13 Jul Matador Playlist 7/10/25

Let us have one other gaudy night. Call to me all my sad captains; fill our bowls once more. Let us mock the midnight bell.

W. Shakespeare – Antony & Cleopatra

Welcome back, Gentle Reader(s), to that perennial classic, that itch you just can’t quite scratch, that musical pebble in your shoe—another Matador Playlist from the DJ Who Wouldn’t Go Away. Actually, I did go away for a bit but, whether for ill or gain, I have returned. Whenst and wherefore you ask? Well you might. Off to the Great North Woods I have been—to the land of pernicious ticks, lurking bratwurst (or vice versa), Great Lakes, Good Lakes, So-So Lakes, an abundance of puffy white people, and lingon berry pancakes at Al Johnson’s restaurant in Sister Bay. All was well and good and Inky Mum abides still, her 97th birthday forthcoming in just over one month’s time. ‘Amazing!‘ you say—’Astounding and unprecedented!‘ and right you are. Having returned I took up the gauntlet once again and ventured down down down to the Cimmerian lurkage of Ye Olde Matador Bar & Lounge for yet another gaudy Thursday night session. Few of my captains, sad or otherwise, were in attendance but the midnight bell was well mocked regardless. The fruits of my nocturnal labors are presented here below for your delectation and edification.

On the literary front, I have been doing a deep dive into some classics of the southern tradition. I started off with Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree (1979), which was written over a 20-year period and incorporates semi-autobiographical elements from the author’s early days in Knoxville, TN. Imbued with a characteristically liberal dosage of mishap, mayhem and mortality, Suttree is nonetheless generally considered to reside at the lighter end of the McCarthy oeuvre. There is indeed an element of the comedic present, manifest primarily in the person of Gene Harrogate—a chronically misguided dimwit who the protagonist, Cornelius Suttree, befriends during a stint in an Angola-style work camp. Harrogate, who lives under a bridge, flounders from one harebrained get-rich-quick scheme to another, including harvesting bats for a rabies study, tunneling beneath Knoxville to break into bank vaults, and developing a mechanism to steal coinage from payphone slots. Suttree, possessed of a more phlegmatic disposition, observes all of this with a degree of bemused concern as he fishes the Tennessee River for a marginal living and staggers through the impoverished demimonde of his hometown. The language employed by McCarthy in this book is wildly inventive, florid even, and presents a distinct contrast with the more austere verbage of his later western period.  I recommend this book unreservedly, especially to those interested in expanding their knowledge and appreciation of this late, great Santa Fean.

In anticipation of an appropriate follow-up to Suttree, I stopped in at the most excellent Octavia Books during my last sojourn in New Orleans and acquired a compendium of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories. Somehow or other, up until this point I have never gotten around to delving into Ms. O’Connor’s work but the wait has been well worth it. Populated as her short stories are with semi-deranged rural hayseeds and urban half-wits, the Complete Stories has indeed proven to be an excellent compliment to Suttree. Alternately hilarious and harrowing, O’Connor’s southern gothic style certainly must have provided at least partial inspiration for McCarthy’s early work—her celebrated story A Good Man is Hard to Find being a particular case in point. As of this writing I’m about one third of the way through the collection and enjoying every word, every comma.

The third item in my reading list of late has been volume #3 in the series of Stay Fanatic books by Henry Rollins. I bought volume #4 when it came out last year and enjoyed it so much that I backtracked to #3 (vols. 1 & 2 would appear to be out of print). I know Henry as a man of many talents and interests but it was not until I started delving into the Fanatic series that I grasped the full measure of his obsession with collectible vinyl. Promo labels, acetates, test pressings, bootlegs, obscure imports—Henry tracks them all down online and in discriminating record stores across the globe. The day-by-day narrative of the Fanatic books chronicle an entire year of Henry’s life as he searches out and listens to rare vinyl, attends concerts, composes radio playlists, pursues his acting career, writes articles for L.A. Weekly, battles jet lag, and seeks out well-lit coffee emporia from North Hollywood to Manila to Taipei to Luxembourg.

I myself possess essentially no vinyl. Back in the ’80s when I worked in (and lived behind) record stores, I amassed a pretty substantial collection of rock & roll and jazz on vinyl but when I left Albuquerque and moved up to Santa Fe in 1990 I sold it all off. I retained one milk crate of LPs that were of particular value—both monetary and sentimental—and I haven’t owned a record player or bought any records since. It’s a credit to Henry’s ability as a writer that the Fanatic books are engaging and interesting even if you live exclusively in the realm of digital music. Henry’s fave bands and recordings have been insinuating themselves into my Matador playlists for a while now, and they’re definitely the better for it. The Stay Fanatic series, Gentle Reader(s)—recommended!

And in regards to those Matador playlists—the latest, most fabulous iteration is available via YouTube-dom by clicking right here. You know you want to—just go ahead and do it!

Grammar of Life – Charles Bukowski
Fatback – Link Wray
In the Dark – Billy Squier
The Secret Life of Arabia – David Bowie
What’s the Matter Man? – Rollins Band
Children of the Grave – Black Sabbath
Coma Girl – Joe Strummer & Los Mescaleros
D’You Know What I Mean? – Oasis
Modern Dance – Pere Ubu
It’s A Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock & Roll) – AC/DC
Walk On The Wild Side – Lou Reed
Jay Reatard – It Ain’t Gonna Save Me
She’s Like Heroin to Me – Gun Club
Concrete Jungle – Bob Marley & the Wailers
Sound & Vision – David Bowie
Cassavetes – Fugazi
Rip It Up – Orange Juice
Rough Boys – Pete Townshend
Tramp – Otis Redding & Carla Thomas
Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne
Onion Dip – Los Straitjackets
Funky Drummer – James Brown
There, There – Radiohead
My Favorite Mistake – Sheryl Crow
Gimmie Gimmie Shock Treatment – the Ramones
D’yer Mak’er – Led Zeppelin
On A Rope – Rocket from the Crypt
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – the Smiths
The Glory of Man – Minutemen
All Down the Line – the Rolling Stones
D-I-V-O-R-C-E – Tammy Wynette
Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon – Urge Overkill
Crazy – Patsy Cline (request)
Highway to Hell – AC/DC
Guitars, Cadillacs – Dwight Yoakam
Bully Bones – the Birthday Party
The Letter – Joe Cocker
Lazy Eye – Silversun Pickups
Vampires – Thievery Corporation
Fairies Wear Boots – Black Sabbath
Go With the Flow – Queens of the Stone Age
Damaged Goods – Gang of Four
For Your Life – Led Zeppelin
Ball & Chain – Social Distortion
Titi Me Pregunto – Bad Bunny (request)
Bummer in the Summer – Love
Disorder – Joy Division
Got to Give It Up – Thin Lizzy
Crawling – Linkin Park (request)
So Alive – Love & Rockets
Baile Inolvidable – Bad Bunny (request)
Little Cream Soda – the White Stripes
Ashes to Ashes – David Bowie
Out of Step – Minor Threat
El Amor de mi Vida – Los Angeles Azules
The Punk & the Godfather – the Who
Mi Gente – J Balvin & Willy William (request)
The Blood Is Love – Queens of the Stone Age
Cumbia Sampuesana – Aniceto Molina (request)
Papa Was A Rolling Stone – the Temptations
Teenage Lobotomy – the Ramones
Ch-Check It Out – Beastie Boys
Dance the Night Away – Van Halen
Hanging on the Telephone – Blondie
Jumping Jack Flash – the Rolling Stones
Nobody Really Cares If You Go To The Party – Courtney Barnett
Punto 40 – Raul Alejandro & Baby Rasta (request)
Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson
Limo Wreck – Soundgarden
Dakiti – Bad Bunny & Jhayco (request)
Everyday People – Sly & the Family Stone
Street Life – Roxy Music
Spill the Wine – War & Eric Burdon
Where Eagles Dare – the Misfits
And Your Bird Can Sing – the Beatles
A Dead Song – the Birthday Party
God Save the Queen – the Sex Pistols
Web – Thee Oh Sees
World Without Tears – Lucinda Williams
Buona Sera – Louis Prima
Happy Trails – Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
Taxi – Bryan Ferry