#voidoids

Marky Ramone (w/ Richard Herschlag): Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone (2016)

Fun fact: I was involved with an early draft of Marky Ramone's autobiography, circa 2002, before life and work and other writing projects took precedence and forced me to bow out.

So, when Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone finally arrived in bookstore shelves, both physical and (mostly) virtual), in 2016, I honestly didn't recognize any of my words in the final product.

But that in no way compromised (if anything, it increased) my enjoyment of Marc Bell's frank, down-to-earth recollections of his life in and out of music, extending well beyond the gig that made him arguably the most famous drummer in punk rock history.

A drummer who seemed bound to a journeyman career after brief stints with Dust, Estus, Wayne County, and Richard Hell & The Voidoids, before Marc became Marky, adopted one of the most coveted last names in rock, and became the longest-serving Ramones drummer, by far.

Punk Rock Blitzkrieg reminds us that Marky's Ramones tenure was interrupted for half-a-decade while he faced and conquered his alcoholism, and that it was anything but smooth sailing, as he unveils some of the deep dark secrets behind the complicated personalities and relationships of his three primary band-mates: Joey, Johnny, and Dee Dee.

All in all, the book accurately reflects the pragmatic, laid-back, unselfconscious bonhomie I experienced in our interactions, all of which obviously kept him grounded amid the constant turmoil that was the Ramones' tragic-comic-iconic career.

Here's to one of the good guys …

Featured Records:

Ramones: Road to Ruin (1978)

Estus: Estus (1973)

Dust: Hard Attack (1972)

Richard Hell and Elvis Costello at New York City’s CBGB’s; October 1978.

Richard Hell fish (spotted wolffish)

I had to make him a fish with teeth that wasnt a shark and sheepshead was too gray lol

Tom Waits: Rain Dogs (1985)

"I'll tell you all my secrets, but I'll lie about my past."

I just learned that's NOT Tom Waits pictured on the cover of 1985's Rain Dogs, but an unknown subject captured by Swedish photographer Anders Petersen as part of a series shot at Hamburg, Germany's Café Lehmitz in the late 1960s.

Now I'll try to distract you from my ignorance by saying nothing is exactly as it seems in the world of Tom Waits, who, when asked, joked that the photo depicted "Me and Liza Minnelli right after she got out of the Betty Ford Center."

In all seriousness, that blurry distinction between fantasy and reality, flippancy and profundity, says a lot about Waits and perhaps his best-known LP, which sounds like a meeting ground for his beats-and-jazz-inspired '70s and genre-defying later years.

Written and recorded during the longtime Angeleno's brief sojourn in New York City, the title reflects Tom's impression that the local homeless population had simply lost their way, like dogs disoriented when rain washes away all the scents that guide them.

In an interview with Barney Hoskyns, Waits also credited his temporary home for inspiring Rain Dogs' diversity: "I was exposed to a kind of melange of sounds [there], because I went to clubs more ... any place you move to is going to have some effect."

Indeed, the descriptions used for musical exotica like "Singapore," "Clap Hands," "Gun Street Girl," and the title track over the years -- e.g. "mutant dwarf orchestra," "junkyard music" (former producer Bones Howe coined that one) -- are just as baffling and amusing as the songs themselves.

Among the other standout curios: "Jockey Full of Bourbon" taught Cake, the band, everything, "Tango 'till They're Sore" wed the lyrics overhead to a drunken, German music-hall vibe, and "9th & Hennepin" was a spoken jazz piece named for the Minneapolis street corner where Waits once stumbled upon a pimp war!

By contrast, a few songs were almost conventional in their embrace of melody, including "Hang Down Your Head," the country-influenced "Blind Love," and the copyright that filled Waits' coffers, "Downtown Train" -- though Rod Stewart himself admitted that his A&R man had to play the song three or four times before Rod grasped its hit potential.

Oh, and Rain Dogs' extensive roll call of studio musicians featured names like Robert Quine (ex-Voidoids, Lou Reed, etc.), Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel), Hall & Oates regular G.E. Smith, and even Keith (friggin') Richards, who guests on "Big Black Mariah."

All of which says a lot about Waits' considerable prestige among fellow musicians by 1985, in spite of all that "wacky music," and it no doubt bolstered his confidence to stretch and show the length and breadth of his songwriting abilities.

This "something for (nearly) everyone" track-list likely explains why so many Tom Waits fans -- especially those that fall short of fanatic status -- often point to Rain Dogs (I almost wrote River Dogs, just now) as their favorite item in his long discography.

Cyanotype / Gum Bichromate

Robert QUINE & Jody HARRIS

"Escape"

(LP. Sorcerer rcds. 2020 / rec. 1979-80) [US]

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Richard HELL & The VOIDOIDS

"Destiny Street Demos"

Marky, Hell, Ivan, and Quine.