Doomed

DOOMED I TELL YOU DOOMED
by Timm Carney

Society in modern America frightens me.
It frightens me that in this day and age someone can be denied access to this country for moral turpitude.
Moral Turpitude! Who lodged these charges? Mary Baker Eddy? When was the last time some one was charged with moral turpitude? We are going to hell! The signs are appearing! Madonna is in the rock and roll hall of fame! Who's next -- Cher?
I'm sure Madonna is a very nice lady but lets face it rock and roll she is not. She may possibly roll but certainly doesn't rock.
I blame this all on Nancy Reagan. The bitch got the whole thing started.
Her war on fun is being fully waged now. We are under attack. The Morally Correct are taking over the world.
The only good thing I can say about Madonna being inducted into the Hall of Fame is at least she has no morals and if she does she certainly doesn't flaunt them. Don't get me wrong: our society has sluts but they are all vapid sluts. Britney Spears doesn't have an intellectual thought in her head. She goes shopping and out for big gulps.
Paris Hilton should be voted into the Vapid Hall of Fame along with all her fans. Fans of what exactly I don't know.
Did you hear any of her CDs? I have to admit I did give 3 tracks about 15 seconds each.
The dumbing down and moral correctness is undermining our society. Where is Mimi Farina when we need her?
What's going on in our society is bullshit. Barack Obama smoked pot. Come on, he grew up in the 70's,
and was in college in the eighties, who didn't smoke pot? Even Christians smoked pot! If you didn't, you were suspect.
Thank goodness for people like Barney Frank. He has been trying to decriminalize marijuana for years.
SICK PEOPLE NEED IT. Stoners don't go out and get into high speed car wrecks; drunks do.
Stoners can't find their keys. Sebastian Horsley can't come into this country because he admitted to having been arrested
and using drugs. Boy George seems to have no problem crossing borders. Where is the justice in that?
Amy Winehouse is the junkie du jour. Perhaps it is England causing all our problems. It must be a plot of Prince Philip's.
Is he hatching another evil plan in a tower of Balmoral? Is this all in retribution for 1776?
It would explain George Michael's latest tour. We are doomed I tell you -- doomed!
People don't play guitars anymore they play a computer game about playing guitars! We are turning into mindless spineless jelly.
How much longer until evolution evolves us back to a protoplasm? Is it our future to exist as mere electrical impulses in ectoplasm? Are we to become cognizant aspic? What does Lee Ron Hubbard have to say? Someone summon Sacred Leader Cruise for advice.

My Grandfather Lester Phillips

Narragansett Larger Beer!

What goes better with punk rock than cheap beer? Free beer? Well any beer will do really, but cheap beer is a must. Narragansett beer is just one of those beers. Founded sometime in the mid 1800’s Narragansett started brewing larger beer. It became the largest brewing company in New England. Sometime in the late 20^th century the brewery was bought by Falstaff brewing and basically fell out of favor and almost out of production. The biggest brand of beer in New England was for intents and purposes dead.

Then right at the turn of the 21^st century two guys bought the name, got some money together, hired a brew master and got the brew back on the market. They are making good Punk Rock beer. I prefer the tall boy cans; they are the traditional way to drink a ‘Gansett. It is just as good as the original and just as cheap too. If you are paying more than a couple of bucks for a draft you are being shafted! Narragansett has been preserved! These guys deserve some sort of an award for keeping a vital part of punk rock society alive. Cheap beer rules. Cosmos and Manhattans are not punk rock, beer is. That is all there is to it. Shots are great, they’re punk rock too, but beer really is king. Mickey’s and Burgie! are the closest things to Narragansett on the west coast. Narragansett’s other major brew is Haffenreffer. That’s good malt liquor! Equally as punk rock. Malt Liquor can hold its own in. There was a day when every city and area had its own local brew. Girls like Lavern and Shirley really did exist. Times have changed and become more corporate that why it is great to see companies like Narragansett making a come back. Drink the local beer, eat the local food, and see local bands. Don’t let corporate top 40 and homogenization win.

Fight the man! Have a “Gansett!

Young @ Heart

So you think you're an old Punk rocker. Ha! You are nothing unless you are as old as the members of the Young at Heart Chorus. The minimum age of the chorus is 73 and they rock. Have you ever heard a group of 80 something's belt out a version of "I Wanna be Sedated" or Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia"? Well you should. A 2006 documentary was made for England's Channel 4 and released by Fox Searchlight pictures recently played on PBS as a part of its Independent Lens series. The film documents the story of the chorus from Northampton' Massachusetts and its members. The director of the chorus is man named Bob Cilman who brings a love of modern music and punk rock songs to a group of elderly singers. The chorus' take on punk songs is a refreshing' exciting albeit campy experience. They have a CD available on Rhino Records titled "Mostly Live" on which they cover songs like "Walk on the Wild Side" "Should I Stay or Should I Go" "Ruby Tuesday" and "Yes We Can Can". You can't help but love this chorus and their vitality. The documentary gives you what appears to be a true picture of them health issues and all. It is touching' sad' and hilarious experience. If you want to see a great rock and roll movie make a point of renting it or looking for it on your local PBS station. The chorus is the essence of ROCK ON.

Museum of Death

“The bats have left the bell tower The victims have been bled Red velvet lines the black box”

It is a beautiful sunny LA day. I pull into the parking lot on Hollywood Blvd. and park. On the street I walk to the door recessed in bougainvillea I have arrived. I am at the Museum of Death. At the door of the inner sanctum of the museum (I guess this would be death’s door) I am met by JD the owner/curator of the Museum and gallery next door. “Welcome to the Museum of Death” he extends his tattooed arm and we shake. He is warm; very friendly and totally punk rock. I am directed through some velvet curtains into the Serial Killer room and told if I have any questions to let him know. BAM there I am alone in a room with an electric chair and walls covered by paintings from the hands and minds of serial killers. This is the Museum of Death get into it and over it. I move on after my fill of John Gasy’s creepy clown paintings. There is room after room of ghastly treasures to come! Caskets, bones, autopsy tutorial videos, cases filled with various mortician tools the list is endless. I was totally enthralled by a wall covered in matchbooks from funeral homes. There is a plenty of death ephemera in every room. This is Hollywood so celebrity deaths are not forgotten. There is a room dedicated to the Manson Family with plenty of gruesome Sharon Tate photos and creepy Charlie art. Heaven’s Gate has its own little room too complete with authentic costumes and bunk beds. Dead rock stars are always a crowd pleaser and the Museum of Death pulls out all the stops with its G G Allin collection. I personally loved the juxtaposition of Marilyn Monroe’s autopsy photos and JFK’s. There is a small room of taxidermy that is very interesting. The animals are mainly albino and eerily beautiful. One of my favorite rooms is a screening room decorated in a funeral home fashion. I watch a little punk rock while I gathered my thoughts before heading out to the real world aka the gift shop. JD is ushering a small group of tourists into his chamber of horrors as I enter the room. We chat about the museum and the gallery next door. He tells me the museum started out in San Diego and moved to Hollywood about 10 years ago and into this Hollywood Blvd. space fairly recently. The building was once a recording studio owned by Ray Charles in the 1960’s and a slew of punk bands recorded in a studio in the section of the building around the corner. Enough people come to the museum to keep the doors to his collection open and JD seems to like it that way. This isn’t Madame Tussaud’s it’s the real thing. That’s a real decapitated head in there! The admission is worth the price believe me! I walk out to the sidewalk after meeting JD’s Siamese two headed turtle. I get into the car and radio is playing “Detachable Penis”. How odd I think to myself, “I just saw a picture of one.”

Michael Frost Is Not Dead

Michael Frost is not dead

Michael Frost is not dead. No matter what you have read or what he may have told you; he is not dead.  Who the fuck is Michael Frost? He is an artist. He is a writer, film maker and visual 2D artist. Born in Spain of Spanish and American parents he moved to the US in the 1970’s. Michael Frost is someone you should know about.

In June of 2011 a show of his collage paintings called “Cut Ups” hung in the Edgar Varela Fine Arts Gallery in Los Angeles.  These works were created with pieces of 1960’s Spanish movie posters pasted together and augmented with paint and LED lights. The amusing and alarming images captivate the audience as do his films. His film “3 Stories about Evil”, a still montage, exemplifies both the amusing and the alarming aspects of his work. One of the stories is “The Story of Pat and Pepper”. It involves a mother played by Mink Stole and her show business daughter Pepper a plastic baby doll. The images like those in the “Cut Ups” show are hilarious and disturbing at the same time. 

Michael Frost along with his partner Charles Wright produce, write and direct films as Helsinki Productions.  Their award winning short film “The Harvey Girl from Shanghai” is a mash up of stories making an entirely new and fascinating and funny story.  This story too is collage not at all unlike his “Cut Ups” works.  They are currently working on a feature film titled “Shut Ins” based on a web series starring Erica Gavin, a true Hollywood bad girl. She was a star the Russ Meyers movies “Vixen” and “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”.  Michael has future shows of his paintings and other scripts in various states of production right now.  This is a man to keep an eye on as you never know what he will turn out next.  Information about Michael Frost’s future shows and works available can be found on his website www.frostisdead.com .