Geek Weekly #9

(Telos TLS 035). Or Scriabin and Zhukov, the transliteration of Russian is fraught with phonetic peril. No matter, Shukov/Zhukov is regarded by those who as Scriabin's greatest living interpreter (Greatest dead: Vladiminir Sofronitsky.) Writes Igor: "The Sonata No. 6 Op. 62 (1911) is a picture of petrified gloom. The composer, thanks to his fantasy, receives an insight into the vast unknown world. This very inhuman world conceals within it an appreciable amount of disfigurement and ugly movement, but it also has cells of increasing beauty. These exist, for the time being, following their own laws, which are known only to them."

Bix Beiderbecke, Volume 5, 1928 (Masters of Jazz 28) or Bix Restored, Volume 2 (Bix CD4-6). The difference being that the first series presents all masters and alternates in which Bix is audible, the second all recordings on which he's supposed to be present. Because of Bix's section work duties in Jean Goldkette and Whiteman orchestras, Restored takes all of six discs to get to February 28, 1928. A bit better, more open sound also, but the Masters of Jazz booklets provide more useful musical analyses. I've got both and wouldn't mind having the original 78s either.

Mississippi John Hurt, Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings (Columbia/Legacy CK 64986). What he said and in chronological order: a body of work that is miraculous, totemic and then some.

John Fahey: Return of the Repressed (Rhino) from 1994 is an excellent survey and Fahey's forthright and warm-heated comments to the set's producer, his old friend Barry Hansen (better known as Dr. Demento), are a useful counterbalance to the cantankerous, self-dismissive side often revealed in later interviews. Next, I recommend internalizing the Legend of Blind Joe Death; Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes; The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites; The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death (perhaps my personal favorite; be sure to write away for a copy of the amazing calligraphic booklet of Fahey's prose fantasias that came with the original 1p), America. "Medley: Silver Bell/Cheyenne" is on the Rhino set and John Fahey Visits Washington D.C. (Takoma 7069). All but the last have been well reissued on compact disc by Fantasy. Next get everything else Fahey recorded in the '60s, '70s, and '80s. His late '90s "comeback" material is quite different (electric guitar for one) and difficult, but has its rewards, some yet unrevealed.

Bill Monroe Bluegrass 1950-1958 (Bear Family). 4 cd boxed set which seems the best place to hear the "Cheyenne" part of the Fahey medley above. Recorded New Year's Eve, 1954 in Nashville and released as Decca 45 De 29406, with "Roanoke" on the flip side. Both are instrumentals. "Cheyenne" opens with tom toms pulsing, then Monroe offers a brief war cry which brings a few strokes from the bow of fiddler Bobby Hicks' and... you just gotta hear it. "In discussing the fiddle tunes, Bobby Hick recalls, 'Just about everyone I talk to about bluegrass says 'Cheyenne' is the one they like the best.' "The other 107 tunes collected here are pretty good too.

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Mistress Strangeluva Georgia Rue

Ok, I admit it: I am a freak. Maybe. Or perhaps there is just a terrible stigma against women being frank about their pornographic tendencies. I am not always in the mood for porn since it doesn't rock my world the same way it does for so many men, but here arre a few good reasons why, on occasion, this reasonably straight girl enjoys watching man on man action.

First: You know how your gay friends are always going to the gym, buying stylish clothes, and getting flattering haircuts? Well, gay porn is full of those guys! If a video is chock full of lustworthy studmuffins, who cares if they want to get it on with each other?

Second: It is so hard to find a straight porno with any kind of "real" women in it. They're faking orgasms left and right, silicone is bouncing in all kinds of unnatural ways, and don't even get me started on the hideous dye jobs. Who can get off when there is all that fake shrieking going on? Men in gay porn are almost always really into it. They are not phoning it in. On the contrary, they often seem extremely happy to be there swappin' manlove.

Third: You wanna kknow how to give a good blowjob? Let me put it this way: brothers who have AND suck dick are the champs.

The procedure: So, you are intrigued. You are thinking my treatise makes sense. How do you begin? I' start with a "solo" video aimed at gay men. They are just videos of men pleasuring themselves in the company of a video camera. Veery nice. Once you learn to love this, you are reaky to move on to full action. Make sure to check the back of the box for pics! Sometimes the guy on the cover is not even in the video, and you want to make sure you are getting an eyeful of your favorite hottie. Next, just ger over the fact the they are going to practice butt love. You don't feak too much when it happens in straight porn, do ya? Well, it's no different here. if it makes you feel jittery, just skip past that to the oral scenes. There are also vids that focus on oral sex, but they are few and far between. You might try getting some bi videos, but a warning: Most of these are short on cuties, and often the men seem freaked out by having to do stuff with women. My guess is that money can get a few gay guys to try women, but no amount of money can get a straight guy to try fellas. (You're kidding, right, Paula? - ed.) Speaking of theis, another warning: Do not try this experiment with your boyfriend unless he is bisexual or VERY open-minded! No matter how politicaly correct he thinks he is, or how you believe he has not one iota if homophobia in him, most men are extremely uncomfortable at the thought pf anything faggy. On the other hand, maybe you will find a special connecton to your guy via sharing the intimate fact that you want to experiment with pleasures formerly foreign to you.

