CREATIVE DROUGHT AND NOTHING GOOD ON TV BLUES

The creative well has been rather dry as of late. Maybe it's been the long winter, or job burnout, or whatever, but I haven't felt like writing at all. In fact the only writing I've done has been filling out my NCAA Tournament brackets, and I was none too creative with those as a matter of fact. I'm sitting here surrounded by empty Old Style beer cans and still nothing is coming. Watching tv might help, but as I 'm flipping through channels I still can't get a kick start. However, one thing does occur to me as I watch the tube. If I never have another creative thought in my life again, I could still likely get a job in television. Talk about a freakin' wasteland.
It seems like when I was a kid there was all kinds of cool stuff being broadcast. Creature Features and B-movies on the late show, Bugs Bunny cartoons, Supercar, Leave It To Beaver, the Munsters, Have Gun Will Travel, Get Smart, Outer Limits,Twilight Zone, Spiderman cartoons from the 60's, the list goes on and on.
Nowadays things do not seem to be any where near as cool as the days of old, but then I could say that about all kinds of things, not just television. Yeah, I realize that I sound like some old codger bitching about how things just ain't like they used to be, and everybody thinks the stuff from their time period is better than what's going down currently, I get that, but it seems like there must be more to it than that.
I mean is 16 and Pregnant more fun to watch than Dragnet? Is Celebrity Rehab a more intense thrill ride than Combat with Vic Morrow? Can you honestly tell me that the Steve Wilkos show is more life affirming than Ozzie and Harriet? Maybe you can, but I won't believe it, and your coolness will be suspect.
I now have I don't even know how many channels of television, but there are only three that I really watch with any regularity. I always check Discovery, the History Channel, or Turner Classic Movies first when I decide to watch a little tv. I love these channels and if I'm watching tv it's most likely going to be these stations if there's not a game or fight that I want to watch on. I use to watch the news channels frequently, but I really don't like them much anymore. They are really more news opinion channels than hard news anyway, and I can't think of anything I care less about than Bill O'reilly or Keith Olbermann's opinion about anything. (Of course they feel the same way about me).
Anyway, to get to the semi point of this pointless post; I have 100+ channels and I have three stations I really think are great, some assorted shows here and there(and almost all of them are old shows) that I like, but for my money I'd rather be watching a DVD of some old weird movie, or reading a 1970's Fantastic Four comic book. I know I ain't hip, but lets face it, unhip is the new cool.

STRICTLY SONICS

THE SONICS - BOOM (NORTON RECORDS)

In the last 20 years or so the state of Washington had become rather famous for it's music. Nirvana and Pearl Jam were certainly living in the limelight back in the 90's. I admit that I was much more partial to the likes of Mudhoney and the Melvins, but they were not necesarilly on the lips of all the movers and shakers out there in music biz land. Yeah you'de hear the names of some of these bands mentioned and occasionaly see the videos on EMPTY V but all the heaps of praise and accolades were being heaped upon Cobain and Pearl Jam. (At least until Pearl Jam decided to stop making videos, and who knows, you just may be able to thank them for breaking the back of MTV as far as music vids were concerned).

The point that I'm going to take forever to get too is that as famous as these bands may have been or not have been, there is a giant musical heritage in the state, and although the bands I'm refering to may be well known inside the circles of people who really dig their rock and roll, out in the mainstream you most likely won't hear them mentioned at all. There are a number of bands that could fit that profile, but the band I'm talking about goes by the name of the Sonics.

This may very well be the band that forged the groundwork for all of the raw, high energy blast that has come since their existence. I realize that it can be argued that Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Link Wray, or any number of R&B shouters from the late 50's and early 60's could be credited with starting what can be regarded as the high energy jams that you can call the precurser to punk, and who am I to argue with that line of thinking, but the Sonics took all of that stuff and took it to that next level. The Sonics were raw, wild, and savage.

The record Boom, which was the second long player from the band, most certainly must have fueled a lot of mid 60's teenage rampage. This thing has intensity in spades. Take it from lead vocalist Gerry Rosalie who commented about the song He's Waitin'. "It's all about REVENGE. Like somebody treated you so rotten that you hope they go to hell!"Rosalie's tonsil shredding vocal delivery on the rockers is as electrifying as clamping a live power cable to your tongue. Larry Parypa's guitar riffage is like pile driver punch to the heart. This bands version of Louie Louie is the second best I've ever heard, and I've heard a lot. (The Swamp Rats have the best in my opinion in case you're interested. Check it out.)

This reissue gives you, not only the greatness that is the album Boom, but also two live cuts of fan favorites The Witch and Psycho, as well as fantastic liner notes by the truly great Miriam Linna. It's packed with info and great band stories. Look, it's a Norton release, so you really can't go wrong.

So pick this thing up and listen to some real Classic Rock that you'll never get a chance to hear on that radio format. Go ahead and call up your Classic Rock station and request it. They'll never have heard of 'em and probably feel superior because of it. A band like the Sonics will not fit into their extremely narrow and bland parameters of rockism and they'll quickly slap some Lynard Skynard on the laser pad to prove it.

HEAVY METAL MINDBENDERS

I have to say that I really don't know what the term Heavy Metal refers to anymore. But I am sure that the two platters of sonic assault that I'm about to discuss certainly fit the bill. Buckle up, we're about to hit warp drive.

SLEEP - SLEEP'S HOLY MOUNT IAN (EARACHE)

If you told me that this was a lost Black Sabbath record from around '73 I'd probably believe it. The music is a dead ringer and really the only difference is the vocals of Al Cisneros, and even that has a certain Ozzy like quality. This sound is big, earthshaking, like the footsteps of some giant Lovecraftian creature loose upon the planet. The riffs on this album don't stomp you, they crush you under the earth. The lyrics are kind of what you would expect; mythic, apocalyptic, and filled with solar seas and atomic skies. Wallpaper your bedroom with black light posters, put this disc on the stereo, and pass the bong brother.

MAINLINER - MAINLINER SONIC (CHARNEL MUSIC)

This super group from Japan are the ticket when you want loud, distorted, fuzz, and feedback drenched rock n roll. This group is comprised of members from High Rise, Acid Mothers Temple, and Ruins. If you are familiar with those bands then you pretty much know what your in store for with this. Set the controls for the heart of a star going supernova. This may be what it sounds like to have a building come down around your head. These guys know how to make noise and man does it satisfy. The drums sound like chunks of metal being beat on by iron bars, the bass hits with an atomic nightmare ferocity, and the guitar is a flurry of solar storm chaos that hits all the right spots. Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray" aesthetics taken to some extreme cosmic levels? I don't know, but this sonic nerve blast will leave the weaklings brain dead in the dirt.