I still like to keep abreast of what’s being said about my old group. And if it floats my boat sufficiently, I’ll poach it for inclusion here. Case in point: I’ve long toyed with the idea of putting together a “lost album” of sorts, all the various promotional tracks and b-sides released during our Polygram days, but never collected anywhere, and for the most part no longer in print.
This post is for all of you who kept your copy of the first album. I know there are a few of you out there for whom the apparent disparities between Meat Puppets records is no mystery, who were able parse the whole tapestry without feeling betrayal every time we released a new album. There may even be a few of you who wish they could hear more from the first album sessions. Well, your patience has finally paid off: here’s almost an hour of outtakes.
This Saturday, March 31st at 3PM, Pacific Time, internet radio station, LuxuriaMusic.com will debut my new hour-long show, “C’mon! Live A Little.” You can find the station at its web site, http://www.luxuriamusic.com/. You can also find it in the iTunes Radio pane under both “Eclectic” and “50s/60s Pop.” (1.FM – LuxuriaMusic).
Since I am in Phoenix and the station is in Hollywood, the show is prerecorded. In keeping with Luxuria programming, the show focuses on bubblegum, lounge music, obscure rock, jazz, novelties, pure pop and cheesy listening music.
Last week, the new royalty rates for streaming radio stations were announced. A station with 1000 listeners will now have to pay $150,000 a year in royalties. This effectively forces independent webcasters off the air. The worst part: the rates are effective retroactively to the beginning of 2006!
I know we’re all getting pretty tired of the endless debate — you know the one: “since I have a discriminating ear, I prefer the Nirvana version” versus “you fucking fools can’t see the Meat Puppets for the gods they are.” Lately, however, one YouTube denizen who calls himself “Dullsville” has been putting his money where his mouth is, posting whole swatches of classic live performances for the whole world to see.
The Meat Puppets did a lot of upgrading in 1987. We bought new equipment, new vehicles, even a new practice space. We also started buying new costumes. Of course, Cris’ girlfriend had been dressing up her Puppet as early as 1984. But I resisted for the most part (though even I succumbed to the pressure of a goth girlfriend for a couple of months). But while in London in 1987, I willingly visited the famed tourist traps at Carnaby Street and threw down per diem money on some unfortunate fashion choices.
A couple years back, I struck up an email correspondence with a guy named Chris King, who worked for the AAA Auto Club magazine “Car & Travel.” He prodded me to submit a puff piece for publication. Since I’ve logged lots of time in a touring vehicle, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to think his audience might find a few hastily cobbled-together band anecdotes mildly diverting. Chris’ boss didn’t agree, however, and even though the article actually got as far as being formatted for print, the fabled Page 40 wound up with the axe. Chris was decent enough to send me a copy though, along with a modest kill fee. He no longer works for “Car & Travel,” so the whole episode is pretty much a dead issue. I leave it to the readers of this website to contemplate the greater wisdom of the powers that be, who noticed that — in their words — the article is “not funny enough.”
All content © 2007 Derrick Bostrom
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