November 29, 2010

A Dish Best Served Cold


Nazz-A-Palooza went great. We didn't finish up until after 4 am and even got interviewed for Public Access TV. I think I described my band BACON THONG (which was the 2nd band playing that nite) as sounding like the music that the Hawaiins played whilst they sacrificed lepers to the volcano gods. Or something. With the headlining and mighty CATERWAUL OF SOUND, we proceeded to end with a 20 minute jam that involved jumping off moving office chairs, "Sunshine Of Your Love", "Whole Lotta Love", "Blitzkrieg Bop", "Black To Comm", "Louie Louie", "Interstellar Overdrive" and some meringue music. Or something. Somehow, I ended up playing lead guitar by the end of it. And that's not easy explainable when you start the song out playing bass. And people actually stuck around and loved it! Or at least they were too stunned to do anything but applaud.

Well, that's what happens when you meet up at 7 pm and are left to yer own (suspect) devices all nite! Both of our guitar players had passed out and had to be revived before we took the stage.

But, that's in the past. As is this... one year ago today, I was unceremoniously blindsided and shitcanned from my job of 14 years. Today, I log on, to find out that the remainders of the company are going to be immenently sold or liquidated. Gloating would be wrong, but let's just say I smirked a bit.

Sometimes the light is shining on me. Other times it's raining out.


November 27, 2010

Nazz-A-Palooza

Great googly moogly!!!! I am playing with 2 bands tonite in Noo Yawk City!!!!! On Broadway! With the mighty Caterwaul Of Sound (and yes, it's mixing time for the album) and Bacon Thong!!! Punk rock!



November 22, 2010

Aitch Bee Cee


You are your own demon. So sayeth my pal "C" about yerz truly. And she should know. Well, "C" is a true friend and the reality checks and back watching we have done for each other over most of this century have been both mutually beneficial and destructive.

And... since this is my blog, I wanna wish her a happy freaking birthday. As befits her coolness, her party was at some whacked out Bulgarian Bar that's owned or something by one of the guys from Gogol Bordello. It was a nite of crazy music WITH ALOT OF DANCING and an ice/vodka bar in which we had 2 minutes to drink all the vodka we could suck down. Since old Nazz is one quarter Gypsy, I fit right in.

So anyway, in honor of "C" here is some toonage that I know she'll dig. Or something.

The Clash - Tommy Gun (Live 1979 London Lyceum)
Joe Strummer and Johnny Cash - Redemption Song
Hot Water Music - Clampdown
The Strummers - Complete Control (Japanese band covering The Clash)
The Clash- YMCA (Live singalong on WBCN)

November 19, 2010

There's A Part That's Not Screwed On





Do those pills make you hallucinate that your wife is in front of you?




 Does this syringe make me look thin?


 

Don't Go Looking For It, It's Not There Anymore


 
 This Was All A Dream

November 15, 2010

Decisions, Decisions


So, it's been almost a year since I was backstabbed/dumped/shitcanned from the job that I had given part of my heart and soul to over the previous 14 years.

To commemorate the occasion, I am thinking of one of the following "tributes":

  • mailing a dead rat to my ex-boss
  • mailing something far more rank and fecal to my ex-boss
  • signing my ex-boss up for every heinous mailing list available 
  • summoning up some demon to destroy his family
  • sending him an anniversary card with my "thoughts" on it
  • just ignoring the bastard altogether and being secure in the fact that I got another job and that one day he will die.

On another note- I jammed with a couple of dudes I met on-line at a musician site- We played lots of Heartbreakers, Ramones, Clash, Dead Boys, Replacements etc. Big fun. However, the drummer does not think that Neil Peart is gawd and the guitar player doesn't like Jimmy Page. I didn't even know such creatures existed! At least we all agreed that John Entwhistle is/was the lord of the 4 string. We'll definitely need a lead singer. I am thinking of calling this band project "Treatment Bound".

This will be a supplement to my awe inspiring CATERWAUL OF SOUND band, of course. 

And, now for something completely different:

November 10, 2010

The Walking Dead

If you haven't been watching THE WALKING DEAD... you have been missing the best TV show of the year. Totally gory, totally violent and pretty faithful to the original source material. Below, you can see the first episode.




  

And speaking of soul-less maggot infested pus-filled walking automatons with no regard for anything but their own base needs, has anyone read this "true crime" book yet?

November 8, 2010

MO IS REALLY DOING SOME COOL SHIT!!!!

