Hey. Care to pitch in on a wee idea? To mark 26+ years of NBT, I've got a mind to assemble something called "WHO WILL SAVE ROCK'N'ROLL?" and would like to include your good or bad self (Delete as applicable) havering on about anything, everything or nothing at all. The beastie itself will be a binder (bit of found object-ness goin' on here...). A totally DIY type deal in the spirit of how it all started and lets face it print is still the preferred medium to this guy. I'd like to donate at least $1 per copy (hopefully more) sold to The Lymphoma Charity in Joey's name. Being that so far we've never got the UK version of his Birthday Bash together just yet. So how about it? Feel free to pass the invitation to anybody who you'd like to see participate also. My e-dress book is a tad muddled and several crashes have consigned much e-contact to the cyber dumper. My overwhelming desire to ditch AOL will peak soon and then I'll shift my arse into gear with regard to switching ISP. Anyway let me know whatcha think. I'm obviously way older but none the bloody wiser so let's go to conventional print. The only way to go... Ungawa an' that!

Saw The Thanes launch their new album "Downbeat and Folked Up" on Friday past at the Cafe Royal in Edinburgh. Just out on Screaming Apple, it finds the band in typical devotion to their profession. "There are few other groups with a collective age of 145 that have the talent to arrange an album of this scope." sez the sleevenote. It's true. The Thanes are true to their school to the point of kamikaze. Lenny Helsing is indeed the Laird of the boss racket supreme and a damn fine geezer to boot. Way more worthy than yon gink Childish and his deerstalking posse. The Thanes are solid, bankable exponents who play music which is a religion to them. They're unfettered by the alleged "garage" upsurge and will be doing this long after it's the LBT. Until the idiots who think The White Stripes are the bee's knees recognise that The Fleshtones should be shifting twice the amount of "units" that they do they can just bloomin' well fook aff. Support The Thanes and all who sail in 'em then. The venue was pretty good too. Ideally situated and a good size and not a hovel. Let's hope that Angus McPake gets something going here on a regular basis. Edinburgh could sorely use it. The capital is lagging way behing it's West Coast rival on that score.

Was sorry to hear about the death of Mickie Most who lost his battle with cancer on Friday past also. His output on RAK was an incredible array of glitter pop/glam garage madness which is now gaining ground in collector circles. Look out for an album called "Velvet Tinmine" which celebrates the very pinnacle of this teen D-U-M-B greatness.

New Angel Corpus Christi disc out now on Gulcher:
From the press blurb; '"Divine Healer' is Angel's first full-length release since her sadly overlooked major-label disc in 1995, White Courtesy Phone' (on Herb Alpert's Almo label).  The core band of Angel (vocals, accordion, harmonica), Rich Stim (guitar, bass, piano), Dave Mahoney (drums), and George Earth (guitar, bass) is augmented by contributions from songwriter Don Ciccone, Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500 and Luna), bass player Nancy Kravitz, and behind the mixing board, Craig Leon (Ramones, Blondie, etc.), Mark Bingham (MX-80, Social Climbers, etc.), and Dave Nelson.
A couple Angel faves are resurrected for all the ears who missed 'em the first time: "Pull Girl" is a tasty piece of mutant bubblegum, like Veronica Lodge fronting Suicide, and "Candy" is even sweeter.  The Ross/Stim songwriting team also give us "You," "Rock & Roll Shoes," "Sadder," "Sleepwalker," and with help from Don Ciccone, "I'll Say Goodbye" and "She Said."

OK, some straight propaganda here, the Dictators are out 'n about again, just make sure you catch 'em.
Friday, May 30, Maxwell's, 1029 Washington Ave. Hoboken, NJ
Tuesday, June 10, The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd. San Diego, CA
Wednesday, June 11, Spaceland, 1717 Silverlake Blvd. Los Angeles, CA
Thursday, June 12, Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St. San Francisco, CA
Friday, June 13, Dante's 3rd and Burnside, Portland, OR
Saturday, June 14, Crocodile Cafe, 2200 2nd Ave. Seattle, WA
Saturday, June 21, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. New York, NY

LINK: Amazing site that houses video-interviews (in quicktime) w/ a whole bunch o' NYC scenemakers; H.D. Manitoba, Leee Black Childers, David Johanson, Danny Fields, Martin Rev, John Holmstrom, et f'in' cetera. Like I said; amazin', but you might need a decent cable or DSL connection (some ungodly time in the middle o' the night usually also does the trick). GO!.

