BLOG TO COMM

AGAIN I let you faithful (and not so) readers down with yet another extended break from the once fun grind of cranking these sausages of a blogpost out. This wasn't necessarily due to a bad case of sloth on my part (well...partly), but let's just say that life can sure make things a whole load more agonizing that usual especially at a time when the less stress in one's life the better! 

Now, I've come to expect the variety of sideways turds that I've unfortunately encountered during that bowel movement that I call existence, but as of late the digestive process feels like the cloggy aftermath of one of those all-you-can-eat buffets that I used to go to as a teenbo which really packed on the pounds! You know, the kind of place where the owner eventually steps out and starts giving you dirty looks after your fourth trip but whatever...fate naturally has thrown the usual monkey wrenches into my not-so-soft machine what with the best laid plans of rodents and male human beings going awry and going awry like WILD. It just ain't like I can devote my time to writing in the way that I used to, at least the way that I used to until the earlier part of this decade when it ALL came down. Too bad, but for some reason I think that humanity will be able to survive.

And besides, I just wanted to avoid having anything to do with this thing that gets called gay "pride" (in torn rectums and soiled sheets...wait, I used that description before) month which really does give me the creeps as anyone growing up told to avoid that small house in the woods where the weird guy lives will tell you (mighta told you that one as well). Yeah, I know that with a great number of people out there Gay Pride is becoming about as popular as a garlic ban in Italy what with loads of bigtime industry doners bailing out and such, but what's left is still extremely skanky with nude guys shaking their wee-wee's at little kids and grossout trannies degrading the concept of feminine pulchritude...and if you haven't had enough nose thumbing directed at you like I have all I can say is you must be part of the Karen Quinlan generation!

Sheesh, even the recent NANCY storyline featuring Phil Fumble's dykoid cousin is bad enough (even within the context of a once-excellent strip gone rancid) that I won't even touch my old FRITZI RITZ books due to their tangential connection with a rather decayed here and now! (And as for the AI project below well, that was created long before this current atrocity popped up --- it ain't like I'm going to TOTALLY abandon the beautiful Bushmiller era despite the strip's current lapse in mid-Amerigan fun and jamz!) Boy do I hate the way these modern degenerates take well-loved characters and downright heroes well ingrained into the DNA of midclass values and fun and toss a whole load of LGBTS&M decadence coupled with the usual liberal homilies of the sixties that only Dave Marsh would believe in included if only to defile suburban slob culture and stick it to the rubes! It's like the people who we foolishly thought were "on our side" and friends have finally let their loathing for us be known after years of pent up holding back their undying hatred and boy did they let it flow with a vengeance!

Enough nausea...in closing all I gotta say is that whenever June rolls around anymore I just feel like hiding under my bed, preferably with a razor-sharp butt plug firmly in place just to feel a little more secure... Not like I'm prime meat for these kinds of guys, but you can't let your guard down these days!

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But as far as much better news goes, I gotta wish you all a happy fiftieth anniversary to the United States Bicentennial Celebration which I think a few of you older readers out there might remember. I sure do, and the gaggy flag waving, "Bicentennial Minutes" on CBS and hokey sentiments that were to be found during those days still tend to toss the salad of my stomach much more than a jalapeno-loaded burrito binge. (For some historical content, I spent the morning playing WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY and my aunt called me a Bolshevik because I didn't go along with all of the Yankee Doodle Foolery that was goin' 'round!)  Still, despite the gollygooshiness of the times those were (at least once in awhile) good days, days when I was becoming aware of the musical world around me and a time when television was perhaps at one of its peaks if you knew when and where to tune in for classy old films, long-loathed by the hip snoots fifties/sixties reruns and naturally some PBS show which might show a bit of bared suckems and belly (not forgetting some much needed scatological humor). Teenage Perversity and Shits in the Night indeed! Of course there were more than just a few things that were downright nightmarish about them mid-seventies, but I prefer to shove them into the back of my mind the same way I try not to think about all of the abuse in life that I've had to endure. And guess what...sometimes those bad memories just STAY there!

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I gotta admit that I am somewhat steamed that I missed the free (courtesy of Elon Musk) streaming of CITIZEN VIGILANTE by just one measly day. Not that I had any great hope for this modern-day DEATH WISH considering that movies for the most part have lost my interest since the days of Harry Langdon, but the hoohah that's been going around about how downright evil the film is what with it offending the sensibilities of more than a few precious petunias out there did pique my interests. Still, what I did see looked somewhat enticing, such as in the opening where some pretty frau gets her throat slashed by a definitely non-Aryan sort and spews blood while the kid playing her son shows that he could use a few more acting lessons given his passive performance. But whatever, CITIZEN VIGILANTE comes off like a better bet than some of the "biggies" that have been coming out lately, such as that bomb of the year Supergirl pic which I would assume has none of the charm of the old comic and is probably "woke" as they say beyond belief. And undoubtedly unreal as well...I mean, how could Supergirl save the world while she's having her period? Oh well, if this were 1961 I could always have waited a few months before CITIZEN VIGILANTE popped up on television.

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Speaking of the boob tube the tee-vee situation has been slipping somewhat. It seems that INSP feels content to run only select episodes of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL leaving out some rather tasty entries such as the one with a pre-RIFLEMAN Johnny Crawford as a boy kidnapped by the Indians, something that I've been wanting to watch for a longer than usual time. I gotta give INSP credit for bringing MAVERICK back to the cathode connection, but frankly I find that series rather tame compared with other western television activity of the Golden Age, and besides James Garner never was that big in my fave book of actors. Maybe the infamous series THE WESTERNER will get a much-needed showing, or yet another rarity like Jack Lord's pre-HAWAII FIVE-O series STONEY BURKE which has been in mothballs way too long. Until then I will be checking Youtube for such legendary efforts which may or may not get the ol' adrenaline rushing, but it ain't like I'm going to be holding it in until they do show up, y'know?

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Something to note---RIP Kitty Bruce, a gal who was not only the daughter of the vastly overrated (and once you get down to it quite evil) Lenny but the leader of the Great Mistaque, a politically radical (bassist use to wear a Che t-shirt) country-rock band that played the CBGB circuit from very-late 1975 until about the middle of '76.  Hopefully something by them (photos, recordings...) survives if only to fill them tiny gaps in. Also of note---RIP Clive Davis who really doesn't mean that much in the overall BTC scheme of things either  but seeing his image in rock mags in the mid-seventies chumming it up with Patti Smith sure does bring back memories, perhaps some not so pleasant.

And although his music doesn't quite snuggle into the BLOG TO COMM reason for being, farewell bye-bye and ta-ta to Blood Sweat and Tears vocalist David Clayton Thomas if only for the time he got his ear ripped off by a biker who handed it to him and Clayton threw it in the trash!

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Here's AI Nancy, and how she became Asian I'll never know! The solid wood
"swoosh" was an interesting touch.

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WHO WOULDA THUNK IT DEPT.: I get this message from one-time BLACK TO COMM contributor and all around nice guy Paul McGarry that there was going to be a package that was to be delivered to me last Friday night before nine. Good I think...Paul finally mailed some more goodies my way and I won't have to review the LIVE AT CBGB'S album again! Well, here it is about seven in the evening or so checking my emails and guess what...Paul had sent a missive as to where the heck I am and boy am I confused...until it dawned on me that Paul did not mail the parcel but was (along with his wife) delivering it IN PERSON in order to give me the surprise of my life so great that it possibly could have ended it!  Only instead he went to my mailing address instead of my actual residence and boy was he as flummoxed as I was!!!

Photo of me on the left and Paul on the
right. As you can see, I do not photograph
well.

Next day we do, after some confusion, finally meet up and well, what else can I say other than Paul and his Missus were really down home and nice people, the kind of humans you'd like to have as neighbors as my cyster said even if I do get the impression that Paul would be mowing the yard at six in the morning busy guy that he is. Personable too, and believe it or not but Paul didn't put me down like many of you types out there do either which is something I really do admire in a guy. We talked about a number of things, and what can I say but this was a much more pleasant surprise than had he bombed me into smithereens I'll tell ya!

