Olive Branches to Jeff Carter, & Robert Wheeler

[W. Niederhut]

      Great stuff, fellas.   I have been a big fan of the English Beat since the early 80s, when I saw Rick Wakeling, Ranking Roger & Co. in concert.  (I've even recorded my own home-studio covers of a few Beat songs, which are surprisingly simple to play.)

     David Andrews' Flying Lizards' cover of James Brown's Sex Machine had me rolling on the floor.  (I had never heard of the Lizards.)

      But let's not forget about the original robotic "New Wave" video of that era, which I first saw on a giant screen at a club in Greenwich Village in (?) '80 or '81, before MTV existed -- Das Model, by Kraftwerk.  I think the club was called Rock City.  (There was a similar club at Kenmore Square in Boston at the time, called the Metro.)

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by W. Niederhut

[David Andrews]

Strangely, I was having some kind of browser problem last night, and only one of the 2-Tone videos I posted (Specials: A Message to You, Rudy) was a video I intended to post.  Some problem copying addresses from a YouTube "mix" section.  Glad that went well for everybody, anyway.

Here's one that didn't get up in that mess.  The singer from The Selecter reminds me of early Jamaican star Millie (My Boy Lollipop), who died this year.  She may be evoking Millie intentionally.

Millie's big hit essentially started Island Records for mogul Chris Blackwell.

Edited November 17, 2020 by David Andrews

[Cliff Varnell]

On 11/14/2020 at 9:54 AM, W. Niederhut said:

      Since we're all interested in history here, I'm going to post an obscure Rocky Mountain footnote in the history of American punk rock.

      So, when I moved back to Denver in 1983, after living in New England for eight years, I was very disappointed with the local live punk rock and jazz music scene.  (Boston was teeming with punk bands and great jazz musicians from places like the Berklee School of Music.)

     But there was one punk rock band in Denver that was surprisingly good, in my estimation -- the Kamikaze Klones, from Evergreen, Colorado, (of John Hinckley, Jr. fame.)  I went to several of the Klones' performances at a local club called The Mercury Cafe in about 1983-84, (including a show where two of the band members were arrested in the parking lot for possession of cocaine between sets.)

    The Klones wrote songs like, Give Texas Back to the Mexicans-- a punk parody of Paul McCartney's song, Give Ireland Back to the Irish.

     One of the Klones later became a patient of mine, and told me the inside story of their rise and fall in the 80s.  Even at the height of their considerable local popularity-- which included one or two out-of-state tours-- the band never earned enough money to live on, especially since most of the money went up their noses.

      This low budget video, filmed at Denver's old Larimer Street wino district, (of Jack Kerouac/Neal Cassidy fame) doesn't really do justice to the quality of the Klones' live performances back in the day.

 

 

My cousin Al Stratton (a/k/a AJ Coon) played bass in the Kamikazi Klones.

Great band.  Tight.

Around ‘77 they sent a demo tape to Devo and challenged them to a battle of the bands.  Devo didn’t directly respond, but Al was convinced these lyrics from “Smart Patrol/Mr.DNA” (“Mr. Kamikazi, Mr. DNA”) referred to the Klones:

Wait a minute, something’s wrong

He’s a man with a plan

His finger’s pointed at Devo

Now we must sacrifice ourselves

So many others may live

Oh baby we got a lot to give

The Klones came to San Francisco in ‘82 and played a Friday night at the On Broadway and Saturday at the Fab Mab.  The punk rockers showed on Friday, but it was young couples night at the Mab and the place was packed.  There was some slamming in the pit on Friday, but Saturday it was couples dancing.  I’d never seen that before at the Mab!  

I’ve been out of touch with Cousin Al since his Mom passed.  W., you probably know him.  If you see him around Evergreen tell him his Cousin Cliff sez hey.

 

[Paul Brancato]

On 11/16/2020 at 2:00 AM, Cliff Varnell said:

 

Rite of Spring premiered in 1913 to boos and shock. These excerpts are nice but don’t do it justice. I must have listened to 2 hours of No Wave and Punk by now. Would some of you go to YouTube and find a live recording of the entire piece, lay down somewhere quiet and turn up the volume? No piece in the past 120 years was as influential. And of course you will recognize some bits because you’ve all seen Disney’s Fantasia. 

