DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS

Rich Buckland and Bill Mesnik
  • 4.8 (18)
  • Music
  • Updated Semiweekly

My Fellow Americans, Life is actually just a microscopic, deluded moment in time, so let's cut to the freakin' chase. One look at our impending election debacle can solidify my case. It has been my contention since birth, that the answer to every difficulty we encounter on this sacred yet demented Stone, can be revealed with ultimate clarity through the ultra neurotic engagements of Music, Art, Literature, Film, Poetry and a good Pastrami sandwich. Why would any sane human spend so must time on a film set (Do you know how long you gotta wait until your 8 second deliverance of an edited beyond repair line gets a chance to become a professional embarrassment etched in time forever? ) or expend so much energy in a recording studio, piecing together another ode to a man or woman who could not care less how much love existed within your digestive tract? It's all about hymns and prayers and a quest for mercy and forgiveness and silence and faith. We were blessed with Charles Bukowski,  Gene Chandler, Lenny Bruce, Mitch Ryder and a legion of creative explorers whose influences provided the air we breathe.  So Let's Dance! This site shall explore the reaper, find a way to disarm the stench of injustice, discover some true loves and talk it all over before it's all over. So what's the worst that our desires could produce? Failure? So sue me. I'm going to require your assistance in making as much trouble for the grown-ups as possible. Let the record show that my childish heart yearns to disrupt the madness. Join me Ladies and Germs! With Gratitude For Gena Rowlands, Nancy Sinatra, Jerry Quarry, Leo Gorcey, Arthur Alexander and Joey Heatherton, Your Splendid Bohemian, Rich Buckland.

  1. 1d ago

    IN REMEMBRANCE OF 9/11/2001: MEZ OF THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS PERFORMS HAMILTON CAMP'S "PRIDE OF MAN" - A SONG WHOSE MESSAGE, SADLY, NEVER GOES OUT OF STYLE.

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Pride of Man" is a 1964 song by Hamilton Camp. It is Camp's best-known composition.[1] Rife with apocalyptic imagery and religious language ("Can't you see that flash of fire / Ten times brighter than the day... Shout a warning to the nations that the sword of God is raised / On Babylon that mighty city, rich in treasure, wide in fame... Oh God, the pride of man, broken in the dust again"), the song was written shortly after Camp's initiation into the Subud spiritual movement.[2][3] "Pride of Man" debuted on Camp's 1964 album Paths of Victory, but achieved more notice when covered by Gordon Lightfoot on his 1966 debut album Lightfoot!.[1][4] "Pride of Man" was the opening track on Quicksilver Messenger Service's eponymous 1968 debut album and was released as a single on the B-side of "Dino's Song";[5][6] Rolling Stone described this version as having been "carr[ied] off admirably".[7] Quicksilver Messenger Service regularly performed the song in concert.[1] Gram Parsons' cover was included on the album Another Side of This Life: The Lost Recordings of Gram Parsons,[8] released in 2000 but recorded in 1965 and 1966. The song has been covered by other musicians, such as Tony Rice on Church Street Blues[9] (1983), Ted Quinn on Help Wanted,[10] and Punch Brothers on Hell on Church Street.[11] Camp's version of the song was re-released on the 2006 five-disc compilation album Forever Changing — The Golden Age of Elektra Records - 1963-1973.[12]

    IN REMEMBRANCE OF 9/11/2001: MEZ OF THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS PERFORMS HAMILTON CAMP'S "PRIDE OF MAN" - A SONG WHOSE MESSAGE, SADLY, NEVER GOES OUT OF STYLE.

  2. 4d ago

    "Put on a Stack of 45s" rewind: Bill and Rich peek beneath the banana peel of the Velvet Underground's debut album opening track: SUNDAY MORNING, (VERVE, 1966)

    Sunday Morning, the opening track of the seminal, self-titled VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO, written by Lou Reed and John Cale, and produced by Tom Wilson, was originally created for the Teutonic Chanteuse, Nico, but ended up being sung by Lou. The theme of the lyrics: - "paranoia" - credited to a suggestion made by Andy Warhol, and then realized in dreamlike images by Reed, was brought to shimmering life by the last minute addition of the celeste, played by John Cale.

    "Put on a Stack of 45s" rewind: Bill and Rich peek beneath the banana peel of the Velvet Underground's debut album opening track: SUNDAY MORNING, (VERVE, 1966)

  3. Sep 4

    THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS PRESENT: THE SUNNY SIDE OF MY STREET with THE "MIGHTY MEZ" - SONGS TO MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD - WITCH DOCTOR by David Seville (Liberty, 1958)

    All it takes is one good idea; one spark of Promethean fire to ignite a life-long, multi-generational success. For Ross Bagdasarian Sr., it was a sped up tape recording of a nonsense scat phrase: “Oo-ee-oo-ah-ah; Ting-tang Walla Walla Bing Bang…” Taking inspiration from “Duel with the Witch Doctor”, a volume sitting on his bookshelf, Ross bought a tape recorder and set about creating a silly rockabilly tune, featuring a duet with himself. By overdubbing his voice singing slowly, recorded at 1/2 speed, and then speeding up the tape, he created a high pitched character that charmed the world. The resulting novelty record pulled Liberty Records out of near bankruptcy, selling 1.4 million copies and landing at the pinnacle of the Top 100 and R&B charts. He used the same technique to create the world wide Alvin and the Chipmunks craze which he then parlayed into a number of big records and an animated tv series. After Ross’s untimely death in 1972, the franchise was shepherd by his son, Ross jr. into a raft of hit, live action features running all the way up to 2015. 57 years of popular commercial product from one zany idea. Not bad.

    THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS PRESENT: THE SUNNY SIDE OF MY STREET with THE "MIGHTY MEZ" - SONGS TO MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD - WITCH DOCTOR by David Seville (Liberty, 1958)

  4. Aug 31

    MEZ OF THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS ASKS THE ORACLE: IS IT MODESTY OR FEAR OF MEDIOCRITY THAT PARALYZES ME? WILL MEZ RECEIVE A PAT ON THE BACK OR A KICK IN THE ASS?

    I had a reunion with my box of Oblique Strategies cards today. When I opened the pack the first card that confronted me read: “Don’t be frightened to display your talents.” This started my head to spin with the question: IS IT MODESTY, OR FEAR OF BEING MEDIOCRE THAT GUARANTEES INACTION? “Nothing ventured, nothing gained-“ we’ve all heard this expression. It means that if you don’t try, you won’t ever get what you want. Talent be damned - salesmanship is what gets results. Being mediocre is not a detriment to success, but a lack of determination and audacity is. Chutzpah…. This is the quality that’s necessary, not only for survival, but victory. Be the little engine that could: “I think I can, I think I can…” I guess I’ve been lucky, in spite of my natural tendency towards reticence. The women in my life all approached me first because I was too timid to risk rejection. Getting acting work was the same: I figured my talent would be enough to convince the gate keepers to give me the job, in spite of the fact that I never had a decent agent to set up the big meetings.  No regrets, but what’s next? People have been encouraging me to “get back out there,” professionally and romantically, but, I’m ambivalent, and struggle with my anti-zeigeist desire for modesty in this age of hype and self-promotion. Let’s see what the Oracle has to say? HEXAGRAM 49 (REVOLUTION) with moving lines 1 & 5 HEXAGRAM 62 (SMALL EXCESS)

    MEZ OF THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS ASKS THE ORACLE: IS IT MODESTY OR FEAR OF MEDIOCRITY THAT PARALYZES ME? WILL MEZ RECEIVE A PAT ON THE BACK OR A KICK IN THE ASS?

  5. Aug 28

    "PUT ON A STACK OF 45's"- CHARLIE RICH- "MOHAIR SAM" - The Unlikely Tale Of A Jazz Artist Taken Hostage By The Country Charts - Dig This With The Splendid Bohemians Rich Buckland and Captain Billy Mesnik -The Boys Devote Each Episode To Loving History

    The Agony, Inspiration and Exultation Of Charles Allan Rich -   December 14, 1932 – July 25, 1995.  Never Forget To Remember Such Brilliance.  Enough Said.  Listen In Friends.

    "PUT ON A STACK OF 45's"- CHARLIE RICH- "MOHAIR SAM" - The Unlikely Tale Of A Jazz Artist Taken Hostage By The Country Charts - Dig This With The Splendid Bohemians Rich Buckland and Captain Billy Mesnik -The Boys Devote Each Episode To Loving History

  6. Aug 25

    ISLANDS IN THE STREAM, KENNY ROGERS AND DOLLY PARTON, 1983, RCA. RIP DOLLY

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islands_in_the_Stream_(song) RIP DOLLY

    ISLANDS IN THE STREAM, KENNY ROGERS AND DOLLY PARTON, 1983, RCA. RIP DOLLY

  7. Aug 24

    MEZ OF THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS CONSULTS HIS FINANCIAL ADVISOR, THE I CHING - QUESTION: HOW MUCH SHOULD I BE CONCERNED OR WORRY ABOUT MONEY?

