max abelson's super groovy music video spectacular

fine videos daily:
1960s on mon
1970s on tues
1980s on wed
1990s on thurs
2000s on fri


feat. the beatles, aretha franklin, neil young, dr. dre, will oldham, serge gainsbourg, the kinks, harry nilsson, dusty springfield, the clash, the smiths, al green, rolling stones, cat power, yo la tengo, stevie wonder, antony, wilco, elvis, talking heads, elliott smith, jimi hendrix, r.e.m., ray charles, velvet underground, the monochrome set, randy newman, cure & queen


i write for the nyo, live in nyc, am 25, please email here


"mtv makes me want to smoke crack." -beck


see the archives & a random post


"i just happen to be here, and it's okay." -caetano veloso


"sing a simple song but keep the swing strong." -de la soul


"it took me about three or four weeks to toilet train my cat, nightlife. most of the time is spent moving the box very gradually to the bathroom. do it very slowly and don't confuse him." -charles mingus


"she had a chihuahua named carlos that had some kind of skin disease and was totally blind." -tom waits


"hey there, hey now, well, you can make a pacemaker blink, yeah, easy thing, make a man's heart go bibbity bom like a gentle drum. -john cale


"i’ve still got things inside me, sad things, happy things, that people don’t know about." -loretta lynn


"after cheesecake with all of your friends and family, who's gonna front the bill? me... say you want to take first-class trips, well i want to work those first-class hips. yes i do." -r. kelly


"i'm going to boogie my scruples away." -lowell george


"i drive a rolls-royce, cause it's good for my voice." -t.rex


gotta think straight, keep a clean plate." -joanna newsom


"keep a clean nose, watch the plain-clothes." -bob dylan


"my mother used to tell me about vibrations. to think that invisible feelings, invisible vibrations existed scared me to death." -brian wilson


"i could even find it in my heart to love mike love." -belle & sebastian


"think about something else. was art tatum talented?" - shoot the piano player


"i mean every letter in the words in the sentences of my quotes." -lil' wayne


"lyrics choochoo from my mouth like locomotion." - pato banton


"i'm dealing in rock and roll. i'm not a bonafide human being." -phil spector


"at a certain point phil approached me with a bottle of kosher red wine in one hand and a .45 in the other, put his arm around my shoulder and shoved the revolver into my neck and said, 'leonard, i love you.' i said, 'i hope you do, phil.'" -leonard cohen


"they’d whisper at each other and look at phil and whisper at each other. finally this lady, tanked, comes over to phil and says, 'alright, sonny, what’s your problem?' and he said, 'premature ejaculation, what’s yours?'" -tom wolfe


"he's got a mind like a sewer, and a heart like a fridge" -elvis costello


"i bite my nails and if that fails i go get myself stoned, but when i do i think of you and head myself back home." -gram parsons


"i would say groucho marx, to name one thing, and willie mays, and the second movement of the jupiter symphony, and louis armstrong’s recording of potatohead blues, swedish movies, naturally. sentimental education by flaubert, marlon brando, frank sinatra, those incredible apples and pears by cézanne, the crabs at sam wo’s, tracy’s face." -woody allen

"where have you been all my life?" -
emmylou harris


"the first time i got stoned on grass was with john paul jones of led zeppelin. we'd been talking to ramblin' jack elliott somewhere and jonesy said to me, 'come over and i'll turn you on to grass.' he had a huge room with nothing in it except this huge vast hammond organ, right next door to the police." -david bowie


brian eno songs that will make good book titles for my 10-volume memoir, in order: here he comes, baby's on fire, golden hours, brutal ardour, taking tiger mountain, events in dense fog, through hollow lands, some of them are old, everything merges with the night, dead finks don’t talk


ry cooder albums that every man should own: into the purple valley, boomer's story, paradise and lunch


#1 song on the white album (tie): long long long, happiness is a warm gun


"the only word is love." -john lennon


thelonious monk's middle name: sphere


"really, we don't want people twiddling their goatees over our stuff." -radiohead


"i love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. and mother. and god." -johnny cash


"the moon is clear, the sky is bright, i'm happy as the horse's shite." -the pogues


