Recommended Reading: Chronicling Elizabethtown

We live in an ever-shrinking world. As technology develops and improves, previously impossible gaps in communication and distance are easily spanned. Email and cell-phones have for years made instant connection with people who may be physically thousands of miles away possible; the rise of social networking sites have redefined the way many folks think of "community" to include those who they may never have even met face-to-face, and in some cases perhaps never will.

We also live in a time when local flavor is disappearing in favor of what one friend of mine calls the "generification" of America. Local mom-and-pop corner stores and family-run service businesses are going the way of the dinosaur, replaced by faceless national "superstores." The strip-mall in your town probably looks exactly like - and houses the exact same stores as - the one in my town. As more and more folks tune into 24-hour cable news networks to get their information, local news broadcasts are experiencing sharp ratings declines; as even more abandon traditional media to find out about the world on the Internet, newspapers across the country - especially local community papers - are literally stopping the presses, permanently. The concept of "local" is becoming obsolete.

Don't tell that to Jeff McCloud. In a time when it seems everyone else is only thinking globally, Jeff is acting locally: his blog, Chronicling Elizabethtown, is both a place to preserve the unique local flavor of his town and a hilltop from which to proudly wave its banner and invite others to come see and experience all it has to offer.

The borough of Elizabethtown, PA, sits between Harrisburg and Lancaster. In 1999 McCloud became one of the roughly 12,000 residents of the borough, and was elected to the Borough Council 8 years later. When Elizabethtown's beloved community weekly, The Elizabethtown Chronicle, closed its doors in early 2009, McCloud was determined to see to it that his community not lose its voice altogether. As McCloud wrote in his inaugural post,

"So, here we are, a fabulous community with tons of potential without a newspaper of record, and me, an elected official and a former newspaper reporter (and, for the record, one-time editor of The Elizabethtown Chronicle) and now a public relations professional, wanting to get the news out about my community."

Over the past two years, Chronicling Elizabethtown has become the borough's new voice. Jeff's conversational/journalistic style retains the feeling of a local newspaper without falling into the mundane recitation of facts that often plague such publications. It's as if Jeff were sitting down next to you at the lunch counter and talking about the local events of the day, from the ongoing restoration of the Elizabethtown Train Station to the openings of new businesses to the accomplishments of neighbors.

So, why would I recommend this blog to everyone, especially those who don't live anywhere near Elizabethtown, PA? For one, Chronicling Elizabethtown is a perfect example of how a locality can continue to maintain its integrity and individuality in the face of the world's generification. The more of that local uniqueness we can preserve in communities across the country, the better off we will be. Another reason is the buoyantly positive tone McCloud has given his blog. We are bombarded with so much news about disaster and death and crime, it's refreshing and invigorating to know that someone out there is finding things to celebrate, and demonstrating that one need go no further than his own backyard to find them. There needs to be more of that in this world as well. I would love to see Chronicling Elizabethtown become a template for others to chronicle their own towns.

Jeff was kind enough to answer the Five Questions posed in this series; here are his replies:

What or who inspired you to begin blogging?
JM: It was a combination of being elected to Elizabethtown Borough Council and the demise of the local weekly paper The Elizabethtown Chronicle. I started my blog, Chronicling Elizabethtown, in an attempt to fill the void left by not having a paper there to cover the nitty-gritty details of the community. Having worked as a newspaper reporter for seven years, I write with a news style. Knowing that I am writing as an elected official, I also use my blog as a public relations tool and public information tool for Borough Council and the borough itself.

Is there a story or meaning behind your blog or its name?
JM: The name is a twist on The Elizabethtown Chronicle.

Which post would you choose from your archives if you had to provide only one that best represents what your blog is all about?
JM: I'd have to say that a series of posts from last August, when Elizabethtown had a boil-water advisory, meet this criteria. In the first five months of my blog, I averaged 131 visits; that August, the number shot up to 906. This was because information during that time was not communicated efficiently or effectively, and my blog was one of the few places to get credible information about the water situation.

When you first log on to your computer each day, what is the first site you go to? Why?
JM: I always head to my iGoogle page to check my RSS feeds from news organizations and monitor Twitter with TwitterGadget.

What one other blog would YOU recommend that you read regularly, and why?
JM: I haven't found one blog that I read regularly. I follow links on Twitter that look interesting.

Do take the time to drop in on Jeff at Chronicling Elizabethtown. You'll find a neat little community celebrating their accomplishments, and perhaps you'll even be inspired to begin celebrating your own locality!

My great thanks to Jeff McCloud for taking the time to participate in this series!

New Wave for the New Week #64

Mental as Anything via last.fm

Virtually every genre of music shares at least one commonality: the break-up song. Depending on the musical style and the personality of the artist, they can range from heartwrenching to hopeful, from revenge-fantasy to prayer for reconciliation, from haunting to maudlin.

And then there is this week's NW4NW entry from Australia's Mental As Anything, the brilliantly titled "If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?"