If all of the above is making you queasy, try some internet porn of gay oriented magazine along with your favorite book of erotic short stories. Mentally cut and paste gay man A to straight story B, and voila! You are on the road to a porn-induced frenzy.

Are you still reading? If I haven't scared you off by now, you are probably ripe for an experience with gay porn. What are you waiting for --go get 'em!

32 Geek Weekly #19

Bloodshot Down

Ian Tennant

Try as I might in 2000 to make money off Bloodshot Records and its bands of marauding artists, I could not. The goal was to profile Chicago-based Bloodshot as it approached its fifth anniversary, and take a few swipes at corporate and so-called alternative country in a Calgary-based publication, CnW Magazine. It folded, owing me a couple hundred clams. Holding material from interviews with Rob Miller, one of Bloodshot's co-pilots, and Jon Langford and Sally Timms, I flogged the story to at least 10 publications. Not one bite. Too bad. They is articulate folks.

Born out of the fertile Chicago music scene in 1995, Bloodshot was started by Nan Warshaw, Eric Babcock and Rob Miller to document the countrified meandering of some hometown bands. Warshaw and Miller now run the label, having parted ways with Babock.

Over a table of spilled beer at Scholz's Garten during Bloodshot's 2000 SXSW showcase, Miller recounted the early days when they heard "all these bands touching on country music in some way or another, be it straight or fucked up like The Waco Brothers."

The first CD, For a Life of Sin: A Compilation of Insurgent Chicago Country, was mailed in 1994 to some press and radio outlets.

They hit a vein.

After Hell-Bent: Insurgent Country Vol. 2, came out in 1995 bands were calling to get involved. The "Alternative Country" scene blossomed thanks to college radio, small record labels like Bloodshot, No Depression magazine and a vacuum left by Nash-Vegas Country.

Bloodshot "became a sort of de facto voice or clearing house," Miller said. "Everything we do still has that subversive edge to it."

After SXSW showcases in 1996 and 1997 with the Old 97s, Whiskeytown, Robbie Fulks, The Waco Brothers and others, "high profile industry weasels" began sniffing around Bloodshot, Miller said. Insurgent Country was "the next thing that was going to make the A&R (people) Christmas bonuses." They were poised to figure out how to make money off the genre, but it didn't happen "which suits me fine," Miller added.

By 1998, some of the "weasels" couldn't even "spell banjo," Miller

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laughed.

"People tag us as a country label," he said. "But the 'C' word leaves a bad taste in people's mouths."

Miller, a former drummer, does not consider newer releases by Kelly Hogan and Timms pure country. "It has the soul of country but still has that odd take on it." A great example is Timms's duet with Andre Williams on "Down to the Promised Land: 5 Years of Bloodshot Records." Backed up by a fine group of Canadians, the Sadies, and soaring background vocals by Hogan, "Glue" is a declaration of ever-lasting love that flirts with gospel and blues, yet echoes 60s Motown as Hogan and Timms belt out "G-L-E-U/ Uhhooo".

Not willing to be a strict revivalist,Miller believes "music is like a language - it has to evolve." Country music purists - "the arbiters of orthodoxy" - say there are rules, but operating out of Chicago, Bloodshot isn't surrounded by the Nashville music industry. "We don't really know what the rules are."

"There are so many ways to manifest country without it being boring and standard," Miller continued.

During out discussion, Langford spotted Jennifer LaSuprema and Susan LaInferioria, Geek Weekly's luscious minds, from the bar and joined our table. Langford sat down and Miller excused himself to go worry about the fate of the rain-soaked showcase.

"It's cold and there is potential for electrocution," Langford announced cheerily.

"How come you're on Bloodshot?" LaSuprema asked.

The first artist to sign with Bloodshot, Langford joked that he kept up the

34 Geek Weekly #9

Below picture: Danny Black

relationship after Warshaw and Miller were quick to mail a check. "I don't know if it was the right amount," he laughed.

"It's a little independent label, something that fell through the cracks," Langford said of the home to some of his favorite artists like Trailer Bride, Neko Case and Timms.

"Why do ypu think it's Insurgent?" LaInferioria pursued.

"Insurgent is kind of cheeky," [Much like Jon - s.l.] he smirked. "It's an effort to destroy the country music establishment." Providing a link to past nonNashville greats, Langford offered some old-time cheekiness: "Bob Wills said, 'Don't confuse me with any of that hillbilly shit.' And that's a quote as well."

Before he hustled outside to sing with Hogan, Langford said he'd be joining Timms on tour, including the Calgary and Edmonton folk festivals.

Eureka! An easy hook for my story, being a Calgary native and former Edmonton resident.

He had never been through Western Canada, but the Calgary Folk Festival pursued Timms and "offered her a load of money." She asked him to play guitar and an eight song CD emerged, the sterling Songs of False Hope and High Values.

Joined by multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse and Cherilyn DiMond, the former bassist for Austin's defunct Meat Purveyors and a demon with a hockey stick, Timms and Langford started in Minneapolis in late July and ended in Denver by early August. With stops in four Canadian cities, I figured I could write this puppy once and sell it at least four times. Kaching.

Calgary's folkie outing includes workshops, I tell Langford in a late-June interview that found me in Waco, Langford in Chicago, and meandered through the Internet, capital punishment and music.

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[Below picture]: Gina Black