Something 4 The Weekend # 247

Hank Mohaski:  Revolution & Pleasure:  "A Star For Everyone"  [mp3]

Did you know I'm a songwriter and musician?  I am, though I'm a bit more idle these days because arthritis has started rearing it's ugly head in my fretting hand.  I started playing guitar around 1982 - barre chords, or "Sabbath chords", as my gang called 'em.  Brick, Smoothy and I had a primitive punk-metal band called The Nadz.  I don't remember much except that we thought we ruled when in fact we half-sucked.  Our songs were pretty solid, if simple, and they were often funny and gross, and sometimes scathing and political, but fuck if we could play our instruments or sing.  I remember a few song titles - "Free Cheese", "Your Dad Is A Fat Asshole, Kyle", "Night Of A Thousand Hobosexuals", and our theme song and title of our one and only album, recorded on a boombox in Brick's basement, "Go, Nadz, Go!"  We played about four house parties in our year+ of existence, and then fizzled out because we half-sucked and only about two people liked us.  I wish I had a copy of our that Go, Nadz, Go! tape, but maybe it's best that I don't.

Skip ahead, past Mumniti (another band for another post, perhaps), to 1994, and I'm living above a sandwich shop in downtown Grafton with two friends and our girlfriends.  It's an enormous 3 bedroom flat, with a living room that's about 20' x 35', and half of it is a 4-track recording space I've set up.  This was the DowntownLivingroomRecorder, from 1988 to 1997.

Revolution & Pleasure was a tape I released in 1995.  "A Star For Everyone" is the last song on the album, and in fact was the last song recorded for the album, around Thanksgiving of '94, as I recall.  I guess this is a pretty typical kind of song for me back then - heavy guitars, basic beats on a busted drum machine, and non-traditional (and often badly sung) vocals.  It might be worth noting that in this particular song, the solo you hear in the middle section is not a guitar, but me vocalizing through a wahwah pedal, trying to sound like a guitar.  I think it works.

Anyways, if you're interested in hearing more of my music, stuff that spans 1988 to 2004, check out this month's EVERYTHINGATHON! podcast, which is all about me and my songs.  18 songs, as a matter of fact.  Something for everyone, perhaps.

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

Enjoy!

Hotcha!  Hank

Things I Liked Last Week 050910

01: Kanellos The Greek Protest Dog: The Greeks aren't afraid to protest, and even riot a bit, when their government fucks them over. As an armchair anarchist, it makes me sad that the American people have been, by and large, taken advantage of by our government and big business time and time again, but we're too fat and complacent to do much more than bitch about it with friends and coworkers. Nobody is taking it to the streets except the Tea Partiers, and I'm fairly convinced their entire movement is built on a solid foundation of racism, because the tax rates under our current black president is pretty much in line (and in many cases lower) with the tax rates under every other president over the past 50 years. In other words, where were these white, middle class people during the Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Carter and Nixon years? The top marginal tax rate during the Reagan years (their beloved political hero) hovered around 50%, while it sits at 38% under Obama? But now I'm getting wildly off-topic. Follow the link, and see 14 pictures of Kanellos, perhaps a more "involved" citizen than most of us.



02: Community: "Modern Warfare": S1-EP23: As the season has progressed, Community has grown into its own, and has grown on me. At first, I thought it was a fairly good comedy - good enough to kick off NBC's Thursday night comedy block, but not as strong as the three shows which follow. Well, sad to say, The Office has been quite underwhelming this year, and may be ready to head out to pasture, while 30 Rock is still great, but not as insane as it was last season. Parks & Recreation is currently the strongest of the four comedies, but I believe this "Modern Warfare" episode of Community is a welcome indication of just how good this show can be. Every week we can count on the writers to sneak a number of sly movie references into the show (via the character of Abed), but this particular episode is simply remarkable in that respect. Plus, it's just plain funny.

03: Screamo Kitty: I believe this picture speaks for itself.

04: Sherlock Holmes: I didn't love this movie, if only because I'm rather protective of the character and stories of the creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and this adaptation is not only a non-canonical story, but the illustrious detective, as played by Robert Downey Jr., is painted with rather broad strokes. As I mentioned two weeks ago, I'm partial to Jeremy Brett's portrayal in the Granada TV series of the 1980's, which showed Holmes in all his bitchy, egotistical glory, to say nothing of the homosexual undercurrent running throughout, which I believe to be one of the more important aspects of the original character. Is he gay, or merely asexual? Doyle leaves us guessing. Here, with the introduction of Irene Adler, as played by Rachel McAdams, there is no mystery, and that's a shame. Having said all this, I'm still a sucker for the characters of Holmes and Watson, a sucker for London circa 1890ish, and dammit if Guy Ritchie doesn't know how to make superb action films. This movie might not have been what I wanted, but it is damn entertaining nonetheless.

05: EVERYTHINGATHON! v101: Hats off to Dan Dierdorf, who tells a horrifying story of his trip to Burning Man several years ago, mixing a bunch of great heavy metal into the podcast for good measure. Check it out for the rest of this month.

06: Super Kohinoor Indian Food: I love Indian food, and thankfully there are a couple of very good Indian restaurants in Madison. However, I do not eat in restaurants very often because it's hard to justify the cost, and while I'm a pretty good cook, Indian cuisine is one of the more difficult to do well, I believe - I'm certainly not very adept. That's where the Super Kohinoor brand comes in. You might laugh when I tell you that this particular line of products (among many other Indian foods made by Kohinoor) is nothing more complicated than boil bags - boil the bag for 5 minutes, and then simply pour over rice. So simple, even a caveman (such as myself) can do it, but considering the nature of this product, it more than satisfies my Indian food cravings when they arise (I always keep a few of these Kohinoor products in my pantry). They make about 8 different "dishes" in this line, but I'd have to say Awahdi Aloo Mutter is my favorite of the bunch, which is really nothing more than peas and potatos in a vibrant curry. Available in most supermarkets, I'm sure.

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! FEBRUARY 2010!

Wherein TAPE JAZZ MASSACRE mix dialogue from the film Das Boot with all sorts of dark ambient music to create a dense, watery longform mix of nearly epic proportions. Available until March 1st...

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! November 2009!

Wherein yours truly plays "His Indie World" by Mary Lou Lord, then proceeds to play songs by most of the bands she mentions in her song...Simple as that...

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

Enjoy, you quickly aging hipsters! Sebadoh! Sentridoh! Silver Jews! Bikini Kill! Butterglory! And many, many more indie rock superstars from the front half of the 1990's...

Oh, and no, that's not me in that picture, although I have much respect...According to Fudgie's Beard Index, this young independent man is sporting what most closely resembles an "Extremely Cheech"...

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! October 2009!

This month's EVERYTHINGATHON! turned out pretty well, I'd say...

Wherein I insert myself as Dr. Watson into an old Sherlock Holmes radio show, and proceed to swear alot...

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

Enjoy!

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! July 2009!

Well, babycakes, it's the first of July, and that means a brand-spanking-new podcast has been uploaded at EVERYTHINGATHON!

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

This month's podcast is a mostly ambient affair. Of course, you might not consider the continual roar of a lawnmower to be ambient, but if you do, well, there's a solid hour of it here, so have at it...

Otherwise, I'd say check it out with headphones. Not those fucking earbuds, but actual headphones. Cans. Dig?

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! June 2009!

BIGFOOT + ANIMAL COLLECTIVE = EVERYTHINGATHON! Volume 90

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! MAY 2009!

Mayday! Mayday! Nineteen songs by Blossom Dearie, and a story about young lust told by yours truly...A student-teacher affair...Oh my!

All this month, and only this month, over at EVERYTHINGATHON!

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! April 2009!

Yeah, the title of this month's EVERYTHINGATHON! is supposed to be a sly reference to the opening line of T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland, but don't let that fool you into thinking this podcast is intellectually stimulating, cuz it's basically just an hour of yours truly spinning rain songs and drinking heavily on the WBST airwaves...Cuz that's what happens in spring in Wisconsin - it rains, and it's a cold, hard rain...

http://www.everythingathon.com/home.htm

So, there's nothing very special about this month's podcast, unless you enjoy a bunch of geezer mold tunes and me spewing uninspired gibberish between those tunes...Having said that...ENJOY! Right now, and until May 1st, when we'll stream something else...

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! March 2009!

Another month, another new episode of EVERYTHINGATHON!

This month, Hall-Of-Fame tackle Dan Dierdorf finds himself spinning Heavy Metal at the crack of dawn on WBST, 109.5 FM...It really is as simple as that...Enjoy, until April 1st...

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! February 2009!

We're a week into February, which means this month's episode of EVERYTHINGATHON! is only available for another three weeks...This month, we've got a whole lotta Zappa, and more specifically, a flip-flopping mix of side two of the Lumpy Gravy album, and several variations on one of Frank's signature tunes, "King Kong"...Mix it all together, and whattya get? A KONG GRAVY, of course...Enjoy!

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! January 2009

Another month, another EVERYTHINGATHON! podcast over at the site of the same name...

And once again, as we do each January, we feature the final hour of Mitch Lovitz's countdown of the 50 most requested songs at WBST 109.5 FM here in Madison during the past year...Simple as that...

Available until February 1st...Enjoy!

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! December 2008

http://www.everythingathon.com

Man, that's some ugly cover art for this month's EVERYTHINGATHON! Beneath and beyond, however, I'd like to believe we've achieved our typical Podcast Excellence, but I guess that's for each of you to decide...

This month's episode is all about my sexual encounters during my year in the freshman dorms at UW, and naturally, some of the bands/songs that go along with the girls/encounters...

