It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:15 pm

All times are UTC - 6 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 196 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7  Next
Author Message
PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 1:23 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
550Spyder wrote:
Q.Bovifs wrote:
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Image

Exactly how fucking old is SPmack? :scratch: :scratch: :scratch:



If there is a picture of a early to mid 80's hardcore band, there WILL be a nylon bomber jacket and a guy in a Misfits shirt.

My bet is the guy in the bomber jacket is wearing oxblood Docs! :)


I might have been! :lol:

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 1:35 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:48 pm
Posts: 126
pizza_Place: Peaquods
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
550Spyder wrote:
Q.Bovifs wrote:
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Image

Exactly how fucking old is SPmack? :scratch: :scratch: :scratch:



If there is a picture of a early to mid 80's hardcore band, there WILL be a nylon bomber jacket and a guy in a Misfits shirt.

My bet is the guy in the bomber jacket is wearing oxblood Docs! :)


I might have been! :lol:


And skinny suspenders!

And isn't that KC (Lost Cause fame)? Just sayin' cuz outside of Bad Brains, there were like 4 brothers in the entire hardcore scene! Remember Kurt from Violent Tumor?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 1:45 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
550Spyder wrote:

And isn't that KC (Lost Cause fame)? Just sayin' cuz outside of Bad Brains, there were like 4 brothers in the entire hardcore scene! Remember Kurt from Violent Tumor?


Yes, that is KC.

I don't know Kurt or Violent Tumor, I don't think.

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 9:45 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
Shrodinger's Icarus wrote:
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Quote:
In the fall of 1985 I began working at Blue Noise Studio on West Bloomingdale Avenue just east of Central. I drove by there recently and it’s now Rock of Salvation Baptist Church. The guy who owned the place was a big fat Lithuanian dude named Mindaugas Maciulis, or just Mindau for short, who also lived with his family in an apartment that was attached to the studio. He had been some kind of child prodigy on piano. Mindau looked and acted a lot like the comic book store guy in The Simpsons. One night he and I snorted an eightball and when we were done he immediately picked up the phone and ordered a large pizza from Coluta’s. What the fuck?!! No wonder the guy barely made it to fifty.

I learned to work the big 32 track Tascam board and recorded lots of mediocre Northwest side metal bands. The kind that showed up in the Illinois Entertainer and played at Smiler Coogan’s or the Thirsty Whale. We even recorded bigfan’s friends from the Wild Hare, Dallol reggae band, They didn’t pay so we kept some of their equipment. Mindau and I had very different ways of working. He was a keyboard player with most obnoxious prog-rock sensibilities. Think Carl Palmer meets Krautrock. He had played in bands like Science Choir and Painter Band. And he liked to record with a lot of effects and production. My way was to set up the band with a couple mics in the room and record everybody at once, sometimes even the vocals. Mindau always used the vocal booth and he loved overdubs and bouncing tracks. He was always getting frustrated with me as if I were less than professional, when actually it was simply a matter of taste. But he was the boss.

Mindau thought I was a talented songwriter and attempted to mentor me, but I would have none of it. My band at the time was a quirky little outfit that played oddball pop songs. But I was losing interest. I wanted to play what I considered “real” hardcore or speed metal. Mindau had allowed my band to use the studio as a practice space, but eventually he became so disgusted with me that he banished us to the Lake and Carpenter space that he was managing at the time. I believe his exact words were, “If you’re going to play garbage, you can go to Lake Street with the other garbage.”

He thought he was punishing me but it felt like a reward. The Lake Street space was a party every night. Bands like M.O.S.H., Zno White, Funeral Bitch, Creature Comforts, Teens In Heat, and Little Darlings practiced there. We would all drink and get high together and jam all night. A couple of guys even lived there when they were between girlfriends. Mindau appointed me as sort of a pseudo-caretaker, mainly because he was too fucking lazy to drive down and take care of shit himself. That meant I was responsible for collecting the rents and making sure no crazy shit was going on there. Of course, I was right in the middle of all the crazy shit.



I sang Maggots songs at my preschool. Yelling things like "Get outta my face" and "Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, you shouldn't have treated your father that way," if my memory serves me. I also played monkey in the middle with The Maggots. It was either The Maggots or Pegleg, maybe both. I can't remember. And Mindau didn't just die of coke and pizza. He died of coke, pizza, vodka. I should know I'm his daughter. I say what I'm saying with humor and love, believe it or not.

It is great to have found this thread. I've never read anything about him since he was alive. If possible, I'd love to hear more memories fond, resentful or both.


I'm feeling very old right now, Ruthie!

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 7:35 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
Image

Before there was Sleater-Kinney there was Barbie Army. These chicks rocked. This was a really intelligent band. They could be heavy, poppy, sad, or sweet, sometimes in the space of a single song.

Jean Lyons was kind of the de facto leader, although I’m guessing she would argue with that assessment. Jean was from Fort Collins, Colorado and had come to Chicago to attend the University of Chicago. Jean had a real hipster look going. Sort of like a librarian who could drink you under the table, fuck your brains out, and play guitar better than any dude you knew.

Mary Dean also came from Fort Collins to go to U of C. She wasn’t the guitar player that Jean was, but she had a voice like an angel and looked kind of like a model in a J. Crew catalogue.

Judy Johnson was the bass player. She was a real punk rock chick and she really worked the look. She was a tiny little girl but she played that bass like a fucking mini-Lemmy.

The drummer was Tina Matlock. Tina didn’t have a big formal education but she might have been smarter than those U of C broads. And that’s saying something. Did I mention this was a highly intellectual rock band? I think she had dropped out of Schurz at about 16. But she’s probably read more books than the average PhD candidate. Tina wasn’t a conventional beauty, but if you ever met her, she’s about as attractive as women get. I ended up playing with her little brother in Hazardous Youth. Tina was about 18 when the Barbies were at their peak. They used to cover Alice Cooper’s “Eighteen” and she handled the lead vocal.

Like the majority of the tracks I’ve posted in this thread, the sound quality is a bit on the rough side. Most of them don’t really do justice to the way the bands sounded live and might have on record under different circumstances.

This one is called “Don’t Wait”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1quzB7hb7yk

Here's "Oliver":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOm-8SYU7Qk

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 6:48 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
There are a lot of rumors going around about a potential Lost Cause reunion. At some point three of the four members of Lost Cause played in Hazardous Youth. Here's an old picture of the boys:

Image
L-R, Gus Roman, Casey West, Joe Kelly, Joe Kelly's dog, Jimi Kangles

And here they are after splitting with Joe Kelly and reforming as M.O.S.H. with Lance Griffin on vocals:

Image
L-R, Casey, Gus, Jimi, Lance

Here's the album version of the Lost Cause tune, "Bam!":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHboPwMDGWc

And here is the Hazardous Youth cover of the same song. Casey on bass and Gus on drums on both tracks. I think we rocked it a little harder:

https://soundcloud.com/joe-orr-road-rod/bam

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 5:56 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
Here are a couple flyers that recently showed up in my Facebook feed:

Image
Image

I don’t have much recollection of either of these shows. I don’t remember this Warehouse show at all, but I do recall playing there around that time on a bill with M.O.S.H. and Murphy’s Law. Splatter fucked a broad under the stage while M.O.S.H. was playing. I think the second run of the Warehouse was very short lived. That area was pretty dicey even for the maniacs that came to see us play.

HellHouse wasn’t exactly the greatest place in the world to live either. But at least one semi-famous guy spent some time sleeping there. Jake LaBotz was in one of the Rambo movies. He was in the metal band that Buscemi hates in Ghost World. And more recently he was the guy lip-synching Conway Twitty’s version of “The Rose” in Colin Farrell’s True Detective dream sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ6qZryi1KY

We played a lot of shows at HellHouse. We were almost like the house band. I have some vague memories of this one. There were a bunch of young skater dudes rolling around during the show. We had a song called “Capitalist Alienation” with a chorus that went “Being homeless is no crime!” I changed it to “Riding a skateboard is no crime!” for this show. I find it hard to believe that Iron Cross, Precious Wax Drippings, and Fang Beach all played that gig. I would guess somebody didn’t show up. Here’s a great old picture taken in front of HellHouse that summer:
Image
L-R, Junkie Stone (the only white member of the Black P. Stone Rangers), Chicago Policewoman, Rich Herrera (Snoopeez Tapeworm), Pat Kelly (Rat Bastards among others). I believe only Pat Kelly and perhaps the police officer are still among the living.

This song is called “Bad Neighborhood”. It isn’t specifically about Chicago and Austin or the 600 block of Milwaukee Avenue in the ‘80s, but it could have been. A lot of us lived in shitty places because we were broke. You know the old joke, “What do you call a musician without a girlfriend?” “Homeless.”

https://soundcloud.com/joe-orr-road-rod ... ighborhood

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Last edited by Joe Orr Road Rod on Wed Feb 17, 2016 8:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:00 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 4:54 am
Posts: 22706
pizza_Place: A few...
I love these stories.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:33 pm 
Offline

Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:46 pm
Posts: 32891
pizza_Place: Gioacchino's
I lived on Austin til I was about 4. I don't know if it was by Chicago or not, I think I remember a 7-11 near by, a hospital and a couple of parks. I remember a lot about the apartment. It was pretty rough and that's why we moved.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 9:25 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:35 pm
Posts: 10538
Location: Lindenhurst
pizza_Place: 1. Aurelio's 2. Pizano's
JORR...I just read through this....amazing.

1) I saw Snoopeez Tapeworm in Libertyville around 1989-90...this included "My Balls itch". it was a riot.

Not-Us played the same show....great band and I ran into the guitarist just 2 years ago in McHenry. I believe they're all still around.

Doug mentioned the Antioch VFW. There was a band called "The Plague" that did a show with Not-Us at the Antioch VFW....there was a lot of mixing of hardcore and the metal bands.

the 2 bands I knew really well were from Waukegan....Wrath and Prisoner. Wrath are very good friends of mine and still playing.

_________________
This Ends in Antioch wrote:
brick (/brik/) verb
1. block or enclose with a wall of bricks
2. Proper response would be to ask an endless series of follow ups until the person regrets having spoken to you in the first place.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 10:21 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
I think The Plague was Jeff Hauck's band before he joined Life Sentence. I'm pretty sure Hauck was from Austin and Irving. Maybe Telegram Sam knows him. I think he's from around there. I would guess they are about the same age, but it's hard to say. Telegram Sam is one of those guys who looks like he's about 22. I feel bad for his wife. It must be tough for a girl to be married to Dorian Gray.

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 8:00 am 
Offline
1000 CLUB
User avatar

Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 4:47 pm
Posts: 28635
Location: computer
pizza_Place: Salerno's
wdelaney72 wrote:
Not-Us played the same show....great band and I ran into the guitarist just 2 years ago in McHenry. I believe they're all still around.


The guitar player is named Scott, right? Bruce Pierce was their drummer and he and I are facebook friends. I still have their two cassette tapes! :lol:

_________________
@audioidkid
spaulding wrote:
Also if you fuck someone like they are a millionaire they might go try to be one.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 8:35 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:35 pm
Posts: 10538
Location: Lindenhurst
pizza_Place: 1. Aurelio's 2. Pizano's
That’s correct…I recall the drummer was the singer.

My friend, Jeff was the singer for Prisoner. Prisoner and Not-Us played lots of shows together back in the day. Jeff handles all the bands at McHenry Fiesta days. My band BLUSH played day slots at Fiesta Days in 2011 and 2012, which is where I saw Scott last. I don’t know him all that well, but he seems like a really great guy.

I can’t recall specifics, but this summer I had run across someone who knew the boys from Not-Us. It would be fun if they did some sporadic shows.

_________________
This Ends in Antioch wrote:
brick (/brik/) verb
1. block or enclose with a wall of bricks
2. Proper response would be to ask an endless series of follow ups until the person regrets having spoken to you in the first place.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 4:20 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
wdelaney72 wrote:
There was a band called "The Plague" that did a show with Not-Us at the Antioch VFW....


I saw this on a guy's Facebook page:

Image

The guy whose page I saw it on was the guitarist/leader of Znöwhite. Znöwhite was three brothers, literally and figuratively (actually, I think one may have been a cousin), playing thrash metal with a white chick singer. This was before anyone had ever heard of "thrash metal". They practiced down the hall from us at the Music Factory.

Greg is a cool fuckin' guy. He used to use the name "Ian Tafoya". It never really dawned on me at the time just how ridiculous a black dude named "Ian Tafoya" actually was. I never asked him how he arrived at that name, but there was a popular bar band back in the day called The Boyzz (from Illinoise). Their guitarist was named Michael Anthony Tafoya. I wonder if Greg saw them play and thought that was a cool guitar playin' name.

Fuckin' Znöwhite could bring the noise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMougr9pi5M

Greg was from Bronzeville at a time when Bronzeville wasn't great, between Stateway Gardens and 43rd & Ellis. How does an ass kicking speed metal guitarist come from there? But he did. And he got his record deal, I think from Metal Blade, maybe Roadrunner.

These days he's known as Sweet Diezel Jenkins and he's one hell of an entertainer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83nY-6Nnlmg

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 10:03 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:35 pm
Posts: 10538
Location: Lindenhurst
pizza_Place: 1. Aurelio's 2. Pizano's
That’s awesome…I had not heard of Znowhite, but that is certainly a strange source for a shredding metal guitarist..lol.

WRATH was from Waukegan and they came together at exactly the right time when thrash metal was growing. I was at Antioch Comm High School 1986-90 and the bands would play a few different places. As Doug mentioned earlier, the Antioch VFW hall had shows, but the BEST place was in downtown Waukegan….THE FIESTA PALACE. This was an old concert hall originally named “the Academy Theater” and they held shows regularly for metal bands. I was a drummer, but just not that serious about so didn’t play in bands, but seeing WRATH come-up and get moderately successful was really cool. The Fiesta Palace had local metal bands, but they also had National Touring bands like Exodus, Zoetrope play there as well. I didn’t like HS much, but those shows in Waukegan are easily my favorite HS memories.

WRATH recorded 2 albums with the original lineup and had some success. Ronnie Montrose even produced “Nothing to Fear” which is a GREAT album if you like thrash metal. Not sure of the details but they brought in a new singer and released “Insane Society”. Shot an MTV video at the Fiesta Palace, which I attended. Tons of fun. “Insane Society” was good and they toured internationally, but sound-wise it was very “Testament” sounding and shortly after, all thrash metal died.

WRATH’s original bassist and lead guitarist brought the band back up sometime around 2008 or so. They brought in one of my best friends to be the other lead guitarist and went through a few drummers until they settled on a guy from Zion that’s been around a while. They had several different lead singers and this past summer brought back their original singer Gary Golwitzer. They’re still a great band…even did some dates in Europe this summer. Not much of a scene in Chicago and suburbs for metal bands like them, but they’re working at it.

Really good dudes.

_________________
This Ends in Antioch wrote:
brick (/brik/) verb
1. block or enclose with a wall of bricks
2. Proper response would be to ask an endless series of follow ups until the person regrets having spoken to you in the first place.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 7:52 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
There’s been a lot of talk on Facebook about a Lost Cause reunion. Jimi is the only hold out. He has managed to piss Casey and Gus off to the point where nothing is likely to ever happen.

Casey and Gus were sort of like a punk rock version of Sly and Robbie. They held down de riddim for Lost Cause, M.O.S.H., and Hazardous Youth. We had played so many shows with M.O.S.H, Timmy and I knew how strong those guys were.

Image

We were all friends and when we needed a bass player and then a drummer, they were a natural fit for us.

We knew every song on the Lost Cause album and we would often fuck around with them when we practiced. It wasn’t really hard since half the band had been in Lost Cause. I think the only one we ever played live was “Bam!” which we usually did as a little medley with “Born to Skank”, but I remember playing “Suburban Girl” a lot. I think Casey liked that bass riff at the beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRufe0f4YpY

Joe Kelly must have like suburban girls as much as I did. My friends and I were a bunch of scrappers from Howard Street. For us, a North Evanston girl was a prize. A New Trier girl was the Holy Grail. One of my buddies married a girl from St. Athanasius and Regina and my first wife was from Wilmette. You know what? It wasn’t as great as we thought.

Anyway, my old bandmates have been getting together to play a little bit. I have yet to be invited. If I show up and all four of us are there it probably gets too real. One of the Goons is getting married next month. A bunch of punk and metal bands are playing the reception at Mo Dailey’s. I won’t be surprised if someone suggests we play a couple tunes. That might be something I’d consider. We’re old, but the boys still look like they can rock.

Image

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:13 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:26 pm
Posts: 3355
Location: Far East 'burbs.
pizza_Place: Pasaro's, St. Joe, MI.
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
These days he's known as Sweet Diezel Jenkins and he's one hell of an entertainer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83nY-6Nnlmg


Good to see Aaron Rodgers has a career as a bass player to fall back on...


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 5:24 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
I just heard my old bandmate Kevin Junior passed away. Kevin was a great songwriter. Gone much too soon. Another dead friend. R.I.P., Kid.

Image

Image

Image

Here are a few of his best songs:

https://soundcloud.com/hehambertrings/t ... t-any-long

https://soundcloud.com/hehambertrings/t ... 2-telegram

https://soundcloud.com/hehambertrings/t ... ad-friends

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 4:07 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:13 am
Posts: 17588
Location: BLM Lake Forest Chapter
pizza_Place: Quonset
Chamber Strings is good stuff.

_________________
Don Tiny wrote:
Don't be such a fucking chump.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 5:52 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
GoldenJet wrote:
Chamber Strings is good stuff.


I feel a lot worse about his death than I would have thought. I haven't seen him in a long time. I think it was at Double Door when the Chamber Strings got back together after Kevin had kicked his drug habit, maybe 2007. But the last time I really talked to him was probably about fifteen years ago at a Halloween party at the house of some mutual friends in Pilsen.

Kevin was 17 or 18 when I first met him. He was finishing up his senior year at Lincoln Park High School. The Maggots had fallen apart when Jeff had balked at going on the tour we had all set up because he needed to finish his accounting degree. Man, you have your entire fucking life to work spreadsheets. How many chances do you have to play a show with Tesco Vee in a barn outside of Iowa City? We placed an ad in the Reader looking for a guitarist. Tom and I met Kevin at the Subway on Lincoln and Fullerton. We were all record collectors with eclectic tastes and we hit it off right away.

He stepped right in for Jeff and really gave us a kick in the ass. We played a ton of live gigs together. But Kevin was a glam rocker at heart. He started playing with some friends in a band called the Mystery Girls on the side. Tom and I started Hazardous Youth about the same time. Tom was my best friend but I knew he wasn't the right drummer for HY. One day he didn't show up to practice and Herb put down the bass and got behind the drum kit and that was that. Between the Maggots and the Mystery Girls, Kevin was always hanging out at the practice space. He started playing bass with Hazardous Youth. One day he was playing a show with Mystery Girls and Splatter sat in with us. Timmy and Herb thought that was great. I liked Kevin a lot better than Splatter on a personal level, but Splatter was the right guy at the right time for that band. We kicked Kevin out and the relationship between him and me was never quite the same.

The Mystery Girls became the Rosehips and put out a record called Soul Veronique In Parchment. There was a single from that album called "Kingery Highway". Kevin was a huge Anglophile and he pronounced it "Kin-jury" because he thought it sounded more English. :lol: The Goons and I got a big kick out of that. Anyway, the single made its way onto the Finnish pop charts. Yes, the Rosehips were big in Finland.

I kind of lost touch with Kevin for awhile. Though he did blow some harp with the Sonars on occasion. He put together the Chamber Strings and released the Gospel Morning album. I didn't think a whole lot of it at the time. It was really derivative. But I could see where he was going. I never had the slightest interest in such a polished and produced type of sound, but Kevin was slowly learning how to blend his influences into his own sound. Month Of Sundays is his masterpiece. It's kind of like if Bacharach & David or Carole King had written songs for the Stones to play.

Kevin wasn't the best singer or the best guitar player, but he made the most of what he had. A lot of these songs seem more poignant in light of his untimely passing.

https://soundcloud.com/hehambertrings/t ... mans-poise

https://soundcloud.com/hehambertrings/t ... -no-wonder

https://soundcloud.com/hehambertrings/t ... gic-comedy

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Last edited by Joe Orr Road Rod on Tue Feb 16, 2016 7:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 6:14 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:13 am
Posts: 17588
Location: BLM Lake Forest Chapter
pizza_Place: Quonset
An ex girlfriend of mine was married into that scene for a long time...she knew Kevin well. I was at the Double Door for that reunion show.

I just told my current SO that he died...she said "who?"...I told her that he played on some GG Allin and Chamber Strings...she looks Kevin up on her phone and says: "Oh...I knew him...he was hot...we made our at a party back when I was 18."

_________________
Don Tiny wrote:
Don't be such a fucking chump.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 4:28 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
GoldenJet wrote:
I was at the Double Door for that reunion show.


That was a great show. It was really touching when Illarde came out from behind the drums and put his arms around Kevin. Heartfelt and real. Anthony wasn't posturing for the crowd. He would have hugged Kevin if the room had been empty. In a medium so full of artifice the genuine moments shouldn't be taken for granted.

Here's a good little four part series about the history of the band up to that point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN16I55zNtM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGPWaeulSg0

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 4:29 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9hllXLFgLE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHqaYv1QFcg

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 5:29 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:13 am
Posts: 17588
Location: BLM Lake Forest Chapter
pizza_Place: Quonset
Shit, I totally forgot about that glorious noise documentary. What a talent.


How did he end up getting credited on something of GG Allin's?

_________________
Don Tiny wrote:
Don't be such a fucking chump.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 7:30 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
GoldenJet wrote:
How did he end up getting credited on something of GG Allin's?


This was a long time ago, so I hope I'm remembering right. The Stepe brothers pretty much started the downstate punk rock scene. Kevin's girlfriend Karen was from Williamsville and she had previously dated Chopper Stepe. Karen was friends with a girl named MJ who became Splatter's girlfriend in Chicago and eventually ended up marrying my friend Gus the drummer. MJ was somehow good friends with GG. I think the connection may have been this nutjob from Peoria named Bloody Mess who was obsessed with Gacy and GG. MJ was a real sweetheart and I suspect GG didn't have many normal people in his life.

GG was planning some Midwestern shows and decided to use Chicago as his home base. Of course, setting up a GG show was always a dicey proposition. Once the club figured out what this shit (literally) was about, chances are they weren't going to allow it. Anyway, Splatter and I figured we could put together GG's band via the connection through MJ. But before that happened this kid who played bass whose name I don't remember had ingratiated himself to GG and somehow Kevin got involved and they put together the backing band with Scott, the drummer for the Mystery Girls, which GG dubbed the Toilet Rockers. Splatter told me he didn't want anything to do with GG. I kind of took that as sour grapes at the time because I remember we all thought it would be cool to play those shows. One thing GG never did was fuck with his band.

I'm not sure if Kevin was particularly proud of playing with GG, but I don't think he was ashamed of it either. They played at the old Exit on Wells. There was another show later at Medusa's that got really ugly. I wasn't there for that one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqhJDf8IdTo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuRG9uByW8U

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Feb 15, 2016 11:19 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
I went to see my old friend play with D-Connect on Saturday night at Metro. I didn't realize that Barry Stern had been the original singer in D-Connect. Barry was probably the most talented guy to come out of the metal/punk scene in Chicago. He could play every instrument and was a great metal singer. He was the main man in Zoetrope before going on to play in Trouble among other bands. Barry died much too soon about ten years ago or so.

I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that Hazardous Youth was one of the first bands to bring together the Goons and the punk rock guys. Actually Zoetrope was probably the first. Barry and guitarist Kenny Black produced one of the Life Sentence records and Zoetrope did play on some bills with punk or hardcore bands. But they also played places like the Thirsty Whale and Iron Rail Pub. Everyone respected their musicianship but a lot of punk rock guys weren't into them. They wore shit like metal stud wrist bands and bullet belts. That kind of stuff was a joke in punk rock circles.

Anyway, after D-Connect played a short set on Saturday, Kevin Michael and Willis from the original Zoetrope came out and played with a latter day guitarist and the D-Connect drummer. The drummer put on an afro wig to look like Barry Stern. When Kevin Michael came out to tune up, my wife asked if that was one of the Zoetrope guys. I told her, "yeah, it's Kevin Michael." She said, "He looks like a Rotarian!" :lol: :lol: We're all old and those guys are even older than I am. Willis looks good though. Brothers don't age like white people. They played a couple songs. Nice surprise for the old folks.

Image
A long time ago

Image
Last Saturday night

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 7:06 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
Here’s my fifteen minutes of fame:

Image

Actually, it was more like five. And it wasn’t exactly like making the cover of Rolling Stone. Now that I think of it though, I did have a freaky old lady named Cocaine Katie. In a time when a lot of bands were taking publicity stills with feathered back hairdos, that photo really said something. It was fuckin’ punk rock, very anti-rock star.

I previously posted this track. I think it was recorded at Batteries Not Included, but it may have been Club Stodola. Those were two places we played a lot. Anyway, it was the most popular cut on my Sound Cloud channel but Prince had it taken down. I sprang for the license so I can put a few more dollars he doesn’t need in his pocket. Fuck that little purple motherfucker with the high voice.

