RIP: The Duchess (Norma-Jean Wofford).
Sunday, May 08, 2005
To mark the sad passing of Hasil, Miriam wrote this piece and has OK'd me to post it here. I shouldn't have to explain what an honour that is, just take it as read... and read on because there's only one person on earth that can tell it like this.
The WFMU tribute is a wonderful thing, don't forget to check it out. Like Billy sez during the show, Hasil was "equally at home with the Carter Family and The Addams Family"... what a guy...
NO MORE HOT DOGS by Miriam Linna
Ten days ago, we lost a great one, a really great one. Hasil Adkins was found dead of a heart attack in his home in Madison, West Virginia on Tuesday, April 23, following an apparently unsolicited attack several days earlier by a man who drove a four wheeler into him. Billy and I, along with many friends from far flung places, got the call while at the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans. We were stunned, chilled and deeply saddened at the loss of a true original, who happened to be not only a gifted man-- a genius-- but also a guiding light to so many of us. Hasil was a musician, first and foremost. Music was his calling from the time he was a child, and he lived to deliver a musical message from his heart to yours, to anyone's who happened into his path.
We left driving to Hasil's funeral in West Virginia as soon as we got back to New York from Louisiana on what would have been Hasil's 69th birthday. Brooklyn artist Joe Coleman and his wife Whitney Ward accompanied us for the drive.
Hasil had performed at the couple's nuptials and Hasil plays heavily into Joe's work, as is evident in his documentary REST IN PIECES and as the subject of one of his intense biographical painted portraits. The drive took us two days, as the weather was as dismal as our mood, and navigating (Billy did all the driving) the slick mountain highways and dense fog in the lesser roadways was a challenge. By day, we counted our progress by counting passing billboards for hot dogs, and semi trucks loaded with cheese, chicken and farm meats and by night watched tail lights and mile markers through flapping windshield wipers.
We played Hasil's music the whole way, the happy records, the sexy records, the head-lopping records, and the heartfelt, sorrowful dirges that pull at the heartstrings with a purity and depth that few artists ever shake a stick at.
The funeral was on April 30th, one of the rainest, foggiest, most mournful days on God's holy planet. I give details here now, because so many of you have asked. If details upset you, scroll on a couple of paragraphs. Otherwise, bear with me. The funeral was held at Handley Funeral Home in Danville, close to Hasil's home in Madison. It was attended by his sister Irene and her four sons and four daughters, and a couple of her grandkids. A handful of locals and a few fans seated themselves in the back pews. Hasil's long distance sweetheart Amy from Minnesota had come in with a friend, and Jim Tucci, Hasil acolyte, steady friend and road manager, had traveled from Georgia. Billy, Joe and Jim served as pallbearers, as did the dancing outlaw Jesco White and a couple of Irene's sons. The open casket service was met with such shock and grief from Irene, that she fainted several times. One of her daughters also lost consciousness. Hasil looked good, but different. A cowboy hat was leaning against the lid of his casket. He was wearing a new red and white striped button down shirt and as people filed up to pay their repects, they slipped in a rose wrapped in crunchy clear plastic, some CD's, and a ceramic angel figurine and one lady pinned a religious medal on his pocket. Hank Williams III had sent a beautiful floral display which featured a huge toy guitar and it was prominently displayed.
