modicum

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Wanted: Band, etc.

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All TimeTop Lists

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Yours

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Alternative Radio

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Quotes

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Welcome to the world of modicum. No boundary. No "image," no "marketing," no "branding," no manipulation, no exploitation, no BS. Just channeling the vibrations of the universe: kicking ass with heart and soul and taking no political prisoners. People rule!

Images album covers and "band" photos, or buy t-shirts modicum are: Tom Minkler : everything Tommy Gunn : guitarism Tiny Tom Foolery : free bassing Jefe "the doc" Ritmo : percussing Click a song/clip or see the Lyrics or cover and notes

Raucous soft & sweet sugar i love you more doin' it all for love sun all over oh, judy ana she said, i said seems so different glorify you god is a mirror uno besito contigo rise above hangin' kwan's song beef jerky (the verb) don'ya know idiot that's why it's falling

Rollus hard & long now i know who i am in an angel's hand ez4u2 say terri in the maze word cracker back jack bossa nova jones i'm a whore fill my hole dealin w/my demons kyrie eleison my clock ticks 4U sunrise in the city jiptop jumprin' victim

Described: A music freak and his imaginary friends serve up tasty morsels of delicious crunch laced with elements of punk, hip hop, jazz, classical, noise and whatever. To be continued... modicum:morass Below is the song list from my first "demo" tape (if you can call it that :). Click for sound or check out the lyrics. I'll probably use some of these songs on my first CD.

Click on it to see the full folding cover with liner notes

deliver me my clock ticks for you my heart's in your hands bedbug (undercover lover) come true just wanna rock nina rock don't jump the gun   - (hold your fire) lookin' down fate

don't you want your own the memory of one moment livin' in the riddle oh, judy mother nature's daughter in an angel's little hand eye of the hurricane state of mind mind your own business   (jeffrey dahmer's lament) music of the ages free jam '96

Bio:

Music Style
Anything and everything. Each song should be its own trip. Chocolate-covered chaos, shellshocked sunshine, funkified freakfurters, damaged diamonds, battered beauty, buttered booty and lots of fun for everyone.

Musical Influences
Queen, The Muffs, MC5, Cornelius, Slapp Happy Humphrey, Hot Toasters, the deadwood divine, System Of A Down, Ben Harper, Zep, Scorpions, UFO, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Stryper, Apollo 440, Fatboy Slim, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, Darrell Evans, Pizzicato Five, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Lionrock, God, etc.

Similar Artists
Hopefully nobody; my influences from Queen or the Muffs might show through on some imaginary planet I came from.

Press Reviews
Nobody has heard of us yet, except for the following excerpts:

• "The best band since rolled toilet paper" -Daily Impropriety
• "They don't suck too bad." -Trolling Stone
• "They're nice to listen to while eating gurds and whey." -Little Miss Muffet
• "If I had a choice between eating my own vomit or listening to modicum, I guess I'd listen to modicum." -Swillboard
• "They're no Britney Spears." -Abscess Hollywood
• "Who?" -Proctology Daily News

Artist History
I was born a middle-class white child, true without a clue. After i quit smoking crack i started writing a bunch of songs, then finally made a demo tape on a four-track a few years back. Now i'm just trying to get the right equipment to make them sound as beautiful as they do in my head. I'd like to do it all myself but i might need a singer. I guess that's about it. Oh, previous bands i was in include: Twinkle In An Eye, Pampered, Fussbudget, The Young Crayon-Eaters, The Shrinking Violets, Clueless Youth, The Band Geeks, Teenybopper, The Reborn, So Much For That, Degenerate, White Dreamers On Dope, Regeneration, Higher Power, The Dry Drunks, Free At Last, Fear of Success, How Do They Do It, Who Am I, What Is God, Make Love Not Money, People Rule, All For One, No Boundary. And now i am Modicum: A Contemporary Climax. Let's boogie.

Some other crap about me left over from before i updated this page:

I play guitar and laugh and sing - came to California with an achin' in my heart; also i tinkle on the keys and toot my own saxophone.

