Once again it's your favorite clump of unviable cells back from Christmas holiday and ready to do some more much-needed blog-oriented jam kicking. I do hope that you didn't get too blitzed out by the celebrations 'n all unlike the wiry batch of kids seen directly to the left of us. Sheesh, don't these Little Rascals rejects look like they've taken the brown acid, which I'm sure quite a few of the real deal ones took when they became of pharmaceutical age??? Well, now that January is in full gear maybe the haze has lifted. For them, but not for me!

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I might as well use this space to thank all of you wonderful people out there who sent me presents this past Holiday Season, some which, like the history of cassette tapes by a chap who calls himself Mark Masters (a name that rings a bell somewhat) look like highly engrossing fare especially given my own appreciation of them things in light of the more popular 8-Tracks back during my teenbo days. Bill Shute sent a buncha fine comic book collections I'll also be writing up once I get the chance, whenever that'll be natch! 

Too bad just about alla these gifts arrived after the big day, but that don't bug me any since I hardly got anything good anyway and these belated beauts sure make up for my disappointment if only a tad. Fortunately these recent arrivals did manage to ooze some of them old X-mas funtime feelings outta me (well. not as much as if I would had I gotten alla those Corgi and Dinky Toys I didn't get back then), reminding me of alla those great days spending my newly gained moolah on records and only TELLING the folk I deposited it all in the bank, devious little fanabla that I was and probably shall remain.

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Better late than never's this year's Christmas card (which also arrived a day too late but eh!) from the Droogs and Plug and Socket Records, who also sent an entry from an encyclopedia of Power Pop giving mention to the group (never thought they were exactly power pop but with the way rock terminology gets twisto chango'ed these days...). At least this inclusion shows that they're still remembered by someone other than me which sure does some cockle warming of my heart if I do say so myself! 

Sheesh, who woulda thunk that there'd've ever been a day when I would have been deemed important enough to rate a card from this legendary rock group (or any rock group for that matter)   ---  kinda makes me feel somewhat important and big man on campus-like in the same way I felt like I was front and center on rock 'n roll history back when Lou Rone would play me various Von Lmo guitar riffs over the phone I'll tell ya...

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Interesting indigenous people's history
fact! Long before anyone else, the Native
Americans were skilled experts at catheterizing!

Anyhoo, maybe now is the best time to tell you that (once again) the year of 2024 is, especially after the spendthrifty days of last year, going to be a real tighten the belt on one meaning NO RECORDS OR TAPES OR CEE-DEES OR WHATEVER UNLESS ITS ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY NO DOUBT ABOUT IT NECESSARY!!!!! (Of course it is arbitrary as to what exactly I would consider must have booty which just might ruin my financial planning after all!) I went through these periods of austerity before and of course told you all about 'em in particularly painful terms, but sheesh I just gotta save more of that filthy lucre for the future even if, for some unseen reason, there isn't any then it all gets buried with me! It probably won't be that much of a pain, since I think I already have enough goodies to keep me well and happy until the big bang, so why splurge unless it's for something I just gotta have to tingle the ol'  hammers and stirrups! 

Oh yeah I know I will be tempted, but pocketbook concerns do come first. But oh the temptation, not only to buy some hot music but to generally keep the cash in my possession and not spend any of it on frivolities and other items I really can do without. I just hope you're around here to remind me of that when I head on down to Aldi's and see all of those tasty treats they stick in their specialty cooler! Goat cheese and sliced tomatoes frozen pizza, those little Mexican pastries filled with spicy meat and of course German Black Forest cake, one of which I believe still resides in the freezer even after a good two years!

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Gee, I gotta admit that this Bing AI chat thing is pretty neat! But "respected"??? Ya gotta be kiddin'!:

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Know your enemy, part one-million:

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Not that I shoulda been surprised, but the "new" and "revamped" CREEM (you know, once the home of high energy Detroit heavy metal) has reached a level of sociopolitical wokeness that makes even those weepy enough eighties issues of theirs (not to mention anything ROLLING STONE was worthy of cranking out) look positively stoic. Guess Brad Kohler was right all along to which I say....dagnabbit!

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I believe that I do have quite a good selection of soundage up for inspection this time, and since I didn't have to pay a penny for any of it (all sent by the likes of Paul McGarry, P.D. Fadensonnen and Bob Forward) t'is all for the better! Like I said, if I gotta start acting like a Scotsman I better start doing it now, which reminds me of a funny story regarding when I was a kid and my father told me that I should be more like the Scots and I said "STINGY????" to which he shouted back "NO YOU MORON --- THRIFTY !!!!!" And a hoot mon to you too!

The Pink Fairies-SCREWED UP! CD-r burn (originally on Cleopatra Records)

Yup, the Pink Geriatrics (Canadian division) are back kinda/sorta, with North Amerigan rep Paul Rudolph hitching up with some old Hawkwind and Motorhead pals for a trip I thought woulda fizzed out ages ago! Like that platter Rudolph did with Twink a couple decades back this really ain't anything as beautifully psyched as the Polydor albums, but if you liked any of the Pink Fairies reunion disques that have come out since the mid-eighties this'll suit you just fine and dandy. And for you old-timers there's a boff version of the Deviants "chestnut" "Screwed Up" not to mention that Hawkwind fave off QUARK STRANGENESS AND CHARM "Hassan I Sabbah" complete with violinist Simon House adding the exact same flourishes that he did on the original. Heck, this really is good enough (especially when you consider that most if not all of the musicians here are septuagenarians!) that I'd even go see 'em if they were playin' in my back yard, Who knows, if I were the kind of guy who'd only indulge in some of the chemicals that fueled these guys for years on end maybe I WILL (see pic above)...

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Tim Buckley-STARSAILOR BAND FIRST GIG, OCTOBER 1970 LION'S SHARE SAN ANSELMO SAN FRANCISCO CD-r burn

I believe that some of this was sent by Mr. Fadensonnen as part of a general smattering of STARSAILOR material done up live, but this is the entire debut of that infamous bout of career suicide on Buckley's part that continues to amaze...well at least continues to amaze me. It's not hard to imagine what Buckley's old fans thought of his one-and-a-half avgarde albums but fie on them anyway because this is a fine slice of 60s/70s cusp cataclysm music every bit as important as all of those sonic screams for a true sanity that we've all been rah-rahing for ages. One listen and you'll know why Buckley ended up on Straight Records...that was supposed to be a tax write off and really, what honest to goodness Boone's Farm hippie would ever go for this! Bad part, my copy stops right smack dab in the middle of the second version of "Come Here Woman"!

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Lucia Dlugoszewski-DISPARATE STAIRWAY RADICAL OTHER CD-r burn (originally on New World Records)

There are so many of these twentieth-century avgarde composers to keep track of that even a person well-versed in the genre would find it a hassle to keep up with 'em all. For me it's really pick 'n choose because, for the life of me, I find some of these composers radically brilliant while others seem to be taking the same ol' Schoenberg and Varese moves milking 'em as if they were at a La Leche convention. Sad to say that I find Dlugoszweski to fit into the latter category, as there's really nothing here that moves my inner being (ooooh!) like a forties-vintage John Cage piano piece or some out of left field Nam June Paik performance put on. Even the idea of the "timbre piano" doesn't tend to flib my jib which is saying something considering my interest in "prepared" instrumentation of all sorts. Guess I'll have to turn in my beret and stale doritos and go back to being the outside-the-outkids doof that I've been and will probably remain for the rest of my life.

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Blue Cheer-1968 LIVE FAMILY DOG, DENVER CD-r burn

And I thought the Family Dog was in San Francisco! Well, that's a new one on me! The Cheer blasting it so loud and hard that you can't even hear 'em singing!  Oh well, this is probably how everyone in the audience that day heard it, before they all heard nothing that is. Not so long (maybe fifteen minutes or so) but it has a rather good riffed up jam as well as "Doctor Please" on it. 

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Sun Ra Arkestra-THE HAGUE NORTH SEA JAZZ FESTIVAL 7/14/79 2-CD-r set

Eh, t'aint the best live Arkestra offering out there. Ra's getting perhaps a little too far into his Big Band roots for at least my tastes, maybe not yours either but who knows? One for those of you who've heard the rest and want a li'l topper.

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Various Artists-AT THE HOP! 2-LP set (Brookeville Records)

What happens when budget oldies collections no longer serve the purpose of their original owners who have possessed such platters since the heyday of misplaced seventies nostalgia? Why, they're given to ME as this double duty collection of various blasts from the dawn of the big beat (or something like that) ultimately proves.

