Dear Friends,
As I wind this sucker down, I am realizing that there are a lot of stories left to tell. That’s very refreshing, really. I wanted to see if I could write a book’s worth of words when I started this thing and now, I’ve written at least three books worth of words, if not more.
The mission has been accomplished and then some. This year, I wanted to write about a different record I love every day, and I am twenty records (after today) away from doing all 366. This is a book in and of itself.
But I’m so sick of writing about records right now and not getting paid to do it.
That sounds terrible, but one thing I certainly enjoy in life is getting paid to write. It feels good. It would be awesome if that was all I had to do to provide for my family. There is still time, I suppose.
*****
Yesterday was a pretty good day. It started off with a nice walk with the J boys and then a leadership team meeting at work. Usually, I’d only be happy with the first of those two things, but yesterday’s meeting was all right.
For one thing, and I think I have mentioned this before, the leadership team at my school is a pretty darn good group of people. I like them all on at least one level. I don’t mix my personal and work life anymore, so I haven’t really gotten to know anyone at work super well, but what I do know about most of my co-workers, I like.
The people on the leadership team all care about our school and that’s a nice vibe to start the day with most days. Our meeting yesterday was about the ways we are going to improve our literacy block and I’m all for it. I’ve got a lot to learn about teaching, still, and this is going to up my game considerably.
One of the administrators from the district who is helping us out with this is someone that I have known for about eight years from my Casa days, so that is nice, too. I forget that there are a handful of people who have been at the district for a long time who remember me from then and think good things about me. This doesn’t hurt at all.
Over the years that I worked for Casa, as well as being a part of the tech world for almost a decade working in call centers, I learned that change is not something to be afraid of at all. You just roll with it.
Holy shit. That is the book I need to write. My life in the eyes of change.
I have so many ideas right now and I want to share them, but I have learned that this is not the right place to share ideas that I may try and put into a book form. I fucking hate that so much but I think Sue is right.
*****
Today is the magic Wednesday. I don’t know why it is magic, but there is some sort of magic in the air. Let’s see what happens.
*****
The Age of Quarrel is one of my all-time favorite records.
I love the way it opens up with “We Gotta Know.” Mackie Jayson’s beat is sofa king killer. Doug Holland and Paris Mitchell Mayhew play a very basic heavy riff, but when I first heard in 1986, I was hooked.
John Joseph’s vocals are perfect. He’s out of breath half the time and his voice breaks in ways that sound almost painful, but the imperfections only make it that much greater. He’s a fucking crazy man, and I like him a lot, but as the front man of a band, he’s a legend.
The bass lines are great on this record, too. I don’t have another good thing to say about Harley Flanagan and I won’t mention him again, but the bass lines on the record make me want to play more North Side Kings music. The Cro-Mags, and my love for this record, is definitely one of the reasons I jumped at the chance to play in NSK.
It’s safe to say this record changed my outlook on music when I heard it. I was already a fan of thrash metal and bands like Iron Maiden, but Cro-Mags turned me on to the whole east coast hardcore thing. The Age of Quarrel turned my musical knowledge on its proverbial ear.
I have forgotten where and when I heard it first, but I went right to Zia the next time I had ten bucks and bought it on vinyl. It’s been in my collection ever since and I’ve got one of the OG pressings, too. It still sounds great.
One of my friends, Jason, who I lost track of a long time ago, and I talked about how great this record was a lot back in 1986. He was dating my friend, Kirsten, and we hung out when he would come to our side of town or at shows. We talked about starting a Cro-Mags style band. I think he eventually did have a band, but again, I lost track of him.
Back in 1986, this was THE record. Everybody that I knew who was into the harder side of punk rock loved it. Like many of the other records I have written about this year, there really isn’t a weak spot on it. The riffs are just so good.
My favorites are hard to choose and that’s for real. I mean, “We Gotta Know” into “World Peace” into “Show You No Mercy” is as strong of a first three songs as there is in hardcore music. This might be the best hardcore record ever, especially of the New York Hardcore variety.
“Malfunction” was definitely my favorite for a long time. We had a Religious Skid song that was a pretty blatant copy of “Malfunction” and it was always just called “The Cro-Mags Song” when we practiced it. “Malfunction” is completely bad ass and Joseph sounds like he is just unhinged on it.
“Street Justice” into “Survival of the Streets” and then “Seekers of the Truth” is another bad ass trio. The latter, “Seekers of the Truth” sounds a bit like a Judas Priest riff that decided to knock over a few banks and smoke a bunch of cigarettes. It’s sneaky good.
It’s truly ridiculous how good this record is. When you consider the next three songs: “It’s the Limit,” then “Hard Times,” and “By Myself,” you have three songs that can easily be forgotten because of how great the other tracks are, but they fucking rip. Especially, “Hard Times” and “By Myself.” Doug Holland kills it on “By Myself.”
‘Don’t Tread On Me” was definitely a popular one back in the day. The breakdown part inspired many a NYHC breakdown. “Face the Facts” is another scorcher, too. Most of these songs are right about two minutes, but they seem a lot longer (and that’s not a bad thing). Joseph does this thing on a lot of songs where he elongates syllables in words to stretch them out and fit the riff. It’s awesome.
The last three songs, “Do Unto Others” then “Life of My Own” and “Signs of the Times” are all kick ass, too. “Life of My Own” is another song that has been copied by so many bands.
“Signs of the Times” is another totally classic song. When I hear it, I hear so many of the bands that NSK played with over the years. I mean, we certainly took a few nods from Cro-Mags, too. I wish we could have played together. It was scheduled.
Sadly, this is the only good Cro-Mags that exists. I tried to be a fan of some of their other stuff, but I just couldn’t do it. One record wonders, but oh what a record.
*****
See you tomorrow.
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