WFMU's Beware of the Blog

A Quick Memory Of Johnny Thunders

Johnny Thunders has been dead for 17 years now. Whoa. I had the opportunity to see Thunders live in a few different bands he was in, but my most vivid memory of him was actually less musically oriented, and more humor and food oriented, sorta. Flash back to Englander's; a club/pub/bar in Hillside NJ that held shows (The Smithereens concur that their first gig was there). It was October or November sometime in the early eighties. I could not find the date searching online & am not great at retaining exact dates so far back. Fill in your own if it makes you happy. Englander's was situated on a main street, and I was parked with friends on that street somewhat down a hill from where the club was. We were early, and Thunders was notorious for playing late, if at all, so we were hanging out in the car probably smoking weed and listening to tunes. I was sitting in the front passenger seat, and lo & behold I see a person struggling with something at the top of the hill, close to where the bar was. It was an object that was fairly large - larger than a bastketball, and they were having trouble handling it - it was obvious it was heavy. There was just a sheen of ice/frost on the sidewalk, and I could see that was making it difficult for the person we now were watching -  deal with this item.

SXSW: Butts, Bulls, Backpatches & BBQ

Ah, so there I was, in the land where everything has to do with meat or music, in one way or another. I had never ventured to this conference/land o' plenty festivalism before and was glad to see what all the ruckus was about! After checking in, dropping my stuff off at my friend Mer's house, and receiving my SX gear, I went to the first venue of many. I started my "holiday" as it were, at Red 7, to see the mighty EASY ACTION, yea! I caught John, Harold, Tony & Matt in the backyard/second stage of the venue before they went on & captured some of this buttiness... I mean nuttiness...OK, so it was not really a big deal, I thought it was amazing that Mr. Gold, Mr. Red and Mr. Silver all had no pantylines - these guys are pros - no doubt performing at a venue near you soon. EA vocalist John Brannon told me that he was going to be singing some Negative Approach songs later in the week with Fucked Up on the famous Congress Street "Bat" Bridge at 2am. Most of the bats are still away in warmer Mexico, but just the idea of seeing anyone play at 2am on a bridge that's famous for bat migration was pretty great.

I Owe My Life To Hugh Cornwell

No - he's not my dad or anything, jeez - that's my dad on the right. Hugh Cornwell was the lead vocalist & guitar player for The Stranglers for about 15 years; he now plays on his own or with bandmates he's more recently organized. The Stranglers was the band that really blew me away and prompted me to focus on music in my life from that point on. He played at the Blender Gramercy Theater last Saturday night, and I got the chance to tell him that I was glad he was alive. Don't start shedding any tears, kiddies..it just ain't like that...

Dianekamikaze Craps In Her Pants

So I just got an email commenting on something I mentioned on the latest edition of DKFM. The Melvins have a new CD out - (A) Senile Animal on Ipecac, & in my backannouncing frenzy I waxed poetic about how great they were live - the last time I saw them was at Maxwell's this past October, and they really were massive, perfect and heavy all at once. A kind listener emailed me to tell me that when he saw the Melvins live he "literally" crapped his pants. This email brought back memories of when I once "literally" crapped in my pants, so here goes...

From the Trenches - Triac In the WFMU Live Room

They came from Baltimore to grace the WFMU airwaves; TRIAC, featuring one member of Hatebeak, were musical guests last night on Andrew Listfield's fill-in program for Pat Duncan. Listen here (about 22 minutes in) for the MP3 version of their set; here to check it out in RealAudio. Triac treated the listening audience to an onslaught of 10 songs of their trademark sludgy, furious grind. The new cd, Dead House Dreaming, that features cover artwork from artist extraordinaire Stephen Kasner, is just recently out on the Reptilian label. The Cosmic Cowboy got a good aerial shot of them while clutching onto a ceiling fan for dear life, fearful of dropping into the whirling madness of the room below. Before they left, we chatted off-mic about things near & dear; Route 17 and the Paramus Mall, a website where you can listen to the entire HAWK album and other classic 80s metal finds, cutlery and good posture. Check out the archive, buy their album, see them live, Triac commands you!

If You Missed Easy Action on WFMU

You don't have to beat yourself up (they might, though); you can listen to the archive in Real Audio or MP3 formats (fast forward in about an hour). Check Andrew Listfield's playlist to be sure (great job filling in for Pat Duncan last night), but they treated the WFMU audience to 10 ear damaging numbers of Detroit's harshest guitar rock.  And here's more reasons why you should listen... They drove straight from Detroit to play WFMU after seeing the Rolling Stones perform on Wednesday night.. Their new record called Friends of Rock & Roll on Reptilian Records kicks ass... That aforementioned record was produced by Detroit veteran Jim Diamond... Their vocalist, John Brannon, is responsible for being the center point of the band that put out the most ferocious hardcore record ever released: Negative Approach's debut 10 track 7" in 1982. His voice is still a force to be reckoned with & Easy Action definitely deserves the attention. Just off a 7-week tour, they picked up a couple of East Coast dates just to play WFMU & will be back in this area again later in the month; check their date listings to be sure. And they LOVED the decor at WFMU; they requested to have their photo taken in front of the DJ Lockers, what's not to like?

WFMU Fashion on the Road

Hooray! On my way to WFMU Thursday I saw TWO people wearing WFMU t-shirts. TWO I say! TWO sightings! Good lord, this is exciting, and the fact that I didn't kill either one of them while driving is just as amazing as the sightings themselves. The first was a guy on a motorcycle wearing a blue metalflake helmet coming out of the huge post office in the bowels of Kearny. He was sporting the "Learn Radio at Home" shirt by Chris Ware that we still sell in the WFMU webshop; it looked comfortably broken in. The other fella, who was helping/teaching someone how to park their car on the street in Jersey City was wearing a sweat-stained vintage "Stop the Descent" shirt. I always chuckled to myself "Stop the Decent" whenever I wore mine  (pictured right), as WFMU has to stand for something, and although indecency by FCC standards is not really what I meant, being anything but decent in today's society is commendable and completely in line with my Beavisian humor. And just because I mentioned our gear & the only link in the posting is to our store does not mean anyone put me up to this. OK, Ken, let go of my hair....

Will Smith Does Ozzfest

OK, not really, but he's there. America's favorite ex-rapper, Mr. Will Smith is traveling on this year's Ozzfest. Why? His wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith is the lead singer of a "metal" band called Wicked Wisdom who is playing the second stage daily. Sigh. You know where this is going & it's gonna be ugly. So first, let's briefly talk about Ozzfest. 3/4ths of the performers on the 2nd (smaller) stage have to pay Sharon/Ozzy/Ozzfest Inc. the sum of $100,000 for the privilege of playing. Sound like a good deal? On the surface it seems like perhaps it could be worth it for the exposure (it doesn't to me, but someone's gotta play Devil's Advocate), but your money could be better spent on a publicist for a couple of years for that dough. The "second" stage starts at 9:30am, so whoever plays first (The Haunted the day I went) gets no new audience. Aside from whether or not it's a good idea to pay the money to play, Ozzfest has spots that are coveted by metal bands, new and old.

Fury Fest: France's Answer to Heavy Metal Parking Lot

For Diane's accompanying audio archives on Fury Fest 2005, click here: Realaudio | MP3. For the playlist, click here and for the bigass Fury Fest Foto Gallery, click here. 

After the bloodbath in Paris, see this blog entry, was I really ready to go to LeMans for Fury Fest, the best metal/punk/heavy lineup of the summer for three days of camping and partying with my horns up? Hell yeah!

June 24th, Friday, my friend Rob & I were off, leaving from Paris for an uneventful but safe drive to LeMans once we found the Peripherique (the highway that encircles Paris, and basically the "way out"). Fury Fest was right next to the LeMans raceway at Le Parc Expo du Mans, but although the two sites were next to each other, both were huge and I could not get a decent photo of the racetrack from the site, it was still too distant.

We met friends near the festival entrance & proceeded to set up camp; putting up the tents was the easy part - finding an area where we'd be able to find our tents at night while in any condition, that was a bit trickier. A spot by a light pole was perfect, and the labor was done in minutes, voila!

The festival was set up with three stages, all inside; total band count for the festival is a whopping 96, and as far as I know, the only band who did not make it was Murphy's Law. Most of the bands on earlier in the day are given half hour sets, then 45 minutes to about 25% of the performers, then the headliners get anywhere between one & 1.5 hours to play. The Velvet Stage would be the first one I hit today; Belgium's Leng Tche, featuring the vocalist from Aborted on drums was on at 12:55. The Velvet Stage is the smallest

Paris Becomes Land of the Dead, or an Exercise in the "Six Degrees of Separation" Theory

WARNING!! GRAPHIC GROSSNESS APPROACHETH!!  I can see the question marks over your heads already... it's really very simple. I witnessed an event on my recent trip to Paris that made me think I was in the new George A. Romero film, "Land of the Dead", or at least on the special effects lot. Oddly enough, I had just been to the catacombs - foreshadowing has never been so obvious.  On the Seine, a river known for the beauty that surrounds it, I hop on one of those giant tour boats for a spin up around Notre Dame and back to kill about an hour. It's the equivalent to the NY Circle Line. I'm on the top deck snapping pix of the bridges from underneath, the amazing architecture lining the Seine & just trying to ignore the obnoxious tourists on this vehicle. I, of course, am far from obnoxious and minding my own business. It starts to rain a bit & I go downstairs to the glass enclosed area, sheltered but still easy to take a gander at what Paris has to offer from here. There I am standing in the front of the boat next to a gentleman who I took no notice of previously (and that would change SOON) staring out the huge windows. The rain kicks up a notch and a gust of wind slams shut one of the giant glass and metal doors at the front of the boat. The tourist next to me (a middle aged asian man) turns to me with his left hand raised vertically, knuckles toward me and lets out a grunt/uhhuhhhhgh/death metal rumble sound. I look at his hand and make a similar sound back to him, definitely more high pitched, less like a death metal vocal than he did, perhaps a bit more black metal. His fingers had been cut off below the first (top) knuckle...

Blowguns, Beach Whistles...

"Blowguns, Beach Whistles and the True Definition of Powerlessness" is the name of a video project by Scott Harrison, illustrator and tattoo artist extraordinaire. And you thought I was writing a summer account of some kind of altercation with a life guard... No really, you need to check out his website, but beware; cartoon genitalia abounds...as he warns. The project is available for your viewing pleasure on his site - it's a collection of stories told by tattooers all over the globe (I think they are all tattooers..?) From the mundane to the "too much information- I don't feel like eating anymore" category, the yarns are worth a viewing. His site "links" page has a link to this fine radio station front and center - reason enough to check out his pristine yet disturbing artwork - TONS of it, and the artwork of many others. You'll need a day to browse - the man is obsessed with eggs methinks, but you will come back again and again. Scott is also a part of a 6 person show (the website says 6 tattoo artists but it's actually 5 plus a NJ photographer) that is traveling the United States; this gallery gives you the lowdown on that... coming to a town near you!

Chiller Theatre Expo - Not So Scary (well, maybe) Seen Report

Movies, Toys, washed up tv celebs, full fledged rock stars, idolized actors, people in costume, special effects gurus, bats - real ones, tattoo notaries, magazine publishers, and the dorky collector who only comes out of his cave to collect more crap & then store it in mom's basement (where they still live) - they were all there 3 weeks ago at the Spring 2005 Chiller Theatre Toy, Model & Film Expo in Secaucus. It takes the entire weekend to sift through everything - here's the rundown; I hope you have a hour...  There are several innovative toy manufacturers now, one there was Living Dead Dolls  - a ghoulish twist on the girly doll; pictured here is Redmond Gore, a Teddy Scares creation - cuddly and scary - each bear has it's own bio... Redmond, for instance used to be a bus driver and his favorite color was BLOOD RED. Redmond, of course, is dead. Other vendors there specialized in Nightmare Before Christmas goodies (yes, still), japanese toys; even welded action figures. On to the meat of the show; the dreaded celebrities; Tonya Harding was there, selling ice skates, boxing trunks and I'm sure her mother if you'd take her.

Pseu Braun Sells Out To Best Buy

The film that was called "the best rock documentary since Gimme Shelter" by, uh, someone, "DIG!", is out on DVD. Double DVD. Double DVD with a special CD exclusive to Best Buy. "GULP", you people think; "what the hell is going on here? What is up with the Best Buy plug?" Well, there is nothing I can do about the Best Buy plug, but me needs go give a huge shout out and congratulations to WFMU's very own Pseu Braun for getting her interview (unedited, btw) with Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre included on this very major release exclusive to the national retailer. This is the film that sort of studies the celebrity deathmatch style goings-on between BJM and the Dandy Warhols and more or less went head to head with Metallica's "Some Kind of Monster" at Sundance. You can listen to the full Brian Jonestown Massacre live broadcast and the interview that Pseu conducted on October 24, 2003 with Anton here,
But check out the DVD cover with special sticker alterting the savvy consumer to the particular version with the limited edition CD included, and the CD listing itself that credits her along with WFMU, without any typos. If you buy your own copy, you'll be pleased to see the Best Buy logo on the bottom of the cd sleeve that I lopped off for space considerations here. And if you haven't already, you might just want to actually check the movie out.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Or perhaps what you might want to do on yours... This year mark's the 30th anniversary of a movie I never get tired of watching; Steven Spielberg's blockbuster, JAWS. There will be a celebration in Martha's Vineyard, the original filming site - this summer, June 3-5th, called JawsFest '05. Highlights will include an island-wide scavenger hunt of production sites, tours, a JawsFeast (wonder if that features chum and license plates as entrees), trivia contests & other Jaws themed events.The local YMCA will even get in on the action by hosting a swim for kids called "the shark in the pond!" If you're not in the mood to take the trek to Martha's Vineyard, feast your eyes on this, a 30 second animated version of the movie, using bunnies as characters, courtesy of Angry Alien Productions. You'll reminisce for about a second, or thirty. And who knew the shark's name was Bruce?

When It's A Slow News Day

...give the fans a headline like this: Korn Guitarist Says The Jesus Tattoo on His Hand Keeps Him From Masturbating. This information from an "interview" on the guitarist's own website. Apparently he left Korn a month ago & thinks everyone cares about what he's doing, or, uh, not doing. To help all of you shortcut this one, the article is boring and barely mentions music; seems like a staged Q & A, and frankly,
I blame Korn as being partially responsible for the downfall of heavy music, so no one should be hangin' on this guy's words. However, sometimes a good headline is enough to brighten your day.

If your ears are bloodshot...

If these last days of too much talk on WFMU via our fundraiser (thanks, supporters!) have you a little burnt on radio, perhaps you'd like to check out what live music is on the boob tube this week. Listing culled by the punknews site. Check your local listings!

3/22 Queens of the Stone Age on David Letterman (CBS)
3/22 Doves on Jay Leno (NBC)
3/22 The Dears on Carson Daly (NBC)
3/22 Louis XIV on Jimmy Kimmel (ABC)
3/24 Solomon Burke on David Letterman (CBS-R)
3/24 Billy Idol on Jay Leno (NBC)
3/24 Unwritten Law on Craig Ferguson (CBS - R)
3/24 Kings of Leon on Conan O'Brien (NBC)
3/24 Sum 41 on Ellen DeGeneres (SYN)
3/25 Interpol on Craig Ferguson (CBS -R)
3/25 Queens of the Stone Age on Conan O'Brien (NBC)

San Diego Seen Report

So last weekend I went out to San Diego for a tattoo/hot rod convention. The first song I heard on the radio once I hopped in my rental vehicle (NOT a hot rod) was Let's Go by The Cars...not a bad omen; hell, at least the weather was decent. Featured at the show was Barris Custom - they had their Munster Koach there & were selling some great swag (I felt compelled to buy every mini tiki patch they had). There were plenty of other car customizers there, and a ton of really great tattooers as well. On Friday night I headed up to northern San Diego to catch The Weirdos and Duane Peters' Gunfight play in a pool hall. Does punk exist in San Diego anymore? I'm not sure... I had a great time & both bands were smokin', but the turnout was really frikkin crappy. In attendance: Mike Palm of Agent Orange, so I was in good company, but still felt bad for the bands. This kind of thing drives me nuts... a band I adore is playing, the show is underattended, so I get a great place near the stage that I don't have to get bloody for & get to talk to the band longer than I would because NO ONE ELSE IS THERE. It's the "My Band" or "everybody's band, including mine and I stand in the very back so my nose doesn't get broken.. again" syndrome, and I've suffered from it often. I get great stories to take home, but the band probably lost their shirt(s), and that sucks. I did get to have a conversation with John Denney, vocalist for the Weirdos about crop circles; that'll stand out in my mind for awhile - so I guess I will just deal with the ordeal of being torn on this front. This was a "My Band" night & I won't apologize for it, I mean, really, I flew across the country and then drove almost an hour; by the time the Weirdos went on I think it was 4am NY time, so yes, I earned that, even though I wish they could have sold more merch and didn't get tossed out of the club as soon as they were done playing! So much for respect & the San Diego scene.
Back at the convention on Saturday, sets by Go Fast, The Saddle Tramps & Honky all kept the crowd happy, but there wasn't a local band in sight. Now I know that San Diego is home to Cattle Decapitation and the Locust, but is that it? I'm not going to blubber about what I didn't see, and I was only there for a weekend, but when the east coast show queen comes to town, well, you'd better deliver! Sheesh. Basically, the convention was a success, the weather cooperated; people had a howling good time (sometimes too good), and that's all she wrote. For now.

More Addictive Than Video Games

Here's a site that will keep you busy for hours...

Choose any two bands on the site & find out how many "family tree" steps between them there are! The site says the longest link is 32 steps; I have yet to hit on anything over 20 - Assuck to Crosby Stills Nash & Young garnered that one. My buds Watch Them Die will be psyched that they are only 10 steps away from Black Sabbath...