Coming together in a Sydney art school in the mid '70s, Mental As Anything are about as Aussie as you can get. With their dry and sometimes randy sense of humor, off-kilter melodies and lyrics, and a bit of didgeridoo lowing in the background, Mental As Anything first made waves in their home country with a Top 20 drinking song, "The Nips Are Getting Bigger."

By the time they released their masterpiece in 1981, Mental As Anything had a strong cult following. Their timing was perfect - they were able to ride the wave of Australian bands being embraced by the New Wave (Split Enz, Men At Work, Midnight Oil, etc.), and "If You Leave Me..." saw considerable airplay on MTV and in New Wave clubs both here and in Europe.

After that one cult classic, Mental As Anything seemed to drop off the radar. In actuality, they never stopped making records, and continue to be well-known and loved in their homeland.

This week's NW4NW entry is the clip for that wondrous tale of a doomed relationship and our hero who refuses to let it go. Enjoy "If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?" by Mental As Anything:

Recommended Reading: Strange Reaction

When Strange Reaction first appeared on the scene in early 2005, it was just another in what was quickly becoming the overcrowded field of mp3 blogs. Those were heady days when blogging in general was becoming more common, the debate over file sharing was in full swing, and anyone with a music collection and a connection to the Internet began living his or her daydreams of writing for Rolling Stone while showing off a cooler-than-you taste in tunes.

Over the years, the myriad blogs who popped up back then began to steadily thin out. A combination of an over-saturated market, a growing abundance of DMCA Takedown notices, and the rise of MySpace, Facebook and Twitter as the new trend in online communication contributed to the steady disappearance of many mp3 blogs. Those that remain today are those who are in it because of a real love of the music, and those who have the knowledge, the personality, and the writing ability to be entertaining beyond the music they offer. A few abandoned the mp3-blog format in favor of finding their own style - some way that they could share their love of the records they blog about while setting themselves apart from the crowd.

Scott over at Strange Reaction is one of those who found a different approach, along with co-blogger Mike E. who joined along the way to create a double-barreled blast of good old Punk Rock fun. Scott shared a bit of Strange Reaction's history:

"According to Archive.org I started on February 14th, 2005. Sharing out of print punk and hardcore records was the only goal, and I did that for a couple of years. Lots of other websites that did this much better started springing up more and more, and it just started seeming redundant, so I changed the format. I lost most of my visitors too, but since I don't make money from the site it didn't seem to matter much at the time. Some of the other sites are since long gone, but a few are still posting some great things on a regular basis.

I changed the site into one where I'd review music, along with a couple of irregulars that seem to have disappeared off the planet since. That was fun for a little bit. I also started putting together a 20-30 song mash mp3 for folks to download, a precursor to the current show. I had no microphone, so I just used a digital voice to announce the show and then played the songs straight through.

Picking music was the most fun I'd had with the site in years, so I started focusing on that and changed the format once again, removing the reviews that were pretty blah to begin (mine at least) and simply posting a show once a week. Mike E. contacted me and was interested in posting a weekly column. He seemed like a guy with an interesting history and I liked his writing style. Plus he works for free, can't beat that!"

The "show" that Scott refers to is the Strange Reaction podcast, a weekly supplement to the blog in which Scott presents 30 (give or take) songs, ranging from classic punk to searing hardcore to noisy thrash - all of it good stuff. I find myself listening each week and either smiling at a classic pick, being reminded of a band I hadn't listened to in ages, or discovering a band that somehow flew beneath my radar. Although he now has that microphone, Scott's presentation is still straightforward and unencumbered: here's what you were listening to, and here's what's coming up next. He also helpfully includes the name of the album or ep each song comes from in the show notes on the blog, so if you hear something you really like, you know where to go looking.

As Scott noted, Mike E. handles the record reviews, and does an outstanding job with them. His present-day takes on records that are often 20 years old are informed and on-the-money most of the time, and his reviews of newer product are a reliable buying guide. But he does more than just review records: Mike is a top-notch story-teller, and each review also includes an autobiographical anecdote. The story may or may not directly relate to the record being reviewed, but it does give the reader the unique opportunity to learn something about the reviewer, and therefore perhaps some insight into the state of mind in which the review was written. Many celebrity "rock 'n' roll journalists" would never dare to be so open.

In addition to the podcasts and reviews, other occasional goodies spring up: top ten lists, interviews with cool people (Steve Jones of The Stepmothers fer crissake!), stories from back in the day, the occasional free-and-legal mp3 download from any of various bands or labels - whatever. Strange Reaction has been a regular visit for me not just because of the quality of the writing, but also because of the fearlessness and utter lack of pretension with which both Scott and Mike present themselves.