Actually this isn't a bad sampling of previous transistor triumphs even if it is somewhat incongruous, what with the like of Little Eva and the Music Machine being included in the same package 'n all. Well, those platters peddled on afternoon television never were known to just stick to one distinct theme other'n to cram together whatever there was available for Morris Levy to peddle to the kids watching GILLIGAN'S ISLAND reruns. Still, AT THE HOP! does collect some beauts such as the Beach Boys' "Surfin'", the Surfaris' "Wipe Out" and the Fendermen's "Mule Skinner Blues" which (at least for me) was one record that seemed nigh on impossible to latch onto in the history of serious record shop, garage sale and flea market scouring!

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Various Artists-AMERICAN PRIMITIVE Volumes 1 and 2 CD-r burns (Revenant Records)

Believe it or leave it, but I really do hate writing about these old folk/blues collections that have been cluttering up many a record collection for more years than I can even remember. It's probably because I'm oh-so-self-conscious about myself and just don't wanna look like I'm even remotely coming off like one of the reams of upper crust white college-bred music scribes we've all seen for ages who seem to devour this stuff with a haughtiness that might even put your Aunt Petunia to shame. Y'know, the kid (or aging precursor from the glory days of the New Left) who used to, and probably still does, slobber and drool over just about anything that has an abundance of melanin in it if only for the sake of doing just that even though said scribe might convince himself otherwise. After all, someone out there has to keep that "we are all one people" schtick going even longer than most observers out there would have thought humanly possible, right?

When I think about those kinda people I tend to conjure up some pretty accurate visions of what I would call a WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CLASS OF '64 born and bred bowl of mush --- skinny wire-rimmed seventies/eighties longhairs (neat looking well trimmed longhairs at that) who are still around and look quite the same albeit with wrinkles and white hair wearing sports jackets with patches on the sleeves and sweaters underneath 'em even on the hottest days of the year. Social Anthropology majors who actually were able to get a job with their degree. The kind who used to watch SUNSHINE and THE PAPER CHASE on television and actually oozed some warm 'n toasties outta 'em while sneering at the HAWAII FIVE-O crowd for being so --- I dunno --- violent? Probably got some physical disability as well. The kind who can't help but bring up they were conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War whether you wanted to hear so or not. Read Ellen Willis. Males who, when reviewing such items, come off more like they're apologizing for being white which seems to be that original sin imposed upon ultra-guilt riddled WASP-y types who couldn't find a black musician to hate even if he were to cave his head in for some drug money. 

Being Vinnie Virtuous these days can get a body far, and in no way will I ever do that old humble bumble act like the one where that guy who owns Chick-Fil-A went and polished some black guy's shoes acting oh so contrite about something he was never guilty of in the first place. So feel a whole lot surprised when I tell you that I find these early pre WW II gospel blues pretty snat even though it certainly ain't because I'm gonna do a whole lotta groveling to atone for past transgressions real or imaginary. I'm doing it because this is fine enough raw music that, like those one-string guitar efforts I reviewed way back, resonates because it is raw and crackly and thus fits in with the state of my nervous system the same way Suicide and Can do, even if for the life of me I doubt I'll ever listen to this collection again.

Big surprise---Eddie Head and his Family's "Down On Me" which is the same song Big Brother and the Holding Company used to do, only this version comes off better if only because the (original) lyrics are more deadly and therefore truthful. Walter Taylor's "Deal Rag" sure sounds good because it wasn't done up by some hippies on a Marin County front porch thus hitting the spot a whole lot more'n Pepsi ever did. Sheesh, at least Peter Laughner knew how to sing this stuff probably because his own frayed nervous system was way more in tune with this breed of down home folk than most refugees from a high school hootenanny's ever were!

Great hypno-drone to "You Better Quit Drinking Shine" by Rev. L.B. Ware and I should be thankful that the 1897-vintage "Poor Mourner" by Cousins and DeMoss isn't some early take on the various folk duos of the sixties like Simon and Garfunkel or Brewer and Shipley. And to get downright frightening about it, Rev. Edward Clayborn's "This Time Next Year You May Be Gone" is one track I sure hope doesn't manifest itself into my destiny I'll tell ya! Other people's yeah but not me that's for sure!!! 

And whatever Tommy Settlers' doing on "Big Bed Bug (Red Bed Bug)" it sure sounds like I could use some of the "inspiration" that he must have partook in before recording such a whacked out toon such as that!

Three disques that just might make you wanna listen to something other'n the usual new flash, that is if they still have new flashes anymore. And although I sincerely doubt it, I do hope to high hog heaven that in no way in this review did I come off like some precious petunia of a "rock critic" who probably learned about music by watching Ken Burns documentaries and nothing else! You might think I come across as a low class jerkoff "poseur" type as Amy Gelman might have put it, but then again do I really care what any of you think about me anymore?

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Gee you'd think there'd be a thousand or two rock-mad, mouth-frothing life-loathing individuals out there who would be just more than willing to buy up these back issues of BLACK TO COMM at what I would call a rather accelerated rate. But I guess there ain't, although YOU readers would sure do yourselves good by picking up a stack or two. Try a few and see if your hatred of "the other" as they say doesn't just grow by leaps and bounds, like it should.

BOOK REVIEW! PIN-UPS 1972 --- THIRD GENERATION ROCK 'N' ROLL BY PETER STANFIELD (Reaktion Books Ltd., 2022)

First there was Elvis and then the Beatles. After that came the Third Generation. But what exactly was it that separated this new (and perhaps last) era in rock 'n roll from the mode of the music that came before? Some like Metal Mike Saunders would say that this new generation was part and parcel to the downer groove not only in music but life, the hard edged thud that was being produced by the likes of Black Sabbath not to mention Grand Funk Railroad and other practitioners of the metallic groove that mirrors youthful depression so magnificently. Peter Stanfield, however, begs to differ --- somewhat. 

In this tome for the times (the times being the early-seventies that is), Stanfield dishes out his own take on a musical era that some might have called a total washout in the history of music (which it was) but others like Stanfield believe was one of the more engrossing, vibrant eras in that monster we call rock 'n roll (which it was as well). That is, if you think rock 'n roll is music but anyway this is a hotcha historical (re)vision regarding those highs in the early-seventies that were sorta looked upon as the swan dive into the mung after the huge rush of sixties sounds seemed to make everyone under thirty mad with the Big Beat. As time crept on a whole load of people began to look upon them days with rather rose-colored rear view mirrors, and after reading this book I'm sure many of you readers will understand why.

Maybe Stanfield is making too much of a stretch beginning his book with the doings of one Mick Farren, a guy who may have been a big if incendiary name over in Merrie Olde but hardly rated a ripple o'er here in the boonies. But eh, this book's devoted to the English side of things, a time when the best moments of the sixties (talking the early-Who, Velvets, Troggs...) gave way to the new guard and a really swinging London where expats such as Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and the Flamin' Groovies settled down adding an extra oomph to an era that at least gave people somewhat of a respite from the whole grain Marin County hokesterisms that were emanating from the western portion of these here United States.

Naturally plenty of space is given to the men who made it move from Marc and David to Roxy Music's Clockwork Orange future shock (and yeah, even the Clockwork movie worms its way into the narrative) along with the guys and gals (and who could tell 'em apart?) whose fashion sense might have been too glitzy for some peoples' tastes. It sure was a vast improvement over the denim shaggy fringe that epitomized the David Crosby portion of the music scene, and although the laid back trend would continue on in Ameriga for some time well, at least this new era of sonic grog was a welcome relief. Heck, even the Sweet make a hearty appearance in these pages and I'm sure glad that someone is remembering these hitmaking wonders a good five decades after it all came tumbling down and we're still trying to sort out the rubble!

One nitpick --- Jymn Parrett is Canadian not Amerigan but otherwise Stanfied seems to get his facts straighter 'n some of the musicians he's discussing were!

You like this blog? You like your old rock papers and mags with all of those flipped out "gonzo" writers who either made you glad or mad? Still have those T. Rex singles snuggled in your collection? Did you get your fashion tips from Lisa Robinson's "Eleganza" column (or, if you were a Clevelander, Charlotte Pressler's "Pizzaz")? Well, this one one book, and perhaps one of the ONLY ones extant, that will tell you the plain and simple truth that you were right all along!

