Whenever it opens, you must see Unconvention, the locally-made documentary about protests outside the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last year. (It screened Sunday as part of the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival.)

I covered the events of that week for MN Indy, yet hadn't witnessed most of what's in the film, which outlines a long, slow, but seemingly planned and certain overreaction by police and paramilitaries to a small group of vandals--bringing the full force of tear gas and arrest down on legal marchers, bystanders, and unlucky reporters. The documentary tells this story without any narration or framing devices outside of a few subtitles.

I have to add that I was wary: I don't agree with director Chris Strouth, a friend of mine, that the purpose of political protest, avowed or subconscious, is to persuade the people being protested. (He expressed this ideas last week on MPR.) Something similar was pointed out by an audience member at the Q&A after the screening, but not before the exchange degenerated into shouting and ranting from the floor--had the hecklers never encountered a public speaker with whom they disagree?

The point to make here is that these shouters weren't responding to the film, but to the director's remarks: At no point does Strouth put anyone onscreen discussing the efficacy of protest. The fact that people of differing views respond so strongly and approvingly to Unconvention is a sign of its beauty. At an hour and a half, with footage from a slew of different DIY video journalists (including The Uptake), the movie feels raw, unprocessed, and complex--with an eye toward every possible irony. We put together the whole in our minds, and make them up while we're doing it.

Unconvention is also just a starting point, and makes no claim to be the last word. Among the things striking me that week that aren't onscreen was just how deserted downtown St. Paul was (partly, I imagine, as a result of Labor Day Weekend, partly because citizens were truly led to believe that the great bomb-throwing conspiracy was descending, partly by elaborate security design). I also think any historian of the moment should point out that the confrontations with police on Monday involved a break-away protest from the much larger and apparently uncinematic legal one--and discussions of efficacy should make that distinction. Yet the movie wasn't about that conversation, which should come later. Maybe it should come tonight:

There is a public meeting at Coffman Memorial Union tonight titled Defend the RNC 8! The Struggle for Justice after the RNC (7:00 p.m., Room 324). The "RNC 8" are the activists who were initially charged with conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism under the Minnesota version of the Patriot Act. Though the terrorism charges were dropped recently, each still faces a possible five years in prison. It's a chance to hear them tell their story.

In the late 1980s, my friend Rick Vorndran made me a tape of a record he bought while in England, the Shop Assistants' Will Anything Happen. The 1986 Chrysalis Records album by the relatively obscure Edinburgh, Scotland, band remains one of my favorites of all time, a thing of enduring power and beauty. On 100th listen, it still sounds vulnerable, gorgeously noisy, and built to chill (notice how the chorus becomes climax and coda on "I Don't Want to Be Friends with You" above). They're a secret link between the Jesus and Mary Chain roar and Riot Grrrl rage, the Pastels' tenderness and Slumber Party daze, Cocteau Twins glisten and Stereolab drive, something new under the Velvet Underground sun.

Shop Assistants friends and fans the Vaselines recently got a deluxe reissue treatment on Sub Pop, and it's high time "the Shoppies" got something similar (since they've been covered by Matador's Fucked Up, maybe that label would be game). They were so much better than their contemporaries, I think, at least on the evidence of their hard-to-find recordings, and yet so much less heard and known--and I've always wondered why.

Until we get a proper complete-discography double-CD, here's a recommended make-it-yourself chronological compilation, with info about where to buy or download each set of songs. The most surprising thing about putting this together was that every single track was worth it:

CD 1: 1983-1986

From Buba and the Shop Assistants, Something to Do (November 1983, Villa 21, 002) 7-inch, downloadable here at Shelflife:

1. Something to Do
2. Dreaming Backwards

From The Shop Assistants, a.k.a. Shopping Parade EP (June/August 1985, Subway, SUBWAY 01, Subway Organization) 7-inch, all different versions of songs than on album, downloadable here at Phoenix Hairpins:

3. All Day Long
4. Switzerland
5. All That Ever Mattered
6. It's Up to You

If I could find it, this would be where I put the "rough mix" version of "Safety Net," from an unreleased demo tape, which I read about here at Down With Tractors (with more here at Westway). Hope he re-ups that track!

