The Dandys Are Sound

Ah, yes...2002. Portland's esteemed psych-rockers the Dandy Warhols release their fourth LP, Welcome To The Monkeyhouse. It was an album that sounded unlike previous DW efforts and more like a Duran Duran record. That, of course, might have had something to do with Duran's Nick Rhodes being involved in the sessions.

Needless to say, it was an album that, as a DW fan, you either loved or loathed.

So, here we are some seven years later and the band is releasing their original mixes for the album on July 14th.

When Being Up To No Good Bites You In Da Azz.

This past weekend, former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair was killed by a woman he'd been having an affair with just before she allegedly turned the gun on herself.

Naturally, as a lifelong fan of the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, I was shocked and saddened by this news. McNair was still a young man, with a wife and four children, and a long life ahead of him. Now, of course, thanks to following his dick, he's a dead man.

Truth be told, I have not been above running around in the past, but I eventually...and it was really long eventually at that...came to realize that such antics were a display of poor character. I was better than that and, let's face it, any woman who's okay with being "the other woman" isn't exactly a shining example of pristine character herself.

I'm pretty sure McNair would agree with me. If he hadn't been shot to death by a woman he shouldn't have been with in the first place.

I don't mean to sound preachy. It's just that he'd still be here if he hadn't chosen to play with fire rather than stay home and play with his kids.

Now, as a result, they are without a father and will, at some point, come to understand the circumstances that lead to his death. No child should ever have to hear that their dad was caught up in some stupid shenanigans that led to him being taken away from them forever.

If only he'd thought of that before he decided to take the low road.

Parker Lewis Can't Lose...On DVD At Last!

The year was 1990. Fledgling network Fox unveiled a new show, called Parker Lewis Can't Lose, about three high-school chums who skewer "the establishment". Billed as an irreverent, intelligent comedy, I was not only surprised to discover that the claims were actually accurate, but that Parker (Corin Nemec), Mikey (William Jayne) and Jerry (Troy Slaten) would quickly become a fixture of my Sunday evenings. Did I mention that it was also a great excuse for me to resume my teenage crush on Melanie Chartoff (as the lusciously evil Principal Grace Musso), who had stolen my heart during her stint on "Fridays" many years prior?

Sadly, Parker Lewis lasted only three seasons, during which time the show stood as a valiant alternative to the usual sitcom fare until the suits at Fox retooled it to death in its final season. Imagine Miami Vice season 5...aka Don Johnson loses the pastel suits and starts wearing socks...and you'll get the idea.

Fast forward to the new millennium. My memories of the show having grown foggy, I search the internet hopelessly for evidence of its existence. I begin to think it was all just a glorious dream. Then, blammo, I discover that Season One has finally been released on DVD by the fine folks at Shout Factory! after years of legal red tape is finally ironed out.

Season One, of course, features 26 awesome episodes, as well as a nifty-but-all-too-brief bonus feature called "The History Of Coolness".

Total running time: 900 Minutes. No, really!

BUY YOURSELF SOME COOLNESS

For Your Listening Pleasure...

After a bit of a break to work on other things (with the proverbial promise of money held over me like a carrot on a stick), we are back with our first new Awesome Rock Power Hour after a couple weeks off. And, yes, I just referred to myself as "we". What made us do that, I wonder?

In this episode, Gimpy tracks down the mother who left him behind while Sapthong starts his first indie rock band with a stray dog and a glockenspiel. They immediately cut demos at a Chuckie Cheese and, a week later, take the blogosphere by storm!

Or not.

LISTEN

The Kind "Loved By You"

Back in the early '80s, before radio playlists became homogenized and all local flavor was removed from the equation (thank you, Lee Abrams, you worthless bastard) it wasn't outside the realm of possibility to hear cool tunes by local acts. In one such instance, midwest powerhouse WLS threw their considerable weight behind a song called "Loved By You", by local boys The Kind, and helped turn the song into a huge regional hit.

A year or so later, I caught the band at a sold-out Rosemont Horizon, as an uncredited opening act for Duran Duran, and they blew me away. I had a hunch it was them and when they ended their set with "Loved By You", I was thrilled to see the tens of thousands of otherwise bored teens awaiting the arrival of Duran Duran suddenly come to life, singing along to the song.

Despite such success, the band never landed a major deal and released two indie albums before calling it a day.

Back by popular demand - GET READY!

It took me awhile to find it, but I did. Spurring me on, of course, were the many readers who asked that I re-post this hard-to-find Cheap Trick track.

The song, of course, is "Get Ready", which was the b-side to the "Spring Break" single. It is a barrelhouse rocker that showcases Zander's vocal range and, while the production is bare-bones, the band's performance is stellar.

Seeing as how tomorrow brings the release of the latest Cheap Trick CD, I figured that today would be the day to, well, GET READY!

ENJOY!

Lucky Thirteen, Yo!

With today's installment of He's A Whore Awesome Rock Power Hour, we tempt fate by acknowledging that this is our thirteenth show, rather than be superstitious and call it the fourteenth. Like the time we stayed in Vegas and were given a room on the thirteenth floor...in a casino. I mean, it must've been one of the few places in Vegas that called the thirteenth floor "the thirteenth floor" so we just rolled with it and ended up having a great time even though everybody on the elevators always seemed to be trying not to snicker when they saw what floor we were on.

Anyhoo, on today's show, we rock some killer mash-up's and drop a couple super-cool 70's tunes as well as some rockin' cuts from all the way in the year 2000.

Non-stop awesome rock!

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW, YO

Adrian Belew's Finest Moment

Back in 1987, Adrian Belew was a hot commodity.

After all, he'd earned considerable clout after working with the likes of David Bowie, Talking Heads and the reconstituted King Crimson. Heck, he'd even made a couple decent solo records that not only displayed his angular guitar talents, but revealed a knack for melodic Beatlesque pop hooks.

Thus, when he turned down all other offers to form a pop band with members of an Ohio band known as the Raisins, many were left scratching their heads in disbelief.

The upstart band then signed to equally upstart label, PMRC Records (a subsidiary of IRS Records) and began work on their debut album.

Upon release, the album sunk without a trace due to a severe lack of promotion on the part of PMRC/IRS. The label would survive long enough to bury yet another Bears album, Rise And Fall, two years later.

The Bears debut album remains an absolutely stellar gem in Belew's repertoire, but one that very few people know about. Sadly, the album remains out-of-print, with copies of the original CD selling for upwards of $75 on eBay.

1. None Of The Above
2. Fear Is Never Boring

NOTE: As my buddy Ginch has pointed out, this CD was re-issued in February '09 and is available on Amazon. Use this link, as a search for "the bears" on Amazon (even if you narrow results by choosing "music" results) will not produce the necessary link to purchase the CD.