Tag Archives: punk rock

Music, Pop Culture

DVD Review: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead, a Documentary About The Damned

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The Damned Documentary

Coming of age in the late 1970s, I was in the right place at the right time to enjoy the character-shaping birth of British Punk Rock,  as well as having a ground zero experience of the Southern California Punk Rock movement, which was equally legendary.

It was a great time to be a teenage music lover! It was also a blessing that driving up to LA to see a punk band was not always necessary, because Orange County had its own live music venue that booked both US and UK-based acts; a dive-y little joint, hidden away in an industrial neighborhood of Costa Mesa, which was called The Cuckoo’s Nest. It was at The Cuckoo’s Nest in 1979 that I first saw The Damned live, on tour in support of what is arguably still their best and most popular album, Machine Gun Etiquette.

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Design and Innovation

Pink Thing of The Day: “God Save Queens” Tote Bag

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God Save Queens Tote Bag
Photo By Gail

Photographed in the Gift Shop at the Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows, Corona Park, New York.

Music, Pop Culture

The Damned Documentary, Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead To Be Released May 20th!

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Don't You Wish That We Were Dead Damned Doc

One year after it first debuted at SXSW 2015, director Wes Orshoski’s long-awaited documentary on British Punk Rock legends The Damned is finally coming out on DVD May 20th, 2016, and all I can say is it’s about fucking time. I can’t wait to own it, and I will be writing a full review for you once it is in my hot little hands! In the meantime, please enjoy my amazing and hilarious interview with Captain Sensible from August 2001 at This Link, and watch the trailer below!

Music, Pop Culture

Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk at the Queens Museum

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The Ramones By Shepard Farley
L to R: Dee Dee, Tommy, Joey, and Johnny. Portraits of the Original Ramones by Shepard Fairey (All Photos By Gail)

Hey, do you love The Ramones? I sure do; so much so, that I even made the trek, by subway train and foot, all the way out to Flushing Meadows, Corona Park (a long, long ass way) to visit the Queens Museum, where there is a newly-opened exhibit that is all about Forest Hills, Queens favorite sons, the legendary Ramones. Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk, as you can imagine by the title, is pretty sweet.

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Music, Pop Culture

Video Clip of The Week: Idle Bloom, “Mind Reader”

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Just when you thought that the mere idea of filming a few scenes for your music video in a cemetery was just unbearably cliche, Nashville-based rawk quartet, Idle Bloom come along to show you that it can be done in a way that is still original and cool! What is even going on in this frenetically edited video? I have no idea, really. All I know is that it matches the energy and carefree sense of fun and adventure that comes through in this exciting little song that I just want to hear over and over.

Aurally, Idle Bloom embrace a simply transcendent blend of melody and discord distinctive to musical icons such as Husker Du and The Pixies — for those of you over 40 — but which folks with a more up-to-the-minute grasp of what The Kids are listening to say should appeal to fans of groups like Dilly Dally, a band that we also find to be pretty groovy!

Idle Bloom members include Olivia (vocals & guitars), Callan (vocals & guitar), Katie (bass), and Weston (drums). The band recently completed their debut EP, Some Paranoia, which is out now via hometown label Theory Eight Records, and available wherever fine music is procured. Like them on the FaceBook at This Link. Enjoy!

Idle Bloom Band
Idle Bloom: The Band!