HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all, my friends who are the most important Mustard Relics of all, a tall glass of water and a wide cup of coffee to you. I think my New Year's resolutions are going to be, coming to work on time every day and not taking a nap during lunch.
One of my wife's old party friends had a son who died of alcohol poisoning a week or so ago, he was 20. This is of course a real tragedy, him being a young man with so much to live for, as it is when any young person dies. It got me to thinking about things like fate, luck, divine intervention, etc. I'm sure if you grew up partying like I did you know someone who died from alcohol poisoning. For me, in high school it was some kid on a skiing trip (or did he die from hypothermia from passing out in the snow...can't remember which). What makes that one person, every so often, die from having just that little bit too much? Suicide really, even though you have every intention of waking up the next morning (albeit with a massive hangover)), so maybe it's just playing with fire. Maybe guys are just young and are doing things like beer bonging hard liquor, I don't know the exact circumstances. Sometimes even pro drinkers like the late Amy Winehouse, manage to drink themselves to death. Starting to babble a bit here, but I certainly can't understand how I managed to live through all the shit I did and that kid didn't.
I am not a good singer but I've always admired a good voice. I can't play any instruments, but I can respect the artistry of playing one. I've never been able to dance, but I'm in awe of someone who is light on their feet. A band that was all those things, live in 1979...
Not sure why I'm not dedicating a whole post to this 7" as it's not bad, but it just didn't hit me hard enough to have a whole post dedicated to it. The band on the flipside, Spithead, you would think I would really dig with that ska vibe, but somehow they were just average. Jackbeast on the other hand blew me away, with that kinda touch and go sophisticated feel. You can get all their stuff from the DIY Irish Hardcore Punk Archive, but do yourself a favor and give at least one of their two tunes a listen.
I first got into Tom Waits in college circa 1987, at the hand of my friend Katie who was a one of the boys kind of girls. Dude has been around since the early 70's doing his thing and I suppose when I first got into him it was kind of trendy among college students to listen to him. His voice is a make it or break it kind of thing and I guess for me it makes it and the music is a bluesy, folky, cabaret deal. But I don't need to blab too much about that. "Lucinda" and "Bottom of the World" were written by Waits, but with what he does with Ledbetter's "Ain't Goin' Down to the Well" my jaw literally dropped (especially at the chorus). Start the New Year off right and give that one a listen.
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