Tag: Proto Punk

Fly On, Fly Stone

Philip Langley “Fly” Stone, 70, died the evening of Friday, July 12. An Atlantan for most of his life, more recently he and his wife Amy resided in New Bern, North Carolina, where other than withstanding a couple of hurricanes they enjoyed a rather serene life, certainly compared to Stone’s tenure decades earlier in Atlanta… Continue reading Fly On, Fly Stone

Bad Spell

Don’t Go Out Tonight… Unless You’re Bad Spell Bound, That Is It’s bound to happen. Those of us whose lives closely orbit the rock ‘n’ roll scene (such as it may be) of any particular city or town, well, if your enthusiasm for it doesn’t fade and you manage to avoid getting married and popping… Continue reading Bad Spell

The Hard Stuff

The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, The MC5 & My Life of Impossibilities By Wayne Kramer [Da Capo Press] From its inception, rock ’n’ roll has always been an outsider art form. So of course, there has never been any shortage of rowdy, rough and ready rockers pushing the proverbial envelopes. Rock ’n’ roll is (or… Continue reading The Hard Stuff

Jack White in Our Faces Again

Supposed creative genius Jack White has announced the release of his next solo album, Boarding House Reach, for Friday, March 23 via Third Man/Columbia Records. This marks the third full-length solo record and the first new studio album for the 12-time Grammy Award-winner and megalomaniac in nearly four years. Has it really been that long?… Continue reading Jack White in Our Faces Again

Razor Boys Cut Through the Decades

Perhaps the best local release I’ve heard so far this year actually dates from the late ’70s. But the thing is, HoZac Records’ newly issued LP of unreleased recordings from Razor Boys, a sleazy staple of the Atlanta scene from that time period, could play back-to-back alongside cuts from ratty present-day Atlanta rockers like RMBLR,… Continue reading Razor Boys Cut Through the Decades

Punk Avenue

Punk Avenue: Inside the New York City Underground 1972-1982 By Philippe Marcade [Three Rooms Press] I’ll preface this review with an undeniable, capital T Truth: Authors Legs McNeil and Jillian McCain’s 1996 opus, Please Kill Me, is the ne plus ultra of “punk books.” Basically, McNeil and McCain did for the history of NYC punk… Continue reading Punk Avenue

Expanded Max’s Comp Revisits ’76 and Beyond

Back in the late ’70s/early ’80s, connoisseurs of the cut-out sections of record stores couldn’t avoid Volume Two of the Max’s Kansas City compilations, which brought together a bunch of bands who defined obscure. Most of them also weren’t very good. Which made Volume One much more attractive with early recordings from Pere Ubu, Suicide,… Continue reading Expanded Max’s Comp Revisits ’76 and Beyond

M Train

M Train By Patti Smith [Alfred A. Knopf] Although she’s known primarily as a musician, protopunk priestess Patti Smith has always dwelt in the DMZ of The Western Lands where poetry, prose and music overlap. In truth, Patti has always really been a writer who just so happened to (deftly and passionately) perform her verses… Continue reading M Train

Cherie Currie

Shotguns, Chainsaws and Cherry Bombs: Cherie Currie is One Badass Mother! Cherie Currie swears she never dates anymore, hasn’t in five years. So maybe I should just skip the formalities and ask her to marry me right off the bat. Thirty-eight years after “Cherry Bomb” – the Kim Fowley/Joan Jett song inspired by Currie’s first… Continue reading Cherie Currie

Rocket from the Tombs – Barfly

Dead at 27, in 1977, Cleveland rock musician and junkie alcoholic Peter Laughner casts a giant shadow on punk and alternative music. One of the most important pioneers of the 1974-1977 punk era who did not hail from New York, Laughner had his fingers in everything that mattered in Cleveland. His legend – except for… Continue reading Rocket from the Tombs – Barfly

Iggy Pop – Roadkill Rising: The Bootleg Collection 1977-2009

It’s fair to argue that Iggy Pop’s recording career peaked with his late 1970s Berlin comeback albums The Idiot and Lust for Life and the nail-spitting combo of New Values and Soldier – albums that argued for Little Jimmy Osterberg’s enduring relevance and visceral kick-assery against the challenge of punk rock. He’s kept ’em coming,… Continue reading Iggy Pop – Roadkill Rising: The Bootleg Collection 1977-2009