Scott was good enough to respond to the Five Questions I've asked of each blogger in this series:

What or who inspired you to begin blogging?
S: Large Hearted Boy. This was the first mp3 blog that I started reading on a regular basis. I always like the variety there, and while I may not always dig the music I do always check out what they're offering. At about the same time I was grabbing lots of old punk that was ripped by lots of different folks and shared via a particular P2P app. While I loved that it was being shared there, I thought it would be cool to share with an even larger audience, ones who probably had never heard of the program and would never find the tunes otherwise.

Is there a story or meaning behind your blog or its name?
S: I took the name from the song "Some Strange Reaction" by Firewater. It just seemed to fit.

Which post would you choose from your archives if you had to provide only one that best represents what your blog is all about?
S: The answer to this would probably best be reflected in a post from an old incarnation of the site, back when I posted full EP's and just gave a little back story on the record or the band. Now that I'm down to a podcast and Mike E's weekly column it's harder to choose.

When you first log on to your computer each day, what is the first site you go to? Why?
S: Reddit. It gives me a look at random news, odd videos and a look at what people will be spamming onto Facebook the next day.

What one other blog would YOU recommend that you read regularly, and why?
S: Alice Bag. She's an original, not only because of her history, but just how she writes and the topics she chooses. I never leave her site bored.

Scott also added these comments about his blog and podcast:

With [Mike E.'s] weekly look at an album and a story from his past and my weekly (mostly) podcast/show/mp3 thing, I'm pretty happy where the site is at, even if it's not a daily read for anyone.

I'm currently getting a few thousand downloads/streams of my show every time a new one is posted which always surprises me, and Punk Radiocast streams it first, every Monday night at 11:00pm EST. So if you're looking for a preview, go there. I then throw it on the website, usually by Wednesday. The one thing I would love to see is feedback to the show, I barely hear a word and I know folks are listening. It's weird.

I know of what Scott speaks when he bemoans the lack of feedback. Folks, the best thing you can offer to any blogger whose writing you enjoy is feedback - we thrive on it, yet rarely receive it! I do highly recommend you stop over at Strange Reaction, and subscribe to the podcast as well, and please do let Scott and Mike know what you think.

My sincere thanks to Scott at Strange Reaction for taking part in this series. Keep up the great work!

New Wave for the New Week #63

The Rockats via last.fm

I recently picked up a copy Robert Gordon & Link Wray's 1978 album Fresh Fish Special. After falling out of CBGB's mainstays The Tuff Darts, Gordon hooked up with the legendary Wray to do two albums of straightforward by-the-numbers Rockabilly. Special was the second of the two, and is highly recommended.

Listening to that record inspired me to pull out some of the other stuff in my collection that fell under what would come to be known as the Neo-Rockabilly sound. You had The Cramps turning up the crazy and turning the genre into Psychobilly, you had The Blasters and Roy Loney & The Phantom Movers and Tex Rubinowitz putting out records that would have you believe 1960s psychedelia and 1970s disco had never happened, and you had the highly stylized New Wave Rockabilly "cats" (The Stray Cats, The Polecats, The Bopcats) cross-breeding '50s sounds and '80s visuals. And then you had this week's NW4NW featured band, The Rockats, who may have been the unheralded best of the bunch.

They started out as Levi & The Rockats, with frontman Levi Dexter and bassist Smutty Smiff as the heart and soul of the band. Unapologetically worshiping at the shrines of Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, Levi & The Rockats found a surprisingly sympathetic audience in the late-'70s UK Punk scene. Playing a mixture of obscure covers and originals so faithful as to be indistinguishable from the vintage material, and doing so with the high energy buzzsaw sonic attack and callous sneer of the punks around them, the band soon had supporters like Johnny Thunders and Debbie Harry singing their praises. They came to America in 1979 and played shows with The Cramps. They made TV appearances on The Midnight Special and The Merv Griffin Show, even though they not only had no record yet to promote, but they had yet to even be signed by a label. They bopped and honky-tonked and pompadoured their way across the States, and on the night of their last show of the year on December 16th, from the stage of LA's Whisky-A-Go-Go, Levi Dexter announced the band was done. The only vinyl record of the Levi & The Rockats days was At The Louisianna Hayride, a live recording released two years later.

Dexter went off to to form Levi Dexter & The Ripchords, and later LEVI. Smutty Smiff and the rest of The Rockats, however, didn't actually want to break up the band. Guitarist Dibbs Preston took over vocals, and a new guitarist, Tim Scott, joined the band briefly. Scott would go on to have a minor solo hit, "Swear," (later covered by - of all people - Sheena Easton!) and fill in for an injured Charlotte Caffey on one of The Go-Go's final tours - making him the only male Go-Go ever (trivia buffs take note). Scott's stay in The Rockats lasted only through their debut album, Live At The Ritz (1981).

In 1983, The Rockats would have their closest thing to a hit record, the awesome title track to the Make That Move ep. "Make That Move" was the culmination of everything the Neo-Rockabilly scene of the time wanted to be. Simultaneously true to the genre's roots and modern enough for MTV to put the video into rotation, decked out in Brylcreem and twangy guitars and Jerry Lee Lewis piano pounding, "Make That Move" caught everyone's attention for a moment.

