The TIRC Records Showcase at Deluxe Saturday night was a lot of fun. We didn’t have a huge crowd there, but for a local show I thought the turnout was pretty decent, and it was enough so that each band got paid handsomely, so that makes it all worthwhile. The sound system at Deluxe is amazing. It was loud but it didn’t leave my ears ringing. And each band sounded great. The sound guy there really knows what he’s doing, which is a rarity these days. So kudos to the venue for that, and to Josh for just being a really cool guy. Any bar that has Rat Fink on the wall is alright in my book. And what’s the story with that place and cigarette smoke? When I walked in I saw quite a few people smoking, but it didn’t smell like smoke at all in there. In fact, even after leaving the place at the end of the night, I didn’t have that usual smell of smoke on my clothes that I usually have after leaving smoking bars. I mean, it was on me a little bit, but nothing bad. That place must have one hell of a ventilation system, that’s all I can say. Why can’t more smoking bars be like this? Anyway, I digress…
So the Nevermores CD is officially “OUT” now, and I’ll be posting it on the TIRC Store here sometime today (hopefully). In the meantime, you should be able to find it locally at Vintage Vinyl, Euclid Records and Apop Records. If you don’t see it at any of those locations, be sure to post a comment and let me know so we can get it restocked. And be sure and call your favorite KDHX radio hosts and request that they play something from it! It wouldn’t hurt to do this on KPNT (The Point), either… especially on their local music show (Sunday nights, right?).
By the way, I shot some video of the bands Saturday night, up until the point where the low-battery indicator was going off (I don’t think I was able to shoot any of Left Arm, who played last, unfortunately), but I haven’t had a chance to review any of it to see if it’s worthy of posting online. If it is, you’ll see it here before too long, I promise. I also snapped a few photos and the same goes for those. I realize I’ve been sort of neglecting this blog lately and I hope to correct that and start posting here more regularly soon… although I’ve got a vacation coming up in a couple of weeks so don’t look for much until after June 1 or so.
Anyway, thanks again to all of you that came out Saturday night and made it such a fun night of St. Louis-style rock’n'roll.
I haven’t played corkball since I was a kid, and even then it was only at a couple of family reunions (on the DuParri side of the family at that, too, if I remember correctly), and usually the game was spearheaded by my dad or one of his countless cousins. I remember having an old, weathered corkball and a beatup old corkball bat around the house growing up. That bat was really thin and long, and part of the nob had broken off at some point. Once in a blue moon my dad would toss the tiny, miniature baseball to me in the backyard and I’d try my best to whack at it, usually missing the damned thing miserably. Back then I actually liked playing bottle caps more, and saved a whole shoebox full of them (90% of the caps featuring Falstaff, Ballantine or 905 beer logos) that I’d haul out of storage and use at family gatherings or whenever I could convince some kids from the neighborhood to play. My favorite part about throwing the bottle caps was the way they would zing and curve around before almost hitting the batter right in the face. No, there wasn’t much control in throwing bottle caps, or at least, if there was, I sure as hell didn’t know how to do it. But it was fun as hell, nevertheless.
If you’re like a lot of people these days, you’re probably wondering what the hell it is I’m writing about. Corkball? Bottle caps? WTF? And, I guess it’s because my dad was older—he had served in World War II and played stickball on the streets of Manchester and old North St. Louis when he was a kid—that I knew anything about it. Most of the other kids in my neighborhood had nary a clue what any of it was. To them, there was only one sport and that was baseball. So that’s what we played most of the time, including my junior-high years when we would play baseball every freakin’ day for two or three summers in a row (even if it rained). But that all came later, and once I’d started playing baseball, I never even really thought about corkball or bottle caps ever again. That is, until recently.
Corkball is a St. Louis thing, but unfortunately it doesn’t quite have the attention of other “St. Louis things” like toasted ravioli, St. Louis-style pizza, rolling stops, or our quirky habit of asking other locals where they went to high school. No one is quite sure when the game first started being played, but most local historians point to the turn of the twentieth century, and it’s been played ever since (in fact, the Gateway Corkball League has been around since 1929, believe it or not!). I could go into some great detail about the history of the game, but I couldn’t say it better than it was said in this Esquire Magazine article published on June 1, 2000. Do yourselves a favor and read it! Truly a unique story. And while you’re poking around on the Web for more info about this great old sport, be sure to visit the Corkball page on Markwort Sporting Goods’ website for detailed rules so you can really differentiate it from baseball and, indeed, other forms of stickball. Further reading can be found on the South Saint Louis Corkball Club, the Lemay Corkball Club, the Sportsman’s Corkball Club as well as the aforementioned Gateway Corkball Club sites. In fact, if you’re looking for some more competitive leagues, I would highly recommend any of those over what I’m planning on starting, but more on that in a minute.
So I basically went my entire adult life (so far) without having played even one inning of corkball, much less even watching a game. That is, until this year. I never forgot about nor lost my love of the game, and always had it in the back of my head that someday I would get off my ass and play it again. Well, a few weeks ago I realized that I’m not getting any younger and if I want to start playing, I should do it now. Why wait any longer? And since the four corkball fields at Tower Grove Park (within walking distance of my house) are going virtually unused in the 21st century (thanks to the Sportsman’s Corkball Club hightailing it for the “safer” Jefferson Barracks Park some nine years ago), there’s really no reason why I shouldn’t be playing.
So, I’ve started recruiting players to form a new, relaxed, non-competitive league, named the River City Corkball Club. The emphasis will be on having fun and we won’t be keeping track of stats or wins/losses. In fact, each game will be pickup-game style, just like how some of used to play pickup softball games at Tower Grove Park a decade ago. I figure we’ll start playing on Wednesday nights the third week of April (April 15). We’ll need to purchase some equipment (mainly a couple of masks, a batting helmet, some balls, etc.), and the best way to do that is to have everyone chip in some money. Maybe we’ll even have some shirts made, who knows. But this is definitely not the type of league that will be highly competitive or have bylaws, like those other local corkball clubs (no disrespect intended, naturally).
If you’re interested in checking it out, by all means, let me know. Post a comment below and/or join the Facebook group, and we’ll see you at the park!
Damn, what a shitty fuckin’ day this turned out to be. One of my true rock’n'roll heroes is gone. According to news reports that just started surfacing this evening, Lux (lead singer of The Cramps for those of you living in a cave the past 30 years) died at 4:30 at a Glendale, Calif., hospital this morning from a pre-existing heart condition. He was 62 (not 52 or 60 as being reported on some sites). In my humble opinion, this is the biggest rock’n'roll loss since Link Wray and Bo Diddley (and that’s sayin’ something). I was trying to remember the first time I ever heard The Cramps, and I can’t. It’s just been too long ago. It was probably in high school, circa ‘83 or ‘84, and probably on KYMC. But I’m not sure. For all I know it could’ve been later on, in college. I remember the Bad Music for Bad People album being everywhere back then. I also remember falling absolutely head-over-heels in love with their trashy, primitive rock’n'roll sound. Some called it punk. Others called it psychobilly, but I just called it wild-ass primitive rock’n'roll. And their music turned me and so many others on to some of the true greats of the past, like The Trashmen, Link Wray, The Sonics, Andre Williams, Hasil Adkins, Randy Alvey, Johnny Burnette, The Novas, Kip Tyler, Ronnie Dawson, and so many others (check out the amazing “Songs The Cramps Taught Us” series for a good healthy sampling). I feel lucky to have gotten to see The Cramps three times (twice in St. Louis and once in Columbia, Mo.) and they were phenomenal each time. Lux embodied everything that I hold sacred in regard to garage/punk/rock’n'roll music: Humor, sex, sleaze, perversion, trash, fun, B-movies and the primitive big beat. I don’t think I have ever witnessed a better showman in my life. I’m working on the next episode of the Savage Kick podcast tonight, and you can bet there’ll be a short tribute paid to him on this episode (Ron Asheton, too), but in the meantime (the podcast will post on Friday), I wanted to share with y’all a couple of things that I thought you might like to see/hear. First up is Lux taking the mic and hosting a radio show from 1984 called the Purple Knif Show. Click here to download or hit the play button down below.
Second, this fantastic video of The Cramps playing live at the Napa State Mental Hospital, recorded with a black-and-white video camera and a single microphone on June 13, 1978. This is the entire video, by the way, which I found on Vimeo. Enjoy:
The first week or so of the Obama administration has shown us what a huge difference a President can make—but the tough battles are still to come. On global warming, job creation, universal healthcare and other issues, our new president is going to need our help.
To support the social change we need, I’ve been taking actions online recently with a company called CREDO Mobile. CREDO is a mobile phone company just like AT&T or Verizon—except, unlike AT&T or Verizon, CREDO actually fights with us for progressive change. (Also unlike AT&T, CREDO didn’t give money to McCain/Palin and Bush/Cheney, but that’s another story.)
CREDO’s a pretty great company – they give 1% of their revenues away to amazing non-profits like Doctors Without Borders, and they’ve given away over $60 million over the last twenty years. They also do progressive activism on issues like protecting the environment and working to end the war in Iraq.
So why am I telling you about some phone company? Because they offered us a pretty sweet deal. Here’s how it works:
If you sign up to be a CREDO customer, they’ll cover the cancellation fee on your existing mobile contract and give you a free phone, plus they’ll give me $100 for referring you. Pretty good, right? You can get all the details here.
If you’re ready to sign up, just do the following:
First, call 1-877-76CREDO.
Second, give them this special offer code: 800222
Finally, let them know I sent you by giving them my personalized coupon code WWTBP
Hello, this might be a bit of a strange e-mail. I have treated bands very fairly since I’ve started Voodoo Rhythm and have given them their records for cost price so that they could make a solid profit when selling their records on tour (we all know payouts are lousy nowadays). I did approach the SUISA (Copyright Company, musicians’ union) and informed them of the nature of my agreement with the bands.
Unfortunately I never put it in writing.
Now that is exactly the problem: The SUISA demands payback of a total of 42,500 Swiss Franks (roughly $38,000 US). Basically they want money for productions that had long been settled. The bitter irony is that bands of course prefer free copies of their album, yet the SUISA is oblivious to this fact and demand the money within 30 days. If we cannot meet their demands we might have to shut down business, since it is completely impossible for us to raise that kind of money. Therefore we kindly ask for your support. Even if we can pay we will not be able to offer the bands the same deal as before, in spite of the fact that they would much rather get free copies from us as opposed to SUISA money (especially American bands since they don’t get any SUISA money at all).
We hope you can help us. We don’t want to quit, we want to resume or work and our journey. Please transfer funds to the following account and forward this message.
Sincerely,
Reverend Beat-Man
Voodoo Rhythm Records
Voodoo Rhythm is not only one of the few remaining truly KICK-ASS trash-punk-blues-rock’n'roll labels left on the planet, but I also consider Beat-Man a personal friend of mine, so please, if you can help out, do so. Send PayPal payments to info (at) voodoorhythm (dot) com. Thanks!
I realized today that some of you may be wondering why I stopped doing the TIRC Podcast. Well, for much the same reason that I had to stop doing my old radio show, I just don’t have time. I’m lucky to pump out a new episode of Savage Kick every three weeks, much less do another one, as much as I would like to. I had tried to dump it off onto my friend and TIRC Productions cohort, Jason Potter, but he flaked out after just one episode. I can’t say I blame the guy… he’s busy, too, with his own band and family-type stuff. So where does that leave us? Well, without a fucking podcast host, obviously. I don’t know about you, but I still think St. Louis could really use a great local rock’n'roll podcast. And I would be willing to let you post it right here on this very blog if you’d like, too. But we just need to find some poor sap who’s going to commit to doing it regularly, consistently, at least once every month or two. If you think you’d be up for the task, get in touch. I’d be happy to help get you on your way and give you all the tips and whatnot you could possibly need to get you on your merry way producing your very own local music show. OR let’s say you don’t want the show hosted here at all. You want to do it all yourself, name the show, post it on your own blog and take all the credit. That’s fine, too. Get in touch!
So I was listening to this story on NPR this morning about the problems the US Postal Service has been facing recently, and I wondered to myself why they never set up an e-mail service like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo did years ago, to get a step ahead of the competition as well as to give them another revenue-generating source outside of snailmail postage. So I did what I normally do when I think of shit like this, I hopped on the Internet this morning and did a quick search for “US Postal Service” and email, and this is what I found:
File this under “strange but true:” The United States Postal Service came close to administering email.
(If you’re really cynical about your mail-delivery service, you might think this would be the ultimate email-horror story. Not me. I get excellent service, and not just because I accidentally leave bakery next to the mailbox every Christmas.)
An entertaining story in the MIT Technology Review by Stuart N. Brotman, who was assistant to President Jimmy Carter’s chief communications policy adviser from 1978 to 1981, recounts the Postal Service’s experiments with electronic communication over the years and how they led to the Postal Service’s involvement with email.
The Post Office Department, the quasi-private Postal Service’s government precursor, has been involved in advanced communications technology since it began operating a telegraph line between Washington D.C. and Baltimore in 1845, Brotman wrote.
Many potential innovations, such as postal telegram delivery and various forms of facsimile communications, were stymied either by Western Union or government actions. Then, the Postal Reform Act of 1970 came along, which mandated the Postal Service to “promote modern and efficient operations and [avoid] any practice which restricts the user of new equipment or devices which may reduce the cost or improve the quality of postal services…”
How did Brotman enter the picture? In the 1970s, he wrote, he said the Postal Service “could be a logical manager of a household electronic message delivery system” but warned it “has not developed the skills to capitalize on whatever its charter may allow in the telecommunications area.”
Then the Postal Service introduced E-COM, aimed mainly at big-business mailers, and alarm bells rang. Brotman fired off an op-ed piece in the New York Times and soon got an answer from William F. Bolger, then Postmaster General, which said, in part, that email “is the proper domain of the telecommunications industry. Our mandate for 206 years has been the delivery of hard-copy messages. That will remain our function.”
Brotman’s account tells the story in more colorful detail.
So there you have it. They fucked themselves from the get-go.
Don’t look now (oh, OK, go ahead) but there’s talk on FACEBOOK of all places of bringing KYMC back from the dead. Now, obviously, it wouldn’t really be KYMC… no one is planning on starting a new brick & mortar public radio station in suburban West St. Louis County (and they’d be big ol’ fools for trying to do such a thing, especially in this economy), but it would instead be a more modernized version, with an exciting new name, and operating online as a streaming-audio “Internet” station and/or podcast. I’m kinda, sorta part of this as I used to be a programmer at KYMC back in the 1980s (I still haven’t gotten around to posting any of my old air-check tapes, but SOON, I promise…) and am friends with the girl that set up this KYMC FM 89.7 Alumni Facebook group.
What the hell is KYMC, you may be asking at this point? KYMC was a small public radio station out in Ballwin, MO, that was owned by the YMCA of Greater St. Louis (the ONLY YMCA-owned radio station in the world), and it’s where I got introduced to the world of broadcasting after first joining up there with my friend, Bruce Clayton, during my senior year of high school. The station existed for about twenty-nine years until the YMCA finally axed it in January of 2007. When I first joined KYMC, I think it was only a 10-watt station. Later it was upgraded to 20 watts and I think at the most it may have been around a hundred watts, broadcasting as far east as Creve Coeur and west as St. Peters.
So am I excited about it? Eh. Not really. I mean, I guess it’s cool that they’re coming together to work on a project like this, and I’m in no way intending to throw any water on their fire, but honestly, with KDHX (struggling to stay afloat) in town as well as thousands (millions?) of other online “stations” out there begging for more ears (and dollars), is it going to be worth the effort? Did KYMC have that big of a following to easily and seemlessly translate that listenership into instant listeners today? Probably not, but hey, who am I to criticize them for their efforts? More power to ‘em!
So, anyway, with all that said, I wanted to post about it here in case some of you may know someone who used to be a DJ at the station… or maybe you know someone that was just a big fan or supporter. In that case it would be great if you could pass the info along to them about that Facebook group. The more people they can round up to get involved with this, the better the outcome will probably be. Thanks!
UPDATE: Interestingly enough, not long after posting this entry I happened to check out KYMC’s entry on Wikipedia, and read the following:
In July 2008 and with the final remain silent authority about to expire, the YMCA of Greater St. Louis reached an agreement to sell this station to Missouri River Christian Broadcasting, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on August 22, 2008, and the transaction was consummated on September 19, 2008. The new owners announced plans to return KYMC to the air with religious programming as a member of the Moody Broadcasting Network, including some programming as a simulcast of KGNV in Washington, Missouri. On October 30, 2008, KYMC was granted a main studio waiver allowing the station to be run from facilities far outside the station’s community of license.
Ha! Looks like the “resurrection” (pardon the pun) has already begun! Moody’s motto, by the way: “Think Biblically, Live Christianly, Serve Effectively, Evangelize Constantly”
Spreadshirt is offering time-sensitive discounts on all their shirts for a limited time, but these only apply to U.S. and Canadian customers. They are as follows:
December 6-8, 2008
20% off all orders over $30.00, shipping costs do not apply
December 9-11, 2008
15% off all orders orders over $30.00, shipping costs do not apply
December 12-15, 2008
10% off all orders over $30.00, shipping costs do not apply
Coupon codes:
USD$: NOW1
CAD$: CADNOW1
Here are the links to the stores I have up and running:
Kaiser Records recording artistes Thee Crucials are coming to Lemmons on Friday December 12! These Altanta cats really know how to throw down so don’t miss out!! They gonna shake it up! They gonna ball it up! Appearing with them on stage will be (you know ‘em, you love ‘em) Thee Fine Lines from Springfield, Mo., and The Nevermores from right here in St. Louis. We’re talking one fun night of wild-ass garage R&B punk mayhem!! And don’t forget Lemmons’ excellent PIZZA and HOT WINGS… and, of course… BEEEEEERRR!!! See you’s there.
