Thelonious Monster - Stormy Monday

So the internet is kind of a cool place, sometimes.  I know there's some truly stupid things on it, but music wise it's been one of the greatest things that's ever happened.  Unfortunately it's also one of the worst things that ever happened to music, but I'm going to dwell on the cool stuff.  Like the people I've met.  I don't really meet people here, but then again I'm writing about the records I own, and apparently no one gives a shit about that, but that's okay because I didn't figure I'd have some taste making cash cow here.  In fact, I'm always surprised to see that someone looked at my blog, let alone actually left a comment!  I've met most of the people at Stones message boards, and some of them I've met in person and it's seemed like we've known each other for years.  But there's more people that I actually never met in person.  There was a guy that lived in California named Jimmy Whitley that died earlier this year that I got along famously with.  We traded music, and did a lot of behind the scenes email conversations where we talked about everything but The Stones that was out there to listen to.  Jimmy had drug troubles, so I'm kind of glad I never really met him because that's a scene I don't want much to do with these days.  After a certain age I think you should have pretty much tried everything worth trying that you were going to try, and it's time to lay off the hard stuff and grow up a little.

Jimmy and I talked a lot about bands from our towns.  He was a musician.  He had a lot of talent, but I don't think he had a lot of drive.  He talked a good game and once in awhile he'd send me something he wrote and recorded and it was usually pretty good, but, I dunno.  He just didn't do anything with it.  The thing was, he loved almost all the same dumb things I do.  He liked Speed Racer.  He loved The Stones.  He knew that some music is just better than other music, and being a snob is okay.  He also knew that he lived in a vital local music scene, and it was his job as a fan to tell other people how great it was.  The dude had enthusiasm.  I love that.  One of the bands he was always enthused about was Thelonious Monster.  He emailed me about them all the time and couldn't believe I didn't know who they were.  He said he only had their releases on vinyl, and he'd rip them for me.  I told him not to do that, because I'd find those records here and I'd like them more.  I'm weird like that.  Sometimes if someone just gives me music I'll never get around to listening to it, then I'll hear it at their house, flip out over it and they'll tell me I've had it for two years on a cd they burned me (or long ago a cassette tape - I hate tape).

I think I found my copy of Stormy Weather at a record show, maybe just a couple of years ago.  Jimmy was still alive, but we didn't talk much anymore.  He messed up royally, pissed a bunch of cyber people off and I think he just felt I was one of them.  I emailed him now and then but eventually gave up.  But even though we hadn't talked in awhile, I knew I'd like Thelonious Monster, because Jimmy liked it.  I was right, too.  I think Stormy Weather is a terrific album.  There's a cover of a Tracy Chapman song, For My Lover that I just think is fantastic.  I had no idea she wrote songs I might like that much (I'm not a musician so I never see the full band treatment of a guitar and singer kind of songs potential).  It's just a great cover.  The songs are kind of a garage rock style, I suppose.

Man, I hate that term almost as much as power pop.  It's just Rock N' Roll.  Straight ahead, guitars, bass and drums with a singer.  A song like Real Kinda Hatred is just a little too big to be a garage rock song, and it's too small to be arena rock.  There's just so many great sounding guitars on this album, and singer Bob Forrest makes a good front man, if you ask me.  I don't know why these guys never got any airplay outside of LA (who knows how much they got there?).  These guys are just one of those bands that I get instantly, and everyone else seems fine living without them.  Isn't that weird?  How one person can just fall in love with a band that no one cares about?  I think it's kind of funny.  I used to be the one in my group of friends that almost always picked the music we were listening to (I even played Chicago and Hall and Oates for my friends because they liked them).  Thelonious Monster would have been the kind of band I'd have just tossed on between those two bands, and my friends would have loved them and maybe even bought their records.  But I don't carry that kind of weight anymore, that's for sure.  I think Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood suck left hind tit, so those friends think I essentially listen to some kind of screeching rock that sounds like someone amplified the feeling tin foil makes on your teeth.  I'm not saying I don't listen to some kind of abrasive stuff, but not around other people!

I have one friend who we went to dinner with awhile back and he was telling his wife how he liked to come by the house because he liked the music I play.  She asked what he had heard and I said I thought I had played Scruffy the Cat, Thelonious Monster and Lucero the last time he was over.  She didn't even give it a chance, and just said, "I don't think I'd like that kind of music."  He assured her she would, so we have to have them by for drinks and a few records, I think.  I know I really just rambled here, and if you made it this far, there really isn't much of a payoff.  I was just listening to a record and thinking about a friend, and this is just pretty much were it went.

My copy of Stormy Weather was cheap, I know that.  Easily less than five bucks, and when I pulled it out of the bin the dealer probably wished he had ten bucks on it, because I'd have paid it!  Mine's also nice and flat and pretty quiet.  Thanks for the recommendation, Jimmy!