Thursday, October 28th, 8pm - 11pm Music to Spazz By with Dave the Spazz on WFMU with Arch Hall Jr., Nathaniel Mayer & Miriam Linna.
"An incredible line-up of superstars! Rock & Roll movie star Arch Hall, Jr. (Wild Guitar, The Choppers, Eegah, The Sadist) chats with Dave about movies, his band The Archers featuring Dobie "The In Crowd" Gray, and all things related to Konga Joe. Soul legend Nathaniel "Village of Love" Mayer will also be on hand to discuss his brand new release on Fat Possum Records and his upcoming area appearance. Add Bad Seed Honcho Miriam Linna to the mix and you've got one heck of an insane show!".
(with thanks to Jan Kooi for the tip-off on both this and the the entry above).

There's a 4 hour(!) show on the Kassel Punk Kongress comin atcha from my buddy BIGor on Radio Student in Slovenia tonight. Seems like so much longer ago than three weeks I can tell ya.

CD Universe is offering the MC 5 - A True Testimonial DVD at $11.89 a pop and claims a street date for Dec 31 (?!).

The 48th London Film Festival will host the first European screening of Edgeplay: A Film About The Runaways on October 24 and 25.

A footnote... you can find Edgeplay clips here.

The output of Captain Sensible's first post Damned outfit King only amounted to one John Peel session that was recently issued on vinyl in the US. However the BBC got word of this project and immediatly threatened with legal action, but those interested might wanna keep an eye out on eBay...

Utrecht was hardly Beat-Central in the 1960s but did produce a small number of cool bands (a basic introduction can be found here).
One of the top-draws in the local scene back then, The Mods, are doing a reunion show on November 7 at the Veemarkthallen along with the Driftin' Five. No guarantees from this end about this turnin' out to be either an oldies yawn fest or that the fire's still burning, just figured some of you might like to check it out.

The Japanese Wizzard In Vinyl label has released two CDs documenting the complete early works of Ohio legends the Rubber City Rebels: "The Akron Years - Features the '77 Clone sessions, plus live from The Crypt and awesome video content, and The Hollywood Years - Digitally Re-mastered Re-mixed '79 Capitol sessions plus bonus tracks and 1980 KROQ interview".

To view the flyer in its full size glory, click HERE!

Wish it wasnae such a long way to Germany. Agent Heiko has informed me of the imminent happenings...

"Friday in Berlin is some kinda Ramones exhibition with films, memorabilia and Dee Dee paintings but I dont have much info yet. We're playing with our mates Commando Berlin and than saturday and sunday in meißen with the Melones."

Good to hear that HANK RAY is still shakin', rattlin' and rollin' the way that only he can lay it down.



Big John Bates will be blazing a trail across Europe in December, bypassing the UK, but hitting up clubs in more deserving parts of the world. Take a look at the website and there's no way you'll want to sit that one out.

Enter the world of Rockin' Jelly Bean!

Robert Quine Memorial event 12/4.
From the Richard Hell board:
"The Robert Quine event is confirmed. It's being organized by Hell, Jody Harris, Ivan Julian, Marc Ribot, and Jim Marshall. It will take place Saturday afternoon, December 4th, at CBGB's Gallery (next door to the club), approx. 3:00-8:00 PM. The format will be that people who knew and/or worked with Quine will each get up to ten minutes (I think) to do or say something in tribute to or memory of Quine. There will be musical equipment on stage for anyone who wants to perform, but many will just speak. I don't know yet who's going to participate except obviously the organizers. Many people have expressed interest."

Fezwrecker are co-ordinating a European Invasion for The Bonniwell Music Machine. Shows are as follows...



12 Nov 2004 Mestre, Italy – “Hazy Shade of Winter” Festival, The Jam Club
13 Nov 2004 Munich, Germany – Atomic Café
16 Nov 2004 London, UK –Islington Academy (Marquee Club)
17 Nov 2004 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
19 Nov 2004 Benidorm, Spain – “Wild Weekend” Festival
21 Nov 2004 Berlin, Germany – Roter Salon, Volksbühne
23 Nov 2004 Paris, France – Mains d'Oeuvres

"Regarded as a founding pioneer of “garage rock” in 1966, and often called “the godfather of punk,”legendary songwriter Sean Bonniwell and The Bonniwell Music Machine is performing in Europe for the first time ever this November, in a series of limited engagements of “The Turn On Europe Tour.”

Seems like we're getting a slow but steady increase in the number of visitors to this THING. Good. We try to update and add regularly to keep the flow of information going. Nothing worse than visiting an alleged resource that is seldom, if ever updated.

What about the comments facility? Should we retain it? I'm not sure that this is adding anything to the "experience" and would appreciate any angle on that subject that you, the readers, might have. Other than that, keep doing what you're doing. Spread the word on our existence and hep us to anything you reckon that we should be putting the word out on.

It's time for the nose to go back to the grindstone that just about pays for my habit. Later...

Wikipedia includes a definition of garage rock with links to entries for key 60s garage bands and contemporary garage revival bands. This impressive online encyclopedia also includes definitions for related genres such as, rockabilly, surf, psychedelia, pub rock and punk.

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."

Just wanna wish all da best from all of we here to our sister in rock'n'roll, Ms Karen (DFFD) Winter and Mr John Lanza on the event of their marriage today somewhere in Connecticut. Hope it all goes bigstyle! Catch you kids on the flipside...
Posted 11:01 AM by Jeroen Vedder
I have this vision of Karen and John walking up to the altar while the church organ is playing I Got You Babe...
Best of luck to the both of you!.

Another week down, the days are getting short and the nights long. Worn down, I think that's how it's best referred to. But anyway, today is the grand opening of the Scottish District Council, oops sorry Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh. It's official opening is being hailed as some big event but is probably acually somewhere on a par with a new Tesco or Ikea opening. I'm not sure what the prize will be for being first over the threshold today though, maybe an item of furniture, who knows and, more specifically, who cares?

It's small potatoes in a world where complete mindfucks can take hostages and cut off their heads in the name of some half-assed cause. Remember, here - we don't believe in anything and we don't stand for nothing - how can we hope to understand the mindsets of people who think they're getting vouchers for a better deal in the next life. We can't. Give this lot what they want and another nest of crazies will come outta the woodwork. It's like being overrun by vermin is what it is and that's the pigeonhole this utter scum belongs in. How can anybody, other than those living it, begin to know what it must be like for the families and the people they leave behind? The endless autopsies (forgive the expression but I reckon it's pertinent) by alleged experts etc. on what might happen, did happen, whatever. We'll never know but you can bet that it's possibly worse than anybody's craziest idea of what may have gone down. I bet Billy Connolly is feeling pretty shaken up right about now. A little consideration can go a long way and whilst it's a good thing to stick your head up above the parapet now and again, there's a time and a place. Back to the Brownies to learn a bit of decorum for you Billy...

