The Shining. By Lego.

During a reading for his new book, Under the Dome, Stephen King revealed that he is working on a sequel to his 1977 novel, The Shining.

Doctor Sleep, the working title for the frightening follow-up, fast-forwards 40 years and catches up with Danny “Redrum” Torrance. Danny is the son of the original books main character (played by Jack Nicholson in the movie version The Shining) frustrated author, insomniac and ax-wielding maniac, Jack Torrance.

I Slept With Joey Ramone. For LP.

Joey’s brother, Mickey Leigh co-wrote the book with Legs McNeil (Please Kill Me). The book is due out on December 1st.

Nick Cave only writes about bad sex.

Nick Cave’s second novel, The Death Of Bunny Munroe, has been shortlisted for the annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award. The book details the sexual exploits of a traveling salesman named Bunny. One of my favorite authors of all time, Irvine Welsh, had this to say about Cave’s Bunny:

Put Cormac McCarthy, Franz Kafka and Benny Hill together in a Brighton seaside guesthouse and they might just come up with Bunny Munro. A compulsive read possessing all Nick Cave’s trademark horror and humanity, often thinly disguised in a galloping, playful romp.

A representative for Cave issued a statement following the announcement saying that Cave would have been disappointed “not to have made the short list”.

Jack Kerouac reads from his novel On The Road…

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars…

Jack Kerouac, from On The Road.

Jack Kerouac would have been 87 today.

Max Brooks, World War Z.

Cherrybomb can read. It’s true. Here’s my current short-list:

World War Z: WWZ is Max Brooks’s 2006 tale of an actual Zombie apocalypse told from the perspective of the survivors. Use the Risk Calculator on the WWZ site to see if you would survive a Zombie War. Cherrybomb’s chances for survival were 45%. Yikes. I better re-read Brooks’ other book, the Zombie Survival Guide.

Chuck Palahniuk, Snuff.

Snuff: Chuck Palahniuk’s new book is about a porn star on a quest to bang 600 guys on film. I’m in the middle of this one right now.  While it’s not one of Palahniuk’s best, Snuff is still very fucking good.

Irivine Welsh, Crime – out on August 26th.

Crime: Irvine Welsh is back with a story about a ten year old girl, a gang of pedophiles and Welsh’s character from his Cockney book of madness, Filth (a Cherrybomb fave), crazy Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson. Welsh will be reading from Crime, due out on August 26th, in Seattle at Elliot Bay Books on September 24th. Other book-tour stops for Welsh in September include New York, Chicago and Portland at Powell’s.

Thanks to Freddy Pants for the Zombie link…

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975.

The Oregon hospital where Jack Nicholson received his famous lobotomy is set to be demolished sometime this Fall. Although the 1975 movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was fictional, Jack Nicholson became depressed after witnessing some of the methods of treatment for the hospitals residents. While Nicholson seems to have recovered from his brief stay at the Cuckoo’s Nest, (also known as Oregon State Hospital) the real residents of the decaying mental health facility, weren’t that lucky.

Oregon State Hospital J Building. The building still houses patients despite being on the verge of collapse.

Oregon State Hospital has suffered from many issues over the years, such as overcrowding and physical and sexual assault of their patients. Earlier this week, a patient escaped from a locked ward of hospital after assaulting a female employee. The patient was apprehended and subdued by a Taser after he carjacked a vehicle, rammed a patrol car, assaulted an officer and resisted a police dog.

Patient #567.

However, it was the horrific discovery of the cremated remains of over 3,000 patients in a storage room, that was the true catalyst for the upcoming closure of Oregon State Hospital. Members of the Oregon legislature found the remains, stored in moldy copper canisters, during a tour of the crumbling facility in 2004.

The new facility is scheduled to open in 2011. Oregon lawmakers are also working to improve the care the state provides to the mentally ill.

Happy Father’s Day…from the kids that might not be yours…

Oh man, Maury Povitch is gonna be pissed when he finds out about Identigene. That’s because Identigene is a Do-It-At-Home D.N.A. paternity test. Maury’s whole daytime trash-talk show shtick is pretty much based on providing paternity results to people in the lower evolutionary parts of the United States. How will he pay for Connie Chung’s singing lessons now? Damn you Identigene!

Putting your mind at ease, or making sure that a potential parent acts responsibly has never been more convenient, confidential, affordable or accurate. With the GeneSwab Home DNA Testing Kit you’ll collect DNA specimens from the privacy of your home.

Gathering specimens from the privacy of your own home? Finally a product I can really use! But where can I find my own D.N.A specimens? I washed the laundry already and that stubborn jizz stain I should have saved is gone. What do I do now, Identigene?

Bardot of Gum. Still dead sexy and maybe full of D.N.A.

DNA can be extracted from: Sweaty t-shirts, Undergarments, Semen stains, Vaginal Stains, Paper or plastic cup, Glass, Ear wax, Fingernail clippings, Socks, Urine, Licked stamps, Cheek swabs, Hair with roots, Dried blood, Whole blood, Chewed gum, Dental floss, Cigarette butts, Used tissue, Dried skin, Used razor, Other biological specimens. Place the specimen (s) into an envelope or plastic bag. If the special specimen is moist do not place into a plastic bag until the item has completely dried.

Wow! Finding a special specimen sounds easy, but I’m still not convinced that Identigene is right for me. But I really hate paying child support to my Ex. Especially since I’m sure she was also screwing my best friend, my Dad and that guy who asks for change at the 7-11. Stupid whore…:

“I’m separated from my spouse and have been paying child support for two children for five years. With IDENTIGENE, I was able to do DNA tests on both children. When the results came back, I was devastated. The Paternity Analysis Report read that the probability of paternity was 0% for both children. The court dismissed the child support and freed me of all responsibilities. Thanks again IDENTIGENE” – Pedro Hernandez.

And while Pedro might be happy with Identigene, the test isn’t cheap. The Legal Itentigene D.N.A. test will run you a cool $399. The Discreet Paternity Test (whatever that means) will hump your wallet dry for $645. Knowing who your baby daddy is from the comfort of your own jizz stained couch and cashing those checks for 18 years? Priceless…

Turntable Cake anyone…?

So let’s face it, the fact that both Sly Stone (who turns 65 today) and Terence Trent D’Arby (46) share a birthday is mildly interesting. Maybe even, sort of interesting. Let Cherrybomb take it to the next level and make it totally bizarre and totally interesting. ‘Cause that’s how I roll.

The Sly vs. D’Arby birthday battle is ON…:

Greatest Recording:

Terence: Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby (1987)

Sly: Stand (1969)

Advantage: Sly

With all due respect to Sly, The Hardline is a great fucking record. I still have that record and I still listen to that record. Why? Because it is a great fucking record, that why. But as great as Hardline is, Stand is without a doubt one of the greatest records ever recorded. If you don’t own it, your record collection is worthless. And so are you.

Better Etch-A-Sketch Picture:

Sly Etch A Sketch (above)

Terence: You can spend HOURS looking at the Etch-A-Sketchist site and still not find a Sketch of Terrence Trent D’Arby. Ike and Tina Turner. Check. N.W.A.? Check. Bob Dylan? Check. Unicorn riding a Dolphin? Check. Terrence Trent D’Arby? Nope.

Advantage: Sly

Better Hair:

Sly: Funky Soul Brother Fro. Sly also rocked a giant golden Mohawk in 2006 at the age of 64.

Terence: Rocked those little Lenny Kravitz light braids before Milli Vanilli ruined the look forever, less than a year later. Terence also tried out the gold hair look for the cover of his record, Vibrator.

Advantage: Sly. Afroman-Fro beats Bro-Braids every time.

Last Known Whereabouts:

Terence: Milan, Italy

Sly: Riding a custom built chopper through Napa Valley, California

Advantage: Sly. Chopper beats everything, every time.

Better Meltdown:

Sly: After binging on coke for years, sells his publishing rights to Michael Jackson in 1984.

Terence: Announces Terence Trent D’Arby is dead. Then assumes the name Sananda Maitreaya, a name that came to him in a dream. And he writes stuff like this, and THIS on his blog so,uh, you tell me. Not like I need to hear it from you because I’m pretty clear about this one. I just want us all to agree that Sandananadadana Maitrete D’a, awww FUCK. Bitch is crazy. The end.

Advantage: Terence.

Current respiratory status:

Sly: Alive. Really! It’s true! Fro beats Braids!

Terence: Alive and crazy. Seems to like Apples. Might want to give you an apple. Apple might be poison. You never know. Maybe don’t eat the apple. Just take the apple, don’t make eye contact, and say thank you.

Advantage: Sly

Honestly, I never meant to imply that Terence Trent Sananda Maitraya D’Arby was even in the same fucking ballpark as Sly musically. But, they were born on the same day so there you go. Sly might not be as spry as he once was, but he would out-funk Terence whateverthefuckhisnameisnow right out of funkytown any day, right into tomorrowday.

Who will be honored in the next Cherrybombed birthday? Here’s a hint…it’s CB’s all time favorite rock vox. Look out for that at the end of March.

So it’s already that time again. You know, GTFO time. Anyways, Cherrybomb will be DJing a private party overlooking the Space Needle on Friday. I’d invite you, but that wouldn’t make it private party anymore, would it? But don’t despair. There is so much going on this week and this weekend, you won’t miss me. But if you don’t get out, you’ll miss a lot of great shows.

So what are you gonna do? Get The Fuck Out of course…

Thursday, March 13th

Motorhead (!)
Stubb’s BBQ (Austin, TX)
Is Motorhead making an appearance at SXSW this week? If you believe the official Motorhead website, the answer is yes. However, Stubb’s website makes no mention of Motorhead on their music calendar. What Stubb’s calendar does say is that the 3/13 bill includes artists like Serge Tankian, Tom Morello and Ben Harper performing songs from the upcoming movie, Body of War. The soundtrack is due out on March 18th. Public Enemy and Eddie Vedder (who performs with Ben Harper on the track “No More”) also contributed to the soundtrack. The film itself will is screening at Sundance on March 13th at 4:00 pm at The Paramount Theater in Austin.

Vince Mira (formerly Juanny Cash) and The Roy Kay Trio
The One and Only True Messiah
The Sunset Tavern

Friday, March 14th:

The Maldives
The High Dive

Billy Joe and the Dusty 45’s
King Cobra

Saturday, March 15:

Dudley Manlove Quartet St. Patrick’s Day Extravaganza
Nectar

SXSX Seattle Party
The Cops: 1:30
Feral Children: 3:00
The Palm Door in Austin, TX

Schoolyard Heros
Hobo Libido (Record release)
Hell’s Kitchen

Sunday March 16th

Soundbite Seattle

Cherrybomb was at the Rendevoux Room on Saturday night chatting with a bartender about her love for SNB’s Neil of Steel. We then put on the new SNB record really loud, Cherrybomb drank a bunch of Gin then confessed to her lovely bar-mistress that she looked exactly like Kate Hudson, only with boobs. Gin is the best. But it might also be truth serum, so be careful who you drink it with. Anyways, the SNB connection to Seattle Soundbite is that Miss Simona, the hardcore drummer girl for SNB, works at Via Tribunali. To qualify for Soundbite, you must be in a band and also work in a restaurant.

Looking Ahead:

On March 28th, Supernauty, the Seattle Black Sabbath cover band will be at The Blue Moon. Check this vid of Supernauty turning out “Sweet Leaf“. And since I was speaking of SNB earlier in this post, Seattle’s own Miss Simona also plays in an all-girl Black Sabbath tribute band, Mistress of Reality. MOR will play a couple of dates in Cali before jetting off to Spain for the rest of March.

