Waiting on the Moon - Peter Wolf

 

Our library picked up this one, so I grabbed it even though I already have two large tomes checked out so let's see how far I can get with three books simultaneously and see if I can keep the stories straight!

Of course, I have been a fan of the band that Peter fronted, the J. Geils Band, since their stompin' hit "Lookin' For a Love" and dug pretty much their entire 70's output and still consider them to be one of the best live bands of all time - which had a lot to do with Wolf's onstage antics and amazing monologues. I've just discovered that Peter has more than one book out and this was the first that I've found and certainly want to hear his reminiscences of his time in the band. (Actually, the other book seems to just be made to look like it’s Peter’s, but I’m still interested in finding it if I can.)

Peter moves through his basic background and young childhood pretty quickly, which is nice, as that can be fairly dull for almost anyone (although he has a couple of fun'n'funny anecdotes). He spends a bit of time with his first love, who sounds pretty darn hip and was lovely, and was obviously a big influence on him. She went to college, he moved to Boston, but they ended up living together as he formed the J. Geils Band and they both worked various jobs to keep some money coming in. Peter was on tour when he found out that Edie, who he obviously truly loved, had been killed in a car accident.

I realized that he moved through time quickly in that case in order to tell the entire tale of his ill-fated love before moving on to other subjects. He goes back in time to his teenage years in NYC and discovering'n'meeting Bob Dylan. He then moves to his college years where he temporarily roomed with David Lynch! He has tales of seeing Muddy Waters and hanging out with his band, with Otis Span playing in Wolf's apartment and James Cotton giving him harmonica tips! Wow! Truly mind-boggling! And both Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf staying at his apartment! Yowza!

Naturally, there are plenty of other characters, as well, and lots that he met well before the genesis of the J. Geils Band! He has led a life! His chapters are mostly devoted to his time with one person or another - say, a chapter about meeting John Lee Hooker that continues with his interactions throughout his life, and the same with Van Morrison, or with various other musicians, academics, and others.

Wolf is a great storyteller - to be expected as he was such a verbose frontman (coming from his time spent as a DJ, I assume) - and is very personable and likeable here as he talks about his wild adventures. Funnily enough, the band is only mentioned in asides - at least so far, and I'm halfway through the book - and he doesn't give any info whatsoever about meeting the guys or forming the band and only offhand mentions of a couple of gigs, mostly to set the scene for something that he was involved in with other people. He doesn't even mention any band member by name! I wonder if he just wants to show that he has a personality apart from the band? The book does keep your interest even without the band gossip, but since I am a huge fan, it's a little disappointing. But then, towards the end of the book, he finally does get around to talking about the formation of the group and even names everyone! But it is a quick summation and although he was the one who arranged their two recording contracts, initially managed the band, helped set up their support system, cowrote the songs and more, he was asked to leave the group at the height of their career. I hated what they were doing in the 80’s so I wasn't paying attention then, but apparently, Wolf wanted to return to their roots and the band wanted to continue in their ill-advised ways. Wolf made his first solo album, which was successful while the band's post-Wolf album tanked.

I’m sure that Wolf exaggerates how poor the band was before their 80’s hits because they had several Top Forty hits before then and they were selling out (at least) several thousand seat venues. Even considering a bad recording contract, between the records and the gigs they had to be ok - not rich but certainly not poor, either.

Even without details about the JGB, the man has stories to tell and has met incredible characters and can really set a scene for the tales. This is a great read - highly recommended! (Still want a tome of the band though!)

David Bowie The Oral History - Dylan Jones

 

Of course, I've read bits'n'pieces about Bowie over the years and have known'n'dug his music since "Changes" first started appearing on the FM Radio stations. It helped that my then-girlfriend was pretty much a glam-fanatic, but I was certainly drawn to Mick Ronson's guitar work, along with Bowie's well written tunes and outrageous stage persona.

This is yet another book that tells the story through interviews - hence "the oral history", natch. Dylan Jones (really? Is there any way that could possible be a real name?!) actually interviewed Bowie himself at times, and for this book he collected reminiscences from family (I didn't know/had forgotten about Bowie's half-siblings and the mental illness that ran in his mother's side), friends, lovers, musicians who worked with him and who simply knew him along with lots of others. 

Bowie's childhood is discussed, of course, but Jones moves pretty quickly to the teenage years and Bowie's various 60's musical projects before his solo career. Naturally, lovers are a big topic of the story, as they included fellow musicians, landladies, managers (possibly) and more, as well as "just" lovers. According to many of the people interviewed, David was bisexual and often had multiple lovers juggled at the same time - in fact, supposedly he had a landlady/lover in the suburbs, Angie in London and various others here'n'there all at the same time!

His career takes off with Ziggy Stardust, but as much of the book is dedicated to who he was fucking as to his music and the band. It really is so ubiquitous that it is almost absurd - he just fucks almost anyone around him - mostly women (and young groupies like Lori Lightning and Sable Star), but men, as well, if the "kiss'n'tell" aspect of the book can be believed. Multiple people describe Bowie as a sex addict, although I can't blame him for taking advantage of his situation - and the women say that he was always a gentleman and a seducer, not just a wham-bam-thank-you-maam". But it does almost get in the way of the story, since it is so all-encompassing.

He is somewhat known for being self centered and controlling as well as simultaneously being pompous and insecure. He uses people but really, I don’t know if it’s much more than anyone uses anyone else (especially in the music biz), other than the fact that he was on another level.

I'm a rock'n'roller, natch (and a bit of a folkie), so my fave part of the tale is his early days and rise to fame and his work with Ronno. Once he started into his soul phase, while not terrible, he lost my interest and so more than half of this book covers the period that I don't care too much about, which coincides with his absurd drug abuse. Funny quote though - Earl Slick, who plays guitar on Station to Station calls it Bowie's best album! Hah! Kinda egotistical and I don't know ANYONE else who would say that - not even in most people's top 5, I would think...Also humorous is Deep Purple's Glenn Hughes becoming close to Bowie - not sexually, although Glenn makes it sound like Bowie would have liked that, but apparently Bowie dug Hughes' voice, which makes sense as he was getting more into African American music and Glenn had a soulful voice. Still odd to me and something that I never heard before and they seemingly would have traveled in somewhat different circles.

