You Goddamned Son of a Bitch!!!

 

Flew into Chicago Midway this past Friday. Always amazing to be in Chicago, more 

so now that I live so close. I flew back out three days later on Monday, back to LaLaLand to work for two weeks. Of course, my boss is awesome, and when he asked me to cycle back in for a week to help out in-house, I asked if I could A) time my stint to coincide with Beyondfest, and B) if I could stay the entire two weeks of the fest. Once a patron of the festival himself (and the person who originally introduced me to it way back in 2012), he replied of course.

It's cool being back in LaLaLand, even if everything about the texture of the city reminds me why I left. There is garbage literally everywhere. Living here, you start to become desensitized to stuff like that; it's a mental and emotional survival skill to ignore crises like that. But once you're away for even a little while, you see it for what it is: an indicator that the population has given up because the civic leaders either don't care or have given up, and infrastructure suffers. This entire city just seems sad to me now. Filthy and dying. Of course, there are still bright bastions of joy housed here, a focal point for so much creative energy for so long now, but the top-heavy corruption that (probably) began with the old studio systems has finally evolved into something of an apex, and it doesn't look good.

Glad I got out but kept a tie. Nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live here (anymore).

But Chicago! Oh, the majesty! I had not driven on Lake Shore Drive for easily two decades, and I did so Saturday night, up to the Chicago Metro for Cold Waves X Day 1. We arrived late and missed the first few bands, but Rein was fantastic, Stromkern also fantastic, and Revco... well, talk about a dream come true, to finally see one of my favorite and most influential bands since Mr. Brown turned me on to them in High School. The night was perfect. The setlist:

Cattle Grind

Physical

Stainless Steel Providers

38 (with Richard 23)

Crackin' Up

Attack Ships on Fire

Something Wonderful

No Devotion

Beers, Steers and Queers

Do You Think I'm Sexy (with Duane Buford and Richard 23)

I might have mixed up the order a bit, but those are the songs.

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Watch:

My first Beyondfest screening is tomorrow night at the Aero in Santa Monica. Dario Argento's Dark Glasses:

I'm pretty psyched. After that, Saturday a bunch of us scored free tickets to Trick R' Treat on the big screen at the Hollywood Legion Theatre. Director Michael Dougherty will be in attendance for a Q&A. Pretty psyched. 

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NCBD:

Despite the fact that I will be visiting The Comic Bug on this trip, that's not until next week, and I won't be picking up any of the titles I have on my regular pull list back at Rick's Comic City in Clarksville. So this is what will be sitting in my box from this week when I get back to TN:

And Declan Shalvey's new book, Old Dog:

Mr. Shalvey is writing and drawing this, so I am very excited. I've been a fan of his since his work with Warren Ellis, particularly their six-issue run on Moon Knight (the definitive modern run, in my opinion) and Injection, one of if not my absolute favorite ongoing independent comic series in recent memory. Couple that with the writing chops he displayed with 2019's graphic novel Bog Bodies, and Old Dog feels poised to be an immediate obsession.

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Playlist:

Revco - Beers, Steers and Queers

Revco - Bix Sexy Land

Revco  - Linger Fickin' Good

Revco - You Goddamned Son of a Bitch

Thee Sacred Souls - Eponymous

Stereolab - Pulse of of the Early Brain (Switched On Vol. 5)

The Flamingos - Best of Playlist

Rein - Reincarnated

Idles - Joy as an Act of Resistance

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children

Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Brain Telephone

Stromkern - Armageddon

Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Joe Begos' Bliss Playlist

Misfits - Static Age

Dio - Last in Line

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Card:

I haven't had the time to write or post an entry here (been working on this one since Monday), but I have been doing daily pulls:

Tuesday, 9/27/22:

Wednesday, 9/28/22:

Thursday, 9/29/22:

No time to try and read these all now, let alone write anything down, but I always try to record these here for posterity's sake.

Linger Fickin' Good, Baby!

 

Getting psyched to see "The Revolting Corpse" at the end of the month, courtesy of Mr. Brown. I'm not entirely sure who will be on stage, but either way, it's sure to be amazing.

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Watch:

K and I wrapped up Evil season 3 on Paramount Plus the other day. As always, this show leaves an ENORMOUS void when it's off. I have a feeling the next season may be the final; either way, with the low-grade anxiety Netflix is resonating with its coy attitude toward Sandman's renewal, it's good to know that the next season of Evil has already been announced. 

Next up, Feud!

 

We'd been meaning to watch this since it aired back in 2017, and our timing proves fortuitous, as a quick look-up on IMDB surprised us with the listing for an upcoming season two slated for next year.