Shadow – L to R: Mike McCready, Rick Friel and Chris Friel

Flight to Mars Annual CCFA Benefit is back at The Box on May 5th. Feral Children are also on the bill. Best of all, McCready will perform a Hendrix trib that will include local rock ‘n’ brothers, Rick and Chris Friel. Both were in the Seattle hair band, Shadow (see big hair pix above). Rick and Chris also played with McCready in the excellent, The Rockfords with Carrie Akre. I love Rick Friel. He has always had the best hair. And every time I’ve seen him play, he gave it everything he had. Which is a lot. Take notes kids. You might learn something.

Speaking of hair, W.A.S.P is in Australia in April following up their recent US tour dates. Yeah, W.A.S.P is still a band. And codpieces with teeth is the new cowbell. Take that B.O.C.

Dizzee Rascal and EL-P will be at Neumo’s on May 19th. It’s still kind of amazing to me that people seem to be finally catching onto EL-P. His 2007 record, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, caught lots of people by surprise. Hopefully, you were one of them. If you’re still saying who?, check out EL-P’s “Up All Night“. The combo of Dizzie and EL-P is unstoppable Hip-Hop. With a British accent. Both Dizzie and EL-P play SXSW at The Scoot Inn on 3/13 with Del the Funky Homosapien.

And finally, The Queers will be at El Corazon on June 1st . Tickets are on sale now.

Man…it’s 12:30 on a Tuesday night. Do you know where your Cherrybomb is? All I can say is if you don’t get out, you’ll never find out. So, GTFO already…

After a one-off date for Nash Kato in February, Urge Overkill has scheduled a couple of live dates on the East Coast. Tickets for the UO gig in Washington, D.C. at the Black Cat go on sale today at 5:00 pm EST. Tickets for the April 29th show at The Bowery in NY and the April 30th show at The Middle East in Cambridge, MA (Suffrajett share the bill) are on sale now.

All Cherrybomb can say is if UO plays Seattle, my head is gonna explode.

David Byrne wants his Boing-Boing unblocked…

…but that’s if you try to log into Vanity Fair’s website while at the Denver Airport. And they pissed off David Byrne in the process. But not because he was reading Vanity Fair. Byrne was trying to get his daily boingboing…:

“Give people some credit,” said David Byrne, founder of the legendary art-rock band Talking Heads, who was blocked from boingboing.net while connecting through Denver to an Aspen workshop last month. “And the more credit you give them, the more they respond. It’s just trusting people’s discretion.”

There are Internet filtering laws in over 20 states (Washington State s not on that list) that apply specifically to Libraries and Schools. Denver is the only airport in the US (that we know about) currently using Internet filters in conjunction with their “free” Wi-Fi service. While the airport can safely be considered a mostly public place, it should also be safe to assume that most people are not going to pull up their favorite porn site while waiting for their plane. While sitting next to you and your kid. People who have to surf for porn, ahem, Vanity Fair articles at the airport do that in the bathroom for five minutes. Quite frankly, we should be more concerned about the content on CNN that is blasted out on the hundreds of TV screens in every terminal. If the goal is to prevent minors from being exposed to adult content that is. And since your laptop or web-enabled phone isn’t really your business anymore, this guy told the Feds they can now open your mail if they want to. Not because they think they need to.

George Bush with his Devil Signs OUT…

Here’s more from the actual bill H.R 6407 that was signed into law in 2006. Yeah, 2006:

“The executive branch shall construe subsection 404(c) of title 39, as enacted by subsection 1010(e) of the Act, which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection, in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances, such as to protect human life and safety against hazardous materials, and the need for physical searches specifically authorized by law for foreign intelligence collection.”

Whoa. That was a lot of words. So you know, the word exigent means the same thing as urgent. Only in this case sung like Slayer, not Foreigner. But the following 11 words are the ones you should be most concerned with:

“opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed.”

Because that means your mail. That means the mail you get sent to your PO box. You know, the one you use for your Hustler and New York Times? And the letters from your personal ad in the “Swingers Wanted” section of the Times. Anyways, I think you get my point. Mail is no longer a private matter between you and your Mistress. What you have now is an unwanted threesome with you, your Mistress and the Federal Government. At any rate, this is more of how this administration continues to whack away at The Constitution and our privacy.

Take that us.

Dance Lessons With James Brown

According to James Brown, “the Boogaloo is one of the hardest dances in the world“. Unless you’re James Brown of course. After watching this vid Cherrybomb realized a couple of things. First, I need to brush up on my Soul Train dance moves. I’ve been doing it all wrong. Second, James Brown is awesome. Anyways, in the words of the Godfather himself, this vid is gonna blow your mind.

Wendy O has her Gunz Out. How about you…?

Okay. Here’s the deal. Cherrybomb is busy. I got all today’s Primary results to keep tabs on and The Gutter Twins show tonight at The Box. I’m actively stalking Greg Dulli and I’ve got to get this weekly GTFO entry out there so you don’t sit on your couch all week. So there you have it. Cherrybomb is a very busy girl. Life it short. Might die tomorrow. Clowns could eat me in my sleep. Locusts! Anyways, what I’m trying to say is I got to GO and so should you. After you read this blog of course…

Wednesday, March 5th:

SSP Wrestling
Re-bar
Come to the Re-bar for your monthly clobbering of real wrasslin’. Because SSP is the REAL DEAL baby. Man, I hope Naked Guy shows up this time. Anyway, Re-Bar was for sale on Craigslist in 2006 and while I’m not sure if it changed hands, it hasn’t changed. And that’s good.

Bowie vs T Rex Night
The Comet
David Bowie and Marc Bolan steel cage style at The Comet. I’d have to say the clear advantage goes to Bolan and T Rex except for two things. David Bowie’s giant veneer’s will blind you like that last time you stared directly at the sun, and Marc Bolan is dead. And this is a musical duel to the death, not a steel cage match. Still, Cherrybomb is gonna stick with advantage Rex. Mainly because Bowie stole all his ideas from Lou Reed. Take that Ziggy.

Thursday, March 6th:

Ice Age Cobra
A Gun That Shoots Knives
El Corazon

Friday, March 7th:

The Earaches
Branden Daniel Everyone Gets Laid
Holy Name Dropouts
The Bug Nasties
The Sunset

Shim
The Valley
King Cobra

The Knast
The Comet
A very good looking friend turned Cherrybomb onto The Knast. I would like to return the favor by turning you on to The Knast. The excellent Boss Martians are also on this bill.

Friday, March 8th:

Macklemore
The Physics
JFK of Grayskul
Nectar

Lesbian
Orange Sunshine
Mos Generator
The Comet

Looking Ahead:

El Corazon brings Witchburn in on April 3rd and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult on April 11th. The TKK just celebrated 20 years in the biz last year. Don’t that make you feel old? You, not Cherrybomb. I drink virgin blood to take care of that thing you call old.

Daniel Johnston will be at Neumo’s on April 17th. Johnston is an American folk icon. Johnson’s past is a mix of weird and wonderful. Both words define Johnston’s musical contributions. For more on that, see the tragically sad but remarkable biopic, The Devil and Daniel Johnston. For those of you in Austin or heading to Austin for SXSW this year, check out “Speeding Motorcycle“, a musical based on the Johnston song of the same name.

Slough Feg will be back in Seattle at Neumo’s on April 22nd. Dr. H, a very good tequila drinking friend of Cherrybomb’s, saw the Feg when they swung through Seattle a month or so ago. He referred them as “very Thin Lizzyish with a spash of Priest and Maiden“. Dr. H…you totally had me at Thin Lizzyish.

Black Kids will be at Neumo’s on April 30. TBK’s I’m Not Gonna Teach You How To Dance With Him, is a permanent resident of Cherrybomb’s iPod. And speaking of things that live on my iPod, The Dirtbombs blow up Neumo’s on May 15.

