Entries from January 2007 ↓

Just found out from Miriam Linna at Norton Records that Beatle Bob called them earlier today and informed them that HE was throwing this benefit for Question Mark. No mention of me or TIRC or the opening bands or anything. I think he found out from Steve at Off Broadway.

Gee, Beatle Bob… LYING? That never happens!

And ya know, it’s not just that he lied… I mean, honestly, that part doesn’t surprise me anymore. I’ve heard it so many times that I know it’s part of his daily routine, and I also know that he can’t help it… he’s mentally ill. But it’s the fact that he went way out of his way to actually call Billy & Miriam and tell them this that blows my mind… it’s not like he just mentioned it in a passing conversation with someone. Makes me wonder who else he called and told…

By the way, I got this info directly from Miriam tonight, on the phone. I’m not making this up. Sorry if this shatters your view of this local icon. She believed him, too, just like everyone normally does. She had no idea he was homeless, or that he wasn’t a “teacher” or “social worker” or whatever it is he told her he did for a living.

That documentary on him that’s coming out this spring is really going to open some eyes, and it’s about goddamned time.

Well I just got a call from Question Mark’s booking agent, and Q is pretty much going through a mental breakdown right now because of all of this. It’s a really long, convoluted story, and he has a history of mental instability anyway (if you don’t know his complete story, read up on him on Wikipedia… he truly believes he is from Mars). One of his three remaining Yorkies, which had suffered a collapsed lung due to smoke inhalation from the fire, died yesterday because he over-medicated it. On top of that, his manager is on parole (that’s another long story) and isn’t allowed to A) leave the state (which is why they haven’t toured in over a year) and B) isn’t allowed to be inside a place that serves alcohol ANYWHERE. Q refuses to play a show that LuVern (his manager) doesn’t introduce him on stage. Marla, the booking agent, is trying to talk to his parole officer into letting LuVern (who also is the only one capable of driving their huge tour bus) bring the band to St. Louis, but she has obvious doubts that he’s going to let this happen. This is all news to me that has come to my attention over the past 16 hours or so. So as of right now the show is on hold.

Worse case scenario, if ? and The Mysterians don’t end up playing, we can still hold the benefit, but just charge less, have an extra band, and then send them whatever money we raise, which was my original plan anyway. I didn’t even ask if the Mysterians could come play it, that was offered to me by the booking agent, IF we could pay for their travel expenses to get here. Ay yi yi…

I can’t help it, but I’m getting really tired of novelty bands. Ya know, bands that do something corny like play “instrumental versions of Misfits songs” or KISS-tribute bands composed of all midgets and all that. What is this? Dread Zeppelin II? Please, make it stop already. Have you no originality? What would cause a bunch of people to get together to form a band and say “Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! Surf Misfits! Wow!” If you ask me that’s just as bad as the people that pay $40 or more to go see a bunch of doofs dressed up on stage pretending to be The Beatles. People wonder what happened to music. Well there’s a perfect example. No originality. No thought being put into creating great new rock’n'roll. Obviously there ARE lots of great bands out there today, don’t get me wrong. And not all of them are doing anything that NEW sound-wise, but they certainly aren’t a blatant novelty act like that. The Sirens are a another perfect example. I love their sound, they’re a great band. But they don’t do anything but covers. What the fuck? Wouldn’t you think they’d want to play some originals, ya know, create new music? Isn’t that the point of being in a band? Why make a conscious choice to be nothing more than a cover band? I just don’t get it.

So that’s my gripe for the day.

Hi guys, I was hoping some of you might be willing to donate some money to a good cause. I’m going to try and bring the legendary ? and The Mysterians (’60s hits included “96 Tears,” “I Can’t Get Enough of You Baby,” etc.) to St. Louis for a benefit show (date and venue TBD). As some of you may already know, ? lost his entire home and all of his belongings (including gold records, photographs, clothes, rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia spanning over 40 years, etc.) as well as several pets in a horrible fire last week. They were uninsured. His manager’s wife has been undergoing treatments for breast cancer and they had let their home owner’s insurance lapse in order to channel all possible funds into her treatment. They all lived in the same farm house in rural Michigan. Needless to say, they need money, and the band is hoping their fans will help them out. We have set up a special PayPal account for donations that will help bring ? and The Mysterians here to St. Louis to play a benefit show in a couple of months (details on that to follow). They have an old city bus they use to tour in, so it eats a lot of gas (and as we all know, gas ain’t cheap). That, and we’ll need to pay for a couple of hotel rooms and meals to put them up here for a couple of days. So this fund is to help the band pay for the costs involved with traveling here so that they can take all of the proceeds from the benefit show back home with them to help them get their lives back on track. So we’re asking all of you, if you can donate anything, even a small amount, please do. Updates on the benefit show will be posted on the blog (linked below) as we have it.

To donate, please visit the link below and look for the donation form in the sidebar on the right side. Thanks in advance for your generosity.

http://www.garagepunk.com/questionmark

Yours in rock’n'roll,
kopper
TIRC Productions