 

As you can tell from the above jolly photo it's Christmas (once again time to post another one of these Adolf as a natural down home kinda guy who likes kids and animals pix), and to that let me add a hearty so what! Like I've already said on most if not all of my holiday posts these past twentysome years (pardon my redundancy but you guys need to be reminded), has Christmas really meant anything ever since them days when kids actually appreciated getting them toys because they didn't have everything tossed at 'em like they do these sad 'n sorry times? And with alla them "in service" days and placate the ethnics holidays that we have (I mean, what big deal is Columbus discovering Ameriga anyway? --- I know, you thought I was gonna pick on Martin Luther King and Juneteenth!) even Christmas vacation really doesn't seem to be that much to roar over like it usedta. Them kids today need some real good LIFE and FUN tossed at 'em tho, the kind our parents and grandparents grew up with back when little things sure meant a whole lot, and no jokes!

But well, here I am after quite a spell, and I have a whole load to say so if I come off even more gasbag than usual well, you can always read this post in part and come back to it later. Pardon the long-windedness but like the Monkees I have something to say and if you don't like it well, you can do to me what you've already been doing these past umpteen years!

Otherwise since this is undoubtably going to be the last big deal post of the year (and perhaps the last post PERIOD) let me say that I am rather happy to have survived it all. It was a fair year. Oh, nobody I loathe died or anything else that would make me happy like that, but despite the usual monkey wrenches tossed into this soft machine I managed to end up feeling somewhat human throughout it all.  That's something I should be at least a smidgen thankful for. But live through it again? You must be joking!

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I'm only reprinting the above FERD'NAND strip because it reminded me of the track on Charles Gayle's UNTO I AM where, after singing whilst playing drums Gayle grabs his tenor and duets on it the same way Ferd'nand does above, without the bubbles of course.

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I'm so glad that I crawled out from under my rock to discover a rather unique blog written by some rather talented individual who calls himself Peter Stanfield (see the roll call directly to your left). Never heard of the man before (I think his name just wooshed by me since he's been mentioned in UGLY THINGS a few times and maybe even interviewed in their pages by someoneorother), but I'm sure glad I stumbled across this 'un, for that particular fanabla pretty much has the same tastes and passion for the type of sounds and furies that I've been obsessed with for a fairly good portion of my rather subdued existence. A writer of some stature too with a few books under his belt (some of them, like THIRD GENERATION ROCK & ROLL, seem custom made for my own take on this mostly horrid sound they call "rock music"), Stanfied seems to be one guy who knows his potatoes, and while I'm positive that he 'n I would get into a massive row had we been locked together in the same cage his maddening writing devoted to everyone and everything in the Velvets/Stooges/Meltzer/younameit realm really has me scouring his blog whenever I have a little smidgie bit of free time in my life. Plenty of Mick Farren revelations here not to mention some Lillian Roxon for all you New York sophisticados and man, it's so refreshing to read someone who can not only write his way out of an entire supermarket full of paper bags but has the kind of musical tastes that I love to sink into like a pair of copulating kids in a vat of tapioca pudding. I'll tell you one thing and that is that I sure wish I had Stanfield's vast knowledge as well as his writing abilities, but then again very very few of us are as erudite and as on target as this guy which makes me appreciate him all the more! Worth the while for each and every one of you to spend some Sunday afternoon crawling through, especially during these cold 'n wintery days when you'll be hard up for a whole lotta fun things to do that aren't immoral.

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Another internet discovery --- a site called JAY KINNEY'S CLINIC OF CULTURAL COLLISION (see roll call on left as if you didn't know) which was set up by none other'n the infamous underground comix creator, fanzine regular and WHO PUT THE BOMP artistic director Jay Kinney as if you couldn't discern that yourself. I agree with Greg Shaw when he wrote that Kinney was one of the few undergrounders with a steady hand and a brain to match, which is but one reason I decided to link his site up and hopefully give it a little more well-earned (and who knows, perhaps even needed) exposure. This 'un has everything related to the man from a linking up of his favorite political websites (surprising choices, especially for horse-blindered extremists like yourself) as well as some really good examples of his cartooning abilities done for everyone from SCREW to DR.WIRTHAM'S COMIX AND STORIES. Highly recommended are "Fifth Grade Confidential", "Too Real" and "Dry Ice". See link at left and don't be surprised if you don't learn something that you've never wanted to learn before!

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Also found within the realm of the internet is a Youtube channel that has a few episodes of the shoulda been legendary television series THE GREAT ADVENTURE, a long forgotten rarity which is finally being made available after years of being locked up in CBS's vaults for whatever reasons there may be (mostly them not being profitable enough to syndicate). Some of you more ancient readers might remember this show which consisted of re-enactments of various moments in Amerigan history as portrayed by some of your favorite stars such as Lee Marvin, a guy who was really busy during the fantastic 1963-64 television (and moom pitcher) season what with LAWBREAKER, TWILIGHT ZONE, KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATER, THE KILLERS and this 'un (yes, I go on IMDB too!). Probably had some hefty gambling debts to pay off as Bill Shute once surmised. If I'm not mistaken the folk at AMERICAN HERITAGE were consultants so you know this just ain't typical tee-vee revisionism (just historical revisionism), that's for sure!

Kinda recall this 'un lighting up the cathode when I was but a mere turdler but the memories are somewhat fuzzed out. Still, hope the entire series will be downloaded after years of obscurity if only so I could see the debut episode about the infamous Civil War submarine the H.L. Hunley, especially noted for having both Pyles, Jim Nabors and George Lindsay that is, as crewmates on the ill-fated vessel. Gaw-lee!

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I promised no more AI-induced pics on this here blog, and there won't be 'cept for a few created for posts which might be in need of some pertinent illustrations. However, the recent conjuring up of an AI Beatles song had me wonderin' whether or not this trend could be used to create some lost music that people like us would want to enjoy. Take the Velvet Underground and the wealth of lost sounds that have reached legendary status at least amidst the throngs of serious rockists out there. Perhaps if some enterprising soul could get John Cale and Maureen Tucker to give some input we could finally get to hear more of those "Sister Ray Part Two"'s that were performed during the group's spring 1968 tour. Or maybe Iggy could help in the creation of such lost Stoogian efforts such as "Way Down in Egypt" or those early Hawaiian guitar screeches that Pop himself compared to the Melvins! Maybe AI can improve on the sound quality of surviving tapes that sound absolutely dreck-y which would really be a boon considering some of the tapes extant that sound like they were recorded within the chasms of Ondine's colon. Who knows what previously lost media could be restored with the help of this new technology which, so far, has resulted in whacked out pictures created by doof bloggers such as myself out there if only to get a li'l notice. Just as long as whoever is involved with these musical projex doesn't use that same AI I've been using that comes up with all of them whacked out pics.

Another bit of AI fun...asking Bing Chat silly questions and getting earnest if obscure answers in return. One I submitted amounted to something along the line of "is Nancy really the daughter of Fritzi Ritz and is her father black?" while another was pretty much along the same lines..."is Swee Pea really the illegitimate son of Popeye and Olive Oyl?" I was going to ask about Poopeye, Pepeye, Pupeye and Peepeye, not to mention Huey Dewey and Looie and their parentage, but I don't want to press my luck. Still, the answers I get to my put on inquiries are funny if a tad condescending but that ain't gonna stop me from asking whether or not Ralph Monroe from GREEN ACRES ever posed for nude photos!

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Interesting comment from a guy who calls himself "Field Hippy" regarding Jim Goad's next-to-latest post in COUNTER-CURRENTS:

The best interview with a rock star I know of is with Johnny Ramone, in the zine BLACK TO COMM, around 1994. What I remember most is his concert-going prowess. Every rock act, you name it, that played in the NYC metro area in the late 60s/early 70s he saw, and many of them multiple times. It was funny that the interviewer stayed diplomatic while Johnny praised the likes of Hendrix, Clapton, and Zeppelin to the skies, with these acts being irrelevant or anathema to the punk aesthetic of the zine. Finally the interviewer laid it on the line and asked Johnny about the Velvet Underground, the interviewer’s by-far favorite band. Johnny laughed and said something like “I’m sure we saw them and heard their records, but it was like, Why? These guys can’t play.” That was really funny considering Johnny’s simple style and that no one would call him a virtuoso. Great sound, though, so he should be remembered like Angus Young or Lemmy of Motorhead.

To which I say how come this interview somehow escapes the vast caverns of my mind?

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Interesting (and undoubtedly false) claim made in the first issue of TROUSER PRESS...according to gossip guru Rona Barrett none other than Deviants/Pink Fairies/Lightning Raiders bass guitarist Duncan Sanderson was engaged to onetime Ameriga's Sweetheart Maria Schneider of LAST TANGO IN PARIS fame! Considering how the Pink Fairies used to engage in "sandwich sex" with a certain follower named "Gigi" maybe I can see the attraction. Just hope the bread and meat's well buttered for a rather tasty experience.