Finally, despite persistent rumors to the contrary, Led Zeppelin will not be touring. No fair. Word has it that Page and JPJ want to tour but Robert Plant has no interest. Which really isn’t surprising, but it is a bit depressing. Anyways, that frees up the $1500 I had stashed for Zep tickets. Guess I’m going to Mexico after all. Okay…I’m officially ready for the weekend and it’s only Tuesday…

Now, Get The Fuck Out…

Yesterday, Comcast confirmed that it hired and paid people to fill seats at an FCC hearing in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The hearing was held to address Comcast’s practice of preventing customers from file sharing. While the practice of seat warming is not uncommon (or illegal), Comcast said they were merely acting preemptively. Media watchdogs from Free Press, publicly critical of Comcast’s recent practices, had been encouraging their members and supporters to attend the hearing. More than 100 people were turned away from the hearing, ironically held at Harvard Law School.

Thanks to the Free Press and AP for the story…

Editor’s postscript: Thanks to the Red Davy Kidd for this image (below) of some of the “seat warmers” Comcast bussed in to the hearing. Unbelievable…

Al Gore has “that dream” again…

So by now you might have heard that Ralph Nader will enter the 2008 Presidential election as either an Independent, Third Party candidate or a Green Party candidate. While Nader is exercising his right to run under an alternative Party affiliation, and is well within the August 1st deadline to do so, he may have to pay for it. You might remember Nader decided to sue the DNC for attempting to keep him off the ballot in 18 different states during the 2004 Election. Now, Democrats in Pennsylvania and Lawyers in Pittsburgh have won the support of a judge in Washington to freeze $61,000 of Nader’s assets. And while all that might make you think of Warren Zevon, the amount is what Nader supposedly owes in a lawsuit that was filed by the law firm of Reed Smith on behalf of a group of Penn. State Democrats. The suit claimed that the majority of signatures gathered by Nader to get him on the ballot in Pennsylvania were fraudulent. The suit was upheld by the state supreme court who determined that only 37% of the 51,000 signatures were valid. Nader’s 2004 running mate, Peter Camejo has already settled his part of the suit to the tune of $20,000.

All Cherrybomb can say is John McCain and Mike Huckabee are both pretty happy about Nader’s decision to enter the race. That is reason alone not to be.

Speaking of Mike Huckabee, it’s been a while since I spoke about Mike Huckabee. So let’s talk about Mike Huckabee. On a campaign stop in Colorado Springs on Friday, Huckabee endorsed the Colorado Human Life Amendment. The initiative was introduced by a right-wing group innocently called “Colorado for Equal Rights“. If passed, the amendment would legally define human life as a fertilized egg. In January, Huckabee made more comments about eggs. This time he compared the physical non-existence of WOMD’s in Iraq to eggs. Easter eggs…:

Now everybody can look back and say, ‘Oh, well, we didn’t find the weapons.’ Doesn’t mean they weren’t there. Just because you didn’t find every Easter egg didn’t mean that it wasn’t planted.

Koo-Koo-Ka-Joo indeed, Mike Huckabee. Read the rest of this entry →

Wonder Woman temporarily replaces Wendy O. Evildoers beware!

Dang. It feels like it was just a weekend, and now it’s practically the weekend again. Just the way I likes it. This weekend, Team Cherrybomb will be out in force on Friday. It’s a special and sad night for us as one of our own is moving to Colorado. Which, by all accounts, is a very nice place to be going off to. I mean, there’s the mountains, the clean air, the running into Robert Redford at Starbucks. I mean, it’s practically Seattle. Except in Seattle you run into Mark Arm at an out-of-the-way coffee shop that isn’t Starbucks. I’m gonna miss you, Wonder Woman. I can’t wait to kick Seattle’s ass with you one more time.

Now, where should you be this weekend, and beyond? Let me check your crystal balls and see…

Editor’s Note: Cherrybomb has no balls of her own. But if she did, they would be made of diamonds, not some cheap-ass Mikasa crystal. Also, I am repeating some stuff from last week because it bears repeating. Not ’cause I forgot…Also, I am repeating some stuff from last week because it bears repeating. Take that, brain cell.