It would turn out to be The Rockats' swansong. It's a shame there wasn't more recorded of their six-year journey from the Levi & The Rockats days to "Make That Move," but they always had been a band more focused on live performance. (That two of their three slabs of vinyl were live recordings should not go unnoticed.) Preston continues to lead revived versions of the band on occasional reunion tours, although he is the only original member, and occasional releases appear under The Rockats' name, but the spark of the original band is gone. Happily, the clip for "Make That Move" survives, and is presented here as this week's NW4NW entry. Enjoy!

Recommended Reading: The Canthook

If you pick your way through several blogs a day as I do, you begin to notice two universal truths of blogging: First, people blog mainly because they want the world to hear their opinions on whatever topic they happen to be writing about. I'm just as guilty of this feeling of self-importance and the belief that I am doing all of you a favor by sharing my thoughts as anyone else who has set up shop in a little corner of the Internet and started posting whatever came to mind. As I've often said to folks who have asked me for advice on their own blogs - or their own writing of any kind - you have to develop an ego, or at least play-act the part. You have to make yourself believe that what you've written is the greatest thing since sliced bread, or you're likely never to push the "post" button in the first place!

The second truth, which often wreaks havoc with the first, is that not everything that every blogger has ever written is, in fact, the greatest thing since sliced bread. The quality of blogged material out there varies wildly from blog to blog; it often varies just as greatly from to post to post within the same blog. (Again, count me among the guilty...I go back and reread some of the things I've posted and shake my head wondering what I might have been drinking that day...)

The blogs that I find myself going back to day after day, that I include on that blogroll over on the left-hand side of the screen, and that I have chosen to share with you in this series, are those where the blogger is clearly not shy about voicing opinion, but is also capable of churning out consistently high-quality posts. Most often, that's accomplished by focusing one's writing on a particular area of interest or expertise. The more difficult trick to master is to maintain that quality of writing and strength of opinion over a variety of subjects. Dr. Harl Delos is one of the few I have found who can do exactly that.


In his blog The Canthook, Delos offers us the chance to see the world through his eyes as he goes about his daily routines. His posts might be about anything that catches his eye - or his memory - for a moment or two: people-watching at a restaurant, catching a particularly good program on television, reminiscences from his childhood, a groaner of a joke he recently heard. Other posts tackle current events, be they political, technological, or theological. Often, in fact, Delos meanders down a garden pathway of topics in a single post, each connected, if only by the thinnest of tangential threads - just as our thoughts tend to meander. For that reason, his posts strike a deeper chord than those of many bloggers out there. Even if you don't necessarily agree with Delos' take on things, you understand how he got there. He's shown you his work in reaching his answer.

I go back to The Canthook again and again because Delos challenges his readers to think. Think about the world around you - not just current events or world-affecting things, but think about how waking up to the smell of a freshly-brewed pot of coffee makes you feel. Stop and smell the roses, if I may be so cliched. He is impish and mischievous in the way he challenges, but he's not just stirring up the pot. Retired after a long career that saw him spend time as a newspaper publisher, a magazine editor, an engineer, and an early computer programmer, among other pursuits, Delos has the hands-on experiences that bring substance to his opinions. He knows of what he speaks, hence the quality of the writing. That he does all of this with a healthy spoonful of humor makes The Canthook an extremely entertaining read - and also the kind of blog you go back and re-read.

One of the first questions that comes to most people's minds regarding The Canthook is, well, "What does 'The Canthook' mean?" In his responses to the Five Questions I've asked each blogger in this series, you'll find the answer. You'll also find Harl Delos' wonderfully dry sense of humor:

What or who inspired you to begin blogging?
HD: Doogie Houser inspired me. And Mark Twain.

At the time, I had a discussion list, and I was frustrated because people wanted to read the posts and participate, but they didn't want to publicize their email address. Some discussion lists had you post to a central address, and their address was stripped away by the moderator, but the delay involved in moderation prevented an active exchange of ideas; on the list, we'd sometimes have two people post back and forth 10 times in an hour, and that made it exciting and interesting.

The alternative was to put up a forum, but that meant that vandals could (and did) post ads, etc., all the time, and that was a pain to maintain.

It was the invention of RSS that made it possible to subscribe without opening yourself up to spam - and what *really* makes a blog a blog, is the RSS feed.

Is there a story or meaning behind your blog or its name?
HD: I'm what theologists call a skeptic, what investors call a contrarian. When I was in engineering schools, they taught us to *always* question assumptions - so I question not only mine, but everyone else's as well. I find that taking a look from a different angle often brings out a very interesting story.

A canthook is a tool used by linemen to twist a utility pole into the proper orientation. A peavey is a similar tool used to twist a log. Peavey.com was already in use by the guitar people, so I named my blog The Canthook. I write posts that consider issues from different cants than the same-old same-old.

