recommended gigs

   

Friday 7-26-24 - the Coffin Daggers and New Waves at Fat Cat

Saturday 7-27-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 7-28-24 - Generic Surf Band at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 7-29-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 8-2-24 - the Boss Martians with Bear Supply at the Double Down

Friday 8-2-24 - Surfers of Mercy at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 8-3-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 8-4-24 - CM Wolf, the Rifleman String Band and Acoustic Front at the Dive Bar

Monday 8-5-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 8-7-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Thursday 8-8-24 - TV Party Tonight showing Grosse Point with live music by the Shakewells

Saturday 8-10-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Monday 8-12-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 8-12-24- Fuzz Solow at Red Dwarf with It and I

Saturday 8-17-24 - Angie's Fucking Birthday Bash at the Dive Bar with the Hard Pipe Hitters, Same Sex Mary and Fish Circus

Saturday 8-17-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 8-18-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 8-19-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 8-23-24 - Suburban Resistance, the Minges, the Last Gang and the Drowns at the Usual Place

Friday 8-23-24 - Shanda and the Howlers at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 8-24-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Monday 8-26-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 8-31-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 9-4-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Friday 9-13-24 - The Peculiar Pretzelmen with the Implosions and the Hideaway at Red Dwarf

Saturday 9-14-24 - the Minges, War Peggy, Femaliens at the Double Down

Wednesday 10-2-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Wednesday 11-6-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

The Demon - The Longest Day - Book 2

 

In this installment, we learn the atrocities that the Demon has committed, which has been blocked from Jason Blood's mind for a thousand years so that he wouldn't go mad. Merlin (yes, that Merlin), who merged these two in the first place, has returned and brought Blood's memories back, which does nearly cause him his sanity. Of course, these memories literally come back to haunt him as the story continues.

Blood has also sired a human baby with his (human) girlfriend, but simultaneously, the Demon has sired a son with another demon and wants to merge those two souls, like he and Blood are merged. Everyone joins in this fight and there are many twists'n'turns and the souls of those murdered by the Demon come back to keep Blood from winning, but the unexpected, of course, occurs.

Blood eventually does manage to extricate himself from Etrigan, although the Demon is not happy about the situation. He mopes in Hell until the Heavenly Hosts themselves invade, which leads to an all out war, hence the book's title. Lots more unexpected trials'n'tribulations until the entire book has come down to a adolescent pun on one of the other demons' name.

This is definitely an improvement on book one, but it still is not a fave with me, even considering my blasphemous tendencies. Not bad, by any means, but certainly not the best by this team.

The Demon - Hell's Hitman - Book 1

 

This compilation of Garth Ennis and John McCrea's run on The Demon is compiled from early-to-mid 90's issues of this DC Comic, and this omnibus (along with the next installment) was gifted to me by my brother along with the Alias and Green Lantern comics that I've already mentioned. 

A literal demon from Hell, hence the unoriginal name, Etrigan enters our world through an unnaturally old human named Jason Blood. The process is quite vague, but one or the other recites an incantation and the other appears, which, naturally, wrecks havoc on Blood's attempt at a normal, human life. This is especially complicated by his pregnant girlfriend who he tries to cut all ties with in order to spare her and the child from the carnage that follows in the Demon's path.

The fact that Etrigan is a rhyming demon actually gets a bit annoying at times, as is the embellished font that is used in his soliloquies to highlight the fact that it is demonic speak, an understandable trope, but it makes it a bit more difficult to read - at least for this old man with bad eyesight.

There is plenty of fire'n'brimstone, gore, violence - both earthly and hellish - and depressing takes on humankind throughout. I don't know if it is simply the fact that the world today is so damn morose, but this is not a fun read, even with all of the overt exaggerations and the almost surrealistic artwork. Maybe it's just my current mood and I need to try again another time.

In any case, I was surprised to find that lyrics of mine (from years previous) were used in this series, although I"m sure it must just be coincidence, as it's not like they were totally original, but enough that I thought I swiped it from this book until I looked at the dates. Funny coincidence! 

