Worried Man Blues

"Cause now your 35 and workin' in a warehouse/
because you spent your college money on cocaine"

Sorry Mom And Dad - The Vandals

Those kids were the smart ones. I spent 5 years in college (OK- 5 1/2, but who's counting) when I should have been in fucking trade school learning to be a plumber or an electrician instead of a white collar corporate asshole.


My reward? Constant stress over keeping my head while all others around me lose theirs. And, as as an extra added one time, never before offered on tv, special bonus; I get to also freak about other people's lives.


Because the real murderers NEVER get dirty, they get scumbags like me to follow their orders.



We're all fucked. As bad as things are right now, they are gonna get a fuckload worse. A fuckload as big as Rosie O'Donnell's ass.


Up until this past month, we've been training to get in the ring with Mike Tyson circa 1986. It was all conceptual... Hey, we'll go in the ring and get hit a couple of times, go down, it'll be unpleasant and then we'll be back to normal. With a pocketful of green dead president's to heal our wounds.


Guess what... We just took the rib shot that Michael Spinks got ... The only problem is... There's no count-out, no 8 second standing count, and no 3 minute rounds. It's a steel cage death match, and no way out. We're just gonna keep getting hit and hit again, until our blood is all over the ring, our teeth are knocked out, and we're all punch drunk, wandering the streets looking for a handout.

Toonage:

Woody Guthrie - Pretty Boy Floyd
Poor Bob - Ain't Got A Lousy Dime
Dead Kennedys - Kill The Poor (demo)
X- So Long (It's Been Good To Know Yuh)

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Now playing: Arlo Guthrie - City Of New Orleans
via FoxyTunes

NY Comic Con - Hungry Freaks, Daddy!

Captain America needs the abdominizer

So, Nazz jr and I spent Saturday wandering the great and never-ending jungle of the NY Comic Con. Located in the cavernous Javits Center, 70,000 freaks and geeks attended.

Rorshach and Poison Ivy

Let's start off with the awesome... The first 18 minutes of Watchmen was previewed (plus an add'l scene form the middle of the movie). Holy shnikes! It is perfect. The intro credits go a long way to explain the origins of the group up until when the graphic novel opens. The scenes, shot for shot are dead on. The illustrator of Watchmen, David Gibbons gave a talk and answered questions (one query was whether Alan Moore is insane).

My son and I, after viewing the footage, looked at each other and both agreed that this was a "day-ay-nu" moment; and that we could leave now and be happy.
But of course we stayed on!

We saw a couple of other previews as well... one for the new Friday The 13th movie (I think it's called Jason kills a nursing home) as well as an (unfinished) preview for Terminator Salvation (no footage of Christian Bale's freakout of course, but the host did call Mrs. Bale on the phone!). Terminator looked to us to be an explosion/noise fest, I hope there is a decent story line as well. It was hard to tell with all the special fx.

This guy was dressed up as a Plaid Spiderman. Is Spidey Scottish now?

And on to the floor... where everything from Golden and Silver age comics were for sale to previews of what's coming in video games to new comics to graphic novels.

As we were on a depression-like budget, we kept the purchases to a minimum, although Nazz jr. as usual won some raffles (a whole lot of Chaotic cards and t-shirts; as well as a kick ass Transformers 2 Movie Poster). He also got a nice set of Hellboy miniatures and some Halo Hero-Clix for decent prices. And of course, lots of free comics and graphic novels.

The most entertaining aspect of these things of course is the cos-play. We got such a kick out of all the folks dressed up as super heroes, anime and movie characters.

Red Sonja- I don't think her parents let her out of the house like that!

This was a big hairy guy dressed up as a fairy. That's one brave guy.

There was a costume contest. Additionally , on display was a demonstration by the NY Jedi... who actually dressed up as Jedi and act out light saber battles. Sorta disappointing, as no one was actually killed. After all, we're NY'ers- we see real violence every day!

There was also an area where geeks were pummeling the crap out of each other with foam wrapped wooden sticks. Highly stimulating! People were placing bets on who would win!

We missed the Zombie prevention presentation, but I feel that we are well read on those situations.

And I was able to pick up Mrs.Nomad's b-day gift... she's been looking for the entire collection of the 1960's Batman TV shows and I found a 10 DVD set (from the original reels... unedited).

