Alicjia Trout of The River City Tanlines, Lost Sounds, among others
Annie from This Is My Fist
Ben Crew from Divebomb Honey
Bill Florio from The Shemps
Blag Dahlia from the Dwarves
Chaz Martenson of Bull City Records
Chris Kohler from Bikefight and Sexy
Colin from Defect Defect
Craig Ibarra, editor of The Rise and the Fall zine
Dan Opperman from The Motorcycle Prom Dates
Dave Disorder, ADD Records
Dawn Wirth, photographer extrodinaire
Dave from Radon
Eric Apnea from Quest For Fire, Holy Shit!, and Catholic Boys
Eric Solomon from I Heart U Productions
Geykido Comet Records (Shahab, Heela, Mahtab)
Jesse Xeroxed
Jimmy the Truth from Superchinchillarescuemission
Joe from The Marked Men
Justin from the Chinese Telephones
Kalle from Smalltown
Katherine from Lefty Loosie
Marcus from the Regulations
(Canada) Mark from Sinkin’ Ships
Matt Seward from Cave 9
Max from The Trashies
Mike Hall from Sick Sick Birds and The Thumbs
Mike from Hunchback
Omari from Washington Wescott and The Jewws
Peej from Grabass Charlestons, Billy Reese Peters, and Stressface
Ray Suburbia from Chinese Telephones and Corpse Corps
Replay Dave from Grabass Charlestons and Stressface
Roxy Epoxy from The Epoxies
Shanty Cheryl, photographer
Tim Kerr of The Big Boys
Tommas from Gorilla Angreb
Travis from The Knockout Pills
Sweetest Places To “Chill” In 2006 (in no particular order)
• The Palms Motel, Streetsboro, OH
• Ground Zero, NYC
• The Boneyard, Brooklyn, NY
• The Robot House, Millwaukee, WI (RIP)
• The Staten Island Ferry, NYC
• Sunken City, San Pedro, CA
• The Farm, Las Cruces, NM
• One of the Wafflehouse’s in Asheville, NC
• 7-11, Mill Valley, Ca
• Tiger Truck Stop, Grosse Tete, LA
Alicjia Trout of The River City Tanlines, Lost Sounds, among others
2006, great year for me, lotsa crazy stuff happened, lotsa touring
• Goner Fest 2006
• Borat
• Jim Dandy and Black Oak Arkansaw Mephis performances Wednesday nights at Poplar Lounge
• Ghetto Ways at the Vera in Holland and the bottle of JD Mika got us all! Medicine!
• YouTube, yay!
• Tragedy, Nashville at the end this past summer
• Party Cannon! From Nashville, fun stuff!
• SXSW 2006, special kudos to the Gris Gris shows and the Spits
• Being taken on tour by These Arms Are Snakes, Youth Of An Architect, and Young Widows…what a way to go out on a limb guys!
• Othar Turner’s Picnic, Holly Springs, MS
The top 10 things that signed me up for another subscription of punk rock:
1. The goddam Ergs. They make me feel silly, giddy, and happy to wear glasses.
2. The Abi Yoyos and their Mill Valley CD. A great live show AND smart lyrics??? It’s almost too much to bear.
3. Shirley Wins by Todd Taylor. It’s nice to see that today’s authors can still fuck up the pit.
4. Fest V!!! Drinking without fistfights!!! Amazing! D4! Amazing! Beards & Asscracks! Amazing!!!
5. Fourth Rotor—Seize LP. Defunct now, but their brave mission of bringing punk to the Alaskan wilderness will not be forgotten.
6.Boom Boom Kid—Smiles From Chapppanoland CD. The song "She Runaway" makes me get dancey, even when asleep.
7. Canadian Rifle—Health demo. You know the ‘dark thoughts’ that creep in sometimes? They’re all on one CD.
8. Babies. Never liked em, not even a little bit. But after becoming an auntie for the first time, hanging out with my friend Matty a lot, and meeting Var & Jen’s twins, I think maybe they’re not so bad. Or, at least, there are exceptions.
9. Nomeansno live. Always the highlight of the year. Now, I sit, awaiting the arrival of the Hanson Brothers... still waiting.
10. Unwelcome Guests from Buffalo, NY. Our tourmates for a week of tour this past summer. They have the best guitar player I have ever seen. And they just plain kicked my ass.
To 10 7”s released by Twin Cities Bands in 2006
10. Off With Their Heads / J Church, split(Rock Bottom Wrex/1-2-3-4-GO!!!)
9. Useless Wooden Toys / Retox Shock, split (self released)
8. Regret, demo (Organized Crime)
7. The Agenda, Articulation (self-released)
6. The Retainers, Lose It (P.Trash)
5. Twentyseven Shots, self-titled (self-released)
4. Boys Club, Look at My Face (self-released)
2. Formaldehyde Junkies, self-titled (Fashionable Idiots)
1. In Defence, Twin Cities Crew EP (Give Praise)
Ben Snakepit
1. Marked Men, Fix My Brain CD
2. This is My Fist, A History of Rats CD
3. Toys That Kill, Shanked! CD
4. Fleshies, Scrape the Walls CD
5. Answer Lies/Tulsa, split 7"
6. Flamingo 50, Tear it Up CD
7. Potential Johns / Chinese Telephones, split 12"
8. Sass Dragons / Prizzy Prizzy Please, split CD
9. Modern Machines, Take it, Somebody! CD
10. Future Virgins, 7”
Top 5 on stage things I saw this year:
1. The Leather Uppers (Trash Bar NYC)
2. The Brutal Knights (Dean Risplers Birthday Bash)
3. Nomeansno, In NYC after six years of not seeing ‘em
4. Fleshies, three times in thirty-six hours (Florida)
5. Evil Dead the Musical (From Splatter Section)
6. Mike from Hunchback introducing Bossy at Fest 5
7. Reigning Sound, Union Pool
8. Career Suicide, At least once a month somewhere.
9. MC Memphis Mike, Any show at Passout Records or playing sax in Dick Army
10. The Dicks, Southpaw Brooklyn
1. Michael Richards’ racist tirade—Hey, a little bit of mindless race baiting never hurt anyone; did it? I'm selling my stock in Kramerica Industries. He's out there, and he's loving it.
2. Mel Gibson's racist tirade—As if his films weren't atrocious enough, he gets a snoot full of booze and manages to find the only Jewish cop in Malibu to single out for persecution. Next thing you know he'll be saying a Zionist cabal runs Hollywood!
3. Ted Haggard's Massage—I don't know about you, but whenever I buy meth, I just leave it in the bag and go about my business. And sure, I like the firm hand of a young man on my oiled body, but the ending is never happy. More like tragic.
4. Donald Rumsfeld resigns—One disastrous, pointless, failed war later Bush claims undying loyalty to Rummy, then throws him over after the election when it can't do him any good. Karl Rove is spinning in Valerie Plame's grave.