Our rhythm guitar player is the guy that really brings the sick tunes to the band. He's got real long black hair and a real long dark beard. And he really likes evil death metal, He can quote chapter and verse on Norweigen bLACK mETAL. WELL MO, IN AN ATTEMPT  GET CLEAN IN MIND AND SOUL AND BODY  TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH Relief ORGS & TO ULTIMATELY JOIN THE PEACE CORPS, i\s on a 2 week relief trip to the jungle and deserts of Africa. To be exact ... Uganda.

Our prediction is  that he going to come back completely changed. No more self pity, laziness, and boo fucking hoo.
He's over there getting the full treemeant. This guy came from a bedbug infested concrete bunker and is NoW the American Hero ID and helpIng hard hit pEople in Africa.

UNBELIEVABLE !!!!!!!   I AM SOOO PROUD OF HIM. I ENVY HIS EXPERIENCES WHILE ADMITTING THAT I AM FAR TOO CHICKENSHIT, LAZY AND SELFISH TO HAVE EVER DONE WHAT HE IS DOING.  AMAZING!!!
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.This trip was a visit to a remote village called Seka, and by remote I mean an hour drive over haggard dirt roads to a place where a couple folks riding by would stare at us funny because apparently they've never seen a white person before. This was a women's outreach trip where the ladies organize the local women into a group and have a little salon...

READ THIS - IT'S AMAZING:
No this trip ain't all fun 'n games. Today we went to one of the local hospitals, and I don't mean Cedars-Sinai. This is the place where the poorest of the poor from the slums 'n ghettos go so you can imagine the conditions. And even as bad as it was, I'm told that it's still improved from a couple of years ago. The guy on the left is from the men's ward. He was having trouble keeping food down because of HIV and syphilis but didn't even have the means for a shot of penicillin


    • … The next ward over was the "broken" ward with lots of broken bones, many most likely to be amputated, and a guy with his face pretty mangled with blood on his lip because some jerks beat the shit out of him. But none of that could prepare me for the maternity ward. I'm not gonna try to describe the sights 'n sounds because the video on the blog should handle that for me. But I will tell you that I've never experienced a more pungent stench of shit, piss and decay in my life. I mean this made a Burning Man outhouse smell like perfume. I'd never been more glad to have hand sanitizer (part of the job was touching the patients because they feel a visit from whitey was sent by God). And oh yeah on the way out we saw a long fresh trail of blood going from the sidewalk outside to a puddle near the benches. Someone said they saw a nurse shaking her head sadly because a kid was just brought in with his leg crushed by a car. You can imagine what they were going through being treated in this place. VIVA UGANDA!! I'm pretty sure this activity was the most grim on the trip and I promise to make the next update more uplifting. Today we're going way up in the mountains to a small village with views that are supposed to be outstanding so look forward to that tomorrow.

November 4, 2010

Bumpin' Uglies

It's my birfdae dis weekend. I'm gonna shave my head. And get drunk. And feel sorry for myself. That's my presents to myself.
My presents to YOU are below:

Here's some music from bands that you should research, fall in love with and support. They play both kinds of music: Punk & Rawk.

Action 45- California based mofo's who can actually play play their instruments. Sorta like Social Distortion meets Cock Sparrer. There's alot going on in the music... all of it good. Anthemic and tight. Sorta like the way you wished Green Day would sound. Best of all, lead singer Deuce X. Machina wears a hat better than anyone. Except for me.

Song: Action 45 - Bastards Of America

Action 45 Website

Kitty And The Kowalskis - Kitty has got more punk rock in her blood than pretty much anyone. She's been killing it in NYC for many years and is cool enough to have been a Ramone. Her voice always reminded me a bit of Debbie Harry, but her band has got a lot more balls than Blondie ever did.

Song: Kitty & The Kowalskis - Joey's Song (guess who it's about!!!)

Kitty And The Kowalskis Web Site

OFF! - I know, I've written about em before. Too bad- They're great. Total old skool punk rock (Decline 1 era)- Here, former Circle Jerk Keith Morris does a tribute to the legendary leader of The Gun Club.

Song: OFF! - Jeffrey Lee Pierce


OFF! Website

Yeti Girls - Poppy ala the fabulous Ramonesy brothers. I think they're German. Kind of fey vox, but the lyrics are nasty and the hooks are there. Plus, they get bonus points for a band name that must have come after many bong hits.

Song: Yeti Girls - Love Letter Girl

Yeti Girls Website

The Jam - Of course you know who The Jam are. This demo (just Paul Weller and guitar) of Thick As Thieves chokes me up. We all have friends who we disconnected with; much to our horror, disappointment and sadness. Right?

Song - The Jam - Thick As Thieves (demo)

The Jam Website


Semper fi, muthafuckas!!!!!