Writing my noir reviews made me curious to see what more informed (read: better) writers had to say about the state of genre fiction, so I did what any modern writer and blogger worth their salt would do: Google "genre fiction" and cull a few reputable articles from the results, then dump them onto my blog with a short introductory paragraph. Bingo. My noir reviews were inspired by Alexandra Alter's short piece in the very short Lifestyles section of the WSJ, which I have included. At first I was wary of linking to a Murdoch owned publication, but I've since been subpoenaed for my role in the NoW scandal, so I figured what the hell.
Hello again, internet denizens. I've been hunched over my desk for many an hour of late, drafting new material for this sinking ship of a blog that I've chained my internet persona to, and by golly you are all in for a treat. However (of course), said "new stuff" is still undergoing my stringent revision process, which could take months or even years. Or maybe I'll just put it up over the weekend, who can say. To tide you over, I offer this humble tidbit of avant-bluesy goodness.
Everyone knows The Black Keys, but did you know that they are huge fans of freak folk pioneer Captain Beefheart AKA Don Van Vliet AKA Frank Zappa's BFF? Well, now you do. The Keys have laid down some prime cuts of Beefheart over the years, first on record with "Grown So Ugly" on Rubber Factory, a cover of a track from 1967's Safe As Milk LP (which is itself a cover of an old school blues song by Robert Pete Williams, but this sentence is already confusing), but their Beefheart covers repertoire is actually fairly extensive. Here are four that I was able to track down on the Youtube. If you know of any more, please, let me know.
Grown So Ugly (Black Keys, Rubber Factory [2004])
This video was shot at an instore gig at Grimey's Records in Nashville.
