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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6/1/2006
EAR PLUGS
Bubbapalooza was fantastic. There will be a couple of paragraphs about it in the
Loafing this week:
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A81294
I took a zillion photos and would love to do a full review on Degenerate Press
but I bet I don’t get around to it. I haven’t done a full color Degenerate Press
review since this Loafing thing started. It’s too much work and would often be
redundant, not to mention I’m moving in the next couple of weeks. About the time
I’m settled, the Loafing gig ends so prepare yourselves for the return of
rambling, unedited lunacy packed with motion-blurred, unfocused photos.
Meanwhile, I will mention one funny thing that didn’t make the Loafing article.
I was in the bathroom standing at one of the urinals. A guy in the neighboring
urinal looked over at me and said, “So you go the midget, eh?”
I looked at him and thought, “Man, I’m gonna hold my dick in one hand and kick
your ass with the other.” Then I realized he was referring to the fact that the
urinal I was using is low to the ground compared to the one he was standing at,
not referencing the size of my midget.
I mean “penis.”
“Dude, that’s not something you should say when a guy is standing there with his
dick out,” I noted, and we both had a good laugh.
If one Loafing article ain’t enough, I also did a little story on Johnny Knox:
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A81310
In other news, I got a few responses from last episode:
Great column re: Star Bar. You made some very good points, especially when you
pointed out how many venues have come and gone lo these many years. I hadn't put
it into that context before.
Degenerate SG
Well said, Frederick. Sounds like they all need to grow up and let go.
There is enough negativity in the world without a bunch of grumpy ol' drunk men
festering and feuding.
Degenerate SG (no, a different one)
As a former Loafer (worked there for 12 years) I can truly appreciate the
duality of CL's personality; It's a cool newspaper that is at the same time
annoyingly predictable and trite.
Jeff Clark, whether he knows it or not - does project a bit of the UNcool
COOLness of CL ; his personality is a bit - how should I say it....stunted. Yet,
he still has LOTS to say....to me, (in my humble opinion) that's weird....
Degenerate MP
Speaking personally, I don't think it was the "swing fad" that passed and caused
the Star Bar to stop booking bands that used to fit the twang slogan of the
place. It was the new owners that fairly abruptly stopped booking those bands
for reasons only they know. I suspect they just didn't like roots country,
redneck underground, whatever you want to label it stuff.
Instead of bands I loved like Big Sandy and Dave Alvin and even smaller acts
like Marah and Jim Lauderdale that used the play the "old" Star Bar, I was
seeing second rate Black Sabbath cover bands and a whole lot of groups I had no
idea what they were. So I, like many others, stopped going. Unlike Jeff Clark, I
have no animosity about the situation. They own the place, they can book whoever
they damn well please. But I in no way think it had to do with the so called
"death of swing" that caused the fairly quick change of booking acts I enjoy to
acts I have no interest in. Those old acts still come to town, many go to
Smith's Olde Bar, a place that you haven't been particularly kind to in print,
and still do great business there. So it's not the flight of the boomers to the
suburbs that caused the "redneck underground" scene to dissipate at the Star
Bar. It was the acts the new owners booked, plain and simple. If they want to
book the twang and roots rock I enjoy, I'd be back in a heartbeat, even though I
too now live OTP. I like loads of different music too, but they just don't book
any of it. So if I just want cheap PBRs and good conversation, I can get 'em
somewhere else.
Degenerate HH
Editor’s Response:
I agree the change from retro/roots to rock/metal was abrupt. But I was there
for a couple of Bubbapaloozas after swing died and before management changed the
bar’s flavor. I looked around at one point and asked where the hell everyone
was. Not even the regulars were as regular, even for Bubba.
Just because you and a few others are willing to come from the burbs for a show
once in a while doesn’t mean the bar can survive on it. Smith’s doesn’t. They
book just about anything. I think change was necessary for the Star Bar.
But I do miss some of the acts the bar used to book, many of which might pull in
a crowd just as large as unknown metal and punky rock stuff, some of the
diversity Smith’s has. If only Smith’s didn’t attract such yuppie wankers, serve
overpriced drinks with lousy service, and – wait, I’m straying into Jeff Clark
territory here. Let’s just say I don’t like the place and leave it at that.
FILM FLAM
For those who want yet more on the Al Gore movie, check out Time Magazine’s
review. It’s not so much a review of the film as the man himself and the
speculation about 2008.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1198888,00.html
Ironically, in the print version the first paragraph in the very next article
reads, “It was the sort of week that drives serious politicians crazy. Both Al
Gore and Hillary Clinton had important things to say about global warming and
energy independence – and the chatterati spent most of their time ignoring the
messages and gossiping about the messengers.”
This week’s trip to the drive in was for X-Men 3, a thinly veiled metaphor for
the debate about homosexuality. If you were gay and you could be cured, would
you take it? Should you? They don’t really answer the questions they raise
before it degenerates into a big battle, but it’s ok ‘cause the effects are
pretty damn cool. Not great, but not a bad flick. If you’re an X-Fan you’ve
already seen it. If not, you probably won’t, so any review of a movie like this
is a bit pointless. We now return you to our other pointless distractions…
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