April 2009

T. RexThere are too many stories of dudes dying young for one reason or another and leaving open to speculation what could have become of their talents if not for such a truncated life. Marc Bolan is just another one of those guys. That's not meant to be dispiriting in anyway, but Bolan, like countless other dudes from the later part of the '60s disappeared off the face of the earth. His death, though, wasn't tied to drugs. He was the passenger in a car as he was being ferried home one evening, but he didn't make it. Ironically, Bolan never got a driver's license due to his fear of accidents. They were apparently warranted. Read more

The EternalFor all the talk about Sonic Youth's incorporation of black metal's lyrical bent, I can honestly say that it doesn't matter. I don't ever listen to the band's music for its lyrical content - ever. That's an unfortunate stand to take, but it's an honest one. For as much as there's a piece of every Sonic Youth disc that I enjoy immensely, there are enough sections off of each one of their discs that I really have no problem skipping through. That doesn't mean that the lyrics are void of artistic integrity, but it seems roughly equivalent to enjoying the vocals from a Phish song. Of course, those hippies might be considered as musically important to the development of culture, but I'm gonna say that the inventiveness in any Sonic Youth outing pretty easily surpasses the musical prowess of the Vermont bred hippies. I bet they both like the Talking Heads and the Velvet Underground, though, so it's all a crap shoot. Read more

The FastThe confluence of glam, metal and punk worked in a swirling mess around the early seventies and eventually spat out the various punk groups in and around New York. Of course, there were other places that found such influences necessary in order to concoct some piece of musical innovation. But in NY, where folks were probably able to get away with walking around looking like freaks, a few bands began addressing gender through a variety of avenues. Lyrically, sexuality had been addressed over time a great deal – Marc Bolan and David Bowie, though, helped make it more acceptable for dudes to dress up though. And with the founding of the Dolls during the early ‘70s, it would seem that there was about to be some sort of huge cross dressing explosion. Read more

The KraysWhat follows is all that I can recall from my ill conceived journey to and from a musical event in the warm summer evening in and around the suburbs of Cleveberg.

I finished work (with a sixteen year old who may soon be visiting a stripper pole near you) and mounted, yes mounted my bike for the treacherous ride through many a suburb to the most worthless and decrepit bar on the east side of Cleveland - maybe even the MidWest. Since I had to work, I understood that my trip, via bicycle, would steal time from the enjoyment of the “musicians” I was to see. So be it. I knew I didn’t care about Chaotic Alliance (kids from Clevo) or the latest spiky haired punk bands to come through: Monster Squad and Cropknox. I figured the Krays would be taking the stage last, since not only had they been around the longest, they were one of the few punk bands still playing at the time that weren’t in need of instrument theft (others included US Bombs, The Stitches, The Briefs and The Clorox Girls).  Read more