BEST OF '13!

Well, I was right for once. Let's just say that my predictions regarding 2013 rang more than true, and that on the highway of hardships we call life this was one year I'm sure glad to see in the rear view mirror. What 2014 has in store I shudder to think, but somehow I get them hippie vibes sayin' that it's gonna be a whole lot less traumatic than the previous 365 had been for not only myself but for a whole load of people in my immediate surroundings. However, given my track record for lofty, sweetness and light-filled predictions and reality I KNOW it's gonna be a way worse one on all fronts than any of us could possibly imagine!

At least '13 had some pretty bright musical moments that helped get me through the harsh reality of "real life," and if it weren't for the records, tapes, Cee-Dees and all of those burns sent in by my many "fans" I'm sure the year would have been a much greater struggle for me to wiggle through. Anyhoo, as you already have surmised here are the highs and lows, ups and downs regarding the past year that should be noted by me if only to make sense of the giant mess that many of us had to live through, and somehow I get the feeling you're with me on this one 1000% even if, like I said, my personal feelings are usually off by a long mark.

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ALBUM (VINYL DIVISION) OF THE YEAR!: Greg "Stackhouse" Prevost's MISSISSIPPI MURDERER, a wild rollicking roll through the blues filtered through one of the few people on this planet entitled to sing 'em! Take Robert Johnson and spangle him up a bit with a hefty dose of speed and perhaps a contract with Skydog and he mighta come up with this! Special Mention (even if it was originally released on Cee-Dee last year): Dark Sunny Land's EMANATIONS FOR A RETURNING.

ALBUM (CD DIVISION) OF THE YEAR!: Rudimentary Peni's CACOPHONY, which might only prove that this was a slow year, or that this was a particularly surprising release by these anarcho punks, or that I just don't know what I'm talking about especially since I think this one was recorded long ago and just got the reissue treatment now. But it's probably the fave of the batch this year and hey, it's just the thing to play for that Lovecraft-loving freak in your family!

SINGLE OF THE YEAR!: Hackamore Brick's "Oh Those Sweet Bananas" which ain't anything I'm gonna be spinnin' from here to New Year's 2015, but man does it sure sound downhome suburban in light of some of the music I have been inundated with as of late!

ARCHIVAL DIG OF THE YEAR!: Figures of Light's THE TV SMASHING CONCERT, a wild lo-fi-ride through an area of proto-punk rock that needs to be uncovered before it all wooshes down the memory drain. Works especially well in conjunction with early-mid-seventies fanzines and Lester Bangs-vintage CREEM magazines, which'll give you an idea of what I was reading whiles first spinning this.

LABEL OF THE YEAR!-B13.

BOOK OF THE YEAR (ROCK DIVISION)!: Kim Fowley's LORD OF GARBAGE even if it came out very late last year...a better soar through the sixties than anything those execrable dungholes at ROLLING STONE would dare say about their sainted decade.

BOOK OF THE YEAR (SECULAR DIVISION)!: ARCHIE; THE SWINGING SIXTIES VOLUME ONE as if any of you looked as good in swimwear as Betty and Veronica do in this collection of early-sixties daily strips!

BOOTLEG OF THE YEAR (VINYL DIVISION!: a toss-up between Can's  DAI DOKO E and CAN YOU, both of which present the infamous krautscapaders during their exciting early-seventies "better" (still reserve the best for the Malcolm Mooney era-group) period before the world music got to their brains. After that all they could muster up in the recording studio were watered down fusion jamz even Herbie Mann would up his nose at, but in the early-seventies maybe they were a serious threat to the Stooges throne as kings of the slag heap!.

BOOTLEG OF THE YEAR (CD DIVISION)!: Nico/Cale/Eno's BERLIN NATIONAL GALLERIE 5.10.1974, where you get to hear the birth of the New Reich right before your very ears, and risk getting taken away by the secret stasi in the very process.

THE "SURPRISE OUTTA NOWHERE" AWARD: Boris Sujdovic's DESPERATE GIRL. You weren't expecting a hard-edged, growly punk record that could stand with the best of the seventies to come outta anywhere let alone Australia now...were you? I sure as Sam smells wasn't!

POST OF THE YEAR!: definitely the interview with Greg Prevost, though the ones with Cole Springer, Stephen Painter and Jonh Ingham weren't anything to sneeze at either! If I gotta pat myself on the back about anything good that I did on this blog in 2013, it was (at the very least) these informative, entertaining and (golly!) status-boosting entries!

POST OF THE YEAR (OTHER THAN MINE)!: Jonh Ingham's trek through the mid-sixties Amerigan rockism experience on his MY BACK PAGES blog. Sure it was written in 2011 for something called THE WORD, but danged if I just couldn't experience that whole SoCal sun 'n speed feeling via this one. Conjures a spell that I'm sure made Greg Shaw wanna break out the ol' printing press to crank out those early issues of BOMP which continue to read like missives from The Cool World that nobody seems to acknowledge even existed inna first place.

MOOM PITCHER OF THE YEAR!: ZARDOZ which is pushing 40 true, but its probably a whole lot better'n anything I'd care to see at the local concrete block had I a desire to go to a concrete block to see a moom pitcher inna first place! Actually anything after TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE is a bit hard for me to endure, but this one well...sorta drove a spear through my brain.

REVIEW OF THE YEAR!: None other than a writeup of the recent Oprah Winfrey box office bonanza THE BUTLER courtesy the infamous John Derbyshire. I'm sure you remember Derb, a guy who got raked over the coals for writing (at times satirically, at others dead on) about modern day race relations even though pretty much what he said was agreed upon by people who wouldn't admit so in broad daylight. If you wanted a really good excuse not to see the movie, this review gives you more'n a few reasons to stay home and watch LITTLE RASCALS tapes instead.

BLOG OF THE YEAR!: Actually its the obscure (and dead as of 1/1/14) GROWING OLD WITH ROCK AND ROLL which, despite its occasional unevenness and lapses into areas I'm not exactly comfortable in, was one of the few blogs out there manned by a former seventies rock fanzine (TEENAGE RAMPAGE) maniac who drew his inspiration from many of the same sources I, and presumably you, have. Gonna miss the thing even if I was only an occasional popper onner.

DREAM OF THE YEAR!: The one where I "reminisce" about  Andy Warhol reuniting the Velvet Underground with Reed, Cale, Morrison and Tucker along with David Bowie (!) and Warhol himself "on rhythm guitar and rhythm guitar only." I'll fill you in on any future dream I might have about stumbling across a copy of the resultant album during a romp through the Hartville Flea Market a good decade or so later.

HERO OF THE YEAR!: A toughie. Edward Snowden? Bradlina or whatever it's now calling itself Manning? (Well, not anymore considering the sappy apology the enlisted one gave when being sentenced...Manning should have faced it like "a man" but I guess that's obviously not possible.) Hands down winner (in my own unbiased opinion) is Jim Goad, with Gavin McInnes and Andy Nowicki following a close second tied. They're just some of the few who even remotely reflect how I feel about life in general these sorry days where I feel like I've been dead for the past two or so decades only I just keep moving around due to reflex.

DEATH OF THE YEAR!: No doubt about it that of Frank Bank alias Lumpy Rutherford, the goony sidekick of Eddie and Wally who proved once and for all that you could be a stocky supporting player in a classy sixties sitcom and have three girls satisfying your earthly needs per day! (Haw, and you thought I was gonna give Lou Reed the honors now...well ya shoulda knowed better!) Also noteworthy of mention; Kevin Ayers, Mick Farren and Reg Presley (and what about Dick Dodd???).

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And with that I say adieu to '13 and hello to the mid-teens, the centennial of the beginning of the First World War (a special no prize to anyone who can explain to me why all of those horrid deaths and disfigurements were necessary) and best of all the tenth anniversary of this blog! As far as BLOG TO COMM goes don't expect anything special or outstanding once the new year rolls in, just more of the same old grisly writeups complete with my opinions regarding whatever's happening around the tri-state area and maybe a surprise review or "fanzine fanabla" to break up the monotony. And in today's topsy-turvy milieu, can you think of anything better for your shell-shocked system?