Jim Varney- career in review

Before blockbuster hits such as "Ernest Goes to Camp", "Ernest Goes To Jail", "Ernest in the Army", "Ernest Rides Again", "Slam Dunk Ernest", "Ernest Goes to Africa", "Ernest goes to School", "Ernest Saves Chrismas", or (my favorite) "Ernest, Scared Stupid" Jim Varney had a weekly Saturday morning show circa 1988 called "Hey Vern, It's Ernest".

It was the highlight of me and my brothers' week. Hey Vern, It's Ernest was an offbeat comedy/variety/sketch show for kids in the tradition of PeeWee's Playhouse, Ren & Stimpy, and SBSP. The premise was that Jim Varney, an unsung comic genius, would play his character-Ernest P. Worrell- and a lot of other little characters like an old woman in a neck brace and a plotting evil alien watching earth, Doctor Otto. Remember his neighbors Chuck and Bobby and his dog Rimshot? I do. While in character as Earnest, Varney would start out the scene with the line, "Hey, Vern!" addressing the camera. And he would end each scene with the line, "Know whudda mean, Vern?"

GEEEEEEEEEEENIUS!

The sad thing is that you can't really get the show on DVD anywhere. The movies are readily available, but they are compromised reinterpretations of the original show. Also, Varney died at the tender age of 50. Goodnight, sweet prince.

Well, you also can't find anything from that classic TV show on youtube but'cept for the theme song here:


OR CLICK HERE FOR MORE CLIPS IF YOU HAVE A REALPLAYER.

Other clips:

Brandon Butler - career in review

There's this guy, Brandon Butler, and I really like his music. Like, pretty much for the last decade I've been following this guy and I've always been a fan. It's funny, because it's like- as he's changed musically, so have I. Or visa versa. Not like he's influenced me to change, but like we've sort of grown up together. A new solo CD by him came in the mail the other week($3 on ebay- so much for supporting the artist) and I was working on my patio the other day and I was listening to that and then I just went through his entire catalog. Fantastic.

Boys Life- was a proto emo outfit in 90s that really informed my work with Til Seven. Dissonant, raw, emotive. Really shook my view of what music was, what a band is. In one song, he's basically just yelling "And the pictures on the flashcards help you study a lot. Gotta get 'em right." over and over again. Urgent, dischordant, simple. Brandon had B-O-Y-S L-I-F-E tattooed across his knuckles. Man I want a tattoo. Listen to Boys Life here.










The Farewell Bend- His next band, the Farewell Bend was just a less dissonant version of Boys Life. One record. Pretty good.








Canyon- Then there was Canyon. Man, they put out really great psych-country that was expansive and mindblowingly atmospheric and visual. Butler took a break from guitar and played lap steel and sang. Sitting down, you know. He played lap steel in sort of an amature style. Sort of like the way I played it in The Lyle Falls, like with no volume pedal, all single note/single string stuff. But it worked for Canyon. I got to see them right before they broke up. They went on tour opening for Jay Farrar (swoon) and then they would play as his backing band for his set. Two members of Canyon (drummer and keyboardist) became members of Son Volt after Canyon's demise. You can see Jill and my friend Dale in the DVD of that show.








Brandon Butler (solo)- OK. This guy put out a couple solo records and they're good. "Killer on the Road" is great. The new one, Lucky "Thumbs" is OK. Listen to Brandon Butler here.

How come?

How come when someone describes something as "modern" on craigslist they mean it looks like it's from 1991?

Soundtrack to a book?

Here's a question for my faithful readership: Have you ever been reading a book and listening to a record that seemed to match together perfectly, as if the music was somehow the soundtrack to the book? Respond by posting a comment.

I have two:
I was listening to Sun Kil Moon's "Ghosts of the Great Highway" a lot while I was devouring McCarthy's "All the Pretty Horses" and "The Crossing". The Mexican sounding flourishes of thirty-second note strums and lyrics about the Revolution and Pancho Villa fit those two books like a glove. The songs (including an instrumental or two) musically paint the landscape of the Mexican desert.











The other one has to do with a conversation I was having with Loretta the other day about a book we've both read called Geek Love. Pop fiction, best seller type. It's a story about a circus freak whose dad ran a travelling circus and bread little freaks of his own by feeding his wife poisons while pregnant. I remeber that while reading that book I was listening to Neutral Milk Hotel's classic "The Aeroplane Over the Sea". It's super psychadelic and has all kinds of freakish characters. He sings:"Two headed boy, all floating in glass, the sun it has passed, now it's blacker than black, I can hear as you tap on your jar." Tap on your jar? That's crazy! Great book. Classic, classic indie rock record. And they go so well together.










So the question is: Has there been a piece of music that has served as a soundtrack to a pice of literature you've read. Maybe you were reading and listening to them at the same point in your life. Or maybe the two just remind you of each other. Post a comment here!