The words I thought I brought I left behind

Never mind
All over but the shouting, just a waste of time
Never mind
All over but the shouting, just a waste of time
Never mind
Never mind
Never mind
Never mind
The words I thought I brought I left behind
So never mind


Toonage:
Replacements -Never Mind
Face To Face - A.OK
Wilco - Hate It Here
Husker Du - Indecision Time
The Jam - Thick As Thieves (live 3-15-80)

Cancer sucks

This is pretty cool. Here in the U.S. of A., "second base" is a term for getting access to boobage. So, some good folks out there came up with these Breast Cancer Awareness shirts. Hey, it's a good cause and the shirt is awesome. I plan on wearing mine to church.

More info on the origins of the shirt can be found by clicking on the shirt image or by hitting this link that will take you to a Newsweek story.

And here's another site called "Save The Ta-Ta's".

Cancer sucks.

Toonage:

My Chemical Romance - Cancer

Mudhoney - Touch Me I'm Sick

NOFX - New Boobs

Led Zeppelin - Sick Again (demo)

Pink Floyd - Stay

A National Tragedy

Three years ago today, Hurricane Katrina was born. The damage done to New Orleans and the Gulf area was horrendous. The response of our Government, (led by the worst president ever) was inadequate, shameful and criminal. The after effects of this disaster will last decades.

Toonage:

Johnny Thunders - You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory

Arlo Guthrie - City Of New Orleans

Me First & The Gimme Gimme's - City Of New Orleans

Grateful Dead - Good Lovin/New Orleans/Good Lovin (live 6/6/70)

Billie Holiday - Stormy Weather

Elmore James - Stormy Monday

Positive affirmation

If you lost your job. Or, if you got very ill. How many people could you depend on? How many would stay in touch. For how long? One week? Three months? Six months?
How long until you became invisible?




Toonage:
Anti-Nowhere League - So What
Petra Haden - Don't Stop Believin'

A Baseball Odyssey

The last couple of weeks have taken me on a journey of several Baseball stadiums. I offer these quick impressions of the parks...

NY Mets (Shea Stadium) - Aaah, my home stadium. Parking now officially sucks, as they are building the new stadium in the Centerfield parking lots. Shea is a not the most modern of stadiums (in fact at this point, at 44 years old, I think it's the third oldest in the Ntl League. However, the site lines are pretty good, the atmosphere is fun (Mr. Met shoots t-shirts into the stands, lots of music between batters and innings), there's a great food court and security is lax. No hassles bringing in food or drinks. My daughter and I were easily able to move from the upper deck into the lower mezzanine box seats with no trouble at all.

NY Yankees (Yankee Stadium) - Yeah, tradition is wonderful, The monuments are swell. It's living breathing history. The view from most seats is great (although the bleachers suck... and ya can't get booze out there anymore). However, the entire vibe of Yankee Stadium is awful. It's in a crappy neighborhood; it's a bitch to get there (the subways are packed and take forever); and the ushers are complete assholes. They practically give you a freakin cavity search to enter the stadium and check under your baseball cap and even check your cell phone. Forget about ordering food or beer there... it's hideously overpriced and you'd better count your change...many of the vendors will cheat you.
Plus A-Rod plays for the Yankees and he's a giant Pussy. Which matches perfectly with the "YMCA" sing-along that the Ground crew performs.
Yeccch.

Philadelphia Phillies (Citizen Bank Park) - Beautiful new stadium. Plenty of parking all around. Great sightlines, although many seats are in the outfield.
However, no tail-gating. They have big fat pseudo redneck cops roaming the parking lots all too willing to slap you with a $300 ticket. The Phillie Phanatic does a fun between inning's show. Lots of diversions for kids. Tasty food. Former Phillie Greg Luzinski has a bar-b-cue pit in right field (excellent BBQ Turkey sandwiches). Micro-Brew beer only $6 for a big cup. Phillie fans did not appreciate my rendition of New York New York during the 7th inning stretch however.