LINK: Here's a bunch o' pics taken at the opening of some exibition at Manitoba's, lots of old familiar (wrinkled) faces. GO!

Post-Eyerack. That what they're putting the UK's dismal zero in the way of points display in the Eurovision Song Carry On. Nowt to do with plumbing new depths in sub karaoke galumphing then? While all that was happening though, Avy and I were doing some Avant gardening at Le Weekend in Stirling. This is a yearly event curated by David Keenan of The Wire which brings outsider gear to Scotland. I'm not up to any speed whatsoever with this stuff but it's fun to gawp for at least a day. LW isn't yer average festival and The Tolbooth isn't yer average joint. It's a civilised place and being an auld guy I likes that.
After a wee spell in Europa Records ( a store withan amazing vinyl grooveyard oot the back) it was time to go hang aboot and take in sets by Damon and Naomi with Ghost. Not the ghost that inhabits The Tolbooth, the Japanese ensemble. Very atmospheric and if you were scoring a film this would be the way to go... quality haunted psychedelic folk.
Next up was Arthur Doyle. A strange cat says Thurston Moore and that turns out to be quite the understatement. As droolingly incoherent as much of his pieces were, Arthur was strangely entertaining. No question, he looks like an old homeless guy but his sax and piano attacks were equal parts captivating and un-nerving. Folks with weak stomachs were runnin' for the exits. Arthur Doyle is here, Arthur Doyle is Here he scatted, yes he is but he is also (way) out there. Caught up with my auld mucker, Edwin Pouncey who was utterly to blame for the period I spent writing for Sounds. A top guy who's lose none of his edge over the annums. Le Weekend is a weird scene but lang may it convene. It reaches parts other festivals could never reach let alone tweak.

LINK: You'll probably have to sign up somewhere, but some guy has put up a bunch o' pictures of the Flamin' Groovies in France durin' the 70s at the Groovies' Yahoo club that are well worth the bother. GO!

Swamp Rats - Disco Still Sucks!. (Get Hip).
Now here's one I've been wanting to hear ever since I had to pick up my jaw after first exposure to these guys on the debut volume of the 'Back From The Grave' LP series. Their insane take on the Sonics' 'Psycho' included there was/is even louder than the originators were able to master, and that's obviously a pretty hefty trick to pull. Over the years a couple of other song appeared on various comps (an equally raunchy take on 'Louie Louie' and a rippin' version of the Sparkles 'Ain't No Friend Of Mine'), all of which left me beggin' for more (and unable to track down a copy of a 1980 collection called 'Disco Sucks' put out by the band, hence the title here). But now we finally have the band's entire output in one place, including a four page detailed history. "So does it deliver?" I hear you axe. Well, to be honest; no. The above mentioned tunes are easily the cream of the crop here and still sound way beyond compare, but at this late date I have trouble findin' any excitement in hearin' garage band staples like 'In The Midnight Hour', 'Hey Joe' or 'Till The End Of The Day', no matter who plays 'em. Most bizarre is that their savage take on 'Psycho' was originally backed by a nails-across-blackboard version of the Fab Four's 'Here, There and Everywhere', makin' you wonder if it's actually the same band !. So by all means dig in for the good 'uns on deck, just be prepared to lift the tone-arm with some regularity when spinnin' this.

LINK: (via Jan Kooi) And while we're on a Mad Daddy trip why not dig this site that houses a couple o' complete shows of boppin' and blastin' funny-farm broadcastin'. GO!.

The New Nortons Have Arrived
It's always a great day 'round here when the latest batch of Norton releases lands on my doorstep. Few labels are able to keep the quality control up in the long run, but Norton has done just that ever since the mid 80s, and the dynamic duo from Brooklyn that runs this biz should have long been given awards and unlimited funds to further their crusade. Their latest offerings include a new live album by Andre Williams (backed by ace Dutch combo Green Hornet), that's easily the man's best since his return to the world's stages. Green Hornet supply him w/ a soulful groove that has been lacking from most of his recent recordings and it suits him just fine. 'Wavy Gravy !' rounds up a truckload (50 no less) of airchecks by legendary Cleveland DJ The Mad Daddy (hipped to most us youngsters by the Cramps on their first LP). Breathtakin' atom-smashin'-zoomeratin'-mello-jello radio broadcasts that are way beyond the scope of the overpayed ego-jocks that litter the airwaves these days. 'The Fabulous Wailers' is the CD edition of an earlier Norton vinyl set roundin' up this Northwest band's earliest instrumental sides of which 'Tall Call One' was an actual bona-fide hit, tho' the rest of the material hardly slouches behind. Four previously unreleased demos plus new liners by Billy Miller ads to it's desirability. Roky Erickson's Wake Up To Rock'n'Roll' 45 is a taster for Norton's up-comin' 'Don't Knock The Rok' full length of late 70s live recordings of the Rokster w/ the Aliens, and judging from this it's gonna be a winner!. The series of jukebox 45s that Norton has been pushin' our way for a while now has turned into an amazing collection of some 70 discs, latest additions include 4 blazin' rockabilly two siders by the mighty Benny Joy, the insane Musical Linn Twins (related to Ming & Ling perhaps?) and wild R&B screamers by Phil Flowers and Poontang Perkins. Great, great stuff that only makes me whish I had a jukebox to house the little buggers....