7. Safety Net (rough mix)

From Peel Sessions (October 21, 1985), downloadable at Hopeless:

8. Safety Net
9. Almost Made It
10. Somewhere in China
11. All That Ever Mattered

From Safety Net (February, 1986, AGARR 1/AGARR 112, 53rd & 3rd Records) 7-inch/12-inch, from Anthology 1985-1986,  downloadable at eMusic:

12. Safety Net
13. Almost Made It
14. Somewhere in China

From Peel Sessions, June 12, 1986, downloadable at Hopeless:

15. Fixed Grin
16. I Don't Wanna Be Friends with You
17. Ace of Spades [Motorhead cover]
18. Before I Wake

I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You (September 1986, Blue Guitar, AZUR2/AZURX2) 7-inch/12-inch, downloadable here at Phoenix Hairpins:

19. I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You [not different than the album version, but included here for flow]
20. Looking Back
21. All Day Long (Slow Version) [a.k.a. Long Version]

CD 2: 1986-1990

From the 2008 CD reissue of Will Anything Happen (also simply known as The Shop Assistants) (November 1986, Blue Guitar, AZLP2/ZAZLP2), LP/Cassette, also on Chrysalis Records/EMI, reissue on Cherry Red Records available for purchase at Amazon:

1. I Don't Want to Be Friends With You [same as single version except for the tweaked title]
2. All Day Long
3. Before I Wake
4. Caledonia Rd.
5. All That Ever Mattered
6. Fixed Grin
7. Somewhere in China [different version than on Safety Net single]
8. Train from Kansas City [Shangri-Las cover]
9. Home Again
10. Seems to Be
11. After Dark
12. All of the Time
13. What a Way to Die [Pleasure Seekers cover]
14. Nature Lover

From NME's C86 compilation cassette, downloadable here at Aquarium Drunkard:

15. It's Up to You

From You Trip Me Up flexidisc (January 1990, FLX886, Avalanche Records), downloadable here at Pukekos. Note significant lineup shift for these still-wonderful final releases, with the departure of lead vocalist Alex, bassist and second vocalist Sarah moving over to lead vocals, drummer Laura moving over to bass, and Margarita joining on drums with a full drum kit instead of Laura's usual upright bass and snare:

16. You Trip Me Up [Jesus and Mary Chain cover]
17. The Other One

From Here It Comes (January 1990, Avalanche Records, AGAP001C/AGAP001B), CD single, with "Here It Comes" and "I'd Rather Be With You" downloadable here at I Could Die Tomorrow, and the other two apparently downloadable here, though I'm going off my own CD copy, which is track-downable:

18. Here It Comes
19. I'd Rather Be With You
20. Look Out
21. Too Much Adrenalin

From Big E Power (May 1990, Avalanche Records, AGAP003/AGAP003MC/AGAP003T/AGAP003CD), various formats, including CD single, with first "Big E Power" and "One More Time" downloadable here at I Could Die Tomorrow, and "She Said" downloadable here at Chocolate Bobka, though I can't find the live "Big E Power" online anywhere yet (I'm going off my own copy of the CD, which is track-downable):

22. Big E Power
23. She Said [Beatles cover]
24. One More Time
25. Big E Power [live]

(The Pleasure Seekers' 1965 classic "What a Way to Die")

Drawn from these Shop Assistants links: Tom Bartlett's page, Wikipedia entry, 17 Seconds post, I Could Die Tomorrow, Merry Swankster, MySpace page, a discography, ilx, with more here, here, here, here, and a live remembrance/review and photo at Fruitier Than Thou. Send suggestions and links if you have them--info on this band has exploded online over the past decade.

(Poster for a missing 15-year-old girl from Juarez, Mexico, 2008, reproduced in Zanzana Knowledge and Expression)

Matos hips me to the fact, pointed out to him by Eric Weisbard, that Google Book Search now has what appears to be a complete run of Billboard from 1942 on. Just what I want: More research materials! But no, this is a great and wonderful thing, especially the Google map identifying places mentioned in the magazine--there's usually at least one dot per issue in Minnesota.

