TSOL
Dance With Me
1981 – Frontier Records
Dance With Me
Producer Thom Wilson

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

01 – Sounds Of Laughter
02 – Code Blue
03 – The Triangle
04 – 80 Times
05 – I’m Tired Of Life
06 – Love Story
07 – Silent Scream
08 – Funeral March
09 – Die For Me
10 – Peace Through Power
11 – Dance With Me

If I were to create a list of my desert island top ten punk albums, ala Tower Records Desert Island Discs, TSOL’s Dance With Me would sit at the top of this list.

I wrote this review back in February of 2008, but couldn’t find the right way to describe this. My Brother, and I once had a conversation about not wanting to loan people certain albums we had grown up on, for fear that the other person’s reactions would be negative, or they just wouldn’t get it. When you’ve listened to an album for twenty plus years, there is more built into it than just some good songs. Who you met along the way, trips you made, everything that had happened to you in the last two decades – those songs came with you. That’s why since 1981 only one other person has listened to my Dance With Me album. A few months back I sent a copy for my Brother. Once he got it in San Diego (where he was living at the time) he called my place, and my Wife picked up, and my Brother tells her “Mike sent me a CD with songs about doing the freaky with dead people.” Like I’ve said for years, Code Blue was done in a very tongue-in-cheek way, but unless you’re familiar with them, you could be shocked. Another reason this album stayed hidden until I moved away from home.

I hate to admit it, but when I first bought their, now classic Poshboy Records EP, with the songs “Superficial Love” and “Abolish Government,” I didn’t dig them so much. I was still into the garage sounding hardcore that bombarded you with excessive feedback, and ridiculous shout-outs at the beginning of the songs. So, when I put on the EP, I discovered they could play their instruments, and Jack could sing. There were tempo changes, and vocal arrangements – who needed that? So, I traded the EP to my Uncle Rick for something, or other. About a year later I picked up Dance With Me, and loved it, I guess my musical tastes had evolved, because this wasn’t your typical Hardcore album. After seeing TSOL live several times, and getting hooked on the songs from the EP, I went back and picked it up – AGAIN!

TSOL blasted onto the scene in 1979, with white face paint, and blazing anthems, they were a shot in the arm for the scene. The release of their first EP enabled them to open for bands like The Damned and The Dead Kennedy’s. By the summer of 1981, the band released Dance With Me, on Frontier Records, which propelled them to the top of the California punk scene, and had them to headlining 3,000 plus seat venues, like the Hollywood Palladium, with bands like Bad Religion, Social Distortion, and the Adolescents opening.

I have to admit to loving the lyrics on this album. The lyrics for Silent Scream were written as if Jack had somehow channeled Edgar Allan Poe:

Silent Scream:
“I’m the cobwebbed stairs, the ancient bones
I’m the shadow rippling cobblestones,
I’m the stagnant swamp, the black lagoon
I’m the branches scratching at the moon
I’m the funeral service, the unknown mourner
I’m the demon cowering in the corner
I’m the sexton’s spade, the new thrown clay
I’m what’s left when they walk away
I’m the ebony coffin, satin lining
Pale thin lips in the back room dying
Pale thin lips in the back room dying
I’m the walking dead, the fly by night
I’m the last of the fading light
In the unbarred door, the open encasement
I’m the stairs leading down to the basement
The four post bed, the let down hair
I’m the cross that you forgot to wear
I’m the highest voltage, the shining slab
The crack of midnight in the doctor’s lab
I’m the night before, the morning after
Echoing of the baron’s laughter
Echoing of the baron’s laughter
I’m Jonathan Harker, I’m Lucy’s trance
Elegant count’s hypnotic glance
I’m the wooden mallet, the sharpened stake
I’m the precautions you forgot to take
I’m the mummy’s curse, the passing bell
I’m the fortune they wouldn’t tell
I’m pyromania, Transylvania
I’m out of breath, I’m worse than death
I’m the late night air, exhilarating
I’m with you in the darkness, waiting.”

This is my favorite album of theirs, it’s a punk masterpiece. The music is raw, catchy, and full of life. Get a copy of this album for someone who doesn’t own it, they will thank you. I always come back to this one. Did I gush enough? Did I make it clear that I liked their album?

Todd Barnes, the band’s drummer, died on December 6, 1999 of a brain aneurysm at the age of 34.

If you don’t own it go, and buy it, stop reading! Go buy it.

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

Currently:
Reading: Blossom by Andrew Vachss
Listening: TSOL – Dance With Me
Watching: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Directed by Jay Roach

Free & legal download of the week: Shattered Faith – Reagan’s In

Jay Adams
EZ Ryder Originalz (http://ezroriginalz.com/)

Every once in a while you get to meet a celebrity, and even less frequently you get to meet one of your idols, and even less frequently than that you get to have a lengthy conversation with a childhood idol. Over the course of two months, I got to rap with Jay Adams.

Jay Adams, and the rest of the Dogtown crew changed my life. Somewhere around 1977, or 1978, I picked up my first issue of Skateboarder magazine, and saw the lifestyle these guys lived. It was like that old cliché every girl wanted them, and every guy wanted to be them. Well, I wanted to be them. I rode a Sims Lonnie Toft with Tracker Trucks, and Kryptonic Wheels. All stuff I saw the pros ride in the pages of Skateboarder magazine. Jay rode at Skater Cross in Reseda, CA, I got a membership there. After getting to know Jay a bit over these few months, I have to admit I envy his lifestyle. Read on, and you’ll probably feel the same.

1. First I want to thank you for agreeing to do this interview. Hopefully, I won’t be asking you questions that you’ve already answered a hundred times before. What was skating like in Venice before the 1975 Del Mar Nationals?

Skating for me began before I can even remember my Mom used to tell me about the time I came running back into the house with blood on my face, and arms cuz I ate it somehow from pushing around on my knees she told me I wasn’t really crying too long, and went right back out side, and jumped back on.

You got to remember back then skateboarding was all about copying surfing. By the time I was 8 or 9 I lived on North Venice Blvd three houses away from the beach, or parking lot to the beach, but the beach side of Pacific St., Munies Liquor Store was on the corner of Pacific, and North Venice Blvd, and right behind it was an alley with three driveways; the first one was kind of steep so I named it Pipeline the second one was long, and you could start on Pacific St., and go through the apts, all the way to where the cars parked, and finally the alley itself I named that one Waimea Bay the next one down was a lil bit like the first one just not as steep so I named that one Sunset.

I had my three spots, and would spend hours pretending I was Jeff Hackman or Gerry Lopez, then Wayne Lynch; three of my childhood heroes from Surfer Magazine. I also liked Miki Dora, and copied his surf Nazi style, and put a swastika on my board. I didn’t know about all the suffering the Jewish people went through I just thought Miki Dora was cool, and the old man at the market on the boardwalk on Rost Street he had some funny looking numbers tattooed on his arm he got mad at me, and was yelling at what I had put on my board. I just thought it was funny because he was so mad I didn’t even know why he was mad but also remember I was a lil rascal who thought it was funny to sneak up behind the old Jewish men sleeping on the benches, and tipping their hats to the ground to wake them up to try to catch me or throwing rotten fruit at the trams as they went by.

My youngster days were all spent on the beach from POP Pier all the way back to Venice. The boardwalk was always filled with people and I rode my skateboard everywhere I went my step dad Kent Sherwood worked at Dave Sweet’s surf shop on 11th, and Olympic St., the surfer guys there had skateboards so I’d play on those also, this is the really old days I was probably 5 to 6 yrs old, but I think that’s where I first met Styeck I don’t remember him, but he was older, and remembers me because I was a lil kid so yeah all of my earliest memories are of me surfing, and skateboarding around Venice beach this was years before the Z Boy Zephyr Team thing that wasn’t till I was 13 or 14, and I’d have been skating all along since I was a lil kid my step dad Kent would take me to Paul Revere, or Uni High in Pacific Palisades two famous skating spots that the Hobie Team skated at in the 60′s, talking about the Hobie guys Torger Johnson was one of my early skate guys who I looked up to when the movie Skater Dater came out or when I first saw it . . . it was on I wanted to be a skater just like them, and I learned how to jump off curbs that was a trick for us back then. Actually the first trick I can remember seeing was from a guy named Kenny Ebee he could do a wheelie for like 3or 4 squares down the sidewalk and after I saw him do it I learned it but it was mostly copying surfing in the early days

2. Did anything change in Dogtown as a result of the newfound notoriety as a result of the contest, and being featured in Skateboarder Magazine?

Of course things changed, and people started throwing deals at us. I didn’t get a photo in Skateboarder Magazine until I quit Zflex, and rode for Logan Earth Ski then they put me in there lame magazine it was so political and if you weren’t from San Diego you weren’t going to get in there mag. It wasn’t until Alva, and I joined team Logan, and then we were a bit ahead of most of the others not better just a lil different but we got lots of photos, and then I went back to Zflex, and was popular enough that they pretty much had to run photos of me even though I was on Z again. Styeck made Dogtown popular with his articles, but the Magazine made a Dogtown down south rivalry, but I didn’t really have any part of it. I had lots of friends from down south, and skated down there with them all the time Alva had a huge ego, and most people didn’t really like him because of it that’s one of the reasons why I never wanted to be like him. Plus I just wanted to be one of the boys back home in Venice back then Venice was Venice and Santa Monica was Dogtown. I lived in Venice my whole life except for about 3 years when I moved there from 6th grade to the end of 8th grade then I moved to Hawaii, and when I came back to Cali it was back to Venice but there was a big difference between the two, and Alva, Muir, and all the other Santa Monica Dogtown guys weren’t allowed to surf in Venice, Sarlo was the only other guy on the Zephyr team who was from Venice.

So yeah things changed but most of all people changed guys got famous and some of us let our egos get outta control, but for a kid its hard not to able to not believe all the hype they say about you in the magazines I see it today in some of the surfers they believe their bigger than life when in reality they’re no different from anyone else even if there the best new guy at pipeline or wherever else their famous for ego is poison, and something you should avoid because it looks ugly, and makes you lame.

3. How did the Zephyr team come together?

Not too sure how the Zephyr team got started, but it was a surf team at first, and then it became a skate team. Most of us younger guys who were on the jr surf team all skated so when Cadillac wheels came out, and we heard about the Bayne Cadillac contest at Del Mar we decided to make a skate team, and that’s how it began after the Zephyr team broke up half of us went with my step dad Kent Sherwood he made the Zephyr skateboards we broke away from Zephyr and started EZ RYDER which only lasted about 6 months until it became Z Flex Skateboards now Jef Hartsell, and I are relaunching EZ Ryder Originalz. Which you can see at www.ezroriginalz.com check it out.

4. What was the most defining moment in your professional or contest part of your skating career?

The most defining moment would have been the Del Mar Contest because we were so different from all the other skaters they were stuck on 1960′s style skateboarding, and we were all copying Larry Bertlemann so there really was a difference. Also when I won the 1975 Hang Ten World Contest I got first in freestyle, and first in cross-country. Or my 3rd place in the 1977 Skateboarder poll awards, but that’s all just contest stuff and there’s been way more things that meant more to me. There was a time when we’d come to a skate park and the whole park would just stop, and watch I always thought that was pretty cool. Seeing a woman play my Mother, and a kid acting as me was pretty cool. The whole Dogtown Video and Lords Of Dogtown movie was pretty cool to experience. But just still doing it after starting 45 yrs ago is the best, nowadays it’s all just fun, and there’s nothing to prove anymore like when your a kid, and out to show the world what your all about.

5. Here is a two-part question: What was the best skatepark you ever skated? And what was your favorite backyard pool?

Back in the day Cherry Hill in New Jersey was one of the best but for us Marina Del Rey was home that that was some of the best times we had just skating with friends. The best backyard pool was the Dogbowl because we had an open pass to skate it whenever we wanted to, and things were being done that had never been done before, plus it was just our whole crew there, and whoever we took there with us.

6. What was it like getting your name and photos in the skate magazines?

I didn’t really like all the fame that we had because of skateboarding. When I saw the effect that skating had on guys like Tony Alva, and the ego it gave him I wanted nothing to do with it. I was just one of the boys from Venice, and I also lived in Hawaii, and ego would get your ass kicked, so I took the humble approach, and still do till this day. I really have a problem with ego in people because God made us all the same no matter how good you surf skate or do whatever you do. I also judge a person after they open their mouth not by the color of their skin or what they do, were all the same. Some are just blessed to have a turn at being good at something but usually that turn doesn’t last long. I’ve been pretty lucky to be able to get a lil money my whole life because of skateboarding like this morning I went to my PO Box and there was a check for a 1,000 dollars because of my Z-Flex deal. So I’m just grateful that I can still make a lil money now, and then. But Ego is poison, and should be avoided at all cost.

7. Now that eight years have passed, what impact did Dogtown and Z-Boys have on your life?

Well 8 yrs later huh? Some people weren’t happy about the first doc that Vans made, and didn’t pay any of us for. Vans is a big co, and we shoulda made them pay us, but I didn’t complain about it I just used it to my advantage. I ended up getting a shoe sponsor Osiris, and that helped out for a few years I didn’t make a whole lot of money, but it paid some bills. The whole Doc opened up a lot of people’s eyes, and influenced a lot of older guys to pick up their skates, and ride again. Lots of these older guys kind of related to us, and started buying our skates again cuz we have old school style boards that they could ride around the parks on, and basically jut surf skate the bowls and not have to try to get all new school when they skate. It also opened up the movie deal, which we did get paid for, and that brought even more recognition and that brought board sales up, and opened up other doors that hadn’t been open for a while. Its weird now because people come up to me all the time telling me how their kids are into the movie, and watch it a couple of times a week. So the guys we grew up skating with are the parents now, and their kids are skating, and got to see us because of the movie, and can relate to us because of it. I guess were lucky cuz old school is kind of cool to lots of the kids, or so I’m told basically you need to take advantage of what God puts into your life, and the whole movie, and Doc was good to me because I’ve been able to use it to my advantage. Instead of complaining about what I didn’t get I’ve just been grateful of what I’ve been able to get. But the best thing is that lots of kids can relate to us, and will listen to what I have to say about staying away from drugs, and other problems their going through. I have parents write to me all the time asking me to write to their kids who are dealing with problems their going through. I’ve made lots of mistakes in my life and still do but some kids do listen to what I have to say about not making the mistakes that I made, and that feels good to know that I can help them out. Money is cool and we all need to pay bills but it’s not what life is all about and never will be for me. I still have a hard time saving money because I figure when ya got it spend it on something fun like traveling or something and worry about making more later. I told my friend a few days ago I’m saving it for a rainy day, and it started raining again so what should I buy today? Hahaha whatever I’m getting off track so that’s enough for this question.

8. What impact did punk rock have on your life? What was your first exposure to punk rock

Punk rock affected my life 100%, the first show I went to was at Baises Hall there was a famous riot that night. I can’t remember who was playing, but I think it was Black Flag, Circle Jerks, And Fear, or X, or some bands like that. Up until then I really didn’t know what real punk rock was all about I think I might have seen a show the weekend before that at Marina Del Ray Skate Park but the Basises Hall show was really the first one that I went to I didn’t know about Black Flag, and real violent bands like that. I thought it was new wave crap like Devo or Talking Heads, and when I saw the real thing I was instantly hooked. When I got to the show they had closed the doors, and weren’t going to let anyone else in. Someone broke out a window, and we had to get lifted up, and through it. When I landed on the floor, and looked around at a few hundred kids going completely crazy slamming in a huge pit, I’d never seen anything like it before. People were getting their asses kicked, and it was crazy. I was in a Venice gang called the Venice Hoodlums we were a mixed up bunch of White Boys, and Mexicans and we dressed up like vatos, Dickie pants, white shirts, and Pendletons, and bandanas. But after I saw that show I completely got into punk rock it was perfect because I was troublemaker, and thought it was cool to have people fear me. When I walked into a room I wanted people to say damn these guys are crazy you better watch out or they’ll fuck you up. Punk rock shows were perfect for that because it was all about violence, I started hanging out with Mike Muir he had just started Suicidal Tendencies band he used to wear a leather jacket with safety pins in his ear and we all wore boots with bandanas tied around them. I was still wearing Dickies, and vato clothes with my blue bandana because Venice was a blue-color town. So Mike started dressing in Pendletons, and Dickies as well, and Ric Clayton started drawing hand-drawn Suicidal shirts before every show we went to. We’d all meet at Mar Vista Park before every show, and pretty soon we had 30 to 50 guys showing up to go to the shows. We all started wearing the same kind of clothes, and it started looking like a gang, but we had to because the other punks from Orange County were beating everyone else up from LA so we put a stop to it by protecting each other.

It got outta hand, and eventually we were basically a gang following around the band, but Suicidal Boys were not going to get our asses kicked in LA. So punk rock was everything to me, and I was completely brainwashed by the whole deal, I wouldn’t listen to anything else, but punk rock, and when I went surfing guys would try to make fun about me because I was a punk I thought all surfers were fags with their ling blond hair, and day-glo cloths; I always said I surf, but I’m not a surfer fag. Surfers didn’t like me, and I didn’t like them, but I was surfing every day and was getting in the California magazines every month. Breakout Magazine put me on the cover, and basically every month I was getting photos in it. But surfers at the time were so fuckin gay it made me laugh it wasn’t until 10 yrs after punk was done that surfers started trying to look punk, and accept it like they do now, but they were still clueless to what real punk rock was all about. Nowadays everyone is either a wanna be gangster rapper of faking it by thinking they’re punk rock, it still makes me laugh cuz I remember when I was one of the only punk rockers who still surfed anyway enough of this question.

9. Rather than complain about the current state of punk rock, my question to you is: do you find it strange or maybe amusing how incredibly accepted punk is now?

It’s funny how people have accepted what they think is punk rock, but in reality it’s just watered down bubble gum rock. Some of the bands that claim to be punk really make me laugh cuz there’s nothing punk about them, not even their fake-ass Mohawks, or tattoos. For me, punk rock was the attitude we had at the time, we were all pissed off teenagers who didn’t want anything to do with what all the older people were telling us what to do. I’m not too sure why we hated hippies, but I think for me it was just hating all the longhaired heavy metals fags that hated us. Being a punk back in the early ‘80′s was dangerous; people would chase you down the street if they caught you alone. That was OK with us cuz we’d catch some of them alone, and they’d gat a beating. I’ll just sum it up, and say punk rock for us west-coasters was all about violence causing riots, and beating the shit outta people for fun. It’s just part of being young drunk, and pissed off at the world.

10. How active were you in the making of Lords of Dogtown? Did you offer any skate instruction for Emile Hirsch?

Yeah, well I was stuck in Hawaii when they were making the movie so I wasn’t as involved as I could have been. I got to meet Emile when he came over to study me, or whatever he was doing, but we met, and he was a cool kid who I feel really lucky to have had portray me in the film. When I was first approached by John Linsom about the film I was locked up in OOC prison, or actually it’s our county jail here in Hawaii. I had some lawyer guy call me down from my cell, and he offered me $8,000.00 to sign a contract for the film. I was like you’ll give me 8 grand right now to sign up for this movie about us, and if it doesn’t get made then I don’t have to pay you back. And they said they’d give me another 70 grand if they made it so of course I said yes. My bail was $2,000.00, and then I paid this lame ass lawyer $5,000.00 grand to represent me in the case I was fighting. So I only ended up with $1,000.00 in my hand, which went to my back rent. I also had a heroin habit at the time so I really didn’t care too much about anything else than getting outta jail. So I signed it, and Tony Alva wasn’t into it, and the producer guy John told me “fuck him well make it about you.” I refused that, and said that I thought it should be about the whole Z Boy Team. Anyway later on Tony jumped on board, and so did Stacy, and the rest of the guys, and they basically just took over. Stacy ended up writing the story, and Tony was totally involved in anything he could be. I’m not sure what everyone else got for it, but I got what they promised so they kept their word with me. But I’m sure Stacy, and Tony weren’t worried about me like I was about them in the beginning. It’s just funny to me to see all the ego come back in some people like it had when we were kids, and it just made me glad I am how I am, and not like how other people are. So, I really didn’t get to be involved as much as I’d of liked to have been, but they did a good job on it, and I’m not embarrassed how it turned out.

11. How does it feel to know that these two films may be the reason a 10-year may pick up a skateboard for the first time?

Well its good to know that we have an influence on younger kids, but it’s also important to me to set a good example to them. Lots of things I did in the past weren’t very good, but that’s part of growing up, and making mistakes. There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes, but you really should learn from them, and try not to keep repeating them. Of course that’s easier said, than done especially when it comes to addiction issues. I believe kids need to know the danger of drug abuse, and I’m a living example of a person who has been at the bottom, and have been able to get my life back on track. But I take none of the credit I give it all to God who has a perfect plan for all of our lives if we just give him a chance to lead us to it. God can make the changes in our lives that we weren’t able to make on our own. The hard thing is to keep living for him, and not get caught up in all the other things this life has to offer.

12. Had you been aware of your, and the Z-Boys’ legacy?

I’m aware that we were among some of the first guys to skateboard empty pools, and actually make skateboarding an every day thing that we did. We weren’t the first guys to skate in empty pools. The guys in the 60’s did it before us. Now we had better equipment to ride than the guys before us so we took it to another level than they had in the past. There were other guys riding pools as well as us guys from Playa Del Rey. Guys from San Diego. Guys from all over So Cal. I think we had an advantage in the beginning because Tony Alva, and myself had been skating places like Paul Revere Jr. High School for years before the Cadillac Wheel came out. It was after the soft wheels came out that skating became popular again, and we had already been skating for a few years before that happened. Lots of people like to claim they were the first to do this or that, and it’s easy to get caught up in that kind of stuff. But I’m pretty sure our crew of guys were seeing some of the first things being done. And I’m talking about simple things like front side grinds in pools, or just getting what we called one-wheelers. I remember nobody used to grab their skate with their hands when they did kick turns. There’s lots of things I could claim to be the guy who did them first, but then this would turn into some kind of ego question, and I’ll try to avoid that, but I did to see lots of the first things being created. I’m happy to have been a part of it when I was because it was all about having fun, and not something you’d wanna do to get rich, and famous like it can be for kids nowadays.

13. Do you stay in contact with any of the original Venice skaters?

I try to stay in touch with some of the OG guys I speak to Shogo allot, and still roll around with him because he lives here in Hawaii. Wentzle also lives here in Hawaii, and we talk on Facebook, ha-ha don’t laugh. Tony Alva came to see me a few times when I was working at Hurley, but he never returns his calls so I’ve given up on trying to get him on the phone. I speak to Wes Humpston, and Jim Muir every once in awhile, and I also keep in contact with Stecyk, and Jeff Ho .I try to talk to them as much as possible, but it’s hard because I live a whole big ocean away from most of the guys

14. I hope this isn’t too far out, here’s a bit of self-analysis. Many of the skaters you rode with or hung-out with had the some success or fan-base when you were with them. So, the question is what did/does Jay Adams bring to the sport?

I think what I’m trying to bring to the sport or kids who are fans, is that I’m a survivor; I’ve been through a lot of crazy things, I’ve been to prison, I’ve been a heroin addict, I’ve lost almost all of my family members, and my wife divorced me when I went to prison last time; so I’ve been through some pretty crazy times in my life. But I thank God every day for all that He’s let me live through. I’m positive He’s the reason why I’ve survived all the things that should have killed me in the past. If God can change someone like me then He can change someone like you. Nobody would have ever thought that I would become a Christian because of the lifestyle I’ve lived in the past. I really believe God has me here for a reason and I’d like to believe its to help kids not make the same mistakes that I made when I was younger, and still struggle with every day. Drug addiction never gives up on us, and were in a battle for life to keep it from getting a hold of us again I constantly have to remember that, and I need to stay involved in either AA/NA, or even more important for me my relationship with Christ. I believe AA/NA are really good to clean yourself up, but God can clean you up on the inside as well as the outside. My heart was filthy from years of abuse that I did to myself while I was growing up. People say the Bible will brainwash you, but my brain needed to be washed because it was filled with filth. Christ can make you feel good about yourself again no matter what you did in the past. He, and only He can wipe away all the things we did in the past that we know weren’t right, but kept doing them anyway. I need to keep my relationship with Him because I always fall short when I try to go at it my own way. I’ve failed time, and time again, but when I’m walking with Christ on my side I tend to make the correct decisions that I probably make if I wasn’t trying to focus on Him.

15. When did you move to Hawaii? And why?

I moved to Hawaii when I was 15 yrs old. My step dad Kent Sherwood was born, and raised here in Hawaii, and growing up as a surfer I always wanted to come to Hawaii, and surf over here, and can remember the first day I ever came to Hawaii we were staying in Waikiki, and I ran through the hotel, and straight to the beach just to feel how warm the water was because Kent had told me about it when I was a kid. I couldn’t believe how good it felt, and he was right it was perfect for surfing. I think I was 12 yrs old the first time I came to Hawaii, and I can remember coming out to the North Shore, and seeing Sunset Beach, and The Pipeline, places that I’d dreamed about all my life as a kid. Kent had a good friend named Blah James who was a super heavy guy here on the North Shore in the 60′s, and he lived right there at Val’s Reef at Sunset Beach. He had a girlfriend named Kathy who later became my Hanoi Mother here in Hawaii, because I kept coming back as much as I could as a kid. I’d come for the whole summer, and stay with Kathy here at Rocky Pt. She had a new boyfriend named Kerry who took me surfing to places like Maili Pt, on the Westside. When I was 13 my Mom moved us over to Hawaii for the summer, and we had an apt on Seaside, and The Alawai Canal. I’d get up early every morning, and walk down to Kaisers to surf. I’d met some of the local kids, and we’d keep our surfboards stashed under the stairs at The Reef Hotel right at the beach, nobody would take them, but these guys were the local kids anyway, so they’d most likely find them if there ever got taken anyway. We moved back to Cali, and I’d skate as much as possible, but surfing was my real passion. When I was 15 we lived in Santa Monica, and I’d just finished the 8th grade, My Mom, and I moved back to Hawaii I ended up meeting Kalani Foster, and his brother Marvin, they were both really good surfers, and I ended up going to the same school as them, Wailuea Hi. I was about the only white haired Haloe kid in the school. Having Marvin, and Kalani as my best friends helped me not get beat up. Plus I was known in the skateboard world already as well, but I think the thing that helped most was I could surf pretty good. They had the Haleiwa Sea Spree Contest one year, and Marvin won it, I got 2nd, and Kalani got 3rd, so that kind of helped as well. We used to jump on the bus, and go all the way around the Island to skate at places like Uluwatu, and Wallos. Everyone used to skate, guys like Buttons, Larry Bertlemann, and Derek Ho, just to name a few. In the 9th grade I started skipping school plenty I’d get on the bus ride it to where they’d drop us off then I’d bail out, and hitchhike up to Rory Russels house and either go skate Kammies Drain, or surf wherever it was good. I’d been ditching school for about 2 and a half months, and remember I was at Kamies with Rory when my Mom grabbed me by my hair screaming about how the school finally got a hold of her, and let her know what I’d been doing. After that I pretty much just dropped outta school, it just wasn’t for me anymore, I was more into going back, and forth to Calif for skating, and doing whatever traveling I could do for surfing.

My Mom ended up moving back to the Mainland after about 3 yrs, but I’m really glad I got to be on the North Shore back then because it’s nothing like it used to be nowadays. Back then it was dangerous to surf at certain spots, you couldn’t pull up to Vland like you can today, and just paddle out. Well you could, but you’d most likely get a beating, nowadays they have cell phones with that 911 thing so its changed quite a bit. I’m not sure if its better now, or better then. It’s nice to know that your not going to get beaten up when you go surf, but its also way more crowded, and plenty of people who don’t have a clue to what’s going on in the water.

16. What do you think of how skating has progressed?

The way skating has progressed is amazing. Just like all the other sports have gotten so outta hand it’s crazy sometimes I laugh at all the team sports how they’ve basically stayed the same as they always have been since they started. To me baseball is boring it would be like having the same half pipe contest every week at another spot, it just doesn’t get me amped to watch it like the other sports do like surfing, skating, motocross, and all the fighting sports. I’m glad I got to be involved in skating during the time period that I did except it would have been nice to have made a lil money from what we did. But that’s my fault because I didn’t want to put on their lame Pepsi Cola suit to get paid doing it the way they wanted me to do it. Me, and my friends made it something mommies warned their lil girls to stay away from, we made it Punk Rock, and our whole life was Thrasher from sun up till it got done at night. Nowadays kids are getting paid too much money to be rebels like we were.

17. Not everybody is aware of this, but aside from the skating, you’re a hell of a surfer. When did you start surfing?

I’ve been surfing as long as I’ve been skating, and after the whole skate thing for our turn, as some of the top guys I really focused on surfing, this was the early 80′s and myself, and John Mc Clure pretty much helped the whole aerial thing get going in the surf world.

We used to shoot lots of photos with guys like Steve Sakamoto, and Craig Fineman both have passed away recently, but they were shooting for Surfer Mag, and a Calif mag called Breakout. John and I were in almost every mag for awhile and we were trying all the new moves at the time John was doing all the reverse stuff back then not the air reverse, but the turns breaking his fins free. I’d say I brought the rail grab cutback to the surf world my first pic in a surf mag was, a how do you say, a mute grab under the lip. Well, it was just a left-hand grab on the rail, while doing a slash under the lip. Nobody was doing that stuff back then, and they didn’t even have a name for it. But the rail grab cutback was the move I got the most photos with, and nobody was doing that either, so sorry Taylor Knox, that one was done years before he ever even started doing em, ha-ha, whatever?

Anyway, surfing in Calif was lots of fun in the early 80′s it was still dangerous to travel to places you weren’t a local, but I never really had any problems anywhere, maybe because people knew me from skateboarding, but mainly because I knew how to show respect to everyone especially when your surfing their spot. Surfing was dangerous back then especially in Calif just like it was here in Hawaii. There wasn’t cell phones with the 911 panic #, and people were very territorial about there surf spots. Back in the day you couldn’t drive up to V_Land, and pile outta the car filled with six other guys on longboards, and girl who go out and drop in on everyone. You’d get beat down, and your car wouldn’t drive the same on the way home.

I guess its better now, but there are too many people who don’t have a clue when it comes to showing respect. Everyone thinks they’re the next Kelly Slater, especially here in Hawaii. People come here from wherever, and expect to take over when they paddle out, but they gotta remember they’re not at home, and no matter how high you are on the pecking list at home your on the bottom here in Hawaii. Wait your turn, and don’t over amp, and try to out-paddle everyone, and you should have a good time, but remember lots of us guys have lived here a long time enduring summertime flatness, and have to deal with 10,000 guys from wherever trying to take over every time they surf Rocky Pt. Not gonna happen, anyway surfing should be fun too many people wanna be pro so there not really enjoying it for what it is, and that’s just having fun with your friends, mellow out, and slow down a lil bit.

18. Tell us about your latest venture, EZ Ryder Originalz (http://www.ezroriginalz.com).

Jeff Hartsell, and I re-launched the name brand EZ Ryder which was the skate company that never really happened when Zephyr team broke up, half of the boys went with me, and my step-dad Kent Sherwood, he made all the Zephyr boards anyway. So Alva, Myself, Paul Cullen, Shogo, Wentzle, and a few others went with Kent, and we called our new team EZ Ryder. We entered the Hang Ten World Invitational Contest at the Los Angeles Coliseum, at the time this was a very big event, and probably the biggest skate contest so far. Our team EZ Ryder got a 3rd place overall finish, which was good because our team was small Tony won the Open Men’s Cross Country, and I won the Jr. Men’s Cross Country, and The Freestyle Event. That was probably my best contest result ever. Well, World Champion is good, I guess, but I think it was only that because that’s the name of the contest.

Anyway, EZ Ryder didn’t last long, everyone was scattering around, and EZ Ryder evolved into Z-Flex Skateboards. Alva went, and rode for Logan Earth Ski, and my Z-Flex model was created. My graphic is still being made and sold to this day so it’s probably the oldest graphic that’s still being used, that’s like 36 yrs old or something.

Jeff and I thought EZ Ryder was a good idea to get going again since it had such a short life in the beginning, We started off by recreating the 60′s style Hobie laminated replica, only thing is we made it with Hawaiian Koa wood since we made ‘em here ourselves in Hawaii. We wanted everything to be perfect so we found a roller skate co. that sold us clay wheels, and small trucks the only thing we made modern was the precision ball bearings we just took off the cap to keep that retro look but why go with the old style loose bearings when the new ones work so much better, and are 100 times easier to deal with? At first we thought we might have a problem selling the 50 board run that we made, but we sold out right away, so I think we need to do another run of ‘em. Actually they’re really cool, and pieces of art, the Koa wood is beautiful, and where can you find a 60’s style board in brand new condition? I’d say they’re definitely better for the wall though, but we have test ridden them, and they work, but if you wanna ride a skate I’d suggest riding a modern one over one with clay wheels. Anyway, our product should be available soon.

19. What’s life like for Jay Adams now? Tell us about any part of your present day life you’d like to share with all of us?

Life for me is pretty easy nowadays, I’m on probation for another two years, hopefully, after that I’d like to bail the USA for awhile I’d like to spend some time in Indo, or Mexico, and Aus, I think if I ever get to Aus I’d defect, and never come back. Hawaii is cool, but it’s a trip, and I’m over living, and surfing in a crowd, and dealing with all the egos of people trying to build their young crazy reputations. I wanna just cruise, surf, and skate for fun, and enjoy life a lil bit, I’m gonna be 50 years old in February, I’ve been surfing, and skating since I was four years old, and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon I’d just love to get away from all the crazy hustle, and bustle here on the North Shore, for me surfing is about scoring good surf with just a few friends, and having fun.

20. What is your attitude toward skateboarding right now?

Ha-ha I had to leave ya hanging on that one. Anyway, I’m so blown away by the skateboarding that’s being done right now. Skaters are doing crazier stuff than Evel Knievel was doing on his bike. Flying higher, and going farther, imagine how he feels watching the freestyle moto guys these days. I’m proud that I got to pave down the road these guys are skating down these days.

I still love skateboarding just like I love surfing, I get a good feeling after doing both. If ya ask me what I like better, I’d ask you if you like blondes better than brunettes there both good I guess I’d answer like this if the waves are good I’ll go surf if the waves are bad I’ll go skate. But I appreciate a good day of surfing a lil bit more because all the factors have to come together to make it a really special day. A perfect bowl can always be there 24 hours a day, but a perfect day of surf may only last for a few hours if you’re lucky.

I’m excited about the future, and man-made waves seem like a good idea. I think then you could have a really fair surf contest, imagine every guy getting the same perfect, three waves to surf, then we’d see what the guy’s imagination could take him to. But everyone would have an equal chance at doing what they can do that’s one of the problems with pro surfing, not every guy gets the good waves to rip on.

It’s great that guys are actually making money now, but I also see lots of kids with only money signs in their eyes. Kids need to enjoy surfing and skating for what it is and for me that’s a fun lifestyle that’s about being healthy enough to go out, and do it. Have fun, meet people from all over the world, and share what you know with them.

I owe my whole life to surfing, and skateboarding, and without it I’d probably be someone completely different. Now that I’m older, and the daredevil days are over I actually enjoy it more. There’s nothing to prove anymore so it’s all about just being out there, and being a part of it. I’ve seen lots of guys who have a hard time stepping down, and letting the next guys have their time to shine. I’d say you’re really lucky if you get a turn to be one of the better guys doing what you do whether it be surfing, skating, riding motor bikes, or whatever, but nobody’s turn lasts forever so enjoy it while you can, and never let your ego turn you into something ugly. I’ve been pretty lucky to have been able to make a lil money from it as long as I have, and I’m very grateful for that. God is in control of everything. He lets us endure. I’m so happy that’s He’s opened my heart to know He’s for real, and believe His word is true. Actually I know I’m still alive, and He’s let me survive all the crazy things I’ve gone through so far just so I can share Him with others, and let them see the changes only He can do to a person like He has with me. Thanks for letting me share a lil of it with ya all aloha In Christ por vida.

Frank Agnew, Jonathan Anastas, Phil Anselmo, George Anthony, Mark Arm, Jack Grisham, and more
American Hardcore: The History of American Punk Rock 1980-1986
February 20, 2007 – Sony Pictures
Directed by: Paul Rachman

Over the years I have seen many, many “punk films.” The bulk of them are throw-away. Cheap junk created to make a buck. Or if they’re not cheaply done, there is absolutely no way in which to relate to them. They just don’t seem to hit on a piece of the scene that I remember, that is until American Hardcore came out. Prior to this, I thought the best movie about the genre was The Filth and The Fury, but I think American Hardcore sneaks into first place.

Based on Steven Blush’s book American Hardcore: A Tribal History, Paul Rachman’s documentary chronicles the underground hardcore punk years from 1980 to 1986 (hence the title). Interviews, and rare live footage from artists such as TSOL, Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, and SS Decontrol.

The history of hardcore –the tougher, faster, and more politically minded stepchild of the 1970’s punk movement that arose in the 1980’s is examined in detail in Rachman’s documentary. Rachman’s cameras careen across the United States to trace the movement’s beginnings in cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York, and interview the musicians that helped shape its sound and impact, including Jack Grisham, Henry Rollins, Greg Ginn (in a surprise interview), H.R., Ian MacKaye, and many others.

Hardcore’s violent reaction to the Reagan administration, and the mindset of middle-class America is also detailed in performance footage clips, and flyer reproductions, which do much to dismiss the popular opinion of hardcore as nothing more than mindless rebellion. Some fans may find the omission of certain bands a considerable oversight (The Misfits, and the Dead Kennedy’s are only mentioned in passing), but for most devotees, American Hardcore will be vital and essential viewing.

The DVD contains deleted scenes, bonus performances, commentary by Rachman and writer Steven Blush, and a gallery of photos from photographer Edward Colver, who covered the hardcore scene in detail. These extras are a movie unto themselves. Great stuff, the clips of Lisa Fancher add a bit more legitimacy to the film.

If you don’t have it, go buy it.

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

Currently:
Reading: Another Life by Andrew Vachss
Listening: Symbol Six – Monsters 11
Watching: Elf Directed by Jon Favreau

Free & legal download of the week: Simpletones – I Like Drugs

Symbol Six
Monster 11
Released: June 2010 (Recorded in April of 2010)
Produced by Jimmy Sloan;
New King Sound Studios, Hollywood, CA
Symbol Six Music (www.symbolsix.com)

Eric Leach – Vocals
Donny Brook – Bass
Phil George – Drums
Taz Rudd – Lead Guitar
Mark Conway – Rhythm Guitar

1. Napalm Love
2. Go
3. Cannonball Birthday Boy
4. Dog Days
5. Death Seed
6. Shadows
7. Concrete Garden
8. Sticks N’ Stones
9. No Shelter
10. Slave
11. Long Way Home

What do you get when you take five guys from L.A.’s original hardcore scene, and rip them out of the clubs (Godzilla’s, Cuckoo’s Nest, etc.), and let them simmer in a crock-pot of music for the next thirty years. Take them out (all original members) give them their instruments, and throw them right back into the L.A. clubs to finish what they started.

You get an incredible cross of original Symbol Six, a pinch of Nirvana, and maybe a table spoon of Guns ‘N Roses, and all this stirred together gives you some of the purest street rock since . . . shit, I don’t know when.

It’s great to see these guys back, guys that have absolutely nothing to prove, a band that was around when the music was still dangerous. They were fifteen years old, and playing at places like the Cuckoo’s Nest, where on any given night who knows who would end beat up by cowboys, police, or any numbers of bouncers or lunk-heads inside.

The music on this album is strong, on one track you can feel the intensity of the original hardcore music, on others you can feel the dirty vibe that was there on the original Guns ‘N Roses album. Not a rip-off since these guys were around before Guns were a band.

An old high school friend of the guys from Symbol Six, Jimmy Sloan, produced the album. Some of Sloan’s credits include albums produced for: Fishbone, Kenny Wayne Sheppard, Phranc, Rhino Bucket, The Slumlords, and The Hangmen. Sloan also engineered albums for the likes of: The Offspring, weezer, and Busta Rhymes.

Symbol Six was born in 1980 out of the ashes of hardcore punk bands, Der Stab; Ohio’s Necros; and garage punk band, Gaudy Trash. They represented the change that the Los Angeles punk scene was going through as the old Hollywood-Masque scene was fading away and a new sound was coming from the beaches, the Inland Empire, and from Orange County. Symbol Six took their classic 2-guitar assault sound with big hooks to audiences all over Southern CA.

Symbol Six began playing with future legends: Social Distortion, Red Cross, Adolescents, T.S.O.L., Youth Brigade, CH3, Detours, 45 Grave and Agent Orange, just to name a few. The Los Angeles music scene was extreme, dangerous and like no other. Symbol Six was there, square in the middle of it all, kicking ass, and taking names. By late 1981 the band recorded their legendary debut 5-song EP “Symbol Six” on Posh Boy records. Along with worldwide record distribution, and radio play, Symbol Six was given heavy rotation on L.A.’s KROQ by the legendary Rodney Bingenhiemer. Symbol Six had arrived at upper tier status, and were now fast becoming one of the best bands on the scene, and all by the age of 15.

Today, Symbol Six is back and they bring to you the highly anticipated, all new, full-strength album, “Monsters 11”. Expect nothing less from Symbol Six as they kick ass, take names, and energize the world.

If you haven’t already heard this, buy it, and give it a listen!

Rating: **** * four out of five stars

Currently:
Reading: Ham On Rye by Charles Bukowski
Listening: Symbol Six – Monsters 11
Watching: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Directed by Adam McKay

Free & legal download of the week: Bad Religion – Against The Grain

Bauhaus
Bela Lugosi’s Dead 45
August 1979 – Small Wonder Records

Peter Murphy – Vocals
Daniel Ash – Guitar
David J – Bass
Kevin Haskins – Drums

01 – Bela Lugosi’s Dead
02 – Boys

I first heard about the Bauhaus in 1981. The Los Angeles punk scene was splitting up around this time, sort of splitting into separate genres. Basic punk was bands like Mau Mau’s, and a couple of the groups from the first Decline movie, then you had Hardcore where you had most of my favorite bands like Bad Religion, Black Flag and dozens of others. After that a death-rock scene started, we didn’t call it Goth back then, the death-rock scene in L.A. started around the time T.S.O.L. put out Dance With Me (some of you may dispute this, but this is how I remember it), and the scene suddenly had a truckload of groups, such as Christian Death, 45 Grave, Castration Squad, and a few more. And then around the same time, psychedelic punk started with Redd Kross, Salvation Army (later 3 O’ Clock), The Bangs (later the Bangles), and a few others. It was around this time that a girl (Stephanie C.) from school told me about the Bauhaus. I was a huge T.S.O.L. fan, and she was telling me that a lot of these death-rock bands were biting stuff from The Damned, and Bauhaus, so when I put some money together from my McDonalds job I picked up the only vinyl of theirs I could find at Moby Disc.

On the first play I thought something was wrong with the single, I’m waiting two to three minutes before the guy starts singing, and then they go on for about nine minutes. I was used to songs that ended by the two-minute mark. But the craziest thing happened, after the second listening the song is imbedded in your brain.

Every few years or so, I still put it on. While I still treasure the Dance With Me album more, Bauhaus were a pretty good band. Their version of Ziggy Stardust is a damn good cover.

The song was written as if Bela Lugosi’s was a vampire. Lugosi was, in fact, buried in his Dracula cape, an event shown in the film Ed Wood:

“White on white translucent black capes.
Back on the rack.
Bela Lugosi’s dead.
The bats have left the bell tower.
The victims have been bled.
Red velvet lines.
The black box.

Bela Lugosi’s dead.
Bela Lugosi’s dead.
Undead, undead, undead.
Undead, undead, undead.
Oh Bela…
Undead, undead, undead…”

More than thirteen different bands including The Buzzcocks, Godhead, and Poison Idea have covered Bela Lugosi’s Dead.

Bauhaus, Originally called Bauhaus 1919 after the German art movement; by 1979, they had dropped the 1919 from their name, formed in 1978 in Northampton, England. Guitarist/vocalist Daniel Ash, bassist/vocalist David J, and drummer Kevin Haskins had played together in a band called the Craze, before forming Bauhaus with vocalist Peter Murphy.

In August of 1979, they released their debut single, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” on the independent label Small Wonder. Three months later, the group signed with Beggars Banquet’s subsidiary label, 4AD. The group’s second single, “Dark Entries,” was released in January 1980. Following their first European tour, they released their third single, “Terror Couple Kill Colonel,” which became a hit on the indie charts.

After their first American tour in September 1980, the group released a cover of T. Rex’s Telegram Sam. A month later they released their debut album, In the Flat Field, which reached number one on the independent charts, and number 72 on the pop charts.

The success of In The Flat Field led to their first hits on the pop charts; both “Kick in the Eye” and “The Passion of Lovers” made the U.K. Top 60 in 1981. In October, they released their second album, Mask, which revealed a more ambitious musical direction, which featured elements of metal, and electronic, that made the music more accessible, without abandoning the dark core of their music. Mask was a commercial success, peaking at number 30 on the U.K. charts.

In March 1982, Bauhaus released the EP Searching for Satori, which reached number 45 on the UK charts; another successful single, Spirit, followed in the summer. That fall, the group had a number 15 hit with their version of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. The success of the single propelled their third album, The Sky’s Gone Out, to number four on the album charts.

Murphy contracted pneumonia at the beginning of 1983, which prevented him from participating in the recording sessions for Bauhaus’ fourth album, Burning From the Inside. The album featured substantial contributions from Ash and J, who both pursued more personal directions. After Murphy recovered, the band toured Japan, and then returned to the U.K. to promote the summer release of Burning From the Inside. The album was another hit for them, hitting at number 13.

If you haven’t already heard this song a million times, give it a listen!

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

Currently:
Reading: Ham On Rye by Charles Bukowski
Listening: Symbol Six – Monsters 11
Watching: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Directed by Adam McKay

Free & legal download of the week: Bad Religion – Against The Grain

The Briggs
Come All You Madmen
Released: June 17, 2008
SideOneDummy Records
Produced by Joe Gittleman

Jason LaRocca – guitar, vocals
Joey LaRocca – vocals, guitar
Ryan Roberts – bass guitar
Chris X – drums

1. Madmen – 2:31
2. This Is L.A. – 3:40
3. Bloody Minds – 4:06
4. What Was I Thinking? – 2:46
5. Charge Into The Sun – 3:14
6. Not Alone – 3:43
7. Ship of Fools – 2:58
8. This Ship Is Now Sinking – 3:31
9. Oblivion – 4:03
10. Until Someone Gets Hurt – 3:02
11. Final Words – 3:38
12. Molly – 4:30

I got to see these guys live in June of 2010, and they were fantastic. I’ve listened to some of their older albums, and I wasn’t quite as impressed. But with this album, they knocked it out of the park.

There is a feel to this, that . . . they’re not American. Sounds odd, but there is a Irish feel to them, that may be unintentional. Either way, great album. All of these songs come off much better live. Give these guys a listen.

The standout cuts are What Was I Thinking?, Not Alone, and This Is L.A.

If you can find it, buy it!

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

On to the story . . .

With the Holidays barely a memory, I’ve been thinking about my Dad a lot. As I might have said in the past, my Dad, and I had an argument on the phone one night, and it resulted in us not talking for two or three years.

Unfortunately, that’s been a family favorite since time began. Get mad at someone for something they may, or may not have done, and then freeze them out for years at a time. This tried, and true method has been used effectively on both sides of my family.

Freeze them out until they come crawling back on their hands and knees. While you freeze them out, make sure take every opportunity to bad-mouth them to everyone you know, friends, other family members, shit, even their own tattoo artists.

While this was going on with my Dad, I was also being banned from seeing, and talking to my Mom, and Brother. After a couple of years of this I missed my Dad.

I’ve gone through this crap with my Mom, and Brother many times, and as of this writing I’m going through it again. But for some reason it really started to bother me with my Dad. I never saw him as being this petty.

So after a shit-load of soul searching, and talking to myself, I decided I was just going to go to his house, and to see what would happen. No calls, no letters, just pop-up. If he didn’t want me there, he could tell me to take a hike, or hit me.

But, he opened the door, and said “Hey Mike, come on in. I hear you got a baby on the way.” I came in, and we talked for a few hours, and made plans for lunch the next week.

This was definitely a case of us both sulking for a bit, and then time just getting away from us. No hatred or petty bullshit. We were mad, and then once we saw each other we put it behind us.

It’s a good thing too, because inside of a year to a year, and a half my Father would pass away.

In this time period we shared a lot of conversations, music, and lunches. One of my favorite stories is this:

My Dad and I ate lunch at a little Mexican restaurant called Vic’s on Tampa, and Sherman Way in Reseda. I’m not sure if the place is still there. My Dad, and I probably hold the record for napkins used in a single meal. Pass by our table, and you see dozens of balled up napkins all over the table.

Anyway, we’d eat lunch there at least once a month, and then grab a cup of coffee somewhere, and hit a bookstore, or record shop.

This particular afternoon we were going to kill two birds with one stone. We headed down Tampa towards Boarders bookstore, read, and drink coffee, and shoot the shit.

We hop in the car going north on Tampa, and for those of you who know the Valley, we get to the Pony Rides (near Parthenia), and there is a crosswalk there with no light. Dad is busy chatting away, and doesn’t notice the crosswalk until the last second. He brakes two-feet before these two twenty-something guys. I don’t say anything, because I can tell he’s a bit shaken. But the guys crossing the street weren’t so smart. One guy throws his hands in the air, while mad-dogging my Dad, and says “What the fuck, man?” The other guy does the finger.

My Dad was a tough ole guy, and wasn’t going to take any shit, so he jumps out of the car, and says: “What did you say?”

These two clowns decided to be tough, and surround my Dad. My Dad was 58 or 59 at this time. Through all of this, no one saw my fat-ass in the car. As the two started to get close to my Dad, I shot out of the car, and said something melodramatic like “You fuckers are dead.”

One of the guys started to bolt, I reached out to grab him, but he was moving so fast all I could do was give him a kick in the ass.

So, I turned to the other guy, who was now the target of my anger, and said “You think you’re a bad-ass, trying to fight an old-man. You fucking punk.” He turns to face me as I have my hand around his throat, with his voice shaking, and says “I was scared, man, I thought he was going to run me over.”

“Bullshit” I say, “scared people don’t flip people off, or curse people out.” I then lifted this guy off the ground, and tossed him onto the hood of my Dad’s car.

Then as I have my arm cocked back, and ready to put a little dent in this guy’s nose, my Dad honks the horn, and yells at me to get into the car.

I yank the guy off of the hood, and toss him into the street. He scampers away like a crab.

I get in the car, buckle up, and get ready to ask my Dad how he is? Did he get hurt, etc? He unloads: what the hell are you doing, you have to control your temper, were trying to kill that guy, etc.

My jaw dropped a bit. All I could get out was “No sir.” But in the back of my mind I was yelling: I just saved your ass. I did what any Son would do if they saw two guys coming to whip ass on one of their parents. But I didn’t say that, I just nodded, and let him chew me out, and tell me about my temper.

I told you all that to tell you all this:

In early 2004 I was given a flyer to a Hell’s Angels show, by one of my delinquent friends. I tell my Dad about it, as we were both bike fans. Jesse James was going to be showing a couple of his bikes there, and Chuck Zito, of the New York chapter was going to stop by. So, Dad, and I thought it would be a cool thing.

We get to the place in Woodland Hills, find parking, and start walking around. My eyes light up when I come across a few parts built by Arlen Ness. Met him, with my Dad in the ‘70’s, and he’s been a bit of a hero ever since.

Anyway, after we walk around for a while, we sit down for a minute, and my Dad turns to me, and says: “Look, I’m not feeling real well today, so if you start some shit today, I won’t be able to back you up.”

My jaw drops, for a number of reasons. First, I didn’t start the shit we were in last time. He almost mowed people down, and then jumped out of the car. Second, if I was feeling feisty, and wanted to start shit, would I be so bold as to start shit at a Hell’s Angels convention?

So, I was a good Son, and said: “No problem. If I decide to take on the Angels, I’ll leave you out of it.” He gave me a look, then said: “Yeah, let’s go to lunch.”

As we head towards Tampa, on our way to Vic’s, I give my Dad a glance. As crazy as he seemed sometimes, I love him. Never in a million years did I know on that day that I would be delivering his eulogy in a year.

Miss that guy everyday.

Currently:
Reading: Flood by Andrew Vachss
Listening: The Briggs – Come All You Madmen
Watching: Curious George Directed by Matthew O’Callaghan

Free & legal download of the week: T.S.O.L. – Peace Thru Power

Bad Religion
How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
11/30/82 – Epitaph Records
Producers Bad Religion

Greg Graffin – vocals
Brett Gurewitz – guitars
Jay Bentley – bass
Pete Finestone – drums on tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 13
Jay Ziskrout – drums on tracks 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 14
Greg Hetson – guitar solo on track 3

01 – We’re Only Gonna Die (Greg Graffin) 2:12
02 – Latch Key Kids (Greg Graffin) 1:38
03 – Part III (Jay Bentley) 1:48
04 – Faith in God (Greg Graffin) 1:50
05 – Fuck Armageddon… This is Hell (Greg Graffin) 2:48
06 – Pity (Greg Graffin) 2:00
07 – In the Night (Brett Gurewitz) 3:25
08 – Damned to Be Free (Greg Graffin) 1:58
09 – White Trash (2nd Generation) (Brett Gurewitz) 2:21
10 – American Dream (Brett Gurewitz) 1:41
11 – Eat Your Dog (Greg Graffin) 1:04
12 – Voice of God is Government (Jay Bentley) 2:54
13 – Oligarchy (Brett Gurewitz) 1:01
14 – Doing Time (Brett Gurewitz) 3:00

I remember when I first heard about this album, I was hanging out with my Uncle Rick at his work, Fallbrook Mann Theatre, one Saturday afternoon. He had come to work with his hair bleached-blonde, and one of his coworkers, a guy named Jay was asking Rick how he got his hair so blonde. So, Rick tells him “it’s simple, I bleached it.”

Well, I came back the next day, Sunday, and I’m hanging out in my Uncle’s office, and he tells me that this coming Tuesday, Bad Religion’s new record was going to be out. My Uncle was friends with some of the the guys from LADS, and the guys from Bad Religion. If memory serves, he went to El Camino with Jay Ziskrout, and Jay Bentley for a year or so.

Anyway, in the middle of this conversation, my Uncle’s coworker, Jay comes walking in, and he starts complaining about bleaching his hair. We both look up and Jay’s forehead, around his ears, and the back of neck were bright red, like he had been burned in a fire. Turns out Jay had taken my Uncle’s advice and “bleached” his hair – but with Clorox Bleach. He was in pain, and the bleach had only lightened the hair a bit. All pain, and no gain.

I think I must have had the first side of this album on my turntable all the time. Because when I re-purchased this LP a while back, I knew all the words to all the songs on the first side, and not as many on side two.

I am a fan of Graffin’s lyrics. Graffin always had a way of delivering somewhat gloomy lyrics in a way that made you pay attention, and hold your interest.

We’re Only Gonna Die
“Early man walked away as modern man took control.
Their minds weren’t all the same; to conquer was his big goal,
So he built his great empire and slaughtered his own kind,
Then he died a confused man, killed himself with his own mind.
Go!
We’re only gonna die from our own arrogance.”

How Could Hell Be Any Worse? is Bad Religion’s first full-length album, it was released in 1982. It was financed by a $1,000 loan by guitarist Brett Gurewitz’s father. Its “success” surprised the band when it sold 10,000 copies in under a year.

Part III
“The final page is written in the books of history,
As man unleashed his deadly bombs and sent troops overseas
To fight a war which can’t be won and kills the human race,
A show of greed and ignorance, man’s quest for dominance.
They say when a mistake is made, a lesson can be learned.
But this time, there’s no turning back, the hate engulfs the world.
A million lives are lost each day, a city slowly burns,
A mother holds her dying child, but no one is concerned!”

I always dug this song, the crazy instrumental introduction, and the vocals are great:

Fuck Armageddon… This Is Hell
“There’s people out there that say I’m no good,
‘Cause I don’t believe the things that I should,
And when the final conflict comes, I’ll be so sorry I did wrong,
And hope and pray that our lord god will think I’m good.
Countries manufacture bombs and guns
To kill your brother for something that he hasn’t even done.
Smog is ruining my lungs, but they aren’t sorry they’ve done wrong;
They hide behind their lies that they’re helping everyone.
In the end the good will go to heaven up above,
The bad will perish in the depths of hell.
How can hell be any worse when life alone is such a curse?
Fuck Armageddon, this is hell
We’re living in the denoument of the battle’s gripping awe,
So what’s the use of being good to satisfy them all?
How could hell be any worse?
Life alone is such a curse!
Fuck Armageddon, this is hell”

Bad Religion’s original drummer, Ziskrout, co-founded the band with Gurewitz in 1980. He performed on the EP, the Public Service compilation, and eight tracks on How Could Hell Be Any Worse? Rumor has it he decided to leave the band with only half of the songs recorded for How Could Hell Be Any Worse? due to a misunderstanding regarding the band’s new press photos (Rumor has it). Bad Religion found another drummer, Ziskrout’s drum-tech, Pete Finestone, who took over drums to complete the album.

Shortly after leaving the band, he moved to New York, where he worked for many years with Clive Davis as Vice President of Album Promotion for Arista Records. Later he returned to his punk roots by joining Epitaph Records in Amsterdam, where he served as Managing Director of Epitaph Europe/International working to break such artists as The Offspring, and Rancid. After Epitaph Records, Ziskrout returned to New York to launch two Latin Alternative music businesses, Grita! Records and LatinoVision.com. From 2001 to 2004, he served as COO of The CMJ Network.

Ziskrout currently works as CEO of the music, marketing, and technology consulting company, Sonicvista, based in Vermont.

Finestone composed the soundtrack fro the soon to be released film The Still Life, along with members of Skid Row, and Guns ‘N Roses. The film also has a cameo from Jonathan Davis of Korn.

How Could Hell Be Any Worse? was released on CD as part of the 1991 compilation, ’80-’85, and was remastered for the 2004 re-issue of this album.

If you don’t own it go and buy it, stop reading! Go buy it.

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

Currently:
Reading: Flood by Andrew Vachss
Listening: The Briggs – Come All You Madmen
Watching: Curious George Directed by Matthew O’Callaghan

Free & legal download of the week: T.S.O.L. – Peace Thru Power

Top 10 Punk Personalities

10. Sid Vicious/Lee Ving
Both obtained much of their fame through shock value, but always gave good camera time.

9. Eugene
“Punk rock, that’s stupid.” Need I say more?

8. GG Allin
Despite being a vile piece of crap, he did manage to release a few decent tracks, and became more talked about after he died.

7. Ian Mackaye
I think his “creation” of the straight edge movement, and starting Dischord records solidified his place in the annals of punk rock. But Ian is pretty knowledgeable, and a good speaker – so he ends up with a good story whenever someone needs a talking head.

6. Glenn Danzig
Great singer, great front man, and more people than not, feared this guy. When the You Tube video popped up of him getting hit, this seemed to show people that he just might be a human after all. We don’t need holy water, and silver bullets after all.

5. HR
Love him or hate him, he has been the spokesperson for DC Hardcore for close to 30 years. Over the last couple of decades Bad Brains have become these almost god-like creatures. Let HR talk long enough, and he’s bound to shoot himself in the foot.

4. John Macias
It’s rare that someone becomes legendary while they’re alive, but John did just that. Every month, throughout most of the 80’s, I would hear dozens of stories about John. Every thing from him fighting bouncers to him destroying Tokyo.

3. Jack Grisham
Great singer, great front man. And great stories. This is why everyone wants to recruit him for their documentaries.

2. Henry Rollins
Love him or hate him, he has been the spokesperson for L.A. Hardcore for close to 30 years. People fill the web with hateful shit about him, then the other half of these people debate whether or not he’d win a fight with Glenn Danzig or John Macias. Either way, he’s articulate, interesting to listen to, and pretty entertaining.

1. Johnny Rotten
What more can be said about this? No matter the topic Mr. Rotten has an opinion, and the responses usually ooze with distain.

Currently:
Reading: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Listening: The Briggs – Come All You Madmen
Watching: Blades of Glory Directed by Josh Gordon

Free & legal download of the week: T.S.O.L. – 80 Times 1980 demo version

Cherry Bombz, Poison
Country Club, Reseda, CA
April 11, 1986
Admission $8.00
Time: 8:00 PM

Anita Chellemah – vocals
Andy McCoy – guitar
Nasty Suicide – guitar
Dave Tregunna – bass
Terry Chimes – drums

House of Ecstasy
100 Degrees
Pin Up Boy
Oil and Gasoline
Sweet Pretending
Comin’ Down Slow
Taxi Driver
Life’s Been Hard
Good Lovin’
Ain’t What You Do
Traveling Band
Hot Girls (Loverboy cover)

Now, don’t freak out! I’m not giving you a hair-metal review. My intentions for seeing these bands come from a very punk state of mind. I had a chance to see the ex-members of Sham 69, The Clash, Generation X, Lord Of The New Church (not so much them), and Hanoi Rocks. Bare with me . . . here’s the story:

I remember when I first heard about Hanoi Rocks it was in 1984 or early 1985. I was in my post-punk phase, hair grown out a bit, and clothes, kind of looked like I robbed a gypsy (or rolled a bum). Anyway, I was out on a date with a punk girl from Pasadena named Meredith. And she decides we should go downtown (Los Angeles) to a place called the Fetish Club. I’ve been to a lot of rat holes in my time, but this place really was one of the worst places I had ever been to. We paid to get in, and I excuse myself to go to the bathroom, I go in, and the bathroom has no doors, and the stalls have no doors. Basically, everybody in the club can see you. So, I’m standing at the urinal doing my business when I hear “Oh my god, look at these sexy men!” I turn my head to see a six foot 4 inch black transvestite in a blonde wig. He . . . or she comes running over to get a better look so I turn as much as I can, and when he gets too close I stick my leg out to keep him at bay and he says “I like them feisty.” I finish up and leave the bathroom for the night. I meet up with my date, and explain what I just went through, and she just laughed and said “this is the Fetish club.”

So, we hang out a bit, and discover one of the rooms in this place is a rundown bar with a wall-sized video screen that was showing all the stuff that I normally didn’t see on MTV, like Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, Bauhaus (you know, “I’m dead, I’m dead”), and Hanoi Rocks. The first video on was Hanoi’s cover of Up Around The Bend, corny video, but cool song. I remember saying to the girl I was with “I wish I had seen these guys live.”

Another weird part of the evening is when we entered the “video room” is over in the corner was a guy I went to High School with, I didn’t know his name, dressed in a Misfits type style complete with the “devil-lock.” Which is fine, but in school I remembered in Polo shirts. I did a double take when I saw him, and he ends up giving me the casual “what’s up” nod. How cool?!

After an hour, or so we stepped outside to smoke a clove or two, in the 1980’s this was still cool, and a block or two down I heard what sounded like a brick go through a window, then an alarm going off. About three minutes later a black guy comes running up to me with an armful of dresses, and asked me if I “wanted to buy a dress for my woman?” I thanked him for his great offer, but I passed.

A year or two later my friend Chris, from around the block, comes by to tell me that some of the remaining members of Hanoi are going to be playing up the street from us, did I want to go? Definitely. Somehow, Poison was headlining the show, they didn’t have an album out at the time, but they had a decent following in Los Angeles. Cherry Bombz had their album out, and were reasonably established – but they opened. Anyway, we get there and the place is full of the type of people you would see in Decline of Western Civilization II. After sitting through an opening act that I can’t remember I push my way up front to check out the Hanoi boys, this is where things get bad, I’m amped and the band comes out and . . . nothing. No energy, no charisma, nothing. The guys just stood there doing Pete Townshend poses. Most of the show there was no movement, then at the end of their set the did Loverboy’s Hot Girls In Love, and then they exploded, jumping all around, running from one part of the stage to the other, fricking bizarre. I was heart broken; I figured with this line-up how could you go wrong?

A bit later Poison came on, and did a set that was much better when Sweet did it fifteen years earlier. Spraying silly string into the audience, crazy stuff. For their encore they did a song called Out-Fuckin-Rageous, it was about the best thing that they did, it’s never been released. I don’t have to review Poison, history has written their review.

When Andy McCoy was 13 years old, he met Pete Malmi. Together they formed the first ever Finnish punk band: Briard, and from 1977 to 1979, they released a couple of singles (“I Really Hate You / I Want You Back” was the first), and performed numerous shows. The line-up of the band varied during the years, and Briard broke-up in 1979.

In 1979, McCoy joined Hanoi Rocks, in his native Finland, along with Michael Monroe, and guitarist Nasty Suicide. Hanoi would continue on until 1985, releasing five studio albums including, “Two Steps from the Move.” The band had gained a large following becoming their country’s biggest rock band. After their drummer Razzle died in a car accident, with Motley Crue’s Vince Neil, the band soon dissolved.

After Hanoi’s 1985 split-up, McCoy formed the Cherry Bombz, which featured several notable artists such as former band mate Nasty Suicide, Anita Chelman (real name Mahaderlan), of Toto Coelo, and former ‘Legs and Co.’ dancer, Dave Tregunna of Sham 69, and Lords of the New Church as well as Terry Chimes drummer from punk legends The Clash, Generation X, and for one year Hanoi Rocks.

A video of one of their live performances was released; it was called Cherry Bombz – Live From London. The footage was shot during a concert at the world famous Marquee club in September 1986; the music is from the band’s only album, Coming Down Slow.

Cherry Bombz received a great deal of foreign television exposure, with Loverboy’s Hot Girls In Love single, and toured hard, but to no real success. The band split with Chellemah going on to a TV career. McCoy, ultimately, joined the revamped version of Hanoi Rocks back in 2002, and has been with them ever since. Terry Chimes also had a stint with Black Sabbath in the late 1980’s. Dave Tregunna would join Kill City Dragons, and in 1993, Slumlords. Nasty Suicide is studying to become a professor in Department of Pharmacology at the University of Helsinki.

Rating: ** *** Two out of five stars

Currently:
Reading: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Listening: The Briggs – Come All You Madmen
Watching: Blades of Glory Directed by Josh Gordon

Free & legal download of the week: T.S.O.L. – 80 Times 1980 demo version

Dying Scene, a stupid name, and a piece of shit website.

How do I know? Well, let me break this down. Back on April 29, 2010, Dying Scene posted an ad for a Punk News, and Review Editor.

Now, those of you who know me, know I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew. I don’t have time to be a Punk News, and Review Editor. Between family, job, writing my Mike Check column, and fighting crime under the cover of darkness – I’m busy. But I dig being involved with anything punk related. Be it writing about it, listening to it, and socializing with fellow punks from the old days.

So, like a bonehead I emailed them, and asked for details. The ad made it seem like the position was in New York, so I checked on that. A guy named Dave (he writes on the site as Johnny X), wrote me back, giving me his phone number, and had this to say:

“Hey Mike, I dig your column. Being in LA is not a problem – I run the site and I’m in LA. Give me a call when you get a chance and I can fill you in a bit more on our site and what we’re looking for. I’m around all weekend.

Talk soon.

Dave
Dying Scene
310-XXX-XXXX”

So far, so good right? I write him back, and tell him, it’s going to be a few days before I can call him, and I’ve been running ragged with my Son. He writes back and says:

“No worries, Mike. Give me a call whenever you get a chance. Dave”

Cool. I finally touch base with him, we talk for a few, and I explain my background, what I’ve written.

Then he explains that the position pays nothing, but demands at least four hours a day. I’m bummed, there’s no way I can do this. I leave the house everyday at 6:30 am (5:30 every other Wednesday), and return at 6:00 pm, and try to get in time with my family, I can’t tack on another four hours. So, I apologize, and tell him this, he says no problem, suggests I write some reviews, and then, maybe, we can create a column similar to what I write at Strange Reaction.

Again, it seems cool. Again, those of you who know me know that I don’t write the typical Robert Hilburn review. All my punk music is memories, it’s linked to where I was, who I was around when I listened to a certain band or album. Misfits Walk Among Us, I obtained it through a trade with a guy named Al for a denim jacket. It was engineered by Chris D. of the Flesh Eaters, who I hung out with at the Valley West in Tarzana in 1981 (or was it 1982?) You see, anyone can listen to the album, and make their own judgment, but for me . . . each album goes way beyond the music. The albums are a part of the fabric of my life. So, good review, bad review – it’s irrelevant. It’s like saying “your life sucks.” How do you gauge that?

So that I wouldn’t bog myself down, I decided to write a few reviews, and hold off on trying to create a new column. I’m given a few instructions, first anything I review – be prepared to give any, and all albums you review four or five stars. I ask why (as I have slagged many, many albums in the past), Dave says if we don’t have anything nice to say, we don’t review it. OK . . . I guess. And secondly, make sure the band is already mentioned on the site, and has a bio. The second thing isn’t a huge problem. My taste in bands isn’t horribly obscure.

So, I get down to writing. I write a brief review on one of my favorite bands, Everybody Out. They have a very brief, and very outdated bio on the site, . . . at least they’re mentioned, and I give the album five stars. Everything’s in order. I email the review to Dave/Johnny X. I hear nothing for a couple of weeks. I get an email saying that I need to set-up an account with Dying Scene, and then upload my reviews, it will be proofed, and then posted. Fine, I type in all my information, and another week goes by, no account confirmation, no password. I email Dave again. He says he will get one of the techs on it. Finally, I get the article up. On May 14, 2010, the review is simultaneously on their site, and their Facebook page. Not much in the way of comments, but that’s OK.

So, I get to work on the second article I wrote about the Dear Landlords album Dream Homes. May 20, 2010, the review is posted, on their website, and their Facebook page. I reviewed it like I do all my reviews, who referred it me, if it was good driving music, etc. So, at the bottom of the review I mention I dig working out to it, that’s it. Dave or Johnny X leaves an anonymous comment on the article, saying something about being glad that I work out, and I’m “jacked,” but I should actually “review” the album. I wrote the Administrator on their Facebook page, and asked if it was possible for someone to leave an anonymous comment, he replied that no it’s not possible, only someone who works there, and that has admin access can do it.

So, I replied back to “anonymous” to read the whole review, and stop being a douche. He replied back that it is my job to entice him, and make want to purchase the album.

Here’s where I get annoyed. In this day, and age I don’t need reviews. A friend tells me he likes a group, I can stream their stuff on the band’s website, their My Space page, on You Tube, and then if I chose to be a cheap-ass download it free off of dozens of blog sites (but not this one). So, what I’m saying is: what’s a review going to do? Who gives a shit about a review unless it matches your own opinion?

So, I logged onto their admin, and marked Johnny’s email as spam, and his comments were gone. I wrote Dave, and asked him why his “staff” was writing ignorant (no offense to those that are truly ignorant) shit on my review. He said: “ It’s nobody working for DS, it’s just regular users and they talk a lot of shit – you should see the comments on the Against Me! review. Pay them no mind.”

Right.

So, I figure the colostomy bag just needed to vent. I let it go, then wrote a review on Cobra Skulls American Rubicon album. If you notice, I’m doing reviews on very nice, calm, non-hardcore stuff. I was trying to stay within the boundaries of their “obtainable” music. May 25, 2010, the review is posted, on their website, and their Facebook page. It received four comments, and four “thumbs-up.” Not bad.

So, with all the hassle getting the articles posted, the “staff’s” comments, I figured I weathered the worst, and I go on writing. So, I wrote another review of a band called Whatever, they are out of Ohio, and record for, the previously interviewed, Dr. Strange Records. I wrote this article on May 26, 2010. But I notice that neither Whatever, or Dr. Strange Records are listed on the site, so I write Dave: “There was a band that I was looking to write about called Whatever, they are on Dr. Strange Records. But I don’t see a listing for Whatever or Dr. Strange. Can I still submit?”

He writes me back: “Yeah, Mike. Go ahead and submit it and I’ll create profiles for both. Don’t check any boxes or anything else on the Edit Post page. Just save as a draft and I’ll take care of the rest. Give me a call later tonight and we can go over some admin stuff.”

Sounds good right?

June 1, 2010, come around and my review never pops up, so I write Johnny X again: “My review of Whatever is still in the queue.”

I get a, somewhat, vague and/or distant reply: “Thanks, Mike. I see it in there, just holding off on publishing it until a slower news day.”

Me being stupid here take him at his word, and figure it will pop up soon, so I start writing again. On Wednesday, June 2, 2010, I write a glowing review of Rancid’s Out Come The Wolves. I combine every bit of trivia I know about these guys, and give a real honest review. I mail it to Dave/Johnny: “I just uploaded a review on an old Rancid album.” Mind you, the Whatever review has yet to be posted.

Dave sends me a weird response: “Hey Mike, I haven’t forgotten about your reviews but after some feedback from users and other editors I’d like to see more analysis about the music and tracks vs. the story behind how you found the album and where it was recorded, etc. I think your stories are entertaining but from what I’m hearing from our readers they want a more in depth break down of what they can expect to hear compared to other albums, bands, sounds, etc. Hope that makes sense. If it’s not your bag to get that in depth, no worries. Thanks, dude. Dave”

As I have displayed, there were no negative comments, other than the anonymous guy who’s comments were almost verbatim Dave’s email.

In my original review I write this: “The cover art is a tribute to Minor Threat; they originally used the image of Alex MacKaye (Ian’s Brother) with his head on his knees on steps on their self-titled EP.” So, both of my articles are now sitting on their server. imagine my surprise when I see this posted: http://dyingscene.com/news/fun-factoid-friday-and-out-come-the-cool-cover-art/

So, again I write Dave: “A bit surprised to read this, especially after reading the little article yesterday that plucked all the Rancid trivia from my review.

No worries.”

On June 5, 2010, He writes back: “It was a great trivia fact. Hope you don’t mind that it was used. I definitely appreciate your contributions so far, whether we use them or not. Would you be interested in writing some of our trivia posts vs. the reviews? Like I said, I’m still open to publishing your reviews if you want to take the time to dig a little more into the musical comparisons/descriptions. If writing trivia posts seems like it would be more fun for you I would gladly publish those for you as well. Let me know. Thanks, Dave “

I stewed over it for a bit, and then I logged onto their admin, and removed my articles. Then on July 7, 2010, I left this comment on their site in regards to their new trivia-based Rancid article: “Kind of a shame that you’d gut somebody’s article, and just steal the trivia. The TMZ of punk rock . . .”

Under his Johnny X identity Dave writes: “Hey Mike, sorry we didn’t publish your Rancid review but you have to write more than “It’s a great album to work out too.” An album review should go a little bit deeper into what makes the album good or bad. How it sounds compared to the band’s earlier releases or compared to other bands where influences are drawn from. You did throw in the tidbit about the cover art being a tribute to Minor Threat, which was cool, and I’ll give you full credit for the inspiration to this fun factoid post. However, again I must emphasize, that for us to publish an album review you actually have to talk about the music. I’m sorry you are so offended by us not publishing your review submission but as I mentioned in my email to you, if in depth album review writing is not your thing, we would gladly publish shorter trivia type posts for you.”

This cracks me up. Dave had previously denied writing the anonymous comments, but now is back to quoting the “working-out” shit. If you can’t trust a “punk,” who can you trust?

So, later that same day I add another comment: “Never said I was offended. Just a cheesy move pick the bones of the review, and then not credit me.

You knew my writing style, I have year’s worth of stuff on Strange Reaction (www.strangereaction.com), so you knew what to expect. I don’t do the type of Us Weekly puff pieces produced here.”

Petty? Maybe, but I got to tag Strange Reaction. In gang-slang I threw up my neighborhood.

I haven’t heard from Dave or Johnny X since. Joke ‘em if they can’t take a fuck.

Currently:
Reading: Factotum by Charles Bukowski
Listening: The Decline of Western Civilization OST
Watching: Bewitched Directed by Nora Ephron

Free & legal download of the week: Bad Religion – Modern Man