Unlike today, though, there is a tale with a haunted tank taking on literal Nazi zombies and the Demon teams up with a ghost of a Confederate General to fight the Nazis, unlike today, when the Confederates would literally BE the Nazis - in fact, it's all very odd that he is fighting the Nazis instead of siding with them as they scream their prejudices. And, if this were written today, there would be plenty of the Cult that would be joining the Nazi zombies, instead of fighting them.

I was not overwhelmed by this series - an interesting concept that just doesn't click with me for some reason. But, the second installment is indeed an improvement...

Sister Rosetta Tharpe Live in France

 

I've been a huge fan of the Sister's since first discovering her a couple decades or so ago (although I can't find any post reviewing any recordings of hers, which is beyond bizarre, but might be due to blogger's terrible search function), and have searched out her works, although we don't have much.

I just discovered the existence of this CD of her live in Limonges, France in 1966 (I believe that it is a new release) and picked it up as soon as I could. It's a nice package with an extensive booklet that includes great photos and several essays describing her time in Europe and her importance as a musician and singer.

Tharpe is a fairly phenomenal guitarist (similar in style to Lonnie Johnson, I believe, although I don't know who might have influenced who) who has influenced innumerable later musicians, not the least being Chuck Berry and Elvis, as well as a soulful, gospel-fueled singer. She is primarily a gospel musician, although she has strayed into secular material and venues throughout her career, but her music has blurred the boundaries between gospel, blues and even rock'n'roll from the very start.

In this concert she performs solo, just her and her guitar, and fills the sound amazingly well, with deft licks interspersed with chords'n'runs, backing her powerful voice. There is one song, "Up Above My Head" which has piano backing and the liner notes say "pianist unknown" even though they say that she would play the piano for her hosts in private settings, which makes me think that this is her, although I was unaware of her proficiency on the instrument. If indeed it is her, she is a fine player!

This hour-ish long set is a superior collection of some of her best known numbers mixed with classic gospel tunes, as well as some songs that I had never heard before and she is terrific from start to finish. The sound quality if pretty superb, as well, so all-in-all, a fantastic package that any who love gospel, blues OR rock'n'roll should certainly own!

RIP John Mayall

John Mayall, pioneering figure of British blues, dies aged 90 

---

Eric Clapton - Eric

 

While I don't care for much of the man's solo work, I am a big fan of Clapton's earlier days, so when I found this book in a thrift store, I decided to go ahead and pick it up.

Eric writes pretty chronologically here and first thing we learn is that he was a bastard son - I had no idea! But, despite that, it sounds like he had a pretty good childhood - better than many his age, as he was fairly ok financially and somewhat spoiled by his grandparents who brought him up. Similar to a lot of his peers, he was interested in both art and music but became disillusioned with art when he mistakenly took commercial/graphic art lessons instead of the more creative fine art and was eventually booted out of school. That cemented his decision (ironic choice of words, as he worked with his grandfather as a bricklayer for a while in between school and music) to become a musician and, after a few missteps, he hooked up with the Yardbirds. Obviously, this time period is the most interesting of the story, as an up-and-coming musician playing in the same circuit as bands that became superstars. His disdain for the Yardbirds becoming "commercial" by covering "For Your Love" (written by Graham Gouldman, master songwriter at the time and later of 10cc) led to his departure from the group.

Eric is fairly well known for being a bit problematic and even in his own version of his story he comes off as a total pretentious twat (not that I haven't been guilty of that at times myself, and with far less success at the same time). His time with the Yardbirds is classic, but I think that they were actually better off letting him go. Of course, he wasn't without a band for long, as he soon joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and eventually formed The Cream.

Cream didn't last long, either, due to egos and tempers and while he was slowing working up what would become Blind Faith - and while he was in love with George Harrison's wife, Pattie - Eric had a 16 year old girl move in with him! In some ways he seems to know that this is sick and wrong, and that he was taking advantage of a literal child who was practically half his age, but he did it anyway. He really does not come off very well in any way in this book and this makes the Blind Faith album cover even creepier.

Drugs became a heavy part of his life at this point and it took him years to get over them, although he did some classic work with, among other projects, Derek and the Dominos and the Bangledesh and Rainbow concerts and even his first solo album. He eventually did get off drugs but turned to alcohol but still recorded one of his most financially rewarding (although far, far from his best - in fact, it is the start of his decline, artistically, from which he never recovered) records with 461 Ocean Boulevard and the hit single, "I Shot the Sheriff". He did finally split from the teenager and get together with Pattie Harrison at this point, after years of pining for her.

Par for the course for him, once he had her, she didn’t matter much to him and he didn’t work very hard in their relationship, as he traded his heroin addiction for alcoholism and generally made a mess of his life. The road to recovery is always a depressing story and Eric was pretty lost at this point, both musically and emotionally.

Also by this time, his music lost its appeal to me so a lot of the following story is much less interesting. He does clean up for good (funnily, his "rock bottom" was breaking a fishing pole! Hardly the rock bottom that most people end up at!), and after more dalliances, falls in love with another woman literally half his age, but at least he's old enough that it's not as creepy as his previous endeavors. They have children, they vacation, he plays some more music (I admit that I do like his Me and Mr. Johnson record of Robert Johnson covers), tours occasionally and not a lot is all that compelling.

As is his way, he complains continually, even as he is touring and recording successfully, comfortably, and with musicians he cares for and respects, it's never enough for him and he just wants to put it all behind him (and he is not particularly old at this point) while many would give anything for what he has.

But that is Eric, a complainer no matter what the circumstances, whether spartan or comfortable, but regardless, he's not a bad writer and at least half of the story is worthwhile. Seeing as I almost didn't even bother with the book, I suppose that's pretty good. Not great, but not bad.

recommended gigs

  

Friday 7-12-24 - Trevor and the Swinging Johnsons at the Golden Tiki 

Saturday 7-13-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 7-13-24 - The Minges, the Implosions, the Triadics at The Pass Casino

Sunday 7-14-24 Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf’s Sunday Brunch

Monday 7-15-24 -Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki 

Tuesday 7-16-24 - The Minges, Crimson Riot, Kids on Fire at Red Dwarf

Saturday 7-20-24 - the Souvenairs at the Underground at the Mob Museum 

Saturday 7-20-24 - The Quitters at Red Dwarf for John Kirby's farewell to Vegas

Saturday 7-20-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 7-20-24 - VaVoom, the Flying Skacer, the Hideaway at the Double Down

Sunday 7-21-24 - Generic Surf Band at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 7-22-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 7-27-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Monday 7-29-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 8-2-24 - the Boss Martians with Bear Supply at the Double Down

Saturday 8-3-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Monday 8-5-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 8-7-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Saturday 8-10-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Monday 8-12-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 8-12-24- Fuzz Solow at Red Dwarf with It and I

Saturday 8-17-24 - Angie's Fucking Birthday Bash at the Dive Bar with the Hard Pipe Hitters, Same Sex Mary and Fish Circus

Saturday 8-17-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 8-18-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 8-19-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 8-23-24 - Suburban Resistance, the Minges, the Last Gang and the Drowns at the Usual Place

Friday 8-23-24 - Shanda and the Howlers at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 8-24-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Monday 8-26-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 8-31-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 9-4-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Friday 9-13-24 - The Peculiar Pretzelmen with the Implosions at Red Dwarf

Wednesday 10-2-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Wednesday 11-6-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

and on piano...Nicky Hopkins - Julian Dawson

 

Anyone who loves rock'n'roll knows Nicky Hopkins' work, even if they don't know the man himself. He has played with giants like the Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Jeff Beck and countless others over the years, all while maintaining sideman status and never looking for the starlight himself, even when he tried to be a solo artist. I became aware of him well after he began playing on countless hits that received continuous play in my bedrooms, most likely due to rock'n'roll zines like Circus or Creem. His legacy is beyond historic, having played on more hits than most people could even imagine, so I was certainly interested in learning more about the man himself.

