PLAYLIST. Here's another rundown on what's doin' the rounds on NBT's (Dutch) HQ's hi-fi: The new Blues Explosion LP is still on heavy rotation as is the Hives' latest, a disc that seems to get little to no kudos from the hipster crowd but is A-OK in my book. Been raving enough about the Reigning Sound's Too Much Guitar, but being handed a CDR of the scrapped 3rd LP that holds sufficiently less guitar but similar songs I once again have to bow down to the sheer genius at work here. Let's hope this will become available for one 'n all someday soon. Does anyone out there remember the Godfathers?. Their I Want Everything 45 fell from the shelves recently and thus instigated a spin on my trusty Thorens which in turn lead me to pulling out the excellent Hit By Hit comp and the Sid Presley Experience's Hup,2,3,4. If, god forbid, you are connected to some P2P kinda deal like Soulseek our whatever, try to locate the demo by the Germans, a post-Godfathers outfit that was also home to Rat Scabies. Their War Machine is a fine original, but what completely knocked me out was their take on Kraftwerk's Autobahn. Too bad this band came to nothing. Jumpin' back a couple o' decades, I'm also, as always, groovin' to vintage R&B; current faves include Champion Jack Dupree's Red Robin recordings, Tiny Bradshaw on King (he's the guy that wrote Train Kept A Rollin'!) and the rather obscure Carter Brothers who recorded for Jewel in the 60s (all of these spun off old Charly comps). 70s p-rock this go round comes from White Boy and the Alan Milman Sect, both recent bargain-bin finds that have me overjoyed w/ their wild-ass sounds and potential monetary value!. Also; American Ruse, Bad Moon Rising, Crystal Ball and Rock Pusher by the more obvious offenders.
So there you have it, please keep me posted on your flips 'n digs...

Rumor has it that the Screaming Dizbusters will be playing at Debaser in Stockholm, on the 14th.

Heavy Metal belly dancers.

Yeah, I was somewhat overcome with emulsion yesterday but now I'm a little more rested. I'm not exactly qualified to enter the political arena but sometimes the ol' perspective gets skewed. Reading the Sunday Papers and listening to the radio suggests that what went on "over there" the other day could even have ended up as a "turkeyshoot" type situation. Eight wrongs don't make a right and when the old electoral counting lark happens in November it's almost certain gonna signal even blacker days for Black Rock. That's the collective name for the global village not a musical pigeonhole.

So anyways, back to more pressing matters. That of good ol' rock and roll and a tip of the hat to some recent acquisitions, first of which is the aforementioned Demolition Doll Rods "ON" released on Speedo's Swami imprint. They've stuck to their guns and deliver that now trademark undulating burlesque rattle we've come to cherish with a fearsome blues bruising. Lesser denizens of Detroit may get the press acreage but these folks will slink by the bloody lot of them on that final stretch. The f'nar f'nar titles and bump and grind innuendo might strike a casual browser as novelty smut but scratch below the surface and face the facts. This is a far, far more true to it's school record of its blood type than that last Cramps travesty was. You can always count on the DDR. All the way.

Woah, the tour has started I know but please go pay homage to THE DEMOLITION DOLL RODS. Touring Europe in support of their Swami release, ON - somehow they aren't coming to the UK. That's Blighty's loss, not the Doll Rods...



October 12th @ I Candelei, Palermo, Italy
October 13th @ Zo, Catania, Italy
October 14th @ Init, Rome, Italy
October 15th @ Charles Bronson, Ravenna, Italy
October 16th @ Transilvania, Bassano di Grappa, Italy
October 19th @ Club Pauk, Zagreb, Croatia
October 20th @ the Orto, Ljubjana, Slovenia
October 22nd @ L'Usine, Geneve, CH
October 23rd @ Festival, Strausburg, France
October 24th @ NU Bahnhof, Ulm, Germany
October 25th @ the Mudd Club, Berlin, Germany
October 26th @ the Underground, Cologne, Germany
October 27th @ the Dreikonigskeller, Frankfurt, Germany
October 28th @ Gloppe, Leuwaarden, Holland
October 29th @ De Engel, Den Helder, Holland
October 30th @ Hoeske, Gierle, Belgium
October 31st @ Nevers a Vif Festival, Nevers, France
November 2nd @ La Maroquinerie, Paris, France
November 3rd @ CAT, Bordeaux, France
November 4th @ L'Abordage, Evreux, France
November 5th @ Mondo Bizarro, Rennes, France
November 6th @ the Pit's, Courtrai, France

From Mr Martin Percival, in NY...

"Spirit is a relatively new club on 27th St in the Chelsea district of New York City. It was chosen by Arturo Vega, the Ramones Artistic Director and live stage lighting man, as the venue for tonight's very special show due to its intimate atmosphere and a great choice it to proved to be, despite a few teething problems.

The proceeds of the event were going to cancer research but it was without the usual morbid associations that these things so often have - this was mainly the Ramones 30th birthday party and, in particular a celebration of what would have been Johnny's 56th birthday and what was C Jay's 39th.

