1) Queen Jane Approximately- Bob Dylan
2) Wasted Days & Wasted Nights- Freddy Fender
3) Katie May- Lightnin' Hopkins
4) High-Fashion Queen- The Flying Burrito Brothers
5) Apartment #9- Tammy Wynette
6) Little Queen of Spades- Robert Johnson
7) Dire Wolf- The Grateful Dead
8) We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds- George Jones & Melba Montgomery
9) Willin'- Linda Ronstadt
10) For You- Bruce Springsteen
11) Broken Hearted People- Guy Clark
12) Little Queenie- Chuck Berry
13) A Satisfied Mind- Porter Wagoner

Posted by Rama at 4:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Taking a page from R.C., here's a list of songs that keep me statisfied--

1) Whiskey Bent & Hell Bound- Hank Williams Jr.
2) St. Louis Blues- Bessie Smith
3) If I Am a Stranger- Ryan Adams
4) Houston Chicks- Doug Sahm
5) I Don't Wanna Go Home- Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
6) Easy from Now On- Emmylou Harris
7) How Many More Years?- Howlin' Wolf
8) Star Witness- Neko Case
9) Crazy Little Thing- Captain Beefheart
10) A Damn Good Country Song- Jerry Lee Lewis
11) St. Dominic's Preview- Van Morrison
12) Satan is Real- The Louvin Brothers

PS- Miss you all so much and think of you often

Posted by Rama at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hello all...been awhile since I've posted...but here's a goodie...last week I got a chance to see Daniel Johnston at Spaceland in Silverlake...a shitty-ass hipster enclave near Hollywood full of metrosexuals and trust-fund conceptual artists...real trendy and So Cal superficial cocaine mayhem boho poseurs...so Daniel Johnston comes onstage and the crowd goes fucking blitzkrieg because he's got a movie out about him...fine-assed looking bitches and dudes dressed like young male prostitutes all screaming and yelling like he's the resurrection of THE LORD and the poor man looks nervous-as-hell...shaky and smoking a cigarrette with long, hard draws...and all around you can hear bits of scattered conversation and commentary..."wonder if he'll go crazy"..."isn't he amazing!!!"... and the man--older...paunchy...tired and rundown sits down at the piano and plays a bunch of songs nobody knows...all block chords and shaky voiced...no guile, no cleverness, no irony...just songs of love in plain language and simple melodies...the crowd laughs at the sincerity...these indie-yuppies can't understand what they are seeing...a guy who is not cool and who doesn't (or can't) give a fuck and shrug it off...DJ then plays some guitar and as he announces the "last song of the night"...some of the crowd actually boos...don't they know that this man is emotionally disturbed and heavily medicated?...But DJ just looks down and says "Sorry, but I try."...And the hip scenesters were exposed for the nothing assholes that they are the world over....

Posted by Rama at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Not everyone may know that recently our beloved Pop5 member Rama headed out to California to pursue his dreams of endless alcohol, sex, and unemployment. We here at Pop5 wish him the best of luck - but don't think that means he isn't going to be posting in the future. He is still our Los Angeles correspondent.

Rock on!

Posted by Victoria at 11:28 AM | Permalink

This past weekend, Saint Stephen: Aghavni, my lady Ilana, and me took a road trip up the Californy coast to the mythical paradise of BIg Sur...friends, we stopped by the old family house in Lompoc that I haven't seen since the summer of 1980...funny thing is that I always have such lucid, happy memories of that place but it looks nothing like it does in my memories...it was so small and rundown...a brokedown mexican community that isn't much more than a reststop on the Pacific Coast Hwy-- ah, to plagarize Thomas Wolfe, you really can't go home again-- nothing compares to the 1970's Lompoc California of the mind...hopefully, pictures of our trip with commentary should be available soon to all you non-believers-- there is so much beauty in the world it makes the heart weep-- makes you realize the true insignificance of man and all his folly-- and the importance of friendship and love no matter how transient and fleeting....I miss you all and God bless you each and every one

Posted by Rama at 1:18 AM | Permalink

Last week the Country Music Association had their annual awards show broadcast live from NYC (aka-- the left-wing, marxist, queer, jewish world headquarters)-- yes, there was a lot of hoopla and build-up leading up to the event-- mostly the Nashville establishment kissing Yankee ass (which has been the downfall of country music since at least the 1970's-- remember Barbara Mandrell and Ronnie Milsap-- how's about Olivia Newton-John?)-- acting gracious and dignified-- many speeches and soundbites about how country music fans and musicians are not rednecks, crackers, bible thumpers, or backwoods folks-- no fucking shit-- has anyone seen the stylized acts that Music City has churned out lately-- Sara Evans, Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bently, Faith & Tim, and Keith Urban all look like Abercrombie models-- not a criticism because Sara Evans is quite a hot number and makes me feel all funny when I watch her videos...

