MP3 of the Day

On this Halloween eve in 1975, Black Sabbath played Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle - a 6,000 seat hall in Munich, Germany. A week later, singer Ozzy Osbourne was in a motorcycle accident which ruptured a muscle in his back. Due to this injury, the remainder of the Black Sabbath tour was canceled.
Since some have suggested that the Tullycraft record, Every Scene Needs A Center has a bit of a Halloween twist, it only seems appropriate that we post a song from that album. Today we have the edit/version of Dracula Screams Of Tiger Style . Happy Halloween!

MP3 of the Day

On this day in 1988, teen pop star, Debbie Gibson held a séance at her Halloween party and attempted contact the spirits of both Liberace & Sid Vicious. Today we have the Eddie Cochran classic, Something Else performed by SID VICIOUS.

MP3 of the Day

I am back. I can't thank Jenny enough for taking on the blog during my break. I think we can all agree, she did a fabulous job! I see Cori contributed a post as well, so my thanks goes out to him too. I'm still trying to get my bearings - you may have to cut me some slack over the next few days.

While I was away it was announced that The Besties are breaking-up. In part, the email read: "As happens with many awesome relationships, stuff happens and things get hard..." I can understand that. They will be playing two more shows: Dec 4th in Asbury Park, NJ and Dec 6th in Brooklyn, NY. If you live near either of these you must attend!

In case you missed it (or even if you didn't) here is our "On this day" regular feature:

On this day in 1961, the trial of Chuck Berry began in Missouri. Berry, one of the biggest pop stars of the late 1950s, was charged with transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes, when he took a 14-year-old waitress he had met on tour with his traveling rock show. He was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison. After a short stretch in Leavenworth Federal Prison, he was transferred to a Missouri jail, where he spent his time studying accounting and writing songs. When Berry was released from prison in 1963, his musical career enjoyed a resurgence due to the cover versions the Beatles and the Rolling Stones had recorded of his songs. In honor of The Besties (and Chuck Berry) today we have Prison Song by THE BESTIES. I know I've posted this one before, but it's so good - and if you don't know it... you should!

Pumpkin it up!

Shouldn't Cori always have a pumpkin on his head? Just a friendly fall reminder that when you're done carving those pumpkins and roasting those seeds (which are a good source of protein, iron, B vitamins, vitamin E and fiber), you can compost the remains instead of throwing them in the trash. Composting keeps nutrients in the soil and actually helps fight global climate change. A pumpkin decomposing in a landfill gives off methane, a powerful greenhouse gas; a pumpkin decomposing in a compost bin doesn't. I couldn't let my tenure as guest blogger end without a green Halloween tip!

I couldn't think of a single Halloween/pumpkin song to post that wasn't totally obvious (Monster Mash, anyone?). Help me out!

Happy Halloween! I've had a great time bloggin' it up with you all!

mp3 of the day

Today is Pat Sajak's 63rd birthday. In honor of his 2008 April Fool's joke in which Vanna White ripped off his wig to reveal a bald head, we have Purple Toupee by They Might Be Giants.

mp3 of the day

On this day in 1992, Mecca Normal, Crayon, and Heavens to Betsy (Corin Tucker's first band) played at the Show Off Gallery in Bellingham, WA. Bikini Kill was scheduled to perform as well, but had to cancel at the last minute. In the audience was 17 year old Carrie Brownstein. Tucker and Brownstein would meet each other for the very first time on that evening. Two years later, in 1994, the two would go on to form the band Sleater-Kinney. Today we have the song Baby's Gone by HEAVENS TO BETSY.

The Special Places show tonight!

The Special Places (Corianton's and my side project) are playing a show tonight at Neumo's in Seattle. We're opening for Boat, who are having their CD release party. We probably go on around 9 pm and are playing a short set so don't be late! Here's an old favorite called Olympia.mp3

Photo by John E. Hollingsworth

mp3 of the day

On this day in 1989, The Flaming Lips performed a raucous set in the “Burro Room” at Hey Juan’s Burritos in Chico, CA. It’s true.

