The Paleface Parabola

I was running around doing my semi-retired thing on a glorious autumn day that should have been bottled and poured out again tomorrow. I looked up at a roadside billboard at one point. The signage asked the musical question, Got Bugs? And I thought to myself – I've got a scroll of issues to deal with already. Having bugs is mercifully not one of those issues. What the Mystery Man and I DO have as we roll out this week’s caper that we present inside the tour de farce we have flown our freak flag high on your listening device as the Paleface Parabola. It’s a doozy it is, as we get together right down around here in the Free FM music zone. Your weekly tease? Surely (not Shirley)! The Mothers of Invention, Bill Nelson’s Red Noise, The Sequoias of Sulfur, Gentle Giant, and the Mills Brothers with Pops! I leave you with a game when the bedroom door closes.

Submitted for your approval. Our playlist for Mocktober 15. Part of it anyway. Served best Al Dente. It’s cheerfully handcrafted. A simple sample size you ask? An easy request to honour. Los Straitjackets, Wild Jimmy Sprulli, Mickey Baker & his House Rockers, Those Darn Accordians, and Garmarna ought to keep your beak wet. Thus and so, my task is now nearly complete. But before we go, you’ve heard of an Irish goodbye...?

'Hours are like diamonds – don’t let em waste’. A line from Time Waits For No One, track 5 and Side 1 of the Stones 'It’s Only Rock and Roll' album, released in October 1974. Parabolic sidebar: I bought that record at the bookstore in York College of Pennsylvania I still have it. And Mick was right. These are precious, if chaotic days. And man, does Mick Taylor get in touch with his inner Santana and rip that track a new one! All that to say this... You won’t find that piece on this week’s tour de farce... But... but you will hear these tasty suckers and they are guaranteed to have you dancing on air if you care to: Mose Allison, Reel Big Fish, The Pogues, Midnight Oil, and the Magictones plus the Mystery Man’s Magic act of the week, because we love radio sight gags.

How to up your hip quotient with your neighbours and their neighbours? Summit Mt Everest and then ski back down it . Ho hum you say? Not if you do it without supplemental oxygen we say! Remarkable stuff. On a more modest feat of aerodynamics, the Mystery Man and I walk the high wire on our 1hour and 58 minutes of air space weekly here on Oaf without Borders radio which is the playground nickname for the Paleface Parabola. Well, the one you can repeat in public anyway. It’s Wednesday October 1st. as we type this and it’s the debut of caper 195 of our programme in this year of jubilee and joy... Why the heck not?! Here’s our music trailer to sing along with. Los Domingueros, Mink Deville, The World Column, Caravan, and The Cramps. The Mystery Man’s muse is represented too, feel no fret. So bathe in the warm glow of Free FM 89.0 and its podcast network. Love,sisters and brothers, is just a radio hiss away.

Emerging from the primordial ooze after six days and 23 hours of submerging in it, here’s our report. Its a place to visit... and you likely know the rest. So here we are. Your twin towers of fun, the Mystery Man and me, Jumpin JB... back for another far-flung hour and 58 minute tour de farce of music and melee. This week on Oaf without Borders radio (aka the Paleface Parabola), music from Marsh-Mallow from Japan, Kendra Morris, Blue Sparks from Hell, The Bill Davis Trio, and The Kyle Whelan Quartet. Plus around 15 more morsels carefully designed to suck you into our camp (Zappa quote). So be part of Jerry’s holiday camp! Sidebar: Our show/podcast begins and ends in New Zealand, and our safe haven from Presidents who can’t pronounce words. We are podcast on Free FM 89.0 out of Hamilton. But that’s not the sidebar. The sidebar is that I saw Dame Jacinda Ardern on the Daily Show TV programme. Remarkable that a politician such as her still exsists across the Seven Seas. May more spawn. Stat!

The mystery man and I stop the world every Wednesday evening in the Free FM music and during the week that leads to our next sojourn, podcasts from many sources to live the joy over and over again. If that fails, we’ve left a trail of breadcrumbs that’ll lead your way from New Jersey to New Zealand. Clearly the word New factors into to our path. Music draws us nearly to the torch, and our programme this week is either en Fuego or should be flambé, Or both! Music, you say? As Shaft once said, Damnnnnnnnnright! Here’s a peek under neath the kimono (as for the rest of our playlist, you’ll simply have to listen). Oh ok, here’s some hints.... Simple Minds, St Germain, Big Sandy & the Fly Rite Boys, Kings in Disguise, and Niyaz from Iran. This is the appetizer. The main entree be served shortly.

168 hours after caper 191’s crash and burn, we wobble over to caper 192a slowboat to 1hour and 55 minutes of musical hopscotch, mental gymnastics, and alchemy with huge potential for a crash and burn. The stars aligned, and we danced a happy dance at the finish line of our labors...Um, maybe not. We tease because we love and here’s your heading as to what we created. Big Maybelle (she was big),The Tiny Bradshaw Orchestra from 1950,Camper Van Beethoven (David Lowrey from Cracker), Gatemouth Brown(guitar Jedi of Texas Blues/Jazz legend) and Dave Mason in blues form. Plus the magic of the Mystery Man before we turn the keys over to the Retrospect’s Psychedelic Pseptember. Free FM has game. Don’t hide behind that tree. Come out and play with us. AParabola is the quest from which we return changed yet essentially the same. It’s the weekly opening of the Rock and Roll history books with twists from 7,000 miles away.

Van Morrison, who just turned 80 on Sunday, bellowed ‘Its Too Late to Stop Now! At the end of an epic version of Cypress Avenue, and it can be found on one of the greatest double live albums of all time imho, and it’s actually called ‘It’s Too Late to Stop Now’. Who woulda thunk?! You’ll hear our GM’s favorite song on that album as well but wait, that’s not all!! Our 2 hour game of mental gymnastics and musical hopscotch also contains the grooviness of King Kong, The Mighty Diamonds, Fats Domino,and lastly but not leastly, the Dynamites from their album KABOOM! Jump on the joy train and join the Mystery Man and mine’s gang. Or don’t you like fun? Relax and let it happen. Resistance is... not futile.

As the military keeps the ‘peace’ here in America, we extend peace to you brethren, our weekly wonderful listeners to the antics of the Paleface Parabola. These are later in life glory days for the Mystery Man and the Oaf without Borders. We use our 1 hour and 58 minutes weekly and sometimes even wisely. We say a lot. We play a lot. In the literal sense musically this week. The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Edgar Winters White Trash, Loudon Wainwright, Jenny Lewis, and the Pretty Things are but five of the artists who have come for your ears! Relax and let it happen. Resistance is... not futile.

The big beat goes on this week via your Palefaced pals at the way station parking lot of the Parabola. Stick and stay around to lobe into our schoolhouse on the air but do us both a favour and leave the spitballs at home. Because if I have to send you to the principals office, you’ll be absent from class when we roll down the thunder of The Bitter Chills, Danny Gatton, The Crawling King Snakes, Isaac Hayes, The Fugs, and notably, the Mystery Man’s Midnight Magic Act of the week, direct from Sweden. C'mon if you’re comin to our two-hour tour de farce!

I’m not clear on which caper this tour de farce is. What did transpire was that the Mystery Man and I got together on a hot summer night as if we were still young and had time to play records for each other. The difference in this instance is that we had an ocean of ears as an audience of critics from sea to sea rating our antics. It's now your time to rate our humble volunteer radio souls and incorporate the Paleface Parabola in your weekly survival plan. On this week’s walk on gilded splinters, feel it don’t fight it, and let the sound take you away because tomorrow is not guaranteed – and because it’s a well known fact, or a least it should be, that without music life would be an error! Two hours of a radio programme can be a revelation. And here’s a random sampler of what we did on Free FM and outward to the waiting world. 1 Sugar Pie Disanto & Etta James 2 Kaiser George & the Hi Risers 3 Robert Johnson 4 CSN & Y 5 New Steve Hackett ! And naturally, the Mystery Man’s Midnight Magic act of the week to complete the melee. Don’t swim against the tide, your arms will get sore. Swim away from the sharks and float to the Free FM 89.0 side of life from Hamilton NZ, a safe haven of joy from the North island of New Zealand... where our Mothership awaits you

You say your new coat of paint didn’t dry on the wall the way you had thought your mind’s eye revealed? You also fret about having bet Rubber Legs in the fifth race earlier today, costing you the carefully saved up cash you had stashed away for the block long kayak you’ve been coveting? Well, feel no fret concerned citizens of planet Trump. The Paleface Parabola has spent the past 168 hours crafting our two-hour tour de farce which is designed to push your joy button even if you don’t currently possess a joy button. Examples of said? Why not Liz Cooper & the Stampede? Or Bill Harvey & his Orchestra? And Willy Deville certainly! All due respect to the Mystery Man and his trip to Scotland this week. Memphis Minnie from 1941 rounds out this teaser. This programme is warmer than an ice bath, we reckon.

A Parabola is the quest from which we return changed yet essentially the same. It’s the weekly opening of the Rock and Roll history books with twists from 7,000 miles away.