Halcyon days before shit began breaking bad. Me and Kevin Junior singing and playing guitar:

https://soundcloud.com/joe-orr-road-rod ... f-your-man

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:27 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:31 pm
Posts: 8798
pizza_Place: Bojono's on Clarendon
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Here’s my fifteen minutes of fame:

Image

Actually, it was more like five. And it wasn’t exactly like making the cover of Rolling Stone. Now that I think of it though, I did have a freaky old lady named Cocaine Katie. In a time when a lot of bands were taking publicity stills with feathered back hairdos, that photo really said something. It was fuckin’ punk rock, very anti-rock star.

I previously posted this track. I think it was recorded at Batteries Not Included, but it may have been Club Stodola. Those were two places we played a lot. Anyway, it was the most popular cut on my Sound Cloud channel but Prince had it taken down. I sprang for the license so I can put a few more dollars he doesn’t need in his pocket. Fuck that little purple motherfucker with the high voice.

Halcyon days before shit began breaking bad. Me and Kevin Junior singing and playing guitar:

https://soundcloud.com/joe-orr-road-rod ... f-your-man


I'm going to go with 1988.

I would pore over the live music section of the Reader, New City, and the Illinois Entertainer as a youth. Even though it wasn't my scene (real or imagined,) I especially dug the Biddy Mulligan's ads. Difficult to describe, but usually a monthly calendar of massive juxtaposition, Friday: Richie Havens/Saturday: Stevie Starlite! I thought I saw one recently on Facebook or someplace, I've been googling around a little and have come up empty.

_________________
I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 8:02 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:00 am
Posts: 76673
Location: Chicago Heights
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
Telegram Sam wrote:
I'm going to go with 1988.

I would pore over the live music section of the Reader, New City, and the Illinois Entertainer as a youth. Even though it wasn't my scene (real or imagined,) I especially dug the Biddy Mulligan's ads. Difficult to describe, but usually a monthly calendar of massive juxtaposition, Friday: Richie Havens/Saturday: Stevie Starlite! I thought I saw one recently on Facebook or someplace, I've been googling around a little and have come up empty.


It's somewhere between '86 and '88. I couldn't say for sure.

Stevie Starlite! That's that raunchy faux lounge singer, right? I wonder if he's still around. For years when I would go west on Addison on my way to Maywood Park there was that old bar maybe around Oak Park Avenue that had closed down but still advertised Stevie Starlite on its marquee.

I loved Biddy Mulligan's. That was a home game for me and my guys. I saw all kinds of different shows there- Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, various reggae bands, Mink DeVille's last show. Biddy's is where Bo Diddley threatened to come off the stage and beat the piss out of Rockin' Billy and me because we were drunk as fuck and we kept screaming, "PLAY BO DIDDLEY!" while he noodled around with some island music. I remember he was being backed by Evanston's very own Flynn Brothers band that night.

_________________
His mind is not for rent to any God or government.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 8:33 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:31 pm
Posts: 8798
pizza_Place: Bojono's on Clarendon
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Telegram Sam wrote:
I'm going to go with 1988.

I would pore over the live music section of the Reader, New City, and the Illinois Entertainer as a youth. Even though it wasn't my scene (real or imagined,) I especially dug the Biddy Mulligan's ads. Difficult to describe, but usually a monthly calendar of massive juxtaposition, Friday: Richie Havens/Saturday: Stevie Starlite! I thought I saw one recently on Facebook or someplace, I've been googling around a little and have come up empty.


It's somewhere between '86 and '88. I couldn't say for sure.

Stevie Starlite! That's that raunchy faux lounge singer, right? I wonder if he's still around. For years when I would go west on Addison on my way to Maywood Park there was that old bar maybe around Oak Park Avenue that had closed down but still advertised Stevie Starlite on its marquee.

I loved Biddy Mulligan's. That was a home game for me and my guys. I saw all kinds of different shows there- Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, various reggae bands, Mink DeVille's last show. Biddy's is where Bo Diddley threatened to come off the stage and beat the piss out of Rockin' Billy and me because we were drunk as fuck and we kept screaming, "PLAY BO DIDDLEY!" while he noodled around with some island music. I remember he was being backed by Evanston's very own Flynn Brothers band that night.


Rockin' Billy of Rockin' Billy and the Wild Coyotes? Our pool of shared acquaintances continues to broaden.
Seriously, if anyone with more search acumen than me can find a vintage Biddy Mulligans (76?? N. Sheridan, Chicago) print ad, please post it up here. You'll know what I mean when you see it

_________________
I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 196 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7  Next

All times are UTC - 6 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group