I guess the reason Paul came down here was to give ma a giant box of not only cassettes but Cee-Dee-Ares which would cost him a fortune to mail these days. (Y'see, Paul is from Canada and with postage, duty rates and additional costs it probably was cheaper to just deliver these directly to me...either that or Paul thinks that someone is going to euthanize him because he has a sore back and wanted to get out of town pronto!)  Paul and his better half could only stay a few minutes but still it was great meeting up with the man after all these years of pen-palmanship! Great meeting you Paul, but next time call ahead to avoid the confusion!!!

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Not much of what I'd call crucial and rush out to get it is to be found here, but then again this is 2026 so what would an old turd like myself expect! 's funny, but the only freebee thing I got this time was from Brad Kohler, a man who is usually tighter than your mother's butt when it comes to finances! Anyway, have fun.

PARIS 1942 2-CD set (Superior Viaduct Records)

You probably already have the album with the exact same cover, now get the double CD version which really delivers on more of that mid-Amerigan low-fidelity post-Velvet Underground attack that was pretty popular in the under-the-covers music scene, at least until all of those eighties groups drove the entire concept into the amerindie ground. And the fact that Maureen Tucker pounds the drums only makes these records all the more mystical for all of you guys who got your rockist credo from reading NEW YORK ROCKER writeups. Now if someone would finally release the Bloody Virgins.

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Chinas Comidas-COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS '77-'81 LP (Beat Generation Records)

Once touted as Seattle's answer to Patti Smith (some record catalog said that so it has to be true!), you can hear similarities between the two from the rough application of various late-sixties rock moves to even the hardcore reggae homage. Heck, this platter even ends not-so surprisingly with a cover of the Sonics' "Witch" making the NUGGETS connection all the tastier. Still, Chinas is her own gal with a powerful approach and growl to match, and her backup has most all of the same low-fidelity that made all of those rock 'n roll singles that people like myself used to gobble up until the well went dry more worthwhile. Just one of a billion or so seventies flashes that need the good ol' (re)issue treatment, especially now that for all practical purposes rock 'n roll (the good stuff, not that corporate Hall of Fame jive) is long dead and buried.

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Heldon-ELECTRONIQUE GUERILLA CD (Bureau B Records)

There are a whole load of records that some wanks out there would consider prog rock, and frankly I do like some (but not many) of them. However, I don't consider these particular groups to be part of the "rock music" genre let alone rock 'n roll...far from it...and so I refuse to categorize this music in the same frame and strata that I would say, the Seeds. 

But they are good 'un's.  F'rexample I tend to look at Magma and Soft Machine as being more in the jazzbo vein of sonic distortion, and as for today's subject at hand Heldon, something more as a collective working on "serious" avgarde moves only dressed up in seventies rock style/instrumentation. In fact, I see them as being an effort that come closer to some of the experimental sound hoo-hah that people like Stockhausen have been making for ages on end only with a beat and flash that could have made the famous 9/11 admirer a krautrocker himself.

Synthesized whirrs and moody drones are what's in store...very seventies analog sounding and reminiscent of a whole load of artificial sonic scrabble that I remember growing up with (pure old time flashback goody feelings). But rock 'n roll? Nah , 'cept maybe for the "Le Voyageur" track that originally got a release under the name of  Heldon leader Richard Pinhas' previous group Schizo.

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Various Artists-NEW MUSIC FOR ELECTRONIC AND RECORDED MEDIA LP (1750 Arch Records)

This collection of electronic sound created by people who claim to be female but don't come right out and brag about it used to show up in New Music Distribution Services catalogs for years on end. Won't debate as to just how much estrogen really went into this thing but it does serve as an interesting sample of what the weaker (hah!) sex can do when put up to the task of creating avgarde music. 

Some of it is standard sinewhiz that's been done over and over while other parts show some sparks of actual thought-out and realized sound patterns (I particularly liked Laurie Spiegel's electronic homage to mid-South pluck). A few others are a downright surprise, like future Novak member Megan Roberts' percussive pulse punk that predated a whole load of future both good and bad. 

