Shits real complicated lately. Here's some summer toonage to brighten your days:
Showing posts with label flipper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flipper. Show all posts
May 31, 2011
January 10, 2010
Vin
1990 in London
At home 
With Nazz, faking a handstamp so we could sneak into a club 5 years ago today I got the call that my buddy Vin died. An aneurysm. I woulda bet on liver failure, or getting hit by a car. If you’re lucky in life, you get a friend that you can really consider your brother. Well, I got lucky.
I met Vin back in first year college, when I was tripping hard on acid and he came strolling by with an equally acid addled friend. Vin was back from college and with-in a week, we were best buddies. Over the ensuing 80 or 90 years we went to more shows, got tossed out of more clubs and bars, drank more booze, and got into more trouble than either one of us should have ever been able to survive from. We would constantly push each other to do dumber and dumber things… it wasn’t even to out-do the other, it was more of a scientific pursuit to discover how far we could take it.
Every weekend we’d be at a Circle Jerks, or Fleshtones or Slickee Boys, or Dead or Kraut or whoeverthefuck was in NYC that nite show. Often, one of us would wake up the next morning a bit banged up (more often than not it was Vin, since he couldn’t hold his liquor as well as I could and was smaller than me). Oh, the liquor thing… Vin was definitely in a lifelong battle with John Barleycorn, and more often than not, was the loser. For as much as he drank, he would get hammered pretty early on. He had 4 distinct phases: Stages 1-4. Stage 1 would be the simple slurring and stage 4 would be falling down drunk and speaking utter gibberish. And it might only be a three drink journey from 1 to 4! And God help us if he tried to pick up a girl or if we got back stage to hang with a band. I remember one time when Vin tried to tell John Doe from X the lyrics of some of John’s songs. Doe became completely unhinged as Vin tried to tell him he was singing the songs wrong! Or getting thrown out of the old Peppermint Lounge when we started square dancing during some “bull-shit downtown scenester New Wave” show. Rock n roll. I think we did 12 Super Bowl’s in a row… wherever we were, even in different cities, we would get together for the game.
Vin lived in Albany for quite a few years in the 80’s and was pretty involved with the Capital-land punk scene. I spent a lot of time in Albany, as my girlfriend was going to school there and Vin lived there. I usually spent more time with Vin actually! He had a great apartment with aluminum foil as wallpaper on all the walls… it was like living in a giant baked potato.
That’s not to say Vin was a moron. The guy graduated from a top college, worked as an assistant to two different State Assemblymen and eventually ended up in the Wall Street area, working as a systems analyst.
The missus felt equally close to Vin, he was definitely like a brother to her as well. He even lived with us for a few months right after we got married.
On September 11, 2001; Vin was coming out of the subway downtown when the first plane hit… he narrowly avoided getting killed when a piece of the plane landed feet from him. I spoke to him later in the day (I was out of town) and he described how people were jumping out of the towers. I don’t think he was ever the same after that.
Anyway, when I got the call that he died, as clichéd as it sounds, we died a little that day too. I made the requisite calls (my mom was devastated as well); and we did the wake thing for 4 days. On day 5, there was a memorial mass and than a huge party that his parents threw. It was supposed to just be a luncheon, but it ended up being the kind of going away party that I would like when I kick. Everyone drinking and crying and telling stories. That night, I had to play a gig… we made it a memorable one and my buddy Al came on to sing Bloodstains (Agent Orange). At least we sent Vin out on a high note.
I know this post is all self indulgent (as if the other’s aren’t!). I don’t care. My buddy deserves better than this blog post, but it’s the best I can do.
Here's a mixtape of some of the bands and songs that I think of when I think about Vin.
Or something.
Anyway, wherever you are, hoist up a beverage of your choice and toast someone you care about that's gone.
Circle Jerks - Live Fast Die Young
Black Flag - Police Story (Ron Reyes version)
Husker Du - First Of The Last Calls
Public Enemy - Welcome To The Terrordome
July 1, 2009
Summertime Booze
We have one of those extended "vacations" due to the economy. You know, the kind in which you get to take the days off, but they don't pay ya!
So the next few days will be spent playing loud shitty rock n roll, drinking beer and lazing about the pool.
Or, I can paint the living room and the kitchen, as I promised.
Screw that!
After all, if you're not wasted, than the day is!
I heartily recommend checking out the following tunes. Just trust your pal Nazz on this one!
Toonage:
January 26, 2009
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:
April 2, 2007
Flipper - Sex Bomb Baby, Yeah!
Now it's your turn.
An acquired taste to be sure, Flipper started up in 1979 and featured songs
that were dissonant, sludgy, simply played and at points absolutely maddening. The band featured two bass players and deliberately played slowly, which was the the antithesis of the hardcore punk sound that everyone else was doing.On the SF Underground compilation, Flipper released "Earthworm"; a slow, ponderous dirge about being an earthworm. Subtlety was never their forte.
Flipper concerts were often exercises in agit-prop, as the band's stated purpose at one point was "to be bad in ways that no band had ever been bad before". The stage was often inundated by the audience, adding more chaos to the show.
However, Flipper attracted as many fans as they repulsed, becoming a somewhat popular band during the early 1980's.
Singles such as "Love Canal" (featuring a picture sleeve of a deformed baby), and "The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" actually became underground hits.
Their highpoint is undoubtedly their 1982 Generic album. This record featured the timeless "Sexbomb" which is basically one riff repeated over and over for about 8 minutes with dissonant saxophone and the lyrics "Sex Bomb Baby Yeah" repeated over and over.
After Generic came Gone Fishin' (1984) and American Grafishy (1990).
Additionally, there are several live albums out: Blow'n Chunks (1984), Public Flipper Limited Live (1986) and Live At CBGB's.
In 1987, singer Will Shatter died of a drug overdose. The remaining members of the band Bruce Loose, Steve Depace and Ted Falconi still tour; former Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic has played live with them in the past two years.
Toonage:
Sex Bomb
Ha Ha Ha
Love Canal
Earthworm
Flipper Wiki
Buy Flipper Music
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