How did I get on to this...? Well, there's a sort of music festival going on in this area at the moment. Part of that saw my bud, John Miller perform in a place called The Beancross last night. This "venue" is basically a restaurant with no provision for live music whatsoever. Good of them to try and all that but utterly inappropriate. The "act" is tucked into one corner while said entertainment valiantly attempts to connect with the individuals who are far more into necking the contents of the dessert menu. Anyway, I'm sitting at the bar and there are two screens showing Sky News with the sound down. Not only are the gabbers a distraction but these TV's were extolling the fact that Mr Bigley had in fact been executed. At this point the whole thing went beyond "inappopriate". It actually made me quite sick to the pit of my stomach. Life goes on and all that but to have this stuff flashing away in the background was just plain over the score, I didn't stay long because my blood was boiling. Like I said back there, there's a time and a place but I had to get the hell outta there. Hopefully next year the "Way to Blue" festival organisers will consider the error of their ways and get to arranging such events in more suitable venues. It takes time to build these things and mistakes have been known to be useful somewhere down the pike.

The previous night, I saw Mary Lee's Corvette open for Laura Veirs at Tut's in Glasgow. Grand set but why do people gab and text when an act is on. The reception was OK but what is it with people pay for a ticket to a show and won't shut the fuck up while it's on? Even during the headliner. That and the third act on the bill scenario. Life is short as it is and there's only so many mediocre openers to the proper support that one can stand. This was brought to stark attention at the recent DKT/MC5 debacle. An update on which later. I ain't finished with that baby, oh no...

So, wodjagonnado indeed. One overtly positive point this week was that I got a replacement copy of Andy Cameron's "I Want Tae Be A Punk Rocker" from Ebay following a tip off from Agent Rolf in Germany. As Mr Whitney said, "it's the little things".

It Makes You Want To Spit by Sean O'Neill and Guy Trelford (Reekus).
A to Z guide to the early (77-82) punk scene in Northern Ireland. Excellently researched and put together, no two ways about it, but the ongoing parade of pug ugly people w/ spiky hair and Exploited t-shirts is a bit "too much" for me. That said, there's still enough focus on, for instance, the Good Vibrations label and all the bands who called it home (Undertones, Protex, Victim, Rudi etc.) to make this a worthwhile purchase. Best of all tho' is that fact that I get a mention in the "thank you" list and get mistaken for a representative from Chiswick Records!. All I ever did was be too lazy to answer an e-mail from the authors about a Count Bishops show in Belfast!. Who ever said fame doesn't come easy?.

Robert at the Kiss 'n Run agency, who's setting up the Leg Hounds tour (mentioned below), has plenty more on offer in the upcoming weeks/months: check here for more info.

The Dutch Poster Museum in Hoorn is currently hosting an exhibition of work by Martin Kaye, who was the in-house designer for the Paradiso club in Amsterdam from 1972 to 1983.

Nervous Eaters - Eaterville #1 (Penniman LP).
Beantown alsorans get the redcarpet treatment w/ this solid set of mostly unreleased mid 70s recordings. I hope you're all familiar w/ the Nervous Eaters two late 70s 45s (Loretta and Just Head, both included here), 'cause they easily rank alongside the best work of fellow Bostonians DMZ and the Real Kids. And even tho' there's nothing here that equals those efforts, this set offers a surprisingly good peek into the band's formative years (73-75). You've Heard These Chords Before sounds like a long lost Raw Power outtake while She's Gonna Be My Baby would've fitted nicely on the Groovies' Grease EP and their take on Beautiful Delilah is a parallel universe cousin' to the Count Bishops equally ferocious version from the same year. Housed in a gatefold sleeve with four more pages of liners inside that traces the band's history back to 60s garage combo the Cobbwebs, this comes highly recommended.

Muchos gracias to Black To Comm's Chris Stigliano for voting NBT "best blog" in his current list-to-end-all-lists...

The mighty Leg Hounds will hit Euroland in November/December. Check here for dates.

Scotland's One and Only FrightFest wants you! The tastefully curated DEAD BY DAWN 2005 has just been announced!

"Dead by Dawn 2005 will run Thursday through Sunday, April 21st - 24th, 2005.

Full Weekend Passes priced £40 all-inclusive will go on sale in the last week of January.

Films, guests and all other good stuff will be announced in the New Year.

For anyone not sure, the weekend format is that we kick off with Horror Story Readings on the Thursday evening (usually around 7pm) and then go on the Opening Movie late on Thursday night. Movies start at around 12.30 on Friday and go on throughout the day until the wee hours of the morning. On Saturday, movies start again around 12.30 and go right through the day and evening, and the all-nighter kicks off at midnight and finishes at some ungodly hour on Sunday morning. Sunday movies usually start around 3pm and go on until the wee hours of Monday morning, and if the 3am licence every night doesn't do you in, there's the superb after-show party between 3 and 6am, held in the most spectacular venue and licenced, too :)

An updated accommodation list is available on request as is extensive information on travel arrangements for getting to and around Edinburgh.

Take a couple days off work, get a cat-sitter, get a baby-sitter, save your pennies (there'll be good shopping to do here), get your liver in training, prop your eyes open and get ready for four solid days of the best the genre has to offer!"

BigKegShandy has just sent in this link regarding one Richard Blum having to get territorial about his moniker, like. Cook it out baby daddy, etc.

This month's releases from Ace Records.

I just got this press release from Jamie at Rough Trade Records. It's not like most releases I get these days though because it actually tells the whole truth. Testify then to a fine bit of writing and to a group that's worthy of such words...

"Rough Trade Records are delighted to announce the birth of ‘Baby’, the new album from The Detroit Cobras. Weighing in at an extremely healthy thirteen tracks in thirty one minutes and forty seconds, it is the third release from this exceptionally fertile quintet. Those of you fortunate enough to witness their recent blistering UK shows, might have noticed a particularly rosy glow about the band, and wondered why they were restricting their on stage alcohol and nicotine intake to one drink and cigarette at a time. Now you know why. As with their previous two albums ‘Life, Love and Leaving’, and ‘’Mink, Rat or Rabbit’, The Detroit Cobras remain coy about paternity, although tests might discover traces of DNA from Percy Sledge, Bert Burns, Lowman Pauling and er..Irma Thomas. They were also spotted doing the ‘Cha Cha Twist’ with Hank Ballard, and ‘Slippin’Around’ with Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. But, let’s forget about petty morality. We don’t care who the father is, just as long as Baby is healthy, happy and strong. It certainly sounds like they had a lot of fun making it. Anyway, it is now up for adoption - so here’s the sell.

The album starts with four hi hat hits before exploding into life – like the ignition kicking over on a stolen motorcycle in a backstreet garage. Recorded in Detroit by Greg ‘the Memphis Mastermind’ Cartwright, the sound is classic, vintage valve warmth. As raw as neat tequila or as sweet as molasses. The only pro tools in evidence here are called Gibsons and Fenders. There’s a ballad, a love song and numbers you can do the Twist, the Shake, and the Hully Gully to. What more could any sane person require? The recent single ‘’Cha Cha Twist’ was employed by the Coca Cola Corporation of America to help sell it’s popular whisky and vodka mixer – Coke. ‘Hot Dog ( Watch Me Eat)’ proves that the band are capable of writing their own great material when they feel like it.