As we get into the 80's, we get to Bowie's most vapid work which, ironically, is his most popular, but that was the 80's for you! Even the author admits that much of Bowie's work during this period was boring drek. Unfortunately, this British author does what all too many British authors do and continually cite various British references, slang words, obscure (to anyone outside of Britain) people, places and things and more. Of course, you can always get the gist, but the assumption that people outside of England will understand what you're talking about is somewhat pompous and annoying, at least for a midwestern kid like me. 

There's quite a bit abut the numerous films that he did - I tend to forget that he was in so many since I haven't seen a lot of them - but there's a somewhat funny part when talking about Bowie playing Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ since I just read Peter Wolf's book and he auditioned for the part but Scorsese says he never considered anyone but Bowie - not very nice!

The book tends to run on'n'on - it definitely could have been considerably shorter as half of the book rambles on about music that basically no one cared for and talks about his interest in art and his business and so on...Just nowhere near as compelling as his early years and could easily have been edited deeply. There's also literally hundreds of pages of eulogies after his death that just rambles on and doesn't really add much to the narrative, other than to reiterate how much he meant to people.

Naturally, fans will want to read this, and there is some entertaining escapades herein, but I do think that the sex'n'druges were highlighted more than necessary and there could have been more about his music - especially the great 60's and 70's sounds that made him the star that he was.  Maybe if I was a bigger fan of Bowie's later work I would be more of a fan of this book, but for me it rambled on and I skimmed a lot of the later chapters. Maybe I missed something compelling by doing that, but it really just got to be a bit too much....

Cracked Actor - A Film About David Bowie

 

I'm currently reading a book about Bowie (more on that soon) and it has made me look up a few things that I was not familiar with previously, including a clip of Peter Noone singing "Oh You Pretty Things" (fairly surreal) and this documentary, which escaped me at the time - and ever since, until now! (Although I'm sure I've seen some clips, at least, here'n'there.)

This is somewhat a documentation of the Young Americans tour, although the music that it highlights is his previous work, played with the updated band, which means that it is not as rockin' as it was with the Spiders and the presentation is more theatrical. I never saw him live, so I've had to rely on videos, but for one thing, I didn't realize that on this tour he would lip-sync (as opposed to playing live, as he did with the Spiders) "Space Oddity" while sitting on a crane that was going over the heads of the crowd!

He is interviewed, as well, and while the book says he was blasted out of his mind on cocaine, he doesn't come off too badly, and he is well spoken, overall, if a bit pretentious, which is his thing, in a way. I mean, he references Hamlet in one of his song performances here, for crissakes...

It is kinda funny how when they show the audience, so many of them are truly plain'n'normal looking and only a handful dressed up. The hype would make it sound like the entire crowd looked like Ziggy when in fact it was just a few. But Ziggy hangs over everything and when they show clips from the Ziggy concerts it just shows how much better those performances were than his lackluster "thin white duke" gigs.

I believe that this doc was done in order to advertise Bowie's latest character, but unfortunately, it just shows a watered down, kinda TV variety-show version of a once great rock'n'roll star. While his Ziggy costumes were wilder, the Ziggy concert was a rock'n'roll show, with a red-hot, hard rock band (that was very capable of playing ballads, when needed) but this line-up seems to just be session musicians playing it safe'n'clean and frankly, fairly boring. I wish I had seen Ziggy, but I'm sure I would have been disappointed with this show.

recommended gigs

      

Friday 3-28-25 - Thee Swank Bastards, the Implosions and the Surfers of Mercy at Red Dwarf

Saturday 3-29-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Boulder City Beer Fest and late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 3-29-25 - The Hypnotiques at the Golden TIki

Monday 3-31-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 4-4-25 - Christina Jean and the Howlers, Memphis Vampires and the Hideaway at Red Dwarf

Friday 4-11-25 - Go Betty Go, Lords of Altamont, the Shakewells at the Usual Place

Wednesday 4-23-35 - The Holy Smokes, The Centuries, Lady Luck Lexy and Bo Peep and the Backbeat at the Sand Dollar Spring Mountain

Saturday 4-26-25 - The Ghastly Ones, the Shakewells, Gamblers Mark, Toe Tags at Swan Dive

Thursday 5-8-25 - Jesika Von Rabbit at Red Dwarf

Saturday 5-10-25 - the Venomous Pinks, the Minges, the Has Nots at the Griffin

Sunday 5-25-25 - New Bomb Turks, The Baboon Show, Civic, Cromm Fallon and the P200 at the Usual Place

Tuesday 5-27-25 - Detroit Cobras, Pure Sport, the Implosions at Grey Witch's grand opening

RIP Leanne Cowie of the Scientists

Drummer for legendary Aussie indie rock band The Scientists dies: 'She was the beating heart'

Another gone far too young. The Scientists were one of the more original bands out of the 80's - great, noisy stuff that I still listen to all the time and have even covered!

