Dear Friends,
I can’t believe that we are starting August. I’m glad, for sure, because this means I will see my wife in 63 days. Not that I’m counting.
The first actual, true day of work was good, and I stuck with my plan of staying in the moment for the most part. Towards the end of the day when we were in a training that was facilitated by someone who had not quite found her footing with the material, I got a little antsy and drifted a bit, but the rest of my work day was focused and fruitful. It was way more focused than that last sentence.
It’s going to be a good year, full of professional growth, I think. I’m excited about it and I am also looking forward to being a better teacher. I take pride in that stuff, believe it or not.
*****
After work, I played a little music over at my buddy Aaron’s house. We made some righteous noise and have some plans to make a record, I think. We might even take this project out to the public. We shall see. Either way, it’s fun as heck so far.
*****
I lost my shit when I got home, though. I’m not proud of it. A promise that was made to me by a child went undone. That was not a good thing at all. Then one of the cats peed on something that I didn’t want her to pee on. She’s getting worse and worse about not using the fucking litter box. I know I need to take her to the vet.
Fuck.
I think she is relatively healthy, but what is her excuse for being a bitch.
*****
Some of you have been keeping score, I’m sure, and are probably wondering just how many cassettes I pilfered from Tower Records near Christown. The honest answer is that I have no idea. There were a lot of them.
I had these pants that I had gotten at Judy’s in Metrocenter (in the men’s section) that had these huge pockets in front. Like, the pockets started where normal pockets started but went all the way down to the knee. When I got through the need to be a pretty boy in ‘mod’ pants from Judy’s, I cut them off into shorts and they were great for shoplifting.
Truth be told, I am not proud of this, but I often had very little money in my teenage years and felt like ‘borrowing’ records from Tower was something I could live with. I never got caught, either, which would have probably been the abrupt end of my career as a petty thief.
One of my best scores, though, was the Flipside Vinyl Fanzine Two which was put out by the people who did my favorite zine, Flipside. I miss that thing.
The irony, of course, is that I had it on cassette. It was not vinyl at all, but it turned me on to a lot of bands. It would have cost me a lot of money to get stuff by all 24 bands on the comp and at the time I stole it, I think I only had records by two of the featured artists: DI and JFA.
The standout tracks for me on the comp are numerous, so it may seem like I am going over all of them, but I probably won’t. It starts off with a cool song by M.I.A. called “Just A Dream.” This is the only M.I.A. that I have ever owned, but that’s a mistake. They were and are a great band. I got to meet their old drummer, Chris Moon, at Punk Rock Bowling in 2018 and he couldn’t have been cooler.
Decry is up next and I always liked their song, “Island Paradise.” Not as much for the Outpatients’ “Backwards Explosion” back in the day, but I like it better now. It was actually one of the more interesting songs on the comp and the musicianship is great.
“Metastasis” is a rad song by Naked Raygun and this was my introduction to them, I think. I talked about this song a few weeks ago when I wrote about Throb Throb. Realistically, “Metastasis” is one of the best songs on the comp.
“Mad Dog” by Roach Motel is pretty lame, but it is effective. I never think about this song, though. I have, however, been thinking about “Out of School” by JFA a lot over the years, especially recently. I love the intro to it because it is so nice to hear Bam Bam’s voice. I miss him a lot. I used to get such pride when I heard “Out of School.”
Fucking great song.
The best thing about the Massacre Guys song is the intro they did. “Let’s Forget” is pretty typical early 80s hardcore with a little Bay Area style thrown in. Vagina Dentata’s “Golden Boys” is noisy and entertaining and even though the beginning is long, the song is really good. Plain Wrap’s “Magnetic Shoes” is another favorite. I love the energy of the song.
D.I.’s “Johnny’s Got a Problem” is one of my favorites by them. Such a good song. I forget how much I enjoyed D.I. back in the day sometimes because I don’t agree with some of the behaviors I have heard about over the years, but I suppose I should get over that. People I love know and love them…
Fuck the Misfits.
Necros “Walking the Dog” is cool, though. Great riff in there. Good intro to the Condemned 2 Death song. Pretty standard punk rock. Iconoclast’s “Domination Or Destruction” is quite good. I like it a lot. “People don’t realize what they have had until they have lost it.” I like that line.
Cheetah Chrome Motherfucker’s “No Wordz” is okay
Disorderly Conduct’s “How Old Are You” is a fun one. I like it. I’m not as big of a fan of the Catatonics’ “Descending in E” or Braille Party’s “Let It Burn.” They are okay, I suppose, but nothing I want to write more about.
Germs’ “Forming” is a classic that I’ve written about before. I was already a fan and had them on the Decline of Western Civilization soundtrack. G.K.H.’s “Dickerman” is kind of great and kind of annoying.
“Shakin’ All Over” was my first favorite Agent Orange song. It’s so damn good. I love Mike Palm.
There were two more tracks. One was a Scream song that I don’t really remember, but I loved White Flag’s “Burn-out.” Good stuff, for sure. Like totally.
*****
See you tomorrow.
AI's wonderful interpretation of losing one's focus at 3:15pm.
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