"Who's On First?"/Metal Mike California trip report, October 1971 [repost]

I have to admit that the whole Brendan Mullen/Marc Spitz/Metal Mike spat over "We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk" made me so exasperated that I felt like I was watching the great Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First" routine. Our friends over at Terminal Boredom give you the Cliff Notes version for everyone who missed it here. Thanks guys. Let's just say that Metal Mike's bona fides are unassailable. I am guessing that a lot of folks made the mistake of passing up on Metal Mike's 1999 cd called "Surf City or Bust." What they missed was the most excellent FOURTEEN bonus tracks comprising his and his brother Kevin's previously unreleased 1969 lp as The Rockin' Blewz entitled "I'm a Roadrunner Motherfucka." I first heard one track some time last century on a cd comp Chris put out. Raw and as hi-energy as you would expect from two high school brothers recording in the bedroom or family lounge. It is in Metal Mike's s own words "a pre-Beatles garage band style (2/3rds covers)... Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Ronnie Self, Ernie K-Doe, Shirelles--that kind of material, played with your vintage 60's Fender and Gibson equipment of the time, some pretty crude cool sounds. Wacked out 'originals' that could have been on a Bonzo Dog Band or Mothers of Invention album." Came across this great letter again recently from when Metal Mike was in the midst of his statistics degree in Austin (written from the UT library?) which had me thinking of Metal Mike. I do think Future does not get its due and "Out of the Question" is just as good as anything on the first two lps.

Rock Culture Shock/"Those great giant idiots"/Australian TV 1979/"You gotta wait till the mid1980's"

Though Leif Garrett may be the click bait (and his slightly naïve take actually would fit in interestingly with the other talking heads in The Decline Part I), let me just give you the rundown from this 1979 Aussie program with some of yer faves giving their lowdown on the punk phenomena and some very perceptive takes. You know how you wondered what say, Macca’s take on punk was (a big thumbs up if you don’t watch), you also get after the lead in live clip from the Angels: Bowie, Paul Cook, Kate Bush (in a ballet studio?), John Lydon (PIL mode), Macca, Mick Taylor (lookin' straight out of '72 in '79), Steve Harley ("I'm 28"), Leif, Stevie Wonder ("violent can be good") , Cliff Richard (copping Ron Ashton/David Fricke’s style a bit and riffing on a new wave trifecta!), Meatloaf, Maurice Gibb, Alice Cooper (hates disco!) and Peter Gabriel (as Noel Gallagher). Quite a bit to chew on, no? And with less than 50! views, the Angels on Countdown 1977:

Rodney in an Original Imperial Dogs Shirt

While it might not have the moneyed cachet of the Seditionaries collectables these days (think PUNK: Chaos to Couture at the Met ferchrissakes), and the fact that you probably can't find one outside of Don Waller and Fred Patterson's storage spaces, you know which shirt ya need. If I had one, I could send a kid to college so rare are these shirts. First in line for the rescreen!

Juncosa Pt. II!

When I was back in LA last year, I was lucky enough to head down the road from my place with Professor Darren to help Sylvia Juncosa celebrate her 50th birthday with 100 Flowers, Jon Wahl solo and then a great Sylvia power trio with Steve Reed. Yes, it was OTT and Sylvia shredded fer sure. Now, I am not sure that this photo would have registered when I originally saw it in ’82-83. Had the first Leaving Trains single even come out yet? Sylvia on KEYBOARDS. Clearly before the Warf Rat Tales comp lp (was Sylvia on those LT tracks? Too lazy to check in the barn. A lot of great comps to check out. After Yes LA and Tooth and Nail, Beach Blvd. came Hell Comes to Your House, The Future Looks Bright, Public Service, ROTR series and the Life is Cheap/Ugly/Beautiful series. Anyway, Before SWA (my new band name!) Sylvia tearing it up somewhere in Southern California.

Claude Bessy Reviews the Desperate Bicycles "The Medium Was Tedium" 45: "Back-up Vocals That Remind One of the Incredible String Band's Simplistic Moments"

"Right now the chaotic world of new single releases is the most exhilarating thing in the business": Kickboy Face at the tail end of 1977 even before the onslaught of great LOCAL singles to follow, and before he decided to sing (in public at least) with a little encouragement from this single no doubt.  One of those recent wowzer moments is when I was told that Ryan "Ryebread Rodeo" Richardson had made all issues of Slash available here for your own scholarly research with a small coin toss to Medecins Sans Frontieres. I sorta inadvertently donated to Ginn's cat rescue mission at the Hollywood Palladium so this was the least I could do. From the actual "Year One" Exene cover (Vol.1 No. 6) December 1977, Claude Bessy referencing the Incredible String Band in a review of the first Desperate Bicycles single was totally unexpected and dead on.  "Yet I like this record alot."

"Rodney Goes to (Girl)School"/ROTR 1982

Not a bad representative of what you would actually hear. Note Rodney's omnipresent Germs badge. I plan on posting as many of these as I can track down in the barn. I have posted the one English Disco top ten I found in the barn here. Some of these were clearly local hits like the Inflatable Boy Clams and Mr. Epp, and I remember having a discussion in the late 80's with friends outside of LA who couldn't believe they were "hits" in the loosest sense - probably even had a discussion with Arm about that fact at some point on one of his tours. That No Crisis might even have made it into the main KROQ playlist at odd hours. I hadn't listened to it in over 30 years and kinda remembered the piano being more prominent. Outside of the obvious ones (first Bangs 45, Red Kross, Sin 34, CH3, Agent Orange), that Tuff Muffin spoken word got played a lot and you can tell that it was the LA rockabilly moment as well (Stray Cats, Stingrays,and Rockin' Rebels etc.) Out of all of these, the track that has probably gotten the most play in my house the past couple of decades is Fowley's genius "Invasion of the Polaroid People."

Sacrilege! Some Patti Smith Love from London 1977