The casket was closed when Pastor Garry Bowman, a Baptist minister, began the service by announcing that he didn't know Hasil, and that he only remembers meeting him once, in 1958. He began a brief, basic dust-to-dust sermon, after which the bereaved filed out through the rain into their cars, some moving into position for the headlights-on vehicular entourage to a remote cemetary in Van, WV. I could never find myself back to that location without an Indian guide, a compass and a divining rod. It was THAT remote. We drove at a snail's pace for what seemed forever, finally winding up a dirt road to a tiny hillock clearing, where a small tent was set up over a ten foot square of astroturf. It was fairly pouring as they brought the casket out once again for final words from the pastor. The pallbearers were signalled to carry the deceased to the interment site and the family and locals returned to their cars and headed back down the hill to their homes. We stood confused for a moment. The pastor told Whitney that we "didn't have to go down there" and of course she promptly picked up her the muddy hem of her long black skirt and went stumbling down the ravine with the faithful. The pallbearers were ankle deep in yellow mud and the rain was beating viciously against the casket by the time we all reached the remote woodsy vale where Hasil's grave had been prepared. No further words were said. Two grave diggers (is there a euphemism for this profession? If so, tell me) kneeled in the mud to lower the casket via alternating squealing manual pulleys. It took forever. Some invisible rain birds chirped nearby, maybe in response to the squeaking GD's. Several times, the men realigned their mechanism, then finally satisfied, loosened the belts, set a piece of pine atop the casket and stood apart from us, soaked with rain and covered in mud, leaning against their shovels and waiting. Nobody moved for a long time. The rain kept pelting, boom-ba-boom, now against the piney wood panel. Rain gushed down the gullies, along the path we had trod, and a heavy mist hovered inches from the ground with a decidedly gothic demeanor. A bit further down the glade were some old gravestones leaving in various directions. Someone remarked that Hasil's mother and father were there. The rain kept on. Eventually the small entourage began their way back up to the road, some dropping a flower or a handful of dirt onto the grave. The shovel guys looked impatient. At the top of the hill, I looked back and Jim was still there, head bowed. He would stay to help the gravediggers. The four of us scraped off mud and got back into the car. We rode in silence for a while. Joe spotted a KFC and suggested chicken, so we pulled in for a couple of king size buckets to bring to the wake at Irene's place, one extra crispy and one original recipe. At the wake, one of Hasil's four Bibles was passed around, revealing markings and notations by Hasil throughout. Memories were exchanged. Chicken was eaten. Tears mingled with occasional chirps of laughter, but only the tears relayed true feeling. Someone in the kitchen did the Chicken Walk and a semblance of the Hunch. The rain kept on coming. It got dark fast as we left the Mountain State.
Whitney got lucky and found some commemorative hot pants in a Goodwill store located right next door to the local court house where Hasil had many comings and goings, and by the second day of driving home, midway through the Pennsylvania meat-belt, we hit upon what would have been Hasil's dream-- a general store stocked with every possible variety of commodity meat in every possible configuration.. with free samples aplenty. We bought packages of hotdogs and local cheese and crowded back in for the last leg of the journey. It had stopped raining by the time we got back home. Clean blue skies and a hint of May. I wished it had been such a nice day for Hasil's funeral. Then again no, Hasil would have wanted the rain-- a big giant, dreary, bone crunching rain with mist and clouds and fog and flooding and gushing gullies and busted umbrellas and buckets of chicken and hot pants for everyone...
So then, and anyway... our Norton label started with Hasil-- OUT TO HUNCH was our first LP, and HAZE'S HOUSE PARTY was our first seven incher. Billy and I had been publishing KICKS magazine, dedicated to the great unknowns and the great unlauded. Hasil had been interviewed in KICKS #3 and got written up in all subsequent issues. We originally located Hasil with the help of a great friend and R&B collector Donn Fileti, and immediately drove out to meet the Haze (as he liked to be called). We released OUT TO HUNCH, a collection of his original early home recordings and brought him to New York to play. Hasil was in prime form and wowed audiences wherever he played. Billy recorded Hasil for the first time in 1986 and continued recording and releasing Hasil material over the years. He was a very close friend and we were never out of touch with him.
Over the years, Hasil traveled all over North America. He made plans to tour overseas many times but each time, when it got down to the wire, Hasil would not board the plane. He was, in his heart of hearts, a homeboy. Even on relatively short out of state trips, he would become despondently homesick. And he was in essence a West Virginia homeboy, and even closer to the bone, a Boone County homeboy. Hasil lived his entire life in the house where he was born, in the woods, off the beaten path, nary a dot on even a local map. His records and stage shows were one thing, but his eccentricities no doubt expanded his legend.
Guns and ammo, meats of all nations, crazy dames, murderous psychopaths, and political figures peppered the everso topical subject matter of his songs, alternately endearing him to a fringier element and causing the politer country fans to step back in confusion. Despite his ability to wear many hats- to be many things to many people-- he was true to his calling. He was an entertainer, a self-made man, a gifted songwriter, a keen observer and commentator on the world as he knew it.
Haze's final show was at the Las Vegas Rockaround this past September, where he was appropriately introduced by none other than Rudy Ray Moore. Many overseas fans were seeing Haze for the first time, and may have been shocked, surprised or at the very least, amazed by him. Pounding away at his guitar and stomping on the drums, shrieking and hollering, he may have frightened some of the fainter hearts, reinforced others who'd come to quaff at the well. None of us knew it would be the last time. No more hot dogs, or then again, perhaps, too many too soon.
The WFMU tribute is a wonderful thing, don't forget to check it out. Like Billy sez during the show, Hasil was "equally at home with the Carter Family and The Addams Family"... what a guy...
