I made this when I was thirteen. Gotta say I was pretty cool.

Let’s Push Things Forward- The Streets

Add It Up-The Violent Femmes

Voodoo Lady- Ween

Galang- MIA

The Safety Dance- Men Without Hats

Panda Panda Panda- Deerhoof

Sound is Vibration- Atmosphere

Sweet Troubled Soul- stellarstar*

Caring is Creepy- The Shins

Pink Bullets- The Shins

Daft Punk is Playing at my House- LCD Soundsystem

Dropout Boogie- The Kills

Last Resort- The Dead 60’s

Riot Radio- The Dead 60’s

The Quiet Things No One Ever Knows- Brand New

Say Yes- Elliot Smith

Yellow- Coldplay

The Crown of Love- Arcade Fire

Wake Up- Arcade Fire

Rebellion(Lies)- Arcade Fire

And your soundtrack for the weekend…

Frankmusik ft. Acid Girls – Wake Up **Highly Reccommended

Classixx ft. Jeppe - I’ll Get You

Acid Girls – Lightworks (Harvard Bass Remix)

Modeselektor – Cash

Lazy Ants – Choke Me Spank Me

Metric – Sick Muse (Adam Freeland Remix)

The Kills – Cheap and Cheerful (Bloodybeetroots Miami Bass Remix)

The Proxy – Who Are You (Redial Remix)

Fan Death – Cannibal **Highly Reccommended

Wow, a CD released not only this decade, but this year!!  Lucky my missus stills buys CDs occasionally.

This is one of them supergroup efforts, bringing together the ubiquitous Jack White, the frontwoman from The Kills, a Queen of the Stone Age and some other bloke.

It aint the same as The White Stripes, if nothing else because of the predominance of female vocals, but also for the full band lineup, and White’s shift off strings to the drum stool.

Despite all that, it sounds pretty familiar.  If you’ve heard White’s James Bond theme, you’ve got a pretty good feel for this.  It’s all very soaring and melodramatic. 

Alison Mosshart has a very strong, full voice and does a decent Polly Harvey impression.  The riffing and basslines are strong.  This doesn’t sound like a little jam session between some friends.  The production levels are right up there. In fact, they might be almost too good, leaving it all little too slick.

There ain’t any true standout singles on here, but So Far from Your Weapon and Rocking Horse stick better than most.

I’m not saying these guys are better than the sum of their parts.  But they don’t embarrass themselves either.

File under: Not quite Best of Breed

i think Music Monday is a twitter thing, but i can’t post music videos on twitter. so that’s what i’ll do here now.

First, I love this song. A lot a lot. The Kills, “Tape Song”

Next up, I really really love this song. Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson, “Search Your Heart”

(PS, that album Break Up is on repeat in my ear-buds lately. it’s so perfect.)

and last, but not least by any stretch is my favorite Chicago band, Van Ghost. this is a little compilation of interview and music from summer 2009, but the first song, “Domino Effect” is my absolute favorite. check ‘em out. they’re lovely. just lovely.

I’m back West.
Yeah, you know that, homie. You know I’m here. I bet you know it.

I’m back West and trying my very best not to act on thoughts of cutting off my own face.

I hate those dumb palm trees, first of all.
Can’t stand this stupid sunshine.
I’m so fed up with those beaches, all the attention whores, the tourists, the crackheads in bikini and the lousy 40-somethings with their ugly glasses, pretending to be great unknown filmmakers.. Fuck all these people.

I’m so damn alone. Even yelled at the maid.

.. Tornado, where are you? .. And how do you do?
.. Tornado, … fuck you..

Just turn off this goddam music, too.
Can’t stand it any longer, too.
Can’t stand anything any longer. Just give me some Bach.
And a whiskey, on the rocks, my dear.

I’m back West and you’re not there.
I’m back West and you don’t even care.
I miss you my little hurricano.. but you don’t know.

… So. Well I guess I’ll only plan on staying in this hotel room foreva, whateva, staring at Sunset and cursing palm trees, crawling in the night and, drunk, screaming your name.

Tornado, you’ll never know..

Slit my wrists over you.
Checked. I have ’till June 29.
The meds wouldn’t be safe being taken after that day. Ain’t it funny?

.. Know, it ain’t..

