Zounds

I on the other hand, for most of my life anyway, did not choose to have "clean, healthy living" so I probably won't have to worry about decrepitude.

I try very hard not to think that I'm better than anyone else, but I'm surrounded by people who make that difficult.  Anyone else have that problem?

Heard this tune the other day on the radio while I was driving home.  Kinda surprised me and gave me this eclectic feeling for the small town radio station I listen to these days.  The wires were crossed in my brain and I could have sworn it was Oingo Boingo and just having the name of that band instantly transported me back to high school.  About as close to punk as the group we all called "soc" (short for "social") could get.  Anybody into them, Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party? I didn't mind them and actually they have a pretty interesting history prior to that tune, in case you guys don't have anything better to do than take my word for it and check.  That song reminds me of Rodney Dangerfield's "Back to School".  The single before that (with me it seems like the earliest output of bands, especially ones that got popular, is the best) is a little better in my opinion, Oingo Boingo - Only A Lad Funny thing is, that the tune I heard on the radio wasn't even Oingo Boingo it was, The Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another, which isn't bad for a popular tune either.  I'm not even going to get into that one though because it's been awful quiet round here and I don't think even my "regulars" give much of a shit for all this extra crap I put into these posts anyway.

Illegal immigration seems to be a hot topic with that Arizona legislation, you guys in the states might know what I'm talking about (for those of you elsewhere, I'm curious what the view is on immigration in your parts).  Not trying to polarize all five of you that comment around here, but I had some thoughts.  I'm not some kind of angelic law abiding citizen or anything (I always thought of myself as the smart criminal until I started getting arrested for being a drunk), but what is difficult to understand about "illegal".  I'm not saying it's right, but in most cases if you do something illegal, you have consequences to face.  From what I can tell this Arizona thing is on the fascist, racist side of things (Slam, if you're still coming round my little hole in the wall here, remember how our old boss Dennis Macomber used to pronounce "racist" as "ray shist").  I always thought if they didn't like that people wanted to come here to live (it's a compliment really) they ought to punish the greedy bastards who hire illegals for cheap labor.  If there's no work, people will not come.  I'm not even going to approach the Native American view of immigration, that one's pretty played out.  Just as a side note, been reading the history of the tribe that supposed some of my family is descended from and they were just as flawed as any other group of human being you can find on this planet.  Not saying that the systematic genocide of Native people by the USA was anything but evil, but the people of the tribes were opportunistic and had ever changing wars and allegiances with each other.  Back to immigration.  A couple other thoughts.  How does a person leave where they are, for what ever reason, to come to what I assume they feel is a better place, and still retain loyalty to that place.  For instance, Mexico, for many reasons is, I think objectively, not a better place to live than the US.  Why hold onto your national pride if you left?  On a sillier level, I can't stand the "Colorado Native" and "Can't Beat Texas" stickers on the cars of people who live in Kansas.  If it's so fucking great go back.  But I'm not a nationalist so I guess I'm just pretending like I can think logically.  Why is it that people who can walk across a border are given priority over the rest of the people in the world who want to be here (and I should add, apply for legal immigration)?  Again, I could give a fuck, because I think that despite the fact that 99.999999% of the human race are idiots who value materialism over everything else, everyone has the right to be happy and have the ability to supply themselves with their basic needs.  I'm guilty of it too, but humanity is always going to suck when they value selfishness and look at the world as "us" vs. "them". "Me" is my priority and the reality is "you" can go fuck yourself. Sad.

On a lighter note, there's shit loads of oil bubbling up from the bottom of the sea and we're driving around, to and fro.  Human beings (we) are the worst thing to ever happen to this planet.

Blah, blah, blah...

Been into these guys forever, at least since my buddy Kevin Hasely, who was a year ahead of me, turned me onto them back in high school.  It wasn't difficult because I bought into the whole anarcho-punk Crass thing from the beginning.  These guys stand on their own though as just a damn good band.  Very Crass-like, but maybe a little more laid back.  What it says on the sleeve says it all, "Whoever puts his hands on me to govern me is a usurper and a tyrant.  I declare him my enemy"-PJ Proudhon.  This is their first vinyl thing, 1980, but I think in some way, shape or form, they have continued on with all kinds of output, check their site at Zounds Online. The, invaluable to this era of English punk, Kill Your Pet Puppy has a VERY nice live set from these guys from back in the day. I was going to take his recording, rip it into tracks, label it and all that good stuff, but I'm feeling a little negative about my site and got to thinking it would just be a wasted effort (I'll do it for myself later because it is a damn good set). My buddy Doug E. Grime got this for me in about 1990 for $10 from some place in San Fransisco, maybe the Record Vault on Polk (is that still there?). Even back then used punk vinyl was selling for more than it's worth. Actually, this is worth that and more, what the fuck, it's just money. Can't Cheat Karma War/Subvert Downloaded these1979 Demo tracks, from some place a while back (I guess I am feeling benevolent). Later. War Wolves Daddy I Just Wanna Be Loved War(dub)