December 23, 2007

Posthumous

12/31 or 1/1 would have been my buddy Kim's birthday. We never could figure out which one it was and he was kinda vague about it, so we would split the difference and celebrate it at midnite, when everyone was celebrating the new year.

Kim was an usher at my wedding, and practically a brother to both me and my wife. Kim wasn't from the USA originally, so he was sorta on the outside looking in a bit. But he assimilated pretty quickly. He was an avid participant in all of our twisted reindeer games, and was a constant at all the shows. Tons of Punk shows, Garage shows, Dead shows, Floyd shows, etc. Plus, he would drive and get our sorry asses home afterwards. I guess he must not have drank as much as the rest of us, but the other "accoutrement's" of being young and stupid were certainly visited upon him as much as the rest of us. It's kind of a miracle that he never got killed or pulled over in the various incarnations of "Death-Mobiles" he drove.

Kim died in a bicycle crash during the NYC Five Boro Bike tour in 1997. He was grievously injured as he was going down a hill really fast and went flying over his bike and did a header into a concrete barrier. Yes, he was wearing his helmet, and it split open and also split his skull in two.
When we got the call about it, and rushed to the hospital, Kim was on life support, his head bandaged and he was being kept alive by machines. The Doctor told us that the best we could hope for was that he would be in a vegetative state forever.
At that point he didn't even look human. You see your buddy all broken up and on machines and it's almost as if you're looking at a monster. It was quickly apparent to us that the quicker he passed, the better. I remember speaking to him, listening to the machines whirring and beeping, and telling him to "let go". Not that he could hear me of course.
Three days later , he was gone.

This was the first exposure we all had to DEATH. I am not talking about relatives dying, or some kid in your school that you vaguely knew cashing in. I am referring to the ripping asunder of our very small tight group of friends. You know, the ones you figure that will always be with you and one day you'd be in the nursing home laughing at all the stupid shit you did when you were young. It was strange, because the smart money would have been on Kim to outlive us all. I would've figured that any of us would have crashed, overdosed, or been killed before Kim. And a fucking bike crash. Un-fucking believable.

I think that none of us handled the next few days particularly well, but we had a small memorial service for him in a park, read some passages from some relevant books and songs and proceeded to get shitfaced drunk.
Several very strange paranormal things happened during these two weeks, and we all liked to think that Kim had a hand in some of them.

More times than I care to remember, I was an asshole to Kim. Inconsiderate, thoughtless, even mean. More than once, he even took a punch for me.
But he stuck out our friendship. I guess family is like that.

I wish I could say that I learned a valuable lesson from Kim, and maybe I did about loyalty. But I sure wish I would've treated him better. And I haven't learned enough, since I still treat loved ones worse than they deserve.

I still think about Kim all the time, especially when I am at a show that he would have been at. I have some of his old t-shirts and wear them at these shows. When I played gigs with bands, I would always wear one of his shirts or this cool leather vest with Husker Du and The Misfits and DOA painted on it. And it was a huge moment for me when I started playing Stiff Little Fingers' "Wasted Life" and I would dedicate it to him.

I still go outside on New Year's eve a bit before midnite and communicate with Kim. At this point that's all I can do.

Toonage:

Stiff Little Fingers - Wasted Life
Stiff Little Fingers - Johnny Was (Peel Sessions)
The Damned - Wait For The Blackout

December 20, 2007

Satan and/or Santa Loves You


My best wishes to you all as you ejaculate your money in an orgy of consumption. Here's my gift to you...

Toonage:

South Park - The Lonely Jew On Christmas
Showcase Showdown - Merry Christmas, I Fucked Your Snowman
The Vandals -My First X-Mas (As A Woman)
Basement Five - Last White Christmas
Peter And The Test Tube Babies - I'm Getting Pissed For Christmas
The Clap - Christmas In A Bodybag
The Kinks - Father Christmas
Fear - Fuck Christmas
The Sonics - Don't Believe In Christmas
Crucial Youth - Christmas Time For The Skins
Ramones - Merry Christmas, I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight
The Who - Christmas (Demo)
The Vandals - Grandpa's Last Christmas

Download it all by clicking here!

