TSOL
1980 Demos

Jack Grisham – vocals
Ron Emory – guitar
Mike Roche – bass
Todd Barnes – drums

01 80 Times
02 Superficial Love
03 You Don’t Have To Die
04 Silent Majority

I finally landed a job. I’ve been working for, just shy of, two months. Your head goes to weird places when you’re unemployed. There are dozens of things you want to do, a million things you want to buy, and you have to sit and wait until the work comes.

At my previous job I worked as a “Radio Research Director” for a company that owned 16 TV stations, and 29 radio stations. I would put together ratings sheets, promotional items, you name it.

It was a good paying job, and I was with them for about 3 years. The funny thing about this job was that two things that were most important for this job were two things I didn’t know shit about.

Number 1: the Company that owned the 16 TV stations, and 29 radio stations was Hispanic. I didn’t know Spanish. I knew enough to curse out your average a-hole, but not much more. I’d learn.

Number 2: Everything in this company was done in Microsoft PowerPoint. I never opened the program. I’d learn.

I was one of, maybe, 5 Caucasians working there. But you know what? Everybody was cool as hell. There were one or two ball busters, but all in all people were cool. Every morning as I walked in I heard the Wall of Voodoo song in my head: “I’m on a Mexican Radio . . .” as I walked past the two glass DJ booths.

The company had an in-house AM radio station, and the more popular FM station also in-house. It was always a blast to watch the various Ranchera bands come in to play live on one of the stations. They’d have their trumpets, and accordions. It was wild.

Unfortunately, when ratings dip layoffs happen. Ratings dipped I was let go.

One of the weirdest experiences of the job was meeting a famous singer from Mexico named Valentin Elizalde.

The rumor behind a lot of these singers from Mexico is that the Mexican drug cartels “adopt” these up and coming singers. On the condition that you sing about the cartels, and mention them in your concerts. They have the money to turn you into a superstar in a matter of months. But the downside is if a rival cartel likes your music, they will ask you nicely stop talking about the other cartel, if you don’t they kill you.

I met Valetin in 2006, a big hulking guy, and a few months later he was shot up in his SUV after leaving a concert. He was rumored to have started his performance by saying this is for my enemies (rival cartels), and ended the show by again saying, this was for my enemies.

If you search online the crime scene photos are all over. Valentin, and the whole SUV full of people shot up by fully automatic weapons.

Valentin was just one of many Mexican singers gunned down like this. If you’re interested, do a search on legendary singer Chalino Sanchez, and his son. It makes the Biggie, Tupac feud look like small potatos.

On to the review . . .

I came across this bootleg about four years back. I was happier than a hooker with a bag of . . . well you get the point. TSOL has remained one of my favorite bands of all time (even when Jack dislikes my Facebook posts). And I dig their early recordings. So, this one makes up my TSOL trilogy, the EP, Dance With Me, and now the demos.

The standout cuts are: 80 Times, You Don’t Have To Die.

If you can find it, buy it.

Rating: ***** Five out of five stars.

Currently:
Reading: Ham On Rye by Charles Bukowski
Listening: Everybody Out! – Everybody Out!
Watching: Grandma’s Boy directed by Nicholaus Goossen

Free & legal download of the week: Rancid – Bloodclot

Another one of the many things I got sucked into on Facebook:

OK, here are the rules. Test your memory, and your love of live music by listing 50 artists, or bands (or as many as you can remember) you’ve seen in concert. List the first 50 acts that come into your head. An act you saw at a festival, and opening acts count, but only if you can’t think of 50 other artists. (This was tricky.)

1. Freddie Jackson
2. Color Me Bad
3. Eddie Money
4. Richard Marx
5. Celene Dion
6. L.A. Guns
7. Cher
9. Duran Duran
10. Luther Vandross
11. Andy Taylor
12. Belinda Carlise
13. Beach Boys
14. Zoogz Rift
15. Earth Dies Burning
16. Sheila E.
17. Cherry Bombz
18. Chicago
19. David Bowie
20. Prince
21. Tuff
22. Warrant
23. Poison
24. Wasp

25. Suicidal Tendencies
26. Youth Brigade
27. Wasted Youth
28. 7 Seconds
29. Mau-Mau’s
30. Flipper

31. Public Nuisance
32. DOA
33. Sin 34
34. TSOL
35. Jeffrey Lee Pierce
36. Henry Rollins
37. Sebastian Bach
38. Helmet
39. Guns ‘n Roses
40. Skid Row
41. Motley Crue
42. KISS
43. The Pretenders
44. Steve Jones
45. U2
46. Secret Affair
47. Edgar Winter
48. Human Hands
49. Romeo Void
50. Pratt & McClain

Honorable mentions: Your Mom.

Currently:
Reading: Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga by Hunter S. Thompson
Listening: Everybody Out! – Everybody Out!
Watching: Ghost World directed by Terry Zwigigoff

Free & legal download of the week: Dropkick Murphys – Bastards On Parade

As you have seen on this site in the past, “punk rockers” hate everything. That’s right. If I do a review, and they agree with the review there won’t be a single comment, but if I accurately diss their beloved Beatles . . . they will light up the comments for that article. So, after my thorough investigation . . . I have concluded punks love to hate. So, I decided to cater to your hatred and come up with the top 10 things I hate. Enjoy hating this!

10. Seeking The Perfect Parking Spot
Now I’m simple like this, I pull into a parking lot. Things look full; I go to the end of the parking lot park, and walk to the store. My Wife will circle for 20 minutes looking for a spot up front. Makes me crazy. By the time we park, I could’ve already got what I wanted and been in line.

09. My Exes
‘Nuff said.

08. Bitterness
Nothing is worse than a bitter SOB. I have known women (a few guys, too), that after a decade or more they are still hung-up on shit they claim you did or said to them. Women don’t forget, so this is their forte. Years ago, before I was married, one of my exes called wanted to go out for a drink. I said sure what the hell. We go out, and now . . . I haven’t seen her in five or six years. She proceeds to tell me everything I did wrong in our relationship. Lucky me. There has to be an expiration date on this shit.

07. David Carradine
‘Nuff said.

06. Hip Jargon
Over the years I have found, when dealing with people, that proper English seems to put a lot of people on edge. So, I tend to work a lot of slang into my day-to-day jargon. But I hate it when a word or phrase that I previously hated works it’s way into my lingo. Such as, Back In The Day. I never liked this phrase, it’s stupid, but six months back somebody was asking me about the old song by The Members, Working Girl, I responded with I saw that video back in the day. Damn.

05. Music Debates
It used to be the first thing out of my mouth when I met someone, “what kind of music do you like?” Now, I never ask, because I will hate their music, and eventually be asked my taste in music, which they will hate. On this site and a few others I have been involved in a few MAJOR debates over vintage long-hair bands that on occasion have been known to blow donkeys, and after pulling facts, figures, and an occasional pie-chart, people are going like who they like. You can’t win, so let’s talk about less confrontational things like politics and religion.

04. Rape of The Culture
I stole this line from a Sopranos episode. Pauly and Big Pussy go into a coffee house and Pauly starts complaining, how all this coffee stuff was stolen from Italy, and Big Puss says “Again with the rape of the culture.” In 1981 a band called Godhead release a seven inch EP on Bemisbrain Records; in 2009 a band called No Friends released a CD on No Idea Records, again with the rape of the culture. I won’t even get into the ass-clowns who stole my old bands name, Cold War.

03. Distorted Views of Self
Without pointing fingers at specific people . . . I know many people, thieves, junkies, liars, and I have noticed they will always be the first to point out your flaws, and give advice. Try to take advice from someone who just got out of jail, smells of cheap wine, wine they just stole. See if that doesn’t pepper a little hate into your life.

02. Solitaire Issues
As petty as it seems, I can’t stand people standing over my shoulder while I attempt any kind of video, or computer game. They will always see which move you should be doing before you do.

01. Food Court Seating
Now I don’t know why this irritates me, but I hate it when I go to a food court, or any type of restaurant, where you seat yourself, and the place is dead empty. So, I stroll over to the corner, sit down, and guess what? The next dildo to walk into the place will automatically sit next to me! Why?

Honorable mentions: Your Mom.

Currently:
Reading: Factotum by Charles Bukowski
Listening: Everybody Out! – Everybody Out!
Watching: Galaxy Quest directed by Dean Parisot

Free & legal download of the week: Rancid – Dead Bodies

Dave Alvin/Boz Scaggs
The Greek Theatre
Fall 1999
Time: 8:00 PM

Back in the ’80’s, even though I wasn’t drinking, my Mom said I should attend AA meetings. Both my Grandfathers were alcoholics and my Father was also. My Mom told me I was displaying personality traits of an alcoholic. And that I should attend AA, and/or Adult Children of Alcoholics.

I didn’t know that my Grandfather on my Dad’s side was an alcoholic. I never saw him drink, and I never saw him drunk. Turns out he was a bit of a binge drinker. He’d go a year without touching a drop, then slip into a 3-month binge.

I was always aware of my Mom’s Dad’s problem. Every holiday that we’d spend with him, he’d start drinking before we got there, and by the time we’d get ready to leave he’d be slumped in his chair, almost asleep. My Grandfather had a pretty shitty upbringing from an alcoholic, who beat him and told him he was unwanted. So, unfortunately, the alcoholic gene (if that truly exists) was passed on. And then later my Uncle battled substance abuse issues. Remember the old days when Dad’s just passed on the family business?

I told you all that to tell you this, I called my one of my Dad’s old work buddies who was now a counselor at an AA meeting, and a “recovering” alcoholic. My Dad’s friend, Ed, was a really good guy. Of all my Dad’s friends he was the best. He was a trash collector in the ’70’s, and he always brought us comic books, or Mad Magazines that he’d find on his route. Cool stuff.

So, I call Ed, and he invites me to come to a meeting. The meeting is located at a Korean Church in Northridge, here in the Valley. I drive out on a Wednesday night. When I get there Ed pulls me aside and tells me that due to low attendance, they combined the AA meeting with the Adult Children of Alcoholics, and the sex addiction meeting. That was definitely a big WTF.

The meeting starts with everyone going around the room introducing themselves, and stating their “problem.” It gets to be my turn, and I say my name, and say that I am Adult Child of an Alcoholic. And everyone sits there looking at me, like I am in denial, I say I don’t drink. And at that point I hadn’t so much as had a beer in a year. No one believed me. I guess everyone comes through and says I am here because someone else thinks I should be.

Finally, we moved on. The first person to talk was some woman who was about 25 or so. She talked about fighting her nymphomania. She said that the mailman came to deliver something the week before, and how it took all of her willpower to keep her from pulling him into her house. Sad to say, she had my attention. She went on about looking him up and down, and how it had been a week since she had sex. Hell yeah!! When she was done the head counselor stated again that dating or “relationships” were grounds for being kicked out of the group. I know he wasn’t, but it felt like he was looking at me.

The next person to speak was an older guy, late 50’s, with glasses. The kind of guy that looks like a computer-tech. I remember looking at him, thinking he looks like a child molester. Then he starts talking about a court case that forbids him from seeing his daughter, and hopefully she will forgive him one day. I remember looking at him, and wanting to stomp the shit out of him. I can’t understand anyone messing with kids, and especially their own flesh and blood.

So, I stayed for the whole hour or so meeting, and as it starts to wrap up one of the guys in the meeting calls me over to the side, and says “a lot of the newcomers aren’t comfortable talking about their problems, so a bunch of us are going to meet at the coffee shop up the street for donuts, and coffee. It will be easier to talk over there, come on and join us.” I just stared for a minute, and then said “Yeah, I’ll meet you there.” Then drove on home.

I attended three or four more of these meetings, sat drinking coffee like Ed Norton in Fight Club. Then got tied up with different things and missed a month.

So, four or five weeks later I show up at the church. I walk in with a cup of coffee from Winchell’s. And everybody in the place freezes. Two Korean guys walk briskly towards me. I’m not nervous, because I know I didn’t do anything wrong, but their quick walking has me on alert.

One guy starts talking very quickly, “You go, this is for Koreans only. You go.” The other guy smiles and puts his hand on my elbow, and starts guiding me to the door. Through all of this I’m saying I’m here for the AA meeting. But the guy keeps saying, “You go, this is for Koreans only. You go.” To which I say, “AA, you know the crazy people?”