RIP Larry Tamblyn of the Standells

 

Larry Tamblyn, Co-Founder of Garage-Rock Band the Standells and Brother of Russ Tamblyn, Dies at 82

The Standells were a huge influence on my 60's leanings - so many great tunes!

recommended gigs

     

Friday 3-21-25 - Femaliens, United Defiance, Hollow Mute at Red Dwarf

Saturday 3-22-25 - Femaliens, Negative Nancys, Wyatt and the Ashes, Not For Sale, Ugly Boy, We Might Die at Rangels Boxing Ring

Saturday 3-22-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 3-23-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 3-24-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 3-26-25 - Bear Supply at Red Dwarf

Friday 3-28-25 - Thee Swank Bastards, the Implosions and the Surfers of Mercy at Red Dwarf

Saturday 3-29-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Boulder City Beer Fest and late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 3-29-25 - The Hypnotiques at the Golden TIki

Monday 3-31-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 4-4-25 - Christina Jean and the Howlers, Memphis Vampires and the Hideaway at Red Dwarf

Friday 4-11-25 - Go Betty Go, Lords of Altamont, the Shakewells at the Usual Place

Wednesday 4-23-35 - The Holy Smokes, The Centuries, Lady Luck Lexy and Bo Peep and the Backbeat at the Sand Dollar Spring Mountain

Saturday 4-26-25 - The Ghastly Ones, the Shakewells, Gamblers Mark, Toe Tags at Swan Dive

Saturday 5-10-25 - the Venomous Pinks, the Minges, the Has Nots at the Griffin

Sunday 5-25-25 - New Bomb Turks, The Baboon Show, Civic, Cromm Fallon and the P200 at the Usual Place

Tuesday 5-27-25 - Detroit Cobras, Pure Sport, the Implosions at Grey Witch's grand opening

The Long Goodbye - Raymond CHandler

 

I don't know how much time had supposed to pass since the last book in the series but in this one Marlowe has rented a house (!) in Laurel Canyon (!) as opposed to his sketchy apartment in Hollywood, or his combined office/living space. He helps out a drunk in need at Dancers - the site of the blackmail in The Little Sister - and, of course, that leads to his latest adventure.

On a side note, it is completely hilarious that Chandler complains about stores "already" filling up with "overpriced Christmas junk" the week AFTER Thanksgiving and that the newspapers were saying that you needed to get your Xmas shopping done "early"! These days, that would be considered late!

So, I'm writing this as I'm reading the book and it is laid out basically like a series of vignettes - at least so far. He becomes friends with the drunk he helped out and, naturally, that leads to multiple murders, corrupt cops, a trip to Tijuana and a stay in jail. After that case plays out he is immediately hired by a stunningly beautiful woman to find her missing wealthy writer (and abusive drunk) husband, with little clues. But, Marlowe's resourcefulness and friends in the biz help him find the gentleman and return him home - although it is believed that he is also being blackmailed, but his rescue from yet another unscrupulous doctor comes first!

Lots more happens, natch, and more unscrupulous characters come out of the woodwork, more murder, more intertwined happenstances - seeming coincidences that are far too coincidental! Of course, it all fits together eventually, with even more murders, apparent suicides, beatings, etc., although not everyone lives to see it happen. Gangsters, cops, politicians, reporters and, of course, beautiful women all help'n'hinder Marlowe and some are both corrupt and legit.

There is a bit of a twist at the end, although not completely unexpected, but everything does fall into place and is explained and while Marlowe may lose some friends, he gains a one night stand - the first so far in this series, despite all of the lost chances.

I quite enjoyed this one - this and The Big Sleep are rightfully among his best known works. I will see what else is out there...

Kraven the Hunter - movie

 

It's funny but as a kid - hell, as an adult until now - I never really thought about the name Kraven rhyming with "craven" - not exactly a heroic - or powerful villain - name. Wonder what made Stan Lee (I believe) use that word, although, as I said, I didn't think of the implications until now, since it was in writing, rather than spoken.

In any case, I'm not sure why Marvel thought to use this character as the basis for a stand alone movie. He was an interesting Spider-Man villain, but not really one of his top foes. And, in typical movie fashion, they changed everything about the character, his origins, and his motives. Not to say that the movie as a movie is bad, but it has little to do with the comic book character.

The Rhino is also extremely, extremely different than the comic version and there is a strange, even in these settings, villain only known as the Foreigner, who has vague powers - possibly hypnosis combined with teleportation? I'm not sure...And, of course, there is a beautiful woman who has helped Kraven become who he is and has rescued him from certain death more than once.

Nice use of a Black Sabbath song, though, to soothe the savage Baby Boomer who doesn't appreciate the "Changes" you made to the story! And an appearance by the Chameleon?! (Also, nothing to do with the original character, but such is life in modern Marvel movies).

Not a bad movie - I enjoyed it, in fact - but almost nothing to do with the 1960's version of Kraven. Those who are not entrenched in Marvel lore will probably enjoy it more as they would not be expecting a different tale.

RIP Jesse Colin Young

Jesse Colin Young, Who Sang Youngbloods’ 1960s Anthem ‘Get Together’ Before Going Solo, Dies at 83

---

Sad to hear. His "Darkness, Darkness" is a fave of mine....

The Little Sister - Raymond Chandler

 

As with all of Chandler's stories, nothing is easy for Phillip Marlowe and simple things like a missing person escalates into multiple murders, tough guys, movie stars (that was a change!) and lots of convoluted escapades. A young woman from Manhattan, Kansas asks for Marlowe's help in finding her brother who moved to LA and eventually stopped writing. His boarding house is beyond sketchy and murders pile up rapidly from there. Naturally, everything gets complicated, as well, as more'n'more characters appear, making it difficult to keep track of everyone - at least for me!

It is interesting that here Marlowe references previous cases (he is working in Bay City again) and previous characters. Keeps the continuity and all that...Once again, Marlowe gets doped up by an unscrupulous doctor - that tends to happen to him, apparently. This time out there's apparently a "reefer" gang that Marlowe got mixed up in - among other things, naturally.

But there are sexy movie stars - Marlowe has a lot more self-control that I had as a single man, as he continuously turns down offers of sex - with all kinds of connections to various characters, gangsters, numerous murderers - so many that it's difficult to keep track of them all - blackmail, of course there is, and Chandler's patented complicated twists'n'turns.

The fun thing about murder mysteries is trying to figure out the who-dun-it, although with Chandler's stories, there's really no clues as to who has really done what, as he makes it seems like one person, then another, then another is the villain until he wraps everything up in the end, kind of out of nowhere.

