VOMIT PIGS
Mike was the Vomit Pig. There were Chris and Roy and Eddie and Doug and later Russell and me, but Mikey (or Mike Vomit or Mite Vomit) was the Vomit Pig. First and foremost, Mike had the Attitude. The Punk Attitude. The Anything/Everything Goes Attitude. The Watch Me Defy Death Attitude. But he maintained a certain mocking self-awareness through it all. He knew he was a "Useless Eater".
At first the guys had dubbed themselves The Vomit Pigs Make-Believe Blues Boobs Band, but this proved unwieldy and was truncated to just the Vomit Pigs and later to just the VPs. Some no-name cartoonist would later shamelessly appropriate the name Vomit Pigs for a strip about a rock band that bore not the slightest resemblance to Mike and friends. There were even T-shirts.
It all started when they lived in Daingerfield, Texas. Daingerfield has a reputation as a fertile breeding environment for mental infirmity. You might recall Daingerfield as both the site of Al King's 1980 Baptist cleansing and the childhood home of Marte Tilton, "wife" of televangelist/alien life form Robert Tilton. In his capacity as a high school math teacher, Al King had attempted to teach Algebra to all the original members of the Vomit Pigs. This will no doubt account in some measure for their continuing influence.
A tradition of sorts evolved from the VP's Halloween Parties at Rick's. There were several such parties at Rick's, starting around 1974. The VPs would play, Mike and a select group of band and audience members would take a few too many Quaaludes (prescribed quite legally for Mike by a nominally reputable doctor), consume prodigious amounts of beer, barbeque, and sundry illicit substances, and then proceed to throw up and/or disrobe on "stage" in front of as many as two hundred merely drunken locals assembled on the grass next to the large porch of Rick's farmhouse.
Mike's reputation as a performer didn't really blossom until he moved to Dallas. The re-formed Vomit Pigs began playing regularly at Dallas' seminal punk club, DJ's. By this time, Mike was on the ol' drug roller coaster, alternating days of crystal meth with days of 'ludes or downers and booze. His sexual escapades were the stuff of legends. He wrote prolifically, filling suitcases with poems, pictures and ideas. I saw his weight fluctuate up and down almost a hundred pounds. Mike went though a William Burroughs phase. After reading The Job, Mike insisted that we make a "virus tape" of our own. Burroughs' virus was meant to be used an offensive weapon. Sometimes I think it might have really worked.
The record was made in Texarkana in a little eight-track studio that billionaire Sam Walton used to make ads for Walmart. We pressed 500 copies, most of which were tossed into a cow pasture. The master tape was lost.
I wasn't around when Mike died that night outside Bobby Soxx's apartment. My guess is that his heart finally disintegrated in a toxic sludge of booze, junk food, and downers. Maybe the virus tape has something to do with it. The last time I saw him, his skin had the look of a splotchy white mushroom. He weighed at least 250. He smelled horrible. He might have had AIDS. But he still had the Attitude.
— Artie Turner, 1994
Twelve years after Artie wrote the liner notes up yonder, the VP's still hold sway over me and all red-blooded fans of early American punk, not simply for the rarity of their EP but for the band's audacity on every level... the time period, the locale, the music, the story. I look back on my Vomit Pigs / Superman's Girlfriend split reissue EP with regret... I should've done better by the VP's starting with not cutting one out of the four songs ("Slut"). Ah well... I was barely of legal drinking age much less sensible reissuing age, but my heart was in it. I did my penance by excavating a tape with some unreleased VP's studio tracks and released them on the Unquestionably Late For The Trend compilation EP. Thanks to Tony Mosier for dubbing the extremely raw tape of the 1978 Halloween show advertised above. Had this actually been released, it would've given Dot Vaeth (who attended the show) a run for the title of lo-fi release of the decade!— Ryan Richardson
January 2006
The original picture sleeve is crude thermal photocopy process, hastily folded and sloppily glued.
October 19, 2011
Vomit Pigs
Black Randy (flier)
copied solar skates, unless we copied you!
All you can drink $3! (i remember raul's)
FIRST ANNUAL TEXAS NEW WAVE RETREAT Yello Belly Speedway (2nd gig?)
FIRST ANNUAL TEXAS NEW WAVE RETREAT at Yello Belly Speedway
It seemed like a good idea in at the time: get a bunch of Texas punk bands to recreate Altamont. Sponsored by the legendary DJ's (a pioneering punk venue in Dallas) proprietor Dolores Nolley and apparently a real flop despite the line-up. Plugz headlined for this October 1979 gig. Cool flier design by Frank Campagna. Original offset litho flier in great shape.