13. "Haters and Fools," from Art and Life (VP/Virgin), 2000

It's been a year since my last roundup up non-blog writing, so here's the beautiful backlog. If you want to read what I've written here at complicatedfun.com over the same period, browse the archive to the right.

Recently posted elsewhere:

review: Lady Sovereign, Jigsaw (Las Vegas CityLife 4/9/09), review: Bob Mould, Life and Times (City Pages, 4/1/09), preview: The Ting Tings (City Pages 4/1/09), preview: Morrissey (City Pages 4/1/09), with more below, preview: Raphael Saadiq (City Pages 3/11/09), preview: Anni Rossi (City Pages 3/4/09), preview: Estelle (City Pages 2/25/09)

The Shifting Republic of K'Naan: A deft Somali rapper, now ensconced in Canada, prepares his American invasion (Village Voice 2/25/09), preview: Ralph's World (City Pages 2/25/09), preview: Juana Molina (City Pages 2/18/09), preview: Blitzen Trapper (City Pages 2/18/09)

CD review: P.O.S., Never Better (Las Vegas City Life 2/12/09), Slumdog Chamillionaire: Rapper K'Naan makes peace with Somalia, and pop for the world (City Pages 2/11/09), preview: A Celebration of Immigration to the Twin Cities (that's Jim Reilly in the photo) (City Pages 2/4/09)

CD review: Heartless Bastards, The Mountain (eMusic 2/3/09), CD review: Various artists, The Roots of Hip Hop (Las Vegas City Life 1/19/09), preview: The Big Pink: A Tribute to The Last Waltz (City Pages 1/21/09), Pazz and Jop ballot (Village Voice 1/21/09), review: From Hell: AC/DC at the Xcel again (Gimme Noise 1/20/09), preview: AC/DC (City Pages 1/14/08), preview: Lil Wayne (City Pages 1/14/09), preview: Best New Bands of 2008 (City Pages 1/14/09)

Artist of the Year: The makers of Trouble the Water (City Pages 12/24/08), preview: Hip-Hop Night at the Roxy (City Pages 12/24/08), Being Prince's Sister: Tyka Nelson steps out of her brother's shadow (City Pages, 12/10/08), preview: Mint Condition (City Pages 11/26/08)

Apocalypse Now: Muja Messiah (The Liberator 11/08; click here to buy a copy--the cover by Rebecca McDonald alone is worth it), I contributed to the ILX Top 75 Films of the 1950s (I Love Everything 11/18/08), preview: Heartless Bastards (City Pages 11/12/08), preview: Atmosphere (City Pages 10/29/08)

CD review: Dub Colossus: Dub Colossus in a Town Called Addis (City Pages 10/29/08), CD review: U2, Under a Blood Red Sky (see page 18) (Campus Circle 10/15/08), preview: Jolie Holland (City Pages 10/22/08), preview: Set the Smith (City Pages 10/15/08), preview: Stereolab (City Pages 10/8/08), preview: David Byrne (City Pages 10/8/08)

SST Records: The eMusic Dozen (eMusic 10/3/08), preview: The Wedding Present (City Pages 9/24/08), preview: Impaler's 25-year Anniversary Show (City Pages 9/17/08), Muja Messiah lists his favorites, profile of eighth-place-winner in Picked to Click (City Pages 9/10/08), Picked to Click ballot (Gimme Noise 9/9/08)

Anti-Flag Q&A: Police at Ripple Effect "dangerous" (MN Indy 9/5/08), Defiance of arbitrary authority sans painful consequences: Cops, Rage and Target Center (MN Indy 9/4/08), preview: GZA (City Pages 9/3/08), preview: Nas (City Pages 9/3/08), Ellison, and no Republicans, turn up for Katrina doc near RNC (MN Indy 9/3/08)

Take Back Labor Day: Hip hop meets folk by the RNC riverside (MN Indy 9/3/08), The cloud over Sammy Hagar and the RNC (MN Indy 9/1/08), Liberty Parade: Missile Dick Chicks meet Ron Paul voters (MN Indy 8/31/08), preview: Black Keys (City Pages 8/27/08), preview: The Unconvention: Liberty Parade (City Pages 8/27/08)