Next thing I know I’m back at my car, with my cup of Joe, and the guy is walking away still babbling, “This is for Koreans only.”

I drive back home, and my Mom says what are you doing here? I said the meeting isn’t there anymore. To which she replied “You intentionally went on the wrong night so you didn’t have to go.”

WTF, after that I didn’t go anymore. There were periods of time where I drank more that others, but my own personal paranoia about my alcoholic bloodline kept me from ever seriously taking the plunge.

But in all seriousness, if you have an issue with substance abuse or know someone who does (don’t we all), don’t wait ’til it’s too late. I’ve lost too many people this way, and one is too many.

On to the review . . .

My Wife was working at a place in Sunland back in 1998, and 1999. And her boss was a best friend with a woman who worked at Ticketmaster. Well, this woman on the day of shows used to call all her friends, starting two or three hours prior to shows starting to give away remaining tickets.

One afternoon, early evening my Wife called to see if I wanted to see Boz Scaggs, I knew his music, but wasn’t sure I wanted to see him. I grew up with his Silk Degrees 8-track playing in the family Oldsmobile 98 for years.

My Mom loved Boz Scaggs, so I called to see if she wanted to see him. No answer. So, by the time I got back to my Wife she had two tickets.

We got to the Greek, the air was ripe with the smells of weed. There was no opening act listed, so I assumed it was Scaggs. After about 20 minutes, and it was still daylight, 3 or 4 guys come on stage and do a bit of rockabilly, and a bit of straightforward rock. Me and 2 or 3 others clapped. Then he announces I’m Dave Alvin, you’ve been great, thanks. And walks off. I stand up and clap again. The rest of the crowd is feeling the weed.

Boz Scaggs comes on, and absolutely no talking. The music sounds like the record, but he is dead onstage. Nothing like the music I’m used to. Weird night.

If you can see him, see him.

Rating: *** ** three out of five stars.

Currently:
Reading: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson
Listening: Everybody Out! – Everybody Out!
Watching: Factotum directed by Bent Hamer

Free & legal download of the week: Dropkick Murphys – Fields Of Athenry

If you like the Night Birds song this week, and you should, check them out on Myspace and buy their demo from Alex over at Grave Mistake.

Stay tuned to the show this week to win some free music on fancy schmancy compact discs.

Right Click To Download
Length of Show: 70:12
File Size: 77.8MB

Tracks played:
01. Night Birds – Living in the Middle (Demo)
02. Tricky Dick – Unwanted (Discography)
03. Cleveland Bound Death Sentence – Good Thing (S/T)
04. The Retardos – Been There Done That (S/T)
05. Screw 32 – Broken (Under the Influence of Bad People)
06. Krum Bums – No Apologies (Same Old Story)
07. Gang Green – This Job Sucks (Taang! Years)
08. Career Suicide – Recipe For Disaster (Attempted Suicide)
09. D.O.A. – Police Brutality (Northern Avenger)
10. Broken Bottles – I’ll Dress You (Hospital)
11. Bl’ast! – Break It Down (The Power of Expression)
12. Broken Bones – Teenage Kamikaze (F.O.A.D.)
13. Rabies – The Man With the Flute (Disease Core EP)
14. Everything Falls Apart – Different Danger (Tension EP)
15. Lights Out – Just Like You (Overload)
16. Dissent – Push-Button Society (Boy Eats Own Head EP)
17. The Essentials – Turn Off Your Radio (Fast Music In a Slow Town EP)
18. Hubble Bubble – Come With Us (Faking)
19. The Wongs – Painful Love (Reanimate My Baby)
20. The Nobodys – A Girl Like You (The Smell of Victory)
21. Briard – Fuck the Army (single)
22. Misguided – State Of War (Bringing It Down single)
23. Mau Maus – Unforgotten (Facts of War EP)
24. UK Subs – Warhead (Before You Were Punk)
25. Witches With Dicks – One Whopper For The Copper (Manual)
26. Blatz – Homemade Speed (A Touch of Blatz)
27. Corrupted Morals – Peer Pressure (Chet EP)
28. Reagan Youth – Anytown (Punk Rock New York)
29. Sanity Assassins – Step Right Up (Best Of 1989-1993)
30. Hammer Bros – Years (The Kids Are Dead EP)