The Velvet Underground - MGM Inter-Office Memo - November 1968

Courtesy of the Velvet Forum

Johnny Thunders Obituary - NME

Johnny deserved better than this poorly researched piece of crap journalism.  You would think if the NME wanted to dedicate that much space, they could have found a writer that could get Jerry Nolan's name correct.  "Jimmy Nolan?!"  JT wrote "Private Love?"  Terry Chimes stood in for Nolan "for a while?"  "In '79 with no band to call his own" he became addicted to heroin?  This writer should be banished to a high school and forced to write captions for yearbook photos.  Go to hell, NME...you piece of shit rag.

Latest Batusis West Coast Tour Info!

We spend time in candle-lit rooms together.

Straight from the Batusis promo department is the latest date/venue info for the impending West Coast USA tour, kickin' off on October 15:

Friday, October 15th
at Hensley’s Flying Elephant, Carlsbad, CA
tickets $10
set times TBA

Saturday, October 16
at Alex's Bar, Long Beach, CA
tickets $10
Batusis at 11:30pm, also playing The Stitches, Neighborhood Bullys

Sunday, October 17
at Thee Parkside, San Francisco, CA
tickets $12 / $15
doors at 8pm – The Revolts also playing

Tuesday, October 19
at Lola's Room @ Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR
tickets $15
set times TBA, also playing Shock Troops, The Perfect Look

Wednesday, October 20
at The FunHouse, Seattle, WA
tickets $12
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124104
Batusis at midnight, The Pranks, Thankless Dogs

Friday, October 22
at Tonic Lounge, Reno, NV
set times TBA, also playing The Flesh Hammers

Saturday, October 23
at Blue Lamp, Sacramento, CA
tickets $10 / $12 door
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124440
Batusis 11pm; The Secretions 10pm

Sunday, October 24
at Viper Room, Hollywood, CA
tickets $12 / $15
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?
Batusis 10:30pm; Royal Highness 9:30pm; JJ & The Real Jerks 8:30pm

Tuesday, October 26th
at Brick By Brick, San Diego, CA
tickets $10

Wednesday, October 27
at The Rhythm Room, Phoenix, AZ
tickets $10  / $12
Batusis 10pm, Scorpion vs. Tarantula 9pm, Becky Lee 8pm 

Thursday, October 28 
at Las Vegas Country Saloon, Las Vegas NV

Johnny Thunders Arrested!

May 19, 1981

Ron Asheton's New Order - Live in Los Angeles 1976

Photo courtesy of Philippe Mogane

The New Order, existing between 1975-76, is a band little-known outside of the small core of die hard Stooges and MC5 fans.  For a quick review, here is what is posted on Wikipedia:

After The Stooges imploded in 1974, former Stooges lead guitarist Ron Asheton formed a new band, ultimately acquiring drummer Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson, bass player Jimmy Recca, and keyboardist Scott Thurston. For a while, the new band shared rehearsal space at a house owned by Ray Manzarek, during his collaboration with Stooges' lead singer Iggy Pop.  When The New Order's first singer Jeff Spry was forced to quit the band (due to jail time incurred from a drinking/quaalude related DUI coupled with failure to perform community service), The New Order's first drummer, K.J. Knight, recommended Dave Gilbert as a replacement. K.J. and Gilbert had both been veterans of the 1971/1972 incarnations of Ted Nugent's Amboy Dukes. After keyboardist Scott Thurston quit, his position was filled by a second guitarist, Ray Gunn, another Detroit veteran who was recommended by Dennis Thompson.

Those are the basics.  Bottom line is that for a short time, this was a shit-hot band with a couple of legendary musicians.  Very few live recordings exist, but I have one here for ya.  The sound ain't that great, but hopefully you'll enjoy it.  This was originally posted as a lossless torrent online (this one is 320kbps MP3), but the more people that hear about The New Order, the better.  Oh, and if anyone can identify track number 5 I'd be very appreciative.  Download HERE.

THE NEW ORDER

Venice Pavillion, Los Angeles CA

Unknown date in 1976

01 Victim Of Circumstance
02 Victim Of Circumstance (continued)
03 Hit And Run / Never Be The Same Again
04 Break On Through
05 ?
06 Sold For Cash Girl
07 Love The One You Can't Lose
08 Of Another World 

Ron Asheton - guitar

Ray Gunn - guitar

Jimmy Recca - bass
Dennis Thompson - drums
Dave Gilbert - vocals

My friend Retro Kimmer has provided me links to all of Machine Gun Thompson's information about the band.  Head over to MGT's blog and read all about The New Order - firsthand from their drummer!

The New Order review by Doc Savage

The New Order Will Get Ya!

The Beginning of The New Order, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

October Walter Lure Gigs in the UK & NYC!!

Yes, Waldo is still out there!  He's still got his day job, so gigs are few and far between. 

It's obvious that when he plays it's strictly for the fans.  No more rent parties, no more hustling...just Walter and his band playing for adoring (small) crowds.  At first, you may think, "Nah, I ain't in for no nostalgia act," but think again.  He is performing not because he HAS to, but because he WANTS to.  He's not playing for nostalgia's sake - he's playing for YOUR sake, so you can hear the songs you sing to yourself every day, sung by the dude who wrote 'em (or co-wrote, whatever the case may be).