December 14, 2007

Baseball Altamont

I could care less if every Baseball player was taking steroids and HGH. If their heads exploded one day after they retired it would make no difference to me. As long as my team was successful (and The Yankees sure were), what do I care?
Athletes have been cheating forever… whether it was corked bats, stolen signs, amphetamines or anything else they could do to get an edge.
If someone gave me the opportunity to make millions of dollars playing baseball by shooting a needle into my arse, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
And of course they were going to lie and plead innocence… wouldn’t you?

In tribute to these brave warriors… I humbly offer the Bleedin’ Out Baseball mix.

Download the whole kit and caboodle by clicking here!

Toonage:
Yo La Tengo – Baseball Altamont
Weezer – We Are All On Drugs
The Vipers – Cheated And Lied
The Muffs – You Lied
The Clash – Cheat
Swingin’ Medallions – Double Shot Of My Baby’s Love
Stevie Ray Vaughn – Cold Shot
Sex Pistols – Liar (Live Atlanta – 1978)
Rolling Stones – Don’t Lie To Me
Ramones – Needles And Pins (demo)
Queen – Liar
Painted Ship – Little White Lies
Irma Thomas – Cheater Man
Husker Du – The Biggest Lie
Hank Williams – Your Cheatin’ Heart
Grateful Dead – Silver Threads And Golden Needles (live Chicago 1969)
Funkadelic – Hit It And Quit It
Face To Face – You Lied
Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Liars A To E

December 7, 2007

Better Redd than Dead

With the horrible events that happened in Nebraska fresh, I now await the obligatory mass media coverage. This will undoubtedly include shit-hole magazines like US and People doing features on the murderer and the victims and that fat pig Oprah hugging some of the family's. Happy holidays.

How soon until one of the retail dot coms runs an ad that says something to the effect of "stay safe shop on-line".

Oh, yeah... today is the 66th anniversary of A DAY THAT SHALL LIVE IN INFAMY. Maybe you should hold off on ordering the sushi today.


Saturday night REDD KROSS is gonna be playing here in En Why See (actually Brooklyn, but that's close enuff for rawk n roll). Word is that they will be playing their tunes in chronological order from 1981's Born Innocent through their new album (soon to be released).
You can click here for a Redd Kross post from a while back.

I am fukking psyched. If you are in the environs of Fun City, you should be at this show.


Here's the set list from the show (not including encores)



Here's some shit you probably don't have:

Toonage:
Redd Kross (aka Red Cross) - Born Innocent Demo's
Redd Kross - 2500 Redd Kross Fans Can't Be Wrong

And this just in... the audio (nicely recorded- thanks to whomever took the trouble to tape and post on dimeadozen).

Click here for Redd Kross December 8 2007 Southpaw, Brooklyn NY

This show fucking rocked.

and click here for a couple of live vids from the show thanks to our friends at Found In Brooklyn.

December 5, 2007

Work Shall Set You Free

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand
singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning,
or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work,
or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day- at night the party of young
fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

... Walt Whitman

Toonage:

Replacements - God Damn Job (live L.A. 10-26-84)
Pink Floyd - Raving And Drooling (Dogs) (Live L.A. 7-25-75)
Godfathers - Birth, School, Work, Death
John Lennon - Working Class Hero (acoustic version)
Dramarama - Work For Food

December 3, 2007

In The Wintertime...



Dark spruce forest frowned on either side the frozen waterway.
The trees had been stripped by a recent wind
of their white covering of frost,
and they seemed to lean toward each other,
black and ominous, in the fading light.
A vast silence reigned over the land.

Jack London.... "White Fang"

Toonage: