I think I’d be hard pressed to find a better rock record from the late ’80’s/early ’90’s than The Cynics "Rock ‘N’ Roll" and those with discerning taste and/or a few miles under the hood would be quick to agree with me. Probably the ONLY band that could get away with actually calling their album "Rock ‘N’ Roll" and it wouldn’t quickly incense potential fans. A gutsy, grimy, full-bore rock record. It championed the guitar and, god damn it, it’s from Pittsburgh. Released by the band on their own label and distributed through their own distribution company (you’ll see where I’m going with this) one would think that the record would not just be a record that’d be around forever, but a record that would quickly be a dyed-in-the-wool classic.

So my vinyl copy of "Rock ‘N’ Roll" has a major scratch in it which has been there since ’93 or so. And that scratch has become part of how I enjoy the record. As in, I know when to get up and lift the needle to get it movin’ again. But I wanted to buy a copy of this masterpiece for my iTunes. The iTunes Store doesn’t have it. They have "Get Our Way" and "Living Is The Best Revenge" which are both decent records that I own, but no "Rock N’ Roll". Huh….. A head scratcher…..

So I go to the Get Hip mail-order site (which is owned and operated by The Cynics’ guitar player) and order the CD on Monday. About 30 minutes ago I get an email saying that the album is out of print. So it takes them four days to let me know that the cornerstone of the Cynics discography and the Get Hip ethos is gone. Ah, quality customer service is the American way.

So now I decide to go to Amazon as a last ditch effort. Just click on the link and see why I’m absolutely horrified. I’m now at the point where I’m both dumb-founded and furious at Get Hip and The Cynics for allowing this record to go out of print. It’s not like it takes a herculean effort to get somebody else to release the damn thing. It takes (at most) $2000 to make 1000 copies which from the sounds of the collector’s market would be money well spent in a matter of months. And you know what? At this point, a burned CD would do me fine because Get Hip and The Cynics should be punished for not meeting demand on this.

Am I the only one that sees how completely irrational it is that this record is out of print? Can somebody make me a copy or something? I can’t believe that this label and band can’t help themselves to easy money and instead leave fans like myself to $50 copies on Amazon.

Totally absurd.

POST SCRIPT: Due to the outpouring of concern, I got a copy of this record within the week (thanks, Billy!). I’m posting the "dank nugs" as a symbol of thanks and further urging that this might be one of the best guitar rock records of my lifetime.

The Cynics – Girl, You’re On My Mind
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The Cynics – Get My Way
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The Cynics – Business As Usual
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The Cynics – You Got The Love
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The Cynics – Close To Me
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The Cynics – Baby, What’s Wrong
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The Cynics – What You Get
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Wednesday afternoon I received a call from Quentin Stoltzfus on my cell while I was in the midst of talking to another friend. When I checked my voice mail to hear Q’s message, I knew exactly what he was calling about.

Although Quentin or Jason DiEmilio will probably not register to most of you, it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that from 1996 to 1998 was a magical time for them (and also for me) as their band The Azusa Plane howled onto the musical landscape. Jason ran Doorstep Vinyl (later becoming Colorful Clouds For Acoustics) as a method to release his own home recordings of ambient noise. Seeing as how ‘zine culture was practically exploding at the seams in 1995 and 1996, Chunklet was one of the publications to get a copy of his first single. It wasn’t too long before I was hooked.

Jason and I talked routinely on the phone. Seeing as how he was from Pennsylvania (Clifton Heights, to be exact) and we both had a really twisted, demented sense of humor, we just clicked. Simple as that.

In 1996, I spent about six months in Pennsylvania with my mother at her house in York. To avoid complete insanity at the hands of that small town, I’d routinely hop the train into Philly to see shows, buy records, eat at Jim’s Steaks and just get out. It didn’t take much before Jason and I became quick friends during my visits. In fact, I introduced him to Paul Chavez (a fellow Yorker) who went under the name "Tranquil" who Jason would later put out a record by.

Hanging with Jason was easy, and the same could be said for all of his friends and later bandmates. They all lived in and around Manyunk (which I barely recognize now due to gentrification) and were always very friendly and generous with floor space for my sleepy noggin. Jason Knight, Brian McTear….they ran Miner Street Studios. Total gems. The Bardo Pond guys. Again, total sweet hearts. And then there was Quentin Stoltzfus.

At the time, Quentin was just a really good friend and a fan of mine. He started his own magazine called Monitor with a lot of my guidance. He also recorded under the moniker Therisphere and later under Mazarin. But in 1996, he was just pounding away on drums for Jason in the live incarnation of The Azusa Plane. And I hate to say this, but god damn were they a great live band. I remember seeing them at the Kyber Pass, Upstairs, and an absolute trainwreck of a show at the Pi Lam house on the UPenn campus. Ironically, after living in Athens and hearing about rowdy frat parties and the proto-Animal House lifestyle, it all seemed to naught by comparison to what I experienced there at Pi Lam. Utter insanity.

I remember great times with Jason at Terrastock sitting at the same merch table and just shooting the shit. I remember Jason being the one responsible for putting the word "dude" into my vernacular. No, I’m not kidding. I remember drinking absinthe with Jason and his cat Monkey while we listened to new releases he was getting ready to put out. I remember helping to design ads for his label. I remember him walking me through the correct procedure to getting a steak at Jim’s and him constantly rolling his eyes at my technique. God, it was always fun around him. I remember Jason as being fun to be with but also having just a slight veil of sorrow about him. After hanging out with musicians my entire adult life, I’ve become accustomed to that, but even with that, Jason was a great guy. A REALLY great guy.

Those years in the late ’90s were a lot of fun. I remember repeatedly trying to get The Azusa Plane to come to Georgia to little effect. However, I was lucky enough to be able to release a live CD titled "The Result Dies With The Worker" which was my own Bruce Russell-esque pastiche of ten or so live recordings I had accumulated of the band over the last couple years. To this day, even when I listen back to it, I’m still very proud.

But then things just kinda moved on. I was going thru a hard time emotionally due to a string of shitty girlfriends and my work as a full-time booking agent at the Echo Lounge, Jason and Quentin had a massive falling out due to some business thing dealing with Mazarin, but we always stayed in touch. Always. However, as the phone calls and e-mails began to dwindle with Jason, I really never thought twice about it. I just would think "well, Jason’s off doing his thing, we’ll touch base later". I remember the last e-mail I got from him was right before I got engaged saying something to the effect of "so I hear you’re getting married, you fucking asshole". I guess you had to know how Jason operated, but I never thought we were anything less than good friends.

So when I got the call from Quentin this past week, it wasn’t entirely by surprise. I had run into another old Philly buddy Ian Nagoski at his record store in Baltimore and he told me of Jason’s continuing health problems and ceaseless tinnitus. I knew Jason was in a lot of pain both mentally and physically and I think he was running out of hope and energy.

Jason took a big mouthful of pills in the tub in his Harlem apartment while Morrissey was playing on his laptop and he just slipped into death.

While I still can’t totally understand, I do have Jason’s recordings to make me feel like he’s still here. For such an enormous music fan and a comedically demented guy, it seems like the sorrow that he must’ve been feeling toward the end of his life was just to much to handle. And for that, I can respect his decision, but I don’t agree with it at all.

Jason’s parents are having a memorial service in Clifton Heights on Tuesday. Please contact me directly if you care to go or want to send condolences.

Jason? You’re gonna be sorely missed, you sick monkey.

The Azusa Plane – Result Dies With The Worker (1 of 7)
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The Azusa Plane – Result Dies With The Worker (2 of 7)
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The Azusa Plane – Result Dies With The Worker (3 of 7)
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The Azusa Plane – Result Dies With The Worker (4 of 7)
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The Azusa Plane – Result Dies With The Worker (5 of 7)
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The Azusa Plane – Result Dies With The Worker (6 of 7)
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The Azusa Plane – Result Dies With The Worker (7 of 7)
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So Larissa Strickland died from a drug overdose this past week. Unfortunately, it isn’t entirely a surprise. Such a stupid way to die…….

To the uninitiated, she was in L-Seven (not the LA all-girl band) and later in the Laughing Hyenas. An absolute MONSTER of a guitar player and was pretty much untouchable as one of the great late 80’s/early 90’s players. Hands down.

I was always very intimidated by the entire Brannon/Strickland axis of folks when I’d see them. And back in the Pittsburgh days, there were probably no better bills that I saw than either Northern Bushmen or one of those noise mongers opening up for the Hyenas. In fact, I think Kris Kasperowski was the person who threw their first EP in my mitts back when I was at UPitt. God, it seems like it was almost yesterday.

I’m attaching parts of the Hyenas ’86 demo tape because, well, I think there’s probably a few people out there who’d really like to hear more of this incredible, and now sadly departed, guitar player.

Our thoughts and sympathies go to Larissa’s family and friends.

Laughing Hyenas – Stain (’86 demo)
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Laughing Hyenas – Hell’s Kitchen (’86 demo)
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Laughing Hyenas – That Girl (’86 demo)
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Laughing Hyenas – Gabriel (’86 demo)
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Laughing Hyenas – Playground (’86 demo)
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Laughing Hyenas – What Tomorrow Brings (’86 demo)
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Laughing Hyenas – 18 (’86 demo)
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To call this last week a "recovery" from the 13th anniversary is a joke. No sooner did the thing end than I had a movie crew to shuttle around for a day for this Rye Coalition movie coming out. Then they left and the in-laws showed up 2 hours later. That was fun. I got to take them to IKEA for the first time. After that, I decided to put the remaining Chunklet 13th stock for sale. In 24 hours I got 175 orders! By week’s end, I got double that. The local post office hates me right now. I’m still in a fog. Still photos and mp3s to post from the past weekend, still orders to fill and then there’s this thing I have called a "Life" somewhere in the mix. More later.   

One thing though….. The Zach Galifianakis shirts are going to their rightful owner on Tuesday morning as UPS picks them up to deliver the boxes to Mr. G in Virginia and the Patton/Melvins split is all but gone. I strongly urge getting these now before I have to delete your tardy request for these items after I told you to get on it. Cool?  

And in case you’ve ever wondered if you should get 300 car air fresheners made with the aroma spice, don’t even consider it. My car reeks right now only because I refuse to bring the box into the house. What the hell was I thinking?

Laughing Hyenas – Everything I Want
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Laughing Hyenas – Here We Go Again
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Laughing Hyenas – Life Of Crime
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Laughing Hyenas – New Gospel
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I’m sure chunklet.com seems like a never-ending shrine to the greatness that is Harvey Milk, but whatever. It’s my party, I can do what I want. 

Of course, flying Harvey Milk in to play 3 shows together this past weekend was a crowning achievement. A headlining show at the Drunken Unicorn (mp3s below provided by Southern Shelter), and two shows opening up for The Big Melvins with Yow? I mean, duh. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to see that?

Two bummers, though. Number one, I didn’t get the chance to see the Atlanta show because I was too busy at the 40 Watt show I had that night with Zach and Patton seventy miles away in Athens. I heard the show was awesome, but surprisingly not that well attended. So bizarre, but I did hear that Celtic Frost was playing a block away. Anybody’s guess…

The second bummer is that while en route to the Whirlyball show in Roswell, the van carrying Kyle, Stephen and a couple of friends got in a terrible collision on 316. The good news is that nobody was hurt, but the bad news is that Harvey Milk were in no shape to perform which is a crying shame.

Even though the band’s barely been back a year, things are already changing. It’s looking like Paul is leaving the band to become a daddy, Kyle Spence will more than likely rejoin the band and there’s rumblings of (gasp!) Joe Preston joining as well. Let’s see what happens….. Knowing how the band operates, I’ll believe it when I see it, but I just want to see them perform and get out there as much as possible. The world needs them now more than ever.

Harvey Milk – I’ve Got A Love (Atlanta ’06)
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Harvey Milk – War (Atlanta ’06)
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Harvey Milk – Crush Them All (Atlanta ’06)
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Harvey Milk – Instrumental (Atlanta ’06)
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Harvey Milk – Love Swing (Atlanta ’06)
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Harvey Milk – Old Glory (Atlanta ’06)
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Harvey Milk – Mother’s Day (Atlanta ’06)
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Let the photo posting begin….. So much to say…

These pix were all taken at Whirlyball Atlanta on Sunday night. Yow totally threw down on the Whirlyball court, but Buzz was apprehensive. It was only at 2a.m. that he decided to join and it was the exact moment the courts were shut down. Next time, Buzz.

And depending on how you count Team Melvins (Porn, Big Business, Melvins, Altamont, etc.) we could’ve chalked up another 4 victories, but we’ll take the high road and just say it was just one more for the victory column. What does that put us at now? 26 and 0. Our next match is a revenge rally with Death Cab and Ted Leo. And yes, I am nervous.

I didn’t think anything would be left over from the weekend, but I was slightly wrong. For a limited time, there’s some slop for sale. We’ve got the Zach Galifianakis shirt, a few posters (1, 2 and 3), the immortal Patton/Zach car air freshener and, of course, the Patton/Melvins split single. The big question is which product will hit eBay first. I’m putting my money on the single, personally.

There’s an ocean of information and photos and recordings to share, but I still need a few days to recover. Five shows in four days across three cities has kinda fried my brain. And also, there were countless visitors and the in-laws dropped by yesterday. The fun never ends. Now to concentrate on finishing this Magnolia Electric box set.

Big Business – Jared pokin’ fun (Athens ’06)
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Big Business – Jared pokin MORE fun (Athens ’06)
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Melvins – Civilized Worm (Athens ’06)
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Melvins – Blood Witch (Athens ’06)
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Melvins with Yow – 7 vs. 8 (Athens ’06)
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Melvins with Yow – Night Goat (Athens ’06)
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Melvins with Yow – Okie From Muskogie (Athens ’06)
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The artwork just arrived and it’s being cut down and scored as we speak. With the Zach Galifianakis shirts, the Jay Ryan posters, the Jesse LeDoux posters, the records along with 2 G5 computer crates (it’s best that you don’t ask), my living room looks like a receiving dock right now. I keep reassuring my wife that it’ll all disappear by next week.

When I first heard Chavez, I didn’t think that ten years later, I’d be a complete obsessive about the band. Their pedigree (Wider, Live Skull, et. al.) didn’t really interest me, and well, I thought there were better, more interesting bands to freak out about in ’95. Like, say, The Muffs? The Mummies? Supercharger? Blues Explosion? Oblivians? Jawbox? Chisel? Seam? Karl Hendricks Trio? Guitar Wolf? Polvo? Rocket from the Crypt? Teengenerate? I don’t know, amidst those bands Chavez just seemed too obvious to me. I remember getting a copy of Gone Glimmering in the mail courtesy of Matador and not being too terribly enthused with it. Then there was the Pentagram Ring EP. Again, didn’t stop what I was doing to fuss with it.
Then Ride The Fader arrived in that lovely, yet clanky, pasteboard digipak. I remember exactly where I was when "Top Pocket Man" came on. I was sitting in the living room of my shitbox house in north Athens having just gotten home from work and getting ready to do some more writing for the 8th issue of Chunklet. Even on my lousy stereo, I could tell I was about ready to start a love affair with Ride The Fader for the remainder of 1996. And boy, did I ever. Thankfully, I went back and studied the first two releases in more detail and realized how wrong I was about this band.

Unfortunately, I never have had the opportunity to see Chavez. I remember they played the Red Light Cafe in Atlanta the summer I was on tour with Servotron and as is my luck, that was the only chance I had to see them. That next year, my buddy Damon Che did an whole European tour with them filling in on bass. And as was customary for the time, I got a mix tape from Damon upon returning from tour. The a-side were demos for the next Thee Speaking Canaries album and the b-side had the then unreleased Don Caballero 7" that Albini recorded and it ended with a bunch of choice recordings of Damon with Chavez.

I’m hoping that if the band finds out that I’m posting those recordings they’re cool with it because I still love listening to it even 8 years later. As a special bonus, there’s a live recording of "Ever Overpsyched" on the live stuff which (if we’re to believe what the band says) they never played to an audience before.
I also feel it necessary to mention that the entire Chavez ouvre has been reissued on a massive 3-disk set courtesy of Matador being entitled Better Days Will Haunt You. BDWHY includes everything and the kitchen sink, and thank God for that. As a completitst, I already had all of this, but as any Chavez fan will tell you, it’s all essential. One of the more obscure tracks was from the "Schoolhouse Rocks!" compilation with a majestic take on "Little Twelvetoes" which I include just "cuz". Aquarius Records led with a great Chavez review this week which I strongly urge reading if you’ve never heard of the band.
Word has it that there’s going to be a smattering of live shows in December on the two coasts which, fittingly, I will again miss because of a prior obligation. Typical of my luck. Hey, does anybody know where I can get a Chavez t-shirt?

Chavez – Live in Europe ’97
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Chavez – Live in Europe ’97 pt 2
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