Who likes Michael Hurley?

I'm sitting here on my lunch break reading the Hurley piece in the Wire. Did you guys know he began sessions for an album on ESP but Stollman nixed it because of the mouth trumpet?! unbelievable.

ian have you ever read the Popwatch interview with him from a few years back?

Nooooo, I am gonna have to go dig it up!

yeah, i read that wire thing on monday and was amused by the esp thing...and surprised. what got into stollman there? i was also surprised on byrons very straight approach. there was some line about halfway through that suddenly reminded me that it was byron writing...

ill look for the popwatch bit. i was wondering on mon night if there was much else written about him

also still annoyed that everyone forgot to call me when he did the random "show" at d4ddy's (here in brooklyn) a few summers back because everyone assumed someone else had called me...or simply assumed id be around at some point anyway...

it was Popwatch #9, but Perfect Sound Forever re-ran it:

http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/michaelhurley.html

Michael Hurley's virtual jukebox:

http://www.snockonews.net/listen.htm

smokey the bear standin there
in front of the woods all black & bare
tears in his eyes.

has anyone purchased the OOP LPs on CDR from Hurley's web site? if so, what do you get? just a cd-r, or packaging/artwork/etc.?

amtst, which one(s) are you looking for? If they're ones I have, I will tape them for you for free.
you can e-mail me if you do not want to discuss it here--dr.carl.sagan at gmail dot com

I remember Michael from my youth--I actually ended up working at the same restaurant as his ex-wife when I was in high school. He lived in Vermont for awhile, back when the Modals were kicking around up there, playing there snockgrass and drinking their hard cider. My mom always talked about how she was down with the scene (they even had a nickname for her). I went to see him play in Brooklyn a few years back, with that band Ida for some reason, and approached him after the show, and mentioned my mom. "Oh, I remember her," he said. Before walking away abruptly. AWKWARD!

yeah he really doesn't seem too interested in talking to fans, which is fine for an old coot like himself. I'm sure he does whatever he damn well pleases at this point.

amateurist, the CDRs are on regular burned discs with his scrawled titles on them, but they do come with one-color mockups of the original covers. my copy of Growlin' Bobo is 4-color, but the ones of Blue Navigator and LoFi/Redbirds are blue and yellow-green respectively. Blue Navigator is burned from vinyl, natch.

hmm. i actually already own most of 'em, but i just thought i'd give my money to ol' snocko hisself. however i'm not too keen on paying top dollar for a CD-R in an envelope.

when i say "own" most of 'em, i suppose i mean, "i got 'em on mp3s"

oh and i guess the ones i don't have in any form (but want) are:

- Snockgrass
- Watertower
- Growlin' Bo Bo
- Woodbill Brothers
- Wolfways
- Parsnip Snips

of those, i only have watertower but i'll happily tape it for you if you want. or you could send money to the man; but i don't know what his cdr packaging is like. at least, however, if you order from him you can also see what new comics he has for sale!
send me an e-mail.

I have mistakenly given a bad impression of the CDRs. They come in jewel cases, with a front page (this is the "one-sheet" I referred to, but they also have J-cards for teh back cover, same color. They are pretty good for homemade CDR copies.

Also, you NEED Wolfways, it's my favorite.

And I also mistakenly referred to Growlin' Bobo as a 4-color, I meant Woodbill Bros (which is live with a full band in Vermont).

isn't snockgrass out on CD officially now? or is that out of print too? i know the price of the LP has been insane the last few times on the bay, but i keep on lookin.

and amtst, did you grab his last record, ancestral swamp? i think it's grand.

hmmm, Snockgrass was on CD via Rounder (with two must-have bonus tracks), but I dunno if it's still in print.

fucking bonus tracks.
fucking CDs.

huh?

no, i haven't picked up his newest, but it sounds very good indeed, and i will do so.

MICHAEL HURLEY'S PLAYING AT MY HOUSE
MY HOUSE

AND THE NEIGHBORS CAN'T
CALL THE POLICE

On Saturday, May 9th, Le Sous-Sol presents the esteemed Michael Hurley,
one of America's great musical treasures. Starting with his first release
on the Folkways label in 1965, Hurley has steadily amassed a large,
varied, and impressive body of work on numerous records and CDs. His
classic 1970 LP Armchair Boogie was recently reissued by Portland's
Mississippi Records. We are excited to be able to bring him to Eugene for
the first time in several years.

Michael will be playing with Portland musician Alexa Wiley. The show is
at 7 PM, all ages, suggested donation $10-12.

Le Sous-Sol is located at 375 River Road in Eugene. Parking is available
until 11 PM at the lot at the end of Fir Lane next to the VRC footbridge,
although biking is encouraged. More info: 541-xxx-xxxx or sx✧✧✧@x✧✧.x✧✧

Hurley on the web:
http://www.snockonews.net/
http://www.myspace.com/snock07

Alexa Wiley:
http://www.myspace.com/awileyp

Snock set at Holocene was soooo on last night

should i buy a copy of the first LP for $275? I can trade some OOP RARE kraut LPs for it, but... fuck. and it's rent in a few days too e_e

not like, trade for it anyway--trade TOWARDS it.

my vote is no, but I was never as big a fan of that 1st one except for "Blue Mountain". And seeing as how Locust never put it on vinyl, it's your only option.

Armchair Boogie >> the first one. The first album is great, but somebody is bound to reissue that again (and hopefully on vinyl this time) soon. $275.00 is a lot of groceries and beer, dude.

yeah, i think i'm gonna have to pass this one up :(
i do love it though. was listening to the CD again this morning--tea song, fat mama, captain kidd, down at the pool hall, no no no i won't go down no more...

Hurley signed my Armchair Boogie with a green pen a few years ago.

"This album is hard to find these days," he said.

"I know."

I'm really glad he sells those CD-rs.

When he was in Knoxville he stayed with the guy from John Wilkes Booze and some other woman in this, like, power bohemian co-op house and smoked a lot of weed.

Blue Navigator is good!

Michael was interviewed on this week's American Routes. fun interview, listen here:

http://americanroutes.publicradio.org/player/playlist/23078

oh man awesome, thanks for the link. i'm heading out the door but gonna leave this on the screen to dig when i get home. thanks! p.s. was listening to hi-fi snock uptown while eating/cooking dinner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWAOJr5PcAI

Change your drawers!
Hey for what reason?
Them drawers... is out of season...

So I'm making a tape with LONG JOURNEY on one side and SNOCKGRASS on the other.
Armchair Boogie and Watertower also been in heavy rotation. and HAVE MOICY!
This music is like the most comfortable shirt in your wardrobe. Love it.

try Wolfways next! Hi Fi Snock is also excellent.

I listened to Woodbill Brothers yesterday cause I haven't given it the attention it deserves and it was very enjoyable.

I've got Hi-Fi Snock. I was getting ready to write a check for some cdr's when I hit a rough patch of luck.
My car got booted and that pretty much drained my Snock fund. Next time I've got fity bucks to spare, though, I'm mailing it to him.
Was planning on picking up Blue Navigator, Woodbill Brothers, and one other. I guess Wolfways is it!

sucks that the records are only on cd-r, even if they are direct from snock.
mississippi just put out PARSNIP SNIPS, so maybe they or someone else will put out some records soon.
slurf song and hog of the forsaken have been in heavy rotation while i've been walking. makes me want to make spaghetti, and a bowl of beans.

Been jamming Parsnip Snips, loving it.

I like that it's a grab bag format spanning many years, wish he'd do another one like that.

well god damn if the new Snock Con Ida isn't his best to my ears since Weatherhole. Doesn't have the sad, subdued vibe of Ancestral Swamp at all. Instead it is silly, playful, and even bouncy in spots. I gave it a spin last night and had to immediately stop and put "Ragg Mopp" on again, that is some straight up genius there.

also, it is a Hurley album in all but name - he sings every track and I think wrote every song on it as well, there are no credits.

a few of the tracks are covers, but yeah, it's pretty much a straight hurley record.

and it's great.

r-a-g-g m-o-p-p ragg mopp

we used to sing that song in music class when I was in like first grade.

"Rag Mop" by the Ames Brothers was the last single release to hit #1 on the popular charts (Billboard) that was released only on "78" speed at the time of its popularity. After this point in popular music history, every song to hit #1 was released on a 45 rpm record.

http://www.dustygroove.com/item.php?id=ncns7g4cq9&ref=browse.php&refQ=label%3D133316%26amp%3Bincl_oos%3D1%26amp%3Bincl_cs%3D1%26amp%3Bformat%3Dall

^^ good EP.

When I was a puppy dog...