The Detroit Cobras have taken a collection of songs, customised them, chopped them down, chrome plated them and given them an exquisite new paint job. All serial numbers have been filed off, and the engine super charged to out run the self-righteous, pious covers cops. If the original owners ever did turn up they’d be thrilled. Like reporting your old bicycle missing from the shed, then discovering it’s been used in a bank heist. You’d be proud.

The Detroit Cobras are Rachel Nagy - Vocals, Mary Restropo – Guitar, Steve Nawarra – Guitar, Joe Mazzola – Bass, and Kenny Tundrick – Drums."

The Staysick group throws up many a wee gem and today's include Joey Ramone Underwear, A 50's Rockin' Fest in Green Bay, Wisconsin next April and a cool inteview with IVY. With thanks to Ben and Mike...

Superior europowerpoppunk action from Stuttgart… THE POPZILLAS!

Mmmm…. Chris Wilson in Paris with The Barracudas, Roy Loney also set to rock the joint on the Saturday afternoon… could there be more Groovie type action set to ripple through Paris than our Spanish friends got lately??

Dana's Virtual Museum of Unusual LP Cover Art. (link c/o Dubbelmono).

Janet Leigh has gone to that big Motel in the sky...

TJINDER & BEN (CORNERSHOP) Vs. SONIC REDUCER! THE TAG-TEAM FACE-OFF OF 2004!



From DONNA SUMMER to THE STOOGES, and far beyond ...

Having swung avec surprise visitor RAY DAVIES in July, rocked August away with special guest DJ MICHAEL DAVIS (MC5), and hip-shaked thru September in the company of our pal TIM ROGERS (YOU AM I), the Sonic Reducer crew are pleased to announce that October 15th will see those beat'n'groove merchants par excellence, TJINDER SINGH and BEN AYRES of CORNERSHOP, spin their own righteous mess of sounds at GERRY O'BOYLE's ever-welcoming BOOGALOO...

Not content with dishing-up the turntablist face-off of 2004, which promises an unprecedented amount of needle-burning vinyl action, we'll be lurching into view again on October 29th with a HALLOWEEN SONIC REDUCER SPECIAL. Yer ever-lovin' BIGKEGSHANDY and TEENSLAIN are set to exhume current SEEDS and BARRACUDAS stickman YAN 'L'Homme' QUELLIEN, to spin a three-handed mess of horrible HALLOWEEN SOUNDS, including all yer faves from Screaming Jay Hawkins, Screaming Lord Sutch and anyone else who grunted, groaned and gurgled their way into our hearts ...

So come on up, let your backbone slip, and have a ball, y'all ...

Selah!

Joss & Joe

Sonic Reducer
October 15th & 29th
The Boogaloo
312 Archway Road N6
Highgate Tube
7.30-11pm
FREE

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At this point in time, we'd urge you to immediately purchase the following
recent discs, which we can wholeheartedly recommend for 101% shake appeal:

The Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Origin (I)
The Beat-Up - Messed Up
Clinic - Winchester Cathedral
Tim Rogers & The Temperance Union - Play ... Spit Polish
The Solution - Communicate!
Reigning Sound - Too Much Guitar
The Detroit Cobras - Baby

To answer the ongoing requests about the I'm Sure We're Gonna Make It CD I compiled a couple o' years back: It's been out-of-print for some time now but does pop up on eBay regularly and can still be picked up for peanuts. The vinyl (bootleg) version that was put out by MRR's Tim Yohannan (who died shortly after putting it out!) entitled Killed By Epitaph ain't too rare either, so beware of rip-off dealers charging mega bucks for common wares. The accompanying book Het Gejuich Was Massaal (done together with Jerry Goossens), is harder to nail these days. But for alla you out there lookin' for this stuff: Don't go overboard spending big bucks. It's out there in quantities, so don't pay "limited Edition" prices. Capito?.

Blues Explosion - Damage (Mute LP).
When the JSBX first arrived on European shores about a decade ago they played some of the most jawdropping/exciting shows I have ever witnessed, but good as their early records are, they never really captured the on-stage insanity, and after a couple of years the band seemed to have burned out and started a somewhat unsatisfactory flirt with dance-music.
So surprise, surprise, when this one landed on my doorstep and turned out to be not only a stonkin' return to form, but easily their best record yet. A kaleidoscope of sounds that incorporates just about every musical by-way of the past 50 years into a, for want of a better word, "organic" whole. And yeah, the dance influx is still there as well but now adds instead of distracts, whether it be a Chuck D rap or a DJ Shadow mix, it all fits perfectly into the BX's original gameplan of mixin' Charley Feathers with Hound Dog Taylor.
Think of this as their Exile On Mainstreet without the excessive baggage of a 2 disc set. Yep, it's that good...

November, Dusseldorf, 2005 - the world!

Loudmouth! presents The Return of the incredible legendary Punkrock-Parties - the authorized celebrating of the Ramones' 30th Anniversary and Loudmouth!'s 10th Anniversary

November 5, 2004 Düsseldorf, AK 47, Kiefernstrasse

The MELONES (Hannover)
Cave 4 (Solingen)
The Pro-Tones (Düsseldorf)
Supabond (Düsseldorf)

November, 6 2004 Düsseldorf, Kulturschlachthof, Rather Strasse 25

Möped Lads (Luzern/Schweiz)
ZZZ Hacker (Bielefeld)
The Boonaraaas (Düsseldorf/Solingen)
Zwakkelmann (feat.Schlaffke, the Voice of Schliessmuskel)

According to this info I just got from the Rev. T. Rafferty, Newcastle will be the place to be in May 2005.

I just discovered on my friend Amy Rigby's site that SKEETER DAVIS passed away... guess I've been outta the loop.

Don's been oot and aboot in 'Frisco again...

"full house at tommy's joynt - baseball games downstairs, prez debate upstairs...(we stayed downstairs)...then over to the music hall for nick lowe. opening guy geraint watkins was already on. burly welshman sitting at a digital piano doing some boogie woogie. seen him before(with dave edmunds. when i asked dave about nick he said, "he stole my keyboard player!). seen him playing accordion but not piano and certainly not singing. quite good. he did an almost fats domino version of "heroes & villains"! also did some songs that would not have been out of place on a nick lowe album.

lowe came on soon after... no band. uh oh. last time he had no band and he was boring. but that was slim's. nobody's ever good at slim's. again just like that show this was solo acoustic. he wore a shiny new gibson j-45 over nice red and grey dress shirt. looked older but good (aging gracefully). started same as last time with the exquisite gospel tune, "there will be no peace until god sits at the conference table" (and you couldn't help but think of those 2 jokers in the "debate"). he said this was the last show of a tour "thru hurricanes, earthquakes and a locust plague in milwaukee". well, i made that last part up. it was supposed to be the last show but apparently we're doing what looks to me like a hoe-down". he was referring to the bluegrass fest in the park this weekend. he promised to "trawl thru my back catalog, do some new ones, and some covers i hope you think are my own". he was great. sang great, played great. did more recent things like "indian queens"("closest i get to folk music") and "lover don't go" as well as old faves like "half a boy" and "i knew the bride" --joined by watkins on the latter two). they also did a great song by watkins called "only one rose". another highlight was john hiatt's, "she don't love nobody". and of course nick's own pop gem, "cruel to be kind". crowd loved every minute of it. he closed with "what's so funny bout peace love and understanding". amen. back for a great encore: "without love" and "heart of the city". house lights went up but nobody was leaving. he must've heard them pounding the floor (dressing rooms are downstairs) -- i mean these people were going nuts. lights went back down and he came back for yet another. i didn't recognize it but it was great -- a typical country rocker he does best. surprisingly great show. see him in golden gate park this saturday -- free."

