The Old Sleight Of Hand

It took exactly 24 hours for Black Lives Matter and all of the inherent horror that followed to be replaced in the news cycle by the most fiendish threat facing us as a world today... Pokemon Go. Dead bodies found, kids walking into traffic, dogs and cats marrying each other... how will we overcome this?????

I am astounded it took that long to transition from real news.

Plus, my wager was lost, as I had figured a sex scandal would have been the distraction.

And I'll Stick It Deep Inside

I am playing as part of a "Tribute To Iggy & The Stooges" show in Brooklyn on July 2. My main challenge is how to re-work the three sawngs we're gonna do so that Mr. Crappy Bass Player (yours truly) can sing and play at the same time...plus make the sawngs interesting and not slavishly devoted to the originals. So for "Loose", imma gonna dumb the bass line during the verses waaaaaay down. For "1970" instead of a sax player, we've got a trumpet player who'll do his best to destroy everyone's minds. And for "I Got A Right"... we shall see.

I can't say that this even has reborn my addiction to Iggy and co... as my addiction never left. But it's always interesting to listen to the classics with a different ear...that being to dissect the songs with the intent of playing them.

Easy enough to feature the originals here, but instead...some variations on a theme.

A Visit To The Ramones Exhibit

We went to the Ramones exhibit at the Queens Museum this weekend. Here are some pix:

One of the rooms

                           Joey and Dee Dee's report cards- All failing grades!

Marky's snare, Johnny's amp, various clothes

Tour Posters

A very cool CBGB's diorama

This painting was done in felt

They also gave this out as a free poster!

Johnny's original amp

Johnny kept a record of every show, attendance and $

One of Johnny's Mosrite Guitars

Lots of video and monitors to see and listen to

Tour laminates

The Boy Who Flew Too Close To The Sun

A very brief recap of the past three or so missing years:

rock n roll lifestyle >lotsa fun > interpersonal drama > more drama and fucking up  > success in business > lotsa fun and more fucking up > complications > reconciliation > diabetes diagnosis > oops, almost died > no more rock n roll lifestyle > health health health > family family family > GOT A DOGGIE !!!!!! > finally got my shit together (for the most part) > and here we are.

Here in Noo Yawk... lotsa shit going on this weekend... Punk Rock Bowling in NJ (Descendents/Dag Nasty/Flag, etc)- I wuz goin', but now I'm not. The old "white and lazy" thang has struck again. There's also this thing called the Northside Festival- a whole lotta shows in Satan's Asshole. I think the shows this old guy is gonna check out are Grandmaster Flash, King Khan & The Shrines and maybe Brian Wilson (tho I doubt that I will get to that one- just too sad).

Oh, and the Anti Nowhere League are playing Pussyville. I saw them "back in the day" and the NYHC crowd scared the shit out of those Poseurs. I remember everyone flipping them the bird and "Animal", the lead "singer" was crapping his pants. What a buncha wankers.

Is There Anybody Out There?

Back from the grave. Wonderin' if I should stick around...