Teenage - The Weirdos

Rumors. You know I love them. ;-)

So I'm watching this amazing live footage of the Replacements playing at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis in 1981, in their utter divine, drunken prime, and they're just laying waste to a club full of people who could care less about them, who are just killing time, waiting to see Hüsker Dü tear shit up a bit after the band is done. They're playing pretty much everything off of Hey Ma... and Stink, plus a few other songs that were never recorded or released commercially, plus a few of their crappy, well played covers, of course, and I'm just amazed at how fucking good they were, are, whatever. Lightning in a bottle. Bands have a chemistry, and once that chemistry is altered, the band is never the same, for better or worse. I saw the Replacements with Bob Stinson at the helm, and without, and it's like comparing apples and oranges. It wasn't the same beast. It wasn't. It was good, but not great. I mean, they had it all for the taking, and they fucked it all up, by choice, mind you, and that was part of the charm of a band like the Replacements. They were literally the 'Band That Should Of Made It Big.' but didn't. They remained relatively unknown, yet Legendary. One of those bands like the Big Boys or the Germs where, once you saw them, you never forgot them, and it makes me sad to think that the 2 surviving members of the band are getting back together under the Replacements banner to play a trio of lame ass festivals both here and in Canada, riding that wave of Nostalgia that seems to be permeating and corrupting the Punk Rock music scene I love oh so dearly. A 'reunion' tour is soon to follow, I'm sure. Look, I don't give a fuck that you never got to see Black Flag or the Replacements or Infest or whoever. You were born 30 years too late, and that sucks for you, but instead of looking back to the past with your rose tinted glasses, bemoaning the fact that your Music Scene today sucks, and how things were oh so much better 'Back In The Day', why don't you try looking in the Present and finding the Replacements or Black Flag or Infest of today. They are out there ya know, but I doubt you're gonna find a Soundcloud or Bandcamp page for them. No, you're gonna have to get off your ass and find them yourself. It's not gonna be spoon fed to you like everything else today is. It's not gonna fall into your lap like a Candy Crush game invite on Facebook. It won't be a convenient and painless excursion like a trip to Hot Topic for hair dye and a Misfits tee shirt. Nope. If you wanna find it, you're gonna have to work for it. You're gonna get your hands dirty, and you may bleed a little bit, and you might end up with a pretty gnarly scar or two from it, but you know what? It'll be worth it, I promise you. It will be worth it.

Everything's updated. There's loads of stuff going on this weekend, like the D.I. / Guilty By Association gig @ the LVCS on Fri., or the big Punk Rock BBQ thing going down at the Bunkhouse on Sat., with like, every band in the Punk Rock scene in Vegas playing, but what's the point in telling any of you that. You're just gonna sit on Facebook all weekend, feeling snarky and posting smug comments on bland, every day thoughts and observations and opinions no one gives a fuck about, and posting pictures on Instagram to verify your uniqueness and to express yourself artistically, and remembering to hashtag everything because Facebook and Twitter are both lame like that. Whatever. I'd like to think that I'm going to see some of you at the gigs, but I know I'm not going to. You're gonna go on a bicycle ride with your denim vest wearing dooshbag buddies or sit around the tiki bar sipping sugary frooty girl drinks while discussing the latest Game Of Thrones episode, or just staying at Home and watching Netflix because you're tired. Ugh. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother...

Oh yeah. That's right, I forgot. Much like my Hero Rorschach, I do it because I'm compelled. :-) See ya around!