NO MORE HOT DOGS by Miriam Linna
Ten days ago, we lost a great one, a really great one. Hasil Adkins was found dead of a heart attack in his home in Madison, West Virginia on Tuesday, April 23, following an apparently unsolicited attack several days earlier by a man who drove a four wheeler into him. Billy and I, along with many friends from far flung places, got the call while at the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans. We were stunned, chilled and deeply saddened at the loss of a true original, who happened to be not only a gifted man-- a genius-- but also a guiding light to so many of us. Hasil was a musician, first and foremost. Music was his calling from the time he was a child, and he lived to deliver a musical message from his heart to yours, to anyone's who happened into his path.
We left driving to Hasil's funeral in West Virginia as soon as we got back to New York from Louisiana on what would have been Hasil's 69th birthday. Brooklyn artist Joe Coleman and his wife Whitney Ward accompanied us for the drive.
Hasil had performed at the couple's nuptials and Hasil plays heavily into Joe's work, as is evident in his documentary REST IN PIECES and as the subject of one of his intense biographical painted portraits. The drive took us two days, as the weather was as dismal as our mood, and navigating (Billy did all the driving) the slick mountain highways and dense fog in the lesser roadways was a challenge. By day, we counted our progress by counting passing billboards for hot dogs, and semi trucks loaded with cheese, chicken and farm meats and by night watched tail lights and mile markers through flapping windshield wipers.
We played Hasil's music the whole way, the happy records, the sexy records, the head-lopping records, and the heartfelt, sorrowful dirges that pull at the heartstrings with a purity and depth that few artists ever shake a stick at.
The funeral was on April 30th, one of the rainest, foggiest, most mournful days on God's holy planet. I give details here now, because so many of you have asked. If details upset you, scroll on a couple of paragraphs. Otherwise, bear with me. The funeral was held at Handley Funeral Home in Danville, close to Hasil's home in Madison. It was attended by his sister Irene and her four sons and four daughters, and a couple of her grandkids. A handful of locals and a few fans seated themselves in the back pews. Hasil's long distance sweetheart Amy from Minnesota had come in with a friend, and Jim Tucci, Hasil acolyte, steady friend and road manager, had traveled from Georgia. Billy, Joe and Jim served as pallbearers, as did the dancing outlaw Jesco White and a couple of Irene's sons. The open casket service was met with such shock and grief from Irene, that she fainted several times. One of her daughters also lost consciousness. Hasil looked good, but different. A cowboy hat was leaning against the lid of his casket. He was wearing a new red and white striped button down shirt and as people filed up to pay their repects, they slipped in a rose wrapped in crunchy clear plastic, some CD's, and a ceramic angel figurine and one lady pinned a religious medal on his pocket. Hank Williams III had sent a beautiful floral display which featured a huge toy guitar and it was prominently displayed.
The casket was closed when Pastor Garry Bowman, a Baptist minister, began the service by announcing that he didn't know Hasil, and that he only remembers meeting him once, in 1958. He began a brief, basic dust-to-dust sermon, after which the bereaved filed out through the rain into their cars, some moving into position for the headlights-on vehicular entourage to a remote cemetary in Van, WV. I could never find myself back to that location without an Indian guide, a compass and a divining rod. It was THAT remote. We drove at a snail's pace for what seemed forever, finally winding up a dirt road to a tiny hillock clearing, where a small tent was set up over a ten foot square of astroturf. It was fairly pouring as they brought the casket out once again for final words from the pastor. The pallbearers were signalled to carry the deceased to the interment site and the family and locals returned to their cars and headed back down the hill to their homes. We stood confused for a moment. The pastor told Whitney that we "didn't have to go down there" and of course she promptly picked up her the muddy hem of her long black skirt and went stumbling down the ravine with the faithful. The pallbearers were ankle deep in yellow mud and the rain was beating viciously against the casket by the time we all reached the remote woodsy vale where Hasil's grave had been prepared. No further words were said. Two grave diggers (is there a euphemism for this profession? If so, tell me) kneeled in the mud to lower the casket via alternating squealing manual pulleys. It took forever. Some invisible rain birds chirped nearby, maybe in response to the squeaking GD's. Several times, the men realigned their mechanism, then finally satisfied, loosened the belts, set a piece of pine atop the casket and stood apart from us, soaked with rain and covered in mud, leaning against their shovels and waiting. Nobody moved for a long time. The rain kept pelting, boom-ba-boom, now against the piney wood panel. Rain gushed down the gullies, along the path we had trod, and a heavy mist hovered inches from the ground with a decidedly gothic demeanor. A bit further down the glade were some old gravestones leaving in various directions. Someone remarked that Hasil's mother and father were there. The rain kept on. Eventually the small entourage began their way back up to the road, some dropping a flower or a handful of dirt onto the grave. The shovel guys looked impatient. At the top of the hill, I looked back and Jim was still there, head bowed. He would stay to help the gravediggers. The four of us scraped off mud and got back into the car. We rode in silence for a while. Joe spotted a KFC and suggested chicken, so we pulled in for a couple of king size buckets to bring to the wake at Irene's place, one extra crispy and one original recipe. At the wake, one of Hasil's four Bibles was passed around, revealing markings and notations by Hasil throughout. Memories were exchanged. Chicken was eaten. Tears mingled with occasional chirps of laughter, but only the tears relayed true feeling. Someone in the kitchen did the Chicken Walk and a semblance of the Hunch. The rain kept on coming. It got dark fast as we left the Mountain State.
