Happy July 4th! Hope you're celebrating indie-pendence in your own special and hopefully moral way, and not by tearing down statues of everyone but Nicholai Lenin like I know a few reg'lar readers probably are right at this very moment. As for me well, I got called in to do some of that dreaded work so I guess the real fun and jamz hotdog eating and goofing off will have to wait until tomorrow! Oh well, at least then I'll have a whole day to hole up in my room reading old fanzines and listening to music at least until GUNSMOKE comes on at six!

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Hey, I got my own entry on Wikipedia! Now I really am famous!!!:

Christopher Stigliano is an American far-right extremist, white supremacist blogger and former teenager who is known for his promotion of conspiracy theories, scientific racism, punk rock, old sit-coms, eugenics and white supremacist views. Stiggy describes himself as an anarcho-capitalist. The SPLC and the ADL say that is code-speech for neo-Nazi. 

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Anyway, time to face the music.Hope you dig this round of records, some of 'em actually contributed to the cause by the likes of Bill Shute, Paul McGarry and Bob Forward. Good stuff here if I do say so myself.


Original Cast Soundtrack-LES IDOLES LP (CBS Records, France)
Jean-Pierre Kalfon-MY FRIEND MON AMI EP (Pop Suprette Records, France)

Given just how much of a GENUINE KULTURAL ICON that Jean-Pierre Kalfon was (or maybe still is...although UGLY THINGS has listed him as dead 'n gone I can't find any real deal evidence on-line), it's a shame that so little of his musical output has been released. Of course the man is far more renowned for his acting abilities and reputation as a French Brando having appeared in a variety of genres (and even an Amerigan effort, the Walt Disney production of CONDORMAN which the Disney corporation would prefer to forget) while his musical endeavors have generally been more of an avocation, but from what little I can discern Kalfon was a fairly well known entity even in the world of French rock 'n roll belters. Maybe his fame should spread beyond the Gallic world as should way too many Frenchmen's efforts which were not only limited, not only by the language barrier, but by the cruel rumor being spread that the French just could not play rock 'n roll.

It's too bad that the only Kalfon that any English-speaking rock 'n roll fan might know about is via his track with Kalfon Rock Chaud entitled "Camion", the one that appeared on the SKYDOG COMMANDOS album way back '77 way. "Camion" was a number that once again proves the falsehoods about the French that have been spread around, coming off like the prime-era New York Dolls doing their version of "High School Confidential" in a fashion that might have even struck Jerry Lee Lewis dumbfounded. Kinda wonder why the group didn't record any more because this track proved just how important to the French musical mindset Kalfon was and well, I'm sure you would have loved coming across an album of the Rock Chaud in some mid-eighties flea market bin about as much as I would have, eh?

I raved bigtime about the film LES IDOLES about a month or so back and, despite the usual lack of pocket money to buy such things, actually got hold of the soundtrack to the thing that's how desirable it was for this depression-waged kiddo. The moom pitcher was a wild enough representation of 1968 hard pop yet commercial enough musique, but could the thing translate itself well into the vinyl medium?

Sure does, at least most of the time. The dialogue sans visuals is meaningless to a furriner like myself but the music still rocks as much even without the flashy avgarde images adding a dimension you never could get outta "rock videos".  Kalfon's vocal talents, along with femme lead Bulle Olgier's and equally legendary French actor Pierre Clementi's (Kalfon and Clementi did put together a band a few years later, the results of which I would love t' hear) really add a punk rock roar to the platter which doesn't make it as desirable as Iggy, but way better'n the reams of soundtrack platters that are cluttering up yer grandparent's haunt that are destined to turn up at the next garage sale and just try givin' 'em away! LES IDOLES is an album deserving of a re-release, perhaps with the usual outtakes and aural esoterica that such a product most deservedly needs especially in these rock-starved times. And as for backing band Les Rollsticks well, too bad they didn't continue out on their own because they could have delivered upon us an album that would have really struck that eternal chord in all of us!

A few years earlier Kalfon recorded an EP for CBS that unfortunately went nowhere in the craniums of the collective French teenage mindset. Only now, a good fifty-five years later, is MY FRIEND MON AMI being given a reissue by the fine folk at Pop Suprette, a label which I hope continues on a French rock reissue series if this spinner is any indication of the rest of the mid-sixties scene o'er there. And I dunno about you but I rate Kalfon even higher'n Ronnie Bird and some of the other early punk types as Kalfon sings ever so slightly off key in his gritty voice while fuzz guitar and the whole orchestral shebang tries to turn this into a big pop production that the grownups could enjoy along with the kiddoids. It brings back mid-sixties turdler memories for me and just might for you with its continental flair matched with vocals that would have been more at home singing along with the Seeds. A darn good surprise and pretty hard to find even in its reissued state so you better start looking and rather pronto at that!

A guy like Kalfon really oughta be the subject of an in-depth rock 'n roll examination worthy of UGLY THINGS stature. I unnerstan' there's an autobio of his out there somewhere albeit in his mother tongue, but as far as something in English goes I'm afraid we are out of luck...well, at least we are right now here in the middle of that beautiful sixties/seventies punk history dying right in front of our very eyes. Maybe one of you French readers close to the Skydog taproot of things can whip something up for our entertainment and educational benefit, hunh?

