Look, I'm not gonna sit here and try to bullshit you about what a great friendship Brookelyn and I had, because in the end we didn't have one. In the beginning sure but at the end? Fuck no. Truth be told she had me banned and blocked on Facebook and for the life of me I can't remember why. Doesn't matter really. Our relationship ended ugly, bigly ugly, HUGELY ugly, to put it politely, and the last time I saw her in person, downtown in the hedges, is the stuff of legend. I tell everyone the story but I won't share it here... heh heh I had no idea what she was up to as of late, and only knew of the little bit that I did know about her from hearsay and idle gossip from mutual friends. She moved back to Virginia to get away from the Vegas disease and everything that comes with it I heard. She opened an art gallery. She sold real estate. She left it all behind. She grew up. She moved on. I was kind of happy for her. And while I held no aspirations of a Suite 666 reunion with her, as I was rather embarrassed that she carried on with the band once George and I left, as I always am when bands try to replace me with other drummers, but I always wished we could of stayed friends or at lease personable. I did love her, as we all did, because she just had that endearing quality about her that just made you want to know her better, to befriend her and be a part of her world, no matter how big or small that part was. She truly was Art personified though, living it, breathing it, living for it, and living to create it with anyone and everyone. She loved jamming and playing and carried on writing poetry doing her art thing and raising hell in the local music scene with various musicians and drug addicts who were calling themselves musicians, and even in the midst of all the turmoil her sparkling eyes and that cheesy, mischievous smile on her pretty face would stand out. She truly was a piece of work, one of a kind, unforgettable, so when Jeff IM'd me a few days ago asking me if I had heard that Brookelyn had died, I was flabbergasted and a bit shell shocked. You could of told me that a million other people had passed away, and I would've believed you, but you wanna tell me that Brookelyn had died? Hell no. Hell fucking no. That can't be true. No way. She was too tough, too wild, too strong, right? It had to be a mistake or misunderstanding of sorts, right? Right? But alas it's true. Brookelyn moved on and left us behind a few days ago. I'm not sure what the cause was and in the long run it really doesn't matter because she's gone and that's all there is to it. I'm sure if we weren't all under quarantine someone would of announced a memorial service of sorts for her at ye olde Double Clowne, but maybe not. The Las Vegas music scene is a fickle cunt sometimes, but truth be told there's not a lot of us still around much less still living here who would remember her fondly or even bother to care to get off their couch to go somewhere for her remembrance. If there was one though it would involve lots of cheap tequila, dollar store Viagra, and fetish costumes of some sort, where we would sit around and do shots and get shit faced and loud and carry on and tell crazy Brookelyn stories - lord knows I got a million of them! And I'm sure if you were lucky enough to spend any amount of time in Brookelyn's presence that you do too. That's just the type of girl she was. When you ride around with someone for hours at a time, seeing the world pass you by from the comfort of the bench seating inside a cargo van, playing music together, writing songs, being in a band with them and with all the vices and self destructive behavior that comes along with it, all the shared highs, the lows, the booze, drugs, sweat, and blood, a bond is formed, for better or worse, and Brookelyn and I definitely had that bond. She had the ear for a good hook, and her lyrics were disturbing demonic poetry, and I feel honored and privileged to have played the small part that I did in bringing her musical aspirations to life. I'm sad that she's gone, sad that I'll never hear her ask me to check out this riff she's been working on again, sad that I'll never hear her drunkenly yelling my name across a packed bar calling me over to do a shot of tequila with her ever again. She was truly one of God's unique little creations, and her time on this planet was much too short to appreciate it all. If there's anyone who deserves to find peace in the afterlife it's Brookelyn. I hope that she did, and I hope that she's happy and smiling forever and ever. Through her music she will always be a presence in my life, and no one truly dies unless they're forgotten about, and Brookelyn will never be forgotten about by me, that's for damn sure!! ❤ I hope she forgives me, I hope I get to see her again, and most of all, I hope she finds the peace she was always looking for down here with the rest of us. I'm gonna miss her. A lot. Go easy... step lightly... stay free. Salud!
