Author Archives: dogpossum

mills blue rhythm band/Henry Red Allen/Don Redman/McKinney’s Cotton Pickers

I want this (Mills Blue Rhythm Band 1933-34 (chron. classic)) SO badly.
Everyone else has it, I have to too.
Then I want this (Henry Red Miller and his Orch 1929-30 (JSP)).
And to be absolutely clear, I also want this (The Band Don Redman Built – McKinney’s Cotton Pickers (RCA).
All scratchy, all the time.

gastropod Saturday

In the spirit of practicality, I think I’m going to declare Saturday or Sunday gastropod day, seeing as how we only eat crappy food on Friday nights. This time it was an awful ‘middle eastern’ chicken and cous cous dish which I once knew how to cook but now, obviously, can no longer manage.
Thank god I followed it up on Saturday with an easy ‘Moroccan chicken’* dish which was delish.
Basically, you grate up some ginger, crush some garlic (however much you dig), chop up an onion, fry it all til the onion is transparent, then add an overflowing tsp of ground cumin**, 2 massive tsps of ground coriander, 1 tsp paprika, fry for a minute or til it smells good, then add some water, stirring or whisking to get the stuff combined well. Add some chicken legs and cook for 20 mins. Then pop the chook legs in the oven for 20-30mins (til they’re done), simmering the wet stuff on the stove top til it thickens and reduces. Plop the cous cous on the plate, pop the chook on top, stir some fresh parsley and coriander (I add quite a lot as I really like this bit) into the wet stuff and serve immediately (rather than dropping the herbs on top – this way they flavour the wet stuff nicely) with lemon wedges and fat olives. And a salad of greens, mint, tomato and cucumber with an olive oil/lemon juice/garlic dressing.
ROCK the kasbah!
*I’m not quite sure what ‘Moroccan’ means in this instance, but heck.
**That’s pronounced ‘kew-min’ in our house, thanks. None of this ‘kumm-in’ rubbish.
how much chicken? as many drumsticks per person as you can manage. That’s eleventy for me and 0.5 for The Squeeze, who is revolted by meat on the bone.
how much water? ti it covers the chicken.
what’s reduced? when the wet stuff is thicker, and there’s enough to wet the cous cous on the plate properly, but not drown it.
how do i make cous cous? now you’re scaring me. put some in a bowl. take it out and rinse it in a sieve til the water runs clear. put it back in the bowl. cover with hot water, stir. let it sit til it’s absorbed. stir with fork. if the grains are soft, rock on. if not, add a bit more water. or follow the instructions on the box. or google.
how do i make the salad? get a recipe book, or get a CLUE.

the Squeeze declares

The Squeeze has declared that there shall be no:

  • tutting
  • shuffling
  • hand wringing
  • shouting
  • screaming
  • huffing
  • subvocalising about Jesus, Young People, National Pride or Noise

on the tram. I’m not sure how he plans to enforce this, though I’m sure mimi smartypants could offer suggestions as a fellow PT stooge.
I, on the other hand, never seem to notice these PT crazy people, mostly because I read a book so I can tune out and not hear anything or anyone on the bus (which is why I don’t see the point of ipods – a book is far more interesting and effective a crazy-person deterrant). Or else I ride my bike.

Buffy season 3

Season 3 of Buffy has us in hand. It’s my sixty millionth time through the Buffy series, but The Squeeze hasn’t seen them all. We’re enjoying them very much, though our viewing has synchronised with someone else who’s borrowing them from the video shop*. We watch them faster than they do, but they keep them out for the whole week and won’t let us get ahead – whenever we make a preemptive strike and borrow the couple of discs ahead of them, they retaliate and take the next two. Which sucks, as we’re done with ours in less than a week, while they keep them for the whole week.
We’re nearly at the end (just one or two discs to go), and then we’ll start getting Angel out as well. I have convinced The Squeeze that we have to watch the two in conjunction. Personally, Angel was the only thing that kept me with Buffy at the end there. Buffy herself craps me to tears – she’s such a whingey little ho…
*I want to make a dumb joke about female fans, woman-friendly telly and synchronised menstrual cycles, but I can’t quite manage it…

perhaps the most useless site ever…

cyclovia will be on the 28th of May in the ‘wick. Now, I already consider Sydney Road my own private cyclovia, but it seems the pedders are getting into the action on that day.
the deal: I know, it only tells you what a stupid cyclovia is below the crease, but still. Just cause you can ride a bike, don’t mean you got basic internet skills. ha!
basically, they close the road off to cars for 6 hours between Moreland and Brunswick Rds. Sounds like Sydney Rd Festival without the stalls (although…. if I know Brunswick, there’ll be stalls galore). Also sounds a bit like a bit PR stunt for the local MPs. The cyclovia thing does have international precedents, though, and I should perhaps be more positive about this.
Anyhoo, sounds good if you live nearby. But I’m interested in the local residents’ responses…