The author, Julian Dawson, is apparently a musician himself - although I have never heard of him and he does not look the part (in my overblown critical viewpoint) - and, in fact, via a chance meeting, Hopkins did one of his last sessions with Dawson. This book was certainly a labor of love of his - started after Hopkins untimely death - and it is well-researched with lots of family and friends involved.

Hopkins was a sickly child but doted on by his parents and older siblings and was also a child prodigy on piano from an early age. Starting with classical, he became enamored with r'n'r as a teen as it raised its ragin' head, and his first real band was Screamin' Lord Sutch and the Savages. He went on to several other classic combos before another sickness sidelined him for literally a year and a half!

After that he took a reprieve from live shows and became a much sought-after session musician, playing on hundreds of cuts of all styles, but stand-outs were, of course, the Who and the Kinks and, a little later on, the Rolling Stones. Naturally, his time in the Jeff Beck Group is explored and, interestingly enough, there is an unusual animosity between Nicky and Jeff. From the tours of the USA, Nicky is enamored of the West Coast and works with the Jefferson Airplane (even playing Woodstock with them) and the Steve Miller Band, among others, particularly Quicksilver Messenger Service, in which he became a full fledged member for a short period of time.

The chapters are based on subjects - the Stones, Beatles, etc. - rather than necessarily chronological, so it can be slightly hard to follow the timelines, but the format is kind of understandable as Nicky went back'n'forth from England to the States and worked on his on solo records as well as innumerable sessions. He does leave'n'return some of these stars' orbits, and the amount of work in between - or even during - does mean that this format is logical for this purpose.

He did make a few solo albums with some major players but those essentially went nowhere and, per the descriptions here, probably deservedly so. Not a comment on his playing talent, but he is not a singer and his songwriting apparently fluctuated., particularly in the lyrics and also tending more towards classical than r'n'r. Having an incredibly overbearing (although quite attractive) wife (who is also interviewed by Dawson) probably both helped'n'hindered his career, as apparently she got work done but annoyed all too many (including a musician who had an affair with her while he worked with Nicky!). 

Being sickly to start with, the excesses of the 70's (in particular) were extremely damaging to Nicky's health, although most people say that he could play regardless of his inebriation - including a story of installing a "seat belt" on his piano bench so he couldn't fall off while playing!

Of course, the excesses eventually caught up with him and even affected his work - mostly due to unreliability - until he cleaned up via Scientology, of all things. By the 80’s, while he could still find work here and there, he was no longer a first call session man. Between this and the drugs and recovery, this part of the story inevitably is depressing. His death at an early age is incredibly sad, as he was by then clean and working to get his life back on track.

Dawson is a fine writer and the book is amazingly well researched with an incredible amount of anecdotes, from the mundane, to the historically interesting (Nicky made a total of 6 pounds for playing on the Beatles’ “Revolution “) to the laugh out loud hilarious. As I say, the 60’s and the 70’s are the most compelling, naturally, but a great story all around. Certainly recommended!

Alias - Brian Michael Bendis with Michael Gaydos

 

I got this series from my comic-collecting brother along with the GL/GA books and while I had watched the Jessica Jones TV show, I never read the comics and have been pleasantly surprised by the quality.

The name Alias is, of course, the ironic name of Jessica Jones' private investigation agency and with her background as a superhero known to anyone who cares, her cases vary from the basic "spouse is cheating" to searching for missing mutants to rescuing one of the several "Spider-Women" that inhabit the Marvel Universe these days.

Of course, Jessica's personal life is basically a wreck, she is a chain-smoker and a functioning alcoholic, she has had many bad episodes in her life, her love life is a shambles (she has affairs with Luke Cage, Hero For Hire and Scott Lang, the most recent Ant-Man, among others) and her business barely stays afloat. But, she gets an occasional good-paying gig from the likes of Matt Murdock (she knows he's Daredevil, but doesn't know if he knows that she knows) and J. Jonah Jameson.

While I'm not a big fan of Gaydos' artwork, I do think that Bendis does a great job with the storylines and the cameos abound, from Steve Rogers to Carol Danvers to Rick Jones (or is he?!) to Jessica Drew and plenty of others. These seem logical rather than gratuitous given her background and they never overwhelm Jessica's story. There are lots of twists'n'turns and bits that I never saw coming, for whatever that's worth, but it all kept my attention.

Definitely worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of the TV show, but even if not, it's a fine series.

PS - I just realized that the imprint is MAX Comics - I can only assume that this is an adult-themed offshoot of Marvel since all of the Marvel characters are referenced. I'll have to look into that....

Green Lantern / Green Arrow #76 - 89

 

My big brother, who is the one who got me started on comic books in the early 60’s, gifted me with a handful of books that he was ready to get rid of. These particular issues, dated between 1970 and 1972, show DC Comics learning from Marvel as they attempt to become more "hip and with it" in their storytelling. With Marvel’s marvelous artist Neal Adams and writer extraordinaire Denny O’Neil, they craft a series of tales aimed at the more politically minded young people of the day.

Green Arrow, having lost his millions, is now living in a rundown neighborhood and clashes with his old friend Green Lantern as the more conservative Lantern plays by the book and punishes those who break the law even if their reasons are valid. The more flamboyant Arrow tried to make him see that the world is not black and white - literally.

They tackle prejudice, wealthy corporate goons, they travel the country “looking for America” (sound familiar?), deal with Indigenous peoples’ plights, pollution, population growth, women and children’s rights, drug abuse, disabled rights and more, all within a couple of years of books! Yes, sometimes the stories are a bit heavy handed and sometimes they do go into more standard comic/sci-fi territories, but they meant well and they did bring concepts into comics and into young peoples’ minds, maybe for the first time for some folks.

Yes, Marvel tackled these issues years before - while DC was still having Jimmy Olson turn into a turtle, Batman wearing a rainbow costume and Superman having an insect head - but DC learned and put out some high quality work! I would assume/hope that this series has been collected somewhere, but search them out one way or another (or buy them from me and free up some space in my house! :) ).

recommended gigs

 

Wednesday 7-3-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Thursday 7-4-24 - TV Party Tonight at the Double Down showing Stripes and live music from the Minge

Friday 7-5-24 - the Double Whammy’s at the golden tiki

Saturday 7-6-24 - Stagnettis Cock at the Double Down 

Saturday 7-6-24 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 7-7-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 7-8-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 7-9-24 - the Pine Hill Haints at Fat Cat

Friday 7-12-24 - Trevor and the Swinging Johnsons at the Golden Tiki 

Saturday 7-13-24 - The Minges, the Implosions, the Triadics at The Pass Casino

Tuesday 7-16-24 - The Minges, Crimson Riot, Kids on Fire at Red Dwarf

Sunday 7-21-24 - Generic Surf Band at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Wednesday 8-7-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Friday 8-23-24 - Suburban Resistance, the Minges, the Last Gang and the Drowns at the Usual Place

Friday 8-23-24 - Shanda and the Howlers at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 9-4-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Wednesday 10-2-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Wednesday 11-6-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Generic Surf Band at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch 6-30-24

We always dig the Sunday afternoon gigs when we can get home to our pup in time for her dinner and we can still get to bed at our usual time. Doesn't mean that we can always make it out for these - errands do take precedence - but they're fun when we can do it.

This afternoon was the Generic Surf Band's one year anniversary of playing Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch (other brunchers include Thee Swank Bastards, natch, and the Surfer of Mercy, among others) and they made a great day of it with terrific tunes, cakes, treats, and, of course, drink and pizza specials!

It's always a pleasure seeing our old pal Marc swingin' on the drums and this afternoon bassist Ed and guitarist Phil were in fine form, as well. We got there a little late but they had a packed house - I've rarely seen Red Dwarf as crowded - and they blasted through a set of surf classic, a few oddball numbers and some terrific garage tunes like the Yardbirds' "Heartful of Soul". Great song choices and fine performances all around, including a little sit-in by bartendress Daisy (shout out to her and Sara for dealing with the crowd!), along with hip videos in the background and, especially for the anniversary - Free T-Shirts!

Good time was had by all and a great vibe from Red Dwarf! Thanks to the RD team and to the GSB for a fun afternoon!