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When I woke up the other day and read the announcement from The Jagoffs on social media that they were calling it a day, I can't say it was a shock. It's a bit of a bummer for sure but it's not a shock. Nope. It wasn't that they weren't a good band, because they were, mining a fundamental Punk Rock sound that they mixed with some subtle Metal sensibilities for all it's worth, but it was more like because I saw them get sucked into that never ending vortex of playing the same shitty bars over and over again, opening up for every touring band that played here on a Thursday night, and if you're in a shitty band that only cares about drinking beers in the parking lot on the downlow, then that's great but if you're a band that actually wants to do more than that, like tour and record and support the scene, well then that vicious circle is gonna lead to burnout and frustration. Not saying that's what happened here, but I bet that I'm close to what the story is. I caught an early Jagoffs gig at the Dive, saw some potential in the band, took a few pictures of them playing and left it at that, figuring that I'd see them play again somewhere down the line but I never did. Oops. They put something out, a release they called Smear Campaign, and promised to get me a copy of said release but never did, and by the time I had found out they put out a 2nd release called Class War and then gave it a review a month later (read it here) they announced they were broke up. Ugh. The bands posting listed a pseudo version of creative differences among other things as the reason for breaking up but I'm sure that even if the Gage father and son duo who make up the bass and vocals of The Jagoffs weren't moving away the band would still be finished. Vegas is a small town and the pool of musical talent here is more like a puddle. Very slim pickings indeed. Listening to the recordings of The Jagoffs shows a good band that cared about putting quality stuff out there and contributing to the scene whenever possible, which is exactly why they floundered here. The Vegas scene doesn't like those type of bands. We don't support them. Vegas doesn't want good bands that play good music, they want cool bands that are cool to be seen with and to say that you know, and if you don't know the difference I feel sorry for you. Yeah, The Jagoffs had their moment in the sun while they were here, opening up for some good bands in the process and ultimately falling victim to the Vegas curse of band burnout and it's a shame they're finito. Either that or the losers curse of the shitty places they played here in Vegas rubbed off on them like King Tut's curse did to those who discovered it. Le sigh. As they themselves said in that Facebook posting, it's not the end of the story but just another chapter and unfortunately for us, The Jagoffs Las Vegas chapter is now officially closed, and we're the worse off because of it. Good luck guys with whatever you chose to do, wherever you choose to do it. Salud! I'd feel remiss if I didn't say something about someone from The Misfits passing away, what with the name of the website and all that, plus a fellow drummer, one who played on 2 of the most famous, most distinctive, seminal, mind melting releases ever committed to vinyl, the Horror Business and Night Of The Living Dead 7", the gentleman known professionally as Joey Image, and to his friends as Joey Poole. Never met the man, pretty sure I never saw him play with the Misfits, and I couldn't pick him out of a police lineup if my life depended on it but still, his contributions to the bands legacy cannot be overlooked or ignored. Can you imagine being the drummer for the Misfits in 1978 and playing all those classic early songs live? My heart skips a beat just thinking about it!! I mean, those songs still give me goosebumps 40 something years later, and I still don't know or care what they mean! PSYCHO 78!! 😎 The only thing certain in Life is Death, and this mortality thing is creeping up on me with the quickness, but I've always figured I was living on borrowed time anyways, so I'm always ready to go. Anywho, raise your Misfits shot glass with your officially sanctioned Misfits studded leather fingerless glove, while wearing your licensed to Hot Topic Misfits tee shirt, and put on Disc 3 of the super legit Misfits box set with the far more fun recordings and play that shit LOUD and have a drink for a strong guy who fought the good fight for as long as he could and hopefully, did it with no regrets. Mr. Joey Image R.I.P. He wasn't no gawd dam son of a bitch, that's for sure. 😉 Salud!! Hey! I do more on here than just point out the hypocrisy of old snowflakes I used to be friends with I swear! #triggeredmuch hahahaha Some things get better with age... but those ugly old trolls aren't one of those things though. 🤣🤣🤣 Like most people I'm sitting on my ass, Ain't Nothing To Do, so I figure in between bouts of Red Dead Redemption 2 and playing my drums, that I should work on my website and catch up on things and post shit on here I just got lying around and never got around to finishing for whatever reason, like the Music Reviews I wrote about the latest release from The Proletariat (click here to read it) and the Sub/Hum/Ans (click here to read it). I posted an old (from 2003!) Music Review from With Honor that wasn't on here for some reason (click here to read it), as well as one on the band Reliance, from AZ, which never got published for some reason, and you can click here to read that. I also cleaned up a sort-of Gig Review on the Lean 13 / Gob Patrol / Kapital Punishment Facebook Live event that happened a while ago, and you can click here to read that if you're so inclined. I wish there was more to talk about musically but everything and everybody is sort of dead in the water right now. Nothing going on, nothing worth talking about, nothing worth my time or effort. I'm going back to playing RDR2. Phooey.