Chicago Cubs (Wrigley Field) - Baseball Nirvana. It's Woodstock and Octoberfest all rolled into one. The area around Wrigley is loaded with bars. Everyone is drunk. The almost 100 year old Wrigley Field has been called the world's largest beer garden. It's just one giant party for nine innings, even if the Cubs lose. And then the party continues afterwards. I was there for a Cubs/Cardinals game and even though they are big rivals, all taunting was done with extreme good nature. Extra points for serving shitty Old Style beer right out of the can. Speaking of cans, the bathrooms feature huge piss troughs and you can wave across to the guy pissing opposite you. The Ivy lining the brick outfield walls is beautiful. Plus, we had a bonus. There was an air show in Chicago the day I was there and Bombers and Thunderbirds were flying overhead. Cool stuff.
Wrigley is my favorite stadium in Baseball. In fact, the Cubs have become one of my favorite teams largely because I always have such a good time at Wrigley.

Toonage:
Beatles - Ticket To Ride (live Shea Stadium)
Sex Pistols - New York (demo)
Shadows Of Knight - New York Bullseye
Butterfield Blues Band - Born In Chicago
Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait (last show ever- Chicago)
William Penn V - Swami

Girls Girls Girls

I have been playing The Pipettes pretty much non stop lately. It's total treacle; a manufactured pop group cashing in on expert songwriting and clever vids. I know I am being sucked in. And I don't care. The tunes are loaded with hooks and harken back to the early 60's. You can definately hear the homage to groups like The Shangri-La's and The Ronettes. There's even a bit of Motown.

So, here's a couple of songs from The Pipettes; plus choice toonage from some girl groups (some pre-packaged and some real bands) from the days of yore.

Toonage:

The Pipettes - One Night Stand

The Pipettes - Pull Shapes

The Slits - I Heard It Through The Grapevine

The Ronettes - Be My Baby

Martha and The Vandellas - Nowhere To Run

The Go-Go's - We Got The Beat (original Stiff version)

The Shangri-La's - Leader Of The Pack

Petey the Possum's future is in your hands

Aaahh, all you crazy kids, just scooping up files with-out a care in the world. Well, I've had it.

So... leave a comment or PETEY THE POSSUM dies.

We discovered Petey in our yard a while back. Isn't he cute? Well, his death is gonna be on your hands...unless I'm convinced to let him live.

And here's a great recipe imma gonna use if Petey ends up doin' the dirt nap.

In honor of Petey...here are some songs inspired by his precarious status.

Toonage:

Ramones - Pet Semetary (live)

Pink Floyd - Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict

Grateful Dead - Death Don't Have No Mercy (1/8/66)

Howlin' Wolf - Killing Floor

Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die

Happy D-Day - Jerry Garcia!

It was 12 years ago today that Jerry Garcia left this mortal coil.
Bummer.
Those darn chocolate doughnuts finally caught up with him. A bad day, but that cholesteral will get you sooner or later.

As I stand firmly entrenched in both the Deadhead and Punk Rock camps, I offer polar opposites in music today.

Hey now Jerry, see you on the other side.

Toonage:

Garcia (whole album)

Jerry Garcia Band - Live 1-19-72 The Lion's Share

NOFX - August 8th

Iron Prostate - Bring Me The Head Of Jerry Garcia

The scariest song ever

This song scares the crap out of me. As teenagers, many of us wrestled with demons. This is the story of someone who lost. I can't fathom the pain that a parent must go through if this is their child's fate.

