So what's the genesis of this?

It's got me stuffed how they'd get 10 discs of this together. Thinking about who'd buy it is scarier.

The Coop avoids going Under Their Wheels

The English press is always interesting when it collides with rock and roll. The British establishment can never work out whether to embrace rock and roll or claim its corpse has been found naked in a hotel room in bondage gear with a plastic bag over its head and an orange in its mouth. Pity their best music always gets swiped by the Americans.

Here's a sample of reportage from Alice Cooper's recent visit to the UK:

- A crazed English Alice Cooper fan was convicted of assault using a false leg after he bashed a fellow concert-goer who told him keep to his own seat. At least no-one used a (decapitated) bat as a weapon.

- Alice has been reunited with a bag containing 300 horror flicks from his personal collection after it went missing at Heathrow Airport. Beats watching those diabolical in-flight movies.

- The British press (well, The Guardian) has exposed the Coop’s stageshow as a morality play and in true tangental style has told Alice that it’s time to give up. More here. No surprise there. The Guardian doesn't approve of anything much.

First French Woman in Podcasting speaks to Laughing Clown Jeffrey Wegener

Annie from Marseille runs a distinctly Australian podcast. Here's her interview with the drumming maestro Jeffrey Wegener.

Fear (Late At Night) - Exploding White Mice

One of the best things out of Adelaide in the '80s. If you click through to the actual YouTube site you can read some entertaining comments. The one about the Hilton Hotels staff Xmas party is especially good.

Mickey Leigh speaks

Mickey Leigh was Joey Ramone's brother and member of his own bands like Stop and was a guitar sideman to Lester Bangs in the writer's combo, Birdland. He still looks after Joey's interest, organising the annual Birthday Bash.

He'll be releasing a book about his life as a brother to a Ramone late in 2009. It may cause some ripples judging scuttlebutt over the years. Mickey and his mum, Charlotte, always seemed to be at odds with various surviving Ramones.

Read more in this interview here.

Dee Dee book goes to court

Ex-Ramones manager tries to block publication of Vera Ramone's book about her late ex-husband Dee Dee? Another day in the continuing (after)life of the Bruddas. It's breaking news and you can read it here.

Hitler finds out Michael Jackson has died.

You expected something serious? Sorry, the guy sold millions of albums but quantity does not always equate to quality.

Danny Fields tells tales

Jim Morrison was an asshole whose bandmates had nightmares because they were worried he was still alive...Jim Osterberg lost his looks and tried to get him sacked...

Uber-starmaker Danny Fields reflects on his rich past in music in the first of a two-part interview at Thirsty Media's e-presence here.

Various Artists - Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968 (Boxed Set) - at Rhino

Coming down the pipeline: Various Artists - Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968 (Boxed Set). There are some sound samples there and the full track listing (which they've omitted) is:

Disc 1: On The Strip
1. “Riot On Sunset Strip” — The Standells
2. “You Movin’” — The Byrds
3. “You I’ll Be Following” — Love
4. “Dr. Stone” — The Leaves
5. “Go And Say Goodbye” — Buffalo Springfield
6. “Zig Zag Wanderer” — Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
7. “Gentle As It May Seem” — Iron Butterfly
8. “Candy Cane Madness” — Lowell George & The Factory
9. “If You Want This Love” — The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
10. “Baby My Heart” — The Bobby Fuller Four
11. “All Night Long” — The Palace Guard
12. “It’s Gonna Rain” — Sonny & Cher
13. “For My Own” — The Guilloteens
14. “Take A Giant Step” — The Rising Sons
15. “One Too Many Mornings” — The Association
16. “Time Waits For No One” — The Knack
17. “Take It As It Comes” — The Doors
18. “Pulsating Dream” — Kaleidoscope
19. “Tripmaker” — The Seeds
20. “The People In Me” — The Music Machine
21. “Saturday’s Son” — The Sons Of Adam
22. “Eventually” — The Peanut Butter Conspiracy
23. “Swim” — Penny Arkade
24. “The Third Eye” — The Joint Effort
25. “Girl In Your Eye” — Spirit

Disc 2: Beyond The City
1. “Jump, Jive & Harmonize” — Thee Midniters
2. “Back Up” — The Light
3. “To Die Alone” — The Bush
4. “Get On This Plane” — The Premiers
5. “Little Girl, Little Boy” — The Odyssey
6. “Hideaway” — The Electric Prunes
7. “Listen, Listen!” — The Merry-Go-Round
8. “She Done Moved” — The Spats
9. “Grim Reaper Of Love” — The Turtles
10. “See If I Care” — Ken & The Fourth Dimension
11. “He’s Not There Anymore” — The Chymes
12. “Back Seat ‘38 Dodge” — Opus 1
13. “Eternal Prison” — The Humane Society
14. “Revenge” — The Others
15. “Come Alive” — Things To Come
16. “Acid Head” — The Velvet Illusions
17. “Guaranteed Love” — Limey & The Yanks
18. “Love’s The Thing” — The Romancers (aka The Smoke Rings)
19. “Underground Lady” — Kim Fowley
20. “Pretty Little Thing” — The Deepest Blue
21. “You’re Wishin’ I Was Someone Else” — The Whatt Four
22. “Hippy Elevator Operator” — The W.C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band
23. “That’s For Sure” — The Mustangs
24. “Tomorrow’s Girl” — Fapardokly (Merrell & The Exiles)
25. “Everything’s There” — The Hysterics
26. “Our Time Is Running Out” — The Yellow Payges

Disc 3: The Studio Scene
1. “Action, Action, Action” — Keith Allison
2. “The Rebel Kind” — Dino, Desi & Billy
3. “High On Love” — The Knickerbockers
4. “Fan Tan” — Jan & Dean
5. “Halloween Mary” — P.F. Sloan
6. “Somebody Groovy” — The Mamas & The Papas
7. “Daydreaming” — Thorinshield
8. “Just Can’t Wait” — The Full Treatment
9. “Yellow Balloon” — The Yellow Balloon
10. “The Times To Come” — London Phogg
11. “No More Running Around” — The Lamp Of Childhood
12. “Little Girl Lost-And-Found” — The Garden Club
13. “Mothers And Fathers” — The Moon
14. “My Girlfriend Is A Witch” — October Country
15. “Montage Mirror” — Roger Nichols Trio
16. “Flower Eyes” — Pasternak Progress
17. “Come Down” — The Common Cold
18. “Jill” — Gary Lewis & The Playboys
19. “Daily Nightly” — The Monkees
20. “Night Time Girl” — Modern Folk Quintet
21. “Don’t Say No” — The Oracle
22. “Tin Angel (Will You Ever Come Down)” — Hearts And Flowers
23. “Rainbow Woman” — Lee Hazlewood
24. “Poor Old Organ Grinder” — Pleasure featuring Billy Elder
25. “Baby, Please Don’t Go” — The Ballroom

Disc 4: New Directions
1. “Sit Down I Think I Love You” — Stephen Stills & Richie Furay*
2. “Splendor In The Grass” — Jackie DeShannon with The Byrds
3. “November Night” — Peter Fonda
4. “Roses And Rainbows” — Danny Hutton
5. “Lemon Chimes” — The Dillards
6. “Here’s Today” — The Rose Garden
7. “I Love How You Love Me” — Nino Tempo & April Stevens
8. “Words” (Demo) — Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart*
9. “(You Used To) Ride So High” — The Motorcycle Abeline (Warren Zevon & Bones Howe)
10. “Los Angeles” — Gene Clark
11. “Once Upon A Time” — Tim Buckley*
12. “Darlin’ You Can Count On Me” — The Everpresent Fullness
13. “I’ll Search The Sky” — The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
14. “Come To The Sunshine” — Van Dyke Parks
15. “Heroes And Villains” (Alternate Take) — The Beach Boys
16. “She Sang Hymns Out Of Tune” — Jesse Lee Kincaid
17. “Sister Marie” — Nilsson
18. “Last Night I Had A Dream” (Single Version) — Randy Newman
19. “Life Is A Dream” — Noel Harrison
20. “Marshmallow Skies” — Rick Nelson
21. “I Think I Love You” — Del Shannon
22. “Change Is Now” — The Byrds
23. “The Truth Is Not Real” (Single Version) — Sagittarius
24. “You Set The Scene” — Love
25. “Inner-Manipulations” — Barry McGuire

*Previously unreleased

Rhino do these things so well, it's likely that this will be an essential purchase.

Allen Klein dead

The ex-Rolling Stones and Beatles manipulator has shuffled off at age 77. Obits are not expected to be warm and glowing.

The Walkman Turns 30 Today

Happy birthday Walkman! Ya got me through some long flights.

Born To Lose

The Lech Kowalski movie about Johnny Thunders has been up on YouTube since late 2008. I used to have a copy of this cut (there are several) on DVD but it was like Johnny - quite fucked up - and would skip. Here's all 100 minutes of it.