Summertime Necessities

The tropical suburbs of Jersey City are burnin' these days, my friends. The air is thick and chunky to the point where it sticks to your body as you navigate from your spread-legged stance over the fan to the cooler of Coronas across the room. To the air conditioner-deprived among us, days like this signify life becoming a frustratingly expensive hobby of trouncing from Mexican restaurant to movie theater to bar to bookstore to friend's car to... the local drag strip? Maybe if you're lucky enough to have one in your neighborhood, but if not, you'd do right to check out the greatest musical harbinger of the sweaty season: Big Stick's summertime anthem "Drag Racing". Right click to download the MP3, and then consider the legendary lyric:

"...In the summer I wear my tube top and Eddie takes me to the drag strip..."

"Tube tops?" you ask... I hear they're much easier to pull off physically than aesthetically. All I can say with any authority is they're exceedingly difficult to do google image searches for without having your co-workers think you're a pervy weirdo. (Apologies to Ken, Bill, Liz, and Megan.)

Drag racing is another story entirely -- En route to the Jersey Shore last week for the ribbon cutting ceremony of Shark Summer II (click to stream Real Audio from Ken's show), drag racing surged to the tip of my imagination as I drove past the famed New Egypt Speedway. I don't know if it was the heat, the roar of the idling hot rods, or the smell of the festering bucket of chum that was riding shotgun in my lime green '82 Pacer, but it became plainly apparent that it was time to wheel out the Big Stick record.

One of the strangest songs ever to become an underground "hit" in any capacity, my mental connections to this one are many. They're the only band I'm aware of to have shared a split single with Dinosaur Jr. and have had Traci Lords guest-DJ for them on tour. Their website features a full bio, a bunch of old flyer reproductions, and a bunch more cool MP3s. Check it all out here, and don't forget your racing gloves.

Comments

[rudayday]

I am totally dying trying to hear Big Stick's "Crack Attack" again. If you have it, please post. Impossible to find for under $30, if at all.

-baffled & busted in brooklyn

[Henry Lowengard]

Bring back Wild Girl with an aircheck podcast!

[confused]

Huh? What's the connectioN to Big Stick and WILDGirL?

[laura]

Wildgirl was into car racing.

[Big Stick]

Hello everyone. WILDGIRL told us about this page. She's doing well and sends her love.

Just want to say hi to all our WFMU friends. Also want to let you know that we're currently recording a CD/LP/DVD for a major UK label. We'll keep you informed about that, and of course we'll service WFMU as soon as the thing gets manufactured.

And believe it or not there's a real coolio drag racing themed song that's going to be featured on the upcoming LP release, and there's also a way-cool *music video* for the track too. Love, Kisses and Warm Feelings for all. Keep it tuned to WFMU! We really appreciate all the great support we've received from you guys over the years.

[WILDGIRL]

Hey Big Stick fans - Lookee here: http://www.big-stick.org/gallery.html#
Rock On - and remember, always use your turn signals...
See ya later, bye!
WG

P.S. For a little more conversational history re: Wildgirl, WFMU, Big Stick/DRU & Englishtown (Raceway Park) sign in & go to http://www.dragracingunderground.com/DRUForum/viewtopic.php?id=12

[MightyVinyl.com]

I have a SEALED copy of Crack Attack by Big Stick on vinyl at a set-sale price of $100 on the site -

http://www.mightyvinyl.com

[Big Stick]

FYI The DRAG RACING '45 was one of a hundred records or so found in a special box the late John Peel kept in his home study. As you may know, John Peel was a popular Radio1 DJ in the UK. Peel championed new music in Britain. His career span decades. There was a special TV documentry produced in conjunction with the recent UK Music Hall of Fame presentations, the documentary titled "JOHN PEEL'S RECORD BOX" aired on BBC TV Channel 4, the programme documented Peel's life and long radio career. The story of his life focused around the music found in his "special box". We're proud that BIG STICK made enough of an impact to be "box worthy". Rest In Peace John Peel. We appreciate his support over the years, as we do the DJs of WFMU. Peel was an "outsider" who got on the "inside" and was able to greatly influence the course of music in the UK. Peel did good.

[Big Stick]

hey people. Here's a new my space Big Stick place. Cheers!
http://www.myspace.com/bigstickdragracing