Just been checking out the action for our upcoming Parisian jaunt following the receipt of the website info from the one and the only Niklas Vahlberg. You can do so also right here. Further to this, The Demolition Doll Rods and The Scientists will be at LA MAROQUINERIE on November 2nd... ye gods and goddesses!! Those French folks always did display good taste!

Just in from Mr Martin Percival...

Marky Ramone + John Cafiero

"Thursday, October 7th, 8pm - 11pm on "Music to Spazz By" with Dave the Spazz. Join Dave the Spazz as he welcomes Marky Ramone and "Ramones Raw" director John Cafiero.

Marky Ramone and John Cafiero will appear for a radio interview in support of the Ramones DVD on WFMU from 8 - 11 PM EST on Music to Spazz By with Dave the Spazz. Tune in to WFMU via 91.1 FM in NYC/NJ and 90.1 in Mt. Hope & upstate NY & N/E. Pennsylvania. Visit www.wfmu.org for more info or to listen online."

Crocus Behemoth came from Outer Space and PERE UBU will provide the soundtrack that proves it.

Wednesday 22nd Sept.

A week ago this very noo, I was headin’ for Glasgow Airport and ultimately Kassel in Germany. It’s been a woolly old week alright and I think a damn fine time (with one exception) was had by all. However my campaign agin the Buzzcocks garnered a whole mess of new members so it’s an ill wind chillun. But anyway, It was a long day and Michael, my designated driver, made the white knuckle ride from Frankfurt to Kassel look like a doddle. Hard driving rain and big F-off articulated lorries don’t phase that guy and we made it to the K-town limits in one piece. So many trucks, so much stuff. What could anybody do with so much stuff?? I have a theory that they’re empty. These things just cruise the autobahn looking to intimidate other driver. Happily they’d met their match this time. So it was late, spent a long time getting there so what’s the obvious thing to do? Go to the opening shindig of course. Having said that, I wasn’t there long and turned in to conserve the ol’ energies for the following days. Unfortunately, I missed Sedlmeir, the one-man rockin’ ensemble that serenaded the opening party. I heard his cd a couple days later and it sounded damn good, wish I hadn’t been such a wuss but, at my age you gotta make these kinda calls and sometimes they’ll be wrong.

Thursday 23rd Sept.

Up early and straight into the first of a few days of fine breakfasting. Weather sucked but when daylight hit Kassel it came up looking like a pretty nice place. I believe unemployment is high there but the vibe I got was of a fairly quiet town. Didn’t see roaming gangs strung out on alcopops, even at night. Hooked up my old buddy Kalle and his wife Ulli and took the tram down to the vicinity of the venue. It was pissing rain again but I’d already been out for a reccy so had some kinda beat as to the layout. The opening item was a screening of some Super 8 movies which wasn’t too exciting but I met a guy who was as daft about The Sopranos as I am and who was also a Larry David fan. That's what y' call bonding First of the talks was on Slovenian Punk by Igor BIGor Basin. As a complete newcomer, it was a real blast to learn about what had been going on out there. The GDR punk discussion which followed indicted that when I use the expression “suffering from my art”, I have no fucking idea. These people risked their all for this “art”. For expression. One of the panellists (Henryk Gericke) would, the next day, trump what was possibly the “bill-topper” for the event but we’ll get to that in due course. To round off the discussions, the Teenage Kicks panel may not have included any “actual” teenagers but the people on board were a damn sight more spirited than most youngsters I come across these days. It included Mark Perry, Marlene Marner, Dick Hebdige, Andy Shernoff, Marty Thau and Cheetah (effing) Chrome and it was good knockabout stuff with an informative subtext. These kind of talking shops are sometimes like pulling teeth but this wasn’t. The Caricatura venue was very conducive to the event. The “entertainment” that night was top notch pretty much but not all of the way. The Lolita Bar is a great Cavern-like venue with pretty decent sightlines to a fair way back. DJ action was taken care of by Kalle and Stefan (one of the organisers) and they kept the whole thing rolling. This was perhaps the first time I ever heard The Twinkeyz “Aliens In Our Midst” outside of my house. Slovenian combo CZD were like The Hellacopers jammin’ with The Monks. A cattle prod and a half and quite unlike anything I’m aware of that’s doing the rounds, this is world music as far as I’m concerned. If they could get to Glastonbury or onto Jools Holland or something they’d cause quite the stir. I’m gonna be watching this phenomenon closely and lighting the fuse any way I can. Like wise THE BOONARAAAS, I’m not sure how anybody could have followed CZD but these Dusseldorf lassies did and in no uncertain fashion. Visually, musically and aesthetically deserving to go the whole road. My new favourite band!!… The worst came last. S.Y.P.H. might be “influential” but that doesn’t necessarily translate as good. Flashes of bearable cinematic mood music were drowned in senses numbing doldrums rawk. The last straw was them breaking into a cod-funk number ala Level 42. Some well intentione soul mentioned The Average White Band but that was merely wishful thinking. Time then to hit the Action Strasses’ of Kassel night with my old mucker and onetime deid laddie, Cheetah F’n Chrome waxing about how great Alex Harvey was and remains to be.

Friday 24th September

A quiet start to proceedings today with a talk by Sezgin Boynik about Situationist hijinks with regard to this punk thing. It was somewhat above my napper but fairly enlightening. This kind of angle isn’t something that I’ve given much thought to over the years because I always saw McLaren as a kind of Monty Python character. I generally subscribe to the bad situationist ethos, because I’m quite often in those. However, compared to what some of our Eastern European friends have been through then I have exactly feck all to whine about. Dick Hebdige followed with an excellent presentation that started out with Hank Williams and ploughed on from there. Hebdige is a great performer and a total music fan. He’s also a swell bloke to have a pint with. Then came McLaren, he made it after numerous will he, won’t he type stories on the bush telegraph. His schtick is like sit down comedy. His talk of “failure” is a well-oiled schlepp punctuated with visuals and by the time he gets to his mash ups then it was all getting a little ho-hum. The highpoint was just before he went up to the mic though. Henryk played Andy Cameron’s “Ah Want tae be a Punk Rocker (But my Mammy willnae let me)”. Strangely fitting and a better prank than the man was capable of pulling himself. T’was then time for some record shopping though, prior to eating and taking in the show for that night. I had high hopes for Boy From Brazil but it was soon dashed. He was bloody woeful and he looked like a pranny to boot. Imagine Paul Gray from Eddie and the Hot Rods done up like something from The Matrix. A good look, NOT! Alan Vega, Cramps and even Fleshtone tomb raider without a hint of irony. I actually wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen and heard it myself. The blurb in the programme read like this should be completely my kind of thing but there were some porkies going down there. Liked his reworking of the J.Geils “Centrefold” video in the background though. Tokyo Sex Destruction are from Spain and are kinda like Zen Guerilla via The Hives. Their well intentioned racket strained to come across in the large room but they were great compared to the fella who came from Brazil but actually hailed from Berlin and dressed up like a Dr Who villain rather than some wild and crazy rock bloke. The Kids, I found out from Stewart Home who was dying to see them, were Belgium’s premier Punk combo in their day. They sounded like Status Quo and reminded me a wee bit of Sator without having an ounce of those Swedish fellas chops but they weren’t bad. I left when the Buzzcocks came on because I hate them. Always have and always will. I reckon a few converts joined that cause tonight, that’s all I’m gonna say… I hope they make enough money to just piss off and never be seen again.

