Tag: music

C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas Windows Genuine Advantage

  1. I apologize for barely reading any of you lately. A new job and shoulder problems aren’t conducive to plowing through LJ posts and RSS feeds. If you’ve announced something to the world via LJ that you assume I know, I don’t!
  2. Shoulder. Ow, still, I had to get forceful with the internal medicine guy about the fact that the pace of investigation is glacial and I hurt so damn much that I spend a fair amount of time writhing. He tightened up the appointment schedule and gave me some Vicodin, which is unpleasantly doping but does give me a couple of hours taking the edge off.
  3. I think I might go to Bar Camp L.A. ( http://barcamp.org/BarcampLA-3 ) tomorrow. It looks pleasantly nerdy, and a least a couple of people I know are going. I hope the nerds can deal with 12th & Long Beach in the warehouse district!
  4. I heard a My Chemical Romance song and liked it. Yow.
  5. On more definite musical ground, I enjoy this band The Early Years tremendously. ( http://www.theearlyyears.org.uk/ ). They sound a bit like the Chameleons and earlier Joy Division, or even Television. But not imitators either, I think. Let me know what you think. obnoxicant in particular!
  6. I am reading a history of the Algerian war. What a horrible mess.
  7. I enjoy my new job.

Open Letter: Punk Rock

I got a myspace friend request from a band called “Hey Stroker” ( http://www.myspace.com/heystrokeroc ). Here’s what they have to say about themselves:

Hey everyone you probably haven’t heard of us yet but we’re Hey Stroker a melodic, punk-rock from Mission Viejo, CA in Orange County. Some people say we’re sort of like the Beach Boys playing intriguing pop-punk. We combine screaming guitar leads with punchy bass lines, pounding drum beats, and the well-crafted lyrical and vocal arrangements. Everyone says we sound like Blink 182 but, we don’t. We have a high-octane, radio-friendly sound that’s all our own so whoever says we are a Blink 182 rip-off, FUCK YOU! Activities we enjoy include partying, drinking beer, and surfing thats why most of our music is about chiks, beer, surfing, ex-girlfriends(aka hos), or various parts of the human body mainly pussy, tits, and ass.

Okay. Guys? Punk rock may or may not be melodic, but it’s not radio-friendly, nor is it about “chiks, beer, surfing…” etc. Punk rock lyrics are sometimes about beer and sex, or surfing, but that’s not the point. Punk rock is liberation. When I say “liberation,” I mean liberation from stupid money-grubbing capitalism, consumer culture, war, educational credentialism, smooth nice music, bourgeois sensibilities, bigotry, oppressive politics, official anything, corporate media, TV, suburban self-satisfied smugness, and unthinking racial and gender assumptions. Punk rock is D.I.Y. instead of buying or copying shit. Punk Rock is about being polite to the cop and flipping off the mayor, because the mayor is the problem and the cop is just a worker. Punk rock is about communicating everything above with hard, rough, unrefined and uneducated noise and having a fucking great time doing it and sharing it with everyone else.

In sum, punk rock is about liberation from you. Dump your privilege and your expensive guitars, stop imitating, and start over. You’re still young and you have a chance at the real thing.

Punk rock saved my life. Don’t shit all over it for five bucks when you don’t even know what it is.

sweet home tendinitis

Got a call from Trout. He’s going to be here visiting soon, probably, because a mutual friend is ill. Bad news but it will be good to see him.

I wish to entirely blame the visiting eyeteeth for the fact that John Parr’s horrible “St. Elmo’s Fire/Man in Motion” is stuck in my head. Won’t you just strap a mullet on me and shoot me.

lasagnese always wins

Something to do Thurs the 8th in the 909

Recommended for anyone stuck in the Inland Empire who likes loud clanking surf-industrial African-themed art damage music. From the Savage Republic mailing list. ALSO: They have an advance EP that you can buy right now on mobilization.com.

In lieu of rehearsing one more night, our friend Robin is allowing us to play a show in Montclair, CA. on Thursday night, February the 8th. NO COVER! Great beer on tap, and we promise to deliver a full set of favorites and new ditties! It will also be the first chance to pick up the Siam EP. Come join the fun! ALL AGES!!!!

Biacci’s
775 N. Central Avenue
Upland, CA 91786
909-946-0990

See you there!
SR

But what about the Kottonmouth Kings?

I get the best anon comments. Today’s reader mail:

ok ICP N juggalo$ iN geNeral r the oNly ppl with ballz enough 2 $ay wat they have 2 $ay. N they aiNt a baNd! N if they r $o bad theN they wouldNt have made $o much fukiN mmoNey N they got famou$ from lo$erz like u who bad mouth them $o go ahead keep talkiN yo $hit cuz thatz wat makez them famou$. but u $hould really li$teN to their mu$ic b4 u talk $hit ok. thanx MMFCL haha

From this post: http://substitute.livejournal.com/446376.html?style=mine