[Cliff Varnell]

7 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

Rite of Spring premiered in 1913 to boos and shock. These excerpts are nice but don’t do it justice. I must have listened to 2 hours of No Wave and Punk by now. Would some of you go to YouTube and find a live recording of the entire piece, lay down somewhere quiet and turn up the volume? No piece in the past 120 years was as influential. And of course you will recognize some bits because you’ve all seen Disney’s Fantasia. 

 

[Cliff Varnell]

On 11/13/2020 at 4:34 AM, Robert Wheeler said:

This could be your theme song Cliff.

Great Canadian band not to be confused with Brit band Subhumanz.

This song was written by Gerry Hannah, who went on to take Direct Action against the American military industrial complex.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Hannah

 

 

[Cliff Varnell]

 

[Cliff Varnell]

 

[Cliff Varnell]

Biden Watch

Biden signals reluctance to investigate, prosecute Trump for his crimes

https://occupydemocrats.com/2020/11/17A/biden-signals-reluctance-to-investigate-prosecute-trump-for-his-crimes/

Will Donald Trump walk away from his presidency scot-free?

That’s the frightening prospect the nation faces after the term of perhaps the least law-abiding president in history ends if one is to put any credence in the reports the President-elect Joe Biden is privately telling advisors that he doesn’t want his own presidency to be overwhelmed by endless investigations of his predecessor.

According to an NBC News report sourced from five people with knowledge of the discussions, Biden is leery of a long series of probes into Trump’s conduct that would continue to divide the country at a time when his paramount goal is to try to reunite the nation.

Biden is also worried that such investigations would continue to allow Trump to remain in the spotlight and dominate the news cycles with his endless tweets declaring his victimization and absolving himself of any responsibilities whatsoever for the transgressions of his administration.

The president-elect reportedly specifically mentioned the wisdom of avoiding federal tax investigations of his vanquished foe and of challenging any immunity orders or pardons that Trump may issue in his lame-duck weeks ahead, with one advisor saying that Biden “just wants to move on.”

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by Cliff Varnell

[Cliff Varnell]

2 minutes ago, Robert Wheeler said:

Wrong thread Cliff. Punk or politics? Pick one; for this punk post thread you started, so I don’t have to put you on ignore for your otherwise entertaining punk posts.

Please refer to the Subhumans song above.

[Cliff Varnell]

7 minutes ago, Cliff Varnell said:

Please refer to the Subhumans song above.

Then refer to my first post on this thread which spoke largely of politics.

[Cliff Varnell]

I'm in a fine FU frame of mind, so let's bring on the Aussies...

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by Cliff Varnell

[Cliff Varnell]

 

[W. Niederhut]

6 hours ago, Cliff Varnell said:

My cousin Al Stratton (a/k/a AJ Coon) played bass in the Kamikazi Klones.

Great band.  Tight.

Around ‘77 they sent a demo tape to Devo and challenged them to a battle of the bands.  Devo didn’t directly respond, but Al was convinced these lyrics from “Smart Patrol/Mr.DNA” (“Mr. Kamikazi, Mr. DNA”) referred to the Klones:

Wait a minute, something’s wrong

He’s a man with a plan

His finger’s pointed at Devo

Now we must sacrifice ourselves

So many others may live

Oh baby we got a lot to give

The Klones came to San Francisco in ‘82 and played a Friday night at the On Broadway and Saturday at the Fab Mab.  The punk rockers showed on Friday, but it was young couples night at the Mab and the place was packed.  There was some slamming in the pit on Friday, but Saturday it was couples dancing.  I’d never seen that before at the Mab!  

I’ve been out of touch with Cousin Al since his Mom passed.  W., you probably know him.  If you see him around Evergreen tell him his Cousin Cliff sez hey.

 

Cliff,

    Small world!  Your cousin Al ("AJ") was a big part of the Kamikazi Klones shows around here back in the early 80s. 

I remember AJ well, on stage, but never met him.  (Evergreen is on a different planet.)

He was not the Klone I once treated, but I shouldn't say more about that subject, in the interest of confidentiality.

As for Stravinsky, Paul is the second professional musician I know of who is especially fond of The Rite of Spring.  What a piece of work!

 

[David Andrews]

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