tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-302594202010-07-20T15:06:12.220-05:00Random thoughts on music, cinema, books, cuisine, art, politics, ecology, ecomony and astronomy from Dallas, TXErich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.comBlogger177125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-42565848796462002172010-07-20T15:06:00.000-05:002010-07-20T15:06:12.229-05:00

I'll be spinning some vintage Jamaican vinyl, as DJ Franco Nero, along with my co-hort Diamond Age this coming Tues, July 27th at the Doublewide at the eastern end of Deep Ellum right here in Dallas, TX. I've been putting together a pretty decent selection of tracks. My specialty is early '80s Dancehall but we're gonna be covering the history of reggae from SKA to early digital and all points

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-84763037002611867172010-07-14T20:16:00.000-05:002010-07-14T20:16:34.365-05:00

It's ironic that my last post was about Lincoln "Sugar" Minott. The veteran Jamaican singer-songwriter-producer and DJ passed away this past Saturday July 10 at the age of 54. No real details have emerged concerning the cause of his death although speculation centers around his recent bout with heart problems that prevented him from performing at recent shows. Sugar's death has brought out many

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-21953498991414796182010-06-30T20:16:00.000-05:002010-06-30T20:16:51.057-05:00

I can't believe it's already July... Insane. Yeah, it's freakin' hot here in Big D. I've been getting a serious office tan the past couple of months, so its not as big a deal to me as it could be. I've also been taking a serious detour into Jamaican music the past few months (in case you didn't notice from the last several posts). Still on a serious kick. I'm digging deep. Way deep. I've pushed

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-74377374762260131792010-06-04T23:51:00.001-05:002010-06-04T23:52:47.973-05:00

There is a ton of unsung talent in Jamaican music history. And tons of artists who intially hit big and never really fully realized their commercial potential in the international music community. I wouldn't call the high-tenored Triston Palma (or Tristan Palmer as he is sometimes known) a "one-hit wonder." The guy's too good for that label. His biggest and most well-known chune being the

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-45394687182064458502010-05-25T00:13:00.015-05:002010-05-25T18:57:49.805-05:00

 PAPA MICHIGAN - LOVE IZ (Rashanco) 2010 I'm a huge fan of Jamaican deejay duo Michigan and Smiley and I'm proud to say that Papa Michigan (aka Baddingo aka Anthony Fairclough) has recently dropped a first class new solo album called Love Iz. M&S were the foundation rub-a-dub team (and first duo) coming up around '78, '79 when Papa Michie and the Original General were still in their youthman

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-89147542641345961332010-05-24T22:59:00.000-05:002010-05-24T22:59:53.321-05:00

I don't really have much to say about it all...I had a major LOST overdose last night...watched over 5 hours of LOST programming. I always thought the show lasted one season too long...and I'm sticking by that assessment. I wasn't really disappointed in the ending -- I mean, I thought it was handled pretty well -- but it was definitely underwhelming. Basically what I thought was going on back in

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-70794250702940125062010-04-30T17:31:00.002-05:002010-04-30T22:59:57.763-05:00

Any New Yorker knows the iconic, blue, gold and white paper coffee cup. It's proper title is the Anthora. I did not know that. But I do know that the cup's designer, Leslie Buck, passed away this past Monday at his home in Long Island. He was 87.

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-9557879882924834102010-04-14T01:43:00.000-05:002010-04-14T01:43:56.633-05:00

Keyboardist Ansel Collins wrote and recorded the durable instrumental, "Stalag 17" for producer Winston Riley in 1973. The track went on to become one of the most sampled and versioned riddims in the history of Jamaican music. There have literally been hundreds of different songs using Collins' unique Stalag bass and drum riff, probably the biggest being Tenor Saw's "Ring the Alarm" in 1985,

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-84679361488065942342010-04-07T02:08:00.000-05:002010-04-07T02:08:08.227-05:00

Happy April. I hear there's something called the iPad out there. Someone, tell me what it's all about. Don't have the energy right now. But I did watch LOST tonight -- quite enjoyed it, boyo -- and I'm always interested in what anyone of my friends has to say about it...I had a theory that I was gonna spell out...but I decided I didn't want to put it out there...so...whatever. Enjoy the show.

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-48495286925611867292010-03-28T11:37:00.001-05:002010-03-31T15:56:01.426-05:00

I received the new Netflix Instant Streaming disc for the Wii this past Friday. After fussing with the wireless network security for an hour or two, I managed to get it going. I had some hopes for it, even if the Wii doesn't support hi-def video. Hey, I don't even have the Wii hooked up through the component inputs on the TV! Regardless, I think Netflix streaming video far surpasses my

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-70294895113075647922010-03-25T13:24:00.013-05:002010-03-26T22:24:49.102-05:00

Unseasonably cold weather ripped through Austin, Texas during the third day of this year's SXSW fest. It was the first I'd ever planned on attending in 13 years. Last time I was there in 1997, hawking my own music project and spacing out to the sounds of Wayne Coyne and Friends' insane Parking Garage Experiment. I had only been once before that, 20 years ago in college when the fest was just

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-26045852544371547822010-03-19T15:56:00.003-05:002010-03-19T23:58:54.559-05:00

I'm heading down to Austin this weekend to check out the last couple of days of SXSW. I haven't been to the fest in years. Heard it's a madhouse from the locals, but I need to get out of Dallas for a day or so. I'll bring my camera and get some snaps in and put them up here post haste.