Whitney got lucky and found some commemorative hot pants in a Goodwill store located right next door to the local court house where Hasil had many comings and goings, and by the second day of driving home, midway through the Pennsylvania meat-belt, we hit upon what would have been Hasil's dream-- a general store stocked with every possible variety of commodity meat in every possible configuration.. with free samples aplenty. We bought packages of hotdogs and local cheese and crowded back in for the last leg of the journey. It had stopped raining by the time we got back home. Clean blue skies and a hint of May. I wished it had been such a nice day for Hasil's funeral. Then again no, Hasil would have wanted the rain-- a big giant, dreary, bone crunching rain with mist and clouds and fog and flooding and gushing gullies and busted umbrellas and buckets of chicken and hot pants for everyone...
So then, and anyway... our Norton label started with Hasil-- OUT TO HUNCH was our first LP, and HAZE'S HOUSE PARTY was our first seven incher. Billy and I had been publishing KICKS magazine, dedicated to the great unknowns and the great unlauded. Hasil had been interviewed in KICKS #3 and got written up in all subsequent issues. We originally located Hasil with the help of a great friend and R&B collector Donn Fileti, and immediately drove out to meet the Haze (as he liked to be called). We released OUT TO HUNCH, a collection of his original early home recordings and brought him to New York to play. Hasil was in prime form and wowed audiences wherever he played. Billy recorded Hasil for the first time in 1986 and continued recording and releasing Hasil material over the years. He was a very close friend and we were never out of touch with him.
Over the years, Hasil traveled all over North America. He made plans to tour overseas many times but each time, when it got down to the wire, Hasil would not board the plane. He was, in his heart of hearts, a homeboy. Even on relatively short out of state trips, he would become despondently homesick. And he was in essence a West Virginia homeboy, and even closer to the bone, a Boone County homeboy. Hasil lived his entire life in the house where he was born, in the woods, off the beaten path, nary a dot on even a local map. His records and stage shows were one thing, but his eccentricities no doubt expanded his legend.
Guns and ammo, meats of all nations, crazy dames, murderous psychopaths, and political figures peppered the everso topical subject matter of his songs, alternately endearing him to a fringier element and causing the politer country fans to step back in confusion. Despite his ability to wear many hats- to be many things to many people-- he was true to his calling. He was an entertainer, a self-made man, a gifted songwriter, a keen observer and commentator on the world as he knew it.
Haze's final show was at the Las Vegas Rockaround this past September, where he was appropriately introduced by none other than Rudy Ray Moore. Many overseas fans were seeing Haze for the first time, and may have been shocked, surprised or at the very least, amazed by him. Pounding away at his guitar and stomping on the drums, shrieking and hollering, he may have frightened some of the fainter hearts, reinforced others who'd come to quaff at the well. None of us knew it would be the last time. No more hot dogs, or then again, perhaps, too many too soon.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
NINE POUND HAMMER EUROPEAN BREAKDOWN TOUR, MAY 2005
(* slight changes to these four dates/venues, please note!!!)
A whirlwind tour from Barcelona to Oslo! 16 days straight! Whew!
* 15/5 SPAIN - Barcelona @ Magic
* 16/5 SPAIN - Madrid @ Ritmo y Compas
* 17/5 SPAIN - Valencia @ Pequeno Diablo
18/5 HOLLAND- Rotterdam @ Waterfront
19/5 HOLLAND -Groningen @ Vera
20/5 DENMARK - Kopenhagen @ Loppen (Punk and Billy Bash)
21/5 DENMARK - Aalborg @ Studenterhuset
22/5 SWEDEN - Goteborg @ Sticky Fingers
23/5 NORWAY - Oslo @ Elm Street Rock Cafe
24/5 DENMARK - Odense @ Rhytmeposten
25/5 GERMANY - Munster @ Gleis 22
26/5 GERMANY - Berlin @ Wild at Heart
27/5 GERMANY - Dresden @ Scheune
28/5 GERMANY - Tubingen @ Sudhaus
29/5 GERMANY - Darmstadt @ 603 QM
* 30/5 BELGIUM - Gierle @ JH -t Hoekske
(* slight changes to these four dates/venues, please note!!!)
A whirlwind tour from Barcelona to Oslo! 16 days straight! Whew!
* 15/5 SPAIN - Barcelona @ Magic
* 16/5 SPAIN - Madrid @ Ritmo y Compas
* 17/5 SPAIN - Valencia @ Pequeno Diablo
18/5 HOLLAND- Rotterdam @ Waterfront
19/5 HOLLAND -Groningen @ Vera
20/5 DENMARK - Kopenhagen @ Loppen (Punk and Billy Bash)
21/5 DENMARK - Aalborg @ Studenterhuset
22/5 SWEDEN - Goteborg @ Sticky Fingers
23/5 NORWAY - Oslo @ Elm Street Rock Cafe
24/5 DENMARK - Odense @ Rhytmeposten
25/5 GERMANY - Munster @ Gleis 22
26/5 GERMANY - Berlin @ Wild at Heart
27/5 GERMANY - Dresden @ Scheune
28/5 GERMANY - Tubingen @ Sudhaus
29/5 GERMANY - Darmstadt @ 603 QM
* 30/5 BELGIUM - Gierle @ JH -t Hoekske
CAREER RECORDS is a groovy little enclave that resides in Bozeman, Montana. Run by Mr Ron Sanchez with help from Deniz Tek and hosting releases by musicians of the calibre of Roy Loney, Scott Morgan and his own combo Donovan’s Brain among others. The just released DB album, "A Defeat of Echoes" is the closest thing you’re ever gonna get in terms of new material from Barrett era Pink Floyd but it’s also much more. It’s psychedelia of a decidedly 21st Century variety whilst retaining the vivid qualities of the music that undoubtedly inspired it. There’s an edginess which keeps this jalopy well away from the noodling that so often can befall such a beast. “When You’re Falling” is top power pop, like The Long Ryders crashing a party as Blue Oyster Cult. The album is accompanied with a dvd which contains short clips of Career artists in action.
Roy Loney and The Longshots “Drunkard In The Think Tank” has been out a while now and may be familiar to NBT readers. If not then it oughtta be. Penny Ikinger’s “Electra” may not be so familiar. Ms Ikinger plays loud folk music like The Velvet Underground and is of Australian origin. Natalie Imbruglia should give some consideration to covering her material if she really wants to be credible. “Kathleen” is just one of several classic songs waiting to be discovered.
So, Party Animals? The new album by Turbowhasname sees them paddle deeper into Andrew Lloyd Webber territory. "Hot stuff in the middle of a firefight"?, Unfortunately not. I'd really like to be able to say that I've been proven wrong but it's all so bleedin' safe. Talk about not pushing the envelope. My main reason for even investigating this is because Steve McDonald of Redd Kross produced it. The usual riff appropriation and grandiose rawk shapes are all intact but it’s so soulless. “Blow Me (Like The Wind)" is proof enough that they haven’t evolved other than toward sounding like a hairier-arsed version of Queen. The money hoover that is TRBNGR is in full swing and they’ve even roped in Nick Oliveri of that equally-overrated QOTSA mob. It’s at this point that I mourn “the kids” inability to thrust The Hellacopters to superstar status. Why should I go over my line in the sand if these guys won’t? Everybody tells me that they're nice guys. My correspondence with Happy Tom in the past has always been a pure pleasure but how come that I'm the only one that can't dig "the product"? The kindest thing I can say about it is that it's mercifully short. I hope Steve made enough money from this to get the new RK album nearer completion. Now there’s a combo we could really do with hearing from right about now. So forget about the “City Of Satan” and all it’s faux Ezrin orchestration and board the boat for The Dark Lord’s Island instead.
“Satan Island” is the opening cut on the 4 song CD ep by NJ combo, SUBWAY SURFERS. This isn’t surf music though, more a melding of The Damned with The Fleshtones to come up with something that sounds like some great 45 lost since 1977. What it lacks in fi is more than made up in spirit so check it out.
