IT'S A LIVING… BUT IT'S NOT A LIFE #10.8
J Church and Honey Bear Records Crazy Talk
It's Getting' Cold in 2002 - Free the Posh Spice Nine!
J CHURCH AND DFI CDS OUT NOW!
Okay, so you as you are hopefully already aware, the J Church Palestine
CD and the DFI self-titled CD are now out and in stores. If you are one
of those folks who prefer mail-order (as well you should!), they're $10
post-paid from me (checks/mo's to Lance Hahn and Pay Pal to honeybearrecords@hotmail.com).
If you are ordering from Europe, that's $14 and from Asia it's $17. I'm
really happy that people seem to be digging both of these records. It's
a huge relief. Now let's see if anyone buys them…
Dave and I are working on making proper sheet music available for the
DFI record. Yup, you'll be able to get that right from me for $4 ppd.
Also, I'll be finally getting those Storm The Tower 7"s back in
stock. Thanx to everyone who has waited so patiently after having sent
orders in. I'll let you know as soon as I've got all the parts here.
CRAZY STUFF FOR SALE
It's time to try and raise some money for the label. After sending out
a few hundred promos of the J Church and DFI CDs, I found that I just
had a few dollars in the label fund. So here are some items for sale for
your perusal.
First off, the live series I'm finally getting around to doing
something I've wanted to do since I first put out those live CDRs. I'm
gonna start releasing them as super limited edition LPs as fundraisers
for the label. They will each be $15 post paid and limited to 50 copies!
Yeah, like the singles club (which I do plan to continue as soon as I've
got the funds) it sort of panders to the collector market. But it seems
a little less awkward than all the benefit shows that are happening in
my name. I mean, I'm extremely grateful for anyone doing a benefit for
me and to everyone who has donated stuff. But if the money goes right
to me, I'd like to think I'm personally giving SOMETHING back in return.
The first live album will be HB022 You Don't Have To Say `No'
Live at Peabody's in Cleveland 03-17-97. You can order
it now and there is no limit to how many you can order. First come first
serve…
I may also do some crazy limited singles with unreleased stuff in the
new year.
Here are some other older J Church things I've got back in stock for
mail-order…
T-shirts I've got a batch of shirts left over from our last tour.
The sizes are XL, L, M and baby doll. They're $12 ppd.
I've got quite a few of the old J Church 7"s and CDs. I'll get
the full list up at some point. But e-mail me if there is something in
particular that you're looking for.
It's not too late to join the singles club. I'll be getting that back
off the ground in the beginning of next year. To all of you overseas people
who's copies of the first two singles were destroyed in the fire, have
no fear: I'll have the records repressed at the beginning of next year
and you'll have your J Church and Hard Skin singles.
NEXT YEAR'S MODELS
So, despite all of the disaster and debt caused by 2002, I do have many
plans for the label next year.
First of all, I'll finally get it together to release the Flowers In
The Dustbin retrospective CD. It will include just about everything they
recorded including their 12" on All The Madmen (run by the Mob),
their 7" on Mortarhate (Conflict's label), their cassette on 96 Tapes
(run by Rob of the Sect and Sean of Wat Tyler) and their final single
on Cold Harbour. It's pretty great stuff that was very unique while being
a part of the early `80s anarcho punk scene. Incidentally, the band also
featured guitarist Simon Barry who would later play in Cringer for a while.
It's looking more and more like I'll be able to license an NTSC version
of Beautiful Frenzy on video for North America. As some
of you may know, this is the recent documentary made about the Ex. Totally
inspiring, I've seen the film several times myself.
If it weren't for all the disaster of late, we would be talking about
a second Storm the Tower 7" rather than a desperate repress of the
first. So, their second record will be coming out some time early next
year. Hopefully, it will be quickly followed by a full length CD.
It's crazy to have active bands on the label again. I guess it's safe
to assume that unless he finds greener pastures, there will be another
DFI disc next year.
Seeing as DFI, Storm The Tower and J Church have all interacting members
at the moment, we're making a lot of touring plans for next year. Between
recording and releasing stuff, all three bands will hopefully take to
as many countries as possible. We've got new dreams and we've gotta make
`em real.
I've also been talking for over a year now about releasing a collection
of recordings by Metro Youth / Sanction including the original, full length
version of their classic Brutalized from the second Bullshit
Detector comp on Crass and their unreleased 7" also recorded
for Crass Records. The tapes are really amazing, so I'm hoping there'll
be enough interest to do it up properly.
Then, of course, there is the cross I carry with me wherever I go, J
Church. We've been feverishly working on new material including an epic,
Cradle to the Grave meets A Quick One
type song that is coming together surprisingly nicely. There is also a
bunch more material in the Palestine vein which I may
be thinking about releasing since people seem to be really into that one
much to my dismay (and pleasure). There are always the Allied reissues
somewhere in the background. There's really no rush or time limit on any
of this stuff.
