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5/28/1998
Well, 'cause we were busy Memorializing, or just failing to remember to do this zine, we've got EXTRA for your mid-week enjoyment and torture so get some Tang, put yer feet up and get yer bifocals!
EAR PLUGS
Despite many tempting offers to leave town, there was a much more tempting offer
to stay put. Aside from the fact that every time I try to get out of town on
a holiday weekend it has been PURE HELL, Bubbapalooza was back for another fun-filled
holiday at home, at the Star Bar.
Before the show even started I got my copy of the Bubbapalooza II CD. It's pretty
damn good, in a tragic southern way. Get it while you can.
Slim Chance kicked things off on a note you could cry in your beer to - news
that he's moving to Texas in August. Catch him while you can or you won't understand
why some of use are just plain heartbroke up about it. That Chance may be July
10 at the Star Bar.
Greta Lee was next, with a voice much like Natalie Merchant doing country, and
liking it. Smooth and purty like.
The Ditchdiggers made things a little dirtier and even struck hard rock with
their picks. Excellent as always, but then The Blue Moon Boys reminded me of
why they were my least favorite at last year's Bubba - again, the lead singer
is WAY too speedy, and I don't mean fast. His ego shlock rockabilly irritated
us right out the door and we missed the final band, which was rumored to be
a heck of a grand finale.
Day 2 started an hour earlier than the poster said so we missed 10 Cent Whiskey.
I got a $2 beer and settled in for $2 Pistols - classic country in every way.
Lancaster Co. Prison from New York City broke out with rockin' country + banjo
with lots of songs about NYC and "anal... satisfaction", said the
lead singer. "About BUTTFUCKIN'?!?!" yelled Billy Ratt, in character.
Dirtball did a little Morrison-esque bluesy country complete with a tuba and
a mandolin, then moved into melodic ballads that would make you cry in the whiskey
about which they sang 12 songs in a row. They bragged about the 'shine up in
Virginia but I'd put some of the Degenerate's home brew and apple brandy up
against any drink they can muster.
Trailer Bride is led by a Chrissy Hynde kinda woman, cute, geeky, and very passionate
about her music, which was dreamy and creepy even before she played the saw
(sounds just like a theremin.)
Lily Bandits did a variety of country-fried rock but I don't remember much about
'em a couple days later, I only remeber that any band I'd seen, with the Blue
Moon Boys being the only exception, was well worth seeing again.
Truckadelic rolled up and did their usual, late as usual. We left just before
their grand finale of silly string, smoke machines and blood packs, since we'd
been there like 7 hours by that point. We missed the marvelous Drive By Truckers
and whoever was after that.
Sunday we missed Bubba entirely to do the opening ceremonies at the Temple of
the River God. A few faithful Flippin' Idiots lept off the rocks like lemmings
and generally had a swell time with mama nature.
Monday we tried to slip into Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas at North Dekalb
Mall, only to find the place too crowded on a holiday weekend to tolerate. At
Midtown it wasn't showing at the right time so we suffered through Godzilla.
Every 6 months I go to a first run film just to remember why I DON'T see first
run films. Godzilla sucks. Yeah, SOME of the effects are nice but not all, the
acting is lame, and the plot is as expected. But worse was the lack of a cool
soundtrack and camp factor. Apparently there's a CD out of music "inspired
by" but none of it is IN the movie - they didn't even use the classic BOC
Godzilla! Nor did they use the Beastie Boys "No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn"
on their race over the Brooklyn Bridge. Nor did they use any of a dozen songs
that would have added a needed camp/humor factor. Another problem with ANY monster
movie is the lack of a happy ending. The monster can't win. The monster doesn't
get to ravage all of humanity and teach us some humility we desparately need.
No, we'll nuke 'em from orbit, just to be sure our ego remains intact. So when
Godzilla is trapped running across the Brooklyn bridge and killed via attack
helicopter missles, it's heartbreaking. Oh gee, did I spoil it for you?? Yeah,
right.
To make up for the expense we snuck into Fear and Loathing for free, only to
be dissapointed again. It's pretty, as you'd expect from Terry Gilliam, but
it doesn't have any depth - it implies all the madness is derived from the drugs
and none from the surrounding insanity that is the U.S.
On the other hand, The Wedding Singer was worth the cover we paid last night
- $1.75 and it did have and excellent soundtrack and ample campiness, though
I'm glad I didn't pay more. I've learned my lesson, for another 6 months.
BLASPHEMY
Here's a response regarding the whole smokin' cancer gun:
My favorite salvo from the drug dealers - uh, tobacco industry, I mean -
is that smokes will go over $5.00 a pack, as if this is a bad thing.
Their slippery slope argument that smokers addicted to nicotine will, in
droves, turn to a black market in order to get their fix is less than
cogent. In fact, as smokers are addicted to nicotine, not tobacco per
se, what I think might happen is this: Cigs go astronomically high due
to taxation; smokers turn to nicotine gum and patches for their fix, as
these become cheaper to buy than a carton of coffin nails; smokers reduce
their tobacco intake, i.e. a 2 pack-a-day smoker becomes a 2 pack-a-week
smoker. If our darling Congressmen were to, simultaneously, give the
makers of these nicotine gums and patches a tax break, lowering the price
of the alternatives further, not only would the black market trade in
cigarettes be miniscule, the legal trade in the stuff might shrink to a
fraction of its present size in just a few years.
Of course, there is that wing of humanity, ubiquitous, which
would have us all know that they should be allowed to do whatever they
wish with their lives, etc. As if what we each do has no effect upon
those around us and collectively upon society. In all the cigarette
debates, the topic of children smoking comes to the fore -- everyone
wants to keep kids from smoking. But two seconds later, the same
congressmen and president are careful to say that, at the same time, they
want to protect the right of smokers to buy their poison of choice and
the right of farmers to grow the junk. How bizarre! Forget Joe Camel
ads, folks. What is the most effective form of advertising towards kids?
Watching adults whom they admire (or fear) go through the motions of
living. These may later be stylised in the media through movies,
stories, or outright ads and propaganda, thus reinforcing childhood
perceptions and identifications, but, in the end, THE SMOKER HIMSELF IS
THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY'S WALKING BILLBOARD AIMED AT CHILDREN.
This is not even to mention the actual intake of smoke by kids
who live with a smoker who indulges indoors and all of the damage
inherent in that. What of such children's 'rights' to be 'free to do
what they wish with *their* lives,' namely to postpone the decision as to
whether or not to collect a tumour til they reach the age of reason?
This can't be a halfway shift in our culture; either smoking
(including pipes and cigars) is understood to be a means of physical
enslavement and socio-economic exploitation and is thus rendered as
acceptable as the ingestion of feces OR we let the tobacco companies go
on with what they've been doing - lying about their practices,
engineering more addictive strains of the plant, aiding and abetting in
the deaths of their addicts, raking in huge profits while costing the
world untold billions in health care costs, and making their 'product'
seem sexy, mature, powerful... attractive. Either we make a concerted
effort to kill the industry or they will continue in their efforts to
make of our deaths a commodity.
degenerate RVI
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