It was clear from the off that the venue staff were more used to club goers than a gig crowd. I first dropped by the venue around 4pm in the afternoon of the show. The impression created at that time was of somewhat organised chaos. Hardly surprising I guess with so many top draw bands playing, each with their own guest list, lots of special appearances to be catered for and so on. I chatted with Clem Burke at the stage door. He seemed really pumped up by the occasion and gladly signed autographs for fans as "Elvis Ramone".

By the time I got back to the venue at 7.15pm, the organized chaos impression became even stronger, with people unsure of where to queue for ticket holders or will call tickets. Still, once inside, the first "Ramones Museum" exhibits were to be seen and any earlier inconvenience was immediately forgotten. More Ramones badges and back stages passes than could be imagined in a lifetime, original hand written lyrics, the early promo baseball bat for the first album and the letter opener for the second album plus stacks of rare and unusual photos including some great ones taken by Bob Gruen and Adrian Boot at the Rainbow on 31st December 1977 at the "It's Alive" show. The most classic of these being a "Happy New Year" sign in the same style as the "Gabba Gabba Hey" signs.

Sonic Youth came on stage just after 8pm. Introduced by Mickey Leigh, he mentioned that he first met Johnny Ramone at the age of 11 in Forest Hills and that it was Mickey who later introduced him to Joey. Sonic Youth played 7 songs in total, opening with "Burning Spear", followed by "Unmade Bed", "Plastic Sun", "White Cross" & closing with "Kool Thing". Sonic Youth are an acquired taste and clearly had their followers in the audience but they were in the minority. Their in between song chat was limited but Thurston Moore did talk about the time he was walking down the Bowery when he saw Johnny Ramone just sitting on the top of a US mail box, as if it were a perfectly normal thing to do. Thurston greeted him with "Hey, how it's going?, Johnny replied "Howaya?".and that was the end of Thurston's story, you had to be there I guess!

C Jay & Friends were on just after 9pm after an introduction from Rob Zombie. Daniel Rey on guitar and C Jay on bass were accompanied by a drummer whose name I didn't catch and a variety of guests. They opened with "Durango 95",what else?! "Wart Hog" followed and on "Strength to Endure" the first guest, Mark Sheehan from C Jay's current band, Bad Chopper, joined the band for the one song. Next up was Alan Vega to sing on "I don't care" and "I remember you". Now Mr Vega is one of my all time front men but he's erratic even with Suicide and tonight he really seemed unsure of what was going on. The (pretty simple) lyrics evaded him for the first song and for "I remember you", well the least said the better! Fortunately, in traditional Ramones style, the song was over soon enough and the next front man up was Andrew W.K. He's not someone I'd previously rated too highly but tonight to his credit he put a lot into "53rd & 3rd", "I believe in Miracles" and "I wanna be your Boyfriend".

Next up was Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age for "Teenage lobotomy" and "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow". His voice was great - C Jay sang along too to "Teenage Lobotomy", not into the microphone, just for his own entertainment. This is something I remember he often did with the Ramones, even at times having to rescue Joey when he had either microphone or voice problems. For me C Jay was the under appreciated Ramone and I was really sad when he missed out on the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame induction. If it wasn't for C Jay they simply wouldnt have survived from 1989 to 1996 to enable them to be inducted!

After "Here today Gone Tomorrow", Josh Homme left to be replaced by what proved to be the star turn of the evening, Joan Jett! Looking and sounding terrific she tore into "Judy is a Punk", "Cretin Hop" and "Rockaway Beach", complete with low slung guitar. Next it was time for Elvis Ramone aka Clem Burke to join on drums for "I wanna be sedated". Initially it seemed no one was going to sing, there were even calls to the audience for people who knew the words! Eventually Tommy Ramone was persuaded on stage for what turned out to be the set closer. A great set of songs and an inspired choice of very special guests!

Next it was time to look at more of the memorabilia on display. Arturo really pulled out all the stops and Andrew D Gore, a friend of Johnny's, loaned a lot of items he'd received from John. These can be viewed soon at www.ramonessideshow.com. These included John's Forest Hills High School graduation certificate from June 1966, his draft card from March 1967 and his very first passport June 1976, issued to enable the band's UK visit the next month.

Next up after quite a break were the Strokes. Not my favourite band, but for the younger generation New York audience, they were clearly a popular choice as the hall was rammed solid whilst they were on stage.

Blondie didn't come until after midnight with the event running an hour late by this time. "Atomic" opened the set with Debbie Harry struggling to hit some of the higher notes, although this problem quickly resolved itself. "X Offender" and "Hanging on the Telephone" quickly followed plus a song written for Joey Ramone. "Maria", "Heart of Glass", "The Tide is High", "Rapture" and "One way or Another" Led into "Pet Sematary" where Debbie duetted with Mickey Leigh, "Havana Affair" then closed the evening at 1.30am.

All in all a great night, one I'll certainly never forget, especially Joan Jett playing "Judy is a Punk", "Cretin Hop" and "Rockaway Beach" and a really fitting way to celebrate Johnny and C Jay's birthdays."