Been a little slack with the answering of e-mail this past week or so. Please bear with that but there's stuff to be attended to. What can I tell ya? Anyway, I'm sitting here listening to Laura's first Radio (Scotland) Thrift Shop. It's really great and you can hear it if you go to the Radio Scotland site Listen Again page. There are 4 in all running into September.

This coming Sunday, some very special guests are coming to hang out here for a few days. The great Phast Phreddie Patterson whose Back Door Man zine was a humungous inspiration to me is schlepping by with my twin sister in R&R, Ms Nancy Breslow and her daughter Syd(elle). It's gaunnae be grand.

I was in Falkirk today for the first time in a while. Walking past Leckies, a shop that sells overstocks and stuff from places that have gone out of business. I'm surprised that it's still there but it seems to be thriving. Anyway, It took me straight back to the start of '77 when they bought the contents of a record store. There were many, many 45's but chiefly we figured there'd be a cachet of Sex Pistols "Anarchy's" in there someplace that we could sell on. It had been withdrawn and somehow we talked the owner into letting us go through the entire collection. So myself and Alistair Beattie went down there and rummaged through the whole bloody lot. We found some decent stuff but there was not a copy of "Anarchy" to be found. There was a ton of Mr Big's "Romeo" though. It had the next consecutive catalogue number to what we were hunting for, every copy of that we found gave us hope that we figured there must be at least a couple of copies of that booty hiding amongst the piles but t'was not to be. Ali is no longer with us but we had a laugh down there. It was like being in a vinyl mine and as futile as the main objective turned out to be, undertaking such a task seems like it just couldn't happen now. More's the pity.

View the trailer and pray for a screening to come right the f-word down at a cinema near you. Details of upcoming trysts with these devils can be found at the Slowboat site also...

from PJ at DIRTY WATER...

"Please note that the Electric Prunes tour of Europe has been postponed.

They will now not be playing at Dirty Water on Thursday 1st September, nor anywhere else in the UK.

This is due to poor ticket sales for the festival at which they were due to play, organised by members and management of the Damned. The man with the money backed out...

We hope to see them back some time in the not too distant future."

Who'da thunk it? A major refurb of the Bo'ness Hippodrome is on the cards to transform it into an "arts" venue. The former La Fabrique will undergo a major transformation so watch this space for the full skinny. It's a cracking building and it's not gonna be a Starbuck's. How 'bout that?

Don's been out on the town again...

"went to the red devil lounge and saw some of the "pop overthrow" festival. i caught 3 acts: jill olson, chris von seidern and bobby sutlliffe.

jill olson (olsen?) was great great great. one good tune after another. country-pop in the laura cantrell vein. she had a really good band. she plays bass - a big old hollow body kay. someone told me she used to be in a band called red meat. i thought she looked familiar. she got an encore on a night with a lot of bands and short sets -- she was that good.

then von sneidern came up -- first meticulously wiping jill's lipstick off the mic. he did an acoustic set, solo, on a takamine 12 string. he moved his capo up a fret for each song. in one song he changed keys by moving the capo up in the middle of the song. i never saw that before. he was good but i kept wondering how his songs would've sounded if he had a band behind him.

he was followed by bobby sutliffe from ohio. bobby had written to me asking if i could get cyril to come and play. cyril showed up just in time to catch his set but didn't bring a guitar or amp so he just watched. sutliffe opened with chuck berry's "let it rock" which immediately brought back groovies memories. his next tune was NRBQ-ish. he had a white gibson SG with one P-90 pickup-- an oddity which neither me or cyril had ever seen before. matt piucci from the rain parade came up (with gretsch tennessean) and they did television's "glory". good but didn't quite fit... a little too art-rock. then sutliffe switched to a rick 12 and did a great song which cyril really dug. after that bobby said, "we'd like to finish with a song by the greatest san francisco band ever, the flamin' groovies". and they did "i can't hide". it was great. jill was up front rockin' out. for me it was even more of a kick standing next to the guy that wrote it! cyril then told me all about how he wrote it at 5AM at rockfield while everyone else was asleep except for him and dave edmunds. and they woke everyone up to hear it.

we hung out upstairs at barry simons office for a while then came back down and i went in and said hi to mr. sutliffe and introduced him to cyril. a good night."

You couldn't make it up... TEENAGE FANCLUB with Malcolm Middleton at Falkirk Town Hall on Friday October 7th (2005). Full details on ticket info will be linked when I get it.

And now, H just tipped me off to this Roky Documentary. Watch the skies! Further information as it becomes available, I just e-mailed the contact there to ask when it might hit up Europe.

In a perfect world it'd be the "Surprise Movie" at the Edinburgh Festival but hey, I'm nothing if not a realist.