Price: $30.00
Johnny Rotten 'He's got the power' Rock Scene 1977
ROCK SCENE vol. III
Bomp (Ramones)
Clint Says Goodbye
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Clint Says Goodbye
I give up.Anyone who knows me all that well knows that I have struggled with mental illness for almost my entire life. I remember when I was in first grade, I was on anti-depressants. I don't remember exactly how that happened, but I do know that I was suicidal at the time. Five years old and suicidal.
Things never really got better.
While I don't remember exactly what happened, I remember this much: When I was in first-grade class, there was a substitute teacher. I was acting up somehow (not intentionally; I was just a wired kid who had no self-control), and the substitute got mad at me and scolded me, and told me to go out to the principal's office.
I couldn't understand why she was so mad. I didn't want to get in trouble. I remember crying, promising the teacher I would behave. She wouldn't listen, and kept insisting that I get out of her classroom. I cried more heavily, and repeatedly said "you don't need me anymore." What that really meant was "I'm sorry I disappointed you and made you mad. I don't want to live anymore."
While growing up, it seemed that everyone was against me in some way. There was hardly a day that went by where I didn't hear things like how stupid I was. How ugly I was. How bad I was. How worthless I was. How I would never amount to anything, ever. Even my father would get so angry at me that he would call me worthless, stupid, and/or pathetic.
Truth is, I've been in auto-pilot for the most part -- I had no control over anything, myself included. If I could do it over again, I would have gone through school making straight A's, listening to authority, and behaving like a good kid. I might have even made a few friends along the way. But the way I acted was the complete opposite. I couldn't focus, I couldn't make myself behave, and I didn't really understand who I was, where I was, or what I was doing there.
While I recently have gotten a (somewhat slightly) better grip on reality, it has not helped matters. I am beginning to see how right they were, about how I would never amount to anything. I am 31-years old. I have worked four months out of my entire life. I never leave the house, as I can't drive a car. I'm receiving disability, but I don't receive enough to buy groceries. I still live with my parents. I have never had a girlfriend. Hell, I'm almost 32, and am still a virgin. How pathetic is that? I mean, it's not as if the opportunity has never presented itself; but I guess it all boils down to the fact that I was always too scared and/or stupid to take advantage of it.
When I was younger, I got beat up a lot at school. I usually didn't put up much of a fight. What can I say -- I have never wanted to hurt people. Now, there are times where I would get mad enough to try and hit someone, but I always hesitated at the last second, so that the resulting blow wouldn't have harmed a newborn baby. And then I got my ass handed to me.
My behavior attracted such incidents. I was never able to keep calm -- I was always bouncing all over the place, my mind racing a mile a minute. When I annoyed someone, I kept doing it -- not to be a nuisance, but because I couldn't help it -- until it ended badly.
My goal in life has always been to make people happy. One could tell because of what I am involved in -- video game development, art, music, comedy writing, and so on. But it seems that the darn auto-pilot is still getting in the way. I keep screwing up, no matter how hard I try not to. In my fervor to make people happy, I end up making the people near me miserable. When I screw up -- which is pretty much every time I try to accomplish something -- I change into another person.
This other person is the complete opposite of what I want to be. This other person makes it a point to make anyone nearby miserable. This other person wants to do horrible things to me and other people. This other person wishes he could wipe out all life -- not just human life, but all life. To him, all life -- without exception -- is absurd to the point that it should simply be extinguished.
I believe this other person is the part of my personality that craves failure, destruction, and death. I have tried so hard for so long to be a good person, but that other part of me always wins out. I fear that, in time, this other person will finally bring the good in me down all the way. When that happens, I fear that the good in me will die, and that the evil within me will take complete control.
I don't understand why. I've struggled with whether God exists for years. When I was in my early 20s, I hated the idea that there was a supreme being of some sort, because there was so much evil in the world. Lately, I have reconsidered that position, and have in fact come to believe that God *is* out there. I've tried to pray to him, but that other part of me keeps me far away from God. I've cried and pleaded for God to help me fight it. My pleas have, apparently, fallen upon deaf ears.
So, after all that, I give up. I'm not going to kill myself, because there is still enough good left in me to see that's what the other person wants. I am not going to give into him. But I do want to apologize to all the people I've ever met for coming into their lives. Everyone deserves better than to have had my presence -- whether momentary, long-term, or anywhere in-between -- taint their existence or their happiness.