REBUILDING NEWS
I was able to finally buy a track ball for the computer. Sounds stupid,
but it's a huge relief. These days, it really is the little things. Getting
CDs and guitar stuff from everyone from friends and labels has been really
cool.
Starting to redecorate too. Anybody know Barry McGee's email? Been meaning
to get in touch forever. Now, I'm really hoping he's still up for trading
as it would be nice to have something of his in my house.
THE LAST ELECTION
Some people are freaking out and others aren't. I don't know. Is anyone
really that surprised about how the elections turned out? It seems like
the Democrats have spent most of the last year going far out of their
way to prove what people like me have been saying all along: the United
States is a one party system.
It's the same old boring story, but in this country we have a right
wing party and an even more right wing party. Lately, since Clinton at
least, there's been virtually no difference at all. The Democrats don't
care about you anymore than the Republicans do. The Democrats have also
shown that they're not going to stop war with Iraq. No agenda and no identity
means the Democrats lose and fuck them anyway. I don't think there's been
a president worth voting for since Jefferson.
I think that this election should, if nothing else, make a lot of decisions
much more clear cut for the left. It's not as if the Democrats were gonna
stop the war or fight poverty or do anything to protect our civil liberties.
But now we don't have a bunch of lame-ass liberals talking about how great
things would be with the Democrats in power. Nope, the United States (and
by this I mean the government) is now unadulterated, pure evil.
But I'm no cynic. No, don't ever think that about me. We've got some
shitty times ahead with the way the economy is heading and the impending
war and even Interpol talking about how something big and bad is about
to happen. But now is the time when more and more people are gonna be
forced by circumstance to climb out of their apathy. You can't be blinded
by the ugly rows of little American flags when the problems are directly
affecting your life.
Remember Reagan and Bush? Remember what we were doing then? Remember
the Gulf War? Those were some fucked up times and to varying degrees,
people rose to the challenge. Maybe we didn't stop the war. But a lot
of people were sent down different life paths when they woke up to realize
that America was not a great, democracy loving, freedom defending nation
that they all thought it was.
It was during these times that the DIY network took root. It was the
anti-Apartheid movement that was happening with shanty towns on campuses
everywhere. It was the No Business As Usual, War Chest and Stop the City
campaigns. It was the solidarity with revolutionary movements in El Salvador,
Guatemala and Nicaragua. It started as a scream of pure frustration but
ended with people realizing that they had to clean up their own backyard
first.
Hence the rebirth of punk DIY as a lifestyle and not just something you
write about. You can't call that cynicism.
IN THE J CHURCH LISTENING ROOM
GREAT CLEARING OFF, THE - Within This Inch, We Are Free
7"
There's been a lot of cool stuff happening around the country lately,
but who can really argue that Philly isn't the capitol of hardcore cool
and has been for the past few years. In the grand tradition that brought
the world Kill the Man Who Questions and RAMBO, comes the debut EP of
The Great Clearing Off. Don't know much about these guys except that they're
bent on destroying consumerism and they've read a little Shakespeare.
Didn't Shakespeare have great contempt for the common people?
Anyway, this is a lively little hardcore record that sounds clean and
while it may be a mode done to death, if it's done with enough spunk,
that's great. Certainly good enough for me as most hardcore singles are
just souvenirs of potentially great live performances. And what's wrong
with that? Just because your record may never have the impact of your
live show doesn't mean you shouldn't try. These kids are trying.
I should also probably mention that this seems to be the first release
from Cheap Art Records that's run by Mike and Andrew from Kill the Man.
It's all good news.
(Cheap Art Records PO Box 2101 Philadelphia, PA 19103)
MORRISON, VAN - Celebrities… At Their Worst Volume 3.1
CD
Hey, fuck y'all, I like Van Morrison. You probably would too if you just
gave him a fucking chance. Yeah, right. You little rugrats get back to
your fucking Orchid and International Noise Conspiracy and Blood Brothers
and leave me with my Astral Weeks… Blah, blah,
blah…
I'd heard that Van the Man had recorded a bunch of stuff back in the
old days that was purposefully dreadful. The idea was that by recording
a bunch of horrible, un-releasable stuff, he would be let out of his contract.
At the time of this recording, he was obligated to Bang Records who in
turn owed him tens of thousands of dollars.
This disc is a document of those 31 god-awful songs he recorded with
this in mind. A lot of it is just totally half assed pop songs with no
thought put into them like Twist And Shake, Shake
And Roll, Stomp And Scream and Scream
and Holler. All these songs are in a row and are essentially
the same thing interchanging the verbs. It's an interesting little mantra
of disrespect.
The songs I think are really funny are the more mean-spirited ones that
take aim at the label like The Big Royalty Check, Thirty
Two, Here Comes Dumb George, and Dumb
Dumb George. I know how you feel and I'm feeling your pain, Van.
What I'm trying to say is: this shit is classic!
(www.transparency.tv)
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