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-8952679763782515902010-03-19T09:48:00.002-05:002010-03-19T09:48:53.156-05:00

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-75055302318607283112010-03-18T09:56:00.008-05:002010-03-20T00:00:27.406-05:00

Alex Chilton, the Memphis-born singer-songwriter and voice of The Box Tops and Big Star, passed away yesterday at the age of 59 (reportedly while mowing his lawn). He was scheduled to play a reunion show with Big Star at SXSW in Austin this Saturday. Chilton reportedly died from a heart attack in his adopted hometown of New Orleans. I was, and still am, a tremendous fan of his work, especially

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-16161949834107945272010-03-16T19:44:00.000-05:002010-03-16T19:44:56.412-05:00

Decided to give the ol' site a little facelift since moving to Google's dedicated servers. I must admit I was a little afraid of change but what the hey, sometimes it's nice to move things around. As you might notice there are some new features onboard, including some streaming news feeds and expanded archive functions. It's not 100% but I'm still figuring out what to do with it right now. Leave

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-44663061302703353162010-03-16T15:43:00.009-05:002010-03-16T15:48:24.186-05:00

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-61159391879666112452010-03-15T14:23:00.000-05:002010-03-15T14:23:23.363-05:00

Since Blogger is forcing their "heritage users" to migrate to their blogspot site, I'm a migrating my web page...but unfortunately I've run into a few issues that will take some ironing out. All of the links have been broken and I'm working on a solution. Stay tuned.

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-50160949999185759142010-03-10T16:08:00.002-06:002010-03-17T02:18:27.235-05:00

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-24346172591045407512010-02-26T12:09:00.004-06:002010-03-15T14:24:01.102-05:00

German DVD company Koch Media -- famous for their reverent collection of Spaghetti Westerns -- have issued one of the greatest SWs on DVD for the first time. Yes, I'm talking about Sergio Corbucci's excellent 1968 effort THE MERCENARY starring Franco Nero, Tony Musante and Jack Palance. I ordered this PAL disc from Amazon.de about two months ago and it just arrived this week. The packaging is

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-79994251203019707102010-02-17T00:34:00.002-06:002010-02-17T01:41:02.910-06:00

Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) -- 16mm

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-25701913218503300522010-02-14T11:47:00.005-06:002010-02-14T11:56:57.661-06:00

A snowstorm dumped over a foot of snow on Dallas this past week. The picture on the right was taken this past Thursday morning. More snow was coming but I ended up at work that day and the photo only captured a little bit of the snow. Unfortunately all that white stuff felled tree branches across the city which then came into contact with power lines and transformers. I believe 200,000 homes were

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-67583235829836626662010-01-26T10:19:00.005-06:002010-01-26T12:23:47.222-06:00

I bought an HD DVD player a couple of years ago but the demise of the format and the relatively high price points of the competing Blu Ray players caused me to shy away from HiDef for a while...until recently.I'd been doing some research -- see, I wanted to go "region free" AND I wanted to go Blu as well. Luckily there turned out to be a bargain-priced option in one box.The Momitsu BDP 899 was

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-33147631795696008012010-01-13T23:28:00.006-06:002010-01-14T14:49:47.701-06:00

Purchased and received my very first DVD from the "hand-made" Warners Archives Collection. They offer up professionally packaged DVD-Rs of obscure films for a pretty steep price ($20 plus shipping). I hadn't had the chance to check them out until I spotted Joseph Losey's THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR (1948) for sale. I'd been looking for a decent DVD copy of this film for several years.On the surface,

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-25639240927994975332010-01-07T12:03:00.003-06:002010-01-07T12:21:21.692-06:00

I've done it. I've finally found a film with absolutely no redeeming qualities. I won an auction on eBay ($10) for a 16mm print of the Michael Caine/Elizabeth Taylor bitch fest X, Y & ZEE (aka Zee & Co.) from 1972. I'd never seen the film and it's not available on DVD here in the States so I decided to take a chance. Now I know why no one wanted this. I threaded the first reel through my Elmo

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30259420.post-76769896619276660142009-12-08T10:02:00.002-06:002009-12-08T10:05:22.983-06:00

I've been so lazy. Haven't updated this thing in...months! Let's see. What have I been up to?OK, first thing's first. For anyone out there who might be interested, DO NOT buy one of those cheap ass turkey fryers from Lowe's or Home Depot. THEY DO NOT WORK. I'm not talking, "Oh, it burned my bird" I'm talking, the burner doesn't work very well. What did I expect for $60?Going to Raleigh, NC this

Erich Scholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066364034335042520noreply@blogger.com1