And if it's spirit you want then look no further than the new Chips K produced album by WILMER X. This Swedish institution has all it's high octane pub rock chops in place. Mostly Svensk-language, 13 Våningar Upp is an effortless flexing of their collective muscle. The utter and very welcome antithesis of where we came into this post.
“Satan Island” is the opening cut on the 4 song CD ep by NJ combo, SUBWAY SURFERS. This isn’t surf music though, more a melding of The Damned with The Fleshtones to come up with something that sounds like some great 45 lost since 1977. What it lacks in fi is more than made up in spirit so check it out.
And if it's spirit you want then look no further than the new Chips K produced album by WILMER X. This Swedish institution has all it's high octane pub rock chops in place. Mostly Svensk-language, 13 Våningar Upp is an effortless flexing of their collective muscle. The utter and very welcome antithesis of where we came into this post.
A message from those fine, fine people at Norton...
"PLEASE TUNE IN TO WFMU TODAY FOR A TWO HOUR TRIBUTE TO HASIL ADKINS ON THE FOOL'S PARADISE SHOW WITH REX (91.1 FM) 6-8 PM SATURDAY MAY 7. GUEST WILL BE BILLY AND MIRIAM FROM NORTON, ARTIST JOE COLEMAN, JESCO WHITE, AND OTHERS."
I urge you to comply either in real time or via the archives later. Please consider sending a donation to WFMU via Paypal for their continuing services to cool broadcasting. If it weren't for my loyalty to BBC Radio Scotland, I'd be sending my licence fee to Jersey City.
"PLEASE TUNE IN TO WFMU TODAY FOR A TWO HOUR TRIBUTE TO HASIL ADKINS ON THE FOOL'S PARADISE SHOW WITH REX (91.1 FM) 6-8 PM SATURDAY MAY 7. GUEST WILL BE BILLY AND MIRIAM FROM NORTON, ARTIST JOE COLEMAN, JESCO WHITE, AND OTHERS."
I urge you to comply either in real time or via the archives later. Please consider sending a donation to WFMU via Paypal for their continuing services to cool broadcasting. If it weren't for my loyalty to BBC Radio Scotland, I'd be sending my licence fee to Jersey City.
Friday, May 06, 2005
What with the upcoming festivities surrounding the 30th anniversary of Chiswick Records later this year, I figured it to be a good time to round up a bunch of weblinks relating to the label. Just think of it as something edumacational.
Our first stop is, of course, the Ace Records site, home of Chiswick and a host of reissue-labels. For a more thorough history Punk '77 has a excellent interview with labelfounder Roger Armstrong, not to mention short biographies on various bands that were on the label plus a two-part discography. Mohair Sweets is a fine on-line tribute to Jesse Hector of Hammersmith Gorillas fame, and also holds another info-laden interview with Armstrong. Herve Colombet's Count Bishops site has more info on the band then you'll ever need, but you also might wanna check singer Dave Tice's scrapbook and my own little virtual shrine to the most energetic and under appreciated R'n'B bands that blasted outta the UK in the late 70s. Kirsty MacColl's webiste has a bizarre interview with my hero Johnny Moped. Kirsty, of course, recorded for Chiswick as well with the Drug Adixx. Radio Star Martin Gordon has plenty info about his band available on his site. And lookey here: The Official Radiators Site. Et bienvenue sur le site officiel de Little Bob & Little Bob Story. Finally, check out the 'History' page on Motorhead's home on the web for the story on their involvement with Chiswick. That should give you plenty to chew on, and while you're at it, why not dig out your copy of Cycledelic and blast it LOUD!
Belfast Rockabilly Roots Round-Up No. 2
- Barrow Square, Clarendon Dock, Belfast. N. Ireland. June 30th-July 3rd 2005
- Barrow Square, Clarendon Dock, Belfast. N. Ireland. June 30th-July 3rd 2005
THE RAMONAS have the following shows coming up:
Thursday May 12th Cleethorpes Winter Gardens
Friday May 13th - Glasgow Cathouse
Saturday 14th May - Edinburgh Studio 24
(2 shows - Under 18’s afternoon, over 18’s evening)
Thursday May 12th Cleethorpes Winter Gardens
Friday May 13th - Glasgow Cathouse
Saturday 14th May - Edinburgh Studio 24
(2 shows - Under 18’s afternoon, over 18’s evening)
This week started off well with a Monday holiday and rapidly went down the pan from there. The inevitable third term by ToeKnee Blair is the veritable scuzz around the rim. There is info to impart though so without further ado...
