Search - Lucid Screaming :: Spoonful Of Laudanum

Zounds! What on earth are you listening to? Why, it?s a new collection of satirical spoken word and surreal music by Lucid Screaming, a motley group of writers and musicians who are mostly based in Los Angeles and who hail from California, Wisconsin, New Zealand, and quite possibly Neptune. Their pieces -- laden with outrage, whimsy and obscure references -- are intended to amuse and provoke. The Lucid Ones write about whatever strikes their fancy: UFOs, dictators, hippos, city living, cell phones, clones, and Sunday drivers are among the subjects of their twisted tunes and rants. This new collection, "A Spoonful of Laudanum," explores the collective hallucination that is America in the new millennium. We have entered an alternate reality cooked up by Karl Rove, televangelists, and Enron, with guidance from George Orwell. War is peace, greed is holy, and ignorance is bliss. Paul Wolfowitz and his colleagues live out James Bond fantasies in "Never Say NeoCon"; "Axles of Evil" shows us Bush?s inner thoughts before the 2003 Iraqi invasion; and "Bush?s Alphabet" explores our president?s childlike perspective a few months later. "Jesus Crack" and "Things Jesus Never Said" explore self-serving interpretations of the Gospels. "Mr. American" speaks of ?looking out for No. 1,? while "Show Me the Money Sutra" chants a Jerry Maguire mantra. Does "Aaron?s Bar" contain a curiously puritanical message or is it a coded allegory? Some of the pieces on Spoonful are just plain out there. "Visions of Wozbrood" is a Kerouac-inspired road trip that mixes the music business and UFOs, while "Upside Down Dog" summons up a whiskey-drinking neighbor tormented by visions of flying canines and devoted to her piano lessons. The rest of the tracks speak, wail, and howl for themselves. Time to get Lucid!