New Wave for the New Week #15

There has always been a kinship between New Wave and good old-fashioned '60s Surf Music. Bands like Agent Orange, The Raybeats, and The Surf Punks made (and, in some cases, are still making) music that would make The Ventures and Dick Dale proud. In fact, those and many like-minded bands often chose to cover the original classics from such revered surf artists in addition to pounding out their own updated take on the style.

One would expect such bands to have formed on California beaches, and in many cases that was so. There was one glaring exception, and they may have been the best - if least heralded - of the bunch.

The Insect Surfers were formed in 1979 in - of all places - Washington, DC. Their influences were quickly made clear by early covers of The Nazz's surfy 1968 hit "Open My Eyes" and Wire's dour 1979 post-punk single "Ex-Lion Tamer". The band chugged along for a few years, releasing a handful of really fantastic records before their wave crashed to shore in the early '80s.

The band reformed in 1986 and has been playing and recording ever since, with a sound hewing a bit more closely to the traditional Surf Music style Check out their MySpace page here to hear some of the more recent material and, if you like what you hear, support the band by picking up a CD or two.

For our purposes here, however, we look back fondly on the original incarnation of the band. Their vinyl debut was a 1980 single, "Into the Action," and is our New Wave for the New Week entry this time around. Granted, the sound is somewhat dated (not as much as the fashions and the neon though!), but it still sounds great to these ears. You can see and hear the enthusiastic amateurism here, and if you compare to the clips on their MySpace page, you'll appreciate how far they've come in 30 years while never really ever leaving their own little rift in time.

Here's the clip - enjoy!

Happy Father's Day!

To my own Dad, and to all the Dads who are reading this blog, I wish you all a very Happy Father's Day!

"The older I get, the smarter my father seems to get." -- Tim Russert

"My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it." -- Clarence Budington Kelland

"My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it." -- Abraham Lincoln

"A father is a man who expects his children to be as good as he meant to be." -- Carol Coats

"When I was a kid, I said to my father one afternoon, 'Daddy, will you take me to the zoo?' He answered, 'If the zoo wants you, let them come and get you.'" -- Jerry Lewis

And the "You've Made A Poor Choice" Award Goes To...

Kimberley Vlaminck wins the "You've Made A Poor Choice" Award for...well...just look:



According to the article on the UK's Daily Mail website, Vlaminck told the Romanian tattoo artist in both French and English that she wanted three small stars tattooed near her left eye. She then claims to have fallen asleep during the tattooing process, and when she awoke, she found that the tattoo artist had confused "three" with "fifty-six" and "near my left eye" with "all over the side of my face."

Ahem.

SHE SLEPT WHILE SOMEONE TATTOOED HER FACE?!? How is that even possible? Come on, if someone is using a tattoo needle on the side of my head, I'm not dozing off. Are you?

Of course, the assertion that there was no real issue until she got home and her father and boyfriend simultaneously hit the roof tends to lead one to believe that perhaps she's reaching for a cover story for what is surely one of the poorest choices possible.

But let's give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she's on the level with her story. It's still the winner of the poor choice award on several counts:

1. Wanting to a get a tattoo is fine. Tattoos have become pretty much accepted and somewhat celebrated by mainstream culture. Wanting to get a tattoo, no matter how small, ON YOUR FACE is simply a poor choice. Who has a tattoo on their face? Mike Tyson. Charles Manson. People in mug shots. These are the role models you're choosing? POOR CHOICE.

2. If it takes trying to explain what you want in more than one language, you've probably made a poor choice of tattoo artists to patronize. Clearly this tattoo artist understood the "stars" concept. How difficult is it to get across the concept of "three"? If it requires speaking another language, you've made a POOR CHOICE.

3. Deciding that it was a good time to take a nap while the tattoo artist does his work after it has taken two languages to try describe the tattoo you want on your face? POOR CHOICE.

Congratulations, Kimberly. You win this one hands-down!

New Wave for the New Week #14

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

If you had asked me 25 years ago to speculate on who would become the elder statesmen of Punk/New Wave/Post Punk/Alternative/Whatever-you-wanna-call-this Music, Nick Cave's name would not have been anywhere near the top of my list. His band at the time, The Birthday Party, while one of my favorites, was certainly an acquired taste, often spewing out discordant shrieking mutant swamp-blues like Captain Beefheart in a foul mood. Nick himself seemed unlikely to survive the next 25 years. His infamous heroin habit left him a gaunt, almost spectral figure to behold; pictures of him in full-blown junkie nod were common.

But here we are in 2009, and Nick Cave has been clean for ten years and has been making music non-stop for thirty-plus. After The Birthday Party dissolved, he formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and created sinister pseudo-countrified dirges that were a bit easier on the ears; his solo work has seen him team up with fellow Aussie Kylie Minogue in a "this doesn't seem right but somehow it works" ballad "Where the Wild Roses Grow," which will haunt you to your core; his side-project combo Grinderman harkens back to some of the terror of The Birthday Party's finest moments filtered through Bad Seeds era eerie calm. He is a novelist, an actor, a painter. He has indeed become one of the most important figures to emerge out of that Post Punk scene.