CD review: Coping With David Byrne & Brian Eno: A boost to your optimism from the Internet (Village Voice 8/27/08), Yo! the Movement 7th Annual Celebration (City Pages 8/20/08), CD review: Juliana Hatfield, How to Walk Away (City Pages 8/20/08), preview: Afrifest (City Pages 8/13/08), preview: N.O.R.E. (City Pages 8/13/08), CD review/profile: K-Salaam & Beatnick, Whose World Is This? (City Pages 8/6/08), "They Sound Like God": Peter S. Scholtes reviews Orchestra Baobab (Gimme Noise/Culture to Go 7/1/08), CD review: Trama & Muja Messiah (City Pages 6/4/08)

Purple Rain Dogs: Tom Waits for Prince Fans--Or How Atmosphere Went Electro (City Pages 4/30/08), Back to the Terrordome: Peter S. Scholtes reviews Chuck D and Slug (Gimme Noise/Culture to Go 4/29/08), Hi Yo Silver, Purple Rain: The Color of Minneapolis Rock and Roll, From Integrated Bands to Segregated Clubs (paper presentation at the EMP Pop Conference in Seattle 4/11/08--I'll email it to you upon request), No Faking: Peter S. Scholtes reviews the Mekons with Greil Marcus (Gimme Noise/Culture to Go 3/31/08) Artist of the Year: The Owls (City Pages 1/2/08)--where I proposed to Toasty, and she responded on the letters page the following week (City Pages 1/9/08). It's been a good year!

Previous roundup (scroll down), the one before that, and the one before that.

_________________________________________________________

Nathan Amundson, a.k.a. Rivulets, writes to inform me that not only does the solo Morrissey need no compiling, contrary to my hasty preview, but he's been compiled to death--with more than 10 best-ofs listed on Allmusic alone. "What Morrissey needs is a definitive box set. Which can never happen until he's done, and he doesn't seem done yet." Overconfidence in my (obviously) casual fandom wasn't my worst sin: I somehow missed the "compilations" tab while checking his discography at Allmusic. As partial penance, I offer parts one and two of a very rich 2002 Morrissey interview with Dave Fanning on 2FM Ireland, probably news only to fans as casual as I. (But so long as I'm linking audio, download a recently posted 28-minute interview with the Minutemen's D. Boon at Corndogs.org.)

Also, Jake Rudh emails to announce his official Morrissey afterparty at the 7th St. Entry Monday night, free and 18+, with Morrissey prizes, music, and a large screen showing your favorite Smiths and Moz videos:

Top 10 April releases:

1.-2. Monks, Black Monk Time (Light in the Attic) and Monks, The Early Years 1964-1965 (Light in the Attic), both CDs out April 14: Together these reissue everything on the 1997 Infinite Zero CD issue of Black Monk Time, and include 11 other tracks that are, so far as I can tell, previously unreleased. Beautifully remastered, packaged, and liner-noted too. I wrote about the Monks here three years ago.

3.-4. The Heptones, The Heptones Meet the Now Generation! (17 North Parade/VP), and Various artists, Joe Gibbs Scorchers from the Early Years 1967-73 (Gibbs/VP/17 North Parade), both out April 14: Arguably the best crate digs yet from 17 North Parade, the vintage Jamaican music reissue imprint of powerhouse reggae label VP, these releases capture Jamaican pop still in the romantic vocal-group throes of rock-steady, but with an awakening social-religious consciousness, and deejays meeting harmonies in the crossroads of Joe Gibbs's studio.

Most tracks on The Heptones Meet the Now Generation! were originally released on two various-artists LPs in 1972. Paired down and remastered here, the results emerge as a more shapely dawn-of-reggae classic, though not an entirely new one to CD: Nine of the 12 tracks appeared on Trojan's 1995 reissue of the UK vinyl versions, The Heptones and Friends Volumes 1 & 2. (And if you have that disc, hold onto it: Joe Gibbs Scorchers compiles eight other non-Now Generation! tracks from Heptones and Friends, but leaves off another seven, including Nicky Thomas's indelible "Mama's Song.")

