Saturday, April 25, 2009

Looking Back For Our Future

"How each of us developed himself, what he strove for, attained, or missed, what objects he formerly pursued and what plans and wishes his heart is now set on, what transformation his views have experienced, what perturbations his principles -- in short, how he has today become what yesterday or years ago he was not -- this he brings out again from his memory with more or less ease, and he feels with a special vividness what changes have taken place in himself when he has before his eyes the unrolling of another's life... Let us therefore look into the activities our forefathers busied themselves with."

From The Ego And Its Own, 1845

Friday, April 24, 2009

Trashed Banana


"...earlier this year, with flickering expectation, Warren Hill picked through some old records at a yard sale in Chelsea, New York. They seemed out of place compared with the rest the junk, like a box that had been forgotten in the attic and left untouched by a string of disinterested tenants. He pulled out a soggy copy of the Modern Lovers' first LP and then he saw it, a record with no sleeve and only a few hand-written words on the label" ... Story continues here: How an Original VU Acetate Wound Up in Portland (And Could Be the Most Expensive Record in the World!) (The Portland Mercury)

Download: All unreleased takes ("European Sun,"
"Heroin," "Venus In Furs," "I'm Waiting For The Man")

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Hysteria

As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved in her laughter and being part of it, until her teeth were only accidental stars with a talent for squad-drill. I was drawn in by short gasps, inhaled at each momentary recovery, lost finally in the dark caverns of her throat, bruised by the ripple of unseen muscles. An elderly waiter with trembling hands was hurriedly spreading a pink and white checked cloth over the rusty green iron table, saying: "If the lady and gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden, if the lady and gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden..." I decided that if the shaking of her breasts could be stopped, some of the fragments of the afternoon might be collected, and I concentrated my attention with careful subtlety to this end.
-T.S. Eliot

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Songs For Swinging Lovers... And Losers, Pt.2


YOUNG AND DUMB VOLUME TWO
(WALKING THROUGH THE NIGHTTIME ALL ALONE)

"Loud Fast Rules" by The Stimulators
"Calling All Cardinals" by Chronics
"Tomorrows Tears" by The Riptides
"Mind Gardens" by Salvation Army
"Beat Your Heart Out" by The Zeros (US)
"Read About Seymour" by Swell Maps
"Solglasogon" by Docent Dod
"Sombodies Mom" by Pointed Sticks
"In My Love For You" by Satan's Rats
"Systematic" by 4/4
"She Made Magic" by The Wasps
"Open Your Eyes" by The Victims
"Wasting Time" by Strangeways
"I Got The News" by The First Steps
"How About Me And You" by The Carpettes
"Gabrielle" by The Nips
"I Can't Pretend" by The Barracudas
"No Condition" by The Maroons
"Hungry" by The Zeros (UK)
"Hanging On The Telephone" By The Nerves
"Apologies" by Pointed Sticks
"Razor Blade For Sale" by The Kids
"Angry Voices" by Circles
"Visions Of Fate" by The X-Certs
"Busy Signal" by Clive Culbertson
"Get To You" by Nasty Facts

Download: "Calling All Cardinals" by Chronics
Download: "In My Love For You" by Satan's Rats

Monday, April 20, 2009

Quote Of The Week

"Anyone who wants to know the human psyche will learn next to nothing from experimental psychology. He would be better advised to abandon exact science, put away his scholar's gown, bid farewell to his study, and wander with human heart throughout the world. There in the horrors of prisons, lunatic asylums and hospitals, in drab suburban pubs, in brothels and gambling-halls, in the salons of the elegant, the stock exchanges, socialist meetings, churches, revivalist gatherings and ecstatic sects, through love and hate, through the experience of passion in every form in his own body, he would reap richer stores of knowledge than text-books a foot thick could give him, and he will know how to doctor the sick with a real knowledge of the human soul." -Carl Jung

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Hey Joe


We didn't see each other all that much over the past few years, but I had my hopes you'd break free of your chains. It might be over twenty years ago, but I'll always remember that filthy C.O.C. shirt, your seemingly forever broken arm, climbing the Brooklyn Bridge for the view to end all views, trading in 40s for more 40s, and all those ridiculous 'field trips' to the city with the crew. Suicide Hill sledding, U.T.B. parties, Squib Park, the courthouse steps, hanging in the King and on the corner; too many afternoons and nights on the corner...

Friday, April 17, 2009

Songs For Swinging Lovers... And Losers, Pt.1


YOUNG AND DUMB VOLUME ONE
(I'D RATHER DANCE THEN READ A BOOK)

"Communist Radio" by The Eat
"Make Up Your Mind" by Stiv Bators
"Drive My Car" by Nasty Facts
"I'm So Neat" by The Phones
"When You Find Out" by The Nerves
"Anywhere Else But Here" by The First Steps
"Young And Dumb" by Rubber City Rebels
"Test Tube Baby" by Chronics
"What Do You Want Me To Do?" by Pointed Sticks
"Combat Love" by Shrapnel
"Teenage Treats" by The Wasps
"Goodbye Suicide" by Hollywood Killers
"Do You Wanna Know" by The Kids
"Giving Me That Look In Your Eyes" by The Fans
"Thinking Of Ways" by The Singles
"All Wound Up" by 4/4
"Time To Kill" by Clive Culbertson
"Frantic Romantic" by The Scientists
"Et Moi Et Moi" by The Snivelling Shits
"No Condition" by The Maroons
"Action" by Knots
"Happen Happend" by Salvation Army
"No.1" by Rudi
"Teen Line" by The Shivvers

Download: "Combat Love" by Shrapnel *
Download: "Action" by Knots *

* Files removed by request.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

A.I.T.A. Hall Of Fame: The Dogs





THE MOST FORGOTTEN FRENCH BOYS

- Essential Discography -
Charlie Was A Good Boy EP (Melodie Massacre)
Streets Compilation LP (Beggar's Banquet)
Go Where You Want To Go 12" EP (Melodie Massacre)
Different LP (Phonogram)
"Sally's Eyes" B/W "Words" 45 (Phillips)
Walking Shadows LP (Phillips)
"Cette Ville Est Un Enfer" B/W "Trouble Fete" 45 (Phillips)
Too Much Class For The Neighbourhood LP (Epic)
"Shakin' With Linda" B/W "Dog Walk" 45 (Epic)
Legendary Lovers LP (Epic)
"Maureen" B/W "Legendary Lovers" 45 (Epic)
"Secrets" [French Version] B/W "Secrets" [English Version] 45 (Epic)

Download: "A Different Me"
Download: "The Most Forgotten French Boy"
Read: Noise For Heroes' feature on The Dogs

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The Way It Was


In 1959 photographer Bruce Davidson set out to document the day to day lives of The Jokers, resulting in Brooklyn Gang, a classic book of street photography and a real document of teenage, city-life in the late 1950s. Sadly, the fantastic book is out-of-print and goes for big bucks, but you can dig all of the photos here. Davidson later gained fame with his documenation of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the East 100th Street, Central Park and Subway photo books (all of which are also worth seeking out).

Monday, April 13, 2009

Quote Of The Week

"What else is love but understanding and rejoicing in the fact that another person lives, acts, and experiences otherwise than we do?" -Friedrich Nietzsche

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Quote Of The Week

"I do not know whether this world has a meaning that is beyond me. But I do know that I am unaware of this meaning and that, for the time being, it is impossible for me to know it. What can a meaning beyond my condition mean to me? I can understand only in human terms. I understand the things I touch, things that offer me resistance."

Monday, April 6, 2009