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Read:

I finished Irvine Welsh's Marabou Stork Nightmares. Jesus. This was easily his darkest book, and that's bloody well saying something. Still, I loved most of it; it always feels like slipping into a favorite Marathon Shirt when I tackle one of Welsh's novels, and despite several absolutely soul-searing scenes, this was no exception. Next up, Welsh's long-time friend Sandy McNair's tell-all book Carspotting: The Real-Life Adventures of Irvine Welsh.

Like Marabou, I've had this one for over a decade. After this, I'm thinking I may re-read Welsh's 2006 novel Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chiefs, which I haven't read since it came out.

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Playlist:

King Woman - Celestial Blues

Charles Bradley - Changes

Cocksure - Corporate_Sting

The High Confessions - Turning Lead Into Gold with the High Confessions

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Willie Nelson & Leon Russell - One For the Road

The Black Angels - Eponymous EP

The Black Angels - Death Song

The Afghan Whigs - How Do You Burn? (pre-release singles)

The Afghan Whigs - In Spades

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

The Bangles - Different Light

Joseph Bishara - Malignant OST

No Devotion For Mr. Gibson

 

A little old-school Chicago Industrial to kick things off today.

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Watch:

This is my favorite thing I think I've ever encountered on the internet. No BS. A HUGE thank You to Seth:

I literally just want to watch this over and over and have Bobby Fingers tell me everything is going to be okay. Seeing this, and sending it over to my former bandmate Joe.Baxter, I can't help but feel like when we finally try and finish recording all that unfinished Christian Fisting material, we should dust off the old "Mel Gibson's a Cunt" song we had, written in the wake of that 2006 arrest that is being modeled here. 

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NCBD:

It's Wednesday, and that means new comics are on the shelves! Here's what I'm picking up at Rick's Comic City!

Street-level Spidey on a Goblin hovercraft? interesting. Love this cover. 

The penultimate issue of Deadly Class!

I definitely liked the twist Marvel's Judgment Day took at the end of the second issue. Hoping this continues to expand that, instead of focusing on what we already know has happened. I get that in the onset of this series beginning, we only really got a 'thin slice' of the siege on Krakoa and holocaust on Arrako, but showing us all the nooks and crannies of those battles is getting a touch old. Issue 2 moved things forward, but then Death to the Mutants moved it back again. 

This book is fantastic but truly independent, so there have been a lot of scheduling delays. I'm hoping it actually lands today.

LOVING this new Shaolin Cowboy series. Geof Darrow is an amazing artist, and he's really cooked up an "Anything Goes" world with this one. I pulled out my copies of the previous series and realized the titular character died at the end of it. This means Darrow has been - as he should be - doing whatever the hell he wants time-wise with this odd, post-apocalyptic mash-up series. I need to pick up the collected first series of this and read them all straight through. Not that you have to, because, like I said, I love that Darrow appears t be jumping around.

I'm not 100% sold on this big, TMNT 'Event,' but I'll hang for a while. 

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Playlist:

Various - Every Day (Is Halloween) Playlist: Small Cat, Big Yard

Various - Every Day (Is Halloween) Playlist: You, The Knight, and the Music

Leaving Time - Eponymous EP

Revolting Cocks - Big Sexy Land

Pailhead - Trait

Melvins - Stoner Witch

Various - Snatch OST Playlist

Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind

David Bowie - Station to Station

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Card:

Pulling out the Raven Deck for today's reading:

Some isolation will do me good today. Hopefully finishing something I've been working on. 

Isolation: Day 13 - RIP Bill Rieflin

I've never been clear if Rieflin actually played on this particular song - he was in the incarnation of the Cocks for this record - but his mention in this, the title track from the album Linger Ficken' Good, always makes me laugh.

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Last night K and I watched David Lynch's Wild at Heart. It's been a while since I've seen this one, and for some reason, there are a lot of details that I always forget, but overall, while not my favorite Lynch film by any stretch of the imagination, I still love this flick.



Note: In choosing a trailer to post, I opted for the original, unrestored version over the remastered, Shout Factory. I did this simply because I remember this trailer so vividly from television the year of its release, a time when I was in the throws of my initial introduction to David Lynch and the then-airing second season of Twin Peaks. Something about the grain and vague picture really authenticates the memory for me, so while I'd rather watch a restored version of the film, this trailer 'lights my fire' more than the glossy one.

After Wild at Heart, we did indeed begin a rewatch of Twin Peaks: The Return. This will only be the second time I've watched the series, and I'm excited and trepidatious with going back to it. One thing that I feel is definitely going to enhance this go-through is the fact that I'm also re-reading Mark Frost's Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier, and watching some of the editorial/theory programming that popped up on youtube during and after The Return's initial broadcast run. Having access to information we did not during that initial run, I feel, will make a hell of a difference in accepting and understanding certain elements of the series that otherwise left me feeling a bit... unresolved. The most important video I've found for this is Wow Lynch Wow's brilliant examination of the Cooper/Mr. C connection. If you haven't seen this, dig into it before you go back to the series (or even if you just want to think about it after the fact). I am in complete and total agreement with this man's assessment here:



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Playlist:

Man Man - Future Peg (Pre-release single)
Steve Moore - Frame Dragging EP
Led Zeppelin - I

No Card.

2019: July 25th Zombieland: Double Tap Trailer

I almost didn't post this. For one, I usually do not post entries this late in the afternoon (it's 5:30 PM as I edit this). Second, I don't love this trailer, and I absolutely adore the first Zombieland. I'm hoping this long-overdue sequel is better than it looks; Harrelson is about as close as I come to a big-name actor who can do no wrong with me, so I really want to like this. We'll see.

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So Rutger Hauer passed away yesterday. I can't say I know a lot of his films, however, like so many other men my age, Blade Runner is near and dear to me, and a lot of that is Hauer. I know everyone is posting this scene as a memorial, but my upkeep on this site is primarily for myself, as a sort of diary or historical record, and I'd regret it if I didn't follow suit with "Tears in Rain" speech:



And let's chase that with a favorite musical reference to the film:



I've not been in a Blade Runner mood of late, but I have a Hobo With a Shotgun viewing coming real soon.

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I've watched SO much Friday the 13th lately, and while I found The Final Chapter (IV) a chore, Five went down pretty smoothly. Not Sierra Nevada smooth, but, say, Coors Light. Which is to say not very, but at least I got through it in one sitting. Part Six though, I remember watching Friday the 13th Six: Jason Lives a couple years ago with a friend and both of us realizing, A) if we'd ever seen it before the details were completely lost to the fog of time, and B) it's a marginally self-aware comedy. Which means, thus far, it's my favorite of these first six Friday flicks. I'll be continuing with the viewings soon - this is all research for something I'm going to write, and, a bit of a self-dare, as I've never watched the Fridays in chronological order before.

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Playlist from 7/24:

Sausage - Riddles are Abound Tonight
Ghost - Prequelle
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Telekinetic Yeti
Spotlights - Love and Decay
Sleep - The Sciences

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Card of the day was

Interesting, in that I just referenced the King of Swords yesterday in Ciazarn. Modeling a character after that Court Card's attributes.

Cocksure - Klusterfuck Kulture

Recently my good friend Chris turned me on to the fact that Chris Connelly has a new band with Jason Novak of Acuman Nation. The band is called Cocksure and their debut EP Klusterfuck Kulture is available for a mere $3.99 at the bandcamp linked above. This is easily my most listened to new music of the year, and I've only had the thing for about a week (Thanks again Chris!). It's fantastic - a perfect synthesis of everything great about old school industrial but without feeling like a throwback or re-hashed ground. I spent the week in the cryo-lab with this spinning over and over on my ipod, six, seven listens in a row, each time finding something new to love about it.

I read this somewhere however now I can't find the confirmation, but I believe the full album is apparently due next month in August on, of all labels... WAX TRAX! Now that is fucking awesome. Both Touch and Go and Wax Trax pressing new music for the first time in years this year? Awesome.

CORRECTION: The single was on Wax Trax, the album, out August 12th, can be pre-ordered now on Metropolis Records.
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* I love most incarnations of Ministry but Connelly-era is my favorite

Queens of the Stone Age - Smooth Sailing Video

I am waaay late on this. My friend and fellow QOTSA fanatic Josh FB'd me to ask my opinion on this like a week ago and I've consistently forgotten about it. Until now.

Hard to pick a favorite track on a record as mammoth as ... Like Clockwork but this is in the top tier. It's so Revolting Cocks it's not funny, and Mr. Homme's trademark snake-snark is at full hilt.

Oh, and in answer to your question Josh, I haven't smiled this much while watching a music video for the first time since Grinderman's Heathen Child back in 2010.

Revolting Cocks - You Often Forget (Live)

I'm not sure what year this is exactly, but it's OLD SCHOOL. It's been a Revolting Cocks kind of day. Beers, Steers and Queers and Linger Fickin' Good are regular staples of my everyday listening diet, but I cracked out the pre-Connelly Big Sexy Land yesterday and it's been stuck in my CD player off and on since.

Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible + Fried

As I'm falling into an old school Ministry kick, let me cast this out there for those who might be interested: probably the best rock autobiography I've ever read is Chris Connelly's Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Fried: My Life as a Revolting Cock. I read it shortly after it came out five or six years ago, stumbled upon it by accident and was subsequently super happy to have done so, as it went out-of-print pretty damn fast. Currently the book is still out-of-print but well worth whatever you have to pay for it if you're a Ministry/Revco/Bells/Connelly fan.