"i hope that you all out there, young, old, tall, short, fat or thin, quick or slow, no matter what kind or color or shape or person you are, if you like to make music, why, go ahead.” -pete seeger


"but chuck berry isn't merely the greatest of the rock and rollers, or rather, there's nothing mere about it. say rather that unless we can somehow recycle the concept of the great artist so that it supports chuck berry as well as it does marcel proust, we might as well trash it altogether." -robert christgau


mashable.com says about us: "you can expect the unexpected with this awesome gem. groovy." and 33 1/3 says: "it's nice to have someone steer me in a more worthwhile direction."


download albums, see album covers, photos, posters, quotes & 'staches


the olden days: 08 j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d. 09 j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d. 10 j. f. m. a. m. j. j.


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i’m not entirely sure i have the kidneys for it, but this sudden influx of instant netflix john cassavetes films i’ve always been slightly scared to see—from shadows and faces to husbands and then a woman under the influence and opening night—may be one of the best things to happen to heavy, muggy, early-august emptiness in a very long time. i watched the killing of a chinese bookie tonight and think it’ll keep me away from gambling debts and the nightclub industry for a few years. ben gazzara’s grin should be in a museum.

i’m not entirely sure i have the kidneys for it, but this sudden influx of instant netflix john cassavetes films i’ve always been slightly scared to see—from shadows and faces to husbands and then a woman under the influence and opening nightmay be one of the best things to happen to heavy, muggy, early-august emptiness in a very long time. i watched the killing of a chinese bookie tonight and think it’ll keep me away from gambling debts and the nightclub industry for a few years. ben gazzara’s grin should be in a museum.

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basically, the refresh refresh refresh series is the most important franchise since lethal weapon. the third installment isn’t for another two fridays (das racist! the president’s pal!), but i’m so excited i’ve already started thinking about the fourth. put it on your calendars, guys!

basically, the refresh refresh refresh series is the most important franchise since lethal weapon. the third installment isn’t for another two fridays (das racist! the president’s pal!), but i’m so excited i’ve already started thinking about the fourth. put it on your calendars, guys!

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former observer photo editor and renowned mixmaker kat irannejad introduced me to the dreamy, perfect, and short lived late-60s new york city band the left banke a few years ago. but it wasn’t until the other day, when i found their complete recordings on chris goes rock, that i really fell in love. between these afternoon thunderstorms and walk away renée, pretty ballerina, and i’ve got something on my mind (which i now realize jens leckman borrowed from for black cab), it’s going to be a fine sunday.
plus, what a poster! the left banke play a schenactady nightclub in march 1967, when the tickets cost $1.50 and $2.50, minors were allowed into the sunday matinee, and a band named aerodrome—misspelled at the bottom left?—were on the bill, too.)

former observer photo editor and renowned mixmaker kat irannejad introduced me to the dreamy, perfect, and short lived late-60s new york city band the left banke a few years ago. but it wasn’t until the other day, when i found their complete recordings on chris goes rock, that i really fell in love. between these afternoon thunderstorms and walk away renée, pretty ballerina, and i’ve got something on my mind (which i now realize jens leckman borrowed from for black cab), it’s going to be a fine sunday.

plus, what a poster! the left banke play a schenactady nightclub in march 1967, when the tickets cost $1.50 and $2.50, minors were allowed into the sunday matinee, and a band named aerodrome—misspelled at the bottom left?—were on the bill, too.)

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why oh why oh why is this poster not in my apartment on my wall above my bed?

why oh why oh why is this poster not in my apartment on my wall above my bed?

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my very august new york observer colleague eliot brown, whom you may remember from april’s run-in with the cars lead singer ric ocasek, recently turned me onto this online collection of works progress administration posters, which also includes propaganda from both world wars. it is as good as it sounds.
 

my very august new york observer colleague eliot brown, whom you may remember from april’s run-in with the cars lead singer ric ocasek, recently turned me onto this online collection of works progress administration posters, which also includes propaganda from both world wars. it is as good as it sounds.