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Worth your while's the fourth issue of FAUX WOOD PANELING, the only fanzine left in this world and there's no exceptions whatsoever to that pure and simple fact! Wade Oberlin didn't outdo himself with this one and he didn't have to, because each and every one of these is everything that a self-produced publication venture is supposed to be. Good personalist musings to be found here as well as music reviews and things going on here and there in the Southwest portion of Ohio that you might not have known about or have cared about for that matter. But they're here and I'll betcha you'll have more fun reading this than a fourteen-year-old boy locked in a bathroom with the entire run of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.

I was surprised to read a review of the early-forties LI'L ABNER feature for Astor Studios which I now know enough to avoid given Wade's less than appreciative tone! Well, maybe not given that Buster Keaton during his height (which to me is that period all them film snobs HATE) appears as Hairless Joe's injun cavemate Lonesome Polecat which should be good for a hoot! I mean, his appearances in forties zilch-grade movies like this and THE VILLIAN STILL PURSUED HER really brightened up some films that otherwise might have been just eh! 

Awaiting the arrival of FAUX WOOD PANELING really is a glorious event here at the BTC orifices 

and it should be one in your very own fart encrusted bedroom as well. And Wayne, thank you for the Spud Gun which is neat but given how expensive food is well, maybe I better put a more economical use to it. One that isn't disgusting, that is.

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You heard it here last...RIP rock writer Jane Suck (a.k.a Jane Solanis and Jane Jackman) who actually passed on last January only I found about it this afternoon. She was one of the better ones, so shed some tears unlike you will when I hit the big record shop in the sky. 

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In other news (don't worry Kyoko, I will get to the record reviews more later than sooner!), I thought I had the correct email address in order to get in touch with onetime Velvet Underground Fan Club head Constantine Radoulovich who's now residing in Annadale Virginia (cradoulovich@yahoo.com). Radoulovich is a man who I really wanted to talk about regarding his involvement in the club as well as the planned Velvets fanzine he had in store back 1971 way, but the email got bounced back to me which I will admit is slightly disappointing. Hey Connie, if you're out there why dontcha get in touch even though I sincerely doubt you would given the way you've been avoiding people these past fifty years!

***

I guess if other people out there in computerland can post their fanzine want lists so can I! Not that I get the inkling that anyone would even know about any of these mags and if they did they'd figure why bother, but here goes anyway. If anything, the following will once again prove (just like my playlist below) just what an erudite, knowledge seeking and totally on-the-ball music aficionado I am at least making me feel good in the process. Lowest prices paid for these titles, and (naturally) wonky xerox copies are more than welcome just as long as they're unreadable:

BILGE (rock fanzine from 1972 or so created by "two crazy girls")

CHUCKLEHEADS GAZETTE (mid-70s English fanzine with articles on Can and the Deviants --- probably never got published but who knows?) 

DAVID'S GIRLS/STAR SPECIAL (Terri Ferris' David Cassidy/glam rock fanzine --- any issues prior to the one mentioned in this article are most definitely wanted, or any after if they did indeed make their way into the world of fandom!)

GROOVE ASSOCIATES #2 (or any other after #3 if, like in the case of the fanzine above, they were published)

HYPERION, any prior to their Autumn 1972 issue

JUNGLELAND #'s 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 (the Scottish mag by that guy who was later in Oasis, not the Springsteen one)

NIX ON PIX #1

PANACHE #'s 1 and 2 (these go for bazillions so photocopies would be acceptable)

SLADE PARADER #s 1 and 2

SPOONFUL issues #1 and #4 (and any others after that is if --- well, you know the drill)

TEENAGE NEWS #1 (the one from Montreal, not Hamilton)

NEW HAVEN ROCK PRESS-any of the early 1967/68 vintage issues

AND OF COURSE XEROXES OF ANY OF THE EARLY SATIRE FANZINES (WILD, JACK HIGH, SQUIRE, NOPE!...) WOULD BE REAL THRILLING TO THIS FAN OF THE LATE-FIFTIES/EARLY-SIXTIES HOMEGROWN HUMOR BRIGADE!

***

Okay, this has a few repeats from previous playlists but I think I scoured the stacks a whole lot more diligently than usual. There's some revisiting of old friends and who knows, maybe a few old enemies at that. The best thing about digging into the collection is that, since my mind is such a sieve, a whole lotta these sound like brand new never before heard offerings to me! What a great way to save money especially in these inflation-laden times!!!:

Loren Conners-UNACCOMPANIED ACOUSTIC GUITAR INSTRUMENTALS, VOL. 1 LP (Feeding Tube Records)

Frank Lowe Quartet-OUT LOUD 2-CD-r set (originally on Triple Point Records)

Various Artists-ONE STRING BLUES MASTERS CD (Delta Cat Records)

Gavin Bryars & Christopher Hobbs-ENSEMBLE PIECES CD (GB Records)

MEET THE RESIDENTS LP (Ralph Records)

Pink Floyd-THE MIDAS TOUCH LP (Wizardo Records bootleg)

John Cage/Kenneth Patchen-THE CITY WEARS A SLOUCH HAT CD (Organ of Corti Records)

John Cage-MUSIC FOR KEYBOARD 1935-1948 2-CD set (Sony International Records, Japan)

John Lennon-COLLEGE EXPERIMENTAL SOUND PROJECT - THE EXPERIMENTAL VIRGINITY CD (Canadian bootleg)

Lennon/Ono-ALTERNATIVE TORONTO MIX AND MORE... CD (Goblin Records bootleg, Australia)

The Beatles-WHAT A SHAME MARY JANE HAD A PAIN AT THE PARTY 12-inch single (no label bootleg)

Quicksilver Messenger Service-LIVE IN SAN JOSE LP (Groucho Records bootleg)

Wizzard-MASTERS OF ROCK VOL. 11 LP (EMI/Harvest Records, Germany)

Boy Dirt Car-HEATRIG CD (Koala Foreskin Retraction Records, Australia)

D.O.A.  THE THIRD AND FINAL REPORT OF THROBBING GRISTLE CD (Mute Records)

Art & Language & the Red Crayola-CORRECTED SLOGANS CD (Drag City Records)

Ornette Coleman-SKIES OF AMERICA CD (Sony Records, Japan)

Les Rallizes Denudes-CABLE HOGUE SOUNDTRACK 2-CD set (Univive Records, Japan)

Gary Wilson-MUSIC FOR PIANO LP (Feeding Tube Records)

Can-UNLIMITED EDITION 2-LP set (Harvest Records, Germany)

The Flamin' Groovies-'70 LP (Eva Records, France)

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention-MEAT LOVERS VOLUME 2 7-inch 33 rpm EP (Hoffman Records bootleg)

GROUP INERANE CD (Sublime Frequencies Records)

Crawlspace-SPHEREALITY CD (Sympathy For The Record Industry Records)

Various Artists-THE EARLY SOUNDS OF GARAGE ROCK 2-CD set (Not Now Records)

Smegma-MIRAGE CD (Important Records)

Siouxsie and the Banshees-THE SCREAM CD (Geffen Records)

Various Artists-MOBILISATION GENERALE CD (Diggers Digest Records, France)

James Chance and the Contortions-WHITE CANNIBAL CD (ROIR Records)

John Fahey-THE LEGEND OF BLIND JOE DEATH CD (Takoma Records, England)

Sanctum-NEW YORK CITY BLUSTER LIVE AT CBGB's CD (no label but of Swedish origin)

Various Artists-THE HARVEST BAG LP (EMI/Harvest, Spain)

Frank Zappa-ROAD MUSIC #1/1 LP (bootleg)

CLUSTER AND ENO LP (Sky Records, Germany)

Iggy Pop-ZOMBIE BIRDHOUSE LP (Animal Records)

Love Child-OKAY! LP (Homestead Records)

Tuli Kupferberg-TULI AND FRIENDS LP (Shimmy Disc Records)

The Red Crayola-LIVE 1967 2-CD set (Drag City Records)

The Red Crayola-PARABLE OF ARABLE LAND 2-CD set (Charly/Snapper Records, England)

GOD BLESS THE RED KRAYOLA AND ALL WHO SAIL WITH IT CD (Charly/Snapper Record, England)

Frank Zappa-FREAKS AND MOTHERFUCKERS LP (Swingin' Pig Records bootleg)