gastropod friday – last week

Forgot to note: bought some ace pancetta from nino and joe’s last week, then chopped up a bunch, fried it in virgin olive oil and garlic, added a hydro tomato, then some baby spinach and rocket and a bit of dried chilli. Served with pasta from pasta man, local parmesan on top, and some lovely fresh bread from the mediterranean supermarket.
It was so wonderful i nearly died. Fat? Hell YEAH! We’re not babies here! That pancetta is the serious shit (I’m pronouncing it the way everyone in Brunswick does – pan-che-tta – as I type). It has such a … robust. I have to say robust, even though it’s wanky food talk. It’s saltier and gamey-er than bacon, and has a more full-on flavour than insipid bacony rubbish. You don’t need as much in your dish, and it has a more fierce taste that really works well with stronger flavoured Italian greens or cheeses. I hadn’t cooked it before. It comes in a piece, a bit like spec (specula? that bacony-type thing), sort of like the bit of bacon rashers that’s not the eye. Well, the piece I bought was. It’s darker than bacon, keeps for aaaaages, is kind of greazy but is harder than bacon. I guess it’s cured for longer. One piece cost me $4 (or 6, I forget) and lasted me 2 dinners. Dunno how much it weighed.
The local parmesan is stinking out the fridge.

benny goodman the vampire slayer


Today I picked up the complete RCA Victor Benny Goodman small group recordings (3 cds, $45, see ya later DJing money) and it ROCKS. I love early Benny Goodman so much. And this trio and quartet stuff makes me want to weep with joy. I also really really like the Sextet stuff, but, well, they’re not on this awesome collection. It really rocks: Lionel Hampton on vibraphone (!! I LOVE Hamp a crazylot), Gene Krupa on drums, Teddy Wilson on piano and Goodman on clarinet (of course). This stuff was so radical and amazing at the time – musically it was unique and exciting, socially the group was way radical, with 2 black doods and 2 white in the one band, on stage together, at a time when segregation was legally enforced in much of the USA. We’re talking about the 30s here, and the group were edited out of the films they starred in for films screened in the south of the US.
Musically, it’s fascinating stuff. The way those doods work together is awesome.
Yeah, so I’m loving this set. I was describing its wonderfulness to The Squeeze here, while he lay under the chenille bedspread reading a book about computers and I counted bpms: it’s a nicely packaged set, with nice black and white photos of the band. Krupa and Hamp are grinning like crazy people and Goodman and Wilson are more reserved. There are even photos of the band on the cds. Which prompted The Squeeze’s statement “like Buffy. Benny Goodman the vampire slayer.”
Well, I guess so. Into each generation a chosen one is born.

variety show

Name – Artist – Album – BPM – Year
Fine Brown Frame – Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra – Walk ‘Em – 113 – 1945
Undecided Blues – Count Basie and His Orchestra with Jimmy Rushing Cutting Butter – The Complete Columbia Recordings 1939 – 1942 (disc 03) – 120 – 1941
Spinnin’ The Webb – Chick Webb and his Orchestra – Stompin’ at the Savoy – 134 – 2002
Don’t Falter At The Altar – Cab Calloway Are You Hep to the Jive? – 138 – 1994
Jersey Bounce – Benny Goodman and His Band – Benny Goodman the Collection – 137 – 2004
Shoutin’ Blues Count Basie and His Orchestra Kansas City Powerhouse 148 1949
I Love Being Here With You – Ernestine Anderson – 135
Bli-Blip – Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – Live in Swing City: Swingin’ with Duke – 134 – 1999
Nice Work If You Can Get It – Sarah Vaughan – Ladies Sing the Blues (volume 1) – 145 – 2000
Love Me or Leave Me – Jennie Löbel and Swing Kings – He Ain’t Got Rhythm – 128 – 2001
Every Day I Have The Blues – Count Basie – Breakfast Dance and Barbecue – 116 – 1959
C-Jam Blues – Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Live in Swing City: Swingin’ with Duke – 143 – 1999
Shufflin’ And Rollin’ – Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra – Walk ‘Em – 153 – 1952
Four Or Five Times – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – Tempo and Swing – 189 – 1939
Apollo Jump – Lucky Millinder – Apollo Jump – 143
Lavender Coffin – Lionel Hampton, etc – Lionel Hampton Story 4: Midnight Sun – 138 – 1949
Be Careful (If You Can’t Be Good) – Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra – Walk ‘Em – 121 – 1951
Til My Baby Comes Back – Ella Johnson with Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra – Walk ‘Em – 118 – 1952
Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby? – Dinah Washington – The Swingin’ Miss “D” – 140 – 1956
Blues In Hoss’ Flat – Count Basie – Big Band Renaissance Disc 1 – 142 – 1995
Till Tom Special – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – Tempo and Swing – 158 – 1940
Flying Home – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – Lionel Hampton Story 2: Flying Home – 197 – 1942
Tippin’ In – Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra – Tuxedo Junction – 144 – 1942
For Dancers Only – Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra – Swingsation – Jimmie Lunceford – 154 – 1937
That’s my set from last week (Thurs 11th May, first set, 8.30-10pm). It went down a treat. After analysing it in painful detail here, I notice how frequently I repeat myself. So I played a total of 24 songs. Four were by Basie, 4 by Buddy Johnson (of the one album, no less), 4 were by Lionel Hampton. That’s scary. 12 songs by only 3 artists. I mean, I did wander all over their careers with these jobbies – they’re not all from the one year or anything. But still. I need more variety.
HA.
That issue of variety has been cropping up on Swing Talk a lot lately, mostly from a couple (literally 2) of dickheads demanding we play ‘more variety’. By variety they mean Royal Crown Revue