 

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writing about phish sure is harder than you’d expect. i’m working on a little something about the immensely odd experience of attending last night’s preview of a new 3d phish concert film in brooklyn (though, as the above ‘04 concert poster shows, the band’s serious fans seem to be used to the illusion of colorful and intense images popping out at them). all in all, it was very smelly, very silly, and wildly fun.

writing about phish sure is harder than you’d expect. i’m working on a little something about the immensely odd experience of attending last night’s preview of a new 3d phish concert film in brooklyn (though, as the above ‘04 concert poster shows, the band’s serious fans seem to be used to the illusion of colorful and intense images popping out at them). all in all, it was very smelly, very silly, and wildly fun.

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buckminster fuller ≥ william borroughs ≥ frank zappa ≥ michael x.
or is it william borroughs ≥ frank zappa ≥ buckminster fuller ≥ michael x.?

buckminster fuller ≥ william borroughs ≥ frank zappa ≥ michael x.

or is it william borroughs ≥ frank zappa ≥ buckminster fuller ≥ michael x.?

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neon park, who had the excellent idea of putting a flesh-ripping weasel on the cover of frank zappa & the mothers of invention’s weasels ripped my flesh (and, better yet, a swinging cake and smiling tomato on the cover of two wonderful little feat albums), titled this poster—for a taj mahal concert in a san francisco ballroom—peyote bird.
i hope a real life bird eats peyote one day and designs a neon park at the taj mahal.

neon park, who had the excellent idea of putting a flesh-ripping weasel on the cover of frank zappa & the mothers of invention’s weasels ripped my flesh (and, better yet, a swinging cake and smiling tomato on the cover of two wonderful little feat albums), titled this poster—for a taj mahal concert in a san francisco ballroom—peyote bird.

i hope a real life bird eats peyote one day and designs a neon park at the taj mahal.

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an excellently macho poster for an excellently bony band.

an excellently macho poster for an excellently bony band.

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what the video for summertime clothes really needs is a nice orange elephant who exhales clouds, or pink elephants who hang with blue rhinos and giraffes, or a nice little doll (above) whose eyes emit neon-colored electromagnetic funk waves of goodness and glory. and i’m just riffing here, but remember when the houston rockets’ billionaire vegetarian owner dressed up his cheerleaders in outfits that said ‘animals have rights’? it would be neat if the video featured those gals doing synchronized dance moves with the elephants and eye-wave dolls.

what the video for summertime clothes really needs is a nice orange elephant who exhales clouds, or pink elephants who hang with blue rhinos and giraffes, or a nice little doll (above) whose eyes emit neon-colored electromagnetic funk waves of goodness and glory. and i’m just riffing here, but remember when the houston rockets’ billionaire vegetarian owner dressed up his cheerleaders in outfits that said ‘animals have rights’? it would be neat if the video featured those gals doing synchronized dance moves with the elephants and eye-wave dolls.

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in this weekend’s times, ben ratliff called grizzly bear “extremely cold,” “oppressively ascetic,” “frozen,” “murky,” and “precious,” either because ben ratliff has bad taste in music, or because he likes getting in strong jacuzzis and complaining that the boiling water isn’t warm enough. anyone who watches two weeks’ red balloon video and doesn’t cry (like ben ratliff or, worse, my good friend and colleague leon n.) has no feelings.

in this weekend’s times, ben ratliff called grizzly bear “extremely cold,” “oppressively ascetic,” “frozen,” “murky,” and “precious,” either because ben ratliff has bad taste in music, or because he likes getting in strong jacuzzis and complaining that the boiling water isn’t warm enough. anyone who watches two weeks’ red balloon video and doesn’t cry (like ben ratliff or, worse, my good friend and colleague leon n.) has no feelings.

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they might be giants, april 24th, 1990, $13, minneapolis’ downtown danceteria

they might be giants, april 24th, 1990, $13, minneapolis’ downtown danceteria

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it’s easy to adore adorable bands, and it’s easy to loathe adorable bands, but it’s not easy to loathe adorable posters for adorable bands.

it’s easy to adore adorable bands, and it’s easy to loathe adorable bands, but it’s not easy to loathe adorable posters for adorable bands.

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