Dear Friends,
I’ve always counted shit in weird ways. Why do I know there are ten Mondays left this year? I don’t know. I guess because after today, I will only write about a Monday nine more times. At least in this way.
I can’t believe October is just about gone. It’s been the strangest month. Rhondi and I were talking the other day about how time has been so weird since Doug died. It’s been so fast and so slow and sometimes it feels like it is not moving in a way that can be quantified.
*****
The weekend was a long one.
The time I spent at Club Placebo felt weird and was not satisfying. I think I might have to rethink my involvement, or how I am involved moving forward. If I am honest, I was barely there this time around. The stories were interesting to an extent, but I’m really missing my wife and what little energy I have has been earmarked for things that bring me great joy.
I don’t like just going through the motions.
Saturday was nice, though, during the day. Spent some time with the kids and Granny and my Dad. I went down to the actual Placebo event and didn’t really want to be there after a while. I talked to Rhondi, and it really made me miss her. After that, I just wanted to get out of there and be at the J’s house with my family.
There is also an element of that Kirkwood scene that I just can’t deal with at this point in my life. It’s really just one person and I have no space in my world for her. With any luck, I will never have to be in the same place with her again.
There were a good handful of people that it was nice to see there, though. They know who they are and know I love them. I feel bad for doing the Irish goodbye thing, but after listening to the guys blow their own horns for two days prior, there was only so much I could take on Saturday.
I got the J’s about 9:30 and it felt, immediately, so much better. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have just gone there from the beginning. Live and learn.
Yesterday we had a really good Freeze practice and an even better Living Room Collective jam. What a great day of music making. I feel a lot better after that. I feel ready for a good week with my students.
Here's 666 words about 45 Grave.
*****
In 1985 I met a girl named Beth. She became my off and on girlfriend for the next year and a half, which was trying, at best, and horrible at worst. We had maybe two good weeks in all that time of being boyfriend and girlfriend, but one gift that she gave me was an appreciation for 45 Grave. I appreciate it a lot.
Because of the tumultuous nature of our relationship, when we broke up, I kind of steered clear for 45 Grave for a while. It’s funny how you associate certain music with certain people and for me, 45 Grave was a reminder of a pretty bad time in my life, as least where romance was concerned. Eventually the Beth and I had an okay friendship, but I was able to look past all the nonsense. When she died earlier in 2024, it kind of washed the slate clean.
As I’ve been thinking about albums I have loved in my life, Sleep In Safety popped into my head. I borrowed it from Beth in August of 1985 and didn’t want to give it back. I made a cassette tape of it and, at the time, it became something of a staple at the punk rock parties I attended.
“Evil” is a great song and hot damn if that band wasn’t a great fucking band at the time. My friend, Don Bolles (aka Jimmy Giorsetti), on drums, Dinah Cancer on vocals, Paul Cutler on guitar and keys, Paul Roessler on keyboards, and Rob Graves (AKA Rob Ritter) on bass. All of them were at the top of their game in 1983 when Sleep In Safety came out.
“Evil” gives way to “Partytime” and what self-respecting teenager punk rocker who was growing up in the mid-80s didn’t love this one. It was an anthem. You had to slam a beer when listening to it. I can remember listening to this song on my Walkman while walking to school in the fall of 1985 and drinking one of my dad’s Bud Lights on the way. I got up early that semester and would occasionally have a beer on the way to school. I thought I was quite the rebel.
“Violent World” comes next and the riff on this one is just manic and great. You can hear the influence of Cutler on 45 Grave as he was also part of the first great Phoenix punk rock band, The Consumers. 45 Grave did a few of the Consumers songs live back in the day, too.
“Violent World” is a noisy, bad ass mess. “Slice of Life” comes next and it’s a total Don Bolles song. Cutler sings this one and I’ve always liked it a lot. 45 Grave helped bring attention to the LA death punk scene and I love that stuff. This would be a fun one to cover. The bridge of “Slice of Life” is killer.
“Phantoms” makes for a great song, too. Roessler does some interesting stuff on this one. I have to wonder if both he and Paul Cutler were both playing keys on this one. I bet they did.
“Dream Hits II” sounds like a Damned song and “Bad Love” kind of sounds like a garage rock song that I could imagine the Fuzztones covering. Maybe they did. “Surf Bat” is kind of the same type o thing, although it sounds like something inspired by The Munsters. It’s a fun one and I’m glad to be reminded of how fun this record really is after so many years.
There are some really good tracks on the record. “Procession” and “45 Grave” are both total rockers. I have decided to make a habit out of listening to Sleep In Safety. Once I finish with album number 366, I will definitely put this one in rotation again.
If you want to have some fun with a record, Sleep In Safety is your huckleberry. Sadly, I never got to see them play live. If only…damn it.
*****
See you tomorrow.
666 words about 45 Grave. AI for the win..and the wine.
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