All in all a very enjoyable, long and fun day. The best part of course being Nazz Jr telling me what a great time he had.

Toonage:
The Fugs - Supergirl
Down By Law - Superman
Ani DiFranco - Superhero
Shorty Long - Devil With The Blue Dress

Zombie Dance - RIP Lux Interior

"Somebody told me you people are crazy. I don't know about that. You seem to be all right to me"


Lux Interior- to the audience at the Napa State Mental Hospital- 1979




Wow, Lux Interior died. This sucks. One of the greatest frontmen in rock history. Master of the psycho-billy genre. On the short list of the coolest fuckers ever.

The Cramps mix of old 50's rock, rockabilly, country and r n b with their general insanity was one of the most unique sounds ever created. And one of the most fun.

If you never saw The Cramps live, man, that's your loss. You had Lux, stripped down to the tightest leather pants in the world; gyrating, genuflecting and flailing about on stage. Poison Ivy on one guitar, the epitome of unflappability, all fishnets, curls and leather. Nick Knox on the skins, hitting that simple beat and whomever the other guitarist du jour was (there were so many over the years), completing the quartet.

We had the privelidge of seeing the Cramps several times over the years and being among the lucky ones at the legendary Peppermint Lounge show which became the Smell Of Female record. Memories of hallucinogenic intake as well as my buddy getting kicked in the head by Lux's boot still resonate.

Man, all the great punk rock front men are doing the dirt nap: Joey Ramone, Stiv Bators, Joe Strummer, Lux, Johnny Thunders.

this from my peep - Dave... a fellow traveller in all things Cramped:

Nazz...just ran across this contemporaneous review of some 19th C opus... i think this crit tracks just as well if you swap out the last word "wagner" with "lux interior" -

This din of brasses, tin pans and kettles, this Chinese or Caribbean clatter with wood sticks and ear-cutting scalping knives … [t]his reveling in the destruction of all tonal essence, raging satanic fury in the orchestra, this demoniacal lewd caterwauling, scandal-mongering, gun-toting music … the darling of feeble-minded royalty, …of the court flunkeys covered with reptilian slime, and of the blasé hysterical female court parasites … inflated, in an insanely destructive self-aggrandizement, by Mephistopheles' mephitic and most venomous hellish miasma, into Beelzebub's Court Composer and General Director of Hell's Music—Wagner!

Rest in pieces, Lux... You are now one of the Surfin' Dead. Or something.


Toonage:
The Cramps - Human Fly (demo)
The Cramps - What's Behind The Mask - (live CBGB 1-13-78)
The Cramps - The Crusher
The Cramps - Can Your Pussy Do The Dog
The Cramps - You Got Good Taste (live Peppermint Lounge 1984)

Fan-Boy Geek-Out...

... Or, geek-boy fan-out.




Twasn't matter to me... the New York Comic Con is coming to town this weekend and Nazz jr and I will be perusing the corridors of the Javitz Center in NYC checking out the latest and the greatest.

Previews of Watchmen, Futurama, and Terminator Salvation are on the docket. Plenty of panels too (I will be lined up for Robot Chicken!).

The bank account is gonna dip a bit as the boy and I go hog wild on merch, but what the heck else am I gonna do with the money? Lend it to the banks?

Toonage:
Shonen Knife - Buttercup (I'm A Super Girl)
Slickee Boys - Pictures Of Matchstick Men
Pink Floyd - Scarecrow
Misfits - Rat Fink

Black and Golden Boys

What more (well, aside from THE GIANTS being it it!) could you want for a Super Bowl? Great game that went down to the wire (I wish the Cardinals woulda had another minute to work with). Madden and Summerall on the b-cast. And The Boss doing the halftime thang. Springsteen rocked it, cut down the verses to get more songs in and even did a crotch cam shot.


Congrats to the Pittsburgh Steelers and my Iron-City dwelling pal Al.

Wait till next year! The Giants will be back!

Toonage:
Jack Black & The Foo Fighters - Back In Black (live 12/31/07)
The Hives - Back In Black
AC/DC - Back In Black
NOFX - Golden Boys



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Now playing: Meat Puppets - Disappear
via FoxyTunes