HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR

Well now then there, Happy New Year from THE SQUID JIGGER'S BALL to all you righteous little Squid Jigger's out there. It's been a sweet fuck all crazy year, hasn't it? Let us hope that 2009 is full of good stuff, boy howdy by golly. With the smell of change in the air, let's hope that happy days are here again. We can dream, can't we? Of course. So, we end this year and begin the new with this fine bubbly sampling of sonic champagne. A good vintage.

SEASON'S GREETINGS

Season's greetings from the folks here at THE SQUID JIGGER'S BALL/BLOG. We wish you and yours a very merry happy joyous festive and righteous holiday season. Very essential.

KEITH RICHARDS TURNS 65

from out there in the ether, by Alice Ritchie:

Rolling Stone Keith Richards turned 65 on December 18th, but he's tight-lipped about any wild party plans he might have to celebrate becoming a pensioner. The legendary guitarist, songwriter and wild rocker will reach the landmark age - more usually associated with gardening and cardigans - just a few months after Stones front man Mick Jagger, who turned 65 in July. "He wants to keep it very private," Richards' spokesman said of his birthday.
Named by ROLLING STONE magazine as the 10th best guitarist in the world, the shaggy-haired star has proved remarkably resilient to a lifetime of drugs, explained by his view that his body was a "laboratory".
Richards toured the world with the Stones last year, and continues to release music, although his image as a hell-raiser was nuanced by his recent appearance in an advertisement for upmarket luggage maker Louis Vuitton.

But the myth surrounding him remains strong, reinforced by tales of him falling out of a coconut tree in Fiji in 2006, reports that he snorted his father's ashes with cocaine and, for younger fans, his reincarnation as Johnny Depp's character Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.


Born on December 18, 1943 in Dartford, east of London, the young Richards was initiated into the world of the blues by his mother.
In 1960 he caught up with Jagger, an old primary school classmate, and with Brian Jones they formed Rolling Stones, named after the Muddy Waters song. Having built up a dedicated following, the band swept to international prominence with the release of (I can't get no) Satisfaction. Richards, who wrote the track, said the song's signature guitar riff came to him in the middle of the night. With the talent came turmoil.

As the Stones' success grew, so did their reputation as hell-raisers, with riots breaking out at many gigs as well as numerous drugs episodes involving Richards and Jones, who drowned in his swimming pool in 1969.
Speaking to Esquire magazine this year, Richards was asked about his intake of cocaine, to which he replied: "After the first maniac year of taking it, my intake of cocaine was, yeah, once after a meal."
In 1967, a now legendary drugs bust at Richards' London home saw both him and Jagger given jail terms, although the guitarist's sentence was quashed on appeal and Jagger's was reduced to a conditional discharge. For Richards, this marked only the beginning of his close relationship with drugs, epitomized by his remark:
"My body was sort of a laboratory. I wanted to see what I could do with it." His partner in much of this was Anita Pallenberg, the ex-girlfriend of Brian Jones with whom he had three children, although one died as an infant. He had two others with Patti Hansen, whom he married on his 40th birthday in 1983.

In 1977, Richards was arrested for possession of heroin in Canada and in return for clemency, he and Pallenberg entered rehabilitation. Part of the deal was a free Stones concert. But the respite from drugs was brief, with Richards later remarking: "I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police." After the Canadian episode, the Stones returned to prominence in 1978 with what many considered their best album so far, SOME GIRLS.

But in the early 1980s, Jagger moved the group towards a more modern pop sound, which Richards opposed. The future of the Stones seemed rocky when, in 1985, Jagger launched a solo career. Three years later Richards released his own solo album, the well-received TALK IS CHEAP, although this was not his first venture on his own - he had released a version of Chuck Berry's Run Rudolph Run in 1978. But talk of a break-up proved premature, and the Stones returned with a new album, Steel Wheels, in 1989, which kicked off a massive world tour. Through to the mid-2000s they have continued to produce new music and kept playing live. Richards has since released several songs from his back catalogue and it has even been suggested, perhaps mischievously, that he is planning an easy listening album. Asked in an interview with GQ magazine this year about his dances with death, Richards noted: "There were plenty of times I could've given up the ghost. But it just seemed like such a cheap way out."


Happy Happy Birfday, Keef

THE 5th or 6th ANNUAL CAPE COD CHRISTMAS CAVALCADE FOR THE HOMELESS

Well now Sweet Christmas Pudding, it is that time of year again, THE 5th or 6th ANNUAL CAPE COD CHRISTMAS CAVALCADE FOR THE HOMELESS is a happening this Sunday, December 21 at the Jailhouse Tavern, 28 West Road in beautiful scenic Orleans.

RIP Queen of the Pin-ups

Bettie Page, the Queen of Pin-ups, passed away on 11 December 2008. Naughty and nice, pin-up extraordinaire Bettie Page was hot, is hot, and likely will remain so in perpetuity. She is considered the model of the century. And seriously folks, after watching this video you just can't help but agree:

the official FRANK ZAPPA memorial squid jig

Hey There Squiddies, well now it's been 15 years since Frank Zappa went on off into the great beyond, and all of us at the THE SQUID JIGGERS BALL/BLOG still miss him. So, here is some footage for your mirth and merriment



And for all you Hungry Freaks, here are a few more bits of unmitigated audacity for your dining and dancing pleasure.

THE SJB 12.07.08 Playlist

Ahoy Squid Jiggers Sundays SJB was chock full O' squid. The Mighty Mighty Mike Saari joined in on the back slapping good times that is WOMR's Fall Membership Drive


THE SJB was scheduled to be the last show of the drive, so Mike and I thought it best to take on the whole burden instead of our modest show goal. We let loose a our sonic tin cups and begged for some ching chang, a mere $12,827. However, our modest $200 didn't cover the nut, but we felt that we had at least done our part. And that dear squid jigger's is the whole part of community radio. BIG BIG thanks to the Hazy Daves, Dano, Willie the Pimp, Sponge Bob, Steve from Brewster and everyone else who found some change in the sofa. But, boy howdy did we spin a show anyhows, it goes as follows:
THE SQUID JIGGER'S BALL 12.07.08

We found some real stone cold chestnuts like this here clip of Dee Dee Ramone on the THE UNCLE FLOYD SHOW from 12 April 1991. For the record, this was a late afternoon after school kids show that aired in New Jersey. Perfection.





Hey Hey music freaks and geeks, your friendly neighborhood Squid Jigger here, to give you the 411 on my amigo and fellow WOMR DJ, Matty Dread and his new fatback greasy Blog. Dig the most his hep pearls before swine at MATTY DREADS SOUL FUNKY TRAIN BLOG

RETURN OF THE UKULELE CABARET

The ever righteous Uke-Piker Mary J. Martin-Schaefer and WOMR DJ Host of Mary's Ukulele Show got some press and props on THE NEW YORKER online



The Ukulele Cabaret is back, at a new venue: the Zipper Factory, at 336 West Thirty-seventh Street, which feels like New Jersey after the earlier venue (the back room at Jimmy’s 43, down the street from McSorley’s and Burp Castle, on East Seventh, closed down last May). At the season opener, in November, the hosts, Sonic Uke (a.k.a. Jason Tagg and Ted Gottfried), welcomed back many of the regulars, some twenty-four acts, itching to take the stage after a five-month hiatus. They’ll no doubt be back at the next installment of the Cabaret, on Saturday. There’s D’yan Forest, a seventy-four-year-old stand-up comedian, whose standard is “Thank Heaven for Senior Sex” (after Maurice Chevalier) and whose act sometimes includes penis puppets. Moose Karloff, a performing musicologist, continues his homage to pre-British-invasion American songwriters. Last month, Gio Gaynor did an awe-inspiring heavy-metal uke version of Jimi Hendrix’s electric-guitar version of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” in honor of the election. Of the many women who come out for the cabaret (Dana McCoy, Sweet Soubrette, and this weekend Mary J. Martin-Schaefer, a.k.a. the Uke Diva—she has played her ukulele for the Queen of England), one of the most anticipated is always Jamie Scandal, whose act owes a lot to Mae West. (Last month, she got a request from the balcony: “Could you hold your ukulele a little lower, please?”) Also on the bill this weekend is the excellent Patsy Monteleone, whom all the other players idolize. Last month, it was almost 2 A.M. before Jason and Ted took the stage and invited all the performers up for the finale, their ukulele anthem, “Four Strings or Fight.” This time, for variety, maybe they’ll finish with “Ukuleles of Love.”

The SJB 11.23.08 Playlist

Well now then there Squid Jigger's, the playlist for The SJB from Sunday November 23, 2008 is now available for your dining and dancing pleasure. Save room for dessert,
THE SQUID JIGGER'S BALL 11.23.08

On November 12, 2008 the mighty Mitch Mitchell passed on to a better place (hopefully).His drumming with The Jimi Hendrix Experience was legendary.


And oh my my oh hell yes, since last we hung, had the pleasure of seeing THE EAGLES OF DEATH METAL in Boston at THE PARADISE on November 15th (thanks Kate), a rock 'em sock 'em good time. Catch them when you can, until then here is a naughty bit: