If you’re a fan of Light In The Attic, we can only hope that you’re also a fan of the seminal rock band The Stooges.  Yes, Iggy Pop’s flailing, half-naked, pelvic-thrusting stage antics were what drew the crowds, the real driving force behind their intense brand of rock ‘n’ roll was acclaimed guitarist Ron Asheton.

Sadly, Asheton was found dead in his Ann Arbor home this morning at the young age of 60.  It’s a sad day for rock and roll fans the world over.

Everyone here at Light In The Attic will miss you Ron.

The holidays are dead, long live the holidays.

Trikont, our favorite German compilers of music weird and wonderful, have released, just in time for the holidays to gracelessly peter out, a real wham-dinger of an album.  Tired of ill-formed tributes to the day that we call X-Mas, Trikont has decide to cull together a shockingly unknown group of musicians playing earnest, unique Christmas tracks.  Trikont is near brilliant when it comes to cobbling together the seemingly unrelated, so we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the strangeness present on this endearingly poorly timed Christmas release.

We present to you:

WISH YOU: BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!

And we want you to pay attention to one thing and one thing alone:

We spent a damn good amount of time putting together this behemoth and we promise you, as much as we can be trusted, that you should forgo midnight smooching, copious champagne drinking, dressy outfits and explosive fireworks, and just dedicate some good sweet, solid time to this impressive list of best of lists that we’ve put together for your enjoyment.

Look at the whole damn thing, right HERE.

If you’ve been paying attention to our website, or are smart enough to be on the receiving end of our sometimes weekly newsletter, than you’ve probably heard about LA PALOMA and the six disc La Paloma series recently released by German wunderkinds Trikont.

Well, recently, our stock of La Paloma albums was depleted when a single customer purchased 50 copies of the fifth disc in the series. Curious as to why any one person would need that many copies, we contacted the buyer and discovered that buyer’s father is actually Harry Koizumi, one of the artists from the compilation (song 4, volume 5).

On top of this, Harry is featured in a recently put together documentary entitled La Paloma on the origin and proliferation of this amazing song. In the film Harry is both interviewed and performs the famous song. So far the film is playing in only limited runs in select cities across the country, but here’s hoping it gets a wider release.

The holidays are almost over and we know we’re chomping at the bit for something new.

So, try this:

The second best magazine in the world (Tiger Beat we are still rooting for your return), Oxford American, just released it’s 10th Annual Music Issue.  This is a whopper and you should be digging in to it.  Smart people writing about amazing music AND a free double-disc album of some of the great Southern sounds, well ever.  If you’ve never attempted Oxford American, this is the best place to start.

CHECK IT OUT HERE!

Here’s hoping everyone has a safe, wonderful, warm holiday from everyone here at Light In The Attic.  Drive slow, drink copiously, and berate your family whenever you can.

Oh yeah, the snow may have ceased for the moment, but it’s still an icy apocalypse out there and we at Light In The Attic just want to make sure you good folk keep it safe during these, at times trying holi-days.  Yup, that’s it, no music news, no monumental announcements, just the sweet warmth of our care passed from our swelling hearts to you cherubs of light.

Keep it safe!

We’re all about the music here at Light In The Attic but every once in a while something outside the standard vein just jumps out at us and we have to report.  Such is the way with this weekend’s death of famed baseball player Dock Ellis.  Aside from being one of the great pitchers of the last century Dock Ellis was, well, known for a few key, exciting bits of trivia:

*  No-hitting the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970 despite being, as he would claim in 1984, under the influence of LSD throughout the course of the game.[1] Ellis had been visiting friends in Los Angeles under the impression he had the day off and was still high when his girlfriend told him he had to pitch a game against the Padres that night. Ellis boarded a shuttle flight to the ballpark and threw a no-hitter despite not being able to feel the ball or clearly see the batter or catcher. Ellis claims catcher Jerry MayBill Mazeroski and center fielder Matty Alou.[2] During the game, Ellis is reported to have commented to his teammates on the bench between innings that he was pitching a no-hitter, despite the superstition that discourages mentioning a no-hitter while it is in progress. Because the no-hitter was the first game of a double header, Ellis was forced to keep track of the pitch count for the night game.[3] wore reflective tape on his fingers which helped Ellis to see his target. Ellis walked eight, struck out six, and was aided by excellent fielding plays by second baseman

According to Ellis:

I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria. I was zeroed in on the (catcher’s) glove, but I didn’t hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters and the bases were loaded two or three times. The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn’t hit hard and never reached me.

*  Beaning Reggie Jackson in the face in apparent retaliation for Reggie’s monstrous home run off Ellis in the 1971 All-Star game in Detroit.

*  Attempting to hit every batter in the Cincinnati Reds lineup on May 1, 1974. In an effort to prove a point to teammates, Ellis hit Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Dan Driessen in the top of the first. The clean-up batter Tony Perez avoided Ellis’ attempts, instead drawing a walk, and after two pitches aimed at the head of Johnny Bench, Ellis was removed from the game by manager Danny Murtaugh. Ellis’ box score for the game reads: 0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.

*  Arguing with and being maced by a Riverfront Stadium security guard on May 5, 1972. The guard claimed Ellis did not identify himself and “made threatening gestures with a closed fist”; Ellis countered that he was showing his World Series ring as evidence of his affiliation with the Pirates.

Dock, you fiery sum’bitch, we’re certainly going to miss you.

This thing is huge and awesome, and we all worked our tales off to bring to you a list of the best lists of the year from some of the coolest peeps around.  Nabil Ayers of The Long Winters?  Check, we got him.  Most of the DJs from uber-influential station KEXP?  Yup, them too.  Anyone else you might be thinking off to throw us off our game?  Well, there’s no Puff Daddy, but we do have the man, the plan, Rodriguez speaking his piece.

Please check it out.  We think you’ll really enjoy yourselves.

Indulge, right here.

It’s been a European road trip for our favorite Austin, TX psych-drone band and for those of you not lucky enough to have a private jet staffed by leggy Swedish models (i.e. us), here’s a really nice smattering of pics from their recent show at Le Grand Mix in Turcoing, France.

Just look at how big that crowd is.