Yeah... if I had posted a thread where such slanderous, libelous, and potentially litigatable stuff like this triggered snowflake did on a public forum, I'd delete it pretty quickly too if I knew what was good for me, and it looks like the thirsty old woman did... heh heh I guess common sense outweighed the need for attention. The comments that were on there though were pure comedy gold. I'm glad SOMEONE had the foresight to screenshot it all before it was deleted. In legal terms that's called 'evidence' 😉 So after all these years I made the call. Again. It was good catching up with my lawyer though. He's a Judge now, and he seriously laughed that I still have this website running and that I still have to deal with this shit like we did many many moons ago. #NotTheOnlyJudgeIKnow He recommended a litigious colleague of his who's an even bigger scumbag shark than him to handle all this nonsense, but since I've lost the taste for all this childish chickenshit BS, and the thread was wisely deleted, I just let it go. Anyone that can't stand by their words isn't worth arguing with. #LackOfIntegrity #LackOfMoralCompass It's ironic to me that this was coming from someone I once considered a friend. I loved how she deleted the thread when people started supporting me and were calling her out on her BS. #TriggeredSnowflake I guess when your youth is slipping away, and you're slowly becoming the crazy cat lady, pleading poverty yet forgetting about thousands of dollars in old bank accounts, and you're desperately living falsely through your social media posts, then this is the sort of thing that triggers you. Oh well. #ThinningTheHerd right? 🤣🤣🤣 And as for the people commenting on the thread, well I already know what they're all about, pathetic keyboard warriors, and I'm looking forward to having a very mature and civilized adult type of conversation with them all once I see them in public again. #HomelessDykePart2 😇
Monday's edition of Quarantine Life had me fascinated in front of the TV completely enthralled with the Joy Division thing going on in honor of the anniversary of Ian Curtis' passing. Watching Peter Hook & The Light run through the gamut of Joy Division's musical output was both humbling and life affirming. "A toast to absent friends", Mr. Hook said before the band launched into their set. ❤ They sounded sooooooooooooo good I wanted to fucking kill myself. 😉 The songs sounded refreshed, revitalized, different yet very familiar because you've heard these songs a million times before in the same million versions from the studios and the bootlegs that there is out there, but to hear them played like this, played with a reason, played with a mission, played like they had something to prove, played with such passion, whatever the reason was, was both enchanting and intoxicating. The band opened with At A Later Date (WOW 🤩🤩🤩) and proceeded to bewitch and mesmerize everyone in the place where Ian Curtis used to be a choirboy when he was a child, for the next 3+ hours, playing everything you can imagine, including Ceremony and In A Lonely Place, which were written by Joy Division but never recorded and which were later butchered and mangled by New Order. Blech. Standout surprises played included The Drawback and The Only Mistake, and mind blowing versions of Glass, Ice Age, No Love Lost, Something Must Break, Colony, Heart And Soul, and my all time favorite Joy Division song ever... Day Of The Lords, which is probably one of the most evil, most saddest songs ever written. 🖤 The sound was fanfuckingtastic, the venue and setting didn't really do much for me, and Peter Hook's pseudo seig heiling salutes got annoying really quick but overall what a magical day spent listening to the music of one of my all time favorite bands and, as Hooky said at the begining, just toasting and remembering absent friends. Cheers! 🍻 |
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