I used to publish newspapers and a magazine, and I thought the blog should have a name that sounded like the name of a newspaper. I love The Daily Beast but including "daily" in the name commits me to more work than I want to be committed to. I'm retired, after all!

Which post would you choose from your archives if you had to provide only one that best represents what your blog is all about?
HD: It's the one I'm going to write *tomorrow* - whatever day "tomorrow" happens to be when you read this. My blog is so eclectic, it's hard to pick out a post that begins to encompass all that I write about.

Someday, I'm going to write about being raped at the age of four, and if it turns out halfway good, it'll be the post that best represents the blog, because to a large degree, this blog is occupational therapy. Server rent is a LOT cheaper than a therapist. Harlan Ellison wrote a story half a century ago entitled "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" and I almost stole the name of that story as a title for my blog, except that it doesn't sound like the title of a newspaper, does it?

I can't come up with a single post that's representative. Here are three that drew a lot of email. The email I get tends to be intensely personal, and I tend to value it more than the impersonal comments made on the blog itself.

Epiphanies: Secrets of Wealth, Sex & Orange Soda
Hair Is, Uh, Magic.
Gobstoppers, and Collateral Damage

When you first log on to your computer each day, what is the first site you go to? Why?
HD: Google Alerts. Instead of signing up for email, you can set Google Alerts as an RSS feed, which means they show up in your RSS reader immediately instead of clogging your mailbox. I have SharpReader checking a number of alerts, the combination of which would be of interest to me, and probably no other person in the entire world.

What one other blog would YOU recommend that you read regularly, and why?
HD: Of late, the blog I go to first is Bats Left/Throws Right. Doghouse Riley offers up insanely great rants, and they're even greater if you have ever lived in or around Indianapolis, but that's not essential.

Delos also offered this comment on his audience-building strategy:

It's a lot easier to *keep* a reader than to *get* a reader. Consequently, I promote SharpReader at my blog, because I don't want to have people stopping by every couple of weeks to see if I've written anything new and interesting, and eventually forgetting to stop by, I want them to see the "teaser" right away when I write a new post.

If they use SharpReader for twenty other blogs, they will keep it running all the time instead of just once in a while. If someone doesn't want to read my posts, that's one thing, but I don't want them drifting away without making a decision to do so. And I know, from the number of blogs that are still in *my* copy of Sharpreader, though they haven't posted in the last couple of months, that people need a good reason to unsubscribe.

That strategy seems to work. I'm experiencing slow, steady growth. My blog is not for everyone. In fact, I suspect it drives some people batty. But the fact that I'm experiencing any growth at all suggests that my audience is finding me.

I certainly hope that, though my recommendation, some of you find yourself part of Dr. Harl Delos' audience. Stop by The Canthook and spend some time there perusing the posts. You'll be glad you did, and I think you'll go back for more.

My great thanks to Dr. Harl Delos for participating in this series and sharing his thoughts!

New Wave for the New Week #62

I'm slowly cleaning out my attic room with the intention of turning it into a hobby room. For the past eight years, it has been the repository for boxes of stuff that I just never got around to unpacking after moving in. So, whenever I have some spare time, I bring a box down from the attic and go through the stuff I find in it to decide what's worth keeping and what can either be tossed or donated to charity. The other day, I found a box filled with yellowing copies of my high school's bi-weekly newspaper.

My first published writings about music were found within the pages of Manheim Township High School's Hi-Lite, and it was a blast to read some of my earliest primitive scribblings again. Many of the bands I wrote about a quarter century ago (yes, my 25th high school reunion is coming up...shudder) remain favorites today, including this week's NW4NW entry. Let's go back in time, shall we?

Right there on page 2 of the February 24, 1984 issue of Hi-Lite was my glowing review of the six-song mini-album Batastrophe, the debut release from Bristol, England's Specimen. Having achieved some notoriety in London as the house band at The Batcave, Specimen finally had their Glam-Goth sound committed to vinyl, and the 17-year-old me was pretty psyched:

First, there was Adam and the Ants with their warrior makeup. They were followed by the irrepressible Boy George. And now, there is the latest in the line of costumed British new-wave bands, Specimen. Specimen (note the lack of a "the") have been entertaining music fans in the UK for about a year and a half now, and they have gained quite a cult following from their numerous appearances at The Batcave...Luckily for us here in the States, Sire Records has signed Specimen to a recording contract, and their first album, Batastrophe, has recently been released.

Specimen are an odd quintet who appear onstage in Bow Wow Wow-inspired hairstyles and vampire makeup...If you are thinking, "Oh another one of those six-song albums that are over in a flash," you are wrong. Put Batastrophe on your turntable and you're in for a half an hour of listening enjoyment. This is a major plus, because you're only paying a mini-album price for an album's worth of music.

Say, nice of me to be looking out for my classmates' record-shopping budgets, but what about the music?

