"Yelp In Reverse"

New Pop Lit has published a new short story of mine called "Yelp In Reverse".

Thanks For The Reading!

Thanks to everyone who came out for last night's reading!  It was a lot of fun!  It, so far, is the only one that I have given for Frequently Asked Questions About Being Dead, which, if you missed the reading, you can still purchase at Mac's Backs.  It currently is the only bookstore on Earth where you can just stroll in and buy a physical copy.

The Escaped Fetal Pigs - "Fluff Chicks In My Soup" - Live At Firelands

This video is another song from the Firelands campus performance of The Escaped Fetal Pigs.  We played this Bowling Green State University branch campus for a midday concert for the students.  This is either from 1990 or 1991, but whenever it was, the women were still using massive amounts of hair spray for those quintessential 1980s hairdos, and the 1990s were proving a bit more environmentally conscious, so this song ridicules people whose personal vanity ranks higher than preserving the environment.  We were probably also mad that the fluff chicks wouldn't date us, though I'm not sure any of us would have dated them anyway, so maybe not.  This performance is notable for me getting my exercise by running laps around the auditorium between the verse and chorus.  I was sick that day, so I must have been feeling better during this song.  Thank you, fluff chicks, or, maybe, soup!

The Escaped Fetal Pigs - "Simon On Acid" - Live At Firelands

The Escaped Fetal Pigs did some crazy things, and this video shows one of them.  We booked three shows in one day, and this was the morning one.  It was a branch campus of Bowling Green State University called Firelands and we were playing at like 11 a.m. or lunchtime for the students.  Then we played a tv show in the afternoon, and then a bar or something in Bowling Green, Ohio USA that night. This was in the spring of 1991, I think, but it could have been the fall of 1990. I do not remember.

It was a pretty tiring day.  On top of that, I think I was sick and Mark the guitarist kept getting shocked by the microphone because something wasn't grounded.  On the bright side, we did have fun exploring the props of the college theater department as you can tell from the hats we are wearing during the show.  I also like how the camera operator got into the spirit of "Simon On Acid" with the camerawork.  You can read more about that song here.

I liked a couple more of the performances from this show, so I'll be posting those in the coming weeks as well.

Satan Tortilla - "Satan Tortilla"

This was my one gig with Satan Tortilla, and it was the band's first gig. It was at The Good Tymes Pub in Bowling Green, Ohio USA on June 18, 1991 and was a fun show. I was living with Simon, the drummer of The Escaped Fetal Pigs, that summer, and we had some free time, so we joined a band our buddy Kramer was putting together. He played bass and got a couple of other local eccentrics to join in. Jose (I don't remember the name exactly, so that may be incorrect) was a really good guitar player, which was good because I was still learning to play, and Steve was a Bowling Green State University English instructor whose role in the band was to smash stuff for additional percussion.

It was a very weird band.

Underneath the distortion and effects that Kramer loved and which made us distinctive from other punk and psychedelic rock bands in town (you know aside from having a guy in a hockey mask and overalls chop up guitars) was a pretty good garage rock band. This song was our theme song. The lyrics went something like "Satan Tortilla. It's going to eat ya." It was my favorite of the tunes. You can see it here complete with flying tortillas being flung at the audience and being flung back (watch for Billy from Madhatter Music's amazing catch and rethrow of one). The video also includes some spoken word thing about the 1960s and the start of another tune. I was only in the band briefly. I went back to Pennsylvania for the rest of the summer, and the band continued on without me. I think Simon kept playing with them. Either I was too busy in the fall when I returned to rejoin, or I had already been replaced. I don't remember. The band later put out a couple 7" records, but this video is all that remains to document my tenure in the band.

I think I still have that shirt somewhere.  I miss those shoes, Vision Street Wear if I remember correctly.  If anyone knows where to find a new pair, get in touch.