The Story Begins On A Rock...

It has not been a good week. When I was younger, I used to listen to Quadrophenia and figured that at least Pete Townshend understood me. Youthful fantasy, but the album got me through some rough patches. It also almost ended my life a couple of times, when I took the concept a bit too literally.

I've seen The Who alot of times over the years. It has NOT been the same since John Entwhistle sailed down the River Styx. I got to see him play a show shortly before he died. It was the same night as the 9-11 benefit at Madison Square Garden. The Who rocked the shit of the Garden and then John played at a small club. He was wasted and the show sucked. I wasn't surprised he soon died from drug complications.

Trying desperately to keep my chin up. But those rabbit punches come out of nowhere.

All I Know Is That When Bush Was President...

I had a job. And now I don't. Can't wait to see what our leader says tonight. I wish he would just denounce all the Republicans and put them in detention camps. Those bastards fucked everything up and Obama's got to clean up their mess.
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post speech follow-up: Obama was terrific... funny, sarcastic, barbed, hopeful. He called the fuckers out for what they are: a bunch of partisan scumbags, personally ambitious, with nothing but their own political dogma to guide them. Unfortunately, it will fall on deaf ears in the corridors of power as well as the heartland.
We are doomed as a nation as we are too divided to get anything done.
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Here's some power pop. You know why? Because it's bright and cheery... just like me.

ps- You know that whole story about Toyota recalling all of the Camry's they've sold in the last 4 years? Well, guess who just finished paying off their car loan for a Toyota Camry?

Acoustic Muthafuckas

Here are some neat-o acoustic versions of some classic punk tunes.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost

Toonage:
Dinosaur Jr - Borstal Breakout (Sham 69)
Frank Turner - Pay To Cum (Bad Brains)
Bill Janovitz - Straight To Hell (The Clash)
Lisa Loeb - Video Nasty (The Damned)

C-O-N... Control !

Lord, Grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change,
Courage, to change the things I can, and
Wisdom to hide the bodies of those people
I had to kill because they pissed me off.

The missus says I have "control freak" tendencies. In my old age, I am starting to agree with her. My recent obsession with sobriety and exercise are directly attributable to my unemployment. As I cannot control my job-lessness (at least to a satisfactory conclusion), I am focusing on what I can control.
How this all interacts with my obsessive/addictive traits is obvious... I am now addictive to positive behaviors. The little deals with yourself you make... "if I do "insert activity here", than something positive will happen."

And here's something completely unrelated: The Ting Tings. Pop confection... but out of my control. I dig it:



Toonage:
The Clash - Complete Control - Live 9-21-79 NYC
The Clash - Complete Control - Live 10-2-79 Atlanta
The Clash - Remore Control (Vanilla Tapes)
Devo - Uncontrollable Urge - Live Cleveland 12-3-77
U2 - Out Of Control - Live BBC 1981

Clean Liver, Dirty Soul

46 days sober. sobriety sucks. went out last night to get my rock n roll on and could neither rock nor roll. got up on stage and did a sorta crappy version of the damned's NEW ROSE. the only six pack i've seen lately is the one that's developing on my abs. up to three miles running, 2 miles on the elliptical and 1 mile on the stairmaster. the missus says i am getting too skinny and i need ass implants. and my buddy's are telling me i am turning into an emo pussy due to my lack of consumption.

and i am waiting on what could be a dream job, but the company i interviewed with has a human resources dept that is taking their sweeeeet ass time. don't they know that i am slowly dying, in anti-ci-pattttttiiiiiiooooooooooonnn?

a friday poem:

snow covered graves beckoning...waiting...like expectant mothers ready to take back what was once spilt forth.

the only true reclamation project...back into the dirt.

ps- wanna see something cool? go here. it's got isolated tracks of bass, drums, vox and geetar for songs from the clash, the who, the ramones and more. john entwhistle isolated bass!!!!!!

HEY! Our first real video! Check it out!!!!!!

This is pretty twisted- our very first legit video. Please leave a comment and tell us what you think of it. We had to sacrifice a bottle of absinthe and several gallons of blood to make this happen. And we did it all for you!

Caterwaul of Sound - "Love Theme to Kids Get Dead" from Darkstar on Vimeo.

Vin

1990 in London

At home

With Nazz, faking a handstamp so we could sneak into a club

5 years ago today I got the call that my buddy Vin died. An aneurysm. I woulda bet on liver failure, or getting hit by a car. If you’re lucky in life, you get a friend that you can really consider your brother. Well, I got lucky.

I met Vin back in first year college, when I was tripping hard on acid and he came strolling by with an equally acid addled friend. Vin was back from college and with-in a week, we were best buddies. Over the ensuing 80 or 90 years we went to more shows, got tossed out of more clubs and bars, drank more booze, and got into more trouble than either one of us should have ever been able to survive from. We would constantly push each other to do dumber and dumber things… it wasn’t even to out-do the other, it was more of a scientific pursuit to discover how far we could take it.

