Dear Friends,
This week has wiped me out a bit. I had a long, long Wednesday thanks to a nice visit with Granny, tons of prep after dismissing the students, and then a huge burrito courtesy of my wife’s bad ass skills in the kitchen. Full bellies are not the best thing when you’re 55.
My day started off with a lovely walk (although we took a break today, much to Bailey’s chagrin). When I got to work, one of my frequent flyers on the attitude express was in tears. He asked to go to our counselor to help him calm down and we talked for a bit while we waited to hear from her.
Poor dude was missing his dad who is incarcerated. I did my best to console him. He’s got so much potential and when he is engaged in the learning, he does really well. Unfortunately, he’s not engaged a lot of the time and after yesterday, I understand why.
He shared with me that his mom works a lot, so he spends a lot of time with babysitters. It broke my heart. I can remember different times growing up where I would have liked to have spent some more time with my parents for one reason or another, but that was nothing compared to what this young dude is facing.
He gets to talk with his father on Saturdays.
*****
Today we have a team meeting and a full day of instruction. Afterwards, I’m headed to the chiropractor. Hopefully he doesn’t break me again. This is his last chance. I was hurting for a couple of days after the last adjustment. Most of the time, I feel better. Not sure what happened after that last one.
It’s time to find a new GP, too. My old guy, as I mentioned, retired over the summer. I went to him for a long, long time. I trusted him and felt comfortable being open and honest about my health with him. I hope I can find someone else to be open with as my new doc. Something tells me I might have to kiss a few frogs.
*****
The Best of Dr. Know came out right around the time I started listening to them. I think Mark got this record and we started listening to it a lot when we went skateboarding. By the time I saw them in the summer of 1987, I was a huge fan.
This compilation of different singles they put out over their first several years of existence is pretty bad ass. In some ways, I like their This Island Earth record a little better and I already talked about that one earlier this year, but the energy of this comp is great.
You have both Kyle Toucher and Brandon Cruz on lead vocals on this record. The majority of the record features Toucher on vocals, but the Cruz tracks (“Boy’s Life,” “In That House,” “Piece of Meat,” and “Saviour”) are all ass kickers. I especially like the way Cruz sounds on “Boy’s Life.”
That’s kind of when the comp starts really finding its stride. Nothing against “U.S.A.” and “What To Do/Fear Of War,” but they just don’t flow as well as the other songs. I also used to find “Fist Fuck” pretty entertaining, but it hasn’t aged well.
There’s a lot of songs from those days by various punk rock bands (and rock and roll and rap and new wave, for that matter) where the lyrics haven’t aged well at all. “Fist Fuck” is one of them. I wonder if the band would play it live now. Probably not.
“Egomaniac” has always been a favorite, though. It’s a great riff. When we were doing Religious Skid in 88-90, we played with Dr. Know at the end of the band’s life (it was our last show). They were a band that I looked at as a huge influence on what I wanted Religious Skid to sound like. Back in those days, I was listening to them all the time.
I had The Best of Dr. Know and This Island Earth on cassette. I’m not sure what happened to them, probably wore them out, but I only have this comp on vinyl. This Island Earth goes for a pretty penny.
“You fucking immature egomaniac/you’re a real big man, with a real big gun/with your radio you’re never alone/you can’t stand to see us think on our own.”
You have to love 80s punk rock songs about cops and that quite a good chorus.
“Watch It Burn” is up after “Egomaniac” and that song really moves. Rik Heller’s drums are on fire here. The guy was a really good drummer. The rhythm section of Heller and bassist Ismael Hernandez was truly outstanding.
On “In That House,” for example, the low rumble of Hernandez bass makes the song for me. The recording is pretty lo-fi, to be honest, but it makes it work. Cruz is way out front and that is probably because he was a child star on TV. This song does rip.
“Emergency Room” is pretty typical of Dr. Know. It’s super bombastic and fast and takes no prisoners. “Piece of Meat” is back to Cruz again on lead vox and when I listen to these songs, I can understand why people love the nardcore stuff. Oxnard had a great sound back in the day. “Piece Of Meat” is pretty fucking great. Toucher is shredding, too.
I always loved the “Saviour” track. I like how the song goes so fast and then does the half-time break down on the chorus. It’s 41 seconds long, so if you blink, you miss it.
“Who will be our leader?”
I almost decided to skip this record, but the reality is that I listened to it all the time from 1986 until about 1991. By then, I had kind of moved on for a while, but I still dust off some Dr. Know fairly often. These songs are in my blood.
There is something about the sound and the energy that just does it for me.
*****
See you tomorrow.
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