10/02 - The Bell House, Brooklyn NY (w/ The Vibrators)
10/14 - The 100 Club, London, UK
10/15 - Labour Club, Northampton, UK
10/16 - Actress & Bishop, Birmingham, UK
10/28 - Bowery Electric, NYC (w/ The Zeroes/F Units/Dirty Shames) 

And for your viewing pleasure, is a video of the Waldos playing at the Delancey in NYC this month.  Who's that bass player?  It's fuckin' Billy Rath!!

I Pity The Fool That Threatens Our Shul!

 

 

Happy Sukkot Everyone!

Ron Asheton Obituary - New York Times, 2009

It took me a long time to truly appreciate the genius of Asheton.  I must confess, I stupidly mistook simplicity for an inability to play.  And that was his M.O. - a simple, aggressive, 6-string assault.  No gimmicks, no violin bows, no Rock Star cliche´s or poses.  Growing as a musician after the Stooges debut LP, on Funhouse he showed an incredible ability to focus his aggression into even more powerful music.  Sorta like putting down your Tommy Gun and picking up an M-16.  The only chance I had to see the (reunion) Stooges play live with Ron, I was working night shift and couldn't take time off.  My loss.

Get Yourself Some Rockabilly - Sin Alley vol. 1

Before there was Punk, and come to think of it, before Rock & Roll, there was Rockabilly.  Attitude, twangy guitars, sex, and everything to make yer parents cringe.  As allmusic.com explains:

Rockabilly was a wild, hepped-up meeting between country & western music and early rhythm & blues. It was one of the very first forms of rock & roll, and it was the first one performed predominantly by white musicians (almost all of whom came from the South). Rockabilly was played with spare instrumentation: a twangy electric guitar and an acoustic stand-up bass whose strings were snapped percussively in a technique dubbed "slap-back" (which sometimes made drums unnecessary). Rockabilly had a thumping, jumping beat that easily made it the most propulsive, visceral, and implicitly sexual style of "white" American music up to that point. Essentially, it made rock & roll accessible to white audiences, thus touching off a cultural revolution the effects of which are still being felt. The genesis of rockabilly dates back to the early '50s, when Bill Haley started fusing electrified country boogie with jump blues. But the style truly crystallized on Elvis Presley's 1954-56 recordings for the Sun label, which captured the manic, primal energy that would become a rockabilly staple. They also established rockabilly's signature production style: echoed vocals, loads of reverb, and a warm, crisp ambience that became the Sun label's trademark.

Here's a great intro to the genre, and if you are already in the know, I bet you haven't heard a good number of these tunes.

Download Sin Alley vol. 1  ripped at 192 kpbs --> HERE

MOJO Magazine - The Roots Of Punk CD

Here's a compilation from June 2006 that I keep comin' back to.  It leaves out some of the more standard go-to's in terms of Punk ancestry (MC5, the Velvet Underground, The Sonics, etc.), but includes a number of bands that Americans should learn to appreciate...even if it's belated appreciation.  MOJO makes no bones about being a British magazine, which is what a love about it.  That's why their compilations always introduce me to something new.

I can't really wrap my head around Be Bop Deluxe's Sound Track being a predecesor to Punk.  Sounds like standard late 60s/early 70s rock to me.  As for Mott's track, it sounds more like a Led Zep ripoff with some Deep Purple flourishes to me.  (It doesn't help that Limp Biskit ripped off the piano melody).  You probably have your own opinions about what was and was not an influence to the Punk movement, so feel free to disagree!

For you Stooges fans, I am pretty sure this is the Metallic KO version of Search & Destroy.

Download the MP3s HERE in 192kbps.

01 New York Dolls - Personality Crisis 3:40 02 T. Rex - Calling All Destroyers 3:51 03 Hollywood Brats - Sick on You 5:05 04 Jook - Watch Your Step 3:18 05 The Count Bishops - Teenage Letter 2:20 06 The Hammersmith Gorillas - Gatecrasher 2:56 07 Kilburn and the High Roads - Rough Kids 2:22 08 Dr. Feelgood - Riot in Cell Block No.9 3:34 09 Eddie and the Hot Rods - 96 Tears 2:49 10 Mott the Hoople - Thunderbuck Ram 4:30 11 Hawkwind - Motorhead 3:04 12 Can - Mushroom 4:03 13 Be-Bop Deluxe - Sound Track 6:06 14 Groundhogs - Cherry Red 5:43 15 Iggy and the Stooges - Search and Destroy 8:33

Early 1980s Johnny Thunders Interview

A short (2:17) but great interview in France sometime in the early 80s.  He sounds great!

Download or just listen to the interview --> HERE

Iggy & James Williamson - Kill City Remastered!

James & Iggy, photographed by Susan Carson

Kill City is Iggy Pop and James Williamson’s often overlooked, yet ultimately essential album that musically bridges the gap between The Stooges’ volatile 1973 studio masterpiece Raw Power and Iggy’s fi rst two magnifi cent solo efforts, The Idiot and Lust for Life. Originally recorded in 1975 and later released by Bomp! Records in ‘77, critics have long lauded the songs and performances on Kill City but have also regarded the overall sound as “sludgy.”

The sound quality of Kill City was compromised from the get-go, as it originally suffered from a bad pressing (on the infamous green vinyl), and over the years the quality of the record itself managed to get even worse. When the original distributor went out of business, the 2-track album production masters vanished and every subsequent pressing of the album - on record, cassette and CD - used a copy of that defi cient green vinyl as its master.

Now 33 years later, Alive Naturalsound and Bomp! Records are co-releasing the long overdue restored, re-mixed and remastered version of this historically important record. James remixed the album with engineer Ed Cherney at Capitol Records in Hollywood, and as the guitarist states, “He just made this record sound, well, like it should have sounded all along. It has fi nally reached its full potential.”

Kill City will be available on October 19th as a CD Digipak featuring the original 1977 artwork and a 24-page booklet with rare and unseen photos. The vinyl fi rst-run is a limited edition of 1,000 on clear green vinyl (as an homage to the original 1977 pressing). There are no bonus tracks, but, with this newly restored version, people will be able to discover, or re-discover, a truly great album as it was intended to sound.

FOR MORE INFO ON IGGY POP AND THE STOOGES:
http://www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com
www.myspace.com/iggyandthestooges

FOR MORE INFO ON JAMES WILLIAMSON:
www.straightjameswilliamson.com

FOR MORE INFO ON ALIVE & BOMP RECORDS:
www.alive-totalenergy.com
www.bomp.com

Kill City will be available on October 19th as a CD Digipak featuring the original 1977 artwork and a 24-page booklet with rare and unseen photos. The vinyl fi rst-run is a limited edition of 1,000 on clear green vinyl (as an homage to the original 1977 pressing). There are no bonus tracks, but, with this newly restored version, people will be able to discover, or re-discover, a truly great album as it was intended to sound.

John Lydon and Israel

A fantastic interview in Israel for his 31 August gig in Tel Aviv.  John puts the pathetic Brit protesters in their place, exposing their blatant hypocrisy and anti-Semitism for what it is.  "Jews are people, too," he points out.  Why can't more artists speak their mind in such an articulate, intelligent way?  Fuck you Elvis Costello, Frank Black, Santana, and all of your ilk.  And what makes the Costello situation funny, is that his wife performed in Israel after he chose not to! 





And here is another one from Tel Aviv.

Johnny Thunders, Johnny Morgan, and the Coonskin Coat!

 

Johnny Thunders, 1979

Thanks to Retro Kimmer for providing the following story, written by Johnny Morgan.  Follow the link at the bottom for the full tale...

Gang War was on one of their first east coast tours that ended up in NYC with a gig at The Mudd Club. The Mudd Club was an interesting gig. The dressing room was upstairs and you rode a freight elevator down to the stage. The curtain on the stage was a metal garage door that rose up when you started the show. The fans were banging on it before it rose it up. The dressing room was packed because this was Johnny's big comeback to NYC after being on hiatus and cleaning up his act in Michigan. David Johansen was there and asked Johnny to introduce us. "So is this your new drummer Johnny" David said in that thick New York City accent. 

Real nice chap. Willie (Mink) DeVille was there with his girlfriend and looking very stylish in a New York way. Gang War rides the elevator down to the stage and puts on a good performance. There's a recording of this show that is circulating but I haven't heard it yet. It's been getting good reviews. We ride up the elevator to the dressing room and we can hear the crowd downstairs wanting an encore. Johnny is putting on black face make-up like Al Jolson for the encore whom he admired. We go down the elevator with David Johanson and Willie DeVille who has his harmonicas. Johnny goes into "Just because I'm White" with Willie on harmonica. 

After the show the party continues and we go to CBGB's and park our RV right in front of the entrance until a cop comes along and informs us we gotta move it. The next day we're driving around NYC on our way out of town to head back to Detroit. In the RV are Wayne Kramer, Ron Cooke, Johnny Thunders, Gary Burmele (Johnny's caregiver) and myself. Johnny and Gary are in the midst of arguing about something, who knows what, probably drugs or behavior issues. We're driving around the garment district in this huge RV where clothes are hung outside the store fronts to lure shoppers in. Johnny stops in mid sentence of his argument with Gary and says "I gotta have that coat", referring to a full length raccoon fur coat he saw that was hanging up out front of the store like the ones that were popular with male college students in the 1920's. 

 We stop the RV and Park it while Gary and Johnny go in to purchase it. The proprietor takes the coat down from out front and goes inside. Gary and Johnny, wearing his new raccoon coat, emerge from the store with big grins on their faces. They get back on the RV and are all happy acting like some married couple who has had an argument and the husband buys her a gift to make-up for the quarrel and everything is alright again. We're driving back to Michigan and stop at one of those Gas station/quickie mart deals in Pennsylvania, I mean like hicksville man, and we're stocking up on eats...

Read the full story at Retro Kimmer!

Best Use of a King Crimson Song

This one wins the award. The song is 21st Century Schizoid Man.  God Bless Foundation Skateboards: