Agent Orange / The Queers (and Billy Joel is the Antichrist)

So, a lovely Saturday found old Nazz circling Manhattan on a boat, whilst the dulcet toonage of Agent Orange and The Queers provided a lovely soundtrack. Part of the Rocks Off shows in En Why See, ya get to spend 3 hours on a boat and get your drink and freak on as kick ass rawk is performed. Beers were pretty expensive on board, but that’s why one pre-games before they get on the boat, of course.

Sometimes life is good.

Agent Orange were on my bucket list... having been a fan since the days of their “Bitchin’ Summer” and “Living In Darkness” elpees back in the days of vinyl. They might have been the first of the Cal Punk bands to bring the heavy surf thang into the scene--- lord knows I cut my teeth on their renditions of Mr. Moto, Miserlou, etc.

Looking none the worse for 30 plus years in the biz, Mike Palm and co tore through a couple of dozen songs, including many that were new that also kicked ass. But it was the oldies: ”Bloodstains”, “Breakdown” “The Last Goodbye” that got my moto runnin’. It was a nice touch when we went past the ruins of the World Trade Center and they dedicated “Too Young To Die” to the victims of that mass murder. It was even cooler when Palm played an instrumental so he could watch “us circle the Statue Of Liberty “.

Old Nazz was representing several friends who are no longer alive, so I had alot of Punk Rock on my shoulders to vent.

I succeeded.

 Picture taken off the back of the boat with the Statue Of Liberty in the distance.

Then, the greatest Ramones tribute band ever- The Queers, took the stage. Yeah, I know that most of their songs are theirs... shit, I was in a band that had all original stuff, and you know what? We were a Ramone tribute band too!  In fact we opened for The Queers once and Joe Queer told me how much he liked us. He...really...liked...us!!!!!!! Joe and his latest aggregation of Queers had the boat bouncing. At the end of the show, they brought someone up to play 3 or 4 Ramones songs as an encore. Yeah man- it’s Noo Yawk Fuckin’ Citee- you’d best be bringing out the Bruddahs!!!!!!!

Afterwards, my pals in the World Famous Kick Ass Punk Rock MetalLive Karaoke Band were doing a show.. with one very upsetting scenario- before doing their Live Band participation part, they, along with a couple of alt- rock mooks were going to play the entire Billy fucking antichrist Joel’s “Glass Houses” rekkid.

Well, golly gosh gee whiz, we missed that part since we were at a PUNK FUCKING ROCK show on a boat. But we showed up afterwards for the Live Band Karaoke part, where some Patriot made the following political statement.

After all, why should Pussy Riot be imprisoned in Russia when Billy Fucking Asshole Joel is free to live and not be in a gulag.

Rightful indignation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Punk Fucking Rawk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah...

Punk Fucking Rawk.

America- Fuck Yeah!

Well, I think the above is pretty apropos. Provincialism at his finest. But then again, we have the best rock n roll in the world. So that counts for something, don't it?

Here's some examples of why it's America FUCK YEAH time here at Bleedin' Out:

(Explore your sensitive teen punk side)

(Bratty Punks make good) 

(This could ONLY have been created in the good old USA!)

ps- Viet Nam was a tie!!!!!!!!!

Notes & Chords Mean Nothing To Me

I was in touch with an old bandmate about joining his new band.

He explained to me the following rules:

1) The lead singer is a woman and she is the absolute boss

2) This is serious stuff- even in rehearsals

3) There is absolutely no drinking

4) There are absolutely no other “sundries” allowed.

Guess how long it took me to say “no thanks”!

A Dish Best Served Cold

Nazz-A-Palooza went great. We didn't finish up until after 4 am and even got interviewed for Public Access TV. I think I described my band BACON THONG (which was the 2nd band playing that nite) as sounding like the music that the Hawaiins played whilst they sacrificed lepers to the volcano gods. Or something. With the headlining and mighty CATERWAUL OF SOUND, we proceeded to end with a 20 minute jam that involved jumping off moving office chairs, "Sunshine Of Your Love", "Whole Lotta Love", "Blitzkrieg Bop", "Black To Comm", "Louie Louie", "Interstellar Overdrive" and some meringue music. Or something. Somehow, I ended up playing lead guitar by the end of it. And that's not easy explainable when you start the song out playing bass. And people actually stuck around and loved it! Or at least they were too stunned to do anything but applaud.

Well, that's what happens when you meet up at 7 pm and are left to yer own (suspect) devices all nite! Both of our guitar players had passed out and had to be revived before we took the stage.

