Worn From The Inside Out

I am so vegged out from the usual that I don't even have the capacity to think. Just starin' at the 'puter screen, giggling and slack-jawed.

Here are some perfect videos from my youth. You know where to find the original songs (most likely in yer rekkid collection).

Ka-Boom

The Buzzcocks show was great- they still rock it. They actually opened up with the entire version of Boredom... instead of just the tease that they do on "Another Music". Straight run thru's of the "Kitchen" and "Love Bites" elpees and 4 encores. The place was packed.

However, dear friends; that is not the tale of the evening. During "Esp" the show stopped. A puzzled band than announced that the owner of a 1991 Oldsmobile was to please leave the show and move their car. Than the show began again. Weird.

Until the show ended and we all discovered that the 4 block radius around the theater had been evacuated! Yep- A BOMB SCARE. The car in question had some gas cannisters in the back and the NYPD brought the bomb squad in.

All of this was interesting, but my car was in the sealed off area! Nothing to do but go for some more cocktails. So many people were standing around at the perimeter watching the events. I call those people "idiots"! We hightailed it out of the area in case there was an explosion.
About 2 am, the threat was contained. They had a robot blow out the windows of the car and it also did some damage to a building.

It turns out, the car in question was parked 20 feet away from my car! Directly across the street!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was very lucky that the (small) detonation didn't trash my car as well!
I wonder how much my insurance rates would have went up if my car was blown up by the NYPD!!!!!!!

HERE'S THE STORY!!!!!!!!

Sixteen Again

Green Day should be tithing 10% of their salaries to The Buzzcocks. If it wasn't for Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle's punk-pop paeans to the pathos of post-pubescent romance, there wouldn't have been any freakin' Green Day.

First single: Spiral Scratch circa 1976; which was arguably the first UK DIY punk release. Here it is 666 years later and they're comin' round again with run-throughs of the legendary "Love Bites" and "Another Music In A Different Kitchen" elpees. It seems like every old band is getting their axes tuned and redeploying to tour with "classic albums". I guess it's easier to trade in nostalgia than new material, especially given the costs involved. Old fans for the most part don't give a shit about most new product and would rather live on the band's past glories. A safe investment.

I'm not complaining... yeah, I loved their 90's and aughts releases (and saw em in concert doing 'em). But those two albums they're doing are fucking great. And besides, ANY opp to see the Boos-Cawks is welcome. And if it puts a few more bucks into their pockets, groovy. Though the ticket for the NYC show cost me $41 with all the myriad charges.

Although, I have done the punk rock shuffle and seen em free over the years as well.

A couple of notable shows included an in-store appearance they did in the 90's; where your humble narrator attended said show in a suit and his wife appeared in a maternity shirt 7 months along. No slam dancing for us that night.

More regrettable was a show 'round '94 or so, in which during the encore of "I Believe", my wedding band flew off. I hit the floor to look for it, only to be continually picked up by friendly punks who thought I had fallen during the "dancing". Never did find that ring!

A fun fact: Peter Shelley is, ahem "Homosapien". Or something. So those songs about unrequited love have a special meaning.

Rock n roll.

Hit me up if yer heading to the show Thursday night at Irving Plaza, of The Fillmore, or whatever they are calling it these days.

No Peace In The Valley

Hit another number on time's odometer this weekend. Possessed by a feeling of relief more than anything else these days. I still have a job (yes, we had yet another bloodbath at the veal pen last week), health, family, etc.

Challenging days ahead for sure.... apparently, the biggest growth market in psychiatry is in the spouses and children of working folk. The anxiety level has escalated to epidemic proportions with kids worrying that mom or dad will be out of a job.

Something is gonna give at work... too many suits walking around being shown the environs. Are we for sale? Who isn't? So we sit and hope the scythe is whetted at another site.

Good times. Good times.

How can I explain to those that weren't there

Of the days and the nights and the trouble we'd share

An old man's tale's at the end of the bar

I shoulda finished before I made it this far

Toonage:

Buzzcocks - Everybody's Happy Nowadays

P.I.L. - Happy

Tom Waits - Frank's Wild Years

The Kinks - Get Back In Line

Blisters On My Fingers

This past Saturday saw not one but two band practices with different (as the kids say) projects. Considering my lack of musical ability, the concept of lil' ol' me participating with two different r 'n' r concerns is astounding and something I am truly thankful for.

