PROPHETS OF ADDICTION
I don’t get around much, anymore. In my wild, wild youth, I spent several lifetimes fuckin’ around in dark bars and ending up in come crazy places like the Sunset Strip where I met a lotta people with black hair who wanted to be like Guns N Roses and Posion and the Crue and purple haired Zeroes. I remember most of those metal years black haired guys being kinda dumb and untalented and 100% incapable of writing a song to save their lives, but I did like that guy from Queeny Blast Pop, probably cause when we met he was soft spoken and polite actually, reminded me a bit of myself onstage. He continues to be pretty good as far as I’m concerned and I’m always lookin’ for some new rocknroll being made with some energy, a little style, a little heart. Not bad if you ask me. At least as good as ya know, say, Stars From Mars or Plastic Tears. I saw Lesli’s guys live opening for L.A. Guns about I dunno, twelve or thirteen years ago and they were still good, wild onstage, couple catchy tunes, brought out all the old leather jacket wearers. People at that show kept asking me if I was Phil Lewis. Other old people probably recall me absolutely slaying all the hairspray metal dudes in my more punk leaning fanzines during the assembly line spandex Headbanger’s Ball Days, but lately, I’ve been kinda sentimental for even the cheesier overproduced deedle deedle metal bands I used to kinda disdain. I can appreciate a little “One More Reason” or “Electric Gypsy”, now. Like when I was a kid, I did not really listen to much Ozzy or Twisted Sister. I was very new wave, like totally immersed in synth pop and death rock, now I don’t mind me some heavy metal. Especially ’round the bonfire at night. The problem with my desert southwest border radio classic rock station is it’ll play some Van Halen, George Thororoughgood, ZZTop and Billy idol, but then they play like, Yes. And I still say no to Yes. In the deadend ghost town here, aint nothin’ happenin’ at all in the way of music, ya know the only musicians are like outta towners who play at the tourist trap-I saw a death rock guy in all the pentegrams and upside down crosses on his battle vest yesterday and knew he was not from here. We saw a nazi couple about a month ago, I hope they aint livin’ here, but it would not surpise me, all the ranchers are super fucking far to the racist extremes rightwing. People behind us have the biggest fucking turkey I’ve ever seen in my life gobble gobbling around their backyard. I don’t fuck with other people’s stuff, but it is a bit hard to not wanna like quietly, open a gate and free the fucker, but where would he go, really? He’d just get eaten by the wolves and coyotes. I think they’re fattening him up for Christmas. Loony old demented Gropey Joe told some badly scripted fuckin’ photo op jokes the other day, but you know this aint no democracy cause he’ll pretend pardon a turkey but not a righteous and heroic human being. Everybody witgh any measure of integrity whatsoever has demanded the Ivy League posh people free Julian Assange and Leonard Peltier, but those tyrannical fuckin’ rich billionaire deep state secrecy people who rule over us don’t give a fuck who we want pardoned. They’re all just like, laughing at us and how most people will believe any crazy crackpot farfetched bullshit they wanna sell ’em from “lone gunman magic bullet” to “found the passport, melted steel, Muslims with boxcutters so buy duct tape”, so long as a Serious PersonTM in a pinstriped pants suit says it on tv.
The Prophets Of Addiction – Superhero (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Prophets Of Addiction – American Dream – YouTube
IDENTITY POLITICS IS JUST SOME SAMO TOKENISM & EMPTY HUSTLE, WINDOW DRESSING, CONTROLLED OP, SUPERMODEL RED CARPET CELEBRITY WORSHIP BULLSHIT!
Unlocked: Norm Finkelstein Part 1 – “I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It” – YouTube
THE SMITHS
I love alla Morrissey’s solo stuff, too, but there is something still special about those old Smiths records, ya know? Morrissey got me into Osacr Wilde, as a kid. Not sure how I feel about his new producer, yet. Moz guests on the new Iggy lp, “EVERY LOSER”. The most beautiful new wave girl got me into the Smiths when we were jut thirteen and fourteen, all that post punk and new romantic, goth and new wave stuff especially imprinted deep on my soul, ya know I’m still listening to the eighties music even now in these cold times when it’s impossible to know what’s going on, the powerful forces of Wall Street weapons makers and pill pushers beat us crazy with abusive gaslighting and fear propaganda and pro war, fascist hoopla, you can see it on everybody’s faces-the horror, the trauma, the shutoff utilities notices, and threats of eviction, at our old place we did not have adequate heat, now we got broken water heater problems, I’m in solidarity with everybody who’s in the struggle, all the people with nowhere to go-I got a lot more empathy for the people barely gettin’ by, than I do with all the phony fake hipster shitlib haves, paying to play, hoarding their platforms, buying some kinda make believe illusion of “being popular”, and shithoarding their piles of More Stuff, it’s fuckedup. I don’t even talk to people where I live no more, except for a couple of hardworking retail slaves at the low pay grocery store, cause the insufferable ESP new age landlord hot tob Karens and Fonzie hipster airbabandb owners pushed us out of our old neighborhood and now we are deep into ya know, Rush Limbaugh, love the kkkops, rightwing rancher, insufferable blowhard, talk radio terrain. Navigating pitbull meth head culture on foot aint all roses. Tumultuous territory in troubling times. Divided States Of Amnesia. It’s dangerous out here. Do you remember the bills you have to pay or even yesterday? I’m just a broken record, by now. A whole stack of broken records, really. And a couple of dogeared old books, right? It all started with the Monkees and Prince, Cyndi Lauper, Adam Ant, Nik Kershaw, Dexy’s, Lords, Hanoi and Billy Idol, “ASK” by the Smiths and “Rubber Ring”. Some Nick Cave and Gun Club and Beasts Of Bourbon and here we are.
I Know It’s Over (2017 Master) – YouTube
Well I Wonder (2011 Remaster) – YouTube
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me (2011 Remaster) – YouTube
The Smiths – Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before (Official Music Video) – YouTube
A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours (2011 Remaster) – YouTube
Morrissey -There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – YouTube
HEY CHATTERBOX
I’m still trying to find out whatever happened to all those guys from the Indianapolis glam band CHATTERBOX formerly known as Too Cool, who were around in the late eighties that were influenced by Dogs D’Amour, the Quireboys, the Black Crowes and the Faces, the ones with the scarves, who played Arthur Lee covers. Let us know if you know those cats, Stephen Lee Canner (Dirty Sidney Cox), vocals; Garry Wayne Finley (Slim Chance), guitar; Dave d’Eath (bass); Ryan Payne (Poppy Rimdeau), drums, or how to contact ’em. I’d love to interview ’em. They were sorta midwestern glam contemporaries of my ole teenage bands, Vain Damage, the Neons, and Teenage Devil Dolls, and of course, Detroit’s glammest Motor City sons, Trash Brats, in the late eighties.
Too Cool – Everything’s a Dream – YouTube
Too Cool – Barracuda – YouTube
TWANGSVILLE REVISITED: THE MYSTERY GIRLS [1983]
Rock n’ Roll With The Mystery GirlsMystery Girls | Discography | Discogs
Punk Rock in New York City by Henry Weld (collectorscum.com)
NEW “WHOLE OF THE LAW” VIDEO DROPS! THE WORLD FAMOUS MISTER RATBOY & HIROSHI THE GOLDEN ARM ARE STAYING GOLDEN!!!
“KILL A PUNK FOR ROCK & ROLL PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARTY PEREZ 1976-2019” (-HoZak Books)
This photographer Marty Perez travelled the old beat highway and college radio music circuit for years and really doies a startlingly effective good job at capturing the restless rocknroll subculture-he’s got it all here, the truck stops and hangovers, sick in the parking lot, the “Dazed & Confuzed” sevnties stoners, the rich kid grunge poser motherfuckers, the old school Batcave rockabillies, From Big Star in their satin baseball jackets to Lazy Cowgirls doing what they do best, writing the songs that make old junkies cry and tearing up some shithole bar.The Clash, the Replacements, Bad Brains, 68 Comeback-I used to drink with one of those guys, the dead one-Jack (RIP), Fastbacks, Aerosmith and Black Oak Arkansa-they’re all hear and sweatty. The pictures of their fans are really what tells about half the story. The kinda real cool photography book that says it all loudly, that you and your loved one can treasure on their coffeetable for the rest of their life. Pretty much everything HoZak does, they do very well. I don’t know the HoZak gang personally, but they keep churning out valuable works by important artists and they sure seem like they know exactly what they’re doing. Reminding me of when Sympathy hit their stride in the nineties before he got White Stripes fad rich and crappedout. These HoZaks are the people who brought you books about Chris Isaak and James Calvin Wilsey, and like, Jeff Drake the rocknroll bankrobber. They’re a music label, too. HOT STUFF! CAN”T GET ENOUGH!
WAS KUCINICH THE LAST ANTI WAR DEMOCRAT? * FOLLOW REAL JOURNALISTS, LIKE ABBY MARTIN & GARLAND NIXON, SY HERSH & WHITNEY WEBB, ALL THE WRITERS DEPLATFORMED BY THE BIG MACHINE! WHAT HAPPEND TO JEREMY SCAHILL & AMY GOODMAN? SHEESH! IT’S SAD-THEY EVEN GOT TO CHOMSKY. YA KNOW? JOE LAURIA AND AARON GOOD BOOKS MAKE GOOD HOLIDAY GIFTS! ABBY MARTIN SELLS PSYCHEDELIC ARTWORK!
Further Down the JFK Rabbit Hole: CIA, Vietnam & Deep State | Empire Files on Patreon
JOE LAURIA WROTE THE BOOK ON PEACE ACTIVIST RABBLEROUSER MIKE GRAVEL, WHO CALLED WARPIGS WARPIGS TO THEIR FACE! Joe Lauria on Twitter: “A POLITICAL ODYSSEY By Sen. Mike Gravel and Joe Lauria https://t.co/Z6y2nFui7S” / Twitter
tinyurl.com/mv64wum5 BUY THE AARON GOOD BOOK HERE!!!
DVD – “Gaza Fights For Freedom” by Abby Martin – empire-files (empirefiles.store)
“Wow Ron DeSantis was the sole legal oversight officer for the whole Special Ops task force in the Anbar province of Iraq at the height of JSOC’s 2007 killing spree.” (-Seth Harp)
JOHN KIRIAKOU: Pardoning Turkeys Instead of Humans (consortiumnews.com)
DEATH OF A NATION
As a homeschooling primary caregiver to a kid with a disability, I got sucked into False-Book there for a couple of years and it was another trap for troubadours, big deadend time suck, and I was getting censored or FB-jailed all the time for antiwar posts all the time, the sillicon valley spy pigs made sure my posts had like a severely limited reach, which is why it has been a real treat that my righteous comrades in the worldwide freedom struggle have provided me with platforms outside of Zuck’s Censorverse. I was being hassled relentlessly by the infowar “fact checkers” for being offscript, actively opposed to the Pentagon’s bullshit Hillary Clinton cold war Russiagate propaganda narratives, until finally, the spooks just locked me out of my account. I only miss a few people from that social media world like Lo Daniels, Scott Bassman, Robert Ott, and Cindy Barnes MacDougal. I’m pretty antisocial nowadays. Tell Dorothy and Scarlet I said hello. And the Humpers. It is a crazy time to be alive, but we don’t really get to pick the hour we are born into. How the fuck did I end up in an era where the so called academics, the self proclaimed critical thinkers, are terrified of reading books, films, and new information and just wanna silence any voice that does not soothe them like their fucking massage “therapist” or NPR radio personality pimping wars, drones and torture in kindly ex hippie tones “for science and feminism”?! It’s a batshit time, everything seems Bizarro world universe, backwards and upside down-and has been like that since what, ’95? You got some big mouthed guitar player shouting down fucking scientists he thinks might threaten his special VIP backstage second hand celebrity status. Barowner celebrities beating up homeless guys and being applauded by their suckup for free drinks entrouge. It aint good, this dark path the techlords are leading all the need a fix, consumerist zombies, and latest thang upgraders, and obedient virtue signaling followers down. No sex in the champagne room, but they don’t get it, they think there’s a special prize for being assholes. Maybe there is. I dunno anymore. I just know everytime I get involved with the popularity sekers and the mad herd slogan repeaters, the collector scum and hipster capitalists, I get burned again and again and again and again. Start to feel like Charlie Brown, and the pigmedia is the teacher voice…”wha wha wha wha wha wha wha wah..” Better off in my garagey make believe world, like Snoopy n Woodstock having their imaginary adventures on his Red Baron flying doghouse. I used to live closer to where I thought the action was, but the closer I looked, the more I realize there really was no action, besides some oversized monkey bouncers in baseball caps and staff shirts punching out punk rockers, yuppies running ripoff record stores, and a buncha gentrifiers pressuring city hall to sick the kkkops on the poor people, and some trendy hustler rich kids fucking showing off their designer wardrobes and playing redundant covers in high dollar fake divebars for lawyers and hedge fund managers, fat actors, and slumming tourists, who just came to get their picture taken with the framed photo of Sid N Nancy or pay twenty bucks for a GG & The Jabbers burger. I aint really seen no real rock action since it was you and me makin’ a crazy racket way back in that derelict ghetto apartment together. I mean can ya really even count those fucking fratboys with the deep cocaine pockets who inherited a recording studio from their rich media pig parents? Their whiteboy Barry White covers or trustarfarian sidekick’s Formulaic Spooky Detective Rock? I mean, c’mon. Yeah they bought an echo machine. So what, they got nuthin’ to say and never did. And all the people on tv are millionaires who get paid their millions to lie to you for their billionaire bosses, and still the people continue to just mindlessly blame the other wing of the war party, or some external boogieman they know almost nothing about-like Assad or Hussein or Maduro or whoever. They think they’re gonna get some special cookie for pretending that another random blue suit mannakin Klaus Schwab sock puppet is the interim prez of Venezuela while the mercenaries and oil gougers keep trying to overthow more socialist democracies to plunder their oil, and you been trained to call that freedom like a ventriloquist dummy, cause your mom likes Pelosi. Or your wife’s mom. Some mean rich lady. Tells you what to think and who to vote for. How you need to get a third job and work harder while she drinks wine from a box and talks on the phone about how you aint good enough. Needs more pills. For science and diversity and Muslim girl’s rights in Afghanistan..”Stay At Home Moms are the hardest working people in the world!” The Oprah audience roars with it’s applause sign standing ovations, and then, there’s a giftbag under the seat, and here comes NY Times bestselling author/diet expert, Fat Doctor Phil to explain why your children need to be locked up if they aren’t already involved in some kinda ROTC program with plans to join the military for college money. This country has been fuckedup for a real long time. Judge Judy says you need a fourth job. TLC don’t want no scrubs.
Still Love Rock and Roll – YouTube
REVEALED: Congress’ Pandemic Insider Trading (rumble.com)
RESIST THE FASCISTS
“You talk about the high cost of living — and you vote to increase the cost of living every time you vote the capitalistic ticket. Are you a working man and in the capitalist’s party? What business have you there?” (-Eugene V. Debs)
“Without people, you’re nothing.” (-Joe Strummer)
“Isn’t it odd that all major media outlets under our “free press” system happen to agree on all social, economic & geopolitical issues?
If the press is “free,” then shouldn’t we see major philosophical differences on fundamental topics — like US military occupation of the planet?” (-Primo Radical)
“For the millionth time:
ANTIFA = Anti-fascist.” (-Peter Daou)
It’s hilarious seeing kids today screaming “NAZI” at everyone while wearing a NASA tee shirt.” (-Esostericbot)
“Explosive.
Russia is now demanding that Europe pay for gas in rubles. Europe gets 40% of its gas from Russia. That’s 200-800 million euros per day. Putin is basically saying: you want to play sanctions? Either pay up in rubles or freeze.” (-Richard Medhurst)
“Ukrainians are ready to live without light and heat for two or three years”- Zelensky’s wife Olena says from one of her 4 mansions while her husband hides behind a green screen.” (-Fiorella Isabel)
“Capitalism’s answer to ‘What about the poor?’ has always been ‘They should work harder,’ and its answer to ‘What about those who can’t work?’ has always been ‘They should die quickly.’ ” (— Caitlin Johnstone)
LIGHT UP THE SKY LIKE A FLAME
Irene Cara, ‘Fame’ Star and ‘Flashdance’ Singer, Dead at 63 – Rolling Stone
Irene Cara, ‘Fame’ singer, dead at 63, publicist says (msn.com) “I’m gonna make it to heaven, baby remember my name…” (RIP)
“Can’t stop thinking about how Warren Buffett, the owner of BNSF Rail, made more money in 1 day than it would cost to guarantee 15 paid sick days to rail workers. Buffett could avert a rail strike today by giving workers what they need: paid sick days. That’s how you give thanks.” (-Warren Gunnels)
“This app is crawling with freaks who seriously believe that nobody should be allowed to criticize the foreign policy of the most powerful government on earth. Right wingers correctly believe that liberals subscribe to an artificially constructed worldview designed by the powerful in the service of the powerful, but incorrectly believe that they themselves do not.
Common debates:
– Which status quo party is best – Which side of the culture war is correct – How the western empire should act – What capitalism should look like Uncommon debates: – Should status quo politics exist – Should the western empire exist
– Should capitalism exist”
“Our rulers will openly imprison a journalist for telling the truth and then self-righteously pontificate about the need to stop authoritarian regimes from persecuting journalists.”
(-Caitlin Johnstone)
caitlin johnstone – Twitter Search / Twitter
“It is cute to see North Americans going to the World Cup to preach about human rights in Qatar, where the US has a massive military base that it kills people from……”
(-Lowkey)
““I believed that by revealing to the world the vital information that was being concealed, I would contribute to freedom and to make the world a better and safer place.”
(- Julian Assange)
“I wonder how many journalistic/human rights prizes Julian #Assange has to win before the absolutely outrageous persecution by the #US and #UK comes to an end and he is free. He hasn’t been since 2010.” (-Stefania Maurizi)
“The US literally created Al Qaeda through its proxy war in Afghanistan than allowed it to flourish by destroying the entire region via endless war yet we are supposed to believe that RUSSIA is a state sponsor of terrorism?
Please.” (-Danny Haiphong)
KENJERA2 on Twitter: “NATO bankrolled the coup & Zelensky… https://t.co/w6ckSqDQr4” / Twitter
“FTX exploded two weeks ago.
SBF is having Thanksgiving dinner in a penthouse with his family. The NYT will interview him next week. Amazon is already planning an eight-part mini series about it with two Marvel directors. … “clown world” doesn’t even begin to describe it.” (-Zack Voell)
“I feel strongly for the Ukrainian people. They have been lied to by corrupt politicians. They are pawns in the geopolitical games of a failing US Empire.
The US Govt doesn’t give a shit about Ukrainians or else they would have prevented this suffering when they had the chance.” (-Kim Dotcom)
“Those in charge of labeling ideas as “disinformation” are the most biased, duplicitous and propagandized people in the world. They do not care about objectivity. Their job is to discredit dissent and try to prevent the masses from realizing our “leaders” are corrupt psychopaths. The woman who was supposed to head up the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board — before embarrassingly being exposed as an unhinged lunatic — is now literally a foreign agent working with a British outfit to censor the American people.” (-Primo Radical)
Ajamu Baraka Interview: An Objective Look at U.S. Foreign Policy – YouTube
George Carlin – Seperate and Divide – YouTube
TikTok Is Worse Than You Thought – YouTube
“Some are finally realizing that this may very well be the last battle for humanity. That the ‘control’ which people tout as the reasoning behind everything, was already had through generations of nudging and prodding so why the sudden rush? There is now a ‘deadline’ it would seem and the question for me is: why?
If anything can be learned from the history of our benevolent ‘rulers’, is that they don’t shoot for single outcomes; multi-layered operations are the ‘norm’ and naivete and ignorance are their greatest weapons.
How unprepared we are for this battle; having been divided and conditioned over generations, to accept the life of serfdom or ‘slavery lite’ as ‘the best system in the world’ and as the only way to ‘live’.” (-by Sylvain Lamoureux)
BLUES BREAK COURTESY OF BROTHER MICHAEL VOLGARE
https://youtu.be/CXXbSF7UPuE
“Interesting how the AP fired the junior journalist on the fake-news story but not his senior manager who was co-credited as an author of the article. Selective dismissal in order to create a scapegoat, indeed they should have both been sacked on the spot.” (-Uro)
“A society at war with itself with violence at the core of its cultural values. The real problem is that this pathological society is not just a threat to itself but to the world.” (-Ajamu Baraka)
ian hunter rant full album – YouTube
Manchester University Press – The punk rock politics of Joe Strummer
Oil City Confidential Trailer – YouTube
Oil City Confidential (2009) – IMDb
How Mainstream Media Evolved into Corporate Media: A Project Censored History – Censored Notebook
Untitled-design-6.png (2240×1260) (projectcensored.org)
Free The Truth: Free Assange – Documentary (@FreeAssangeDoco) / Twitter
https://youtu.be/G_-pHcRINe0
“If you want an example of how Americans hard working citizens lose trillions no matter whether the Dems or GOP get to be the face of the Empire, watch how the rulers got us to cheer them stealing billions from us on the proxy war in Ukraine” (-Black In The Empire)
JOHN HUGHES MOVIES SOUNDTRACKS
If you grew up in the eighties, you were impacted by all those flicks-“I6 Candles”, “Some Kind Of Wonderful”, “Pretty In Pink”, all the Brat Pack shit, I don’t think it was a Hughes film but I always loved “Weird Science”. My only complaint with his movies is how the takeaway message was always sell out, growing up means marrying the rich dude. Remember the zany record store owner in “Pretty In Pink”, how she conforms for the money? That was always sad to me, and I knew way back then, I was never gonna do that. Somehow I went from being a Duckie character to being an Andie’s Dad tyope character as played by my fave actor, Harry Dean Stanton. His music was also pretty badass if you ask me. They repackaged all the John Hughes s/t tunes into a big Xmas boxset or something, I read about it on one of those Shitlib websites like Salon. He really did have pretty decent taste in music. But I never like when the system weaponzies our music against us. But he nailed it usually-Flesh For Lulu, Jesse Johnson Revue, New Order, the Smiths, Echo & The Bunnymen. I wept many a tear to those songs over the decades. The OMD tune still cuts me up. “Someday…”
General Public – Tenderness 1984 – YouTube
She Loves Me – Stephen Duffy (Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack) – YouTube
Miss Amanda Jones by March Violets – YouTube
Billy Idol – Catch My Fall (Official Music Video) – YouTube
BRIGHT N SHINY NEW RECORD STORE DAY SWAG ALL US LOWLY SERFS CAN’T AFFORD
Police & Thieves (Live at Acton Town Hall) – YouTube
Bankrobber (feat. Mick Jones) (Live at Acton Town Hall) – YouTube
JOE STRUMMER 002: THE MESCALEROS YEARS – YouTube
Bhindee Bhagee (Live at Acton Town Hall) – YouTube
Minstrel Boy (Film Verson) – YouTube
White Riot (feat. Mick Jones) (Live at Acton Town Hall) – YouTube
“I don’t want to hear about the protests in China when the U.S. had MILLIONS of people in the streets protesting police violence and still there hasn’t been an ounce of accountability for the thousands who have been killed by American cops.” (-Danny Haiphong)Man I been listening to a lotta last band that mattered, Mescaleroes lately, now that was about all I listened to in that decade when those records all came out-them and Ian Hunter’s “Rant” and maybe one ofr two by Manic Street Preachers, but less n less so as the years whizzed by. I was going through a real bad time, about twenty some years back, with the ex wife dumping me and taking my kids far, far away but with the kind and caring help of a