Today we have an alternate version of the song She Don't Use Jelly by THE FLAMING LIPS.

mp3 of the day

On this day in 2000, The Softies played at the Milky Way in Boston, MA. Today we have a live recording of Fragile, Don't Crush from that show.

We have a request from Joaquim for songs about colors or songs with a color in the title. Can you help him out?

The Birth of Disco

October 19th marks the beginning of an important shift in music culture. The year was 1959, the town was Aachen (Germany's quiet, westernmost city), and a dance hall called Scotch-Club was having a problem. Their regular band couldn't play and so quick-thinking led to a seemingly irrelevant substitute; they played records instead. Klaus Quirini was the man behind the turn table and the night began a wildfire of popularity. In the 60s, American soldiers in West Germany caught on and before long, the format was popular in America too.

The bar's informal name (Jockey Tanz Bar) led to Klaus Quirini (later known as DJ Heinrich) being credited as the very first "Disc Jockey."

By the 70s, dances like the Frug and the Mule had given way to the Hustle and The Cha-Cha, and a corresponding shift in clothing brought us severe collars and polyester, and New York City's famous discothèques included Studio 54, the Loft, the Paradise Garage, and Aux Puces, one of the first gay disco bars.

Something else important happened on October 19th. The birth of my partner/lover/disco-fiend Keith Bacon, and Tullycraft.com is celebrating the special day with the track "Rodent Disco" from Bearsuit's Cat Spectacular!

mp3 of the day

On this day in 1993, Madonna took her Girlie Show Tour to Madison Square Garden in New York City. Her sixteen song set included: "Erotica," "Fever," "Vogue," "Express Yourself," "Like A Virgin," "La Isla Bonita," "Holiday," "Justify My Love," "Everybody," and "I'm Going Bananas."

Speaking of going bananas, today we have the song The Road Of Love Is Paved With Banana Skins by BMX BANDITS.

P.S. I'll be in a yurt on the Oregon coast tomorrow so I won't be able to post, but I'll be back on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Sharing is Caring!

Now it's YOUR turn to talk. I want to know two things:

1. What song/artist are you obsessed with right now?
2. What did you have for breakfast?

Ready...go!

mp3 of the day

On this day in 1988, the film, Return of the Killer Tomatoes! was released in Australia. A sequel to the 1978's, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, the story was set twenty five years after the events the first film (where the tomatoes were stopped by the worst song ever composed called "Puberty Love"). I preferred the book based on the movie. Today we have the song Heard About Love by THE BIG GUN. This band of teenagers saved up and recorded this song in 1987. They sent it to John Peel, and he played it four times on his show. Unfortunately, they only played a few shows before promptly splitting up.

Friday's mp3 of the day (preempted by National Equality March!)

On October 9, 2007, Jens Lekman released his second full length album, Night Falls Over Kortedala on Secretly Canadian Records. Today we have a cover of the Paul Simon hit You Can Call Me Al performed live by JENS LEKMAN on P3 Pop Radio in Sweden.

Editor's note: Sean left me half a dozen posts to work with before his break. This was supposed to be Friday's post, but I decided to write about the National Equality March instead. Please enjoy this Jens-fest despite the fact that it's three days late!

National Equality March this weekend!

Thousands (maybe millions?) of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people and their supporters are heading to Washington, DC for this weekend's Equality Across America event, culminating in Sunday's Equality March to the Capitol Building.

Here's what they're marching for:

* The right to work jobs and go to school free of harassment and discrimination.
* The right to safety in their daily lives, and protection from hate crimes.
* The right to equitable healthcare, and the right to donate blood.
* The right to equitable immigration policies.
* The right to marry.
* The right to serve in the military openly.

Sounds doable, right? I know there's a perfect song for this occasion, but it's eluding me at the moment. Instead, here's Everybody by Madonna to get you in the mood.

mp3 of the day

On this day in 2005, Martha Stewart began her prison sentence at Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia, after being convicted of securities fraud in the ImClone stock trading case. Today we have the song Women's Prison by LORETTA LYNN.

