Crazy Carl Robinson Interview

 

Pat King has posted another episode of his Back To The Underground video interview series wherein various underground writers get interviewed about their experiences in The Underground Literary Alliance.  This one features an interview I did with Crazy Carl Robinson, and, as always, it was a lot of fun chatting with Carl.  Pat also recently posted another episode with another old zine pal of mine, Jess:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVNUNI93Pms.  

If you want to read some literature by The Underground Literary Alliance, then please check out The Slush Pile Strikes Back!

Another Dead Drummer

Ever since the virus panic turned into a vaccination gold rush a couple of years ago, I've noticed that a lot of musicians, especially drummers for some reason, have been dropping dead suddenly.  Given that the mRNA vaccinations have cardiac and immune system disorder side-effects (in addition to not working very well for their stated goal), when I hear of a musician's sudden and untimely death lately, I wonder if he or she got vaccinated against Covid-19, and what role that flawed product might have played in the passing.  Usually, I'd suspect a drug overdose or suicide when I hear of a musician dying young (or younger for the middle-aged ones), but when I hear that someone like Rick Froberg has died of "natural causes" at age 55, I wonder what role the vax might have played.  I've thought the same of the following musicians:

Rachel Nagy - The singer of The Detroit Cobras died at 48, and I've never seen the cause of death revealed.  I do note that she was supposed to play in Cleveland right before she died, and the venues here, like most places, were run by crazed vax zealots.  If the vax did play a role in her death, it's ironic that her band is playing a tribute at the same venue that might have contributed to her death with their vaccine bigotry and hysteria.

Blackie Onassis - I would have suspected the former Urge Overkill drummer to have died from drugs, but no cause of death is listed, and he was only 57, so I wonder about him.

Andy Rourke - The bass player of The Smiths died at age 59 from pancreatic cancer.

Pat Fish - The Jazz Butcher died unexpectedly.  He was 64.

Jeremiah Green - drummer for Modest Mouse, aged 45, died quickly of cancer.

Nanci Griffith - At least she made it to 68, ahead of the other ones on the list.

Taylor Hawkins - Suggestions that the vax played a role in the death of the 50-year-old drummer of The Foo Fighters were quickly met with outrage.  If only the outrage had been there when people were pressuring these musicians to take a flawed Big Pharma product due to the virus panic . . .

In any case, the list goes on.  Not all deaths of musicians in the past couple of years make me think the vax played a role.  Tony Bennett was old.  He wasn't going to live forever.  D. H. Peligro, another dead drummer, of The Dead Kennedys went due to the sadly all too traditional drug overdoes route.  But, if the vax did play a role in some of these other deaths, then the loss of the great music they might have made is yet another casualty of the virus panic.  If the hysteria hadn't been there, then it's likely these flawed products would not have been approved, given even the Big Pharma friendly nature of government regulators, but maybe that's even too much faith in the government.  In any case, best to think for oneself.  And, if you did get the jab and you're feeling fine, count yourself lucky.

I wouldn't recommend taking up the drums then though.

For happier times with music, listen to the Yeast? 7"!   

Comic: The Mussolini Award

It seems like Italian-Americans often produce the worst celebrities, which is odd because most of us are pretty nice.  This comic seeks to rectify that by proposing an award to encourage better Italian-American celebrities (click on the image to make it bigger).

  

For more sarcasm, read my latest novel, Fast Guy Slows Down!

King Karl Wenclas Interview

 

Pat King has posted another episode of his Back To The Underground video interview series wherein various underground writers get interviewed about their experiences in The Underground Literary Alliance.  This one features an interview I did with King Karl Wenclas, one of the group's founders and its leader.  I had a lot of fun chatting with King about his literary activism and other topics, and Pat did his usual great job creating the video.  It's amazing that 20 years on, we're all still being creative!

If you want to read some literature by The Underground Literary Alliance, then please check out The Slush Pile Strikes Back!

Comic: d.a. levy

I've been rereading my library over the past few years and gradually discarding it, as much as I love it, as I have no interest in maintaining or moving many boxes of books when I'm 80 years old or however far I make it.  Along those lines, I read a couple books by/about d.a. levy.  levy (yes, like e.e. cummings, the lower case is a poetic decision) was a poet from Cleveland, Ohio USA in the 1960s who was active in the small press movement (think zines before photocopiers were common).  He died young, and people still debate today whether his death was a murder or a suicide.  One thing is certain, he and his fellow "beatniks" (as they were viewed before they started calling the youth hippies) were hassled a lot by the cops.  Frank Walsh, a poet from Philadelphia and my buddy from the Underground Literary Alliance, once told me that the ghost of d.a. levy protects Cleveland, and even if one is not inclined to believe in ghosts, levy's poetry is certainly very-based in Cleveland, and, as a result, he isn't always well-known or understood outside of the area.  But if you do have an acquaintance with the city and its surroundings as well as the time period of the 1960s, then you will likely recognize how excellent a poet levy was.  He also was a talented collage artist.  In any case, I got inspired to adapt one of his poems in comic form.  For outsiders, it helps to understand that Hunting Valley is the little suburb where the people who owned Cleveland lived, which is still somewhat true today. Anyway, here's the comic (click on it to make it bigger):

For more literary fun, read levy's poetry and my novels, such as the latest one, Fast Guy Slows Down!