Yowza, yowza! Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and join Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. for an evening of the naughty and the bawdy at the "Wasabassco Cabaret Burlesque" (www.wasabassco.com) on Wednesday, February 23rd, at the space-aged Sputnik lounge. The SIT & Die boys will kick off the racy revue at 10:30, followed by a scintillating stream of the city's best burlesque beauties -- saucy sirens guaranteed to quicken the pulse and liven the libido -- and with free frankfurters for all! All for a mere $5.00 admission. Sputnik (www.barsputnik.com) is located at 262 Taaffe Place in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

For the more puritanically minded, please remember that the following night, like every Thursday night, SIT & Die Co. preaches the gospel of their patented "Ballads, Boogies & Blues" from 8:00 until 10:00 in the morally upright confines of Otto's Shrunken Head, located at 538 East 14th Street in the Eastern Village of Manhattan.

For all the explicit details, kindly visit www.SITandDieCo.com, won't you?

Sincerely,Michael

P.S. Just so that there are no secrets between us, please know that SIT & Die Co. takes to the Rodeo Bar stage on Wednesday, March 2nd. Thank you, that feels much better.

Fear or loathing? Pioneer of "gonzo journalism", Hunter S. Thompson shoots himself.

OK, OK, time for a short update from NBT's Dutch HQ. 05 got off to a very bad start so far. First I got stuck with not one, but two variations of the flu myself in January, and just last week my one year old son Bastiaan suffered from a severe bout of pneumonia. Bad as that is, there's the day-to-day stuff that seems to be taking up more time every week. I'll stop right here, and spare you the wall-to-wall moanin' 'n groanin', and instead focus on some kinda playlist of stuff that kept my spirits up (as far as possible) in recent weeks.
First off, Bob Marley's work with Lee Perry from the early 70s has hardly left the hi-fi here at HQ. Sparse, soulful, uplifting, this is just about as good as it gets. Forget all the blah-blah that's all over the music mags currently and dive straight into the heart of the matter. Trojan has the perfect introduction available right here. If reggae seems hardly the usual standard NBT fare, I have no idea what you will make of 40's big band sounds, but Lucky Millinder's Apollo Jump LP (Affinity) is another recent mainstay on my hi-fi. This disc features the earliest recorded work of the great Wynonie Harris, plus reknown gospel vocalist Sister Rosetta Tharpe singin' 'I Want A Tall Skinny Pappa'. Some songs: Pere Ubu - Final Solution, Dr Feelgood - Back In The Night, Duke Ellington - Take The A Train, Skeletons - Very Last Day, Bobby Womack - Woman's Got To Have It, Big Star - 13. And no matter what happens, I always listen to Creedence, Miles' Kind Of Blue and the Groovies. So there you have it...

Music and plenty else for NIMRODS!

Nice piece on Arthur Kane by David Johansen on the DOLLS site.

Check out this great little label based in Switzerland... Feathered Apple.

I'm pretty sure this computer is taking the piss outta me. Now that might sound like paranoia and even a little obsessive, compulsive but I can't shake the consideration that this bloody box in the corner across from the other one is extracting the ol' urine. Anyway, on a somewhat related note, my favourite TV show at the minute is MONK. It's on BBC2 here on a Saturday afternoon so while everybody else is at the mall, or getting on with their lives. We watch MONK. He's obsessive compulsive to a point beyond the call. It also takes place in San Francisco and there are great locations that just make you wanna be there. It's quite a gentle piece with an inherent sick cool that just doesn't make it to our screens too often these days. You should check it out if it appears on your schedules.

So we're entering our second month of belt tightening around here and I have it on pretty good authority that the Ethernet card in this pc is about to hit the wall. Lotsa connection problems this past week and difficulties with general e-mail too. It's a pain in the ass. Is it too much to expect things just to work? Evidently it is, so bear with the lapses in communication. Yeah, the coffers are at some kinda boracic level. (That's boracic lint = skint) Home maintenance doesn't come cheap and nothing much else does either, hence the kinda self-imposed exile. A little discipline probably ain't a bad thing and this shouldn't be interpreted as complaining. Merely an observation that stings a tad. Posting to the blog has caused a bit of head-scratching this past week also. It seems to hang mid-post but somehow makes it on there. He who hath no patience finds this a tad disconcerting. All of this admin is impeding the dissemination of info but stay tuned.

Mr Spence has a message for you folks in and around Glasgow!

Howdy Folks! Boy have we gotta treat for you....

SATURDAY 19TH FEBRUARY - STEREO, KELVINHAUGH ST., GLASGOW

£4 on the door; doors: 3pm ...YES, IT'S A MATINEE SHOW!!! (0141 576 5018)

THE DEXATEENS

THE GREASE MONKEYS

TAYLOR HOLLINGSWORTH

Aaah, record label discographies. Hours of joy!. They Could Have Been Bigger Than EMI.

The world has gone nuts... The Ramones are reincarnated as teddy bears (albeit toxic ones), Ms Amy Allison was telling me just the other night that FEZ was closing and now it seems that NY city may not "have it all" for too much longer... thanks to Martin Percival for the LINK.

Check out Hans Kesteloo's radio-stream - BEYOND THE BEAT GENERATION. Quite an archive of sound and vision.

And while you're at it, Scottish Beat Afficianados should keep the evening of March 24th to "talk about girls" n' stuff when THE CHOCOLATE WATCHBAND appear at King Tuts along with "wir ain" Lenny Helsing and his THANES!

Prescribed by Dr. Andrea, Medicine Wummin.

If you go down to the woods today... you'll see them goin' through a tight wynd!

Info from Prof. R. Stim, SF, CA.

"Dearest Friend,
Let's spend the night together, shall we? Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. hopes you'll say "Yes, I'd like that very much, thank you" and come to Otto's Shrunken Head, located at 538 East 14th Street in Manhattan, on Thursday, February 17th. It is then, from 8:00 until 10:00 sharp, that we shall present two most intimate shows that will express our deepest feelings for you. Both love and admission will be free and without obligation.

Yours most truly, Michael, Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.

It came from Memphis... to the BARBICAN in London.

Thundercut Alters Downtown WALK Signs in NYC.
"On the WALK/DON’T WALK sign outside CBGB on the Bowery, the orange DON’T WALK hand has had its middle two fingers and thumb obliterated with black tape, turning it into a devil’s horns—the universal hand signal for “Rock!” The white walking man is now wearing sideburns, a skull-and-bones T-shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of Converse."

Atomic Affair is a new company specializing in vintage clothing. And if you are inclined to such matters, these gals deserve your support.

Crawford Smith spotted this train info...