But, oh, where it all started!

Nick and some of his school chums formed his first band, The Boys Next Door, in the early '70s; as the Punk and New Wave scene began to infiltrate his native Australia in the form of bands like The Saints and Radio Birdman, so The Boys Next Door's music began to evolve to mesh with that sound. The Boys Next Door would eventually release one incredible album, Door Door, and an EP, Hee Haw, both in 1979. That same year, they would have a decent Australian hit with a murky ballad, "Shivers," which was among the first things Nick Cave recorded that sounded like what most people think of when they think of Nick Cave.

Indeed, The Boys Next Door would essentially morph into The Birthday Party; Hee Haw would be re-released as a Birthday Party record with all references to the previous band name expunged.

Our clip this week is a real gem: a very young Nick Cave in front of The Boys Next Door in 1978, performing the almost bubblegum-sounding "The Nightwatchman." This gooey piece of New Wave goodness captures an nearly exuberant Nick Cave pre-Birthday Party muck, pre-Bad Seeds sinisterness, and obviously pre-heroin. Enjoy and be amazed:

New Wave for the New Week #13

Image via Wikipedia

Unfortunately, I didn't get to Baltimore for the X show Saturday night. I'll probably kick myself for not finding a way to get there, but sometimes the best laid plans go awry.

I figure the least I can do is pick an X video for this week's New Wave for the New Week entry, and I managed to find one I've never seen before! Their third album, Under the Big Black Sun (1982), was also their first on a major label. The main single from the album, "The Hungry Wolf," was played in light-to-mid rotation during the early days of MTV. But there was a second video shot from the album, for one of my favorites from their catalog of songs, "Motel Room in My Bed."

Forgive the rough quality here, but this is a rare one. The video is no great shakes - just a pretty straight lip-sync performance - but it does capture X at their best: John Doe and Exene Cervenka creating their at once beautiful and off-kilter harmony, guitarist Billy Zoom in full grin-and-pompadour stance, and DJ Bonebrake driving the whole band into a frenzy behind the drumset.

So, in honor of X's current tour and as a toast to Exene's health, enjoy this week's entry:

X - Motel Room In My Bed

Keep Good Thoughts Going Out to Exene Cervenka

Image by kathyp. via Flickr

Co-lead vocalist of legendary LA punk band X, Exene Cervenka, announced on her website today, "After some months of not feeling 100% healthy, I recently had some medical tests run and the prognosis is that I am suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Apparently, it has been affecting me for quite some time."

Was planning to see X this Saturday night in Baltimore at Ram's Head Live; as of now the show is still on and Exene seems intent on continuing the current tour. While I would certainly love to experience the band live for the first time, the more important thing here is that Exene take care of herself. I have personally known one or two folks with Multiple Sclerosis, and while it is unfortunate diagnosis, it is one that can be managed with proper treatment and care. As one friend who suffers from MS once described it, "I don't live with MS. MS has to live with me!" Exene, take that attitude and keep doing what you've always done!

Please keep good wishes and good thoughts going out to Exene. If you feel so inclined, make a donation to Sweet Relief, an organization that helps musicians with Multiple Sclerosis. And check the tour dates on X's website here, and if you can, go out and support the band. I hope to have a road report from Baltimore after this weekend.

New Wave for the New Week #12

Last week we featured Split Enz; this week we feature the band that resulted from Phil Judd splitting away from Split Enz.

The Swingers were formed in 1979, two years after Judd left the Enz. Their initial release was the single "One Good Reason (Gimme Love)," which reached Top 20 status in the band's native New Zealand. Within a year they had relocated to Australia where folllow-up single "Counting the Beat" quickly topped the charts. A third single, "It Ain't What You Dance, It's the Way That You Dance It," and a full album soon followed.

The band was given a showcase in the 1982 Australian comedy Starstruck, for which they rerecorded "One Good Reason (Gimme Love)" with much more production and polish, and the Counting the Beat album appeared in America. Internal tensions within the band were too great, however, and the story of the Swingers ended there. Really a shame because the album is excellent.

"One Good Reason" remains their best-remembered song. For this week's New Wave for the New Week, I give you both versions: the original, rawer 1979 single and the later, more polished version from Starstruck. Compare and decide:

"You're Not My Imaginary Friend Anymore!" - Dealing with Being Unfriended, Unfollowed or Blocked

Image by beeeezer via Flickr

"Who is Bryan Rutt?" read the status of one of my Facebook friends not too long ago. In my typical goofy fashion, I responded "I am!" I quickly learned that this question was not being asked rhetorically or in a larger spiritual sense. "Do I even know you?" came the reply. I thought it odd, since this person and I had been on each other's friends list for several months at this point.