LINK: (via Dubbelmono) Punk jokes. GO!.

And you wanna know why bands like the Nitwitz (or just about anybody else) love tourin' Spain?. Just dig these pics of some rather extreme audience participation!. GO!.
And while you're at it, why not download the Nitwitz latest masterpiece 'Rock'n'Roll Conquistadores' here.

LINK: Great article on the Dictators in Detroit's Metro Times. GO!.

LINK: Lowcut # 4 is online: http://www.lowcut.dk, This time with the following content: Live Reviews: Gore Gore Girls, The Flaming Sideburns, Elmo Williams and more as seen from the bar. Record Reviews: The Cramps, The Blow Tops, Leg Hounds, Scat Rag Boosters and many more. Features: Grrrls Riot Festival in Aalborg and a LowCut report from National Danish Radios "independence day". Interviews: The Movement, The Felchers and Geisha + Danish Rock news, movies and more.

UPDATED: The ever cool I-94 BAR; incl. (ao) an interview with Radio Birdman bassist Jim Dickson on touring, bands and dinner. GO!

LINK: (via Jan Kooi) '90s punk decries punks of today.
BERKELEY, CA—Nineties punk Drew Tolbert, 29, expressed scorn Monday for the punks of today, denouncing them as "phony poseurs unworthy of the word 'punk.'" GO!.

I guess this thing is on?... so some kind of introduction might be in order... this is the latest manifestation of something called THE NEXT BIG THING. A beastie inspired by the mighty Dictators that set sail in the heady months of 1976 into '77. Although the first (proper) issue didn't come out until 1977, there was a pilot in late '76. It had a drawing of Eddie and the Hot Rods, Iggy and Cyril Jordan on the cover that I clocked in an old Sounds Barry Lazell (God bless 'im) column. None of those survived and that's probably for the best. How come I'm still involved in all this hoo-hah is as much a surprise to me as it is to anybody else. specially being way past old enough to know better but "involved" I am so we (you and I) might as well lump it and I'm not altogeher happy with the state of music circa May 2003. Moaning old get mayhap, Garage Rock surge overground notwithstanding, a guy has the right to air his tuppenceworth. I have it on good authority from one Tony Parsons, on IPC notepaper, that I'd never amount to being a writer and I don't recall ever claiming to be. He, on the other hand...

So NBT - Next Blog Thing - operates under te ethos that there really only is good and bad. Music, Film, whatever and we don't dig pigeonholes or demographics. If it floats wir boat, we'll tell you. If it dosnae and we figure you ought to be hep to that then we'll hoist that up the ol' flagpole also. Sometimes we crew members may even disagree (Turbonegro - I say nay, Jeroen says Yay!), viva la controversy...

So yeah, with the (substantial) aid of my buds - Jeroen (Vedder) and Steve (Coleman), we've set this thing to comment on popular culture as it festers. We share a common goal to rid the planet of the limited shelf-like shite that permeates our collective existence. If you ain't all the way down with that then please "log-aff" as they holler around these parts. Between us we'll guide you outta the lame-erkey wilderness. So there you have it. I've rattled on enough. Pans are underway for a new volume of actual print too, so I'll let you know about that in due course. So here goes, NBT hauls its wee bahookie into cyberspace, 26+ years after #1 hit the streets. Welcome then...

New York City - Catch the Fleshtones at the downtown Virgin Megastore (52 E 14th St. – near Union Square Park), Thursday, May 15 at 6 pm.

Rat Scabies has teamed up w/ two former Godfathers, and they are set to take on the world as the Germans. The MP3 available on their site sounds like an early Godfathers 45, and that ain't no bad thing. GO!.