The benefit for Wally Tax's funeral (this sunday at the Paradiso in Amsterdam) has a pretty impressive line-up so far. Apparently Wally had only three Euros in his bank-account when he died, so it's obvious the money is needed. Not sure how this 'll work out but there will be a live webcast of the event thru' fabchannel.com.

Nitwitz - Sex, Lies and Duct Tape (Rocketdog CD).
Six years in the making, these here Nitwitz finally unleash the follow up to 1999's Dark Side Of The Spoon. A lot has happened in the intervening years, but it's good to learn that these "snuiters" are still way ahead of the pack with their amphetamine fueled, riff-driven' powerhouse take on p-rock. And even if this disc lacks some of the sonic impact of their previous effort, this is easily made up for by the fact that songs like Overreactor, Rock & Roll Conquistadores (renamed here as Nitwitz Rule Spain) and especially Rock Pusher are among their best yet. God knows what the future holds for the Nitwitz, (recent pictures of the Slugster seem to hint at an image change in a distinct Free Willy kind o' fashion), but let's hope it won't take 'm another six years to deliver their next disc...

Elizabeth McQueen & the Firebrands - Happy Doing What We're Doing (Me & My Records CD).
Now here's real curio; a Texas bar-band who put out a CD with nothing but Brit pub-rock classics, obviously reclaiming a brand o' style that was rightfully theirs anyway.. Ducks Deluxe, Nick Lowe, the Brinsleys, Feelgoods and Hot Rods all get the work over and end up served as hot chili with greasy enchilada instead of fish 'n chips. No Count Bishops' tunes here, but if you don't mind rockin' tonite, this one's for you...

ROCHESTER, NY - are you receiving we??

"For those of you in Rochester, NY don't forget that The Atomic Swindlers will be Playing two Shows... Bring a guest or two maybe, three maybe, 10, your call:

April 15th - Nazareth College, Pittsford, NY. Show starts at 10:00 pm.

April 16th - Milestones 170 East Avenue, Rochester, NY

The Swindlers will be opening for Glenn Tilbrook, former lead singer for the great British band, Squeeze. This is a don't miss, sure to sell out event. The show starts at 8:00 pm. sharp. Tickets are $15."

Support these former New Math and Jet Black Berrie'd sensations!

Go Mr Nancy! (Thanks to Mrs Stim for the leprachaun shot!)

I can’t for the life of me figure when morale was deeper in the dumper at my place of work than it is right now. One dozen contestants are waiting for the big draw that will curtail this penance and alter their existence forever, quite possibly in a positive direction. T’is 368 days since the move from the original old Indian burial ground to this new one in the shadow of the Ochil hills. The “Factory of Death” is what locals apparently call the site. Mainly because it seems that recent tenants have not enjoyed much in the way of success here. Shit happens to be sure and as the very fabric of the country crumbles, the only trajectory from here is surely up. A wee siesmic shoogle could be on the cards and to be honest I’m a little tired of the ongoing bumpy ride. Clocking the Labour Party broadcast on TV the other night just fermented the old dry boke another couple of notches. Not given to outbursts of requests for religious intervention, seldom has the expression “Lord help us” reverberated around my noggin like a bagatelle. Like a terrible facsimilie of the Prime Minister sketches from the vastly overrated Little Britain show, the debacle spilled like topsy into the nation’s living rooms but what’s the alternative? I’ll be hornswaggled if I know…

Brother Joss just alerted we of the news that Johnnie (B. Goode) Johnson has indeed done gone...

Those Scandanavian kids have all the fun...



Mods and mockers fight it out!

Mans P. Mansson (The Maggots) vs. Peter Rosén (The Moving Sounds) at Bröderna Olsson's Garlic & Shots, Folkungagatan 84, fri 15/4 21-01 while out in Horway....



The Crypt presents:

THE LAUNDERETTES (Oslo) + THE RETARDOS (Oslo)

Friday 15. april 2005 kl. 21.00 Dis Cafe, Fredrikstad, Norway

I'm not sure what the official phrase for waking up on a Tuesday thinking that it's Saturday. Methinks it's taking this "Everyday is Saturday" credo too far. No strong drink or narcotic of any description was involved in this at all. Merely the power of wishful thinking... Anyway, is the poster above too small for you folks to read? Or maybe your eyesight is better than mine??

A benefit will be held this Sunday (the 17th) at Amsterdam's Paradiso club to raise funds for Wally Tax's funeral. More details as they develop...

OK, I'll tell you why I've been hardly prolific here in recent weeks; first up is the acquisition of various hi-fi elements like a new amp, speakers and a stylus for my trusty Torens, which has led me to enjoy such long forgotten experiences like actual stereo and low-end sounds. Aaah, the wonder! And there's always books to keep me away from this here blog of course. Moanin' At Midnight (Pantheon) by James Sergest and Mark Hoffman is a long overdue biography on the life and times of Howlin' Wolf. Extremely detailed and a true labor of love, this is mandatory stuff for any NBT reader. Let The Good Times Rock (Music Mentor) is a great collection of magazine articles and liner notes by Bill Millar. Sub-titled 'A fan's notes on post-war American roots music' it is is fact a lot more exciting than just that, with topics ranging from Benny Joy and Etta James to Young Jessie, Jerry Lee Lewis , Major Bill Smith, Link Wray and much, much more. This book serves as a virtual bible for those of us raised on Kicks magazine. Simon Reynold's Rip It Up And Start Again (Faber and Faber) will obviously be of less interest to most of you, as it documents the postpunk years 1978-1984 from a seriously non-rockin' POV. But as it is, I gotta admit that I really enjoyed reading this and pulled records from the shelves that I'd hadn't bothered with in the past two decades. Half of the music involved is absolute rubbish (remember ZZT, The Associates or "postive punk"?), but the general picture is refreshing enough to serve as fine follow-up to Jon Savage's England's Dreaming...

