Just to add to Steve's Barracudas post there, The new single arrived here yesterday and it's a glam-mungously sharp return to the fray. Recorded the self-same day that Radio Birdman went on way too early at The Mean Fiddler, "Don't Ever Say..." feels like a familiar old friend delivering a good hard kick up the arse viz a viz (sounded like David Brent there) "We're back, wanna make something of it?" What a bloody glorious racket they've kicked up. Makes you feel, just for a second, that all might not be lost after all. No self respecting NBT-watcher should go without one of these so follow Steve's links and nail a copy. If you have difficulty then let we know and we'll do what we can to help you get one. Can't say nae fairer than that.

The Barracudas are to play a one-off show at The Troubadour in London on Wednesday 19th November. Tickets are now on sale but hurry as the venue is "intimate" and space limited. Hey, it sounds like the Hope 'n' Anchor! The London show coincides with a festival appearance in Spain alongside The Dictators and the simulataneous release of a new 45rpm (Don't Ever Say It Can't Be b/w Not That Kind) as well as the re-release of their first 45rpm (I Want My Woody Back b/w Subway Surfin') by Munster Records. More information about the recent recording session and the forthcoming shows can be found on The Barracudas Yahoo! Group.

Was sad to hear that the Au-GoGo store in Melbourne has closed but the good news is that they're still in business. Read all about it!.

Art Fein's November slice of wisdom is at the end of this link. He da man! Go!

The Skeletons on the November 1st edition of Whad'ya Know? Go Listen!

My old mucker, Brother Randall sent me this info which I know all you cultured vultures will dig... over to you sir, "First off is this cool book on Carnival Strippers, which I first saw at Mike Buck's house back in the 80s and have searched for a copy ever since, now it's been reprinted (got mine for a measly $30 from Amazon). Check out the slide show thingy here! (tho' you need to register). Also, for the benefit of Art Lovers everywhere, I put up a web page of Donna's and my 1960s adult movie poster collection here!.

"The Scythian: An excerpt from 'Vinyl Junkies: Adventures in Record Collecting' by Brett Milano". (hilarious story involving Jeff 'Monoman' Connelly).

Pure teenpunkpop thunder vs. lumpy angular "fusion" (Impure Plop). Discuss...
Last night (no wednesday) I saw The Star Spangles open for Jane's Addiction to little more than a ripple of indifferent applause. Indifference was never a trait associated with Glasgow but that's how lame "rawk" audiences have gotten. People go to gigs now to have conversations but that's a bugbear for another time. The show, at the city's prestigious new Carling Academy should have blown minds but the flotsam that makes up the JA demographic couldn't care less. As a venue it's looking good but functionally there isn't a whiff of atmos. The restoration of original features and the sightlines are good so why doesn't this augment the experience?
The Spangles came out and charged into their set with a gusto that you seldom see in this day and age. They played songs from Bazooka! and another four new ones that are just fuggin' top notch. One of these, Gangland, is beyond anthemdom and the others don't slouch either. There's a great harmonic breadth to the guitar sound on all Spangle tuneage. I'm sure I heard a little Jingle Bells frisson during Tell Lies and Tear it To Pieces Girl shreds. I am vexed that "the kids" don't recognise these pop gold in these here thrills. They need a campaign that'll introduce them to a younger, untarnished crowd. Does such a circuit exist? Answers on a postcard or whatever.
Actually we're having problems changing the contact info on the ol' blog here. Hopefully that'll all be worked out soon but let's not stray from the original subject. The Star Spangles are on a mission and their detractors only make them stronger. Like I said, they're not your average crew despite what lazy, ill infomed sections of the press might whine. Sign up now!

The Worst Album Covers Ever.

Still haven't got a ticket for the MTV awards. That'll teach me... but tonight - in Glasgow, for just the one night y'unnerstaun'... The Star Spangles open for Perry Farrell's way overrated Janes Addiction, then we scoot from there (hopefully not missing Paul Burch's set altogether) to see Laura Cantrell open for bluegrass legend, Dr Ralph Stanley. Let's hear it for Blu(egrass) Cantrell...