.. But this, Serenado, .. You’ll never know.

Jealous in my mind are all dead.
I love you so much
Never forget.

this is alison mosshart. she’s a rockstar.

she is my rock-spiration.

worry…
why do I let myself worry
wonderin’…
what in the world did I do

crazy…
for thinking that my love could hold you
i’m crazy for tryin
crazy for cryin
and Im crazy..
for lovin you

dan malam ini the kills menyanyikan lagu itu tepat mengenai tengah hati saya (terima kasih, membantu sekali lohh)… benar-benar bodoh berpikir bahwa saya bisa melakukan ini semua… sudah.. saya menyerah saja

Now Playing: Shinichi Osawa – The One – Star Guitar

Lauren from LNA and I were fast friends. Long before she was the Queen of Tee she has become, we met while I was in between jobs and working at a girly boutique in Brentwood. She was peddling the daintiest lace dresses that I had to buy every style of and still rock hardddd to this day (although I think it’s safe to say that both of our styles have evolved beyond *flirty feminine* at this point!) Anyway, I knew from day one she had great things in store for herself and couldn’t be prouder of the now lusty LNA powerhouse. Hopefully I can shed some light on what makes this designer tick in yet another tantalizing addition to the Designer Proust Series…

CAYSF: Who is your greatest muse? 

LNA Lauren: That changes all of the time. Right now I have a couple. Natasha Kahn of Bat for Lashes, Alison Mosshart of the Kills, and Georgia May Jagger.

CAYSF: What is your main fault?

LNA Lauren: I am such a procrastinator! I cut it waaay to close to deadlines… according to my sister that is. But that’s what deadlines are for right?

CAYSF: What do you do to get inspired?

LNA Lauren: I get really inspired by whatever bands I am currently listening to. Singers make great muses! They always have a really interesting sense of style and I am always inspired by how they put their outfits together.

CAYSF: What 3 things would we never find you without?

LNA Lauren: My Iphone–it’s all 3 in one–phone, camera and Ipod.

CAYSF: Who are your top 3 people’s closets you’d like to raid?  

LNA Lauren: Victoria Traina, Natasha Kahn, and Marilyn Manson- I just know my dream pair of leather pants is in that wardrobe somewhere.



CAYSF: What is your fave piece of clothing and a story behind it of why? 

LNA Lauren: All my white V necks: The staple of my wardrobe and the reason April and I started LNA. A white V neck looks good with EVERYTHING. I mean, you know it’s never going to go out of style.



CAYSF: What are your top 3 fave foods? 

LNA Lauren: Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate

CAYSF: What is your favorite travel destination? 

LNA Lauren: Palm Springs for relaxing and vintage shopping and New York for a fun getaway.

CAYSF: Where could I find you on a random Sunday? 

LNA Lauren: At home! Sunday is my one day where I literally do nothing. I sleep in, go get coffee, and then stay in the rest of the day! Lazy Sundays when it’s raining are ideal =)

CAYSF: What is your favorite motto? 

LNA Lauren: I would rather regret the things I did than the things I did not do. I have no clue where I heard that or when but it has always stuck with me.

CAYSF: Mount Rushmore honors 4 US presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt. If you could add anyone to the mountain, who would it be and why?  

LNA Lauren: Bill Murray! How hilarious would that be?!

CAYSF: Who is your favorite band?

LNA Lauren: Radiohead.

CAYSF: Who is your favorite artist? 

LNA Lauren: Mattia Biagi!

CAYSF: What is a memory that has shaped your career most? 

LNA Lauren: This didn’t really shape my career but it definitely was a moment I will always remember. I once met with a very well known label owner (cant say who it is) to get some advice about starting a clothing line and he told my partner and I that we were probably never going to make any money selling t-shirts. I will always remember that day. We were so new in the business and we saw how harsh this industry can be. I think it opened our eyes and made us work that much harder to make it!

CAYSF:What designer or store would be a dream LNA collaboration?

LNA Lauren: I would like to collaborate with  Browns in London. They really get it and take risks with the buying for that store. I wouldn’t have to play it safe or try and appeal to a mass market. I don’t like designing with restrictions.