I've written hundreds of songs and captured 22 on a tape for copyright purposes. Now i finally got some recording software (it's only Cakewalk) and i'm working on my second batch. Once they're copyrighted, look out. Because when i get a job and a car, and some courage to play in public, i might be dangerous. Step aside, Ted Nugent. The Great White Buffalo has come to make a final stand, or die not trying.

So i took some of the songs to an NAS (National Association of Songwriters) tape-peddling session, but the guest industry reps wanted the songs professionally produced and recommended i should have all these contacts, etc. So if i do all that, what the F do i need them for? Screw it, let's form a band and make our own CDs. R you with me, people? Can i get a wetness?

My Equipment: Ibanez SV470 electric guitar, black with gold hardware Gallien-Krueger Backline 100 combo amp Fender R.A.D. combo amp Crate GX-15 combo amp Cortez 6-string acoustic guitar Crestwood nylon string acoustic guitar (borrowed from my friend Kirk) Tele-Star electric guitar & amp Dugain hand-crafted guitar picks Cymbolic guitar picks Brasilia stone guitar picks VOX Wah-Wah Zoom 505 Multi-effects processor Kimball Upright Acoustic Piano - Anyone near L.A.want to buy this?  Yamaha Alto Saxophone bought around 1973 Washburn 4-string banjo (originally owned by my grandparents) Hohner MS Blues Harp harmonica (which I can't play yet either :) Boss DR-5 Dr. Rhythm Section drum machine Tascam Porta-07 Mini-studio 4-track recorder Dell Dimension 4600 computer Cakewalk recording software with FruityLoops Express Reason Adapted for M-Audio M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound card Klipsch Promedia 2.1 THX Speakers

Check out these links to some cool L.A. musicians: Age Beeka Barry Holdship Javelin Kelda Pedro's Blue Bongo is a great entertainment venue in the Arts District of downtown Los Angeles. Al's Bar R.I.P.

Wanted

Bandmates Wanted

Please help me find this stuff!

Juana Molina from Argentina has i think 2 CDs out (also a song, "Rara," which is the title of her second CD and is on the Star Maps soundtrack, which I have). When i called MCA, who was supposely the distributor, they didn't know what the hell i was talking about. KCRW played her quite frequently for awhile (this was a few years ago) but they didn't know anything either. What i heard was awesome. And i can't find a thing on the Internet. Yeehaw! I found her at Gourmet Musical from Argentina and bought her second two CDs Segundo and Tres Cosas (haven't found Rara yet, they are out of stock).

A song i heard around 1982 (but could be a lot older) on a diverse college radio station. It countained a line something like "I saw your picture/in the magazine/I was so ashamed" and the singer sounded like a mixture of Lou Reed and David Bowie with maybe some Humpty thrown in. The song was in somewhat of a slow but stately 4/4, with a bassline descending maybe a step each measure (not all that different from the verses to "Hold On Loosely" by 38 Special). In the background there were arpeggiated trumpet (maybe synth) fanfares. Anyone?

A punk song from before at least 1985, possibly titled "Beat Up A Punk," containing the following lines: They're all a bunch of rednecks, [looking?] for fucking fags/Those beady little eyes of yours would make great punching bags/They beat me quick and bloody, said "You know that punk is dead"/They asked me what i thought of that/"Fuck off" is all I said. Woohoo! Some cool guy emailed me and told me this song is called "Broken Bones" and it's by a band called The Freeze! Thanks dude! (I had posted a "thanks for the info" here, but i must have overridden this page with an older version when i got my new computer and now i can't find the guy's email or name. Fuck. There are just too many damn details to take care of. How do people even live?)
Hear or download this mp3 soundclip

