Brian
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Post by Brian on Sept 8, 2014 23:00:26 GMT -8
To achieve greatness and become a five-tool player in baseball, you have to hit, run, field, throw and hit for power. For three decades, Chuck Prophet has proven that he can channel pure pop hooks, write memorable lyrics, play lead guitar, sing like nobody else and still do everything necessary to make his music available to the world. He belongs in every hall of fame.
Somehow, I missed that half-hour video from KEXP in Seattle when the "Temple Beautiful" CD was released two years ago. Chuck -- who is also interviewed in two segments -- performs five songs from that wonderful album in the radio station's studio with his touring band, the Mission Express.
His new album, "Night Surfer," comes out September 23.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Sept 20, 2014 23:22:06 GMT -8
That official video cleverly samples most of the songs from Chuck Prophet's new album, "Night Surfer." I pre-ordered the CD and got it last week, along with a t-shirt, an autographed tour poster and a wonderfully absurd six-inch button that has not only the usual safety pin to ruin your shirt but also a helpful stand inlaid on the back for displaying on a table. The album will be available next Tuesday on iTunes, but going by that You Tube clip, your cellphone is the worst way to hear it. As I post, the merch bundle is still available from Chuck's label Yep Roc. I'm telling you, the button is not shown to scale -- it's bigger than the CD:
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Oct 11, 2014 23:00:37 GMT -8
Quoting Chuck Prophet from his latest newsletter: Oh, and check out this video for Wish Me Luck directed by Ryan Brown. It’s pretty epic. Nutty even. It’s a buddy movie. It’s kind of like Batman and Robin (I play the part of Robin) but without the dressing up at night and fighting a clown bits. We practiced our karate chops by breaking boards in a field by the interstate. Heroic stuff. I think you’ll be well impressed. The other guy is actor Robert Longstreet, who appeared in the movie "Pineapple Express."
Chuck's label has also released another video with a song from his new album, "Night Surfer," on You Tube. This is "Ford Econoline," featuring the band Mission Express. My favorite line: All these memories like dirty plates/Stacked up in the sink of time.
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Post by Brian on Nov 23, 2014 0:34:23 GMT -8
I've been haunted by "Lonely Desolation" since Chuck Prophet's "Night Surfer" album came out two months ago, playing the song in my head when it wasn't spinning on one of my music players. Despite feeling neither lonely nor desolate, I can't get enough of these four minutes.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Dec 14, 2014 0:46:05 GMT -8
To complement the video topping this page, here is Chuck Prophet's return to the KEXP studios last August to promote his newest album.
Anni and I have had his "Night Surfer" CD on constant rotation for three full months. I've thought about buying the retro $4.99 cassette, just to change things up. Maybe someday I will be able to explain why this album is better than "Temple Beautiful" two years ago with the same musicians -- including Prairie Prince on drums -- and the same production team, with only the addition of Peter Buck on guitar and a string section in Nashville. Meanwhile, I wait for Chuck and the Mission Express to perform here in Southern California again.
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anni
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Post by anni on Apr 3, 2015 20:08:50 GMT -8
This new video really cracks me up. I can't tell if it's because I like the song so much. This video seems to enhance the music perfectly...check it out:In Chuck's own words (just an excerpt from his newsletter this week) the making of this video:About the video. I’ve been a longtime fan of director Steve Hanft. Steve is a legend, tirelessly creative, with a sideways vision of the world, and is probably best known for directing early Beck videos. His videos are always inventive and he’s a character himself. A kind of punk rock auteur.
Through our mutual friend and Mission Express alumnus Tom Heyman we met up when I was down south over the holidays visiting family and catching some waves. We got together at Cantor’s Deli on the day after Christmas, and bonded over surfing. All the while Steve watched me eat a pastrami sandwich as big as my head . When we got up to leave, he said, “So what do you want your video to be?”
I said, "I want nudity. And lots of violence. But not directed at women. You know, explicit but somehow tasteful.”
Steve and I are also both fans of noir. Especially the under-appreciated subgenre of tv noir.
