Dear Friends,
We have Freeze practice today. The songs are getting a little jumbly in my head as we are up to about 20 in our repertoire (after today…ish). Lots of music floating in the old brain right now, but thank goodness that it is. The music is keeping me sane.
We had a show last night but it’s way too early to get into that so I will fill in the details tomorrow.
I did have a really nice breakfast with Dot yesterday. She helped me feel a lot better just by listening and sharing what is going on with her. Otro Café is a damn good breakfast. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend it and if you go, try the chilaquiles. Effin’ delicious stuff, let me tell you. Get the mix of green and red sauce.
After breakfast I spent some time with Elise and Sky and Liam. Ryan called and I had a good talk with him, too. I love that the family is rallying around each other right now. It is a really cool thing.
*****
One other thing that is on my mind has to do with something that Dot and I talked about during breakfast. We got on the subject of our buddy, Dave Cookus, who died in June. There will be a memorial at some point soon and while we were talking about that, I brought up that Cassie, Dave’s cousin and our sister from another mister, never really got to have a memorial.
I really want to do something about that. I don’t know what or how, but I really do. She was such a wonderful part of my life and I miss her. I hurts my soul that, with Dave gone, there is no connection left to Cass except those of us who loved them all. When Daniel Cookus died, it was a terrible blow, too, but we got to gather and grieve. We didn’t get to do that for Cass.
It's something I regret terribly.
*****
I had JFA’s Untitled on cassette at first. I don’t remember when I stole it from Tower Records, but I don’t think I paid for many cassettes in my lifetime, to be honest. There were a few, but most of them I got during the time that Tower Records magnetic anti-theft devices were not working or had been “accidentally” unplugged by one of the employees. No one liked working at the one at Christown from what I remember.
Either way, I literally wore this cassette out. One day it just started making this horrible squealing noise when I tried to play it and that was that. No more Untitled.
My first favorite song on Untitled had to be “The Day Walt Disney Died.” Now I listen to it and I hear a punk rock version of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” although I don’t think that was what they were going for at the time. Maybe I should ask Michael about that. I never think about it when we are doing something together.
“ABA” was another song that I really liked from the “Frontwards” side. Such a cool riff and a little smashing together of a Damned riff and a David Bowie riff. I think that’s right. I may not have my story straight. Michael told me once what it was. Either way, I love the riff itself.
Another part of Untitled that I love is that Brian’s vocals are pretty unhinged on this record. It feels like he was just throwing everything into it on this one. “It’s Not Right” is a good example of this as is “Tentpeg.”
The “Frontwards” side basically rules and it’s maybe ten minutes long.
As I type this, I am wondering if I stole this cassette before I picked up Valley of the Yakes. I don’t think so, but I guess it is possible. I remember going from having no JFA stuff to having all of the ones that were available at the time.
This is why I was so excited when I walked in for my meeting about financial aid at Phoenix College and there Michael sat. I would have never believed that one day we would be great friends and bandmates for fourteen years. Life is pretty wonderful sometimes.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to appreciate the “Backwards” side a lot, too. “Standin On The Verge” is another riff that is just so damn good. I love how JFA made this song their own. The bass work on “ZImbobway” is fantastic, too. It cemented my admiration for Michael as a bass player almost as much as the stuff on Valley of the Yakes.
“I Love Broads” is pretty funny, retrospectively since I know that Brian wouldn’t do anything now to disrespect women. I’m sure they thought the title was funny as hell when they came up with it. “Ramp Song” is a blast of skate punk fury and “Pipetruck” is another total ripper, too.
The thing about JFA, at least for me, is that I identify a lot of what I love about punk rock music with them. They weren’t the first punk band I heard, but they were Phoenix’s band, and therefore, my band. I wanted to be in JFA and know the guys and feel like I was truly a part of the local scene back in the mid-80s, so I spent a lot of time listening to their music, including wearing out this cassette, and daydreaming about “What if” scenarios.
We also used to skateboard to these records a lot. JFA got us pumped and I know we (Mark, Ben, and I) were just a drop in the bucket of who was out there in Phoenix at the time listening to JFA on our way to a pool or a ditch. If we could get away with it, we would be listening to punk rock on the boombox while we skated and JFA was always in the mix.
I listen to this record now and I just get kind of warm and fuzzy inside. How awesome is that?
*****
See you tomorrow.
I told AI that I missed my friend, Cassie, and this is what it came up with...strange.
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