But, that's in the past. As is this... one year ago today, I was unceremoniously blindsided and shitcanned from my job of 14 years. Today, I log on, to find out that the remainders of the company are going to be immenently sold or liquidated. Gloating would be wrong, but let's just say I smirked a bit.

Sometimes the light is shining on me. Other times it's raining out.

Nazz-A-Palooza

Great googly moogly!!!! I am playing with 2 bands tonite in Noo Yawk City!!!!! On Broadway! With the mighty Caterwaul Of Sound (and yes, it's mixing time for the album) and Bacon Thong!!! Punk rock!

Punk Rock & Trailer Parks

I just read and was completely overwhelmed by the graphic novel: Punk Rock And Trailer Parks. You might know the author/artist, Derf from his work on The City and other alt-comics. Additionally, he penned the classic: My Friend Dahmer (yeah- about growing up with Jeffrey Dahmer).

Punk Rock And Trailer Parks tells the story of a geek named Otto; A high school nerd in 1980, living outside of Akron, Ohio. Otto, gets tall, discovers Punk Rock and intersects with The Ramones, Joe Strummer, Wendy O Williams, Stiv Bators and others. There's tragedy, pathos, lunacy, pregnant holy-rollers, comedy and cartoon tits. What more do you need?
Derf intro's the tale as "it's not a true story... but it could be." And parts of it should resonate in all of you, especially if you're readin' this blog to begin with! As Derf wrote to me, regarding where "Otto" would be today: "Otto is out there somewhere, probably running an illegal music file-sharing site, living under an alias and dodging Music Industry lawyers...."

So go buy it! Support art. And punk rock!

Click here for a nice interview with Derf

F#ck The Kids

"What are you? Fifteen years old?

You fuckers don't even deserve Punk Rock"

Fat Mike/Nofx 10-16-08 NYC

I ventured out to see one of my favorite bands last nite. NOFX was playing what is now called The Fillmore, but what will always be to me Irving Plaza in Noo Yawk Citee.

(actually this is from a couple of nights before in Montreal)

After a 10 hour day full of mortifying meetings at the veal pen (you may not have heard, but the economy is bad and companies are taking a scalpel to everything), I need the PUNK RAWK.
And of course, NOFX didn't disappoint.

More than 25 years ago, I started going to Irving Plaza. Back then, I saw bands like Minor Threat, DOA, The Slickee Boys, Bad Brains, Johnny Thunders, The Replacements and Husker Du. I rarely get there anymore (before last nite, the last time I was there was 18 months ago for Paul Weller; but man, did the memories come back. We positioned ourselves on the railing on the second floor and watched a few hundred kids mosh and have a great time beating the shit out of each other below. I'd say 90% of the attendee's were male.(The Moshing at NOFX)

NOFX were great of course. Not as drunk as usual. They played some new stuff, alot of old stuff (including many songs from their classic album Punk In Drublic) and every now and than one of their hybrid mariachi/reggae numbers. Hey, any band that can contradict themselves with songs like "Drugs Are Good" and then "Whoops I OD'ed" and "Don't Call Me White" and then "Kill All The White Man" are my kinda guys.

The interesting thing for me was how some things have changed and yet some haven't. Many of the folks at the show (it was all ages) weren't even born when NOFX started. And many were in diapers when Punk In Drublic came out in the early 90's. NOFX are in their 40's at this point and gazing out at the crowd, you could feel that they must have been thinking "what have we wrought".

Because NOFX are the real thing. They were doing before the days of Hot Topic. And Punk rock is so easy now, as it's both big business (and NOFX certainly live very nicely off of their profits) and an acceptable part of music and fashion culture. None of those kids had to worry about getting crap in school for being Punks like NOFX (and I) did. Shit man, I shoulda been in NOFX!

So when Fat Mike was yelling at the kids how they didn't deserve Punk, I understood it. Is the crowd into the music? The politics (NOFX certainly are as political as any punk band, especially Fat Mike)? The fashion? The culture? I guess it doesn't matter as everyone had a great time. I'm just happy Punk is alive and well. And I keep trying to turn Princess Nomad and Nazz jr onto it. And that day will come (they both wear my old punk shirts all the time).

Back in the day (I hate that phrase), I woulda been one of the teeming masses, getting slammed around. Last night I was content to see a great band play and watch the melee from afar. It also might have been my first show ever at Irving Plaza where there were no intoxicants ingested (not even one lousy little beer).

Life gets weirder every day.

Bookage:
American Hardcore: A Tribal History - Steven Blush


Toonage:
NOFX - Punk Guy (Because he does Punk things)
NOFX - All My Friends In New York
NOFX - Fuck The Kids
NOFX - Last Night Was Really Fun
NOFX - Drugs Are Good

Broken Glass & Razor Wire

The dichotomy of a weekend. Went to see the Circle Jerks and Dillinger Four Saturday night. Two old (In the Circle Jerks case- really old) school punk bands. And then last nite, I was planning on seeing Phil Lesh and Friends.