Richard Landry-A FIRST QUARTER LP (Chatham Square Records)

Frank Zappa-PIGS 'N' REPUGNANT 2-CD set (Vulture Records bootleg, Italy)

Spirogyra-ST. RADIGUNDS CD (Repertoire Records, Germany)

The Cramps-1976 DEMO SESSIONS LP (bootleg)

Can-OPENER LP (Sunset Records, England)

Tangerine Dream-ALPHA CENTAURI/ATEM 2-LP set (Virgin Records, England)

The Necros/White Flag-JAIL JELLO 12-inch EP (Gasatanka Records)

The Thirteenth Floor Elevators-ELEVATORS LIVE LP (Decal Records, England)

The Sonics-UNRELEASED LP (First American Records)

KRAFTWERK 1/KRAFTWERK 2 CDs (Germanofon Records, Germany)

Bern Nix/Sabir Mateen/Jeff Shurdut's Impossible Beauty Trio Orchestra-THE DREAM OF A RIDICULOUS MAN CD-r burn (No Label Record Label)

John Cage-WORKS FOR PERCUSSION Volumes 1 and 2 CDs (Hungaroton Records, Hungary)

EIN PRODUKT DER DEUTSCH-AMERIKANISCHEN FREUNDSCHAFT CD (Bureau B Records, Germany)

Sunny Murray-SUNSHINE CD (Sunspots Records, Italy)

Charles "Bobo" Shaw featuring Joseph Bowie & the Human Arts Ensemble-P*NK J*ZZ LP (Muse Records)

John McLaughlin-DEVOTION LP (Douglas Records)

Amy Sheffer-SANCTUARY MINE LP (Iamshee Records)

Velvet Underground-1966 LP (bootleg)

15 Kinder and Peter Brotzmann, Fred von Hove, Han Bennick-FREE JAZZ UND KINDER LP (Tochnit Aleph Records, Germany)

Edgar Broughton Band-DEMONS AT THE BEEB CD (Hux Records, England)

***

Time for them reviewz what get a good portion of my readership tuning in, at least when compared to my various book review and other "weekday" posts. Got quite a few donations, one from P.D. Fadensonnen that I got last Christmas but only now found in the rubble that is my bedroom and some from Paul McGarry and maybe even Robert Forward if only I find the time (and the disques)!  Feeding Tube even sent a spinner which must prove that I am a man of importance and worth, or something like that because I don't think I'm either! One of the items up for scrutiny is (now get this!) a Brad Kohler Christmas gift, and if you can guess which I'll send you absolutely nothing! Hope you find a whole load of good hints as to what you should be spending your Christmas gift moolah on here but if you don't well, what else is new?

Hawkwind-SPACE RITUAL 10-CD plus Blu-Ray box set (Atomhenge Records, England)

Hey, I'm such a generous guy that I even bought myself a Christmas present as if any of YOU ever would think of doing just that! But really, is this worth the money and bother to purchase given, in five years, there's probably going to be an even newer version that'll put even this multidisque monstrosity to shame?

Well the answer is YES even if you already have each and every other SPACE RITUAL reissue extant. First off, how do you know that you'll even BE alive five years from now and besides, this box set is so good not only due to the space age sound and previously unheard material but because of the hotcha booklet and other niceties enclosed. Yup, this'll make you so happy you hung around long enough to enjoy this throbbing batch of electronic space music the way it was supposed to be done --- that is, without all the frilly Tolkien puff and prog rock preen that only took away rather than added to the entire rock appreciation mode so needed not only then but now!

OK, I will admit that only the more serious of us Hawkwind fans will enjoying sitting through ten platters (one more if you have Blu-Ray) of shows taken from the same tour and recorded within days of each other but hey, I don't mind. I can listen to these tracks over and over and not only that, but there are some minute differences that will undoubtedly catch your ears and like, you don't hafta listen to this all in one sitting like I'm doing!

I never thought, ever since I first saw that pair of squeezies on the cover starin' at me from the racks of the National Record Mart at the Eastwood Mall, that SPACE RITUAL would eventually worm its way not only into my collection but my crazed out brain as well. Fifty years down the hatch and it perhaps has even more of an overall smashed against the walls effect on me. And like well, I know I've grown and "matured" since then but sheesh, it's sure fantastic that the better moments of seventies under-the-underground decadent hard-edged sounds continue to live on, at least within my beyond addled mind. 

***

Melted Men-JAW GUZZI LP (Feeding Tube Records)

"Fontana Mix" goes rhumba. Or something like that, but this (9th release from these guys) takes the dada soundsplats heard on many of these Feeding Tube efforts to its usual (?) conclusion and what a conclusion it is! Try to imagine "Revolution 9" covered by Smegma --- well, not as good as that but still fine. Worth it for more than just the side "A" label showing a snake suckling from a cow. If you've been in on the Feeding Tube lifeline since its inception I'm sure you'll be able to comprehend, and you can dance to it as well!

***

Les Rallizes Denudes-BAUS '93 CD-r burn (originally on The Last One/Tuff Beats Records)

The 90s-vintage Denudes sounded downright pro when compared to those distorted seventies live outings, or at least they did until those blasts of feedback proved that things are relatively quite the same and I shouldn't worry about the group adapting to the sick 'n sorry times one bit!

As far as I can tell this is an all new ne'er before released recording and as what else can I say other'n it's sure up front, powerful and a welcome addition to the throngs of Rallizes releases that have made their way to my ears these past twentysome years.

You get familiarities like "Night of the Assassin" and "Fallin' Love With" sounding as nervegrind as ever even with the improved sound techniques, and you'll definitely go for the two newies (at least to my ears) "Reapers of the Night" and ESPECIALLY "Darkness Returns" with its standard use of the familiar '70s-era downward riff mode taken to even more maddening heights as Mizutani takes his guitar into territory I never heard from even him before! Comes off like a grittier re-arranged version of Hawkwind's "Down Through The Night" that you never want to end! Definite must-get if you have any moolah left after splurging on the SPACE RITUAL set.

***

Anthony Braxton-LIVE OCTOBER 25, 1969 PARIS CD-r burn

Dunno if this live b-cast has ever been issued either legit like or as a boot, but Youtube got it 'n it's there for you. It's the classic late-sixties Braxton band line up with Leroy Jenkins, Steve McCall and Leo Smith, and I wish I could tell you more about the whys and wherefores but I have nothing to go on. You know what these guys are gonna be up to so why bother with the re-rehash --- loose heavily percussion-laden AACM-styled remake/remodel of the Great Black Music. This is perhaps a bit more "classical" than the Art Ensemble but it still swings in its own new thing fashion. Whoever sells contrabass clarinets oughta give Braxton some cash the way he helped popularize the thing!

***

Embryo-ROCKSESSION CD-r burn (originally on Brain Records, Germany)

These guys are probably the krautrock group that I'm the most unfamiliar with outside of Popul Vuh, a group of whom I own exactly zero recordings. I own Embryo's Ohr debut which gave us a radically different band with a totally different style than what these guys became best known for in the annals of import bins, but other'n that I'm a rather sniveling neophyte when it comes too all of their albums that came out on United Artists and Brain. So this burn courtesy of Paul McGarry sure helps out swell, and from even one listen to this it's obvious that Embryo's idea of fusioin was perhaps closer to Miles Davis's than Chick Corea's and for that we better be thankful! 

You could call it standard seventies jazz somewhere to the left of Return to Forever with a few stops on the corner and you might be right. But only halfway there given the strong essence of Teutonic glow that exudes passion in the violin and guitar lines. Yeah it might not get me hankerin' to seek out the rest of the Embryo catalog but t'was a nice backdrop to a sunny if cool Autumn afternoon.

***

NEEF 23 EP CD-r burn (originally on Independent Project Records/Iridescence Records)

I forget the specific reason I asked McGarry to dub this 'un, but whatever it was I'm sorta glad that I did. These late-seventies and beyond art rock projects can get a bit too stilted for enjoyment and this one does as well, but the noisesquall does have somewhat of an interesting appeal. Not exactly a steady diet sorta grog for the ears but if you (like me) thought that Pere Ubu and Swell Maps were going to revolutionize the entire concept of not just music but sound itself you might like this. For fans of Bomis Prendin and the Wayside Music catalog and who reading this review isn't?