A glorious mess this was.This, meaning this week’s Paleface Parabola. We walked on the Jazz side of life to start, did the boogie woogie to set point and purpose with sheer force of will, and ended Japanese Prog that brought some razzle dazzle to the radio. Charter members of our 1:58 minute tour de farce were the likes of Slim Gaillard, Bruce Smith, The Blasters, Fletcher Henderson, and Stella Lee Jones. Cynics go home. Music heals meanies.

So then... what to say that I haven’t said a minimum of too many times already? Well I'm not sure, since I make up these lures to listen to our quest as I type! Let’s see, as I stall for a tiny bit more of time... Okay, we have our heading. This week’s Paleface Parabola is jam-packed with music and lots of it, instead of the usual yap yap. Yes,there are a couple of those moments to be certain, but we had our freak flag flapping proudly in the transoceanic winds. You scoff? How about Ken Nordine and Tom Waits harmonising, and Randy Newman defending (ahem) the big bad beast that is America in 2025. Reggae music, like it was Saturday night in 1970’s Kingston, Jane Birkin and Serge Gainesbourg bringing the sexy. Well, Jane Birkin brings the Erotique sexy anyway. And The Strawbs from the Mystery Man’s hands, because the world should hear more of Dave Cousins music. There’s more. Darn the torpedos!

Take a week off and Ricardo reduces us to quivering whelps. We retook the wheel this week and attempted to be as cool as he was last week... Not bloody likely. But if you give us a chance on this week’s Parabola, and rush to embrace the sounds of the likes of Southside Johnny with the La Bamba Horns, Joe Liggins & His Honeydrippers, The Sea and Cake, Johnny Paycheck, and Bill Kelly, you just might turn that frown upside down. See you on the radio. Viva Jacinda!

Ricardo is taking the wheel.The theme of his show is cool and the meaning of that catch phrase word. Ricardo has the mojo .You’ll love it. A Parabola is the quest from which we return changed yet essentially the same. It’s the weekly opening of the Rock and Roll history books with twists from 7,000 miles away.

Mad dogs and an Irishman came out in the 100 degree heat this week to spin for the win on this week’s Paleface Parabola, which was produced and performed to distract and soothe our nervous world from the Masters of War. It worked for the Mystery Man and I. Thus, and so, we ask without probing as if you were on the witness stand, if you’ll try the following music on to see if it fits. Willy Deville with Mark Knopfler, Little Pattie & the Statesmen, the Walt Bibinger Trio, Tim Buckley, and Elvis Costello & the Attractions! Yes them too. All hail the good ship Free FM 89.0 out of Hamilton, NZ, our radio home away from home.

A cat staring at me from his perch in the hallway. He’s 14 and could still win the blue ribbon. A day that was devised by agents of Lucifer itself. Allergens that must have GPS tracking capabilities to find oafs like me. And caper 181 of the Paleface Parabola... Springsteen isn’t the only loudmouth that walks the Seven Seas. We had a fun time doing this week’s program even if you the listener didn’t. The bandstand was groaning under the heavyweights that romped and stomped on our stage, including: U-Roy, Demon Fuzz, Major Lance, Etta James, Jimmy Cliff, and the Mystery Man’s must-hear choice of the week. Peel yourself away from music fans that still believe music died when Skynyrd’s plane went into the swamp. Give yourself over to a Parabola, a real Parabola. In fact, look up the literal definition of the word and you’ll know why you should. CAMA and proud to be. Broadcast in the Free FM Music Zone at 10pm on Wednesday evenings, and podcasts has spawned globally. The Mystery Man’s the glue of our gang. And I’m Janice and Al’s orphaned boy. None of us could ever have thought. A Parabola is the quest from which we return changed yet essentially the same. It’s the weekly opening of the Rock and Roll history books with twists from 7,000 miles away.

Caper 180 of the Paleface Parabola. An unusual trip befitting this unusual one hour and 58 minutes of mental gymnastics and mental hopscotch. If Hunter Thompson somehow beat the hangman years ago, he would have had ample fodder for a new Fear and Loathing screed should he have seen the behind the scenes shenanigans. Showbiz lore says that if you can walk, you can make the gig. We made the gig. We are here weekly to indulge in mental gymnastics and musical hopscotch. And in an unsafe June night, we did. The likes of Chris Whitley, Lee Dorsey, The Cramps, Te Vaka (The Mystery Man’s pick), John Hartford, and Mel Blanc from 1954, brought a splash of joy to our wading pool. A toast to the Mystery Man. He earned the keep he doesn’t make this week.