Just wanted to let you know that the Master Plan's 'Colossus Of Destiny' is due for vinyl release on November 10th on the Demolition Derby label. The Master Plan are: Andy Shernoff (Dictators), Keith Streng & Bill Milhizer (Fleshtones) and Paul Johnson (Waxing Poetics). If you would like to order a copy, you should be able to find the details at: www.demderby.com

Johnny Barker leaves the Buff Medways...
"Not to worry though, the show goes on with Graham Day, formerly of The Prisoners, Thee Mighty Caesars and currently the singer/guitartist of The Solar Flares temporarily joining the band! The Buff Medways first gig with the new look line up will be on November 14th at the Dirty water Club. Also playing that night are the legendary Armitage Shanks, who are back and better than ever with a new album "Urinal Heap" on Damaged Goods". For more info: Thee Billy Childish.com

(from joeyramone.com) "It is now finally official!
The City Of New York is dedicating the corner of Bowery and Second Street as Joey Ramone Place on November 30th, 2003 at 1:00pm. Contrary to other reports elsewhere that this was a done deal long ago, New York is finally giving it up for Joey Ramone! Come out and witness this historic event if you can!"

While typin' this I'm surround by what could be best described as a Christo-type work of art, everything around me is covered in plastic. As of tomorrow we will, albeit temporarily, no longer have a roof over our heads, not to mention the fact that it looks like I won't be able to take a shower here for at least three weeks !. Yep the re/de-construction of HQ is in full effect.
But as promised I'll still try to give you some updates on what I'm diggin' culture wise.
So here goes; Bacchus Archives have just reissued the stellar first 45 by LA powerpop legends The Quick. Main tune on this 45 is 'Pretty Please', a song most of you will know as by either the Dickies or Redd Kross, but to quote Dobie Gray; "the original is still the greatest". The latest batch from Ace Records includes a solid soul comp with all tunes related to the war in Vietnam. ''A Soldier's Sad Story' is easily one of the best soul comps since those Dave Godin compiled 'Deep Soul Treasures' series. From Soul Jazz comes 600 % Dynamite, a real "grower" featuring a bunch of fantastic (and even to me) obscuro Jamaican hits, that are sure to highlight your next shindig. Hey, I gotta agree with Lindsay's POV on the Nomads tribute disc. The fact that there are a number o' tunes on this that the guys did in tribute themselves, should be evidence enough that they are masters at creating their own body of work no matter the source.
'N yeah, this might seem like shorthand, I know... Too bad, but I'm headin' for my last shower in what might be weeks right now, so please forgive me for bein' so brief here....
Damn, almost forgot mentioning the Dirtbombs latest. Easily one of the top 5 p-rock/garage discs this year...

Stop the world the MTV awards are coming to Edinburgh this week. It's gonna be a massive boost to the local economy don'tcha know? The price we're paying is that it's getting saturation coverage. Forget the fact that Edinburgh has no tangible music scene as such but it does have a castle. And at Christmas time, it has a dirty great ferris wheel planked in front, or to the side rather, of Scott's Monument in Princes Street, just along from Bargain Books. All Edinburgh is these days is a soulless money drain. Damned scenic looking in a fur coat, nae knickers kinda fash but is there no end to the constant "gies yer money" vibe. Meanwhile good folks like the Mouats are trying to put on quality entertainment there on a regular basis and get piddly wee audiences. It's an ill-divided world right enough...

In a proper world, The Nomads would enjoy the megastardom they deserve and The Demolition Doll Rods would have been the combo to put Detroit back on the map but we cannae have everything... stand by for the Nomads tribute 20 Years Too Soon comin' atcha this very week courtesy of Big Bongo/Wild Kingdom. It kicks off the party with The Dictators 16 Forever and hammers home the message that those Solna boys introduced us to some damn fine tuneage over the years. Voladoras do more than justice to The Way (You Touch My Hand) and I'd say that all told, this is a damned goodnatured project. More than just a bunch of covers, there's some heart and soul here. The Hellacopters Pack of Lies makes one wonder what it'll take to hep the kids to the fact that they should be selling the tickets and records that T*rb*ne*ro are. Can we get to turning the tables here?

