Chicano Batman & Blind Willie Johnson

so one (among several) downsides to being far away from California...

little or no chance of seeing Chicano Batman

or picking up their new LP at Amoeba Records

I went to a local music store, one that shall remain unnamed

& I asked them if they could order it...they told me

"oh, you know, San Francisco is always like six months ahead of us"

so true

these dudes remind me of El Paso, just super-chill, I can feel that dry heat

(even though they're from LA)

on an unrelated note, I've been loving the Harry Smith

Anthology of American Folk Music

particularly the blues/gospel material

so I did my own take on Blind Willie Johnson's

John The Revelator

(although my rendition probably has more in common with a later version done by Son House)

Robots Ate My Donuts

I take zero credit for an idea as cool as robots that need donuts

No, artist Eric Joyner gets all the credit, first time I saw his work

I was smitten like I imagine a donut-crazed robot would be for Shipley

& I knew I had to write a song about it

I don't usually include the lyrics, but in this case, for those of you who

won't probably download music 'cause you're still living in the '90s

here they are-

Robots Ate My Donuts (electric version)

robots came knocking on my door

their muddy robot feet soiled my kitchen floor

they went looking in the fridge for some yummy robot grub

but they were not to be satisfied with half an Italian sub

then they saw a box just'a sitting on the table

and they got all excited like poor kids that get cable

(chorus-)

robots ate my donuts, each and every one

you never seen some robots having so much fun

chowing down on glazed ones, chocolate ones

coconut ones and cake

a robot sees a donuts, that's a donut a robot's gonna take

robots ate my donuts, each and every one

robots ate my donuts and they left me with none...

the very next day, those robots came again

but I knew what they wanted so I didn't let them in

they were trying to be nice but I wouldn't fall for that

I had a bucket of acid and an aluminum baseball bat

they slipped in the back door, yeah they caught me off guard

and they went for the kitchen like fat kids go for lard

(chorus)

so I had to move on down to Albuquerque

'cause this trouble with the robots had really started to irk me

there was peace and quiet, it was nice for awhile

with all my turquoise and my Southwestern style

then one evening as the sun was going down

I saw some robot shadows that were moving on the ground

I ran to get my donuts but I knew it was too late

robots need donuts like teenagers need to ....date

robots

need donuts...

(...and here is an acoustic version)