I plan to seclude myself from others from now on. When the other person finally wins, I have no idea what will happen. I do not want to hurt anyone else ever again. The best way to see to that is to make sure no when is near me when it happens.
If you have ever known me and are reading this, please forgive me. Forgive me for any time I've ever made you anything but happy. Forgive me for being who I am. Forgive me for being evil. Allow me to disappear into the darkness, unseen, where I belong, and where I can never hurt anyone ever again.
The part about this that is truly unfair is that I love people, but all I can do is harm them. Thus, I must never allow myself to become close to anyone ever again.
Goodbye, my dear friends. I will sorely miss you.
Watch Rocktographer BOB GRUEN "Rockers" 11 min. Interview
Listen to Bob Gruen NEW YORK DOLLS Photographer | Interview
Listen to Bob Gruen NEW YORK DOLLS Photographer Dogmeat | Interview with
New York Dolls Bob Gruen (Cover) Beautiful!
PBS and NPR – Next time they ask for money tell them to go fuck themselves!
PBS and NPR – Time to Change or R.I.P.
March 9th, 2011 by s.i. wells
(First published January 2009 in Stay Thirsty)
The annual appropriation from the Federal government to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is in excess of $400 million. There are over 1,100 public radio and television stations in the United States. The original purpose of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 was summarized by President Lyndon Johnson when he signed the Act into law:
“Finally–and most important–it builds a new institution: the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Corporation will assist stations and producers who aim for the best in broadcasting good music, in broadcasting exciting plays, and in broadcasting reports on the whole fascinating range of human activity. It will try to prove that what educates can also be exciting. It will get part of its support from our Government. But it will be carefully guarded from Government or from party control. It will be free, and it will be independent–and it will belong to all of our people. Television is still a young invention. But we have learned already that it has immense–even revolutionary–power to change, to change our lives.”
What began with a noble purpose in the early days of electronic communication has become a poster child for government duplication. With the explosion of the internet, cable and satellite distribution of programs, cable access channels, internet television and radio sites, webcam broadcasts, Hulu and YouTube, the need for 1,100 local public radio and television stations to principally rebroadcast national programming is no longer present.
There is no doubt that PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and NPR (National Public Radio) produce superb content at the national level. There is also no doubt that local public broadcasting stations with 24/7/365 agendas produce content that often achieves little or no audience and frequently duplicates local programming done by commercial network affiliates.
With so many opportunities today to consume information or entertainment via electronic media, it is content that rules. People respond to content. There is no brand loyalty to a network or a station. If the content is great, the audience will assemble. If the content is unappealing, people will change the channel. The need to develop and produce new and fresh content is the key to serving the public. A station can have the latest equipment and the finest staff, but if the content created has no audience, the funds to support that enterprise are wasted.
The time has come to stop the duplication and inefficiency entrenched in the public broadcasting system. If Congress reduced the CPB appropriation from $400 million to $80 million and required the funding be used to support only one national PBS television station and one national NPR radio station, the nation would save $320 million. These two stations could easily be broadcast and distributed free of charge via satellite through a myriad of cable, satellite and internet outlets. If any of the 1,100 local public stations want to continue as freestanding media enterprises or consolidate into one station per state, the economic burden to make ends meet should fall on the state and the local communities where the stations reside.
In 1967, Lyndon Johnson’s public broadcast initiatives were bold and far-reaching. In 2009, they are administered in an antiquated and wasteful fashion. Time and the economy have passed the old business model of public broadcast by. With one spectacular national PBS station and one extraordinary NPR station, funding for the expansion of content should come from the public via a national pledge drive. Now is the time to focus on the creation of great content rather than the acquisition or support of more infrastructure. Today’s harsh economic climate transmits a very clear message – public broadcasting must change or be prepared to Rest In Peace.
4 Rockstar Restaurants
I've always thought rock n' roll and cuisine go hand in hand. From the very basics - The Dictators shot pics inside White Castle for their debut album - to punk rock chef Anthony Bourdain and his spruced up four-star fare.
Thirsty asked a couple punk icons for their favorite restaurants in New York City, and writer Natalie McKenzie takes care of things across the pond. We round it out with "Fast Food" by New York's The Bullys. Bon appetit!
-Sarah L. Myers
Bob Gruen
Rock n' Roll PhotographerNew York in the '70's let's see...
