Sonic Overload 5/2/11

I recorded this show the day after US Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden, after nearly ten years on the run and eight years to the day after George W. Bush said “Mission Accomplished!” It’s a mix of emotions—I’m not sad about the death of Osama (and I’m not going to get involved with conspiracy theories and the like) but I’m not looking forward to the inevitable outpouring of rah-rah jingoism that has already begun. The show begins with a nearly-surreal bit of audio from Geraldo Rivera on Fox “News.” It’s not very long but I felt as though I might need to clean the screen off after hearing his ejaculatory euphoria (there’s a pretentious turn of the phrase, eh?) As I’ve written in this space and others on countless occasions, Ellen and I lost someone who we considered part of our family, our dear friend Jane, who perished on one of the planes. I feel the same way about any sort of extreme nationalism now as I did then.

This week’s show is dedicated to the memory of Poly Styrene, vocalist for X-Ray Spex, who passed away last week after a battle with breast cancer. Poly, whose real name was Marianne
Elliott-Said, was only 53. This show also goes out in memory of my high school classmate Mike “Lavies” Lavoie, who also succumbed to cancer last week at the age of 51.

On a more upbeat note, I hope everyone had a wonderful May Day this past weekend.  And I also mentioned that I’d appeared on my friend Jack Phoenix’s web show Ritual Noise. He’s on Monday and Wednesday nights from 9 PM to midnight eastern

Sonic Overload 5/2/11

TRACK 1

SCURVY DOGS-Kiss My Talibuns (Rodent Popsicle)

DOVE-Ambivalence (from “Bouncing Babies,” Fountain Of Youth)
CONDEMNED 2 DEATH-Media Control (Grand Theft Audio)
RETCHING RED-Bullshit Repellent (self-released)
GIVE UP-Nothing Path (Peterwalkee)
STREET LEGAL-Knocked Off My Feet Again (Shut Up)
NO VALUE-Punk Show (from “Tomorrow Will Be Worse, Vol. 4,” Sound Pollution)

WARDS-Over My Dead Body (self-released)
THE CLAP-VD’s No Laughing Matter (Dionysus)
CATBURGLARS-I Hate My Friends (Cowabunga)
NO TALK-A Houston Punk Is A Dead Punk (Psychowolf)
INSERVIBLES-Una Vez Mas (Shogun)
DEATH TRAP-No Majority (Feral Kid/Warm Bath)

POLLUTION-Black Commune (Desensitized)
DUSTHEADS-The Bends (Don Giovanni)
CRESS-TV Screen (Tribal War)
RUDIMENTARY PENI-Farce (Corpus Christi)

TRACK 2

X-RAY SPEX set, in memory of Poly Styrene (all selections on EMI or Sanctuary)
Oh Bondage! Up Yours!
Let’s Submerge
I Am A Poseur
I Live Off You
I Am A Cliche
Identity

WOMEN-We Don’t Talk (FDS)
HEAT TAPE-Spend It (Red Scare)
THE PANIK-Modern Problems (from “It Won’t Sell,” Rainy City)
BEASTIE BOYS-Lee Majors Come Again (Capitol)
SWELL MAPS-Black Velvet (Alive)
KIDS-No Monarchy (Philips)

TRACK 3

MAYDAY-Shark Sandwich (Feral Kid)
GONE BAD-Midnight Love (self-released)
JESUS H. BOMBS-Food Stuffs (Bookoven)
RENEGADES OF PUNK-Difference (Thrashbastard)
HUMAN MESS-No One Will Find Out (No Way)
OMEGAS-Modern Glory (Parts Unknown)

ANTISEEN-Queen City Stomp (TKO)
HELLMOUTH-Exodus (Paper and Plastic)
PARASYTIC-Traitor (Vex)
MEANWHILE-They Remain Dead (Feral Ward)

REAL KIDS-She’s Alright (Red Star)
RICH KIDS-Rich Kids (EMI)
RUNAWAYS-School Days (Mercury)
SENSELESS THINGS-Legal Lies (from “Underground Rockers Volume 2,” Link)