Without further ado, here’s some lookbook loveeeee!

eu tinha esquecido de The Kills nas profundezas do meu iTunes.

is actually a euphemism for “catching up,” which is all that’s on my plate today.  Like a month ago, I intended to put up a link to a west coast tugboat blog.  So here it is:  fremonttugboat.

Otherwise, this post comes from scrolling back through fotos I’ve taken (and not used, I think) since late spring 2009.  Try it yourself:  Put up your number of images (your fotos, else’s, your drawings, else’s) and comment on their place in your life.  Go back your chosen length of time, et voila, you have your very own retrospective!

Communication:  nothing fancy here as the deck keeps eye on work and skipper while the skipper pokes head out the window to see and hear.  Makes for clear communication, without which we in any endeavor  face peril.

Community:  it takes a strong bond between several rivertowns and watersheds to build a boat.  If I squint, I see this motely corps of volunteers literally carrying Onrust to the water on their shoulders.    Ok, I squint hard.

Comraderie:  Harold and a thousand other folks have acted as comrades in my life, and I am grateful to you all.  Gracias y merci buckets!

Contentment:  or “peace” if you will.  What matters it that this man is sitting where he finds it;  it matters not that he’s across from a huge oil depot and a dredged waterway allowing ingress and egress for dozens of billions of dollars or ducats of goods each year.  Here he is content.  Like someone I know who spent weeks living beside refinery and tolerating it by imagining the hiss and roar emanated from a pristine jungle waterfall.

Charm:  the Hudson River Valley happens to be a place of profound beauty and it mesmerizes me.  But the eye of the beholder generates a portion of that charm.  Open eyes will find it anywhere and in everything.  A resident of this Valley published THAT BOOK on this date in 1851 . Know which one?  Answer at end.

Curiosity:  the sixth boro is a complex place geographically, historically, … you or I could continue this list.  Here, like anywhere, it seems the more you notice, the less time remains to wonder about all the new things.  What is this cove called over just north of Fresh Kills?  Writing on vessels from foreground to back say RTC1, Crow, Relentless, and Cedar Marina.  Does a road lead here?

More curiosity:  What is this vessel that traversed to the north in front of Bowsprite’s cliff this summer?  What cargo did it transport?  What time warp did it emerge from?

Craziness: since writing about faces as prompted by the Robert brothers tome, I’ve had a blast with this.  This one . . . an orange boar (not bore) with tusks in place of dolly partons.  May some craziness–and a sense of humor about it– be evident everywhere.

Constancy:  1965  Near the St. Lawrence Seaway my father took this foto of a 13-year-old who became tugster.  I was already out tracking down info for the yet-to-be blog back then, way before blogs, digital cameras, computers of the ilk we know.  Some stuff doesn’t change.  Shouldn’t disappear.

It’s unrealistic to stop after a half dozen fotos, but . . . discipline is imposed.

My last post fer a while . . .gone fishing for something.  See you in a few with new tales.  Sindbad calls us to muster.   I tried unsuccessfully to find a Gordon Bok video-version of this, but this and this . . . a nice  innocent feel too.

All fotos, except the ones by bowsprite and my father, by Will Van Dorp.

Moby Dick. Thanks, Herman.  And apropos of nothing in particular except nature, see this video.

. . . actually I wanted to call this “Ida don’t exist,” at least not as a hurricane, as remnant winds tore through the sixth boro in the past 24 hours . . .  I’d guess we saw barely a moderate gale, force 6 to 7?  Dangerous enough, and from the breakers I spotted looking southeast from the high point on the VZ Bridge, seas to take seriously out in the Ambrose Channel and beyond.

But sludge still needs shifting,

ships with prophetic names have to be sent packing,

Mount Salt requires tending,

chemicals transfusions must flow,

contents of many  hundreds of containers cannot be done without.  Bruce A. McAllister escorts.

Danaos Maersk Messologi’s bow watch stands his station, as

only 18 or so hours are allotted to the task.

Robert IV (1975) also has work to do, and so do I.  Ida has mostly blown herself out and that has

all the difference.  Now Odin . . . the ultimate “house” to avoid windage!

And speaking of windage and waves, check this out:  barge La Princesa broke free from Sentry off Virginia Beach while bound from Puerto Rico for Philadelphia area.  Another job for Titan?   Slideshow thanks to Harold and YouTube thanks to Joel.

