See also:
* The Top 15 Most Cocaine-Influenced Albums of All Time, Nos. 15-11
* The Top 15 Most Cocaine-Influenced Albums of All Time, Nos. 5-1
Yesterday, we began our countdown of the 15 most coked-out albums of all time, finding plenty of snow in the music of Waylon Jennings, Mötley Crüe, and Miles Davis, among others. Today we continue our journey through the musical blizzard with numbers 10 through 6 on our list. Remember, kids: Cocaine is a helluva drug, and we mean that mostly in a bad way. Come back tomorrow for the final installment of our list.
10. Art Pepper, Thursday Night at the Village Vanguard, Friday Night at the Village Vanguard, et. al
Since the best LPs of what should have been his prime were recorded when heroin had him so out of it he struggled with rehearsals or basic saxophone holding, and since his excellent 1960 off-to-jail album was actually titled Smack Up, it's probably not much of a surprise that these first of alto-sax genius Art Pepper's post-prison, post-rehab, back-to-business comeback records were fueled by drugs -- this time a stimulant rather than an opiate.
Fired not just by coke but by the intense need of a great artist who had blown his shot but was still determined to haul himself into the pantheon anyway, Pepper played through this long '77 weekend of live sets with all the new urgency and emotion that would distinguish his late-career comeback -- and forever differentiate him from the cool, aloof style of the L.A. jazz scene he hailed from. He smokes through bop classics like "Anthropology," burns through new blues charts he'd written out on all-coke/no-sleep nights in his hotel room, and positively kills on the ballads "Goodbye" and "Over the Rainbow," where his tone is anguished and searching, yet touched with a hard-edged hope. In his astonishing autobiography, Straight Life, he confesses to taking a swing at his wife Laurie the third night, then passing out, and having to be hauled to the club. He then spent the rest of his life making up for it -- and still, somehow, swinging at this level. -- Alan Scherstuhl
Better get a nap in, this weekend looks to be pretty intense. Then again, would you expect anything else from San Francisco? As usual we've put together a little list to help you make sense of it all. Read on -- your weekend awaits.
Friday, May 4
What: Triple Threat DJs: Apollo, Shortkut, and Vinroc
Where: Mighty
When: 9 p.m. - 3 a.m.
Why: Turntablism, the once-strong pillar of Bay Area DJ culture has been in a slow recession since the early '00s. Yet just because it's less of a phenomenon doesn't mean you can't catch some truly astounding phonograph trickery if you want to. Enter the Triple Threat DJs: Apollo, Shortkut, and Vinroc. Each legendary figures in their own right, the crew's parties at Mighty do a lot to recapture the magic of the past while still pushing things forward. Watch this this video to get an idea of what it's all about, and check out Mighty this Friday for a thorough schooling. Oh yeah, did we mention that it's free and there's an open bar from 9 p.m. - 10 p.m.?
At 26 years old, local DJ Panic City has already started his own label and developed a loyal following for his Blacklight Sessions and Panic City Live podcasts on iTunes. Beginning his career in local radio, Panic City's wide-ranging musical tastes are demonstrated in his many remixes of such disparate artists as Fleetwood Mac and Afrojack, the latter having garnered more than half a million views on YouTube. He has since begun working on his own original tracks, including his recent release, "Ancient Aliens," and continues to expand his URFRIENDS brand, a DJ partnership he shares with Miles Medina. Panic City recently spoke with All Shook Down on the rewards of DJing, his Blacklight music label, and where he got his name. He plays with Face Drugs this Friday, May 4, at The Parlor, and Saturday, May 5, at Eastside West.