1) Max's Kansas City (yes I do have a good story of eating there)
Max's was known to have a bowl of dried chic peas on every table, some people lived on them, some just threw them at each other, but it also had a very good and affordable menu and the kitchen was open late, usually till near closing at 4 am. I often would go there after a long night shooting several events to get their 'surf & turf' steak and lobster tail. That is until the night the Cockettes came to town. They were a group of acid heads who wore woman's clothes and lipstick with glitter in their beards (not attractive!) and they were celebrating the opening of their NY show by climbing on the tables in the back room and stripping down to their underwear. I was calmly eating my steak and lobster when the Maitre 'd, a good looking guy named Eric Emerson and known for the huge tool in his pants, jumped up on my table and, pulling off his pants, challenged the Cockettes to really strip and not stop at the underwear. When I saw the sudden appearance of a giant sausage near my dinner I vowed I would never eat there again.2) There was a great Japanese restaurant called Chin Ya, in the Woodward hotel which was open 24 hours. When we discovered this place we stopped going to Chinatown after a night of drinking (usually Wo Hop on Mott St) because we found the sushi and Japanese style food to be much lighter and easier to handle than the pork based Chinese style. The food wasn't really great, just good, but even Mick Jagger knew "it's not great but it's great 'cause it's open late". They are gone today but my new favorite is a ramen joint on East 5th Street near Ave B called Minka. Very simple, quick, nice people and really good ramen. The other favorite is the new upscale ramen joint Ippudo NY on 4th Avenue bet 9th and 10th Streets which is so good it's always really crowded so we usually go to Minka. Soba Koh, also on East 5th Street is really great Japanese comfort food. But none of these places are open very late.
3) When we needed a hearty meal there was a very good, inexpensive Cuban diner called "La Taza de Oro" on 8th Ave between 14th & 15th Streets where you can still today have a very filling roast chicken dinner with rice and beans and get change for a $10 bill ($5 bill in the old days)
4) For a night out low budget style, or to interview an artist or rock star, we went to the famous and historic Chelsea Hotel restaurant El Quijote for a broiled lobster, or if we wanted to skip the history trip and just get a really good lobster we went to Bleeker and Sullivan Streets in the West Village to Cafe Espanol. Both of these places are still open today.
5) For drinking and eating then and now you can go to Corner Bistro, Jane Street and West 4th Street for the best hamburger in town. They are a comfortable neighborhood bar and they are consistently on the top of the list of best burgers in New York.
Bon appetit!
-Bob Gruen
Marky Ramone
The RamonesBrooklyn favorite places to eat:
L&B Spumoni Gardens
Grimaldi's
Blue Ribbon
Cuccina Neopalitan
Gino's
These are all great places to eat in Brooklyn!!!
-Marky
Sarah L. Myers
Editor-In-ChiefNew York:
1. Yaffa Cafe - Yaffa is the stuff of my dreams. Zebra print, christmas lights, hot pink upholstered booths and amazing hummus. Open 24 hours and always full of the most interesting people in the city.
2. Cafe Orlin - Best breakfast value in the city and a top spot for people watching. Order the special, sit outside and read the Voice.
3. Balthazar - One of New York's most famous restaurants and well worth the struggle just to get in the door. Order some brunch and lose yourself in the faces and conversation around you.
4. Nathan's at Coney Island - Nothing beats chili cheese fries impaled with a pitchfork. So grossly orange and oily, it borders on food porn. Washed down with a cold 40-ouncer, and preferably during the Siren Fest, it's heaven.
5. Ray's - It's one of my travel traditions. After an afternoon browsing the racks at Kim's video and visiting with Jimmy at Trash, I head to my favorite Ray's on the corner of St. Marks. A cold beer, slice of plain cheese, and a stack of newspapers. It's one of my greatest New York pleasures.
Chicago:
1. Amarit (RIP) - Site of my fondest Chicago memories, sitting with a good friend and laughing over Thai iced teas - the best in town. That perfect mixture of red tea and cream that makes salmon-colored clouds when stirred. Now it's a Starbucks.
2. Tempo Cafe - Omelet skillets. Bottomless coffee. Open 24 hours. Case closed.
3. Luciano's (RIP) - A special place. Luxe sofas, a mohagony bar and piano room greeted you. An even more elegant dining room for the main course - rich, decadent Italian dishes. Now it's condos.