A pre-fame Laurie Anderson also shows up and does a halfway-interesting girlish neo-new wave thing that actually reminds me of a cutesy version of something Nurse With Wound would have done without the evil intent. But the track that really interests me is the one composed by Johanna M. Beyer, whose 1938 "Music of the Spheres" recalls "Imaginary Landscape Number One" with a Sci-Fi feel that typifies the wonderment people had with what was "out there in space" at the time. "Spheres" was "realized" here for the first time ever too. Beyer seems like an interesting enough crow (she didn't get into composing until her forties)...gotta do some research on her.

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George Carlin-TAKES OFFS AND PUT ONS LP (RCA Camden Records)

It's the '72 budget reissue of (I think he's a) comedian George Carlin's '66 album with a new longhair pic of the guy slapped on the cover in order to cash in on Carlin's newfound status as a sock-it-to-'em hippie. Other than the fact that I finally own an album on the RCA Camden label I find no use for this thing other than for an extremely slight snicker that crawled out of my throat during the protest song spoof heard during WINO AM radio skit (the "Don't Want No War/Don't Want No Job Neither" line...well, it did seem slightly har-de-har-har at the time). With gifts like this, who needs gifts?

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David Peel and the Lower East Side-SANTA CLAUS -  ROOFTOP JUNKIE LP (Orange Records) 

Still don't know what the big hatred towards David Peel is all about, because I find his records way more exciting than I do most of the newer folk freakazoids who've been running the radical street music game right into the old terra firma. On this, his first album for his own Orange Records, Peel gets back into the acoustic swing of things raging on about everything from Watergate, the Beatles and narco types to Santa's own fixation with a fix. The Lower East Side (this time containing ex-Godz Paul Thornton) do the bang shang a lang just as good in the studio as they did on the streets during their HAVE A MARIJUANA phase. Typically topical stuff for 1973 and still quite fun to listen to these days considering that, frankly, I don't think anyone out there has vied for the "new David Peel" position yet.

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Captain Beefheart-THE SPOTLIGHT KID (DELUXE EDITION) 2 CD-r set (originally on Rhino/Warner Brothers Records)

Sheesh them crafties at the big labels'll do ANYTHING to get'cha to buy, buy and RE-buy material that's been in your cave since time immemorial! Thankfully I got my copy dubbed and for free so someone else just hadda be the stoop this time.  It's yet another way that these big label types try to eke the shekels from your precious savings, though anyone with a bean for a brain will tell you that in this case parting maybe is not such sweet sorrow.

Most all of you reg'lar readers already have heard THE SPOTLIGHT KID perhaps even since its original release, and undoubtedly a good portion who have still cherish the thing as if it were your favorite dollar bill. Well, pick this Record Store Day double-spinner up if you can and give that another whirl, but also be prepared for an additional disc of bonus tracks filled with numbers you might have heard before but I can tell you that I sure ain't.  Lack of liner notes leave me in the dark as to whether these are way-pre-RADAR STATION outtakes or whatever, and I know that you experts out there can write in and put me to shame like you all like to do!

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John McLaughlin-DEVOTION CD (Once More Music, Japan)

Got this mini-LP cover import enticed by the thought of a bonus track that had me hoping to high hoot that it was from the same sessions as the album. Unfortunately it ain't but it's good, a leftover from the Graham Bond days that shows that McLaughlin was cookin' with gas even this early in the process perhaps thanks to the fact that opiates and the creative process sometimes do work hand in hand despite of what the recorded works of James Taylor might tell you. Naturally the actual album continues to hold up long after most of its fusion competition petered out into fairyland cha-cha, sounding as heavy and nerve-wrangling as it did way back when music critics actually paid attention to this stuff. I can hear a lot of MX-80 Sound and even a tad bit of Bizarre-era Zappa in this one, not to mention Miles of course 'n maybe even ol' Jimi. If you can hear Return to Forever or Weather Report you might (or better yet oughta)  have your inner ear checked out and while you're at it maybe your cranium too.

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Just a reminder about all of the other reminders I've been telling you about all these years regarding back issues of BLACK TO COMM that you can obtain in case you're interested in such drek (as a good portion of my competition would have called it). But it's good dreak, in fact it's MY drek and like if I can like your drek you can like mine, or something, or nothing like that. Sheesh, what I have to go through just to get you readers to NOTICE these post-ending come-ons!