Paranoid Story

When I was 19, I had my car stolen by some gang bangers, on a very fateful, crack-fueled night in the ghetto, Dixmoor, Illinois, South Chicago, where they lived, and I’d driven them after our shift at the tobacco shop, or rather really they commandeered my car, 1987 Chevy Caprice Classic, a high school graduation …

INTERVIEW: SIDEKICK KATO

My first band interview is with a band.  They're The Sidekick Katos. SIDEKICK KATO was a major entity in the Chicago punk scene in the 1990's, bringing their own brand of hardcore emo and indie rock to venues across Chicago and its suburbs.  They developed a passionate, Budweiser-soaked cult following, releasing their first album, First Class …

Humble Drips

High productivity and sleep problems persist.  It's Practice Day (guitar and bass), so I may not do any reviews, but probably will by midnight CST.  You know me. Wrote the chorus for a new song today, and the poems keep coming.  High anxiety, but I'm managing it.  Punk rock (Al Quint's Sonic Overload) and writing. Donate …

DJUNAH: Ex Voto

DJUNAH, Ex Voto Goddamn, this is rad!  This is the first (and second) time I've listened to Djunah before. Right off the bat, this Chicago two piece is pounding and shredding away. This is noise rock with an emphasis on rock. Most people hear “noise” and think right away of noodling, but no; Djunah has …

Anxiety Blisters In The Sun

I have bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder (and one or two other disorders.)  The anxiety is the worst, and most consistent.  I'm also a night owl.  I feel better at night; my anxiety is highest during the day.  So I was wondering: could this be biological?  Are some people …

Notes of A Mad Blogger

Welcome! If I may repeat myself, I recently (as of 10/25/2019) repurposed my old, basically dormant blog (fka WAR DURING LIFETIME) to be a (mostly) music blog.  I have a large archive of stories, poems and essays here, for now at least.  But due to my obsession with music and my proclivity for writing, it …

Halloween ’19 Pt. 1

BEATERSBAND, Black Christmas (Independent) I heard they already put up the Christmas lights in Downtown Chicago.  I’m not sure my source on that is reliable. I live (temporarily) in a home for nutjobs.  But my buddy Leonardo asked me to review this EP, released in September (at least it rhymes with December), and I can’t …

rnrnrnb

NOTE: As I’ve said, I call this THE PUNK ROCK NEIGHBORHOOD because the music I write about will be primarily punk rock and its bastard relatives and offspring.  I’ve also said that I will stray outside that arena altogether. I truly like all genres of music, to some extent; each one has AT LEAST a …

Mary Halvorson is Punk as Fuck

I didn't do any reviews Sunday (it's half-past midnight in Chicago, so technically Monday,) but I have a good excuse: a good friend came by with gifts: a nice acoustic guitar and a beautiful bass guitar.  I put in 3-4 hours of practice and spent the rest of the day on social media.  I also …

“Fat”, or, “Isabella’s,” or, “Loomis,” or, “I Don’t Dance,” or,

"Noodles" Dan and Mandy met at a party, at the home of a mutual friend, and didn't talk much till the crowd dispersed. Then they lay on their backs on the living room floor as the August dawn aggressively broke. When they met again it was September; Dan was sleepless, off the dead man's shift …

Van Gogh’s Dickens

"Any person who loves another person, Wherever in the world, is with us in this room--- Even though there are battlefields." -Kenneth Patchen, from "Creation" 1. "LOVING VAN GOGH'S STROKES" I went in through the window (Second Story) And bent in the winds' blows (Here gets gory) I spent dead folks' bloodflows As the clock …

Two Birds, No Stones

"This is where I walked night after night; This is where I walked away many years." -Charles Reznikoff SHITLIST Last time Ed Noonan was at Mulholland Dive was two months ago. He and Frisco and Anna went there every Wednesday night with a carousel of companions for dollar cups of Old Milwaukee. The bar didn’t …

This Ain’t Maxwell Street

Michigan Avenue, and jacking beer off a loading dock; Michigan Avenue, therapy session in a New Yorker cartoon; Michigan Avenue, in the old library's mosaically domed rotunda wrapped in Addison's ribbon; Michigan Avenue, ribbing Roberto, puking in the night-shade sidewalk. Stoplights, scams, shopworn hands on deck; Michigan Avenue, blue.

Forecast: Freezing Drizzle

"Holy fucking balls mother of shit christ fuckfuckfuck..." "Jesus shitting hell motherfucking sonofabitch hell..." "FUCK.  FUCK.  SHIT.  FUCK ME.  SHIT LIFE..." Barreling down I-55 into Central Illinois.   Truck called Dillinger.  I drive.  Joey sits Shotgun.  Coldest day of the early mid-winter. We'd made our choice.  No heat.  Inhaling anti- Freeze steam.  Cursing through clenched …

Florence, Hymn One

I have a sip of coffee And then lay down to sleep My dollars are offers * I watch out the window Maybe for my Michael Or, for my Michael * I stay local And cook while Clocks turn circles * Even under trinities I repeat cycles Waiting infinitely For my Michael or Michael

Moon Chanty 1

One More To Sing At Sea They skip across the pond (meanwhile, downtown, potholes need to be filled; they reveal no earth anyway) They intersect: Portland, Chicago's Loop, German artists looking down upon the autobahn from a train engineered for flight (which follows patterns more understandable on land) They can silence an ambulance, stomping out sirens …

Why Don’t We Just Sell Texas?

Ahh.  Back to work today.  I've been getting jerked around by a small town police department on my quest for a chauffer's license.  Yes, it was my own damn fault that I waited until my third week to seek out something I was required to have by my fifth.  Yes, I'd experienced the indifference and …