Dimitri Monroe: Letters from a Burnt-Out Recluse
Dimitri Monroe, front man for the Naked Flames, is the Underground Man of Rock and Roll. For the next few months, The Church will publish excerpts from his witness's notebooks that may help keep us all alive inside. See more on Dimitri in our Interview Archives; read more on our Guest Rant page.
"Record Store Depression"
(from an upcoming release by
Dimitri Monroe and the Naked Flames)
Nasty's in the psych-ward and none of us have jobs
six months from now,we'll all be millionaires
Everytime I saw her,I had to ask her for a dollar
at the mercy of stuffed-shirts in swivel chairs
Drugstore drives the bread-truck and listens to me rant
he hopes someday they'll let him off probation
Says I should cut my hair and rid the spangles from my pants
at least when I turn in job applications
(pre chorus:) shadows of our former selves,I guess it's not uncommon
middle aged divorcees,reduced to eating Ramen
(chorus:) RECORD STORE DEPRESSION,I'm dressed up like a tart
RECORD STORE DEPRESSION with all this mischief in my heart
RECORD STORE DEPRESSION you scraped me from the street of shame
RECORD STORE DEPRESSION now I'll never be the same
Judy is a student with lots of big opinions
about the patri-archal propoganda
She's taking women's studies and concurring with her minions
kissing Paisley out on the veranda
Paisley is a mother and she's lookin' for another
while her old man's workin' overtime
now she's feeling self-empowered and she views him as a coward
who refuses to try to satisfy her mind
(prechorus:)She's looking for some causes cos she wants to get involved
and she loves him like a brother but this won't be resolved
(chorus:)RECORD STORE DEPRESSION I'm not a good provider
RECORD STORE DEPRESSION I'm more like a tiger
RECORD STORE DEPRESSION I'm goin down in flames
RECORD STORE DEPRESSION guess it's the price of fame
JANUARY 21, 2002
MIDDLE AGE WASTELAND 
by J.D. "Darkhorse" Monroe
"Rocknroll Is Trying To Convince Girls To Pay To Be Near You…" (-Richard Hell)
"Where Would I Live If I Were A Man Of Golden Words…?" (-Andrew Wood)
"My Intent Is To Tell The Truth As I Know It,Realizing That What Is True For Me,May
Be Blasphemy For Others…" (-Gerry Spence)
"My Candle Burns At Both Ends;It Will Not Last The Night;
But Ah,My Foes,And Oh,My Friends-It Gives A Lovely Light!"
(-Edna St. Vincent Millay)
YA THINK I'M A WHORE,BUT I'VE GOT A HEART OF GOLD…
The best albums (besides Ian Hunter's "Rant") I can suggest you try tracking down and purchasing this issue are anything by the JACOBITES/BOUNTY HUNTERS vocalist/guitar hero,DAVE KUSWORTH.Particularly,either of his newest cd's with his band,DAVE KUSWORTH & THE TENDERHOOKS,the s/t debut,and/or "English Disco".Also check out cd's by Hayley Avron,and Nikki Sudden's "Red Brocade". Billy Burks from the Humpers dropped me a line about a month ago that said,"…Getting drunk and listening to Nikki Sudden.Are you?" Be on the lookout for my NIKKI SUDDEN interview,any issue now.Most of this great music can be ordered from Jeff Dahl in the U.S. or from the folks at:www.waggingdogrecords.com <http://www.waggingdogrecords.com>
SIXTEEN LASTS AS LONG AS A SMILE…
Many of my favorite bands and musicians are in the studio right now,including Syl Sylvain,who's recording the follow-up to "Sleep Baby Doll" with Clem Burke and two former Mike Monroe sidemen,Ky Anto,and Tim Welch,I can't wait…Clem,call me!
Oh yeah,all five original members of Duran Duran have reunited to record a new album,I was an eighties kid,so I'm really happy about it.I want the Duran Duran action figures they're coming out with for Christmas.They were teenage role models of mine…Peter Perrett has reportedly been recording some new stuff,look for "Cultured Palate" or "Woke Up Sticky",by Peter Perrett and the One,if you love,"Another Girl,Another Planet",you won't be disappointed.Also,read the Nina Antonia-penned bio,his website address is www.sierrabravo.co.uk/perrett/disc.htm <http://www.sierrabravo.co.uk/perrett/disc.htm> …The killer rocknroll label Acetate are in the studio with Sonny Vincent and his usual roll-call of all-star-special-guest-musicians;as well as my fave new discoveries from tinsel-land,the cool-as-fuck SUPER BEES…What happened to that band Jetset that had the great "Jetset Theme" on that Junk Records compilation? The Dragons just put out a new record on Junk called "Rocknroll Kamikaze".The Dragons are one of the only really excellent bands amidst all this "NEW ROCK REVIVAL" hype.They're also puttin' out split seven inches with Brian Setzer and Electric Frankenstein.If ya ask me,it ain't Real Electric Frankenstein without Cherry 13's Steve Miller singin'.That guy has a special,tear-it-up rocknroll throat,shades of Bator and the Coop in their prime! …That daggum Chris from the Mono-shocks flaked on sending me new demos by my longtime faves,the COMA-TONES,but they've been back in the studio and Comatones guitarist,Jimmy James,also a member of the HANGMEN,is currently on tour with the Hangmen and the Supersuckers…Paula heard a song on the local folk station,WNKU,today offa Leonard Cohen's new album,which she says I'll really dig,but I have yet to hear it,myself.OR much from that Ryan Adams disc everybody's raving about,although I LOVED Whiskeytown.Or the new Dictators,but Detroit scene-maker,Brian T.,and Brother Rat are raving about it…Still listening to Kris Kristofferson's "Austin Sessions" a lot.
Apparently,Casino Steele,from the Boys, sang "For The Good Times" and "Road Warrior's Lament" at Kristofferson's 65th (?) birthday concert this year…John Easdale,one of the best songwriters left in the world right now,has been playing lots of shows on both coasts this year,and penning songs for his follow-up to the utterly essential album,"Bright Side",which everyone should own…Cheetah Chrome has written a buncha great new originals that still have yet to see the light of day,due to jiveass legal shit,but his live cd recorded in Detroit last year's currently available from www.duirecords.com <http://www.duirecords.com> Fer dumb guffaws,checkout "Cheetah Checkers" at www.ravenslaughter.com <http://www.ravenslaughter.com> ! …Beat Angels producer,Gilbey Clarke,has a new band with former Stray Cat/Hollywood niteclub owner,Slim Jim Phantom,called Colonel Parker;that grew out of a covers band,the Starfuckers,they had formed to battle the ennui of former-rockstarhood,putting a record out soon.I think the singer's name is Muddy Stardust-looks like Chris Robinson.Is it just me,or d'ya think that's what they'll sound like? An Izzy Stradlin solo album? Pretty much? No offense intended,fellas,I naturally loved all your old groups-esp.Candy! & I LIKE Izzy Stradlin solo albums.…The Sovines,Columbus,Ohio's Drunken Kings Of Torch & Twang; have released a live album chock fulla the kinda obscure punk and blues and country covers they've come to be so appreciated for given their raunchy treatment to live. www.sovines.com <http://www.sovines.com> …Kevin K. is releasing a new disc on the Aussie underground's best label,Vicious Kitten,called "13th Street",backed by members of Germany's glam punk outfit,the Hollywood Teasze.This is hot on the heels of last year's "Magic Touch" and the live cd with Sour Jazz and the live "Oriental Nights"cd with Ricky Trash Brat & Tony Romeo--this guy sure is prolific! Go to www.viciouskitten.com.au/ <http://www.viciouskitten.com.au/> …Speaking of the NEW ROCK REVIVAL,the Black Halos are on tour as I write this and apparently Coldfront Records is releasing a split cd anyday now of Libertine & American Heartbreak,I'm looking forward to hearing it…The B-MOVIE RATS have a live cd that's awful heavy out on the kickass Detroit independent/underground label,I-94 Recordings…Also check out Motorhead's 25th Anniversary album,"We Are Motorhead".The last time they played my father-in-law's nightclub,a buncha straight-edge nazis showed up to hassle the rockers.What's wrong with these people? …The London Quireboys released a new live album,a new studio album called,"This Is Rocknroll",and Guy Bailey has a side-project with Dave Tregunna called Dogs Kennel Hill,who've released a full-length called,"Sweethearts of the Rodeo" dogkennel.hill@virgin.net <mailto:dogkennel.hill@virgin.net> and Spike's released a solo album called "Blue Eyed Soul" and his side-project,God's Hotel;all put out since I've had my own money,which is,of course,to say,money I could spend on myself…I'm really wickedly,excrutiatingly jealous of the Dandy Warhols.They're getting to work with David LaChappelle and David Bowie and Nick Rhodes.;and one of their tunes is a tv show themesong ("Undeclared") that's a hit with my son Christian's young teen crowd,while come tomorrow,I'm begging for a job at the yuppie grocery store across the street. Again.
YOU ONLY KNOW WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO KNOW…
It's October sixth and I'm sitting here in my basement gloom,listening to "Save Me" by Peter Zaremba's LOVE DELEGATION,feeling sorry for myself,and running out of cigarettes.It's getting colder outside,leather jacket weather,but I ain't got a dollar and there's nowhere I wanna go,anyway.It's a Saturday and I'm in another one of my routine unemployment/isolation/poverty-induced,blue funks.All that's on tv are pro-war- propoganda-whores and football games.I'm,what feels like,a half a world away,from the smoking rubble and carnage and devastation of the World Trade Center in New York City.And honestly,I'm so characteristically immersed in my own private,ongoing,
vain,little struggle to make ends meet,hold my family together,and defy the odds of my own abject failure to function in this society,that I don't know what to think about the horrific events of week's past…
Our Fearless Hit List leader and editor,my way smarter and similarly,leather jacket-clad,ace-pal,the Professor Rockin' Jeff Bale,respectfully suggests that my admittedly-limited comprehension of politics and economics is somewhat naieve,and gleaned,
oftentimes,from sources such as www.zmag.org <http://www.zmag.org> ,Gerry Spence,Democracy Now! In Exile with Amy Goodman's Reports On War & Peace,John Pilger's "Death Of A Nation:the Timor Conspiracy","The Awful Truth",and "Regret To Inform" vhs available at your local library,Noam Chomsky,Ralph Nader,Joseph Campbell & Bill Moyers "Power Of Myth" PBS series,Howard Zinn,www.freespeech.org,Z Magazine,the Nation Magazine,www.michaelmoore.com,and the Progressive Magazine,whom Jeff sees as being unreliable,kneejerk-leftist reactionaries,(*Jeff,please feel free as always to insert comment here if I've paraphrased you insufficienty.) and therefore,my social and political commentary in his astute estimation,sometimes lacks some of the same kindof lived-there authority reportedly found occasionally amidst the broken pairs of truck-stop sunglasses,cigarette butts and soiled condoms of my rocknroll rantings.I look forward to reading his next few columns so he can set me straight on everything that's going down,as terrorism and religious extemism are his areas of expertise,and I'm still,like most Americans,pretty confused and in the dark about the whole situation.There's a Bin Laden effigy hanging from one of my neighbor's trees.
As Brother Wayne Kramer says,no one really knows what's going to happen next,or how the events of coming months are going to affect our lives,civil liberties here,and human rights worldwide,or potentially,even the future of humanity on the entire planet,but in the meantime,I've convened an informal round-table of some of my most trusted and highly esteemed friends,advisers and consiglieries to contemplate and testify how this shit's affecting their heads right now as the U.S.military has just began to retaliate and what it all looks like from where they're standing.
Obviously,some of these impressions and speculations may become old news by the time this column sees ink,but I think it's still likely to be a worthwhile document of how some of us real rocknrollers are coping in the new,harsher,wartime-era we're inhabiting,
as of early October,anyway.
REAL VOICES FROM THE ULTRA UNDERGROUND…
Lou Paris,New York City…
"It seems that as time passes,the reality of it all starts to take on a new perspective.At first,it was like you were watching a film.It didn't feel like it was real.On the 11th,I was on my way to to the post office in Soho and I heard an explosion that I thought had come from uptown.Living in New York you kinda get used to noises and you filter them out.Then I saw a friend and he said a plane had hit one of the Trade Centers.I thought,man I gotta see this.So I headed down toward Canal Street and past Broadway to get a look at what I thought would be a small plane that had fucked up and smacked one of the towers.When I first saw it,I even called my wife and told her to get her camera and go on the roof and take a picture.As I was standing there,I started thinking that this was kinda strange because the sky was so clear.It was one of the first crisp,clear fall days that we had.I'm standing there thinking that this pilot was an idiot or something else was going on.At this point,I still did not know it was a commercial jet and what was really going down.I was looking at this hole that looked like a special effect or an illusion,and then,the other tower exploded like a bad Bruce Willis film.And since I was on the North side,I didn't see the plane hit from the other side ,so I thought it was a bomb.As reality started to set in,it still didn't cause a complete panic,because first,you didn't know what was going on outside the area,plus,I had remembered the '93 bombing,and for some reason,that didn't effect me that much.I must have been more medicated back then.
Anyway,I realized that this wasn't an accident and headed to a friend's place nearby and proceeded to watch everything else that transpired.
Even as we were watching,I would have bet anything that the Trade centers would not fall.I mean,you could see the intensity of the fire and you could imagine the top parts collapsing and going down,but never,everwould they come down completely.I was wrong.It was like a movie in slow motion.Some of the things I saw that day are more haunting as time passes than they were as they were happening.Not everything falling from the buildings was debris.I also still remember the people exiting downtown in a very orderly and calm manner and thinking how cool it was that there wasn't any panic,and especially,any fucking around.Of course,at this time,I still didn't know what was going on outside of NYC.Then,someone told me the Pentagon was hit and I knew it was time to go home.The next day,at 5:30 in the morning,my wife Dora wakes me up and says she is going to give blood and eventually calls me later and tells me she is at ground zero.Of course my first reaction was,'get the fuck out of there'.She had volunteered and ended up at the site helping the firemen and rescue workers with things they needed.
That's another story in itself.It's a month later and as I write this,I can still smell smoke.
Since then,NY has been a weird place to be.Things are somewhat back to normal it seems.I guess as normal as they can be at this time.But there is also the feeling that you are living in the,how would you say it? Cross hairs,maybe? Cops are on every corner.The power plant on the corner is roped off.Ambulances escorted by motorcycle cops and unmarked police cars.Sirens have taken on a new perspective to anyone that was here on the 11th.Then,there is our "Hero",Rudy.Whose idea of acting normal is to go out and shop.Gotta keep the economy going,you know.What a comforting picture.Rudy standing there with Dubya "John Wayne" Bush,who for some reason,has a 90% approval rating because he figured out how to read a teleprompter.Would anyone really feel good if this guy started thinking on his own? I don't know,maybe I just don't see what the so-called 90% sees.Does anyone of these band riding assholes who think Rudy's the greatest remember the Fuehrer's first 7 years? I would be one of the first to step up and shake his hand and say,"good job",with the aftermath.But you know what,that was his job to do.Yeah,maybe he did a few other good things for the city,but he's responsible for turning it into Disney Land surrounded by a thousand Starbucks and a K-Mart.He made it a great place for tourists to come spend their hard earned savings while real New Yorkers continuously saw their quality of living standards deteriorate.
What I mean by that is New York used to be more than just a low crime rate and a family-fun place for all.Not only a place invaded by suburban who were too chicken-shit to live here before.He continually lived some power trip and buried anyone that didn't agree with him on something they should have.He's the same paranoid bastard that turned city hall into a fort and had to have a handful of body guards around him at all times.And for the icing on the cake,in typical Rudy-fashion,tried to change the rules and stay around longer than a legal two term limit.The only good thing I can see that will transpire from this tragedy is maybe most of these people will run back to Mom & Daddy to make room for someone with a little personality and make this city interesting again.
Unfortunately,it may be too late for me,because last year,for the first time in my life,I started wondering if I was sure I wanted to be here anymore.You can only take so much of some dickhead fratboy with a cellphone son the corner of East 9th St. & Ave.A,dressed in Khakis and sandals,saying,"yeah,I'm hanging out down in `the Les'." (Lower East Side.) Hearing this is proof the asshole doesn't even know where he is.A person might not understand this if they don't live here.Ok,Dimitri,see what you started.Sorry.But my wife thanks you.At least she doesn't have to listen to my rant.Again,I'm not even sure what the fuck you asked me right now.I don't know.You gotta keep on going and you can't let those fuckers psych you out.It's a little tough because you're not sure what to expect or even who it is.My first reaction was to build the towers back and go kick some ass.But on second thought,I'm not so sure about that.I would hate to put thm back exactly the same,then go on like nothing happened.I still think somebody's ass needs to be kicked,but it's also a lot more complicated than that.
I'm as patriotic as the next dumb ass,but I hope this opens a lot of people's eyes and they see the world is not just the United States.I think this administration,I didn't say Bush,will somehow (don't ask me why) succeed in figuring this out.Which is ironic because I despise much of what this administration represents.The religious-right and the oil men scare me almost as much as the Islamic extremists.I just returned from Ohio this weekend and I could feel a little bit o breathing room.I mean,you could see concern,but people seemed to be pretty much going on about their business,and I thought I might try that,too.Then this morning,I passed a fire station again that had lost 19 men and saw the memorial of flowers and pictures in front and it just didn't seem that easy."
Geoff Pope,New York City….
"I was not at Ground Zero,but I commute into work in midtown Manhattan and saw the towers aflame within ten minutes of the strike,and before they collapsed,killing roughly 5,000 people.Whatever anyone thinks of George W. Bush,Osama bin Ladin or the broader politics of all of this,if you don't acknowledge that FDNY firefighters-more than 200 of `em killed-have balls bigger than your head,you have no credibility with me.
USA foreign policy,in the Middle East and vis-à-vis the Arab and Muslim peoples,are driven by two agenda items.One,we rightly feel guilt that the whole world let Hitler massacre Jews in the 1940's,and American Jews are admirably well-organized politically,so Israel isn't going anywhere,period.Two,the Unabomber had this right:we're hopeless oil'n'energy junkies.I turn 51 this week,and if in the late 70's you had showed me today's world of SUV's and energy profligacy,I would not have believed it.So,by Gawd,WE WANT THAT OIL.
And even those of us who think ourselves leftish,and dovish,and blah blah blah,WE WANT THAT OIL TOO.We didn't mobilize everyone in 1991 `cause Bush Sr. and Dick Cheney cared a rat's ass about the freedom of Kuwait,or wanted to displace perhaps the world's most brutish dictator.It was about the oil,goddammit,and we left Saddam in power,only sanctioned him,which is to say fought and are still fighting an economic war that affects Saddam but little,but kills many of his suffering subjects.
I think everyone reading this knows all the other sordid self-interested USA actions,Vietnam,Chile,it's a long list.Oh,and yes,we did make a little difference on the positive side of the ledger in defeating Hitler,and in rolling back Stalinism.It's a mixed record,not altogether a dishonorable one.
And you can't let motherfuckers blow up office buildings with 5,000 people in them.
No, sir.And few of those people were Big time Imperialists:most were office zhlubs,some were Muslims,many were minimum-wage workers,and a suprising number were foreign born,not white,not enemies of,well,anyone,I suspect.
I don't think we should make the rubble dance across Afghanistan.I don't think we should kill huge numbers of people.The United Nations is useless:it's a cabal of dictator's lackies,mostly.Taking out Osama bin Ladin and his buddies,is,in my honest and humble opinion,a justified act of self-defense.As we are capable of doing more than one thing at once,unlike that president who couldn't walk and chew gum,we should AT THE SAME TIME,as we implement a measured/military/legal/financial response,do some other things.
First,while I am not anti-Muslim,or Anti-Arab,regrettably,many Muslims are anti-me.So while I am not about burning mosques,I would consider restricting entry into the USA of people from Islamic countries.That's not bigotry,it's common sense.And certainly as to any who are not citizens of the USA,it is perfectly lawful to subject Muslims living in the USA to a level of surveillance that would NOT be licit if directed against American citizens.I am not fully-comfortable saying this,but I'd feel like shit if that nice Arab fella I always liked turned out to be the next suicide-bomber.And if you recoil from this consider how (if you are a non-Muslim,and certainly if you were a Jew or a devout Christian) would be treated in almost any Muslim country (in a word,badly.)
Much of the rest of what we might do is look to how the founders,and yes,the Confederates of 1861-65 viewed foreign policy.I am not an isolationist exactly,but it's a very dangerous thing to try to make over a whole world,especially in one's own image.
Thomas Jefferson warned against foreign entanglements,we should have fewer of them.I do not want a domestic police state,and those people in Washington are looking to use this crisis as a way to grab power to read ALL our mail.We can't have world empire-even in the limited,world-domination-by-proxy sense we have pusued since WW2-and freedom at home.And we cannot have all the oil,cheaply,and not have Arab blood on our hands."(-Geoff Pope Vietnam-era draft resister)
Barrie Hanley,Dublin…
"Can the U.S. justify bombing and maiming innocent Afghans? Are their lives worth less than those who died in the Twin Towers? Will the U.S. and it's European cohorts admit Mid-East policy has failed and the Palestinian problem must be sorted out?
Bin Laden is a rabid fanatic but can he be dismissed as a psycho? Many questions,few answers,just don't believe the hype."
Cheetah Chrome,Nashville…
"Besides the anger and horror of watching the attack on television,and the depression for days afterward,I am now being filled with a feeling that we are being cleverly duped.
The Bush Administration only needed to ignore intelligence data (which there is evidence we had),and all this could take place.This entire debacle puts their agenda ahead by years-the military/industrial-complex in foll power,power to search our bags,homes,tap our phones,and computers,restrict our movements,and we are doing it all WILLINGLY.
In the name of national defense!
I'm not saying there isn't a serious threat to our country from Osama Bin Laden and the international terrorist network,and I know full well we HAVE to respond,and respond the way we are.It just makes me wonder how many of our freedoms being usurped now will be returned to us the way we were before all this came crashing down.The Republicans since Nixon have wanted to turn this country into a police state (just look at California under Reagan),now we've got soldiers at our airports and in our streets,the FBI going through underwear drawers worldwide,etc.
It might sound a little far-fetched,but remember,these folks also shot JFK and got away with it…and I haven't even gotten into all the $$$ this will make for the Shrub and his ilk,his father's previous involvement with bin Laden,…not to mention the OIL!!!,but that's another rant."
Howard Wehrle III,Chicago…
"It is strange that you sent me the thing from the Znet site,I've been checking it regularly since THE TRAGEDY ™.I used to have a subscription to Z Magazine,but haven't really read it consistently in the past few years.After about four hours of watching the bullshit tv news on the 11th,I got on-line and started looking for Z Magazine to try to find some slightly saner news and I found Znet.I actually got in a fistfight last night because some overzealous fag heard my decidedly unpatriotic rant about the U.S. government and after a heated debate later on,out on the street,it escalated to fisticuffs.By that point,I was pretty well inebriated beyond any hope of trying to fight this asshole,so I had to settle for trying (rather unsuccessfully) to dodge punches while I (successfully) pointed out to my new friend that despite all his rainbow flag/supposedly liberal ideals,he was little more than a typical,brainless,middle-class fuck-head with an overpriced haircut.
This whole experience reminded me of something that pisses me off about the gay community in general-for the most part,they're fucking sheep like every other group of Americans,but for some reason,they think sucking cock somehow makes them radicals.
So my head's a little lumpier today than it was yesterday,but at least I succeeded in proving that a few shots to the head won't silence the painful truth.These are some truly frightening times we live in.It's depressing,though not suprising,to see how willing people are to sacrafice their freedom for illusory security.All the Pearl Harbor references in the last few days got me thinking-it's pretty well documented that those in the upper levels of government were aware of the impending Pearl Harbor attack,but they did nothing to stop it because it was exactly what they wanted-an excuse for America to get involved in the war,a provocation that would make the people agree to get involved in the wholesale slaughter.It occurred to me that it was completely feasible that there could be a similar situation with the September 11th attacks.
I don't think it's likely,but I wouldn't put it past Bush:The Sequel.The conservatives couldn't have written a more perfect scenario to be able to strip away our withered freedoms.Easier wire-taps,more prodding into every aspects of our lives,general elimination of constitutional rights.As "the Onion" so brilliantly proclaimed on its latest issue,"Freedoms Curtailed In Defense Of Liberty".This is exactly the kind of Doublespeak we're being asked to accept as the only rational reaction to the terrorist attacks.I thought it was especially funny how all the news shows started reporting on how terrible conditions in Afghanistan are for women.Like that's ever mattered an ounce to U.S. foreign policy before,now all of a sudden,General George is warring for women's rights.All I can do is laugh so I don't cry,to paraphrase Voltaire."
Robert Wilson,San Francisco…
"Well,being so close to Berkeley,there are lots of reports in the local news about anti-military,anti-Bush protests.It's hard not to have second thoughts about the bombing raids on Afghanistan.(As I write to you the initial bombing raids are winding up and the damage is being assessed.) But how can you ignore the deaths of six or seven thousand civilians?
I have lots of criticism for local and federal socio-economic policies,but along with all the negative things I've experienced,I've also received all of my education,money,(most of which I've wasted) and food from this country.'Diletante' would perfectly describe my past and current level of political activism.If I really had balls,I'd never allow my social security number to be used by state/commercial interests to track my activities,I'd live completely in some kindof alternative economy,and I'd stand out in the open and lob boulders at the hypocritical,anti-spiritual entities that control this society.
Having destroyed any notions of my being any sortof activist-politico,I must say that,though I have worries about where this will lead,I agree with the course of action taken by the government thusfar.I honestly don't know how this could have played itself out differently,except,that it could have been worse.The fact that Bush delayed the attack up to this point,with so many people calling for blood,is to his credit (and when I say `his',I really mean Secretary Powell's et al,).Let's face it,this attack was going to happen;the only question was when? Powell/Bush/Rice took enough time to inoculate themselves (and us,by association) against charges of unilateral cowboy-ism by building a coalition of European,Arab (and other suck-up) countries in his `War On Terror'.
Alright,having waffled in the Bush direction a bit,I think it's time to waffle the other way:We're bombing a country with some of the most impoverished,undernourished,and displaced people in the world.They've already had twenty years of war,and once we arm the Anti-Taliban forces,they'll be guaranteed at least a few more years of chaos and violence.In fact,the `Northern Alliance' forces we intend to arm are warlords who spent the last several years fighting amongst themselves.So even if they get rid of the Taliban,the chances of a stable government (without U.N. occupation) are not good.
The poor people of Afghanistan were starving and oppressed before these events,and they'll be starving and oppressed for the foreseeable future.From what I can gather from the bombing raids,there will probably be minimal (but most certainly exaggerated) numbers of civilian casualties.If I had any bloodlust,this (and the capture of Bin Laden) will do to satisfy it.I hope that most of the future military actions will be covert,small-scale,and `surgical'.I don't want to see any further large-scale,mostly-American military operations."
Anthony Castillo,Los Angelos…
"I was as shocked as anyone over the Sept.11th attacks,but I was not surprised.I tend to look at everything in a political context,and therefore knew it was only a matter of time before we would get a taste of our own medicine.No one of course could have predicted the grand scale and effectiveness of these attacks.While I felt sadness for the victims and their families and anger at the taking of innocent life,I didn't let those feelings prevent me from taking seeing Sept.11th for what it was,a Criminal act,but also and just as important,a political act.Things like this do not happen in a vacuum!The U.S.A.,the last great empire on planet Earth,for decades our foreign policy has favored corporate interests over human interests.How much longer did our "leaders" think we would be immune from something like this? The media kept talking about the "fear" Americans were feeling-yeah,I was scared,too,NOT from the possibilities of more terrorist attacks,but I was,and still am,afraid of what this illegitimate,inept,corporate-minded administration with Dick and Dubya would do in wake of these events.
This was not an act of war,this was a crime,and should have been treated as a criminal investigation engaging the World Court,the United Nations,and all the treaties already in place with other countries to track down the master minds behind the hijackers.Laws already in place in this country are more than enough to find any future terrorist.By going to "war" on terrorism and bombing Afghanistan,Dick and Dubya have damned this country to more terror in the future and said to hell with American civil liberties at the same time.Let's be real here.An administration made up of big corporate oil men and women are NOT going to have our best interests in mind when looking at Middle Eastern foreign policy.It's been said that the first casualty of war is the truth,and that cannot be seen more clearly than by the spirit of "bipartisanship" coming out of Washington after these attacks.On Sept.11th,the Democrats looked like they were going to give the White House a very hard time over it's regressive legislative agenda,but as of Sept.12th,it's roll over and play dead time again in Congress.We ALL need to remind everyone in Congress and everyone we know personally that Dubya is still an illegitimate son of a Bush and that he is still a corporate front man pretending to be a politician.Do us all a favor and go out and slap a Democratic politician and tell him or her to wake-up and smell the rip-off.
These hijackers were the goose that laid the oil covered corporate logo encrusted egg for this administration and it's up to all of us to educate and organize around these issues so we don't have to rely on spineless,corporate-friendly Democrats to soften up or stop mean corporate Republicans from getting all they want.We see "United We Stand" flags on gas hog S.U.V.'s,but the question is what do we stand united behind,war? I don't,and I don't stand united behind a despicable clown of a president who lost an election and got put in office by a velvet coup detat.To sum things up,now more than ever is the time to be asking questions,not having blind,red,white,and blue faith.This could become far worse than it already is,if we do not speak-up,and loudly,at that."
Rudi Protrudi,the Fuzztones…
"I,for one,will not allow anyone to terrorize me into staying home cowering in fear.I just flew to NYC,am flying to Buenos Aires next week.Let's face it…we're ALL going to die sometime! I refuse to stop `living' just to possibly prolong a miserable,uneventful existence-to me,that's just giving the terrorists what they want! I think it should be more obvious than ever,that life is short,and you'd damn well better live it to the fullest RIGHT NOW,as it could end any second."
Shane Williams,San Luis Obispo…
"Sex,drugs,and rocknroll are still the answer to everything."
AT HEART,I'M AN AMERICAN ARTIST …
My prayers and sympathies go out to the families of JOHNNY HEFF from THE BULLYS and all the other firefighters and rescue workers,heroes and innocents,civilians and plain working people,parents and children,who lost their lives in the recent attacks here and abroad.R.I.P.
Hey,Brother Jeff,I would still like to hear some suggestions from you pertaining to more credible news-sources you find trustworthy and could in good conscience,
recommend I peruse,in addition to,those sponsored by corporate,vested-interests that simaultaneously, have a monopoly of all mass-media and profit from war-mongering,like G.E.,who manufactures weaponry and jet engines and the like.I understand why one might find the yuppie liberalism of say the "Utne Reader" a little nauseating,but could a rebellious,
defiant,spirit like yourself endorse, say,"The Economist"? Right now,as you know,only six companies own pretty much the entire mass media,and there's only three major label record companies.How are these not biased,profit-blinded,corrupted monopolies? I am particularly interested in independently produced news-sources that don't all say the same thing.
As much as we passionately agree on garage rock and surf music and the Forgotten Rebels and Generation X,you must know I'm definitely at odds with your distaste for Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky.Call me a pinko or a throwback or a bleeding heart,but Nader has fought to serve the interests of the common man,the little guy,the individual-you and I,for decades now.I couldn't remotely dream of what you dislike about the man (or his eloquent,reasonable,consistent, persuasive arguments,that ring as true to my ears as Stiff Little Fingers and the Clash,) but I'm asking,in this context,because I simply want to know-and so other cats like me,who read your mag also can have the opputunity to be exposed to your perspective,cos not all of us are in school,benefiting from having someone such as yourself around to teach us in person.I would assume,hip as you are,that you must share my disdain for the network news media that only ever gives voice to the George Will-Rush Limbaugh-G.Gordon Liddy-Henry Kissinger-Ollie North-Pat Robertson-Bill O'Reilley-Jerry Falwell-Chris Matthews-Orrin Hatch-McLiars Group-"W"-Endorsed-Dummy-Spin-Partyline.Am I wrong? So please,by all means,Jeff & Larry & Co.,do us all a public service here,and hip me and maybe some other more liberal rocknroll dummies,to some honest,rational leaders and writers and reporters,books and shows and magazines worthy of our respect and trust,in your view,won't you-please?
I agree with Prof.Bale,whose opinions I always respect,if sometimes disagree with,that I would never want to jeopardize the credibility of Hit List,which I believe in and care about,and am obviously dedicated to,with my curious,child-like questions about the never ending U.S.-aided, Israeli War on the Palestinians;or the half a million children starved to death by U.S. bombs and military-enforced sanctions on Iraq,when,again,their dictator was indeed funded and imposed by our intelligence-community to fight IRAN-another of our puppet Frankenstein monsters gone awry and left in power by Bush Sr.;and Madeline Albright,referring to the suffering children of Iraq fucked up by mass uranium deposits and lack of food and medicine said,"it's worth it",and SHE was appointed by a Democrat.Fuck.;…among various other current topics,
Manifestations perhaps,of my eighth-grade-graduate,lack of formal education.As my endless run-on sentences reveal,I'm definitely not one of them expert,academic,debate-team-"A-type" pundits with a headfull of statistics and footnotes and historical names and dates ready to back up all my theories, trying to pick fights and draw fire,for the sport of it.Like I've said in everything I've ever written in this zeen,I'm way too sensitive in these harsh hours,and embattled here socially,as it is.I piss people off when I'm trying not to,but I am one who tries to call a spade a spade when it quacks like a spade,y'know? Jim Foetus sez,"Say What You Mean,And Say It Mean."
J.D. sez,shit's fucked up and racist as hell where I live and it's hard to get a living wage if you ain't part of the suck shit crew,and I don't trust the government or the military or the cops and I don't trust corporate media and like my man Mister Bale reassures me,I don't need a graduate's degree to be sure of any of that.(-Or about how me and BRIAN MORGAN; and the BEAT ANGELS and PAUL K., all deserve record deals as much as anybody in the leopard printed and safety pinned-underworld,celebrated in the pages of this magazine,does.) My close friend,the often misunderstood,but good-hearted romeo,
Mister Peaches Atrocity,a larger than life,local punk-persona who,like me,has to work at places like Burger King and can never get a band,reports having been hassled by paranoid rednecks for reading,yep,THE HIT-LIST,in public.I doubt I'd try taking this mag on a plane.People are fuggin'frenzied with the whole anthrax scare.Nuts.They were accusing him of reading,"Taliban Propoganda".Come on.Ya gotta be careful what you're caught reading `round here? Where are we? "1984"? Afghanistan? Where the ruling class actually dictates what we're allowed to say and read? And the poor,gullible,blindly
-complicit,lumpen morons violently enforce their regime?
WHAT'S SO FUNNY `BOUT PEACE,LOVE,& UNDERSTANDING…
By the way,wasn't the original Hit List Mission Statement to convene all the dangerously smart and passionate,shoot-from-the-hip-type,highly-opinionated,even controversial,underground rocknroll renegades,malcontents,mavericks,and mongrels to all rant and rave under one roof,in the Errol Flynn pirate-ship kinda tradition,of "we men who sail under no flag,but who have chosen to sail under no flag together…",whether or not we all subscribed to one type of party-line,or outlook,or political ideaology...As opposed to,say,all those p.c.,lemming-like,liberal,crusty,body pierced and tribal tattooed,black hooded,food not bombs,panty-waist,welfare-state,gangsta-rap-apologist,panhandling,communist,vegan,bisexual,free Mumia-type,clove-smokin',mid-wife havin',anarchist-poseurs over there at Maximum Rocknroll.
…Relax,Tank-Girls,I'M just kidding!
I'm still lookin' forward to reading MISTER JELLO BIAFRA'S debut HITLIST COLUMN!!!! The President was on TV last night telling Americans that they have new intelligence that more assaults are planned on America in the next 48 hours,but to "Keep Shopping"!!! WE'RE STILL FREE TO SHOP! I'd love to hear what Jello has to say about all this.Or Johnny Rotten.Where's Jello? I would definitely prefer to have you read his stuff,or Senator Jake Wark's,or Iris Berry's to my own naieve,absurd,normal-dull-dribble…To illustrate just how whacky and childish some of my paranoid,outlandish conspiracy theories were,I'll confess just a few here,for all you learned men to scoff at.I was under the apparently mistaken impression that many of the exact same forces who call themselves our elected officials,had TRAINED some of these very same zealous terrorists,who've turned their heinous acts of violence on us now,to fight the Soviets in the 80's,at a military installation in Georgia called the School Of The Americas.(This is all being vigorously denied by the C.I.A. right now.)
That our own civil liberties and system of one man/one vote democracy was steadfastly being eroded by mysteriously faulty voting booths and massive inconsistencies in the process of counting votes,and by the people who are appointed and entrusted to count those ballots.Wasn't it Karl Marx who said,"It doesn't matter who the people vote for.It matters who counts those votes."?!! It had seemed to me that our American Justice System had become so corrupt,and beholden to,and in favor of the rich,that international corporations could pretty much do whatever they want,exploit their workers and poison the planet,that rich men could drive drunk and kill people,rape,murder,sell drugs,or phoney junk bonds or swamp-lands to the elderly,and not go to jail,but poor,non-violent drug offenders can rot in our jails for years and years.Mandatory minimums and executions don't apply to relatives of the Bush or Kennedy families or Sports Heroes or C.E.O.s.That's what it looks like from where I'm standing.
It was looking to me like our rights to freedom against unreasonable search and seizure were a joke-I mean,can't they even search our body cavities and open our veins and look at our blood already? Don't we have to all piss in fucking cups to be goddamn janitors? Don't we watch "Bounty Hunters" on cable kick in our fellow American's front doors brandishing weapons without search warrants? And followed by camera crews? And sponsored by big corporations?
That our rights to gather peacefully and dissent,and express even unpopular views,were crumbling underneath new bills being penned in Congress that give the police state
more power everyday to use chemical irritants and "bean bag bullets" indiscriminately against vocal tax payers who are congregating to exercise their free speech,who have violated no laws.And segments of the public (PARTICULARLY Cincinnati's arrogant City Council…) find this acceptable.Even praiseworthy.
We keep being told over and over on all these television night time news magazines like Sixty Minutes how increased military spending and more power to the police for wire-tapping,etc.,are nessecities to effectively combat the new terrorism,but before the WTC attacks,it was the phoney drug war being used to justify the drift towards totalitarianism here and abroad.
I recently read that three new television PROGRAMS had been scheduled for fall,featuring the good guys of our C.I.A. Hopefully,I'll learn enough from these three new PROGRAMS as to no longer be afraid of our government or secret-police.President George W. Bush already assuaged many of those sortof concerns for me,when he so kindly explained that our nation was under attack by the enemies of freedom,who are jealous of our democracy.You know-government of the people,for the people,by the people.Whoo! Right when I had almost been in a near-panic,strongly suspecting that his election to office was a rigged sham,perpetuated by a permanent government of oil interests,powerful secret organizations,the hydra-headed monster some call the military-industrial complex,and primarily,fixed by his father,brother,and two radical-rightwing supreme court justices appointed by his father,by a five to four supreme court decision!
To me--the openly dumbass,minimum-wage-makin',under-educated,often-unemployed,
Burntout Recluse,it was all lookin' like a very well-orchestrated,rigged-election/coup detat…but I guess,I had typically been suspicious,merely because I wanted some imaginary X-Files-X-Men-Men-In-Black to blame for my having failed to properly educate myself about the importance of the Electoral College to a True Democracy.In America,anyone can be accepted into an Ivy League University with a D average and even become President,because we're the Defenders of Equality and Justice For All,here.That's why those crazies are so mad and jealous of our Democracy.Because we're the "Leaders Of The Free World".
Am I getting it right,yet?
GOD BLESS AMERICA,MY HOME SWEET HOME…
So the night before last,I'm walking home from the gas station on the corner,where I had to go break my last $20,to give my thirteen year old son his lunch-money and fare for the bus to school downtown in the morning.It's about ten o'clock at night in the whitebread,upper/middle-class suburb,Oakley,and a group of three white males in their early twenties (drunk,athletes,Republicans,will never go to jail no matter what they do…) spot my white shock of hair (like Aimee Mann from `Til Tuesday, or Colin from G.B.H.) and Rolling Stones T-shirt ("No Security",Thrift Store,$5) and start aggressively shrieking at me,all three of `em,"Are you a proud American? I said,Are You A Proud American? You better turn around and say you're a proud American! Hey,You!Hey!" I just kept up a steady pace and finally turned the corner safely.I'm always a magnet for that.Real heartwarming stuff.
`Reminded me of two episodes from last year-one,when I was pushing my year old daughter,in her stroller,over to the yuppie bookstore across the street to see if HitList was in yet,when a buncha 19 year old,khaki-shorted,jockish,Dave Matthews Band-types;on the patio with their girlfriends at the next-door steakhouse,started yelling,"Motley Crue! Faggot!" at me,with my baby.These are the typical natives of the rich,bourgeois suburbs of Cincinnati where everybody shops at Old Navy and the Gap so they can be proud Genericans,drive their Jettas,go see Dave Matthews Band and all be free to look and shop exactly alike.Here,where everyone is bought and sold and "Selling Out" is applauded.
Last winter,I was in between minimum wage jobs like I am now,and was desperate enough like I am again,to try returning to one of the countless local places of business who've consistently spurned me and my multiple applications for employment;this partucular one was a Hyde Park pizza place down the street in the even richer,whiter part of my neighborhood.
Naturally,I'm on foot,(I don't even know anybody who can drive legally,besides my children's Mama,) smoking;dress shoes,black jeans,black hair…studded denim jacket `Bill the Biker made for me a decade ago…and that jacket,alone,offends the sensibilities of these forty and fifty-something-year-old Grownup's guzzling Bloody Marys out in the courtyard of this rich jock bar,called R.P.McMurphy's,so much,that a small mob of `em,who were previously waiting inside for the bar's courtesy shuttle-bus to the Bengals game,pour out onto the sidewalk to shout things at me as I passed.These were fucking old folks,fer chrissakes,my parent's age-baby boomers,yellin' at me-not just grown-ups,mind you,but RICH GROWN UPS! Law & Order,BMW-drivers,like my neighbors,who still
have those "Loserman/Sore" placards in their car windows,gloating about a stolen election,a year after the fact.
These people are angrily yelling incomprehensible obscenities at me,as I make my way on a Sunday Morning,around 11 o'clock,in broad daylight,to Mio's pizza to beg for a job powerlessly scrubbing their burnt cheese offa metal plates for $6 an hour,and putting pepperonis in circles…and yet,I'm still perceived by these Platinum Card-Wielding Suburbanites as enough of a defiant,bohemian-threat to them in my studded jacket (that anyone of their daughters could have paid $300 for at Urban Outfitters,) that they wanted to bloody kill me.The women,too.I wanted to cry. "Nice place to raise your kids."I always hear that.I finally flipped `em off from a safe distance but still expected one of the younger ones to jump in their jeep and come after me.I usually try not to confront these sortof creeps anymore,I've endured it my whole life in Ohio,and actually got hurt pretty badly,a couple of times,repeatedly hospitalized for sticking up for myself or friends,these past few years against these roving little gangs of privelaged fuckin' Bengal's fans! Confrontation is pointless and tiresome now-better to flee.I'm too old.I sometimes actually feel like I'm still back at Shawnee High School in Lima,Ohio during the Reagan-Democrats/Preppie Handbook-era.It absolutely baffles me,how the GAP can have "Everybody In Leather",but to this day,if I walk around in black leather in this town,or even just studded denim,multiple strangers will try to start fights with me.And guess who ends up being stalked by creditors for the rest of his life for failure to pay these impossibly high hospital bills?
There are like,three streets in this town where Hot Topic/Urban Outfitters/Lip Service style punk rockers in non-khaki-preppie clothes are tolerated.The weirdoes and leather fags who work downtown,in Northside,or in the `burbs get out of their cars and walk straight inside.While me being a non-driver,I have to spend a lot of time by myself enduring wornout catcalls from passing cars while waiting for buses at busy intersections,and walking around like a drifter,helplessly seeking help wanted signs that never appear in the windows of nearby businesses.It's particularly lame because I don't look like Boy George or Martin Degville anymore.I wear old converse and bleach my hair like any college kid,so what?,fuck off!,but they always know I'm not one of `em.
WE WERE WORKING CLASS KIDS ON THE SKIDS WITH NOTHING TO DO…
When I was--oh,19 0r 20,one of chief henchmen,Bobby Cloyd,a notorious party-boy and Michael Hutchence-lookalike from my hometown,excitedly showed up at my purple apartment one day with a bottle of whiskey and an album by a raunchy looking buncha gypsies who called themselves the Dogs D'Amour,and I remember,like it was yesterday,what a revelation their song,"How Come It Never Rains" was for both of us.
We were all really enthusiastic about the sleazy barroom blues bands of the day,like Rock City Angels and Circus Of Power,but it was crystal clear that the Dogs D'Amour held a certain kindof magic all their own,more akin to the Faces,Rolling Stones,or Hanoi Rocks than say,Poison,or any of those other glam-metal-monkeys.(All the phonies and fraud-stars who'd stolen the look.What someone once called,"Lifeguard Glam"-you know,jocks with teased hair,who,having adopted the style of Kiss/Motley Crue,beared a passing resemblance to real rockers,like the DOGS….) The DOGS D'AMOUR,however, were the antidote to all that L.A. cock rock bullshit.The genuine article.The Real Deal.They had songs and scars and soul to back it up and style to burn.We were instantly spellbound by Tyla's wasted ballads of broken hearted men with checkered pasts and ruined lives,who lived by their own pirate codes,outside the laws of polite sobriety,pining for gutter goddesses from beyond salvation.
Bob got a bass and I got drunk and we had this amateurish band for awhile with my highschool friends called VAIN DAMAGE and started practicing Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart covers in my stepdad's attic and Bob got us tickets to go see the Dogs D'Amour in Toledo or Dayton or somewhere,with this other band called Mother Love Bone,who were also destined to change our lives,and we got to hang with all those cats,but we'll save all those stories for another day.
The important thing is that the Dogs D'Amour were these great fucking storytellers who wrote all these raggedy songs of glory that accompanied us on all of our bedraggled cross-country adventures,becoming the soundtrack to our twenties,which of course,we promptly burned through like flash paper.Me and Bobby McGhee used to jump into his car and light out for New York City at a moment's notice to see Circus Of Power open up for the Ramones or to have John Taylor thank us multiple times for attending Duran Duran's performances anywhere in the tri-state area.Bobby DJ'd at a big local niteclub and was something of a celebrity/smalltown sex symbol,so we drank for free and made out with many,many,beautiful blondes in fishnet stockings with that Jersey Girl eighties hair.Aside from my frequently getting stalked by their many sociopathic,redneck,ex-boyfriends and jealous, River's Edge/Trailer Park Vermin/Arsonist Heavy Metal Dudes,those were good times…Belley laughs,road trips,keg parties,cheap hotel rooms,and pretty girls galore.
Eventually,Bobby went out to L.A. seeking fame and fortune,and then down to Nashville,where everyone from our hometown expected him to get discovered and make it big,cos he was a good lookin' kid with movie star charisma.AND he could dance.
I was a greasy turd on the run just like you've imagined.I went to New York City and then to Boston,also trying to follow in all our rocknroll-heroes footsteps,but when it all came down to spurs and bullets,neither one of us really got too far.It was hard finding the right bunchof players to form bands with and alcohol and women and trying to keep a roof over your head will eventually derail even the most dedicated singers of the flame,if you don't get lucky,sooner than later.Bobby's now singing for a Columbus,Ohio band called THE HEALERS, and I'm primarily caring for my babies,guzzling coffee by the pot,and anguishing over the adverse impact my inability to earn a living-wage is having on all my threadbare musical aspirations and adult relationships.You can't follow your dreams if you can't pay for gas,which is obviously where the grass and ass parts of the equation apparently come into play.
Anyhow,Our much-beloved Dogs D'Amour had tons of great press in the eighties,big,full-color,six page,glossy features in RIP magazine and the like,and they were still tapped into some kinda holy blues trash magic for a long time,but then,they moved to Hollywood and seemed to lose track of something.They made a very commercial sounding,polished,rockstarrish record and some entertaining videos that got shown only very occasionally on Headbanger's Ball,but they got lost in the glut of cowboy-booted Guns N Roses style groups,and kinda fell apart.
To this day,I continue to buy Tyla's solo records whenever I can find them,or afford them,and they're always invested with some kindof honest sentiment,heartbreak,
confession,righteous truth and soul.And babies,he's been churnin' `em out-"Flagrantly Yours" with Spike from the London Quireboys,"Gothic","Libertine","Double T",
"Nocturnal Nomad","Life & Times Of A Ballad Monger","Idle Gait Of the Self-Possessed",and I usually forget something.The guy's a prolific,authentic,poet-outlaw/ drunkard,caterwaulin' banshee,and I'm always a sucker for those.Once,I saw Jo Dog play a pretty moving set at the Coconut Teaszer,with a group stupidly called Badge,featuring the excellent frontman from a band called the Broken Homes.Bam Bam played with the Wildhearts and then,formed Bubble with ex members of Vixen and Faster Pussycat,and Tyla continued to paint and write and drink and sing and be Tyla.
Now finally,they've reconvened as the DOGS D'AMOUR,with Bam Bam's wife,and Bubble bandmate,Share,replacing Steve James,who apparently prefers just to build guitars,and the resulting album,"HAPPY EVER AFTER" sounds like…a Dogs D'Amour record.If you love the Dogs,you'll find a way to hear it,eventually.If you're unfamiliar with them,you might wanna start with "In The Dynamite Jet Saloon',the album that initially fired my imagination.Or the elusive,raw,Stonesey,genius of "The State We're In" debut,from when Dave Kusworth was in the band,or the soulful acoustic e.p.,
"Graveyard Of Empty Bottles",if you can find it.Or "Errol Flynn" or "Straight"-ok,all their shit is fucking inspirational.Order merchandise directly from the band at their websites.Tyla's recently knocked out yet another new solo cd called "Lullabies For Tough Guys";is working on a book,paintings,…and all manner of exquisite Dogs goodies naturally packaged lovingly by the great man,m'self.Stop by and tell `im the Dim Star General sends his love.I'll try to hassle him for a HitList interview,eventually,since only about twelve people got to read last year's int with him in "Burntout Recluse",my crummy fanzine;and in the meantime,you can find him opening up for the ever-popular Backyard Babies.Bam & Share's band,Bubble also rock,by the way,and unlike most,I hold women to the same creative standards as the men,if they wanna play rocknroll.She's definitely got the stuff.
www.tylaonline.co/uk <http://www.tylaonline.co/uk>
www.dogsdamour.com <http://www.dogsdamour.com>
www.planetbubble.com <http://www.planetbubble.com>
TRUTH CAN'T BE FOUND ON THE TELEVISION…
Predictably,the Cincinnati police officer,David Roach,who shot and killed an unarmed,
black father named Timothy Thomas,who was resisting arrest, was completely exonerated by Hamilton County Municipal Judge Ralph Winkler.This same judge gave sixty days in jail to a black activist named Nate Livingston,for interrupting the Mayor's speech.Like our President,who put the "mock" in Democracy,the real reason this status-quo-preserving,lifelong conformist,Charlie Luken,is Mayor here,is the fact that the guy has never voiced an opinion in his entire life that the majority of wealthy caucasions in the room who mostly work for Proctor & Gamble did not agree with.He's running against yet another anchorman in the next election.You get what you'll settle for.
After the cop's acquittal,Mayor Luken imposed another city wide curfew,ordering everyone off the streets of Cincinnati by 10 PM…that is,until he came under pressure from the Aronoff Center Management,who were hosting the lucrative "Phantom Of The Opera" downtown,he changed his mind,and pushed the curfew back to 11.Last time he imposed a curfew,cops only enforced it in poor neighborhoods,allowing the prestigious bistros of the well-to-do Mt.Adams to stay open flaunting their influence.When peaceful protestors,later gathered peacefully to demonstrate in Mt.Adams to draw attention to this glaring,latent hypocracy,they were handcuffed,maced,and arrested by the local police---even though they had commited no crimes!
Protest is simply not tollerated here.People demonstrating against globalization of the economy last November,and people demonstrating against recurring police violence last spring were roughed up in exactly the same manner and every single protestor who fought the charges has actually won in court.I know it's hard for some of you stationed in more tolerant or educated cities to believe this shit goes on here,but it's the sad truth.If you doubt me at all,I invite you to come here and try standing up for something besides capitalistic authoritarianism,and find out,first-hand.Free speech is also under violent attack in the United States Of America.
DREAMING MEN ARE HAUNTED MEN…
For years,I used to live and die on the telephone,but now my long distance service has been shut-off,and there's a chill in my home between me and the disappointed mother of my two smaller children,I've finally just started to adjust,some,to a life without an audience or an extended entrouge of `round the clock crazy people,and have become at least,a little more,self-sufficient.I'm even starting to begrudgingly appreciate being by myself.Some things I just can't control.Like my status as permanent-temporary,in relationships,at jobs.I'm he who fills their space,until someone better looking,or alledgedly more qualified,comes along,or until my own resentments build and I quit.No benefits,no retirement.No over-time or sick days or paid vacation.
I feel like the lone wolf baying at the moon,until every 6-9 months,when the postered walls of this downstairs room start closing in on me,and I turn up again,with my lampshade on,back on the filthy Vine St. blvd.,at the scene of all my cheated former desires,with three dollars and a halfapacka Mavericks,foolishly seeking consolation and camaraderie from my ever-spiralling,gang of local former drinking buddies,who being full-time barflies,24/7 regulars,are always too wasted beyond sanity,or obsessed with my ex girlfriends,to ever offer me any sincere,or prolonged,solidarity.Then,everybody sits in the same bars for the next six months,chastising me and my alcoholism.I've reached that point when the drugs don't work.Booze only makes me sloppily sentimental and gravely ill the next morning.I just always think I'm missing out on some kindof fun everybody else is having while I'm helplessly forced to telemarket.None of the people I see in those bars really seem happy either,though.Sitting here in the dark of my son's basement room,alone,typing with one crooked finger to the strains of the "Rockin' & Surfin' Show" my children's mother is so fond of on the radio upstairs,and trying to accept the fact that the phone is not going to ring with any good news tonight from one of my imaginary bandmates,who've finally come to their senses and realized how fucking easy rocknroll is,if you're just willing to get up out of bed and put some guts and gusto and truth and heart and soul into it.This shouldn't be that hard.As one of my would-be/ex- drummers,Boogie Jack The Bad Joker,likes to say,"it ain't rocket science." He's playing in a Findlay,Ohio covers band.
…The children are more amazing everyday,though.My babies,these little glories,Milton & Melody Grace Monroe,you just would not believe.They are Positively Stellar Beauties.
Raw Pure Angels.There are a lot of moments of really ecstatic joy and even peace here in this little cottage,despite the money problems and lack of grown-up friends.I need to be more grateful.I just go through these severe depressions when I don't even want to get out of bed,let alone leave the house and face the mean-spirited people in the modern world outside.I think I got a lot of love and good ideas and positive energy to contribute,but nobody `round here seems interested in benefiting from what I have to offer.I'm goin' nowhere,cos there ain't nowhere to go,so I drink my coffee and smoke my cigarette butts,out on the back porch in the rain,www.thetruth.com, hoping for a tolerable new dishwashing job,and try to have some dignity and persevere quietly,but in my heart,there's a little kid,still screaming.And I don't know what to do.Well behaved people rarely make history.Nasty's in the psych-ward and none of us have jobs."Six mos. From now,we'll all be millionaires!"
LEGENDARY HEARTS…
Boy Howdy sez,you should see the historic TRASH BRATS video,"New Hope For Rocknroll".It's available cheap from their website,(www.trashbrats.com <http://www.trashbrats.com>) and it's an action-packed hour or so of these courageous glitter punk clowns opening up for a hateful,wigger Kid Rock audience,all the other slim shadies,you know-Fred Durst Nation,and just enduring more heaps of spit and middle fingers and hard,violently-flung projectiles and foreign objects,than you have ever witnessed any band endure,and they just keep rockin'.Witness real violence and hatred way,way,way beyond anything the Stooges or the Sex Pistols were ever subjected to,and the band played on.It's really heroic.I ain't got that kinda stamina in me.I woulda rolled up the flags and gone home,but these characters just deliver a terrific fucking over the top rock-show,in spite of hell.
I know I'm starting to sound like their publicist,but they've been around since way before Green Day or Marilyn Manson,who both,if they'd deny being directly influenced by the TRASH BRATS,echo elements of the Brat's sound and image.Stone Temple Pilots,Toilet Boys,all these cats...Like all the great rocknroll pioneers,from the original blues men and country singers,to the NY DOLLS and Velvet Underground,the Trash Brats have always been underappreciated in their time,and I honestly dunno why they've never gotten their due.Even their cronies,Sloppy Seconds,seem to enjoy more success and credibility than Detroit's Finest,America's Only Rocknroll Band,the TRASH BRATS.
Too glam for the mainstream,too fun for the angst-ridden,too punk for the metalheads,
too country for the punks,too pop for this crowd or that crowd.Those are the theories I've heard as to why they're not one of the biggest bands in the world,but I maintain that they've just never gotten the proper promotional support.A lot of folks I've talked to that seem to already have all these opinions about the band,based merely on their fishnet stockings and mini-skirts and make-up and Ricky's foot-high pile of frightwig-hair,if you continue talking to them,have actually never heard their music. (To play catch-up,listen to their rarities/road-sampler,"SONGS IN THE KEY OF F.U." it's kindof like a best- of,and affordable.) Rocknroll is supposed to be outrageous and stupid and weird…So some of `em dress like the Lunachicks…Right The Fuck On! Whatever Happened To Fun,you fuckers? These guys give great image and put on a fantastic rock spectacle but they write some good songs,too.Sylvain Sylvain digs `em,Debbie Harry digs `em,Texas Terri digs `em,Joan Jett digs `em,Robin Zander digs `em,Mick Ronson used to dig `em…Get hip & climb aboard… www.trashbrats.com <http://www.trashbrats.com>
SCHITZOPHRENIC,STEREOPHONIC,PHOTOGENIC,GIN & TONIC…
According to those in the know,certain segments of the Hit-List readership's reportedly bored shitless with my constant complaining about my own personal lack of a remotely-viable career path and non-stop,nagging,redundant promotion of the same five bands in every issue,and I think they're right,I only give a shit about maybe five or six current groups really,so this will be my last column until I have something new to say.
Thanks to those who've read my column,and sent me stuff for review,MODEL CITIZENS have a song called,"Rocknroll Don't Pay The Bills" that sounds ALOT like my old band,Murder Stars--and to those who've offered me jobs in other cities.Thanks Also to the great Jeff Bale for providing me with this much-needed creative and therapeutic outlet,to Shane Williams for always encouraging me to continue my hopeless mission,WRITE TO SHANE WILLIAMS J-09243 CMC WEST (5-8-up) P.O.BOX 8103 SAN LUIS OBISPO,CA 93403-8103…and thanx also to Brian Morgan for designing my column header,and logos and everything.Brian Morgan's my original guitar-slinger,who I've finally reunited with,we've written hits galore,and we're looking for an ambitious,
enthusiastic,dedicated label with integrity.He's also in NYC's Carvels who are about to release a long-player called,"Not Smart But Foxy".My ace pal Colin from Vicious Kitten says he loves our initial demos but hasn't got the money to put us in the studio.
Somebody,somewhere,has got to! While yer waiting for my shit,which may never get recorded until I'm dead and my famous friends feel obliged to cover it,just don't forget to check out music by the Beat Angels,Teenage Frames,Sour Jazz,Coma-Tones,Trash Brats,and American Heartbreak.Ok? Oh yeah,my other favorite band a lot of people ignored-into-the-abyss,the Welsh power-rockers,60 Ft. Dolls signed to Geffen,made a video that MTV showed once,or maybe twice,were never otherwise promoted in the U.S.,and fell completely off the radar,but their two unusually kickass full length albums,both "The Big Three" and "Joya Magica" are probably still available in your town's campus-area,used cd store,cut-out bin for around $6.I urge you to listen to the 60 Ft.Dolls.They're like the Jam and the Clash with subtle 60's Soul influences,4 Real.Poppy,but anthemic.They rocked and they rolled.Dig `em! All I currently seem to want to listen to is still IAN HUNTER'S return to greatness,"RANT",especially,
"Death Of A Nation","Washed Us Away",and "Morons"….Obviously,the Album Of The Year.
THINGS AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE THEY USED TO BE…
R.I.P. Rev.Howard Finster…
If you ever feel like listening to some really fucking great gut-bucket,acoustic blues,get the David Johansen & The Harry Smiths album.It's deep.I just hope David Jo's apologized to Bebe.(Read her book,"Rebel Heart'.)
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO…ANT FROM GUNFIRE DANCE…?
About ten years ago,this dynamite English rock band stormed the stage of CBGB's,
impressing the hell outta me and Ratboy and Tony Coiro and Brijitte West from the NY LOOSE.They were produced by the Damned and sounded really kindof original.
Jeff Dahl put their single out,there were a couple of self-released E.P.'s,Ray Zell from Kerrang!,and I both hyped `em for years,but no money men ever got behind `em,so `guitarist fucked off to make experimental records as Electrajet (emptyward@hotmail.com <mailto:emptyward@hotmail.com>) ,'singer started listening to too much trendy garage shite like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion or White Stripes or something,they got a new guitarist,
changed their name from GUNFIRE DANCE to the STEPPIN' RAZORS,the drummer fucked off to be a new Lord of the New Church,they put out a song on I-94's indispensable compilation,"Drunk On Rock Volume 2" that's pretty killer,and me and my snotty little international network of drunkard bozos and pretensious NY Dolls collecting prats,are all still sitting here,waiting for one of you absolute geniuses who have a label,to discover these guys and get `em in a studio.
Hell,they might even have an album or two already in the can,but willya please just put these fuckers out in the States?! Everybody cool that hears them,digs `em,they rock.The singer,ANT is a born star.Just make sure they release "Suit & Tie" and "Archway Of Thorns" as CD bonus tracks.Cool? Discover the STEPPIN' RAZORS,already.I can only do so much…Cripes,They even look great! Why aren't I getting paid for this? Contact:STEPPIN' RAZORS 40 SELSDON ROAD,BLOXWICH,WALSALL.WEST MIDLANDS.WS3 3UE.ENGLAND
"I've been beatup,I've been thrown out,but I'm not down,I'm not down…" (-the Clash)
"Money isn't everything,when you're turning your back on a dream…" (-Ian Hunter)
"I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered,but you can't stay here when every single hope you had shatters…" (-Big Country)
"Nothing came easy,nothing came free,nothing came at all-until it came after me…"
(-Alice Cooper)
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
*Does anybody reading this know how to contact/or whatever became of Lori McSwain,
Clem Burke,Noddy Holder,Steve Dior,Wreckless Eric,Nina Antonia,Belefegore,Paul King,the Bolshoi,Miiko from Murder Style,Walter Lure,Gary Holton & the Heavy Metal Kids,the Ruts,Ray Zell,Lipstick Killers,Arthur Lee,Facts About Rats,Dazzle/Stars From Mars,Happy Death Men,Dorian Grey,Plastic Tears,the Senders,Voodoo Dolls,Kirk Hellie,Tony Trigger,Rafe from the Blackjacks and Royal Pimps,Mark who wrote "Poison" for Alice Cooper when it was still called "Downtown Prayer",Dollhouse,Jessa Belle,the Phantoms from New Orleans,Lisa Baeza,Wendy Wild & the Mad Violets,the Soho Roses,Brijitte West,Ricky Beck Mahler from Circus Of Power,Monica Destefano,Jossalyn,Ginger,Neal X,Ronnie Sweetheart,Billy G. Bang,Tony Meter/Black Snake Moon,Jyrki 69,Pete Pagan,Skin& Bones,Lizzie Avondet,Flash Bastard,Perfect Strangers,Paige Starling,Amy Wichmann,Two Saints,the Unattatched,Nick Kent,Peter Wolf,Dog's Kennel Hill,Kris Dollimore,Deb Klein from TAANG! Records,Demolition Boy,Jaysin Bible,Jeni Foster from Princess Pang,Jimmy Luoma,Chris Williams,Kelley Deal,Elka Brandt,Bob Andrews,Corazon Higgins,or Eleanor Whitledge? Plz. Contact: BurntoutRecluse@aol.com.
"They laughed at his long black hair,his animal grace…" (-David Bowie)
"It's a playground for the rich,but it's a loaded gun for me…" (-Iggy Pop)
FOR THE LOVE OF A BROKEN MICROPHONE…
Three or four summers ago,my dear and sweet friend,Anthony Castillo flew me out to Hollywood to audition for his hand-picked,arena-pop supergroup,SLOW MOTORCADE,
but I flaked-out in a cowardly and lameass fashion,because I had a girl pregnant and didn't think I had the vocal chops their melodic 70's influenced pop on a grand scale would require,and I tend to not be interested in singing other people's lyrics.
Well,Anthony soldiered on without me,staying true to his own vision of endless summer,and at long-last,has delivered this stellar CD,"Sex,Drags,& Rocknroll" coming out on the Cargo label in Europe,while they look for U.S. distribution.The new and improved,"up to speed" SLOW MOTORCADE,features an all-star lineup,
including current and former members of Black Cherry,Spiders N Snakes,the Zeroes,the Andersons,and the Hutchinsons.
It's sensational,anthemic,and amazingly listenable.One of those records you immediately need to "Turn Up!".Nobody makes this kindof music anymore.Reminiscent of the Rasberries,the Babys,Big Star,Badfinger,Angel,Detective,Cheap Trick and the Bay City Rollers.Rick Springfield pop sensibilities with a Lords Of The New Church social conscience.Stand-out cuts include,"Have & Have Not","Sixteen Forever","Dark Angel","Martial Law",and "Union Of One".Stiv Bators would be proud of these guys-he loved Eric Carmen,too.If you like the glammy popnroll I'm always on about,you better check these guys out.Real 70's style-Cruise Music.An anthemic throwback to a Cooler Time when big guitars were as important as platform shoes and unbuttoned shirts.Sunny melodies,smart lyrics,and cock of the walk attitude.Nosebleed Sunsets and Donut Shops.
Letters To Porn Stars and Souped-up Automobiles.Shiney Trousers and Apricot Scarves.I think you're gonna love SLOW MOTORCADE.Come expecting 70's hard rock influenced pop songs.Atomic candy like something Michael Des Barres or John Waite could sing for.If you own the Rasberries Greatest Hits or the Checkered Past album,by all means,get this.SLOW MOTORCADE P.O.BOX 7292/VAN NUYS/CA/91409-7292
www.slowmotorcade.com <http://www.slowmotorcade.com> REGISTER TO VOTE.RESISTANCE IS NEVER FUTILE.
THESE GOLDEN DAYS KEEP ME CRYIN'….
"Dimitri,you asked me to write something about the late,and definitely great TONY COIRO.Well here goes.Tony and I grew up in the Bronx.He lived a block away from me.We went to the same Catholic grade and high school.I was a year ahead of him.Tony was a pretty good athlete.We played on the same baseball and football team for a couple of years.Tony was a power hitting first baseman and a defensive lineman.I always remember Tony being into music.I believe he got his first bass guitar in 1970.Tony was one of the kindest,sweetest,and big hearted person I ever had the pleasure of knowing.
If you ever needed anything,Tony was there for you.The memorial show he organized (along with Joe Alexander from the Dragons) for his friend Johnny Thunders at the Marquee in June 1991 was typical of Tony.He told me he was very proud of that show,which raised almost $20,000 for Johnny's children.He loved playing music.
However,Tony was most proud of his family.Whenever I saw him at the Waldo's monthly shows at the Continental,he would always show me the latest pictures of his two daughters.He was truly one of a kind.Damn I miss him." (-Brother Michael Volgare D.L.A.M.F.)
JASON B. SADD WAS A LONELY LAD,HIS HEAD WAS A BED FOR EVERYONE
There's lots of quality rocknroll websites to peruse if you're lucky enough to have internet access,when pregnant-porn and day-old-coffee start giving you the blues…
There's always www.junkrock.com <http://www.junkrock.com> with links to tons of great bands,but my current favorites are www.shedidntlikerocknroll.co.uk/ <http://www.shedidntlikerocknroll.co.uk/> written by a cat,Darren Stockford,with a Real Rocknroll Heart.He digs a lot of the same stuff as me.Black Halos,Jacobites,
Quireboys,Last Great Dreamers,Ian Hunter,Neil Leyton,Dan Baird,Backyard Babies-you know,ROCKNROLL.
"Black To Comm"-types,who worship at the heavy rock alters of Deniz Tek,Rob Younger,Scot Morgan,and Detroit/Bowery/Australian-punk-related,Stooges/MC5-derivative sounds can always get the low-down and talk shop all night long about bands like the Nomads,Flamin' Groovies,and Radio Birdman at Sydney,Australia's "I-94 BAR",(not to be confused with the great Detroit record label of the same name.) at: www.i94bar.com <http://www.i94bar.com> Just whatever ya do,don't try to drink with that Ken Shimamoto character-he's the kinda barfly who can rant about Rob Tyner until closing time,and still make it to church in the morning.The FIRST CHURCH OF HOLY ROCKNROLL,that is… <http://mypeoplepc.com/members/povereem> with links to both Now Wave and the RAWK webzines,also recommended viewing in your tiny hours..
I get most of my Aussie-info from my favorite singer,TEX PERKINS'fan-site at www.welcome.to/tex <http://www.welcome.to/tex> where there's lotsa good links to all the blues-punk greats from Australia.TEX is,as I write this in October,in the studio mixing the new CRUEL SEA album. www.welcome.to/cruelsea <http://www.welcome.to/cruelsea> I am always starving for Tex/Beasts/Spencer Jones/Charlie Owen/Kim Salmon related tuneage and paraphenelia and again,it wouldn't kill ya to dub me a tape,if you own some of their stuff.What I'm really desperate for,though,is THE BOOK.There's reportedly an actual BOOK on the Beasts Of Bourbon,that I'd pay good money for if anybody knows where I can find it.
Brother Wayne Kramer's laid down some soulful truths on his website, www.waynekramer.com <http://www.waynekramer.com> you could all probably benefit from reading.I'm trying to get an interview with the architect of revolutionary proto-punk about his new Super Group starring Fabolicious All-Stars,like Rock's best drummer who absofugginlutely should play on my album,CLEM BURKE;BRIAN JAMES from the LORDS,and STEWART COPELAND from the Police---don't forget,that Police record,"Outlandos D'Amour" was home to hit after hit,all great,well-written,energetic rocknroll songs most pop/punk groups of today couldn't hold a candle to;and DUFF (!?!) from THE FASTBACKS and NEUROTIC BOY OUTSIDERS.Cool,huh? I ain't heard it yet,still prayin' for a promo,lemee know whatchoo think,cos you'll probably hear it before I will….
I guess Mike & Andy from Hanoi Rocks have been playing gigs together overseas in their homelands,backed by members of Crystal Ecstasy.I'm trying to find a way to hear their new boxset or rare bootleg,"Lean On Me",the Rene Berg-era demos that later became Shooting Gallery songs.Andy's autobiography is supposed to come out in October,but I think it's only available thusfar in Finnish.It's called,"Sheriffi McCoy",and no,I still have not seen the documentary,"the Real McCoy" yet.(Like you,I'm Also missing out on other recent documentaries circulating on John Felice & the Real Kids,Johnny Thunders,& Shane MacGowan-anybody got the bootleg VHS?-I hear the "Fist Full Of Rocknroll"-movie is supposed to be the definitive document of our Post-Punknroll-Glam-Trash Underground.) According to the www.madjuana.com <http://www.madjuana.com> website,Karmen and Sami Yaffa are still in Spain writing songs.Nasty Suicide released an album last year,"Vinegar Blood" using his birthname,Jan Stenfors,but he went back to school and got a dayjob as a Pharmacist,so he gets access to all the good drugs.Cool Hanoi related sites include:
<http://go.to/crystalecstasy>,www.anttihulkko.com <http://www.anttihulkko.com>,<http://nastysuicide.freewebspace.com/>
and www.michaelmonroe.com <http://www.michaelmonroe.com>. Will someone please tape me the tribute album with Bubble & Hardcore Superstar?…But probably my favorite rocknroll site on the whole web would have to be www.d-filed.com <http://www.d-filed.com> -home of Patriotism,B-movie starlets,subversive authors,porn and rock.What else do ya want? A Blowjob? Where else are you gonna read current interviews with the likes of Willie Alexander,Nikki Corvette,Cowboy Mach Bell,
Jeff "Monoman" Conolly,Alison Gordy,Nina Antonia,Crazy Raymond,Sami Yaffa,
Cherie Currie,Wayne Kramer,Genya Ravan,and Norman "Spirit In The Sky" Greenbaum? D-Filed ranks up there with "Sonic Iguana" Magazine and HITLIST,taste-wise,giving great coverage to all the coolest people.
Speakin' of all the coolest people,the Most Talented and Beautiful Musical Visionarie in America can still be found at www.phoebelegere.com <http://www.phoebelegere.com> Phoebe's important and people should respect that.She just needs some rich woman to empower her with a lot of money.
…Zodiac Mindwarp & the Love Reaction are apparently coming to save America at the invitation of the Sleazegrinder…My lifelong ally/axe-strangler,"Little Dave Weir",who's currently stationed in Boston,going to medical school at Tufts,to the surprise of everyone who knew him when he was a pre-teen arsonist and auto-thief,tells me that him and the Finest Writer Of Our Generation,Jake Wark,recently attended a Zeke/Supersuckers show that totally rocked their worlds,which is unbelievably strong praise from these two hateful,jaded pricks,who'd be quick to dismiss your average,run of the mill,AC/DC-style tough guy bands….Howlin' Maggie have a new album out called,"Hyde"….The most anticipated show in my little orbit is Jeff Dahl's Fifth Annual Desert Trash Blast scheduled for January 25th & 26th at the Hollywood Alley in Phoenix,Az.,I'm really hoping to attend this year,load up the van with a buncha musician friends and motor out West.Scheduled to appear:Ricky Rat,Jeff Dahl,the Adz,the Peeps,Slash City Daggers,Sonic Thrills,Tempe Tramps,the Beat Angels,Texas Terri & the Stiff Ones,the Bell Rays,and like I said,hopefully,at least a car full of super special surprise guests.I hope to see ya there! Hell, I'm hoping everyone turns up.I hope to see Dave Kusworth and Mister Ratboy there!
DON'T TELL ME I'M FREE WHEN I'M NOT…
Did you hear how this pro-war,corporate-entity that owns over 1,000 commercial radio stations here in the states,(over 60%) ClearChannel,just issued an official ban on 150 "distasteful" songs they've forbidden their stations to play,including many sixties anti-war songs by Dylan,Lennon,and Maguire,and the entire RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE catalogue??All In the name of protecting our Freedom In This Free Society.If that ain't Orwellian,JB,nothing is…Clearly,the powers-that-be are hip to the power of music to wake people up and polarize anti-military sentiment and they want to continue consolidating this blind obedience to their tunnel-vision,monolithic view of everything:
corporate might equals right.Produce & Consume…Produce & Consume…etc.
Additionally,in response to the host of tv's mildly entertaining,"Politically Incorrect",
Bill Maher,exercising his right to free speech,both Sears and Fed-Ex pulled their advertising,and Disney or whoever,may be canceling his show.What he apparently said that was so dangerous and provocative was that when "W" kept referring to the plane attacks as "acts of cowardice",he disagreed,suggesting that the terrorists were,to the contrary,-obviously-gutsy,formidable,commited enemies.They were suicide bombers fer fuck's sake,whereas Fortunate Son,elite politicians who never served in the military themselves, but who sit behind desks and order others to kill and die would seem to him more cowardly than the actual fighters on either side.
Now to me,Bill Maher is the picture of oblivious,waspy elitism,but he's not allowed to speak his mind without fear of potentially losing his job? That's fucking bullshit!
A radio DJ ain't allowed to play "Imagine"? How is this not a return to McCarthy-era,I'm sorry-Ken Starr-era witch-hunting and intolerance? Ain't the sacred American flag everybody's waving so furiously supposed to symbolize a certain idealism,
something more important,or righteous,than military might…like freedom? Was it all lies? Give Me Liberty,Motherfuckers.
"To make literature with a gun in my hand had been for a time my dream.To be something like a robber baron of the pen." (-Richard Huelsenbeck)
"There is no such thing as paranoia.It's all true." (-Hunter S. Thompson)
WOULD YOU BE AN OUTLAW FOR MY LOVE…
I'm enjoying a luxurious Indian Summer here this afternoon,spent mostly in the imperishably gorgeous Ault Park,one of Cincinnati's only amenities,with the babies and their admirable Mom.I love them all so intensely and can only pray something comes through for us soon.Just one simple,legitimate opportunity I could really put my shoulder against and parlay into a decent-sized victory.I keep telling the cosmos,I AM READY NOW. My three year old,Milton asked me,"Why is it green outside?",and we opened the front door and went out on the porch and saw the biggest rainbow in the sky…I was amazed,and took two or three snapshots before it disappeared.
BRIAN SMITH,from the fabulous BEAT ANGELS,graciously sent me a cd burn of their latest gems,"Whore House Priest",and "Liquor Pig Boyfriend".Brian's singing particularly well on these tunes,the guitars are real seventies radio-pop-like and they've got their usual glittery production sheen,-they always get a great sound.They're back in the studio with Gilbey Clarke (Candy,GNR,Starfuckers) and y'know,I'm really glad they're still at it,great band,but I'm also very discouraged they haven't thusfar been able to penetrate the capitalist fame machine and break through to a wider audience.In the 70's or 80's,they would have been huge stars.They write great songs.They look terrific.They know what they're doing.They've had help.Everybody from Guns N Roses to Alice Cooper's behind `em,and if they're our Great White Hopes,and they can't get a record deal,it bodes ill for me and my immediate circle of condemned to rocknroll-accomplices.
Everytime I hear that band,Sugar Ray on the radio,who have written some halfway-decent pop songs,I think of how the Beat Angels have stuff that's almost as radio friendly,iced with big-time know how,they just ain't got a DJ in the band,and probably aren't willing to wear furry Kangols or baggy pants from the Gap,so I dunno how far they're gonna get in today's TRL-World,but I'm sure as hell rootin' for `em! Cool kids have got to be getting sick of all that MTV shit getting crammed down their throats,and are probably actually already looking for something different and heartfelt.My 13 year old son,Christian,has been turning to Soul Asylum for chrissakes,so let's all cross our fingers that some slimey industry type wises up and goes after the "New Real" market.Hats off,Beat Angels.I'm on your side.
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW:DIMITRI MONROE CATCHES UP WITH ORIGINAL LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH DRUMMER,NICKY TURNER…
DIMITRI:Why did you leave the Lords originally?
NICK:At the time,we weren't writing songs together,had no record label,no prospects and we simply ground to a halt.It just wasn't fun anymore-but that's just one reporter's opinion! Before that,it was the best time of my life! I'm happy to have survived,and fortunately,I tend to only remember the good times.After I left,they only did one more tour I think,and then split,so I don't think I missed much.Also,I'd met a good looking girl in L.A. and decided to move there.
DIMITRI:Weren't you in the Barracudas and are any of those cd's still in print?
NICK:Yes,the Barracudas records are still available,and many `serious record collector'-types are much more interested in talking about that band for some reason.I guess it had a naieve,mid-sixties rocknroll,early Paisley Underground kind of vibe.'I wish it could be 1965 again'.
DIMITRI:Were you a fan of the Deadboys?
NICK:Loved `Sonic Reducer'.Never saw them live.Occassionally,just to wind up the crowd,we'd play the opening bars…get them going…and stop!
DIMITRI:What didja do after quitting the Lords? Didn't you work for Miles Copeland for awhile?
NICK:Yeah,I was at the mgt. co. in L.A.,working with a bunch of Mile's acts.Introduced Sting to the web and cd roms,worked with Belinda Carlisle,and others…then I got into the Web.'Was the first person ever to have a band play live on the web (Sky Cries Mary),started one of the first music websites (Rocktropolis),worked with one of the first music stores online (Music Boulevard),did the first major download (Bowie),and a bunch of early webcasts (Bowie,Pistols,Aerosmoth,Motley Crue,No Doubt),and web interviews (the three remaining guys from the Doors,Daryl Hannah,James Cameron,others),yeah,
I'm still a namedropper! Currently,I'm Senior Vice President at a cool,cutting-edge music co. called ARTISTdirect.We've just started a new record label,headed by Ted Field,the founder of Interscope Records and I'm the head of marketing for the label.First releases will come out early next year.The first artist signed is a New Yorker by the name of Custom.