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Randy Holden-POPULATION II CD (RidingEasy Records)

Well whaddaya know! The classic Randy Holden POPULATION II platter is once again available for all of us nimnuls who passed on the earlier reissues (not to mention the original release!) oh so long ago. Fans of Blue Cheer will naturally go for the hard riffage and general heavy metal pounce that is present here, and even fans of the general caveman thunk of the true spirit of 1970 will remember why the hard sounds of the era (as exemplified by Holden and Co.) were the perfect antidote to all of that Cat Stevens meowing that was making that guy richer'n any of our rock 'n roll heroes will ever be! Sounds loud no matter what volume you play it at...if you really need to check out the quality of your hearing aids this is the spinner to do it with!

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Einstuerzende Neubauten-FUENF AUF DER NACH OBEN OFFENEN RICHTERSKALA CD (www.neubauten.org)

A purchase inspired by the Howard Wuelfing writeups available on Rocksbackpages, and a fairly good one that took me a few listens to get into but I managed to slip into that Meltzerian "Universe" like a pro. The massive noise cacophony that was expected really did not materialize, leaving the listener (mainly me!) drawing up all sorts of comparisons between the likes of Suicide and Nurse With Wound with a few thousand points in-between. Not only that but their version of "Morning Dew" even beats the one that turned up on some old Texas HIGHS IN THE MID-SIXTIES album! Fits in swell with the hard-hammering sounds that seem to soothe me into a restful condition more than even the Hawkwind, Amon Duul II and Can that seem to be heading towards the top of my own personal playlist.

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The Dream Syndicate-THE UNIVERSE INSIDE CD-r burn (originally on ANTI Records)

Never having been a humongous fan of the Dream Syndicate I must say that I was surprised by the fine jazz-cum-psychedelic drone play that for once didn't get my BS detectin' radar up the way it did when this group was taking up precious fanzine space in the mid-eighties. However there still seems to be that typically amerindie rock sterility to this that plagued many otherwise interesting groups that were mingling around in the anti-mainstream way back when. It all added up to being yet another reason I felt so inhibited by that music that was supposed to save us all from the clutches of Van Halen but missed by a wide margin. I don't expect any future spins of THE UNIVERSE INSIDE to reverse my initial impressions.

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ANDREW KLIMEK WCSB PART THREE/DOUG GILLARD WCSB PARTS ONE AND TWO/TIM SKI WCSB PART ONE CD-r burns

Klimek's part's just the tail end of the Mark P interview while Gillard seems to like interspersing things being broadcast on the mainstream station while his recs are playing (or was someone goofin' off with the radio dial?). Eh, the guy is a great programmer what with the likes of Patti Smith, early Who and Killing Joke getting some much desired airplay for once, even if it is on a low wattage college radio station. Of course there's still a whole lotta typical college radio "amerindie" stuff here that drives me just as bonkers as it did back then, but I've come to expect things like that to the point where I can actually "brush it off" like I do the myriad assortment of insults that lesser minds continually toss my way. As far as Tim Ski goes...your playlist is a little too typical FM college kid at least for this sport! Buy some Stooges albums and come back when they've attached themselves to your inner psyche but whatever, don't give up!

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Various Artists-SPANISH TURTLE BLINDMAN CORNBREAD CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Eh, a nice way to wind up a week what with all of the Soul Jazz Bill thought would stimulate my stirrups. They have. Some latin-tinged tracks and downright bloozy efforts appear, and even the Herbie Hancock pre-jazz funk track "Cantelupe Island" (which some of you will remember from the Daily Flash live Cee-Dee) appears. 'n whatever you do, don't confuse the Sugarman 3 with Spaceman 3 (the former are the good 'un's!). Hey, it's that swell of a keeper that I'd listen to it over and over even if Bill had stuck a 78 of some yodeling cowboy smack inna middle of it!

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Feeling down in the mouth, sick, depressed and looking for that guiding light to rescue from the tediums of the day? Well then, you really do need some BLACK TO COMM back issues  in your life! Click on the highlighted link where total inspiration awaits, amongst other things.

I don't blame ya if ya don't read this. It's so obvious that I've run outta steam loooong ago and ain't been relevant to the whole concept/idea of rock fandom since what...1986 if not earlier. As if that every mattered since I've always been way outside the scope of what is "hip" and "cool" w/regards to this thing they call "under-the-underground" music, although, frankly considering some of the downright creeps who permeate this "scene" I think I'm all the better because of it. But that doesn't mean you have to read my rehashing of old musical forms that might have lit a few sparks way back when but are today about as meaningful to anyone's day-to-day existence as The Trojan Wars. Don't expect much, as if you ever did.

