Dear Friends,
Had a little scare yesterday. I was getting up and my back seized up. I have had a few of these episodes in my life, but this one made me understand how people’s backs lock up and don’t let go. It loosened up over the day, but it was scary and, as if I couldn’t be more sober, it sobered me up.
I have long taken my health for granted, I think, and life has taken its toll. Having a fairly heavy bass strapped to my shoulder and neck for most of the last 32 years has probably had some impact. I know I have written about this before, but I’m starting to see the…I don’t know what to call it because it doesn’t feel like the “light.”
I’m getting shit done, though.
*****
I also had a biopsy done yesterday on this thing that was growing on my forehead. I’m sure it is nothing, but my skin doc was so quick to say “We need a biopsy” that it set me back a minute. This is the second one in two years. How long will my luck last?
That seems so morbid. I don’t want to be a drama Sheen.
*****
Something about being a “drama Sheen” just seems funny to me.
*****
I think we are all ready for Friday in my classroom. It’s been a long week. I think the students know that things are real now. I know they are, too. We had our first team meeting that was attended by the Principal yesterday and I was nervous, but she said I did a good job. That was a relief. The days go by so fast.
It often feels like I’m never getting everything done. I’m sure I’m not the only teacher that feels that way, but the struggle is real.
This is like the biggest cliché day. I’m shutting up now.
TGIF.
*****
I started off yesterday morning, August 22, 2024, thinking that I shouldn’t write about Free LSD by OFF!. Even though I have already added two new records to this list, the thought crossed my mind that I hadn’t spent enough time with Free LSD.
Then I listened again.
This is a goddamn great punk rock record. OFF!, in my opinion, is about the closest thing to what drew me to punk rock in the first place over forty years ago that was happening right now. I say “was” because the band went on an indefinite hiatus early this summer. It bums me out completely that I won’t get to experience another show by the band, but I also get it.
Those guys, Keith Morris and Dmitri Coats put a lot of heart, blood, muscle, and guts into OFF! for fourteen years. That’s the same amount of time that we did The Father Figures for and it’s not exactly the easiest thing to keep a band going for that long, especially at the highest level. They finished as strong as they started and that says a lot about who they are.
Free LSD is basically a punk rock opera. It tells the story of a battle for Los Angeles and a battle for the soul of a man who is ready to find out who he really is. The band made a movie with the same name that I have yet to see (I promised my wife we would watch it together) and I can’t wait to see it. I’ve heard it is a wild ride.
The thing about this record is that it goes to a different level than the band’s previous recordings, which were stellar. I have no inside knowledge as to whether they knew this was going to be their last record as they were creating it, but it certainly seems like they were maybe thinking that very thing. It’s a coup de grace.
“Suck the Bones Dry” is one of my favorite tracks here. Morris’ vocals have never sounded better and Coats guitar part is manic, free, and powerful. The rhythm section for this record was Aubrey Fulbright and Justin Brown on bass and drums respectively. Fullbright used to be in And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, so I was familiar with his work a little bit, but Brown is an absolute beast behind the kit.
There is nothing, though, about this record that I don’t like. There is also nothing I can write here that would do it justice. I could say the same thing I said about “Suck the Bones Dry” about every other track. Even the noisy bits that are peppered in here and there are fucking awesome.
The spiritual culmination that is “Free LSD” brings things home perfectly. If this had come out in 1986, it might have been my favorite record of all-time at that point. The world is barely ready for OFF! now, though, and they are gone.
I’m going to kick back and listen to this one. You should, too.
*****
See you tomorrow.
Take a PILL, AI.
Comentarios