Twenty five years ago today a jury in Milwaukee, Wisc. found Jeffrey Dahmer sane and guilty of murdering 15 men and boys between 1978 and 1991.
This led to a life sentence for each of those killings.
But Dahmer is infamous not only for murder and rape, but for his habit of torturing, and dismembering his victims, having sex with their corpses and even eating their body parts.
He began killing around one person each week by the summer of 1991. Dahmer was using the idea that he could turn his victims into “zombies” to have youthful submissive sexual partners. He used many different techniques, such as drilling holes into their skull and injecting hydrochloric acid or boiling water into their brains. Soon, residents of Oxford Apartments complex began noticing awful smells coming from Dahmer’s apartment, as well as loud noises from falling objects. Although most serial killers stick with one racial background, Dahmer killed a variety of people from different racial backgrounds. ... Further investigation of the home lead to a severed head in the refrigerator, three more severed heads in the apartment, multiple photographs of victims and human remains and more human remains in his refrigerator. It was later assumed that he practiced necrophilia and cannibalism. A total of seven skulls were found in his apartment as well as a human heart in the freezer. An altar was also constructed with candles and human skulls in his closet.
Yep. All the prefect ingredients for a good pop song!
Dahmer, who was murdered in prison in 1994, inspired a few songs. Here are a few of them
First, as an appetizer, (sorry) here's this brief ditty from Dahmer's fellow Wisconsinites, The Violent Femmes:
Here is one from the mighty Dead Moon, immortalize the apartment where about half of Dahmer's killings occurred.
Most of Dahmer's "tribute" songs come from the genre of death metal. I'm not sure why.
Pearl Jam even took a whack at Dahmer. But for reasons I'm not quite sure of, they changed his first name to "Frank."
Dirty Frank Dahmer, he's a gourmet cook / Got a recipe for Anglo-Saxon soup ...I got a cupboard full of fleshy fresh ingredients / Very careful, at the same time quite expedient ...
Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Valentine by Concrete Blonde
Geraldine by The A-Bones
Lost All Day by Dinosaur Jr.
That's Life by James Chance & The Distortions
Excercise Man by Dean Ween Group
I Want What You Got by The Plimsouls
Nosebleed Boogie by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
A Request for Closeness by by Gregg Turner
You Did Wrong by Reigning Sound
Call the Police by The Oblivians
Modern Girl by Sleater-Kinney
Outer Space by The Sex Organs
New Kind of Kick by The Cramps
I Am Not Sexy by Hang on the Box
Everybody is In Love With You by Lynx Lynx
The Savage Beat by The Dictators
Cupid by Sam Cooke
S.O.B. by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Land of The Freak by King Khan & The Shrines
Rock 'n' Soul Music by Country Joe & The Fish
Big Booty Woman by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Like a River by St. Paul & The Broken Bones
Everybody Free by Alex Maiorano and The Black Tales
Wonderful Girl by Jack Mack & The Heart Attack
Flowers in My Hair Demons in My Head by The Mystery Lights
Big Black Mariah by John Hammond
Infected by Simon Stokes & The Heathen Angels
Star Dream Girl by David Lynch
Should Have Been Home WIth You by James Leg
Tomorrow Night by Lonnie Johnson CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Feb. 10, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
3 Pecker Goat by Jesse Dayton
The Most Wanted Woman in Town by Dale Watson
Just Like Geronimo by Dashboard Saviors
Treat Her Right by The Riptones
I Can't Be Myself Without You by Merle Haggard
Someone to Give My Love To by Johnny Paycheck
Boney Fingers by Hoyt Axton
In the Pines by Dolly Parton
But You Like Country Music by Brennen Leigh &Sunny Sweeney
Baby, It's Alright by Beth Lee & The Breakups
Some of Shelly's Blues by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
You Don't Know Me by Susana Van Tassle
We Live in Two Different Worlds by Red Allen & The Kentuckians
Free to Go by Dwight Yoakam
Jackpot by Nikki Lane
Alone and Forsaken by Social Distortion
I Can't Tell the Boys From the Girls by Lester Flatt
We Deserve a Happy Ending by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
Red Wine by Scott H. Biram
Pickles by The Gourds
Is This My Happy Home by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Nobody Wins by Kris Kristofferson
Don't Let Her Know by Buck Owens
Kentucky / Bowling Green by The Everly Brothers
Roswell Town by Jack Clift & His Illuminati Assassination Orchestra
All Around You by Sturgill Simpson
Permanently Lonely by Willie Nelson
Storms Never Last by John Prine & Lee Ann Womack
A Couple More Years by Waylon Jennings
The Last Word in Lonesome is Me by Roger Miller CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
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A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Feb. 10, 2017 Even though it’s been four years or so since their previous album, despite any rumor to the contrary, Dinosaur Jr. has not gone extinct.
In fact, more than 30 years after they first roared, they’re back with another doozy of an album, Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not, released late last year. Though they’re getting old enough to be called “Dinosaur Sr.”, singer /guitarist/ songwriter J. Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow (who contributes two tunes here), and drummer Murph all are in prime form, sounding revitalized as they tear through 11 new songs.
Basically, if you’ve liked this band during any point in their career — the original Mascis/Barlow era (mid to late ’80s), the post-Barlow grunge era (early to mid-’90s), or the post-reunion era (2007 to the present) — you’re bound to like Glimpse too. Mascis’ screaming guitar — those mud-soaked solos that seem to hurl effortlessly into some cosmic storm — and shaky vocals are front and center on most of the songs.