5. My cat Herman. He's crazy, trust me.
6. Ashlee Simpson's comeback—She's back with another platinum hit for the teen set. Being humiliated on national tv couldn't stop her; after all, the same phenomenon created her sister. The thing is, Ashlee looks like Karl Malden's face pasted onto the body of Tiny Tim. Is this thing on?
7. The music industry pronounces itself dead, yet again—Yes, all of your favorite bean counting, white, repressed, ‘I show up at eleven AM, but I work damn hard’ employees of the two labels that are left are still lamenting the sorry state of their industry and blaming it all on digital downloading. It couldn't be that they only sign nineteen year-olds who have never performed in public before, could it? Don't fret kids, they still need brilliant folks like you to hold down the fort over at Enron.
8. The newest round of Radio Payola scandals—Wait a minute, let me get this straight. In order to get your song played on the radio, you have to pay someone at the station off through a middleman? I nominate Halliburton Corp as the masters of Independent promo. Giving nothing and charging twice for it is the only way they do business. If they can't get that Aaron Carter boxed set played, who can?
9. The Dwarves FEFU DVD—Finally some real entertainment! The best looking band in show business and a bevy of naked fetish models and Suicide Girls beating them senseless, plus an hour of vintage violence from the vaults. How can one band rule rock for so damn long?
10. Blag Dahlia's new novel Nina. It's the story of a teenage girl who fucks and destroys her way across America. Like Anne Frank, but without all the crying. A classic!
Unfortunately I’ve reverted to loving the classics (and a couple of new sounds) so here goes my favorite records of 2006!
1. Unwound, Challenge for a Civilized Society CD
2. Sonic Youth, Confusion Is Sex CD
3. Born Against, Nine Patriotic Hymns for Children 12"
4. Old Tyme Relijun, 2012 CD
5. Hot New Mexicans, It’s Called Leaning Back! CD
6. Slint, Tweez CD
7. Grabass Charlestons, Ask Mark Twain 12"
8. Blotto/Altaira, Drunks not dead! split 7"
9. Joy Division, Disorder 12"
10. Trans Am, Redline CD
Chaz A. Martenstein of Bull City Records
TopTen(ish) Full Lengths(ish) of 2006
1. Marked Men
2. King Khan & BBQ Show
3. Government Warning
4. Riverboat Gamblers
5. This Is My Fist
6. Fleshies
7. Off With Their Heads
8. Beat Beat Beat
9. DC Snipers
10. Jay Reatard
11. Exploding Hearts
12. The God Damn Doo Wop Band
13. Camera Obscura
Why?
Also by Chaz A. Martenstein
1. Most anticipated album of the year that actually followed through. Awesome. Just within a few seconds of the first track played the day it came out, my ass was whupped.
2. Yup. Mark Sultan, check. King Khan, check. Good enough for me! This is one hell of a garage/R&B/doowop rawk album.
3. Have you listened to “Fat City” today?
4. Why is “Year of the Rooster” buried so far into the album? Best song of the year. If the entire album were this song on repeat, it would slay every album released in the past 5 years. Errrr....
5. The first track knocked me down with its “99 Luftballoons”-edness and then didn’t give up until my stereo was moving on to the next CD. Assume melodic punk.
6. Greatest smartly raunchy scuzzpunkrockpop ever! Yup!
7. Awesome 12”. Awesome dudes. Best Fest-buddies ever! (even if I did have to sleep in the car because my drunkeness couldn’t find the hotel room. bleck.) Prettyboy Thorson shares this spot as well. Awesome CD! Hell, Minneapolis bands in general get this spot.
8. If you have yet to hear this, go out and buy it. Recommended for everyone. Sweet garagepunkaramapop.
9. Speedy, hooky garage. Perfect.
10. Dude does no wrong in my book. Awesome releases all year long.
11. Well, they’re just the Exploding Hearts. This had about three years of anticipation build up behind it and still slayed.
12. Awesome. Girl Group punk. One of the most interesting new bands out there.
13. Prettiest album of the year. Not the old hardcore band.
Chris Kohler of Bikefight and Sexy
1. Gabriella Mantini R.I.P.- you were just too awesome for this shitty world.
2. My little sister, Tell.
3. Martha Mantini (momwey)
4. The Grimes.
5. Bikefight
6. Arinell’s Pizza
7. Jim Beam & cream soda
8. Gabe Rock
9. The Pterodacdudes
10. Actually sleeping
1. As Mercedes, self-titled demo (self-released)
2. PRF, Days OF Davey Jones LP (Young Death)
3. Out With A Bang, I’m Against It 12" (Vida Loca)
4. No Hope For The Kids, Angels of Destruction 7"
5. WHiz Kidz, We Go Bananaz EP (Unrest)
6. Nice Boys, self-titled LP (Birdman)
7. Autistic Youth, Landmine Beach LP (Jonny Cat)
8. Absolute Rulers, Live The Dream 7" (Vinyl Warning)
9. Gorilla Angreb, Bedre Tider 12" (Feral Ward)
10. Poison Idea, Latest Will And Testament
Honorable Mention-
Government Warning, No Moderation (Feral Ward)
Rectangles, Suspended Animation 7" (Discourage)
Craig Ibarra, editor of The Rise and the Fall magazine
1. Haydee Del Valle (my good friend) got her master’s degree (master of science in counseling). I’m very proud of her. Witnessing her focus and discipline day by day was very inspiring to me.
2. LA Dodgers back (Kent) to back (Drew) to back (Martin) to back (Anderson) homeruns against the hated San Diego Padres and then Nomar Garciaparra’s homerun of course to win it! Amazing! (Even listening to it on radio was a blast! Vin Scully is a treasure.)
3. Year Future, First World Fever
4. Toys That Kill, Shanked!
5. The Bronx, self-titled
6. The Evens, Get Evens
7. Rise And Fall Alliance, truly thankful.
8. We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen DVD
9. Shows in San Pedro at Harold’s Place, Blue Mule (Club Sherm Alley), 4th Street, 13th Street too. In case you didn’t know… sherm is slang for P.C.P.
10. The passing of my boy Steve Chavez, Gustavo (My Kitty), Paul Carranza, Alex Torres, Gabby Mantini, Mike Webber. R.I.P. You are in our thoughts…
Top 10 Songs to smoke a fat blunt to in bed in 2006:
10. “Shaking in My Boots” Madeline
9. “Manuel” The Slackers
8. “Carry On” Manowar
7. “Holy Shit” Against Me!
6. “Beyond The Sea” Bobby Darin
5. “The Small Arms Psalms Dealer Suite” Small Arms Dealer
4. “From Beyond” Sleep
3. “Maria” American Steel
2. “Joga” Bjork
1. “Germ-Free Adolescents” X-Ray Specs
Dan Opperman of The Motorcycle Prom Dates
10. the new Arrivals songs
9. the classic lineup of Anthrax playing all of Among the Living live
8. the as of yet unreleased second High Tension Wires album
7. Witchcraft, Danava, and Protestant at Cactus Club
6. the noodles scam
5. the Didjits, Negative Approach, and Man...or Astroman? at Touch and Go Fest
4. Witch’s self-titled LP
3. world’s largest trivia contest
2. Radio Birdman live and the Zeno Beach album
1. getting to play in Nikki Sudden’s backup band
My Favorite 10 Epic Songs of 2006:
1. “They Tied Up All Our Lace” Toys That Kill
2. “Triumph of Life” Fucked Up
3. “Giant Swan” The Blood Brothers
4. “Manqueller Man” Fucked Up
5. “I H8 U Motherfuckers” The Trashies
6. “Nickelodeon” Abi Yoyos
7. “Under the Radar” Tragedy
8. Hunchback, Ugly on the Outside
9. “Feed the Birds” Fleshies
10. “The Ballad of Sammy Bruno” The Ovens
1. Dan Padilla / Dukes Of Hillsborough tour (Totally pool party’n and burritos roasting on an open fire.)
3. Fest V (Worst Fest Ever!)
4. Off With Their Heads, Hospitals (Recess)
5. Marked Men, Fix My Brain (Swami)
6. Hot New Mexicans, It’s Called Leaning Back (Salinas)
7. Went to Vegas for Punk Rock Bowling and ended up in the emergency room getting two shots of morphine. Very nice!
8. Chinese Telephones / Dan Padilla, split 7" (Fast Crowd)
9. Modern Machines / Blotto, split 7" (Snuffy Smile)
10. Free pizza delivery from Dan Padilla the man, not the band
1. VaginaSore Jr., self-titled: “Strikes and Gutters,” it takes me a long time to latch on to bands. This CD just snuck up and hauled me to the ground one day, and then I just started singing three words from it… “And Stupid Motherfuckers” everywhere I went trying to attack people with it, for some reason.
2. World War IX, “Treasure Hunt” from CD? This song describes perfectly some people I know; therefore you are true geniuses, people of WW IX. And your name is most stupid fresh, this is the punkest song of the year.
3. This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb: live at the Fest V aftershow at the ARK. There's something about a concrete room full of people and a telecaster through a clean amp, or maybe this band just rules from their roots, wherever they tread.
4. Billy Reese Peters, Almost Heaven: the scream on “Crack Rock Opera” knocked the hair off of Brittney’s mussel flaps
5. This is my Fist, “Wooden Bullets” from A History of Rats. What a great voice and cool songs.
6. Cannibal Corpse, I just put this here to look cool, because I'm pretty sure that's how to do it.
7. Leftover Crack, “Baby Punchers” split with Citizen fish, I'm pretty sure this is my path to coolness also. This is pure recklessness and live they were a trip.
8. Songs that I became obsessed with again in 2006 for some reason—The Germs, “What We do is Secret,” Jesse Michaels, “The Belltower,” The Rolling Stones, “Hang Fire,” Blind Blake, “Police Dog Blues,” Neurotic, “Dream Girl” (from the Songs That Will Make You Cool comp), Bob Dylan, “Queen Jane Approximately,” “Chinese Rock,” and Palatka, “Good Intentions”
9. The guy who was naked on stage at the D4 show at Fest, and then made his way through a packed crowd of 1000 people, and then went outside, was chased by the cops around the block like Will Farrell in Old School, and hauled to the ground in front of the SideBar crowd, yelling, “What did I do?” King of Fest.
10. Sex Picnic, “Cuntz for Jesus” live at the Fest V. This band could slay the world if they dared. Here's some of their raps, “The jam is my pussy, my pussy is the jam, put your dick in my pussy” and “I scream, you scream, we all scream for anti itch cream.” Shit god damn that’s good. check it out on myspace.
11-19. Asshole Parade, Time Again, Off With Their Heads, Grabass Charlestons, Against Me!, Arctic Monkeys, Orange, Stressface, and The Bomb.
1. Ghost on the Highway, documentary on Gun Club
2. Don’t Knock The Rock film/music festival
3. She Wants Revenge
4. The Brat
5. Thee Undertakers
6. Getting my name on the cover of Razorcake Magazine, along with an interview of me by Mr. Ryan Leach
7. Thee Mad Lovers
8. iPods suck
9. What happened to people that still buy CDs and records? It is all, what can I download?
10. Punk Under the Influence show this past August
Top 10 Everything of 2006 (in no particular order at all)
1. Functional Blackouts, Severed Tongue LP (Criminal IQ)
2. Carbonas, LP (Raw Deluxe)
3. Headache City, LP (Shit Sandwich) 2005. Dont care I got it in January.
4. Creteens @ Whiteout/ Chicago Blackout (May 06)
5. Drug Czars (members of The Eat) with Fashion Fashion and Derek Lyn Plastic @ Maguires 16 in Ft. Lauderdale,FL (09-22-06)
6. 2006 Floridas Dying Chili Cookoff with Black Lips, Fashion! Fashion!, Hibachi Stranglers, Jeanie and the Tits, Tuff Luvs @ Wills Pub in Orlando.FL
7. Live Fast Die, Pissing on the Mainframe 7” (Douchemaster)
8. Florida Vs. Texas (Derek Lynn Plastic, Fashion! Fashion!, Wax Museums, Strange Boys, Pumpers, and King Louies "Black Rose Band". Fuck yeah!!!!!!! (10-27-06)
9. Derek Lyn Plastic w/ Be Your Own Pet @ The Social, Orlando,FL 11-04-06
10. Derek Lyn Plastic @ Anti Pop Music Festival, Backbooth, Orlando,FL sponsored by Orlando Weekly (11-17-06)
1. The Riverboat Gamblers, To the Confusion of Our Enemies & live. If you ain’t digging this record by now, then chances are that I don’t dig you. Unconditionally no ifs, ands or fucking buts about it—this rekkid’s essential listening if you have a single rock & roll bone in your body, cocko. And to whoever boosted the guys’ guitars in Austin, TX last year—FUCK YOU AND YOUR FAMILY TREES.
2. The Marked Men, Fix My Brain LP & live. It’s simple, really- these guys play, you go see ‘em, and when these guys put out a release, you go buy it. Like Motorhead and The Jam, The Marked Men are living proof that Rickenbacker guitars aren’t just for college rock shithead musicians trying to impress- them guitars are their weapons. Hot fucking damn.
3. The Brat playing live again. Because of Theresa & Co. selling the last of their original 1980 Attitudes LPs at recent gigs, folks far and wide can (very reasonably) get their hands on a bonifide piece of East L.A. punk rock history that still stands the test of time.
4. Slayer continuing to be Slayer no matter what anyone thinks. That’s fucking rad and more bands should have their attitude.
5. The return of the almighty Super Cruster (formally known as L.A.’s own Cruster). Punk Rock Karaoke ain’t got shit on these fuckers, and you’ll be backing ‘em before you can say "Tickle My Johnson Elmo".
6. Dramarama’s, Everybody Dies LP & live. This outfit continues to be stuck directly under the nose of the way-oblivious music industry, proving without a doubt that the labels just don’t fucking get it. Their loss, your gain, not to mention that frontman John Easdale is one of the most golden guys you’ll ever meet in a band that’s been at it for many a year.
7. The Swing Ding Amigos, Kings of Culo LP. Call me crazy, but this is the lo-fi record Phil Spector would’ve bashed out if he got all honked-up on cocaine & hopped around the soundroom like a gibbon. Actually, didn’t he do that during the Ramones sessions? It’s still not too late for ol’ Phil, that is, if he doesn’t get locked up in the slammer for going O.J. on us. Outstanding release here, mi ‘Amigos.
8. Three years and counting with the best woman anyone could ever wish for. Yes, Yvonne, that would be you.
9. Second chances at careers. Like #8, I count my blessings each and every fucking day.
10. Ramones, any & all, period.
Donofthedead
• Tragedy, Nerve Damage LP
• Randy, Randy the Band CD
• Peligro Social, No Religion LP
• AFI, Decemberunderground LP
• V/A, Public Safety LP
• Criminal Damage, Self-titled LP
• Profane Existence Message Board
• Dan, Thology 2xCD
• Imperial Leather, Something Out of Nothing CD
• Rise Against, The Sufferer & the Witness CD
• Curioso, Momentos Felizes CDEP
• Destructions End, Prepare to Die LP
• Hidden World Live in Toronto over Halloween weekend with Fucked Up, 9 Shocks Terror, Dropdead, Regulations and a bunch of other bands.
• All the shows I saw at the Long Beach Warehouse and East Los Warehouse and the people who are behind it
• Crow, Bloody Tear LP
• Witch Hunt, Blood-Red States LP
• Razorcake for letting me do what I do!
Eric Apnea from Holy Shit!, Quest For Fire, and Catholic Boys
A Chronology of Stupid:
• 1/1/06, 1:23 AM- Discharged from the hospital with six stitches in my foot. Made out in the O.R. Broke into the house with my crutches because my keys were in my pants at the bar. Six hours later left for Holy Shit! Tour.
• 2/17/06, 7:30 PM- Punched through our front door. Two hours and four stitches later, at a party on Wright Street, dancing naked.
• 2/19/06- As a result (of the above), the Catholic Boys break up
• 3/19/06- Jim’s birthday in Carbondale, IL…Supermodels (Sparks and white wine)…passed out by 9PM…Mary walked off stage at the Quest For Fire show…woke up under the stairs.
• 5/06- In search of a party, went to Marquette University to look for a kegger. As a result, some frat boy drank a jar of pickle juice and vodka to punch me in the face
• 7/17/06- Smasher’s birthday…emulating stupidity from the Period Three tour, I tried to shoot a bottlerocket out of my urethra. Failing that, I succeeded to explode one inche from my ass.
• 7/26/06- Hanson’s birthday…passed out on the drums at a Quest For Fire show at 8PM
• 8/7/06- Billings, MT…Quest For Fire decides to camp on some mountain…no blankets…thirty-three degrees overnight
• 10/6/06, 5 AM- Dance party at Andy Junk’s house. Five people, twelve cops, no tenants awake…cops don’t buy Holy Shit! Records, they just choke you.
• 12/16/06- Brock gets shot outside of Valhalla, forcing us to move again…fucking Milwaukee.
Eric Solomon of I Heart U Productions
Top 10 things that made my year:
1. Holiday Recess peanut butter cups
2. Matt and Kim
3. The Fest V
4. Meeting and seeing Ringers
5. No Idea Records
6. The Insurgent/Speakeasy
7. Oh Calcutta, Lawrence Arms
8. Fake Problems, fucking selling out.
9. touring and meeting new amazing people
10. We Are Still Alive, Latterman
Geykido Comet (Shahab, Heela, and Mahtab)
The GC 3's Top Ten for 2006
1. Finding out we have a bun in the oven and will soon no longer be the GC 3!!!!!!
2. Off with Their Heads, Hospitals CD
3. Off with Their Heads, Art of the Underground 7" single
4. Citizen Fish/Leftover Crack, split 7"
5. The Sainte Catherines, Intro5pect, Citizen Fish,
Leftover Crack live at the Knitting Factory
6. (Vlad And) The Impalers, Deadman Walking Halloween show
7. The Lillingtons, Too Late Show
8. Jurassic 5, Feedback
9. The Answer Lies/Tulsa, split 7"
10. The new Razorcake.org
1. The Ettes, Shake the Dust
2. Alright This Time Just The Girls Compilation (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
3. Camp Radio, self-titled
4. The Fucking Machines, Stole My Quarter 7"
5. Neko Case, The Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
6. Miss Derringer, Lullabies
7. This Is My Fist, History of Rats
8. River City Tanlines, I'm Your Negative
9. Camera Obscura, Let's Get Out of This Country
10. The Buffets, Saucy Jack
1. The Brat, Attitudes
2. Marked Men, Fix My Brain
3. Dead To Me, Cuban Ballerina
4. Lucha Va Voom- Mexican wrestling kicks ass.
5. The Detroit Cobras, Life, Love and Leaving
6. Riverboat Gamblers, To the Confusion of Our Enemies
7. Seeing Against Me! live at the Warped Tour (seriously).
8. Billy Bragg live at the Henry Fonda.
9. The Pogues live.
10. A mixed tape Ms. Julie Lo gave me entitled, Mix-tape Crushing: An All American Tradition!
1. Gun Club reunion (minus JLP, duh) show at Don’t Knock the Rock.
2. Return of East L.A.’s The Brat & Thee Undertakers.
3. Edward Colver’s book signing in Santa Ana. Mosh pit madness!
4. Circle Jerks at Safari Sam’s was cool, hanging out with Lorna Doom outside on the couch was better. (I love you Lorna!)
5. Listening to old school L.A. punkers reminisce about back in the day during Thanksgiving dinner. Much better than family squabbling. Sorry, Mom.
6. Picturing Kid Congo’s pompadour catching ablaze onstage. (See No.5 )
7. Finally stumbling into Bar 107 in downtown L.A. (it’s got that Al’s Bar appeal to it )
8. Rediscovering just how damn cool those dive bar photobooths are.
9. Putting in an air conditioning unit in my window without it plummeting one floor down.
10. Feline Pine kitty litter.
Jimmy the Truth from Superchinchillarescuemission and Panthro UK United 13
1. The Modern Machines
2. the temp at work who threatened to bite me if I didn't pay her
3. High Tension Wires
4. Marked Men
5. Jeff from the Dukes Of Hillsborough pushing me off of his mic when I tried to apologized for grabbing Jade's tit.
6. David Hayes
7. Jason Armadillo
9. Panthro UK United 13 reunion at Fest 6.
10. When my hand meets my penis.
Top Long Players:
• Fleshies, Scrape the Walls
• Toys That Kill, Shanked
• Hunchback, Ugly on the Outside
• The Leather Uppers, Bright Lights
• The Modern Machines, Take it, Somebody!
• Riverboat Gamblers, To the Confusion of Our Enemies
• The God Damn Doo Wop Band, Broken Hearts
• Love Songs, Behind Enemy Lines in G# Minor
• The Marked Men, Fix My Brain
• The Advantage, Elf Titled
Top Other Stuff:
• Defect Defect, Demo/Yeah, I’m a Terrorist 7”
• Four Deadly Questions / The Answer Lies, Split CD
• The Shemps, Kick out the Jims CD-R EP
• Banner Pilot, Pass the Poison EP
• The Ergs!, Jerseys Best Prancers CDEP (yeah I put it last year—I don’t care)
Top 10 bands I saw this year:
• This Is My Fist
• Toys That Kill
• MOTO
• The Points
• Manikins (Sweden)
• Shark Pants
• Birthday Suits
• Tokyo Electron
• Lemuria
• Vena Cava
Honorable Mention- Tiltwheel. Fuck 10 I will do 11!
Josh Benke’s (from shortest to longest)
• The Pets, Only One 7”
• Kidnappers, Neon Signs LP
• Jack Oblivion, Black Boots 7”
• Busy Signals, Can’t Feel A Thing 7”
• Black Lips, Party at Rob’s House 7”
• Black and Whites, Fucked Up Heart 7”
• Sonic Chicken 4, Don’t Let Me Down 7”
• Knaughty Knights, Tommy of the River 7”
• Thee Midnighters In Thee Midnite Hour LP
• King Khan and BBQ, What’s For Dinner? LP
Justin from Chinese Telephones
1. The Marked Men, Fix My Brain LP and live a bunch of times
2. Potential Johns finally releasing something
3. The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America CD
4. Toys that Kill, Shanked LP
5. The Because split 7"s. I don’t know if any of their splits came out this year, but that’s when I got them.
6. Blotto coming to the US
7. The Goodnight Loving, Cemetery Trails LP
8. Reigning Sound, live LPs
9. The Thermals, The Body, the Blood, the Machine
10. The King Khan and BBQ Show, What’s for Dinner? LP
• The Fest V- Everything about it
• Tranzmitors- All their brilliant 7"s they put out this year
• The Draft- In a Million Pieces LP
• The Ratchets- Glory Bound LP
• Exploding Hearts- Shattered CD
• Marked Men- Fix My Brain LP
• Tysta Mari- Monument MCD
• Dead to me- Cuban Ballerina LP
• Strike Anywhere- Dead FM LP
• Forevers- Forever... and a Day LP (This was actually released 2002. Yoichi introduced me to this Japanese band, and it took me a good while tracking down a copy. Finally found one this year, that's why it's on my list here. Awesome.)
• Marked Men, Fix My Brain and live
• Random Houses, live at Valhalla and The Membership
• Robot House Destruction Fest ‘06
• Sultans, live
• We March, live twice in one night (Valhalla and The Breakfast Nook)
• Toys That Kill, Tamps pre-Fest dance party
• Louis Tully, live (Party Program)
• Tulsa, live (Robot House)
• The Goodnight Lovin’ LP
• Thomas Function, live on 666 and demo
• Tiltwheel, live at Fest V
• Damn Hell Ass Kings, live
1. Ladytron at the El Rey
2. Geisha Girls, self-titled CD
3. Little Children the movie
4. This Blush, Sestina
5. Ladies and gentlemen... your Los Angeles Dodgers
6. I'm not happy about their demise, but awesome to see the Orphans spill bleed for their last L.A. show
7. Casino Royale the movie
8. Atomic Ranch the magazine
9. Lady Sovereign, “Love Me or Hate Me”
10. Gwen Stefani, “Wind It Up: (the song with yodelling)
• Off With Their Heads, Hospitals 12”
• The Falcon, Unicornography CD
• Lawrence Arms Oh, Calcutta LP
• Modern Life Is War, Witness LP
• Riverboat Gamblers, To the Confusion of Our Enemies CD
• Craig Davidson, Rust & Bone (short story collection)
• Dan Padilla, self-titled CD
• Defiance, Ohio, The Great Depression LP
• Madison Bloodbath, Is That A Knife In My Back…demo CD
• Scott Simon, Pretty Birds (novel)
Top 10 Mixed Martial Arts fights of 2006 (in no particular order):
1. Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kestutis Smirnovas, K-1 Hero’s 6 8/5/06
2. Mirko Filipovic vs. Wanderlei Silva, Pride Final Conflict Absolute 9/10/06
3. Mirko Filipovic vs. Josh Barnett, Pride Final Conflict Absolute 9/10/06.
4. Rich Franklin vs. David Loiseau, UFC 58 3/4/06
5. Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre, UFC 65 11/18/06
6. Takanori Gomi vs. Marcus Aurelio, Pride—Bushido 13 11/5/06
7. Mark Hunt vs. Yosuke Nishijima, Pride 31 Dreamers 2/26/06
8. Mark Coleman vs. Mauricio Rua, Pride 31 Unbreakable
9. Mark Hominick vs. Yves Edwards, UFC 58 3/4/06
10. Evan Tanner vs. Justin Leven, UFC 59 4/15/06
10 Personally Awesome, Generally Music Related Moments from 2006:
• Photographer Megan "The Water Moccasin" Brooks and I had the summer of a lifetime. Nothing like being able to tell your friends that you survived Ozzfest, Warped Tour, Street Scene, Summer Strummer, the emo-extravaganza of 2006 (Taking Back Sunday/Angels and Airwaves) AND, to top it all off, we actually made it through a Mindless Self Indulgence show without losing our dinner. We're freakin' troopers.
Getting to hang out backstage with The Human League, one of my all-time favorite bands.
• My first editing job.
• I bet you never guessed that a dance club in Riverside could have the wildest crowd in Southern California, but Till Tuesdays does. I had the chance to spin there twice this year and they were my two best DJ gigs of 2006. Thank you, Mantastique.
• Through a random string of events, an excerpt of a story I wrote ended up in the New York Post.
• Going to Vegas for the first time. I might have been the only person at Vegoose who didn't have a story about seeing The Dead and/or Phish 30 plus times, but I did learn that there are sometimes hippies are pretty damn cool.
• Ecstasy at MOCA. As if roaming around, under and in between art installations inspired by altered states of mind isn't enough, we realized that we were wandering about the Geffen Contemporary alongside Lisa Bonet and Marisa Tomei.
• My friend Roo had a birthday party. We decided to plug my headphones into the mic jack of the DJ mixer and do karaoke. Roo and I performed Spandau Ballet's "True" as a duet. The heavens opened and a freak rainstorm ensued. Totally not kidding.
Interviewing Karl Wallinger of World Party, who wrote some of my favorite songs ever committed to record.
• The Knife makes my cold, gothic heart warm. Not only did the Swedish duo release my favorite album of the year, but they put on the best show of the year as well.
1. Young Wasteners, self-titled 7"
2. Gorilla Angreb, Bedre Tider 12"
3. The Vicious, Alienated LP
4. Career Suicide, Attempted Suicide LP
5. Hjerte Stop, Åhh, fuck der er... 7"
6. Government Warning No Moderation LP
7. Darkthrone, The Cult Is Alive LP
8. No Hope For The Kids, Angels Of Destruction 7"
9. Dansetten The Mask Roulletta LP
10. Dick Cheney, På mitt rum 7"
(Canada) Mark of Sinkin’ Ships
10. Mastodon, Blood Mountain. Great metal. Good show at the Phoenix, but had boring-as-shit openers and “Whadda ya mean I can’t drink here? We’re in a bar, ain’t we?" thug-life door men. This kinda made the show a little long. Lovin’ the record. Squeakes in.
9. The Sainte Catherines, Dancing for Decadence / None More Black—This Is Satire. These guys are tied, as I saw them on tour together at the Kathedral. Blisteringly kick-ass booze filled show. Totally late/hungover for work the next day. Love both these records/bands.
8. The Holy Mountain at Smilling Buddah. Great explosive show. Out with a lady-friend, possibly one of the best dates ever...hi-o!
7. The Sultans, Shipwrecked. Did this even come out this year? Don’t care. This is the year I got it and I can’t stop listening to it. Totally on the list.
6. Nomeansno, All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt. Damn! Can they do no wrong? Fantastic record and an amazing live show at the Horseshoe filled with classics and new hits. Two hours of heaven.
5. The new Hank Williams III record. Can go either way- drink with my buddies and have a great time or drink by myself, in the dark, with a loaded gun on my lap...as long as that record’s playin’.
4. Sinkin’ Ships / The Threat, split 7” and release show at Sneaky Dee’s. Such a great show. Perhaps it was so good because it was The Threats’ last show ever, so a lot of people came out to represent and get fuckin’ wasted. Record’s pretty good to.
3. Manic Hispanic live at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas for punk rock bowling. Hells yes. Absolute mayhem with great friends. Just over a month to go for 2007 PRB! Woo-hoo!
2. Nothing to do with music, but in the summer I went camping up near Parry Sound, Ont. with some old friends I don’t see enough. The water was perfect for swimming—clear and warm—and it was sunny and hot every day. This part of Georgian Bay has always impressed me with its natural beauty. We ate like kings over a campfire and drank beer on the beach watching the sunset. Gotta start doing this more often.
1. Going on tour with Vena Cava and Tiltwheel for twelve days on the left coast and some other states. Such good people. Such good music. There is no way I can describe how fuckin’ rad this was except to say that I truly love these bands. Totally makes me sad that the border is such a pain in the ass and that I live so far away from these awesome people. One of the best road trips ever. First time for me in all the cities we went to and everyone I met was a class act (well, ALMOST everyone, but what the fuck do you expect?). Totally takes the cake for 2006. I’m really gonna have my work cut out to top this one in ‘07.
Matt Seward, subscriber extraordinaire
The 2006 top 10 crucial grill outs (in somewhat chronological order):
1. Modern Machines
2. One Reason and Ryan (picnic)
3. Love Songs / TIMF!
4. Black Cobra / Unpersons
5. Pine Hill Haints / Can Kickers
6. Dan Padilla / Blotto / Gabe Rock / Snakepit (crucial grill and a day at the river and a van party...BEST DAY EVER!)
7. Dukes of Hillsborough / Degenerate Elite (missing Travis’ naked handstand at the 24hr gyro restaurant cause I was passed out in the car)
8. Fifth Hour Hero (2 days pre-Fest)
9. Planes Mistaken for Stars / Fifth Hour Hero / Lovekill (1 day pre-Fest)
10. Tiltwheel / Vena Cava / Arrivals (Halloween!)
Big ups to all who have traveled through, been perfect gentlemen/women, and kicked it through Alabama in 2006!
In no particular order:
1. Pretty much everything Modern Machines
2. Pretty much everything Fucked Up
3. Local Seattle Punx make good to wit: TV Coahran, Township of Cecil, White Nights, the Down Times, Partman Parthorse, self-titled, the Pharmacy, unreleased 24/7 basement tapes, Unnatural Helpers, self-titled, 24/7 compilation
4. the Ergs!—Upstairs/Downstairs. This is not out yet, and I’m pretty sure I’m not even supposed to have a copy, but…
5. the Fest V- including pre-Fest blackout in Tampa, good friends and new friends, etc
6. Hunchback, Ugly on the Outside
7. Andrew WK, Close Calls with Brick Walls (Euro release only)
8. pretty much everything Paul Baribeau
9. Love Songs, Behind Enemy Lines in G Minor
10. Defect Defect, demo
• The Fest V overall, even the sleeping in cars and getting sick from that waffle house part.
• Our new beavers (Fauntleroy, Bragg, Beef, Booger and Langhorne. Are you kidding me? We got ourselves a family here!)
• Big A with little Erin / Mike and Eirinn getting engaged during our set at the Asbury Lanes (tie)
• Sticks And Stones playing a bunch of shows again
• Seeing The Pogues on St. Patrick’s Day in New York City
• World/Inferno Friendship Society, Red Eyed Soul LP
• The Ergs, Jazz is Like The New Coke 7"
• Paul Baribeau and Ginger Alford, The Darkness on the Edge of Your Town Tour
• Communique, Walk into the Light EP
• The Roadside Graves and The New Dress (just as bands, cause they’re awesome)
• Chinese Telephones / Potential Johns
• Dan Padilla, self-titled
• Fuckboyz, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
• Kidnappers, Neon Signs
• Marked Men, Fix My Brain
• Measure (SA), Historical Fiction
• Mind Controls, self-titled
• No Truth Lies, self-titled
• Off With Their Heads, Hospitals
• Toys That Kill, Shanked!
1. New York Dolls, Even This LP
2. Joan Jett, Sinner CD
3. Neckers, Love and Affection CD
4. The Coup, Bigger Weapon CD
5. Drive By Truckers, A Blessing and a Curse CD
6. Lemonheads, self-titled CD
7. Nikki Corvette, Back To Detroit LP
8. Public Enemy, Rebirth of a Nation CD
9. Pat Todd And The Rank Outsiders CD
10. Young People With Faces LP
Mike Hall of Sick Sick Birds and The Thumbs
Top 10 Current Bands
• Marked Men
• Mean Spirits
• Screaming Females
• Chinese Telephones
• Hot New Mexicans
• The Oranges Band
• New Pornographers
• Deerhoof
• This is My Fist
• Headache City
• Killdozer, live at the Touch and Go Records 25th Anniversary- An absolutely life changing experience. Music was never so intense and brilliant as it was that Saturday afternoon in Chicago. I cried nearly a dozen different times during their set. Check out Crustacean’s Last Waltz LP from last year. And word is there’s gonna be a handful of more shows, too …
• The Fix, At the Speed of Twisted Thought LP- Arguably the best hardcore punk single of all time finally sees the light of proper reissue. A totally speaker-ripping experience. Touch and Go, god bless you, but now I want my Necros reissue too!
• Direct From Hollywood Cemetery, Six Feet Under the Mason Dixon Line 7”- New York’s best live band lays it to wax! Organ drenched horror rock that somehow combines Evil-One era Roky Erickson with Walk Among Us-era Misfits. From the fine folks over at Go Ape Records, who clearly know what’s up.
• DC Snipers, Missile Sunset LP- A landmark ‘dumb-rock’ album. It thumps along with terrible song concepts and negativity, leaving the listener significantly stupider than they were before they dropped the needle on it. It could only be the work of musical geniuses!
• Defect Defect, Yeah, I’m a Terrorist 7”- Records like this make it seem like music doesn’t suck anymore. Defect Defect, you’re seriously fucking with my nihilism. And now I need an LP!
• Partyline, Zombie Terrorist CD- Blazing DC punk rock. Check out their live show, where the only thing more punk that the music is the stage banter.
• Figures Of Light—It’s Lame 7”- Billy and Miriam at Norton Records do it again with a MONSTER 45 of the snottiest proto punk I’ve ever heard.
• The Meausre, Union Pool 7”- Killer melodic New Jersey Punk fucking Rock. A must. and fuck you Fid, the Measure rules.
• Marconi Notaro, No Sub Reino dos Metazoarios LP- Intensely obscure early ‘70s Brazilian masterpiece, a completely exhilarating mix of tropicalia, folk, psychedelia and more. Notaro was from a very small town that had an even smaller ‘scene’ made up of only a couple dozen people. They all played music together, recorded albums together, and I’m guessing dropped quite a bit of acid together too. It’s practically a miracle that this album was reissued. It’s a record that could open up some shit for you.
• The Ergs!, Seeing the Upstairs/Downstairs LP recording- A breathtaking experience with some of my best friends of all time. I’ll never forget it. Hell, the whole “Discover America Tour” itself was amazing. I can’t wait to hear that shit on the radio, motherfucker.
Heads up on 2007’s best: a Bossy record, a Dead Dog record and the Trashies next LP, which I’m guessing will be regarded as the next Easter Everywhere.
• Ignite, Our Darkest Days
• Johnny Cash, Personal File (Contains the saddest song I've ever heard in my life, "Jim, I Wore a Tie Today.")
• Peeping Tom, self-titled
• Christina Aguilera, Back to Basics
• Iron Maiden, A Matter of Life and Death
• Rebel Meets Rebel, self-titled (Dimebag and the dudes from Pantera making outlaw country metal with David Allan Coe)
• Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America
• Sick Of It All, Death to Tyrants
• Scarface, My Homies 2
• Soul Asylum, The Silver Lining
Best Albums of 2006 (no particular order)
1. Noxagt, Noxagt
2. Fascist Fascist, Fascist Fascist
3. Trashies, Life Sucks Trash Fuck
4. Four Easy Pieces, Birth of the Uncool
5. The Grannies, Gumjob
6. Rye Coalition, Curses
7. Swing Ding Amigos, Kings of Culo
8. Die Princess Die, Lions Eat Lions
9. The International Playboys, Cobra Blood Hangover
10. Young Widows, Settle Down City
1. Methadones, The: 21st Century Power Pop Riot LP
2. Marked Men, Fix My Brain LP
3. Various Artists, The Roots Of Skinhead Reggae 2xLP
4. Returnables, self-titled CD
5. Beach Patrol, The Grass Is Always Greener Til You Get There... CD
6. Exploding Hearts, Shattered CD
7. Mind Controls, self-titled CD
8. Dimestore Haloes, The Ghosts of Saturday Night CD
9. Eugene Edwards, My Favorite Revolution CD
10. Les Hatepinks, We Are the Fucks CD
Omari of Washington Wescott and The Jewws
1. the 2006 mid-term elections
2. The Marked Men
3. Franz Ferdinand
4. The Strange Boys
5. the Al Franken show
6. The Rakes
7. Beauty Bar, austin
8. Music Mondays @ the Alamo Drafthouse
9. The Cribs
10. Jack Hunter
Peej of Grabass Charlestons and Billy Reese Peters
My "short and sweet top 10(ish) of 2006 cause my list from 2005 was all long and shit" list
• Radon, Metric Buttloads of Rock
• The Loved Ones, Keep Your Heart
• None More Black, This is Satire
• Dan Padilla CD
• The Chuck Ragan 7"s
• The Lemonheads, self-titled
• Dead To Me, Cuban Ballerina
• Toys That Kill, Shanked!
• Whiskey & Co., Leaving the Nightlife
• The Ergs, Jersey’s Best Prancers
• Fest 3 DVD
Really looking forward to new records in 2007:
• Dillinger Four
• The Arrivals
• Against Me!
• Ninja Gun
• The Cold Ones
Ray Suburbia of Chinese Telephones and Corpse Corps
Top 10 live covers of 2006:
1. Naked Raygun, “Suspect Device” (Stiff Little Fingers)
2. Underground Railroad To Candyland, “Age of Consent” (New Order)
3. Modern Machines, “Running Back” (Thin Lizzy)
4. No Slogan, “War Hero” (Toxic Reasons)
5. Defect Defect, “D7” (Wipers)
6. Quest For Fire, “Forever My Queen” (Pentagram)
7. Vena Cava, “Kida Don’t Follow” (The Replacements)
8. Tulsa, “The Only Lesbian in Tulsa” (Hickey)
9. The Bomb, “Home/Soldier’s Requiem” (Naked Raygun)
10. Blotto, “Wake Up” (Crimpshrine)
Replay Dave of Grabass Charlestons:
Top Ten Records:
• Fucked Up, Hidden World
• Detroit Cobras, Baby
• Billy Reese Petes, Almost Heaven
• Dead To Me, Cuban Ballerina
• The Draft, In a Million Pieces
• Moneybrother, They're Building Walls Around Us
• Asshole Parade, Embers
• Armalite, Armalite
• One Reason, Mountain 7"
• Stressface Oh...You're Welcome
Live:
• Chuck Ragan w/ John Gaunt @ The Social
• Armalite @ Fest 5
• The Bomb @ Fest 5
• Billy Reese Peters @ UF Homecoming Parade
• PUNG, Tim Version, Rymodee, @ My 30th B-Day party
• Melvins @ The Social
• Big Business@ The Social
• The Ergs! @ Fest 5
10 albums I bought, bought again, or bands I found out about this year that made 2006 worth listening to. In no particular order..
1. Theo and the Skyscrapers. I've always had a crush on Theo's voice and talent. This album is quirky, dark, and hard...and is probably the only album I own that has double bass kick.
2. Pointed Sticks. It's nice to have some of the Pointed Sticks stuff on vinyl instead of just the files I downloaded a long time ago from Napster.
3. Awesome Snakes. "If you don't like Snakes, I don't like you."
4. Spider. My fucking internet is down for the 10th time today. They're on MySpace. They're Spitsy because they are Erin from the Spits and his lady friend.
5. Squiddo. I was introduced to Squiddo a couple of weeks ago. They made me happy.
6. Goldfrapp, Supernature. Yeah, these guys are everywhere all of a sudden. I don't care. I LOVE this album. I probably still listen to it a least once a week. It's sexy. It's catchy. It hits me just that right way where I'm still entranced.
7. Husker Du, Zen Arcade / New Day Rising. These albums changed my life. I still have a cassette of Zen that I bought in the '80s. I just bought them again this year.
8. Lost Sounds—Rat Brains and Microchips. Ok this came out in 2002, but I'm not exactly swimming in money, so it took me a while to get this. Fucking genius.
9. Wipers, Box set. It's the Wipers. Do I need an explanation?
10. Zombina and the Skeletones. I love you.
Guilty pleasure of the year: Pink, I'm Not Dead. (Todd's gonna kick my butt).
Ryan Leach
1. Jay Reatard's album on In the Red
2. King Khan and BBQ Show's What's for Dinner LP
3. In the Red Records in general, I guess.
4. Another year of ever-increasing pressures for the withdrawal of occupation troops from Iraq
5. Fortune's Flesh for proving they're the only band outta L.A. really worth a damn.
6. George Checker's Radio Beat Records
7. The Industrial Workers of the World (They're still around! Go Wobblies!)
8. Naomi Klein
9. Noam Chomsky
10. Howard Zinn
1. All the wonderful 13th St. (Pedro) parties. (Bent Outta Shape, Modern Machines, Autistic Youth, Defect Defect, Toys That Kill, The Grimes, etc.) R.I.P Gabby…we miss you!
2. The 4th St. (Pedro) party with The Spits. One of the best shows ever. I ended up with bruises on the tops of both my feet, but it was all well worth it.
3. The Recess Records 100th release party. It’s been about 10 years since I’ve seen F.Y.P songs sung live. I wanted to pee my pants! Not only best night of the year: best night of my life!
4. The Marked Men, Fix my Brain LP- I won’t be surprised if half the people have this one in their top 10. It’s too good to pass up.
5. Toys That Kill, Shanked! LP- "31 Year old Daydream" has to be one of the best songs ever.
6. Hibachi Stranglers, Our City Doesn’t Stink All the Time 7"- Great band from Mobile AL. The song "Parking Lots" is so so good.
7. Abi Yoyos, Mill Valley CD- Some of the nicest dudes, with even nicer music.
8. Work Sucks, live- If you’ve ever had a bad day at work you need to check this band out.
9. Watching L.A. hipster people get all pissy at a Shaun White red carpet party when Todd C. continues to play his punk rock records and denies them their Kanye West, hip-hop requests. I hate Los Angeles.
10. Continuing my legacy of not being stung by a bee.
10. Exene Cervenka & The Original Sinners, Seven
9. Black Market Baby, Coulda Woulda Shoulda...the Collection
8. Killing Joke, Hosannas from the Basement of Hell
7. Retisonic, Levittown EP
6. NOFX, Wolves in Wolves Clothing
5. Porch Mob, Can of Worms
4. The Buzzcocks, Flat Pack Philosophy
3. The Fags, Light 'Em Up
2. Street Dogs, Fading American Dream
1. Mission Of Burma, The Obliterati
1. My first trip to Amsterdam
2. Toque De Queda’s first 2 shows
3. Peaches, Impeach My Bush
4. The Vicious, Alienated
5. CSS, Cansei de Ser Sexy
6. The Republicans lose Congress! (The Dems ain’t much better, but it’s just nice to see Republicans lose)
7. The Manges, Go Down
8. Interviewing Dennis Lyxzén about his label, Ny Våg
9. Road trip to Vegas to see Against Me! (even though my best friend, Hopper, got ejected by security within the first five minutes and wishes never to discuss the trip ever again)
10. Yer lookin’ at it
Top Ten Random Cool Things of 2006:
1. Seeing Drunk Injuns and Los Olvidados in S.F.
2. Ultraman show in St. Louis with Adolescents 18 years after the first time.
3. Ultraman show in St. Louis with Rancid because the kids had no idea we were a local band and actually bought CDs and shirts.
4. Discovering that the Die Hunns’ record is actually really good.
5. Discovering Report Suspicious Activity with Vic Bondi and J. Robbins. (How did I miss this news last year?)
6. Not going to Chicago once all year, even if it meant missing Negative Approach.
7. A new Buzzcocks record.
8. A new Killing Joke record.
9. “Save the cheerleader, save the world.” Cracks me up every time I hear it.
10. Beer City sale on the Old School II deck for $20 each.
Well...I will most likely never be asked again after this (smile). For the last year...year and a half, I have been immersed in Irish traditional music and learning the button accordion. Depending on your mode...I have either crossed to the Dark Side or I have stepped into the light! So, here’s as good a place as any to start the journey.....
• Jackie Daly and Seamus Creagh
• Gerard Commane and Joe Ryan, Two Gentlemen of Clare Music
• Kitty Hayes and Peter Laban, They'll Be Good Yet
• Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn
• Tony MacMahon
• James Keane, With Friends Like These
• Solas (early)
• and ... not necessarily Irish but going back to "my" roots, I have been listening to lots of Bert Jansch again.
• Riverboat Gamblers, To the Confusion of Our Enemies LP
• Fucked Up, Hidden World 2 x LP and all the singles.
• The Brat, live three times, plus the new “The Wolf” single
• Marked Men, Fix My Brain LP
• Tranzmitors, all three 7”s
• Gorilla Angreb Beder Tider 12”
• Fleshies, Scrape the Walls LP
• Toys That Kill, Shanked!
• Dan Padilla/Chinese Telephones split tied with The Potential Johns/Chinese Telephones split.
• Tiltwheel, live and CD-R
1. Government Warning, No Moderation LP (Feral Ward)
2. No Hope For The Kids, Angels Of Destruction 7” (Backwards Masking)
3. The Nix, Speedfreaks 7" (Self-released)
4. The Fix, At The Speed Of Twisted Thought LP (Touch N’ Go)
5. Carbonas, LP (Raw Deluxe)
6. The Vicious 7" (Feral Ward)
7. Live Fast Die LP (Deadbeat)
8. The Bayonettes 7” (Deranged)
9. Tragedy, Nerve Damage LP
10. Koro 7" (Sorry State)
These are bands I saw t