A comedian who tells quirky stories a French accent, accompanied by a ukulele, humming and surf sounds in the background, as if you were in Hawaii. Stories include: A jazz band who find the muse and get hooked on heroine, a pilot and stewardess getting into an argument while their plane crashes into a mountain, a surgeon taking out a man's spleen in a shack in the jungle, and maybe even a story about a gorilla or a man who cuts off his own penis. A quote from the spleen operation: "And then, we take off the anesthesia, and the man, he come back. And he wake up, and he say "where is everybody? I'm blind!" And we say, "No, no, no, you're not blind - the lights just went out." And he said, "Oh, you're probably right." And, um, but he didn't live."  I heard this on KCRW (L.A. public radio) a few years ago (1996-7?), i think played by DJ Warren Kalodny, who if i'm not mistaken killed himself(?) so i don't think I'll ever find out who this guy is. I've been asking around, to no avail. This shit is so hilarious; i have to find it!  HELP!
Hear or download this mp3 soundclip

Soundtrack from the movie Nightwatch (or the song Pain or the artist who performed it on the soundtrack). I've since found a song titled Pain, which is by Hinge and appears on their CD "The Darker Side Of Nonsense" (may be a re-release from 1995). This might be it, but if not it kicks ass anyway!

Cud single with B-side Queen cover

All-Time Top Lists

See more extended lists on my All-Time Best lists page, including:
The Best 150 Albums of all time.
The Best 250 Songs of all time (according to me).
The Best 1000 Songs (or so), alphabetized by category

Top 60 Albums of All Time Impossible to assign an exact order. Also, to fit more in I grouped albums together by artist. 1. Queen - Queen I, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night At The Opera, A Day At The Races, News Of The World, Jazz, The Game 2. MC5 - High Time 3. Led Zeppelin - I, IV, Physical Graffiti 4. Scorpions - In Trance, Tokyo Tapes, Lovedrive 5. UFO - Strangers In The Night 6. Eagles - Hotel California 7. Boston - More Than A Feeling 8. Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell 9. Van Morrison - Moondance 10. The Muffs - The Muffs, Blonder and Blonder, Hamburger 11. Deep Purple - Live In Japan 12. Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien, Time Machine 13. Journey - Infinity 14. Bad Company - Bad Company 15. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 16. Billy Joel - The Stranger 17. Van Halen - I, Diver Down 18. Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs, Victims Of The Fury 19. Santana - Caravanserai, Supernatural 20. Lauren Hill - The Miseducation Of Lauren Hill 21. AC/DC - Highway To Hell, Back In Black 22. Marisa Monte - Mais 23. Billy Bragg - Workers Playtime 24. Cornelius - Fantasma, 69/96 25. Green Day - Dookie 26. Darrel Evans - Freedom 27. Triumph - R&R Machine, Just A Game, Allied Forces, Thunder 7 28. Rockpile - Seconds of Pleasure 29. Pretenders - Pretenders 30. Stryper - To Hell With The Devil 31. Rainbow - Down To Earth, Final Vinyl, others 32. Styx - Grand Illusion 33. Jesus Christ Superstar Soundtrack 34. Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack 35. Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac, Rumours 36. Allman Brothers - Brothers And Sisters, Eat A Peach 37. Rolling Stones - Some Girls 38. Bob Seger - Stranger In Town, Live Bullett 39. The Knack - Get The Knack, But The Little Girls Understand 40. The Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bullocks 41. The Cars - The Cars 42. The Who - Who Are You? 43. Delinquent Habits - Tres Delinquentes 44. Radiohead - Pablo Honey 45. Smashing Pumkins - Pisces Iscariot, Siamese Dream 46. Chris Thomas - Simple 47. Jackson Browne - Running On Empty 48. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes 49. Wet Willie - Manorisms 50. Trooper - Thick As Theives 51. ZZ Top - Fandango, Tres Hombres, Tejas 52. Apollo 440 - Don't Get High On Your Own Supply 53. Urban Creep - Sea Level 54. Guns And Roses - Appetite For Destruction 55. Keb 'Mo - Keb 'Mo 56. Eddie Money - Eddie Money, No Control 57. Miss Angie - 100 Million Eyeballs 58. Roni Size - Reprazent 59. Ted Nugent - Double Live Gonzo 60. Aerosmith - Aerosmith, Toys In The Attic Added since the year 2000: Los Lonely Boys - self-titled Sigur Rós - Agætis byrjun Nellie Furtado - Whoa, Nellie! Eva Cassidy - Live at Blues Alley, Songbird U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind Baha Men - Who Let The Dogs Out

