. What’s the deal with Debbie Wasserman Schultz?

Journalist Amy Alexander put her finger on it: “Have you noticed that she seems kind of like a ‘sista?’ ”

Indeed. I vividly remember when I became aware of Rep. Wasserman Schultz... during last year’s presidential campaign.

The TV was on in the other room, and I heard the voice of a woman I thought to be black. Went to check her out, and I was like, “What?”

Been a fan ever since.

Here she is on a recent edition of “Hardball”:

Ben Ali (1927-2009)

Washington, D.C., is mourning the death last week of Ben Ali, founder of Ben’s Chili Bowl.

Mr. Ali and his family have fed everyone from Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole to Bill Cosby and Barack Obama to Shaq and Serena.

His passing was reported by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, as well as, of course, the Washington Post.

I hardly ever ate there. But during my journalism days in the 1980s, I did cover a news conference that Cosby conducted at the Chili Bowl. He loved that joint. I’m waiting for him to tweet about it.

A free Michelle Amador download

Brooklyn-based pop- jazz vocalist Michelle Amador comes from a musical family. Her father is a Peruvian- born pianist and composer, Augusto Amador. Her uncle Ezequiel is a violinist with the San Francisco Symphony.

She is funkier than that. Click here to hear “Eager of the Years” from Ms. Amador’s new album, “Higher.”

To download it as a FREE MP3, follow this link to Red Bull Music Academy. (Mac users: CTRL+click the download link, then “Save Link As.”)

If you like the sound of that, embedded below is a brief video introduction to Michelle Amador.

(Brooklynites, listen up: On Friday, October 23, Amador will perform a free show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAMcafé.)

Out and about in New Orleans

Last night I was hanging with the Crescent City’s renowned DJ Soul Sister. We went to House of Blues and checked out a new artist named Mayer Hawthorne.

Based on the cute video for his single “Maybe So, Maybe No” (embedded below), I presumed Hawthorne was British.

At the show, with his velvet blazer, silk tie and Buddy Holly glasses (plus the whole nerdy-white-boy-into-soul-music thing), he seemed the perfect English douchebag. Except no British accent.

In reality, Mayer Hawthorne (born Andrew Mayer Cohen) is from Ann Arbor, Michigan... so his Motown love came from the soil. (“Maybe So, Maybe No” is a 40-year-old tune written by Detroiters Tony Hester and Richard “Popcorn” Wylie.)

Hawthorne had a tight, funky four-piece band backing him up. He pleased the folks who came to see him. But his vocal chops... I mean, for a soul singer...

Put it like this: If a black dude tried to get over with that level of singing talent... it’s unimaginable. Simply wouldn’t happen. Dude would be driving the band van.

Saturday morning cartoon

Playlist: Bow down to Sly & the Family Stone!

Forty years ago, around this time, “Hot Fun in the Summertime” was climbing towards No. 2 on the Top 40. Coming off a triumphant performance at Woodstock, Sly & the Family Stone was now one of the hottest acts in rock ’n’ roll.

Their LP “Stand!,” released in the spring of ’69, would soon be certified gold. And in December, Sly would write a new chapter in Funk by dropping a 45 called “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).”

Alas, 1969 was also the year Sly Stone and band moved to Los Angeles, and Sly took his notorious detour into hard drugs and flaky behavior. Sly would continue to make some great music... and it’s the songs I celebrate with this list of covers.

Click the titles below to stream the music on my Vox blog.

1. “Hot Fun in the Summertime” – The Manhattan Transfer (with Chaka Khan)

2. “Family Affair” – Chuck Brown

3. “If You Want Me to Stay” – Jamie Davis
(Mr. Davis used to sing with the Count Basie Orchestra.)

4. “In Time” – Soldier String Quartet
(Led by experimentalist Dave Soldier, this group included jazz violinist Regina Carter.)

5. “Babies Makin’ Babies” – Thornwood
(Never heard of Thornwood, right? They’re a local band in Rochester, N.Y. The badass singer is Gregory “G-Rob” Robinson.)

6. “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” – Maceo & All the King’s Men

7. “Somebody’s Watching You” – Al Jarreau

8. “Everybody Is a Star” – Fishbone
(Guest vocalists: Gwen Stefani, George Clinton and Rick James.)

Before he won the Nobel Peace Prize...

... President Obama received this unique honor:

Is this the worst movie ever made?

I doff my cap to the commenter known as “junebug,” who, in the “Pootie Tang” discussion thread this morning, mentioned a movie called “Ax ’Em.”

I’d never heard of it.

“Ax ’Em” was written, produced and directed in 1992 by Michael Mfume, a son of the ex-congressman and former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume.

The movie wasn’t released until 2002. Skraight to DVD.