Wednesday, February 20th:
Rock ‘n’ Roll Soldiers just got their hair did. Don’t mess with it…

Rock ‘n’ Roll Soldiers
@Sonic Ballroom
Oberhauen, Germany

Don’t I wish I was telling you RnR Soldiers were right here in Seattle tonight. However, we must be happy for our Oregon friends, as this is the second night of their ‘08 European tour. The band has already hit Spain and Paris, and by all reports, both locations are still mostly standing. The excellent So Many Musicians to Kill would improve even the most worthy record collection. Favorite RNRS verse? You say you love me, but I’ll make you hate me. You say you love me, but I don’t give a fuck about you. Straight and to the point. Just how I likes it…

Friday, February 22nd:

The DT’s
Mos Generator
@The Funhouse

If you miss this show, get to Bellingham on Saturday, March 29th, and catch The DT’s with Black Eyes and Neckties and Skullbot at the Rogue Hero. Cherrybomb wouldn’t miss this show, though. Especially since the clown on the flier for this show told me not too miss it. And I always do everything the clowns tell me to do.

Monotonix plays with me and fire…

Monotonix
The Valley
Black Eyes and Neckties
@The Comet Tavern

Monotonix is like Gogol Bordello doing 110 down the highway with a tail light out, and a trunk full of nitrus. Black Eyes (or BENt) played live on KEXP last week, and the on-air performance broke my radio and my eardrums. Monotonix will invade Denver, CO on March 10th at Rhinoceropolis.

The Cops
The Lowe Beats (Nick Lowe all-star trib with members of REM and The Young Fresh Fellows)
@The Tractor Tavern

Dennis Hopper Pop Art by Ed Ruscha

The Cool School
Northwest Film Forum
The Cool School is a trip back to the 1950’s art beat scene in LA. It includes interviews with Dennis Hopper and Frank Gehry, and focuses on the Ferus Gallery in LA, which held the very first Andy Warhol show. I think NWFF sums it up best here:

The Cool School is a vivid picture of the inspiring scene and shares the untold story of a group of scrappy artists that shook up the dull tastemakers, got arrested for obscenity, and ultimately established the importance of West Coast art.

The Cool School runs through Thursday, February 28th. And since I’m on the topic of Art, I was horribly remiss in not mentioning the opening of “A Cabinet Of Natural Curiosities” at the Roq La Rue on February 8th. While the gallery at The Roc will feature animals and other interpretations of living creatures, I love this piece by one of the shows featured artists, Lisa Petrucci (below)

The wood art of Lisa Petrucci is sweet. And let’s face it. You haven’t really lived unless you have seen a painting of a naked woman on a piece of wood. The show also includes the macabre and prolific works of LA’s Liz McGrath. To further stick it to you that girls can do it all, McGrath’s band, Miss Derringer, just finished up a ten-stop tour of the West Coast.

Saturday, February 23rd:

Dita Vox of Thee Emergency at The Funhouse. Photo by Cherrybomb.

Thee Emergency
A Gun That Shoots Knives
@The Comet Tavern

Holy Hellgate. This show is right on, so Dig It. This show is so good, it’s gonna bring Cherrybomb to The Comet two nights in a row. Take that, liver. And in keeping with the Colorado theme for this post, Thee Emergency will be at The Rocket Room in CO on March 21st.

Looking Ahead:

The Supersuckers got stars and guitars…

The Supersuckers will play five shows around Colorado starting on March 1st. What a way to welcome a girl to town. The Supersuckers have got to be one of the hardest working bands in the world. Ed Spaghetti and crew played 139 shows last year.

Gary Louris will be at the Showbox on March 16th. Louris is the vocalist for one of the best bands you maybe never heard of, The Jayhawks (listen to Rainy Day Music. It’s excellent even if you don’t live in Seattle). Although I’m not sure what kind of hellish afterlife you live in that doesn’t involve The Jayhawks, I’m sure it’s horribly bland and flavorless.

Pete Way back in the day…

UFO will be at El Corazon on May 7th. This is one of the many shows re-scheduled from The Croc. It features the original lineup, which includes Pete Way – the Bass Master of UFO, Waysted (who are touring now) and Fastway – clearly one of the greatest metal bands ever. At least that last point is verra clear to Cherrybomb. Not to digress, but check this vid from Waysted, “Heaven Tonight“. That spider-web never had a chance.

I would like to end on a Cheap Trick note. Because who doesn’t like a happy ending? I adore Cheap Trick. Every time I see them, I feel like those girls who used to faint in the front row of a Beatles show. Anyways, designer John Varvatos used CT for his latest ad campaign. And it’s awesome. But seriously, is it me, or does Robin Zander just not age like the rest of us? Anyways, Cheap Trick will be live at Budokan again on April 24th.

See you then. Now, Get The Fuck Out.

Prince. The OG Village Person…

But sadly Prince and the VP are not collaborating in a musical way that might also involve assless pants. No. That perfect world still eludes us all. Well, everyone but Prince but still, my previous statement applies. Anyways, Prince and The Village People have joined in a lawsuit against the bit-torrent site The Pirate Bay. While specifics about the lawsuit are still a bit unclear, what is clear is that someone is going to pay for the 40 Prince records the suit claims were illegally distributed via TPB. Assless pants are expensive yo.

Soul Train + James Brown – Don Cornelius = Future Shock

Good God y’all. I feel so funky after watching Future Shock, I jumped back and kissed myself. And not for anything, it was great. Thanks for wondering about that. Then I gave thanks to the greatness that is KFMU (91.1 in New York) for hipping me to James Brown’s short lived television show, Future Shock. Or Soul Train on Crack Cocaine as KFMU’s excellent blog calls it. This footage is unreal. I saw at least ten Pam Griers and one Bootsy. Brown’s sweet cop ’stache is awesome. How this show didn’t last is beyond me. Wait…no it isn’t. Anyways, get down with the man who taught them everything they know, but not everything he knew.

Take it away, Godfather. And keep it funky…

Henry Rollins

Okay. I would never pit Henry Rollins (who somehow turned 47 today) against Peter Gabriel (who turns 58) but they both share a birthday so there you go. Letting them go at it for real would be like sending Henry after your college music professor because he said you were flat in class the other day. But I will put them up against each other in other matters that really matter. Because isn’t that what really matters. Let’s go…:

Movies:

Rollins: The Chase
Gabriel: Uh…nope

Advantage: Gabriel

Peter Gabriel

Music:

Gabriel: Was in Genesis. Rather amazing solo career. Combined record sales of Gabriel’s days with Genesis and his post-Duke days are probably in the neighborhood of 200,000,000.

Rollins: Was in Black Flag. Fronts the Rollins Band.

Advantage: Rollins (editors note: If Phil Collins is involved, his participation cancels out anything else. Even the awesome Gabriel/Genesis factor. And Henry was in Black Flag, for chrissake. BLACK FLAG)

Politics:

Gabriel: Wrote the infamous “Biko” as a tribute to activist Stephen Biko. Gabriel has been a tireless champion for Human Rights for much of his life.

Rollins: Sets the road to Freedom of Speech on fire every time he opens his mouth.

Advantage: Tie (I’m so not getting in the middle of that).

So no winner in this epic battle. But wait till next time. The next Birthday Royale is gonna be a bloodbath.

Ash – Clones from 2004

I have Sleazegrinder to thank for so many things and getting hip to Ash is one of them. Anyways, the great and powerful Ash (watch the vid for “Clones”, above with the speakers all the way up) just announced they will play a gig at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on Monday, March, 17th. Another name for March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day. Which officially makes Brooklyn, NY the best place to spend this coming St. Patrick’s Day. Damn you New York! Why are you so far away from Seattle. Ash and Nick Cave (who performs at the Plug Awards on March 6th) all in one month? No fair.