They kick off the album with a wild ride called “Goin Down,” which reminds me of another great high-energy Dinosaur Jr. opener, “The Wagon” from 1991’s Green Mind. “Goin Down” immediately draws you into the record. But the next song, “Tiny,” is even better. Though the music is strong and confident, the lyrics tell a different story: “Coming out I’m deep in doubt I’ll meet you/Calling out it’s always with a stare/I can’t give you less than what I mean to/I’ll pretend that I don’t see you.”
The song “Knocked Around” is a cool sucker punch. It starts off slow and mellow with Mascis singing in a gentle falsetto. But about two and a half minutes into it, Dinosaur erupts and pounds the holy hell out of the song, ending it with a classic Mascis guitar solo.
Barlow’s songs are powerful as well. “Love Is,” a minor-key rocker, would fit in well with Barlow’s ’90s band, Sebadoh. (Actually, Sebadoh still is around, but I digress.) And “Left/Right,” which closes the album, is a terse little snarler. Barlow’s voice sounds hauntingly similar to The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn’s in this song about love redeemed.
For those of us who have loved this band, Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not is like a visit from an old friend — an old friend who’ll blow out your eardrums and shake the plaster off your walls. Long may Dinosaur Jr. roam the Earth!
Also recommended
* The Flesh Is Weak byJames Chance & The Contortions. Speaking of bands you thought might have gone extinct, no-wave champ and certified sax maniac James Chance also returned with an impressive album late last year.
Chance, playing in bands including James White and the Blacks, committed random acts of musical weirdness during the late ’70s and early ’80s, combining punk, funk, and avant-garde jazz. Along with bands like Lydia Lunch’s Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Arto Lindsay’s DNA, and Mars,
The Contortions contributed several songs to the influential No New York compilation of the wild experimental no-wave scene. Flesh shows Chance still has his unique discordant vision and his chops on both sax and vocals.
The first song, “Melt Yourself Down” (a song he’s been doing live for years), starts out with a jarring electric-organ blast before the band comes in with their lively James Brown-meets-Captain Beefheart funk groove. Chance screams and squeals. “We’re gonna take that night train to Auschwitz!” he sings at one point. That’s followed by the title song, which is just as funky in its own peculiar way.
Though most of the songs here are original, Chance gives us three worthy cover songs. One is an intense version of an intense tune called “I (Who Have Nothing),” which has been a hit for Ben E. King, Shirley (“Goldfinger”!) Bassey, and Tom Jones. There’s also “Home Is Where the Hatred Is,” a harrowing drug tale written by Gil Scott-Heron.
But the best cover here is Chance’s reimagining of Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life.” Fans of this song might not even recognize it on first listen with its probing bass line and wah-wah guitar straight out of Shaft and its Zappa-like time-signature change in the bridge, with Chance’s horn screaming for mercy. And yet in the last minute the song springs back into a more recognizable swing.
Not a note on this record sounds dated. I hope Chance continues to release his amazing sounds.
* The Deaner Album by Dean Ween Group. Ween was one of the strangest bands to ever get a video on MTV in the ’90s. They were a wickedly clever experimental duo who somehow captured the imagination of the (then) music channel with a quirky Bizarro World ditty called “Push th’ Little Daisies” that amazed and baffled the masses.
Ween hasn’t done a studio album in 10 years or so, but singer Dean Ween (Mickey Melchiondo Jr.) is back with a new band.
So how does this outside-the-box visionary start off his new record? With a bona fide Southern rock instrumental titled “Dickie Betts” and sounding a lot like the former Allman Brothers guitarist. Not what you’d expect, but in a strange way, it works. There’s also an instrumental, “Garry,” inspired by Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist Garry Shider.
But it’s the vocal tracks that carry this album. “Exercise Man” is a brutal and actually obscene tirade against some third-rate Jack. “Nightcrawler” is a nasty little nugget that could almost pass for classic rock if not for the distorted vocals and sci-fi guitar effects.
But my favorite at the moment is “Gum,” with heavy bass and what sounds like a toy piano tinkling away as the singer shouts lyrics about enjoying gum, ice cream, and McDonald’s. This could almost be an ode to … the band called Ween.
OK, let's see some videos! First, let's roller derby with Dinosaur Jr.! Here's James Chance & The Distortions playing "That's Life" live at Beerland in Austin last November. We'll give Mr. Ween the last word ...
Alfonzo "Lonnie" Johnson, one of the most respected singers, guitarists and stylists to ever come from the world of the blues, was born Feb. 8, 1899 in New Orleans.
He started playing guitar and violin in his family's band, doing gigs at weddings and banquets. In 1917 he joined a traveling revue that toured England. When he returned home two years late he learned that his entire family, except his brother James Johnson, had died in a flu epidemic. He and his brother moved to St. Louis, where the two got music gigs on riverboats.
In 1925, Lonnie won a blues contest sponsored by Okeh Records. Part of his prize included a recording contract.
That turned into a good deal for everyone.
Johnson died in 1970. But he left us some glorious music.
Here is one of Johnson's early records, "Ball and Chain Blues," recorded in 1926.
"Racketeer Blues" from 1932 might be called "Gangsta Blues": "When the gang is out to get you, it don't do no good to run," Lonnie sings. "It's true you can dodge the law, but you can't dodge them slugs out the machine gun"
Johnson recorded jazz as well as blues. He played in bands fronted by Duke Ellington and Louis Armstromng. Here is a 1929 record by Louis Armstrong & The Hot Five, featuring Johnson on guitar.
This is one of my favorites, a hit from 1948. Elvis Presley later recorded "Tomorrow Night" at Sun Studios.
Here's a 1963 performance from The American Folk Blues Festival, a package show featuring some of the greatest blues stars of the ea -- and previous eras. Sonny Boy Williamson introduces Lonnie, who is backed by Otis Spann on on piano, Willie Dixon on bass and Bill Stepney on drums