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But for those of you who do actually follow my every word, syllable and punctuation mark while actually caring about my own personal comings and goings well, I have been keeping myself out of mischief mostly thanks to the miracle of internet. When the evening hits and it's time to kick off the ol' shoes, I find myself scouring the usual sociopolitical sites I oft head towards as well as catching a good portion of my video entertainment via youtube. Most of the time I end up watching a cooking demonstration (usually during my frequent hungerthons) or old tee-vee show that passes my fancy (see below!), or maybe some thirties-vintage comedy, the kind I've been blabbing about since the early-nineties at the very least. Seems that as of late there have been many new to me shorts popping up with an alarming frequency thanks to some film collector named Joseph Blough, a man who is generous enough to share his collection of rare Educational Films Exchange comedies with us.

Not so surprising (at least to me) is how my current tastes in cinema seem to be turning towards the American Mutoscope and Biograph films of the pre-D.W. Griffith era such as the quickie trick-photography ones like SHERLOCK HOLMES BAFFLED (1900, and I don't think any rights were applied or given) as well as other early one-minute comedies and dramas which really settle well with the ten-year-old doofus that still seems to reside in me. Y'see, when I was that age and the other kids were all agog over Peter Max, I was taking a big interest in the culture and overall how do you do's of the turn of the century and thus stuck out as an even bigger sore thumb amid my "peers" because of it!

Them Victorian Age feelings continue to live on even this late in my life considering how, right at this very moment, my favorite pre-World War I comic strip just has to be THE LOVE OF LULU AND LEANDER! Artist F. M. Howarth's finely detailed style might seem antiquated and perhaps even downright reactionary to today's not-so-discerning tastes, but I find it quite appealing especially in these times when it seems as if it takes only thirty seconds to crank out a daily (a wnole minute for a Sunday!). What especially draws me to this legendary strip is the detailed art with oversized heads and vivid eyes which lend much to the characters' oft aggravated facial expressions. Naturally the amusing storylines dealing with the courtship of Lulu Peachtree and her boyfriend Leander Lavender (!) help out plenty. 

Now these strips might not be downright belly-laugh material, but they're still quite pleasing in their own way as they reflect a part of the past that unfortunately has drifted away as if people actually do care about romance and courtship in the same way today as they did 115 years back.

Old fashioned and perhaps even hokey to a fault, but for a turd like me who was always interested in comic strip history I find LULU AND LEANDER a whole lot more life-reaffirming and a reflection of the tribulations and happiness that tru-blu love can bring. The affection (and jealousy) the pair have for each other as well as comedic tribulations that they often go through do seem to reflect, amid the occasional chaos their relationship would tumble into, an idea of love that I believe has left the planet and perhaps for good!  

If you don't think I'm on the lookout for a collection of these strips in book form (other'n an original 1906 edition which is probably crumbling beyond belief) you certainly must be out of your ever-lovin' gourd! Fortunately there are some strips available online which should hold my interest for awhile. Directly below I printed a few of the LULU AND LEANDER hidden image postcards that were out and about during the strip's run in which the revealing drawings completing the gag were made visible after the cards were heated up! I put these on the blog just because, well, I just thought you'd get a kick outta seein' 'em! Maybe not but I'll sure give it a try...

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As far as other internet fun 'n jamz go, its no great shakes to you to know that I've been perusing the same old blogs that I've been reading for almost twenny years awlready. Naturally those blogs are fading away but still, tune in I must. Surprisingly enough, one of my current faves is a newly created one, none other than (now get this!) Jay Hinman's alleged attempt to steal my thunder, FANZINE HEMMORHAGE! Yes, the very same blog I accused Hinman of ripping off from ME (accusing him in a perhaps half-hearted way but still...) only a few posts back!!! 

In case you've been hiding under a turd you should know that this is the place where Hinman reviews them home-made publications of the past that have been cluttering up his collection for years on end, usually doing so in glowing if not nostalgic terms that might seem a tad alien to someone who's been outta the loop like myself! I espy it not only to see if Hinman (who I still think is a creep par excellence) is saying anything negative regarding me and my "stature" in the world of fandom (so far so good but that will change), but gosh darn if my own appreciation of the fanzine form doesn't have me reading on if only to find out more about a lotta these rags of the eighties I just dad blamed couldn't afford to pick up back in those penny-pinching days! Of course most if not all of them I wouldn't want to peruse (mainly because I'm not exactly inside Hinman's "clique" --- not that I'd want to be) but still...

The above FACT should be quite obvious to most of you, for the kind of music fanzines I go for (seventies-era neo-Meltzerian gonz) and his (eighties underground coma-inducing) are worlds apart as far as aesthetics and general snide attitude go. But read on I must given my near-Werthamian interest in the general fanzine form which is why I can't help but take a sneak peak at FANZINE HEMMORHAGE now and again! Perhaps I might learn something from it, but in the long run I sincerely doubt it.

Whatever you do, don't tell Jay that I'm a secret fan...who knows what nefarious trick he'll pull on me in order to get my oft-gotten goat!

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I was way too old (and way too busy) for Saturday Morning Tee-Vee when those especially made for the kids sitcoms (LOST SAUCER, BIG JOHN LITTLE JOHN,,,) made their way to the mid-seventies television screens. However, I do recall seeing at least one episode of NBC's THE MONSTER SQUAD, prob'ly on some rainy Saturday morn when there were no chores to be done or any other way to occupy my spare time. Who knows, some of you may even remember this series (no relation to the 1987 moom pitcher of the same name) that featured a post-DEATH RACE 2000/pre-LOVE BOAT Fred Grandy leading a buncha wax museum monster figures brought to life in campy crime fighting adventures that pretty much mimicked the fantasy sitcoms of the sixties, only with an extremely limited budget. A cursory viewing lo these many years later has led me to believe that THE MONSTER SQUAD was aimed not only at the kiddos spilling Cap'n Crunch all over the carpet but the blurry-eyed boozers recovering from a long Friday night! 

After re-watching this particular episode featuring Marty Allen heading up a gang of thieves decked out in glitter regalia, it's more'n obvious that THE MONSTER SQUAD was way better'n some of the comedies that were popping up on the prime time schedule at just about the same nanosecond! Well, it made for way better viewing than a good portion of the offal of the day like THE SAN PEDRO BEACH BUMS as well as those totally dismal variety shows like the kind Cher and Tony Orlando hosted. The exact type of tee-vee which helped wean me off of a good portion of boob tube watching for good, or at least the new stuff! As the guy in the meme says, "prove me wrong!!!!"

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Yeah yeah I know...enough with the personalism and on with the reviews! Paul McGarry (as usual) is to be credited with contributing all of the donations (God will reward him for this, although I do not know whether it will be in a good or bad way.) Anyway, read on, and tell me that I wasn't right about how I've been going through the same ol' motions for nigh on twennysome years awlready!

The Sons of Adam-SATURDAY'S SONS CD-r burn (originally on High Moon Records)

Yeah, this is the same group that not only once boasted the presence of future Blue Cheer guitarist Randy Holden in its ranks but recorded the then-unreleased Love number "Feathered Fish" which eventually wound up on the second volume of PEBBLES! 

A lack of liner notes has me more in the dark than had I fallen into the Black Hole of Calcutta, but I can tell you that the live from the Avalon set that opens this disque is chock full of that San Francisco ballroom feel that was oozing forth from that city shortly before it all fell into loveandpeacedrivel, Punk rock in the same fashion Nick Kent called the first Grateful Dead platter punk, but perhaps closer to the Dead '65 during their definitely punk "Confusion Prince" period than what would transpire in a few rotten years time

The studio tracks which follow show a softer and definitely influenced by the quieter side of the British Inversion sound, again coming close to the earlier San Fran style back when the inspiration was way more Peter and Gordon than the Dave Clark Five. By the time "Feathered Fish" rolls around the pulse rises and the sphincter tightens (the stomach sphincter mind you) and we're into that notion of what "West Coast" rock 'n roll was supposed to have meant to a good portion of us had the flakier elements not overcome the scene.

Following these Sons of Adam proper tracks are a series of cuts done during the group's earlier Fender IV days, surf instruments that sounds as if they came straight outta Downey California. Only from what I can tell these tracks were recorded while the bunch were still living on the East Coast with just goes to show ya that ideas and musical modes traveled a whole lot faster than what I would have thought in them pre-internet days!

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Randy Holden-POPULATION III CD-r burn (originally on Riding Wasy Records)

(And speaking of  the Sons of Adam...) Frankly I didn't have much hope that Holden's follow-up to his mega-opus would be anywhere as hard-edged as the original, and although I really HATE to admit that I'm wrong well... If POPULATION III actually is a sequel to Holden's 1970 earbuster it's sure an unexpectedly wonderful one that surpasses if not equals the original what with that hard-edged seventies thud doom metal approach that seemed to have been washed outta the genre by the time the sissified eighties rolled in, if not earlier. I particularly liked the hypno-beat of  "Sands of Time" while "Land of Sun" has a rather powerful lurch to it that's gonna grow on you like that lump on the back of John Fetterman's neck! It's sure great knowin' that old turds like Holden can teach them young 'uns a thing or two! 

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Iggy Pop-EVERY LOSER CD-r burn (originally on Atlantic/Gold Tooth Records)

I like (well, most of) Iggy's latest because it reminds me of something outta the early eighties that at least had a modicum of class. The Bowie influence rages on and the synths sound like they were lifted outta some new wave album right around the time the terms transformed into "gnu" wave (copyright 1983 Bill Shute). It still registers in me perhaps because, even with that Larry King voice and the technoslick production, the Ig of old shines just enough to bring back dem warm 'n fuzzy memories of the days when music seemed to be an extremely driving force in my genetics. If this is how Iggy's gonna go outta his career better be this way'n singin' duos with that thing from the B-52s. 

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Robert Gordon with Link Wray-NYU LOEB AUDITORIUM, NEW YORK NY Dec 2, 1977 CD-r burn

Given all the negative commentary that has been bestowed upon Robert Gordon for quite a spell (and the rumors I've heard aren't exactly complimentary) I might feel quite uncomfortable writing about the man in positive terms! But eh, I find this live 'un to be a whole loads more entertaining 'n some of those stiffoids pretending to capture the glory of fifties rock 'n roll I've had the misfortune of hearing for a longer time 'n I can imagine. Gordon ain't any real talent mind you, but Link Wray could even make Wally Cox sound exciting! Bruce Springsteen guests on one track although Wray's natural magnetism overcomes any of the emote that "The Boss" might exude.

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Popular Creeps-ALL THIS WILL END IN TEARS CD-r burn (orignally on Big Stir Records)

Ya know I tend to shy away from these modern "power pop" efforts given how I believe it to my soul that the idea of ANY seventies modes being performed in the twenties is rather --- shall we say --- a bit too retro for my sense of listening. I won't be shying away from Popular Creeps tho, or at least this particular platter which thankfully displays a gutsier take on the retro-mop top trends of the past. Now I'll admit that portions of ALL THIS WILL END IN TEARS might ooze shards of post-sixties over-professionalism that marred a number of efforts from the Shoes on down, but despite that it holds up a whole lot better (and smoother) than some of the more sweety pie p.p. efforts I've heard o'er the years. Nothin' creepy about these guys that's for sure! 

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Hey, why should I (like other fanzine publishers of the past) put my entire run on line for free especially when I have so many of 'em I need to move outta my basement! BLACK TO COMM  is not quite ready for the digital age, but until it is why not buy a few (or more) available back issues (click highlight above) and who knows, maybe if I sell 'em all out you'll be paying to see it online some day (like I'm gonna give it away for free!).

A word to the wise (and perhaps not so) may be in order. Reviews #1 and 3 are more or less standard writeups of important product that's been on the market for quite some time only I've gotten around to it now for whatever reasons I harbor in my simian-like brain. Review #2 is yet another one of my attempts to do an essay-length themed piece in the tradition of Russell Desmond, Brian Doherty, Lester Bangs and various other scribes whom I've been swiping from for nigh on thirty years. Whether or not my efforts to emulate the rockscreed stylings of the seventies and beyond work or not is up to you, but at this time I couldn't give two flying figs...I'm having too much of a damned time trying to figure out this new blogger "interface" as it is to be pestered by your at-time inane musings!

Cradle-THE HISTORY CD-R (available through CD Baby)

This is that all-gal Detroit-area band that future New York Doll/Heartbreaker Jerry Nolan drummed in, which wouldn't necessarily have made 'em an all gal group at the time but at least they were one when they recorded the music that appears on this Cee-Dee!. And it ain't the fact that a future rock icon like Nolan was once a member of Cradle that anybody remembers 'em...nosiree, the only reason these femmes're even getting the reissue treatment is because three of the four members were the Quatro sisters, y'know, as in Suzi, Patty and Nancy, two of whom later made it big in seventies rock circles, one as a Fanny fill-in and the other as a solo star/HAPPY DAYS semi-semi-regular in her own right! Other'n that, all Cradle were wuz yet another local group on the Detroit scene who were tryin' to grasp at some of the glory that the MC5 were lucky enough to accrue which in my book is a whole lot more important'n the fact that half of 'em were making  music that I might be interested in hearing one of these days. Maybe not this month, year or even decade, but when I'm 112 like, why not?.

The tracks here were taken from two pretty hotcha live shows (one opening for the MC5 themselves on New Year's Eve), with a sound that's surprisingly clear and not in that high-end FM radio way either which seemed more attuned to the ears of downed out dropouts and various breeds of dog. Performance is particularly snat in its commercial appeal...close to the Detroit ideal in an early Alice Cooper-ish fashion complete with vocal harmonies that add yet another tasteful dimension to Cradle's show. These almost baroque stylings give the act a maudlin but often driving sound, adding to an image which thankfully doesn't put titzenazz up front and musical whatziz behind like many all-femme aggregates do yet it doesn't come off feminist militia complete with the mandatory nutcrackers. Like the best non-male rockers, it puts music ahead of agenda or titty-lation and for that I'm sure we could all be proud.

Really, this is a surprising set that has an ethereal, dream-like slow burn to it (or is this because I'm more or less reminiscing about Christmas holidays past fill'd with youthful erotic exuberance?), and how could I not mention the interesting choice of subject matter from transvestism ("Man is a Man") to dildos ("Peter Porno") and even Iggy Pop ("Funny Man"), perhaps the most disgusting subject in the whole lot!

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Suaka-EPISODE 1 CD (Stonedeaf) 


White Stone-LIVE IN NYC CD (CD Baby)

Heavy Metal Will Stand! Now how many times have you heard that war cry being uttered from the pages of your favorite rockscapading read o'er the past thirtysome years? Now if you ask me (and why not?) this particular phrase certainly made a whole lotta sense when it was first bellowed, (see Metal Mike Saunders for more details), though by the mid-seventies or so it seemed to ring rather hollow what with all of the "lite metal" acts that were beginning to dot the FM scene like chancres on a teenage whore's lips. Nowadays such musical call to arms are laughable considering what has become of the entire heavy metal "idiom" which managed to go from Sabbath to Ozzy to Autograph with a couple of calculated flops.

Naturally when Lauren Agnelli used this phrase as the title to her review of THE DICTATORS GO GIRL CRAZY in CREEM it seemed the most fitting thing in the world to say, and when Don Underwood uttered the exact same words in his RADIO ETHIOPIA writeup I could easily concur. And when Lester Bangs and a whole number of card-carrying rock scribers both pro and fan would utter the most magnificent metallic praise upon such Stooges classics as FUNHOUSE and RAW POWER I felt like signing up for the heavy metal fan club myself. But along the way, something strange happened.


I think Frank Kogan, for all of his faults, hit the nail on the head when he said that the spawn of the seventies rock generation wasn't exactly looking for raw ear-bleeding energy in their music but technical precision, professional performances and an over abundantly clean sound without any spec of distortion, atonality or energy for that matter. Where listeners such as myself and perhaps you were interested in music as a violent catharsis tonality/metre/chords/any semblance of cold humanity be damned, the majority of the ever-popular 18-34 (give or take) market was looking for a music with a clean sound, professional playing, clearasil vocals and worst of all a total lack of energy. It may have been loud, grating and perhaps even sludge-y, but it certainly signified nothing!

The heavy metal groups, hearing the clarion call of mega arena bucks, were just itching to dish just that out to a world fulla youth who somehow decided that a guy playing a guitar fast was akin to good musicianship no matter how lameass the entire solo might have been. I blame it on a lotta things from bad drugs, bad upbringing, bad examples and Andy Secher, who turned HIT PARADER into one of the shallowest, one-dimensional excuses for a rock music of any genre let alone heavy metal which, judging from some of the brilliant pearls of wisdom he's spouted, he knew about as much of as he did quantum physics.

But hey, when heavy metal did click on all pistons via the speedgrindcore movement...talkin' early Metallica, Slayer and even a more trad outfit like Anthrax who I found rather entrancing...it was some of the better original music to make its way outta the dump that most of us readers remember as the eighties. Pretty refreshing in fact, especially when the hardcore punk groups who seemed to be the last gasp of the seventies regime was flaking away into meaningless political diatribes or experimental piddle and what had held so much promise for us (such as the New York Underground) had pretty much fizzled out into nada with the survivors more or less making bigger fools of themselves than the "dinosaur" groups they oh so loathed. (Or so we thought...) Heck, even the spawn of Pere Ubu were making horrible records and with MX-80 Sound temporarily out of action it wasn't like there was that much to really sustain a person like myself. At least speedmetal helped fill a gap, no matter how minuscule in might have been in my own listening parameter.

Of course I liked my metal a whole lot more when it was mixed with that high energy (early) punk that had been my bailiwick for a few years prior. Naturally the best metal always had a load of punk rock credo to it...take the Stooges and even UFO, whose early platters with Mick Bolton on guitar seemed just as much born of NUGGETS as they did Zep. Face it, for me heavy metal was always best when focused through a gritty punk lens 'stead of the progressive professionalism that most heavy metallics seemed to cherish...the distorted quivering amped up drive sans the pyrotechnical blah Eddie Van Halen "hey look at me play fast c'mon 'n worship me!" stylings that continue to make me wanna cringe even though that era is long dead 'n buried with the corpse of "classic rock" still lingering on somewhere on your FM dial.

Yes, consider that Rocket From The Tombs were originally billed as being "Dumb Metal" (a term that could have applied to most of the HM practitioners of the day, but I guess they meant it differently) and that their live radio broadcast was part of a "heavy metal showcase" where they opened for not only longtime Hendrix cover group Paragon but Youngstown's Left End just beginning their long slide into collector's heaven.  And over in New York recall the various heavy metal festivals at Max's Kansas City not forgetting Von Lmo's "heavy metal dance rock/electroshock" depending on which "Voice Choice" you happened to read, and if anybody can tip me off to the name of that "heavy metal country and western band" that played a CBGB audition one night and Max's the next (autumn 1981) I will be eternally grateful, especially since you'll save me a trip to the Youngstown Public Library microfilm department which should cost me a pretty penny in gas! (And I recall the story about the bass guitarist from Bitch Magnet talking to someone I used to know with the bassist saying that when they played CB's in '87 all of the other groups on the bill with them were heavy metal, he even making the assumption that CBGB was now a metal club and nothing but which does surprise me because if so why book Bitch Magnet?)

But all kidding aside, I sure do like my metal and punk mixed up nice and heavy (Wurm and Rotomagus should also fit in here somewhere), which is why I tend to pick out a whole lotta metallic recordings that have emanated from the bowels of the New York underground from the seventies until the final days of CBGB's. Call it nostalgia if you will but I'll only bop you on the nose...let's just say that it's more spiritual, like listening to a music that has roots from way back during the birth of feedback into redlined teenage recordings and late-sixties blind rage mixed with avant garde inclinations that might or might now be intentional, all the way through to more modern applications of all of these influences and ideas that cranked out goes to show you the logical end result of a good thirty years of rock emulation and bared-wire intensity!

Anywah, the two groups on today's itinerary have at least one thing in common other'n being of the metal idiom, and that is they were both alive and perhaps even kicking during the final days of the last gasp at CBGB, a haunt who as we now know never really shied away from heavy metal from the Dictators and Sorcerers down through a number of eighties acts on whom I will probably discover sometime before I do the big check out into the great record shop in the sky. And for a guy who had more or less tuned into the various live CBGB cybercasts throughout the early-to-mid-oh-oh's I can tell you that as far as metal went the folks at CBGB were probably more conscious of it as an underground form to be reckoned with as most of the labels who were willy-nillying signing some of the worst ever heavy metal acts back in the mid-eighties. I can recall seeing a number of metal acts who were worth their weight in stud leather via these cybercasts, from Karen Black to Crisis and the Electric Magic Side Show (OK, I missed their set by a few minutes!) There was even was rather obscure band I caught called Cherry Hill High who were being touted as metal via some website that had linked up a number of archived CBGB 'casts...and these guys were pretty great not only because they had a seventies look down (with the lead singer kinda looking like a sneako perv with an Australian army hat and mirrored shades) but their sound seemed to take the early Dictators credo and muddled it out as if these guys didn't care that much whether or not you liked what they were doing for you. But what I did experience was pretty good hard rockin' in that cool seventies style I sure do miss, and although I fear that any recordings by Cherry Hill High let alone the cybercast I saw are perhaps lost to the ether I can only HOPE that somebody, a member of the group or someone from their inner circle will read this and provide me with all of the information, snaps, sounds etc. that I can use if only to sate my inner turmoil regarding what I had experienced oh so long ago.

Enough rheumy reminiscences...first on today's bill so-to-speak is this Indonesia transplanted to En Why See metallic batch who go by the name Suaka. Dunno what that means, but if you were to tell me that it means an Indonesian version of Pantera or Metallica I'd probably believe you. A group whom, like many acts both famous and not before 'em, got their break via a CBGB audition night, Suaka may tread some metal cliches both old and new and throw in a li'l progressive influx here and there. However, its their devotion to a more punkist frame of mind that keeps me interested in these guys as a variant on the same (and tried) forms that don't tend to bore even though you've heard that hotcha boiler room blast passing as a guitar solo many times before. No real meaning of the world here, but every group can't be Von Lmo!

Suaka might not have the same sense of forced submission that early Metallica had and they do have the kinda demeanor that could appeal just as much to the prog leftovers as the metallic bunch, but their sense of addled punkitude, when it rears its ugly li'l head, drags this recording down to the ragged level of grovel that I most certainly enjoy. And although I personally don't expect much success (critically/financially/muff-wise) in Suaka's future...frankly they're too nice to make it big...at least they present a heavy metal vision that doesn't reek of the eighties fake glam devil-sign trappings that were just about as indicative of the entire decade's blandness as rubic cubes. And that's something we can believe in, even after grunge replaced metal as the new choice of teenage addledness a good two decades back.

Frankly I got a bigger kick outta White Stone, whose LIVE IN NYC was recorded at the hallowed CBGB haunt in front of what seems like one of the smallest audiences they've had in quite awhile. Might have been one of those 7:00 PM opening gig slots that the club would have during their later years when up to six or so groups would get booked per evening and of course the opening act always gets a duff reception because hardly anybody would be in the club so early in the first place. But whether or not this is true it sure looks like White Stone got the crap end of the stick trying to warm up a handfulla people who were just starting to get into their evening jollies. Hey, I guess even the better groups got stuck in worse situations on their way up, even if most of 'em probably never got anywhere at all in their nefarious climb to the top of the rock 'n roll slag heap!

Can't help but like this group. First off, White Stone are heavy metal in the classic, CREEM sense just like in that 1981 special issue where what was left of the bullpen was once again stretching the boundaries trying to explain just why acts like the MC5 and Amon Duul I were just as important to the heavy metal canon as Ted Nugent and Molly Hatchet. Second off, this group is a duo consisting of guitar and drums, though don't expect this to sound anything like Randy Holden's POPULATION TWO for (#3) White Stone's overall musical abilities are very loose and matter-of-fact (dare I say amateurish?) in the same way I'd see these weirdo off-the-wall groups at the CBGB 313 Gallery on the Kenny McLaughlin-hosted rock 'n roll party nights or whatever they were called and these acts outta nowhere'd come on and perform their original compositions only to dissipate into nothingness as soon as they were through. I remember one show (which started on a Saturday afternoon...and you could tell it was gonna be a LONG night!) where McLaughlin had booked this duo consisting of a Lenny Kaye lookalike on a cheap electric piano and his drummer pal playing some of the most untogether jazz-rock-y music as if they were a low budget Steely Dan thinking this was the first stop in their trek towards fame, fortune and perhaps a lip synch job on AMERICAN BANDSTAND (which was long gone by this time, but the thought seemed to be there!). Naturally I didn't hear a thing from this duo after their CB's appearance, but sheesh would I love to hear that set they did again as well as anything else they may have laid down in their boudoir or basement for that matter. Had more soul 'n feel than the entire recorded output of the eighties-nineties combined I'll tell ya!

And for a buncha guys who say they had been doing this metallic pounce since the mid-eighties (!) White Stone's resultant sound is pretty amateur hour grasping for life! It comes off kinda thin considering the stripped down setup, but as usual its primal nature and general approach makes this platter a definite metallic must have. I am reminded of the reviews that such critics as John Rockwell (THE NEW YORK TIMES) and Fred Kirby (VARIETY) gave this similarly endowed act that went by the name of Ice (featuring future Necessaries/Love of Life Orchestra member Randy Burns/Gunn) back during their CBGB Summer Festival gig in 1975 where both scribes mentioned this duo's comparatively "thin" sound due to their lack of a bass guitarist. And yeah, White Stone also can sound "thin" especially for an act that purports to be metallic (I mean, you should check out the under-miked, weak singing courtesy of guitarist M.C. Cancassi!), but then again I really find no fault with this group or their music, which has a whole lot more going for it entertainment and energy-wise than a good portion of what was being pumped to the locals with regards to what heavy metal (as a movement/style/marketing ploy) was supposed to mean and supposed to be for that matter.

Because once you get down to it what this heavy metal stuff was supposed to "be" all along is "fun", and although something along those lines would undoubtedly be foreign to those stiff punque rock elitists of the eighties (sorry if I can't get the image of this blahed out representative from Existencil Press on the old MAXIMUM ROCK 'N ROLL radio show vehemently denying that the music of Crass or they labelmates was in any way to be construed as "entertainment"...glad that I have people like her telling me how evil I am for seeking pleasure outta something meant to change the world for the betterment of all) well, it sure makes sense to me! Gotta say that I love White Stone on all levels, from their primitive performance to their use of seventies metallic chords long discarded as well as the fact that they just durn lack a bass guitar, and even if sometimes their material can be a li'l rote I'm not throwing out any babies or bath water at this time. When I listen to their guys all I can say is that "Long Live Heavy Metal" still has a shard of meaning and dignity left in its oft-hollow cry, and although I might have sniffed at the prospect at one time now I am full front and center for the least-pure, least-talented metal money can buy, or obsessed fans can beg from long-gone groups for that matter!.
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WHITE STONE POSTSCRIPT-I just hadda find out more, and it turns out there is a li'l bitta information on the group available via the web that perhaps sheds some light on this act. Por ejemplo, it seems as if White Stone are not as flybynight obscure as I thought, and in fact they even have a number of Cee-Dees available (via CD Universe) which really surprised me considering how they sound as if they're barely able to get the music they recorded here out of their systems and into the air! Also the group was only a duo for this particular recording (or so I would surmise), also utilizing a bass guitar on most if not all of the rest of their output. One release currently available is an instrumental tribute to their favorite guitar heroes from Leslie West to Steve Hackett (!) and yeah, they consider this above release not metallic in nature but more in a "post punk" vein. I'll still be drawing my own conclusions for quite a long time, though right now I'm really hungerin' to hear that electric piano/drums duo who played that King Kenny's night afternoon at the Gallery oh so long ago...
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Little Diesel-NO LIE CD (Telstar)

Betcha wond'rin why I snatched this particular spinner up a good five years after the blasted thing was released. If you must know, this is the reason why I bought it! Yes, the UGLY THINGS review was less than complimentary, and although it ain't like I stake my curiosity on any item on just one review it wasn't like I was champing on the bit to rush out 'n buy the thing!

It wasn't until reading the aforementioned WAITAKERE WALKS post entry, coupled with memories of ex-Diesel Peter Holsapple's article on the Winston-Salem proto-punk scene in the first issue of KICKS that I decided that Little Diesel were actually worth whatever $$$ that Moviemarz were offering for this li'l slab. And it's a pretty hotcha one too. If your idea of punk rock was a buncha kids who got together in somebody's garage and did their best to pound out music tightly based on the standard CREEM/ROCK SCENE credo with loads of mid-seventies bargain bin wonders tossed into the mix well, this'll bring a smile to the face of anybody still mourning the loss of the late Gizmos!

It's got that Mid/South style and swerve down, that's for sure, with an approach that comes off like FLAMINGO-period Flamin' Groovies with a few Ludlow Garage audiences tossed in for good measure. The choice of covers are definitely atypical...yeah I'm sure there were more'n a few local garage bands out there who were adding MC5, the Electric Prunes and Bowie in with their own originals, but Little Diesel were also doing everything from Beatles filtered through Blue Ash ("Anytime At All"), Spirit ("I Got a Line on You") and even Kool And The Gang's "Hollywood Swingin'". Why the Stooge-influenced version of the Osmonds' "Yo Yo" was left off I'll never know, though you will be glad to hear that the platter ends with a hidden treat, a cover of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" which I guess proves that Jymn Parrett was right all along to call 'em "punk rockin'" in the fourth issue of his sainted DENIM DELINQUENT fanzine! So good that I wouldn't even mind hearing the pre-Diesel Rittenhouse Square's take on Yes' "Yours is no Disgrace"!

Little Diesel also crank out some good originals too, the strongest of 'em being the New York Dolls "tribute" "Kissy Boys"! And the mix of these originals and the covers works swell as a lighter side to the at-times hard, underground and avant garde rock that was coming out of places as distinct as New York City, Cleveland and Prague during the same time. Nothing wrong with that naturally, but Little Diesel have a nice, suburban freshness to their sound which easily enough correlates to just about everything else that was retaining the wholesome ranch house picnic ideal during a time when Ameriga was suffering through everything from Watergate to STAND UP AND CHEER. I can relate to Little Diesel on this fun, UHF tee-vee potato chip 'n mayo kinda level, and really, maybe YOU should too!