***

Jim Pepper/Bob Moses-DEVOTION 1967 CD-r burn (originally on Re-Kalem Records)

Hoo bwah! White guys doing the free jazz thing --- betcha that got some of the black power players of the day rather mouth frothing if I do say so myself! Maybe Pepper and Moses (along with their sidemen including Davie Liebman making an early appearance) would have been spared the wrath of the budding African consciousness of the day if the bros gave this 'un the once over. Definitely riding the mid-sixties Archie Shepp and John Col-train to free sound bliss, Pepper et. al. play like Patrice Lumumba himself is hot on their trail machete in hand. Three wowsers for sure including "Custer Gets It", a musical reimagining of Little Big Horn that I don't think even Sitting Bull could have fathomed back on that fateful day. 

***

Metal Virgins-ANIMAL PEOPLE CD-r burn (originally on Thrash Metal Records, Germany)

As far as this nimble mind can tell, this is the final Steve Hall recording at least until he got on his Jesus trip a few years later. If this is indeed Hall's final "real" effort (did his Jesus recordings ever get a release for that matter?) it sure is a fine goodbye from a guy who put out quite a slew of top notch efforts under such monikers as the Afflicted (Man) and Accursed.

Well it ain't anywhere near the overpowering attack of the Accursed's "Going Down"/"I Didn't Mean It" (which was THEE greatest over-the-top single since the MC5's "Looking At You" or even GG Allin's "Gimme Some Head") but it is way better than some of the grindhardmetalcore or whatever it was being called which was coming out during the mid-eighties. Melodies and PASSION can be discerned amidst the guitar pyrotechnics (far better'n the sped up John Schaum Book One etudes that Eddie Van Halen made his stoner dough with) and even if it all can seem but a big blur there is still a metallic passion that could be called Sabbathian at one point and even Stoogeian the next. Total HM eruption compacted into sonic matter with a mass comparable to those neutrons that pass through with the speed of light and get stuck somewhere in the earth's core.

The surprise winner of the post, but be prepared to dish out the collectors prices when copies do pop up. Or do what McGarry did and cop it off Youtube.

***

Wayne Marsh and Susan Chen-BALLADS CD-r burn (originally on Interplay Records)

Let me be the first to tell you (as if you didn't know) that I am not whatcha'd call a fan of the more refined and straight ahead forms of jazz that seem to be extremely popular with more than a few tie 'n tux aficionados out there. While Cecil Taylor played his piano like an 88 piece drum set, Frank Lowe scraped the canyons of his soul with his sandblasted tenor and the AACM guys stretched boundaries the way most of you readers stretch your sphincters I find music such as the kind performed here lacking in any soul-twisting drive and energy. For fancy dining purposes only. By the way, did you know that saxophonist Marsh was the nephew of the great Mae Marsh of DW Griffith fame?

***

Various Artists-JUNETEENTH SPECIAL CD-r burn

I don't know how you celebrated "Juneteenth", but on KORC-LP in Corvallis Washington it was done pretty snatly on one (I assume there's more) of the "community station'''s jazz programs that I'm sure proliferate the airwaves. Good selection of spinners were to be heard too from some early Sun Ra to Sonny Sharrock ca. ASK THE AGES with John Carter and Arthur Blythe thrown in here/there. Given the wide array of seventies free play involved I kinda get the idea that most people who would celebrate this recent national holiday would not approve of the dissonance that was being presented on this program but eh, this is something that I gotta say sure puts a positive spin on Afro-American cataclysmic sound approaches a whole lot more'n Li'l Jinx or whatever his name ever did.

***

Charles Tyler Quintet-WKCR ARCHIVES STUDIO 3 12/8/74 CD-r burn

Forward sent me this along with the above, and although this IS Charles Tyler with a rather copasetic band (including the aforementioned Arthur Blythe) I don't find this radio sesh to be as slam bang as I would have wanted it to be. Oh, Tyler's is a top notch post-Ayleresque player and I won't say anything nasty about his comrades, but the fuse seems to fizzle and the playing doesn't quite "coalesce" especially when lined up against other new players of the same strata. Get hold of it after hearing Tyler's ESP efforts, SIXTY MINUTE MAN as well as David Wertman's KARA SUITE which features some swinging playing not only courtesy Tyler but Red Transistor on/off member Ken Simon (as if you didn't know given all the name dropping I've done regarding this under-rated saxist!). 

***

Sun Ra-STANDARDS LP (Vorgmusic Records)

Early Ra rumblings with the core of his Arkestra standing close by. The vibe's nearer to Ra's late-fifties efforts as opposed to his sixties madness, the type of jazz that fans of the fifties new thing from George Russell to Miles Davis etc. should appreciate rather snat-like. Comes in dandy see-through orange vinyl too if that sorta stuff tingles your toes (it used to when I was but a mere teenbo and all agog about such trivialities but nowadays --- eh!)

***

Abdul Wadud-BY MYSELF LP (Bisharra Music Productions)

Cellist Wadud does fine without any of his BAG compatriots getting more music out of his instrument than any of you doofs woulda ever imagined. At lower register he's reminiscent of Malachi Favors and at upper Leroy Jenkins, and Wadud bows, plucks, strums and who knows what else with his axe at times even making some rather flamenco-styled moves that almost got me donning a pair of castanets! Heck, I even glommed some John Fahey vibes on the closing track "Happiness" if you can believe that! If you like what Anthony Braxton did on his solo saxophone pieces you just might appreciate this 'un as well.

***

Ernie Sheldon and the Villagers-BIG MEN, BOLD AND BAD LP (Columbia Records) 

This is definitely the kind of folk music that people who got their information from watching too many episodes of HOOTENANNY! would appreciate. Given the amount of early-sixties tee-vee that I've been taking in as of late (including many an old western) I can understand and enjoy this more than any of you sniveling communist folkie wannabes out there ever could. For a guy who I'm sure was down and dirty for the struggle (at least his association with SING OUT! would imply so), Sheldon delivers on some pretty commercial folk for the casual listener...I guess he was only trying to get 'em oiled up for the real deal by presenting these tunes in a fashion that would have appealed to the SING ALONG WITH MITCH crowd. Downright enjoyable, and it even includes a bonafeed Woody Guthrie song namely "Pretty Boy Floyd"!  

***

It may be too late to give out back issues of BLACK TO COMM as Christmas presents but it's not too late to send a belated batch to the one you hate and really give him a dose of holiday jeer!

FANZINE FANABLA (WITHOUT THE EXCLAMATION POINT AT THE END)

Well, here are a few more fanzines that have slipped inside my house as they passed by, and although none of 'em 're what I would say top on my want list at least they're adding to that pile of mags as well as pertinent pieces copped off the internet that's building up in the corner of my otherwise farted up bedroom. Sheesh, ya woulda thought that quite a few editors of such old and long ignored publications like SPOONFUL and TB SHEETS would be bustin' down the door with mags galore hopin' for some better late than never notoriety, but sadly that is certainly not what's goin' on 'round these parts! (At least Dan Feiner/Jesse Farlow was on the ball enough to get in touch 'n good for us all!) 

Methinks that these former publishers are either ashamed of their long-ignored efforts or, heaven forbid, are long dead 'n buried and their descendents (no sic) could care less. Most probably they've been deterred by all of the bad rants that certain individuals have directed at me and my efforts, since that was always one HUMONGOUS stumbling block as far as BLACK TO COMM gettin' any sorta positive notoriety or even decent distribution and ad revenue. And you wonder why I loathe certain people out there!

***

Prized possession of the post's gotta be this early piece of prime APA (or more specifically, Frank's APA) pounce entitled ROCK, YOU SINNERS which eventually grew into a real-life fanzine called (as if you didn't know) WHO PUT THE BOMP! Frank's APA was Jonh Ingham's idea and from what I read via some old Lester Bangs review in CREEM t'was the proverbial doozy what with Lenny Kaye's contribution being a book of matches tied to a paper inscribed "Light My Fire" and Meltzer's an old textbook with some new and with-it San Francisco and the Jefferson Airplane rock-related title printed specifically on it by the man himself. I'd go check out that article to get the specific details of that mailing, but who in heck knows where that ish rests withing a good fortysome years of rock mags 'n related jetsam piled up all over the place?

The usual suspects can be found here what with the mandatory Jay Kinney cartoons and letters from the likes of Meltzer, Ingham and Metal Mike Saunders puttin' their two pennies in...and not much else because I thought that the entire proceedings coulda used more of a beef up in order to capture my short attention span! Probably not enough mentions of the Stooges (at least as far as boffo early-Seventies fanzines go) to keep this 'un afloat! Still this is the pick of the litter if only because it is a Greg Shaw offering with contributions from some of the better names in this sordid thing that we call rock fandom.

Maybe if I took this in along with the rest of the APA I would have absorbed that heavenly fanzine wonderment that still keeps me glued to my old DENIM DELINQUENTs and NIX ON PIX even after eyeballin' 'em a good few thousand times apiece --- I'm such a picky reader, y'know.

***

I've obtained a few fanzines from the British Front that just might appease my cravings for that long gone form of offensive rockscreeding that seems to be so out-of-fashion in these bizarro world puritan times. In all honesty I doubt it, since it seems that even then (y'know the good ol' days of  rock 'n roll fandom) there was a lack of the truly "gonz" style to be found even in those fanzines that I woulda sworn were written by guys who used to comb through every issue of NME or SOUNDS extant! Sheesh, it's sure dismal living in a world where you know that what passes for rock "criticism" these days is way more influenced by the likes of Parke Puterbaugh than it is of Meltzer.

I finally found my copy of that MESSTHETICS CD which featured a spacious sampling of what was going on in the world of the English cassette culture made up of local (yet potent enough) acts who performed in school basements and traded their tapes with groups in a similar sort of nowheresville straits. DAMN LATIN was a mag that I thought woulda documented this era of a DIY that deserved to have been remembered, but it really skirts that whole scene and just blebs on like any half-hearted fanzine one could come up with, my own efforts included  

Eh, it ain't that bad but for a publication that said it was devoted to the  up 'n comin' cassette scene it coulda done better. Maybe I am crabbin' too much since acts such as the Sea of Wires and the Sinatras are worthy of further examination. Maybe the other issues of DAMN LATIN deal more closely with this short phenomenon, but until I find any I guess I'll just have to keep searchin' for that particular MESSTHETICS that was been playin' hide 'n seek with me for quite awhile.

***

I also bought this issue of ZIGZAG (the fanzine that made good and still kinda/sorta remained one throughout its existence) because of the article on a certain group of mid-late sixties renown whose name I dare not even think of let alone mention lest images of fortysome years of precocious youth in funny hairdos and plastic jewelry come gushing into my mind. (Note: this was pecked out before the naming of that certain group in question was somewhat begrudgingly lifted!) If you're the kind of person who thinks that the cult of seventies under-the-radar music from the Stooges and Roxy Music to Patti Smith and Suicide (etc. and so forth) gave way to some mighty pallid carbon copies once the eighties rolled in I think you will sympathize with me.

No, I am not going to make
the obvious joke --- no way
Charlie!!!!

So I won't mention the article on this particular band and'll just concentrate on the rest. Or most of it at least but eh, it is no wonder why a good portion of the seventies English fanzines took their cue from Pete Frame and company. Even with the shaggy dog West Coast musicians these guys thought the tits there's the proper air of true fandom to be found here, with pieces written by guys who grew up with the Big Beat in their hides and never did totally eschew it all for cocaine karma and alla that BLESS THE BEASTS AND PAMPERED UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS BRATS hippie moralizing that proved that when "rock music" came of age it took on a whole passel of phony moralizing with it. I used to think that is was strange that the same people who grew up with Gene Vincent on the stereo and who cut their teeth on the Rolling Stones before diving straight into the swamp of hippie narcissism could ever even remotely retain some sort of punk consciousness, but these people have and that's probably why these old ZIGZAGs still have the original power and might lo these many years later while some of those very late issues have that pseudo artzy taint to them which date 'em even worse'n a collection of Cheech 'n Chong drug jokes.

***

'n speaking of ZIGZAG here's their li'l cyster publication FAT ANGEL, more in the old-style fanzine mode, and in many ways closer in layout to those old English rockabilly fanzines which were mostly illustration-less with pages full of text usually written in the driest ways one could imagine. Still, this early FAT ANGEL does have its value even though it seems to follow the usual early-seventies English fanzine tradition of concentrating perhaps a little too much on the late-sixties/seventies Amerigan West Coast leather goods and Buffalo Bill lookalike downhome nausea that still happens to repel this writer. A KSAN-FM interview with Jerry Garcia printed in full should give you at least a scant idea of what was in store with this and many other early-seventies English rock fanzines.

Yet editor Andy Childs does have some good taste left in him given his rah-rahing for the likes of the Flamin' Groovies and that Arnold Corns record that I'm sure Brad Kohler will now want to pay me hundreds of dollars for, not to mention the viola player for that band I shudder even mentioning anymore due to the aforementioned plastic jewelry and faint moustache above the lip gang.  But I did learn something from that piece, and that is a fellow bandmate once said that this person will be remembered as "the Beethoven of the next century" which is THIS century so like, where are the statues of him anyway? Eh, they'd probably find something "wrong" with the aforementioned viola player and when they did they'd topple the thing and melt it into a George Floyd memorial. I mean, what else?

***

The Mod Revival of the early-eighties had about as much of an effect on me as conversion therapy would have on Britney Griner and thus I had tried to steer clear of any of them fanzines that were devoted to the cause, but DECEMBER CHILD seemed different. Maybe it was because of the promise of something other'n the usual sunglasses and snatty suit pose that drove me to this. Who knows, but I copped this 1980 debut issue and well, thought the thing was a pretty halfway-there fanzine effort which, while not tingling any nerve nodes of mine, still had a worth to it what with an article not only on the Creation but Pop Art and Syd Barrett included in this debut.

Writing ain't anything that captures you like the best of the gonz efforts did, and the inclusion of poetry is about as appealing to me as the crop of scabs I used to acquire during my single digit days. The Creation article was mostly the same ads you've seen reprinted for years with a fraction of text while the Barrett piece just seems like yet another in a long line of praise on a guy that has been written about ad infinitum and after Nick Kent's mega-opus why bother. The Pop Art (as related to English rock) 'un did have some spirit even if it does read like a term paper. One that got a good enough grade but still...

Eh I'm getting picky because, in my own downhome golly ned way, I gotta say I like DECEMBER CHILD perhaps becaue it does succeed in its own low fidelity bedroom publication way. Might be worth your while to latch onto one if it does wiggle a bit under your nose.

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I've reviewed a whole slew of OUTLETs before and this ninth issue is a nice enough addition to the pile. Maybe it ain't as deep dirt fact digging as the others and the tendency to be more discography-oriented than a real fun genzine detracts some, but it still stands well with pieces on Joe Meek and early Todd Rundgren before he made too much of a fool of himself. Each of these OUTLETs is worth the time and effort to find, and if you snoop around long enough you just might get your chance to experience this rather nifty if oft ignored fanzine that shoulda made a bigger impression than it did.

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Now for a switch of hemispheres and a trip to a place in which at least one of the most hideous, unappreciative (of all I've done for him which I know he has forgotten about) and evil people I've ever come across beings on earth resides...namely Australia. Now despite the presence of this specimen (who last time I looked tipped way over into the realm of socially conscious hackdom) the continent has been known for producing some pretty sharp bands at least since the specter of the Detroit late-sixties underground began nudging its way into the local scene, so it would figure that a mag like DAS REICH would have shivved its way into the fray. After all, its's a fanzine with an eye out for the groups that helped make Australia something akin to Michigan South back when the likes of Radio Birdman and all of the groups in their wake were giving some of us northern hemisphere types a li'l bit of hope.

Dunno if you could call DAS REICH a "crudzine" even if it does fit some of the criteria...cheap production, no illustrations, and really no new info to be dispensed, but I still like it. Perhaps that's only due to the subject matter at hand which I would probably read about in earnest no matter who's writing about it, and better some unknown fanablas like the guys who put this out over any of those bigtime rock critics of the eighties who seemed to go from writing about rock 'n roll to mewling about everything from such haute causes as the glories of urban youth who can do no wrong running wild in your local Walmart. I'm a sucker for things like the MC5 anyway, so I'd give these guys an A+ if I were Dean Christgau, but thankfully I'm not so I'll just tell 'em to stay after school for one hour, and no chewing gum!

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Back to Merrie Olde. The Ultravox thingie pictured on the left appears to have been a special edition of the English IN THE CITY fanzine, and for a one-off it sure did itself whatcha'd call swell. Now I gotta admit that I am not exactly total bonkeroo over Ultravox but I really do like their earlier material and this mag sure sates any curiosity I do have about the group and their humble origins. This ish really packs the info to the point where any curiosity you might have had about the act would be instantly sated, with bits about their early Tiger Lily days well into John Foxx talking about his new solo career which (at least for me) really puts a cap on the entire Ultravox saga. If there are any Ultravox aficionados out there well, I'll betcha already have this by now!

