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Excerpts from Electric Degeneration, Degenerate Press' semi-weekly e-zine, free and ad-free. A full episode contains sections for music reviews, upcoming events, blasphemy, classifieds, and anything else we feel like saying. If you'd like to subscribe just contact us.

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2/21/2001

Happy Mahashivaratri, for all you Hindu subscribers out there. Sorry for the lack of the weekend broadcast. We were partying hardy for degenerate LK's b-day and entertaining out of town guests and celebrating SW's new job and sundry other celebratory activities to be unmentioned in this publication. To make up for it, here's a big hot one, open wide.

THE HONKY TONK'S BLUES, CONTINUED
We headed to Dottie's last night and ran into the slackers from Pink Torpedo Productions and got a whole load of dirt on the latest happenings. As mentioned, Dottie died a while back. Both the lease and the liquor license were in her name, personally - she never incorporated the name as a business entity or whatnot. To make matters worse, she never actually had a contractual lease, she was basically paying month-to-month. Ronnie, her son, won the custody battle over the joint with his sister and is now running the place. The liquor license was up for renewal and denied because it was issued to Dottie, who isn't making much use of it herself. Pending a hearing later this month, it was reinstated. But rumor is it will be denied at that hearing due to the fact that there is no official business and no lease. The landlord, Manuel Maloof's sister, doesn't like Ronnie too much. She has already told them to get off the property and is very unlikely to change her mind and give them the lease that would keep the joint in business. Rumor is the owner of the Clermont is going to take the place over. There may be some truth to the rumor because there are other rumors circling about the Clermont. Here's what degenerate MM said:
"See here's the thing about the Clermont that makes me wonder-I know that Cathy was given full ownership of the bar when the owner died last year. There are only two surviving heirs of the owner-a son and a daughter. A codicil of the will said that they were both entitled to a big wad of cash a piece-but I'm not sure what was said about the ownership of the hotel. The hook to the will was that if either of the kids decided the fight the will that they would forfeit the cash. Of course-both idiots decided to fight the will because they-like their father- are greedy bastards. So, it's been wrapped up in court all this time. So, if Cathy owns the place she may just take it condo (though I can't imagine where she'd get the money to make the upgrades). If the kids own it they'll definitely make it condo. Here's the hook-Cathy owns the bar and if I know her she's not going anyway. It's too much easy money. They make GOOD money there. There's no rent-barely any overhead."

We're working on investigating those rumors. Apparently there was a recent mention of this rumor in the Loaf or some other local publication, though I didn't see it and can't find it. Losing both places at once would be a huge blow to Atlanta's culture, not to mention the loss of two more of my most cherished places. Atlanta is rapidly losing it's underbelly, a sterilization process developers and politicians like to call "gentrification." No, it doesn't literally mean losing one's genitals, nor does it mean literally "a bunch of dicks move into the neighborhood" but I was never one for literalization. But back to the story at hand.
Because Dottie never made "Dottie's" a business entity the new owners could even open the place up again as "Dottie's" and turn it into a taco stand or whatever they wanted. Fortunately in that part of town there's very little danger of it becoming a Starbucks or trendy/yuppie East Atlanta/Highlands-flavored joint. Unfortunately, there's no chance the place will continue as it has. They lost a lot of momentum due to mismanagement and changing booking agencies three or four times in the last year. This was in reaction to the decline of business due to the rise of other venues such as those in East Atlanta, but they why's and wherefore's don't really matter at this point, the joint just ain't gonna be there in another month or so. So be it.

D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough... the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!" [runs out, alone; then returns]
Bluto: What the fuck happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? 'Ooh, we're afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble.' Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer…
Otter: Dead! Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part.
Bluto: We're just the guys to do it.
D-Day: Let's do it.
Bluto: LET'S DO IT!!
From Animal House, of course.

So the fine folks of Delta House… uh… Pink Torpedo Productions are planning a big blowout this Friday with the death-rock-abilly stylings of The Moonshine Killers, Gettin Headstones, The Memphis Morticians (actually from NY), half naked dancing girls, ten thousand marbles, the deathmobile, and sundry other insanity. You can bet Degenerate Press will be there, camera in one hand to capture all the action, by performers or The Man, and beverage in the other to toast the end of an era. Hell, we should probably swing by the Clermont afterward and stuff a big wad of bills between Blondie's ample bosoms.
Welcome to the new improved Atlanta!
Sure, the mayor and his cronies are as corrupt as Nixon aides, but at least they're friends of the businessman!
Welcome to Atlanta!
Sure, we have the highest average commute in the country, but the weekends in the 'burbs are so relaxing!
Welcome to Atlanta!
Sure, we'd have the highest crime rate in the country if we bothered reporting the crimes, but that's all contained in the undesirable neighborhoods, right?
Welcome to Atlanta!
And speaking of, can we take those neighborhoods condo? Like now??
Welcome to Atlanta!
By raising their property values we're really helping those communities, aren't we?
Welcome to Atlanta!
So a few renters might have to move, they're not really members of the community anyhow.
Welcome to Atlanta!
Hell, we changed the flag for those people, what more do they want?!?
Welcome to Atlanta!
The city too busy to hate.
Welcome to Atlanta!
The city too busy to notice.
Welcome to Atlanta!
The city too busy to care.
Welcome to Atlanta!
Welcome to Atlanta!
Welcome to Atlanta!

CON
We got this email the other day:
"Hey, guys. I wanted to let you know, in case you hadn't heard, that MOC has changed hands. Greg Bell and Monnie Robinson are now running the show, and Roland is completely out of the picture. Visit the web page at http://www.magnumopuscon.com for further details."
Back in the day, MOC was the end all beat all convention if you liked to drink, dance all night, ogle half naked humans, play games all day, then do it again for three more days. But due to the multiple insanities of Roland, inflamed by the multiple attempts by Drag On Con to kill the con, MOC fell from the lofty heights to depths I'd rather not detail. Suffice it to say this is MOC 16 and we gave up around MOC 11. Since then Fantasm has taken the top spot in that form of organized chaos. (Speaking of, the crazy kids at Fantasm have some fun contests going on where you can win free passes to the con and get your creative efforts published in the convention program. Go to http://www.fantasm.org for details!) But back to the topic at hand, MOC could stage a comeback with the help of those that made it what it was - the fans. So if you're interested in a fun little convention in Athens in March check out the site. Heck, even if the con sucks it's just around the corner to the Athens night life so you can get yer freak on in the classic city.

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