Unfortunately, Nashville's pro-cosmopolitan rhetoric is undermined by their songwriters and artists who try their hardest to fill every song with rural cliches and mock-hillbilly aphorisms-- check out Little Big Town's song "The Boondocks" for a good example--and how many fucking songs can one hear about the ubiquitous "Troops" who sacrifice every day ad infinitum?

Yes, country performers and audiences have always relished in the worst stereotypes of southern, working-class culture-- you know, Hee Haw, Minnie Pearl, June Carter, "Okie from Muskogee"-- but these were more satirical and tongue in cheek-- today, however, their is no sly wit-- only a manufactured and marketed authenticity...

On a positive note-- most of the performers sounded great (and a lot less slick than the Nashville studio recordings would have you believe) and as far as award shows go-- this was a fan-friendly affair lacking in pretension-- especially good were the performances of George Strait, LeeAnn Womack, Brooks & Dunn, and Martina McBride-- Long Live American Music!!!!!

Posted by Rama at 1:06 AM | Permalink

we just watched a video on richard avedon. i thought i would post this photo for you.

Posted by Mike at 11:52 AM | Permalink

Posted by Mike at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

hey rama,
just blogging to say "hello" and see how you're doing in LA. things have been busy here. as far as i know, camden has not burned down this mischief night (which is either a good or bad thing depending on your point of view). septa is getting ready to strike, so buddy might be free for awhile. we hung out with rob yesterday and saw "doom." it was ok, better than star wars 1, 2, and 3. rob's car got vandalized by a kid. the kid threw a rock at his back window. i felt bad for rob. it happened at my apartment complex. crazy kids. buddy went to a halloween party last night. i'm looking forward to hearing about it. i hope he has photos of his costume.
anyhoo, you are missed here and i hope this blog finds you well.
i'll call you soon,
mike

Posted by Mike at 10:36 PM | Permalink

The other day while walking down Westwood Blvd I saw an old homeless woman shambling down the street wearing only a dirty bedsheet wrapped around her body and head-- only her face was visible--and what a face it was!--this pitiful specimen was covered in open sores and thick, hideous scars--she may have been blind, or, more likely, perhaps her milky eyes were covered in cataracts--she passed me on the street and I nodded to her and she smiled slightly--revealing a mouth full of broken and rotted teeth--she reminded me of a street arab or one of the witches in Macbeth...

But this is not an unusual sight on the streets of Los Angeles-- as much as the city has a reputation for beautiful people and wealthy hedonists--there is actually a strong medieval element here as well-- on any day of the week one will see deformity and degradation of every kind--a veritable freakshow that is no longer found in circuses but that thrives in the sundrenched, always 78 degrees environment of So Cal--toothless grifters--speedfreaks--pneumatic lips, tits, and ass--amputees--ancient weathered faces--botched plastic surgery--crackheads--beautiful southeast asian transexuals with bellyshirts and comehither eyes-- immigrants and misfits from everywhere in the world prattling away like mad in 10,000 tongues and 10,000 additional dialects--it's enough to drive a person crazy.

Posted by Rama at 4:28 AM | Permalink

It's decided. For my time in Gommorah (Los Angeles) I am the self-appointed West Coast correspondent for Pop5-- a half-breed clown on a mission in an exotic locale-- like Geraldo in Iraq. Most of my reports will probably center around food, washed-up stars and the almost impossible beauty of so many Persian women in the neighborhood of Westwood-- seriously, what are they feeding their women? They are really that fucking hot.

So this week I will dive headlong into the (non) culture of this city and try to come up with something amusing, entertaining, and informative-- again like an embedded Geraldo in Iraq.

Lots of love--

Rama

Posted by Rama at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's decided. For my time in Gommorah (Los Angeles) I am the self-appointed West Coast correspondent for Pop5-- a half-breed clown on a mission in an exotic locale-- like Geraldo in Iraq. Most of my reports will probably center around food, washed-up stars and the almost impossible beauty of so many Persian women in the neighborhood of Westwood-- seriously, what are they feeding their women? They are really that fucking hot.

So this week I will dive headlong into the (non) culture of this city and try to come up with something amusing, entertaining, and informative-- again like an embedded Geraldo in Iraq.

Lots of love--

Rama

Posted by Rama at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)