Carrying on with my mission of hosting unsung, long out of print and/or impossible to find music on this weblog, I thought I'd devote a little space today to the long-running Brooklyn band, Life in a Blender. I first encountered this strange ensemble playing street-side on Fifth Avenue and 91st Street as part of the "Museum Mile" festival sometime back in the 1980's. Despite being otherwise devoted at the time to singularly frowny, angry music, I remember warming to this band's decidedly silly aesthetic. I remember seeing their flyers around Manhattan from that point on. I didn't see them live again until sometime in the early 90's, opening up for the equally silly band, Dread Zeppelin (a white reggae band who play Zep covers with an Elvis impersonator for a lead singer) at the Marquee on W.21st Street.
As fate would have it, I'd later learn that a good friend of mine here at my office was (and still is) married to the band's drummer, Ken Meyer. Damn small world, eh? Once that factoid was gleaned, I went onto see them play at a variety of locales like the endearingly seedy McGovern's on Spring Street (the sign is still there, but the space is now occupied by some shitty velvet rope joint) and Fez on LaFayette Street (another great space recenly demolished). In any case, Life in a Blender are still going strong, and you can access their website by by clicking here.
The track I'm hosting right now is actually not a sound file but one of the band's videos. From their 1997 album, Two Legs Bad, "Chicken Dance" spins a strange yarn about a local phenomenon. I'm not sure if it's still there, but in a squalid arcade way over on the eastern end of Mott Street in Chinatown, there used to be an attraction called "The Dancing Chicken." I'll let the video elaborate from there.
You can purchase the album from whence this track sprang,Two Legs Bad, by clicking here.
You will need to RIGHT CLICK to download. Enjoy....
Download life_in_a_blender_chicken.wmv
Be sure to look for the fleeting footage of "Rugged Rick" (lead singer Don Ralph's abusive sheep hand puppet) towards the end of the clip.
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