Good News For Kaisers Fans!

Kaiser George (of The Kaisers, Scotland's famous beat/rock n' roll combo) has teamed up with Spinout Records recording artistes The Hi-Risers for a brand spankin' new slab o' wax. This should be hitting stores soon, so check'r out! We'll have a cut from this great new disc on the CD that will be packaged with the next issue of The Continental Magazine, due out in April.

One Family's Dune Buggies From The 50's, 60's, 70's

This site is amazing - a family that built dune buggies from the 50's through the 70's, with lots of great photos! Boy, I wish I was this kid growing up! (Link)

The Sadies Have A New Live Album In The Works!

One of my favorite bands of all time, The Sadies (featured in Continental Magazine #11), are currently working on a live CD. They are truly an amazing live band, and if they can capture that sound like they did on Neko Case's live CD, then this will definitely be one of the top releases of 2006. They've got a few friends helping them out, including Neko Case, Jon Langford, Blue Rodeo and Jon Spencer.




Here's the official notice from the YepRoc website:
"Toronto-based Yep Roc artists The Sadies will be giving a special treat to their hometown fans when they perform at Lee's Palace in Toronto on Feb. 2 and 3. Not only will they be rocking an extremely rockable house two nights in a row, they will also be recording a live album there to be released later this year on Yep Roc. And as if that weren't enough, the band have put together an impressive list of guests for the two-night stand: labelmate John Spencer of Heavy Trash and The Blues Explosion, Jon Langford of The Mekons and Waco, Neko Case, Kelly Hogan, The Jayhawks' Gary Louris, members of Blue Rodeo, Good Brothers, and, as Lee's website puts it, "others TBA," which sounds to us like, "once people get wind of this show, they'll be lining up at the stage door to play." Check out Lee's website for more info."

Double Crown Bands On MySpace

If you're into the whole MySpace thing (personally, I have mixed feelings about it, but hey, tons of people seem to dig it), here's a list of Double Crown bands that have MySpace pages:

The Madeira: http://www.myspace.com/themadeira
The Nebulas: http://www.myspace.com/thenebulas
The Dynotones: http://www.myspace.com/dynotones
The Boss Martians: http://www.myspace.com/thebossmartians
The Krontjong Devils: http://www.myspace.com/thekrontjongdevils
The Penetrators: http://www.myspace.com/penetratorssurf

Rock Over Graceland Blog

Rock Over Graceland

For fans of lounge, exotica and easy listening here is another cool site with loads of vintage vinyl to download as MP3's.

The Surfites - New Album In The Works!

The Surfites, a Swedish surf combo featuring Klas & Jack of The Daytonas, are putting the finishing touches on their debut release. I, for one, am really excited about this release, since the Daytonas were one of my favorite surf bands from the '90's.

You can check this band out on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/thesurfites

The Kilaueas - Profesor Volcanova CD Back In Stock!!!

The Kilaueas - Profesor Volcanova CD is back in stock at Double Crown Records. It's the follow-up release to their Mundaka Calls CD, which we released not-too-long ago. You can order it from our catalog page (www.dblcrown.com/catalog.html) or send a Paypal payment to: records@dblcrown.com. It's $16.75 + shipping ($3.25 US / $4.00 Canada / $5.00 World). OR, you can order Profesor Volcanova + Mundaka Calls for a total of $30.00, with shipping included anywhere in the world! Take advantage of this offer and we'll even throw in a Kilaueas pin, absolutely free!!!

Sandgropers Surfspot

For fans of old, vintage surf music and spaghetti western stuff, go on over to Sandgropers' Surfspot. They update the site frequently with new old LP downloads.

Web Link: http://sandgropers.blogspot.com/

New Focus For This Blog

Okay, I haven't updated this in a while. Sorry about that, but honestly, what I was doing before really didn't catch on and only a few hundred people read it. Plus, it didn't really fit in with the whole Double Crown/Continental vibe. So here's my new idea - I'm going to use this to post surf / instro / rock n' roll news as I hear it. This news often comes from the Cowabunga / Reverborama / Surf Guitar 101 lists, so if you are a member of these groups some of the news I post here will be redundant. However, I often get e-mails and letters from bands updating me on gigs, new releases, etc. So I'll also include that stuff here.