The final cut on side one, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," has an unusual twist to it. Midway through the song, the instruments die out, [lead singer] Ollie's voice whispers harshly, "Kiss kiss bang bang," and there is total silence for almost half a minute until the song suddenly resumes at full tilt, climaxing in a barrage of feedback that fades into the record's lead.

The flip side commences with Specimen's first single, "Returning From A Journey." The guitar intro is almost an exact duplicate of Def Leppard's pathetic "Foolin'," but the tune salvages itself and fills its 5:25 very well. Continuing with the idea of mimicking intros, "Tell Tail" has a beginning that is virtually indistinguishable from that of "Stray Cat Strut."

Well, my phrasing may have been clumsy, but at least I was trying to convey the sound of the band, either through direct description or in comparison to mainstream hits of the day. Of course, listening to the record today, I wonder what in blue hell I was thinking. "Indistinguishable" would be stretching it, to say the least!

You'll also note, via the backhanded shot I took at Def Leppard there, that I was carefully maintaining my Punk Rock anti-mainstream stance. That stance gets more pronounced towards the end of my column:

Bands such as Specimen provide a welcome break from the dull conformity of Air Supply, Journey, and the like, and they serve as reassuring proof that there remain musicians out there who record for the sake of the art involved rather than just for the money; musicians who aren't afraid to be different. The public should take a hint, and dare to accept a band who isn't as well known as Men at Work or Quiet Riot without worrying what others think.

Well, we all had to start somewhere, right? I've spared you most of the of the really bad writing, both in consideration of space and in consideration of my own ego, but I got a good chuckle out of looking back on this and other record reviews I wrote back then.

Over the years, Specimen has remained a favorite band around my household. Batastrophe holds up well all these years later. Its over-the-top T. Rex/Bauhaus hybrid sound is a little bit tougher than most of what you might think of as Goth, and damn if those hooks aren't catchy. Still, Specimen only released one more single, 1986's "Indestructable" [sic], before calling it a day. Their music has popped up on several compilations over the years, and in 2008 the band reunited to record a live album at The Batcave.

I have chosen a favorite clip from the Batastrophe mini-album to be this week's NW4NW entry. Enjoy Specimen's "The Beauty Of Poison":

Recommended Reading: Punk Turns 30

The history of any pop-culture phenomenon, whether passing fad or enduring style, regularly sees fact and legend become intertwined. The history of Rock and Roll and its assorted and varied subgenres has always been particularly vulnerable to myth overtaking truth (no, really, Alice Cooper did bite the head off of a live chicken and toss the carcass into the crowd...as far as you know!), and Punk, which was steeped in apocryphal stories designed to generate buzz from its earliest incarnations, is no exception. It's helpful to those of us who weren't actually there in its earliest days that there are at least a few folks who were, and who are willing to be (at times brutally) honest about what really happened, to sort out fact from fiction. And, as the old saying goes, truth often is stranger - or at least as entertaining.

Theresa Kereakes was there to see the earliest days of Punk Rock in LA in the mid-to-late '70s. Working her way up from teenage ticket-booth attendant at the fabled Whisky A-Go-Go to a position as the club's talent coordinator, later landing a position at Island Records, and being the owner of an apartment with a couch that was crashed upon by seemingly just about every musician of the era you can name, Kereakes was in the enviable position to be both participant and observer as the LA Punk Scene came into being. The fact that she has been a talented and prolific photographer since her childhood and, as such, documented most of what she saw and experienced makes her a unique and invaluable historian of that time; her uncanny knack for humorous and no-punches-pulled honest storytelling sets her distinctly apart from the scenesters and hangers-on who are more inclined toward building their own legends than sharing what was really like to be there at the beginning.

In her blog Punk Turns 30, Theresa Kereakes combines samples of her stunning photography with her first-hand accounts of the era, creating a mesmerizing window to the past. Her posts often tie the past to current events: recent entries have included reminiscences of Malcolm McLaren, a 30-year-old snapshot of the New York Dolls in juxtaposition with David Johansen and Syl Sylvain launching a 2010 tour under the Dolls' banner, and some discussion of the notorious Kim Fowley in the wake of the current biopic about The Runaways. The memories she shares are always entertaining, but it is her photography which is, deservedly, the star of the show.

You've undoubtedly seen Kereakes' work, whether or not you identified it as such. Her pictures have graced record sleeves for artists like Stiv Bators, The Pandoras and The Ventures, among numerous others; her work has been featured in the pages of prominent magazines and books over the years; her touring photo exhibition Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond has been welcomed in galleries across the country. Candid as often as posed, her photography reveals the real people behind the personas. Much of her work has been in black and white, and that starkness multiplies the impact of the images she has captured. Whether you are a fan of Punk Rock or not, you will find it difficult not to be affected by her work.

