…a bit of a trainwreck myself, I fear, at times on and off, throughout my life (thanx to my pal Kathy for supplying the title of this post). What were you fucking doing in 1987? Me, going to Humboldt State University, embarking on one hell of a train ride. I wasn’t a bad looking kid, but I don’t know what the hell I was thinking with the turtle neck on my first day, who was I trying to impress…hahahah. Lots of psychedelics that first year, don’t know how I made the grade for a second. I’ve mentioned it before, wish I had taken my schooling there a little more seriously, it would have made things easier later, but that’s certainly nor what it was about 1987-1994.
Sculpted by Fred Dradd (4 “D”s in a short name, I like that) and enlightened to me by my Humboldt pal Brett on motherfucking facebook…God I hate that place and yet in terms of my friendships, indispensable, because nobody uses the phone or email anymore. For those few of you who come here and are reading this (and perhaps are too shy to comment), gimme a call sometime or email me (the address is at the top right of the sidebar or if you please…
mustard(underscore)relics(at)yahoo(dot)com
…try it Mikey likes it
The Misfits catch a lot of shit, but what the fuck were you doing in 1978…not releasing this epic 7″…so fuck off. In the late 80s my pal Doug Rogers up in Humboldt made me a Misfits mix cassette that had this record and bunch of other killer impossible stuff that you could only get from the tape trader circles back then. Just checked Discogs and you can get a repress of this bad boy for $3555.
And then I find this live recording, holy shit, blistering…what the fuck were you doing in 1983? I was just starting to go to punk shows (although I had been going to concerts thanx to my Mom, since I was a wee lad). This show would have been a good opportunity to go fucking off…
I want to thank everyone who played a art in enriching me musically, throughout my life. Sending me records or musical care packages ranks high on the list in terms of that enrichment…absolutely nothing wrong with the gift of music. A couple of years ago my ex-in-laws sent me a big ole box of LPs that had belonged to my ex-father-in-law who is now deceased. It was a two fold gift, one of just being cool as all get out and also of keeping mind that my Son will inherit all my records (please Son do not give them to Goodwill) and will have his Abuelo’s records as well. I was looking through some of the ones that I had pulled for future listening and came across Bloodrock 2. Gave it a spin and dug several of the harder more bluesy tunes….the second tune cheater was a nice one…
Wanted to finish this up by regurgitating another post that has been getting some hits lately but unfortunately still no fucking comments. The Pack A.D. was/is a hell of a good rockin’ two piece that deserves a second look (the Collector movies are also worth a look if you didn’t heed my call the first time ’round). What would you call this type of music…Elliott is this shoegaze or indie? I don’t give a fuck, I dig that minimal sound ala Bone Awl (too much of a stretch?).
Welcome to Spring folks…
I’ll be damned if I didn’t get a nice surprise the other day…this CD in the mail, clear from Italy (like Sacco and Vanzetti). The label sent me the standard press release and a free download, but also mentioned one of my favorite things when getting these review requests…physical copies available. Of course when I asked for one, I didn’t pay attention to the fact that the label was overseas (with the extreme cost of international shipping) and I felt kinda bad (and impressed). Then I was worried that the album would suck and I have to write something crappy (you know, I don’t care what music you’re into, the artist deserve a lot of credit for doing what they do and if you’ve ever been in a band, you know what I’m talking about). This album though, definitely does not suck, in fact it fucking rages and these guys obviously have a deep respect for the long history of Rock’n’Roll. Here’s the band’s biography sent by the label…
That last line, “the attitude is Garage, the sound is Lo-Fi and the soul is the Blues,” is a pretty darn good darn phrase to describe what you get on this here disc. Hot damn these guys know how to Rock’n’Roll! “Garage and Lo-Fi?” Yes, at times…they’re all over the place really. In fact, what’s really going on is, the dudes from Italy have squeezed decades worth of R’n’R history into 38 minutes and 42 seconds. From start to finish, not only do they honor the emotion of the Blues throughout, they give you a nice taste of their own impressively original songwriting and musicianship. No two songs sound the same and I would add that Yearnin’ often remind me of Led Zep, especially in that sense that they can rock you in a variety of ways. Compare “Stairway to Heaven” to “Song Remains the Same” or “Cashmere”…all over the place…hold your hand or punch you in the face. On Take a Look, you see that variety in tunes like “Back For More” and “Her Walking” or fuck, how about the guitar solo/noodling on “Rescue Me”? The hit on this bad boy, or at least the vibe I’m on at this particular moment is a classic rocker called “No Soul” reminiscent of the Stooges in a way I could see Iggy and Ron doing something like that or even Cream with that British invasion Bluesy thing. They’re really all hits, no fucking duds. There was a couple of times that I was thinking early Grunge too, but I think that’s the soulful nature of the vocals. There’s something for everyone here, like a R’n’R candy store…go get this record in some way, shape or form!
My buddy Darryl and I drove down to Frisco Texas to go see this show last weekend. I didn’t realize how many “hits” the guy had, I sang along on practically every song and that was a lot of tunes as he played a two hour set with encores…all those years of listening to classic radio stations paid off. I know a lot of folks don’t dig his music, but these singer songwriter type guys are a dying breed, everything in the mainstream these days is cookie cutter shit, no one knows how to play and write a decent tune…
I don’t know the answer to that question, twas a selfie moment after looking for parking forever then having to walk a mile to the show, you know how it is. It’s hard for a couple of office geeks to look pissed, easily confused with constipation. We made it though and besides the concert, we took advantage of what the city had to offer as far as good eats. Surf and turf, sushi, In ‘n’ Out burger, etc. Probably the most interesting and I gotta say, damn fine home made cuisine, was the Redneck Haven in Oklahoma…nice folks and the lady that ran the place insisted that I didn’t have to smoke outside (it was raining) and offered me an ashtray…
Was looking at the last post I wrote, entitled “nutty…” and realized I never included what I had to say about that title. Long story short, we’re all nutty, there is no such thing as a normally functioning human being. Everyone has that little something that indicates poor mental health, the only difference is in how functional we are. Can you honestly say that you are or you know of somebody that isn’t nutty in some way, shape, or form? Miss Williams here must’ve been nutty somehow as she killed herself or can you without having some kind of terminal disease be rational in killing yourself? Then again, as they say in the Anonymous 12 step rooms, your mind is your worst enemy and you can always rationalize another drink or another whatever. I guess every day we are one day closer to death, but fuck. I guess too that’s where the title of this post comes in. There is nothing nuttier than the fact that we all just end up as bug food…