Saturday 25th September

The rain finally went off and I went out early and visited the Glitterhouse place just around from the hotel. Found a couple of things including a Primevals split 45 I’d never seen before. Anyway, this was my panel day. “So you Wanna Be A Rock’n’Roll Critic”. Not sure what I know about that but as anybody will know I can be up for a bit of slavering if the need arises. Especially if it means joining the man who started me off in all this, the one and only Andy Shernoff with Joachim Hiller from Ox Magazine moderating. I hope that it was at least entertaining for the people who attended, it was certainly fun to do. After that it was Kalle’s “From The Trashcan to The Electric Circus” talk. This guy knows where it was, is and is going – despite his protestations about not knowing about the new stuff. He instinctively knows what’s right and wrong and I’d trust his say-so 110%. Directly after that was the screening of The Ramones “End Of The Century” doc which I sat out because it was packed and having seen it then the other attendees were far more deserving of a chance to clock it than me. Hanging with Ralf and (B)igor in the bar downstairs was a fine alternative. When the Ramones movie came out, I made a couple more new Slovenian friends and we retired to a local Chinese restaurant and shot the proverbial for a while. Bloody nice people. From there it was down to the final event, we thankfully missed Dean Dirg and Viva L’American Death Ray Music didn’t live up to their blurb. They weren’t bad but that kinda stylised Kings of Leon type hokum doesn’t float my boat at all. Next up was a revelation, ATV kicked some rollocking ass and really raised the bar. I wasn’t expecting this at all and duly got my backside kicked. They were tight in an utterly organic, sinewy way that I never considered their music before. Mark P is a great frontman and utterly charismatic up there just like he was on the panels and this band is as good as it gets. The perfect warm up for headliners, ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS. RFTT were immense in every way. When their unreleased recordings and eventual redux became available it was obvious that if they’d released an album “back in the day” then things may be very different now. The sun most definitely rose from there. This is as good as it ever gets and I hope that Europe might get another chance to see them at some point. And then it was over. A total success for the organisers and one in the eye for any detractors. These kids pulled it off over immeasurable odds. Hats require to be doffed.

Look out for two combos’- The Manly Men and Powernap. Coming to a hostelry near you soon hopefully. A big shout out to Mr Eggs who jumped in at the deep end with all this punk stuff and established a unique angle. And to Mr Craig Bell - how-wisthonextracoupladays-chief? It was a pleasure to raise a glass with all of 'em. It was a subdued vehicle that made its way to Frankfurt airport on Sunday morning. That one last breakfast put us over the edge. But what a breakfast!

Thanks then to Stefan, Ricarda and Matthias for a great event. Something that I'm pretty sure, couldn't happen in the UK. Investigate the names, etc via the KONGRESS website which provides links to artist websites, etc. It’s your one stop portal to a whole 'nother vista.

A Message from SITco HQ...

Friends,

Let's all fight global outsourcing and keep our country's precious rockabilly manufacturing jobs here in the good old U.S. of A.

What can one person do, you ask? Make those fat cats in Washington sit up and take notice by joining us at Otto's Shrunken Head, 538 East 14th St. just a step west of Avenue B, between the hours of 8 and 10 this Thursday night for a rollicking dose of American roots music served fresh before your wondering eyes by the Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.

Last we checked ballads, boogies and blues have not been outlawed by the Patriot Act.

Not YET.

Hope to see you soon,

the boys at SIT & Die Co.

YOUR MUSIC NEEDS YOU!!!

The Italian Get Back label is set to release The Ramones Live In Bremen 1978 LP on october 21st.

The Nitwitz - Nibble The Giblet (Pitshark 10").
In a bizarre turn of events the Nitwitz have become quite prolific over here. After years of neglect the Slugster was recently interviewed for VPRO radio, gets namechecked and interviewed in various publications and best of all there's a steady flow of new releases. This is good news of course. I've been waving the Nitwitz flag for longer then I care to remember, and this new disc once again proves my point that they are one of the few bands that actually matters here in Euroland.
This new set rounds up a bunch of tracks recorded at various points in the past seven years, oldest of which are the Epitaph funded demos produced by Jack Endino in 1997 (this was before the label pulled out because the suggested album title, Dark Side Of The Spoon, was too close to reality for their label owner!). Of more recent vintage are the great Rohypnol Lovedoll, a solid take on the Nervous Eaters' Just Head and best of all the amazing Rock Pusher; one of their best songs yet.
This kind o'powerhouse punk-rock action has become real scarce in recent years, and it's high time these guys get some credit where it's due. Sure, there are contenders out there, but I don't care who you bring on daddy-o, they're all going under the thunder of the Nitwitz. Make your donations now or live the rest of your life in abject shame...

Reverend Charlie Jackson - God's Got It (LP)
Dr. Spec's Optical Illusion - Tryin' To Mess With Me (7"). Both Crypt.
After Tim Warren's umpteenth move and having put a Dutch schoolteacher in charge of rebuilding his new abode, it's easy to see why the Crypt operation has been on the backburner for so long. But after the great Little Killers disc, these two (relatively) new releases hopefully mark the beginning of a new era for the label, 'cause both discs burn with that specific kind o' intensity only Crypt seems to be able to distill into slabs of black vinyl.
You want testimonials?, the Reverend Jackson's disc delivers nothing but... Wild, wild gospel scree of the Rev. poundin' it out on the six strings, ocasionally accompanied by the handclaps or cheers of agreement from his congregation. Makes every gruntin' death metal singer sound like the bad joke he is. Dr. Spec's discus is a fine-as-wine re-issue of a six-o punk mega obscurity outta New Orleans that absolutely wails!. Coupled with the great attention to detail in both sound, liners and visuals makes this another "must have" as well.
Again; hopefully these discs mark the return of Crypt as a "goin' concern", the world sure could use it right now...

Trying to gather my wits here listening to THE BOONARAAAS. These German girls kicked some almighty bahookie at the Lolita Bar in Kassel on Thursday there. The combo that preceded them, CZD were equally electric but I'll get back to that later. Listening to the B's album just brought back how altogether how goddamn sensational they were. They even knocked out a version of The Romantics "What I Like About You" that reduced anybody with sense to rubble. Their album Go Get Goo Goo is on Thunderbaby Records, that fine Dusseldorf gal product label that put out the Voladoras EP and many other top recorded works. They're only youngsters but they've got the chops to go the whole damn road. Even deaf (not the hearing condition, I'm referring to sorry saps that wouldn't know a great band if it whapped 'em in the knackers) people will be able to get this. The Hives might endeavour to be your favourite band but I'm voting BOONARAAAS because they'll drive you just that. Now if only they could get together to tour with Suzy y Los Quattro. The world, in pure punked-out teenpunk rock'n'roll action terms, wouldn't stand a chance.

Ok troops. Been hanging out in Kassel, Germany for the past few days and got back to a wheen of messages and stuff so please bear with me until I figure out the best way to deal with it. At this point launching the computer outta the window would seem like the obvious route but y'ken... Some groovy stuff to report coming along after this... It was quite a shindig and a hellva deposit in the organisers' collective karma bank. Like I said more when I organise my thoughts and the laundry.

While tryin' to research some things about the early day of punk-rock in Holland I came across some amazing stuff. Most of it in Dutch, but even if you don't speak the lingo, worth it for the pictures and free MP3s...
These are all bands from the 77/78 era: Inside Nipples, Filth, and the Helmettes...

The Dirtbombs @ The Dirty Water Club on Friday 24 September

Though sniffing and scratching away like mad, the Mutts struggled to connect with a near-capacity crowd at the DWC last Friday. Somebody should tell these guys that the lack of a catchy riff will never compensate for any amount of Pop/Tyner schtick. Thank God the Little Killers brought along hooks-a-plenty lots and wrapped them in a punk rock'n'rolling style not disimilar to the Real Kids. A reliable if not exactly virtuoso rhythm section provided the right foundation for the guitarist/vocalist to let it rip. How refreshing to see a band that can take Nuggets like "Come On Up" (Rascals) or "No Reason To Complain" (Alarm Clocks) and then put their own on stamp on 'em. The second appearance by the Dirtbombs at the DWC was somewhat affected by Mick Collins' worn voice and at times slightly out of tune guitar. Perhaps this was why he was buried so deeply in the mix? Nevertheless, "Kung Fu" and "If You See Stevie Wonder" were well executed and went down fine with the punters. The great thing about the Dirtbombs, apart from Mick's 100% committment, is just how tight the two drummers and two bass players mesh together. Anything less and the sound would descend into aural mush. The Dirtbombs - like hearing the Glitter Band play the blues.

The Girls - The Girls (Dirtnap LP).
While any r'n'r credibility the UK once had has obviously long gone out the window, the place now seems to be headed for new, as yet uncharted, depts. Christ, there's bands like the Killers and Interpole who's sole intent seems to be wanting to become the new Bunnyman or Comsat Angels and gettin' praise for it while they should be tarred 'n feathered and ran outta town asap.
But if you really do insist on a new wave of new wave, let me please recommend The Girls; this Seattle band bein' able to distill all the right ingredients outta the whole post-punk ensalada and come up soundin' fresh and inspired. Think 70s Ohio or Void-oids if you need some points of reference. These guys (yes) deliver the goods with a solid, USA patented, rockin' style that easily lays waste to every Shriekback tribute band the UK currently has on offer...
(with thanks to Rockstar Barry for the tip-off).

Up next from Norton Records: Don Covay - Pretty Boy EP. "Four incredible 1958 Little Richard style screamers from future soul legend! Two cuts previously unissued! Ooh my soul!!! Tracklisting: 1. Switchen In The Kitchen 2. Rockin' The Mule 3.Mary 4. Ooh My Soul". Mogen David & The Grapes of Wrath - Little Girl/Don't Need Ya No More. "First time reissue of ultra rare 1966 Midwest twin blast garage masterpiece! Watch for more Grapes savagery on Strange Ways, a full collection of sixties snotball action from Chicagos legenday Cha Cha label including the End, Hatfields, Sonics and mo!". Herbie Duncan - Hot Lips Baby/Little Angel. "Atomic 1958 rockabilly madness from Hot Lips Herbie in a deluxe sleeve with the full lowdown from HD Fan Club prez Deke Dickerson!". Reigning Sound - If Christmas Won't Bring You Home/That's All I Want. "Norton's latest round of holiday cheer comes from those Southern sensations, the Reigning Sound, placing two brand new Greg Cartwright originals under your tree!". Sky Saxon & The Seeds/Lairds - Split 7" "13th of 15 split Rolling Stones cover singles recorded by today's coolest hit makers and packaged in their own company sleeve. The legendary Sky Saxon lures a Jagger-Richards classic into their unapproachable web of sound (The Singer Not The Song) while the mysterious Lairds cover the most uncoverable Stones song (Something Happened To Me Yesterday) ever!". v/a - Northwest Grease EP. "Early greasy R&B gems (two unissued!) from the Pacific Northwest - for fans of the crazed Wolf Call album! Featuring Mighty El Dukes (Frankenstein's Den/Walking Besides You), Lord Dent & His Invaders (The Greaser), Joe Boot& The Four Wings (Rock & Roll Radio)". Gene Vincent - Hound Dog/Be-Bop-A-Lula. "Gene Vincent rocks and the Blue Caps roll on this frantic 1956 whallop recorded live on the Alan Freed Show! A loud and lively companion set to the Johnny Burnette Trio's live Norton 45-106!". A-Bones - Daddy Wants A Cold Beer & Other Million Sellers 2CD. "The A-Bones celebrate their 20th Anniversary with a massive specially priced double CD set that culls 46 tracks from singles and other odd places including the A-Bones backing up legends like Johnny Powers, Rudy Tutti Grayzell, the Great Gaylord, Roy Loney and more, plus ten unissued tracks and a brand new bonus recording featuring the 5.6.7.8's! Giant photo booklet takes you back down memory lane and ... dumps you there! Monkey Man, Teenage Head, It's A Hard Life, Bamboo Rock And Roll, Shanty Tramp, The Worlds Greatest Sinner, Stop It Baby, Monkey Man, Take Up The Slack Daddy-O, Hep Cat and dozens more!".Hasil Adkins - The Wildman. "Finally on CD! Here's the full 1986 studio vinyl album completely remastered plus five bonus cuts in lavish booklet! Chicken Flop, Big Red Satellite, Wild Wild Friday Night, Midnight Moan, plus fifteen more Hasil howlers!". Arch Hall Jr & The Archers - Wild Guitar. "Gargantuan set heralds the mega-cool output of our hero Arch Hall, Jr. and his band, covering his recording career from 1959-1963. Includes massive illustrated bio-booklet packed with info, interviews and flat out eye openers! Combines his singles with unknown studio recordings, movie music from the master tapes plus never released 1962 live Pensacola drive-in theatre show! Wild Guitar, Konga Joe, Monkey In My Hat Band, Twist Fever, Stake Theme, Growing Taller Every Day, Sneakin' Around, If A Man Answers, Archers Theme, Susie Q more!".

Disturbingly similar songs.

Capt'n Jan Kooi just send in the sad news that Russ Meyer has died at the age of 82 last Saturday at his home in Hollywood Hills. No links yet, but I'll post 'm when I get 'em.
Update: link to the IMDb news.

REZILLOS website update alert includes the first part of Ross and Martin's interview plus lyrics and a gigography. Check it oot!