Theresa was kind enough to reply to the Five Questions I have asked of each blogger in this series. Here is a bit about her approach to Punk Turns 30 in her own words:

What or who inspired you to begin blogging?
TK: It wasn't blogging that I set out to do. Back in 2004, I ran into two people I knew from "back in the day" at a Christmas party in our home town of Los Angeles. We had not seen each other in 25 years and discussed the fact that punk rock (which was the phenomenon through which we came to know each other - that and being photographers) was going to have a significant birthday soon and that we should do something about it. We wanted to do a traveling exhibit and have a corresponding website. Obviously, I was the one who stuck with the plan....

Is there a story or meaning behind your blog or its name?
TK: It is self-explanatory. I started posting on it in February 2005, which for me was 30 years after first having seen Patti Smith, who changed my world. From where I stand, 1976 is the birth year of punk rock, so the whole 2005 was the build-up.

Which post would you choose from your archives if you had to provide only one that best represents what your blog is all about?
TK: I am anarchy... therefore, there is honestly no one post that represents what I do, since what I do changes - in its intent and its content with each day.... but the "required reading" posts are the ones that probably help people who want to know more about punk rock, as they offer sources and resources.
Required Reading

On the other hand.... people have also told me that they liked and learned from the "my fave punk singles" series of posts -
Fave Punk Records - Fun at the Beach - B Girls

Personally, like anyone else who has a bully pulpit/website/blog... whatever you want to call it, I like to spout my opinion:
Why Patti Smith Matters

When you first log on to your computer each day, what is the first site you go to? Why?
TK: NYTimes.com. Because I want to know what's going on in the world.

What one other blog would YOU recommend that you read regularly, and why?
TK: Read the blogs of your favorite artists or your friends! Keep up with them.

I cannot recommend Punk Turns 30 highly enough. Whether you have an interest in the history of Punk Rock or a love for outstanding photography, Theresa Kereakes' images and stories will keep you coming back for more. Visit her blog, sample a few posts, and then share your thoughts in the comments below.

My great thanks - and wishes for a Happy Birthday, one day late - to Theresa Kereakes for being a part of this series!

New Wave for the New Week #61: Goodbye, Malcolm

Image by feastoffun.com via Flickr

Thanks to the neighborhood squirrels deciding my cable was tastier than any other on the block, I have been with only intermittent Internet service this past weekend. This is the first chance I've had to acknowledge the passing of one of the most important and polarizing figures in music over the past few decades, Malcolm McLaren.

Biography is not necessary here. You know who McLaren was. For those who need the details, Google will give you all want and more. Of course, he was most famous (infamous?) for unleashing the Sex Pistols upon the world, but the short list of bands with whom he worked his promotions magic also included The New York Dolls, Adam & the Ants, Bow Wow Wow and Jimmy The Hoover. Always the manipulator, McLaren was also a direct impetus for the implosion of most of those bands (trying to replace Johnny Rotten in the Pistols, stealing the Ants out from under Adam to create Bow Wow Wow, etc.) Whether he was good or bad for those bands or for the music scene in general depends entirely on your perspective; that he knew how to get his charges (and, more often, himself) a ton of press coverage - at least in the UK - is inarguable. Bow Wow Wow's Annabella Lwin shared her memories of McLaren upon his passing with Entertainment Weekly.com.

Often people forget that Malcolm attempted a recording career of his own, with mixed results. His 1983 album Duck Rock was an unusual hodge-podge of sampling, scratching and world music that was generally met with confusion, but did garner him a modest club hit with the single "Buffalo Gals."

McLaren passed away on Thursday from mesothelioma. He was 64. In his memory, this week's NW4NW entry is the clip for McLaren's "Buffalo Gals."

Recommended Reading: Baseball Has Marked The Time

Can you name the pitcher who threw the first curve ball ever? The only player ever killed during the course of a Major League Baseball game? The African-American catcher who suited up and played for a Major League team sixty years before Jackie Robinson? Can you name at least two other Major Leagues besides the American and National Leagues? Can you sing all the verses to "Take Me Out To The Ball Game?" Myka Diller can, and tidbits of baseball's colorful history such as these are the basis of her blog, Baseball Has Marked The Time.

A fan of the Grand Old Game for most of her life, Myka is as knowledgeable when it comes to baseball history and trivia (if not more so) than many of the folks currently sitting behind microphones calling or reporting on the games. She began sharing her love for the game and its history with the launch of her blog this past December. It would have been easy to become just another in the seemingly endless parade of cookie-cutter baseball blogs authored by wanna-be SportsCenter hosts cluttering up the Blogosphere, but Diller quickly carved out her own niche. Focusing almost exclusively on 19th- and early 20th-century baseball, she takes her readers to a time and a game that was simpler, yet no less exciting, dramatic, or fascinating than today.

Diller is fan, trivia buff, historian and teacher all at once. Each post focuses on a specific person or event. She doesn't merely recite the facts; she provides cultural context for the history she discusses, and highlights the parallels between the stories from the diamond and the daily lives we lead. For diehard fans like me who treasure the game's rich past and are already familiar with the names and happenings Myka chooses for her posts, she brings a fresh perspective that breathes new life into those old stories.

