Haisai Ojisan

Hifana are OK, I probably would have loved them in 1997. Those are surprisingly chesty sea nymphs in the video, but I suppose there are allowances to be made when dealing with mythological creatures. You should see the pantheon of ancient gods worshiped here at Blonde & Precise, what a gang of tramps. I dig this song mostly because it samples Okinawan troubadour Shoukichi Kina. More arty good times (on advertising dime) live here.

Frankly more interesting work along similar lines was done (to death) by Tadanori Yokoo in the 60s, whose website is irritating enough to make me want to finish this post and go get some more coffee.

Something Great, Surprisingly

There's a lot to dislike about LCD Soundsystem. The NY pretension, that dude's hairy face and insistence on wearing jackets with t-shirts, the boring backstory, and more than anything the vastly overrated catalog. So it's with some hesitation that admit that I like this song, and several other songs from this record. Damn. No way I'm posting a picture of dude though, so I just ran with old reliable, the venerable stag beetle.

"Armed With Trombone"

I've been on a big Willie Colon kick of late, having recently copped one of the Fania reissues, Siembra, with Ruben Blades. Classic NY salsa style, with a little disco throw in for good measure. The Colon track "La Murga," which the Internet translates as "The Murga," is a true heater, and may be recognizable to some as the sample from the Rawkus Lyricist Lounge track track "CIA," which featured KRS and Zack from Rage Against the Machine. Also someone named Last Emperor. I remember really liking this track when it came out, but outside of a rather hot beat and the unflappable Chris Parker, it's not aged so well. None of this should be taken as an endorsement of any contemporary Rawkus releases.
Willie Colon - "La Murga"

KRS One, Zach de la Rocha & Last Emperor - "CIA"

King Kamehameha

So, we've established that anime is lame, correct? I hate that shit. If you're a grown American man and you're professing your love of Naruto, you are a weirdo. And don't get me started on big-eyed anime porn, that's even creepier. I don't care how many 16th century woodblock prints you cite, you are a nutjob. Please don't talk to me.

Anyhoo, it goes without saying that crazy genius films like Lupin III or Tokyo Godfathers are in a totally different category. I also will admit a certain affinity for the things I enjoyed as a kid, like Battle of the Planets, or my boy Goku from Dragonball circa 1986. Which is why I bring all this up. Because there's a brass band covering the original Dragonball theme song. This will be interesting for maybe six people, which pretty much sums up our readership here at B&P. Actually, it's not even interesting to me. I'm out of here.

Gatchaman

Goku Comes Alive

Wheels

I got a new bike. For some reason I got it into my head that I needed a bike that folded, and that I was going to take it on business trips and pedal around Berlin and Shanghai like the urbane little world traveler I purport to be. Thus far I have not folded it except to show people that it can fold. It's like my genitals that way - sometimes I take them out just to prove that they still exist, but their functionality is otherwise irrelevant. A real crowd-pleaser. Dan Carr says this bike makes me look even more like a community college professor from New England.

Meat Mafia

Since its birth in 1994 there has been one organization secretly pulling the strings that influence the way this country is run. It's hard to say how deep that influence goes or how far they will go to maintain it for they follow strict rules of conduct that swear them to secrecy. Many who have crossed them have not lived to tell of it. I risk my very life to bring you this posting. Pull the wool from your eyes! Don't let them control you any longer!

Cholly

The kind folks over at Afropunk have made a trailer for what looks to be a fictionalization of their excellent (if a bit long) documentary, with the snappy title White Lies, Black Sheep. Their latest email blast contained an embedded thing that didn't work, so I went with an image of perennial favorites, Fishbone.

Tough Crimes, Silly Alliance

Chances of mockery from Lydia - very, very high. tough alliance silly crimes