Jumping ahead, it dawned on me a little too late that his solution was for all the violence to be directed at me. I was pretty bruised up afterwards. A swollen mess. An 80-pound girl beat my ass, a real smack down.Brian edits to add: The video is brand new, and the song -- "Tell Me Anything (Turn to Gold)" -- comes from Chuck's album "Night Surfer," released last September.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Oct 21, 2015 23:00:33 GMT -8
Apparently, Chuck Prophet is popular enough among vinyl collectors for Yep Roc Records to offer the 3D Night Surfer 7″ Singles Collection, a box set of all 12 tracks from the album released in September 2014 plus two bonus songs, for delivery next month. I was tempted to pre-order it until I got to the price, $60 plus shipping, a lot to pay for the two songs I don't have. Each seven-inch record costs $8.57, not much less than most CD's these days. Hopefully, I'll be able to buy "Fast Kid" and "Big Man" eventually in another format. Maybe on 8-track.
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Post by Brian on Feb 15, 2016 0:00:58 GMT -8
Play That Song Again: Chuck Prophet's official video announcing an international tour with the Mission Express in 2013.I became a Chuck Prophet fan when he joined Green on Red at age 21 to play guitar on the L.A.-based group's best album in 1985, "Gas Food Lodging," and its flawless EP, "No Free Lunch." I've bought virtually every album of his since. As much as I loved that video three long years ago, I felt cheated. That year, the closest to me that Chuck played was a saloon in an Old West town north of Joshua Tree. Last year, his only Southern California date was a private party. I was not invited. All has been forgiven. In his latest e-mail newsletter, Chuck let me know that he booked a gig with the Mission Express -- and Garland Jeffreys! -- at the Bootleg Theater on Beverly near Alvarado in Echo Park. I had never heard of the "warehouse-style indie music venue," but I'll be there on Friday, April 22. Base price is only $13 -- even with the Ticketfly fee and mailing charge, my tickets came to less than $20 each. I hope that Garland, Chuck, Stephie and the boys are making some money. Here's the link to the Bootleg Theater website: www.bootlegtheater.org/
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Post by Brian on Apr 16, 2016 23:15:07 GMT -8
From Chuck Prophet's e-mail blast last Thursday: I'm also psyched about the show next Friday at the Bootleg Theater in Echo Park. I sold Garland Jeffreys' first three albums when I worked at the hippie record store in Montrose in the 1970's -- though not enough of them, to be honest. I'm up for something special.
Last month, Chuck wrote and recorded "Alex Nieto" when the verdict in the notorious San Francisco civil case came down, then he posted the song immediately for streaming. It rocks:
soundcloud.com/chuckprophet/alex-nieto-chuck-prophet
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Apr 24, 2016 23:00:33 GMT -8
Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express play "You Did (Bomp Shooby Dooby Bomp)" in Mill Valley, CA on January 8, 2016.That might be the finest audience video of a performance by any artist that I've ever seen on You Tube. Nobody's posted anything from Friday night's concert so far, and there are only a few clips from earlier shows on the seven-date California tour, including a 13-minute embed on Garland Jeffreys' website. I somehow missed seeing Green on Red live in the 1980's and '90's, and I didn't catch up with Chuck again until he released "Temple Beautiful" in 2012, which paired with "Night Surfer" in 2014 comprise two of the greatest back to back albums in music history. But I really can't feel the artists until I'm immersed in the sound and joy of their music with 200 strangers. (I couldn't distinguish between fans of Garland Jeffreys and the Mission Express -- either most of us came for both acts or we were seduced by them together onstage.) Anni and I got to the Bootleg Theater on Beverly near Alvarado -- across the street from the shuttered Brooklyn Bagel factory -- at the 8:30 ticket time and spent the hour before the door opened with a dozen other folks our ages on the sidewalk. Younger people showed up later. Inside, there were a few seats if you reserved them: stools surrounding little round tables opposite the stage in the bar room. A counter in the back served craft beers. We were able to sit the on the lip of the stage until the show started an hour later. Meanwhile, I spoke with a fellow Mott the Hoople fan who looked a lot like Tim Finn. Only three years younger than me, he has lifelong friends who flew to London for the Mott the Hoople reunion in 2009. After establishing our initiation into Chuck Prophet’s music -- 1985 for me and 1988 for him -- I complained that Chuck skipped L.A. last year, only playing a private party at the Avalon Theater in March. Turns out that I was talking to the guy who got Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express hired for that gig -- he had recommended the band to his boss, who was hosting a party for their high tech video production company. Yet again, Los Angeles becomes a small town for fans who gather to hear our heroes live.
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