brainy Boston fanzine publishing goth bombshell, I’d scraped together a shithole apartment in a crack neighborhood the rich trendies were in the process of gentrifying. Cops killed a “suspect” in our alley one night-shot ‘im 8 times and then yelled “drop your weapon”, it was later shown he had no weapon but they told the papers that he was coming at them to steal one of their wepons, but all the bullet holes were in his back, they hit him six times outta 8 shots fired. Me and my couuent girl who was there with me that night remained mighty traumatized by always seeing so much of that everyday kkkop violence so up close and personal like, on toppa the usual nazis and jock dickheads who were forever hounding me and my drunkroll black sheep brethern, we kept testifying to my former associates about all the horrors we’d gone through, but nobody cared really, they all just wanted to be on the WINNING TEAM. They were all prepared to look the other way no matter how many atrocoties were committed by the popular kid status quo, the local gentry, the establishment, the racist kkkops hired by corrupt barowners to push the poor people off the boulevard and outta sight of rich yuppies. The Scenester brunch dummies did not care what kinda stupid human tricks they would be obliged to perform at their Master’s command, they were up for anything, s’long as they got to keep their privilege lifestyles and cushy jobs working for bad people. I split that town for good soon after that but I do remember one real bad day when all my kids and their moms, and my mom and her husband, had all shown up at that shithole apartment in one day for various reasons, but then outta nowhere, my ace buddy Howie who is also sadly dead now, he came to my door unexepectedly. Drove all the way from Chicago to tell me Joe Strummer had died. I was of course devastated. Still am, really. I never really got over any of it. Joe was like my only guy. Only famous cat who mattered to me by then. Okay…Joe, Hunter, Baldwin, and Bill Hicks, we’ll say. This planet is a poorer place without them. ‘Miss Howie, too. Oh, man, it’s a little heartbreaking-all the tantalizingly shiny brand new boss as hell hipster product they love to dangle over our heads on “Record Store Day”. Of course, summa my best friends and I were record store dudes for years and years, until the corporate Alternative muzak sham attracted the suburban shopping mall people into what was formerly an outsider underground, and the big fluorescent lights got added, and all those capitalist nerds and mainstream, Nascar watching, fast food cargo shorts people who got the startup capital from their dead relatives sewed up the bootleg and cool vinyl markets, the squares came in, pushed the outcast bastards out, right? That was fucked up, and of course, I still remember being troubled in those hard times. Irony, they started peddling “irony”. “LOSER” t shirts worn by rich people. What they were saying to us working class dropouts and holdouts and anti hierarchy conscientous objectors is if you aint a richie, you aint shit, you can’t even be a loser, that role was already being monopolized by super rich kid, hipster culture appropriator supreme, Beck. Fuck man, I really started not liking even being around all the middle class grunge people with the shorts and combat boots and big ugly piercings and long green goatees. They’d charge ya three times what the mall wanted for the same shit and act like they were saintly indie martyrs. They’d put cartoons of all these old blues and country addicts on their gentrification logos but complain all day about poor people being unsightly drunks and undesirables. They’d all wanna shake hands with the famous old dudes being popularized by trust funded garage rockers but rip off all us compelte unknowns and broken hearted songwriters having to sell off all our most treasured possessions and autographed books and records and Prince movie teater standees for mere pennies in order to keep our electricty on. When those Jon Spencer rich people were coming in, I was goin’ out. Never liked Sonic Youth or the Beastie Boys that much, let alone their eight zillion college town imitator wannbes. Soundgarden clones were the worst. Now I see all the hoopla hype and fresh merch all over the internet and sometimes I get bitchy if I can’t be part of the acquiring of neat-o Santa wishlist stuff but you know, then I remember, I made my choice. I maybe coulda buttoned my lip and got some flannel and suckedup to the sports bar people and watched the fucking Simpsons and Friends and Portlandia and praised Fred Armisen and Dave Grohl and obeyed The Man and got purple yurt airbandb legal reefer faux woke and stayed in line with all the comic con dorks and “Guitar Hero” players, but I chose a different path, and that long and dusty desert trail brought me to a place without hipster swag on Record Store Day, and no object or collectible has ever made me happy, anyway, but yeah sometimes it’s hard not to covet the never ending assembly line of Seventies Punk Product. I still love all that rocknroll shit. It is how it is. I know the punk aint in the Collection, it’s in the way of life. Punk’s not dead, Joe’s in my head. “I don’t have any message other than don’t forget you’re alive…” I used to give all my books to people, most fequently, either my kids or ex bandmates, hoping they might find a flash on inspiration in the true stories of the old guard, but ya know looking back, it don’t seem like many of ’em even read those books, ya know, they never seemed to carry much of the old ideas with ’em any longer. I reccomend reading “The Ballad Of Joe Strummer” by Chris Salewicz, it’s really good, probably important, even. Joe called him “Sandwich”. Oh, man. My surly teen just konked out on the couch after refusing to take his medicine which means our evening is probably gonna be a rough one. I had a fantastic day with my lady love yesterday and for that I am deeply grateful, those are few n far in between, in these frosty days of obscene inflation, external pressure, fear mongering, proxy wars, non stop stress, and high anxiety. A friend’s spouse reset our water heater so we had hot water on the holiday but now it has stopped working again. As Gilda Radner used to say on SNL, “it’s always somethin’!” The town’s only remotely affordable second hand store closed for four days and none of us know what to do with ourselves.
Mega Bottle Ride (Live at Acton Town Hall) – YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyNKTY97oxw&feature=youtu.be
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.’ (- Joe Strummer)
“After school, in 1970, I got into Central College Of Art in Southampton Row as I wanted to be a cartoonist, and I loved it, but at the back of my head was this need to be a musician.” (- Joe Strummer)
The secretive US embassy-backed group cultivating the British left (declassifieduk.org)
“President Biden pardons two turkeys while Indigenous leader Leonard Peltier spends his 48th year in prison.” (-Steven Donziger)
Free Leonard Peltier Free Em’ All! Documentary Full Length Film – YouTube
The Real Reason the US Is Against the Entire World on Cuba (mintpressnews.com)
Israeli Military Chief Says Joint Activity With US to ‘Significantly Expand’ – News From Antiwar.com
‘Necessary and Urgent’: Human Rights Watch Renews Push for Killer Robot Treaty (commondreams.org)
The Mess That Pelosi Made – Antiwar.com Original
“A society at war with itself with violence at the core of its cultural values. The real problem is that this pathological society is not just a threat to itself but to the world.”
(-Ajamu Baraka)
BABYSHAMBLES
Evad turned me on to this Babyshambles lot. Pretty rad.
THE REV TOLD ME ‘BOUT THIS BAND STARCRAWLER
Starcrawler – No More Pennies – YouTube
HAVE YOU HEARD THE REV. PAUL S. CUNNINGHAM’S AMAZING NEW EP?
Rev. Paul S. Cunningham | Machias ME | Facebook
TRUTH CAN’T BE FOUND ON THE TELEVISION!
How Western media manufactures consent for new cold war on China – Multipolarista
Remembering John F. Kennedy’s Vision for the Future that Should Have Been – Rising Tide Foundation
Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) / Twitter
Europe accuses US of profiting from war – POLITICO
Ajamu Baraka on Twitter: “The only democracy in the so-called Middle East.” / Twitter
STAY WILD! STAY FREE, ALL MY DEAR BROTHERS & SISTERS AND FRIENDS OF THE REVOLUTION!
Veglam 