Star Fucking Hipsters

Yeah, that's the name of the band. Star Fucking Hipsters.

Apparently, I missed the boat on them. According to Wikipedia, they were a Punk Rock "supergroup" of alot of NYC gutter punk bands.

Sorta a combo of So-Cal "surf" guitar ala Agent Orange and also the Fat Wrechords bands, punk rawk, hardcore and ska plus trade-offs of guy and gal vox like X (though these guyz are much more shrill and hardcore). Great fucking lyrics and really enjoyable toonage. Alot of people like the band Fucked Up these days... they kinda remind me of them- but I like the vox here better than Pink Eyes on Fucked Up.

I am really digging their stuff on Spotify. You can stream at all the usual places and hope you all go out and buy their stuff too.

Check em out:

I'm Cramped

2 weeks, and I still got the rumble in my chest and general malaise.

So, fuck all that and it's Cramps time.

Masters of pyschobilly and quite possibly the greatest live band of all time.

And... curators and revivalists of the sickest and most twisted songs the universe!

Who else would perform at a mental hospital?



Many times o'er the years have I witnessed Mssrs Interior (rip) and Rorshach tearing up stages.

Fave memories?

High on acid at the Peppermint Lounge during the recording of "Smell Of Female"- my buddy Rob of the semi legendary Stinky & The Skunks taking a boot from Lux upside the head.

or

just watching Poison Ivy wielding that gee-tar, resplendint in fishnets. Grrrrr baby, real grrrrrr.




Here's the motherload:
LUX AND IVY'S FAVORITES-  12 CD'S FOR YER DOWNLOADING PLEASURE


Also, here's the "Purple Knife" collection- Lux spinning his fave toonage.

I want to also recommend the following link for Trebuchet- they have a fantastic interview with Lux and Posion Ivy detailing their love affair- It's sooo romantic that I have a renewed faith in humankind. Or something.

Cramp away, mofo's!

Still Ill

It started Saturday- body aching and a slight cough. No big deal, but a harbinger of things to come. By Sunday nite I was feeling as dead as Hugo Chavez's dick. Barely made it thru the Walking Dead and I'm pretty sure I looked just like one of those Zombies.

So by Monday morn, I was in full fledged ill mode. I had to go to a meeting and after I drove 25 miles in rush hour traffic, I get a call on my cell from the guy I was supposed to meet, cancelling the meeting. He was sick.

By the afternoon, I was hurting, but I had a major industry event in the evening and thought I could make it through an hour on the train and a 4 hour shmoozeathon. The lure was to meet one of my literary heroes. I won't say who, because if he ends up dying from talking to me I don't want the blame. But the guy is in his 80's, and I hope I didn't give him that "push".

Big mistake.

By the end of the evening I couldn't speak, I was hacking lungers and my body felt like it was in a car crash. I barely made it back to the train for the way home and had to stop at a drug store and powerhit some Robitussin, just to avoid the "typhoid Mary" stigma from my fellow trainizens.

By the time I got home, my fever was in the classic rock station range (between 102 and 103). I can't swallow and every time I cough it feels like Iron Mike Tyson is throat punching me.

Woke up today feeling just as horrible.

Then, as an added bonus, I was going into the basement to get my sweatsoaked bedding washed and I fell down the flight of stairs. So now I have a sprained wrist and a sore back and neck to go with my festering death flu.

HOWEVER- I will not be singing the following song with gardenias stuck up my ass. So I got that going for me!



A small victory, but a meaningful one.

Palmyra Delran: You Are What You Absorb

Handsome Dick Manitoba recommends Palmyra Delran. And that should be enough for anyone!

Palmyra’s new album: You Are What You Absorb was released today and true to its title, the music reflects what she musta absorbed from her rekkid player. Back in the 90’s, she used to be in some retro garage band called The Friggs. I was pretty wasted during the 90’s and don’t remember much of the decade. Oops.  

Plenty of fuzzy guitars, cheezy organs (and if your organ has cheese on it, see a doctor!) & garageland influences. I can easily pick out echoes from The Pretenders, Sleater Kinney and The Pandoras. Also reminds me of Wendy Wyld & The Mad Violets (who were a NYC garage band from the 80's- they used to pass around mushrooms and/or blotter. Good times. At least I remember them to be good times- hard to tell, the 80's are even fuzzier than the 90's).

Pick hits include “Shy Boy” (also the lead-off track on Little Steven’s Coolest Songs In The World volume 8), “You’re My Brian Jones” and the sitar led “Shut Out”. Palymyra’s got a voice a bit like Vickie (or is it Debbie) Peterson from The Bangles. "Never To Be Back Again” has got that bitchin' farfisa sound.

I also really dig the extremely “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace Love and Understanding” influenced “Lies For You” (she should be payin’ royalties to Mssrs Costello and Lowe for that one). Actually, the more I listen to this elpee, the more Elvis C I hear. Or more to the point, The Attractions.  That's not a bad thing. At least it wasn't until Imperial Bedroom.

The last song on the album “The Turtle” is an off kilter early 60’s jazzy bossa nova dance tune. You know how you do "The Turtle"? You come out real slow and just stand there. My kinda dance. Hey man, us punks used ta "stand for unity". Or fall down for alcoholism. 

This is a 12 song burst of sunshine. It's hard to stay pissed off when you listen to this!

Go buy the record.

Pure pop for now people.

Or something.

Bob Mould- NYC- 2/27/2013

Ah, what could be nicer than to see bouncin' Bobby Mould- all happy, hale and hearty 31 years after I first saw him with Husker Du.

I wuz at the 2nd of the 2 nite stand at The Bowery Ballroom to see Mr. Sunshine. In the last coupl'a years, he's released a fine auto-bio, recorded his best lp since Workbook and apparently shed alot of self-hatred.

It was extremely easy to slice through the crowd in about 30 seconds and plant ourselves right by Bob, even though the guitar monitor was about 12 inches from me. Shit, I'm half deaf already, so a little more tinnitus for the cause of the rawk en rowl is a small price to pay.

So, into the fray Mr. Mouldy, Jason Narducy (bass) and Jon Wurster (drumz) stepped. Leading off with a buncha songs from Sugar (though, not the full elpee Copper Blue set from last year), Bobby-kins was shredding on his blue Strat. I gotta admit- I miss the old Flying V gee-tar, but hey, everyone's entitled to a little change I spoze.

After about 7 songs, Bob sez he's gonna play some of the new Silver Age album. I absolutely love this record and was a little sad he didn't play the title track. But toonage such as "The Descent", "Star Machine" and Steam Of Hercules" were just ducky.

One thing- In "The Descent" he sings"
"I didn't want to play the song/that gave people so much hope"...
 umm... what song was that Bob? Hope?????
Hey Bob Hope! I gotta million of 'em!

And then... time for the "oldies portion (aka HUSKER MOTHERFUCKING DU).
"Flip Your Wig"
"Divide & Conquer"
"Hate Paper Doll"
I believe that this is the first tour that Mould has played these songs on since Hu-Du broke up.
Fred Armison from Saturday Nite Live came out to do backing vox and rhythm guitar for the first three songs. Don't mock him... Freddy got street cred- he used to drum for alt-rawk band Trenchmouth back in the 80's. He was clearly thrilled to be playing up there- if a bit nervous looking. It's one thing to act in front of millions on TV- it's another thing to avoid fucking up on a Husker song!!!!!

Then- even more Husker Du!- "Something I Learned Today", "Chartered Trips", "In A Free Land".
I saw "Real World" and "New Day Rising" on the setlist, but I think they ran out of time and they didn't play 'em.

Well, anyway-- an ass kicking show- While I really enjoy sad mopey Bob ("Hardly Getting Over It", "Too Far Down", etc)- it's great to see him with so much energy and verve.

And here's the video of the year!~!!!!!!!

Gatorade should make a Bloody Mary flavor- I'd buy it!