Since then, various B-movie aficionados on the Web have discussed “Ax ’Em” in terms of its mind-boggling technical incompetence. (“How do you review a movie so unfit for public viewing that you can’t even figure out any of the characters’ names?”)

One dedicated YouTuber has uploaded the entire film... in eight parts. He calls it “the worst horror movie ever.”

How much of this 10-minute clip can you sit through?

Requiem for a lightweight

If you grew up watching championship fights on TV during the 1970s and ’80s, you witnessed a golden age of Latino boxers.

Roberto Duran (Panamanian)... Carlos Palomino (Mexican)... Wilfred Benitez (Puerto Rican)... Alexis Arguello (Nicaraguan)...

On the Internet, dudes full of testosterone and race pride debate who were the best Latino fighters. I’m not going there.

But for Hispanic Heritage Month, I want to share something I just recently learned about Alexis Arguello, a former champ in the featherweight, junior lightweight and lightweight divisions.

He transitioned into government in his home country. Last November, Arguello was elected mayor of Managua, Nicaragua. He’s the only boxing champion I ever heard of who got elected to political office.

In July of this year, Arguello died of a bullet wound to the chest. Nicaragua’s Sandinista government says the gunshot was self-inflicted.

But Arguello’s son, Alexis Arguello, Jr., believes it was murder: “This was not a suicide. ... My dad had been through three failed marriages, alcoholism, crack, the worst things someone could go through. But he would not do this.”

In memory of Alexis Arguello, here’s a YouTube clip featuring the end of one of his classic bouts... a 1981 brawl versus Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini:

Random hipness

Speaking of Michael Jackson impersonators...

... check out how Harry Connick, Jr., deals with some Australian douchebags. (Hat-tip: Donnell Alexander.)

Speaking of Nigeria...

... here’s a taste of “Nigerian Idol.” (Hat-tip: What Would Thembi Do?)

A free Kokolo download

Kokolo is a New York City band trying to sound like a Nigerian band. And it’s led by a Venezuelan American – Ray Lugo.

I’m fine with all that. Because you know I dig me some Fela Kuti.

Lugo describes Kokolo as a funky gumbo: “Our bass player loves reggae, the saxophonist’s into jazz, the percussionist gets off on salsa, the trombonist on Zappa, the guitarist on hip-hop, the trumpeter on experimenting.”

Click here to hear the Kokolo single “Trouble Come, Trouble Go.” To download it as a FREE MP3, click the title down below.

Ray Lugo is also into Brazilian music... and James Brown. That’s reflected in a new project called Ray Lugo’s L.E.S. Express, which has a brand new single up on iTunes.

I’m spinning the B-side on my Vox blog. Click here to hear “Get On Up”... more of that trendy ’60s soul fetishism foyoazz. (The vocalist on this track? Australian chick.)

“Trouble Come, Trouble Go” (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘Come Into My Arms’

Back in the ’80s, I became aware of a kind of music called “Latin hip- hop,” even though it wasn’t hip-hop.

It was electronic dance music with melodramatic singing... in the style of “I.O.U.” and “Let the Music Play.”

I bought a few of the 12-inches, including two by Judy Torres. Soon, I wasn’t hearing about Latin hip-hop anymore.

Recently I discovered that this music is now called “freestyle” (or “Latin freestyle”) and it still has fans. Artists such as Ms. Torres (the “Queen of Freestyle”) are out there singing their old hits.

The Latinos seem to dig it. So I’m spinning this one for Hispanic Heritage Month.

Playlist: Jewish soul sisters

Back in the 1970s, Jewish chicks were gettin’ soulful. Real soulful. Click the links below and you’ll hear what I’m talking about...

1. “Shakey Ground” – Phoebe Snow

2. “A Love of Your Own” – Melissa Manchester

3. “It Keeps You Runnin’ ” – Carly Simon
(Backing band: The Doobie Brothers.)

4. “Believe in Humanity” – Carole King

5. “Jimmy Mack” – Laura Nyro
(Backing vocals by Labelle.)

UBM’s World of Glamour and Fame

So yesterday I was in a security line at LAX Airport, and I recognized the brother a few places behind me: Lance Crouther, star of the film “Pootie Tang.”

Good thing “Pootie Tang” sucked. Otherwise I might’ve been tempted to yell, “Yo, Pootie! Maaan, that movie was da bomb!” Then I would’ve gotten snatched out of line and missed my flight.

A free Chicano Messengers of Spoken Word download

I do not like spoken word. I really do not like it, heard?

I do not like it on CD. I do not like it on TV.

I do not like it at a show. I do not like it. Feel me, bro?

But perhaps I overstate. I’ve already told y’all that Jayne Cortez is a stone frickin’ genius. And I was proud to blog about Umar Bin Hassan a year ago. I even dapped up South Africa’s Lebo Mashile.

But that “Def Poetry Jam” bullshit... for the most part, I can’t even deal widdit. The language doesn’t aspire to beauty, the politics tend to be simplistic, and the performance style is to literature what end-zone celebrations are to dance.

(So get over yourself, Rhymey McAfrika. And tell your sister I’m not interested in her “rape poem.”)

I’ve got here a new FREE MP3 to buttress my point.

I had never heard of the Chicano Messengers of Spoken Word before. But the name says it all, doesn’t it? Los Last Poets.

Click here to hear “This Is Not a Fake Poem” on my Vox blog. To download it, click the title below.

“This Is Not a Fake Poem” (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store

A free Mexican Institute of Sound download

Camilo Lara of Mexico City – a record executive, vinyl collector and DJ – launched his electronica project Mexican Institute of Sound a few years ago. It has worked out well for him.

I pointed to a FREE MP3 from Mexican Institute of Sound two years ago. Well, back in April M.I.S. put a new album out.

Click here to hear a track called “Alocatel,” as remixed by Beastie Boy Ad Rock. To download it, follow this link to RCRD LBL.

Random Hispanicness

Actually, I’m not posting this because it’s Hispanic Heritage Month. I’m posting this because it’s Make Your Family Think You’re Gay Week.

A free La Revo download

La Revolución de Emiliano Zapata was a 1970s psychedelic rock band out of Guadalajara. The group had a hit single in Europe called “Nasty Sex” (sung in English)... but La Revolución wasn’t much heard from outside of Mexico after that.

Well, the band has reunited as La Revo. And they’ve cut a new version of “Nasty Sex.” It’s available as a FREE MP3.

Click here to hear “Nasty Sex” 2009 on my Vox blog. To download it, click the song title below.

“Nasty Sex” (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store

Saturday morning cartoon

A free download from Brazil

Can you believe how happy some white folks are that Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Olympics instead of Chicago?

Rush Limbaugh sounded like a kid on Christmas morning. Yes, they hate President Obama that much. This comment from a female reader at Lawrence Auster’s blog says it all:

“It is a glorious day! I was... listening to Glenn Beck when I heard this wonderful news. I went to the kitchen and, oh my goodness, found myself literally jumping for joy! ... Glenn and others are ecstatic and having a field day. They can’t stop laughing at Obama’s failure.”

Must suck to be them.

I’m like, “Guess what, bitches? He’s still president!” I jump for joy and rub my half-hard dick every time I see Obama stroll across the White House lawn. So whose life is better? I say let the haters have this day.

And just to show there’s no hard feelings toward Brazil, I’ll point you to a FREE MP3 with a bossa nova beat.

Click here to hear a cover of Rihanna’s “Disturbia” by a young singer named Tahta Menezes. To download it, click the song title below.

The Brazilian label that released this track – Albatroz Music – seems to specialize in borderline-cheesy covers of American hits. Click here to check out “Beat It”... from Albatroz’s bossa nova tribute to Michael Jackson.

“Disturbia” (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store

Well hush my mouth...

I just discovered this on YouTube. Some Mexican dude edited clips from my old TV show, “Kingpin,” and laid a narcocorrido (“drug ballad”) on top of it. Looks like he coordinated the pictures and the lyrics, too.

Thing’s been up since February ’08... and has close to half a million hits! I ain’t mad at him...

A mystery solved

Remember this chick? Remember when she used to be on the Letterman show all the time, doing odd “comedy” bits with Dave?

Now I know why.

Her name is Stephanie Birkitt, and she used to be David Letterman’s assistant. Entertainment Weekly wrote about her in 2002. Headline: “David Letterman’s Girl Friday tells all.”

Yeah, well. Evidently not “all.”

Ms. Birkitt’s own hometown paper, the Manchester (New Hampshire) Union-Leader, profiled her in 2004:

“Birkitt, 29, has taken an unlikely road to success, and she’s as mystified as her family and friends back at home as to how she became a favorite of the late-night comedy host and a weekly regular on the CBS television show.”

“Mystified,” eh? “Favorite,” was she?

Turns out Letterman was boning her.

Get ready for the David Letterman sex scandal to last a good couple of weeks. Me, I don’t care who he slept with. But I do care what he put on the air.

Now it kinda seems like he was putting a joke over on his audience... making a TV celebrity out of the young employee he was banging.

Random silliness

Love these “Auto-Tune the News” vids.

A free Agustin Barreto download

Agustin Barreto built a rep as one of the baddest bass players in Puerto Rico before moving to Miami in 2002.

His debut album is called “Between My Walls.”

Click here to hear “Jaco-Me” on my Vox blog. To download the FREE MP3, follow this link to AllAboutJazz.com. (You must be a subscriber to download the freebies.)

Here’s a closer look at Agustin Barreto: