Six Fingers of Doom!

Six Finger Satellite were one of my favorite bands of the 90's (in addition to the VSS, the Make Up and the Monorchid). As a young lad, my pappy (a really smart hippy who never stopped liking music after the 60's, an authority figure in my life who got "Punk Rock" and has the records to prove it) raised me on a steady diet of Wire, Gang of Four, Mission of Burma and Big Black. Grunge made sense to me in middle school and by the time I was in high school, the only shows in town were shitty hardcore/heavy metalcore gigs. I knew Six Finger Satellite were on Sub Pop, but I wrote them off as probably sounding like Fastbacks or Soundgarden.

Then Beavis and Butthead came along.

I thought that Mike Judge's B&B animated shorts were cool, but the show kind of went over my head initially. Later, it won me over, as it was a brutal critique of the adolescent junk culture that I loathed as a teenager. Beavis and Butthead were the kids I hated, but so was "Todd" and the idiot jocks they encountered.

I came across one episode where they lampooned Six Finger Satellite's "Palour Games" video. It was as fast as hardcore, but had the same post-punk structures that my daddy taught me. I bought the album ("Severe Exposure") as soon as possible. I knew someone out there wanted to play guitar as badly as my heroes taught me.

August 27th

Mr. Ridgeway's Voodoo

Wall of Voodoo can truly be L.A.'s version of the Fleshtones. Not as cool as the B-52's, not as dirty as the Cramps, not as tortured as the Gun Club. They had a good time, I guess. This point is obvious nowadays. "Mexican Radio" is their silly single (though I hope to write a piece of pop music as good). "Back in the Flesh," "Can't Make Love," and "Tomorrow" predate David Fincher's "Fight Club" in terms on culture rebellion, sexual roles, freedom as a commodity and social claustrophobia. I have nothing else to say. If you don't like what I say, then go listen to the Circle Jerks (who I love anyway).

Bum Harvester and Scarey-al Fink

Saw Ariel Pink on 08/01/08 at the M Room in Philly. Learned two things:

1. Ariel Pink and the Haunted Graffiti love treble. They loved it so much, me and Rob had to cover our ears. It may seem as if they are mocking their audience, but it is a truly artistic statement. They are excellent musicians, so the fact that they turned up the "TREB" on their gear just means that they are cool.

2. Denim cut-offs are reeeeel cool! Get a pair of $200.00 skinny jeans and cut them off immediatley! Looking like your granpa' killing weeds with his lawnmower is awesome! Get a neon green painter's cap an flip the brim up. Stop washing your hair and find some thick-rimmed glasses. My friend saw Deerhunter and the Black Lips in NYC and everyone is cool with the "look." The "doucheknocker" look is so in!

Mortality, Dirtbombs and Pierce

Thinking back 7 years when I had my last full-blown hangover (at age 23), I'm reminded of my mortality. Are those bruises on my ribs from last night's drunken fall? Possibly it's the knuckle print of a mediocre life trying to knock me kicking and screaming into a mediocre adulthood? Is it my imagination? I dunno. Natie gots to change his ways. There's a piss stain in the corner and everybody's shaking their heads. "Did I get you, buddy?" he said, stumbling out of the stall. "I'm ok, fine sir. My foot is actually quite dry," was the prompt response followed by a quick exit. Yes, death, I do look quite glazed over. Pickled, actually.

Saw the Dirtbombs and Spiritualized on 07/27/08 in NYC. Dirtbombs didn't talk to nobody, blew through the set. The experience was comparable to driving really fast in a convertible. Still, if Mick Collins was the bomb, then Jason Pierce was the fallout. Spiritualized's set was as beautiful and heart wrenching and it was dense and thundering. They played tunes from all of their albums (including this year's excellent "Songs in A & E"). The closer of the set was an extended "Come Together" that mutated into Spacemen 3's "Take Me to the Other Side." Best show I've been to in five years.

This video is from the show: