Tuesday, December 23, 2008

(H)e(a)d Banger




From the NY Times:

Like Quiet Riot once warned you: Bang your head, metal health will drive you mad. Now a medical study conducted by an Australian scientist suggests that the heavy-metal practice of headbanging to fast music can cause head and neck injuries, The Guardian reported. In a study published in The British Medical Journal, Andrew McIntosh, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales’s School of Risk and Safety Sciences, writes that flailing along to a headbanging song (with an average tempo of 146 beats per minute) can cause “mild head injury when the range of motion is greater than 75 degrees”; at faster tempos the risks can range from headaches to strokes. The study concludes that listeners can reduce the risk of injury by wearing protective gear, headbanging to every other beat or “replacing heavy metal with adult oriented rock.”

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Tim Maia on Soul Spectrum



Our friend Allen has veritable treasure trove of factoids, nuggets, yarns, and legends about Mr. Maia on his blog Soul Spectrum. Check out his posting of Tim Maia's lost track from the unfinished Racional 3.

Tim Maia Documentary



This is part 4 of a Brazilian documentary about the greatest Brazilian soul singer ever. We were lucky enough to do some covers of Tim Maia songs (and a Caetano Veloso song as well) for this movie.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Adidas turns 60.



Getting ready to go on stage at the Adidas 60th Anniversary Party in WBurg.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Our Next Show is December 13th:


Lose Your Shit vs Brooklyn Wonderland Loft Party
11pm-early in the morning

1532 Decatur ST.
Bet. Irving & Wyckoff Ave.
L to Halsey
$10 Cover//RSVP for guaranteed admission to:
www.meanredproductions.com/lostinWonderland

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Harry Smith



Compiler of the "Folk and Blues Bible", remarkable experimental filmmaker, collector of Ukranian Easter Eggs (30,000), and owner of largest found paper airplane collection (eventually donated to the Smithsonian). Smith's films took years to make and required incredible organization as he would create them frame by frame and wait until they were finished to develop the work. I have a soft spot for his later films that are just saturated footage of friends and acquaintances shot around New York.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Southpaw Show October 17




Thanks to Chris La Putt for the photos. More here. And more at Brooklyn Vegan.

Have a Howling Good Time



Paul Lynde and Halloween. That's him dressed up as Frankenstein's monster. Some footage of his Halloween special can be seen here. Other Lynde stuff. And.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Staying Alive



October 28, 2008
Vital Signs
Prevention: Chest Compressions, to a Disco Beat
By ERIC NAGOURNEY

Well, you can tell by the way he pounds your chest, he’s an E.R. man, and his tempo is best.

That’s right — “Stayin’ Alive,” the song some people might pay to get out of their head, may be just what their heart needs if it suddenly stops.

Researchers say the Bee Gees song, from the 1977 hit movie “Saturday Night Fever,” offers almost the perfect pace for performing chest compressions on people who have had heart attacks. Emergency workers doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation are advised to press down on the chest 100 times a minute. “Stayin’ Alive” has 103 beats a minute.

The findings were presented at a recent conference of the American College of Emergency Physicians by Dr. David Matlock of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria.

This is not to say that people would actually be forced to listen to the song.

“We’re not advocating turning on the song in the middle of a resuscitation,” Dr. Matlock said. “If it helps people to sing it out loud, I guess that’s O.K.”

For several years, Dr. Matlock said, emergency workers have been told that compressions done to the tempo of the song are more likely to conform to the recommendations of the American Heart Association. Doing it right can triple the survival rate, the researchers said. But no one had proved that the song actually helped.

For the study, researchers had 10 doctors and 5 medical students practice compressions while listening to the music. When they were retested five weeks later without the song, they did the compressions at an average rate of 113 a minute, within the acceptable range.

“Stayin’ Alive,” by the way, is not the only song found to be helpful. “Another One Bites the Dust,” by Queen, may also work.

“Obviously,” Dr. Matlock said, “ ‘Stayin’ Alive’s a little more appropriate for the situation.”

The Terrorific TENEBRAE!

Bill Withers "Use Me" featuring James Gadson

Monday, October 13, 2008

The Parker






I stayed here over the weekend. Gene Autry used to own it, then Merv Griffin. Jonathan Adler did the modern interior design and it's tremendous.

The Parker

The Parker in Palm Springs


Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Monday, October 6, 2008

Show at Southpaw Brooklyn



Performance before Menahan Street Band. Tickets here.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Rare Earth



The absolutely remarkable Norman Whitfield died yesterday. Rare Earth is one of the many acts touched by his genius.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Paolo Soleiri





Paolo Soleiri's utopian society in Arizona. Students live at his ecologically ambitious mini community to make bells that are the main revenue source for his projects.

Arcosanti



Visit here.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Our Next Show


September 25th
at Tribeca Grand
2 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10013
(212) 519-6600

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Bank Job



"Chick a Boom" by Joe Bataan and produced and written by Daniel CollĂĄs used in trailer for this movie.

Diva

Z



Next Handclap Show September 25.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

And Then Boom



Thursday August 21 at 105 Riv
Live music and records.

Tiombe Lockhart



Embassy Sound Productions produced "Lady Devil Moon" coming soon. Her other music.

The Commonfolk Show



Download The Phenomenal Handclap Band EVR podcast here.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Traffic "Freedom Rider"


Live in Santa Monica, 1972. This clip features the Muscle Shoals
rhythm section, David Hood and Roger Hawkins

Monday, August 11, 2008

Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr.
(August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008)


the inimitable Mr Hayes scoring 'Shaft" with the Bar Kays (mark II)

Sunday, August 10, 2008