SCHLOCK, THE MONKEY - cultural claptrap: 01/01/2012

What You'll Find Here: Music, Movies and Me

Since May 1976, I have written in journals. When I have nothing particularly resonant to say about my own inner turmoil, philosophic ramblings, sexual peccadillos or whining on about the state of the world around me...I have always fallen back on reporting the cultural time consumption that takes up in inordinate portion of my daily goings on.

In the 40+ years since my first concerts seeing Children's Symphony presentations on Sundays at the Pasadena Civic or The Hot Jazz Society's monthly Dixieland romps in an old meeting hall on the edge of the L.A. "River" across from Griffith Park, I have been sold heavily on the magic of live music. As Neil Young so aptly put it, "Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued."

Growing up a few orange groves and canyons length away from Hollywood also contributed greatly to my family's addiction to movie going. From the time I was a small there were weekly trips to the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape, or the local Temple theater for the Saturday matinees. Once in a while we'd drive the 12 miles into Hollywood and see something in one of the magnificent old movie palaces like Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian, The Pantages or later the Cinerama Dome. My dad loved Westerns and War movies, as if he didn't get enough shoot-'em-up as an L.A. County Sheriff in his day gig, my mom adored musicals and comedies. My brother and I loved them all.

At SDSU, I played in my first gigging band and began booking concerts on campus as part of the well-funded Cultural Arts Board, kindling for my future life in and around music.

So it's not surprising that my first jobs out of college were working in local video rental places (which were all the rage) or managing a couple of Sam Goody record stores in Mall's on the East Coast where we marveled at the new CD format and sold the first home computers and video games (yes Commodore and Pong and Atari).

So these are really just extensions of all of those journal entries talking about the great new movies I was seeing and LPs/CDs I was listening to.

Though iPODS/iPADs, apps, smart phones and downloads now make music and movies accessible in your own pocket, there is still nothing like sitting in front of a stack of speakers with a room full of people swaying to music created before your eyes. Nor is there anything that works quite so well for me to escape the real world and all of it's pressures just outside than two hours in a dark theater, absorbing the stories flickering across that wide screen as they pull you into their world.

But a really good taco runs a close third...

Thursday, January 12, 2012

fIREHOSE REUNITES FOR 1ST SHOWS SINCE 1994

The incendiary punk grunge trio fIREHOSE reunites for the first time since 1994 for a couple of weeks of dates surrounding their appearances at Coachella in April.

Read the story at SOUND SPIKE.

fIREHOSE was getting the push from Columbia Records in the early 90s and I got the chance to see them at the Khyber Pass in Philly in 1992 and about a year later at the Trocadero. An amazing live band powered by the bass drum duo of San Pedro duo Mike Watt and George Hurley from the proto-punk band The Minutemen. When their guitarist/vocalist D. Boon died tragically in a tour bus accident in Dec of 1985, Watt and Hurley hung up the Minutemen handle and thought they wouldn't be regrouping the format. That is until guitarist/vocalist/songwriter/fan Ed (Crawford) fROMOHIO showed up at the door for an audition. Watt and Hurley were impressed and fIREHOSE was born. In short order they were signed to Columbia Records and began recording a series of albums and touring nationwide until they split in 1994. Their recordings are still a joy. Exuberant and refreshing and full of raw energy though Crawford brought a slicker sound than D. Boon's deliciously reckless edge. Watching the Watt/Hurley rhythmic juggernaut in action was one of the great thrills of my concert-going experiences during those years.

Hurley has played very little over the ensuing years while Watt has become the go-to guy for edgy, propulsive and furiously hip prog-punk thud staff duties. He not only has released numerous albums under his own name, but toured in Porno for Pyros, Iggy + The Stooges, and as leader of Mike Watt + Missingmen and the Secondmen and as member of Banyan, Wylde Ratttz, the bass duo dos with ex-wife and former Black Flag bassist Kira Roessler; and appearances on record and/or live with J. Mascis, Hellride, Black Gang, Floored by Four, No Age and Unknown Instructors. Watt's 2011 album Hyphenated-Man with the Missingmen made my Top CDs of 2011 list.

Coming out this week is Spielgusher featuring Watt, drummer Yuko Araki, guitarist Hirotaka "Shimmy" Shimizu and influential rock/punk journalist Richard Meltzer's words and voice.