DIMITRI:What did you think of "Psycho-Sex" & Stiv's "Whores Of Babylon" stuff he did with the guys from Sigue Sigue Sputnik and the Godfathers?
NICK:I never heard it,but I expect it was pretty cool.I begrudgingly liked Sigue Sigue
…in spite of themselves!
DIMITRI:Have you been in any bands or made any music since?
NICK:I decided to hangup my sticks to concentrate on other things.The only show I've played since last gig with the Lords was at a party with the guys from Spinal Tap.I didn't explode,so I guess I was lucky.
DIMITRI:What dya think about the Lords of the New Church reforming without two important original members? Were you asked to participate?
NICK:Brian asked me if I'd do a cameo on the album…which I probably will.
Personally,I couldn't do it without Stiv.Get Iggy to front the band…and we'll talk!Without getting overly sentimental,I miss Stiv,amend think about him a lot,even ten years after his death.He was extraordinarily and outrageously funny (the funniest person I ever met,I think?) yet,simaultaneously,impossible,unreasonable,and irretrievably messed-up.A classic!
DIMITRI:Did you have relationships with Grant Fleming or Danny Fury or any of the other latter-day Lords?
NICK:Grant is one of my best friends still.He's a photo-journalist and writer for English magazines like Loaded,always in Brazil,China,or other exotic regions,very into the whole rave and dance scene (often works with Paul Oakenfield) and is constantly embarrassed
When I pull out pictures of him in leather strides! He shows up at my doorstep once a year,and is usually pretty welcome! Danny,I never met.
DIMITRI:What music do you currently listen to for pleasure?
NICK:It ranges from early Clash to Howlin' Wolf to Al Green to Hendrix to Bjork to Badly Drawn Boy to the Beach Boys to Bowie to Sly & the Family Stone to Stooges to curtis Mayfield to Radiohead to Coldplay,etc. I listened to the Lords for the first time in years recently.It sounded pretty good!
DIMITRI:Did you guys in the band ever take the LORDS social and political content seriously at all,"the message",did Stiv's lyrics mirror your own views,or were you just having fun playing drums for a badass rocknroll band?
NICK:Well,Stiv had an interesting point of view fuelled by mysterious underground propoganda tapes and comic books! I loved `Open Your Eyes','Russian Roulette'(which he didn't write obviously) `New Church',etc. Some of the other songs seem a little naieve in retrospect,although I guess `Holy War' is pretty topical now!
DIMITRI:Do you ever hangout with Brian James and Dave Tregunna?
NICK:Brian always calls when he's in L.A. and we have dinner with one of our former roadies (Brians;actually) and another great friend,Stevo.Dave usually comes `round to borrow stuff from me and then disappears for years at a time.Typical! Had a great e-mail from him recently-he sounds good!
DIMITRI:What little-known bands are you currently hip to who deserve some press?
NICK:Custom,our first release (so I'm biased) has written a great alternative album,somewhere between Beck and Eminem.
DIMITRI:Do you still love rocknroll?
NICK:Do I still play `Lust For Life' at top-volume while hurtling at breakneck down Laurel Canyon (in L.A.)?…Yes!
DIMITRI:Anything I forgot to ask you about?
NICK:I wrote some liner-notes to a horrible live album that I.R.S. released that,"while in the Lords,I never laughed so hard in my life!" It's true! When the Lords were good,they were GREAT!…but when they were bad…they were HORRID!
I GOT A HEAD FULL OF MAGIC BABY & I COULD SHARE THIS WITH YOU…
"I came home from rehearsal and played your tape,and man,it is great.I really mean that,the first good rocknroll I've heard in a long fucking time!" (-Cheetah Chrome)
"When will you be discovered and given the recognition you deserve?"
(-Phoebe Legere)
"Dimitri,you're gonna be a star someday dude,don't let anyone tell you different!"
(-Jeff Dahl;from the liner notes of his "HAVE FAITH" cd)
"Are you really Oscar Wilde or T.S. Eliot or something?" (-Bebe Buell)
I just sent out a shitload of eight track demo-tapes of all my new songs,but none of the little punk labels ever acknowledged receiving them.To the best of my knowledge,
only Vicious Kitten and Wayne Kramer's Muscletone Records even listened to them,so we are still currently looking for a label to put us in the studio,ideally with either Ian Hunter or Tony James producing.This is a shameless,tacky,gratuitous plug,I realize,but if I don't promote my own interests,no one else is going to,and the raw material,the songs are fucking good.We just need help $$$ getting them recorded right..
I always dream about what me and my scattered band of extremely talented,good-looking,charismatic,and dangerous-personalities are capable of,if only we had half the recording budgets the Strokes or Dandy Warhols or any of those Indie-Gone-Garage bands enjoy.Let alone,like,full-time access…Fuck,we could be intergalactic heroes with a meager recording budget,a little bit of support and engineering guidance.So help me.I'm standin' right here.Just because I'm invisible doesn't mean that I can't fly.
Labels,investors,patrons of the arts,management companies,producers,super-models,please contact: BurntoutRecluse@aol.com <mailto:BurntoutRecluse@aol.com> It's a drag when the still-existing,critical rocknroll community of authoritative,actual connoisseurs,are seldom the ones in an economic position to actually support it financially,or help the good stuff really get off the ground.Hey,we're all doin' what we can…
RIP-OFFS….
Literally desperate for grocery money,I take all my CD's to this hipster record store that won't hire me due to outdated scene politics,old-guy buyer hadn't heard of any of the bands so he passed on all of it.I was resentful because my firm conviction is that had I been one of the pomade brigade who got the big belt buckles and creepers and parent's money to burn there and at the poseur bar down the street,they'd have bought all of it.In fact,the bag full of old promos I was begrudgingly trying to move first is exactly what that very set'll be listening to 3-9 mos. from now.Guaranteed.
Ended up selling almost thirty CD's I actually like for $9.When half of these CD's move-and they will,CD EXCHANGE is gonna make well over one hundred dollars.They offered me NINE.For everything,and I had to take it to feed the kids.Outrageous.I've been a buyer at record stores for 16 years-NEVER have I ripped anybody off that bad.Don't go to CD EXCHANGE in Cincinnati.In fact,as Sleazegrinder said,the moral of ALL my stories seems to be,well, just don't come to Cincinnati.8 long years of their abuse and no end in sight.Sometimes,I feel like a sentenced man.Cincinnati is for executives and their bully fortunate sons.Especially the yuppie neighborhood I live in.You just can't make friends at Starbucks.There aren't a lot of Rose Tattoo fans around here.People don't strike up conversations with me about the Vibrators or Roky Erickson at Wild Oats,y'know? Mostly,they sneer at me from BMW's for using "their" crosswalks.
CHEAP TRICK AND THE CHEATER SLICKS…
Bob Bert's BB GUN magazine is always a treat.I don't even like the music he likes-Japanese Noise bands,unimaginative girl groups,art damaged eighties artschool dissonance,I generally hate anything made by affluent,college-graduated-caucasions `even fucking remotely hip-hop-influenced,but I do,however,share Bob's love for Bebe Buell,Nick Cave,Clem Burke,Mott the Hoople,old Rock Scene magazines,the NY DOLLS and Richard Hell,and where else ya gonna find a mag that digs both the Cheater Slicks and Cheap Trick since Burntout Recluse went outta business? Am I the only one who's noticed how one of the REAL KID'S is Bob Bert's doppelganger? Pick up the new issue of BBGUN at the same record store where you bought the KNOXVILLE GIRLS
record.
BECAUSE I'M FROWNING ALL THE TIME…
"I'm lookin' for that spark of recognition! I'm lookin' for that face at the edge of the crowd!" (-Electric Frankenstein)
Cincinnati still reeks of hair-don'ts and trust funds with its lame-o music scene forever dominated by the same twelve powder-sniffin',native son,emotion-free celebutantes and their groupie-turned-indie-starlet ex girlfriends,where the conservative parents still back their boring bands financially,everyone plays latest-trend,by-numbers,safe,phoney,
pretensious,indie rock shite and hang out at a gutless bar that's not even a bar."This is a beauty contest---with guitars!" …Everybody always pretends to like whichever group of prep-school rich boys got the best wardrobe to match this weeks faddish sound.That's why I don't even bother going out very often anymore.I'm sure it's the same in your town-you know-these bands who can literally get record deals before they get instruments because somebody's teachin' their girlfriend about sixties frat-rock.Then,somehow,five mos. later,they've all got sparkling,purple-flecked retro-gear that'd make Tom Petty blush,and an album,and heaps of praise in all the magazines.Based 98% on maybe having some girls in the band.The mall-people,bourgeoise,advertising-dupes pretending to be edgey,hip,bohemians-like Madonna.It's wretched.
Meanwhile,there's some grizzled,old veteran,outcast rocknrollers with really,really poor posture and poisoned attitudes,still lurching `round in the shadows,mumbling obscenities and pissing the scenesters off by wearing sunglasses at night-the nerve of these assholes-they think they're rockstars or somethin'…so of course,they can never get any good gigs,cos they won't play highschool reindeer games with the gossip brigade,but it's been my experience,that these are always the best cats to look for and help when you can.Bum-luck bizarroes always make the best rocknroll.Always.
There's a local group of embittered freaks appropriately called the PARIAHS who've been around in various incarnations for 15 years now,but who've still never got to make a record.Their singer just got outta jail,two years for one joint,that was illeagally-seized from his pocket by a Cincinnati cop.The Pariahs are worth checking out cos they understand rocknroll is about songs and spontanaiety and soul,they're not fakin' it-it comes natural to `em.They ain't got purty haircuts and new threads and vintage instruments,but they light a cool-fire,and they know how to rock.They're garage-rock from a time when that meant you actually usually had a hard time trying to find somebody's garage to play in,before this trendy-nouveau-White Stripes-era of trust funders showedup who listen to their "Nuggets" compilations on state of the art stereos in swank rehearsal halls paid for with somebody elses money.I'm gonna try n help get THE PARIAHS some shows in Columbus.Look for `em.
INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW…
VICIOUS KITTEN RECORDS is about to release a follow-up compilation to last year's hugely successful "Rocknroll War",imaginatively titled "Volume Two".The new one features all your favorite caped crusaders,all the usual suspects,like FREDDY LYNXX,
THE CRYBABYS,WALTER LURE,CHEETAH CHROME,DAVE KUSWORTH,
NIKKI SUDDEN,THE MALAKAS,THE GOLDEN ARMS,& DIMITRI MONROE & THE NAKED FLAMES.Obviously,you'll be needing this,immediately.I'm only trying to help.www.viciouskitten.com.au/ <http://www.viciouskitten.com.au/> Vicious Kitten GPO Box 20 Canberra Act 2601 Australia;American mail orders can be sent to Vicious Kitten USA 2 Ararat St. Worcester,Massachusetts 01606.Get TWO copies of "Rocknroll War Volume Two"!
…And a copy of "DRUNK ON ROCK VOLUME TWO" for your girlfriend from I-94 RECORDINGS,in Detroit,Michigan. <http://community-2.webtv.net/i94rec/I94Recordings>
Trust me,she'll totally dig the Teenage Frames & Stiletto Boys….Next time one of my dear friends puts out any kindof rocknroll compilation,I'm gonna demand that