I’m off gallivanting soon, following Ida downeast, from a distance.  ”If the sun were shining, I’d'a gone today.”

Here’s to three-word sentences:  Ida don’t exist.  Ha!  like “diamonds are forever.” Yeah right.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Weather in the land areas surrounding the sixth boro has been glorious!  This gleaming white stuff from beneath the earth’s crust has not been needed to

melt equally gleaming white stuff that leads to ice and treachery for car drivers.  For now it’s just stockpiled, hugely heaped

on the location on a wet but delightful fest 10 weeks back.

Ever wonder who runs this company and what the history of the area is?  Check out this very informative article.  It even sports a foto of Mr Mahoney, Atlantic Salt founder.

In various places along the coast–like Chelsea MA and Portsmouth NH–there are similar operations.  In Portsmouth, the piles are called the “white mountains,” an allusion to a range a few hours north of that port.

Salt pirates??  Check out this story.

If you haven’t read Kurlansky’s book on salt; check out a summary/review here.  Some info on the salt carrier KT Venture here.  The second foto was taken on Nov. 11,  two weeks or so after all the others;  notice how high the salt mountain of the KVK has grown.

All fotos here by Will Van Dorp.

eu olho essas imagens e me sinto um peixe forad´agua todos os dias , o que eu to fazendo aqui??? quero ir encontrar meus futuros amigos e ver o show do kills…. e vivian girls e dum dum girls e the like hmf!

-god, can you hear me ??

-no, I’m busy!

imagens via flickr

According to ITunes, these are my top 20 most played songs during the past year. I wonder what that says about me?

1. Poison Prince–Amy MacDonald
2. Telepathy–Emiliana Torrini
3. Tomoko–Hafdis Huld
4. Thursday–Askobi Seksu
5. Fuck You–Lily Allen
6. Sun machine–The Shortwave Set
7. Run–Amy MacDonald
8. Torn–Natalie Imbruglia
9. Fucked Up Mind–Hafdis Huld
10. Love At First Sight–Lush
11. Wonderwall–Oasis
12. This Is The Life–Amy MacDonald
13. Run–Snow Patrol
14. Anorak Christmas–Sally Shapiro
15. Tape Song–The Kills
16. Kids-MGMT
17. Waves–Nouvelle Vague
18. Light From A Dead Star–Lush
19. Common People–Pulp
20. Not Fair–Lily Allen

Blood Red Shoes – You Bring Me Down
Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes can make a hell of a lot of noise for two people. Their ‘bang – bang – sing – dance – shout’ quality means that they balance the board somewhere between The Kills and Sonic Youth.

Despite being loud and balshy there is still a danceable quality to their sound along with bags of enthusiasm, energy and a child like playfulness. You Bring Me Down sees the pair at their best. Their earliest single – shows a rawness to their sound with spidery guitar hooks, pounding drum beats and a few “whoa-oh ohs” for good measure.

Listen if you like: The Kills, The White Strips, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey
Also Listen To: ADHD, It’s Getting Boring By The Sea

In the last few years fashion, art and design has pulled us back into our shoulder pads, skinny jeans, and leg warmers. Music saw the come back of 80’s pop stars like Grace Jones, Duran Duran and Spandau ballet. The conspicuous 1980’s busy life that was once advertised with a Filofax is now broad-casted on the mighty Facebook or Twitter. On TV we are now watching the remake of A-team and Knight Rider.

It might just be me but I just find it difficult, at my age, to bring myself to look like a character from “American Psycho” and to my relief, we are now seeing signs of revival of the great period of British liberation.

The catwalk is showing a growing return to chic-ness with sharp shapes like pencil skirt, monochromes and stilettos (which my mum refers to as “encule mouche” or in the queens English ‘Fly f***ers’) Also sharp Kray style suits with Winkle pickers or Loafers. This season, Ben Sherman’s women collection and the opening of their bespoke boutique on Saville Row, reflect the huge demand and the return of the sleek look of the 60’s.

Photography by Grant Squidd

This return to chic in fashion is also echoed in the world of media by movies and TV programs about 60’s icons such as Coco Channel, Audrey Hepburn and Francoise Sagan.

