Thanks Nick. For the duration of this, I forgot about the prospect of returning to the salt mine tomorrow.

Any plans I had for activity during the stupid season were not to be. There are a number of reasons for this. In addition, I could well be over this blogging malarkey. What I need to pursue at this point is what to do with the rest of my existence. That's a much bigger question/picture/whatever you care to call it.

So I hope you survive this one and many more. The premise of the expression "happy" is all well and good but actual reality - not the scripted kind from TV - more likely has other ideas. Isn't that just the name of a dwarf anyway?

Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co., and here's hoping yours is both merry and bright.  Ho, ho, ho!

*THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26th / OTTO'S SHRUNKEN HEAD /
It's a Boxing Day special at the always festive Otto's! / 538 East 14th Street (just west of Avenue B) in Manhattan / 8:00 sharp 'til 10:00 / No cover charge or tithing required  

*WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8th / RODEO BAR /
Our monthly Rodeo residency continues into 2014! / 375 Third Avenue (at the corner of 27th Street) in Manhattan / Three bell ringing sets, from 9:00 sharp 'til midnight, with no cover

Seasonally yours,
Michael, Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.
"Ballads, Boogies & Blues"

As I may have said in the past, I have no real problem with Christmas in general. It’s just all the extraneous gubbins that it’s come to embody that I can’t abide. Each to their own, but the less I have to deal with then the better it is for everyone. I’m luckier than most in that respect because I just retire to the bunker and that’s pretty much what is on the cards.

“New year” is never that. And the hale fellow well met, hollow greetings that surround it further stick in this particular craw. Of course, one wants their friends and family – often the same thing – to enjoy some kind of gratification ALL the time. Not just for a couple of commercialised up the wazoo weeks a year. This year, I’m stuck in the salt mine until 1.30pm on Christmas Eve. Them’s the breaks. It comes with the territory and as the clock creaks toward that finishing line, it can’t come quick enough. As bah humbuggers go, I’m pretty set in my ways but there will be good times had over the course. I get to see some folks that I get way too little of and will undoubtedly communicate with many other from here in the confines of base camp. There may even be some proper blogging here and there but no end or best of the year lists. There are already plenty of those doing the rounds.

So – do whatever it is you need to do to make it through the bunfight. May your days and nights be merry and bright. The polar opposite of something that rhymes with that last word.

This latest palaver with being asked at the post office what is in the packages you’re sending is getting right up my humph.

They’re only following orders but really, if someone is putting something iffy in there – would they tell the truth about the contents? Er, perhaps not on your nelly - divot postal wallah that came up with this particular annoyance. So with the advent of the ongoing price hikes and this most recent invasion of privacy, I’m pretty close to stopping sending stuff out. And I should stop ordering stuff too because I’ve no room for it so maybe it’ll be like stopping smoking or something. Perhaps I’ll save myself some money if I could discipline myself to follow through with all this. As much as I'd like to start unloading "the archive", this further makes it seem unlikely.

Me no' big on interrogation. If someone starts trying to get something out of me that I don’t want to tell then the hackles go right up. Bloody jaggy they are too. I don’t actually want to divulge what is in what I’m sending. Customs labels are bad enough. It spills the beans for the recipient and it could spoil the surprise. I'm trying to figure out who I can harangue about this. No point in giving the counter staff both barrels. Not all of them anyway.

One week from tonight...

The whole LBC set!

 

'Tis the season for holiday cheer. And Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. is full of it -- starting with a rare Friday night visit to Otto's this week!

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6th / OTTO'S SHRUNKEN HEAD /
It's the official pre-party for the 4th Annual NYC Beard &Mustache Competition! / 538 East 14th Street (just west of Avenue B) in Manhattan / Three well-trimmed sets, from 9:00 'til midnight / Free, and open to all!

And, in slightly less hirsute shows to finish out the year...

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11th / RODEO BAR / It's a hillbilly holiday edition of our monthly residency! / 375 Third Avenue (at the corner of 27th Street) in Manhattan / A trio of merry, merry sets, from 9:00 sharp 'til midnight, with no cover.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26th / OTTO'S SHRUNKEN HEAD / We return to Otto's to bask in the Christmas afterglow / 538 East 14th Street (just west of Avenue B) in Manhattan / 8:00 sharp 'til 10:00 / No cover -- and free holiday cheer.  

Yours in holiday spirit, Michael
Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.
"Ballads, Boogies & Blues"

And it kind of seems like it was just yesterday...

Last night in Glasgow, as Kid Congo and those Pink Monkey Birds were doing a nice line in “Can’t Find My Mind” and later “Green Fuz” transported me back to December 1980 (or was it '81? My mind done shunted off, pretty sure it was the former though) at the Lyceum in London. This was Blighty’s first encounter with the man in question, when he was drafted into The Cramps after Bryan baled. So it’s nice to see a packed house, once again on a Tuesday night, come out to welcome him. I like Nice’n’Sleazy as a venue but the name always makes me shudder, being that I actively loathe its source - both the band and the particular song. However, I realise this is a prejudice of my own manifesting – nothing against the establishment itself.

If Kid is coming anywhere near to you then I do believe you’ll have a high old time should you find it within yourself to drag yourself out. There’s a show in London at The Pipeline on Thursday (Newcastle tonight!) and you can get the other show details here.

In other news, the winter of my particular discontent is in full swing. Hibernation might be an option but I’m sure it would all just kick off again when I did wake. The latest issue of Mojo and all this best of the year guff depressed me today and further fed my belief that the much-touted acts of today are mostly not anywhere near up to snuff. I never really had cause to dislike Arcade Fire because I never heard them but now I’ve heard enough and it’s really nothing special. I feel kind of burned out at the best of times but just lately, swimming against a tide of constant underwhelm has made me feel like taking time out. In addition, sitting in front of a screen isn’t something I want to be doing too much of in my so-called leisure time so much less facebagging will be done for starters . I did think about canning it altogether but it does have a few uses (he grudgingly agreed).

As we descend into the stupid season, a recent attempt to go “Christmas shopping” was utterly thwarted by the stuff in the stores being total crap. Why would you give anyone that just for the sake of going along with it all? The thing that I’d most like is to feel like there was some kind of purpose. Not and never to be confused with “porpoise” – just in case some smartarse was thinking along those lines. Although, thinking about it, maybe even that would be something.

Beyond all this, there are decisions to be reached. How the heck one tackles that particular bugbear is another can of wigglys altogether.