Adam's Song
(Blink-182)


I never thought I'd die alone
I laughed the loudest who'd have known
I traced the cord back to the wall
No wonder it was never plugged in at all
I took my time, I hurried up
The choice was mine, I didn't think enough
I'm too depressed, to go on
you'll be sorry when I'm gone

I never conquered, rarely came
16 just held such better days
Days when I still felt alive
We couldn't wait to get outside
The world was wide, too late to try
The tour was over we'd survived
I couldn't wait till I got home
To pass the time in my room alone

I never thought I'd die alone
Another six months I'll be unknown
Give all my things to all my friends
You'll never step foot in my room again
You'll close it off, board it up
Remember the time that I spilled the cup
Of apple juice in the hall
please tell mom this is not her fault

I never conquered, rarely came
16 just held such better days
Days when I still felt alive
We couldn't wait to get outside
The world was wide, too late to try
The tour was over but we'd survived
I couldn't wait till I got home
To pass the time in my room alone

I never conquered, rarely came
Tomorrow holds such better days
Days when I could still feel alive
When I can't wait to get outside
The world is wide, the time goes by
The tour is over I survived
And I can't wait till I get home
To pass the time in my room alone

Toonage:

Blink 182 - Adam's Song

Warped - Thirsty But Not Miserable

Hey, Kevin Lyman and the entire Warped Tour organization... suck my hot, parched balls. It's 100 degrees and you bastards are selling water for $5 a bottle! You greedy motherfuckers. Especially as you limited people to bringing in one bottle. And your water truck by 3 pm resembled a scene from a Save The Children ad. And then they ran out of water.

Aside from that atrocity, the Warped show in NY last week was just lovely... thousands of teenagers having a good time with no fights and no real hassles.

Observations:

There is a no punk political movement. I guess suburban kids are happy and docile. One booth had anti-Bush stuff. That's out of about 100 booths.

There were alot of environmental and vegeterian booths - good!

There an awful lot of bands who seem to have Cookie Monster as their lead singer.

People should learn to pick up their garbage. It was disgusting to see trash just thrown on the ground when there were bins everywhere.

Bad Religion still kick ass.

Paramore are gonna be huge.

Coheed and Cambria are the second coming of Rush.

Tiger Army were rockin' and are much better live than on record.

Parents should not let their kids out of the house without either proper clothing or sunscreen. By 4 pm, it looked like a lobster convention. Kiddies- there's no ozone layer anymore! And skin cancer ain't cool.

Apparently, every girl over the age of 14 has a pierced belly button.

Best T-Shirt of the day "Hail Seitan, Go Vegan"

And most annoyingly... dozens of kids were holding up signs stating "Free Hugs". This was supposed to be Punk Rock, not a Phish concert.

Damn kids don't know the difference!

Toonage:

Guided By Voices - Hot Freaks

Down By Law - Punk As Fuck

Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl

Pennywise - Kids In America

Bad Religion - Fuck Armageddon, This Is Hell

Replacements - Cool Water

The Who -Water

Old and in the Warped

I officially cross over a Cultural line tomorrow. I am taking my 13 year old daughter to The Warped Tour. I have been to several of the Warped shows over the years, but me and my droogs were always the drunken rowdy mofo's. Now, I have to be the voice of responsibility.
But it's a small price to pay as I continue to lead my little girl away from the Britney and High School Musical fodder and into Rock N Roll (or what passes for it these days). At least Bad Religion is playing; they're as ancient as I am!
Warped was great for a couple of reasons- The tremendous volume of bands playing (at any given point there would be something decent to see) and ... THE BEER TENT!
The Beer Tent? Yeah! When 99% of the attendees are not of legal drinking age, the Beer tent is empty. Which means, no lines and the opportunity to piss away tons of money on shitty beer. But, since it's hot out, shitty beer does the trick.
So, as I escort my daughter, I will be eschewing the beer (do they even sell beer at Warped anymore?), holding off on the hidden bottles of vodka, and turning away from the aromatic herbs. And, of course...no pit and no moshing either.
Yep, I'll be the old guy in the Husker Du T-shirt. Gee, what did YOU do in the war, daddy?
And if any of those little whiney emo kids even glance at my little princess, I will wreak havoc upon them!


Toonage (of the "OLD SCHOOL" variety)

Bad Brains - Pay To Cum
Bad Religion - We're Only Gonna Die
Social Distortion - Lude Boy (demo)
Husker Du - Eight Miles High (live Trenton NJ 1985)
Descendents - I'm Not A Loser
Minutemen - Party With Me, Punker
Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
TSOL - Code Blue