Every weekend we’d be at a Circle Jerks, or Fleshtones or Slickee Boys, or Dead or Kraut or whoeverthefuck was in NYC that nite show. Often, one of us would wake up the next morning a bit banged up (more often than not it was Vin, since he couldn’t hold his liquor as well as I could and was smaller than me). Oh, the liquor thing… Vin was definitely in a lifelong battle with John Barleycorn, and more often than not, was the loser. For as much as he drank, he would get hammered pretty early on. He had 4 distinct phases: Stages 1-4. Stage 1 would be the simple slurring and stage 4 would be falling down drunk and speaking utter gibberish. And it might only be a three drink journey from 1 to 4! And God help us if he tried to pick up a girl or if we got back stage to hang with a band. I remember one time when Vin tried to tell John Doe from X the lyrics of some of John’s songs. Doe became completely unhinged as Vin tried to tell him he was singing the songs wrong! Or getting thrown out of the old Peppermint Lounge when we started square dancing during some “bull-shit downtown scenester New Wave” show. Rock n roll. I think we did 12 Super Bowl’s in a row… wherever we were, even in different cities, we would get together for the game.

Vin lived in Albany for quite a few years in the 80’s and was pretty involved with the Capital-land punk scene. I spent a lot of time in Albany, as my girlfriend was going to school there and Vin lived there. I usually spent more time with Vin actually! He had a great apartment with aluminum foil as wallpaper on all the walls… it was like living in a giant baked potato.

That’s not to say Vin was a moron. The guy graduated from a top college, worked as an assistant to two different State Assemblymen and eventually ended up in the Wall Street area, working as a systems analyst.

The missus felt equally close to Vin, he was definitely like a brother to her as well. He even lived with us for a few months right after we got married.

On September 11, 2001; Vin was coming out of the subway downtown when the first plane hit… he narrowly avoided getting killed when a piece of the plane landed feet from him. I spoke to him later in the day (I was out of town) and he described how people were jumping out of the towers. I don’t think he was ever the same after that.

Anyway, when I got the call that he died, as clichéd as it sounds, we died a little that day too. I made the requisite calls (my mom was devastated as well); and we did the wake thing for 4 days. On day 5, there was a memorial mass and than a huge party that his parents threw. It was supposed to just be a luncheon, but it ended up being the kind of going away party that I would like when I kick. Everyone drinking and crying and telling stories. That night, I had to play a gig… we made it a memorable one and my buddy Al came on to sing Bloodstains (Agent Orange). At least we sent Vin out on a high note.

I know this post is all self indulgent (as if the other’s aren’t!). I don’t care. My buddy deserves better than this blog post, but it’s the best I can do.

Here's a mixtape of some of the bands and songs that I think of when I think about Vin.

Or something.

Anyway, wherever you are, hoist up a beverage of your choice and toast someone you care about that's gone.

Toonage (all on one file):

Circle Jerks - Live Fast Die Young

NOFX - August 8th

Black Flag - Police Story (Ron Reyes version)

Minor Threat - In My Eyes

Husker Du - First Of The Last Calls

The Vipers - Cheated And Lied

Flipper - Earthworm

Rush - The Trees (live)

Run DMC - King Of Rock

Public Enemy - Welcome To The Terrordome

Fleshtones - Hexbreaker

Don't Tread On An Ant

A long time ago there was a band named Adam And The Ants. I know SOME of you folks out there in blog land remember 'em... especially some of my UK compatriots (they DID have 11 top ten hits, y'know). Anyway kids, they were huge for a couple of years before the inevitable crash and burn. And, THEY DIDN'T SUCK! Songs like "Antmusic", "Stand And Deliver", "Beat My Guest" and "Goody Two Shoes" were pretty cool. The whole pirate motif and poly-rhythmic drumming was pretty whacked out for the early 80's. And chicks dug em and they weren't disco.

I was gonna write a whole history of the band, but this one is available; and I'm white n lazy.

But a couple of quick memories of the band. The first one is that if you view the video clip below, please note that I was at the taping of this show. The young and impressionable punk rock Nazz was brought to the taping of the Tom Snyder Tomorrow show in New York City by his erstwhile new wave pal Neil (who danced in the aisles during the performance). My dim (it WAS like 90 years ago, after all) memories of the show indicate that I thought the whole thing was kinda silly, but kinda cool too.

Memory #2 was the following summer (or two summers). We went to see Adam And His Insects at an outdoor show in New York City and it rained for awhile. I balled up my soaking wet bandana and threw it at the stage... nailing guitarist Marco Pirroni right in the old puss.

Rock n roll.

The young Nazz is somewhere out in the crowd.

Toonage:
Adam And The Ants - Young Parisians
Adam And The Ants - Ant Music
Adam And The Ants - Prince Charming

Do They Owe Us A Living

Received a letter from our State Labor Department mandating I go to "unemployment counseling". Failure to adhere would mean they could screw with my benefits. So, today I went. We were herded into an office and advised on various methods of assistance, including career consultation, training in email, resume advice; etc.
All useful for the unwashed masses. However, as a former upper tier exec, I found it all depressing and humbling. That might be arrogant, but looking around at my fellow jobless, I could understand why most of them were unemployed. People had problems filling out simple forms. Sad.

On the bright side, I have used my addictive personality to continue hitting the gym almost every day. Where were YOU at 8 am on New Years' Day? I was running the treadmill. Of course, as I get older, it takes more effort to get the pounds to melt away and grow muscle. That sucks. But, better to beat the shit out of my body than beat the shit out of my liver. Or something. I've lost a couple of pants sizes already and put some size on my biceps. I guess i can always do some nude modeling if things get really bad.

Toonage:
Pylon - Working Is No Problem
Nick Lowe - Cruel To Be Kind
The Cramps - Love Me
Curtis Mayfield - Hard Times

Better Things

To all of you, my dearest wish for the New Year...

BETTER THINGS!