I believe in the "social" part of social networking - I'm not on Facebook and Twitter just to talk with the same people I could walk down the street and talk to face to face, and I'm not there to limit myself to only people who I already know. I enjoy reaching out and meeting new folks, whether they are across the globe or across the street, and I have made some very good friends online in recent months in addition to reconnecting with old friends and maintaining an alternate line of communication with current friends.

In this case, I had reached out to just about everyone in my college graduating class on Facebook, whether we hung out in college or not, and offered friend invites to them all. Many never replied, but many did. This person was one of those: we did not run in similar circles back then, but our status as classmates was the common ground I used to extend an invitation to network. Within a few days after the above exchange, this person disappeared from my friend list. I had been summarily "unfriended."

On Twitter today, I was updating my "following" list to insure that I was following all current members in the Lancaster Twitterati group that I have mentioned on this blog before. I found one that I thought I had been following, but was not. I attempted to follow and received the stern announcement, "You have been blocked from following this account at the request of the user." Now, I have been unfollowed on Twitter many times - it's a standard occurrence on Twitter - but this was new. Someone blocked me! Me, lovable old goofy me! Can you imagine?

Being unfriended on Facebook, or unfollowed on Twitter, or blocked on either site, seems to be a traumatic experience for some. People I know have responded with great shock, disbelief, and embarrassment at being dropped by someone on these sites. It's as if they have been personally insulted by the person dropping them. They go through an actual grieving period, mourning the loss and damning their own inadequacies. I don't understand that reaction.

Although the term "friend" is commonly used among these and other social networking sites, it carries a different definition in this context than in the real world. Yes, many (if not most) of my online friends are also people who I call Friend in real life. But I also have many online friends who I would probably not be able to pick out of lineup if my life depended on it. "Friend" in the social network universe is just a warm-n-cuddly euphemism for "anonymous person you have encountered online and found common ground with." In both cases above, I barely even knew the person outside of the online world. I wasn't being shunned by someone I counted on to be there for me through thick and thin, fer crissakes. They chose not to interact with me online. OK. Next?

The only response I have ever given to being unfriended - and I haven't done this in every case, but only in those where I was really at a loss to figure out why I was chopped - is to send a polite message to the person asking if I had done or said something to offend them. After all, I know I can be blunt and opinionated at times, and I am just capable as the next person of unintentionally ticking someone off. Know what I've learned? It's not me.

People will unfriend, unfollow, or block for any of a million different reasons, often having nothing to do specifically with the person being cut. They may have decided to use the network as a place where only close friends and family may reach them, as one old high-school friend of mine did. That person gave me a very polite explanation of why I was being "cut," and I respect that. We hadn't been in touch for nearly twenty years before finding each other on Facebook, and we have each other's email addresses now; we can reach each other if we need to. I had another person unfriend me by accident - they meant to cut someone else, and hit the button by my name instead. Situation corrected, connection restored, no harm, no foul.

Heck, back in January Burger King offered a promotion where you got a free Whopper if you were willing to randomly unfriend 10 of your Facebook friends. You might have been cut just because someone was hungry!

The bottom line is, if you're using any social networking site, especially if you really are using it to reach and network with new people, you're going to eventually be unfriended, unfollowed, or blocked. In fact, it's going to happen more than once. Get over it. If you feel the need, politely ask why; for the most part, though, just move on. After all, it's their choice - and, their loss!

Happy Memorial Day!

To all US Military Actives, Reserves, and Veterans: Thank you for your service to our country.

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day, everyone!

New Wave for the New Week #11

Split Enz
via last.fm

New Zealand's Split Enz were among the most popular of the MTV-era New Wave acts, scoring video hits with songs like "I Got You", "History Never Repeats" and "One Step Ahead." Their two early 80's LPs, Waiata and True Colors, are must-haves for any fan of the New Wave.

But few of those early '80s fans realized that Split Enz were no newcomers to the scene. In fact, by the time those two classic albums hit the shelves, Split Enz had already logged ten years of recording and a slight rethinking of their approach.

The band was formed in New Zealand in 1971, and first appeared on vinyl with a 1973 single, "For You." In those early days, they were Split Ends, and were a band greatly influenced by British prog rock. Comparisons to bands like Traffic and Peter Gabriel-era Genesis were not uncommon, but the band toiled away in obscurity. A change to the more familiar phonetic spelling of the band name did little to bring them much attention.

Founding member Phil Judd left the band in 1977, and would go on to form The Swingers (who will be featured next week). He was replaced by Neil Finn, brother of original member Tim Finn. This new lineup embraced the emerging Punk and New Wave sound, and combined it with the overblown theatrics of the Prog Rock scene to create their own niche. A move to England helped them reach a wider audience, and soon they were embraced by an initial cult following that quickly grew into more widespread acceptance.

Among the earliest of the New Wave-era Split Enz singles is the slightly odd but goofily enjoyable "Bold As Brass", a 1977 single that is this week's New Wave for the New Week. Enjoy!