In the Art world we have been spoiled, by The National Portrait Gallery who are exhibiting the works of 60’s influential photographers like David Bailey, Gered Mankowitz and Robert Whitaker, to name but a few. The gallery’s press release quote:

‘This major exhibition explores the leading pop music personalities who helped create ‘Swinging London’ in the 1960s. Over 150 photographs, together with a range of memorabilia, illustrate how the photographic image, music and performance made these pop stars the leading icons of their time.’

Featuring key pop cultural figures the exhibition begins in 1960 with hit groups such as The Shadows and The John Barry Seven. As the decade progressed, early portraits of singers such as Cliff Richard, Adam Faith and Billy Fury were followed by those of bands such as The Kinks and The Who and of course The Beatles and David Bowie.”

Paradoxically, the 80’s enfant terrible of the world of Dance,  Michael Clark bring to the Barbican Theatre, possibly the best thing he has done in years, an outlook on the more Glam rock side of the 60’s and a nostalgic return of his teenage musical icons such as Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.

Personally I found this return to femininity and masculinity pleasing and refreshing after a decade of androgynous grunge and carelessness.

We just have to wait and see what the next revival will be.

Love,

B & H

Beatles to Bowie: the 60s exposed at the National Portrait Gallery: 15th October 2009- 12th January 2010 (www.npg.org.uk/beatles)

Michael Clark Company at The Barbican Centre: 28th October 2009- 7th November 2009

(www.barbican.org.uk)

Sidste uge var der utrolig meget White på programmet i København. Først var der White Sensation arrangementet i Parken (dog ikke noget musik, som har fanget min interesse) og byen blev af samme grund invaderet af mennesker klædt i hvidt.

I slutningen af uge blev det så tid til White inden for rockmusikken – og endda flere af slagsen.

Damp-barnet og den evigt produktive Jack White kom til byen torsdag først og fremmest for at give koncert med sideprojektet The Dead Weather.

Men også for at præsentere dokumentarfilmen Under Great White Northern Lights om White Stripes turnéen i Canada i 2007.

Jeg havde ikke selv billet til filmen, som blev vist i Grand, men jeg har ladet mig fortælle, at det var en ok god film.

Til gengæld havde jeg billet til koncerten i Store Vega, som viste sig at være årets koncertoplevelse – for mig i hvert fald. Koncerten har desværre fået halv lunkne anmeldelser, og jeg er slet slet ikke enig i deres oplevelser af koncerten.

Gazellen og friends fik en virkelig god plads i tredje række foran scenen og havde derfor perfekt udsyn til hele showet. Vi fik alt med – Alison Mossharts spytten på scenen, Dean Fertitas sveddråber under hans intro til Will There Be Enough Water og ikke mindst Mossharts nærmest dræber-agtig panterøjne, som hun rettede mod de mandelig publikummer i forreste række.

Musikken og lyden var stor og så beskidt og skramlet, som man overhovedet kan forestille sig.  De tre mandelige bandmedlemmer er alle sindssygt gode musikere, og Alison Mosshart gjorde det virkelig godt som frontfigur trods det, at hun var uden sin sædvanlige makker Jamie Hince (The Kills). Hun formåede selv at skabe den seksuelle spænding på scenen, som er så karakterisk for The Kills.

Hun hoppede op på forstærkere, vred sig som en slange og havde meget øjenkontakt med publikum. Noget af kritikken har gået på, at hun ikke har en stærk vokal.

Det her er rock, og det er ikke meningen, at hun skal have en fløjsblød stemme á la Lykke Li. Mossharts stemme passer super godt til den her slags musik.

Derudover mener kritikerne, at balancen i bandet var skæv, i det at White selv havde en lidt tilbagetrukket rolle bag trommerne, og når han ved et par af numrene kom frem foran på scenen, så gik publikum amok. Men det er noget fis at sige! At White sad bag trommerne gjorde det bare mere interessant, og hele bandet kom på den måde til sin ret, og jeg synes netop derfor, at balancen var god, og som den skulle være.

Koncerten med The Dead Weather var alt andet end sløset, rodet og middelmådig, som Ekstrabladets anmelder har karakteriseret den. Og det pisser mig af, at en anmelder tydeligvis har en  så forudindfattet mening, at han intet positivt kan sige om koncerten.