Also, there are quite a few websites that post old, vinyl LP downloads as MP3's. I don't support the download of music for free which is on CD and is available for purchase. However, when it comes to old, dusty vinyl that'll never be reissued, I really don't have any problem with folks posting it online to share with the world. So I'll post links to websites offering new items for download. If I post something that is available for purchase somewhere, please let me know and I will delete the link.

I may find other uses for this space. Hopefully I'll be able to update it on a daily basis, so check back often!

Death By Caffeine?

Curious how many cups of coffee or Red Bull it'd take to kill you? If so, this website has the answer for you http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-caffeine/

Redneck Party Pictures From The 70's

Check out this set of redneck party pictures from the 70's here.

Gallery Of Freaky Food

This website is is pretty amazing - loads of images of weird, mutated fruit. This lemon reminds me a bit of Pogues singer Shane MacGowan (or Austin Powers, I guess). Lots of other freaky food items at: http://www.hanttula.com/exhibits/freakyfood/

Juice, Anyone?

Okay, I like juice as much as the next person. It's tasty and nutricious. However, this new product just isn't that appealing to me. It is a chair that would seemingly make ass-juice. However, it's actually intended to make real juice...in strip clubs! The stripper places an orange (or other juicy fruit) in their butt-crack or cleavage, and grinds away until a glass of juice is produced! You can even get one for your home, if you're so inclined, at: www.lapjuicer.com

Cool 4th Of July Sparkler Art!

Here's a whole set of photos people took during the 4th of July this year using camera's with a long exposure time - pretty amazing! (Link)

Trippy Computer Animation

Check this out - a cool computer animation
http://www.primepuzzle.com/images/clinger.swf

It's Live 8 Day Today All Around The World

Is Michael Stipe of REM trying to save people or scare them? It's Live 8 day today, and I am taping as much coverage as possible to watch when I get home from work. I watched the original Live Aid concerts 20 years ago - it's hard to believe that much time has passed so quickly! I'm looking forward to seeing Coldplay, U2, Travis, REM, A-ha, Roxy Music and the reunited Pink Floyd.

Katamari Fantasy Photos

My kids and I are big fans of the game Katamari Damacy on the PS2. Basically, it's a game where you control a character as shown in the photo above, who rolls a small sticky ball over objects, progressively making the ball bigger and bigger. In early rounds of the game, you roll over candy, thimbles, thumbtacks, etc. In later rounds you roll over buildings, tanker ships, Godzilla and giant octopus monsters. This website has photos of a couple of extreme fans, who dressed up in Katamari costumes and took a whole bunch of really cool, vivid photos.

Which Creation Records Band Are You?

Which Creation Records Band Are You?
Take this quick quiz to find out which Creation Records band best fits your personality. Creation Records is/was one of my favorite labels of all time (along with Factory and Estrus). The book The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry for the Prize is essential reading if you are a fan of the label. There is also a cool website with loads of up-to-date info on the label and affiliated bands at: www.creation-records.com

Here Goes 20 Bucks Down The Drain!

I'm takin' the kids to see Herbie: Fully Loaded in the next day or two. The kids and I both like the original movies (they're among the few kids movies that I can actually tolerate watching). I have very low expectations of this new Herbie film. It's rated G, and my kids like just about anything they get to see in a movie theater, but for an adult it has all the makings of a true crap-fest. The only positive will be watching Lindsay Lohan for the last time before she became an anorexic, cracked-out Britney wannabee.

Cool Robot Dinosaur In The UK - I Want One!!!

You can't get this sweet robotic dinosaur in the U.S. yet, but as soon as it's available I'm gonna get one. We just got a Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, and I'd love to see the Roboraptor and the Roomba wage battle against one another! More info on this can be found at: www.roboraptoronline.com