Again, I like his writing style and these are quick reads, but this one was a bit overly complicated just for its own sake and a bit strained, in my mind. I'll continued on the journey into Marlow-land, though, and see where else it goes.

recommended gigs

    

Friday 3-14-25 - Soldiers of Destruction, Lean 13 and Burlesque at the Double Down

Friday 3-14-25 - The Queers, Stagnetti's Cock, Gob Patrol, Battering Ham and At Odds at Backstage Bar and Billiards

Saturday 3-15-25 - Shanda and the Howlers at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 3-15-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 3-16-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 3-17-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 3-17-25 - Big Like Texas, Wyatt and the Ashes at PTs 6560 Warm Springs

Friday 3-21-25 - Femaliens, United Defiance, Hollow Mute at Red Dwarf

Saturday 3-22-25 - Femaliens, Negative Nancys, Wyatt and the Ashes, Not For Sale, Ugly Boy, We Might Die at Rangels Boxing Ring

Saturday 3-22-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 3-23-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 3-24-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 3-26-25 - Bear Supply at Red Dwarf

Friday 3-28-25 - Thee Swank Bastards, the Implosions and the Surfers of Mercy at Red Dwarf

Saturday 3-29-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Boulder City Beer Fest and late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 3-29-25 - The Hypnotiques at the Golden TIki

Monday 3-31-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 4-4-25 - Christina Jean and the Howlers, Memphis Vampires and the Hideaway at Red Dwarf

Friday 4-11-25 - Go Betty Go, Lords of Altamont, the Shakewells at the Usual Place

Wednesday 4-23-35 - The Holy Smokes, The Centuries, Lady Luck Lexy and Bo Peep and the Backbeat at the Sand Dollar Spring Mountain

Saturday 4-26-25 - The Ghastly Ones, the Shakewells, Gamblers Mark, Toe Tags at Swan Dive

Saturday 5-10-25 - the Venomous Pinks, the Minges, the Has Nots at the Griffin

Sunday 5-25-25 - New Bomb Turks, The Baboon Show, Civic, Cromm Fallon and the P200 at the Usual Place

Tuesday 5-27-25 - Detroit Cobras, Pure Sport, the Implosions at Grey Witch's grand opening

RIP Bruce Joyner

 

Just heard that Bruce Joyner (singer of the Unknowns, among many other projects) has passed away.

The Unknowns were a fantastic band and among the first musical friends I made in Southern California.

Terribly sorry to hear of the sweet and talented man's passing.

The Lady in the Lake - Raymond Chandler

 

In my continuing saga of Chandler/Marlowe books, we come to the next episode, this time a missing wife who ran away, but didn't do quite what she said and in the process, her disappearance coincided with another woman's murder and that, of course, leads to much more murder'n'mayhem.

There are innumerable cases of mistaken identity along the way as well as people pretending to be someone other than themselves, which makes the tale even more confusing than usual. There are lots of coincidences, plenty of people opening themselves up when they didn't have to (but it sure helped to solve the case!) and, of course, Marlowe just beaten up a few times and even jailed at one point, for no particular reason.

There's a bit of suspension of disbelief needed at times, but still enjoyable and, again, Chandler has a good style and a fun way with words, and I always dig hearing about my old home, Hollywood.

The High Window - Raymond Chandler

 

As I promised, I am continuing in my Chandler/Marlowe adventures with this, the third installment in the series. These are relatively quick'n'easy reads, and a nice diversion from real life, so I may go through the entire installment, although I also may decide to take a detour here'n'there, so don't hold me to it. It is nice to read about my old stomping grounds in Hollywood, even if it were in a very different time. It still resonates nicely and makes me miss the city.

In any case, here the Private Eye Marlowe is asked to recover a very valuable missing coin from a rich widow and, of course, as he investigates, murder'n'mayhem follow him. If anything, this tale might be more convoluted that the previous ones and it can get a bit confusing trying to keep track of the seemingly disparate threads. 

This time out Marlowe does not get any of the girls, although, in one way or another, he manages to help three lovelies without getting romantically involved with any of them. As usual, there are a couple of clever, unexpected twists but he does manage to pull them all together in a neat package at the end. 

I know that most people who might care about this sort of thing are already well versed in Chandler, but if not, and you dig mysteries and old Hollywood, these are entertaining reads.

RIP Brian James

 

That first album is stellar punk rock - still their best by far. Sad to hear of his passing - his guitar fueled this fire.

recommended gigs

   

Friday 3-7-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Skinny Bar

Saturday 3-8-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 3-9-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 3-10-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 3-11-25 - Victims Family, Nasalrod, Fat Dukes of Fuck, the Bitters at the Dive Bar

Tuesday 3-11-25 - the Double Whammys at Composers Room

Friday 3-14-25 - Soldiers of Destruction, Lean 13 and Burlesque at the Double Down

Friday 3-14-25 - The Queers, Stagnetti's Cock, Gob Patrol, Battering Ham and At Odds at Backstage Bar and Billiards

Saturday 3-15-25 - Shanda and the Howlers at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 3-15-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 3-16-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 3-17-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 3-17-25 - Big Like Texas, Wyatt and the Ashes at PTs 6560 Warm Springs

Saturday 3-22-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 3-23-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 3-24-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 3-26-25 - Bear Supply at Red Dwarf

Friday 3-28-25 - Thee Swank Bastards, the Implosions and the Surfers of Mercy at Red Dwarf

Saturday 3-29-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Boulder City Beer Fest and late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 3-29-25 - The Hypnotiques at the Golden TIki

Monday 3-31-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 4-4-25 - Christina Jean and the Howlers, Memphis Vampires and the Hideaway at Red Dwarf

Friday 4-11-25 - Go Betty Go, Lords of Altamont, the Shakewells at the Usual Place

Wednesday 4-23-35 - The Holy Smokes, The Centuries, Lady Luck Lexy and Bo Peep and the Backbeat at the Sand Dollar Spring Mountain

Saturday 4-26-25 - The Ghastly Ones, the Shakewells, Gamblers Mark, Toe Tags at Swan Dive

Sunday 5-25-25 - New Bomb Turks, The Baboon Show, Civic, Cromm Fallon and the P200 at the Usual Place

Farewell, My Lovely - Raymond Chandler

 

After re-enjoying The Big Sleep, I pulled this one - I understand it to be the follow-up to TBS - from the library. Phillip Marlowe stars in this, as well, and while the character and storyline is similar, this tale is a little cringe-worthy in the 21st Century for being quite un-PC. I doubt that Chandler really meant anything by it, but there's a lot of racism here, not unusual for 1940, and for a "street-wise" private eye, I suppose. A bit of kudos to the library system for not censoring this, so that we know what the world was like back in the day.

Chandler certainly did have a way with descriptive words though and his analogies'n'similies are quite entertaining. But that said, in this episode Marlowe gets knocked around quite a bit and even is doped up (against his will) and so his narration goes a bit screwy when he is not of sound mind. This is a good literary device, but between this and his (now dated) slang, some of the narration can be hard (for me, at least) to follow exactly, although you catch the gist.

It's another complicated tale, with ex-cons randomly killing while looking for an ex-girlfriend (Marlowe just happens to get caught up in that) and a client getting murdered while Marlowe is supposed to be his bodyguard. As Marlowe follows up on tips and various lines, he runs afoul of the law and the crooks, and doesn't exactly enamor himself with the ladies who are trying to help him along the way.

I didn't think that this one worked as well as The Big Sleep and while the various tangents were mostly tied together by the end, some were left kind of dangling and some were pretty tenuous. Still entertaining and I will continue on a Phillip Marlowe kick for a little while as they are quick reads and fun diversions from the insanity of the modern world.

The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler

 

I can't remember the last time that I read any Chandler - in fact, I didn't remember that I HAD read any Chandler until I got into this one and remembered bits'n'pieces - and I definitely saw Bogart playing this part, as well. But, I was randomly looking at the Libby app and trying to think of something to idle away some time and this came up.

Everyone knows Phillip Marlowe, the strong, quiet, smart, handsome Private Eye with a personal code of honor that doesn't always have him see eye-to-eye (so to speak) with the law or with the beautiful women that he inevitably runs into in the course of his cases.

Chandler writes with Marlowe in the first person, describing all he sees and does in the hard-boiled, down-to-earth language of the time, which is a big reason why this series became so popular. He also has intricate, multi-layered plots that spins you around until you don't kow where you're going until he pulls it all together in the end.

This tale starts with a simple blackmail and turns quickly into multiple homicides ('the big sleep") that, at first, seem unrelated - other than the fact that Marlowe is in the middle of it all - but Marlowe solves it all in the end.

I doubt that I need to recommend Chandler to anyone who cares about murder mysteries, but if by some wild chance you are interested in such things and haven't read him, do so!

RIP David Johansen

David Johansen, New York Dolls Lead Singer, Dies at 75 Following Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis 

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Hard to believe that they are all gone now - and all far too young.

The NYD were a huge influence on me, even though I admit that I didn't quite understand them when I first heard them but they soon became an all time fave.

David couldn't "sing" in the traditional sense (and that was undoubtedly one reason why the Dolls didn't get bigger than they did at the time) but he was a helluva frontman and a terrific lyricist. 

Damn, it sucks getting old and watching your r'n'r heroes go...

recommended gigs

  

Saturday 3-1-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 3-2-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 3-3-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 3-7-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Skinny Bar

Saturday 3-8-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 3-9-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 3-10-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 3-11-25 - Victims Family, Nasalrod, Fat Dukes of Fuck, the Bitters at the Dive Bar

Tuesday 3-11-25 - the Double Whammys at Composers Room

Friday 3-14-25 - Soldiers of Destruction, Lean 13 and Burlesque at the Double Down

Saturday 3-15-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 3-16-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 3-17-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 3-22-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 3-23-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 3-24-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 3-26-25 - Bear Supply at Red Dwarf

Friday 3-28-25 - Thee Swank Bastards, the Implosions and the Surfers of Mercy at Red Dwarf

Saturday 3-29-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Boulder City Beer Fest and late night at the Golden Tiki

Monday 3-31-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 4-11-25 - Go Betty Go, Lords of Altamont, the Shakewells at the Usual Place

Wednesday 4-23-35 - The Holy Smokes, The Centuries, Lady Luck Lexy and Bo Peep and the Backbeat at the Sand Dollar Spring Mountain

Saturday 4-26-25 - The Ghastly Ones, the Shakewells, Gamblers Mark, Toe Tags at Swan Dive

Sunday 5-25-25 - New Bomb Turks, The Baboon Show, Civic, Cromm Fallon and the P200 at the Usual Place

David Bowie Made Me Gay - Darryl W Bullock

 

The subtitle "100 years of LGBT music" describes the story told here - tales of various musicians who were not strictly heterosexual throughout the last century. This obviously and certainly does not try to be all encompassing but it does its best to give an idea of the LGBT community's influence on modern music.

It begins by introducing Tony Jackson, an influential New Orleans pianist and songwriter who mentored Jelly Roll Morton and pretty much anyone else who came in contact with him. From there we move to the more well known Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith (and some contemporaries) and eventually to the likes of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Liberace.

Bullock apparently tries to be thorough and talks about various record labels dedicated to "risque" and "camp" songs along with a number of nearly-unknown actors who dabbled in music - I suppose these recordings are important in the evolution of LGBT music, but the characters are not that compelling. Although once we get to the 60's and the likes of Joe Meek, things start to pick up again.

Naturally, Wendy Carlos' Switched On Bach gets a chapter - deservedly - and mentions that George Harrison put out an electronic album in 1969, which I knew nothing about! The glam rock scene is also a indisputable topic, although oddly, when talking about Lou Reed, Bullock declines to mention his long affair with the transsexual Rachel and infers that Lou was always straight.

There's a section on lesbian musicians and female-run labels, festivals and more that I was not aware of at all, despite their apparent success. Chapters follow on country and disco, which are not big interests for me (although “These Cocksucking Tears” does sound intriguing!). Funnily enough, Joan Jett and James Williamson played with one singer - apparently country-ish, who I never heard of - who was big at Rodney’s English Disco!

The early punk and new wave scenes were famous for embracing all sexualities (until the macho hard core reared its ugly head) as well as the New Romantics and various permutations (Boy George, Visage, et al) who were well dressed fodder for the scene. There was plenty of blandness - and the rare good tunes - in 80's popular music, and also plenty of varying sexuality. Bullock makes Frankie Goes to Hollywood sound much more subversive than I ever thought they were - I might have to give them a listen, although I'm sure there was nothing there to interest me at the time (nah, still isn't interesting musically in the least, although certainly, blatantly gay). And who knew that Dead or Alive named an album after a Shangri-Las song?! (Although Bullock doesn't acknowledge the steal - or homage - for some reason.)

We move on to "homo hop" - another genre that I did not know existed as I have yet to hear a subdivision of rap that I care for - which has to be even more difficult to exist in than gay country, since rap is known for its homophobia and misogyny. For the same reason, I had no idea that reggae was so backwards concerning gays. Of course, repressive countries are known for their homophobia and Bullock briefly mentions some brave musicians in China, Russia, Africa and other countries.

Nice to see Phranc mentioned in the section on modern female singer-songwriters and, as the book comes to a close, Bullock seems to try to shoe-horn in as many people as he can, as he also talks about the resurgence of some of the artists.

100 years is a long time to try to cover but Bullock does his best to give an overview of this timeline and has certainly enlightened me to artists and scenes that I knew nothing about and had never even heard of. I doubt that anyone will care for all of the music talked about herein, but the book does inform and teaches how music would not have evolved into what it is today without the input from a wide variety of "minorities". 

recommended gigs

 

Thursday 2-20-25 - the Silhouettes at the Double Down

Friday 2-21-25 - the Silhouettes with VaVoom at the Double Down

Sat 2-22-25 - the Silhouettes at Red Dwarf

Saturday 2-22-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 2-23-25 - Thee Swank Bastards with special guys the Silhouettes at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 2-24-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 3-11-25 - Victims Family, Nasalrod, Fat Dukes of Fuck, the Bitters at the Dive Bar

Tuesday 3-11-25 - the Double Whammys at Composers Room

Friday 3-14-25 - Soldiers of Destruction, Lean 13 and Burlesque at the Double Down

Friday 4-11-25 - Go Betty Go, Lords of Altamont, the Shakewells at the Usual Place

Wednesday 4-23-35 - The Holy Smokes, The Centuries, Lady Luck Lexy and Bo Peep and the Backbeat at the Sand Dollar Spring Mountain

Saturday 4-26-25 - The Ghastly Ones, the Shakewells, Gamblers Mark, Toe Tags at Swan Dive

Sunday 5-25-25 - New Bomb Turks, The Baboon Show, Civic, Cromm Fallon and the P200 at the Usual Place

Punk Rock An Oral History - John Robb

 

I really need to keep track of where I first hear about a book or record, cuz I can't remember at all where I first heard of this 2006 tome, but I just discovered it very recently and was able to find it at a reasonable price, so grabbed it. It seems like it should actually be called British Punk Rock, as it is completely Brit-centric, but since that's where Robb is from, that makes sense, I suppose. He has quite a history in music, apparently, although I have never heard or even heard of him or his band, the Membranes - guess I should see what they're about while I'm at it...

In any case, this is another book in the Please Kill Me mode (which pre-dates this one by 10 years or so, and had an almost identical subtitle) with snippets of interviews with early participants compiled together in a chronological order to make a coherent story. Of course, most of the early punks grew up in the late 50's and 60's, making them exposed to the wildness that was early rock'n'roll and most everyone has pretty stellar taste in music (although I never got the reggae/punk connection, which seems to be a British thing, overall), which is why they created such cool sounds themselves!

Funnily - to me, anyway - Robb puts footnotes on glaringly obvious things but not on some very British things and people that Americans like me have no idea about. But, I guess if I really cared, I could look them up, couldn't I? (I just did and discovered that someone was talking about a soccer player - I never would have guessed, even in context there was no clue.) Also, early on I noticed a blatant error in the footnotes, so take it all with a barrel of salt...

Most of the people interviewed actually come off very well, somewhat modest in their accomplishments and acknowledging their influences - except for Lydon, of course, who, as always, comes off pretty insufferable. As we all know, the New York scene is where everything started and those bands - especially the Ramones - were the blueprint for the London scene, although Robb's narrative makes it sound like punk existed only in England, even while he talks about the importance of bands like the Ramones (and others), as when he calls Damned, Damned, Damned the first punk album! Clearly, he means the first British punk album, as the New York scene had already released a number of LPs.  Laughable since he already talked about how much the Ramones first several albums (among others) influenced everyone in Britain.

Sniffin’ Glue was the beginning of the British punk fanzines - influenced by the Ramones and NY’s Punk magazine, of course. I loved it when I could find it back in the day but had no idea that by the end they were going 20,000 issues! Wonder if that’s a piss take cuz that’s amazing!

As an aside - Robb mentions Eddie Cochran a few times but spells it “Cochrane” - no idea why but kind of annoying! Things like this and other bits I've already mentioned makes Robb a bit unreliable, but, as I said, the main characters interviewed - with a few exceptions - do their best to set the record straight and not over-sensationalize their (legit) accomplishments. Hilariously, Robb also mentions that  what he calls "punk's second wave" (although probably at least 3rd by then, in reality) were the "true punk bands fulfilling punk's original prophecy". Certainly up for interpretation, although he seems to be equating hard core (I suppose I should say "Oi bands", since it's Britain) with punk rock, which is not the same in my mind, so there ya go...

So, as time goes on Robb gets into bands that I have never heard and have not been interested in (although maybe I should check some out and see what I've been missing) so the book starts to flag for me and is nowhere near as exciting as the early days. But, I'm sure that others will find this period more interesting than the original days, if that's where their interest lies. Having said that, there are some interesting groups in the post-punk/goth/mod/whatever scenes, so there's always something to bring back interest. He ends things in 1984 - a decent place considering he's not trying to create a history of punk rock!

Naturally, this was a big endeavor and Robb should be heralded for that, despite some minor quibbles. Certainly a good read for fans of real punk rock!

RIP Rick Buckler

Rick Buckler, The Jam drummer, dead at 69 

---

I loved the first two Jam albums - a great mix of punk rock and the mod-era Who that was definitely driven by Buckler.

Got to see them once about the time of the 2nd album and they were ferocious! 

Sad to hear of Rick's passing.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Live at Fillmore East 1969

 

Stills and Young have discovered the master tapes for this show, recorded a month after their smash set at Woodstock, and compiled and mixed the original 8 track tapes, keeping it all analog. A similar set to the famous Four Way Street double live album, this nonetheless has some variety and a few surprises.

This opens will a full performance of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", as opposed to the few seconds of the finale that appears on Four Way Street. This ode to Judy Collins - Stills' lover - has a bit of melody variations from the recorded version and shows the four seeming to enjoy themselves and the sound that they are creating. As they would always do, they start off with the four of them acoustically, then move onto a few solo slots (although they seem to support each other more here than on Four Way Street and mix things up a bit more) before bringing on Greg Reeves and Dallas Taylor (bass and drums) for an electric set.

So, they collaborate on their harmony-drenched cover of "Blackbird", "Helplessly Hoping", "Guinnevere" (with some striking acoustic guitar interplay), Nash's "Lady of the Island", Stephen gets bluesy on "Go Back Home" (as he did on "Black Queen" on 4 Way), Young gives us his terrific "On the Way Home", back to Stills and his fine finger-pickin' on "4 + 20", Nash accompanies himself just on organ for an unusual "My House", there's a nice Young number that I'm unfamiliar with, "I've Loved Her So Long" (with neat harmonies) before Steve finishes the acoustic portion with his great "You Don't Have to Cry".

Crosby's "Long Time Gone" has always been one of their best electric tunes, with terrific guitar interplay, subtle organ touches and, of course, their harmonies and vocal interplay between Crosby and Stills. Another highlight is the famous "Wooden Ships" (cowritten between Crosby, Stills and Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner, who also covered it), with the same instrumentation and interplay, followed by Stills' "Bluebird Revisited" given a powerful, organ-fueled performance here - sounds like Steve on the keys, as he was a terrific player. Young's "Sea of Madness" is one that I always loved from Woodstock and this performance is at least as strong and he continues to shine in his "Down By the River", which would become a two guitar workout between Stills and Young and damn if this isn't one of the better recorded versions of this classic as the two of them play harmony lines as well as play against each other (even if one of them is slightly out of tune!). For the finale, they go back to "wooden music" (as they called it) for the amazing, harmony-drenched classic "Find the Cost of Freedom".

Yes, I've been a fan since this combo first appeared and this is truly a solid performance from start to finish. I know that many critics maligned 4 Way for various reasons, but damn if this isn't the better record, IMHO. Fans will definitely want it!

On the Road with the Ramones - Monte Melnick and Frank Meyer

 I should have gotten'n'read this 2019 book ages ago, but for whatever reason it eluded my grasp. I just happened to check our library for it and lo'n'behold, they had it! 

Melnick is, of course, the Ramones tour manager from the start to the finish and Frank Meyer is our old friend from the Streetwalkin' Cheetahs and innumerable other groups - far too many to name - who has managed to be involved in videos, movies and books as well as a star-studded musical career (he is on tour with Handsome Dick Manitoba, as of this writing!).

The Ramones changed the course of musical history with their first album and their incredible live shows and there is basically no one making music today that does not owe them a debt of gratitude! Obviously, I have read other books telling their story before, but here is a new persepctive.

Monte became friends with Tommy early on and formed a band together called Triad after the Tangerine Puppets (Tommy's band with Johnny) broke up. They were fast friends who saw lots of amazing acts and decided to try a power trio themselves. That split up and Tommy started working at the Record Plant and was involved with Hendrix's Band of Gypsies album, among others! That story always amazes me!

The Ramones tale is also always fascinating, even though I naturally know the gist of it all, so the story flows quickly and it is an easy read. Again, this is a book where the story is told from interviews with the folks who were there - from the band members to friends to family - even the parents! 

This tale also includes the behind-the-scenes folks - the road crew that normally does not get much mention but they keep the band going on tours and without them, there wouldn't be a show. The crew is usually crazier than the bands themselves and it seems that this bunch is no exception!

They get into a bit of the band's personalities - Johnny's racism, Joey's OCD, Dee Dee drug abuse and crazy girlfriends, Marky's alcoholism and bug eating, etc. Tommy seems like he was always pretty steady and CJ just liked to party and pick up chicks! Of course, Johnny ending up marrying Joey's girlfriend caused a lot of friction and more than one person says that "KKK Took My Baby Away" was about that since Johnny was racist - kinda wow!

Of course, we go through the entire career, right through the end and beyond, with post-career accolades and more, right up through their deaths. 

Really well done - kudos to Melnick and Meyer for a great job of telling the tale that everyone who loves rock'n'roll needs to know. Sorry it took me so long to pick this up!

The Hellacopters - Overdriver

 

Anyone who knows me or has read this blog knows that I have been a fanatical follower of the Hellacopters since first discovering them in the 90's - I think Payin' The Dues might already have been out. I was floored by their Detroit-styled, noise-ridden punk'n'roll, with great songs, crazed guitars and lots of attitude. They cleaned up their act some as they evolved, but always had solid songs and terrific guitar playing throughout. They split up in 2008 for a number of years before reforming and releasing Eyes of Oblivion in '22 and now this is their latest follow up.

I must admit that although I have dug pretty much everything that the band has done, these "reunion" records are not quite as great as their previous work. On "Eyes..." they had Dregen back on second guitar but due to some medical issues (as I understand it), he does not appear on this record and Nicke handles all of the lead guitar work himself - some extra rhythm guitar work is provided by the keyboardist (long time member Boba) and new bassist Rudolf de Borst (they still have original drummer Robert Eriksson, as well).

The songs are also just not as dynamic as the earlier work. Not to say that this is a bad record - it definitely still rocks powerfully - but is just not as memorable as pretty much everything that Nicke and company did previous to their split. Fans will need to pick it up, of course, but if you're just starting out discovering the Hell's, grab their earlier stuff first, for sure - Super Shitty to the Max (Swedish Grammy winning!) and Payin' the Dues are monsters!

recommended gigs

               

Friday 2-14-25 - the Minges, Crimson Riot, VaVoom at the Double Down

Saturday 2-15-25 - TV Party Tonight 10th Anniversary at the Double Down with live music by Stagnetti's Cock

Saturday 2-15-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Monday 2-17-125 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden TIki

Thursday 2-20-25 - the Silhouettes at the Double Down

Sat 2-22-25 - the Silhouettes at Red Dwarf

Saturday 2-22-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 2-23-25 - Thee Swank Bastards with special guys the Silhouettes at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 2-24-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 3-11-25 - Victims Family, Nasalrod, Fat Dukes of Fuck, the Bitters at the Dive Bar

Tuesday 3-11-25 - the Double Whammys at Composers Room

Friday 4-11-25 - Go Betty Go, Lords of Altamont, the Shakewells at the Usual Place

Saturday 4-26-25 - The Ghastly Ones, the Shakewells, Gamblers Mark, Toe Tags at Swan Dive

Sunday 5-25-25 - New Bomb Turks, The Baboon Show, Civic, Cromm Fallon and the P200 at the Usual Place

Dr. Feelgood - Richard A Lertzman and William J Birnes

 

Of course, I have known about such doctors - maybe not this one specifically, although it's possible - but I did not know of the extent of celebrities who availed themselves to such medical specialists. I certainly had no idea - which was the point - of John F. Kennedy's numerous illnesses and weaknesses and injuries. The way he is described here, he sounds like a near-cripple that Max Jacobson brought to life and gave him his presidential career!

The doctor’s personal story is fascinating, as he began his career in Germany, but had to escape to Praque when the Nazis came to power (he was warned of his upcoming arrest by a grateful Nazi patient), then to Paris and eventually to New York. The tales of this progression are fascinating, but it is when he starts his practice in America that he begins to treat major celebrities - Cecil B DeMille, among them.

(As an aside, I think it is fairly hilarious that his second wife was named Nina Hagen!)

His fame and practice continued to grow in New York and his list of clients - if this book is to be believed - is almost beyond belief! I won't list them all here (there is an appendix at the end of the book), but there are harrowing tales of addiction caused by Jacobson's "magic elixir", and careers rising to great heights and terrible depths.

There is certainly speculation and sensationalism in this book and I believe that the narrative needs to be taken with a grain of salt. When the authors get into the Marilyn Monroe affairs with JFK and Bobby Kennedy and intervention by the CIA, there is no way that they could know for a fact the things that they intimate. But, it all makes for a good story! Same with the conspiracy theory of JFK's murder, in which they conflate basic knowledge of the event and basically say that it is a fact that the CIA was behind it. I'm not saying that this isn't plausible, but it seems that the authors purposely confuse basic facts just so that no one takes them too seriously.

After a few patients had severe side effects and some even died, there was finally a investigation into the doctor's methods and eventually he lost his license and, even though some patients stuck with him til the end, he was disgraced and died in infamy.

This is a wild story, if even a fraction of it can be believed! Fascinating and enthralling and at just a few hundred pages, it is a quick'n'easy read. Check it out for some crazy tales of 60's celebrities and presidential misbehavior! (The story of JFK running through a hotel naked is a new one for me!)

recommended gigs

              

Friday 2-7-25 - the Implosions, Tippy Elvis, Triple Splits at Red Dwarf

Friday 2-7-25 - the New Waves at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 2-8-25 - Bear Supply at the Double Down

Saturday 2-8-25 - Cheap Trick at the Westgate

Saturday 2-8-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 2-9-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 2-10-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 2-14-25 - the Minges, Crimson Riot, VaVoom at the Double Down

Saturday 2-15-25 - TV Party Tonight 10th Anniversary at the Double Down with live music by Stagnetti's Cock

Saturday 2-15-25 - Surfer Joe at Fat Cat

Saturday 2-15-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 2-16-25 - Surfer Joe at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 2-17-125 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden TIki

Sat 2-22-25 - the Silhouettes at Red Dwarf

Saturday 2-22-25 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Monday 2-24-25 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 3-11-25 - Victims Family, Nasalrod, Fat Dukes of Fuck, the Bitters at the Dive Bar

Friday 4-11-25 - Go Betty Go, Lords of Altamont, the Shakewells at the Usual Place

Saturday 4-26-25 - The Ghastly Ones, the Shakewells, Gamblers Mark, Toe Tags at Swan Dive

Sunday 5-25-25 - New Bomb Turks, The Baboon Show, Civic, Cromm Fallon and the P200 at the Usual Place