Sideways Foxhole Maneuver

Here's a quality piece of video...Television appearing on The Old Grey Whistle Test circa 1978...

Hotcha!  Hank

Sideways SimCity Maneuver (One Month Later)

Here is the first official trailer announcing the release of SimCity 5 in 2013. The images aren't indicative of actual gameplay.  I will need a new computer.

Hotcha!  Hank

It's The End Of R.E.M. As We Know It (And I Feel Old)

REM were my absolute favorite band from 1983 to 1995. After drummer Bill Berry retired to rest his brain and do some farming, REM were never quite the same to me. I still followed the band, of course - bought all the albums, and even saw them one last time in 1999 on the Up Tour, but without Bill Berry, well, I guess in some ways, REM broke up, in my mind, back in the summer of 1995.

Fun Fact: My Halloween costume in 1987 was "Bill Berry". Essentially I just glued two swatches of "fun fur" over my eyebrows to approximate the magnificence of Berry's eyebrows. Somewhere out there a VHS tape might still exist that shows me saying nothing but "Hi, I'm Bill Berry" about three dozen times at various moments throughout the night.

REM was my favorite band because their music sounded like a true and real democracy. What I mean is that their songs never sounded like "a Stipe song" or a "Buck song". All four of those guys brought something unique to every song, and in doing so, no band before or since has sounded quite like REM. "All Songs Berry Buck Mills Stipe" indeed.

Fun Theory: People with big eyebrows tend to be the most interesting people you're going to meet in this life.

See, the thing is - REM were a great band to get high to. Far and away my favorite band to get high to.

They were also a great band to drive to, and guess what! Back then, in the 1980's, my buddies and I used to do alot of "buzz runs", which was nothing more than driving around out in dairyland, passing around a pipe and cranking tunes. Most of the time it was my car, a muscled 1973 Chevy Nova. Most of the time, we ended up parked out at Rabbit Ridge, our secret party spot at the end of a very long fire road. We partied out there dozens, maybe hundreds of times, and we never once encountered a cop.

One summer we grew our own weed out there. "Gardening At Night", indeed. (It wasn't very good weed.)

Anyways, I could probably dedicate a blog to REM alone, but I think we all know exactly how little writing I actually do, so...

RIP, REM. No band will ever matter more to me, for so many reasons I will probably never share. Thank you.

Hotcha! Hank

Maneuver Roy Clark Sideways, Right There Between Felix & Oscar

Of course, when I think about country guitarists, I always think first of Roy Clark. Here he destroys a Flamenco tune called "Malaguena", which became perhaps his signature tune, in the same way "Sugarfoot Rag" was Junior Brown's calling card.

What makes this performance even more amazing is that he's playing a steel-stringed guitar when this song calls for nylon strings, a much more pliant and forgiving material.

And of course what seals the deal is that this from an episode of The Odd Couple.

Sideways Sugarfoot Maneuver

I've heard and/or seen Junior Brown do this song 1000 times over the past 20 years, and it still leaves me speechless.

Hotcha! Hank

Sideways Casino Maneuver

Modulation - check it out... Ain't this boogie a mess?

Hotcha! Hank

USA Sideways Maneuver Aftermath

Here are the Drive-By Truckers, doing a song called "Aftermath USA", which sounds less like an American approximation of the Rolling Stones and more like an approximation of Wilco doing their approximation of The Rolling Stones.

So much white boogie!

Hotcha! Hank

Maneuver Your Future Sideways

The future's just a day away, but the end might come sooner... It might be a super massive earthquake that cracks the world off its axis... Or deep vein thrombosis... My point is, we probably won't even notice...

And what if a giant hand reached down from the skies and shook things up a bit? That would blow all our minds... Even the believers... And then what?

Tonight I drink Pinot Noir and sample/loop dialogue from an old sci-fi radio show... Maybe later I'll fire up Sim City 3000 Unlimited and let tornadoes rip through Coco Valley.

Hotcha! Hank

I Maneuver Sideways, You Maneuver Sideways

It's a shame Gary Numan was a one hit wonder here in the States, because he was infinitely more interesting and talented than so, so much of the slag that was in the Top 40 in the late 70's and early '80's. I mean, "Cars" is a great song, but it's probably not even one of Mr. Numan's five best songs.

Being "ahead of the times" might seem like a cool thing, but really, most of the time being in the vanguard doesn't really lead to anything substantial...

Then one must wait 25-30 years to become appreciated again.

Of course, Gary Numan did much better in Europe, so...

Hotcha! Hank

Sideways Eyes, Black Maneuver

Black Tusk is a new fucking metal band, and I really like their debut album, Taste The Sin, which is one of my favorite albums of 2010.

Nuff said? Ayup.

Hotcha! Hank

Sideways Balloon Maneuver Named Bruce

Why is the name Bruce so funny?

Another question - why do I hate Olive Garden commercials so much?

Hotcha! Hank

I Won't Maneuver Sideways To You

I won't lie to you, Let's Wrestle keeps growing on me...They make me feel young, like this video, which just looks and feels exactly like the kind of videos my friends and I made 25 years ago. The goofy exuberance of youth, with just the right amount of snarl.

Plus, I think this video might be a bit of an homage to Robyn Hitchcock, and I'm old enough to appreciate that.

Hotcha! Hank

Thank You For The Sideways Roses

I don't mean to belittle dEUS by comparing them to Radiohead or Beck. I really like dEUS, and think they have an artistic integrity that is difficult to match. So many ideas, most of them good ideas, packed into every song.

dEUS is one of those bands I believe could have been huge in a different world. Like Radiohead, but instead life didn't quite shake out in their direction. Instead, they're the biggest band ever outta Antwerp, with an extremely loyal fanbase in Europe and the respect of most critics. It'll do.

Hotcha! Hank

Sideways Suds & Soda Maneuver

This was dEUS' first hit single. It might also be their biggest.

1994.

There, but for the grace of God, goes Radiohead.

?

Hotcha! Hank

I Always Thought Rollins Would Make A Great Cop

I once worked with a guy who suckerpunched Henry Rollins in the gut at an after party in Oshkosh and lived to tell the tale. The tale mostly involved running.

Hotcha! Hank

There's Always Time For Jello

So there was this video, halfway down the page in the Suggestions column on the right side at YouTube. East Bay Ray continues to rule.

Hotcha! Hank

Johnny Sideways & Maneuver Pauline

Everyone looks so young and shiny and smooth...Billy Zoom has yet to work his hair into a blonde pompadour.

Such a long time ago, like yesterday.

Hotcha! Hank

Wrapped Sideways Around Your Finger

Three blokes and a thousand candles.

Godley & Creme prove that art doesn't have to be complicated.

Hotcha! Hank

Maneuver Godley (and Creme) Sideways

Kevin Godley and Lol Creme were the arty half of 10cc, and when they left that band in the late 70's, they continued as a duo. This song, "Cry", was their biggest commercial success, a leftfield hit in 1985, thanks to this video, which got insanely heavy airplay on MTV. Of course, if you check out their discography, you'll find that Godley & Creme were responsible for about fifty or sixty music videos in the heyday of MTV, being perhaps the most significant music video directors of that decade.

I'd go so far as making this generalization - these two dudes, who you probably never heard of, are largely responsible for MTV's success in their first decade, and without them, the network may very well not exist today.

Hotcha! Hank

Different Sideways Drum Maneuver

One foxy brunette covering another foxy brunette...Plus+++ Matthew Sweet and another dude who I'm guessing is Greg Leisz.

Hotcha! Hank