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).