It sure beat shoveling snow!

The first of these musical behemoths is the imminent return of the legendary old skool punk DIRTY PILLOWS! Yep, we put the band back together and will be playing this Wednesday, January 28 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at Public Assembly. C'mon down if yer in the environs. Pretty please?

We're gonna do it as a benefit to raise bail money for Phish's Trey Anasatasio's next Heroin arrest or Mike Gordon's child molestation trial. Haven't decided which one yet.

And my other projection is Caterwaul Of Sound V2. We're Caterwaulizing stuff from bands as disparate as Funcadelic, Clutch, The Circle Jerks and even the Ronnettes. Pray for us.

All in all, a great way to have spent a weekend. I've got blisters on my fingers!

And, as it is raining absolute shit at my job... a welcome distraction.

Toonage:

Minutemen - Maybe Partying Will Help

Flipper - Living For The Depression

The Fluid - Oh Shit (Buzzocks cover)

The Swingin' Neckbreakers - Help Wanted

X - We're Desperate

If The Thunder Don't Get You...

Hey kiddies, here's some advice from yer Uncle Nazz.

Don't take your sleeping pills until AFTER you get home!

Unlike what I did last nite, which was to pop an Ambien before I began my drive home from band practice. I figgered it would kick in right after I got home.
However, I did not take into account my empty stomach OR traffic. Which resulted in me driving the last highway stretch with one eye shut tight since I was seeing double! Additionally, I overshot my driveway and knocked over some flower pots. This morning, I was picking flower petals out of my car's front grill.

How ironic that now that I am on the straight and narrow, I still can't avoid these types of mishaps. At least I used to have the excuse of booze and other things that warn you to stay away from large machinery.

These days, it's nothing but good intentions.

I have been sober for 5 weeks and 2 days. That's 37 days with nothing but Dr. prescribed meds coursing through my bloodstream. No booze. No nothing. And that's despite being in several environments with open bars as well as band practices where intoxicants have been known to flow freely. And I haven't felt the urge to partake at all. No meetings. No higher power. No soul searching sessions. I just say no. Yeah, that's it. Just say no.


Do I feel better? Well, I certainly have gotten my shit together with-out the "self-medicating". I've (as the experts say) "levelled-out". The difference in my personality is certainly apparent to my family and co-workers. Between what's going on in work, and the country as a whole, this past month would have had me normally on the bender from hell. Can you say "nu-cu-lar"?
And I am down close to 20 lbs due to the lack of alcohol and a serious loss of appetite.
It still bothers me that I had to make such a major change in my life... but I find I respond better with "all or nothing" decisions better. As my buddy said "you were a professional for decades, it's time to retire and let the young ones play".

Or something.
We'll see how this goes...


Bookage:
Iggy Pop - Open Up And Bleed


Toonage:
NOFX - Getting High On The Down Low
Crucial Youth - I'm Straight
Jeff Buckley - Grace (Live WNEW radio)
Buzzcocks - Boredom (Live 1977)
Minor Threat - Straight Edge (demo)



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Now playing: The Fuzztones - 1-2-5
via FoxyTunes

Gimmie Noise

Yeah I Know I Look Like Hell
Smokin' And Drinkin' I'm Feelin' Swell

Favorite Thing - The Replacements

(my buddy Jeff took this picture of the Replacements at Maxwells in 1986!)

Caterwaul Of Sound v 4.0 tonite. Can't fucking wait. The rock must be unleashed. It's hard to get our little gang of fuck-ups together, due to work/family/etc; so when we do, it's a beautiful thing. None of this stuff tonite, but we'll make up for it, I suspect.


(edit) - and we did- I got to play a longer and more psychotic version of Interstellar Overdrive than Syd Barrett ever did. And I played it on guitar... and I'm a bass player!

Here's some bands ripping the shit out of other band's classics.

Toonage:
Yo La Tengo - Favorite Thing (Replacements)
The Polyphonic Spree - Lithium (Nirvana)
Rancid - Cheat (The Clash)
Lunachicks - Noise Annoys / Promises (Buzzcocks)
Pennywise - Touch Of Grey (Grateful Dead)
Foo Fighters - Gas Chamber - (Angry Samoans)