Lil Mike
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I am sitting here thinking I might go see the Germs movie tonight, What We Do Is Secret, but chances are it may already be sold out...
It's been years in the making, and I don't have that high of expectations for it...
Darby has been dead for decades, unlike Elvis he was pretty much last seen in 1980...
His pathetic little life story is one of a frustrated, needle freak street hustler and his obnoxious hardcore punk band breaking down barriers to blow minds (and ear drums) in L.A's monied moron moustache rock scene of the late '70's. Let's just say the Eagles, Stevie Nicks and the rest of the denim & diamonds crowd didn't look up from their mirrored coffee tables to notice the dirty din blasting out of the Starwood in Hollywood.
Ironically, or not, the film's cast and backers couldn't be farther from the real life of Darby Crash, amongst those appearing on behalf of the production tonight are ER star Shane West as Darby, and film producer and millionaire scion of the SF socialite scene, Todd Traina. Other cast members up on the screen include the daughters of 60's & 70's music industry big wig's Lenny Waronker and Papa John Phillips, showing that a lil' nepotism is still hip in show biz.
These two pedigreed young ladies, Anna Waronker & Bijou Phillips, get to play the punky pioneering presences of Joan Jett and Germs bassist Lorna Doon respectively, women in reallife who weren't handed any family favors by the entertainment industry, gals that had to prove their worth in inexorably inhospitable conditions.
But who ever said Hollyweird was about "keeping it real..."
It's more about attempting to keep it "presentable"...
The film has been in works for the better portion of a decade, and has generated quite a bit of press, even inspiring the surviving band members to reunite with lead actor West singing. If the crowd I saw at Oakland's Metro club on New Year's Eve is any sign, there's still quite an appetite for the Germ's uh, music today.
That's good news for my ol' pal and Germs drummer Don Bolles, who no doubt could use a couple royalty checks. Hell his last brush with fame was when Cops last year pulled him over on his way to an AA meeting and claimed his Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap was actually a date rape drug...
Poor bastard, at least the kind folks at Dr. Bronners helped defend him and show the cops testing kits are actually wack, not simply Don Bolles...
I'll never forget him hitting on the lesbian mother of the lead singer of the Rolling Scabs one night when she gave us a all a ride home from a keg party that her 12 year son had no business being at.
The Rolling Scabs - My Mom Smokes Pot
I didn't recall having any high expectations for Don getting busy with the kid's mom, nor this film...
The reasons I don't have real high expectations for the Germs film, are it's the first effort from the director, Rodger Grossman, and it seems to have taken a roundabout route to get out to the public, and that is generally a bad sign...
The Germs - 20the%20-%20round%20and%20round.mp3"> Round x%x Round
Word arrives that Buddy Miles has died at age 60 in Austin Tx where he had been living since suffering a stroke in 2005...
The Omaha Nebraska native is survived be his wife Sherrilae Miles, and many other family members.
In lieu of flowers; the family has asked to please make donations to the Jazz Foundation of America specifically in Buddy Miles' name to assist with funeral, and other expenses at http://www.jazzfoundation.org
The son of a jazz be-bop bassist, young George Miles ( aka Buddy) had an early interest in music, and had reportedly played drums on Otis Redding sessions, and done stints in Ruby & the Romantics, the Ink Spots, Wilson Pickett and even the Delfonics while still a teen.Best known as a member of Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies, he also played with Santana, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Barry White, Aretha Franklin, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Robert Lockwood, Jr., and so many others over the years.
Before hooking up with Hendrix and playing on "Electric Ladyland", Buddy Miles had already had his own group Buddy Miles Express, and also helped found The Electric Flag with Mike Bloomfield prior to that. Sadly, all three guys I just mentioned in this paragraph were hugely talented musicians, who also developed giant size drug habits that more or less ruined their careers, some just went faster than others.
Here's Buddy from likely his best known solo album, one of at least 40 or so he's appeared on, it was the title track called Them Changes...
Buddy Miles - Them Changes
Buddy played this classic song at one of his last public performances, as a guest onstage with the New Orleans Social Club, at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Sept. 2006.
Here's a sorta superfluous, but none the less excellent quality 1994 recording produced by Bill Laswell of Buddy revisiting past glory, and his vocals are in great shape. The album released on Ryko was entitled Hell and Back.
Buddy Miles Express - All Along The Watchtower (1994)
I had a friend who worked at a pawn shop in Marin back in the late 80's and many of the 60's rock royalty living nearby were faded but still pretty strung out. They were often found hocking jewelry, instruments & guns for fixes on a regular basis at this spot. I hate to report that Buddy Miles, who'd been in & out of jail on drug charges throughout the late 70's & early 80's, was now a regular habitue, alongside David Crosby, and many others including the lonely gal pal of one Jerry Garcia.
One of Buddy's his biggest post-Hendrix gigs would be as vocalist for the California Raisins.
By the early 2000's Buddy had reportedly put his substance issues behind him, and was attempting to keep up a live concert schedule, despite having a serious back problem, and had been appearing at some shows in a wheel chair.
Here's one of Buddy's last known musical recording releases, an effort done in conjunction with bassist Billy Cox approx 35 years after they worked on the same material with Jimi Hendrix in the band of Gypsies.
Buddy Miles & Billy Cox - Manic Depression (2006)
Just got back from about 2 weeks in New Orleans, and it was an eye opening experience, and something I'm still digesting, both literally & figuratively.
Clinging to a foothold in the sludge of the Mississippi basin, there's so much gustatory goodness floating around that town, I occasionally had to eat typically fattening Louisiana meals up to 4 times a day just to keep from washing into the Gulf.
Now a good ten pounds heavier and airlifted to safety, I can hopefully reflect on my journey through a town that bursts not just at the proverbial beltline, but with rich history as well.
I'd love to go on about the paradoxical New Orleans and all dat fine fine music made along it's muddy Mississippi shores..and if there's any interest here, I gladly will.
But for now... I need to talk about Evel...
Real Evel...
First up today is news that legendary redneck daredevil extraordinaire Evel Knievel is dead.
A native of Butte Montana, he was a media sensation in the 1970's.
Outside of a bunch of later arrests for petty bar fights and woman beating, he's likely to be best remembered for jumping the Snake River canyon, having George Hamilton play him in a lousy tv bio pic & suing Kanye West recently.
Here's Evel telling a story that was posted at WFMU earlier this year. It's one that will explain to every man & woman what they need to know about his special purpose & "why"...
Evel Knieval - Why
I though can't stop thinking about Evel, because we have a tight if somewhat tense personal relationship. Mainly because he lives not only in my heart, but in the garage. No , not his action figure, I lost that years ago...
But, every day I gaze at where the Evel Kneival pinball machine lives...
excuse me for a moment as I have to go down there and work this out...
 
Manufactured by Bally in 1976, by 1977 this machine soon became one of the most popular on the market, and remained so for years. Just like evel it has great action, and doesn't run from a fight.
Flicky - Evel Knievel Dub
Here's song featuring Evel tellin it like he sees it... and how he wanted it to be..."until I'm gone"
 
Also dying within the past week was Quiet Riot's lead singer Kevin DuBrow...
They say the 52 year old rocker may have been dead for almost a week in his las Vegas home when he was finally found...
His last words were apparently an I Love You text message sent to his girlfriend at late the final night she saw him.
Here he's seen palling around with Cheap Trick's Rick Neilsen"
When Metal Health ruled the charts in the early 80's, DuBrow had the biggest metal record of all time...
The band quickly went from touring in a station wagon to opening up arenas & playing the US Festival in 1983. They soon hit the arena circuit as headliners & topped the US album charts for over a month while selling a million units a week.
Eventually, the good times ended, their albums began selling less 7 less, from millions to tens of thousands, and later on even less.
DuBrow, who struggled with substance abuse issues, became sorta known as a big powda head asshole for years in LA around Gazarri's, Roxy & Rainbow scene...
I missed those days...but we can live
them vicariously via Decline of Western Civilization pt II & any of yer Vince Neil reality shows.
It was a long way down, and Kevin continued to reform Quiet Riot with various line ups & release albums over the years, occasionally hiring all new guys, but usually incorporating drummer Frankie Banali from the original classic era lineup.
In fact if ya go back to the late 1970's when the band was formed they had Randy Rhoads on guitar, but he left to join Ozzy and died in a plane crash after recording just two albums.
DuBrow's vocal idol was originally Steve Marriott of Humble Pie & Small Faces, who incidentally died about the same age in a house fire in the early 1990's. Marriott was coming home to the UK jetlagged from some aborted Peter Frampton sessions in the US, and spent the night prior doing some blow, drinking heavily & falling asleep with a cigarette in his bed...
Here, shortly after the incident Kevin covers Marriott's psychedelic drug ode here Itchykoo Park in a tribute to his late hero.
Quiet Riot - Itchykoo Park
I might have time to talk about other music related stuff this weekend...but only if I won't be lambasted by nincompoops
Toodles
Lil Mike
The Coalition of Aging Rockers has lost a comrade, and he likely was the cleanest liver of the bitter bunch, the least alcoholic and most studious, but it was his damn kidneys that gave out anyway at the age of 40. Billy Joel & later Me First & The Gimme Gimmes have reminded me musically that "only the good die young", and indeed that seems true, as we have sadly lost another one of the good guys.
Longtime local SF musician Lance Hahn, who lovingly named his punk rock band after his favorite Muni streetcar line has died after long battles with kidney ailments in an Austin Texas hospital this past weekend. Best known for fronting his band J Church, Hahn operated out of San Francisco from the early 90's for almost a decade until he relocated from a flat near 16th on Valencia St to Austin in 2000.
pic above courtesy Fat Wreck Chords
He had originally come from Hawaii circa 1990 with a scrappy trio known as Cringer, which played shows at venues like The Women's Building, Komotion & Berkeley's Gilman St Project. Eventually he formed J-Church which released literally hundreds of recordings on tiny indie record labels all over the world including his own Honey Bear imprint. While not a technically gifted singer, he parlayed a vast array of musical influences including everything from Crass, Radiohead, Adam & The Ants to ELO, into a blend of pop infused punk that became uniquely identifiable & influential, remaining well regarded in the underground music scene.
He had no shortage of themes & subjects, composing improbable rock titles like "Leni Riefenstahl's Tinder Box", "The Dramatic History Of A Boring Town" , or "Socialist Newspaper", all the while delivering each song with an overall emotional sincerity rarely heard in a jaded age. One memorable release to check out would have to be his Mission District opus "Camels, Spilled Coronas & The Sound of Mariachi Bands". For those who'd like a broader overview, perhaps the compilation of rare 7" tracks called "Nostalgic for Nothing".
J-Church had a rotating line-up, with Hahn being the sole consistent member & songwriter. In addition to fronting Cringer & J-Church, he toured as a guitarist in Beck's band in 1994-95. He is survived by his longtime girlfriend Liberty, they had no children.
A man with friends, fans & admirers literally all over the world, there's a chance Hahn left behind much more here on earth than a prolific discography of obscure vinyl 7" singles. For a spell in the latter 1990's, he was known to be supplementing his meager income with visits to a certain Berkeley sperm bank...
Watch out world... who knows for sure, perhaps lil' Lance's may indeed be sprouting everywhere...
If there are no biological heirs, there are at least many "logical" heirs. Tons of kids too young to have ever seen J-Church or Cringer at their peaks, but who've been influenced & touched ever so remotely by this guy's music, writing & inspirational D.I.Y influence abound.
Aside from his handy presence at the local sperm bank, Lance worked just as hard behind the scenes helping others as he ever did at the mic, and was known for his writing in Maximum Rock & Roll & Giant Robot magazine, as well as working at indie record distributors like Revolver, Blacklist Mailorder and Epicenter Records. His overall "situationist "viewpoints didn't preclude a little capitalist wage slavery and you might've seen him behind the counter at Lost Weekend video in SF or later on at Sound Exchange in Austin. His final job was working at Austin's Vulcan Video store, before he went in for dialysis one day earlier this month, and fell tragically into a coma.
I believe the next time I play that damn J-Church "Kittums In A Coma" single, It'll have a whole different resonance for me.
A tribute album had recently been organized amongst 5 labels to help raise dough to pay some of his mounting medical bills, as the uninsured musician fell into declining health. There were operations, bleeding sockets left in him, and numerous agonizing dialysis sessions that made bleak his final year. The Vulcan Video website still has a link to help pay his medical bills, which remain a huge burden.
One of a kind...
R.I.P Lance Hahn 1967 - 2007
Here's a track from the 2004 release Society Is A Carnivorous Flower
J Church - Keep Smiling America
A Video of Lance performing his song "My Favorite Place"
Visit the J-Church or Honey Bear website for a complete discography and a peek into this guy's mind that was ever active until the end
http://www.myspace.com/jchurch
http://www.honeybearrecords.net
Comments
I was in San Francisco last weekend, thinking about Lance, as I happen to be staying on Church Street. The world is a poorer place without him. I didn't know about his donations to the Berkeley sperm bank. That's good news! Hopefully his intelligence, wit and good heart live on in a wee Lance. My heart goes out to Gardner and Libby and the other folks that will be feeling this loss deeply.
MOG Meter
Comments
Can we have one more picture of that mask, please? Thanks.