Communiques
**** UPDATES: 10/9/23: NOW POSTED! My preview of the Five Emprees' return to Hidden Pointe (Benton Harbor, MI), and -- as promised -- my full report, as well, with photos!
AND: Paintings by Lisa Quinlan-Heibutzki, left over from our "Budgie's Garden" show (see release below), now for sale in the official Chairman Ralph webstore, which has been online since July 4th! Declaration of Independence, and all that, which feels as DIY as the American Revolution that birthed the US of A...And best of all, you don't have to salute it, to dig it!
Anyway, head over to the Store, where you can buy Desperate Times #1 and #2, which also features front cover and inner art from Liusa -- plus a brand new comic, City Slang: The Sonic's Rendezvous Band Story! Do your patriotic duty this Fourth/post-Fourth, and buy directly from the artists who make all that inspired work happen!
ALSO: Lyrics for all tracks on ESCAPE FROM CHICAGO (CRACKERBOX OASIS) are now posted in Featured Songs (click on: "Description"). Sing along with the bouncing beater, as the Windy City fades farther and farther in the review mirror! :-)
Complete lyrics are also available for the 4.29.94 and A BUDGIE'S LIFE EPs, as well (just click the Description box). And the tracks are yours to grab, as always, over in Featured Songs.
PLUS: My appearances at The Poetry Den, where I've performed off and on, since 10/22 -- check it out in the Links Section! DIY live performance, and outsider art, with plenty of like-minded souls for company.
AND: An excerpted audio version of "The Jam: This Is The Modern World Revisited," which appeared in my 'zine, DESPERATE TIMES #1 (2015), with guitar and effects by yours truly. Head over to Spoken Word Tracks, and hear both offerings for yourself!
OFFLINE (FOR NOW): HAPPY TRAILS (LITTLE BUDGIE IS 47), because I only have so much space. It'll return at some point, I'm sure. :-) AND: "Rebel National Anthem #1," recorded live (2/26/19),
Due to various boring technical issues, like abuse of privilege, comment capability is back off, and preapproval is required. But if you really have something on your mind...you know where to find me. ****
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"It's another reminder of the band's ability to put its own spin on what we've been hearing all along, and there's no sign of the interest letting up, judging by the fervency of the response." Find out what happened at the Five Emprees' first reunion show in four years. | Sep 5, 2023 |
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The Five Emprees return, for their annual reunion show, at Hidden Pointe, in Benton Harbor. Chairman Ralph gives you a preview of what to expect. | Sep 3, 2023 |
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"We shouldn’t be surprised, anyone can be an artist." Members drummer Nick Cash gives the lowdown on his art show, "Crash Ride Snare," which brings together 19 drummers -- including himself -- and their work. | Aug 23, 2023 |
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"The Subhumans started out blistering from the start..." And that's when things really got rolling, as our man on the ground, Don Hargraves, checks in from the veteran anarcho-punk band's recent Chicago show at the Cobra Lounge. | Jun 8, 2023 |
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"I had created a lot of work, and felt it was time to get it out there. I always derived pleasure, knowing that one of my paintings was being enjoyed by someone else." Follow the featured artist of "Budgie's Garden," and learn about the specifics of the show. | May 8, 2023 |
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"Just in time for the holidays comes another addition to the growing stack of great reviews coming in for Desperate Times #2..." Read on, and then -- join the movement, if you're so inclined! | Dec 1, 2022 |
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"A lot of people see them as ahead of their time, or influences on the stuff that happened later, and not that many people really stop to think about them in their own moment, in their own context."
Michael Begnal runs down the myths surrounding the Stooges, and how he tries to put things right, in his new book, The Music & The Noise of the Stooges, 1967-71: Lost In The Future -- in this exclusive, in-depth chat with the Chairman! | Apr 22, 2022 |
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"One day, I was in the auto parts store buying some struts, when a prematurely bald, gray-haired, gray-bearded, portly guy in a Sun Records T-shirt came up to me and asked me if I liked rockabilly..."
Ronnie Joyner shares some Danny Gatton-related anecdotes that, while not specifically about the man himself, shed some additional light about him, and the scene that he inhabited. See for yourself! | Jan 3, 2022 |
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"His guitar playing is so amazing, that you can't help but get swept up in its genius -- and soon, you're thinking of nothing but goodness." Ronnie Joyner talks about his inspiration for "It's Alright, Rest Easy, Dan," his tribute to Danny Gatton, and memories of growing up in same time and place as "The Humbler." | Dec 19, 2021 |
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"I see him as somebody who helped pop music to grow up, from the early ‘60s formulaic stuff, to a music where you not only rocked out, but also listened." Chairman Ralph sits down for an epic chat with David Dann, author of Guitar King: Michael Bloomfield's Life In The Blues. | Nov 3, 2019 |
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"We must be on tour, all right. We're having dinner at McDonald's!" Find out what happened on the Chairman's East Coast road tour last month, to help co-author Mark Andersen promote our new book, WE ARE THE CLASH! | Aug 23, 2018 |
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"Pure old-school vibe and I love it. This one takes me back to the times when 'zines in punk were a very essential part of communications on the scene." Check out the latest developments for Chairman Ralph's new 'zine, Desperate Times! | May 24, 2017 |
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Does the DIY publishing world feel safe for paper-based, stapled-down-the-middle, good-old-fashioned 'zines again? Maybe so, as the Chairman states in his thoughts on last month's Gran Rapids Zine Fest...which has proved sufficiently inspiring to jump-start a 'zine of his own, as we'll see. | Aug 2, 2015 |
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"We drank a lot but put a good performance above everything...." Vaughan MacKay, recalls his life and times with New Zealand's most riotous '60s outfit, the Unknown Blues...including the band's best gigs, local impact and performing philosophy...among many, many topics covered here. | Aug 16, 2014 |
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"When we heard the Pretty Things and Rolling Stones it was like nothing we had ever heard before. On top of that they looked like nothing we had seen before and we were more than ready to be corrupted..." Dave Hogan looks back on his life and times as the frontman of New Zealand's long-unheralded wildmen, The Unknown Blues...now brought back to life in the new DVD, "Antarctic Angels And The Unknown Blues." | Aug 3, 2014 |
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"We seemed to share the same sense of humour and similar interest -- he was an extremely funny chap." Steve H. shares memories of his friend -- the Adverts' late guitarist, Howard Pickup -- and how he looks back on those experiences nowadays. | Dec 26, 2012 |
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Chairman Ralph publishes another excerpt from A DRUM BEAT BEHIND, David Apps's unpublished rock 'n' roll memoir of his punk rock life and times with Beat Of The Beast. In this excerpt, David focuses on the band's one-off encounter -- and subsequent chaotic encore -- with the late Wally Nightingale, best known as the "almost-Sex Pistol." | Nov 25, 2010 |
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David Apps, former drummer of legendary Brentwood punks, Beat Of The Beast, shares excerpts from his memoir of the band, A DRUM BEAT BEHIND, including his London childhood, early musical motivations, personality sketches of his colleagues, and a memorable run-in with the humorless French gendarmes in 1986. | Nov 19, 2010 |