Hurricane Relief

The few long-time followers of this blog surely know of my affinity for Ween, Moistboyz and pretty much anything Mickey "Dean Ween" Melchiondo has contributed his considerable talents to. In addition, his expertise as a fisherman and undying devotion to his home town and east coast shoreline is nothing short of an already cool musician keeping it totally fucking real. Sadly, friends and family of his were directly affected by the Hurricane Sandy disaster of 2012 (some significantly) and things are still far from fully recovered. Hosting two benefit shows in 2012 and 2013 under the moniker Dean Wean & Friends (mostly local pals from Moistboyz, Ween and Chris Harford's Band Of Changes), Mickey has truly gotten his feet wet and hands dirty trying to help the community which gave so much to him. He can tell you about it better than I can here. He recently released a "best" of live mp3 containing choice cuts from the two shows - you got some Bowie songs, a Dead cover, even The Carpenters as well as "She Fucks Me" and some other Boognish favorites. Enjoy.

Take Me Down

Let's Get Wet...

Followers of this blog are no doubt aware of my undying adoration for all that is Ween, so it was a nice surprise to discover the side projects of guitarist extraordinaire Dean Ween actually eclipsing what his namesake band was doing at the time. I speak, of course of the Moistboyz. Whilst the 'boyz have released four listenable albums over the last two decades, like Madden NFL, the even-numbered ones are the keepers. Moistboyz II was recorded during the 12 Golden Country Greats sessions and is almost a Ween album... if the boys were angry coke addicts with political agendas. Drum machine backbone with layers of guitar overdubs, vocalist Guy Heller spits his venom at whatever regime he's pissed at for the moment: anti-smokers, gays, liberals, conservatives, crackers, blacks, you. While the synth drums kinda cheapen things up at times (it would be nice to hear a real band tear some of these songs up) it is still is a great thirty minutes of pissed off hardcore. Flash forward to 2006 and Moistboyz IV which blows Ween's subpar La Cucaracha off the fucking planet. Pulling together a full band (Ween drummer Claude Coleman and bassosaurus Andrew Weiss (Rollins Band) joining the crew) the album is a fucking masterpiece. Heavy as fuck and angry as a bitch, who knows what could ever cheer these guys up but there's enough political, social and psychological angst in this one to make any nihilist cream in his braces. But ignore whatever the fuck I say about anything, soak in the definitive history of the Moistboyz here. Fuck off and enjoy the tunes you pussy fucking faggot. America's dead.

II                                                                               IV

 
Currently watching: Edge Of Darkness

Currently listening to: Ween Quebec

Live Jihad

Man, the first half of the 2000's was fucking awesome for Ween fans. Starting with the wonderful White Pepper at the start of the millennium, the brothers built up to the incredible Quebec in '03 amongst a bevy of rare live CD releases through those sweet years. Additionally, Deaner jump-started his long-quiet side project Moistboyz and let loose two releases in '02 and '05 (the later Moistboyz IV easily emerging as their greatest achievement) as well as the above DVD, Live Jihad. Mickey and Dickie (a.k.a. Guy Heller whom astute Ween fans will recognize as the vocalist on Pure Guava's "Flies On My Dick") channel the Stooges to a tee in their amazing 75-minute audience assault. Recorded at NYC's Bowery Ballroom, the boys tear through 18 choice tracks showcasing their entire back catalog, including some of the primitive drum machine epics ("Carjack", "U Blow") from their days on Mike D's long gone Grand Royal Records. Man, how punk is that? Anyways, audio ripped direct from DVD, blah, blah, best quality I can figure out how to get. I would love to hear a Moistboyz V someday, shit man, just as they were getting interesting...

Mickey and Dickie

Currently watching: The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
Currently listening to: Proclamation Advent Of The Black Omen