Still, Now Generation! adds three pretty wonderful new rare tracks, including "Freedom Train," U Roy's deejay version of "Freedom to the People." Meanwhile, Scorchers' 40 tracks include such new-to-me joys as Lee Perry smashing bottles during "Seeing Is Knowing/Kimble." I wish Steve Barrow's liner notes had been edited with as much care as they were written--part of the intro text to Scorchers is repeated, and the song dates have somehow been left off amid otherwise meticulous discography. But the graphics and sound are beautiful (the slight dropout on Errol Dunkley's "You're Gonna Need Me" is in the original). See also: Heartbeat's 2007 Clement Dodd-era Heptones collection Sweet Talking.

5. Trama, Mr. T ziptape, out as a free download on April 14: Comedic highlight: "If I Was Emo," in which our hero croons, "I would get great reviews in the hip-hop local news/because I'm not seen as a threat, and my rhymes make you boo-hoo-hoo/If I was emo, I wouldn't have to wear gold/and my fake friends wouldn't call to get on the guest list the day of the show/I would have my own band and listen to Wu Tang Clan/I wouldn't be known in the hood because the hood don't understand." Take that, ...somebody! Written about here.

6. Lady Sovereign, Jigsaw (Midget Records), out April 7: Dropped from Def Jam, she comes back scrappier over weirder beats, or maybe this is just what grime sounds like now.

7. I Was a King, I Was a King (Control Group), out April 7: Norwegian band at first appears to wring a pre-punk American pop fixation through the scuzz textures and meandering modulations of Dinosaur Jr., like Teenage Fanclub with better singing but less memorable tunes--and has anyone needed anything that since, like, 1991? But most songs carry their own weight, and after some mid-album filler, get better as they go--adding horns, piano, strings amid greater compression and sharper hooks.

8. Two Fingers, Two Fingers (Paper Bag Records), out April 14: New project from legendary producer Amon Tobin and Joe "Doubleclick" Chapman outweirds and -grooves Lady Sovereign, but I'll have to listen more for it to stick. Love the sound off the bat.

9. Black Blondie, Do You Remember Who You Wanted to Be (Black Blondie), out in Minneapolis/St. Paul April 17: Sort of D'Angelo meets show-tunes--a sound all its own.

10. Allen Toussaint, The Bright Mississippi (Nonesuch), April 21: I don't know jazz, but I know what I love.


Top 10 from January/February/March:

1. K'Naan, Troubadour (A&M/Octone): Three stars in Rolling Stone is bullshit. Reviewed here and here.
2. P.O.S., Never Better (Rhymesayers): Also best local video in years. Reviewed here.
3. Heartless Bastards, The Mountain (Fat Possum Records): Still miss the old drummer, but more quietly transcendent. Reviewed here.
4. Various artists, Aaron LaCrate & Debonair Samir Present, B-More Club Crack (Koch): Crazy club rap sounds from Baltimore, cooler to blast out your window than grime, crunk, or dancehall, and like some dream version of all three.
5. Lily Allen, It's Not Me, It's You (EMI): Much better, makes me think I misjudged the first one.
6. Various artists, The Roots of Hip Hop (Harte): Reviewed here.
7. Various artists/Mixed by DJ D.Mil, hosted by Mr. Peter Parker, HomeGrown Heat Rocks Volume One mixtape CD (Shadyville/SPStyle.com): Spun and then passed out at Minnesota Hip-Hop Awards, this is the best all-around local rap mix in years, maybe ever.
8. Atmosphere, God Loves Ugly (Rhymesayers), 2002/2009: Sneaks up on you, discussed here.
9. A.C. Newman, Get Guilty (Matador Records)
10. Sims, False Hopes 14 (Doomtree)


10 other great tracks from January/February/March:

1. "Cedars of Lebanon," from U2, No Line on the Horizon (Island/Universal): We played the whole album in the car, liked the sound, and talked over it until this song came on, when we just stopped, turned it up, and listened. "Wow," was all I could say. The album isn't as good as reviewed, at least not yet to my ears, not even as good as How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which has three more great songs by my count, and that's three more than the two I heard at the time--but then there's the reason I mistrust my mistrust, even if the odd claim that this new one is their best since Achtung Baby makes me wonder if everyone just loves or hates his or her own U2. The one I love did this song, and "Wake Up Dead Man," and "Beautiful Day," and War. Bono's mouth noise to the effect that "Cedars" is about Iraq, a subject on which he remained mum while persuading Bush to give all that aid to Africa, doesn't take away or add, but makes it clearer that this song is as snakey and misty as anything since "Surrender" off War, the one I'll also play to think about hard truths early in the morning. Happy Easter.
2. "Wasted World," from Bob Mould, Life and Times (Anti-), out April 7: Reviewed here.
3. "Duro Hardcore," from Doble Filo, Despierta V. 1 (advance from Emetrece Productions): Cuban hip hop on the way.
4. "Jook Gal" (remix) feat. Twista, Young Blood & Kirprich, from Elephant Man, Energy God: The Best of Elephant Man (VP): Most Jamaican-sounding track turns out to be Lil' Jon's, go figure.
5. "Freakin Out," from Death, ...For the Whole World to See (Drag City): Their most uncanny 1975-sounding-like-1981 punk recording.
6. "Flying Dagger aka 100 Stab," by Aidonia, from Various artists, Ragga Ragga Ragga! 2009 (Greensleeves/VP): Sounds like a posthumous Clash-ification of dancehall.
7. "Elijah," from Black Lips, 200 Million Thousand (Vice)
8. "All You Need Is Me," from Morrissey, Years of Refusal (Attack/Lost Highway): Not the only good track, but the LOL one, discussed here: "You don't like me but you love me/Either way you're wrong/You're gonna miss me when I'm gone."
9. "Money Love," from Glen Washington, Destiny (VP), 2008
10. I forget what ten was for.

Still listening:

Various artists/Niney the Observer, Roots with Quality (17 North Parade/VP)
Brother Ali, The Truth Is Here (Rhymsayers)
Anni Rossi, Rockwell (4AD), discussed here
Sole & the Skyrider Band, Sole & The Skyrider Band Remix LP (Black Canyon)
Andrew Bird, Noble Beast (Fat Possum Records)
Franzdiego.com, The Fanzdiego.com EP free download (Franzdiego.com
Kermit Ruffins, Livin' a Treme Life (Basin Street Records), out April 28
Parallax, When It Rains It Snows (Parallax Music), local funk/reggae/hip hop with Kanser on one track, "Summertime"
Cyril Neville, Brand New Blues (M.C. Records)
The Roe Family Singers, The Earth and All That Is In It (Roe Family Singers), 2008

Late discoveries from 2008 and before:

The Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust (Vice), 2008
School of Seven Bells, Alphinism (Ghostly Int'l), 2008
Nine Inch Nails, The Slip (The Null Corporation), 2008
Belle and Sebastian, The BBC Sessions (Matador), 2008
Raphael Saadiq, The Way I See It (Columbia), discussed here
Estelle, Shine (Atlantic/Homeschool Records), discussed here
The Kamillion, The Light from My Eyes (Living Profits Records), 2008
Ralph's World, The Rhyming Circus (Disney Sound), 2008, discussed here
Ralph's World, Welcome to Ralph's World (Disney Sound), 2006: Children's music classic.
Various artists, Darker Than Blue: Soul From Jamtown 1973-1980 (Blood and Fire Records), 2001
The Smiths, The Sound of the Smiths (Sire/Rhino), 2008, discussed here
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes (Sup Pop), 2008
Alexander O'Neal, Alex Loves (Phantom Sound & Vision), 2008
Various artists, Refugee Voices: Building Bridges (UNHRC), 2001, featuring a young K'Naan

The great Black Flag guitarist brings his Texas Krautrock and ambient Western blues projects to the Cabooze Thursday (show details) for an 18+ gig with the Bill Mike band opening. Both Greg Ginn & the Taylor Texas Currogators and Jambang have recent albums on SST that are pretty damn cool, soundscapey but never aimless, and always beat-driven--here's a live review in the Houston Press. I missed seeing this show coming or I would have pitched a profile somewhere, but Ginn might be a slightly rarified taste until he starts writing songs with lyrics again.

By coincidence, Quincy Punx did a set of Black Flag covers this weekend at First Avenue, which I missed because I was in Madison, where Ginn was playing the same night, though I doubt he performed a single Black Flag song. Still, I might bring an album down for him to sign.