Rob Patterson witnessed the return of the man they call ROKY ERICKSON in Austin and has kindly given me the nod to reprint his report... (Thanks to HT for setting it all up)

"He played an 8-10 song set with The Explosives Saturday night at a party/gig/benefit celebrating his birthday amidst a bunch of other bands playing his songs in tribute. This was his first real set in about 20 years and his first since achieving mental and physical wellness.

Not only was it a miracle to see him singing and playing onstage to begin with, but the set rocked. Due credit to The Explosives, especially Cam King, who was Roky's right hand support and is one helluva guitarist. Roky's voice was a bit rough and you could tell that he was a bit nervous. But with each song (and the fervent cheers and applause) he got stronger. He lapsed only once on a lyric, and otherwise sang and played strong rhythm guitar and even some leads like the rocker he is. Not just amazing to see him do it again, but do it in a way that showed he was truly back and in time, well, who knows? And the band is fucking great.

Thought you'd like to know that.

He's playing an even longer show on the 18th at the Threadgill's Beer Garden just in case you get a wild hair."

To be continued...

Aye. There's a lot "gannin' doon" as they say in someplaces where they talk with strange accents and the odd brogue. Activity on this puppy will be intermittent over the next wee while but if there's something you REALLY need to know then we'll be here for you. OK? Grand.

Latest CBGB's news just in from Ms Breslow...

and on a Cb's related tip...

"...The Star Spangles had a blast last week with Debbie Harry, "Handsome" Dick Manitoba, Jesse Malin, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and The Charms (amongst others) while helping Little Steven kick off this month's series of CBGB's benefits.

The band played 2 short sets: Tell Lies, Which Of The Two Of Us Is Gonna Burn This House Down, Tear It To Pieces Girl, I Don't Wanna Be Crazy Anymore, Gangland and Make Yourself Useful, Babe. Then, next door, in CB's Gallery: I Feel So Good, House, Take Care Of Us, Science Fiction/Science Fact, Crazy and the Stones' Connection."

More at their SITE very soon.

Back from a short trip to London in the company of my friend Jos, who made the trip in his guise as A&R man for the A Fist Full Of Records label, while I was just along for the ride. I'll spare you the touristy details of frustratingly long walks because of our incomprehension of the local bus services, not to mention the insane exchange rates, that had even relatively well-off guys like us screamin' out in disgust, and get on with our more, uh, rockin' adventures. Friday night was off to the Dirty Water Club, where apparently promoter P.J. had seen his original line-up for the evening disappear into oblivion mere hours before things were set to go. On such short notice he came up with Colt 45, a London trio in the 1976 Gorillas/Jook line of power-pop/rock (they even had a Jesse Hector lookalike on vocals/guitar!) that obviously appealed to my tastes, but in the end, despite some good songs, they failed to take off and send sparks flyin'. The Voxx is one of those bands that seem desperate for major label recognition, their every move taped out, not a hair out of place and with songs worked out to such an extent they were beyond reanimation. Oh, and nothing looks as stupid as an Englishman goin' for that NYC/fag/sleaze-rock image, it just doesn't work, they're still called Nigel. Thankfully we had better luck the next night at Ryan's Bar way up north in Stoke Newington where we caught Jos' latest signings Black Time (pictured) probably the hottest band the UK has on offer right now.
Set up on the floor of a tiny, crowded and hot basement, these cats 'n kitten deliver a fine punky/Cramped-up mess and have the drive, hooks 'n looks to take their brand of hi-octane rocket fuel way beyond mere garage-isms. Their records so far sound way too low-fi for me, their most recent Beat On The Traps sounds like an early Cramps demo, and there's nothing wrong with that of course. But if they could find their own Alex Chilton who'd be able to turn their rougher edges into something more sharp-ish, they'd be as cool on wax as they are on stage. By all means go check 'm out if you get the chance, you won't be disappointed. So there you have it, maybe I'll get back to you with a wax update later on.
(A tip off the hat to Matthew, P.J. and Steve)
PS: Did I mention I saw Marky Ramone walkin' down the street?

Latest Gulcher release by GAYS IN THE MILITARY is a relentless slice of frantic bile that might be offensive if you could hear the words over the racket. It’s not without a certain hairy-arsed charm and their version of The Butthole Surfers “Human Cannonball” is what Roxy Music might have sounded like if they’d been bred in captivity on a diet of raw, CJD ridden meat. The cover, by the great – somewhat MIA – Peter Bagge is a sight for sore eyes and indicates as the title claims that “People is" indeed “Beautiful”. (Available in Europe via Volcanic Tongue)

AMY RIGBY has a new album "LITTLE FUGITIVE" out August 23rd on Signature Sounds.

Order it direct from her or score it from any self-respecting music outlet. If she plays a show near you then cut along to that and buy one there.

I don't actually care how you get your mitts on one, just see that you do.

Finland’s BRANDED WOMEN indulge us in the beast called twang. Their understated, slow burn pop really begins to smoulder by the time you get to “You Know Me” on the “Velvet Hours – Stolen Moments” album. There’s a dark, secret agent vibe to their sound which is more Matt Helm than James Bond if you get my drift. Those swirling psychedelic keyboards offset any tradition comparison. They remind me of The Paradise Motel without actually sounding like them. There’s no conventional pigeonhole for them although they deserve to sell as many “units” as The Cardigans. That Scandanavian mystique provides multi-layered possibilities to the listener with a cinematic canvas. This is ideal soundtrack music because it swings surreptitiously and works equally well at different volumes to convey alternate moods. I think their strength lies in the fact that it never cuts loose into overstatement. That’s what sets it apart. Where it sears itself “brand”-like into your napper. A cool breeze of an album that’ll be just the companion you need as they nights start drawing in toward winter.

“Second Best” is the first single from the follow-up album and it’s anything but. The evocation of their debut have been honed to create something that’ll sound very infectious on the radio. The additional song on the cd single is“Not A Love Song”, a hypnotic shuffle that could well have been assembled in Australia. It has that isolated, patently twisted whiff that something could go off at any conceivable second. I like that suspense factor and wish that more acts would employ it

Photo by Aki Roukala

The first branch of the Scottish franchised RADIO THRIFT SHOP opens this coming Friday (12th August) on BBC Radio Scotland with Glen Campbell cutting the ribbon. Might be worth starting to queue now.

August is gathering momentum then. The thought of having to go into Edinburgh today is something of a pain. The capital kicks off it's money-printing campaign with a dirty big Festival Parade which draws people like a big gaping hole in the road attracts council workers. It's gonna be crowded and horrible but not necessarily in that order. Half a rain forest is employed at this time of year to print hopeless flyers which end up littering the streets of the city. Seems like most of the watchers have mittens for hands and they can't actually hold sheets of paper or put them in a bag to recycle when they get home. I'm not sure there will be bins to put them in. Security dictates that an open bin might be a magnet for potential bomber types to drop their wares in. I notice that the bins in Polmont are only available when the station ticket office is open. I was going to say "manned" but that would be sexist and it is Sunday after all. I'll spare you my Nigel Tufnell impression. So time to get into the mindset... wonder what they're gonna do about all the backpacks that are undoubtedly heading for Auld Reekie?

Update at 11.16pm: Your humble scribe is nothing if not resourceful and upon hearing a trailer that Indie-pendant Scotland was being repeated, one decided to blow out the notion of heading to Edinburgh. I'm not a feartie - wary of prospective explosions or any of that, I just didn't have the stomach to go amongst a prospective 200,000 crowd in Princes Street. Plus I'm gonna be over there a ton of other times during the next month. So here I am in the old "midden-heid" about to tackle some of the album action. Meanwhile if you're interested in Scottish Music circa '77 up then tune into IS via the play again function. Click on the wee speaker at the title. Tis very entertaining, particularly the Bruce Findlay stories.

Mike McEchron does a steller job with his Cramps campaigning and has just put up a great page of Cramps T-shirt designs. Wish I had photos of some of the old LOTC shirts but unfortunately tis not to be. What about any of you folks? I know I have a pic of a youthful David Alvin Esq. sporting one but the lord only knows where that is. When Mike isn't working his fingers to the bone, he's hepping us to stuff like Tom Heinl who is like a cross between combo period Ben Vaughn and Homer Henderson. Yep that reads very good indeed and he's opening for Holly Golightly on her US tour. While I chase up his album go listen to the tunes on his site. (Thanks for the tip Mike).

David Muxlow just got back from seeing The 5678's, with an opening band called NAKED RUBY that he reckons you folks would like.

And last (but by no means least), Mrs Stim sent me this link which appeals to my puerile sweary = funny base instinct. It is NOT work friendly and may cause offense. Maybe she was trying to tell me something?

Reading Don's thing there about TFC pretty much encapsulates what that group is about. Their critical acclaim notwithstanding, I have no idea why no meganormous hits have transpired during their career. Here is a band that deserves to sell a gazillion records. Many combos who directly steal, appropriate or are obviously influenced by do so I'd like to see a little justice done here. Of course generally, what is actually done and what I consider are generally poles apart.

The Proclaimers cd with today's issue of The Scotsman brought back some memories of seeing them open for The Cateran at The Onion Cellar in Edinburgh. They blew me away but the concensus as I remember was that they were hokey. If they'd looked like Don and Phil Everly it mighta been a different story. I remember talking to a couple of labels about how great they were. Like The Angry Corries crossed with Simon and Garfunkel but nobody listened. Not until they appeared on The Tube singing "Letter From America" and that's where it all took legs. They're a great act who can balance hokey with a real professional edge. They've had a couple of hits though and it's time the Fanclub had the same. Don't you think?