Everybody Out!
Struggle & Strife EP
Label: White Light
Released: March 2008

Sweeney – vocals
Rick Barton – guitar, vocals
East Coast Billy Close – guitar, vocals
Mr. Kevin Garvin – drums
Dave Smith – bass

1. A Battle Song* – 2:26
2. Boy – 2:44
3. Home – 3:22
4. The King – 3:04
5. Speak Up – 3:39
6. Cold Morning – 3:04

The bastard sons of the Bosstones meet the Sex Pistols. What can I say about these guys? I love ‘em. Unfortunately, Sweeney went back to Dead Pets, and Bart is still carrying on with Eric Della Barbara, from The Confrontation (I’ve never heard of them). Sweeney is sadly missed. Not only was he the singer, writer, he was also their artist/art director. Their releases had a cool look. Oh well.

Sweeney, and Bart bring us the Struggle & Strife EP. A 6 song EP featuring “A Battle Song” from the Red Sox Documentary “Rooters: Birth Of Red Sox Nation.” The EP includes 3 songs from the sold out first EP, along with 3 new bad boys to boot!

With an album like this you can’t help, but smile through it. It’s a good upbeat album.

If you get the chance to get a copy, go do it.

Rating: *** three out of three stars

On to the story . . .

From 1998, until a bit after 9/11 (September of 2001) I worked in the Adult Entertainment Industry. Now, before you run to your local smut shop buying old videos in hopes to see my junk, let me clarify this. I was a behind the scenes guy. Working on the “stars” websites, photo touch-ups, creating prop magazines, and newspapers, things like that.

Of all the people I worked with I have to say Torri Wells was by far the coolest “star” I ever met (she produced a friend of mine’s CD, Thirteenth Love). Christy Canyon, and Victoria Paris, which were best friends, were kind of off-kilter, they came into the offices with the same kind of air that you would expect from Meryl Streep. Never quite understanding why we weren’t thrilled to see them. Odd.

Well, from 1998 until 2001, I bounced through three different companies. All lay-offs. Coming into the new century the dot-coms lost their luster, and between adult web subscriptions dwindling, and the companies over-spending, everything went belly up.

Now, to drive this point home, the third Adult Company I worked at rented out the club Garden of Eden out for the company Christmas party. On the corner of Hollywood and Franklin. I think Hugh Hefner was a partial owner of the place. On a Friday Night this had to set them back a bundle, that and $100.00 bonus’.

The first company I worked with rented Barfly, on Sunset, for their Christmas party, I was quite pleased with the massive Bukowski photo in the entryway. Within minutes of arriving at Barfly my wife and I were both hit on, separately, by the staff. I don’t know if a memo went out: Porn Company coming, Mack away!

Anyway, when I started the third company, it was located in a smallish office on Ventura and Sepulveda. Then they bought an entire floor across the street over-looking the Sherman Oaks Galleria.

One day my supervisor came in, and said all of us were being flown to Las Vegas for the Adult Internet show, and we would be staying at the Venetian hotel. And an extra perk, we would be given leather luggage to help with our trip, and everyone would be given a per diem. Now, like everybody else, I received this information like a kid at Chuck E. Cheese, Hurray! But it should have been a sign that things were about to go belly-up.

Let me give a little bit of a background on my work history. I’m not a Sociable guy. I used to be, until the late 1990’s. Then as I started working in the more hi-end design studios the snobiness just kept any real friendships from happening. You would try to hang out, but everybody would sort of freeze up on you, so you didn’t talk much. This, and the lay-off factor. You would get to know somebody, then the firings started going around and the overall stress would keep friendships from evolving.

Anyway, at the third “Adult” company there was a young, corn-fed white boy named Jon, Jon was just out of the military and now doing some kind of web programming. I never paid much attention to him, as most of his remarks were stupid, or somewhat racial. One such remark at an Italian restaurant was, “Guido’s make some good food.” To this I said “Make sure you know who is and isn’t Italian before you run your mouth.” As me and some girl at the table were Italian.

My heritage is questionable. My Grandfather told me the story of him being from Sicily, back in 1989, everybody has since said he was crazy. Maybe, but why make the city of your origin up?

Anyway, Jon’s next outburst came at the Garden of Eden Christmas Party. Jon started drinking and blurted out in front of our staff, “My Wife cheated on me three times, I’m fucking four bitches up in here tonight.” You could hear the smack of everybody’s jaws dropping to the floor. The rest of the night he was on the dance floor with various hot women, and his wife kept pulling my wife aside for advice on how to lure him off the dance floor. My Wife kept telling her, just go and dance with him that will ward the girls off.

Jon didn’t leave the dance floor until he became weepy, and hammered drunk. Then the wife became the caretaker and took him home.

Everybody at work discussed this for the remainder of the week. And Jon was kind of sheepish for a while.

Well, the next month we got the Vegas trip news. Everybody was wondering what Jon was going to do. Freak out in Hollywood was different from Vegas freak-out. The day before we all left for Vegas, all the bosses headed out first. Telling us where to meet them the next day.

So, we had to report for work the next morning, then at about 3:00 we had to be at the Burbank Airport. Well, who would’ve guessed that Jon walks in with a six-pack of beer, and spends the morning getting tossed.

So, when we all met for dinner in Vegas, Jon was throwing back shots and carrying on about “I’m fucking four bitches up in here tonight.” Now, no one was shocked, just mildly disgusted.

We all went to the Web Show, then one of the bosses offered to take everyone to a strip club on the second night, and pay for all the lap dances you want. I slipped out went back to the hotel, and order Prime Rib with my per diem (I have different priorities). My roommate Keith came back and says Jon kept ordering lap dances, then telling the strippers about his wife cheating then he’d start crying. The strippers would leave, then he’d order another. After a few hours of this Jon ran out of the place.

No one found him again, he didn’t come back to his room, or call in. Finally, the next morning at breakfast one of our co-workers said they saw him leave the hotel with his wife and kids. But before he left he took all the booze out of the bar in his room.

The following week we all waited to see how Jon was going to be fired, but all he got was a verbal warning. We were almost as shocked as we were at his initial Christmas party confession.

I worked with these guys until October of 2001, and after that time I never saw any of them again. Like I say sometimes, I can’t relate to 90% of the world anyway.

LAST ONE TO DIE is officially out, order at: https://www.createspace.com/3669330.