The D4 are midwestern (Minneapolis to be exact) punk rock motherfuckers. Fat, old and kick ass. Perfect. The between songs snappy patter was great (as their lead singer stated "I'm fat and I'm 36, I need to rest") and the kids were moshing and diving. What a beautiful thing.

The Circle Jerks were very good, not great. Whaddya expect, they're in their 50's! But after a 23 year break from seeing em, it was wonderful. Lead singer Keith Morris has got long ass dreads and a nice bald spot. And he is quite the Alter Kocker at this point! Between songs, asking the crowd to not hurt anyone and to be careful. Oy vey!

The train ride home sorta sucked, since the train was packed full of drunken assholes who went to see this douchebag at Central Park. Yecch. But I was good, I did NOT get into a fight on the train.

And then yesterday I was gonna go see Phil Lesh And Friends at the Beach. I got all the way to the parking lot figuring I'd buy a ticket off some head, but it was such a nice day (and the amphitheater at Jones Beach sucks such huge balls) that I ended up hanging in the lot and listening from there. I ran into a couple who had tickets and, after hearing my reasons for not going in, decided to join me outside! And they HAD tickets! They even asked me if I wanted to have one for nothing and I decided against it.

Ah well, the setlist looked great, lots of old Dead tunes, but I just couldn't get my head into walking into such an oppressive venue.

Part of that decision was due to the early afternoon rehearsal for the reformation of my old Punk Band. Yep, we're gonna get together and play some shows and maybe even do a live DVD (this of course, according to our insane guitar player... we'll see!). And I was amazed how quickly the songs came back to me. The Rush tune was a little flaky, as I was trying to teach em the Overture to 2112! What's more Punk Rock than 2112? Um... I guess everything. But that's what makes it Punk Rock!

So after a nite of Punk and an afternoon of Punk, I was a little too full of three chords to sit in a seat and listen to long jams. Especially in a Nazi Police state.

So... old school Punk Rock wins over old school Dead. Again!

Toonage:

Circle Jerks - I Just Want Some Skank

Circle Jerks - Stars And Stripes

Dillinger Four - DoubleWhiskeyNoIce

Dillinger Four - How Many Punks

Dillinger Four - Let Them Eat Thomas Paine

Phil Lesh And Friends - Cold Rain And Snow (Live Warfield May 13 2008)

Posthumous

12/31 or 1/1 would have been my buddy Kim's birthday. We never could figure out which one it was and he was kinda vague about it, so we would split the difference and celebrate it at midnite, when everyone was celebrating the new year.

Kim was an usher at my wedding, and practically a brother to both me and my wife. Kim wasn't from the USA originally, so he was sorta on the outside looking in a bit. But he assimilated pretty quickly. He was an avid participant in all of our twisted reindeer games, and was a constant at all the shows. Tons of Punk shows, Garage shows, Dead shows, Floyd shows, etc. Plus, he would drive and get our sorry asses home afterwards. I guess he must not have drank as much as the rest of us, but the other "accoutrement's" of being young and stupid were certainly visited upon him as much as the rest of us. It's kind of a miracle that he never got killed or pulled over in the various incarnations of "Death-Mobiles" he drove.

Kim died in a bicycle crash during the NYC Five Boro Bike tour in 1997. He was grievously injured as he was going down a hill really fast and went flying over his bike and did a header into a concrete barrier. Yes, he was wearing his helmet, and it split open and also split his skull in two.
When we got the call about it, and rushed to the hospital, Kim was on life support, his head bandaged and he was being kept alive by machines. The Doctor told us that the best we could hope for was that he would be in a vegetative state forever.
At that point he didn't even look human. You see your buddy all broken up and on machines and it's almost as if you're looking at a monster. It was quickly apparent to us that the quicker he passed, the better. I remember speaking to him, listening to the machines whirring and beeping, and telling him to "let go". Not that he could hear me of course.
Three days later , he was gone.

This was the first exposure we all had to DEATH. I am not talking about relatives dying, or some kid in your school that you vaguely knew cashing in. I am referring to the ripping asunder of our very small tight group of friends. You know, the ones you figure that will always be with you and one day you'd be in the nursing home laughing at all the stupid shit you did when you were young. It was strange, because the smart money would have been on Kim to outlive us all. I would've figured that any of us would have crashed, overdosed, or been killed before Kim. And a fucking bike crash. Un-fucking believable.