Here is Myka Diller discussing her blog in response to the Five Questions I've asked each blogger in this series:

What or who inspired you to begin blogging?
MD: Certainly being on twitter and seeing other people talk about blogging put the idea in my mind, I don’t think I ever would have thought about it before that but what actually gave me the idea for my specific blog was a training that I was doing for work. As referenced in my first post, one of my trainings uses baseball as an example of an industry that uses data well – they collect statistics, analyze them and publicize them and we teach non-profits that they need to do the same. I was wrapping up my training by explaining my love of baseball and sharing a quote from an old book that I had and as I ended I said “I think this is just one of the many life lessons we can learn from baseball!” Later I was thinking about how true that statement was and how much fun I had looking through all my baseball history books looking for a quote to fit my presentation so I thought it would be fun to start a blog about interesting stories from baseball & how they relate to my life.

Is there a story or meaning behind your blog or its name?
MD: The name is from a quote in Field of Dreams, which is my favorite baseball movie. In college I had the quote written in huge letters and posted on my dorm room wall. Most of my friends thought I was weird, but the baseball fans got it. I just think it sums up how I feel about baseball and why it’s so much more than a sport to me!

Which post would you choose from your archives if you had to provide only one that best represents what your blog is all about?
MD: I think A Sickening Thud. The story of Mays-Chapman is interesting but then it also gets you thinking about the importance of facing your fears.

When you first log on to your computer each day, what is the first site you go to?
MD: I typically only use my computer for work – but from my iPhone it’s Twitter, of course. Why? Because I’m addicted! Also, it’s like checking in on your friends in the morning, seeing what kind of mood everyone’s in, finding out if I missed out on any good jokes after I fell asleep. It’s a great way to wake up.

What one other blog would YOU recommend that you read regularly, and why?
MD: I have to find a better system of reading blogs. I generally just read the ones that people tweet. I don’t use a reader or anything – I want to because I think I’m missing lots of good stuff. So I guess the one I read most regularly is Inkling Media’s because he posts pretty much every day. I like the variety of information and the fact that it’s interesting to me even though I’m not in the social media business or marketing world. I love the guest posts and comics. It is very relevant and I do often share the posts with people when we get into conversations about the benefits of social media.

Both the casual fan and the student of the game will enjoy Baseball Has Marked The Time; but I especially recommend the blog to those of you who don't "get" the game or why those of us who love it can be so taken by it - you'll be provided with somewhat different insight into the joys of the game.

My thanks to Myka Diller for taking the time to share her responses as part of this series. She is forgiven for being an Atlanta Braves fan.

New Wave for the New Week #60

Pylon via last.fm

Anyone who was involved in college or alternative radio in the '80s, or who listened to the music found "left of the dial" in that era, knows that the little college town of Athens, GA was as important to that scene as New York, DC, Minneapolis or LA. With The B-52's and R.E.M. leading the charge, and lesser-known but equally as talented bands like Flat Duo Jets, Love Tractor, Dreams So Real and The Method Actors following close behind, the Athens sound seemed to be everywhere. Yet, much in the way the DC hardcore scene would not have existed without Bad Brains (see NW4NW#58), so too in Athens was there a groundbreaking band who inspired the others to pick up their instruments.

Pylon came together in its earliest incarnation around 1978 at the University of Georgia. Guitarist Randy Bewly and bass player Michael Lachowski formed the nucleus, rehearsing in a space that would soon come to be known as The 40 Watt Club, named in honor of the lone bare bulb that lighted their late night sessions. Curtis Crowe joined on drums, and in February of 1979 Vanessa Briscoe jumped on board as vocalist, completing the band and defining their sharp, jangly, angst-ridden sound.

Pylon's music took the form of simple, straightforward, repetitive lyrics layered over shards of guitar, bass and drums. Briscoe's twangy accent and vocals that fluctuated between sandpaper and syrup helped Pylon's songs stand out among the post-punk crowd. As a result, their first single, 1980's "Cool," was a standard entry on many critics' "Best Of" lists. The band released two outstanding albums, Gyrate and Chomp!, and the singles "Crazy"(later faithfully covered by R.E.M.) and "Beep" before disbanding in 1983.

Legend has it that Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson happened to be in attendance at one of Pylon's earliest performances, and immediately went home and formed the band that would be The B-52's just so they could play on the same bill with Pylon. Perhaps that's stretching things a bit, but not too much: consider that in 1987, when Rolling Stone named R.E.M. "the best band in America," they protested, saying that in fact Pylon was the best band in America. After that remark generated renewed interest in the band, they briefly reformed, recorded another album, and then went their separate ways again. Sadly, Pylon founder Randy Bewly passed away in 2009.

Pylon tends to be one of those bands that many folks have heard of but never actually heard. This week's NW4NW entry helps to rectify that for some of you, I hope. The clip is for the track "Stop It" from the Gyrate lp, one of my favorite Pylon songs. Enjoy!