The Archives

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.

You can surf the entire archive.

7/28/2003

EAR PLUGS
We headed over to degenerate LS's place on Saturday for a surprise
birthday/congratulations on your engagement party early, had a few
snacks and socialized, then headed on to the Star Bar for the
Christmas in July spectacular.
We walked into the bar to find it decorated wall to wall with
Christmas lights, including a silver Christmas tree suspended from
the ceiling and spinning where a disco ball usually hangs.
Speaking of spectacular, Grayson Manor, from Grayson, Georgia, kicked
things off with old school heavy headbangin', circa 1983. The lead
singer, Brad Cox, has worked hard on his heavy metal look - bone
thin, long blonde hair, tight jeans, the works. (The rest of the band
is less consistent with the look, but they bring the noise
regardless.) Cox can hit a falsetto scream so high you'll be
concerned about all the glassware in the room. He prowls around the
stage, climbs up on the monitors, shakes his fist, everything you
expect in a metal show. In fact, if they didn't look 19 years old you
might suspect the band was made up of leftovers from Skid Row, Iron
Maiden, and, especially, Motley Crue.
Maybe the most impressive thing, aside from Cox's ear-piercing
scream, was their groupies. A gaggle of young pretty things in
leather miniskirts and Johnny Depp eyeliner bopped their heads along
to the beat. It was obvious a couple of them were steady
groupie/girlfriends when they came around after the show selling the
band's CD, a nicely-packaged 6-song disc of exactly what you'd expect
after seeing the live act.
If you take that sort of racket seriously you should really see this
band. If not, you should still probably see them 'cause it'll give
you the giggles like you won't believe. Spectacular archetypes in
action!
But that was just the warm-up act. After an intermission of Christmas
music piped in over the Star Bar sound system, Jim Stacy as "Shitty
Clause" came on stage and introduced each of the other Clauses as
they stepped up, my personal favorite being Shane Morton as "El Santo
Clause" with the expected Mexican wrestler mask in red and green with
a green leather armband complete with spikes. The costumes alone were
hilarious.
They performed various popular metallic tunes with Christmas lyrics,
such as Kiss' Strutter lyrics transformed into "Stuffer, she's a
stocking stuffer!" Hilarious stuff, but they were mixed a little off
and you couldn't catch 95% of the words.
But for me the highlight of the evening had to be their version of
Jingle Bells, starting off as a slow instrumental heavy metal dirge
then shifting gears into an incredibly fast hardcore sound for the
lyrical parts. It would've made a fantastic song even without the
Christmas reference.
On the way back to the DP HQ I swung by Northside Tavern, figuring it
was late enough to scare off most of the yupsters but maybe early
enough for Mudcat to still be on stage. I guessed correctly, but it
was also late enough for most of the energy to have leaked out of the
place as well. I got a nightcap and settled in for a set including
Cora Mae Bryant, local lady of the blues. It looks like Mudcat's
lineup has undergone a few changes since we were last able to elbow
our way into the room and get a look, but they sound pretty much the
same as ever.
The band took a break and I lead blind bluesman Cootie Stark to the
bathroom. The few patrons that had stuck it out that late filed out
the door and after I figured Mudcat wasn't going back on again so I
followed.
Sunday we did "dunch" at the Earl, a good hangover helper for your
Sunday recovery. Excellent huevos, and Hope for a Golden Summer set
up in the corner doing pretty guitar and cello music with a pretty
female lead singer, but unfortunately they were drowned out by the
chatty crowd. So check 'em out at Echo Lounge in August if you like
that sort of thing.


BLASPHEMY
This is the first newsworthy thing Catholics have done that hasn't
pissed me off in a long time:
"President Bush has said weapons of mass destruction are horrible and
I agree," she said. "We haven't found any in Iraq, but we sure have
lot of them here." http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/07/25/nuns.missilesilo.ap/index.html
In other news, a nameless degenerate sent us this response to last
episode's rant about white collar jobs joining the overseas exodus: It's not such a new idea. The next time you find yourself on the phone with a cust service rep for a credit card / catalog merchant etc ask them where they are domiciled. AMEX for one has relocated call centers to India. Much work in the transportation industry has moved offshore. Though actual customer interface may still be local "back office" functions increasingly are not.
 

Contact Degenerate Press

All content on this site is owned by Degenerate Press and cannot be used without our permission. We have lawyers for friends with nothing better to do than cause trouble (no kidding), so play nice. Copyright © 2003, All Rights Reserved