Life on the Road

This fabulous photo was taken by the one and only canderson during the Horizontal Action Blackout in Chicago Memorial Day Weekend. Please click on his name and see all his wonderful photos!



The lady on the left is Windy, also an up and coming photographer from Memphis. You can check out her Blackout stuff here.



The Blackout was not the only thing on my agenda during the Chicago part of my road trip. There was the Big Fat Greek Family, and there was Blondie. Actually, I had no idea Blondie was on tour, but a friend who works in a record store spotted my friend, Blondie drummer Clem Burke, whom I promptly called. He invited me to the show and I took in the 2006 Road Rage Tour (with The New Cars) when it made its appearance in the Chicago area at Ravinia.





Clem looks as youthful today as ever, and was youthfully excited about having recently been inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. The Rock Hall puts inductees on display alphabetically, so Blondie are next to the Beatles! Well deserved placement for my man Clem!

I haven't seen Blondie play since probably 1980 - and even then when they were playing to 4,000 people, it was freaky. At Ravinia, they were playing to many more thousands who paid anywhere from $15 for places on the lawn (with no view of the stage) to $85 for seats in the Pavilion in front of the stage. Its mind blowing.

Debbie Harry looks amazing and remains the campy and fabulous girl group goddess with neon taste in clothes.



A couple nights ago, I arrived in Detroit and promptly went to see Cuckold and the new band comprised of three former members of Rocket 455 (Steve Nawara, et al) at the Lager House. Not exactly sure what the former Rocket guys are calling themselves, but they put on a stupendous rock n roll performance.



Mike Walker's Cuckold put on a loud, sleazy, greasy set that paid direct tribute to one of Mike's punk rock idols, who was in the house, John Brannon of Negative Approach, a Detroit hardcore group that many believed were heir to the Stooges.


Fun was had by all and as you can see, I even lived to tell...even though the online/internet powers that be have been difficult at best to wrangle these last few weeks.... I am crossing my fingers that I don't lose this connection or that my email doesn't crash again..... 5,475 emails.... only read about 200 of them so far. I liked it better when we didn't have these expectations of instant communication! Viva Punk Samizdat. Its got to make a come-back.

Remember LA people, keep the Don't Knock the Rock Film Festival on your calendars!

And for TONIGHT - if you live in Columbus, OH, DO NOT FORGET: Dirtbombs & Cheater Slicks and Guinea Worms at Little Brothers -- easily the best show you'll see this month...