Now, after seven years and 84 episodes, I do admit topics are sometimes difficult to latch onto, but originally this podcast was going to be about that particular year (84/85) in a more general sense - politics and culture and current events, kinda like the podcasts I did for 1966 and 1977...But technical problems and a lack of free time didn't allow for that kind of show...

Anyways, here we are...The Hurley Girls (And Other Delights), semi-fresh and sorta-clean all through the month of December...Enjoy!

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! November 2008

It's the 1st of November, and that means a new episode of EVERYTHINGATHON! is uploaded and streaming over at my website of the same name...

http://www.everythingathon.com/home.htm

This month's episode is called THE NICK CAVE MYSTERY HOUR, and it's simply an hour of Nick Cave tunes threaded through an old DICK DIAMOND radio mystery...

Good stuff, so check it out through the month of November...

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! October 2008

Well, here we are babycakes, at the start of another month, and that means a new podcast has been uploaded to EVERYTHINGATHON!

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

This month, our good friend BIGFOOT spins a solid hour of songs about Jesus, because you know the holiday season can't start soon enough, right? Besides, as the title says, Bigfoot loves Jesus...

So, go and listen/download all through the month of October, because come November 1st, Bigfoot is gone, and another podcast will be ready for streaming...Enjoy!

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! September 2008

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

So, I was drunk on the WBST airwaves a couple weekends ago, playing a load of Guided By Voices tunes and trying to keep my shit together...This month's EVERYTHINGATHON! is 60+ minutes of that debacle, nothing more, nothing less...

For those of you who might want to drink a bunch of Golden Showers as you listen to me drink a bunch of Golden Showers, the "corrected" recipe is as follows:

Place exactly FOUR ice cubes in a ROCKS glass.

Mix 2 shots of RUM, preferably DARK RUM,

1 shot of BANANA LIQUER,

and top off with 7-Up.

Yeah, nothing says UW is back in session more than getting completely hammered on a completely frivolous and stupid cocktail, while classic Lo-Fi Indie Rock blares in the background...

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! August 2008!

http://www.everythingathon.com/home.htm

Consider this month's EVERYTHINGATHON! podcast to be an audio reconstruction of an old dream of mine, numbered 151 in an old dream journal of mine, itself "Number Four In A High Performance Series", circa 1993...

What we've got here is a solid hour of extreme Foleyism, sound FX galore, time travel, space travel, a seemingly endless series of red doors, brown bears, black bears, polar bears, a nameless baby, Ross Brodie, Adlai Stevenson, Jazz, a blowjob, podbot narrator Trevor Hastings 19.9...and much, much more...

Available RIGHT NOW, and until Monday, September 1st, so why don't ya visit EVERYTHINGATHON!, have a look around, and stream or possibly even download this month's podcast while there's still time...

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! July 2008!

So, a couple of weeks ago I drove the WBST Party Van out to Rabbit Ridge, a secret place I like to go that no one knows about, to do a remote broadcast one night...Mostly I just wanted a change of pace, because the vibe around the WBST studios has been toxic lately, but I also had a small garden to tend...

http://www.everythingathon.com/home.htm

That night felt like a Country-Western kinda night, so the highlight is obviously the 20 country tunes featured in this hour-long podcast...Hope you enjoy...Available until August 1st...

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! June 2008

I was drinking dirty martinis when this went down...An hour of "classic hits" that one might find on the typical cougar's iPod...Plus me, waxing moronic about COUGARS in general. Not my finest hour by a long shot, but an hour nonetheless.

http://www.everythingathon.com/podcast.htm

Hotcha! Hank

EVERYTHINGATHON! May 2008

Volume 77 of the EVERYTHINGATHON! podcast is now available for streaming and downloading at my website of the same name, and let me tell you, babycakes, it's nothing less than epic. "Epic" because it's nearly 80 minutes long. "Epic" because it includes 48 songs (whole and parts) from the year 1977..."Epic" because I'm Hank Mohaski.

Since it's Volume 77, this month's episode is dedicated 100% to the year 1977, when I was a young manchild, grappling with the new fur on my noodle and the new and exciting feelings I had for the fairer sex that went along with that fur. 1977 was also a fairly pivotal year for me in terms of music, when Punk broke through in America for the first time, when all that "Classic Rock" was still fresh and Non-Classic, when a dork like Alan O'Day could hit the top of the Billboard Charts with a piece of cheese like "Undercover Angel", and I was still willing to sing along without a speck of irony...

1977 gave us Star Wars, terrorism in Washington DC, the death of Elvis Presley, and an unusual number of plane crashes...

http://www.everythingathon.com

Anyways, you'll have to listen to the entire 80 minutes of this month's EPIC podcast to get all the juicy details of a year and an era some of you might not even have been alive yet to witness in all it's weird glory...Available for the month of May, until another outstanding, if not EPIC, podcast comes along...

Enjoy, and get it on...

Hotcha! Hank