Studs Terkel, American Hero, 1912-2008

hey there,

i am very sorry to report that oral historian studs terkel passed away today.

studs terkel was a great man. his philosphy as a oral historian was always the same - if you want the truth of history you talk to the common men and women, the ones who lived it.

ironically, terkel's own oral history, heard in countless interviews, was incredibly interesting as well. and he was a hootfest to the very end. i heard an interview with him on NPR several years ago that had me in tears. he managed to capture and filet, in just a few brief and humorously delivered sentences, about everyone involved in the iraq invasion fiasco. i remember specifically how he managed to turn donald rumsfeld into some type of incompetent saturday morning cartoon "super-hero" in about 45 seconds.

studs terkel was the quintessential lampooner of buffoons. he had an extremely sophisticated bullshit detector that i suspect was fine-tuned from all of the countless oral histories that he conducted with everyday people. i've always thought that the "important" people that lived during terkel's time should count their blessings, because had he focused his written word on them instead of the common man, they would have been exposed and drawn & quartered - mark twain style - in a few choice paragraphs.

this short, humorous, but feisty and very wise man had the capability of being the biggest pain in the ass. but the pain was always reserved for the pompous and arrogant asses that deserved it the most.

god bless studs terkel, everyman's everyman.


"How can one talk about life without saying sometime it's going to end? It makes the value of life all the more precious."
(S. Terkel)



CNN obit:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/10/31/studs.terkel.obit/index.html

NYT obit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/books/01terkel.html?pagewanted=1&em
.

ANDREW AND THE PRETTY PUNCHERS Wednesday, 10/29 @ Canal Street Tavern!

i am happy to announce that ANDREW AND THE PRETTY PUNCHERS will be playing on wednesday, october 29th at the canal street tavern.

the music will commence at around 9:30.

there will be two solo opening acts:

WIL COPE, an excellent singer and songwriter and former daytonian who is now making a musical go of it in austin texas.

and from sweden by way of new orleans, THERESA ANDERSSON.

andersson's many instruments/one woman shows and recordings have been garnering some mainstream press from rolling stone, spin, and others. she has also recorded and performed with several new orleans legends, including allen toussaint, the neville brothers, the meters.


ANDREW AND THE PRETTY PUNCHERS will probably take the stage at about midnight.

the current setlist is a veritable potpourri of hits both old and new, with much of the emphasis on the latter. they opened their much anticipated dayton music fest set in ballsy fashion by breaking out *five new songs* before delving into the genius that we all know as GOODBYE OHIO.

i personally guarantee a good show from the fellas (duh).

they haven't played live in quite awhile, and those long layovers - kickin' in the stall and gettin' all restless and what-not - well, they tend to make those feisty young broncs a little ornery and ready to bust out just a bit.

and besides - if you're willing to sit your sorry ass down in a bar in dayton, ohio at midnight on a wednesday, you deserve nothing less.

see you then!


http://www.myspace.com/andrewtheprettypunchers

.

"Testes, One Two...Testes, One Two" or...Middle-Age, It's Not For Sissies

greetings from deepest east dayton,

ok, so after a couple of years of wondering why my head wanted to have sex but my body didn't, i decided to go see the doctor.

his suggestion was obvious: "let's do some blood work and check your testosterone levels." i thought at first that this was a sperm count, but that's something else entirely that deals with fertility as opposed to virility. and of course nowadays anyone can conduct a sperm count on their own. all you need is *really good* eyesight, very nimble fingers, a fisherman's patience, and a strong desire to know.

so we did the blood work, and sure enough, my testosterone levels were "off the charts" low. just my luck, after several decades of self-diagnosis for various ailments this had to be the one that i got right.

the test measured three different types of testosterone: "total" "free" and "available." i thought that it was both remarkably ironic and painfully cruel that the words could easily be used to describe a fella who was feeling a bit "randy" which of course i wasn't - hence why i was discussing the goddamned mocking medical nomenclature test results at the doctor's office.

the doctor said that the most important of the three measurements was the "available" number. naturally, even though i bombed all three parts of the test, my "available" number was the worst of the three. the "standard range" is 110-575 and i think i got . . . well - let's just say it was the first time in testing history that consideration was given to "grading on a curve" when there was only one testee (so to speak).

in case you were wondering, they have a name for what i've got. it's called "hypogonadism."

that made me cringe and so the doctor said "how about "male menopause?"

that was a little better (i think because it didn't contain "gonad" as the root word) so in lieu of cringing, i merely squirmed and recoiled slightly.

the doctor and i finally settled on "andropause."

and what do you prescribe for andropause you ask. well "androgel" of course. and what is androgel? it's fake testosterone.

i started my "treatments" this week. it involves rubbing this gel into my upper arm and then, while looking at myself in the mirror, pounding on my chest with closed fists while letting out the most primal and guttural sounds that i can muster interspersed with rhythmic chants of "me want woman! . . . me want woman! . . . me want woman!" ad infinitum.

so far i haven't noticed much difference. well, at least, not [ahem] "downtown where the boys hang out." however, interestingly enough, i have taken to sitting on my porch swing dressed in a loin cloth and holding a very large club.

i'm not sure what that's all about.

all i know is whenever i jump off the porch with club in hand and take off after a squirrel or a neighborhood cat, the loin cloth "rides up" really bad.

i guess that this is going to take some patience on my part.

naturally i will keep everyone posted.