I stopped by the old homestead in Larbert today. Did some overdue postal biz at my old post office haunt but stopped short of grabbing a chipsteak supper from Enrico's.
All the demolition guff is up around the walls and the place across the road has been levelled. When the chumps get to flattening the old factory, I hope those ol' ghosties won't make it easy for 'em. Auf Wiedersehen then ol' Foundry Loan...

From the Rev. David Scott, pop'n'roll missionary worker...

"by the way - and just to prove that sometimes in the end the good guys win - here's a tiny snapshot of life in darkest ayrshire.i'm talking to a bunch of primary 5 school kids about music and I say "everybody loves music don't they"? and they're going "yeeees"! and I'm going "what bands do you kids like"?

"BUSTED"!"BLUE"!"EMINEM"!

...and there's one kid with her arm up through all this and she eventually catches my attention: "Mr Scott, my Daddy loves The Ramones"!"

Should I Rip This?, a handy guide to the yes or nos regarding making MP3s.

Johnny's Last Stand by Charles M. Young.

I think that after this one we have to move on. John's departure is sad and all but life goes on and you could maybe use some light relief right about now. It is, after all, International Talk Like A Pirate Day, me hearties!

THE BARRACUDAS will be doing a show at The Borderline in London on Friday October 15th. One week prior to the big R&R weekender in Paris.

The Staysick fraternity report that there is finally activity on THE CRAMPS official website.

This posting proves that the old uploading of pictures glitsch has been overcome. Lucky youse, right?

Some more links to obits etc on the CBGBs site. (as always, the BBC site provides the most interesting quotes).

Martin Percival provided a link to what must have been Johnny's final interview in the Boston Phoenix.

According to the New York Times, Johnny had been working on his memoirs for much of the last year with Steve Miller, a reporter for The Washington Times. And according to Miller the interviews were completed shortly before his death.

From Mr Martin Percival... "I suggest THIS gets a mention on the blog. Johnny would be pleased that his favourite drink remembered him at his passing!

Yeah, yesterday was a strange sort of day in the end. My buddy Duane from Brooklyn reminded me that Tommy is still alive so they’re actually not all gone. He didn’t go through the mill like the others it would seem but he was the one that took the blueprint and made it what it was, is and will continue to be for all time. They might not have sold a zillion records in their lifetime but they changed things forever.

I was on Radio Scotland’s Arts Show talking about it all briefly last night and anybody who is interested can reach that HERE. Look under ARTS SHOW and use the LISTEN AGAIN facility for Thursday, fast forward to the final 10 minutes and I’ll be in thereabouts... It’ll be up there for a week.

Also, my e-mail shenanigans continue. Don’t know if they’ll be resolved in the near future or not.

There is little I can add to what has already been written all over the web or Lindsay's on the ball post below. Suffice to say that I'd never imagined that the story of "our Beatles" would end so soon.
Johnny was the only Ramone I've never met in person, but at almost every of the two dozen or so shows I've seen 'm do over the years I always made sure I stood in front of his side of the stage just to get an extra earfull of the near static blur that emitted from his Marshall stacks. He was indeed, as Lindsay once called him, the eye of the hurricane.
In my teens I sat up night-after-night trying to play along to the It's Alive album (downstroke only!), like literally thousands of kids must have done, and often had to give up halfway 'cause my wrist started to hurt. He was the perfect rolemodel for a budding stringwrecker like me, and it was bizarre to learn later on that what must be the most influential guitarist of his generation hardly ever played on his own records.
If Johnny B Goode could play his guitar like ringing a bell, Johnny Ramone could do it so much faster 'n louder, to the point that the ringing in your ears wouldn't stop for days on end...

Rest in peace John.

Although expected, the news about John is a shock. Bruce said that he can't believe they're all gone and therein lies the whole entchilada.

You can see almost all of the bands in some shape or form that The Ramones immortalised. The Stooges, The MC5, The Dolls but not the combo that really put 'em all into some kinda perspective. My last encounter with John in person was an unfortunate one. I referred to Acid Eaters as Odor Eaters and incurred his wrath in the dressing room at The Glasgow Barrowlands. He couldn't get his head round the fact that I might be entitled to my opinion. That was in essence was the Johnny Ramone way, his or the highway. A few years earlier, I was standing in the queue in the Chelsea Post Office in NY and he came up to me and said "What are you doing here?" in his trademark brogue. I was thrilled that a Ramone had recognised me on his home turf.

In the end, where has all this rancour gotten anybody? One of the most important bands of all time is completely gone. Mark and various members of the UK Subs will never a Ramones covers combo make. I know that none of you will ever forget Joey but today, just today, blast your copy of The Eastern Dark's Johnny and Dee Dee at some considerable volume. John might have been a piece of work, but he gave until it hurt. They all did.

Just arrived to find a message from Brother Bruce Milne that JOHNNY checked out yesterday afternoon (Wednesday). He would have been 56 on October 7th (I think...)

I'm thinking back to the days before all this e-mail and cyberbollocks, what did we do with all that free time? The good old days never seemed so good let me tell ya. In a bid to rectify all the crap that has gone along with these things they call firewalls and anti-virus software, I have a guy who can handle these situations out to sort it all out once and for all gamely working his magic on the condition. One longs for the time when you could just apply a cream upon an area to clear up any irritation but these times are long behind we. Unfortunately, So - I'll be checking messages remotely - on and off - for as long as the "fix" takes. I was never sure what was going out and in anyway but after all this maybe I will. Thanks for your patience and indulgence.

Last week's interview with Tony Slug on VPRO is now available on-line here (It's in Dutch, so you foreigners might wanna skip this one).

A new John Waters movie is generally something to be celebrated and A DIRTY SHAME hits up US Cinemas on September 24th. It’s true, Cecil B. Demented was a clunker but he appears to be back on track with this one and the soundtrack would seem to suggest this also. The best thing about all this is the fact that he’ll no doubt be making appearances to promote it so if you get the chance to see him in person then take it. There are few more sussed, if any, on this planet.

It's not like HQ's turntable is doin' overtime these days, way too much at hand and when it's finally time for some relaxation I oft prefer to do some reading and enjoy some ever scarcer silence. So whenever I get these requests to post another "playlist" these days I generally pass the opportunity 'cause there's also little to no new stuff demanding my attention at the moment. Last year at least saw the release of a trio of fantastic rockin' discs by the Ghetto Ways, Dirtbombs and Reigning Sound, but 2004 has still to throw up something of similar quality.
Not that I'm without stuff to listen tho, heck, there's over a century of recorded music out there, and right now there's probably more of it available than ever, so I'm pickin' up my listening pleasures from all kindsa eras. Too bad most people 'll never know all the great sounds from the past beyond the flogged to death Mojo icons. I don't even wanna suggest that my taste in music is better than theirs, just that there's a world out there to discover if they'll only look...
So what does do the rounds on HQ's hi-fi these days?.
For starters, may I suggest The Droogs. Is there anybody out there who still remembers these guys?. Their 'Kingdom Day' LP from '87 is an underrated classic if ever there was one, even with the slightly dated production it holds up really well. Potential arena rock for sure, but one spin will confirm why this still generates excitement and Poison doesn't. Secundo plato has got to be something from the West Texas axis; Buddy Holly, Bobby Fuller or the Crickets, it's kinda frightening how much this kinda pop stuff has gone outta fashion, whatever happened to the Sprague Brothers anyways?. Why has the world forsaken the beauty of good tunes and cool harmonies in favor of the outta tune whine of trust fund collegists?.
Main course this go round are Otis Rush's Cobra recordings. Get these in whatever format available 'cause these are about as blue as the blues can get. The meaning of life encapsulated in just over two dozen songs, it just don't get better than this...
As for desert, let's go for the happy ending. BGP's Super Funk vol.4 is just about the wildest party disc in recent memory. Just don a loincloth and let the music guide ya. I'm sure your gal will understand...

