The very first article I wrote for Cool and Strange Music Magazine was a biography of Tom Jones. I based most of it on this concert review I wrote for the edification of a former friend of mine who accompanied me on a trip to the Montalvo Winery [Link] to see His Tomness in person. This was probably the greatest show I've ever attended. It was truly sublime. If you think Tom Jones is some sort of lounge-lizard parody, all I can tell you is that you are missing out on one amazing singer and entertainer.

[Link: The Tom Jones Concert Review]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[Link: Gary And His Friends]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Meanwhile, over at the Puppet Music Hall, Meryl Streep duets with an aloha-shirted dummy (voiced by Adam Guettel) on the ukulele classic, Excellent Moon. Creepy as hell. I'm just grateful that the consummation of their love wasn't shown. [Link][via Ukulelia]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[Link: iPod Heino Edition]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The orangeguru sent me this godawful music video from 1984, called "New Wave Country", sung by a German country-western singer named Tex Haper. The song is an unbelievably lame mix of pedal-steel guitar, comatose rapping, and electropop beeps. "Tex" looks like he's reading the lyrics off a teleprompter. I don't know what the deal is with the barrels. Maybe he got lost in the basement of the Hofbräuhaus looking for the bathroom?

The kid doing The Robot, however, ist mega!

I figure if I have to suffer, you should all suffer with me, so I'm going to break my self-imposed YouTube ban and link to it. [Link]

Thanks, Dieter....you BASTARD!

Posted by MrBaliHai at 8:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

My pal, the Cartoonist, has launched his very own podcast. In this first installment, he meets up at a pub with Knox, vocalist and guitarist for one of Britain's oldest punk bands, the Vibrators. I listened to these guys a lot back in the day, so it's great to hear that they're still around and still making music.

I'm looking forward to the next one (which I suspect has something to do with Wire).

[Link: The Cartoonist Talks]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's currently -7 degrees F outside, and expected to reach a high temperature of -1, so my plan for today is to hang out in the Hai'deaway and experiment with my new bottle of Velvet Falernum, while listening to gentle Polynesian music that makes me think of warmer climes.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 7:57 AM | Permalink