Wolfed down wir tea and ventured out into the blizzards tonight to catch the Ray Charles bio-pic, RAY. It's not bad in a "What's Love Got To Do With It?" kinda way. It's a funny old time, Elvis at No. 1 and Brother Ray at the Mongoplex... what exactly is the world coming to? At 2 and a half hours it's a tad overlong but there's no doubting Jamie Foxx's uncanny morph into the man himself. Decent Sunday afternoon viewing then as opposed to the ol' attention span deficit of a "school night". I kept thinking that I'd like to hear The Del-Lords "Saint Jake" for most of the movie...

Up next from Crypt Records: The Ikon Records Story. 180 gram 2LP set in full-color inside & out GATEFOLD sleeve! INSANE package: 29 tracks (22 originals and 7 cover versions) of never reissued 1964-1966 garage punk, surf instros, frat stomp and folk-punk from 20 teenage bands recorded at Sacramento's IKON STUDIO. These 28 cuts, culled from the to-be-simultaneously-released 60-song double CD on the FRANTIC RECORDS label, are the result of FRANTIC RECORDS Joey D and ACE RECORDS Alec Palao having spent the last 6 years tracking down every band, almost every master tape, and (often without luck!) the impossible-to-find 7" singles released on Ikon. This vinyl version is housed in a deluxe full-color inside-and-out gatefold jacket crammed with color and b&w photos, label shots, and extensive liner notes. After 27 years of extensive reissues of 60s garage punk rarities, ONLY ONE Ikon track has even made it to a reissue - WHY? Because almost NOBODY even owns any of the original Ikon 45s.

Our cub reporter, Brother Duane of Sherwood files the following info from NYC...

Stop Presses... Suicide docu-biography released... Book signing & live show held...

Jan 15, 2005

Release of "SUICIDE - No Compromise" was marked by a book signing the Deitch Projects gallery, under the glow of 2 wall mounted light sculptures by Alan Vega.

The festivities continued at the Knitting Factory where SUICIDE played to a packed room, unveiling several new songs and some reworked versions of classics.

The highlight of the show was the unexpected encore of Frankie Teardrop. Not a dry eye in the house.

2 photos filed.