Nuria keeps these fantastic graphics coming...Flamingo Swing anyone?
As the world awaits the second Star Spangles album, Connecticut yankees should heed this missive from SSHQ,
"Make sure you get your tickets early for The Star Spangles' return to their roots (for some of them - geographically speaking) on May 29th at the Empress Ballroom, in Danbury, CT. The promoter thinks this show will sell out (it's all ages, only $10 and there's no school on Monday 30th, due to it being Memorial Day)..."
The ongoing wrangle with the German Ramones fan club and website needs your support. Jorg has made some fund raising booty available... Here's the poop -
"Ramones.de is registered as a Fan’s site since 1996, the guy who had it before, gave it to us (to me as the person who’s named at the DENIC now) in 2001. He got no money for this, he just wanted to support our officialised thing. We did the Zine in 96, the Sampler in 99 and tribute Parties in 94,96,99 and last year, all was authorized and officialized by John and Joey in November 93 and by DeeDee in May 94. We met the Ramones lotsa times in person since 89, so they trusted us to do this as an official fan thing. I for myself had the luck to play the drums at one show with DeeDee in 95, one of the greatest moments in all my life.
Warner Germany (WEA) sent me a letter on April 7. It said that I should give them the URL address by April 21 (2 weeks-time), because THEY have “the only and exclusive right to use the Name Ramones and pics of the band” because of the contracts. Otherwise they will take juridical steps, which will cost ME a lot of money... a letter, well, a 16 year old kid might sign it over to them directly but no. Sure they do it NOW, years after the Site is registered, cuz the Ramones sell a lot more records now than ever. I’m sure it’s a test and later they'll get all the other sites (mainly all Ramones. Xx – Sites are registered by fans, like .nl,.be and so on) and then maybe than any Freesite with the Name Ramones into it.
I thought about it a while and didn’t know what to do, the law-situation is very unclear here in Germany, everything could happen when the situation escalates before a court. It's only cost me 200 Euro so far to get a lawyer to tell WEA a juridical “Fuck off!” and that I won’t give the address to them.
They have not reacted to this yet so I’ll have to wait and see what goes on. If WEA decide to go to court then maybe that’s the moment I have to give up, it will be too much money for me to invest in this, and I don’t know if I will win in the end. It could least years. German law is very unclear in this Internetdomain-Thing, a couple of processes ended this way, a couple of them the other way...
I had a very huge reaction from people all over the world to this, which gives me a lot of power... I must think on what John said once “The Fans made the Ramones-not any fucking company...”, but all enthusiasm ends at the fucking moneything, you know."
It's a damned disgrace that this is happening and hopefully the tables will be reversed. Organisations such as this that Jorg runs enhance the importance of the Ramones. It's an honour thing that runs way deeper than money. I wonder if a conglomorate like that has any notion of honour. They should be paying Jorg for his efforts for chrissakes. RAMONES.DE
Nuria keeps these fantastic graphics coming...Flamingo Swing anyone?
As the world awaits the second Star Spangles album, Connecticut yankees should heed this missive from SSHQ,
"Make sure you get your tickets early for The Star Spangles' return to their roots (for some of them - geographically speaking) on May 29th at the Empress Ballroom, in Danbury, CT. The promoter thinks this show will sell out (it's all ages, only $10 and there's no school on Monday 30th, due to it being Memorial Day)..."
The ongoing wrangle with the German Ramones fan club and website needs your support. Jorg has made some fund raising booty available... Here's the poop -
"Ramones.de is registered as a Fan’s site since 1996, the guy who had it before, gave it to us (to me as the person who’s named at the DENIC now) in 2001. He got no money for this, he just wanted to support our officialised thing. We did the Zine in 96, the Sampler in 99 and tribute Parties in 94,96,99 and last year, all was authorized and officialized by John and Joey in November 93 and by DeeDee in May 94. We met the Ramones lotsa times in person since 89, so they trusted us to do this as an official fan thing. I for myself had the luck to play the drums at one show with DeeDee in 95, one of the greatest moments in all my life.
Warner Germany (WEA) sent me a letter on April 7. It said that I should give them the URL address by April 21 (2 weeks-time), because THEY have “the only and exclusive right to use the Name Ramones and pics of the band” because of the contracts. Otherwise they will take juridical steps, which will cost ME a lot of money... a letter, well, a 16 year old kid might sign it over to them directly but no. Sure they do it NOW, years after the Site is registered, cuz the Ramones sell a lot more records now than ever. I’m sure it’s a test and later they'll get all the other sites (mainly all Ramones. Xx – Sites are registered by fans, like .nl,.be and so on) and then maybe than any Freesite with the Name Ramones into it.
I thought about it a while and didn’t know what to do, the law-situation is very unclear here in Germany, everything could happen when the situation escalates before a court. It's only cost me 200 Euro so far to get a lawyer to tell WEA a juridical “Fuck off!” and that I won’t give the address to them.
They have not reacted to this yet so I’ll have to wait and see what goes on. If WEA decide to go to court then maybe that’s the moment I have to give up, it will be too much money for me to invest in this, and I don’t know if I will win in the end. It could least years. German law is very unclear in this Internetdomain-Thing, a couple of processes ended this way, a couple of them the other way...
I had a very huge reaction from people all over the world to this, which gives me a lot of power... I must think on what John said once “The Fans made the Ramones-not any fucking company...”, but all enthusiasm ends at the fucking moneything, you know."
It's a damned disgrace that this is happening and hopefully the tables will be reversed. Organisations such as this that Jorg runs enhance the importance of the Ramones. It's an honour thing that runs way deeper than money. I wonder if a conglomorate like that has any notion of honour. They should be paying Jorg for his efforts for chrissakes. RAMONES.DE
The excellent MC5 GATEWAY has a dowloadable sequence available of the 1972 movie Gold featuring the MC5's original soundtrack.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Not sure what to think of the Flamin' Groovies joinin' the nostalgia circuit. Then again, if I was in the neighbourhood around that time I would go 'n see 'm...
COUNT BISHOPS REUNION !
"Some awesome news for Count Bishops fans is that the band will do a one off gig to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their record label, Chiswick records. The show will take place at the 100 Club on Oxford St. in London on 23rd of September 2005. Line-up as far as I know will be; Dave Tice - vocals/rhythm guitar/harp, Johnny Guitar - guitar/vocals, Paul Balbi - drums, Pat McMullan - bass. The members are flying in from around the world to make this great event happen."
"Some awesome news for Count Bishops fans is that the band will do a one off gig to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their record label, Chiswick records. The show will take place at the 100 Club on Oxford St. in London on 23rd of September 2005. Line-up as far as I know will be; Dave Tice - vocals/rhythm guitar/harp, Johnny Guitar - guitar/vocals, Paul Balbi - drums, Pat McMullan - bass. The members are flying in from around the world to make this great event happen."
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
"Hello dear, here's the link to the first Garage Guide realized in Italy. Over 150 artists from 4 decades.... plus exclusive interview with Electric Prunes, Remains, Dave Allan etc. (Will be out at the end of April) We'll appreciate if you can put the link on your web site people can buy the book"
From Mr Keenan....
"Wanted to let you know that me and Heather (Taurpis Tula) are playing with Jandek (!), Keiji Haino and My Cat Is An Alien at the CCA in Glasgow on Monday May 23rd, tix on sale from CCA box office now. Nuts. Also, we have the Jandek CD from the Glasgow show on sale at Volcanic Tongue - on-line exclusive from the man himself, available elsewhere soon I guess."
"Wanted to let you know that me and Heather (Taurpis Tula) are playing with Jandek (!), Keiji Haino and My Cat Is An Alien at the CCA in Glasgow on Monday May 23rd, tix on sale from CCA box office now. Nuts. Also, we have the Jandek CD from the Glasgow show on sale at Volcanic Tongue - on-line exclusive from the man himself, available elsewhere soon I guess."
Monday, May 02, 2005
Turbonegro - Party Animals (Burning Heart CD).
Generally ol' Lindsay 'n me agree on most things, but when it comes to Turbonegro, well... Not that I wanna make a statement here in their favor, hardly so. 'cause it's been awhile since these Norwegians put out something truly worthwhile (just like the Hellacopters lost their magic spell when Dregen left the band, Trbngr lost theirs when they split after releasing their magnum opus (Apocalypse Dudes)). But there's really no denying that these guys can (still) write an actual tune. Lyrically it's an entirely different matter tho'. For those of us who don't have English as first language and can listen to this without noticin' the lyrics, this is prime stuff. But, yeah, when actually takin' in da wurds, I can see Lindsay's point about them being on a (puerile - LH) level that only dimbulbs could enjoy. That said, Party Animals is still a disappointment, even for me. If only for the fact that it's so goddamn nice and predictable.
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