"Hooks", Line & Sinker

Can't hang much on ole' Mr. Hooks here besides several sides on 'Excello', home of such illustrious performers as Slim Harpo, among others. Likewise, the only other encouraging note I could find on Coleman is some scattered session work, but none of it quite holds a torch to this, his insidious plan of putting a black widow spider in the coffee of a former paramour !!!

More soul than blue lit, ya have to hand it to Hooks; it shows a lot of ingenuity where a simple pistol or hatchet would have sufficed.

Have a hot cup of Joe on Mr. Coleman here...just make sure you check the mug for arachnids.

Black Widow Spider - "Hooks" Coleman

A Tale Of A Strange Phenomena.

Goth Music, or Death Rock? It is a question that has plagued people for millennia. Ok, so I might be exaggerating a bit. Might not seem much of a difference, yet if you were to ask the average ghoul in full makeup on line @ a Quick-Check, them's could be fightin' words, or, more likely than not, illicit a muttering of curses to bookend their passive-aggressive deference.


Having seen the cultural devastation that is 'Emo' cutting itself discreetly into the fore-arms of the cultural lexicon, I find myself longing for spookier days in Bowery, when people didn't take themselves (and their haircuts) too seriously and post-modern vampirism was hitherto unknown. I am talking, of course, about a liberal dose of self deprecating humor - I am talking about 45 Grave.

"Formed from the remains of The Consumers by Rob Ritter / Graves of The Bags, Don Bolles of The Germs, Paul Cutler and Dinah Cancer (one of the best stage names ever), the most-underrated 45 Grave began as Vox Pop in the '70s, playing at the infamous and legendary L.A. punk institution the Masque. Driven by a gleeful twisted fascination with B-movies and gore-nography, Vox Pop eventually decomposed into 45 Grave, perhaps the very first gothic band. Though it would be near impossible to pinpoint the exact scope of their [bad] influence, suffice to say that 45 Grave far predate both the much-hyped Bat Cave movement in the UK and the formation of Christian Death and that Nikki Sixx even admitted in print that Motley Crue stole 45 Grave's easily-recognizable goathead-pentagram logo! But unlike those artists, who took themselves far too seriously, 45 Grave always had their tongues firmly planted in their gaunt, deathly-white cheeks : for them it was just good dirty fun."

What can I say? Any band that covers 'Riboflavin Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Poly-Unsaturated Blood' by Don Hinson is a fiend, er, friend o' mine. Enjoy some cuts off their lesser known posthumous sophomore album 'Autopsy'. Ole' Uncle Red is gonna throw a 'Y' incision your way. Catch a New-Wave to a shallow grave!

Anti Em - 45 Grave

Take 9 - 45 Grave

My Type - 45 Grave

Green Slime!!!

Dropped by the Meadowlands for a rummage sale this morning - By the by, that new Xanadu sports complex looks like someone ate a bag of Razzles and threw up on an airport. Anyway, while jiving w/ the local color, a kindly old woman, upon noticing a copy of the Divine single under my arm, opined "Ain't he / she the one in that movie where the guy whistles 'Surfin Bird' out his asshole" (yup). Feeling a sale coming on, she points me towards her corner of sky and several boxes of vinyl. Most of it is Rogers and Hammerstein shit w/ the exception of one single...The Green Slime (!?!?!)



Composed by Charles Fox of 'Barbarella' fame this 1968 promotional tie-in was designed to cater to the youth market with it's sharp leads and ambiguous (Awful) lyrics regarding disassociation and, what else, but Green Slime!?!? Not quite sure how the two relate to a Japanese Sci-Fi movie, but it makes for a wonderfully awful theme.

Check out the trailer.



So there it is, 'The Green Slime'. It's more fun than whistling 'Surfin' Bird' out your Asshole. Enjoy.

Green Slime - Green Slime

In a time when Turtles ruled the earth!!!

In honor of Devildick and his addoration of all things 1-4-5 and 'Twangy'...



Long before Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman rode the White Whale to Frank Zappa's doorstep, these two 16 year old gawkers teemed up with classmate and all around ace guitarist Al Nichols to kill the So-Cal Surf competition as the Crossfires. A local smash in their neck o' the sand, these kids were so tops that they managed to kill famed ax-hanger Eddie Bertrand in their Battle o' the Bands, no small feat considering Bertrands tenure in the Bel-Aires (Mr. Moto) and later Eddie & the Showmen (Squad Car). Though they recorded about a dozen killer tracks, only two singles ever saw the light of day during their lifespan, the hen's tooth above and a bonified snotty punker that goes by 'One Potatoe, Two Potatoe' (Not to be confused with the 'Elite' song of the same name). Enjoy.

Jekyll & Hyde - The Crossfires

Fiberglass Jungle - The Crossfires

And now for something in the Jugular vein...

Labels don't get no sweeter than the figural outing of this 1958 ode to hunchbackery. Pretty much the same cut on the flip, though it's a good cut to begin with. Comped a billion times, I think it bears repeating.Boo!

Igor's Lament - Tony & the Monstrosities