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The French have been known for their etapoint rock fanzines which fortunately mirror their exquisite taste for an underground credo which never did coalesce in these here United States. ROCK INFO! was but one of these, a nice li'l home-produced effort which I'll bet was just brimmin' fulla that Gallic rock greatness I sure wish I grew up amongst back when it was all going down. I say "bet" because well, besides the shrunken type (akin to that found in many an issue of my crudzine) the text is all in French and I'm having enough trouble mastering English as it is! 

But despite the expected barriers I gotta say that ROCK INFO!, which from what I can decipher sounds like a rock history with an underground French bent to it, sure looks swell what with such mentions of various French faves like the VU, Dolls, Patti and TV interspliced with a few unexpected entries such as the Dead, 'plane and Mayall, sometimes on the same page if you can imagine! No illustrations other'n  drawings of guitars and records in the margins, but it sure comes off a whole lot swanker'n some of those anarcho-drivel efforts (mostly done by communists pretending to be anarchists because they're ashamed 'r somethin') that've come out in droves a good four decades back!

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For a switch here's an Amerigan fanzine up for inspection, and although it's a bit outside the realm of the Golden Age of Rock Fanzines (1971-1981), the 1997 publication from the El Lay area does capture some of the fun 'n jamz that could be found in other locally produced efforts that came outta that burgh a good two decades earlier. Now that's an accomplishment especially when you consider just how terrible the entire area had become since those days of yore when decadence sorta oozed its way into bald-faced disgust thus losing any of the allure it mighta had back during the days of DENIM DELINQUENT and BACK DOOR MAN.

FRUITBASKET UPSET can get pretty West Coast industry when it wants to, but fortunately that doesn't get inna way of its overall excitement. Lotsa commercially viable (read: music way outside the scope of this very blog) coverage to be found here true, and any mag that would contain a Debbie Gibson interview is probably headed for the paper shredder pronto! But this rag supersedes any kind of wariness one might get what with the mega-article on the best live albums of all time (with some surprises and of course the usual glaring omissions) and all of the special features such as "The Ron Wood of the Month" and the live reviews covering everything from Iggy Pop to Black Sabbath tribute band Sabracadabra with loads of surprises in between. 

I wouldn't call  FRUITBASKET UPSET a top notch event in the annals of rock fandom, but considering a whole lotta the self-conscious and self-fixated efforts that have come out these past fortysome years (need I say more?) it sure reads a whole lot smoother and more honest at that than a good portion of those home-produced items that are supposed to cater to my own (and who knows, maybe your) personal musical tastes!

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And now for the non-music section of this post, starting out with the third issue of the famous (at least in comic fandom circles) effort entitled FANTASY ILLUSTRATED. Yeah the re-use/imaging of the old EC cover scheme became hackneyed in comic book fandom after awhile (not counting its usage of album covers and underground comix throughout the seventies) but since this ish came out in 1964 I'll do the slack cuttin' if only this time.

At least editor Bill Spicer was so keen on EC's high standards that he wanted to continue the tradition, and few can deny that everything from the artwork to even the paper used showed what kind of loving and warm 'n toasties devotion went into this effort. The overall results are finer'n fine what with not only an authorized Tarzan story based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs original but a whole lotta tender lovin' somethingorother and craftiness to be had all around. Sure the art is clearly in the amateur ranks (don't think any of 'em were ready for the Marvel Bullpen at this point in time) but that doesn't matter one iota given how something along the lines of FANTASY ILLUSTRATED surpassed many of those comic book crudzine efforts tossed out by fourteen-year-olds who thought their "Captain Caca" character was gonna overtake the world of fandom faster than the Flash could have a premature ejaculation! 

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A few of you people out there know just how much of an admiration I had (and still do even!!) for Lenny Kaye even to the point where I sure wanted to look like him (long hair 'n all) when I was a teenbo admiring his cool posture, guitar playing for Patti Smith, putting NUGGETS together 'n alla that. That's why I am plum proud to have this debut issue of OBELISK in my collection. Yes, the first ish of Kaye's very own SciFi mag done during the man's very own teenage years back when he was living in New Jersey contributing to various amateur pubs himself while amassing what I would take to be a big huge hulking bunch of 'em in himself.

It's whatcha'd call your typical SciFi 'zine with the same standard layout and all of those illustrations that look like the kind you get in just about every other mimeo of the same strata. Nothing in here really appeals to me given that the incestuousness of this is pretty much on the same par as that of the rockzine realm of the eighties and nineties where everyone knew each other and outsiders GO HOME!, but hey it is a Lenny Kaye production and his DNA's probably all over this as well! Sure would like to see his early rock 'n roll fanzine efforts which I'm sure even predate MOJO NAVIGATOR and CRAWDADDY! which would make readin' 'em all the more GNARLY.

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And finally a fanzine that I'm sure some of you readers would be surprised even exited, one dedicated to the early days of cinema titled what else but THE SILENT PICTURE! For a guy like me who has taken a huge interest in old tyme mooms ever since the days when those silent comedy compilations would pop up on the cathode connection entertaining people whom I'm sure saw these flickers when they first came out, THE SILENT PICTURE's a publication that I can settle down to read and totally devour within one of those extended and uninterrupted evenings when there's nobody around to bother me and I can play the ol' bedside boom box as loud as I please because well, maybe the neighbors DO have an appreciation for LaMonte Young after all!

The D.W. Griffith tribute was a nice bit of writing even if I already knew just about everything that was mentioned here, and the interview with Griffith regular Mae Marsh was particularly enjoyable given that she (no doubt about it) was one of the more expressive actresses to have popped up on the early pre-twenties screen.  Sheesh, the chemistry and electricity she and Griffith fave Robert Harron emitted on celluloid was pretty much unparalleled as far as filmic magic went, and I'd rank the two as perhaps the greatest romantic couple of cinema ever or at least until the advent of Shemp Howard and Christine McIntyre a good thirty or so years later. But still the way those two lit up the screen with their expressive acting (I still love their rather touching segment in Griffith's 1914 classic HOME SWEET HOME) is definitely one of the highlights of the pre-flapper film era.

One interesting turdbit that shows up here deals with the great mystery of whatever happened to a whole load of them old films that for one reason or another seem to have been lost to time. For an answer that just might get on the nerves of some of your more serious old movie fans, here's the caption to a picture of a man smashing up something out of range with piles of film cannisters behind him: "What becomes of old or damaged films at the Douglas Fairbanks studio. The reels are chopped into small pieces to prevent use of the material for exhibition purposes by unauthorized persons. The shredded film is then sent to a refinery to get silver salvaged out of the emulsion. This lot probably netted $75 to pure silver." I do feel that I might be somewhat of value if only my molar filling contains a fragment of some lost gem that will never be viewed by the eyeballs of this realm ever again. But as far as serious fans of classic cinema go, boy could I just see the rivers of tears flowing away at the mere thought of such legendary films lost for all eternity, and for the sake of a few pithy bucks at that!

BOOK REVIEW! LAUGH IT UP --- FUN WITH CARTOONS BY MARVIN TOWNSEND (Xerox Education Publishing, 1974)

Yup, here's the third and I believe last of the Marvin Townsend paperbacks that the smarter turdburgers in school spent their begged pennies on. Like with LAUGH OUT and GHOSTLY GHASTLY CARTOONS, you know what's in store which is mainly a whole lot more of them great badgag panels done up by a guy who I believe only had one other admirer not counting his mother and that's me for doggone sure!

Being the kinda guy who still has a soft spot in his even softer brain for POOCHIE, another dose of Townsend sure takes my mind off the fact that I'm existing in a world where comics like these are outright scorned while people of my generation fondly wax reminiscence upon the works of Lynda Barry. Some mighty good snickers are in store for ya here with even a few that I think were good enough to appear in a few bigname mags. Who knows, but I get the idea that maybe one or two of 'em would have snugly fit into any seventies-vintage NEW YORKER perhaps getting the same amt. of chortles that one could outta Sam Gross! Well, they coulda gone down swell with the upnosed sophisticated ones that even read the wretchy Ellen Willis columns that usedta appear in it.

This book's also noted for a few hippie gags which, given this 'un came out '74 way, were a wee bit outta the timeframe and thus were what the "cool" types woulda called "not relevant". Well, I don't think that Townsend was about to do any glam decadence-oriented generation gap cartoons, though his handling of some Karen Quinlan situations woulda brought up a few chuckles 'round here. 

A nice collection that might make you forget that things like ZITS and BABY BLUES exist. But I doubt it.