    QUESTION: HOW MUCH SHOULD I BE CONCERNED OR WORRY ABOUT MONEY? HEXAGRAMS: 35 (ADVANCE) / Fire over earth Moving lines 4,5,6 > 8 (SUPPORT} / water over earth I had a friend, Brendan, who used to say when faced with the prospect of being broke: “Money is simply a medium of exchange.” He explained that money is an agreed upon social construct that places a numerical value on various goods and services, thereby simplifying the process from a barter system -  (I’ll trade you some of my chickens for you to paint my house, etc) - to one where you can easily carry pieces of paper, or, computer digits on your phone, that represent your worth. Maybe so, but this theoretical cup and balls illusion will only take us so far. CAPITALISM has run amok, enabling only a handful of billionaires to call the economic shots for everyone. The bubble of ballooning debt for the middle class to achieve even a modicum of financial security has popped, and the multitude of serfs that have, until now, been stoking the billionaire’s coffers, are about to be replaced by a cadre of uncomplaining robots. So, I ask: “What’s a peon to do?  ’Tis a puzzlement,” as Yul Brenner used to say.  Brendan was always broke, but somehow managed to live lavishly, traveling the world on his impish smile and keen wits,. Of course, he had to rely on the kindness of strangers, as well as long-suffering friends for his daily ration of single malt scotch and fine cheeses. But, behind the devil may care pose, there must have been many sleepless nights on the various couches along the precipitous road. So, today, I ask the oracle: How much should I be concerned or worried about money, or the lack thereof?

    MEZ OF THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS CONSULTS HIS FINANCIAL ADVISOR, THE I CHING - QUESTION: HOW MUCH SHOULD I BE CONCERNED OR WORRY ABOUT MONEY?

  8. Aug 22

    "PUT ON A STACK OF 45's"- PRINCE BUSTER - THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF MAN (BLUE BEAT, 1965) - Dig This With The Splendid Bohemians - Featuring Bill Mesnik and Rich Buckland -The Boys dig deep into the Jamaican vinyl crates.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/arts/music/prince-buster-trailblazer-of-ska-dies-at-78.html   Cecil Bustamente Campbell was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on May 24, 1938. He performed with teenage groups in Kingston; he also became a boxer, taking the name Prince Buster. In the 1950s he began working for one of Jamaica’s top producers and sound-system disc jockeys, Coxsone Dodd. By the end of the decade he had opened a record store, Buster’s Record Shack, and was playing street parties with his own sound system, the Voice of the People. He decided to start producing songs as well as spinning them. Jamaicans were listening to, and imitating, the American R&B that reached the island on radio stations from New Orleans and Miami. Prince Buster’s productions were more deliberately Jamaican. His production of the Folkes Brothers’ “Oh Carolina,” recorded in 1959, meshed the traditional Nyabinghi drumming of a Rastafarian musician, Count Ossie, with what would come to be known as a ska beat. That beat, in songs like Eric Morris’s “Humpty Dumpty,” made for huge hits in Jamaica and also had an impact in 1960s Britain. Prince Buster’s instrumental “Al Capone” was a Top 20 hit there in 1965. By the end of the 1960s ska had given way to the slower rocksteady beat, a closer precursor of reggae. Prince Buster adapted, notably with his series of singles using his Judge Dread character. But in the early 1970s he gave up producing music and concentrated on business ventures, including record stores and a jukebox company, and moved to Miami.

    "PUT ON A STACK OF 45's"- PRINCE BUSTER - THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF MAN (BLUE BEAT, 1965) - Dig This With The Splendid Bohemians - Featuring Bill Mesnik and Rich Buckland -The Boys dig deep into the Jamaican vinyl crates.
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My Fellow Americans, Life is actually just a microscopic, deluded moment in time, so let's cut to the freakin' chase. One look at our impending election debacle can solidify my case. It has been my contention since birth, that the answer to every difficulty we encounter on this sacred yet demented Stone, can be revealed with ultimate clarity through the ultra neurotic engagements of Music, Art, Literature, Film, Poetry and a good Pastrami sandwich. Why would any sane human spend so must time on a film set (Do you know how long you gotta wait until your 8 second deliverance of an edited beyond repair line gets a chance to become a professional embarrassment etched in time forever? ) or expend so much energy in a recording studio, piecing together another ode to a man or woman who could not care less how much love existed within your digestive tract? It's all about hymns and prayers and a quest for mercy and forgiveness and silence and faith. We were blessed with Charles Bukowski,  Gene Chandler, Lenny Bruce, Mitch Ryder and a legion of creative explorers whose influences provided the air we breathe.  So Let's Dance! This site shall explore the reaper, find a way to disarm the stench of injustice, discover some true loves and talk it all over before it's all over. So what's the worst that our desires could produce? Failure? So sue me. I'm going to require your assistance in making as much trouble for the grown-ups as possible. Let the record show that my childish heart yearns to disrupt the madness. Join me Ladies and Germs! With Gratitude For Gena Rowlands, Nancy Sinatra, Jerry Quarry, Leo Gorcey, Arthur Alexander and Joey Heatherton, Your Splendid Bohemian, Rich Buckland.

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