Koncerten i Store Vega torsdag aften var så rå, voldsom og fantastisk, at det tog pusten fra mig allerede efter de to første numre. Og som Gaffas anmelder skriver, så var det langt fra “same shit, different city” – man følte, at bandet spillede deres musik live for allerførste gang. De gav den så meget gas, at jeg stadig kan få gåsehud ved bare at tænke på det.

Højdepunkter for mig var b-side nummeret You Just Can’t Win samt White og Mossharts elektriske udgave af Will There Be Enough Water, hvor den seksuelle spænding mellem dem toppede og gav gazellen flashback med glimt af en The Kills  koncert i Lille Vega.

Gaffas anmeldelse: http://gaffa.dk/anmeldelse/35532

Fredagens og ugens sidste “White” koncert bestod af endnu et hypet band, nemlig det engelske White Lies.

Men jeg vil undlade at sige så meget om den koncert, da jeg fik placeret mig et virkelig, virkelig dårligt sted, og det ødelagde stort set min koncertoplevelse.

Og jeg ved, at bandet gav mere end, hvad de nogensinde har givet før (i hvert fald hvad jeg har oplevet de foregående gange), så mine dårlige oplevelser med fulde, fede og virkelig ildelugtende mænd, der blev ved med at skrige ‘ooui ooui’, skal ikke med her.

Koncerten blev filmet og kan – forhåbentlig snart – ses på TDC play Live http://www.vega-tdc-player.dk/index.jsp.

Je vous ferai pas l’affront de présenter The Kills (bon si y a vraiment besoin Wikipédia est ton ami comme d’hab). Juste pour dire au passage que Jamie Hince, qui semble s’être laissé pousser le chapeau en se faisant Kate Mossiser à la suite de Doherty, et Alison Mosshart bossent ensemble sur une nouvelle galette malgré la suractivité de la dame et son side-project avec The Dead Weather qui roule du feu de dieu.

Le Goodnight Bad Morning qui suit est tiré d’une session filmée pour un site juste énorme : From The Basement (c’est par ici msieur-dames). En plus du combo americano-british, la crème du rock y défile pour un, deux, trois morceaux… voire un set de 20 minutes pour The Dead Weather, et on y trouve en vrac et sans exhaustivité (je ne cite que ceux que j’ai déjà regardés) : The Raconteurs, The White Stripes, Sonic Youth, The Fall, Sparks, Seasick Steve, PJ Harvey, Jarvis Cocker, Beck, Albert Hammond Jr ou encore Iggy. C’est vous dire le bonheur…

Watch en HD et fullscreen Via shinjukublack et dispo sur From The Basement (http://www.fromthebasement.tv/home)

“I want you to be crazy baby,
cause you’re stupid baby when you’re sane.”

-The Kills.

Det har varit en hel del skriverier om den nya “supergruppen” The Dead Weather på sista tiden. Bandet består av Jack White (White Stripes), Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age) och Jack Lawrence (Raconteurs). (SvD 1, SvD 2, Expressen)

Jag gillar White Stripes (fantastiska live!) och brukar ta fram min enda skiva med The Kills ibland. Queens of the Stone Age har jag aldrig förstått storheten med och Raconteurs har seglat obemärkt förbi. Men man måste ju göra ett försök! Jag slölyssnar därför på The Dead Weather på Spotify och… ibland svänger det till… Men det är för sällan! Det här är musik som antagligen växer om man ger den tid, men varför ska jag göra det? Det klickar liksom inte från början. Kanske är det så att man måste tycka att musikerna som är med är fantastiska för att lägga ner den tiden?

Jag lyssnar hellre på ett par favoriter med The Kills och White Stripes.

Mer i media: Jack White hyllar Sverige,
Länkar till andra bloggar om: The Dead Weather, White Stripes, The Kills, musik, underhållning, rock,

Being that The Dead Weather is something of an indie supergroup — Jack White (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs), Alison Mossheart (The Kills), Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age), and Jack Lawrence (The Greenhornes, The Raconteurs) — it was naturally a beacon for the press and a hotly anticipated debut. In one regard, the attention will have been worth it; The Dead Weather sound very much like they’d be a tremendous live act. Granted, an album’s song content doesn’t usually change much when it hits the stage (excepting perhaps The Fiery Furnaces), but where it misfires, it can be compensated for with gusto.

Horehound, however, for all its swampy atmosphere and thunderous blues riffage, is actually a bit boring. Where it’s good, it tends to be downright noteworthy, and where it meanders, it gets old fast. There seems to be a chronic lack of spark, as if the group sat back and expected the magic to work itself. Jack White is one of the hardest-working men in the indie rock world, but lifeless tracks like “Rocking Horse” and “3 Birds” make him sound as if he’s relying on nothing more than a vocal track doused with reverb and a net of all-star talent to carry him past unmemorable riffs and melodies. The Raconteurs have very much been a successful outing, as well as The Kills, with their gritty minimalism, and obviously The White Stripes, too, with their reinvented brand of rock and roll; the makings are all there, but the execution falters in some pretty noticeable ways.

“Hang You Up From The Heavens” and “Will There Be Enough Water?” are obvious highlights, but three tracks in, Horehound gives way to “I Cut Like a Buffalo,” its bizarre lyrics a foggy, thoughtless blight: “you know I look like a woman but / I cut like a buffalo.” Vocalist Alison Mossheart has dirty swagger aplenty on most tracks here, so it isn’t for lack of effort on her part, it just seems like the songwriting hadn’t solidified before they committed the songs to tape. “Who’s got it figured out? / left-right left-right got it figured out,” Jack White intones on “Treat Me Like Your Mother,” one of several underdeveloped tracks that didn’t quite make it out of jam territory. Overall, the arrangements aren’t fleshed out enough to warrant anything more than an EP; the band, songs, and album all formulated in under three weeks, and in far more places that one would have hoped, it shows. Not so much a swing and a miss, just a disappointing, watery misuse of copious amounts of evident talent.

The Dead Weather’s “Hang You Up From The Heavens,” from Horehound.

- JB

Reference “Random Tugs 44.”  The first time I saw Lil Rip, I didn’t even take a foto: I was in the Feeney yard on the Rondout, steady rain was creating lots of mud,  and the only parts of Lil Rip visible to me was the house and name.  But that was enough to intrigue me.  Months later, I spotted it a second time:  also in the Rondout dwarfed by almost 80′ of air draft on Java Sea.

On this September afternoon, I took only a few shots before I wrapped my camera in plastic.

A month later, third time to spot Lil Rip, October light and a fresh coat of paint . . . conditions could not have been better.   Wow!  I shot as many fotos as my shore office would allow, homing in on some details like the twin exhausts port side and

and single to starboard.

I put up some preliminary fotos and a question a week ago, and have since learned more, which I’m thrilled to share.  Example:  Three exhausts ventilate three engines, three GM12V-71 engines that generate 1500 hp and spin three screws.  I’d love to see her on the hard now.

Part of Lil Rip began as a 52′ section of Liberty ship being scrapped at the scrap yard of John and Violet Reich.  For a name, they called her Jovi II, combining the first two letters of John and Violet’s names.  Jovi II replaced a smaller boat, Jovi.  Does Jovi still exist?  Jovi II’s twin engines generated just under 500 hp and moved scrap scows up and down the Hudson.

Thomas J. Feeney Enterprises purchaed Jovi II in the early 1980s, repowered and outfitted with bunk room, galley and new pilothouse.  The new name Little Ripper eventually changed to a more manageable Lil Rip.  For some time Lil Rip moved stone scows in the river, but today is used mostly to shift vessels around the yard, with an occasional river tow to Albany or New York, which is where

I spotted her last week, leading to my learning all this new info.  And adopting another favorite from upriver:  Kingston and the Rondout are home to so many interesting vessels.  I’ll take a risk (of leaving someone out) and list them:  Cornell, now all-gray Hackensack, Spooky Boat, Hestia, 1956 Gowanus Bay (former ST 2201 and a major character in Jessica Dulong’s My River Chronicles, 1881 tug Elise Ann Conners, and PT728.    Who did I omit?  The Rondout is a must-visit creek if you’re nearby.

Is Lil Rip the only triple screw on the Hudson?  Is anyone willing to share a foto  of Jovi II?

Thanks to Tim Feeney and Harold Tartell for some of this information.  All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated:  a hearty tugster salute to engineer Tommy Bryceland, working the North Sea aboard Svitzer Milford.  Send me some news and fotos from your part of the waters, Tommy.