More dates: The Fleshtones are out 'n about on September 18 (18.00 hrs, 36th St, Hampden, Baltimore, MD. More info at: hampdenfest.com) and October 29 (20.00 hrs, Irving Plaza, NYC. with the Smithereens, Dick Dale + guests).

The Nomads have a couple of Norwegian dates lined up for November: 11-11 Tromsö - Blå Rock, 11-12 Oslo - Mono, 11-13 Bergen - Garage. Then it's off to Demark: 11-20 Copenhagen - The Rock. And don't forget the previously mentioned October 23 show in Paris. Plus there's more good news from Nomads HQ: "Björne Fröberg and Chips K. are writing and making demos of new songs as we speak…no idea when enough material for an album can be ready, hopefully next year! In the mean time Bonnier Amigo will re-release the ’85 album “Outburst” on CD sometime this autumn/winter".

Only days after the first rough outline of a proposed Real Kids Euro tour (scheduled for early 2005) came to light, it now looks like the entire thing is canceled after the hospitalization of guitarist Billy Cole due to complications with his liver/hepatitis. No official statement on this yet, but word on the street is that his situation looks rather grim. So fingers crossed that he'll make it out OK. (Thanks to SJ Bink for the info).

Just in from Mr Martin Percival...

Today is the Ramones 30th Birthday celebration in LA. They'll be repeating this on Oct 7th in New York City at a 1,200 capacity club called "Spirit" on W.27th St. Blondie and the Strokes are confirmed to play. There'll be a mini "Ramones Museum" that Arturo is doing with lots of his and Johnny's memorabilia on display. Tickets go on sale next week.

Saw Adrienne Young last night at the Fallen Angels Club in Glasgow. Saddled with the albatross of supposedly being tipped to become "the next Gillian Welch", she ambled through a decent enough set with her group, Little Sadie. Fine players all. What concerned me about it was that it bears little resemblance to what GW is doing. These people play mountain music soaked in bluegrass to the point of folkie. There's no dust bowl chic involved as far as I can see. These kinda overblown expressions can really hurt an artist. They need to build and looking at their website they seem to be well organised, although there's a worrying link to the Phish site. Everything is expected to happen overnight now. This is ultimately the undoing of all "next big things". They did a live session on Radio Scotland's Brand New Opry just prior to the gig so I'll reserve any further judgement until I clock that.

The Rev. Dan P has come up with this little list for you folks in and around "The London"....

Saturday September 11th
The Pleiadians
The Second Coming at the 291 Gallery
291 Hackney Road, London E2 8NA – appearing late til 2am. 020 7613 5676 http://www.291gallery.com

Wednesday September 15th
Wreckless Eric
Madam Jo Jo’s
Brewer Street, London W1
(+ Thursday September 22nd at the Amersham Arms, New Cross)

Wednesday September 22nd
The Scoundrelles
+ unknown others TBC
at On The Rocks
25 Kingsland Road, London E2 – near Old Street tube. £ TBC

Friday 1st October 7pm
End of the Century + Arthur 'Killer' Kane
UGC Shaftsbury Avenue, London W1
Info: Raindance Film Festival http://www.raindance.co.uk/ 020 7287 3833
Booking http://www.ugccinemas.co.uk/ 0871 200 2000 Tickets on sale this Monday or Tuesday
Documentary about the Ramones (unlikely to be released officially due to copyright problems), plus excerpts featuring the late Arthur Kane from work in progress doc on the New York Dolls.

Plus next day Oct 2nd at 5pm Marky Ramone’s home movies and archive footage!

It doesn't happen often these days when you hear something on the radio that is actually good but imagine my surprise when Tom Morton played THE CONCRETES single. "You Can't Hurry Love" (not the Supremes song). 1 minute 55 seconds of sheer pop greatness and at this point in the day maybe even the future of something...? Naturally they're from Sweden, where bands tend not to suck.

Oh yeah and have a look at this, this it's pretty darn funny...

An intimation from the Boss Man c/o Staysick Group...

REAL BOSS HOSSpresents:

The return of...
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy!!
(First LA show in 8 years!!)

Also on the bill:

Big-haired, original '50s rocker extraordinaire, Jimmy Angel
- First LA show in 4+ years! (allegedly to be backed up by Ex Cramp/Hollywood Hillbilly, Fur.

Farfisa-driven garage punk slop from Arizona's The Okmoniks!

The return of those loveable weirdos, The South Bay Surfers!

Rockin' R&B Trash from Rockin' Ryan and the Real Goners!

WHEN? Friday, September 17th

WHERE? 1160 Bar & Lounge in The Ramada Inn
1160 N. Vermont Ave., Hollywood (323) 315-1835

Hosted by world famous comedian & impressionist James Andrew Beck!!

Every day (‘cept weekends) I drive though a little place called Throsk. I guess it was a mining village at one point and at one stage, not so long ago, it consisted of the one drag straight through. Since then though, local authorities – underwritten by insurance firms – have taken to building these things called Industrial Estates. These are places where they hope to build businesses that will replace the lifeblood that the mines and maybe farming once provided. Anyways, I digress… on the way home at night it means that I pass the sign for Bandeath Industrial Estate that has been doctored to read “death trial state” and it never fails to make my mind tick over. Maybe there’s a little metal combo called Throsk holed up in one of these “units” called DTS and this sign will be the cover of its debut release. It never hurt Hatfield and the North and they didn’t need to do no doctorin’. Maybe one of these days I’ll stop and take a picture… then again...

Bruce Milne informed us that Donald Leslie has left the theatre.

"Handsome Dick Manitoba has been promoted from his Left of Center gig to now be a regular DJ in The Underground Garage, Channel 25, on Sirius Satellite Radio every Saturday at 7pm-11pm and Sunday at 11pm-3am. (All times Eastern)". More info on the Dictators Website.

Please join us for *the* event of the season:



The Shooting Gallery & Tiki News presents
"Tiki Art NOW! A Volcanic Eruption of Art"

Don't miss this group show featuring over 60 artists from around the world paying homage to Tiki! This stunning display of neo-primitive images in captured in a 90 page full color catalog available opening night (or later from Shooting Gallery).

Gallery opening Friday, September 17th, 7-11pm
Shooting Gallery
839 Larkin St.
San Francisco, CA 94109
www.shootinggallerysf.com Tel: 415-931-8035

Image by Isabel Samaras
"Marcia Tamahine" Oil on wood (16 x 12 inches)