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Devil Doll
Or there’s always this method, she posted, adding a link to the trailer for Devil Doll, an old MGM horror from 1936. Born of a revenge crazed mind, the screen said. The strangest story ever told....
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The Anti-Mogul (aka Long Gone John of SFTRI)
(Written for Noise Works, a Washington D.C. music zine, 1992) The Headquarters of Sympathy For The Record Industry–perhaps the world’s pre-eminent truly independent label–is in Long Beach, California...
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Vida
(This is from a Minneapolis-based magazine I can’t recall the name of, 1997. Vida was a terrific band that fell between the cracks and disappeared after Nirvana turned the underground upside down and...
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California Sun
(2012) I can’t remember if I first heard the Ramones on the radio or maybe it was their Don Kershner TV appearance, but I remember this tune—“California Sun”—sticking in my craw really early, and it’s...
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Wild Stares
(Almost Perfect Sound webzine, 1992) The Wild Stares are on stage. It’s downtown LA, in the depths of the local art scene, in a room of almost antediluvian dinginess, from which at least half the...
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London Calling
The Clash sucked after Give ‘em Enough Rope. Yup. Went totally lame. I’d been a fan of everything until they came out with I Fought the Law. That tour was incredible though, saw ‘em at the Santa Monica...
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The Kidneys
Saw a brilliant power trio last night at Cafe Nela that was so inexplicably original I tried for half their set to come up with a point of reference but the only one I could think of was Otto’s...
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The great thing about your first band is….
You used to be just another loser. Joey Ramone and Debbie Harry, 1976 .
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Spike
. More memories from Spike. He’s now living the life of a retired insurance executive down in the tropics. We could sit over beers with Spike down at his perfect émigré abode in Mérida, ruins of...
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New Rose
Great shot of Dave Vanian, singer of the mighty Damned, 1977. My wife and I blasted “New Rose” out of the stereo at my folks house the day we were married. That was our life back in 1979, punk rock....
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Road to Damascus
I can vividly remember the very moment my life changed forever….it was November 1977 and I was a twenty years old and a college kid in Santa Barbara and bored, so bored. One beautiful day–they were...
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Public Image
Someone shared a link. Public Image Ltd.’s single “Public Image” was released on this day, October 13, 1978. Wow. Going back. Way back. It was such a huge thing, that single. The buzz during the wait...
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Patti Smith
The first time I ever heard Patti Smith was on a cool little FM station without deejays–they used to call them robot stations–in Orange County. KEZY-FM were the call letters. They played all this hip,...
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Tater tots
I was in a tater tot riot once. A huge tater tot food fight. A packed club in a blizzard of tater tots. The walls were caked with processed potato. We stood on the balcony and watched the scene below,...
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Strange Notes
I remember doing drugs with Darby Crash. Only one time, I think–joints don’t count–and it must have been 1980. We–me and my wife, or wife to be at the time–were at the Capital Records swap meet. If you...
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My music career
Just listening to some ancient cassettes of an old band of mine, thirty years ago. I was in a lot of bands for a couple crazy decades there–no one you’d ever heard of–but this band was my favorite. It...
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Jazz portraits
A message from the Brickwahl.com administration office: We have been reorganizing the blog lately and have compiled a few dozen pieces on jazz people onto one page: http://brickwahl.com/jazz-portraits/...
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Best practices
Best overdose I ever saw at a rock show was in San Francisco at some inner city commune called The Farm. It was staffed by old hippies and full of hardcore punk kids. This was the mid eighties and I...
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Smooth jazz
Me and a couple guys like me drank all of Camper Van Beethoven’s beer once backstage, though we didn’t realize it. Dove into their deli plate as well, and took up all the room on their comfy sofas....
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Flourish Wish
Found these on my Google Plus page. Seems I spent a late evening on YouTube digging up old tunes from my past life and writing about them. They’re not for the jazzbos, most of ’em, they’re a little...
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