The Best 70 Songs You Never Hear Not that you've never heard these, but I had to shorten the list somehow. Also it was impossible to assign an order so I listed them alphabetically (by first name).   Anthrax - A.I.R. Barry Holdship - From The Outside Looking In, Words Of Wisdon, It Hurts To Be That Way, Hang Me Out To Dry The Beat - Rock And Roll Girl  Beck - Fume Ben Harper - I'll Rise, Ground On Down, Faded, Homeless Child, Number Three, Glory & Consequence, Mama's Trippin', Less, Burn To Shine, Forgiven Big Wu - Kangaroo Billy Joel - Summer Highland Falls Billy Mann - Beat Myself Up, Mary On My Mind Bloodgood - Messiah Blue Oyster Cult - Last Days Of May, 7 Screaming Dizbusters, Redeemed (not to mention "Cities On Flame") Choirboys - Run To Paradise Daisy Chainsaw - Love Your Money Danzig - How The Gods Kill Dar Williams - Alleluia; The Baby Sitter's Here; Teenagers, Kick Our Butts Darrell Evans - So Good To Me, You Bless Me, Freedom Dave Alvin - King Of California De La Soul - Eye Know Delinquent Habits - If You Want Some, When The Stakes Are High Dougie MacLean - Caladonia Duke Daniels - Following A Star Durutti Column - The Rest Of My Life, Blue Period Earth Wind & Fire - I'll Write A Song For You  Eddie Reader - The Exception Eels - Last Stop This Town Fantastic Plastic Machine - Theme Of Luxury, You Must Learn All Night Long, mpf (Mezzo Pianoforte), S'il Vous Plait  G. Love And Special Sauce - Numbers G.E. Smith - Fattnin' Frogs For Snakes, Forgotten Songs His Majesty - Walk With Me Hot Toasters - Fish And Doctor, Yukiwatari, Milk India - Nunca Voy A Olvidarte, Vivir Lo Nuestro (w/ Michael Anthony) Iris DeMent - Sweet Is The Melody, The Shores Of Jordan, My Life Jackson Browne - Ready Or Not Jefferson Starship - Fading Lady Light  Jill Sobule - Merry Christmas From The Family John Hiatt - Radio Girl Jurassic 5 - Lesson 6: The Lecture, Swing Set Karl Hendrix Trio - Some Girls Like Cigarettes, It Could Be A Miracle (Parts One and Two), If This Song Was A Cigarette, How's The Cat? Keali'i Reichel - Kauanoeanuhea Knack - That's What The Little Girls Do, I Want Ya, Hold On Tight And Don't Let Go, It's You The Kry - Our God Reigns  L.L. Cool J. - Crossroads La Mosca Tse Tse - Para No Verte Mas Lauren Hill - To Zion Little Queenie And The Percolaters - My Darlin' New Orleans  Love Jones - Whiskey, The Moon And Me Lyndal's Burning - Don't Know Why Mary Chapin Carpenter - This Shirt, Something Of A Dreamer Maurício Periera - Imbarueri, Wanda MC5 - Poison, Over & Over, Skunk (Sonically Speaking) Mecca Normal - I Walk Alone Meredith d'Ambrosio/Hank James Duo - Christmas Waltz Mike Watt - Against The 70s, Drove Up from Pedro, Piss-Bottle Man, Sidemouse Advice, Maggot Brain Muffs - Lucky Guy, Every Single Thing, Agony, On And On, and the rest of the first two CDs Nancy Wilson - Kathy's Song Nils Lofgren - Across The Tracks Odin - Shining Love Pink Floyd - The Gunners Dream Pizzicato Five - I, Baby Love Child, Twiggy Twiggy/Twiggy Vs. James Bond, The Girl From Ipanema, Lesson 3003 (Part 1) Pond - Gloria In Excelsis Deo Queen - Doing Alright, Sheer Heart Attack, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Great King Rat, The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke, Black Queen, You and I, Brighton Rock, Jealousy, In Only Seven Days, Ogre Battle, I Go Crazy, Earth (pre-Queen from Smile)  Red House Painters - Have You Forgotten, Shadows, Summer Dress Richard Shindell - The Ballad Of Mary Magdalene Robbin Thompson - Candy Apple Red, Brite Eyes, Sweet Virginia Breeze Sam & Joe - Fear Of Smell Sigur Rós - any song from Agætis byrjun Silvio Rodriguez - Monologo Skip Castro Band - Christine, Little Lucille, Work Hard On Love, I Don't Wanna Work, Frustration Slapp Happy Humphrey - Minna Yumede Arimashita Smashing Pumpkins - Frail And Bedazzled Steve Vai - Liberty, For The Love of God, Juice, Die To Live, The Boy From Seattle, Tender Surrender Stop The Violence Movement - Self-Destruction Stryper - Calling On You Susan Tedeschi - It Hurt So Bad, Found Someone New Tammy Wynette and George Jones - Golden Ring Teknoe - Be Like Mike Thin Lizzy - Rosalie (Live)  Tom Lomaccio - Become Divine Tommy Bolin - Dreamer Trooper - Raise A Little Hell Urban Creep - Tripping On Moonshine Van Morrison - The Way Young Lovers Do The Who - Guitar And Pen  Wyclef Jean - Gunpowder  ZZ Top - Blue Jean Blues

Your Stuff

Alternative Radio

• If there's a type of music you don't like, you're not trying!
• Commercial radio sucks. Do you really want to hear the same thing over and over every hour? If you like a song that much, just buy the damn CD and move on.
• Hear ye, hear ye what ye want to hear, not want they want ye to hear.
• Support your local Public Radio station. Without independent radio we're nothing but mundane gibberish.
• In Los Angeles:

KLON 88.1 KXLU 88.9 KPCC 89.3 KCRW 89.9 KPFK 90.7

The KXLU Splotch

Quotes

Music is the soundtrack to your life. -Dick Clark If you write a song called "Infected," nobody will download it.  -Tom Minkler Jazz came to America three hundred years ago in chains.  -Paul Whiteman Long Live Rock and Roll.   -Rainbow I like to Rock    -April Wine Rock and Roll Is Good Time Music -Jefferson Starship We're gettin' off today; we'll pick you up and take you away....Smokin' -Boston Don't Believe The Hype   -Public Enemy Cities On Flame with Rock And Roll -Blue Oyster Cult We Will Rock You  -Queen There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we'd all love one another.  -Frank Zappa  Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. -Red Auerbach Music was invented to confirm human loneliness.  -Lawrence Durrell You are the music while the music lasts.  -T. S. Eliot

Kick out the jams, motherfuckers! -The MC5 Give me a laundry list and I'll set it to music.  -Gioacchino Antonio Rossini A good composer does not imitate; he steals.  -Igor Stravinsky I've got the music in me. -Heart (Bias/Boshell) Today, music heralds... the establishment of a society of repetition in which nothing will happen anymore.  -Jacques Attali We learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school. -Bruce Springsteen One nation under groove, getting down for the funk.  - Funkadelic, One Nation Under A Groove A jazz musician is a juggler who uses harmonies instead of oranges.  -Benny Green If you can walk you can dance. If you can talk you can sing.  -Zimbabwe Proverb Country music is three chords and the truth.  -Harlan Howard Music should never be harmless.   -Robbie Robertson The high note is not the only thing.  -Placido Domingo I believe in music, I believe in love. -Mac Davis

Links