R.I.P.:Wally Tax.

In recent weeks, something that has pissed me off is the lukewarm to lame reviews of the new Stereo Total album, "Do The Bambi". Then some investigation turns up the news that they're bound for Edinburgh on Thursday the 21st of this month for a show at The Venue. A well kept secret but not for long... more later...

If you ever wondered what it might have been like to have Blue Oyster Cult collaborate with Zappa soaked on Primus to come up with a re-score of Carnival of Souls then Mike Watt's new opus "The Secondman's Middle Stand" might just offer such an insight. It's a complex, yet strangely amenable collection coming from a place that's decidedly off, away from any beaten track I've been down lately. Available now on Easy Action Records, a release date of June 13th is quoted on the blurb sheet but the man is at present on a lengthy European tour and if you hit up his SITE, then you can catch all the dates there. He's on the road until May 13th and in the UK between May 2nd and 7th (Mono in Glasgow on May 5th)then Ireland at the tail end. He'll be back with The Stooges to do festivals in the summer but I'd urge you to devote your attention to this project instead. Watt's "Stand" is a million miles away from crunching out what are now over-ripe standards in a field to lifestyle zombies that couldn't actually give a fuck. The package also includes a dvd which has two clips which you'll most likely never see on MTV. More's the pity...

Papal (not to be confused with paypal) funerals, royal weddings and general elections. These are the things currently being dragged through the neighbourhood here in the rapidly failing UK. I know that first one played out further afield but you get the picture. The big news, that a Boonaraaa (Hey Tine!) will be in Edinburgh for a couple of days somehow didn't make the news this morning but that's the important scoop on my telly. Coming at the end of a week with some relative highs, more general lows and the prospect of folks losing their "livelihoods" due to the raging incompetence which appears to be at epedemic levels and running amuck through the country. However, the bigger picture will undoubtedly reveal itself in due course. These are peculiar times and they are a-changin' (yr not wrong Bob) which may be no bad thing. The many US citizens who apologised for their country re-electing Wee George would do well to feast ther attention on the charabang of utter losers that are up for taking us one step closer to some kind of advanced zombification, consigning institutions like the BBC to the dumper along the way. The word on the pavey is that Auntie Beeb is geared up to ditch its record libraries, replacing these with one big George Lucas-like hard drive to serve what's left of the organisation after the bones have been picked clean. Lucky Scotland has its own "Parliament" to shield us from this rank meglomania, er, ain't it?

Suicide is painless right enough (in financial terms) Mr Rafferty reports that FOPP is selling the following Rev - Vega delights at a fiver each for the nice blast first doublepacks :

Suicide, with live at cgbgb's 1977 and 23 minutes over brussels

and

The Second Suicide Album with The First Rehearsal Tapes

cannae be bad...

Pete Myers was the mad, MAD DADDY... (thanks to Larry Shell for the tip off)

and Ben has just made me aware of this MICHAEL WELDON Hillbilly Hollywood story on the WFMU site.

TIJUANA HERCULES extol a hybrid blues scufflebilly which combines a Van Vlietesque rasp with some skewed skiffle and inebriated New Orleans flavoured swing. A sometimes ugly, yet strangely satisfying racket which should push the buttons of Gun Club and Panther Burns afficianados. Talking of Mr Falco's combo, who played in London last week and are headed for Newcastle in May, Mr Thewlis (of London) was telling me that their current skinbasher has great "paradiddles". Boom boom tish!

Ah, procrastination... seems like i'm firmly in the grip of that condition at the minute although that will give way later tonight to the all-enveloping dread of returning to Tosspotville tomorrow. And have I made inroads into all of the areas that I promised myself I would during this much required down-time? Well not exactly but some progress can be reported. In the direction of punting my old man's "Tunes From The Glen", contact has been made with radio stations in the farthest reaches of Scotia. A means of making it available over the web here and in North America is also in the process of coming together. This morning, I meant to get in about some recently received releases but was sidelined listening to the great RADIO STUDENT in Ljubljana. One thing that has made itself alarmingly clear this past few days is that I don't really care for leaving the house. Or if I do it has to be early in order to bodyswerve the masses. I'm not sure what this escalation in my inability to tholl the hurly-burly means but will endeavour to make some sense of it.

The long-awaited programme for BIG BIG COUNTRY came in this morning though so check out the fare that Mr Kelly is serving up this annum. Your appearance at the Southern Culture On The Skids show in Oran Mor on Friday May 13th is mandatory.

THE FALLEN LEAVES will again host and play at a 3rd sitting of THE PARLIAMENT CLUB on Friday 15th April. With headliners THE PRISCILLAS and main support THE FALLEN LEAVES who feature two of the original members of the Subway Sect.

THE PARLIAMENT CLUB is on Friday 15th April 2005 At The Black Horse
181 Sheen Road, Richmond, London. 020 8940 0424. Entry £6.00 on the door.

Doors open at 8pm – finishing at 11.30 for trains and night buses.

All enquiries to: thefallenleaves@f2s.com