MP3 of the Day

In October 1987, The Sugarcubes released "Birthday" b/w an Icelandic-language version of the song as a 7" on One Little Indian Records. The following year the band released their debut album, Life's Too Good internationally, and "Birthday" became the first single from the record. Today we have live versions of both Birthday and Delicious Demon by THE SUGARCUBES recorded in 1988.

Jenny will be taking over the blog starting tomorrow.... be nice to her!

I will be back in a few weeks. Take care - Sean

MP3 of the Day

Gosh, I can't believe it's October already. Hey! if you happen to live in the mid-west (Missouri specifically) you can catch Bunnygrunt for free on Halloween (Oct 31st) at the Spooky CBGB Horror-Fest in St Louis. Let the haunting begin! Today we have the song You Get What You Get by BUNNYGRUNT from their new album, Matt Harnish & Other Delights out on HHBTM Records.

MP3 of the Day

On this day in 1979, Joe Jackson released his second album, I'm the Man on A&M Records. Jackson, along with Elvis Costello, was a part of the British based movement who challenged the punk scene and brought the new wave sound to the United States in the late 1970s. I'm not sure if it was Jackson's intention, but to me the album's title track, "I'm the Man" has always seemed like a post-punk take on The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil". The notion that the devil (i.e. the Man) might be responsible for some of the world's trends and fads is simply a brilliant idea to me. Anyway, today we have the songs I'm The Man, and Don't Wanna Be Like That from the JOE JACKSON album I'm the Man.

Good news!

The fabulous Jenny Mears has offered to maintain the Tullycraft Blog during my absence. I’m going to continue to post thru Wednesday of next week, and she will start Thursday. Thanks so much Jenny! I will be back in a few weeks.

- Sean

MP3 of the Day

It’s Friday and we’ve reached the end of the rarities (this go round anyway). If these haven’t been obscure enough, I’ve decided to end the week by revealing part of the Tullycraft process that I’m sure will interest practically no one. Often times when I’m writing songs, I record ideas into my old iPod. When I say old, I’m talking black & white screen… yeah, it’s still kicking. I have a small microphone that attaches to the top, so it’s a quick and easy way to document ideas before I forget them. Most of these song ideas never become actual Tullycraft songs (I literally have hundreds of them on my iPod), but occasionally they do. Today I’m sharing a rough version of the song “One Essex Girl” that I recorded using this system. Admittedly, this song is a bit more flushed out than most of my sketches, I don’t usually have this many finished lyrics. So here are both the iPod demo of One Essex Girl, and the Tullycraft version of One Essex Girl that appears the Every Scene Needs A Center album. Have a great weekend!

MP3 of the Day

Today we have a song from the first Crayon cassette, A Cartwheel For A Kiss. This was the very first “recording session” that Jeff and I were ever involved in. A few months after we started playing music together, our band Crayon had a batch of songs, and we decided that it would be a good idea to record them. We employed the assistance of a couple local Bellingham bands, and borrowed some recording gear, including a cassette 4-track. We set-up the equipment and recorded at Michael Griffin’s house, which doubled as our practice space. The result was the six song cassette, A Cartwheel For A Kiss. When I listen to this now I cringe with embarrassment, but back then I was very excited and proud that my band had actually recorded a tape! We sent copies of our newly recorded cassette to various publications and fanzines all over the country in the hope that we might receive a review. One of those fanzines was called Incite, and it was published by Harvard History Professor, Tim Alborn. Tim also ran a small indie label called Harriet Records, and after receiving A Cartwheel For A Kiss, he offered to release a Crayon 7” on his label. I’m honestly not sure what Tim heard on that tape, it really wasn’t that great. Why he ever offered to put out a single by a band that could barely play their instruments from the Pacific Northwest I will never know, but nevertheless he did. Harriet Records would eventually release albums by both Crayon and Tullycraft. Today we have the song Matchbox from A Cartwheel For A Kiss.