Still getting to grips with this broadband and severing the ol' ties with AOL. Never had this kinda guff with pen, paper and stamps. This is like moving house without actually moving. A proper posting soon, nae kidding. Swedish readers may be interested in picking up todays DAGENS NYHETER to read a report on Glasgow by Niklas Wahllof who suffered for his art I can tell ya. It's not on line but early reports are most favourable.

Time certainly flies when you're, well uh, busy... It's almost a week now since returning from our holiday trip and I've hardly posted anything here. As some of you already know I'm headin' for parenthood somewhere early in the next year if all goes well, and the logistics that come along with that take up a lot of time at the moment. We're gonna have an extra floor build on top of HQ in the next couple o' weeks, not to house our upcomin' baby tho', but to make room for my ever expanding record collection ! (earlier today I was tryin' to clear up the mess that is my "music room" and I noted that over the past six days I had bought 18 LPs, that's three a day!... that's insane!...) But, as you can well figure, that building business will be needin' most of my attention in the near future, so please excuse me if I'm temporarily not as frequent with my posts as what you're used to.
Enough of that tho', let's talk "culture". First off, I finally got to read Robert Gordon's amazing Muddy Waters biography 'Can't Be Satisfied' during our stay in Greece. A fantastic read that doesn't go all scholarly like most books on blues, but tells Muddy's story in plain detail. Fascinating, captivating and inspiring, how's that for superlatives?. Another great read was the new issue of Ugly Things magazine. Mike Stax has really outdone himself with the Misunderstood story, and with all the other info available in it's 200 or so pages, this one will take a while to fully digest. For no apparent reason I also dropped Charles White's Little Richard biography in my traveling bag after it had been gathering dust on HQ's bookshelf for a decade or so. I had forgotten what fantastic book this is, easily as wild as the reverend Penniman's wildest discs. The story of his encounter with Buddy Holly is worth the price of admission by itself !. That's it as far as reading is concerned, as for my current listening habits; I'm stuck to a steady diet of old blues 'n soul discs, everything from pre-war country blues to Bobby Womack's early 70s LPs. It never stops to amaze me how much great music is still out there to be discovered, we're talkin' over a century of record music here !, yet people are actually gone over such horsedung like the Darkness and King Of Leon these days, bands that no one will give a shit about in 12 months time. Truth is; fifty years down the line you can put on a Muddy Waters or Little Richard disc from their heyday and sparks 'll still be flying, while these current "contenders", baskin' in their 15 minutes, can't even hold a candle to either of 'em. Excuse me while I do the Boogaloo and refuse to be duped into yet another marketing ploy....

Welcome back J. This guy is the glue that keeps all this together y'know. Been hunting for more victims for my Ebay clearout. Repatriating stuff that's been in boxes in the loft for a while now. I'm letting 'em out on good behaviour for whatever they raise. I think quite a lot these days about how, if I go out some morning or whatev. and get hit by a bus, that it'll all end up in a skip anyway. The idea then is to raise some dosh so I can spend time with my extended family across this planet. They know who they are. Anyway, music stuff soon. There's been a certain amount of turmoil about the abode this weekend. We've gone broadband so I haveta shut down the AOL thing and make sure that I have all the info I need outta that account before it's deep sixed for good. Will this new faster, doesn't kick you out every 15 minutes connection make for an increase in postings? You never bleedin' know mate...

OK, back from Greece and downing the final parts of a bottle o' "imported" Greek wine.....
I'll spare you the details (at least for the moment) and just urge you all to get a hold of the new Zodiac Killers full length 'Society's Offenders'. As fine a p-rock blast as you're gonna get in this day 'n age.....