4. Pick-Me-Up. No place like it in the world. Right smack in the middle of jockville near Wrigley Field, this quirky cafe has the best espresso bar in Chicago. I suggest the Zombie and chocolate cake. Tons of vegan options if you're into that (I hope you're not).
5. Bistrot Zinc - I always come back to this French bistrot with the red storefront. It's our favorite retreat with our favorite dish - steak frites. Thirsty base camp.
Natalie McKenzie
Top 5 Places to Eat in London
St John Restaurant, 26 St John St, London, EC1M 4AY
0207 251 0848 Farringdon Tube Station
(Best for meat-eaters and feasts!)
St Johns is an exquisite eatery, renowned for its feasts of suckling pigs and roast guinea fowl.
For the real man who really loves his meat and likes to feast banquet style!
Menus start at £30. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly and the pastry chef is an absolute star girls!The Wolseley, 160 Piccadilly, St James’s, London, W1J 9EB
0207 499 6996 Green Park Tube Station
(Best for a date – impress the lady!)
The Wolseley is a grand and beautiful building, old, romantic and glamorous, this restaurant is here to impress and seduce, and it does!
Steaks start at £20 and oysters, caviar and the finest wines are on the menu.
The Ivy, 1-5 West St, London, WC2H 9NQ
0207 580 6022 Leicester Square Tube Station
(Best for celeb spotting and name dropping!)
The Ivy used to be extremely exclusive and a place for London celebs to meet and eat but has in the past few years became a little bland. Celeb spotters and X Factor (Pop Idol) wannabe’s are attracted to this central restaurant like bees to honey, hoping they’ll bump into Victoria Beckham or Simon Cowell. It’s certainly not the best food in London though not too pricey (steaks from £10) but ultimately that’s not why you go the Ivy!The Ritz, 150 Piccadilly London, W1J 9BR
0207 300 2370 Green Park Tube Station
(Best for posh afternoon tea or treating your mum!)
The Ritz is an incredible hotel restaurant and bar. So posh and elegant, you’ll want to get your best Sunday dress out for this place. It has a 1920s feel and old glamour and decadence that is simply divine and will bring out manners in you, you never knew you had!
Meals are around £40 though so it will cost you but The Ritz must be done, at least once, if only for the famous and quintessentially English afternoon tea which will set you back £37. If it’s Mothers Day, this will have you totally covered!Gordon Ramsay, Claridge’s, 53 Brook Street, Mayfair, London, W1K 4HR
0207 499 0099 Bond Street Tube Station
(Best all rounder for food, atmosphere and design)
With its 3 Michelin Stars, this is the place to go for great food.
It has a lovely art deco design and a great ambience and atmosphere. The menu is seasonal, contemporary and stunning. At around £100 pre head, it is still a treat but a damn tasty one!
It also has a smart dress code so don’t turn up in flip flops, whatever you do. And if you’re lucky, you may be able to hear the fog horn that is Gordon Ramsay, screaming expletives from the kitchen!
October 18, 2011
DESTRY
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Eric Meyer invented html5, CSS
HTML5 Doctor
Eric Meyer invented html5, CSS
eric meyer invented the reset, @font-face bulletproof (and i'm sorry for saying 'fuck you' to him...but that mountain of code is bullshit and you know it]
BUT i invented the most ridiculous
(but ultimately useful--inspired by being unfortunate enough to blog on 'NoCSSterous: The Blog that strips everything') process for going 'back to the future' and taking valid html5 + CSS, running it through premailer's genius app and then cramming up the Internet
like some caveman in a spaceship (Posterous's fault, not mine!)--of course, the great thing about it --an unintended side-effect/happy accident--is that I realized by doing this insane process multiple times a day (so that posts look like posts for Posterous), that one is now able to see exactly (and in no other way have i ever seen it demonstrated so consistently--and i've read W3 cover to cover) what one's stylesheet is doing as far as cascade, inheritance and plain old 'wtf did it do that for' bizarre application which not even an Eric Meyer,
Tantek Çelik
could explain. ...anyway, I did yours just because I was reading it earlier and thought you'd like to see it. --i was too tired to mark up this comment form, be happy with the q's
HTML5 Doctor Helping you implement HTML5 today eric meyer invented the reset , p aul irish invented @font-face bulletproof (and i'm sorry for saying 'fuck you' to him...but that mountain of code is bullshit and you know it, BUT i invented the most ridiculous (but ultimately useful--inspired by being ...»>