"it's not like wedgie
to creep up on me"
(a. smith)

THE SIMPLE LIFE

"yo smith! life is simple. you fess up for your sins or the bird craps on your head. you got it?"

"got it."

"i - can't - HEAR - you!"

"got it . . . SUH!"

"GUY MANN-DUDE? . . . we need to talk"

hey there,

quite often while looking for CDs or records to sell on eBay i find myself thinking: "ah yes . . . [insert name of artist/band name here] . . . i wonder whatever happened to them?

however that was not the case with GUY MANN-DUDE.

instead i thought: "who in the bloody hell is GUY MANN-DUDE and why does his goddamn CD have to be out-of-print and selling for 25+ dollars on eBay forcing me to take the $1 copy of it that i just found up to the pretty young woman at the counter of the CD store where she will almost certainly snicker as she reads "GUY MANN-DUDE" on the cover while stealing a glance at what she can only perceive to be my sorry ass 'mid-life crisis' simply because she doesn't know about my eBay business and that the GUY MANN-DUDE CD is out-of-print and selling for 25+ dollars before looking directly at me and saying:

'that will be $1.07 . . . sir' ?"

well, i didn't know the answer to that question and so i set out on a quest for information about this mr. MANN- uh . . . mr. -DUDE - uh, this GUY fella:

according to my crack research team, GUY MANN-DUDE passed away 14 years ago as a result of complications arising from an "incident" that occurred while -DUDE was performing the song "clusterphuck (the long version)" from his album "sleight of hand" at the 1994 kenosha county fair in wisconsin.

apparently the "incident" involved a "standing in the wrong place at the wrong time" GUY MANN-DUDE, a 43-foot-high free-standing amp, and one of wisconsin's legendary sudden prairie windstorms.

not much else is known about the actual cause of -DUDE's demise because the 37 people standing in the middle of the field [ahem] "enjoying" the long version of clusterphuck that wednesday afternoon in kenosha county wisconsin were all simultaneously recoiling in horror and looking the other way.

the windstorm hit about 3 minutes later.

apparently to prevent vandalism at -DUDE's gravesite by grieving fans and/or (we can only assume), angry 1994 kenosha county fair attendees still seeking refunds, GUY MANN-DUDE is buried in an undisclosed location in his hometown of sheboygan, wisconsin.

there is a photo of the tombstone at the guitarist's website. it is a deceptively plain grave marker for such a "larger-than-life" individual.

it simply reads:

DEAD ROTT-GUY
(formerly GUY MANN-DUDE)
1962 - 1994




EPILOGUE: well, in case you haven't guessed it yet, i still don't know a damn thing about this GUY MANN-DUDE fella, but since he did in fact put me through that somewhat emasculating ordeal with the pretty young woman at the CD store we're gonna go ahead with what i was able to unearth via the time-honored tradition of "creative research."

sorry, uh . . . -DUDE.

"do Not create anything, it will be

misinterpreted . . . sing something safe."

(b. dylan)

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to former Guided By Voices frontman, Robert "Bob" Pollard, for getting his picture on the cover of this week's "Dayton City Paper" with ANDREW AND THE PRETTY PUNCHERS.

.

Bob and his new band, Boston Spaceships, can be seen in the lower middle photo, while a slightly larger photo of ANDREW AND THE PRETTY PUNCHERS is in the upper echelon- i mean, upper left (click on photo for larger image).

It's been a long time comin' Bob . . . you deserve it, big guy!

Two excerpts from the article:

"Amongst the Dayton Music Fest rookies this year are Andrew and the Pretty Punchers, Toads And Mice, and Astro Fang. Over the previous 12 months, these three bands have stood at the vanguard of a resurgence within the Dayton independent music scene."

"ANDREW AND THE PRETTY PUNCHERS: Within the last year, A&TPP have emerged as one of Dayton's most promising bands. With Andy Smith's fiery vocal delivery and the band driving home his infectious hooks, this is a must-see band at this year's festival."


The entire Dayton City Paper article is available here:

.

http://dcpaper.blade6.donet.com/components/content_manager_v03/view_dcpaper/htdocs/dhtml/menu_ps.asp?NodeID=1166458395&group_ID=1161867733&Parent_ID=-1725052150