I think that none of us handled the next few days particularly well, but we had a small memorial service for him in a park, read some passages from some relevant books and songs and proceeded to get shitfaced drunk.
Several very strange paranormal things happened during these two weeks, and we all liked to think that Kim had a hand in some of them.

More times than I care to remember, I was an asshole to Kim. Inconsiderate, thoughtless, even mean. More than once, he even took a punch for me.
But he stuck out our friendship. I guess family is like that.

I wish I could say that I learned a valuable lesson from Kim, and maybe I did about loyalty. But I sure wish I would've treated him better. And I haven't learned enough, since I still treat loved ones worse than they deserve.

I still think about Kim all the time, especially when I am at a show that he would have been at. I have some of his old t-shirts and wear them at these shows. When I played gigs with bands, I would always wear one of his shirts or this cool leather vest with Husker Du and The Misfits and DOA painted on it. And it was a huge moment for me when I started playing Stiff Little Fingers' "Wasted Life" and I would dedicate it to him.

I still go outside on New Year's eve a bit before midnite and communicate with Kim. At this point that's all I can do.

Toonage:

Stiff Little Fingers - Wasted Life
Stiff Little Fingers - Johnny Was (Peel Sessions)
The Damned - Wait For The Blackout

Satan and/or Santa Loves You

My best wishes to you all as you ejaculate your money in an orgy of consumption. Here's my gift to you...

Toonage:

South Park - The Lonely Jew On Christmas
Showcase Showdown - Merry Christmas, I Fucked Your Snowman
The Vandals -My First X-Mas (As A Woman)
Basement Five - Last White Christmas
Peter And The Test Tube Babies - I'm Getting Pissed For Christmas
The Clap - Christmas In A Bodybag
The Kinks - Father Christmas
Fear - Fuck Christmas
The Sonics - Don't Believe In Christmas
Crucial Youth - Christmas Time For The Skins
Ramones - Merry Christmas, I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight
The Who - Christmas (Demo)
The Vandals - Grandpa's Last Christmas

Download it all by clicking here!

NOFX - America's Best Punk Band

What can I say about NOFX? For my money, NOFX are the best American Punk rock band since the Ramones. What more could you want? They've got great lyrics that can be tastelessy funny or political (often both). They've supported "the scene" with Fat Wreckords (their record label). They tour incessantly (and were instrumental in making the Warped Tour so huge- maybe that's not such a good thing!). Even their spin-offs (such as Me First And The Gimme Gimme's) kick ass.

Erik Sandin (drums), Eric Melvin (guitar) and Fat Mike
(bass, vox) started NOFX in 1983. El Hefe (guitar) joined the party in 1991.
Since then they've combined punk rock, some reggge, some hardcore and plenty of alcohol to sell millions of records and incur plenty of bruises on their audiences. They also released THE PUNK ROCK EPIC with The Decline- an 18 minute opus that blows the doors off punk rock dogma.

Over the years, they've become overtly political as the band is heavily involved in the http://www.punkvoter.com/ movement. The well known "Not My President" t shirts are a product of Fat Wreckords as well. Songs like Idiot Son Of An Asshole", "You Will Lose Faith" and "Leaving Jesusland" should leave no doubt as to where their politics lie. If you have never seen them play live, whaddya waiting for?

Toonage:

The Decline (studio version)

The Decline (live Worcester 3-06)

Liza & Louise

She's Nubs

The Longest Line

Linoleum

We Got Two Jealous Agains

Buy NOFX Music and Schwag

NOFX Wiki

IDIOT SON OF AN ASSHOLE

(by NOFX)

He's not smart, a C student

And that's after buying his way into school

Beady eyes, and he's kinda dyslexic

Can he read? No one's really quite sure

He signs stuff and he executes people

Maybe that's why, he doesn't have any friends

Cocaine and a little drunk driving

Doesn't matter, when you're the Commander in Chief.

Idiot son of an asshole

He's the idiot son of an asshole

Idiot son of an asshole

He's the idiot son of an asshole

Put on some make-up, turn on the 8-Track,

I'm putting a week back on the shelf,

Suddenly I'm the President, of the United States,

But then I woke up, and realized I'm still me.

He's too dumb, to eat pretzels,

apparently smart enough to fix an election.

Moved boldly into the White House,

but most people voted against him.

He likes naps, He really likes naptime,

A couple of naps and then a nap and then he's ready for bed,

He may be from Bush descent,

but he's always gonna be the unpresident.

Idiot son of an asshole

He's the idiot son of an asshole

Idiot son of an asshole

He's the idiot son of an asshole

Idiot son of an asshole

He's the idiot son of an asshole

He's our president!