No Condition Is Permanent

Pictured: The late Tom Verlaine.

The other night I was walking home from a restaurant when I saw Tom Verlaine going through the dollar bins outside a used-book store. I’d been surprised to see him there a few times in recent weeks. Usually I only spot him somewhere once every two or three years. In public he always holds himself nervously apart from everyone, meeting no eyes, as if he assumes everyone wants to accost him. His head and neck perch like a raggedy spooked hawk on the high bulky prospect of his middle-aged body, above the crowds, his eyes self-consciously focused on something in the distance. When I see him on the street I don’t try to get his attention, but this time I was too curious to let the moment pass. What was he doing? The books in the dollar bins are as useless as they come—outdated textbooks, forgotten mass-market trash, operating manuals. I walked up to him and asked, “Finding out anything about flying saucers?” The last time I’d spoken to him in person, as opposed to a few e-mails, had been seven or eight years before. “Yes, this is the Greek edition.” He grinned at me, holding out a Greek-language three-volume set of some sort, proffering it theatrically, as if it were a great, but fragile, and possibly dangerous, prize and he was an animated cartoon, like Gumby, the way he does. He smiled something else, wide-eyed, going along with the flying saucer stuff. I replied, “I hear Plato came from Pluto.” He continued to smile widely. His teeth looked brown and broken in the night light, even worse than mine (he still smokes), and his face was porous and expanded and his hair coarse gray. I turned away and walked on, shocked. We were like two monsters confiding, but that wasn’t what shocked me. It was that my feeling was love. I felt grateful for him and believed in him, and inside myself I affirmed the way he is impossible and the way it’s impossible to like him. It had never been any different. I felt as close to him as I ever did. What else do I have to believe in but people like him? I’m like him for God’s sake. I am him.

— Richard Hell, I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp: An Autobiography.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 340 OF NO CONDITION IS PERMANENT:

DOWNLOAD EPISODE 340 OF NO CONDITION IS PERMANENT BY CLICKING ON THE THREE DOTS /\

Here’s what we played in Ep. 340 of No Condition Is Permanent:

THE FIRST SET

The Salsoul Orchestra — “Chicago Bus Stop” — The Anthology

Voices Of Darkness — “Mota Ginya” — Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sound Of The Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-79

The Jaguars — “Jaguar” — Las Vegas Grind! Vol. 6

Prince Alla — “Naw Go A Them Burial” — Top Ranking DJ Session Volumes 1 & 2

Screamin’ Joe Neal — “She’s My Baby” — ‘Black’ Rock ‘N’ Roll – Savage Kick Vol. 01

Lee Pei Jing — “Silver $100,000” — Taiwan & Singapore Disco

Lora Logic — “Wonderful Offer” — Pedigree Charm

IT’S MADISON TIME…

Soul Continentals — “Goobah (African Twist)” — Funky Crimes

THE SECOND SET

Wganda Kenya — “Bayesa” — Quantic Presents Tropical Funk Experience

Les Fleur De Lys — “Wait For Me” — The Immediate Singles Collection

Ferry Djimmy And His Dji-Kins — “Atakpa DC 9” — Rhythm Revolution

Tom Verlaine — “Mr. Bingo” — Tom Verlaine

Salamat — “Shamandoura” — Mambo El Soudani

Mourning Reign — “Our Fate” — Garage Beat ’66, Vol. 6: Speak of the Devil…

Ray & His Court — “El Bimbo” — Cookie Crumbs: A Funk Anthology

The Move — “Do Ya” — Message from the Country

THE THIRD SET

Ali Hassan Kuban — “Habibi” — Walk Like A Nubian

The Stallions — “Why” — Hey Baby It’s The Stallions

Mohjah — “Zion Gates (Dub)” — Body Beat: Soca-Dub and Electronic Calypso (1979-98)

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band — “Call on Me” — Safe As Milk [mono]

Ersen — “Kara Yazi” — Love, Peace & Poetry: Turkish Psychedelic Music

The A-Bones — “Oh Yeah” — Ears Wide Shut

Los Camaroes — “Boo A Nun Muna” — A Journey Into Cameroonian Music

The Elite — “One Potato” — Fort Worth Teen Scene Vol. 1

THE FINAL SET

Pazy & The Black Hippies — “Elizabeth” — Wa Ho Ha

Iggy & the Stooges — “Death Trip” — Raw Power [Iggy Pop Mix]

The Techniques — “Gambling Dub” — Techniques In Dub

Experience Unlimited — “Functus” — Free Yourself

Crown Heights Affair — “Every Beat Of My Heart” — On The Real Side: The Modern End Of Northern Soul

LORD BUCKLEY’S WEEKLY BENEDICTION…

Ennio Morricone — “L’Assoluto Naturale” — L’Assoluto Naturale OST