Things were better in the old days

The scary thing is that thousands will read this and not have the faintest idea that it's all about them.

Thanks to Tim Napalm Stegall for the heads-up.

Remembering New York's punk past

Nostalgia often sucks but so what? I wanna go on one of these walking tours of Manhattan's punk rock hot spots. This review in the London Daily Telegraph probably doesn't do them justice.

The photo is the women's toilet at CBGB, by the way. I have pix of me in the men's shitter but they don;t look as artily good as this one. More NYC photos hereand photographer Joseph O. Holmes blogs here.

A line-up that speaks for itself, no?

Oh to be in NYC for this...

What We Do Is Secret

The Germs movie has opened in the USA to fairly positive reviews. There may be a worse movie than "What We Do Is Secret" but it's going to be hard to beat its awful rawness. according to one New York critic.

The Mummies return

No-fi San Francisco Bay Area Budget Rock legends The Mummies are reforming for one gig in Spain but recently did an unannounced warm-up gig closer to home. A review is here.

Is that a Buzzock in your pocket or you just happy to see me?

Nice interview with The Buzzocks' Pete Shelley here that indicates they'll be back in Australia soonish. Just burn your Genesis records before they land.

Johnny Dole and The Scabs

From the YouTube treasure trove being assembled by Rockstralia, here's something most people won't have seen before or even knew existed: The film clip for Johnny Dole and The Scabs' "Aggro".

Johnny Dole and The Scabs were occasional Oxford Funhouse attractions and later became denizens of the Sydney punk scene around The Grand Hotel near Central Railway Station. They even scored column space in the old Daily Mirror, I seem to recall. Tabloid poster boys for punk. Abbrerant Records compiled some of their stuff posthumously and Brain Salad Surgery went a step further and did a compilation CD.

Onetime punk toilet is now truly disgusting

Thanks to NESB Hallucinate for the heads-up: NY Press drops by the former site of CBGB - now a home to $750 Cheap (sic) Trick T-shirts and Doobie Brothers (puke) clothing. Read it here. Weep.

Punk's not dead, just festering around the edges

Here's a media release that lobbed into the I-94 Bar inbox this week. It seems unlikely that I'll ever find out what Guff sounds like so I'll resist further comment (but feel free to make one, if you feel so disposed):

Rock Legend Steve Perry works with Punk Band!!

So what could Steve Perry, the legendary lead singer of Journey possibly have to do with a punk band? Well, here it goes: While Guff was in the studio working on their upcoming new album, Steve walked in to visit a friend. He was so impressed with Guff that he showed up unannounced two days later and asked Guff to cover an unreleased Journey song. In the end, Steve not only produced the song “I Can See It In Your Eyes” but also sang on it! The song is featured on Guff’s brand new full-length “Symphony of Voices” which will be released on June 26th on Go-Kart Records.

Check out some of the songs of “Symphony of Voices” in our beautiful online stream at www.GokartRecords.com